Breakfast was very good, except that Summer and Shysage were both still full from yesterday, and so simply shared one serving.
The Celestia and Luna Twins were back with the group now, and so Shysage noted that he needed to hug Cel and Lu this morning at some point. Well he wanted to, anyway.
While everypony was eating, Princess Twilight asked that everypony remain seated afterwards, as Princess Celestia had some words to say to the group.
Cel's comments weren't long.
She thanked everypony for their help, both with killing the furies, and especially with helping mom (Equestria pony Summer) with everything while dad (Shysage) lost his memory.
Cel had to stop here, herself, and cry briefly, as did Lu. This was just a hard time for the family. Well, they weren't the only ones that cried.
Cel mentioned that she was just very grateful that everypony present was available to help with this nightmare.
And she concluded by asking dad (well, Shysage) to put the account of the "Fury Run" together.
Cel lamented that, while Ponyville and maybe the rest of the realm was spared an onslaught of deadly furies, just about everypony had no clue about what even happened, and those who 'stood in the gap' for Equestria, which was basically everypony in this room. Cel felt that needed to change.
With this, Princess Celestia's comments were done.
Today was a Twins day, and so Princess Twilight mentioned that the Twins should feel free to spend time together here in Equestria, well around Ponyville. They should return to the Castle maybe late afternoon to start heading back to the Portal room.
Most everypony was quickly off to enjoy the day with their Twin, and rightly so.
Once outside, the Rainbow Dash Twins immediately took off into the sky.
The Applejacks headed to Sweet Apple Acres.
The Raritys headed to the Boutique, probably to work on the 'T-Shirt' design some more.
The Pinkie Pie Twins headed off to the Cakes, of course.
The Twilights stayed in the Castle. Shysage thought they would end up in the Library.
Shysage, the Summer Twins and the Fluttershy Twins waited a minute maybe, then Summer and Shysage made their way over to Cel (Princess Celestia) and Lu (Princess Luna), and hugged them both tightly.
Cel and Lu were waiting for them, and Cel mentioned that she and Lu wanted to accompany mom and dad to the Canterlot Recorder's home.
Summer and Shysage had no idea what to expect, but they were soon on their way. Cel and Lu's Twins came of course, along with Summer's Twin and the Fluttershys.
The short trip across town took a little longer, as everypony they encountered quickly bowed to Cel and Lu, and this was fine. They were the rulers of Equestria.
Once they arrived at Shysage and Summer's home, Cel asked that only mom and dad come in with she and Princess Luna. The rest would wait outside.
Once inside, Shysage saw immediately what this special visit was about.
Cel had their new 'couch' delivered while mom and dad were at breakfast.
It was perfect of course, and a very nice royal red, with two nice, large pillows. It made everything else in Shysage's home look very out of place. But that didn't even matter...
Summer and Shysage both turned into people, then sat down on their new couch together. Cel and Lu both used their magic to place their crowns carefully on the floor near the door.
Cel and Lu's heads were quickly in mom and dad's laps, as Summer and Shysage hugged their girls, just like they had many times in 'Equestria past'... Mom and dad just loved their girls, hugging them tightly, running fingers through their mane, kissing their foreheads, like they always had... Everypony was soon weeping softly... Ruling Equestria didn't change the devotion felt in this room... And the last few months had been terrible for the family...
For maybe twenty minutes, the family just spent time together. After maybe ten minutes, Cel and Lu switched between mom and dad, and they just hugged some more. It was clear that everypony had missed this... Preferences, but no favorites...
Still, when they were done, they switched back for a few minutes, Cel with dad and Lu with mom.
Almost at the exact same time, Summer and Shysage said "Cel, I love you" or "Lu, I love you."
Then Cel and Lu backed up, as mom changed she and dad back into ponies.
Lu said softly "I really don't want to leave..."
Mom (Summer) just hugged her tight... Then she said softly "Lu, honey, you are both welcome here any time."
Cel added "Yes, sister, that was too short..."
Shysage walked over and hugged Cel again, then said softly "I dont understand it, but I think there may be some ponies in Equestria that would resent the relationship we have..."
Cel, still wiping away tears, replied softly "Well dad, they need to understand that Princesses don't just pop up out of nowhere, especially good ones.
"My father was a great military leader, but from what I can remember, neither our father or mother had much time left for us, after the pressures of leading a still bickering collection of ponies.
