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

by shysage

Chapter 21, Ariel's Story

I don't quite understand how, but we were able to rescue our Ariel Dawn and bring her forward in time over a thousand years, back into our present. Well, I guess the Portal did that, I'm just not sure why. Ari, Shysage and I, we cried together, hugging our Ariel tightly, for hours. Our precious friends, now crowded around us, they began to nod off. A few at a time, they would get up, move to a less crowded spot on the floor there in the Library, and try to catch some sleep. I couldn't blame them, it was probably the middle of the night for them. It seemed like, almost in unison, Ari, Shysage and I toned our crying down to quiet weeping so our friends could get at least a few hours of sleep.

I wasn't tired. I could hug our daughter for hours, and still not be done crying. I think Shysage felt the same way, and I'm sure Ari did as well. We cried quietly for hours more. Shysage and I were both people, and Ari was laying across both our laps. Hugging my daughter... Being able to hug my daughter again, I was sure we had lost that... I was sure we had lost her... Not much else mattered. Ari tried to talk a few times during those hours. She usually got out maybe the words "Mom..." or "Dad..." but she could not say much else, and was quickly crying softly again. Well, she managed to say just once "I missed you" I think. I didn't even try to talk. Holding my daughter felt so amazing... And it didn't take me long to catch the amazing tune flowing softly in the background(1).

Hours later, it must have been morning in Ponyville. I could tell because Spike poked his head around the corner of the Library door to check on us. And if Spike was awake...

Spike alarmed Ariel, but he was quickly gone. Ari stayed quiet, and just rested, still in Shysage and my lap. Ari sighed deeply, a few times. I realized she needed this as much as we did. Honestly, I didn't mind. Almost whispering, Ari asked us, in ragged modern equestrian surely mixed with old pony "Mum, dad, where did yo..." Ari stopped there because she couldn't come up with the word she needed in order to finish the sentence... She thought a minute, then said the word in old pony, which sounded like "gon" or something.

Shysage realized right away, and said quietly "Summer, Ari has been immersed in old pony for years now..." Of course Shysage had already thought this through. And I realized, our Ariel was clearly years older than the two or so years old she was when we left her.

Next to a sleeping Fluttershy, Equestria pony Shyna spoke up, quietly. She translated Ari's complete question back into old pony, with the same word at the end, then asked Ari in old pony if this is what she wanted to ask. Ari just nodded to Equestria pony Shyna and wept softly.

Shyna got carefully up, and climbed over onto the rug next to us, laid back on her belly and said quietly, in modern equestrian "She wants to know where you both went." Then I realized that Shyna had also been pulled here into the future from far back in the Past. She too knew old pony very well.

Well, I started crying again, hugged Ari, and she started crying again too. Us having to leave her, that was still a fresh nightmare for me...

I guess, Shysage had already thought ahead... "Shyna, please ask Ari how much of modern equestrian, what we are speaking now, does she remember."

Ari looked at Shyna as Shyna asked her this question, in all old pony this time. Ariel put her head down on her front legs in my lap, and answered in old pony.

Shyna listened, then replied quietly, to us, in modern equestrian "not much..."

It was quiet for a minute maybe, then Shyna said something quietly, in old pony this time, to Ari.

Ari lept up from our laps, then hugged Shyna. Well, Shyna sat up and they hugged. Ari said what I think was the word for "thanks" in old pony to Shyna, and Shyna responded, also in old pony. I didn't recognize the phrase.

Shysage and I, we learned some old pony from Annie over a six month period, well, over the last six months. Our Ari had been speaking old pony for years now, it looked like, and she remembered very little of the modern equestrian that we spoke as a family for maybe the first year of Ari's life, before Annie joined us.

Shyna said softly in modern equestrian "I told Ari I would help her with talking to everypony."

And it was only then I realized that, in a lot of ways, our Ariel would be learning modern equestrian, again, from scratch. Ari, Shysage and I, we could probably communicate tolerably well in old pony, but Ari really needed to learn modern equestrian, and Shyna was voluntering to help with that. I changed quickly back into a pony, and hugged Shyna too. And by now, Fluttershy was sitting next to Shyna (I hadn't noticed before), and the four of us hugged together a few minutes.

Trying hard to not cry, I introduced our Ariel Dawn to both Fluttershy and Shyna. I didn't do very good at not crying. But it seemed that Ari remembered a lot about my sister Fluttershy, and we all wept softly together for a little while.

