Dozens of changelings stood far from the side the tracks outside the end of the tunnel where the train containing the Pillars and their allies would be coming out of. Several soldiers also flew around and above the tracks, keeping watch over the land around the mountain where the tunnel was built, keeping the possibility of them flying around it open.
One of the changelings closest to the tunnel suddenly noticed the headlight of the engine shining out. “Everyone! The train!”
A commander flying above the center of the track up front of its group took notice of their trooper’s call. “Soldiers, prepare to attack!”
Each solider on either side of the tracks as well as above them charged their horns, ready to decimate the locomotive upon it exiting. With the light against the walls getting brighter and the cone shining outside getting thinner, the commander was ready to call his orders any moment.
Finally, the front of the engine sped outside. “Fire!”
As the train’s length began to fully leave the tunnel, the changeling soldiers began to launch their magical beams at the cars and engine. With only a couple of the first beams striking the boxcars, they exploded far more violently than any of them expected, the blast throwing them off their hooves or blowing them high into the air, pelting them with the debris.
The explosions also triggered the other cars and engine to blow up in a long, fiery line, letting wood slivers, pieces of broken metal, and glass to shoot up in every single direction, felling a large number of changelings around. Those that weren’t too heavily injured looked up to see the train come to a quick stop with no engine to pull it, now resembling four flat cars whose floors were ablaze.
The few that were still conscious looked into the tunnel, where Dexio and Metagross exited, followed by the Pillars, Fizzlepop, Grubber, Celaeno, her crew, Skystar, and Capper, whose horn was now stuffed with explosive arrows.
“Hey, uh,” Capper nervously chuckled to Ember. “Thanks for the gift and everything!”
“If I knew you’d just use them to bomb the train, we could have given you something for that!” Ember grumbled.
The remaining changelings slowly pulled themselves to their hooves, straining to pick their spears and shields up. “You really blew up your train to attack us?” one of them queried.
“You still have an entire city of us to deal with!” the commander growled, prompting the Equestrians to ready themselves to fight, only to notice something coming up from behind the changelings. “I hope that strategy was worth it, because now you’re going to have even more trouble entering the–”
Several Psycho Cuts blasted the changelings from behind them, tossing up a wall of dust that obscured the Equestrians’ view from what was happening. With a small blue mushroom cloud appearing behind it, Mega Absol and Mega Gyarados came through the dust with Sam and Alice still upon them. Their friends smiled comfortably as the two dismounted their Pokémon and came toward the group.
Sam eyeballed a pair of changelings who weakly writhed on the ground. “Yeah, I’d say it was worth it.”
“Guys!” Dexio shouted, looking at the magnificence of Sam and Alice’s supercharged creatures. “I’m glad to see your Pokémon are taking Mega Evolution so well. How is it in the city?”
“There were a bunch of them waiting at the station for you guys. We took care of them and all, but you seem to have thought farther ahead than us.”
“How strong were they?” Mullet asked.
“Not at all,” Sam said, hoisting Aegislash onto his shoulder for good measure.
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Mage Meadowbrook exclaimed. “Let’s take this city back and get these youngsters home!”
With a chorus of cheers, Sam and Alice spun back around and ran for the city, their Pokémon tagging along close beside them. Dexio, Metagross, and the rest of the Equestrians ran out to follow them. Skystar flew directly overhead Fizzlepop, Grubber, and Capper.
“Just like old times, huh guys?” she buoyantly proclaimed.
“Except we get to be the good guys now!” Grubber shouted just as joyously.
“Haha! Heck yeah, you do!”
With their spirits high, the legs and wings of each creature ready to take back the capital felt light as feathers. As far as they were concerned, not a thing could stand in their way.
Cocoon bounded down the stone stairs as if the hooves of her enemies were brushing against the backs of hers. Reaching the bottom, she jumped left and continued to run down the hallway with every second mattering. Reaching the empty room where the repaired Storm King statue stood, she shot her head around the room before finding the small chest containing the Alicorn Amulet.
As she rushed to it, she burst the lock open with her magic, throwing the lid open and allowing to her throw it onto her neck. Quickly clasping it closed, she suddenly felt an incredible, intoxicating warmth that gave her an odd, relaxing comfort as if the necklace's hold around her was like the embrace of a lover. As she became used to the feeling, she blinked herself back into concentration, looking at the soon-to-be revived Storm King before her.
What shocked her even more was that the precise spell she wanted to conjure was slowly coming to her like a long forgotten memory, the gem inside the amulet lighting up ever so slightly. Charging her horn, the aura now a dark red, she shot an immensely powerful beam at the statue as the magic began to completely envelop it. The rock began to turn red like ruby before the stony surface began to burn away to reveal white fur, grey skin, and black armor.
As the last of its hardened body began to rescind into nothing, the Storm King let out a frightened shout as his feet fell to the floor, processing both the last sights he had been petrified in as well as the new surroundings he suddenly found himself in. Once he realized he was no longer falling and was no longer bound by stone, he patted his chest, waist and arms to find that he was free once more.
With an elated smile, he hugged himself tight. “Oh, my body! How I’ve missed you!”
With Cocoon clearing her throat, the Storm King was torn from his moment of self-appreciation and turned to face the somewhat humbled changeling queen facing him.
“Eh…” he croaked with extreme condescension. “What the heck are you supposed to be?”
