As Sam and Alice stood to their feet, getting a better sense of where they wound up, the Pillars and their companions were unable to keep their eyes off the alien beings which had appeared on the Cutie Map right before their eyes.
“This room,” Sam quietly said to himself. “It’s just like before it pulled Shining Armor and Discord to our world.”
“What are those things?” Spittle whispered amongst her crew and captain.
“You mean those monkey things or that big rat and the robot beside them?” Mullet whispered back.
“Yes.”
“You five!” Starswirl bellowed, his voice commanding enough power to get Sam, Alice, Dexio, and their Pokémon to turn and face him before freezing still like statues. “What are you and how did you arrive here?”
“Isn’t it obvious!” Flash Magnus got low as he held his shield up. “Those creatures are the ones who took Twilight and the others!”
Sam’s eyes widened as Flash Magnus let out a loud war cry before flying straight at him.
“Flash, wait!” Fizzlepop called out with a reach.
“Sam!” Dexio and Alice both cried.
Sam scowled as he quickly reached to his belt and pulled a Poké Ball off and threw it out between him and Flash Magnus. “Aegislash, King’s Shield!”
With the ball opening up, Flash Magnus only hesitated a little bit as the energy that spilled out formed into Sam’s shield and sword Pokémon, who was already in its defensive stance. With a push forward, its shield collided with Flash Magnus’s, only for bright sparks to shoot out from the impact point.
With the gridded barrier of Aegislash’s attack spreading out, Flash Magnus was blasted back off the table where he fell to the floor, his shield clattering to a stop beside him. The Equestrians in the room gasped before looking up at Sam’s Pokémon, who looked relieved and thankful to have reached its trainer in time.
“What was that?” Grubber breathed out, partially impressed.
“His shield and sword are alive!” Capper breathed out.
“How’d it fit inside that tiny little ball?!” Skystar squawked.
“And did you hear him?” Stygian glanced around to the others, not sure if they heard him. “He speaks Ponish, just like us!”
Flash Magnus tried to pick himself up, but upon putting weight on his left arm, he let out a yelp and fell back onto his stomach.
“Flash Magnus!” Rockhoof and Fizzlepop ran to his aid, the former of whom allowed Flash to rest his arm onto his.
“What did you do to him?!” Fizzlepop barked.
Sam frowned, both out of anger and out of fear. “My Pokémon was just defending me! And we didn’t take Twilight and the others, they’re actually friends of ours!”
“Liar!” Fizzlepop charged at Sam full gallop, her eyes filled with hatred.
“Aegislash!” Knowing what to do, Sam’s Pokémon readied its barrier as it appeared visible before it.
Fizzlepop squinted in concentration as she took a small leap forward before bounding high over Aegislash and Sam, landing upon the table behind him. Sam could only turn around fast enough as Fizzlepop drifted her back hooves to face him and ran at him again before twisting her body to prepare a kick. Her back hoof thrust at Sam’s face, who fell back to let it fly over his head, continuing to tumble back and off the table as she stomped the hoof down.
Landing on his stomach, he then heard Celaeno shout as she drew her sword from her side and ran at him. Pushing off the ground and turning around to face her, he reached back for his Pokémon, who flew at him and placed its hilt in his hand and wrapped its right cloth arm around Sam’s forearm. With his grip secure, Sam swung Aegislash at the approaching Celaeno, who held her blade up to deflect the attack. To everyone’s surprise, Celaeno was thrown far back near the wall, Sam panting regretfully as he tried to keep his sights on the others who now looked at him with the same antagonism as Fizzlepop behind him.
“Captain!” Boyle ran to Celaeno as she stood herself up. “Are you alright?”
Celaeno looked to her sword, which now had a new chip in its blade. “Fine, but… That sword of his must weigh over a hundred pounds, and he swung at me like he was holding a small stick!”
With her horn sparking, Fizzlepop’s eyes were fixed on the back of Sam’s unguarded head. She was immediately distracted by Alice as she ran at her with the training staff held in her hand. Caught completely off guard, Alice was able to swing the staff into the right side of Fizzlepop’s stomach, sending her falling to her other side. Placing the side of the end of the staff against the bottom of Fizzlepop’s belly, Alice swept the staff with all her might to send her off the table. Fizzlepop was agile enough to roll back onto her hooves, but with a sideways flip, Alice jumped off the table and held an end of the staff at the unicorn’s head, standing between her and her brother.
