Exiting the smell intoxicating building, I had a spring in my step as I carried a box of freshly baked goods. I don't know what brought it on but I felt like doing something nice for my friends.
"Luna should be at the library by now. She's gonna love these cupcakes!" I happily said.
I carried on my merry way, glancing at the many ponies who decorated the streets in one of the brightest days of the year. Many greeted me as a normal being. Supposed I've fit in now - I'm no longer an inval--
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
"What the? ARGH!"
A extremely white light blocked my view, causing me to shield my eyes with my hands. I could hear the screams of every pony in town, screaming at whatever this was.
"AAAHHH--"
And like that, it stopped. I uncovered my eyes to see the light had diminished. I look around to see no-one here. Turning to look again and again, I saw nothing. Not a single pony was to be seen. No sounds. Nothing.
"Hello? Anyone?!"
*BOOM*
A earth-shattering thud was felt and a booming sound echoed.
*BOOM*
It was getting closer. I dropped the box of baked goods and sprinted off into the opposite direction that the sound was coming from.
*BOOM*
"Not that way!" I shouted at myself, turning around and running again, sweat dripping from my face.
*BOOM*
"I...I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO!" Fear was setting in and I fell to the floor, curling myself into a ball, whimpering slightly. "SOMEONE HELP!"
*BOOM*
"ANYONE?!"
"ARGH!" I screamed as I jolted upright into a seated position. My vision buzzed as I tried to regain my focus. When my sight returned, I looked around the room and to my still sleeping partner. I sighed and lay back on the bed.
"Just a dream...a god awful nightmare more like!"
"hnng...huh?"
I looked to my left and saw that Luna had awoken, trying to fix her gaze on me.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" I asked, caressing the back of her head.
"That's quite alright...*YAWN*...Are you alright? You look worried." she asked with concern.
I rubbed the back of my head. "Uh...yeah. I'm alright now. I just had a bad dream."
Luna leant towards me and pulled me into a hug, kissing my forehead. I responded by returning a kiss onto her cheek and nuzzling against her. I loved her so much. It's moments like these that--
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
"What the?" I sat upright again with shock. It sounded just like it did in the dream. But now it made sense and I recognised that noise. "Someone's at the door. I'll get it."
I got out of bed and put on some boxers and a t-shirt. Making my way downstairs, I chuckled at the revelation of the noise. All that scary stuff in the dream was someone knocking on a door. Unbelievable.
"Why won't it work?"
"What's going on?"
Listening carefully, I could hear a plethora of voices coming from outside, along with a bit of screaming. Something was wrong. I got to the front door and opened it up, to reveal a worried Applejack.
"Hey AJ. What's with everyone?" I asked.
"It's everypony! We can't do anything right!" she shouted at me with worry.
"Can't do anything? What are you on about?"
"Come an' have a look here!" She led me outside to a cacophony of mess and noise. Ponies were running around all over the place, screaming the odds. Some were crying, some were in the foetal position but most were just running about screaming.
"What's going on? Why is everyone going crazy?!" I shouted to AJ above the noise.
"Ponies are panickin' because we can't do our natural abilities! Look!" AJ walked over to a nearby cart and hoisted herself to it. She attempted to pull with all of her might but the cart didn't budge. "Ah can't pull this cart anymore!"
I walked over and inspected it. The cart was near empty and looked like nothing was stopping it from moving. "You sure it's not just broken?"
AJ unhoisted herself and pointed towards the screaming townsfolk. "Just look around! See for yourself!"
As she instructed, I looked around and observed the scenes. Many earth ponies were struggling to lift/pull/balance things. The pegasii weren't flying, as they normally would. I spotted Rainbow spreading her wings and jumping in the air, attempting to fly but she fell straight back down again as did many other pegasii. Looking further, I could see that a group of unicorns were trying to conjure spells, only to rewarded with nothing. I walked over to the group and saw that Rarity was among them.
"Rarity! You having trouble as well?!" I asked her with a shout.
"It's most troublesome! I cannot levitate anything, even the simplest of fabrics. Nopony here can do it either!" she replied, her voice teetering between panic and sobbing.
I turned back. "Rainbow! You got problems too?!"
