> Kamen Rider Harmony > by smxsonic > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Henshin! The Spark of Magic! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The power was overwhelming her, and she liked it. For the the first time in what seemed like forever, she was in control.  Twilight Sparkle, -no- Twilight Sparkle was weak. Twilight Sparkle only wanted to further her own goals. No more, She was Midnight Sparkle now, and no one would stand in her way, not her principle, not her so-called teammates, and especially not some fiery headed know-it-all! Then, Twilight woke up. She laid on her bed for a few moments to compose herself. It’s been a month and she was still having nightmares. Sunset Shimmer had told her that it was normal, that Sunset still had nightmares after her episode. Twilight couldn’t go back to sleep after that. She hasn’t yet anyway.  It wasn’t even so much that Midnight scared her. Well, the part that scared her was that it was her. All of it was her. The fact that she was capable of causing so much damage frightened her, but what was even more frightening was that she enjoyed it. Her royal double had said that transformations like that didn’t come out of nowhere. Magic usually had a way of magnifying certain personality traits. Twilight looked at her clock: 5:00 am. She just shrugged, she wasn’t going  back to sleep anytime soon, so she might as well get ready for school. Twilight yawned as she exited the school bus. She wasn’t really a coffee drinker, but right now she wished that she could have stopped by Sugarcube Corner to get something. At least Spike was good enough to stay at home. His extra weight on her back would have made her morning a lot worse. It was still a good 20 minutes before the bell would ring. Students were only starting to trickle in. Twilight decided to take a seat on the steps to the school. She took her backpack and fished out her pendent. Well, it was a bit big to be a pendent, it barely fit in Twilight’s hand. Officially it was an EM Wave Detector. Designed to detect and contain abnormal EM waves. It was damaged during the friendship games, so at the moment it could only detect magic signatures. In fact it was detecting a fair blanket of magic all around the school, but that was normal for Canterlot High.  One could make the argument that it was the source of her nightmares, as it was unleashing the magic that was contained  in the device that was the catalyst in her transformation. “Hey, Sci-Twi! What’s up?” Twilight was brought out of her thoughts by Sunset Shimmer,her first real friend since Shining Armor and Smarty Pants, sitting next to her. She wasn’t sure what to make of the nickname yet. “Oh, hey, Sunset, sorry, I’m a bit out of sorts this morning.” Twilight said. “You have the nightmare again?” Sunset asked, her head tilting in concern. Twilight nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?” Twilight shook her head. There wasn’t anything more to say about the subject. “Don’t worry, Twilight, you’ll get through this,” Sunset chuckled, “ I mean, at least people still like you.” Twilight stared at Sunset through half lidded eyes, “I...really don’t think the situations are that comparable, most of the students here still think I’m someone else.” “Yeah, I guess,” Sunset said while standing up and stretching her hand, “but are you really that different?” Twilight hummed in response. She took Sunset’s hand and stood up. “I suppose not, but I doubt I’ll be ruling my own province any time soon.” Sunset chuckled, “ She used to be a librarian before she was a princess, you know.”  “Now you’re just trying to make me jealous.” Twilight scolded. They were joined by their friends and they had a lively conversation before the bell rang. School went by without a hitch as it usually did. While it was true that CHS’ curriculum was less demanding than Crystal Prep, the atmosphere was generally friendlier and there seemed to be a fair amount of clubs to cater to everyone’s interest. Twilight would often spend her spare time (and being Twilight, she had a lot of that), in the electronics club, fiddling with her pendant. She was trying to perfect the containment function, hoping it would only take what was needed. She was also tuning it to ignore the latent magic that permeated the school. The last bell rang and students started filing out. Some clubs stayed for meetings. Twilight and Sunset stayed to do some experiments with magic. Well, they said experiments, but they didn’t have any good samples to work with. They had stuck with using personal items from the rest of their friends and experimenting on those. “How is it that magic can be so consistent and yet chaotic at the same time?” Twilight  asked, her head resting on the desk. Sunset sighed and shook her head, “It’s just like that, really. It doesn’t help that beyond playing our instruments we don’t have any reliable way to channel magic.” “How were you girls able to do it during the games?” “ That’s where the Chaos part comes in, somewhat. Magic responds to emotions, and when our friends exemplify themselves in the elements of friendship, The magic inside them is just expressing itself.” “So it was more of a build up… but that doesn’t explain your transformation when I…” Twilight trailed off as she tried to repress the memory. “Well, for that instance, there was a need, and the magic did it’s best to fill it.” Sunset said as she sat next to Twilight. “I don’t think we’ll get anywhere for now.” Sunset said defeatedly “Agreed,” Twilight replied, “But at least I got this thing to track magic more effectively” “Maybe we can ask the Princess for help,” Sunset said. Twilight sighed, “We’ll see.” It was so weird that an alternate version of her had saved that school twice before. Not only that, she seemed universally loved by everyone. If Twilight was completely honest, she wasn’t only jealous, but now was under a lot of pressure to live up to someone who technically wasn’t human. “No,” Twilight thought , “I can’t be having those thoughts” Twilight walked along the sidewalk with Sunset and her pendant beeped. “What?” Twilight exclaimed as she took the device out and started to follow where it pointed. “ Twi, Where are you going?”  Sunset said as she tried to follow her. Twilight followed the device to the end of a sidewalk. Where she found a slightly oversized  class ring laying. “This is what it’s picking up?” Twilight asked, as she carefully picked it up. As soon as she did, she felt a burning pain in both her arm and her head, as if something were drilling into her. A lot of thoughts and memories started playing inside her head. Mainly memories pertaining to the friendship games and how her old school had treated her. “Twilight!” Sunset called, She ran up and saw Twilight hunched over the sidewalk, hands holding her head. “Twilight, what happened?” Sunset ran over to the hunched girl to try and help her up. “Sun..set… help me…” Twilight opened her eye to reveal a familiar blue tint. “Twilight?” As soon as the magic surge happened, it stopped. Leaving Twilight in tears on the ground. “Are you okay, Twilight? What happened?”  