My little Powerpuff: Teamwork is Magic
Written by: PrinceofBrony
Chapter 7
Meeting Royalty
“This is so amazing! I really can't believe that we're going to meet a Pony Princess!” Bubbles squealed in excitement.
"I know," Blossom replied."After all, it's not that often that you get to meet real-life royalty!"
Buttercup just scoffed."Whatever, so long as she's not one of those snooty types. ... This Celestia chick isn't like that... right?"
“Princess Celestia isn't like that at all,” Twilight defended, giving Buttercup a bit of an annoyed look."She is one of the most humble and nicest ponies you'll ever find.”
“Sounds boring. But, I prefer boring to snooty, so whatever."
“Now, Buttercup, I want you to be on your very best behavior. After all, Princess Celestia might be our best way of getting back to Townsville, so it wouldn't do to aggravate her. Understand?" Utonium said.
"Yeah yeah, so long as she doesn't try to pull any funny business," Buttercup replied.
The Mane Six and their new friends were currently riding on a Pegasus driven chariot all the way to Canterlot. Along the way, Bubbles was enjoying the scenery. So many colorful buildings and landscapes and clouds! While she loved living in Townsville, it really didn't hold a candle compared to this fantastical place. Silently, she hoped that it would take a while before they captured Mojo, just so that they could stay in this wonderful world for that much longer. On the other hand, the longer they took to apprehend Mojo, the more likely that the simian genius would be able to cause harm to it, and that was the last thing that Bubbles wanted to happen. Needless to say, she was quite torn.
"Ah, yeah! I could see the castle from here. We're almost there!" Rainbow Dash said.
Indeed, the castle was fast approaching, and all of the Powerpuff Girls (even Buttercup) were in awe of its beauty. With its pearly white texture and impressive tallness (not to mention all of the Royal Pegasus guards) it seemed like something out of a fairytale.
"We have arrived at her Majesty's Royal abode. I trust that you'll be on your very best behavior while in her presence." One of the Pegasus guards said.
Almost instantly, everyone on the Powerpuff side gave a stern glare to the Mayor.
“... What?” Mayor said.
The stern glares just got stronger.
"Okay okay, I won't do anything stupid... Or at least, I'll try. I make no promises!" Mayor huffed.
Sarah Bellum facehooved while the professor and the girls just shook their heads. “I'll make sure he doesn't do anything,” she sighed.
“Hmmm... This does not bode well...” Celestia said to herself, and for good reason. After all, it had been so long since her magic had sensed a non-pony entering Equestria through non-normal means.
After both she and her sister Princess Luna had managed to defeat Discord all those years ago, they had both agreed to set up a precautionary spell together, one that only both they and their closest confidants knew about. Said spell would transform anyone who wasn't native to the land of Equestria into a pony, just so that they would be easier to take down, if they had any malicious intentions. The spell was easy enough to reverse if the being in question proved to be friendly, so she had never felt guilt for putting it up.
The problem here, though, was that she had felt said spell... failing. And the only way that could happen is if whatever came to the world of Equestria had significant strength. So it was understandable that, when she first felt this strength, she had a platoon of guards immediately check on Discord's statue. Sure, the spell wouldn't affect him since he already was in Equestria before hand, but calling something that would be strong enough to resist said spell would be right up Discord's alley. Luckily, it wasn't Discord, but in a way that just made her more nervous. If it had been the lord of chaos, then at least she would know what she was dealing with.
Fortunately, the Royal guard that she had stationed in front of the gate to Ponyville was lucky enough to have the possible invaders walk right up to them. And seeing as they had agreed to come meet with her without a fight, she had a good feeling that these strangers would have nothing but good intentions. Still, it didn't hurt to have the Elements of Harmony close at hoof just in case.
She wished that her sister could greet these newcomers as well, but she didn't want to disturb her rest. Luna was rather grouchy if she was woken up early. As she mused on that however, a voice broke her concentration.
“Princess Celestia!”
Celestia looked down to see none other than the captain of the guards, Twilight Sparkle's older brother, Shining Armor. With a little giggle, she said, “there's no need for you to bow like that, Captain Shining. After all, any family of Twilight Sparkle's is welcome to address me in a more friendly way.”
“I understand, Princess. But I respect you far too much to simply call you 'Celestia',” Shining said, still bowing.
Celestia sighed good-naturedly. “Must I really order you to relax around me, Shining?”
Shining glanced up at her with a smile on his face."If that is what you wish, my lady.”
Celestia just sighed, shaking her head. “Very well, I won't stop you if you want to be so formal all the time. I trust that you have news about our... surprise guests?”
Shining nodded. “Yes, your Majesty. They arrived just now, along with Twilight and the rest of the Elements.”
“That's good news. It seems as though we've managed to gather our mystery group without a fight.” Celestia said. “And I know that you must be excited to see your little sister again after so long, Shining."
Shining nodded. “You're right about that Princess Celestia. It's been so long since I last saw her. I just hope she managed to make a lot of friends while she was in Ponyville.”
