The meaning of friendship

When Twinkle Star woke up it took her a while to realise what had happened. Where was she? Right, she had fallen down somewhere on the path. She hadn’t seen the ground ending so she fell down. How long had she been unconscious? When she tried to stand up her head almost exploded from the pain and she quickly lied down again. She finally noticed the rain had stopped. The rain… it had been the reason she hadn’t been able to see very well. But the wind was blowing fast now and it hadn’t been like that before. She didn’t feel the wind, but she could hear it howling as it clashed with the rocks. Where was she? As she looked up she noticed the sky was still dark, so it probably still was night. She slowly tried to get up again and had a little more success this time. Her head still ached like mad but she was standing on all fours now. Slowly she raised her hoof to see if there was anything in front of her and she soon felt the cold rocks. This is the wall where I fell down, she realised. She turned around and felt on the other side, but there was a wall too. She only had like three or four feet to move!

When she looked up she couldn’t see how far she had to go up to reach the normal ground again. She couldn’t climb these walls alone, she was sure of that. There was nothing she could do but to make her wings appear and fly out of there, but when she tried to make them appear her head began to ache horribly again. She sighed. She wouldn’t be able to use those anytime soon as they required a bit of focussing, and with pain like this something like that was nearly impossible. Twinkle Star sighed and sat down. She felt horrible. The events of earlier that evening slowly came back to her. The flashbacks she had, the fight with Aline, the horrible weather… How had everything ended up like this? The wind was still howling and it made a horrible sound. To Twinkle Star it felt as if the mountains themselves were crying over something horrible and it didn’t take long before Twinkle Star knew what that was.

Suddenly she jumped up so quickly that her head ached like crazy once again. But she didn’t bother the pain right now. She could feel it clearly, and it was definitely coming her way. This tremendous power… To Twinkle Star it felt as if the powers of the entire country had gathered and were now heading in her direction. The closer it got, the more certain Twinkle Star became of what she was thinking. This were the powers of the royal family all right. But Twinkle Star didn’t know anyone alive with powers this strong, in fact, she had never felt powers this strong. Not even her grandmother, from what she could remember, had had powers like this. It couldn’t be Stelline. She remembered the powers of Stelline. They were hardly bigger than their mothers were and they couldn’t have increased this drastically. No, it couldn’t be…

The powers were really close now and Twinkle Star’s heart was beating very fast. What on earth was this? And why was it here? Twinkle Star noticed the howling of the wind had stopped. For a while she didn’t hear anything at all, didn’t see anything, until she could faintly hear the sound of hooves touching the ground. Someone, who ever it was, was coming closer. There was no doubt this was the pony who held the strong powers. Incredible, Twinkle Star thought, this is simply unbelievable. Someone this strong… But something wasn’t right. These powers were definitely the powers of the royal family of the friendship lands, but something was different. Their intention was different. They weren’t being used to help others. There was no story behind them. They were just that, powers, that the owner could use, but they felt corrupted in a way, not pure as Twinkle Star was used to. ‘They are not what they are supposed to be and they will harm you if they can…’ Her mothers voice sounded in her ears. Twinkle Star felt as if she was five years old again and standing next to her mother with her two older sisters. Standing on the plateau crafted out of the mountain Adaine, from which you could watch over almost the entire kingdom, while her mother was teaching her and her sisters about the powers they possessed.
‘Always hold on to your purpose in live. Use your powers for what they are meant for. Using them for your own good might be tempting, but you will never gain anything from it.’ Her mothers voice said in a severe, but kind tone.
‘What will happen if we do?’ Stelline’s young voice asked. ‘You could destroy your entire world with that…’

The pony, whoever it was, was really close now. If there had been more light Twinkle Star might have been able to see her, but it was too dark to see anything at all. She heard the hoofs stop. Twinkle Star didn’t dare to move, she didn’t dare to make a sound. She could clearly feel it now. These powers, that are supposed to be so pure and protecting, mixed with these evil intentions, the desire to dominate instead of protect…

She heard the pony move a few feet above her. Twinkle Star was sure the pony knew she was here, she was convinced of the fact that if the pony localised her completely she would be lost. That is why Twinkle Star was so surprised when she heard the voice. She had expected an harsh voice, a frightening one, a cold one, but instead the voice was soft, caring, and still powerful but not in a frightening way. This indeed was the voice of one who held the powers of the Royal Family.
“So you found your way up… I didn’t expect anything less from someone like you.”  To Twinkle Star it felt as if she heard her mothers voice, but younger, kinder, and still strangely distant. But right when Twinkle Star wanted to ask who the pony was, she heard a familiar voice yelling her name. “Twinkle Star! Twinkle Star is that you? Answer me!” She heard Aline’s voice yell in the distance. Twinkle Star noticed the pony above her began to move.
“We will meet again...”  The voice whispered and she heard the pony galloping away.
As soon as the sound of galloping hoofs disappeared Twinkle Star felt the rain on her skin.
“Oh no, not again… Twinkle Star!” She heard Aline’s voice yelling.
“Down here!” Twinkle Star yelled back. She wasn’t upset with Aline, she wasn’t even sure if she was happy to hear her, she was only surprised. Why on earth was she here? Why hadn’t she gone back home? She heard Aline’s hoofs above her.

