"Okay! This is it!" Lucien spoke up.
"Hm? What is?" Sienna asked.
"Don't you remember? The day that Starlight Glimmer tried to ruin time and all that. This was the one I was waiting for especially."
"Oh yeah...We're not gonna... mess with time are we?"
"What? Nah. We're not allowed to travel through time. But what we can do is warn Starlight."
"About what?"
"Obviously in the original timeline, Twilight walked in to see Starlight there. Then a bunch of time-hopping shenanigans went down during the exact same day of the Rainboom, etc etc. This time we change up a bit. How about we warn Starlight on what's about to happen?"
"Wait!" Sienna got up from the cloud she was laying on. "That practically is messing with time!"
"No-no! Hear me out!" Lucien hadn't finished explaining. "We tell Starlight how it happened in the original timeline so that she can change things up...but! We won't tell her how she got reformed."
"Ooooh... So she'll still end up being reformed at the end. That is pretty smart actually."
"Ain't it? Watch and learn how the master goes to work. This is gonna be awesome..." Lucien rubbed his hands together. Their next plan was put into motion. And this one will involve the action of time-travel. Lots and lots of time travel.
Over at Celestia's School of Magic, Twilight was currently practising a speech.
" If somepony had told me when I was a blank flank that one day I'd give a speech to a class at Celestia's School of Magic, I wouldn't have believed it, but..." Twilight forgot what to say next as she let out a nervous grin. She used her magic to grab some word cards, shuffling them about to remember her lines. "I hope that I have been up to the task because I can tell that all of you are and that the future of Equestrian magic is in good hooves."
Very few claps were sent her way. Only Spike, Eve and Minccy were there to clap. It was just practice after all.
"Wow, hehe. That was even better than the first eleven times." Spike said.
"Eh, I don't know, Spike. I'd like to be able to get through the whole speech without looking at the cards."
"Come on, Twilight! You can't be nervous about giving a speech to a bunch of magic students!"
"Oh, I'm not nervous, Spike, but I do have to set a good example, especially for magic students. That's why this speech has to be..."
"Perfect...?" Spike sighed, knowing the correct answer.
"Exactly. Let's go through it one more time." Twilight cleared her throat. "When Princess Celestia asked me to speak to you today, I was honoured to have the opportunity to talk about my favourite subject: magic.
As Twilight continued on with her practice speech whilst Spike laid on a cushion, waiting for this to be over, Lucien and Sienna had already made their move. They had found Starlight Glimmer who was actually on her way towards Twilight's castle currently. She was this close to reaching Ponyville, spotting the castle in the distance. But the two Rift humans had stopped her for a bit.
"You're saying that you know what happens next?" Starlight walked back, looking up at them.
"Correct. Being Rift humans, we're granted the knowledge of every event that has happened in this universe. From start to finish. And you ended up becoming reformed at the end. On this exact day at that exact castle." Lucien pointed his thumb over at Twilight's castle.
"How did she even manage to do that?" Starlight scoffed.
"Don't worry about the details and outcome. Worry about how you're gonna work around it." Lucien shook his head.
"Well, how do you expect me to work around it if I don't even know how it went?"
"Easy. We can show you." Lucien held his hand out, unleashing a flash of cosmic energy in the unicorn's eyes. It was at this moment that Starlight was given the sight of what occurred in the original timeline.
There, Starlight had used a time-travelling spell that only Starswirl was capable of at the time. But to her surprise, Twilight and Spike managed to follow her by holding the paper she threw away, believing that she wouldn't need it anymore. And that was the end of that glimpse into the future. After that, the rest is a mystery to her.
"So that's what happened..." Starlight gasped.
"Yep. Wasn't a smart move of you to just throw the thing away." Lucien replied.
"If you wanna win, it wouldn't be a good idea to repeat the same thing you did in the original universe," Sienna said.
"I appreciate the help. Now I know what I can do in this new timeline." Starlight grinned. "Guess I'm one step ahead of you, Twilight."
"Great! Our work here is done. Peace." Lucien waved goodbye as he and Sienna took their leave. Now all that was left to do was watch everything play out differently.
Twilight's speech had finally begun with an actual audience now watching her. This time, she was able to say the right words flawlessly without using the cards.
"Obviously, the long term effects of....the simultaneous acquisition of cutie marks has yet to be determined, but..." She took a moment to sip some water. "Ahem. Next slide, please." She looked over to see that Spike was asleep.He was managing the slides but not at the moment.
