The underside of the Crystal City ran far deeper than most ponies knew. Below street level was a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, for everything from water to maintenance to storage. More than a few had been dug by those trying to elude Sombra's press gangs and brute squads. In the present they had been put into service, rebuilt and equipped andearmarked as emergency shelters for the populace, for protection from everything from runaway storms to yes, dragon attack. Nopony who had proposed or worked on the project had expected them to come to use so soon.

Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo were huddled with Nyx's grandparents in one of the sub-sub-basements under the city, along with a dozen or so crystal pony families that had been evacuated there. The guards who had escorted them in were now standing guard stoically at the entrance, though what those two ponies would do if the dragons decided to come smashing in through the ceiling, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had no idea.

All of them were frightened by the noise, the strangeness, the monsters raging outside, making the earth above rumble like a thunderstorm, but they were most distraught over the ones they were separated from. "Are you sure Applejack's okay?" Applebloom said faintly.

"And Rarity?" Sweetiebelle added.

Twilight Velvet could hear all the other names unspoken in that plea. Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Cadence, Nyx... she swallowed her fears and gave the fillies a confident smile. "Absolutely. Your sisters have faced bigger, scarier monsters than this and come out just fine."

"And they got Rainbow Dash with them," Scootaloo added, trying to sound confident. "She's tough."

"Right you are," Twilight Velvet chuckled. "Tough as nails, that bunch. They'll be fine." She pulled the girls in and gave them a hug.

The half-smiles the girls gave her at this reassurance faded. "I...I hope Nyx and Bright Eyes are okay," Sweetiebelle said. She bit her lip and buried her face in Velvet's chest.

"Pah. No need to worry for them," Night Light said, practically oozing confidence. "Crystal Ponies are as tough as they come. They had to be to get as far as they did. And our Nyx? Hah. She's a Sparkle, girls, just like her mother. Smart as a whip. They'll be fine."

Only Velvet could see his million-dollar grin didn't quite reach his eyes. "They'll be just fine," he repeated.

She rested her head on his shoulder and said nothing.

"Let me get this straight," Bright Eyes shouted over the roar of the battle below. "You were gonna try and rescue him?"

"Him" in this case referred to the titanic purple dragon below who was currently beating the motherloving snot out of another blue-grey dragon with a craggy body and massive lower jaw. Spike was looking pretty battered himself, but had the other dragon in a headlock and was pummeling him in the gut as hard as he could.

For lack of any other safe place to land, the pegasus guard ponies had landed on the observation deck near the top of the palace spire. It was a popular spot for tourists and native ponies alike, and it gave a perfect view of the whole city. It currently gave a pretty good ringside seat for the giant monster battle raging in the middle of the city, too.

On the fourth brutal gut punch, the inevitable happened. RockJaw doubled over and barfed. A torrent of something best left utterly undescribed splashed in the street, sizzling on the pavement. "Ewwwww," Nyx and Bright Eyes said. To Spike's visible surprise, not to mention everypony else's, his opponent dropped to his knees and began to shrink, dwindling in size like an unknotted party balloon. In moments RockJaw was his original size...albeit he looked a lot smaller being crumpled up on the street, clutching his gut.  Spike stepped back as the soldiers moved in, throwing nets over the subdued dragon.

"Holy cow, he just might win this," Nyx said.

"Who might win this? What are you all doing up here?" A voice said behind them. They all spun around. Princess Cadence was ascending the staircase up to the the observation deck, along with Rarity and Fluttershy, who had Peewee nesting in her mane. Cadence was looking a bit shaky, but she still managed to radiate confidence and authority.

"Auntie Cadence!" Nyx rushed over to her aunt, nuzzling her. "It's Spike-- he's gotten BIG and HUGE and now he's fighting ALL of the dragons-- all by himself!" She managed to sound excited, worried and boastful all at once.

