Pokémon and Ponies
#61-The Crystaling
Twilight's Castle, day.
"Okay. Library... Library... Where did they put the library?" Starlight glimmer was attempting to find her way throughout this juggernaut of a castle. It was pretty easy to get lost in here. "This castle looked a lot smaller from the outside."
Continuing to find her way through the library, she came across a room where Spike was brushing his teeth. "Morning, Starlight!" said Spike.
"Whoops!" She closed the door. "Sorry, Spike! I guess I'm still trying to find my way around. You don't happen to know where the library is, do you?"
"Next door on the left!" Spike gave an answer.
"Oh. Thanks!"
Speaking of the library, Twilight was inside, going over a list of things that describe somepony who can make great friends. "Acceptance, mm-hmm. Altruism, definitely." The young alicorn princess turned around to see her new friend arriving. "Starlight, good morning, come in!"
"Sorry I'm late. I got a little turned around. I still can't believe you're letting me stay here... as your pupil... after everything I did."
"Well, I'm not one to dwell on the past, and neither should you. The castle is your home now, and as far as being my pupil goes, I was just trying to figure out what your first friendship lesson should be!"
"Oh, well, it looks like you're really narrowing it down!"
"Oh, these are just the A's. After this, I move on to the B's!" Twilight looked over to an abnormal amount of scrolls that were just waiting to be read.
Was Starlight nervous?
Yes.
Over at Professor Cerise's lab in Vermillion City.
"You want me to what?!" Goh pulled back.
"Mhm. I want you to make friends with Starlight. Easy as that." Ash said.
"Pikachu.
"Ash. Are you sure? Didn't she mind control a bunch of Pokemon and take away all those ponies Cutie Marks?"
"Yeah, she did."
"And didn't she try and get rid of you by placing you underground?!"
"She also did that too." Ash nodded.
"So, are you sure this is a good idea?! I don't know if I'll be able to even make friends with her."
"Don't worry. Besides, you and Starlight share something in common. You're both trying to figure out this whole friendship thing, right?"
"I mean...yeah. I am. Not that great at making friends anyways." Goh rubbed the back of his head.
"Then this is your chance, Goh! You two can learn from each other! I can already tell you'll get along great."
"Pika!"
"Well...if it's coming from you then you must know what you're talking about. Alright. I'll try my best."
"Great! I just know you two will hit off great!"
"Pikachu!"
Back at Twilight's Castle...
"I know I'm just learning about friendship, but I didn't think there were this many lessons for anything. How do we choose?" Starlight questioned.
"Maybe I should pare things down a bit before we go through them. Why don't you join the others in the throne room? They're planning our trip to the Crystal Empire when Shining Armor and Princess Cadance have their baby!"
"Throne room! Got it!" Starlight ran out until she came back. "Um, which way is the throne room?" Starlight laughed nervously, causing Twilight to sigh.
Ash and Goh were making their way to Twilight's castle since they heard that today was the day that baby would be born. Inside the throne room, everypony had already gathered up.
"Well, I think we should leave ASAP. I don't want to miss the Crystallising!" said Rainbow Dash.
"But, um, shouldn't we wait for the invitation?" Fluttershy questioned.
"Frankly, I'm not exactly clear on all the customs and traditions of the Crystal Empire, especially when it comes to a Crystalling." Applejack held Treecko in her hooves.
"What's a Crystalling?" Starlight asked, entering the room.
"Well, that's just it, darling. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's baby is due any day, and we're still not sure. The Crystal Empire was gone for a thousand years. A lot of their customs are a bit murky." Rarity answered.
"We know it's got somethin' to do with the new baby," said Applejack.
"And the party!" Pinkie chimed in quickly.
"And the Crystal Heart." Fluttershy turned to Starlight.
"And the party!"
"And some kinda cool energy." Rainbow Dash held her Pokeball, bouncing it up and down.
"And... a party!" Pinkie spread confetti everywhere.
"It's not hard to understand." Spike entered the room. "Most things in the Crystal Empire aren't. Like how I'm a big hero there, for example!" He held a sheet of paper that had him with the Crystal Heart. Everypony seemed unimpressed whilst Rarity was holding in her laughter. The image was a bit silly looking. "Eh... plus, I've had to help Twilight do a lot of research on Crystallings." Spike held up a purple vase that had the art of two ponies standing over their baby. He then explained what it meant.
"Whenever a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents bring it before the Crystal Heart. They get the purest shard of crystal they can find, then pick a crystaller to present the baby to everypony who comes. Then they all share the light and joy they feel, feeding it into the crystal that joins with the Heart and increases its power! And this is going to be a royal Crystalling, so pretty much the whole empire will show up. That hasn't happened in millennia!"
"Audino..." Fluttershy's Audino came in the room, holding what seemed to be an egg. "Dino!"
"Careful Audi!" Fluttershy flew to the Audino, helping her with egg. "You have to carry it gently. Don't worry too much."
"What's up with the egg? Looks kinda...odd." Rainbow Dash asked. Everypony noticed that this egg was blue with yellow spots on the top. And at the very centre, a red circle laid there.
"This Egg is a gift for the baby. Audi found it by the Water-Type area at the Pokemon House. Apparently, it's been floating there for months now."
"Oooh...Giving the baby its first Pokemon? I get it." Pinkie nodded. "Which Pokemon is inside?"
"No idea. But I can't wait to see the result."
"What's this about en egg?" Goh walked in, hearing their conversation. Once he entered, she spotted Starlight right over there, gasping. "Geeeh!"
"Hi, Goh! Raring to go?" Pinkie bounced over to him.
"Y-Yeah." Goh stuttered.
"Just keep your cool, Goh," Ash said to him, walking by.
"Pikachu."
"Hm?" Once Ash stepped forward, he noticed the egg in Audino's hands. That egg looked very familiar to him. "THAT EGG!"
"PIKACHU?!"
"You know this egg, Ash?"
"Oh yeah! I recognize that egg appearance anywhere! Where did you get that?"
"Audi found it not too long ago. We're planning to give this to the baby. It'll be its first Pokemon." Fluttershy explained.
"OH! Then in that case... I'll keep quiet."
"Wait. You know which Pokemon is in there?" Rainbow Dash flew to him.
"Mhm. Don't wanna spoil the surprise." Ash grinned.
"Pikachu!"
"Is it another Riolu? I get it is." Rainbow Dash poked at the egg. Once she did, it emanated a blue light from the touch as the blue pony backed away. "Whoops! Sorry."
"M-Morning..." Goh gently moved past Starlight.
"Uh...morning." Starlight replied back. "I'll just go and ask Twilight about the Crystal Empire." She took her leave from the group, giving Goh some to breathe.
"You can't be this nervous, Goh." Ash looked over at him.
"Sorry. I'm still a bit shaken up from what happened last time." Goh laughed.
"Shaken up by what?" Fluttershy asked.
"Goh's still pretty intimidated by Starlight here after the first encounter with her. Making friends with her is gonna be a bit of problem for him." Ash explained.
"Oooh...I get it! Both Starlight and Goh are new to friendship in a way. Gotcha." Pinkie understood it in a second. "Don't worry. Starlight won't bite. At least I don't think so."
"Right...How long till we head to this Crystal Empire?" Goh questioned.
Meanwhile, Twilight was busy reading through the ludicrous amount of scrolls, not taking her eyes off them for a second.
"Hey, Twilight, can I ask you something about the Crystal Empire?" Starlight spoke walking in.
"Huh! Funny you should mention it. Because I just narrowed your first friendship lesson down to three options, and one of them is in the Crystal Empire!"
"Really?"
"I found out that's where the first pony you ever cared about lives!"
"Sunburst?" Starlight's mood changed to a worried state. As Twilight continued to speak, Starlight couldn't help but panic for a while.
"Of course, that's just one idea. We could also go to Griffonstone. Making friends with a griffon is a challenge all by itself! Or we could tag along with the CMC's the next time they try to help a pony figure out why they're special...Starlight? Is something wrong?"
"What? O-Oh, no, heh, those all sound great!"
"I know! I guess you were right – it is gonna be hard to choose one!" Twilight pranced off.
"...Yeah." Starlight laughed nervously before gulping. She feared the worst could happen in this situation.
Goh himself had gone out of the throne room to catch a breather. But that didn't last since he and Starlight bumped into each other along the way.
"Starlight?!"
"Oh. Hi, Goh." She then noticed his nervous face all of sudden. "You seem a bit nervous. Are you lost in this place too?"
"Me? No way. I'm perfectly fine."
"Raboot..." Raboot kicked Goh forward towards Starlight, telling him to get it over with already.
"Oh Right. I was kind of told that I should try making friends with you first."
"Making friends with me first? Are you struggling on understanding friendship as well?"
"Well...yeah." Goh lowered his head. "I didn't really make many friends back when I was young. I was kind of alone because my parents were always busy at work. So I had no choice but to stay at home and wait until they came back. So making friends isn't really my best experience skill."
"That's what makes it perfect." Spike arrived, speaking in between both of them. "Ash was right. you can learn from each other. How neat is that?"
"It does sound neat...much better than what my first friendship lesson is going to be." Starlight looked to the side. "I'm not exactly thrilled with the options."
"Which one?" Spike asked.
"Reuniting me with my first friend."
"What's so terrible about that?" Spike scratched his head.
Asking that made Starlight give a quick rundown on her past with Sunburst. "When we were foals, Sunburst knew everything there was to know about magic. He always knew just what to do. And he was always there to help me. I guess it's not surprising that Sunburst got his cutie mark in magic and... went off to Princess Celestia's school. But when he left..."
"You blamed cutie marks and stripped a whole village of theirs, and when Twilight and the others stopped you, you went back in time and almost destroyed Equestria." Spike finished her sentence.
"Not really stuff I'm super eager to tell Sunburst about. I mean, he's probably some big important wizard now, and... I can't even find my way around Twilight's castle."
