Manehattan.
Currently in chaos.
Twilight and her friends had been greatly injured by a Pheromosa who had been ordered by Ghetsis to do whatever it wanted to do. As a result, the Ultra Beast had completely overpowered every last one of them with its devastating kicks. Applejack had lost her voice, Pinkie's mind had gone numb for a bit whilst the others were just bruised. The only one not present with them was Rarity, who ran off to see if Coco Pommel was okay.
Twilight and her friends looked to be on the edge of their end with hope fading away until the Swords of Justice arrived. They had managed to save their lives by rushing to Manehattan, catching the news on the utter carnage that had been unleashed upon the city.
Terrakion and Keldeo had brought the ponies and Pokemon to safety whilst Cobalion and Virizion attempt to put a stop to Pheromosa.
"Pheromosa!" The Lissome Pokemon had made Virizion and Cobalion its new prey. After all, Ghetsis told it to go wild. So what's stopping it from doing whatever it wants to? The Swords. That's who. Pheromosa took the skies, tossing an Electroweb from its feet. This web of volts had been cut in half by Cobalion's Sacred Sword, scattering the tiny volts across the ground.
Virizion made her move next. Her swiftness was just enough to keep up with a Pokemon as fast as Pheromosa. Both the Grassland Pokemon and the Lissome Pokemon had entered a skirmish with a sword and foot clashing together. Both had a small struggle, with one trying to push the other back. They went back and forth, causing both their sword and feet to collide with each other over and over again.
Virizion had galloped backwards, releasing an Energy Ball towards UB-02. It didn't do much at all, only causing a minor explosion of grass in the process, but it was a good distraction. Cobalion had moved through the smoke, using Iron Head on the scornful Ultra Beast.
"Phero!" Pheromosa had been forced back by Iron Head. The move had left a small dent on its arms in the process. "Mosa..." The Lissome Pokemon's hatred towards the Swords only growing further and further. All the while, Cobalion and Virizion hadn't said a word. All they did was just gaze at the Ultra Beast with arduous and formidable eyes. This didn't sit well with Pheromosa, who was easily agitated by this. "Pheromosa!"
Out of animosity, the Ultra Beast bolted towards the direction of the two Swords, intent on crushing them with a devastating Triple Kick. Cobalion and Virizion could see how frustrated the Ultra Beast was getting. It was that frustration that would allow them to gain upper hoof. Both the Iron Will Pokemon and Grassland Pokemon had used Extreme Speed to juke out the Lissome Pokemon, throwing it off guard.
And indeed, it was off guard. It couldn't keep up with Extreme Speed at all. The two of them appeared to be a blur moving across the area as if they were kicking up a tornado. With each Extreme Speed, they had tackled the Ultra Beast, moving back and forth, faster than it could ever hope to react. Pheromosa out of frustration stomped its feet on the ground, causing a small tremor on the streets.
And yet, that wasn't enough either. Cobalion and Virizion at the same time decided to put an end to this. Both went for Sacred Sword, mixing it together with Extreme Speed. And before it knew it, Pheromosa had been incised by both Pokemon who passed through it with their swords. The impact was so powerful that it even replicated the sound of a sword cutting something down to size.
"Phero!" Pheromosa took a moment to realize that it had been taken out by two swords at the same time. And it didn't even see it coming. Not at all. "Mosa..." Pheromosa got on its knees, defeated and beaten.
"That's that." Cobalion laid down his Sacred Sword. "You're beaten."
"Mosa..." Pheromosa growled at Cobalion and Virizion looking up at the both of them. Cobalion gave a stern glare to the Lissome Pokemon, asserting his overwhelming dominance over it. Pheromosa was no longer frustrated with them. Instead, it was intimidated by them.
"Leave. Return your world and never come back here." Cobalion ordered. That was all he needed to say. Pheromosa quickly got up from the ground, making a run for it. It knew that Cobalio and the swords would find it if it ever decided to stir up trouble again. And just like that, the Pheromosa threat had been taken care of.
"Now. What do we do about all of this?" Virizion was referring to the carnage still ongoing in Manehattan.
"Fluttershy's Audino is the only Pokemon here that can remove the poison within their bodies. If we are to save them all, we will have to round every last one of them up."