"So I've been told," Cadence said, hastening to the rail. "I came up here to get a better view of the oh ye gods is that Spike?" She yelped upon seeing the formerly tiny baby dragon now towering over her city. Everything Twilight had told her about Greed Growth was running in a panic through her head.

"Yes, it is, your Highness," Rarity said. "But it's still him. I don't know what's different this time but-- he's still got his right mind. He saved me from that giant red brute there." she pointed to Garble, who was being harried by the Guard forces several blocks away. "He even spoke and---Oh no!"

Rarity cried out as the fat, armadillo plated dragon and the white one had come charging out of the smoke and attacked Spike at the same time. The three bodies crashed together loud enough to be heard up on the Spire. The three dragons began grappling and trading blows, the earth shaking and clouds of dust and debris flying up around them.

"Dear Maker, the sheer power," Cadence breathed.

"The savagery," Fluttershy whimpered.

"The muscles," Rarity said,  nibbling on a hooftip. The others all turned and gave her odd looks. "...WHAT?" She said defensively, her face flushing.

"Nothing," the other two mares said hastily. The guards and Roller Reel rolled their eyes.

Nyx shot a look from the fashionista to her foster brother and back again. "Ew," she said simply.

"Oh this is not good," Roller muttered, not lifting his eye from his camera.

"What is it?" Cadence said, rejoining him at the rail. She saw for herself; the fat one had Spike in a full nelson, and the white one was laying into him for all he was worth, pummeling him with fists and slashing with claws.

"Why doesn't he fire blast 'em like he did the others?" Roller wondered out loud.

"He can't," Nyx said. "If he uses a lot of fire, he has to take time to build it back up again--"

The white dragon didn't have that trouble. He backed off several long steps, turned, and blasted Spike from chest to belly with dragonflame. Spike roared in pain but couldn't break out of the grip. The white dragon blasted him again. And then again...

At the last second Spike dropped. he lifted his feet off the ground, letting his weight pull Grundle off balance and rolling the brown dragon over his shoulder. Blizz's next blast of flame sprayed down Grundle's back, instead. Spike continued the roll, flipping Grundle forward and throwing him down on top of Blizz, flattening the white dragon to the pavement. But Grundle tucked into a ball and rolled to his feet, and charged the purple titan. As strong as Spike had become, Grundle was still bigger and heavier. He bore Spike backwards, slamming him into the side of the Spire, making the whole palace shake and knocking every pony inside off their hooves. Grundle pinned Spike to the wall with an armored forearm over his throat and began smashing him in the face with his free fist.

"HOW DARE YOU!!"

Nyx shook off the stars and birdies in time to see Fluttershy, holy jumping bogdragons Fluttershy, standing at the rail, shouting in defiance. The lumbering brown dragon's head was level with the deck, giving her an eye-to-eye with the monster. She was leaning forward over the rail, glaring into the dragon's shocked eyes. This was it, this was "the Stare" that the other Cutie Mark Crusaders had told her about. "YOU HORRIBLE, AWFUL BULLY! YOUR MOTHER WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU! YOU LET HIM GO OR SO HELP ME--"

Would it work?...

It was working! it--

No.

Fluttershy had overestimated herself. She had stared down a dragon before. But Grundle wasn't some old drake on the brink of utter exhaustion from being woken again and again from his hundred-year sleep. And half the effect of the Stare was due to the fact that whoever fell under it was reminded, immediately, of their own mother's condemning glare. Grundle was an adolescent drake packed full of fire opals and at least a millennia from his first century sleep.... and he HATED his mother.

The tableau held for a single second. Then the brown dragon sneered, reared back and blasted flame across the platform. Rarity and Cadence erected shields in the barest nick of time. Even then the ponies on the platform were singed and knocked backward by the blast of foul breath.

"That's it, I'm telling your parents," Fluttershy mumbled, then passed out.

Spike brought up his knee and shoved the brown dragon off. A frantic glance back to make sure that his ponies were okay, and then he fell on Grundle, biting and clawing.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rarity pleaded with Cadence.

