//------------------------------// // A Secret in its Infancy // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Pokemon House, Day. The Pokemon were getting up to what they usually do here. Today, Fluttershy was out with the rest of her friends, leaving the Pokemon to handle themselves while she's gone. But, her Audino was here to keep watch since she's essentially Fluttershy's doppelganger. Not only that, but Ash's Pokemon were here as well. They had ended up leaving their Pokemon here to hang out whilst they all attend something of...certain importance. Plus, their Pokemon need some rest as well. Ash had just got done training the ponies with more battling practice earlier so some rest was for sure needed. "I'm beat!" Pikachu sighed, laying on his back. "All this training can really tire a guy out, ya know." "You know, Pikachu. You wouldn't tire yourself out so much if you don't exert too much force. Ash only told you to do it gently." Audino walked up to him. "Sorry. Can't help it. I'm kind of a glass cannon. I hit hard but I'm still a pretty fragile Pikachu too." "Wouldn't be so fragile if you were built like yours truly over here!" said Braviary, showing off his wings. "Braviary. You almost injured your wings because you got too close to Pikachu's Iron Tail with Steel Wing." Twilight's Espeon Eve said. "He just struck a lucky spot. I could've tanked it." Braviary was lying through his teeth. "You know, there's no shame in admitting you're a bit outmatched, Braviary." One of Rarity's Leavanny spoke. They all had their usual chatter about their trainers and life until Audino heard something that caught her attention. She heard it all the way from SugarCube Corner and the voice came from Pinkie Pie. "PRINCESS CADENCE AND SHINING ARMOR ARE HAVING A BABY?!" The sound travelled through Audino's ears, making her aware of it. "H-H-Huh?!" Audino fell on her back from hearing it. "Audino! What's wrong?!" Pikachu and the others ran over to her. "Baby...Baby..." The Hearing Pokemon put her hands over her eyes, blushing. "Baby? What's this about a baby?" Treecko went up to her. "Shining Armor...Cadence...Baby..." She explained whilst still having an embarrassed look on her face. "Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are having a baby?" Eve figured out what she said. It took a moment for the rest of them to process that as Eve repeated herself once more. "Wait, what?!" "Oh! Good for them." Leavanny clapped, helping Audino up. "Meh. Not that special." Braviary shrugged it off as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "It is special, Braviary!" Eve bellowed at his face. "This is royalty we're talking about here! It's always special! Oh, I wonder what the baby is going to be like?" "Hold on..." Audino picked up on more information about the whole baby news via Mrs Cake who said that it's top secret. Meaning that only Pinkie Pie and to an extension, her Slurpuff, Spinda and Jade knew about it and the others can't know about it until Shining Armor and Cadence arrive tomorrow. Something like that is a bit of torture for Pinkie Pie since she loves surprises. And having to keep one like this was a new challenge she placed one herself. "Looks it's meant to a huge secret that's meant to be kept." "A secret? Why not just reveal it to everyone?" Treecko wondered. "You can't spoil the surprise. Especially something as huge as this!" Pikachu explained. "But...that also means that Ash and the others won't get to know about it until later." "In that case...we can't tell our trainers about the news. Fluttershy will be able to know what we're saying. So everyone, avoiding talking about it, alright?" Eve pleaded. "Not a word about it." Leavanny raised her leaf hands up. "Secret's safe with us!" Pikachu responded. "Baby?!" All of a sudden, a Loudred had overheard their chat about the Royal baby, gaining all the knowledge he needed. The group turned around, with their eyes widening at Loudred. If a Pokemon like him who's all about exhibiting loud sounds talks about it, the secret could be out in a second. "Hey everyone!" The Big Voice Pokemon turned to the multitude of Pokemon. "PRINCESS CADENCE AND SHINING ARMOR ARE HAVING A BA-" Before it could finish its sentence, Leavanny shot String Shot right at its mouth, silencing the Big Voice Pokemon from even speaking. "Phew. That was close!" Eve sighed. But it didn't matter. Everyone managed to pick up on what Loudred was trying to say. They all figured out that he was going to say baby at the very end. And soon, chatter about that picked up as well. "Oh no...No-no-no-no-no! This is bad! Now they all know!" "So much for it being something only Pinkie knows." Pikachu shook his head. "Now what?" "All of you listen up!" Eve raised