The trip to the edge of the Everfree Forest did take a while.
It would have been easy enough for Princess Twilight and the rest of the girls to just walk there, but Shining Armor knew he had to do all he could to keep them safe. This meant moving maybe 50 ground guards in addition to the Pegasus patrol.
Once they reached their 'camp' at the edge of the forest, Spike found a comfortable spot, and was soon asleep, so Princess Twilight just left him there.
Longer than anyone thought it would take, Princess Twilight and her girls, along with Summer Rain and the Equestria Girls headed into the forest.
Shining Armor and Princess Cadance led the way, with Princess Twilight's direction. They needed light for this journey, and Shining Armor used his magic for that.
Summer had never been here, and she and the Equestria Girls simply followed Princess Twilight and her ponies.
On the way, Summer summarized the Poison Joke incident from her reading, for the Equestria Girls. Ordinarily it would have been at least amusing, but not now. There was nothing amusing about this journey. They noted the hazard however, and steered clear of it when Princess Twilight pointed patches of the plant out.
Aside from the occasional steep embankment they needed to cross, they were all soon at the clearing in front of Zecora's hut.
Princess Twilight stopped, and began to cry. She tried to explain that Discord had tortured Zecora by squeezing her into a number of objects. Their Princess could not say more except that she didn't remember where Discord had left her.
Then she and the Equestria ponies all backtracked until they were away from the clearing and simply cried. Evidently they all were forced to watch this.
Finding Zecora would be Summer and the Equestria Girl's job.
Still, Summer suspected that only Princess Twilight could bring her friend back.
Summer Rain explained to the Equestria Girls that Zecora was a Zebra, and would probably show up as white and black stripes. Summer knew that this sounded absolutely horrible, but they all felt the urgency to find Princess Twilight's friend as soon as possible.
They asked Shining Armor to come into the hut, and they looked there first, with the help of the light he provided.
Zecora's hut was small, and they quickly concluded she wasn't in there. They were soon outside, and Shining Armor gave them as much light as he could. They found nothing.
"Pinkie where?" Summer asked out of the blue.
Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie thought for a minute and said simply "Table".
Summer ran back into the hut, and even before Shining Armor could come back in, she had the table cloth off of Zacora's work table...
Summer quickly bolted back to Princess Twilight, even in the dark, and said "Princess come quickly".
Everypony came, and soon they were all inside.
Discord had stuffed Zecora into her work table...
Princess Twilight knelt to the ground, then simply wrapped one of her legs around one of the table legs, which was also one of Zecora's legs, and simply cried for her dear friend...
Zecora soon crumpled out of the table onto the floor. Shining Armor quickly threw the table clear.
Princess Twilight knelt down and put her head next to Zecora's head and cried softly.
Zecora had a low pitched voice , and it was doubtful she could scream. After being freed from her table, she inhaled deeply and then said "Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh..." in her low voice. Then she inhaled deeply and said this again. It didn't matter, everypony knew she was hurting a lot.
"Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh..." Zecora kept saying this, eyes shut tightly, working through the river of pain she felt.
Princess Twilight asked the Equestria Ponies to gather around closely, and they too were soon weeping. Summer and the Equestria Girls gathered around the Equestria ponies, as close as they could. Everyone was weeping for Princess Twilight's friend.
When Zecora was ready to open her eyes, Princess Twilight wanted to make sure her dear friends were there to welcome her back from the dead...
"Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh... Oh..." Zecora kept saying.
After about 40 minutes of this, Zecora stopped, inhaled deeply and was quiet. Only then did she open here eyes, to be greeted by Princess Twilight's smile.
Princess Twilight said "Welcome back Zecora", and then her smile rapidly turned into tears of joy, and she wept deeply.
Princess Twilight's good friend Zecora was alive.
Zecora seldom showed much emotion, but after looking at the twelve or so pony friends around her, she cried as well.
After about fifteen more minutes, Zecora tried to get up, and the ponies quickly moved to give her room. She worked her way slowly to her feet, and then inhaled deeply and said "Ahhhh..."
Zecora was as big as Shining Armor, and they probably could not have held her up even if they all worked together. It didn't matter.
Princess Twilight spoke at this point. "Zecora, I am deeply sorry you had to get involved in thi--"
"Princess Twilight, have no worry,
I'll be feeling better in a hurry!" Zecora said.
Princess Twilight accepted this, then said "Well, do you need any help or anything?"
Zecora had already lit a few lights in her hut, and Shining Armor helped her move her table back where it belonged.
"I'll just make me a nice herbal brew.
I'll take it easy, and soon I'll be feeling better too." Zacora said with a smile.
All the other ponies headed out of the hut, leaving just Princess Twilight and Summer. Princess Twilight hugged her friend Zecora. At the door, Princess Twilight stopped and said "Thank you for everything Zecora".