Celestia gave off a modest giggle at that. “Oh, don't worry I'm sure that you'll appreciate the new friends that she has made.”
Before Shining could respond, however, one of the Royal Pegasus guards trotted into the room, bowing before Celestia and his captain. “Many apologies, Capt. and Princess Celestia. I just wanted to inform you that our guests are ready to speak with you.”
Celestia nodded. “Very well. Send them in. Afterward, I want as many guards as possible posted right outside this door. It's better to be safe than sorry, after all.”
The Pegasus guard saluted her. “By your command, Princess.” He left the room shortly after, in order to bring the mystery guests.
It only took him a few seconds to come back with the strangest group that Celestia had ever witnessed, which, having lived for thousands of years was rather surprising. Leading the group was all six Elements of Harmony, but right behind them were two unfamiliar ponies that she hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet. But the four beings right next to them were unlike anything Celestia had ever seen.
To her, the one that was even taller than she was looked sort of like a white primate, with hands instead of hooves. Except instead of fur, the reason for his blinding whiteness was because he was wearing a suit of that color. But the three strange beings floating right next to him was what really caught her attention. They were each dressed in simple dresses with black stripes going over them, and unlike the tall being next to them, they didn't have any fingers. In fact, their hands looked closer to a ponies hooves then they did to hands, though they didn't look anything like ponies.
“BBBFF!” Twilight shouted in happiness once she saw her older brother. She bounded off towards him, and gripped him in a hug, which her brother happily returned. “It's so good to see you again!”
“It's good to see you too, Twily.” Shining replied. After letting go of Twilight, he took a closer look at her new friends. “I see that you've made some friends while you were away. I'm afraid that introductions will have to be made later, though.”
“Of course,” Twilight replied, still beaming. She looked towards Celestia before bowing down low. “We are here as you have requested, Princess, and we brought our mystery friends with us.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” Celestia replied, before turning her attention to the guests. “Greetings. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. May I have the honor of knowing your names?”
“The honor shall be ours,” Prof. Utonium replied, following Twilight's example and bowing down. “My name is Utonium, Prof. Utonium. And the three floating beside me are my daughters, Blossom...”
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess.” Blossom said, doing a little bow of her own.
“Bubbles...”
“It's so great to meet you, Princess Celestia,” Bubbles giggled, doing a curtsy.
“And Buttercup.”
“Yeah, nice to meet you, I guess.” Buttercup shrugged, sounding bored.
Celestia raised an eyebrow at the rather flippant way that the strange being had greeted her, while Bubbles (closest to Buttercup) gave her a discreet punch to the arm along with a hidden glare. Buttercup just glared right back.
“It's nice to meet you as well,” Celestia replied, not really minding Buttercup's tone in the least. To be honest, it had been far too long since anyone, even her sister, had been so casual with the way they spoke to her. It was...refreshing in a way. “Now then, I believe that you had something to do with the strange black hole that appeared a time ago. Care to explain what that was about?”
“Well, as we explained to your guards, we were in the middle of battling a very dangerous criminal back in our world that goes by the name of Mojo Jojo, an evil simian genius that desires to rule the entire world. His latest machine in the form of a robotic dragon nearly did us in while he used Miss Bellum and The Mayor as hostages, but our father saved us as the last minute,” Blossom explained. “Unfortunately, a powerful crystal that Mojo had created was destroyed in the process, and its shattered remains opened up the black hole that you witnessed. It sent most of us close to the village you call Ponyville, but we punched Mojo and his partner, Princess, away so that we could help the aforementioned hostages.”
“We saw that part, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said. “The other object we saw in the sky was launched towards the Everfree Forest.”
“That is troubling...” Celestia said with a thoughtful look on her face. “Even if this Mojo is as bad a criminal as you say, no one should have to contend with the Everfree Forest alone.”
“Pardon me, your majesty, but just what is this Everfree Forest?” Bubbles asked. “I mean, with the word 'Free' in the title, how bad could it be?”
“What's bad about it?!” Rainbow Dash said incredulously. “That place just isn't natural! The animals take care of themselves, the clouds above it can't be moved by any Pegasus...”
“Not to mention that the animals themselves are very dangerous,” Rarity said.
“There's all sorts of dangerous critters lurkin in them woods. Hydras, Manticores, Timberwolves...” Applejack said, trembling a little at the thought of them.
“But the scariest of them all has to be the Ursa Major!” Pinkie said. “It's been said that it's even bigger than this very castle!”
Fluttershy didn't say anything. She was too busy shaking in fear at the mention of all the vicious creatures.
“That does sound rather bad...” Utonium said, filing away that fact that weather apparently didn't work the same way it did back in his world. “Girls, do you think that you're in good enough shape to take these things on if needed while we search for Mojo in the forest?”
“Are you kidding? These things sound lame compared to some of the things we've fought before. It'll be a piece of cake!” Buttercup snorted, pounding her fists together...only to wince a bit at the pain that came from it.
“Don't act tough, Buttercup. As much as I hate to admit it, Mojo did a number on us pretty good this time. We'll need at least a day to recover before we try to go after him,” Blossom chided.
