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

by shysage

Ch.30, Feeling Her Way Back (Fluttershy's Sister)

We both awoke together the next morning. Summer was still tucked up under my front legs, and I hugged her close, and she sighed. It had been a while since I had a morning like this, and I was quickly crying...

"Summer, thank you for not dying..." I said this while crying, even though it made no sense.

"Oh, Shysge..." she said back softly, and she put one of her front legs over mine...

Still, I quickly decided two things, and explained both to Summer.

"Summer, I think firstly, that we should try to move to a more comfortable room. I will talk to Princess Celestia about that today" I began.

Summer asked immediately "Will she listen to you?"

I smiled and said softly "She has to be careful around the rest here, but she is my girl, well our girl, and we are her mom and dad."

"But Summer, you need to promise that you won't run away... If you do, I will probably never see--" I was quickly crying fiercely...

Summer spoke up immediately, but softly "Stallion, please calm down. Like you, I have absolutely nowhere to go, and I don't want anypony else. Please believe me..."

I tried to calm down. Her answer helped a lot.

After maybe a minute, I tried to continue.

"I also think I need to tell you our story, from the start, to see if any of that triggers some memories." I said.

"Oh, Stallion, if last night is any indication, I want to hear all that!" She didn't yell this, but it was clear she was pretty enthusiastic about this idea.

I smiled and cautioned her "Well, it isn't all like last night..."

---

It was still pretty early, and I didn't want to bother Cel just yet.

I had a different 'short term' project in mind though.

I sighed, she needed to learn about our Equestria Girls form, or a bunch of what I would tell her would make no sense... I had no idea how she would respond, but I knew I had to try.

I started quietly.

"Summer, we have talked about the fact that we are from the future, and so we need to be very careful that we don't do something wrong and ruin our future..."

"Yes, I remember, Stallion" she replied quietly as well.

"Well, I am going to try to tell you our story, and the bulk of it is about the future, from this particular time. We really need to make sure that we keep this to ourselves."

"I understand, Stallion" she replied again softly.

I stopped and thought here a minute. I knew this would get complicated. Without yet talking about the Portal, Summer needed to know about the Equestria Girls world...

I silently asked true friend for help...

"Summer, I wish it was simply that we came back here to the Past, but spent most of our time together in Equestria in the future...

"This whole thing is complicated by the fact that, in the future, there is also a different world, besides Equestria, and we both had to spend quite a bit of time there. We call that world the 'Equestria Girls' world. Again, it is a different world besides Equestria, and we both have spent quite a bit of time there, well there and Equestria.

"And while we are in this different world, we have very different bodies than the pony bodies we have now...

"Does this make any sense?" I asked... It wouldn't to me...

"Well, a little, but I suppose we could talk about that more as it came up" she answered slowly.

I sighed, but knew I should offer this anyway. "Summer, I can show you this other body now, for me anyway. Before you lost your memory, we could both change between forms here in Equestria."

"Well, I guess, is it scary?" Summer asked cautiously.

"Well, you didn't think so last time we were there, so I don't know" I answered. "You really liked it..."

"Ok, but change back if I get scared..." she said slowly.

I walked over to a corner on the same wall as the door. I didn't want any guards to accidentally see someone from a different world.

Still, I changed into my Equestria Girls form, a 'people', white sweatshirt and all, from my... last trip there...

Summer didn't look long, then looked away and said "Ok, that's enough for now, I like you as a pony much better."

I was quickly a pony again, then I walked over and hugged her tightly.

It was clear what I just did was quite a bit for her to take in, but I decided difficult things had a higher chance of pulling memories back in. Well, I really didn't know.

I said quietly to Summer though "Amazing Mare, you are just as beautiful in your Equestria Girls form. But we won't do that again until you are ready, is that ok?"

"Stallion, I will take your word for that. You did look very strange though." she said quietly.

Still, this whole thing just underscored what our primary need was. Summer was learning amazingly quickly... But she needed to remember...

I walked back over to the corner away from the door, and laid down on my side, and was quickly hugging her close. I think we both realized she needed that right now.

---

We didn't sleep, I just hugged her and we talked some. I told her again that I really loved her, and had no plans on going anywhere without her. She said simply that she fully realized that.

Well, I also told her that I had no other 'surprises' for her to endure, and she appreciated that.

Half an hour later, we got up, and were sitting next to each other, just talking. It had been a while since I could...

Maybe the middle of the morning, one of the guards brought us some food, and I mentioned to him that we would like to speak to Princess Celestia when that was convenient.

He said "Ok", then left.

Summer was eating right away. I don't think the food lasted very long.

Ten minutes later, Cel (Princess Celestia) walked in. I hugged her, and she hugged Summer too, again trying to not cry...

