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

by shysage

Ch.68, Sharing Princess Pain

This sea of devoted Twins cried with Princess Celestia of Equestria for maybe an hour.

Cel rolled over onto her belly at this point and asked me quietly "Mom, can you tell them for me?"

Telling everypony was a good idea; nopony knew yet why we were crying with Cel. But I wasn't real comfortable with this. In my mind, the Phantom Alicorn talking about the Phantom Alicorn was just not a good idea. Still, I have a hard time EVER saying no to Cel, not any more. I would try to make it work.

We all worked on calming down, as I got up, and laid on my belly on the rug in front of the Portal. Everypony else moved and laid on their bellies facing me, Twin with Twin. Well, my Twin sat next to me, because, well, she is my Twin.

...

I started by saying what everypony already knew; in the middle of an amazing Twins weekend, the Portal Beacon went off, maybe a little over an hour ago. But I honestly described how I felt at that point. I really feared another run-in with Dark Melvain, and I was just so... over him, I think the Equestria Girls phrase is.

I described how we went to the past, and I immediately spun up my Cutie Mark before even turning around.

When I did turn around, all I saw...

The only pony in the room...

Was Cel, curled up on the floor, asleep...

Well my love for Cel had never hurt me as much as it did right then, when I saw her on the floor, there in the Past. I just couldn't keep going. I tried for a minute to shove tears back, and failed, and ran over and hugged Cel, and cried. I don't think I could do anything else. My Twin followed me, and Shysage came over with me.

I don't think Cel had remembered that part either until just then, and when she did remember, she burst into tears too. I guess we were right about how much Cel hurt just then; she felt it now. All we could do was cry together some more.

Well, I figured it would take hours to finally let everypony know about our time there...

...

When we calmed down, Fluttershy took over... My shy sister... I was so amazed... Fluttershy talked quietly like she always does. It was pretty quiet in the Library; everypony could hear fine. And she was there for all of this.

Fluttershy was with me when we had dragged Shysage into the Present and to the Portal. Sis explained that this was Cel's last sight of dad, and this just slowly crushed Cel -- she had to know he was ok, and she had activated the Portal Beacon for that reason alone.

Crying herself, Fluttershy decribed Shysage and I waking our girl up in our loving arms. Fluttershy had also noticed stains from Cel's tears below where Cel's head was; she had cried there a lot before she fell asleep.

Fluttershy described the 12 hours or so that we all cried together. And I guess Fluttershy alone felt the slow draining down of the huge pain Cel carried, as we all cried with her. Fluttershy was also honest that part of the cost of that was that all three of us took some of that pain. Of course, none of us minded.

After Cel was done crying, we all headed to the Audience Hall for lunch. And Fluttershy just said in passing that it looked like they were working on it, and part of the Audience Hall looked like it does now.

More importantly, Fluttershy noticed that Cel ate very well during that lunch, and Fluttershy guessed she had not been able to eat much before. Well I never notice things like this.

Fluttershy also described our walk that afternoon. Fluttershy cried pretty hard as she clearly felt that walking around Canterlot with us on that warm afternoon also helped drain down Cel's pain inside a LOT.

Still, Fluttershy mentioned the Phantom Alicorn Sighting idea that I suggested during that walk, and how quickly Cel adopted it. That pretty much determined our evening. And she noted that important ponies from all over Equestria would be in the Audience Hall for that evening anyway, for a previously arranged dinner.

Well, after the meal, I was supposed to go over by the doors and change into the Phantom Alicorn. Fluttershy knew I had crashed inside even before I got up. But she also felt that Shyage knew this too, and he quickly got involved.

And my Sis had so clearly felt that eye contact was the only thing I was responding to for most of that... It was Shysage at first, and he, as a people, helped me change into a people too, then he drew the Phantom Alicorn form out. Shyage then turned me to Cel, and then walked me slowly down to her.

Fluttershy mentioned too that just about everypony in the audience was so totally overwhelmed by what they saw... Amost as if spell-bound, they just looked on...

At the end of that carpet, at the foot of the steps, Shysage had us bow. Fluttershy realized that the response of the audience would not have been near as positive if we had not done that.

And even as we hugged Cel a little while at the top of the steps, we kneeled as we hugged Equestria's Princess.

Fluttershy said that the way we did this whole thing just so amazingly contributed to the overall impact; she had felt that...

