“Hey pretty! What are you doing here? I thought you were resting? Oh, you got your pendant again!” Twinkle Star looked up. Kiyoi was standing on the bridge. It was dark now. The sky was a mysterious dark-blue colour, filled with thousands and thousands stars. The moon was shining behind Kiyoi. It was going to be a full moon in a few nights. Twinkle Star was still sitting next to the river. She hadn’t moved at all since earlier that evening. She had been thinking all the time about the things the river had told her. “Hey, Kiyoi. Yes, I erh… I was waiting for you. And I wanted to enjoy the view.” Kiyoi left the bridge and walked towards her. “That’s very sweet of you, Hishi. The people in the village were very happy with the herbs. Turns out I got them exactly at the right time.” “That’s good. I’m glad they are happy.” Kiyoi was sitting next to her now, but Twinkle Star kept staring in the distance. “You like this river, don’t you?” Kiyoi asked her, “You’ve been very interested in it since you got here, right? “I don’t know. No, it’s not that. Its more… I am bound to this river. Heh… It probably knows me better than I know myself.” Kiyoi looked at her. “What do you mean, pretty? What’s going on? You’ve been acting quite strange since this afternoon in the forest.” Twinkle Star felt tears coming up. She didn’t want to cry. She didn’t want to tell Kiyoi the truth, but she didn’t want to lie to him anymore, either. “Kiyoi I… I am so sorry Kiyoi. I… I am tired. I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” She gave Kiyoi a little kiss on his cheek, got up and walked away from him, towards the house. “Hey Hishi! Wait up! There is something going on with you since this morning, isn’t there? Please tell me Hishi… I don’t want you to have any secrets from me. I don’t know… maybe I can help you or something.” Twinkle Star stopped and turned around. “I don’t think you can help me, Kiyoi. This is my problem and nobody knows about it, or can even help me. But… I don’t want to keep the truth away from you anymore, Kiyoi. I care to much about you to lie to you any longer.”

“Then come back here and tell me.” Slowly Twinkle Star walked back to Kiyoi. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to tell him the truth. Telling Kiyoi the truth would mean admitting the truth to herself as well. It would mean her dream would never come true. Her life here with Kiyoi, she would never be able to live like that. But that evening she had realised that she could never live that life anyway. She would never be able to run away from who she really is. It would haunt her forever. She had to face the truth some day. “Fiume, you silly river…” She whispered. When she arrived where Kiyoi was, she sat down again. “Kiyoi… this is going to be quite a long story, but please don’t interrupt me. If you have anything to say, wait until I am finished.” “I will, pretty. But please, don’t force yourself to say something you don’t want to tell me.” Twinkle Star smiled. Why was he being so sweet now? It only made things harder for her…

“Well… my name is not Hishi, Kiyoi. It’s Twinkle Star. I never give ponies my real name… Especially not now. I was born as a princess of the Friendship Lands. I think you know what has happened there… it was ruined. For years wandered, not having a real home, not knowing if any of my friends of family had survived. Until I found my sister Crystal, and with her I recently found out my mother build up the new Friendship Lands. We stayed there for a while. Until I had a talk with my mother one day. She wanted me to be the next queen, but I didn’t want to. So I ran away from them. I didn’t want to become queen. She said it was my destiny, I knew it wasn’t. It is wrong for me to become queen. I may have the strongest royal powers of all my sisters, but I should not be queen. I don’t know what my destiny is, but it’s not that.

So I ran away. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. And then I met you. You were so sweet for me and cared so much about me. Or Hishi. I am not Hishi, I am Twinkle Star. I fell in love with who you really are, but you fell in love with someone who doesn’t really exist. I felt so bad about it, but I wanted to become Hishi so badly. I wanted to stay here with you, I wanted to forget about everything from my past… But this river here made me realise I could never do something like that. I am my past, just as you are yours. It will be with me forever and I will have to learn to live with it.

This river is the river of Fiume. It used to flow trough the Friendship Lands. I never thought it would still be flowing now, just in an other direction. But there is no mistake. This is a purifying river. I’m sorry Kiyoi, it’s not your forest. I only know this river is born from a guardian long ago. It is able to purify evil, take away pain, and as I found out today, show you that you are doing something what is wrong. It told me I shouldn’t be hiding from what I fear. I should face it and find who I am. However, I still don’t know what to do. I can’t just go back to my mother and sisters. I just…” Twinkle star couldn’t continue talking. Tears flowed over her cheeks now. “I… I… I am so sorry Kiyoi, I am so sorry I didn’t tell you who I really am!” “That’s ok,” Kiyoi Whispered, “I already knew most of it anyway.” Twinkle Star looked up. “What do you mean?” Kiyoi stared in the distance. “About two years ago, when my parents were still alive and my brother still lived here… It was a cold night in fall. It was raining hard, a strong wind was blowing… A woman appeared before our door that evening. Se asked for shelter for the weather. She was a weird woman. She looked quite old, and still there were no signs of aging on her. Like some magic was holding her together, preventing her from aging. She wore a pendant. Shaped like a crown, it was shining… very bright indeed. The weather remained bad for a few days, so she stayed longer with us than she first intended. She told us she was looking for her daughter. She had lost her a few months before in a summer storm.

