A simple Unicorn mare falls into a terrible trap, and ALL Equestria 'forgets'...
Through a tragic accident, after a deadly Fury Run was contained, Shysage lost his memory for two and a half months, and that was agony for those around him. How much worse will it be when a simple Unicorn mare falls into a terrible trap, and ALL Equestria 'forgets'...
A good 'background tune' for this volume is the 'Illusions in the Mist*' track from the OST for the 'Treasures of Aht Urhgan*' expansion for Final Fantasy XI*. This disorienting tune fits this Volume of Summer's chronicles well, for a while, anyway. (*=2014 by Square Enix)
Princess Twilight was not the only friend that Zecora had made from Ponyville. Especially after the town warmed up to this Zebra from far away, Zecora made a number of new friends.
Many of them were Unicorns. Zecora's knowledge of magic made her a good resource, and for some, a good teacher.
One of Zecora's students was a Unicorn mare named Star Dusk. Her Cutie Mark was a White star, with dark Grey clouds feathered over the top half of the star. Her coat was light Grey, and her mane and tail were Black. She was a 'transplant' from way out West. She didn't like the heat.
Star Dusk was mostly a pleasant student, yet easily distracted. This was not an asset for learning magic, but both teacher and student took it in stride. Star Dusk was also impulsive and occasionally strong-willed, and this surely tested Zecora's calm patience.
It was clear to Zecora that Star Dusk would never be a magic powerhouse, but still, there was much Zecora could teach her early on. They were making progress.
Maybe after working with Zecora for six months, Star Dusk walked into Zecora's hut for another lesson.
"Hello, Zecora" she said.
Zecora was rummaging around in one of her closets, and said
"If I could find this piece of Moon, then I could be out very soon!"
Star Dusk just waited.
Still, she noticed a nice looking wood box on Zecora's work table. Star Dusk opened it, and looked inside. It contained a strange looking neck piece. It wasn't amazingly beautiful, but still, it looked impressive.
Star Dusk picked it up, and tried it on for size, then walked over to the mirror to have a look. Appearance quickly didn't matter, as everything immediately felt vastly different to Star Dusk... She wasn't sure why, at first... But she had a hunch.
Star Dusk tried casting the simplest of levitation spells on Zecora's work table, and almost sent the table through the roof. It was very clear that this neck piece was giving Star Dusk access to a much greater source of magic.
Wow... She liked that...
Zecora heard the noise, and came out, and was immediately very upset at Star Dusk. Zecora didn't even bother rhyming...
"PUT THAT BACK IMMEDIATELY !!!" Zecora yelled.
Star Dusk sheepishly took the strange but powerful neck piece off, and put it back in the box, not really understanding what wrong she had done. Star Dusk didn't cry, but she was close to it.
The box with the strange neck piece was quickly away and out of sight.
"I'm sorry, Zecora. I didn't know what it was." Star Dusk said quietly.
Zecora calmed down soon and said, without rhyming, "That is a very dangerous magical artifact."
That's all Zecora said about it, and that was that, and their magic lesson started from this point. It was tense at first, but both soon calmed down the rest of the way.
Six more months would find Star Dusk in 'Big City' Canterlot. Zecora said she could teach her no more magic, and recommended Canterlot because of the Library, and access to magic books.
Zecora also suggested that Star Dusk look for a pony Unicorn who might be interested in helping her 'refine her magic skills' (Zecora's words).
The Library she found, and quickly obtained access to the magic archives. She loved reading about magic, but she was a slow reader, and had to read things a few times, usually.
Star Dusk could not find a new teacher, however. In fact, she had to work long hours in one of the local shops to even be able to eat, and to afford a very small, 'hole in the wall' house to live in. Star Dusk just tried to make do.
In Canterlot, Star Dusk also 'stepped up' her search for the 'perfect stallion'. But much like Ponyville, most of the stallions Star Dusk met in Canterlot always seemed to have their own agenda. Most of them also frequently just tried to take what they wanted, which was usually one thing. Star Dusk was strong enough to stop them, but still... This search also proved fruitless.
In the Library, Star Dusk also met 'the great and powerful Trixie'... Trixie always laughed to herself when she said this, but it was clear she wanted it to be true.
At first, Star Dusk thought about asking Trixie to be her teacher.
But it was rapidly clear that Trixie had far more natural magical ability than Star Dusk, and Trixie frequently pointed that out -- not blatantly outright, but through carefully chosen, subtle barbs...
The teacher idea was rapidly scrapped.
Star Dusk could only study in the Library at night, but soon dreaded going to the Library at all, because of Trixie...
...
Maybe it was Trixie's subtle, but still pointed insults... Maybe it was a hang-over from that strange neck-piece... Maybe it was having to fight off one stallion too many... Maybe it was all three... It didn't matter.
Star Dusk's magic was potent, but she was a mediocre Unicorn, and realized that she would never be anything more. When she had that strange neck piece on, she felt rivers of power from another source.
Star Dusk wanted that.
Star Dusk stopped going to the Library as much. Star Dusk stopped looking for a stallion as much. Star Dusk stopped looking for a new teacher completely.
Instead, Star Dusk developed a habit.
There was a rather doleful looking, dead tree in the back of one of the lower levels of Canterlot. Star Dusk went out next to that dead tree. Still, Star Dusk knew that the location was irrelevant...
Once there, Star Dusk said quietly but forcefully "Virulent Evil, I want you." She came up with this name because it seemed to her to most closely match the nature of the power she felt. She didn't think it through much further, and maybe she didn't care either.
Star Dusk would only say this once. Then she would wait maybe half an hour, then leave.
This was her habit. Star Dusk did this as often as she could, every day frequently. She had lost track of how long she had been doing this, maybe a year, maybe more...
But the fact that she felt she needed to do this to attain more magical power; this simply hardened her resolution in this pursuit...
One day...
She said quietly but forcefully "Virulent Evil, I want you." She only said it once.
Star Dusk was immediately thinking about something else, the stallion from the night before, to be exact.
She and this stallion were laying on their bellies next to each other, just talking, getting to know each other.
Then the stallion casually asked "Can you roll over on your back?"
Star Dusk was immediately outraged, and used her magic to sleep the stallion on the spot. It was a very simple spell; he would wake up in half an hour, and remember the last thing he said, anyway. Then she left in a rage.
Of all the nerve... No getting to know each other or anything, and he asked that... Star Dusk mockingly said out loud at this point "Excuse me, can you roll over, so I can--"
...
"What, weakling..." The voice flooded her head, and was menacing, threatening, and hideous, all at the same time...
Star Dusk had already decided what she would say at this point.
"I want your power flowing through me."
The voice laughed fiercely, and said "Fool..."
There was a slight delay, then the voice continued, unchanged from before...
"I am only here, because you carry the stain of my artifice..."
Star Dusk knew he was referring to the strange neck piece that had given her a taste of his power...
The voice added "I warn you, my price is unreasonably great... You must FULLY accept ALL my goals as your own. And if you fail, YOU WILL DIE."
Star Dusk would not waver, and simply replied quietly but again forcefully "I fully agree..."
The voice said "I am PonyRos, and you will rue this day..."
Still thinking about the night before, Star Dusk replied "I am content with that."
PonyRos said "So be it... The binding contract has been made. Listen carefully..."
PonyRos yelled at this point
"The Nation, the Kingdom that forgets it's history will quickly destroy itself..."
PonyRos next spoke so horrendously loud that it hurt Star Dusk's ears...
...his words:
"MAKE EQUESTRIA FORGET !!!"
...and he was gone...
...and Star Dusk's ears were ringing... ...and she could barely hear...
Well, it was clear PonyRos' goal was the takeover of Equestria. That would probably make Star Dusk the ruler. Wouldn't that teach Trixie a lesson.
Star Dusk quit her job, and went to the Canterlot Library. She already had access to the Magic Archives. And she completely ignored Trixie that evening when she arrived.
Star Dusk started to research memory spells. This would take a while, they were really spread out. And she was a slow reader.
After three full days, Star Dusk had found maybe five spells. She doubted she had found the correct one, however.
She kept looking.
That fourth day, she found one more...
PonyRos filled her head quickly "That one, weakling..."
Nopony else in the Library responded to the sound, so Star Dusk realized that she alone could hear him.
Star Dusk copied the spell details to a piece of paper with her magic. The description involved only partial memory loss. The result wasn't zombies, but most of the past was forgotten.
Star Dusk realized she could cast this complex spell, but just barely, and it would not be fast.
Then she said quietly "PonyRos, I wish to add two more spells to this.
After a brief delay, PonyRos responded quickly, and with disdain "Whatever, weakling. Let me know when you are ready, and I will help..."
And he was gone again.
In a few hours she had found the perfect 'allegiance' spell. It wasn't too complex. If Star Dusk was to take over Equestria, she wanted nopony to oppose her.
Her last spell took maybe an hour more to find. She actually found it while looking for the memory spell, and managed to remember which book it was in. But she had to find it again.
It was just for Star Dusk, and she smiled deviously as she wrote the magical details down. She wanted nopony to oppose her in this area either.
Star Dusk was now ready.
It was dark, Star Dusk went to her 'house', and slept. She wanted to be refreshed and ready when she 'made Equestria forget'. She knew her next night would probably be in the Canterlot Palace, and she smiled at this thought.
Star Dusk slept well, and was up fairly early the next day. She walked up the path to the top level of Canterlot.
She had no interest in the two Princesses that were currently ruling. They would soon forget everything anyway, and would wander around aimlessly with everypony else.
And if Star Dusk saw Trixie wandering around, she would just laugh at her.
But Star Dusk knew she needed an Air Coach to complete her plans for the 'new Equestria'.
She found an Air Coach, fully ready, waiting in a large grass area next to the Commons lawn outside the Audience Hall.
Star Dusk walked over to the lead Air Coach stallion, and said quietly "I am about to take over Equestria, and I will require your services soon. And if you don't help me, I will turn you all into FIELD MICE!!!"
Star Dusk couldn't really do this last part...
The four big Pegasus stallions connected to the Air Coach didn't think she could do either part, and just laughed heartily.
Star Dusk didn't flinch, but got her paper out, with the three spells it included.
"PonyRos, I am ready..." Star Dusk said.
PonyRos spoke quickly "I like your style... Cast all three, and I will spread the magic far and wide..."
Star Dusk cast the three spells on one of the Air Coach stallions...
PonyRos spread the magic of those three spells, all over the entire realm of Equestria...
...
...and Equestria...
...simply...
...forgot...
As PonyRos spread the magic, it looked like disgusting Green soot appeared in the upper atmosphere, and slowly filtered down to the ground. It disappeared when it touched anything though.
Star Dusk didn't move as she watched the Green stuff fall down for maybe fifteen minutes, until it was all gone.
"PonyRos, I wished the magic to flow through me, will that happen at some point?" Star Dusk asked quietly.
"In time, weakling, enough!" PonyRos replied angrily, then he was gone.
Star Dusk stood there, motionless, for maybe ten more minutes.
Then Star Dusk thought quickly to herself that it was unwise to expect a being, who responded to 'Virulent Evil,' to NOT lie to her...
Then she just as quickly realized that even thinking this could be dangerous, as he could flood her mind at any point.
It was too late now. Star Dusk just tried to make do.
Star Dusk erased the effects of the memory spell on the Air Coach stallions next to her, one at a time, by casting the spell backwards. Well, she left the allegiance spell in place, and the last spell only worked on mares anyway.
They all blinked, then stared at her
"Do you stallions want to be FIELD MICE, or will you help me?" Star Dusk asked.
"We will do what you say Star Dusk, for you are great" the lead stallion said slowly.
"If only Trixie could hear this" Star Dusk thought to herself.
"Good, stay here. You will only fly at my command" Star Dusk said next to the Air Coach stallions.
"Of course Star Dusk, for you are great" the reply came back.
Star Dusk faced one more detail. She decided she needed a guard of sorts.
Star Dusk walked around Canterlot briefly, and smiled as she saw most ponies wandering aimlessly around, including Princess Celestia. Star Dusk just ignored her.
She found a large stallion however, in full guard gear, too.
Star Dusk walked up to the stallion, stopped in front of him, and said "You will help me, correct?"
The big stallion replied "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
Star Dusk next erased the memory spell, which took less than half a minute maybe, then repeated "You will help me, correct?"
The big stallion replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
Star Dusk said to the stallion "You are my guard from now on. When I yell 'guard', you had better come.
The big stallion replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
"Come with me" Star Dusk said.
Star Dusk walked her new guard over to the large doors leading to the Audience Hall, then said "Guard, sit here and watch over things until I return."
The big stallion sat down, then replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
Star Dusk smiled to herself. Maybe Trixie was on to something. Star Dusk really liked ponies saying that to her.
Then Star Dusk laughed out loud as she made a mental note that she needed to hear Trixie say that to her...
Then Star Dusk thought to herself "This was just too easy..."
A month before she actually talked to PonyRos, Star Dusk had jumped into the middle of the book "The Chronicles of Summer Rain" in the Canterlot Library. This happened on one random evening when she actually went to the Library. Trixie was there, of course, and Star Dusk was trying to avoid her.
This book was part of a set on the back of the 'Latest Additions' table in the Library lobby. Star Dusk sneaked to a secluded reading spot with this book, and started to read. Well, she was really 'skimming', jumping through, and only reading select paragraphs, just to try to get the general idea.
But the part she jumped in at, covered how some ponies came back through 'the Portal' and basically took Equestria back from Sunset Shimmer. When she realized the significance of this, Star Dusk began reading a little more carefully, until she found out that this 'Portal' thing was in the Crystal Palace.
Star Dusk lost interest in the book at that point. She closed it, then put it back on the table on her way out, on that day.
Equestria was now her's. Well she was the ruler anyway, as far as she could tell. PonyRos had given her no other directions here, and Star Dusk didn't think he even cared.
After talking to PonyRos, Star Dusk remembered this book, and what little she had read in it. She realized the 'Portal' needed to be 'secured'.
Well, now was the time for that task, and she had read in the book where she needed to go to do that.
After posting her new 'guard', Star Dusk walked back to the Air Coach, climbed in, then said curtly "Take me to the Crystal Palace."
They did.
Less than an hour later, Star Dusk climbed out of the Air Coach, then looked up at the Crystal Palace. It was huge... "How am I going to find the Portal..." Star Dusk thought to herself in dismay.
Maybe she needed a 'Portal Guard'. Star Dusk wandered until she found the entrance to the Palace, then she began wandering around inside. Star Dusk soon found a very official looking stallion. He was dressed similarly to her guard in Canterlot.
"You there, stallion, come here."
"Of course Star Dusk, for you are great" the guard replied.
"Stallion, I need you to help me. You are going to do what I say, right?"
"Of course Star Dusk, for you are great" the guard replied again.
Star Dusk next canceled the memory spell on this stallion then said again
"Stallion, I need you to help me. You are going to do what I say, right?"
The answer came back again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great."
"Good, I need you to take me to 'the Portal' " Star Dusk said.
They were soon on their way. Star Dusk felt she had asked the right stallion for help. She guessed the location of this Portal thing was probably not well known.
The guard opened the doors to the Portal room, and Star Dusk walked up to the 'Portal'. Well, it had to be, it was the only thing in this room, besides a random piece of crystal laying along one wall. Star Dusk then cast the same three spells on the Portal itself.
Then she smiled... Anyone who came through this would forget too...
"Empress Star Dusk... I think I like that best" Star Dusk thought to herself.
"Guard, take me back to the Air Coach" Star Dusk barked next.
On the way back down, Star Dusk realized that the way to the Portal Room was too complex for her to even try to remember. Oh well, she had sealed it off.
Once back at the Air Coach, she said to her second new 'guard' "Guard, go back up to the room where the Portal is. You know what to do."
He quickly left, and headed back up to the Portal.
Star Dusk climbed back into the Air Coach.
"Take me to Ponyville" Star Dusk yelled.
They did.
The Air Coach landed next to a big Castle that Star Dusk didn't even know existed.
"Seriously, in Ponyville?" she said out loud, laughing.
Star Dusk had only one goal here. Having no luck with stallions, Star Dusk had already decided to try a mare. This wasn't unheard of in Equestria, but it was rare. And she'd had enough of stallions for a while, and didn't think she had to be afraid of another mare. Besides, her third spell was intended to make this easier.
On Star Dusk's last visit here, she noticed the most beautiful mare she had ever seen, anywhere... ...here, in insignificant little Ponyville. If she was going to try this, she wanted to make the best of it.
Star Dusk began wandering around Ponyville. This town was so small compared to Canterlot. Star Dusk laughed again "And they have a Castle here!"
Star Dusk found this mare, on the East side of town.
"You there, mare, come with me."
"Uhm, ok..." is the response that came back.
Still, the mare followed Star Dusk, slowly anyway.
This mare was really beautiful. Star Dusk was sure she had found the right one.
Once they were back to the Air Coach, Star Dusk made a funny discovery.
Princess Twilight was already sitting in the Air Coach.
"What are you doing?" Star Dusk yelled.
Princess Twilight sounded like a little girl... "I think these are fun, can I go for a ride?"
Star Dusk laughed... Princess Twilight reduced to wanting a fun ride in an Air Coach....
"Just get out" Star Dusk yelled again.
Princess Twilight said "Ok, Star Dusk, for you are great", and slowly got out of the Air Coach, and wandered off.
Turning back to the mare, Star Dusk said softly "Please get in the Air Coach."
"I... I can't..." the mare said slowly.
Star Dusk thought to herself. Maybe the spells didn't set well on this one.
Star Dusk cast to cancel the memory spell, and this mare immediately began running away. Star Dusk quickly cast a light sleep spell, and the mare stopped runing, almost falling over. Star Dusk recast the memory spell, and erased the sleep spell.
Star Dusk walked back over, then said "Come with me."
"Uhm, ok..." is the response that came back again.
Still, the mare again followed Star Dusk, slowly anyway.
Once back to the Air Coach, Star Dusk again said softly "Please get in the Air Coach."
"I... I can't..." the mare said again...
Star Dusk honestly didn't know what was going wrong. This shouldn't be happening. The allegiance spell worked fine on everypony else...
It took a few minutes, and the mare struggled, and it wasn't pretty, but Star Dusk was able to use her magic and her own legs to get the mare into the Air Coach, and harnessed up.
And it looked like some sort of quaint looking necklace was around her neck, and it got ripped off, and was on the floor of the Air Coach now, but Star Dusk ignored it.
"I hope the rest of the day doesn't go like this..." Star Dusk said out loud.
Star Dusk climbed into the Air Coach herself, on the other side. "Take us back to Canterlot" she said forcefully.
They did.
After a little over an hour, the Air Coach landed in the grass in Canterlot where it had started today's journey.
Star Dusk got out, then asked the mare to get out of the Air Coach too. The mare got out by herself, but said nothing.
Star Dusk said calmly "Please follow me."
"Uhm, ok..." is the response that came back...
The mare followed Star Dusk, and they walked over to the large doors to the Audience Hall, to her new guard.
"Guard, we wish to not be disturbed." She said simply.
Star Dusk used her magic to open the big doors, then closed them after they were both inside.
Star Dusk walked maybe 30 steps into the Audience Hall, then sat down.
"Sit next to me please" Star Dusk said to the mare.
The mare said "Uhm, ok..." then sat down near Star Dusk.
"I hope we can have a good time together" Star Dusk said to the mare.
Decency compels us to substantially abridge what happened in the next maybe half an hour.
Star Dusk wanted this mare to touch her... ...various places...
This mare refused, and began repeating the same few words...
"I can't... I'm Shysage's Mare..."
Star Dusk tried recasting all three spells, a few times, it made no difference.
Star Dusk tried using her magic to help the result she wanted, the mare simply pulled away as hard as she could...
The third spell Star Dusk had selected should have prevented this. Star Dusk was quickly frustrated.
Star Dusk also tried to touch this mare... ...various places...
This mare resisted strenuously, and began to repeat the same few words...
"No... You can't do that... I'm Shysage's Mare..."
Again, Star Dusk tried using her magic to help the result she wanted, the mare simply pulled away as hard as she could...
"No... You can't do that... I'm Shysage's Mare..."
Star Dusk had very different hopes for this...
...But after 30 minutes, Star Dusk was furious... And she was furious at this Shysage, whoever he was...
"You're Shysage's Mare, are you?" Star Dusk yelled loudly.
Star Dusk used her magic to grab a Scepter off the wall. She then used her magic to use the Scepter to beat this mare, hard, on her head.
This mare was soon screaming loudly, with bloody bruises on her head and face...
"LETS SEE IF SHYSAGE WANTS YOU NOW!!!"
Star Dusk yelled this a few times, while she was beating this mare.
Harsh words, at a vulnerable time....
"Guard" Star Dusk yelled.
Her guard came in.
"Take this 'thing' to the dungeon. She can rot away there, for all I care..."
The guard used his magic to drape the mare over his back, and was soon gone.
"And I thought Stallions were a hassle" Star Dusk said out loud at this point.
After a few minutes, Star Dusk said "Maybe that spell is broken, I don't know..."
Well, Star Dusk would not give up. "There's plenty of other mares in Canterlot" Star Dusk said to herself. "Stallions too, I don't know..."