"Well, if Sunburst is that good at magic, maybe he'd appreciate your, uh... exploits. You should talk to Twilight about it. I'm sure she'd want to hear what you have to say."
"I know. But I don't want her to think I'm not ready to learn or that I'm not grateful for everything she's doing."
"Spike! Come quick!" Twilight's voice suddenly bellowed towards their direction. Currently, she was standing over her balcony with an eager face. Something was heading her way whilst blowing in the wind. An invitation in the shape of a snowflake came flowing towards her as the young alicorn caught it gently in her hoof.
"A snowflake letter?" said Goh.
"It's a Crystalling invitation!" Spike exclaimed.
"Shining Armor's a father! I'm an aunt! Well, this settles it! Since we're going to the Crystal Empire, your first friendship lesson is going to be... reuniting with Sunburst!" Twilight squeed.
"Great..." Starlight gulped.
It's go time.
The trip to the Crystal Empire began by travelling via train as always since that was the easiest way to get there.
Each of them sat down on their seats, waiting for it to reach its destination. Pikachu laid on top of Fluttershy's head, dozing off whilst Treecko was slumped over. Starlight looked outside, noticing that they were getting closer and closer. She wished this train could turn around right now. Rainbow Dash looked over at Applejack's side, noticing some huge object covered by a cloth.
"Um, Applejack, what is that?"
"Oh, just a little somethin' for the young'un." She removed the cloth, revealing it to be a baby crib. "Made from genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple trees. We make 'em for all the Apples, and anypony related to Twilight is practically family."
"Yeah, it's okay... But it's no Cloudsdale mobile!" Rainbow Dash got out a mobile that represented her Cutie Mark in appearance. "Bam!"
"Oooh..." Pinkie gawked at it. "Pretty." She poked at the middle of the mobile, causing a small bit of it to fall off.
"Well, a mobile is real nice... as long as you have somethin' to lay in so you can look at it." Applejack nodded.
"And a fetching blanket to keep you warm." Rarity showed off what she had for the baby.
"I'm sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will love all our gifts. But I think they're more happy we'll be attending the baby's Crystalling."
"Ooh! I can't wait to see all that light and love make the Crystal Heart even more sparkly and shiny!" The pink pony bounced over.
"Actually, Pinkie, the Crystal Heart is an ancient and powerful relic. Without its magic, the Crystal Empire would be lost to the Frozen North." Twilight explained.
"Wow, this Crystalling sounds pretty important. I'd understand if you wanted to... you know... wait to do a different friendship lesson when we get back." Starlight was trying to get out of this scenario as quickly as she could.
"Are you kidding? This trip is perfect! Not only do I get to see the baby and take part in the ceremony that helps maintain the magic of the Crystal Empire, but I'm starting my new pupil off with the most amazing friendship lesson ever! I can't wait!" Twilight put her hoof around Starlight, having the widest grin on her face. "
"Right... Me neither...Actually, Twilight, I am a little worried about meeting Sunburst."
"Oh, trust me. I know what it's like to see old friends. But I'll be right there to help things along. I've broken the whole lesson down into a few easy steps to ensure this reunion goes off without a hitch!" Twilight showed a stupidly long list. "Right, Ash?"
"Mhm." Ash nodded with his hat over his face.
Just then, the egg was showing off signs of nearing the end its hatching process as it was shaking about."
"Oh. It's almost hatching. Hope it hatches when we get to the baby." Fluttershy spoke, anticipating the eventual Pokemon reveal.
Finally, they had arrived at their destination. And standing outside the train station was Shining Armor. Out came everypony, either flying out or bouncing out. Twilight began reading the list she made to Starlight along the way.
"Step one, head to Sunburst's house and get you two started on the right hoof. Step two, get to the castle with enough time to visit the ba—" That was quickly put to halt when she bumped into a familiar pony. "Shining Armor!"
Although, he didn't look so great. In fact, he looked exhausted. He had tiny little stubbles on his chin and his mane was just a mess.
"Twilight...!" He spoke in a tired voice as they both hugged each other.
"I didn't know you were meeting us!" said Twilight.
"Of course I am! It's me, right here. Here I am. Why wouldn't I come meet my sister? Though we have met before, heh-heh..." His eyes widened.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Never better! Being a father is amazing! And wonderful, and amazing, and confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you'd know. You wouldn't know, I know... You know?" He went up in Twilight's face, having a nervous grin. "Sorry. I haven't really slept since Cadance had the baby. Come to think of it, she hasn't either. It sure would be great to get a break."
"Oh, of course! I don't know what I was thinking! You two probably need all kinds of help! I'm sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn't such a good idea."
"Oh, uh, don't be ridiculous! You're an aunt now! That's way more important than some friendship lesson." Starlight found her way out of this.
"I just wish there was a way to do both."
"Maybe there is! You've already done the work for Starlight's lesson with this list. All we have to do is follow it!"
"Spike, you're a genius!" Twilight grinned.
"Yeah...genius." Starlight narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth at Spike.
"Then it's settled! Shining Armor and I will head straight to the castle, and you two can head straight to Sunburst's!"
"Aye-aye, Princess!" Spike saluted as he marched off. "Come on, Goh. I Haven't forgotten about you."
"R-Right..." Goh sighed, tagging along.
"Uh-huh..." Starlight laughed nervously, following him.
"Alright, big brother, let's go see this amazing baby pony!" Twilight squeed. But once she turned to Shining Armor, he had fallen right asleep. Clearly, the struggles of parenthood had struck him early.
Meanwhile, the two who've been around a lot lately had arrived at Crystal Empire as well. Lucien and Sienna of course.
"Achoo!" Sienna sneezed. "C-C-Cold..."
"Get over it. We've got a plan to think of." Lucien peeked while they both hid behind a building. "Now how do we change things up with that heart...?"
"Maybe if we...make it come alive?" Sienna shuddered.
"Nah. We've already done too much of that. We need to switch things up a bit. Create some flash and substance!" Lucien created a blue spark in his hand. "I'm thinking...an inverted heart. What about you?"
"I don't know...I just want to feel warm again. A-ACHOO!" She let out a powerful sneeze this time. This sneeze sent a small little purple sparkle that flew towards the direction of the Crystal Heart. The sparkle made direct contact with the heart, entering inside of it. Lucien was surprised by what he just witnessed.
"Hm. Not bad. What did you do?" Lucien nudged Sienna.
"I don't know...it's just a random sparkle. It could do anything...I need some coffee." Sienna created a hot coffee out of thin air, but due to her being cold, she ended up dropping it as it cracked. "Ugh..."
"We'll just wait and see. Hopefully, it happens after they solve the baby problem."
Whatever that random sparkle did, it's clearly working its magic throughout the heart. This was unbeknownst to everypony else since the sparkle was so miniature in size.
But, whilst that eventual event slowly works its way up to revealing itself, an equally important event is taking place indoors.
"Before we go in, I should probably tell you. Seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock" Shining Armor led them to the room where the baby was waiting.
" Come on, big brother. I've met babies before. I expect meeting this one won't be any different." Twilight and the others entered the room, ready to grace their eyes on the baby. Celestia, Luna and Princess Cadence, who also looked exhausted, were inside the room where the baby laid.
And their eyes were certainly graced. At first, it seemed to be just a normal baby unicorn. Nothing out of the ordinary. But once they saw the horn what they saw next was it was something that they never expected to come across ever in their lifetime.
Wings.
It had both a horn and wings. Not just any normal wings. Alicorn wings. And an Alicorn horn. You could tell they were Alicorn wings and horns because they are way too big to fit even a baby unicorn or pegasus.
The sight of it made them all gasp in shock. They couldn't believe their eyes.
The little baby cooed at them in response to their shock.
"Of course, I could be wrong..." Twilight's jaw dropped. She rubbed her eyes, thinking that she must be seeing things. But nope. It was the real deal. "The baby is an Alicorn?!"
"It looks that way." Cadence spoke in a tired tone.
"But... But... But I thought Alicorn wings had to be earned by accomplishing some great, princess-worthy deed!" Rarity stuttered.
"Yeah. How can you just be born with 'em?" Applejack walked up to the baby.
"The birth of an Alicorn is something Equestria has never seen!" Celestia spoke.
"It is beyond even our understanding." so did Luna.
"This is the first of its kind?" Ash pointed at the baby. Celestia and Luna nodded. "It's never happened before ever." Yet again, they nodded in response. "...I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Pikachu..."
"Wow! A unicorn, and a Pegasus! So she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic!" Pinkie rushed over to the baby.
"Well, I know all about super-strong flying!" Rainbow Dash showed off her wings.
"And I can help keep tabs on her magic!" Twilight uttered.
"Hm?" Fluttershy noticed Darkrai in the corner. "Darkrai? What's wrong?"
"You'll have to forgive Darkrai." Luna went up to Fluttershy. "He's...not great with babies. Apparently."
"It bit me..." Darkrai mumbled to himself in the corner. Earlier, he got a bit too close to the baby and thus, it chomped on his hand.
The baby felt like sneezing as it burbled random words constantly. Once she sneezed, a gigantic ray of magic shot up from its horn, bursting through the ceiling, continuing to rise up until it stopped. Everypony's jaw dropped at the sheer sight of that overwhelming magic. For something this newborn that was unnatural.
"It appears her magic is more powerful than that of a newborn unicorn!" Celestia was shocked.
"The crowds have already started to gather." Luna looked outside, seeing everypony walking towards the spot where the Crystalling will take place.
"This Crystalling is gonna be some party!" Pinkie flew up on a balloon until it popped, bringing her back down.
"Do you think we should call it off?" Cadence asked as the baby sucked on her hoof.
"Um, we've all faced a lot worse than baby magic." Rainbow Dash replied.
"I can't imagine cancelling such a beautiful and important ceremony over something so potentially adorable!" Rarity cooed at the baby. The rest of them gave a general agreement to Rarity's words.
