A long time ago there were three sisters, each presiding over their own lands on the North Sea shoreline and together forming a confederation. Besides providing mutual assistance in public works and defence (among other things), they frequently collected seashells and planted trees — all three were earth ponies. There was one sister residing in Schleswig-Holstein near its border with Denmark (northern), another centering around the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland (western) and a third located comfortably in between near Saterland (eastern). They considered themselves intellectuals rather than queens: the ponies beneath them, the Frisians, were thriving by themselves and only looked upwards to resolve difficult issues.

Those happy days were long-gone, those happy days didn’t seem like they would come again, as I galloped through bushes and featureless plains. Fringes of my white mane were stained blue from countless trips into the Waddenzee and onto those islands so distant from Leeuwarden, where I helped in returning displaced animals and plants to their beloved homes. This I had been doing ever since… well, as far back as I could remember anything, but I was doubtful about its efficiacy. Houses and markets sprang up a hundred times faster than my hoofsteps, entire populations getting erased or “deported” in the process. Stopping at a pond where water lilies roamed, my head drooped; ripples emerged below me and I didn’t know why. “Why am I trapped like this, isolated and devoid of purpose?”

Calm returned, and my reflection changed into that of a full-grown maiden with braided hair. “Because I have chosen you to continue a beautiful legacy”, it whispered into my head. “I am the spirit of Western Frisia, a land which I ruled many, many years before your coming into existence. That was where ponies lived alongside creatures large and small, without quarrels or fights but only with kindness. Seeing that you are a rare breed caring about nature even now, I have possessed and accompanied you all this while. Will you succeed me, and lead my former land in this incarnation called Friesland?”

I definitely knew about West Frisia (and the other two Frisias/sisters), so I nodded. “Yes, your highness.”

“Take care.” She faded away, leaving me to look at my flank — seven leaves of the same water lily I just saw had finally materialised.