//------------------------------// // Thank you, Ash. // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Hearth's Warming is here. For Equestria, this is the most important celebration, even surpassing the Summer Sun Celebration. Because it was this day that Equestria was founded. For the Pokemon World, this is known as Christmas. This is usually were ponies are frantically moving about, trying to find the best gift for their friends. And today, Twilight Sparkle is aiming to give an amazing gift to somepony while having everypony else coordinate for it. "You sounded pretty serious Twilight. What is it?" Applejack asked. All her friends were here, seeing that Twilight was in a deep focus today. "Yeah. Is it another problem we gotta smash in?" Rainbow Dash said. "No girls. I called you all here because this is major! It something of the utmost importance!" "Yes?" They all said in unison, leaning forward. "We have to figure out the best gift ever!" "Oh. Is that it?" Rarity replied. "IS THAT IT?!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "THIS IS IMPORTANT! The best gift ever is the apex of parties! The highest form of surprises!" "Who is it for, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "It's for Ash. I want it to be a thank you gift." "A thank you gift? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place, darling? Oh, I just love those kinds of gifts." Rarity gushed. "So what did you have in mind?" Aj asked her. "That's the thing. I don't know what we should get him." "Well, he's obviously done a lot for us ever since our worlds crossed. After all, he's saved our flanks a lot recently. Even saving your life for the cost of his." Applejack said to her. "That's why it has to be the best thing ever. It'll show how much appreciation we have. Ash had helped everypony here for a long time now. Both him and Pikachu deserve a great gift." "We'll help you, without a doubt Twilight." Pinkie placed her hoof on her alicorn friend. "Let's give Ash a gift he'll never forget!" Canterlot, Celestia's throne room. Celestia had received a letter sent by Twilight. Even she would be included if she was up for it. "What's this now? From Twilight." Opening it, she read the letter. Dear Princess Celestia. I hope you're not too busy, but I would request that you help me and my friends plan a gift for Ash. A thank you gift for all he's done for us. It would have to be the best thing ever. Hope you understand. Twilight Sparkle." "A thank you gift, huh? Makes me realise we haven't given her friends one for all their past work. But I can help with this. Oh, Luna!" Celestia called out to her sister, who was occupied with the Pokemon she had caught. Hearth's Warming is the one time when the two sisters can kick back and relax, take a load off their time. "Yes, sister?" She poked her head out of the door." "Firstly, could you please keep them inside their Pokeballs, and secondly... how would you like to help with a great gift?" Celestia wasn't the only one who got this message, even at the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Cadence got the message as well. "We'd love to help them. Great gifts are always a treat." Cadence said. "How come I don't have a great gift? I'm her BBBFF." Shining Armor got a bit jealous. "But I am grateful. He did save Twily's life twice now." "Don't worry. You'll get your own great gift dear." Two Kingdoms were now working together to give a gift to a kid and his electric mouse. But, that is just the extent of friendship after all. As for Ash and Pikachu, they were completely unaware of this. What they were doing right now? "Whew. Ponyville sure is chilly at this time of the year." "Pika." Ash was wearing his Sinnoh Snow coat to protect him from the cold. "Wonder how everyone celebrates Christmas here. We gotta check this out!" "Pikachu!" "Riolu!" Ash and his two Pokemon were headed this way. What did they didn't know is that everypony was putting in their effort to get Ash the best gift. Twilight had convinced all of Ponyville to assist her. They were grateful to him as well. BonBon looked out the window and saw the trainer outside. "He's here! What do we do?!" She turned to Twilight. "Make sure he doesn't realise we're getting him a great gift. Whatever it takes!" Twilight demanded. "Pinkie Pie! You know what to do!" "Okie Dokie!" Pinkie Pie saluted as she zoomed out of the Town Hall, were everypony was working on the gift. "Oh hey, Pinkie Pie." "Pika-Pikachu." "Heeeeyyy Ash! Watcha doing?" She leaned on his shoulder. "I'm just here to talk to my best friends! And this little newborn!" She placed her hoof on Riolu' face, nuzzling it. "R-Rio.." "So what are you all doing? Is this your Christmas?" "Mhm! Everypony's super busy on Hearth's Warming! We're all getting gifts for each other and preparing for Hearth's Warming Eve." Pinkie explained. "Sounds great. I wanna check up on what decorations are like on the outsi-" "NO!" Pinkie yelled. "W-Why not?" "Pika?" "We have other important business to attend to!" Just then, Pinkie Pie spotted Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor arriving in Ponyville. Shining Armor looked at Pinkie Pie, telling her to not say a word. "Come with me! How about I show you Hearth's Warming treats!" "Uh sure." Pinkie Pie dragged Ash, leading him to SugarCube Corner, just to occupy him. Amethyst Star peeked