Daryia’s castle

“Okay let’s see… We got everything right? We got our pendants, we look nice enough, we rehearsed our story, we remembered our etiquettes… I think we’re done.” Crystal said, and Twinkle Star wasn’t sure if she was relieved or nervous about that.
They had taken the entire morning to take a long, long bath, to get some make up and to get their hair done, to clean their pendants, only to look as royal as possible. She wanted to appear as believable as possible. Now, they were just outside the city walls, on the short road that led to the palace of the queen. The palace, though build with the same kind of white stones as the important buildings inside, was located a bit outside the city. It had gorgeous gardens with lots of exotic plants and flowers, which was open to public. The palace itself was indeed more a palace than a castle; it had no towers or a gate. It’s roof rested on six large pillars that were positioned in two rows of three. All the edges of the roof were curved, like the edges of the large door in the front. Exept for the door, there were no windows in the front, though there were of course windows on either side. There was another large garden with little rivers, little bridges and the most beautiful trees and plants, but those were private to the royal family.

“Well, let’s go then.” Twinkle Star said to her sister, and they continued to walk along the small road. There were some other ponies on the road and in the gardens, she noticed, but it wasn’t that busy. Her only concern was to get in contact with the queen, anyway. When they entered the gardens, Twinkle Star noticed it was a lot prettier than she had thought back on the road. There were flowers in all colors and sizes, bushes cut to represent animals, large willows that stood next to the little creeks, and a path meandering through all of it. But they didn’t follow this path, they took the path straight to the doors of the palace, where two ponies were standing guard on each side of the door. They climbed the small white stairs, and halted in front of the guards. Twinkle Star noticed that above the door the same face of the same pony as above the library door was carved in the stone.

“I’m sorry my ladies, you are not allowed inside the palace.” One of the guards said to them.
“We are Princess Twinkle Star and Princess Crystal from the new Friendship Lands. We are here with a message from queen Regina, and we have our pendants to confirm our identity.”
The two guards looked at each other for a short while. Then one of the guards turned back at Twinkle Star and said: “We have received no information on any such visit.”
Twinkle Star shook her head. “No, You haven’t. It is an urgent mission, and we need to speak with your queen as soon as possible. Could you please inform her of our arrival and ask her permission to meet us?”
 One of the guards sighed, and then said: “Very well. Wait here until I return.”
He turned around, opened the doors and disappeared, while the other guard remained behind. Twinkle Star noticed the remaining guard was a bit uncomfortable, as he was moving around a bit unnerving, not knowing whether to ignore them or to observe them. So she decided to break the ice.

“A beautiful palace, this is.” She observed. The guard nodded with a smile on his face.
“It definitely is. King Matoe loves to work around in the garden, to keep everything clean. And they spend quite a lot to keep everything in good condition.”
“Is it old, this castle?”
“About seven hundred years old. It’s not protected with the old magic like the library, but it’s a strong palace.”
“It’s gorgeous, really, it is. Does the entire family live here?”
To Twinkle Star’s surprise, the guard shook his head. “No. Only the queen and her husband. Even the heir, Princess Lenna, is living somewhere else.”
“Where do they live, then?” Crystal asked, joining the conversation.
“Well, the princess lives just in the city, where she is being thought everything about the country and her duty as future ruler. Other family members live scattered through the country, so that a royal family member always live close by to help and protect the ponies.”
“That sounds fair enough. To have members of the royal family living all over the country. Why do they…” But before Twinkle Star could finish her sentence, the door of the palace opened again and the other guard stepped out.

“The queen has agreed to meet you. Please follow me.” He stated, and Twinkle Star followed the guard relieved. To her surprise, they stepped into the throne room when they entered the palace. There was no hall, no waiting room, no, the door opened immediately into the throne room. The room was painted in a light blue color, and the roof was pure white. On both sides of the room were two doors, probably leading to other quarters of the palace. On the other end of the room stood a large golden chair, the throne. On it sat a pony, with long light green hair and a pure light pink skin. On her head she wore a crown, with no jewels on it, but with shells. She decided it had to be Daryia. Who else could it be?

Twinkle Star was rather impressed with this throne room. It was nothing like the one in Kin, or the one in her own country, but still it was very much a royal room, and she could feel the powers that this room had held in the past.
“Please come forward.” Daryia commanded, and Twinkle Star immediately liked her voice. She truly sounded like a queen, strict and just, but she sounded so kind and fair. As Twinkle Star got closer, she was somehow surprised to see an almost old woman on the throne, someone older than her own mother even. Somehow she had forgotten that time had affected everyone, and that even the pretty and lovely Daryia from her mother’s story had gotten older. When she and Crystal reached the throne, they bowed, not as deep as any ordinary civilian would do, but a bow to acknowledge the power of the other, without losing their own dignity, as should a princess.

