The Day the Magic Died
The Moon was on its last legs.
At present, it hung in the beautiful night sky, showering Equestria in a blanket of soft white light.
Yet, as it washed over Canterlot Castle, it knew that it was almost time for the dawn to take over.
Upon the highest tower of the magnificent castle, there was a tiny balcony, barely visible in all the majesty and grandeur of the castle.
Even so, this balcony served perhaps the most important function in the entire city of Canterlot. Without it, there would not be a cycle of day and night.
As the moon waited for its sister's patron controller, the double doors to the balcony were thrust open, and out into the black night trotted an alabaster white alicorn, the regent of Equestria.
This balcony was where Princess Celestia traditionally raised the Sun, every day without fail. And so it was that today she would once again do the same routine.
The alicorn Princess let out a gentle sigh as she regarded her sister's night. Like a couple performing a dance, the Sun and Moon worked in tandem. As she rose the Sun, the Moon would dance across the sky in the wake of her partner, before disappearing silently beyond the horizon.
She smiled softly. Every day was the same, but she still took pride in bringing the first crack of daylight to her little ponies down below.
Ready to raise the Sun, she focused her magic into her horn, expecting to feel the spiritual and magical connection that always came along with it.
It never came, and the Sun did not rise over the horizon.
Celestia shivered in place; something was wrong. The Sun should've begun its journey across the sky, but it wasn't. Feeling slight fear, she looked deep into the fabric of her magic, which housed the core of the power vested in her by her cutie mark.
As she looked deep inside herself, she noticed that her connection to the Sun was missing.
It felt so wrong to her. She had been raising the Sun for over a thousand years. She and it obviously shared a very close connection. Without that connection, she felt like a piece of herself was missing... like her cutie mark was rendered completely void.
There was something else that put her on edge. No matter how much she searched for it, she could not feel even the slightest amount of magic within her or even around her.
Being an alicorn of her age, she knew such a thing was impossible. Magic was intrinsic to the very world of Equestria. It was the apex of pony society. It allowed them to maintain the order and control that was necessary for harmony. It allowed them to control the weather, control the plants and animals, and yes, control the Sun. Without this control, the balance of order and harmony, these aspects of Equestria would fall apart at their seams, and the world could not function.
She desperately probed for any magic, but it was no use. There was nothing.
Celestia felt a twinge of fear settle in her stomach. What would happen now? Without her magic, the Sun would simply remain stationary in the sky. Was Equestria destined for nothing more than a perpetual hour before dawn?
She closed her eyes, but as she did, a little crack of sunlight hit her face. Feeling the sensation that was so familiar to her, Celestia's eyes snapped open quickly, and she peered across the balcony over the horizon.
What she saw made her mouth go dry.
Peeking over the horizon was a small sliver of her glorious sun. It wasn't much, yet she could not mistake the unmistakeable view of a sunrise.
She stood motionless for several more minutes, and the strange feeling she had worsened as the sunrise continued. Yet, she was not the one guiding it.
Without her guidance, and without any magic to support it, the Sun was making its journey across the sky, completely unhindered.
Celestia swallowed nervously. It felt like a hole had been burned in her stomach, and she felt emptier than ever, like she had no purpose.
She coughed lightly.
Applejack was always up at the crack of dawn.
Her job demanded it.
Even at the crack of dawn, there were chores to do around the farm, so she and her brother were always up and at 'em whenever the Sun poked across the horizon.
Today was no exception, and she had a full orchard of apples to harvest at this time of year.
The chilly autumn breeze rustled the Stetson from her head, and she lifted a hoof up to adjust it right back into place. She smiled, hoping to get a great deal of work done today.
After grabbing some breakfast from Granny Smith, the orange earthpony made her way out into the orchard. Near the very center of the line of trees, she saw the cart that her brother had left out there yesterday, with a few empty buckets in the back.
Sighing, she lifted a bucket from the back and placed it at the base of the tree. She did the same for a few more, so the entire tree was surrounded by them.
