//------------------------------// // Chapter 12, Pony Nation // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 3 -- Follow the Equestrium // by shysage //------------------------------// [Background music fades away at this point -- Shysage] Summer and Shysage had already agreed that, on the first warm day of Spring, they would both take Cel and Lu to see the King. They had not yet told Cel and Lu ahead of time about this, or why, and would not. Cel and Lu needed to decide for themselves if the King was their 'father'. That 'first warm day' came in no uncertain terms. It was easily too warm for coats, and it was still early Spring. Shysage said calmly "Girls, we are going to visit the King this morning, I hope that is ok." Cel thought for a minute, then asked "How come, dad?" "I just want to talk to him some more" Shysage said cautiously. Within the space of maybe 30 minutes, the family was walking slowly towards the main gate to the city, without coats on, of course. Ponies of all three main groups QUICKLY began to gather... ...and stare... Once Shysage and his family were inside the city, it just got worse. Ponies came running from all over town to look at this strange sight... Dozens of ponies were quickly lining the road ahead as they walked... Then the whispers began. At first, it was very hard to determine what they were whispering. And it wasn't the two stately Alicorn Mares they were staring at either... Shysage mentioned softly at this point "Summer, they are all looking at your Cutie Mark..." The whispering slowly got louder... "Shila..." That was all that the ponies were whispering... Still, as they walked down the long main road to the King's palace, nopony got in their way... Nopony talked to them, or tried to stop them... Everypony just stared... ...and whispered "Shila..." to each other. It took maybe ten minutes to walk to the King's palace. Once in front of it, the guards simply opened the door, and let them pass. They too were staring with the same dumb-founded look everypony else had. Shysage and his family kept walking, into the palace, down the hall, and into the large hall where the King was last time. Even inside the hall, nopony stopped them or even tried to talk to them. There were maybe 20 guards inside, but they all likewise just backed away, silent, and stared... Shysage walked his family up to the bottom of the stairs. King Thars was on the top of the stairs, up on the platform. As he did a year ago, the King was just staring at the picture. Shysage guessed he had simply given up on mumbling, even... Shysage looked at the picture too, briefly. Summer was right, of course. The two Alicorns they were bringing, Cel and Lu, were his two daughters, matching the picture exactly... ... Shysage remembered what the King had mumbled during their last visit. Then he said clearly "Dappont onz" and said nothing more. The King spun around immediately, and stared at the two Alicorn Mares before him... He turned back to the picture, then rapidly back... "Hello, father" Cel said first... "Hello, father" Lu said next... King Thars' first words were "Dappont onz..." Then King Thars, started to cry, then said "Celestia... Luna... Whar yo be--" A very loud horn or something blared at this point, interrupting the King. A guard quickly ran in, obviously very afraid. He spoke in 'old pony' of course, but Summer and Shysage picked out "Cougars" and "attack". Summer said quickly to Cel and Lu "Have the King get you both somewhere safe. Well, that 'somewhere safe' would be one of the front guard towers. The King wanted to direct the battle. Within 10 seconds, as every pony in the room looked on in awe, Summer transformed into her Equestria Girls form, stood up as a 'people', and spun up her Cutie Mark. The King's eyes got very big, and he said simply "Shila..." Summer ran for the door, and Shysage followed. They were both quickly out the door, and maybe 20 feet up in the air. The crowd was not whispering any more... "Shila... Rescu oz" is what Summer and Shyage heard. Ponies were screaming it... It was deafening... Summer flew over to Shysage, then said "Shysage, they want me to do this... I need their help!" Shysage quickly yelled "Tell them Summer!" Summer stopped and thought a minute, then began to shout... Everypony was immediately quiet once they saw the Shila would speak... The Phantom Alicorn, 'the Shila' yelled... "Earth ponies... "Pegasus ponies... "Unicorn ponies... "Fight for... "...Equestria..." Summer shouted this... Well she yelled as loud as Fluttershy's sister could. She suspected that including the Earth ponies first, probably broke some unspoken taboo. Summer also intentionally included 'ponies' as she named all three, just to emphasize their same-ness. Summer was the Shila, she could do this. After she yelled this the first time, it remained silent. Summer flew 100 feet down the road towards the gate, and yelled again "Earth ponies... "Pegasus ponies... "Unicorn ponies... "Fight for... "...Equestria..." Summer flew another 100 feet down the road, and yelled again "Earth ponies... "Pegasus ponies... "Unicorn ponies... "Fight for... "...Equestria..." The crowd behind them, near the King's palace, began to surge forward, and started screaming... It wasn't "Shila" they were screaming any more, either... They screamed "Equestria... Equestria... Equestria..." Summer flew another 100 feet down the road, and yelled again "Earth ponies... "Pegasus ponies... "Unicorn ponies... "Fight for... "...Equestria..." Summer moved two more times, and yelled the same thing, then she yelled it again at the gate. Nopony could hear her anyway. EVERYPONY was now yelling "Equestria... Equestria... Equestria..." Pegasi were pouring over the top of the wall, as the rest of the ponies surged through the gate. King Thars was a very good leader with a commanding voice, and he quickly stopped all the ponies, maybe 500 feet past the wall, and they all gathered there for his command. Summer and Shysage, in the air, headed maybe a quarter mile from the gate, and just waited, still up in the air. Summer's Cutie Mark was going. She was