After Midnight

by Nebula Star

Chapter 12: Home

After Midnight
By Nebula Star

“Isn't there anything we can do?” Atlas asked as Kira lay unresponsive at their hooves, her breathing growing weaker with each passing moment.

Chrysalis shook her head, tears coming to her eyes.

“What about the spell you used to save me!?” Surprise asked desperation starting to show even through her usually cheerful demeanor.

She shook her head. “That spell kills the one who the life-force is taken from; I will not sacrifice one friend to save another.”

“But what if you took the life-force that Sallis gave to me?” Surprise suggested.

Chrysalis shook her head again. “That power is a part of you now, Surprise, it cannot be removed.”

“There has to be something!”

“What about Destiny's rejuvenation ritual.” Atlas asked, glancing at the nocturne who seemed to be in shock.

“It wouldn't be enough,” Chrysalis told him sadly. “The rejuvenation ritual builds on the strength that's already there; it can't help someone who has no strength remaining.”

“We can't just let her die!” Surprise objected, tears coming to her eyes.

“There's nothing we can do...” Chrysalis said softly, tears filling her own eyes as well.

Without a word, Destiny got to her hooves. Curious, they all watched her as she found a loose crystal then trotted back to where Kira lay. “Move,” she said softly and began scraping lines into the glass-like surface of the cave floor. “MOVE!” She nearly shouted when none of them reacted.

Stunned they all moved back out of the nocturne's way. “What are you doing?” Atlas asked, they'd already said the rejuvenation ritual wouldn't work.

“I'm saving my friend!”

Atlas was about to object, that it was futile, but then he realized the array she was scratching into the floor wasn't the array used by the rejuvenation ritual. This was a different array. One that was only used for a single ritual dance; one he'd often seen her practice; one that could supposedly save someone of the very edge of death. “But you've never gotten that one to work before...” he reminded her.

“I've never had a reason until now,” she said simply as she continued drawing out the array. It was one of the simpler designs and it didn't take Destiny long to finish it.

Taking up the starting position for the dance, she froze, holding the pose for a moment as she took a deep breath.

They all watched her in silence, not wanting to disturb her in the slightest. They all knew this was the one chance; the only chance to save their friend. The thrumming of the heart was the only sound as Destiny closed her eyes focusing. The beat of the heart of magic would be the timing for this dance.

Her eyes opened, and she began.

From the first move she made, Atlas knew she would succeed. Even with how often he'd seen her preform, how often he'd watched her practice, he'd never seen her move with such precision, such focus, and such grace as she did now.

Every step she made was perfectly placed, every turn, exact. Even the gestures, and beats of her wings were fluid and perfectly measured. She danced around Kira, who lay in the center focus of the array, following perfectly the beat of the heart.

For those few minutes she was the very definition of grace and beauty. None of them could take their eyes off of her. Especially when the air around her began to glow.

It was faint at first, just a golden shimmer that could have easily been a trick of the unusual light the heart gave off. But it quickly brightened, until there was no denying the glowing aura that formed an almost perfect dome over the array. Destiny didn't even falter. She could feel the magic around her; she was shaping it herself, after all.

Finally she reached the climax of the dance and as she moved into the final pose, it appeared as if she were pushing the magic down into Kira, and it did just that. The dome collapsed down into the dragon-pony causing her to glow brightly with the same golden glow for a few moments. For a time, nothing happened. Destiny held the final pose, and Kira still did not move.

Then Kira opened her eyes.

She blinked several times, surprise clear in her eyes. She looked up seeing a familiar sky blue nocturne standing over her.

“Destiny?”

Destiny smiled down at her, tears in her eyes. “You're not leaving us just yet, Kira. I won't let you.”

“You... you saved me?” She gasped then looked around, noticing the array drawn around her. She'd seen Destiny attempt the dance often enough to recognize the array. “You got it to work!?”

Destiny just smiled.

The next instant they both found themselves at the center of a group hug, as the rest of their friends expressed their joy that Kira was alive. Surprisingly, Atlas was the first to reach them, even beating Surprise as he wrapped them both tightly in his hooves. Then Surprise wrapped her hooves and wings around all of them, followed, perhaps with a little more reserve, by Chrysalis.

Kira smiled and let herself be held for a few moments, enjoying the affection of her friends, despite the almost crushing pressure that Atlas especially, was exerting on her. Finally though, she knew she better say something.

“As nice as this is... it's getting a little hard to breath.”

“How do you feel?” Atlas asked after they'd all taken a step back.

Kira smiled and slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Tired... but otherwise fine. My magic will take a few hours to fully come back, but other than that I feel fine.”

“Good,” Surprise said, then, without warning, slugged her in the shoulder. “You knew what was going to happen!? What the hay was with not warning us!? That is not a happy surprise!”

Kira winced rubbing her shoulder. “I didn't want you to worry... I didn't think there was anything that could be done to change it.”

“Well you should have told us anyway! We might have had a few ideas!” She gestured to the array to emphasize her point.

Kira looked chagrined. “Sorry...”

Surprise sniffed, then threw her hooves around Kira in another hug. “Just don't do it again,” she said softly.

“We're your friends, Kira.” Chrysalis said, placing a hoof against Kira's shoulder. “Don't keep things like that to yourself. You can tell us.”

Kira smiled, looking up at her and nodded.

Suddenly Surprise jumped up with a huge grin. “We better get going! I have to start planning a yay-the-world's-not-ending party!”

Kira laughed and the rest all smiled as well.

“Yes... I'm ready to go home,” Destiny said softly.

Kira smiled and nodded in agreement. Home.

With a groan she pushed herself to her feet.

“You need some help?” Chrysalis asked, frowning with concern. “Maybe you should rest a little while longer.”