"In light of the little one's abilities, this Crystalling might be more important than ever." Celestia turned to Cadence. "Perhaps you should address your subjects and remind them of that."
"Hm. Cadence nodded as she gave her baby daughter a kiss on the forehead.
"That reminds me. Here you go." Ash held the egg in his hands.
"What an oddly shaped egg." Luna observed it.
"We figured that it would only be fair that she gets her first Pokemon. Only Ash knows what's inside." Fluttershy explained.
"Mhm. But uh...I'd suggest we all be careful. The Pokemon in this egg can be a bit unpredictable. Trust me, I know." Ash went over to the baby, giving her the egg. The little baby Alicorn grabbed a hold of the blue egg, pulling it towards her.
She cooed and blurred at it as it felt like holding water. The baby alicorn then bit on the egg, pretending that it was food. But somehow, that little action was all that it took for the egg to finally hatch.
"Oh! It's hatching!" Applejack exclaimed. Everypony moved in to see the egg finally finish its hatching process. Ash was getting psyched since he couldn't wait to see a Pokemon like this again.
A crimson light radiated straight from the core of the azure egg. That crimson light then turned into something white and blue. And before they know it, two antennae formed from the top of the egg. The light was bright enough to be seen from outside the room. The baby was mesmerized by the sight of this.
And just like that, the Pokemon that hatched from the egg was none other than a Mythical Pokemon. The Seafaring Pokemon.
Manaphy.
"There it is! Manaphy!" Ash grinned.
"Pikachu!"
"Manaphy...?" Rainbow Dash pulled out her dex.
"Manaphy. The Seafaring Pokemon. Born on a cold seafloor, it will swim great distances to return to its birthplace. Water makes up 80% of its body. This Pokémon is easily affected by its environment. It starts its life with a wondrous power that permits it to bond with any kind of Pokémon."
"Mana...phy?" The Water-Type Mythical spoke. The first thing it saw was the baby who still had her mouth on its antennae.
"So that's the Pokemon? Aw...look at how small it is." Twilight walked up to it.
"Uh...don't get too close to a newborn Manaphy, Twilight," Ash warned her.
"Oh okay. It'll be a great idea to show off this newborn Pokemon at the ceremony as well." Twilight said.
"Ceremony...Ceremony!" Shining Armor perked up. " I still have to interview the honor guards, choose the purity crystal, and pick a crystaller!" He started to panic.
"Alright, take it easy. Pinkie can stay here with me and Ash. Just to keep an eye on the baby." Twilight calmed him down. The baby had already latched herself onto Ash's head whilst Manaphy had its antennae grab onto Pinkie's face.
"Pikachu."
"And we'll all help you with everythin' else." Applejack reassured. But just then, Shining Armor fell asleep on the floor.
"Baby..." He mumbled in his sleep.
Meanwhile, with Spike, Goh and Starlight.
Spike had managed to draw the attention of the crystal ponies. They were eager to hear the story of how he saved the Crystal Empire. Obviously, Spike took up the offer and continued to ramble on about how it went down.
"...and that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the Empire." The Crystal Ponies cheered at that overly long story. They told him how much they love him, praising him even.
Goh was on the verge of falling asleep until Sobble woke him up by poking his face.
"Hm? Ugh...is it over?" He groaned.
"Tell the one about the Equestria Games!" A young pony exclaimed, only furthering the story process.
"Ugh!" Goh slumped on a seat.
Starlight on the other hoof was just letting to play out since it was the only thing taking up time. If Spike continues to ramble on, then the reunion with Sunburst will never happen.
"Well, as much as I love reliving my heroic deeds, Starlight and I have an important lesson to do, by order of the Princess of Friendship!" Hearing that made Starlight gulp as the young foals could only saw 'Awww' in disappointment.
"Aw, come on, Spike! I want to hear about the Games too!" Starlight convinced him.
"No, we don't." Goh shook his head.
"I know you're nervous about seeing Sunburst, but it says right in step 3, to, uh, 'Deal with your fears by facing them, not by putting it off.'" Spike turned to her.
"Ugh. Let's go get this over with." Starlight tossed the popcorn aside.
Finally, Starlight was off to see Sunburst in order to reunite with him. His home was located just north of here and it seemed to be in a somewhat secluded area. Starlight was ready to knock on the door until...
"Wait!" Spike stopped her.
"Huh? What?!"
"Knocking on the door isn't the next thing on the list!" Spike pointed at the list.
"Seriously?" Starlight found that ridiculous.
"I know Twilight can be a little nitpicky, but this is your first lesson as her pupil, and it's important that we do it right!"
"Fine. What's the next thing on the list?"
Spike cleared his throat, reading the next step. "Before they see each other, be sure to highlight the importance of the meeting."
"Can't we just skip that?" Goh asked. "Seems kinda pointless."
" I don't know... I mean if we skip it, the whole lesson could go south! And then you might end up taking a giant step backwards instead of forwards! Maybe you'll never be able to learn anything about friendship at all!" Spike pulled Starlight's face close to him. "It's almost like your whole future depends on this moment." He let her go, continuing to read the step. "Highlight the importance of the meeting" – check! I can't believe you wanted to skip that, Goh."
Now that that's out of the way. All she had to do was knock. And knock she did. The response was nothing at the moment. She waited for a few seconds, silently moving her hoof on the ground. She believed that nopony was there, deciding to take her leave. But before she could even move a single step, the doors finally opened.
"Sunburst?" Starlight turned around. It was indeed him.
"Yes? What can I do for you?" Sunburst spoke.
"It's... It's me, Starlight. We used to be friends?"
"Oh, of course! S-Starlight! My goodness, it-it's been a long time! What, uh, what have you been up to?" He asked.
"Me? Oh! You know, some of this, some of that, different... stuff. Right now, I'm sort of Twilight Sparkle's new pupil."
"The Princess of Friendship?" He leaned forward.
"Heh... yeah... that's actually kind of why I'm here. I mean, I know you're probably very busy."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I figured after magic school, you'd go on to do important wizard work, but..."
"Oh. No. Y-Yes! Uh, y-yes, that's me, yup." He chuckled nervously. "Important wizard! Really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff. Right. Uh, well... good to see you." Sunburst walked back inside, closing the door on her. That wasn't the best possible outcome for their reunion.
"Told ya we should've skipped it." Goh scratched his head.
"Well, I guess that's that!" Starlight let out a sigh of relief.
"Starlight, come on! We have to at least explain what Twilight wants!" Spike stopped her once more. She groaned as she was pushed back to the door. Let's try this again.
"Dearest citizens," Cadence spoke to the crystal ponies. "I am sure you are all just as thrilled and ready for this Crystalling as myself and Shining Armor."
Behind the curtains that were laid out, Shining Armor began to panic aggressively, breathing in and out. "I'm not ready!"
"Take it easy! Just pick whoever looks the most like honor guard material." Rainbow Dash held two helmets in her hooves.
"Right... right." Shining Armor took both helmets, placing them on two royal guards. However, he was so distressed that he accidentally placed the back of the helmet on their faces instead of their heads. "I'm sorry. Fatherhood is way more stressful than I ever thought."
"I can only imagine." Fluttershy commented.
"Now, I know choosing the crystal of purity is a very important decision. So I have gone through the trouble of arranging them in order from incredibly pure to outrageously pure." Rarity opened up a case of five crystals that sparkled beautifully to whoever laid their eyes on them.
"Um, Rarity, don't they all sort of look the same?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, well, to the untrained eye, perhaps. What do you think, Shining Armor?"
"I don't know!" He stammered incoherently.
"I hope Twilight and Pinkie are having better luck with the baby!" Rarity whispered to Fluttershy.
In truth, it wasn't going as well. In fact, you could argue it was much worse with the baby. The baby was flying about while Pinkie Pie held onto her, being dragged along.
"Well... at least she's having... fun!" Pinkie giggled. The baby then started zapping along with Twilight doing her best to contain the zaps with her own magic. What didn't help was that Manaphy was hopping about all over the place. Eve and Minccy tired catching the baby Pokemon, but it was to no avail. Manaphy was too nimble. Mostly because it wasn't in the ocean.
Ash just simply watched the entire thing go down. He wasn't bothered by it since he's seen this happen before. Way too many times actually.
"Pinkie, hold her still!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I'm tryiiiiiiing" She really was. As if things couldn't get any worse. They got worse.
Manaphy suddenly went over to Eve, landing on her head. Why it did this was simple. Because of its signature move. Heart Swap.
"Mana!" The Seafaring Pokemon had emitted a psychic power, employing it through the Sun Pokemon's body with its antennae touching the head of the Espeon. Before Eve knew it, her heart had been swapped all of a sudden. A red line dashed over to Twilight as she was hit by it. This move was called Heart Swap for a reason. Ash and Pikachu gasped, knowing what happened exactly.
"Twilight! Eve! Are you two okay?!" Pinkie rushed over to the trainer and her Pokemon.
"I think so..." Twilight spoke. But not through her own body. No, no. It was through Eve's body. "I feel weird though."
"Espeon..." Eve spoke. But not through her own body as well. Instead, it was through Twilight's body. "Es...Espeon?!"
And as a bonus, their colours had been swapped. Just as a nice touch.
"Oh, it happened again!" Ash facepalmed.
"What?! What happened again!?" Twilight spoke as she noticed she was smaller and slightly more nimble.
"Manaphy used its signature move, Heart Swap. Both you and Eve have swapped hearts." Ash explained in a simple matter.
"...S-S-S-Swapped hearts...?" Twilight took a moment to notice that she wasn't her in her original body. She looked at herself, noticing she had paws instead of hooves. Her wings were gone and along with her horn. She had indeed swapped hearts. "NOOOOO!" She bellowed into the air, almost shattering the crystals around her.
"Espeon..." Eve on the other hoof was digging this. She felt so different in her trainer's body. She was a bit heavier but now she could fly. How great was that? "Espeon!" The Sun Pokemon took the skies, already abusing Twilight's wings for herself.
