//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Friendship, magic and pokémon // by daniboyi //------------------------------// It only took two days before the news that Ash and Pinkie Pie was dating had spread through the entire town and through that time Ash had really began to fear for his own well being as it turned out Pinkie was a very famous and well liked pony through Ponyville and every time he wandered through town, some pony came over to him and warned about the things that could happen if he in any way harmed or hurt Pinkie. Other things that made him watch his back was the not so well hidden glares and looks of jealousy from a few of the stallions around the town, who too had a certain attraction to the Pink manned pony. It was not all stallions who was jealous of him of course and they were still friends to a degree even if he had received the warning that if he ever left Pinkie the others wouldn't feel ashamed of trying to at least ask her out. Ash had just smiled to them and said he hadn't planned of leaving her anytime soon, but he wouldn't keep her against her will for sure. This was one of those days where he received a couple of warning looks and he inwardly hoped he could find Pinkie as her presence reduced the looks and warning glares a lot as certain few ponies had learned the hard way that Pinkie was VERY protective about those she love and care for. It wasn't really a secret that it would take Daisy, who had tried to make some few moves on Ash, which he was obvious too, some time to get over her light fear of pink and fast moving objects. Ash inwardly smiled at the memory and looked at his friend Pikachu who walked next to him and asked "So where do you think Pinkie is?" The yellow rat looked at him with a knowing smile before standing up on two legs and made kissing faces, earning a playful scowl from Ash "Yeah yeah, just laugh while you can. I know for certain it won't be other than a few years before you come in age of mating and will looks out for a nice little female Pikachu yourself" Pikachu's reaction to that comeback was to blush furiously at the mention of mating and glare harshly at Ash and fire a light bolt of electricity against him, which he dodged with a laugh. "Come on buddy" He said with a smile as Pikachu turned his back on him with a light scowl "You know I was just teasing you. right?" Pikachu just huffed with a cheeky smile and jumped onto his back and laid down. "Knew there was a reason you always forgave me..." Muttered Ash, even though it was with a smile. The pokémon let out a faint "pika..." in agreement and smiled as he fell into a light sleep on his back. Ash just laughed and continued through town, looking for his loved one or some of his other friends. He looked up as he walked past the library and saw a familiar rainbow blur zooming above him with ridiculus speed and into the leaves of the library, Ash chuckled lightly and began to climb up into the leaves where he saw Rainbow Dash sitting and looking around, searching for someone. He chuckled and asked "What are you looking for Dash?" She jumped into the air in fright and when she landed again she looked at him annoyed and said "Ash! You surprised me! Anyway... I'm looking out for Pinkie Pie, she wants something of me and I don't really feel like meeting her today" Ash made a slight frown and asked "Why not?" She groaned and placed her hooves in her face as she said with a tired voice "I-I don't know really... It's just she has so much energy and I really can't stand her constant talking, no offense of course" She added quickly. Ash smiled to her and said "None taken. I admit that Pinkie have quite the energy level, maybe too much for the most, but that's what I like about her" She gave him a small smile in return and said "So what are you doing around here anyway?" "I was just looking for Pinkie, but then I noticed you flying in here and wanted to know why" He answered with a smirk. "HEYA!" A voice suddenly boomed behind them, making Rainbow Dash jump in fright once again and Ash's hearth to skip several beats. Rainbow Dash looked around in shock and saw Pinkie smiling widely to them both "Can I ask a favor of you Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow Dash sighed, but smiled tiredly to her friend and said "Sure Pink, probably easier than being chased around in the town all the time..." Pinkie giggled at that comment as Ash regained his senses. "What do you even want Pinkie?" He asked, not with a harsh tone, but more out of curiosity. She smiled widely and leaned in and whispered something into his ear, making him grin widely. He quickly pulled her into a hug and said "That's my devious little minx" and proceeded to kiss her. They stayed like for a few minutes, before a cough came behind them and they turned and saw Rainbow Dash standing with a amused smirk, both of them blushed rapidly at the fact they had just kissed in such way in front of their friend. It took them a few minutes to regain them self, it didn't make