"Is that so? I can do that." Virizion tapped her hoof. Her speed was enough to outpace every single Pokemon and pony here.
"Then it's settled. You'll lure them all to this spot whilst we keep them restrained. Make sure no one gets hurt in the process."
"That isn't even a challenge."
Whilst that occurs, Rarity had made her way to the Plaza, hoping that Coco hadn't been infected by Nihilego's poison.
"Coco?!" She looked around the plaza to see that it had been frozen over by ice. Most likely from Coco's Glaceon. Nopony else was in sight. The entire hotel either had broken walls, shattered windows or even some dresses scattered across the floor, torn apart. Clearly, Nihilego's neurotoxins can really leave an effect on somepony.
Rarity searched high and low for her friend, but so far, there wasn't a sign of her anywhere. At least, not on the lower sections. Until she heard the sounds of a Glaceon crying out.
"Glaceon...?" Rarity turned her head to the direction of the cry. Coco must be there since she does own a Glaceon. The sound was coming from a hotel room which was filled to the brim with ice. If anything, this one spot had the most ice out of everywhere else. "She must be in here!" The unicorn came across the door of a hotel room. Before she could even think about opening the door, a beam of ice shot through it, nearly freezing Rarity on sight.
"Glaceon!" Inside the room, Glaceon had unfortunately been hit by Nihilego's neurotoxins.
"Glaceon, stop!" Coco's voice apart of the noise as well. Currently, she was grabbing a hold of her partner, trying to restrain her. The Fresh Snow Pokemon had completely frozen its fur in order to make her hair stand up like needles. These sharp ice needles were piercing through Coco's skin, causing her to wince. Not only that, but the sheer cold of Glaceon's needles was enough to freeze the atmosphere around her. Thus, causing Coco to gain a horrible chill. And yet, she continued to hold her Pokemon.
"Not good...Leavanny! String Shot!" Rarity had sent out one of her Leavanny's to restrain the Fresh Snow Pokemon. A shot of thick strong wrapped around Glaceon, confining the Ice-Type Eeveelution.
"R-Rarity?" Coco shivered with the ice still filling her body.
"Coco! Darling, are you alright?!"
"Fine...bit cold actually." Coco had almost fallen over, but thankfully, Rarity caught her. Once she did, she felt the harsh temperatures flow through her hooves as well. "I don't know what happened...Glaceon started acting violently for no reason."
"Glace! Glaceon!" Glaceon snarled, trying to break free from the string with its needles. However, Leavanny kept up String Shot, causing the string to thicken even further.
"That would be the neurotoxins from Nihilego. It's not your Glaceon's fault."
"Nihilego...?"
"An Ultra Beast apparently. Strange Pokemon from another world that have been summoned here by Team Plasma. My friends and I managed to fend off one Nihilego that attempted to infect our town. But it seems that it's already done its job here."
"So that's what that thing was last night?"
"You encountered Nihilego?"
"Mhm. I was heading home for the night with Glaceon...until this weird alien-like Pokemon appeared. Next thing I know, these holes in the sky started appearing. That's when Nihilego showed up. Glaceon ended up defending me by defeating the Nihilego, but unfortunately, she was hit by those neurotoxins. And now I don't know what to do to calm her down..." Coco sighed.
"But I do." Rarity reinstalled hope in her. "Fluttershy's Audino can remove the poison with Refresh. Your Glaceon will be back to its glorious personality in no time thanks to her."
"R-Really?" Coco sneezed from the chill.
"Really. So you don't have to worry about a thing. Do you have Glaceon's Pokeball with you?"
"I tried but...the entire plaza's been damaged, so I can't really find it at the moment."
"In that case...we'll continue to keep her wrapped up. Right, Leavanny?"
"Leavanny."
"I just hope that everypony is alright out there."
On the outside, Virizion was doing a fantastic job of luring everypony and Pokemon in. Since the poison made them all violent, that also meant that they are easily provoked. So Virizion had taunted them by using Leaf Blade to slightly graze them, causing a small tickle on their skin or fur. Soon, the provoked ponies and Pokemon chased Virizion down, aiming to perform violent acts on her. However, due to her being swift, they weren't catching up at all.
