It really didn’t look dangerous. And from where she stood, Twilight felt nothing unusual. Eying the desert expanse before her wearily, Twilight stepped forward. Nothing.
She looked up at Discord, who was not moving. She stepped forward again, her front hooves only a few feet from the start of the sand. Still nothing.
Sighing, she walked all the way onto the sand. She looked back at Discord, about to ask how long the affects took, but she didn’t get the chance. A shock when through her body and immediately her legs began to feel heavy. Unable to keep her balance, Twilight’s legs buckled under her. But when her underside touched the sand the effect only became worse. She heard shouting behind her and two arms, each different from each other, scooped her up and ran her away from the sand, setting her down onto the cool stones nearby.
Blinking wearily, and feeling as if her energy had been sucked out of her, she gazed up at her worried friends and an exhausted Discord.
“I told you that there desert would do funny things to our Twilight,” Applejack moaned.
“Oh no. Are you alright, dear?” Rarity looked over her friend’s form with concern.
“Look, Twilight, look!” Pinkie pushed her face in front of Twilight and wiggled her mustached nose back and forth.
The alicorn gave her friends a small smile. “I’m… okay. It just caught me off guard.” She slowly arose. Her legs felt tingly, but thankfully it seemed the damage wasn’t permanent. She was already feeling energy return to her. She wondered if that was a benefit of being an alicorn.
“How dare that desert hurt one of our princesses!” Rainbow raced over towards the sand and began stomping all over it yelling, “I don’t have magic! Bring it on! Come on!”
“Rainbow, no! Get back here before…” Twilight trailed off as her friend continued to stomp on the sand undisturbed.
Finally satisfied with her work, Rainbow turned around and walked towards her friends.
“That… didn’t hurt you?” Rarity exclaimed.
Rainbow tilted her head to one side. “Not really.”
“But it probably would over time,” Twilight warned. “It probably affected me so quickly because I’m an alicorn.”
“And you’re talent is magic,” Fluttershy added.
“Actually…” Discord spoke up, bringing all attention to him. His shoulders were obviously slumped in exhaustion now and his eyes drooped. “Actually, she should have at least felt something. The affects don’t come for some time. A number of hours. But she should at least sense something is wrong with the sand. Many ponies explained a slight tingling feeling.”
Rainbow looked confused. “Tingling?” She walked back over to the sand and stood still on it, head to one side in concentration. She looked back at her friends. “I don’t feel anything!”
Twilight frowned. “Discord? Were there any pegasus in the parties sent before you?”
Discord mimicked her frown. “Not that I know of. Mostly unicorns and earth ponies…”
“You think pegasi don’t get hurt by it?” Applejack asked, staring at her blue coated friend.
“Only one way to find out,” Rainbow called back. She then sat down right where she stood.
Twilight hated to see her friends put themselves in harm's way, but considering the reaction she had received, she was in no position to argue. So they sat. And waited.
Twilight felt refreshed after her brief rest, though one look at a sleeping Discord showed her that it would take longer for him to recover. Fluttershy was resting by his side, her eyes still slightly open, shifting their gaze between the old foe to her right and her winged friend in the desert sand. Twilight looked over at the blue pegasis.
“How’re you doing, Rainbow Dash?” she called.
“Fine,” came the answer, though it sounded a bit slow.
Twilight frowned. “Are you tired?”
“No,” the filly answered, “just bored out of my mind.”
The alicorn looked around her resting friends. “Where’s Pinkie? Wasn’t she playing word games with you?”
“She went into town to get me something to eat. I’m hungry.”
Applejack got up slowly and stretched out her legs one by one. “We should all get somethin’ to fill our bellies. Been long enough, hasn’t it?”
Twilight nodded, eying the setting sun. “I’d say so. It doesn’t seem like anything has happened to Rainbow. I wonder…”
“I’m not one for naps, but that wasn’t half bad.”
Twilight turned to see Discord sitting up and stretching his arms in front of him. He then stretched his two wings individually. An idea began to form in Twilight's mind.
“Discord?” Twilight’s mind filled with memories of her first encounter with the draconiquus.
“Hm?” He faced the alicon slowly, still sleepy.
“Back when we met you, when you hid the elements of harmony and we went through that maze at the palace… You took our wings and horns, forbidding us to use magic. But it’s possible to use magic without horns.”
Discord put one finger to his chin in thought. “True, it is. Though quiet rare.”
“Then,” Twilight got up, her legs steady once again, “can you… track magic?”
Discord’s eyes lit up at the unusual question. “I see… You reason that because I can disrupt magic, I must first be able to find it… Interesting theory…”
“Theory?” Rainbow had walked over, relieved from her testing duty. She sat down on the stones and gave Discord a weird look. “Don’t you even know what you can and can’t do?”
Discord smirked at the pegasus. “Do you know all the possible tricks and stunts you can do?”
Rainbow blushed. “Well, um…”
“If you can track magic,” Twilight turned towards Discord, “I want you to track mine when I touch the sand.”
“But Twilight,” Rarity protested, “that sand hurt you!”
“I know,” Twilight assured her. “But if this ground is pulling magic from ponies, I want to know where it’s going.”
“Who said it’s going anywhere?” Rainbow asked doubtfully.
“Well, for one thing, this desert hasn’t always done this. And also,” Twilight looked down at her hooves, remembering her first attempts at magic, some of them having gone out of control, “magic doesn’t just disappear. It has to be used. It moves when called upon. If the ground is sucking it out of ponies it has to be going somewhere.”
“You think somepony is doing this… on purpose?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
Twilight looked grim, but didn’t answer directly. Instead she began walking towards the sand again, her legs already feeling tingly at the mere thought of repeating her actions of a few hours past. She heard Discord walk behind her.
“Ready?” she asked, not turning her eyes away from her path.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” he answered.
Twilight took a breath and stepped onto the sand.