Ponyville, USA

by Rox

Chapter 2: Contact

"So that's it, we're just gonna walk in?" asked Rainbow Dash, her voice rising. She turned and glared back through the door, "They've probably set up a trap!"

Rainbow didn't trust these things at all, no matter how surprised they looked. They were too big and, if the crusader's story could be believed, too powerful to take lightly. Rainbow honestly doubted the story a little, because as tall as they were not one of them appeared to be especially strong, and she bet she could take them in a fair fight piece of cake unless they had some form of freaky magic.

Twilight shot back a stern look that Rainbow had received a lot over the years. It was the "don't do anything stupid" look. Rainbow Dash snorted in disbelief as Twilight actually thanked them and stepped into the threshold.

"Alright. If we die, I'm blaming you," she snapped.

Rainbow landed right behind her and followed her in, eyeing the speechless creatures with all the suspicion that she could muster, which mostly translated into a hard glare.

Rainbow scanned the room quickly, trying to take in everything and to spot traps. She was almost disappointed when it was quickly clear that it was just a house and not some fortified base. Except for everything being a little bit bigger than normal, it looked not all that different from a pony house. There was a couch and end tables, with pictures and flower vases arranged in various places as well as on the walls. The only thing that Rainbow couldn't identify, which she eyed suspiciously as she followed Twilight farther into the house, was a weird, black rectangle that was mounted on the wall and facing the couch.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow whipped her head back forwards so fast that she almost hit her head on the opened door. There were four more creatures in the next room, all of which had lighter colored manes than the first three, and two which were not only shorter but had longer manes on their heads. And on the table, buzzing her wings like she always did when she was excited, was Scootaloo. The little filly leaped from the tall table, which almost came up to Rainbow's chin, and zipped to her side, hugging her around the middle.

"Whoa, squirt! Glad to see you're okay!" Rainbow Dash said, grunting from the little pegasus' squeeze around her rib cage. Upon first glance she seemed alright, other than a small bump that she could feel on Scootaloo's head.

"So, what the heck are you?" a masculine voice asked. One of the light-haired ones had been the one to speak, and was looking at them with about the same level of suspicion that Rainbow herself had. Rainbow Dash put herself back on guard, trying to watch all of the creatures with her peripherals.

"Wow, David, rude much?" another, obviously younger, one of them said.

"What? Am I the only one who finds this weird?" asked the one called David, throwing his, er, arms out in frustration.

"Oh I do, but I'm still counting on this being a dream," said the one in the hat in a very deadpan voice.

"Well then wake up!" David shot back.

"Well, sorry! Getting attacked by a wood monster kinda used up all my 'surprise, let's mess with your reality' for the day!" the hat one retorted angrily.

So that's the one thought Rainbow Dash

"Both of you quit it!" said one of the long haired one in a voice that reminded Rainbow of her own mother's. Rainbow watched that one carefully for a second. She looked scared and confused, but she had a protective edge in her eyes. The same look was in the biggest one's eyes as well. If they were the mother and father, then Rainbow figured from experience that they'd be the ones to watch out for if things got out of hoof.

"What's your name?"

Rainbow flinched and looked to her left quickly, finding herself looking straight into the face of the smallest one who was leaning in closely with interest. This one was the only one that didn't look scared at all. Just curious. "Your hair is so pretty!"

Asher leaned up against one of the counters, one arm folded while he rubbed his forehead with the other, trying to make the scene in front of him make sense. He was also leaning to avoid falling over. Every time he tried to convince himself he was dreaming, he mentally slapped himself to get a grip and accept that what was happening was real. There were four, quadrupedal, multi-chromatic animals that resembled small horses, but only in a rudimentary way. Then add that three of them had wings, one of those also had a horn, and the fourth was wearing a freaking stetson just added to his mental chaos.

They were perhaps four feet tall at most from hoof to head, though if Asher hadn't seen one doing it he would say the wings wouldn't have been big enough to even lift them off the ground. They all looked muscular, particularly the orange one which didn't appear to have either wings or a horn. Their eyes were big but more closely resembled a human's than an animals. Also, all of them except the littlest one had tattoos on both flanks, probably some sort of cultural ritual behind that.

