//------------------------------// // Crimson Nightmare // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Pegalysium. Sky Monarch. Grand Queen Second Wind's Throne Room. Afternoon. Sitting on her throne that was never meant to be hers and knowing the apocalyptic chaos that she was about to create was Second Wind. After altering time via the Clock Door, the Grand Queen was not yet satisfied. Not until her enemies were dealt with. Especially those who foiled her when she was the Grand Judge in the Indigo Alliance, which was now the Indigo Empire. Which was why an army of Unown that she could control were currently at Equestria, ready to add it to Second Wind's rule. But there was something on her mind. And as usual, Second Wind would speak to herself with nopony else present in the room. "Hmm. Even though I took the throne, where are Paramount and Luminary now?" She wondered. The King and Queen were out of the way as royalty. "Shooting Star should be around citing as the new Grand Judge for the Indigo Union but...Tip-off! Get in here now!" She roared, calling for her Royal Advisor. "Y-Yes your majesty!" Rushing into the room after his name was called out was Tip-off. Earlier, he was sent off to try and relax his head, but Second Wind demanded some questions as the Royal Advisor came to a screeching halt in front of her throne. "Tell me this. Do you know about two ponies named Paramount and Luminary?" Second Wind asked. "Paramount and Luminary? Um..." Tip-off didn't give a lightning-fast answer. He had to think about this. But the conclusion was unsatisfying for Second Wind. "No. Never heard of them." "Hoh? Then how about this? A blue stallion with a blonde mane plus a light red mare with a purple mane and a golden streak. How does that description sound?" Second Wind tackled their appearances to try and get a better answer. "Any ponies that match that description?" "Uh...Ah!" Tip-off had a better idea of that description. "There's...Nopony here that fits that." But the answer was the same. He was unaware of them. His mind was cleared about the existence of them. "Hm. Oh, well. That approach failed." Secon Wind shrugged. "But their names do sound familiar..." In that split-second, Tip-off could barely recall those names. But they were lost to time. Figuratively and literally. "Oh, by the way, Grand Queen. There was some commotion reported over at Big Sky and Feathercoast." "What kind of commotion?" "Well, there have been reports of ponies having Pokemon with them. One of them was a teacher from Feathercoat named Garnet who ran off with one and another were two other ponies. They look to be some of the ponies from Equestria." "Fluttershy! Garnet!" Second Wind shouted, blowing Tip-off back as she stomped her hoof. "There are always wrenches, aren't there? It seems that a lot has changed but not much has changed at the same time." "W-What hasn't changed, your majesty?" Tip-off groaned, holding his head after hitting the wall. "Nevermind that." Second Wind collected her thoughts. Even as the ruler of Pegalysium, there were still threats that got under her skin. Pre-existing ones that have foiled her once. "Only I can own these Strange and Wonderful Creatures. Especially the Unown. Find Garnet and especially Fluttershy and whoever that other pony may be. I'd also love to see the look on their faces when Equestria is affected by the Unown." "Wait, what?! The Unown are attacking Equestria?! Are we at war?" Tip-off screeched after getting back up. All of this was new to him and practically everypony else in Pegalysium don't even know about this. "No, no. There's no war." But Second Wind dismissed it. Besides, we aren't engaging against them. It's the Unown. "I would've thought we would make peace with Equestria." "We will. After the Unown do their job. Although, I hope they don't resort to erasing everypony there. I want a civilization to rule afterwards." "And...if they do?" "Well, repopulation is always a good second option to go with." She shrugged as she was willing to let the Unown erase them if it came down to it. "Tip-off, you're excused. I need to be somewhere right now." Second Wind then dismissed Tip-off for the day, allowing him to go along his merry way. Tip-off promptly left the throne room as Second Wind would also do the same instead of just sitting around. Though, she did enjoy the luxury enough to almost stay in the same room forever. But before she would do so, Second Wind summoned the table once more from the floor. This time, she went over to a communication shell that was resting on the side. A golden one too, showcasing its royalty status. Upon grabbing the shell, Second Wind had a quick call to make. "Grand Judge. Shooting