//------------------------------// // Everything falls apart // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Everything has gone horribly wrong. The Crystal Heart has been destroyed by the mere cries of a baby of all things. With the heart shattered, the empire will once again be drowned in darkness along with a mortifying chill. And as a bonus, Twilight and Eve had their hearts swapped, but that won't last. "So... not only can we not take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony, but we're also about to be frozen solid!" Rarity shuddered. "Without the Crystal Heart's magical protection, the entire city's about to become a winter wasteland!" Twilight winced in Eve's body. "But what about when King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missin'? The city wasn't covered in snow then!" Applejack exclaimed. "The Heart wasn't missing. It was still in the castle. King Sombra had just hidden it." Twilight explained. "I'm afraid Twilight is correct, and the storm clouds are already forming." Celestia looked over to the sky as lightning cracked. "Braviary, Altaria I can totally fly up there and bust those puppies! No problem!" Rainbow Dash was about to dash out until Celestia stopped her. "I wouldn't advise it, Rainbow Dash. Those storm clouds are not like the ones you know." "This far north, the weather has a will of its own, and now it will only grow stronger, enveloping everything in its path." said Luna. "Including the Crystal Empire!" Cadence uttered. "And us along with it!" Twilight gulped. This was a situation that nopony was prepared for. Because nopony expected the heart to just outright break out of nowhere. So they had to find a way to fix it immediately. Over with Sienna and Lucien, they were anticipating Sienna's sparkle, hoping it would activate. "Come on...why isn't anything happening?" Lucien was getting tired of waiting. "I-Isn't it obvious?" Sienna sneezed. The thing's broken. So nothing's gonna happen to it now." "Oh, right. Man, that blows...I was expecting something interesting today, not a repeat of the original." "We can just repair the heart." Sienna raised her finger up, creating a small cosmic light that was made to repair the heart. "No! We can't do that! We need to let this event play out like how it did originally. But still...there has to be something we can do to change things up a bit." "Can't we just call it a day...I'm so cold." "If we just call it a day, the Rift won't be too happy. This is another important event in this timeline after all." "Because of course it is..." Sienna rubbed her nose. "A...ACHOO!" When Sienna sneezed a second time, her sneezing actually managed to trigger the sparkle that was in the heart. It seems that she just have to give the command. Albeit one where she couldn't control her illness. Goh was patiently waiting for Starlight to finish her conversation with Sunburst which really wasn't going anywhere. Spike was panicking himself, going through the list to see if there was something to turn this awkward reunion into something amazing. "There's gotta be somethin'..." He went through the overly long list. "I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but... it's been so long. I don't see how anything on that list is going to help." Sunburst said to Starlight. "I know, right? It's not like there's some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off." "Well, actually, there's several." Sunburst grabbed a plethora of books specifically made for situations such as this. "Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Prance's Fellow... ship...But I-I get the feeling the princess isn't looking for a spell." "Definitely not." Starlight chuckled. " Got it!" Spike exclaimed, waking Goh up as he read the rest of the list. "And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!" "Uh, I don't see how that would help," Sunburst said nervously. He wasn't the only one feeling nervous about that. "Uh, yeah! We should just get out of your mane. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped, and I'm sure you have plenty of important work to do...Right, Goh?" Starlight walked out, grabbing both Goh and Spike with her magic. "Hm...Mmm yeah..." Goh replied, yawning. "What? Oh! Right, yes, heh-heh! Uh, no rest for the wizardly." Sunburst stammered. "Bye, I guess." Goh waved goodbye as the group had left the home of Sunburst. Heading outside, Goh's Raboot was the first to notice the storm clouds in the distance. "Raboot!" The Rabbit Pokemon tugged on Goh's leg, pointing its paws at the sky. "What's wrong Raboot?" Goh looked to the direction his partner was pointing at. "Woah...Those storm clouds seem pretty large." "Sobble..." Sobble turned itself invisible out of fear of the storm clouds. Strangely enough, Starlight and Spike were too busy focusing on the whole conversation with Sunburst to even notice the clouds forming around the empire. All Flying-Type Pokemon had flown away from the approaching storm, aiming to find an area where they can be safe until the storm passes. That is... if it ever passes. Back with Twilight, who was still in Eve's body, she and everypony else were still struggling to find a way around this. "There must be a spell that can restore