I really was scared to death...
This was only our third day in Equestria, since, well, for decades...
Right now, in less than an hour, I knew the Twin Link would go active between myself and my amazing Twin, Princess Twilight.
My enthusiasm was guarded. There were reasons why us Equestra Girls came back to our world through the Portal, one day, for good, I thought at the time. That was also decades ago. Still, I honestly wanted that to change.
Maybe I now valued what I had so haplessly cast aside back then...
...But I didn't know if Princess Twilight would...
...
Summer pulled me up front for the final leg of the walk there, and she kept me right next to her. We were in the forest now, and she told me Zecora's Hut wasn't far.
All the time I had been around Summer since we returned to Equestria yesterday, I had only felt her kind, pure and loving heart. Summer wasn't guarded, hesitant or presumptuous like the rest of us. Well, pony Fluttershy wasn't either.
Summer mentioned the Portal had actually brought she, Shysage and Fluttershy here from the distant past, before all this happened. Crying, Summer said that she still loved us all...
I wished I could say that...
I wanted to be able to say that...
Still, I was pretty sure Summer wanted me near. I honestly think she suspected just how excruciating this was for me. I think I needed a friend like that just now. I hugged her a few times on the way.
...
Well, the Twin Link did go active.
The first thing I sensed...
My Twin, Princess Twilight was sobbing deeply...
...
But the Twin Link also surprised, maybe even frightened her, I think.
She ran quickly for the door, then out along the path, away from us, and the Twin Link went silent right away.
...
I really was heart-broken... I didn't want that...
...
But I remembered where she was going, and why maybe...
Now, I was terrified...
...
Both Pinkie Pies sent Summer quickly ahead, as we all hurried to make it to the clearing.
...
I heard that monster roaring...
That filled me with fear... ...for my Twin...
Weren't we worth more than that?
Why was she doing this... to us...
...
We just couldn't get to the clearing fast enough...
This was taking so long...
At least Summer was there, to protect my Twin, I hoped...
...
When we all spilled into the clearing, Summer was trying to take care of that monster...
...as my Twin, Princess Twilight, was furious, repeatedly kicking Summer's legs...
I just... I... Summer, of all ponies?
...
Shysage managed to get between my Twin and Summer...
...
Princess was even more furious, and started kicking him too...
...
Shysage screamed that the monster was casting some magic...
...just as the Filia and Fiona Twins, together, turned that monster into solid Ice...
...
By then, the rest of us had completely encircled our Princess, and we were pulling her away... away from the monster... away from Summer...
...
Princess Twilight was so mad at us; she said some horrible things.
I think we all knew we had to do this, and so we ignored her.
I wondered why she didn't try to fly off, but found out later that it had been years since she had even tried to fly. She was banished to that hut, for decades, after all...
...
...
...
Once our Princess saw that she was trapped... That we were keeping her from leaving...
She laid down in the dead grass and just cried...
My dream, less than 12 hours ago, had prepared me for this part...
And the most amazing tune lept instantly into the background as we started(1)...
Our Princess was trapped in the center of our circle. We needed her, and if that was how we would keep her here for now, then that is what we needed to do.
But, right now, my focus had to be on the rest of us... We were all so horribly broken...
...
The dream had reminded me what we used to say as a group. We needed to say it now...
"Girls, we used to say something together...
"We are going to start saying that again, now...
"After each time we say that, we will stop a few minutes...
"If you remember anything that requires an apology, you need to do that... And I know I will need to be apologizing too...
"We won't say it again, until all apologies are done for that time through...
"And girls... If this sounds tedious, it will be. Something happened to all of us decades ago. We can't just ignore what happened back then, and expect everything to be fine now..."
And I didn't even wait for them to ask questions, or voice any sort of comments.
This absolutely HAD to happen...
...
"Girls, say this with me...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
I said this very slowly, so everypony could say it with me.
But I am sure everypony remembered these exact words.
The response was half-hearted, to be sure, me included.
I just waited... My dream had set this all up for me... I could not back down, even though part of me wanted to...
Within two minutes, everypony in the circle was weeping softly...
...
I waited a minute more, maybe.
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
The crying continued...
And both Fiona's went first, and apologized to Equestria pony Rainbow Dash.
After that, slowly at first, more apologies followed.
I started to remember things that I had to apologize for... I didn't want to say anything, at first. But once I realized that all my friends were feeling the same thing... I realized I had to... I apologized...
Like I said, I was as broken, as guilty as everypony else. What was coming out of my mouth easily proved that...
...
And the specifics of all of these apologies were largely secondary. Details would stay within this circle alone. But the damage needed to be healed. Old wounds needed to be addressed...
...
Princess Twilight was now, also herself, weeping softly...
Still, we kept our places around her, keeping her inside our circle... We needed our Princess here for this...
We needed our Princess...
...
When the apologies stopped, I waited a minute or so.
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
A bunch more apologies followed...
From me and the rest of these girls...
It took quite a while this time.
We were in no hurry...
And apologies between Twins started too, between both Fluttershys at first. This was surprising, since Equestria pony Fluttershy came from the past, before all this had happened...
And I think with each apology voiced, a bunch more came to mind, to each of the ponies spread all around this circle, me included.
For me, it was like a rapidly growing tidal wave... Things I had said or done... They began to pile up... No wonder...
And we were all still sitting, in a tight circle (to keep Princess Twilight here), facing each other. Everypony could see everypony else. We were all in this together... Everypony heard... everything...
...
Still, after the apologies stopped again, I waited another minute...