"Over here~" Virizion teased, luring them to the spot where Cobalion, Keldeo and Terrakion where. The three of them were waiting for the exact moment when they were all close enough. And close enough they were. "Now!"
"I got it!" Terrakion replied. In order to restrain them all, the Cavern Pokemon had used the move Stone Edge to surge up huge rocks that had circled everypony and Pokemon nearby. These Stone Edge Rocks were much larger than your average Stone Edge, so the gap was smaller and the height even taller.
As for the Flying-Types who were harder to gain a hold of, that was no problem for Terrakion either. He had the move Rock Slide, allowing him to summon boulders out of thin air. These mystical boulders dropped from above, forcing the Flying-Types to fall into the Stone Edge prison. Lightwork for Terrakion.
"Good. Is she awake?" Cobalion asked Keldeo.
"Yep. She's up." Keldeo gave the answer. Fluttershy and Audino were up and conscious. Thankfully, Pheromosa dealt the least damage to them, but make no mistake, it hurts. "Think you can help us here, Fluttershy?"
"Mmn..." Fluttershy squirmed. Her back and wings were injured after she was launched into a large pile of rubble. But she could stand, thankfully. "I-I'll try."
"Audino..." Her partner did the same. It's a good thing Audino is a fairly durable Pokemon that doesn't go down so easily despite its gentle nature.
"Actually. You two should probably get some more rest. Those bruises look pretty serious." Keldeo changed his mind.
"No. I'll do it. I have to." Fluttershy held her hoof out, revealing her Mega Ring. "Let's go Audi."
"Audino." Audino held on to her mega necklace, preparing for Mega Evolution. With both the trainer and Pokemon badly injured, it seemed like Mega Evolution wouldn't occur. But that wasn't the case.
Mega Evolution could still be activated despite the condition. The light rays of mega energy shot out of Fluttershy's keystone, flying towards her partner. Audino took a deep breath, taking in all the radiating energy that filled her body.
The power of Mega Evolution was not only enough to power her up, but it was also enough to rejuvenate her, granting the Hearing Pokemon some energy back. And just like that, a burst of magic emanated from Audino, revealing her Mega Evolution Form.
Mega Audino.
"Audino!" Audino felt like a completely different Pokemon now. She noticed that Fluttershy was on the verge of fainting, slowly losing her balance. The Mega-Evolved Pokemon caught her trainer in her huge lovable hands. Audino decided that Fluttershy should leave everything to her. "Dino." Audino looked over to Keldeo, nodding in understanding. She made her way towards the scene where everypony and Pokemon had been grouped in one spot.
"Are you prepared?" Cobalion asked.
"Audino." Audino replied with a resounding 'Yes'. She was planning to fix everything in one go. And she had the power to do so. Mega Evolution doesn't just power up offensive moves after all. The Hearing Pokemon was aiming to use Refresh on not just the group, but the entire city. "Audino!" Spreading its arms out, a ravishing and sensation flare of green sparkles that caused a coruscation of light to spread across the city. This gargantuan green light could be seen from afar, even from high above the clouds themselves.
Adagio had especially seen the light, gazing at its green glint spread all over the city.
"What?! What is this?!" She gasped as the light was even affecting her.
As expected, Refresh eliminated the neurotoxins from those that were affected, but it went above and beyond. Due to the Refresh being powered up by Mega Evolution, Audino was capable of affecting the entire city in one go, even reaching Coco's Glaceon.
"Glace...Glaceon...?" The Fresh Snow Pokemon closed its eyes, noticing that the neurotoxins were no longer within its body. It had returned its Jolly nature, reverting back to the Pokemon that Coco loved so much.
"Glaceon? Are you alright now?" Coco noticed the light and change in Glaceon's eyes.
"Glaceon!" The Ice-Type Eeveelution responded with a wide smile on its tiny little face.
"Oh! I'm so glad!" Coco had shoved Leavanny out of the way, giving her partner an overwhelming yet loving hug-dive.
"Ugh. My head..." A pony who had been refreshed groaned. The neurotoxins originally hit his head so that's where he felt the sting the most. "It actually feels much better suddenly."
