After three years

Hikary ran. She did not know how much longer her legs would be able to carry her, but she ran nonetheless. Because if she didn’t… he would get hold of her. The darkness, the black wings, the red eyes… It was close behind her. She ran, as fast as she could, out of the mountains, leaving the old friendship lands behind yet he was still after her, forever and ever…

It was the cold of the floor that woke her up, instead of the impact of falling down. A few moments passed before she realized what exactly was going on. Another nightmare… And the last one had been so long ago. What had it been, a few months? She had hoped they would leave her alone now, but apparently they had returned. Aras’ face, his hold over her, the fact that she had nowhere to go to run away and hide from his presence in her mind… It was all still following her.

Hikary slowly got up, and noticed the soft sunlight that entered the little room trough the curtains. So it was in fact already morning… At least she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night, forced to go back to sleep. She opened the curtains. After her eyes got adjusted to the light she looked out over the valley. The nig tree was covered in golden leaves. Soon they would return to the earth… Fall had come quickly this year. One day it was summer, the next day it was cold and raining. The turn of the seasons…

Her mother and sister had hoped that the new castle would be done before the coming of fall. Of course, the building itself had been finished at the beginning of summer, but the interior and furniture were not done completely yet. Still, they would be able to move before the coming of winter. Hikary would be relieved. This castle, no matter how much she had enjoyed living here, was getting rather small, especially now that Stelline’s children were getting older. Those kids seemed to have an unlimited supply of energy, always running around the castle or the garden…

And that was not even considering the new child that would soon be part of their family. Hikary smiled, remembering how Taira had behaved when they had visited Batafurai last winter. She had been with Fjaril all the time, not leaving his side. She had been so happy to be with him… And very soon everyone would be able to see the result of that happiness. Another princess… Well, it was for the best. After all… they had not yet found any clues of Ruki’s whereabouts, and more and more Hikary had begun to doubt they would ever find any.

Their visit to Batafurai… it had been sad. Of course, they had established that the holy stone of flowers that kept that island the way it was, was in fact one of the five stones they were looking for. Hikary had never doubted this… But the way it had reacted to the other stone had put all remaining doubt aside. As soon as the two stones had gotten close to each other, they begun to glow madly, their glows intertwining as if they came from one source. They had found the second stone…

They had not taken it with them though. They still had two and a half years back then… and they promised to take the stone only when they had found the other three, so that the island and the butterflies had some more time in this world. They had all accepted their faith… Especially the butterflies. They knew at once their story was true. They were connected to the earth… and they knew what was coming. Their time had come, they had told her, but they would want to postpone it for as long as possible. Hikary and the others had agreed, and so the stone was still there.

And that is where it had all ended, until recently. It had been this summer, when they had taken the day off on a hot day, and had gone to play in the calm river with the entire family. Pregnant Taira could definitely use a day off as her pregnancy had been very hard on her in those hot days. She had been constantly nauseous and sick, making it hard for her to do her work. Of course, her sister had not given in, still eager to prove herself worthy. But her condition had been what had inspired that day.

Stelline, of course, had come too with her kids. While her children were playing in the shallow water under Tsuyo’s supervision, Stelline and their mother were reminded of the time when Stelline was young and she had played in the Fiume river. Stelline had remarked how much cleaner Fiume always seemed to be compared to this river, which had made her mother tell how Fiume has always been more than a river, but more like a spirit floating over the earth.

At this comment Hikary began to put one and one together. A river like that isn’t ordinary, and to give a river a spirit something really powerful must be the source of it… It was worth checking out. She had discussed this with her sister and her mother and they had both agreed with her. Yet she had decided to go after her sister had given birth. She refused to miss that and she wanted to be there for Taira in her final months of pregnancy.

She walked into the kitchen where she found her mother drinking tea.
“Good morning Hikary. You are up early today. The sun has barely risen.”
Hikary sighed. “Good morning, mother. I… had one of the nightmares again.”  
Her mother looked up. “Again? They had left you for a long time.” She answered, obviously surprised.
“Yes… they had. But I guess they returned… Let’s hope this is an individual dream.” Hikary said, remembering those awful nights where the darkness would haunt her every time she closed her eyes.

“Taira is still asleep?” Hikary asked.
“Yes… I’ll let her sleep these days, even though she gets angry at me for not waking her up in time. She’s still trying so hard to prove herself… Even though it is completely unnecessary now, and she should take her time resting. The baby’s due date is drawing closer and closer. She needs to save her energy for the birth.” Regina answered.
“Yes… she should.” Hikary agreed.