But she also felt Shysage turn to mush inside when Cel put her head next to dad's neck and cried; and she clearly felt me taking over, and slowly moving us out of the Audience Hall with the deep love Shysage and I shared. Well, I had to take over.

My amazing Sister Fluttershy... She feels what most can't even see...

Fluttershy mentioned that we spent almost two more days with Princess Celestia of Equestria; we were basically at her side as much as we could be. Sis did not mention the hairpins, but she did talk a bit about our trip down to our tree house before we left.

Fluttershy said she felt this was really helpful for Cel. Cel herself said she would go there and cry when things got really hard. Well, Fluttershy felt how important this simple statement was to Cel. Evidently Cel really appreciated the time she spent with us there.

And I guess, looking back at all our visits there, Past and Present, I could see how true that was.

Well, Cel was crying now too, as Fluttershy mentioned that.

Fluttershy had a hard time describing our return to the Present, maybe two hours ago. It was just hard for all four of us.

Fluttershy had to stop there, but now everypony knew what had happened.

And Princess Twilight spoke up and said that we were only gone maybe two minutes.

It was quiet briefly, then Princess Celestia asked quietly "Dad, how long ago was that?

Shysage thought a minute, then said quietly a little over 400 years ago, I think.

Cel said quietly "I never thought I would make it through...", then she started crying loudly. We all cried with her.

Well, I carefully guessed that Dark Melvain didn't bother her any more until the day we killed him, and THAT was an accomplishment.

Princess Celestia of Equestria cried with 24 adoring members of her extended family, for maybe another hour.

At that point Cel calmed down, and said quietly "Precious friends, I think I am caught up, thank you all.

Friendship is so magic...

---

It was early in the morning, but it was clear nopony could sleep, not now, especially after what had happened, plus the fact that our Twins were all here.

The Celestia, Luna and Twilight Twins talked together quietly for a few minutes.

After that, Cel, Lu, their Twins, the Fluttershy, Shyna and Summer Twins with Shysage; we all group-hugged briefly, then the Celestia and Luna Twins headed back to Canterlot.

Princess Twilight addressed the rest of us and said that today was a Twins day, but everypony needed to be back for dinner at the Castle. The Equestria Girls would then head back through the Portal around midnight, so they could get ready for classes starting at the High School the next day.

...

Hmm, Twins day... I could guess what my Twin wanted to do, and I was right. She wanted to help us record our last trip to the Past. Well, Fluttershy went with us, so she and her Twin came too. And well, the Shynas just wanted to come.

We all walked to the Canterlot Recorder's home together, and Shysage turned into a people and quickly brought the fire in the fireplace back to life.

Twin and I were at the compy, and Shysage was supervising from the couch, and the rest of the girls laid on their bellies on the rug in front of the fireplace.

It was comfortable... It was tons of fun. And with Fluttershy helping us, the entire account of this last three days in the Past came together amazingly well. We laughed, we cried... We cried a lot I guess. But it really was Twin fun.

By maybe mid-afternoon, we were done with the five or so chapters that we had to add after we thought we were done with the Dark Melvain account... It was ok, this last visit was amazing.

Shysage started the printing for these last few chapters, and the rest of us Soul Linked with our Twins. I think we all felt overdue for that. We spent maybe two hours, it was amazing...

At dinnertime, we headed back to the Castle together. The Celestia and Luna Twins were back, and dinner together like that was amazing fun.

We were sad though, the Principal sisters headed through the Portal after dinner, and Cel and Lu hugged with us briefly, and headed back to Canterlot before it got too cold.

The rest of us spent most of the evening visiting together. My Twin and I, we tried to make it a point to spend some time with Princess Twilight and her Twin, as well as the rest of her girls.

Midnight came too quickly, and I hoped the Portal Beacon didn't go off.

We all hugged and cried with our Twins, then they started going through the Portal. My Twin went first, then everypony else, then Twilight Sparkle went last. Watching our Twins go was just hard.

Anyway, the plan was for us ponies to all spend the night together in the Library. We managed to fit everypony on the rug in front of the Portal. Some of us were crying. We were all beat, and were soon asleep.

---

I think we slept in the next morning. When we woke back up, we noticed Spike, curled up on the floor, snoring. There was a letter from Princess Celestia on the floor next to him.

Princess Twilight carefully got the letter, but left Spike asleep.

"Summer, you and Shysage need to head to Canterlot this afternoon. We should expect an Air Coach around noon for that" Princess said with a smile.

