The Chronicles of Summer Rain

by shysage

Chapter 20, Dark Journey

"Spike do you know if there is a way out of here? I don't see the doors or balcony any more, like you said" Summer Rain asked.

Spike thought for a moment then said slowly "I think they were hoping you would come back, there is a secret door on the floor under this pile of gems."

"Hmm. Spike can you please get big and move your pile for us?" Summer asked again.

Spike turned big and menacing again, and said "Stand back ladies, they are all mine, ha ha!" He next took a little while sweeping the gems towards the center of the room with his now large tail. Once in a while, one of his gems would scoot too far across the floor, and Spike would quickly retrieve it, pick it up and gently kiss it, and then add it to his pile.

While Spike was moving his pile, Summer decided that Spike should probably stay here and guard the Portal. He wouldn't like this, but it was probably for the best. Summer had no idea what they would find in Ponyville.

With the pile moved, Spike simply climbed up on top of it and sat down. The secret door was easy to see now, even as dim as it was.

"Spike, I'm sorry. I need you little again, and please come here." she said.

'Normal' Spike soon ran over, and still clung to one of Summer's front legs.

"Spike I know you want to come, but we need you to stay here and guard the Portal" Summer said softly.

Spike was in no frame of mind to argue. "Ok" he said slowly.

"Spike as soon as we are all through the door, you need to get big and greedy again. Please immediately move your pile of gems back on top of the door, and guard the Portal. It is essential that your pile of gems be moved back over the door" Summer directed.

The door appeared to open to one side, and it looked like someone had taken the trouble to add a rope that Summer could easily grab with her teeth. The door opened easily, and was large enough for a pony to climb through.

Down below was what looked like large cubes made out of crystal simply piled randomly under the door in the ceiling. It did not look intentional, but climbing down to the floor below wasn't too difficult either.

Summer was soon down in the next room, and then she called the girls down one at a time.

Rarity almost slipped and fell, but caught herself.

Rainbow Dash threw her coat down and came down last, and was trying out her new wings, and really didn't need the steps. She was learning fast.

When they were all down, Summer yelled as loud as she dared "Spike close the door, get big, move your gems back and guard the Portal." The door slammed shut, and the scraping of gems above told Summer that Spike was doing his job.

---

The door to this room was on the same side as it used to be in the room above it, so Summer knew that was the direction they needed to go. She had been this way only once, and doubted she could remember the path exactly. She didn't even try.

"Rainbow, you should probably put your coat back on." Summer said, and then helped Rainbow with it. "Girls, are you ready?"

Applejack spoke up and said "Ok, so what is the plan now Summer? Do we even know where we are?"

"Applejack you are right, I'm sorry." Summer answered. "Girls sit down a minute, and I will explain where we are and where we are going.

"We are up above ground in the Crystal Palace right now, which is in the center of the Crystal Kingdom. We need to get down to the ground floor, then get out of the palace. Then we need to head East to the Train Station. Since Equestria is a mess right now, the trains probably are not running, but we will need to follow the train tracks to Ponyville.

"I think our only concern might be any guards we meet on the way. I think the coats may help us there. Judging by the darkness of things here inside the palace, I would say it is always very dim outside. But this much is all a guess, we will have to find out.

"And girls, we absolutely must stay together." Summer said quietly.

"We are with you Summer, lead on" Rarity said.

"Ok lets go" Summer said as she pushed the door open and headed out.

Summer was terrified to see not one but two guards standing outside the door, but she kept walking, and her friends followed. The guards completely ignored them.

The halls all curved since the tower perimeter was round at this point. Summer just headed the same direction as she started, and they took every stairs down they could find, even if it meant backtracking. The last stairs they went down resulted in very little light at the bottom, meaning they were underground now. They went back up those stairs, and then walked the rest of the circle looking for the large room at the entrance to the Palace. It wasn't far.

They probably passed maybe 13 more guards all together, but they all likewise simply ignored these six dark ponies. It was scary just slowly walking past them, but they finally came to the large entrance to the Palace.