Star. I'll need your assistance once more." Out in a jungle sky island. "Bay! Bay-Bay!" Elsewhere, Bayleef was still dragging Garnet along against her own will. Garnet was wrapped around Bayleef's vines, unable to do anything. Bayleef managed to retain some memories of what had happened. And it was all thanks to that leaf of fate. Bayleef had one objective in mind. Find Fluttershy and the others. "Why me?" Garnet sighed as Bayleef was heading straight for one of the Flow-up Clouds A way to rapidly travel across Pegalysium. Optional and also prone to make anypony perplexed. "Wait a minute...Hold on!" Garnet gasped, pleading for Bayleef to stop. "Going through a Flow-up Cloud in this position is-" "Bay!" Too late for that. Without thinking of what she was facing, Bayleef jumped into the Flow-up Cloud with Garnet included. And much to Garnet's dismay, she would travel through it without any control. "Gaaaah!" She screeched with her uvula shaking. The Flow-up Cloud allowed them to travel rapidly with Bayleef feeling the wind pressure through her face. Flow-up Clouds usually go upwards, sending the traveller to a higher height. But this one had extra pathways that would eventually lead to the top. Garnet could already feel herself being overwhelmed by the stream of wind. Bayleef set her eyes on the prize as the pegasus felt like fainting at this point. At the same time, there were guards from Feathercoast who were currently searching for them both. The same two guards even. However, they lost track of Bayleef and Garnet, unable to continue their search. This Flow-up Cloud led Garnet and Bayleef in zigzag positions along the way as Garnet felt sick, on the verge of passing out and tired of this all at the moment. The trip inside the Flow-up Cloud ended as the final force of it rocketed Bayleef and Garnet into the air. Now, they could get a birds-eye view of a majority of Pegalysium. They broke through the clouds with Garnet's pupils disappearing for a moment, becoming nothing but white as she was bewildered beyond belief. Bayleef stayed in the air for a bit before spotting familiar locations. Mainly Big Sky, the Sky Monarch, Various temples Lulolum Island and Feathercoast. But more than that, the biggest thing here that was moving was Team Rocket's Rocketship. It was still active with Team Rocket inside, currently being pursued by what seemed to be more of those Indigo Empire guards that had just come into this timeline. "They didn't mind us stealing it before! Why now?!" Meowth cried out as they were currently being chased because of the treasure that they had stolen from the temples. It wasn't a problem before as they were never aware, neither did they care much about it. But this alternate timeline changed that. "Who cares?! James, just keep going! Faster!" Jessie commanded. "Fast as it can right now!" James yelled back as the guards had Unown of their own to aid them. The Unown ferociously attacked the Rocketship with Hidden Power, bombarding it with rays. "Halt! This is your final warning! I mean it this time!" One of the guards announced with a shell that had a speaker-effect to it. Judging from his words, this chase has been happening for a quite a while despite the change in time. "Bay!" Bayleef saw the ship, knowing that it would help being inside of it due to its bulky and large size. Finally, her air time ended as she started falling. But the Leaf Pokemon made sure that she would let the wind direction guide her closer to the Rocketship. "Wait-wait-wait-wait! Let me go so we can fly!" Garnet screeched once more, shaking her head violently as Bayleef did not have the power of flight on her side, fearing that she and Garnet could take a horrible crash if Garnet wasn't released. But Bayleef didn't release her vines. "No! NO!" However, there was one thing that allowed Bayleef to bypass this. Her greatest life-saving ability. Her Fate-changing Leaf of course. When close to the ground, one of the leaves came off, touching Garnet. Bayleef saw Garnet as a good pony. Capable of being her friend due to previous events. And with this contact, the leaf had changed their fate. Instead of splatting on the ground, they landed near a tree in the distance that would've been too far away to reach. "Bay!" Bayleef landed on the tree successfully as Garnet had passed out, unable to handle it all. Once on the tree, Bayleef used her vines to start swinging, going to the next tree. Not as agile as a Sceptile when using the trees to swing, but agile enough for her light body that stood between her pre-evoltuion Chikorita and her final evolution Meganium. "Bayleef...!" Bayleef built up some momentum by swinging from tree to tree, heading straight for the Rocketship. She