Cocoon stepped forward, asserting her dominance. “My name is Queen Cocoon of the changelings. I have revived you from your stone prison to receive your immediate assistance!”
After staring at her for a few moments with shifted pursed lips, taking in what she told him, he slapped his hand over his eyes and broke out into hysterical laughter. “And what possibly could have happened that you require the assistance of someone like me?!”
Cocoon ignored his abrasive tone; time was still of the essence. “With the help of my sister Chrysalis, my hive and I had taken over the nation of Equestria!”
He let out a couple more chuckles, wiping a stray tear off his eye. “And let me guess, Twilight Sparkle and her wittle pony friends are kicking the crud out of you and your changey-changes or whatever you call them!”
Finally, an opportunity to reign his behavior in arose, leaving Cocoon smiling. “As a matter of fact, Twilight and her friends are gone!”
As predicted, the Storm King’s dismissive behavior evaporated, leaving him in shock over what he heard. “What?”
“Over a week ago, they had disappeared through a portal to another world, allowing us to invade with little effort! We also nearly cornered the legendary Pillars of Equestria and some friends of theirs, but several other creatures that I’ve never seen before came in and joined them, and now they’ve defeated my faction in Ponyville and are about to defeat us here!”
The Storm King had his back turned to her, but even Cocoon could realize that he was thinking heavily about this. For once, he seemed completely serious.
“Interesting…” He then turned to face her. “And what’s in it for me, toots? I’m not the type who gets paid in exposure!”
“Of course.” Flicking her muzzle forward, she directed his gaze to behind him. “First, you’ll need your most prized weapon.”
Seeing the Staff of Sacanas leaned against the wall, the Storm King let out a high-pitched warbling breath, quickly slinking up to it and grabbing it in both hands, missing the feel of it against his fingers and thumbs. “Oh, yes… this already makes me a very happy Storm King!”
Ignoring the weirdness of him rubbing his face against the crystal head on top, Cocoon proceeded with her terms. “In addition, once we succeed in defeating our enemies, you shall be my second in command, seeing as how I conquered Equestria in the first place.”
With his back to her once again, she could not see the soured expression that had now formed on his eyes and lips. Discreetly, he pulled out a black stone sphere with a green prismatic gem swirling in the center from his belt.
“Yeah, about that…” Spinning around, he whipped his arm out and threw the sphere directly at Cocoon, who could barely react to it hitting her and breaking to unleash a thick smoke that hardened and expanded onto her body.
Cocoon squealed fearfully as she felt her insides harden as well, her body turning into the same material the Storm King was trapped in just a few minutes prior. Trying to charge her horn, the stone began to cover the tip of her horn and spread down, overtaking the red aura that failed to break through. The Storm King smiled wide and approached her as the rock completely formed over her entire horn.
With the transformation moving through to the top of her neck and over her eyes, she panted heavily like a wounded animal. “But… wh–”
With the exception of the Alicorn Amulet, which the stone appeared to spread underneath, Queen Cocoon had become an immobile and incapable statue, the sight of her making the Storm King laugh triumphantly.
He then got close to her face and pointed up under her chin, sporting a suddenly enraged expression. “I don’t play second fiddle to anyone! I’m the one who’s gonna’ finish what I started! Got it?!”
He suddenly realized he was alone in the room, making him straighten himself and giggle awkwardly. With a sigh, he relaxed himself once more, at peace.
“Now, if I’m going to take this country back, this thing’s gonna’ to need a little juice…”
Placing the tip of the staff against the gem of the Alicorn Amulet, strong bands of red light swirled around the crystal and pierced into it, feeding themselves into the staff. Feeling the intense vibrations of the weapon in his hands, the Storm King yanked it away and yelped.
“Yoooow, mama!” He looked at the crystal atop his staff, which already swirled intensely with the little bit of magic he took from it before looking at the amulet once again.
The gem flashed at him alluringly, and with a more careful approach, the Storm King took a couple deep breaths of excitement as he brought the crystal near to it again. With a stronger thrust, the Storm King pressed against the crystal of his staff against the amulet’s gem again as more of the dark magic began to fill it. As the energy ran through the staff, the Storm King laughed even louder as he felt a strong static course through his arms and made the ends of his fur rise out.
“Yes…” Despite the magic he had already siphoned off, more and more just kept coming out, faster and faster. “YES!!”
As the euphoria of the Storm King’s increase of power continued on, veiny lines of blue magical energy began to get pulled from Cocoon’s stone body, mixing in with the power from the Alicorn Amulet.
Sam and Alice and their Mega Evolved Pokémon were the first to enter the city through the gated entrance, a blanket of scattered changeling bodies in their wake. With the Pillars and their allies closely behind, the changelings could only prepare themselves as they all readied themselves to enter.
“Keep your magic to a minimum!” the commander ordered. “Focus on melee attacks!”
Moving their spears and shields to their mouths, several changelings dove down to take Sam and Alice head on.
“Mega Gyarados!” Alice commanded. “Brutal Swing!”
With a spin and lash of its tail, Alice’s Pokémon swatted many of the changelings away and into the walls and windows of the buildings, leaving only a few left for Sam and his Pokémon.
“Mega Absol!” Sam scanned the air with his pointed finger. “Hit them with Night Slash!”
