Ponyville, late afternoon.
It's been almost a full day since the horrible experience in Manehattan. The day had been saved by the Swords of Justice, sure. But the damage that had been done to Twilight and her friends, minus Rarity hadn't left them at all. The memory of it all still lingered with their heads. A memory they can't erase.
They were utterly destroyed by Ghetsis's Pheromosa. There was nothing they could that could've prepared them for such ruthlessness. Celestia's warning now had much more weight than they expected.
Each of them had kept themselves inside, interacting with no one. Not a soul. Not even their Pokemon. And it was probably for the best. They weren't exactly feeling like themselves at the moment.
Rarity, however, was already planning on fixing this somehow. For the sake of her friends, she would do her very best to cheer them all up.
"Alright. I know they're clearly upset and full of dread. But I can fix that. Hopefully." She was talking to herself, pacing back and forth. "I just need to think out of the box. Dresses won't do!" She knocked over a pony mannequin.
"So...How are you going to cheer them up exactly?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"There's only one thing I can do. I'll have to act like Pinkie Pie in hopes of raising their spirits!"
"Is that even possible?"
"Probably not. But I have to try. Leavanny. Can you all help me out?" She requested assistance from her 12 Leavanny's.
"Leavan!" Each of them agreed in unison, already up for this plan.
"Excellent. And we could probably use the help of one more." Rarity held out a Pokeball she hadn't used in a long time. For months even. Out of the Pokeball came the Mareep that Brock had given her. A Pokemon that she hadn't utilized ever since she got it.
"Mareep!"
"Mareep, darling! Hi." Rarity waved at the Electric-Type.
"Reep? Ma." Mareep turned its head, ignoring Rarity.
"Wha- You're ignoring me?!"
"Mareep." The Wool Pokemon gave the equivalent of a 'Hmph', walking off. Clearly, it was upset about being left out for such a long time.
"Wait! Mareep!" Rarity ran in front of it. "I know I haven't interacted with you in months...almost a full year even. But I promise not to forget about you again! I was just...caught up with my Leavanny! And there was a whole process of their evolution that made me panic, the Shadow Triad, Adagio...a lot has happened."
"Ma." Mareep wasn't having any of it. It could care less about what Rarity had done. What about what it has been doing? Absolutely nothing. Since it's been inside a ball for months now.
"I don't think Mareep's taking your apology that well." Sweetie Belle said.
"Not at all. Alright, look. I truly am sorry, Mareep. It wasn't really polite or sweet of me to just completely forget about you for a few months. Actually many months...I haven't really been the best trainer to you. At all. Not in the slightest. But I'm asking you kindly to help in this one situation. My friends are currently in a downthrow after something terrible that happened to them. So I ask that you please help cheer them up with me. At least for a small bit? After that, I promise I'll spend much more time with you." Rarity felt like she could get on her knees, begging to it.
"Mareep..." Mareep thought about it for a second. Rarity sounded genuine with her words. After all, she was doing this specifically for her friends. Not only that but the look in her eyes said it all. "Mareep." Mareep had decided to accept her request. If Rarity can keep her promise, it'll grow more attached to her.
"Excellent! Now. This plan might transition into tomorrow, so let's go rolling. Sweetie Belle, can you help as well?"
"You can count on me!"
"Good. And if I know one pony who's just as good as cheering others up as Pinkie Pie, it's Ash. Tomorrow morning, I'll fetch him from home. Let's get to work everypony!"
And so it was. A procedure devised by Rarity, specifically made to cheer her friends up and erase all the despair that is lurking from within at the moment. With the involvement of her little sister and Pokemon, this plan of hers might come into fruition. All she had to do was work on it until tomorrow arrives.
Sweetie Belle was tasked with informing her closest friends since they had strong relations to the Mane 6 as well.
As for Ash, he'll know what to do when tomorrow comes.
In the meantime, Starlight had come out of Twilight's castle, entering the outside of the snow-filled Ponyville. Normally, it's a delight to see snow. But after what happened today, not so much. Not even snow could fix this.
"What do I do...? How do friends make things better for other friends?" Starlight thought for a moment, attempting to think of something to cheer Twilight and the others up. This is all new territory for her. If only Twilight wasn't down at the moment, she would give Starlight advice on how to cheer friends up.
