FWOOOSH! Rainbow Dash swept low, knocking even more guards to their sides. While the forces of Shindig were down, several duplicate Ponyvilleans galloped up and beat them to unconsciousness. A flanking group of uniformed equines tried firing steam rifles at Rainbow, but she flew, came down, and slammed into the platform—sending a wave of loose pavement that unraveled and morphed into parapsrites. The insects devoured the guards' weapons and sent them running.
Flam limped against a side of the ampitheatre, gathering his greath. "We have to end this, Flimmy-boy! Keep Mother and Sister safe while I teach this Blue Jay a lesson!"
"But brother! You see her!" Flim exclaimed, point at the sky-slicing pegasus. "She's broken her mold! Any moment now, she'll have free reign over the dream!"
"Not if I cut her to the quick!" Flam cracked the joints in his neck. "The Coronation isn't over until I say it is!" He galloped forward, stripped off his jacket, and leapt. The air distorted around and beneath him. Several Ponyvilleans gasped and darted to the side as pieces of concrete and steel lifted up, forming around him to form wide-spreading wings.
With a gasp, Stu shouted towards the sky. "Rainbow Dash, look out!"
A pair of ruby eyes spun to face the incoming menace.
"Rrrrrrgh!" Flam twirled and flung a fist made out of coagulated debris. "Have at you!"
WHUD! Rainbow Dash flew backwards with a flash of lightning. Her body slammed into a buildingfront, spilling glass and steel into the streets below.
The entire platform wobbled—the large chains clinking against one another.
While the ponies below struggled to stay upright, Flam hovered in place, catching his breath. He turned to dive towards the Ampitheatre—when he heard a loud rumbling sound behind him. Curious, the unicorn spun around, blinking at the building where Rainbow Dash has disappeared.
The structure was imploding... shrinking. But instead of collapsing entirely, it ceased at about one third its height. The fallen mass rolled together, compacting tighter and taking animated shape. Soon—emerging from the dust cloud—was a giant one-eyed basilisk made of mortar and shrapnel.
Rainbow Dash floated menacingly above the beast like a halo. "Go..." She pointed down at Flam, smirking with burning red eyes. "Feast in the name of Squidgy."
"DAPPER HATSSSS!" The artificial Durandal hissed, then lunged straight at the stallion with serpentine grace.
Flam's ears folded back. "Awwww fiddlestucks."
WHAMMM! The full length of the reptilian beast plowed through the unicorn. The mass of descending urban matter instantly demolished an entire block, reducing the dangling skyscrapers to brittle sand. The platform wobbled even more wildly than before, shattering windows and causing balconies to fly off their supports.
The turbulence was enough to throw Apple Jewell off her hooves. Shindig caught her with a wave of magic, steadying the Cider Princess as the two stood precariously on the edge of the ampitheatre's stage.
Breathless, Flim ran up towards them, zapping several rioters away with beams of magic.
"Frederick Flim!" Shindig exclaimed. "What in Goddess' name is going on around here?! How are you and your brother able to conjure such magic?!"
"Is Flam even alive?!" Apple Jewell blurted.
"It's... it's okay..." Flim stammered, wincing. "We've got everything under control—"
POWWW! A wave of debris flew skyward as Flam sailed into Rainbow Dash, screaming. The two fought and wrestled in midair, each dreamer morphing the clouds of debris into projectiles that they flung at one another. They pinballed off a surviving skyscraper, sailed through a twirling fan, and disappeared in a series of imploding warehouses several blocks off.
"That... that's the Blue Jay..." Shindig exhaled. "But... but why would she destroy our city?!" She gawked at the continuous fight between the guards and the Ponyvilleans. "None of this makes any sense!"
"Please, Mother, you just have to calm down—"
"Not here, I won't!" Shindig took Apple Jewell by the hoof. "Come, darling. We must get back to our tower swiftly before—"
With beams of ethereal light, the floor of the stage reached up and ensnared the two mares.
"My stars and garters!" Apple Jewell gasped.
"What...?!" Shindig struggled and fought to break herself loose from the energy tendrils, but to no avail. She caught a dim light in her peripheral vision, and she looked over at her son. "Flim! Are you doing this?!"
"I can't let you leave, Mother..." Flim said, sweating as he concentrated on the spell. "Not with the Blue Jay able to bend the dream like she is!"
"The dream?! What are you even talking about?!" Shindig snarled. "Let us go this instant!"
"It's for your own good! And for Philanthropy..." Flim gulped. "For Father! The Cider Princess must—"
"Hnnngh!" Stu Leaves plowed into Flim's side.
"Augh!" Flim yelped, thrown off balance. The magic released Shindig and Apple Jewell while the two stallions went tumbling off into the seats below the stage.