"I don't know," Cadence said, despairing. "My magic will barely annoy a dragon that size-- and I don't know enough of the Crystal Heart's power to know how to use it as a weapon..."

Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies worked frantically, testing, scanning, arguing and debating, trying to decide how to use the heart. It hovered a foot off the floor where the pegasus workers had dragged it down and put it, glowing and humming softly as it spun. "One minute sparks and fireworks, now nothing," Keen Bean said in disgust.

"Well-- does that matter?" Dash asked.

"Yeah, just use the heart to send out that magic whammydoodle to all the crystal ponies, like you were planning," Applejack said. "Considerin' they're fighting a flock of DRAGONS, I don't think they'll complain much about getting some magic know-how poked into their heads."

"It's not that simple," Twilight said, distressed. "One spell is hardly enough. We'll have to send several, and with each one we 'teach,' the problems-- the discomfort, the shock, the resistance-- will increase. We need to know what's happening out there. We need to let them know what's happening. It will be bad enough with the headaches and disorientation it will cause, but if we just 'poke some magic into their heads' at the wrong time-- or send them the wrong thing--" she shook her head.

There was an squee of triumph off to one side, where Amethyst had been tinkering with the broken Eye gem. Curious, Twilight came over to see what she was doing. "It worked!" the excited crystal pony exclaimed. She began babbling to Twilight. "I knew we needed to see what was going on in the city, and the first thing I thought of was the Eye. I knew if I reversed the flow setting it would stop broadcasting pictures and start receiving, so long as it had a resonant quartz surface to pick up images from... but we didn't have a resonant surface since the dragons smashed the obelisk outside, and then I thought wait, isn't everything in the CITY covered in layers of crystal, especially lots and lots of quartz? But then I thought "how will I pick up the exact resonance for a particular piece of crystal and then I went ker-duh, what if I just sort of ball-park it with a sliding scale, like a dial on a radio, and Agate, that nice work pony over there--" she pointed at an amber colored crystal stallion. He smiled and waved idly; she blushed a bit and waved meekly back "-- had a crystal radio with him, it was broken but the dials worked good and so..." she meekly stepped back from her work.

The large, flat gem was leaning against the side of Level Head's crypt, its receptive face up. Wire leads were stuck to the edges with what looked like bubblegum, and trailed down to a half-gutted pocket radio. Across the face of the gem was a silent image, a view down one of the streets of the Crystal City. As Twilight watched, several soldiers ran out of an alleyway, crossed the street, and ran down another. In the distance, a cloud of smoke rose from a toppled building. "You did it!" Twilight cheered, giving the shy crystal pony a hug that nearly turned the poor thing into a stammering wreck. "We can see what's happening now!" She bit her lip anxiously. "But if we can change the view..."

Too speechless for anything else, Amethyst began fiddling with the dials. The image rolled and flickered wildly, then stopped. It was an entirely different view--- a different street, a different block, if from a rooftop nearby. She turned the dials a bit more, and now they were looking at the city from what seemed to be the front gates, as if they were hanging among the jewels that hovered there under the royal archway. Turning again, and now they were looking down from an aerial view, as if from the top of the spire of the palace..

"Holy cow," Twilight said. "It's...it's picking up images from every piece of quartz in the Crystal Empire, isn't it. You've invented a.. a magic mirror that can see anywhere in the Empire." All after just learning the bare rudiments of earth pony magic, too. For the first time, Twilight Sparkle felt a little intimidated.

Amethyst flushed and looked embarrassed. "I know," she said. "I-it's like... I mean I suppose it's like how it'd be if a unicorn grew up someplace and never learned to do magic. Never knew they even HAD magic. Or they knew they were 'magical' but nopony ever showed them how to do even the teeniest little magic thing.... and then one day somepony came along who did. It feels like.." she waved her hoof about. "Like now, after that first step, everything sort of clicks. You know?"