the Crystal Heart! And how long am I going to stay in this body?!" "Perhaps." Celestia thought. "But it isn't something that either of us know." Luna shook her head. "The library here at the castle is nearly as extensive as the one in Canterlot. There's a good chance we can find something there!" Cadence uttered. "Can you hold off the storm?" Twilight questioned the two sisters. "Yes, for a time, but even our magic will eventually succumb to the power of the Frozen North," Luna replied. "We will do what we can, but you must hurry." Celestia flew up with Passion on her back. The two alicorn sisters and their Pokemon in order to fend off the storm. Darkrai had used Dark Pulse whilst Passion keeps the storm away with Mystical Fire. Even with the combined power of two Pokemon and two alicorns, the storm kept on coming. But they were doing their best." "I don't know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm!" Twilight said. Something good had finally happened in the form of her and Eve swapping hearts. Heart Swap was finally reaching its end as a crimson flash engulfed them both. "Oh, finally!" "And try not to mention the Crystal Heart. We don't want to start a panic." Cadence pleaded. "Yes, ma'am. C'mon, girls!" Applejack nodded. Her, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ran out with their Pokemon whilst Twilight stayed behind. "Ash. Rarity. Can you keep an eye on Manaphy?" Twilight turned to him. "Sure thing. We'll make sure nothing goes wrong." "Pikachu!" "I may not be the best with children...but I'll do my best, darling." "I'm gonna need all of your help. The crystal library is enormous!" Twilight went up to Shining Armor and Cadence. "You can count on us, Twily!" Shining Armor reassured. They all had their jobs to do. It was to make sure that the Crystalling would still be able to take place. But, things soon escalated to a major degree. Because lo and behold, the baby and Manaphy decided to become active once more. The baby alicorn had teleported onto Pinkie's face, causing the pink pony to shriek. As for Manaphy, the Seafaring Pokemon had decided to try yet another Heart Swap. This time, to the extreme. The red lines from the Heart Swap went from two to five. "Look out!" Ash backed away from the lines, avoiding the Heart Swap. Twilight let out a yelp as she flew over it whilst grabbing both Minccy and Eve. Cadence, Rarity and Shining kept their distance thankfully. However, Pinkie was unfortunately hit by the Heart Swap. "Eep!" The pink pony gulped. Now the red lines had to find a victim to swap hearts with Pinkie. Twilight put up a protective spell, blocking her friends from them lines. But that wouldn't stop them. The lines extended beyond the small group, heading out into the streets of the empire. The lines ran rampant until they came across someone. They made contact with Sienna. And she felt the shock of Heart Swap. The Rift human could feel her heart being swapped with somepony from afar. Now two completely different entities with completely different personalities had been switched. "...Oh...This can't be good." Sienna looked at the hooves she now had. She looked over to see that she was in the same room as Ash, Twilight and the others, with the Mane 6 and the two alicorn sisters not too far away from here. "This is not good at all..." As for Pinkie Pie, she looked over at her body, realizing that she had now become a human. Hands. Feet. Very spiky hair. Cool looking eyes. And a body overflowing with cosmic power. At first, she felt like freaking out at her new appearance. She felt like a giant since the humans are naturally taller than the ponies. She even noticed that her eyesight had been somewhat increased. Mostly due to the Rift humans having enhanced senses. She wanted to freak out so badly. However, when she noticed that she had so much power inside of her, she could only think of one thing. "Should've seen that coming. I wish I had some sort of cake to calm my nerves down." She thought it and it had been granted. Out of thin air, a cake popped up in front of Pinkie Pie instantly. Her favourite flavour too. "No way..." "That cold must be really getting to you." Lucien was confused. He had no idea what happened at the moment. All he knew was that Sienna was acting a bit weird. "Cherry on top?" Pinkie said. And so it was. A cherry arrived on the top of the cake by her own will and thought. It was at this moment that Pinkie Pie realized what she was now capable of in this body. "I have so much power..." All the power she needs even. With just a thought or a command, everything she can imagine can just pop into thin air. "Yes...Unlimited power!" She raised her hands up, summoning a storm of pastry that drowned her and Lucien. "Hey! What the-" Lucien was being drowned in a sea of tasty sugary sweet delicacies whilst Pinkie bathed in them. "C-Can't breathe..." "I can do anything...Anything I want." And at this particular moment, it was discovered by Pinkie herself that cosmic energy was too much for her. Whilst she had no idea it was cosmic energy, she knew all this power was unable to wielded by anypony else. The overwhelming force that she held was mighty enough to drive her crazy. "...This is...too much." Pinkie Pie