Knights of Harmony, Episode I: Rise of the Elements

by bahatumay

Chapter 7

Once more, Twilight stood in front of her students. “Thank you all for coming back. I'm glad to see you're all here.” She started pacing. “First off, let me start by saying 'I’m sorry'. I was trying to teach you like I have been taught. But I started my training when I was very young. I didn't know the manifestations of Harmony, or just how much it affected my life. You, though, have numerous life experiences behind you. You’ve seen things. You’ve felt things. You know Harmony; you just didn’t know you knew it.”

“Eh. There’s a lot of things I don’t know,” Rainbow said flippantly, digging for something between her teeth.

Twilight cracked a smile. “But now I understand how to teach you—by building on what you already know. Now that you know what to look for, you'll know how to use it.”

“Are we gonna do more push-feather today?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Not quite. Today…” She signaled to Spike, who brought over a small spherical object, “you're going to start training with your lightsabers.”

“Whoa!” Pinkie breathed.

“Wizard!” Rainbow cheered.

“This is a training remote,” Twilight explained, turning it on and letting it slowly rise through the air. “It will shoot little stunner bolts. They'll sting, but they're nonlethal. Your job-” and here she unhooked her lightsaber, “-is to catch them.” She demonstrated, igniting it and holding her lightsaber at low ready, shifting it ever so slightly. The remote hovered around, rotated in the air; and then without warning, fired a small bolt of energy. Twilight didn’t even need to react; her blade absorbed the bolt. “This teaches you more about letting Harmony decide the fight, because you can’t react fast enough after the bolt has been fired. Basically, you must react to the bolt before it is even fired; so you'll need to feel Harmony—in your own way—if you want to avoid getting- Gah!” She jumped as the remote shot again, narrowly missing her thigh. “-tagged,” she finished wryly, deactivating the remote with a quick wave of her hand.

Rainbow punched a fist into her open hand. Fast sounded great to her. But now she had another question. “When are we going to spar each other?”

Twilight chuckled. “Probably not ever, really,” she said.

“Why not?” Rainbow demanded.

“Because playing with an actual lightsaber is a great way to lose a hand,” Twilight said flatly, flexing her own prosthetic for emphasis. “Unless… Does yours have adjustable power levels?”

Rainbow squinted at the base of hers. “Is that what this little knob is for?” She twisted it, and it fell away in her hand… along with the power cell of the lightsaber. The blade instantly fizzled out into nothing.

Twilight fought the urge to facepalm. “Maybe we should talk about what makes a lightsaber work before we start training with them.”

* * *

Twilight turned off her datapad and closed the hologram, pointedly ignoring the yawns and mutterings of relief from her tired students. “And now that you know how a lightsaber works, I'm going to show you the corresponding parts on your own lightsabers. Those of you that have them, of course.”

Rainbow Dash was first, eager to get started. She held out her shoto, and Twilight took it. She rolled it in her hands and pulled with Harmony, and easily disassembled it. “Simple setup, ilum crystal. Nicely built.” It had probably been someone’s backup or secondary weapon, but she wasn't about to tell Rainbow that. “It's solid and simple. Shouldn't give you any problems.”

“Sweet,” Rainbow said, taking it back.

Applejack’s blue lightsaber was next. Twilight disassembled it, and her eyebrows raised. She squinted closer at a few of the parts.

“What?” Applejack asked.

Twilight leaned in closer, examining a component. “Yeah, this inverter is a mark IV. They quit making these many, many years ago.”

Applejack squinted. “That good or bad?” she asked.

“It just is,” Twilight answered with a shrug. “I mean, it's a bit heavier than the V or VI; but I've never heard anyone have any problems at all with the mark IV. It’s a basic, reliable saber. It fits you.”

“Thanks,” Applejack grinned. She clipped it back onto her belt with no small amount of pride.

Pinkie’s pinksabers were next. In all honesty, Twilight had been deeply curious to know just how she'd managed to get a crystal—and twin crystals, at that—to emit a pink blade.

And just like their bearer, they were full of surprises.

Twilight almost couldn’t figure out how to open it. It seemed to be one piece of metal. Thankfully, Pinkie noticed, and (after a little giggle), she showed her underneath the lip of the emitter guard where the two pieces clipped together. Twilight was impressed.

Now that she finally got one open, she took a look, and then squinted. The crystal she recognized as being synthetic, and the wiring style looked uncomfortably familiar. “These are… Where did you get this pattern?” she asked.