She smiled, self-effacing. "I'm pretty sure after the first day or so, after all first big leaps and bounds, we'll all stop being quite so impressive," she said.

Twilight regarded her. "No, no I don't think you ever will," she said. She turned her attention back to the crystal. The other ponies had gathered round and were murmuring in distress over what they saw. The view was good, it had to be from the crystal at the very top of the Spire. It showed damage and destruction scattered all across the city; the guardsmen like mayflies and ants scrambling back and forth, and four gigantic dragons trashing the city--

No, wait--  "Spike??" Twilight shrieked. This brought the other Bearers running. They squeezed in next to Twilight and stared at the scene unfolding before them.

"Oh no--"

"He's gone bigamundo again--" Pinkie said, hooves pressed to her cheeks.

"Hokey Smokes, he's beefed up hardcore too.. geez, he looks more ripped than Snowflake!"

"What happened? His Greed Growth kicked in again and now he's tearing up the city!" Twilight said, distraught.

"No, wait!" Applejack said suddenly. "Look... he's not. He's fighting the other dragons. He's DEFENDING the city!" Exclamations of astonishment filled the room.

"A dragon defender?"

"That's what she said--"

"He is! Yeah, woohoo! Go little guy GO!" Rainbow Dash cheered, pulling a loop de loop. "Ooooh, look at him bust that fat one up! Yeahhh!"

"I can't believe it!"

"Yes, look, the Guard are backing him up!" They could see arrows, catapault stones and lances of magic peppering the dragon Spike was fighting with.

"We've got a fighting chance!" Somepony said.

"No, we don't," Twilight said unhappily. "This just delays the inevitable. Even with Spike that huge, it's still three against one. If we don't do something, they'll kill him-- and then destroy the city. We can't delay anymore. We have to send the first spell!"

Everybody present, the unicorns especially, looked at one another, then back at Twilight. "Very well," Professor Dubious said. "You're the Bearer of the Element of Magic. What do we do?"

"Unicorns gather round--- no, scratch that, unicorns and earth ponies gather round," Twilight said. In spite of everything she felt a little thrill at saying this. "I'll lead the casting, just follow along..." once the circle formed, she lowered her glowing horn to the Heart....

Shining armor grimaced as the few pegasi left airworthy strafed the red giant once again. Circumstances had forced his hoof; his troops were proving largely ineffectual against the dragons. He had left Spike to do the heavy hitting, and the best Shining could do to help was have his forces focus on harrying Garble, keeping the arrogant red brute from rejoining the fight.

There was a thunderous... no, there was no word for it, it was too loud to be a sound. More of a pulse that throbbed through the air and your hooves and through your very bones... as the maniacs in the S&S fired off another straw-dust bomb right under Garble's feet. The fireball was blinding bright and the shockwave knocked several pegasi, who dawdled a hair too long in pulling back, right out of the air from three blocks away. The dragon reeled backward, stunned, blinded and deafened... but still, apparently, largely uninjured. He spat flame in a sweeping arc, melting several building faces so they cracked and ran like wax.

Shining cursed. Didn't they have anything that would make these overpowered monsters stop? "Come on, Private," he said to RockSteady. "We've got to regroup and--"

There was a brilliant flash. Shining whipped his head around, trying to see where it came from. It was the Crystal Heart; from here he could see the flickering in the heart of the light as it spun up to speed. What was Cadence doing? He turned to bark another order at RockSteady only to nearly bite his own tongue when he saw that RockSteady's eyes were glowing white. A quick glance around revealed that every crystal pony in sight had the same glowing eyes.

"What the..."

Up on the Spire, Cadence, the crystal pony guards, Roller Reel and Bright Eyes all froze, heads thrown back, eyes blazing white. Nyx and the others yelped in fear... but after three brief, terrifying seconds the glow faded. Cadence and the other ponies of the Crystal Empire staggered and dropped to the floor. "Dude," Roller said, clutching his head. Then he blinked. "Holy cow," he muttered, his eyes darting back and forth. "Is it really..." he looked over at Bright Eyes. "Hey, did you...?"

