Author's Note
Reader warning. Reader discretion is advised!
Before reading this, please keep in mind the topic is sensitive and some readers may find offensive, or upsetting.
My intent was not to offend or upset. The events in this story are technically accurate. All major details are all from reputable articles. Keep in mind this story changes names and refers to real people.
I was really inspired to write this, so before you leave a nasty comment, or downvote it. Please give it a chance. While the subject matter is sensitive and controversial the story itself means a lot to me. It is a very important day for me. My family and I lost friends, and we learned the world is a much more dangerous place. A hard lesson to learn at the age of 11.
But either way, I hope you'll enjoy the story I poured huge amounts of work and research into.
The North
It was a gorgeous day in Manehattan; with an almost cloudless, serene blue sky, days like this were rare. With no smog from the bustling city, it was the perfect day for outdoor activities.
It was an early Tuesday morning, ponies from all parts of Manehattan and even from further out were beginning their commute. The same commute they'd taken for years, for some, possibly decades. The same route that they had taken thousands of times. The same old routine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All the ponies knew was another busy day in the glorious, wealthy business capital of Equestria.
One mare, who wore a business suit, carried a briefcase in her mouth as she trotted down the zebra crossing. She was nearing her destination. The business towers. She was a business mare who liked to manage finances, making sure ponies kept on track, but her specialty was making sure businesses kept their costs in order. Sunny Checks was her name; at least, that's what her badge said. She often went by Sunny.
She turned off the street and up a flight of stairs leading to the building. The business towers were two of the biggest towers in all of Equestria. Somewhere in Saddle Arabia it was said that a tower taller than these existed, but Sunny often dismissed it. She liked these towers just fine. She made a decent living, helping ponies she cared about. What more could she want? Not much she could think of. She walked through the doors to the North Tower. Greeting the guards posted there, she trotted happily into the elevator and pushed the button for the 100th floor.
The soft sound of elevator music never really bothered her,. It wasn't loud but gentle, almost caressing her ears as she ascended. She even hummed a little since she was the only one in the elevator that morning. That was unusual, but she wouldn't complain; she liked the solitude for the moment. Soon she'd be with her coworkers discussing plans to cut costs for businesses and it would be a pretty busy day from what her boss had told her the night before.
Three minutes passed, and a soft ding alerted her to reaching her floor. The doors opened slowly and she walked out with a skip in her step. She was looking forward to the day, eager to get working.
She entered her company's office and found her desk. Setting her briefcase down, and put her coat on the back of her chair. She swiveled the chair and sat.
"Good morning, Sunny!" One of her coworkers name Scribbles called from her desk.
"Morning! It's a good day, isn't it? Gorgeous outside! I almost wish I could have a picnic today!" She laughed back. Once settled she noticed the clock. 7:30 AM. She had a few more moments before she had to start working, early, as usual, she thought to herself with a smile. Always punctual.
~~~
At an airport not far away, five ponies were clearing security. They'd flown before, but this was their final trip. At least, they knew that – the rest of the ponies they'd share a plane with didn't. Two of the five were blood brothers, but all were brothers in a pact to bring justice upon the West.
All five stallions clear security without a problem. They spoke in tongues that the other ponies didn't understand. It was an Eastern Equestrian language not often heard in Manehatten; foreign to them but didn't rouse suspicion.
"Are we ready?" one of them asked.
His name was Desert Stone and he was the leader of this operation. He leaned in close to the other four as he spoke, all of who nodding in unison. He smiled, and pulled out the bible of his country, the words of their God, the holiest of holy books and began to quietly chant.
"And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah is worse than killing..."
His companions rocked back and forth and silently replied.
"but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful."
It wasn't long till they boarded their Flight. Alicorn Airways 11, taking off from Manesachusetts International Airport. The five ponies from the East were in class 2 boarding. They'd have to wait for another few minutes.
"Once on, do not move," Desert said, making sure the other heard him. They nodded an affirmation. "Once we're airborne, wait for my signal," he said as they split up after boarding the sky bridge. It would take almost half an hour before they were ready, ready for the day to bring Allah's justice upon the foolish ponies of the West.
