Leaving Everything Behind

“Well, I guess this is it, then.” Crystal said softly, as she halted on the crossroad.
 “Yeah. I guess so.” Twinkle Star whispered. What was this pain she felt? She had not thought parting with her sister was going to be this hard. She had been preparing herself for this for 24 hours now, and yet…
“Good luck, Twinkle Star.” Crystal continued. “I know I said you had to face this on your own. I suppose you have to, but don’t forget… my heart is with you.”
“And mine with yours, Crystal. With all my family, for that matter.”
Crystal responded. A sincere smile appeared on Crystal’s face. “I’ll see you soon, Twinkle Star. Come back as soon as possible.”
“I will, I promise. Say hi to everyone for me.” Twinkle Star could feel the tears in her eyes. Everyone… she wasn’t going to see anyone for a long time.
“I will. Well, see you, Twinkle Star!” Crystal gave her sister a hug, and Twinkle Star was happy to give one back.

When she looked into her sisters eyes, she knew everything had been said and done. All that was left was for her to walk into the other direction. Crystal smiled one last time, and then turned around and began to follow her own path. With a sigh Twinkle Star took her own path as well. Only a few hours ago they had said their goodbyes to Lenna and the other ponies from the castle. They had left together, into the same direction, so nobody would doubt their story that they were going home together. But now, they were on the crossroads that were in-between the capital of Madash and the old castle. They had travelled here a few weeks ago with Matoe and Daryia, but then they came from the direction Crystal was going in, and they had left in the direction where they now had come from. Now, she simply stood here, wondering where on earth to go. Crystal’s road would take her back up north, and that wouldn’t be right. The path where they came from only led to the castle now, and not further. It had in the past, but not any more. There were only wild lands there now.

So for her, there were two roads left to choose from. One would lead her west, one would lead her south. Her common sense told her to go west. After all, didn’t Taishi tell them he had seen the ponies in a forest in the west? Slowly, she put an hoof into that direction, but as her hoof touched the ground, everything suddenly felt wrong. She looked beside her and she saw Crystal growing smaller and smaller in the distance. Did she have to follow her…? No. Twinkle Star rigorously shook her head. She was sure of that. South, then, was the only option left for her. When she walked a few steps on the path taking her south, she was sure of it. She did not know why, nor did she know what on earth was waiting for her in the south. But she had decided to trust her heart, her feelings in this, and they definitely pointed her southward.

Twinkle Star began to walk a bit faster on the road, and she decided not to look back anymore. This was the road she would follow. As far as she could see, the road led her through more and more dunes. This was to be expected; the coastline would bring her south as well. She probably would stay close to the ocean for a while. This didn’t really bother her, but she hoped she would come across a town or so a few times, so she could sleep in a nice bed. After more than two weeks of sleeping in nice soft beds, it was a bit hard to imagine she would have to sleep outside for now.

Twinkle Star had been right when she had expected the road to take her though dunes and dunes only. She followed the path for hours, but apart from some distant houses, she didn’t see anything. Yet, when night began to fall, an inn appeared in the distance. She was glad and grateful that the inn was there. She had gotten an inn pass from Lenna, as had Crystal; with it, they could sleep in almost every inn free of charge, which was a pleasant surprise as they didn’t had to much coin left when they left the castle. Inn passes were expensive, but they could be used almost everywhere, and one free meal was included. She was sure Crystal could use hers very well, too. It made her feel easier about letting Crystal go on her own, too; somehow, she felt less comfortable with Crystal sleeping outside on her own than herself.

The inn was only a two story building with dusty windows on the first floor. The window on the ground showed Twinkle Star a very small common room with only some wooden benches and one large wooden table. Surely, there weren’t many ponies on this road. She had only met two other travellers today, too. As she stood in front of the blue wooden door, she realised she had no idea what she would find in the south. Was there even a kingdom there? She had never been there, nor had she heard anything of the south from others. Maybe the innkeeper could tell her more. She entered the inn and found herself in a small, dark corridor. There were no windows, and only a few candles to create light. There were several doors as far as she could see, and she decided to enter the first door, as that would most likely take her to the small common room she had seen through the window.

Softly she opened the door, which made a cracking noise which sounded even louder with in the empty room. Twinkle Star looked through the room, but she found she was alone. As with many inns, the benches and table were simple and made of wood, yet they didn’t look cheap; they were made to endure. Across the door hung a large painting on the wall. It was a painting of the beach, with several ponies walking on it, a child playing, a couple looking at each other with lovers’ eyes… Twinkle Star looked around in the room, and she noticed a counter was next to the door, with another door behind it. She approached it softly, somehow scared to make too much noise.