She flexed her wings to their full extent. "I can't fly! I can stretch my wings but I can't take to the air! Being grounded is not cool!" As she attempted again, all of the group tried together, all producing the same result.
I walked back to AJ and rubbed the back of my head. "OK, what the hell is going on?" We both looked around again at the carnage before us. This town was on the brink of social collapse and everyone needed to calm down, otherwise ponies were going to get hurt. "AJ, go and gather the girls and bring them here!"
"What good will that do?" she retorted.
"Princess Luna is still here, she stayed here last night. She could provide some information and we need you girls together. From what you've told me, the Elements of Harmony set things right! This could be another one of those times!"
AJ nodded and set off into the crowds. I returned to the library to see that Twilight, Luna and Spike were standing there waiting for me. I looked at them, panting heavily. "We've got a BIG problem."
Twilight walked over to the window and saw the mayhem outside. "What's happened? Everypony's gone beserk!"
I turned to Luna and narrowed my eyes. "Luna, you mentioned the isolated cases of magic problems in Canterlot. Please tell me the truth, were there more?"
Luna shuffled her hooves and looked a tad worried. "Yes. Even with me and Celestia."
I turned back towards Twilight. "Twilight, can you use a levitation spell on those books there." Twilight attempted to do so. Her horn lit up, which was surprising, but the books only moved a few inches before she collapsed.
"I...can't." she weakly replied.
I turned to Luna. "Luna, now you try." Luna did the same and managed to levitate them a little longer before her magic fizzled out.
"The same..." she sadly replied.
"What about flight? Just try to hover for me." I asked. Luna flexed her wings and flapped them, managing to gain some height before she dropped like a stone after a few seconds. I walked over and helped her up. "Alright, OK. Thank you." I said with a smile.
"What's happening here?" Spike asked.
I notioned for them to sit down and they did so. "I don't know. But we're waiting for the girls to arrive, then we'll talk about it." Soon after, AJ, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie all piled into the library, sitting down next to us.
"Of course!"
Twilight's sudden outburst caught us all by surprise. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I think I know what's happening!" We all stared at Twilight, listening to her reasons. "Unicorns can't use magic. Earth ponies can't use their strength and dexterity and Pegasii can't use their wings to fly. What do all of these have in common?"
"Natural pony magic." Luna quietly said, the realisation hitting her.
Twilight pointed a hoof towards her. "Yes Princess! Ponies can't use their natural abilites. Something is affecting pony magic, causing it to cease completely."
A collective gasp was heard as everyone thought about it and agreed. I turned to Luna. "Luna, has this ever happened before?"
She shook her head. "Not that I am aware of. Even Celestia and I do not know what happened before our time so it may have happened in the past but it has never happened during our lifetimes."
"And how long is that?" I asked.
"Just over six thousand years."
I stared at her with wide eyes at her statement. 'Six thousand years?! That's one hell of an age gap!'
"So what are we gonna do about it?" Rainbow asks.
Twilight walked over to Spike. "Spike, take a message. We need it to go to Celestia as soon as possible." She monologued her letter as Spike scribbled it down. The others and I all shared worried looks and stayed silent as Twilight spoke.
I was then that I noticed that everyone's demeanour. All of them were terrified. Focusing on one particular pony, I walked over to her and leant down so that I was face level with her. I put my hands on her shaking shoulders. "Hey...everything's gonna be fine, alright?"
The pink maned pegasus quickly jumped at me, throwing her hooves around my neck whilst whimpering quietly. I put my hand on her back, stroking her neck trying to get her to calm down. I lifted her up and sat down on a chair, resting her on my lap. I'd never done something like this before so I had no idea if I was comforting her or scaring her. With the result of her whimpering ceasing, I think I did the trick.
Fluttershy looked up at me with those adorable teary eyes and gave me her best smile. It was forced but I was happy to receive it. She hopped off my lap and went back to the girls.
"Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Spike read back. He breathed his flames onto the letter, sending it on it's way. Weirdly enough, once the flames subsided, the letter was still in Spike's claw, un-singed by his breath. "Huh?"
"Why didn't it send?" I asked.
"Maybe it's to do with the magic. Spike's letters are sent to the Princess with a certain magic that she bestowed upon him. With magic not working, I don't think it'll work." Luna replied.
"So, how are we going to contact the Princess? She needs to know about this!" shouts a shaking Twilight.
