//------------------------------// // Chapter 16, Settling In // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain // by shysage //------------------------------// The next day, 'Wednesday', was a good day. Summer Rain and her sister made it to all their classes on time, and more girls were coming up and talking to Summer, giving her plenty of opportunities to make new friends, which she enjoyed. Summer also made it a point to try to include Flutershy in their conversations. Summer suspected that few people had even paid attention to Fluttershy up to this point, and Summer wasn't about to let that go on. Still, she talked to Fluttershy about this, and Fluttershy said she didn't mind as long as Summer didn't pressure Fluttershy to say something. They both agreed that Fluttershy should be free to talk when she wanted and stay quiet when she wanted. Summer was again amazed that Fluttershy was both very sensitive to what might be going on, and also had some background knowledge of many of these girls, and she was a big help to Summer as she tried to just be a friend. Summer would frequently talk to Fluttershy after a conversation was done, just to get things right. Summer Rain was also making progress coming up to speed on some of her classes. Geometry she began to understand, and English, but History was hopeless, Summer had not been in this world long enough to make any sense of it. Lunch was very relaxing. Summer talked briefly with Granny Smith again too. She and her five special friends always sat together, and other girls she was getting to know better, would stop by and chat. Making new friends was so very fun, as long as the girls were near. Summer was so concerned that these five special girls knew clearly that they were her first priority, and she told them that frequently. And she never 'abandoned' Fluttershy to talk to a new friend. The word 'inseparable' kept coming into Summer's mind, and she aimed to make that happen as often as she could. Summer still missed her sister however, and Fluttershy seemed to instinctively know when that happened, and how to help Summer through it. The last three classes seemed to drag on as usual, but when done, they just got together and did things as a group. There was no Soccer Practice for today, and Rarity was excited about something she wanted to show everyone, so they walked with Rarity to her shop. Once there, she asked everyone to hold out their right hand and close their eyes. Rarity went around the group and placed some sort of fashion item in each of their hands. She put hers on quickly as well. Then she had everyone open their eyes. It was beautiful, of course, but Summer didn't know what it was, or how to wear it. "Rare, can you help me with this?" Summer asked, and Rarity quickly gathered Summer's long blond hair and slipped the chain down over Summer's neck. "It's called a 'Dog Tag' dear, they are all the rage." Rarity said. Summer held hers and looked at it. The letters 'TF' were largest across the tag, using very nice looking white lettering with shiny gold trim. Summer had no idea how Rarity could have pulled that off, it was very intricate. The background was a very beautiful alternating and wavy Lavender and Purple stripes. The four letters "MPOF" using the same white letters but smaller were included lower across the tag. "Rare, what do these letters mean?" Summer asked. "Summer, it's from your talk on Monday. 'True Friendship means putting others first'." Rarity looked at Summer and smiled. "You did say that you know." "And that's exactly what I meant too, thank you Rare, it's absolutely beautiful" Summer said, and they all agreed. "The White and Gold are your colors, and the alternating Purple and Lavender are Princess Twilight's colors" Rarity explained. Summer and her five friends all had them on, and Summer doubted they would come off any time soon. Her's wouldn't. Applejack spoke up and said "Rarity what's this on the back?" Rainbow said next "Ya, what does 'MLP' mean? I can't figure that out. And who is this 'Hasbro'?" Rarity explained. "Well, I don't know. I did the design and then emailed it to a local shop and they used 3D printing with plastic to make them. Maybe that was left over from some other job, I don't know. Anyway I brought them here and hand painted them, and they came out wonderful!" "They really did Rare" Summer said softly. Pinkie Pie spoke up and said "You might wanna make some more though Rarity, these are awesome, and others at school might want them too!" Rarity had tears in her eyes because she knew her special friends adored what she made for them, and they each gave her a hug. [Hi, this is Shysage. These two worlds are parallel but not identical. However, in order to cover an event that occured at approximately the same time as the above, but in Ponyville, we need to shift our focus there briefly. I know this could be jarring, and I apologize.] It was early, but Rarity was very excited, and walked quickly to the Cake's shop to find Pinkie Pie. She saw Rainbow overhead clearing clouds, but didn't think she could get her attention. Pinkie was up, and Rarity explained quickly that she had a surprise for the group, and needed Rainbow to collect everyone and bring them to the Boutique. Pinkie understood immediately, and in less than a minute, her Party Cannon had gone off, probably waking up most of Ponyville. Rainbow heard, came down, and was quickly on her way fetching the group. Before long Princess Twilight and her girls were all in the Boutique gathered around Rarity. She asked everyone to close their eyes. Rarity went around the group and used her magic to place