Equestria. Above the skies. Team Rocket's newly claimed ship.
They were still moving through the skies of Equestria with James at the helm. Thanks to his surprisingly skilled experience with a ship, as noted by him as a young child, this could be considered light work for him. James had actually managed to shoot down some of the invading ships that were heading back to their world. They were only heading back since Celestia's forces were currently initiating their own counterattack at the moment.
Anyone below wasn't safe at all. James had already taken out every robotic creation and troop that was on the ground level with the magic cannons with great aim.
If there was one major advantage that James had, it was that he had more years of experience with technology compared to the Empress' world. After all, they only discovered advanced technology years after Empress Twilight came into power.
But aside from that, something major came up on the radar. James immediately shot up, locking his eyes onto the radar to see what was up ahead. The signal was absolutely enormous from what he had seen.
"Hm. That's a pretty big signal." James said, putting his hand on his chin.
"Oh, what is it?" Apple Bloom claimed up James' shoulder. "A bigger ship?"
"A giant robot?" Scootaloo said.
"A walking fortress?!" Sweetie Belle popped up.
"Is it those two dragons again?!" Cold Colt jumped over.
"Well, spit it out." Jessie slid in.
"No it's..." James squinted his eyes before looking outside the main window of the ship. He looked through the clouds, holding some binoculars to get a better view. He set the binoculars to closer distances, blazing through the clouds as he was able to make out something.
Through the grey clouds, James spotted a giant in the distance. Taller than the mountains, head beyond the clouds and possessing four arms with a glow around them. And on that giant's shoulder was an earth pony who was big in his own right. But nothing compared to his Pokemon.
After seeing through it all, James identified the Pokemon before his very eyes as the Gigantamaxed form of the Superpower Pokemon Machamp.
"A Gigantamaxed Machamp!" James gawked. "And that brother of Applejack on his shoulder too!
"Huh?! Let me see!" Apple Bloom got ecstatic after hearing that as she moved ahead, smashing her hoof on James' jaw as she pressed her face on the glass.
"Ough!" James was almost knocked out by Apple Bloom's hoof. Earth pony strength is certainly something to behold and experience, that's for sure.
"Big Mac!" Apple Bloom cried out, witnessing her big brother and his Machamp in the distance. "Big Mac! Over here! Where's the speaker?!"
"Right here." Mayor Mare lent the speaker to Apple Bloom, allowing her to really bellow her voice. The filly held the speaker in her hooves before holding her breath in to make things clear for her big brother's ears.
"Big Mac! Here! Over here!" By speaking through the speaker, the little earth pony's voice boomed at high frequencies, passing through the atmosphere and sky before reaching the ears of the bigger earth pony and the even larger Machamp.
"Hm?" Big Mac's ears immediately perked up after hearing a familiar voice ring through his ears.
"MA?"
"Apple Bloom?"
"Here! Right here!" Apple Bloom shouted louder as the ship was coming into view, revealing the giant R painted on the side. She still had her face pressed on the window, revealing herself to Big Mac.
And both siblings had bright smiles grace their faces. They were pleased to see each other again especially considering how much of a danger zone Equestria is due to the ongoing invasion.
The Gigantamax Machamp turned to face the ship as James slowed down so he wouldn't crash right into the Superpower Pokemon. One collision and there is a good chance that the ship would take damage and not Machamp. Afterwards, James descended the ship while Machamp lowered his body, allowing for Big Mac to slide down his giant arms.
Once the ship was close to the ground, it opened its hatch doors, revealing the steps necessary to enter the ship. Big Mac hopped off Machamp's palm before trotting his way towards the steely steps. His heavy hooves made the most noise when walking into the ship.
Big Mac was now onboard.
"Big Mac!" Overjoyed to see her big brother again, Apple Bloom zoomed over, hugging the larger earth pony. "Oh. I was super scared that you could've been taken away or worse with all those ships in the sky! And those giant dragons could've really hurt you and everything and...well...are you okay?!"
"Eeyup."
"Great!" She gave out a bright grin.
"That's almost everypony from Ponyville here. Just a few short." Mayor Mare observed. "But we're aware of what the rest of them are up to and where they are, right?"
"Sonata and Aria are safe at Undella. And uh..." Cold Colt looked into the sky, trying to figure out what else. "Wait, are Ash and the others still at Rota?"
"Um...maybe?" Scootaloo shrugged.
