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

by shysage

Ch.53, Against All Hope... Friendship Is Magic

When we got to him, Shysage was alive... He was very beat up, but alive, just barely, we thought.

He told us to just leave him, but nopony in this jail cell had any such intention, and I told him that. Well, we all cried as I told him that.

I immediately turned to face the outer wall, and promptly slapped the entire side wall outwards, onto the ground.

"Cel, can you gently get dad outside?"

Cel and Fluttershy jumped to the ground outside the back of the Bastion. The ground wasn't level, but rose upwards towards the peak of the ridge.

Still, Cel soon had Shysage laying on the gound a good distance away from the jail he was in. My immediate concern was that we were clear should the rest of that wall collapse.

Cel next tried to gently pick Shysage up, then fly herself. There was not much room, but it was quickly clear Cel couldn't fly very well with Shysage's added weight.

I think Equestria took over again...

Cel was trying to gain altitude carrying Shysage, while she headed uphill towards the top of the ridge.

I quickly got airborne myself, and flew until I was right under Shysage, then I just slowly came up underneath him as Cel carried him with her magic.

Shysage's two front legs ended up around my neck, and his back legs fell nicely on either side of my jeans.

Cel shrieked; she thought she had dropped him. But I quickly pulled up and away, and she saw me, and quickly calmed down.

Honestly, how could I catch Shysage like that? I couldn't even see him once I flew in close under him, and it was very dark... Equestria letting me 'just know'? True friend helping me? Both? I don't know, but I doubt it was blind luck...

My Cutie Mark was still wound up. Well, I only have wings as a people when I am the Phantom Alicorn. But evidently, this must have somehow strengthened my muscles and stuff. I could carry him like this all day.

I headed away from the Bastion, and Cel and Fluttershy were quickly at my side.

I asked Cel if she could somehow strap Shysage onto my back. I remembered how the Giraffes had tied Sue and Lee (Cel and Lu) to Shysage and my backs right after we had rescued our girls from six hungry Cougars. We flew the rest of that day with those precious foals strapped on our backs. And I really didn't want to drop Shysage...

Cel said she would see what she could do. I knew that some magical things Unicorns only learned when they needed to do them. I was hoping anyway...

I knew that, flying as a people with Shysage on my back as a pony; this probably looked very bad. But I didn't even care, not now. I HAD to get him through the Portal, as quickly as possible, or he would die...

But, it felt so amazing just having him close like that, especially after what he had been through these last hours; I couldn't even guess... But this Phantom Alicorn had her Stallion back... I wouldn't let anypony else near him.

...

Cel was soon clearly using her magic, then said she thought she had him strapped down. I wasn't about to test it or anything; Shysage felt pretty stable on my back like he was. I would quickly feel it with my wings if he shifted.

I asked the girls if we could go faster, but also told them they needed to let me know if my pace was too fast.

We were soon flying high, going pretty fast. We didn't have a huge tail wind, like we did the day we rescued Sue and Lee, but it was a very calm day, and it took little effort as we headed to Canterlot.

And again, I knew exactly which direction we needed to head, in order to go straight to Canterlot.

...

The trip was pretty quiet the rest of the way, except for two things.

After maybe thirty minutes, it was pretty clear to me that Shysage was actually 'awake', and holding my neck, maybe even hugging me, I don't know. That meant so much to me. His head was already down next to mine, and that was so comforting...

This helped me calm down some.

But towards the end of our trip, I could clearly tell he was having more trouble breathing...

And when we could actually see that stepped mountain that Canterlot was built on, I felt his legs around my neck repeatedly relax, then grab on. I didn't think falling asleep was the problem.

And a few times during the last portion of that trip, I think I unconsciously I started flying faster. Sis had to ask me more than once to slow down, and I did. I didn't want to avert one calamity, and cause another in the process. We were all in this together.

---

When that top deck of Canterlot was in view, I asked Cel if she could keep the straps on until after I landed, and maybe beyond. Shysage could not walk.

I intended to keep him on my back, then walk, as best as I could, to the Portal. I realized I would probably need to bend over while I walked, but I had every intention of staying the Phantom Alicorn until we were at the Portal. Or something like that...

And I realized at this point that Shysage was hurt so bad, that me touching him; he still stayed a pony. That was just unsettling.

Well, by this time I was crying because he was barely breathing at all, and I had no clue why. We were all crying...

The rest was sort of a blur...

...

Cel led us down to the right spot, and I managed to land with Shysage on my back. It was scary, but I was quickly following Cel through the new building that housed the Portal.

I had to bend forward at maybe a 45 degree angle, and actually put my arms around behind him, to try and hold him. Nothing else mattered. He was my life.