was actually terrified of this. She got on her knees, shaking at the sheer terror of it all. Lucien broke out of the sea of pastry, looking over at Pinkie Pie, who he thought to be Sienna. "What's with you?! This is more than just some cold." He wiped some cream off of him. But looking at Pinkie Pie further, he saw that she was trembling. Lucien was smart enough to know that it wasn't Sienna. Because no one other than him, her and the Rift ponies could handle this much energy. "You're not her, are you?" "N-No..." Pinkie shuddered, turning her head towards Lucien. She looked like she was about to cry. "My body's been switched by Manapy for this...I don't know what this feeling is." There was only one way to find Sienna. Lucien knew that Twilight and her friends were here due to him having full knowledge of this event and how it plays out. He turned his head right over at the spot they were at, changing his vision from normal to see-through. And there they were. Trying their best to catch Manaphy and the baby who had run off somewhere. The real Sienna was just sitting there, confused. "If your body's been switched...then who were you originally?" "Pinkie Pie..." "Pinkie Pie? Oh, so that's what it is...Heart Swap." Lucien figured it out. "Alright. Hold still." The Rift human went up to the confused individual, placing his finger on her forehead. And just like that, with ease, Lucien returned Pinkie Pie and Sienna's heart back to normal. Essentially negating Heart Swap. Not only that, but he erased Pinkie's memories of how she felt, returning the pink pony to her usual chippy self. Another example of how powerful cosmic energy can be. "There you go." "Oh! Thank goodness! Back to my good old self!" Sienna let out a sigh of relief. But very soon, her cold kicked back in. "Ugh... Not so great to be back to my good old self actually." "That was close. If Pinkie Pie experienced more of cosmic energy, who knows what could've happened next?" "No kidding. It was weird being a pony actually. I felt so...colourful..." "Colourful isn't a feeling Sienna. But anyway...we need to focus. Our progress is pretty stagnant at the moment." "Not so stagnant," Sienna smirked as she wiped her nose. "When I was in Pinkie's body for a while, I noticed that my cosmic energy was still affecting the Crystal Heart. Small little bits of it. "How so?" "I don't know yet. But something's bound to happen. Guess my cold had some benefits after all hehe...ACHOO!" Back with Spike, Goh and Starlight... "Well, Spike, looks like my biggest fears came true. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight decides to give up on me entirely." Starlight spoke. "Aw, it's not your fault. I'm the one who said all we needed was this list." Spike burned the list away. "It's not the list, Spike. Or you. Or Twilight. I'm the one Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with." "I don't remember him saying he didn't want to be friends." "He didn't have to say it." "Well...Do you consider us being friends?" said Goh. "I mean, so far we've been getting along pretty well. For the most part." "Really?" Starlight turned to him." "Yeah. I mean...if Ash can become friends with you despite what you did to him...then I guess that makes me your friend as well. At least, that's how it goes." "Goh's right. Plus, Twilight obviously thinks you're worth being friends with! And I do too!" "Raboot!" "Sobble!" "So what do you say? To a good friendship?" Goh and Spike held out their hand and claw "Sure...At least I have four friends, even if one of them has dragon breath." Starlight put her hoof on their hand and claw. Oh and you too, Raboot and Sobble." "Yeesh." Goh pulled his arm away, feeling the chill close in. "I know winter's cold and everything. But this is just ridiculous." "Strange...I thought the Crystal Heart was supposed to keep the cold weather out." Starlight finally noticed the cold weather as it was increasing. "It is... unless something's happened! Come on!" Spike made a run for it as the others followed. They had no idea what actually happened until they got there. With the others, they were trying their best to keep the crystal ponies occupied until everything was sorted. "We're just saying that it might not be the best idea to stay outside!" Rainbow Dash uttered. "I camped out all night for this spot! I'm not about to just give it up!" An adult pony replied, sitting on a chair. "Still, when you think about it, the view is just as good a little further back, like... inside your house?" Fluttershy attempted to convince them. But that only caused confused complaining from the crystal ponies. They would have their Pokemon do something, but nothing would change. "The Crystalling ceremony is one of our most sacred traditions! And when that foal is held before the Crystal Heart, I plan to be as close to the action as possible!" A pony with tons of scout badges on him leaned forward. "Honestly, I don't know if there's gonna be a Crystallin'. The truth is, the baby's an Alicorn and her magic's plum crazy, so you might not wanna be that close after all." Applejack gave the truth out to everypony. "A baby Alicorn? Wow, I can't wait to see that!" The adult pony squeed. "Oh, those little wings are probably