"Oh! I can call Applejack!" Apple Bloom pulled out her Xtransceiver from her saddlebag, "I'm sure they're fine! 100%!"
"We're not thinking of picking the twerps and twerpettes up, right?" Jessie whispered to James.
"Ah, they can handle themselves. As long as the twerp's there, those ponies have nothing to worry about. Honest." James responded. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom had selected Applejack's trainer number, calling for her big sister.
The Xtransceiver rang for a few seconds, 9 in total. After those seconds had passed, Applejack had answered the call as her face came into view.
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as Big Mac also looked over at the screen.
"Oh! Apple Bloom! Big Mac! Good to see ya'll are okay. And granny?" Applejack asked while speaking through the screen.
"Fine here!" Apple Bloom waved at Granny Smith who was asleep on one of the chairs within the ship. "What about you? Are you okay? And everypony else?!"
"Uh...We ain't injured that's for sure." Applejack chuckled. "Right now, we're at the Empress' world. Right in her palace. Everypony else are having a pretty big rumpus, inside and outside."
"Wait! You're at that world?!"
"Yeah. We're gonna end this whole blasted invasion, rescue our friend and uh...some familiar looking faces, then head on home for some sweet rest and delicious apple pie. How does that sound?"
"Sounds great! But if you're there, please be careful, okay?"
"We're gonna be-" Just as Applejack was about to reassure her big sister, something gigantic burst right through the walls next to Applejack and the friends next to her. "What in tarnation?! It c-" And just like that, with that sudden burst, the Xtransceiver had been disrupted, cutting the call and ending it as the last thing seen was large rubble being thrown across the area and right towards Applejack.
"Applejack?! Applejack!" Apple Bloom shook the Xtransceiver after gasping, trying to see if she could get her big sister to respond. However, something electrical had cut off that connection. Something from the other side where Applejack was. At first, Apple Bloom wasn't worried. But now, she most definitely was as she gulped. "James!"
"Hm?" James turned to Apple Bloom after that call.
"We need to go to the other world now!" Apple Bloom galloped over, jumping onto James' shoulder again.
"Huh? Wait? Right to the invaders?"
"Yes!"
"Hah! Absolutely not!" Jessie bellowed. "Like we're heading straight for that mess! Here's less cluttered than there, I can safely say that."
"Mhm." And Meowth agreed with a nod.
"But they could be in big trouble! Come on, James!" Apple Bloom shoved James' shoulder, pleading for him to head to the other world for assistance. And her puppy-dog eyes were just the motivation factor to try and convince him.
"James, if you send us there, we'll be in for a rough ride that'll waste us all." Jessie leaned to James. "We're not equipped to handle an entire empire, especially if it's in their own territory."
"Yeah. Dealing with less of them in the sky and ground is a safe bet to me." Meowth chimed in as all they've really been doing is taking care of the Empress' forces on sky and land. But in small numbers instead of entire fleets of hordes.
"Hm..." James crossed his arms, listening to his teammates while also the voice of a pleading child. He took each of the voices in, thinking about the possible scenarios.
One, he'd be flying into heavy enemy territory, facing an entire empire and having to deal with the force of an entire army with just the single ship against possibly a million or more, effectively ending his and Team Rocket's run. Whether by being captured or executed via the ship exploding or worse.
But the second scenario was repaying the debt to Applejack. James does owe Applejack something. After he saved her from Jessebelle months back, he never did repay the favour to her for then. While it could be considered something small to many, to James, it meant the world considering his unpleasant past with Jessebelle. Plus the eyes of a child were hard to ignore. After thinking about it, James made his decision as he gripped the controls of the ship.
"We're heading for that world," James said as Jessie and Meowth gasped with fear in their eyes. That was the answer they weren't hoping for. But for Apple Bloom, that was the answer she was hoping for as a bright smile graced her face. And so did Big Mac.
Granny Smith wasn't awake, but deep in her mind, she was giving her word of approval.
"James, are you insane!" Jessie shook James. "You're sending us to our doom!"
"No need to worry!" James cracked his fingers stretching them. "We've been out of worse. How bad can this one be?"
"Oh, thank you so much, James!" Apple Bloom thanked the Team Rocket member with a loving hug.
"Can't be helped." Meowth sighed. "We never get the easy routes anyway."
"Wobbuffet..."
"All we have to do is find one of those gateways and fly through them and we'll be there in no time. Just watch!" James sped up the speed of the ship while Machamp started walking with them. Or rather, running. While he wasn't speedy thanks to his giant size, running was at least an improvement since it was quicker than walking.
