The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 7 -- monsters in the Grass

by shysage

Chapter 10, Helping Out

Nopony wanted to leave Equestria, but we had to come back.

The Portal was kind to us on the way back to the Equestria Girls world. The clock inside the High School lobby said 9:00, so Soccer practice was just starting.

Rainbow Dash ran quickly around to the field, and jumped in. She was barely even late. This was good, she was the team Captain.

The rest of us walked back to Fluttershy's apartment, and everyone else got their 'stuff'. The girls said they normally wandered over to the bleachers to watch Rainbow at ten, so they just sat around in Fluttershy's apartment and talked.

This was clearly 'girl time', which was fine. I told Summer I was heading to my 'cubical', and to have Fluttershy text me if anything came up. My Mare smiled at me, and I headed out the door. That would have to be enough.

The walk to my cubical in the Equestria Girls world didn't take long, it was also near the School.

After letting myself in, first thing, I got the keys to 'big Blue', and got the 'scope' out of the trunk. I unfolded my work-table down over the bed, set the 'scope' up there, and turned it on.

Once the 'scope' came to life, I saw Summer, of course, but this too would have to be ok. I needed to do everything I could to protect her safety regardless of how I felt. I would, of course.

Besides, Summer felt very attached to these amazing ladies, and it had been months since she could spend a lot of time with them. She deeply loved them all. I had no doubt that she would so completely enjoy every second she spent with them, and I didn't want to intrude on that at all.

Before doing anything else, I located the 'Loaner' cell phone, and the charger, and plugged it in. It showed an unanswered text, and I quickly uncovered the text chain for Equestria Girls Summer's disappearance, and that was just chilling. I was suddenly very glad she was in Equestria right now.

Using my shears and electric razor, I spent the next maybe fifteen minutes both shaving, and substantially trimming my very shaggy hair. After years of having to tend to this myself, I had gotten pretty good at cutting my own hair.

After this task was done, I headed out and checked my car over. It had received very little 'maintenance' in the last few years, and I wanted to make sure everything was still 'ship shape', and it was. I didn't know if I would need it again.

Every few minutes or so, I would walk back and check the 'scope'. I just wanted to know when they left. Their next stop was probably the bleachers, and this was fine. I just felt I should 'keep track'.

I also had no idea when and if the two monsters may 'show up' around here. If they did show up, boy would they be mad. They had not seen the rest of us or the car, but still. I wasn't sure what I could do, but I wanted to know immediately should they surface. This recurring fear would not easily go away.

The last task was to locate a key and a Title. This was quickly done.

Oh, and by the way, I really felt terrible. But I was trying to be a responsible pony...

I was standing inside my 'cubicle', because there was no place to sit. Well, I could put the toilet cover down and sit on that. I was watching my amazing Mare on the 'scope'. They were just sitting and talking. I am sure this was amazing for all of them.

Summer told me a number of times that her brief time with the Equestria Girls was a high point for her. I would do everything I could to allow her to enjoy that again. I really didn't know how long we would be here, and I wanted Summer to enjoy as much as she could.

Mentally, I took stock of the Canterlot Recorder tasks I had on deck. Summer and I needed to do a final pass or two through 'Faded Memories' (the title Summer and I agreed upon for the account surrounding PonyRos' takeover) and it was ready to go. That could wait until we got back to Equestria though.

I next needed to start on what had happened in the last week maybe, rescuing both Summers from monsters. I was hoping I could get this started while we were here.

Still, in the back of my head, I knew that the material for Volume 5 of Princess Celestia's commentaries would start flooding in very soon. As far as I could tell, Princess Twilight and her girls were doing very well, and I expected an amazing year of lessons.

I wished that the Equestria Girls could get involved with that though... They are all just as amazing as their Equestria pony Twins, and they all love their Princess too. Besides, I knew this world needed these lessons just as much...

I parked my brain, and watched my amazing Mare. I had seen a similar view the first time she was here, but I had not been emotionally attached then. Well her abduction changed that. Well, her first abduction had. Bah...

