[Just like the previous 'Twins' chapter, the only fitting background music for this chapter is the 'slow, understated elegance' of 'The Celestial Capital - Al'Taieu'* from the 'Chains of Promethia'* expansion for Final Fantasy XI* (*c2014 by Square Enix). I apologize again for the interruption -- Shysage.]
Summer and her Twin were up pretty early, and Mom and Dad were too. They all hugged and cried for a few minutes, then the Summer Twins headed out the door to "the house on the corner".
They were both quickly inside, and let their eyes adjust to the lower light level.
Shysage was still sitting at the 'scope' working. However, he soon got up, and waited. Equestria pony Summer gave him a hug then. He could not tell them apart yet.
Shysage next said softly to Equestria Girls Summer Rain "Your amazing discovery can only be attributed to the simple friendship extended to you by Dawn Flower. This is simply amazing. I feel so honored to meet you."
She hugged Shysage tightly for that.
"I have set the 'scope' up for independent tracking of you and the six other Twins. You will need to fill your parts in yourselves" Shysage said softly.
Shysage pointed to a few buttons labeled with each of the seven Euqestria ponies, and explained that their Twins would probably not be far.
"I have also opened a different text file for each Twin on the Compy so you can quickly switch targets and take notes.
"If you are really bored, I have also opened a single main text file that will ultimately include the entire text for this amazing chapter.
"And thank you Summer. I am very tired." Shysage said softly.
With this, Shysage walked over to a corner away from the 'scope', curled up on the floor, and was soon fast asleep.
A few things happened within a few minutes of the Summer Twins taking over the record of this amazing day.
First, Summer found a large box thing, which she assumed was some sort of cover for the 'scope'. She and her Twin simply flipped it over, and moved it up next to the 'scope' and compy.
Next, Summer extended her left fore-leg to her Twin, who immediately touched it with her right fore-leg. Equestria pony Summer appeared to be the only one who could assume her Equestria Girls form at will, and she did that now.
Her Twin was touching her, and she too turned back into her Equestria Girls form as well. They looked at each other and hugged tightly for a minute. Holding hands, they walked up and sat on the box. Then they interlocked their two adjacent arms so they stayed "people". They would work this way the rest of the day.
Next, Equestria Girls Summer looked at Shysage's compy and said softly "I will have no problem operating this Summer."
Equestria pony Summer said "Awesome. Please get rid of all the windows except the one for the final text."
Her Twin said softly, "I'll just 'minimize' them for now..."
Equestria pony Summer didn't understand, but it didn't matter.
Being Twins, they didn't need to talk much, usually only to clarify something pertaining to the difference between their two worlds. They laughed a lot, and also cried a lot too. They couldn't link at all until they were done, there would be plenty of time for that.
With Equestria Girls Summer at the Compy, and Equestria pony Summer guiding the 'scope' around from one set of Twins to another, the text of this chapter slowly but fluidly and amazingly took shape.
These Twins frequently thought of the exact same word choices for the phrases as Equestria Girls Summer typed them. She was very fast at typing.
It also needs to be pointed out that the two Summer Twins were, this day, living out their committment to true friendship. They sacrificed their day together to help out another, vastly over-worked friend, Shysage. Even so, the Summer Twins enjoyed every minute together.
What follows is the fruits of their joyful labor.
The label 'Twins' was adopted first by the Equestria Girls to refer to their Equestria pony 'counterparts', even before they ever thought they would even be able to actually meet them.
The desperate journey back to Equestria to rescue the realm saw the permanent adoption of this terminology. With the exception of Princess Twilight, it was the Equestria Girls alone who could 'rescue' their Twin from their respective tombstones.
Once rescued, each set of Twins would later perform the soul-link as the Equestria Girls sought to share the pain of their Twins by taking some of their Twin's pain into their own souls, easing the Equestria ponies' pain in the process.
The events of the previous day brought a completely unexpected, joyous capstone to the Twins experience, as both Summer and Princess Twilight were amazingly able to meet and experience their Twins.
It should be noted that they were not genetic Twins. Far more, they were exact duplicates of the other, varying only in exposure on their home world. This is how the word 'Twins' is used.
Today would be devoted specifically for time for Twins to just be together. It appeared that, on both sides of the Portal, some precious ponies and people were increasingly looking expectantly to this very day, and more to follow.
The goal was simple. Each of the Equestria Girls would spend the day, in Ponyville, with their Twin, living the day with their Twin.
Some interesting characteristics of Twins have already been encountered.
Twins frequently do the same things at exactly the same time, in exactly the same way. This could include crying, sitting, laughing, talking, and so forth. In addition, the voices of the Twins sound almost exactly the same. Hearing the Twins both laugh and cry together, for example, could sound very eerie.
