“Ivy! Ivy! Mom is looking for you, Ivy! Ivy? I’m coming in if you don’t answer!”
Nothing. Slowly Fleur opened the door of Ivy’s bedroom. Is she here?
“Ivy?”
Fleur walked into her sister’s room and noticed the door to the balcony was open. Her sister was standing there, her purple hair dancing a little in the wind, her eyes reflecting the morning sun. She didn’t seem to notice Fleur. Her thoughts must be miles away, Fleur thought. Slowly she walked towards her sister.
“Ivy?” It was as if Ivy awoke from a beautiful dream. She turned her head slowly and her dreamy eyes slowly began to look a little more awake.
“Hey, Fleur! Mom needs me? What for?”
“She is going to see the new farms again… she wants you to come with her.” Fleur could hear her sister moaning.
“What were you doing out there anyway? Isn’t it a little to cold to just stand there?”
“I had the dream again, Fleur.”
Fleur looked up. “Again? What was it this time? The castle again?”
Ivy nodded. “The castle… it was burning. Everything was shaking. It was so horrible; I woke up totally afraid. I don’t know what to do with this anymore, Fleur. It just keeps coming back. I can’t get my mind of it during the day and I’m afraid to fall asleep. You don’t know what its like, Fleur. It’s as if the world around you is disappearing, as if everything you thought was natural is disappearing from the world and there is nothing you can do because you are just too small.”
“I… you are right, Ivy. I don’t know. But I know this has been bothering you for such a long time now, why don’t you go talk to mom about it? Maybe she knows why you keep having this dream, or how you can get rid of it.”
 Ivy was staring out of the window. The sun was slowly rising above the mountains that were the eastern borders of the Friendship Lands. The beautiful Ima river was shining in the sunlight while it was slowly flowing from the mountains into their lands. The small castle where Ivy and Fleur lived was the royal castle of the small Lands. Their mother was the queen of the country and Ivy was her oldest daughter, and thus heir to the throne. There didn’t live many ponies in the lands, and it seemed as if they were constantly building new homes, or farms, or shops. The country was poor, perhaps, but Ivy didn’t know any pony who seemed unhappy to be here. But it did seem as if everyone was carrying some heavy burden that she did not know anything about. But she never asked her mother if this was true, or what it was. Her mother always seemed sad in Ivy’s eyes, as if she carried a wound that would never heal. She always tried to help her mother in every way possible, and the last thing she wanted was to burden her mother with some weird dream she had been having.
“No, Fleur. I can’t burden mom with this, I’ll solve it myself. Now, the farms you said? That’s fine. Are you coming with us?”
“No, I wish I could, but I promised Tsuyo to help her in the kitchen. It’s a mess, in case you haven’t noticed, and we want it to be clean before mom finds out.”
Ivy smiled. She knew her sister cared a lot for their mother, although she wasn’t sure if Fleur had ever noticed that her mother always seemed a little sad, even if she was smiling.
“That’s ok. I guess I’ll see you later, then. Say hi to Tsuyo for me. I’ll better be off now.” Ivy answered and she passed her sister and left her room.

While she walked through the castle to find her mom, she thought about the dream. The huge castle… some months ago, the dreams had started. The castle was beautiful back then. It was huge, its towers seemed to be made of crystal that were shining in the sunlight, its pink banners fluttered in the wind. The largest tower stood in the middle, and directly below it was the big draw bridge, which seemed to be tiny compared to the size of the castle. The garden was so beautiful, with flowers in any kind or colour you could possibly imagine. Who lived there, Ivy didn’t know, but she thought it must be a very powerful queen, queen to a very beautiful country, where lots and lots of ponies lived… Compared to the family that should live there, her own family looked like nothing.

But the beautiful castle faded when the dreams came back slowly. The flowers lost their colour and the crystal towers lost their brightness. Though still huge, the castle wasn’t nearly as impressive as it was the first time she saw it. It was like a shadow had fallen on it. And fires appeared; fires that burned and could not be stopped. The ground began to shake, the garden was delved under ash, the towers were breaking. It was as if the world had come to an end. Lately, she seemed to be leaving the castle. For the first time she passed through the garden gates and saw the world around it, but even there houses were burning, ponies were fleeing, ash fell from the skies. The world was on fire it seemed; the skies were red as if it would soon start to rain blood. Nothing was the way it used to be. And someone was yelling. “Leave! This is the end! Run! Save your lives! Leave!”