He smiled a little to himself. They would make the ponies pay for their foolishness. Only Allah could judge them, and it was their mission to bring forth the ponies for that judgment.
Desert found his seat in business class, seat 8D. The aisle seat on the left middle. He gave a soft sigh as he sat. The seat was comfortable, making he almost wish he was just taking a flight, nothing more. But that, he thought, would be impossible. He and his brothers were needed, needed to be the vessels of Allah.
Trying to pass the time he pulled out a magazine. His command of the ponies’ language on this side of the globe was limited, so he fascinated himself with the pictures and what words he knew. Something about perfume and jewelry. What dribble, he thought, giving a disgusted snort, putting the magazine back. These ponies had no concept of what life was really about, the real struggle. He clenched his jaw and pulled out a watch. Soon...
Other ponies, including his brothers, entered the plane. He gave a soft salute to them as they passed. More and more ponies passed him, finding their seats and settling in for the flight.
Desert was offered some champagne, he waved a hoof dismissively. He was not a drinker. None of the holy warriors were. He did take an orange juice. He mumbled a thank you to the flight attendant who smiled and moved on. Reclining in his seat he huffed a great sign. Pulling out his Koran he began to silently read, preparing himself for Paradise.
The captain came over the intercom and began to brief them on their flight. "Good morning, it's a beautiful day for flying. This is your captain, Clear Skies with my first officer Choppy Wind. Our flight will take approximately six hours and thirty minutes. Looks like we'll have some minor chop on take off, the pegasi are currently trying to clear that up. But don't worry, we'll reach our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet shortly. Until then sit back, relax and enjoy the flight."
Soon... Desert thought, turning to look at his brothers in seats further back.
They looked back at him with resolution, determination, and no fear. But one, one had fear in his eyes. Cactus Needle, the youngest of their group, was staring back at Desert with wide frightened eyes. Was he reconsidering? No, Surely not. They'd all trained for months, preparing for this moment. Desert gave a soft nod to Cactus, trying to assure him they would reach paradise and reap their reward. All of them.
He turned back to his book of holy words and wisdom.
~~~
Sunny began work. It was 8 AM sharp. It was time to start investigating a business that she had been assigned. The company was having financial issues, and it was Sunny's job to figure out why they were losing money. A quick glance at the clock on her desk said 8:20 am. She gave a soft smile as she began to type on her keyboard. The day was just beginning and there was already so much to do – not that she minded, she loved doing this. Unlike most ponies she worked with, she woke up in the morning excited to get to work. She was lucky, not many ponies could say that. But she didn't think she was lucky. She had just found her passion and worked harder every day.
~~~
Desert and the others were now airborne, climbing rapidly from the tarmac. The feeling of being shoved backwards against the seat was exhilarating, to say the least. As the captain had cautioned there was a slight amount of turbulence after they'd taken off. Nothing Desert couldn't handle. He held onto the armrests of his seat and waited for it to pass.
Higher and higher they went until they were close enough to cruising altitude the fasten seat belt sign dinged off. With a glance back at his bothers, he softly nodded. They were ready.
He bent forward after unbuckling himself. Unzipping his bag, and pulling out a small switchblade, and an object that was cylindrical. Hiding them, he sat back up and gave one last look at his brothers. With a smile, he gave a sharp nod and leaped to his hooves. Another stallion across from him stood up, trying to block his path. A swift motion and the stallion was laying on the floor of the cabin gurgling for breath, his hooves covering the bloody slash across his throat.
Desert slammed into one of the flight attendants, shoved her aside and barged into the cockpit.
One of the others in his team was quick on his flanks. They killed the co-pilot viciously, but thankfully quickly. They didn't have long. The pilot was dispatched as well. Desert motioned with a flick of his head to his companion – Tawny as he was known – to remove the bodies so he could get to work. He didn't have a lot of time.
As soon as the captain was removed, he sat in the seat. Not as comfortable as the seat he had been in. Pity.
Looking over the controls, in front of him was a yolk, the control of the plane. His hooves were already on it. Giving it a light and ginger motion, he felt the plane respond sharply. The autopilot hadn't been engaged yet! Even better.
A menacing smile crossed his lips. This was too easy. Looking at the controls, he saw a dial that read, transponder. He quickly flicked it to the off setting. He didn't need anypony to know what was happening.
