The Chronicles of Summer Rain, Vol. 10 -- Ariel Dawn

by shysage

Chapter 12, Pegasus Family (looming clouds)

This fall and winter was certainly better that the last fall and winter. A year ago, I was increasingly laboring to even survive as Ariel grew large inside me. This time through, it was just Shyage and Ariel and I. It was amazingly easier, physically anyway. But as the weather more and more kept is in our cave home, it was just difficult in different ways.

The calmness of winter did help us get current on our Canterlot Recording. Ariel absolutely loved those berries too; she ate a lot. But we also saved a lot of berries, and stored them in our cave. Late in the summer, Shysage managed to cobble together a poor substitute for his clip thing, and we had found a few more bird feathers. I worked with Ariel on some early writing lessons. Shysage and I both helped with this and Ariel picked it up quickly. Ariel was clearly a very patient pony; that clip thing needed constant fiddling, Shysage said. It kept slipping off Ariel's hoof. Even so, Ariel made good progress on her writing skills. She was already an excellent reader. And reading through that huge stack of leaves over and over, when it was freezing outside; I think even Ariel had most of our earlier chapters memorized. And Shysage and I agreed that keeping certain chapters away from our yearling foal... We read through them all, together, as a family, and carefully answered Ariel's questions as they came up.

We did have our share of storms that fall. But we didn't have the luxury of a huge branch falling across the opening of our cave. Shysage had to build a door by pulling some branches down from nearby trees. It was hard work for him, and took a while. And he had to add more branches in the middle of winter. Shysage thought this winter was colder than last winter. Well, it snowed more anyway. Some of our trips down to the pond were pretty cold. And a few days us girls sent Shysage to the pond with two Equestria Girls shoes to bring us water. Ariel asked about the shoes, more than once. Trying to avoid crying, I said I would explain them when I could.

I was a mess that winter. I absolutely loved both Shysage and Ariel. I just missed my sister Fluttershy. Well, and everypony else too. But there was very little I could say... Shysage understood, I'm sure, and probably felt a lot of what I was feeling. We just could not tell Ariel about the future, which was our past... It still sounds strange to even write that. During the summer, and part of the fall, well we kept busy. Always doing things, that helped divert my attention a lot. I think I was pretty normal. But when the frigid cold of winter basically confined us to our cave...

Shysage and I had talked quietly a few times when Ariel was asleep. He said this was very scary, but he felt our only hope was to wait here until after Cel and Lu were made princesses, and then sneak in and use the Portal to get us all back to our present. He admitted this was a very long shot, but he knew of no other way. And he also admitted that we could be here for years. We had no idea how long before Cel and Lu, well how many years it would be until they came... I knew that Shysage, well he had already thought this through, and come up with the best possible plan. I didn't question that. Years though... That didn't help me. There was just nothing we could do.

Maybe the middle of the winter, I think Shysage knew I was ready to snap or something. It was an absolute blizzard outside anyway and snowing fiercely. We couldn't even venture out. And we had to pull the branches closer to cut down on the icy wind blowing in. Overall, it was just a terrible day. And every time I ended up thinking about Fluttershy, I usually just talked to Ariel instead, to try to place my attention elsewhere. Well that day, I just couldn't. I was crying pretty hard. And I think Shysage knew Ariel was getting alarmed. We had already told her about mommy having a hard time being away from her family; we didn't feel we could tell her any more. Anyway, I think I was melting down. But I think Shysage knew.

Shysage hugged Ariel, then said softly "Ariel, listen..." Well, I knew to listen too. I have learned to trust my Stallion, especially when things are really hard. He began slowly, carefully choosing just about every word. Well, he had to...

"Ariel, your mom and dad, we actually came here from far in the future. The problem is that nopony is supposed to know that...

"Well, it is very... If we... Since we are in the past right now, and we say something, anything that could change the future, well that is very bad. We could change what already happened up to the point of our present. We could lose... We could disappear..."

It was clear that Shysage was, himself having problems with this, and he stopped, and he and I hugged and cried together for a few minutes. Well, we pulled Ariel into our hug. This was a family matter, and besides, we always hugged together now, and we hugged a lot. After a few minutes, holding his weeping Mare, Shysage said quietly

"Ariel there is so much we want to tell you, but most of it will need to wait... We just can't...

"Ariel, I know you are young, but you need to try and understand this..."

Shysage had to stop here again. And honestly, we really didn't know where Shysage was going with this; I think he forgot. This was just hard for both of us.

