The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 2 -- Homecoming

by shysage

Chapter 4, Untangling the monster's Curse

Summer Rain left Dawn's, and headed off to check on her friends homes. She couldn't fly with the coat on, and it was too cold to take it off. She just walked.

The Cake's shop was in disrepair, but didn't look bad. No Pinkie though, it looked like it had been abandoned for years. Same with Rarity's shop.

Their two memorial gardens were long gone, and deeply overgrown with weeds.

Summer was soon weeping softly again as she headed out to Fluttershy's cottage.

Summer decided she had made this trip while crying too many times... Summer loved her sister...

Fluttershy's cottage looked ok, aside from being deserted. The smaller cottage that Summer used was just a pile of wood however. Summer didn't expect to find Fluttershy here, and she wasn't.

On the way to Sweet Apple Acres, Summer dropped by the Library.

It was also empty, but it also seemed to be doing ok. There were still quite a few books on the shelves.

A familiar book was on the table. It was Volume 1 of Princess Celestia's commentaries. Summer blew the dust off, then carefully slid it into one of the deep pockets of her coat.

Summer was soon on her way, walking to the farm.

Summer just didn't understand evil rulers. This 'Eschate Zumulus' had done over many years what Sunset Shimmer would have accomplished in just one generation. "What was the point of an empty kingdom?" she thought to herself.

Then she realized the truth. The entire goal of evil leaders was simply the destruction of 'good'... of culture... of civilization... of happiness and truth... Evil leaders simply didn't care how long it took. And they didn't mind that the realm was empty. They had stamped out good, and that was all they wanted. That was disgusting...

"My Equestria won't die like that while I'm around" Summer said out loud to herself.

---

Summer was soon walking up the slight hill to Applejack's house. It was clear she wasn't there. The farmhouse had also collapsed in on itself.

The barn was in sad shape, and in desparate need of some paint, but was still standing at least.

Summer walked into the barn through the large open door, waited for her eyes to adjust, then looked around.

Summer couldn't tell for sure, but it really looked like somepony was living here. Summer sat down a minute thinking.

In all of Ponyville, Summer had not seen any other ponies besides Dawn and Camille. If there was another pony here, this would only be the third pony she had found since coming back home.

Summer started crying... Fluttershy... Shysage... The two she really wanted... The whole realm seemed so thoroughly deserted...

Still weeping, Summer just wanted to find a place in the field to cry a while...

It was probably mid-day, she had plenty of time...

There was a gate nearby, and she headed slowly out that gate. She soon found herself in the middle of deeply rutted path. Looking down, she realized it might have been used recently. Summer sighed...

Then Summer just cried... She slowly wandered along the path, looking down at the ground, crying loudly, not really watching where she was going. She just followed the path. Tears simply fell from her face into the dirt...

The path crested a bluff, and Summer looked up, well down...

Summer saw another pony off in the distance, in the center of a small hill. This deeply rutted path led there.

Summer walked closer, and realized this pony was bowing. Walking just a little closer, Summer could not see who this pony was bowing too. It was a little eerie...

Before getting too close, Summer just stopped and sat down. She didn't want to interrupt whatever this pony was doing.

It sounded like the pony was talking, but Summer just wasn't close enough to make anything out. She just waited.

This pony was wearing a coat; it was too cold here not to. The coat was shining white, not the black that most ponies wore. Still, the edges of the coat were tattered and frayed from years of use.

Summer's eye caught something near one of the frayed corners. The shape was impossible to make out, but the color was still vivid. Yellow it looked like, fading to blue-green at the bottom...

Summer just stared at it...

This pony abruptly lay down on their belly and was crying. Every minute or so, this pony would say something, Summer just couldn't make it out.

Summer slowly and quietly moved closer along the path... Then she heard...

"Summer please come back..."

It was Shysage...

---

Up to this moment, Summer had never loved this Stallion as much as she did right then. And she wanted to make sure he knew it.

Summer walked slowly up to Shysage. He was crying, and so he didn't, and couldn't hear anything.

Summer then lay on her belly, right up next to him on his left side. Shysage stopped crying abruptly, raised his head maybe six inches, and froze immediately. Shysage couldn't even turn to look.

Summer put her head up over the back of his neck, and moved her mouth next to where his right ear was under the hood of his coat. Choking back tears herself, Summer then said "I came back Shysage. Thanks for waiting..."

After a brief delay, Shysage said softly "Thirty-seven years..."

Then they both burst into tears, and cried together.

Summer got up and moved, laying down on her belly to face Shysage and they just held their front hooves next to each other, lay their heads down in the grass together, and just cried... ...for over an hour...

At about the same time, their crying tapered off, and they just looked at each other. Then they rubbed noses briefly, then just looked into each other's eyes some more.

"Shysage, do you remember the time I almost did that at the end of Twins Day?" Summer asked softly.

"Yes, I saw that... I wish you had..." Shysage replied softly too.

They were both quiet, and simply put their heads together in the grass, and both sighed.

After a few minutes, Shysage said "Summer we need to eat soon. It will get colder later, and we need to be inside then. Can we go do that?" Shysage asked.

"Shysage, I'm not leaving your side" Summer replied quietly. "I have only seen three ponies since I came back home, and it seems a miracle you are one of them... ...I'm not leaving you..."

Shysage led Summer to an Oat stand down in the valley, and they both ate, staying as close together as they could.

There was also a lake nearby, and they broke some ice near the edge and drank. The water was very cold, and they couldn't drink very much at a time.

---

It was now getting late, and cold, the birds were no longer chirping. It would soon be dark. Shysage and Summer headed back to the barn.

