//------------------------------// // Chapter 11, Going Home // Story: The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 9 -- Future Perfect // by shysage //------------------------------// I can't explain it, but an amazing and soothing tune slowly rose in my mind right then(1)... ...Because remembering Summer's Dream changed EVERYTHING... It wasn't necessarily the information in Summer's Dream... This was all happening. It was no dream. It was ALL REAL... ...And our decades of past anguish and wreckage might just be swept away as our dim and distant past -- Equestria -- roared loudly and hugely back to life right before our very eyes... ... It was now hard to NOT cry, and I didn't care if it hurt. I was pretty sure the Portal would change that, fix that, for all of us. Well, if the Portal still worked, that is. And I still don't know how on Earth Summer had a dream that so vividly captured so much of these last 20 minutes. Maybe it was because she was the Phantom Alicorn. She told me more than once that she felt Equestria owned her. And I don't know... If she had a dream, we just couldn't ignore that... But here at the bitter end of our shattered lives... It was like waking up out of the longest, most painful slumber... Never in our wildest dreams... And it absolutely was NOT a dream this time... ... EQUESTRIA !!! ... I had to remind myself. Equestria if the Portal let us... ... I reached out a hand to both Fluttershy and Pinkie. The three of us were quickly holding on to each other tightly... Together, we headed back into the uncaring maelstrom. We pretty much ignored everyone else. We were after a few very specific, very precious people. The rest of the people around us could have whatever destiny they felt awaited them. Even Dan, whatever. We found Rarity, Filia and Fiona, crying together on the edge of the dance floor. Mostly oblivious to the dancing going on around us, we walked slowly across the dance floor, approaching three more amazing friends. We ended up group hugging right there, together, and crying loudly. The band actually stopped and waited, our group took up a fourth of the dance floor. Outbursts like this were not unheard of at reunions I had been to. Well, this group was so totally different... And seeing Filia again... I couldn't not cry for sure... We cried together, hugging tightly for a few minutes. Well, we all did. I didn't get a chance to say anything, Rarity beat me to it. "Oh, dear, Twilight, Summer's Dream!" We all wept loudly together after that for a few more minutes. I was pretty sure most of us knew what that meant. I tried to calm down. "Girls, if the Portal lets us, we are going home. Let's go find the others" I said quietly. Well, nopony was ready to stop crying just yet, so we cried together some more, and didn't move... Maybe we couldn't move... And Rainbow Dash found us. Well, we found each other. Us six girls were sobbing loudly on the dance floor, which was near the center of the gym. The band had stopped. Everyone in the gym could hear us. I guess it didn't take long for Rainbow to recognize spectres from the distant past. She got up with a start (Pinkie was watching by now), and knocked a full plastic cup of beer to the floor. Rainbow walked slowly towards familiar voices, as if in a trance, and was soon crying loudly herself, as she walked up to us. We just pulled her in. We all cried together for a while more. Rainbow figured this out all by herself, though. She stopped crying most of the way, and said "Can we just go home now?" "Well, we need Applejack" I said quietly through tears. Rainbow burst into tears again, herself. She and Applejack were pretty close. Well, we all were, I guess. Still, sooner than anyone expected, Rainbow said quietly "Lobby, check." We were all holding hands, as I led us back through the crowds. Once we were off the dance floor, the band, the dancing started back up again. Whatever. The walk to the lobby was quick, well, after I remembered the way anyway. I got turned around, and we had to back-track. But we didn't see Applejack at all in the gym. She was in the lobby. We found Applejack sitting with her back up against one of the large glass doors that opened inward. This was the front of the School, and students usually came in and went out through these doors. And even though it was dark, I could see the Portal wall off in the grass, down the steps outside. I almost burst into tears right then... Applejack was sitting, and had pulled her knees up to herself, buried her head, and was crying quietly. Her hat was on the floor next to her. Pinkie didn't wait for any of us to say or do anything. "Come on, Applejack, we're