"This can't be happening!" Twilight panicked. "Ash! Please tell me it isn't permanent!" Twilight jumped up at him.
"It's not permanent."
"Phew..."
"It'll wear off after a little while."
"Good..." Twilight sat down in her new Espeon body, sighing. She noticed that Eve was about to try out a spell that she had no idea how it worked. "Eve, NO!"
With Starlight and Sunburst, their conversation had begun. Albeit, very awkward.
"So... the Princess of Friendship wants you and I to be friends again?"
"Heh, I know. Weird, right?" Starlight squeed.
"Uh, I don't understand. Did something happen to you after I left for magic school?"
"What? No! I-I don't see what that has to do with anything. W-Why would you even ask that?" Starlight slammed her hooves on the table. "I-I mean, did something happen to you after you left for magic school?"
"What? Um, no. L-Like you said, I'm a... i-important wizard." He cleared his throat.
Goh and Spike watched from behind a large pile of books, seeing how nervous the two were.
"This isn't going that great, huh Spike?"
"I'm sure there's something on Twilight's list that can help here." Spike went through the list, starting to panic himself.
And speaking of panicking. Shining Armor was breathing in and out at rapid speeds whilst Rarity brushed his mane. Along came the three alicorn princesses, ready to get this started.
"Okay. I chose the honor guard, picked the purity crystal, and I know exactly who I want to be our crystaller. So, all we need is..." Shining Armor spoke to Cadence.
"The baby?" Cadence finished his sentence.
"We're here!" Twilight's voice responded to them through Eve's body. "Getting used to a body this nimble is going to be tough." She sighed.
"...Eve...did you just speak? And did you just sound like Twilight?" Fluttershy pointed out.
"Yeah, I know...Manaphy used a move called heart swap, Eve and I had our hearts swapped and now here we are." Twilight groaned as Eve flew around.
"Espeon!" Eve exclaimed.
"Don't worry. It'll wear out." Ash said.
"Pikachu."
"Well...this has been an odd experience so far. But I'm sure everything shall play out smoothly now." Celestia nodded. Cadence pulled the baby away from Pinkie's hooves, giving her freedom from the flying. But apparently, that was a bad call. The baby wasn't a fan of being away from Pinkie Pie. And as a result, she had the urge to cry.
And cry she did.
An ear bursting cry resounded and bellowed from the alicorn baby. A cry equal to that of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Mighty sound waves were spread across the area, causing a strong wind pressure as well. Those sounds waves managed to do something horrifying.
They shattered the Crystal Heart.
And the best possible response was a synchronized gasp from everyone, including the Pokemon.
The baby blurbed as she gently flew into her mother's arms, who was frozen in shock.
"I'm guessin' that's gonna make it harder to do the Crystalling." Applejack gulped.
"It's worse than that. Without the Heart, the Crystal Empire's about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!" Twilight looked out to see a black cloud heading their way.
Everything had gone wrong that fast. All thanks to two babies.
"Mana!"
Everything has gone horribly wrong.
The Crystal Heart has been destroyed by the mere cries of a baby of all things. With the heart shattered, the empire will once again be drowned in darkness along with a mortifying chill. And as a bonus, Twilight and Eve had their hearts swapped, but that won't last.
"So... not only can we not take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony, but we're also about to be frozen solid!" Rarity shuddered.
"Without the Crystal Heart's magical protection, the entire city's about to become a winter wasteland!" Twilight winced in Eve's body.
"But what about when King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missin'? The city wasn't covered in snow then!" Applejack exclaimed.
"The Heart wasn't missing. It was still in the castle. King Sombra had just hidden it." Twilight explained.
"I'm afraid Twilight is correct, and the storm clouds are already forming." Celestia looked over to the sky as lightning cracked.
"Braviary, Altaria I can totally fly up there and bust those puppies! No problem!" Rainbow Dash was about to dash out until Celestia stopped her.
"I wouldn't advise it, Rainbow Dash. Those storm clouds are not like the ones you know."
"This far north, the weather has a will of its own, and now it will only grow stronger, enveloping everything in its path." said Luna.
"Including the Crystal Empire!" Cadence uttered.
"And us along with it!" Twilight gulped. This was a situation that nopony was prepared for. Because nopony expected the heart to just outright break out of nowhere. So they had to find a way to fix it immediately.
Over with Sienna and Lucien, they were anticipating Sienna's sparkle, hoping it would activate.
"Come on...why isn't anything happening?" Lucien was getting tired of waiting.
"I-Isn't it obvious?" Sienna sneezed. The thing's broken. So nothing's gonna happen to it now."
"Oh, right. Man, that blows...I was expecting something interesting today, not a repeat of the original."
"We can just repair the heart." Sienna raised her finger up, creating a small cosmic light that was made to repair the heart.
"No! We can't do that! We need to let this event play out like how it did originally. But still...there has to be something we can do to change things up a bit."
"Can't we just call it a day...I'm so cold."
"If we just call it a day, the Rift won't be too happy. This is another important event in this timeline after all."
"Because of course it is..." Sienna rubbed her nose. "A...ACHOO!" When Sienna sneezed a second time, her sneezing actually managed to trigger the sparkle that was in the heart. It seems that she just have to give the command. Albeit one where she couldn't control her illness.
Goh was patiently waiting for Starlight to finish her conversation with Sunburst which really wasn't going anywhere. Spike was panicking himself, going through the list to see if there was something to turn this awkward reunion into something amazing.
"There's gotta be somethin'..." He went through the overly long list.
"I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but... it's been so long. I don't see how anything on that list is going to help." Sunburst said to Starlight.
"I know, right? It's not like there's some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off."
"Well, actually, there's several." Sunburst grabbed a plethora of books specifically made for situations such as this. "Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Prance's Fellow... ship...But I-I get the feeling the princess isn't looking for a spell."
"Definitely not." Starlight chuckled.
" Got it!" Spike exclaimed, waking Goh up as he read the rest of the list. "And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!"
"Uh, I don't see how that would help," Sunburst said nervously. He wasn't the only one feeling nervous about that.
"Uh, yeah! We should just get out of your mane. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped, and I'm sure you have plenty of important work to do...Right, Goh?" Starlight walked out, grabbing both Goh and Spike with her magic.
"Hm...Mmm yeah..." Goh replied, yawning.
"What? Oh! Right, yes, heh-heh! Uh, no rest for the wizardly." Sunburst stammered.
"Bye, I guess." Goh waved goodbye as the group had left the home of Sunburst. Heading outside, Goh's Raboot was the first to notice the storm clouds in the distance.
"Raboot!" The Rabbit Pokemon tugged on Goh's leg, pointing its paws at the sky.
"What's wrong Raboot?" Goh looked to the direction his partner was pointing at. "Woah...Those storm clouds seem pretty large."
"Sobble..." Sobble turned itself invisible out of fear of the storm clouds. Strangely enough, Starlight and Spike were too busy focusing on the whole conversation with Sunburst to even notice the clouds forming around the empire.
All Flying-Type Pokemon had flown away from the approaching storm, aiming to find an area where they can be safe until the storm passes. That is... if it ever passes.
Back with Twilight, who was still in Eve's body, she and everypony else were still struggling to find a way around this.
"There must be a spell that can restore the Crystal Heart! And how long am I going to stay in this body?!"
"Perhaps." Celestia thought.
"But it isn't something that either of us know." Luna shook her head.
"The library here at the castle is nearly as extensive as the one in Canterlot. There's a good chance we can find something there!" Cadence uttered.
"Can you hold off the storm?" Twilight questioned the two sisters.
"Yes, for a time, but even our magic will eventually succumb to the power of the Frozen North," Luna replied.
"We will do what we can, but you must hurry." Celestia flew up with Passion on her back. The two alicorn sisters and their Pokemon in order to fend off the storm. Darkrai had used Dark Pulse whilst Passion keeps the storm away with Mystical Fire. Even with the combined power of two Pokemon and two alicorns, the storm kept on coming. But they were doing their best."
"I don't know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm!" Twilight said. Something good had finally happened in the form of her and Eve swapping hearts. Heart Swap was finally reaching its end as a crimson flash engulfed them both. "Oh, finally!"
"And try not to mention the Crystal Heart. We don't want to start a panic." Cadence pleaded.
"Yes, ma'am. C'mon, girls!" Applejack nodded. Her, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ran out with their Pokemon whilst Twilight stayed behind.
"Ash. Rarity. Can you keep an eye on Manaphy?" Twilight turned to him.
"Sure thing. We'll make sure nothing goes wrong."
"Pikachu!"
"I may not be the best with children...but I'll do my best, darling."
"I'm gonna need all of your help. The crystal library is enormous!" Twilight went up to Shining Armor and Cadence.
"You can count on us, Twily!" Shining Armor reassured.
They all had their jobs to do. It was to make sure that the Crystalling would still be able to take place. But, things soon escalated to a major degree. Because lo and behold, the baby and Manaphy decided to become active once more. The baby alicorn had teleported onto Pinkie's face, causing the pink pony to shriek. As for Manaphy, the Seafaring Pokemon had decided to try yet another Heart Swap. This time, to the extreme. The red lines from the Heart Swap went from two to five.
"Look out!" Ash backed away from the lines, avoiding the Heart Swap. Twilight let out a yelp as she flew over it whilst grabbing both Minccy and Eve. Cadence, Rarity and Shining kept their distance thankfully. However, Pinkie was unfortunately hit by the Heart Swap.
"Eep!" The pink pony gulped. Now the red lines had to find a victim to swap hearts with Pinkie. Twilight put up a protective spell, blocking her friends from them lines. But that wouldn't stop them. The lines extended beyond the small group, heading out into the streets of the empire.
The lines ran rampant until they came across someone. They made contact with Sienna. And she felt the shock of Heart Swap. The Rift human could feel her heart being swapped with somepony from afar. Now two completely different entities with completely different personalities had been switched.
