After Midnight

by Nebula Star

Chapter 9: A Failing Heart

After Midnight
By Nebula Star

Three months. It had been over three months since Kira and the others had arrived in Ponyville, and so much had changed. The town was coming along nicely. Enough homes had been finished – meaning they were livable – that that night there was a party celebrating the last to move from the colony to the new town. The colony was officially abandoned. It was to be a grand party, celebrating the end of living in fear within the dangers of the forest.

There was still a lot of work to be done, of course, and many houses were holding two or more families for the time being, while those that were willing to, continued to stay in tents while more homes were built. But even so, it was a momentous occasion.

Kira smiled as she levitated up a bundle of roofing materials to one of the pegasi that was doing the roof work on the house she was helping with.

“Thanks, Kira!” he called down to her as he went to grab the bundle and she smiled.

“You got it? It's pretty heavy,” she warned.

“Yeah, I've got it,” he assured her. Kira prepared for the worst just in case and released her magic.

Just as she'd thought he'd underestimated the weight of the bundle and not use to standing on two legs, he wasn't very steady as it was. He started to fall. Then he stopped, surrounded by a golden aura of magic. “I did warn you...” Kira said giggling as she levitated pony and bundle back up onto the roof.

He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah... uh, thanks.”

Kira just smiled. “You're welcome.” The ponies of the town had greatly warmed up to her since the day she'd decided to make this her home. Since she'd discovered how much she belonged in Ponyville.

Home. Even now the thought filled her with joy. It had been so long since she'd had a real home and day by day Ponyville was becoming just that.

Her musings were cut short, though, as a bell tolling filled the air, making Kira reflexively look toward the town center. The clock tower was a new addition. It had been decided that having a standard on which to base the time was prudent when trying to keep things organized. So, though the rest of the town hall was being completely at a much slower pace, the clock tower itself was all but finished and the enormous bell it housed was tolling out the noon hour.

Kira smiled, it was time for a lunch break, but that also meant Destiny would be performing her rejuvenation ritual soon and everyone in town knew it. Destiny's dances had become part of the daily routine and hardly anyone would ever miss the rejuvenation ritual. Kira had heard it said that everyone was able to get half again more work done thanks to Destiny's magic.

In a few moments everypony and changeling was dropping what they were doing and heading toward the town center where food would be served and Destiny would perform.

Destiny had continued learning more of the ritual dances and had perfected several of them so that she could perform them to their full effect. The dances and what they did varied greatly. One of those Destiny had learned cast a kind of protective ward around the ponies present that could last for days and would protect them from harmful magic until the ward was depleted. Then there was one that enhanced someone's strength for a time, but it could only be used on one pony at a time. Similar to the strengthening ritual, there was one that was supposed to heal the body and restore the magic of even someone on the edge of death. Unfortunately Destiny hadn't been able to get that one to work, it was by far the most difficult of the dances. Another had the amusing effect of putting everyone around to sleep. Destiny had only performed that one once with an audience and she'd warned them before-hoof what it was suppose to do. She'd just wanted to see if it worked.

Not that she was always so careful. She'd learned her lesson though. Kira smiled as that particular incident came to mind.

~ “Kira!” Destiny cried sounding panicked as she flew in to land, her saddle bags askew as if she'd thrown them on in a hurry. It was late in the evening and the sun was near setting.

“What's wrong?” Kira asked worried. She'd never seen Destiny so scared.

“I... I was trying one of the ritual dances I hadn't done before, you know, just to try it out. A few ponies were watching like normal. But, when I finished the dance they were all... together...” Destiny trailed off, looking embarrassed.

“Together?” Kira asked confused.

“In pairs...”

Kira just gave her a questioning look, still not understanding.

“Male and female...” Destiny clarified in almost a whisper.

She finally got it and her eyes widened. “You mean they were...”

Destiny nodded.

“In the middle of the square!?”

She nodded again.

“WHAT DANCE DID YOU DO!?” Kira exclaimed.

“I... I... I don't know!” Destiny cried. “I never finished translating!”

Kira clapped claw to her forehead. “Destiny, are you telling me you performed a magical ritual dance, without knowing what it would do!?”

“The book said something about stamina! I thought it was like the rejuvenation ritual!” Destiny objected.

