"So... do you have any idea where this town is supposed to be?"
Starlight let the question hang in the air for a moment as the two fillies made their trek across the desert. It had only been about half an hour or so since they had left Starlight's burning home behind.
Despite the light pink filly's willingness to take Twilight with her on her journey to the town that was supposed to be nearby, neither of them had actually made any attempt at a conversation. The tense and awkward silence from last night had made a return, and that in turn made the trip feel a whole lot longer.
It didn't help that the terrain looked the same everywhere the lavender filly looked.
"I don't know where the town is exactly," Starlight finally answered after a moment, "all I know is that S... my friend once told me it was somewhere northeast of where I... where I used to live."
"Oh," Twilight replied, "so we just... keep going northeast then?"
Starlight gave a curt nod and said no more, her eyes pointedly focused on the path ahead.
Silence reigned once more.
Twilight sighed in disappointment before turning her somber and somewhat bored gaze skyward. The sky was still a murky grey and a cool wind had picked back up, but thankfully it didn't look like there would be any rain any time soon.
Twilight took the opportunity to think about just how ridiculous their situation was. Here they were, two fillies no more than eight years old, wandering alone in a rocky desert. Neither of them had a family anymore, Starlight no longer had a home to return to, and Twilight may as well have been in the same boat.
Still, they weren't alone and in Twilight's opinion, that counted for a lot, even if Starlight herself wasn't willing to say anything about it.
Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by the loud gurgle of her stomach and she grimaced.
"Um... Starlight?"
The light pink filly slowed to a stop and lit up her horn. Without turning in Twilight's direction, she flipped open one of the saddlebags on her back and floated out two large carrots. She dropped one into Twilight's waiting hoof and kept the other for herself.
"I didn't expect you to come with me so I only brought enough for myself," she turned her head slightly to glance back at the lavender filly, "we gotta make these last so don't eat too much okay?"
Twilight nodded and took an appreciative bite out of the vegetable. Starlight gave a noncommittal grunt and continued her trot forward, Twilight following close behind.
After a few more minutes of quiet travel, Twilight decided to try and make conversation again.
"Have you not been to this town before, Starlight?" Twilight asked in earnest curiosity, "you made it sound like this would be your first time seeing it."
"That's because it would be," Starlight replied -- much to Twilight's surprise, "my mom and dad have been to the town lots of times, and Sunburst is..." she trailed off for a brief moment. biting into her own carrot before continuing, "my friend was from there and came to visit me pretty often, but I was never allowed to actually go there."
"What? Why?" Twilight asked in bewilderment, "Your parents never took you with them?"
Starlight shook her head.
"Never," she replied quietly, "they..." her voice caught in her throat and she brought a hoof to her face -- presumably to wipe her eyes -- before starting over, "they never told me why I couldn't go, they just kept saying you'll learn why when you're old enough."
"And... what about your friend?"
"He didn't know either," Starlight sniffed, "or if he did, he never told me."
"Oh... that's..."
Twilight didn't know what to say. To Twilight it sounded like her family and friend were keeping some kind of secret from her, and now she would never get the chance to ask them what it was. There was no more 'when you're older'. Now she would have to find out for herself once they got to the actual town.
"What about you?"
Twilight blinked.
"Me?"
"Yeah," Starlight sniffed again before turning to face the lavender filly behind her, "you said something about a spell dropping you here? I thought you were from the town, but you don't even know where it is."
"No, I don't know where in Equestria I am," Twilight replied with a shake of her head, "I don't even know if I'm still in Equestria."
"We're still in Equestria as far as I know," Starlight responded, taking a brief glance around the desert before turning back to Twilight, "but... if you're not from that town, then where are you from?"
"I'm from Canterlot, but--"
"Wait, hang on..." Starlight stopped and turned to fully face Twilight, "I don't know exactly where Canterlot is, but I know it's hundreds of miles away from here," she gave the lavender filly an incredulous look, "you're telling me that you cast some sort of spell that... Teleported you here? All the way from Canterlot of all places?"
"I... yes?" Twilight replied in confusion and disbelief, "did you say hundreds of miles?"
"Ridiculous," Starlight concluded as she began trotting once more, "if you tried to Teleport that far you'd be dead before you even got here."
Twilight gaped at the other filly for a moment before shaking her head and hurrying after her.
"I don't know how it happened, but it's true!" Twilight pressed, "a lot of... things happened... and.... a-and I think I lost control or something..."
"So what? You had a magic surge?" Starlight replied skeptically, "that's all the more reason you should be dead."
"No, i-it wasn't like that!" Twilight cried, galloping in front of Starlight and causing the surpised filly to take a step back, "at least, I don't think it was..."
"Okay fine," Starlight huffed in annoyance, "then tell me, what was it like?"
Twilight took her own step back and frowned.