Sunset asked while holding her friend’s shoulders. “I… don’t know, I just picked the ring up… and… that happened.”  Twilight said. “We are definitely studying that tomorrow,” Sunset said, “For now, let’s get some rest.” Sunset stood up, “Come on, I’ll Walk you home.” She wasn’t used to running, right now she was running purely from adrenaline. She didn’t even know what she was running from. “You don’t have to run,” her own voice said inside her head, “We both know what we can do.” Twilight tripped and fell, her pursuer was catching up to her. She was cornered. “ Come on, don’t you want to live?” It was her voice, but it wasn’t her thoughts, “Unleash the magic! “N-No…” The voice inside her head chuckled, “Fine, you can’t run from yourself anyway.” The monster, still in shadows had caught up to her. I raised it’s claw up, and brought it down. Twilight woke up. For once this nightmare wasn’t the recurring one, which would be a nice change of pace if it weren’t for the fact that it was still a nightmare. Twilight got up and inspected the ring. She never told Sunset what she saw while the ring was trying to overtake her. That she saw Midnight again. It felt like last time too. Even holding it now, she knew she wasn’t going to like whatever the test gave out tomorrow, but it was better to know what it could do rather than leave it alone. Discovery requires experimentation after all. Twilight yawned, which was a good sign. It meant that her recent dream wasn’t going to scare her awake. It also meant that for the first time in a long while she would get some much needed sleep. “Well, the ring is radiating magic,” Sunset said looking at her computer screen, “but there doesn’t seem to be anything else about it. There’s nothing to suggest dark magic or any kind of specific spell.” Twilight looked at the ring through the glass. They were running tests on the ring and most of them were inconclusive, and it bothered her more than ever. “It’s weird,” Sunset continued, “There certainly is a lot of magic in it, but that shouldn't be enough to try and overtake someone, Unless…” Sunset looked at Twilight, who had been quiet throughout the testing, save for basic communication in the experiments. Her eyes told the whole story. She was concerned, maybe even afraid of the ring.  “Twilight, What exactly happened back there?” Twilight didn’t respond. “Twilight, I saw your eyes… they were-” “They were just like Midnight’s,” Twilight said finally, “You’re about to suggest that whatever remaining magic from that night somehow found it’s way into the ring” Sunset paused for a moment, “Well, yes, But that’s a good thing!” Twilight looked at Sunset with an eyebrow raised. “The magic in that ring came from you, what you felt when you picked up the ring were the same emotions from the friendship games.”   “Shouldn’t I have transformed?” “Well, No… The magic was yours to begin with, so it accepts you.” Twilight shut the apparatus down, and removed the ring.   “So the magic in this is mine?” Twilight asked while inspecting the ring. “Yeah, in fact, we could probably use it to teach you some basic spells” Sunset said, “they won’t be like anything a unicorn can do, but it would close enough” For once this week, Twilight could say she felt excited. She would finally unlock the secrets of magic. Then Rarity burst through the door. “Girls, we have a problem.” Rarity  said. “Get away Flash!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Come on babe, just give me a chance” Flash said creepily This had been going on for a few minutes. Fortunately Flash was just being creepy and not doing anything harmful. Sunset, Rarity, and Twilight ran out to watch the scene. “Flash! What’s going on!?” Sunset yelled. “Oh hey, honey, Just trying to move on,” Flash said in the smoothest voice he could muster. “Okay, That’s… weird. Why are you acting like that?” Sunset asked.   “I just felt like I needed to change,” Flash said. Twilight’s pendant beeped. She took it out and saw that it was pointing at Flash. “Sunset,” Twilight said, indicating the device. “Right, magical crisis, We need to tell the Princess” Sunset said, Starting back into the school. Twilight grunted in annoyance, stopping Sunset in her tracks. “Twilight, I have no idea how to deal with this!” “Really? How about you turn into a Goddess and calm him down!” Twilight yelled, afterwards thinking, “Where did that come from?” “Because, I have no more control of that, than you have over your She- Demon form!” Sunset yelled back before gasping. “Ooh, catfight,” Flash said, watching the two girls standing off with each other. Said girls promptly ignored the magically possessed teen in their stand off. “We’ll talk about this later” Sunset said before running into the school. Flash chuckled as he walked towards Twilight, “Well that was short lived.” Twilight stepped down from the school entrance to get her distance. “Flash, This isn’t you!” Twilight said, “You wouldn’t be acting this way.” “Maybe that’s the problem,” Flash responded still walking towards Twilight. Twilight was still backing away. “No one took the nice guy thing seriously. So I’m trying something new.” Flash said, his eyes starting to glow in a neon blue. “Flash, That’s not you talking!” Twilight tried. “ That’s where you’re wrong, Twi-Twi, This is me , all of it is me!” Flash started glowing with a purple aura, “and I’ll show you how serious I am.” Batlike wings burst out from his back, and his body mutated into an golden armored being with claws. His face morphed into a lizard like snout as one final roar came from the transformation. “Okay, That was unexpected,” Twilight said. The Flash Monster slashed his claw at Twilight. Twilight ducked and started to run, looking back at the monster. The monster looked as if he was gathering energy and roared again. Twilight didn’t know whether the monster was still sentient, but she knew that she had to get out of there.  She then heard a noise that sounded like a zipper and she tripped. Twilight suddenly found herself in a forest. She looked behind her to see the there was a rift that lead to Canterlot High, and also that the Flash monster was airborne and coming right for her. Twilight picked herself up and ran behind a tree.   “There’s no use in running, Twilight,” Flash said in his warped monstrous voice, “I’ll find you eventually, and when I’m done with you, I’ll find your friends. ” Twilight didn't know what to do, dropping to her knees from behind her tree. She wasn’t really athletic and while Rainbow Dash did teach her some self defense, she couldn’t realistically  defend herself and her friends from that monster. She took the ring out of her pocket and examined it. She remembered what Sunset said. “We could probably use it to teach you some basic spells” Twilight had an idea: maybe she could augment her own abilities with whatever magic was in this ring. “ Of course, it might bring Midnight back…”  Twilight thought, “ No, I can’t think like that.” She slowly put the ring on her finger, bracing herself for whatever came next. What came next was nothing.   “Come on out, Twilight, these trees won’t hide you forever.” Flash called out. Twilight tried to think as hard as she could, before Flash could get her. “May be the ring is more like a battery and needs something else to channel the magic” Twilight took out her pendent. It couldn’t properly contain magic, but that also meant if it tried, it could be the conduit needed to channel the magic. She opened the device, and waved the ring over it. Bolts of energy exchanged between the two items as a sphere of energy erupted from them. Twilight had a twinge of Deja Vu as the Sphere engulfed her. Unlike the Transformation into Midnight, Twilight didn't really feel any transformation. Instead she saw her pendant repair itself and reconfigure itself. She felt a warmth on her hands and saw that the ring was reshaping itself, the jewel on it becoming an amethyst cut in the shape of a six pointed star and the band becoming golden. Her pendant attached itself to the center of her waist, belt straps  materialized and securely fastened it. As though she was possessed she waved her ringed hand in front of of the device. A voice rang out from nowhere. “MAGIC, PLEASE! SPARK OF FRIENDSHIP!” A black morph suit materialized on her, the star decorating the middle of the shirt. A simple black skirt came from her belt. Over the suit came a black coat that still fit under the belt. Finally a black helmet materialized around her head, giving off a grasshopper type look, The star decorating her forehead. However the visor was the last to appear, having a purple visor appear last in one band across the eyes. Twilight inspected herself. The transformation was odd, but she couldn’t argue with the power she was feeling now. The tree she was behind fell. “Found Yo-...” Flash trailed off, “Who are you?” “Um… “ Twilight jumped and straightened herself “I’m your… Worst nightmare?” “Well I guess my comeback abilities weren't augmented.” Twilight thought to herself. The Flash Monster slashed with his claw and Twilight blocked. She couldn’t believe it. She could feel the strength in the claw, but she was holding the claw back relatively easily. Keyword being “relatively”.  She him in the head to relieve the pressure on her arm and punched him a couple of times in the chest, knocking him back both times. The Monster slashed again with his claw, Twilight leaning back to dodge and then landed another punch. The fight led back to the portal that Flash made.  He flared his wings and charged toward Twilight. “Guys, what happened to Twilight?” Sunset asked while running out of the school. “Flash turned into a rubbery looking monster and chased Twilight into that portal!” Pinkie explained enthusiastically. “What’s going on anyway? Flash has always been thick headed, but he’s never gone right out creep before,” Rainbow Dash said, Fluttershy nodded in agreement  . “Sounded like he had something to prove.”Applejack said, holding her chin. “Oh no...” Sunset droned “What is it dear?” Rarity asked. “Well, I have a theory…” Sunset began, “The details aren’t ironed out yet, but-” Sunset was interrupted when the Flash monster flew out of the portal and face planted in the ground. Following him was a masked girl, in a black long coat and wearing black spandex  underneath that. “ That’s it!” The Flash monster yelled, “ I’m finishing this!” He charged at her with one claw extended. She dodged the attack and then punched him in the stomach. She punctuated the attack with a kick, knocking the monster on his back. The masked girl stood there in contemplation of what to do. Her breathing made it clear that she was start to grow tired. “Kamen Rider!” Fluttershy called out, much to the surprise of her friends. The masked girl looked to Fluttershy and pointed to herself, “Kamen..Rider?” Fluttershy nodded, regaining her composure, “You can use a Rider Kick to finish him!” “But I’ve been kicking him…” Fluttershy shook her head, “Use the full extent of your power to make one last blow!” The ‘Kamen Rider’ nodded , and looked back at the monster, who was getting up. She studied the ring she was wearing.  Seeing that the monster was getting up. She quickly ran her hand over her belt buckle. Both the buckle and the ring reacted as a voice shouted from nowhere. “Magic, FULL POWER” A purple aura enveloped the Rider. Wings of energy emerged from her back as she jumped high into the air. She did a somersault in midair and did a dive kick with her leg enveloped in a purple aura. The kick landed and the Flash monster went down in lightning bolts and explosions, leaving Flash Sentry laying there , back to normal, dazed but unharmed.   “So… Awesome!” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both said at the same time. Kamen Rider landed and saw a ball of light floating above the teenage boy. It flew into her belt buckle, which closed  and she transformed back into Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight!” The other girls chorused, swarming the prone girl. “That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, “Your style could use more work,but I’m glad to see that training paid off!” “It wasn’t really me,” Twilight explained, “I was just using the magic in this ring.” “So that ring turned you into…” Applejack trailed off trying to remember the name, “What did you call her, Fluttershy? “Um, Kamen Rider,” Fluttershy said meekly, “ … It’s a Neighponese thing” “Huh, Keep forgetting you’re into that stuff” Sunset noticed the ring on Twilight’s finger, “Is that the ring we’ve been looking at?” “Yeah, It transformed when I did,” Twilight explained. The Mirror behind them came alive as Princess Twilight pushed through the portal. “I Got your messages, Is Flash okay? Are you girls-...” The Princess trailed off as she saw the scene, “Thank goodness, you girls handled it on your own, that’s a trend I wouldn’t mind continuing.” The girls looked at the princess in awkward silence. The Twilight Sparkle of the human world managing to stand up. “Kamen Rider” The Princess intoned thoughtfully after hearing the story from her doppelganger. The Princess chuckled, “You know If anyone of you became a superhero, I would have expected it to be Mare-do-Well.” “Who?” Twilight asked. “It’s a long story.” The Princess said, “Ask the girls, they might have a similar story.” The two Twilights were sitting in Sugarcube Corner, on Sunset’s suggestion. Twilight had only finished telling The Princess the story of what happened that day. “So…. What do you make of it?” Twilight asked meekly “It’s fascinating, to say the least. I’m going to have to research magical transformation when I get home” Twilight looked at the table forlornly. “Twilight?” The Princess asked, calling her own name still weird on her tongue, “What’s wrong?” “Sunset had a theory…” Twilight said, “That Flash was transformed because of some stray energy from Midnight.” “I see where you’re going with this, and don’t go there,” The Princess interjected, “Nothing will get done blaming yourself.” “That’s easy for you to say.” The