As the remaining changelings swooped down, Mega Absol’s claws glowed black. Winding its arm in, it lashed out and struck three of the soldiers, leaving two left who continued their advance without fear. As Mega Absol tried to hop back and away, one of the changelings swung the staff of its spear onto the base of Mega Absol’s wing while the other slapped the side of the spearhead against its face, making it yelp out in pain.
“Mega Absol, no!” Sam was about to attack with Aegislash still in hand, only for Celaeno to leap over them both and land behind it.
The changeling swung back around to attack the parrot pirate, who flipped her swords to hold them downwards, deflecting its spear and allowing her to kick through the space in its helmet, hitting its forehead and sending it down. Alice then flicked the helmet off the other changeling’s head, leaving it wide open for Fizzlepop to run in and blast a spell into its temple, sending it to join the other fallen changelings who fell victim to Mega Gyarados.
Sam knelt beside Mega Absol and lightly massaged the wing, hating to hear his Pokémon whine as he did so. As more changelings came down to attack the vulnerable creature and its trainer as he pulled a Super Potion from his bag, Rockhoof charged forward and swung the spade of his shovel into them, throwing them down the street to the left.
Spitting his shovel out and holding it defensively against the now steadfast changelings, he kept his eyes on each one to ensure they wouldn’t get another cheap shot in. “How was that for a Brutal Swing?”
Once Sam finished off the bottle, Mega Absol gave its injured wing a couple of flaps and relaxed itself once the shooting pain quickly subsided. “Better?” Mega Absol eagerly nodded.
As Ember landed beside Rockhoof and Fizzlepop, ready to fight the changelings blocking their path to the palace, Alice ran in to join them, wasting no time in running at one changeling amongst the blockade. As Rockhoof and Ember joined in to take on others, the rest of the changelings converged on them, Sam and the others noticing the streets to their left and right becoming unguarded.
Sam pointed Aegislash to the road to the left. “I’ll lead a group that way! Dexio, take a group through the right street! Everyone else, help my sister! Let’s go!”
Sam ran toward his chosen road, Celaeno, Skystar, Boyle, Flash Magnus, and Somnambula racing to follow him while Dexio and Metagross ran right, Starswirl, Stygian, Mistmane, Spittle, Squabble and Capper following him closely. With Grubber, Mage Meadowbrook, and Mullet left behind, the three of them let out a rousing battle cry as they ran in to join Alice and her friends against the changelings there.
With a few changeling soldiers lining the streets both on the ground and above, Sam and Aegislash and Celaeno sufficiently took the lower changelings on while Mega Absol and Skystar clawed at those who flew. Boyle then passed between his captain and Sam and took the next one in line while Flash Magnus and Somnambula took the two before Skystar and Mega Absol. With a slam of the front of his shield and a swift kick to the head with her hooves, the two pegasi fell the changelings, hearing the armor of those behind them fall to their friends’ hands, hooves, and claws.
Looking behind them, they saw that this was indeed the case, finding five downed changelings at the feet of each creature, including Skystar and Mega Absol, who landed beside Sam and Celaeno. “You alright?” Flash Magnus panted.
“Oh, Flashy,” Skystar playfully chided, oblivious to Mega Absol jerking its head up and noticing something amiss, “you worry too much! These guys haven’t been that hard–”
Just as they could realize it, Sam’s Pokémon unfurled its wings, throwing everyone around it back and away with a tremendous gust of wind. With Mega Absol completely isolating itself, the others could look up from on their backs as several changelings had their heads poked out of the second and third story windows of the buildings on both sides, shooting their magical beams down on it.
Sam spun around and quickly crawled to it. “Mega Ab–!”
Aegislash swung around and put its shield between Sam and the green explosion. Flash Magnus leapt in front of Somnambula and protected themselves from the blast with his own shield struggling to push against the blast’s force. As the air began to settle down, Sam ran into the dust cloud where his Pokémon had stood, Aegislash following him.
“Everyone, get around me!” With everyone shooting to their feet, Sam tossed a Poké Ball high up into the air. “Lurantis, Petal Blizzard!”
As Sam’s ball opened up, unleashing his flowery insect Pokémon up to the top levels of the buildings, all of his Equestrian friends huddled around him. They then watched as Sam’s next Pokémon threw its arms out and began to spin like a helicopter, a flurry of flower petals forming around it from the flaps on its waist as well as from underneath its scythes.
“Aegislash,” Sam shouted, “King’s Shield!”
As the colorful twister worked its way down, shattering the windows and entering into the buildings that it hit, a chorus of changelings’ screams emerging from them, Aegislash slid its blade into its enarme and thrust upward, creating its hexagonal barrier aura. As pieces of splintered wood and shards of glass were flung throughout the street, Aegislash’s barrier kept Sam and the Equestrians safe from Lurantis’s wrath.
As the winds died down, Mega Absol’s body lit up brightly as it laid motionlessly on the ground. Sam and the Equestrians watched as Mega Absol’s wings receded into its body, its fur shortened, and the horn on the side of its head straightened into a single bend. As the glow dimmed, Absol’s body returned to its normal appearance. Lurantis landed out of its whirlwind with the others as it and Aegislash looked over to see Absol lying still in the center of everyone who huddled around it.
Sam stroked his Pokémon’s face as he took out its Poké Ball. “Good job, girl. Rest easy now.”
As the red beam from the Poké Ball collapsed his Pokémon to be brought back inside, the Equestrians stood up and spread out in the space where it had been. Once Sam stood up alongside his other two Pokémon, he turned around and looked for any sign of hurt or injury on their bodies.