I tried to park my brain again. It wasn't working. I just sighed.

I walked out the door, and wandered back to the White Mustang behind 'big Blue'. It really was a beautiful car. I popped the hood. Where had I left this... Oh thats right, the carburator needed rebuilding. I wonder if I can even get a rebuild kit any more...

I closed the hood, then checked the 'scope' again.

The girls were heading over to the High School, probably to the bleachers. This was actually my cue to head back. I would sit in the bleachers too, some distance away, just to keep an eye on things. Cel, well Princess Celestia, had told me to do that.

I pulled the cell off the charger, put it in my pocket, then locked my 'cubical' and headed back to the School.

---

By the time I arrived at the bleachers, the girls were already there, sitting and talking. Princess.. er Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, along with Summer and Fluttershy, were all sitting in a group, still talking together.

Rainbow was also running Soccer practice.

I wandered over to the far side of the bleachers, and sat down, and tried to just relax and watch some Soccer.

Summer came quickly over, and sat down next to me.

It was quiet for a minute, and we both just sat there.

"Stallion, I know you are hurting, and I just wa--" She began quietly.

I stopped her gently, but firmly, then spoke softly.

"Amazing Mare, your time with these dear ladies was a high point for you, and I want you to be able to enjoy them as long as we are here. When we get back to Equestria, I will curl up in your lap, and cry for hours. Until then, I want you to enjoy these amazing ladies."

Summer almost started crying. But she hugged me, and said softly "Stallion, I love you so. Just know that."

"I know Mare, go enjoy your friends." I said, then I smiled.

She was quickly back over with the Equestria Girls, and a steady stream of High School friends began to wander over.

Being able to tell Summer what I told her helped me feel a lot better. I also think it helped my Mare be more at ease being with her friends, and this was good. As bad as I felt inside, this opportunity was a dream come true for Summer, and I would help her make the best of it.

Besides, watching Summer and her friends reach out and love hurting girls here... This was my Mare in her 'element', she loved helping others. The rest of the amazing Equestria Girls did too. The 'putting others first' that made up true friendship was very real to all of them, and it showed... a lot.

And what had happened to both Summers less than 24 hours ago must have opened old wounds for some of these girls, but this just allowed healing to proceed. There were a lot of tears, as they explained where Equestria Girls Summer was right now, and why. And the large bruise on my Summer's neck looked a lot worse now, and was hard to conceal.

---

After about an hour, Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna walked over to the girls, and they were crying too. Evidently they knew what had happened, and joined the group hugging and crying together. Of course, they were both glad the Summers were safe.

It must have turned some heads that the Principal and Vice-Principal were crying too, along with the rest of the girls, but both of these ladies really cared about their students. And it was clear that this was a very real danger for the girls who would start School here soon.

After maybe 20 minutes, both Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna walked over to me. I got up quickly and stepped down to the grass, and fought the urge to hug them. They were Cel and Lu's Twins after all.

I heard Cel's voice, but Principal Celestia explained...

"Our Twins felt it might be helpful if we could supply you with some sort of task while you and Summer are here. I think their main concern has to do with the time these amazing girls spend together here during the day.

"I cannot stress enough how helpful these six girls have been to our students, chiefly the girls. And our Twins were both sure Summer would want to be very involved with that time, and they wanted to make it easier for you both."

I almost started crying, but replied slowly

"Cel and Lu are right, doing what Summer is doing with the rest of the Equestria Girls right now, this is like heaven for Summer, and I have already told her to throw herself into this for as long as we are here.

"If there is some way that I can help you or the school, while still being able to keep an eye on the girls, then that would be nice. I doubt I really need to stay right here while they are all together at the School like this anyway."

The three of us were soon walking towards the High School building.

"Our Twins love you and Summer a lot..." Vice-Principal Luna said this quietly.

I did start crying at this point. We both loved them a lot too. Still, I added quietly "I think there's still some in Equestria that resent that. I don't know why..." I didn't cry long though. Men aren't supposed to cry here.

