The mysterious pony

Ruki wandered along the banks of the old river. She didn’t know how long she had been doing it, nor did she really care. She didn’t like the look of the dry earth in it, nor did she like the feeling it gave her. But it was leading her away. Away from everything. She knew she had to cross it someday, because she didn’t want to go to the beach. But for now, it was just fine. As long as it would lead her away from those dreadful mountains. She couldn’t help but shiver from cold when she thought if them again, and the events of a few nights ago. No, she didn’t want to think of them anymore. She had to forget them, somehow. So she stubbornly walked on, in the light of the autumn sun, not knowing what to do or where to go. She was sure she wasn’t going home. She couldn’t possibly do that. It would be a disgrace to her. What would her father think, or her sister? She had sneaked out in the middle of the night, not telling anyone she was leaving or where she was going. She had been so sure she would succeed, and now she had failed.

She once more shook her head, making her golden mane fly in the soft breeze. No more thinking of the past. She’ll have to find a new life now, she had decided that. She had to become someone else. Maybe she even needed a new name. Daiyin perhaps, like her grandmother? No, no, no. Something new and original. Something that would not be linked to her past. She paused and looked around her for a while. No, once again the environment had not changed, nor would it any time soon. Dead trees, dry, yellow grass, the endless empty river with it’s yellow sand on the bottom. And not a living creature in sight. It seemed to Ruki either everything had die, or avoided being too close to the river. Surely, she didn’t enjoy being close to it either. It gave her some nasty feeling, something that was eating at the back of her soul, like a child in the distance screaming for help while she was ignoring it. But it couldn’t. After all, it was only a river.

It would get dark soon, Ruki suddenly realised. She had to find a place to sleep, preferably not next to this river. She decided to leave the river for now, and get a bit away from it before it would be dark. To her right were some trees, which probably once were a small forest. But it was dead now, there wasn’t a leaf left on any of the trees, and they had lost all of their natural wooden color. She couldn’t help but wonder if this river had been the only source of water in this place, as since it had died, everything had died or was dying with it. But even though it all appeared a bit creepy, she could hide between those trees, where she would have some shelter from the small wind, which could get a little chilly at night.

It didn’t take her long to find a nice place between the trees where she would spend the night. She decided to unload her two blankets from her backpack, one to sleep on and one to sleep under. She didn’t like to sleep outside every night, but what choice did she have? She had no money, and no relatives where she could go to. Once more she vowed to look for a job in the first village she would enter, so she could get some money to get good food, instead of dried up fruits and vegetables she found along the way. The long shadows on the ground told her the sun would disappear soon, so if she wanted to find something to eat, she had to go look soon, even though she didn’t think she would find anything. She slowly walked away from her items, not really afraid anything would happen to them, who would come here anyway?

She walked through the rather dead forest, and as expected, she didn’t find anything. It was stupid to try, anyway, she thought, and she headed back within fifteen minutes. She wouldn’t have anything to eat once more, she realised, and she vowed to leave the damned river tomorrow morning. It wasn’t leading her anywhere after all. As she walked back to her items, Ruki’s heart jumped. Did she just hear something? No, it can’t be. There was nobody here. But still, the same feeling came over her as usual, when someone was close. She felt the presence of another. So, she was more alert when she continued to approach her little camping place, and for some reason she was not surprised someone was there.

“Hey! Get away from my stuff!” She yelled, even before she was reached her items. She heard the pony jump up, and she trotted towards the place. She halted abruptly when she saw the pony, though. She was standing behind her items, even though everything still appeared untouched. The pony was pink, with long pink mane and tail, which somehow appeared to be glittering even though the sunlight was almost gone. But that wasn’t what had shocked her so much. For on the pony’s back were two huge pink and silver wings, shining in the light they produced themselves. She had never seen something like that before. A pony with wings? What was she? And even so, the pony felt a bit… unreal to her. She appeared to be some magical creature. Her eyes shone like diamonds, her wings were almost creating light themselves, and there was a light pink aura surrounding the pony. It was almost as if the pony was not from this world, as if she was a heavenly creature visiting the mortal ponies.

“I… I’m sorry,  I didn’t mean to be here, I… just stumbled upon your items, I swear I didn’t touch anything….” The pony said, obviously shocked that someone was here, which didn’t surprise Ruki. What did surprise her was the pony’s voice. It sounded almost like a pretty dream, in which she was dancing through the clouds that made her voice go like a soft lullaby.
“Who are you?” Ruki asked, still intrigued by the pony, but trying to act normally.
“My name is Twinkle Star. I am here, looking for some wood to make a fire. I camp a little further away from here, with my sister and a friend.” The pony explained.
It sounded reasonable enough to Ruki, but it still didn’t explain the wings. Still, the pony didn’t acted like she had something extraordinary on her back.
“May I ask who you are?” The pony asked, and Ruki realised she had been staring at the pony for a long while now, without saying anything.
“My name is…. Jaze.” Jaze? Where did that come from? Oh well, at least it was original, and it didn’t have anything to do with her past.
“I am travelling through here as well.” She added, hoping the pony would accept it. Apparently she did, for the pony just nodded.
“Aren’t you a bit young to travel alone?” The pony asked her, and Ruki shook her head, a bit annoyed.
Why did everyone think she was too young for everything?
“No, I’m not. I’m thirteen already, okay, I can take care of myself.”
“Okay, okay, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Twinkle Star said quickly, and Ruki accepted her apology without question.
She was simply to occupied by staring at those wings to stay angry for long. Those wings… she had heard of unicorns before. None of them still existed today, but they did exist in the past, or so she was told. Apparently the future queen of those Friendship Lands had been a unicorn, but she had died, along with the rest of the ponies. The Friendship Lands… she didn’t want to think of them anymore. She had been there now, and she hadn’t liked it. The future, Ruki, the future, she told herself.

