Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Scarlet

"It better work out," said Rainbow. "What is it?"

Still flying around to avoid being hit too hard and frequently, Twilight clenched her teeth, studying the situation with worry in her expression. "I don't think I can hit the cannon from here through their shields. Not unless I hit hard enough to hurt them too. Even then, odds are if I do that it'll blow up and hit them, us, and a quarter of the city depending on how much magic is actually inside that thing."

"You really think they'd build a weapon that would blow up on them if hit?"

"While planning to use it inside a city? Absolutely. If that thing ever had safety measures in place they'll have turned them off, right now it's as much a weapon as it is a bomb." Twilight moved towards the ground and towards the direction the cannon was aiming towards. Her predictable path exposed them to more shots, but she endured the pressure and took enough twists and turns to still dodge many of the spells.

"So what?" Rainbow, noticing the increased amount of attacks they were taking, looked out of the shield and focused for a moment, frowning in concentration. Translucent, silvery shields with manticore heads engraved in them materialised in front of them, beginning to absorb parts of the damage. She looked as surprised as she was relieved by her success at summoning them. "I think it has to do with whatever Luna is doing," she explained noticing Twilight's largely hidden perplexity.

Twilight shook herself back into focus in barely an instant. "Right. I don't think I can safely destroy it, even if I didn't care about hurting them, and I think our only real option is to make it stop. Maybe, just maybe, I can push back against it hard enough to connect with the weapon and deactivate it. But I do think for sure I can stall it, hopefully long enough either for it to run out of power or for someone to actually get in there and shut it off." She watched with extreme apprehension as the stream of dark energy came down onto the still floating tip of the Crystal Empire's central tower and shattered it into chunks of crystal and dust as it continued to reposition itself, leaving the middle section to float alone in the air. Everyone was supposed to have already gotten out of the building, and she hoped that was the case.

"Who?" asked Rainbow, worry heavy in her voice, as the two dove quicker towards the beam's path. "Cadence and Luna are both fighting, Celestia is without her magic, Starshine is busy who knows where and Starlight is all the way back in the middle of town. If there's one pony here who can shut that thing off, it's you!"

"I'm also the only one who can hold it back," Twilight brusquely replied. "I'll try my best. If I'm not managing to push through, find someone." Her horn flashed brighter for a moment, and light exploded around Rainbow as she found herself teleported several buildings away from the other, and still wrapped in a shield. From her position, she saw Twilight dive down onto the street, exactly where the beam was heading towards.

Twilight, still the target of dozens of other spells though she'd cut the line of sight between her and most unicorns, prepared herself. Holding up her shield still as her hooves dug themselves into the crystal beneath her, she summoned a vortex of magic around her horn, both her own and Celestia's. She saw the stream of darkness slowly turning and descending, like a river ready to strike her in full. She braced herself for the impact. As it turned again, soon to touch the edge of her shield, she fired.