After the initial shaking had subsided, Twilight knew it was only a matter of time before the foundation of Canterlot could no longer withstand the weight of the city. Once the shaking resumed, her fears were quickly confirmed and she sprang into action.
Turning to Luna and Cadence, she quickly said. "We need to get to the balcony!"
"What's going on?" asked Luna, fearfully.
"The city is falling!"
"But how is that possible!?"
Twilight almost stabbed her own hoof with her horn with how fast she facehoofed. "It doesn't matter right now. We have to get to the balcony."
It was apparent that all of them had questions, but they resisted the natural urge to ask those questions, choosing instead to follow Twilight to the balcony in silence. The princesses took off toward the balcony at once, leaving a confused changeling queen and her guards standing in the hallway.
The entire castle was shaking immensely, and completing a task as simple as walking down the hall had become nearly impossible. All three princesses quickly took flight, carefully maneuvering the castle corridors and avoiding the roof, which seemed to be getting lower and lower.
"This is crazy!" Cadence shouted over the rumbling that was only getting louder. "How could the city be literally falling?"
Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she asked herself the same question. Her dreams hadn't included this turn of events, but the humans were clearly to blame for it. The initial explosions must have been some sort of attack on Canterlot's infrastructure, while the current shaking was clear evidence of the fruits of their labor. The purple princess' heart was pounding inside her chest. How large was the distance between where Canterlot was perched and the base of this mountain? How long had the city actually been falling? And how far had it already gone?
Finally, they found themselves hovering just over the balcony that overlooked most of the city. Its ancient stonework was quickly falling apart as the shaking grew worse.
Luna gasped. "If this keeps up, there will be nothing left of the city when it reaches the bottom."
As she pointed this out, one of the castle's narrower towers cracked violently. It buckled under its own weight and plummeted to the ground, taking longer than normal to do so, as the entire city was still descending. All three princesses looked at the rubble.
"Did you see anypony under it when it went down?" Cadence asked.
"No, I don't think so." Twilight assured her. "But we have to stop this before the whole city crumbles."
She looked up at the mountain, her eyes widening at the discovery of just how far the city had already traveled. How it remained intact at all was a complete mystery to her.
"So what can we do?" Luna shouted over the growing noise. More structures began to crack, threatening to fall apart as well.
Twilight turned her attention back to the city. She could see many of Canterlot's citizens standing in the streets. Many were simply standing, trying to remain that way in spite of all the shaking. Other ponies were heading for various buildings that were low to the ground and at less of a risk of collapse. The cities winged residents were all up in the air, staying close to the city. They didn't want to leave friends and family behind, but they seemed unsure of the best course of action.
The lavender alicorn looked back to Luna and Cadence, her eyes showing nothing but determination. "We have to stop the city's descent."
"How?" Cadence inquired.
"Magic."
The other princesses looked at her in disbelief.
"That isn't possible, Twilight." Luna yelled. All three had to shout as loud as they could over the growing noise.
Of course, Luna was right. Not even the magical power of three princesses could suspend an entire city in midair. Before Twilight became an alircorn, she had to put all of her concentration into just picking up a few woodland creatures. Sure, she'd experimented a bit with her enhanced magical abilities, but nothing on the scale of what she was suggesting.
Twilight shook her head. She couldn't think like that right now. Besides, they had nothing to lose by trying.
"Unless you have any better suggestions, I'd recommend charging your horn."
Twilight took the lead, closing her eyes and slowing her breathing. All at once, the world around her became distant. The troubles that she faced no longer muddled her mind and she could clearly see the energy that flowed through and around her. The screams of nearby ponies and roaring of the landslide were barely audible to her now.
Black, she thought to herself. Princess Cadence yelled something, but the lavender alicorn couldn't hear it.
Purple, she concentrated harder. There were more voices now, male. The guards must have caught up with them.
Pink, they all sounded as if they were submerged, their muffled voices unable to penetrate her closed ears.
Blue, another loud boom caused her concentration to falter, but it held fast, unwilling to yield to the present danger all around.