Raichu whimpered, too tired and weak to go over and help its trainer. Dexio returned his also exhausted Metagross and flung a ball from his belt, keeping his eyes on Starswirl and Mistmane, who charged their horns, ready to attack. Once Metagross was back in its Poké Ball, Alakazam appeared from his. Starswirl and Mistmane launched their magic beams at Alakazam and Dexio just as it formed a large translucent disk with its glowing spoons. The disk caught the beams in a viselike grip before Alakazam spiraled its arm in, the disc wrapping around the beams before the disk shrunk itself and the beams out of existence, surprising both unicorns.
Finally, Alakazam reached for both Sam and Aegislash and Alice, hoisting them off their feet to land beside him on the table. Clutching its spoons even tighter, another translucent barrier formed around the width of the table all the way to the ceiling, a second attack by Starswirl and Mistmane disappearing upon striking it. Fizzlepop prepared to push herself through, only for her hooves and weight to rest against it, keeping her on the other side. Her rage built as she punched the wall twice before bucking it with both back legs, neither of which did anything.
“Enough!” Dexio snapped. “Enough! Stop fighting!”
“Cowards!” Fizzlepop panted as she made another futile attempt to break the barrier with her hooves. “Get back out here!”
“For the last time,” Alice shouted, “we don’t want to fight you!”
“Was that before or after you whacked her with that staff!” Flash Sentry defended.
“I’d say it was before she tried to stomp my brother’s head into the table, now shut up and listen to us!”
“Why should we listen to you?” Capper sneered. “What makes you think we can even trust you?”
“Sam already told you,” Dexio spoke, “we’re friends of Twilight and the others.”
“Likely story!”
“Guys, wait, hold on!” Skystar took to the air and flew just out side the barrier so each of her friends could see her. “If these guys really are friends of our friends, let’s give them a chance to hear them out! If we really can trust them, maybe they can help us fight the changelings!”
Starswirl pulled a sideways frown as he considered Skystar’s words. “Alright, very well. We’ll allow you to try and prove yourselves as friends of Twilight Sparkle or any one of the friends that disappeared with her.”
With the tension now mostly diffused, the Equestrians directed their harsh, hardly-forgiving eyes at the three humans and their Pokémon. Alice didn’t appear nervous over what she knew to be true.
“I mean,” Dexio whispered from the corner of his mouth, “if you do have any kind of hard proof, now would be a great time to show them.”
“That’s okay,” Alice responded. “We have it. Sam, you have a copy of that picture we took with Kaj before we left for the Aether Paradise, right?”
“Picture…” Sam took in a short, excited breath, astounded by his sister’s wit.
Reaching into his pocket for his Holo Caster, the Equestrian’s were put on edge, raising their weapons, charging their horns, or standing ready to attack.
“Relax!” Sam pulled the device out, showing off its non-destructive design. “It just projects images!”
The Equestrians refused to let their defenses down as Sam tapped and swiped his way through his device. With a relieved breath upon finding it, he tapped on the photo on his screen, where it appeared as a small hologram projected from the top of the device, facing him. Though they saw the projection, it was too small for either Equestrian to read, Grubber and Squabble looking at each other in bemusement.
Sam wasn’t finished, dragging his finger slowly across the phone to swivel around to face them before he pinched the center of his screen and pulled the two fingers apart, the image getting bigger and bigger each time he did. Finally, the image became clear to them, showing Twilight and each of her friends smiling alongside the numerous human friends they made in their journeys, the scope and enormity of the picture shocking the Equestrians to their core. With a small tap, the image was pushed outside the Psychic barrier to give the Equestrians a much clearer view.
Fizzlepop’s mouth hung open upon spotting Alice and Sam amongst them. “I’ll be darned. It really is them.”
Capper stepped forward, both impressed by the technological feat as well as Rarity and Applejack standing so comfortably and joyfully with Olivia. “They all look so… happy.”
“Twilight and her friends were all found by other people who helped reunite them, and that picture was taken just a few hours before Twilight and the others were going to be sent back home,” Sam explained, “except some other accident ended up pulling more of their friends out of your world instead.”
“Hey!” Mullet pointed at Dexio. “He isn’t in this picture. Why not?”
“I can explain myself in a short while,” Dexio promised. “Please, let them have their chance to speak.”