wanted to make sure that the leap was high enough when performing her final swing. The Rocketship was still being attacked by the Unown as it tore through the clouds. It started taking visible damage from all the constant Hidden Power coming from the Unown. While durable, it could only take so much, especially when the Unown were using Hidden Power Fire and Fighting on the ship. Garnet's head flailed whilst Bayleef kept moving as the Leaf Pokemon finally found the right momentum. "Bay!" Bayleef performed one final swing, ascending to the air with impressive air-time. And if things did go wrong, her leaves would be there. Although, they still had their limits depending on how vast the situation is. "Come on! Why won't they work?!" James was rapidly pressing on the control panel, searching for the weapons option to retaliate. "Meowth! I thought you fine-tuned the weapons!" "I did! Didn't make 'em turn around!" Meowth nodded his head before shaking it. But then, he thought about it, realizing how nifty it would be to have weapons that rotated in that manner. "Now that ya mention it..." "Bay!" Catching them off guard and startling Team Rocket was the arrival of Bayleef. She crashed right into the window of the ship, body-planting into it as her body was pressed onto the glass. "B-Bay..." "Bayleef?!" Team Rocket collectively gasped. And upon getting this close, the Unown took notice of Bayleef themselves. A Rift Anomaly right in front of their eyes. Equestria. Ponyville. Afternoon. Ponyville, and all of Equestria was under attack. Invaded by the Unown who had one goal. To make Equestria the newest nation for Second Wind to rule as part of her revenge against those who foiled her plans previously. However, due to almost everypony here having a Desire, the Unown were leaning towards a different and more terrifying approach. "Unown!" The CUtie Mark Crusaders shouted as they were the first ponies to discover the Unown during their small journey, knowing how dangerous they could be. "Who's that Pokemon?" Rainbow Dash held out her Pokedex, scanning the Unown promptly. "Unown. The Symbol Pokemon. This Pokémon is shaped like ancient writing. It is a mystery as to which came first, the ancient writings or the various Unown. Research into this topic is ongoing but nothing is known. They seem to communicate among each other telepathically. They are always found stuck on walls. When alone, nothing happens. However, if there are two or more, an odd power is said to emerge. They are theorized to be the Thousand Arms of Arceus." "Ain't those the Unown?" Applejack commented. "How come they're everywhere right now...?" "Sceptile." "Rio..." "Unown!" Cold Colt screamed, knowing exactly why the Unown were here. At least, hew knew one of the major reasons of their arrival. Him, Jade Skies and Emerald Aura were prime targets. Spike's Axew too. In fact, they all were. But some were bigger targets than others. Across all of Equestria, starting with Ponyville then to Manehattan, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, Appleloosa, Trottingham and everywhere else. All were being threatened. Unfortunately, a majority of them had no idea what was coming their way. They couldn't help but look at the Unown who stayed there for a while, blocking out the sun with their black and white colours. Over at the Crystal Empire, Flurry Heart, who was feeding her Giratina while hanging out with her baby-self, couldn't help bt climb on Giratina's head to look at the Unown. Even though she could fly. Ponies such as Fleur De Lis, Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel who lived in stylish places stopped what they were doing immediately. Ms Harshwinny had stopped her current Gym Battle with a young Pokemon Trainer just for them all to spot the Unown. The skies were beginning to shift into colour due to the abundance of Unown. The usual red energy from Hidden Power was being shown, illuminating the heavens with a deep crimson and already bringing a foreboding sense of despair. As if it wasn't haunting enough, the Unown did their usual singing as it rang through the skies for every creature in Equestria to hear. An unidentifiable song that only the Unown could understand. Giratina was the exception. Giratina recognized a song such as this. Being a Pokemon that had a strong connection to Arceus, it would stand to reason that it would know about the Unown. Families and other loved ones stood close to each other while looking at the Unown-covered Crimson Skies. And once the singing ended, the Unown finally did what they were set out to do. It started with their bodies glowing red from the built-up Hidden Power. All various Types of Hidden Power were being utilized