//------------------------------// // Clock Up! Rainbow's Ambition // Story: Kamen Rider Harmony // by smxsonic //------------------------------// Cheering surrounded the soccer fields as the two teams faced off. On one side was The Canterlot Wondercolts lead by Rainbow Dash, on the other side was the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts, led by Indigo Zap. Even after what happened the Friendship Games, district sports schedules were still a thing. “I’ve been waiting for this,Rainbow Dash ” Zap said, “ A win here means that Cinch will get off our backs.” “Hate to say this, Zap,” Rainbow replied, “But your principal was already pretty whacked” Zap shrugged. She really couldn’t argue with that. They both got to their starting positions. The Referee stood out of bounds between the two teams and blew his whistle. Sunset and Twilight stood at the parking lot to Sunset’s complex. Rather than attending Rainbow’s game, Sunset thought this would be a good day to introduce Twilight to one of her favorite hobbies since being in the human world: Biking. That was the main thing, of course. While Twilight did hang out with the rest of the rainbooms, it was really only because they asked her to. Aside from Rider business, she was still that academic obsessed girl, holed up in her lab, tinkering with something or other. Besides, she was calling herself Kamen Rider now, and she couldn’t be much of a Rider if she didn’t know how to ride. “Sunset, is this really necessary?” Twilight whined, tugging at the collar of her baby blue turtleneck. The combination of the sweater and a pair of jeans would make Rarity faint in grief. Sunset rolled her eyes, “Come on, Twilight, it’s not that bad. Besides I just tuned her up so Philomena will be nice to you.” “You named your bike?”  Twilight asked. “After my pet bird back in Equestria, yes. I’m sentimental, sue me.” Sunset patted the seat on Philomena, inviting Twilight to mount the bike. Twilight nervously got on the bike, and Sunset started the bike. “Okay, try not to lay too much on the throttle and don’t get too fancy. Just ride a couple of laps around the parking lot,” Sunset instructed. Twilight twisted the throttle and took off. Rainbow Dash slumped onto the locker room bench, seething in a barely controlled rage. As team captain she couldn’t outwardly show her emotions to her teammates, concealing her rage under a mask of sulk. “Come on, Rainbow,” Cloud Kicker said, “We put up a really good fight!” “We still lost... “ Rainbow grumbled. Cloud Kicker rolled her eyes, “Whatever, Cap, you still gonna clear the equipment?” “Yeah, yeah” Rainbow stood up and started to change. After changing, Rainbow went about gathering the equipment after the game. It was peaceful, no one was around to bother her, and a bit of manual labor was enough to clear her mind. She cleared various pieces of trash and then moved to collect the balls, although the ball basket seemed to be giving of some weird vibes than usual. She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but saw nothing when she was looking around. She focused back on the balls and picked one up. She felt a sudden jolt and would’ve dropped the if there wasn’t some supernatural force keeping her hands on it. Rainbow’s eyes grew heavy as images from the Friendship Games and today’s soccer game flooded her mind. Her anger growing more intense with each image. Her eyes snapped open, covered in a familiar blue tint. Twilight weaved through the rows of the parking lot at an easy pace. She just had enough speed to maintain her balance, although her overall posture was stiff. “Hey, Sunset!” Sunset turned to see Applejack and the rest of the Rainbooms walking up. “Hey, girls, how was the game?” Sunset said. “It was a hoot,” Applejack replied, “We lost, though.” “That why Rainbow’s not here?” “Well that and she needed to clean the field up.” Twilight rode past the group, still at her easy pace and turning the corner. “I see Twilight is adapting well to your motorcycle.” Rarity said. “Mighty rude of her not to stop and say hi, though” Applejack said. “I think her brain’s gone into shark mode and she’s afraid of stopping,”  Sunset said as she walked into the parking lot.  She saw Twilight coming towards her. Sunset sighed in relief when she saw that Twilight was slowing down. At least she had the presence of mind to consider pedestrians. Twilight slowed to a stop, miraculously keeping her balance on the bike. She robotically put the kickstand out. She dismounted the bike, her trembling becoming more pronounced as the bike’s vibrations were not affecting her. “Woah, there, Sci-Twi, take it easy, you did good,” Sunset said. Twilight didn’t respond. She was still trembling. Sunset walked Twilight back to the rest of the group. “Woah, was Twilight Sparkle just on a motorcycle?” The group looked over and saw Indigo Zap walking up to them. “Pretty hardcore, didn’t know you had it in ya Twi.” She was met with silence and five glares were directed at her. “Whoa, hostile. I thought you guys were all about friendship,” Zap said. “‘Friend’ is the key word there,” Applejack said. “Ouch, I guess I should’ve seen that coming. But I actually wanted to ask you guys to join me and the girls for some Ice cream.” “Why?” Rarity asked, no sense of grace nor any ‘Darling’ to punctuate it. Zap sighed. “Look, I get it. We were jerks. Actually Sugarcoat used some stronger words to describe it. The point is, we feel bad about what happened, and want to make up. Okay?” Twilight snapped out of her stupor. “Y-you… want me to hang out with you?” “Yeah, I mean, we all sorta want to get to know you… So are you coming or not?” “Of course not!” Rainbow Dash’s voice rang out. It seemed as though Rainbow Dash just appeared out of nowhere. Twilight’s pendant started beeping. “You think some Ice cream is gonna fix everything!?” Rainbow Dash yelled. Twilight walked in front of the group. “It won’t fix everything all at once, but…” Twilight tightened her grip on the pendent.