Empress Twilight's world. Canterlot Palace. Lower floor.
And speaking of Applejack, what exactly cut her connection with Apple Bloom and made all the rubble fly from bursting out of the walls?
It was none other than that giant upside-down bowl-shaped machine with a multitude of arms that were all perfect counters to whatever attacks are thrown towards it. It had currently found Applejack's group which consisted of Starlight, Goh, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Trixie and Thorax.
Its amazing armour broke through the wall with ease, but it also unleashed an electrical burst of energy from its body, resulting in the connection loss of the Xtransceiver. The machine stood before the group, ready to eliminate them on the spot as it already had its large laser charged and ready. The rubble that had been thrown had thankfully hit no one thanks to Sceptile and Braviary using Leaf Blade and Steel Wing.
"What is this thing?!" Goh said while looking up at the machine.
"A real pain, that's what it is! How tough is this thing?" Applejack replied.
"Can't be that tough! If we take away its arms, all it's got is that laser! We just have to break them all!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"But it has a perfect counter for everything!" Fluttershy responded to Rainbow Dash. "How do we stop it and get through that armour?"
"We just have to keep trying until something works! Braviary! Steel Wing! Altaria, use Dragon Pulse and Castform, Energy Ball!"
"Sceptile! Grab those leaves with your vines and rip 'em off!" Applejack commanded.
"Cinderace, Blaze Kick!"
"Hatterene, Psycho Cut!"
"Braviary!" Braviary and the others went on the offensive as the giant laser from the machine's eyes had been fired. Everyone within its line of fire had swiftly avoided it with Mega Sceptile pushing Hatterene out of the way considering how slow she was. The laser beam then blasted through the walls of the palace.
Braviary soared downwards while still synced with Rainbow Dash via the Bond Phenomenon. He lit his wings up as he swung them at the arms coming his way. Each of them had sharp and blunt objects as their main weapons. Braviary's energy-coated wings clashed with the arms. It sounded like two swords going at it from their back and forth.
"Tile!" Sceptile himself, after pushing Hatterene out of the way, used his vines to try and grab the arms, just to rip them right off. The arms obviously had a response in those hedge-trimmers once more. But, Sceptile wasn't going to fall for that again.
He manoeuvred his vines, causing them to slither like snakes as they slithered around the hedge-trimmer arms before wrapping around them.
"Hatte!" After Sceptile wrapped his vines around the arms, Hatterene then took the opportunity to use Psycho Cut with her tentacle claw glowing purple. She then swung her tentacle claw, sending tearing blades of Psychic energy out. Those sharp blades cut right through the vines and arms that Sceptile had held, dealing some damage to the machine's weapons as they fell to the floor in the form of scraps of metal.
The arms were gradually being destroyed, just not at the pace everyone wanted. Cinderace then jumped over Sceptile and Hatterene with its leg lighting on fire. Scorbunny also jumped beside his final stage evolution, using High Jump Kick.
Some arms came their way, attempting to knock Scorbunny and Cinderace away like flies or even grab their legs in the process. "Bravia!" But, Braviary came flying by, using Steel Wing to cut those arms in half, allowing for Cinderace and Scorbunny to go for their attack without anything stopping them.
"Cinder!"
"Scor!"
The two Fire-Types smashed their feet onto the hard metal armour of the machine, leaving a burst of flames afterwards from the impact. However, to their surprise, even two attacks that could definitely shatter, melt and even melt metal didn't do too much to the machine.
The best they did was leave a dent with a burn mark alongside it. They did do damage, just not the damage they wanted. Afterwards, the machine responded by having multiple of its arms smash Scorbunny and Cinderace, pinning them to a wall.
"C-Cniderace!"
"Bunny!" The two of them cried out as the arms held them there on the wall while the machine charged its laser, aiming at Cinderance and Scorbunny.
"No, you don't! Superpower in the eye! That might work!" Rainbow Dash ordered.
"Viary!" Braviary made a quick turn after destroying some arms, approaching the giant red eye while it was charging up to power for the laser. The Valiant Pokemon put his talon out, ready to smash right into the eye. However, to his dismay, the machine had used that electrical burst once more, emitting it from its mechanical body.
The burst of electricity spread out fast, instantly going through Braviary and temporarily staggering him. And Rainbow Dash felt this stagger thanks to the Bond Phenomenon.
