Let The Sky Fall

Second grade I don't remember much of. Sure, we had one homeroom and we all knew each other cause it was a small town but I don't have many memories of it. Though I do remember that I had finally gotten out of being the new kid. It sucked. But it got better.

This is the only day that I remember from second grade. And that's sad cause it was real early in the year.

Cloudkicker was in college and Sparkler was close to going to the first year of college- side note being that she took years to get a college diploma as it took her a decade to even get one. Though that was because she went from the Canterlot state school to the Crystal Empire tech school and finally a for profit school that was expensive as fuck. But by that point, my mom stopped paying for college for her. Sparkler was kind of a dick.

So fuck it. It was a cool day and me being little me- I enjoyed the cool air as it went over my coat. The birds were great as my mom led me to school cause I don't understand cardinal directions. Still don't. But yeah I chatted with my friends and we had a cool time. This was before DT turned into a rapist and SS turned into also kind of a dick. I mean they were eight. So raping ponies would be far from their minds.

But yeah it was going to be a great day.

Now I don't remember most of the day so blame me there but narrative choice and narrators themselves can take a few liberties with how the story is told and since this is a historical memory it is based around the oral voice. Blah blah blah.

I mean it really was a boring day. I think we just started math class going through some math worksheets when we got the news. We got it from Miss Harshhwhinny who was one of the other ponies that worked in the building. I should have though it strange that a teacher would walk into another teachers room. I was always a rule follower in school- probably should have noticed that a schedule makes me calm sooner than college and noticed some sign that I probably have anxiety disorders and whatnot sooner but fuck that's hindsight for you. So back on topic- I thought that the entrance of a teacher from a completely different side of the building and barging in like that was strange. But then I noticed that the teachers huddled up and started whispering about something.

Fuck I was seven and don't blame me that even fourteen years later I turn into a moron when someone thinks that reading lips is a natural trait to have. I can't read lips. Its just impossible. Though that might just be my brain messing up in the language portion of my brain somewhere.

I mean I didn't think anything of it and I wouldn't have thought anything more. This exact moment would just have passed into my void of things that happened to me yet I don't remember at all if not for one thing.

Miss Cheerilee was crying.

Now the idea that your parents can cry pretty much crushes people. And teachers crying isn't that strange once you get to a certain age. But to a classroom full of seven year olds, its like seeing the face of God get shot. It just happens so rarely that its like a mythic thing to see in its terrible wonder.

She just looked defeated and turned on the tv. It wasn't the glorious tones of the Bill Neigh show. It was just the news.

That was the day we all realized that maybe the idyllic country we called Equestria could be hurt. Sure we knew of bad stuff happening around the world- an ancient evil, some political issues with the yaks, sure. But those were not here. We could forget that they existed because we didn't have to see the aftermath of a disaster. Sure, there was every once in a while natural disaster, and maybe a magical spell gone awry. But an actual other species going and attacking us?

We never thought it could happen.

Maybe that's what I'm worried about the future of my nieces. I really vaguely know a few years where peace was pretty much a sure thing. I was just on the cusp of remembering more than just flashes of memory if I was maybe a year older or two but sure I lived a few years in happyland. My nieces have never known a world without war. Sure we don't really think about war much nowadays since its more or less a fact of life now- but I remember those first few years after a whole lot better than what started this whole thing.

"Breaking news, if you are just in, this is the Equestrian Broadcasting Network-"

"it seems as if this was a planned att-"

"Now we go to our commentators-"

"Those minotaurs really f---ked up now. We should just kill all those f---kers."

"In these dark times we turn to the one true faith and remember the last time we-"

"Crusade those motherf---kers. They attacked Manehattan and destroyed the true sense of security our ancestors gave us and took out a recognizable part of the Manehattan skyline with those new weapons."

"The weapon that they used had a detonation blast that weakened the beams and made the two buildings collapse."

"Those minotaurs had alchemical weapons that Princess Celestia should have known about."

"This just in, a third bomber tried to atteack the castle. He was detained and died soon after-"

"Cyanide capsules hidden in their mouths makes it hard-"

"All interrogations of surviving extremists have failed but-"

We were let out early once the minotaur extremists had most likely stopped their attack. It was almost eleven and we wondered what we should do. After the images and general fearmongering and uncertainty died down in the first attack- we were just let go. We could go home. School was cancelled for a few days. We held each of our family members close and checked if anyone we knew had been either killed or adversely affected by the terrorist outbreak. Lots of things were shutdown to make sure that things were safe.

We all had to count our dead.

It was a few thousand.

I didn't want to show it but it destroyed me for a long time. Sure we lived far enough away from Manehattan and lived in a pretty insular community so there wasn't much chance for any of us to personally know ponies that died in the magebomb attacks. But then we realized that sure we didn't- but there was always someone that we could know that was almost affected. Ponies out for a day in Manehattan. Family that worked in the town. Jobs that they had to do. Pegasi. Earth ponies. Unicorns. It didn't matter- if you looked hard enough you could see that people you loved could have died if they didn't have some sort of luck.

It went on for weeks. Stories about rescue teams looking for survivors after the buildings fell and covered the area of Manehattan in rubble and ash, prayer circles, songs on the radio from country stars and other singers trying to help Equestria heal. Charities. Patriotism marches. A few days after, we pulled out the Hearthwarming flag and started singing the national songs of Equestria. We all turned inward and tried to collect ourselves.

Princess Celestia had been on a press conference mode for days to clear up what this would mean for Equestria.

The thing we knew was that our country had to change to protect ourselves from the new threat.

We went to war with the Minotaurs soon after.

Author's Note

Where worlds collide and days are dark