“Fine by me! I want to explore this place more, anyway!” Bubbles cheered.
“Ya sure? Knowing Mojo, he's probably already cooking up another scheme right now. It's better if we go find him now before he tries to pull it off! Besides, without his precious machines, we can take him out easy!” Buttercup protested.
“That's just it. Mojo doesn't have any of his machines, and it's very unlikely that he'll be able to repair that Robo-Dragon without access to his lab. He's mostly harmless, but since he always carries around a spare laser gun, he'll be fine until we can take him into custody. We should always take a chance to rest, so that we'll be at our best,” Blossom said. “Better safe than sorry!”
“If you'd like, you may rest in the castle later tonight,” Celestia offered. “I can see that you are no threat to my little ponies, so I humbly welcome you to Equestria.”
“Thank you, your majesty,” Utonium said, bowing once more.
Celestia waved a forehoof towards Utonium, a smile on her face. “You don't have to call me that. After all, Equestria isn't your homeland, if your story is correct. Please feel free to just call me Celestia.”
She looked around the whole room. “That offer extends to all of you as well, especially you, Twilight. I'd say you've more than earned it for being such a good student over the years.”
“I-If you say so...Celestia,” Twilight stammered, a smile and blush on her face from the praise the Princess gave her.
“Whelp, that's all settled!” Pinkie Pie said with a large grin on her face. “Now we can move on to more important things...like having a welcome to Equestria party for our newest friends!”
“Shoot, if the Princess says that they're good folk, than I cain't righty argue with that!” Applejack declared, tipping her hat to the P.P.G and company. “I'll be more'n happy to cater that party. Ya ain't lived till you've tried a baked good from the Apple Family!”
'Once we get back to Ponyville, you all simply must come to my boutique. I'll be able to fix the damage that was done to your clothes easily. And speaking of your clothes, they look rather nice! Plain, but that somehow works for them.” Rarity complimented, much to Bubbles' delight.
“I...I can help heal your wounds for you at my cottage...um, if that's okay...” Fluttershy mumbled quietly.
“And I'll show little miss hotshot here the course for the race we'll have tomorrow,” Rainbow Dash said, smirking Buttercup's way, who simply returned it.
“That leaves me to give the grand tour of Ponyville when we return,” Twilight said, clapping her hooves together excitedly. “I won't let you down, Princess!”
Celestia sighed inwardly at Twilight calling her Princess still, but gave a smile all the same. “Very well. I'm counting on you, faithful student. Now, it'll take a few minutes to get the return chariot ready, so you may feel free to...”
“Pardon me, Celestia, but that won't be necessary. We can simply fly back to Ponyville quicker,” Blossom said polietly.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Are you quite sure? With the exception of Rainbow Dash, it takes quite a bit of time to fly all the way to Ponyville from here.” Dash puffed out her chest proudly at that.
“Eh, we'll be fine,” Buttercup said. “In fact...why don't we make this interesting? Me and the other girls can carry these ponies with us while we fly back. Bubbles and Blossom can carry two of them, while the Professor carries Miss Bellum. But me and Rainbow Dash will each carry one pony ourselves, and have a little warm up race with the extra weight to feel each other out.”
“That sounds rather dangerous, if you ask me,” Rarity sniffed.
“I think it sounds like fun!” Pinkie cheered. “You can carry me, Dashie!”
“Count me in on this action! Buttercup can carry me!” The Mayor said, matching Pinkie's cheerfulness.
“You don't have to worry about the girls dropping you. They may not look like it, but they're most likely strong enough to lift this entire castle by themselves!” Utonium reassured them.
“Pfft, I'll believe it when I see it. But fine, you're on!” Dash declared, lifting Pinkie up and tossing her onto her back, who giggled. “Hold on tight, Pinks. I'm gonna show this chick just who the fastest really is!”
“Oki dokie lokie!” Pinkie declared, giving a goofy salute before wrapping her forehooves around Dash's neck.
“Heh, we'll see about that!” Buttercup sneered, throwing The Mayor unto her own back. “The race starts...NOW!”
With those words, the two toughest of each group zoomed out of the closest window, each leaving behind a trail of green and rainbow, and the laughter of the carefree ponies riding atop them.
“Well, we better get going as well. We'll come back later, Princess! See you later, Shiny!” Twilight waved to each of them, as the remaining Powerpuff Girls and Utonium each picked up their own ponies. Bubbles carried both Rarity and a reluctant Fluttershy, Blossom had both Twilight and Applejack, and Utonium lifted Miss Bellum in his arms. After a quick series of goodbyes, they all zoomed out of the window after Rainbow Dash and Buttercup.
“Well, they seemed good enough,” Shining Armor said.
“Indeed. Let's us hope that they are able to put a stop to this Mojo Jojo's plans if they were telling the truth about him,” Celestia replied. She then gave a sly smile to Shining. “You may return to your Bride-to-be if you wish.”
Shining blushed at that, though still gained a smile on his face at thinking of Cadence. “Very well.”