Maybe ten minutes later, the four of us (Fluttershy, Equestria pony Shyna, Ari and I) we were all laying on our bellies in a tight circle facing each other. Ari was clearly trying not to cry, and she said something in old pony to Shyna. Shyna teared up, but said in modern equestrian "Ariel wants to know where you both went when you left her..."

I looked at Shysage, trying to not cry myself, and was about to say something.

I guess most everypony was awake now, and listening. I noticed Equestria's three Princesses (Cel, Lu and Princess Twilight) speaking together briefly.

Then Cel (Princess Celestia) spoke up, and of course we all listened. "Mom and dad, I think we would all really like to hear Ari's story, maybe the short version. Can we all get some food, then come back in here for that?"

Shyna translated Cel's words into old pony for Ari, who just put her head down.

Well, as long as I didn't have to leave Ari's side... My brain was mush otherwise. Ari hugged Cel and Lu briefly, then we all got some food. Shysage and I had only been gone from our present for minutes maybe, and it was still the dead of winter here, so the food in the Castle eating area would have to do. Of course it was very good. And our Ari ate a lot, surprising nopony.

A little later, we were all walking back into the Library. I think Shysage realized this needed to be said. We had all just arrived in the Library, and Shysage quietly asked Shyna to explain to our Ariel that Cel and Lu, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the two rulers of all Equestria. She may have guessed this, but still. I don't know if Shysage anticipated this, but everypony else bowed to Equestria's Princesses soon after he finished saying this. Wanting to give honor where honor was due, Shysage and I bowed too, even though we really didn't have to.

Shyna, as she bowed, explained quietly to Ari what was going on. Ari was still standing. I could have guessed what would happen next. Ari didn't, couldn't bow. Instead, she walked carefully through bowing ponies, and quickly hugged Cel, crying. Lu quickly joined them and they cried together briefly.

Ari still felt awkward, I think. Cel and Lu both had their crowns on, and Cel especially was quite a bit bigger than Ari. Of course, Cel and Lu both looked like princesses. Ari tried to back away and bow too, just like everypony else. Cel and Lu both quickly pulled her back up and they cried a little while more.

Cel tried to stop crying, and said to everypony else "Precious friends please arise..." Then she looked at Ari and said quietly "I think our Foal-sitter..." I suspect Cel planned on saying more, but she was clearly having problems even talking now. Cel said, just once, "Oh, Ari..." and the three of them just hugged and cried softly a little while more.

Nopony was in a hurry right now. A while later, we were all back out in the Library. Ari and I were next to each other on the rug in front of the Portal. Equestria pony Shyna was on Ari's other side; Shyna had already agreed she would be Ari's translator. Princess Twilight and our precious friends spread out around us.

I think Shysage was with Cel and Lu. I didn't like that. And I knew something needed to happen anyway before our Ari told her story. I asked Shysage to come up and answer Ari's question, where we went the day we left her, and explain the Portal, and the role it occasionally plays in moving us around. The result of this was that Shysage ended up on his belly right next to me where he belonged. Shysage tried to explain for our daughter, where we went the day we left her, and why, and what happened. It was hard for Shysage, and he almost couldn't do it. Still, he explained all this briefly. Ariel especially needed to hear this, and so Shysage had to speak in brief sentences so Shyna could do her best to translate everything into old pony for our Ari.

Ariel took everything in about the Portal and such, but gasped loudly as Shysage mentioned we had come back here only yesterday. Ari burst into tears and Shysage and I were quickly hugging her, crying ourselves. So, we all took a break as Shysage and I cried with our Ari for a little while more. But it was clear to me that we needed to hear her story. Ariel needed to tell her story. It was obviously years between when we left her, and when the Portal amazingly gave her back to us.

Wiping away tears, and still hugging Ari, Shysage said softly, in old pony even "Yo-ur torn, Ari..."

We worked on calming down, but we stayed basically where we were. Ari was between Shysage and I, and Shyna was next to me. We knew that Shyna would need to translate. I also realized I would need to actually write this later in modern equestrian.

Our Ari, amazingly back to us from the dim and distant Past... She explained what happened to her the day we left her... It was hard for all of us, well Shysage and I. We cried on and off during most of this... Ari talked slowly, and a sentence at a time, so Shyna could translate. She cried off and on, and laughed some too...

"Mom, dad, after you left... disappeared... I just stood there crying... You were all I had... And you were gone... And I was freezing cold, and it was getting dark... I felt so alone... I just stood there crying for a little while... I didn't know what else to do...