Kira just covered her eyes with her claw, shaking her head. “Do you have the book?”

Destiny nodded and pulled it out of her saddlebags.

“Which dance was it?”

“This one,” Destiny said turning to the appropriate page and showing her.

“Alright, now what does it say?”

Destiny looked down at the book clearly thinking hard, trying to remember her lessons on the ancient nocturne language. It was clear when she got it though, because her eyes widened and she let out a strangled sounding squeak.

“And? What does it say?” Kira prompted.

“It's a... fertility ritual,” Destiny said in a whisper.

Kira burst out laughing so hard she fell to the ground, kicking her legs in the air.

“It's not funny!” Destiny cried sounding distraught then lowered her head. “Everypony's going to hate me...”

Regaining control of herself, Kira got to her feet and put one foreleg around Destiny in a hug. “Nopony is going to hate you,” she assured her confidently. “They might be a little mad at you for a while, but they'll forgive you in time.” ~

All those that had been affected by Destiny's fertility dance did eventually forgive her. In fact, one couple had actually thanked her. They'd apparently both been in love with each other for some time, but both were too shy to say anything. As for the rest. In the weeks following the incident there had been three weddings and at least four confirmed pregnancies attributed to the incident, luckily all to married couples. Kira grinned, she had no doubt that those four would become known as the Destiny foals. Some of the ponies in town were already using the phrase.

That had probably been the most memorable event of the past months, though certainly not the only one. She'd had one embarrassing incident herself in fact.

Wanting to see if she could help speed up the work on the town, she'd tried to devise a spell to put together the framework of a house, thinking that she could get it done in a fraction of the time it took for ponies to build one by hoof. The resulting catastrophe had been spectacular. Wood splinters had been found as far as four blocks away. After that she'd decided to give a rest to devising new spells for a time.

Kira smiled as she thought about it now. Though it was just another in a long line of her spells that had failed or completely backfired, it had been quite spectacular to watch, and she had to admit, she must have looked pretty hilarious running around screaming as she tried to dodge all the boards nails and hammers that had been flying everywhere. She hadn't been able to stop the spell once it had been cast.

“Hey, Kira!” She looked up as she hear Surprise call to her and saw her waving. She wasn't alone; Atlas, Chrysalis, Sonata and the Twins were all with her as well.“Come join us!”

Kira smiled and went to join them at the table. It was actually part of their routine now, including Surprise calling to her like she wasn't going to sit with them to begin with. “Hey, everyone. Destiny getting food today?” For the first few days they had eaten together, it had always been Chrysalis or Kira that had gotten food for everyone, since they had magic to easily carry enough for all of them. Then, one day, Surprise had gotten the food. This had stunned Kira as she hadn't known about Surprise's magic until then and they had ended up spending most of their lunch and much of the evening explaining to Kira about Surprise's changeling powers.

After that however, Destiny was determined to take her turn getting the group their lunch, and with her wings and natural grace, she had managed to do just that, easily balancing a tray on her back with enough food for all of them. Since then they'd taken turns each day getting the food.

“Yeah, she already went to get it,” Surprise told her. “But, hey, I've got something you might like!” With a flourish, she revealed a large sapphire, nearly the size of her hoof.

Kira laughed, they were going to spoil her at the rate they were going. It had barely taken any effort at all for them to find enough gems to keep Kira well fed and healthy. In fact she had more than enough, but since there was nothing wrong with eating more gems than what she really required and other food supplies were limited in the town, Kira had started eating mostly gems to save food for those who needed it more.

It hadn't taken the others long to find out what gems were her favorite; which happened to be sapphires. She smiled and took the offered gem. “Thanks, Surprise!”

She just smiled. “We found it while digging out a new foundation.”

“Well it looks delicious,” Kira assured her.

“If you say so,” Surprise said grinning cheerfully. She'd been curious what different gems tasted like after Kira had told them that sapphires were her favorite. Kira had tried to warn her that to ponies they would just taste like rocks and that she wouldn't be able to chew them anyway, but the shape-shifting pegasus had simply transformed into a dragon-pony hybrid like Kira and tried a couple. But even while transformed, though she was able to chew the gemstones, they still didn't have any real flavor to her, which she'd found rather disappointing.

