The power of memories

She was outside once again, but this time it was dark. The night was clear, and she was walking behind Crystal. They were wearing cloaks, so ponies wouldn’t recognise them. They didn’t want that to happen until they had been at the Queen’s place. They were walking next to a river, that was reflecting the light of the moon. Everything was so dark, and yet really quite beautiful. If fact, Twinkle Star had a hard time imagining how it would look like were it daylight. Even the moon, that was reflected so strongly on the river, had a hard time lighting up the land.
“It is as if a shadow is covering these lands… something evil, that won’t allow the light to reach it. A curse…” Twinkle Star whispered.
A bird got scared and flew away. Twinkle Star wasn’t really sure why she felt like this. They were finally here now, in the new Friendship Lands. They had only just crossed it’s borders. Almost a year they had been looking for this. But it didn’t feel like home. She had a very unnerving feeling about it. It sky’s weren’t clear, nor was the air pure. Not with something physical, nor was there something like pollution. But something told her coming here wasn’t a good thing. She would get hurt, and her coming would hurt others.
“A curse…” she said again. Did such a thing really exist?

“Oh, come on!” Crystal told her. “Don’t be ridiculous! You always make up crap like this. There is nothing wrong here. Besides, you’ve been here before a few days ago, haven’t you? You saw the castle and the land, you told me it was a nice place to stay. Now, let’s go find a place to cross the river, because it’s no good trying it over here.”
She did have a point. Twinkle Star had indeed visited this country alone, earlier. She had scouted the area, while Crystal had went somewhere else. She hadn’t told her sister she had used her wings, because of course Crystal didn’t know about that. Nobody did. But she had used them to check the country, and she had found the truth. She had seen the castle, she even thought she had seen her youngest sister, Ivy. It was good to know she had survived as well. She had been so happy back then. But right now, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be here at all. She followed her sister who trotted out of the bushes, towards the river path.

“Come now! Maybe the stories were right, and we can stay here. Who knows! A lot of people from the Friendship Lands have found a home here, or so they said at the inn, remember? Come on!” Crystal told her, and Twinkle Star nodded.
The inn they had visited a few weeks ago, the last one they had been in, had known a lot about the Friendship Lands. Survivors of the horror of the Old Lands could live here, they could rest here, in this fair place, far away from their awful memories. Twinkle Star shook her head.
“It is not going to last…” She whispered to the dark sky, while she followed her sister. Something as fair as this… What would happen when there was nobody left who remembered? A place to hide from the hard memories… memories… No, wait, this was all a big memory! This wasn’t real! This had happened a while ago, when she went home with Crystal for the first time! Slowly Twinkle Star regained consciousness. She had fought her way out of her memory herself, now. She knew she was strong enough to break free this time.

The dark sky, the dark world began to fade. It didn’t become much clearer, but she began to realise again where she was. Her senses told her she was in the cave now. It was dark, true, but her other senses could tell how it looked like. She was in some sort of chamber. The same place she had entered when the memories first took her. Crystal was nowhere close. Where was she? She had to get out of here. She turned around, and wanted to walk away, when she heard a voice. Not her own voice, no, and not some voice she had heard long ago. It was right here.
“Twinkle Star… do you remember?” It said. She couldn’t detect where the voice came from. It was as if the voice was everywhere, a permanent tiding in the waves of air.
“Who are you?” She asked with caution, while she slowly moved towards the corridor through which she had entered the chamber.
"Who I am and who I am not, is something that has stopped being important a long time ago. I am not from this world anymore, nor are there things left for me to accomplish. But you do, Twinkle Star. You are here now. Do you remember?”  
“What should I remember? Where is my sister?” Twinkle Star asked, not knowing if she could escape the voice by walking away.
“Ah, so you do remember. I see you care. You will find your sister if you want. But will you find her heart as well?”
Twinkle Star didn’t know how to reply. What was this voice? What was it talking about? 
“I have shown you your most important memories with her. She is here for you. She will help you on your quest to defeat your equal. But you must not forget her heart, nor her feelings. She cannot help you if you do not fully recognise her for what she is.”  
“But I do! She is my sister, a princess to the Royal House of the Friendship Lands! She is…”
“Oh, but that is what she is. But who is she to you? Do you love her, Twinkle Star? Would you risk your life for her, as she would do for you?”
Twinkle Star was silent for a moment. Risking her life… Would Crystal do that for her?
“I would risk my life for all that I love. And she is one of them. Yes, I would risk my life for her.” She replied, and she truly believed those words.
“Then go look for her. I promise you, you will find her. Continue your quest, and trust her judgement. She will guide you, just as you will once guide those who you love.”

With a snap, Twinkle Star felt as if her mind, her spirit returned to her. She stood shaking on her legs, wondering if all that had just happened had been just her imagination. Was there really a voice? Had somebody been there? She slowly moved her hoofs and walked out of the chamber. It was hard to focus her powers on the walls, as she felt rather weary. So she stumbled upon a few rocks a few times, and she almost fell. But the further she walked, the stronger she felt. When she turned yet another corner, she suddenly felt the presence of her sister.
“Crystal!” She said, louder than she had expected her voice to sound.
“Oh, Twinkle Star! There you are! I thought I had lost you forever in this maze! Where have you been?”
“I…”
Twinkle Star realised Crystal had not been through the same as her. She hadn’t heard the voice; Twinkle Star would have noticed if she had.
“I’ve been lost, as you said. I’m sorry I made you worry Crystal. Why don’t we go back to the entrance? I don’t think there is something interesting in here, after all.”
Crystal nodded. “Sure. I think I still know the way. It’s not that far. Follow me.”

