Punishment

“I… no, please, please no…” Ivy begged. Her body was frozen. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t run. All she was able to was to look into the eyes of the dark blue pony. It was over. She knew it now. The last moments of her live she would spend in fear and darkness. And she hadn’t even been able to save Aline.

“Why are you out here?”
The pony’s voice was so soft Ivy actually snapped out of her trance, but she did not run away. Something in this pony’s voice made her stay, made her feel like running wasn’t the best option.
“I… wanted herbs… to save my friends life… she is… sick, and she will die if I don’t bring her these herbs.”
The pony’s eyes glanced quickly at Ivy’s cloak that hid the leaves as if confirming her story was correct.

“I can’t let you go like this.” The blue pony said and a wave of powers flew out of her.
 Ivy almost immediately had trouble breathing as they were so overwhelming even Stelline’s unicorn powers faded into nothing compared to this. She couldn’t help but stare at the pony. She looked so calm, so silent… how could she be like that when she was about to take her life away?

Ivy tried to release her own powers to defend herself but she immediately realized that had been a very bad idea. She could feel her own strength connect to the other pony’s power and immediately felt the impact of the pony’s strength upon herself. She was waiting for the moment her breath would be taken away from her. She was waiting for her eyes to start crying with blood, clinging to the rivers of live that were breaking away from her.

But it didn’t come. She only felt herself getting weaker as if something essential was sucked out of her. Was it her life? No, that wasn’t it. She didn’t feel her soul getting any weaker, nor her body, but something was definitely changing. She wanted to move, she wanted to protest, but she felt herself unable to move. The pony was controlling her now.

While she was still thinking of a way to escape the pony, the feeling stopped. She felt her strength return, though different than before. The pony was still standing motionlessly in front of her, and she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t very well dared to turn her back on the pony and run away, but of course she didn’t want to stand there any longer than necessary.

“Go home.” The blue pony suddenly ordered, and once again Ivy was aware of the strange softness in her voice.
“What?” asked Ivy astonished.
“Go home, and be quick. Take your leaves. Now go.” Said the blue pony before she turned around and trotted off into the darkness.
 Ivy stood motionless for a few moments. Had the pony actually left, leaving her alive and unhurt, allowing her to go home? Aline’s sad face flashed before her eyes and with a jolt Ivy realized she had no time to lose. She picked up her cloak and ran towards the castle.

“Why did you disobey?” Câlin asked.
“Because I…”
Why had she disobeyed? She couldn’t even answer it. It had been her intend to kill the girl. That was the reason why she had gone out there in the first place. That had been His order and she had never even questioned an order from Him. But when she stood in front of the girl, when she saw her scared eyes, she simply couldn’t do it.

But she had had to do something. He would have found out if she didn’t do anything. So she decided to do the one thing that would make it unable for Him to detect her. But while she did it she felt like she had done something similar once before. It was just a little spark of memory… like remembering only a little part of a dream when you wake up and you just can’t recall what the rest was all about.

“Because I had to.” She finally replied to Câlin who was still staring at her, but only to give her an answer.
“Right.” Câlin replied, but she didn’t sound altogether convinced.
The girl walked away to go on looking for apples and other fruits. She decided to join the girl in her search once again. He wouldn’t find out, she was sure. And if He did… Well, she didn’t have to worry about making an excuse because she knew none of them would be good enough for Him.

Ivy finally reached the force field, out of breath. The journey back had seemed so much longer. It had only been two minutes since she had left the large tree but every single second she had been afraid the blue pony would show up again to finish her job. But the pony did not come and she had reached her home safely. Once again she felt resistance first before the force field allowed her to go inside. She rushed to the door of the castle and then immediately went upstairs, without even thinking of greeting her mother.

“Tsuyo! Tsuyo!” She called while she ran to Aline’s room. Tsuyo quickly appeared in the door opening.
“What is it?”
“Are these the ones?” asked Ivy while she opened her cloak to show Tsuyo the leaves.
 “Oh, Ivy!” exclaimed Tsuyo while she stared at al the purple leaves.
“Only two or three would have been enough! This is wonderful!” Tsuyo grabbed a few of the leaves and immediately ran towards the stairway.
“I’ll go fix the potion right away! Stay with Aline, I will be back in 10 minutes!”

When Tsuyo had disappeared Ivy grabbed the remaining leaves of the floor and put them back in her cloak, which looked completely ruined by now. She walked into the little room where Aline was still lying on the bed, this time covered by two blankets. She must be cold, Ivy thought, and she looked so pale and ill… But she would get better now.

“I got the leaves, Aline…” She whispered before she realized Aline had probably no idea what she was talking about.
“You will be fine, now…” Aline stirred and her breathing became heavier.
“Junai… My little… Daiya… Where… are they…” Aline’s voice whispered so softly Ivy was even wondering if she had spoken at all.
Daiya… It was probably the name Aline had had in mind for her little child. And now it had faded away before it had seen daylight…

“I’m so sorry, Aline. But you will be okay. You will get on top of this, okay?” She softly said to the girl.
Aline did not have the strength to reply. Ivy saw the blood at the bottom of the sheets and silently wondered if Aline had not lost too much blood already. Had she been too late? Had it only been a fading wish?