It needs to also be noted that the Twins somehow seem to frequently know instinctively and effortlessly what each other are doing or feeling. This played out as the Rainbow Twins performed a double reverse magical Sonic Rainboom in the midst of a thick, dark cloud.
Since the Twins are from different worlds, what they have been exposed to is different, and the Twins generally respond differently when the subject matter is more known by one then the other. The rest of the time, Twins usually say the same thing at the same time, and in the same manner.
Equestria pony Summer quickly noticed differences between the personality distinctives of the Equestria Girls compared to the Equestria ponies.
For example, Equestria pony Fluttershy is extremely sensitive, and it does not take much to hurt her feelings. She is just that sensitive. Her Twin grew up in the Equestria Girls world, which involved substantially more pain and hardship in everyday life, and so she developed perhaps a "tougher skin", just because life in her world required it.
In other words, the distinctives of the Equestria Girls were somewhat 'muted' when compared to their Equestria pony Twins. Summer hoped that the time Twins spent together here in Equestria would help to minimize that difference somewhat.
Both Fluttershy's were up early, and outside enjoying both the warmth of the sun as well as being surrounded by beloved animals.
The animals seem overjoyed that there were two Fluttershys now. Both Fluttershy's openly welcomed all of the animals, and none of them were afraid of either Fluttershy. It appeared that Angel had trouble deciding which one was which, and he ran back and forth constantly.
Equestria Girls Fluttershy thought she was in heaven. She would do this in her world if she could. She just sat with her Twin and breathed it all in, enjoying every minute.
At times thoughout the course of the day, the Fluttershy Twins would hug and cry, and soul-link some too. There was still so much to learn from each other. All the Twins would do this.
The Fluttershy Twins would not do much talking. Twins can often sense their Twin's thoughts, and these two incredibly sensative ponies needed to say even less.
They effortlessly enjoyed each other, and the amazing animals around them.
The Summer Twins cried a LOT watching their sisters in their 'element', and had to constantly fight the urge to join them.
Both Rarity Twins would spend the day creating amazing fashion items, for both worlds it seemed. This happened in the course of Rarity dealing with some of her normal customers, as well as some spontaneous 'let's try this' experiments.
Equestria Girls Rarity quickly fell in love with the introduction of magic into the creative process that was Fashion. In her world, she had to do everything manually, and it was slow. She watched in amazement as her Twin used her magic to carefully schedule and automate the entire process of making clothing. She was amazed.
Artistically they were in lock-step however, and often came up with the same designs at the same time. The 'Shield Necklace' and 'Dog Tags' were an early indication. The only difference was in materials used.
Sweetie Belle quickly fell in love with her sister's Twin. She made Equestria Girls Rarity homesick for her little sister.
By the end of the day, Equestria Girls Rarity had made solid progress in the use of her own magic, she was a Unicorn too in Equestria after all.
Dawn brought Camille over for a while, and as Camille played with Sweetie Belle, Dawn just watched the Rarity Twins in awe...
Equestria Girls Rarity did try to explain "3D Printing" to her Twin. The whole printing process eluded her, but she did understand that this process made it very easy to actually create the material used for the fashion item. The 'Dog Tags' were made this way after all.
Even though customers kept the Rarity Twins busy, Equestria pony Rarity still closed up her shop early in the afternoon, and then just wandered in a nearby meadow with her Twin. It was amazing.
The Twilight Twins were amazing fun to watch.
Princess Twilight was trying to teach Equestria Girls Twilight some basic magic; Twilight Sparkle was a Unicorn in Equestria as well. They were both quickly surrounded with a huge pile of books on spells, and Twilight was making amazing progress.
It soon became apparent that the soul-link was the fastest way for them to communicate complicated magical details. The Twilight Twins by far linked the most that day. It showed, the Princess' new student was learning quickly.
It also became quickly evident that Princess Twilight was never far from the joy of actually experiencing her Twin. She could not get over that, and was smiling and crying a lot around her Twin, and they hugged often. It appeared Twilight Sparkle felt the same way.
Equestria Girls Twilight seemed also, inadvertantly, to be bringing the 'phillie' back in Princess Twilight. Dying had chased that away, but Princess Twilight's Twin was coaxing it back.
Both Summer's cried watching all of this.
And it seemed that Fluttershy was right. Equestria Girls Twilight had found her Destiny. She had seen it from afar and dimly for so long. It was all real now. She wept a lot too.
Spike just stayed out of their way.
The Applejack Twins enjoyed a long day of hard work at Sweet Apple Acres.
Many of the tasks they did together, and did not need to talk much about what the other had to do, they just knew.