Oh yeah, and THEY WERE TALKING! He watched with interest as his little sister approached the rainbow-colored pegasus and asked it for its name. His protective instincts for Anne kicked in a little but he didn't move as it went uncomfortably quiet for a few seconds. He almost laughed when he noticed his parents holding their breath, and when he saw David lightly fingering a candlestick behind him on the counter.

"Rainbow Dash," it finally answered, in a rough but definitely feminine voice. Another unusual name.

"Oooh, that's so cool! I'm Anne!" said Anne excitedly. Asher shook his head a little. His sister was one of those girls who was borderline obsessed with anything that was even just somewhat cute, and though these creatures easily fit the bill, that line was way too easily crossed. She got in a fight at school over whether cows were cute or not.

"Looks like ya got another fan, Rainbow," said the orange one with the cowboy hat. Asher looked at it in surprise, not just because the voice was also feminine but had a fairly heavy southern accent. Asher finally decided to speak up again.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are ya'll from?" he asked, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible, and addressing none of them in particular. They all turned his attention to him but said nothing at first. He watched as they exchanged glances, wondering idly if they could communicate telepathically. Heck, at this point, if they could transform into hippos it wouldn't surprise him one bit.

"It's okay," the little one called Scootaloo said, giving him a small, but nervous, grin. "I think he's the one that saved me from the timberwolf."

This was met with mixed reactions. The one called Rainbow Dash regarded him with a new level interest, squinting at him with piercing scrutiny. The purple one looked him up and down, obviously taking in everything. Asher could see the intelligence flashing behind her eyes. The orange one seemed to still be deciding what to think and meanwhile the purple one spoke first.

"Well, we are from Ponyville in Equestria," she said. That's the second time Ponyville has been mentioned, but Equestria must mean their planet or something. "Although I admit I don't know if that's still true."

"Wait, what does that mean?" he asked her back all too quickly. The wings on Rainbow Dash had flared slightly and she had lowered her body ever so slightly. He could tell she would be all too happy to get into a fight, and judging from the muscles that were rippling through her body it wouldn't go well for any of them if that happened. Asher was tempted for a split second to reach for his still loaded gun holstered on the back of his belt, but restrained himself. That was the absolutely the last thing they needed.

"Sorry, but what do you mean about that? How did you come here?" Asher asked carefully.

The purple one shook her head and looked back at her companions as she said, "I don't know."

Either they were fantastic at lying, or they really didn't know. Oddly, that relieved Asher a little. If it was accidental, then the likeliness of it being some sort of alien invasion (did he really just think those words in the same sentence?) was really low.

"I'm Asher, and this is my Dad, Andrew, my mom, Candace, and my brothers David, Patrick, and Jonathon," said Asher, pointing to each family member as he did so. "You already know my sister Anne."

To his relief the pony creatures appeared to relax a little, Asher's impromptu introduction managing to siphon some of the tension away. The rainbow one was still glaring daggers but had folded her wings again.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," the purple one said politely, pawing a little awkwardly at the floor with one hoof. Asher could just hear his mom screaming inside about not scratching the hardwood.

"Name's Applejack," added the orange one. "Pleased to meet ya'll."

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Scootaloo. They all kind of sound like names for dolls or something Asher thought.

"We don't know how, but our whole town has somehow landed near here," Twilight Sparkle explained.

"Your whole town?" repeated David skeptically. "How'd you miss that, Ash?"

Asher ignored his brother, rolling his eyes a little out of habit before asking, "Town? I saw a bunch of apple trees but I didn't see any buildings."

"Over those rises and down the valley a bit, past the apple orchards," said Twilight, who was ignoring a hard stare from Rainbow Dash. The pegasus obviously still didn't trust them, and seemed to have a particular thing against him.

"Ok, so you've got some answers, now I want some," she said with a challenging tone. "What the heck are you? And where are we? Don't lie because Applejack can tell stuff like that."

Asher glanced at Applejack, who looked a little surprised being put on the spot so suddenly, before responding, "We're called humans, this planet is called Earth."

This was the first time that Asher ever realized how dumb a name for a planet that was, and having all three pony creatures raise eyebrows at it made him want to burst laughing and he almost did, just managing to contain it in a smile. There's something about worrying about your sanity that just makes you want to laugh.

Twilight spoke next, "What is the kingdom called?"

