After we calmed down, Princess Twilight said she would like to see us get a bunch of Canterlot Recording done today. I think she knew we were way behind.
We all grabbed a quick breakfast from the East meadow, since we were already there. Fluttershy sent our three Panther animal friends off for some breakfast too.
Of course, I stayed next the Shysage the whole time. Times like last night seem to bond us even more closely together. I don't think either of us mind.
Too soon, it seemed, we gathered at the little hill, and headed back through Ponyville, to the Castle.
On the way, we passed Camille and Maple Song as they walked the opposite direction, out into the meadow. Camille said "Hi Summer", but otherwise had her eyes on her Stallion. I knew that look -- deepening love. I guess, against all odds... A happy ending if there ever was. I think Dawn's family needed that, after all they had been through.
Nearing the Castle, Princess Twilight said it was a very nice day outside today. However, she wanted us to work inside, in the Library. She hoped this would cut down on distractions.
The Fluttershys and Shynas headed to the Cottage for a day of animal friends. The Twilight and Filia Twins would help us with Canterlot Recording.
Shysage and I flopped down on the thick rug next to where the Portal used to be. It was very comfortable. Both Filias laid on their bellies facing us, with ink, quill and paper ready.
Reading recent recording, we had covered up through the afternoon when Princess Twilight's circle was restored. I tried not to cry, and Shysage and I talked about what to do next. He and I flew to the Castle after the girls were done.
Evidently there was a lot that happened as the rest of the group made slow progress returning to the Castle in Ponyville, from deep in the Everfree Forest. Princess Twilight took over, and wrote most of this chapter. Well, it was about she and her girls, and she was there! It came out very nicely.
Princess also reminded me about our late night discussion that very night, which I guess I had forgotten about. She and I did that chapter together. It was amazing. We hugged quite a bit.
The next chapter we did was hard. It was about doing repeated magical Sonic Rainbooms to try to lure Phantasma here to Ponyville, only to have her arrive right as we were about to do the last one. We just weren't ready.
Rose was a big help with that fight, and that made me cry a lot. This huge Black Panther was my amazing animal friend, and she fought bravely at the side of this Phantom Alicorn. Rose was instrumental in getting Phantasma to hold still long enough so the Wind Blade spell could be used to separate Princess Luna and Princess Celestia from Phantasma's sides. Rose was badly injured in the fight, and that made me sad at the time.
Still, we successfully killed Phantasma, and Equestria sprang back to life. But having to write that chapter... Rose was dead now, and I had a hard time not crying a lot. I still missed my animal friend.
The Twilight Twins had to leave at this point; it was early afternoon. That was ok, Shysage and I started into the next chapter. It was about the night following the killing of Phantasma.
Cel and Lu (Princess Celestia and Princess Luna) had been appendages on Phantasma's side for almost 40 years. They were freed now, but clearly needed our attention; but so did brave Rose... I felt so torn that night, and Shysage and I both slept very little. Cel snapped back quickly, but Lu did not. Fluttershy helped with Rose, and that freed me to take care of my Lu.
The three of them made a lot of progress on the road to recovery the next day or so, and it was so clear in the next few days that Ponyville, Equestria were rapidly coming back to life. There was just so much going on. We split this material across three chapters. And honestly, the Filia Twins had very good memories, and their input was absolutely crucial.
It was late afternoon, and we were all mentally beat. The Filia Twins hugged with Shysage and I for a little while and we thanked them, then they put the Canterlot Recording pages back into their special spot on a certain shelf in the Library. Evidently, Princess Twilight was watching over these pages carefully. The Filia Twins disappeared into their room.
...
Shysage and I headed out of the Castle, really not sure where we should go. We found the Rarity and Fiona Twins out in the grass near the Castle, talking with Princess and her Twin.
I wanted to ask the Raritys if they could fix a tear in my Equestria Girls blouse. Shysage and I, we spend a lot of time as people, and our stylish Equestria Girls clothing was showing that. Princess, her Twin and the Fiona Twins headed into the Castle.
Shysage and I joined the Rarity Twins and we headed off to the Boutique. We talked on the way. They mentioned new Shield Necklaces for everypony, and I was really excited about that. Mine was still at Dawn's, where it would stay, and Shysage and I both wouldn't mind having one to wear.
There were a lot more ponies in Ponyville now. I guess ponies were coming back in droves. We passed a number of ponies as we walked. But when we passed two similar looking stallions, both Raritys stopped talking mid-sentence, and failed at trying to ignore them, until after they had walked past us.