“Everyone alright?” From their relaxed, quiet murmurs, Sam could confirm that his friends were indeed okay.
“That was quick thinking there,” Boyle said, respectfully shoving the rounded end of its hook into Sam’s shoulder.
Just then, the buzz of changelings’ wings began to come closer, Skystar, Somnambula, and Flash Magnus taking to the air once again. The three flyers were then impressed to see Lurantis hop and claw its way up the side of the walls before swinging its way up to the rooftops, Lurantis glancing to its new partners to assure them that it had their backs. Looking forward again, they could all see the next swarm of changelings coming their way, Celaeno drawing her swords as Aegislash returned to Sam’s arm.
Lurantis rubbed its scythes together in anticipation as Skystar flew into its peripheral vision. “Hop on! I’ll carry you over to the next roof!”
With a nod, Lurantis leapt on and knelt onto her back. Following Somnambula and Flash Magnus, who began to fly out at the first aerial wave, Skystar flew out to join them. Looking down, she and Lurantis looked to see Sam, Celaeno, and Boyle running beneath them with their eyes on some changelings who hit the ground to charge them.
Lurantis looked back up and found two changelings coming right up at it. Crouching even lower, it leapt back off Skystar’s back held its arms out, the frills beneath its scythes glowing green. Lurantis struck both soldiers hard with a wide, powerful slash.
Dexio’s Metagross delivered a quick, unforgiving Bullet Punch into the face of a changeling soldier as Starswirl, Mistmane, and Stygian shot at three others using their magic, Capper’s arrows exploding out near tighter groups of them. With Squabble and Spittle dealing with two changelings each, the former parrot slammed his life raft upward into the chin of one while Spittle swung the barbed prosthetic on the end of its tail into the head of the other. One of the other two soldiers teleported behind Squabble and pulled the staff of its spear against Squabble’s throat, choking him. The other lunged its spear forward, Spittle grabbing it in both hands with the tip of the head just inches from her neck.
Metagross slammed one of its arms into the side of the head of the changeling suffocating Squabble, leaving the other changeling feeling a pang of fear rise up quick enough for Spittle to pull the spear away. Shifting herself toward it, she then jabbed the end of her tail into the soldier’s unguarded flank, leaving him hopping on its three good hooves. Squabble then bashed the injured changeling in the head and knocked it out, Spittle giving him a congratulatory talon bump. As the three unicorns finished off the last of the first changeling waves on their street, Dexio noticed his Metagross beginning to breathe heavily.
“Getting tired?” Dexio already began to pull out his Pokémon’s Ultra Ball, already knowing the answer. “Take a break, buddy.”
Metagross stayed still as the red beam from the ball brought his Pokémon back into it.
Starswirl glanced back as Dexio pulled out another ball, looking unnerved as the sound of buzzing wings became clear in the distance. “Dexio! What are you–”
“Cover for me for just a little bit!” he shouted, leaping back and dropping his ball where he stood. “Go, Alakazam!”
As Capper, Spittle, and Squabble joined the sides of the three unicorns at the end of the street widening out into the round plaza, Dexio’s ace Pokémon came from its ball, its trainer wasting no time in pressing his fingers against his Key Stone to activate it.
“Respond to my heart, Key Stone!” Dexio proclaimed. “Beyond Evolution! Mega Evolve!”
With the glow of the Key Stone’s DNA-energy tendrils casting shadows before the six Equestrians, they all only paid attention to the wall of changelings spreading around and taking their strategic position. Holding his bow sideways, Capper already had three arrows pointed out at the quarter-points of the plaza. Stygian’s magic sparked the fuses of each arrow, allowing Capper shoot them out. Hitting the ground right at the foot of where the changelings stationed themselves, three large fiery explosions blew a few dozen changelings back into the rest of their squad. Three vacant spots were created that the soldiers who weren’t hit quickly filled back up, stepping over those that fell to do so.
As the changelings reformed themselves, they charged their horns and brought each spear that they carried up over their heads, each point aimed at one of the Equestrians, hoping to strike before Dexio’s Pokémon could finish whatever transformation it was undergoing. With a single launch of every spear, Starswirl, Stygian, and Mistmane powered their horns up even stronger as they redirected the weapons to strike the ground just shy of their hooves, paws, and talons.
The changelings on the other side were mesmerized as each spear placement was meticulously planned, forming a tight and thick curved wall that connected to each corner of the last buildings on the street the Equestrians stood on. Once the last spear was planted into the stone streets, Starswirl and the others quickly ducked beneath the top of the wall, leaving Dexio and his Pokémon the only ones left for the changeling army to see.
“Come out and fight, you cowards!” one of the commanders shouted at the Equestrians.
Just then, the glow surrounding Alakazam shattered off of its body, appearing to the suddenly terrified changelings as Mega Alakazam. It floated forebodingly over the Equestrians still behind the wall before coming out and deliberately stopping five feet into enemy territory.
“Fight, you say?” Dexio chortled. “Excellent idea! Have at it then!”
“Soldiers!!” the commander screamed. “Attack that thing with everything you got!”
The changelings rose up to form a towering monolith of black-bodied soldiers, each one with their horn aglow with green. Mega Alakazam squinted, monitoring the army as the seemingly-insignificant insects that they were. Holding its arms out, the arc of spoons above its head began to glow magenta, covering the entirety of the spear wall with the same energy.