I said simply "I think it would be better if we had some more comfortable accommodations, whenever you feel this is acceptible."

Cel's answer came fast "Finally... I want to get you both out of this place... Please come with me."

Cel lead us out of the dungeon, and back into the Audence Hall, then into the little guest-room I had stayed in earlier. It had more than just a rug now, and was very comfortable. It looked like Cel was planning on us coming here soon.

With tears in my eyes, I hugged Cel and thanked her.

Summer was just not sure what to do, so she asked. "Princess, should I call you Princess or 'Cel' like my Stallion does? I just want to do the right thing."

Answering this proved very difficult for my girl... Cel started crying pretty hard, but worked on answering.

"Before you lost your memory, you were my mom, and the most amazing mom in Equestria. I am hoping all that comes back to you, but please call me Cel like you always have.."

We just all hugged and cried for a little while. This was hard for all of us...

When we were all back to 'normal', Cel continued.

"A few times a day, I will come get you both, and we will walk and eat too. I would really rather that you not walk off by yourselves however. There is still much danger in Equestria."

"Of course" I said softly.

We all hugged, and Cel headed off to her responsibilities.

---

I actually wanted to get to the task of telling Summer about our past together. But being here, in the Princess quarters, I realized that Fluttershy was not far away, and probably alone.

I felt this was still a problem, even though I was certain Fluttershy now knew her sister was alive.

I don't know why, but this concern grew very quickly, and I decided we needed to see what we could do. And to be honest, I pretty much fumbled through this...

"Summer, did you know you have a sister?" I asked cautiously.

Summer thought a minute, then asked quietly "Is she nice like Cel?"

I... This was hard, and I had to fight back tears... "Yes, Summer, she is very nice."

Still, I kept going, talking slowly and quietly...

"Summer, it hurt me a lot when we thought you had died... It hurt your sister a lot too..."

I was surprised... Summer teared up at this... I doubted she remembered Fluttershy, but again, Summer was 'feeling her way back' into some of the most important relationships. And I didn't know if Summer could 'feel' her sister's pain even now...

It was quiet for a minute, then Summer said quietly, and trying not to cry "She must be really hurting..."

I think that was all I needed to hear, and I had to work hard not to cry myself. I love both Summer and Fluttershy a lot...

I asked Summer to come with me.

I had no idea how this would all work out... Honestly, I was scared. I didn't want Fluttershy to be hurt that her own sister didn't remember her...

We headed out the door, then down the short hall that led to the Audience Hall. Fortunately, we ran into Mildred coming the other way, and she remembered me. She asked me how Shyna was doing, and I said she was doing fine.

I told Mildred that I needed to find out from Princess Celestia where her 'new friend' Fluttershy was. I also mentioned that we didn't want to disturb the Princess if she was in the middle of something.

Mildred asked us to stay here, and that she would find out what she could, then she headed out the doors to the Audience Hall.

Well, we couldn't wait... A mare started crying, and Summer heard it... I knew right away it was Fluttershy; she was in Princess Celestia's bedroom... And I suspected that, at this close range, Summer and Fluttershy were probably already 'feeling' each other's presence...

[Fluttershy mentioned later that she had felt her sister's presence as soon as Cel brought us in from the dungeon. Fluttershy was almost beside herself, but managed to keep quiet. It was only after she felt her sister's presence begin to drift away, that Fluttershy could control herself no longer, and burst into tears...]

Summer ran quickly to the door to Princess Celestia's room, and pushed the door open...

Fluttershy stopped crying immediately, and they both stared at each other...

"Are you my sister?" Summer asked quietly, and clearly concerned...

Fluttershy, without moving, burst into tears again...

Well, Summer and Fluttershy were quickly hugging tightly, crying together...

I was just stunned, and could do nothing... I... I didn't know what was happening... I could only wait to see if this was memory returning, or not...

But I quickly joined them, and we all hugged tightly and cried together. Thanks to Mildred, Cel soon joined us, too...

After about ten minutes, all our crying tapered off... I thought maybe Cel, Fluttershy and I wanted to see if memory had returned... But, as I said, my main concern was that Fluttershy not get hurt.

Summer spoke first "Sister, I am sorry I hurt you so..."

I realized this could go anywhere...

But Fluttershy surprised us all and just said quietly, as she started to cry again "Summer, memory or not, I am just so glad to see you alive..." Then Fluttershy burst into tears again...

Two of the ponies that Summer's death had hurt the most, her girl Cel, and her sister Fluttershy... My amazing Mare didn't remember, but that didn't stop her from caring deeply... We all spent the afternoon crying together with Summer... She was alive...

It was pretty clear nothing had triggered Summer's memory yet... Still, it felt like getting 'family' back, a piece at a time... This felt... amazing...