Well, I don't have a PhD (I heard one of the Equestria girls say that), but I knew various aspects of my dream... And I remembered this part...
I turned around immediately, and walked towards the two stallions, only to have both Raritys say quietly "Summer, don't..." I saw no harm, I just wanted to see if my dream was right about this. Well, maybe... I love Rare...
I ran up, and apologized to the stately stallions.
"Escuse me, are you two brothers?" I asked quietly.
And I knew Shysage was watching this, or I would never have done it. I think he knew what I was up to, anyway.
Both stallions looked at each other. "Why, yes" one of them answered. "Why do you ask?"
Well, I think I was on a mission. "Are your names Beau and Big?" I asked again quietly.
The eyes of both stallions grew very wide. "Why... yes, how did you know?"
I was not about to try to explain my dream to them, and that didn't matter. I kept asking questions.
"Are you both artistically minded?" I was just not sure how to ask this, and I knew it was a long shot.
Beau and Big looked at each other, too stunned to even talk.
I just said simply "I think you both might find kindred spirits at Rarity's Boutique here in town."
One of the two immediately said "Brother, this is the second pony to mention that to us. I think we should pay this boutique a visit."
The other said back sternly "Let's visit the meadow first, please. I'm starved."
That's where they headed, as I walked slowly back to both now flabbergasted Raritys. I thought they would be cross with me, but I guess... We hugged together for a little while.
"Summer, dear, there were aspects of your dream I rather liked, you know." Equestria pony Rarity said this. That was Rare...
And it didn't take them long to fix my Blouse, even if I had to wait in the dressing room with no blouse on, all by myself...
I was soon back to being a pony, and the four of us hugged briefly as I thanked them. Then we headed from the Boutique, still not sure where we should go next.
We weren't far from the Boutique, when we passed Beau and Big, clearly headed where we had just come from. Both nodded politely to us, but kept walking. I thought this would be a good day for Ponyville's fashion experts. Well, dream or no, I hoped it would.
...
Still, this auguring feeling...
"Shysage, we just don't have anyplace..." I said this, then was crying. Shysage stopped and we hugged a few minutes.
He led us to the meadow off to the East, to that little hill. Well, I guess this was the closest to our place that we had. We both changed to people, and I cried a while, sitting in his lap as he hugged me tightly. Maybe we both cried together.
It was later in the afternoon, and a nice warm day. After a while, our crying trailed off, and we sat there, looking across the meadow, enjoying the hushed breeze and birds singing, as Shysage had me folded in his arms.
"I love you Summer" Shysage said softly, and hugged me a little more tightly.
It was quiet a few minutes, then I said softly "Shysage, I think you are my home... You are really all I have..."
He answered immediately "And you are my home, precious Mare. I don't know what lies ahead either, but if I have you..."
We kissed a while there on that hill, in the warmth of the waning afternoon Sun. Spending time with my Stallion like that, I felt a lot better. And even back in our present, we could do this too... Unless it was absolutely freezing cold there still... I shivered as I said this.
We just sat there on that hill, for a long time. I think we were waiting for somepony to come let us know when dinner at the Castle might be. Well, that didn't happen.
As the Sun dipped past the trees, Alyssa ran up, crying, and Shysage and I petted and scratched our animal friend together, and as people. Alyssa doesn't seem to even care if we are people or ponies. Well, I think she realizes we scratch better as people with fingers. Still, I always weep softly when we do that. I still miss Rose.
The Fluttershys must have already taken care of dinner for the Panthers. After Alyssa had calmed down, she was quickly asleep next to Shysage and I. Well, we basically didn't sleep at all last night, and we were both very tired.
Shysage and I kissed a while more, then changed back into ponies. We both laid on our bellies near Alyssa. I snuggled up as close to him as I could, and we both fell asleep like that, on that little hill in the East meadow.
I guess this was home for us right now.
Well, someponies did come and wake us up the next morning. Both of the Filia Twins came out to the East meadow to remind us that we were Canterlot Recording again today.
Evidently, the Fluttershy Twins and their Panthers had joined us at some point. Sis said early this morning. And I think... Maybe Sis was having to deal with that auguring feeling of an unknown future too.
Shysage told the Filia Twins we would come to the Castle after we ate some breakfast. The Filia Twins ran off to the Castle, playing Cutie Mark tag together as they ran there.
Shysage and I were quickly hugging with the Fluttershys. Nothing was said, nothing at all. I think I felt from my Sis exactly what I felt, and I am sure she felt that. And I knew my sister's Twin (Equestria Girls Fluttershy), she also felt all of this too. I know this sounds complicated. That's how us Fluttershys work though, I don't know. Nopony talked, but we all cried together for a while.