Principal and Vice-Principal led me to a locked door that opened into a large room. One whole side of the room was filled with windows that looked out across the Soccer field to the bleachers on the far side. This was good. It would be a LOT easier to keep tabs on everyone from here. I think Cel and Lu's Twins knew this would be handy.

The room looked like some sort of work-shop or something, and fully one third of the room was stacked, floor to ceiling, with Computer stuff; Desk-top boxes, displays and printers mostly. It looked like any that quit working were simply packed in here.

"That mound of computers is my task, right?" I asked, then laughed.

"Any computers that you can fix will be welcome; we are short ten systems in the Computer Lab. Pulling out any stuff that is just too old will also help; we will just haul them off for recycling" Principal Celestia said.

Vice-Principal Luna added "We used to be able to hire a tech to do this, but our funding has been cut heavily, and he had to go. And we can't afford to buy the computers we need for the Lab either."

I laughed at this "But they made you add solar panels over the parking lot. I guess 'Carbon Footprint' trumps everything else..."

Principal and Vice Principal looked at each other and just smiled.

"Yes..." Principal Celestia said. "Just don't tell anyone I said that."

"Principal and Vice-Principal, I will be happy to help you try to make sense of this stack of computers, especially to see if I can bring ten or more back to life for you. It will give me something to do to keep my mind off of... well..." I started saying this, but couldn't finish.

"It is clear you and Summer love each other a lot..." Vice-Principal Luna said quietly.

"I just rescued her this morning... And now..." I started, then stopped deliberately and sighed.

It was quiet a minute, then I said softly "Letting Summer do what she loves to do, means more to me than anything else right now. Your girls need this. Summer wants this. I can wait..."

---

Well, they handed me a set of keys, then they both hugged me, then headed off to their offices.

I texted Fluttershy "Please don't go anywhere else before letting me know first, and thanks."

Then I looked at the mound of computers.

Fluttershy texted quickly back "I love you, Stallion", and I knew this was from my Mare. Reading this helped, a lot. I knew Equestria Girls Summer and my Twin texted a bunch, and now I was beginning to understand why.

So I texted back "Fluttershy, give Summer a hug for me."

An hour later I had the 'mound' spread out across the room. Well, I kept looking out the window to check on the girls too.

The Desk Top boxes were all in a row on the long bench below the windows; there were about sixty of them. They were placed so that their back panels were facing the room. From the arrangement of the connectors on the back panel alone, I could tell that half of them were to old to be useful.

The LCD monitors were carefully lined up on the table along one of the short sides of the room, maybe 35 of them. These had the highest probability of being useful.

I carefully laid the Printers on their side on the floor below the LCD Monitors. There were only twenty Printers, and I didn't think they were needed for the Computer Lab, but I needed to check on that. A few of the printers had archaic 'tractor feed' mechanisms, and they went straight into the 'recycle' pile.

A mound of keyboards were neatly stacked on one of the work tables in the center of the room.

The older 'CRT' style Monitors I just placed back into a careful pile in one corner. Most probably worked, but they used a lot of power, and so I would ignore them for now. But if I needed them...

Power cables in a pile here, video cables in a pile here, USB cables in another pile close by. A huge plastic bin filled up with 'mice'...

The thirty computers that were not worth fooling with were then carefully stacked to form a wall around the CRT Monitors. When I had everything fixed, this stuff would all get recycled.

The other thirty computers I would need to try and fix, one at a time. I had a pretty good hunch that most of the LCD Monitors were fine. If they were connected to a computer that failed, both were probably put in here.

At this point, Principal and Vice-Principal wandered in. I explained the smaller piles of stuff, and what they meant, and they seemed really happy; they felt I had made a lot of progress.

I also verified that the Computer Lab did not need the Printers; they were just used by Staff. However, they could use a few more if some could be brought back to life.

Principal Celestia indicated they were headed out for some food. I let them know a simple deli sandwich and some milk would be fine for me, and I thanked them. They were soon on their way.