out, seeing them enter. "Coast is clear. He's occupied with Pinkie." Amethyst said. "Excellent. Now. Does everypony have their ideas for the best gift?" Twilight asked them all. "Well we thought of it and we've come to a conclusion that it could be anything really." Rarity answered. "If it's Ash we're talking about then he'd like something cool! I mean he is cool." Scootaloo exclaimed. "Cool. Okay.." Twilight was writing notes down, making sure to get any valuable information. "Anything else?" "He sure does have a love for food. Like.. a lot. He ate like an animal once." Applejack suggested. "Food. Got it. This is gonna be an odd selection." "Ooh! Oooh! He has a lot of cute Pokemon back at Oak's Lab. So I bet he loves cute things just as much as he adores cool Pokemon." said Sweetie Belle. "So cool, food and cute. We're making progress everypony. What about you, Princess Celestia? Luna? Any ideas?" "Well from what we've seen of Ash he tends to be the type to have a strong sense of justice, especially when it comes to Pokemon. He'll put in every amount of effort he has to help them, even if they aren't his." Celestia said. "He also has no fear of what it seems. He was willing to casually talk to me when I had returned on Nightmare Night. Other than my sister, nopony has referred to me as just Luna. He sees us all as not royalty, but friends it seems." "Same here. He helped me break free of the spell that Emerald Aura cast on me." Darkrai chimed in. "From what we've said, Ash is an individual who'll always help others. Hope that helps." Celestia said. "It's perfect. This has just given me an idea! We can give him a gift based on what he did and taught us. Anypony got anything else?" At SugarCube Corner. "Bring em out Slurpuff!" Pinkie Pie yelled as the Slurpuff brought some Hearth's Warming food. "Oooh." "Pika." "Rio." The three of them were gawking at the buffet in front of them. "Looks good huh? This is a Hearth's Warming Feast!" "Awesome! It looks so yummy.." Ash, Pikachu and Riolu were ready to pry their hands on the food. "You two. Come out and take a look at this." Ash had sent out Gengar and Dragonite to have a bite. If Gengar could bite that is. "But wait. Don't we have to wait for the right time to eat a feast at this time of year?" "Nah! This one's a freebie. Go on ahead. Eat away!" "Thanks, Pinkie Pie! Thank you for the food! Let's dig in!" Ash and his Pokemon started chomping away at the huge feast. Pinkie Pie smirked, knowing this will keep them occupied for a long time. Nopony other than herself can eat that much and finish in a short amount of time. Then again, Ash wasn't a pony. To her surprise, he was already halfway done. Her jaw dropped to the ground. "Not good. He's gonna finish it in no time." She thought to herself. "Bring in the second servings!" The Slurfpuffs had entered, bringing another feast. Hehehe. My treat." "Mmm! This stuff is good!" Ash said with food stuffed in his mouth." "Pika-Pika!" "Lu! Riolu!" "Gen!" "Dra..." "You know! I outta bring my mom over here. She'll love this no doubt!" "Good idea! You do that! And take a long time getting her prepared okay?" "Sure!" Ash agreed, without paying too much attention to the long time part. On the other side, everypony had already set out to get that perfect gift. Twilight had come to a conclusion. The gift that Ash deserves is an honorary statue. A pretty large gift compared to simple things like clothes and devices. "A statue, darling? Are you sure?" Rarity thought this seemed a bit too much. "I'm sure of it. After all, ever since I heard of his past achievements in his world I had to go with it. And once the worlds return to normal, a statue of him here will remind us all of him." "I guess so. I just hope that we aren't overdoing it." Fluttershy worried. "Nonsense. Who wouldn't want a statue of them?" "Well... right now in the Crystal Empire, Spike's getting his own statue." Shining Armor said. "For returning the Crystal Heart." "I... have a statue..? Awesome" Spike was about to faint. "We have to make sure that this statue is made out of the best materials we can find. Our magic can speed up the process tenfold. 4 alicorns can make this easy!" Twilight yelled, 100% serious about this. Passion shook her head, knowing that this was going to go downhill fast. But for now, she'll just watch. Everypony returned with materials they dug up and found. Varying from metals and common gems. "Good. But it's still not enough. We'll start building with the materials we have now. Everypony keep on searching for more!" Twilight demanded. They began the process of making the statue. The combined magic of 4 alicorns was effective as the lower half was already almost done. With Ash, he had gone over to his home at Pallet Town, inviting his mother over for Hearth's Warming. "I'm so excited to see how they celebrate Christmas here!" "Mime Mime!" "It's called Hearth's Warming mom. And I hope you got some warm clothes for this. It's pretty chilly. Even more than Sinnoh." "Oh, I'll be fine. I'm always prepared for anything. Right, Mimey?" "Mime!" They all passed through, re-entering Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was there to greet them. "Yay, you're back! And you bought your mom... pretty fast." "Mhm! Let's get this party started!" Delia raised her arms in the air. Pinkie Pie was sweating a bit as she