Knights of Harmony, Episode I: Rise of the Elements

by bahatumay

Chapter 11

The idea to split up the training into more personalized events had been nothing short of revolutionary. Fluttershy had indeed taken to Soresu naturally, and seemed oddly pleased that the biggest weakness of the form was the lack of standardized attack. Her natural shying away from strikes was going to be a problem, but with an emphasis on keeping her blade motions small, she grew more confident; and by the end of their second lesson, she had been able to deflect four strikes in a row. The fifth had lightly singed a head-tendril (Twilight had, to her embarrassment and Fluttershy’s pain, grown overconfident in Fluttershy’s ability) and they had mutually decided that there was a good place to end it.

After giving it a little thought, Twilight realized that Rarity’s natural grace and curved hilt meant Makashi would be a good fit for her. She was right, and from their first lesson, Rarity took to it like a mynock to power cables.

Unfortunately, Twilight was a bit more power cable than mynock with this form. Quite a few of her demonstrations were inflected with phrases like, “but smoother”, “in a straighter line than that”, “my foot skipped too much on that, try to keep it a smoother move”, and once, the embarrassing but always classic, “but without that last fall on your hindquarters.”

“Sorry about that. Makashi is my weakest form. Master Celestia or Sunset Shimmer would be better at this,” Twilight apologized as Rarity helped her to her feet.

Rarity took it in stride. “Don’t worry, darling. It’s my form for a reason. And it shall be glorious.”

But where this idea had really shone was with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash flipped easily over Twilight’s shuttle, bouncing off with a quick handspring where her hands barely brushed against the metal, and landing lightly on the ground, hands out for balance.

Twilight clapped. “Very good!” she said. “You’re really getting the hang of this.”

Rainbow smirked. “You know it!”

“I think you’re good on that for now. Up for another sparring match?” Twilight offered.

Rainbow hesitated as she unclipped her shoto.

Twilight noticed her hesitation. “What is it?” she asked.

“I’m just… I’m not sure I’m feeling it,” Rainbow confessed, rolling her shoto between her hands. “I mean, it’s great and all, learning about Harmony and these sweet tricks; but I’m a pilot. I fly ships. It’s what I am. It’s what I do. This is…” Her voice trailed off.

“Not really you?” Twilight suggested.

Rainbow nodded, a wry smile playing on her face. “Something like that. I mean, peaceful Harmonists; but I’m more likely to get into a cantina fight rather than break one up, you know?”

Twilight nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that; but that’s fine. Not everyone can walk this path; and not everyone should. I wish you luck.” She bowed and gave her a small smile. “Maybe you’ll come back to play with us every once in a while?” she offered.

“Yeah. Maybe.” Rainbow gave Spike a playful salute as she departed.

Spike watched her leave. He looked up at Twilight and hissed questioningly.

“I don't know,” Twilight answered, watching Rainbow slowly disappear into the distance. “I guess we'll let Harmony decide that.”

---

Scootaloo was excited, there were no two ways about it.

Her pilot, though, seemed to have her thoughts elsewhere; she kept picking up the wrong tools, her soldering was sloppy, and once she almost tried to mount a bracing bracket upside down.

Finally, she couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Rainbow, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Scoots. Just… thinking a bit.”

“About this race?” Scootaloo said hopefully.

“Yeah!” Rainbow said, hoping she sounded convincing. “More like thinking about what I’m gonna do with the prize money.” She ruffled Scootaloo’s hair. “When we win.”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo cheered.

Rainbow grinned. “Pass me that fusing pen. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

---

The morning of a race is always an exciting one. Racers are making last minute adjustments and guarding their vehicles against any sabotage. In the stands, credits (for transactions both legal and under the table) change hands, claws, and paws so fast it’s hard to tell where any of it came from in the first place.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were working on some last minute tightening. Well, one of them was, anyway.

“Leave him alone, Scoots,” she said from her position under the junkracer, and Scootaloo reluctantly pulled her tongue back into her mouth. “You can do that after we win.”

The time for the start of the race drew near. Junkracers (the vehicles and the people who piloted them) of all calibers lined up on the line, most under their own power, a few gently pushed and at least one dragged (probably because they had wired the repulsors’ power supply into the ignition circuit).

Rainbow hopped in, sitting back to back with Scootaloo. She held up her fist over her shoulder, and Scootaloo reached up and bumped it.

A green twi’lek holding a flag that was comprised of more cloth than what she was actually wearing on her body stood a few paces in front of the racers. She whipped the flag up, the universal cue to start the engines.

Rainbow hit the switch, and the engines rumbled to life. As other racers did the same, she looked back behind her and nodded. Scootaloo gave her a thumbs up; everything looked good from this end.

The twi’lek waved the flag around her head in a circle once, twice, thrice; and then whipped it down to the ground. Rainbow punched the accelerator, and was pleased to feel the engines roar beneath her as the junkracer shot forward, leaving opponents behind. She heard Scootaloo whoop excitedly.

But it wouldn't be a race without a little competition. She had barely passed the first checkpoint when she heard Scootaloo call, “One to your left, hard!”

Rainbow banked over, barely cutting them off. She chuckled under her breath as she heard the angry shouts behind her.
Now, blasters of any variety (and that included slugthrowers) were disallowed in these races. But it was surprising and disturbing to realize just how much leeway that gave the racers.

Rainbow felt more than heard it when the racers behind retaliated by throwing something metal at her. She adjusted by barely tapping the steering wheel, and avoided it.

Scootaloo squealed as another racer bumped her from behind. They were clearly intending to push her off course and spin her out.