so cute!" So did the badge clad pony. This only made them eager to see the Crystalling even further plus the newborn alicorn baby. "Look, I am a hundred percent sure the Crystalling isn't happening." Rainbow Dash said. However, inside the castle, beams that shot from the alicorn baby were bursting out of the castle, flying everywhere. The sounds they made afterwards were similar to that of fireworks, thus making the crystal ponies believe they were actual fireworks. "No Crystalling, huh? Then why are they starting the fireworks show?" The ponies cheered, anticipating the Crystalling. The baby alicorn was only making things harder for the group. And speaking of that baby alicorn, she was flying about in the library with Shining Armor trying to catch her. "Young filly... come back here!" "Come to your Auntie Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie, who had just recovered from the Heart Swap was doing her best to try and catch her. Pikachu had chimed in, attempting to catch up to the baby. Ash was doing his best to catch Manaphy, but surprisingly, its body was just as slippery as water. How convenient. "Bridle Buck's Boat Chants, Hayhoof's Intonements, Mystic Maps and Mazes..." Twilight went through many books for a solution. But nothing. All she could do was groan. "Anything up there?" She looked up at Cadence who was doing the same. "Not yet! I'm not even sure how these are organized!" "Come here Manaphy...Gently." Ash tried to hold the Seafaring Pokemon. But yet again, she was too slippery. "Mana!" "This isn't working. Dragonite." Ash sent out the one Pokemon he believed could put an end to this. The lovable and huggable Dragonite. "Can you please calm Manaphy down? The best way you can." "Ra..." The Dragon Pokemon nodded. No one could resist the hug of Ash's Dragonite so this had to work. Hopefully. Once the Dragon Pokemon got close, it managed to grab Manaphy and keep it close to it. But that wasn't surprising considering the size difference between the two. "Mana...phy...." Manaphy melted in the hugs as everyone else does. However, for the first time, it came with a consequence. Manaphy enjoyed the hug so much that it ended up using its second move. Secret Power. And this time, it was in the form of a water-based Secret Power. What followed was a huge splash of water that spread across the entire library. The overwhelming splash of water managed to get every single book in the library wet. Making things much harder than they were already. "Are you kidding me?!" Twilight pulled her mane in frustration. It only got worse from here on out. The baby was still flying midair, avoiding the water whilst Shining Armor kept on chasing her, slowly running out of breath. As the baby flew around, she came across Rarity next. "Gotcha!" Rarity showed up with all 12 of her Leavanny by her side. At the same time, they all used String Shot to try and catch the baby. But somehow, they had been outsmarted and outplayed by the baby alicorn as it simply just teleported past them. Instead, the String Shots hit Shining Armor in the face, covering his eyes. "My eyes!" He couldn't see where he was going as he crashed into the bookshelves. "...Woops...Sorry." Rarity squeed. Starlight, Goh and Spike had entered as their eyes were graced with this frantic chaos. They saw how the entire library was wet thanks to Manaphy and how many bookshelves had either fallen over or had been destroyed thanks to the baby. Eve and Minccy had been tired out due to chasing the baby constantly, Dragonite was doing its best to contain Manaphy's Secret Power, but splashes kept on coming out of it and Twilight and Cadence were shuffling through so many books that proved to be useless at the moment and were soaking wet to boot. Goh immediately set his eyes on Manaphy, seeing this Pokemon for the first time. "Oh! What is that?!" He attempted to get his dex out, but a zap of magic from the baby managed to accidentally hit Goh's Rotomphone, destroying it and all the progress he made. All that data on the Pokemon he's caught. All the hard work that he poured as a Pokemon Researcher. Gone. "No! NO!" Goh got on his knees, screaming into the air. "What is going on?!" Starlight exclaimed. "You want the long or the short version?" Pinkie asked. "Short?" Starlight replied. "The baby's an Alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadance are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow." Pinkie explained rapidly whilst being carried away by a sea of water. "Oh." Starlight gulped. "Pika!" Pikachu felt like he got the baby this time. The Electric Mouse Pokemon lunged towards her, only to be tricked via erratic teleportation. He bumped his head onto Pinkie Pie's, who also had the same idea. "PI!" "Woah!" Pinkie slipped on the wet floor, bumping into Dragonite who was pushed back enough to be knocked into a bookshelf. The shelf almost crushed Raboot who responded by kicking it into pieces. But that was a bad call as well. The pieces of the bookshelf hit Pikachu in the head, causing the Electric Mouse Pokemon to respond with one thing and one thing only. "PIKA...CHUUUU!" Exerting all of his frustration out, Pikachu unleashed a mighty burst of lightning that scattered across the