It wasn't like she herself didn't understand just how ridiculous the whole thing sounded. If what Starlight said was true, then she had somehow transported herself hundreds of miles in a single spell. Starlight wasn't wrong to think that Twilight should be dead.
Twilight in fact, very much agreed with that statement.
She knew how fatal the consequences of a magic surge could be, and it had indeed felt like a magic surge at the time -- at least at first. Still though, Twilight couldn't help but feel put off by Starlight's somewhat cold demeanor and blunt responses.
Nevertheless, she responded.
"It felt like I was having a magic surge at first. My horn started hurting really bad, and I thought I was gonna die, but then it stopped."
"It stopped," Starlight repeated flatly.
Twilight nodded and looked down at her hooves.
"It felt like something... changed inside me, and the pain stopped," she explained, "then I fell backwards, everything got really dark, and I woke up next to a giant boulder in this desert."
Starlight stared at the lavender filly with a thoughtful frown as she ate the rest of her carrot. The look lingered just long enough to become uncomfortable and Twilight began to shift uneasily under the light pink filly's scrutiny.
"...What is it?" Twilight finally asked, "why are you looking at me like that?"
"I just remembered something Su... something I heard a while back," Starlight answered after another moment, "apparently there's this thing called a magic miracle."
"A magic... miracle?" Twilight asked in confusion, "I've never heard of that, what is it?"
"It's like... um..." Starlight furrowed her brows as she tried to think of an explanation, "it's... kind of like a free pass for casting a spell or something."
Twilight just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, I don't remember all the details," Starlight conceded with a huff, "but a magic miracle is kind of like a magic surge, except there's no consequences when it happens. It just kind of... happens, and you have no control over it."
"Wow..." Twilight muttered, "how did I not know about something like that?"
"Don't ask me," Starlight replied with a shrug. She turned around and started trotting northeast again, "I didn't know about it either until... well, I haven't known about it for that long either."
"Huh..." Twilight responded as she followed after Starlight, "so you think whatever happened with my magic might've been some kind of... magic miracle?"
"Maybe," the light pink filly replied, "it's the only thing I can think of that would explain how you survived."
"But if it has no consequences, then how do you explain my magical burnout?"
"I don't know, Twilight!" Starlight replied, groaning in annoyance, "why don't you ask one of the grownups when we find that town?"
"Oh, okay then," Twilight muttered dejectedly, "sorry... I just... want some answers about why all this happened is all."
"Well you're not gonna get them from me."
"I know," Twilight responded with a sigh, "I hope we find that town soon..."
She finished off her meager meal of a single carrot and let her sad gaze wander across the rocky, sandy terrain. As she looked to her left, she stopped and frowned.
"What the..."
She squinted slightly and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. In the distance, just on the edge of her vision, she could see what looked like a large bank of fog rolling in.
From where she was standing, she couldn't gauge how far the fog had spread, but she definitely couldn't see anything past it.
"How long has all that been there?" Starlight muttered, "was that fog even there a second ago?"
Twilight glanced at Starlight and saw that she too had seen the odd sight. They both stood there staring at the heavy fog in the distance with wonder and a hint of trepidation.
"I think we should move on, Starlight," Twilight suggested, taking a nervous step back, "I don't like the way that fog looks."
"Yeah, it's definitely creepy alright," Starlight replied, not moving an inch, "I wonder if it's hiding something..."
"Starlight?" Twilight asked worriedly, "you're not thinking of--"
She was cut off by a sudden gasp.
"Maybe that's where the town is!" the light pink filly exclaimed, taking off in the direction of the ominous grey haze, "come on, let's go check it out!"
"Wait, Starlight no!" Twilight cried, rushing after the eager filly, "that's a terrible idea! It might be dangerous!" she continued to chase Starlight, but the filly paid her no mind as she galloped towards the fog, "what if there's monsters from Tartarus in there or something? Starlight! Star--"
Pain exploded in Twilight's horn and she was only vaguely aware that she had fallen to the ground. A loud ringing noise resounded in her ears, blocking out all sound, including that of her own screams as she writhed on the ground in agony.
The pain began to ebb to a dull throb only moments after it had started and she opened one teary eye to see just what had happened. Lying on the ground further away was Starlight. The filly wasn't moving at all and beneath the pain, panic, fear, and confusion clouding her mind, Twilight felt a surge of something welling up within her.
"S-Starlight..."
Not once taking her eyes off of Starlight, she tried to rise to her hooves, only to find she didn't have the strength. Gritting her teeth, she attempted to crawl over to the prone filly. She ignored the painful throbbing of her horn and the gradual darkening of her vision as she pulled herself closer to Starlight.
Nothing mattered except reaching Starlight.
Not the rapidly encroaching fog.
Not the pain in her horn.
Not her fading consciousness.
Not even the several pony shaped silhouettes trotting out of the grey haze before them.
"S-Star..."
Twilight blacked out, mere inches from the unmoving filly.