Star Dusk was thinking to herself. The third spell Star Dusk had added, was supposed to affect mares only, but maybe the allegiance spell could help her with stallions. She had time to experiment, either way...
For maybe half an hour, Star Dusk tried to relax and calm down, especially over her anger at this Shysage, whoever he was.
Then Star Dusk walked up to the top of the steps in the Audience Hall, still holding the Scepter with her magic.
Star Dusk turned around, and sat where she felt a Princess would, and said softly and with flourish
"I present to you... ...Empress Star Dusk the Great, ruler of all Equestria."
Then she used her magic to bring the Scepter slowly towards herself, regally, at an angle across her chest in front of her.
Then she smiled...
Then she realized that the end of the Scepter still had drops of this mare's blood on it, and she quickly threw it down...
Shysage woke up after a good night's sleep. The Sun was up, it was early, and it looked like a nice day.
"Good, no nightmares last night" he said to himself.
The nightmares were always the same... No sights or scenes, just pitch black... And a lone mare calling out to him "Shysage, please come back..." And it wasn't just once either. Sometimes this went on for hours.
Well, he knew he was Shysage, and it did bother him that he and everypony else he had talked to, could only remember the last two weeks. But he couldn't remember the mare in his dreams...
The signs he kept seeing said 'Manehatten', so he decided that's where he was right now.
And one mare did literally 'throw herself' at him a few days ago, but Shysage didn't have a mare that he could remember, and decided this mare was probably somepony else's mare, so he just walked away. Well, he had to run away.
Shysage climbed out of his 'niche', a shed on the back of some other large building. The niche was small, and that seemed familiar for some reason. But it wasn't too uncomfortable, and it was sheltered. It worked.
Shysage's niche was on the edge of town, so he wandered out into the fields for some breakfast.
He wasn't alone out in the field, and each day, he had to walk further from town to find anything to eat. He knew there were a lot of ponies in Manehatten, and they were all hungry. He didn't know how they survived before two weeks ago. They didn't know either.
Shysage found a few Oats though, and took a drink from the river close by. Then he wandered back into town, and got to 'work'.
His job was looking for stuff in the broad roadways, and then simply kicking it off to the side, out of everyponies' way.
A lot of the ponies he met didn't do anything except wander around. Shysage couldn't just do nothing, for some reason, so he did this. It wasn't much, but he was helping the city, if only in a small way.
Each day, Shysage wandered further from his niche, and he was slowly getting to know the layout of this city better.
Today he headed to a part of the city he hadn't worked in yet. This was good, maybe he would actually find stuff to clear from the road.
He did. He found quite a bit actually. Maybe nopony was doing this down here. Shysage got to work.
He kicked stuff out of the road for two hours maybe.
He found a big stick, then started kicking it over to the side. It was pretty big, more like a log, and took a while. It actually hurt his legs. Shysage tried turning around to back-kick--
...
Shysage froze...
...
Shysage remembered...
...
Shysage remembered everything...
...
Shysage ran...
...
He was quickly flying...
...
He headed back to his niche...
...
He quickly landed...
...
But just as quickly realized how dumb that was...
Summer...
Shysage was in the air again, and flew quickly away from Manehatten, in the direction he thought would take him past Canterlot. Shysage was soon very high, flying as quickly as he could.
Nothing made sense... But while flying, he started putting some pieces together.
...
Two weeks ago, Equestria had simply forgotten their past. Ponies remembered their name, and how to talk, and eat, basic things like that. But their past, everything that was important to them, they had no memory of that.
...
And if everypony had 'forgot', that could only mean that Equestria had been taken over...
...
The mare in his dreams... ...was His Mare...
She was calling out to him as she always had...
Now he was hurting... He HAD to find Summer...
Shysage was in Manehatten, and had no idea how he got there. Summer could be ANYWHERE...
...
Shysage realized that his only hope of finding his Mare was with her Equestria Girls 'Twin', and the 'Twin Link'...
Shysage realized that he needed to get to the Portal... Fast...
...
Shysage's instincts had been correct, in maybe an hour, he was flying past Canterlot.
Shysage realized that he had seen no other ponies flying...
He also realized that if Equestria was taken over, then Canterlot was probably a bad place to visit...
Shysage flew around the back of the 'stepped mountain' that Canterlot was built on.
But he knew how to get to the Crystal Empire, and to the Portal, from Canterlot.
...
It took a little less than an hour for that part of the trip.
Shysage decided to land behind the Train Station, and then walk up the broad avenue to the Crystal Palace. This would draw the least attention.
...
That's what he did.
Shysage was soon walking up the broad avenue towards the Crystal Palace.
Shysage tried to act clueless like everypony else, but he was walking very fast... He had to...
The ponies here acted just like the ones in Manehatten. They were all wandering around aimlessly, not really knowing what to do, or what they used to do... They had forgotten all that...
Shysage was quickly walking up under the Crystal Palace.
A voice pierced his soul, out of the blue...
"Wow, you are one handsome stallion. Do you need a hug?"
Shysage spun around immediately... The voice was Summer's...
...
It was Summer's Twin, Equestria Girls Summer Rain...
...
Summer's Twin is the only one who could help Shysage find his Mare...
...
Summer's Twin had already come through the Portal...
...and forgotten everything...
...
The Portal was broken too...
...
But he still needed Summer's Twin to help him find his Mare...
...
Shysage walked up to Summer's Twin, and hugged her tightly...
...then was quickly crying on her shoulder...
...he didn't know what to do...
Summer's Twin hugged him back, and said "Wow stallion, I need you too!"
...
After crying while hugging for a minute or two, Shysage had an idea, but he needed Summer's Twin to stay put. And he certainly didn't want her throwing herself at anypony else... He needed some time...
Shysage pulled himself away, and said as calmly as he could "Summer, I really want you, but I need to take care of something first, then I will come and get you. Can you stay here and wait for me?"
Summer's Twin sat quickly down, then said "Stallion, I'm waiting for you! Hurry up though, if you can."
Shysage hated himself for this... But he rubbed Summer's Twins nose, very briefly... He had too... He had to make sure Summer's Twin waited...
Summer's Twin just said "mmmm... I'll be here!"
Shysage walked quickly around behind the Palace, then flew up to the balcony of the Portal room.
It looked like there was a guard in the Portal room, but Shysage just ignored him.
Shysage changed himself to his 'people' form, then ran up to the Portal. Next, he grabbed the frame of the Portal, right where he had seen Summer hold it, when they left the past.
It was a long shot... Shysage asked true friend for help, then squeezed.
Shysage found himself, still a 'people', in 'Equestria past', in the exact same stance he was in, facing the Portal while holding the frame of the Portal.
He quickly thanked true friend... ...but he was still an inch away from crying... Then he turned around.
Cel (Princess Celestia) and Lu (Princess Luna) were there, along with a bunch of other Unicorns. It looked like Shysage was interrupting some sort of magic lesson.
...
Shysage began weeping softly, immediately...
"Girls, I shouldn't even be here... But the Portal is broke, and I need it badly... I really shouldn't even talk, and you need to forget I came here...
...
Cel said quickly "Dad, we will help you..."
Lu burst into tears, ran over, fell at Shysage's feet, and just sobbed...
...
Shysage tried to explain "Someone has cast a spell on the Portal so it causes everyone who comes through it to forget everything important to them... But I nee--"
Shysage was choking back tears, and had to stop here.
Cel said again "Dad, we will take care of that."
...
...
...
Lu was still sobbing at Shysage's feet...
...
...
...
Shysage knew Lu was hurting... Shysage knew that Lu was a lot more sensitive that Cel, and that the transition away from he and Summer had probably been devastating to Lu...
...
...
...
But Shysage also knew that if he wasn't careful, he could change the past enough to modify the future...
...
...
...
And Equestria Girls Summer needed to be waiting for him...
...
...
...
And Shysage desparately wanted his Mare back too...
...
...
...
And all Equestria was reeling from some unknown take-over...
...
...
...
Shysage couldn't do nothing...
...
...
...
Shysage sat down on the raised platform that the Portal was on...
He pulled Lu to himself... Lu's head was quickly up against his chest...
Shysage hugged his little girl tightly and sobbed with her...
...
...
...
For a long time, Lu cried in her daddy's loving arms... Shysage held her... Shysage loved her... Shysage just cried with her...
Lu needed this... It was clear to Shysage she hurt so much...
And, for Shysage, everything else really did melt away... Daddy's little girl was hurting, so Shysage was taking care of her... Nothing else mattered right now... He just hugged her and cried with her... However long it would take...
...
...
...
...for over two hours...
...
...
...
Early on during those two hours, Shysage faintly perceived that Cel and the Unicorns used their magic to probe the Portal. A very thin, Red beam came from each of their horns.
After maybe fifteen minutes, Shysage suspected that they 'fixed' it. and a brighter, White beam came from each of their horns, all to that same spot Shysage had held to get here.
...
...
...
Then the room was empty, as Shysage just cried with Lu...
...
...
...
After maybe an hour and a half, Lu stood up and threw both legs around Shysage's neck, and sobbed some more. Shysage just hugged her tight, and kept crying with her.
Lu's crying slowed, then she said "Daddy, I miss you and mom so much... Thanks for visiting me though, this really helped."
After Lu said this, Shysage said softly "Lu, I love you so much...", then Shysage was sobbing for a while. Lu just cried with him.
Shysage really loved his little girl... Both of them...
...
...
...
After maybe ten more minutes, Lu lay down on the raised platform, and put her head back in Shysage's lap, and Shysage slowly stroked Lu's head.
"Lu, mom and I will always love you, please remember that" Shysage said softly, trying not to cry himself.
...
...
...
It was quiet, and Cel came back.
It was clear Cel had been crying too. Shysage guessed she was probably concerned about her sister.
Still, Cel's head was quickly in Shysage's lap next to her sister's, and they all wept softly for a little while, as Shysage hugged them both.
...
...
...
After ten more minutes, Cel said "You should probably go dad, but thanks for helping Lu."
Shysage kissed both girls gently on their forehead, then they all got up.
Cel held a piece of paper out to Shysage with her magic, then said "Here dad, take this. This is the details of the three spells that were cast on the Portal, and are probably the same spells used, uhm, 'otherwise'. Anypony familiar with magic will understand them, and casting them backwards clears the effects.
"And dad, the last spell is disgusting. Please don't tell me what is going on though.
"And one more thing. The Portal will no longer be affected by these spells. And we have modified the Portal so that anyone who goes through the Portal will be immune to those spells from then on too. So using the Portal prevents these spells from taking effect any more."
...
Shysage took the paper, folded it up, and put it in his pocket.
Then he hugged both Cel and Lu again, then climbed up next to the Portal.
"Mom and I will always love you both. Please remember that" Shysage said softly.
...
Then Shysage squeezed the frame of the Portal, there was a bright flash, and he was gone...
As Shysage squeezed the rim of the Portal in the past, he realized he really needed to be a pony when he want back to find Equestria Girls Summer Rain.
Shysage quickly asked true friend, and hoped for the best.
He arrived in the Crystal Palace as a 'people', but then quickly changed to a pony.
He didn't even bother looking for the guard.
Shysage ran to the Balcony, and jumped. He quickly flared his wings, and landed softly.
Shysage was apprehensive, he had probably spent almost three hours in the past.
But he was relieved as he saw Equestria Girls Summer Rain (his Mare's Twin) still sitting there waiting. Shysage suspected that the Portal had been mildly 'folding' time for their benefit quite a bit. They needed that...
Shysage walked quickly up to Equestria Girls Summer.
"Wow, that was fast, stallion. Ok, let's get cozy!" She said.
Shysage thought fast, then said "Well, you need to come with me, I have a surprise for you."
Then Shysage, hating himself, again rubbed her nose briefly.
Shysage then walked quickly back to the area under the balcony in the Portal room.
Equestria Girls Summer was just as quickly at his side.
Shysage looked up at the balcony, and said softly "Your surprise is up there."
Summer said quickly "Ok, lets go!"
Shysage flew up immediately, and Summer quickly followed.
Still, Shysage was thinking as he worked through all this.
Once on the balcony, Shysage walked over in front of the Portal.
"Summer, come over here, and let's have a look at you in this mirror." Shysage was testing.
"My surprise is a mirror?" Summer said incredulously.
Shysage tried to smile. "It's a special mirror."
Summer was soon standing right next to him.
"It doesn't look special to me..."
Then Shysage body-tackled Equestria Girls Summer through the Portal, and they were both gone.
Shysage arrived in the Equestria Girls world underneath Equestria Girls Summer...
Shysage started crying immediately...
Summer got up quickly and said "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh... Shysage, we need to get to Fluttershys right now..."
Shysage felt terrible, but he got up and followed her to Fluttershy's apartment.
Fluttershy was beside herself... She did not like being alone... And she was concerned about her sister... Evidently Summer had been gone a few days.
The three of them cried together for a while. This was just tough all the way around...
Soon, everypony else showed up, the rest of the Equestria Girls -- Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
Before going any further, Shysage apologized profusely to Equestria Girls Summer for the way he treated her... Shysage felt awful...
Summer just said quietly "Shysage, it's fine. You did what you needed to do, in order to get me back through the Portal, and it took that to rescue me. Still, you need to tell us what has happened, and what we need to do next."
Shysage described what he knew about what had happened. He explained that somepony had cast a spell on Equestria causing everypony to forget everything that was important to them. The same spell was cast on the Portal too, but Shysage got that fixed.
Shysage needed to find his Mare before he could do anything else, and he wondered if he could even do that... And he needed Equestria Girls Summer to come back with him to help him find his Mare with the Twin Link...
Shysage suspected that, after he had Summer back, he and Summer would take the Equestria Girls to Equestria, one at a time, and they would try to get the rest of the Twins back through the Portal, also finding them using the 'Twin Link'. This would be similar to what happened in Summer's Dream.
Shysage said he didn't know much more... Except that the Principal sisters would be needed for this too...
It was quiet for a minute.
Twilight Sparkle said softly "Shysage do you want to get some sleep before you and Summer go back?"
Shysage answered right away "No, I want my Mare back..."
Everypony else understood.
They all walked Shysage and Equestria Girls Summer over to the Portal. On the way over, they decided that Pinkie Pie would stay with Fluttershy until her sister was back.
Summer hugged Pinkie, and thanked her for that.
Summer hugged her sister tightly, then Shysage did too.
Well, they all hugged together.
First Summer, than Shysage went through the Portal back to Equestria...
...and, once in Equestria, they were both immediately arrested...
Well, if you want to call it that... There was only one fairly large stallion there. He was gruff, and said "You both are under arrest, come with me."
The guard walked them down to an Air Coach waiting outside, and they were quickly in the air, heading to Canterlot.
Equestria Girls Summer was crying...
Shysage noticed something on the floor of the Air Coach, and said to Summer "I think we are on the right track."
He changed into a people, and carefully picked up his Mare's Shield Necklace. He could tell it was hers because of a small nick on one side.
He carefully re-tied the strap, and put it around his own neck. Then, without thinking, he changed back to being a pony...
...And only then realized what he had just been able to do...
Another large stallion met them in Canterlot. Well, Shysage recognized him, but with no memory, that made no difference.
This stallion marched them quickly to cell blocks deep under the palace. Summer and Shysage were placed in different cells, separated by one cell, the doors shut, then the guard left.
Equestria Girls Summer was crying immediately...
"Shysage, she is very close... And Shysage... Inside, she has been beat up real bad... I can't tell about the outside though..."
"My precious Mare..." Shysage said to himself...
"Is she responding to you at all?" Shysage asked.
"Not yet..." Equestria Girls Summer was still crying...
"Now what..." Shysage said. He sat down, and began to cry himself...
Maybe five minutes later, all the cell doors of the block were opened up, one at a time.
The big stallion then dumped a huge bucket of water into each cell, probably to help keep them clean, Shysage didn't know.
The big stallion soon left. Shysage could tell because he heard the outer gate shut.
All the cell doors were left open though...
...And Shysage was quickly in Summer's cell.
She was just sitting there... head down... eyes closed...
Shysage hugged her quickly, noticing the healing bruises on her face and head...
Summer didn't seem to respond...
Her Twin was quickly inside her cell too, still crying...
Shysage hugged his Mare, and just cried...
The big stallion suddenly walked quickly in...
Shysage thought "That's it... We are done here... At least I'm with my Mare again... I don't now how long--"
"Shysage, how can I help you..." the guard asked quietly...
...
Shysage couldn't believe his ears, but asked quickly...
"Do you know what happened to my Mare..."
The big stallion sighed... "She was sexually assaulted, then physic--"
This must have clicked something in Summer's mind... Shysage's Mare began to talk... ...head down and eyes still closed...
"I didn't... I didn't let her... touch... I said... I was Shysage's Mare... She got mad...
"She wanted me to... But I just... I just couldn't... Because I'm... I'm Shysage's Mare...
She didn't like that... She hit me... It hurt a lot...
Summer's voice was higher, reflecting a lot of pain...
Her head was still down, and her eyes closed...
Shysage gently raised his Mare' head with one of his front legs.
"Summer, open your eyes please" Shysage asked, and she did slowly. Then Shysage immediately looked into her eyes.
Star Dusk faced one more detail. She decided she needed a 'guard' of sorts.
Star Dusk walked around Canterlot briefly, and smiled as she saw most ponies wandering aimlessly around, including Princess Celestia. Star Dusk just ignored her.
She found a large stallion however, in full guard gear, too.
Star Dusk walked up to the stallion, stopped in front of him, and said "You will help me, correct?"
The big stallion replied "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
That 'big stallion' was Shining Armor...
Star Dusk next erased the memory spell, which took less than half a minute maybe, then repeated "You will help me, correct?"
...
The depth of Shining Armor's military training and amazing capabilities have already been seen in the dark journey recorded in Summer's first chronicles. His military might would play out now, as well.
As soon as the erasing of the memory spell took effect, Shining Armor remembered everything... In a few seconds maybe, he very quickly made the following observations and tactical decisions.
...
Before the memory spell was removed, all the ponies around him, he, himself included, could not remember anything, and were simply wandering around, unsure of what to even do.
...
Equestria had been taken over by means of a memory spell, and the mare that faced him was at least involved.
...
The mare that faced him had taken so long to erase the memory spell, that it was clear that she alone could not have taken over Equestria... Not even close... This meant that she was NOT working alone.
This meant that there was another, unknown, magically powerful party also behind the takeover of Equestria. This meant that Shining Armor MUST NOT 'blow his cover' for any reason.
...
Shining Armor remembered that his beloved Mare was somewhere around the Crystal Empire, probably wandering around herself with no memory of things past.
...
Shining Armor remembered the last thing he had said to the mare now facing him, and that she had just asked him to repeat that.
...
The big stallion replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
Star Dusk said to the stallion "You are my guard from now on. When I yell 'guard', you had better come."
The big stallion replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
"Come with me" Star Dusk said.
Star Dusk walked her new guard over to the large doors leading to the Audience Hall, then said "Guard, sit here and watch over things until I return."
The big stallion sat down, then replied again "Of course Star Dusk, for you are great".
...
The mare whose guard he now was, was now walking away, after asking Shining Armor to 'watch over things'. This left him more time to think, and plan.
It was fortunate, at any rate, that so high ranking of a leader of Equestria's military was now able to remember, and therefore to function in his military role.
However, Shining Armor still realized that he absolutely MUST act exactly like everypony else, so as to not draw the attention of whoever else was helping this mare.
Well, he realized that he must also meticulously carry out the bidding of this mare too; failure to fully comply would cause problems.
Shining Armor was a powerful Unicorn, and quickly sensed that more than one spell had been placed on him, and only one had been cancelled.
He realized that one of them was some sort of allegiance spell, but it seemed fairly weak, and seemed to collapse once the memory spell was cancelled. Well, it collapsed for Shining Armor, at any rate.
He could not identify the other one, but would keep alert should it surface.
Shining Armor tried to keep on the lookout for any of Equestria's Princesses. He could do little at this point, but he would need to find a way to protect and/or collect them at some point. Protecting them was his job, even if it cost him his life.
Shining Armor noted that the mare was leaving in an Air Coach. He ran through a few options in his mind, and decided that the Crystal Palace was at least a likely destination. The Portal to the Equestria Girls world was the likely reason.
Still, at this point, Shining Armor had to do what he was told. He would stay where he was told to stay, and keep his eyes open, and his mouth shut.
During the next hour, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both walked past him. They couldn't remember anything, like everypony else, and were wandering around aimlessly, but at least they were otherwise fine.
Shining Armor decided the elimination of the existing rulership of Equestria was not very important to whatever powers had taken over. The completness of the social destruction caused by the memory spell was the likely cause. If they couldn't remember, they weren't a threat.
Shining Armor also realized that, even though the take-over of Equestria was maybe an hour or two old, he was probably the only one who 'remembered', and could therefore function.
This thought was immediately followed by the cryptic magical message he perceived:
"Rod, Sir, Func" (Roderick, Sir [Shining Armor], are you Functional?)
Princess Celestia could receive and send mesages from Princess Twilight via Spike. Shining Armor and his upper command could communicate verbally, well mentally, using their magic. This tactical fact was known by very few.
Shining Armor thought a minute, then realized that his suspicion that the Portal was the mare's next stop was correct. Shining Armor had left Roderick in command at the Crystal Palace when he left for Canterlot this morning. Evidently, she had picked him as her 'guard' there.
