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

by shysage

Ch.37, Looming Departure

The Fall Banquet was amazing. But it was over now, and it was just the four of us, and we headed into 'Princess quarters' for the night.

Cel (Princess Celestia), Fluttershy, Summer and I all hugged for a little while outside the door to 'our room'. I think at that point, we all realized what tomorrow would hold. We would be leaving...

It didn't seem like Cel wanted to stop our hug any time soon, either.

I think we all thought it, but 'mom' (Summer) said it first.

"Cel, we are all sleeping with you tonight..."

We stopped our hug long enough for Cel to lead us into her bedroom.

Summer, I think, knew what was going on better than the rest of us, and said to Cel again, softly "Precious daughter, tell us where you want us tonight." I know for a fact that was how Summer felt about Cel.

Cel immediately burst into tears, hugged mom tightly and cried for a while...

"I'm so glad I didn't loo--..." Cel said this a few times as she cried, and she always had to stop at the same place.

Cel and mom needed to cry together a while.

Fluttershy came and sat next to me, and I hugged her right away, and we just wept together softly.

Summer started talking to Cel too...

"Cel, dad and I will always love you..."

Summer said this quite a few times...

One thousand years is a long time...

And I really think Summer was hurting for Cel too...

Well, we all were...

For over an hour, our amazing girl, Princess of Equestria, cried on her mom's shoulder... Cel needed this, and probably would need this for years to come...

After that hour, Summer motioned Fluttershy and I over, and we all hugged together, and cried with Cel until very late.

Cel cried even saying that she wanted mom and Fluttershy at her side tonight. I assured her that was fine, and that sleeping next to mom is always amazing for me. Cel knew I felt this way from our two years together. And Summer blushed.

Equestria's Princess soon fell asleep, and we did too.

---

I awoke to the sound of the door to Cel's bedroom closing, as Cel came back inside.

After we were all awake, Cel said quietly that she had canceled all of her appointments for the day, and that we would 'leave' after we had dinner with her tonight.

This was nice, well under the circumstances, and left the bulk of the day open for whatever our girl wanted to do.

Still, I don't think any of us even wanted to 'leave', even though we knew that we had to.

Cel also told us that she wanted to spend most of the day down at the riverbank where we raised she and Lu. We would need to fly there and back, but Cel felt none of us would have a problem with that.

Cel mentioned finally that it was still a little cool yet, and so we had some time before we headed off.

I suggested a calm walk around Canterlot with coats on, and Cel thought that was a nice idea.

We all got up, and followed Cel out into the Audience Hall. She walked outside briefly, and then called us out. We wouldn't need coats.

For maybe an hour, we wandered slowly around town, and ate some in the fields. And it was unseasonably warm again today.

But honestly, we were all together, and that was just amazing.

Then we flew together down to our 'house in a tree'. Well, we glided most of the way together.

A bunch of (Pegasus) guards came too, but I expected that again.

We spent most of the day sitting together on the bank of the river, and Cel, Summer and I talked about our two years together. This mostly took the form of 'do you remember when' questions. It was a lot of fun, but we had to stop and cry together on a number of occasions.

Fluttershy had heard a lot about these two years of her sister's life, but now, actually being here...

...

Well, at one point, I remembered the time Summer came up to me after playing in the river with the girls. I told her what I felt at the time; she looked hot when she was wet. I still feel that way, but it was too cold for getting wet today.

I was sitting right next to Summer, and so I whispered in her ear "I think you look..."

Summer blushed immediately; she was able to quickly place what I was referring to.

Cel saw, and said, also immediately "Hey now, no private memories... What did I miss?" I didn't think Cel suspected anything, and she had the right to know.

Still, I blushed immediately after Cel said this.

It was quiet briefly, then I tried to summarize, and mentioned "Cel, mom looks amazing when she is wet." It was the best I could do...

Summer and I hugged tightly a minute; we were both probably still blushing. I love my Mare...

Cel sighed, and said softly "I love my family..."

We all got up and hugged together and cried some for a while.

...

At one point, I asked Cel if she remembered the Bear.

Cel thought a minute, then answered quietly "I remember a Baer chasing us once. Was there something else?"

I realized that Cel had already seen Summer, the Phantom Alicorn, use her magic. So, I explained everything to Cel. At the time, the girls thought little of it. But their own mom probably saved their lives, even then. Cel had no idea...

...

The time together was amazing, but passed far too quickly. Too soon, we took to the air, and flew back up to Canterlot.

The guards came back with us, of course.

I realized from this point on, little would be said. Leaving would be just plain hard on all of us, but it had to be.

We spent the next hour or so in Cel's bedroom, sitting together, hugging tightly, weeping softly.

I asked Cel if it would be ok if Mildred joined us, and this was quickly done. I think this was good. Cel needed somepony close that wouldn't disappear soon.

Dinner was quiet and subdued, and maybe a little tearful.

The background music abruptly stopped after we had navigated the serpentine pathway to the Portal room, and were near the Portal.

The five of us gathered together and spent some time crying and hugging. Well, we spent quite a while like this. And nothing was said.

But again, I felt like such a bad pony... A thousand years was a long time, and we would skip past all that...

Mildred was with us too, but I decided that Cel would take care of any 'privilaged information'. Cel had already sent the Unicorns and guards out.

...

Far later than anyone planned, Summer backed up and walked towards the Portal, and changed into a 'people'.

It was time to go...

I backed up and changed into a people too.

Cel hugged Fluttershy tightly for a few minutes, then said softly "I can't thank you enough..." Both were crying...

Then Cel carefully straightened the butterfly hairpin in Fluttershy's hair, then bowed her head.

Summer then took Fluttershy's front hoof, and she changed into a people too, and Summer just held her sister's hand. Then I took Fluttershy's other free hand.

We all climbed up on the raised platform the Portal was on, and, still facing it, Summer said softly "Cel, just remember this. Dad and I will always love you."

Summer spun up her Cutie Mark at that point. I think she anticipated what the Portal would do.

Summer grabbed the rim of the Portal then squeezed.

The Portal again took over, and spun Summer's Cutie Mark up far higher than she even could, just like the first time. But the Portal actually held the Phantom Alicorn there, for minutes, maybe five minutes or more. It was probably 'recharging' itself, and even more.

Like I told Cel, the Future NEEDED the Portal...

Through the dull reflection in the Portal surface, I saw my girl crying, as Mildred hugged her... I almost got off the platform... I wished so badly I could stay...

Then Equestria Past faded from view...

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