Regala and the new Friendship Lands

“Wasn’t she just the cutest little girl you have ever seen?” Ivy said enthusiastically.
 “I know! I mean, those tiny ears and those huge eyes!” Fleur said. “I thought the cuteness was going to make me pass out!”
The two ponies were walking back to the castle, laughing. It was getting late in the evening now, the sun was setting and was painting the clouds in the sky in a nice red-pinkish color. Fleur and Ivy had just been into the country with their mother and their sister Crystal. One of the villagers had gotten a baby girl and Ivy and Fleur had been anxious to see it and thus they went with their mother and Crystal to the Saeya. Of course the Saeya’s didn’t mean as much as they used to do in the old Friendship Lands according to Regina, but it basically meant the new born children were accepted in the Queendom by the queen herself. Because the country was so small Regina could go to all the children herself and each child had it’s own Saeya, which usually was a big party. Regina had told them in the old Friendship Lands there had been one party for a lot of babies, as there simply were too much babies in spring to each have their own Saeya. It had been very crowded at this Saeya, but Ivy and Fleur knew this wasn’t because of the adorable baby girl, but because of Crystal; it was her first time out of the castle and into the public, so a lot of ponies had been curious to see the queen’s older daughter and new heir to the throne. Ivy and Fleur had a lot of fun by just looking at Crystal as she had been extremely nervous.  

They were on their way home now, and Crystal and their mother still were at the Saeya, talking to the parents. Ivy and Fleur weren’t really needed at this part of the ceremony and the baby was gone too, back to sleep, so they had decided to go home and see what kind of diner Tsuyo was making.
“I mean it though. If those babies get any cuter I swear, the cuteness will kill me!” Fleur stated while they were walking on the narrow path between the flower fields.
 “Yeah, right. You’re weak Fleur, you can’t resist the cuteness.” Ivy said.
“I’m not weak, those things are just too cute!” Fleur said almost yelling.
 Ivy laughed. Her sister always liked cute things too much, but this time and Ivy had to admit this baby was one of the cutest she had ever seen. They walked up the hill and could see their little castle in the distance now, standing there in the light of the setting sun, surrounded by millions of flowers. It was a beautiful sight. Ivy loved spring when the flowers were blooming. It was all so peaceful and quiet. It reminded her of  easier times, when she didn’t know anything but that her mother was queen of this little country, when there had been no Twinkle Star to worry about, when there hadn’t been so many ponies she had lost without even knowing them…

Suddenly Ivy stopped walking. “There’s someone there, Fleur.” She said.
“What? Where?”
Ivy pointed at the road, close to the castle. Fleur noticed Ivy was right. A pony was walking there, a white pony probably, but she couldn’t figure out much more than that. The pony was walking very slowly, but she didn’t seem to be hurt.
“Who could that be? Whoever it is,  it’s obviously heading towards the castle.” Ivy said.
Could it be a new pony who wanted to live in their country?
“Yeah… Let’s go check it out!” Fleur yelled and she galloped away.
“Wait for me!” Ivy yelled at her sister and began to gallop to.
She loved to run, to feel the wind in her hair, and she liked knowing she could run a lot faster than her younger sister. It didn’t take long for her to catch up with Fleur.
“Weeeeee here I go! See ya at the castle, lazy one!” She yelled and she began to run even faster, leaving her sister behind her.

When Ivy reached the pony she had a hard time stopping in time to prevent herself from crashing with the pony.
“Watch out!” She yelled and the white pony could jump off the road just in time. “I’m sorry!” She said while she was breathing loud and walked towards the pony.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” The pony asked angrily.
“Trying to get here before my sister. Ey, there she is. HEY lazy one! Look who’s here first! Again!” Ivy yelled at her sister who was still galloping towards them.
“Yeah, yeah I know. You’re the faster one. Good for you, Ivy.” Fleur said, out of breath as well.
“You keep trying, Fleur! Maybe you’ll beat me… one day in your dreams.” Ivy laughed and Fleur looked at her annoyed.
“So… you two are Regina’s daughters.” The white pony said. Fleur and Ivy looked at the pony in surprise and stared at her. Only now they noticed the pendant the pony was wearing.
“Hey! You… who are you? You’re family, right?” Ivy said, pointing at the pony’s dark colored pendant.
“Yes I am. In fact, I guess I’m your aunt. My name is Regala.” For a while Ivy and Fleur stared at Regala with their mouths open.
“Mom’s so gonna freak out when she finds out about this.” Fleur said after a while.

