Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity arrived in position over Canterlot a lot sooner than they expected thanks to the Cloudwalking spell. Twilight didn't know what she was going to do about her balloon, still stuck in the cotton candy clouds but she couldn't worry about that now. The three of them looked over the edge of one of the clouds to the castle town below. Far below.
"Uhm, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, as the three of them gazed in momentary awe.
"Yes Pinkie?" Twilight responded in a tired voice.
"How are we going to get down?"
The realization stunned Twilight; there was no way for them to get back to the ground safely. She felt like she was going to collapse right there on the clouds. They were stuck up in the sky.
"I... I don't know." Twilight said, defeated.
"Come on Twilight!" Pinkie said, trying to be encouraging. "We'll think of something! Why don't we go back to the balloon? Maybe there's a rope?"
Twilight thought for a minute. "Even if we took all the balloon's ties, strung them together and hung them over the side, I still don't think it would be long enough for us to climb down to the surface safely."
Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "If only there were something soft we could land on. Cushion the fall."
"Rarity, that's a great idea! I can perform a spell and summon something for us to land on right before we hit the ground!" Twilight said.
"What will we land on? Don't you need something to make a cushion out of before you can make a spell out of it?" Rarity asked.
Twilight looked over at Pinkie. "You still got that cheese Pinkie?"
Pinkie just nodded and pulled out her combat helmet. There were still cheese wedges in it. "We're going to use the cheese."
"How are we going to land on the cheese Twilight?" Pinkie asked, holding up the cheese.
Twilight paused for a moment. "I'm going to use the size-changing spell." she said.
Rarity paused herself before she asked, "Are you sure you're familiar enough with that spell?"
"Yes. Yes I am." Twilight assured her. There was only confidence in her voice. "Pinkie, hold on to that cheese."
"Yes ma'am." Pinkie said, clutching the helmet.
Twilight approached the edge of the clouds. "All right. When the ground is in range, I'll use the size changing spell on the... cheese. We'll get on top of it and use it to cushion the impact. We ready?"
Pinkie Pie and Rarity took to either side of Twilight. Rarity swallowed hard. "Ready." they both said.
"On three." Twilight began to count down. "One... two... thre-" before she could finish, something burst through the clouds beneath them. The three ponies were knocked off the clouds and began to plummet prematurely. Pinkie's helmet was knocked from her hooves... and the cheese scattered out. The three ponies screamed as they fell.
Behind them, a blonde-maned giant gray pegasus looked around, thinking she had heard something. Deciding that it must've been her imagination, Derpy continued to Canterlot to deliver the mail. Just because she was a giant didn't mean she didn't have a job to do. She hadn't quite thought things out though; if she did, she'd have realized that none of her letters would fit in any of the town's mailboxes at the present time. Still, she continued on. With any luck, she would be back in Cloudsdale to return to normal size with the rest of the pegasi. For now, she focused on the task at hoof.
"Twilight!" Pinkie yelled. "I lost the cheese! What do we do now?!"
"This is why we should've used the wing spell! We always should've used the wing spell! Oh my Celestia, no!" Rarity panicked in midair.
The air blazed by them as they tumbled downward. Twilight spread her legs out to slow her descent, Rarity and Pinkie followed suit. Her heart began to race as she looked down and saw the city of Canterlot growing closer and closer into view.
"I... I think I can teleport us right before we hit the ground!" Twilight said. "That should stop our momentum!"
"Are you sure that'll work Twilight?" Rarity asked back.
"What choice do we have? Just be ready!" Twilight shouted. She narrowed her gaze to focus on the ground below. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes but still she kept her eyesight on the ground, blinking away the stinging sensation.
Two figures appeared above the town, racing towards them. Twilight couldn't make them out at first but then she could tell they were pegasi. Giant pegasi. It almost looked like Rainbow Dash was carrying a gray pegasus into the sky.
"Hey!" Twilight called to Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "I think that's Rainbow Dash and Flutter-" the two giant pegasi raced past Twilight.
A blue light of some sort followed them. Twilight only saw it for a split second before it exploded in the distance between Twilight and Rarity. A blue energy shield spread fourth from the spell instantly and Rarity and Pinkie landed on it. Twilight, unfortunately, was past the point where the shield had exploded fourth. She continued falling helplessly to the city below.
She'd been flipped as the giant pegasi went by. Looking up, she saw the blue shield spread out to envelope the entire city. A shield spell, blue. Who could've cast it? Rarity and Pinkie weren't safe however; Twilight saw clearly the two small figures began sliding on the curve of the shield, sliding off of it. Her mood turned to panic once again but the realization she was still in danger kept her mind focused on her own safety. She turned herself over in midair.
The ground raced towards Twilight. The buildings, streets, structures were now clearly visible. Her heart pounded. What was she going to do about Rarity and Pinkie Pie? Was that really Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy she saw? Was Fluttershy gray? What was that blue flash? What had knocked them off the cloud in the first place? How was she going to solve any of this? The questions hounded her relentlessly as she fell, she did her best to push them out of her ever-worrying mind.
She could make out the cobblestone road now. She focused on it, closed her eyes and began to focus on the teleportation spell. She literally had only one shot at this. She gritted her teeth and teleported.
In the blink of an eye, Twilight went from mere meters off the ground, to standing right on it. Her movement vanished and she stood for a brief moment before collapsing onto the street, overcome with relief and exhaustion. Quickly, her relief ended when she remembered Pinkie and Rarity still high above her, above the city, sliding off the shield.