A second work table in the center of the room had a good supply of tools in drawers underneath. Facing the windows, I grabbed a screwdriver, and got to work.

The first computer I opened up smelled bad inside. I quickly found two exploded filter capacitors on the Motherboard. I found some masking tape, put a piece across the top of the box and wrote 'Motherboard bad'. This system could supply spare parts for another system.

The next computer I picked up had a nasty rattle. Something heavy was clanking around inside. I opened it up, half expecting to find maybe the CPU fan dangling by wires, or something similar.

With the side off, I didn't see anything visibly loose. So, I picked it up, turned the open side down, and shook it. The 'rattle' fell out. It was a ring. Somehow, someone had stuffed a ring into this box.

I put the box down, and picked the ring up. It looked like Sterling Silver, and was thin but very shiny. It only had one decoration, two interlocked hearts. And it was just about the right size too. I put it in my pocket.

I set the computer upright, connected a keyboard and a monitor, and powered it up. It sounded like it went through it's startup correctly, but the Monitor showed nothing. Trying another Monitor fixed that, and, after plugging in a keyboard and a mouse, I had a 'known good' computer system. This would make it easier to troubleshoot the rest.

I marked the first Monitor 'bad' with masking tape.

By the time Principal and Vice-Principal had returned, I had checked out all the LCD monitors. Five were bad, 30 were good. This was very good. The bad ones were added to the 'recycle' stack.

I also handed the ring to Principal Celestia, and told her where it came from. She looked at it a minute, and said quietly "probably a 'steady' ring that wasn't needed at the last minute", then she gave it to Vice-Principal Luna to examine.

The Vice Principal looked at it briefly, then handed it back to me and quietly said "I know an amazing mare that might appreciate that", then she smiled.

"My thought exactly" I replied just as quietly.

"A little piece of the Equestria Girls world for Cel's mom" Principal Celestia said with a chuckle.

They went back to work, and I ate my sandwich.

At around two in the afternoon, Fluttershy texted me that they were about done. I told them to stay put, I would be out shortly.

Still, I already had five computers for the Lab up and running, and working on their usual updates and such. I would leave them running overnight for that.

I locked the shop, and headed out to the bleachers.

I really appreciated being able to help out the School like this.

---

Rainbow had joined the group by now, and they were all sitting in the bleachers talking.

I sat next to Summer.

Applejack spoke up "Shysage, we want to go to the Cake's for some soda, would that be ok?"

I thought for a minute then said "Pinkie, while clearing electronics, I saw that the monsters had a computer system dedicated to an on-line Web-cam pointing at the Cake's Soda Machine. They probably used that to find both Summers.

"That really needs to be dealt with before any of us go there. And it would be best if you found the Web-cam and disabled it without getting in the field of view yourself, so they don't see you.

"Does that make any sense?"

Applejack laughed and said "Not to me, it doesn't."

Pinkie said quickly "No sweat Shysage, I know where the security cameras are. I'll go in, turn the WiFi off, find the camera and kill it. Then I'll text you when it's clear."

Rainbow spoke up quickly "Pinkie, I'll come help."

Applejack laughed again and said "I want to see this, too"

I just had to say again "Pinkie, you are amazing..."

Then the three of them headed to the Cakes.

My Mare spoke up at this point. "Stallion, these ladies normally start into their projects for the day at around three. I think we are going to the Cake's for soda, then that will happen. That will give you and I some time... to uhm..."

It was clear Summer was having trouble with this. She was trying to be careful, and it showed.

Fluttershy quickly spoke up "Shysage, I'm going to spend the afternoon with Pinkie, so you and Summer can have some time together. I hope that's ok..."

I just smiled at my Mare, and said "I think I can make that work."

Summer smiled back. That would have to be enough for now. It was, her smile is priceless.

It was quiet for a minute.

"Shysage, I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Will you be writing that up or something?" Twilight Sparkle asked this.

