Sabbatical, or the Study of Garden Gnome Anatomy in South Perjina

by Casca

3: Starlight Finds A Bowl

What had seemed initially like a grand canyon was, upon closer inspection, nothing but an abandoned dig site. Red sand, indicating high amounts of iron ore, and sparse bush, staking uncontested claims as sole inhabitants of the land — it was enough to dry throats just by looking at it.

The horrific sound of wheezing echoed across the pit, and by echoed it was more of a matter of crawling, since the sand did not reflect sound well on account of the roughness of its surface dispersing the waves. Additionally, it was red.

Along with the crawling coughing was Sunset's frantic, ineffectual cries, alternating between assurance that no, Starlight was not going to choke to death, yes, Starlight would be okay, and what the hell, "drink in the sights" was not a literal phrase.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so rusty with my magic. Water spell, water spell... Heh, rusty. You know, 'cos this was probably an iron mining site. And if you're the one with iron sand in your mouth, you'd be the rusty one, eh?"

Starlight's mixed noises of pain and giggling at that would never really leave Sunset's memory. Late at night, on unexpected rainy days, her mind would wander, and it would perhaps settle on this one memory to replay — a cackling that could rival thunder in its guttural qualities — while she tucked herself in tighter with a warm blanket and the reassuring glow of the beside lamp she bought for cheap at I*EA.

Eventually, Sunset realized that there was still some water left in the bottle in her saddlebag. It being in a bottle didn't stop her from murmuring "Hey presto" as she dumped the contents down her friend's tongue, thus relieving her.

"Good one," croaked Starlight, as she laid her head gently on Sunset's trembling lap.

"I thought it was a little forced," said Sunset, forcing a smile.

"I meant the water spell," continued Starlight. "Where did you learn that from? Saddle Arabia?"

"Funny you should mention there, because when I visited ages ago, while I was still Celestia's student, they were in the middle of one of the worst dry spells in recorded history. Dry spells. Heh."

"You're killing me, Sunset."