Knights of Harmony, Episode I: Rise of the Elements

by bahatumay

Chapter 16

Fluttershy shivered. “I don’t like this,” she said.

“Me neither,” Twilight admitted, “but I’m not seeing another option.”

They stared at the mouth of the cave, deep in the darkness. It almost seemed to be an actual mouth, trying to swallow them whole.

“It just… feels dark,” Applejack muttered.

“I feel it, too. The Dark Side of Harmony is strong here.” Twilight ignited her lightsaber and held it over her head as she stepped forward.

“You think Nightmare Moon might be in here?” Rainbow asked, half skeptically, half nervously.

“No, but I’m not about to walk through here blind.”

Rainbow grunted in acknowledgement and ignited her own.

The clicking of boots against stone sounded oddly loud after the marshy ground of the rest of the forest, and this was not helped by the echoing of that noise combined with the humming of their lightsabers. Different colors of blades shimmered in the dark, casting harsh shadows. The water dripping from the ceiling added another spooky vibe. Twilight shivered, and not just because of the cold. This was not a pleasant place to be.

One particularly large drop of water landed on her pinksaber blade, and it hissed as it vaporized instantly. Pinkie Pie giggled at the sound, and the sound seemed to partially crack the spell. She noticed. “Hey, girls,” she started. “What do you get when you cross a rancor and a hutt?”

Twilight had never heard this joke before, and, if she was lucky, she’d never hear it again. She took a step away from Pinkie, as if the answer that had come from her mouth was just that shocking.

“That was horrifyingly crude, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity protested even as she tried to suppress her chuckles.

“I know,” Pinkie said blithely. “But sometimes, when things are really dark, you need a good laugh.” She gigglesnorted. “I’ve got another one. Did you hear about the droid who went for a cleaning?”

And it continued, with Pinkie cracking jokes. Rainbow joined in, trying to match joke for joke, but Pinkie seemed to have an endless supply. Applejack threw in a few farming jokes, and even Rarity had one to share.

It was a bit of a surprise to all of them when the cave ended, bathing them in the dim light of the forest. On the even brighter side, it seemed like Pinkie and Rainbow were bonding a bit more; they were walking closer to each other now.

Twilight came to the other side and gently nudged her. “Thanks, Pinkie. You were great in there.”

“No problem!” she said cheerfully.

But once they were outside, a new problem appeared. The path they’d been following through the cave turned sharply over a cliff, something Twilight almost didn’t realize until just in time. It must have been from an ancient river.

“What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?” Rainbow had to ask.

Twilight ignored her question. “I don’t think there’s a good way through here,” she murmured, straining her eyes the other way. She fingered her lightsaber nervously. “We’ll have to cut our way through and we don’t have time…”

Rainbow looked up. “I think I can get a better view if I get up there.” The cave they’d just come through rose up to a steep hill. “No problem.”

Hand over hand, Rainbow slowly climbed up to the top of the cave mouth.

“You see anything?” Twilight asked.

“Not yet,” Rainbow answered. She pulled herself up higher. She swung her leg up, and her boot slipped off. She scowled at the gasps she heard, and pushed herself all the way up. “Hey, there’s a little ledge here.” To her surprise, it was a decent size, and…

A strange beeping interrupted her thoughts. She glanced down. “Is that my comm?”

It was. She answered it. “Go for Rainbow,” she said. She glanced down, half-expecting it to be Twilight, but her white comm was not in her hand.

“Rainbow! Just the pilot we wanted to talk to.”

“Who are you?” Rainbow asked.

“They call us the Shadowbolts. And we have a business proposition for you.”

Beneath her, her friends watched her have the conversation, but were unable to hear most of it.

“Who is she talking to?”

“I don’t know.”

“How is she getting a signal?”

“I don’t know.”

There was a slight pause.

“Wait. Is she asking about leaving?”

Rainbow paced. “That's a great price, but that's a tiny window.”

“Hence the payout. What do you say?”

“I told you, I’m talking life or death here.”

“So are we. If you’re not at the landing strip in half an hour, you’re going to miss out on the biggest payout of your life.”
Rainbow looked down. She could make it back in half an hour.

But would it be worth it? She looked further down at her friends, and knew. “No deal. I’m a little busy.” Rainbow clicked the disconnect button and put the comm back into her pocket. She exhaled and looked around, and her eyes widened as she saw something she hadn't before. “Girls? I think we’re here.”