Princess chuckled, “The most productive thing you can do is find whatever is left of Midnight’s magic and contain it.” Twilight nodded taking out her device. “Look, I know it’s going to be difficult, constantly facing yourself at your worst, but you have Sunset and me,” The Princess said. “Thanks, Twilight, you really do live up to your… reputation…” “Twilight, are you… Jealous?” The Twilight of the Human world looked at the table with a blush coming to her cheeks. The Princess chuckled, “I guess I’m never going to get along with myself” “Well, Isn’t this weird? You’re talking to another version of yourself!” “Well, yeah, but after you’ve dealt with the things I’ve been through: Mad Gods, Ancient Artifacts, Time Travel, Trixie. It doesn’t really phase me. Although this still ranks up there in the weirdness scale.” “You’re so casual about it!” Tears were starting to well up in her eyes, “You have such a presence here, everybody likes you. Everybody expects me to be like you...and….” “You don’t know if you can reach that expectation?” Twilight grumbled while The Princess kept the same serene smile. “Oh, Twilight, I know what it’s like to try and live up to other’s expectations. When the Sirens tried to take over, the girls we SO Sure that I’d be able to help them, part of my trouble was the thought of letting them down. It goes without saying the you and I are a lot alike, and believe it or not I’m still the nerd who likes to re-sort her books every three months or so.” “You do booksortcation too?” “Well, I AM you… In a way.” The two Twilights chuckled at that. “Look,” The Princess began, “ I’m sorry to put pressure on you like that, but if you need to talk, Sunset does have her journal.” “I may need to talk to you after this whole Kamen Rider thing…” Twilight’s pendant glowed and then it opened up.  A ball of light rose out of the device and a ring materialized and fell into Twilight’s palm. “This thing still finds ways to surprise me,” Twilight commented. “Well, the magic in this world is still a mystery.” The Princess The Twilights bid their farewells and they both walked back to school where Sunset was waiting. The Princess and Sunset hugged each other as Princess Twilight went home. Sunset then offered Twilight a motorcycle helmet. “Drive you home?” “Um… Sure…” Twilight said, “Sunset,  About earlier..” “Don’t worry about it,” Sunset said, “I crossed a line, and I’m sorry. Also you’re right, I can’t go calling Mommy every time something magic happens and I don’t understand it.” Twilight smiled as she went with Sunset. Tomorrow was going to be jam packed with experimenting and discovery of her abilities as Kamen Rider Harmony. > Fight! The Weapons Master (part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “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. > Fight! The Weapons Master (Part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight yawned, resting her head on the lunch table. This whole superhero thing was not doing any favors for her sleep schedule. Adding to that, the stress of knowing there was another Midnight monster on the loose and hiding amongst the student body was also starting to get to her. “You okay, Twi?” Sunset asked. Twilight lifted her head and rested it on her hands, “Yeah, just the stresses of being a superhero.” “Have you thought about a weapon you could use?” Sunset asked while eating her salad. Twilight groaned, “I don’t know, I haven’t had any formal training in any form of weaponry” “Weren’t you in the Archery event during the games, darling?” Rarity asked. “She was, but it wasn’t anything to write home about, no offense, Twi” Applejack replied. “None taken. Really, I was on the team mainly for the academic challenges, which come to think of it, was a grave miscalculation on Cinch’s part,”  Twilight rambled. “Why don’t you just use the shield she threw at us,” Rainbow suggested. Sunset shook her head, “It’s too heavy to use as an actual weapon” “The monster would probably find a way to use it against me anyway.” Twilight said, “That monster was skilled, and it seemed more in tune with it’s abilities than Flash was.” “We’ll find something, I promise” Sunset said.   Lunch continued, an air of uneasiness permeated the table. “Rainbow Dash!” The uneasiness vanished the instant the young voice called out. Rainbow looked behind her, “Hey, Scoots, what’s happening?” “The girls and I were wondering if you could give us some pointers on Soccer after school.” Rainbow hummed in consideration, “Sure, why not, see you this Afternoon!” Twilight yawned again, and lunch continued as normal. “Twilight, why are we hiding?” Sunset asked. She sitting with her back leaning against the sport’s  shed facing away from the soccer field with Twilight beside her. “The monster from yesterday is still out there,” Twilight said, peeking from the corner. Rainbow Dash was still showing off for the crusaders. “It was obviously targeting the crusaders, so I want to make sure their safe.” “Still doesn’t explain why we’re hiding here, when we could be finding you a weapon.” Twilight sighed, “Whoever is targeting them, they probably won't reveal themselves if I’m there.” Sunset grunted but nodded in agreement. She stood up and joined Twilight in monitoring Rainbow Dash. Rainbow let the girls play around for awhile to practice the various skills she taught them. Scootaloo was trying to juggle a soccer ball with her knees when a regal sounding laugh sounded throughout the field. Twilight looked and saw two young teens approaching the crusaders. Twilight clutched her pendant, hoping she wouldn’t need to use it. “So this is where you were hiding,” Diamond Tiara said, “I missed you yesterday.” She and Silverspoon walked around the field, ignoring the glares she was receiving from the Crusaders, “So, What are you three failing at this time?” “Hey, Lay off!” Rainbow Dash yelled, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” Diamond Tiara grunted and walked away, snapping her fingers signalling Silver Spoon to follow her. Once they were out of sight, Scootaloo sighed, “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. You didn’t need to do that.” “No problem, squirt. When you’re as awesome as I am, you learn to deal with the Haters”  Dash said as kicked the soccer ball into her hands, “Let me show you something I’ve been working on.” Dash kicked the ball up into the air, but before Dash could do anything, a javelin shot through the ball grounding it and deflated it. The girls looked at where the javelin came from and they found the Armored Monster standing at the top of the bleachers. “You again?” Apple Boom called out, “I thought Twilight took care of you!” The monster chuckled, “That nerd couldn’t even handle me, things were getting too crowded, so I left.” “Really?” Twilight called out while walking out from behind the storage shed, “You care to qualify that statement with some hard facts?” “Kinda getting nerdy there, Twi…” Dash deadpanned Twilight sighed as she attached her belt, “Get the girls to safety, Rainbow” Dash did as she was told, leaving Twilight alone with the monster. The monster walked down from the bleachers as Twilight fished her ring out of her pocket.  