That what I used to dream of.

“So Twinkle Star, this Daiya person, what was she like?” Aline asked.
“You mean like your ancestor?” Twinkle Star asked, while she tried to climb on a rock to have a better view.
“Yeah.” Aline replied.
“How should I know!” Twinkle Star answered, still trying to climb the rock without success. “She lived like a thousand years ago! All I know is that a particularly strong queen made her six younger children duchesses of a region of the lands and Daiya was one of them, and after a lot of generations, there you are, Aline Daiya.”
“Oh I see… I like the name Daiya. Maybe if I ever get a child, I’ll call her Daiya too!”
Twinkle Star sighed. Maybe this rock was just too steep to climb. She had to try another one. “You mean like, Daiya Daiya?” Twinkle Star grinned.
“yeah, something like that! Do you think she was strong? That princess, I mean.”
 “I don’t really know, Aline.” Twinkle Star answered, while she decided just to walk on. “I mean she was a princess and all, but not all princesses are equally strong or have the same powers. The oldest is usually the strongest, inheriting all of her mothers powers, or sometimes even more, and after that, the amount of powers a princess has drops with each new born child. So she could have been the queen’s third child and yeah, she would have been strong, or she could have been the ninth… I don’t know. Anyhow as a child of a queen she probably was very strong compared to normal ponies.” She explained.
“Oooh… Why the third? What happens with the second child then?” Aline asked. “The second usually stayed with the first child, you know, the one that becomes queen, it has been like that for generations and I think it started with the same queen who made her 6 younger daughters duchesses. The second child would help the first born, supported her, took her place when the queen was out of the lands. That’s how it used to go anyhow.”
“Ohh… so that would have been you right, if nothing had happened?” Aline asked, and Twinkle Star began to laugh. “Thank goodness, no. I never really got along with Stelline, to be honest. Not to live with her like that anyway. My older sister Joker was the second child of my mother. I was the third.”
Aline was silent for a moment, while Twinkle Star scanned the area for another rock. She just wanted to get on a higher place so she could have a better view of what was in front of her.
“Is Joker still alive then?” Aline asked finally.
Twinkle Star sighed. “I don’t know, Aline. I never heard anything about her still being alive, but then again, I never heard anything about Stelline still being alive until recently. So I guess I really don’t know.”
“So she could be alive, right?” Aline asked, apparently a little afraid to ask something painful. “Yes. But she could have died as well. I don’t know Aline. I just don’t know.”

For some other reason Twinkle Star didn’t mind Aline’s constant talking today. It kind of took her mind off things for a while. The mountains were coming closer with every step she took now, and she didn’t feel like thinking of what was coming up next.

They had woken up a few hours ago and even though it was really nice and cool back then, it was very hot at the moment. The sun was burning in their eyes and Twinkle Star noticed she was sweating all over. It is going to be a lot warmer than yesterday, she thought. It wasn’t even noon yet and still she felt as if someone was trying to boil her.

During the morning Twinkle Star had noticed the surroundings had changed a little. The ground wasn’t covered with the soft brown dust anymore, but instead the ground was solid rock with some sand covering it sometimes. Big rocks began to appear here and there. To Twinkle Star they looked like the silent victims of the eruption. She was sure of it that these rocks were thrown here by the explosion, even though the mountains were still miles and miles away. But she wasn’t surprised by this. She knew how it was, she had been there… Fiume was still flowing next to them, but Twinkle star noticed the water was flowing a lot faster than it used to. It probably meant the land would go up really soon, but in this dazzling sun it was hard to see how everything was ahead of them, so Twinkle Star resumed her search for a rock.

“Have you noticed those clouds, Twinkle Star?” Aline said while she stopped walking and she pointed her hoof towards the mountains. Twinkle Star looked in the direction she was pointing in and noticed them, too. Huge, dark rain clouds were gathering above the mountains as far as she could see. “Not a good sign, is it? Looks like we’re going to face our doom or something like that. Someone is trying to warn us not to go there.” Aline said with a sad voice.
“Oh come on Aline, it’s just clouds. You don’t believe in stuff like that, do you?” “No… but you know, they do say it’s cursed and all…” Aline said while she stared at the ground.  
“Yeah, right. Aline, those are just people’s stories because they have no other explanation. Instead of looking for the truth they think of something easy to explain what they don’t understand.”  Twinkle Star said.
“You don’t think it’s cursed, then?” Aline asked a little surprised.
“No. Of course it’s not. Maybe something strange is at work there with the weather, because I did hear some stories about storms taking ponies’ lives there, but I am sure there is a reasonable explanation for that.”
Aline looked at Twinkle Star confused. “Well,” Twinkle Star continued, “For example, I know ponies with strong royal powers can control the weather to some extend, so who knows who else can. Or maybe it’s a lot easier than that anyhow, maybe it’s just the environment that has changed because of the eruption. If it has to do with our quest, we’ll find out though.”