it easier that Rainbow Dash was close to laughing her flank off, and they took off, following Pinkie who had a bright smile and still a little red from embarrassment. They stopped outside the town hall and Dash wondered what they were doing here until Pinkie said "Ok. I want you to grap a cloud Dashie" Dash muttered in annoyance over the nickname, but knew there was no stopping Pinkie. She grapped the nearest cloud and began to move in the directions that Pinkie said, it took several minutes as Pinkie wanted it to be perfect, following several "A little more to the left" or "Just a tinie tiny bitsie up" It ended with Dash throwing her hooves up in annoyance and yelled "Pinkie!" "Perfect!" she said happily, not wanting a confrontation with her friend and she walked over and hid a large wooden pillar as she said "Ok on my signal do it!" Rainbow Dash nodded, still unsure where this was going, while Ash grinned in mirth. They all watched as Spike wandered out of the building with a stack of parchments in his grip and Pinkie yelled "NOW!" RAinbow Dash followed by giving the cloud a hard kick, letting a charge of lightning strike down and scaring Spike, who dropped every parchment, and then began to hiccup. The first hiccup caused them all to smile slightly, even Rainbow Dash, and the next one caused Pinkie to fall to the ground laughing, making the rest of them laugh, even Spike. "Haha good one Pinkie! You always pull one on me" he said as he picked up a roll of parchment and hiccupped again, sending a green flame out the roll disappeared with. Ash couldn't help but smile and say "Celestia is in for a surprise" "How's that?" Asked a slightly confused Rainbow Dash as Pinkie silently giggled, knowing what Ash meant. "You'll have to remember that whenever Spike sets a paper into flames it gets sent to Celestia. Spike just send an empty parchment to Celestia, who would probably think it is a friendship report" This caused a new wave of laughter as Rainbow Dash couldn't help but explain. "Oh sweet Celestia! We just pranked the princess of Equestria! We are awesome!" She turned to Pinkie and said with a smile "Pinkie. I didn't know you were a prankster" "Are you kidding! Pranking is all in good fun! And I love to have lots of fun!" She said excited. "Don't you tell me about it… Last prank she pulled on me, had me hanging in my back hooves from the ceiling and I couldn't get down before I had tried at least three of her new cupcakes…" Rainbow Dash laughed at this one and Pinkie just smiled cheekily and sent him a wink. "I bet you didn't have much against the next treatment" Ash blushed as he smiled and said with a dreamy look "I'll admit, kissing upside down is a whole new experiment…" "Ok enough of the smoshy stuff already!" Said Rainbow Dash who smiled teasingly "It's time we go prank someone!" "Oh oh! I have an idea!" Pinkie said with a devious smile that made Ash feel a little sorry for whoever she had in mind. Some time later they found themselves outside Rarity's place and Ash had just placed a bunch of flowers in front of her front door, he knocked quickly and ran over to Pinkie and Dash and hid in the bushes. They watched as Rarity opened the door and asked "Who's there?" She looked down and saw the flowers and smiled "Are those for me? Magnificent!" She leaned down and took a sniff at the flowers and when she pulled back her nose was covered in a faint pink powder and she began to sneeze uncontrollably, we all began to laugh loudly and Rarity looked over at us and smiled in good nature and walked back in, probably to get the sneezing powder of her nose. Rainbow Dash flew away, to their next target and Pinkie who was still laughing, accidentally dropped the powder, creating a cloud of sneeze powder and inhaled quite a lot, letting out a loud sneeze and slammed into Ash and they both flew towards the direction Rainbow Dash flew. Rarity let out a silently laugh at the sight. They spent the rest of the day pranking several people, including Applejack and Twilight, with Applejack they had painted all of her apples, resulting in her throwing them after them as she chased them away from the farm, but they were all sure they could hear a chuckle from her as they ran. With Twilight that had simply exchanged her ink with invisibility ink that disappeared a few seconds after you had used it on a parchment, it resulted in one of her experiments exploded. Rainbow Dash had tried to prank Fluttershy, but both Ash and Pinkie immediately shut the idea down, knowing that Fluttershy was very sensitive and most likely wouldn't be able to take the prank in good nature like the rest of the group, and the fact that her revenge pranks was downright evil, Pinkie knew that from experience as she one time had pranked Fluttershy and next day she was tied to a chair in a dark room while Fluttershy got her animal friends, and not the cute type, to make howls and roars outside the room for an hour. By the time Fluttershy finally had let Pinkie get out, she was shivering in fear. That