Paths to Power: not-so-humble beginnings

by FelSpite

Prologue

Sunset Shimmer sighed once more. "So I'm going to just barge in, without a slightest care in the world, without even buying a measly pizza or a beer, much less having a proper invitation, and that's supposedly 'just how he rolls', and exactly what he would expect, right Dust? "

"Yup, Crash is an awesome guy like that, no strings attached. Besides, we are almost there, so no need to worry, unless you have changed your mind already. And honestly, that would look kinda dumb at this point, right Sunset?" Lighting Dust grinned, while steering their car towards another intersection.

"Fat chance." Surely, despite her calm demeanor, Sunset still had her doubts, quite a lot of them actually, but there was very little she could do about it at this very moment.

Howling Crash, who, according to the locals, has literally come out of nowhere about a year ago, was now mostly known in the CHS as a supposedlycharismatic leader of the Iron Griffins - a local group of bikers, consisting mostly of teenagers and those slightly above their twenties. For the most of Jocks and other delinquents he was some sort of a Idol figure and even if opinion of other cliques was often less than stellar, nobody could deny his general popularity in the school. And despite his apparent age of 17, his stance on the matter of any education as a 'most pointless waste of my time, ever' had left her with no chance to meet him anywhere near the CHS, so a more straightforward approach was necessary. As she learned, out of those griffins who actually studied at CHS Lighting Dust and Gilda were the most important, with the former being slightly more approachable. Still, she haven't really expected for Dust to simply say "Wanna know Crash? Sure, let's go to his place right after school, gonna be totally awesome!" the very first minute his name was mentioned in their conversation.

In the end, it was all about her reputation, so backing down was not really an option, even if it would mess with her plans for the evening or lead to some 'missing homework' issues tomorrow.

'Yeah, likely just your typical 'tough guy' with a big ego and supposedly mature view of the world.' She thought as they finally arrived to their destination. 'A couple of stupid parties, a few more pointless conversation and his reputation would be a part of mine, nothing really special' 'Crash's place' actually happened to be a rather good estate on the hill in the outskirts of Canterlot, featuring a big two-storied house, old-fashioned fence with metall 'pikes' an ornamental gate and a newer building, which appeared to be a workshop of sorts with a few bikes and some old-looking man tinkering with one of them. 'Just Add some money without any need to actually work and you have the whole case complete' bitterly thought Sunset. It certainly remained her of the nobility from other Canterlot, and those memories were definitely not pleasant. But still, if mooching of him would allow her to finally move out of the school library and this time preferably without any incidents involving seemingly abandoned buildings and homeless people - than all the better for her and her plans..

"That's Greasy Wrench - our mechanic" spoke Dust as she parked their car in front of the supposed workshop. "He may be a bit grumpy sometimes, but man, if someone knows this job - that would be him."

"Sup! So, would my ride be ready for the weekend with all the tuning and stuff? And is there anyone else at home beside the Boss?" she asked the man leaving the car.

"Unless something urgent pops out she should be" answered mechanic without even lifting his eyes from his work. "And aside from miss Gilda there's no one else"

"Well, that's what i wanted to hear! Thank ya Wrench." Dust grinned. "C'mon Sunset, i'm betting that you are no less hungry than me"

" 'miss' Gilda?" asked Sunset as they walked to the house, not even trying to hide her surprise.

"Keh. Well, he's a friend of their family and all that jazz, comes with a history and a few quirks on board. No one really minds though."

Sunset mentaly shrugged, while taking note to ask about it later. Various relationships of important people and even those relatively close to them could be important later on, after all.

As they went upstairs, Dust simply took the key out of her pocket and opened the rather impressively looking steel door. 'Either he actually trusts her for some reason, or just being careless' thought Sunset, moving in.

While she put her jacket off and swapped her boots for most generic rubber slippers, she was also greeted by sounds of machinegun fire coupled with some roars and exited yells, most likely belonging to Gilda, as she boasted her superiority over some "bugs".

Most of the first floor, four closed rooms aside was present as an open space, separated by the stairs. On the left side was a kitchen with a bar stand and a table and on the left side, one step down, was a spacious living room with two sofas, three chairs, one table with drinks and pizza's and finally some priced high-end home cinema hooked with one of the modern gaming systems. Gilda was occupying the latter, oblivious to the world around her and mercilessly destroying some weird "aliens" on the screen. The rich boy himself was sitting on one of the sofas, wearing headphones, reading a book of all things. As they moved to the living room he put his book aside, before removing the headphones. For a few moments roars and guitar riffs were even louder than game sounds, but then everything went off with a pressed button.

"What the .." started to protest Gilda, turning in her chair, before actually noticing them and the remote in the boy's hands. "Sheesh, at least it didn't die with all of my progress this time..."

The boy just smirked, before gesturing to Sunset.

"Good daytime, i'm Crash and you should be Sunset Shimmer from the CHS, that everyone started talking about recently. Please take a seat and feel yourself at home."

"Yeah," answered Sunset with a slightly gruff voice "That would be me." As she moved to the sofa and took a place opposite Crash, she took a better look upon him. If anything, he looked neither tidy nor exactly healthy, as his deathly pale, barely pink skin, eyebags and unkempt shoulderlength violet hair indicated.

'I really hope, that he's just some hardcore punk or something and not a real junkie, as it surely looks like it..' thought Sunset making herself comfortable.

"Well, there's a fresh pizza on the table, also beer, ginger ale and apple cider, whatever you prefer. We can also order something else, but it will take a bit of time to arrive, as after all I didn't really expect the visit from the most special girl in the neighborhood today."

'Yeah, let's start with the most cliche pickup lines possible' mentally frowned Sunset.

"And why would you say so?" she asked, feigning interest and slight amusement.

Crash chuckled, cracking his beer can open. "Well, someone of a poetic nature could possibly go for hours about your appearance alone, but while i would generally agree with it, it just isn't my forte. I'm speaking 'bout your smarts, 'bout your rather interesting powerplays at CHS, and most importantly..." he took a pause making a big gulp of his beer "about the sheer potential of your magical ability".