The sun was high in the sky now, and as such, the heat was becoming more and more noticeable. Twilight, determined to keep moving forward, tried her best to ignore it, but the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead wasn't making the matter any easier. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Pinkie trotted alongside her, offering her a bottle of cool-looking water, which she graciously accepted with an appreciative smile. As she stopped for a moment to drink, she took note of her surroundings. Sand and rocky outcrops as far as the eye could see, to the point where even Appleoosa was no longer visible. Applejack and Pinkie were beside her, looking just as uncomfortable with this heat as she was. But even so, they had a purpose here, and one that, after offering the bottle back to Pinkie, the young unicorn was swift to continue with.

"So...what exactly do you plan to do when we get there, Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight hung her head as she walked, sighing somewhat.

"It's...hard to explain. Truth be told..."

She paused, considering her friend's question, before just coming out and saying the only thing she could say under the circumstances.

"...even I don't really understand it."

Pinkie took that in, raising an eyebrow.

"No offense, Twi, but...that doesn't sound all that reassuring."

In spite of everything, Twilight let out a chuckle to that.

"Yeah, preaching to the choir on that one, Pinkie."

Here, Applejack walked closer, glancing at Twilight briefly before looking around the rest of the area.

"Ah've never been this far out of Appleoosa before."

She then looked back to Twilight.

"The map said the buffalo's place is here?"

Twilight nodded, her horn lighting up as the map was levitated out of her saddle-bags. She peered carefully at it, before promptly pointing to one spot in particular.

"Yes, it shouldn't be much further now. In fact..."

She narrowed her eyes at the directions before her, then turned around and pointed out to one area in particular.

"...it says it should be just around there."

Applejack and Pinkie turned their heads to see where their colleague was pointed, and there, just ahead of them, was a large rock formation. Together, all three mares looked to one another, giving solemn nods before, at last, carrying on with their walking. A minute or two passed before they reached the base of that massive formation, and a few minutes further before they finally circled around it. As soon as they'd done so, Twilight spoke up.

"Okay, it should be right around..."

Then, her face became just that little bit paler.

"...here."

Both of her friends could hear the concern in her voice, and so rushed ahead to see what she was looking at. Immediately, they understood. For just a little bit further ahead of them was, as promised, the buffalo's settlement. A collection of elaborate tents and huts lay before them, but no longer was it what it once was. The attack that had been described to them did not do this sight justice, as it truly looked as if a full-on disaster had struck this place. Tents were torn, and huts still smouldering from some kind of fires were seen in all places. Whoever had done this clearly had little more than simple destruction as their goal. Naturally, such a spectacle caused nothing but worry for the mares, especially Twilight, who took a gulp before speaking up again.

"Well...might as well get closer."

Of course, nopony actually wanted to get closer to a place like this, but, in the end, they knew they had a responsibility to live up to their promise to Chief Thunderhooves. So, slower than before, they began to trot onwards, watching as their destination drew closer and closer. Once they were finally there, the situation seemed even worse than what it first appeared. Whatever party had been responsible for this, they knew what they were doing. The damage, while clearly done for no sake other than its own, was obviously committed in such a way as to leave little defence against it. Nowhere in this place seemed to have gone untouched, and as the mares reached the centre of the settlement, Pinkie summed up their thoughts.

"Are we sure we want to cross whoever's behind this?"

Twilight sighed.

"I don't want to...but we have to at least try."

Pinkie nodded, though still not all that convinced about being here. As for Applejack, she took on a more serious expression, turning her eyes once more to Twilight.

"Alright, Twi...time ta show what yer here fer."

Twilight remained looking worried, but nevertheless nodded.

"Okay...I suppose it is."

She took a few steps further, turning her gaze upon everything she could see and hear around her. The smell of the smoke from the ruined homes. The sound of the warm wind that continued to gently blow through the settlement. The feel of the dry earth beneath her hooves. Slowly, she started to close her eyes, taking in many deep breaths. Applejack and Pinkie watched her, gaining looks of understandable confusion.

"Er...Twi? What are you doing?"

Opening her eyes again, Twilight turned and looked right back at Pinkie.

"Do you remember the day we faced the Tantabus? Shortly after we met Queen Moon?"

Pinkie grimaced.

"I try not to, but yeah."

Twilight's expression was one of thoughtfulness as she continued.

"You remember what happened to me? How I thought I heard Celestia's voice?"

Pinkie and Applejack nodded, prompting Twilight to carry on.

"Well...that encounter wasn't just the Tantabus trying to trick me. It was...something more than that."