Jade was in the same boat as Starlight. She had less of an understanding of friendship on a more bland level. Even she decided to think like Pinkie Pie and get their spirits up. But clearly, that's impossible for a pony like her. That is until Sweetie Belle came along with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to get Jade in on the plan, adding Spike into the mix. Rarity went a step further. And by a step further, she had every single one of Fluttershy's Pokemon join in. She obviously couldn't speak to them since she doesn't share the same connection as Fluttershy, but her Leavanny's can speak for her.
Along came the night. Late-night even. Midnight has long passed now. The time is currently 4:00. Just 3 more hours until all of Ponyville wakes up. But in this case, a few citizens are staying up. Mostly Rarity and her planning team. Along with Jade and Cold Colt since the concept of being tired is non-existent for them.
Preparations were close to being completed. Whatever Rarity was planning it must be a behemoth of a plan if the shadows of it could be seen from inside the boutique since the lights are on.
Various sound echoed from her boutique, indicating at some truly hard work being done. The sounds consisted of tables being moved, somepony getting their hoof stuck in something, glass breaking, groaning and an occasional electric shock here and there.
Finally, along came morning. Everything was set.
"This is it. It's perfect." Rarity said to everypony and Pokemon here. Some had kicked up some sweat due to the hard work that had been done overnight. The CMC were on the verge of falling asleep due to staying up all night to help out. "Alright. Now there's one final piece of the puzzle. Is Ash here yet?"
"I see him alright." Spike looked out the window, spotting Ash and Pikachu pass through the gateway from Pallet Town.
"Excellent. Let's make sure this reignites their spirits. It has to." Rarity nodded.
"Boy...What a day that was." Ash spoke, yawning and stretching his arms.
"Pikaaaa..." Pikachu let out a resounding yawn as well, getting comfortable on Ash's shoulder.
"Ash!" Starlight ran towards him. "Glad you're here. Come quick!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Pika?"
"We'll explain everything later. Come inside!" Starlight grabbed the trainer and Pokemon with her magic, bringing him inside Rarity's Carousel Boutique. Now the final piece of the plan had been completed.
"Good! You're here! Now we can begin!" Rarity rubbed her hooves together.
"I'm confused, what's going on?" Ash scratched his hair.
"Don't mind the details. The important thing to mind is cheering everypony else up." Rarity responded.
Now that the plan had been completed, it was time to put it in motion.
Twilight and the others were all couped up in their homes still, not coming out at all. Usually, around this time, it's either Pinkie Pie or Applejack who's awake first and ready to tackle the day. But not this time. So the best option was to drag them out.
Apple Bloom had gone up to her older sister, attempting to convince her to come along with her. Obviously, she didn't need to try and convince her. Applejack would've come along anyways.
Scootaloo had gone after Rainbow Dash via Ash's Dragonite. The Dragon Pokemon took the skies with the young filly on its back. Once they reached her home, Dragonite gave a knock on the door, grabbing the attention of the guilt-filled pegasus. Scootaloo managed to convince her by telling her there was a small little party going on down at Ponyville, and it was just for her and her friends.
And it was fairly easy to get Pinkie Pie out. Even though they were upset and down, that didn't mean they locked themselves inside, distancing themselves from everypony else.
There was one who was impossible to get out though. Twilight. Out of everypony, she was the most affected by this. Starlight tried getting her out of her room, but that was no good. Even Spike couldn't convince her. So this plan was missing one other.
Rarity had gathered them all out near the Pokemon House since this plan involved something gigantic.
"Where's Twilight?" Rarity asked.
"Sorry. I couldn't get her. She wants some more time alone." Starlight replied.
"Oh...well...I'm sure we can get her eventually. This surprise will last for many hours after all."
"Why did you bring us all here? And what is that?" Rainbow Dash and the others were gazing at a huge piece of cloth that seemed to be hiding something.
"Glad you asked, Rainbow Dash! And glad to see you're slightly energized today!" Rarity went up to Rainbow, holding her face. "Let's raise that up the energy, shall we? Spike. Pull the cloth."
