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

by shysage

Chapter 16, No Pathway Home

Once through the Portal and in Equestria, I noticed... The tune in the background was even louder[1]... Like I had hoped, I was still a people when I cleared the Equestria end of the Portal.

I had prepared for this on the way through. I reached for Camille's statue immediately, as soon as I could. But it wasn't there. Looking around frantically, I found it, suspended maybe a foot above the rug in front of the Portal in the Library. The purple glow... Princess Twilight had caught Camille's statue for me... I reached for the statue, and the magic eased away, and I pulled Camille's statue tightly to my chest again.

I looked up. I wanted to thank my amazing Princess... I really wanted to hug her. It had been months... Her look also suggested that was not a good idea. I froze...

"Summer, I thought..." Princess Twilight said this much, then stopped. There was pain etched in her voice. Then Princess closed her eyes, and lifted her head up slightly. "You had better take that to Canterlot." In a line, the rest of Princess' girls were at her side. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack... They all did the same thing Princess did, closed their eyes, and looked slightly up. Fluttershy was on the end, next to Applejack, facing the other way, sitting, crying buckets. I burst into tears, of course... My Sis, all our amazing friends... "Summer, just go" Princess all but demanded...

Before I moved, I spun up my Cutie Mark. I knew my pearl white Unicorn horn became visible, but I needed my wings. Holding on tightly to Camille's statue, I ran down the hall, down the steps, and took to the air, pulling quickly higher with my huge Phantom Alicorn wings. With both hands, I clutched Camille's statue tightly as I flew.

The sky was turning quickly lighter off to the east, it would be morning soon in Equestria. I had light for the trip, anyway. The land of Equestria swam quickly past as I flew. But, this wasn't, couldn't be a sight-seeing trip. I had to get Camille's statue to Canterlot, to Princess Celestia, to see if it would help stop this madness, and then maybe I could get my Stallion back. Everything hurt so much inside right now. I cried the whole way...

As the sun peeked across Equestria, I landed in the center of the large commons lawn in Canterlot. I guess they were expecting me. A huge crowd of guards were milling around on the Commons lawn, but they opened a large area for me as I landed. Well, Camille's statue of Princess Luna was in Canterlot, anyway. The music in the background lept even louder as my feet touched the ground...

I was going to walk to the Audience Hall, and try to find Cel. The guards didn't even give me that chance. They all converged on me, and formed a slowly shrinking perimeter, slowly crowding closer to me. My Phantom Alicorn form... My huge wings and Unicorn horn, that loud low rumble... The guards ignored all that. Somepony had told them I guess, that I would never use that on ponies... I couldn't... I wouldn't... So... I was powerless... I felt powerless... They slowly crowded closer. They started laughing... They all started laughing at me. That just crushed me... After all I had done to help... Dozens of guards were laughing scornfully at me, with more running up... I carefully set Camille's statue down on the ground, and turned back into the small, insignificant pony there biting laughter told me I was. Well, I put my front legs around Camille's statue. I needed to at least protect that, until somepony important came...

They started kicking me... They didn't kick me hard, at first. But it just got worse... and hurt worse... soon a lot worse... After a few minutes, I knew I had bruises... bleeding... They kept kicking me... laughing at me... Still, I moved forward to try to protect Camille's statue. They kicked me harder, and laughed louder. What in Equestria...

The crowd of guards were all very close, all much bigger that I was, taking turns kicking me... Everything hurt... A few of them even began lifting their front legs and kicking my head. I... I tried to duck... So many hooves... Everything hurt much worse...

I heard the distinct sound of something breaking. I knew what it was right away... Camille's statue... I was done... There was absolutely nothing more I could to to protect that... to try and help fix... I screamed, and just laid over on my side. They let me roll on my side, but kept kicking... laughing even more...

I remembered that point where, when we first walked up to Cel in the Past, she was facing a world full of dispair and hopelessness. Shysage and I both re-accepted whatever we needed to do, to sacrifice, for Cel and Lu. Moms and dads are supposed to do that. For that very reason, I simply gave up at that point. I was surely a bloody mess, on my side as they kept kicking me, and Camille's statue was broken. I had nothing left. From here on out, I would just accept whatever Cel demanded of me... I stopped thinking. I tried to stop feeling, and just prepeared myself for whatever the outcome had to be... They kept kicking me...

A voice cried out frantically "Stop!" It was Cel, clearly upset, and the guards backed off substantially as Princess Celestia of Equestria walked up. Well, the guards weren't kicking me anymore, anyway. But, I didn't care. My eyes were shut tight, and my body ached all over, covered with bloody bruises. I... just wanted my Shysage. And whatever else had to happen, well, whatever.

After maybe a minute of silence, Cel said this. "Well... well... well..." and it sounded just like her Twin, Principal Celestia; she had said the same thing...

After another minute of silence, Cel, talking to one of the guards I guess, said "Please summon our new Interior Affairs Minister, and ask Princess Luna to let Vice-Principal Luna know that Shysage's Mare requires his presence in Canterlot."

It was quiet after that. I don't think anypony moved, or anything. Well, I could feel blood trickling down my face and back, and everything still hurt, but beside that...

I heard another pony walk up. I think he ended up standing next to Princess Celestia. He gasped quietly too. I simply did not care. It sounded like they were having Shysage come here, and that was all I cared about anymore. I needed my Stallion, right now especially.