Alice then stepped forward as the others stayed quiet as asked. “A week ago, my brother and I found Starlight Glimmer and Fluttershy huddled up scared inside of a cave right after they had been pulled out of their world.”
Starswirl and Mage Meadowbrook couldn’t help but betray a couple of blinks over hearing their names.
“Ever since, we had been trying to find the others while keeping them out of the clutches of an evil group called Team Prism!”
“Team… Prism?” Somnambula pondered aloud.
“They use Psychic Pokémon, just like…” Sam paused, feeling some context was in order. “My Aegislash, Alice’s Raichu, the rat with the surfboard tail, Dexio’s Alakazam, these are all creatures that come from our world called Pokémon. They’re friends of ours too. Anyways, Team Prism knows that Psychic-type moves nullify magic, and they’ve been using them to prey on Twilight and her friends while trying to steal them away from us!”
“Wait a second!” Mage Meadowbrook interrupted. “How do they know about magic if they’re not from ‘round here?”
Dexio frowned, knowing his part of the story would be risky. “They are being led by a person being controlled by a malevolent entity named Necrozma. According to Luna, Princess Luna, it attacked your world before a very long time ago, but she and her sister defeated it and it ended up coming to our world to finish the job. They know about Equestria and magic because it does!”
“Then why would you use such a power yourself?” Mistmane wondered.
“Because for a few days, I spied on Team Prism to obtain as much information for my friends as possible. I was only as trusted and well-hidden as I was because of my affinity to Psychic-type Pokémon.”
“So you admit that your alliances are shaky,” Rockhoof spoke.
“I am no longer associated with them. I now fight for my world and Equestria! Even if I was in bed with our enemy, these kids have nothing to do with that!”
“So I guess that’s why he isn’t in the picture,” Spittle reasoned to her other crewmates.
Fizzlepop pursed her lips, hoping for a somewhat positive answer. “What about Twilight? What about everyone else? Are they okay?”
Sam took a deep breath. “We can’t say. After the leader of Team Prism revealed herself, she kidnapped the three of us, along with some others. The Equestrians managed to escape, and the last time I saw Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy, they were rescuing us, but that was before the leader apprehended me, and these two came back so that I wouldn’t have to go alone. As far as I know, everyone else is gathering other Pokémon trainers like us to fight Team Prism and stop them once and for all.”
Stygian nodded, accepting the answer. “And how did you end up in Equestria?”
“The leader threw us into a wormhole to strand us on some random world,” Alice answered. “We only happened to make it here by dumb luck and the strength of our Pokémon.”
“And as far as we know,” Sam sighed with closed eyes, “we’re now as stuck here on your world as Twilight and all of her friends are on ours.”
“Not quite!” Starswirl approached the table just short of the Psychic barrier. “There may just very well be a way to return you to your world!”
“How’s that?” Alice asked. “If you could open a portal to our world, wouldn’t you or someone else have tried that already to rescue Twilight and the others?”
“That’s just it. Without some kind of strong remnant from your world, searching for it would be akin to shooting an arrow in the dark and hoping to hit a bullseye inside of it. You, your two friends…”
“Uh, one’s my brother–”
“–, your *achem* Pokémon; any of them can serve as a remnant to link our world to yours!”
“Really?” Sam laughed. “That’s it? Then what are we waiting for?! We have to get back to our world before–”
“Let me finish, please!” Sam sealed his lips. “To perform such a spell needs a substantial amount of magic, magic that not even the combined efforts of Stygian, Mistmane, Fizzlepop, or myself can provide.”
“So…” Alice threw her arms up halfway before letting them fall back to her side. “What are we supposed to do?”
“If we can get the help of Princess Celestia in Canterlot, we should have the magic necessary to open the portal. Unfortunately, we are in as much of a bind as you three are, if you simply look outside.”
Dexio patted Alakzam on the back, permitting him to drop the barrier around the table. He then turned around and spotted the closest appropriately tall window that he could find, hopping off the table and walking to the window. Staring out at it, his eyes widened at the dozens of changelings all surrounding the place, each one waiting patiently outside Starswirl’s barrier.
“What is it, Dexio?” Sam questioned. “What’s outside?”
“A… “ Dexio gulped. “Just a whole lot of changelings.”
“Uh… Thorax changelings or Chrysalis changelings?”
Dexio nodded his head, the question much easier to answer. “Definitely Chrysalis.”
