Chapter 10: Staged Dive
Canterlot High was back in session. The students returned to school after a day off. Ash, Pikachu, Sunset and Fluttershy arrived to the students awing Ash's new look, "Snazzy look, Ash!" a young man called out. The girls became infatuated with the new appearance.
"Feeling rich, Ash!" another young man shouted.
"Love the sight, Ash!" a young woman cheered. Ash heard calls left and right, a lot of people enjoying the new sight of the trainer.
"I guess I should be worried," he giggled.
"It IS a welcome sight for the people to know who's playing the lead," Fluttershy huffed. They entered and found themselves in Principal Celestia's office. She and Luna allowed Ash, Fluttershy and Sunset to discuss a matter.
"I see…" weighed Celestia. "This idea of yours to teach Pokémon sounds interesting. Pray tell, is this to help yourself fill the shoes of Indiana Jones?" Ash, Pikachu and the other girls gawked to the guess.
"You're good…" he shuttered. Celestia giggled to the response.
"Sister, two things," Luna spoke up. "Don't you think it's obnoxious for you to guess the reasoning within the request?"
"It would be, if I wasn't correct," Celestia scoffed. The VP sighed before turning back to Ash.
"Besides, I've wanted to learn a few lessons as well," Luna added. "Principal Celestia and I may be adults but we aren't too old to learn." Ash, Fluttershy and Sunset flustered sighs. As the students attended classes, Ash entered the theater and examined the stage from the upper tier. He studied the layout of the theater. Looking up, the ceiling seemed ideal to a plan.
"Planning into the swing of things, aren't we?" sounded Discord. Ash heard his voice and looked around.
"Discord?" he guessed. Out from below the balcony, Discord appeared.
"I'm interested in how humans can see the stage from up here?"
"It's not that far to see it, but there are binoculars to look through."
"That's fair. At least they know when blood's about to spill. By the way, have you seen Princess Twilight?" Ash shook his head.
"I haven't but be careful when you do. There are two Twilights but the one you want isn't wearing glasses." Discord blinked to the advice.
"TWO Twilights?" It gave Discord discomfort. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to have two princesses be in my life!" He vanished as Ash studied the stage and Sunset entered the theater from below. She turned to see Ash and Discord in the discussion. "Wait… that means the Twilight I know is still the princess of Equestria and the Twilight here must be the princess of the human race!"
"Wrong, Discord," Sunset spoke up. Both above her looked down to find the smirking Sunset. "So, how's my favorite trainer and the deity of chaos and disharmony?"
"I'll have you know, Sunset," Discord spoke. "Ash and I happened to be in a middle of a discussion about the two Twilight Sparkles that are in school now." Sunset didn't believe Discord with a sighing shrug.
"Speaking of Human Twilight," she brought up. "She's got Pikachu and seems to be waiting on someone." Ash nodded, knowing about the ordeal. Out in the front, Sci-Twi worked on a hand-held device with Pikachu sleeping by her.
"Twilight?" a young man called out. Sci-Twi looked up to see two young people. One was pink-skinned, pink-haired young woman in a yellow summer shirt and denim shorts while dawning daisies in her hair and shoes. The other was a light brown-skinned, green-haired young man in a red t-shirt and green cargo shorts.
"Gloriosa, you made it!" cheered Sci-Twi. "And… uh… hello Timber." Sci-Twi's cheeks blushed red at seeing a smiling Timber.
"Nice to see you too, Twilight," he greeted. "How's it been?"
"Great. And Camp Everfree? Filthy Rich hasn't made any moves on it, right?"
"Thanks to the concert your friends made, we have enough money to keep Camp Everfree open for a few years down the road."
"That's great news." Gloriosa spotted Pikachu and came over to pick him up.
"Twilight, I thought your pet was Spike… and he's a dog…" she recalled. Sci-Twi and Timber reached Gloriosa who held Pikachu, now awake.
"Spike is," she confirmed. "I'm watching over Pikachu while his owner's preparing for the Raiders play." Gloriosa awed the reasoning but felt something left out.
"That's awfully nice of you," she praised. "But where would Flash Sentry find something like this? Don't get me wrong but-" Timber gawked to Gloriosa's recalling.
"But, Sis," he spoke up. "Flash got hurt during the car wash." Gloriosa gawked to the reminder.
"That's right," she gasped. "But who's Indiana Jones then?" Sci-Twi guided the two into the theater where they saw Ash with the other girls and opening the hole to the orchestra pit.
"Right, that's where our Ark will be," Rainbow suggested. "We don't have a band to play down here. It's all recorded with DJ's help." Ash leaped down into the pit to view it.
"Okay, so I go in to where the 'snakes' are suppose to be," he instructed. "I'll have help lifting the Ark before Belloq throws Sunset down here." Sunset nodded, recalling the movie.
