Chapter 7: Elements of a New Form
Ash, May, Brock, Sullivan, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom and the Pokémon were meeting the other ponies, including Princess Celestia. This would be considered the first time a member of Canterlot royalty was meeting humans, let alone one that was once a pony herself. However, a couple of adult humans were ready to stir the royal union with Meowth in tow. "You know what they say, patience is a virtue," Jessie sneered while hiding in a far bush with the other two. "Now we can take those creatures and force the twerp to hand her and Pikachu over!" She was so bent on getting Pikachu and Fluttershy that nothing else, not even someone pointing a high-powered shotgun to her skull would be ignored. James and Meowth were rather focused on Celestia, a pony they didn't see when observing them back at the Pokémon Center.
"If my ears picked dem up correctly, the pinkie twerpette just called that new horse, Princess," the Alley Cat Pokémon believed.
"I think one princess could be better than a whole group of ponies," James agreed. "With the princess in our clutches, those twerps are sure to fork over what we need." What's with the swerve all of a sudden? The boys didn't really approve of the plan which involved the ponies. Perhaps it's the princess that came into view.
"Prepare the claws," Jessie ordered. "We've got a few ponies to wrangle up." They dipped back into hiding. For Brock, this was the first time seeing the ponies as ponies, not humans.
"Fluttershy, that is you, isn't it?" Celestia wondered. Fluttershy was ready to acknowledge Celestia, summoning up her courage to speak to the princess.
"It is me, Princess Celestia," she replied. Celestia was pretty astonished to see one of her ponies in a new form. Still, she retained her composure.
"I did receive your letter about your recent discovery. Although it does concern me that an unfamiliar form may pose difficulty should the moment rise which you would need the Elements of Harmony." Fluttershy shuttered, wondering of these Elements would still work even at human form. Ash came forward to introduce himself and the situation.
"Excuse me, princess," he spoke up, having Celestia turn to him. "I may not know about these Elements of Harmony, but I highly doubt that it won't be a problem using it as a pony or a human." Celestia was pretty skeptic with Ash's explanation. To him, any form was irrelevant if it meant using the Elements.
"I do have my doubts. When Fluttershy entered this world by a magic book missing from Canterlot's library, she lost her ability to fly." True enough, Fluttershy seemed ashamed. Applejack felt that she needed to support her fellow filly.
"Princess, I cannot use magic like Twilight and I can't fly like Rainbow Dash," she neighed. "But the Elements still work for me." Celestia listened, still not swayed with Applejack's point. She had a significant reason.
"The Elements of Harmony is a powerful but sensitive artifact, and I'm very worried that the Elements won't recognize a pony should they attain a different form like the one Fluttershy is at the moment." Fluttershy and Apple Bloom flinched, thinking that the danger would not be in check if Fluttershy obtained the Elements in her human shape.
"I never thought there would be problems by becoming human," she murmured. Celestia wanted to forgive her for her reasons staying in the Pokémon world after deciding to stay when she had her primary opportunity to return to Equestria.
"You are not in any trouble and I understand the concept of why you wanted to be in that world." The pink-haired sighed in relief. Forgiveness. Then, Celestia's eyes shifted to Ash with an uneasy glare, spooking the trainer.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he questioned with a hint of nervousness. Celestia was scheming something. What about Team Rocket?
"Can I use my magic across this portal, Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight thought back to when Rainbow poked fun at Pikachu and paid for it with a Thunderbolt. It should be able to work both ways.
"Give it a try," she offered. Celestia's horn began to glow a gold light before she pointed her horn to Ash. Ash's head began to glow the same gold. At that moment, Celestia was seeing replays of Ash protecting the Pokémon from earlier before he met Fluttershy. All sorts of Pokémon Ash was guarding, including his Pikachu. Then came times with Fluttershy and how close he was with keeping her safe from Team Rocket. A few minutes after it began, Celestia ceased the glowing. She smiled sincerely at Ash who had a befuddled look on him.
"Okay, what was that just now?" he wondered. Pinkie Pie and Max were also interested with what Celestia found.
"What did you find out about Ash, Princess?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"This boy has gone to great lengths to protect the creatures of that world and kept Fluttershy safe," she explained. "He could be worthy enough to be a member of the royal guard." A nervous smirk painted Ash. What, never received a compliment from a princess? Sullivan patted Ash on the shoulder, praising Ash's good past.