ready... Summer could see the leading Cougars, they were advancing rapidly. Still, they completely ignored the Phantom Alicorn, and maybe 100 Cougars stopped on the ground directly underneath her. They were gathering for their attack. The Phantom Alicorn simply backhand slapped all 100 Cougars brutally to the ground with her right hand. The Phantom Alicorn then coated them with electricity with her left hand. Those that weren't dead yet, could only writhe in agony. Summer moved maybe 200 more feet forward, and waited for maybe 100 more Cougars to gather. Then she again back-hand slapped them into the ground, and coated them with electricity too. Summer moved 200 more feet forward, and did the same thing again. Even from this distance, Summer heard King Thars yell loudly "Attack!" The Phantom Alicorn would do no more... ... ... ... ...and the Pony Nation waded into the battle... Mighty Earth ponies could crush a Cougar's skull with just one stomp from their huge hooves. They ran into the Cougars laying paralyzed on the ground and left death in their wake... They rapidly caught up with Summer, and simply began kicking Cougars. If the kick didn't kill them, their stomp would... Unicorn ponies quickly followed. They could easily use Levitation magic to throw Cougars high up into the air. They didn't usually land well... If a Cougar managed to get up on the back of an Earth Pony, a Unicorn would quickly rip it off, and dash it hard against the ground, or throw it up high... Pegasus ponies were also streaming into the fray, and were quickly dropping large boulders like hail on the Cougars still heading into the slaughter. Most of the attacking Cougars didn't make it to the Earth Ponies alive. If they could still move, they didn't last long... After fifteen minutes, all the Cougars were dead -- around 800 of them -- and the battle was done. Everypony again began screaming... "Equestria... Equestria... Equestria..." ...as they all joyfully returned, together, to the City Gates, to their King. As hundreds of ponies crowded below the guard tower where both King Thars and his two daughters were, King Thars asked for quiet. Then he said slowly and regally... "Earth ponies... "Pegasus ponies... "Unicorn ponies... "We ar on.. "We ar... ...Equestria..." Then everypony all started screaming again... "Equestria... Equestria... Equestria..." The crowd was all types of ponies... ...all together... Everypony was hugging everypony else as they screamed... They were truly one... They screamed and hugged for maybe half an hour... During this time, Summer turned back into a pony, and she and Shysage landed some distance behind the crowd. They just stood there, weeping softly... They had just given 'their girls' away... At some point during that half hour, King Thars and the girls had moved down to the gate to the city. King Thars quieted the crowd. Then he said simply "Shila..." The crowd instantly opened a wide path between Summer and Shysage, and the King. Summer and Shysage slowly walked towards him... In 'old pony', the King told the ponies that the 'Shila' had rescued his two daughters from the Cougars, flown them back here, and raised his girls as their own. With tears in his eyes, the King said that his 'appointed ones', Celestia and Luna, were back. Well they were standing right there... King Thars looked at Cel, then said quietly, and hesitantly "Thanks you both" then looked at Summer and Shysage, and bowed his head briefly. After this, the King led his two daughters into the city, to the palace, as the ponies of Equestria followed... ...shouting "Equestria... Equestria... Equestria..." This was a very good day for Equestria... The King had his daughters back... The nation had a name now, and was truly one... They had shattered a larger attacking army... Equestria had reason to celebrate... [This is another section involving the physical side of Summer and Shysage's relationship. Again, I have tried to avoid graphic details. You can skip this section if you prefer. Just don't miss the blinding pain they both felt... -- Shysage] It was early afternoon... Summer and Shysage were soon standing by themselves, outside the gate, weeping softly. 'Their girls' were gone... They had done what they thought they came here to do, and had nowhere to go now. They didn't want to go back to their 'home' and all the memories it held... They felt... ...terrible... It hurt so bad they just felt... ...numb... They flew, together, as 'people' up to the cloud bank that would become Cloudsdale. In the middle of that afternoon, Shysage kept his promise to his Mare... (opt:btm3c) But, after a little while, almost at the same time, they began to cry. This was a painful cry. Nothing could change the fact that 'their girls' were gone. Both had poured their lives into somepony elses' daughters, and just today, had given them back. And they had no idea what lie ahead now... This was all the right thing to do, it just hurt... They were soon laying on their bellies, side by side, crying, with their heads next to each other. Cel and Lu found them like this. They both layed on their bellies next to mom and dad, and cried with them. After maybe five minutes, Cel spoke "Mom, dad, I'm sorry, the King wants you." Shysage thought for a minute, then said while wiping away tears "You girls head back to the Palace. We will run by the house, and then head there in a little while." Cel and Lu were soon off. Once they were gone, Shysage said quietly to his Mare "Let's go get cleaned up in the river, dry off, then go see the King. I'm not sure I even want to go in our house any more... What was valuable there, is in the King's palace now anyway..." Shysage knew his Mare felt the same way. They flew together to the river near their 'old house', and bathed, then sat on the river bank together until they dried off. Shysage put his leg around Summer's neck and hugged her close. "Shysage, I love you..." Summer said softly. "Summer, I love you too..." Shysage said back softly. Nothing else was said. After they were dry, they got up and took to the air towards the King's palace. It wasn't far.