The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 12 -- Sweep of Time

by shysage


Chapter 3, Swept Away

The next day, I think it was day 7... After we both woke up in the morning, we realized that the music in the background had stopped. It was completely quiet. In the past, the tunes that flowed slowly through our thoughts had been helpful in varying degrees, to alert us, maybe even prepare us. Now, nothing... And I guess, where the jail was situated in Canterlot, we could not hear anypony outside our jail cell either, I don't know. It was completely quiet. Well, we were hungry too, but that...

We couldn't change anything, but we were trying to develop a routine, at least. Like we had been doing, we moved out of the corner, and into the center of the room. It was the middle of winter, but we hoped we could catch some warm sunlight. It didn't happen often, but we hoped, anyway. Shysage laid down on his belly facing the window, and I laid down right next to him and did my best to snuggle as close to him as I could. I love my Stallion deeply, and I also stayed comfortable that way. If it was clear, maybe some sun... We wept softly most of most days now. We talked little because there was not much to say. All we could do was wait... This just all seemed so wrong... And some food would be nice...

Well, it was maybe hours later... "Shysage, I wonder why Cel..."

I stopped right there; a new tune lept to life(1)...

We heard a number of ponies loudly making their way down the stairs to our jail block. Since hearing ANY sound here, it had been many days... Shysage and I both got up, then sat down, right where we had been laying in the center of the jail cell, but we sat together, facing the door.

An uncharacteristically impatient Princess soon walked quickly into our jail cell, followed by two frowning guards. It had been days, and nopony had told us anything... Still, I tried to ask softly "Cel, I--"

"SILENCE!" came her abrupt, immediate, loud response, and this single word echoed down the long hall, through the maybe 15 other jail cells on this lowest floor. She didn't stop. "I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA OF EQUESTRIA AND YOU WILL ADDRESS ME PROPERLY OR FACE STIFF CONSEQUENCES!" Cel... was glaring, scowling at both Shysage and I...

Well, I was speechless, and I am pretty sure Shysage was too. I don't think either of us knew what to make of this change in Cel, er Princess Celestia. It was silent for a minute maybe. Then another Unicorn stallion walked calmly into the jail cell and stood next to Princess Celestia.

This explained most everything. The music in the background agreed, changing abruptly and immediately... Since the very first Chronicles... Monster music(2)...

It was the exact same stallion who had kicked Shysage across the Canterlot Library lobby recently, because... well... I guess he refused to explain to Shysage how the Chronicles included so much deadly poison. That whole incident mystified me anyway. But here he was, with a clearly triumphant smirk on his face, too. We knew that, maybe 35 years in the future, this same stallion would do the same thing to Shysage's Twin (Equestria Girls Shysage), and would also get a much needed time-out with three huge black panthers screaming in his face. That didn't matter, here he was now.

After that stallion came in, it was quiet another minute, well, except for that sinister music. The Princess of Equestria was looking down at us both, with a mixture of anger and maybe disdain, I think. What had we... But all this time, Cel, er Princess Celestia was using her magic to carry a stack of large volumes. At that point, she moved them forward, and over to the corner of our jail cell closest to the door, and unceremoniously dropped the entire stack to the floor. They made a loud 'thwack' sound as they hit the floor, then tumbled randomly all over the place. I recognized them right away -- the various volumes of Chronicles of Summer Rain, probably from the Canterlot Library.

I... Why...

Princess Celestia didn't leave us guessing.

"YOU WILL BOTH WRITE A CAREFUL AND DETAILED RECANTATION AND APOLOGY FOR EVERY SINGLE LIE CONTAINED IN EACH OF THESE VOLUMES."

This was too much for me. I looked down, and began to weep as softly as I could. Shysage quickly put one of his front legs around my neck, and pulled me close. Princess Celestia of Equestria unflinchingly continued.

"YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS JAIL CELL UNTIL THIS TASK IS COMPLETED ACCORDING TO OUR APPROVAL."

She didn't stop there...

"YOUR ASSIGNMENT AS CANTERLOT RECORDERS IS HEREBY COMPLETELY AND PERMANENTLY REVOKED, AS IS YOUR USE OF THE RESIDENCE IN PONYVILLE.

...

"HEREAFTER YOU ARE BANISHED FROM PONYVILLE, FROM CANTERLOT, AND FROM TALKING TO OR MAKING ANY CONTACT WITH ANY OF EQUESTRIA'S PRINCESSES OR THEIR CLOSE ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS...

...

"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Princess Celestia asked loudly.

Well, I could not say anything. I was sobbing... This... was... Shysage quietly said all he could say... "Yes..."

"GOOD" she said, loudly, curtly and clearly with disdain.

Princess Celestia yelled at the nearby guards.

"GUARDS, THESE TWO PONIES ARE TO BE FED THE FOOD OF AFFLICTION AND THE WATER OF AFFLICTION UNTIL WE RELEASE THEM."

And with that, Princess Celestia of Equestria turned quickly and walked swiftly out of the jail cell, and was... gone...

...