Leaving the palace, they ended up on the broad avenue that ran east-west directly under the Crystal Palace. They wanted to go east, and Summer simply had to guess. She could not see far enough to tell which way was right.

Summer Rain also noted that it was perpetually dusk in Equestria now. No morning or evening, just dusk. When they got out from under the Palace, they all saw why. A thick black cloud-layer was blocking out just about all light from above. But it must have emitted a small amount of light at night, since it was never totally dark.

Summer guessed and said "this way", and they headed together down the broad avenue which was only dimly visible. It was very eerie.

After a minute of walking, Summer had a sudden thought. "Stop a minute girls. Pinkie is this the way to the Train Station?" Summer asked.

"Hmm. Train Station? No." Pinkie said simply after a brief delay.

"Thank you Pinkie" Summer said as they turned around and headed in the opposite direction towards the Train Station.

Summer and the girls had carefully avoided looking at any of the guards. However, on this road, they did see a few Crystal Ponies milling about. Their eyes were a dim green. Summer guessed that they no longer had control of themselves. Whether because of Discord (maybe) or Sunset Shimmer (probably), that was disgusting.

While they were walking along, Summer thought about this tragedy briefly. Summer remembered reading somewhere "If you want ponies to follow you, stand for something they want to follow". And Summer insinctively knew that befriending ponies was closely bound up in your ability to lead them.

Sunset Shimmer's approach was evidently to just turn them all into heartless zombies and force them follow her. This was a lot less work than befriending ponies individually, but running over their wills was just wrong. Summer just shook her head at this thought.

Out of nowhere, a guard barked out "No smiling". The voice was Sunset Shimmer's and this scared everyone, and they all froze. The guard made no other movement, and said nothing else, so after a minute, Summer turned around and looked.

Rainbow had taken her coat off and lay it on Fluttershy's back for her to carry, while Rainbow was practicing her flying, and enjoying herself in the process. Rainbow was back on the ground now, near tears.

Summer walked slowly back beside Rainbow, placed one of her front legs around Rainbow's neck and hugged her close, then said quietly "Rainbow I know you are going to be amazing at flying, and it is a lot of fun. Just be patient." Summer helped Rainbow get her coat back on.

Then Summer spoke up a little louder for all her friends to hear. "Girls, we just learned that it is against the law to be happy here, so please don't smile. We are here to try and fix this mess if we can, but we need to get to Ponyville and find Princess Twilight first."

Summer paused briefly. "Oh, and by the way" Summer said softly "We are much further along than I would have gotten if you all had not come. Thanks."

After a few more minutes of walking, Summer added "I think it is about 4 miles to the Train Station, lets walk together, stay close, and focus on just getting there."

"Sounds like a plan" Rainbow said quietly.

---

For what seemed like a very long time, they just walked, and Summer tried to think through what happened to Discord. According to what she had read, he did seem genuinely interested in friendship previously, but now had simply sold his friends out.

The potential costs involved in friendship clearly need to be evaluated ahead of time. But to embark on a friendship journey, then backtrack, and brutally trample the gound you had already walked, there seemed simply no remedy for that, regardless why it happened.

A song flowed through Summer Rain's mind as she tried to make sense of this.

This crushed and smoking wreckage,
Is that what you call friendship?
Razing paths we walked with joy,
Did my new friend just do this?

[Chorus]
Why would you... After all I said and did
How could you... After all I freely gave... For you...

Excuse me if I ask this now,
What ever were you thinking?
To play the friend and feed me lies
Then stand and watch me sinking?

[Chorus]

To think of friendship bought or sold
A calloused heart, and lying bold

Summer knew it wasn't done, but she found herself so utterly disgusted that she had to stop, for now anyway. Summer also knew it was an angry song too, but quickly realized she wasn't too happy about what they already knew Discord had done.

At least the time had passed quickly, the Train Station was now barely visible off in the distance.

