The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 11 -- A Wing and a Prayer

Chapters

Chapter 2, Confession
Chapter 4, Out of Gas
Chapter 5, True Love
Chapter 6, Enough
Chapter 7, Equestria's Magic
Chapter 8, Ponies from a Different Land
Chapter 1, Cleaning House
Chapter 3, The Equestria Girls World

Chapter 2, Confession

This is Princess Twilight again.

I am really not sure how I managed to get to sleep that night. I do know that the actual casting of that long and highly complex spell, well that absolutely drained me. Then I found out that Dark Melvain had authored it, and that he tried to carefully conceal this fact by throwing out a magical challenge to other Unicorns. That whole thing infuriated me. I remember laying down on the floor of the Library, and crying for a while. I don't remember much else. But I do know that I somehow ended up in my bed that night, because thats where I was when I woke up the next morning. I had a number of scary dreams that night, but none of them woke me up. And I couldn't remember a thing about any of them...

The first thing I do remember that next morning was that I was laying on my bed, barely awake, carefully analyzing the magic in that spell. I was half asleep, but I guess that didn't stop the magical side of my brain. At one of the apex points of that spell, where a lot of magical power was abruptly brought out then re-directed, I gasped loudly with alarm. I think I gasped at the same point while actually casting the spell the night before. That gasp woke me fully up, and I bolted quickly up in my bed, then promptly fell over. Well, I was awake after that, but I absolutely could not remember the apex point, what it did, what the magic was, or anything else that my brain had discovered while analyzing. I was drawing a complete blank.

I rolled over on my side, and just laid there for a few minutes, trying to relax. Maybe I had been reading too many mystery novels lately. "Easy, girl, don't get all worked up. Dark Melvain was not the brightest Unicorn, and you made a few symbol changes. Don't over-think this... Just relax, everything is probably fine." I sighed deeply after this.

Well, ok. I worked on slowing my breathing back down to a good resting rate. That wasn't magic, anypony can do that. Calm, slow, deep breathing works wonders. Fluttershy told me that! I started to fall back asleep, but then forced myself back awake. Judging by the light beaming through my window, it was mid-morning at least. I tried to remember from my schedule if I had any appointments or Princess tasks to do today. Well, I didn't remember any, so I sighed, then rested a little more. "Maybe I could start reading my new book" I thought to myself, then I smiled. Then I remembered my messy desk. That would have to happen first. Well, after I got some breakfast, maybe. My stomach was growling; I was hungry.

I used my magic to brush my hair, then properly place my crown. I stand in front of the mirror to do that. I am a Princess, and I want to try and look the part. Still, I stumbled a little heading for the door of my bedroom. Still waking up, I headed down the hall, into the dining area, and had the cooks make me my special breakfast. Dried oats, of course, but mixed with some other stuff, formed into little rings, then baked that way. Add some milk, and then, voila! (Whatever that means.) A meal fit for a Princess! I saw this in the Equestria Girls World somewhere, I just don't remember where. The spoon that I use to eat it is...

After breakfast, I headed out the door and down the hall to the Library. I wanted to find Spike first thing. Well, he met me in the hall, and joined me as I headed towards the Library. Spike said quietly "Uhm, Twilight..."

He couldn't say anything more because I had already started in on an overview of the first task for the day, cleaning my messy desk.

"Spike, I think our first task needs to be cleaning up my desk. And I think we will find while doing that, I probably need more quills, more paper and such. Maybe we should then do a complete inventory... of... all..."

I was almost to the Library at that point, and my discussion slowed to a crawl, then stopped. A terrible smell was wafting through the air. I wanted to block my nose from that smell. Instead, I said loudly, maybe a little more loudly than I should have "Spike, what is that awful smell? What have you done?"

Spike shot an angry glare my way, then softened immediately. "Twilight, it's Shysage, he's over on the rug next to the Portal..."

...

The smell didn't matter any more. I walked quickly into the Library, and over to Shysage. He was laying on his belly on the thick rug next to the Portal, trying unbearably hard to not cry. I gasped as I got close, even though... The hair on one side of his pony coat had been singed, burned badly. I didn't see any deep burns or anything, but he was evidently close enough to... something... very... hot...

In my head, I said slowly "Oh, no...", then I froze briefly.

Someponies' nightmare...

"Shysage, what..." Honestly, that was all I could get out.

After maybe a minute, Shysage spoke slowly and with great difficulty... "Princess, can you tell Princess Celestia that a large hole in the roof of the Canterlot Recorder's home needs to be repaired? And a replacement for that nice carpet would..." That was all Shysage could say. Then he did cry, deeply... Listening to that really hurt. Stallions don't cry, and I guess aren't supposed to cry, but when they do... It was hard to listen to...

I walked away, but I was soon crying too. Spike followed me of course, and heard me say softly "Spike, what have I done..."

With the sound of Shysage crying in the background, I had Spike bring over a few pieces of paper, a full jar of ink and a quill. I had him take down a rather long note for Princess Celestia. Trying to keep it as short as I could, I told her everything; about the magical fragments, about the last one and how I handled it, my working through that complex spell, my anger at finding out it was a goaded trap from Dark Melvain, and that I angrily disposed of maybe the only magic that could help us unravel... And then Shysage this morning... Evidently the Phantom Alicorn really was the target of that spell...

Spike and I were both crying softly as I had him send the long note off to Princess Celestia. Then I just sat down, and gazed quietly across the Library, away from the Portal. I didn't know anything... what that magic spell had done, or worse, how to reverse it... I had jumped right into Dark Melvain's trap...

"...Oh, Summer... I'm so sorry..." I said this quietly to myself a few times.

Maybe magic kindergarten was next...

A reply from Princess Celestia came back fairly quickly.

Dearest Princess Twilight,

While the outcome of this task is regrettable, Dark Melvain is the real culprit. He knew pony nature well, and did not hesitate to exploit it at every turn. He always did that. Please help Shysage any way you can. The next note will be for him.

Lovingly, Princess Celestia

I didn't move. I just sighed after reading it. I kept staring off across the Library. If I could only remember something... anything about that spell...

The next note came a while later. It was brief, and the phrasing was uncharacteristically awkward, not the flowing prose I am used to seeing from Equestria's Princess...

Canterlot Recorder,

Don't worry about the roof or the rug, these are easily repaired.

We can send an Air Coach for Ariel if you feel that would be best, just have Princess Twilight let me know.

Locating the Phantom Alicorn is your only priority.

Have Princess Twilight keep us posted, and have her let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

Wow, that was it. I guessed both Equestria's Princesses were reeling...

I could have just given this letter to Shysage and let him read it. My conscience would never let me get away with that. I knew I had to tell him all about what happened last night. I had caused this mess... And he needed to know as much as possible to try and find out... what...

I walked back over to Shysage, and I think Spike realized... He headed out of the Library and disappeared. It might have been nap time, I don't know.

Shysage was still crying, and I said softly "Shysage, I need you to listen..."

A few minutes later, he had calmed down enough to listen to my confession. "Shysage, I did this..." I said quietly, sniffling myself... Then I told him everything I could remember about last night, omitting no detail. I also told him I could remember none of the details from the page that held the spell, and that, in anger, I had destroyed that page. Then I told him about the letter I sent to Princess Celestia this morning, and let him read both responses.

An occasional tear fell from his face as he listened to my explanation. As I mentioned Dark Melvain, Shysage sighed deeply. "Not again..." he said quietly. After he read the two notes, he was quickly deep in thought.

But, by the time I was done with my confession, I was sobbing deeply, crying buckets... "Summer, I'm so sorry..." I said over and over again.

Shysage got up, then hugged me a minute maybe. "Princess, its ok, it will work out." Shysage didn't sound real convinced himself as he said this, but I calmed down. Shysage went back and laid down on the rug next to the Portal.

Fluttershy, Shyna and Ariel walked quickly into the library at that point. Fluttershy was already weeping softly, and Ariel had the look of alarm etched across her face. Ariel had not even laid down next to Shysage before she said loudly "Dad, where is mom?" Well, she wasn't here... Ariel and I both burst into tears at the same time.

Fluttershy said quietly "I just want my sssissss....." and could say no more.

Shysage was trying to not cry himself. "Ari, Dark Melvain did something to mom. We are not sure what..." That was all Shysage could say. Shysage hugged his daughter, and we all cried together for a little while. Applejack wandered into the Library at some point, and quickly joined us as we cried. Applejack asked nothing, and just hugged me and cried with us. I don't know, but I really appreciated having her near.

When it was a little quieter, Shysage asked haltingly "Princess, can you send for Pinkie Pie?" I don't know how, but this made me smile a little inside. "True friends to the rescue" I thought to myself.

Applejack volunteered right away. "I'll go get Pinkie" and she was quickly running, out of the Library, down the hall, gone.

It was quiet. Shysage was hugging Ariel, kissing her head occasionally. Leaning up against her dad, still crying softly, Ariel said quietly "Daddy, I'm scared... I read that volume about Dark Melvain last week, and I'm sure, if he ever got mom again..." Shysage didn't answer. There was no answer. We just didn't know...

We wept quietly together until Applejack returned. She brought Pinkie Pie, and also Rarity, Filia and Fiona, and Rainbow Dash. We would all face this together. I sighed. Having my girls near, this made me feel a lot better.

Still, again, I briefly explained to everypony, really confessing what I had done last night, and what had happened as a result. A few gasps, then we all cried together some more. It just didn't look good.

It was quiet for a few minutes.

Still, Shysage was deep in thought. He asked quietly, without even looking up. "Pinkie, is Summer alive?"

Pinkie looked off into the distance briefly, then said quietly "I think so..." Well, I was sensing the same thing from Equestria. And if Shysage had not found any remains... This thought still made me cry softly again.

It was quiet for a few more minutes.

"Pinkie is Summer in Equestria present?"

Brief pause for Pinkie Sense...

"No..."

"Is Summer here but in the Past?"

"No..."

"What about the future?"

"No... Shysage, I don't think she is in Equestria...."

Shysage sighed, looked down and shook his head slowly... Then he said quietly "Equestria Girls world... I was afraid..."

Ariel was quickly crying pretty hard. "Daddy, I want mom... I want to help... But not there... That place is so scary... so huge... If I got lost... Oh, daddy, please don't make me come..."

Honestly, I felt exactly the same way about the Equestria Girls world. It was nice to visit, and spend amazing time with Twins, bleacher girls and such... But the visits to Canterlot High School are all to a carefully controlled environment, a mostly peaceful oasis, in the midst of a sometimes dark and hostile world. We could probably thank Principal and Vice-Principal for the safety we enjoy at CHS. But in that world? alone? I absolutely knew I wouldn't survive... I understood exactly how Ariel felt...

Shysage hugged his daughter tightly as she cried for a while. After she calmed down some, Shysage said quietly "Ariel, its ok. I honestly don't even want you there... I want you safe, here..." Fluttershy and Shyna moved, and both hugged Ariel. Since Shysage and Summer had brought their daughter Ariel back from the Past, Ariel had spent a lot of time at Fluttershy's Cottage. They were close. And there was always Princess Celestia and Princess Luna; they would watch over their Foal-sitter from the distant Past in a heart-beat...

So for a little while... Fluttershy, Shyna and Ariel hugged tightly and cried softly together... Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Filia, Fiona and I wept softly together, also hugging. With my girls all nearby, I could relax. I needed them... all of them... each of them... If I had learned anything in the last five years, it was that...

Shysage was by himself on the rug in front of the Portal, with a disgusted frown on his face... He was actually born in the Equestria Girls world, and had run away from it, for good, he thought. He said once that the Equestria Girls world is bigger than a thousand Equestrias... And reading some of Summer's Chronicles, it seems there is a lot of, well, evil there. And not like some big, bad monster; the darkness there seems to stalk and wander, easily through so many lives. Some of the stories I've heard from other girls at CHS...

Just then, Shysage said quietly to himself "It will take a miracle..."

Well, that triggered something in my memory, and I said out loud, but softly "A wing and a prayer..."

Applejack was right next to me and said "What, Princess?"

I tried again. "Shysage... The only thing I can remember from that spell last night is this phrase: a wing and a prayer..."

Shysage heard me, and thought briefly. Then he sighed deeply and said slowly "Thank you Princess. But if that was a part of the spell... It will still take a miracle..."

...

I could not even guess what might lay ahead, for Shysage the Canterlot Recorder, on the other side of the Portal behind him...

Chapter 4, Out of Gas

That night, I slept terrible. I kept dreaming about many amazing times I had spent with my Mare, Summer, but the dreams always seemed to end up with her getting... hurt or worse... I would bolt quickly upright in bed at that point, breathing rapidly, usually crying... Trying to calm down, I would try to convince myself that we had to carefully plan our search here in the Equestria Girls world to try and find her. I would then lay back down, start drifting off to sleep, then remember the scope was broke, and so it would take practically stumbling over her... Then another bad dream... That night was just terrible. I wish I could say it was the worst one... the only one... It wasn't. And that foreboding tune in the background(1) didn't help any. In fact, it even wove through most of my dreams...

I think I was finally able to get a few hours of solid sleep though. When I woke up, the clock showed 12:00 and was blinking. I guess the power had gone out at some point last night. I found the loaner cell phone, it was 10:38. It was still morning though, so I got dressed, walked past Canterlot High School and had breakfast at the Cake's Diner. While eating, I texted Pinkie Pie to ask about the road trip. She said tomorrow was Saturday, and that would work well for her. She asked that we leave early though. I thanked her, then let her know that was fine.

I also thanked the smiling lady for another free breakfast. I knew I needed to find my Summer though. After walking through the door and out of the Cake's, I stopped. I had today free, and I needed to try and find Summer. I could not use the scope, or the Twin Link... I turned away from CHS and just started walking through town. Well, I pretty much wandered through town. I had no goal really, no destination. I was just hoping I would walk into my Mare, my Summer, as I walked. Or maybe I would get some idea at least.

Early on, this was, well, heart-breaking. Every petite blond I saw would practically double my heart-rate. I didn't want to make a scene or anything, so I usually just froze, and waited... Of coure none of them were Summer. After maybe the fifth or sixth time, I realized that, if Summer were anywhere close, she would at least be looking for me. If she had use of her faculties (another shudder), she would probably try to make contact with anypony of the circle here at CHS. I also realized that, well, her hair... Even in a crowd it would stand out. Knock-out, bright golden blond, but with more yellow than I had ever seen here, and I adored it...

After realizing all of this, I calmed down, and just walked. Well, like I said, I wandered around town, covering as much distance as I could that day. This whole search was not just like a needle in a haystack. It was like trying to find one particular bee in a busy bee-hive, maybe a hundred bee-hives, and with all the bees in constant motion. I guessed I was hoping that Summer would find me. I walked around town most of the day anyway. I kept my eyes out, and I guess blond is a pretty popular hair color here, but... nopony even close... I talked to true friend some, I knew he knew I needed help. I didn't think about much else past trying to find Summer. But I felt so helpless. With the scope out of action, there was really no planning I could do. Well, I guess there was absolutely nothing else I could do besides walk and look, and I really wanted to cry realizing that. All I could do right now was walk around, and hope. That was unsettling. But it was all I had.

After walking a long time, I headed back to the Cake's and passed it, then walked to CHS. It was late in the day, and I wanted to at least check back with them to see how the Computer Lab was doing. I wasn't sure where to go with so many doors locked, so I sat on the steps at the front of CHS for a little while, then Vice-Principal Luna came and got me. The two spare computer systems were already moved into the Computer Lab, and were being used, which was fine. One of the keyboards had died though (a little too much soda), and I was able to pull one of the keyboards from the work-shop and get that system back on line. She didn't ask about finding Summer; Summer would be with me if I had found her. Well, Pinkie would probably know, and tell everypony, the very minute... Vice-Principal Luna thanked me again, and I headed off to the Cake's for dinner.

Ok, so my first full day here in the Equestria Girls world, looking for my Mare, and I had, well, nothing. And any resources I thought I had, well... Wandering around a busy bee-hive... Dinner was good, but I just felt so alone. I thanked a different smiling lady for the free food, and headed out the door. I walked slowly to my cubical. I guess in my head, I was still trying to plan. I worked through mentally the cities nearby, and how to get to each one, well the downtown area. Then I realized... Most downtown areas only held a very small portion of the overall population... Realistically, I would have to walk miles of residential roads, and just hope... I had not even done that here...

I cried softly at the bleachers at CHS for a little while, then wandered home. I set my alarm for early, and dove into another night of Summerless nightmares.

My alarm woke me up the next morning right in the middle of an amazing memory of an afternoon I had spent with my Mare in Equestria. I didn't really want to wake up. The alarm didn't stop, and it seemed so out of place in a field in Equestria Past. When I woke fully up, and realized where I was, and why... I just cried. I wanted Summer desparately, and I really needed her. Dark Melvain was a vicious tyrant, and he had picked the best way in the universe to hurt me... Well, we really didn't know what he was up to, but still...

Getting myself dressed and looking as presentable as I could, I got the keys and some cash, and walked out to Big Blue, a large but older sedan parked under the carport next to my cubical. This is the third car Summer has ever been in, and, at the time, the smooth ride, and the large dimensions of this car... Well, it was very good for Summer, and she told me a few times. I had to stop thinking about Summer just then. After checking all critical fluid levels, I climbed in, and turned the key. It complained starting up, but was soon behaving and running well. I texted Pinkie that I was getting breakfast at the Cake's, and could pick her up there.