“Alicorn 11, do you read? Why have you diverted? Do you copy?” The voice startled Desert, but he ignored it. Just then another one of his companions joined him, taking the co-pilots seat.
“Desert, we've taken over the plane, nothing will stop us now.” His toothy smile was disconcerting, to say the least.
“Praise Allah,” he said as he too the yolk in his own hooves.
“Are the passengers subdued?” Desert asked, not looking away from the controls.
“Yes, for the most part, some are... Shall we say, afraid? They might try and start a revolt. What shall we do?”
Desert's lip curled. “It doesn't matter, we're in control of the plane. As long as we maintain that, we'll succeed in our mission.”
“Will you have us all in here then?” the young stallion looked around the cockpit, “Won't it be crowded?” He was stopped from saying more by the look Desert shot in his direction.
“Get some smoke in there, keep them away from the door, and get the others in here.” he snapped at his younger companion. The latter gave a soft yelp and was quickly out the door.
Tawny was now in the aisle, a device strapped to his chest. He stood on his back hooves and held a detonator in his left hoof. In broken Western Equestrian, he shouted “No pony move! I will blow the plane out of the air. If any of you tries to start anything funny!”
The response was instant, all the ponies shrank back, some ran further down the plane, hiding in the back rows. Some sat and just watched in despair.
Tawny watched as the ponies fled, cried, and stared at him in horror. He was pleased there weren't any heroes in this crowd. This made his job easier.
The pony from the cockpit ran over, tapping him on the shoulder. “Tawny, get the others. Desert wants us all in the cockpit. Say's we'll be safe up there, no chance of... Failure...” He didn't like saying that word. If they didn't succeed, they'd never get to paradise. The promised land for those who fought for Allah, and justice.
Tawny grunted and shrugged the young stallion off. He snarled at fearful ponies as he passed.
One of the flight attendants in the back, was frantically dialing the ground to let them know what was transpiring.
“Hello? This is Bell Ringer, I'm number 3, on flight 11... Somepony's gotten stabbed in business class, there's some kind of mace... None of us know what's going on.” She sat for a moment, then began to repeat herself. “I'm Bell Ringer, I'm number 3.”
The pony on the other end sat in silence for a moment. “I'm sorry? You're on what flight?”
“Flight 11, I'm number 3”
“Somepony's been stabbed?”
“Yes, stabbed in business. There's some kind of mace? None of us know what's going on. We can't access the cockpit...”
In the cockpit, Desert picked up the headpiece, and spoke deliberately, and with authority.
“We have some planes, don't try anything, we're turning around to the airport.” He put the piece down and resumed the hold on the yolk. Unwittingly he had sent the message to Air Traffic Control. The pegasus who monitored that sector sat dumbfounded.
“I'm sorry? Alicorn 11, are you trying to call?”
No answer.
“Alicorn 11, are you trying to call me?”
“Don't make any stupid moves, you'll only endanger yourself and the aircraft,” Desert said again, thinking the message was being broadcast to the passengers.
He turned the yolk sharply to the left. The plane responded eagerly, putting enormous strain on the aircraft. Soon enough, the four others in his band of brothers were in the cockpit, chattering to each other softly. He didn't care, his main focus was keeping the plane aloft until they reached their destination.
“Will we get there soon?” Tawny asked, sounding like a child, 'are we there yet'.
Needle sighed. “Not yet. We can't even see it yet. As soon as we do, then you'll know.” His voice stuttered. Fear still gripping him. He would never admit it, but he wished he'd slipped away during boarding. He was truly afraid.
“Don't worry, brother. We will soon be in paradise.” Desert reached over and rested his hoof one Needle's shoulder.
“Don't worry.” He tried to smile. He too was afraid, but not for the same reasons.
Death did not scare him, he was afraid of performing the proper deed, the deed that would ensure him the grace of Allah, and eternal peace and rewards. Perhaps it was greed that sent him on this path. Eternal peace did sound tantalizing. His companions looked at each other nervously. They could see glimmering city hundreds of miles ahead. It was time.