Her friends looked on, intrigued, but said nothing as Twilight kept on explaining.

"It's something that only a very few unicorns can do. It's like...like...an extra sense. Being able to, for lack of a better word, feel what others can't. Putting your hoof on the pulse of the magical currents of the world."

She paused for a few moments.

"Magic flows through everything in our world, girls. It touches all things, and those things leave their mark upon it, whether they know it's there or not. And some unicorns can...well...kind of see that imprint."

Of course, much of this was going right over her friends' heads, Pinkie especially.

"Okay...I don't really get it."

Twilight shook her head.

"Sometimes, neither do I. But ever since the Tantabus, I've tried multiple instances of attempting to make that sense work...with varying degrees of success."

A look of disappointment crossed her face, giving the other mares all the information they needed not to enquire further on that particularly line of questioning. But soon after, Applejack frowned.

"Wait...ain't that what Queen Moon said she could do? Look into magic and the like and see far-off stuff?"

Twilight nodded.

"It is. But...I don't think I'm going to be anywhere near as attuned to that as she is."

A brief chuckle escaped her.

"She is a bit more experienced, after all."

Soon after, the young unicorn looked around, her eyes narrowing.

"I was hoping that, simply being here, where such trauma and pain took place...might be enough to..."

Here, at last, Pinkie and Applejack understood what their friend was trying to accomplish. So, after a brief silence, it was Applejack's turn to speak up.

"Alrighty, Twi...go ahead."

Twilight gave her an appreciative smile, then got right back to doing what she was doing before, standing perfectly still and closing her eyes. In time, she focused simply on the sounds around her, hoping in her heart that something would trigger that which she hoped to gain access to. But, minute after minute passed, and nothing seemed to do the trick, prompting her to open her eyes.

"Maybe...maybe this isn't something I can do."

Her colleagues kept quiet, watching as she moved in a disappointed way over to a nearby torn tent. She was despondent over this, and slowly raised a hoof to touch one of the tears.

"I guess...we'll just have to go back and tell the Chief that...that..."

Her voice became more and more quiet, causing some concern in Applejack and Pinkie, who started to move closer to her.

"Um...Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

They drew nearer, and here, to the shock of both of them, they saw that, shortly after touching the ruined tent, Twilight's eyes had become somewhat glazed over, and the way she looked was almost as if she didn't even know they were there. Pinkie, clearly concerned about this, started waving her hoof in front of Twilight's face, to no avail. The lavender unicorn was completely disconnected from her surroundings, almost as if her mind was gone entirely. However, to the great relief of her friends, this soon changed, and she took a sudden step backwards from the tent, shaking her head vigorously and panting quite a bit.

"I...wha...what happened?!"

Applejack stepped forward, speaking softly.

"Ya didn't seem yerself, Twi. Ya went...well...all googly-eyed and stuff."

Twilight looked back to the tent, shaking her head in a slower way than before.

"I...I saw..."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow.

"What? What did you see?"

Twilight turned to look at her.

"I don't know if it was a memory, or...or just my mind playing tricks, but..."

She started to frown.

"I saw a night sky...and shapes, moving quickly towards the ground."

Raising a hoof to her forehead, she continued.

"I heard screaming...burning. I could feel...something sharp, like there was something piercing me."

She glanced down to her side, relieved to see that there was, in fact, no injury there.

"Was it...a knife? No...it moved. A claw perhaps? Yes...Yes, that could be it."

Pinkie, for the first time today, started to smile.

"Wow, that...that's actually pretty impressive."

She pointed to Twilight.

"Can you do that all the time?"

Twilight turned to her, opening her mouth to speak, only to be halted when, all of a sudden, she started to place her hoof on the side of her head, gaining a very clear pained expression, much to the worry of her friends, who rushed to her side.

"Twi?! What's wrong?!" Applejack enquired.

A moment passed, and Twilight, now panting slightly, lowered her hoof again.

"It's...it's fine. I just...don't think I should try doing that again for a while."

The others, for the time being anyway, took her at her word, though still maintained their concerned looks. As for Twilight, she, at last, looked back to her friends.

"I'm not a completely sure on this...but I don't think these images should be ignored."

Applejack nodded.

"Okay. This all seems like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me, but...ah trust ya."

Twilight gave her an appreciative look.

"Alright then. In that case..."

She turned, pointing to a far-away mountain range.

"...we need to head there."

Pinkie glanced over to their next destination, then back to Twilight.

"There? Why?"

To that, Twilight gained a look of utter seriousness.

"Because that, Pinkie...is where I think the attackers are holed up."