Shining Armor sent back
"Yes, SitID, Brief" (Yes, Identify your situation briefly)
Roderick returned a few mesages
"Mare, Memory Clear, Eq. Compromised" (Mare cleared his memory, then he realized Equestria had been taken over)
"Aligned, led to Portal" (Roderick aligned with the mare's expectation just like Shining Armor had, then he led the mare to the Portal)
"Mare cast on Portal, back to Air Coach" (The mare cast magic on the Portal, then Roderick lead her back down to the Air Coach)
"Portal Guard, back at Portal" (Mare made Roderick Portal Guard, and he was there now)
"Mare in Air Coach, Dest unk." (Mare left in Air Coach, destination unknown.)
Shining Armor replied simply
"Stby" (standby)
Since the Portal had the spells cast on it, anyone who came through would probably receive the same spells, and therefore would not remember. There was nothing anypony could do about that, so detaining anyone that came through would be useless.
Shining Armor realized that anyone who tried to use the Portal from Equestria would likely be involved in reclaiming Equestria, and so should probably be left alone.
Still, Shining Armor wanted to carefully monitor ALL Portal use.
Shining Armor sent to Roderick these messages.
"Allow ALL Portal use" (Allow, do not stop ALL use of the Portal.)
"Rept ALL Portal use" (Carefully report ALL Portal use to me)
"Check Princ as opport and rept" (Check on Princess Cadance as he had opportunity, and keep Shining Armor posted)
Roderick quickly replied
"Undst" (Understood)
And that was that.
Shining Armor just sat and waited. He and Roderick were tracking the most important areas, but they could really do nothing without more help.
Sometimes waiting was the hardest...
After maybe 4 hours, the Air Coach returned. Shining Armor was still sitting where the mare had placed him, and hadn't moved. He would do what he was told...
...until this mare walked up with Shysage's Mare...
Shining Armor was instantly furious, but kept his composure, as this mare said "We wish to not be disturbed", and then took Shysage's Mare inside.
Nopony needed to tell him what was about to happen...
Shining Armor's job was to know. He moved to where he could listen.
Still, he was surprised that Shysage and his Mare were so close, that even with the memory spell, the mare was 'getting nowhere', and was only getting frustrated.
When Shysage's Mare started to cry out, Shining Armor began quietly knocking on the door. It was all he could do... And it was all he could do to not sleep that mare, or worse, right where she stood, after what she had tried...
"Guard" Star Dusk yelled.
It was likely that Shining Armor's knocking had precipitated this response at this point.
Her guard (Shining Armor) came in.
"Take this 'thing' to the dungeon. She can rot away there, for all I care..."
Shining Armor used his magic to gently and carefully drape Shysage's crying Mare over his back, and hold her there, then open the door, and they were soon gone.
He would take her to the dungeon, all right. That was probably the safest spot in the realm right now.
Shining Armor took Shysage's Mare to the prison cells below the Palace, and found one that was fairly clean. Then he used his magic to run maybe five big buckets of water through the cell to clean it up the rest of the way.
Shining Armor carefully put Shysage's Mare down on the stone floor, and she quickly sat up and just cried... Every minute or so, she would cry out "Shysage, please come back..." She never opened her eyes...
Shining Armor used some wet cloth to clean her wounds, and Shysage's Mare just ignored him.
It was clear to Shining Armor that Shysage's Mare was emotionally battered too. She simply did not deserve this...
Shining Armor brought in some water and food, and then carefully locked her inside for her own protection. If Shining Armor had any say, that mare would never get close to Shysage's Mare again... Ever...
Days...
Weeks...
Roderick frequently saw Princess Cadance, and let Shining Armor know. At least she was ok.
Every day, Shining Armor would tend to Shysage's Mare, giving her new food and water (she rarely ate or drank), and cleaning up her wounds, which were slowly healing.
Still, it was clear to Shining Armor that emotionally, Shysage's Mare was retreating into herself... She needed her Stallion soon...
Shining Armor had no control over that.
The mare whose guard he was seemed to bring in a new 'catch' every day, and had little use for the Air Coach. With her permission, Shining Armor walked across to the Air Coach stallions one day, and quickly sent them to the Crystal Palace.
Once there, Roderick briefed them, and told them what their obligations were now, and how to act. They assured him they would do everything they could for Equestria.
On Day 8, Roderick informed Shining Armor that a mare in the city had 'thrown herself at him' that afternoon. Roderick indicated that he actually had to sleep the mare in order to get away. Shining Armor suspected that the third spell cast on him may be related to that... And that was disgusting...
On day 11, a new pony came through the Portal. According to the Cutie Mark, Shining Armor knew it was Equestria Girls Summer Rain. Well she forgot everything anyway. Shining Armor told Roderick to try to keep her close to the Crystal Palace, but realized that he couldn't be everywhere at once.
Day 14, a 'people' appeared at the Portal, grabbed the edge then disappeared, only to reappear maybe a minute later, then turn into a pony and jump off the balcony. A minute later, that pony flew to the balcony with the Day 11 pony, and he pushed the mare through the Portal, and thy were gone.
Roderick had just finished this message train to Shining Armor, when the same two ponies came back through the Portal.
Shining Armor knew it was Shysage from Roderick's careful description of the 'people' form. Shining Armor knew Shysage's Mare needed him as quickly as possible. Shining Armor knew how to make this happen.
Shining Armor sent back
"Arest, Air Coach, Canterlot" (Arrest them, send them to Canterlot in the Air Coach)
Roderick played the part, and arrested them on the spot and harshly demanded they follow him down to the Air Coach. Still, he realized he could not do much to restrain them by himself, should they attempt to flee.
They followed, and were soon in the Air Coach headed to Canterlot.
Shining Armor met the Air Coach in Canterlot, and was also harsh, and led them quickly to the jail cells under the Palace. He placed them both on either side of Shysage's Mare.
Five minutes later, he opened their cell doors, dumped water in, then left the cell doors open, then left himself, in order to check on the mare whose guard he was. She was 'busy', so he came back.
It was clear that Shysage and Equestria Girls Summer Rain both had their memory.
Of course, they were all in Shysage's Mare's cell when Shining Armor returned.
Shysage was trying to help his Mare while crying...
Shining Armor walked in at this point, and realized Shysage was sure they were 'done for'.
Shining Armor just asked how he could help...
Shysage immediately wanted to know what happened, and Shining Armor's description seemed to draw his Mare out some, and Shysage did the rest, and pulled her back. Still his Mare knew she was really battered, inside and out.
Shysage asked for another hour, and they just cried together. This was a good thing though.
Shining Armor let himself back into their cell in an hour.
Shysage, still crying, immediately thanked Shining Armor for taking care of them.
"I need to get her out of Equestria... I need to get her to the Portal" Shysage said, almost pleading.
"Won't the Portal erase memories when it is used?" Shining Armor asked.
Shysage replied slowly "No... I had that fixed..."
"Well, I can't risk sending you in the Air Coach, but I think it is safe to take the Train" Shining Armor suggested. "I can come help you, maybe. The station isn't far."
"Ok, lets do that, then." Shysage said
Shysage knew traveling would be hard on his Mare, but they had little choice at the moment.
Shysage also remembered that Shining Armor's Mare was out there somewhere too.
"Shining Armor, if you can, get your Mare through the Portal, it will erase all the spells, and prevent any of them from sticking any more. Just don't stay long." Shysage said softly. "I wish I could do more to help you..."
"Thank you, Shysage. Do you have a plan, by the way?" Shining Armor asked.
"Once my Mare is healed, we will probably need to gather Princess Twilight and her girls, one at a time, using the Equestria Girls to help find them. We will need to collect the other Princesses too, probably the same way. Once that is done, we will need to face, together, whoever is responsible. It all seems like a long-shot though, so I don't know..." Shysage said haltingly.
Shining Armor recognized battlefield trauma when he saw it. Shysage was almost completely overwhelmed.
Shining Armor just said softly "Let's get your Mare to the train station."
The Canterlot Train Station wasn't far, but Shysage's Mare couldn't walk very fast. But with Shysage on one side, and Equestria Girls Summer Rain on the other, they were able to get there anyway.
There was a train waiting, with pulling stallions ready, and Shysage wasn't even going to ask Shining Armor how he had worked that out. It just didn't matter.
Both mares were quickly sitting down in the closest train car. And it looked like they were the only passengers.
Shysage really appreciated his Mare's Twin being here to help with all this, and especially to keep track of his Mare with the Twin Link, and he thanked her for that.
Shysage was about to relax himself, when he noticed Cel (well, Princess Celestia) wandering by the Train Station.
Shysage ran out quickly, and walked up to her and said "Cel, can you come with me, please?"
Cel remembered nothing, and had nothing to do, and simply said "Ok." Cel was soon sitting in the same train car with both Summers and Shysage.
Shining Armor ran past, yelled good luck, and was quickly gone. Shysage guessed he was probably headed back to his 'new post' for the time being anyway. The trip here had probably taken far longer than anypony planned.
The train took off with a lurch, and they were on their way. They weren't going especially fast, but on this treacherous stretch of track, winding slowly down the side of the stepped mountain that Canterlot was built on, slow was good. Still, Shysage thought maybe two hours to the Crystal Empire station.
Shysage said to Cel "Thanks for coming, I want you to come with me, if that's ok." This was true. He really wanted to try to get her through the Portal, if possible.
Shysage didn't know how 'deep' the memory spell went, and he didn't know if using the name 'Cel' would help or not, but he did it anyway. That's what he called her normally.
Cel replied slowly "This is fine, I am not sure I had anything else to do anyway."
She basically sat there and enjoyed the ride.
Shysage was quickly sitting next to his Mare, hugging her with one of his legs. She was still pretty lethargic.
Every ten minutes or so, Shysage would say "Summer, I love you."
Summer usually replied, slowly and quietly "I love you too, Shysage" or something similar. But at least she replied.
Well, once Shysage said softly "Summer, I know you are hurting, but I don't love you any less. I want you to know that."
Summer began to weep softly, and said back "Oh Shysage..."
He just hugged her tight.
After maybe an hour, the train was mostly down the mountain, and on the long, flat stretch leading to the Crystal Empire Train Station.
Shysage said softly to his Mare "Summer, we are headed to the Portal, but you will probably need to fly up to the balcony. Do you think you can do that?"
She just answered quietly "I don't know, Shysage..."
Well one way or another, they needed to get to the Portal. It was a long walk if they didn't fly up to the balcony.
Shysage also asked Cel at this point "Cel, I'm pretty sure you can fly, and we will need to fly a little to get where we are going. I hope that is ok."
Cel replied, again slowly, "Well, I guess. I hope it isn't far, though."
After thinking a minute, Cel asked "Do you have a surprise for me?"
Shysage had no idea where this came from, but he quickly and enthusiastically answered "Well, yes, as a matter of fact."
Shysage knew that Cel getting her memory back would be an amazing surprise.
After maybe an hour and a half, Shysage saw the spire for the Crystal Palace off in the distance. They were close, and this was good.
The trip so far had been almost relaxing, and Shysage knew he and his Mare needed that right now.
Ten minutes later, Equestria Girls Summer said "Oh no..."
Shysage quickly asked "What is it, Twin?"
"Shysage, do you remember how I pretty much threw myself at you... My Twin is going to do that..." She said quickly.
She was right, she had seen it coming... Shysage's Mare immediately moved to sit in front of him, facing him, and began rubbing his nose with hers.
This was his own Mare, and he had a hard time ignoring how this made him feel...
Shysage also knew that, as battered as Summer was, pushing her away would be catastrophic for her... He couldn't... He wouldn't do that.
"Twin, I will try to slow this down, but it will destroy my Mare if I push her away... I just don't know what to do... I think I am warning you..." Shysage said to Equestria Girls Summer.
Equestria Girls Summer just replied quietly "Shysage, this is war... Do what you need to do. I love my Twin too, and don't want to see her hurt any more..."
Shysage tried tightly hugging his Mare, and this delayed things a little, but then she tried to continue. After a few minutes, she was slowly licking his nose every so often too. He really felt this...
Shysage just tried to keep this cycle going. He would hug her tightly for a little while, then let her rub, and sometimes lick his nose. He was trying to slow things down as best as he could.
Still, he knew holding her off at all was very scary. There was probably some sort of threshold he couldn't cross, or she would feel rejected... He didn't know what that threshold was though...
Maybe five minutes from the Crystal Empire Train Station, evidently the same thing happened to Cel. She watched what Summer was doing, and started doing the same thing, rubbing his nose.
Every time Cel did that, Shysage just wanted to throw up... It was terrible...
Shysage tried moving to avoid it when Cel tried, but this rapidly turned into a nightmare, because he could simply no longer tell who was rubbing his nose, and he knew he couldn't resist his Mare at all.
Shysage was soon crying anyway... He felt completely overwhelmed...
He thought of one last thing... He had no idea if it would even work...
"Cel, I want you, but can you wait a little while, so I can take care of mom?" Shysage asked through his tears...
It was a very long shot, based on Cel connecting with who 'mom' was... Or maybe he hoped Cel would just be ok with waiting...
"Ok, but I'm next, then." Cel replied.
Well, she left him alone, for now anyway.
His Mare didn't though.
Shysage actually licked her back a few times, without even thinking, then realized that this would just accelerate what his Mare was feeling...
With just Summer to focus on, Shysage again tried hugging her tightly again, then letting her rub his nose. He was trying to buy them more time...
But Shysage knew they were running out of time... He could only put his Mare off so long, before she would begin to feel rejected.
The last few minutes of the trip, Equestria Girls Summer helped Shysage better guage how his Mare was doing, and he was able to slow things down a little more. But it was very scary.
Still, Shysage knew that if his Mare ended up on her back...
The train lurched to a stop at the platform, and Shysage pretty much bolted out the door, and was soon walking quickly down the main avenue towards the Crystal Palace.
Both his Mare and Cel followed quickly. Still, he knew that he had to stop every so often and hug his Mare, and let her rub his nose, then ask her to wait, and keep following him, and he did this. Shysage usually asked Cel to keep waiting when he did that too.
Equestria Girls Summer came with them of course, and tried to let Shysage know when he needed to stop and hug his Mare. She couldn't help much with Cel though.
It was just a terrible nightmare... And it seemed like it took forever to get to the Palace... And Shysage was quickly a wreck...
After far too long, they were all standing under the balcony of the Portal room, and Shysage first asked Cel to fly up there with Equestria Girls Summer.
Cel replied quickly "You are coming, right?"
Shysage said honestly "Yes, Cel, but I need to get mom up there too, if that's ok."
Equestria Girls Summer was standing on the balcony by now, and she called Cel up. Cel remembered how to fly, and unsteadily made it up and over. Equestria Girls Summer walked her over to her 'surprise', and pushed her into the Portal, and they were gone.
Shysage heard his Mare say his name softly at this point.
Shysage turned around, and his mare was already laying on her back...
Shysage was quickly in tears, and pleaded "Summer, honey, we can't do this here. Please, come with me, and I will take care of you soon...
Shysage was out of options... If this didn't work, he absolutely had to give her what she wanted, right here, and right now... And he would too...
Shysage looked into her amazing eyes, made eye contact, and tried saying the same words one more time...
Summer thought briefly, then replied slowly "Well, ok, but don't keep me waiting long, Stallion." Then she got slowly up.
Shysage knew he couldn't... he wouldn't... And by now, he didn't even want to make her wait...
Still, he flew up to the balcony, then called Summer up. She likewise flew very unsteadily, but was up on the balcony before too long.
Shysage quickly walked over to the Portal, and called Summer over.
When she was at the Portal, Shysage changed to a people, and as gently as he could, he hugged his Mare tightly, then all but carried his Mare into the Portal, and they went through together, and were soon in the Equestria Girls world...
Cel (Princess Celestia) and Equestria Girls Summer were waiting for Shysage and his Mare when they came through the Portal into the Equestria Girls world.
Shysage realized that he was unsure if the Portal would even clear the emotional effects of this 'wontonness' spell, and he may still need to deal with the same thing on the other side...
It didn't matter, he was a wreck, laying in the grass, choking back tears...
Equestria Girls Summer helped her Twin up, then said with some urgency "Shysage, you need to get up. We can't stay here."
Cel said it again "Dad, you need to get up and come with us."
Cel helped him up, and they were soon on their way to Fluttershy's apartment.
In a couple of minutes, Shysage and his Mare were sitting together on the couch in Fluttershy's apartment. Shysage put one arm around his Mare, and just cried softly on her shoulder. She was soon weeping softly too.
Shysage couldn't track much of the discussion that followed, but understood that Cel had asked that the Principal Twins come here. Fluttershy had already texted the rest to come.
Shysage tried to calm down.
Still, Cel bent over, and said softly to him "Dad, I know that was very difficult, but thank you for rescuing me."
The Principal sisters arrived, and with Cel, all hugged together for a minute. Then these three sat on the cot.
With Summer and Shysage on the couch, it was very difficult to get everypony else in Fluttershy's apartment.
Equestria Girls Summer and Fluttershy squeezed onto the couch on either side of Shysage and his Mare, as Cel and the Principal sisters sat on the cot. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity simply crowded next to each other right inside the door. It was the best they could do, Fluttershy's apartment was very small.
Cel spoke softly to Shysage at this point. "Dad, I'm sorry, but we need you to explain both what has happened to Equestria, as well as where things currently stand."
As best as he could, Shysage tried to bring them up to speed.
First, he discussed what he knew about the spells cast on the realm, and indicated that this happened two weeks ago. The main problem was the Memory spell that caused everypony to forget everything important to them.
Shysage also mentioned that the Twin Link, once close enough to be active, immediatly erased the memory spell, and that would come in handy for finding the Equestria ponies.
Next he mentioned that Shining Armor was one of the first to have the memory spell cleared, as he was the 'guard' for the mare who was the focus of the take-over. Shysage added that Shining Armor knew this mare had help from a much more powerful, currently unknown being.
Shysage mentioned that Shining Armor had been a substantial help to Shysage and his Mare, and he really appreciated that. Shysage said he also suspected that the guard at the Portal was also working with Shining Armor as well.
Shysage also briefly mentioned that the Portal initially had placed the same spells on anyone who came through into Equestria from the Equestria Girls world, but this had been fixed.
Also, Shysage mentioned that his Mare had been assaulted and abused, and that they both needed some time together and alone to try to put themselves back together.
Shysage finally mentioned that, as best as he could tell, once he and his Mare were ready, they would need to take the Equestria Girls through the Portal, one or two at a time, and use the Twin Link to locate and gather the rest of the Princesses and Princess Twilight's girls.
After the leadership was reassembled, they would need to confront the cause of the take-over whatever that was.
It was quiet for a few minutes.
Twilight Sparkle said quietly to the girls "Each of you ladies need to prepare yourselves, so that we can go back to help locate our Twins when it is time."
Shysage added here as well "As each Twin is located, we will need to bring them here to keep them safe, so housing will need to be provided for each Twin after they are located." Shysage didn't think this would be a problem though.
Vice Principal Luna then spoke up quietly "Is my Twin still un-accounted for?"
Cel answered softly "Yes, but I will soon go back and locate her, then have Shining Armor find a safe place for she and I until the rest are ready."
Cel then said quietly to the Principal sisters "We need a place where mom and dad can recover, maybe for a few days. It needs to be quiet, and they need to be cared for, but left alone. Is this a possibility?"
Principal Celestia spoke up right away "We have a small guest house behind our house. We always keep it ready, and it will be quiet."
Equestria Girls Summer spoke up next "And we can keep tabs on their day to day needs too, food, etc. I will pick up a cell for them so we can communicate when needed, too."
Cel then summarized "Ok, so this is the plan.
"Mom and dad will recover here for now.
"I will head back through the Portal, and go to Canterlot to find my sister, then we will find a safe spot there.
"When mom and dad are ready, they will take Twins through to find their Twins, then bring them back here as they are found.
"Once we are all assembled, we will gather, probably in Canterlot, and together confront whoever is behind this.
"And I just need to say this again... Each of you Equestria Girls have come to Equestria's aid repeatedly, and in such crucial times... The realm thanks you all. It's clear to me now, that we really need each of you amazing ladies."
Cel was getting ready to leave, and all the Equestria Girls volunteered to accompany her to the Portal. They were all in this together; everypony had Equestria in their hearts anyway.
Cel asked dad if he knew if Shining Armor had any specific details about the actual spells that were used. She explained that she could cancel them herself if she knew what they were. She also admitted that, since dad was a Pegasus, she would fully understand if he had no information.
Shysage leaned back on the couch, and pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Cel.
Cel unfolded it, looked at it for maybe 10 seconds. A blank stare washed over her face, and she burst into tears. She fell to the floor at Shysage's feet, and put her head on her arms in Shysage's lap and was sobbing...
The Principal sisters tried to comfort her, but Shysage guessed why she was crying... They had to wait until Cel was ready to talk.
Shysage just hugged her, and Summer was soon hugging her too.
Half an hour later, Cel's crying slowed...
Still crying, Cel tried to explain, one thought at a time, while crying in between...
"Dad, that day you came back to the past and cried with Lu...
"Lu was despondent after you both left... It crushed her...
