My Little Pony: Magic Ripped Away

The air hung heavy, the wind stilled, leaving an eerie silence as Applejack comprehended the words that had left Twilight’s mouth. After about 15 seconds, Applejack’s mouth fell open as she shook her head.

“Twilight… magic can’t just disappear like that, right? Whaddya mean it’s… gone? Like, it’s not there?” Applejack stuttered out, having a hard time wrapping her head around the situation. Twilight was faring even worse.

“I know magic can’t just disappear like that!” Twilight exclaimed, looking up at the sky as she tried to think, her mind racing at a million miles per hour. The skies were very clear. “But… it is. I can’t… it’s not… I…” She tried to calm her breathing, but the pain that coursed through her body made it hard to even take deep breaths.

Applejack would’ve tried to be the one to settle everypony down, but as she looked over to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, she felt a twinge of fear enter her heart. She next looked at Rarity, seeing her unconscious, and finally at Rainbow Dash, who was still lying on her back, staring up at the sky with wide, unblinking, quivering eyes.

“Rainbow,” Applejack began to limp over to her rainbow-haired friend, her hooves compressing and cracking slightly with each slow, lopsided, painful step. When no response came from Rainbow Dash, she spoke again, but louder. “Rainbow!” No response yet again. Applejack snorted, a little worried by the lack of response from her. She was one of the most active ponies, and even in a scenario like this, she’d be at least up and about, right? “Rainbow Dash!”

At last, Rainbow moved, her eyes flying over to meet Applejack’s, her pupils narrowed considerably, her irises big and wide as she breathed quickly and rapidly. Then, she tried to roll onto her hooves, her wings moving with her, causing her to let out a cut-off wail, her eyes squeezing shut. “AJ… w-what the buck… is happening?”

Relieved that words had finally left Rainbow’s lips yet concerned about her health, Applejack sighed and shook her head side to side, finally stopping a few feet away from Rainbow, and sliding down onto her stomach. “I got no clue… but, if what Twilight said is true, then I’d reckon that it has to do with our magic… disappearing.”

“Disappearing?” Rainbow’s eyes flew open as she looked back at Applejack, letting out a disbelieving chuckle. “No way! That’s not-” She rolled onto her stomach, her wing audibly cracking, causing a hoarse cry to escape her lips, finally causing her to look at her wings. Then, she froze, staring at the state of her feathered appendages. It looked like every feather had been attacked by a knife, cracked, split, and bent in a different way, some even leaking a few drops of crimson blood. “But that’s… holy shit…” Staring at her wings, the pain became worse, causing her to let out a strange dampened whimper.

“It happened to all of us… not just you or Twilight, but me, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity too.” Applejack felt her ears lower slightly as she looked behind her at the rest of her friends, specifically Rarity, who’d yet to wake up. However, her eyes also drifted to the wooden buildings not too far off in the distance. Ponyville. “But I pray to Celestia it didn’t affect others too.”

Rainbow, however, was not listening, her eyes instead transfixed on her broken wings, her mouth dropped open slightly as she began to tremble.

“You stay here, sugarcube, I’ll check on Rarity and them, okay?” Applejack hesitantly stood, her legs wobbling as she didn’t wait for a response from Rainbow. Instead, she limped over to Rarity, who lay unmoving on her stomach. “Rarity,” she said as she got within earshot, trying to see if she’d awake. “Rarity, you okay?” She wasn’t expecting a response, but, you know, it was worth a shot.

Reaching the unconscious mare’s side, she raised a hoof to poke her in the side, pressing a little hard to see if any reaction would provoke her. But, there was none. If her chest did not rise and fall, a pony would think her to be dead. “Rarity!” Applejack shouted, a little worried. A pony shouldn’t be out this long, but then again, she didn’t know much about horn trauma. But, Twilight was still up and about, even with her horn cracked nearly in half.

Her thoughts were cut short as another shrill cry from Fluttershy pierced the air and Applejack whirled her head around to see her staring at her wings, Pinkie Pie still trying to soothe her, this time to no avail.

“M-my wings, my WINGS! Oh, ah- AHH!” Fluttershy’s scream reverberated through the land around the hill, the leaves of the tree above them vibrating from its sheer intensity. Then, the scream faded, and so did Fluttershy herself as her head flopped to the ground, falling unconscious as well. Pinkie Pie eventually perked her head up, her blue eyes looking around a bit before spotting Twilight. Then, she stood up, her legs wobbling a bit before she began to walk over to her, still limping heavily.

“Twilight,” She began, catching the attention of the purple alicorn who’d been staring into space, mumbling under her breath. “What… what’s happening? Everything’s going wrong, and I feel… different, aside from the pain.” She looked down at her hooves briefly before looking back up.

“I… don’t know exactly what’s happening,” Twilight said quietly, looking aside slightly. “But, I know that whatever happened… took my magic away, and I think it affected all of you as well if I’m going off of injuries alone.” She looked down at her own cracked hooves and back at her tattered wings, grimacing. “Right now, my main concern is… well, trying to figure out what exactly happened, as well as make sure everypony’s okay,” She looked at Ponyville. “Including everypony back at home.”

