Three memories

“Hey Ivy, Fleur, Crystal!” Twinkle Star yelled, when she saw her three sisters in the back of the castle’s garden. They were sitting together, looking at something.
“Hi there Twinkle!” Crystal yelled back, excited.
“Look at this! Isn’t it beautiful!” Crystal pointed at a large rose, that was growing on an even larger rose bush. Twinkle Star inspected the rose when she got closer, and she noticed the rose was indeed beautiful. Half of it’s leaves were red, the others were light pink. They were randomly put together, like somebody couldn’t make up his mind on what he wanted.
 “It’s gorgeous.” She said.
“It is! I wonder if we can create more of these? We could make a fortune!”
Fleur said excited and Twinkle Star laughed. She loved the cheerfulness of her two younger sisters. It always made her cheer up a little as well, to see not everybody was burdened by the past all the time.

“I got some good news for you two.” She started, “You don’t have to come to Kin, because…”
But Ivy and Fleur didn’t really give her the chance to finish her sentence. They busted out screaming with happiness and they hugged their two older sisters when they heard this good news.
“Yay yay yay! This is the best news ever! Good luck you two!” Ivy laughed.
“So you two don’t get to see Stanno.” Crystal said sarcastically, and they immediately stopped laughing. They looked at each other and Crystal winked at Twinkle Star with a smile on her face. If only little things like this were able to bring her down as well… life like that… But they both knew they would never feel it again.

“That’s true… But we won’t get to see Katine either!” Fleur said, and they both were immediately cheerful again.
“It’s that bad, uh.” Twinkle Star said, while she took another look at the extraordinary flower.
“Yeah it is. She only likes you because you’re from an ancient family. Blue blood, all that crap. I assume she wants Stanno and Stelline to get married. So her family gets to look cool and all. She doesn’t care about love or feelings, she cares about her image.” Ivy said.
“Well, I am pretty sure Stelline can make up her own mind. We’ll see what happens in two weeks, right?” Twinkle Star said, and Crystal nodded, though Ivy and Fleur weren’t so sure.

Twinkle Star was about to turn around and walk back to the castle, when a thought crossed her mind. Would her younger sisters know…?  She knew her mother had told Ivy and Fleur all about the old Friendship lands a few months ago. Would she have mentioned her two older sisters?
“What is it Twinkle?” Ivy asked, when she noticed her sister was kind of lost in her thoughts, but Twinkle Star shook her head. Her sisters probably wouldn’t know, anyway.
“Nothing.” She said, but Ivy insisted.
“Yes there is. What’s on your mind? We’re your sisters, you know. You can share things with us.”

Twinkle Star smiled. Ivy was right. She had to stop keeping things to herself when they concerned others as well. She had decided this a long time ago, but it was hard for her to realise this every time. After all, this is how she had lived the last sixteen years. Her secrets were her own. It was time for her to open up.
“Well…” She began, “I talked with Stelline earlier… We were wondering how our mother became the heir to the throne. You all know that she had been the heir back in the old Lands as well, but we are sure she had two older sisters. But the heir to the throne is always the oldest, unless of course something happened that made her unable to fulfil this position. Both me and Stelline couldn’t remember that those two older sisters were ever mentioned to us. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but we don’t know anything about them. I wonder what happened to them. So I was just wondering if mother ever mentioned anything about them to you… that’s all.”

Ivy and Fleur were silent for a while, and Crystal looked at Twinkle Star wondering what the hell her sister was up to. Twinkle Star knew her two younger sisters were trying to remember if something about them was ever mentioned. And she was already a bit disappointment. Wouldn’t they simply remember if they were simply told? 
“I think… when mother told us about the old Lands, she mentioned more sisters than just Regala and Damina.” Ivy said after a while.
“Yes, they had a younger sister, Pristina.” Twinkle Star said.
“No no, more than her alone. I clearly remember she mentioned like five our six names. I remember because I was surprised that she had so many sisters. I didn’t know anyone with more than one sibling back then.”
Twinkle Star looked up. Five or six… with her two older sisters, Regina had five sisters.
“Do you remember their names? Of the others, I mean. Do you remember it?” Twinkle Star said excited.
“I don’t think so, I’m sorry.” Ivy said softly while she was shaking her head, as if it was a crime to disappoint her older sister.

“Can’t you try? Try to remember, Ivy! It’s really important to me.” Twinkle Star said, a little pushing.
“Look,” Fleur said quickly, before her sister could answer, “The day she told us that she also told us we had four older sisters, that our actual country was buried somewhere under a lot of dried up lava, and that she basically had lost all her family and friends that night. We didn’t remember those names, we were way to shocked with everything. Hell, I don’t even remember my own sister’s names sometimes. Would you be able to remember everything, what was it, Tonklebell?”

Twinkle Star shook her head. “No. I’m sorry. I’m just really curious, that’s all.”
She sighed and took another look at the extraordinary flower. It was quite impressive. It was like a weird puzzle of which nobody really knew how to put it together. Maybe the story of her two older aunts was like it. Something nobody really knew, and that’s why it was never mentioned to them.
“Well Twinkle, I’m pretty sure she mentioned their names to us. But I can’t remember those names, and I’m definitely sure she hasn’t mentioned anything else about them.” Ivy said, and that was it. Twinkle Star smiled at her younger sister.
“Thanks, Ivy. I’ll see what I’ll do with it. I guess I got to get back now. Good luck with the flower, you three!” With that, she turned around and left her three sisters.

