Return to the New Lands

It was early in the afternoon when they crossed the border of the new Friendship Lands. When Twinkle Star announced this, all remained quiet. Nobody really knew what to say, and most of them were too nervous to speak anyway. Only Damina was able to give Twinkle Star a little smile, to show she understood.

Twinkle Star couldn’t remember the new Lands to be so pretty. They walked through a small and open forest, with lots of light and nice summer green leaves. Little bushes and young trees were growing next to the road made of yellowish stone bricks. Twinkle Star vaguely remembered this little forest from the last time she was here, but it had been dark back then. It was a bright forest, and just as the rest of the country it was green and full of light. Twinkle Star noticed Aline was looking at every leaf as if it was something really special.
“Are we close to the castle?” Damina asked, while she trotted up to walk next to Twinkle Star, who shook her head.
“The castle is in a valley in the centre of the country as far as I remember, and we just passed the western borders. Of course, this means it’s only half a day walking until we reach the castle. The country is small, I told you that. There simply aren’t enough ponies to occupy a larger area.” She answered, while she admired the youth of the forest. It was so different from any forest she had seen on her journey. It was young, it was growing, it wasn’t even close to becoming a mature forest.
“I understand,” Damina replied, “Though they should add the lands where we walked through the last few days to the country. Nobody lives there, and it’s beautiful. It would be a great addition.”
 Twinkle Star laughed. Damina was right, they should do that, but with the amount of ponies currently living in the country it was simply impossible, even though she was sure her mother had been considering this since the beginning. But her mother was taking things slowly, and she was right to do so.

After an hour they left the little forest behind them. There were still lots of trees along the path, but there were farm fields here and there now, and they could see some farms in the distance. Twinkle Star noticed some children playing in one of the fields while they were still continuing to follow the yellow path. Somehow the children confirmed to her that she was indeed back in her mother’s country. Things were young here, they were growing.  

At one point they had the choice to go through a very small village, but they decided not to do this, as they didn’t want to cause a disturbance. After all, for the ponies that lived here, they were quite a company; two daughters of the queen and her sister, who are still believed to be dead among the normal ponies.

So they decided to avoid the village by travelling through the fields, which Aline didn’t like but she decided to go along instead of discovering the little village by herself, which in her case meant looking for a hair salon, Twinkle Star thought. The village looked really nice. The roofs of the houses were made of a thick kind of straw kept together with a dark yellow rope. The houses themselves were made of dark red bricks. It looked like a nice and cosy place. To Twinkle Star it felt like one of those places that you almost immediately can call home.

The fields were just as nice as the little forest was. The grass was high and it was full of flowers, with a tree here and there, and some bushes along the road. There were almost no houses here, as they were almost nowhere in fields like this in this country. The high grass was dancing on the soft breeze, while some animals were playing here and there in the bright sunlight. Aline had to laugh at a little bunny trying to climb a stunk of a tree because some nice green grass was growing on top of it, however it didn’t have any luck. It was almost summer now, and the country looked beautiful, especially to Aline, who had never seen something like this, as she of course grew up in a dry village on the border of a brown stone desert. Stelline at one point had gotten tears in her eyes, and whispered that it looked “So much like the old lands”, and Damina agreed. Aline was enjoying the country, Twinkle Star knew, and she was happy with this.

By now they noticed the land was going up, and there was a small hill in front of them, covered in little white flowers. On the top of the hill were two large trees, that looked almost like a gate. When Twinkle Star saw the trees, her heart skipped a beat and she stopped walking. She recognised these trees. She had seen them from the castle the last time she was there. They were on the north-west side of the castle. When they would reach the top of the hill, they would be able to see it.

“What is it Twinkle?” Aline asked, when she noticed Twinkle Star had stopped walking.
“We… we’re almost there.” Twinkle Star whispered nervously.
Twinkle Star had no idea she would become so nervous, as she had been extremely calm about all this during the journey. She already had made up what she would say to her mother and sisters, but now that she was so close her mind was simply blank. Slowly she walked pass the others, who were also standing still now, and she slowly climbed the hill, while she heard the others following her without saying a word. Her heart was beating uncontrollably fast when she put her fist hoof on the top of the hill and she saw the banners of the castle appear in the distance. The castle was still there, like she had left it three months ago. While the breeze softly played with her hair and little butterflies were flying around her head, flashes of her journey appeared in her mind. Kiyoi, Regala, the old Friendship Lands, the desert… She had been through all that stuff so she could be here again now, stronger, with answers to questions she didn’t even have when she once left this place.

The light pink bricks of the castle were a nice contrast with the yellow and white flowers and the green grass that were the dominant colors of the fields. The light purple banners on top of the castle’s two towers were waving softly in the wind, while the light grey walls excluded everyone from the official castle grounds. The castle indeed looked small, standing there like that on the tiny hill in the small valley, but it was still a royal castle and it somehow forced you to show something like respect.

