For some reason, Canterlot High was unusually quiet this morning.
On the way to school, Sunset Shimmer had her radio on, listening to somber music playing and the standard gossip on celebrities doing gods-know what. Aside from the music, Sunset thought it was just another day, but in the back of her mind, she remembered what today was: Unity Day.
Ever since her reformation a year ago, Sunset had tried to integrate herself into what humans considered a normal lifestyle. Along with the technology she had to learn for herself, she made it a habit to learn all human holidays and customs, even researching some religions. While in Equestria that religion was not common, humans seemed to have a religion for almost everything.
Some of those things made her sick, like 4Chan.
One of the holidays she learned about was Unity Day. Apparently, it was a time that all humans gathered together and celebrated something. She didn’t read too far into it since the holiday passed last time, but now that she was on top of it, Sunset Shimmer knew what she could about the holiday and planned accordingly. She had made posters with Twilight’s new slogan in Equestria: Unity through Harmony. She also bought some miniature American flags and even some plastic hats. She didn’t know why, but the lady she was buying them from looked confused.
Walking into the school, Sunset expected another busy day for the students of the magical headquarters of the Harmony 6. Twilight tried selling the idea of calling their group the Guardians of Harmony, but it didn’t ring. Instead of seeing the kids in a buzz like normal, all the students seemed to be quiet. Most of them were either looking down at their phones or just sitting in their corners quietly carrying the conversation.
As Sunset walked through the school, she thought she would wish some people a happy Unity Day. If anything, the kids she talked to weren’t happy at all. They gave Sunset a few hostile glares before walking away. She overheard one student call her an insensitive she-demon.
As she made her way to her locker, Sunset spotted Fluttershy talking to Applejack about something. “Hey girls,” Sunset said.
Applejack looked up from her conversation and waved. “Heya Sunset,” she said with half of the energy she would usually give off.
Sunset raised an eyebrow before moving to her locker. Fluttershy had not said anything to her as she walked past, but Sunset guessed whatever they were talking about was important. Sunset pulled out her Italian textbook and quietly closed the locker. While she didn’t intend to grab it, Sunset also grabbed her magic journal. Once again, Twilight had not written anything.
She’s probably busy with her princess duties again, she thought to herself as she stuffed both books into her bag.
Sunset turned to the two girls as they finished their conversation. “Happy Unity Day girls,” Sunset said.
Applejack froze as Fluttershy covered her mouth in shock. Without a warning, Fluttershy’s hand came at full speed and met Sunset’s cheek in a loud smack. Sunset flinched in pain and expected Applejack to say something about that, but she remained silent. “Uh, Sunset? Tell me ya didn’t go around the school sayin’ that,” Applejack said.
Sunset rubbed the place where Fluttershy smacked her. “Is it bad that I did? What’s going on?”
Applejack nodded. She grabbed Sunset’s hand and pulled her down the hall toward the band room. Fluttershy picked up her backpack and ran after them, her hand stinging from her assault on Sunset’s face a moment ago. Halfway down the hall, she grasped her wrist and whispered an ‘ow’.
Rainbow plucked at the G-string of her guitar as Rarity scribbled in her idea journal. Pinkie was throwing a rubber chicken out of her backpack (what was the deal with the chicken anyway?) and chuckled as it landed with a quack.
The doors of the band room flew open and Applejack pushed Sunset inside, much to her own displeasure. Fluttershy quietly closed the door and dropped her backpack, staying away from Sunset to avoid the temptation of smacking her again.
Let’s face it, once you smack someone once, it gets kinda hard to not want to smack them again.
“Girls, I don’t understand. What’s so bad about—”
“Don’t,” Applejack warned.
Rarity closed her journal. “What’s going on now? Did you put Snips’ top hat on top of the lockers again?”
Sunset smirked. “Tempting, but no. I just said happy Unity Day to them and Fluttershy smacked me,” she explained. “I would understand if there was a fly on my cheek, but that was uncalled for.”
Fluttershy blushed. “Sorry, it’s just that Unity Day isn’t something to be happy about,” she said.
Rainbow put down her guitar. “Uh, Sunset, did you really say that? Happy Unity Day?”
Sunset nodded, earning a rather prolonged ‘Ooooohhhh’ from Pinkie. “You don’t know what Unity Day is all about, do you?”
The former Equestrian shook her head. “You girls do remember that it’s been a full year since I’ve been reformed, so I’m still learning all the holidays and terminology in this world. I never really cared before the Fall Formal,” she said with complete honesty.
“And we understand that Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “It’s just that when it comes to Unity Day, ya should be careful ‘bout what you say about it.”