"Ough!" The pegasus coughed as she almost fell to the floor. After that stagger, the machine then turned its laser towards Braviary instead, choosing to fire it at the Valiant Pokemon.
"Misdreavus, Power Gem" Trixie gasped as she ordered Misdreavus to try and save Braviary. And the best way to save him from the laser was to push him away.
"Dreavus!" And that's what she did. The Screech Pokemon materialized multiple rays of light that sparkled as if they were gemstones. These gemstones were then fired towards the Valiant Pokemon, knocking him away from the incoming laser beam. Some of the gemstones had been obliterated from the laser beam as a sacrifice for Braviary.
"Ow!" And Rainbow Dash also felt that as well, taking the force of gemstones to her body once Braviary was hit.
"Sorry!" Trixie gave her apologies while Sceptile freed Scorbunny and Cinderace with Leaf Blade, cutting the arms apart.
"Is this machine unbeatable..." Fluttershy said silently while Audino, who was still in her Mega Evolved form, was on the verge of fainting. But she was hanging in there while her friends were struggling with this machine.
"Ain't no way it's unbeatable. But, Woah nelly is it tough..." Applejack breathed in and out.
"We can beat it still." Rainbow Dash winced as her body had taken a lot of damage while synced up with Braviary as Rainbow-Braviary. Any further and she'll end up pushing herself and threatening her own life.
And that's exactly what she was going to do. Push herself further.
"Just watch! Braviary! Brave Bird at full strength!"
"Braviary!" Braviary let out a mighty cry before spreading his wings. The Valiant Pokemon then coated himself in an orange aura which then transformed into rainbows. With this rainbow aura, Braviary illuminated multiple colours. The Normal-Flying-Type then shot through the air, flying at maximum speeds while leaving a Sonic Rainboom too. He was going right for the eye laser since that was the biggest threat considering how powerful it was.
The machine responded with another electrical burst, exuding it from its body. It connected, but this time, with his rainbow aura, Braviary managed to just power through it. However, he still felt the electricity along with Rainbow Dash as he advanced.
"Via!" The Valiant Pokemon, after breaking through the burst of electricity, in the blink of an eye, smashed Brave Bird right into the eye. A direct collision. Braviary had struck the very centre of the laser at his top velocity. The reaction made by this was that the energy from the laser trembled after Braviary's impact. It trembled so much that it became jumbled up, causing the laser to blow up uncontrollably.
Braviary had been blown back by this explosion while also taking recoil damage from Brave Bird. As if Rainbow Dash wasn't taking enough punishment, she had felt the full force of the explosion and recoil from Braviary.
"Gah!" Rainbow Dash cried out as she fell on her back, holding her face and writhing around.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy and Applejack immediately rushed to her side after seeing their friend fall. Braviary hurled through the air before crashing to the floor afterwards.
"V-Vi...!"
"D-Did it work?!" Goh leaned in as a scarlet smoke covered the machine after the laser had set off an explosion. After something like that, even the machine had to have taken damage.
And damage it had received. After being hit by its own laser from inside, the front of the machine had most of its hard metal armour missing. That head-on collision actually did something as the machine was now weaker, but the laser was still functioning along with the many arms.
After experiencing that amount of damage and with parts of its metal armour broken off, the machine determined how much of a threat Rainbow Dash and the others were. Deciding this, the machine's nearly broken red-eye intensified as its whole metal body was being laminated in a scarlet colouring.
The machine's aggression had grown as it even emitted blaring sounds from it. Applejack and Fluttershy helped Rainbow Dash up as they witnessed the machine change in colour. The machine then unleashed its jet boosters once more, ascending into the air. After doing so, the machine used the fuel of the jet boosters as weapons.
The flames from the fuel expanded, hitting the ground before spreading out in a radius position, heading straight for Applejack and the others while burning the carpet and floor as well.
Unfortunately, Audino was a bit frozen with damage right now, so her Protect couldn't stop this at the moment. So another solution had to be made to avoid something as fierce as this.
"Oh!" Starlight gasped before hiding behind Hatterene. "Hatterene! Push it back with Psycho Cut!"
"Cinderace, Pyro Ball!" Goh pointed.
"Misdreavus, do something about that! Zap Cannon!" Trixie screeched.
"Sceptile! Dragon Pulse!"
"Ugh...! Altaria, Moonblast!"
