Knights of Harmony, Episode I: Rise of the Elements

by bahatumay

Chapter 14

Twilight shut the door to her shuttle and exhaled. Nothing. The shuttle Celestia should have been on was empty. No Celestia, no clones, no blood, no signs of a struggle; not even evidence of a pilot droid. They'd run scans on the whole forest, but there was so much interference and static that it had been an exercise in futility. She wanted to call in a whole regiment of clones to search it (or, at the very least, just burn it to the ground); but the long-range communicators were still all jammed. Short range comms still worked, but that did little to unisolate the moon. Spike was working on unjamming it, along with that guy who seemed friendly but definitely owned way too many screwdrivers, but there was no telling how long it would take them to do that.

“Hello, Twilight.”

Twilight jumped. “Diamond Tiara?”

Diamond Tiara strode forward. Her lightsaber hung at her belt, and she wore a twisted smile.

Twilight held up her hands. This was a delicate opportunity—surely Diamond knew something that could help!—and she needed to be cautious. “Diamond,” she started.

“Don’t ‘Diamond’ me,” she said. She held up her hand and demanded, “Tell me where Master Celestia is hiding.”

Twilight felt the cold tendrils of the dark side gently brush against her mind, and a shiver ran up her spine, one unrelated to the ambient temperature. “What?”

Diamond moved her hand again, a bit more forcefully this time. “You will tell me where Master Celestia is hiding.”

Twilight flinched. Diamond was not skilled in this, obviously; but even trying it showed she had great confidence in her own strength. Or maybe Twilight’s own skill in persuasion lent her some measure of resistance to the technique. “Master Celestia?” she prompted.

“Master Moon knows you’re hiding her!” Diamond Tiara said angrily. She held up her fist.

Twilight gasped as she felt a vice around her neck tighten. She was shocked. For someone, especially as young as she was, to jump straight to that, was troubling.

Especially since she was actually pulling off this technique successfully. Twilight winced, knowing she knew a couple ways she could get out of it but not wanting to hurt Diamond Tiara, but the only one coming to mind right now was the cho mai.

Before she had to make a decision, Diamond Tiara dropped her fist; it had been for intimidation only. “You will tell me where you’re hiding her!”

“I will lead you,” Twilight answered slowly, massaging at her neck. This wasn't a lie. She would lead her.

---

Diamond Tiara looked around irritably. “What? The library? This place is a dump!”

Twilight bit back a snarl. This was a great library. Given the opportunity, she would totally live here.

“There’s no way Celestia is here.” Diamond Tiara glared, turning her attention towards Twilight. “Why are we here?”

Twilight subtly waved her hand. “You want to be here.”

The Dark Side of Harmony could force an individual to do something against their will, but the Light Side was more limited in that that was impossible to do so. Any mind-changing influence the Light Side of Harmony could exert was required to be somewhat consensual; in other words, while you could not force someone to do something they didn’t want to do, it was quite possible to put your own spin on things so that both parties could be satisfied.

“I want to be here?” Diamond Tiara asked dubiously, though her head bobbed slightly. “Are you sucking exhaust? Why would I want to be here?” Her hand drifted towards her lightsaber. “Is Celestia here?” she asked again, her voice harder.

Twilight maintained her composure and tried again. “You want to defeat the Harmonists.”

This time, it was easier. “I want to defeat the Harmonists,” Diamond Tiara repeated.

“To defeat someone, you must understand how they think.”

“To defeat someone, I must understand how they think,” Diamond Tiara agreed. Her hand slowly drifted away from her belt.

“You want to do a little Harmonist training.”

“I want to do a little Harmonist training.”

“You want to meditate.”

“I want to meditate,” Diamond Tiara repeated, sinking down onto her knees.

“You don’t want to be interrupted.”

“I don’t want to be interrupted.”

“Succumbing to distractions is weakness, and you are not weak.”

Her voice hardened. “Succumbing to distractions is weakness, and I am not weak.”

“You want to meditate for at least three hours.”

“I want to meditate for at least three hours,” Diamond Tiara repeated.

“And you will not be disturbed.”