Moondancer woke him up by rubbing his stomach, causing the baby draogn to gasp.
"Huh? Huh!" Spike got the rest of photo's placing them with the projector.
"I can speak from my own experience that the power of Cutie Mark Magic is very real, and in the instance of my friends and I, it can be traced to a single event! Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor, this rainboom wouldn't have happened. Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals. Applejack might never have realized that she belonged on her farm. And Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. It might be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to fathom what my life would be like. Without this rainboom, I might not have gotten into magic school. Celestia wouldn't have taken me on as her pupil or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends. And the most powerful thing about Cutie Mark Magic that I found is the connection I share with them-"
Twilight spoke to everypony here, gazing at the audience. But as her eyes were moving about, for a split second, she thought she saw Starlight Glimmer there. She took a moment to check again, but Starlight wasn't there. Gone.
"But, um..." She ended up going back to cards again due to her losing focus. "The real question about... Cutie Mark Magic is... who it seems to affect."
Twilight's speech came to an end eventually. But even still, the thought of her seeing Starlight never left her head. She could've sworn that she was amongst the crowd of ponies and Pokemon.
"Starlight Glimmer?" Spike asked.
" I was sure I saw her, Spike. But when I looked again, she was gone! I'm just worried what she could be up to." Twilight replied.
"Nothing good, I bet. I heard she wasn't very happy the last time you saw her."
"Forcing everypony in her village to have the same cutie mark wasn't right. We had to do something!"
"And now she's coming back for revenge." Once Spike said that, Twilight shuddered at that realty. "Uh, or she was just really interested in your speech!"
"Honestly, Spike. I'm not really sure what I saw. But as long as I have my friends, I know everything will be all right." They made their way back to castle, trying to forget about the whole Starlight Glimmer debacle along the way. Twilight placed her saddle-bag on the door, ready to relax away. "Maybe I was just more stressed about that speech than I thought."
"Yeah. That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer coming back with an evil plot for revenge."
"Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kinda silly." Twilight laughed, opening the doors to the meeting room.
"Or maybe it is!" Spike gasped as he, Eve and Minccy noticed something they weren't expecting.
Starlight Glimmer actually was here.
"Welcome home, Twilight!" Starlight exclaimed with a cocky look on her face. She used her magic to hold up Starswirls spell, just like in the original timeline. So far, everything was going exactly how it happened in the original universe. She zapped the spell, causing it shoot down a bolt of magic on the roundtable. The magic had forced the Cutie Map to show all of Equestria to Starlight.
"What are you doing, Starlight?" Twilight ran over to the table.
"I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise!" Starlight laughed. "Allow me to leave you a little something before I take my leave." This is where things changed rapidly. Instead of throwing away the spell, she kept it this time. And as a bonus, she had her Hatterene sneak up from behind.
Hatterene had emitted a strong telekinetic attack, grabbing Twilight, Spike, Eve and Minccy at the same time. That way, they wouldn't think about following her. But then again, how are they going to since Starlight is keeping the spell.
"H-Hatterene?!" Twilight strained, turning around to see Hatterene grinning at them. The Silent Pokemon tossed them all aside by forcing them to crash against the hard walls. Starlight's plan was going smoothly for her. Light purple magic rose up from the table, creating multiple rings of light. "Eve! Psybeam! Minccy! Swift!"
Twilight still had her Pokemon with her. The two of them attempted to stop this mysterious magic by blasting it away from afar. But once they made contact, they just simply vanished. Twilight tried zapping it, but her magic vanished as well.
It was then revealed that a sort of bowl-shaped portal appeared in the air. This portal had the sounds of clocks ticking behind it along with stars being the clocks that spun. Starlight and her Hatterene levitated themselves up towards the portal, planning to leave Twilight and the others behind in the past. Once they passed through, that was it. The portal was closed.
"Where'd she go?!" Spike exclaimed.
" I don't know, Spike, but I think we better find out!"
"How? What did she even use?"
"Some sort of travelling spell from the looks of it. But to where?" Twilight paced back and forth, unsure of what to do. If she travelled somewhere, then must be a place of great importance if she decided to come here to the castle and do it.
She thought long and hard, doing her very best to come up a solution, but so far, nothing at all. What Starlight did was new to her. She looked through many books to see what it could've been but she found nothing so far. This went on for 10 minutes total.