"Got it." Spike placed his little baby dragon claws on the cloth, unravelling the plan to their eyes. What the plan had been revealed to be was an amalgamation of everything that everypony loves and adores. Similar to what Pinkie Pie did when Maud came for a visit.
Only this one went a step further. It could be identified as art in a bizarre way. Instead of it being some sort of odd obstacle course, it seemed to be an unholy contraption that an old-time gadgeteer would make. Clearly, Rarity had stepped out of her usual talent zone and attempted something she's never tackled before. Gadgets. And it shows since it looks like it could fall apart any moment, even if someone breathed on it.
"Behold! The Friendship Novelty!" Rarity introduced. "An amalgamation of everything that we each love and adore timesed by a million. This time with the inclusion of Pokemon to boot. This gadget will showcase everything we love and have loved from the past and present! It'll be better explained once I show you!"
And what about this Friendship Novelty? Well, to start off, the one thing that stands out is that huge screen with a projector near it, meaning the showcase will be shown there. Aside from that, you have a plethora of Pokeballs, mostly Rarityballs that were stacked up to the side of the screen. And alongside these Rarityballs were some of the Pokemon from the Pokemon House.
The Pokemon here consisted of Eevee, Karrablast, Ledian, Electrike and a Mienfoo.
"I see you've spotted the Pokemon and Rarityballs?" Rarity went over to the side. "This is exclusively for you Rainbow Dash. I know that you're determined to reach the league, emerging as the champion and first of Equestria. So, why not have some extra Pokemon on your team? I hoof-picked these since they match your exuberant personality. This Eevee here is fairly bold along with this Karrablast and these three over here...well they seem strong so they're perfect for your team."
"Uhh..." Rainbow Dash took a moment to process this. She wasn't even paying attention to the Pokemon. It was mostly the appearance of the gadget that caught her attention.
"And here's one just for you, Applejack!" Rarity went over to Applejack's side. For her, it was an altered painting of her family. Rarity had gotten a Smeargle from the Pokemon House, ordering it to paint an exact copy of Applejack's family picture. The result was a rather radical one.
This Smeargle had taken liberties, having the Apple family stand in a flaming background with thunderbolts raining from above whilst they wore some fairly impressive scarves that you'd see old-school masked heroes wear. Not only that but their manes spiky. Equal to that of Ash's spiky hair even.
Rarity took a moment to examine it, noticing how intense it was in appearance. "I thought you were deciding on a simple style?"
"Smear..." Smeargle rubbed his head, looking away.
"No matter. Up next, Fluttershy. This wasn't too hard to decide on. The Pokemon each helped me with this. Even if they seemed rather strict about it." Rarity went over to Fluttershy's side. For her, it was essentially a tower of Pokemon. Many Pokemon were stacked on each other, attempting to keep their balance. Who knows how long they've been like this all night.
This tower was made for the sake of one thing. Showing off Pokemon moves in a tower-formation. It looked a bit unstable considering a majority of them were smaller Pokemon.
"Alright. Go." Rarity gave off the command to unleash the moves. And so they did. Each of the Pokemon being supported by Machamp unleashed various moves that were perfect for Pokemon contests. Rarity's Mareep had joined in by shooting up an Electro Ball. Water, Electric, Fire, and Grass moves were utilized for this along with the inclusion of some Fairy and Psychic moves since they bring out the colours even more.
The elements mixed together, attempting to form the shape of a pony. But they couldn't keep it up forever. Eventually, they'll tire out.
"Good! Keep that shape. Now. Pinkie Pie. This was a bit tricky, but with the help of Jade and your Slurpuff, I managed to find something that could work. If I were you, the best possible thing I could do is show off what we've been through as friends. Which is why we have this little thing." Rarity referred to the projector and the screen. "Play it."
"Sweetie Belle had turned on the projector, starting off the showcase. Since they didn't have footage or images of their past experiences since unfortunately, no one in the Pokemon world has thought of giving them a TV or recording cameras yet, the replacement actually came in the form of their Pokemon and pictures.
During the plan, Rarity had gathered up the Pokemon to portray the Mane 6, telling them how each event in their life went, causing the Pokemon to play it out. These were mostly humorous moments. The Pokemon were even voiced over by Rarity and the others, just for clarity.