Ivy woke up from her thoughts when Tsuyo entered the room with a bowl of some steaming liquid. When she got closer the smell of the leaves was so strong she almost instantly walked away.
“Did it work?” She asked while Tsuyo put the bowl on the table next to Aline’s bed.
“Yes. The leaves were of the perfect age. You did a great job, Ivy. Thank you…”
“Really, no problem. I wanted to help Aline. I wouldn’t let her die.”
“I know, Ivy. I should never have told you, I should have known you would go. But now that you’re here back safely and we have Aline’s potion… I’m glad you did.”

“Thank you.” Smiled Ivy.
“Oh, I ran into Stelline on my way back. She asked if you could visit her as soon as possible.”
 Ivy wondered why her sister needed her now.
“Sure… will you be okay here?”
“Yes, I will be fine. You can go to her.” Assured Tsuyo.
Ivy nodded and left the room after glancing at poor Aline once more. She was saved now, probably… but if she recovered, she would realize she was alone now… And she would never be able to recover what she had lost.
“Maybe I didn’t do the right thing after all…” She whispered as she walked along the dark, lonely corridor that led to the stairs.

A few moments later she knocked on Stelline’s door and her sister told her to enter. Both her children were awake now, playing on a carpet on the ground, while Stelline sat on hr bed watching them.
“Hello, sister.” She greeted Ivy.
 “Hi…” Ivy said while she looked around and noticed Fleur wasn’t there. Where was her little sister, anyway ?

“You did a very stupid thing just now, Ivy.” Stelline said.

“What?” asked Ivy, shocked. How did Stelline know? Had she seen her?
“Oh, please, Ivy. You do not really think the force field would have let you through if I hadn’t opened it for you, right? I knew who you were and I knew what you were going to do. I know you got the leaves for Aline’s potion.” Said Stelline on a tone that wasn’t too friendly.

“Then why did you let me through?” asked Ivy, sure that Stelline hadn’t agreed with her actions.
“Because I agreed with you. I heard you and mother argue. I didn’t agree with her, but I didn’t feel like I could change her mind. And when you were already there at the gate… I felt like I had to let you go. It was your decision. You’re an adult, too, Ivy, even though mother sometimes refuses to see that, and I felt like you should be allowed to make your own decisions. And you did, and you got back…”

“I know. I did come back. Even though…” She felt unsure if she should tell Stelline about the blue pony. She had the right to know. No, she should know. But when she looked at Stelline’s eyes, she suddenly felt like she already knew.
“You met one of them, didn’t you?” Stelline asked.
Ivy could only nod.
 “I knew it… the moment you touched the force field when you came back here I felt something was different. Something had changed in you. What happened?”

“I… I met one of them… the blue one, the dark blue pony. She stayed a bit in the background when we met them on the road but… Well, she did something… I don’t know what. Her powers connected with mine and I felt like she was sucking them out of me. But I don’t know… it suddenly stopped and she told me to go home. Then she left.”

Stelline was silent for a while. Seeing her sister so obviously lost in thought, Ivy’s mind began to wander back to her encounter with the blue pony as well. Why hadn’t that pony killed her? Why had she wanted her to live? Maybe she had used her… maybe she had done something to her that would make her a threat to her entire family. But Stelline didn’t think so.

“Ivy, Please be still for a moment. Try to release your powers. I’m going to try to see if she did something to you. So please be patient.”
“Sure.” replied Ivy.
 She tried to lift her powers like Stelline had ordered, but she found she couldn’t. No matter what she did, she could not release her guarding powers. Never, ever in her entire life had she had any trouble doing so, especially not after her sisters had showed up, for that had been a reason for her mother to give her sister and herself more lessons on how to use their powers. And now she felt as if she could no longer connect to them.

“I… I can’t do it.” She stammered.
“I know you can’t. I’ve already seen it…”
Stelline got off her bed and walked towards Ivy.
“I know what she did to you Ivy. She may not have killed you… but I don’t think this is so much better.” She confessed while she petted Ivy’s hair.
“What? What did she do?” begged Ivy. Stelline’s sudden affection frightened her.
“She sealed you, Aline. Just like what happened to poor Togli, Regala’s daughter…”
“So what does it mean?”
 Ivy had only heard the stories of Togli, and when she was honest with herself she had to admit she had never paid them much attention.
“Well… Your royal powers… they’re there, inside you, but you will never be able to access them if we don’t find a way to break the seal. And I don’t think we will… We’ve been searching for it for so long now. I’m sorry, Ivy, but in order to save Aline’s life… You sacrificed your royal powers.”