‘Buck it!’
Clashing in momentum against her mid-morning backdrop, the lone shape of a pale cream earth mare charged through the barely waking streets of Appleoosa. Dawn was late (again) and she knew it, or more correctly she knew that she was going to be, caught in the far from new but still surreal realisation that she had set off without enough time to spare and was therefore hurrying towards an inevitable black mark. Her strides therefore likewise lagged between two states, mostly the desperate pursuer, but at the same time in part submitting herself to her fate, accepting that her quarry was unobtainable. In this flustered state she crossed a now almost familiar cobblestone square and arrived as the school’s front gate, whilst simultaneously from within despite her best efforts the bell rang.
‘Late again newbie’ Dice drawled, neither rising to a question nor really adding any emotion to her tone, simply stating the fact with an air of intrinsic criticism. ‘If you keep this up you’re going to end up with credits docked from your record’ she further warned without any real feeling. ‘What gives? You were straight up early for the first week, but since you’ve always just missed the bell.’
Dawn had no want to pause further with some kind of answer, she just wanted to get in and get going. A snappy reply was not forthcoming either though, the truth that she had overslept not seeming a good enough excuse. ‘Erm…’
‘Can it Dice! You should save yourself; remember you’ve got us to bitch at next!’ From nowhere a fresh voice appeared to make its challenge, its light yet strong tones bearing in them an intrinsic, almost theatrical, confidence. Into the space her words created stepped Rook, form granted height to fit her introduction by the gelled fins of her mane, swiftly followed by Helix and others at her back. ‘Besides, more importantly, life’s no fun if you’re stuck playing by the rules all the time. You’re more than eloquent evidence of that fact.’ As she spoke the unicorn’s yellow irises wandered to meet Dawn’s in something akin to a knowing look.
‘You can pack it in yourself!’ The teal council member remained unimpressed by the new arrival and company. ‘All the mane gel and “brooding” poetry on Equis isn’t going to do anything to resuscitate any of your records!’
‘Oh climb down off your throne for a bit, you’re no better than the rest of us!’ Helix came in, her own voice very much the stage partner to her leader’s except with an added smirk at the back of every expressed syllable.
‘You first!’
This snapped back and forth swiftly transformed into a fully-fledged argument, each side snarling their relished words at one another. Dawn meanwhile found herself to one side, along with the navy-maned unicorn who had started it, a wall of others forming up between them and Dice.
‘Hey’ Rook began with a final devious look over the unfolding scene before turning. ‘Rook’ she introduced simply with a nod.
This is going to be awkward.
‘Erm… I know.’ Even as she said it a blush spread across Dawn’s cheeks.
Called it!
‘Oh, sorry, I mean hi’ the earth mare attempted to recover, not quite managing it, little helped by an amused grin from her audience. ‘I’m Dawn.’
‘I know’ Rook mirrored, although in her the same expression somehow gained a loaded quality, furthered as she leaned in slightly. Catching her tongue however on the cusp of continuing, a particularly violent shot from Dice broke in, drawing her attention.
Now’s your chance! Escape!
‘I really should be getting to class, so I guess I’ll see you around’ Dawn excused herself, managing just to bring a small smile to her face, devoid of any her in any case absent confidence.
‘Yeah, see you round’ Rook spun back and returned with her own far more successful smile, although it had to break through a brief veneer of annoyance, the statement sounding like an affirmation.
Time to go!
With that the straw-maned mare was back in motion, propelled in haste as much by her own mind as her actual need, feeling the set of yellow irises pursue her in flight. Thankfully her destination was far less than a trek away and soon she was bursting into the settled quiet of an alchemy lab, remembering too late to knock on the portal. ‘Sorry I’m late sir…’
‘Please find your seat Miss Melody, promptly if possible. Oh and you can save your excuses, your lab partner already made me aware that you’d be late.’
Dawn, a tad confused, scurried through the class, locating the last remaining empty chair. Her eyes went from her teacher, in the midst of returning his attention to the blackboard at his back, to the lab-coated shape waiting at her prescribed desk. Complete with a set of safety glasses, Blossom gave her a wave, adding a silently mouthed ‘it’s all cool, you’re covered’ as she took her seat.
---
‘Thanks again for earlier!’ Dawn more or less had to yell as they fought their way through the regular insanity of the lunch hall, making for their usual vantage point on the side-lines.
‘Don’t mention it!’ Blossom shook her head. ‘Why the recent lateness though?’ she moved onto asking as they occupied their table.
