The Prompt: “Magic has disappeared from Equestria.”
"BRRRRING!!! BRRRRRRRRING!!!"
Twilight groaned as she woke up. The new alarm clock seemed like such a good idea ever since Spike had made it clear that he wasn't going to wake up early enough to wake her at her preferred wakeup time, but actually hearing it was another story. She didn't understand what was so bad about waking up at 7 AM; it left her with an entire day chock-full of studying and seeing her friends! She glanced over at the baby dragon, sleeping atop his pile of cushions on the other side of the room. He could be so lazy sometimes.
Twilight yawned, then decided that she'd heard quite enough of the alarm. She lit her horn up to bring the clock over. Or, at least, she went through the usual process that she would go through in order to light her horn up and float things over to herself. This time, though, something didn't work quite right. There was no light emitting from her forehead. There was no little crimson aura surrounding the clock. And there was certainly no aforementioned clock floating towards her. Twilight crossed her eyes and looked up at her forehead. Her horn was still there. In the past, checking for such a thing would have seemed silly, but ever since Discord removed it, it was worth checking. The horn also looked perfectly fine, and she knew she hadn't trodden through any poison joke recently. Maybe she wasn't concentrating hard enough? Twilight tried again, but it was no use.
"Don't panic, Twilight," Twilight whispered to herself. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this. And I could probably think of what it is if that ALARM WOULD STOP RINGING!" Twilight covered her mouth after she'd finished shouting those last few words. She glanced over to Spike. Somehow, even through the alarm and the shouting, he remained asleep. She briefly thought again about how lazy she was before trying to reach the alarm without getting out of bed. Alas, it was just out of reach of her hooves. It took some rotating around and stretching before she finally managed to grab it with her hind hooves. Picking things up without magic was HARD. She had no clue how earth ponies and pegasi did it...although Fluttershy was quite nimble with those feathers of hers...but there wasn't time to think about that now. This alarm had to be shut off, and she had to figure out why her levitation wasn't working. Twilight awkwardly tossed the alarm clock from between her hind hooves, intending to catch it with her forehooves. Such a thing did not happen, as the clock flew past her face and landed on the floor, breaking. So much for the new alarm clock...but at least the noise had stopped.
Twilight had no more time to waste. Such a strange magical anomaly had to be scrutinized immediately. Twilight tried to teleport to her lab, but her horn refused to cooperate. She sighed and decided to cast a spell on her legs to make her move faster, but that was no use either. The purple unicorn flopped to her haunches. THIS was a problem. It wasn't just her levitation that wasn't working; it was her magic in general! Twilight got straight back up and bolted down the stairs to her study.
Upon entering the study, Twilight began madly pulling books off of the shelves, trying to find anything she could on magic anomalies like this. This task exhausted her, as she was nowhere near used to doing such a thing without the use of magic, but her sheer determination helped her push through it as best she could. Once she felt that she had enough books (A situation which would normally never come up, as Twilight ALWAYS felt short on books when all it took to get more was a simple levitation spell), she grabbed the first one and put it on the desk. Or she would have if it didn't slip right out of her hooves. After a few more tries, she finally slapped the book onto the table and maneuvered her hooves around to open it. She located what she needed in the table of contents, then flipped madly to the page.
"A-ha!" Twilight said. "What to do when your spells won't shine!" Twilight mumbled the opening to the section to herself. The section started off with brief descriptions of magic that she was already familiar with, but she couldn't just not read them; they were part of the book, and every bit of it was written with care. Finally, near the end of the page, she saw what she needed. "If your spells won't work, make sure first that your horn is still there." Twilight nodded with a satisfied grin, in the knowledge that she'd already done the first step. "Second, make sure your horn is stiff. A floppy horn cannot transmit magic." She remembered being unable to cast spells during her encounter with the poison joke, and was once again satisfied that she'd already taken this step. "If your horn is still in its usual place and as rigid as ever, then there is only one solution. The magic is..." Twilight reached the end of the page. She brought her hoof up and hastily turned the page, then continued on the next page.
"...Gone from Equestria."
Twilight stared at that page. No...no, it couldn't be...but a book said it. This was a very well-respected research book, and it would never lie. Twilight slumped to the floor, not even knowing what to do with herself. Magic...gone? What would she do? Her special talent was magic...without it, what good was she?
"I...I can't believe it..." Twilight moaned, curling up into a fetal position. She curled her tail up between her hind legs and began to stroke it, trying to calm herself down. As she did so, Spike dragged his feet downstairs, grumbling and groaning.
"What's with all the noise at this time of morning?" Spike asked, looking generally annoyed. He then saw Twilight curled up on the floor and rushed over. "Twilight? What's the matter?"
"M...magic...gone...from Equestria..." Twilight stammered, stroking her tail even more.
"What?!" Spike exclaimed. "Where did you hear this?"
"Page 42, last paragraph," Twilight whimpered, pointing weakly up to the book. Spike looked at it and turned back a few pages.
"There is only one solution," Spike read. "The magic is..." Spike carefully turned to the next page with his deft dragon fingers. "...Blocked. This is a rare occurrence known as 'magical backup,' and cures itself within a few days."
"...What??" Twilight asked, getting up. She looked at the book...yes, that's exactly what it said. Then she facehooved. In her haste, she must have turned more than one page! She looked at the last paragraph on the right page, and saw that it was going into a description of the showdown between Celestia and Luna 1,000 years ago. "...And with a tear in her eye, Celestia made sure that her sister Luna was..." She had Spike turn the page. "...Gone from Equestria." Spike just shook his head.
"You've gotta be more careful, Twilight," Spike said with a yawn. "Now I'm going back to bed. Sorry about your magical whatsit." With that, Spike headed back upstairs. Twilight just sat, staring off into the middle distance.