"Hatterene!" All at once, Hatterene and the others tried to push these giant flames back as they spread across the walls of the floor. All of their collective attacks were able to cancel the flames out, protecting them from taking the jet fuel directly. However, the rest of the room had been set on fire from the fuel that had spread out, encircling Starlight and the others.
They all looked around to see that they were surrounded from all sides. All part of the machine's plan as it had them all in one spot.
"Great! Now we're stuck like this!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Cinderace! Run through the flames and use Blaze Kick!"
"Scorbunny, do the same but with Flame Charge!" Fluttershy looked at Scorbunny, knowing that both him and Cinderace could resist the flames thanks to their Fire-Typing.
"Cinder!"
"Scorbun!" The two Fire-Types moved past the flames, taking some damage but not a lot thanks to their resistance to anything Fire related.
"Dragon Pulse!" Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack said to their Pokemon. Two dragon-shaped shockwaves were released from Altaria and Sceptile as they flew past Scorbunny and Cinderance.
The machine used a shield to block the double Dragon Pulses as a large smoke cloud was formed that obscured the machine's already obscured vision thanks to what Braviary had done. However, after blocking the two Dragon Pulses and having smoke cover its vision, that's when Cinderance and Scorbunny could hit their target.
They went straight for the weakened parts of the machine. AKA the very front. The side and back were out of the question since they were still heavily armoured. Passing through the smoke, the machine didn't see Scorbunny and Cinderace coming as it had been struck by two devasting attacks to the front of part of its body.
A double strike as the metal that protected the machine was finally falling apart as its laser eye had felt the tremor from its weaker parts. The two attacks had actually pushed the machine back, much to everyone's surprise And Starlight had quickly figured out what they need to do.
"Oh! Block out its vision!" Starlight flailed her hoof at the machine. "With its eye damaged, it can't see as well! Do what you can to prevent it from seeing our attacks coming!"
"Obscuring the vision? Well, that's easy enough." Trixie shrugged as she held out another Poke Ball, sending out her second Pokemon. "Zoroark, come out for a second."
"Zoroark!"
"I need you to do one teeny little thing for." Trixie went over to her partner, whispering in her ear.
"Let's block everything out then! Altaria, Ice Beam on the ground!"
"Tari!" The Humming Pokemon opened her mouth, sending out a chilling beam as she spread it out, freezing the floor with ice spikes forming as well.
"Now break it with Dragon Pulse, Sceptile!"
"Tile!" Sceptile then followed up with Altaria's Ice Beam by shooting Dragon Pulse at the frozen floor. One hit and the ice had shattered, forming a light blue cloud of misty ice that filled the room, obscuring the machine's vision once more.
Seeing that it was being blocked from seeing any of its prey, the machine started violently shooting its still-functioning laser beam everywhere to see if it could hit one of them by chance. The beams flew everywhere, hitting the walls, ceiling and even the floor as Braviary's damage even made it difficult to properly focus its aim.
"D-Dino..." Audino was actually starting to recover. This whole time, she was using Heal Pulse on herself gradually to build her strength back. Since she hadn't fainted, might as well restore her energy. Her eyes widened after healing herself a couple of times.
The machine, unsure if it had hit something, decided to move forward and use its arms to attack. Those were still functioning even if some of them were missing. However, once the machine moved through the smoke and eventually coming across the mist, attempting to pass through it as well, it was greeted with a surprising sight.
Empress Twilight stood before it.
The machine promptly came to a halt after witnessing its almighty ruler. All attacks were promptly stopped before the Empress herself as the arms were lowered as well. At least, it looked to be the Empress.
"Zoro-Zoro-Zoro!" With a cheeky laugh and a body that glowed, the true form of the entity before the machine had been revealed. It was none other than Zoroark. "Zoroark!"
After that revelation, the machine was caught off guard as through the mist, along came Cinderace and the others. Thanks to the icy mist and Zoroark's distraction, Cinderace and the others could strike without anything stopping them.
The Striker Pokemon used Blaze Kick, breaking through the many arms of the right side while Braviary used Superpower on the front. Altaria, Hatterene, Misdreavus and Scorbunny each used Dragon Pulse, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball and Ember respectively while Sceptile used Double Team, surrounding the machine before unleashing Leaf Blade.