"In two short years, you both gave us so much... And it has served Equestria well for a long time."
And Lu added simply "And mom, dad, I'm not ashamed of that at all. We love you both a lot..."
The family all hugged together as ponies for a few minutes, then Cel and Lu retrieved their crowns. They were soon heading out the door, to the waiting ponies.
It was hard to conceal that fact that the family had been crying together, but evidently everypony outside shed some tears too, either because they were Twins or just extremely sensitive.
The group made their way back to Princess' Castle, to the Air Coaches waiting in the grass.
Shysage and Summer hugged their girls again, then they were on their way back to Canterlot with their Twins.
Summer sat facing Shysage, and they hugged tightly, as Summer started to cry.
"Shysage, why does it hurt so, to leave them..." Summer cried.
Weeping softly himself, Shysage just said "Because they are our girls..."
Well, it was a Twin's day, and Summer soon calmed down, and Shysage hugged her again, and she headed off with her Twin and the Fluttershys.
Shysage walked slowly back to his home, alone, which he really didn't like right now. But he had stuff that needed to be done, and Summer's Twin was here, so he got to work.
'Summer's Dream' was the first project Shysage worked on. He decided to leave the 'Summer's Dream' part (the early chapters) alone, since he and Summer had already gone through it a few times.
Shysage quickly wove together the amazing chapters about the events that followed, covering the transition back to 'Equestria present', and Princess Twilight's even more amazing battle with Eschate Zumulus, with the 'Group Link', and everything else.
Princess Twilight connecting with 'the Bond of Knowing' was just amazing...
When he got to the group link that freed both Summers from the effects of each of their run-ins with Rape, Shysage just cried...
This had been a concern Shysage personally dealt with starting even when he managed to snatch Summer from death that scary morning so long ago. This concern was also one of the things that drew them both together.
And as he and Summer worked through the implications of Summer's Dream together, this drew them closer too.
At the time, Shysage's proposal to Summer in her dream confused Shysage. He increasingly didn't mind, but still. It was pretty clear to Shysage now, that this part of the dream reflected what Summer really wanted. Well, Shysage also realized that he was 'hopelessly' in love now too.
Shysage used stored video segments in the 'scope' to actually get the details arranged correctly.
By around noon, Shysage had a good solid first pass done for the entire volume, and that was very good progress.
Shysage had to 'step away' for a little while, from what he had just written, and so he began looking for the files Summer had made while Shysage's memory was gone.
Shysage quickly found them, where they belonged, in with the chapters for the other volumes that he and Summer had worked on.
Shysage opened the first file Summer wrote, and read maybe five lines, then immediately closed it, and was weeping softly.
His Mare wrote simply, each word indelibly etched with the searing pain she felt. He would change nothing... He could change nothing... He couldn't even read any more right now...
And Summer was right, all her chapters were in 'first person', reflecting her own thoughts and impressions. Shysage would not change this either; he just decided he would use 'first person' for much of the rest of that volume. This would be a little while; Shysage needed to document their trip to "Equestria past' still...
For now, Shysage would not even try to look at them again until his Mare was here...
Summer and her Twin walked in the door at this point, and Summer immediately noticed the tears in her Stallion's eyes. Summer hugged him tightly right away.
Shysage just said softly "Mare, we are going to have to do Fury Run together... And we need to make sure we have plenty of time to cry when we do..."
Equestria Girls Summer spoke up softly "Can I help too, please?"
Summer and Shysage just pulled her into their hug.
After their group hug was done, Shysage's Mare gently licked Shysage's nose.
Shysage smiled, then said softly "What brings you beautiful ladies here?"
"We are going to help with your job, again" they said together.
Shysage pulled the 'Summer's Dream' and other chapters up.
The Summer Twins were soon sitting together on the cover for the 'scope', as people, and they worked quickly through the entire volume a few times.
Shysage turned himself into a 'people', and laid on their new couch, propping his head up on one of the pillows, and watched and helped from there.
And, every time they worked through the part where Shysage proposed to Summer, she had to stop, get her Twin safe, then hug and kiss Shysage a few minutes. That really was an important part of Summer's Dream to both Summer and Shysage now.
Equestria Girls Summer is blazing fast at typing, and very skilled at editing. Shysage and his Mare would often discuss word choice, phrases, details, etc., and her Twin would get it typed in. Well her Twin just helped a lot with everything.
