Chapter 14: Ash's Rocketing Problem

(Ash's dream)

Luna found herself in a wooded area as she began to search for someone. Looking around a tree, there was Ash, Misty and Brock in human form. Pikachu's on Ash's shoulder and Togepi was in Misty's arms. They headed down a path while Luna studied them. "I tend to forget that Ash is a human with these friends," she giggled.

"So, how far are we to the Pokémon Center?" wondered Misty.

"Not long, Misty," Brock replied. "I'm sure our Pokémon will return to normal strength after stopping by."

("I could use a recharge,") Pikachu squeaked.

"Even Pikachu's feeling a bit in need of a checkup," Ash added. Luna watched on with a smile at how the kids enjoyed the walk. Suddenly, smoke billowed from out of nowhere, followed by laughter. Everyone covered up while Luna turned to the sound.

"Prepare for trouble, this dream will become your nightmare," shouted a woman.

"Make it double, we'll show up anywhere!" shouted a man. Two human adults emerged wearing white uniforms with the crimson redhead wearing a midriff and skirt with thigh-high black boots. Her hair stood out from the back of her head. The other was an ice-violet-haired man, slacks instead of a skirt and boots that were only up to his shins.

"To protect the world from devastation…"

"To unite all peoples from every nation…"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"

"Meowth!" shouted a cat that appeared. It was a faded white cat with a gold oval coin wedged on its forehead. "Dat's right!" The smoke cleared as Luna observed the three after Ash and his friends.

"Team Rocket, I'm not surprised," Ash grunted.

"That's true," Jessie sneered. "You can't hide, even in your dreams!" She brought out a bazooka. Luna gasped, thinking Ash would be struck by the item in the barrel.

"Thanks for reminding us, Jessie," Misty sneered back. Jessie pulled the trigger… but nothing came out. Team Rocket looked befuddled before Jessie tried again and again at pulling the trigger. That's when the bazooka exploded, and Team Rocket flew several yards back. All three hit the dirt hard.

"Hey!" snapped Jessie as she returned to her feet. "No fair!"

"Is it?" mocked Brock.

"Pikachu, let's take them out like always!" instructed Ash. Pikachu knew Ash's plan and used Thunderbolt to zap and cause another explosion, sending Team Rocket flying.

"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAINNNNNNNNNN!" they cried. Ash and his friends took a deep breath before moving on. Luna laughed before going to follow.

Luna began to wake up before she looked to Ash whom she cuddled with in bed. She got up, ready to start the next day. Before she left, Luna gave Ash a kiss to the cheek. He hoofed his face. Luna joined Celestia in lowering the moon and raising the sun to start the day. They returned to the bedroom where they had an unexpected visitor with Ash: Flurry Heart. The princesses decided to leave the pair alone. "I had an interesting dream involving Ash and his human friends," Luna began.

"Oh?" interested Celestia. "Please tell. Perhaps Princess Cadance would like to hear about it."

"No, I'd doubt they'd have an interest in Team Rocket." That made Celestia curious.

"Team… Rocket?" In bed, Ash felt weight of someone that joined him in bed. He woke to find Flurry Heart on top of him.

"Flurry… Heart?" he gulped. Flurry Heart yawned before seeing Ash.

"Morning, Big Brother," she greeted before kissing his snout. Ash became a little red with embarrassment but kept a smile. Pikachu came to the room as Ash and Flurry Heart exited. The chosen holder of the Blade of Courage soon arrived to the throne room as Twilight and her friends made it to the castle.

"It's a good thing without Ash that Ponyville's eased up," Applejack sighed. "The amount of fillies comin' fer him was more than he or Pikachu can handle."

"Makes us doubly glad Princess Celestia and Princess Luna took him away to start training," Rarity added. "Now, if only we could do something about Pinkie's choice of a reward." Pinkie dragged a stacked cake with Ash's Cutie Mark.

"Is there something wrong with this cake?" she questioned.

"The question is… why?" snapped Rainbow. "He didn't stop Tirek or the Storm King, just drove them out of Ponyville." The doors opened where Shining Armor and Cadance welcomed the group.

"Princess Twilight!" greeted Cadance. Twilight and her friends saw Twilight's brother and his wife.

"Cadance!?" they gasped.

"Did you also come to see Ash?" asked Twilight.

"After Shining Armor told me what happened in Ponyville," Cadance explained. "We wanted to see the sword for ourselves." Everyone looked to each other among Twilight and her friends.