"Cherrim." A Cherrim had removed its mouth from the head of a pony. Originally, it had become so violent that it decided to bite off the pony's head but wasn't strong enough. Once it realized it was no longer full of poison, the Blossom Pokemon got back to jumping around whilst absorbing the sunlight.
Everypony and Pokemon did so. They obviously had memories of what happened still remained without a single ounce of it lost. Although, the neurotoxins do tend to make your mind a bit fuzzy afterwards.
"Audi...no." Audino had used up every ounce of her energy in that one refresh. Pheromosa's attacks were still present in her. As a result, she came out of Mega Evolution, falling on her knees from exhaustion.
"Are you kidding me?! There's always something that ruins everything, isn't there?!" Adagio groaned. She figured that she could leave, finding no reason to be here anymore.
Rarity had returned with Leavanny, eager to see if her friends were alright. And they were far from alright. Everypony else was refreshed and energetic once more, but the others? Not so much. Twilight was only now waking up after blacking out. Applejack had still lost her voice whilst Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each had their backs injured. Pinkie Pie's mind had become numb. This meant that she couldn't think straight at the moment. Everything was a blur to her. The only pony who hadn't taken the worst of it all was Starlight.
"Everypony! Are you all alright?!" Rarity gasped, running over to them. She could see that they had scratches and bruises over them. "What happened?!"
Applejack tried explaining what happened, but she couldn't. With her throat damaged, she couldn't utter a word. The best she could do was let out small grunts.
"Your friends are not in the best condition at the moment, Rarity." Cobalion spoke to her. "They suffered a horrible assault from an Ultra Beast that been unleashed by Ghetsis. As a result, they were unable to fight back against the creature's blinding speeds."
"Really?!" Rarity gasped. "Oh, I wish I hadn't had run off, everypony!"
"Even if you were here, the outcome would not have changed, unfortunately." Virizion shook her head. The creature was just far more powerful than they could have ever anticipated.
"Oh...I see..."
"The best you can do now is head home. All of you. There are more of these wormholes across Equestria. Who knows how many of these 'beasts' have passed through. They could be causing chaos across the land as we speak." Cobalion ordered them. "You have already seen what these beasts are capable of. It would be a wise decision not to encounter any more of them. They are far beyond you."
Hearing that made Twilight remember what Celestia told her months ago, regarding her premonition about Ghetsis.
"Twilight. This is one problem that I advise you to stay out of. It is beyond even you."
"But, what if I can help? Me and my friends will be able to help like we always do!"
"I know. But it's just... this premonition is unlike anything I've ever felt before. I don't want you getting hurt. None of your friends." Celestia was genuinely worried for Twilight. Never before has Celestia been so worried in her life. "If it comes down it, you and your friends will join in."
"I understand."
"We will," Twilight replied, lowering her head. "Come on girls. Let's head home."
The road back to Ponyville wasn't filled with exhilarating energy as always. Not in the slightest.
All that filled the atmosphere was a sense of dismay, discomfiture, failure and total defeat.
Along the way, none of them said a word to each other. They all simply stayed silent, some more than others. Starlight and Rarity, however, weren't as down as the others. Mostly because Rarity was healthy and untouched whilst Starlight was only mildly injured.
Even Pinkie Pie was down. So down that her usually fluffy and puffed up mane had dropped down to its bland and plain state of when she was a foal. Audino was carrying Fluttershy along the way since her back was still injured from the rubble crash. Applejack held her throat, feeling a sting each time she either swallowed or attempted to speak. Rainbow Dash felt guilty that she couldn't defeat Pheromosa. Braviary could've taken the Lissome Pokemon out in one hit, but he was unfortunately tricked by a threat, causing him to let his guard down.
They all finally made their way back to Ponyville, but not in high spirits as they usually are. They brought an aura of despair along with them.
"You're back! Did you manage to...save...Manehattan?" Scootaloo asked, but her words slowed down once she witnessed their dismal faces and tattered bodies. "What's wrong?"
"Are they okay?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"Sorry, Sweetie Belle. But they're not in the best condition at the moment." Rarity replied to her little sister. "It's best that everypony gives them some space."