Equestria Girls Applejack knew that they used 'farm equipment' in her world, tractors and such. While this allowed more to be done, the machines also added another layer of complexity and potential problems to the whole process.
The Apples seemed to accomplish almost as much in their own way here. The various family members were much more important in Equestria though, everypony needed to help.
These Twins really did get a lot done, and enjoyed each other in the process.
Apple Bloom enjoyed both of her sisters as well.
Still, in the middle of the afternoon, the Applejack Twins took a walk together in the fields. They cried together, linked some, and talked a lot.
At the end of the day, Granny Smith still did not know which was which.
Pinkie Pie is always in her element around other ponies. So, having a Twin always at her side amplified the Pinkie-ness in both.
Everypony would always look twice the first time they saw two Pinkies, but would then be amazed that they both usually said the same thing, the same way, at the same time, and with the same huge smile.
The Townsponies warmly embraced both of them, and it was an amazing day of just 'being Pinkie' in Ponyville. After the last two weeks, and the terrible things Equestria went through, having two Pinkies in town did amazing things for everypony in Ponyville.
Equestria Girls Pinkie was pretty good at Checkers, and almost beat Derpy.
While it didn't come up in this particular day, it does need to be noted that, as far as their 'Pinkie Sense' went, both Pinkies were identical in their abilities. Their high energy level was the same as well. They were Twins.
Still, overall, Equestria Girls Pinkie had been exposed to a lot more harshness in her world, and was probably better at enduring difficulty than her Twin. That was a definite help during their Dark Journey, but it was not a problem now.
At the end of the day, only one Pinkie could call up the Party Canon however. Maybe these Twins hoped that would change with time.
The Rainbow Dash Twins were either flying in the clouds, or resting on the branch of a tree together.
Equestria Girls Rainbow Dash was still new to flying, and not near as good as her Twin, even though she was improving at a rapid rate.
Equestria pony Rainbow calmly just toned everything down to match her Twin's abilities, just so they could have fun together.
Equestria pony Rainbow spent a lot of the day showing her Twin how she controlled the weather for Ponyville.
Just for fun, they both rounded up two small rainclouds from far away, and dragged them to Town Square to give Ponyville a 'little sprinkle'. Two clouds might have been a bit much, but the warm sun afterwards quickly dried everypony out.
Equestria pony Rainbow explained some of the fun games she and Summer had devised. That would have to wait for another day however.
Equestria Girls Rainbow tried to explain 'Soccer' to her Twin. They actually linked at this point to help Rainbow understand better. Equestria pony Rainbow said it looked like amazing fun, but she realized that neither could play that game very well as a pony.
Also, around mid-afternoon, the Rainbow Twins flew up to Cloudsdale, walked around a little, then tried to surprise the Summer Twins by waiting for them near Shysage's house.
The Summer Twins guessed Rainbow didn't know anything about the 'scope' and it's abilities. Few ponies knew about this however.
As dusk approached, the Summer Twins wound down their activities. Equestria Girls Summer proofed the full file quickly, then saved it, but left the window open.
Equestria pony Summer pressed the button with her name on it. She planned on a fun return to Ponyville, and wanted Shysage to be able to record it. She had a few other plans for the evening as well.
Both Summers then held hands, stood up, then hugged and cried softly. Serving other friends made the day amazing no matter what.
Equestria pony Summer asked her Twin to hold her arm a minute.
This done, she bent over the Compy and at the end of the main chapter file, she typed in "I love you Shysage, you are amazing, I hope you know that."
Her Twin said simply "Oh Summer..."
Equestria pony Summer said slowly "You are right..." and then erased the line.
Then she pulled away from her Twin, and they both rolled forward on all four.
Equestria pony Summer simply walked over, and went to briefly put her nose up against Shysage's nose as he slept. Summer got very close, but then backed off at the last minute...
They were both soon out the door walking down the Avenue as Dusk turned into night.
Equestria Girl Summer said softly "You know he will see that."
Equestria pony Summer said "I know..." and started crying.
Her Twin just held her as she cried, and Summer intentionally switched them both to their Equestria Girls form.
Through her tears, Equestria pony Summer said "I feel so bad for him Summer... He could easily run, and cure his pain... But he should not, and he knows it, and so will not... All he can do is hurt... It seems so unfair... ...and nopony knows how it will all work out..."
They both just hugged and cried together in the dark for a few minutes.
Still crying, Equestria pony Summer said "I just wish I could do more to help him..."
"Just keep being his friend Summer" Equestria Girls Summer said softly. "My Twin taught me that this is usually the best answer for a lot of things."