Breakfast was good and free. By the time I was done, Pinkie Pie and two of her sisters were sitting at the table with me. The Pie sisters were talking together, and laughing too. I didn't mind, I just wish I felt like laughing. Pinkie introduced me at first, then carefully explained what this Road Trip was for. It was quiet a minute maybe, then the Pie sisters went back to enjoying the day together. Honestly, I didn't mind. I just wish...

Pinkie insisted on driving, and I really didn't put up much of a fight. I was sure she remembered the way. Even if she didn't, she could quickly sense... The three Pie girls were in the front seat which was easily large enough. I climbed into the back seat, which was fine. Pinkie remembered the audio tap I had added, and quickly had her phone plugged in and playing all sorts of different music. Overall, I think the Pie girls all took turns plugging their cell phones in and enjoying each other's music. Again, I didn't mind. Pinkie was doing me a huge favor, both by taking us back to the goon's house, as well as doing some of the driving. Well, by the end of the day, each of the Pie sisters took at least one turn driving this big car from the past. I don't think they minded the trip either. They had a lot of fun just being together.

It was just that... Every car we passed... Every pedestrian I saw... Well, as far as Pinkie Sense could tell, Summer was out there, somewhere... And as the continual houses and buildings of the big city gave way to rolling hills, then arid desert, I had to keep fighting the memories that seemed to want to flood back. Well, I finally gave in, and just let them flow past in my mind. I had to work hard to not cry since I was not the only person in this car. But... maybe one of these memories could give me an idea. Well, that didn't happen. But I couldn't help but realize the many, many ways Summer's presence had literally transformed my life, mostly in Equestria, but here as well. Like I said, I didn't just want her back, I needed her back... I had to find her...

Most of the way there, one of the Pie sisters eased Big Blue into a gas station out in the middle of nowhere. While the Pie girls flocked to the ladies' room, I filled up the gas tank, and looked quickly under the hood for any glaring problems. Still, looking around at the countryside, I could tell we were close. The Pie girls climbed back into the front seat, with Pinkie at the wheel again, and I took a turn in the restroom. Then I realized that Summer and I had stopped at this exact same gas station on a terrible but amazing day so long ago. But here and now... Well, I just had to find her...

Maybe forty five minutes later, we headed slowly down the long road towards the driveway to the goon's house. I had to rescue my Summer from this very house, from the two vile monsters that lived here. Two of the most disgusting men on the planet had kidnapped Summer, done horrible things, took horrible pictures for sale on the internet, and then tried to kill her. As far as I knew, the monsters were in jail now, but I still felt the need to at least check here. My plan was to knock on the door. I had no better idea. I guess, if they had guns and recognized me, it would be a problem. But if they had her again, I wanted to know. Like I said, I had no better plan.

Pinkie must have known this, too. She didn't stop out on the road next to the mail boxes like last time; she pulled the car down the driveway, and parked next to the house. Wow, the house looked a lot nicer; fresh paint, new gardens, flowers, bushes... I didn't think the goons lived here any more.

It was maybe the middle of the afternoon, and the sun was high. I knocked gently on the door. I could hear the sound of a TV faintly inside somewhere.

A pleasant looking older woman soon opened the door fully. "Can I help you?" she asked calmly.

I started "I apologize for bothering you, but..." I realized at this point, I really wasn't sure how to even ask what I wanted to know. Well, this is what came out... "I... The two men who lived here have kidnapped my wife before, and she is missing again..." I didn't cry, but I think it was clear that I was about to.

"Aww, well, its ok. She's not here, not now. Those evil men are in jail, hopefully for a long time. The stories I heard from neighbors when I moved in; they must have run a prostitution ring or something." She laughed, then said "I even found an old, rusted gun out back..." Switching quickly to a look of concern, she asked "Has she been gone long?"

"Few days" was all I could get out.

"Well, you are welcome to look around. I'm hiding nothing, let alone someone's wife" she said honestly.

Maybe I had come to my senses by then. "Thank you ma'am, that won't be necessary, I believe you, and I apologize again for bothering you."

"No bother at all" she said. "I don't get many visitors way out here anyway." she added with a chuckle. "Still, let the police know if you haven't. They can't always help right away, but usually... And good luck..."

I thanked her again, then headed back to the car. Summer has no identity here. Getting the police involved would be... And trying to explain Dark Melvain...

Once in the back seat, I closed the door, and it was silent briefly.

Pinkie said quietly "Shysage, I could have told you she wasn't here, but I knew you needed to come see for yourself."

Pinkie was right, and I thanked her.

It must have been some other Pie's turn to drive, and they played musical chairs, and we were soon out the driveway, and on our way back to CHS.

"Oooo, cruise control! Does it work?" The Pie sister in the driver's seat said this.

I was about to say that I didn't know. Pinkie already knew, and explained "Yeah, just kick it off on long up-hill stretches. This motor is tired."

Yeah, it was...

While the Pie sisters chatted happily, I sat in the back seat and tried to relax. I think, in the hands of those two vile monsters again, that was one of my worst fears for my Summer. I sighed, realizing this wasn't the case. Still, my Summer, alone, somewhere out there...

I don't remember much about the return trip. I think that whole trip left me just so spent. Well, everything did...

Near sun-down, we stopped for dinner. I guess I was hungry, but I think the Pie sisters were too. It was a good break. And a different Pie sister was at the wheel as we left. It was dark, and so the headlights were required. But they didn't come on as the switch was pulled out... This was a serious problem. We couldn't drive at night without headlights...

Pinkie was quickly out, after asking her sister to pop the hood. She did something, then asked for the headlights again. They came on. Pinkie closed the hood, and climbed back in, and we were on our way.

"Shysage, it was just a loose connection on one of the fusible links at the starter relay. You will need to pull the lug off , clean it up, and tighten everything down. It should get us home though." Pinkie explained this, then she paused briefly. "At least the fusible link wasn't down on the starter underneath the motor like some other cars we know. The numb skull who came up with that should have to fix one while laying on his back in the mud!"

All three Pie sisters laughed loudly at this. Evidently they had all experienced this terrible sounding task before...

And, maybe an hour from home, the car sputtered, and the engine died. The Pie sister in the driver's seat skillfully eased the car over and onto the shoulder, safely away from the freeway. And this included applying the brakes on this big car without the power booster active. Then both Pie sisters looked at Pinkie. She looked off into the distance briefly, then said quietly "Out of gas..."

This started something, I guess. This must have happened to the Pie family before, maybe numerous times. For the next few minutes, laughing, each reminded the other of a number of such occasions. Most began with the words "Or, like the time..."

It was quiet again. "Shysage, you have a gas can in your trunk." Pinkie had not even finished saying this when she had opened the glove-box, pushed the trunk opener button, and was out the door. It didn't take long for Pinkie to find the gas can, which I had totally forgotten about. We were soon on our way again, and took the next exit for a gas station. I refilled the gas can too. While I was putting the gas can back in the trunk, Pinkie Pie walked around to the back of the car and said quietly "Shysage, your scope can run on the 12V electrical system in your car; you know that, right?" Pinkie didn't wait for an answer, and was quickly back in the car.

I... Why didn't I think of that... Pinkie was right, of course. I wondered what else she knew about that secretive device. But that didn't even matter though.

On the way back to town, I worked through what I needed to do to merge the scope power system with the approximately 12 volts supplied by Big Blue. It would take a little work, but I had to do it.

Dinner was at the Cake's, and I thanked all three Pie sisters for their help. All agreed it was a fun road trip together. Pinkie's two sisters left in some other older car as Pinkie headed back up the stairs to her room.

It wasn't late, so I texted Vice-Principal Luna about using the work-shop again tomorrow. She said that was fine, also asking that I check in with the Computer Lab, and I said that was the least I could do. She also reminded me it was the weekend. Like I said, I had lost track of days. Well, I didn't feel I could take a day off anyway. And I would need to lug the scope around a little more. I guess my arms would get another good work-out. I needed the scope up and running though. I needed to find Summer. I fell asleep thinking through the details of grafting a noisy and variable 12 volts from a car into the sensitive power conditioning circuitry for my scope thing...

I spent most of the next day at the work-shop at CHS. I spent some time in the Computer Lab, and also fixed a printing issue for Princess, er, Principal Celestia. But I mainly worked on modifying my scope to work from a widely variable, roughly 12 Volt power supply. Staff parking was just outside the work-shop, which made this a lot easier. I had to add a special connector to the dash of Big Blue too. And I had to come up with a way so that the scope did not confuse Summer with her Equestria Girls Twin, who was changing a diaper on their Ariel Dawn when the scope found her. But at the end of the day, well late that night, the scope was sitting calmly in the front seat of Big Blue looking for my Summer. She was not in range.

I must have been exhausted at the end of that day. Half a burger at the Cake's, back to my cubical, and I fell quickly asleep.

The next day I started driving. Trying to remember from past usage, I conservatively estimated the range of the scope at maybe 20 miles. And this was a lot better than having to practically trip over her. I knew this city pretty well, and so, by maybe noon, I had covered it thoroughly, and was pretty sure Summer was not in this area. And I rotated the scope and leaned it up against the dash so it would be easier for me to tell if the video feed snapped to life, indicating that the scope had found her. And the scope seemed to be tolorating Big Blue's electrical system fairly well.

I stopped at the Cake's for lunch. While I ate, I tried to come up with some sort of plan, selecting nearby cities, then seleting a path through the city that would give the scope the best chance. Well, there were so many... And I realized too that I had to account for the huge areas of suburbia, house after house, road after road, fanning out madly from the center of these cities... I remember thinking to myself "This could take years..." Even if it did, I had no choice.

Backing the car out of the parking spot at the Cake's, I noticed a small puddle of fresh coolant. Well, to make a long story short, replacing the water pump was the rest of that day. I had the tools, and located a pump, but this... I wanted to be looking for my Summer, not wrestling with the nasty, dirty front drive components of this old car. And I needed to do the repair right, because I needed this car to take me many more thousands of miles... When I was done, and Big Blue was ready to drive again, it was too late, even for dinner. After I got cleaned up, I shaved, then was quickly asleep.

The next morning, after breakfast at the Cake's and a quick check to make sure Big Blue had no other issues, I started driving. Using the compass directions, I broke my surroundings up into quadrants, and headed to the area between North and West, covering as much as I could that day. I drove all day, and didn't find my Summer. Almost at closing time, I had dinner at the Cake's. I ate everything. I was hungry... Back to my cubical, get cleaned up, fall into bed. I was soon asleep.

But, I guess after driving around in cities and suburbs all day... In maybe the middle of the night, I dreamed about seeing Summer... She was sitting on the curb on a street in some city, as cars dashed past... Her head was in her hands, and she was crying... "Shysage, please come back..." In my dream, I yelled loudly "Summer!" only to wake up, and bolt upright in my bed at that point, gasping for air, crying... I needed her... She needed me... I talked to true friend a while, trying to calm down. I fell back asleep at some point, only to have the exact same dream again a few hours later... This did not make for a good night's sleep. But it just reinforced what I really needed to accomplish. And it really could take... weeks... months...

Well, days passed... Weeks maybe, I lost track of time. My nights always held the same, dream about Summer crying on the curb, wake up gasping, crying, talk to true friend, fall back asleep, then a few hours later... My days seemed to drag painfully forward, always waiting for the next green light... or looking for the correct off-ramp, or panic braking to avoid the careless driver... And I was always scanning furiously for that petite blond sitting on the curb, crying... I did not like this place even before I came here. People drive their cars the same way they treat other people in the rest of their lives. Driving here was excruciating. But I had to keep going, keep looking... After completing the four quadrants around the city, I extended and subdivided the quadrants into larger chunks, further away, again using the compass divisions, NNW, WNW, etc. I kept looking, piecing together an ever expanding search area with my cubical at the center.

Since Dark Melvain was behind all this, I was pretty sure he had picked out a fitting destiny for me. I was spending every waking moment, driving around in a world that I had run away from, looking for the most important pony in my universe... I wondered if this would go on until I died in some horrible traffic accident, and that was it...

I drove and looked... I looked and drove... And a good night's sleep was just not possible. Early on, I got texts from our friends here, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight mostly. As the days stretched on, our amazing friends just stopped asking how everything was going. If I had found Summer, she would be with me. In fact, we would leave this terrible place as soon as possible. Pinkie Pie felt increasingly bad too. Her Pinkie Sense was just silent about what I needed to know. Nopony could explain that.

One morning... Driving through some look-alike residential area, trying to hold in my mind the boundries of the area I was checking today... I decided to turn on the radio to keep from falling asleep. Bad idea... I caught the tail end of an interview. This woman had been kidnapped, and quickly driven to the other end of the country. Months later she finally managed to escape, and get back home... I... Summer could be anywhere by now... A jet could have flown her around the world by now... And I had only covered... I turned the radio off, and just cried. Driving like that is hard.

Maybe minutes later, I glanced over at the scope... The display shows whatever video feed it might be picking up, and it was blank at the moment, of course. But the name of the current target is posted along the bottom of the display. It read "Princess Twilight..." The scope panel holds buttons that I added for targets that the scope looks for, based on specific biometric information. I had set it for Summer, and it should have shown "Summer Rain"; she was the one I was looking for, after all. Somehow, at some point, the button for Princess Twilight had accidentally been pressed instead... How long ago... I had no clue when that had happened... All the searching I had done up to this point... Days... Weeks... Wasted...

Something snapped inside... I knew I would, had to repeat the search. It was the middle of the morning, but still... I did an illegal U-Turn in the middle of a busy street and headed for my cubical... I was so spent... so out of gas...

I cried in my bed for hours... Still crying, I got up and walked... I am not sure where I walked, or how, but I ended up at the church building where my Twin works. I guess I was oblivious to the fact that the Twin Link had come active. He was working, of course, it was late afternoon. I ended up sitting in the sanctuary, and I just cried out to true friend. Honestly, I was so far beyond my meager resources. My Twin was soon sitting next to me. He knew how I felt, of course. I appreciated his presence, but I also knew I was keeping him from his work. I just cried though. I think that was all I could do.

At some point later, my Twin said softly "Shysage, they need this room soon, we have to leave..." Well, I knew I would ruin whatever service would happen in here, so I got up and walked outside. My Twin said he would be out in a few minutes. I found a quiet secluded spot and sat on the grass. My crying slowed to quiet sniffles. I was still such a mess inside. I knew I would start my search over... I had to... I just didn't know...

My Twin came out a few minutes later and sat down next to me. "I can't stay long" he said quietly. That was ok. He had his job, his responsibilities, and I would be the last person to--

"Wait a minute..." my Twin said abruptly. He sounded confused, or... He got quickly up, so I followed him. This area seemed so peaceful, what could possibly...

My Twin walked over to a low bush area, part of the shrubbery of the well cared for grounds of this church. He was just staring at something... It looked like a plaster cast of a piece of a wing...

He climbed through the shrubbery, and pulled it up, then layed it carefully on top of the bushes... It was a complete statue... of my Summer... In her beautiful, flowing dress... The Phantom Alicorn, horn, wings and all...

But it was a statue...

Of all the...

I just cried...

Author's Note

(1) "Faded Memories", the background music for the Promyvion areas of Final Fantasy XI. The areas, the Chains of Promythia expansion, the OST and the game are all copyrighted by Square Enix.

Chapter 5, True Love

Shattered and broken...

After weeks...

We had found an accurate statue of Summer as the Phantom Alicorn. It looked like it had been haphazardly tossed into one of the secluded flower beds on the grounds of the church that my Twin, Equestria pony Shysage worked at. I guess he would recognize something not quite right, something out of place. Still, it was all I could find of my Mare, my Summer, my world... I had spent weeks maybe, chasing after a needle in a hay-stack -- no, looking for a single bee somewhere in hundreds of busy, constantly changing bee-hives -- all in just a small corner of the hundreds of thousands of square miles that was the Equestria Girls world...

And I had found nothing... Except this... I just hugged the statue and cried. I really could not do anything else... I felt so empty... so spent... I knew I was on the hairy edge of hysteria... And it was like I hadn't even really started looking yet...

Maybe inside I was hoping that my tears... Maybe the statue would magically change back into Summer. I had seen some remnants of Equestria's magic here in the Equestria Girls world before. But it wasn't often. And it was not like Summer was absolutely essential to Equestria, like one of the Princesses. Well, Summer and I agreed, neither of us were. We were both expendable. Or... This statue just might be Dark Melvain's punishment for me... I didn't like either thought right then, and just cried more.

My Twin stood by me for a while. I wasn't crying hard, and I was sure he felt my pain. And he probably had his hands full emotionally taking care of his Mare, Summer's Twin. Losing a Twin is a nightmare... So, this whole thing wasn't easy for them either. But as the sun headed for the trees, he got a text, then said he would be in the church if I needed him. That was fine, I am sure he had a ton of work to do yet. Tomorrow would be a busy day here. Still, there was nothing he could do anyway. I didn't think there was anything anypony could do. Well, I did throw up a few pleadings to true friend, but honestly, I felt so at a loss without my Summer. My life felt so ruined... emptied... again... And after looking for weeks, I was holding the only thing I had found...

I am not sure how long I cried there, tightly clutching a chunk of plaster that looked like my Summer... hoping... The walkway lights nearby came on though, so it must have been dark. I kept crying. I didn't know what else to do. This search could go on for years... I cried for a while more... And... as time passed, I realized this wasn't my Summer, and wouldn't be... Inside I knew I had to start this whole search all over again... I really needed to go home and get some sleep, because tomorrow... But I just couldn't... let... go...

...Suddenly I began to move. Well, something was moving me. I thought at first that my mind was playing tricks, but the feeling didn't go away. And I couldn't feel a hand or a rope or anything like that around my stomach, around my chest, but something... I had to let go of that statue...