“Nah, I'll be alright. Just a little tired is all.”

“Kira, maybe you should rest a bit... you did almost die,” Destiny said softly.

“I know, but I'll be fine...” Kira told her smiling reassuringly. “We promised we would leave once we completed what we came here to do, remember?”

She nodded. “Alright, but let's take it slow, okay. Don't you dare push yourself; if you feel you need to rest then we'll take a break.”

Kira nodded and put one foreleg around her. “I'll be alright,” she said softly as Destiny returned the hug. Holding Destiny close and looking around at all their other friends, Kira smiled. “Well, we should get going...”

Destiny nodded and stepped back, releasing Kira. “Yeah, I'm ready to get out of here.”

Together, the five friends turned toward the passage leading into the chamber. And Destiny gasped.

Standing just inside the chamber, was the shadow pony.

For a moment, no one spoke. They all stared at the shadow pony in wary silence while she returned their gaze. Finally it was the shadow pony that broke the silence.

“When we spoke before, I knew that you would likely die if you did as you intended. I assumed you didn't realize what it would take to channel that much power, but you knew...”

Kira slowly nodded, a little worried about what the shadow was getting at.

“So when you promised to serve me the rest of your life; you already knew you likely would not survive the task. You lied to me.”

Wincing, Kira nodded again. “I'm sorry... But our mission was just too important; I would have said or done anything in order to see it through. I'm sorry I lied, but It was just too important...” The shadow pony regarded her for a few moments in silence and Kira lowered her eyes to the floor in shame.

“Luckily for you, I agree.”

Kira looked up again in surprise.

“You knew you would likely die, and still you went through with it. You were ready to sacrifice your own life to save the rest of us. It is only because of your being exceedingly lucky and having a friend that has mastered the ancient ritual dances of the nocturne, that you are still alive.”

Kira threw a glance at Destiny and nodded, smiling. Finally she took a step toward the shadow pony. “We've done what we came here to do. Now we'll leave, just as we promised.”

“Yes, you will.” The shadow pony said simply.

Shadows erupted around her, engulfing them all before they could even react. There was a flash of light, a surge of magic, and a strange sensation, then Kira found herself standing... outside?

There were trees to one side, dirt under her claws, and the moon and stars above. Definitely outside.

“Where!? What!?” Destiny gasped next to her and, looking around, Kira saw the rest of their friends close by as well.

“Wow that was fun!” Surprise exclaimed while Atlas and Chrysalis just looked around bewildered.

“Mo... my queen!”

Chrysalis turned her eyes widening as she recognized her son's voice. The four changeling guards were galloping toward them. With a relieved cry, Chrysalis caught them all in an embrace. “You're alright!”

“What happened. The last thing I remember was living darkness engulfing us. Then we woke up out here. Did you defeat the shadow creature?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “She let you go; we convinced her to let us complete our mission, so long as we left afterwords... it appears she teleported us out here to speed us on our way.”

“She?” One of the other changelings repeated raising a brow. “That shadow creature was a she?”

“By the sound of her voice anyway.” Chrysalis shrugged.

“Did you complete the mission then?” The first spoke up again.

Chrysalis nodded. “Yes. I wonder where we are though,” she said looking around in the moonlight. “This seems to be an old road...” She said stepping out into a partially overgrown path away from the trees.

“It's the road to Canterlot; we came by this way just this morning.” Destiny said confidently.

“How do you recognize it in the dark...” Atlas trailed off as he saw her eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. “Right...”

“Hey Chryssie, whatch'ya lookin' at?” Surprise asked and Kira looked to see Chrysalis was standing out in the old road looking back over the trees behind them with her jaw agape.

When Chrysalis didn't respond, Surprise flew over to her and looked as well. “Holly horse-apples!”

Curious, Kira and the rest joined them out in the road to see for themselves. When she did, her eyes widened as well. “Wow...”

Rising above the trees, was a mountain... a mountain composed entirely of crystal.

Chrysalis raised a hoof, pointing at it. “That... that's Canterlot mountain!”

“Did we...?” Destiny gasped.

“I didn't try to do that!” Kira exclaimed. “It must have been a side effect of having so much magic flowing up through the mountain!”

“Well, I guess we won't need a memorial statue...” Atlas said with a wry grin.

“That's one heck of a memorial!” Surprise said with a laugh.

Kira laughed as well looking up at the crystal mountain shining in the moonlight. She thought she could still make out the ruins of Canterlot, but the castle of Midnight Star was gone. It had likely collapsed down the mountainside when the mountain was transformed.

Somewhere, buried under all that crystal, was the heart of magic. It was a fitting home for the source of all the world's magic, the source of all life.

“It's done...” Kira said suddenly, as if it had only just sunk in, everyone looked to see her standing there, tears coming to her eyes as she looked up at the mountain. “It's really done.” Slowly, she lowered her eyes to look around at the rest of them. “I've been working toward this for so long... almost my entire life, I've been working towards this goal... and now it's done...”

She looked to Chrysalis, her being the only one who could relate to so many years. “What do I do now?”

Chrysalis was at a loss of what to say.

“You live.”

Kira turned toward the voice to see Atlas smiling at her.

“You've been working for the good of the world for so long. Don't you think it's about time you just did what you want?”

She considered it a moment. It had been so long since she'd really done anything simply because she wanted to. Even all those years on her own, she'd been guarding the elements, watching for the signs. But now the task she'd set for herself was complete. For the first time in centuries, she could truly relax and do as she pleased... there was just one problem. “I... I don't know what I want though...”

Atlas smiled and pat her shoulder. “Well, we'll help you figure it out.”

Tears coming to her eyes once more, Kira looked around at all her closest friends. “I'd like that...” she said and smiled. “Let's go home.”