She poured herself a cup of tea, and sat down at the table. “Do you think the castle will be done before the birth?” She asked her mother.
“I hope so. It would be much better for Taira to give birth there. It would save in the stress of moving the baby in weather like this. But I cannot guarantee it. Taira herself is not even sure when exactly she will give birth, and I do not even know when the castle will be done. They are progressing steadily, and the downstairs rooms are almost ready for the furniture to be moved in. However, before Taira can move her bedroom and the baby’s room will have to be done. I do not know when that will be the case.” Her mother answered truthfully.

“I see…” Hikary answered.
Judging by what her mother said, her sister would give birth here. She wouldn’t want her sister to give birth and live with a newborn in a castle where ponies were still running around decorating the place.
“Well, in any case, they are progressing nicely on the castle. Will you go there tomorrow to check it out for me, and report back on the progress?”  Her mother asked.

“Yes, of course.” Hikary answered.
Looking out of the window, she was glad her mother did not ask her to go today. Dark clouds were gathering in the distance, and it would surely rain. It would be a nice day to stay inside and work on her paperwork, Hikary decided. There was no need to go out, unless Taira asked her to, but she could find no reason at all why her sister would do that.

“Well, I’m getting back to work. This afternoon I have that wedding… so I will have to do my work in the morning today.” Hikary’s mother announced.
Hikary wished her mother much luck before her mother left the small kitchen. In an attempt to shake off the nasty feeling she still had from the dream, Hikary decided to make herself a nice sandwich before she would get to her work as well.

Ever since the beginning, she was the one in charge of the search for the stones. It was all that kept her occupied. She had traveled to Madash two years ago, and had made her way through the complete library which had taken her months, but there had been no clue about any special stones. Last year, she had gone to visit Kin to do exactly the same. Once again, the results were zero. She had had contact with every queen, every pony in charge on this continent, but none of them even knew what she was talking about.

“Good morning aunt Hikary!” A voice said from the door opening.
Hikary saw Stelline’s five year old daughter standing there. Her light pink mane flowed over her pure white coat, making her one of the most adorable little girls Hikary had ever seen.
“Good morning Joyeux. Are your mother and your brother still asleep?” She asked the girl.
“Yep! They’re both lazy. Well, I’m going to play! Bye!” As quickly as she had appeared, she ran off again. Energetic as always…

Hikary got up, too, and left the kitchen with her sandwich. She went to the small office that was prepared for her. All her communications with other ponies over the stones was stored there, and it was a nice and peaceful place for her to think things over. As she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was the light blue letter that lay on her desk. She had left it there yesterday after reading it. Another letter from Vin…

He wanted to try again. Just like the previous… what was it, five times? Their relationship had been unstable ever since he got back from Kin all those years ago. They loved each other, and Hikary was willing to admit that she found it hard to imagine her life without him, but they could not live with each other, either.

Vin was always complaining when she let her work or her family come before him. He could not understand that those things, and especially her search for the stones, were more important to her than spending time with him. She could not understand that he felt that way. How could he not see that if she did not do this, the world was going to be destroyed and there would be no him for her to be with? They had broken up again at the beginning of summer, and ever since a few weeks Vin had been trying to get in touch again. He missed her. Well, she missed him too… but she had no time for him now. Breaking up and getting back together again… it was too tiring for her. She needed her energy for the stones… and to take care of her sister. Those were the most important things in her life now, and there was little space left for Vin. She knew he would not be able to handle that, so getting back together was rather useless anyway.

Through the small window, Hikary saw her youngest sister Fleur walking around in the garden. The already chubby girl had gained a little more weight over the summer, Hikary realized, but nobody seemed to really care as she was still her cheerful old self. Maybe even more so than before. Hikary knew Fleur would go visit Aline again in the evening and stay over at her mansion. Aline… the poor girl who had lost her husband and unborn child to the darkness that still haunted Hikary. At least she had been able to pull her life back together. Not that she found herself a new love, but she worked hard as steward of the new part of the queendom and she loved doing it. Her mother, once steward in the old Friendship Lands, was there to guide and support her.

The ponies in the country were all doing great. The population had almost doubled the past 3 years, mostly because so many babies were born… a sign that ponies were regaining hope. A sign that the sun was shining again for them. And Hikary was struggling… together with her family, for the sake of her family, to find those three remaining stones and make sure the sun would keep shining forever.