Ivy had reached the gate of her own little castle. She saw her mother waiting for her. “Hi mom! Here I am! Shall we go, then?” Ivy tried to be as happy as possible, for her mother seemed even more sad then ever. In fact, she had never seen her mother happy during early spring.
“Hi, Ivy darling. Shall we go then? They started to build a new farm for the new family that arrived not too long ago. It will be good for you to come with me, you’ll learn how to do things like this.”
“But mom, I already went with you to a new farm so many times! And I know how to allow new ponies, too. Why do I have to come again?” Ivy objected.
 “Because as queen you’ll have to do this so many times as well! Come, let’s go. We won’t be back late.”
Ivy’s mother turned and began to walk down the only road that leads toward the castle. Ivy followed. She walked behind her mother in silence. She noticed her mother had no intend of talking to her. I wonder where her mind is, Ivy thought.

The burning castle flashed before her eyes. She stopped and looked back at her own castle. It was so small, compared to the one in her dreams. So small, so powerless, so desperately trying to prove itself. Ivy sighed and turned around. She trotted towards her mother who seemed to have increased her speed.
“Hey mom, wait up! Where is this farm anyway?”
“At the foot of the mountain. It’s a small family that is going to live there; a father and a mother and a baby girl. Supposedly the farm is almost finished. We’re almost there now, come on.”
Her mother increased her speed again. The path lead them at the edge of a small forest, and when they passed it the new farm was visible. It was small, but it looked very cute. It was brown, but the edges of the windows and the door were pink. A few ponies were working on it, some fixing the roof, others seemed to be more busy with the inside.

“Your highness! My queen Regina, you are here! And your daughter came, too!” A pony said, when she noticed Ivy and her mother.
Ivy recognised the pony as Morning Glory, she seemed to be a very handy pony; Ivy had yet to find a farm where this pony hadn’t worked on. She saw an unknown pony coming out of the house. This must be the mother of the family, Ivy thought. The pony came walking up to them and bowed.
“Your highness, princess, my name is Gourmandine. I am so grateful you let us live in this beautiful country and gave us permission to build our own little farm!”
Ivy noticed her mother was smiling.
“Gourmandine, it is a pleasure to have you here in my country. Your farm looks beautiful and I can not wait to see more of it. Now, where is your little girl and your husband?”
“They have gone to the village to buy food, your highness. I am sure they will return quickly. Would you like me to show you around the farm?” Regina nodded and followed Gourmandine inside.
It was indeed a lovely place to live, Ivy thought. It may be small, but somehow everything was much more relaxed than the castle.
“At least this place isn’t trying to live up to something it can’t meet.” Ivy said softly.
“My princess? Did you ask something? Is there anything I can do for you?”
 Ivy looked up. Morning Glory stood in front of Ivy.
“I… no, its nothing. I think I’ll just have a look around, if you don’t mind.” Morning Glory nodded and Ivy walked towards the house.

Somehow her mother always bothered her in events like this. She seemed so formal, so… unnatural. She was nothing like the sweet, caring mother she was at home. That is one thing Ivy was going to change when she would become queen. She wanted to become warmer, more friendly than her mom. Ivy greeted the ponies working at the farm. She loved it how all the ponies worked together. It felt as if there was some unseen bond between all of them that for some reason Ivy wasn’t part of. New ponies were always welcome and there has not been one pony that was send away when they asked for a place to live. Ivy loved her country all right, though it seemed that there was something strange.

“Oh, forget it Ivy! You’re making things up again because of those weird dreams! There is nothing weird, there are no castles that are trying to live up to something and there is no weird bond between all of them!” She told herself and went into the house, where she noticed her mother talking with Gourmandine. It was nice inside, though there was still a lot that had to be done still. There were not tables or chairs, no beds in the bedrooms, the ceiling wasn’t finished yet and everything still had to be painted. When Regina noticed her daughter she winked Ivy.

“Ivy, I want you to talk a while wit Gourmandine. It’ll be good for you to get to know the ponies.”
 With that, she took off.
 “Ehh... this place looks great, Gourmandine!”
“Yeah, it really does. I love it, we are so grateful we can stay.”
Ivy smiled.
“That’s no problem, really. I think everyone is happy to help you out! Where do you come from, actually?” Ivy was surprised at Gourmandine’s reaction. She seemed shocked at this question, surprised as well.
“I… well, we… nowhere. Nowhere worth mentioning, your highness. But I have to help out now, excuse me.” And she was off.
“What did I do?” Wondered Ivy. Why did Gourmandine act so weird? She never asked ponies where they came from. It seemed natural for new ponies to enter the lands and start their lives here. So why did she ask now? Once again, the burning castle appeared before her eyes. “Stupid castle.” She grumbled.