Confused and overwhelmed, especially from the newly seen clones of Sceptile's that scattered the surrounding area, the machine had taken all of the attacks a majority of its arms had been destroyed thanks to Cinderace and Sceptile while the front part of its body had been struck by multiple ranged attacks, heavily damaging the front part of the machine. All the damage from the front part had finally affected the rest of the machine, causing the sides to crack as well as the top of it. But not yet back the back.
With all of those hits, the machine was finally in a greatly weakened state. In response, it used its electric burst to blow everyone back afterwards. The machine was still active even though it looked like a wreck right now.
"Ace!" Cinderace slid on the floor as everyone recovered.
"It's still functioning?!" Starlight gasped.
"What a trooper..." Trixie's pupils shrunk.
The machine, seeing that it had taken too much damage, more than it has ever received, knew it had to end this quickly. So, one final laser beam was bound. This time, it was going to use every ounce of its energy to obliterate not just the targets in front of it, but even the entire room itself. To make sure that nothing is left.
"Audino!" After re-energizing herself. Audino got off the ground as she ran in front of everyone.
"Audi?!" Fluttershy looked up at her partner, surprised to see her back and up for not even that long.
"Audino!" Not wanting the same thing to happen again, Audino was going right for Hyper Beam to stop the machine once and for all. By putting her arms together, she formed a deep-orange ball of Infinity Energy while the machine built up energy for its laser.
Both of them had charged up enough as Audino's ball expanded to the size of her head. Afterwards, the Hearing Pokemon and the machine released their respective beams, tearing through the already damaged floor and ruined carpet before clashing.
But, this time it was different. The machine's laser had been weakened thanks to all the damage received towards the front of it. But Audino, after healing herself with Heal Pulse, was at full power once more. And with that full power, the beam struggle had a clear victor.
"DINO!" With a loud yell, the Hearing Pokemon unleashed some more power as the beam grew to a larger size. So large and strong that it even blew Audino back from the amount of force added into it.
The Hyper Beam consumed the laser beam as if it was a snack before fully engulfing the machine itself. And no arm could save it from something like this. Audino fell on her back as the machine was caught up in the biggest explosion yet. An explosion so great that it not only obliterated the walls and ceiling but even the floor itself. Everything was crumbling below the point where this whole floor was having its final moments.
"Everyone move back!" Applejack gasped as everyone galloped, skipped or flew away from the scene as the floor was falling with large rubble filling the area.
As the smoke cleared, everyone looked back to see that the machine was still standing. However, Hyper Beam had left a massive mark on it. Half of its body was missing now thanks to Audino as its red eye was flashing eerily. The machine attempted to fire another laser beam and pursue its targets, but the floor below it had collapsed.
And as the floor fell, so did the machine falling deep into the lower parts of the palace with the large rubble covering its metallic body. And that was that. That was quite possibly the last time they would ever see the machine.
It was now buried within the rubble and obliterated floor as Applejack and the others kept moving.
Canterlot Palace underground.
Currently, the Empress had appeared before Chrysalis and Pyrestar, not in the best mood considering the circumstances and scenario. She was going to target all of her anger onto Chrysalis.
Chrysalis herself wanted to protect Pyrestar while also fending off the Empress. There was also the aim of freeing the Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie of this world from their horrible conditions. Obviously, that would be a challenge for the Changeling Queen.
But thankfully, she had Ribombee on her side.
"Bombee!" The Bee Fly Pokemon had used the pollen from Pollen Puff, using it as a shield against the Empress' magic beam as it cushioned the attack.
Chrysalis was carrying Pyrestar on her back while using her magic to hold the Elements of Harmony. Thanks to Ribombee holding the magic back, Chrysalis took the opportunity to gallop out of here as soon as she could.
"You won't escape from me!" The Empress roared as he eyes lit up with a bright white and purple colour as she caused a magic field around her body. This magic field spread out, obliterating parts of the dungeon as Ribombee had used Solar Beam as a counter.
Thanks to the presence of the blazing sun, the attack didn't need to take some time to charge. With one thrust of her arms, Ribombee fired a bundled beam of solar energy. The blast connected with the magic field as they both cancelled each other out.
A green and purple smoke covered the dungeon as the Empress simply whisked it away with a spell that conjured up a strong wind. And speaking of wind, she used that same spell, creating a wind pressure equal to that of a tornado as it sent across the whole dungeon.
"Oh!" Chrysalis gasped as she could feel the wind pressure surround her, halting her movements.
"Ribom?!" Ribombee herself, due to her small size and lightweight, was receiving the worst of this wind. After using the spell, the Empress teleported before Chrysalis, appearing right in her face.