knew the gift wasn't complete yet. Then to make matters worse, Discord arrived, being a snowflake that landed down on Pinkie's mane. He had already caught wind of this Best Gift Ever. "Oh my. You'll have to find more ways to keep him from finding out. A person like him can be very persistent. More so than your rainbow friend." Discord said, only making Pinkie worry more as she was sweating so hard it actually filled up the ground with some water. Things weren't going well for the planners either. This statue business became complicated due to certain choices. "Should we make his hair spikier? I'm not sure these rubies are enough to capture his sharpness." Luna said. "No no. Leave it. The real issue is finding out which shade of blue to use. Are his clothes light blue, cadet blue or azure blue?" Celestia mumbled. Making the statue resemble him was tougher than they expected. They had never sculpted a human before. Let alone one who has an electric mouse on his shoulder at all times. As for the others, they were making decorations for a welcome entrance once Ash arrived. "Let's make the banner cooler! Ash would love that!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "You know, he's not just cool." Apple Bloom said. "Pssh! Yeah right. He's got cool clothes, cool hair, a cool name and cool Pokemon. Everything about him being cool checks out." "Someone's a fangirl." Sweetie Belle silently said. "Come on now, Sewaddle's. We'll make clothing that surpasses the one he just made. We'll know it's better since I made the last one for him." Rarity and her Sewaddle's were designing a new outfit for Ash. "Red alert! Red alert!" Derpy yelled. "Ash is headed here!" "What!? Pinkie couldn't stop him?!" Twilight was about to freak out. "Change of plans everypony. Speed up!" Twilight was about to use a speed up spell to accelerate the process. "Wait, Twilight-" Celestia tried to stop her but it was too late. Everything was engulfed in a purple magic aura as the entire Town Hall was spinning around rapidly. Twilight hadn't really mastered this spell so it was a bit of a risky one. And it was showing. Everypony was spinning around along with the building. Ash, Delia and Pinkie were watching this, very confused. "Celestia had used her magic to stop the spinning as she and everypony else were dizzy now. "I was going to say that you haven't mastered that spell yet." "Hehehe. Whoops." Twilight squeed as she blushed. And now it was all too late. Ash had entered the Town Hall, getting a good look at the room. Everypony turned to him as they all had an uneasy grin on their faces. "Hehe. Surprise." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "Woah." Ash looked around, seeing a messed up statue of him, decorations all over the place and pieces of fabric on the floor, torn up. "You guys must've been busy huh? What happened?" "Well. We wanted to show you our appreciation for all you've done for us. So for this Hearth's Warming, we.. or I decided to get you the best gift ever. A thank you gift. But as you can see.. It's a bust." Twilight slumped over, feeling the failure she had just caused. "Pfft." Ash suddenly started to laugh. "You went through all this trouble for a gift? Man, you guys sure are something!" "You're.. laughing?" "Of course." "Aren't you upset?" "Why would I be? I don't really need the best gift ever ya know. After all, who needs gifts when I got friends and family with me." Ash said, looking at Pikachu, Riolu and his mom. "I wouldn't wanna miss any time with you all. And I do kinda appreciate that you went through all this trouble for me. Really." "Oh, Ash." Twilight sighed. "He always knows what to say doesn't he?" Shining Armor said. Cadence nodded in a reply. Just then, one final surprise came through. A Delibird. A Pokemon that is very common at this time of year. And it had a gift to deliver to Ash. "Oh? A gift for me?" Ash took the gift as Delibird walked off. Opening up the gift revealed a letter. A letter from a long time family member. "Dad?" Ash began to read the letter. "Dear Ash. It's been a while. I'm writing to you since this is a time where I kinda miss my entire family. It's been 20+ years now. Being on this long Pokemon Journey of mine is something. I hope that someday we get to cross paths again. I know we will. But for the meantime, I never got the chance to congratulate you on your achievements. How you made it to Viridian City faster than me. It took me four days. How you've won all those gym badges from each region. And how you became a champion. I hope that one day when we both achieve our goals, we'll meet again. Once more. Your loving father." "Aw... dad." Ash teared up a bit. "Now this. This is the best gift ever." Pinkie Pie started bawling over that letter, filling the room with water. "No time to get all wet-eyed. I wanna enjoy this Hearth's Warming thing with you all." "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's have a real party!" With Pinkie Pie here, all the destruction won't be an issue with her parties. This was an eventful day. Definitely one to tell on Hearth's Warming Eve eventually. The friendship between two worlds of multiple different species continues to grow on and on. Both Ash and Twilight are looking forward to their futures. As the journey continues. "Although. It would've been cool to have my own statue." Chapter 55 End.