Ariel was looking at the ground thoughtfully, then surprised both Shysage and I. "Ok, so my mommy and daddy are from the future, and so everything needs to stay a big secret. Is that right?"

Shysage broke into a big grin, and I burst into tears. Well, still, Ariel wasn't even a yearling yet.

Ariel didn't stop. "Mommy, daddy, you are taking me back with you, right?"

I was closest to Ariel, so I managed to hug her tighty first "Honey, of course we are. You are ours, we are not leaving you anywhere..."

As a family, we hugged and cried together for a little while.

Shysage paused, then gently lifted my head with his front leg. "Summer, tell Ariel about her aunt..."

Well, I had to cry a bunch at this. But I spent the rest of the evening telling our Ariel about my sister Fluttershy, our family, my childhood... I tried to be careful, but a few times Shysage gently interrupted, and said "Ariel, I think that should wait." That was fine. Still, being able to talk about Fluttershy and the rest of our amazing friends; it made the distance hurt a lot less. And Ariel seemed to really enjoy what she was learning about her mommy and daddy before they came here. There was a lot we didn't say because we couldn't. But what I could tell my daughter...

The rest of the winter was pretty brutal, Shysage said. Whenever I got to feeling bad, it was always Ariel who sensed this, and asked quietly "Mommy, can you please tell me more about my family?" Ponies and people I cared about so much, and deeply missed; remembering them together with Ariel really helped. We survived the winter anyway.

...

Shysage thought the warmth of spring arrived early. But as the flowers burst around us with the advent of spring, so it seemed that our lives together blossomed out in so many ways. I think we were all ready to bust out of our cave and get some fresh air. Cool, but fresh air. We started taking walks as soon as we could, and they got longer by the day. I think we all had lost a lot... Ponies aren't meant to hibernate. And the more we did, the more the difficulty of the months of winter receded into a memory. "Maybe I was done with those feelings..." I thought this to myself often. I still missed my sister Fluttershy and everypony else, but we would be back soon enough.

I'll never forget our first visit (after winter was done) to that east meadow. I guess the oats felt the early warmth too; the oat plants were a good four inches high, and very green. And, just like last spring, we could have seen a Cougar a mile away in our meadow. We had walked slowly and calmly, maybe half way across the east meadow to the huge meadow around our trees, and it was maybe the middle of the morning. The warmth of the direct sunlight felt amazing. Shysage stopped, and so we did too. He sampled the new oats; well he stopped and had a snack. Ariel bent down, sniffed at the plants a little, then bit off a mouthful.

"Oh, my goodness! This is amazing!" Ariel loved these early oats, and she ate and ate and ate... Shysage suggested we let her go; her body probably needed all that. After maybe 45 minutes, Ariel picked her head up and said quietly "Wow, I'm thirsty..." We walked to the lake, and Ariel drank quite a bit, then was back to eating oats. Shysage and I, we ate too, and drank some water. All of a sudden, Ariel just plopped down in the grass where she was. "Wow, I'm full..." Ten minutes later, Ariel was asleep in the warm sunlight. Shysage did Cougar patrol, and was quickly back next to us. I napped some too, but Shysage did not. As that spring and summer unfolded... Ariel loved oats.

Well, we are a Pegasus family. Any sort of flying would need to wait until it was warmer, and we were back at our trees and our meadow. And, I guess I had been pretty lucky up to this point. When I taught Cel and Lu how to fly, they were already older, and had more wing muscle to begin with. Ariel needed some good practice to build those muscles up. We were still spending nights in the cave because nights were cool still. But during trips to the meadow, I would often have Ariel stand facing the wind, and we would work her wings some. Coordination was important, and so was the amount of air moved. Ariel was making good progress on both. Still, one evening I asked Shysage quietly if he felt I was pushing Ariel too hard. I was honest and said I could easily see myself do that. Shysage smiled, hugged me and said quietly "I think if Ariel loses interest in your exercises, then it is time to do something else." Well, Shysage was probably right, but Ariel wanted to do flying practice (she called it) any chance she got!

One warmish afternoon, I was having Ariel practice fanning the wind like this. Shysage said "I found my air conditioning", and laid down on his belly right in front of Ariel. The wind she was moving with her wings blew Shysage's mane away from his head at a good angle. Us girls had no idea what air conditioning even was, but Ariel worked a lot harder at moving air... ...and promptly knocked herself over backwards, laughing, into the grass. We had already talked at length about protecting her wings under various situations. She tucked them quickly to her side as she fell. Mom and dad laughed with her. It was clear Ariel was ready for the next step.