Grinning deviously, she turned her hind legs towards the tree, and shot out with a powerful kick from both of them that hit the tree with a heavy impact.
Her grin became wider, as she longed to hear the sound of apples falling from their branches straight into the buckets at the bottom.
Nothing came.
Perplexed, she kicked again. The tree did not budge, and no apples came spilling from their branches. She grunted in frustration, kicking two more times.
Still, nothing.
It was at this point that Applejack was starting to get worried. Being an earthpony, she had a unusual connection to plants and the earth, and her earthpony magic gave her enhanced physical strength.
As she kicked the tree, she noticed that her strength was gone, and she no longer felt the connection to her apple trees that had long since been there.
She usually didn't have the patience for fancy magic, but even she could tell that something was up.
Her eyes wide with fear and concern, she made her way back to the farmhouse.
On the way, she coughed lightly.
As the morning began, it was time for Fluttershy to tend to her many animal friends.
She climbed out of bed, humming a cheerful tune to herself as she went about her day.
She tended to notice something was off, as the cottage would usually be bustling with little animals, some of them waiting on her to bring them their breakfast.
This morning, there was not a single animal in sight in her cottage. Not even Angel Bunny was anywhere to be seen, and he was always bothering Fluttershy for a carrot by this time of day.
She continued to hum the melody to herself as she descended down the stairs, and she gasped in fright and alarm when she saw the state of her living room and kitchen.
The kitchen was hit worst of all. Cupboards and drawers were open completely, with her silverware and cooking pots strewn all over the floor. Bits and pieces of food were splattered all over the floor, walls, and windows as well. Small and large claw marks decorated the kitchen along with the food stains.
Gasping, she backpedaled into the living room again. There were similar claw marks over the walls and furniture in here as well. Pillows and cushions had been ripped open by sharp claws, and the decorations on the walls had been knocked over. Her front door had been opened forcibly.
The only conclusion the pegasus could come to was that her animal friends had grown impatient for food. But, they've never behaved this way before, and she still didn't know where they went.
The yellow pegasus burst out of the open door out into her front yard. The fence had been broken as well, as all her chickens were gone. As she came to rest at the chicken coop, she noticed a few stray feathers and a pool of blood at the base.
She teared up slightly; who would do such a thing, and why? All her animal friends were gone, and she felt sick to her stomach in more ways than one.
The Everfree Forest loomed ahead of her cottage, but at its base was a familiar white rabbit. The sight made her forget her chicken coop for just a moment.
Fluttershy's mood upturned as she spotted her beloved Angel Bunny at the edge of the forest. Not using her wings, she darted out of the gate to her cottage and up to the rabbit as quickly as she possibly could.
The bunny stared up at her blankly as she approached. Normally, the rabbit was completely sentient, and would be able to understand anything that Fluttershy said to him. Now however, he stared up at her with a neutral look on his face, even as his owner beamed at him.
He felt no connection to her.
Fluttershy reached a hoof out to pet the bunny, but the rabbit sidestepped it and hopped away into the dark canopy of the forest.
She stood there in shock, an expression of absolute hurt and sadness appearing on her face as her precious rabbit rejected her.
Her mind reeled in agony, and she struggled to understand what she did wrong. Was she a bad owner? Was there something wrong with the house? Why did Angel, and the rest of her animals, forsake her?
She felt her wings tense up, before her mind focused. As she approached Angel, she noticed something different about the encounter that struck her.
Her special talent was taking care of animals; it was what her cutie mark represented. She had always found a unique magical connection with animals. They understood her, and she understood them. They were the best true companions a pony could ask for.
Yet, when she talked to Angel, that connection was gone. It was like talking to a pony who spoke a different language.... no, more than that. More than just words, Angel did not understand her, and she did not understand Angel. That was why he simply ignored her, and took cover underneath the heavy canopy of the Everfree Forest.
She heard the distant growl of a beast in the Everfree Forest, and it reminded her of how her animals had left her. They had not waited for her this morning, instead opting to find food on their own.
