//------------------------------//
// feeling 
// Story: Mapping Manehattan 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

They find it at the construction site. They didn’t know it was there, but they should have expected it. The floor is dirt and grass, and massive holes had been dug for foundation. The construction will never be finished now. 

There’s a huge excavator nearby. It’s rusted, dirty, and doesn’t work anymore. Just like everything else. The machine is sitting in front of the hole. It’s filled with black and green bags wrapped in yellow biohazard tape. Bags the perfect size for a pony.

That sends a shiver down Lightning’s spine. She stands next to the excavator, staring down at the mass of bags. Fiddle lowers her head in respect.

Lightning remembers visiting the Canterlot National Cemetery. The final resting place for Equestria’s bravest. She remembers watching the guard do his paces, twenty-one steps in every direction with twenty-one seconds of pause in between. Standing vigil over the nameless graves. Remembering the unknowns, because nopony else would. 

She wonders who will protect the memory of this desecrated place. Nopony deserves to be forgotten, or to be put in a bag and thrown in a hole.

She wants to walk away. She wants to leave this place. Lightning wants to be anywhere but here right now. But she’s rooted to the spot. She can’t leave. Fiddle puts a hoof on her shoulder.

Lightning wants to cry. She really does. But she can’t. She ran out of tears a long time ago. That doesn’t make her heart feel any lighter though. The hole is bringing back horrible memories. 

Fiddle understands. They should probably get going. There’s nothing here.

Lightning nods. But she struggles to bring herself away from the hole in the ground. This isn’t the only mass grave in the city. That’s what hurts the most. 

She remembers coming to a site like this one. Being given a shovel and an order, then a pat on the back. She dug and she cried. As the hole grew deeper her heart grew heavier. 

Then the trucks came. Trucks full of green and black bags. Fill the hole, they said. She tried not to think about how some of the bags were smaller than the others.

That night her unit gathered in the darkness. This was wrong, her captain said. If anypony wanted out, she would turn a blind eye. But only for tonight. The captain’s face hardened. Tomorrow she wouldn’t be their friend.

Lightning wonders what happened to the others. She knows a few stayed. She knows a few left. 
A long time ago she was proud of who she was. She believed in honor and duty, and was gladly serving her country. That night changed everything for her. She realized she wasn’t there to protect anypony anymore. She was just there to help clean up.

Lightning sighs at that. She failed. The whole military did. 

Not exactly, Fiddle says. She’s helping now, isn’t she? Lightning shrugs. Maybe. Some days it sure doesn’t feel like it. But it’s better than nothing… right?