library, shocking everyone, but Manaphy and the baby, who were lucky enough to avoid it. They enjoyed the sight of Pikachu's lightning though. But not everyone else as they were getting shocked by 100,000 volts of electricity. Arguably more considering how frustrated Pikachu is. However, this single lightning shock was actually a saving grace. Since it was mighty enough to send many books flying off their shelves, one book, in particular, got Cadence's eye. "W-What about this?!" She flew over to the book whilst sizzling with smoke from the Thunderbolt. "Trotter's Tome of Reliquary?" She brought the book over to Twilight who opened it, turning the pages as quickly as she could. That's when the found their ray of hope. "I think this is it!" Twilight exclaimed as she showed the spell to Cadence. "Spell of Relic Reconstitution"! I can't believe we found it!" "It's a good thing, too! Without this, I don't know what we'd do!" Twilight chuckled. And thus, fate turned against them once more. The baby and Manaphy flew by with Pinkie Pie and Ash chasing them both down. Ash managed to catch Manaphy, whilst Pinkie caught the baby. The ending result came in the form of the baby letting out a single sneeze. That sneeze caused a beam of magic to shoot out of its horn, heading towards Rarity. The unicorn held a mirror to deflect it away from her, but it continued on. It then aimed towards Shining Armor, who put up a shield to reflect. Next was Pikachu, who sent it away with an Iron Tail and finally, it went over to Starlight who put up a defensive barrier. The movement of the beam came to an end as it burnt through the one book that could help them, leaving a huge hole in it. "Oops." said Pinkie. Everything. Every little thing had gotten worse. Oh, and the Crystal Heart that had been affected by the cosmic energy was about to act up now. Because of course. Of all the possible times it decides to start up. What that tiny sparkle did was scatter all of the shards of the Crystal Heart, scattering them across the Crystal Empire. The crystal ponies saw these shards fly about, wondering what they could be. Actually, to their eyes, they seemed to resemble the Crystal Heart. "Was that the Crystal Heart?" A crystal pony said. "Uh, N-NO! T-That was uh...paper decorations of the Crystal Heart. Yeah! Guess we flew them off too soon." Rainbow Dash managed to convince them. But now they had a huge problem on their hooves. "Scuse us for a second." The three of them went back inside, quickly rushing over to the library to tell the news. "We have a problem!" Applejack exclaimed as she was hit in the face by a book. "Ow!" "What could be worse than this?!" Twilight slammed her face on the table. "Um well...pieces of the Crystal Heart sort of...scattered across the Crystal Empire." Fluttershy squeed. "..." Twilight didn't say anything. She felt like fainting due to all of this. But Eve woke her up by slapping her face with her own tail. This wasn't the time to lose hope. "Espeon!" "It isn't over yet!" Ash pushed a huge bookshelf that fell on him. "Twilight! You can memorize something easily from just seeing it for a few minutes, right?" Ash shook the water off of him. "Yes?" "Good. Then in that case, while you try and remember the spell, we'll deal with the Crystal Hearts scattering. You said they're all over the Crystal Empire, right Fluttershy?" "Right. They just flew up and scattered for no reason." "We'll find them all." Ash sent out Riolu and Farfetch'd. All of you. Can you head out and find the shattered pieces of the Crystal Heart?" "Riolu!" "Far!" "Let your Pokemon go along. They'll handle retrieving the shards while we sort out everything else. Alright?" "Are you sure we'll have enough time?" Rainbow Dash gulped, looking out at the storm that was closing in. "We will. We'll make sure we beat the clock before this Crystalling happens." "You heard the man." Rainbow Dash sent out all of her Pokemon. "A team effort is all we have left. All 12 of you. Scatter." Rarity looked at her Leavanny's. Soon, they all sent out their Pokemon to assist in the retrieval of the scattered shards. "Starlight!" Ash turned to her. "Your Hatterene still knows Hypnosis, right?" "Uh...yeah...I kept it on it. Sorry about that." She squeed. "No! That's good! Hypnosis is the only move that can keep those two still and calm." Ash pointed at the roaming baby alicorn and Mythical Pokemon. "Can Hatterene and you do that?" "We can try." Starlight nodded. "Great. Then let's get this over with so that we can see this whole Crystalling thing through and through, alright?" Ash took command, speaking to everyone. His plan was simple enough to work. Hopefully, it works. All the Pokemon, even his Pikachu had run off to find the missing shards. Every last one of them. Meanwhile, the trainers will handle everything from here. The ponies were growing impatient. The shards are scattered. The only remaining memory about the spell in Twilight's head is vague. The entire Crystal Empire is about to be engulfed in an endless harsh winter. And the two babies are only making the situation much worse than it already is by causing most of the actions. All of these problems would have to be solved quickly as the journey continues. Chapter 182 End!