Keep Calm and Berry On is the 11th episode of Season 4.
Summary[]
Lief and his friends are given a task by Princess Marillia to reform Dain. However, Strawberry Shortcake is the only one willing to give him a chance.
Plot[]
In a field just outside Hub City, the Hub Squad members are awaiting the arrival of Princess Marillia; Betty even got her nails shined for the occasion. Lief wonders why the princess is taking so long and notes Sabrina and Strawberry's absence, to which Robbie explains that Strawberry is assisting Sabrina with a "mishap in the Witch World" and assures they'll both be along shortly. Lief points out that the princess' being late could be due to the presence of an important visitor, and she and her friends speculate who it could be. Jasmine gasps at something off-screen: something that looks like "a body of the dead Ol king". Lief quickly deduces that she's describing Dain, and he and Robbie brush off the notion. But as they turn around they are shocked by what Princess Marillia has with her.
Lief unintentionally snaps at Marillia for bringing Dain to Hub City; his friends each have their own reservations about this as well. The princess understands the risks and explains that she has a use for Dain if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil, and entrusts Lief and his friends with that very task. Lief is still unsure but supposes that, should things get out of hand, the Elements of Teamwork could be used to bring Dain to back to life. As a precaution, Princess Marillia has even charmed the Elements to be immune to Dain's trickery. Marillia then asks where Strawberry is, believing her to know best how to begin reforming the king of the Ols.
In the Witch World, Strawberry is settling a dispute between the witches and an angry goblin; the sack of a potatoes has been so overloaded that it blocked the door to the school. The goblin, a "Mr. Goblin", agrees to pick up the potatoes and move the sack, but only once Sabrina apologizes for calling him a "nuisance". Sabrina then shouts that he's lucky that she didn't call him a jerk. The goblin responds with some very unkind words that Strawberry feels best left untranslated, and then gives Sabrina a glare. After some pride-swallowing, Sabrina agrees, but Strawberry quickly reminds her to not retaliate when the goblin blows a raspberry as a parting shot. Examining the potato pile, the goblin picks up every potato until the entrance to the school was clear. Sabrina thanks Strawberry for her help before SheZow appears to retrieve the two "slackers".
At first, Strawberry is hesitant to accept such a task as great as reforming Dain, but Marillia's trust in her gives Strawberry some confidence. The princess takes her leave for her castle and leaves the rest to Lief and his friends. They harness the power of the Elements of Teamwork to bring Dain back to life, and upon forming back from his Ol body to his human body, Dain wastes no time in transforming nearby, playing it off as stretching. He reveals that he was consciously aware during his death and laughs off the idea of being reformed, especially the Hub Squad's faith in Strawberry. But Lief makes clear the conditions of Dain's life: behave, or it's back to being dead like his other Ol friends. Dain relents to these conditions, but not before entrancing a goblin who seem to have followed Sabrina, Guy, and Strawberry from the Witch World behind the friends' backs, and resigns himself to crashing at Strawberry's cafe for the duration of his rehabilitation.
Strawberry tidies up around the cafe and prepares tea to make it hospitable for her new house guest. Pupcake and Custard immediately expresses resentment toward Dain's presence. Despite the kitten's and puppy's grumbling and the disapproving glares of Strawberry's friends, Dain has quickly made himself comfortable. None of the Hub Squad members (except Strawberry) believe a word he says to defend himself and take their leave of the cafe. Lief speaks with Strawberry one last time before leaving: Strawberry believes the key to reforming Dain is to become his friend. Lief has his doubts, but otherwise trusts in Strawberry's judgment and assures that he and the others will be ready with the Elements if they're needed outside.
Dennis convinces the others that they'll need a backup plan if (and when) Strawberry's plan of befriending Dain doesn't work, and Lief has just the plan in mind.
After briefly addressing Dain's act of eating salad that looks kind of like paper, Strawberry excuses herself from the cafe to buy some more foods and beverages at Orange Blossom's store and tells him to make himself at home. Once she's left, Dain reveals to Pupcake and Custard that he's indeed deceiving Strawberry and relishes in this fact, all while harassing and frightening the poor puppy and kitty. Meanwhile, at the castle, Lief looks through book after book in search of a reforming spell, but he finds that all the pages pertaining to such a spell have been torn out, which explains the paper Dain was eating earlier.