“Girls, I think Rainbow and I need to talk alone.” The group understood and led Indigo Zap into Sunset’s apartment. Rainbow smirked. “Hmph. Nothing get’s past you Twilight, but I guess that thing does a lot of the heavy lifting.” Twilight attached her belt. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Rainbow Dash. You know how dangerous that magic is.” “Pfft.For you, maybe. I couldn’t feel better!” “That’s the magic talking, Rainbow. Trust me, it feels good at the start…” “Why should I?” Twilight was taken aback. “W-what?” “You heard me! You guys were going to leave me for Zap and the rest of the Shadowdolts.” “Rainbow, you know that’s not true.” “Save it! You already put the belt on! I know what comes next.” Twilight sighed, as she put the ring on, “We don’t have to do this Rainbow,” “I think we do.” “I’m not going going to fight one of my friends!” “That’s cool…” Rainbow Dash disappeared. Twilight looked around until she felt a sharp kick to the back of her neck. “... I’m totally fine with getting the first hit in.” Twilight rolled over and sat up. The figure in front of her barely looked like Rainbow Dash anymore. It look more like a winged centurion. Her helmet obscured her face and her eyes came through as two light blue orbs of light. Her armor was light and sleeveless, under the armor was a skintight jumpsuit. Twilight stood up and opened her belt, “Fine… Kamen Rider!” “MAGIC, PLEASE! SPARK OF FRIENDSHIP!” The symbol flew out of the ring and Twilight charged through it. Transforming as she tried to swing at Rainbow. Rainbow disappeared and reappeared behind her. “Cool power, huh?” Rainbow asked. Twilight scanned one of her new rings in response. “WEAPON, PLEASE!” The sword materialized beside Twilight, she grabbed it and swung. Rainbow Dash disappeared before the blade connected. “Wow, you even got the sword,” Rainbow called from behind. Twilight turned around and saw Rainbow behind her with her arms crossed. “You really play to win, don’t cha?” Rainbow mocked, “But since I’ve shown you that I’m pretty much untouchable, I think it’s time I stop messing around. See ya later,” Rainbow disappeared. Sunset’s door twitched. Twilight braced herself, looking for all of the possible locations Rainbow could come out from. The rest of her friends ran out to join her. “Indigo Zap disappeared!” Sunset said urgently. “ Yeah!” Pinkie Pie added enthusiastically, “She was there one moment, and then she was gone. She could’ve been a better Trixie!” The rest of the group just stared at Pinkie for her outburst and then quickly focused to the matter at hand. “What was going on back there anyway?” Applejack asked. “Well, I guess it should be obvious, “ Twilight stated, relaxing her stance and cancelling her transformation, “Rainbow has been affected by some Midnight magic. Apparently that gave her teleportation magic.” “Hmm… I don’t think It’s quite teleportation.” Sunset said, holding her chin in thought, “I’ve used teleportation spells, and they don’t usually work like that. But it could just be another difference between this world’s magic, and Equestrian magic.” “Whatever the case, it still stands that we need to find them” Rarity said. “Well heck, Rarity, she may be a monster, but she’s still Rainbow. ‘Taint hard to figure out what she wants,” Applejack reasoned. “She’s at the Soccer field,” The group intoned in unison. Rarity shook her head. “That girl and her ego.” Twilight headed toward Sunset’s bike, Sunset and Fluttershy followed after her. “What do you think you’re doing?” Sunset asked. “Sorry for not asking first but this is an emergency.” Twilight said. “You’re not driving Philomena unlicensed!” Sunset yelled. “Is this really the time to be worried about that?” Twilight said. “If she’s in Rider form, she might be okay.” Fluttershy put in. “Really? Nobody’s gonna pay attention to a masked girl in leather on a motorcycle?” Fluttershy shrugged. Sunset shook her head. “Whatever,” Sunset sighed, “Just.. be careful, okay?” Twilight smiled as she slipped on her ring and opened her belt. “Kamen Rider!” “Um.. Actually,” Fluttershy said, “The phrase is ‘henshin’.