"She had recently learned how she could use her magic to kill herself...
"The Unicorns and I were certain it was just a matter of days...
"We knew she was hurting so bad, and we couldn't stop it...
"For almost three hours, you cried with her... You held her... You loved her...
"You saved her life...
"She was able to move on from there...
"How can I ever thank you..."
"And it is clear to me now that, whenever you came to the past, you tried hard to avoid changing the future...
"But if you had not stayed and loved Lu like you did, she would have killed herself in days, and the future WOULD have been changed..."
And Cel just sobbed some more...
Shysage said to his Mare "Can we stand a minute, Summer?"
Shysage helped his Mare up, and the three of them just hugged tightly and cried for a little while.
Cel's crying trailed off, and she said softly "I want to go find my sister. You both rest up here, until you are ready."
Shysage said softly "Cel, I told you both on that day, that mom and I will always love you both. That's still true..."
Shysage wasn't sure how much of this his Mare was aware of. But she surprised him and said softly to Cel "Tell Lu we both love her a lot, please."
"I will, mom" Cel said.
Summer and Shysage sat down, and the Equestria Girls walked Cel to the Portal, and were soon all back.
In maybe twenty more minutes, thanks to Equestria Girls Summer's Mustang, Summer and Shysage were soon sitting together on a larger couch in the guest house.
It was late afternoon, and Shysage knew his Mare needed to both drink and eat. She wanted a Hamburger and some water, and Equestria Girls Summer and Fluttershy headed off to get both.
When they were gone, Shysage asked his Mare how she was doing.
"Everything hurts... But I'm glad just to have you back... And you made a promise before, Stallion" Summer said softly.
Shysage just answered back "Summer, honey, I will give you whatever you want", and he meant it too.
Once back through the Portal, and in Equestria, Princess Celestia approached a very startled Roderick.
"Do you remember?" Princess Celestia asked simply.
Roderick quickly replied "Yes, Princess."
"Please alert Shining Armor that I am flying to Canterlot to find my sister, and then I will require Shining Armor to find a safe place for us both" Princess Celestia said.
Roderick replied again "Yes, Princess."
Princess Celestia walked over to the balcony, and was quickly on her way, flying to Canterlot.
It was mid-day in Equestria, and this was good.
Maybe an hour later, Princess Celestia landed near the back of the lowest level of Canterlot, and began carefully looking for her sister, while trying to walk around aimlessly like everypony else.
Two hours later, Princess Celestia found her sister on the second level of Canterlot.
She asked her sister to follow her to an inconspicuous location on that level, promising her a surprise if she came.
She wanted a surprise, so she followed.
Princess Celestia then cleared all three spells on her sister, then hugged her tightly for a few minutes.
"Your surprise is that Mom and dad said they love you a lot, Lu" Cel told her at that point, and they both cried together a few minutes more.
Cel then carefully briefed her sister on what all had happened, and how they should act.
Twenty minutes later, they walked, together, past Shining Armor, who was sitting outside the Audience Hall.
Seeing that he was just sitting there, alone, Cel said quietly "Guard, I think we need to be arrested, can you arrange that?"
Shining Armor said quickly "You are both under arrest, come with me."
In less than ten minutes, they were locked in a prison cell together.
They were ready and waiting... ...and safe, for now.
With Shysage's help, Shining Armor had two of Equestria's Princesses 'locked up'. Protecting them was Shining Armor's sworn duty.
Shining Armor really wanted his Mare back now too... Well, she was also a Princess, so he had a responsibility to accomplish this.
But he had said nothing to Star Dusk about it.
For the last few days, Star Dusk had been pretty busy with other ponies. This was good though, well, under the circumstances, it was...
Shining Armor helped Shysage get Shysage's battered Mare to the Train Station just yesterday. It took far longer than he expected...
Evidently, Shysage had also found Princess Celestia, and got her through the Portal yesterday, too. She promptly returned, with her memory, found Princess Luna, evidently fixed her memory too, and both of them asked to be 'arrested' late in the afternoon.
Even after spending a lot of time on both of these tasks yesterday, he was not missed at all, and this was very good.
But Shining Armor wanted his Mare back...
It was mid-morning, and a quiet day so far. Shining Armor was sitting next to the big doors of the Audience Hall like he normally did. This was 'his post'.
Star Dusk walked out the door, and sat down close to Shining Armor, but said nothing. She seemed pre-occupied.
This was probably the only chance he would get for a while, so he took the risk.
"I hope my service has been acceptible, Star Dusk, but I would like to make a request whenever you feel comfortable. And if that is never, that is fine as well, for you are Star Dusk, and you are great" Shining Armor said carefully.
"Guard, you are doing well, what is your request?" Star Dusk asked. Still, it was clear to Shining Armor that Star Dusk's mind was elsewhere.
"I would like to go to the Crystal Empire for my Mare" Shining Armor said, as emotionless as possible, which was hard.
Almost without thinking, Star Dusk replied "Take the Air Coach, just hurry back though."
Shining Armor slowly replied "Thank you Star Dusk, for you are great."
Another stallion walked up at this point, and he and Star Dusk disappeared into the Audience Hall.
The trip to the Crystal Palace seemed to go pretty quickly. This was because Shining Armor was planning the recovery of his Mare. His military processes were in overdrive, and this seemed incongruous to him, since he was really after his own Mare. Still, he realized this was 'war'...
He knew that his Mare liked the meadows around the Crystal Palace, and he realized he would probably find her in one of them. But this left a lot of ground to cover. And it had been two and a half weeks since he left, but Roderick had kept him apprised. Shining Armor's Mare was still around.
Shining Armor knew he needed to get his Mare to the Portal Room, but he had already worked that part out.
Maybe two minutes away from the Crystal Palace, Shining Armor checked in with his second in command.
"Rod, SA, Princ Update" (Roderick, from Shining Armor, Princess Update)
There was a brief delay.
"Princ Slept, SE Mead, Atkd. m" (Princess Slept in SE Meadow, evidently she had attacked Roderick)
Shining Armor just sighed. Roderick was wearing the same gear Shining Armor wore.
Shining Armor sent back
"Keep Slept, inc--2 min out" (Keep princess slept, am incoming, 2 minutes away)
Shining Armor yelled to the lead stallion to look for Roderick in the SE meadow, and land them there.
Two and a half minutes later, Shining Armor ran up to Roderick next to a slept Princess Cadance.
"Roderick, get in the air coach and get airborn until I clear you to land" Shining Armor barked.
Two minutes later, and Roderick was gone.
Shining Armor was standing right in front of Princess Cadance. She was standing up, asleep. He used his magic to gently remove Princess Cadance's crown, then Shining Armor held it right in front of his head with his magic.
The final piece of information is that Shining Armor's 'pet name' for his Mare is 'Cady'. It is pronounced like 'Katy' but with a 'd' sound instead of the 't'. That's what he calls her when nopony is around, and she loves it. Well, she did up until two weeks ago. He didn't know now.
Ten minutes later Princess Cadance woke up, and immediately said loudly "Hey! Give me back my crown!" Princess Cadance liked her crown.
Shining Armor said softly "Cady, do you want your crown?"
Then he turned and bolted off towards the entrance to the Crystal Palace, then he yelled "Come get it, and I have a surprise for you!"
Of course Princess Cadance bolted off after him, and she was quickly in the air, catching up rapidly. She was a fast flyer, but probably had not flown much recently.
Shining Armor was fast too, and Princess Cadance had to just as quickly land, as Shining Armor headed into the entrance to the Crystal Palace.
Shining Armor knew the way to the Portal room in the dark. Still, he would stop occasionally and repeat "Cady, do you want your crown? Come get it, and I have a surprise for you!" Then he would run some more.
At first, Shining Armor tried to be careful. The run to the Portal room was a lot of work for her Crown.
But evidently, Princess Cadance wanted her crown back very badly, and followed him closely the whole way.
And on the way, he managed to send the following message to Roderick, which surely sounded strange
"Princ in pursuit, clear to land" (Princess in pursuit, it was ok to land now.)
Once at the Portal room, Shining Armor burst through the doors, and ran right up to the Portal. Princess Cadance followed, of course, then stopped near Shining Armor and demanded again "Give me back my crown!"
Shining Armor said quickly "Cady, can you come up here, so I can check you out in this mirror?"
Ladies and mirrors...
Princess Cadance was quickly up next to him looking at herself in the mirror.
She started to say "This isn't a very good mir--"
They were both into the Portal before she could finish.
On the other side of the Portal...
The Crown ended up in the grass...
Princess Cadance was laying on top of Shining Armor...
Princess Cadance was painfully beautiful, even here.
Shinning Armor was amazingly handsome here too.
Princess Cadance remembered... everything... and smiled, as Shining Armor picked her crown up and held it.
Princess Cadance said "Where's my surprise, Stallion?"
Shining Armor kissed his Mare...
Shining Armor had watched Shysage kiss his own Mare (Summer) quite a bit as 'people', and it looked pretty enjoyable, from what he could tell.
It was amazing...
Princess Cadance melted, then said "This is an amazing surprise, Stallion..."
Shining Armor would need to thank Shysage for giving him the opportunity to try this out.
They kissed for a few minutes, then Shining Armor frowned, and said "We really need to get back. Equestria is taken over..."
Princess Cadance said "One more, please?"
They kissed again, then got up, and were soon back in Equestria.
Once through, they both looked at each other, and said "I love you" at the same time, then rubbed noses a minute.
Still, Princess Cadance quickly picked up her crown and put it back where it belonged. She liked her crown.
"I came here to get you. I will explain what I know once we are in the air" Shining Armor said, as they began walking quickly back to the entrance to the Crystal Palace.
After the ten minute walk to the entrance to the Crystal Palace, they were down to the Air Coach, and Roderick was standing next to it, looking sheepishly helpless.
Once they were over to the Air Coach, Shining Armor made a funny discovery.
Princess Twilight was already sitting in the Air Coach.
"What are you doing?" Shining Armor asked quietly.
Princess Twilight sounded like a little girl... "I think these are fun, can I go for a ride?"
Shining Armor walked over to Princess Cadance and sighed. "Cady, I should really take my sister this time, and lock her up in Canterlot. Can you stay safe until I come back?"
Princess Cadance rubbed his nose, then said softly "Shining Armor, you gave me my first kiss -- I'm waiting for you! I will be in our room, or in the same meadow you found me in before."
They hugged, then Princess Cadance headed into the Palace.
"Roderick, back to the Portal please" Shining Armor said quietly.
Roderick began to try to apologize about Princess Cadance "Sir. I'm sorry about before. I was just trying to check--"
Shining Armor sighed, and said "It's ok Roderick, you did the right thing. I'm just glad I was nearby. Still, if a lot of that is happening..."
Shining Armor got in the other side of the Air Coach, and said to his sister (Princess Twilight) as cheerfully as he could "I am going to give you a ride, and I have a surprise for you if you come with me. Is that ok?"
Princess Twilight replied, still like a little girl, "That sounds fun, I like surprises!"
The Air Coach ride back to Canterlot was fairly calm and uneventful. Shining Armor reminded Princess Twilight about the 'surprise' a few more times.
When the Air Coach landed, it was dusk, and Shining Armor quickly helped Princess Twilight out, and led her to the 'dungeon'. Shining Armor just as quickly returned to his post, sitting down next to the Audience Hall doors.
Once Princess Twilight was locked away, Princess Celestia cleared all three spells, and that was her 'surprise', which Princess Twilight appreciated, of course. Then Princess Celestia simply briefed Princess Twilight.
The Princesses realized that, not knowing anything about the powerful opponent they faced, they spoke only when necessary. As a result, Princess Celestia told Princess Twilight what what was going on in the barest of terms, and they were done, waiting until the rest were gathered.
Maybe ten minutes after her 'guard' had returned, Star Dusk walked out with the same stallion, and asked "Guard, did you bring your Mare back?"
Shining Armor had already thought of the most truthful answer he could offer. Shining Armor tried to always respond truthfully, even in 'war', if he could.
He said simply "I couldn't bring her..."
Even though now the 'focal point' of the take-over of Equestria, Star Dusk was clearly no monster.
She used her magic and wrote the magic details for the memory spell on a piece of paper, then handed the paper to Shining Armor. Then she said "Here, take this. Go back tomorrow, cast this backwards, then she will come. But you must not use this spell on anypony else!"
Shining Armor just answered slowly "Thank you Star Dusk, and of course I won't, for you are great."
By noon the next day, Princess Cadance was 'in jail' with the rest of Equestria's Princesses.
And Shining Armor did actually cast the spell, backwards, on her, just as Star Dusk directed him.
On the Air Coach ride back with his Mare, Shining Armor quickly explained what was going on. He kept it brief, and they were done after maybe five minutes, and both were silent.
Shining Armor took this opportunity to actually stand back and mentally assess the 'battlefield' that he was facing.
After Star Dusk was 'done' with Shysage's Mare, Shining Armor was very close to... Well, it would not have been pretty.
Star Dusk was at the focus of the take-over of Equestria, and that was very bad.
However, Shining Armor was slowly realizing that Star Dusk was not really bad. She was just hurting. Shining Armor was seeing more desperation, and not evil, behind Star Dusk's actions.
Still, a much more magically powerful being of some sort was helping Star Dusk, or she was helping him in some way. And nopony knew how much of 'what was going on' this powerful being could know or sense. There had been no trace of him up to this point, except for the spells cast on the realm two and a half weeks ago.
And right now, nopony seemed to be 'in charge' of the realm.
Either way, Shining Armor suspected that this whole thing would not end very well for Star Dusk.
The enemies of Equestria, both that Shining Armor had faced in the past, and that he had read about, did not take failure well. And Shining Armor guessed Star Dusk would be first in line if this enemy failed, which Shining Armor felt was highly likely...
Right now, there was just nothing anypony could do except wait...
Still, a spell that would make his Mare attack his second in command was very troubling...
Until the Hamburger and water came, Shysage and his Mare just sat on the couch together. They sat next to each other, and Shysage was hugging his Mare. This seemed to be enough for right now.
Still, Summer was frowning, and looking down.
The guest house was roomy, and very nice inside. And it was quiet, except for the slow ticking of an old Grandfather Clock in the corner.
Sitting still, being in the quiet, with his Mare, was absolutely amazing for Shysage right now.
"Summer, how are you doing?" Shysage asked quietly.
Summer slowly raised her head, and kissed Shysage softly on his cheek. Then she looked down again.
Equestria Girls Summer and Fluttershy were at the door at this point, and Fluttershy knocked.
Shysage let them in, and a Hamburger, Fries, and a bunch of water bottles were soon waiting on a table next to the kitchen. Fluttershy gave Shysage a cell phone too, already programmed with the Equestria Girl's numbers.
Shysage explained to Equestria Girls Summer how to get to his 'shack'. He also explained how to get in, and where he kept his electric razor.
The Equestria Girls were quickly gone, and Shysage helped his Mare to the table. She was hungry, and quickly ate the entire Hamburger. Shysage told her that was ok. He helped her with the fries though, mostly because she needed water right now, not Salt. But he cautioned her about drinking too much water with the burger.
Shysage texted Fluttershy about picking up another burger, and some good cereal and some milk.
The Equestria Girls sisters soon returned with the stuff Shysage had requested, and Shysage ate half of the burger, and wrapped the rest up and put it in the frig with the milk.
Equestria Girls Summer asked Shysage's Mare if she wanted to Soul-Link, and she said not yet.
Still, the Equestria Girls both hugged both Summer and Shysage, and headed out the door.
Shysage left Summer at the table for a few minutes, as he shaved quickly. He knew his Mare appreciated this.
After this was done, he came back out, and walked over to the couch, re-arranged the pillows, took his White sweatshirt off, and was soon laying on his back on the couch with his head propped up some on the pillows.
His Mare took her sweatshirt off too, and was quickly laying on the couch next to Shysage with her back against the back of the couch.
Well, they both still had the rest of their 'Shysage' clothes on.
Summer's face was up against Shysage's face though, she really did like that.
Summer kissed Shysage occasionally, but was content at this point just to be near him, and he realized this.
She was not smiling though.
Even as a 'people', Summer still had healing bruises on her face and head. Shysage just gently kissed a few of them. He was 'owning' them. He loved his Mare, bruises and all. He doubted Summer realized what he was doing though.
"Summer, just being here with you is heaven for me, but you need to let me know how I can help you." Shysage said softly.
"Just stay next to me for now, Stallion" Summer said softly back.
Shysage was a little concerned how the next day or two would go. As a pony, Shysage was pretty good at managing his 'desires', since his responses were pretty muted, since he wasn't from Equestria originally. Although, this was clearly shifting over time.
However, here in his home world, Shysage knew things were vastly different. He would have far less control, and would respond far more quickly. And Summer was amazingly beautiful as a 'people' too.
In Fluttershy's apartment, Shysage had promised his Mare he would 'take care of her', and this meant making her feel like the Princess she is. As a pony, Shysage was pretty good at making her feel this way, with few risks. That wouldn't happen if they were 'people'.
Well, the bottom line was that Shysage would give his Mare what she wanted, what she needed. Whatever was required to help her work through the nightmare she had just endured -- that is what he would pursue. He decided to tell her that.
"Summer, just so you know, you are in charge here. I want to do whatever I need to do to help you with what you have been through." Shysage said this softly to his Mare.
"I know Shysage. I love you. I'm so glad to be with you again." She said softly back, then kissed him.
Summer's voice still reflected the pain she carried inside. This would probably be the best guage of how she was doing.
Shysage also guessed his Mare would probably need to cry some more at some point, the sooner the better, probably.
Shysage thought about asking what had happened to her, which WOULD make her cry. Then he realized that he needed to wait until she was ready -- she would tell him what happened when she was ready, and would probably be crying as she did this.
They lay there, together, quietly for maybe an hour.
(opt:btm5a)
They both enjoyed just being together for maybe half an hour more.
Then Shysage got an idea.
"Summer, I am going to see if I can find something here, then I will be right back, is that ok?" Shysage asked.
"Just hurry back, Stallion" Summer said softly.
Shysage quickly found what he was after in the bedroom -- a hairbrush. He brought it back to the couch.
"Summer, can I brush your hair for a little while?" Shysage asked.
Summer said nothing, but quickly sat up, and moved to the edge of the couch.
Shysage moved around behind her and began to brush her hair with the brush. They brushed each other's hair a lot as ponies. It was just a simple way of serving, and recently, loving each other.
Evidently, Summer appreciated it now too.
"Shysage, thank you, I..." Summer said, then began to cry...
"Should I stop, Summer?" Shysage asked softly.
"No, it feels like heaven... I just need you to lo--" she said this much, then couldn't talk any more.
Shysage put his free hand gently on Summer's shoulder and just held her like that while he brushed her hair.
For maybe ten minutes, Shysage brushed his Mare's hair, gently, lovingly.
Summer didn't move. But during that time, Summer's crying became deeper.
Then she turned around abruptly, buried her face on Shysage's chest, and began to sob...
Shysage just leaned back against the back of the couch, and pulled her up into his lap, and hugged her tightly.
Summer wrapped her arms around her Stallion and hugged him back...
Summer was crying gut-wrenching sobs, and Shysage was soon crying like this too. The two trips he had made to the Portal were both terrible.
They just cried together for over an hour, then Shysage's crying slowed.
"Summer, do you want to tell me what happened?" Shysage asked, still crying some himself.
She tried while crying pretty hard...
"Well, she tried to touch me where she shouldn't, and I told her I was your Mare. Then she tried to make me touch her, and I resisted, and said the same thing...
"It all just made her mad, and she hit me really hard a bunch. Then she said you wouldn't want me any more... Then I was in that jail... I cried out to true friend, and called to you, but I hurt so much, I couldn't...
"Shysage, it was awful... Hurting, and waiting... It was ter--"
Summer stopped trying to talk, and just cried some more...
"No wonder" Shysage thought to himself... 'hurting and waiting'... His Mare had to do that for the two and a half months his memory was gone too...
Hurting and waiting...
Shysage's mind kept replaying this as his Mare cried in his arms...
Hurting and waiting...
Shysage decided they had waited long enough. "Summer, when you are ready, I want to make you feel like a Princess, as I promised I would. You tell me when, and we will need to change back to ponies, but--"
Summer looked up at him, and said softly "Stallion, I thought you'd never ask..." Then she SMILED...
Still, Shysage was deeply humbled... His Mare had waited for him to offer... Even when her own well-being was at stake, she was considerate, and tried to be patient...
(opt:btm5b)
Shysage was soon weeping softly, because his Mare was smiling again, and her voice was almost 'normal'...
Shysage tried to say "Summer, it means more to me than you will ever know that you sound bet--"
Summer just said "Oh, Shysage..." then hugged him.
For an hour or so, they just hugged tightly, wept softly together, and also kissed some. They both liked that.
Then they both fell asleep. Well, Summer moved against the back of the couch, then they fell asleep.
When Shysage woke up in the morning, Summer was gently kissing his face. He just kissed her back.
And Summer was smiling again...
"Summer, I love your smile..." Shysage said softly...
"Good, Stallion, because I want to go get my sister." Summer said, about as 'matter of factly' as possible.
Then she handed him the cell phone.
Shysage texted Summer's Twin "Ready to go get Summer's sister when you both are ready. Maybe let the others know too. Come get us when it is convenient, and thank you."