~~~
Sunny took a short break to refill her coffee cup, lingering long enough to pick up a muffin. Blueberry, her favorite. On her way back to her desk she ran into a co-worker, Oak Leaf.
“How's your family?” Oak asked, sipping her coffee. She was one of the only pegasi in the company. Sunny always wondered why that was, but always decided against asking probing questions.
“Fine thank you! Berry Tart just turned three, and Peach is doing well at school. I couldn't be prouder!” Sunny said between sips of her coffee. Always two spoons of sugar and a splash of milk; she refused to have it any other way.
They stood in front of the great windows looking out over the city. “Will you join us for a picnic this weekend?” Oak asked. Her neatly combed back mane was wrapped tightly in a bun, she looked strict, but motherly at the same time. She had triplets back at home.
“Absolutely, I'm sure Snow Day would love to see you, and your family again!” Her husband often spoke highly of the Oak's family. This would be a good excuse to get the husbands back together again.
Something caught Sunny's eye – a glint in the sky. She craned her neck to see it. Almost instantly, she'd wished she hadn't. A commercial airplane was speeding straight towards their building.
“Run!” she cried, pushing Oak away from the window then screamed to her coworkers, “Get down!” She dove under her desk and braced for impact.
Desert, Tawny, Needle and the two others watched in both horror and wonder as their commandeered flight barreled closer and closer to the two largest towers in the city.
The World Trade Center.
“Praise Allah, the great and powerful!” they cried as they got so close they could see ponies inside the building.
“Allah!” They cried as the nose of the plane connected with the building. A bright flash and everything went dark.
The plane disintegrated on contact. Sunny felt the impact, and a blast of hot air hitting her fur.
The floor moved beneath her, and everything went black.
On the street blow, ponies screamed and pointed to the explosion up on the north tower. The airways were jammed with calls from ponies all over Manehattan who saw the explosion. So many calls were coming in at once that the police couldn't even answer half of them due to their system overloading. They did, however, have a small television in their lunch room. Some fool was taking a break and was flipping through the channels. Seeing the explosion for a split second, he quickly fumbled with the remote to the channel before. The sandwich he'd stolen from his co-worker's lunch bag slipped out of his mouth, onto his lap and then the floor. Scrambling to his hooves he ran to the chief.
“Pad Lock!” he cried, “A bomb or something went off at the Trade Center. We gotta go, it's big!”
Pad Lock, the chief of police for the district, looked up, blinked and then was on his hooves and ordering officers to get to the scene immediately.
Five minutes since the impact and already swarms of officers combed the area around the buildings. High above them, the dark cloud of smoke staining the beautiful blue sky. The streets were filled with the screams and cursing of ponies who couldn't believe their eyes.
Pad Lock's stallions were already helping ponies from the building. The lobby looked like a bomb had gone off inside of it. The marble floors and walls had been shattered in places, even blasted off. The glass windows at the ground level had been blown outwards.
Pony after pony were pulled from the building, bleeding and in a bad way. He watched several ponies, who's skin was hanging off like clothing.
“I don't like it...” He told one of his officers. “Something's off...” He looked to the officer who stood by him. “Keep the others from going inside just yet. We need to see what's going on. I won't endanger my colts.”
He spat onto the sidewalk and slid into the car, picking up the radio and calling for backup.
Fire engines were coming now, shiny red cars, far longer than your average automobile.
Perfectly designed to pump water from a hydrant to the inferno. But the inferno was almost a hundred stories high. They wouldn't reach it with their engines…
~~~
From up on the 100th floor. Sunny was just coming to. She coughed as she opened her eyes, uncurling herself.
“Oak?” she called. “Daisy?” One after another she called her co-workers. And so far, no reply.
Crawling out from under her desk was tough going. The air was hot and smoky, the floor littered with debris. With a sharp cry, she pulled her hoof away from the nail she just stepped on. She couldn't see a foot in front of her. She knew if she couldn't get out soon, she might not make it out of this room. The air was stiflingly hot, the smoke thick and making her gag. It smelled of fuel, wood, and bodies.
Sunny recoiled when she thought of that. What had happened? She struggled to remember as she crawled from the remains of her desk.
The glint... That's what it had been.
