//------------------------------// // Chapter 8, Second Spring // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 3 -- Follow the Equestrium // by shysage //------------------------------// Summer and Shysage never saw large animals near their home. They saw smaller animals; Foxes, Skunks, Rabbits, etc. These animals were mostly benign, and not natural predators of the Pony race. They saw Cougars (predators) and Giraffes (friends) far out West, when they first arrived in early Equestria, but nothing like that here. That changed one cold day, early in their second Spring. Shysage and his family were foraging along the river fairly far away from the city. There was not much to eat, but even a little is better than nothing, if you are hungry. Evidently a large Black Bear had the same idea. He must have smelled the ponies from far off, then came crashing through the brush towards them, surprising the entire family. He stood on the riverbank maybe fifty feet from them and growled loudly. Then he charged, intentionally homing in on Lee, the smallest of the group. He would never make that mistake again. When he started his growl, Summer had already changed forms, and spun up her Cutie Mark. Summer didn't run, and when the Bear was maybe thirty feet away from her, she simply back-hand slapped him, by motioning with her right hand. The Bear flew backwards, over fifty feet, above the ground, along the bank of the river. The last they saw, he was 'face down' in the water, floating away from them. Shysage was holding both girls, who were scared to death. They were also amazed that their shy and loving mommy could do that. Summer was quickly a pony again, and hugged her girls. Then she calmly mentioned that a mommy will go to great lengths, if possible, to protect her children. Nothing else was said about it. Summer and Shysage had to wade carefully through an unexpected series of questions early in that second Spring. It was too cold on that day to stay outside for very long, so the family was relaxing in the house. They had just finished a game, and the girls were talking about mommy and daddy. Sue asked casually "Mommy, daddy, do you know where our real parents are?" Before answering, Summer looked at Shysage, and they both were soon 'people' sitting on the bench. The girls were quickly in their favorite lap, but were listening. "Girls, the first thing we saw when we arrived here... ...was a Pegasus Mare being killed. That mare was probably your mother..." Sue and Lee just cried for a while. This was terrible news. Mommy and daddy just hugged them and cried with them. Summer and Shysage knew this would be hard for a while, but the girls' tears soon slowed down. Sue asked again, still sniffling "Do you know anything about our father?" Summer answered again "We have no idea who or where your father is, girls." It was quiet for a few minutes, except for everypony sniffling. Lee asked quietly "How will we even know who our father is?" Summer answered quickly "Lee, you will just know. I don't know how to explain it any more than that. You will both just know." This answer surprised Shysage. He hoped his Mare was right. She was. Shysage explained to Summer that both Sue and Lee were 'strong-willed', i.e. the opposite of Summer and her sister, who were very 'compliant'. Summer basically understood this. As already mentioned, the ugly spectre of 'sibling rivalry' began during the previous Winter, and seemed to be growing worse. Plus, it was clear that Sue would be substantially larger than Lee. She was already as big as Summer and Shysage. This growing rivalry reached it's peak at about the middle of this second Spring, and with scary results. It was early in the day, and they were down by the river; this was their favorite place. It was Spring, and they were all enjoying a large patch of direct sunlight that warmed them nicely. Sue and Lee began picking at each other, and Summer tried to get both to stop and look at what they were doing. As soon as she got one stopped, the other would start again. Shysage heard all this, and was not far away, and decided he needed to intervene soon. Summer had just stopped Sue, and was talking to her. Lee intentionally said something she knew would infuriate her sister. Sue flew into a rage, and quickly spun around and instinctively pulled one of her hind legs forward, and got ready to 'back-heel' her sister. Summer realized that Sue's hoof would probably kill Lee if it connected. Summer did what parents do, she dove into the path of Sue's hind hoof. Sue's hoof caught Summer in the chest. Summer has a slight frame for her size, and doesn't weigh that much. Sue's kick sent Summer over Lee's head, eight feet further away, and onto the grass away from the river. Summer didnt move... She couldn't move... She couldn't breath... Shysage watched this in horror... He wasn't close enough to do anything to stop it. But he was quickly at Summer's side. He just put his head down next to Summer's head, so she knew he was there. Maybe a minute later, her diaphram unlocked, and she began to breath again. Summer opened her eyes soon after. But everything hurt a lot, and she was quickly crying. Summer didn't even want to move... The girls were both laying near mommy, crying... They both knew that, together, they were the cause of this... Shysage didn't scold or berate them. But through his tears, he just said gently, to them both, and just once "Rage is a terrible thing..." They all lay around Summer, all crying with her, for the rest of that day. Summer just lay there crying, and didn't move until it was almost dark, and Shysage helped her into their house. It was a dark, scary night too... Summer felt better in the morning, and was able to hobble out to get some food and drink. Everything hurt a lot when she walked, so she was soon laying on her side again in the warmth of the Sun, with her family crowded around her, weeping softly. At one point, Shysage and Lee were some distance away, and Summer called Sue to her side. Sue ran up to her mommy weeping. "I'm so sorry mommy..." she kept saying. Summer asked Sue to come very close, and Sue put her head down next to Summer's head, and listened. Still, it as hard for Summer to even talk... "Sue, honey, just so you know... ...if I hadn't blocked your kick... ...Lee would probably be dead now..." Summer said quietly. "That would have been a lot worse... ...Daddy is right, rage is a terrible thing..." Hearing this, Sue burst into tears, and she and Summer just cried together for a while... After maybe four more days, Summer was mostly better, and