She opened her belt and put her ring on. By this time, the monster was on the opposite side of the the soccer field as Twilight. “Kamen Rider!” Twilight called as she waved her ringed hand over her belt. “Magic, Please! Spark of Friendship!” Twilight whipped her arm to her side and the familiar Star-Shape shot out and then enveloped her, her armor materializing on her as it did. The monster wasted no time in its attack, slashing wildly with it rapier. Causing Twilight to jump back. Twilight tried to get behind the monster, but the monster proved to fast. Twilight lunged at the monster, spotting an opening. Her shoulder check caused the monster to drop her weapon. Twilight made a mad dash  to the sword and brandished it at the monster. The monster laughed, “Really? You remember what happened last time, don’t you?” “Of course I do, but discovery requires experimentation” Twilight replied. The heat of battle wasn’t the best place to test hypothesis, but Twilight remembered something that Sunset had told her. The magic was originally hers, so logically she could also shape this weapon to her will like the monster could. She put the weapon in her ringed hand and waved it over her belt. “Magic! Full Power!” Magic energy surged from the ring to the sword, covering it in a purple aura. The sword glowed as it changed shape, becoming less of a rapier and more of an arming sword. The blade was simple. 30 inches and double-edged. The golden hilt was wrapped in a purple cloth at the grip, while the cross-guard flared out like a pair of wings. Where the blade met the hilt was decorated with a familiar star being surrounded by gold that was almost shaping a crown. The magic dissipated and the excess flew into Twilight’s belt. The Monster rushed at Twilight with a flurry of swipes, all of which we blocked with Twilight’s sword. The inclusion of a weapon gave Twilight some even footing in the fight. Twilight didn’t have any sword training, but for some reason it felt natural to fight with.   The fight went like this, until the monster materialized two javelins, throwing one at Twilight.  Twilight dodged swiftly and she even dodged the second one too. The monster shoulder checked Twilight while she was distracted, knocking her to the ground and making her drop her sword. “Silver Spoon!” Diamond Tiara called as she was walking to the field. The monster noticed and a smile paradoxically graced her seemingly unmoving lips. “Ugh, She is so useless.” Diamond Tiara said, somehow not noticing the battle that was happening. The monster’s smiled vanished. “What?” The monster growled as she turned to face Diamond Tiara, “Did you say?” Diamond Tiara hummed as she looked over to the monster and then gasped. The monster was advancing towards her, dual wielding her swords. “I did all of this, and it’s never going to be enough!” Diamond Tiara inched backwards as the Monster approached her. This little exchange gave Twilight enough time to recover. Twilight tried to rush from behind, but the monster heard her coming and summoned chains that wrapped around the rider. “Hmph, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised,” The Monster said, turning back to Diamond Tiara, “I don’t think you even know how to appreciate anything,” The armored monster readied her swords. “Connect, Please” The monster thrust her swords, but before they could make contact, a Star showed up in front of the monster. The swords disappeared into the star,but she did felt her weapons hit something. She turned backwards saw Twilight, the chains breaking apart from her and disappearing. “I have to admit, that was a calculated risk on my part,” Twilight said as she dusted herself off, “But it worked!” Twilight then got into a battle stance, “There’s one more experiment I want to try through” Twilight waved a ring over the sigil on the sword and both items reacted. “Magic: Slashing Strike! Charging…” Twilight pointed her sword into the sky. A purple energy rose through the blade until it hit the tip. “Full Power!” Twilight then brought the sword down and swung it horizontally. The resulting beam of energy flew out from the sword and hit the monster, bifurcating it. She stumbled backwards, lightning coming from the cut. She fell backwards and exploded, leaving the prone, but unharmed form of Silver Spoon. A small ball of magic flew into her belt. “S-Silver Spoon?” Diamond Tiara said kneeling by her friend. Silver Spoon stirred, “Hey, DT, what’s going on?” “You… don’t remember anything?” “I Remember going to lunch, and then I felt super angry, and then I’m here.” Diamond Tiara hugged Silver Spoon tightly. The pigtailed girl clearly disturbed by this sudden display of affection. Dash, Sunset, and the crusaders ran to the field to accompany Twilight. “Heh, Nice job Tw-OW!” Rainbow started but Sunset stomped on her foot, “What was that for?” “I’m Harmony” Twilight said, “Kamen Rider Harmony” Diamond Tiara looked up from her hug,she immediately let go of Silver Spoon and stood up and turned her back to the group. “I guess I should thank you,” She said while crossing her arms, “My best friend was messed up and you fixed her… So… Come on Silver Spoon” Diamond Tiara walked away, Silver Spoon got up and went to follow her. She then turned back to face the masked hero. “I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but if Diamond Tiara is getting sentimental over this, then it must have been serious. So, Thank you, Miss Harmony” As Silver Spoon walked away, Sunset gave Twilight a little nudge. “Well It looks like you have some fans, Miss Harmony” Sunset said. Twilight closed her belt and the transformation was canceled, her newly acquired sword disappearing with it. “That’s SO Cool,” Scootaloo gaped, “You’re like a superhero” Twilight blushed as she rubbed the back of her head, “You won’t tell anyone will you?” “Of course not,” Applebloom said, “a hero ain't a hero without a secret identity!” “Thanks,” Twilight said, as her belt beep as two balls of light flew out and formed two new rings. One ring had a picture of a unicorn trapped in a grid of chains, while the other depicted a small unicorn head with a giant sword replacing it’s horn. It was a long day and all the girls went on their way home. Twilight wasn’t sure how to take all of this ‘Kamen Rider’ stuff at first,but it became obvious that people were being hurt because of her incident. If she could protect people from the monster she became, she was ready to ride. > Clock Up! Rainbow's Ambition > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheering surrounded the soccer fields as the two teams faced off. On one side was The Canterlot Wondercolts lead by Rainbow Dash, on the other side was the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts, led by Indigo Zap. Even after what happened the Friendship Games, district sports schedules were still a thing. “I’ve been waiting for this,Rainbow Dash ” Zap said, “ A win here means that Cinch will get