"...Oh...This can't be good." Sienna looked at the hooves she now had. She looked over to see that she was in the same room as Ash, Twilight and the others, with the Mane 6 and the two alicorn sisters not too far away from here. "This is not good at all..."
As for Pinkie Pie, she looked over at her body, realizing that she had now become a human. Hands. Feet. Very spiky hair. Cool looking eyes. And a body overflowing with cosmic power. At first, she felt like freaking out at her new appearance. She felt like a giant since the humans are naturally taller than the ponies. She even noticed that her eyesight had been somewhat increased. Mostly due to the Rift humans having enhanced senses. She wanted to freak out so badly. However, when she noticed that she had so much power inside of her, she could only think of one thing.
"Should've seen that coming. I wish I had some sort of cake to calm my nerves down." She thought it and it had been granted. Out of thin air, a cake popped up in front of Pinkie Pie instantly. Her favourite flavour too. "No way..."
"That cold must be really getting to you." Lucien was confused. He had no idea what happened at the moment. All he knew was that Sienna was acting a bit weird.
"Cherry on top?" Pinkie said. And so it was. A cherry arrived on the top of the cake by her own will and thought. It was at this moment that Pinkie Pie realized what she was now capable of in this body. "I have so much power..." All the power she needs even. With just a thought or a command, everything she can imagine can just pop into thin air. "Yes...Unlimited power!" She raised her hands up, summoning a storm of pastry that drowned her and Lucien.
"Hey! What the-" Lucien was being drowned in a sea of tasty sugary sweet delicacies whilst Pinkie bathed in them. "C-Can't breathe..."
"I can do anything...Anything I want." And at this particular moment, it was discovered by Pinkie herself that cosmic energy was too much for her. Whilst she had no idea it was cosmic energy, she knew all this power was unable to wielded by anypony else. The overwhelming force that she held was mighty enough to drive her crazy. "...This is...too much." Pinkie Pie was actually terrified of this. She got on her knees, shaking at the sheer terror of it all.
Lucien broke out of the sea of pastry, looking over at Pinkie Pie, who he thought to be Sienna.
"What's with you?! This is more than just some cold." He wiped some cream off of him. But looking at Pinkie Pie further, he saw that she was trembling. Lucien was smart enough to know that it wasn't Sienna. Because no one other than him, her and the Rift ponies could handle this much energy. "You're not her, are you?"
"N-No..." Pinkie shuddered, turning her head towards Lucien. She looked like she was about to cry. "My body's been switched by Manapy for this...I don't know what this feeling is."
There was only one way to find Sienna. Lucien knew that Twilight and her friends were here due to him having full knowledge of this event and how it plays out. He turned his head right over at the spot they were at, changing his vision from normal to see-through. And there they were. Trying their best to catch Manaphy and the baby who had run off somewhere. The real Sienna was just sitting there, confused.
"If your body's been switched...then who were you originally?"
"Pinkie Pie..."
"Pinkie Pie? Oh, so that's what it is...Heart Swap." Lucien figured it out. "Alright. Hold still." The Rift human went up to the confused individual, placing his finger on her forehead. And just like that, with ease, Lucien returned Pinkie Pie and Sienna's heart back to normal. Essentially negating Heart Swap. Not only that, but he erased Pinkie's memories of how she felt, returning the pink pony to her usual chippy self. Another example of how powerful cosmic energy can be. "There you go."
"Oh! Thank goodness! Back to my good old self!" Sienna let out a sigh of relief. But very soon, her cold kicked back in. "Ugh... Not so great to be back to my good old self actually."
"That was close. If Pinkie Pie experienced more of cosmic energy, who knows what could've happened next?"
"No kidding. It was weird being a pony actually. I felt so...colourful..."
"Colourful isn't a feeling Sienna. But anyway...we need to focus. Our progress is pretty stagnant at the moment."
"Not so stagnant," Sienna smirked as she wiped her nose. "When I was in Pinkie's body for a while, I noticed that my cosmic energy was still affecting the Crystal Heart. Small little bits of it.
"How so?"
"I don't know yet. But something's bound to happen. Guess my cold had some benefits after all hehe...ACHOO!"
Back with Spike, Goh and Starlight...
"Well, Spike, looks like my biggest fears came true. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight decides to give up on me entirely." Starlight spoke.
"Aw, it's not your fault. I'm the one who said all we needed was this list." Spike burned the list away.
"It's not the list, Spike. Or you. Or Twilight. I'm the one Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with."
"I don't remember him saying he didn't want to be friends."
"He didn't have to say it."
"Well...Do you consider us being friends?" said Goh. "I mean, so far we've been getting along pretty well. For the most part."
"Really?" Starlight turned to him."
"Yeah. I mean...if Ash can become friends with you despite what you did to him...then I guess that makes me your friend as well. At least, that's how it goes."
"Goh's right. Plus, Twilight obviously thinks you're worth being friends with! And I do too!"
"Raboot!"
"Sobble!"
"So what do you say? To a good friendship?" Goh and Spike held out their hand and claw
"Sure...At least I have four friends, even if one of them has dragon breath." Starlight put her hoof on their hand and claw. Oh and you too, Raboot and Sobble."
"Yeesh." Goh pulled his arm away, feeling the chill close in. "I know winter's cold and everything. But this is just ridiculous."
"Strange...I thought the Crystal Heart was supposed to keep the cold weather out." Starlight finally noticed the cold weather as it was increasing.
"It is... unless something's happened! Come on!" Spike made a run for it as the others followed. They had no idea what actually happened until they got there.
With the others, they were trying their best to keep the crystal ponies occupied until everything was sorted.
"We're just saying that it might not be the best idea to stay outside!" Rainbow Dash uttered.
"I camped out all night for this spot! I'm not about to just give it up!" An adult pony replied, sitting on a chair.
"Still, when you think about it, the view is just as good a little further back, like... inside your house?" Fluttershy attempted to convince them. But that only caused confused complaining from the crystal ponies. They would have their Pokemon do something, but nothing would change.
"The Crystalling ceremony is one of our most sacred traditions! And when that foal is held before the Crystal Heart, I plan to be as close to the action as possible!" A pony with tons of scout badges on him leaned forward.
"Honestly, I don't know if there's gonna be a Crystallin'. The truth is, the baby's an Alicorn and her magic's plum crazy, so you might not wanna be that close after all." Applejack gave the truth out to everypony.
"A baby Alicorn? Wow, I can't wait to see that!" The adult pony squeed.
"Oh, those little wings are probably so cute!" So did the badge clad pony. This only made them eager to see the Crystalling even further plus the newborn alicorn baby.
"Look, I am a hundred percent sure the Crystalling isn't happening." Rainbow Dash said. However, inside the castle, beams that shot from the alicorn baby were bursting out of the castle, flying everywhere. The sounds they made afterwards were similar to that of fireworks, thus making the crystal ponies believe they were actual fireworks.
"No Crystalling, huh? Then why are they starting the fireworks show?" The ponies cheered, anticipating the Crystalling. The baby alicorn was only making things harder for the group.
And speaking of that baby alicorn, she was flying about in the library with Shining Armor trying to catch her.
"Young filly... come back here!"
"Come to your Auntie Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie, who had just recovered from the Heart Swap was doing her best to try and catch her. Pikachu had chimed in, attempting to catch up to the baby. Ash was doing his best to catch Manaphy, but surprisingly, its body was just as slippery as water. How convenient.
"Bridle Buck's Boat Chants, Hayhoof's Intonements, Mystic Maps and Mazes..." Twilight went through many books for a solution. But nothing. All she could do was groan. "Anything up there?" She looked up at Cadence who was doing the same.
"Not yet! I'm not even sure how these are organized!"
"Come here Manaphy...Gently." Ash tried to hold the Seafaring Pokemon. But yet again, she was too slippery.
"Mana!"
"This isn't working. Dragonite." Ash sent out the one Pokemon he believed could put an end to this. The lovable and huggable Dragonite. "Can you please calm Manaphy down? The best way you can."
"Ra..." The Dragon Pokemon nodded. No one could resist the hug of Ash's Dragonite so this had to work. Hopefully. Once the Dragon Pokemon got close, it managed to grab Manaphy and keep it close to it. But that wasn't surprising considering the size difference between the two.
"Mana...phy..." Manaphy melted in the hugs as everyone else does. However, for the first time, it came with a consequence. Manaphy enjoyed the hug so much that it ended up using its second move. Secret Power. And this time, it was in the form of a water-based Secret Power. What followed was a huge splash of water that spread across the entire library. The overwhelming splash of water managed to get every single book in the library wet. Making things much harder than they were already.
"Are you kidding me?!" Twilight pulled her mane in frustration. It only got worse from here on out. The baby was still flying midair, avoiding the water whilst Shining Armor kept on chasing her, slowly running out of breath. As the baby flew around, she came across Rarity next.
"Gotcha!" Rarity showed up with all 12 of her Leavanny by her side. At the same time, they all used String Shot to try and catch the baby. But somehow, they had been outsmarted and outplayed by the baby alicorn as it simply just teleported past them. Instead, the String Shots hit Shining Armor in the face, covering his eyes.
"My eyes!" He couldn't see where he was going as he crashed into the bookshelves.
"...Woops...Sorry." Rarity squeed.
Starlight, Goh and Spike had entered as their eyes were graced with this frantic chaos. They saw how the entire library was wet thanks to Manaphy and how many bookshelves had either fallen over or had been destroyed thanks to the baby. Eve and Minccy had been tired out due to chasing the baby constantly, Dragonite was doing its best to contain Manaphy's Secret Power, but splashes kept on coming out of it and Twilight and Cadence were shuffling through so many books that proved to be useless at the moment and were soaking wet to boot. Goh immediately set his eyes on Manaphy, seeing this Pokemon for the first time.
"Oh! What is that?!" He attempted to get his dex out, but a zap of magic from the baby managed to accidentally hit Goh's Rotomphone, destroying it and all the progress he made. All that data on the Pokemon he's caught. All the hard work that he poured as a Pokemon Researcher. Gone. "No! NO!" Goh got on his knees, screaming into the air.
