With a small break in the puppets around her, Dash pumped herself through the air back towards the unicorns. They had all cushioned their fall with magic, and were standing amidst the rubble of the fallen balcony. The puppets had conjured a force field to ward away Applejack’s kick—which had been about as effective as an umbrella in a cyclone. The recoil from their breaking shield had sent the unicorns sprawling. Now it was just a question of how many they could destroy while their defenses were down.

Dash skidded to a perfect stop above one of the three within a heartbeat, then drove the point of her blade through its chin and into its brain. Applejack pulverized a skull, and the stone beneath it, with her brutish strength. Each of them moved as Pinkie Pie, over fifty feet away, vaulted into the air and took a perfectly aimed shot at the third puppet.

The puppet came to just in time to deflect the oncoming blade, and was instead destroyed by the three diamonds that ripped through its neck. Over fifty feet away, Pinkie Pie landed on a quartet of similar gems in midair.

She was brought over the small swarm of puppets and leapt to stand beside her friends as they faced down the diminished group of enemies. Rainbow Dash twirled her weapon in anticipation. Applejack ran a hoof along the brim of her stetson. Pinkie Pie brandished her loaded forelegs. Rarity blew an errant strand of mane out of her eyes as Vorpal reassembled beside her and was levelled at the oncoming horde. Not a single one of them needed to speak a word. They all knew that they were thinking the same thing:

This was hardly fair.