“Hey, everyone!” Destiny called happily as she approached the table, a large tray balanced across her back and wings, laden with food for all of them. Kira, Chrysalis and Surprise quickly used their magic to unload the food onto the table and Destiny took a seat next to Kira. “So how's everyone's day been?” She asked as they all got started on their lunch.

“Pretty good so far.” Kira said taking a bite of her Sapphire. “Mmm! Just got better.”

Destiny grinned then looked across the table. “Hey Surprise, I thought I saw Firefly earlier. Was she here?”

“Oh yeah! She came by to give us an update on their progress. She said they've already got the foundation of the city built up and not to worry because they've all been able to build homes for themselves. The Cloudsdale project is coming along nicely! We'll have to have a pegasus party before long!” She turned to her family sitting next to her. “I just feel bad that you and the twins wouldn't be able to go Nata.”

“Sonata.”

“It's alright, Surprise,” Raindrop said smiling. “They're working hard too, they deserve a party!”

Surprise smiled and gave her a hug.

It had been a little over a month before that some of the pegasus had the idea that they could build themselves a cloud home quickly and easily, that way all the homes being built in Ponyville could go to earth pony and unicorn families, essentially reducing the workload for everyone, with the added benefit of getting the pegasi use to manipulating the weather again. It had been pointless to try and do so during Discord's rule and so the art had been all but lost.

Their instincts had proven true, however, and before long the pegasi had begun forming a cloud home northwest of Ponyville. They'd named it Cloudsdale after the original cloud city that had once occupied the skies there.

Not all the pegasi had gone, but enough that the number of new homes that had to be built had been cut by nearly a quarter.

“Thanks to the Cloudsdale project, we're that much closer to completing enough homes for everyone,” Chrysalis reported proudly. “It won't be long now before we can start working on the less vital parts of town and really making Ponyville shine.”

“Then maybe sometime soon we can build a house for us,” Atlas said looking over at Kira with a smile.

She raised a brow at him. “Us?” she asked then smiled coyly. “I didn't know you felt that way about me, Atlas...”

He stammered. “U-uh, no! I mean, I do... don't! I mean, I don't know...” He took a deep breath. “I just meant that me, you and Destiny could share a place...”

Kira grinned. “I know what you meant,” she said teasingly.

They soon finished their lunch and Destiny excused herself to prepare for her ritual dance while everyone began gathering around. Everyone knew the benefits of the rejuvenation ritual by now and very few ever missed it. So by the time Destiny started, the entire town was present.

Kira watched as Destiny performed her dance. She'd done the rejuvenation ritual so many times that it had become second nature to her. She could draw out the array by memory and performed the dance so flawlessly that the effect was substantial. Everyone in attendance left feeling as if they'd just woken from a good night's sleep and were ready for the second half of the day.

With a content sigh, Kira turned to head back to work. She barely watched where she was going, her mind instead focused on sensing the world around her as she walked along the path. It was then that she felt it.

It was like a ripple in the ambient magic of the world. A ripple that originated as a shock-wave some great distance away. Kira turned north, where she could sense the ripple had come from, looking toward the mountains. Unconsciously she began walking toward it, her mind focused, wondering if... fearing that it would happen again. She'd nearly reached the edge of town when she felt the second ripple.

Kira's shoulders sagged and she sat down on her haunches right there, not really paying attention to the others around, some of whom were looking at her curiously. “So, time is up,” she said softly, with a deep sadness in her voice. She sighed heavily. She knew what needed to be done.

“Hey, Kira, weren't you working toward the south end of town today?”

Kira looked up at Surprise hovering by her shoulder. “Surprise, gather the other bearers and let's meet up at your place... It seems the time has come.”

Surprise's eyes went wide. “Oh! Righto! I'll get the others in a jiff!” she said and sped off to search for them all.

Kira watched her go with a sad smile. “It was nice while it lasted...” she whispered softly to herself.

Surprise's home had been one of the first completed and had been built almost entirely by changelings, though they had built in a tradition pony fashion. Surprise hadn't wanted to take one of the first homes herself, of course, but Chrysalis had insisted, saying it was for the twins more than anything. Eventually Surprise had agreed, partly because it was clear Chrysalis wasn't going to back down.