I stand up as an idea came to me. Although, it's the only option. "Can't teleport, can't fly, only one option. The train."
"But it takes up to five hours! We need to get there now!" Pinkie pipes up.
"No other choice, except for walking." The girls murmured in agreement. "We're leaving now. No time to waste. AJ and Rarity, you need to make sure you're sisters and family know where you're going. Go and see them now. The rest of us will meet you at the train station as soon as possible."
"Let's go!" Rainbow shouted, before running out of the door with all the girls, bar Luna and Spike in tow. I looked back towards Luna and sighed.
"This can be fixed, right?" I asked.
"We can only hope."
We started making our way for the door before my vision started getting fuzzy. "Hng...whoa..." I groggily say. It was like a hangover. A sudden pain in my head, loss of vision and a sick aftertaste in my mouth. My vision returned as one thing came to my mind.
"The creature! Why did I forget?!"
"Umm..." I look towards Luna, who looks worried. "That was me. You said you saw a creature last night and wanted us to try and see it. We couldn't see anything but you were determined to show us, getting very frustrated at the time. So I...um..."
I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Go on."
"I used a tempoary memory spell on you." Luna took notice of my shocked look. "The night was going to get better and I knew if you were focused on that...it might have ruined our plans..."
She was right in some aspects. "Luna, I'm not happy that you used a spell on me without asking but...I suppose you're right. That would have distracted me. But now that I remembered, I bet it's got something to do with the magic problem!"
"We don't even know if that creature exists. For all we know, it could be your mind playing tricks on you."
"I know what I saw!" I retorted loudly to her, causing her to flinch. I regretted it instantly. "I'm sorry. It's just...this is a really big problem and I'm really worried about it."
Luna walked up beside me and gave me a small kiss on the cheek. "We all are. Come on." With that, we exited the library and into the mass of chaos.
Walking along with a Princess had many problems. Nearly every pony bombarded her with questions, most of them screaming at her, not caring for royal etiquette at the current time. We managed to fend most of them off before we got to the train station.
Making our way onto the platform, we came across the six girls and Spike as they were talking to the driver of the train.
"But Sir! We need to get to Canterlot right now! This is for royal purposes!" Twilight explained.
A short, black maned earth pony answered back to her. "Look here missy. The train leaves when I say it does and for your--" He turns to see Luna standing just mere meters away from him. "P-P-Princess Luna! It's a honor." he says, bowing.
"I have no time for formal greetings. We need to get to Canterlot immediately. Can you take us there?" she asks with a stern look. The driver raises from his bow and opens up the front carriage for us, with us all getting in. Closing the door behind us, he ascended to the cabin and set the train in motion. On our way to Canterlot at last.
The carriage we were in was the equivalent to first class. We all made our way to a booth, where we began to discuss our options.
"So, when we get to Canterlot, what are we gonna do?" Rainbow asks to anyone.
"I don't know Rainbow. What do you think Princess?" Twilight asks.
"The first course of action would be to meet with my sister. All of us will need to discuss the problem and brainstorm the possible actions to take to rectify the problem." Luna replies.
"I do hope it will be easy..." Fluttershy meekly adds.
The carriage fell into silence as we all pondered what would happen. I got up and walked out of the booth, walking up and down the carriage, examining the rest of the seating. I returned to the booth and spoke up.
"Right girls-" I turned to the baby dragon. "-and Spike. Canterlot is four to five hours away and we could spend that whole time worrying about the situation...but we're not going to. I've looked in this carriage and there is enough space for everyone here to go and relax for a while."
"Relax? How can we relax at a time like this?!" Pinkie shouted, shaking me by the shoulders. I pulled her off and set her down again.
"Because we are going to need our energy for later. I know it's morning but I think we should all try and get some sleep. We need to be mentally invigorated for when we reach Canterlot."
The girls all agreed and walked out of the booth, some going left and some going right. Luna sat down next to me and leant on my shoulder.
"You certainly know what you're doing." she says quietly.
"Not in the foggiest." Luna gives me a quizzical look. I get up to close the booth door. "I'm serious, I have no idea what's going to happen but I do know that you feel more able to think when you have had some rest. Panicking about this situation is only going to make things worse." I sat back down next to Luna, who lay down over my lap.