We were all awake, and somepony started what we usually say, and Princess finished her part. Then we all hugged tightly for a while, and some of us cried. Well everypony in this circle is amazing...

We all ate breakfast together, and that was just fun. After that, we hugged together for a little while more, then everypony wandered off to get their days going. It was just another cold Winter day in Ponyville.

Shysage and I walked Fluttershy and Shyna to Fluttershy's cottage, and Shysage turned into a people long enough to get the fire going in the fireplace. It is just a lot easier to do that as a people.

Shysage and I didn't even go to our house. The Sun was nicely up, and there was no wind. Even though it was cold out, we weren't cold at all. Shysage and I ended up on our bellies on that little hill in the meadow to the East of our home.

We talked some, we hugged some, we cried some. Well, we thanked true friend together some too.

At one point, Shysage sighed, then said softly.

"Well, Canterlot Recorder's Assistant, it lookes like we are finally ready for...

Quests in Friendship -- A narration of the experiences of Princess Twilight and her dear friends in Ponyville and all over Equestria -- Collected and edited by Princess Celestia of Canterlot -- Vol. 5"

"Yes" I replied. That should be epic! Princess and her girls are SO amazing..."

Honestly though, it really did feel amazing to relax together, knowing that our work was caught up, for now anyway.

I think Shysage felt the same way, and we hugged and cried together until Princess Twilight came and got us at lunch time.

Princess asked why we were crying, and I told her we were finally ready for the next volume of Princess Celestia's commentaries. Princess Twilight cried with us a little while too. I think this was, is very important to her.

---

An hour and a half later, we were walking across the Commons lawn towards the Audience Hall.

Well, it was Winter, and we were ushered inside, and the Audience Hall door was quickly shut.

Mildred greeted us immediately, and a talented Unicorn mare with an amazing memory had both our coats high up on a peg on the wall. Mildred, Shysage and I hugged together. Mildred asked about the Shyna Twins, clearly trying not to cry. And, she told us it would be a little while before we could see the Princesses. Then the Master of Details was quickly off.

We were in no hurry, which was a good thing. Shysage and I found an out of the way spot and just sat next to each other, and Shysage hugged me the whole time. I love him so much...

Cel and Lu were evidently done maybe mid-afternoon, and Mildred came and got us, and led us up to them. Mildred bowed to Equestria's Princesses, then was quickly heading off again, handling another detail so Cel and Lu didn't have to.

Princess duties for the day were done. The four of us walked slowly through the door, down the hall towards Princess quarters.

Cel stopped us in front of a door that looked all too familiar...

Lu opened it right away, it was 'our room' from the Past. Shysage and I both gasped, it looked EXACTLY like it did the roughly 400 years ago we were last in here.

I walked quickly in, then laid down on my belly on the rug, and Shysage joined me. This room held a lot of memories, some good, some bad, I don't know.

Cel and Lu laid on their bellies facing us.

"Cel, how..." Shysage asked quietly.

Cel laughed, then explained.

The last time you both came to the Past with Fluttershy, we were in the process of re-doing the outside of the Audience Hall in White marble. We made substantial changes to the inside of the Audience Hall when we did that; we actually increased the overall size of the large hall.

Somehow, in the process of re-doing the walls for the little hall into the big room outside Lu and my rooms, a plain wall was placed over this door, and I forgot about it... ...until last night...

I had the door fixed this morning.

You both are the first ponies in this room since you left last time...

We did all cry softly together for a little while.

Our girls led us into the Princess Quarters room (Cel called it that!), and crowns went on a table. Shysage and I, as people, we loved our girls like we had so many times as we raised them. To this day, touching Cel and Lu does not change them into their Equestria Girls form. That is just as well.

And I guess... Cel is clearly daddy's girl, but Lu... From that second day she and I had such a bond... I cried with Lu in my arms for a while. I think this was long overdue for both of us.

Dinner was amazing, then Cel and Lu said we were all sleeping together in our room, they called it. Lu made it clear we could come sleep in our room any time we wanted. I knew it would be hard to do unless Cel and Lu slept with us.

We talked, hugged, laughed and cried together all evening.

When it finally was time for us to sleep, Shysage and I slept with our precious girls between us. I think just this made us all cry a while before we fell asleep.

And before nodding off, I remembered what we had wrote...

In spite of all this terrible bully from the Past, Dark Melvain, had tried to accomplish...

We were all safe, and our amazing girls, Equestria's Princesses no less, slept soundly and safely. Mom and dad really couldn't ask for much more than that.

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