Asher furrowed his brow, not sure what she was asking.

"I saw that flag on the pole in front of your home. It represents a kingdom, right?"

"Oh." The family had an American flag flying in the front yard, something of a family tradition ever since Asher's great-grandfather served in World War 2.

"Sorta. It's for the United States of America, and we're pretty much right in the middle of it," Asher replied.

Well, that pretty much sealed it for good. Forget Equestria, they weren't even on their own world anymore. Whatever magic that storm had, Ponyville and all of its inhabitants were now somewhere different entirely. A different planet, a different nation. Twilight was racking her brain for any knowledge about trans-dimensional travel but for the second time in two days came up completely blank.

Whatever the case, it did them no good to stand around here. These "humans" seemed friendly enough, but they seemed even more confused than the ponies were. The one called Patrick had been shaking his head continuously, the father, Andrew, had been blinking very deliberately every few seconds, the mother Candace had sat down to disguise that she was trying to keep from falling over, and she had noticed David tapping his hand nervously, as if he was still expecting to pounced on at any moment. Only Asher and Anne, who was currently trying to touch Rainbow's mane without her noticing, seemed to be taking it in stride, though Asher was obviously trying really hard not to be overwhelmed with the information overload. She could tell he was very intelligent, and was probably thinking through everything they said just as she was doing with their words.

"We thank you for saving Scootaloo," said Twilight, bowing a little and hoping they understood the gesture. "But we must get back to Ponyville. They're waiting for us."

"Wait, I wanna come," said Asher. This surprised Twilight, because for as well as he was taking it she didn't think he'd want to see or hear more. Twilight looked at Applejack, who seemed more or less ambivalent, and then to Rainbow Dash, who wasn't much help either with her challenging stares. Only Scootaloo seemed to like the idea.

"Look, if there's a town full of....ponies...that's now sittin' on my land, I want to see it too," Andrew stated.

"OOH! I want to see it too! Can I mom?" Anne bounced excitedly, reminding Twilight of a certain pink pony.

"Later honey, let's let your Dad and brothers see it first and make sure..." Candace trailed off, the last part of her sentence drowned out anyway by Anne's whine. Turns out children's whines sound the same in both worlds.

"Ok, then, lets go," said Asher, clapping his....was hands the right word?....together. Twilight could see no point trying to dissuade them, no matter how much Rainbow Dash glared at her. After thanking Candace for letting them in the home, she turned and led the small and very strange entourage outside.

Asher was mentally preparing himself for whatever he was about to see. If the morning was any indication, this day was probably going to stay weird as it went on, and an entire town full of the four legged visitors was sure to be way up there on the oddity scale. As he followed this Twilight Sparkle across the back yard, he noticed two more of them step out from behind a bush, momentarily startling him.

"Ah, Twilight, I see you've found little Scootaloo," a white one with purple hair and only a horn said. He noted how she spoke with a very high-class type accent, and seemed to carry herself as such with head held high and posture straight. He also noticed that she was nervous about the three humans (David had decided to come along as well), so he kept his distance.

"Yes, these good, er, humans took care of her, and they want to see Ponyville," Twilight summed up. "Rarity, Fluttershy, I'd like you to meet Andrew, Asher, and David."

Wait, where's the other- oh. Asher noticed another one doing her best to hide in the bushes but failing pretty miserably with her yellow coat and long, light pink mane, and when introduced she just squeaked quietly.

"HI!"

Asher yelped in spite of himself, jumping a foot or so to the side at the sudden appearance of a third one right next to him. He stared in wide-eyed shock at the cacophony of pink before him, letting his heart rate go back down.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! So which one are you? Andrew, Asher, or David?" she asked excitedly, smiling the biggest, whitest smile that Asher had ever seen, human or otherwise.

"Asher," he replied, not quite relaxed yet and starting to walk forward.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Oh wait! I already said that, silly me! So, what is your birthday? I always like to know so I can throw a party when it comes. OH MY GOSH! Do humans like cake? Oh I love cake! And not just normal cake cake, but also cupcakes, shortcake, rum-cake, chocolate cake. mmmmm. chocolate cake," the pony chatted animatedly as the group walked on, hardly stopping to ever take a breath. Asher threw several glances at his brother, who shrugged each and every time, and then at Twilight, who would also shrug and say something like, "That's just how she is."