She eventually came across something that gave her answer. A page had been torn from the book. And it seemed to be the exact same height that matched the appearance of the paper from earlier.
"Right here!" Twilight placed her hoof on the torn page. "She went through this page right here."
"Well, what was there?"
"A Time Travelling Spell." Twilight gulped.
"Time travel? You mean she's..."
"Mhm. She's gone back to past...to try and change the course of time." Twilight realized why she was there at Celestia's School in the first place. "That's why she showed up at the speech conference. Spike! I think she's trying to change the destiny of me and my friends!"
"She can't just do that!"
"But she can! Starlight can do whatever she wants in the past. And there's nothing we can do to stop her!" Twilight got on the floor, panicking. The one spell that involved advanced time travel had been stolen. It seemed hopeless at first. And at this point, it practically is. Starlight changed the course of the original timeline. And now she'll change the course of Twilight and her friends, changing everything that has happened up until this point.
But that's when hope arrived in the form of a booming portal. The sound of this portal had shattered the windows of the castle due to the sound it emitted. Twilight gasped as she Spike and the Pokemon backed away from this.
"Is it Starlight Glimmer?!" Spike gasped.
"I think so! Stay behind me, Spike!" Twilight stood forward with her Pokemon by her side. They were ready to tackle Starlight if by chance it was her.
But it wasn't.
It was something much greater.
Out of the blue portal emerged none other than the Temporal Pokemon itself.
Dialga.
"....D-D-Dialga." Twilight stuttered as her jaw dropped. The Pokemon she saw when in the past had arrived before her. It was as huge as she remembered. So huge that once Dialga came out of the portal, it destroyed the roof of the castle when it flew up. This was enough to grab the attention of everypony. They all gazed their eyes on the Temporal Pokemon and its incredible stature. But actually, they could only see a bit of Dialga's head.
"Oh geez....w-what does he want?" Spike was shuddering at the mere sight of this Legendary Pokemon.
"...Dialga is the Pokemon that has the power to control the flow of time itself. Essentialy its guardian. I think I know why it's here."
"Twilight!" Ash busted in the door as he responded to the appearance of Dialga. "You okay?!"
"Pika!"
"No way! It is Dialga!"
"Why is he here?" Spike asked.
"If Dialga's here that that means...it's trying to correct time." Twilight realized. And her theory was right. Dialga had created a time portal out of thin air with just its mind. It was in fact here to correct time since it knew something was wrong.
"Correct time? What happened?" Ash went up to her.
"Starlight travelled through time earlier with a spell that only Starswirl could properly learn. And my guess is that Dialga's here to correct the timestream." Twilight explained.
Dialga nodded at Twilight. Once again, just like before, Twilight could almost hear what Dialga was saying, but it still sounded like roars. Although, it sounded like Dialga was saying "Go through."
"We don't have much time to lose! Come on!" Twilight was right. Standing here won't fix anything. Her, Ash, Spike and the Pokemon all passed through the temporal portal. Dialga let out its signature cry as it was here to help them correct the timeline.
Where Dialga sent them exactly was actually back to the point in time where Starlight was about to pass through the portal with Hatterene. Dialga realized that it was best to interact with this moment since it was what defined everything in the first place.
Starlight noticed that a second portal boomed out of nowhere all of a sudden. Once this portal appeared, the Twilight and Spike of this moment just vanished all of a sudden.
"What the?" Starlight raised an eyebrow. She just saw them both up and disappear for no reason. But the reason was clear. Once Dialga sent them through time, it forced each timeline of themselves to merge into their current selves.
"Starlight!" Twilight flew through the portal as she grabbed onto the paper. This time, she was going with her.
"How did you do that?!" Starlight snapped at her. The first portal was about to pull both of them and Hatterene inside. Ash and Spike quickly grabbed on to Twilight's tail, aiming to assist her in whatever happens next. Now it wasn't just a few through the portal. It was a lot.
Sienna and Lucien spectated as their jaws had dropped in awe.
"I didn't expect that to happen." Lucien gawked.
"Really? You didn't expect the guardian of time to show up?"
"What reason would Dialga even be here anyways? This timeline isn't even its own."
"Duh. Both worlds are now connected. Which means that this world is also Dialga's priority."
"I guess you're right. Wonder what'll happen next...?"