‘Erm…’ Once again the query was not particularly welcome, giving its target pause, but at least this time it came from a source who somehow managed to make everything she said sound caring. ‘I keep oversleeping… kind of’ Dawn admitted sheepishly.
‘Stupid question, but you got an alarm?’
‘Yeah, several actually, but that’s not really the problem. I can wake up and get up no issue; it’s the staying that way where I fall down.’
‘Something on your mind perhaps?’
‘More like not enough. I dunno, it’s like I can’t keep the momentum going, like I’ve got no sense of urgency to get here, nothing to look all that forward to. Present company notwithstanding’ the cream coloured mare added quickly, to further knowing nods.
‘Your suffering from routine’ the hazel unicorn definitively diagnosed, ‘what I’d personally call one of the most infectious illnesses at AIA, or anywhere else for that matter.’
‘Routine?’
‘Yeah, it’s an easy trap which can snap shut without warning at any time. Why’d you think I put alchemy on my timetable as a science alongside all my other artsy stuff: it simply rings the changes. Anyway, further credit selection is later this week and there’s bound to be something to perk your interest, particularly as there’s a rumour that something big is on the cards.’ Mid-speech Blossom glanced off to the distance, her smile growing wider, welcoming the third of their number.
‘Modern Foreign Languages can go buck itself!’ Coquette announced with a flounced flourish. ‘If I have to conjugate one more Griffonian pronoun or listen to one more Draconic radio play I’m gonna loose it big time!’
‘At least Draconic’s easy; no genders or tenses to worry about’ the party’s unicorn tried in consolation. ‘It’s all masculine and in the present…’
‘True but there’s only so many times you can listen to some piss-poor voice actress stumbling over what she did on her bloody holidays!’
‘Just try and pick up something with enough credits to cover dropping it’ Blossom maintained as her rationally to the point self.
‘In brighter news: Hearts and Hooves Day!’
A non-plussed silence managed to form itself in the relative cacophony. ‘What about it?’
‘Oh come on Bloss!’ Coquette looked between both her friends, mildly shocked. ‘It’s literally only like a month and a bit away! I seriously can’t be the only one who’s excited about it!’
Dawn and Blossom each exchanged a generally blank look, much to the third of their number’s annoyance.
‘Seriously?! Come on, there’s gotta be somepony you’ve got your eye on?’
‘Not really’ Dawn countered, ‘I’ve still not been around very long.’
‘Maybe… but not really’ the taller unicorn answered in an uncharacteristic mutter before deflecting. ‘So what’s got you so worked up about it then?’
‘The dance of course! Who do you think will ask me this year? It could be…’
‘Dance?’ Dawn asked slightly bluntly, whilst the other sunny earth mare went on unabated.
‘…or maybe…’
‘Local interschool “ball” thing’ Blossom answered disparagingly. ‘Ultimately there are a vast array of better ways to spend an evening; watching paint dry for example.’
‘…or perhaps…’
‘Belle you always get like this, and how often has it ended at all well?’ The hazel unicorn’s interjection surprisingly broke in quite roughly, yet nonetheless there was an extra degree of emotion just audible within it.
Coquette however remained deaf to this, immediately reacting to her critic. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Well, it’s just that you’re bad for chasing guys at the best of times, and Hearts and Hooves just seems to bring it out worse. Your track record for picking them could hardly be described as all that good…’
*Crackle* ‘At the beginning of fourth period could all students please assemble in the Braeburn Memorial Hall for a special announcement. Thank you.’ *Crackle*
The three of them, and most others besides in various stages of their lunches, paused as the announcement boomed metallically from the speakers, collective shrugs rising from most in the briefly succeeding quiet.
---
Triumphal music played, thundering, orchestral and full of horns, whilst a countdown of tall black numbers filled the screen. At the inevitable strike of zero a sudden explosion sharply engulfed all other sound, all images whited out in a burning flash. Through this blind light the steel trunk of a gun barrel gradually emerged, smoke rising from its single dark nostril like warm breath in freezing air.
‘The tank’ a gruff mare’s tones announced, giving age to their invisible speaker and a voiceover to the black and white film as it continued.
The camera meanwhile panned out, revealing the rest of the hulking monstrosity which its primary weapon was attached to, the still hissing cannon placed head-like in a turret atop the rest of the beast. Beneath, its body was essentially an armoured box with caterpillar treads; its steely faces all flat save for its sloping front, sprouting a second larger gun on a swivel casement in its right side.1
‘The tank’ the announcer repeated, ‘the wonder weapon which played no small part in winning us the Crystal War, birthed from the boiling cauldron of modernity by some of the greatest minds in Equestria. Through their strength we were granted joy, their adamantine hulls a stalwart protector to our valiant soldiers, their devastating arms brushing aside our aggressors, gifting us this new age of much missed peace.’