afternoon they all went to bed with a smile on their faces and good memories of a day full on funny pranks. *Nighttime* Ash woke up next morning with a yawn and a smile as he saw his trusted pokémon Pikachu sleeping next to him, curled up in a ball. He gently woke him up saying "Pikachu wake up, we'll have to meet Pinkie and Dash. We promised to go pranking some more today" Pikachu let out a gruffled protest, but got anyway and left the room, but not before sending Ash a little annoyed look for waking him up. Ash just chuckled in response and muttered "I swear that rat is getting lazier and lazier as time goes…" Suddenly a bolt of lightning zoomed down the hall and into the room, striking Ash directly. He fell to the ground, smoking lightly as he muttered "I guess he heard that… Should never have taught him Shock Wave" He quickly got up and headed down, noticing Pinkie wasn't home and guessed she was so excited she forgot about him in the speed to meet Dash. Normally this would have hurt anyone else, but Ash didn't mind. Pinkie did that often and you kind of get used to it after a while. He quickly ate his breakfast with Pikachu and feed his other pokémons, mostly vegetables to them all, but fish to Charizard and Feraligator which they accepted, Feraligator with a smile and Charizard with a grunt as he missed a good normal bloody beef. Ash left quickly after that, moving through the town and greeted several ponies who crossed his way as Big Macintosh, or Big Mac for short, Daisy and Ditzy, or Derpy if you will call her that. He heard a faint shriek above him and looked up curious and confused and saw a pink blur falling from the skies. His eyes widened and he quickly ran over to the place where it was going to land, he jumped the last part and on his back landed Pinkie Pie with such a force that it pummeled him to the ground, leaving a small hole. He looked up, glad he hadn't broken anything and was just quite sore and said "Are you ok Pinkie?" She nodded weakly, still a little shocked over the fall and the rescue. Ash smiled in relief and asked "What were you doing up in the clouds anyway?" Quickly her expression changed into on of annoyance and she said "I was with Dashie when I met her old friend a Griffin named Gilda, she was ok in the start, but after I tried to follow them up in the skies, she turned into a meanies pants and popped all my ballons that held me up and destroyed my flying machine to I fell to the ground and then you came and rescued me. Thanks by the way!" She leaned down and gave him a sweet and long lasting kiss, before she pulled back, leaving him with a goofy smile. Though it only laster a few seconds as his face turned into one of outrage and anger and he yelled "What? She let you fall directly to the ground at such high? What in the name of Celestia was that idiot thinking? You could have been seriously hurt or worse! I swear to Celestia she will pay for this one way or another!" Pinkie smiled uneasily, she too wanted her to pay a little, maybe a good prank or something, but she never wanted anypony hurt. Then again the meanies had tried to hurt her… An idea suddenly hit her and she turned to Ash and said "Let's go tell Twilight, she'll know what to do without some pony getting hurt" Ash agreed with a slight frown, wanting to hurt Gilda for almost hurting his Pinkie, but knew it was important for Pinkie that no pony was hurt. He nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. They immediately turned and headed towards the library, where they arrived a few moments later. Pinkie walked up and knocked on the door and a voice came "This is a public library! There is no need to knock!" They both walked right and found, to no surprise, Twilight caught in her studies, she looked up and smiled to both of them and asked "So what brings you here? Need of a book?" "No actually we wanted to talk to you about a new friend of Rainbow Dash" Ash said, trying to leave the anger out of his voice. Twilight immediately noticed something was not right and asked in confusion "New friend? Who is this new friend?" "A mean griffin named Gilda!" Pinkie cried out, throwing her hooves up in the air to prove her point. Twilight looked up interested "A griffin? In Ponyville? It's really rare that Griffins leave their country and even rarer that they visit pony towers such as Ponyville! But how is she mean?" She asked confused. "She popped all my ballons and told me to buzz off!" She replied with a little amount of anger "And she will not let me meet Rainbow Dash!" Twilight's expression changed into a little frown and she sighed and said "Pinkie… Rainbow Dash has other friends than us and you must understand that. I really don't think getting jealous will help you" "Jealous?" She cried out in disbelief. "Yes. I think you are jealous…" "B-But! She. What? ARRGGHH!" She cried out, unable to say anything out of anger. She stormed out of the library, leaving behind a frowning Ash and a surprised Twilight. "I didn't think she would react that