Twilight and the others were screaming, and for good reason. They had just travelled through time, falling from high above the skies. Starlight was right next to them since they went through the same portal at the exact same time. The light purple unicorn had her Hatterene use Psycho Cut, forcing Twilight and her friends to keep their distance away from her. After that, Starlight and Hatterene teleported off somewhere in this timeline.
Twilight just remembered that she has wings so this wasn't a problem. But it as for everyone else who didn't have wings. She noticed that on the lower level, there seemed to be some sort of pathway. The alicorn princess took advantage of this by using her magic to grab her friends before they made a crash landing on the pathway.
"P-Pika..." Pikachu let out a sigh of relief.
"That was close. Thanks Twilight." Ash sat down on the pathway. He got up, attempting to walk on the rest of the apparent cloudy floor, but once his feet left the solid pathway and on the cloudy floor, he went straight through it. "Gah!" Twilight had thankfully saved him by bringing him back up. "Oh...thanks again."
Why he phased through the pathway itself as it was clouds was mostly because it was nothing but clouds. It was revealed that they were in Cloudsdale of all places.
"Cloudsdale? Starlight doesn't even have wings! Why would she come here?" Spike asked.
" I don't know, Spike, but it looked like she could fly with just magic! Keep your eyes open. We don't know what she has planned." Twilight replied. Replying at that moment was met with a sudden woosh sound coming their way. In between the group, a certain blue pegasus zoomed past them all at high speeds. A very familiar looking pegasus at that.
"Isn't that Rainbow Dash?" Ash said.
"Did Rainbow Dash look really young to you?" She noticed a very young long Rainbow Dash. Young enough to look like a foal. Alongside here was even a younger Fluttershy who was of the same appearance. No Cutie Mark. Nothing. And I didn't see a cutie mark. She really has gone back to the past to change everything!" Twilight thought for a bit.
"Change what? What happened at this moment?" Ash asked.
"At this very point in time, Rainbow Dash performed the Sonic Rainboom for the first time ever. It was that Rainboom that caused my friends and I to meet up one day. If Starlight's here, then she's planning to prevent the Rainboom from happening!" Twilight explained.
"Then wouldn't that mean we should be at the place where the race started?" Spike pointed to the direction of the race.
"Right! Let's hope Starlight hasn't beat us there." Twilight and her friends got a move on as quickly as they could. Ash got out Dragonite to help him through the skies since he couldn't risk accidentally falling through Cloudsdale again.
And speaking of Starlight.
"I don't know how they manage to find out what I was up to...but it won't happen a second time." Starlight spoke as she was hidden in the clouds. The reason she was able to stay in Cloudsdale was due to her levitating herself along with Hatterene.
The race was about to begin. The race that marked the most important day of Twilight and her friends. Some of the young pegasi of Cloudsdale couldn't help but stare at Ash and the Pokemon. They had never seen anything like them before. Well...not yet anyways.
The race was off. Rainbow Dash and the other two young pegasi zoomed through the skies, aiming to win this. They passed through some cloudy rings which acted as pathways towards the finish line.
One of the younger pegasi ended up crashing through a cloudy pillar, immediately being out of the race. Now it was just Rainbow Dash and somepony else by the name of Hoops. It wasn't really a huge race since they're just kids.
The young pony flew beside Rainbow Dash, tackling his body onto her.
"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash almost lost her balance at that moment.
"Heh! Later Rainbow Crash!" Hoops taunted, flying ahead.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash got her focus back, chasing after him.
Starlight's head peeked out of the clouds as she was ready to ruin everything on the spot.
"Aw, sorry about this." She spoke, zapping Rainbow Dash right in her flank. The young pegasus had almost performed the Sonic Rainboom. She was this close. The wind in front of her was tearing apart with rainbow streaks surrounding them. You could even hear the sound of thunder rumbling. But, Starlight ruined that by causing her to stop in place.
"Hey! What gives!" Rainbow Dash tried to move, but that was no good. And just like that, that one single action changed everything. Rainbow Dash never performed the Rainboom and ended up losing the race in the end.
As a result, Fluttershy never came to continue her love for animals as they all just simply flew away from her.
Applejack never returned home to Sweet Apple Acres.
Pinkie Pie never left her rock farm and continued to work hard on it everyday.
Rarity never found the gems in the huge rock as she just simply kicked it off a cliff, walking off.