Still, I had to work to keep my own avalanche propped up and out of the way. It wasn't growing any more, but I doubted we would have the time it would take to deal with this now.

---

As it started getting dark, we all worked on calming down.

Right before dinner, Cel walked over to one of her dressers, and used her magic to pull something out.

It was some sort of hairpin, and Cel used her magic to gently, and carefully put it into Fluttershy's mane, as it flowed around her head.

I gasped when I saw it...

The craftsmanship was archaic by Equestria Present standards, but this deep in the Past, it was probably the work of a very skilled artisan.

But I gasped, because it was an almost exact copy of one of the three Butterfly's in Fluttershy's Cutie Mark. THAT was just uncanny...

Cel explained briefly. "I have had this Hairpin for a, uhm, long time. I seldom wear it, because these are not my colors. Fluttershy, as soon as I saw you, I just knew this would get a new home."

This hairpin... They were Fluttershy's colors, all right...

They both hugged, and Fluttershy said quietly "Cel, I really love you..."

Cel hugged Fluttershy tightly, and responded quickly "Oh, Fluttershy, I love you too... I am so glad you came. You have really helped me alot, and through such a harrowing time... Thank you..."

Then they hugged again, and wept together briefly.

Well, I knew they had really helped each other these last few days, and I was again very glad I had brought Fluttershy with me.

But I almost lost it, right then...

My amazing Mare; She knew I was having problems, and was quickly hugging me. I could never leave this Mare...

---

We all went for a walk in the cold, then had a nice dinner together.

Summer ate quite a bit, and we guessed she hadn't been able to eat very well until now.

Nopony minded, and Cel said "Mom, please eat as much as you want."

Well, Summer did; she ate a lot. She probably needed it.

After dinner, we walked back into Cel's room, and spent the rest of the evening there.

It rapidly became clear that Summer actually FELT Fluttershy was her sister, even if Summer remembered nothing.

And it was clear too, that Fluttershy also FELT this awareness in her sister.

The two of them hugged and cried together a lot.

Well, Cel and I did too...

There was nopony in this room that wasn't absolutely elated that my Mare wasn't de...

...

But this again underscored the main need right now...

My amazing Mare was feeling her way back into the most important relationships around her, and she really was learning very quickly about a lot of things.

And watching my Mare with her sister, it really seemed that Summer's inability to remember was really hurting Summer... She wanted to remember, but she just didn't know what to do...

Well, maybe we needed to get out the fire hose tomorrow...

---

It was late, but a full Moon was out, so Cel wanted us to go for another walk. We would need coats for this, but Cel quickly took care of that.

And we didn't go far, but still had some guards nearby.

For me to look about in 'early Canterlot', even under moonlight, was again amazing for the historian in me.

But the town looked so peaceful. The rest of Equestria was probably so peaceful too. 'Why can't evil leaders just leave us alone...' I thought to myself.

Dumb question with no answer...

We wandered for a while, and ended up sitting together, well in a line, in roughly the middle of the Commons lawn, looking away from the Audience hall, out across miles of Equestria beyond the edge of the grass...

It was Fluttershy, Summer, me then Cel.

About that dumb question... I was pretty sure Dark Melvain, knowing the Phantom Alicorn was out of the way... He was probably even now plotting his take-over of Equestria. There would be no peace here, no peace in Equestria if he succeeded... Just anguish, horror, fear and death...

Cel started softly weeping... I suspected we were both thinking about the same thing...

...And if I had known then, what was taking place on this exact spot, in Equestria Present...

Equestria needed Summer to remember...

Equestria needed the Phantom Alicorn back...

---

When it was too cold, we got up, and headed back to the Audience Hall. It was warm inside, and that felt very nice. Cel helped us with our coats.

As we headed up to the top of the platform, and down the hall that led to Princess quarters, I realized that Fluttershy might want to spend the night with Summer, and I understood.

We all stopped in front of the door to 'our' small room, and I offered softly "Fluttershy, I think Cel might appreciate having you with her again tonight."

Cel and Fluttershy looked at each other and smiled. Then they both said 'That's fine' at the same time, then laughed together.

After what our family had already endured, laughter sounded... amazing...

Summer and I headed into 'our room', and I realized that Fluttershy leaving the Past... This might be hard on Cel. Well, it would probably be hard for both of them.

I knew Summer was getting ready to ask, so I quietly explained all this to her as I laid on my belly on the rug.

Summer used her pony nose to nudge me over, so I was laying on my side, and she was quickly up under my legs, against my chest and neck. I pulled her close, and we both sighed together.

Summer said this much "Well, I don't know... But I love my family..."

We were both quickly asleep.

---

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