her voice, grabbing the attention of the entire house. "Yes, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor are having a baby. BUT! It's a secret that was only meant to be exclusive to Pinkie Pie...and Audino sort of picked up on it so now we know. But besides that! This secret is meant to be kept until they both arrive at Ponyville tomorrow! So please! All of you just don't mention it once. Don't even bring up the subject of a baby. Because if any of us do, Fluttershy can easily translate it and tell everyone else. Alright? Let's keep it top-secret from Twilight and the others until the day ends." "Not even once?" A Mothim asked. "Not even once," Eve repeated. "So keep that mouth of yours in check, Loudred!" She narrowed her eyes over at the Big Voice Pokemon. "Okay...I think that got through to everyone." "Not everyone." Leavanny pointed at Ash's Gengar who was already planning something about this. "Gengar...what are you up to?" Pikachu questioned. "Would be a shame...if someone went ahead to spill the news to them, huh?" Gengar snickered. He took advantage of this in the spirit of his usual mischievous self. "Gengar, no!" Eve exclaimed to him, but it was too late. Gengar made his move by phasing through the ground. He was headed for one pony only. Fluttershy. And currently, she and everypony else were at Twilight's castle. "Stop him!" Eve attempted to stop Gengar in his tracks with Psybeam, but it completely missed due to how well Gengar blended in with the shadows. "I got this." Braviary flew forward, using the move Superpower on the ground. This was enough to shake the ground itself, causing Gengar to lose his flow. The Shadow Pokemon popped out of the ground, deciding to move by air this time, floating towards the further regions of Ponyville. Braviary chased after his fellow Pokemon, trying to stop him. "Stop right there, Gengar!" The Shadow Pokemon turned around to see the group chase after him. Normally, since he's friends with all of them, you'd think he would stop what he was doing. But Gengar's a Ghost-Type Pokemon. And they love being mischievous. So it's only in his nature. Besides, who knows if he's even going to say it or he's just messing with them. "Sayanora suckers!" The Shadow Pokemon cackled. "He won't get away for long!" Pikachu jumped up on Braviary's back, using him as a ride. "Speed up Braviary!" "On it!" Braviary sped up using Brave Bird to try and catch up to the Ghost-Poison Type. There was a now a chase that was closing on Ponyville with the intention of trying to stop Gengar from saying a single word. They were closing in on Gengar due to the increased speed, giving Pikachu the opportunity to make his move next. The Electric Mouse Pokemon jumped off of Braviary, firing an Electroweb towards its teammate. The web of electricity managed to catch hold of Gengar, halting his movements and bringing him back down to the ground. "Alright, Gengar! That's where you stop!" Eve went up to him. "I told you! It's top-secret! Meaning that everyone else can't know about Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's baby! No matter what!" "What's this about a baby?" Diamond Tiara's Purrloin who was with Silver Spoon's Glameow overheard this talk about a 'baby.' Eve turned her head, gulping aggressively. "Oooh. Those two are having a baby?" Glameow leaned forward. "No-no-no! Forget what I said!" Even put her paws up, trying to get them to forget. "Too late. It's all in my head. Wait till the others hear about this." Purrloin said. "NO! They can't know! At least...not until tomorrow when Princess Cadence and Shining Armor get here! Purrloin! Glameow! Please don't tell the other Pokemon..at all!" "You sound pretty desperate...alright. I won't say a word." Purrloin replied, obviously lying. To know that she was lying, she twisted her tail about, hiding it behind her. "Okay good..." "Except for when I will." Purrloin and Glameow ran off. "Hey! Get back here!" Eve chased after them. "You two won't even get the chance!" Out of frustration, Eve lunged at the two cat Pokemon, pinning them both down to the ground. "Ow! Get off of me! You're hurting my tail!" Glameow winced. "Tough! None of you are saying a word about it!" "Oh, yeah?" Purrloin smirked, knowing a move that can get the word across fast. She used the move Hyper Voice to raise her voice even further. She bellowed about the two having a baby as it echoed across Ponyville, reaching the ears of every other Pokemon that it made contact with. Thankfully, it didn't reach Twilight's castle since they were high up in it. Now all the Pokemon within the range of Hyper Voice knew about the baby, and it's all going south from here on. Soon, the Pokemon of each home, busted out of their doors to talk