“May I ask why you are staring at me?” Twinkle Star asked, and Ruki realised once again she had been looking at the pony without saying anything. She smiled nervously.
“I’m sorry, it’s just… I never heard of a pony with wings before. Maybe it’s normal to you, but to me…”
She stopped talking when she saw the look on the pony’s face. She looked shocked, like she had just told her the seas had disappeared.
“W…. what do you mean?” she asked, horrified.
“Well, I mean, those wings on your back. You can’t see them?” Ruki asked, really unsure of what to do now.
“I can… I mean, of course I can. It’s just… I… I got to go now. I’m sorry, Jaze. It has been nice to meet you. Maybe we will meet again in the future.” Twinkle star said, and she quickly turned around, even before Ruki was able to say “bye”.

For a while, Ruki just stood there and didn’t do anything, she didn’t even think anything. Who on earth had that pony been? Those wings had been real, she was sure of it now. It was no illusion. But then why had the pony reacted so shocked? It was not like she would have been able to ignore those wings. Maybe she had to go after the pony, to demand an explanation. Hadn’t she told her she was camping near? But maybe it would be a bad idea, after all. The pony, Twinkle Star, obviously wasn’t looking for any confrontation. Maybe she just had to respect that. Maybe she had to leave this place, right now, she realised. She didn’t want to confront it herself. In the coming darkness, it all felt really scary to Ruki. Who knew if the pony was up to any good? She didn’t want to be close anymore. She quickly put her items back in her backpack, and she left. Walking first, but after a while she was galloping without even realising how hard she was going or where she was going. She just wanted to run away and leave the darkness behind her. She had seen enough of that, lately. First the mountains, now this. For an instant, she longed for her home, or what used to be her home. The little wooden cabin in Butterfly valley, far away to the east. Her father, her younger sister Sapphire, her grandmother, the butterfly friends. It was all in the past now, something she couldn’t return to even if she wished. For not only did she leave them, she had broken her promise, the promise her father had insisted she would keep. For she had searched for her mother, she had gone to the place she was forbidden to go, to find the woman who had given birth to her, thirteen years ago, hoping she would be able to explain why she had never been there for her. But she hadn’t succeeded in her quest, and now she was all alone out here in this world she didn’t even know.

Twinkle Star couldn’t help shaking all over. She had been standing there, nowhere, for who knows how long now, but still she was unable to move. How could it be that the pony had seen her wings? She had asked herself over and over again. She hadn’t made them appear in ages. And surely Jiro and Crystal hadn’t seen anything strange. Once again, she looked on her back, but she didn’t see her wings. Who had that pony been? She had looked so strange to Twinkle Star. A young, thirteen year old girl out here, on her own, in a place where there is no living thing in sight, so close to the dead remains of what was once the river Fiume? Something about the little pony had made her feel uncomfortable, even before she had told Twinkle Star she could see her wings. But what was it?

Had she made her wings appear by accident, because of the shock of meeting someone here? No, Twinkle Star was sure of it. She hadn’t. She would have felt it. She would have known. But yet… this pony had seen them. Would she tell anyone about them? Even if she would, would anyone be able to see them? As of now, she had never met anyone who could, if she didn’t show them. Except for Aline, nobody knew about them. She ad preferred it to keep it that way, but maybe she couldn’t anymore.

Why did she have those wings anyway? She had never been able to find anything about them in books or tales. There weren’t even legends about them. Unicorns were widely known and even though they were extremely rare, it was hard to find a pony that didn’t know they could exist. But a pony with wings… Twinkle Star abruptly shook her head. She had to go back to her sister and Jiro. They kind of liked each other, and Twinkle Star had decided to give them some time alone by going out for wood. But she had been gone for too long now. Besides, she wanted to sleep early. They would arrive in Madash in two days, and she wanted to be ready for it.

But as she walked back to their camping place, she still couldn’t help but shake, and she almost dropped her pieces of wood twice. Fortunately, Jiro had been able to get a fire going. She calmed down as she noticed Jiro and Crystal were acting normally, but when she was under her blanket later, she still saw the surprised eyes of the pony in the embers of the fading fire. She was sure she wouldn’t forget this event any time soon, and somewhere deep within she realised she had to remember. Not because of her or her wings, but because there was more to this pony than she knew now.