My brother and I were very interested in her pendant. It was just so beautiful. One evening we asked her where she got it. She told us the most amazing story. She was a princess, daughter of a queen. When we asked her what country it was, she told us it was gone. Disappeared in one night. That pendant was all she had left from that country. She got that pendant when she was born, as a sign of her royalty. The next morning the storm was over. She thanked us for our kindness and left.

I recognised that pendant of yours the moment I saw it in the forest. You were from the same family. You had the same look… like there was some magic surrounding you, protecting you. However, it was so much stronger with you. But you chose not to talk about it. So I didn’t want to bother you with it. I knew what had happened to your country so I decided you would talk about it when you wanted to.”

“What was her name?” It was the only thing Twinkle Star could ask. Someone else survived… Could it be? “Regala. Her name was Regala.” “my aunt Regala… she is alive?” Twinkle Star whispered to herself. “Two years ago she was. She said one thing when she left… She was going to follow Fiume to the south. I never knew what she meant by it. Until this evening…” Twinkle Star was staring at the river. She couldn’t believe what Kiyoi had just told her. Her aunt was still alive. At least one of her daughters was still alive. Suddenly it clicked in her head. “You will not find what you are looking for here…Look for your destiny, don’t run and hind from it…” “Kiyoi…” as if he knew what she was going to say, Kiyoi nodded. “ know, Twinkle Star. You will have to go and find your aunt, right? I… I understand. Though I don’t want to see you leave, I would not be able to live with you if you were only… half of you. If you don’t know what your purpose in life is.” Twinkle Star couldn’t help but crying. For a few days, but for a few days only, she had been able to see how her life would be if she could forget about everything that she was. But it had been nothing more than a dream. “Kiyoi… I, thank you Kiyoi! Thank you for understanding. I don’t want to leave you, but I will never be able to be really happy here, no matter how much I love you. Thank you Kiyoi!” Kiyoi gave her a hug. “Why don’t you stay here for tonight and tomorrow, and leave tomorrow evening. You’ll be able to get some rest and I’ll prepare you some food and drinks for on the road.” Twinkle Star nodded. Kiyoi was still hugging her, but it felt a bit unreal for Twinkle Star. Because even though she didn’t wanted to leave, she felt she had made the right decision in her heart.

Twinkle Star and Kiyoi had been talking by the river for more than an hour before they went back to the house. Even though she had been there for only a few days, Twinkle Star found it hard to believe this was her last night here. She could have never imagined she could feel at home somewhere so soon. She didn’t know how long she had been staring out of the window now. She would follow the river southwards tomorrow evening. She had no idea where to go, but she knew she had to find her aunt. Not only because she wanted to be sure her aunt was alive, but also because she knew this would help her find her own destiny. She didn’t really knew how her aunt was going to help her with it, but she had to try. She had to find out, not only for herself, but also for her sisters and her mother. Because if Regala really is alive, she could make her mother and sisters even more happy…

“It has been a while since we have seen so many stars, right Ivy?” Fleur asked. It was a very bright evening that night. There were no clouds at all, and the moon was so bright you wouldn’t need candles to read. Fleur and ivy loved to look at the stars, imagine what their names were, why they were there. They were sitting on the castle’s walls now, looking at all the stars in the west. “Yeah… and all of a sudden, too. They weren’t here earlier this evening, I’m sure of that. They just appeared somehow, an hour ago or so.” Ivy pointed at a very bright star in the west. “See that one? I’ve never seen it before. It’s just so bright. It’s fading all the other stars around it.” “I have heard of it before.” A voice said. Ivy and Fleur looked behind them and saw Crystal walking towards them on the wall. “Hey Crystal! You have?” Ivy asked. “Yes. Mother told me about it. The bright star in the west. It had appeared in the night Twinkle Star was born. Nobody had ever seen it before, and the night after, it had disappeared, never to be seen again. She is named after that star actually. Twinkle Star. I really wonder why it is there again. There doesn’t seems to be any logic behind its appearances. But it’s very pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… Crystal, do you think she is ok? Twinkle Star, I mean. She’s been gone for a week now. Will we ever see her again?” Ivy asked. Crystal stared into the west. “I’m sure she’s ok. Twinkle star can take care of herself. I just hope she will find what she is looking for.” “What’s that?” Fleur asked. “She’ll tell you if she has found it. No… you will notice. I’m sure she will return to us one day. Well, let’s go inside. It’s getting pretty cold here, don’t you two think?” Fleur and Ivy agreed. They followed Crystal back to the stairs. Ivy looked at the bright star in the west one last time. “Whatever you are looking for Twinkle Star, I hope you are able to find it. I hope you can show us, one day…”