A change of destiny

Twinkle Star felt her heart was beginning to beat faster. It couldn’t be… Stelline? Alive? Suddenly everything made sense to her. This was why she had to find Regala. Because Regala could tell her Stelline was alive! And if Stelline was alive… It meant the true heir to the throne was alive. So if Twinkle star could find Stelline… she could go back to her family without having to become queen! Excitement was driving out the sad feeling she had before. “Aunt Regala… Stelline, she is alive… Did you talk to her? Do you know where she lives? Please, if you know, tell me!”  Regala laughed. “I see what you’re planning to do, Twinkle Star. You want to find Stelline and take her to your mother, right? Well, I haven’t talked to her. That evening… she disappeared like that. Vanished. I wanted to look for her… but I didn’t want to forget Togli. So the next day I left, and I never saw her again. But it was her, she was there, it was not an illusion.” Twinkle Star sighed. That sounded like Stelline all right… “Then I have to go, aunt Regala. I have to find her! I my not know my destiny, but I do know hers, she is my mother’s heir!” Twinkle Star said excited. “Do you really Twinkle Star? Our world has changed. The legends of old, the rules of the heirs, the powers that are in us, the magic we used to own… I don’t even remember most of them anymore. Then why should she be Regina’s heir?” Twinkle Star sighed again. She knew her aunt had a point. Everything had changed… but if her sister really was alive, if it really was true… Wouldn’t it be true that she was her mothers heir? Even though the world had changed, Stelline was still her mother’s oldest daughter… And her own older sister. Even if everything was untrue, she couldn’t abandon her sister like that!  “I will go. Even if she is no longer my mother’s heir, even if she is nothing but my older sister, I still will look for her!” Regala smiled. “You have a brave heart, Twinkle Star. I admire that. I wish I was a little bit more like you.” “Aunt Regala…” “Anyway, Twinkle Star… I have told you all I know about Stelline. She is alive and I saw her in the mountains of our old home. But that was two years ago. I do not know if she is there still. And I won’t go back with you, Twinkle Star. I am sorry, but… I just don’t want to lose anyone anymore. I don’t want to lose you to. Not there.” Twinkle Star noticed Regala was crying again. She felt so sorry for her aunt… she had lost everything she had ever cared about, and all Twinkle Star was doing was being excited about her sister being alive... “Aunt Regala… I promise, you won’t lose me. Or any others of the family. I do not ask you to come with me… but what will you do? Will you stay here? Or will you go to my mother? I am sure they’ll be more than happy to see you… you can live there, with the others… I am sure they’ll take you in, and you’ll have a family again.” Regala stared in the distance. “I don’t know, Twinkle Star. I don’t know. I don’t think I can make a decision like that right now. Everything is turned upside down now. I will think about it for a while before I will make that decision. I don’t want to rush this. I want to see Regina again, and I am curious about your sisters, and the thought of having a part of my family again gives me a good feeling… but I just don’t know if I can face that right now.” Twinkle Star nodded. “I understand. I’ll leave you a note saying how you can reach the new lands, if you want. So you know where to go if you decide to go to my mother.” Twinkle Star got up. “But I will have to go, aunt Regala. As soon as possible.” Regala nodded. “I know. Why don’t you stay with me for today and leave in the evening… So you can go a long way unnoticed. Most ponies think the old lands are haunted… and to be honest I am not even sure if I completely disagree. But they don’t want anyone to go there… afraid you’ll wake up some evil spirit. So if you can go unnoticed, it’s for your best.”

The rest of the day Twinkle Star helped her aunt; she wrote her the note, gave her instructions, told her more about Regina, about Crystal… And Regala told Twinkle Star how to reach the old lands. “It’s very simple really, just follow Fiume upstream.” Twinkle Star was a little unsure about that… Fiume upstream… that would lead her towards Kiyoi… and she wasn’t sure if she wanted that. She knew it would make her doubt her decisions again, to see him again, to be with him again for one more night… but her destiny was really to find Stelline, then there was no other way. She had to face it.

