Everypony else was already up when Shysage and Summer rejoined the group. Shysage thanked Dawn again for the use of their room, but nopony said anything more about last night.
It was sunny today, but still chilly outside. Coats were again necessary.
Summer said again though "Ladies you all do look amazing. Really."
They just blushed.
Summer began "Ok, today's plan is to head to Dodge City, then the Rock Farm to look for Pinkie. That's the last place we know where she was."
Shysage mentioned here too "Summer, I have a book I wrote that explains some about what happened here in Equestria after you left. It ends when the big bear took over. I would really--"
Dawn was still in the room and spoke up timidly, but forcefully at this point. "I need to warn you all. Eschate Zumulus has repeatedly made it clear that speaking... uhm... good words, will quickly bring both his presence and his wrath. You are all important to me, and I just wanted to warn you.
"I doubt this will be a problem when Summer is around, but if she is not, please be very careful what you say."
Summer thought for a minute then said "Thank you for that Dawn. Ladies, if I am not present, please be very careful what you say. If I am there, well, I don't care, the sooner I meet him the better. He has ruined my Equestria.
"Shysage wants to go back to the farm to get his book. It won't take long, and I plan to go with him. You can all come, or you can stay here and wait. If you want, you can head to the Train Station and see if the train is even available."
They talked, and the result was that all the Equestria Girls would go with Dawn and Camille to the Train Station. This would include Equestria Girls Fluttershy. Equestria pony Fluttershy would go with Summer and Shysage, and let them know if her Twin saw trouble.
They were all soon on their way.
By the time Summer, Shysage and Fluttershy arrived at the Train Station with Shysage's book, the Train was ready and waiting.
Dawn explained to Summer what the train stallions had told her.
They didn't run often. Very few ponies were left that even wanted to go anywhere. They were way out of practice for this. The trip would be slow as a result.
Also, if Eschate Zumulus stopped them, the train stallions would run away, and they would be on their own. This had actually happened a few times before.
Dawn guessed this was not a problem with Summer around but said nothing to the train stallions.
Dawn and Camille then went back to their house, and the train left the station.
They were soon on their way to Dodge City, slowly.
Shysage gave Summer the book, and showed her where to start. He also asked Summer to read it. Writing this was extremely painful for him.
Shysage had written this all out by hand, using a special clip thing he made, that allowed him to use a quill with his hoof. It was messy, and errors were simply lined out. But again, he was not real happy when he wrote this.
Summer also noticed that some of the pages were stained with what looked like tears. She really wanted to stop and hug Shysage when she found pages like this, but there were too many.
Summer was sitting, near the front of the train car they were in, facing the back of the car, and Shysage was lying on his belly next to her on one side. Summer put one of her front legs around his neck and hugged him when she could. Shysage wept softly often as she read. It was a nightmare for him...
Equestria pony Fluttershy was lying on her belly on the other side of Summer, with her Twin next to her. Fluttershy was soon weeping softly too. She remembered.
Summer just read what Shysage had written. The Equestria Girls just listened.
--
"Summer's disappearance significantly cooled the use of the Portal.
"Shysage was given the painful duty to go back by himself, and let the Equestria Girls know what had happened. That whole trip was a nightmare for him. He cried with Equestria Girls Summer for a while, then came back.
"The Equestria Girls would only visit one more time, during their 'Summer Break', for only seven days, and it was just painful.
"Equestria Girls Summer came to Equestria with everypony else, but she was a constant reminder of the inconsolable loss of something extremely precious. And she was understandably miserable the whole time. Her Twin was gone.
"With this, the Equestria Girls simply faded into the past."
The Equestria Girls were all weeping quietly at this point. They remembered this.
--
"Equestria for the most part simply picked up and moved on.
"Princess Celestia did 'officially' make Equestria pony Summer Rain a Princess, but this made little difference, she was not here.
"The affairs of the realm seemed to go well, and Equestria did enjoy a time of peace and prosperity.
--
"Princess Twilight and her inner circle seemed to be doing well for a while also. Shysage did volume five of Princess Celestia's commentaries, and it seemed to compare favorably with the earlier four.
"The following year was a difficult one for Princess Twilight and her girls. So difficult in fact, that Princess Celestia decided to cancel the commentaries project. Everything just kept going wrong, friendship wasn't magic any more, and nopony knew why.
"Applejack moved out past Dodge City to a much bigger spread. Even so, she said repeatedly that, should she be needed, she would jump on a train and be in Ponyville quickly. She never even visited after that.
"Pinkie returned to the Rock Farm at about the same time. Nopony every found out why, and several visits from Princess Twilight and the girls failed to make any difference, or surface any causes. It was just a mystery.
