I watched as the Panacea grew the tree larger and larger. Its root shad already permeated the asphalt beneath it and its trunk was large than a car. And it only continued to grow larger, making the ground continue to crack and fall apart.

"What are you doing," I asked as I walked up to her, Cheshire riding on my back.

"I'm going to hold this city together," she answered.

"Oh," Cheshire stated, her eyes going wide. "That's actually pretty smart."

"Alright, fill me in," I stated, looking between the two.

"This city sits on an aquifer," Cheshire explained. "If it were just Leviathan we'd be at risk that a large portion of the city would fall into it. But Panacea is going to grow a massive tree to hold the entire city in place."

"Yes," Panacea confirmed. "It's going to take hours, but with enough time I can create a tree so massive with its roots spread so wide that it should hold everything together, inside the city and out."

"Is the Protectorate okay with this?" I asked. Panacea shrugged, taking a step back as her tree continued to grow.

"We're about to get hit by all three Endbringers, they'll willing to accept anything that might at least slow them down. And this tree combined magic circuits might make most of the Leviathans attacks negligible."

I nodded. Of course, she didn't say anything about the other two. She didn't need to. "That sounds good. Anyone else have another bright idea like that?"

"Lung thinks Supesu might have something," Cheshire stated. "But past that, our shield idea is the only thing we have going for us."

"A shield idea that might not even work," I said bitterly.

"Hey, don't underestimate hope. Particularly when it might affect the power of the enchantment. Dragon says that they're ready when you are, so let get this done and then we can meet up with Imp and Desh."

I took a deep breath and sighed. But instead of responding, I simply took off into the air. I flew upwards, towards a skyscraper roof. After a second, I just teleported there and took in the sight of the city.

Miles above us, the Simurgh circled like a vulture. I felt a chill go down my spine.

Cheshire slid off my back and began pulling potions out of my saddlebags. Each one was a potion meant to increase my magic. I spent a large amount of the last few hours charging oils as Panacea grew plants and Cheshire brewed things. Dragon and others went out of their way to get the gemstone they would need. And now we should be ready.

I couldn't go through and give each stone a Lens individually, that was sort of the idea of getting every person that was leaving the city to charge it. A lot more could be done much, much quicker. But so long as there was magic for the stones to draw on, they could charge with the right emotion. If it worked, then the idea would be that I could either bind them all together and enchant a single Lens, or I could arrange them like a million little batteries charging one Lense. But at this point, everything was up in the air.

I took a breath and looked at Cheshire for a moment. She was watching me intently, the dozens of potions in front of her.

"What if it doesn't work?" I asked.

"Then we're screwed," she answered immediately. "But personally, I would like it better if you tried."

I nodded glumly. She was right, of course. It was this or a very impossible battle. With that in mind, I start letting my magic flow as hard as I could.

My horn quickly reached light intensity far more than blinding as my silvery purple magic flew across the city. It coated every surface, sank into walls, encased people, wrapped around plants, and most importantly, began to sink into gemstones across the city. But even as my raw energy began to spread over furthest edges of the city, I felt my magic reserves rapidly diminishing. Already I was at half strength and the gemstones only just begun to pass hands. I could feel them grow brighter as emotions flowed into them. But there wasn't going to be enough time. There simply wasn't enough magic.

I felt a potion get pressed against my muzzle and I instantly took it in my telekinesis, barely a drop in the ocean compared to what I was releasing. I popped the cap and started drinking it as fast as I could. The vaguely fruity flavour was a nice bit of contrast to the effort I was putting into the massive release of the energy. I threw the bottle away and quickly grabbed another one.

For what seemed like ages I slogged down potions. I drank and drank, forcing magic out of me like a fire hose. My whole horn began to ache and the amount of potions I was chugging was beginning to make me feel sick, but I pushed forward. We needed more magic, they needed more time.

To distract myself from the discomfort, I attempted to focus on the details of the city. But there was so much too look at. Both on the surface and under it. The tree Panacea had begun while ago was still growing and it had already become massive, with its trunk beginning to rival skyscrapers in its scope. The roots were burrowing deeper and deeper, stripping all of the soil, worms, bugs, and plants of their material to feed the tree. Through magic alone, I could feel the roots also slowly siphoning water from the ocean as the tree's grip on the city continued to strengthen.

I looked towards the gemstones and felt them all glowing brightly, burning with magic and emotions. I could feel the people too as they looked at the light my horn was casting. Their emotions seemed to be running higher now. Maybe it was the magic? Or maybe it was the light I was casting. I wouldn't know, because at the moment I stuck out a hoof for Cheshire to place another potion into it, but nothing came.

I tried to maintain the flow of energy for as long as I could, but I was casting it over too wide an area where thousands of tiny stones were slowly sapping it all away. I felt a mind splitting headache form long before my magic actually ran out, but I continued to push. And I pushed, and pushed more, until every last drop of energy I had seeped out of my horn and suddenly my mind shattered.

---

I saw the city sitting as a black canvas against a grey background. My energy making a massive circle around it. But in the blackness, I saw stars. No, not stars, gems. Each one was glowing, mostly they were all white, but some glowed red and a few glowed blue. The incorrect emotions, I guess. Perhaps I could use them for something else, but right now I needed to create something to protect this city.

Immediately, the white starry glow of the gemstones responded to me, coming forward through the blackness. Somehow, I touched them despite the lack of hoofs. Or a body at all for that matter. In truth, I had no idea what was going on or what I was. I did know that these stones were supposed to protect the city.

I began to bring them all to me, the approximate location I had been inside of the city. Recognized it as one of the buildings next to the massive tree currently growing out of the ground. The lights responded immediately, moving out of their clusters where they had been gathers and flying towards where I directed them. They moved like they were wading through syrup, flying through space at a glacial pace. But slowly, they arrived. Each little star hitting one another at a single location, the bright glow of their power becoming almost blinding. Fitting, for a bunch of stars.

Now that they were all in one place, I needed them to become one. Something that would protect the city. Something that would spare it the elemental wrath of the Endbringers. It needed to become a shield against all outside forces.

At first, I felt like I could do it. I envisioned the Lens, I poured my soul into the effect. I cycled through every last emotion I had to get it there. But it wasn't enough. Even as I saw the stars fusing together with each other, it was all one stone at a time among thousands. We didn't have that kind of time and I didn't have enough emotion to bind it.

But everyone else did.

I looked out across the city again. People were almost leaking with emotions. Most of them weren't good. Fear, anxiety, pain, sadness. But there were others, ones I could use. I found people holding on to their families burning with love. I found many standing outside the city filled with relief. I found criminals looting buildings showing joy. But most of all, I found people looking at the light of my horn filled with hope. Enough hope to bind these stones together. I grabbed on to everything I could and I pushed them into the stones, hoping against hope that it would work. Every hopeful and loving person in the city all working to bind these stars together. I felt the emotions give way and all the stars snap into place.

And then my mind reformed.

---

I found myself lying on the ground, empty bottles thrown everywhere, my head throbbing like I had never felt before, my horn feeling like it had been used as a tuning fork, and even my body felt weak. Probably on account of me no longer having my magic flowing into my wings and otherwise. I squeezed my eyes shut as my head continued to pound.

"What happened?" I asked with a groan, rubbing my head with a hoof. I heard Cheshire answer me quietly.

"That happened."

Slowly, I cracked open my eyes to see what she was referring to. I hissed as the light felt like a knife getting shoved into my skull. But what I saw made it worth it.

Because floating above the ground not five feet from me was a single crystal heart.