Summer stopped abruptly, and turned around and looked at each of her friends. They stopped too and looked back at Summer. She did this initially to make sure everyone was still close, and they were. But she also looked in their eyes to see how they were doing.

"Girls I hope you are all weathering this storm ok, please say something if you are having diffculty, we all are here to help each other. This is important because I suspect things will just get worse." Summer said softly.

After a brief silence, Fluttershy spoke up quietly and said "I think the sooner we find Princess Twilight the better." Everyone else quickly agreed.

Summer mentally stopped and thought about this a minute. On the other side of the Portal, Summer could tell that these five special girls really cared about Princess Twilight. However, actually being in Equestria now, with each step they took towards her, their concern seemed to be growing rapidly. They all wanted to see her rescued, this was clear. But still, it was becoming more and more obvious they really yearned to be with their friend again. Summer herself did too.

---

The rest of the walk was quiet. Well, except for a lone mare that was crossing the avenue some distance in front of them, then mysteriously stopped, looked at them for a little while, then turned and walked on, It made the hair on the back of Summer's mane stand up, it was creepy.

They were soon at the Train Station. Summer knew they needed to turn right and follow the tracks to Ponyville. The train was there, as Summer suspected, and even had a team of strong stallions hitched up, but Summer noted the Green eyes of the closest one, and dismissed the possibility of a ride.

"Girls, let's sit down a minute and rest" Summer said. "These are the train tracks we need to follow to Ponyville. I think it may be 20 miles or so, I just don't remember. We should probably eat a snack in the field before--"

One of the train stallions interrupted her at this point. "Miss, do you ladies need to go to Ponyville?"

Summer Rain quickly turned around and looked. This Stallion did not have Green eyes.

"Sir, yes, but why are your eyes not Green like the rest?" Summer asked slowly.

"Well ma'am, I don't know, maybe I'm broke or something" he said laughing.

"Well, will the rest of the stallions help you?" Summer queried.

"Aww sure, they can't do anything themselves, but are easy enough to get to pull. No pony wants rides now, and we need the exercise, we're gettin' outta practice. I even threw some Oat hay in the cars for any travellers, even though I expected none" he said.

"Well it is very dark" Summer said sighing.

"Miss" the stallion said "We could run this at midnight!"

"We do need to get to Ponyville quickly, but I don't have any Bits to pay you with" Summer responded slowly.

Laughing, the lead stallion said "Bah, getting the exercise will be payment enough, climb aboard."

Summer wanted to check first. "Pinkie, any flashing lights?"

Pinkie thought for a minute then said "Nah, besides, I'm tired of walking."

Moans from the rest made it unanimous.

"Ok girls, lets take a car near the front, and have a seat" Summer said.

Summer turned to the stallion and said "Sir, thank you very much. We are heading to Ponyville to see if we can do anything about this mess, and I really appreciate your help."

The stallion bowed, and said "my pleasure".

---

They were soon on their way.

After about five minutes of riding, Summer noticed, through the dusk, a large pile of Oat hay near the front of the train car they were in. Summer walked over and tried some, it was very good.

She looked up and said "Girls, I know you are hungry. Please try this, it is very good, and will give you nourishment. It's not what you are used to, but it is food here."

Applejack tried some and said "Wow this is good!"

Before long the rest were eating as well. They took turns though, and everyone had their fill.

Summer just sat there, quiet, watching everypony eat. After a little while, Fluttershy came and sat next to her.

Summer put her front leg around Fluttershy's neck and gave her a short hug, then said softly "Thanks for coming Sis. This trip seems like a nightmare, and is definitely not the best way to experience Equestria. But I am glad I am not alone. I know this is not easy, but are you doing ok?"

"It's hard, and will probably get harder, but we are Princess' Twilight's true friends, and rescuing her, and maybe rescuing Equestria, is our first priority. And we couldn't do it without you either." Fluttershy said quietly.

Rainbow Dash was sitting behind Summer listening. She spoke up at this point. "Summer when do you think we will find our Twins?"