With the firing of the changelings’ magical blasts, Mega Alakazam began pulling a spear out from the ground to intercept each individual beam that threatened to pelt it. Each spear shattered against the force of each spell’s strike, but rather than each piece blowing back into Dexio or the Equestrians still hiding behind the slowly-dismantling wall, they stopped and stayed suspended in the air.
The Equestrians stood up and slowly backed away from their dwinding barrier and watched as more spears were removed, placed, shattered, and then froze around Mega Alakazam like a snapshot of black rain. By the time the last spear blocked the last beam, the changelings had realized too late to what they have just provided for their enemies; the largest blast of buckshot that any creature would ever see.
“Everyone, fall back–!” the changeling commander cried in vain.
Throwing its arms to the side, Mega Alakazam shot out each piece of broken spear out and upward, bombarding the changelings with their own weaponry as it struck, pricked, or in certain cases, pierced into each of them. Upon being hit, the changelings all fell toward the ground in a downpour, landing on the roofs and the streets spanning several blocks. The Equestrians felt safe to walk into the plaza, watching the aftermath of the magnificent display of power Mega Alakazam exhibited.
Dexio walked past them all toward the now open street on the other side of the unoccupied plaza. “Well? The others are probably ahead now. Let’s keep moving!”
Breaking into a run, his Mega Alakazam floating behind him, the others appeared shocked that Dexio would casually disregard the damage he and his Pokémon had casued. However, there was truth in his words; they had to keep moving. With their faces returning to a determined demeanor, the six Equestrians ran and galloped to catch up with him.
Alice swung her spear up, breaking the changeling’s weapon in two. Before it could register to use both halves, Alice hopped onto her right foot and kicked the bottom of her shoe into its face, throwing it back and away. Ember and Rockhoof whizzed past her, striking two more changeling soldiers with their scepter and shovel.
Alice then turned to Fizzlepop, who shot magical bolts of lightning from the crown in her horn at a couple of soldiers, Grubber riding her with little else to do. “Grubber, catch!”
Tossing the spear to the porcupine, he shuddered in glee upon catching it, swinging himself off of his dear friend. As several changelings gathered around him, Grubber began flipping it about while letting out shrill grunts like a wannabe kung-fu action star. Nonplussed, the changelings looked to each other out of sheer pity for this inexperienced creature.
However, Grubber leapt up at one and slammed the blunt blade of the spear onto a soldier’s head, knocking it out. As the other changelings struggled to get serious, Grubber deftly swung the spear around its body in an imperceptible pattern that would result in the other soldier’s getting hit without any warning.
With Alice unarmed, two changelings darted at her, Ember turning around to take notice of this before running to assist. With both changelings swinging their spears at her, Alice dove through the gap between them, Ember having to leap over her to avoid hitting her. With the four changelings that surrounded him now lying weakly on the ground, Grubber tossed Alice’s spear back to her.
“Yo, Alice!” Upon catching it, Alice looked back to him with noticeable disbelief. “What? You seriously don’t think Rockhoof or Somnambula taught me a thing or two?”
“Alice!” Ember’s stern voice redirected her back to the two soldiers that had attacked her. “Give me a hand, will ya?”
A loud roar cracked from above, and Alice couldn’t help but look up to see her Mega Gyarados fighting two changelings standing upon a rooftop. It’s body was covered in red cuts that were only added to each time the changelings chucked theirs spears at it. Mega Gyarados tried to attack them from a distance with Dragon Rage, but it was effortlessly blocked by a combined shield spell from both soldiers.
Alice turned back to face the changelings, detaching a ball from her belt and tossing it behind her. “Lycanroc, help Mega Gyarados!”
With the ball opening up, Lycanroc shot out of it and instantly began an Accelerock attack, vanishing from its spot on the ground and appearing between the two changelings attacking Mega Gyarados, twisting around and kicking both soldiers off the roof, injuring them.
Meanwhile, the two changelings facing Alice and Ember charged, only to teleport away from them. Alice and Ember, knowing immediately what they were planning, spun around to see the changelings appear behind them. Following through with her turn, Ember spun around and prepared to swing the armored spikes on her tail into the changeling directly in front of her. Alice, prepared for this, hopped up and flipped backward to let the tail pass beneath her, watching as the spikes dented the changeling’s armor into its ribs and send it to the ground.
Before she could land, the changeling soldier facing Alice charged its horn and blasted her into the chest, knocking her hard onto her back where she tumbled away from Ember and their remaining foe. Ember swung the tip of her scepter at the soldier, who blocked it with his spear, pushing against each other in an attempt to overpower the other.
“Ember, wings!” Hearing Alice’s voice, Ember opened her wings out wide, which did nothing to intimidate the changeling from continuing to overcome her.
It was as it finally saw Alice’s running feet appear that he realized their visual-blocking strategies, leaving it no time to react as Alice leapt over the bar of Ember’s wing and sent herself over so that she was upside-down directly over the changeling soldier. With a downward jab of her spear directly between the bases of its wings, the soldier was sent down onto its stomach as Alice followed through with her flip, landing with a controlled tumble before sliding around to see Ember finish the changeling off with a magic-charged swing of her scepter, sending it away.
Ember looked to Alice, who stood up hunched over and breathing audibly. “Are you hurt?”