“We found it,” Pinkie answered cheerfully. “A spacer splattered himself across an asteroid from like, forever ago, and he had one on his belt and instructions on how to build one on a datapad. My sister Maud found it, and copied the pattern. I think she still has the original, though. Why?”

Twilight's eyes flicked over the lightsaber again.There was no denying the golden contacts. “This is… this is an Anarchist design.”

Pinkie frowned. “They’re the bad guys, right?”

Twilight scoffed. “Seeing as how they want to let the whole galaxy descend into anarchy, yeah. They're the bad guys.”

Pinkie deflated. “But I like them…”

Twilight quickly realized what it had sounded like. “Pinkie, no. It’s not that you’re an Anarchist. See? You're on the light side, so it's light coming from darkness. It’s symbolic, really.”

Pinkie brightened. “Whee!” she cheered as she clipped them back on her belt.

“Alright. You three take turns, and make sure to not damage my remote.” Twilight glanced over at Rarity and Fluttershy. “And now for you two.” A little smile crossed her face. “It’s building time.”

* * *

Twilight descended the hidden ladder into the basement of Rarity’s shop. She turned around, and let out an impressed whistle. “Whoa.”

Rarity nodded, crossing her arms with no small amount of pride. “Impressive, isn’t it?” she said airily. “This is my workshop. Elfaus 2 may be a small moon, but I have clients from all across the galaxy who buy my wares; and many of them have a taste for that which sparkles.” She held up some fabric that seemed to sparkle in the light of the glowpanels. “This fabric is infused with glowcrystals for that extra touch of pizazz.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight said, reaching up to touch the cloth.

“And this fabric stretches a good three standard inches without showing strain or distorting the pattern. I originally designed it for hutts, but it turns out they don't particularly care to wear the same thing every day. I'm not too worried. I'm certain I can use this as some kind of maternity clothing.”

“Or if you gained weight,” Twilight suggested.

Rarity’s eyes narrowed slightly. Too late, Twilight remembered that while the archetypical twi’lek was slender, that archetypical twi’lek never turned down food (as Ryloth was not known for its fertile ground), leading to obesity among some of the spacefaring members. She winced. “There’s no good way to come back from this, is there?”

“Not really; but you get points for trying,” Rarity said kindly.

“So! Crystals,” Twilight said with a quick clap. This she could talk about.

As it turns out, Rarity could as well. “Oh, yes. You know, I’ve always been good with finding gems,” she said. “In fact…” She walked over to a nearby workbench and pulled out a small crystal from a tiny drawer. “This was the first one I found. It's a funny story, really. It feels like I was drawn to it. It’s always held a special place in my heart, like I had a connection to it somehow. I can’t even identify what it is, and it’s dreadfully brittle; and yet-”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Rarity, that’s a upari crystal!”

Rarity blinked. “A what, now?” she started.

“A upari crystal! It’s one of the crystals that can be used in lightsabers. Hold on.” Twilight unhooked her lightsaber from her belt, held it between the palms of her hands, and slowly rotated them and pulled them apart. Her lightsaber disassembled in midair, revealing all its parts. And there in the center…

Rarity’s eyes flicked back and forth between the crystal in Twilight’s lightsaber and hers. She held it up. “Could I…?”

Twilight nodded.

With dextrous movements, Rarity swapped the two crystals. Twilight reassembled her lightsaber, and kept it levitating.

Rarity hesitantly took it, and hefted it. “It’s quite… solid.”

“I’ve also heard ‘bulky’,” Twilight admitted, “but I like it that way. Really, it’s all personal preference. When you build yours, you can build it just about any way you want.”

Rarity nodded, and then looked back down at the lightsaber. She took a breath, then took another, and then flicked the switch.

It sprang to life with a quiet hum, and the blade…

“Oh, my. That’s beautiful!” Rarity exclaimed. “It’s such a lovely shade of blue!” She swung it experimentally a few times. “I almost don’t want to give it up.”

Twilight cracked a smile.

“It does feel… wrong, though,” Rarity admitted, deactivating the blade and hefting the handle. “Is it possible to… have a curved handle?” she asked, drawing in the air over her hand what she imagined. “Thinner, of course. More narrow. And the blade, could it be a bit longer?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course. It’s your weapon; but more than that, it’s a manifestation of your connection to Harmony.” She held out her hand, and Rarity returned her lightsaber. Twilight disassembled her lightsaber again and returned Rarity’s crystal. “How about you meditate on it for a while? Don’t stop thinking about it until you have something you will be proud to carry for the rest of your life.”