off our backs.” “Hate to say this, Zap,” Rainbow replied, “But your principal was already pretty whacked” Zap shrugged. She really couldn’t argue with that. They both got to their starting positions. The Referee stood out of bounds between the two teams and blew his whistle. Sunset and Twilight stood at the parking lot to Sunset’s complex. Rather than attending Rainbow’s game, Sunset thought this would be a good day to introduce Twilight to one of her favorite hobbies since being in the human world: Biking. That was the main thing, of course. While Twilight did hang out with the rest of the rainbooms, it was really only because they asked her to. Aside from Rider business, she was still that academic obsessed girl, holed up in her lab, tinkering with something or other. Besides, she was calling herself Kamen Rider now, and she couldn’t be much of a Rider if she didn’t know how to ride. “Sunset, is this really necessary?” Twilight whined, tugging at the collar of her baby blue turtleneck. The combination of the sweater and a pair of jeans would make Rarity faint in grief. Sunset rolled her eyes, “Come on, Twilight, it’s not that bad. Besides I just tuned her up so Philomena will be nice to you.” “You named your bike?”  Twilight asked. “After my pet bird back in Equestria, yes. I’m sentimental, sue me.” Sunset patted the seat on Philomena, inviting Twilight to mount the bike. Twilight nervously got on the bike, and Sunset started the bike. “Okay, try not to lay too much on the throttle and don’t get too fancy. Just ride a couple of laps around the parking lot,” Sunset instructed. Twilight twisted the throttle and took off. Rainbow Dash slumped onto the locker room bench, seething in a barely controlled rage. As team captain she couldn’t outwardly show her emotions to her teammates, concealing her rage under a mask of sulk. “Come on, Rainbow,” Cloud Kicker said, “We put up a really good fight!” “We still lost... “ Rainbow grumbled. Cloud Kicker rolled her eyes, “Whatever, Cap, you still gonna clear the equipment?” “Yeah, yeah” Rainbow stood up and started to change. After changing, Rainbow went about gathering the equipment after the game. It was peaceful, no one was around to bother her, and a bit of manual labor was enough to clear her mind. She cleared various pieces of trash and then moved to collect the balls, although the ball basket seemed to be giving of some weird vibes than usual. She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but saw nothing when she was looking around. She focused back on the balls and picked one up. She felt a sudden jolt and would’ve dropped the if there wasn’t some supernatural force keeping her hands on it. Rainbow’s eyes grew heavy as images from the Friendship Games and today’s soccer game flooded her mind. Her anger growing more intense with each image. Her eyes snapped open, covered in a familiar blue tint. Twilight weaved through the rows of the parking lot at an easy pace. She just had enough speed to maintain her balance, although her overall posture was stiff. “Hey, Sunset!” Sunset turned to see Applejack and the rest of the Rainbooms walking up. “Hey, girls, how was the game?” Sunset said. “It was a hoot,” Applejack replied, “We lost, though.” “That why Rainbow’s not here?” “Well that and she needed to clean the field up.” Twilight rode past the group, still at her easy pace and turning the corner. “I see Twilight is adapting well to your motorcycle.” Rarity said. “Mighty rude of her not to stop and say hi, though” Applejack said. “I think her brain’s gone into shark mode and she’s afraid of stopping,”  Sunset said as she walked into the parking lot.  She saw Twilight coming towards her. Sunset sighed in relief when she saw that Twilight was slowing down. At least she had the presence of mind to consider pedestrians. Twilight slowed to a stop, miraculously keeping her balance on the bike. She robotically put the kickstand out. She dismounted the bike, her trembling becoming more pronounced as the bike’s vibrations were not affecting her. “Woah, there, Sci-Twi, take it easy, you did good,” Sunset said. Twilight didn’t respond. She was still trembling. Sunset walked Twilight back to the rest of the group. “Woah, was Twilight Sparkle just on a motorcycle?” The group looked over and saw Indigo Zap walking up to them. “Pretty hardcore, didn’t know you had it in ya Twi.” She was met with silence and five glares were directed at her. “Whoa, hostile. I thought you guys were all about friendship,” Zap said. “‘Friend’ is the key word there,” Applejack said. “Ouch, I guess I should’ve seen that coming. But I actually wanted to ask you guys to join me and the girls for some Ice cream.” “Why?” Rarity asked, no sense of grace nor any ‘Darling’ to punctuate it. Zap sighed. “Look, I get it. We were jerks. Actually Sugarcoat used some stronger words to describe it. The point is, we feel bad about what happened, and want to make up. Okay?” Twilight snapped out of her stupor. “Y-you… want me to hang out with you?” “Yeah, I mean, we all sorta want to get to know you… So are you coming or not?” “Of course not!” Rainbow Dash’s voice rang out. It seemed as though Rainbow Dash just appeared out of nowhere. Twilight’s pendant started beeping. “You think some Ice cream is gonna fix everything!?” Rainbow Dash yelled. Twilight walked in front of the group. “It won’t fix everything all at once, but…” Twilight tightened her grip on the pendent.“Girls, I think Rainbow and I need to talk alone.” The group understood and led Indigo Zap into Sunset’s apartment. Rainbow smirked. “Hmph. Nothing get’s past you Twilight, but I guess that thing does a lot of the heavy lifting.” Twilight attached her belt. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Rainbow Dash. You know how dangerous that magic is.” “Pfft.For you, maybe. I couldn’t feel better!” “That’s the magic talking, Rainbow. Trust me, it feels good at the start…” “Why should I?” Twilight was taken aback. “W-what?” “You heard me! You guys were going to leave me for Zap and the rest of the Shadowdolts.” “Rainbow, you know that’s not true.” “Save it! You already put the belt on! I know what comes next.” Twilight sighed, as she put the ring on, “We don’t have to do this Rainbow,” “I think we do.” “I’m not going going to fight one of my friends!” “That’s cool…” Rainbow Dash disappeared. Twilight looked around until she felt a sharp kick to the back of her neck. “... I’m totally fine with getting the first hit in.” Twilight rolled over and sat up. The figure in front of her barely looked like Rainbow Dash anymore. It look more like a winged centurion. Her helmet obscured her face and her eyes came through as two light blue orbs of light. Her armor was light and sleeveless, under the armor was a skintight jumpsuit. Twilight stood up and opened her belt, “Fine… Kamen Rider!” “MAGIC, PLEASE! SPARK OF FRIENDSHIP!” The symbol flew out of the ring and Twilight charged through it. Transforming as she tried to swing at Rainbow. Rainbow disappeared and reappeared behind her. “Cool power, huh?” Rainbow asked. Twilight