As my hands and legs fell slackly downward, something picked me up and I rose into the air. It was slow, but I was moving, higher and higher. Maybe when I was fifty feet in the air, I began to move sideways. As I did, my body was actually rotated, so I was facing away from where I was moving. I wasn't scared because I was moving pretty slow. But I was moving. And I was definitely not doing it. Neither was my Summer though... It was clear to me I was out of ideas. I also had no idea what was going on, but at least it was something. I had no better plan. I really had no plan. I asked true friend for help and just relaxed. I couldn't, wouldn't fight whatever it was that was moving me anyway. I could fall to the ground if I did. From 50 feet up, that would break a lot of bones...

It was dark, and I was facing in the opposite direction anyway; I couldn't see where I was being taken. But I realized pretty quickly, based on where I had been... I guessed I was being taken to the Portal wall in front of Canterlot High School. As I moved down the broad walkway leading to CHS, I was pretty sure I saw Pinkie Pie run up. I didn't really feel like talking... Whatever was moving me, well I stopped directly over the statue, then turned so I was facing up. I had to hold my arms and legs... Then I drifted slowly down towards the grass on the building side of the statue, right next to the Portal wall. Then I was pulled into the Portal...

After clearing the Equestria end of the Portal, I clearly recognized the Library in Princess Twilight's Castle, and the deep purple rug with Princess' Cutie Mark on it, there in front of the Portal. I could also see that I was a pony now. But I was still being moved backwards, by something, some unknown force. It was wierd, but like I said, I had nothing else...

Princess Twilight was the only one in the Library. She was reading a book, and she slowly watched me as I was pulled backwards, a few feet above the ground, away from the Portal, through the Library and into the hall. She said nothing, and the last I saw, she was looking straight ahead, gazing far off into the distance, hopefully connecting with Equestria. Maybe she could come up with something now, I don't know.

But I didn't stop. Now, my pony back was facing forward, and I could only see behind me. I was moving down the hall slowly, then out the front door of the Castle. I didn't go down the steps, I was slowly pulled much higher into the air, up to maybe normal Pegasus flying height, which was around 500 feet. I wasn't flying, even though I probably could have if I was dropped suddenly... But I was still being held up, moved, backwards, able to see only where I had been. Maybe I could have turned my head and looked off to the side. I guess I thought that I shouldn't, or rather was not meant to. But honestly, I didn't know anything. And, overall, it just didn't matter.

Still, I was being moved just a little faster than I could fly. Even so, I felt the air only flowing gently past my body, not that this even mattered. But it did mean that this trip might take a while. It looked like maybe mid-morning in Equestria, and the sun was high in the sky. I saw ponies on the ground far below, but none up in the air nearby.

After maybe fifteen minutes in the air, I was pretty sure I was headed towards Canterlot. I had made this trip many times flying, and could tell by the terrain, certain landmarks, even though I was moving backwards. Well, just maybe... Equestria's Princesses might have new information, I don't know. Again, I really didn't know anything.

When I thought I was nearing Canterlot, I slowly began to veer off to the left. I wanted to wait until I was sure because this was not a good prospect. But after ten more minutes, it was pretty clear I was not heading to Canterlot. Of course that filled me with dread. There was just one other possibility, based on where I thought I was heading, based admittedly on where I had been...

Dark Melvain's Bastion...

The last time I was there, hundreds of years ago now, Dark Melvain insisted that I run the gauntlet past 30 or so powerful Unicorns. Well, I could barely move when I had actually arrived in the Past that day, and the rough handling at the hands of Canterlots guards... Then a magically very weak Unicorn had so battered me hauling me out to the Bastion... Well, I couldn't move when Dark Melvain demanded... His Unicorns pretty much threw me around with their magic until I wanted to die... I felt like I was already about dead. I think that was Dark Melvain's plan. Summer, Cel and Fluttershy got me through the Portal, and I am pretty sure I lived thanks to the tears of a sea of bleacher girls.

That all happened last time I was where I suspected I was being taken. These were not fond memories, and I could not shrug off the foreboding I felt. Drifting along, high above that dark ridge comfirmed my fears, just as foreboding music slowly arose in the background(1)... Monster music...

I passed over the main downhill gate complex of his Bastion up in the air... And I guess I started preparing myself for the worst. But without Summer, I am not sure how much survival really mattered. I had already told her that if she died, I wanted to die too. Living without her again had already become a daily nightmare. I had already tried that, twice now, so I knew... Of course I would fear for our daughter Ariel. She had come to love both Fluttershy and Equestria pony Shyna, and even Princess Twilight, all as family. Of course she would mourn our absence, again, but she would be well cared for.

Directly over the cold, rough, jet-black obsidian floor of the large square courtyard in the center of the Bastion, I stopped, turned to be face up, then we slowly descended towards the courtyard. I didn't think this would be a happy landing unless I slowed some... I had no control over that. But nearing the courtyard floor, I did slow substantially. I was then turned sideways again, and realized I was only feet above the floor. We went through two open doors, one into a hall, then a second into the same jail cell, in this very place, that Dark Melvain had thrown me, and left me to die slowly and in agony.

It was then that I realized that... What was happening... Princess Twilight said Dark Melvain had authored the spell... I was pulled from my Twin's church in the Equestria Girls world -- to this very place, Dark Melvain's Bastion. This whole thing had Dark Melvain's fingerprints all over it. "This will not end well" I thought to myself...

I only momentarily stopped inside my jail cell, sideways, looking back at the door. I was then turned so my back faced down, and I was looking up at the ceiling. I only saw that briefly. We plunged downward... I was sure I was going to be squeezed into a flat sheet of flesh and bones, dying horribly, as whatever it was, pulled me to the floor...

...But I kept going... ...down... I watched the floor of the jail cell pass over my head, and realized I was still alive. I passed through a maze of lower floors, then through the obsidian foundation of the Bastion. I was still alive as I was pulled down into the bedrock, then layer after layer of that mountain where the Bastion was built. Blazing gems occasionally flashed as I passed. I was actually being pulled down through layer after layer of solid rock, but it was always kept a few feet away from me. I was not injured by this descent. If I had any interest in geology... Summer was all that mattered to me now, and I didn't think I'd ever see her again, not with Dark Melvain behind this... And with each passing foot that took me deeper into the ground... I was pretty sure my doom was sealed. I was beyond help... So far away from help, and getting deeper by the minute...

Suddenly, the layers of rock opened into a HUGE cavern. I actually continued descending, but saw no rocks nearby, just dimly lit mist that I passed easily through. I am not sure how, but I felt maybe I was getting close to the floor of the cavern. Moments later, I landed pretty hard on my back, which knocked the wind out of me...

The first thing I noticed... The dreadful music in the background was louder...

When I could breath again, I rolled over on my side, then I saw...

...

Summer was very near, and I quickly got up and ran towards her. The closer I got... Her head was down, eyes closed... It looked like she had not eaten since she had been ripped from our bedroom...

I lifted her head, and said quietly "Summer..."

Her eyes flew open, and we were quickly hugging, crying...

Summer said faintly, a few times "Shysage, I knew you would come..."

It felt amazing to be able to hug my Mare again, and we cried loudly together... Still, she was very weak, and I had no idea how to get her out of here.

...

A voice blasted loudly out of nowhere...

"SUCH STUPID SENTIMENT..."

It... was... Dark Melvain. He uncloaked maybe a hundred feet away from Summer and I. Still crying, we turned to face him, and I kept one of my front legs around Summer's neck. If she died, I wanted to die too.

He looked just like I remember from the day we killed him... last time... His huge, barely discernable pony form, maybe three stories tall... His dark purple hide and the multitude of raw, bleeding, open pits showering out every conceivable magical element...

Dark Melvain seemed very cheerful, and without a care. He was facing us, looking down at us. He didn't move, but he spoke. Well, he yelled...

"WELL...

"WEEEELLLLLLLL!

"I'M IMPRESSED!"

Brief delay. He spoke, yelled slowly, and seemed to be amazed briefly.

"SOMEPONY!

"SOME AMAZING UNICORN!

"SOMEPONY FINALLY DID IT!

"SOME INSANELY POWERFUL UNICORN... FOUND MY SPELL, AND PULLED IT OFF!

He looked directly at us, and said with a sneer

"NONE OF YOUR TRUE FRIENDS, OF COURSE!"

Dark Melvain laughed wickedly and loudly for a minute or two. Then he seemed somewhat preoccupied, and turned his huge body around, looking off into the distance behind him.

"SO THIS IS WHAT THE OUTSIDE OF THE GATES OF HADES LOOKS LIKE..."

Brief delay... We couldn't see these gates.

"SO GLAD TO FINALLY BE OUT OF THAT TERRIBLE PLACE..."

Dark Melvain turned to face us again, followed by a longer delay. He was in no hurry, and seemed to be enjoying this.

"SOME AMAZING UNICORN DID THIS!

"NO MATTER WHO THOUGH..."

Laughing loudly and yelling at the same time...

"...THEY SET ME FREE!

...

"...THEY BROUGHT YOU HERE!

...

"...AND THEY ERASED THE PHANTOM ALICORN!"

Dark Melvin laughed loudly and with glee for a while. I just hugged Summer tightly... After weeks...

Then Dark Melvain looked directly at us.

"AH YES, THE EX PHANTOM ALICORN AND HER CONSORT..."

Brief delay... He smiled I think...

"WELL, I HAVE YOU BOTH NOW..."

Dark Melvain laughed loudly, scornfully, abusively for minutes more...

Summer said weakly "Shysage, my Cutie Mark..." I looked immediately. Those three drops, fading from sun yellow at the top into aquamarine at the bottom, they were gone without a trace.

Dark Melvain evidently heard this, and started laughing all over again, and laughed loudly for a while more...

I hugged Summer tightly, then looked into her eyes, and said quietly "Summer whatever happens, know that there is nopony else for me, and I will love you supremely until..."

Summer looked back into my eyes, and we both hugged tightly and cried softly.

"OH SHUT UP, AND STOP THAT STUPID..."

Brief delay...

"WORTHLESS STALLION, BACK AWAY FROM THE EX PHANTOM ALICORN OR I WILL KILL HER ON THE SPOT."

Summer said quietly, weakly "Let's see what he..."

I carefully backed away from my mare, further away from Dark Melvain by maybe 20 feet. I was not getting any further away than that. Summer was sitting, head down some, facing me and looking up at me.

Dark Melvain spoke his mind.

"I UNDERSTAND THE PHANTOM ALICORN WORKING TO PROTECT EQUESTRIA...

"I CAN LIVE WITH THAT...

"BUT YOU, WORTHLESS STALLION...

"YOU ARE PATHETICALLY WEAK, AND HAVE ABSOLUTELY... NO... POWERS... NOT EVEN ONE!!!

"YET, YOU HAVE CAUSED ME SO MUCH... ANGUISH... RUINED PLANS... FRUSTRATING DEFEAT...

"YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY INFURIATED ME!"

Then I realized... Somehow given the chance to live again, and Dark Melvain only had one thought on his mind... Vengence... And I actually was his real target...

After a brief delay, Dark Melvain waved one of his huge front hooves. In the blink of an eye... I was suddenly facing maybe a hundred Summers. Exact duplicates, they all were sitting in a long row, head down, looking up at me in the exact same way. And the music in the background lept obnoxiously loud...

Dark Melvain laughed hysterically for a while. All the Summer's didn't move. I froze... I was looking at Summer, then I blinked, then... There were so many now... I had no clue which...

After a while, Dark Melvain's laughter subsided, and he explained... yelling...

"YOU ANGER ME STALLION...

"AND ALL YOUR TRUE FRIEND GARBAGE...

"I COULD JUST AS EASILY KILL THE PHANTOM ALICORN, NOW ANYWAY...

Then his whole tone became clearly, completely flooded with anger... RAGE... He yelled this a little more quietly, but he was clearly furious... He was livid... With nothing but rage in his eyes, he looked straight at me...

"...BUT I THINK YOU DESERVE THAT HONOR..."

He was quiet for a minute maybe.

Dark Melvain yelled this last quickly and harshly...

"TOUCH THE IMPOSTERS ONE AT A TIME, AND THEY WILL DISAPPEAR...

"TOUCH YOUR PRECIOUS MARE AND SHE WILL EXPLODE...

"...BLASTING HER BLOODY CARCASS ALL OVER YOU...

"...WELL UNLESS YOU TOUCH HER LAST!"

Dark Melvain laughed a while and loudly.

But these were the rules. I had to touch my Mare last or she would die. I had to touch all the imposters, maybe 99 of them, and make them disappear first. Otherwise... And Dark Melvain clearly knew how to hurt me the most. For me to kill my Summer... Regardless what happened after that, I would die a thousand deaths every day, as that one event would replay itself continuously...

All one hundred Summers didn't move. Such a long line of them, they were all sitting the exact same way, maybe a foot apart, head down, looking up at me the exact same way, all blinking at exactly the same time... Well, I knew true friend wasn't garbage. I asked for his help, then I slowly walked the entire line of Summers, a few times, and their gaze just followed me as I passed them...

With each passing minute, Dark Melvain's laughter grew. He was clearly relishing the doom he had dumped on me... "WEAK, PATHETIC, USELESS, WORTHLESS STALLION..." He said this a few times. I tried to ignore him, along with the painfully loud music...

I was in no hurry. In fact... I... couldn't make a mistake... But I think Dark Melvain was getting impatient.

"GET MOVING STALLION OR I WILL HELP..."

I asked true friend for his help again, and started popping imposters. I took my time, but progress, at least, seemed to calm Dark Melvain down just a little. That was my goal. Still...

I actually ran my hoof along a stretch of maybe 20 imposters, and they were gone. A few here, one there, these two out of the way... I honestly think Dark Melvain forgot which one was the real one as well. Then I walked the thinned out line at random and slowly removed even more imposters...

After minutes that seemed like hours, just three were left, fairly close together. I eliminated the two imposters...

Then hugged my Mare...

"NO!!!!!" Dark Melvain roared...

"...HOW COULD YOU..."

Summer was crying right away. Well, we both were. "Shysage, how did you know?" she asked softly...

I hugged her and answered as lovingly as I could, crying softly myself... "Precious Mare... You alone so yearn to serve me... You would clearly do anything to help me, to care for me, to love me... You so deeply yearn to do simply what is best for me, no matter what it costs you... I saw that yearning in your eyes... That can't be duplicated or replaced... Ever... I could look for centuries and never find..."

Summer burst into tears, and, through loud crying, she haltingly said this...

"Oh Shysage... Oh, Shysage... You only saw that... Because thats what... ...thats what I saw in your eyes... Oh Shysage... Oh, my Shysage..."

We hugged tightly and cried loudly...

...

Dark Melvain was absolutely outraged...

"NO... I WILL NOT BE...

"NO... YOU CHEATED!!!

"NO...

"NO MATTER...

"I WILL STILL BLOW UP YOUR...

"...PRECIOUS MARE..."

Dark Melvain said this last with as much scorn as he could inject into the words. Then he began casting some magic...

Summer wheeled around quickly to face him, lifted her left front hoof, and pointed it at Dark Melvain, then she stomped her right, rear hoof loudly and quickly to the floor...

From high above the heavens, a huge fireball streaked blazingly down through obsidian and bedrock, into the cavern, and crashed loudly over Dark Melvain, crushing his huge body to the floor, breaking a lot of bones, and coating him with red hot lava. It quickly enveloped Dark Melvain, as he screamed. He didn't scream for very long.

Dark Melvain exploded again, just like he did last time we killed him. The flash was very bright. The growing mushroom cloud lit up the cavern. We could clearly see the gates of Hades some distance beyond where Dark Melvain was. They were huge. They looked like a much larger version of the gate complex marking the entrance to Dark Melvain's Bastion. But even with all the light, we couldn't see the roof of the cavern. Well, we were pretty far away from Dark Melvain's explosion, and the extra light quickly subsided. Still, Summer was holding up her right front hoof, and the resulting shield blocked the small shock-wave that approached us.

"Those three drops on my flank are not what make me the Phantom Alicorn... And true friendship is the only way to really live..." Summer said quietly, slowly.

And with that, all the bits and pieces that were Dark Melvain shot quickly and directly, back through the gates of Hades, and he was gone... back where he belonged...

That obnoxious tune in the background... It was immediately quiet...

Sitting facing each other, hugging tightly, Summer and I just cried... together...

Author's Note

(1) "The Serpentine Labyrinth" from the Forever Today addition to the OST for the Seekers of Adoulin expansion of Final Fantasy XI

Chapter 6, Enough

Summer and I hugged tightly and cried loudly together for a while. We were sitting, facing each other, hugging with one of our front legs wrapped around the other's neck. After the last two weeks, that felt amazing, for both of us.

But I knew this wouldn't last. It had been maybe two weeks for Summer too, and without food and water... A pony can probably survive a month or two without food, but water... That was a different story.

Summer mentioned briefly that she knew of no way out of here either. And she only knew about Dark Melvain when he uncloaked after my arrival. Still, she sat right here, right where she found herself, after being ripped from our room. She said she stayed right here, because she knew if I came, I would look here first. I just cried...

Summer soon fell asleep. Well, she was very tired anyway, so I laid on my side, and pulled her up to my neck and chest. She wept softly, sighed a few times, then she was asleep. Again, I knew she could not sleep for long. She needed water. Well, we needed to find a way out, but she needed water before we even tried that. I asked true friend for help. I didn't have any ideas. I honestly felt water, here, that seemed like a rather remote possibility.