"You too?" Bright Eyes said.

Cadence fell backwards on her plot with a thump. "What on Earth...?" She winced, rubbing her buzzing head as he strange new spell from nowhere spelled itself out inside her head.

"Twilight Sparkle, what did you do this time?" she asked.

The glow faded from RockSteady's eyes, along with every other crystal pony. Some of them staggered, several fell. RockSteady, true to his name, kept his feet. He blinked and shook his head.  "What the buck happened, soldier?" Shining armor demanded.

RockSteady's eyes darted back and forth as if he were reading a message only he could see. A slow grin spread across his face. Shining armor blinked, then gulped as he noticed that RockSteady's legs, from the hooves up to the knee, were glowing. They looked like his hooves were in a kiln; his legs glowed like burning coals.  "The tides just turned, sir," RockSteady said.

Without another word, the enormous crystal pony turned and charged straight towards the red dragon. Shining yelled but RockSteady was already too far off to be heard over the noise of battle. As he watched, the stallion ran toward a chunk of debris, spun about on his forehooves, and bucked.

The chunk of rubble in question was the corner of a fallen building. It was solid citrine, and as big as a battle wagon. Shining had seen some impressive demonstrations of earth pony strength in his time. This was beyond what mere strength could do. That gigantic wedge of quartz-family stone, countless tons in weight, streaked through the air like a bullet and exploded against the dragon's chest.

A whoop went up from the soldiers all around. Shining blinked and scanned with his horn. He could barely believe what it was telling him. Rivers of magic, earth magic, were coiling in towards the earth pony, knotting and unleashing through his body and his hooves. He could sense it around the other crystal ponies nearby too.

"What the buck just happened?"

It's hard to say what caused the delay. Perhaps the spell had to decide whether Shining qualified as a "true" Crystal Empire pony or not. Apparently, the blood he'd shed for its citizens and the love bond he'd shared with its Empress decided things in his favor. Because just as he asked, that's when the spell hit him as well.

He staggered, a tightly wadded ball of knowledge unfolding in his skull. Shining unconsciously echoed his wife. "Twiley, what the heck are you up to now?"

Down in the shelter, for a frightening few seconds every crystal pony stood stock still, their eyes glowing. Then it was gone. Ponies staggered, blinking, exclaiming to each other.

"The loopty loop was that?" Scootaloo said, backing up against Night Light's side.

Before Night Light could say anything, there was a thunderous boom from up above. The floors and walls shook. Slowly, a crack began creeping up the wall and across the ceiling. Ponies cried out in terror. Velvet and Night Light pulled the foals in close, preparing to cast a protective dome over them all--

"No!" A crystal pony, a construction worker who'd been evacuated down here still in his overalls and safety helmet, reared up and slapped his hooves to the wall on either side of the crack, as if he were going to hold it together by sheer strength...

...and the crack began to shrink. Crystals flowed and grew in fast-forward, crossing the crack, closing it, sealing it in clean smooth diamond hard perfection, good as new, till all that was left was a faint seam between the work pony's glowing forehooves.

Night Light blinked. He gazed at the pony's handiwork over the tops of his sunglasses, his cigarette holder drooping in surprise.

"Damn," was all he could think to say.

"Did that do it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Not really. That's just a fundamental magic building block-- a primer first-spell. It will help a little... maybe one in every couple thousand ponies will have a direct connection to some aspect of their Special Talent. It's like... Rarity's needle-threading spell or gem-finding spell. Only immediately useful to someone who sews or hunts for gems. For them, it'll just click."

"So why'd we do it then?" Applejack said.  

"So we could do the next step. Phase two: finding an earth pony spell that they ALL can use, that can tip the balance." She chewed her lip and watched as Spike continued to battle. "Hang on, Spike..."