Meanwhile the others had climbed up the hill as well and stood beside Twinkle Star, motionless, while they were all far away in their thoughts. Aline whispered that the castle was beautiful at some point, and Twinkle Star was sure she saw a single tear leaving Stelline’s eyes. “it really is beautiful, Aline.” Damina said after a while with a soft voice. “It’s the future.” Twinkle Star added, while she wasn’t even sure why she said it, even though she believed it. It was build out of the dreams of ponies, of her family, and these dreams were slowly coming true. A single symbol of hope.

“Look, over there.” Aline interrupted Twinkle Star’s thoughts, and she looked at the direction Aline was pointing at.
In the middle of the field right of the castle stood a single pony. As far as Twinkle Star could tell the pony was just standing there, simply enjoying herself, and Twinkle Star knew immediately who it was.
“You recognise her, Stelline?” she asked, and Stelline nodded in response.
“I don’t think there’s any other pony with her color combination. Of course I recognise her.”
Twinkle Star giggled when her sister said this, because it was altogether true. Her sister Crystal had probably the most dark colored coat Twinkle Star had ever seen, and her neon blue tail and pure pink mane only made it stand out more, especially against the background of the light colored flowers. Twinkle Star felt happiness taking over her nervous feelings. Crystal was here, and by the looks of it she was fine. Only now she realised how much she had missed Crystal. After all, they had journeyed together for almost a year, and she had left her without saying anything. She felt guilty for that, she had felt guilty about it her entire journey, but she was back now. Somehow it didn’t matter that much anymore.

“Come on then! Let’s go and say hi!” She said happily and she began to run off the hill. She loved to run like this. She felt happy, happier then she had in a long time. She felt calm somehow, as if she didn’t have to worry about the future. It was here. 
“Crystal! Hey, Crystal!” She yelled when she got closer to the pony and she stopped running. She walked slow now through the field full with flowers, and yelled her sister’s name one more time. The pony slowly turned her head and Twinkle Star noticed her sister looked surprised when she saw her.
“Twinkle! Twinkle! Is it really you?” Crystal yelled back and she walked towards her sister. When they met, Twinkle Star nodded slowly.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Crystal began to smile and said with a trembling voice: “I can’t believe it. You came back.”
“Yeah… Yeah, I did. I couldn’t leave you and the others behind forever, you know.” Twinkle Star said, while looking in her sister’s green eyes. Crystal smiled again.
“I’m glad you’re back.”
“I brought some others along, you know.” Twinkle Star said and she stepped aside, so Crystal could see the others coming their way. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw Crystal’s mouth fall open when she saw Stelline and Damina.

“It… it can’t be…” She stammered, while she couldn’t keep her eyes of her sister Stelline.
“Hi, Crystal.” Stelline said softly, while she didn’t really knew where to look. Stelline was of course nervous too, and she was back to being shy.
“I… I don’t… no, I knew, I mean, Regala told us she saw you some years ago and that Twinkle went after you, but, I mean… It was so hard to believe and… aunt Damina, I mean, I didn’t know, I…” Crystal said, while she kept looking from Damina to Stelline, not knowing what to say to who first.

“Regala is here?” Twinkle Star asked, relieved that her aunt had made it safely.
“Yeah, she arrived more than a month ago. But how, I mean, did you really go back?” Crystal asked Twinkle Star in disbelieve, who nodded.
“I did, and yes, I found Stelline there. After that, we met Damina’s daughters, Testi and Vesti, who brought us to Damina’s house, and Damina decided to come with us here temporarily, to see her sisters and nieces again. But we’ll discuss that later, when the others are there, if that’s okay with you.” Twinkle Star said.
Crystal kept looking at Damina and Stelline while she nodded, when Aline suddenly made a coughing noise, and Twinkle Star laughed.

“This here is Aline" She said while she stepped next to her friend, “She went with me on my journey to the old Lands and, well, she’s my best friend. Aline, this is my younger sister Crystal.”
“nice to meet you!” Aline said happily, and Crystal answered that it was her pleasure.
“How is mother?” Twinkle Star asked, when she noticed Crystal had calmed down a bit, while she was still looking confused at Stelline and Damina.
“Oh, she’s fine. She’s not here today, she’s off with Fleur and Ivy to a Saeya. You have no idea how many children were born this spring, really. Anyway, mom has calmed down a lot since you left, you know. She feels horrible about what she has done to you. She’ll be happy to see you, Twinkle Star. She has missed you more than she could say, I could see it.”

It felt as if a heavy burden was lifted from Twinkle Star’s shoulders. Her mother regretted what she had said! This meant she wouldn’t force her again in becoming the heir, so Twinkle Star could be simply herself here. Who knows, maybe…
“Who is her heir now? Still Ivy?” She asked, but Crystal shook her head.
“I am.”
Even though Twinkle Star had expected this, she was still surprised and, to her own surprise, she felt a little sad. It shouldn’t be her sister’s burden to be the heir to the throne. She should be carefree, get another job around the castle, but she wasn’t fit to be queen, no matter how great of a pony she was. But at the same time Twinkle Star realised she had almost forced her sister in this position by leaving the castle. Now she was back though, even though she didn’t really see a solution. She was sure she wouldn’t, and couldn’t become queen, but she had promised Stelline that nobody would force her into anything.

“How about we get into the castle? You all look like you could use some good food and refreshment.” Crystal proposed, and they all happily agreed.