//------------------------------//
// Magic Sucks, She Said 
// Story: Ofolrodi 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

Ariel bit her lip, squatting with wings tightly coiled at her sides.  Not that far from her, Wildcard stood—keeping watch over Seraphimus who had been made to dismount form the wagon.  The group collectively watched as Flynn paced angrily back and forth around the circumference of the vehicle.

Logan sat in a slump, sharpening his axe casually.  He glanced every now and then at his bald compatriot.

Kepler fidgeted with his claws.  After enough time had transpired, the wyvern nervously approached Flynn, clearing his throat.  "Ahem..."  He craned his neck.  "Well, brrotherr?  Yourr thoughts?"

Flynn scuffled to a stop.  Huffing, the unicorn faced the dead hovercraft resting against the dead rock of the dead mountain.  "... ... ...we're bucked sideways till dawn and back."

Ariel sighed.  "I was afraid of that."

"I can't figure out for the life of me how this damned thing lost its enchantment."

"Uhm..."  Logan raised a hoof.  "It's called the Hoverplan—"

"I know what it's called!"

"Stop yelling, dude."

"I'm not yelling!"

"Then stop talking 'un-quietly.'  You're making it sound like you're mad."  Logan grunted.  "Damn."

"I'm only talking loudly so that you'll get the bright idea not to say something that might make me actually mad!"

"Well, answer us this..."  Ariel raised both forelimbs, squinting at the stallion.  "Are we actually screwed?"

"Is water wet?!"

Ariel smiled nervously, rubbing the back of her head.  "Well, this is the Dark Side, so who knows?"

"Of course we're bucking screwed!"  Flynn gestured wildly.  "Two of us can't fly!  One of us isn't allowed to fly!  Kepler is Kepler..."

"I beg yourr parrdon—"

"We needed this stupid thing to get us all around!  Without it, we're left to playing hopscotch with Wildcard, Ariel, and Rainbow Dash doing all the gruntwork!"

"We can ditch the supplies and survive," Logan muttered.

"Big Show, it's not as easy as y—"

"We can survive," Logan boomed, glaring.  He sliced his sharpening stone across the axe blade for emphasis.  "We've lived off far less shit before.  Let's not pretend we've permanently gone soft."

"But this isn't Rohbredden!  Or the Seven Seas!  Or—hell—any of the feuding nations that Rainbow Dash has barreled through before!  This is unknown, chaotic territory!"  Flynn stamped his hoof.  "Without the proper resources, we haven't got a prayer to protect us from what's out there!"  He punctuated his exclamation by pointing nebulously towards the looming Curve.

Ariel looked up, her blue eyes reflecting the dark silhouette of the plane against the stars.  "Well..."  She looked down at the rest of the Herald.  "...unless we can somehow carve perfectly round wheels out of the rock and attach them to the wagon, we've got to ditch the Hoverplank."

"You'll have much more success digging your way to your infernal goal," Seraphimus droned.

Ariel tensed up.  An artery pulsed visibly above her frown.  "Thanks for the input, genius."

"Arre you cerrtain therre is no way to reenchant the materrial?" Kepler asked.

"Dude... Keps..."  Flynn turned to face him.  The tip of his horn pulsed with each angry word.  "Whatever sucked the energy out of those rocks left the leylines dead and barren.  I'd have to replace all the crystalline material plus the lunar dust!"

"Where would that leave us when it comes to armaments?" Logan asked.

"Let me put it this way: we won't have the luxury of firing experimental explosives at giant terrestrial wyrms any more."

"Ach."  Kepler slumped, his ears drooping.  "How atrrocious..."

Seraphimus cocked her head to the side.  "In your area of expertise, what precisely could have 'sucked' the mana-charge dry from the bed of your carriage?"

Flynn sat on his hindquarters.  His forelimbs were folded and he frowned in silence.

Logan's scowl was lacerating.  "Egghead... answer her..."

