The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 8 -- Dark Melvain

by shysage

Ch.23, Emotional Triage / Fluttershy Tags Along

I thought we might be on the (long) road to recovery...

But this, another trip to the Past, now, was just... bad... timing...

And I didn't need any more... reminders...

And the Portal Beacon did scare everypony, we just didn't expect it...

I just sighed...

Still, it looked like the Portal Beacon was having 'issues' too. There were only five Orange orbs instead of the normal eight, and they were scattered around that ten foot perimeter at odd angles, and most seemed to be shaking. And they blinked on and off a lot too. One or two weren't even turning... The image seemed to look the same though; Cel's hoof on the rim of the Portal...

I walked to the center and listened. The message was too garbled to make ANY sense from it. Well, I knew that Cel (Princess Celestia) was talking, but I couldn't discern anything else.

It repeated itself four more times, then slowly faded away...

Nopony was crying anymore either...

And I knew this next part would be absolutely horrible... I had been trying to think through how to handle this while the Beacon was active, and could figure out nothing... There was just no right answer... Even after a few minutes of silence...

I just sighed...

"Princess, I really should go back..."

I got this far, and Fluttershy burst into tears immediately, closed her eyes, and shouted, well, for Fluttershy, "Brother, please don't leave me..."

And at this, Princess Twilight started crying too, and pleaded "But Fluttershy, we may need your Element..."

Everypony was crying again...

Why did everything seem to keep getting worse...

While ponies cried, I had to do a little emotional 'triage'... Both Fluttershy and Princess Twilight had responded about as I suspected they would, and both had very good reasons. But Princess Twilight had Equestria to help her, along with the rest of her girls, and Fluttershy had... just... me... her adopted brother... I really could not justify leaving her behind...

I sighed again, then said "girls, please..."

Everypony worked on quieting down.

After a minute or two, I spoke to Princess Twilight...

"Princess, I suspect the Portal did this accidentally. I still need to go check, but I doubt I will be gone very long. I think it would be best if I take Fluttershy with me, but it is really up to you."

Princess Twilight was quiet, clearly lost in thought. I was hoping that she was trying to get some feedback from Equestria. I was also hoping Equestria agreed with me...

After a few minutes, Princess sighed, then said quietly "I think we are taking a very big risk, but I also think it will be very difficult for Fluttershy to stay here by herself... But I think Equestria needs you both to return to the Present as quickly as possible."

I bowed my head some and answered quietly "I understand Princess, that is my intent."

"Well, ok then... What about Shyna?" Princess said quietly.

Shyna was already weeping softly, and Fluttershy answered for her.

"Princess, please don't force Shyna to return to the Past. She doesn't ever want to go back there again. She wants to stay here."

Filia added quickly "Princess, my sis and I will take good care of Shyna until Fluttershy gets back, if that's ok."

The note of resignation in Princess' voice was clear, but she said "Ok, then, but please... We need you both to hurry back..."

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Princess thought for a minute, then asked that we wait, and she woke Spike up long enough to send a message to Princess Celestia about us heading back to the Past again.

While Princess was writing the note, Pinkie Pie walked over to me. Pinkie hugged me, and said quietly "Shysage, It's ok. Everything will work out."

I said quietly "Thanks, I hope so." We hugged again, and she walked back over to the rest.

Still, I may have replayed the same thoughts I had when her Twin told me the exact same thing...

Spike was not pleased with being awake in the middle of the night, but he sent the note Princess Twilight had written.

Spike tried to go back to sleep.

He was awakened maybe ten minutes later, by a reply from Princess Celestia.

Princess Twilight read it, started crying, then gave the reply to me.

I hugged Princess, then took the letter and read it...

Dad,

Please hurry back from the Past if you can. I think Equestria may soon have to deal with 'something', and Lu feels it will be pretty substantial... You don't need any powers, we just would like you near.

In the case that we don't survive, please know that both Lu and I loved you and mom until the end...

Love, Cel and Lu

Well, I love my girls... I had to fight, not too... I put the letter down on one of the tables in the Library.

We all hugged tightly and wept softly for a little while.

Fluttershy and I would soon be leaving... Princess would not have access to the complete set of the 'Elements of Harmony'... We really needed to hurry back. And I was fearful for these amazing pony friends. I quietly asked true friend for help... And I hoped I was doing the right thing...

I needed to try this... Otherwise, it would just be really awkward... I changed into a people, reached down, and grasped one of Fluttershy's front hooves. She changed into a people too, and I helped her up. That much worked, at least... We had to hold hands though, but this was fine...

Well, it was time to go.

Everypony was weeping...

Princess Twilight said quietly 'good luck' as we walked up to the Portal.

I was feeling a little cynical anyway and said simply "Thank you Princess... I think we all need more than that..."

Anyway, I grabbed the rim of the Portal, hoping that the Portal didn't take just half of us, and leave the other half here in Equestria. That would not be a pleasant way to die.

Over a minute later, Equestria faded...

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