"Soon after, Fluttershy left one day, headed into the Everfree, and was not heard from again.
"A year later would find Rarity in Manehatten, and Rainbow in the Wonderbolts.
"Princess Twilight was still a Princess, and was involved a lot in the affairs of Equestria, but just seemed painfully at a loss without her girls. She loved them, and they were gone.
"She tried visiting them all, but it just seemed too painful. As a group they had lost the communion they once enjoyed. This was just heartbreaking.
--
"Three years later, Eschate Zumulus walked into Equestria with his daughter Phantasma...
"...And nopony was minding the store."
Shysage had actually crossed this out, but Summer read it anyway.
"Eschate Zumulus was a huge Black bear over four stories tall. He had large black wings, glowing red eyes, and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. He could cast very powerful magic as well.
"His daughter was a smaller white Polar bear. She couldn't fly, but could cast the same magic.
"Eschate Zumulus and Phantasma walked to Canterlot, eating ponies on the way, and then confronted Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
"Shysage was actually in audience with the Princesses when they came, and quickly left Canterlot when he saw how it would work out.
"The Princesses tried to reason with him, then tried to oppose his magic, but quickly failed.
"Eschate Zumulus used his magic to physically graft both Princesses into Phantasma's body, where they were kept alive, but quickly became zombies from the emotional stress of defeat.
"Eschate Zumulus took over as ruler as Equestria.
"Sensing this change, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, along with the entire population of the Crystal Empire, simply vanished, abandoning their city. Nopony knew where they went.
"In a fit of rage, Eschate Zumulus broke the top off of the Crystal Palace, shattering it on the ground, where it is to this day.
"Eschate Zumulus then flew around the entire realm announcing both that he had taken over, and that 'good words' were not to be spoken in his realm. He ate many that defied this.
"When he arrived in Ponyville, Eschate Zumulus simply banished Princess Twilight to Zecora's hut, with no visitors allowed on pain of death. Then he ate Zecora.
"In truth, were Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony joined to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's magic, they probably could have defeated them both.
"Eschate Zumulus had already taken over, before some of Princess Twilight's girls even knew about it however.
"There is no point in continuing this narrative."
--
"Summer that's the end, please stop there" Shysage said softly. She did.
All the Equestria Girls were weeping.
Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle was at least honest, and said through her tears "I wish I could say things went better on the other side of the Portal, but I cannot..."
For the next hour, everypony just sat silently. What had happened was just a terrible tragedy.
After stopping at the Dodge City station, Summer asked the train stallions how much time they had before their return trip.
"Ma'am we are really out of shape, take your time. Maybe an hour or two." they said, still out of breath.
With Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie leading the way, they were quickly standing on the porch of the Pie family house.
A mare named Sadie Pie met them, and quickly realized who they were after.
She sighed, then said "Pinkie walks far across the farm every day, and just sits there until sundown. Then she comes back, eats, then goes to bed. None of us can remember her ever doing anything else.
"Princess Twilight and many other ponies have tried many times to bring her out of it... I doubt that you will be ab--"
At this Equestria Girls Pinkie began to cry uncontrollable, and bolted off across the field.
Summer was quickly in the air following, and easily caught up, only to find the Pinkie Twins hugging, crying, and Soul-Linking.
Summer realized that Equestria Girls Pinkie was probably the only one who could have pulled Pinkie out. They desparately needed each other. All the Twins did.
The others soon caught up with them. They left the Pinkie Twins alone for a little while. Then, as before, Shysage and Summer carefully pulled the Pinkies apart, and said "we need to get back to the train now Pinkies."
Even so, both Pinkie's hair was curly again, and they were smiling, and everypony else was crying at this.
It just seemed to Summer that every added Twin made this group a little stronger.
When they got back to the Pie house, seven or eight other Pies quickly spilled out crying.
Equestria pony Pinkie Pie hugged everypony and said "My friends need me, I may be back."
They were soon heading back to the Train Station. The train stallions said maybe 30 more minutes, so they just got in and got comfortable.
After about 10 minutes, the Pinkies said together "Applejack incoming" then smiled.
Pinkie Sense -- this is why Pinkie had to be next.
Equestria Girls Applejack fell to the floor of the train car weeping.
Summer was quickly outside and in the air.
Equestria pony Applejack was running in fast from further west. She was soon in the car, Soul-Linked with her Twin, next to the Pinkie Twins who were also again linked.
In twenty more minutes, the train was on it's way. That was close.
Summer said softly to Equestria Girls Rainbow and Rarity "Girls, we will look until we find your Twins..." They just cried.
Equestria Girls Twilight was weeping too... She wanted her Princess back... They all did...