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Henshin?” “It means ‘Transform’ in neighponese” Fluttershy said. Twilight mulled this over. “Henshin!” The word sent chills through Twilight. She felt giddy as she waved her ring in front of her belt. “MAGIC, PLEASE! Spark of Friendship!” The Star symbol projected from the ring. Twilight started the Motorcycle and rode through the symbol. Along with her clothes changing into her armor, The Body became black with purple accents to suggest wings and at the front was a long purple horn. Twilight rode off without another word. “So, wait, you just want a rematch?” Indigo Zap asked from center field. “Yeah!” Rainbow yelled, still in her monster form, “And this time I won’t lose!” “You could’ve just asked me! You didn’t have to turn into some crazy monster to do this!” “Yeah, whatever.” Indigo Zap didn’t believe it. She was being forced into playing soccer with a crazed monster. It was like one of those serial killer shows, except much more unbelievable. She knew she was doomed from the start, Rainbow was going to use her freaky teleportation powers and win. She didn’t know what would happen after that. “Hold on!” a voice called out, accompanied by the revving of the motorbike. Harmony arrived and parked her bike in between Indigo and Rainbow. Rainbow groaned in annoyance. “You’re really doing this?” Rainbow asked, more bored than anything. “You’re my responsibility, Rainbow.” Harmony said as she looked back to Indigo Zap and signaled for her to go hide. Rainbow snorted as she watched Indigo Zap run to the bleachers, “I really didn’t wanna do this to ya, Twi, but you’re asking for it.” Rainbow lunged forward and kneed Twilight in the stomach. Twilight returned in kind with her elbow, creating some distance between the two. Twilight charged the armored monster and the target vanished. Twilight scanned her Weapon ring and tried to turn around. Unfortunately, trying to turn around with that much momentum caused her to fall on her butt. Rainbow phased back into existence, and laughed, “You know how useless this is, right? I mean, I’ll admit that it was stupid of me to attack you directly like that, but come on! I told you I was basically untouchable.” Twilight tried to stab at Rainbow, but Rainbow phased out. Twilight got to her feet and looked around.  Rainbow appeared behind Twilight. “You know at this point, I could just tire you out.” Rainbow said, “But you’re smart, you’d figure it out.” Twilight swiped at Rainbow uselessly, as the Monster once again disappeared. She reappeared again, but this time she was right in front of Twilight. “ Maybe I should just show you my secret.” Rainbow stated as she grabbed Twilight’s wrist. Twilight dropped her sword, but suddenly the sword stopped its descent entirely. “Cool, huh? I can keep this up for about 20 seconds at a time, which is FOREVER at this speed.” Rainbow let go of Twilight. The last thing Twilight saw before Rainbow blurred away was Rainbow raring up for a kick. Sure enough, Twilight felt several kicks impacting her all at once, launching her to the edge of the Soccer field. Twilight smirked under her helmet. Rainbow Dash might have this newfound ability, but  she was still Rainbow Dash. “Time to test out one of the new rings.” Twilight picked herself up rushed Rainbow with her sword, but not before putting on one of her new rings. The one that had a design that looked like a unicorn being entrapped by a grid of chains. Rainbow mimed a yawn through her helmet and disappeared as soon as Twilight got to her. Twilight scanned her new ring. “Bind, PLEASE!” Rainbow materialized behind Twilight, while chains came up from the ground and wrapped themselves around her. “That should keep you stationary,” Twilight joked as she brought her transformation ring to the hilt of her sword. “Magic: Slashing Strike, Charging…” Rainbow struggled against her binding, she tried to use her speed up ability to escape but it didn’t help as she was held firmly in place. Twilight pointed her sword skyward and let the magic envelop the blade. “Full Power” Twilight swung her sword down and released a blade of energy cutting the Rainbow monster in half.  The chains released her, letting her fall and then the Rainbow Dash monster exploded. Rainbow Dash lay there, with a ball of magical energy floating above her. The ball of energy flew into Twilight’s belt. Rainbow stirred. “Ugh… What happened?” Rainbow asked as she got up. She soon found her answer as she saw Twilight closing her belt and cancelling the transformation. “Oh, no…” Rainbow groaned, “I became one of those monsters, didn’t I?” Twilight nodded. “Please tell me I didn’t do anything too weird.” “Is it done? Are you guys finished with the weird magic fight?” Indigo Zap asked, almost on cue. Rainbow sighed and hung her head. Twilight Offered her hand and helped Rainbow Dash up. Rainbow turned to Indigo Zap. “So, uh… Everything’s kind of a blur… So, If I said some pretty messed up things… I’m … Sorry.” Indigo crossed her arms, “Sure, It wasn’t anything too bad, but… You know, We could hang sometime and hash things out.” Twilight’s belt flashed and produced a new ring: a Ruby cut into the shape of a lightning bolt. “Let’s go back to Sunset’s, I need to tell her about this.” *CLICK* One last photo was all she needed. She packed up all her things and ran to her lab. Finally her spying was paying off, all she needed now was a sample. “So, How goes the research.” A stern voice questioned in the doorway of the lab. “I think I see the Mechanics of it, but I’m going to need a stable sample of this stuff to make a true breakthrough.” “Anyone could have told me that! I need to get to the bottom of this Magic now!” “You know, for someone who expects perfect Results, you really don’t know the value of Patience, Principal Cinch.” The Principal frowned, “Know your place, Girl. I may be under probation but I can still make your school life here rather Difficult.” “Hmph, It’s not like it wasn’t difficult already.” Principal Cinch smirked uncharacteristically, “Yes, I suppose I’m not the only one who has been Embarrassed by Miss Sparkle. Eh, Moondancer?”