As the speaker completed her address the screen’s scene shifted further, taking flight to bring into sight a rolling field filled with matching war machines, the imperial capital just visible twinkling on a distant mountainside. In one movement hatches opened all over each of the vehicles, letting through them a multitude of uniformed young mares, together grinning and saluting to the camera in unison.
‘The tank is therefore a symbol of our empire; our strength and our determined bravery, a symbol which now passes to you to be its keeper.’
The picture of happily assembled ranks faded, becoming three silhouetted ponies: an earth mare, a unicorn, and a pegasus, flanks emblazoned with a trio of apples, diamonds, and butterflies respectively.
‘In learning the noble art of tanking and its three styles you will gain a plethora of transferable skills.’
A hilly rise filled the screen, over which a row of tanks rolled as a unit, visibly making both the earth and camera shake at their approach.
‘Teamwork…’
The lens then refocused, superimposing the central machine’s turret and the mare poking out from it, a set of binoculars glued to her face. These she lowered, throwing a forehoof decisively forward and yelling a muted warcry.
‘…leadership…’
In a jump cut the screen became a room adorned with battle plans, a central table lit by a single shaded bulb and ringed by focused looking ponies. The effect was like they were in some kind of bunker. Eyes set definitively downward, they moved differently shaped counters about an unfurled map in front of them.
‘…strategy…’
Through another fade the room was dissolved, morphing into a busy garage, its background a mix of tanks in the midst of repair and refit. In the foreground meanwhile one mare organised the chaos, clipboard in hoof marshalling the confusion.
‘…problem solving…’
The lens again drew in to focus further on a single point, this time alighting on a machine whose engine cover had been stripped back, leaving exposed its mechanical and alchemical guts. A grease caked unicorn popped up from the cramped cavity, drawn in a satisfied aspect as she levitated a cracked glass tube filled with sparkling fluid in her magic.
‘…and a variety of technical skills besides. But that’s not all, tanking offers a great many even sweeter fruits besides: friendship, camaraderie, the respect and affections of your fellow citizens…’
The rows of tanks made a return, this time moving steadily in double file, their pilots waving and smiling as they passed through ecstatic crowds.
‘…the chance to grow your inner strength and confidence, to be the mare that everypony wants to be and know, and to become the embodiment of the martial spirit which has guided and protected us.’
In a final scene a quintet of tanks appeared, at full speed vaulting a gully with all guns blazing, in obvious pursuit of those off screen.
‘So come on mares, sign up to your local club today and become a part of the exciting and exhilarating world of the tank!’
The film concluded, ending with the written words ‘A Ministry of Education production’, placed beneath the organisation’s logo: a pair of six pointed stars, set one beneath the other with a crossed scroll and quill beneath.
---
Dawn “awoke” in a word, one in a great many seated in the ranks overfilling the sports hall turned movie theatre. The screen extended over the far wall crackled with lights as the projector somewhere opposite reached the end of its loaded spool. In this flickering illumination she could catch sight of her companions either side of her, both Coquette and Blossom caught in a stared silence. There were others in the crowd who equally shared her friends’ awed looks. One of these was a caramel toned earth mare, her blonde mane not short but functional, pulled literally to the edge of her seat by what she watched. Many more however were unmoved, wearing bored expressions, with a minority within them looking openly aggravated, from whom phrases like ‘the system foisting its militarism on us’ were just audibly muttered.
The lights came up far too abruptly, forcing all to blink away the invading brightness and prompting a fair few complaining groans. In her returning vision Dawn found that the five figures of the school council had moved to take the stage, one vibrant orange with a strait bun of hair standing out central.
‘It has been decided to reinstate AIA’s tank program’ the unknown council member began. ‘The option will therefore be available to you later this week when you come to choosing your module credits. As the martial art covers a variety of areas it will be unrestricted, its credits applicable to any area of your end of year scores you’d prefer them allotted to, be they artistic, sporting, technical or vocational.’
A fresh wave of intrigued murmurs ran about the audience.
‘No more sodding languages!’
‘Different, definitely different.’
Allowing the pause the mare at the front then continued. ‘I should also mention that as essentially a new module all credits achieved within it will count double, as a fitting reward for those who take the plunge.’
This last part developed previous whispers into an explosion, some elated, whilst others called out foul and unfairness.
Dawn looked between her two variously enraptured friends, both frozen in thought, but with the corners of their mouths visibly turned up.
Well it’d certainly be some thing new…