about the baby. "A baby? Sounds great!" Amethyst Star's Skitty commented. "Do you think it's gonna be an alicorn baby? What would that even look like?" A Snubbull said. Chatter everywhere about the baby was spreading like wildfire. Gengar freed himself from the web finally, dusting off the leftover electricity. "All the Pokemon in this town are CRAZY! Gengar! If you hadn't flown off to tell them, this wouldn't have happened!" Eve snapped at him. "I wasn't gonna tell anyone," Gengar replied. "...You weren't?" "Nope. I just wanted to see the look on your face when you think I would. And it was worth it!" Gengar snickered, having his goal complete. "Ugh...alright. But what do we do about this...? Now they all know...And very soon...the surprise is gonna be ruined for the trainers!" Eve was starting to panic. "Audino! Do you know any moves that can help?" "Sorry. I don't really have a move that's all about keeping secrets." Audino responded. "Leavanny? Can you use String Shot to keep everyone's mouth shut?" "That's a bit too harsh and rude. I refuse." "Can any of you do something that makes sure it doesn't get out?!" "Hmm..." Pikachu thought for a moment, thinking of ways to work around this. "I got it!" "What?! What have you got?!" Eve rushed over to him. "You know Queen Serperior from PokePark? She can make anyone listen by just glaring at them, from what I've heard. So, why don't we just ask her for help?" "That's perfect! Queen Serperior has a high authority ranking! Everyone will have to listen to her! It's off to PokePark we go!" And so it was. Queen Serperior was their ace in the hole to keep this secret from being...well, secretive. If Queen Serperior can just look at everyone once with a glare, they'll have to keep it a secret for sure. At PokePark, Verdant Court. "I beg your pardon?" spoke Queen Serperior. "I know. It sounds a little bit strange. But please, Queen Serperior. We need you to help tell all the Pokemon at Ponyville to keep it a secret!" Eve bowed her head. "Hm. It sounds like a situation that might have been escalated to a large degree due to the nature of the other Pokemon." "What do you mean by that?" Braviary asked. "Us Pokemon aren't really the best at keeping secrets. Not at all. For centuries, we've known secrets that have been shared and we immediately let them spread like wildfire. It is why Pokemon do not celebrate how you say... Birthday parties. Or any surprise party at that matter. Because we simply cannot keep a secret. However, I'm impressed that you all have managed to keep it a secret. At least...for the most part. Perhaps over the years, Pokemon have learned to keep secrets for themselves. Although from what you are saying, it does not sound like a large majority of them have." "So that's why, huh? Ugh." Eve dug her face in the ground. "It's all ruined. It's going to be spoiled for Twilight who's going to be an aunt and it's all my fault." "Don't let it get to you, little Espeon." Serperior lifted Eve up with her tail. "You can still find a way to solve this." "Y-You won't help us?" "Even if I were to glare at them, it would not change much. Pokemon are just prone to let out a secret as quickly as they can. I understand your frustration." "Then...what can we do?" "Hm... I may know something that might work. Pokemon may be horrible at keeping secrets...but over the years things have changed. So perhaps, surprise parties are something they can sit still at." "Oh yeah...They are pretty tame when it comes to Ponyville parties that haven't started yet." Pikachu nodded. "All we have to do is tell them that it's a surprise party being planned by Pinkie and they can tell their trainers when the day comes. That could work." "You think it'll work?" Treecko asked. "Worth a shot. Thanks a lot of the help, Serperior!" "It is my pleasure to be of assistance to friends of our trainer, Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was settled. A surprise party is a last-ditch effort in order to really maintain this secret from the ponies. As long as only the Pokemon know, they can keep the secret for themselves until tomorrow comes. "Ugh...That was almost a guaranteed disaster." Eve held her head out of stress. "I'm surprised that you're this into it, Eve," Braviary said. "Of course I am. Something as huge as this can't be taken for granted. I just can't afford to let them all know before tomorrow." As the group were ready to tell all the Pokemon, Audino's ears picked up something again. "Wait...I hear something new about the baby." "What?!" Eve and the others leaned in. Audino listened closely to hear the words of Applejack saying that Princess Cadence and Shining Armor might not arrive until Saturday. "It looks like they're going to be a bit late. They