"So, Twilight, how many of ya'll live in, uh...Ponyville?" asked Asher, talking over Pinkie Pie continuing to chatter at high speed.

"About a thousand," Twilight replied.

"Wait, what now?" David said as he overheard. Asher chose to ignore him again. You get used to it when you're the older brother. Asher continued making small talk with the ponies, getting answers from almost all of them at one point or another, with the exception of the aptly named Fluttershy, who trailed quietly beside Rarity, and the still suspicious Rainbow Dash. He was impressed when he passed the Apple Family Farm., particularly at how well crafted the buildings were.

"So these are your apples?" he asked to Applejack when she pointed it out, and she confirmed it with a satisfied nod.

"Sorry if I was stealing, but I tried one earlier and I'll tell ya, it was the best apple I've ever tasted," said Asher.

"Aw shucks, thank ya, Asher," Applejack replied, sounding genuinely bashful about the compliment.

The path they walked on began to widen, fences separating it from the immaculate orchards on each side. As they crested a hill after about 20 minutes of walking, Asher was about to ask how they manage to harvest with only hooves to work with, but instead said, "Wow."

The town of Ponyville was situated snugly in the valley, with the familiar hills rising on every side and, though small the town was indeed, it was spectacular. A lot of the buildings looked dutch, but yet so many of the others had a unique architecture obvious even from a distance. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.

They crossed a small bridge over a crystal-clear brook, and entered the town. Asher felt like he had stepped into another world, and if it weren't for the familiar Rocky Mountains around him it would have been easy to convince him that he was. He wondered if this was how Neil Armstrong felt when he stepped on the moon.

It wasn't long before they saw other ponies. Some didn't notice as they passed, but the ones that did first waved at the familiar ponies, then usually froze in place when they saw Asher, his father, and brother before disappearing into the nearest building. Asher didn't blame them, so he mostly just pretended he didn't see it. Besides, he was too busy keeping up with Pinkie Pie's rapid-fire speech as she pointed out everything they passed.

"Oh, and there's Sugarcube Corner! That's where the Cakes and their cutsie wootsie little babies live, and where I work!" she said, then darted to the other side of the street,. "And that's the Sofa and Quills shop."

"That's all they sell?" Asher joked weakly, getting a little laugh out of David, who was still concealing that his hands were shaking nervously.

"Yup!"

"Oh."

They soon reached what was obviously an open marketplace, all of it surrounding a circular building that was probably the tallest in town. Several ponies stood on the raised porch of the building, and what seemed like hundreds were assembled around. He couldn't hear what was being said, but one was obviously addressing the others. Asher forgot his boy-like wonder for a moment and stopped walking. Nothing he had seen so far had shown them to be threatening, besides Rainbow Dash, but seeing so many of them in one place finally overdid his nerves.

"I'll go talk to the Mayor," Twilight said, spreading her wings. She glided a little less than gracefully above the crowd and landed even less so. For someone that carried herself so confidently and intelligently, she sure didn't look comfortable flying, and Asher couldn't help but wonder why. Especially since Rainbow Dash had been so effortlessly hovering above them like a huge hummingbird for most of the trek across the ranch. The other ponies made their way into the crowd, although Applejack and Rainbow Dash stayed near the edge and were watching them. He watched Scootaloo speed off towards another side of the plaza, where he saw two other ponies her size waving her over.

"What are we going to do about this?" David and walked between Asher and his dad, and had spoken low. Asher sighed a little at his brother's paranoia, but also because he knew he was right. David kept talking, "We gotta tell somebody, I mean, this is big!"

"That's the understatement of the year," Dad remarked. "Who would you call about something like this anyway?"

"I don't think we should," said Asher. Both men looked at him like he was crazy for the third time that morning.

"Ya know, I'm getting real tired of that look today."

"Sure they're nice, Applejack, but something about this place doesn't feel right," said Rainbow Dash, looking over at the three humans talking together. "I mean, I know I'm pretty awesome, but I've never seen anything that size freaked out at just the sight of a pony."

Applejack stole her own glance and she thought about it, "Ya may be right, Rainbow. They sure were shakin' in their shoes for bein's that could take on a timberwolf all on their own."

"Exactly! So what's got them so freaked out?"