Alice looked to her and forced a convincing smile before knocking on her chest, keeping the same proud expression without the remotest hint of a flinch. Ember smiled warmly, her respect for this alien creature continuing to grow by the moment.
Mullet and Mage Meadowbrook stood back to back with each other, five changelings boxing them in. Reaching behind her frock, Mage Meadowbrook pulled out her mask and affixed it onto her face.
“Hold your breath on my mark,” she whispered, reaching back again and pulling out a small glass vial of bright red liquid which she kept hidden from the soldiers’ view. “And whatever you do, do not breathe this in.”
Tightening his balled fists, Mullet kept his eyes on just one changeling and awaited its advance along with the others. At once, all five jumped them, signaling Mage Meadowbrook to chuck the vial onto the ground, where it exploded into a red dust that covered all seven of them. Rockhoof and Fizzlepop’s eyes were drawn to the cloud, uncertain of what had happened. Then, one by one, all five changelings were thrown out of it, their bodies still as statues. Even as they hit the ground, they clattered onto their sides like figurines. Mullet and Mage Meadowbrook ran from the red dust, the former finally able to breathe in fresh air to save himself from a similar fate to the changelings he and his companion both took out.
Two green magical blasts were heard overhead, seeing as Mega Gyarados and Lycanroc were both thrown to the ground by the last two remaining changeling soldiers. Lycanroc was quick to get back on its paws, but as Mega Gyarados’s body turned bright, Alice and Ember were both saddened to see its body size down back into its original Gyarados form. With the two changeling soldiers landing on the ground to continue their bout with Lycanroc, one was suddenly swept away by Rockhoof’s shovel striking it like a javelin while Fizzlepop blasted the other away with her magic.
With Gyarados’s reversion complete, Alice ran over to it and gently ran her hand along its underside, a small smearing of blood left from the numerous scratches and cuts being left there. “I’m sorry. Thank you for all your help, Gyarados.”
Once Alice took out her Pokémon’s ball and returned it inside, Ember roughly put her hand on her shoulder. “We need to keep moving! Who knows how much farther ahead our friends are!”
Alice let out a single huff, getting herself over her Gyarados’s defeat quickly. “Right! Lycanroc!”
With her hound running off by her side, the other Equestrians got behind her and ran up through town, not planning on slowing down until they caught up with the others.
Lurantis’s arms were held and pressed into its sides by two changelings, who spun it about as they all plummeted toward the ground. Pushing off as hard as it could, Lurantis freed itself, giving its arms enough space to spin halfway and slash into their chests on the ends of its scythes, sending them to the ground. Lurantis kept its eyes on the ground as it twisted itself about so that it could land feet-first, falling onto a knee to cushion the blow.
Sam, Aegislash, and the other Equestrians got right behind Sam’s other Pokémon as they found themselves at a massive, winding stairway overlooking the valleys far below. At the top of it, the walls of the Canterlot Palace awaited them. Just then, Dexio, Mega Alakazam, and his group of Equestrians had come in from behind, taking the sides of the others.
Dexio glanced around him, feeling that their group was still somewhat naked. “Where’s Alice and the rest?”
Sam frowned, his worry beginning to rise. “Dexio, take everyone up to the castle. Lurantis and I will wait on them!”
“But Sam!” Starswirl leaned his head in to be seen. “If another horde attacks you, you and your Pokémon won’t stand a–”
“I’ve already faced creatures more difficult than them! Besides, I’m not leaving my damned sister behind, now go!”
The castle was not much further away, and Mega Alakazam was still healthy and fit enough to continue battling. Without much thought, Starswirl turned around and galloped up the stairs, the others following him.
“Good luck, Sam!” Skystar called back.
“I’ve got plenty already,” Sam said under his breath, facing the rest of the city as he kept his eye on Alice and the others.
With the sounds of his friends’ footsteps fading away behind him, the sounds of buzzing erupted from the left and right. With both Sam and Lurantis looking sideways, they both saw two large waves of changeling soldiers come toward them from the side. Lurantis glanced back at its trainer warbling at him while flicking her scythe backwards. Understanding its wishes, Sam backed away with his feet on the first two steps on the stairway.
The two hordes saw them and separated into groups of two, intending to flank Sam and Aegislash and Lurantis on both sides. With two quick spins on the tip of its right foot, Lurantis sent out a small barrier of flower petals around itself before throwing its arms to the side, spreading them out to create a fierce Petal Blizzard. Meanwhile, Sam detached another Poké Ball from his belt and let it open up to his left.
“Drampa,” Sam commanded, “hit those changelings with Ice Beam!”
With his dragon Pokémon facing the soldiers coming in from the city, Sam and Aegislash faced the drop to their right, ready to face the changelings there. As Drampa shot a frigid blast of light out from its mouth, freezing the changelings wings and forcing them to crash, Sam and Aegislash swung at the first changeling that came to take them on.
Reaching the top of the staircase, Dexio, Mega Alakazam, and the Equestrians that joined him and Sam all lined up to face the castle’s borders, many changelings patrolling them and ready to attack, most of them gathered above a massive steel door that kept them all outside. Mega Alakazam reached forward at the door, covering it in its psychic luminance. As it tried to push the door open, Mega Alakazam was surprised to find that it was having trouble getting it to budge.
“Oh shit…” Dexio breathed.
The changelings began to hurl magical blasts at the group, Starswirl and Mistmane working together to form a barrier to keep everyone from getting hit.