I remember watching in wonder as Equestria pony Rainbow dash found a properly sloped hill, and simply coached Equestria Girls Shyna through her first few flights. Well, Rainbow is clearly the expert, and Shyna was already very strong, and an especially gifted Pegasus. Rainbow knew what to do. Well, our Ariel is amazing if you asked her mom or dad, but she would need to learn to fly the old school way. Run, jump, glide some, land, run, jump, glide some more. Shysage trampled flat a long runway he called it, from our tree down to the lake. It was easy to see, down hill just a bit, and very flat. Ariel and I ran, jumped, and glided together. It was amazing fun, but doing that jerked constantly at my heart strings. Ariel was my Pegasus daughter. I was teaching her how to fly. In between loud laughter, I had to work hard to not cry. But Ariel... She LOVED EVERY MINUTE of this exercise. She wasn't flying, she was just gliding. But she quickly mastered the skills to steer, to go up and to come down.

We had been doing this maybe five days. On that fifth day, Ariel simply did not want to stop. She was clearly having a blast. As the sun headed below the horizon, we were walking back up the hill with Shysage, as Ariel pleaded for one more run. I hugged her, and said ok. Off we went; Ariel was laughing the whole time, and I was too. It was getting dark, and we both jumped together, and glided... Jump again and glide a while... Jump again... We only then realized we had jumped up right at the edge of the lake. Shysage yelled "ARIEL NO!"

We had already talked with Ariel about the hazards water could bring. Still, she and I both, not watching where we were going, we had jumped together, and sailed out quickly, gliding over the water...

I didn't freak out; I just said quietly "Ariel, your wings..."

In the blink of an eye, Ariel added flapping to gliding, and was soon pulling away and higher, laughing loudly. She was flying... She knew she was flying... My little girl was flying... I just cried...

It was Shysage who quickly caught up with Ariel, turned her carefully around, and coached her to a fairly calm landing. I landed near them, and we all just cried together for a while. This was a Pegasus family triumph. We hugged and cried together for a while. It was near dark, and not cold. We spent that night at our tree. Shysage had to do some work on the wind break, but still. It would be fall before we again spent any nights in our cave.

And from that day on, Ariel joined us on Cougar patrol. We started a lot lower, and when Ariel got tired, I would fly her down, and we would walk back to our trees while Shysage completed the patrol. Of course, as the summer progressed, Ariel was soon staying up high and with us the whole time. The three of us... Our family... Flying together like that was amazing. From that point on, there was never a reason for us to not stay together. We cried a lot together and laughed a lot together as we flew that summer. And towards the end of the summer, Ariel could easily spend hours in the air with us. We are a Pegasus family.

...

We enjoyed spring, and especially the warmth of summer. And flying together as a family was simply amazing. Shysage and I got no by the moonlight evenings; Ariel had to be our first priority. But if we were careful, some afternoons... Ariel was rapidly growing in her strength and endurance as a flyer. We were even able to start taking flying trips to that huge redwood tree, our tree sanctuary. Ariel was absolutely amazed at something so big. And flying towards it, actually being in the air... It was just a vastly different perspective. It looked huge from the ground. But flying towards it already high in the sky, well it really sank in just how tall that tree was. And there were no other trees around like that... Ariel was beginning to take a much more active role in our talking to true friend, there and whenever we felt the need. That meant a lot to Shysage and I. And every morning we did Cougar patrol. That could be a life or death thing; we had to do that. Most afternoons, Ariel bugged mom and dad for more flying time. She was a Pegasus mare, all right! Our usual solution, especially if we were tired at all, was to fly pretty high above our tree, then slowly glide back down in huge circles (wind permitting). Gliding is just so fun, and while gliding, we could focus on enjoying the amazing view. We could see the cloud bank that would become Cloudsdale, shining in the afternoon sun off in the distance. In the air, flying over Ponyville before Ponyville, it looked exactly the same as it did in our present. That was just uncanny; to be up in the air flying, and to forget when we were. But I realized that a trip like that... It would be next spring or summer before Ariel was strong enough for a trip to the cloud bank. Those clouds were pretty high up in the sky.