bad…" She said, now a little ashamed. Ash looked at her with a frown and a little anger and said "Just so you know Twilight. It was in the skies that Gilda popped her ballon, letting her fall to the ground with no way of stopping her fall, she could have gotten seriously hurt or worse if I hadn't caught her in time. I really didn't think you would just override a friends problem like it was just a minor inconvenience. That's all I have to say" With that he turned around and left a pale Twilight, who looked close to tears. He found Pinkie sitting at a table in front of a café, silently drinking her hayshake and had a little depressed look. He walked over to her and asked with concern "Something's wrong Pinkie?" She sighed and looked at Ash with doubt and asked "What if Twilight is right Ashy? What is I really am just a meanies jealous pants?" You could her the self-doubt in her voice. Ash looked at her with a comforting smile as he said "Pinkie you are the furthest thing from jealous. Gilda was a mean griffin who tried to hurt you both physically and emotionally and doesn't deserve any kindness from you" She looked up at him with a slight smile and pulled him into a hug and whispered "Thanks for believing in me Ash… You always do that" He just returned the hug and said "No problem Pink, I'm just happy to have you" She sniffed, before she pulled back with a gleam in her eyes and said excited "I might know a way to improve Gilda's attitude!" Ash frowned, secretly thinking she wouldn't improve unless some pony gave her a good hoof to the flank, but he smiled anyway and asked interested "What might that be my little Pink Party Pony" She blushed in a pretty red colour that fit her pink coated fur at the private nickname he had given her and said "I think a party might make her happy! They always make me happy!" Ash sighed, knowing there was no backing away now and just smiled and said "I'm in" They began both to set up a party for Gilda at Sugarcube Corner, even if Ash was against it, and not even an hour later they were ready to party, or as Pinkie would say it 'PARTAY!' They had invited all of their closest friends and some of the citizens of Ponyville who had time to come, they all had fun until the door opened and in walked Gilda with Rainbow Dash behind her. Ash looked at Rainbow Dash and noticed a sparkle of mirth in her eyes as well as a hidden smirk and wondered what she is up too. Pinkie immediately jumped over and greeted them both "Hi! I'm so happy you both could come to my party! I hope you have lots of fun and get many friends!" The griffin had a slight grimace, but kept it cool and just smiled "Thanks" That was all she said as she moved past her and further into the room. All the ponies talked together and had fun for a few minutes, while Gilda just looked around awkwardly, not knowing what to do as the only pony she had ever met was Rainbow Dash. "Hey Gilda want something to drink? The punch is right over there" Called Rainbow Dash out with a smile, Gilda nodded and flashed a smile in thanks and took a cup and immediately drank it. First she smiled, but then her face turned red all the sudden and her eyes began to leak in tears. She jumped into the air and yelled out "HOT!" as she breathed fire and ran over to the water and took a glass and tried to drink it, except it all landed on her body as someone had made a whole in the glass that the water ran out off. She looked around in panic as the burning in her mouth was still there and the ponies laughed in amusement. She ran over to another glass of water and immediately took it and drank it all in one try, letting out a satisfied sound as the burning sensation in her mouth was finally gone. She looked around and noticed the laughers of the ponies and gritted her teeth as she heard Pinkie said "Wonder who could have done that…" "Yeah I wonder who" She said with a glare at Pinkie, which make Ash step a little closer to his mare friend as it really didn't give any good signs of Gilda changing personality. "Time for presents!" Pinkie yelled, making Gilda smile and move over quickly to the table filled with presents in all sizes and shapes, the first one she took was a circular long present with a tube form. Ash couldn't help but wonder what it could be as Gilda opened it and out flew a bunch of fake snakes that ended over all the room and Gilda stood there, her feathers all puffed up from the shock she had gotte. She glared around in the room at all the laughing ponies, but quickly regained her posture and smiled "Haha. Good prank" She said with gritted teethes. Ash smiled as he watched Gilda got what she deserved for what she did to Pinkie and the funniest thing is that she suspected Pinkie for doing it, while it surely wasn't her as Ash had been with her all the time they set up the party. "Now some games to play!" A random filly said and Pinkie reacted immediately and pushed Gilda over to the poster of a pony without a tail, she quickly tied a scarf around her eyes so she was unable to see and