scanned one of her new rings in response. “WEAPON, PLEASE!” The sword materialized beside Twilight, she grabbed it and swung. Rainbow Dash disappeared before the blade connected. “Wow, you even got the sword,” Rainbow called from behind. Twilight turned around and saw Rainbow behind her with her arms crossed. “You really play to win, don’t cha?” Rainbow mocked, “But since I’ve shown you that I’m pretty much untouchable, I think it’s time I stop messing around. See ya later,” Rainbow disappeared. Sunset’s door twitched. Twilight braced herself, looking for all of the possible locations Rainbow could come out from. The rest of her friends ran out to join her. “Indigo Zap disappeared!” Sunset said urgently. “ Yeah!” Pinkie Pie added enthusiastically, “She was there one moment, and then she was gone. She could’ve been a better Trixie!” The rest of the group just stared at Pinkie for her outburst and then quickly focused to the matter at hand. “What was going on back there anyway?” Applejack asked. “Well, I guess it should be obvious, “ Twilight stated, relaxing her stance and cancelling her transformation, “Rainbow has been affected by some Midnight magic. Apparently that gave her teleportation magic.” “Hmm… I don’t think It’s quite teleportation.” Sunset said, holding her chin in thought, “I’ve used teleportation spells, and they don’t usually work like that. But it could just be another difference between this world’s magic, and Equestrian magic.” “Whatever the case, it still stands that we need to find them” Rarity said. “Well heck, Rarity, she may be a monster, but she’s still Rainbow. ‘Taint hard to figure out what she wants,” Applejack reasoned. “She’s at the Soccer field,” The group intoned in unison. Rarity shook her head. “That girl and her ego.” Twilight headed toward Sunset’s bike, Sunset and Fluttershy followed after her. “What do you think you’re doing?” Sunset asked. “Sorry for not asking first but this is an emergency.” Twilight said. “You’re not driving Philomena unlicensed!” Sunset yelled. “Is this really the time to be worried about that?” Twilight said. “If she’s in Rider form, she might be okay.” Fluttershy put in. “Really? Nobody’s gonna pay attention to a masked girl in leather on a motorcycle?” Fluttershy shrugged. Sunset shook her head. “Whatever,” Sunset sighed, “Just.. be careful, okay?” Twilight smiled as she slipped on her ring and opened her belt. “Kamen Rider!” “Um.. Actually,” Fluttershy said, “The phrase is ‘henshin’.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Henshin?” “It means ‘Transform’ in neighponese” Fluttershy said. Twilight mulled this over. “Henshin!” The word sent chills through Twilight. She felt giddy as she waved her ring in front of her belt. “MAGIC, PLEASE! Spark of Friendship!” The Star symbol projected from the ring. Twilight started the Motorcycle and rode through the symbol. Along with her clothes changing into her armor, The Body became black with purple accents to suggest wings and at the front was a long purple horn. Twilight rode off without another word. “So, wait, you just want a rematch?” Indigo Zap asked from center field. “Yeah!” Rainbow yelled, still in her monster form, “And this time I won’t lose!” “You could’ve just asked me! You didn’t have to turn into some crazy monster to do this!” “Yeah, whatever.” Indigo Zap didn’t believe it. She was being forced into playing soccer with a crazed monster. It was like one of those serial killer shows, except much more unbelievable. She knew she was doomed from the start, Rainbow was going to use her freaky teleportation powers and win. She didn’t know what would happen after that. “Hold on!” a voice called out, accompanied by the revving of the motorbike. Harmony arrived and parked her bike in between Indigo and Rainbow. Rainbow groaned in annoyance. “You’re really doing this?” Rainbow asked, more bored than anything. “You’re my responsibility, Rainbow.” Harmony said as she looked back to Indigo Zap and signaled for her to go hide. Rainbow snorted as she watched Indigo Zap run to the bleachers, “I really didn’t wanna do this to ya, Twi, but you’re asking for it.” Rainbow lunged forward and kneed Twilight in the stomach. Twilight returned in kind with her elbow, creating some distance between the two. Twilight charged the armored monster and the target vanished. Twilight scanned her Weapon ring and tried to turn around. Unfortunately, trying to turn around with that much momentum caused her to fall on her butt. Rainbow phased back into existence, and laughed, “You know how useless this is, right? I mean, I’ll admit that it was stupid of me to attack you directly like that, but come on! I told you I was basically untouchable.” Twilight tried to stab at Rainbow, but Rainbow phased out. Twilight got to her feet and looked around.  Rainbow appeared behind Twilight. “You know at this point, I could just tire you out.” Rainbow said, “But you’re smart, you’d figure it out.” Twilight swiped at Rainbow uselessly, as the Monster once again disappeared. She reappeared again, but this time she was right in front of Twilight. “ Maybe I should just show you my secret.” Rainbow stated as she grabbed Twilight’s wrist. Twilight dropped her sword, but suddenly the sword stopped its descent entirely. “Cool, huh? I can keep this up for about 20 seconds at a time, which is FOREVER at this speed.” Rainbow let go of Twilight. The last thing Twilight saw before Rainbow blurred away was Rainbow raring up for a kick. Sure enough, Twilight felt several kicks impacting her all at once, launching her to the edge of the Soccer field. Twilight smirked under her helmet. Rainbow Dash might have this newfound ability, but  she was still Rainbow Dash. “Time to test out one of the new rings.” Twilight picked herself up rushed Rainbow with her sword, but not before putting on one of her new rings. The one that had a design that looked like a unicorn being entrapped by a grid of chains. Rainbow mimed a yawn through her helmet and disappeared as soon as Twilight got to her. Twilight scanned her new ring. “Bind, PLEASE!” Rainbow materialized behind Twilight, while chains came up from the ground and wrapped themselves around her. “That should keep you stationary,” Twilight joked as she brought her transformation ring to the hilt of her sword. “Magic: Slashing Strike, Charging…” Rainbow struggled against her binding, she tried to use her speed up ability to escape but it didn’t help as she was held firmly in place. Twilight pointed her sword skyward and let the magic envelop the blade. “Full Power” Twilight swung her sword down and released a blade of energy cutting the Rainbow monster in half.  