But in fact, Pinkie was enjoying herself as she slid down the shield, despite the danger. Rarity on the other hoof, was not. Twilight couldn't see either of them as she stood in the middle of the street and looked up at the shield.
"Get that stuff loaded up! Let's get going!" a voice drew her attention. Two stallions were loading up a stagecoach with what looked like filming equipment. One of them was on top of the stage looking through a camera mounted on the frame. Twilight noticed the odd angle the camera was pointing: straight up. She ran over to the stage, a team at the front harnessed in and ready to pull it.
"Excuse me but I need to borrow this stage coach right now!" Twilight announced.
The stallion at the camera looked up and over at her. He was a light brown with a dark mane, wore sunglasses and a beret. He raised an eyebrow and pulled down the glasses as he looked at the mysterious unicorn.
"You can't really borrow studio equipment. I mean, seriously do you have any idea what this stuff-"
"Please, my friends are in danger! I need to get to the edge of the city, now!" Twilight interrupted, her voice anxious.
A loud series of knocks came from the inside of the stagecoach. "She just needs a ride Michael, we're going there anyway." a voice came from inside.
"All right, we're heading to the edge of town anyway so you can ride in the stage. And you're in luck because we're in a hurry too. Now get in!" he said.
"Thank you, thank you so much." Twilight said as she climbed aboard. The cabin inside was cramped with equipment but she found a seat. A white colt with a dark brown mane was inside, he looked up at her and nodded as she sat down. Only moments later, the pony on the camera shouted again and they began moving, at first slowly and then very quickly.
"It's gonna be pretty bumpy, you might want to grab onto something." the stallion inside with her said. He appeared to be writing in some kind of notebook, his attention completely engrossed by it. Twilight braced herself and rolled down one of the windows on the stagecoach. She probably only had a matter of minutes to get to edge of the shield.
"Michael!" the colt yelled. "You got cheese all over my story!"
"Yeah Barro, sorry about that. Salad was good though." Michael's voice came back.
The white stallion flipped through the notebook frustratedly. "What am I going to do with this cheese all over my story?!"
"Why don't you just try to write it in? Use it as like a recurring thing or something."
"I guess I'm going to have to now." Barro replied.
"Is there anyway this thing can go faster?" Twilight asked, worrying about the fate of her friends.
"Everything is going to be fine." he said back.
"Everything is going to be fine?!" Twilight asked in almost shock.
"Everything is going to be fine." Barro repeated calmly.
Twilight wasn't convinced. "How can you say that? How can you know?" she asked.
"I don't. But it feels good to say. You should try saying it sometime. Or even singing it." he answered.
Twilight was going to ask something else when the stagecoach stopped abruptly. "We're here! Shakey, get out numbers three and four and-" Michael began giving out orders to the other stallion. Twilight opened the door and jumped out. She looked up at the shield, trying to see her friends. Right in front of her, two giant pegasi slammed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust outside the shield. The ground shook beneath them, Twilight ignored it and focused on scanning the barrier for Rarity and Pinkie.
Finally, she saw them. Almost at a complete drop, they were sliding off the shield at a dangerous speed.
"Oh no, oh no! We've got to stop them somehow!" Twilight said. Quickly, her mind raced, trying to find an answer to save her friends. She came up with only one answer: break the shield. Summoning all the magical energy she had to spare, she unleashed a blast at the shield. The blast wasn't much but it produced a crack. She hit it with another, and another. Outside the shield, Rainbow Dash and a gray Fluttershy continued to fight, neither one gaining the advantage.
"There's too much dust! I need a better angle!" Michael shouted. Twilight climbed up on the stage and grabbed the loose reins.
"Yah!" she shouted and whipped them down. The ponies pulling them responded instantly and accelerated towards the shield. The lead ones ducking down as they crashed through the barrier where Twilight had made the crack.
More cracks appeared above the breach. They ran along the length of the shield up to the top. The barrier began to break apart, pieces of it fell and disintegrated in midair. The entire thing collapsed in a matter of moments.
Twilight looked up and saw Pinkie Pie and Rarity in free fall, coming right towards them. Twilight looked around for anything to try to use to catch them. From the open door of the stage coach, the other stallion tossed a notebook into the air. Seeing it sailing overhead, Twilight zapped it with the book with the size-changing spell instantly transforming the padded notebook into a supersized and soft tome. Rarity and Pinkie Pie landed safely as the pages cushioned their impact.
Michael Hay and Shakey came running up from behind with a camera. The two of them stopped and panted.
"Tell me you got that." Michael asked Shakey. The camerapony nodded assuredly and emphatically.
"Oh thank goodness." Michael said, releived. Barro stepped out of the stage and walked over to Shakey. Almost completely expressionless, he removed the lens cap from the camera exposing the aperture. Shakey had successfully managed to film the inside of the lens cap that obscured the camera from quite possibly one of the most action-packed sequences Canterlot had seen since Shining Armor's and Princess Cadence's wedding. Michael Hay slapped his hoof to his face.
Twilight climbed up on the giant notebook. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both dazed in the center of the pages.
"Do it again! Do it again!" Pinkie said, dizzy. Twilight ran over and hugged both of her friends, overjoyed that they both were unharmed. Her eyes teared up, so did theirs.