I think the Portal helped us out. Shysage landed nearby maybe ten minutes later. He is bigger than I... He caused at least a few grunts as he quickly pushed himself through guards. "Oh Summer..." he said lovingly, as he laid on his belly along my back, and began to lick blood off my face. My stallion was back. I began to cry softly... He did too...

Princess Celestia started again.

"Well, well, well...

"Caught red-handed...

"Nopony is above the law, not even you two."

Another pony walked up, and quickly gasped. It was Lu, well Princess Luna.

"Mom..." Lu was certainly pained to see me like this.

"Sister!" Lu said loudly with just a hint of scolding in her voice.

Then Lu ran quickly off, away, I don't know.

This made zero sense to me, so I just ignored the whole thing. And, honestly, I just didn't care. Cel could throw us back in the dungeon if she wanted to, and Shysage and I would stay there together until we died, whatever...

But I think Shysage quickly thought through exactly what was going on. He didn't address Princess Celestia at all. He looked up at the "new Interior Affairs Minister", and said quietly

"So, we are common thieves now?"

I gasped... The interior affairs minister was the Unicorn stallion that had kicked Shysage across the Canterlot Library lobby... that had helped Cel throw us in that dungeon... that would dump Equestria into anarchy, years in the future... I could tell the minute he started to talk...

With a clearly triumphant air, that monster said arrogantly to Shysage "You heard Princess Celestia, nopony is above the law."

Shysage wasn't done, and responded immediately, also without any anger or malice . "And that was grounds for starving us to death in the dungeon over a bitter cold winter?"

The interior affairs monster again answered triumphantly, right away. "I told you that you would pay for what you said."

I guess it took a while, but what Shysage said finally registered with Princess Celestia. She gasped, then said "Wait... What happened?"

Another pony ran quickly up. Shysage had licked the blood from my eyes, it was Lu, Princess Luna. She was carrying... a small blue statue of herself... Lu was clearly upset, and plopped her statue down hard on the ground, right next to Camille's statue. The force of that broke the right wing off Lu's statue... at exactly the same spot as the guard's kick had broken the same wing off Camille's statue. The two statues were right next to each other, and looked identical, each having their right wing broken off at exactly the same spot, in the same way, and the broken wing for both was laying exactly the same way in the grass... Parallel worlds...

...

The interior affairs monster gasped loudly...

...

Princess Celestia, looking at both statues... She said weakly, probably to the interior affairs monster "...but... you said..."

Then she began to cry softly...

...

Shysage asked me if I could fly. I said yes, so he bolted quickly through the guards and was in the air.

I got up as a bleeding pony, then immediately changed into a people, and spun up my Cutie Mark. I launched quickly into the air from that spot, leaving two broken statues of Princess Luna in the grass. I was still bleeding, not a lot, but my beautiful Equestria Girls world clothes would surely be stained from this...

...

The interior affairs monster said quickly "Princess, they are getting away. Should we send the guards?

Princess Celestia was crying... "No..." I heard her say. Then louder "No... no... no... no... no..."

I was too far away to hear anything more.

...

I remembered where on the Commons lawn I had built a fire ring with Phantom Alicorn boulders, to hopefully make a lasting impression, during our last trip to the Past to help Cel. From the air, I rebuilt that ring right then, in exactly the same spot. And finally, I dropped a rock down onto the walkway in front of the large doors to the Audience Hall.

Then I flew away...

I don't know what happened in Canterlot after that.

...

I caught up to Shysage easily as the Phantom Alicorn. I didn't even need to ask where he was going. I knew where he would go. There was only one place he could go, and I found him easily as he headed there. Our sanctuary... I changed back into a pony, still bleeding, and we went together. And we flew a long way around the only other city in our path...

Shysage only said this as we flew... "That vile pony told Cel we stole her Princess Luna statue. Of course Cel was hurt... And that is why..." Shysage couldn't finish, and cried. So much reeling... on both sides of the Portal... We both cried. And, seeing two Princess Luna statues, I had already realized that.

Still, Shysage and I harbored no anger at Princess Celestia. She was just doing her job, trying to protect Equestria... Someone high up in her governing staff, had brutally abused his position for his own ends... Princess Celestia had been lied to...

...

We soon landed outside our tree sanctuary, a huge circle of redwood trees, each one so very high. Walking quickly inside the ring of trees, we found Filia, Fiona, Shyna, my sister Fluttershy... and our Ariel Dawn, sitting together on that little hill in the center. They were probably waiting for us. We were all quickly hugging, crying loudly together...

Fluttershy's eyes were open now, but she said this. "I knew you didn't... couldn't have done what they were saying... There is just no way..."

But I thought... What about the rest of our friends? How could they not... And for us to just disappear for months... They didn't want us?

...

A single evil monster...
...clearly with an axe to grind...
...had dropped a subtle lie at a vulnerable time...
...and everything we had treasured was swept away...

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...

"WASN'T TRUE FRIENDSHP IMPORTANT HERE ANY MORE?" In pain, I cried this out as we wept together...

A life so full of such amazing treasures...

...Swept away by this monster...

...He could not have hurt us more...

...

We just cried...

...

We knew of no pathway home... We had no clue how to...

We knew of no way to get back what we had come to treasure... and had now lost...

It had all been swept away...

...

...

The music in the background had changed... Faded memories... I guess that was all we had now...[2]

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Author's Note:

1. 'The Serpentine Labyrinth', from the Forever Today add-on to the OST for the Seekers of Adoulin expansion for FFXI, everything copyright by Square Enix.
2. "Faded Memories", the Empty zone BGM from the "Chains of Promethia" expansion for FFXI, copyright by Square Enix.