As Equestria Girls Summer held her crying Twin, she said "The most amazing thing is that he is from my world. Men like that are very rare, and usually don't last very long there...
After a few more minutes of crying softly together, Equestria pony Summer calmed down. She then touched her forehead up against her Twin's forehead.
Equestria Girls Summer said softly "I know... If it comes to that, he will be worth waiting for... Still, I hope I can find a man like that too."
Then they walked together, hand in hand, down to the 'jumping off spot'.
Both Summer's were most of the way to the edge of Cloudsdale, where they would leave for Ponyville. The stars twinkled brightly overhead, it was a clear night, and Equestria pony Summer smiled at this. She would need to see where they were going.
While walking, and without turning around, Equestria pony Summer said "Hi Rainbow" then started laughing.
"You have got to stop spending so much time with Pinkie!" Equestria pony Rainbow said disappointed.
"I am glad you are both here. We are going to do something amazing together tonight" Equestria pony Summer said softly.
She directed Equestria Girls Rainbow to her right, then bent over, and used her empty right hand to grab Equestria Girls rainbow's left hoof, and then helped her up to a standing position as they held hands.
With the other Rainbow quickly standing on the other side, they were all in Equestria Girls form.
Hmm... They needed their wings for this.
Summer's Cutie Mark was the only way she knew to do this, and after a minute, it was quickly glowing at her side. Mysteriously, they all four had their wings now.
"Girls, whatever happens, DO NOT LET GO!" Summer said, "even after we land.
"We are going to fly up higher, then we are going to simply glide down in a slow curve to Ponyville. I have done this before, it is amazing fun!"
They all jumped off together, and were soon climbing rapidly. When Summer knew her Twin was reaching her limit, she guided them into level flying, then said "Ok girls, just hold your wings out straight, and let's settle together into an angle that allows us to lose altitude the slowest.
These four Equestria Girls Pegasi were soon simply gliding down slowly towards the ground. Summer steered them carefully to Town Square in Ponyville.
Their descent was slow, and would take a while.
They were enjoying every minute doing this together.
What they did not yet see however, was that, since Summer's magic was active, they left behind them a pure white stripe, with dazzling, glowing rainbow edges on both sides, as they slowly glided down to Town Square.
It did not dissipate.
Many of the Townsponies were quickly outside to watch this line from the sky slowly work its way towards them. It was amazing. It was beautiful.
Princess Luna was 'on watch', and quickly noticed it, and came to Ponyville herself.
When the airborn Twins were near Ponyville, they were amazed to see many ponies outside at night watching.
Summer was good at this, they landed right at Town Square. The Equestria Girls fliers were not used to landing in their Equestria Girls form, but they all helped each other land together, and they continued to hold hands.
Then they turned around, and saw what they had left in the sky...
..and just started crying together, hugging tightly.
After about five minutes, Summer said simply "get ready", and both unwound her Cutie Mark and released her hands from the rest. They were soon back in pony form, and at this point, the stripe in the sky slowly dissipated.
Amazing...
Fun...
Together...
What more could a Twin want?
Everypony just talked there in Town Square for a while, and more of the Twins showed up.
The Fluttershy twins showed up, and sisters quickly and lovingly hugged.
This done, everypony all sat talking.
This was Equestria pony Summer's chance.
She simply did not know if she could actually surprise her Twin, but she tried.
Suddenly, she turned into her Equestria Girls form, and then rapidly grabbed the front hoof closest to her of both Equestria Girls Summer Rain and Equestria Girls Fluttershy, and helped them to their feet.
Equestria Girls Fluttershy and her sister Summer Rain immediately changed into their Equestria Girls form.
...Just like they looked in their own world...
...Equestria Girls Fluttershy and her sister Equestria Girls Summer Rain...
...were now face to face...
They quickly cried out in joy, threw their arms around each other, and hugged tightly, and sobbed deeply on each other's shoulders for half an hour...
They had missed each other... ...a lot...
Equestria pony Fluttershy simply leaned against her sister, crying herself. She was so happy for her Twin...
As she leaned against Summer, she also changed into her Equestria Girls form, and just stood up, and just put her arms loosly around her sister's neck from behind, crying quietly.
Well, Summer was crying too..
"If only Dawn were here..." Summer thought to herself. "She really needs to see this..."
Almost on cue, Dawn walked up... Crying...
Summer was going to say something, but couldn't think of anything that would even remotely convey her feelings.
Timid Equestria pony Fluttershy also knew words wouldn't do. She reached out and grabbed one of Dawn's front hooves, transforming her also to her Equestria Girls form, and helped her stand up.
Dawn was quickly standing next to the sisters she had helped re-unite. Dawn was sobbing too...
...
Friendship is magic...