The angry stallion remained. He was also using his magic to carry a load of stuff, which he likewise moved to a different corner, the corner nearest to the other corner with the tumbled pile of books. The angry stallion carelessly dropped his pile of stuff on the floor in this other corner. His load of stuff was evidently our recantation writing supplies; paper, a few quills, some jars of ink. The ink jars all shattered when they hit the floor.

The angry stallion, after dumping his stuff in the corner, stood there a minute or so, and glared at us both, as the ink from the broken jars flowed quickly into the cracks in the floor...

Shysage smiled, and looked at the angry stallion.

"Lies?" Shysage asked calmly. "Can you explain a little more what we are to be looking for?" Shysage, well we had never ever been given ANY explanation of that... The broken ink jars... No description about what we were to recant... It was clear to me anyway that their only goal was keeping us in jail...

But the angry stallion was instantly furious. He yelled at Shysage

"WORTHLESS STALLION! LIES! POISON! ALL OF IT! AND YOU BOTH WILL STAY HERE... UNTIL... I... SAY... SO!"

Shysage remained calm, even though I wanted to kick this Unicorn across our jail cell.

With neither anger nor resentment, Shysage asked quietly "So... How is it against the law now, to have an unpopular opinion?" Shysage paused briefly, then continued. "Only totalitarian governments try to control thoughts; are afraid of thoughts. But then, you are so smart you probably already know that..."

The angry stallion was furious... He glared at Shysage for the longest time.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, WORTHLESS STALLION! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU BOTH!"

The angry stallion was livid... Clearly in a huff, he turned quickly, and stomped out of the jail cell. One of the Guards slammed the door for the jail cell loudly shut behind him, and that sound too reverberated down the jail block for a while.

The music in the background changed immediately. I knew the tune, "Faded Memories..."(4) I guess that was all we were allowed now...

...

For a few minutes, Shysage and I just sat there, failing to come to grips with what had just happened.

Then I got up, sniffling, and walked over towards the pile of recantation writing supplies, which had already started to merge into an inky mess on the floor. I looked at them briefly from a distance. Then I pointed at them with my left front hoof, and tapped my right rear hoof gently to the floor of the jail cell. The pile of recantation stuff immediately burst into flame, and was soon a smouldering pile of ashes.

Shysage was up too, and changed to a people briefly, then he carefully, lovingly restacked the various volumes of the Chronicles, placing them in the correct order, and with the title on the spines all going the same way even.

Then Shysage turned back into a pony, walked over to the same spot on the floor in the center of our cell where he was before, and he laid back on his belly with this hind legs out to the side. I was quickly back right next to him, laying the same way. I leaned back and nudged his nose with mine. We rubbed noses there briefly.

...

Still, my mind was trying to sift through what happened... At one point, I asked "Shysage, is this our new home?" He didn't answer. I don't think either of us knew the answer... It sure looked like it...

...

Some time later... "Shysage, is this the Bully Culture starting here in Equestria already?" This made sense, since we had visited the future recently, and this was certainly an issue in Equestria's fall. Shysage didn't answer this question either. We both knew we would just need to wait in order to find out. The prospect of 35 years stuck here in jail wasn't appealing, but could explain...

...

Shysage was deep in thought. A while later, Shysage said quietly "Banished to obscurity by angry ponies..."

I just sighed when Shysage said this. I agreed with him. For us, this was not about fame or recognition at all. We wanted to help ponies. Shysage and I, we wanted to help as many ponies as we could. We wanted to help hurting mares and stallions try to make sense out of whatever difficulties they faced. Bullies especially, ponies needed to recognize them for the 'takers' that they are, and try to deal with or endure, whichever... Helping others, that's what true friends do. That's why bleacher girls time is such a treasure to us both. The thousands of hurting ponies spread across Equestria, and the Equestria Girls world too; we wanted to help them cope, maybe even survive another day. But we couldn't do that if angry ponies...

Saying what other ponies want to hear, thinking the way other ponies demand, maybe that was supposed to be more important than helping hurting ponies? That just seemed so wrong to me, to us.

Well, I guess none of that even mattered now...

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It didn't take long... Shysage and I were soon crying loudly together...

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Princess Twilight and all her girls... Cel and Lu... Our amazing Equestria Girls Twins... Our amazing neighbor Dawn and her daughter Camille... My sister Fluttershy... Even our own daughter Ariel... Then I sighed... And true friendship...

A life so full of such amazing treasures...

...Swept away by angry ponies...

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I guess it hit us both... They were tearing everything down... everything we had done, all the time we had invested... Everything we had worked for... for years... ...Swept away... Like it never happened...

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The Magic of Friendship? In its place, all we saw was anger, hatred, selfishness...

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Surely Orbsah Tnuoc knew this would tear his kingdom apart...

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Shysage and I, we cried our hearts out for... hours... days...

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One day, near sundown, we were cried out and hoarse, I think... We both felt so... spent... abandoned... We just lay there together, still stunned...

At the last light of dusk...

I bent far back, so I could see Shysage's eyes. I said quietly, trying hard to not cry...

"Shysage, I still have you..."