going home!" Pinkie's hair was wildly curly. Pinkie was smiling. Applejack wiped tears away, looked up at the rest of us, stared a minute, then asked quietly "Is this a dream?" Rainbow answered immediately "C'mon Applejack, let's hug some, then let's go home." That's what we did. Well, we all cried some more too. We didn't cry long there in the lobby, the Portal was far too close, and we needed to find out if it even worked still. We would never leave each other again I don't think, but if the Portal worked... We all went quickly outside, down the steps, across the grass. ... I put my hand six inches into the dull, now fluid Portal surface and saw... ...my hoof... EVERYPONY burst into tears right away... Our lives were about to start over, and in the most amazing place we could ever imagine. Never, ever in our wildest dreams... And this was NO DREAM... ... EQUESTRIA !!! ... "Rarity, we need some coats. Can you work that out?" I asked quietly. "Twilight, of course. Applejack, Rainbow, come with me, please. We will be back in a little while" Rarity answered quietly. As they headed off, I sighed though. This part would be hard. "Filia, Fiona, have either of you had any recent contact with Shyna?" Fluttershy started crying softly. I remembered too late that Shyna was Fluttershy's adopted sister, and I should have asked Fluttershy. Filia said quietly "We lost track of her decades ago..." Fluttershy just nodded her head. Still, this part was even worse. "Fluttershy, your other sister..." Fluttershy burst into tears, and we all hugged her as she cried. Equestria Girls Summer Rain... In Summer's Dream, she had died earlier. I guess that part was real too. Losing a Twin is terrible. That would be hard for the Phantom Alicorn... But I admitted that I actually didn't know if Summer or the rest would even be in Equestria. This... Tonight... This was no dream... We would have to just wait and see. Well, I could have asked about the Principal sisters too (Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna). But I realized they were older than us, and had probably already died. That was just sad. Waiting for the others, we just stood and hugged there a while. I was quickly sobbing buckets. I was terminally ill, and suspected Pinkie was too, and maybe others... And never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be able to start over, and in Equestria, no less. I guess this dawning realization just overwhelmed me right then. In a little while, we would be... I stopped and looked up at the stars. Millions twinkling brightly. I smiled. What did I do to deserve this... to deserve to again find such amazing friends... to deserve to start so amazingly over... to deserve... Equestria... Still, I had to stop myelf again. According to Summer's Dream, the Equestria that we were returning to, would be in very bad shape. I honestly didn't know what awaited us on the other side of the Portal... Well, it didn't matter. I would be surrounded amazingly by the only true friends I ever knew. We would stay together, and do what we could. Three precious ponies and 8 thick, Black coats soon came back. Rarity said she remembered it was Winter when we came back in Summer's Dream, so she added extra insulation. I was sure we would all appreciate that. We put our coats on right away. I had to address everypony, quietly. "Girls, I have absolutely no reason to ever come back to this awful place. I am leaving everything behind. I am not leaving this place, the Portal, until I am through. But I can't make you do the same thing, and if anypony wants a more secure spot to stash their stuff..." There was a 50 gallon drum for garbage half way up the stairs, off to the side, and right then, Rainbow did a hook shot, and her purse went in first time. The rest of us walked over, and left our junk in there too. A bunch of huge purses, hundreds of pills, our C/V's (well mine was still on the floor in the kitchen), and I don't know what else, but it didn't matter. We no longer needed any of this. The Equestria Girls world wasn't our home anymore; we were going home. We were soon group hugging back in front of the Portal, weeping softly. I had to voice how I felt. "Girls, never in my wildest dreams did I EVER guess that the events of this last hour would come to pass. I feel so honored to start over with you amazing ladies." We just cried more. Rainbow interrupted though. "Twilight, can we just go?" Rainbow went through first, and the rest of us followed, maybe 30 seconds apart. Filia and Fiona went ahead of me, and I went through last. I didn't even look back. I never wanted to come back. I had nothing left here. I was going home...