Summer and Shysage did some tidying up. This was a really nice place.
Then they had some breakfast. Summer had milk and cereal, and Shysage ate the rest of the Hamburger, after heating it up in the 'microwave'.
"Hi, Twin" Summer said when Equestria Girls Summer was in range of the Twin Link.
Shysage was pretty sure his Mare's Twin was now crying. (She was.) His Mare was doing a LOT better.
They went outside and waited for their ride. The Principal sisters walked over at this point, and they all hugged tightly.
"Your guest-house is very nice. Maybe we can stay here again some time." Summer said.
"You both are welcome at any time" Vice-principal Luna said with a smile.
"Keep us posted on your progress please, and if you have any word on Princess Luna, let us know" Principal Celestia said quietly.
"Of course" Summer replied.
Summer's Twin and Equestria Girls Fluttershy pulled up in the Mustang. Everypony was quickly hugging everypony again.
The Principal sisters headed back to their house, and the Summers, Fluttershy and Shysage drove back to Fluttershy's apartment.
Equestria Girls Summer Rain was still crying softly as she and her Twin, along with her sister and Shysage climbed into the Mustang. Shysage and his Mare sat in the back seat.
Shysage gave Equestria Girls Fluttershy the cell back, and thanked her for such a small consideration. However, Shysage suggested they may want to hold on to it for any future uses that might be required.
Equestria Girls Summer mentioned that everypony was gathering at the bleachers. The Mustang would get parked at the apartment, and they would walk over to the school. Rainbow Dash was running a morning Soccer practice anyway.
When they got to the bleachers, the Equestria Girls were all there waiting. The Principal sisters were not there, and Rainbow was down on the field running around.
Everypony got up quickly and took turns hugging Shysage's Mare. Summer looked a lot better than yesterday, they were all just really concerned.
Once this was done, everyone sat together on the bottom two rows of the bleachers closest to Fluttershy's apartment.
It was quiet for a minute, then Equestria Girls Summer spoke up and said "Ok, Shysage, tell us what we need to do next."
Shysage began to speak, and outlined what he felt should be their plan to rescue Equestria.
"Well, I think the next step should be finding all the Twins.
"We will probably want to use the 'Twin Link' for this. The 'Twin Link' is your ability to 'see', to communicate with your Twin.
"This will allow us to find the Twins when they are maybe half a mile away. And the 'Twin Link' coming active automatically clears the 'memory spell' that is making your Twins forget everything important anyway, so they will remember right away.
"Otherwise, it will take forever to find everypony; they could be anywhere in Equestria... Well that may still be true, but using the 'Twin Link' will be a lot faster.
"Once we find each Twin, we will probably want to bring them back through the Portal, which will erase the rest of the spells, and make it so they won't 'stick' any more. The Twins will then wait here, as they are brought through, until they are all gathered.
"Summer wants to go get her sister, so I was think--"
Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle, Princess Twilight's Twin, spoke up timidly at this point, and said simply
"No..."
Twilight Sparkle stood up, and walked down the bleachers to the grass in front. Her arms were crossed, and one of her hands was at her chin... She was clearly still thinking. She continued, slowly
"Shysage, I am not trying to..."
Still standing on the grass, Twilight paused a minute here, then said, again slowly
Still standing on the grass, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle paused a minute here, then said, again slowly
"No... We... are... not... doing... that..."
...
Shysage had heard this voice... ...this... ...whole 'persona' before...
It was Princess Twilight... It was the many times she had 'just known', then clearly directed... ...what Equestria wanted...
Shysage realized that the very Realm of Equestria was reaching out...
...across the Portal...
...into Princess Twilight's Twin...
Shysage was amazed...
...
Most of what had been 'done' to rescue Equestria up to this point, was done by Shining Armor, then Shysage himself.
Shining Armor had conducted himself as he had, because of his amazing military might.
Shysage had done most of what he had done, out of simple desperation, trying to rescue his Mare and his girls.
The very realm of Equestria was taking over now...
Shysage's 'best guess' had been 'Twin Fishing'... The Realm of Equestria simply ignored this... Equestria's response would majestically unwind as the day progressed...
...
Again, Shysage was amazed...
He was a people, of course...
Shysage got up, walked down onto the grass, and bowed before Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle, and said
"Twilight, you are our Princess' Twin... And from beyond the Portal, Equestria is calling out through you... Just tell us what you want us to do..."
By the time he was done, everyone else was bowing next to him too.
Twilight Sparkle was embarrassed, but still she realized the import of Shysage's words.
Twilight said simply "Please arise..." almost without even thinking about what she said...
It was quiet for a minute, as everyone got back up, and just stood close to Twilight. Princess Twilight's Twin was still thinking, or more likely, listening...
Shysage knew it was a short matter of time before Equestria started calling the shots.
Twilight said "Shysage, I want you to go through the Portal, just into the Portal Room, and just look around. Then come back and tell us what you find."
Shysage smiled, then walked over, and took his Mare by the hand. They always went through the Portal together now.
They walked quickly around the school to the Portal wall, and went through the Portal together.
Once through to the other side of the Portal to Equestria, Summer and Shysage both changed from ponies back into 'people', took each other's hand again, and just looked around.
Roderick was there, and he looked at them, but said nothing.
Shysage looked down, and picked up a piece of paper...
"Four Princesses in jail"
Then he took the paper, and he and Summer went back through the Portal.
Summer and Shysage came out of the Portal into the Equestria Girls world, and walked quickly away.
On the way back to the group, Shysage said softly to his Mare "I think our Princess is coming soon", then he smiled.
Summer smiled back at him.
Still, they said nothing as they gave the paper to Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight read it, then handed it to Rarity, who was closest, so they could all look at it.
Still, she was looking down, thinking... Probably listening still...
"Shysage, was there anything else in the Portal room?" Twilight asked. She was still looking down mostly, deep in thought.
"Roderick, Shining Armor's second in command was there Twilight, and I'm pretty sure he remembers" Shysage replied softly. Still, it took discipline on his part to not say "Princess Twilight"; they were both the same.
Twilight Sparkle thought for maybe two more minutes, then said simply and softly "Shysage, go back, and tell Roderick that the Equestria Girls require Princess Twilight."
Summer and Shysage immediately headed back off across the grass to the Portal.
On the way, Summer said softly "I love you Stallion. You really do have Equestria in your heart."
Shysage and his mare went through the Portal, changed back to 'people', and Shysage again took Summer's hand.
They both walked up to Roderick, and Shysage said quietly
"I have been asked to have you let Shining Armor know that the Equestria Girls require Princess Twilight."
Roderick understood, and said simply "Please wait a minute."
After a few minutes, Roderick said "Princess Twilight will be on her way shortly."
Shysage said "Thank you", bowed his head slightly, then he and Summer headed back through the Portal.
On the other side of the Portal, in the Equestria Girls world, Shysage took Summer's hand again, and then he simply backed up a few steps from the grass area in front of the Portal wall.
Shysage was simply standing still at this point.
After a minute, Summer said "Shysage, should we go tell Twilight? It will be two hours before they get an Air Coach to the Port--"
Princess Twilight cleared the Portal at that point, and Shysage immediately bowed to her, and Summer did too, very amazed...
Shysage rightly assumed that the Portal would fold Time again to help them, to help Equestria. Shysage really didn't understand much more than that.
"Precious ponies, please arise" Princess said, then she hugged Summer, then Shysage.
"Let's go join the others." Princess Twilight then said softly.
They headed off towards the bleachers together.
As soon as the Equestria Girls saw Princess Twilight, they all ran quickly across the grass to her, and everypony immediately bowed before her. They all loved their Princess.
Poor Rainbow... On the way to make a goal, she saw her Princess... She ignored the ball, and ran quickly over and bowed to Princess Twilight with the rest. Rainbow loved her Princess too.
Her team-mates just stood there amazed, but they would get over it quickly. They just kept playing.
Princess Twilight first told her Twin, Twilight Sparkle "Twilight, please do not bow to me any more."
Twilight got up at this, and they hugged tightly a minute.
"The rest of you, please arise. The Equestria Girls are again standing in the gap for Equestria. We thank you all."
Princess Twilight teared up a little, then added "...And I missed you all a lot too..."
Before doing anything else, Princess Twilight asked Twilight Sparkle to summon the Principal sisters on her 'cell', and this was quickly done.
Then Princess worked her way around the group hugging everypony.
They all went back over to the bleachers, and sat in a fairly close group.
The Principal sisters soon joined them, and Princess Twilight hugged each of them tightly. Vice-principal Luna was overjoyed to hear her Twin was fine, and cried for a few minutes.
Princess next had everypony sit and listen a minute or two as she spoke.
Well, Twilight Sparkle stood next to Princess.
"I don't know how much Shysage has told you, but a series of spells has been cast on everypony in Equestria. The worst one is a memory spell that causes everything important to be forgotten.
"A mare in Canterlot is involved in the take-over, but it is clear there is another, far more magically powerful being helping her.
"Since we do not know how much this being can sense around the realm, it is very important to talk as little as possible while we are in Equestria for the moment.
"That is all I have for now."
Princess stopped here and thought a few minutes. Shysage was pretty sure she was 'listening'.
"Well, Shysage, I need you and Summer to take the Principal sisters through the Portal. Tell Roderick to have Shining Armor place them under arrest in Canterlot, and he will know what to do. Then both of you come back here."
Shysage again took Summer's hand and they led the Principal sisters to the Portal.
Shysage sent the Principal sisters through first, then they followed together.
All four of them were soon in Equestria.
Summer and Shysage again changed back to 'people', then Shysage again took Summer's hand.
They walked over to Roderick, and Shysage said quietly "I have been asked to have Shining Armor arrest these two ponies, and place them in jail in Canterlot.
Again, Roderick replied "Just a minute, please."
After waiting a minute, Roderick looked up at the Principal sisters, and said "You are both under arrest! Come with me..."
Shysage was pretty sure that they were now on their way to the Air Coach, and that, within two hours, they would both be 'in jail' with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Summer and Shysage went back through the Portal together, and were soon back in the Equestria Girls world.
Chapter 13, Princess' Castle, the Heart of Friendship's Magic
Summer and Shysage cleared the Portal in the Equestria Girls world.
They both realized that Princess Twilight and the rest of the Equestria Girls were already there, waiting, and ready to go through, back to Equestria.
"Ok girls, head through the Portal, and do what we discussed" Princess Twilight said.
The Equestria Girls; Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, then Twilight Sparkle headed through the Portal with maybe 30 seconds in between.
Shysage guessed they didn't need dark coats this time.
Princess Twilight said softly "Equestria Girls Summer come through, then Summer and Shysage."
Princess Twilight then went through the Portal, followed by Summer's Twin.
Then Summer and Shysage held hands, and went through together, and were soon back in Equestria.
Summer and Shysage cleared the Portal, and stayed ponies on the Equestria side.
The rest of the Equestria Girls were sitting, as ponies, along one of the long walls of the Portal room. They were sitting still, separated from each other by maybe three feet, eyes closed, almost motionless, and not talking.
Still, Princess Twilight looked at Shysage, then sighed. Then she said quietly "Oh, Summer..."
Princess Twilight used her magic to gently remove Summer's Shield Necklace from around Shysage's neck, then she placed it back on Summer's neck.
Summer cried softly as she hugged her Princess briefly. Summer loved her Princess.
Princess Twilight walked over to the balcony, and said quietly "Both Summers and Shysage, please come with me.
It was morning in Equestria, and the four of them took to the air and headed to Ponyville.
The trip there was long but quiet. They stopped once to rest, eat and drink. Then they resumed their journey.
Once they were close to Ponyville, Princess Twilight said simply "We are heading to the Castle"
It was almost noon when the four of them landed in the grass outside the Castle.
They were all quickly inside.
Shysage really didn't know what Princess Twilight's plan was, but he was sure his Princess 'just knew', so he didn't worry about it much.
The Castle also seemed deserted. Since the workers all lost their memory, this was to be expected.
Princess Twilight quickly led them all to a lower level that Shysage didn't even know existed. Princess used her magic to make a small light so they could see their way, down a bunch of stairs. Otherwise, it was very dark down here.
They passed through a large set of doors, and were inside; then Princess asked everypony to stay there, right inside the door.
The room looked huge and high. Shysage realized there was a large, round table in the center, with some large chairs around the table. Shysage guessed there were six chairs, but he couldn't see all of them.
Well they looked like big chairs. Ponies can't sit in normal chairs. But a pony could easily climb up into the flat area of these chairs, and sit down. That's what Princess Twilight did once she got to her chair. Shysage guessed there was easily enough room for two ponies in each large 'chair'...
This room looked like some sort of 'Council Room', specifically for Princess Twilight and her girls.
Princess Twilight walked slowly over to the chair furthest from the door, and climbed up and in, then she just sat down...
...
...and the Council Room came wildly to life...
...
Shysage guessed the room was split into six sectors, with the point of each sector meeting in the center of the table.
The sector that Princess Twilight's chair was centered in, immediately blazed to life, brightly. The main color was the characteristic Purple of the Twilight's 'Soul Link' Aura and element... Floor, ceiling, walls, all were brightly illuminated.
And it looked like there was a 'stained glass' type of picture of Princess in the wall behind her chair. It was beautiful, of course.
The other five sectors blazed to life, one at a time, working around the circle... Each of the new sectors blazed brightly, with the color appropriate for the 'aura' of the pony, and element, each sector was for. And each new sector also held another picture of an amazing pony...
By the time all six sectors were blazing brightly, it was very bright in this room...
Shysage decided it was probably a very nice place for Princess Twilight's girls to meet together.
...
But Equestria was only getting started...
...
Probably responding to the very real attack on Equestria, Princess Twilight's 'Element of Harmony' slowly surfaced above her Cutie Mark, and then quickly moved above her head, and began to rotate slowly...
Shysage gasped loudly at what happened next...
...The other eleven Elements, along with their 'carriers':
...the five Equestria ponies wherever thay were in Equestria...
...and the six Equestria Girls sitting quietly in the Portal room in the Crystal Palace...
...were all IMMEDIATELY transported to this very room, to the proper area behind each of their large chairs...
...and each of their 'Elements of Harmony' likewise surfaced from their Cutie Marks, and all rose to slowly rotate above their heads...
...
Princess Twilight's 'Element of Harmony', FROM this very Council Room, had summoned the other eleven ponies, and their 'Elements of Harmony', INTO this very Council Room, from wherever they were in Equestria...
They were ALL HERE... now...
...
The Equestria Girls had their memory, and so, just like they were in the Portal room, they were pulled in, simply sitting, into the area behind their chair...
Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle immediately climbed up into Princess Twilight's chair and sat next to her Twin, Princess Twilight.
...
The Equestria Ponies, having lost their memories, were pulled in while in the same stance they were in, from WHEREVER they were in Equestria...
Equestria pony Fluttershy was laying on the floor, weeping softly, still almost unresponsive...
Shysage guessed that the loss of her memory had been terrible for this very sensitive pony... She knew something had gone terribly wrong, but she could not know what it was...
Equestria pony Pinkie Pie was also lying on the floor, but crying loudly...
For this pony, for whom 'friends' were everything, to forget all that would likewise probably be excruciating...
The rest of the Equestria ponies were standing... They blinked a few times, looked around at their friends, immediately sensed their Twins, and began to weep softly...
Shysage suspected that this room had erased all the spells, too...
...
Equestria Girls Fluttershy immediately 'Soul Linked' with her hurting Twin, Equestria pony Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie's Twin did the same thing...
Shysage realized that, when his Mare was battered, the Twin Link wasn't very successful, and she didn't even want the 'Soul Link'...
But it looked like now... here... In this room, the 'Soul-Link' was far more powerful and effective...
The Soul-Link snapped to life immediately, and both Fluttershys and both Pinkie Pies were quickly sitting next to each other, hugging tightly, weeping softly.
The rest of the Twins just did the same, and Soul-Linked, as did the Summer Twins.
Shysage backed up to the doors, and sat down... ...amazed...
...
Shysage knew this Castle was not 'built'... It had 'grown' from a seed -- the Elements of Harmony box unearthed during the fight with Tireq.
This Castle was no ordinary Castle... And the Magic of Friendship simply amplified everything 'magical' that happened inside it...
And the Castle probably had it's own shield around it now, no matter who or what Equestria faced...
Shysage was pretty sure that this amazing Castle, planted in insignificant little Ponyville, was now the magical 'heart' of Equestria... This was Princess Twilight's amazing legacy...
...
...And Equestria was remembering... Equestria was getting ready to take a stand... Starting... Right... Here...
...
And Shysage was soon weeping softly, realizing that through the 'Bond of Knowing', first, Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle had known what to do... Then his Princess, Princess Twilight, had known, or at least suspected, that this room would summon forth, and draw to itself, the "Elements of Harmony', and the amazing ponies that carried them, no matter where they were in the Realm...
FROM NOW ON, there would no longer be any 'running around' to try to gather everypony...
All Princess had to do was sit in her chair, in the face of a clear threat to Equestria, and this magical Castle would 'do the rest', as it had just done right now, and bring them all here...
Shysage didn't know if this Castle would automatically bridge across the Portal to the Equestria Girls world, but that didn't matter right now. The Equestria Girls were all here...
...
After maybe ten minutes of Twin Linking, Princess Twilight sought the Group Link with the seven sets of Twins, and it sprang to life immediately, even though the Twins, while together, were spread randomly around the circumference of the room...
Fourteen amazing friends quickly dove into each other's lives, and shared what pain they could...
...all of them were soon just weeping softly with joy...
...
Princess Twilight stopped the Group Link, and the rest of 'her girls', now healed up and one, simply climbed up into their chairs, Twin with Twin, and were seated around the table, weeping softly.
The Summer Twins just stopped linking, then they walked over and sat next to Shysage.
Princess Twilight started the Group Link with her eleven girls, and it again sprang to life...
...
Princess Twilight and her girls were one...
Everypony loved their Twin, and everypony loved each other...
Princess Twilight and her girls were ready...
The 'magical heart' of Equestria was ready now too...
...
Shysage was simply awestruck at this amazing chain of events...
...And 'Twin Fishing' would have been a hideous failure, and taken far too long compared to this...
Shysage was just the Canterlot Recorder, and that was fine.
Princess Twilight broke the group link for a few minutes. The six sets of Twins, just sat together in each of their chairs, probably just enjoying the amazing privilege of being with their Twin.
It was clear that Princess Twilight was still thinking, or still listening.
After a few minutes of silence, Princess asked "Shysage, there is some place in Equestria that is magically significant to us, to the ponies in this circle. I just can't remember what it is."
Shysage's Mare immediately began to weep softly, and put her head down on her Stallion's shoulder.
Shysage also remembered immediately, and replied quietly
"Princess, the night you and eleven of the ponies in this room stood against Sunset Shimmer, under the magic shield there, Sunset threw every possible spell at that shield.
"This created a huge rut around the area of the grass that was under the shield that protected you all.
"That circle of grass is now the center of a memorial garden on the Commons lawn in Canterlot."
Princess Twilight, trying not to cry herself, said softly "Yes, that is it..." This had been a terrifying night for those that were there, and all twelve wept softly for a minute or two.
Still, Princess Twilight now knew what the next step was, so she began.
"Shysage, and Summer Twins, please listen carefully.
"And this is perhaps the most dangerous part of our response.
"You three need to fly to Canterlot, and somehow get the other three Princesses to that spot, that circle of grass in Canterlot.
"If you involve Shining Armor, be very careful, we do not want to alert Star Dusk. I would prefer that you do not enlist his help.
"Still, Summer, please avoid the use of the Phantom Alicorn, unless it is necessary, either to protect your Twin, Shysage or Equestria's Princesses.
"We are staying right here, and so you will need to find your way out yourselves."
Shysage and the two Summers headed out the big doors, and up the stairs right away.
It was about noon.
Shining Armor was sitting at his post, outside the big doors for the Audience Hall in Canterlot.
Star Dusk had apparently slept in or something, and was coming out for the first time today.
Star Dusk asked a question that stunned Shining Armor.
"Guard, should I be worried about Equestria's leadership remembering again?" She asked.
Star Dusk did not appear to ask this question so as to accuse or press Shining Armor specifically.
Maybe she had a bad dream or something.
Well, Shining Armor suspected that Princess Twilight had her girls back now, but he wouldn't say anything about that.
Still, Shining Armor had a pretty good view of Star Dusk's situation, and so he answered honestly, and with genuine concern... Shining Armor told Star Dusk, the true, most important answer to her question, what he felt she really needed to hear.
"I don't think Equestria's leadership is your real problem, Star Dusk, for you are great."
Star Dusk just looked down. She realized her guard was right... Then she walked slowly back into the Audience Hall...
Shysage and the Summer Twins were heading up the long stairs from the Council Room.
It looked to Shysage like what had happened in the Council Room had somehow 'activated' the inside of the Castle, because there was now plenty of light as they headed up the stairs.
Once outside, Shysage could see the very faint, purple shield around the Castle, extending from the tip of the top Spire, down around the Castle in a perfect Sphere, that no doubt wrapped down around under the Council Room as well.
Shysage mentioned the following.
"Ladies, once we leave the shield, let's keep talking to a minimum.