Pinkie Pie nodded at Twilight’s words, her own mind racing. She felt different than usual, was it because of her magic being taken? She didn’t have much, she thought, so how would it have affected her? “Okay, Twilight,” She eventually said, before looking over her shoulder at Applejack and Rarity. “Should… we check on Rarity?”

“You stay with Fluttershy, she seems to be taking it the worst,” Twilight said, her eyes briefly landing on Rainbow Dash, who seemed to still be staring at her wings, before landing on Rarity. “I’ll check on her.”

Pinkie nodded before turning back to Fluttershy as Twilight began to walk toward AJ and Rarity, her limp less pronounced than Pinkie’s. As she approached, she suddenly noticed Rarity’s left hind leg twitch, her ears flicking as her eyes slowly opened.

“Rarity?” Applejack turned toward her, lowering herself slightly to check on her. “How are you-”

“Oh my!” Rarity suddenly pushed herself up, her head smacking against Applejack’s jaw, causing her to fly backward and land with a heavy thud. “What happened?” Then, she grimaced, looking up at her horn. “What happened to my horn!? My marvelous horn! And my magic!” She looked every which way before her blue eyes landed on Twilight, who’d stopped and was looking at Applejack with concern. “Twilight, be a dear and explain, please! What in the name of Celestia happened while I was out?” She then looked around at Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. “This seems bad…”

Twilight looked back at Rarity and cleared her throat. “I don’t know what specifically caused this, but I do know that we’ve all been affected and that our magic is… gone. Do you not remember the sound? The… the feeling of doom?”

“No, I do not, but… I just can’t believe this. The pain, oh, the pain!” Rarity sat back on her rump, looking up at her horn. “It feels as if Tartarus itself has been unleashed upon me!”

“I feel the same, Rarity, and I’m sure most of us do too,” Twilight said softly, looking down and away some. “But, right now, I feel that we need to move to Ponyville. If we can get help from there, then we’ll be fine.”

“But what if everypony back home had the same thing happen?” Applejack slowly sat up, rubbing her jaw slightly. “Hay, what if Equestria as a whole is affected!?”

“Let’s not think about that right now…” Twilight responded, looking over at the others. “Can you gather them, Rarity? We’re going now.”

Rarity slowly got back onto all four hooves and flipped her mane, despite the pain. “Well, I suppose if this is more than a localized event, then we’ll need everypony possible to help. Oh, and of course, we need to stick together.” She then trotted away toward Pinkie and Fluttershy.

Twilight sighed, looking at the ground. “Well, I’m glad she’s at least a bit level-headed. I can’t even comprehend most of what’s happening, especially with the agony on my head!” She grits her teeth and looks up at her fractured horn.

Applejack watched Rarity trot away before responding to Twilight. “Maybe it’s her way of coping, Twi. I mean, she has a horn like you, and y’all always talk about how sensitive it is. I reckon she’s keeping her pain inside right now so she can try and lighten the mood. Or, maybe she’s… well, I dunno…” She looked back at Ponyville with a distant look in her eye. “I’ve gotta get my act together too. I can’t be sitting around thinkin’ I’m hurtin’ when the rest of y’all are obviously hurtin’ more.”

Rarity soon returned, carrying Fluttershy on her back, straining with each step. Pinkie Pie followed just behind, her limp causing her to walk slower than normal. “Well, I’ve acquired Fluttershy. Rainbow said she’d be with us shortly.”

“How soon is ‘shortly’?” Applejack asked, looking over at Rarity, and seeing her carrying Fluttershy, she walked over, powering through her limp, and stood by her side. “Here, let me carry half of ‘er.”

Rarity didn’t complain as Applejack began to carry half of Fluttershy’s weight, but upon hearing her groan, she raised an eyebrow. “I can carry Fluttershy myself, dear. There’s no need for you to cause yourself such pain.”

“I’m good, Rarity, trust me,” Applejack said, breathing through gritted teeth, looking over at her with a small grin. “Y’all goin’ through worse.”

Rarity rolled her eyes but smiled slightly. “You’re always like this, aren’t you?”

Applejack snorted. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, darling, nothing.”

Soon enough, Rainbow Dash trotted up to the group, her eyes blank and trained on the grass under her hooves. Twilight looked over at her and smiled slightly. “Ready to go, Rainbow?”

“...” Rainbow didn’t answer, leaving a tense silence to hang in the air. Twilight looked away slightly, her smile faltering as she eventually turned fully toward Ponyville.

“W-Well, are we all ready to go?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Rarity answered, nodding slightly, giving Applejack a side glance.

“Yup, I’m ready to get this show on the road,” Applejack said, returning the glance with a slight chuckle.

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie said, suddenly cheerful. “We’ve got some investigating to do, as well as some first-aid and snacking!”

Twilight nodded at Pinkie’s words before stepping forward slightly. “Well, then let’s go!”

With that, they all began to walk forward, slowly descending down the shallow hill, except for Rainbow Dash, who stayed behind for a few seconds, staring at the ground. “...I can’t… fly anymore…”

Pinkie Pie looked back at Rainbow, frowning slightly. “Rainbow, c’mon!”

Rainbow looked up slightly before letting out a sad grunt and trotting forward to catch up with the group, leaving the picnic on the hill behind as they set out toward Ponyville.