Summer and I walked out of the Cake's, arm in arm. We were finally together, just us. I sighed.
"Summer, where do you want to go?" I asked quietly.
Summer was clearly thinking about other things.
"Stallion, I really appreciate you letting me spend time with these girls while I'm here. That means more to m--" Summer said this much, then she started crying and couldn't continue.
I just hugged her close as we walked down the sidewalk, and decided we should just head to Fluttershy's apartment. We walked slowly, and didn't even talk. We didn't really need to. I was just glad to be next to this amazing Mare. And I knew her time here with Princess Twilight's friends was priceless for her.
When we were most of the way to Fluttershy's apartment, I took us on a detour, and we headed to the bleachers behind the School.
We ended up sitting in roughly the middle of the bleachers, maybe three benches up. We were the only ones here.
Summer was calming down, and I looked into her amazing Blue eyes, but resisted the urge to kiss her. I just took her hand, and we just sat together, holding hands, and enjoyed the day. It was sunny and warm, a nice day.
"I love you Summer" I said softly.
She put her head down on my shoulder for a minute, and sighed deeply. That was all I needed to hear.
It was quiet for a few minutes.
Still holding her hand, I remembered the ring in my pocket. I didn't want to give it to her with everyone else around. This would be a good time...
The cell in my other pocket announced a text, and I took it out and we checked it together.
"Where are you?" It was from Pinkie Pie.
I texted back "Bleachers."
Pinkie texted back quickly "Stay put, will be there soon."
Summer watched this whole interchange, and neither of us had any idea what was going on.
Five minutes later, Pinkie, Fluttershy and two other girls rounded the end of the bleachers. They were all crying.
I told Summer I would ask true friend to help them, then I got up and headed over to the School to check on the computers I had fixed earlier.
I knew my Mare would quickly be crying with them. And when I got back into the Shop, I kept an eye on them, too.
I found the rest of this out later.
The two other girls were Filia and Fiona, identical twins with striking Red hair. They would be attending the High School when classes started.
These two girls had actually been with the Equestria Girls earlier today, and had heard about what Summer and her Twin had been through less than two days ago.
Filia and Fiona had been abused by their Step-father. Both were trying to leave this behind them, but it seemed to just be consuming these girls. Both had recently attempted suicide and failed, thankfully. Still, time with the Equestria Girls had brought this all back out.
They left this morning, then realized that was a mistake. These two hurting girls needed more...
Pinkie 'sensed' their presence in the Cake's, and she and Fluttershy went down and found them, and tried to help. Fluttershy quickly realized they were dwarfed by the needs they faced, and brought them to Summer.
Summer quickly asked Pinkie to text the rest, to ask that if any of the girls could come, that would be good.
For a while, the five of them just cried together. The twins needed that. They needed someone who understood what they had been through... They needed to cry with that person. And that was Summer.
Twilight and Rarity walked up soon after, sat down, and started giving, loving and crying with everyone else. Rainbow and Applejack were both working, and that was fine. These twins needed more than just a 'quick fix' anyway.
At one point, Summer explained to Filia and Fiona that they MUST NOT let the past determine their future. Summer shared briefly about the first time she was abducted and abused, and the growing brokenness she felt inside. The twins instantly related to that. Summer also shared her realization she had to look past what had happened, and treasure her future. Well, she didn't mention Princess Twilight, Summer treasured her Princess. But Summer's point was that the future had to be more important than the past. The future had to be treated as something worth preserving.
At another point, Summer tried to help both girls see that the 'putting others first' that made up true friendship would be a huge help as they sought to work past what they had been through. These girls needed to increasingly focus on others, so that their own experiences didn't destroy them. Summer and her Twin had both learned that lesson.
And Summer begged Filia and Fiona to stay close to other true friends, such as those in this group. These amazing ladies would be a big help to these hurting twins.
For almost two hours, the Equestria Girls showered love, concern and tears on these two sisters, and it made a huge difference.
At this point, Twilight Sparkle mentioned that the High School Principal really needed to know what was going on, and asked the girl's permission to have them come hear their story.
Filia and Fiona both knew they were among real friends, and quickly agreed. Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna soon walked over, sat down, and listened to their story, and were quickly crying with everyone else.
After hearing Filia and Fiona's story, Principal Celestia said softly "Your situation requires that certain legal obligations be met. What you have been through is clearly against the law, and should be addressed. I really need you both to come to my office for that. Please rest assured though, that everyone in this circle will do everything we can to help you."
These two girls already knew that what Principal Celestia just said about the girls around them was true, and headed off into the High School with Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.
A police car soon pulled up in front of the school. A second car with probably the twin's mom pulled up soon after. Hopefully, justice would be done for these girls.
I spent most of that time checking out computers. The ones that were already updating, I had to turn back on a few times, so the updating could continue. I also found two more working computers, and started the updating on them.
When it was starting to get dark, I shut everything down, locked the Shop, and headed back over to the bleachers.
Summer quickly filled me in on what was going on, and of course that had highest priority.
Principal Celestia had texted Twilight to ask everyone to just wait in the bleachers until she knew how things would turn out.
I moved, and sat near the group, but off to the side. These amazing Equestria Girls were in this together, and I was basically watching from the outside.
Friendship was Magic here...
After maybe another hour, Filia, Fiona, and their mom, along with Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna walked back out to the group in the bleachers. The twin's mom really wanted to meet the girls that had done so much to help her two daughters.
The Equestria Girls immediately gathered around Filia and Fona, and were again crying with them both. They just pulled their mom into the group hug, and they all cried together.
I walked over at this point to thank Principal and Vice-Principal, only to get a hug from both. We were all family now, anyway.
I just stood with them and watched the Magic of Friendship in action.