Twinkle Star slowly followed her sister. She didn’t know if everything that had just happened had been real or something like a dream, but she did know one thing. The voice had been right. She had forgotten about her bond with Crystal. She would do everything for her, and Twinkle Star felt the same. Just because she had one best friend, it didn’t mean she had only one friend. Crystal cared for her, too, and from now on, she would be nicer to her. It didn’t take long for Crystal to find the entrance, and Twinkle Star noticed it was still raining outside, even though it was completely dark now. Night had fallen, and she didn’t even know what time it was. She suddenly felt really tired, and all she wanted to do was sleep.
“You don’t mind if I go to sleep? I’m really tired, and I want to feel good for our journey tomorrow.” She said to her sister.
“Yeah, sure.” Crystal answered.
“I’m going to sleep, too. It’s rather late, and we need our rest, right?” “right.” Twinkle Star took her blanker out of her bag, and lay down on the rather hard floor. Suddenly she realised something.

“Hey, Crystal, do you remember the blanket we bought when we first heard of the New Lands?”
“Yeah, what’s with it?”
“Where is it now?”
To her surprise, Twinkle Star heard her sister laugh.
“It’s right here, Twinkle Star. I took it with me to Kin and now it’s with us on this journey.”
“Why did you bring it with you to Kin?” Twinkle Star asked surprised. Her sister hadn’t needed the blanket; it was way to warm for the time of year they were travelling, and when they had left the plan had been to return even before the start of autumn.
“I don’t know, honestly.” Crystal replied. “I think… it had brought me such a fine journey last time, I had hoped it would bring me a nice journey once again.” “I’m sure it will.” Twinkle Star smiled. “I’m sure it will.”

It didn’t take long for her to doze off. She had a dreamless, black night, without any weird memories or voices. No, her mind was hers when she woke up by the rays of sunlight the next morning. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that it had stopped raining. The sun was shining inside the cave now. She slowly got on her hoofs, letting her blanket to slide off her back. She stepped outside, and she smelled the sweet scent of rain that had just ceased to fall, mixed with the smell of the forest. She loved it. The forest hadn’t appeared this beautiful since the day they had entered it. She smiled to herself when she realised this journey wasn’t that bad after all. For the first time in days she was actually looking forward to moving on. She walked back and shook her sister awake. Crystal was in a good mood as well, and they even had fun while they miserably failed in wrapping up their blankets. Twinkle Star noticed the Friendship Blanket, as they had called it long ago, in Crystal’s bag. Yes, it would lead them into another fine journey.

When they had packed their stuff and had eaten a small breakfast, not even thirty minutes later, they walked out of the cave, side by side. They walked back across the slippery rocks to the main road. On the road, Twinkle Star looked back one more time on the cave. She couldn’t help but wonder once again who the voice had belonged to. And why had it been so interested in her relationship with Crystal? What did it gained by it?
“I do not think in gaining or losing.” The voice suddenly said, even though it sounded so far away. Twinkle Star looked at Crystal, but she didn’t appear to notice something. She was simply going through her bag, looking for her water bottle.
“I simply listened to your feelings, and showed you the right way. Remember, Twinkle Star, I am no longer from the now. I simply flow on the river or time, waiting for the end. You go on with your quest. Don’t forget to remember once in a while.”

Twinkle Star stood stunned when the voice once again left her. When Crystal asked her what she was waiting for, she simply shook her head and followed her sister on the path, while she couldn’t help but think of the voice.

“Do you believe in spirits, Crystal?” Twinkle Star asked her sister carefully.
“What do you mean?” Crystal asked her curiously.
“Well… Spirits, in things like trees, or mountains, or things like that. Do you believe those exist?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I think I do. I think there are spirits in things like trees, or things with a long history. Made out of the memories they made along the way. Though I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand how those come to be, nor how we can be truly aware of their presence. But sometimes, you know, when I look at a really old tree, I can almost feel it’s memories, like I know the things it has seen in it’s lifetime. But I don’t think we can ever be sure.” Crystal answered.
“Don’t you want to know, though? Don’t you want to understand?” Twinkle Star asked, and Crystal smiled.
“No, not really. I think we don’t have to know everything. What good will it do? My foster parents once told me, ‘to know is to destroy a little bit’. I think that’s true. I mean, would it really be so bad if some things remained mysteries to us?” She asked Twinkle Star, while the path lead them into the dark woods once again.

Twinkle Star smiled when she realised her sister was right. She didn’t have to know what the voice had been. It had showed her what it wanted to, and she had to be content with that. That was all.
“You’re right, Crystal.” She told her sister. “We don’t have to know. Mystery is a part of beauty, and that is something we have to respect and realise. And things we don’t truly understand can show us things of more value than things we completely know.”
She was relieved when Crystal nodded in agreement, and they both couldn’t help but smiled when the next turn in the old road let them face a really large, old tree, without a doubt full with memories they would never even begin to understand.