They were beginning to care for themselves, just like the animals of the Everfree Forest. The unnatural way.
She no longer felt her magical connection to animals, and could no longer take care of them. And that thought scared her.
She coughed lightly.
The Sun was rising higher and higher into the sky, bathing Rainbow Dash in its light as she napped in one of her favorite clouds.
The sunlight passed, and less than one second later she was falling through the normally fluffy cloud, rapidly approaching the ground.
The rainbow-maned pegasus was jostled awake by the sudden movement, and she took the time to stare dumbly up at the cloud she had just been napping on. It was like it had the consistency of water, which was impossible.
The cloud she had been napping on remained in place for just a few seconds before an even stranger occurrence happened. The cloud began to move, slowly but surely, without a pegasus pony to guide it.
It occurred to Rainbow Dash that clouds moving on their own was impossible too, unless they're clouds from the Everfree. All weather was directed by pegasus ponies. Without pony control, weather could not occur. That was just a fact.
As she finished mulling over the intricacies of weather control, she finally seemed to realize that she was plummeting to the ground. The situation was strange, but it wasn't like she was actually in any danger.
She spread her wings, hoping to feel the familiar magic underneath them as she began to take flight.
It never came.
She began flapping her wings crazily, trying desperately to feel that magic that allowed them to work.... that allowed her to fly and soar.
Her wings were her lifeblood; they couldn't fail her now. Fate, however, had different plans.
No matter how hard she beat them, she would not stay aloft.
She could not fly.
Panic and fear overtook her as she plummeted towards the ground, landing in a pile of bushes outside of the Ponyville square.
Her head poked out of the bushes as she spat out a few leaves. She had a few cuts and bruises here and there, but otherwise the bushes had cushioned her fall, thankfully.
That didn't stop her panic from setting in, however. She tried buzzing her wings to bring herself to fly, but even when she was ground-bound it didn't work.
She looked towards the sky longingly, already missing the feeling of flying. She didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't be good.
When she was looking across the sky, something caught her eye.
The city of Cloudsdale hung suspended several miles outside of Canterlot, though at its size it was still clearly visible from her vantage point. The majestic white city stood pristine in the clouds, though as Dash stared at it, she noticed something was off.
Hundreds of tiny dots were dropping out of Cloudsdale like rain. They were plummeting to the Earth at an incredibly unsafe rate.
A cold fear overcame Dash when she realized what was happening.
The Cloudsdale Pegasi were falling out of the sky...
It wasn't just the pegasi. The entire city of Cloudsdale itself began to plummet as the magic surrounding the city began to fail. The pure white buildings and houses fell from the clouds that supported them. Even the pride of Cloudsdale, the weather factory, was among them.
The pegasi, without any flight or magic cloud-walking ability, were doomed to fall.
Dash screamed in horror as her hometown plummeted, though she felt a shameful amount of relief that she was not amongst the pegasi that were falling.
With Cloudsdale gone, and the flight of the pegasi removed, there was nothing that set them apart from other ponies except for useless wings.
Dash felt like crying.
She coughed lightly.
In the middle of the Ponyville library, Twilight Sparkle was poring over any and all information she could.
The studious unicorn had already noticed what was occurring when she woke. Magic was an integral part of her daily routine, and when her telekinesis failed, she knew something was happening.
When she looked deep inside herself and felt no magic whatsoever, she struggled to comprehend it. It just felt so.... wrong. She didn't have any other words to describe how it felt, other than perhaps empty.
It wasn't something that returned to her either. After hours of trying new spells, and failing to perform even one of them, she came to the conclusion that her magic was gone.
She had taken to her other standby of books to try and figure out a solution to this problem. To see if she could regain her magic.
Spike was running to and fro throughout the library, taking tomes off of shelves and handing them to Twilight. Without her magic, she was going at a much slower pace, her frustration increasing by the minute as she found nothing on the absence of magic within a unicorn.