“You’ve seen Chrysalis yourselves?” Rockhoof asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Dexio walked back around the table. “She joined Team Prism shortly after landing on our world to save her own skin. My guess is that she’s now the new third-in-command after I showed my true colors.”
Skystar’s loud, crackling gasp completely shifted the tone of the conversation. “You said your psycheout Pokémon can nullify magic.”
“Psychic,” Dexio tried to correct.
“Does that also work with changeling magic?”
“Yes, it does,” Sam answered, “Chrysalis herself actually attacked me earlier tonight and my Absol’s Psycho Cut nullified her magic all the same.”
“Psycho Cut? Is that a–”
“Yes.” His answer and single nod of the head made Skystar beam brightly.
She then flew back up to face each of her friends. “See, see?! I told you they could help us!” She then pulled her necklace up from around her neck and placed it on the base of her beak like a pair of glasses while smiling smugly. “Can somebody say, ‘Called it?’”
Starswirl bowed his head and shut his eyes, feeling thankful for being wrong. “My apologies, you three. We have sorely misjudged your character. May we please have your names before proceeding?”
“Alice!” She said with a single wave.
Sam swung Aegislash up onto his shoulder proudly. “Name’s Sam.”
“And I’m Dexio,” he responded with a hand on his heart and a slight bow. “Thank you for giving us a chance.”
“You’re very welcome, Dexio.” Starswirl approached the human and shook his hand, an act that greatly soothed the other Equestrians’ fears. “Before we can return you home, we will need to reclaim Ponyville from the changelings outside. Once we do, we can take a train to Canterlot and get Celestia’s assistance with returning you back home. And I trust we can rely on you and your two friends to assist us?”
“Absolutely.” Sam and Alice came off the table to join Dexio. “We’re fighting to save this world along with ours.”
“Alright!” Celaeno cheered. “Boy, you guys couldn’t have shown up at a better time! This is going to be awesome!”
As she drew her sword, her crew cheered, followed by the other Equestrians, formally welcoming their new friends into their group. With their uplifting cries dying down, Dexio began conversing with Starswirl as Stygian ran over to meet him. As Celaeno and Capper approached Sam, Alice hopped back onto the table and walked toward Raichu and her bag, folding the staff back in with a press of the center button.
“So I’m curious, Sam.” Sam gazed eye level with the parrot captain as she and Capper got close. “How do you wield that sword of yours?”
“I’d like to know too,” Capper butted in. “The suspense is also killing me!”
“Actually, he’s not a sword at all.” Sam held up his Pokemon as the eye in its crossguard blinked at them, making the two recoil. “He’s one of my Pokémon. My oldest, in fact. We’ve actually spent so much time together and gotten so close through training, that he can predict my movements.” Sam fanned his arm up, allowing Aegislash to unwrap itself from Sam’s arm and float before them. “You see? I’m not actually wielding him. It’s just floating in place and he just moves in synch with me. In fact, let me show you my oth–”
“Woah!” Skystar flew close to Aegislash and looked into its eye, its surprised blinking making her snort a few chuckles. “That’s so cool!” She then landed in front of Sam, grabbing his hand in her talon and shaking it. “Princess Skystar, but you can just call me Skystar when I’m not at home!”
“Hey, give him a little space.” Capper butted Skystar aside from the off-put Sam before reaching his paw to him with a far more polite distance from him. “Capper. Pleased to meet you, Sam. And what are you, exactly?”
“Same. And Alice, Dexio, and I are creatures called humans.”
“Very cool. Wait until I tell the folks in Klugetown about my new human friend! No one will want to scuffle with me ever again!”
Sam then turned to Celaeno, the two of them engaging in a stronger, more hearty shake.
“Captain Celaeno, at your service,” she said before motioning her other arm to the other four parrots. “Allow me to introduce you to my crew. That big one’s Boyle. Mullet’s the one with one eye. Spittle’s our cook, and Squabble... he’s got a great personality.”
The four of them waved and posed for Sam, glad to be by his side. Just then, Flash Magnus walked over to Sam, still possessing a small limp on his front left hoof.
“Hey, listen,” Flash Sentry rubbed his stronger leg with his left wrist, “sorry about jumping you like that, but those were some crazy good reflexes to call your… I’m sorry, what was your sword-thing’s name again?”
“Hey, don’t sweat it!” Sam pawed the air forgivingly before reaching to his belt and pulling all of his Poké Balls off of it. “Actually, let me introduce you to my other friends. You may want to stand back a bit.”