Flynn huffed.  At last, he grumbled over his shoulder:  "I have many theories, but none of them truly matter over here on the Dark Side.  There's no telling what lurks around here... potentially feeding on the most complicated of spells."

"Oh jeez..."  Ariel shook with shivers.

"Would..."  Seraphimus squinted.  "...it help your cause to hypothesize anyway?"

Wildcard glanced at their prisoner, then over at Flynn.

Flynn sighed into a hoof.  After a few seconds, he glanced sideways across the mountainside.  "I don't think I'm the prime pony we should be consulting here.  After all, my horn's senses aren't as sharp as the unheard detectors at our disposal..."

The entire Herald plus Seraphimus looked in the same direction.

Rainbow Dash looked back.  She hovered in place, petite and patient.  After an inward sigh, she said, "Alright, I'll ask the girls."

Pivoting about, Rainbow faced her ghostly companions.

"So... everypony... any ideas as to who or what sucked the manacharge away?"  A blink.  "And by 'everypony' I mean just you, Twilight."

"Oh!"  Twilight Sparkle fidgeted in place.  "Uhm..."  She tapped her fuzzy ghost-nose.  "Uhhhhhhhhh..."

"Twiiii..."  Rainbow Dash leaned in, eyes narrow.  "A little less 'Uhhhhhh-ing' and a bit more 'Eureka-ing,' please."

"Give her a moment, darling!"  Rarity leaned in and protectively squeezed Twilight's shoulders while frowning at their anchor.  "She's no alicorn, you know!"

"It's okay..."  Twilight Sparkle exhaled.  Her horn glowed slightly as she spoke:  "I've been scanning the local landscape this entire time, attempting to make sense of what happened."

"And...?"

Twilight blinked into the dim cosmos.  "I'm not sensing any magic at the moment.  In fact, Flynn's right to describe the wagon as completely 'barren' and 'sterile' of manacharge."

"So we're right where his angry lecture left off," Rainbow muttered aside.  "Great."

"But... what he doesn't understand is that can be said of this entire area," Twilight said.

Applejack leaned in.  "What do you mean?"

"Well..."  Twilight gestured towards the mountainside while talking to the girls.  "...the same absence of magic in the wagon is also true of the mountain... the air... the fungae growing all around..."

"Even the shiny ones?" Fluttershy blurted.

Twilight merely nodded.  "I'm rather surprised that Flynn can conjure up anything with that horn of his.  Everytime he taps into a natural leyline in his body, it's like someone's shining a torch up the throat of a deep, dark well."

"Is that significant or somethin'?"  Applejack shrugged.  "I'm an earth pony, and I don't know manadust from mud... but magic's supposed to be something special, ain't it?  I mean... it's not like the stuff is just twinkling in every darn thang."

"It is in some places more than others," Twilight said.

"Twilight's right," Rarity remarked, nodding.  "The Everfree Forest for example?  That place is teeming with all sorts of unbridled magic.  Some of it dangerous!"

"But this is like the exact opposite of that," Twilight Sparkle said.  "I'm not sensing anything at all on this mountainside."

"You mean..."  Rainbow grimaced.  "We're in the Dark Side's version of the Grand Choke?"

Ariel leaned towards Wildcard.  "Remind me.  What's the 'Grand Choke' again?"

Wildcard stealthily gestured:  "'The Blight.'"

"Ah."  Ariel nodded.

With an arching headcrest, Seraphimus silently glanced Wildcard's way.

"No, Rainbow."  Twilight was shaking her head as she looked at their anchor.  "This isn't like the Grand Choke."

"But you just said—"

"I wasn't in the Grand Choke long enough to get an idea of what that felt like.  But what's happening here isn't the same as anti-magic.  It's... more like the magic's being drawn towards some place and being hidden behind a veil."  She pointed at their anchor.  "Besides, if this was just like the Choke, you wouldn't be able to fly right now."

"... ... ..."  Rainbow looked stupidly at her flapping wings.  With a slighty blush, she settled down onto the ground.  "G-good point."