And Twilight never managed to unleash her magic, which also resulted in Spike never hatching from the egg he was born in.
All it took was one action and that was that. Time had been changed. The shock and sight of the Rainboom was never birthed into the world.
"Starlight!" Twilight turned to Starlight, finally noticing her.
"Sayanora~" Starlight waved at them as the portal through time opened up above them once more. The portal managed to pull only Twilight and her friends through it, leaving Starlight out of it. "That takes care of that. I don't know how they knew what I was up to. But I believe everything is going to be just fine from here on out."
Twilight and the others fell through the portal once more. This time, they actually landed on a familiar spot. The table and chairs of the rest of her friends. It seemed like it just sent them back to the present.
"Ow..." Ash held his head as he crash landed on Applejack's seat.
"What happened?! What changed?!" Twilight stood up, looking around.
"A lot changed. Look." Spike pointed at the new appearance of this timeline. The atmosphere had a red tint to it, her castle was gone. Non existent. The only thing left was the table and chairs. And even those were altered. Some were even half broken from appearance. "Twilight. Where's your castle?"
"Oh, no-no-no-no!" Twilight hopped off her seat. "The map pulled us back, but whatever Starlight did in the past changed things here! Without the Rainboom, everything could change!"
"...Your table's still here, though." Ash put his hand on the nearly destroyed table. "But the map here looks completely different."
"Pika."
"No kidding. The Crystal Empire takes up half of Equestria! It's not that big!" Twilight went up to the newly changed map.
"Espeon!" Eve noticed something in the distance.
"What is it, Eve?" The young alicorn turned her head. What her Pokemon saw was Ponyville. Not too far from here. The buildings seemed to be the same in appearance thankfully. So that must mean nothing bad has happened to it. At least, that's what Twilight assumed. "Ponyville. If anypony can help us, it's the rest of our friends."
"I don't know...This place is making me uneasy." Ash rubbed his arm.
"There's no need to be, Ash. This is Ponyville. Happiest place in the world. There's no timeline where things go wrong in it. That's for sure." Twilight was confident as they all made their towards Ponyville.
The appearance, whilst still having the same building structures, wasn't so pleasant. Some had holes in roofs, barricades on the doors with wood as if they were trying to avoid something. Not only that, but there were no Pokemon around at all. Not even the usual sound of a Flying-Type could be heard.
"Pikachu..." Pikachu felt uneasy, staying close to Ash. The group came across a familiar building that's always great to be in. SugarCube Corner. But not this time. It still had its appearance, but the colouring on it was so bland and dry. Its usual popping pink colours were non existent.
"Is that Sugarcube Corner?" Spike asked.
"I don't understand." Twilight shook her head.
"Not just that. Look." Ash pointed over to the direction of Carousel Boutique. At least it had its usual colours with it. But what was around it wasn't so pleasant to look at. The trees near it were wilted and on the verge of dying out.
"Rarity?" Spike gasped, rushing over to the boutique. Once he got there, he banged on the door aggressively, but there wasn't any response. He looked through the barricades, hoping to see somepony through the glass, but there was nopony at all. "Rarity! Leavanny! Anypony?!"
"I don't think she's here, Spike. I'm not sure anything we know is the same. But I know one place that could never change!" Twilight was referring to Sweet Apple Acres.
And she was partly right. The front was the same. But behind the front was something completely different. The sight of factory had become one with the entire farm. Steam and smoke rose up from the pipes as the sound of machines grinding could be heard.
"Espeon..." Both Eve and Minccy hid behind Twilight, unsure of if it was a good idea to advance forward. Twilight and Ash looked through the dirt covered windows as they noticed that some sort of food processing was going on. Cans with Granny Smith's face were being moved on a conveyer belt with produce being stuffed inside of them. This produce was actually apples that were pushed inside of a cooker of some sorts. The cooker smushes the apples down into nothing but mush as a tap then pours it all inside the can.
And to their surprise, Pokemon were still here even in this timeline. Big Mac's Machamp was working alongside him by using his many arms to throw away anything that seemed out of place.
"Pokemon are still here? How?" Ash wondered.
"Pikachu..."
Applejack had arrived outside, pushing a barrel. Her appearance was similar to that of her brother. They wore the exact same grey work outfits but one major difference was Applejack's hat. Which wasn't there anymore. What was there now was a fishnet that wasn't just on her head but her tail as well.