as they had all unleashed a bombardment or red rays that showed the skies, piercing through the skies. "What's that?" Derpy wondered whilst holding her Wooper. And unfortunately, for the eyes of Rainbow Dashand other pegasi, they were the first to notice what this meant. Derpy watched as the first red ray came zooming down faster than the others, hitting Derpy who was the closest. "A-" Derpy's sentence couldn't come out as she was hit by the ray. Her body flashed in front of everypony's eyes. The flashing was brief as it showed an outline of Derpy while also her inner structure. And in those brief seconds, Derpy had suddenly vanished. Her body was gone and everypony had witnessed this. Not even a trace was left. Wooper had been dropped as his distraught eyes soon realized that Derpy was gone. "DERPY!" Rainbow Dash and the others cried out at their highest tones. Soon, all of the other red rays caught up as the attack had begun. Billions of rays flooded Equestria, storming on all. And those who were unable to retalite to the rays received the same outcome as Derpy. Their bodies were gone once struck. Buildings were being warped just to try and reach their targets, warping space. All of reality at this point was being warped. Those within their homes had been hit, vanishing from this plane completely. Panic and fear ensued as ponies were already being wiped away. Screams echoed throughout Equestria in a haunting way as many of them were cut off once the ponies vanished from this plane.Even some buildings were being wiped away just to reach the targets. It was a Crimson Nightmare. Ponies and Pokemon fled, witnessing their friends and family disappearing on the spot. But this didn't go without some retaliation, obviously. "Wobbuffet! Mirror Coat!" Ms Harshwinny ordered her Wobbuffet to use Mirror Coat. The best move to use in this instance. And for a moment, it worked. Once Hidden Power reached Wobbuffet, the Patient Pokemon's body illuminated multiple colours before reflecting it. However, none of that mattered as there were too many of these rays. Wobbuffet was hit by too many of them, receiving the same fate as others. "W-Wobbu-" "Wobbuffet!" Ms Harshwinny gasped as she was struck by the rays too, vanishing along with the Pokemon Trainer and the Pokemo nshe was facing off against. Gone. Giratina already knew how dangerous this was. Before the rays came crashing down, it had shielded both Flurry Heart's and Manaphy from the raining rays. And surprisingly, while Flurry Heart noticed how multiple ponies and Pokemon were vanishing, Giratina was fine. Giratina only took damage from the rays more than anything as it cried out. "Mom?! Dad?!" Flurry Heart held onto her younger self, crying out for her parents. And horrifyingly for both Flurry Heart's, they had seen what would happen next to their parents over at the currently warped castle. Straight through the windows. "Sylveon, Moonblast!" "Aegislash, King's Shield!" "Sylveon!" Sylveon, partnered with Cadence, retaliated against the rays. Sylveon's Moonblast managed to blow back two of them, only for more to break through. Cadence used her magic to form a shield around them as she wasn't the only one. "Aegis!" Aegislash had used King's Shield, blocking some rays that came in lined groups, doing it successfully. However, due to the sparse use of King's Shield, it meant nothing to the rest. "A-Aegis!" Aegislash had been hit by other rays that broke through the shield with their overwhelming numbers, causing him to vanish to. "Aegisl-" Shining Armor cried out for his partner before being cut off by some rays that came from behind. "Shining Armor!" Cadence noticed the disappearance of Shining Armor as her heart sank. The rays of Hidden Power and their greater numbers broke through Cadence's shield, especially when she was in shock and distraught by what had happened to Shining Armor. Soon, she and Sylveon would feel the same result. Cadence and Sylveon were hit with their eyes letting out lights from the rays that connected with them before they ended up disappearing, along with many of the Crystal Empire Guards and their Golurk. "NO!" A haunting and ear-piercing scream came from the young alicorn. And her baby-self along with Manaphy would already break into tears from seeing this. Their parents were gone. But there was nothing to do against these rays, no matter what. Over at Manehattan, it was a nightmare at its peak. Las Pegasus and Rainbow Falls didn't fare any better for being high in the clouds along with other high places. "Scizor, Mega Evolve, quick!" Spitfire managed to fly away from some of the rays, quickly resotrting to Mega Evolution. However, even all their fast flying wasn't enough to