It turned out the clouds weren’t there just to scare them. When they reached the foot of the mountains it was pouring rain. Aline had noticed it was just like a summer’s rain; it was still very hot and the rain didn’t refresh them at all, as the water was almost just as warm as they were. During the last few hours they had been climbing over rocks and dirt all the time, and Twinkle Star noticed they were a lot higher than they had been a few hours ago. When she looked back she could see the plains stretching out before her. Those earlier rocks were probably dirt, rocks and dust thrown there from the explosion, Twinkle Star had realised. The real mountains only begun where they were now, and even now she thought that the original mountains didn’t begin here, but even further away. That everything she was walking on right now was only there because of the disaster sixteen years ago. The closer she was getting to the real mountains the faster her heart was beating. She really was here now, after all those years. It all had such a sad look. The dark mountains, the rain, the dirt, the rocks everywhere… “Like the rain is still crying for what has happened…” Twinkle Star whispered.

Even though it didn’t look anything like what she remembered, even though it didn’t look like the home she remembered, she could still feel it, the strong magic powers of the friendship lands. Even though they probably were still many miles away from the official borders she could feel them. She couldn’t really describe how it felt, but it felt as if it completed her a little bit, as if she finally found a little shard of that which she was looking for.

But still, not matter how much she felt she was right, she had absolutely no idea where to go. She didn’t know where she was, especially now that everything looked so different, and it was hard to see anything clearly with this rain. She had tried to localise the mountain Adaine, but without luck, which meant the place of the old castle was probably very far away as well, but other than that, she had no idea. She didn’t even know what she wanted to do now that she was here, or where she would start looking. It was probably best to reach the top of the mountains first, but there was not way they would be able to climb them in this rain. “There! Over there, Twinkle!” Aline suddenly yelled.
Twinkle Star looked in the direction Aline was pointing at, and noticed there was a cave a little higher. “You think we can shelter there until the rain is over?” Aline asked.
“Yes, I think.” Twinkle Star replied. “It’s worth a try, anyway. It’s not that much further to climb. Let’s go.” Suddenly Twinkle star stared at Aline.
“What?” Aline asked when she saw Twinkle Star’s surprised face. “Aline, I don’t want to be spoiling your mood or anything, but your mane is becoming pink.”
 “NO! You have got to be kidding me! When I ever see my hairdresser again I’m gonna kill him! I told him I wanted waterproof paint!”
“Paint? You mean you actually dyed your hair?” Twinkle Star asked with a sharp voice.
“Yeah, it actually has two colours, my mane. Pink and yellow. I didn’t like that so I’ve been painting it forever.”
Twinkle Star laughed. “I should have known. Well, let’s get going to that cave of yours, shall we?”

It was a lot harder to climb than they expected. They almost were at the real mountains now and the walls had become much more sheer. They had to walk quite a bit before they found a place to climb the walls and walk to the cave. The cave turned out to be quite deep, and there was enough place for the both of them to lie down. They decided to lie down underneath their blankets to warm up a little bit and get dry. They wanted to start a fire, but this wasn’t possible, as they found out there was nothing around that could start a fire, no wood, nothing. Outside the rain was still pouring down, but there still was no wind and no thunder, only the sad sight of the tears of the weather falling down on these abandoned lands.
“well, here we are then.” Twinkle Star said, when they finally had all their stuff out and had eaten a little bit.
“Yeah, we are.” Aline replied, while she curled up underneath her blanket. Twinkle Star noticed a little doubt in her voice. “What do you think, Aline? How does it feel to you?” She asked.
 “I don’t know. I… I guess I didn’t expect it to be like this. I mean, it is really big and I guess just these mountains don’t say anything about the country, but it just… it’s not as special as I always thought it would be.” Aline said.
“What do you mean?” Twinkle Star asked confused.
“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I always used to dream of this place, this… magical land with it’s strong powers, it’s magical royal house, the pureness, the happiness, everything all the travellers used to talk about. Of course I always knew it was gone, I always knew what people told me, that it was ruined, but I figured, if it really was as ancient and strong as people said, it couldn’t be gone just like that, right? But now that I’m here… I think they were right after all. There is nothing magical about this place. It’s just rocks, and mountains. I guess there really is nothing left of what it used to be.”
Twinkle Star smiled. “I know Aline. But I don’t think the magic is gone completely. I mean, the magic was there because the ponies were there, not because the land itself was magical. And we survived, right? A lot of ponies died, a lot of ponies are gone, but you are here and so am I. So I guess the magic does live on, somewhere deep inside of us.”
Aline stared at Twinkle Star. “How can that be, Twinkle? I mean, I don’t even remember what it was like. How can it live on in me then?” Aline asked while she was playing with an apple between her hoofs nervously.
Twinkle Star laughed. “Aline… everything you just said only confirms to me that you really do remember, only you don’t know it’s a memory. You think it’s just a dream, but everything you just told me about what you thought of the magic, what you always thought it was like… it’s a memory Aline. You remember it just as much as I do. For Daiya’s heir you sure are naïve.”
“I’m not naïve!” Aline said offended. Twinkle Star laughed again. “Well, naïve or not, maybe it’s better that we get some sleep now, don’t you think? We’re going to climb those mountains tomorrow and I don’t think it’s going to be easy, so it’s better that we’re refreshed and fully awake tomorrow morning.”
Aline agreed. “Goodnight, Twinkle.” She whispered. “Goodnight, Aline.” Twinkle Star responded.
It didn’t take long before they both were asleep, tired as they were from three days of walking through the desert. But they didn’t notice the pony that passed by the cave later that night, or the rain that stopped falling as soon as she walked on the mountains. They didn’t notice the pony was looking at them, nor did they notice her faint smile before she left the cave and disappeared.