"HO!"
The large statue that was once the blue dragon bobbed in the air just above the bottomless circle, magical wisps of midnight-blue and gold trailing from its stone in an inter-spiral that led to the dualistic horns that summoned them. Slowly, the Princesses' eyes slipped open to the success of the Elements of Harmony's attack, before casting their glance to one another.
A moment passed.
And then another.
Until the Princesses's gave one another a nod, and the colored auroras tinging their horns ceased to exist.
The statue of the blue dragon, now without its magical support, plummeted to the nothingness below it. All of the surrounding ponies watched the statues descent with wide eyes and baited breaths, wanting to cringe when the statue crushed the railings around the rim of the bottomless circle, before the momentum of its fall fueled it to start twirling around the said circle – never quite falling in but looking close to doing so.
The slacked jaw guards continued to watch as the statue to twirl further away from the circle, gaining dangerously close, inch by inch, to where all their exhausted bodies sat and lied. One member of this group, a pegasus with a blond mane, couldn't help but complain from his already opened mouth. "You have GOT to be KIDDING me!"
The dragon could no longer kid for his body was preserved in stone. It may not have been done by this dragon's design, but the shadow of his statue layered over the two huffing bodies of the Princesses, driven to the limit of their mortal forms due to their magical exhaustion. They tried to move their bodies upon feeling the coolness of the shadow, but their limbs were stiff, and ached if they so much moved an inch.
From behind the Princesses, trailing just a few feet, were the exhausted group of stallions from before. They watched on to their Princesses' not leaving the shadow of the statue, the leader of their group figuring out the problem just a moment before it would have been too late. This leader was already cantering out from the heart of the pack, and commanded his troops with but a nod forth. "It's about time we finished this."
The blond pegasus from before couldn't help but groan, before rising to his golden-steel boots. "This is the worse first day of any job I have ever worked."
Their leader, a stallion with an afro, passed him by and commanded him to his side. "Any day spent actually protecting the Princesses is a great day indeed."
The rest of the pack caught up to the two, forming into a herd until they all burst into a combined galloped. All their eyes were steeled on the tumbling status just moments away from falling, though worry found its way in none of their hearts. In a second they entered that same cool shadow, and passed the Princesses they swore to protect.
The blond stallion stole a quick glance at his rulers, disobeying the golden rule to not bow afterward. "Whatever you say, Captain."
Afro-Stallion filled his lungs with air, preparing himself to give the final command on the dragon. "Guards! Heave..."
On his own mark, Afro tensed his hind legs and leaped fully into the air. A split-second later, the rest of his guard did the same and followed him into the air, propelling themselves against the mass that was the statue of a dragon. Collectively, their bodies collided against the stone and many crunches came from many shoulders, as agony swept its course through the herd of pastel colored ponies.
"HO!"
Together, they endured through the pain.
Transferred their collective momentum onto the statue.
And fell back to the platform.
By the time they all landed, the cool touch of the shadow no longer pricked the ends of their fur. And the sight of the statue falling backward into the bottomless circle treated their eyes. The head of the statue fell over the railing, acting as a counterbalance for the legs of the statue to rise off from the ground and up into the air, before rising perfectly straight above the circle.
In a second, the statue slipped through the circle, emitting a whistle of wind as it fell to the far, far lands below. Those of the guards that still had strength wasted no time in rushing to the damaged railing to peer below, where they caught sight of the gradually shrinking image of the statue. It took a moment for the whistle of the wind to cease, but when it did, the silence afterward was filled with the realization of the ponies victory.
The blue dragon, whose body and being were encased in stone, could do nothing to save himself as statue form plummeted to the ground below. He knew not of the resistance of the stone covering his every scale, other than it had no chance of not shattering whenever its form met the harsh grounds below. The winds enclosing him were nothing but faint, and even his own thoughts were becoming incoherent due to the ponies odd magic.
Death awaits you.
The scared dragon searched his confine for the odd voice that had just spoken, nothing finding anything but the blackness that he would be seeing for the rest of eternity.
The invitation to its domain sent by none other than ponies .
The dragon's forehead pulsed painlessly in correlation to when the strange voice spoke.
Tell me now.
The dragon had no clue as to how he knew, but he felt the land below slowly approaching him. He'd be gone in a moment with the only traces of his prideful body being scattered pieces of broken stone.
Will you be accepting their request?
Up above, even if it were faint, the ponies heard the crashing of stone. They could not see it with their eyes for the distance was too far and blurry, but once they heard that sound, all at one, they all knew. That their battle was over. That the sweat of their brow deserved to be cleaned with an arm. And that all the broken bones and open wounds were worth all the pain that they had to endure.
Together, they all cheered.
The battle of Cantorlot had been won.