It had been a plane! A plane flew into her building. The thought seemed so alien, so...absurd. A plane flying into one of the tallest buildings. They had plenty of time to avoid it. It was a perfect day. She pushed it to the back burner, turning her attention to getting to her hooves.
She was free of the debris, but now, she needed to find the exit. She knew the office through and through, but not when there were no lights, smoke was everywhere and dangerous things littered the floor. In the dark maybe, but this was an altogether a different beast.
She slowly picked her way through the rubble. The floor was hot, very hot. She continued to call out the names of the ponies she worked with, but again and again, she got no response. She couldn't wait any longer. She had to get out of here.
“I'm sorry,” Sunny apologized as she quickened her pace.
When she found the door out of her office, the other side was pandemonium. Even more dangerous material littered the floor. There was, however, a glimmer of light. Making her way to it, she found what was once a window, but was now nothing but a gaping hole.
She stood at the precipice where the building met the sky. She couldn't believe it. No, there was no way. It couldn't.
“H...Help!” she gasped for the clean air, as dark, toxic smoke blew past her.
Sunny could see tons of paper flying all around her, floating down on some invisible breeze to the streets below. She held onto a scrap of solid metal that could support her weight. She was on the very edge of the gorge. She saw things falling from the building, bigger than sheets of paper. They fell at free-fall speed, down to the ground. She couldn't hear them, or really see them once they hit the ground, but when it dawned on her what it was that was falling. she recoiled, covering her face with a hoof. Her tears were black from the ash, makeup, and smoke.
She had to get down. That was non-negotiable.
She pulled herself up to get back onto the solid floor, but something caught her eye, making her turn. There, a few feet from where she had been, another mare stood. A unicorn. Tears stained her cheeks and she had a petrified expression. She was about to jump...
“Wait!” Sunny cried, reaching a hoof out to her. “Don't jump! W-Why don't you come down with me? We can keep each other safe, and company...”
The mare turned to look at her. Her eyes wide as dinner plates. “I... I can't! I'm scared! There isn't a way down!” she cried, slipping a little. She held on, though, much to Sunny's relief.
“I don't know, there must be, why don't we look for it together?” she suggested, holding out her hoof. “I'm sure together we can find it...” She tried to smile. Despite the events, surely a smile would help somepony in this horrible apocalypse.
The mare was hesitant at first, but then reaching her hoof out slowly reached for Sunny. Just as their hooves touched, the mare’s back hoof slipped, sending her dangling into the blue abyss.
“Hold on!” Sunny cried, scrambling to get to her, “Hold on!” Getting onto her belly, she reached for the mare. Trying to ease her, she spoke while stretching her whole body down.
“What's your name?” She asked, her eyes set with determination to save this mare.
“Marigold...” Her voice was soft and almost inaudible over the roaring fire below and behind.
“Hi Marigold, I'm Sunny. Do you have a family? Foals?” She wanted to distract the mare while she tried to get her and haul her back into the building.
“I have a filly, just two years old...” Marigold's eyes were huge and tearful, she struggled to maintain her hoof hold. Marigold thought of her little filly, such a happy little girl. Just this morning she'd said her first word. Every mother's dream was for her foal to say, mama. And her dream had come true. Cherry Scone had called her mama. Marigold couldn't be any prouder. But, by the look of things, she may not ever see Cherry again. But, at least she had a memory to hold with her, for the last few moments of her life. She could feel her hoof slipping.
“If... If you get out alive, go to 24th Canter Lane...” She closed her eyes for a moment, struggling to hold on. “Take care of Cherry....” As the last word slipped from her lips, her hoof slipped from the beam she'd been clinging too.
She plummeted down.
Sunny had been so close, just an inch more...
“No!” she cried, still reaching in vain for her. She watched as the mare dropped, becoming nothing more than a black speck before she was no longer falling. She'd reached her final destination.
Sunny hit the beam Marigold had been clinging to.
“Damn it all!”
She couldn't be of any more help, but she did remember the address. If she got out of there, she promised herself she'd go find that filly and make sure she'd be cared for. Taking one last gulp of air, she began looking for the exit. The elevators were surely out of order, she couldn't see them possibly working after this.
A plane hit the building, she thought to herself.