The first one was when they recalled the time Rainbow Dash came flying through Golden Oak Library with Fluttershy attempting to give her best cheering voice. The replacement for Rainbow Dash ended up being Scootaloo who had been carried by a Pidgeotto to replicate that moment. As for Fluttershy, the Vulpix from Twilight's Pokemon lab ended up being the replacement. For Golden Oak Library, the CMC had banded together to replicate its appearance with cardboard. Very crumpled up cardboard.
It could've come out worse.
Next was the time they first interacted with the Pokemon World. When the two worlds first crossed over. For Rarity, she had her Leavanny be her Sewaddle replacements since that's what they all used to be. For everypony else, it ended up being horribly cut out cardboard drawings of them.
"Eeugh..." Rarity winced at the cardboard drawings, feeling as if she was about to throw up from just looking at them. "Next slide please, we'll come back to this later.
"Got it." Sweetie Belle nodded, attempting to flip to the next slide. Unfortunately, this is where things go horribly wrong. The Pokemon had finally tired themselves out and it was only a matter of time before one of them toppled the tower.
"H-H-Helioptile!" A Helioptile felt cold, unleashing a mighty sneeze. When it sneezed, The Generator Pokemon had ended up shocking all the Pokemon there. Its electricity had spread out, affecting the projector as well.
"Uh oh." Sweetie Belle gulped, backing away from the projector. The generated electricity from Helioptile's frills had short-circuited the projector, causing it to go haywire.
"Oh, dear." Rarity's eyes widened. "No need to worry! This can be solved fairly quickly." She dashed on over to the projector, attempting to fix it with her bare hooves. "Just gotta...shake this about." She picked up the projector, shaking it about like some sort of jar. That was a bad call since it gave her a shock, causing her mane to rise up.
The Pokemon tower had topped, causing the Pocket Monsters to fall over the screen, destroying it with their combined weight.
Along came Twilight who was actually passing by. She decided to take a breather outside, going for a short walk in Ponyville. Her walk caused her to spot the scenario before her.
"Come on..." Rarity kept shaking the projector aggressively whilst everything was coming down. The screen had managed to knock over the rest of the amalgamation gadget, creating a series of chaotic outcomes. The Rarityballs had all fallen down, spreading everywhere on the ground, the gadget had smoke coming out, indicating that it could explode at any moment.
"Uh, Rarity..." Fluttershy spoke.
"Don't worry! I've got it all under control." Rarity picked up the Pokeballs with her magic as she dropped the projector since she couldn't take another shock.
"I've gotcha!" Scootaloo ran over, holding up the falling family painting before it could break. Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to hold something that large. So as a result it almost crushed her. Luckily, Jade helped lift it up for her. The gadget was on the verge of exploding as flames came out of it, causing everypony to gasp in shock.
"Not good!" Twilight gasped, rushing over to the scene. She had used her magic to form a protective barrier, shielding Rarity, Scootaloo and Jade from the explosion of the screen. It was a great save since the barrier had also protected the Pokemon as well, preventing a potentially horrible result. The Pokemon were sent flying via the shockwave from the explosion, but thankfully, Ash, Audino and Leavanny managed the catch them.
The smoke had cleared with everypony and Pokemon alright. Still intact. Rarity had ducked, believing that she would've been hit by the explosion. Thankfully, she wasn't.
"Is everypony alright?" Twilight asked.
"I-I think so." Rarity breathed in and out.
"Rarity! What were you thinking when making this?!" Applejack asked.
"Well...I was just trying to...do my best to cheer you all up."
"And you all were in on this?" Rainbow Dash looked over to the others.
"Ehehehe...Whoops?" Sweetie Belle squeed, hiding behind Apple Bloom.
"Don't take it out on them." Rarity spoke. "I was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. I thought that I could come up with a way to reenergize you all after what happened in Manehattan."
"But did you have to build...this?" Rainbow Dash raised her hoof up at the now destroyed gadget.
"I tried to be like Pinkie Pie. That was an immediate mistake." Rarity lowered her head. She wasn't really an expert at cheering others up at all. "But I don't want to see any of you in the state you're in. It affects me as well."