some sort of fashion item around each of their necks. She put hers on quickly as well. Then she had everyone open their eyes. They were beautiful, of course, but Princess Twilight didn't know exactly what it was. "Rarity you are Equestria's fashion expert, so what exactly is this? "It's called a 'Shield Necklace' dear, they are all the rage." Rarity said. Princess Twilight held hers up with her magic and looked at it. It was shaped like a small shield. The letters 'TF' were largest across the shield, using very nice looking white lettering with shiny gold trim. Twilight had no idea how Rarity could have pulled that off, it was very intricate. The background was a very beautiful alternating and wavy Lavender and Purple stripes. The four letters "MPOF" using the same white letters but smaller were included lower across the shield. "Rarity, what do these letters mean?" Twilight asked. "Summer's words Princess, 'True Friendship means putting others first'." Rarity looked at Twilight and smiled. "Summer says that a lot." "And she is right. Thank you Rare, it's absolutely beautiful" Princess Twilight said, and they all agreed. "The White and Gold are Summer's colors, and the alternating Purple and Lavender are your colors Princess." Rarity explained. Princess Twilight and her five friends all had them on, and Twilight doubted they would come off any time soon. Her's wouldn't. Applejack and Rainbow were looking at each other's tags. Applejack spoke up and said "Rarity what's this on the back?" Rainbow said next "Ya, what does 'MLP' mean? I can't figure that out." Rarity explained. "Well I don't know. After I did the design, I did cut them out from a piece of leather that was left over from another project, maybe that's where it's from. Anyway I used my design to hand paint them, and they came out wonderful!" "They really did Rarity" Twilight said softly. Pinkie Pie spoke up and said "You might wanna make some more though Rarity, these are awesome, and others in town might want them too!" Rarity had tears in her eyes because she knew her special friends adored what she made for them, and they each gave her a hug. [Ok, back to the Equestria Girls world.] Summer and her friends stayed at Rarity's while they discussed what to do next. Pinkie Pie suggested that they check to see if Mr. Cake needed them tonight. Pinkie sent him a text, and he replied that their kids were better and Mrs. Cake was back on duty. He also thanked them for helping out earlier in the week, and promised them free dinner tonite if they came. They headed there of course. When dinner was almost over, Summer Rain asked if they could all go over to Fluttershy's apartment and listen while Summer read out of one of her books from Equestria. Even Rainbow was enthusiatic about this, so they were all soon sitting together in Fluttershy's tiny apartment eating Ice Cream cones, a present from Mrs. Cake. Summer liked these, just like everyone else did. Summer got out Volume 1, and read the two part section that detailed Princess Twilight's first experiences with her five special pony friends. Summer read kind of fast to make it a little easier on Rainbow, and then they talked about what they heard for a while afterwards. Fluttershy had heard it before but was again impressed by what she heard. Everyone else laughed too when Twilight called the ponies of Ponyville 'crazy', but they also all agreed that she had changed a lot. Like Fluttershy, everyone in the group was struck by the fact that the 'Elements of Harmony' had claimed their carriers based on their individual characteristics, and Summer this time actually reviewed what was specifically mentioned about these five ponies. "Fluttershy, your element is Kindness "Rainbow Dash, your element is Loyalty "Applejack, your element is Honesty "Pinkie Pie, your element is Laughter "Rarity, your element is Generosity" After saying this, Summer said "Listen girls. This is so amazing. The night you helped Princess Twilight, each one of you, with the exact same characteristics, supplied the substitute 'Elements of Harmony' that enabled Princess Twilight to use her magic to defeat Sunset Shimmer. "That's why I named each of you as I reviewed the elements above. The Elements themselves identified these same characteristics in each of you, and that identification formed the basis of Princess Twilight's ability to use her magic. And you did this without the physical elements that Twilight and her friends in my world use. I just can't get over that." After a brief silence, Rainbow spoke up "Why were Fluttershy and I able to fly for a little while that night?" Summer tried to answer. "Rainbow I don't know. In my world, both you Rainbow and my sister Fluttershy can fly. It is like Twilight and/or her magic gave you all a little piece of Equestria that night. And you all have Cutie Marks now, which I find amazing. "Like I told Fluttershy, it is like you five have been marked out here together for something, only I don't have any idea what. Magic doesn't seem real important for your world so I don't think it is that. But I really don't know. I think we will just have to wait and see, and maybe find out together." "I like my Cutie Mark" Fluttershy said softly. Everyone else loved theirs too. "Lets do this" Summer suggested. "There is an account in here about Cutie Marks, lets see if we can look at that tomorrow night." "Awesome!" Rainbow said, and everyone agreed. After a brief pause, Pinkie yawned and said "School tomorrow, its late" "Can we all hug before we leave? You girls constantly amaze me" Summer said softly. It wasn't easy in Fluttershy's little apartment, but they did it.