"Applejack?!" Twilight rushed over to her friend, giving her a hug. But Applejack seemed unphased by this, keeping a stern face.
"What can I do for ya?" Applejack asked.
"It's so good to see you! We couldn't find Pinkie or Rarity or Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, but I just knew you'd still be here!" Twilight squeed.
"Of course I am. This is my home. But who in tarnation is Pinkie Bow and Flutterdash? Or you for that matter? And what is that?" Applejack pointed at Ash, acting like this was her first time seeing a human.
"Hm? You don't recognize Ash? Or me?"
"Nope. Honestly, the only name I recognize is Rarity, but she left for Manehattan years ago with her Leavanny."
"Probably to become a world-famous fashion designer, I bet." Spike had that as his conclusion.
"Not that I know of. Last I heard, she went to help with the cause like everypony else."
"The cause?" Twilight asked.
"The war against King Sombra and the Crystal Empire?"
"What?!" The three of them exclaimed at the same time.
"Where have you three been?"
"Actually...it's when." Spike grinned.
"I know this is hard to believe, but you, Ash, the Pokemon and I and those other ponies I mentioned are friends!"
" Did you bump your head on a crate of cider or somethin'?"
"I'm telling you the truth! And if you come with me, I'll prove it."
Meanwhile, Lucien and Sienna watched from the grey clouds above, spectating everything.
"So far so good, don't you think?" Lucien asked Sienna.
"At this point, I don't even know. But it's strange. How are there still Pokemon here?" Sienna replied. "Starlight only interfered with the past where there wasn't any Pokemon. Both worlds hadn't even crossed over yet."
"Is it not obvious? Even if the Rainboom never happened, it was never going to change the Rift deciding that both worlds should cross paths. Besides... The Rift just thought it would be interesting to mess with this timeline as well."
"Oh. Right." Sienna nodded. "So, when do you think Dialga's going to pass through? Twilight doesn't even have the spell with her."
"I give it a few minutes until that large time dragon makes another appearance."
"Well, I'll admit. I've lived in these parts my whole life and I've never seen this before." Applejack was brought to the table where the map was. It was all new territory for her.
"There's also supposed to be a castle that goes with it." Spike said.
"Another pony named Starlight Glimmer used this map to travel through time and change things in the past. For some reason, the map's here but everything else is different!" Twilight explained.
"Different how?" She asked.
"Well, for one thing, where we came from, there's no war with King Sombra. Maybe you could tell us how the war started, then we can figure out when everything changed!"
"That's easy enough." Applejack sighed, ready to explain everything she knew. "When the Crystal Empire returned, it brought King Sombra back with it."
What happened in the past was vastly different from the original timeline. This time, instead of it just being a war between ponies, even the Pokemon were involved. Both sides had Pokemon going up against each other, essentially sparking a second Great Pokemon War but this time in another world.
Next to Sombra's side were his own Pokemon which he never had originally. A Malar, Bisharp, Sharpedo and even his own Hydreigon along with many other Pokemon by his side.
"And it didn't take long for him to force every one of his subjects to fight for him against Equestria."
The ponies of the Crystal Empire was subject to Sombra's rule once more as they were forced to battle with the Pokemon against their opposing kingdom.
The soldiers and Pokemon marched forward to war with armor all around them. Many large Pokemon such as Nidoking's, Rhyperior's, Aggrons and Steelix's were used as soldiers in the war. Including slightly smaller Pokemon like Sableye, Scizor, Gliscor and Houndoom.
On the other side of the spectrum, Celestia had her own Pokemon to fight alongside her army. They consisted of many Braviary's and Staraptors for the air whilst Pokemon for the ground ranged from Machamps, Stoutlands and Rapidash.
And just like the first Great Pokemon War, this was equally as worse. Once both sides clashed, a battle on a destructive scale took place. You have countless Pokemon moves being thrown at each other, ranging from flames bursting from beneath the earth itself, beams of pure ice freezing anypony and Pokemon that was nearby, entire earthquakes were being formed, stones, grass, water, moves of every type were being unleashed in this.
And due to this, the entire world was being changed at the same time. Pokemon have the destructive power to change the earth itself. So much so that entire mountains break apart from their collision. The Machamps had thrown their usual 1,000 punches at the larger Pokemon, sending them across the horizon.