The chains released her, letting her fall and then the Rainbow Dash monster exploded. Rainbow Dash lay there, with a ball of magical energy floating above her. The ball of energy flew into Twilight’s belt. Rainbow stirred. “Ugh… What happened?” Rainbow asked as she got up. She soon found her answer as she saw Twilight closing her belt and cancelling the transformation. “Oh, no…” Rainbow groaned, “I became one of those monsters, didn’t I?” Twilight nodded. “Please tell me I didn’t do anything too weird.” “Is it done? Are you guys finished with the weird magic fight?” Indigo Zap asked, almost on cue. Rainbow sighed and hung her head. Twilight Offered her hand and helped Rainbow Dash up. Rainbow turned to Indigo Zap. “So, uh… Everything’s kind of a blur… So, If I said some pretty messed up things… I’m … Sorry.” Indigo crossed her arms, “Sure, It wasn’t anything too bad, but… You know, We could hang sometime and hash things out.” Twilight’s belt flashed and produced a new ring: a Ruby cut into the shape of a lightning bolt. “Let’s go back to Sunset’s, I need to tell her about this.” *CLICK* One last photo was all she needed. She packed up all her things and ran to her lab. Finally her spying was paying off, all she needed now was a sample. “So, How goes the research.” A stern voice questioned in the doorway of the lab. “I think I see the Mechanics of it, but I’m going to need a stable sample of this stuff to make a true breakthrough.” “Anyone could have told me that! I need to get to the bottom of this Magic now!” “You know, for someone who expects perfect Results, you really don’t know the value of Patience, Principal Cinch.” The Principal frowned, “Know your place, Girl. I may be under probation but I can still make your school life here rather Difficult.” “Hmph, It’s not like it wasn’t difficult already.” Principal Cinch smirked uncharacteristically, “Yes, I suppose I’m not the only one who has been Embarrassed by Miss Sparkle. Eh, Moondancer?” > Omake: The Rider Cameo > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle knew that battling Midnight monsters wasn’t easy. What didn’t make it any easier was that she was currently fighting Button Mash, the video game nerd. Who was getting an inordinate amount of power-ups. Magic was weird. She had already transformed into Kamen Rider Harmony, Sporting a black long coat with purple accents over a black leather body suit that had a chestplate bearing a purple star with six points, her normal ‘magic form’. In this form she could take a copious amount of punishment, but even now, Button Mash was handing her mask to her. Twilight looked at her opponent. The magic from Midnight had warped the poor freshman boy into some sembalance of a Knight, except wearing a brown longcoat similar to Twilight’s except it sported belts that seemed to serve no purpose. “I guess it’s time to end this boss fight.” Button said, “ I think I’m overleveled, though. This was too easy.” Twilight tried to rush him, but Button easily pushed her aside. He raised his sword to end the Battle. “PLANEPTUNE ADVENTURE!” A wave of purple energy spread past the two combatants. Button looked around to try and find out what was going on. “GA-SHAT-TO!~” Suddenly, Button Mash was hit with several unseen attacks at once. He staggered backwards and then he looked up. “ACCESS UP!” A Woman wearing a  purple leather one piece with a breastplate, armored gloves, and boots was crouching in front of Kamen Rider Harmony. The breastplate had an hp readout along with Icons that looked like a hammer and a sword. Her head was covered in a helmet that completely covered her face, save a visor that showed two exaggerated eyes on a black background. The cap of the Helmet looked like Neptune’s hair, but is was a hard piece, with two braided tassels coming from the helmet. “Close my eyes and feel it burn... Now I see what I gotta do! Open your heart, Planeptune Adventure. Alright!” Twilight stood up thanks to the distraction, but kept her eyes on the new person that just entered the battlefield. “A … Kamen Rider?” Twilight asked, more to herself than anything. The New Rider flourished her hammer, “Looks like a new challenger has appeared.” She then pressed a button on her hammer and a blade popped out of it. “Ja-Kin~!” The Rider then rushed at the Button Mash monster. He masterfully blocked all of her attacks, but in turn she was blocking all of his. Twilight took this opportunity to don one of her Rings and ran it over her belt. “Weapon, Please~!” Twilight’s sword materialized in her hand a proceeded to help her fellow Rider. The Fight proceed much smoother with the two of them fighting against one opponent. When Button  blocked one, the other would get an attack in. Button staggered backwards and bent forward in pain. “Aw Man… Another boss at the last minute? So not fair!”  Button whined. The new Rider looked at Twilight, “Shall we finish this?” Twilight nodded nervously and brought up her sword. She ran her transformation ring over the hilt over sword. “Magic! Slashing Strike! Charging...” The new Rider pressed the “B” button on her belt. “KIMEWAZA!” The two Riders readied their weapons and let energy envelop them. Twilight held her sword skyward at an angle while the New Rider did the same at the opposite angle. “Full Power!” “PLANEPTUNE CRITICAL CREWS-AID!” The two Riders swung their swords and the two waves of energy formed an “X” and hit Button square in the chest. Button fell backwards and exploded, leaving an untransformed Button Mash, dazed on the ground with a ball of light floating above him. The light ball flew into Twilight’s belt, and she closed it, cancelling her transformation. The New Rider took the cue and took out what seemed to be a weird cartridge from her belt. The Rider shrunk a bit and was revealed to be a young girl, no younger than Applebloom and her friends with short purple hair with D-Pad hair Decs wearing a white hoodie with purple accents. “Um… Thanks for the save back there,” Twilight began. The girl nonchalantly put her hands behind her head, “Yeah, no biggie, I was just going on my own adventure when I felt like somebody needed my help. Next thing you know I was in another dimension. Hope that doesn’t become a trend…” Twilight raised an eyebrow at that statement, but shook it off. She was used to Pinkie Pie. “Well, in any case, I didn’t expect to meet another Kamen Rider,” Twilight said as she held out a hand, “Twilight Sparkle, Kamen Rider Harmony.” The girl took the handshake, “My name’s Neptune, um… Kamen Rider...Um…” “Nep...Tunia?” Twilight offered weakly. “That sounds wrong, but sure let’s go with that!” “Anyway, Thanks again for the save!” Neptune smiled, “No Problem, Riders gotta help each other out, right?” Twilight’s Belt then chimed and a new Ring materialized from it. The ring looked different from Twilight’s other rings: It was a helmet that looked exactly like Neptune’s save for the hair, which was pink and sticking out like a hedgehog’s quills. “I’ve never had a Ring like this…” “Why would a Ring look like a Rider helmet?” Twilight shrugged but then offered the ring to neptune, “I want you to hold on to it, Something to remember me by.” Neptune took the ring, “Of course I’ll remember this… Unless I get amnesia again. Anyway Gotta get back to my world, See ya!” “Hope to see you again!” Twilight said as she waved goodbye. A strange chance encounter, but Twilight was used to strange. Neptune wasn’t her first friend from another dimension after all.