Once upon a time, in the land of Equestria, there was magic. A great kingdom was built, peace reigned, and ponies led simple, prosperous lives. Then, without warning, the magic left.
*******
Walking among the festival tents and shrouded in root colored cloaks were a colt and an older mare. The mare was a purple unicorn with a short black mane and she had a metal staff hanging off her side that was much to big for her. Her horn was wrapped in a detachable metal case.
Trailing behind her was a scraggly young earth pony whose mane was short and white and whose fur had a violet tint. He was the ace in the hole when the mare messed up.
The purple mare walked behind a carousal and began prodding at the electrical box. A glowing blue line running from the tip of her horn to her forehead formed on the metal casing and then some tools levitated from her cloak and moved to the open electrical box. After a moment, she packed up and closed the box.
The carousal worker walked over. He was a young blue stallion who was built sturdy and who looked bored. He asked what the mare was doing.
“I'm a part of the festival's electrician team. I was tasked to go around and randomly check electrical equipment. Everything has already been tested beforehand, so I am not expecting anything unusual, but it can't hurt to have a pony on site.”
He accepted the response and went back to his booth.
The two walked away. Once a bit of distance was built between them and the carousal, the mare looked behind her at the scraggly colt and began talking.
"If you act like you belong, nobody will question you. They don't teach you that in school, nor the tribe I'm guessing, but it's valuable life lesson. “
A moment of silence passed. The mare looked back again and kept talking.
"Aren't you wondering why we are here?“
The colt did not meet her gaze. Everything else looked more fun. "I assumed it was something important.“ he said.
"At the last second I received important orders from your father. We must stay hidden and capture two black and white pegasi, last seen heading here.“
The colt looked around. Every tent had somepony inside and crowds littered the area. He made sure to speak this time.
"What's important about these two, Gale?“
Gale stopped and spun around "Well Star Gazer, I am glad you asked.“
She took a moment to glance first at the drones in the sky and then to her surroundings. Most ponies had already sat down somewhere in the limited-light zone to watch the show, but it was still crowded enough to make Gale frown. Then she shrugged.
“Did the hyena tribe ever teach you about our legends?”
“Be more specific. ”
“Well, surely, at least your father taught you about the Elements of Harmony? All about how our ancestors had all these cool powers and ancient artifacts and were protected by mythological princesses and guardians?”
Lightning Oak hadn't taught him about this. “I thought it was all mythology.”
"Well, not according to your father.“
A glowing blue line formed at the base of her horn emitter and wrapped around it until it reached the tip. Her staff levitated from her side and planted itself in the ground. She looked to the sky and started adjusting its placement. This was unusually bold of her.
“I have no idea how he figured it out, nor do I think I want to know, but he says that these two pegasi are related to these legends." Her voice trailed off. After a moment, she spoke up again "Gotcha. Can you close your eyes for a moment? You will know when to open them.”
The world went dark. Around Star Gazer were fun melodies and the prosody of voices. He heard children on the carousal ride, and the engine of the ride itself. In the stand to his left, something was sizzling. A group was laughing to his right, and the pony telling the joke had a foreign accent. There were sounds everywhere, including the important one right in front of him.
Then Star Gazer heard a split second rush of air above him. Then something clicked where Gale should be, and in front of that was the clacking of a touchscreen. Star Gazer swore that Gale was performing real telekinesis sometimes, any other pony would have fumbled moving two objects magnetically at once.
She spoke again, her voice a little bit clearer "He says that they can bring the magic back.“
Every single light went out.
There were a few screams, but the prevailing sound was hushed tones. Star Gazer opened up his eyes and saw Gale looking at somewhere on his face. She nodded. He ran.
Everything was clear. His eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, and this gave him precious seconds where he was the only pony who could see. Most ponies couldn't do much with so little time, yet Gale thought it was worth it to give him just that extra bit. She had planted an EMP at the local transformers, and just now her staff shot an EMP firework into the air, frying the local grid.
Well, she said something along those lines. Star Gazer didn't yet understand this whole 'electricity' thing nor did he care to learn.
He ran through the crowds, checking each pony. Two black and white pegasi who were unlikely to be apart were to be found. Implied to be alive, as well. Black makes a silhouette at night, but that does not help in a dense area. Furthermore, Gale's staff did not reach Canterlot. If it did, ponies wouldn't see the city in the distance and would thus already be panicking.
Her EMP did reach the festival drones though, and Star Gazer knew that it would be a matter of time before somepony would hear a crash and come to the festival to complain about a drone destroying their field. Word would get out, and ponies would start leaving.
He looped around the next big tent. Star Gazer was going to stake out at the festival entrance.
*****
Gale walked through the crowds under the guise of finding something to eat. She could hardly see past her own horn, but she didn't bump into anypony. A few stands had open fires for cooking, and these fires provided light for the crowds around them.
She managed to make her way to a bar table of one such tent and was about to order something. After scanning the ponies around her and finding nothing of value, Gale was ready to head to the next tent. Then she heard a bored couple discuss leaving, and an idea hit her. Soon, everypony would be leaving in droves. “So they will all have to pass by the entrance” she said to herself.
Gale saw the couple she overheard begin to leave, and so she too decided to make off.
“Maybe a drone malfunctioned?” said the mare to her partner.
Gale turned the opposite direction and made her way to the fields. Somepony was going to discover a graveyard of drones and run over here, and the last thing she wanted was mass panic.