A Rhyperior had used Earthquake, causing the opposing side to lose balance as the ground itself was splitting apart. In the air, the Flying-Type Pokemon attacked with either Air Slash for distance or just charged right in with Aerial Ace, Brave Bird and other physical moves.
Sombra moved towards the carnage with his Malamar by his side. As a group of soldiers and Stoutlands attempted to attack him, he made himself rise up by summoning his usual crystals. His Malamar had used Hyponsis on any approaching Pokemon, either turning them against their fellow friends or just putting them to sleep.
Rainbow Dash was actually apart of this all as well. On her side, she still had her Braviary in this timeline. But instead of partaking in gym battles, they were just simply fighting against the Crystal Empire.
Rainbow's helmet had been blown off by a nearby Aggron who used Stone Edge. Braviary swooped in to protect its trainer by smashing the Iron Armor Pokemon through the ground with Superpower. Rainbow Dash was actually missing a bit of her ear along with some of her wings being slightly torn off.
From above, a Steelix had used the move Rock Slide as huge piles of rocks were falling from above, crushing some Pokemon and ponies in the process. One gargantuan rock was about to fall on Rainbow Dash without her even realizing. But thankfully, two ponies had managed to save her. Pinkie Pie and Maud were those two ponies as they shattered the rocks by rapidly smashing their hooves against it.
"And even with Princess Celestia leadin' the charge, it still takes every last pony and Pokemon in Equestria doin' their part, workin' day and night, to keep up the fight."
Celestia had on her side a Lucario instead of a Kirlia in this timeline. Any Pokemon that even tried to come close to her was met with a devastating Aura Sphere from the Aura Pokemon.
But even moving away from the conflict, it wasn't as great with everything else. Fluttershy was shearing the wool off some Wooloo's and Mareep's. Each time she sheared the Wool Pokemon, she would get shocked every single time. The wool that came from both sheep-like Pokemon was made into even more clothing for war which was being manufactured by Rarity and her Leavanny. You could even see many ponies leaving on trains to join in on this war.
Clearly, it wasn't the best timeline.
"I just can't believe it! We stopped King Sombra! You and me and all of our friends!" Twilight was flabbergasted.
"But we aren't friends. At least not here."
"Right..." Twilight lowered her head.
"Look. I hope all this helped, but I really need to get back to cannin' those apples." Applejack took her leave.
"Thank you. We're going to set things right." Twilight reassured.
"I hope you do."
"Hm?" Ash noticed the wind changing course. That could only mean one thing. Dialga was returning. And return it did.
The Temporal Pokemon arrived, leaving behind a booming sound as well.
"What in tarnation is that?!" Applejack fell on her back, shocked at the sight of Dialga.
"Dialga! That's our cue to leave!" Ash said as he and Twilight went through the portal, bidding farewell to Applejack and this entire timeline.
Dialga had sent them back to the time when Starlight tried to stop Rainbow Dash yet again.
"Now! All we have to do is-" Twilight's words were cut short thanks to a small little zap of magic that placed her and the others inside of a purple crystal. Starlight had frozen them in place, expecting them to arrive. The crystal fell on the clouds, slowly sinking through it.
"Well, finding her will be easy! But stopping her's gonna be harder than you think. Sorry to disappoint you, but I created that spell to send myself back in time. So even if you cast it, I still get sent back here. It wasn't difficult to change Star Swirl's spell. He'd already done the hard part. But figuring out I could use the map to go to any time or place? I even impressed myself with that. And as bonus, some humans told me how I managed to lose in the original timeline. But thanks to them, I changed my previous actions! But, I don't know how you managed to travel through time without the map. That's still a mystery to me. But that doesn't matter. With you all here, you can watch me erase the one thing that linked you with your friends! My village was a sanctuary of equality, where nopony's cutie mark allowed them to feel superior! It was a special place, and you and your friends took it away!"
Starlight then noticed that the crystal had sunk deep into the clouds, meaning they didn't get to hear the rest of it.
" Now it's my turn to take something special from you! Without the Rainboom, you and your friends will never form your special cutie mark bonds! Cutie marks for cutie marks! Sounds like a fair trade to me!" She poked the crystal, causing it to fall through the clouds. They were now falling rapidly down towards the hard ground. This impact could be ugly.
"I-Iron Tail..." Ash managed to speak within the crystal.