The three of them decided to call the volume 'Homecoming' to reflect the main theme woven through both sections; the Equestria Girls always having a 'home' to come 'home' to -- Equestria -- whenever they felt it was time. That offer stands even now.
Summer's Twin just cried...
And Shysage's Mare and her Twin had a lot of fun doing this too. Well, it was an amazing experience for all of them, and being able to re-live those events was spectacular.
Well, by late afternoon, thanks to everyponies' hard work, volume two of Summer's chronicles was on the way to Princess Twilight's Library for delivery to Cel via courier.
Accompanied by the two Summers, Shysage carried the pages in his shoulder sack, and the three of them headed to Princess Twilight's Castle, to the Library.
Shysage was right, the Twilight Twins were in the Library, both surrounded by piles of books.
Shysage and the two Summers quickly bowed to Princess Twilight, then all gave her a hug once back up.
Princess Twilight helped Shysage get the stack of pages out, and she put them where they belonged. Magic worked so much nicer for that.
It was soon time for the Twins to head to the Portal room, and Air Coaches began to arrive outside the Castle.
With Princess Twilight's permission, Shysage, the Summer Twins, and the Rainbow Twins just left at that point, and flew to the Crystal Palace. This would mean fewer ponies for the Air Coaches.
Both Summers, both Rainbows and Shysage were quickly on the balcony in the Portal room. Before doing anything else, they all hugged together, and maybe cried a little too.
Soon after, the Twins spent some time Soul Linked, and were quiet.
Shysage just sat on the balcony looking out over the Crystal Empire as the Sun headed for the horizon to the West. It was very beautiful.
But then, he noticed that his Mare was very beautiful too. Rather than just stare at her, Shysage just walked over, and sat next to her.
It took an hour to get the rest of the ponies to the Palace, and Princess Cadance brought them all up to the Portal room.
By then, the Summers, the Rainbows and Shysage were just sitting, talking together. The Futtershys soon joined the Summers, and the sisters hugged tightly. Shysage really wanted to hug all the Twins, so he just didn't hug any of them at this point.
Princess started sending Twins through the Portal. Then she and her Twin went, and then Summer's Twin went. Summer and Shysage went last, and together.
Summer and Shysage generally went through the Portal together now; neither wanted to get separated from the other while traversing the Portal. Well, neither wanted to get separated from the other...
In the Equestria Girls world, it wasn't dark yet, but it was getting there. Everypony just spent the next hour maybe visiting with their Twin. It had really been a nice visit, it seemed like everyone was smiling.
Equestria Girls Summer wanted to take her Twin to Fluttershy's apartment for a few minutes, and so asked Princess about this. The Fluttershys would come too, in order to let them in. Princess agreed as long as Shysage went. Well, he wouldn't let them leave without him anyway.
Once inside Fluttershy's apartment, Equestria Girls Summer pulled out her Twin's 'Backpack', that had been left from before Summer's dark journey. They had already agreed that the first three volumes of Princess Celestia's Commentaries would stay here, but the backpack was Summer's.
Summer loved it, but gave it to Shysage, so he could carry it for her.
The Summers and the Fluttershys Soul Linked together, the four of them, for a few minutes, and were silent.
Shysage was glad that they didn't include him, because he was working on a surprise for his Mare.
They were all soon back at the Portal.
Shysage actually put Summer's backpack on correctly. He had a feeling it would be properly on his back as the book-bag it used to be, on the other side of the Portal.
Everypony hugged a few minutes, then Princess started sending the Equestria ponies back through the Portal to Equestria.
Soon, just Summer and Shysage were left. They both hugged everypony again, then went through the Portal together.
They were both soon back in Equestria.
And Shysage was right, he was now wearing Summer's 'new' book-bag that Rarity had made for her. It really was beautiful.
Shysage asked 'Rare' to help move it back to Summer, and this was done quickly. Shysage told Summer she looked amazing wearing it. She just blushed.
It was pretty dark out, so everypony just let the Air Coaches worry about the flying. Still, Princess' beautiful new Castle was easy to see at night, even from a distance.
Shysage, his Mare, his Princess and five other amazing friends were soon on the grass in front of Princess' Castle, hugging tightly, weeping softly.
It had been a good day.