“What’s going on?” Stygian exclaimed. “Why can’t he open the door?!”
“That door is made of some really thick steel,” Dexio grunted. “For Mega Alakazam to have such a problem with it…”
Capper kept an arrow drawn, aiming at the door, unable to do anything with Starswirl and Mistmane’s barrier in effect. “Hey, Starswirl, I can help Dexio blast that door open if you can give me an opening!”
Starswirl nodded, brightening the aura on his horn to concentrate and open up a hole just wide enough for the cat to take his shot.
“Yeah, that’s the ticket…” Capper shot the arrow through the hole, only for it to explode not even thirty feet away from him.
Right before the blast could seep through the hole Starswirl left for him, the unicorn mage closed it back up, grunting as the shockwave collided into the hole.
“Or…” Celaeno moaned loudly, “that could happen!”
Dexio looked up at his Mega Alakazam, watching as it continued pushing against the locked door, but to no avail. “Come on, guys…”
At the bottom of the stairs, Drampa continued spitting Dragon Pulse attacks from its mouth, forcing the changelings targeting it to scramble about and break up its strategic formations as each attack struck at least one of them. Sam and Aegislash swung and cut at oncoming soldiers while defending themselves from magical attacks with its shield.
With only a few changelings able to infiltrate Lurantis’s Petal Blizzard wall, the Grass-type Pokémon was able to focus on only a few soldiers at a time, cutting them with Leaf Blades and X-Scissors or swinging the points of its scythes down for a Poison Jab. Lurantis could not keep up with them all, taking a blast of changeling magic or getting cut by one of their spears.
Periodically, Sam would try and glance over to his left to see his sister and other friends coming, only for his vision to be obscured entirely by Lurantis’s battle. This time, he saw as Lurantis delievered another Leaf Blade, only to take a magic beam to the head, throwing it down. As it struggled to get up, another magic blast into its upper back took it down for good.
“Lurantis!” With Drampa unguarded, it too took many of the changelings’ spells to its body without reprieve, causing it to lose consciousness as well. “Drampa!”
Sam let out a desperate whine as he found himself backing away toward his friends at the top, pulling Lurantis and Drampa’s balls from his belt to bring them back in. At that moment, several attacks began to rock the combined hordes from behind, Sam recognizing Fizzlepop’s magic aura, Ember’s fire breath, and Lycanroc’s Stone Edge attacks.
With a sigh of doleful relief, he quickly called his fainted Pokémon back into his Poké Balls as Alice and her group of Equestrians began to break through. It didn’t take long for the changelings there to retreat back toward the palace to aid their comrades against Dexio and the rest of the Equestrians. With the stairway cleared, Alice and the others bounded up the stairway, Sam altering his gait to run alongside them.
“Who’ve you got left?” Sam asked his sister.
“Other than him,” she responded, glancing to Lycanroc as it ran beside her, “just Mudsdale and Mimikyu. You?”
“Salazzle and Aegislash. That’s it.”
“Alright. We can still save a country with that!”
Reaching the top of the stairs, Sam, Alice, and the remaining Equestrians saw Dexio and his friends engaged in their treacherous stalemate at the gates of the palace.
Dexio noticed their overdue arrival, his face brightening up. “Sam, Alice! Come quick!”
Sam and Alice ran to his side as Alice’s group of Equestrian’s mixed in with the others. “What’s up?” Alice panted.
“If you’re going to open that door…” Starswirl noisily groaned, “now would be an opportune time!”
“My Mega Alakazam can’t open the door, and the changelings are giving us no room to do anything else! Neither of you have used your Z-Moves by chance, have you?”
Sam gasped, the pathway to victory now clear in his mind. Walking forward, he detached his Steelium Z from the top of his Z-Ring and replaced it with Firium Z.
“Fizz!” he called.
“Yes?” she answered back.
“Provide some cover for my Salazzle, and then let go when it’s time!”
“Right! Starswirl!”
“On it!” Starswirl charged his horn brighter again.
With the Z-Crystal affixed inside his device, he took a Poké Ball off his belt and lobbed it just a few feet from him through the hole Starswirl had provided him. With Salazzle forming out from his ball outside the barrier, Fizzlepop quickly charged her horn and formed a smaller shield spell that kept it safe from any of the changelings from any vantage.
“Alright, come on now…” Sam crossed his arms in front of his face and activated his Z-Ring, energy sparking to life over Salazzle as well.
The Equestrians who could only watch their other friends work to protect them were amazed as Sam and Salazzle put their arms back down and crossed them out again in perfect synch. The trainer and Pokémon then began fanning their hands up toward the sky twice before they reached upward with their left hands while they held onto their left arms with their right hands, finishing the ritual by throwing them down to aim at the steel doors.
Z-Energy shot up and over Starswirl’s barrier and then cascaded back down onto Salazzle, filling its body with the immense energy as purple flames ran down the center of its back and along the sides of its tail. Each Equestrian’s face shared the same wide-eyed, open mouthed expression.
“Ready, Fizz?!” Sam’s shout was responded to with a single affirming nod back. “Okay, Salazzle, blow the door open with Inferno Overdrive!”