With the four Equestrians taking a big step back, Sam threw all of his Poké Balls up into the air where they all opened up and poured white energy that transformed into Lurantis, Salazzle, Archen, Drampa, and Absol. With the bright light having streamed down, it also caught the attention of Somnambula and Mistmane. Celaeno and anyone else nearby were astounded by the five new creatures that surrounded Sam, who smiled giddily at their surprised reactions.
“Guys,” he said to his creatures, “these guys are friends of Twilight and the others. Everyone else, these are my other Pokémon. Feel free to say hi.”
Celaeno knelt down to Archen, who at first hopped back at the foreign bird, but tentatively sniffed the back of her balled talon upon presenting it to it. With a happy squawk, Archen hopped onto Celaeno’s wrist and bounced its way onto her shoulder before rubbing its face on hers.
“Yep,” she giggled, “he’s a keeper.”
Somnambula came over and pet Absol while Salazzle skittered up Capper’s coat before clinging to his upper back, which delighted him. As Skystar simultaneously went between Lurantis and Drampa, uncertain which one to aquaint herself with, Sam walked up to Flash Magnus, Aegislash floating right behind him.
“Is your wrist okay?” Sam asked.
“I, uhh…” Flash Magnus twisted it, failing to hide his winces as the pain pulsed up his foreleg. “I’ll be fine. I’ve gotten hurt far worse than this.”
“Then come on, follow me. I know just the trick.”
Sam and Aegislash led Flash Magnus to the table where Alice returned her Raichu back into its ball. She then fished about in her backpack, which laid beside Sam’s and Dexio’s, pulling out a purple Potion bottle. Upon spotting Fizzlepop and Grubber by themselves as they observed Sam socializing from a distance, she walked off the table and approached the two.
“Hi, there.” Fizzlepop and Grubber turned to her before glancing at the Potion in her hand with suspicion.
“What’s in that bottle?” Fizzlepop asked.
Alice walked over to the unicorn’s right, her and Grubber watching intently. “I just need to look at the part of your stomach I beat like a piñata with that staff. This will help.”
“Help? Help with wha–”
Fizzlepop was cut off by her own gasping as the cold spray from the Potion was applied to the right side of her stomach in her distraction. Grubber then came at her, swatting his hands to shoo her away.
“Hey, hey!” he barked. “I don’t remember her giving you permission to–”
“Hold on…” Fizzlepop looked to her right side as her right leg lifted up and stroked the once-sore spot that Alice had hit.
To her surprise, there was no longer any pain there at all. She then looked up at Alice, her fascinated eyes begging to know what she had given her.
“What… was that you gave her?” Grubber asked, now also charmed.
“It’s a Potion,” Alice answered, swinging the bottle by the nozzle around her finger. “Perfect for healing your injured Pokémon and sometimes your bitten and poisoned big brothers.”
“That’s incredible, I…” Fizzlepop’s eyes and expression softened for the first time since she and the other humans appeared, her lips forming a small smile. “Thank you… Alice was it?”
Alice reached her hand forward, which Fizzlepop put her hoof into for her to shake. “That’s right. And you and your adorable little friend there are?”
“I’m Fizzlepop Berrytwist, but my friends call me Fizz… recently, that is…”
“And, uhuh…” The bashful hedgehog pressed against his cheeks as he could feel the blood rushing to them. “You really think I’m cute?”
“Oh, sure!” Alice knelt down to him and scratched behind his ears, her fingers also getting into his lighter tuft of hair. “Then again, I usually find anything that’s covered in fur and no more than a couple feet tall to be cute as hell.”
Grubber relaxed his arms as his eyes rolled back into his head, involuntary chuckling moans leaving his throat. “Oh yes, that’s the spot!”
Fizzlepop chuckled herself, thrilled to see her closest friend get along so well with her newest one.
“You there!” Hearing Rockhoof’s booming, commanding voice, Alice shot up to her feet to face the imposing, bulky stallion, whose warm smile helped Alice relax before him. “It takes a lot of guts to run in swinging at Fizz like you did.”
“I mean…” Alice shrugged and rolled her wide-open eyes, “she did try attacking my brother, but I mean, water under the bridge, right?”
“There’s no greater strength than the one we use to protect our friends and family.” The stallion presented his hoof to Alice, who had to shake it with both hands. “Rockhoof. Pleased to have some more muscle on our side.”