"What is going on?!" Starlight exclaimed.
"You want the long or the short version?" Pinkie asked.
"Short?" Starlight replied.
"The baby's an Alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadance are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow." Pinkie explained rapidly whilst being carried away by a sea of water.
"Oh." Starlight gulped.
"Pika!" Pikachu felt like he got the baby this time. The Electric Mouse Pokemon lunged towards her, only to be tricked via erratic teleportation. He bumped his head onto Pinkie Pie's, who also had the same idea. "PI!"
"Woah!" Pinkie slipped on the wet floor, bumping into Dragonite who was pushed back enough to be knocked into a bookshelf. The shelf almost crushed Raboot who responded by kicking it into pieces. But that was a bad call as well. The pieces of the bookshelf hit Pikachu in the head, causing the Electric Mouse Pokemon to respond with one thing and one thing only.
"PIKA...CHUUUU!" Exerting all of his frustration out, Pikachu unleashed a mighty burst of lightning that scattered across the library, shocking everyone, but Manaphy and the baby, who were lucky enough to avoid it. They enjoyed the sight of Pikachu's lightning though. But not everyone else as they were getting shocked by 100,000 volts of electricity. Arguably more considering how frustrated Pikachu is.
However, this single lightning shock was actually a saving grace. Since it was mighty enough to send many books flying off their shelves, one book, in particular, got Cadence's eye.
"W-What about this?!" She flew over to the book whilst sizzling with smoke from the Thunderbolt. "Trotter's Tome of Reliquary?" She brought the book over to Twilight who opened it, turning the pages as quickly as she could. That's when the found their ray of hope.
"I think this is it!" Twilight exclaimed as she showed the spell to Cadence.
"Spell of Relic Reconstitution"! I can't believe we found it!"
"It's a good thing, too! Without this, I don't know what we'd do!" Twilight chuckled. And thus, fate turned against them once more.
The baby and Manaphy flew by with Pinkie Pie and Ash chasing them both down. Ash managed to catch Manaphy, whilst Pinkie caught the baby. The ending result came in the form of the baby letting out a single sneeze. That sneeze caused a beam of magic to shoot out of its horn, heading towards Rarity. The unicorn held a mirror to deflect it away from her, but it continued on. It then aimed towards Shining Armor, who put up a shield to reflect. Next was Pikachu, who sent it away with an Iron Tail and finally, it went over to Starlight who put up a defensive barrier. The movement of the beam came to an end as it burnt through the one book that could help them, leaving a huge hole in it.
"Oops." said Pinkie. Everything. Every little thing had gotten worse. Oh, and the Crystal Heart that had been affected by the cosmic energy was about to act up now. Because of course. Of all the possible times it decides to start up. What that tiny sparkle did was scatter all of the shards of the Crystal Heart, scattering them across the Crystal Empire. The crystal ponies saw these shards fly about, wondering what they could be. Actually, to their eyes, they seemed to resemble the Crystal Heart.
"Was that the Crystal Heart?" A crystal pony said.
"Uh, N-NO! T-That was uh...paper decorations of the Crystal Heart. Yeah! Guess we flew them off too soon." Rainbow Dash managed to convince them. But now they had a huge problem on their hooves. "Scuse us for a second." The three of them went back inside, quickly rushing over to the library to tell the news.
"We have a problem!" Applejack exclaimed as she was hit in the face by a book. "Ow!"
"What could be worse than this?!" Twilight slammed her face on the table.
"Um well...pieces of the Crystal Heart sort of...scattered across the Crystal Empire." Fluttershy squeed.
"..." Twilight didn't say anything. She felt like fainting due to all of this. But Eve woke her up by slapping her face with her own tail. This wasn't the time to lose hope.
"Espeon!"
"It isn't over yet!" Ash pushed a huge bookshelf that fell on him. "Twilight! You can memorize something easily from just seeing it for a few minutes, right?" Ash shook the water off of him.
"Yes?"
"Good. Then in that case, while you try and remember the spell, we'll deal with the Crystal Hearts scattering. You said they're all over the Crystal Empire, right Fluttershy?"
"Right. They just flew up and scattered for no reason."
"We'll find them all." Ash sent out Riolu and Farfetch'd. All of you. Can you head out and find the shattered pieces of the Crystal Heart?"
"Riolu!"
"Far!"
"Let your Pokemon go along. They'll handle retrieving the shards while we sort out everything else. Alright?"
"Are you sure we'll have enough time?" Rainbow Dash gulped, looking out at the storm that was closing in.
"We will. We'll make sure we beat the clock before this Crystalling happens."
"You heard the man." Rainbow Dash sent out all of her Pokemon.
"A team effort is all we have left. All 12 of you. Scatter." Rarity looked at her Leavanny's. Soon, they all sent out their Pokemon to assist in the retrieval of the scattered shards.
"Starlight!" Ash turned to her. "Your Hatterene still knows Hypnosis, right?"
"Uh...yeah...I kept it on it. Sorry about that." She squeed.
"No! That's good! Hypnosis is the only move that can keep those two still and calm." Ash pointed at the roaming baby alicorn and Mythical Pokemon. "Can Hatterene and you do that?"
"We can try." Starlight nodded.
"Great. Then let's get this over with so that we can see this whole Crystalling thing through and through, alright?" Ash took command, speaking to everyone. His plan was simple enough to work. Hopefully, it works. All the Pokemon, even his Pikachu had run off to find the missing shards. Every last one of them. Meanwhile, the trainers will handle everything from here.
The ponies were growing impatient. The shards are scattered. The only remaining memory about the spell in Twilight's head is vague. The entire Crystal Empire is about to be engulfed in an endless harsh winter. And the two babies are only making the situation much worse than it already is by causing most of the actions. All of these problems would have to be solved quickly as the journey continues.
Five problems.
Impatient ponies here to see the Crystalling. The shards of the broken Crystal Hearts that have been scattered across the Empire, being searched by the Pokemon themselves. The approaching storm that Celestia, Luna, Passion and Darkrai were struggling to keep back from freezing everything. Twilight trying her best to memorize the spell before it had been destroyed via the baby and attempting to restrain the two babies, putting an end to their frantic actions.
Clearly, there was a lot to do.
Shining Armor and Cadence had also planned to warn everypony, aiming to have them all evacuate the city before the tracks freeze over.
"I only hope this spell is the one we need." Twilight got a paper and quill, ready to write down what she remembered.
"Alright. Hatterene. Hypnosis." Starlight commanded her Pokemon. Dragonite had held both of them close, making sure that they wouldn't escape. The Seafaring Pokemon and the baby alicorn had been put to sleep due to the hypnotic rays that hit it.
"Finally." Starlight sighed. "Is there anything else I can do to help?" Starlight turned to Twilight.
"I don't think so. I'm just sorry about your lesson."
"Oh, that doesn't matter now. Sunburst and I don't have anything in common anyway. He's a big important wizard! And I'm re-learning everything I ever thought I knew."
"Sunburst? I don't recognize the name, but if he's an important wizard, you should bring him here. Maybe he'll know what to do if the spell fails." Cadence walked up to her whilst carrying her sleeping daughter on her back.
"Of course!" Starlight ran off with her Hatterene.
"Goh. Spike. You two better go with her." Twilight said as the duo followed Starlight.
On the outside, Celestia and Luna were struggling to keep the storm back, even with all their magic. Passion tried using Mystical Fire to burn away the storm clouds, but that was no good either. Darkrai tried to freeze them with Ice Beam, but the ice actually made the storms stronger due to them being linked to the cold.
The three entered Sunburst's home, almost having their bodies blown away by the intense wind that continued to grow across the kingdom.
"Sunburst! Haven't you looked outside?!" Starlight bellowed. Sunburst took a look outside to see what was occurring at this current point in time.
"Snow? That's... not right. The Crystal Heart—"
"Is gone! The baby – Shining Armor and Cadance's baby – it's an Alicorn!" Starlight finished his sentence by giving him new information.
"Really?" His glasses almost dropped from hearing the Alicorn part.
"Really! And her magic is a little berserk, and well, I guess she destroyed the Heart! But Twilight thinks she can fix it and Princess Cadance thought you could help!"
"Me?" He shifted his eyes around.
"Of course! You're an important wizard in the Crystal Empire! It just makes sense!"
"Right... right... right right right. You know, I'd like to help, I-I really would. I-I just have so much, um, important wizard work to do around here."
"Huh?" All three of them said, confused at his response.
"You can't stay here!" Applejack exclaimed, trying to get the ponies away from here.
"Did I mention this was a Royal Crystalling? When the crystaller holds the young one aloft, all of the Empire will share their joy and light, and the Crystal Heart will beat stronger than it ever has before!" A crystal pony spoke.
"It really is a moving ceremony!" One pony almost teared up.
"Come on, it's freezing out here!" Rainbow Dash shuddered.
"Uh, this is the Crystal Empire. We've seen snow before." A pony replied, not bothered by the chill.
"Not like this!" Shining Armor arrived. "We don't have time to argue! Princess Cadance has decided to evacuate the city!" Saying that made them all gasp in unison.
"But the Crystalling...!"
"I don't know if we'll ever have another Crystalling again! The Crystal Heart... is shattered. Not mention every single shard has been scattered across the empire."
"It's not safe here!" A pony gulped.
"That's what we've been trying to tell you!" Applejack groaned. They all made a run for it, finally realizing it wasn't the best option to be here at the moment. Whilst they all evacuate the empire as fast as they can, the Pokemon are on the hunt for the shards.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu actually managed to find three pieces of them laying on the ground as he picked them up. He and the rest of the Pokemon had split up into every corner and area of the empire, searching high and low. Dragonite, Braviary and Altaria managed to make the most progress due to them being able to fly.