We all ate some breakfast as our Panther friends ran off after their own food. When they came back, we all fussed with our animal friends, then the Fluttershys led the three of them off to the Cottage.
It was Canterlot Recording time again, I guess...
...
Shysage and I walked slowly through town to the Castle.
I stopped to hug my neighbor Dawn as she sat outside her shop, enjoying the warmth of the morning Sun. She was smiling. She said quietly "Summer, we had to add another name, look!" The sign above Dawn's shop now read:
Camille's Helping Hands
Maple Song's Paints
The whole thing had been freshly repainted, and it looked very nice. Still, I had to ask "Dawn, does Camille have your same artistry with flowers?"
Dawn sighed. "No, but I don't mind. Her family is amazing. I just wish..."
Dawn and I hugged and cried for a little while together. Dawn herself, she had longed for years for this same happy ending in her life too.
At one point, Dawn eased me away a little. "Summer, you have done so much for us... How can we ever..." She was crying again, but so was I. I was glad to help, of course. And I felt like all I did was just try and help, nothing more...
Camille called her mom from somewhere inside. I could tell just by Camille's voice...
...
Shysage and I walked the rest of the way to the Castle. Up the steps, down the hall, into the Library. We flopped down together on that nice rug with Princess Twilight's Cutie mark. The Filias were gathering everything, and Shysage and I talked briefly.
Our first trip to Canterlot was the next thing to record. We flew this time, with the Shyna Twins, to protect them, if necessary. The Shyna's could probably out-fly any monster, any magic... I don't know. We did what Equestria's Princesses had asked. And flying felt absolutely amazing.
The Commons was a grizzly graveyard, but even this early, ponies were streaming back into Canterlot. Mildred found the Shyna Twins, and... Equestria's Princesses got their Master of Details back. Both cried at this news.
Shysage helped Shining Armor evaluate the Library, and he and I left Canterlot with little pouches around our necks holding Cel and Lu's crowns, along with a note with some information about Canterlot.
Landing back in Ponyville that afternoon, I guess that was the first time Shysage noticed my Pegasus mare Curtsy. He likes it, anyway!
The next chapter started out covering our previous attempt at Canterlot Recording. But Maple Song sheepishly arrived, and was quickly married to Camille... That whole event unfolded so amazingly... I guess one of the ways Equestria was coming back to life... Ponies making amends for past mistakes...
But I think Equestria used this event to call Equestria's Princesses back to Canterlot. We all knew this time would come, sooner or later. It turned out sooner...
While we were recording, Princess Twilight needed the Filia Twins at this point, and apologized. The four of them quickly left. This wasn't a problem. Shysage and I both turned into people, sat next to each other, and Shysage wrote for me. I think I smiled at him a lot!
Shysage reminded me about our late night recording time with Cel and Lu, the night before they left. The plan was that Lu would take notes, but we didn't know how far she got, and we never saw her notes. That whole discussion about the culture of pain that bullies create, had created... It was very difficult for all of us.
The next day, a bunch of us escorted Equestria's Princesses to Canterlot. This second trip to Canterlot, we had to walk because most ponies that came with us couldn't fly. That was fine. And we brought our four Panther animal friends too, and they were a huge help again.
On hoof, the trip to Canterlot took most of the day. And as we came to the end of the last tunnel, some sort of amazing re-constitution ceremony took place. I guess the governing of Equestria was formally back in place at that point.
And Equestria's Princesses, and their Twins, they hugged and cried with Mildred for a while.
The last chapter we recorded that day was the battle with Macabre. Like we wrote, we should have known we weren't done with monsters yet. Of course, Equestria brought all of Princess Twilight's girls, and 12 Elements of Harmony, back to Canterlot for the confrontation. It didn't matter. Due to her magic shield, Equestria's magic couldn't touch Macabre.
But the shield didn't stop our Panther animal friends... And where a huge Panther army came from, I'll never know. But my sister, her amazing gifts... Fluttershy and her animal friends rescued Equestria that day.
We had to stop Canterlot Recording for the day after we wrote that amazing chapter. Shysage said his wrists refused to write another word. That was fine, it was early afternoon, and we had made pretty good progress. Well, we didn't feel so far behind, anyway.
It was so quiet in the Library. I helped Shysage put everything carefully on the closest table. Then we turned back into ponies, and laid on our bellies next to each other on that rug for a few minutes.
I don't think the quiet was good for us, we both started weeping softly together. No more monsters... Canterlot Recording almost caught up... It seemed to us both that there was just not much left to keep us here...
