The Happy Adventuring Saga: The Bonus Chapters

by Pennington Inkwell

9/11 Special: "Never Forget."

"So, where were you when it happened?" Pennington asked quietly, sipping at the broth of his soup. The room was quickly growing darker as the sun set, but neither of them seemed to want to brighten the mood or the room. The two of them had been keeping each other company on the impossibly long day, two best friends simply making sure that the other wasn't left alone.

"I was still in Fairytrail, still just a filly..." Whipstitch replied as she set down her glass. She tended to normally prefer a martini or three in the evening, but tonight she was sipping a blood-red wine, in keeping with the reverence of the day. "The school called a lock down and asked all the teachers to turn on the news... I saw it live." She shuddered and took another long drink from her glass, draining the wine. As she reached for the bottle, she made an offer to Pennington.

Pennington shook his head, picking up his own glass. "You know I don't drink, Whips... But it was horrible, wasn't it?" Tipping it back, he took a small sip of the lemonade inside. As always, he'd made it too strong, and his face shuddered for a moment as the liquid stung at his tongue. The two were being uncharacteristically reserved, though the morose memories justified their somber moods.

"I was terrified..." Whipstitch whispered as she looked down into her glass, gently swirling the contents. "Gilded came to take me home, but they wouldn't let the students out while the school was in an emergency state... She threw a huge fit until the lock down was over." She gave a half-hearted chuckle before taking another sip of the wine. "After that... we went home. Neither one of us talked about it for a while. It was one of the only times I've seen my grandmother thoroughly shut up..." As she looked up and across the small, round table they were sitting at, she watched Pennington nod.

"Mom came home early..." Pennington muttered. "She had been on her way to Appleloosa, but when she heard what had happened, she turned right back around and flew home herself." Looking down at the lemonade, he took a risk and swallowed a much larger gulp, sending shivers down his body. "Dad didn't leave me home alone, of course... But he didn't do anything to soften the blow. We watched it together on TV. He's a journalist, so he's no stranger to disasters, but he looked pretty shaken. He was scared, too." Shaking his head, Pennington pushed aside his bowl of ramen, barely touched.

"Not hungry?"

"I never am today." He shook his head.

Silence settled once again. The two ponies didn't look at each other much in the semi-darkness, each lost in their own thoughts.

"We've lived through some crazy stuff, haven't we, Penn?"

Pennington chuckled softly. "You're making me feel old, Whipstitch..."

"I mean it! I mean, the turn of the millenium? Nightmare Moon's return? We were here for Discord's resurrection, and we survived that!" Whipstitch shook her head, her long, black hair following the motion. "Someday, we're going to be able to tell our kids and our grandkids stories about the things we saw!" She took another sip of her wine. "Well, if we have any kids, that is..."

Pennington nodded quietly. "Maybe I'll tell my kids about the hairy spider monster who lives out in Everfree, gobbling up fillies and colts who wander inside..."

"And maybe I'll tell them about the stupid ghost of the pony that mocked it..." Whipstitch raised an eyebrow. The two stared for a moment, unsure of whether the other was joking,

"Arachnid-breath."

"Changeling reject."

The humor in the insults fell flat, however, as the original oppressive mood returned. The room was almost completely dark, now, and with a flash of his magic, Pennington lit a candle that had been sitting in the center of the table. It cast a faint glow, but enough to illuminate the tabletop and the two ponies sitting at it.

"Spooky..." He muttered.

"Well, you could have just turned on the light-"

"Not that, the candle is fine... It's just... We've lived through what fillies and colts will be reading in history books a thousand years from now. We're each one of those unnamed bystanders who had to fight the real battle: trying to go back to a normal life after everything was over." After a moment of thought, he shook his head. "We were probably the last ones old enough to remember it happening before our eyes... Anypony a few years younger than you or I might have learned about it from a recording or an eyewitness account but we were the ones who saw the flames before they were even put out..."

"I guess we learned the true meaning of 'death from above,' didn't we?"

This pun fell even flatter than his normal corny jokes, and the atmosphere seemed to darken for a moment.

"I know, too soon."

"It's always going to be too soon." Whipstitch let out a long sigh, finishing off yet another glass of wine.

"I was looking over some of the photographs earlier. It's funny, but for the first time, I actually took a moment to realize just how much fire there was..."

"Penn, don't go making it worse..."

"You're right... But I don't want to forget it, Whipstitch!" He stomped his hoof against the table. "I never want to forget what happened that day!"

"All of Equestria wishes that it had never happened, Penn, but we're not going to forget what happened... Not in a million years..." Whipstitch shook her head. "I just wish I hadn't needed to be here to see it."

"Well, I'm glad that it happened when it did..." As she gave him a confused look, Pennington took a deep breath. "It changed me to see something like that happen when I was still so young. The reality of the whole thing struck me all at once, and permanently impressed on me the importance of life. And for every moment of death and pain, there was some brave pony who brought a light of hope. The guards, the fire fighters, kind souls who were simply trying to help... Some of them gave everything to try to help somepony else. Sure, it was our darkest hour in perhaps hundreds of years, but that made the goodness that came as a result that much brighter!"

Whipstitch nodded. "I guess so, but it sure came at a heavy price... I had friends who lost loved ones that day."

Pennington shook his head. "The kids here in Ponyville were pretty detached from it all, being a small town and all, but a lot of the adults spent the next few days mourning the ones they'd lost. Friends, extended family... A lot of ponies lived and worked there when it happened."

Another moment of silence fell as they both remembered the sheer number of lives that had been lost. Pennington, quickly become accustomed to the beverage, poured a new glass of lemonade.

"It's funny, we lost more lives that day than we've lost to any of the storms we've weathered... Nightmare, Discord, Sombra's attack... Not even the OLR's 'clean sweep' attack was so bad, because we were able to fight back..." As he trailed off, Pennington looked down into his cup. "It was the worst crisis we've faced, and I was too young to help. I still wish that I could have done something when it happened."

"We're doing something now, aren't we?" Whipstitch smiled, lifting her glass. "We're taking the time to honor and remember the ponies who died, both victim and hero..."

Pennington let a long sigh, then gave a melancholy smile, raising his glass to meet hers with a light chime.

"I suppose that's what we can really do now... Don't ever forget the darkness, but keep in our hearts the light that only shone brighter. We'll learn and move forward, only stronger after being stricken so badly, just like how Equestria came together after what happened, both in aid and mourning..."

The two nodded quietly and each drained their glass together.

We will never forget...