//------------------------------// // New Friends // Story: Celestia's Rocket Adventures // by Snake Staff //------------------------------//             “You know,” Luna said, looking idly at one of her hooves, “where I come from it is considered rather uncouth to ambush royalty, and then declare that you will ‘beat you to a twitching moaning pulp’ for and I quote ‘smelling funny’.” She looked down. “Is any of this getting through to you?”             The twitching, moaning pulp of a Fearow let out a small wheeze.             “Yes, I see what you mean.” The princess nodded. “I am certain it has occurred to you by now that as the undisputed victim of this circumstance and the beating heart at the codes of law, that I have a number of means I might pursue justice for your unprovoked assault of my royal personage? It would be well within my rights to see you imprisoned for your crimes, or perhaps strip you of your valued plumage.”             The beaten bird Pokemon coughed weakly.             “Yet, as you say, it is also within my prerogative to exercise mercy, for I am not a benevolent dictator? It is thus that I hereby pass sentence of community service. To wit: you will serve the Equestrian community by aiding me, its ruler and representative, in my quest.”             Then came a twitch and a low groan.             Luna sighed. “To put it less formally, tell me where I can find a decent meal, something to drink, and some directions around here and I won’t leave you lying on this forest floor in your current semi-gelatinous state.”             Fearow sneezed.             “I thought you’d see it my way.”             Many miles distant, as the pale moon rose high overhead, Ash was picking up a new Poke Ball freshly emerged from a machine. He looked down at the unassuming red and white sphere, indistinguishable from any other of its countless kind, and smiled.             “Well here she is, Pikachu,” Ash said to the little yellow Pokemon by his ankle, “our newest friend.”             “Hopefully some time to think things out in her ball calmed her down a little,” said Professor Oak through the nearby video phone.             “You can say that again,” muttered Pikachu, the only one privy to the contents of her rant.             “Alright.” Ash pushed the white button to enlarge the ball. “Enough standing around, come on out and say hi!”             He tossed the Poke Ball casually into the air and in an instant it exploded into the all too familiar silver light. Pikachu watched, nose and ears twitching, as the newcomer took shape in front of him. As she stretched her wings he sized her up – he hadn’t really had a chance to before, what with the Houndoom and later her confused ranting into the video camera. The purple Ponyta-like creature was shorter than the white one with Team Rocket. That one’s face came up to James’ head, whereas this one only reached Ash’s chest. She was a little stubbier, her legs and neck noticeably less elongated. And her hair wasn’t flowing like the other ones’. Pikachu sniffed.             Smelled alright, though.             “Hey there, Twilight,” Ash said cheerfully, as she turned around to face them. “I’m Ash, and this is my buddy Pikachu!”             “Hi!” Pikachu waved one stubby arm.             “Pleased to finally meet ya!”             For her part, the newcomer was looking Ash up and down, a curious but neutral expression on her face. After a moment, she returned the smile.             “Likewise. You’re the ones I have to thank for saving me back in the forest, right?”             “Well it wasn’t just us,” Pikachu explained, scratching the back of his head. “But we did a lot of the work, yeah.”             “Well then, uh… thanks.” Twilight tapped her two front hooves together a bit nervously. “I – ahem – don’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but…”             “Aw come on, no need to be shy,” Ash interjected, bending over to get closer to eye level. “We’re all friends here!”             “Well… okay…” Twilight chuckled a little. “If you insist…”             Absolutely without warning, Pikachu found himself with a face full of wide-eyed purple.             “WHEREISPRINCESSCELESTIA?!”             “Gah!” Pikachu jumped, stumbling over backwards and barely resisting the instinct to shock whatever startled him. He almost fell over, but a hand caught his back at the last second.             “I gotcha, buddy.”             “Thanks.” Pikachu nodded, using his trainer’s arm to steady himself before turning back to look at Twilight. She was breathing heavily, a look of barely-restraining panic on her face. Pikachu backed up a step.             “Now… didn’t mean to startle you there… friend…” Twilight’s eyelid twitched. “But I gotta know… your trainer there said you’ve seen a white, rainbow-maned alicorn, right?”             “Alicorn?” Pikachu cocked his head.             Twilight gestured at her own body, never removing her unblinking stare from Pikachu.             “Ummm… yes?”             “And Professor Oak says that you’re always out of your ball, yes?”             “That’s right.” Pikachu nodded with more than a little pride.             “So you gotta know… WHERE IS SHE?!” Twilight’s voice went from a twitchy whisper to shouting without the slightest indicator. “WHERE IS PRINCESS CELESTIA?! IF YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS I NEED TO FIND HER YESTERDAY!”             “Whoa, easy there.” Ash waved his hands for calm. “I know this is probably still weird for you but just try to stay cool, okay?”             Twilight completely ignored him, breathing heavily in a manner that uncomfortably reminded Pikachu of his few experiences with horror films. He backed up another few steps.             “Y-Yeah,” he managed. “We saw her twice.”             “And where… was she then?”             “With T-Team Rocket,” Pikachu managed, uncomfortable visions of himself as a hat dancing before his eyes. “Poke Ball Factory, a-around a week ago.”             “And… who… is…” she continued, sucking a deep breath between every world, “Team… Rocket?”             “J-Jessie, James, and Meowth. They’re a b-band of Pokemon thieves.”             “MY MENTOR HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED BY CRIMINALS?!!!” Twilight shrieked at the top of her lungs, bowling Ash and Pikachu over with the sheer force of it. “THE PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA IS A HOSTAGE?! AND YOU LET IT HAPPEN?!”             “Hostage?!” Pikachu sat up, a new, fiercer look on his face. “She’s not a hostage! She’s an accomplice!”             Twilight froze in place, all previous fear and noise gone. The building around the three became deathly quiet. Pikachu suddenly realized that Oak’s face was gone from the video. And if it wasn’t just his imagination, the lights had gone down. And the wind had picked up. And the crazy purple Pokemon princess was advancing towards him.             “Are. You. Truly.” She took one step forward with each word, hooves suddenly. “Accusing. The. Loving. Kind. Wise. Wonderful. Brilliant. Incomparable. Omnibenevolent. Perfect. Shining star of Equestria OF BEING IN LEAGUE WITH CRIMINALS?!” She towered above Pikachu, a black and purple mass absorbing all light.             “Accuse nothing!” Pikachu found his courage, pointing up at her. “I saw her fighting for Team Rocket with my own eyes! She attacked me and Ash on their orders!” He rubbed his head. “Packed quite a wallop too.”             Twilight stood there, frozen in place. Second ticked by, neither human nor Pokemon daring to speak a word between them, barely even daring to take the shallowest breaths. Pikachu felt sweat trickling down the back of his neck.             “Omygosh!” Just as suddenly, the spell was broken. “Omygosh omygosh omygosh!” Tears were welling up in Twilight’s eyes. She hopped up and down on all four hooves. “What have they done to her?!”             “Pardon?” Pikachu cocked his head.             Twilight had already turned away from him. “What could those fiends have possibly done to Princess Celestia?” Twilight muttered as she walked away towards the entrance. “How could anypony in the world, anyone in the all multiverse ever come up with something fiendish enough to turn Sol Invictus to darkness? This Team Rocket must be the most wicked group of devils that ever lived, if they could even begin to do that to her!” “Uh, I don’t…” Pikachu began, but the princess wasn’t listening. “They must have taken her while she was weak, burned her with the flames of those devil-dogs and shocked her with the strength of ten thousand thunderclouds to have even the faintest hope of scratching her will, her inner strength! They must have needed to invent new words just to describe the levels of pain they had to have inflicted on her!” “Team Rocket doesn’t really-” “But even that surely can’t compare to levels of intelligence and charisma they must have! Raw pain couldn’t hope to do the job alone, they must be the world’s foremost experts in psychological warfare and mind control to crack her mental defenses and usurp her will! All the manipulations of Starlight Glimmer herself would be as the mildest breeze compared to their raging hurricane of cunning and trickery!” Pikachu sweat-dropped. “Listen, you really need to-” “Crueler than Discord! More devious than Chrysalis! More powerful than Tirek!” Tears were now running down Twilight’s cheeks. “They have to be the most terrifying, brilliant, unconquerable band of villains in this universe! In all the universes put together!” “Uuuuh…” Pikachu looked pleadingly up at Ash, who simply shook his head. “Against such darkness, how can we stand?!” Twilight bumped into the wall but didn’t seem to notice. “HOW CAN WE STAND?!!!” The alicorn princess banged her head into the wall and, for several seconds, simply wept. Ash and Pikachu just stared.             Eventually, Twilight stared blurry-eyed out the window into the starry skies above. “Who kn-knows what kind of h-horrible tortures they could be inflicting even now?” she sobbed.             Jessie and James smiled to each other as they slowly pulled their pokers from the brilliant orange of their fire pit. Both raised twin long, thin metal stakes right up to their faces. They turned them about slowly, inspecting every inch of the red-hot steel with careful eyes. Seconds ticked by in tense anticipation. When at last the two hardened criminals were satisfied with their work, they gave each other a small, smirking nod. They turned to face their huddled Pokemon with wide grins on their faces, the red-orange fire lending the two a truly fiendish aspect.             “Alrighty everyone, the wait is over!” Jessie announced.             “They’re finally ready!” James added. “Now who wants s’mores?!”             “I do!” cheered Meowth, Pumpkaboo, Inkay, and Celestia as one. "Wobbuffet!"             “Great, that’s the attitude!” James put his hands on his hips, only just barely avoiding setting his pants on fire.             “Now who’s got the marshmellows?” Jessie asked.             “Right here!” Celestia psychically tossed the plastic bag out from its hiding place in her wings. Jessie caught it with her teeth. Somehow. “I kept them safe from the others!”             “Now let’s get this campout really started! S’mores and cowhorn biscuits, scarey stories and truth or dare!” James raised a fist, red-hot poker still clutched in it. “Who’s with me?!”             “WOOOOO!” cheered the Pokemon.