"Well it seemed to work." She looked up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. "You're not upset with me about earlier are you?"
I stroked her mane softly with my fingertips. "At first, yes I was. But after thinking about it and what you actually did for me..." I leant down and kissed her. "...no, I'm not upset at all." I said with a smile.
Not thirty minutes after that, Luna had drifted off to sleep whilst I was watching the moving scenery out of the window. Watching the trees and the fields go by was releaxing enough for me.
Luna's weight on my lap started to make my legs go numb so I softly lifted her off me and placed her on the booth seating so she could stretch out. I exited the booth and decided to see how everyone else was keeping up.
First, I found Rarity and AJ, huddled on a sofa together, kind of hugging each other as they slept. Seeing how adorable they looked, I left them to it and continued my walk.
I then came across Twilight and Spike who were doing exactly the same thing, but on a section of booth seating. I thought about how it was cute that these ponies have a kind of go-to-friend when they feel upset about something.
Looking into another booth, I saw Pinkie and Rainbow sleeping soundly but not together. Pinkie had herself sprawled out over one side on the booth whilst Rainbow was curled up into a corner of the other side of the seating.
Lastly, I came across Fluttershy who was lying down, facing the window. I didn't know if she was asleep or not but I didn't want to wake her, just in case she was. I walked out of the room and began to walk back.
"Owen?" a voice eminated.
I know that voice. I re-entered the previous booth to see Fluttershy looking back towards me with a neutral expression. This was odd for her, she normally tried to shy away from everyone or she'd give a small smile. I walked over to her and sat down next to her.
"Hey. Not sleepy?"
Fluttershy turned away and shook her head in response.
"Yeah, me neither."
We sat in silence, listening to the click-clack of the rails beneath us. The silence was broken by the unmistakeable noise of a sniff, followed by short shallow breaths.
"Fluttershy? Are you alright?"
'Of course she's not alright you idiot! Comfort her already!'
Fair enough, brain. I reached my hand out and placed it on her back, just above her wings.
"EEP!"
I quickly retracted my hand as she spun around to look at me. "I'm sorry! It's just..." That's when she broke me. Her eyes were red and puffy. Tear streams marked her fur as she tried her best to hold it all in. Seeing this pony in such a state really got to me. Even started to make me tear up. I held my arms open and nodded at her. "Come here."
Fluttershy walked over to me slowly and sat in front of me. More tears were falling from her eyes as she fixed her gaze on me. I used my thumb to wipe away her tears and smiled at her. I placed my arms around her shoulders and pulled her close. She didn't resist which told me that she needed this...as much as I did as well.
"Everything's going to be alright." I said, trying my best not to make my voice break. It was tough.
Fluttershy leant into me more and put her hooves around me neck, burying her face into my chest. I stroked the back of her head and whispered to her. "I'm here for you. You don't need to be...scared" That break in my speech, made my voice finally break on the last word spoken. I felt a tear drop from my eye and roll down my cheek.
Truth be told, I was scared. Terrified of what could happen, terrified of what caused this and terrified of what could happen to my friends. I'd never admit it to them - I need to be strong for them.
Fluttershy and I remained like that for a while, not a word being said from her. Everyone was still asleep so we had no risk of being disturbed. In a time like this, you just need to be there for someone, just to hold them, to care for them.
Fluttershy pulled back from our embrace and looked at my face, gasping at what she saw. She used her hoof to wipe away a few tears that had fallen. I smiled at her, which she returned with another hug, more forceful this time. Her sudden addition of force sent me onto my back. She lay across me and nuzzled my chest. Soon enough, she had fallen asleep and was snoring softly.
I wasn't going anywhere.
The train pulled into Canterlot, letting off steam and scaring a few ponies with the sudden hiss. The jolt woke me up and I opened my eyes, to see the gaze of Luna over me. Knowing where I was and who was on my chest, to say I felt nervous would be a massive understatement.
"Hi Luna." I said, darting my eyes around the room.
Luna chuckled and put a hoof on my shoulder. "No need to worry dear. I saw what happened earlier. You really are a true friend to these ponies."
I smile and put my hand on Fluttershy's head, stroking it slowly. "She really needed a hug. I'd never seen her so upset." The gentle stroking caused Fluttershy to wake up and view where she was.