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
A lot more apologies... Between ponies... Between Twins... Between sisters... Maybe over an hour this time...
And I was remembering a LOT more... I was not so slowly becoming appalled at myself... I... This was just so wrong...
And I could only hope Princess Twilight wouldn't leave...
Because most apologies now included tight hugs and lots of tears... Ponies were leaving their places in the circle to hug and cry with amazing friends as they apologized...
Princess could have easily left from this point on, if she really wanted too... I'm glad she stayed...
We needed our Princess...
...
And my precious friends around this circle seemed eager now, to set things straight, to accept responsibility, to make amends...
We ALL needed that... We all needed to WANT that...
...
After that hour, apologies tapered off...
...
It was quiet for a few minutes...
...
I was about to say it again...
...
It was both Fluttershys... Their Element of Harmony surfaced above both of their Cutie Marks, and slowly rose above their heads, and rotated...
...
Well, we all cried pretty hard when we saw this...
I think this gave us all hope...
...
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
...Lots more apologies...
...Few more Elements surfaced...
...Lots more crying...
I remember thinking to myself, crying... How could we justify treating each other like this...
...
...
...
Over the next maybe two hours, we did this same cycle a few more times...
We were all crying loudly by now...
Nopony even hesitated to apologize for anything they remembered...
And there were a lot more hugs going on... Some apologies drew hugs from ponies not even directly related...
And I had to marvel, the stuff we were apologizing for, it was all over 30 years ago... But we remembered it like it was yesterday... Well, I did...
I cried pretty hard realizing that this was so long overdue...
...
...
...
Both Fluttershys, together, said it first, sobbing...
"Amazing friends, I love you all so much..." It was clear from the way they said this, that they really meant it...
This part wasn't in my dream, but it didn't matter. This used to be the way we felt. We needed that back. And over the next few cycles, everypony was able to say that...
That alone was amazing...
I just cried... We all did...
...
...
...
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
We all cried, and deeply meant these words as we said them...
It was otherwise quiet...
All the Elements of Harmony were out now, except for Princess Twilight's and mine.
The Shynas, Filias and Fionas didn't have Elements, but it was clear they had taken care of everything too.
We all had...
And again, the what was not as important as the fact that we were, together, trying to heal old wounds...
It stayed quiet. Well, we were all crying together, even Princess Twilight...
It was quiet for a while...
Five minutes...
Ten minutes...
...
"Girls, say this with me again...
We are deeply devoted to each other...
We are true friends, and committed to true friendship...
We are... ...Equestria..."
We all said this together... Quietly serious... Meaning every word...
Devotion is hard to build, but so easily lost...
It was quiet for a while, again...
Honestly, I didn't know what to do next...
...
Princess Twilight spoke up... Well, she yelled loudly...
"And I am only a Princess...
"When you all went your separate ways, you took me apart... You took away what made me who I was... Everything I had worked for with you... It was lost... I was lost... I lost everything..."
Our Princess was sobbing again...
"Equestria lost everything..."
...
...
...
This shook all of us.
Princess was right...
Our petty infighting, selfish taking, and whatever else...
We had all abandoned our Princess in the process...
...
...
...
My dream of maybe 12 hours ago now, had included this part, but I really didn't understand it...
...until this very second...
...
I left my spot in the circle, and walked slowly over to my amazing Princess, my precious Twin, and bowed before her.
My eyes were closed, I was still crying...
"Princess, you are right. I am so sorry... Please forgive me... Please take me back..."
I was sobbing loudly by the time I was done saying that, especially that last part... I said it again...
"Princess, please take me back..."
...
...
...
More than anything else in the Universe, I wanted that very thing...
Nothing else even mattered to me any more...
I wanted my Princess to want me...
I was pleading for my Princess to want me again...
...
...
...
One at a time, the rest of the ponies in this circle did exactly the same thing, said exactly the same thing, and felt exactly the same way...
Everypony was clearly taking turns... And Twins were allowed to go one after the other...
...
...
...
After this we were all bowing before our Princess...
Once again... The ponies in this circle, were committed to being their Princess' loyal, true friends...
...hoping she would give us a second chance...
...
...
...
Princess Twilight was deeply moved, and was still crying loudly...
Still, she did a fair job of making her own apology....
"Precious girls... I am so sorry, that I stopped trying to win you all back... I have failed you..."
Princess just cried...
...
...
...
What Princess Twilight heard...
A growing chorus... Individual ponies... Me included... Pleading...
...
"Princess, please take me back..."
...
I don't think any of the rest of us really wanted anything else in the Universe any more...
Just this...
...
"Princess Twilight... Please take me back..."
We all said this... over and over...
...
It slowly got louder and more frequent...
We were all pleading... We were all desperate... We would probably all soon be hysterical...
...
...
...
Still crying, Princess Twilight said softly "Oh girls..."
It was suddenly very quiet...
"Girls, let's try this again..."
...
The two Twilight's Elements of Harmony joined the rest...
...
The Group Link sprang to life immediately...
We all fell into each other's loving devotion, and together, tried to help each other through almost four decades of shattering loss, auguring pain, stupid abuse...
...
Nine sets of Twins... Fully devoted once again...
We cried together as one, the rest of that afternoon...
This is Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria.
I have lived many years, read many books, and seen and heard about many, many things.
Never in my life have even heard about a devotion as deep as Princess Twilight shares with her close friends.
I can only hope for this same true friendship, this same devotion, for the rest of our precious ponies all over Equestria...