It was a simple enough home, with enough room for Surprise, the twins, Sonata, and even a couple spare rooms in case their family ever grew. Currently it was also home to several changelings who helped with the construction of the town on a daily basis.

Destiny, Atlas and Kira were gathered in the dining room, sitting around the table, waiting for the last two to arrive.

Finally the front door opened and Surprise entered, followed by Chrysalis who paused for just a moment to give an order to the other changeling by her side. He nodded and Chrysalis stepped into the house, closing the door behind her.

“Surprise tells me you said 'it's time,'” she said as she sat down at the table. “So are you going to tell us what it is we need use the elements to do? Or are we going in blind?”

Kira smiled sheepishly. “I guess there's really no reason I couldn't have told you all earlier... I'm just so use to keeping things to myself.”

“Mmhmm,” Destiny agreed with a nod.

“Anyway, that's why we're here now, so I can tell you what's going on and what we need to do to fix it,” she told them. How to begin, though? She took a deep breath.

“Well, to put it simply, the world is dying.”

“What!?” Surprise exclaimed, wide eyed.

“What do you mean the world is dying?” Crysalis asked with only a little more control. Atlas seemed rather shocked as well. Only Destiny seemed to have expected something as bad, having been with Kira the longest.

“To be more specific, the Heart of Magic is failing,” Kira explained.

Most of them looked confused by that, the exception being Chrysalis.

“The Heart of Magic!? It's real?” She asked, sounding stunned.

Kira nodded solemnly.

“What's the heart of magic?” Destiny asked.

Chrysalis glanced at her before answering for all their benefit. “According to legend the Heart of Magic is the source of all magic, some legends even claim it's a living entity with a will of its own, it produces all the magic in the world and guides all living things that are linked to it, trying to maintain the balance of the world.”

Kira nodded. “So if the Heart fails, there will be no more magic.”

“That would be bad...” Surprise said softly.

“Worse than bad, Surprise,” Chrysalis told her. “Every living thing in this world depends on magic to survive. No more magic means no more life.”

Her eyes really widened then. “How do we stop it!?” She asked Kira.

“Well, first you need to understand what exactly is wrong.” Kira took a moment to think of how best to explain. “The Heart of Magic, isn't just the source of magic; it is a living entity. An entity who's entire purpose is maintaining the balance of the world.”

“You mean it talks!?” Surprise asked excitedly.

Kira couldn't help laughing a little, but shook her head. “No, no. The Heart does try to guide the world, but it does so indirectly. You see, the Heart produces magic in two parts. One part harmony, and one part chaos. These are not good and evil, however. Both have a purpose and neither one in excess would be good for the world. Again, the Heart's purpose is balance.

“Chaos inspires change. It helps to make sure that the world doesn't stagnate. Harmony guides that change, and helps guide the world towards adapting to changes. Without chaos, the world would never change and might as well be dead; but without harmony, the world would eventually be torn apart, being unable to adapt to the changes.

“On its own, magic can't do anything however, it can only guide those who are connected to it. And even then, it's more of a gentle suggestion, just a nudge in the right direction, so to speak.”

“Who's connected to magic?” Destiny asked curiously.

“Everyone. Every living thing has a natural connection to magic, except changelings,” Kira told her.

Chrysalis nodded. “That's why we have to absorb magic through love; because we don't naturally absorb magic like other races.”

Kira nodded in agreement. “Not only are we just about all connected to magic, though. We're all connected to both harmony and chaos, but depending on our nature, we'll be more attuned to one or the other. The five of us, being the bearers of the elements of harmony, are, of course, mostly attuned to harmony.”

“'Cept Cryssy?” Surprise asked.

“Well yes, but only because she's not naturally connected to magic at all.” Kira answered giving Chrysalis an apologetic look.

“In general, most ponies are more attuned to harmony, while most dragons and griffons are more attuned to chaos. Everyone is different though and there are always exceptions, but in general that's the way it is. So, what I'm getting at is that everyone absorbs magic through their connection to the Heart's energy and their bodies convert it into their own magic that they can then use. The more attuned to harmony or chaos you are, the more of that type of magic you'll absorb, though in the end it all gets converted into your own magic.