As Summer slept, I looked around a little more at our surroundings. We were in a huge cavern next to a place Dark Melvain had called the gates of Hades. We couldn't see very far; a fairly dense mist permeated the entire cavern. We couldn't see the gates from here either. It took the explosion of Dark Melvain to create enough extra light so we could only dimly and briefly see them. And with that extra light, we still couldn't see the roof of this cavern. A dull orange glow permeated the mist and allowed us to see each other, Dark Melvain at a distance, and some of our surroundings. The floor was not the rough hewn, magically forged obsidian that Dark Melvain had used to build his Bastion. It was hard, beautiful, glass-smooth marble, millions of squares. All the squares were white, and stretched in every direction as far as I could see. Wait... Maybe twenty squares towards the gates, towards where Dark Melvain was, from that point on towards the gates, they were mirror smooth and black, and presented a ghastly double reflection as I looked towards where the gates were. It was dead quiet now, but every so often, I could faintly hear the most hair-raising sound. It was muted but unmistakable... a blazing inferno...

Well, we knew which direction the gates were, where the orange glow was the brightest. When we had the chance, we would go the opposite direction. I didn't think we wanted to go towards the gates for any reason. And if Dark Melvain were in there, we certainly didn't want to get any closer.

Maybe an hour later, Summer woke up. She didn't need to tell me why, and she was weeping softly.

"Can you get up?" I asked gently.

"I think so" she said quietly.

I spoke slowly. "I know it is a long-shot, but we need to try to find some water down here. We can walk as slow as you want, but we need to at least look."

It was quiet a minute as Summer worked on getting up. Watching that hurt... "I will do what I can..." she said weakly.

I led us away from the gates, in fact, exactly the opposite direction. Summer could only walk very slowly. I didn't try to rush her at all. Sooner than I expected, she actually leaned against me as she walked. I did my best to keep her upright, so I could keep her walking. I knew this was really hard for her. It took work to not cry, and I didn't do a very good job at holding back tears.

As we walked, I kept scanning around for some sort of change in the floor. I had no idea if there even was any water down here, or what it would look like if we found it. As we walked away from the gates, a chilling realization dawned on me. It was slowly getting darker. Whatever was causing the orange glow, the further from the gates we got, the dimmer that orange light became. I just sighed...

Summer could only walk for maybe 15 minutes, then she collapsed on the marble floor. "Shysage, I just can't..." she said quietly...

What else could I do? I changed into a people, picked my Mare up, and carried her. She was heavy for me, but, even as a pony, Summer is very petite, very slight. And I had no choice. I had to try to save my Mare, if I could. She ended up curled in my arms, with her pony head next to mine. I think we both appreciated that. But her eyes were closed, and her breathing was shallow...

I kept walking... Looking... I have no idea how long I walked. And it was constantly getting darker as I walked. And I knew my eyes were adjusting to the dimming of the light, but I also knew there was a limit to that... The white tiles; the floor looked more and more just a dull grey, only slightly tinged with orange... My arms hurt monstrously, but I kept going. Well, at one point, I sat down on the floor, rested Summer in my lap, and tried to ease the load on my arms briefly. Getting back up holding Summer was a nightmare, so I wouldn't do that again... Still, I didn't know how much longer I could do this. But my only other option was to lay down next to my Mare and watch her die. And if I put her down, and tried to scout some by myself, I knew I would never be able to find her again, not in this perpetual dusk. Even if I found water, she would die before I could find out where she was, let alone try to get her to it.

Shuffling along numbly, trying to ignore the searing pain in my arms... I have no idea how long I did that... It was like time just stopped...

...

I thought I heard somepony say "wait", so I did. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. Maybe I was just a little delirious. I started walking again. But... Sloshing... I must be dreaming... I carefully stomped my foot down, and almost fell over, which would have really hurt Summer. But I heard a splash...

It hurt like mad, but I sat down. I must have been in a puddle or something. It was cold and wet... I had no idea what it was, or if it was even drinkable. It didn't really matter.

I tried to wake Summer up, but that just didn't work. I... I didn't know what to do. But, I knew... If Summer died here, I would never leave this spot, until I died here too...

I picked my Mare up, carefully unfolded my legs, and laid her down on the floor, with her back in the water. I guess it was cold, and she really didn't like that... "Shysage, no!" she scolded loudly. She might have been delirious too... I cupped both hands, and tried to get some water into her mouth. She was angry, I guess it was too cold, and she pulled her pony head away... Still, she was laying on her back in the water. Well, I hoped it was water...

"Oh, please drink Mare..." I said softly... I had brought my Mare to water, but I couldn't make her drink. She had to want to...

For minutes, neither of us moved...

I got an idea, anyway. I dipped a few of my fingers in the cool water, then gently rubbed it into her face above her pony eyes. She said quietly "That feels nice", but at least she wasn't mad at me any more...

"Summer, I found water..." I said softly. Then I did the same thing again.

She just sighed.

"Summer, I found water..." I said again, softly. Only this time, I sprinkled a little water in her mouth. Her tongue came out, and she licked her lips. I guess she felt the water on them.

Still, no response beside that. This time I just sprinkled a little more water in her mouth. She would choke if I gave her too much though. But she licked it up again.

I tried a little more water, and she again licked at it, then she swallowed. And I kept telling her quietly each time "Summer, I found water..."

Well, I would nurse my Mare back to life if I had to do that all day. I kept doing it. She started quietly saying "more, please." I didn't know if she was even awake or not, coherent or not... Or, if I was coherent even...

Many minutes later... Summer's eyes blinked all the way open. She said slowly "Shysage, where is it..."

I started to cry, but managed to say she was laying in it... I helped her roll over on her belly, and she drank... and drank... and drank some more... I changed back into a pony and tasted the water myself, it was very good, so I drank a bunch too. Then I just cried like a baby while Summer drank maybe two weeks worth of water. And to even find water here...

Maybe two hours later, she was mostly back to her normal self. The air wasn't cold here, but the water was, and Summer asked that we walk to the edge of the water, but not away from it. The direction of the gates was still easy to discern. We walked in that direction, but just until we found the edge of the water. It didn't take long.

Then we hugged and cried together for the longest time. There was no food here, but we had some time now. And I had my Mare back. We had absolutely nothing else right now, well besides plenty of water.

But we had each other.

That was enough.

Chapter 7, Equestria's Magic

Hi, its me, Princess Twilight. This next chapter absolutely has to be mine.

The tragedy that I had brought about, well I guess it receded into the background to a degree. Shysage was gone to the Equestria Girls world looking for Summer, and Ariel was in loving hooves and hearts. I think we all hoped for the best, but we basically had to get on with our lives.

Well, the night before, I couldn't sleep; this was becoming routine for me. Anyway, early in the morning, I gave up on sleep, and got up, and wandered slowly into the Library. I found my brand new mystery book, and started to read. I got into that new book! Later that morning, I know Spike came by and tried to talk to me at one point. He quickly realized he was talking to a blank wall, and he left. I read most of the morning, enjoying every minute.

That all changed... Looking up and away from my new book at just the right time, I watched Shysage float slowly away from the Portal, across the Library and down the hall. His eyes were closed, and his head was down. I think he was expecting the worst. Well, he was soon gone, out of sight. It had been two weeks maybe since Shysage left for the Equestria Girls world. Like I said, I think we went on with our lives. But I watched him float by. I couldn't ignore that.

I closed my book right then and put it down...

"Equestria, Summer and Shysage need your help... They need our help... I caused this..." Talking to Equestria, I had never done that before, I don't know. And I was quickly weeping softly.

What I put in above, that is exactly what I said, to Equestria, and just once.

Boom...

The spell started coming... Like a clean white sheet of paper was right in front of me, the symbols, the glyphs, the strokes... Magical characters began to fill that blank paper. They formed continuous lines, line after line, much like Dark Melvain's spell. But I watched... A section would be written down, then a long pause... With the help of my magic side of my brain, I was able to decipher what the magic was actually doing. I was awestruck... I used the weaving a fabric analogy before, just a guess, then. Now, that fit so perfectly, seeing this new spell a piece at a time. The sections of the spell, it was like each one accomplished a specific purpose, then melded itself into the whole. Links and counter-links all throughout, but seeing it written down before my very eyes, small sections at a time... I understood it all...

The details of Equestria's spell took up 35 lines of symbols, and the first line clearly invoked the targets of this magic, Shysage and the Phantom Alicorn. Indeed, I detected separate, parallel handling of a bunch of the magic to be applied to each of them. Like I said, I was awestruck...

When the spell was done, I could go back through the glyphs, the characters, every subtle stroke... I knew what each piece was, and how each piece fit together with the overall effect of the spell. I started crying. My understanding of the function, the details of that spell, it wasn't temporary. I will never forget the details of that spell, how it worked. And I quickly realized that no matter where I looked, no matter what I saw, that spell, in its entirety, was always there, directly forward. I could concentrate on other things in my field of vision, but that spell, every single symbol... It stayed right there. I thought about actually writing it down, but quickly realized... In the wrong hands... But it didn't matter. I carried that spell in the magic side of my brain... everywhere...

And I suddenly made the connection. The actual details of that spell, Equestria had to be the ultimate author. But, for the last two weeks, on many occasions, I would, in the middle of just about anything, suddenly realize that the magic side of my brain was at work... analyzing... processing... synthesizing... organizing... No doubt, with Equestria's help, my magic brain was solving the problem, a problem I didn't, couldn't even fully understand. This amazing spell was the result. And, seeing it all written, a piece at a time, what my magic brain, what Equestria had done...

Magic is my life, like a second language to me. But this... I cried softly for a while. I thanked Equestria, I don't know. I even thanked Summer and Shysage's true friend. What had just happened was beyond parallel, and without precedent. Equestria had given me magic that was leaps and bounds beyond what I could even fathom...

After a little while, Spike heard me crying, and came in, alarmed. "Aww, Twilight, it wasn't your fault... It's ok, don't blame yourself..." I think Spike ran out of words at that point.

Still crying, I said softly "Spike, I know what to do. Equestria told me, just like Equestria did last time this happened..."

It was quiet a few minutes. I was deep in thought. I seriously doubted I could cast this spell all by myself and see any effect. Like I said, if I had learned anything in the last five years... I needed my girls, and I needed our amazing true friends, and every single Unicorn in the bunch. And I was pretty sure we needed the magical amplification of the Group Link to pull this magic off.

I sent Spike down the hall to go into town to the Cake's to get Pinkie Pie, and have her round up the rest of my girls. Pinkie met Spike on the steps of the Castle; she was already waiting there for him! "I'll go get the rest Spike, thanks!" Then Pinkie bounced off, yelling "Yippeee!" I heard that in the Library.

Spike came back in and shrugged. Next, I had Spike take a note for Princess Celestia.

Amazing Teacher,

I think I have discovered the magic it will take to rescue Summer and Shysage. But I will need the circle of friendship complete, and every Unicorn among us. And this includes all our Equestria Girls Twins. Can we do that?

Lovingly, your student, Princess Twilight

This part was tricky; I knew Princess Celestia could easily veto any plans I had in mind. I mean, this amazing magic was glorious news to me, but it occurred to me that Princess Celestia might just laugh when she saw the spell. Ruling Equestria as a powerful Unicorn for over 1,400 years, she had probably seen it all. So, I was a bit nervous, but the reply came back quickly.

Dearest Princess Twilight,

By all means lets do that. It will be a few hours as Princess Luna and I take care of Equestria the rest of the day, then we will come via Air Coach before dark.

Lovingly, Princess Celestia

Maybe twenty minutes later, and my girls and I were hugging tightly in a circle, and we cried together for a little while. And this included Filia and Fiona. Twins in real life; their fiery red mane and tail could only hint at their great magical potential. Shyna came with Fluttershy. Shyna was our gift from the Past, an amazingly talented Pegasus, now firmly under Rainbow Dash's care and instruction. Well, she was Fluttershy's adopted sister too, and almost as sensitive.

After crying together a bit, I said quietly "I need all of the Equestria Girls, all our amazing Twins..." I don't usually pawn off on others what I could do myself. But that spell, I didn't want to take any chances of losing it. We needed that... Summer and Shysage needed that...

Rainbow Dash spoke up quickly. "I think Applejack and I can handle that, Princess. We will go through the Portal, and make a bee-line to Fluttershy's Cot-- er, apartment, and the Equestria Girls will do the rest. They all have those cell things anyway."

"That works, but we will need to wait some. I think it is the middle of the night there." I said quietly, and after some thought. "And, thank you girls... Thank you all..."

Then we hugged together, and wept softly a while more. The nine of us took a nap scattered around the floor on the Library. I asked Spike to guard the entrance to the Library, just to let us be able to sleep some.

I guess I was really tired. I woke up much later to a most amazing presence -- my Twin! Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle! We were quickly hugging, crying... The rest of the Twins were doing the same thing; they were all here with us. And this included Principal and Vice-Principal. I honestly think Princess Celestia and Principal Celestia can communicate across the two worlds, I don't know... And a hopeful tune rose quietly in the background. I heard it right away, but had no clue what it was. Summer heard it too and almost started crying. I guess she recognized it (1).

And, by the way, I felt bad, but Princess Cadance was not here. Since she had no Twin that we knew of, I doubted we could pull up the Group Link, and the magical amplification it brought, with her in the circle. Maybe some day, we would find Princess Cadance's and Shining Armor's Twins in the Equestria Girls world, I don't know. That really would be amazing...

Still, we were all hugging our Equestria Girls Twins, and weeping softly.

...

My Twin, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle... A look of concern swept across her face. She said quietly "Twilight, that spell..." She had seen those thirty five lines of magic symbols that never left my field of view...

It was time...

I looked over at Princess Celestia who was now sitting next to her Twin, already looking in my direction. I bowed my head just a bit and said quietly "By your leave, Princess Celestia"

Princess Celestia bowed back. "We are all honored. Please tell us what to do."

I took a deep breath, and began.

"We need the group link. Gather round in a circle, with your right front hoof around the neck of the pony on your right. Twins need to sit next to each other, but I don't think the order matters otherwise." It was only after I said this that I realized that we had never tried the Group Link with the Celestia and Luna Twins. I guessed we would find out.

The circle was quickly formed, but the Group Link did not spring up like it had in the past. Something was blocking it. We had been through this before. We each had to search ourselves for even the smallest animosity we might hold towards anypony else in this circle. Any pain we had caused... anything that would create distance between us. We all did that together. Apologies and tears came quickly. Who apologized to who and why made little difference. I had to set some things straight myself. Pure devotion alone, between everypony in this circle; this is what the Group Link requires. It took a while. Even the smallest of things... Embarrassed, I realized I wasn't done yet, and I was the last one. Again, who or what didn't really matter as long as the breach was healed.

The Group Link sprang to life, and we all relaxed into each other's devotion and love... For a few minutes, we just reveled in the peace, the oneness that each of us experienced. It was amazing, I didn't ever want it to end...

But Summer, and Shysage... The amazing magical spell...

I said softly "Unicorns, through the link, note the thirty or so lines of magic I am seeing. Unicorns, we need to cast this slowly, carefully, and together. Scan the spell briefly, and then I will start us casting in unison, in a minute maybe."

Half a minute later, the Group Link evaporated; someone had broken the circle. It was Princess Celestia. She had staggered, and let go of her Twin. That was all it took. Still...

"Princess Twilight, what IS this magic? I have never... I don't think I can even..." Princess Celestia looked over at Princess Luna, and she likewise slowly shook her head side to side...

This surely surprised me. And I froze. I had no intention of putting Equestria's Princesses on the spot... But maybe I already had... I soon felt even worse... Princess Celestia began to weep softly. "I'm sorry, I don't think..."

For a few minutes, nopony moved. I had absolutely no clue what to do... And I doubted anypony else had any idea either... Princess Celestia continued to weep softly. I was pretty sure she realized she was holding this process up...

...

At first, I was sure that our Rarity was showing a fairly poorly timed dramatic flair... Both Raritys did the same thing, at the same time... Twins do that...

Both Raritys got up, took two steps into the center of the circle, then sat down. Rocking back on their hind legs, both lifted their front hooves maybe two feet off the ground, then crossed them. This put the right hoof in front of the left hoof. This whole... It looked like Rarity was sitting, balancing in a very difficult posture for a pony. I expected her to fall over backwards any minute. I was sure she would then let out the most doleful...

"Oh, Rarity... In the midst of everything else that was going on..." I thought this to myself as I tried to work on deciding how to gently approach this...

A white mist enveloped both Rarity's Unicorn horns immediately...

Amazed, I said nothing...

...The four 'Twins and twins' Red-heads quickly did the same thing. Filia Twins and Fiona Twins, together, and at the same time, they walked two steps forward, reared back on their hind legs, folded their front legs in front of them, and leaned every so slightly back... Head held high, but eyes closed, just like both Raritys... The white mist likewise enveloped their Unicorn horns immediately as well.

My Twin Twilight Sparkle and I did the same thing, exactly as we had seen these six other Unicorns do. We walked forward, rocked back on our hind legs, picked our front legs up off the ground, and folded our front legs...

The first thing I felt...

...Us eight Unicorns were linked together in a way I have never felt before. It was amazing. We could all sense the magical activity of each other. This proved essential anyway, because we all had to stay together as we cast this amazing spell. And, as I cast, it was clear Rarity's and my Equestria Girls Twins were both stretched by this spell. I just slowed us all down.

The next thing I felt...

...We were not precariously balanced on our hind-quarters... We were resting... We were leaning back, and resting on Equestria's magic... We all felt that... Like Equestria's loving magical arms were holding us up...