"Summer, I'm sorry, but I think we will land on the train tracks in the cave near their final approach to the Canterlot Station, and walk from there to the prison cells under the Palace.
"We will then work out getting the Princesses to the circle garden.
"And we will ignore Shining Armor.
"I think Equestria will do the rest."
The flight to Canterlot was quiet, and took less than an hour.
As Shysage had indicated, from the air, they easily located the cave where the train tracks made their final approach to the Canterlot Station.
Summer was not wild about walking this stretch of tracks again, but it had to be done.
Still, they stopped at the small pool off to the right at the end, and drank some water.
Shysage led them, slowly, to the cells under the Palace, and the outside gate was already unlocked.
Once they were inside, the three Princesses let themselves, and the two Twins, out of their cells
Princess Cadance and the two Luna Twins soon walked slowly out the back door, and headed for the circle garden together.
Shining Armor saw them off in the distance, but didn't move, and said nothing.
Shysage's Mare and the two Celestia Twins then left next, and followed the same path to the garden.
Shysage and his mare's Twin followed them.
Shining Armor had seen all of this, but, of course, said nothing, and did nothing.
Shysage and Equestria Girls Summer had followed the Celestia Twins and Shyage's Mare by maybe 75 feet.
The very second that Princess Celestia walked out into the center of that circle of grass...
...Princess Twilight and her eleven girls, and more importantly, the twelve 'Elements of Harmony' were IMMEDIATELY 'called' to positions around the circumference of that circle of grass... Twin next to Twin... They were all there... ...in the blink of an eye...
Shysage was amazed... His Princess, Princess Twilight, had known or suspected this would happen...
In addition, all twelve ponies, along with Equestria's Princesses, Shysage's Mare and the Principal Twins -- the entire circle of grass -- was IMMEDIATELY enclosed in the same purple magic shield that enclosed Princess' Castle...
"Dad, mom's Twin, I want you both in here." Princess Celestia said quietly.
Shysage walked in and sat next to his Mare, and her Twin sat next to her on the other side.
Princess Celestia asked quietly "Princess Twilight, is the 'Group Link' ready, or would you like to check that now?
Princess Twilight responded quietly "Princess, we are one, we are devoted, we are ready."
...
Equestria was ready too...
Even though he knew he was taking a risk, Shining Armor walked over towards the garden, towards Princess Celestia.
Once he was close enough to speak, Princess Celestia said quietly "You have something to report Shining Armor?"
Shining Armor spoke simply and quietly
"Princess, even though what Star Dusk has done is very bad, I honestly think she is a victim, of the power, force, or being that she has assisted. As a result, I think she will require our protection."
"Thank you Shining Armor, you may return to your post" Princess Celestia replied.
Shining Armor headed back to his post, and was maybe half way there...
...and rapidly found out that he had picked a terrible time...
"YOU BETRAYED ME, GUARD!!!" Star Dusk fumed.
Shining Armor replied quietly "Star Dusk, I did not. I never did what you told me not to do, and I always did what you told me to do. And when you asked me questions, I always answered as honestly as I could."
"Well, somepony did..." Star Dusk said sternly...
Then she began to cast the memory spell on Shining Armor.
Shining Armor simply put his head down, and let her finish.
Star Dusk added the Allegiance spell too.
"Star Dusk please come over here so we can talk" Princess Celestia said calmly.
Star Dusk came to within maybe 40 feet of the group, then stopped.
Princess Celestia knew that she really needed to find out the name of the being that Star Dusk had helped, and was helping.
Princess Celestia had no intention of arguing with Star Dusk.
Princess Celestia had already guessed Star Dusk was simply a 'pawn' being used, even before Shining Armor said what he had said.
Still, Princess Celestia was unsure of how to approach this discussion.
Princess Celestia didn't need to worry...
Star Dusk immediately noticed Shysage, very close to Shysage's Mare; she was easily discernable with her slowly healing bruises on her head and face...
"So you are Shysage... How can you justify commandeering the heart and will of a mare like you have?" Star Dusk asked, with a good dose of irritation...
Shysage answered calmly, and without anger at all "Was that not your goal, as well, with that last 'wontonness spell' ?"
This struck a nerve in Star Dusk... "I just wanted a pony to love me..." she almost cried out.
At this, Shysage's Mare began to cry... And it wasn't just a few sniffles either... Shysage's Mare cried for a minute or two. Then, still crying, she tried to speak.
"Star Dusk, you can't just take that... You need to learn to give that first...
"And Shyage hasn't taken anything... I have freely given him everything, and he has just as freely given everything for me and to me...
"You have to learn to give first... But I promise you, that when you give, you will receive far more in return..."
Shysage's Mare just wept softly after saying this...
Star Dusk was sure she was facing a hostile audience. But of all these ponies, compassion and understanding from Shysage's Mare, after all Star Dusk had done to her... Star Dusk could not ignore her words, and was soon weeping softly herself...
"Nopony ever told me that... I'm so sor--" Star Dusk said.
At this point, a barely perceptible glint of Red washed quickly across both of Star Dusk's eyes. Star Dusk's attitude changed immediately.
"No... PONYROS WILL KILL YOU ALL!!!" She yelled.
"Put her to sleep, please" Princess Celestia said.
Less than two seconds later, Shining Armor had accomplished just that. It was a light sleep spell, that actually looked like Star Dusk was sleeping, standing up.
Princess Celestia had Princess Twilight and her girls rotate, so that Princess Twilight could look towards the far edge of the Commons lawn.
The rest of Equestria's three Princesses, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance formed a line, also facing the far edge of the Commons lawn. The three Princesses were maybe 50 feet from Princess Twilight and her girls, in roughly the center of the Commons lawn.
The Realm of Equestria stretched off to the horizon for dozens of miles, past the far edge of the Commons lawn... And Equestria's leadership, gathered here, could easily see that...
...And this was Princess Celestia's exact reason for extending the Commons Lawn to the edge...
...Everypony could see the Realm of Equestria, and the thousands of ponies in it, stretching off into the distance...
...And Equestria was at stake during confrontations like this...
...
Star Dusk was maybe twenty feet back, asleep, and Shining Armor was standing near her.
"Mom, dad, please stand behind Lu and I by maybe 30 feet. And mom, stay a pony, and don't get involved unless you need to." Princess Celestia said softly. "And mom's Twin and the two Principal sisters need to stay inside the magic shield.
"Shining Armor, please enclose Star Dusk in as good a shield as you can." This was quickly done.
Princess Celestia raised her voice, and spoke...
"PonyRos, come forth. We are Equestria, and we choose to remember our past, as the basis for building our future.
"And we resent the fact that you have tricked one of our ponies to accomplish your ends.
"PonyRos, show yourself. Equestria's leadership is ready to face you, right here, right now."
...
After half a minute, both Pinkie Pies said softly, at the same time "Princess, he is here."
PonyRos looked at what would be standing against him at this point. He was surprised to see now 12 'Elements of Harmony', and four Alicorn Princesses.
He could not see the Phantom Alicorn, and he could not have known about the magical amplification supplied by the 'Group Link'...
Still, he thought better of a battle he was unsure he could win.
He growled loudly and fiercely for all to hear "NOT TODAY..."
And PonyRos decided to head for the abyss from where he had come...
But first, he consummated the gesture of a fleeing coward... He used his power to overcome and kill perhaps the weakest pony present... He took Star Dusk's heart, alive and beating, from Star Dusk's chest, as he retreated into his den...
No magic shield could stop PonyRos from taking his end of the deal he had roughly forced on Star Dusk. The day she called for him, he did what most of the stallions she had met, had done... PonyRos jumped into her life, trampled her, then just took what he wanted...
"Princess, he is gone..." both Pinkies said together.
And Star Dusk collapsed to the ground...
...
For the next hour, everypony present cried deeply over Star Dusk. The 'tears of devotion' flowed freely; their tears soaked her body.
There was no anger or animosity towards what Star Dusk had done, even from those in this group that had suffered the most... Equestria stood up for justice, and it was clear that PonyRos was largely to blame...
And for even one ponies' life to end like this was just tragic...
After that hour, everypony was just sitting in a circle around Star Dusk crying...
Princess Celestia said quietly "Princess Twilight, please help Equestria 'remember'..."
Shysage turned himself into a people long enough to pull out the folded piece of paper with the spell details on it, and Princess Twilight took the paper using her magic.
Summer walked over towards her Stallion to turn him back into a pony, then watched him turn himself back into a pony, then she smiled at him, and they rubbed noses briefly, then sat down together.
Princess Twilight and her Twin walked back over to the circular patch of grass, as Princess gave the paper to her Twin to review as well.
"Girls, please come back over here" Princess asked next.
Equestria Girls Summer just walked over next to her Twin, who was next to Shysage, and sat next to them. Neither Summer had an 'Element of Harmony', and so they were not a part of what needed to happen next.
The Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack Twins joined Princess Twilight and her Twin in that small grass circle, and spread themselves around the circumference of it, Twin next to Twin.
"Twilight, once the Group Link is active, we will cast these three spells backwards, starting with the bottom spell on the paper" Princess Twilight directed.
Princess Twilight then sought the Group Link, and it was active immediately.
Princess Twilight and her Twin then cast the same three spells, backwards...
The result was a visible, magical conduit, the same diameter as the circle of the 12 'Elements of Harmony', still slowly rotating above each ponies' head. The outer surface of the conduit was a varying plaid of the six colors of the elements, and it extended up into the sky, much higher than anyone could even see...
Reversing the spells took effect immediately, as the ponies around Canterlot stopped wandering aimlessly, right away.
And the background music mysteriously faded away at this point.
The first six guards who reported to Shining Armor became an Honor Guard standing around Star Dusk's body...
And within fifteen minutes, most of the ponies in Canterlot were on the Commons lawn, surrounding the Princesses, and cheering.
As the spells were reversed, it also looked like a fine, White powder began to fall from the upper atmosphere. Reports later indicated this happened all over Equestria.
It almost looked like snow, and the small White flakes, fell slowly through the atmosphere to the ground over a period of maybe fifteen minutes.
The White stuff didn't disappear when it fell on the grass, but simply coated the grass with a fine coating.
Shysage laughed, and ate some of the grass -- it tasted very good. Later they would find out that ponies all over Equestria made this same discovery.
Still, around Equestria, nopony knew what to call the stuff, and so the most common name recorded later was 'Whatzit', a shortened form of 'What is it?' Well, nopony knew what it was.
An hour later, and what had not been eaten simply melted away and was gone.
Well, of course, the Rainbow Dash Twins had to try a double, reverse, magical Sonic Rainboom again.
It worked.
It wasn't 'blind', but it was very loud, and the rainbow and Purple shock wave radiated rapidly beyond the ends of the Realm.
This seemed to indicate to Equestria that the realm was alive again...
After 'remembering', and enjoying some 'Whatzit', most of Equestria got quickly back to the task of putting their lives, then their families, then their towns back together again.
The primary task was the restoration of the food supply for hungry ponies all over Equestria. Cloudsdale was probably hit the hardest, and most had to fly down to the ground to even survive.
The 'social destruction' that resulted from losing the memory of 'everything important' was pretty complete, but quickly reversed itself once everyponies' memory was restored.
After the second day, maybe, Equestria looked mostly like nothing had ever happened.
Still, there was a price that was paid...
The 'memory spell' that PonyRos had directed, was not nearly as 'deep' as the Zombie spell that Sunset Shimmer had cast on the realm. Generally, mares with foals still cared for them.
However, those mares that had foals within maybe 24 hours of the casting of the memory spell did not. They forgot their foals... Most towns across Equestria lost one or two very young foals as a result, and this was heart-breaking.
The emotional toll of the 'wontonness spell' was considerably greater.
First, the spell 'kicked in' only occasionally, and, when it did, it was frequently triggered by past familiarity. This usually meant that a mare 'under this influence' would usually be after her Stallion. But this was not always the case. A 'visual substitute' could be the target too...
Second, most of the stallions in Equestria rightly ran away when confronted with a mare like this. Avoiding the violation of potentially somepony elses' close relationship was evidently deeply embedded in Equestria's soul.
Still, in most cities, there were 'unplanned' pregnancies.
For the most part, families simply embraced and treasured this added responsibility, and would prove to love each one as their own, regardless of how it happened. Equestria knew the realm itself had been violated, and just picked up and moved on. Ponies are a hardy breed.
Sadly, there were a few relationships for which this proved a 'bridge too far' (for the stallion usually), and some previously deep relationships were painfully fractured, or in some cases, severed. This was heart-breaking too. The mare had absolutely no control over this...
And it soon became clear, that, around the realm, there were a handful of stallions that managed to see through the memory spell, and clearly took advantage of more than one mare in their cities. These stallions were immediately arrested, and would be assisting Equestria with various difficult public works projects for years to come.
With the exception of Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance, this spell thankfully did not otherwise impact Equestria's leadership.
Still, as 'take-overs' go, this particular one was fairly calm. It had been a lot worse in the past, even the recent past...
Star Dusk was interred near the edge of the Commons lawn, closer to the edge from the Circle Garden, along the left side of the Commons. The ceremony was somber, her life and death were just tragic. A stone monument detailing her life and experiences would later be placed over her grave, hopefully as a warning to other ponies...
Forces of evil could not, and should not be trusted...
Among Equestria's leadership, PonyRos' take-over had been the hardest on the Equestria ponies. These precious ladies simply 'forgot' with everypony else. The Group Link among Princess Twilight' girls in the Castle had been amazing, but the Twins still needed some time together.
Besides, as usual it seemed, Canterlot was not really in a position to do any celebration beyond the cheering, grateful crowds in Canterlot earlier that afternoon, after the Sonic Rainboom.
Princess Celestia therefore decreed "Twin Time" for the next day or so, then the Equestria Girls would return through the Portal, late the following afternoon. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would spend time with their Twins too.
It was late in the afternoon, but soon there were four Air Coaches on the Commons lawn. These four Air Coaches took Princess Twilight and her girls back to Ponyville.
Princess Cadance and Shining Armor stayed in Canterlot for now, in order to oversee the recovery of the realm.
Mom, dad, Cel and Lu all hugged tightly together for maybe ten minutes. Still, it was deemed too short, but would have to do for now.
Both Summers and Shysage then left, and flew to Ponyville. It took about an hour, and they arrived at the Castle at dusk. The lights were back on, but the six Twins were all outside, eating what they could find. It would still be a few days before food was again plentiful in Ponyville.
Shysage hugged his Mare tightly, and they rubbed noses, then Shysage sent the Summer Twins to join the rest.
Shysage headed to the meadow off to the East to eat himself. There were a number of other ponies there too, Dawn and Camille included.
Shysage hugged both Dawn and Camille. They appeared to have weathered the storm ok. Even though she forgot most everything else, Dawn still cared for Camille. They never wandered far from their home as a result.
After talking with Dawn some, Shysage just went home, turned into a 'people', and sat on their nice, new couch. After a few minutes, he got up, moved the pillows around, and was laying on his back, with his head up on the pillows.
Just like this, Shysage started to think through his next few 'Canterlot Recorder' tasks.
The first task would be he and Summer's amazing trip to 'Equestria past'.
Before the memory spell kicked in, Shysage had already made good progess on this. It just required a final proof or two, and was then ready. Shysage felt he and his Mare would go through it together at some point soon.
And Shysage still had no idea why he had ended up in Manehatten though; it wasn't related to this task.
Up next would be the Fury Run, but Shysage had already said that Summer and her Twin could help with that. Summer had done a few small, but intense chapters, and he would just add around them. Shysage had no intention of changing her work at all.
Shysage also suspected that PonyRos' take-over would be next after this. Cel had not asked for this yet, but Shysage knew it was just a matter of time. It would need to include sensitive operational details, and Shysage was not sure how he would be told to handle that.
Shysage sighed too... There was no amazing talk or 'scope' records for this... He would have to remember and research it all from scratch, start to finish. He would have to interview a lot too, in order to get the details on Star Dusk right. Still, he and Summer would enjoy doing this together.
It was dark, and Shysage was beat. He had been far too involved personally, with this last take-over. Even saying this sounded so ridiculous to Shysage.
This kind of thing seemed to be happening a lot to Equestria of late... Sunset Shimmer, Tireq, Eschate Zumulus, Furies, and now PonyRos... Would it ever end...
Shysage did not like that Summer was gone, but he knew her Twin and the Fluttershy Twins were good for her. All the girls were. They were all good for each other. They were true friends...
Shysage quickly fell asleep as a 'people' on the couch.
The seven sets of Twins in Princess' Castle were subdued, and spent most of the evening either Soul-Linked or Group Linked in Princess' new Library.
Until Princess Twilight and the Castle had pulled everypony together, it had simply been very hard on everypony; the Equestria Girls, because they saw first hand the results of what was going on, and the Equestria ponies, because they simply forgot with everypony else.
It was also clear that Equestria ponies Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had suffered the most, just because of who they are.
At one point, the Twilights and the Summers linked together with the Fluttershy Twins, and the Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity Twins linked together with the Pinkie Pie Twins. Nopony cared who was with who, this individual attention was just helpful.
Still, disaster had been averted, and Equestria rescued. And the Equestria Ponies all seemed on the road to recovery.
This had been a difficult few days for everypony, and most were soon asleep next to their Twin.
Shysage's Mare and her Twin talked quietly together with the Fluttershys until very late. Sisters and Twins was still so amazing.
Equestria pony Summer then tightly hugged each of the three of them, then walked quickly home.
Summer walked in the door of their home, then closed the door.
She noticed that Shysage was asleep as a 'people' on their couch, and she just looked at him for a few minutes. She loved him so much...
She really had given him everything, and she just didn't know how she could ever live without him. Hopefully she would not ever need to find out. Well, she asked true friend that she never have to find out, too.
Summer changed to a 'people', since he was a people. What she really wanted was some way she could show him, right here and now, just how deeply she loved him.
Her mind searched past a few options, but nothing seemed to fit. Plus, her Twin was in range of the Twin Link, and Summer didn't want to complicate her life. After a few minutes, Summer was sitting on the floor, leaning her back up against the couch, weeping softly...
The next thing Summer knew, Shysage had picked her up, and she was in his lap as he pulled her tightly to himself as he sat on the couch. He was weeping softly too.
Summer just hugged him back tightly.
For a little while, they just cried together, there on the couch.
Shysage was evidently feeling the same way Summer was, and said quietly, while crying "Summer, please don't ever leave me... I don't think I could live without you..."
This just made Summer cry harder.
When Summer heard her Twin crying, through the Twin Link, Summer knew they needed to stop, at least for now.
Summer just told Shysage the truth, because she knew he would understand. "Shysage, my Twin is crying now too, can we save this?"
Shysage kissed Summer, and tried to stop crying. Then he said "Apologize to your amazing Twin for me. I just love you a lot..."
Still, Shysage got up, still holding Summer in his arms, and kissed her again. Then he gently stood her back on the floor.
They both changed back to ponies, and Shysage walked into their room, and was soon on his side, with Summer pulled up to his chest.
Even though they felt like saying more, they said little, and just wept very quietly, and were soon asleep. Shysage was hugging his Mare, and that seemed to be enough for both of them, for now.
When Shysage and Summer awoke in the morning, Summer's Twin was standing in the doorway of their room quietly saying "Wake up, sleepy heads". Both suspected she had said this more than once.
Neither Summer nor Shysage felt threatened or uneasy at all by Summer's Twins presence in their room. There were few secrets between Twins, and Equestria Girls Summer had been an amazing help through some very difficult, even 'personal' times.
Shysage's Mare rolled out, then she and her Stallion both yawned at the same time, realized this, then laughed together... Then they rubbed noses briefly.
"We are all heading to the East meadow for breakfast, and I thought you both might want to come" Equestria Girls Summer said.
Shysage, laying on his belly at this point, said softly "Summer, maybe go have a fun day with your Twin and the sisters while they are all here."
Summer walked over, flopped down on her belly facing Shysage, then gently wrapped her neck up and over his. "Are you sure, Shysage?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, Summer, just give them all a hug for me." Shysage replied.
They rubbed noses again, then Summer got up.
The Summer Twins were soon out the door, and joined the rest of Princess Twilight's girls in the East meadow.
Shysage never did like being alone, but he knew Twin Time was best for his Mare. Well, it was good for all nine sets of Twins.
Shysage put his head down on the floor. It was still warm where he and his Mare had slept. Shysage fell asleep.
Later, Shysage awoke with a start to the sound of his Mare crying.
Shysage got up quickly, and headed into the main room of their house.
Summer and her Twin were already sitting at the 'compy', both as 'people', arm in arm, working on one of Shysage's Canterlot Recorder tasks. Shysage guessed it was the account of the Fury Run, since his Mare was already crying.
Shysage turned into a 'people', then walked up behind his Mare, and put his arms around her neck.
Equestria Girls Summer quickly said "Uhm... Shysage..."
His 'real' Mare turned to look at him, eyes still wet, and he realized his mistake immediately.
Shysage couldn't tell from behind, but if he was more awake, he would have realized that his Mare would not be in front of the 'compy' with Equestria Girls Summer here; Equestria Girls Summer was blazing fast at typing.
Still, there were no hard feelings or subtle concerns with this simple accident. Shysage's Mare already knew about what Shysage had to do to rescue her Twin and Cel. There was also no question in Summer's mind about Shysage's committment to her. He had proven that so many times.