"Oh I..." She noticed she was on my chest with her hooves still around my neck. "EEP! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. Please don't be mad..."
"Whoa now, don't worry about it. You needed some comfort and I don't mind you fell asleep on me. I was happy to be a cushion..." I said with sarcasm. This caused both Fluttershy and Luna to giggle. "How long till Canterlot?"
"See for yourself." Luna replied. I got up and looked out of the window.
"Ah...good."
The three of us walked out of the booth and met up with the others. Disembarking the train, the city's residents were in panic mode, just like Ponyville. Even some of the Royal guards were having a meltdown.
"We need to go to the castle. Let's go!" Twilight ordered, running off in the direction of the castle. We all followed suit, trying not to crash into any of the plentiful plethora of pretentious panicking ponies.
Soon enough, we reached the castle doors and were met by two guards, who immediately parted when they saw Luna. Running through the castle, we came across the throne room with it's doors closed. The guards wouldn't budge.
"Sorry but the Princess is meeting with the Canterlot High Council, adressing the current situation. Not to be disturbed. Not even by you, Princess." a guard said with a drone.
I decided to take the initiative. "Look here. We have travelled five hours by train to talk with the Princess about the current situtation. With me here are the Elements of Harmony and Princess Luna. We have information that the Princess will need as we know what is going on. Now, are you going to let us in or am I going to have to scream the door down, hmm?"
The guards looked at each other and nodded. "Very well. Please enter." The guards knocked and pushed with all of their might to open the doors. They swung open with a great groan and we all entered, minus the two guards who pulled the doors shut again.
Looking ahead, I saw no High Council. Just Celestia sitting on her throne, hastily sorting through papers. She looked up from her sorting to see the nine of us approaching. She arose from her throne.
"It is good to see you all. I'm glad to see that you got here safely." she said calmly.
"Just about. Save for the few hundred ponies who are literally losing their minds at the moment." I reply.
"Indeed. I must thank you all for coming so quickly."
Luna stepped forward and held her head high. "Sister, we know that what is causing this problem. It is what we feared the most." Celestia sighed and hung her head and sighed.
"So it is true. I figured it out this morning but to hear it from you as well confirms it. I have never experienced this before so I do not know what we can do."
"Come on Princess! There must be something!" Twilight shouted out.
Celestia pondered her thoughts and came up with something. "Gather round my little ponies...and human." I chuckled. "We, the ten of us, will do our best to come up with the solution!"
An hour we sat there. An hour we spent debating many possible solutions to the dilemma, only to be thwarted by a point of fact or something completely oblivious.
The conversation went onto spells and I asked whether a spell had caused this. Celestia was quick to explain.
"The only known spells for draining magic permanently were used long before Luna and I were born. In the archives, I remember reading a book that explained that it was used as a method of torture." Gasps were heard all around. "I know it is hard to hear but it probably didn't happen. The book explains that these spells were mythical and could have been fictional but it does go onto explain how they worked. A simple version - just enough to get the idea but nowhere near enough information to use said spell."
"How could somepony have created a spell like that? And for torture no less!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Sounds pretty horrific to me." I added.
"Um...excuse me..."
"As I said, the spell was deemed to be fictional." Celestia said.
"Could it be Discord again?" Rarity asked.
"No way! He's sealed in stone!" Rainbow quipped.
"Indeed he is. There is no possible way he can escape from the prison." Celestia confirmed.
"Pardon me...excuse me..."
"What about the Elements? Can they fix this?" Applejack asked.
"The Elements are sealed behind a magically protected barrier. We cannot even get to them." Luna stated.
"Can you still summon their power? Even if they are unreachable?" Spike asked.
"Unfortunately not. We need to be physically touching them to unlock their power." Twilight informed.
"EXCUSE ME!"
We all turned to look at the source of the loud noise. Fluttershy quickly hid behind her mane, to cover her face. "I'm sorry for yelling everypony but...you said there were ten of us, yes?"
"Yeah so?" I said.
"So...why are there eleven?" she meekly said.
All of us gave her puzzled looks before something caught our attention.
*AHEM*
We all looked towards the throne room door to see a cloaked pony standing there, laughing softly.
"Hmmhmmhmm...it's about time you noticed me."