Though she was disappointed that she didn’t find out more, she also wondered why Regina had mentioned their names to Ivy and Fleur. Maybe it didn’t matter as much anymore. She thought everybody had died. Whatever happened with those two, it was irrelevant now. Maybe she was willing to talk about it now. Maybe she just had to ask her mother… Twinkle Star shook her head while she was walking. Why was this bothering her so much? It was just simply something Stelline had brought up along the way. Why would she care so much? It never bothered her, her entire life, even though she had thought about it before. Why couldn’t she just let it go?

Meanwhile, she had entered the castle and she was walking towards the room where she had left Aline and Tsuyo earlier with the announcement about Stelline. She had almost entered the room, when it hit her. She stared at the little room at the other side of the hall. The treasure room. The stone was there, the one that Damina had found. The stone… The true heir to the throne. That is why it was bothering her. Her mother wasn’t the oldest and never meant to become queen, even though Stelline said so. If whatever happened never had occurred, Regina would never had become the queen, and thus Stelline would never be her heir. The oldest sister, who ever it was, was the heir to Medina’s throne and thus her children were her heirs! The true heirs… Could this really be true? Is this really what the stone meant to tell her? Is one of them still out there?

Slowly she walked towards the treasure room. Would the stone answer her if she asked? She touched the door, but nothing happened. It was locked, and Twinkle Star didn’t know where she could get a key. She sighed. She wanted to know so badly. “Twinkle Star?” A voice suddenly said, and Twinkle Star jumped up. Aline was standing behind her, looking at her confused.
“You scared me Aline!” She said a little annoyed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just wondering what you were doing there. Tsuyo and I heard noises, so I checked it out and I found you here. What are you doing?”
“Oh… nothing. I was looking for something… the, eh, the official stamp to put under the announcement, you know, my mother asked us that. I thought it was in the treasure room.” Twinkle Star was surprised at her own lie, but Aline began to laugh.
“Silly girl! Your mother told us where it was! In a little desk in her bedroom, remember?”
Twinkle Star laughed nervously. “Oh, yeah, right. I forgot.”
“well, anyway… I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with me to one of the hairdressers. You know, the one in the farm. We have to go that way anyway to deliver some of the announcements to a mail pony or something, and I wanted to check it out.” Twinkle Star had trouble not to laugh with relief. Once again, Aline had been too occupied with her hair to notice things weren’t right. But she was happy Aline asked her to come along. It was a great opportunity for her to get her mind off things.
“I’d love to come. When are we leaving?”
“What about right now?”

That evening, all of them were in the throne room. They had just had dinner, and Regina insisted on discussing their trip to Kin. They would be gone for a while, so Ivy and Fleur had to look after the castle. They had decided Tsuyo would stay behind, and Aline would come along to help them. Ivy and Fleur couldn’t help but smiling every time it was mentioned they were going to stay here.

“Could you tell us more about Katine, mother?” Crystal asked, after Fleur once again stated what a horrible person it was. “I mean, we know now she’s not a good person and all, but why?” Regina sighed and she got off the sofa. “Katine… the royal family of Kin doesn’t have many royal powers. I’d say Katine has as much as you, Ivy. Not that this matters much of course. It’s about how you use them. The powers are given to you to protect your country and your ponies. But Katine uses them to show off, to show how important she is, to show she and her family are the ones who make their decisions. Because of this, the country is quite poor and she is rich. She thinks she is respected for this, but what she doesn’t know is that her powers will decrease with each generation if they are used like this.”

“But…” Aline hesitated. She wanted to say something, but she wasn’t really sure how to, Twinkle Star knew. “What is it, Aline?” Regina asked kindly. “Well… Twinkle Star explained to me the powers guide you as well. I always thought, you can’t use your powers wrongly, because they show you what is right. How can you use them for something bad? I thought that it was impossible.” Twinkle Star noticed Regina glanced shortly at Regala and Damina. She was reminded of something, something not so pleasant, and Twinkle Star was sharp now. She was hitting something here.

“No, Aline. It is true that your powers guide you, and that they show you what is right and wrong. But it is still your choice. If you choose to disobey what the powers show you, it is your choice and it can happen. It has happened in the past and it is dangerous.” Regina said, while she walked to her throne and sat on it. “Like what, mother? Can you give an example?” Twinkle Star asked. Regina stared at her daughter. “I… I can, but I… no, Twinkle Star, I’m sorry. I know what happens when you use them for wrong, but this is a story which I cannot tell you.” “It’s about your older sisters isn’t it?” Twinkle Star said sharply. She was sure. The looks on Regina, Regala and Damina’s faces made her sure that she was right here. Regina sighed.

“Yes, Twinkle Star, but I can’t tell you. I made a promise long ago that we would never tell it. So we won’t.” To everybody’s surprise, Damina got up. “Why, Regina? Why can’t we tell them? True, maybe, in the old lands this story was too painful. For us, for them, for mother. But it’s a long time ago now. It doesn’t matter anymore. It might teach them that even those with the strongest powers can do wrong.” Regina jumped off her throne and walked towards the door, ignoring her younger sister. “Regina!” Damina yelled, but Regina shook her head while she was walking. “Maybe, Damina. Maybe we can tell them. But not now, I’m tired, I want to think about it.”