Just then, Dexio approached the four with Starswirl and Stygian beside him. “Alice, everyone. We may have a plan for how to quickly defeat the changelings. Well, at least as quickly as possible.”
“Gather your brother and the others so we may speak of this strategy at the Map of Friendship. And please, tell him to bring his Pokémon back inside. This is the castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle, not a petting zoo!”
As Dexio and the three unicorns walked away to help bring the others in, Alice turned to Fizzlepop with a surprised reaction. “This is Twilight’s place?”
“Pretty sweet, huh?” Grubber crossed his arms to emphasize the point.
“Incredibly.” She, Fizzlepop, Grubber, and Rockhoof walked about to tell the others of the news.
There were so many creatures gathered around the table that most of them had to stand with their shoulder’s touching each other’s bodies. All eyes were on Starswirl and Dexio as they prepared to address everyone inside the room. Sam’s Aegislash and Dexio’s Alakazam were the only Pokémon left inside the chamber as they waited by their trainers.
“I feel as though we have less than an hour until my barrier fails and the changelings storm this castle. This is why I want to go over this plan as efficiently as possible.”
“Well,” Sam shrugged, “we’re all ears.”
Stygian then came forward and took a deep breath, preparing to pitch their plan. “We’re going to surrender.”
“UMM?!” Alice shouted through her lips.
The others also began to clamor with worry, drowning out Starswirl’s requests to remain calm and be quiet. With the human siblings and Equestrians continuing to shout over each other at Starswirl, he could no longer take it. Charging his horn, a bubble of light appeared on the end of it before it popped, creating an almost deafening thunderclap that rendered everyone silent again, several of them covering their ears.
“Thank you, Starswirl.” The echo began to die down, allowing the young unicorn to talk at a normal volume. “We don’t have any intention of giving ourselves up, however. We’re only doing this to lure them into a false sense of security. We’ll propose a meeting with the commanders, with whom we will attempt to negotiate terms for our ‘surrender.’”
“And how long, exactly, do we plan on keeping this charade up before we, you know, stop?” Capper wondered.
“And what do we plan ta’ do once they’ve figured us out?” Mage Meadowbrook asked also.
“We’ll appear compliant up until we know where the changelings are keeping the Ponyville residents. At which point, I’ll give the floor, or I should say, the table, to Dexio.”
Dexio and Alakazam stepped forward as Stygian walked back. “Okay, here’s what happens next. Starswirl will drop the shield currently protecting us before he lets the changeling commanders in. Alakazam and I will be waiting here for the signal to cast another barrier on the tree, except this time, we leave a hole right for the front entrance.”
“Wait, hold on!” Grubber interrupted. “We want them to attack us now?”
“It’s not just that!” Flash Magnus reasoned. “If we can funnel them inside, we won’t have to deal with so many at once! I remember reading about a similar battle in my old present! One of the greatest defensive-offensive maneuvers ever performed!”
Dexio nodded, happy to see some were on the same page as he. “Along with Starswirl, Sam, Alice, Celaeno, and Fizzlepop will serve as the vanguard. If for any reason they can’t hold their line, Celaeno’s crew will take the next row of defense, followed by Capper, Skystar, Rockhoof, and Flash Magnus. If you didn't hear your name just now, you’ll be hiding away until you get the signal.”
“Once we’ve learned everything we need to, Starswirl will send said signal out. That’s when the vanguard gets into position and Alakazam barricades the castle. We’ll hopefully get a good understanding for how they fight with the small amount we have to deal with, and we’ll be strong enough in numbers and power that they will no longer even try to come in.
“That’s when we get them. No more than ten seconds after the last one decides to enter. On Starswirl’s mark, the vanguard will rush outside and take on the changelings directly. The next line will follow them immediately out, followed by the next, and finally so do I and the rest of us in here. Sam, Alice, at that point, use any Pokémon that knows a Psychic type move. We may not be able to take away any physical fighting abilities their army may have, but if we cripple their magic, that may be enough to see us through. Any questions?”
Celaeno raised her taloned hand. “Uh, yeah. Say everything that you and the unicorns just proposed falls through and they attack us the moment we lower Starswirl’s barrier, then what?”
Dexio held up his arm an twisted his hand up with a shrug of the shoulder. “Then I guess we skip to the last part and just have a free for all.”