It became evening much sooner than Twinkle Star wanted it to be. She knew she had to go, had to find her sister… but to go back to the old lands, to face something like that, it was not something she was looking forward to. It would also mean facing her own fears, her own memories… All day long she had had flashbacks about the night of the eruption… she saw ponies dying again, the little girl on fire… And she knew it would only get worse if she would go closer to it. “But I have to go.”  She kept telling herself. It was dawn now and it wouldn’t be long before she had to take off. She was sitting in front of her aunt’s little house, pondering whether she would fly or walk. Flying wouldn’t bee too dangerous… she had travelled this road before, and there weren’t any villages or houses close to Fiume for a long time, and flying would go more than trice as fast. She would be by Kiyoi’s house in two days… and from that it would be only be like 3 or 4 days flying to the old lands, but she didn’t knew if ponies were living there so she had to be more careful. She sighed. What had she gotten herself into? “Oy, Twinkle Star.” Twinkle Star looked behind her and she saw her aunt coming out of the house. “Hi, aunt Regala.” “It’s a beautiful evening, don’t you think. The sky is almost pink.” “Yeah… It’s beautiful.” “And still I don’t know how to enjoy this. Maybe at some point you simply forget how to enjoy such a simple thing.” “Or maybe you simply don’t want to remember because the memories are too painful.” Twinkle star replied. “Heh. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time I’m going to face that which I have been running away from for so long. I have been thinking a lot today, Twinkle Star. I will go to Regina. I want to see my sister again. It is time I will overcome my fears. I… I guess I should thank you. You made me see.” Twinkle star stared at her aunt. Made her see?  “See what? I didn’t do anything… I guess I only just showed up only to leave you again.” “You made me see that having lost anything is not a reason to throw away your life. I don’t really know how, Twinkle Star. I guess you are special after all.” “I’m not special. I guess I’m just me.”  Regala smiled. “Do you remember them, Twinkle Star? The stories, the legends, the things we believed in… Ever since I met you they seem to come back to me, one by one… As if they have awoken.” “No, I… I don’t remember them. I hardly knew any. I guess Stelline knows… I think I should take off, aunt Regala. It is getting dark.” Regala nodded and handed Twinkle Star’s bag over. “I packed some food for you. Well… I guess I’ll see you in the new lands, then.” Twinkle Star nodded and accepted the bag. She got up and looked at Fiume, disappearing in the distance. That was her road… She said goodbye to her aunt and slowly began to walk towards the river. “Hey! Twinkle Star! Promise me one thing… Even if you don’t find her, or if she doesn’t want to come with you… promise me you go back to your mother. Because… somewhere I know it is where you belong.” Twinkle Star looked at her aunt. She couldn’t explain the feeling she had. Happiness, for getting back her aunt, confusion for her words, or was it sadness, because she had to leave again so soon? “I know. Thanks, aunt Regala. Well, bye!” With that, she turned around and walked down the hill. She didn’t take the normal road this time, because she didn’t feel like going to the village again. Instead, she waked down and almost immediately met Fiume when she was down. The river was flowing gently, as if it had no idea of her feelings, how weird and confused she felt. “Well, Fiume, once again it’s you and me. I know it’s you who brought me here, with aunt Regala… and I now know why you brought me here. So I’ll have to go back… and find my sister. You’ll bring me to her, won’t you, Fiume?” She grabbed a bottle out of her bag and put it in the river to fill it with water. But when her hoof touched the water she fell into the same trance as she had been two times before. The river was talking to her again. “Good, Twinkle Star. I knew you would understand… I knew you would make Regala understand. But I want you to remember this, Twinkle Star. There are some things that just have to be done, some things only one can do, and some things only one should do…”  Twinkle Star felt the river had released her. Some things that had to be done, some things that only one can do, and some things that only one should do…?  What did Fiume mean by that? “great, even more things to get me confused… some help are you, you silly river. Now, let’s go. Let’s find Stelline, Fiume!”

For a while, Twinkle Star just walked along side the river. It wasn’t completely dark yet and she didn’t feel comfortable with flying when she could still see the village behind her. The falling night somehow comforted her, as if it was telling her everything was going to be ok. It was a clear night, and even though it was cold Twinkle Star enjoyed it. She loved nights like this, when she could see all the stars in the sky, twinkling somewhere far away… in a place she would never be able to reach.

After a while Twinkle Star decided it was time for her to start flying. She couldn’t see the little village anymore and there was nothing close to her, nothing at all except for some trees and, well, a lot of grass. She flew all night long at a high speed, and she noticed she was getting closer to Kiyoi’s place. She had already flown over the little village where she had met the old lady. She would be at Kiyoi’s place by dawn. She felt very insecure about going back there. Would she be able to go on? Would she still be tempted to stay?

It didn’t take long before she noticed the swamps where she had taken off only a few days ago. Nothing had changed, Fiume was still flowing through the swamps, purifying the place where it flowed, as a crystal road through a muddy valley. She decided to continue flying over the village and the forest; she didn’t want anyone to see her, she didn’t feel like answering questions. So she flew on and in a few minutes she was above Kiyoi’s little house. It all gave her a really strange feeling, to be here again. She landed on the square next to his house. She wasn’t really sure why she stopped flying, because she didn’t want to meet Kiyoi, but somehow it felt as if she had to stop here for a little while. She looked at the little house and she couldn’t believe how distant it all felt. It was only a few days ago that she was here, thinking how it would be to be here forever, with Kiyoi, having a safe future, knowing what was going to happen… But now it felt as if those days, those thoughts, those memories, were years and years ago. Suddenly she realised she had made a right decision. Even though she liked… or maybe loved Kiyoi, moving on was her only way. “I don’t really know what is ahead of me, Kiyoi, but I know I have made the right decision. I know where I belong and I know what I must do to be able to go back there. Thank you, Kiyoi, thank you, for everything.” After she had whispered these words, she took off in the sky again and continued to follow Fiume up stream. She never noticed the door of the little house that opened. She never noticed Kiyoi coming out of the house, staring in the distant sky, and even though there were tears in his eyes, he was smiling as well. “I know, Twinkle Star.” He whispered, “I know. You have found your way. No matter how much I love you, no matter how much I wanted to be with you, I know it is not your future to be here with me. Don’t forget, Twinkle Star, there are some things… some things worth giving up for. But no matter what your destiny is, no matter what your future is, I will always love you, Twinkle Star…”