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

by shysage

Ch.44, Another Gem from the Past

Princess Twilight and 'her girls', Filia, Fiona and Shyna, and my Stallion and I; we had all spent the night together in the Library again. It also seemed that we woke up together too.

We were quickly sitting in a circle, hugging tightly, weeping softly.

After maybe fifteen minutes, somepony started us saying what we usually say together.

"We are deeply devoted to each other..."

"We are true friends, and committed to true friendship..."

"We are... ...Equestria..."

Then Princess Twilight added her part.

"And I am only a Princess with you all at my side."

Well, Princess started crying after she said her part, and she cried that way for a while.

The rest of us just reformed our circle, and, still sitting, we gathered tightly around our Princess and basically group-hugged her as she cried.

Well, realizing the 'girl-time' nature of this, my Stallion backed away, and let us girls spend some time together and close.

Still, we all love our Princess... And I think she really needed us that morning.

We all just cried together some more...

After Princess settled down, she said quietly.

"Things like this just remind me again that I need each and every one of you girls... So much of what I am and have been able to accomplish, is because of each one of you. But that just makes me sometimes painfully dependent on you, my precious friends... Thank you..."

We all just hugged and cried together a while after that.

---

Evidently, Spike had been standing next to my Stallion, quietly waiting. How long we don't know, but he finally said "Ahem..." to get our attention.

It wasn't early, but I'm guessing we were keeping him from his mid-morning nap!

With 'flair and flourish', he held up a large piece of paper, obviously a letter from Princess Celestia, and began to read.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I just want to thank you again for your amazing bravery the other day. My sister and I both agree that you never cease to amaze us as you ever more deeply exemplify what a Princess should be, especially during difficult times. We both treasure you serving Equestria with us, and we love you very much. Thank you.

In other news, two Air Coaches will arrive this morning at the Castle. Please have mom, dad, Fluttershy and Shyna come to Canterlot.

Lovingly, Princess Celestia

Well, part of the letter was a personal note from Princess Celestia to our amazing Princess, and she cried again when she heard it. We just hugged our amazing Princess tightly again for a while.

We were all weeping softly, and only one pony spoke, it was my sister, Fluttershy. I think my sister summed it up for the rest of us.

"Princess Twilight we all know you are amazing, and we all love you a lot, too."

We cried together there for a while with our amazing Princess.

---

Well, it was another mild day, so we left our coats in the Library, in a pile on a table.

And when we went outside, we did see the two Air Coaches waiting, ready to take us to Canterlot.

Princess had us circle up and hug tightly for a few minutes, then she sent us all off to another day.

My Stallion and I, Fluttershy and Shyna headed out to the Air Coaches. My Stallion and I went in one, and Fluttershy and Shyna climbed into the other. Still, if there was any way we could have fit the four of us into a single Air Coach, that would have been my preference! I love my family...

The trip to Canterlot is really beautiful. Flying is more fun, and a lot nicer, since you can see more. Either way, it is a nice trip.

Even with the harness on, my Stallion and I managed to wrap one of our front legs together. Holding hands as people is easier, but this worked too.

...

Maybe five minutes from Canterlot, it was clear something was wrong with one of the stallions for our Air Coach. Well, he couldn't flap his wings any more. He just fell back into his harness, and sat there.

This is the first time I have ever seen this.

The other three stallions surely had to work harder, but we easily dropped much lower in altitude. Evidently they do drills for this, and so the Air Coach never felt unstable or anything.

Still, the lead stallion said they would have to land in a field near Canterlot, and my Stallion assured him that would be fine. The four of us were Pegasi too.

Then the lead stallion barked some orders to the other Air Coach, so they followed us down

We soon landed safely in the middle of a small meadow at the base of the 'stepped mountain' that Canterlot is built on.

The four of us were soon out, and standing together.

The Air Coach stallions quickly helped the stallion who was having trouble, into the other Air Coach, and both Air Coaches headed for Canterlot.

...

Off in the distance, near a road and a clump of trees, we saw some sort of 'apple stand' or something like it. It was clearly for selling stuff, but we were too far away to see what. We could see it wasn't in very good shape though...

While my Stallion, Fluttershy and I stood talking, Shyna slowly wandered over to that stand.

While Sis and I just talked happily, my Stallion was watching Shyna.

The closer Shyna got to that stand, the faster she was walking...

He quickly saw why, there was a single mare, sitting in front of what was probably her stand. Her crying echoed very faintly across the meadow...

Shyna is so a Fluttershy... She walked quickly up to the mare, and just sat next to her, and was soon crying with her... We were just barely close enough to hear this...

And the other mare quickly put her front leg around Shyna and hugged her close as they cried together...

The next thing I heard...

"Summer fly quickly, bring Cel and Lu here..." Well, my Stallion meant Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

And he said this quickly, and I didn't even question why, and was also quickly off. My Stallion made it sound like it was rather urgent. I wasn't sure why. I flew pretty fast. Well, I enjoy that.

When I found our two girls up in Canterlot, both were standing outside the Audience Hall, maybe just taking a break, and enjoying the day.

Maybe ten minutes later, I was back with Cel and Lu. It didn't take the three of us long to glide down, and find my Stallion again.

And the only thing that had changed was that Fluttershy was on the mare's other side now, crying with she and Shyna. And My stallion had not moved, and was still a good distance away.

Cel, Lu and I landed next to my Stallion.

His gaze was fixed on the three mares off in the distance, and so we all looked across the meadow at Shyna, Fluttershy and this other mare, all crying...

Lu... Gasped... Immediately...

"Sister, it's Mildred..." Lu said quickly, then burst into tears...

This memory was maybe only four years ago for Lu...