What we felt was midway through summer, we began to harvest oats again, in order to rebuild both our pantry and our carpet in the cave. As Shysage worked hard harvesting, Ariel and I would talk a lot. Ariel was growing up so fast! Well, she was a yearling and then some. She wasn't far from my size now, either. Her coat had not lightened out very much, but she was still beautiful (beautiful just like her mom, Shysage reminded her often). Shysage mentioned that we would probably need more oats this winter. Ariel absolutely loved oats! Well, Shysage and I did too. A bunch of warm days late in that summer, we probably stayed out harvesting almost until sundown. We wanted to make sure we had enough food. And Ariel timidly asked me again about mom and dad things on more than one afternoon. I think some of the chapters about Shysage and I together, well she just wanted to know. I did the best I could, I think. Shysage and I are pretty affectionate, well we are so deeply in love, and it just overflows. Ariel felt that, and just had some questions. Inside, I could only yearn for somepony like Shysage for my Ariel... And I noticed Shysage and Ariel talking together a lot that summer too, evenings mostly. Well, I know Ariel absolutely loves her dad. And I had trouble keeping up with some of their discussions. Shysage quietly mentioned that it was difficult to keep Ariel's inquisitive and far ranging mind satisfied at times. Like me, he said he usually did the best he could, treading and increasingly fine line between what he should and shouldn't say. He kept reminding Ariel that we hoped at some point to be able to tell her everything. Ariel clearly looked expectantly towards that time. We all did.

It was clear though that the love and devotion in our family was growing. Or maybe Ariel was increasingly becoming a part of the devotion Shysage and I shared. At least once each day, usually spontaneously, we would all hug and weep softly together for a while. Ariel was increasingly feeling our deep committment to her, and was herself increasingly reflecting that in her own committment to us. It was amazing. From that first day, when I just knew some sweet way that Ariel was inside me... Shysage and I, we have loved our Ariel so much from that point on. She was more and more loving us back. She wasn't being pushed to, she wanted to...

Oh, and we didn't see a single Cougar all summer.

...

I guess it was really a bunch of things together...

Shysage pointed out that the leaves of some of the trees in the forest had started to change colors. Vivid reds, yellows; the trees looked very pretty. But our flying days were numbered. That was not a very happy thought.

It was pretty late in the summer, maybe early fall. Shysage and I were hoping for some intimate time together that afternoon, and Ariel had just fallen asleep in the grass. Well, true intimacy doesn't just happen. I don't understand how some ponies think they can jump in, get what they want, then jump out and move along. They could have so much more... Shysage and I were just beginning the process of reaching into each other's hearts. Ariel woke up, and called out "Mom?" like she usually did when she woke up. She had not been asleep very long. A cold gust of wind woke her up. Shysage and I were not in any sort of position that Ariel shouldn't see (not yet anyway), and mommy and daddy were quickly at Ariel's side. Shysage and I, we could both feel the disappointment. We were devoted to our daughter. It was still tough. This had happened before; we just had to wait until a better time.

And that night was also pretty cold. Maybe it was fall. I don't think any of us slept really well. We were all on our bellies, and Shysage had Ariel sleep in the middle, between Shysage and I, so we could keep Ariel warm at least. Parents do that. But I was cold. Well, I didn't mind taking care of our Ariel, but some time next to my Stallion would have been nice too. And he would have been able to keep me warm anyway. Still, we kept Ariel nice and warm, and she slept. I guess that was the important thing. Shysage knew I was bothered, and we talked a while, quietly, and he told me over and over that I was his special treasure. I think I needed to hear that. Still keeping Ariel warm, and trying to not wake her, Shysage and I both moved carefully forward just a little bit so we could rub noses a while. That helped some. And at least I remembered that Shysage was here with me. I really needed him. Again...

The next morning, we did our normal routine; Cougar patrol, breakfast and water. It was too cold for our usual bath, and it was almost too cold for Cougar patrol too. I love flying, but flying when you are cold; that is just not fun. We did what we had to, and then we quickly landed, ate breakfast, then huddled together behind the wind break at our trees. It was cloudy that day, and the sun never quite made it fully out. There would be no warmth today. Shysage sighed, then said we really should head for our cave. It would be warmer in there, at least. We knew the way, and walked together. In the east meadow, Shysage changed to a people and harvested another huge arm full of oats, then we walked the rest of the way to the cave. Even with his sweatshirt on, Shysage was cold. Almost to the edge of the woods, Shysage said the direction of the wind had shifted. He expected it to get pretty cold tonight.

But the minute we all laid down in our cave... Last winter came crushing back down over me. I thought I had moved past this... But the memories just kept haunting me. Shysage knew what was happening, and we cried out together to true friend for help. Ariel did too. I think she felt something was wrong. We love Ariel so much, of course, but to lose... My sister Fluttershy... My Twin... The rest of our pony friends... The rest of our Equestria Girls world friends... Cel and Lu... It just seemed so unfair to me. Another winter here... I just didn't think I could... Shysage and Ariel, my only family here, we just huddled together, shivering, hugging...

I just cried...

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