Celaeno cocked her head and shrugged, an indifferent frown reaching the bottom of her face for just an instant. “Sounds good to me!”
“Alright. We make our announcement to the changeling army in precisely thirty minutes! Prepare yourselves!”
“A half hour?” Rockhoof chortled. “Why so long? With you and your new friends by our side, we can take on a dozen changeling armies!”
Celaeno’s crew shouted out their approval with swings of their arms.
“A few of our Pokémon are still weak from previous battles,” Dexio answered. “We need that much time to ensure they’re in peak fighting condition. Plus, if you need to do anything, take a power nap, fortify any weapons you may have, use the bathroom, it doesn’t matter, just make as good of use of your half hour as you possibly can!”
“Welp, can’t argue with that logic!” Skystar exclaimed, flying over the center of the table. “Let’s do this! Let’s save Ponyville!”
Along with Celaeno’s crew, everyone threw their arms up and let out a collective roar of cheers, excited for the battle that lie ahead. With a half hour to spare, the declared groups began to band up with each other, Celaeno and Sam and Alice, Fizzlepop, and Grubber walking toward each other. Even with their camaraderie established, Sam felt a little nervous looking at the raspberry unicorn.
“Sam, I think you’ve met Fizz already, kinda…” Sam straightened his frown, finding his sister’s joke perverse.
Regardless, he shook her hoof, feeling more at ease with her inviting grin looking up at him. “Yes,” she said, “and I’m sorry about before.”
“That’s fine,” Sam responded with a shrug. “You did take a big metal pole to the gut for it, after all. Also, Alice, this is Celaeno. I’m sure you two will like each other.”
“If she’s anything like her brother…” The two engaged in a firm, hearty handshake. “Woah, nice grip! Sam’s a good judge of character!”
“I’ll give him that,” Alice replied.
“Sam, Alice, can I see you for a moment?” Hearing Dexio call to them from a corner of the table, the two left their new Equestrian friend to speak to him.
“Dexio,” she questioned, “what’s up?”
“You wouldn’t mind handing over your Z-Rings for a moment, would you?” The two looked to each other as he held his hand out for them.
“What do you need our Z-Rings for?”
“One of the other reasons I gave us a half hour before we engage with the plan is so that I can give you two something before we do this.”
“And you need our Z-Rings for it?” Sam questioned.
Dexio breathed a sigh out before reaching into his bag and pulling out his vinyl roll. Placing it on the table, he unlatched the clasp and tipped it over to its side, where it unfurled out to reveal about two dozen Mega Stones of various colors and designs sealed in plastic dividers. Along with them, four Key Stones were held in the right center of the roll along with a small drill, a tiny metal pick, and a pair of jeweler’s spectacles, along with several folded-up chains and pendants of different colors and sizes.
“Are those what I think they are?” Alice gasped.
“Dexio,” Sam stammered. “Why do you have this?”
“After my battle with your sister, I noticed your Absol and thought that I could gift you with a Key Stone and an Absolite for the road ahead.” He then looked to Alice. “It’s good thing you were able to catch a Gyarados too, so now you’ll both be primed for Mega Evolution.”
Looking to each other with rounded mouths and wide eyes, Sam and Alice could still hardly believe it.
“However, if I’m going to fit your Key Stones and equip your Pokémon with Mega Stones in time, I’ll need your Z-Rings now.”
Without another word, Sam and Alice pulled their Z-Rings off their wrists and placed them on the table before him. With a thankful nod, he began pulling his tools from the slips inside his roll.
“How long will this take, did you say?” Sam asked.
Dexio pressed the button of the drill twice, and it responded with two high-pitched whirs. “Probably five to ten minutes each maybe. I’ll call you over when I’m done so you can equip your Pokémon with their Mega Stones. It’s always important that a Pokémon’s own trainer do that themselves. In the meantime, you should go and set up your own strategies with the other two in your line.”
“Right, got it. Thank you again, Dexio.”
Dexio ignored them as he put his glasses on and began to concentrate over one of their Z-Rings. Walking away from him, Celaeno, Fizzlepop, and Grubber waited for them patiently, curiously peeking over their shoulders as the sound of his drill carved out the stone on the Z-Ring’s face.
“So, uh…” Grubber leaned as far left as he could to see Dexio hard at work. “What’s he doing to your bracelet things?”
Alice smirked as she crossed her arms. “Nothing I can really do justice by explaining it.”