And with this, everyone else gathered around. Summer Rain was sensing another growing concern among her friends at this point.

Summer said what she knew. "I have no idea, we may know more once we find Princess Twilight though. I am as anxious for you to each meet your Twins as it seems each of you are, but I would guess that in some way, we will need to rescue everyone.

"I think Princess Twilight's magic is essential, and so we need to start there."

Summer paused again, and then reminded them. "I have no idea what we will find in Ponyville, and can only hope we are not too late.

It was silent for a few minutes.

"You mentioned before that you thought Princess Twilight was alive, since you were able to use her magic on Discord. Does that help?" Rarity asked thoughtfully.

"Well Rare, I think so, but here in Equestria, only Unicorns like yourself can use magic. I'm a Pegasas and can fly, but can't use magic, and so I know very little about it. And ponies like Applejack are called Earth Ponies, and they can't use magic either. I just don't know." Summer answered.

"I think we are just going to have to wait and see" Summer said quietly.

"By the way, we probably have about two hours until we get to Ponyville. If anyone wants to try and sleep a little you can. I doubt there will be much time for sleep for a long time after we get there." Summer said with a sigh.

Before long, they were all asleep.

---

"Miss, we are in Ponyville" the lead stallion said again.

Summer woke up and bolted up immediately. She quickly remembered, and said "Thank you, you have been a wonderful help."

After a brief pause, she asked "Sir, do you need to leave quickly? I need to wake my friends up."

The stallion almost laughed "Take you time Ma'am, I doubt we will need to go anywhere any time soon."

"Thank you" Summer said again, and bowed.

She gently woke the rest up. Summer knew it would be a little while befiore they were ready for whatever lay ahead.

They all just spent a few minutes relaxing, allowing themselves to become fully alert before leaving the train.

"Let me know when you are all ready" Summer said softly.

Another ten minutes, and they were ready to go.

"Can we hug?" Summer asked, and it was so.

---

"Girls, I don't know about you but I am really thirsty. There is a big fountain near the center of town, lets stop there for some water, then we'll go find Princess Twilight" Summer suggested.

"Water sounds amazing about now" Applejack said.

They all left the train car, and Summer again thanked the lead stallion.

From there, they walked quickly beside Summer to the center of town. They noticed a few guards around town, but like the ones in the Crystal Palace, they just left Summer and her friends alone.

Even in the perpetual dusk, the fountain was easy to find. They all drank, but Summer cautioned them to just drink what they felt they needed, and no more.

While they were getting water, two Green eyed zombie mares from town walked up to drink as well, and stopped right next to Summer and began drinking.

Summer recognized them immediately, and began to cry. It was Dawn Flower and Sunny Rays.

"Girls, these two mares are my friends" Summer said through her tears.

Rarity spoke up. "Summer dear, lets get Princess Twilight, then we can probably rescue more."

Still crying, Summer said "Yes Rare, you are right, let's g--"

The mare closest to Summer was acting like a zombie pony of course, and accidentally bumped Summer while she was turning to go.

"The next thing Summer heard as she was walking away was her own name, and very loudly at that.

"Summer!" It was Dawn Flower. Dawn started crying.

Summer hushed Dawn immediately, and gave her a quick hug, accidently touching Sunny Rays in the process. Summer heard her name again.

Summer hushed Sunny Rays as well, motioned them both near and spoke very quietly.

"Equestria has been taken over by Sunset Shimmer, and we are here to try and help. Both of you PLEASE go to Dawn Flower's house, and Dawn please touch Camille and rescue her too. Both of you STAY INSIDE. The guards will get upset if you smile, so always act miserable. Please, go now." Summer said.

Dawn and Sunny were quickly on their way to Dawn's shop.

What Summer just did broke her heart. Fluttershy somehow sensed this and was right next to her, and just put her head up against Summer's head, and moved one of her hooves over next to Summer's.

"Thank's Sis" Summer said still sniffling.

After a minute, Summer quietly said "Well we have learned a temporary cure for the Green zombie pony eyes I think."