“Are you in here Twinkle Star?” she yelled again. Twinkle Star replied she was. “What on earth are you doing down there?” Aline asked.
“Having tea with my long lost sister!” Twinkle Star yelled. She heard Aline laugh.
 “At least you haven’t lost your sarcasm, right? Now, how to get you out of there!” Yeah, how to, Twinkle Star wondered. It was raining again and the walls were very slippery. Without help she wouldn’t be able to climb them. If only they had some rope or something, but Twinkle Star knew Aline didn’t have that, and she didn’t have it either…
“I got it! Hang on just a little longer there Twinkle! I’m gonna get you out of there in no time!” Aline suddenly yelled.
Twinkle Star couldn’t figure out what Aline was doing. The sound of the wind howling and the rain falling on the rocks made it impossible for her to hear what Aline was doing, But after a while she heard Aline yell “Watch it!” and she felt something slipping across her cheek. In front of her was a rope made of all kinds of colours. It took a while before Twinkle Star figured out what it was made of. “Aline!” She yelled, “These things! Are these your ribbons tied together?”
“Yeah!” Aline yelled back. “Just try to climb up using them as a rope! I’ll try to pull!”
 Twinkle Star took the rope in her mouth and put her feet on the wall and climbed the wall as Aline made sure the rope stayed tight. Twinkle Star slipped a few times as the wall was wet and hard to climb, but after a few times trying she was able to reach the top, which wasn’t that high after all, she realised after she was safely on the ordinary ground again.
“Wow Twinkle, you look like a mess!” Aline said surprised, after Twinkle Star sat down. Twinkle Star hadn’t realised she was so dirty when she had been in the hole, but now that Aline had mentioned it… Her entire body was covered in mud, she had scratches on her left front shoulder, and there was a wound on her cheek. Twinkle Star didn’t care that much though. She knew her body. These wounds would be healed in no time. She was more surprised with the fact that Aline was here.

“Why are you here?” She asked finally.
“What do you mean why am I here?” Aline asked surprised.
“Well,” Twinkle Star began, “You told me to go on on my own, right? So why did you come looking for me?” 
To Twinkle Star’s surprise, Aline began to laugh. “Twinkle! Come on! It was just a stupid fight about nothing! I’m not going to abandon you for that!”
“You’re not?” Twinkle Star said surprised.
“Of course not! What kind of friend would do that?” Aline asked.
Twinkle Star stared at the ground. “I wouldn’t know.” She said softly.
“Well, no real friend of course! Come on Twinkle Star! What did your friends do to you then, that you’re thinking this way?” Aline asked, laughing.
She didn’t really realise Twinkle Star was genuinely surprised.
“I didn’t really have any…” Twinkle Star whispered.
“You didn’t? You mean like, you’ve never had any friends ever?” Aline asked while she dropped her bag in surprise.
Twinkle Star shook her head. “I guess I always left them when they came too close to me, or they abandoned me because they didn’t really like me after all. That’s how it’s always been. I didn’t really know why it would be different with you...”
 Aline sighed. “I won’t abandon you, Twinkle Star! No matter what you say to me or how far you are trying to run away, I won’t abandon you or forget you! You can’t run away from me like that! That’s not what friendship is about to me!” Aline stated. Twinkle Star smiled.
“Then what is it about…” She said softly while she tried to hold back her tears. For a while Aline didn’t say anything. She doesn’t know either, Twinkle Star thought. She doesn’t really know…

“Twinkle Star,” Aline continued suddenly, “I may only know you for a few days but I learned so much from you already. When you said I was spoiled and only looked after my own wellbeing… you were right. I never had to care about anything else and I have always relied on others instead of figuring my own way out of trouble. But now that I’m with you… you made me realise I am able to live on my own and that I can be strong too. Something like that… for someone who can make me realise something like that, I will do whatever I can to help her.”

Twinkle Star didn’t really know how to answer. Such a serious answer from Aline? But when se looked in her eyes Twinkle Star realised Aline meant what she was saying. Something really had changed, and it was not only in Aline…

Even though the rain was still falling, Twinkle Star noticed the sun was rising. When she looked over the plains she saw the red glow of the morning sun. Everything around her was a mess and it was muddy, and she realised even more how awful she looked. She grinned a little when she saw Aline’s stuff lying all over the place, getting wet. She obviously hadn’t really cared about what she was doing when she had been making the rope from her ribbons, which were also all over the place, and, well, let’s say there wasn’t much left from their bright colours. “Your ribbons are ruined, Aline…” Twinkle Star finally said. Aline laughed. “Yeah, well, I told you they would come in handy sometime, right? I can buy new ones later, don’t worry about it!” This time it was Twinkle Star who had to laugh. “yes, you were right, they definitely came in handy. Well… I guess we should be cleaning this mess up and then we’ve got to move on.”
Aline agreed and she began to pick her stuff from the ground to put it back in her bag. When Twinkle Star bended down to help Aline, her headache reminded her of her bad time in the hole and suddenly Twinkle Star remembered the weird pony.
“Aline… before you came here, did you see anyone else? Did you notice anything weird?”
Aline looked up. “No, not really. I heard some noises over here so that’s why I came here. That was you, right?”
Twinkle Star smiled. “I… yes, that was me, I was trying to get out of that hole. Just forget what I just asked.” Aline smiled and continued to pick her stuff up. While the last drops of rain fell and the sun climbed higher to warm the mountains, Twinkle Star and Aline continued their way on the path which was leading them further into the mountains.