Strawberry returns home with her groceries to find that her cafe is being invaded by Ols, but having told Dain to make himself at home, she allows it as long as it makes him comfortable. Dain comments on Strawberry's boundless kindness, regards the rest of her friends as "nasty" and tricks her into thinking her efforts at reforming him are beginning to work. Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Filli, and Kree arrive, and Strawberry tells them that they're making progress. Naturally, the five are skeptical. When they inform her that all the reforming spells in the library were torn out, Strawberry mentions Dain's earlier salad paper-eating (to Lief's absolute horror) but says that there's no need for such a spell. To prove this, she tells Lief to bring their friends to the cafe that evening for a dinner party.
Lief, Barda, Jasmine, Filli, and Kree arrive at the cafe with the rest of the Hub Squad members, still wearing the Elements of Teamwork. Dain greets them at the door and welcomes them inside. In contrast to how it appeared earlier, the inside of the cafe is decorated lavishly and no Ols are attacking in it, with a large dinner table, cushions, and a chandelier. Lief instructs his friends to not let their guards down.
The dinner party goes about as well as one would expect a dinner party hosted by Strawberry would: pink and red kitchen and tableware with strawberry designs. Komodo has reached his limit and outs Dain as the mischief maker he is and always will be. Strawberry calls out her friends for not giving Dain a chance; when asked why she was going to such lengths, she says it's because that's what friends do.
The idea of being Strawberry's friend makes Dain pause; he's never had a true friend before. Then Pupcake and Custard suddenly bursts in and, through a bout of charades, informs the Hub Squad team that Berry Bitty City is being attacked by Ols. Twilight points to Dain as the cause, and she and her friends leave to see to it, leaving him and Strawberry behind.
Berry Bitty City is completely invaded by Ols by the time Lief and the others arrive; Mr. Longface, Orange Blossom, and Huckleberry Pie are swatting away Ols with brooms, and the goblins that Dain entranced earlier have dumped more sacks of potatoes across all the streets around the city. Strawberry attempts to talk to the goblins but with no success. Guy, who is transformed into SheZow, asks if he knows this is all Dain's work, but she retorts that of course she's known all along: do they take her to be a silly, gullible fool? Her entire aim is to befriend him any way she can, so he in turn would come to trust and listen to her. As is his way, Dain revels in the chaos that he's created. Deciding that now is the time to see if she was right, Strawberry tells him to fix it, and Dain agrees to comply - on the condition that Strawberry never use the Element of Love against him, as a "sign of [their] friendship". Much to her friends' shock, Strawberry agrees.
Instead of keeping to his word, Dain sends over more Ols, believing he's won. Strawberry becomes visibly angry by this deception, but she abides by her promise not to use the Element of Love, accepting a pendent he gave to Jasmine but she gave it back to him after finding out that he was a spy of the Shadow Lord. Dain wallows in his apparent victory, taking advantage of Strawberry's friendship, and his freedom before Strawberry announces she is not Dain's friend, throwing the pendent down and away. Dain shrugs off her anger, taunting over her as she walks away. He asks if she truly believed that she could "boss him around" as he puts it, do what she asked because he asked, or that he even cares that he'll lose his first and only friend.
But then, Dain has an epiphany: as he looks over at the abandoned pendent he gave her, he finally understands the consequences of his actions - and realizes that he actually does value her friendship. Feeling ashamed and with his eyes welling up with tears, Dain orders all the Ols to leave and Berry Bitty City returns to normal.
Dain comes before the returned Princess Marillia and with a bow, officially announces to her that he's willing to become good and serve her instead of the Shadow Lord from now on, adding a glum "most of the time" under his breath. Marillia congratulates the Hub Squad on a job well done, but she leaves the Elements of Teamwork with Lief just in case. Lief comments on how the princess was right about Strawberry all along: that she would be the one to find a way to reform Dain. Treating Dain as a friend made him realize how important friendship was to him, and once he had it, he didn't want to lose it. After some encouragement from his friend, Dain states (very quickly) "Friendship and teamwork are magic." Strawberry claims that Dain can be a real sweetheart underneath. However, the others give expressions of uncertainty.
Characters shown in this episode[]
- Lief
- Dennis
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Betty Barrett
- Robbie Shippton
- Lucky
- Yawp
- Dander
- Twilight Sparkle
- Buster Bunny
- Wakko Warner
- Blythe Baxter
- Guy Hamdon
- Komodo
- Sabrina
- Dain
- Pupcake
- Custard
- Orange Blossom
- Plum Pudding
- Lemon Meringue
- Blueberry Muffin
- Cherry Jam
- Huckleberry Pie
- Mr. Longface
- Princess Marillia
Songs Included[]
"Inside Hearts"
Vocals: Strawberry Shortcake
Featured when Strawberry tries to convince the squad about Dain.
"Inside Hearts Reprise"
Vocals: Dain
Featured at the last scene of the episode.