Zecora answered "Princess Twilight, this your friend
I see magic without end!"
Summer just leaned her head up against Princess Twilight, and said softly "I agree, Princess Twilight is amazing."
Shining Armor quickly had the girls back to the entrance to the Everfree Forest, and to his troops, and he felt better about that.
While they were away in the forest, the remainder of Shemblin's team returned... ...without Shemblin. When Shining Armor returned, they quietly explained that Shemblin had sacrificed himself to give his team time to escape.
But they got visual of Sunset Shimmer. She was a huge monster, evidently just sitting in the middle of the large commons area outside and below the main balcony of the Canterlot Audience Hall.
Shining Armor quickly sent two Pegasi to check to see if the Train was still in Ponyville, and to 'retain' the Train for their ride to Canterlot. Otherwise it was a long walk.
Waiting for the patrol to return, Summer was just sitting at the edge of the forest staring into the darkness.
Summer just didn't understand why evil worked the way it did.
Were Sunset Shimmer to rule Equestria unchallenged, within a season, all the baby colts would be dead, and any colts born after that would also quickly die. In just a generation, Equestria would have no inhabitants. And Sunset wanted to rule over that?
Discord wasn't any better. He was content to live in the Crystal Palace, just because he liked it. He too was surrounded by zombie ponies, who would also be all dead in just a generation. Discord didn't care. It made no sense.
Summer got up in disgust and decided she had to find something better to think about. Both were monsters, clearly enemies of true friendship.
Summer Rain turned around to join the others. She took three steps, then stopped immediately.
Both Fluttershy's were sitting together, each facing her Twin, with one of their legs around the other's necks, and their heads against each other's. They were just hugging while sitting, but motionless. Summer saw a distinct Pink aura surrounding both Fluttershys.
"Pinkie" Summer called out. Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie came immediately at Summer's call, and Summer asked quietly "What are they doing?"
Pinkie looked at the two Fluttershy's, paused briefly, sighed, then said quietly "Equestria Girls Fluttershy is... ...sharing Equestria pony Fluttershys' pain, actually taking her Twin's pain into her own soul, and sharing it with her."
Then Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie said "Oh wait...", and then yelled "PINKIE!", and her twin ran up quickly. Then they did exactly the same thing.
They sat facing each other, hugged, then Equestria Girls Pinkie asked Equestria pony Pinkie what it was like. This simply started the process. Their aura was Blue, the color of the balloons on their Cutie Marks.
Before long, they were all doing this. Both Raritys had a Purple aura. The Applejack Twins had an Orange aura. Equestria Girls Rainbow Dash even jumped in and started the process with her Twin, and the Red aura resulted as the pain was being transferred.
Surrounded by five sets of loving, adoring, deeply committed 'true friend' Twins...
Summer Rain was overwhelmed. She lay down in the grass, curled up into a little ball, buried her nose in the grass, and began to cry...
The Equestria Girls were sharing the pain in the souls of the Equestria ponies... Summer knew she simply didn't deserve to know such devoted, true friends...
Princess Twilight walked over. "Summer what's wrong?" She asked quietly.
Summer tried to talk while crying. "The Equestria Girls... ...are sharing pain with their Equestria Pony Twins... ...Actually transferring pain from their hurting Twin into their own souls... I just can't..."
Summer cried for a bit.
Princess Twilight gently said "Summer you had a role in that, I'm--"
Summer Rain interrupted without thinking "Princess..."
Summer cried some...
"When I arrived there, I found five amazing people who were already your true friends..."
Summer cried more...
"Once I helped them come together, they didn't really need any coaching..."
Summer cried more...
"And they just welcomed me as their true friend too..."
Summer cried more...
"And helped me so much more than I might have helped them..."
Summer cried more...
"And even though I explained they may die here, they still all demanded that they come with me to help rescue you..."
Summer cried more...
"And now, they are taking their Twin's pain away by making it their own..."
Summer cried more...
"I just... I just... ...don't deserve to know true friends like that..."
Summer put her head back down in the grass and kept crying.
Twilight Sparkle quickly laid down on the grass, put her head down against Summer Rain's head and just cried with her. Twilight felt the same way...
Summer and Twilight cried together for maybe 10 minutes.
Then Summer quickly put her head up, still sniffling, and Twilight did too.
The Equestria Girls and the Equestria ponies were lined up in a row facing them, each sitting with their Twin.
Both Fluttershys were in the center of the line, and spoke up timidly, and almost couldn't finish, but together said slowly
"All of us want you both to know that we love each of you very very much."
Then they joined their Princess and Summer and cried softly with them in the grass, until Shining Armor walked up to say it was time to go...