"I... I realized I had to find Annie... Or I would probably freeze to death... I ran back into Coptol, and everypony was still pretty much right where they were. Ignoring everypony, even that angry stallion, I ran right up to Annie, and could only cry on her shoulder for a while. I think most everypony else just ignored me...

"I think Annie realized there was a problem. She told me she would help me, but that I needed to calm down for now. I worked on doing that, and ended up sitting next to her, shivering and sniffling. We were waiting for the sun to set, so we could see her Cutie Mark during the night..."

Ari stopped here briefly and wept softly.

"Mom, dad... Annie was the Mare... Half of Cel's Cutie Mark during the day, and the other half of Lu's Cutie Mark at night...

"The whole town gasped, then wept the minute her Cutie Mark changed that night. What the book had predicted, it was unfolding right before our eyes... The townsponies were... amazed... Well, except for that angry stallion. He seemed almost unhappy that Annie had fulfilled that...

"The Mare would give the king the two appointed ones, and that mare was Annie. I just cried with her that night. I only slowly understood that our Annie would become such an important...

"The rest of that evening was a blur, and I spent a lot of time buried in the crowds, just trying to stay near Annie... The whole town celebrated... And another Pegasus mare gave me a coat so I didn't freeze.

"Annie still spent that night in her small house with her dad, and he didn't even ask questions as Annie brought me in and introduced me...

"Once we were in Annie's room, I explained that you both... had... You were just gone... Annie cried with me the rest of the night. She loved you both, and... But Annie pleaded with me to stay with her. I just cried. I didn't have anywhere else to go...

"Annie was just so sweet..."

Ari stopped here briefly, for no reason I think.

Fluttershy told me later, that as Ari explained this... Evidently this was triggering memories from the buried past for both Cel and Lu, and both their eyes were huge...

Then Lu said quietly "Mother..." and began to cry.

Cel, realizing the same thing said quickly "Oh, my goodness, you all knew our mother..."

Cel and Lu were hugging, crying... This was a memory from a LONG time ago for both of them... They were remembering now...

I started crying too, but for a far different reason. I guess, for the first time... I realized what I said quietly to Shysage...

"Oh Shysage... The mare we saw... Our first time in the past... Right before we rescued..."

Of course Shysage understood, and I think he had already made that connection, maybe months ago. On our first trip back to the Past, in less than a minute we watched a sea of angry Cougars kill another Pegasus mare... That mare was Annie... And less than two minutes later, we had rescued Annie's girls, Cel and Lu, and flew them back to Coptol, and raised them for over two years... My Stallion moved and just held me as I cried... Hoping nopony would hear, I softly said over and over "Oh, Annie..." She was such a sweet mare... We loved her as our own... Why would anypony want to kill her? She must have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time...

Again, it was my shy sister Fluttershy who said softly, for everypony else in the room "Uhm, Annie was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's mother. Evidently, Ari was her friend or something." And I was glad Sis didn't try to explain why I was crying...

Ari said something to Shyna in old pony, then wept softly as Shyna said for her "Ari and Annie were best of friends..."

Well, a bunch of us cried softly for a little while, then slowly calmed down. I guess Ari realized it was her turn again, so she worked on continuing.

"Annie and her father lived in a small house near the edge of town. Of course, that had to change. They built a new house for Annie and her dad, closer to the Kings palace, and she and I each got our own rooms. It didn't matter, just like in the cave, Annie and I were always together anyway... But our new home was always well guarded, even with Cougars running around.

"Annie and the King quickly fell in love, and the marriage date was set. Well, I think the King really loved Annie. It seemed more than some obligation to what the book said. It was amazing. Well, still, when Annie wasn't with the King, she was with me, which was most of the time. We had so much fun together, even though her becoming the Queen loomed larger and larger in her daily life. I think some of the townsponies weren't very happy with me being around Annie, but Annie made it clear that wasn't changing. Nopony could really argue with Annie. She was 'the Mare', and would soon be the Queen...

"We got to fly together a few times that summer, which felt amazing. Annie loved flying. But we always had to have guards with us, and they, well, they were doing their job. And Annie realized that, well, for the guards to keep her safe, that was an important task now...

Still, as Annie's wedding day approached, she needed me more and more as each day passed. I helped her any way I could. We cried together a lot. Evidently, she was learning more and more about the problems plaguing the pony nation. It was hard for King Thars, so it was increasingly hard for Annie too.