And, as I was adjusting to this new development, Princess Celestia had clearly recovered. She just said gently "Oh, I see... Amazing friends, we need to close the circle around them." This was quickly done, and the Group Link sprang back to life...

And, at that point, I also felt... The entire Castle, this amazing magical castle, it was ever so slightly shifting, wavering, quivering... as if huge amounts of magic were churning, circulating, flowing in anticipation, from vast reservoirs unseen... And, I don't know how or why, but the magical lighting throughout the entire Castle dimmed way down. I heard Spike running down the hall and yelling "Twilight... Twilight..." Everypony else came running too; guards, cooking staff... Spike immediately realized something was going on, and stopped calling me. Then he kept everypony else far away from us, back at the Library door. They just watched in amazement...

Well, Spike also said later that there was a thin circle of white mist slowly rotating over the heads of us eight Unicorns in the center, connected to the white mist that surrounded each of our Unicorn horns. Our eyes were closed; we didn't even notice. And I guess a larger circle of white mist rotated slowly in the opposite direction behind the ponies in the outer circle as long as the Group Link was active.

I learned something that evening. I know that in Equestria, evil monsters can use magic to accomplish their ends, but the magic... It is really Equestria's magic. Equestria had woven the physical laws governing that magic into the fabric of Equestria. That power could be usurped and used by anypony... But as us eight Unicorns rested calmly on Equestria's magic, used at Equestria's beckoning, and for Equestria's purposes... We didn't fall over backwards. We rested on Equestria's magic. It felt amazing, unlike anything I had ever experienced. It is just very hard to fully describe.

Well, Summer tried to explain the Pegasus Mare Curtsy to me once. One of their previous chronicles talks about it. But it clearly is a Pegasus thing. Summer understands it as an embodiment of all that being a Pegasus is about; the salute to the heavens where we play, and the celebration of the wings that take us there...

...but this... I think the highest calling for any Unicorn is to actually rest on Equestria's magic, to be the willing servant of Equestria as we use our magical abilities for Equestria... We were doing that, that night. We were celebrarting everything good and amazing about our Unicorn race. Well, I had a hard time not crying...

...And our dramatic Rarity had shown us the way...

...

Well, now it really was time...

Start to finish, we cast that spell, Equestria's magic, together. Linked like we were, it was easy to see how each of us were doing as we cast, even a symbol at a time. And I realized I could place a vertical green line between what we had cast, and what was next. My Twin Twilight said later that helped her a lot. We took our time, and worked through the fabric of a thousand threads that this magic was all about. I could also easily tell that the Filia and Fiona Twins... This was scary; these four magically gifted Unicorns could easily have ran quickly through the entire spell, and still be hungry for more... But we stayed together, and walked our way slowly through the spell, just as it was written, all thirty five or so lines of it, packed tightly with all manner of magical symbols, arcane glyphs and seemingly insignificant strokes...

As we completed the last line, the purest white light grew magically and brightly from the center of our inner circle, and quickly became so bright that we could not see briefly. When that blazing light faded, the Group Link was gone, the two circles of mist were gone, the lights of the Castle were back to normal, and I think Equestria ever so slightly pushed eight Unicorn mares forward and down onto their front hooves so we wouldn't fall.

It was quiet for a few minutes...

Applejack was the first to speak. "Now what, Princess?"

Talking quietly I said "Now we wait--"

The next thing I heard...

"Princess Twilight, what was that?" It was Princess Celestia. She said this loudly, and it was hard to discern exactly what was on her mind. I walked slowly up to her, struck an apologetic tone, lowered my head to my honored teacher, and began to generally explain that spell...

"I'm sorry Princess, if that spell seems a little rough around the edges... It first encloses Summer and Shysage, in, well, a magical wind vortex. Even that has to be carefully controlled, and kept active for the duration... And a simple levitation spell, with, well, helper spells stacked on to ensure slow movement, and continuous activation. Well I didn't know how slow I needed to go, but... And, I added--"

"Child! Precious child!" Princess Celestia, my honored teacher, she said this very loudly, interrupting me, then she was quickly hugging me, weeping softly...

When she could, a little while later, she explained...

"Precious child! Nopony in Equestria has ever succeeded in accomplishing the ordering, the interlinking, the stacking that your amazing spell exhibits! Starswirl the Bearded said it should be possible, but he was never successful in putting together even two simple inter-dependent spells! I... How... I am absolutely amazed... I don't know what to say... You have done what Unicorns for over a millennia were unable to even envision!"

Well, I knew I had to give credit where credit was due. I pulled back briefly, put my head down and said quietly "Princess, Equestria gave me that spell... It was Equestria's magic..."

Princess Celestia and I hugged tightly and wept softly together for a few minutes. While doing that, Princess Celestia spoke up loudly, for everypony else to hear.

"Everypony, I am absolutely amazed at the abilities of our Princess Twilight. I feel so honored to have been her teacher. She has advanced so far... And now, she will be my teacher..."

Weeping softly, Princess stopped there in thought. Then she added "Still, the details of that spell need to be forever cloaked in secrecy. Such magical power, such magical ability is very powerful..."

Princess Celestia and I hugged and cried together for a while... Later, I looked up, then noticed that everypony else in the room was bowing to us, even Spike. I pulled away, and was about to join them. I love my teacher.

Princess Celestia gently pulled me back up. "Princess Twilight, this is for you..."

Princess Celestia backed slowly up, then bowed with the rest.

I... I was a mess... All I could get out was "Oh, girls..." and I cried... It was really hard, but I got out something like "please arise all of you" and then I threw my front legs around Princess Celestia's neck, and cried some more... I used to do that a lot when I was younger, when Princess Celestia really was my teacher. Like I said, I love my teacher...

...

I think then, well, all of us... It was only at that point that we noticed Summer and Shysage's daughter, Ariel Dawn, laying on her belly on the floor, next to the rug, facing the Portal, waiting, weeping softly. Well, she was crying deeply but quietly. She was really hurting... My Twin and I joined her quickly as the Fluttershy Twins and Shyna Twins were on their bellies on Ariel's other side. The Celestia Twins, the Luna Twins... The rest of us joined Ariel, as close to her as possible, on the wood floor near the rug in front of the Portal and just cried and waited with her. Feeling us all close... Feeling us with her... Ariel began to calm down I think.

Like I told Applejack earlier, all we could do now was wait. I didn't know how long it would take, but I guessed an hour or two. But it might be much longer. I didn't really know where in Equestria they were, or specifically how fast the spell would bring them here.

Well, this was a strictly Unicorn thing. We were waiting anyway, and we had no idea how long it would be. Princess Celestia asked that I quietly explain that spell we cast, Equestria's magic, to the rest of the Unicorns present. She really did want me to be her teacher for this.

With everypony's permission, us Unicorns all huddled together in a quiet corner of the Library, and I began to carefully explain the spell. I realized it was no longer in my field of view, but I was able to easily pull it all back up. I don't think I will ever lose it. And with the spell details back before me, we talked our way through the spell. Well, two things impressed me. Princess Celestia spent most of that time... She was clearly amazed at this complex spell. I told her that I was too! I tried a few times, and I hope I communicated that I had not just thought up this magic. Equestria had given it to me. And this too... A number of times, I actually had to stop and re-orient myself to what was going on in the spell. The Filia Twins would invariably jump in and explain right where I left off. Both spoke as one, Twins often do that. And they would start off with something like "Princess, I think..." then an explanation of the spell details for where we were, would follow. Both Filias were doing that from memory, the spell details were not even before them. These two amazing Unicorns... Such a complex spell, and even from memory, they were able to explain the inner workings of that spell. That amazed me too. Such untapped magical potential. Well, Equestria pony Filia is my student, and Equestria Girls Filia spends a lot of time with my Twin, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle.

After maybe an hour of discussing Equestria's magic, we rejoined everypony else around Ariel, next to the rug in front of the Portal. We just waited. There was not much else we could do. And I hoped the spell we had cast would actually bring Summer and Shysage here, and not somewhere else in Equestria!

...

Maybe an hour after that, Summer and Shysage floated slowly into the Library, the same way I had seen Shysage float past earlier. I guess it was good we were all on our bellies; Summer and Shysage were only a few feet off the ground, still being pulled backwards like I had watched Shysage. Fluttershy burst into tears, then Ariel.

Summer and Shysage stopped over the center of the Portal rug. I guess the magic quit at that point, and both ponies fell the two feet or so, onto the rug in front of the Portal. Laughing loudly, they ended up with their legs, their bodies all tangled together. Neither minded, and they were quickly hugging each other tightly, weeping softly. I don't think this offended anypony, that is just Summer and Shysage, the most loving Mare and Stallion we know. I could only hope for a Stallion like that. If Summer and Shysage had taught me anything... Integrity and devotion; I would wait for that, and would not trifle with anything less...

Summer and Shysage were quickly up and holding their crying daughter. Now, in mom and dad's embrace, Ariel cried loudly and heaved deeply. Summer and Shysage both turned into people, sat down, and pulled Ariel into their laps, and they cried together for a while. I guess they had done this a lot when Ariel was very young. Well, we cried with them. This had been a scary time, and we still didn't know what Shysage and Summer had been through. I suspected a book would be written, and I hoped I would get to write a few chapters!

Crying too, both Fluttershys leaned up against Summer's back, and were both changed back into people right away. Well, it seems that only Summer can do that. She can turn into a people here in Equestria, but she needs to do that to activate the Phantom Alicorn form. But, while she is a people here in Equestria, if she touches another pony who has been to the Equestria Girls world, they turn into a people too. That is what happened to both Fluttershys. Of course they were glad their Sis was ok.

After a few minutes, Equestria Girls Fluttershy (the Fluttershy from the Equestria Girls world) jumped up with a gasp, unexpectedly turned back into a pony, then fell over backwards onto the rug. That didn't stop her, she was quickly back on her feet. "I need to tell my sister!" I think she was telling us more than asking for our permission. She was quickly up, and she bolted through the Portal, and was gone, into the Equestria Girls world. Shysage, Ariel and Summer moved off the Portal rug, then Summer and Shysage turned back into ponies, and we all waited together.

Summer's Equestria Girls Twin (Equestria Girls Summer Rain) came through the Portal within five minutes, and she cried buckets as she held her Twin, Equestria pony Summer, the one who had been missing. The prospect of losing a Twin really is a heavy load, and both Summers cried pretty loudly, at the same time... in the same way... This just needed to happen. Shysage hugged Ariel as they continued to cry softly together too.

Well, this all seemed like a happy ending to me. And the mess I had caused was pretty much taken care of. With my girls nearby, well, we all cried together.

...

Maybe ten minutes later... A very small foal landed unsteadily on four shakey legs on the rug in front of the Portal, and began to cry. Both Summers knew immediately who it was, and Equestria Girls Summer squealed, then ran quickly over to comfort her daughter... This shakey little foal was their Ariel Dawn! ...from the Equestria Girls world! She was maybe only 6 months old. And judging by Equestria Girls Summer's response, it was a complete surprise that their Ariel was even here in Equestria, but here she was.

Still, little Ariel cried at everypony, even her own mom. She had never been a pony before, and she was now surrounded by a whole room full of ponies. She was scared. She was scared even by her own mom. Shysage's Twin, little Ariel's dad came through soon after (Equestria pony Shysage, long story), and little Ariel was even afraid of him! Fluttershy came back through too.

Wow, this is complicated, and I apologize. The Summer that got taken, she and her Shysage's daughter from the Past, Equestria pony Ariel Dawn, she is a full grown pony now. Well, she seemed to know exactly what to do. She walked slowly over to the other, little Ariel, and began to talk quietly to her. She convinced her to lay down next to her. Little Ariel couldn't ignore her own Twin! Soon both Ariels were laying down calmly next to each other, as the rest of us tried hard to not cry. Little Ariel soon warmed up to her mom and dad, as big Ariel backed away and let this new (to Equestria) pony family bond. Well, big Ariel was quickly back with her mom and dad, crying softly as they hugged her.

And, according to her parents, little Ariel said the first words she had ever said -- "mom" and "dad" Seeing this cute little foal laying calmly between her pony parents, that just does something... We all cried together for a while.

Author's Note

(1) Twins music -- the slow, understated elegance of 'The Celestial Capital - Al'Taieu'* from the 'Chains of Promethia'* expansion for Final Fantasy XI* (*c2014 by Square Enix).

Chapter 8, Ponies from a Different Land

Well, I get to write at least one chapter for this volume. Shysage did the chapters he had to, and I think they came out well. Still, he thinks ponies like my writing better, I don't know. Princess Twilight's chapters came out amazing though. Princess really seems to enjoy Canterlot Recording. And that complicated magic! I love our Princess...

I think I missed the action for most of this story, as I just waited in that dim orange mist for Shysage. Of course writing this made Shysage cry. He said I was wasting away down there, and he felt really bad for me when he found me. I helped him do his chapters though, and it broke my heart. That was a scary, tortuous two weeks for my stallion, and we cried as I helped him with his chapters. Well, he did find me, and we amazingly found water, and not too far from the gates of Hades, no less. Then we just waited together. Like Shysage wrote, just being together, and coherent enough to realize it, that was enough for us. We just hugged and cried...

The trip from the gates, back to the land of the living, Shysage said with a chuckle; that was very strange to me. Shysage said that we basically retraced the same path he had taken from the Portal, to Dark Melvain's Bastion, then straight down. Well, we went up to the Bastion, out and high into the air, along the dark ridge, then back to Ponyville. I was glad Shysage was with me; it was night and dark. Shysage could talk to me, and that kept me from getting too freaked out. At first, we really couldn't see where we were, so we had no idea where we were going. Shysage said it was fine, so I relaxed. Later on, a full moon was up, and Shysage recognized the area around Canterlot under moonlight, and he just kept me posted as we made our way back to Ponyville. But we travelled up, through miles of rocks, to get to the surface! And we didn't get hurt! How does that even work? Shysage just said that Princess Twilight's magic is extremely powerful. We both realized that Dark Melvain was absolutely wrong; one of our true friends actually WAS the powerful Unicorn that pulled his spell off. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that. Like I said, we love our Princess. And reading the chapters she did... Oh... my... goodness...

My Twin and I did cry buckets together when she came through the Portal. I felt so bad for her. I think this is the third time she has had to endure me being dead or maybe dead, or missing... It really hurt her a lot each time. She was SOOO glad I was ok. I think she was not too pleased with her Shysage that their little Ariel came to Equestria, at first anyway. The Portal seemed to take very good care of that 6 month old baby, setting her gently down on four shakey pony legs here. And since her Shysage is actually from Equestria, well, I was not surprised he wanted his daughter here when she could be. There were no hard feelings; everything worked out fine anyway. And, seeing the three of them, as a pony family, laying calmly together...

When everything seemed to calm down for everypony, it was early morning in Equestria. Our Equestria Girls Twins all agreed it was late at night in the Equestria Girls world. Well, I guess that was our next destination, after we all got some sleep. Princess posted Spike on guard duty, closed the Library doors, and we all tried to get some rest. I don't think my Twin got much rest though. Their Ariel wasn't ready to sleep just yet. This was the first time she was a pony! My Twin (little Ariel's mom) told me later that Ariel wasn't sleeping through the night yet anyway. Sometimes moms just don't get good sleep. I remember those days when our Ariel was younger. Well, Ariel did finally sleep for a few hours. But it took our Ariel laying next to her. With her Twin next to her, little Ariel calmed down, and her mom was able to get some glorious sleep, she said later.

We slept most of the day in Equestria. Well, Princess Twilight evidently had Princess stuff to attend to. I guess sometimes Princesses don't get sleep either. Late in the day, Twins began to wake up and visit quietly as others were still asleep. Well, Shysage and I slept a long time. I think we were the last ones to wake up. Spike said it was dark outside when we headed into the dining area for some dinner. Or was it breakfast? I don't know.

Spike headed off to bed when we started going through the Portal to the Equestria Girls world. And I counted; there were 14 sets of Twins, so 28 of us now. That took a while. Twins generally went through one after the other. And we did have some discussion about how to best handle getting this six month old pony foal through the Portal. Coming this way did not prove difficult. But as Shysage has pointed out before, human babies aren't really built to handle even a two foot drop. A bunch of ponies went through first. Then, as people, they all laid down on their backs next to the Portal wall. Little Ariel's mom went through earlier to supervise (watch), then we coaxed little Ariel through. I guess it all worked fine. My Twin was holding her six month old Ariel, as a baby now, when Shysage and I came through. Well, actually, the Fluttershy and Shyna Twins volunteered to go ahead of our Ariel, and help her with her footing after she came through. This would only be her second time in the Equestria Girls world. Our Ariel came back up to speed quickly.

I don't know how these things work out. It was Saturday, and around 9 in the morning in the Equestria Girls world. Well, even I knew what that meant -- bleacher girls time! It was fall and cold, so we met in the gym. There were bleachers in there, so that worked out fine. We had done this before. Still, bleacher girls... I so treasure that time... I guess we all do -- everypony, and I mean everypony -- even the Celestia and Luna Twins -- we all just dove right in. Our Ariel stayed right next to me at first, but she was soon off solo, hugging, crying, loving, helping. She moved around a lot... and gave... That made me cry... We met new friends, got re-acquainted with old friends, hugged and cried with hurting girls... We tried together to help other girls make sense and have some peace in the lives they live here. It really is a lot more difficult than life in Equestria. Well, I don't know. True friendship is still just as much the answer there as here. My Twin's 6 month old Ariel got passed around, but she wasn't the only baby there. Dawn Flower (Well, the one that lives here) brought her Camille, and this amazing little girl wandered around from lap to lap as well. And I think there was another baby too, I just didn't make it that far. Four amazing hours, watching true friendship help po-- people cope and even overcome... True friendship means putting others first. I cried a lot. Well, the guys were across the way, with both Shysages, doing the same thing. Well, guys are different, but even then, it was true friendship that was making the difference. And I guess the presence of everypony's Twin didn't seem to bother anyone. Maybe there was twice the love and concern to give... Bleacher girls time went way late as a result. At around 1:30 in the afternoon, most everypony started to wander off. That part was just hard. I cried a lot then. I don't get to do this very often. Them leaving, that was very difficult for me.