On the counter stood a bell, and Twinkle Star assumed it was used to call the owner of the store. She took up the bell and shook it, and it made a cute sound. Not much later, Twinkle Star heard some noise coming from behind the door, and it didn’t take long for a cute old lady to appear. Her hair had turned mostly grey, and she wore it in a knot. She wore a light yellow apron, which hardly visible against her also light yellow coat.
“Hello there, my dear.” The old pony said when she noticed Twinkle Star behind the counter.
“Good evening, ma’am.” Twinkle Star replied.
“I’m sorry for my absence of the common room. Unfortunately it is rather rare for us to have visitors this time of the year, so I have to admit that I was rather surprised by your bell.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, ma’am. I am quite happy that I have found an inn to spend the night. Do you have any rooms left?” Twinkle Star realised she had asked a rather strange question, considering what the woman had just said. Thankfully, the woman wasn’t offended.
“Oh, plenty, my dear. What kind of room are you looking for?” Twinkle tar opened her bag and took out her inn pass.
“It doesn’t really matter to me, as long as there is a nice bed.”
The woman considered her inn pass, then nodded. “Very well. I will have our boy to fix up a nice room for you. I thrust you want an evening meal?”
“That would be lovely.” Twinkle Star replied. The woman thanked her, and asked her to sit at one of the tables.

As Twinkle Star did so, the woman left the common room and disappeared in the room behind the counter. She looked around a little bit, but there was not much to see in the old room.

About ten minutes later, the old lady re entered the room, and asked Twinkle Star to follow her. She showed Twinkle Star her room: it was a cosy little room on the front side of the inn. There was only one bed in it, and there was a bucket with clean water so she could wash herself. Twinkle Star put her bag on the bed, which had nice clean white sheets, and the lady informed her dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes. After the lady was gone, Twinkle Star refreshed herself with the water, and went back downstairs to wait for her meal. When she entered the common room again, she could already smell the nice vegetables being cooked. She was grateful it didn’t smell like sea weeds: she liked those, but she’d had enough of them the last two weeks. Not much later the old lady once again appeared out of the room behind the counter.

“Dinner will be ready in a minute, my dear.” She said friendly to Twinkle Star.
“Oh, thank you very much, my lady.”
“Please, don’t mention it. We’re happy to have a customer again tonight.”
“Is it so quiet on this road, then?” Twinkle Star asked, while the old lady sat down at the other side of the table.
“Oh, it’s okay. Especially in spring, when the festivities in Madash are going on. It’s a lively trade over here. And in summer there are quite some travellers too, ponies who come to see Madash or ponies from Madash who are visiting the south.” The old lady shifted to make herself comfortable on the wooden bench. “But in Autumn, there aren’t many travellers on this road. But our inn is at a nice location, it’s exactly a day’s walk away from the first settlement in Madash and a day’s walk to the next in along the road. So most ponies stop here anyway.”

“I noticed it was so. I only set out from Madash this morning.” Twinkle Star told the lady.
“May I ask where you are going?” The old pony asked, while she got up to get Twinkle Star’s plate.
“Oh, to the south. Just… I don’t know yet.”
“You’re just sightseeing?” The pony yelled to her from the other side of the wall. “Yeah… something like that.” Twinkle Star had no intention whatsoever to explain everything to the innkeeper.
“You have any idea what you’re going to see? There are a lot of special things to see in the south.” The pony said as she re entered the room, this time with a plate with lots of nice food on it. She put it on the table. “Here you go. I hope you enjoy it. It’s nothing too fancy, but it’ll fill the stomach, and most of my customers enjoy it.”
“I’m just I will like it too. What kind of special places? Can you give me any tips?” Twinkle Star asked the lady, who had already sat down again.
“Hmm… let’s see now, there is the fortress of Old. Nobody remembers now who it used to belong to, there are no recordings of any lord living in the south, but it’s a nice place to see. Or you could go to the palm forest. It’s a forest with palm trees. I know it’s hard to believe, but it exists in the south. Some say it is kept alive with magic.” When she saw Twinkle Star didn’t react too enthusiastic about any of these suggestions, the pony took a deep breath.

“You could of course also visit the said shrine to the Pearl of Light, but to be honest with you, I think that place is only a myth.” Now this sounded interesting. A shrine for the Pearl of Light? Was it not a legend in Madash that Princess Kien had used that Pearl to defeat the sea monster?
“Could you tell me more about that?”
“Well… It is said that after the Queen of Madash had used the Pearl to defeat the sea monster that had terrorised Madas for so long. After she had used it, she had brought it back to the place she had found it; a high peak that looked out over the ocean a little bit to the south. It’s a two week’s walk from here. But this story is only a legend, and there is nothing there that would remind one of any such event. There are only two palm trees that have grown in a bow, but this is completely all. Yet, the village close by claims it is a truly monumental place, but I suspect they only claim this because any visitors would also visit and rest in their village.”

“It sounds like a scam alright…” Twinkle Star’s voice trailed away. It did indeed sound like a scam. She already knew this story was not true, as she had not found any evidence for it in any of Madash’ old books. Yet, as she lay in her bed in the small, cosy room that night, she found it hard to get some sleep. A shrine for the Pearl of Light… Something inside her whispered that it was there she had to go. That she would find her answers there. She didn’t want to give in at first. It was a hoax, invited by the villagers to attract ponies to earn money. But then why did it appeal her so? Short before she finally fell asleep, Twinkle Star decided it wouldn’t hurt to check the place out for once. What harm could it do? Sleeping in an inn wouldn’t cost her a penny, and the peak was on her route, anyway. It would be interesting to check it out. Besides, it would be a nice thing to tell Aline when she got home. She smiled when she thought of her friend, and for a short moment she wondered if this had been a bad decision after all. Yet, when she thought of the pony who looked exactly like her, she couldn’t help but feel confident the decision had been right. With the thought that she would see Aline soon enough, Twinkle Star fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.