We headed outside, down the Castle steps into the grass, again not really knowing where we would go.
We found the Twilight and Filia Twins in a discussion with the Applejack and Rainbow Dash Twin.
"Ah, Summer, there you are" Princess said with a smile.
Equestria pony Applejack mentioned their chore.
"Summer, we have a bunch of dead trees we need removed from our main orchard. I think you can do that a lot faster than anypony else. For now, we can just stack them in a corner, and burn them later. You interested in helping with that?"
I had done this before, years ago now. I had to be the Phantom Alicorn, but there was nothing hard about pulling up dead trees and piling them up somewhere else. And I guess I was glad Rare had fixed the tear in my blouse.
"Applejack, we would be delighted to help you with that" I said quietly. It was true. And we had a place to go, for now anyway.
Thirty minutes later, I was a people, with my Cutie Mark spun up, pulling hugely overgrown and now dead apple trees out of the ground, roots and all. Applejack had me stack them in a corner. Those trees that were close enough to the corner, I just threw over to the pile. The rest of the trees I had to pull up, then fly across the orchard carrying them, and add them to the pile.
Of course, everypony else stood way back while I did this. The trees were big, and would injure anypony they may fall on, including me. Rainbow Dash and her Twin were in the air all the time, watching out for anypony in the wrong place.
Still, after maybe an hour and a half, the dead trees were all in that pile. I walked over and did some re-arranging to make sure all of the trees were on the pile. Some of the trees I threw didn't quite make it.
Then I formed a fist with my right hand, and brought it down a number of times on the pile. I didn't want to shove the trees into the ground, but I broke them into much smaller pieces, so the pile was smaller. It would also be much easier to burn this way.
After a few cycles of smashing and carefully rebuilding the pile, there were mostly small chunks of branches, from very small branches to very large limbs.
I asked everypony to back away, and got ready to use my left hand to shower the wood with fire. It would burn quickly, and hot.
Applejack stopped me. "Summer, that wood... It is the perfect size for the hearth in the house. Can we just wait, and not burn it for now? We can pull a lot of good firewood out of that pile..."
Of course that was fine. The bonfire could wait. I unspun my Cutie Mark, and walked over to Shysage, who was also a people now.
But, I guess Princess had additional plans.
"Applejack, do you have other dead trees?" Princess asked slowly.
"Wow yes..." Applejack quickly replied. "The entire North grove still needs dead trees pulled..."
Princess thought a minute more. "Summer... I think Ponyville could use a similar firewood supply like this. Is there any way..."
Equestria pony Rainbow Dash answered quickly for me, I guess. "Summer, just fly each dead tree to a pile near town, and do the same thing, crushing them down like that. That ought to work!"
"I can do that Princess" I said quietly. I wouldn't tell my Princess no. And I knew this would greatly benefit Ponyville. I was kind of concerned about flying large dead trees the 3 miles or so, but...
Princess set the plan in motion.
"Rainbows and Shynas, go find a spot in a meadow close to town, probably the East one. The four of you should mark off a large area for the wood, and keep other ponies away. Applejacks, you can show Summer where the dead trees are. How does that sound?"
Well, flying over town holding a dead tree... I ended up flying around Ponyville. I got a lot of stares still, dead trees don't normally fly. The spot the Rainbows and Shynas had marked off was easy to find, and easily bigger than the resulting pile of trees. It just wasn't very far from that little hill...
As it started to get dark, I added dead apple tree number 27 to the pile, then made Ponyville maybe a year's supply of firewood. Shysage and I turned back into ponies, and soon everypony else came to see the fruits of our labors. There was a lot of firewood in that pile!
Everypony hugged everypony else. I really was glad to be able to help amazing friends like that. Then everypony else left for their homes as it got dark. Shysage and I were quickly together and alone again.
We just laid on our bellies next to each other on that little hill and rubbed noses briefly. Fifty feet to our left was a huge pile of firewood. It was hard to miss.
Ponyville's ponies quickly found the pile. It was not quiet in that meadow any more, not until very late. And with a continous stream of ponies getting firewood... Well, we couldn't rub noses worrying about who might see us.
After unsuccessfully trying to sleep for a few hours, Shysage quietly said something about grand central station, whatever that is. We got up and moved to a new spot on the far side of the lake. It was a lot further away from the wood, and so a lot quieter there.
Shysage and I had spent some amazing, intimate times right around here. But I think we were both hurting more and more, and that just wasn't possible right now. I think we cried ourselves to sleep that night.