((Prompt: Magic has disappeared from Equestria.))
“Darling, you must reconsider.”
Twilight Sparkle raised her eyebrow. There was fear in her friend's eyes, a fear that Rarity did not even make a pretense of hiding. Rarity's legs trembled and her features were knotted with worry. Were the circumstances a bit different, Twilight might have felt the need to laugh at the sight of how undone her friend's usual dignified manner had become.
Were circumstances different, Twilight might have done a lot of things.
Twilight gave Rarity a careful, measured smile. Confident, but not so much that Rarity couldn't see the trepidation Twilight felt herself. “Rarity, you've seen the truth. You know as well as I do what unchecked magic use has been doing to our world. It has to end.”
Rarity nickered uneasily. “I... I do.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “I haven't been able to bring myself to cast so much as a levitation spell since that night. But Twilight—”
Twilight rested a hoof on her friend's withers. “Don't worry, Rarity. The process is going to be completely voluntary. We aren't going to force this on anypony. We're going to show them the truth, and trust ponies to do the right thing on their own.”
“I know that, darling.” Rarity took a deep breath. “But why... why must you make the first sacrifice? Magic is... it's a part of who you are, Twilight, and you want to be first in line to get rid of it? It isn't fair.”
Twilight's ears flicked back. She couldn't deny that the thought of giving up something so central to her life filled her with dread. She sighed. “It has to be that way, Rarity. We're asking a lot from the ponies out there, and if I'm not willing to go through with it myself, then how can we ask them to?”
“But what if something happens?” Rarity asked. “What if some new enemy emerges and we need your magic to—”
“We can't think that way anymore, Rarity.” Twilight shook her head. “Magic isn't a way to solve problems. Not with what we know about it now. If something happens, we'll figure out a way to deal with it without using magic.”
Rarity chewed her lip and nodded. “I... no, you're right, Twilight. Of course you are.” She leaned forward into Twilight's shoulder. “I just can't help but wonder what's going to happen to us.”
Twilight wrapped her friend in an embrace. “Just remember that all we're getting rid of is a few colorful sparks and flashes. Just a few conveniences. True magic—real magic—will still be right here.” She tapped Rarity's chest. “So long as we're still friends, there will always be magic.”
Rarity sniffed. She and Twilight remained in place for a long while. Apart from the sound of their breathing, the room was silent.
Eventually, Twilight shifted in her position. “It's time, Rarity,” she said, standing up.
Rarity slowly nodded. “Be careful, dear.”
Twilight smiled for her and approached the flat table in the center of the room. On top of it was a small, dark stone about an inch and a half wide. The light from the window disappeared into its depths like water into a drain. The null stone was once one of the most feared objects in Equestria.
She cast a glance at Rarity, who looked on with apprehension. Twilight sucked in a breath and focused on the stone. She closed her eyes and pictured the stone's location in her mind. Twilight called upon her magic, feeling it rise in her horn.
She reached out for the stone with the simplest of her spells, the most basic magic all unicorns knew: levitation. Instead of feeling the stone rise into the air, however, the stone responded with a gentle tug. Twilight could feel her magic siphon into the null stone. It no longer took any effort on her part to sustain the flow of magic; it streamed out of her horn on its own now.
Instinct stirred within her, and Twilight reflexively tried to jerk her head away, but the bridge between her horn and the stone was stronger than it had initially seemed. Sparks flashed through the air, and the smell of ozone burned in her nostrils.
“Twilight!” Rarity cried.
“Don't... try... to stop it,” Twilight said through gritted teeth. Magic arced in spiral patterns around her horn, and smoke began to rise.
Colors danced behind Twilight's eyes as the glow of her horn flickered and dimmed. Her knees shook and dropped her to the floor as her magic guttered out, the last spark of it sinking into the surface of the stone.
“Twilight, darling, are you all right?” Twilight felt hooves on her shoulders, shaking her.
Her mouth was dry. Her head ached when she moved. “I... I think I am.” She slowly opened her eyes, squinting as the light gave her fresh headaches.
Rarity helped her to stand. “Did... did it work?”
Twilight squinted. “I don't know.” Her eyes gradually focused on a sheet of paper that had been knocked to the floor. “Let's find out.” She tried to reach out to the paper, levitate it in the familiar grasp that had been second nature to her for most of her life.
Not one spark. The horn on her head was nothing more than a lump of bone now. Twilight Sparkle had no magic in her.
Twilight met eyes with Rarity. Rarity swallowed and nodded. “Send in the next pony,” Twilight said. A new age dawned on Equestria.