the family was so relieved. This whole episode was just scary. But the bickering, the baiting, the teasing, the subtle barbs, they all stopped, and never came back to Shysage's home. Well, not for a while. It would be two weeks before Summer could fly again, and even so, damage had been done to the lower tendons of her wing muscles. Summer never was nor could be blazing fast, but now it hurt for Summer to even try to fly fast. Sometimes parents have to pay a price like this for their children. This whole incident would become a defining moment for Sue however. Rage was never, ever again welcome in her soul, it had caused her to seriously injure her own mommy and this was almost unthinkable. Had her sister died instead, that would have been intolorable. From that day forward, Sue would always pursue every other available avenue, and would only reserve the use of force as a last resort. This incident burned that into her soul, and it stayed with her the rest of her life. Later that Spring, a bunch of small transitions took place one day in Shysage's home. All had to do with their girls. It is hard to tell if they were related or not. It was clear their girls were growing up. Summer and Shysage were sitting outside their house in the afternoon on a warm-ish day. They noticed that Sue and Lee were sitting together down by the river, talking quietly. As the girls were getting older, they were both becoming a little more independent, and this began to happen more. And, after what rage did to mommy, it seemed that their girls were now best friends. This was a lot better. After a few minutes, both Sue and Lee walked up to mommy and daddy. Sue said quietly "Mommy and daddy, can you start calling us by our real names?" Summer and Shysage were surprised at this. Shysage said quickly "Sue of course. If we got your names wrong, let us know." Sue said quietly "I'm Cel, and she is Lu. That's what we remember anyway. I guess when you asked us a year ago, we were still really scared, and I got the names wrong." Summer quickly accepted this. "Girls, that's fine. So Sue is really Cel, and Lee, you are Lu right?" Summer hugged each one as she said their new names. Both girls smiled. Shysage said "Girls, we may still mess up on your names some, so please be patient with us. We love you both a lot, even if we use the wrong names. Cel and Lu just laughed. After thinking a minute, Shysage asked "Do you remember any more of your names, or just Cel and Lu?" Sue, er Cel said quietly "Just Cel and Lu. We don't remember any more than that." Cel thought for a minute, then continued "And can we start calling you 'mom' and 'dad'? We feel this is better because we are both growing up." Shysage quickly answered "You are both growing up into amazing young mares. That is fine." This 'growing up' theme seemed to carry over into the following two changes too. Up until this point, the girls still slept next to Summer and Shysage. On occasion, the girls would give Summer and Shysage permission to sleep together away from the girls. Right then, Cel and Lu indicated that they were 'big enough' to sleep by themselves, and Summer and Shysage quickly agreed that this was fine. Cel also asked about using some pine cones to mark out small 'rooms' which would be each girls' 'private space' (her words). Shysage cautioned that this could cause a harsh argument if one or the other intentionally moved the 'boundary markers' ever so slightly. This type of antagonism would not be tolorated, and the rooms would disappear. Cel and Lu both laughed, and Lu said they were both too 'grown up' for that. The family went inside their home, and Shysage helped both girls arrange pine cones to mark out their own rooms near the back wall, which was furthest away from the breeze from the front door. They had plenty of pine cones for that. Summer and Shysage could always enjoy sleeping by themselves now. They didn't need their own room to do that, and it would be nice. After this task was done, everypony was back outside, and Cel and Lu walked back down by the river, sat down, and were talking again. ... Shysage then said quietly to his Mare "Cel... Lu..." Summer replied, also quietly "Yes, that is strange... I don't know... I guess it's possible, but we will just need to wait and see I guess..." It was quiet a few minutes. Summer looked at Shysage then said softly "Shysage it doesn't matter who they are... We will love them as our own." Shysage smiled back, then said "Yes amazing Mare, we will." Summer's injury substantially delayed any family flying that second Spring. That unfortunate incident took place in the middle of the spring, before they had been able to do any flying. A month after Summer's injury, near the end of that Spring, Summer felt strong enough to try some flying at the big meadow. She and Shysage walked while the girls hovered on their way there. When they got there, everypony rested as Shysage spelled out the boundaries. The girls had to stay in the open meadow; i.e. they couldn't fly over any trees. Also, they could go no higher than the tops of the trees around them. Next, he said that Sue had to shadow Lee, and could not rush her. Finally he cautioned them about trying to fly while winded, and suggested they stop and rest at regular intervals. Then he said "Have fun girls! We will be here if you need us." Cel and Lu were quickly off flying big circles around the meadow. They flew together all afternoon like this, and had a blast. Well, they were laughing together most of the time anyway. Shysage told his Mare he would simply shadow her, and he asked her to just fly lazily around, the way they had over Ponyville. That's exactly what she did, and they just flew slowly together, and enjoyed every minute. Summer was flying very calmly, so Shysage actually flew next to her, and they could talk this way. It was amazing to be together like this in the air. Summer felt the injury, but she still had no problem flying all afternoon. Towards the end of their time, they noticed that their girls were shadowing them as well, and they just flew slowly around the entire meadow, as a family... It was amazing... At Shysage's direction, Summer just headed back to their tree, and the girls just followed. Summer was going fairly slow, and the girls had no problems flying above the trees, and they were soon home. Once they all landed, Shysage's Mare called everypony to her, and they all cried, as she told everypony she loved them so... They all just hugged and cried for a little while, then headed inside. Summer would soon be upon them, and they would fly a lot.