"Espeon!" Eve carried many shards by using her psychic capabilities to raise them. Altaria placed some of the shards in her cotton wings. But they kind of stung since they were sharp. So far, the Pokemon were doing a great job of finding the shards until they came across a problem themselves.
"Raboot!" Raboot and Sobble had come across one major problem. A Sableye. This wasn't a good sign. Sableye eat crystals. And all these shards are made out of crystals. The Darkness Pokemon had set its eyes on the shards, planning to eat them. In fact, it had one right in its clutches, taunting the two Pokemon with it.
"Sableye..." It dangled the shards over its mouth, preparing to eat it. But Raboot wouldn't let that happen. It used Quick Attack to kick the shard out of the Sableye's hand. "Eye?!"
"Boot!" The Rabbit Pokemon gave a stink-eye to Sabeleye, scaring it off. "Raboot..." It went over to pick up the shard, calling it a success. However, it wasn't a success for a long. Every other Sableye in this area had spotted Raboot's actions, not taking too kindly to it as their eyes all locked onto the Fire-Type. "Ra..."?
"Sobble..." The Water Lizard Pokemon hid behind, Raboot terrified. Rightfully so. There were a lot of them. Raboot figured the best option right now was to run with the shard. And that's what it did. Both it and Sobble made a run for it whilst the Sableeye all chased them both down. It wasn't long before the Sableye could see more shards up ahead.
"Raboot!" The Rabbit Pokemon looked back, kicking up a pebble to start up an Ember. It kicked the ember towards two Sableye, knocking them away. But that wouldn't stop the rest of them. Soon it was a chase around the Crystal Empire. Some of the Sableye had climbed up the buildings, using the move Power Gem to catch the two. They attacked with rays of light in that sparkled as if they were gemstones.
Raboot and Sobble managed to outpace the gems as they pelted on the ground, causing mini-craters along the way. Whilst escaping, the two came across some friendly company. Treecko and Luxio who were also carrying some shards.
"Lux?" Rainbow Dash's Luxio looked to their direction, noticing how they were being chased by Sableye whilst being attacked by Power Gems. "Luxio!"
"Treecko!" AJ's Treecko tossed the shards upwards, taking them off his hands for a bit. The Wood Gecko Pokemon unleashed a mighty Dragon Breath that raced towards the Sableye. Raboot and Sobble jumped out of the way, evading the Dragonbreath so that it doesn't end up hitting them in the process. Treecko's Dragonbreath was enough to send many of the Sableye in the distance, fainting along the way. But it ended up causing some of the buildings to lose a chunk of their structure. Whoops.
But there were still more. In fact, the Sableye practically populate the Crystal Empire just as much as the Crystal ponies. Since this is an empire full of crystals, it's a paradise for them. Which didn't spell good news now that they know there are just shards everywhere, waiting to be devoured. Thankfully, they don't reveal themselves in public. They tend to hide around a lot. Which means that the shards had yet to be grabbed by them.
Pikachu, Espeon and Braviary came across a pack of Sableye who had decided to attack them in order to get their crystals.
"Pika?!" Pikachu ducked, avoiding an incoming Shadow Claw from above. He almost dropped the shards he was carrying in his hands. "Pikachu!"
Eve especially was attempting to avoid them. She was a Psychic-Type and they were Dark-Ghost whilst she only knew Psychic and Normal moves. She'll be crushed if she even tries to fend them off. She had actually been cornered by some Sableye who decided to swarm around her. Eve held a ton of shards in her tail, doing her best to keep them balanced. But they did sting her tail.
"Braviary!" The Valiant Pokemon swooped in with Aerial Ace, knocking aside the Sableye as if they were bowling pins, saving Eve. Braviary picked up Eve, placing the Sun Pokemon on his back, giving her a ride. The Sableye attempted to shoot down Braviary with Power Gem, setting their eyes on the Normal-Flying-Type.
"Minccino!" Minccy had slapped a Sableye in the face with Aqua Tail, preventing it from grabbing the shards near it. One Sableye tried to snatch it from her whilst she wasn't paying attention. But she paid attention alright. Once she finished dealing with that Sableye, she immediately turned to the next, uppercutting it with her Aqua Tail.
"Chu-Pika!" Pikachu had knocked out a Sableye who came very close to grabbing a shard with its mouth. The Electric Mouse Pokemon decided to put an end to this by scattering his Thunderbolt everywhere. 100,00 volts of electricity had struck every single Sableye within its vicinity. Which was all of them. It proved to be an effective choice of moves as they all had fainted from the shock.
"Gengar!" Ash's Gengar had frozen any Sableye that tried to get close by using Ice Punch to do so. Dragonite however just simply stood in front of the pack of Darkness Pokemon, terrifying them without even doing anything.
Every single one of Rarity's Leavanny managed to restrain the Sableye by using String Shot whilst gathering some missing shards along the way. The Pokemon had managed to gather up a gigantic majority of the shattered Crystal Heart due to their hard work. Now, there were only ten shards left.
Riolu, Audino and Spinda were out searching for the remaining shards, looking everywhere they could. They came across the remaining shards in the form of one final Sableye. A Shiny Sableye to boot. It seemed to be the leader of the Sableye packed as it had the last of the crystal shards at its disposal.
"Sableye..." The Shiny Sableye knew what the Pokemon were up to. Retrieving all the shards just so they can restore the heart.
"Riolu!" Riolu stepped forward, ordering Sableye to give up the shards.
"Eye!" Obviously, it wasn't going to. Free food is free food.
"Rio!" Riolu decided to respond back with an attack. He tried using Vacuum Wave but that phased right through the Darkness Pokemon. After all, it is part Ghost. Meaning all of Riolu's attacks are essentially useless.
Sableye made a run for it with the remaining shards whilst they chased it down. The Darkness Pokemon shot at them with Power Gem whilst jetting off. Riolu had knocked the sparkling gems right back at the Shiny Pokemon by using Force Palm to do so. It proved to work since it was its own attack being turned against it.
"Sable!" The Darkness Pokemon ended up dropping all the shards due to getting hit by its own gems. The shards flew up into the air with the Pokemon all looking at it. Sableye quickly hopped up, attempting to snatch them back into its clutches. However, Audino had picked up Spinda, tossing the Spot Panda Pokemon forward.
"Spinda!" The Normal Type zoomed past Sableye, grabbing the remaining shards instead. A successful capture. But the leader of the Sableye wasn't about to let its food get away from it. It ran up to Spinda, lunging at the Spot Panda Pokemon who was completely unaware of the impending doom coming her way. But without her noticing, Whirlipede had arrived, smashing against Sableye with a good old Rollout.
"Sableye!" The Darkness Pokemon had been launched thanks to Whirlipede's interference. A Power Gem was quickly sent towards the direction of Whirlipede, pelting against the Curlipede Pokemon. This leader was very persistent in getting its gems back. But so were the other Pokemon. Along came Luxio who was on Altaria's back. The Spark Pokemon jumped off Humming Pokemon's soft and fluffy back, enveloping himself in electricity. In a flash of light, Luxio used Wild Charge to dash right into Sableye, crashing into the Dark-Ghost-Type. "SABLE?!"
And that was that. The last of the Sableye's had been stopped. The mission to retrieve the shards had been successful. Now it was time to head back to their trainers for the good news.
"Sunburst, I know you're busy, but did you hear what I said?" Starlight pleaded.
"Oh, I heard you, but-but like I said, when you're an important wizard, the work just piles up." He stammered.
"Sunburst!" Starlight groaned.
No use in keeping up the whole important wizard shtick. He decided it was about time to give out the truth. "Look, Starlight, I want to help. I do. But I can't. I wish I could."
"What do you mean?!"
"Fixing an ancient relic? I-I can't even come close to doing something like that!"
"But I thought you were an important wizard!"
"Well, you were wrong, okay?! I'm not an important wizard! I'm not even a wizard at all!" He began weeping.
"He's not?!" Both Spike and Goh said.
"I know it's hard for you to understand, but not all of us end up achieving greatness."
"What? Why wouldn't I understand that?" Starlight leaned forward.
"Really? You're the protégé of the Princess of Friendship! I don't think she picks just anypony for that!"
"Technically, she's more of a student than a protégé." Spike corrected.
"Whatever. I'm sorry I'm not the big important wizard you were expecting."
"Sunburst, I don't care if you're a wizard or not. I'm just surprised. You always knew so much about magic. I mean, look at all these books!"
"Yeah, well, reading about magic is one thing, but you don't know what it was like at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it!"
"Well, you don't know what it was like to be left behind! And then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village and then get defeated by Ash, Twilight and their friends, so you travel through time to get back at them, but they beat you again and teach you about friendship, but you're so terrified ponies will find out what you did that you can't make any friends!" Starlight rambled about the early past, tearing up herself. Saying all of that made him speechless with his glasses almost falling off.
"Did you really travel through time?" Sunburst asked.
"She sure did." Goh nodded.
"See? I told you he'd be impressed." Spike said.
"Hatterene..." Hatterene went up to Starlight, comforting her trainer with the claw she had.
"I'm sorry we lost touch. Maybe if I had reached out, you could have helped me at magic school, and I could have helped you to..."
"Not become totally evil?" Starlight sighed. "Let's just say I know what it's like to have something you're not exactly proud of."
"When you showed up thinking I was some big wizard... I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth."
"It's fine. At least we worked it all out. I think Twilight would be proud of us."
"She can be proud of you two later! Best get going!" Goh looked out the window to see the raging storm.
"I forgot to tell you!" Starlight gasped. "They're evacuating the city! You need to get to the train station unless you've got a spell here that will drive back the Frozen North and fix the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling?"
"Crystalling...! Of course!" Sunburst actually did have something.
The two sisters and their Pokemon weren't doing so great. Their bodies were being covered in ice as the struggle to keep the clouds back was increasing.
"Push them back, my sister!" Celestria strained. The storm clouds had gotten too close them. Darkrai and Luna had been completely engulfed by them, still trying to fend them off with magic and Dark Pulse. Passion realized this was getting too close. So in a burst of adrenaline and fear, she managed to push back the storms by emitting her psychic energy. It did good to keep them back, but they were still closing in either way. And she ended up draining herself with that sudden burst.