Rainbow Dash looked up at the scattered clouds above.

"Maybe their clouds have been too big lately. Whoever's in charge of their weather isn't doing a very good job," she remarked disapprovingly. They were also too high to be useful to anypony except pegasi.

"Let's give 'em a chance, Dash," Applejack said after a few moments, adjusting her hat and watching the them nonchalantly. "Tell ya the truth, I just hope we can get back home and not have to worry 'bout it."

Rainbow Dash turned her own attention across the plaza to Twilight talking to the Mayor, where she realized most of the ponies were looking in their direction and whispering among themselves. So they finally caught on to the over-sized, hairless, monkeys behind them Rainbow thought, rolling her eyes.

Twilight took off again and started gliding towards them.

"I really need to spend more time helping her learn to fly," said Rainbow as Twilight nearly fell back to the ground. Applejack chuckled in reply and tried to pass it off as coughing when Twilight finally reached them.

"The Mayor's been informed," said Twilight. "For now she agrees we need to treat the humans as friends. What are they talking about?"

"Dunno," said Applejack.

Twilight trotted in the direction of the humans. Rainbow Dash instead flew up and over, coming down right above the three humans but stopping when she could finally hear their conversation. An argument was more like it. All three had their arms folded and indignant looks on their faces, and their voices were rising steadily.

"If we go to the government, we lose it all!" Asher said urgently.

"And if we don't and they find it, then we'll be in even worse trouble!" his father said back. "Besides, this town's far away from our house they'll probably leave us out of it."

"Doesn't matter! You know as well as I do that they'll do everything to keep it under wraps!" Asher argued. "And where does that leave us? Caught in the middle of a cover up!"

"You're talking about trying to hide over 1000 aliens from the most powerful military on the planet!" David countered.

"And you're talking about dooming 1000 plus US!" Asher retorted, leaning in on his brother.

She had enough. Rainbow Dash zipped down and landed right in the middle of the small circle, forcing them to jump back a step.

"What's going on!?" she demanded, glaring at each of them. The three humans finally realized how loud they had been talking; Rainbow Dash could see it dawning on them as they looked at the huge group of frightened ponies looking on in total silence.

"Ah, great," swore David scowling.

"WELL!?" Rainbow Dash pressed the three, taking off again and hovering at their head level. She was starting to get so livid that she was barely cognizant of Twilight walking up just too. She didn't say anything, but wore an expression that basically asked the same question.

Andrew was the one who started talking first, "Look, people tend to react badly when they meet another person different than them."

"Well, that's obvious," seethed Rainbow. Andrew flinched at her snark, but he continued.

"When they find out, our government will probably respond by cutting you off from everybody else."

"Why would they do that?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Because they get really touchy about things they don't understand on our own soil," Asher answered, rescuing his Dad from the scrutiny. "And I do admit, where your town landed was either the best luck or the worst. It was good because the nearest town is 10 minutes away. It's unlikely anybody will see ya by chance."

Then David interrupted him, "Bad because 20 minutes that way" - he pointed east - "is a United States Army Base. 25 minutes that way" - he pointed slightly north - "is a US Air Force Base, and worst of all: that mountain over there" - he points to a big one just to the south - "is where the most important base in all of North America is!"

Rainbow Dash felt the clench of nerves as she realized just how close they were to an unknown danger. She set back down next to Twilight and looked at her for any signs of a plan, but to her dismay, she only looked shocked.

"But don't worry!" Asher spoke up. "I think if we can manage to keep this town secret until we figure out a way out of this that doesn't involve any....of us getting into trouble."

Oh, gosh we're scaring the daylights out of them thought Asher. Even the heretofore infallible Rainbow Dash was starting to look worried, and the last thing that anyone needed was a panic.

"Ash, it's impossible to hide an entire town from the US government," whispered David, who was also sensing the panic he had a large hand in brewing.

"You've been watching too many movies," Asher said loudly. "They are not omnipotent, dang it!"

Asher confidently stepped forward, "Look, whatever brought you here, I'm thinking it was for a reason. If we're careful, avoiding detection should be easy. And, I'm willing to bet we can figure out how you got here in the first place if we just work through it!"