Now Sunset was confused. “I don’t understand, what are you talking about? You celebrate this day by uniting and achieving harmony with your fellow people, right? That’s what I think is a holiday, and so would Twilight.”
“But darling, you don’t know the reason why we remember Unity Day,” Rarity said. “Neither you nor Twilight know the reason.”
Sunset stayed silent. “You said ‘remember’ and not ‘celebrate’. So it’s not a holiday?”
The girls all shook their heads. “Sunset, you may wanna sit down,” Rainbow warned.
Sunset eyed a chair and sat down, probably ready for a lengthy lecture. “So, uh, what do you know about us? Humans?”
The Equestrian shrugged. “All in all, you seem like a nice race. I’ve read about a few wars in the last century, but you guys got over them, right?”
Rarity shook her head. “Darling, the human race is beyond flawed. You told us about your society and how it is almost always peaceful. Here, it’s the opposite.”
Sunset grasped her blouse. “So, some things happened in the last 20 years that you don’t know. You see, the mainland United States had gone to the desert to fight in a short war with other nations,” Rainbow started. “We made some people mad over there in the East because of their religion or whatever lies we are told.”
Rarity held her hand high, stopping Rainbow’s train of thought. “Anyway, about 14 years ago, some people attacked the mainland.”
Sunset waited for them to spill. “You know those planes you see in the sky, right?” Fluttershy said.
The Equestrian nodded. “Well, some of those bad people took over those planes filled with innocent people. There were four planes, and they used them for the attack,” Fluttershy said. She was twisting her hair nervously.
“Whoa wait a minute, are you saying—”
Rarity nodded. “At 8:45 in the morning on this day, one plane flew straight into the side of a building in the city of New York. Some of the bad people took over the plane and flew it straight into the building, killing a lot of people.”
Sunset’s skin turned ice cold as she processed the information. “Not long after, another plane flew in and took out the building next to it, also killing people. At the end of the attack, both buildings came crashing down on the city.” Rarity took in a deep breath. “The destruction was horrible and it only had gotten worse.”
The ruby-haired girl raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Rarity rubbed her arm, obviously not wanting to release any more information. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash stepped up. “There were four planes, and two flew into the buildings. There was another plane that crashed into a government building as well. The last one, well that was a different story.”
“How is that a different story?! A few bad people took over four planes and crashed them all with innocent men, women and children on board?!” Sunset barked. She found herself rising from her chair in anger.
Fluttershy ran over to calm Sunset down just a little bit. “Sunset, listen.”
She didn’t like to, but Sunset complied. “The fourth plane was going to crash somewhere else, but the people on the plane knew what was going to happen. From the news, the people on the plane took action and attacked the bad people. They couldn’t land the plane safely, so they did what they had to do and crash it.”
Sunset’s heart broke. Fluttershy had tears coming from her eyes. “The total on that day was 3,000 people gone, Sunset. We remember that day as Unity Day, or 9/11. Some people call it the Darkest Day in American History,” she said. “It was absolutely dreadful.”
Just as Sunset’s skin felt colder, she felt the fires of rage burn within her. Tears began welling up as her hands shook. “How could they?! HOW
DARE THEY?!”
Pinkie rushed toward her faster than anyone else. She tackled Sunset in a hug, but it did nothing against Sunset’s rage which continued to build up. “3,000 PEOPLE?! THAT IS AN OUTRAGE!”
Pinkie started to pet Sunset’s head. “Sunset, please stop,” she said.
“MONSTERS! THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE! HEARTLESS MONSTERS WHO DESERVE THE WORST OF THE PIT OF TARTARUS! CRIMINAL SCUM!”
“Sunset, it truly was a dark day for us, but there is a reason why we call today Unity Day.” Rarity pulled out her phone and searched through her Facebook until she found the picture she was looking for. She raised her phone to Sunset’s face and her anger completely melted.
“We call it Unity Day because we lost so much, Sunset. Innocent lives were taken all because of some vendetta someone had. But on that day, the United States was more united than ever. Entire families who didn’t know each other grieved for those lost. Heroes were made Sunset. The 4th flight and the people on board saved who knows how many more people that day,” Rarity said. “The firefighters who risked a lot to save the people in the building are heroes. Sunset, we lost so many people, but on that day, the nation was whole.”
Sunset melted into Pinkie’s hug. The morale in the group was low, so they all moved together for a group hug. In the middle of the group hug was a sobbing Sunset Shimmer, who now understood why it was a somber morning. It was almost 8:00 now.