"Now how often does a princess compliment your hard work over the years?" he teased. Fluttershy giggled a little but the fun was about to be cut short. A claw sprung out from the trees and snagged Apple Bloom, startling everyone.
"AH!" she yelped as she was being taken hostage. All Applejack could do was call for her.
"Apple Bloom!" she screeched. The humans used the claw and guided down to Team Rocket. Needless to say that Ash wasn't happy.
"You release Apple Bloom right now, Team Rocket!" he demanded. Jessie could care less about the tone Ash roared out.
"Are you forgetting that we're the adults in this scenario?" she mocked. "If you wanna save this tiny pony twerp, hand over the girl and your Pikachu!" Ash couldn't gamble on losing Apple Bloom, Fluttershy or Pikachu. Apparently, they forgot about a certain Pokémon in the pond. Nero sprung from the lake and fired a stream of water, a bull's-eye to the joint of the claw. The claw buckled and released Apple Bloom where she scampered all the way back into Equestria, back to her pony form.
"You okay, sis?" Applejack asked.
"Am, now!" Apple Bloom answered to her big sister's relief. Fluttershy was glad that Apple Bloom was out of danger, turning to the Whiscash that saved her.
"Thank you, Nero," she praised. Nero was proud of his rescue. Jessie was ticked off.
"So it's not only the twerps and the herd of talking horses but that huge Whiscash?" she judged all against her.
"It's not over yet!" Meowth tried to reason, his big Meowth alerting Rarity. "We still have seven more claws to wrangle the other horses!" The thought nearly blew passed Jessie.
"Oh, yeah." Picking up a controller, Jessie activated the other claws, no doubt meant for the other ponies to grab.
"It seems those vile humans want to ensnare us in their little game," she seethed. The claws lunged toward the portal right at Celestia.
"Not so fast, Team Rocket!" Max denied as he leaped into the path of the claws. A claw caught Max but the momentum launched the claw into other claws, knocking them out of the pathways. It also propelled Max through the portal where he's reverted back to human. Pinkie Pie wasn't worried that Max was back to his normal body. She was frantic about his health.
"Max!" she neighed. Ash saw his little buddy in trouble.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail to break Max free!" Ash instructed. Pikachu leaped up, smacking the arm to the claw with a white glowing tail. The swipe broke the arm into pieces and Jessie was... Jessie? Hello! Earth to Jessie! Why was she looking spaced out?
"Hold on a second..." she began to realize. "When someone enters the portal, they turn into a horse? When someone exits it, they turn into human?" She finally figured out the trade-off about the portals fixed between the Pokémon World and Equestria.
"That's what we've been trying to explain to you the other day," Meowth backtracked. Talk about feeling stupid, Jessie had blown off the problem of what could happen if she actually succeeded in taking the ponies. Then again, the fact that one of those was a princess may have clouded their dim judgment further. So what's the plan now, Jessie?
"Thanks, Ash," Max praised. Sullivan stepped up as Max and Fluttershy got to Ash's side.
"I can take care of a simple machine," he growled. "Hannah, go!" He threw a red/white ball and out popped a pink sheep that stood on it's hind legs. This was a new creature that Ash brought out his device to scan.
"I think that's a Flaaffy." Let's see what the device read.
"Flaaffy, the Wool Pokémon," it identified. "Flaaffy is the evolved form of Mareep. Because of it's rubber-like skin under the wool, Flaaffy isn't effected by the electricity stored in it's wool." Sullivan and his Flaaffy, Hannah, were ready to fight.
"I was meaning to use Hannah to capture Nero but this is a good workout for the opportunity!" he grinned. "Hannah, Thundershock!" Hannah shot out volts of electricity, zapping the controls of the machine. Nero emerged with a glowing blue orb. Brock recognized the attack.
"Nero's using Water Pulse!" he noticed. Nero fired the Water Pulse from the whiskers which destroyed the arms. The machine blew up with a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. There goes the plan to capture the ponies. This would be a good time for Team Rocket to retreat. However, the team emerged on a hot air balloon with Meowth's inflated ego carrying them...scratch that, it's just a head. Under the basket, two more armed claws. Were they on discount in a nearby mechanical store? Realizing the danger, Celestia brought forth a strange book. Rarity saw what it was.