avoid all of this. The Bug-Steel-Type had seen one of the rays coming at Spitfire, prompting Scizor to push his trainer out of the way. "Scizor!" Scizor cried out as he ended up being erased from this plane. Spitfire couldn't even utter out a shout as she was next a second later. The sacrifice didn't matter at all. All of the Wonderbolts had been picked off in split-seconds, not having a chance to use the fully capabilities of their aerial skills. Not that it would matter anyway against so many Unown. No amount of fighting back could stop this. Coco Pommel and her Glaceon couldn't hope to freeze these rays with their bodies being removed on the spot. Even those who weren't paying attention to what was happening outside and instead enjoying their favourite activities were taken out before they could even realize it. And Canterlot, as esteemed as it all was, was not safe. Canterlot Guards and their Golurk were taken out of the picture entirely trying to defend this royal place. Premium Polish hid in her room, shivering and weeping at this horrible sight. She weeped out oil as she was an android, but the Unown didn't care who anyone was. They would be erased. The rays broke through her room, hitting the android and erasing her from this plane. Her Poke Balls were taken along with her as not an audible sound came from her mouth. Fleur De Lis tried to use her Z-Move to hopefully counteract these overwhelming rays with an equally overwhelming attack, but time was not on her side. Her Milotic and herself perished. So did everyone else. No one was safe. Not Chrysalis or her changelings even when holding onto Anthophilia. Not Ember or the Dragons in the Dragon Lands. No one in Equestria's reaches. Except for one. Magehold. Home to the Dread League. Exempt from the Desires being within them was Rosa Maledicta, her loyal assistant Fractured Note and the various other vampire and undead ponies. They could only watch, seeing everything in the distance being blocked out in all directions. Rosa, who had intentions to make Equestria part of her nation, pondered what this all meant. And at Ponyville, fleeing and fighting back was a helpless cause. Even when knowing what the Unown could od and sharing this knowledge with Mayor Mare, trying to get inside of their homes was useless in the long run. "Stoutland!" Stoutland carried Mayor Mare on his back, using his speed to try and escape. Even if it was all inevitable. "Ponyta!" Ponyta was carrying Scootaloo, also using his speed to flee. It was pandemonium out here with everypony scattered across the town. Berry Punch and her Skwovet could be seen vanishing as Sweetie Belle watched her home be vaporized on the spot, disappearing. Carousel Boutique was gone. Pinkie Pie ran out of the home with both Mews by her side. So did the cake family with their children and the Plusle and Minun by their side. Jade Skie was among one of them who also emerged out of the bakery, under high threat for being a Rift Pony. "What's going on?!" Pinkie Pie shouted as both Mews had used Psychic barriers to protect her, Jade and the Cake Family. "Pinkie Pie!" Applejack ran over, immediately going after her friend with Sceptile and Machamp carrying Granny Smith and Big Mac along the way. "Are ya'll okay?! What's happening here!" "I don't know! The Unown showed up all of a sudden and this is happening!" Pinkie Pie screeched as safe spots were being taken away every passing second. "Why isn't Rarity back?!" Sweetie Belle wondered about her big sister and how she hadn't returned yet. "Oh, Diamond Tiara! Silver Spoon! Over here!" Apple Bloom alerted the rest of her friends, waving at them. "Hey-" But after being alerted, before they could turn to reach their friends, the rays reached them, wiping the two fillies and their Pokemon from this plane of existence. Rainbwo Dash and other pegasi could be seen flying from above, trying to escape. But since the rays littered the skies, they were at a great disadvantage. Rainbow Dash watched as many of her friends from the skies vanished left and right as if they were being picked off constantly. "Let's head for the gateway! Maybe Ash and Pikachu can h-" Scootaloo had the idea of heading to the Pokemon World for help as that was the only thing that could possibly save them. However, their hope had been shattered once they saw that the Unown had destroyed the gateway to Pallet Town. "Help...?" Scootaloo froze, seeing that her hope and everypony's to reach Ash had vanished right in front of them. Her last word was 'Help', resulting in her fading away along with Ponyta. "SCOOTA-" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle screechedd, only to be taken away too. "APPLE BLOOM!" Applejack's heart