The Empress lit her horn up before slamming it towards Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen her magic to create a protective barrier that blocked the horn as magic had also struck it. The barrier was already on the verge of cracking with its first hit. The Empress then grinned before using the Gravity Spell. Her personal favourite.
Since she was missing a majority of the magic she stole, the Gravity spell, being a powerful spell to use, drained her. It wasn't as effective as it used to be and was only at half strength, forcing the Empress to use it less if she wanted to have enough magic yet. But that half-strength of the Gravity Spell was still wonderful as it had broken through Chrysalis' barrier before forcing her and Pyrestar to the ground.
"Ough!" Chrysalis groaned as she was on the floor facefirst with gravity being pressed on her, preventing her from moving.
"I've still g-" Before the Empress could gloat, overcoming the wind, Ribombee flew towards the Empress with her amazing speed thanks to her small body as she used Pollen Puff, flying over the gravity field and smashing large pollen into her eyes. Ribombee's pollen can do many things other than taste good and deal damage. They even cause dizziness and paralysis.
And in this case, paralysis was the choice that Ribombee made after smashing it in the Empress' eyes, sending a paralyzing shock through her body and blocking her vision.
"Ribom!"
"Agh!" The Empress screamed as she moved back, losing her focus on the gravity field.
"Ribombee!" Ribombee wasn't done yet. She then went right for Solar Beam, gathering up all the solar energy before unleashing a bundled beam from her body.
The green beam of solar energy gathered from the sun itself came howling out, engulfing the Empress in its verdant light as she hadn't yet removed the pollen from her eyes, so she couldn't defend against what came her way. The Empress felt Solar Beam consume her as the aftermath was a green explosion.
After that, Chrysalis and Ribombee continued to make their escape. They weren't here to fight. Just to escape with Pyrestar and now the Elements of Harmony.
However, immediately breaking through the solar explosion was the Empress as she had burnt the pollen from her eyes. She let out a hateful grow before blowing the smoke away with some wind. She then saw that Chrysalis and Ribombee were now gone.
But not for long. The Empress had used a miniature variant of that Grand Eye Spell. Mostly since her magic wasn't as great as before so she couldn't utilize the gigantic version of it that eclipses the whole land and beyond. But it could look through buildings now.
The Empress' vision moved through the dungeon, before exiting it. With the eye's effectiveness, she was able to track down Chrysalis and Ribombee immediately. With a devious grin, she immediately pursued after that.
Chrysalis and Ribombee had left the dungeon, entering the hallways of the palace. Now all they had to do was exit this world and keep Pyrestar and the others in a safe place. Unfortunately, the gateway to the otherworld was in the heat of the battle outside which would mean attempting to get past there would be troublesome while holding some injured ponies.
But even more unfortunate was the fact that Empress burst right through the wall, startling Chrysalis and Rinbombee as a dark purple glow flashed constantly.
"They belong to me!" The Empress had used her Bone Spell, sprouting up giant bones from the floor, shattering parts of it while also racing towards Chrysalis and Ribombee.
Since the bones were weaker thanks to the Empress' drained state, they were easier to break as compared to the last time they were used. Chrysalis quickly used her magic to blow away the bones that were coming her way while Rinbombee used her nimble speed to try and avoid the bones.
But there were too many of them as some of the ones clipped Chrysalis' mane and bits of her wings, making the Changeling Queen wince. Chrysalis was finding it hard to fend them all off as the bones had then grabbed her, pinning Chrysalis to a wall. "Ugh!"
"Ribom?!" Ribombee gasped after seeing Chrysalis being pinned. The moment she turned to face her friend, one of the bones had swatted her away, causing the Bee Fly Pokemon to hit the wall. "Bombee!"
The Empress snarled as more bones approached Chrysalis going straight for her chest. In an act of quickness, Chrysalis had used her own magical field to blow the bones away, shattering them and even pushing the Empress slightly back. Chrysalis freed herself from the wall while Ribombee stood right back up afterwards.
"Ribombee! Use Fairy Wind!"
"Ribombee!" The Bee Fly Pokemon spun around in the air before harnessing the magic of the Fairies. Out of her body, a giant turbulent wind with pink sparkles within them. The wind picked up some rubble, tossing it at the Empress while raging towards her.
