//------------------------------// // Fight! The Weapons Master (part 1) // Story: Kamen Rider Harmony // by smxsonic //------------------------------// “Connect, Please” A disembodied voice rang out from Twilight Sparkle’s pendant-cum-belt; a bolt of energy leapt from her ring with a crackling hum and projected an ethereal six-pointed star in the air next to her. Twilight arched an eyebrow at Sunset Shimmer, trying to gauge her expression as she slouched against one of the science lab’s immaculate stainless steel tables. Sunset seemed wholly unimpressed as she examined the shape. “Is that all?” She asked. “Is that all!?” Twilight’s brow furrowed, “I’ve found a belt and ring that projects magical holograms and turns me into a superhero, and that’s all you’ve got to say about it?” “Twilight, I hate to tell you this but compared to other things I’ve seen from Equestria-” Sunset popped her gum between her teeth for emphasis, ”-this isn’t all that impressive.” “But that’s the POINT, Sunset!” Twilight’s voice grew louder as she gesticulated frustratedly, “This isn’t FROM Equestria-” she paused to look back at the hologram as it floated ominously in the center of the lab, “-well, not anymore, at least.” The two girls were in one of the science rooms, experimenting with Twilight’s newfound powers, Starting with the ring the bookish girl received when she spoke with her royal doppleganger. Sunset hummed, “Try touching it.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What?” “Well, The design on your ring show’s a unicorn going in one hole and out another” “This spell produces Portals?” “Doesn’t hurt to try.” Twilight nodded and slowly reached toward the shape. Her hand disappeared into the shape and something brushed against it. She grabbed it and pulled her hand out, the shape disappearing as she did. “Huh, My physics book,” Twilight mused, “I wonder where it was?” Sunset held her chin, “Do it again, but focus on that flask over there.” Twilight nodded and waved the connect ring over her belt. “Connect, Please” The star reappeared and positioned itself beside Twilight. The two girls noticed that the star also appeared beside the flask. Twilight reached into the star and the two girls saw Twilight hand’s come out of the other.  Twilight grabbed the flask and pulled her hand out. “That was weird… But kind of cool” Twilight said, amazed. “Hmm… Well it’s not exactly telekinesis,but it serves a good purpose” Sunset assessed. “Don’t know how useful it would be for fighting monsters,” Twilight said and the chuckled, “ I still can’t believe I can say that with a straight face.” “Welcome to my world,” Sunset said, “Where I come from, Monster attacks are much more common, Although they mostly take the form of animals made out of inanimate objects.” It was only one day since Twilight got her powers. Each of her friends had their own opinion of this development. Sunset was intent on learning how this magic was compared to the magic from her world. Rainbow was already making dates to train her. Rarity loved the costume although the morph suit that was under the leather jacket drew her biggest criticisms, along with the use of her pendant as a belt buckle. Pinkie was already planning a “Super Hero Time” party. Fluttershy couldn’t stop fangirling over her. Applejack seemed the most nonplussed, the whole magic thing losing some of it’s luster. Twilight herself didn’t know what to make of all of it. After her talk with the princess, she went home and examined her pendant.  The inside had changed somewhat. What used to be an electronic circuit board became something akin to a touch screen that would show an icon of whatever ability was being used at the time.   The bell rang, startling Twilight out of her thoughts. She and Sunset quickly cleaned up and headed to class. It amazed Twilight how much this school was unified and yet disconnected at the same time. All of the cliques ate together like a stereotypical high school and yet there was a sense of unity permeating each of the groups. It was as if you could rearrange any of the students in this cafeteria and they wouldn’t look out of place.  