Fleur had no idea how right she was. Ivy and Fleur hadn’t been talking much with their aunt before their mother came home. They had showed her the castle, but other than that they really didn’t know what to say. Neither of them knew their aunt very well and they felt it was really weird to call her aunt. When Regina and Crystal came home an hour later, for five minutes all Regina could do was stare at her sister, and Regala stared back. Ivy couldn’t help but laugh a bit. These two mature ponies were looking at each other as if they had just seen the sky go green. It took them a long time to finally say hi to each other. Regina felt a little awkward and she didn’t really know what to say. She didn’t dare to ask about Regala’s children or about other family members, she didn’t want to do something that might hurt her little sister, but Regina wanted to know what had happened to her all these years.

Fortunately for Regina Regala began to tell her story without Regina having to ask. Not long after Regina and Crystal had come home they had dinner and during dinner talking became a bit easier. Regala began to talk about her past without Regina having to ask, after Regina had given a brief summary of her years in the new lands. Regala explained that she and Togli had survived the eruption but that she had lost Sonchi and Hitade. She explained that she and Togli had lived quite far away all those years in peace, and that Togli had gromw up to become a healthy young girl. She told about the time that Togli had decided she wanted to go back to the old lands. She told Regina and her daughters about how she had lost Togli in the storm, which was quite hard for her to tell, and how she had been looking for her.
“I looked for Togli for a long time, but I had to go back home after a while. I figured maybe she had survived, maybe she had left that place in search of a safer location, as I had searched the entire area at least thrice and there was no sign of her, or anyone for that matter.
But on the last night that I was there, there was a storm once again. It was hopeless. The weather there… It’s like the entire place is angry at you. But then I saw her, Regina. She was there. A light in the dark, untouched by the weather, not moving, not doing anything.” Regala said with a mysterious tone in her voice, while she put some more food on her plate.
 “Who was it?” Ivy asked, enchanted.
 She found it hard to believe her aunt had actually gone back to the old Friendship Lands, but this pony sounded interesting.
“Don’t you know, Regina?” Regala said, ignoring Ivy’s question. Ivy saw the look in her mother’s eyes and she knew her mother knew what Regala was talking about.
“You don’t mean… no, it can’t be…” Regina said, amazed.
“Yes, Regina. I couldn’t see her clearly nor have I ever seen her again after that, but I do not doubt what I saw that night, I could feel it. Stelline was there.”
When Fleur heard this, she almost chocked in her carrot.
“Stelline? Our sister?” Ivy asked amazed, while she petted her sister’s back.
“She is alive as well?” Regala nodded.
“At least she was alive, two years ago. I never saw her nor heard from her after that, but you can’t be wrong about a unicorn. Unfortunately I haven’t been out much since that day so I don’t know much about what has been happening around that place. The day after I had seen Stelline I left the old lands and I bought myself a little house in a small village. I stayed there, lived in the shadows over there for two years. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially not ponies that knew me from before. So I hid myself from the world.”
Regala stared at her plate. She didn’t want to tell her sister about those two horrible years, and she didn’t feel like they had to know.
“Then what made you come here?” Crystal asked after a short silence in which nobody really knew what to say.
“Your sister did, Crystal.” Regala said, smiling, happy that Crystal had asked this question.
“You mean…” Crystal began, but Regala interrupted her.
“Yes, I met Twinkle Star. She told me everything about this place, about you Regina, about her sisters, even about you, Fleur.”
Ivy couldn’t describe how happy she felt. Maybe not for herself, as she really didn’t know Twinkle Star that well, but more for her sister Crystal and her mother. She knew they both had a hard time after Twinkle Star had left and she knew her mother had been really worried.
“Twinkle Star? Really? Tell me aunt Regala, how is she? Where did she came from? Where did she go?” Crystal said a little excited, while her mother was quite unable to talk and just stared at Regala in amazement.
Regala smiled. “Twinkle Star is just fine. In fact, I think she is better than she has been in a long time. She wanted to return to here. She missed you, all of you. She knows she belongs here. She is discovering who she is, and I think that’s a really good thing, maybe even more so for her than for others. However… there were things she had to do. She couldn’t come back yet. Twinkle Star… she wanted to find her sister before she wanted to return.”
“you mean…” Crystal began again, but this time she didn’t finish her sentence. Nobody was eating anymore. They simply sat around the table with their vegetables in front of them, unable to eat.
Regala nodded. “Twinkle Star went after Stelline. She went back to the old Friendship Lands.”