The Empress easily got rid of the rubble as she used her wind spell to counter Ribombee's Fairy Wind. The powerful forms of wind were now going against each other. One pink and one purple. They went back and forth, moving across the floor each time they bounced off each other. Chrysalis, the Empress and Ribombee backed away from the moving winds while everything nearby was being pulled in by their pressure.
The two winds eventually cancelled each other out once they merged as one. The remains of them scattered with pink and purple sparkles scattering across the air and floor.
"We're just wasting time like this," Chrysalis said as she knew this could drag out and possibly result in her losing to the Empress. She needed some form of safety immediately.
"Don't worry. I'll end it quickly with this." The Empress smirked as she went for her Gravity spell once more. But this time, in a more destructive light. "I don't know if you know this, but when gravity and matter are compressed to a point of zero size and infinite space-time curvature, it creates a black hole!"
"What?!" Chrysalis gasped.
"Gardevoir's not the only one that can generate Black Holes!" The Empress laughed as a miniature black hole appeared in front of her, immediately starting to pull everything close by. "Don't worry, I've made sure that it won't destroy you. I still need your magic after all. And then I'll destroy you afterwards! Hahahaha!"
"Grrh!" Chrysalis tried to move away, but the pull was just too strong for her to handle.
"So long!" The Empress then used her hoof, smashing the black hole as it rotated towards Chrysalis while pulling the walls, ceiling and floor.
"R-Ribombee! Solar Beam!"
"R-R-Ribom...!" Being pulled in herself because of her lightweight, the Bug-Fairy-Type put her arms together, forming a beam of solar energy. Normally, light can't do anything to black holes, just become consumed by them like everything else. However, Infinity Energy might have something to say about that. "Ribombee!"
With a thrust of her hands, Ribombee unleashed Solar Beam right in front of the singularity. One collision and both Chrysalis and Empress Twilight's eyes expanded, knowing what might come next.
And their assumption was right. The two of them quickly put up shields around each other, plus the Elements of Harmony, Ribombee herself and Pyrestar too. And for a good reason. The collision between Solar Beam and the singularity was so great that it blew the entire room sky high with form a giant black and green explosive paroxysm and outburst. The whole floor was taken out by this volatile reaction.
Just like that, the room near the dungeon. Bits of the dungeon were even obliterated by the outburst. It spread out so far that nearby troops of both sides were caught up in it as well. Or at least, near it, they only received the blowback.
Upstairs.
And it went even further. With a reaction as vile as that, why wouldn't it? Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, Sunset and Adagio could sense and hear something coming this way.
They had just taken care of the troops up here and they had Pheromosa, Salamence and Haxorus to thank for that. Pheromosa's leg had just healed up after some time to recover before arriving here. And her amazing seed and strength definitely helped in this situation. And speaking of speed, she was the first to pick up that something was wrong.
"Mo? Pheromo!" Pheromosa gasped as put her arms around everyone for safety.
"Hm? What's wrong, Pheromo-" Just as Rarity asked her partner, from below the ground it, the result of Solar Beam and the singularity colliding had reached this area, blowing the floor and everyone on it back. Before they knew it, Rarity's group had been knocked away while the rest of the floor was blown to bits.
Pheromosa held them all close and tight as she tumbled on the floor. For once, her light and supple body didn't fail as she immediately recovered by sliding on the ground.
"What was that?! What just happened?!" Pinkie Pie breathed in and out as her heart was racing rapidly.
"Look!" Spike pointed at the smoke caused by the explosion as he rubbed his eye. Everyone squinted, staring into the smoke before witnessing two lights glow inside of them. Green and Purple.
This was obviously Chrysalis and Empress Twilight after they had used their magic to protect themselves. However, it was the Empress who succeeded in protecting herself the most with her superior magic. Chrysalis barely could. Her magic shield faded as she was on the ground, feeling the effects of the knockback. Pyrestar, Rimbombee and the Elements had been protected thankfully as Chrysalis put most of her strength in protecting them mostly instead of her.
"U-Ugh..." She groaned.
"Queen Chrysalis!" Rarity and the others gasped.
"Tch." The Empress scoffed before turning around to face Rarity's group. Her eyes were full of nothing but irritation as she stepped on Chrysalis' hoof. Her eyes met with Rarity and the others while Ribombee was slowly getting up. "All of you are ruining everything...Nothing but nuisances rather than actual threats! I'll make sure the remains of you are wiped out from history before your world returns to normal!"
As the journey continues.
Chapter 464 End.