"But you can't tell where the magic went to, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well..."  Twilight clenched her eyes shut as her horn pulsed.  "...looking back in my mind, I get the vague sensation of the magic flying somewhere... like leaves being blown off a front porch by a swift breeze."

"But what on earth could have done that to a magic spell?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Aliens!" Pinkie Pie cried.

"Pinkie..."  Twilight rolled her eyes.  "Please... we know enough about Urohringr by now to guess that we're the only 'aliens' here."  Just then, the mare's eyes crossed.  "Whoah."  Her ears drooped.  "Now if that isn't a thought and a half..."

"Twilight..."  Rainbow growled.

"Ahem..."  Applejack smiled gently in her direction.  "Focus on the situation at hoof, sugarcube."

"Errrr... right."  Twilight floated closer to Rainbow Dash.  "I suggest you ask Flynn how much in control he is of his own magic."

"What for?" Rainbow asked.

"Just do it, Dashie!" Pinkie spontaneously shouted.

"Okay!  Fine!  Jeez!"  Rainbow turned around and cleared her throat.  "Yo, Flynn."

"Yes, Rainbow Dash?"

"Do you... feel any weaker right now... in the magic department?"

"How so?"

"Like... are you able to use magic like normal?"

"... ... ..."  Flynn turned, aimed his horn, and fired at a random boulder.  POW!!!  Bioluminescent crustaceans fled in every direction as the chunk of rock was propelled violently downhill.  After a while, it made a loud, echoing thud, during which the stallion pivoted to look back at Rainbow.  "Seems normal to me."

"Show off," Logan grunted.

"Interesting..."  Twilight rubbed her chin in thought.  "So it sucked the magic out of the wagon, but not out of Flynn."

"Wait..."  Flynn blinked.  "The wagon lost magic... but I didn't."

Rainbow smirked.  "Looks like the eggheads have rolled out of the carton."

"Eugh..."  Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Just humor her, Twilight," Fluttershy said with a smile.

"'Humor,' you say," the mare grumbled back.

"What's the deal with that?" Ariel asked.  "Is there a reason a contrived spell went bye-bye but Flynn can still use his horn?"

Wildcard waved his metal hoof.

Kepler pointed.  "Wildcarrd's prrosthetic is still in full effect!"

"So... personal magic is still working," Twilight muttered.

"So that's why I can still fly," Rainbow said.

"Precisely."

"Shouldn't we be more concerned with where the wagon's magic went off to?" Rarity remarked.  "I mean... assuming there is even a residual chance of somehow restoring it."

"Reckon we need to figure out for sure just where it zipped off to," Applejack said.  She looked over.  "Twilight?"

"I... I'm trying to remember..."  Twilight clutched her skull in two fetlocks.  "We were ascending up the mountaintop.  The wagon's undercarriage fluctuated.  The magic flew out..."

"Is ittttttttttttttt..."  Pinkie Pie pointed through the rock of the hill as her eyelashes fluttered.  "...right on the other side of the mountain?"

Silence.

"Actually..."  Twilight blinked.  "Yeah.  I think she's got it."

"Are you sensing something, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked.

"Hmmm?"  Pinkie could barely see from how rapidly her eyelashes were fluctuating.  "Sensing what?"

"Hmmmm..."  Applejack tilted her ghostly hat back.  "Seems to me we've got ourselves a compass."

"Cool beans."  Rainbow looked at Rarity.  "Care to tell us what kind of landscape's on the other side of the mountain, Rares?"

"Most certainly!  Why, there's... ... ... ... ..."  Rarity stopped dead in mid-sentence.  She stared off for a thousand miles.  "... ... ... ...why... ... ...that's funny."

"Hmmm?"  Fluttershy looked over.  "What is?"

"I..."  Rarity grimaced.  "I-I suddenly can't fathom..."  She looked apologetically at Rainbow Dash.  "For the life of me... I can no longer tell what's over there."

A beat.

"So!"  Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves together and looked at the Herald.  "Who's for a friendly hike?!"