"But we also agreed to not have the ruin's destruction," Pinkie added.
"True, but Ash and Sunset will record themselves struggling to escape while exiting the backdoor," Applejack added. "Then, they'll come out through the alley-" She pointed to the walkways and inadvertently pointed to Sci-Twi, Timber and Gloriosa.
"Hello, campers!" cheered Gloriosa. "Working hard on the play?" Ash closed the lid on the pit. His new attention was on another scene before noting Pikachu.
"What's going on?" he asked. Applejack snickered to the sight of Sci-Twi with Timber.
"Someone missed their favorite type of wood," she teased. Sci-Twi and Timber blushed to the playful mock.
"Come on, Applejack," Timber shrugged. "Twilight invited us over to see how you're doing since Camp Everfree."
"Anyway, Timber and I wanted to know who's playing Indiana Jones after Flash's injury," Gloriosa mentioned. Ash sighed, ready to face the music.
"There are some similarities with me and Indy, now that I've seen the classic," he muttered as he shook Timber and Gloriosa's hands. "Snakes isn't one of them."
"Say that when you're face-to-face with a rattler," Applejack sneered. "Any who, will you be around for some Pokémon lessons? Heard Ash will teach us tomorrow about it." Gloriosa and Timber blinked to the name.
"For the record, Pikachu's one of them," Sci-Twi pointed out. Pikachu squeaked to confirm.
"You don't see them around Camp Everfree," Gloriosa giggled. "So, there are a few fight scenes I can see. I'm sure he knows how to fight, right?" Ash snickered to the question.
"I've seen how he fights, alright," he nodded. "I took up boxing before becoming a trainer. How hard can it be?" Sunset lofted a chuckle.
"I'd like to see your form," she requested. "After all, it'll go well for the bar scene." Ash stood up and faced his co-star.
"Didn't Rarity say something about people not attacking each other?" remembered Pinkie.
"It's part of the movie," Rainbow checked. "It's part of the play."
"I know it's when we have that bar fight," Ash pointed out. "But I want to see what Sunset can do in the fight." Sunset didn't seem interested.
"Marion hid in the corner and shot one of the guys to save Indy," she corrected. "Indy was the one using his fists."
"Oh, yeah..." realized Ash. "I thought Marion fought at some point. I knew she threw a slap."
"That's what it was!" acknowledged Applejack. Sunset seemed a little hesitant on slapping Ash.
"I don't know…" she muttered.
"Sunset, I'll be fine. Just throw a slap." The encouragement gave Sunset a chance to hit Ash for a feel in the movie. However, instead of a slap, she punched Ash on the chin. It jerked Ash's head in a snap and he fell. Back hitting the hardwood, Ash was unconscious. Sunset didn't know that she knocked out Ash.
"Oops… sorry." That's when everyone noticed Ash wasn't moving at all. "Ash?"
"Hey, Ash!" shouted Pinkie. Timber and Gloriosa ran up to the stage. Ash's eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Come on, partner!" urged Applejack. She gently slapped Ash's face to get him to wake up. Rainbow sped out and back with ice and damp towels.
"You really got him good, Sunset," Timber gulped.
"You don't think we gotta send him to the hospital now, do we?" worried Sunset. A few minutes later, Ash started to moan. He began to see the girls and Timber in his sights as his vision gradually sharpened.
"He's coming to," Gloriosa noticed. "Thank goodness." Ash wasn't sure what happened.
"Was I… out?" he groaned.
"Uh, yeah!" scoffed Rainbow. "Sunset turned your lights off with a left hook." Timber and Rainbow helped Ash sit up. Sunset sat on his lap, rather upset with Ash's injury.
"Ash, I am SO sorry!" she apologized. "I wasn't trying to hurt you!" Ash groaned some more. "I just wanted to see if I can get feisty Marion out of me, and-" In pain, Ash reached and palmed Sunset's shoulder.
"Nice shot," he winced. Sunset's face read that Ash didn't have any hard feelings to her.
"You're… not mad?" she whimpered.
"It wasn't on purpose," he sighed. "Just a lucky shot." Sunset wrapped Ash's head and pulled him to her chest as tears trickled down her face.
"I didn't mean to… I didn't try… I'm so sorry…" Ash wrapped his arms to console Sunset.
"Boy, does anything bother him?" wondered Applejack. "He gets knocked out but still doesn't let it get to him." Sunset seemed forgiving to Ash, her mind still loving the young man who she admired.
'I don't deserve you, Ash,' she thought. 'I don't deserve you as Indy or as yourself.' As they helped Ash, the students at Crystal Prep heard about the time Indigo, Sunny, Sour and Lemon were at the mall with Sci-Twi and Ash.
"So Twilight's doing fine?" asked a blue-haired young man.
"She is, Shining Armor," Lemon confirmed. "She was a bit shocked when learning about Cadence becoming the new principal."