"Rarity." Twilight walked up to them. "I understand it completely."
"You do?"
"Mhm. If I were in your hooves, I'd try doing the same. We're all shaken up after what happened yesterday. And we appreciate what you tried doing for us. Don't we girls?"
"Yeah. I mean...I'm not exactly thrilled at the moment." Rainbow Dash scratched her mane. "But...that showcase thing was kinda funny." She chuckled at how poorly made the showcase was.
"And what you did with the Pokemon was impressive. Having them all stand up in a tower formation with those moves are contest worthy." Fluttershy spoke.
"And that family painting. A bit wild but I enjoyed it." Applejack nodded.
"That was..." Pinkie Pie's drooped down mane rose back up to its puffy state. "Pretty hysterical at the end! I mean you all almost blew up but seeing the Pokemon fly about and you shaking the projector like a jar of jellybeans was great!" She squeed.
"You all...actually liked that mess?" Rarity uttered.
"Who cares about how sad we are if you're doing your very best to cheer us all up!" Pinkie bounced over to Rarity.
"Having you do all this for us is more than enough," said AJ.
"Wow. I suppose it wasn't a total failure. Does this mean your fear of Ghetsis has diminished?"
"Not really." Twilight turned around. "If anything, I'm more terrified of Ghetsis than I've ever been. We've never come across a threat like him before. Celestia was right. We should've stayed away from him."
"But it wasn't really our fault, was it? We didn't see it coming. Not one bit." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "And for once...I'm kinda scared of Ghetsis." She wasn't afraid to admit it.
"Same here." Pinkie admitted her fear along with Applejack. "And that Ultra Beast thing didn't help at all."
"You guys met Ultra Beasts?!" Ash turned to them.
"Pika?"
"Mhm. A pretty vicious one too." Twilight nodded. "We were completely overpowered by it."
"Espeon." Eve went up to her trainer, attempting to comfort her.
"And to be honest...I don't think we'll be able to defeat Ghetsis." Twilight sighed.
"Don't say that!" Rarity ran over to Twilight. "You've had your doubts Twilight. At times, you've been unsure of a situation that you believed was impossible to overcome. But you've done it time and time again. Even if you all lost, you can learn from this. Whenever I fail at something, I just do my best to improve. If I just gave up there, how would I be able to know if I can overcome it."
"Rarity's right," Ash commented. "I don't know what happened at Manehattan. But I'm sure that I can help you all improve as trainers even more. Your Pokemon want to protect you, right?" Ash kneeled down at Twilight's Espeon, petting her head.
"Esp."
"You guys are still new to Pokemon and there's a lot to discover and experience. But I'll be here to help you through. Sorry that I couldn't be there to help at Manehattan. But I can definitely train you all even more."
"Pikachu!"
"But how are we sure that'll be any better? You've got 24 years of experience Ash. We're still rookies." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"I was like you guys once. I remember starting out my Pokemon Journey. I had no idea what I was doing at all. I kept on tripping and making mistakes along the way. But eventually, I got better. I made new friends along the way and I got the greatest buddy I could ever ask for."
"Pika!"
"You don't have to face these hardships alone." Rarity said. "I'll be here for all of you. And maybe...we may not fully understand this whole Pokemon thing. And we might not even be able to hold a candle to Team Plasma the next time we meet. We might not even improve that much as trainers. But as long as I have all of you by my side. Even my family, who cares about all of that?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Applejack smiled, giving Rarity and Apple Bloom a hug. Soon, they all gathered around for a group hug. That's all Rarity and Ash had to say to raise their spirits back up to the fullest.
"Now. Who wants to get stronger?" Ash asked.
"Me! For sure!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"I don't know about you but I've got my own way of getting stronger." Rainbow Dash scoffed. "But...I could use the extra help."
The group had all set their sights on improving themselves immediately. Despite them being back to full spirit, the fear of Team Plasma and Ghetsis was now apart of them. However, with them being together, those fears are quickly taken away, even if for just a bit. There's no doubt the next time they encounter Team Plasma, it'll be a situation that will cause them to tremble in fear. But they've all made sure that next time, they'll be prepared as the journey continues.
Chapter 194 End.