Rarity saluted. “It shall be beautiful and terrible in its glory,” she swore.

* * *

Twilight whistled as she glanced around. “You live here?” It appeared that she lived in a hollow tree, with a little hole that gave her access to the water. Everything she owned was seemingly hand-made, and animal motifs covered everywhere else.

Fluttershy nodded. “It's pretty nice,” she said. “My animal friends helped me spruce it up.”

“It's cozy,” Twilight said, sliding onto a stump. She felt a little impact on her boots, and she glanced down to see a small animal looking quite upset. Twilight hesitated, staring as he chattered. “What’s he saying?”

“He’s wondering why you’re sitting on his table,” Fluttershy answered with a small smile.

Twilight shot to her feet. “Oh, sorry,” she said. Wait. Why was she apologizing to an-

“Hey!” She looked down to see that the little animal had scratched right above where her boots ended.

“Angel!” Fluttershy scolded. “You apologize!”

The little creature crossed his forelegs and chattered, probably a half-hearted apology.

It was a good thing Twilight was a Harmonist who remained in control of herself, otherwise she might have used her boot to splatter the little ‘angel’ into two-dimensional art. She shook her head. “You're a nautolan, so your lightsaber needs to be built a little bit differently.”

Fluttershy paused. She examined her hands quickly, as if afraid she had something wrong with her. “In what way?”

“Normal lightsabers don't really like being submerged; but there's a way to design the circuitry so it works just fine. It just requires two crystals, preferably identical, to form a bifurcating cyclical-ignition pulse that helps it self-repair any water damage before it even happens.”

Fluttershy blinked. “A… what, now?”

Twilight exhaled. “If you can get two crystals, I’ll help you build a lightsaber that works underwater.”

Fluttershy brightened. “Do pearls work?”

Twilight paused. “If they’re really high quality, I’m sure they’d work. Why?”

Fluttershy turned to one of the nearby storage lockers and began digging inside of it. Twilight noticed that they seemed to be of varying
brands and sizes; it was likely she’d scavenged these.

“Where is it…?” she wondered aloud.

Twilight watched in fascination as one of her animal friends opened another of her lockers, jumped inside, and pulled out a small package. “Thank you,” Fluttershy said, unwrapping it. She turned and held them out for Twilight to see. “I got these from my mother. It's... the last thing she gave me.”

“That’s uncanny,” Twilight murmured, examining them. They were, as far as she could tell, perfectly round and exactly the same. “Obviously, I can’t tell just by looking at them; but if they’re pristine enough, these will work perfectly.” She cracked a little smile. “I think this would be perfect for your mother's gift.”

Fluttershy beamed.

* * *

Twilight puffed out her cheeks as she headed back towards her ship. For some reason, that had just seemed too easy. Maybe Harmony had decided to allow it to all work out.

Or maybe something had gone terribly wrong, or was about to go terribly wrong, and she just hadn’t known it yet.

Then again, she had fought against a Nightmare, and had lost her hand. Maybe this was as 'wrong' as it was going to get for now, and it was now time for things to go right for a while.

Slightly buoyed by this pleasant thought, she climbed up the ramp to her ship and came across Rainbow Dash, sitting at a table.

“Hey, Twilight,” she said, not meeting her eyes.

Twilight squinted. That was really unlike Rainbow. “Rainbow, what’s…?” Her voice trailed off.

Half of Rainbow Dash’s right sleeve was laying flat against her side. The cut was too clean to have been made by anything less than a lightsaber.

“We got a little… carried away in our practicing,” Rainbow said sheepishly.

Twilight clasped her head in her hands. “Rainbow!” she cried. How could she have let this happen? They were initiates! Not even Padawans! She knew she had gone too fast! How could she have been so foolish?

“It’s ok,” Rainbow said placatingly. “Applejack’s been really good to me. And I'll learn how to fly one-handed. I'm sure it's not too hard.”

“Rainbow…” Twilight moaned.

Rainbow suppressed a little chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight demanded. She glanced over to see Spike, one fist shoved into his mouth to stifle his own laughter. A little suspicion began worming its way into her mind. “Rainbow,” she started.

Rainbow put her right arm out of the sleeve. “Gotcha!” she shouted.

That's not funny!” Twilight scowled, but she couldn't suppress a little grin. Playing pranks on your instructors was a time-honored tradition of the Harmonists. They were coming along just fine.

Comments

[badninja]

Rainbow Dash that was at the same time very funny and not funny at all.