sank as low as it could. Sceptile used his vines to swing from place to place as the Apple Family had lost their youngest right in front of them. All of Applejack's years of protecting her little sister had vanished right then and there. "Stay close to me, Axew!" Spike knew that Axew was a definite target. But truthfully, everyone was. Starlight and Hatterene would try and push the rays back, but futility is what they were met with. "It's not working!?" Starlight gasped, seeing that even her amazing magical potential meant nothing against the combined grandiose power of the Unown. Hatterene quickly grabbed Starlight, using her full body to protect her trainer. "Hatte-!" Useless. As seen by how Starlight and Hatterene were eradicated. Protection was pointless. Everything was. Starlight let out a heart-chruning scream that haunted the eyes of one of her closest friends, Spike. "STARLIGHT!" "A-AXEW!" Axew felt like doing nothing wouldn't get them anywhere. He decided to do something and it started by him transforming right into a Haxorus. "HAXORUS!" Expanding his body, he had become Equestrian Haxorus as Spike held onto him. Haxorus immediately used whatever he could fully give out and that came from the diamond patterns on his body. "Haxorus, don't!" Spike pleaded, knowing that it was futile for Haxorus to do anything against the rays. The diamond patterns on his body would finally do something, but what was the point of it all when the rays from the Unown could ignore it. Haxorus roared at the Unown and the rays before being erased. And so was spike. "GAH-" Gone was Spike from this existence too. Mayor Mare couldn't believe that all of her citizens would meet a fate such as this. One coated in red and nothing more. And as she turned around, she saw an array of them approaching her and Stoutland. Stoutland and Mayor Mare had nowhere else to go or enough time to escape. Mayor Mare simply held onto her partner as they could do nothing but embrace the erasure that had come onto them. Pokemon from the Pokemon House were not safe either. Neither was Zecora, who held the caulron of Rift Magic on her. All the Pokemon that peacefully lived here, gone. Krookodile, gone. Zecora, gone. Along with the cauldron. Seeing that the only gateway leading to the Pokemon Worl din Ponyville was gone, there was nowher else to run. Applejack and her family screamed, once their bodies flashed and dissolved on sight. Pinkie Pie closed her eyes, trying to ignore the horrible tragedy that was befelling Ponyville. But she couldn't. Cold Colt rushed over to Jade Skies, hoping that his fellow Rift Pony would still be around. And she was. Cold Colt was still in the picture despite being a heavy target. "This isn't happening! It's not happening!" A terrified Pinkie Pie screamed. The combined shields of the Mews were eventually breaking from the rays as they couldn't protect them for a long. "Pinkie Pie."But remaining calm in all of this was Jade. And it wasn't just her stoic and deadpan personality talking. "It'll be okay. This isn't the end of everything." "But-" Pinkie Pie whimpered, showing an array of tears to Jade. "You'll be wiped out by them!" "You and everypony taught me that there'll be a way. I want to believe in that way and not let it go. You shouldn't either." Jade out of everypony here had shown a hopeful side before putting on a smile. However, that was all broken apart once the shield shattered. "M-MEW!" Both Mew's cried out as PInkie Pie watched them each vanish under the power of the Unown. Not even the ancestor of all Pokemon safe as Pinkie's hope was slipping away. The Cake Family were exposed to the rays, disappearing next, much like everyone else. "I can't do anything!" Cold Colt put his hooves over his head. His Rift Magic could not compare to the Unown. "I don't know what to do! Where's Emerald!? Maybe she could-" But to calm him down, Jade wrapped her hooves around the colt. She still held onto that piece of hope that she had seen be shown in multiple instances. Cold Colt closed his eyes, bawling uncontrollably. And it was this rush of distraught emotions that allowed the young Rift Pony to use his magic. But before that could happen, the rays reached him. He was too late as Jade and Cold Colt were gone. Pinkie Pie now saw almost everyone close to her gone. She froze before then accepting her fate. To her right now, hope didn't mean anything with the Unown as her body vanished as well. And soon, all of Ponyville vanished and beyond. From the Pokemon House, Town Hall, Twilight's Castle to Saddle Lake, Whitetail Woods and more. All of it was meaningless in front of the Unown. A crimson nightmare at its truest form. As the journey continues. Chapter 717 End.