Outside Twilight's mind, Luna and Cadence studied their fellow princess with doubt and confusion. Things seemed to be moving much slower now. The entire city was in free fall, yet it felt as if they were merely floating.
Twilight...... we can't take the chance of trying this and failing. Luna thought, her own words echoing inside her mind. At least if we take flight and rally the nearby pegasi, we'll be able to save at least some of the citizens.
She looked to Cadence. The two never had reason to speak much, and they never really bonded over the years, but right now she could tell that they were both thinking the same thing.
Twilight continued to gather her power. Following her mentor's steps exactly as she had been instructed. Celestia may not have been there at that moment, but her lessons and guidance would always be there for her former student to utilize.
You need to look inside yourself, Twilight. See the energy as it flows around you. As you gather strength in your spell, you begin to add your own strength to it. It gathers in your horn, but the true power comes from much deeper, a place that cannot be seen, only felt. While this power may not be visible to you, the evidence of it's presence is still very much apparent. Whenever you would like to use a spell, simply close your eyes and concentrate. Call out the different colors as they appear in your mind's eye and use them to focus all of your energy into whatever it is you're trying to do. Practice this, my faithful student, and you will find casting even the more difficult spells to be much easier.
The newest princess opened her eyes. She could see very clearly what she was trying to do, the colors that appeared, and the energy gathering to strengthen her abilities. Now all she had to do was cast her spell, and stop this tragedy before it began.
All at once, the colors disappeared, turning from a vibrant rainbow into a flash of pure white light. The state of being that the alicorn now found herself in was not unfamiliar, though it still felt very alien. Without opening her eyes, Twilight looked around. Things seemed to be frozen in time. Luna, Cadence, and the Royal Guard were looking at her with mixed expressions. She knew they were filled with doubt, but this didn't worry her. It was not the first time she stood alone in the face of great opposition.
When Chrysalis first took the form of Cadence in an attempt to cripple the kingdom from the inside out, Twilight was the only one who could see through the dark queen's guile. She had to face the rejection of everypony she cared about, including her own brother and even Princess Celestia herself. Even when the truth was revealed, it was no picnic stopping Chrysalis' evil plot.
Twilight looked up at the mountain, realizing that this was the first time she was able to see the peak from such a low point. The city always prevented one from seeing just how tall the mountain really was.
She smiled.
Even after it looked like all hope was lost. When the changelings ravaged the city and were on the verge of total success, the kingdom still ended up victorious. After all of the foes Twilight and her friends have had to face, after all the places she herself has seen, and all of the trials she has had to pass through, the alicorn realized something that had never clicked before then.
This revelation was the reason her ethereal manifestation could look at the situation, see the city as it plummeted to the bottom of the mountain, and still manage to crack a smile. It was the same reason countless enemies, even after hundreds of years of plotting and waiting, could never topple the great kingdom that the ponies had created.
It didn't matter who was threatening them or why. It didn't even matter how superior their forces were, because as long as their intentions were nothing but greed and hunger for power, they would always fail at the hooves of the ponies. Twilight wasn't fighting for power, she was fighting for something pure. Her friends had taught her so much about the magic of friendship. Her brother and sister-in-law had taught her about love and commitment. Thomas had taught her about kindness and compassion on a level she'd never anticipated. These lessons had shown her that these concepts could overcome impossible odds and defeat the mightiest of foes, but now she realized that simple goodness was the driving force behind their victories. Canterlot wasn't going to fall, because the good and innocent always triumph over the corrupt and wicked.
Twilight opened her eyes.
* * *
It was happening again. Princess Luna had heard about this from her sister, and even experienced it firsthoof when it was used against her at their old castle. Twilight's raw, magical abilities were bursting through the confines of her mind, like a ferocious sea creature breaching the surface of the ocean, only revealing itself in times of true need.