“And I will not be disturbed.” Diamond Tiara closed her eyes, and it was clear that nothing short of a rancor stampede would get her to rise from her position.

Twilight dropped her hand and bent over, suddenly winded and panting from the exertion. She hadn’t done that in a while, and she certainly hadn’t led anyone through that many steps before.

She quickly caught her breath. She had only about three hours, and she needed to move quickly. She held up her communicator. “Hey, Spike? I need a favor.”

---

Rarity entered and then slowed to a stop. “Ah, Twilight?” she asked, her voice more of a squeak.

“Yes, Rarity?”

Rarity pointed. “Why is Diamond Tiara meditating in the center of the library?”

“That’s what’s so important that I called a meeting,” Twilight answered tersely.

“I see,” Rarity said hesitantly. “And I’m assuming the others will be here soon, then?”

“Already here, Rares,” Rainbow Dash said. She, too, slowed to a stop, then pointed. “Why is Diamond Tiara meditating in the center of the library?”

“I'll explain when everyone gets here.”

“There’s a bad guy in the middle of the library and you’re waiting on explaining?” Rainbow huffed. “I know you’re all about, like, patience and stuff; but that’s not what patience means.”

“She most likely doesn’t want to have to repeat herself five times,” Applejack interjected, followed closely behind by a skipping Pinkie Pie, “and I know you aren’t patient enough to sit through that.”

Rainbow grunted, but did not disagree.

Applejack glanced around. “Actually, I think we're all here, now.”

“But Fluttershy-” Twilight looked behind her.

Sure enough, Fluttershy had appeared, just as silently as she always moved. She nodded in greeting.

Even as grim as things looked, Twilight couldn’t help but crack a smile. She turned to face the others. “Alright. Let's begin. Earlier today, Diamond Tiara came to my ship and tried to mind-trick Master Celestia’s location out of me.”

Fluttershy gasped.

“No, no; mind-trick, not mind probe,” Twilight quickly clarified. “Very different. I’m better at the first one. Not nearly as painful.”

“I’m assuming you won?” Rarity asked, looking at Diamond Tiara with slightly more horror than before.

“I did, which is why she’s meditating right now. But the important thing is, if she doesn't know, Nightmare Moon doesn't know, but she’s desperate to find out. And she thinks we’re hiding her.”

“But that’s ridiculous,” Rarity said. “She hijacked the ship before any of us even knew she was up there.”

“The power of the dark side tends to be blinding,” Twilight said with a shrug. “Maybe she thinks Master Celestia bailed before landing and we’re covering for her. But either way, if she doesn’t get an answer soon, there’s no telling what she’ll do.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Me, neither.” Twilight agreed. “Long-range communications are jammed. We can't reach anyone off-planet, we can't wait for backup. If Master Celestia is close, she's not responding to the com.”

“If she's even still in commission,” Rainbow added darkly. Rarity jabbed an elbow in her ribs.

“We're on our own,” Twilight finished.

“So what do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“We take the fight to her,” Rainbow said, punching a fist into her open hand.

“Rainbow, that’s not the answer to everything,” Rarity scolded.

“Actually, I think Rainbow’s right this time,” Twilight said. “She won't be expecting this. When Diamond Tiara doesn’t come back, she’ll start to wonder; but we’ve got probably an hour or so before she’ll start to actually get suspicious enough to do anything. If she’s convinced we’re hiding her here in town, I don’t know how many she’ll kill before she’s convinced otherwise. If we have a chance to strike, it’s now.” She exhaled. “I know your training is incomplete. I know it’ll be dangerous. You know it’ll be dangerous.” She glanced down at her mechanical hand. “We know what she can do, and I know that this time, she won’t be holding back. We might not make it back.” She looked back up. “But if we have any chance to stop her, it’s now. I won’t force any of you to come with me; but I would be honored if you would. Who will come with me?”

Rainbow crossed her arms. “I think the only question here is ‘whose ship are we gonna take’?” She glanced around and held up a hand. “I volunteer to fly, by the way.”

Comments

[badninja]

Why do I feel that Diamond Tiara is kinda easy to distract this way? She is very strong willed but kinda stupid, not the best combination.