"We?" repeated Fluttershy. They entered the castle where Flurry Heart was giving Cyndaquil sometime in the air. Fluttershy realized Cadance's motion. "Oh, Flurry Heart… I forgot." Ash saw the group and hoofed over to them.

"Twilight, what brings you here?" he wondered.

"Good morning, Ash," Twilight welcomed. "We wanted to see how your training's going."

"Believe me, I feel like I'm the one training Princess Celestia's guards," Ash sighed. "At least I know that her guards are taking the situation seriously."

"They better," Rainbow warned. "If Tirek wants something of value, no doubt they're going after Twilight, Cadance, Flurry Heart, Celestia and Luna." Twilight groaned to Rainbow's list.

"Why not just say all Alicorns?" she nagged.

"Do we know where there are other Alicorns, Twilight?" retorted Rainbow.

"It'll be easier to say no Alicorns will be in danger if I have any say in it," Ash summarized. "Besides, you guys and my Pokémon are first to take care of. I wasn't given the Blade of Courage without a reason and especially how you were nearly done in by Tirek and the Storm King." Pinkie came by and hugged Ash.

"It makes me so glad that somepony cares about what happens to us!" she cheered. "I was right to bring the cake for you!" To Applejack, it wasn't the case.

"Not to mah eyes, it doesn't," she denied as she approached Ash. Flurry Heart and Cyndaquil watched on. "Now look… Ah can understand that you wanna look out fer everypony, but it rots mah apples that ya don't wanna care a seed about yer own self, human or pony." Ash seemed started with Applejack's rebuttal. Pinkie stepped back to give Ash and Applejack space.

"Then, you know the last thing I want to be is selfish," he spoke back. "If I start to think about myself, I'll block out Pikachu, Cyndaquil, Bayleef… Heck, I'd even be blocking you, Fluttershy, Rarity and everyone else from my person and I don't want that." Applejack billowed a sigh as she leaned into Ash's face.

"No pony will accuse yer Cutie Mark about being selfish once in a while… and ah get it, ya want everypony and every Pokémon to be okay. Ah'm just sayin' afterwards that ya can get yerself to safety when you know everythin's safe." Ash still stood his ground.

"Perhaps… Still, I-"

"Still, nothin'! Take us fer example: We represent the six Elements of Harmony as Twilight has mentioned to ya: Friendship, Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Kindness and Generosity. Confessin', we do act like ya in which we take care of others before ourselves. We do it a lot! It's durin' our downtime that we focus on what we need to do to improve ourselves more n' more so that it can help others down the roads we hoof around." Ash was ready for more.

"Pokémon Trainers aren't one-trick ponies, no pun intended. Have I seen Pokémon Trainers as selfish? Some that don't care about what a Pokémon goes through that they endanger a Pokémon's life. It's not that I don't understand your point, I feel as I don't want to go down that road." Fluttershy swooped in and rested a hoof on Ash's shoulder.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Ash," she softly spoke. "We do appreciate all you've done for us and we do want to help you as well… but you need to stop being so selfish about being overly selfless." This made Ash blink, realizing that Fluttershy pointed out a flaw in his defense.

"Okay…" awed Rarity. "I never thought you could be selfish by being selfless."

"Talk about quite the conundrum," Twilight gulped. Ash sighed to the argument.

"I'm not saying that you're wrong, AJ," he resumed. "Perhaps, it's because my life hasn't been in danger as much as you ponies have, no offense."

"Oh, don't worry so much," Rarity excused. "Some of us find danger or create danger before we find our way out of it."

"Hey!" snapped Rainbow. Cadance came forward.

"I'm sure there's some that have this emotion," she believed. "I remember since I foalsat Twilight when she was little." She hoofed Ash's shoulder while facing him. "Ash, it's easier to relax yourself of these conditions than be indulged in the long run. When Tirek and the Storm King arise again, we'll know what to do." Ash nodded, thinking it would all work out.

"Sorry about all of that," he apologized. "My pride…" Nodding was Shining Armor.

"I know what you mean," he understood. "By the way, my wife and I came to tell you that Princesses Celestia and Luna were looking for you." Ash nodded before heading out to Celestia and Luna who welcomed Ash.

"While Tirek and the Storm King are in hiding," Celestia started. "We cannot falter on preparing for their return." Ash nodded as Luna chose to speak.

"Ash, may we… ask you something?" she requested. Not willing to deny royalty, Ash felt needed to answer.

"Sure, your highness," he replied. "What's up?" Twilight and Applejack peered inside while Ash listened to Celestia and Luna.