Right in front of the Portal, I got down on my hands and knees, and Cel helped me get him gently onto the floor in front of the Portal.

Cel wanted Fluttershy and I as ponies too, laying on our sides. I knew she had something she wanted to do, but I didn't think we had time. The Princess of Equestria insisted. What could I say...

A Unicorn brought a big, wooden something or other up to each of the three of us, and clamped one of our hind legs with it. A large hammer was lifted, then fell, making a large, loud noise.

Then the wood was gone, the Unicorns were gone... Cel was done with that, whatever it was.

I turned into a people again, and was about to turn Fluttershy into a people too...

We were all crying...

While crying, Cel asked "Mom, how will I know if dad... ..makes it..." Cel couldn't continue.

...

Time and everything else just stopped there for me, as I remembered...

Shysage was that dumb pegasus... On the day I decided to 'fall off' Cloudsdale and end it all, he brought me the most important book I would ever read; a careful record of Princess Twilight's first year with her amazing girls... He promptly dropped it through the clouds...

Shysage was the only people for hundreds of miles that could have rescued me from monsters who had already viciously abused me. And at great personal cost, he made sure he was there when that opportunity came. And once I was under his amazing care, I felt so cherished, even though the monsters had broken me...

Shysage was there, when I needed him, as days worth of atrocities seemed to hang in the balance, because of my own sister, no less. He is the ONLY person I would have listened to, and he told me the truth...

It was Shysage's heart alone, that had actually lifted the curse those monster's actions had forced on me... Well, he fixed my Twin too...

And, for over two years here in the Past, Shysage was the towering strength of our family, as he and I raised two amazing foals, only finding out towards the end exactly who these girls would become...

I could have gone on, I guess. But it didn't take long to realize...

Shysage cherished and protected and comforted me... He was my lover... He was my kindred spirit... He was my Stallion... He was my life...

And it took him doing all that in order for this Phantom Alicorn to do what she had done...

Without him...

...

Still crying, I answered Cel quietly. "Cel, if you don't disappear, then dad lived..."

I grabbed Fluttershy's front hoof and helped her stand up as a people. I explained that she would need to bend down and hold one of Shysage's legs for this to work, and this was quickly done.

I was standing facing the Portal, and could see Cel crying in the dull mirror surface of the Portal.

"Cel, we really need to hurry. I hope we can come back and hug you some more..." I said quietly.

I squeezed the frame of the Portal, there was a bright flash, and we were gone...

---

When we arrived at Equestria Present, still crying, I was relieved that Shysage, Fluttershy and I had made it. I quickly let go of Fluttershy, and she fell over backwards. We were glad for that rug...

I just as quickly tried hard to pick Shysage up, and move him through the Portal. I guess, I had unspun my Cutie Mark or something. Even moving him was very hard; we were trying not to hurt him, or bend him, or anything like that, it was just very hard. We didn't really know how to do this. Fluttershy and I were both crying a lot, and this was going agonizingly slow.

I finally got down on my hands and knees, and pulled him alongside myself, and I pretty much dragged him into the Portal with me.

I didn't think he was even breathing any more... I didn't want to lose him...

---

Once I was in the Equestria Girls world, I was still a people, laying on the grass next to Shysage...

He was laying there all twisted, so I carefully straightened him out, and pulled him to the side some...

He looked very still...

I was crying very hard...

I didn't know what to do... I had done everything I could...

I sat down and put his head in my lap, put my head down next to his, and just cried... I was sobbing hard...

I was pretty sure we were just too late...

Time stopped, as I just cried with Shysage's head in my arms...

I wanted time to go backwards, but...

No...

I wasn't ready for this...

...

...

...

Fluttershy came quickly through, and she just cried with me...

There just wasn't anything...

Maybe it was minutes, I don't know... Princess and her girls were all there too, crying with us... Cel and Lu too...

I...

I just kept crying...

...

...

...

My Twin was soon at my side...

The rest of the Twins quickly followed, and we just all cried together...

Maybe the tears of devotion worked here... I doubted it, but I thought this was my only hope...

I couldn't...

I needed Shysage...

...

...

...

The crying was really loud...

All our girlfriends...

We just cried together...

Oh, please...

...

...

...

I think I was even beyond sensing, the anguish was already mounting rapidly inside like a wildfire...

He was my life...

Looming hysteria was all I could see...

...

...

...

Shysage coughed... Then he moved his head so he could breathe easier...

He was alive...

...

Tears of devotion... So many caring hearts...

The crying got a lot louder...

...

I just hugged my Stallion and sobbed...

Everything else melted away... Nothing else really mattered...

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