Journey to the east

Ah, the sun. The gift of the east and the south. Twinkle Star still enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her coat, that somehow felt stronger every day, even though autumn was presenting itself. But then again, they didn’t have a real winter down south. It had been more than two weeks since they had left the mountains, and with that the dark forest, behind them. They briefly had been in the Tokowa lands, where they had spend a night in an inn. But they had left the next day, to follow the path to the southeast. The Tokowa Lands were an interesting country, and they had helped building the New Friendship Lands. In fact, they had given Regina the land to build her new kingdom on. But Twinkle Star’s destiny was not the Tokowa lands, but the beach country of Madash. So they had left at the first sight of dawn, going further south.

Since then, the journey had been easier. The weather had been better, and most of the time they could sleep inside. They had passed through a forest once, but it had been so much cheer fuller than the one close to the mountains. There was actual light coming through the light green leafed trees, no darkness, no moist, no rain. But that was days ago now. They were much further south now, about the same height of the Old Friendship Lands, only much more to the east. They couldn’t even see the mountains of the old lands. It was a nice valley where they were, but it was rather hot, and there was hardly any shelter from the sunlight. Thee were a few trees here and there, but the grass on the ground was dry, and they hadn’t seen a river or a lake in a few hours. Of course they had enough filled water bottles with them, so they wouldn’t run out of water, but Twinkle Star felt like she could use a refreshing dive in water.

Crystal and Twinkle Star had been walking around, following the dry sandy road for a while now. Their relationship had improved so much since their visit to the cave of memories. Twinkle Star refused to wonder about what the cave exactly was, and how it came to be. She knew she wouldn’t find out anyway. But she was grateful to it. She could finally talk openly with her sister again. The thrust between them was back. Twinkle Star had notice she was missing Aline less and less as their journey continued. Not that she didn’t wish her best friend to be here, but she had her bond with her sister back. She was really enjoying this journey, he had realised, even though the purpose of it of course wasn’t fun but to find out about the mind seal.

“Man, it’s like there’s no ending to this valley at all.” Crystal sighed suddenly. Twinkle Star shook her head. It wasn’t the prettiest place either. All was so dry, and most of the trees looked dead.
“I know, Crystal, I know. But the ponies in the inn definitely said this was the road going south. We could have followed the trade route going to Tarem, but it would be so much longer. We would have to go west around the old Friendship Lands, even though our destiny is in the east. No, this is the shorter road. And on this way, we can avoid Tarem, instead of having to go through it.”
“Why’s that such a good thing, then?” Crystal asked, while they kept moving along the dusty road.
“Well… Tarem is the main trade village, you know. The coordinators of the trade route live there, and it’s a rather busy place as well. Lots and lots of special items are being traded there. It’s nice, but we don’t have time to linger there. Maybe we’ll go there on our way back.” Twinkle star told her younger sister.
“Sounds nice. But shouldn’t we go there to rest?”
“Nah. There are more, smaller villages on our way. We can find an inn in some of those. I’m sure we can sleep in a nice bed a few times before we come to Madash.”
“I can’t wait to get there. According to that guy at the inn a few days ago, it’s great!” Crystal said dreamy.
“Yeah, and he would have loved to go there with you, didn’t he?” Twinkle Star grinned.
“Oh shut up, Twinkle Star.” Crystal said annoyed.
“Oh come on, Crystal! It was so obvious he fancied you! You were…”

Twinkle Star’s voice faded, and for a moment she was looking for words. The road had let them to the most depressing place of their journey yet, and Twinkle Star knew at once why everything was so dry around here. Because in front of them was an abyss, which went on to their left and right as far as they could see. About twenty meters in front of them, though, the ground went up again. The road went on. on a wooden bridge, so it wasn’t hard for them to cross the gap. Twinkle Star thought it all looked like a river, only one without water. At the bottom was only sand and a few rocks here and there.
“What on earth is this?” Crystal gasped.
“What it is is not the thing that matters, Crystal. You can see what it is, a gap in the ground, going on to our left and right. It’s what it used to be that matters.” Twinkle Star noticed her sister looking from left to right, looking for clues. She wondered if her sister had already an idea of what it used to be.

“There’s a sign there.” Crystal pointed out, and Twinkle Star noticed the old wooden sign too, next to the beginning of the bridge. They walked towards it, and when they arrived Crystal removed the dust from the wooden sign.
“Fiume river bridge.” Crystal read out loud.
She looked at Twinkle Star, shocked. Twinkle Star just nodded at her sister. She had already realised it was so. She had felt it. The river had been gone for sixteen years now, but this place had been touched by it’s pureness for so long, something like that doesn’t fades that easily.
“Fiume… but, I thought you said the river had survived?” Crystal asked confused. Twinkel Star stepped a few steps on the bridge, and realised it was safe.
“Yes, it did. But it has changed its course, remember? This is where the river had flowed for so long. It went to the east, to reach the ocean somewhere around the northern border of Madash. But the eruption made it unable to flow this way. So it’s going to the west now, instead of the east.” She explained to her sister, as she motioned her to follow her.