Back on ground level, Shining Armor had continued to lead the ponies to safety. But it was a long path towards the train station at this point. "This way!"
A pony had slid on the ice, falling over on some snow. Cadence's Sylveon and Fluttershy had helped her up from the snow. Rainbow Dash had tried knocking away the clouds, but she ended up getting some ice on her in the process. She noticed that her wings had been frozen as well, so it wouldn't be the best option to fly right now.
Just then, Braviary and the other Pokemon were returning with the shards at their disposal.
"Braviary! You're back!" Rainbow Dash landed on Braviary's back. "Did you get the shards?!"
"Brav!" He nodded.
"Great job! Get them to where they originally were!" Rainbow Dash hopped off her Pokemon's back as the others rushed on towards the area where the Crystal Heart once used to be. Not only that, but Starlight, Spike and Goh had managed to arrive with Sunburst along. He apparently had something that could solve this whole problem.
"We have to go back!" Applejack exclaimed.
"I know how to stop this!" Sunburst replied. Whatever it was, it was their only saving grace.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu and the Pokemon made a safe return to the library, holding every last shard at their disposal.
"Great job guys!" Ash went up to Pikachu and the others. The Pokemon all placed the Crystal Heart on the floor, finally getting the sharp stings of the shards off of them.
"Uh, I think that's everything?" Twilight had finished scribbling the spell. She showed it off to Cadence who read through it quickly.
"It looks right to me, but... there's only one way to find out!"
Twilight poured all of her magic at the shards, initiating the spell. Cadence joined in for assistance. As the shards rose up into the air, Lo and behold, that spell was actually the real deal. The Crystal Heart had been repaired that easily. Albeit, having a cracked appearance.
But unfortunately...that ray of hope diminished. It turns around the spell wasn't enough. At best, it could only put the heart back together for a small moment. The cracks were a clear indication that it would just simply fall down eventually. Which they just did. The heart shattered once more, falling on the floor.
"The spell failed. I don't know what else to do." Twilight lowered her head.
"An old student of mine believes he does," Celestia spoke as she and everypony else had entered inside. Sunburst walked forward, spotting the shattered heart all over the floor.
"The baby did this?!" He was just as surprised as everyone else.
"I tried putting it back together with—" Twilight showed off the spell to Sunburst.
"The spell of Relic Reconstitution. No, that won't do it. The Crystal Heart's been around for millennia. Restoring a relic like this is way beyond one spell. You need to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself. Something that strengthens it and provides it with power...?" He got out the book that was the answer to all their problems. He showed off the spell that could work to the young alicorn princess.
"The Crystalling!" Twilight gasped.
"Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with... Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow... and a little Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents... Heh. That should curb the little one's power fluctuations." Sunburst explained whilst he gave off books and scrolls to everypony who knew magic.
"You must be Sunburst. Starlight said you were a powerful wizard." Cadence turned to him.
"Oh, I'm no wizard." Sunburst shook his head. Saying that made some of them gasp.
"What?" Rainbow Dash uttered.
" But he studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nopony has any better ideas, what do we have to lose?!" Starlight spoke.
"I had planned on asking Twilight to be our crystaller, but since it seems like she'll be busy," said Shining Armor to Sunburst.
"I'd be honoured."
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Twilight turned her attention towards the shards along with the rest of the magic users. It was up to her, Celestia, Luna and Starlight to place the heart back to its true self. Twilight went first, raising the shards up as she strained. Celestia and Luna followed suit with their own magic, doing their very best to keep it still. Starlight finished it off by adding her magic to the mix as well. Even with the might of four powerful magic users, it was still straining them.
Outside, the others had stepped out to meet with the subjects of the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor and Cadence brought the baby forward, revealing them all to the newborn alicorn. They connected their magic together, creating a spark of light in the middle of the baby. The little alicorn had been raised up with Rarity bringing the case of gems. Sunburst picked out one singe gem for the Crystalling.
"Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!" Sunburst introduced. The baby's light emanated across the area with such radiance. The subjects had this to say.
"She's beautiful!"
"Oh! It's just so moving!"
Everypony bowed down, finally causing the Crystalling to take place. Blue lights formed once they bowed their heads. Those lights spread across the ground of the entire empire, moving through every corner there was. Soon, the entire Crystal Empire lit up with that beautiful azure light as there was one final thing left to do.
Sunburst placed the single crystal on the ground, causing it to absorb all the light that surrounded the empire into it. The orange unicorn quickly rushed back inside to where the heart was being repaired, planning to beat out the clock. But it wasn't so safe at the moment. The shiny Sableye from before had returned, lunging forward and aiming to eat the crystal that Sunburst held. Raboot wasn't having any of that. The Rabbit Pokemon jumped up, kicking an Ember right at the Darkness Pokemon's face, knocking it out for good this time. Sunburst had finally managed to place the crystal inside of the heart as it pulled it in.
The princesses could finally stop what they were doing. Their work had been done. The Crystal Heart gyrated, spinning around whilst letting out a beautiful pink and blue aura around it. And just like that, it was over. The heart had been restored, sending a mighty light pulse that hit everypony in the Empire, turning their bodies into crystals, including the Pokemon as well. Their manes and hairstyles had even changed thanks to Crystalling. Just another one of its effects it leaves behind once active. The Sableye got a taste of this, actually feeling satisfied with themselves. The Crystalling was somehow a perfect replacement for just eating crystals. Plus they just liked the way it looked on them. All the snow and ice had been wiped away by this blue light, practically making it non-existent. The storm clouds had been blown away by a beautiful rainbow in the process.
"Best Crystalling ever!" The ponies cheered on.
"Oh! Check me out!" Goh looked at his crystallized body.
"I never noticed this with my hair!" Ash took off his hat, noticing that it had an upright appearance thanks to the Crystalling.
"This is...impressive..." Darkrai looked at himself, noticing that his usual dark and mysterious body was now dazzling with colour. Albeit a very dark colour but still dazzling nonetheless. Passion had gained a ponytail whilst some of the Pokemon got a nice change of appearance as well.
"For a pony who isn't great at magic, you did pretty well." Starlight turned to Sunburst.
"Indeed," Celestia said. "I'm glad to see you've found a way to share your unique gift, Sunburst. You may be more of a wizard than you think."
They could rest now. The entire group decided to make their way back to the train station, aiming to head back home after all of this. Arriving late were the parents of Twilight and Shining Armor. Night Light and Twilight Velvet.
"You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. Came out of nowhere." Night Light said.
"But it was all worth it to see this peaceful little angel! Awww, so sweet! Come to your grandmare!" Twilight Velvet walked up to the baby.
"I wouldn't say peaceful..." Goh said quietly.
"I suppose that spell really did the trick!" Twilight nodded. It sure did. But to their shock, the baby felt like sneezing once more. They all grit their teeth, fearing the absolute worst to happen as they all scattered. But, it was just an ordinary sneeze. Thank Arceus. Manaphy hopped towards its trainer. The baby technically did own the Pokemon. And they got along well from the start.
"We have Sunburst to thank for that." Shining Armor let out a sigh of relief.
"I hope he takes his role as crystaller seriously. Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical advice." Cadence said.
"Cadance, darling, aren't we gonna name the poor little dear, or are we gonna spend our entire visit just calling her 'the baby'?" Twilight Velvet asked.
"We were thinking... "Flurry Heart"." The name of the baby had finally been given.
"You know, to remember the occasion." Shining Armor referred to how this one baby managed to cause a flurry to everyone's hearts in a span of a few minutes.
"Oh, goodness, how could anypony forget?" Rarity giggled.
"I think it's lovely." Twilight went over to Flurry Heart, kissing the baby on the head.
"That was rough. If we had a Blissey, this whole thing would've never happened." Ash chuckled.
"Pikachu.
"You got that right." Pinkie nodded along with Rarity and Applejack since they both knew what Blissey could do.
"What...?" Twilight turned around. "YOU MEAN THERE WAS A POKEMON THAT COULD'VE PREVENTED THIS WHOLE PROBLEM THE ENTIRE TIME?! AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!" Twilight jumped up at Ash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity.
"Sorry. Things were getting wild so it slipped my mind." Ash grinned. "But hey, there's a Pokemon for everything, right?"
"Pika!"
"Dah! Agh...I give up. I'm done underestimating Pokemon." Twilight sighed as they all laughed, heading towards the train.
"Well, I think you're the Crystal Empire's big important wizard, whether you like it or not." Starlight spoke to Sunburst.
"I don't know if I'll have time for any wizarding. I'm a crystaller now. That's a big responsibility."
"I can't think of anypony more qualified. Just... promise you'll stay in touch?"
"Hm, like I'd ever lose touch with my oldest friend." The two gave each other a genuine hug whilst Twilight looked back at them.
"What's wrong, Twilight?" Spike asked.
"I don't know, Spike. I think I have a lot to learn about being a teacher."
"What are you talking about? Your lesson went perfectly! Starlight and Sunburst got over their past and rekindled their friendship!"
"No thanks to me. I know a lot happened. I just wish I could have given my pupil the attention she deserves."
"Well, I know she needed to be put on the right path, but giving her the space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. Isn't that how Celestia taught you?"
"You know, I never thought about it! But I guess it is!" Twilight realized as her Espeon hopped into her hooves.
"Maybe you're a better teacher than you thought."
"Espeon!"
"Minccino!" Both her Pokemon got comfortable with her as the train took its leave.
What a day. What started out as just a simple trip to the Empire, just to see the Crystalling and the newborn baby, turned into a frantic mess of fetching shards, repairing shards, swapping bodies, fighting off crystal hungry Pokemon and fending off an entire storm. But despite all that, they pulled through in the end. And whatever adventures await them later in the future, they're bound to share the same energy as this one as the journey continues.