"My sister mentioned seeing two human adults with a cat naming themselves Team Rocket," Celestia brought up. Ash's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at hearing of the team from the dream. "Could you tell us about them?" Ash had a horrible groan to the team.

"I recall the dream of the two being Jessie and James," Luna remembered. The discovery of who made Ash a little uneasy but he shook his head and told the story.

"Those two and their talking Meowth," Ash groaned. "That's Team Rocket. They've been on my tail since the first day of my Pokémon Training. They follow me everywhere just to go after and take Pikachu from me. Celestia and Luna looked surprised to learn about Team Rocket.

"They… stalk and attack you?" repeated Celestia. "No matter your destination?"

"And just for your Pikachu?" added Luna.

"Everywhere, everyday, they're there to cause trouble," Ash concluded.

"But why?" wondered Celestia. "Your Pikachu can't be the only one, right? Aren't there more? If so, why yours?"

"You're right, there are more Pikachus back home," Ash confirmed. "They just want my because he's stronger than any other of his kind." Twilight and Applejack gasped to Ash's story.

"Pikachu can't be that powerful," Applejack doubted. "Right?" To Twilight, the story and Pikachu's power made the story plausible.

"You saw how Pikachu intercepted the Storm King's lightning strikes and fired them back," Twilight pointed out. "If Pikachu's got that in his arsenal, he's a bigger weapon than the Blade of Courage." Then, Ash spoke more.

"Every time Team Rocket attacks and tries to take Pikachu or any other Pokémon away, my friends and I always battle them off with our Pokémon, including Pikachu, and win," he continued. "But no matter how many times we fend them off, blast them away, they keep coming back to try again and again and again and again! Honestly, I don't know why they even bother to keep trying if they always keep losing to us, but they seriously won't leave me or Pikachu alone until they take Pikachu away for good… and they'll keep at it until they actually win!" He let out a huge sigh as Celestia and Luna took sympathy to Ash. "Honestly, I'm really glad they didn't follow us here to Equestria. We really needed a break… but if I know Team Rocket, and boy do I, they're still looking for us and when we find our way back, they'll be ready to strike." Twilight and Applejack became rather worried about their friend from beyond.

"Suddenly, his argument about him being selfless makes more sense," Applejack muttered.

"Sometimes, I just wish they could just stop and leave all of us alone and enjoy the journey in peace." Celestia and Luna looked to each other and wondered about dealing with Ash's problem. Twilight and Applejack returned to the other friends, including Pikachu and Cyndaquil enjoying Pinkie's cake. Shining Armor and Cadance joined Celestia and Luna with Ash.

"I'm sorry we had to listen to all of that, Ash," Celestia apologized. "While you and your Pokémon are here, we can assure that your safety is granted from them." Again, Cadance hoofed Ash's shoulder gently.

"If you want, we can have you sheltered within the Crystal Empire," she offered.

"I'll think about it after sometime back in Ponyville," Ash pondered on choices.

"We princesses have reasonable concern over the crisis with the Blade of Courage," Luna mentioned. "If history is correct, those two will come after us Alicorn ponies."

"And leaving me to be the one to stop them," Ash concluded. Twilight, her friends and the Pokémon were also in the room.

"While inevitable, we feel that you'll succeed as the new knight, honey," Celestia believed. Ash nodded before turning to Twilight, ready to go back home. After one step, he gawked and turned back to Celestia.

"WHAT!?" he snapped. "Did… you just… call me 'Honey'?" Celestia and Luna giggled to Ash's reaction.

"You know they care about you as much as the rest of Equestria," Shining Armor chuckled. Ash had a slight laugh to it before Celestia and Luna excused the ponies to return home. Flurry Heart gave Ash one more hug when he had an idea.

"Say, how would you like to feel like a Pokémon Trainer for a while?" he asked. Flurry Heart gasped, not sure what to say.

"Can I?" she squealed.

"Yeah, and it starts with this." He removed his cap before dressing Flurry Heart's head. Flurry Heart shouted in glee.

"Thank you, Big Brother!" She kissed his forehead after tackling him, making Ash giggle. She laid a big kiss to the forehead.

"Something tells me that you'll be great with children of your own," Fluttershy teased.

"I wouldn't mind, but let's wait for a few years, okay?" warned Ash. Fluttershy nodded.

("It's not that he's afraid,") Pikachu squeaked. ("He's not ready yet.") With Princess Cadance and her family returning to the Crystal Empire, Ash and Pikachu joined Twilight and her friends back to Ponyville. Things have calmed down, right?

TO BE CONTINUED…