Crystal didn’t respond immediately. Twinkle Star looked over the river to the west and east as they crossed the bridge. She didn’t see anything in the distance. It was just the shape of the river, a mark in the land that would fade in time. She couldn’t help but be reminded of how the river had brought her back to the old lands, only a few months ago. It all seemed so distant now, like it had happened years ago. But it had only been a few months. And now she was even close again, to the old Lands. If she would just follow the shape of the river, she would come upon the main entrance to the old Friendship Lands, the place where the mountains were not enclosing the lands. But she immediately realised it wouldn’t be so pretty as it used to be. Not green, but grey with rocks and hardened lava. It was closed now.

“Looks like the path is following the river for a while.” Crystal pointed out as they stepped off the bridge. Twinkle Star saw it, too. The path followed the river to the southeast for a long while, at least as far as she could see.
“Probably to give the travellers access to clean water in the past.” Twinkle Star thought out loud.
Crystal only nodded in response, as they continued to walk down the road. The landscape didn’t change for over four hours of walking. All they saw was the shape of the river on their left, and dry, high grass on their right, while they walked on the yellow sandy road. On their way Twinkle Star had realised maybe the old trade route had gone through here in the past, when it ad all looked a bit fancier, and the river was giving water to the surrounding area. Once in a while, they crossed the remains of a little house, and once they even saw an old inn, with it’s sign still out, the doors open. But the wood of the structure had dried out, and it was deserted. It was hard to imagine that in the past, ponies had lived there, stayed there for only a night, in a place where everything was green and peaceful, while other travellers came by along the road. It must have been nice to travel here, back then. But once more Twinkle Star was confronted with the fact that not only they, but almost everyone on the continent had been affected by the eruption. Somehow she longed to be in a place where life hadn’t changed, where it would be like it had been the last thousand years or so. But she knew now she would probably never find a place like that.

When the afternoon was getting late, the road left the river for a bit. It went a bit more to the right, leaving the river in their back. It was probably going to the crossing Twinkle Star was told about. They could go into three different directions there, one that would lead them to Tarem, one that would lead them to the old Friendship Lands, and one that would go further south, leading them to Madash. Of course, they would take the last one. According to the person who told her about this, the crossing and road to Madash would also be deserted. Most ponies took a new road, going from Tarem itself, however it was a longer road, meant for merchants and traders. And even though that road would be easier for them as well, as they would be able to sleep in an inn almost every night, it would be a longer journey. So they had decided to take the deserted road, hoping they would be able to come to Madash before they would run out of food or water.

They met the crossroads earlier than Twinkle Star had expected. It was evening now, and the sun had almost disappeared, even though it wasn’t that late yet. Autumn was coming. The crossroads somehow felt even more deserted than the roads it was linked to. There were signs in the middle, telling them which road they had to take. There were two large buildings which two floors, but Twinkle Star knew at once they were deserted as well. No, they had to sleep outside once more. They decided to stop there for the night, and soon they had unpacked their blankets, and they had started a little fire. They were now baking some bread they had bought in the last village, which only had to be on top of fire for a few minutes. Neither of them said very much, as they both felt a little uncomfortable by the deserted place.

Twinkle Star sat facing the road leading to the Old Friendship Lands. She sighed as she once again saw the sign saying “FriendShip Lands”, pointing to the fading road in front of her. She wondered how long it had been since anyone had walked on that road. Not that it was leading somewhere now, anyway.
“It’s sad, isn’t it.” Crystal said to her, when she noticed Twinkle Star was staring in the distance.
“Yeah,” Twinkle Star responded after a short silence, “It is. It’s like I can almost feel the presence of the ponies that walked this road long ago, you know. Feel like how it used to be. And then to realise it never will be… like that again. Not here, anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s true. But there’s nothing we can do about it anymore, Twinkle Star. And other parts of the continent are doing fine. It’s not like everything turned out for the worst, right?” Twinkle Star gave her sister a feint smile.
“You’re right. I know you are. It’s just, well…” Twinkle Star didn’t finish her sentence, but she knew Crystal understood.

An hour later Crystal was sleeping quietly. Twinkle Star just lay under her blanket, watching the small embers of their fire fading in the darkness, while she listened to her sister breathing softly. But Twinkle Star somehow couldn’t sleep. She kept looking at the sign pointing towards the Friendship Lands, even though she couldn’t read what it said anymore through the darkness. Once again she followed the sign pointing at the darkness ahead of her. The old friendship Lands… She blinked. Was she imagining things? No, no. She shook her head and looked again. Two fire red eyes were staring at her from the darkness. They didn’t move, But Twinkle Star was sure it wasn’t an imagination. She didn’t dare to move, but her heart kept beating faster and faster. Who was spying on them?

Then, without a warning, she felt as if she was pushed backwards. The strong powers that were exposed to her came so suddenly was she felt as if they were taking her over. But as fast as they came, they left almost just as soon. These incredible powers… Twinkle Star looked in the distance, but the pony was gone. She couldn’t see the eyes anywhere. But as her heart was calming down again, she realised she had felt these powers before. These impure powers, corrupted. Powers with no purpose. The pony from the mountains… But she was gone now. Crystal was still sleeping silently beside her.
“We will meet again...”  Twinkle Star wondered if she was actually hearing the voice again, or if her memories were deceiving her.