It was drizzling very lightly as we walked together, the short distance from the CHS gym to the Cake's diner. I am not sure how, but Mr. and Mrs. Cake closed the diner, and served us lunch. It was very good. Well, Shysage and I each got our own burger this time. Shysage was hungry, and he also felt my body needed all that. Well, I didn't mind! I have no idea who paid for everypony though. And, for a while, we just relaxed and talked together over soda. I didn't worry about anything. I was pretty sure that the events of the rest of this day were already charted out! Well, after lunch, my Twin's Shysage hugged a bunch of us, then he left for work. Maybe he wouldn't get much sleep tonight either. Well, my Twin asked about our Ariel helping her with her little Ariel for the rest of the day. Our Ariel jumped at that chance. Still, I carefully explained to our Ariel that she absolutely had to stay with my Twin at all times. I suppose I should not have worried; this world really scares our Ariel. Still, a chance for our Ariel to be with her Twin, even if she is only 6 months old... And I was sure our Ariel would be a big help to my Twin!

While I wept softly on my sister Fluttershy's shoulder, Shysage left with the Principal and Vice-Principal. They came quickly back and pulled into the parking lot with two of those big white vans. There should be plenty of room to take us... Well, I didn't know where, and that didn't really matter. I guess Shysage would drive one of them, so I would be in that one. Well, I guessed then that my Twin, both Ariels, both Fluttershys, both Shynas, we would all end up in the same van. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were very organized about this whole trip. None of us wanted to accidentally get left behind! From the Cake's diner, after most everypony used the restroom, we all carefully climbed into the vans. This took a while, and checks and double checks were made to make sure we were all accounted for. Then we were off to... Well, I didn't know where at first. Shysage told me while we were on the way. It was a place called a mall. I'm from Equestria, but I quickly noted that every single one of the Equestria Girls got very excited about this!

While we were in the van, we were all given matching hats. They were pointy shaped, but very pretty; bright red with fluffy white around the bottom, and a fluffy white ball on the top. In bright gold, all the hats had the letters "PDL" on them -- that surely stood for Ponies from a Different Land. I just cried as I put my hat on. Well, we all put them on right away. Shysage looked lovingly at me and said that hat looked amazing on me. He said christmas was still a few weeks off, but the colors... I think driving was difficut for him all of a sudden.

The Luna Twins were in our van, and Vice-Pincipal Luna quietly but sternly gave us two rules. First, she insisted we all keep the PDL hats on at all times. This would make it easier to see those that were in our group, and so easier for the Celestia and Luna Twins to keep track of everypony. Second, the Equestria Ponies absolutely HAD to stay with their Equestria Girls Twins -- no matter what! Well, I think all of us ponies felt that was safest anyway.

Besides, we all dearly loved our Twins, and being together with Twins is always an amazing treat. Well, that night was basically Twin time. I guess that explained the music in the background(1). And I was actually thinking about this as we drove. Having a Twin, being with your Twin is absolutely amazing... My Twin, Equestria Girls Summer Rain, being with her... It is so absolutely peaceful; your Twin is a carbon copy of yourself. A Twin could never, EVER do you wrong, or do anything that upsets you, offends you, or anything else like that. And your Twin always seems to effortless understand you, and know everything about you, and so deeply love you anyway! It is just perfect peace in the presence of full acceptance, with a complete absense of fear or worry about being hurt or anything bad like that... Maybe perfect harmony is a way to put it. I love Shysage, and I am positive he would never do anything to hurt me. I love my Twin too, and that is so vastly different, but I absolutely know that my Twin never COULD do anything to hurt me. It would be like my Twin hurting herself -- she couldn't do that! And I don't know... My very first minute in Equestria, and I found my sister Fluttershy's Equestria Girls Twin; it was just like I found my sister again! I was already hurting deeply about leaving my own sister, but after travelling to this strange, new world, scared to death at what I would find... Equestria Girls Fluttershy... My sister's Equestria Girls Twin was just like her... Well, the amazingness of us Twins, its just hard to explain... And... I had to get up and cry with both Fluttershys for a few minutes...

The closer to this mall thing we got, the more excited everypony became, epecially the Equestria Girls. Shysage said like kids in a candy store, everypony was chattering loudly as we climbed out of the van. Checks and double-checks again to make sure everypony was accounted for. And as we all got out of the vans and walked (carefully) into the mall, wow... A huge hall or walkway area that went on forever, lined on both sides with huge store after huge store... Everything seemed so big to me... Eye-catching decorations, and cheery music; well, everything seemed so joyful to me, even if a good number of the people we passed wore frowns... I don't know...

Ok, well I'm from Equestria. As long as my Shysage is right next to me, I really don't need much else. But... wow... so much stuff! At first, Shysage and I just wandered around, trying to see what our amazing friends were up to. Well, right away, I heard Equestria Girls Applejack say to her Twin that she was going to get them some new duds, and they headed quickly off. Rainbow took a similar approach, and led her Twin off to the soccer store, she called it. We passed both Rarity Twins a number of times that evening. And, of course, the Fiona Twins went with the Rarity Twins everywhere. But Equestria pony Rarity, the Rarity from Equestria, she had the most amazed look on her face the whole time. She sews every fashion item, but here... More fashion items than she had ever seen in her whole life! I was sure that fashion in Equestria was in for some marvelous, amazing new ideas, just from this trip alone! Of course both Pinkie Pies headed off to what Pinkie called the party store, talking and laughing... We would occasionally hear loud noises, or familiar tunes; I guess it was them.

I wondered what my Sis and her Twin were doing. Well, the Shyna Twins were with them too. Such quiet souls; this mall, every store seemed pretty busy and loud. Both Fluttershys and both Shynas actually found us not too long after we arrived. The Fluttershys had this nice new pin stuck to their blouse. It looked exactly like their little bunny, Angel. But both were also carrying a stuffed animal, Shysage called it. They obviously weren't real, and were pretty big, about the size of a large cat. But I looked a little more closely. Each looked amazingly like the jet black panthers that... from the future... I gasped when I realized that. Both Fluttershys teared up right away, when they FELT that I had made the connection. I think that was an important part of... well, both Fluttershys loved those animal friends. Well, I did too... Rose... We hugged and cried together softly for a few minutes. Still, I guess Equestria Girls Fluttershy had her eyes on both items, and wanted to give them to her Twin when she could. Well, they both had them now.

And, partway through the evening, I heard a strange sound. It wasn't loud. It was Shysage's cell-phone, well the loaner cell. He pulled it out of his pocket, did a few things with his fingers, and... he teared up! He didn't cry, but... He moved the front of the cell thing so I could see... It was a picture of our Ariel... with the exact same long and flowing dress that I was wearing! Wow, our daughter looked so beautiful... I did cry as Shysage hugged me. We love our daughter...

I heard that the Twilight and Filia Twins spent the evening together as well. Most of the time they helped the Celestia and Luna Twins keep tabs on everypony else. But I hear there were a few book stores to peruse as well.

Late in the evening, we gathered at a specific part of the mall. All the Equestria Girls knew where that spot was, and since they all had those cell phones; we just followed the Fluttershys and Shynas. We settled down for an hour of visiting with some nice ice cream. It was really good. But, seeing all these Twins... And my Twin mentioned that our Ariel took care of their Ariel while she bought a bunch of baby clothes. I guess such shopping trips are not easy for my Twin unless Shysage is along to help, which can't happen often. At one point, Shysage hugged our Ariel and told her that he was very proud of his beautiful daughter. I quickly joined that hug as we cried softly together. Like I said, I love our Ariel Dawn. Well, my Twin joined us, as she bounced her Ariel as best as she could, then the Fluttershys, the Shynas... Soon, all of us Ponies from a Different Land, all us Twins, we were all hugging and crying together... Ice cream dripping... Still, the love and devotion in this circle... The amazing results of simple, true friendship... I don't want it to ever end...

Too soon, it seemed, everypony was climbing back into the vans for the trip back to CHS. Again, we checked carefully to make sure everypony was accounted for. The Pinkie Pie Twins came running back, last, laughing together. We were soon on our way back. Carefully arranging this, all of the Equestria ponies spent that night with their Equestria Girls Twin. Of course, Equestria Girls Filia and Fiona, their mom was overjoyed to be able to meet her twin daughter's Twins. She had met them before, and just marvelled at the love and devotion that these four red-heads shared. She said it seemed to her like it was from a different world. Maybe it was! Both Fluttershys and both Shynas squeezed into Equestria Girls Fluttershy's tiny apartment. Of course, both Pinkie Pies had quiet fun in Pinkie's apartment above the Cake's diner, thanks to the internet and some mp3, Shysage added. The Rainbow Dash and Applejack Twins spent the night out at the farm courtesy of Big Mac's pickup. They wanted to ride in the back. No thank you... Both Raritys worked on fashion projects together until the wee hours, then sacked out in the Boutique. The Twilight, Luna and Celestia Twins stayed at the Principal and Vice-Principal's home, and also stayed up until very late talking. After everypony was safely at their designated homes for the night, those of us that were left got out at the Cake's diner. The diner was closed, we were in the parking lot still. Principal and Vice Principal headed off with the two vans, their Twins, and both Twilights.

And my Twin started to ask if our Ariel Dawn could come to their house and help with her Ariel tonight. My Twin had not even finished the question, and our Ariel said "Oh, mom, please..." That was fine. Twins need time to bond anyway. And our Ariel really was a big help with her little 6 month old Twin! From the Cake's, they walked the short distance to she and Fluttershy's parent's home where little Ariel and her family were staying. I was also sure that my Twin's mom would... just be amazed at our Ariel. Her grand-daughter would look just like our Ariel some day! Well, I really love Summer and Fluttershy's Equestria Girls mom. Thinking that just reminded me that I have come to really treasure so many here on this side of the Portal... I started crying, and Shysage was quickly hugging me as I cried on his shoulder.

After a few minutes, my crying slowed. I looked up, and quickly noticed that Shysage and I, we were the only ones left. We were standing all by ourselves in the darkened parking lot of the Cake's diner. I looked up at Shysage -- his eyes told me everything I needed to know. Tonight, we would be together and alone. It didn't matter too much where. With my Stallion next to me... We headed to Shysage's cubical; it isn't far from CHS, which is just down the street from the Cake's. Honestly, I would be perfectly content to spend the night at his cubical. I just wanted him.

But, after he gently moved his scope thing into the trunk, we were quickly on our way, somewhere, rolling smoothly down the road in big blue, Shysage's car. Of course, I was sitting right next to him! We ended up at what Shysage called a hotel, and we were soon in the biggest, most amazing bedroom I have ever seen. I laughed when I saw the bed; we would only need a small part of it! Like I said, Shysage's cubical would be fine. But, I guess somepony wanted to give Shysage and I this amazing gift. I was quickly weeping softly. Such amazing friends on this side of the Portal... It was very bright in our room, and Shysage turned most of the lights off first thing. It wasn't dark, but the soft light... As long as I could find my Shysage.

(opt:btm11a)

Well, I really love my Stallion. But he spent most of that night crying... I guess the last two weeks were just torture for him, and he could only now try to deal with that. He and I hugged tightly and cried softly and together for hours. He was really hurting. And I was just so over-joyed that I could help him through that. And I guess we were both so glad it wasn't worse... I was pretty sure losing my Cutie Mark didn't remove my powers, but I couldn't act quickly enough to stop Dark Melvain's duplicate spell. I was pretty weak by then. But my amazing Stallion easily picked me out of that crowd... We did finally stop crying, and we slept some. That room was nice, but really, as long as I was next to Shysage... The cell phone woke us up the next morning. It was a text, which Shysage read, then put the cell phone back down. It was a little early yet, and we just snuggled together for a while. I love my Stallion. I think I say that a lot. After showering, getting dressed, and grabbing a bite to eat in the lobby, we were on our way.

Shysage was driving, and I just melted next to him. I noted that I didn't ever want to have to drive! I would probably kill myself or somepony else. We pulled into the parking lot at the church where Shysage's Twin works. A bunch wanted to meet there, but I guess Principal and Vice-Principal stressed to everypony this was strictly up to the individual Twins, and both had to agree. I think we were all more concerned about being together though. We filled up a bunch of the rows in the back, and the speaker said something funny about identical twins day. Well, looking around at us ponies from a different land; all us Twins basically dressed the same, and we looked identical, so yes! And us Summer and Shysage Twins... Big Ariel was between us, with little Ariel asleep in her arms. Then my Twin and her Shysage on one side, and me then my Shysage on the other. I wanted to cry... And at one point, Shysage leaned over and whispered "They believe in true friendship here..." Well, that was all I needed to hear! It was really a very nice time. And surrounded by ponies from a different land... We all visited together in another big room for a while after the meeting. Soon enough, it was just us Twins. I tried to hug everypony, and I think I cried a lot.

I guess this was planned, I don't know. Shysage's Twin asked that we all follow him. We were soon out the door, and on our way to some garden in the back of the grounds. Shysage and I went last. Shysage was very quiet, and I wasn't sure why. Most everypony gasped, and it took me... I had to work my way through to see what everypony was looking at. It... was... my... statue... Standing up now, surrounded by pretty flowers... My Stallion managed to find me, and we cried together. Shysage's Twin explained that this statue seemed tossed into one of the flower beds here. They found it and, well, from there, Shysage found me... in Equestria... It was anchored upright now, and the church was interested in keeping it, well after surgically removing the Unicorn horn. Still, this was a piece of our lives. It was really me; the likeness was uncanny...

And everypony else was soon weeping softly as we walked back to CHS, to the front lobby. This clearly meant it was time for us Equestria ponies to go back through the Portal to Equestria. Of course, we appreciated the visit, but we had to leave soon. It was just hard. For the longest time, everypony was just hugging everypony, crying. I tried to hug as many of the Equestria Girls as I could. I treasure each of them so much... And my Twin... We cried buckets again for a while. The rest of the Twins did the same, I think. As us Summers cried and hugged, our Ariel held my Twin's baby Ariel. And, I don't know... Both Ariels were weeping softly together. Shysage even said; he had never seen a people baby cry softly like that. They are either quiet (usually asleep) or crying loudly. But this... It was like they both felt... Well, they are Twins...

It was time to leave... One at a time, ponies from a different land walked through the Portal to Equestria.

Our Ariel went through, then Shysage and I went through the Portal together, and last.

Judging by the lights in the Castle, it was night-time in Equestria. We were all crying anyway, so all us girls just hugged and cried together for a while. I love every single pony in this room so much... And at one point, we did all stop and bow to our Princesses. They quickly had us back up, and we all cried together some more. Maybe an hour later, we were all sleeping, spread around the floor on the Library. Most wept softly until sleep took over. We all loved our Twins and Equestria Girls friends so much...

Well, a few hours later, neither Shysage nor I could sleep, so we got quietly up, and headed to the Canterlot Recorder's house. We left Ariel asleep with Fluttershy and Shyna, and that would work out fine. It was very still and not too cool outside as we walked. The moon was high and full. It was very beautiful.

"Shysage, I don't want this to ever end..." I said quietly, then was quickly crying... Everypony around me... Shysage... Princess Twilight and all her girls... Cel and Lu... Our amazing Equestria Girls Twins... Our amazing neighbor Dawn and her daughter Camille... My sister Fluttershy... Even our daughter Ariel... Then I sighed... And true friendship...

A life so full of such amazing treasures...

Shysage got a small fire going, and we were soon asleep together on the rug in front of the fireplace...

Author's Note

Slow, understated elegance of 'The Celestial Capital - Al'Taieu'* from the 'Chains of Promethia'* expansion for Final Fantasy XI* (*c2014 by Square Enix)

Chapter 1, Cleaning House

Hi, its me, Princess Twilight.

I remember it was a stormy night. It was soon after the material for Volume 5 of Princess Celestia's Commentaries drew to a close. That roughly half a year was such fun, so many amazing times, but I think we were all bushed. Life slowed down for us after that.

I love reading, and it seems the only time I can sit down and read is later in the evening. Whether it is a good history book, a mystery thriller, or some deep magical tome, I really relish sitting down in the Library at the quiet end of the day, and immersing myself in a good read. Don't tell anypony, but, when I can, I stay up hours past midnight reading. Well, I actually had time to do that now. I was in the Library, trying to read that night.

It must have been a big storm. The Castle usually muffles the thunder, but that night it was loud. I guess the Weather Works in Cloudsdale decided this storm was too big to tone down, I don't know. I'm no weather expert! For hours, it seemed, the crashes kept coming, preceded by the occasional burst of light from the lightning that actually made it this far into the Castle. Overall, it made it very hard to read. I was starting a newly released book by one of my favorite mystery writers. I would actually get into the story, then a loud crash and the following rumble would jolt me out of it. After about the fourth time that happened, I gave up. I love this series, and I decided to wait until the thunder didn't prevent me from getting into my new book! I used my magic to put the book carefully back on the shelf with the rest of that series.

I thought through a few options to try and decide what to do next. It was still early in the evening, well for me anyway. I looked around the Library, and let out a deep sigh of contentment. So many books, and a huge desk too! I quickly noticed though, that my desk was a mess, and the push for organization in me started to complain. That was an easy choice; it looked like a lot of work. That task could wait until another day as well. Maybe tomorrow, Spike and I might...

