//------------------------------// // The Crystalling // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// 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!" Chapter 181 End!