"The marriage was that fall, and it was amazing... Annie and King Thars were clearly so devoted to each other; that led to a lot of whispering, well a lot of tears too. As a couple, they were so... different... I am pretty sure Annie got what she wanted in a Stallion. He was just so busy...

"But, when Annie got married, she just... disappeared. I knew she was enjoying every moment she could with her Stallion, and I don't blame her for that at all. She didn't need me though, not very much...

"I asked Annie if I could go back to our cave house out west for a while. At first, she wouldn't hear of it. But I explained that, if my mom and dad came back, they would be there, so she agreed...

"I had a very nice, warm coat, and some other things in a carry sack. That day, six months later, I headed back home... I cried all the way..."

Shysage and I were crying too... Ari kept going.

"I was pretty sure I was in the right place. It was just hard... I guess I could finally do this; I cried for my mom and dad most of the time that winter. I managed to build a door of sorts, but it was still a cold winter. And being where my mom and dad had been, doing what my mom and dad had done... It was just hard. The only thing I could do -- well I read your notes about what had happened since you came... I read them over and over, then started my own. It was a diary of sorts. I just didn't know what else to do...

"The first warm day the next spring, I just had to leave, I couldn't stay there another day... I flew back to Coptol. Annie, we cried a while when I returned. She was so scared for me, and was so glad I was safe. Annie was also heavy with foal, and asked me to help her when the King was busy, which was a lot, Annie said. I guess I got Annie back some anyway.

"And I guess for the first time, I realized mom and dad weren't coming back... I just needed to start over. Annie kept me plenty busy. She was the Queen now anyway... When she wasn't with the King, we were together again. And towards the end, she needed a lot of help...

"Her first foal was born the next spring. It was rough since the foal was larger than usual, but everypony made it through ok. Cel was beautiful, and Annie bounced back quickly. The town celebrated wildly, the first of the two appointed ones was born. I didn't understand all that, but Annie's first foal was here. I helped both Annie and the King quite a bit while Cel was small. Cel was a lot of work. And, I guess, as soon as she could, Annie began to spend more and more time with the King. My title changed to royal Foal-sitter. I didn't mind too much."

All this was distant history to us. Cel and Lu wept softly for the rest of this, as memories from over a thousand years ago, from Cel and Lu's earliest days, were dredged back up and became real again...

Ari continued. Well, she started crying first.

"Cel and I had a lot of fun together. She was so smart, and really kept me on my toes. When Annie was able to join us, I tried to get Annie to take part with what we did. Annie tried hard. But she often seemed so preoccupied with this or that issue the King, the pony nation was dealing with. I don't know. I think even the King wanted more time with Cel... It seemed there was always something that would come up. Cel asked me often, and I just said quietly "Being a King and Queen is not easy... But I know for a fact your mother and father love you deeply."

"Time moved on... Cel and I grew closer, and Annie was spending more time with the King. Well, Annie was the Queen after all... Early the next spring, Annie the Queen was again with foal. This made it increasingly more difficult for her to follow the King around, so Annie spent more time with Cel and I. I enjoyed these times, but Cel clearly relished every minute with her mother. And I think Cel and Annie finally began to bond. This was a good thing. I was even able that summer to visit back to our cave home. I didn't even think about seeing mom and dad. And I took a wagon this time, and walked, and brought back all those notes. I didn't really have time to read them, and had a Unicorn put them in a closet in my room. As soon as I returned to Coptol, Annie wanted one last field visit with the King and I was on duty again. It was ok.

"Late that fall, Lu was born. In spite of the cold, her birth went easy, and she was beautiful too. And, again the town celebrated wildly. The second appointed one was born, what could go wrong now? And Lu was so quiet! And Cel became very protective of her little sister.

"Well, soon enough, Annie bounced back from having this second foal. More and more, she was back at the King's side, trying to help him with the pony nation. Cel, Lu and I, we had amazing times together. Lu didn't often talk, she was just so sensitive. Lu didn't ask a lot about her mother and father, I think she just sensed what was going on and accepted it. I think that, after six months maybe, Annie realized she needed to bond with Lu, and she spent more time that summer with both girls. I tried to quietly back away as often as I could. I thoroughly enjoyed Cel and Lu, but they needed their mother. That was fine. I would usually go to my room, and work on my writing... Once Annie found that out, well, we often did that together while Cel and Lu played quietly in my room.