It was amazing, and Filia and Fiona and their mom were simply overwhelmed by the love and concern they felt. "I didn't know this kind of friendship even existed any more..." Their mom said this through her tears at one point.
...
And Princess Twilight had brought this here... Then she asked Summer to keep the flame alive... And with Equestria in their Hearts, the Equestria Girls simply carried the Magic of Friendship back to their world... It was burning brightly HERE, through all these amazing ladies, tonight...
...
After maybe half an hour, the Principal and Vice-Principal needed to leave. They both gave a business card to Filia and Fiona's mom in case she needed anything.
The 'Step-father' had not been living at the girl's house for a while now, so the mom decided to take her daughters to the Cake's for dinner, then just head home with her girls.
We all had no doubt that we would see these two precious girls again.
Still, I had to wonder to myself if Equestria held 'Twins' for these two twins. That would really be amazing...
Summer and I both agreed on the foundational importance of making others more important than yourself. This is the 'putting others first' that brings true friendship to life.
This 'life philosophy' is not very popular any more, and maybe this is one of the reasons Summer's Chronicles were collecting dust in the Canterlot Library.
But these two girls' experiences brought this whole discussion into stark relief.
A self-centered man (just another monster) had simply taken what he wanted from these two girls, and tried hard to destroy their future in the process.
A large, dedicated group of true friends had gathered around these same two girls, rescued them, loved them, treasured them and brought healing.
It didn't take rocket science or a master's degree to see which of these two 'life philosophies' was best, good, most helpful, better for everyone, and etc.
And the math behind all this seemed chilling to me.
I knew from experience that a single 'bully' could easily ruin the lives of the five or ten people around them.
But it took half a dozen or so true friends to rescue and treasure these two girls, after what a 'monster' had done to them.
I don't know... It just seemed to me that the number of people who were willing to give like this was continuing to dwindle in this world. Maybe that was why there were so many hurting people here...
Well, anyway, life would hopefully be better for Filia and Fiona.
After everyone else had left, Summer and I along with Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity were just sitting in the bleachers, in the dark, and we just talked for a while. Well, I was sitting next to Summer, and mostly listening.
At one point, Twilight Sparkle said "Summer, it seems we owe you a huge thanks for bringing true friendship to us. Thank you."
Summer started crying softly right away, and tried to explain through tears.
"Oh, Twilight, thank you, but it wasn't that way at all...
"I came here scared to death, both at what I would find, and how long I would have to stay..."
Summer took Fluttershy's hand at this point, then continued.
"Sis, er Fluttershy and the rest of Princess Twilight's new friends were already true friends, and just scooped me up, and gathered around me, just like they did for their Princess...
"And as I tried to work through the totally new 'school' experience, those same five ladies were right beside me, helping me every step, again like they did for Princess Twilight.
"And when Equestria was taken over, these same five ladies demanded that I take them back through the Portal with me, even though they knew they could die; they already loved their Princess and their Twins..."
A little more quietly, Summer added "I honestly think you Equestria Girls already had what I was supposed to bring you; I think I just understood enough to explain what it was."
Rarity sighed, and said quietly "Well, I wasn't very nice to you at first..."
Summer hugged Rarity tightly and said "Oh, Rare, my Twin did that, and I had to accept responsibility for that for my Twin. Once that was done, you were every bit the true friend as the rest...
"And by the way Twilight, you weren't here for most of this, but I have you to thank that I 'snapped out' of the brokenness the monsters left in me the first time. I just knew that my Princess meeting you would be amazing..."
It was clear Summer was choking back tears at this point.
It was quiet for a minute, then Summer said softly "Twilight, Girls, I just want you too know that I love all of you so very much. I will treasure every minute we spend together. I'm sure I said that a bunch maybe 8 months ago now, but I still mean it...
Summer couldn't help it, and started crying at this point. They all just hugged and cried together for a few minutes.
Well, it very dark, and late, almost eight according to the cell.
We all climbed down onto the grass, and group hugged for a few minutes, and cried some, too.
Then Twilight left with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
"Summer, I should get some sleep" I said quietly. "Let me walk you both home first, though."
It wasn't far to Fluttershy's apartment, and Summer and Fluttershy were talking the whole time, which was fine. They were Sis... Well, they really were.
I stopped at the door, as these two amazing ladies walked inside.
"Shysage, can you come in for a minute, please?" Fluttershy asked.
I was trying to make this quick for both our sakes, but I walked inside anyway.
"I think you have something for Summer..." Fluttershy added quietly, then smiled.
Oh wow, this would be tough... I already wanted to cry for hours... But that part had to wait. Either Pinkie Sense or Fluttershy's ocean deep sensitivity... It didn't matter, both friends are amazing...
Without saying a word, I got the ring out, gently picked Summer's hand up, and carefully slid the ring down onto her ring-finger. It fit perfectly.
Summer looked at the ring, and burst into tears immediately, and we hugged tightly. I tried not to cry, but really couldn't help it. I loved this mare so much...
Fluttershy was in the bathroom, so we just stood there, hugging tightly and crying together for a few minutes. I think we both needed this. And neither of us could talk, either.
When Fluttershy came back out, I stopped crying, and thanked her.
I hugged Summer tightly once more, then said quietly to both of them "You two stay together, and inside, and I will see you again tomorrow. But I need to head out now, before I... ...can't..."
I headed out the door, waited to hear the door lock behind me, then I headed to my 'cubical'. It wasn't far.
I really was very tired, and was soon in bed, with the 'scope' sitting on the toilet cover, recording, with the display turned off.
Laying here in this bed in my 'cubical' surfaced a sea of terrible memories of seemingly endless, empty nights, but things were vastly different now. I hurt a lot inside, but for far different reasons... We were here to help others. That was more important. I was quickly asleep.