“Now, the Heart creates both harmony and Chaos in equal parts. The problem is that, in the last thousand years, due to Discord as well as the low population of ponies in the world, far more chaos magic has been used than harmony. So while chaos magic has been pouring out into the world, the harmony magic the Heart produced, has had nowhere to go. This has caused harmony magic to build up within the heart for years, creating an imbalance. And though it's getting better now, and more harmony magic is being used, the imbalance has already gone on for far too long. The strain is just too much for the heart to withstand any longer, so the heart is failing.”

“So how do we stop it?” Chrysalis asked.

“To put it simply, we have to relieve the pressure,” Kira answered, then went on to elaborate. “We need to use the elements of harmony to channel as much harmony magic out of the Heart as we can.

“Then, do we just need to start channeling magic through the elements?” Surprise asked glancing around at the others. “I mean if that's all that's needed then we should get started right away!”

Kira shook her head. “That wont work. We're going to have to be at the heart when we do it.”

Chrysalis winced. “That's not good. If we have to find the heart first... Do we even have enough time? Unless you know where it is...” She added noticing Kira's smug grin.

“Don't you think it was odd, that the pony princesses suddenly decided to build a new castle and city on the cliffs of one of the highest mountains in central Equestria a thousand years ago?”

Chrysalis's eyes widened. “Canterlot!?”

Kira nodded. “The princesses built the city to guard the entrance to the caves where the Heart of Magic resides; deep in the mountain's core.”

To Kira's surprise, Chrysalis looked even more worried than before and exchanged a glance with Surprise. “That's really not good.”

“Why not? We know where the Heart is.” Destiny asked, confused.

“Yeah, all we have to do is find the entrance to the caves, then Atlas can use his spell to help us navigate once we're inside.” Kira added, confused by their reactions as well.

Chrysalis shook her head. “It won't be that easy,” she told them. “A few days before the three of you showed up, a group of ponies from Canterlot arrived looking for shelter. They told us that they had been driven out of the ruins by some kind of shadow monster that had claimed the ruins of the city as its own. We don't know what it is exactly, but what we know for sure is that it doesn't want anyone entering the ruins. The few that have tried getting in since then were driven back out before they even got a single block from the city gates.”

For a moment the room fell silent. Finally though, Kira sighed. “We're just going to have to try and get past it. The world is depending on us.”

“We've got the elements. If it comes down to it, we could probably use them on the shadow creature.” Atlas reminded them and Kira nodded in agreement.

“Not to mention Chrysalis and I are probably two of the most powerful magic users in the world right now,” Kira added.

“There's that too,” Chrysalis agreed. “Even so, we'll bring a few of my royal guard with us as well. Perhaps we'll get lucky, and the shadow creature will leave us alone if our group appears intimidating enough.”

“I hope so,” Kira agreed. “There's one more thing I should tell you though. When we get to the Heart, once we start channeling the magic out of it, we won't be able to stop until enough of the magic is released to relieve the pressure.”

“We won't?” Surprised asked.

Kira shook her head. “No, it will be like opening a hole in a dam, we won't be able to close it again until most of the water is gone.”

“How long will it take?”

She sighed. “I don't know. Could only be a few minutes, or it could take hours, possibly even days. It all depends on how strong our bond with the elements of harmony is. That will basically determine how big of a hole we can make, so to speak.”

Destiny smiled knowingly. “That's why you wanted to take some time for us all to become closer as friends.”

Kira nodded smiling as well.

“Alright. Well, I guess we have some plans to make,” Chrysalis said to get back to their purpose for meeting together. “We need to go as soon as possible right?”

Kira nodded. “The Heart may still last several more weeks, but it's starting to give off pulses and fluctuate. So it's starting to lose stability.”

“Then let's make our plans this evening and gather whatever supplies we'll need so that we can head out tomorrow morning,” Chrysalis suggested. “We just started to turn things around for the better. I'm not about to watch the world die now.”

“But we can't miss the party!” Surprise objected.

Chrysalis tried and failed to suppress a laugh. “Yes, we'll try to get everything ready in time to attend the party.” She said, knowing it would be useless trying to convince Surprise otherwise.