When the younger princess opened her eyes, they were pure white. Luna couldn't even tell if it was still Twilight. Perhaps she was just a vessel with which some ancient power was using to reconstitute itself after an age or more of dormant existence. Yes, when all princesses summon their strength, their eyes become white to the untrained observer, but Luna knew that there was much more force behind the veil of power that now presented itself. It was more power than she herself could conjure up, and she'd bet that Celestia would have a difficult time doing it as well, if she could at all.
Whatever the case was, the princess of the night could tell that something remarkable was about to occur, and if it was going to succeed, she had a feeling that her own power would need to be given as well. After all, Twilight had a point. Sitting here watching the end of the capital come wouldn't do anything useful.
The night princess quickly began charging her own power, her eyes glossing over into a bright light that matched Twilight's in appearance, but lacked tremendously in strength. Even still, her power was evident and it quickly motivated the third princess to begin charging as well.
All three princesses now stood together on a balcony of Canterlot Castle. The ground floor was approaching fast, and the integrity of the city itself was weakening. Whether the city would hit bottom before it crumbled into complete ruin was still up for debate, an excellent gambling opportunity for only the most uncaring ponies who would be willing to place a bet.
Twilight's horn quickly became engulfed in an orb of purple magic. The nearby guards looked on in aw at the spectacle unfolding before them. In a brilliant and dazzling display, the alicorn's magic was released. A beam of light shot out into the sky, its magical potency gathering the attention of all nearby creatures. The few remaining citizens who had not yet reached shelter did so even more slowly now that they were completely enthralled by the event.
"Ready?" Luna asked, turning to Cadence.
Her fellow princess nodded, and the two released their magic as well.
Instead of traveling into the sky, their beams of magic joined with Twilight's, adding to the already unbelievable power. After several moments of the beams crossing, the magic was suddenly cut off. Twilight opened her eyes, as did the other two princesses. The guards looked up in confusion, fearing that the attempt had failed, when a new beam of light came back down.
Twilight couldn't see where it struck down within the city, if that was indeed what had happened. The light towered over the city. It reached up into the sky past the clouds, which had begun swirling around it like an inverted whirlpool.
"Hey, the rumbling stopped." one of the guards pointed out, excitedly. The others looked around, surprised to discover that he was right. The shaking no longer ravaged the city, and the sensation of falling was gone as well.
"How is this possible?" Luna gasped. "How could we have actually suspended an entire city in midair?"
Cadence shook her head, clearly just as amazed, while Twilight continued to look at the beam of energy. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she lowered her head.
It was done.
* * *
Antal Jakab dropped his binoculars. They hit the floor of the airship with a thud, bouncing twice and coming to rest at his feet. Blood dripped from his left hand, the result of his jagged fingernails digging into his palm.
"Sir, was that supposed to happen?" the rookie pilot asked from the ship's helm. He still held his binoculars, periodically looking through them and then back to the demolitions expert.
"Umm, sir?"
Antal pulled out a small device from his jacket pocket. A green light blinked excitedly at the sudden attention. He acknowledged the machine's excitement by handling it further, flipping a switch and adjusting a few knobs. Then he let his thumb glide over a red button at its center.
It had all been going so well. The explosives went off without a hitch and the city fell just as planned. He had been completely taken aback by the sheer beauty of the spectacle. An entire city plunging to its doom....... Only to be stopped by some unknown force. The small line of apparent light made it look like Canterlot was being held up by a mere thread.
It was a slap in the face, and he wouldn't stand for it.
A grimace on his face, Jakab pressed down the button with more force than necessary, confident that his contingency would finish the job.
"Sir, we have to move onto the next target. Mr. Fink won't be pleased if we miss the rendezvous."
Jakab put a hand up. "Addig nyujtozkodj, amig a takarod er."
The pilot gave him a blank stare.
"Only stretch as far as the blanket reaches."
"And what's that supposed to mean, sir?"
He made a dismissive gesture.
"It means go sit down and wait for me to give you instructions."
The demo expert reached down and grabbed his binoculars, smearing blood on one lens.
Through a crimson eye, he watched as another explosion shook the mountain.