But on the next turn, the sun was in the right position. Scootaloo reached down, picked up a small piece of scrap metal that had been polished to a bright shine, and angled it just right to hit the other driver’s eyes. Instinctively pulling away, it separated them just enough for Rainbow to jet forward at an angle, making the other two racers behind swerve to narrowly avoid a collision.

Lap one thus concluded. Cheers and jeers drowned out the clink of credit chips.

Some racers, holding back to avoid the eager, lap one jockeying (or perhaps to earn a shill in the betting booths some credits), started pushing up now. Scootaloo hefted her own piece of junk—a broken spanner—and hurled it at just the right moment at the nearest racer. It hit the windshield and clattered across, bouncing and landing in the engine compartment. It started smoking immediately. She smirked; but had no time to enjoy the victory. “On your left!” she called.

Rainbow Dash adjusted her path smoothly, forcing the other team to readjust, angling them against the rocky outcropping she knew was coming up.

The next two laps passed fairly normally. But the lap after that, some of the Rodians got a little bit cocky. They rode up closer, and their windshields’ design meant that Scootaloo’s little mirror trick didn't work. They bumped into the back, making Scootaloo cry out another warning.

And then they threw some of their own junk. There was a sound of impact and Scootaloo cried out again, but this time in pain.

Rainbow Dash looked back, and her eyes narrowed as she saw Scootaloo applying direct pressure to a wound on her cheek. She pulled to the side a little bit further, baiting them into trying to pass.

They took the bait. And as they did, Rainbow Dash stood up, balancing with one foot on the seat and the other on the steering stick. She reached out and slashed with her lightsaber, severing a few rather important lines and cables. The right engine (and only the right engine) sputtered and died, sending the junkracer into a devastating spiral. Rainbow chuckled as she jumped back into her seat. Nobody hurt Scootaloo.

The race was getting closer to the end, now. If any racer was holding anything back, it was all coming out now. Scootaloo was calling out hazards quite literally left and right, she had run out of things to throw, and more than once Rainbow had to let the junkracer take the bump to avoid greater track hazards or attacks from other racers. Enough people had seen Rainbow’s little lightsaber trick that all stayed far enough back to not be on the receiving end, but there was still plenty that could be done.

Lap forty-eight passed just fine. But junkraces were fifty laps.

The call of credits (or maybe the fear of creditors) grew stronger than the hesitation and self-preservation that had hitherto prevailed. Junkracers were pushed harder, and Scootaloo only barely called out a warning before another rammed into their side, clearly trying to push them off balance.

Instead, they jammed together and clenched. Rainbow grit her teeth as she heard the wrenching of metal on metal, trying to remember what she’d done to stabilize that back corner and not liking any of what came to mind. The metal split, ripped like cloth.

“Rainbow!” Scootaloo shrieked.

But the damage had been done. Even as Rainbow Dash reached for the arc welder to pass back to Scootaloo, she could feel the vibrations wrenching the ship apart. The split continued traveling, even reaching under her seat. She dropped it and tried to hold the racer steady, but knew that it was only a matter of time before it split. “Scoots-!” she tried to call out a warning, but it was too late.

The ship was ripped in half, tearing itself apart by the stress and force from the engines. The force threw both Rainbow and Scootaloo apart. Scootaloo screamed as she was hurled from the racer.

Time seemed to slow down for Rainbow Dash. She needed to save Scootaloo. That was most important right now. She reached out, instinctively, feeling the Harmony in her. The Harmony in Scootaloo. She reached, and then closed her hands and pulled.

Just a split second before she impacted the ground, Scootaloo was yanked backwards, hitting Rainbow in the chest. Rainbow wrapped her arms around her and tucked around her.

But that wasn't all she could do. She could control her fall, control her body. And she did, enough that she could break her fall using what Twilight had shown her. She slowed them down, not enough to stop them completely but enough to soften the landing. Together, they hit the ground and rolled through the sand as racers whizzed by.

Rainbow lay covering Scootaloo until she was reasonably certain that all the other racers had passed. Once the noise of the engines had died away, she slowly stood up, mentally checking her whole body for injuries. Shrapnel chunks were scattered across her shoulders, there was a patch of gravel rash on her right hand and forearm, and parts of her pants had been ripped almost to shreds; but she was very much alive and, for the most part, very much unharmed.

And, to her immense relief, so was Scootaloo.

“How did you do that?” Scootaloo asked as soon as she could speak again.

“Well, Scoots,” Rainbow said slowly, “to tell you the truth, it’s because… I’m a Harmonist.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, her voice a bit more confident now. It sounded right, saying it aloud. “I’m a Harmonist.”

Scootaloo scratched her head. “I thought you’d kinda given up on that,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I changed my mind. Harmonist-ing is about protecting and helping others and keeping people safe, and if that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.” She pulled Scootaloo in and gently rubbed her knuckles on the top of her head, prompting Scootaloo to laugh as she tried to squirm free. “Speaking of keeping people safe, this junkracer idea? No good. Whose idea was this, anyway?” Rainbow wondered aloud.

Scootaloo extricated her head. “I think it was your idea,” she said.

“Whose idea was it to listen to my idea?”

Scootaloo grinned. “Also yours.”

“Blast,” Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath and gave the useless half of a junkracer a derisive kick. She looked away, then looked back at Scootaloo. “Say, didn’t you tell me a while ago your little speeder was having a little trouble taking tight turns?”

Scootaloo brightened at that thought. “Yeah, it does. Wanna help me fix it?”

“You bet.”

And so the two of them headed back off the track and back home. Until…

“Uh, Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“How are we getting home?”

There was a pause.

“...blast,” Rainbow muttered.

Comments

[Marauder15]

“How are we getting home?”

LOLs
Excellent chapter
First