“Welcome.” Daryia spoke, as they recovered from their bow.
“My guard tells me you are here on an important errand, princesses of the Friendship Lands. Your visit is unexpected, and I must say you come in a troublesome and busy time. However, I will hear your message, of course. Please, tell me the purpose of your visit.”
“My queen, please, let me introduce ourselves first. This is Crystal, and my name is Twinkle Star. We are both daughters of queen Regina of the Friendship Lands.”
“So my guard told me. Now, what brings you here?”
Twinkle Star breathed deep before she began with her story. Here goes nothing.
“My queen, I will explain. About two months ago, my family and I left to visit the kingdom of Kin. There, we found our long lost cousin, Togli, daughter of my aunt Regala. Togli had no recollection of her past, or anything that had happened before she was found by the royal family of Kin, now about two years ago. Regala recognised her daughter, and even though Togli felt some familiarity with us, she could not remember who we were. With her permission, my oldest sister Stelline used her unicorn powers to connect their minds, to see if Togli’s memories were still there, or if they had vanished completely. There, my sister found that her memories were very much intact, only sealed, as were her royal powers.”

Twinkle Star paused to catch a breath. She observed Daryia’s face, and she realised how serious Daryia’s face had suddenly become. Daryia was obviously more shocked by this news than Twinkle Star had expected. Still, she carried on, as Daryia was obviously expecting more.
“When we heard about this, my mother told us that Madash had a history with Mind Seals, and was the only place where one might learn to fight them. This, my queen, is why we have travelled all the way here. We wish to learn more about mind seals, and how to defeat them, so that our cousin might regain her memory, and maybe give us more information on how she got that seal, and why.”

For a while, Daryia just stared into nowhere. Her face suddenly appeared to be even older. Twinkle Star was a bit puzzled. Surely they didn’t bring good news, but why did she have to be so shocked like this? Yet, after what seemed like an hour, she spoke to Twinkle Star and Crystal.
“You bring evil news here, indeed, my princesses.”
“My queen?” Twinkle Star asked her, hoping Daryia would explain this. Thankfully, she did.
“I understand how, to you, this is but an errand to help your cousin. Yet to us, this is yet another in a row of strange events. I will explain these to you, because I can not help but feel these are all linked somehow, although as of now I still fail to see the connection.”
“Does it have anything to do with why we can’t see the books about the mind seals?” Crystal asked, her first words in this conversation.
“Oh, you two have already been there. Yes, in fact, it has. You see, we have much reason to believe someone is after those books. It all began about a month and a half ago, when in the middle of the night, the power field of the library suddenly got disturbed. I know this sounds weird, but I truly felt it. Any of my line are connected to the magic that is protecting the building, as it is the magic of our ancestors. That night, it was as if someone was actually attacking that magic, the powers that are protecting it. Me, my daughters… we all felt it. It was as if someone was trying to break into our very soul. We set up our guards as much as we could, and I believe the attacker failed, as the magic returned to normal right when the attack was over.

We were still looking into this, when someone tried to break in the library. It once again happened at night. We believe this person had a special gift, as our guards there were knocked out with a mind attack. The person couldn’t get in in the end, thanks to the same magic, but we are absolutely sure there was someone. And when my husband returned from his trip three weeks ago, he saw a few mysterious ponies in the morning mist. He had never seen them before, and according to him they moved like shadows, afraid of the light of the sun. he was rather upset. And now you tell me, for the first time in hundreds of years, a pony has received a mind seal. It is all very unsettling. But maybe… Why don’t you two follow me to the back. I offer you the service and hospitality of my house, and I hope you will find some rest here from your journey while we try to discover what is going on. In the mean time, I of course grant you permission to search the books for clues about your friends mind seal. Does this sound agreeable to you?”

“Oh, it does, my queen. It shocks me to hear of the events, and I do believe like you that there might be a link between your stories and our cousin’s mind seal. We will of course help you to protect your books and history.” Twinkle Star stated, and she was glad this part was over. Now everything was open, and they had been accepted as an equal by the queen, which meant she could let go of the most official ways to act. The queen got off her throne, and put her crown from her head, and placed it on the chair.
“Why don’t you two follow me now? I’ll show you around in my palace, and I will introduce you to my husband, Matoe. As I think you two know, he is your mother’s cousin. I’m sure he will be glad to meet some other family members, as the last he has seen from them was when we left your old Friendship Lands.” She told them, while the followed her to one of the doors in the room. Suddenly Twinkle Star realised she was actually going to meet Matoe, the brother of Anrui, the one killed by her aunt Reine. Matoe… she was suddenly reminded of her quest to find the true heir to the throne of her own country. Would she find out more about this here?