So peculiar. It just didn't register, she couldn't quite believe it. She did think stranger things had happened, but this took the cake at the moment.
Climbing over large broken desks and wall panels proved to be a challenge. It was hard going and the air was broiling hot. Crawling closer to the ground made breathing easier, but not by much. Hugging the walls, she looked for the fire escape leading to the stairs. There would be a lot of stairs in her future – if she found them that is.
Down on the streets below, bodies littered the area surrounding the tower that had been hit.
Ponies shrieked and ran. The police and fire crews didn't have such a luxury. They kept combing the area inside and out, looking for survivors. Some, either brave or foolish enough, began to climb the stairs.
Some ponies were found alive, unharmed but rattled, they were escorted back into the stairwell and guided out. It was the foolish, or brave that climbed higher. The higher they got, the harder the ascent became. Pieces of metal covered their path slowing them down. They, the fire ponies, were a tough lot, and it would take more than this to stop them. They scaled whatever the building had to throw at them, without losing hope. They would radio their positions, and how many ponies they'd found.
The higher they got the thicker the smoke became. The chances of finding ponies a live up here dwindled by the minute.
“Get in there! We'll keep going up,” Steam Stream cried. He was the one in charge today. No pony else seemed to want to. So, he being a strong stallion both physically and mentally, was the unspoken leader.
He along with four other stallions went higher up, reaching the 100th floor. Not without peril. They broke down one of the doors to the east facing wall.
“Hello!” Steam called. Getting no reply he pointed a high power flashlight into the smoke. “Hello! Is anypony there?” he shouted. Turning the beam left, he found a slumped over figure.
“Hey! We got one!”
He rushed quickly to the pony's side. Turning the pony over, he found it was a mare. Checking for a pulse he found a weak one.
“You're alright miss; we'll get you out.” He gingerly lifted her up, and began dragging her back to the exit.
Leaving her with his gang, he went back into the inferno. Nearly the whole floor was on fire, smoldering hot, and the air was thick with black smoke. He was grateful for the mask he wore as part of his uniform, giving him precious oxygen to breathe.
One of the stallions who the mare was left with acted quickly. Taking off his mask he applied it to her nose and mouth gently and left her to breathe in. She was breathing, but without much to breathe in the room they'd found her. It was no surprise she was barely hanging onto life.
“Poor gal..” he murmured. He let her rest. But he did notice more color coming to her coat.
This was a very good sign. “Hey, miss, are you alright?” A dumb question he instantly regretted, but she responded.
Sunny's eyes fluttered open. Her eyes scanned the face of the stallion. “Did you come to rescue us?” she asked, coughing halfway through.
She was greeted with a nod. “Yep. We found you moments from. Well...” He was a little too young to grasp how to approach these things delicately. “Yeah, well, we should get you down. It's not safe. The Chief is thinking the place might come down...”
He didn't realize it, but what he had just said was classified information he'd overheard moments before reaching the 50th floor.
“Are you well enough to stand?” He helped her. “We'll take it slow, and I'll be with you the whole way down.”
Sunny thought this stallion may not be very talented with tact. But was a sweetheart. “I think I'll be alright. If what you said is true, we should get going.” She watched the stallion’s expression. He seemed hesitant to leave, reluctant. “Something wrong?”
“Steam, he's still in there... I hop--.” Before he could finish what he was saying, there was a sound louder than anything heard since the plane hit. The walls around them folded inward.
The stallion leaped on top of Sunny, protecting her from potential further injury. The walls thankfully collapsed away from them, but into the offices. Steam had gone.
The stallion looked up horrified. “Steam!” He shouted. He dare not leave the mare, but... Steam. There was little hope for Steam surviving that. Gulping he helped Sunny to her hooves again. “Are you alright?” His voice trembled.
“Yes...” She looked passed him at the rubble. “I'm sorry,” she said softly.
His expression turned from grief to resolution. He had to get this mare safely to the ground below, and judging from what just happened. Time was of the essence. It was slow going as he helped her over each piece of debris. They scaled huge chunks of concrete, metal beams, bodies, and other debris.
Sunny tried to forget about those... She'd seen enough death for one day, but sadly she knew she had no say in the matter. Each body she saw she thought of Marigold... And her filly, Cherry wasn't it? Yeah, Cherry.