Shysage usually slept in a small stall in the barn since it was protected from the wind. Instead, he led Summer in there, and said "Summer you can sleep here. It will be warmer."

Shysage turned to leave the stall, and Summer stopped at the entrance.

In less than a minute, Summer was hysterical.

"Shysage please... I don't... I can't... ...ever be... ...alone... I just... I just... ...can't..."

Summer closed her eyes tightly at this point and was sobbing...

"Shysage... I want yo-- I ne... Shysage, I can't sleep alone..."

Then she inhaled deeply and screamed loudly "SHYSAGE DON'T LEAVE ME..."

This woke Shysage up. It had been 37 years for him, but for Summer, just 72 hours ago maybe, they had spent the night simply sleeping next to each other, and this really helped Summer.

Shysage surely felt like such an idiot, and was quickly at Summer's side comforting her. "I am so sorry Summer... This was all my fault... I should not have done that to you..." Shysage was crying now too.

They were sitting, facing each other, hugging with their heads next to each other, as Shysage tried to comfort this mare for a few minutes.

"Summer when you are calmed down let me know, I have something I need to ask you." Shysage said softly.

After a few more minutes, Summer was weeping softly, but said "Ok, I think I'm ready."

"Summer please transform into your Equestria Girls form then place your hand on my shoulder" Shysage asked calmly.

They were both 'people' now, and Shysage knelt down before Summer, took her hand in his, looked into her beautiful blue eyes, and said softly "Summer Rain, most amazing mare in the universe, will you be my Mare?"

Tears of joy quickly flooded Summer's eyes... She pulled Shysage up to standing, and hopped up and down a few times then hugged Shysage tightly... "Yes... Yes... Oh Shysage, yes..."

Then she buried her face on Shysage's shoulder and just cried...

They were soon hugging tightly, both crying on the other's shoulders.

"Summer I love you so much..." Shysage said through his tears.

This made Summer just sob louder. She already knew it was true.

That one simple question... ...completely untangled the monster's curse. Summer felt it no longer. Summer was free... The monster's abuse had cursed Summer into thinking no stallion would ever want her. Shysage's simple request had showed that curse for the lie that it was. It was gone.

Summer was now free to be completely devoted to the only Stallion she ever remembered wanting... They shared so much in common... This was a dream come true...

Summer also knew that Shysage's wife in the Equestria Girls world was long gone... It seemed she had reduced their marriage to a bare promise anyway... But her Stallion had fought himself for years to keep that promise, as the true friend that he was, even though it completely emptied him...

Shysage kept his promise to the end, and Summer now knew without a doubt that she could absolutely trust him... ...forever...

They just held each other tightly for a while, weeping softly.

Summer had no 'desires' for anything more. The monsters had seen to that as well, and she had no idea how long this would last.

Shysage's body was beginning to respond though, so Shysage asked that they go back to being ponies.

Now would be a bad time for Summer to have a foal, and they were both in no hurry. This rare couple could easily and simply revel in being at each other's side. Neither was in a hurry for anything else.

They were quickly back in their pony form, and Summer slipped the first volume of Princess Celestia's commentaries out of the pocket of her coat and moved it to an out of the way spot.

As the last light of day disappeared from inside the barn, Shysage walked into the stall, lay on his side, and lifted his upper front leg. Summer quickly lay down facing him, lay her head down on his, and Shyage just wrapped his leg around Summer and pulled her close.

Their hind-quarters were apart, for the reasons mentioned above. This was simply not on either of their minds. They didn't need that, not now.

"Summer, I apologize that I did not realize this sooner, and I feel terrible that you had to scream to get my attention. But I think the Portal did the right thing in one respect. You only had to wait maybe 3 days for this." Shysage said softly.

"Summer choked back tears, then said "I really love you Shysage... I'm sorry you had to wait 37 years for me..."

"Summer" Shysage replied softly "My precious Mare... You are easily worth all that... ...and you are already erasing the pain of that wait..."

---

Shysage and Summer were simply at perfect peace in each other's arms, er, legs. They did not move from that spot for over an hour, and just enjoyed a feeling they had both waited for -- simply being together.

Shysage heard a noise. He was a dedicated brother, he knew exactly what and who it was immediately. "Summer, I need to get up" Shysage said quietly.

Summer had been dozing, but slowly rolled out of the way.

Shysage stood up and walked out into the large area of the barn.

Shysage carefully kicked the edge of his coat over a lone pony who was sitting, facing out the front door of the barn. Shysage sat right up next to this pony, who was very cold, teeth chattering, and softly weeping.

"Fluttershy, nothing we could be doing should prevent you from letting us warm you up..." Shysage said softly.

Fluttershy just said slowly, teeth chattering, softly weeping...

"I... I... h... h... hea... rd... m... my... sis... ss... ster..."

Shysage just sighed, then said "Fluttershy, please come with me, we need to get you warmed up."

Shysage helped Fluttershy, who was barely able to walk, into the stall. He couldn't see Summer, so he asked that she help him with her sister.

Summer was crying now too.

Fluttershy lay on her belly, and both Shysage and Summer lay on either side next to her, then used their teeth to overlap both their coats over Fluttershy. She was very cold.

Out of the biting cold wind, and between Summer and Shysage, Fluttershy warmed up quickly, and was soon sobbing next to her sister. They were all sobbing.

Shysage cried for an hour after Summer's return. Fluttershy cried even longer. It didn't matter. Summer and her beloved sister Fluttershy were back together. That's what mattered.

Thirty seven years was a long time...

Fluttershy and Summer were talking together quietly, and Shysage fell asleep. The sisters were soon asleep too.