Twilight Sparkle seemed to gain confidence at that idea. She nodded and turned to face the crowd

"It is my royal responsibility to protect this town, and I promise I will do everything I can to learn what brought us here and if we can reverse it!" she declared. The ponies around seemed to gain their own confidence, and there was widespread head nodding which Asher took as a good sign. The apparently "royal" Twilight held great respect here.

"Asher, I'm going to need to learn all I can about your world, so that I can find the connection between yours and ours," she said at a lower volume.

"You can count on me," he replied, tipping the bill of his cap.

"So, first thing's first: how do we avoid being found?"

Asher looked around. Most of the homes and businesses were fairly conservative in their color and size, with the only exception being Sugar Cube Corner, and could easily be lost should there be a little more greenery. And the streets being dirt was perfect.

"If you put broken branches and loose leaves on your roofs, they'll look just like trees from above. That'll hide you from the air forces," he said. It may not be true, but as close to the bases they were jets or planes of any kind rarely flew here, so he viewed it more as a precaution than anything.

"Rainbow Dash, Applejack, organize teams to help you camouflage the roofs!" Twilight ordered, and the two named immediately dashed back into the crowd. It was mere moments before it seemed the whole town's population was jumping into action. It was straight impressive how efficient and quick they were.

"Will that really work?" Twilight brought Asher's attention back to her.

"Honestly, I have no idea," admitted Asher in a low voice. To his surprise Twilight just nodded. "But I really do think I can help you."

"Thank you, that will be most helpful," she said. "I think I can remember how the magic felt that did this, so if I can find a way to replicate it I may be able to reopen the connection.

Did she really just say magic? Asher felt his confidence sink, but he shook it off. Maybe it means something different to them.

"I still don't think it's a good idea," said Dad. "But I do trust you, Asher. You're a smart kid, and I guess if anyone can figure this out it's you."

"Well, don't count out our Twilight!" said Pinkie, sliding into a side-hug with the purple unicorn (with wings, I really need to figure out what's up with that). "She is super-duper smart! She was the personal protege of the Princess!"

And there's another thing to ask about Asher thought as he glanced into the sky, where there were a couple of large, but sparse, clouds.

"I wish it was overcast, that would help hide us from satellites," he thought out loud. He noticed Twilight looked a little confused at that, so he explained, "Machines that look down from space."

Twilight looked up as well, an expression of awe on her face, but then she called out loudly, "Rainbow Dash!"

The pegasus swooped back to her within seconds, hovering with rapt attention.

"We need cloud cover!"

"On it!"

Asher gasped when the pegasus streaked into the sky much faster than he could have ever thought possible for an animal of any size. It was his turn to watch in awe as Rainbow Dash flew directly at one of the clouds. Then his concept of reality was tested yet again that day, when she appeared to get behind the cloud and push it towards earth as if it was a solid object.

He watched slack-jawed for a few moments as the pegasus brought it down to no more than 100 feet above the ground, and then whistled loudly. Several other pegasuses....pegasus'?....pegasi flew up, and began to stretch and flatten the cloud like it was pizza dough until it covered almost the whole of Ponyville's sky.

As they worked, Asher turned to David and his Dad, who were also watching in fascination.

"What does it say about my life that this isn't the strangest thing I've seen today?"

"Hey, Bob, could you take a look a this?"

"What?"

"I've been checking and refreshing the doppler for Canyon City over the last couple hours, and see this cloud? It hasn't moved at all."

"Aw, what the- that glitch again? Call the IT guys."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Yeah, since when do clouds hold still in Colorado? If they don't have it fixed soon let me know."

She didn't feel nearly as confident as she sounded. She had no doubt Asher could provide a lot of knowledge, but where she needed help the most she was on her own.

"What's the matter, Twilight?" Rarity asked. Twilight immediately blinked and shook herself, realizing that she must have been showing her concern.

"It's no big deal Rarity."

Rarity raised one eyebrow, "Twilight, I've known you long enough to know when you're worried, you can tell me."

Twilight sighed and looked around to make sure nopony could hear them. Most of them were busy making Ponyville invisible in the forest, and the humans had already returned home with the promise that Twilight would return the next day.

"Fine. I'm not so sure that they'll be able to help us or if it is even possible."

"Why?"

"I've been constantly checking ever since we left after Scootaloo this morning," Twilight took in a breath. "And I haven't found one drop of magic."