But my eye did catch a large, bright velvet red box on one of the book shelves next to my desk. Walking over to it, I remembered what it was. Evidently Princess Celestia had a trusted Unicorn (Mildred, the master of details) clean up the restricted magical archives in the Canterlot Library. This very nice red box contained odds and ends, tell-tale slips of paper, some of which were very old. They were magical fragments. Princess Celestia had wisely cautioned the Unicorn to NOT throw away ANYTHING with writing on it. What scraps she found, she was to put in this box. Princess Celestia decided that I was probably the best pony to go through these scraps, and decide which to keep and which to dispose of. We had already talked; I said I would do any disposing that needed to be done. A courier delivered this box the week before.

I used my magic to pull the box down and carry it over to one of the reading tables near my desk. My desk was way too cluttered, but I needed my garbage pail for this task. Well, my garbage pail is really an old water bucket, now sporting a number of small holes and cracks. It was one of the few items that survived the explosion at my old Tree-house Library. Some days, I really miss that place, the memories it held... Well, this old bucket and a few other items (my hair brush for one) are the only things that I have left. I just sighed, realizing that. Well, I looked around at my new Library, and sighed again. So many books, and so many more empty shelves!

The top of this box easily slipped off, and I used my magic to tip the box so I could explore what was inside. It looked like a bunch of random notes and such. I knew better! Magic is like my second language, and some of the spells I might find in here could be very old. "This should be a lot of fun!" I thought as I smiled.

I had the Library all to myself, and so I carefully dumped the magical fragments out onto the table. There were 51 total, of all shapes and sizes. Using my magic, I carefully sorted them all into four groups, where each group held similar sized fragments. The largest piece was pretty big, so I laid it down flat, and put the pile of the rest of the largest pieces on top of it.

Twenty very small fragments, and I went through them carefully, one at a time. Most contained very little, if any magical content, usually very little writing even. These smallest scraps were quickly all sitting in the bottom of my garbage pail. Just a little fire, then a little water, and they were gone, disposed of forever.

Moving to the next pile of smaller fragments, 15 of them, I began reading through them, one at a time. I found more writing, but very little magical content. Those spells that I did find were of very basic magic. And I found one piece of paper...

2 tins ground oats
1 dash pepper
4 fresh Daffodils, crushed small
etc.

It was a recipe! It looked like the paper was very old, but the recipe... I am not a cook, so I didn't know anything about what I might be looking at. But I knew who in town would be able to make heads or tails out of this. Well, I knew a few amazing ponies actually. I set this magical scrap that was really a recipe on my desk, and decided to ask Applejack about it the next time she came by. The other fourteen small slips of paper were next put in my garbage pail, and quickly disposed of as well. A little fire, then a little water, and they were gone forever.

The third group of fragments were larger in size; there were ten of them. Maybe half of them actually contained any magic, and I set those aside, and handled the others first. One of the others was clearly just a list of names. Another slip looked to me like it was written in old pony, and yes, it was very old, but almost unreadable. These two went back into the beautiful red box. Princess Celestia would need to look at them and decide if they were important or not. Some ponies here in Ponyville could actually read old pony now, but I wanted to let Princess Celestia decide how to take care of them. The remaining pieces of paper in this group were mostly magic, but clearly of such a basic nature.

So far, this had taken only maybe half an hour. It was still thundering loudly outside, but honestly, I was actually enjoying what I was doing, and I didn't mind.

Ok, this left eight scraps from group 3. I had some fun at this point. It is very easy to use my magic to start paper on fire. But it is much more challenging to mix different elements and also control motion, all at the same time. I had devised this simple, but fun exercise a few months ago, and now was the perfect time to, well, exercise my magic! I would lift up a scrap, move it over next to the garbage pail, some distance above it, then drop it in. While it was moving down towards the pail, I would touch it with a little fire, and it would quickly burn up. Before it passed the rim of the pail, I would sprinkle it briefly with just enough water... This took a lot of concentration! But if I did everything just right, absolutely nothing fell into my garbage pail! I don't know... My Twin, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle, she tried to explain video games to me once. I rewarded her with a mostly blank stare. But this was a lot of fun! Too soon, it seemed, those eight scraps were also disposed of and gone.

Group 4 was made up of the larger pieces of paper that remained, five of them to be exact. I had to very carefully review these fragments, and some held a lot of writing! This part took a while. Two of these fragments were not magical. One scrap was a part of a page from a diary, somepony was evidently having a bad day. Another looked like part of someponies' attempt at writing a story. It was hard to tell how well the story worked, I only had a piece of it. This left three magical fragments, well, fairly large magical fragments. One of the three magical scraps contained the same basic spell written over and over. I guess somepony was trying to memorize that spell. Another magical scrap was clearly a piece of a page from one of the magic tomes in the Library. I carefully placed this page fragment back into the pretty red box as well. I suspected that Princess Celestia would have Pinkie Pie use her Pinkie Sense to pinpoint the book it belonged to, and then have that book repaired. The last scrap was magical history, and detailed part of the development of a basic wind spell through maybe the first hundred years after its discovery. This fragment was obviously a translation from old pony, but still made very interesting reading. But it was also a copy. Somepony had transcribed this from a book, maybe even translated it from old pony, I don't know. It was hoof-written. It was interesting, but only a part of a much larger work. While the development of the spell over time was intriguing to me, the magic itself held little value. There was no reason to keep it. But I did make a mental note to visit the Library and look for a complete work like this next time I was in Canterlot.

So, I had the four last, fairly good sized magical fragments. Completely ignoring the thunder continuing in the background, I used my magic to carefully wad each fragment up into a little ball, then I arranged them in a line and in order, smallest to largest, there on the reading table. And I decided to make my magical exercise a little more challenging. Starting from where I sat next to the reading table, I would use my magic to throw each little ball, each wad, towards the pail. Then at just the right time, I would cast a fire spell to burn it up completely in flight. Soon after, I would use a water spell to fully douse what little remained, before it made it into the garbage pail. I started with the smallest one, supposing it would be the easiest. This proved to be a mistake. Well, this first attempt didn't go so well. After I magically threw it, the smallest wad caught fire easily enough, but it was still burning as it neared the pail. I was not ready for this, and I guess I froze waiting for the fire to consume the wad of paper. It even missed the pail, and fell on the rug, still smouldering. I stared at it in disbelief briefly. My faculties returned, and I quickly doused it with water, then sloshed it into the pail. Only a small singed spot on the rug resulted. I resisted the urge to move the garbage pail to cover that spot... Hopefully learning from my mistake, I moved closer, added more fire to the mix, and the next three exercises worked flawlessly. None of them missed, and adding more fire quickly consumed the paper, and a little water was all that made its way into the pail. Well, that was really fun! My Twin Twilight called us 'magic geeks' once. Maybe this is what she meant.

I sighed. That fun task was done. I had to think if there was anything else I could do. Maybe I would just head to bed a little early. It was still stormy, so I would not try reading again. I didn't think sleeping would be much easier...

I saw a bright flash race through the Library, followed by a loud crash of thunder. I wasn't worried, but that flash illuminated... the one magical fragment I had not yet looked at; it was a large piece of paper, still laying on the reading table. I guess I wasn't done yet after all. A quick shudder of fear washed over me. Then I relaxed, and smiled. "Easy girl, you like mystery novels, but this isn't one of them!" I said this calmly to myself. "It's just another piece of paper, lets take care of it."

I walked over, and used my magic to pick this last magical fragment up from the table, and bring it near so I could better see "what dark secrets this paper held." I thought this to myself, then I laughed loudly. Seriously... It was a complete piece of paper, no rips or tears or missing pieces. It did not look like a page out of some magical tome (no page number). All the writing was just on one side. I decided this was good; that meant half as much work. I smiled, then yawned deeply at that thought. I guess I was going to bed after this. I was tired.

I laid the paper back on the reading table where the light was better, and started inspecting the side with the writing. It was not written in old pony, but it looked old. Some splotches of messed up letters sprinkled the page, but it seemed otherwise fairly readable. I also noted a thick block of magic text filling roughly the center of the page. I smiled. I like magic! And to actually find an old spell...

In surely scribed ink, and large, flowing letters, the text on this page began...

UNICORN SAGES!
COME TEST YOUR PROWESS!

I won't lie, I was hooked! Immediately! A magical test! I was a Unicorn, fairly well versed in magic (and modest too). This should be fun! It was still thunderously stormy outside, but I didn't even pay attention to that.

The text continued, using still flowing, but somewhat smaller letters.

THE MAGICAL ARRAY THAT FOLLOWS IS ONLY FOR UNICORNS MOST ADVANCED IN THE MAGIC ARTS. FOR ALMOST A MILLENIA, THIS MAGICAL BOND HAS BEEN UNBROKEN. SHOULD YOU POSSESS THE ABILITY, THE TALENT, NAY, THE POWER, YOU CAN BE THE FIRST TO DO SO!

I... I just had to give it a try... But before doing anything, I stopped myself. "Twilight, girl, just give it your best shot. Don't kid yourself, there are other, more powerful Unicorns in Equestria. Just enjoy the test." I sighed, and took a few deep breaths. And I thought in passing that maybe Princess Celestia had put this in here, just to test me! And I didn't ever want to let her down!

Like I said before, magic is like a second language to me. The glyphs, the arcane letters, the strange, bazarre symbols, the subtle nuances marked by sometimes the smallest of strokes... Careful inspection revealed that the central portion of this page contained one continuous magical spell, start to finish, covering maybe 20 lines, with nothing but constant symbols, letters, strokes... I could not really analyze it a portion at a time. There was no portion. This test would be hard!

Well, the first line was shorter, but directly above the magical text, and using the same sized symbols, well letters. The first few words were not magic, but I didn't recognize them. I tried to sound them out and say them anyway. The next word looked like FAMTUM. I thought a minute, then corrected it and said "Phantom Alicorn". I smiled briefly; that information would not be widely known. Then I finished reading that first sentence. Well, I sounded out what strange, bazaar language it might have been.

The magical text was next. Like I said, I was hooked. And, on top of that, actually casting the magic, running it through my magical symbols part of my brain, that is often the easiest way for me to carefully analyze magic. This is usually safe. Many magical spells will not activate unless you actually somehow intentionalize a target, what or who you cast the spell on. You can point, look, or just think, with some magic. I saw no harm in simply working through the spell as a result. (I had been wrong about this before -- this thought fluttered fleetingly through my thoughts...)

I took a deep breath, and started mentally casting this spell. I had not even finished the first line when I was so deeply drawn into the details of the spell. It was so deeply, well, nested, and agonizingly interlocked... I couldn't stop, or I knew I would lose my train of thought, and would have to start over. My magic brain was surely in overload, carrying actions on maybe a few dozen symbols simultaneously... I kept going. I think I was barely breathing; I didn't really have any mental bandwidth left for much else besides casting and analyzing that spell. Well, I am not even sure how much analyzing I was even doing. It was all I could do to keep the symbols of the spell organized, energized, connected... I kept scanning. Some of the apex points in the spell made me gasp, but I just didn't have time to respond to anything else. I was just so... I had my hands full keeping all these magical... Towards the end, my casting even slowed way down, to a crawl. I would scan forward a number of symbols, then have to stop, and ripple the affects of the added magical action to the rest of the magic. It became agonizingly slow. But again, I didn't give up. I knew that, if I did, I would need to start over. And even now, I still barely sensed that I didn't want to do that! And, you also need to know that there were a few missing or marred symbols as I cast this, and I had to, instantaneously, on the fly, make my best guess as to what the symbol was supposed to be, based on the few dozen or so magical actions already in progress, activate the new one, and then quickly move on...

I felt like my brain was going to explode...

I knew it was many minutes later when I finally reached the last line, which quickly tied everything together, brought the many magical actions to closure, and concluded the many magical, well, threads, that this spell appeared to weave together...

I gasped for breath...

I did a quick mental check to make sure I had not left any magical actions hanging (which would probably ruin the effect of the magic), and realized I did not...

I began thinking to my self that I had never ever even seen a magical spell so complex...

I was brought back to reality by a HUGE blast of lightning that briefly lit up the Library like it was daytime. It was very bright; I could tell it was very close, and I tensed up waiting for the loud crash of thunder. The sound of thunder never came...

Still trying to catch my breath from actually casting that spell, I smiled, then relaxed. It was only at that point that I could stand back, and try to assess my magical performance with that spell, that test. It made no difference to me if anypony else said I passed or failed. I was very pleased with my ability to hold the many details of so complex a spell in my head, and for what must have been 10 minutes or more as I worked through casting it. And I learned a lot about the magical structure of complex spells just by evaluating this one. Nopony needed to grade me. This magical exercise had shown me a lot about myself. Like I said, I was pleased with myself. I had learned a lot. That was very valuable to me. Test or no, I was soon smiling broadly. That was very fun!

With my magic, I was also still holding the piece of paper that held that spell, a test from somepony or other, probably buried deep in the past.

It was at that point that I realized, remembered, that there was more writing at the bottom of this piece of paper, below that sold block of over 10 minutes worth of continuous, complex magic.

The letters below the magic were not large, they were the same size as the magical symbols, but some blank distance below the spell, towards the bottom of the page. I started reading.

IF YOU SHOULD SUCCEED IN CASTING THIS COMPLEX SPELL, YOU MUST FIND ME IMMEDIATELY! REST ASSURED I WILL MAKE YOU RICH BEYOND YOUR WILDEST, MOST SPECTACULAR DREAMS! AND BE SURE THAT EVEN A WING AND A PRAYER WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP WHAT THIS SPELL ACCOMPLISHES!

"Bah, who would make such a claim" I said loudly to myself after reading such... fluff... I didn't give it another thought. This test had already proved very valuable to me. Amazing friends, all the books I want... I really didn't need anything. Well, maybe one thing, but certainly not more bits...

The name of the pony who made such a grandiose offer, and had authored so complex and inter-twined a spell, was written very small at the bottom of this page. I had to bring the paper much closer to even be able to read it.

I gasped...

DARK MELVAIN

...What this vile Unicorn had done to Equestria's Princesses... What this vile Unicorn had done to Equestria's ponies, killing hundreds, maybe thousands... for over a millennia... What this vile Unicorn had done to my amazing friends and I, playing cat and mouse with us for hours, confident he could easily kill us...

I was IMMEDIATELY outraged...

With my magic, I threw the paper harshly to the floor. Well, it just wafted down slowly, back and forth, until it finally fell to rest, face up on the floor. That wasn't enough. Using my magic, I quickly picked it back up again, then wadded this full piece of paper up into as small a ball as I could. I threw it the long distance into the garbage pail next to my desk, and added a BUNCH of fire at just the right time, which quickly incinerated the paper as it flew towards the pail. I sprinkled it with water at the last minute, and all that was left was a few smouldering drops of water that slopped harmlessly on the outside of the pail, then slowly trailed down the side a little.

"Of all the nerve..." I said out loud...

I was angry...

...

The lightning had stopped...

The thunder had stopped...

It was dead quiet inside the Library...

...

I tried to calm down...

...

...only to be filled with a growing dread...

...

...I had made this same mistake before...

...

...only this time, true friendship probably wasn't the answer...

...

...or was it?

...

But I surely knew one thing...

...

Thanks to my simple test...

...

...Someponies's nightmare had probably just begun...

Author's Note

This story is rooted heavily in previous Chronicles of Summer Rain volumes, especially Dark Melvain.

Chapter 3, The Equestria Girls World

I had just come through the Portal from Equestria, into the Equestria Girls world. Once onto the grass, I just turned around, and moved a little to the side. I moved no further, and just stood there for a while, deep in thought. I was still facing the Portal wall, built into the base of the large statue in front of Canterlot High School.

But, I was off to the side some, and I could see the broad walkway leading away from CHS, leading to the nearby busy street. I also saw Fluttershy's Cott... apartment to the left, on the far side of that street. Traffic was heavy, and I heard the sound of cars, horns, tires, the occasional ambulance wailing in the background. I could hear birds occasionally too, but more faint than the hustle and bustle. Maybe it was rush hour or something.

But, coming from the calmness of Equestria, and the quiet of the Library in Princess Twilight's Castle... Well, the din pounded heavily. My first impulse was to go back through the Portal. In fact, my first thought was "Bah, why am I even here..."

...

Just standing there, I guess my mind wandered...

Years ago now, dying of cancer, trampled by my family, I fell through this very wall, into Equestria. My cancer was gone, and so was my family. It wasn't rocket science... I built a new life for myself in my new home world. My pony body didn't bother me at all. As a Pegasus, I ended up in Cloudsdale. My avid study of history led me to the Canterlot Library one day. I wanted to find out more about my new home. Of course, I stopped by the Audience Hall to ask permission first. Princess Celestia took the time to even see me, which really surprised me. But she listened to my story about why I had no Cutie Mark, then she led me personally to the Library. Entering the Library lobby, I immediately received my Cutie Mark (an open book), and Princess Celestia made me Shysage the Canterlot Recorder on the spot. She wanted help on some writing projects. I was delighted to be able to help... And, being able to live the rest of my life in peace, helping others, that meant so much to me. I settled in...