The girls broke off the group hug. “Darling, I am truly sorry about that,” Rarity said.
Sunset wiped a tear from her cheek. “Sorry about that. That whole ‘Tartarus’ thing. In Equestria, Tartarus is the deepest pit under the earth which houses the worst criminals and villains in Equestria’s history. The deeper the pit, the worse those creatures did to end up there.”
Pinkie, who stayed in the hug, rubbed Sunset’s back. She let go of the hug and managed a weak smile. “I try to make people smile so they won’t have to bear that sadness any more. I may be a goofy pink bubble gum flavored teenage girl—”
“Bubble gum flavored?” Rainbow wondered.
“—but I still feel sadness. I don’t like seeing other people sad because I was sad once. Unity Day is there to let us know that no matter what, we are all family.”
“Unity through harmony,” Sunset said.
Pinkie nodded. “C’mon, we’re late for eye-talian,” she said.
Sunset chuckled and wiped away one more tear. “Rainbow, did you get those worksheet problems done for Ms. Harshwhinny’s class?”
Rainbow facepalmed. Of course she didn’t. “As much as I would hate it, I gotta get ready for Mr. Wood’s lecture on the workings of ancient cultures,” Sunset complained.
“I don’t think he’s that bad,” Fluttershy said.
“Says the girl who delivers one of my apples to him everyday before class. Ah’m tellin’ ya, Flutters know what can make someone a little happier,” Applejack said.
Fluttershy smiled. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Applejack let out a light chuckle. “Well we gotta get going,” Rarity said, who had the same Italian class as Sunset and Pinkie.
Sunset nodded as she picked up her bag. The Rainbooms all exited the room, leaving behind the tears that were left behind.
As Sunset sat in her seat in her Italian class, her mind wandered into what had happened on the day of the attack. The girls were right about how Unity Day got its name, and she thought more about it when she compared to the stuff that happened in Equestria’s history. For some reason, chaos made way for harmony.
The former Equestrian also looked back at the people the girls said were heroes. Innocent men, women and children all lost their lives, but some stood up to fight for the people they didn’t know. Heroes who took back control for a moment to eliminate the threat. Heroes who didn’t care whether they lived or died, so long as so many other people got to live to see another day. Heroes who risked their lives to find people who may or may not have survived the building collapses in New York.
As she pondered over the idea of heroes, she had to remember that Princess Celestia, while she didn’t like it, was a hero after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. She put the needs of her subjects in front of her own feelings. Over a thousand years of pain, but she endured. She lost a sister, but protected countless ponies in the process.
As her Italian teacher began wrapping it up, the intercom binged to life as the voice of Principal Celestia echoed through the school. “Good morning students. It is now 8:45 a.m., the time of the first attack on United States soil 14 years ago today. I ask only for a moment of silence as we remember the people who lost their lives, and the people who sacrificed everything so that others can live for another day.”
The school became deathly quiet as the students all joined the principal in silence. Sunset, who was not big on religion, bowed her head in prayer. She didn’t know all the religions in the world, but she prayed to all the religions that humanity turned to. She prayed for peace for the victims, and she prayed for better days. It didn’t matter the religion. All that mattered was that someone out there would take the victims under their wing and protect them.
~~
Dear Princess Twilight,
Today, I learned something very important, but it wasn’t about friendship. It was about family.
In human history, today is known as a dark day as horrific people mercilessly took the lives of innocent people to accomplish a vendetta. I learned of what those horrible people did and I did think that they were the scum of the Earth to take the lives of others like they did. Much like in Equestria, life is sacred.
I learned that no matter how beaten down you are, you can always find the strength to pick yourself up from the ground. Sometimes you will need help in getting back onto your feet, but with that help, you can rise stronger than ever before. Outside forces will always try to bring you down, but as a family, we will always rise. I know you are fascinated with humans, but there are some things that make me wish I was back in Equestria.
Never give up. Never surrender. Much like the phoenix, you can rise from the ashes of chaos and achieve a life of harmony and pleasure.
Enclosed is a photo that Rarity gave me. This photo is exactly what it means to rise. No matter what happens, you can rise again. I appreciate the resolve they have. Humans are flawed, but no one is perfect.
Yours in friendship,
Sunset Shimmer
Author's Note
When I wrote this, I had no intention of this ever reaching the Featured section of this site, nor anywhere else. On a day like today, I felt it was necessary to show that the attack is still fresh in our minds. It is sad how chaos really can pave a road to harmony. We fell on 9/11/2001, but we rose from the ashes as one family. United. This was my intention.
Together forever. United as one