Midnight Star

by Nebula Star

Chapter 13: Magic Without End

Midnight Star
By Nebula Star

Chapter 13: Magic Without End
***

Doubt began to gnaw at Twilight as she watched the display of power. She'd already done more, wielded more magic than she ever had before; more than she'd ever dreamed of wielding before and still it wasn't enough. Still Midnight's power was greater. It was her chaos magic, she realized. Twilight may be equal to her as far as their natural magic was concerned, but with the addition of her chaotic powers Midnight had the advantage. She had nothing to counter the chaos of Midnight's soul.

Almost as if she knew what Twilight was thinking Celestia stepped forward. “Twilight, use the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight looked at her, the Elements...

“But Midnight destroyed the Elements,” Rarity said in confusion.

Celestia shook her head. “The Elements of Harmony, the real Elements can never be destroyed, for they live inside of everypony. The artifacts are nothing more than tools to allow ponies, within whom the Elements are strong enough, to wield their power. It is possible to wield the Elements of Harmony without the artifacts if one is both strong in values of all the Elements and has a deep understanding of them.

“Thanks to all of you, Twilight has both the understanding and the strength in the Elements she needs.”

Twilight stared at her a moment. She did have a deep understanding of all the Elements and had taken them to heart thanks to her years of studying friendship, and she knew that the true Elements lived in the hearts of everypony. That was why Nightmare Moon's attempt to destroy the elements had failed. Midnight however had destroyed the artifacts with magic, rather than just shattering them physically.

She had hoped that when she'd united her friends against Midnight that the Elements would reappear as they had with Nightmare Moon, but it seemed that it would take more than good friends to repair them this time around. Could she wield the Elements without them? Was it possible as Celestia said. Theoretically it was, of course, and she could sense the power of the elements inside herself as well as all her friends, but how could she draw out their power? How could she wield them?

“Twilight. Remember your spell,” Celestia said with a smile.

Then Twilight understood. She knew exactly the spell Celestia meant. The spell that she'd completed. That she'd been able to rewrite thanks to her understanding of friendship. That in the process of completing, she had triggered her transformation into an Alicorn. She'd never actually cast the spell, never used it. But now she knew exactly what it was meant to do. It was a spell to summon the power of the Elements of Harmony from within a group of close friends. “Right! It's time I put that spell to use!”

Twilight stepped forward, standing in front of her friends as hope begin to fill her once more. “Girls, to me,” she said and her friends gathered around her to either side. Then, calling on her magic, she cast the spell for the first time.

“From all of us together,
Together we are friends,
With the marks of our destinies made one,
There is magic without end.”

It started as just a magical aura around her and each of her friends that began to glow brighter and brighter. Then ribbons of multicolored light stretched out between them, connecting them all to Twilight as well as each other. More and more formed as the spell continued to build. Then the light of the ribbons began to flow, slowly at first but soon it grew faster and faster, all the Ribbons flowing toward Twilight pouring their magic into her. She closed her eyes as her exhaustion was swept away and let the spell fill her with the power of the Elements of Harmony.

They were united like never before, one in purpose, one is heart, one in friendship. And as Twilight felt the magic pouring into her from her five friends, she could feel that it truly was magic without end. Twilight opened her eyes again and they were glowing white, but she could see all the same. Every inch of her Ethereal body seemed to be crackling with energy. The power she held now was far greater than what she had wielded when they'd defeated Nightmare Moon or even Discord, and she could feel more pouring into her every second.

It was enough, she knew she could win now.

Midnight was watching all this with her head cocked in her weird way, seeming curious but not worried. She was foolish not to worry.

Opening her wings Twilight launched herself into the air like a bolt from a crossbow. She knew exactly what to do, exactly how to restore harmony to the world.

Seeing her, Midnight launched a barrage of deadly spells at her once more, but Twilight flowed between them with grace and ease, sensing every bolt. She cast several spells at once, all arcing toward Midnight from different directions. Midnight tried to counter them but only managed to block two before the others wrapped around her, binding her legs and wings in place.

Realizing the power behind the bindings would not be broken easily, Midnight didn't waste time trying to break herself free and instead continued her attack sending volley after volley of deadly bolts at Twilight while she continued to climb high into the night sky. Then she reached the top of her arc above Midnight, and tucking in her wings, Twilight dove at her.

Midnight sneered and her horn glowed brightly as she cast another spell. An enormous wave of deadly chaotic energy erupted from her burning up through the air at Twilight. She didn't try to evade it; she didn't have to. Abandoning the form of her ethereal body, Twilight let herself become a bolt of pure magic. Filled with so much energy, she cut through Midnight's wave as if it were a gentle breeze, continuing toward her target without even slowing.

Midnight saw her, saw the attack fail to harm her, and for the first time there was fear in Midnight's eyes. She tried to get out of the way but she was still bound in place, and it was already to late.

~~~

Celestia watched as the bolt of energy that was Twilight slammed into Midnight Star, merging with her. Then a shock-wave erupted from Midnight, strong enough to make all those watching stagger. Celestia herself had to take a step back to maintain her balance.

The binding spells were gone, but Midnight was just standing there as if frozen for several long moments. Then her eyes slowly closed and her head lowered. Everypony watched in silence, was it over? For several long moments nothing happened.

Then a black crystal fell to the ground at Midnight's hooves and shattered. Then another, and soon her entire crystalline armor crumbled from her body. Her coat seemed to melt away revealing a lighter lavender. Her mane and tail lightened as well and the red stripes became magenta. Finally her cutie mark glowed and shifted in color to the familiar magenta and white stars.

Then Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and they were glowing pure white. Light erupted from her, blinding in intensity as it swept outward from her in a wave that rapidly expanded flowing across all of Equestria.

Author's Note:

Minor revisions as of 9/29/2014

Comments

[Felyon]

No words, especially when she repossesed her body.
Wow