She focused on that.
As they neared the 46th floor, she decided she wanted to be social. Perhaps he needed her company just as much as she needed his.
“What's your name?” she asked, still holding onto his hoof each time something blocked their path, “I'm Sunny.”
She waited for a response. The poor stallion seemed to be a little dazed and working on autopilot.
“Sir?” He looked up surprised. Not realizing she was there clearly.
“Oh, my name. Yes. My name is Hydro. I was Steam's younger brother.”
Ah. That explained his shock and grief.
More ponies joined them as they made their way down. Those ponies, most of them were faster and were quickly a floor or two ahead of them.
“I'm sorry... about what happened to... Steam.” She gave him a soft smile. “He was a good stallion, and if we get out of here, I would like to pay my respects to your family.”
This of course didn't change anything, it didn't mean his brother was back, or alive. It was just an act of kindness and she wanted to tell his parents how selfless their son. No. Both of their sons were.
Now they reached the 10th floor.. Very close. There was less blocking their path, and the air was cleaner, fresh. Sunny gulped it in like a fish that had been beached. It felt cool against her lungs. It felt amazing.
Thank Celestia, she thought.
The ninth floor passed, the fifth, then finally the last floor.
They exited into the lobby only to be greeted by total destruction. Everything was destroyed – glass shattered, marble walls blown into chunks. Ponies were laying against walls nursing wounds. The situation here didn't look much better than the floors she'd come from.
Hydro guided her through the mayhem and towards the giant doors leading to the outside.
She could see from where she was that the ground was littered with papers, perhaps even some she'd seen from her floor, concrete chunks that she could hold in her hoof and ash, lots of ash. To her horror and shock, bodies were also strewn about the sidewalk.
As she exited the building she tried not to look, she didn't want to see if they were anypony she knew. Least of all Marigold...
Her ordeal seeming to be over. She was ushered to an ambulance, who quickly had her sitting on the back end as they examined her for trauma. Looking at her pupils, they seemed fine, checking her reflexes, a little slow. Her mouth and throat were covered in thick wet soot. The doctor didn't like that, and gave her some water, which as much as she wanted to gulp it all down in one go, she was told to gurgle then spit a few times. Then she could drink. Begrudgingly she followed the doctors orders.
Once finished she was grateful to be able to drink. Up until this moment, her adrenaline kept her from feeling how thirsty she was.
Hydro sat nearby, repeating what she had just had to do. He guzzled the water down like a machine. His eyes were still devoid of emotion, and looked up at the flaming tower with a frown.
Sunny was cleared for now, she'd be sent to the hospital shortly. But before that, she'd requested to talk to Hydro. Sitting down beside him she nudged him with her shoulder.
“Thanks for seeing me out,” she said softly. She followed his gaze upwards. “Hey, he...” She hesitated with the wording. “He died doing what he thought was right, and he saved ponies.” She rubbed his shoulder. “He's a hero.”
Hydro's eyes moved from the tower to hers. “You're right, Sunny.” It didn't make him feel that much better, but she was right, he had done the right thing even though he'd lost his life. His brother was a hero and died for what he believed in, and the mare sitting beside him was proof of that.
“I have to go, the doctor wants to monitor me, but, I wanted to thank you.” She smiled softly. Still rubbing his shoulder. “I really... I really owe you one, you and your brother.”
She stood and before she could go, Hydro quickly asked “Will I see you again?” It seemed a pathetic thing to say. But he wasn't tactful at all.
“Well, I sure hope so.” She smiled a little more. This time it almost reached from one ear to the other.
“I really hope so.”
She looked up, going to silently thank Steam, but as she was turning, something above caught her eye near the skyscraper in front of her. Something moving very fast, faster than any bullet.
She whipped around and cried. “Another one!”
She dove under a squad car and pulled Hydro with her just as the second plane hit the south tower. The resounding explosion rocked the very ground she lay on.
This was no accident. This was...
She looked up and peeked out. A huge fireball rose from the second tower. Her eyes were wide and fearful. She couldn't hear a thing, but she could see, she could see more death, more destruction. Above all else, in that moment, she knew:
This was done purposefully.