She held out a hoof, and cleared all the books from her desk in her frustration. She was getting more and more desperate; she just wanted this horrible feeling to end.
It seemed to be getting worse by the minute, and she was scared of it. This empty feeling where she knew her magic once was.
Calling to Spike, she abandoned her research in books and darted out the front door to the library, galloping onto the streets as her lungs burned from the lack of magic.
After a minute of running, she collapsed into the dirt, but not from exhaustion. The burning sensation in her lungs was getting stronger, and she hacked and coughed in the dirt.
She felt a sharp pain in her backside, and instinctively she looked at her flank, and she almost screamed when she saw what was happening.
Her cutie mark, once boldly displayed upon her flank... was fading. Not just that, but when she raised her hooves, she noticed that it wasn't just her cutie mark.
Her entire body was fading.
Her mind whirred at the fact. What was happening? Why was this happening? As the cogs in her brain turned, she remembered what a certain book said about the anatomy of a pony.
Pony bodies were unique. Along with griffons and dragons, they were one of several species that were intrinsically magical. That meant that not only were abilities such as pegasi flight and earth-pony strength tied to magic, their bodies were as well.
Magic existed within every single cell of a pony's body, down to the very basics. Without magic, ponies could not live.
No... without magic, ponies could not exist.
She screamed in horror as her body faded in and out of existence, but she wasn't the only one. In her panic, she looked around at the other ponies on the street. Their bodies were in similar condition; they were fading as well, and they didn't know what to do about it.
So, it was true. Magic had disappeared from their bodies, if not from the world itself. That would explain why she saw pegasi fall from the sky earlier, and why they were all disappearing now.
Twilight gave one last try of her magic, but it was no use.
It was gone.
No one knew what had happened.
No one knew where it went.
Yet, everypony seemed to figure out one thing...
When the magic left, so would they...
A lone donkey trotted into Ponyville, setting a stony gaze upon the sleepy little village. Not a soul was out on the streets.
A solitary wind rustled the sign posts of empty houses and businesses of the desolate village, creating an eerie creaking noise that reverberated throughout the village.
He didn't question it. He already knew what had happened when the weather had started acting strange, and unicorn magic everywhere began to fade.
He knew it. After all these years, the magic had finally disappeared.
It had been such a fundamental aspect of the ponies' entire lives. They had done so many amazing things with their magic, things a donkey like him could never hope to achieve.
They used it to control the weather. They used it to keep nature in check. And they used it to raise the Sun and Moon across the heavens.
Truly incredible.
Yet, the donkey couldn't help but wonder whether that had been their downfall. Magic had existed within the veins of every pony alive. But beyond that, they were overreliant on it.
When the magic disappeared, so did the ponies. Not just in Ponyville, but in all of Equestria. All of the ponies had faded out of existence at the same time.
They did not go out with a bang or even a whisper, but instead with just a profound silence that carried itself along with the breeze.
The donkey pulled his cart into Ponyville, sitting down where Sugarcube Corner was.
And yet, life continued on.
The Sun carried itself along the sky, with the Moon following it close behind when it came to be nightfall. Neither of the Celestial bodies needed a caretaker to carry them.
Weather also continued on its own, albeit far more unpredictable now without the control of the pegasi.
Even the plants and animals were able to survive without the ponies' help. The critters still ran around Ponyville and the surrounding areas, managing to find food for themselves as they lived on their own for the first time they could remember.
Everything continued on without the ponies.
The donkey sighed again. Perhaps the ponies did not need to establish such a control over their surrounding environment. Perhaps they could've established their own lifestyle without going to such lengths, but it was a shame that magic was intrinsically tied to their bodies. The donkey would never know.
The ponies and other magical creatures were now gone, disappearing into the wind. But he was still around, for he was a donkey. Species such as donkeys, buffalo, and cows did not carry a single drop of magic in their bodies.
In a new world where animals cared for themselves, the weather was uncontrollable, and the Sun moved across the sky on its own, they would be the ones left behind to pick up all the pieces.
