//------------------------------// // Chapter 35, A Day like Any Other // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain // by shysage //------------------------------// School came too early Monday morning for Summer Rain and her five friends. Summer and Fluttershy were late for Fluttershy's first class, but Fluttershy still went with Summer to Principal Celestia's office. Fluttershy had seen Princess Celestia, and so Summer knew this would seem strange now to her. Fluttershy just took it in stride. The Principal gave Summer her new class schedule, and a map, and told Summer to be sure to drop by if she had any questions. Principal Celestia also suggested that Fluttershy simply follow Summer's new schedule with her for today, and that the office would take care of the paperwork. Both of their absences last Friday didn't even come up. Summer again hugged Principal Celestia as they left. Summer's first class was the same one Fluttershy was in, and they just went in late, and sat in the back. After what they had been through, this just seemed so surreal, so bizarre. But this was their life now, and they made do. And nopony wanted to do again what they had just done unless they had to... The whole morning was just weird like that... Summer had two new classes out of four, Rarity was in one, and Applejack was in the other. Fluttershy was with them, and they all sat together. Other girls would stop occasionally and chat with all of them. Summer loved that. Lunch tasted very good, and Granny Smith again thanked Summer and her friends for their help. She mentioned that Big Mac would be able to take care of the rest of the apples this week. They had all been a big help. The afternoon dragged on as usual. One new class with Rainbow Dash, and another with Fluttershy. They watched Rainbow run Soccer practice as usual, just sitting in the bleachers. Summer couldn't help it and started crying. Fluttershy just held her a while. Fluttershy remembered that Summer didn't have a Twin, and at this, Fluttershy started crying too. Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie just sat next to them and did what true friends do. Everypony soon calmed down. After practice, Rainbow walked over and sat with the group, and they all just talked a while. In a pause in the conversation, Summer asked carefully and quietly "How are you precious people doing?" Applejack spoke up and said "That was very scary. I would do it again if I needed to, but I would rather not otherwise. I don't think I will ever complain about 'normal life' being boring ever again though. Fluttershy spoke up softly and said simply "I really love my Twin..." and everyone else agreed Rarity spoke up and said "I'm not wild about chasing magic monsters, but I much prefer Equestria to this world. It seems life here includes way too many details that take up too much time." Everyone agreed with this too. 'So are we agreed that Friday can't come soon enough?" Summer asked with a smile. Summer's five friends all teared up at this, and Summer wasn't expecting that, so they just all hugged for a few minutes. After the group hug, Rainbow said "Hey can we go to the Cakes for some food? I'm starving. They were all soon sitting in a booth eating. Fluttershy was picking up the bill. Evidently her parents loved Summer, and had increased Fluttershy's allowance to provide for both of them. They were soon done, it was getting late. As they stood to leave, Summer saw Dawn, and asked if she could visit with her for a little while. Fluttershy agreed, and she and Pinkie simply headed upstairs to Pinkie's room. Rainbow and Applejack walked Rarity home. Summer sat in the booth with Dawn and her friends, suprising Dawn. Dawn introduced Summer to two of her girlfriends. They chatted for a few minutes. Summer mentioned getting a little more soda, and quickly headed for the machine. After getting some more soda, some guy intentionally jabbed Summer's arm sending soda all over the floor. He just laughed and walked off. Summer sighed, put her soda down, went to the cleaning closet, brought a mop out, cleaned up the mess, put the mop back, refilled her soda and returned to Dawn and her friends. Three minutes later Summer's stomach felt very strange. She asked to be excused, and headed to the Ladies Room. She couldn't figure out what was going on, so she headed out to try and find one of her friends. At this point, the room was spinning madly. Summer sensed two guys carrying her, stumbling, out the back door, then she passed out. Less than a minute later, Pinkie ran quickly down the stairs, found Dawn, and said "Where's Summer?" Pinkie seemed alarmed, and Dawn said she headed to the Ladies room. Pinkie stopped for a minute, got a blank look on her face, then picked up Summer's soda, smelled it and said "Oh no..." Fluttershy was right behind Pinkie, and Pinkie said to Dawn "Dawn this isn't your fault, but I think Summer is in trouble." Fluttershy began to sniffle immediately. Pinkie got out her cell and quickly sent a text. Then she dumped Summer's soda out at the machine, and quickly checked the Ladies Room. Fluttershy was crying when Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity showed up. Pinkie said to Rarity "Rarity, can you please take Fluttershy upstairs and help her..." They were both quickly on their way up the stairs. Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow then silently searched the whole building. Outside the back door they found... ...thrown on the ground like garbage... ...Princess Twilight's 'Shield Necklace'... The neck strap was broken. Summer Rain was gone... Dawn was crying, but Pinkie assured her it wasn't her fault. Dawn gave Pinkie her cell number and told Pinkie to keep her posted. Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow went upstairs. Fluttershy was sitting on Pinkie's bed crying. Rainbow said quickly "What are we going to do?" Pinkie Pie spoke up solemnly. "They won't take a missing persons report unless the person has been gone 24 hours. And Summer is from Equestria, and has no identification, not even an identity here." Rarity said something similar. "We could call the Police, and they would fill out a report. Then they would tell us to contact them if we heard anything... None of us saw the people who took her... or the car... I don't know..." Applejack had already called the police, then she went down and waited for them. She also explained what had happened to the Cakes, and Mr. Cake mentioned they had some security cameras, and he would check them all tonite and forward any information to the Police. The police came and took a report, but offered little hope. Their department was running pretty thin due to budget cuts and such. He gave Applejack his card, and quickly left. Applejack came back up and explained this to the group. Rainbow sat down next to Fluttershy and was soon crying herself. "Well I'm not going anywhere. This is just wrong... After all we just came through in Equestria..." Rainbow said through her tears. Rarity asked Pinkie if they could all stay, and Pinkie said of course. In Equestria, even facing formidable foes, Summer was their strength. Now she was gone, and they couldn't do anything... ...except hope... ...it didn't seem like much... The only other thing they could do was wait. It would be a long night.