Shysage quickly hugged his Mare, and put his head down gently on her shoulder, next to her face. They both wept softly for a minute ot two.
"Summer, you both really don't need to spend your Twin day doing this..." Shysage said softly.
Shysage's Mare answered honestly "Shysage, I want the people that I love the most around me when I write this account. It will hurt the least that way."
Shysage was not about to argue with his Mare on this. Shysage himself still couldn't even imagine the 'hurting and waiting' Summer had to endure. And he still did not know any of the details.
So he said softly "Summer, where do you want me while you do this, then?"
"As close to me as possible... please..." She almost pleaded, weeping softly again.
Shysage wasn't sure how well the 'scope' cover would hold up, but both Summers were pretty 'petite', and so the three of them managed to sit on the cover together. Equestria Girls Summer was in front of the compy, with Shysage's Mare in the middle.
Shysage thought there should be another chapter before Summer's initial 'first person' chapter. This chapter needed to include more detail about the pressures that Summer and Shysage faced as they were pretty much 'whisked' from the past back to the present.
Shysage supplied most of this content with his Mare's help, and Equestria Girls Summer did the typing, while crying. They used 'first person' for this chapter too, in order to match Summer's chapters.
Well, they all just cried a lot during this whole process.
Some of the details behind this first chapter were somewhat personal, but it was all a part of the account, and Summer's Twin probably knew all this anyway. Still, it was doubtful many others knew about all this when Summer and Shysage first returned.
Both Fluttershy Twins walked in at this point, and the two Fluttershys were quickly standing behind their sisters, as 'people', with their hands on their sister's shoulders.
After the first chapter looked good, they started together through the four chapters Summer had done by herself.
Summer cried a lot, but so did everypony else. Summer stopped a number of times, and buried her head on Shysage's shoulder and just cried there a minute or two. He cried with her.
Shysage cried a lot too. He didn't remember most of this, and couldn't even read any of it previously. This is the first time he had learned what actually happened. And to see what his Mare had to go through... It still tore him up...
Both Fluttershys cried too. Summer's sister stayed with her for those two terrible months. It wasn't easy, but Fluttershy loved her sister. They needed each other.
Overall, they didn't change much of Summer's chapters though.
The sixth chapter covered Shysage getting his memory back, and Shysage and his Mare worked together on the early part of that chapter.
When Shysage actually remembered, hearing Camille cry out, and thinking it was Lu, Shysage took over for the most part. Still, he found the 'first person' aspect a pleasant challenge again.
When Shysage talked through the text where he walked up in front of Summer, she pretty much did the same thing, again.
Summer pushed Shysage off the edge of the 'scope' cover, and she was quickly laying on top of him on the floor, bawling like a baby. She couldn't help it. Shysage cried with her.
Evidently this was one event that had burned itself in her soul... Seeing him again, with his memory, was such an emotionally tumultuous feeling... She was overwhelmed... and again...
Strangely, Twin and the two Fluttershys stayed 'people', even though Summer and Shysage were no longer on the cover. Shysage was pretty sure Summer's Twin was the reason for that.
Once Summer was ready again, they got back to work.
Summer and Shysage had to stop again and cry together, when they got to the part where Cel and Lu ran up... They both loved their girls...
The Twilight Twins were wandering past, and heard their friends voices, and came in at this point. They promptly joined the group, and helped with the next three chapters.
The next chapter covered the day after Shysage got his memory back, which was in the Equestria Girls world. Overall, that day was amazing. Beach days are usually awesome.
Well, Shysage noted mentally, that any day surrounded by Twins was amazing.
The next two chapters covered the following days in Equestria with the Twins.
Working through these three chapters, with everypony helping with the details, it was all just amazing. These three chapters, each came together very quickly and fluidly. And everypony had an amazing time doing this together. There was a lot of laughter.
At one point, Princess Twilight said "Shysage, I thought that your job was boring!" And everypony laughed, including Shysage. It wasn't boring now. And with friends like this...
Still, after these three chapters were finished, the Canterlot Recorder said this task was done. He thanked everypony for their help on it.
The next chapter Shysage and his Mare had to do together, and Shysage had his doubts if Cel would even clear it for printing. That night was amazing for Summer and Shysage, even though punctuated with times helping others.
The group seemed sad the task was done, everypony was really enjoying this, and it was only around noon.
Shysage offered them the opportunity of helping with a final proof of Summer and Shysage's trip to the past, and everypony enthusiastically jumped right in.
Shysage didn't think it would take very long. This proved incorrect.
Shysage helped Equestria Girls Summer pull in the first chapter, and the group went to work.
This account had a far different effect on everypony present.
For one thing, it was just seldom anypony had been so close to such a crucial chain of events in Equestria's early history. That part was both sobering and amazing at the same time.
Shysage loved history, and was thrilled to 'be there' himself at such a crucial time, then being able to record everything...
But more importantly, it was deeply moving for Summer and Shysage (and everypony else) to realize again that their simple decision, at the risk of their own lives, to be 'true friends' and rescue two 'nopony' foals from the brink of death, and literally on 'the spur of the moment'...
It would be a year before they even suspected who these two girls were... Their two beloved Princesses... They just had no way of knowing...
And Summer and Shysage so quickly bonded, and deeply loved them right away, regardless
Then to just watch all that align with past promises, and present needs as the King got his 'appointed ones' back, and the nation was pulled together...
Nopony could take credit for any of that...
And with tears in her eyes, Summer again thanked everypony else present... Time spent with Princess Twilight and her girls really had prepared both Summer and Shysage for what they did.
Also, Summer and Shysage both had to stop and cry for a while when they got to the chapter about Summer and Shysage coming back through the Portal to the present...
Both were hurting a lot at having to leave 'their girls' behind, but on their return, Cel and Lu were both present... And the process of Cel and Lu 'remembering' their mom and dad, 1,300 years later, drew gut-wrenching cries from both Summer and Shysage, again...
Even so, after maybe two hours, the account was proofed and ready.
The group decided to call the account 'Follow the Equestrium', even though those three stars disappeared once Summer and Shysage were close to 'Coptol'; i.e. very early on in the account.
The point was that the pursuit of what was best for Equestria seemed to be a repeating theme throughout the events covered. And it really seemed like Equestria was in charge, even at this early stage.
It would soon be time for Air Coach rides to the Portal room, so Princess Twilight and the rest headed to the Castle at this point.
Princess Twilight used her magic to carry the large stack of papers for 'Follow the Equestrium', and put them in the library for the Courier to pick up. Shysage just hoped they didn't blow away.
Again, to save some time, Shysage and the two Summers offered to fly to the balcony of the Portal room, and Princess Twilight said that was fine. They still had three or four hours until it started to get dark.
Just like they had done yesterday, the three of them flew maybe half way there, then stopped to rest and have a snack. Then they flew the rest of the way to the Portal room balcony. Everypony was much more relaxed today.
They landed inside, and just waited for the others.
The two Summers were Soul-Linked most of that time.
A little before dark, the rest of the Twins started into the Portal room. The Summers came out of the link, and joined everypony else.
Still, it seemed to Shysage like something was going on, but he just wasn't sure, and didn't feel confident enough to say anything.
The Principal Twins had evidently already gone through the Portal, but Princess Twilight and her girls started through, and as usual, Equestria Girls Summer, then Shysage and his Mare went.
Everypony was soon in the Equestria Girls world for 'too short' good-bys.
Maybe an hour later, Princess Twilight started sending the Equestria ponies back through the Portal to Equestria.
The Summers and Fluttershys had been talking together most of that time, and everypony hugged everypony, then Equestria pony Fluttershy went through the Portal.
Princess asked Summer an Shysage to follow her through. Shysage hugged the Equestria Girls sisters, then he and his Mare went through the Portal.
Still, something seemed different with Summer's Twin. Shysage just didn't know.
Shysage and Summer went through the Portal together, and were soon back in Equestria.
Near dusk, Air Coaches brought eight tired ponies back to Ponyville. Everypony hugged, then wandered off to their homes.
After some long but enjoyable Twin Time, Summer and Shysage headed to their house for the night.
The Sun was behind the tops of the trees, but still, they decided to head to the meadow East of town, and they ate together, and drank some water at the lake.
It was almost dark, but Shysage noticed the faint glow of a rising moon off to the East. Shysage thought that this might prove handy tonight.
Shysage and his Mare were soon back in their house.
Shysage walked into their room, and lay on his side, and his Mare climbed up under his front legs, and he pulled her to his chest. This was 'home' for Summer. Summer sighed as Shysage did this, and that was all he needed to hear.
The past week especially had been rough, and they were both glad to be home... And together... And alone...
"Shysage, I love you..." Summer said softly.
"Oh, Summer..." Shysage answered.
They were both soon asleep.
Shysage awoke a few hours later. This was good.
Summer had rolled, in her sleep, out from under his legs, and over on her other side. She was still asleep.
This happened at times, and was never cause for concern. Tonight, it would make things easier, Shysage realized.
Still, he looked lovingly at his Mare for a few minutes. She was very beautiful, and he loved her so much... She looked so peaceful, sleeping there, and Shysage silently thanked true friend she wasn't alone in a jail cell any more.
Shysage quietly turned himself into a 'people', stood up, moved, then sat on the floor next to Summer's back.
Without making a sound, Shysage slowly slipped his closest hand, out flat, carefully and gently, deep under Summer's exposed wing.
Pegasi seldom, if ever, get touched here. It just wasn't usually possible. And Shysage guessed that no Pegasus in Equestria had ever felt a 'people' hand touch them there either.
Shysage was always looking for new and different ways to show his Mare he cared. This was an amazing experiment.
Summer didn't immediately wake up. But she pulled her wing a little more tightly down over Shysage's hand, then sighed quietly in her sleep. That was reward enough.
Leaving his hand there, after a minute maybe, Shysage bent over slowly and kissed his Mare on the forehead.
Summer didn't open her eyes, but said softly and slowly "Shysage, you are so good to me... I don't deserve you... But please don't ever leave me..."
Shysage then just gently rubbed her coat under her wing with his hand.
"Oh, Shysage... That... feels... wonderful... Don't stop..." Summer said softly.
He doubted this was 'arousing' at all, but decided to ask.
"Summer is this just very relaxing, like when I brush your hair? Or does it create more desires?" Shysage asked, trying to be careful. Well, he did have a goal in mind.
"Shysage, I don't know... It feels amazing... And you are the only pony that has ever touched me there... And now I don't ever want anypony else to touch me there either..." Summer said slowly and softly.
Summer was quiet for a few minutes, as Shysage softly rubbed her coat under her wing.
"Ok, now I want more..." She said quietly, and smiled.
That was Shysage's cue. He gently pulled his hand out from under Summer's wing, changed himself back to a pony, then sat up.
Summer was soon sitting, facing him, and they rubbed noses a little while.
Shysage slowly licked Summer's nose, then quickly walked outside. As he had suspected, a three-quarters Moon supplied plenty of soft moonlight.
Shysage bowed on his knees, then slowly opened his wings fully, and rotated the tops of his wings towards his Mare.
Summer did the same, and they rubbed noses briefly.
Summer licked Shysage's nose, then ran quickly off to the East...
...Then almost just as quickly stopped immediately, and pulled her wings in...
Shysage saw as well, and pulled his wings in and stopped next to his Mare.
Maybe a third of the way across the meadow from them, Princess Twilight was sitting still, facing away from them... They both easily saw her in the moonlight.
Summer and Shysage slowly and quietly walked up to her, and they headed to opposite sides of their Princess.
When they got close, they realized Princess Twilight was crying...
Summer and Shysage sat on both sides of her, and they both simply put one of their front legs around Princess' neck and hugged their Princess tightly.
Her crying didn't stop... It was as if she knew who was hugging her right now, and she either wanted or needed them close... So Summer and Shysage just cried with her. Summer and Shysage both loved their Princess...
Over the process of maybe an hour, Princess cried pretty loudly, then her crying slowed... Princess Twilight tried to explain...
"Every time something happens like this... I feel so vulnerable... I... I can't keep doing this alo--"
Princess just cried some more, as Summer and Shysage cried with her...
Both Summer and Shysage clearly knew what Princess Twilight was feeling.
Summer herself had accomplished a lot, and was very powerful as a Phantom Alicorn. But she and Shysage both knew Summer needed her Stallion... Shysage was her strength, he was the one that needed to take care of her... That's just the way it had worked out...
Strength and weakness, so often paired together...
Shysage was also pretty sure that his Princess was pretty sensitive herself; she had some 'Fluttershy' in her, and so might be feeling this a little more, maybe...
Summer and Shysage also knew that all they could do to help right now, was just to 'be here' for their Princess. Friendship's Magic would help Princess be able to move on, for now anyway.
Summer and Shysage cried with their Princess for maybe two more hours. She said nothing during that time. She just cried...
Maybe half an hour into that two hours, Fluttershy joined them, and just cried with them. During the next hour, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, then Applejack also joined the group, and they all just cried together with their Princess.
Shysage had no idea how Princess Twilight's girls knew when and where to come. It was the middle of the night... But he did know that Princess' girls were her strength, in many ways.
And Shysage knew Friendship is Magic...
After those two hours, Princess Twilight calmed down, and everypony just hugged tightly together for maybe half an hour.
Then they all walked around Ponyville together for a few more hours. They talked together, they cried together, they laughed together. They just enjoyed being together.
By the time the Sun began to brighten the eastern sky, their Princess was mostly 'back to normal'; Princess Twilight was with her girls. She had really needed them.
Still, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow headed of to start their days.
Summer, Fluttershy and Shysage walked Princess to the entrance of her amazing Castle.
Shysage spoke up briefly, but also somewhat cautiously.
"Princess, please understand me here... Summer and I are happy with where we live, but if it would be helpful for us to stay with you, just let us know. I don't think Cel is happy with our 'accommodations', but we are not pushing that at all.
"Still, Summer and I love you a lot, and are willing to help you any way we can."
"That isn't a bad idea, I'll keep that in mind" Princess replied. "But I really appreciate both of you staying close to me when I needed you. I almost got you up..."
"Princess, please don't hesitate next time" Summer said softly.
They all hugged together for a few minutes, then Princess Twilight headed inside her amazing Castle.
"Shysage, can I borrow my sister for a while?" Fluttershy asked timidly.
Shysage hugged Fluttershy, then said "Sis, you can have her anytime you want, I just would like her back at some point." Then Shysage smiled.
Shysage hugged his Mare tightly for a minute, then rubbed her nose briefly, and the sisters headed off to Fluttershy's cottage. They were talking together right away.
Shysage sighed, and reminded himself 'True friendship means putting others first'...
"I'll try again tonight, maybe" Shysage said to himself.
There was plenty of writing waiting for the Canterlot Recorder at home...
Shysage knew the record of PonyRos' takeover would be tough. He spent all morning, and only had a bare outline for the events, based simply on what he remembered.
And Shysage really had no clue where to start with his research on Star Dusk. Well, Princess Twilight vaguely remembered her, and suggested Shysage talk to Zecora.
Most of the Unicorns that had spent any time in Ponyville usually spent some time with this talented, magical Zebra. This interview was on his list now, anyway.
Shysage realized that he would probably need to talk extensively with Shining Armor about the events early on. That interview was on his list now, too.
This account would be slow and hard...
At about noon, Fluttershy and Summer came in the door of the Canterlot Recorder's house.
Shysage closed everything, and turned the 'compy' off, then got up and hugged both of them.
It was clear they had both been crying quite a bit.
"Summer, please tell me what is hurting you both so..." Shysage asked quietly.
Summer and Fluttershy both started weeping softly...
"My Twin is really hurting again..." This was all Summer could say.
Shysage hugged both sisters as they wept softly.
While hugging these two amazing mares, Shysage felt through some options. He was a 'Fluttershy' too...
The 'rape' issue had been dealt with. It probably wasn't that.
...
Shysage just sighed...
Hurting and waiting...
Well, he knew what to do, anyway...
...
"Summer, can we fly to the Portal together? I need to talk to your Twin. And Fluttershy, if we go slowly, I would like for you to come too, if that's ok." Both mares immediately smiled...
And Shysage almost started crying bacause of that...
The three of them headed off to Princess Twilight's Castle. Once inside, they found her in the Library, of course.
All three bowed, then quickly hugged Princess Twilight tightly one at a time. They all loved their Princess.
"Princess, we just want you to know, the three of us are heading to the Portal to go see Summer's Twin. I hope that is ok." Shysage asked.
Princess responded "Well, if everypony stays with you, that's fine. Would you like me to send for an Air Coach?"
"No, Princess, I think this will be a leisurely trip, and we will just have fun flying together on our way there, but thanks though" Shysage replied.
"Aww, I wish I could come..." Princess Twilight said softly and immediately...
Shysage paused a minute.
"Well, actually, Princess, you can, if you want, it's really up to you. We won't be staying in the Equestria Girls world very long though." Shysage said.
"Let me tell Spike..." Princess Twilight said quickly.
The rest just smiled.
The trip to the Crystal Palace, to the Portal was slow, and took until late in the afternoon. They had to stop maybe four times to rest. They all were flying slowly for Fluttershy's sake, but still, she did very well. This was probably the longest trip Fluttershy had ever flown.
This was to be a leisurely trip, so nopony complained. Nopony would have complained anyway, they all just enjoyed being together.
They landed on the broad avenue next to the Crystal Palace. Shysage didn't want to try to have Fluttershy land on the small balcony of the Portal room.
They walked through the entrance of the Palace, and immediately ran into Shining Armor. Princess Twilight immediately hugged her brother, and they talked briefly. Then Shysage discussed an interview at some point, about the early days of PonyRos' takeover. Then they were on their way up to the Portal room.
The four of them were soon in the Equestria Girls world, and it looked like it was morning there.
From the Portal wall, they walked around to the Soccer field, guessing Rainbow Dash would be there, playing Soccer.
As soon as she saw her Princess, Rainbow Dash immediately bolted across the grass to her, and bowed, then got a big hug from everypony present.
Princess Twilight immediately asked Rainbow to 'text' her Twin to meet them at Fluttershys, which Rainbow quickly did.
"What brings you ponies here?" Rainbow asked.
"I think Summer and I are going to drag her Twin off on a vacation of sorts. And some amazing friends just couldn't keep away. We won't be here long though." Shysage said slowly.
Rainbow then said "Hang on a minute, I'll be right back."
Rainbow ran across the field, talked to another girl for maybe five minutes, then quickly ran back.
"I wouldn't miss time with you ponies for anything" Rainbow said with a smile.
They all walked slowly over to Fluttershy's apartment. Once they crossed the road, and were in the grass in front of the apartment, ALL the rest of the Equestria Girls spilled out the door of Fluttershy's apartment, and everypony bowed to Princess Twilight again, right there.
Princess had them all up quickly, and just took her time hugging everypony.
Of course, the Summers and the Fluttershys were hugging together now too, maybe weeping softly. Shysage couldn't really tell.
Shysage actually felt bad now... He should have brought everypony else anyway... Even though it had only been a few days maybe since they parted last...
It was too late now... Or was it...
Once Princess was done hugging everypony, Shysage called she and her Twin aside.
"Princess, I feel bad now. I really should have seen this, and brought everypony along... I suppose we could take everypony back, but I don't know. This is all really up to you I think."
Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle said simply "It's Friday. I think everypony can come for a day or two."
"Everypony please come here a minute" Princess Twilight said.
Once everyone was gathered and quiet, Princess said slowly "I know this is a 'spur of the moment' thing, but Equestria would like to invite you all to Equestria for a day or two.
"We can wait if any of you have obligations here, though. And we really want to avoid anypony feeling left out, or like they are missing out, if you need to stay for some reason.
"So, I need to hear from you amazing ladies. Will this work?"
Rarity mentioned her projects could easily wait until next week.
Equestria Girls Applejack and Pinkie Pie both said "Just a minute", then got out their 'cells', and probably sent a text message off, then waited.
Rainbow Dash said nothing, and had a huge smile on her face. Shysage guessed she had texted more than just Twilight Sparkle, and was actually hoping for this.
Everypony just talked quietly together for a few minutes.
Applejack said first "Big Mac said it's fine, we can finish the south orchard next week."
Pinkie Pie said, a little more bubbly "Mr. Cake can get a sub -- Let's go to Equestria!!!"
And it was settled. Some amazing ponies in Ponyville were in for a big surprise.
Everypony left their stuff in Fluttershy's apartment, then the group headed back to the Portal.
Summer and Shysage went last, and everypony was soon in Equestria.
Once everypony was back in Equestria, they again bowed to Princess Twilight. They just got into the habit of doing this now. Princess again brought them up quickly.
"Shysage, can you please go find Princess Cadance or Shining Armor? I think I would get lost if I tried..." Princess Twilight asked.
Princess Cadance was close, and Shysage asked her to come to the Portal room. Princess Cadance came in, and hugged Princess Twilight tightly.
"Princess, the two Summers and I are headed to Canterlot" Shysage said, anticipating what was coming.
"Thats fine Shysage. Princess Cadance, I think we need some Air Coaches" Princess Twilight said with a smile.
Shysage and the Summer Twins hugged the Fluttershy Twins tightly.