Cel said "Who? No, wait..." There was a brief delay as Cel sorted back through memories a thousand years ago. Then she recognized Mildred, said "Oh, my goodness..." and she too was crying...

After crying a minute maybe, Cel said "Dad, how..."

My Stallion looked at Cel and said "The Portal..."

Cel stopped crying and just sighed. Then she looked at her sister Lu and said quietly "I think we could use a treasured assistant, don't you Lu?"

Lu stopped cying too, and just smiled.

The four of us walked, well Cel and Lu led the four of us slowly across the meadow towards the three mares off in the distance. They were still crying together, facing away from us.

Cel and Lu were in the middle, with my Stallion next to Cel, and I was next to Lu, as we approached the three crying mares from behind.

Princess Celestia of Equestria stopped maybe 20 feet behind Mildred, Shyna and Fluttershy and we all sat down quietly.

I just knew Cel and Lu were working hard to not cry just yet.

It was quiet for a minute, then Cel said quietly "Mildred..."

Even after a thousand years, Mildred immediately placed that voice...

She quickly turned around, almost knocking Shyna and Fluttershy over. Then Mildred quickly took a few steps forward, and pretty much threw herself to the ground before Princess Celestia.

Cel only slowly said softly "Mildred, why..."

Mildred, still bowing, burst into tears, and tried to explain...

"I went through that Portal thing...

"Princess, I'm sorry...

"I heard somepony say that I would...

"I'm so sorry..."

Mildred was sobbing...

Lu said quietly "Mildred, we both love you, you should have told us, it would have been ok..."

Mildred kept crying, then Cel spoke.

"Mildred, after you said you had to 'move on', I never filled your position. The reason was, is, that we never found as capable a 'Princess Assistant' as you were... You were amazing..."

Mildred's crying was slowing, anyway.

The rest of us girls knew what was coming, and we were weeping softly now too...

Lu said quietly "Mildred, we could still use a 'treasured assistant'... Your position is still open, if you want it back... We would be delighted to ha--"

Lu couldn't finish because Mildred had jumped up and was hugging Lu, sobbing again...

Well, the three of them, Cel, Lu and Mildred were quickly sitting, hugging, crying together...

A thousand years is a long time.

They cried together for a while too.

...

Cel said to Lu that they needed to cancel their appointments the rest of the day, and bring Mildred up to speed, and Lu agreed.

Cel turned to my Stallion, smiled, and said "Dad, can we reschedule our family visit? I think we have some work to do this afternoon."

My Stallion answered quickly "Well, as long as we can hug some, I think Summer and I, Fluttershy and Shyna ca--"

Mildred didn't scream, and she didn't squeal, but it was somewhere in between, then she said loudly "Shyna, it's really you!"

Then Mildred and Shyna hugged and cried together.

That was ok, Cel, Lu, Fluttershy, my Stallion and I just hugged too, and wept softly.

And we all realized later that Shyna had recognized Mildred right away, even from across the meadow. Well, the last time Shyna saw Mildred was less than a month ago...

Like my Stallion said, the future really did need the Portal!

...

An Air Coach soon landed near us. It would take Cel, Lu and now Mildred, back to Canterlot.

We all hugged together for maybe five minutes, then Cel, Lu and Mildred walked together towards the Air Coach.

Partway there, Cel stopped and said quietly "Mildred it is so good to have you back. You were irreplaceable..."

Mildred answered quietly "Princess... Leaving Canterlot... leaving you... was the hardest thing I ever did... I'm so sorry..."

Then the three of them hugged together a little while too.

They were soon in the Air Coach and on their way up to Canterlot.

...

It was only maybe noon when the four of us; my Stallion, Fluttershy, Shyna and I, took to the air for our trip back to Ponyville.

Cel had offered to bring another Air Coach down, but we decided that just flying together would be more relaxing, so that is what we did.

Besides, flying on another mild day as Winter loomed... Pegasi spell fun 'f-l-y'!

Well, we may have wept softly most of the way back. Being together, flying together, was just amazing...

And Rainbow saw us from a good distance away, and she flew back part way with us. It was very nice.

Well, right before we got to Ponyville, we decided to try to get our amazing Princess up in the air with us. We felt she needed some 'air time' too!

Filia ran quickly off to Rarity's Boutique to be with her sister, and Princess Twilight really didn't have any excuses left, so she joined us.

We flew most of that afternoon with our amazing Princess. Most of us wept softly, well, a lot. Our time together, in the air... It was simply amazing...

---

Dinner was at the Castle again, and we all gathered together for that.

Dinner like this was very handy, because it still got quite cold as soon as the Sun began to set. And we were always very careful to thank our Princess for such an amazing gift.

And we all decided to spend the night together in the Library.

But this time, I think it was because we wanted too, more than because we needed too. Well, we did cry some together, but it was just nice to spend time with such amazing friends.

We all talked together until pretty late. Then we cried together for a little while, and were soon asleep.

---

---

Comments

[whizzball1]

I have two questions: 1. Why are there no comments? That seems highly unlikely. 2. Why do you put random single quotation marks around everything? Your grammar is great, except for those. Some quotations should be replaced by italics, but seriously? Quotations around "Elements of Harmony"? Or around "Princess Celestia"? In Book 2, Chapter 10, you put quotations around "looming cloud". 1. Idioms don't get quotation marks. 2. That's not an idiom. It's a literal, semantically correct statement that means exactly what it says.

Book 3, Chapter 10: You put quotations around "run him off" and around "whole" when speaking about the family. The former is a somewhat idiom and the latter is another literal statement like "looming cloud". It gets even crazier when you put quotations around "slept in". Could you please explain my questions?

P.S. I put double quotation marks around those phrases only because I'm quoting them.