Twilight was pushed backwards by the powerful force of the cloud's attack, but not very far. Twilight had planted her hooves firmly on the ground when she was struck by the magic lightning, and was able to keep herself from getting blown away by the cloud's immense power. Now she was standing still, trying her hardest to hold her ground against the cloud.
Everyone else looked on, dismayed as to what they had all just seen. Everyone had thought Twilight was a goner, but Applejack noticed something was amiss. The cloud's attack was still striking Twilight, yet nothing was happening to her.
Applejack felt stupefied as to what was occurring, or, not occurring. "Twilight! What in the hay is goin' on? Is that cloud doin' anything to yah?"
"No!" Twilight shouted back, sounding both worried and confused. "I don't feel myself changing at all! Something wrong must be going on with the cloud's magic!"
Twilight wasn't sure what was going on with the cloud, but there was something going on with her. Inside, she felt something; something powerful. An immense power the likes of which she had never felt before. She had no clue what this power was or where it came from, but when she looked back up the cloud, she came to a sudden realization.
"My horn! My horn is absorbing the cloud's magic!"
"Say what?"
"Oh my goodness!"
"Wowzers!"
"But how is it doing that??" Spike shouted to her.
"I think...my magic must have combined with the cloud's right when I was about to release it for my own attack! The energies merged together when mine was at its breaking point!"
"I don't believe it!"
"I can hardly believe it, either! I mean, I didn't think my magic was strong enough to even match the cloud's!"
"Well, what are you going to do now?!"
Twilight thought over what she could do with the cloud's own power. It was right then and there she knew there was only one thing she could do. "Well, it looks like I'm just going to have to give its power back!"
"What?!" Spike exclaimed in utter shock. "Are you crazy??"
"No! I am doing what I must to save Ponyville, my friends, and all of Equestria!!"
Twilight began concentrating, focusing her mind on the powerful magic stored inside her horn. Quickly, Twilight reared up on her hind legs and pulled her head back. When she did this, the magic lightning coming from the cloud was ripped away and absorbed completely into Twilight's horn. Everyone else was awed at the sight of Twilight's extraordinary feat. Twilight got back down on all fours, and know that she had the power, she knew exactly what to do with it.
Twilight felt prepared to finish the cloud off once and for all, but something was wrong. Twilight felt—off. She was feeling something: something strange; and it wasn't just the stress from having to contain such intense power all inside her horn. She felt what seemed to be a pang of some unknown force inside her head, a force that she was unable to tell was good—or bad. This strange force was having an unusual effect on her head, messing with her thoughts and her concentration, making the task of controlling her power even more difficult. But even with this unknown force inside of her, Twilight knew she still had a job to do, and it was top priority over everything right now. So, setting her curiosity aside, Twilight chose to ignore what was happening to her and focused her mind on the cloud.
During this whole time, the cloud had been going crazy, shaking around abruptly and spurting out more bits of magic from all sides. Everypony was having a hard time keeping the cloud under control, but were all still trying their hardest to prevent the cloud from escaping them.
"Everyone! Get out of the way! This is going to be big!"
Heeding Twilight's warning, Rarity and Applejack let go of the rope and ran for cover. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly flew away from the cloud. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, being Pinkie Pie, placed her head on the ground and covered her eyes. Rainbow Dash flew down, grabbed her by the tail, and pulled her away. "All clear, Twi! Do your stuff!"
Twilight nodded at Rainbow Dash, and looked back at the cloud with sternness. Twilight then inhaled deeply, rearing up on her hind legs. As she did this, the magic emanating from her horn was all condensed into a smaller spherical form around her horn. Then, upon coming back down to the ground, Twilight released the magic, firing the largest and most powerful beam of all!
With intensely fast speed, the beam struck the cloud directly in its center. A few moments after impact, the cloud let out a loud screech, as if it were in pain. The cloud also did not move from its spot, as it appeared to be immobilized by Twilight's powerful attack. As the beam continued to bore through it, the cloud slowly started to swell. As it swelled more, small beams of light shot out of it from all sides, showing that the buildup of energy inside the cloud was getting to be too much for it to hold inside its form. The cloud grew more and more, and once it reached its critical mass, the cloud exploded in a brilliant and immense wave of light, with the wave blowing in every direction.
Each one of the ponies was struck by the force of this explosion; even Spike could not hold against it from behind his rock. Applejack and Rarity were blown across the ground, tumbling along it as they were pushed away.
Rainbow Dash was trying her hardest to fly against the intense wind, as this was incredibly difficult, especially with Fluttershy holding onto her, and Pinkie Pie holding onto Fluttershy. She was only able to hold her position for so long until the wave of light collided with her, sending all three of the ponies flying backwards through the air.
Twilight was also getting pushed back by the explosion, but out of everyone, she was doing the best at keeping herself upright as she skidded backwards across the ground. She then used her magic and projected a magical barrier all around her, blocking the force of the explosion and preventing herself from getting blown any farther back.
During this whole time, the wave of light that had been released from the cloud went in all directions, affecting every object the cloud had zapped before, reverting everything back to their original state. The clouds became white, the path turned to dirt, and the apple tree transformed back to its docile form once more.