She couldn’t really speak about Crystal Prep’s student body (aside from her… teammates), as she usually ate lunch alone, but maybe that spoke about how isolated it was. “Twilight!” Sunset’s voice snapped Twilight out of her thoughts. Twilight hummed, “Sorry, I was thinking about something.” “I wanted to see your new trick, egghead!” Rainbow Dash said. “Really? Here? With all these people?” Twilight asked worriedly “Twilight, this school has seen monster attacks, pony girls, and sirens. A disembodied hand isn’t going to phase anyone.” Sunset reassured. “O-okay” Twilight said as she took out her pendant. “Aren’t you wearing that as a belt now?” Applejack said. “Most riders don’t consistently wear their belts,” Fluttershy piped up, “They only put them on when they need to transform” “For the better, I say” Rarity put in. Twilight put her pendent on the table, and fished the ring from her vest pocket to put it on. She then waved the ring over the pendant. “Connect, Please!” Twilight outstretched her hand and the ring projected a six pointed star. A similar shape appeared in front of Rainbow Dash. Twilight reached in and her hand came out of the other shape, startling Rainbow Dash, picked her salad up, and took her hand out. The girls marveled at that. Pinkie pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy applauded. “I have to admit, sugar, that’s a pretty snazzy trick.” Applejack said. “Thanks, it’s the only one I know so far” Twilight said meekly “Must the ring be so… Gaudy?” Rarity asked. “ I don’t know if we can change the design of the rings…” Twilight said. “Oh, just as well, just as well, It goes with your whole superhero thing anyway.” Rarity said, “I do like the unicorn motif, though” “What’s interesting is that the magic seems to take the shape of The Element of Magic” Sunset said. Sunset was met with six confused stares. “Really? The Elements of Harmony never came up?” Sunset asked, “I even named them off when I went ‘goddess of friendship’!” “We were sort of preoccupied, darling” Rarity commented. “They’re where our pony powers come from” Sunset said, the girls vocalizing in understanding. “But, then why are my powers based on that?” Twilight asked while holding her pendant. Sunset shrugged, “I don’t know, Maybe because you’re the Princess’s counterpart.” Twilight’s face fell at this. “Or,” Sunset continued, “more likely, whatever magic is here, sees something in you. Something that makes it recognize you as The Element of Magic.” Twilight’s expression lifted slightly. She looked up and saw the supportive looks from her friends. “The Elements of Harmony…” Twilight mused “Umm… Actually, that gives me an Idea for your Rider name” Fluttershy spoke up. “Rider name?” Twilight repeated “Well since there are multiple Kamen Riders, they have other names to differentiate themselves.” Fluttershy explained, “Maybe… Harmony could be yours… If that’s okay…” “Eh, sounds a bit too cutesy for me” Rainbow said, while leaning back and stretching. “An’ ‘Rainbow Power’ isn’t?” Applejack asked. “Well, the ‘rainbow’ part is awesome” Rainbow mumbled. “I like it, it’s catchy” Sunset said. “Hey, Applejack?” AJ looked behind her to see her little sister, Apple Bloom, and with her were Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The three younger girls were looking down at the floor. Their uneasy fidgeting was a complete turnaround from their usual gung-ho attitude. “Hey, Apple Bloom, what’s up?”,Applejack said. “Well, we were wondering if we could sit in with y'all during band practice?” Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Sure, I guess, didn’t y’all already try the band thing?” Twilight looked to Sunset, who just whispered, “I’ll show you the video later.” Twilight enjoyed band practice, even though she didn’t participate. She really didn’t feel up to being the singer for the Rainbooms at the moment, although said group left the door open. It was odd to see the three crusaders,( Twilight couldn’t for the life of her figure out what they were crusading for) sitting in a corner. Twilight walked to the girls. “I thought you guys wanted to practice,” Twilight said. “We are!” Apple Bloom said, “We’re observing, learnin’... stances an’ stuff.” Twilight lowered her eyelids and raised her eyebrow. The group finished their set, and started to listen in on the conversation. “Yeah, it didn’t convince us either,” Scootaloo said. “Is this about Diamond Tiara again?” Applejack asked. The three girls nodded. “Huh, I thought I was the only bully in this school.” Sunset mused, Twilight raised her eyebrow at that. Sunset sighed, “That was the past, Twilight, it’s not today.” “Ah, don’t worry, Sunset,” Applejack said, “This has been happening since at least middle school” “We’ve actually gotten used to it.” Scootaloo said. “It died down a bit after we got into highschool.” Applebloom added “But now it seems she’s more nasty than usual” Sweetie belle said. Sunset and Twilight exchanged looks, saying nothing. “Like, in