might not arrive tomorrow but on Saturday instead." "SATURDAY?!" They all said in unison. "We can't wait until Saturday! They could spill everything before we know it!" Eve was starting to hyperventilate. Ash's Dragonite gave her a hug to calm her down. "There there...it's alright." The Dragon Pokemon said. "We just have to hope that they can get here tomorrow, alright?" "Okay...okay...I need to rest." Eve was feeling tired out from making herself worry so much. Dragonite carried her over to Twilight's lab in order to get some well-deserved rest from trying to maintain this secret. "Uh...you might wanna see this." Pikachu stopped Dragonite from flying off as he and the others noticed something of great importance. Here was Shining Armor and Cadence. Earlier than expected actually. "They're here...? Now? Oh, thank Arceus..." Eve was about to faint as she curled up in Dragonite's arms. The Pokemon ran over to the royal couple who made a miracle happen thankfully. Cadence's Sylveon had noticed her fellow Pokemon rush over to her for a greeting. "Oh, hello. You were all expecting us?" Sylveon uttered. "How'd you get here so early?" Treecko asked. "They weren't needed in Maretonia until next week. So that confusion was cleared up. "Oooh..." They all said in unison. "Good thing you got here on time. You wouldn't believe what went down when we heard about your baby secret!" Pikachu replied. "Audino picked it up didn't she?" "Yes...Oh, I wish I didn't have such good hearing sometimes..." Audino sighed. "It's fine. Now that we're here...you don't have to worry about trying to keep it a secret from every other Pokemon." "About that...every Pokemon knows about it." Braviary scratched the back of his head. "Huh?! How?!" Sylveon perked up. "A lot of stuff happened...Loudred, Gengar, Purrloin...it's a bit of a long story." Treecko rambled on. "But at least Shining Armor and Cadence can say it themselves, right?" "Right." Sylveon sighed. "Good thing Pinkie Pie's an expert at keeping secrets...right?" "I mean...is she?" Pikachu scratched his head. "She should be. That's why the Shining Armor gave the scroll to Mr and Mrs Cake in order to pass it down to Pinkie Pie. I'd assume that the perfect party pony is also great at surprises, right?" "Well yeah but...I'm not sure she enjoys keeping it to herself and not telling the rest of her friends." Pikachu shook his head. "Whatever the case...we can wait until they reveal it to everyone else. Come along now." Sylveon pranced on with her trainers. The group of Pokemon followed suit, finally heading back to their trainers as well. There they all were. The moment they opened up the door, they could see that Pinkie Pie was actually struggling to keep it a secret. She sat above a tree inside the castle, prepared to spill it all. Thankfully, when Shining Armor spoke, it cut off her sentence. That was a close one. Eve could see that if Shining Armor hadn't said anything, the secret would've been out. That only made her worry even more. "Guess she's decent at keeping secrets to herself, huh?" Sylveon said. "We're in the vicinity of Fluttershy now...so can we please not mention the baby once, okay?" Eve pleaded. "You got it. We'll be 100% silent about it." Pikachu replied, hopping on Ash's shoulder as usual. Now all they had to do was wait. But not just wait. See, Shining Armor and Cadence had planned something special before the big reveal. At the moment Shining Armor was shown tons of surprises that were from his childhood. Seeing them made him rave like crazy, taking him back to his youth. After that, he and Cadence told the group that they would have to meet them at the Town Square. The Pokemon theorized that at the Town Square, they might reveal their secret there and then. But once they got there, no sign of them at all. Maybe they were late? "Where are there?" Eve whispered. "Maybe they stopped for some snacks?" Treecko whispered back at her. "Yeah well, they picked a perfect time to take a break." Braviary sighed. "How long are we gonna keep this up, anyway?" Braviary's worries were gone when it was revealed what they were actually planning. Twilight and the others had discovered a scroll that was inside the mouth of the pony statue. Reading it revealed that they had set the group up for a scavenger hunt. Of all things. Now for everyone else, this sounded like fun. But for Eve, she couldn't take much more of it. She just wanted them to say the secret now and get it done with. "A Scavenger hunt...? Really?" Eve groaned. "Sounds fun!" Pikachu exclaimed. The first clue of the scavenger hunt had been solved quickly by reading the rest of the scroll. The Ponyville schoolhouse. Their first lead was found and it was only going to continue from there on until they reach the married couple. Eve was just praying that it was to be over with soon. However, she finally ended up tiring herself out, falling asleep. Dragonite placed Eve on Twilight's back, letting her sleep next to her trainer. The second location of the hunt took them to Town Square. There, Mayor Mare's Stoutland was sitting by, seeing the group arrive inside. "What brings you all here?" Stoutland asked. "Scavenger hunt!" Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, speaking to Stoutland. "Oh...is it about the baby?" Stoutland whispered back. "Yep. We're making sure its extra quiet, ya know." "Maybe too quiet. I haven't been this silent in the longest." Treecko said. "You'll all get through it. If you can manage to make it to the very end, it'll prove just how resilient you really are. Although..." Stoutland looked over at Pinkie Pie who was rapidly going through the birth certificates. "Your pink friend over there...not so much." "She'll be fine," Leavanny replied. The next clue had been found. Audino overheard how it was about a place to rest little heads apparently. Then she realized that all these words being said by Twilight who was reading the clues meant something. "Hang on a minute..." Audino spoke suddenly. She pulled the Pokemon in, letting them know what she found out. "This scavenger hunt. Shining Armor and Cadence are building up the baby reveal..." She whispered to the Pokemon. "They are?" They all said in unison. "Yes. Think about it. School? Foal? Birth Certificate? All of these have one thing in common. Youth." "About time it took you to figure out what this hunt was about." Stoutland chuckled, revealing that he knew about this from the get-go. "Oooh...so you knew that we knew that they didn't know about the reason behind the hunt." Braviary rambled. "Correct, my boy. You catch on fast. Now hurry along your final clue is ahead." "Alright! Thanks, Stoutland!" Pikachu waved goodbye as he and the party returned to the trainers, heading for the final clue of the scavenger hunt. The final area was SugarCube Corner. And there were Cadence, Shining Armor and Sylveon waiting. "Think this is it?" Treecko whispered to Leavanny. "It must be. They're right here." Shining Armor and Cadence had planned out the final phase of the hunt. The reward. But this reward went above and beyond from just a book like with Twilight's past. Shining Armor and Cadence gave off the clues that were related to all the locations they've been too so far and what they've found. Twilight repeated the same thing Audino did with the saying of School... foal... birth certificate... and crib. Since they found the final clue underneath a crib that made Twilight finally realize what was actually going on. Pinkie Pie was getting giddy, Audino was covering her eyes out of embarrassment, Braviary yawned and Pikachu was anticipating this. "Come on...come on..." Pikachu was about to explode out of excitement. That's when the couple finally let out those sacred words that released Eve and Pinkie from their endless torture. "We're having a baby!" Both of them said, revealing cake behind them with your usual baby stuff on them. "A baby, Twilight! It's a baby! Woo-hoo!" Pinkie Pie had burst with excitement. Eve woke up, hearing those sweet holy words. The Sun Pokemon let out a bloodcurdling sigh, falling down on the ground as Pikachu picked her back up. "You mean... I'm going to be an aunt?! This is the best prize ever!" Twilight was flabbergasted but flowing with joy. "Oh, I love you guys! And I can't wait to meet your little foal!" Twilight hugged both of them. "Audino..." Audino fell flat on her face, no longer feeling embarrassed. "Oh, dear. Audi, are you okay?" Fluttershy looked at her Pokemon. "Pikapi. Pikachu. Pika-Pikachu." Pikachu had told Ash what happened. "Oh. So that's what happened, huh? Good job on keeping it safe, buddy." "Pikachu!" "You did it, Pinkie Pie! You kept it a surprise! Thank you! Was it much trouble?" Cadence walked up to her fellow pink coloured pony. "Piece of cake!" Pinkie Pie squeed with a blazing victory. A well-deserved wait. A secret of that scale was hard to keep quiet for a pony such as Pinkie Pie. And it was only harder due to the nature of Pokemon and how they're absolutely horrible at secrets...well in the past anyway. It was a struggle for both sides. Pinkie Pie had her own story on how she dealt with this, but for this one, the Pokemon's story was the main focus. And as a bonus, the baby won't just be brought up into its own world, but the world of Pokemon as the journey continues. "WAIT! We didn't do anything about the other Pokemon!" Eve exclaimed. "We'll handle it." Pikachu calmed her down. They will indeed handle it somehow. Chapter 162 End!