spun her around as she protested, she stopped her and said happily "Now you just have to put the tail on the pony! It's right over there!" She gently pushed Gilda towards the poster, but she stopped immediate and said "No way I'll fall for this prank! I know it's in the other direction!" Then she turned around and walked straight towards the cake. "No wait!" Pinkie said, trying to warn her, but it was too late as she walked straight into the table, so it fell apart and the cake landed on top of her, she pulled the blindfold off and looked around with anger at the ponies who laughed at the mistake. She gritted her teeth in anger once again and it was easy to see she turned red in anger. She flew up and let a roar out, scaring them all, except the seven friends who stared at her in shock. Gilda looked over them all in anger and cried out "That's it! I'm done here! Never have I met a lamer group of ponies in my life! Is this supposed to be a party! This is ridiculus! But what can I expect from something hosted by the biggest lamo in this town! Queen lamo Pinkie Pie!" She pointed at Pinkie Pie who looked hurt and shocked "And all those lame pranks you played on me at this party is just as lame as you!" She turned towards the door and began to walk as she said "Come on Dash! We are leaving!" Instead of walking with her, Dash just glared at her and said "You know Gilda. I was the one who played all those 'lame' pranks on you! So I guess I'm queen lamo" Súddenly Gilda looked nervous and said "Come on Dash! You joshing on me!" "Nope. I thought it would be cool too see you again Gilda, but if you are going to act like that towards my friends I would like you to leave" It was clear that Rainbow Dash didn't accept anyone would mess with either Pinkie Pie or her other friends and she had chosen them over Gilda. Gilda just snarled "It's so typical ponies like you Rainbow! Such a flip flop! Cool one minute, lame the next! I'm out of here!" With that she left and smacked the door after her. "What a party pooper" Pinkie said with a raised eyebrow, making Ash chuckled a little. "Girls I'm sorry I brought Gilda to town" Rainbow Dash said with a sad look "I never thought she would be so mean" "Don't worry Rainbow" Said AJ with a smile "It ain't ya fault she had a bad attitude" "Just glad she is gone" Muttered Ash, thinking they couldn't hear him "One minute more and I had probably spilled her guts over the floor" They all turned to him in shock over his threat. "Ash! You can't just say something like that!" Said a shocked Fluttershy "I know she is mean, but that doesn't mean she deserves to be hurt!" "Oh yeah?" Ash said with a raised eyebrow, he turned to Rainbow Dash and asked "How high in altitude were you and Gilda when Pinkie talked to you while she hang in those ballons?" "Probably 25-30 feet, maybe more. Wasn't exactly counting. Why?" "How much damage could it cause someone who fell and hit the ground from such altitude?" He asked again, gained curious looks and Pinkie paled a little. "If not instant death, it is very close and that pony would most like be unable to walk again for a couple of years if not forever…" She answered deeply confused by this. "Ok thanks..." He said with controlled anger "Now imagine Pinkie, Gilda and Dash talking, Gilda challenged Dash to a race to the next cloud, but instead of following her, she stayed behind and told Pinkie to leave them alone and proceeded to pop all the balloons that was the only thing Pinkie was hanging from in around 30 feet altitude. What would happen when all the balloons where popped and there was nothing to let Pinkie float in the air?" All of the friends paled rapidly at the thought and turned to Pinkie who was too pale. Rainbow Dash spoke with a shaky voice "I-Is that true P-Pinkie?" She nodded slowly and this caused an outrage to form between the friends, Rainbow Dash looked ready to murder while Rarity cursed loudly, AJ was shaking with anger and Fluttershy had turned red in pure anger. "Ok that griffin is dead meat!" Dash said loudly and just as she was about to fly after her former 'friend' she was pulled back by AJ who bit her tail "LET ME GO!" She yelled. "No can do" She said "A'm just as angry as ya are, but it would do no good harming her, besides she is probably already gone over all mountains" Rainbow Dash just sat down on the ground, still angry as hell. Ash moved over to Pinkie and pulled her into a hug and asked concerned "Tired?" She leaned against him and said "Just a little" and closed her eyes with a smile. He looked at the others and said "I think Pinkie had enough for one day. Party is over" All of the guest nodded, still angry that the griffin had almost killed one of their friends, and left quietly. Rainbow Dash and the others just stayed behind to thank Ash for saving Pinkie from that fall, before they each left to go home and get some sleep. Ash carried Pinkie upstairs and laid her on the bed, he looked at her sleeping form and gave her a soft kiss, before heading for his own room.