"I have already been asked to do that, so yes" I replied. "I hope to work on it while Summer and I are here."

The Equestria Girls seemed every bit as 'close knit' as Princess Twilight and the Equestria ponies. They all deserved to know what had happened. Well, everypony did.

I just sighed. The Portal had brought amazing ladies together, but still... I really hoped the Portal got moved to Ponyville. It would help these dear friends be a lot 'closer' to each other.

---

Twilight got the 'all clear' from Pinkie, so we headed down to the grass, and walked to the Cakes. After maybe five minutes, we were there, and the eight of us were quickly all sitting at a big round table, talking together over sodas.

At one point Pinkie said "I helped Mr. Cake secure his WiFi, and the bad Web-cam has been disposed of, by the way. Still, I should probably check every week or so for any more 'floaters'.

That was my cue. I got out the Title and key, and slowly pushed both over in front of Pinkie Pie.

It was instantly quiet, and everyone looked at the paper on the table.

After maybe fifteen seconds, Pinkie Pie teared up...

Then she carefully pushed it back.

"Shysage, I can't take this, unless you give it to our family instead. Losing all those amazing cars crushed my parents, and there are none like them left in wrecking yards any more; we have all looked for years. I won't take this, unless you let us Pie's fix it up and give it to our parents..."

Pinkie was already crying a little, and I quickly pushed the key and Title back towards her and said quietly "I am honored to help out your family like this. Give your parents a hug for us."

"Shysage, I--" Pinkie started to say, then she was crying like a baby, and jumped up and ran over and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back. Then she hugged Summer too...

Applejack asked quietly "What just happened?"

Pinkie couldn't talk, and Summer was crying with her. So I tried.

"Well, this will make more sense once I have the account of both Summer's rescue written.

"Years ago, I spent more time wandering through wrecking yards. During that time, I found two similar Mustangs, and bought both. One is in the car-port next to my 'cubical', the other is in a storage shed here in town. My family consider both of them ju-- Oh, nevermind.

"Pinkie and her family used to own a bunch of very nice cars from the same era, including two of these Mustangs, and labored to take care of them. They owned a race track, and raced them. A Judge took the track and cars away from the family, and the cars rusted away and got scrapped.

"I gave my second Mustang to Pinkie's family. They will fix it up, and give it to their parents as a surprise. I just hope I can be there for that."

Well, I couldn't say anything more either. I knew this would be a very meaningful gift to Pinkie's parents. And I knew the Mustang was going to a very good home.

And everyone else said they wanted in on that too. They loved Pinkie, and helping out like this was an amazing opportunity.

After a few minutes, we were all just crying together. There was a lot of mutual devotion in this circle.

Five minutes later, most of our crying had subsided.

The key I had given her was to the storage shed. Pinkie picked up the key, then looked off into the distance. Pinkie Sense...

"Let's see... 69 Sportsroof... Interior pulled out... Wow, you switched it over to 5 lug, and disk brakes, nice! Straight body with some rust, but no major damage... Wow, Cleveland too! And, uhm C-4 tranny... from a Sedan? Oh well.

"Shysage, this will be a labor of love for us Pie's... Thank you..."

Pinkie started crying again, and I did too. Still, I got up and hugged her.

Pinkie had been such an amazing help recovering our mares... This gift wasn't 'payback' buy any means; I didn't feel I had to do this. I just wanted to. I was meeting a need in her life as she had freely helped us out. I couldn't explain any more than that.

We just sat around for a few more minutes, then everyone needed to head out. And everyone hugged everyone before leaving. About that 'mutual devotion' I mentioned...

When Pinkie, Fluttershy, Summer and I were the only ones left, Fluttershy said softly "Sis, you two can head out now. Pinkie and I will stay together the whole time. Just be back here at around five to walk me home. Is that ok?"

I think we all started crying again, and just hugged together for a minute. Then Pinkie took Fluttershy by the arm, and they headed up the stairs.

I took Summer's arm in mine, and we headed outside.