The flames on Salazzle’s body flared even hotter as progressively bigger wisps of flames appeared from thin air, balling up before the end of its snout and expanding with each new one that joined in. Eventually, Fizzlepop let her own shield spell down as the flames threatened to engulf it. As the ball of fire grew bigger, the changelings guarding the wall also began to stop attacking once they saw their magic attacks evaporate upon hitting it, completely stunned and in awe over what Salazzle was making.
“Oh…” The changeling commander standing above the center of the wall threw his head left and then right frantically. “Fall back! Fall back–”
“NOW!” Salazzle shot its fireball at the door, Mega Alakazam pushing its psychic force against the door even harder than before.
A few of the changelings stayed behind and tried to continue attacking the approaching blaze, frightened to see that their attacks neither stopped it or discharged it early. The compacted inferno struck the wall, and with the added pressure of Mega Alakazam’s push, the door was blown open off it hinges, taking several feet of the wall on either side of it with it. A bright, hot mushroom cloud rose high up into the air, the size and scope of which Ember smiled at, knowing that her army back in Ponyville could also see it from there. Pieces of exploded rock and shards of hot steel flew backwards at the changelings that fled, most of them able to protect themselves with their shields.
“What do we do now?” a soldier asked its commander.
The commander continued looking down, watching as Sam, Alice, Dexio, their Pokémon, the Pillars, Fizzlepop, Grubber, Celaeno and her crew, Capper, Skystar, and Ember all marched to the open gap, Mega Alakazam fanning the dust and smoke away. “We must now protect the queen! Retreat!”
The changelings erupted in a chorus of “retreat” as they all flew away and inside the castle, Sam, Alice, and their friends watching as they passed the walls into the palace grounds.
“They’re all heading inside,” Mistmane observed. “That must mean…”
“We’re in the home stretch!” Alice and Lycanroc shot off toward the entrance, Sam, Salazzle, and the rest of the Equestrians coming close behind.
With their small reprieve before the next and hopefully final round, Sam and Alice continued to run as they both took out a Hyper Potion from their bags, spraying Aegislash and Lycanroc and giving them more energy to take Cocoon and her remaining forces on. Rounding around the building, the group came across the unguarded front doors of the castle entrance. Whether it was a careful trap or not meant little to the group. With five healthy Pokémon between Sam and Alice and Mega Alakazam still uninjured, everyone was confident that they could take anything that would await them on the other side.
Mega Alakazam threw the doors open, and with the exception of a few changeling soldiers flying through the halls on the second floor, the foyer was entirely deserted. Even after they all poured in and looked over every corner where a changeling might be hiding, they were frozen in place to find that there was nothing waiting there to attack them.
“Wow,” Ember spoke in a hushed tone, “they really gave up.”
“Obviously not,” Flash Magnus responded. “They just announced that they are protecting their queen. Chances are they are making a final stand against us.”
“Should be easy.” Dexio’s comment was met with an affirmative grunt from Mega Alakazam. Come on, let’s keep going!”
Finding the stairs to the next floor up, the three humans, their Pokémon, and the Equestrians all ran up and turned in the direction they saw the changelings go. Continuing through the hallways, there were faint, echoed sounds of screams and cries going down the halls accompanied with noises of magical crackling and ringing. Following the sound, they turned through the hallways of the palace, the screams getting crisper and the magical noises getting shriller and more defined.
Just as they began to turn down into another hallway, a changeling whizzed at them from the other end of the hallway, ignoring the others as it flew past them and away from where they were heading. Capper traced the changeling’s motions with a drawn arrow as his friends stopped to watch it go, its lack of acknowledgement of them only served to mount their suspicions.
“What in the heck is going on here?” he muttered to himself.
“Maybe Celestia broke herself out and is kicking the changelings’ butts!” Grubber excitedly predicted.
Starswirl looked forward again, even more troubled by the flicker of lights visible at the next turn. “The Celestia I know wouldn’t do anything to cause any creature, not even these, to scream and run for their lives.”
“Is it something else now?” Sam anxiously guessed.
“Seems so, bro!” Alice’s own fears broke through her attempts at facetiousness. “Let’s see!”
With Sam and Alice running to the front again, they and the others turned left into the hallway where they came across a much wider, longer chamber of stained glass windows, its tall ceilings supported by ornate marble pillars. Despite the gorgeousness of the space, it was the dozens of black stone statues lining the walls, all of whom were crafted in the likeness of changelings, that the humans and Equestrians could focus on.
Fizzlepop shot her gaze left and right, the material of the stone and the frozen fearful expressions on each changeling ringing all too familiar with her. “No… this can’t–”
A loud, howling laugh was heard at the end of the hall near a large, regal door, and upon them all looking up, they watched as the Storm King finished draining the magic of six petrified changeling soldiers using his Staff of Sacanas, the energy inside the crystal on its end swirling with green as well as red. Though the three humans, their Pokémon, and the Pillars all scowled at the antagonistic air this creature exerted, the faces of Celaeno and her crew, Skystar, and Capper had all the confidence drained out of them, replaced by near-crippling dread.
As the Storm King sensed the presence of others inside, he turned around to face them. Even with the odd appearance of the humans and their Pokémon facing him, he couldn’t help but pull a wide, elated grin full of cunning and insidious anticipation upon finding Fizzlepop and Grubber amongst them, who sported the most terrified faces of all.
“No…” Fizzlepop took a step back on her weak, wobbling legs. “Impossible!”
The fear in her whisper only served to fill the revived tyrant with even more glee. “Hello, Tempest.”