This was too much for Regina. Without saying anything she got up and walked out of the dining room, obviously upset.
“Mom…” Ivy said softly and she got up and went after her mother. Crystal sighed and shook her head.
“Poor mother. She has been through so much lately. Finding me and Twinkle Star back, losing Twinkle Star again, and now this… I really wonder how she is able to keep going.”
Regala nodded and she continued eating, hungry as she was from her long journey. “I admire Regina. I wouldn’t be able to do something like this. Build a place like this. This country… it’s small all right, and it doesn’t even come close to the things that make other queendoms so great, and then I’m not even talking about the old Friendship Lands. But the ponies live in peace here and Regina worked so hard on all of it, and the ponies look happy. I wonder how many ponies there are that can go on like the way she has.”
“Aunt Regala, will Twinkle star come back, even if she won’t find Stelline?” Fleur asked a little unsure. She really didn’t know how to behave or what to say. This whole situation was really awkward for her as she didn’t really understand all of these feelings. After all, she was the only one that doesn’t know anything about the old Friendship Lands, and she sometimes had trouble understanding the strong emotions of her family.
“I’m sure she will, hun. Only thing is I don’t know when or how. But I do know for sure she will return here one day. She told me herself. This is her home.”

The sun had set completely now. It was completely dark outside and a cold wind was blowing. The stars and the moon had been covered by dark clouds, and Ivy was afraid it would start raining soon. She saw her mother walking on the walls of the castle. She went up the stairs and followed her mother, who was sitting now, staring to the west while the wind was blowing her hair to all sides. Softly Ivy sat down next to her mother.
“You’re worried about her, aren’t you mom?” Ivy said with a soft voice.
Regina looked up and sighed.“ I don’t know sweetheart. I mean, of course I am worried. She is my daughter and she’s out there in that dreadful place. I can’t believe what might happen to her and of course I am scared that she might get hurt. But I am also… I don’t know, somewhere I am proud of her. She is facing her fears. If what Regala told me is true… Twinkle Star had been so alone and distant when she had been here. She was running away from herself. If she is finding out who she is, I can’t be anything else but happy.”
“Do you think she will find Stelline?” Ivy asked, while she was staring at the grey rocks of the castle walls.
“I don’t know. I find it hard to believe Stelline is alive. It’s all so unreal, Ivy. A month ago we were still living here with the three of us and now I not only have Crystal back, but I know Twinkle Star is alive and somewhere out there and Regala is here, telling me my oldest daughter is alive somewhere as well. It is so hard to believe.”
 Ivy sighed. She knew exactly what her mother was talking about. It had been only a month ago that her mother had told her about the old Friendship Lands. And then her two sisters appeared and she knew nothing would ever be the same. She had lost her position as heir to the throne, she didn’t live just with her mother and younger sister anymore, and her older sister was somewhere out there, doing who knows what.

She had tried to live on as normal as possible, but it was hard. She wanted to live on like nothing had changed, but of course she couldn’t. Almost every night she wished she never had asked her mother about the truth, she wished her sisters had never shown up here, even though she knew feelings like this were only selfish. She didn’t even know if she wanted Twinkle Star to return soon. On one hand, she wanted her to return soon because she didn’t wanted her mother to be so worried, but on the other hand she hadn’t liked Twinkle Star’s attitude. She had been so distant and arrogant almost…
Ivy sighed. “I’m sure Twinkle Star will be ok mom. She will come back to us. Why don’t you come with me inside? You know you’re sister is there, and you haven’t seen her in sixteen years. I can’t imagine there is nothing you two have to talk about.”