"For the next year maybe, things sort of calmed down. Queen Annie was carefully splitting her time between her King Stallion and her two growing foals, Cel and Lu, the two appointed ones. When Annie was with the King, I was the royal Foal-sitter. I didn't mind. Cel and Lu, we had a lot of fun together.

"The following spring, Lu was maybe a year and a half old. I had been up late reading through some of those notes, crying. I did not hear all the commotion, the screaming the next morning... I awoke to loud pounding on my door... It was King Thars... Crying himself, he said Annie, Cel and Lu had been taken by a large band of Cougars... Still crying, he walked away...

"I... My mom and dad were my life... I lost them... Annie, Cel and Lu were my life... Now, I had lost them... I... I was crushed..."

Ari simply had to stop and cry here, and of course Shysage and I hugged her tightly and cried with her. We had been away from our Ari for less than 24 hours. She had to live through years... A few times, she tried to continue her story, and finally succeeded.

"I ran away... I simply could not cope with this... I didn't know what else to do... I flew to the cave... I lived there for a few years. I cried a lot... I kept telling myself I would die here if my mom and dad didn't come back. I didn't want anypony else to be around me. At least I wouldn't lose anypony else that way...

"Well, maybe once a year, during the summer, I flew back to Coptol, just for the day. Once I learned that Annie, Cel and Lu had not returned, I flew back to the cave. Nopony even expected them to return at this point. The King was a hopeless mess, and the guards seemed so lethargic. They had built a formidable wall around the city, now, but it was too late... The damage had already been done... The two appointed ones, that the book had foretold, they were dead...

"The third summer I flew back just to check. And I almost didn't. I just expected more bad news. Late in the summer, I finally decided to try one last time... I found... Princess Celestia and Princess Luna... We cried all day together... And they insisted that I get my old room back, and stay with them... The King was even glad to see me, and seemed like a different person. And the townsponies... They were ALL getting along... working together... The whispering was gone... The small groups of only one pony clan were gone...

"Our first week together was... We all cried a lot... Seeing them again, spending time with them was so amazing...

"I finally got up enough nerve... I asked Cel and Lu what had happened... Coptol seemed so transformed...

"Cel explained that we were Equestria now, and that somepony called the Shila had --"

I guess I knew this would come up, but I still wasn't ready for... Ari got that far, then I burst into tears...

Ari was right next to me, and said softly, directly to me, again using half old pony "Mum, I know it was yo..."

We cried together, well Shysage, Ari and I, we cried together for a little while. Ari tried to continue explaining... And Shyna was crying now too as she translated...

"I... I knew it was you... And I had missed seeing you those two years you took care of Cel and Lu... I wasn't looking for... I just missed you... You were there... Cel and Lu were there... I didn't know where... I came just for the day and never..."

Ari was almost beside herself as she explained this... We were back there, and she had missed us. Some other day we would explain that it would not have worked for her to find us before we had actually had her...

Cel and Lu, crying buckets, moved up to us and we all cried together for a while. I wondered if maybe that was as much as our poor Ari could say right now. She was crying pretty hard. Well, we all were...

Still crying quite a bit, I think Cel felt it was important for her to explain why she had demanded that Shysage and I head to the Past via the Portal this last time. This proved a difficult task for Cel as well, but we all needed to know this I think. Our Ari knew all this, so Cel didn't bother waiting for Shyna to translate.

"Mom, dad, the Portal Beacon... before...

"We actually... The Unicorns and I we... made... it... We knew Ariel needed to come back... here... We made it... for... that...

"Ari needed... you... But we knew you needed to try to come... first...

"So, the beacon... We tried... many times... So much waiting... Ari waited... a long time... many failures... Ari waiting... She cried a lot... It was so hard for all of us... to.. watch...

"Ari said was crushing her... she had to leave and do something... else...

"One more try... we pleaded... She stayed... crying..."

Cel couldn't talk any more, and I guess Ari understood, and she was remembering too, and crying hard as I hugged her.

Ari, Shysage and I knew the rest.

But the Portal Beacon... As a very early attempt... And Cel would use it later to call us many times... Cel and Lu and a bunch of Unicorns, they actually made it to call us back to get our Ari...

We all cried together for a while...

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Author's Note:

1. Slow, understated elegance of 'The Celestial Capital - Al'Taieu'* from the 'Chains of Promethia'* expansion for Final Fantasy XI* (*c2014 by Square Enix)