Both Summers had been very quiet, and stayed close together since they had arrived in the Equestria Girls world. Shysage could tell his Mare's Twin was really hurting...
Both Summers and Shysage hugged their Princess, then headed to the Balcony, and were soon on their way, flying to Canterlot.
This was to be a relaxing trip Shysage said, so they just took their time and flew calmly, and enjoyed the view together, as best as they could anyway.
It took maybe one and a half hours to fly to Canterlot, and of course, they needed to stop by and hug Cel and Lu.
They were all soon enjoying a nice dinner in the Princess' Annex with Cel and Lu, and realized they should probably spend the night there. Evidently Cel and Lu were already making preparations for such visits, and had added two new guest rooms near the large bedrooms they normally slept in.
Shysage said calmly that he and the Summers would all sleep in the same room, probably together, and on the floor. Shysage suspected being alone would be very hard for Twin right now. Shysage got a hug from his Mare for this.
As soon as dinner was done, mom hugged both Cel and Lu tightly for a few minutes, then asked which room was theirs. The Summers disappeared inside, and Shysage was pretty sure they were probably Soul-Linking to try to help Summer's Twin...
Shysage noticed the matching 'royal Red' couch in the 'sitting room', and then briefly explained that Summer's Twin was hurting, and so mom was hurting too. Both Cel and Lu had Twins now, so they immediately understood.
Still, Shysage hugged his girls tightly for a while, then he headed for the same room.
He was right, they were Soul-Linked, and weeping together.
Shysage was on his belly near them, and quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow would be a tough day...
The Summer Twins probably slept little, and both looked like it had been a terrible night.
They ate breakfast with Cel and Lu early the next morning. Evidently, Cel had a busy day ahead, and the family knew Lu needed some sleep.
Still, both amazing Princesses group hugged with Shysage, mom and her Twin, and cried with Twin a few minutes.
Shysage asked if Cel had a map of the realm, and of course she did. Shysage said he wanted to head to Manehatten, but wanted to get a better idea how they should find it.
Cel offered and Air Coach ride, but Shysage said they were taking a liesurely flying trip, and just finding their next destination would be fine.
Lu mentioned that a large river flowed past the city. All they needed to do was fly East, then follow the first large river they found, and they would find Manehatten.
Shysage and the Summer Twins were soon on their way. After flying about 2 hours, they stopped for a rest, a snack, and some water.
Ordinarily Shysage would have hugged and kissed his Mare some. His Mare was tending to her hurting Twin. That was all that mattered.
They took to the air again, and soon found the river. At this point, they could also see the city off in the distance. They just followed the river until they got much closer.
Shysage asked that they follow him, and that he would find a nice place to stop.
Shysage led them down along the 'inland' edge of the city. About halfway down, Shysage found a large, lone Oak tree maybe half a mile outside the edge of the City. He headed for that tree. Then they all landed, then sat down.
Equestria Girls Summer could conceal her pain no longer, and was crying openly... It was clear to Shysage she was hurting a lot...
Shysage's Mare said quietly to Shysage "Stallion, my Twin is hurting a lot, and it is rapidly getting worse... I'm not sure this is the best time to--"
...
...
...
Another stallion walked quickly towards the 3 ponies at that point.
Once this stallion got close, he walked very slow, then stopped, maybe ten feet away, and sat down. He looked completely amazed too...
...
...
...
Equestria Girls Summer Rain recognized this stallion instantly, froze, then burst into tears, and was just sobbing... She was almost hysterical...
Equestria pony Summer was absolutely shocked...
...
...
...
...
It was Shysage's Twin... It was Equestria pony Shysage...
...
...
...
Shysage's Mare just sighed to herself, and began to cry... She should never have doubted her Stallion.
Her Twin, Equestria Girls Summer had been exposed to a lot of the details of Summer and Shysage's relationship; she was Summer's Twin, and there were no secrets between Twins. Summer and Shysage did go out of their way to 'be careful' about this.
And Equestria Girls Summer had made it clear a few times, that she was waiting for Shysage to find his Twin...
But what Equestria Girls Summer had to endure during PonyRos' takeover, the 'wontonness spell' kicking in on her, Summer and Princess Celestia, along with the prospect of Shysage having to 'take care' of her Twin before her very eyes... Equestria Girls Summer was just exposed to far more than she could take... She was overwhelmed with the feelings she had to carry inside...
As Equestria Girls Summer had proceeded rapidly to the emotional 'boiling point' over the last few days, Equestria pony Summer's amazing Stallion had, the whole time, been leading them to the one, single stallion... the ONLY stallion in all of Equestria, that could, and would take care of her hurting Twin, and quickly erase all of this...
Shysage's Mare said quietly to Shysage "Stallion, my Twin is hurting a lot, and it is rapidly getting worse... I'm not sure this is the best time to--"
...
Another stallion walked quickly towards the 3 ponies at that point.
Once this stallion got close, he walked very slowly, then stopped, maybe ten feet away, and sat down. He looked completely amazed too, and very bewildered...
...
Equestria Girls Summer Rain recognized this stallion instantly, froze, then burst into tears, and was just sobbing... She was almost hysterical...
Equestria pony Summer was absolutely shocked...
...
...
...
...
It was Shysage's Twin... It was Equestria pony Shysage...
...
...
...
...
Shysage moved quickly and sat right in front of him... They both put one of their front legs around the other's neck at the same time, hugged each other tightly, and began to cry softly. Their 'Soul Link' aura was light Brown.
...
...
...
They both sifted through the other's lives, but Equestria Girls Shysage was quickly after very specific information.
He wanted to make sure his Twin wasn't a creep. Summer's Twin didn't deserve that.
But Shysage quickly found that he was not. His Twin was just as sensitive as he was, and carried the same sea of pain from a self-consumed mare, and a family that just took what they wanted from him and walked off. His Mare had died very recently. Otherwise, they were nearly identical.
...
...
...
Both sobbing now, the Summer Twins 'Soul-Linked' right next to them, with Shysage's Mare next to him.
Shysage just brought his other leg next to his Mare's leg, wrapped it around her's, and the Summer Twins joined the link. All four were linked together...
...
...
...
...They weren't linked very long though, and both Shysages broke the link at exactly the same time, turned away, and began to sob violently... ...at the same time... ...in exactly the same way...
Every single time that Equestria Girls Shysage saw his amazing Mare from the inside... The result was the same... He knew that he simply did not deserve this amazing Mare, with whom he had been through so much...
Equestria pony Shysage saw the most beautiful mare he had EVER seen, but both on the INSIDE as well as the outside... She was far more amazing than he even thought possible... And he realized he had nothing to offer... He was worse than 'damaged goods' -- he was completely shattered inside... And he was older than she, surely she would want better... He just didn't deserve her. He doubted she would even be interested...
Both Shysages said together, while crying, in the same way, at the same time, quietly "I don't deserve you..."
...
Both Summers were already crying gut-wrenching sobs, at the same time... ...in the same way...
Equestria Girls Summer realized that she could easily look the rest of her life, and NEVER find a stallion as sensitive and caring as the one she was facing... Even though shattered, he had just continued to give... She was awestruck...
Equestria pony Summer already knew this treasure she had somehow found... Even though shattered, he had just continued to give... ...for years... She was still awestruck...
Though their tears, both Summers pleaded, the exact same way, at the exact same time...
"Shysage... I want you... Please..."
...
Both stallions heard this from the mare behind each of them... Their crying slowed, but they were still crying... the same way, at the same time...
Equestria pony Shysage had known all along how to have an amazing family. His mare had fixed that, and fixed it good... She was gone now though, and he often dreamed of starting over, and doing it 'right'... Then he would wake up -- he didn't think he had that many years left, even if...
Equestria Girls Shysage knew age wasn't an issue, not any more. But he still carried 'obligations' from his home world... He had managed to find a way to take care of his Mare in Equestria, but still... He felt like he had a 'ball and chain' around his neck, and no way to remove it, and no end in sight...
While crying, both Shysages said together, slowly
"But I have nothing left..."
...
Both Summer's crying slowed. They didn't stop crying, but they weren't crying as hard.
Both Summers, together, knew exactly what to say...
They said it quietly, softly, while trying not to cry...
"Shysage, that's because you need me... ...and I need you..."
...
Both Shysages stopped crying immediately, at exactly the same time, then turned around, and sat facing the mare now facing them...
Equestria Girls Shysage looked into his Mare's eyes... He couldn't look away...
Equestria pony Shysage realized that the mare sitting facing him had said all that he had heard... ...to him... And even now, she was looking straight into his eyes, into his soul, it seemed... He couldn't look away...
...
Both Summers reached their head forward, and gently rubbed the nose of the Shysage facing them...
Both Summers then said softly and quietly, at the same time "Shysage... I want you... I need you... I don't ever want to leave you... And I don't ever want you to leave me..."
...
Both Shysages moved forward, close enough to hug the Summer facing them, and were soon crying deeply again on her shoulders.
Well, at this point, each Summer and each Shysage were crying on each other's shoulders... ...at exactly the same time... ...in exactly the same way...
Everypony cried on each other's shoulders for maybe half an hour.
Then it was quiet, and both Shysages pulled gently away from both Summers.
...
Equestria pony Shysage quietly asked the mare facing him "Summer? Are you sure about this?"
Equestria Girls Summer simply collapsed into tears on his shoulder.
Equestria pony Shysage just hugged her tightly.
Equestria pony Shysage then said to his Twin "I don't know where you found this angel, but thanks."
Equestria Girls Shysage said pointedly "Well, see that you take good care of her, she is priceless... ...She has been nothing less than a true friend to both my Mare and myself."
Equestria pony Shysage gently lifted Equestria Girls Summer's head, and looked into her amazing blue eyes, and began to cry... ...then he said softly "I don't think... ...I don't think I can NOT take care of her..." Then he wept on her shoulders...
Shysage's Mare looked lovingly into Shysage's eyes at that point; at least she realized that what one said, was generally true for both of them. Her Stallion began to cry himself, and simply said "I'm sorry... I just care deeply for both of these amazing mares..." Then he wept on his Mare's shoulders...
...
Shysage's Mare knew what needed to happen next. She called her Twin over under the oak tree, and they sat on opposite sides. Of course their Shysages were quickly sitting facing them.
Both Summers said softly "Shysage, I am deeply sorry that your family has left such pain inside you..."
This simple question broke the dam open... Both Shysages burst into tears, and fell to the ground, and curled up into a ball, feeling a sea of senseless, auguring pain, and just cried...
Both Summers simply laid on their bellies, slid their front feet under their Shysage's head, wrapped their neck over their Shysage's neck, and just cried with them.
This made both Shysage's cry harder...
...but both Summers were 'bleeding down' the sea of pain both Shysages carried...
Shysage's Mare knew she could do this. It was time...
It took over six hours... This time anyway...
...
At exactly the same time, both Shysages' crying trailed off.
Then they both sighed, at the same time.
Then both Shysages looked up at the mare that cried with them, and said softly "I love you..."
At this, both mares began to cry, and cried a while.
Then everypony got up, and both Shysages were sitting next to their Summers.
It was early evening...
Equestria Girls Shysage said to his Twin "Twin, do you have things here that require your attention?"
Equestria pony Shysage answered back quietly "I have been living in a shack on the back of somepony elses' home. My mare died two weeks before we all 'forgot', and my kids ignore me. I have nothing left here. I could easily walk away and never come back, and nopony would notice or care."
This sounded all too familiar to Equestria Girls Shysage...
Equestria Girls Summer hugged Equestria pony Shysage at this point, and rubbed his nose with hers. "You can come with me..."
Equestria pony Shysage replied softly and slowly "That... ...would be amazing..."
It was quiet for a minute, then Equestria Girls Shysage said "Well, we really have nowhere we can go this late, so I'm thinking we will just stay here. You both just stay at this tree, and we will find another one close, but outside of Twin Link range. In the morning, just stay here, and we will come get you."
Shysage and his Mare were soon laying on their bellies next to each other under a similar Oak tree, maybe a mile away from their Twins.
Shysage spoke quietly "I want to ask if you think my Twin will be good for your Twin. But I already know what the answer should be. I just hope it is."
Summer replied softly "Shysage, I know you are amazing for me."
It was quiet for a minute.
"Summer, how is your Twin doing now? Do you know?" Shysage asked quietly.
"Shysage, she is ecstatic... I should trust my Stallion to take care of us. All along, you were taking us to the only pony--" Summer got this much out, then was crying loudly again...
Shysage rolled over on his side, then gently pulled his crying Mare up against his chest, then he just cried with her.
Summer's crying soon trailed off, and it was quiet a few minutes.
Shysage mentioned softly "I hope they don't have a foal right away. I know we really struggle with that..."
"Well Shysage, I think my Twin has been 'taking notes', so maybe they will be ok" Summer said this, then laughed a little.
"And by the way, she knows that 'just feeling amazing' is not what she needed, she realized her stallion was really what she needed."
Shysage added "Still, I just hope your Twin realizes the difference between my Twin and I. I am from Equestria, so my physical responses here are muted. My Twin grew up here, and so his physical responses here will be much more pronounced. But, if they end up in the Equestria Girls world, things may be slower for him, so I don't know."
Summer became a little more serious and said "Well, my Twin is very attached to her parents, and so I think they will try to do things right for the Equestria Girls world, and I can't see them living here anyway, at least short term."
"I'm concerned for her sister, too..." Shysage said quietly.
"I know, there will need to be some adjustments. We will need to watch how they work that out." Summer replied. "Still, you give Fluttershy and I a lot of freedom, and that really helps. Maybe they will work something similar out."
It was quiet again for a few minutes.
"Summer, what do you think they are doing right now?" Shysage asked quietly.
Summer thought a minute then began "Well, my Twin knows why we sleep like this, and so they are probably laying just like we are.
"Still, they are probably just hugging and weeping softly together, at having found somepony so... ...absolutely... ...amazing..."
Well Shysage and his Mare were now hugging and weeping softly together too...
Shysage and his Mare woke up just like they went to sleep, and Shysage pulled his Mare close. Her soft sigh was all he needed to hear.
After a few minutes, they got up, and rubbed noses a few minutes.
Then they both headed for their Twins.
They had just gotten within 'Twin Link' range, when they both heard Equestria Girls Summer Rain say softly to Equestria Pony Shysage "Just being here with you... This is like heaven for me..."
Shysage's Mare heard this, then fell to the ground crying... She felt that way too... Shysage just hugged her tightly for a little while.
Well, Equestria Girls Summer heard her Twin crying, and she was soon crying too...
Both Shysages thought that this might be a complicated day. Neither complained though.
Soon, everypony calmed down, and Shysage and his mare joined both of their Twins.
First thing, Equestria Girls Summer hugged Equestria Girls Shysage, and was soon crying on his shoulders... She kept saying "Thank you... Thank you..."
Equestria Girls Shysage gently moved her legs over to his Twin, and let her cry there. Shysage appreciated the sentiment, but on Equestria pony Shysage's shoulders was where she belonged.
In a little while, they wandered until they found some Oats and ate some. Then they walked to the river, and had a drink.
Equestria Girls Shysage asked quietly "Twin, are you a very strong flyer? I think Canterlot is our next stop"
Twin replied "Well, I won't brag, but I have tried to stay in shape. I think I will be fine. We can stop for a breather if we need to."
Equestria Girls Shysage said back quickly "Well, get used to it, the rest of us love to fly."
Equestria pony Shysage smiled, then asked his Twin "Did I ever say I didn't love flying?"
Everypony laughed.
Then they all took to the air and headed for Canterlot.
They did stop once for a 'breather', then were back on their way.
A little before noon, Equestria Girls Shysage led them to a meadow part way up the 'stepped muntain' that was maybe two miles from Canterlot.
Then he said "You two stay here for now. Summer and I will run an errand, then come back for you."
Shysage and his Mare flew quickly off. It didn't look like their Twins minded in the slightest. Shysage and his Mare both remembered that feeling.
A little while after the 'Twin Link' ceased, Summer asked "Shysage, why did we leave them there?"
Shysage was a little apologetic "I don't want to overwhelm my Twin, I don't know. Cel and Lu are very busy, and I don't want to just drag him in. Besides, I feel funny that even we may be 'barging in' on their day..."
"Well, I think it would have been fine, though. Your Twin needs to meet everypony sooner or later" Summer said softly.
Shysage sighed. "You are probably right..."
Still, they were soon at the large doors leading to the Audience Hall in Canterlot.
They were quickly inside, and told one of the officials they wanted to see the Princess. He took their names, then walked up to the bottom of the steps to the raised platform and waited.
Princess Celestia was involved in a discussion with two distinguished looking stallions. After a few minutes, their business was concluded, and they descended the stairs, and walked past Summer and Shysage and out the doors.
Princess Celestia walked quickly past the official, dismissing him on the way, then up to mom and dad, and quickly hugged both tightly. Lu joined them too, and for a few minutes, they all hugged together, right there.
After ten minutes maybe, Cel looked around, then said "Where is mom's Twin?"
Shysage sighed, then said quietly "With my Twin..."
Both Cal and Lu gasped, then broke into a huge smile.
"So mom's Twin is fine once again..." Lu said with a smile.
Summer (mom) hugged dad tightly, then said "Yes, she is."
"Well, where are they?" Cel said excitedly "Show them in!"
Shysage sighed again, then said "Well, we left them in a meadow nearby. We didn't want to--"
"Dad!" Cel said loudly, with a hint of dismay.
"Sister" Lu said softly. "Remember, dad is new to this."
Cel said "Ah yes, of course."
Lu said quietly "Dad, Twins are family. We want to see them." Then Lu smiled at dad.
Well, Summer smiled at Shysage too...
"Well, we can fly there, it isn't far. But first, I think we need to have a brief discussion" Shysage said quietly.
Princess Celestia led them all up to the top of the steps, then they all sat down on the raised platform in the Audience Hall where Princess business is normally conducted.
Shysage sighed again. "Cel, I... I had Shining Armor take Princess Cadance through the Portal, in order for him to be able to rescue his Mare from the spells. They don't know yet that they will not age though."
Cel thought for a minute, then answered quietly "Well, this is probably ok. The Crystal Empire will probably benefit from long-lived leaders. I appreciate this information however."
Shysage continued "Getting in 'Twin Link' range of my Twin in Manehatten actually knocked the memory spell off of me in the first place, allowing me to work on rescuing you and mom..."
Summer, Cel and Lu all gasped at this.
Shysage just continued "But it was clear that mom's Twin needed him. Still, my Twin will probably end up through the Portal at some point too..."
Cel was thinking for a minute.
Lu said quietly "Mom, your Twin's inner turmoil was a result of her involvement in PonyRos' takeover, correct?"
Summer answered honestly "Mostly, yes."
Lu then added "Well, we can't hardly fault dad for trying to help her then."
Cel then spoke "Well, dad I see where you are going with this, though. While we need to be careful, I don't think any of this creates a problem short-term, anyway. But thanks for letting us know."
It was quiet for a minute, then Lu said "Dad, I want to meet your Twin."
The four of them quickly walked out the door, and were soon in the air, as Shysage led them to the meadow where he and mom's Twins were.
As soon as the Twin Link was active again, Equestria Girls Summer said quickly to Equestria pony Shysage "Did anyone tell you that our Twins know Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"
Equestria pony Shysage immediately got this really worried look on his face, then said "No, why?"
Equestria Girls Summer smiled, and said "Because they are on their way here...
Within minutes, the four of them had landed near Equestria pony Shysage and Equestria Girls Summer.
Equestria pony Shysage was shaking, as he bowed before the two Princesses, rulers of Equestria that he had never even seen before. Equestria Girls Summer bowed too.
Princess Celestia spoke softly, please arise, both of you." Then she added "Meeting dad's Twin is such an honor", then she actually hugged a very stunned Equestria pony Shysage.
Princess Luna clearly realized that Equestria pony Shysage was scared. She walked over and hugged dad first (Equestria Girls Shysage), then said "Twin, you can relax. You are family now."
Equestria Girls Summer answered quickly "A lot better, thank you, Princess."
Princess Celestia next said "A large group of special ponies in Ponyville will be overjoyed to learn that. Evidently they are all really concerned about you."
Equestria pony Summer just had to add at this point "Cel, Lu you need to know that, as things slowly were becoming unbearable for my Twin, all that time, dad was leading us to his Twin..."
Both Summers teared up at this.
Princess Celestia smiled, then she and Lu hugged mom and dad together a few minutes.
Princess Celestia then addressed the group at this point "Mom, dad, we all need to fly back to Canterlot, then we must quickly send you four in Air Coaches to Ponyville. I think you will find everypony waiting there for word on mom's Twin."
At dusk, two Air Coaches landed next to Princess Twilight's Castle, and six more sets of Twins spilled out the Castle doors, and enveloped Equestria Girls Summer and Equestria pony Shysage in hug after hug.
Euqestria pony Shysage saw another Princess, and bowed immediately. Well, everypony else did too, except for Princess' Twin. She got everypony up quickly, then hugged a very startled Equestria pony Shysage.
Everypony was crying with joy too. All had heard how difficult a time their friend was having.
At one point, Equestria pony Shysage asked Equestria Girls Summer "Where did you manage to find all these amazing friends?"
Equestria Girls Summer was already crying, and said simply "They all found me..."