"Oh. Okay...What do you think happened?" She whispered to her fellow Crusaders as the group walked by.
Lucien and Sienna who were always spectating from high above the clouds had seen everything. From Nihilego to Pheromosa. And in that instance, they felt great pity for Twilgiht and her friends.
"Man...That's rough. I kinda feel bad for them." Lucien winced.
"Mhm.I don't think they deserved what happened to them at all. They weren't prepared in the slightest for Ghetsis."
"They never were in the first place. Celestia did tell Twilight to keep her distance from Ghetsis at all times but...she couldn't have anticipated him arriving at the scene."
"I wish we could help but...I'm not sure we're meant to do anything good since we're playing the role of villains. What a shame."
"Well technically...we're only allowed to interact the world around us, not the ponies themselves. So it's not out of the question for us to help them. But I don't really have a clue on how to help."
"Applejack's voice has been taken away. And the others are a bit injured. "We can try restoring that can we?"
"Hm. Yeah. We can do that." Lucien leaned forward, pointing directly at Applejack. He sent a tiny bolt of cosmic energy that hit her throat, restoring all the devastating damage that had been done to her earlier.
Pinkie Pie's black eye had been healed along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's backs.
AJ felt her throat rejuvenate, back its full state, but that didn't make things any better. Applejack and the others were still traumatized and upset in the end. "That solves that but...she still doesn't look too happy huh?"
"Not at all." Sienna shook her head. What happens next is even unknown to them. Because this is vastly different from the original timeline. Never before have Twilight and her friends suffered a loss this huge. They thought the Shadow Triad was the pinnacle of failure until they actually met Ghetsis.
The group all went their separate ways, returning to their homes. Twilight and Starlight returned to the lab with Starlight seeing her teacher looking down constantly with her head hung low.
"I-I suppose we'll see each other tomorrow?" Rarity said to all of them. They all gave a combined 'Mhm'. But not one of excitement packed behind it.
With Pinkie Pie, she sat alone in her room with her mane still down and dull. Her Pokemon and Jade stood outside her room, hoping that she was alright.
"Are you okay in there, Pinkie Pie?" Jade asked.
"No. Not really." Pinkie gave an honest answer. She didn't try to make the mood better like she always does. After what just happened, how could she?
For Applejack, she felt guilty all of a sudden. It was her that said that she wanted to protect her family which is why she was the most dedicated to improving as a trainer. But after what happened back in Manehattan, Applejack felt like if she couldn't even protect her friends, how could she protect her family as well? Treecko sat inside of her hat, attempting to cheer her up, but it was no use. The same goes for Rainbow Dash. Both she and AJ felt tons of guilt. One felt guilty for being unable to do anything and the other for failing to take out Pheromosa even though she had the Pokemon to do so.
Fluttershy was couped up in her room. Her Audino and Angel Bunny were obviously doing what they could to lift her spirits up. Fluttershy wasn't exactly the most affected out of everypony, but she definitely felt genuine despair in that instance.
But the one affected the most out of everypony was Twilight. Currently, she went through three powerful emotions at the moment. Fear, sadness and despair. Fear from Ghetsis and Pheromosa, sadness from seeing her friends in that state and despair being a culmination of all of the above.
"T-Twilight. I-Is it okay if I leave you alone?" Starlight asked.
"Its fine Starlight."
"You know...we still ended up winning. I mean, it was the Swords of Justice who did it so...it's not a total loss, right?"
"I know. But that doesn't really help." Twilight sighed. "Honestly...I don't know if we'll ever be able to handle Ghetsis. Or Team Plasma as a whole."
"Right...I'll just go." Starlight closed the door. Outside was Spike along with Twilight's Pokemon who overheard the conversation. "Do you think she'll recover from it, Spike?"
"I don't know. I've never seen her like this. Wish I was there to help."
"I don't think none of us could've done anything even if we joined together." Starlight shook her head. And it was true.
They had never encountered something as ruthless as that before. The closest threat that they've encountered that has ever come close to that ruthlessness was King Sombra, but even he pales in comparison to the absolute terror that is Ghetsis. What happens next...is unknown.
Chapter 193 End!