By the time the smoke cleared, the four fillies that were at the impact site were nowhere to be seen. The vines were gone, and Flurry was waving the ponies around with her magic more vigorously than ever. Her captives cried out in pain under the unnaturally strong magic pressure from the baby who was holding them prisoner.
Echo was holding back tears when a light flashed in the room she and the Changeling brothers were in. Standing at the doorway was a certain draconequus, the four fillies in a net he held in his lion paw.
"Thank goodness I followed these little ones out of Ponyville," Discord remarked as he dropped the net. "No need to thank me, Bat princess."
Hemlock and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to the Bat alicorn. Echo sighed in relief as she embraced them. "I'm just glad they're safe, Discord. But now you have to go save Twilight and the others."
"I intend to," Discord grinned. In a flash of light, he teleported back outside, now in knight's armor and astride a winged pig. "Be prepared, young devil! This is for Fluttershy!" A lance appeared in his claw and a shield in his paw as he rode up to Flurry Heart, copies of himself appearing all over the street.
"Think he's in love with Fluttershy?" Applebloom asked the other fillies. "'Cause I sure do."
"Oh yeah, definitely," Scootaloo agreed as the others nodded.
The second all the lances touched Flurry Heart, a birdcage formed around her, a metal shell clasping over her horn to cancel out her magic. The clones caught the stunned ponies (and dragon) and laid them gently on the ground before all but the real Discord vanished. Flurry Heart kicked around inside the cage, trying to break it with her magic to no avail.
Discord looked over his work with approval. He whistled into the Crystal Palace. "Guards! Can you be good friends and help get these poor ponies back inside? Make sure to keep their little... assailant under control as well."
Once everypony was brought inside, the doctors were doing what they could to keep the injured ponies comfortable. Just about everypony who confronted Flurry was still a little jarred after being tossed around like a bunch of dolls. Most of them showed extreme strain along the back and ribs, and quite a few had their wind touched. Anypony who could was helping, just as long as Echo and Pharynx weren't flying.
"We should all be thankful that everypony got out of there in one piece," Sunburst added while tending to Starlight. "The magic pressure coming off of Flurry Heart could have easily broken a few ribs. And I wouldn't be surprised if a few came out with strained wing muscles."
"I'm glad that you came to our rescue, Discord," Fluttershy thanked the draconequus that was curled around her affectionately.
"You know I'm always one to appear at the last minute," Discord chuckled. "But you should really use metal imbued with a disabling spell if nothing else works on Flurry Heart. It should be more than enough to keep her magic the same as any other infant unicorn."
"That actually did cross my mind," Twilight admitted. "But we were all worried it would cause untold harm to Flurry. Though now we see that it was a bad idea not to consider it. How'd you even know about it?"
Discord snapped his claw to make a book appear. "I normally visit your library whenever you're not around and there's nothing else to do. Somepony simply didn't read the fine print about magically-imbued metal. Ahem. 'For the very rare possibility that an infant unicorn or alicorn has far more power than normal, using enchanted metal is the best way to keep his or her magic the same level as others of their age.' It was hidden at the bottom of the page, so I'm glad I saw it before I came to the rescue."
"And you silly fillies had all' us worried sick," Applejack chided the fillies as Applebloom put an ice pack on her back. "What were y'all thinkin', tryin' to stand off against Flurry Heart?"
"That nopony, no matter how young, messes with our sisters," Sweetie Belle answered sharply. "Hemlock and I were more than ready to fire off everything we had to make her let go of all of you, and she did. For a little bit..."
"You still had us all worried, though," Echo replied sternly.
"Remember, she made tissue paper out of my wing after she sneezed," Pharynx added. "And that was accidental. Just think how bad it could've been if she got you at full-force."
"That is a pretty good point," Scootaloo admitted. "But we still would've done anything to save you from Flurry Heart. She is still only half our size, after all."
"A pony's size doesn't exactly determine her power, you know," Starlight pointed out. "Most baby unicorns Flurry's age can only do levitation spells for a few things at a time. She's an alicorn, and can easily levitate a lot more things over a far longer radius."
"After a couple of days or so, we'll probably be good enough to head back to Ponyville," Twilight presumed. "That includes you too, Echo and Pharynx. You'll probably just have to stay off your wings for the rest of the week, and you'll be clear for flying again."
Thorax nodded in agreement. "Changeling injuries heal pretty quickly anyway. Things will be back to normal in no time."
Pharynx frowned and looked at his wing. The shattered wingcase looked almost completely back to normal, and his wing was knitting back together quite nicely as well. "We can only hope we don't have to take another hit."
Echo giggled, making the teal Changeling blush. "Given Discord's idea that actually worked to keep Flurry under wraps, I'm sure things will turn out fine."