"Are you sure you wanna use the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia?" she questioned.
"Despite my doubts, I'm willing to try and summon the Elements of Harmony," Celestia gambled. "We need to purge these 'minions' from those willing to protect." Rainbow opened the case and pulled out a gold necklace with a pink gem in the shape of a butterfly.
"Fluttershy, catch!" she yelled as she flung the necklace to their humanoid friend. She slipped the necklace around her neck as did Rainbow,Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Twilight dressed a gold tiara crown that had a magenta star gem above. What, Celestia doesn't get one? Neither Spike?
"Keep the portal open, princess," Twilight instructed. The five ponies leaped into the portal and became humans. Rainbow turned from a sky blue Pegasus pony into a rather young woman with the same rainbow hair and wearing a sky blue basketball jersey with her cutie mark imprinted to go along with sky blue basketball shorts. Her necklace had a ruby lightning bolt. Applejack's was still blond with a ponytail, no pun intended. She wore an orange button-down blouse with jeans shorts and cowgirl boots. Apples were tattooed to her thighs and an orange apple gen was on her necklace. Pinkie Pie was donning a pink t-shirt which had her balloons cutie mark, a pink frilly skirt and pink tennis shoes. The only thing not pink was her sapphire balloon gem. Rarity wore a white dress down to her knees and wore stylish white boots while her unicorn horn was now hanging as a necklace on it's own under the gold one which had a violet diamond gem. Twilight was wearing a violet school vest to go along with a violet plaid skirt, violet knee socks and loafers. She also wore her unicorn horn as a necklace. Seeing what she was now dressed in, Rarity got ecstatic.
"This is beyond belief!" she gasped in delight. "This gown is simply marvelous!" Rarity, there are more pressing matters that need tending.
"I guess being a human isn't rotten at all," Applejack studied her new look. "I look like someone who can wrastle a few cattle!" Guess being human was an enjoyment. Twilight saw the hands, knowing that they had to act.
"Okay, every pony!" she called...just forgetting that there were no ponies except for back with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Celestia. "I mean...everyone! Combine Elements!" The gems were glowing. The Elements of Harmony did recognize their wearers.
"Element of...Honesty!" Applejack summoned as an orange light emerged.
"Element of...Kindness!" Fluttershy called forth, lighting a pink shine.
"Element of...Laughter!" Pinkie Pie chirped, a blue light flashed.
"Element of...Generosity!" Rarity echoed with a violet glow emanating from her.
"Element of...Loyalty!" Rainbow chanted while a red shine emitted. The five colored lights shot at Twilight's tiara. Twilight's focus eyed Pikachu.
"Ash, provide me a little yellow light!" she requested. Ash wondered why Twilight wanted a yellow light, less know why she gazed at Pikachu. Whatever it was, he had to trust her word.
"Okay!" he replied. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt which hit Twilight...but wasn't shocking her. Instead, the tiara absorbed the lightning, transmitting it into a light which swirled around the other girls in a rainbow shield. Team Rocket watched in awe, not realizing their demise.
"Whether you battle with our favorite colt or us, forever you will be defeated and your organization shall fall! After all, we're all friends...and friendship is magic!" She summoned a wave of color up at the balloon as the arms lunged out. When they collided, the colors sheared through the arms, destroying it while flying up to the balloon. The colors consumed the balloon in a flashy rainbow tornado, spinning the balloon and turning Team Rocket topsy-turvy. Finally, the rainbow collapsed in, crushing the machine, the balloon and the Rockets before...KABOOM! That was a huge blast as the colors destroyed what was in the sky...but Team Rocket. They were sent flying.
"Elements of Harmony, huh?" James calmly reflected.
"More like Elements of...Getting Your Tail Kicked!" Meowth snarled loudly.
"Guess we were horsing around the idea a bit much," Jessie punned, something Meowth wanted to scratch her for.
"I want to use my Fury Swipes on you but we've already been pun-ished enough!" Finally they were sailing over the mountains.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they yelled in unison. All watched Team Rocket fade away, happy to get rid of such annoyances. The ponies...uh, the girls were glad that they didn't have to face those guys again. Fluttershy smiled as she looked toward Celestia. Perhaps she wanted to go home and check on Angel and the others in her vacant cottage. Would she want Ash to join? And what about the other girls?
TO BE CONCLUDED...