---

Rainbow held the vine tightly as Applejack used it to climb up. Rarity and Twilight were already up on the ledge, and both were staring at what Rainbow had found.

“What is it?” Rarity wondered.

“It's a temple,” Twilight answered softly. “A Harmonist temple. I had no idea there was one all the way out here.”

“Wow-ee!” Pinkie said. “It’s gotta be at least a thousand years old!”

“I think you’re right,” Twilight breathed. It seemed oddly reminiscent of the one on Canterlot, though much smaller, and made of what seemed to be natural stone.

They slowly approached the main gate, ancient and overgrown, with the occasional rust patch. There were no door handles.

“Do we knock?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight shook her head. She took a step back and raised both her hands. “No. You just have to know how to open it.” She slowly turned her right hand ninety degrees, and with a rusty click, a small door opened in the gate itself. Twilight walked through, slowly followed by her friends.

They stood in the main atrium, before the main entrance. “Circle up,” Twilight called, reaching out her arms.

“Do you think Nightmare Moon is here?” Fluttershy asked.

“Probably. But we’re going to get something that’s going to be to our advantage. We’re looking for artifacts called the Elements of Harmony.”

“What do they look like?” Rarity asked.

Twilight paused. “Actually, nothing I found could describe them beyond ‘ancient crystals made of Harmony itself’. They look old, I think. Probably shiny. Most likely ancient, maybe even mechanical, like the holocron. I’m just really hoping that we'll be able to sense them,” she admitted.

“Good enough for me,” Rainbow said.

“We'll do it together.”

“Alright!”

“Good plan.”

“She'll never see it coming.”

There was a collective pause. That voice, while still feminine, was deeper, huskier, and did not sound familiar. They glanced over to the source. Nightmare Moon stood in their circle, her hands on their shoulders, leaning over in the huddle with them. As she noticed that she'd been recognized, a slow, fanged smile spread across her face.

Everyone scampered back. Lightsaber blades burst into being. Rainbow’s blaster was out and in her hand, and she was already firing.

Nightmare Moon merely held up her right hand. Before Twilight could voice a warning, she had caught the bolts with her bare hand; and then clenched it into a fist. Rainbow squealed as her blaster crumpled into scrap metal, and she was only barely able to pull her hand free in time. It clattered to the ground, useless.

Nightmare Moon looked around, apparently unconcerned with the colored blades burning around her. “I was hoping you were all coming to take me up on my offer,” she shouted as she took a lazy step back, her eyes wide and her predatory smile even wider. “Seems as though I’ll be disappointed.”

“Yeah, you will!” Rainbow shouted, undaunted, pulling out her lightsaber.

Nightmare Moon grinned. “Corellian,” she said in greeting. “I see your hair has started to grow back.”

“I see you’re still just as ugly,” Rainbow retorted.

“Oh, so desperate, that you descend to such insults?” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Well, I might be, too, were I in your position.” She laughed again.

“What do you know?” Rainbow demanded.

“Rainbow, she’s trying to rile you,” Twilight murmured her warning, but it was half-hearted; she was nervously curious to know what Nightmare Moon had up her sleeve.

Nightmare Moon chuckled darkly. “I know plenty. I know you seek the Elements of Harmony. I know they’re the only thing that can defeat me.” Her wicked smile gleamed. “And I know you don’t know where they are.”

Twilight tightened her grip on her lightsaber. “What makes you so sure of that?” she asked, hoping she was more confident than she sounded. How much had she heard?

“Because… oh, I’m sorry. Silly me. Were you looking for these?” She raised her hands and pulled them into her chest, and five stone spheres burst forth from the ground. They began to circle around Nightmare Moon like tiny satellites.

But something was wrong. “There’s only five,” Twilight murmured, glancing around as if hoping to see a sixth appear.

Rainbow Dash deactivated her lightsaber, fingers clenching and unclenching, clearly debating if she should make a grab for these Elements.

And then Nightmare Moon clenched her fist. The power of the Dark Side of Harmony crushed them into tiny shards that fell to the ground, clinking as they fell.

And with them, their hopes also shattered.

Comments

[badninja]

Ouch I get the feeling that Rainbow will be an even bigger hothead if she is anything like Han.

[Marebook7]

What’s it there about Rarity scene? I might have miss or something?