middle school, she would only do something if we crossed paths, but now…” Apple Bloom explained, “She’s actively trying to seek us out!” “Well shoot, sis, I thought I told you that hiding wasn’t going to solve anything” Applejack scolded. “I know, but… We wanted a break, ya know?” Apple Bloom answered. Applejack nodded and band practiced as usual. Twilight, however, had her mind racing. She couldn’t be sure of anything yet, but too many things fit too well together. Band practice ended, and the Crusaders left to do some more antics while the elder group cleaned up. Twilight also left the practice and started tailing the younger girls. If what they said was true, then Diamond Tiara would run into them eventually. Hopefully, if this was the work of any rogue magic, she could detect it. Twilight followed the girls to the sidewalk beyond the statue portal. Being very meticulous to not be seen, she hid behind the statue. It was almost ruined when her pendant sounded. Twilight looked around trying to find what the device had detected. “Hey, losers!” Came a slightly warped, but distinctly feminine, voice. Twilight looked behind her and saw the crusaders being blocked by a feminine looking monster, dressed in a knight’s armor. Her face plate was opened in a way that made it look like a crown. Twilight couldn’t see her eyes under the faceplate, just her lips. Twilight took a deep breath and positioned her pendant over her waist, straps magically appearing to fasten it in place. “You thought you could run away? That’s not very nice” The Monster said. “It’s not nice to antagonize defenseless pre-teens” Twilight called out. “Oh,” The Monster drawled, “The fake princess. Aren’t you out of your element?” Twilight bristled a bit a being called a ‘fake’, she took her Magic ring and slipped it on. “Isn’t there some sort of transformation call for this?” Twilight thought, “‘It’s Morphin Time!’ … no… ‘Rider Change’?... I don’t think that works quite right…” “Kamen Rider!” Twilight called out, “ I should talk to Fluttershy about that.” Twilight waved her hand in front of her belt buckle. “Magic, Please! Spark of Friendship!” Magic had built around her ring finger and the Twilight whipped her arm to her side. The princess’s cutie mark projected beside her and moved to envelop her. As it passed over her, her armor appeared over her, helmet and all.  Twilight ran over and jumped in front of the Crusaders. “You wish to challenge me?” The monster asked, “Fine, I’d like to see you try to beat me.” The monster produced a rapier and lunged at Twilight. She dodged and grabbed the monster’s arm, kicking it in the stomach. The Monster’s sword dropped to the ground. Using the separation, Twilight grabbed the sword and assumed a stance. The Monster hummed, as it picked itself up, “I have to admit, that’s impressive.” The monster held out it’s hand and another rapier materialized in front of her. “But I have reserves,” She thrust as Twilight clumsily dodged and parried. She never really had any training in fencing, and as such, she was mainly on the defensive. One misaimed Thrust from the monster gave Twilight the opportunity go on the offensive. It wasn’t much but she had managed to lock swords. The monster chuckled as magic flowed through the two weapons, fusing them together. Twilight’s eyes widened under her helmet. The Monster then used the extra leverage to throw Twilight to the school’s lawn. “I must say, you’re stronger than I gave you credit for,” The monster said. She un-fused the swords as blue eyes glowed through the visor of her helmet. “Twilight!” Six girls ran out to aid the rider. The monster lowered her swords. “Hmm, Well, I guess I’ll have to end our battle here.” The monster said as melded the swords together to form a Shield and threw it over the girls, Covering her escape. A loud clang allowed the girls to open their eyes. Twilight stood up first and closed her belt, transforming back to her normal Clothes. “So,” Applejack started, “Who the hay was that!” “I don’t know,” Twilight answered, “All I know is that she was more skilled than Flash’s monster was. I don’t think I can fight her again unarmed.” “We can develop something” Sunset said, as she indicated the shield in front of the school. “Tomorrow though,” Twilight yawned. “Quite right, It’s already getting late,” Rarity agreed. The girls said their goodbye’s and went their separate ways. Transforming had taken a lot out of Twilight, despite that, a problem had presented itself and She needed to solve it. She wouldn’t be sleeping well tonight.