"And, we all saw that cute young man and his more adorable Pikachu!" cheered Sunny. "Oh, it's such a shame that he ended up at Canterlot High and not here." The other girls awed the sight of their former classmate.
"Let's face it, Principal Cinch kinda forced Twilight to leave for Canterlot," Shining Armor murmured. "She's always forceful on her. By the way, this young man with the… Pikachu, whatever that is… Is he a student?" The girls blinked to the question.
"He has to be!" argued Indigo. "I mean, he's getting a makeover in order to play Indiana Jones!" The girls nodded to the belief.
"It'd be a shame if it's discovered he's not," Sour thought. Back at Canterlot, Rarity and Fluttershy dressed Ash in brown leather in jacket and trousers.
"I just finished prepping the outfit for you, Ash," Rarity huffed. "And I must say, you look ravishing for someone who'll be the handsome archaeologist."
"I'll say," Ash agreed. His Pokémon agreed to the outfit. "Heck, I may wear this when I get back to the Pokémon World." Fluttershy giggled to the word.
"Now, to make it official," she ruled as she fitted a leather brown fedora on Ash's head. Ash smiled to the wear.
"So that explains the haircut better," he realized.
"I don't know," Rainbow snickered. "Ash looks like Chestnut has a little brother." Ash, Twilight, her Spike and the Pokémon blinked to the name.
"Who, Rainbow?" asked Spike. Rainbow blinked before figuring out the reason.
"Right… Chestnut Magnifico is the actress who plays Daring Do, Indy's female counterpart. She doesn't use weapons like Indy and her alter ego is-"
"AK Yearling, the writer for Daring Do?" guessed Twilight nonchalantly. Rainbow gawked to the name.
"Right… how'd you guess?" she wondered. Gloriosa clapped her hands before walking over to Ash.
"Well, at least things will be awe-inspiring when he takes the stage," she visioned. "Anyway, Timber and I'll head back and we'll see you tomorrow for Ash's Pokémon lesson."
"And to make sure his knockout doesn't have any repercussions," Timber joked. "Not to mention the other Twilight Sparkle. I may understand them as twins, but-" Twilight and Sci-Twi shared nervous laughs.
"It's a long story," they sighed. Timber shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever… Well, see ya!" The siblings left and Sci-Twi came to Ash with something in mind.
"Ash, I know this is kind of sudden," she started. "But is it okay that I watch over Pikachu? I'd like to know if it would help me on a few items." Ash looked to Pikachu who squeaked to the idea, interested.
"My buddy's down to the idea," he accepted. Pikachu leaped onto Sci-Twi's shoulder, causing her to giggle.
"That's great!" she praised. It started to get late with the sun setting. Everyone left for home except Ash walked with Sunset.
"So that's what's going?" assumed Fluttershy. "You're gonna practice your dialogues with Sunset?" Ash nodded to the question.
"I can tell that you've got feelings for Ash as well," Sunset studied. "It'll be okay." Fluttershy nodded, trusting Sunset. At her home, Discord watched the Raiders movie to help understand their project.
"This is indeed interesting to say the least," he viewed. "The chemistry between Indiana Jones and Marion is peanut butter and chocolate: they blend well between each other." That's when a thought pierced into the mind of the deity. He turned to the door where Ash and Sunset hid themselves. "Don't tell me… that's why Sunset wanted Ash over?" In the bedroom, Sunset massaged Ash's shoulders.
"At least the wounds you'll get are fake," she joked. She wore a silky white nightgown. "You still okay? I mean, that was still a hard punch you took."
"I'll be fine," Ash sighed. "Then again, I've taken some huge blows before." Sunset felt her massage wasn't working.
"Shirt off." Ash blinked before turning to Sunset.
"Shirt off?" A nod from Sunset allowed Ash to remove his shirt, his bare skin showing. Sunset smirked as she moved her hands from his shoulders to his chest, her head on his arm.
"That feeling on your chest is so good… I can tell this is a toned body by years of travel." Ash chuckled to Sunset's comment.
"It's not the years, but the mileage. I've traveled with Pikachu for a long time. Sure, I've had other traveling friends and Pokémon…" Sunset laughed to the reference.
"Well, Indy… Being here has given me an arc to call my own… and I mean arc, A-R-C, not Ark of the Covenant, A-R-K." Sunset sneered before lying on Ash and kissing him deeply on the lips. Discord snickered to the scene.
"My goodness," he hushed in excitement. "Sunset is getting a sunrise in love. Oh, it makes me wonder if Princess Celestia may find a heart for me like Fluttershy." The bond between Ash and Sunset has strengthened. With the play coming soon, preparations are being worked upon. However, a small group of shadowed figures overlooked Canterlot. Who are they and what will they do?
TO BE CONTINUED…