...Then I met Summer... She is my Mare in Equestria, and my wife here. She is also the Phantom Alicorn in Equestria; her amazing power made her a top secret, valuable tactical asset. I found her Cutie Mark in an ancient magic book long before... But that made her, well us both, frequent targets. Recently, Equestria finally succeeded in killing a fierce bully who haunted us all for over a millenia, Dark Melvain. But evidently he had long ago left a magical land-mine out of sight, just waiting, and Princess Twilight had accidentally set it off. Now, Summer was gone. Alive, as far as Pinkie Sense could tell, but she was somewhere here, in the hundreds of thousands of square miles that is the Equestria Girls world. And I had to find her... I wanted to find her, and soon... She might be the Phantom Alicorn, but she is my Mare, my world...

...

Soon after I fell through this very wall, I swore I would never return to this place, even if I knew how (I didn't at the time). But now... My Summer is here somewhere. I have no choice...

And... I think the process of Summer actually being taken from our room, well that knocked me unconcious. When I came to, a few hours later, a most doleful tune drifted lazily, quietly in the background (1). That same tune had followed me quietly here into the Equestria Girls world...

I turned, walked up to the steps, and checked the time on the clock in the school lobby just beyond the double-wide doors at the top of the steps. It was 4:33, and late afternoon. I was pretty sure it was a school day, but school would be out already. I just sat down on the bottom step.

"Well, what do I have" I thought to myself...

We knew Dark Melvain authored the spell that literally blasted Summer away from me, and put her here, as far as we could tell. The fact that this vile Unicorn was behind this was unsettling on so many levels. And the only thing Princess Twilight could remember from the magical spell was the phrase a wing and a prayer, referring to a pursuit or goal based on the most meager of resources. Well, that was how I felt right now. I had nothing else. I had no clue even.

My Summer is Equestria pony Summer Rain. She was born in Equestria, that is her home world. Well, her Equestria Girls world 'Twin' (parallel world counter-part, I don't know...), she is here, Equestria Girls Summer Rain. She lives in this world, along with her husband, who is also my Equestria Twin, Equestria pony Shysage (long story). We have used the name 'Twin Link' for this; Twins can feel each other's presence, and actually communicate over a distance of about half a mile. This means Summer's Twin could help me locate my Summer if I managed to get that close, and Summer wasn't knocked out (shudder). But Summer's Twin has her hands full with a 6 month old baby (her Ariel Dawn), and I was pretty sure taking them with me as I looked; that would just not work. I wouldn't even ask. Besides, if my Summer's Twin knew what happened, rather when she finds out, she would be a miserable wreck. Twins across the Portal are very close, and something like this hits hard. And I know this all sounds very complicated. Parallel worlds can cause that, and I apologize. But in some amazing way, aspects of Equestria and the Equestria Girls world operate in parallel. I don't know how else to try and explain it...

My Twin, Equestria pony Shysage came into Twin Link range at that point. I guess he was with my Summer's Twin, and, since they did not sense Summer with me, they both knew something was wrong immediately. Over the Twin link, my Twin asked quietly "Where is Summer?" I could hear Summer's Twin crying already in the background.

I told my Twin what I knew. Lying to him would be impossible anyway. "Dark Melvain took her, and put her somewhere here. I need to find her." I explained this, just by talking quietly, and I had to work hard to not cry myself.

My Twin was quiet briefly, then he said "Summer, Ariel and I are living with Summer's parents, so your cubical is available. The key and the cash are just where you left them. And let us know if there is anything we can do." Over the Twin link, I heard my Twin start to explain to my Summer's Twin what was going on; she was already crying. They must have been driving, and the Twin Link mercifully went inactive soon after. This would be a tough night for them too. I could not help the bad news I had brought here. It just made me feel worse. I wasn't the only person that needed my Summer back... Still, the Twin Link would not, could not be used for this search.

The only other resource I had, was what Summer calls my 'scope thing' when she writes about it. I had actually built this device using materials from the Equestria Girls world, along with a design that would forever remain hidden, along with what powers it, and how I get it through the Portal... But it supplies a video feed as well as audio in some cases, from remote vantage points. I designed and built this complex device so I could stay up in Cloudsdale and be able to watch six amazing ponies in Ponyville, and record the amazing things going on in their lives. For a number of years now, Princess Celestia has been releasing a written record of (now) Princess Twilight and her girls, and the impact the magic of friendship continues to have in their lives. The records are appropriately entitled Quests in Friendship -- A narration of the experiences of Twilight Sparkle and her dear friends in Ponyville and all over Equestria -- Collected and edited by Princess Celestia of Canterlot -- Vol. 1. The Canterlot Recorder helps with these, and volume 5 is the most recent one. We live in Ponyville now, and so haven't needed the scope, but for the first few years... I apologize if I'm wandering again. I have Summer's biometric parameters programmed into the scope, and it can find, lock on and track her, supplying video, etc, once it is in range of her, and she doesn't need to be conscious either (another shudder). And the detection range of this secret device is measured in miles. It will be a valuable asset, maybe the only asset for this search. Well, if I even knew where to start, that is.

Overall, that was it... That was all I knew... That was all I had... A wing and a prayer surely fit...

...

For minutes maybe, I just sat there, watching the sun sneak behind the trees. I wasn't thinking. I didn't know what to think, what to do. I guess, more than anything else, I was waiting for some direction, some idea. Of course, I was talking to true friend. Still, I just did not know what to do.

Somepon... someone came out of one of the doors behind me, and spoke briefly as I stood quickly up "Sir, school is out, can I help--"

It was Vice Principal Luna, probably trying to protect her students from this stranger on the steps. She recognized me right away, and said quietly "Oh, its you, Shysage." She was trying hard to not cry all of a sudden, and said softly "We heard...", and then she was crying.

Well, this blew me away. Somehow... Equestria's Princesses could communicate with Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna here at CHS. I have no clue how that would work. In Equestria, all four are Unicorns, so maybe some form of magic. Still, this took me by surprise.

I hugged her briefly, and said quietly "Its ok, everything will work out". I hoped I sounded a little more convincing than the last time I said that...

It was quiet, there wasn't much to say. Vice-Principal Luna then said quietly "Shysage, I know your emergency is far bigger than ours, but if you could give us some time for our Computer Lab like you have before..."

I hugged the Vice-Principal again. "I will be by in the morning, and see what I can do. I think I would like the use of your work-shop anyway. This will all work out fine."

Vice-Principal Luna sighed. "We really appreciate your help. It's just that..." She didn't finish, and I knew, so she didn't have to. Funding priorities for schools here seemed... After a minute or two, she said softly "Well, let us know if there is anything else we can do to help you. Our Twins are really concerned." Well, their Twins are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, in Equestria. Vice-Principal Luna went back into the lobby and was gone.

It was getting dark, and I walked slowly to my cubical, literally a 10 foot by 10 foot room with a bed, a microwave, a sink, a mirror and a toilet and not much else. I lived here (was banished here) for years before I fell into Equestria. I would stay here again as I tried to find my Summer. I guess that was good, except that living here before Equestria was one un-ending nightmare, so I don't know. Locating the hidden key, I was soon inside. I knew I needed to trim my hair, but one look in the mirror... wow... The hair on one side of my head was singed badly and much shorter than the rest. First thing, I trimmed my hair; it looked a lot better when I was done. Then I shaved. My dark blue slacks, white T-shirt were ok, but my white sweatshirt was badly stained; I was a people a lot as we raised our Ariel in Equestria (Past), then adding Anne. But, evidently my Twin and I have similar tastes (no surprise), and there were a few brand new white sweatshirts under the bed. I quickly put one on. Wow, it was soft. Still, I think I looked almost normal now, even if I didn't feel that way. I grabbed some cash, noting that there was a lot there, and headed back out the door. I walked slowly back past CHS, then down the street to the Cake's Diner. There was a lot less traffic on the road, and it was quieter. I walked slowly, by myself... I just kept realizing that I really didn't know what to do. And I missed Summer...

At the Cake's, I ordered dinner, a burger, fries and a soda. Mr. Cake came out, and said right away "I noticed Summer wasn't with you. Is everything ok?" Well, the back story for this was that my Summer was abducted twice, from this very place, on two separate occasions. And Mr. Cake knew this. I really couldn't tell Mr. Cake everything about what happened last night. But I appreciated his concern, and tried to let him know something. "Summer is missing, and we are pretty sure she is somewhere in this area." He was immediately concerned. "She was brought here from Equestria?"

I just nodded. Again, I had to work to not cry.

It was quiet a minute, then Mr. Cake said "Well, let me know if there is anything we can do. And your food is on us until she is located." I heard his name from the kitchen, and he had to leave, and get back to work.

Still, I was glad that a growing... A growing number of real friends here were at least offering to help any way they could. When Princess Twilight first came to CHS, she found five amazing friends (just like the five amazing friends she had left) that dropped everything to help her (also like the five amazing friends...). That circle had grown over time. Even Mr. Cake.

I just sighed, and ate my dinner. I only ate half of the burger. I always split with Summer, and...

Pinkie Pie, (well Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie, the Pinkie Pie that grew up here) she walked quickly up and sat down facing me. "Shysage, how can I help?" Wow, word was travelling fast...

This was Pinkie Pie, and her Pinkie Sense had never been wrong. Well, both of their Pinkie Sense had never been wrong. I put my soda down, and spent a few minutes thinking.

I don't think Pinkie likes waiting. "Shysage, I also think Summer is alive and here. I don't know anything more than that though."

Well, this narrowed my options somewhat, but I thanked Pinkie for what she did know. It did really help me to hear again that Summer was still alive. "I would like to drive back out to the goon's house that took Summer before, just to make sure. Can you help with that?" I asked slowly. "I'm not sure I could find my way again."

Pinkie didn't hesitate. "A road trip! Yippeeee! Just let me know when you want to go."

That was all I could think of, but I thanked Pinkie for her willingness to help.

"Shysage, everypony here knows already. Just let us know if there is anything we can do to help you." Pinkie said this, gave me a brief hug, then headed back upstairs to her room.

I just sighed. I didn't like this world at all. But surrounded by true friends, all eager to help... Pinkie said everything would work out ok, so... Summer could be anywhere though... Pinkie is never wrong, so I think we knew the outcome. But I had absolutely no clue what to do...

Well, one of tomorrow's jobs should help. Like I said, I needed what Summer called my scope thing. I was pretty sure that strange device was my only hope for finding her. It should still be in the trunk of my old car that Summer calls Big Blue. Getting it ready for use again at the school work-shop was on the list for tomorrow. Thinking about Summer as I walked... I cried for a while as I walked to my cubical. I think I cried myself to sleep that night.

I woke up early, to the sound of an ambulance racing past on the street outside my cubical, siren blaring loudly(2). I was actually disoriented briefly, and it took a minute to realize I was in my cubical, in the Equestria Girls world, and not in Equestria. Maybe the Red LED digital clock should have tipped me off. But the sun was just now coming up, and it was still pretty dark in here otherwise. And that same doleful tune reminded me... My Summer was gone...

I got up and dressed slowly. I noticed something new in my cubical right away. It was the loaner cell-phone that I had used here before. Sometime last night, probably in the middle of the night, my Twin brought it over, put it on the shelf above the toilet, and plugged the charger in. I didn't know if I needed it or not, but I disconnected the charger, and put the phone in my pocket. I still had cash from yesterday. I headed out the door, locked it, and walked slowly past CHS to the Cake's Diner. I passed quite a few students who were on the way to school, and guessed classes were starting soon.

Breakfast was good, and the lady would not let me pay for it. She said her orders were that Shysage gets meals for free until Summer comes back. A quizical look swept across her face, and she asked me who Summer was. I explained that she is my wife, which was hard. Quizical turned to concern. "Well, I hope you find her soon" the lady said softly. I hoped so too.

At maybe nine o'clock, I was standing in front of the Computer Lab at CHS. The door carried a large sign "Out Of Order." I guess they needed my help very badly. I had helped them before and would gladly do it again. I stared at the sign briefly, tried the door and found it was locked. Just then Principal Celestia walked up. I think they have a camera system here. Likewise trying to not cry, she unlocked the door both to the Computer Lab and the work-shop at the end of the hall. I asked her if it would be fine if I walked back to my house and got another piece of equipment that also needed some work-shop time, and she said that would be fine. "Your work in here is our only hope right now" she said quietly. I hugged her briefly and she headed back down the hall and was gone.

Maybe an hour later, I had lugged my scope from the trunk of Big Blue, the short distance to CHS, then down crowded halls to the work-shop. Unstrapping, then removing the large upper covering (which has been used as a bench before), I turned the scope thing on, and started it through its usual boot-up sequence. Then I went to the Computer Lab down the hall. There were now fourteen computer systems at workstation type tables carefully spread around this room. One at a time, I turned each computer system on, and noted what problems I encountered. Some had hand-scribbled notes on them too. This added more information, but one note said just "dead", but this was the first system that came up correctly, and was working fully. I just shrugged. Doing a little mixing and matching, and a little 'known good' detective work, I was able to get eight of the systems up and running well. Leaving those eight running, I moved the other six systems, a few pieces at a time, to the work-shop. There were still some other assorted system pieces scattered around the work-shop. I would have my work cut out for me on the other six systems.

Right before my last trip back to the Computer Lab to get the last two monitors, I checked in on my scope thing, and it seemed to be doing ok, running some background tasks, I think. I headed down the hall to the Computer Lab, and found a class already in session in there, two or more students crowding around each of the eight computer systems I had just 'fixed'. Wow, I guess they really did need some help! Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, I grabbed the last two stray monitors and left, and carried them back to the work-shop.

Modern computer systems are not really designed to be fixed. Most of the repair that I did was at the module level, and I went through the easy stuff first, and was able to quickly come up with two more computer systems that worked well. I used pieces from the six systems I brought here along with the piles of stray parts scattered around. Making a few trips, I carried computer system pieces from the work-shop to the Computer Lab, and set them up on one of the vacant tables. I watched the first one for a while, tried a few programs, and it seemed to be working ok. Then I left to go get the second system. On my way out, the teacher asked if that first computer was ready. I smiled and said "I think so", and he moved two students over to that system right away. I followed the same process on the second 'repair' computer system, and two more students were already using that system when I left. Well, ten out of fourteen systems were back in action. This was good.

It was also around noon when I headed back to the work-shop to take a stab at the other four systems. Princess... Vice-Principal Luna met me in the hall, smiling... I think they already knew how many systems were up and running now. "Shysage, we really appreciate your time... Can we get you some lunch?"

I said "The usual will be fine" and smiled back. I really was glad to be able to help.

"Deli Turkey sandwich with mayo and a little mustard, and some water to drink, and a nice chocolate chip cookie -- check." Vice-Principal Luna said this quietly, remembering it correctly from a year ago maybe, then walked off as I headed into the work-shop.

Replacing a power supply, I had another system up and running on the bench when my deli sandwich arrived. I thanked both Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna. They went back to work, and I took a break to eat some lunch.

...

I think I was mentally working through how to approach troubleshooting the remaining three systems, based on the problems I was seeing. A decidedly different alarm sounded at that point. It had been a while; the alarm was from my scope. The alarm uses a standard beeper, but the nature of the error is spelled out in Morse Code. This would be viewed as archaic, but it enabled me to quickly know the nature of the error, without a display, and without having to look anything up. I glanced over at the Scope, and realized that the LCD display was turned off anyway. The beep pattern confirmed my worst fears: "Error 0 Power Supply"... The secret power source in this device had lasted six years, amazingly, a lot of that time in Equestria. But I needed it now, and, well, replenishing it would take... forever... This... I... Well, the scope was down... leaving me with just... a wing and a prayer... Instead of a range of 10-20 miles, all I had left now... Line-of-sight... Visual... I slowly reached over, and turned my scope thing off, and even more slowly put the cover on and strapped it down... Well, I wanted to drop everything, run back to my cubical and cry for days. Instead, I would need to lug the scope back, and return it to the trunk of Big Blue...

I had promised Principal and Vice-Principal help with their Computer Lab systems. But I just wanted to go home, well back to my cubical. But they needed me, and I stayed. And one of the computer systems needed a new mother-board, and it was the only chassis around that used that exact mother-board. After trying quite a while to find a replacement, I had to put that whole system aside, and work on other systems. Working when you feel like crying is torture... But they needed my help. By the end of the day, I had all fourteen systems back up and running in the Computer Lab, and an additional two back-up systems running on a spare bench in the work-shop. My scope thing was on the floor next to the door.

Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were absolutely delighted, of course, and wanted to take me out to dinner. It was just hard. I was subdued. But I was polite, and told both that I was delighted to help. It was just that, under the circumstances, well it was just hard. Dinner was good too. They walked me back to the Work-Shop so I could get my scope.

I think Vice-Principal Luna must have known that something... "Shysage, what is it..." she said out of the blue.

I was holding the scope up, and just said "It's this thing. It's range is miles, but its broken, and I can't use it. I will need to just about stumble over Summer in order to find her now..." Honestly, that's how I felt just then, and I couldn't stop the tears, even though I don't think I was crying. Principal and Vice-Principal, they hugged me briefly. I was pretty sure they had some idea how I felt.

Vice-Principal Luna spoke again, softly. "Shysage, Pinkie Pie said everything will work out ok. I don't think she is allowed to be wrong, either."

Well, I think we all hoped that was the case.

I was soon lugging the scope home, at night, in the dark, by myself. My arms hurt, but it didn't matter. If this device should ever get into the wrong hands... Big Blue is backed into the carport next to my cubical, and the scope thing was quickly locked back in the trunk. Trying to not cry, I just fell into bed. I am not sure how I even got to sleep that night...

Author's Note

(1) "Faded Memories", the background music for the Promyvion areas of Final Fantasy XI. The areas, the Chains of Promythia expansion, the OST and the game are all copyrighted by Square Enix.
(2) Ask not for whom the ambulance wails. It wails for thee.