When they walked home at the end of the afternoon her mother was silent again. Ivy was still puzzled at Gourmandine’s reaction, but shortly after it had happened Gourmandine’s husband and daughter returned and Ivy spend the entire day with the little girl.
“mom, where do ponies come from?” Ivy asked. Her mother seemed surprised with the question.
“what do you mean, where do ponies come from? You know how we are born!”
Ivy laughed.
“Don’t be silly, I know that! I mean, the ponies who come and live here. Where have they lived before?” “Everywhere. But it doesn’t matter, Ivy. We accept all ponies as long as they are true of heart and you know that. Now, let’s get going.”
“But mom…” but her mother didn’t answer.

“I don’t know what you have been doing with this food, but it’s the best I have had in a long time!” Regina said cheerfully.
Now that they were back at the castle, all of the formality of her mother had disappeared. She was Ivy and Fleur’s mother now, and not the queen. Ivy loved her mother best when she was like this.
“Yeah, well, that’s our little secret isn’t it, Fleur?” Tsuyo laughed.
“Indeed it is! And we won’t tell anyone, mark my words!” Ivy laughed.
This would be the first thing Fleur would tell her when they were alone, Fleur was horrible at keeping secrets, especially when they were fun instead of serious.

“Fleur, Ivy, I will be gone tomorrow and I won’t be back early. I am sorry, but you two can’t come with me. So be good girls and help out Tsuyo when she asks for it.”
“We will mom, we’re not little children anymore! Don’t worry about us so much, we’ll be fine!” Regina hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“I know you will be, Fleur darling. But you can’t blame me for being careful, can you?”
“Yeah, well… it wouldn’t harm you if you were a little bit less careful mom!” Fleur answered. They had discussions like this almost every evening and Ivy enjoyed it; it was part of home. Once again, a flash of the castle appeared. It wasn’t burning this time, but it wasn’t shining either. It was the shadow…

Ivy sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get her hair the way she wanted it to. She loved her hair, and usually it did exactly as she wanted. She decided to put a ribbon in it to keep it all together for now. Her white curtains were closed to keep out the night’s darkness, but while she had two burning lamps her room was still dark, though Ivy had always said the room was dark from the inside, not from the outside. Even though it was quite late already, Ivy didn’t feel like going to bed. She felt too awake to go to sleep but she was afraid to go to sleep also; she didn’t want to see the burning castle again.
“I’ll just go have a walk, then…” she sighed and got up from her chair. In the hall, she tried to make as little noise as possible but her hooves were still clicking on the stone floor. I just hope no one hears me, She thought.

It was great to be outside again, breathing some fresh air. Like the castle, the garden was small, but it was cosy and very pretty. She loved to walk around in it, it gave her some rest, a way to forget things she didn’t want to remember. But even the stars in the clear sky and the closed, sleeping flowers on the ground couldn’t make her forget about the castle. What was it with that castle? Why did she dream about it? And why doesn’t it feel like a dream? Suddenly the castle flashed before her eyes again. But it was different then it was before. It was as if she was caught in it, this time she couldn’t just shake her head and it would be gone. She was seeing it, no, feeling it. It was as if she was there.

Someone was holding her. She was crying, she didn’t want to leave. She had never been somewhere else, why did they have to leave? But it was not her home anymore. It wasn’t pretty anymore, it was burning, shaking, it was going to be destroyed. But where then would they go? The whole world seemed to be on fire. All the skies were red. The great mountain was throwing up fire. There was no escape, nowhere to go. But still the person who was holding her kept going.

Where were they going? There was no place to live other then the castle, was there? Her bedroom flashed before her eyes. Faces, faces of other ponies. Her mother’s face, it was smiling. Happy. She had never seen it like this. It was the first time her mother’s smile was true. Then she realized what was going on. It was her mother who was holding her. Her mother was taking her away from the castle. This wasn’t a dream, it was real.
“No mom! Don’t take me away! That’s home, right? We can’t leave home!” She yelled.
“Hush, little one. We can’t go back. Hold on tight!” Her mother answered. “No mom! No!!!”

Ivy didn’t realize she was yelling out loud. She didn’t notice her sister on the balcony. What was going on with Ivy? Was it the dream again? But she didn’t seem to be asleep. Ivy was perfectly awake. Why is she yelling for mother? But Fleur knew this wasn’t a dream; her sister had a flashback from something in her past. And Fleur was going to find out what it was. She wasn’t going to let her sister suffer anymore. Her mother was keeping something important a secret from the both of them and it was time they find out what it is.