"Chu...Pika!" Pikachu broke the crystal apart by putting all his muscle strength into his tail.
Dragonite had grabbed Ash, Pikachu, Spike and the other Pokemon whilst Twilight saved herself.
"Phew. This is getting too close lately." Ash sighed.
"Pika..."
"Don't worry, Ash. I know exactly what we can do now." Twilight had figured that the best option right now was to make sure that time goes as it was supposed to. "All we have to do is make sure that Rainbow Dash pulls off the Sonic Rainboom before Starlight gets the chance to stop her.
"Minccino!" Minccy jumped up from Dragonite's head, pointing aggressively.
"What is it, Minccy?" Twilight asked.
"Minccino!" The Chinchilla Pokemon had spotted starlight Glimmer over in the distance. But, at the moment, she was doing something unexpected.
It looked like she was talking to the young ponies. More specifically, the bullies who teased Fluttershy.
"Just remember how you'd feel if someone said those things to you." Starlight spoke to them.
"What's going on here?" Twilight zoomed over, growling at Starlight.
"Oh, I was just reminding these two colts how hurtful teasing can be."
"Well...don't!" Twilight snapped at her.
"Huh...?" The young ponies seemed to be befuddled by Twilight's words.
"What?" Fluttershy said as she hid behind Hatterene.
"I mean...you were?"
"Of course! In a world where everypony is unique, some are bound to feel more special than others. But that isn't a license to be cruel, is it?" Starlight patted Fluttershy on the head.
"No, of course not..."
"Oh, isn't it a shame we don't live in a world where everypony is equal? No one would ever tease anyone there! Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Mhm." The young foals nodded.
"No, it wouldn't! I mean, it'd be nice not to be teased, of course, but that's not the same thing!"
"Pika..." Pikachu was feeling the urge to shock her right now with electricity picking up on his sacs.
"Oooh! What's that?!" Fluttershy noticed Pikachu, rushing over to him. "It's so cute!"
"P-Pika..."
"Come on, Fluttershy. Maybe I can help you get through the course this time." Hoops suggested.
"Well, I-I sure could use the practice..." Fluttershy moved away from Pikachu. If she got any closer, it would've been a repeat of when she first met him, which also includes when her human self met him.
"I know you only convinced those bullies to not tease Fluttershy to stop the rainboom!" Twilight walked up to Starlight.
"Oh, that's not true. I convinced them not to be bullies because everypony should be equal. Stopping the rainboom is just a bonus. And getting rid of you both is the cherry on top! Hatterene! Psycho Cut!"
"No you don't! Iron Tail!" Ash prevent Starlight from trying anything. Cuts of psychic energy were directed at Twilight, but a good strong Iron Tail broke them apart.
"You won't be able to meddle with time if we stop you here. Eve! Psybeam!"
"Espeon!"
"Light Screen." Hatterene cloaked herself in a golden light, causing the Psybeam to essentially become weaker upon contact. "Dazzling Flash!" The Silent Pokemon emitted a powerful flash of fairy magic that was enough to blind them. This move was used for a quick getaway by Starlight. Her Hatterene and her teleported away, aiming to prevent the Rainboom from taking place.
"You won't get away from us! Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"
"Pika...Chu!" The Electric Mouse Pokemon managed to put a stop to both of their movements via a bolt of 100,000 volts that brought them down.
"You...rat! Hatterene! Psycho Cut!"
"Hatterene..." The Silent Pokemon sent violent blades formed by pscyhic power towards the opposing Pokemon.
"Aqua Tail!" Twilight commanded. The Chinchilla Pokemon sent the cuts away with her tail being surrounded by a veil of water. However, this one action actually caused a horrible outcome.
One of the Psycho Cuts had accidently hit Rainbow Dash's wing, causing her to stop flying.
"Ow!" Rainbow Dash cried out in pain as she fell on a cloud.
"Eeep!" Twilight gasped.
"Ooh. Nice shot." Starlight congratulated her. And at that moment, the spell took place once more. Due to Rainbow Dash's wing being damaged, time was triggered. Twilight and the others were once again, pulled through the portal, flying to yet another timeline. "Buh-bye."
Time was a major factor in all of this. The current mission was to make sure the Sonic Rainboom occurs the right moment. But with Starlight involved, it's proving to be much harder than they expected. But with Dialga on their side, the scales may tip in their favour, as the journey continues.
Chapter 179 End!