Sunset Shimmer had never been in that part of the school; mind you, she was still new to the place so she wasn’t really certain what things had been build. What she knew was that the school had a long story of mediocrity in most things sport or academic and was not very popular beyond the whole ‘public school’ part of it. That meant that parents that couldn’t afford tuition from the other more respectable school across the city, at least had a backup plan for their children.
The sad part was that Sunset knew very well the kind of place Canterlot Public School was before she transferred from her old school. Heck, it was the first reason why she decided to join the place. So far the rumor mill had exploded trying to find the reasons why someone who was a certifiable genius and that could very easy get a scholarship to any school would want to be in CPS as another student.
One theory was that she was on the Witness Protection Program because she had given crucial information about the Russian Mafia. Another, which was very popular among the romanticists, was that she had stolen the girlfriend from the leader of a rival gang. Of course, Sunset Shimmer had laughed her ass off when she heard that one. So just because she liked to use leather jackets she was immediately catalogued as a gang member? It was hilarious and slightly worrying.
It was true that no rumor even had the smallest amount of true, but they were getting closer and closer to her real reasons of her exchange and the way she simply rejected every single attempt of her schoolmates to make her be part of a club. Not only was tiring, but it was ridiculous the way in which they were pressuring her to choose one form the amount of mediocre level clubs. In less than a week she would be able to become the captain of each one of them; with the exception of any that Rainbow Dash wasn’t the captain already.
From all the crazy students that populated the school, she had made something of a bond -or as Sunset will say, a fungus infection- with two other students much to her own surprise and horror, although considering how those two girls acted and behaved, well, maybe it wasn’t so much of a surprise.
Rainbow was crash, in-your-face rude girl that seemed to have no filter from her brain to her mouth and Sunset had been more than ready to shut the lips of Rainbow permanently, although she knew there will be hell to pay and was in no need to get into good ol’ fisticuffs with the athletic girl.
The other was as athletic as Rainbow, but seemed to be as calm as a cold river most of the time, unless she began to get competitive with the multicolor haired girl. The blonde exuded confidence and a sense of tranquility that it had to be developed on some orchard somewhere in Tennessee considering how she talked.
So far she had become a friend of them although she wasn’t sure how it all started; now they just simply began to get together without even Sunset realizing what she was doing. For someone that had become quite the loner, to see two girls that simply didn’t even care about the gloomy and spiky aura around Sunset, that was something to be amazed of.
So it was with some trepidation that Sunset Shimmer had followed her two friends into what seemed an abandoned garage build somewhat removed from the other buildings of the school. The redhead was also surprised that the school was this big considering how little help they got form the government since they didn’t have the high tuition fees of places like Crystal Prep, Pearl Coast or even GlowShine Academy. The place was relaxing and not a bad place to continue her studies so all this seemed bizarre.
“So, what’s the whole deal with keeping secrets and such? I mean, this is Applejack we are talking about; I thought she would tell me what was going on the moment she asked me to come with you girls,” at her sides, both teenagers avoided looking directly into Sunset’s eyes so it was a clear sign they were hiding something, it was pretty damn obvious.
“Oh shoot girl, it ain’t nothin’ dangerous, well, not exactly what mah parents will call safe, but we ain’t gonna do nothing wrong.”
“If it weren’t because I got used to your country style of talking I would be left scratching my head wondering what the hell you just said; what’s the whole point with this place? It looks abandoned.”
“Well, it is abandoned, or at least no one puts any attention to this side of the school; you will see what I mean once I open the door,” Rainbow rolled up some imaginary sleeves and began to push the metal doors that were on the front of the garage. Considering the size of both building and door, Sunset was thinking that the place looked more like a hangar.
Once the doors were pushed open and light finally hit the interior of the place -in who knows how many years- Sunset realized why the girls called her here. It was a metal miracle of human ingenuity and imagination. It was green with caterpillar tracks that seemed to be in pretty good condition.
“Wait, what’s an M3A1 doing here in the school?” at the words of Sunset the other two teenagers looked at each other with similar smiles in their faces.
“Ah told ya she will recognize it, pay up Rainbow.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” was the only thing said before the exchange of a small bill.
“You didn’t answer; what’s a tank doing here? I checked the school and there is no Sensha-do club in the school; believe me, I made sure that was the case when i decided to enroll in this school.”
“Well, that’s a very specific investigation ya did there; but is true, there ain’t no real Sensha-do club in the schools since… well, a think my own ma was still in this school when the Sensha-do club was shut down.”
“So what’s with this thing? What is it doing in the school? Is this the place the club used?”
“We don’t know, AJ found this tank here a couple of days ago,” so if they just found it, that explained why the tank seemed to be in such disrepair; with the paint chipping and many burns and marks that made it very clear that the vehicle had been a part of many matches “we think that the club left it here because they couldn’t sell it or exchange it to another school.”
“No wonder, I mean, this is a light tank that wouldn’t even scratch a Panther’s armor, just look at it, it has a 37mm gun; this thing is mostly useless.”
“But do you think it would be operational?”
“What? Are you crazy Rainbow? You girls have one single light tank, besides, why do you want to revive a club that no one seems to be interested in?” At her question, Sunset saw the fire burning behind Rainbow’s eyes; it was the same kind of fire she saw whenever the girl was on the soccer field.
“Do you know how fucking humiliating is to lose to every single school team out there all the time?”
“Rainbow, curse words!”
“Whatever, so I am a fu-freaking genius and the best player Canterlot has; it means nothing when the rest of the team allow three goals whenever I make two. I’m tired of losing Sunset and everyone in the school is tired of it too. Last week the tennis club had a match against Crystal Heart,” Sunset knew of crystal Heart Academy for Women; it was apparently the even more exclusive cousin of the already exclusive school Canterlot Prep “each and every one of our players were trounced; heck, they didn’t even score one single point!”
“So what’s this whole thing about Sensha-do then?”
“I told you Sunset, I’m the greatest athlete this school has since it was created,” oh, how humble Rainbow was “but I cannot carry a whole team by myself, it leads nowhere so I thought, well, Sensha-do has fewer members in the team, like 3 or 4 by tank so, you know, less people to carry, better ways to win right?”
“First of all, you won’t get anywhere with only one tank in your team; second of all, why not join something else, like tennis? If you say you are such a good athlete, why not join them and win at singles?”
“Please, me, on a tennis uniform? I leave that to Rarity and the like. I don’t know Sunset, I just… when AJ and I found the tank, it just, clicked you know? Like, I wanted to shoot the gun and see the enemy tank get blown backwards… I just want to give it a chance.”
“And you AJ?”
“Ah’ve never been part of a team, but ah know mah way aroun’ a tank so I just went along Rainbow here, besides, what’s the worst that could happen?” if only Applejack knew.
“So what’s the whole point of making me come here? Is this some kind of recruitment? Because if it is I have bad news for you.”
“Come on Sunset, we know you are pretty freaking good at this stuff.”
“Wait… what? How did you know? What do you know?!” Now Sunset was starting to get worried, what was going on? At least the faces ridden with guilt of both teenagers in front of her gave her a pretty clear picture of what was going on.
“Ah may have read a couple o’ things about ya; ya know, the whole ‘Sun of the Battlefield’ and all that.”
“DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!” neither girl were prepared for the kind of outburst and rage that were present on Sunset’s face “do you want to know why I wanted to transfer into this school? Because there was no fucking Sensha-do program! That’s why! So whatever plans you and miss ego here have don’t count on me!” She said turning around with a goodbye, she simply kept on walking leaving her two friends behind. Now it was only a matter of time for other students to know who she was and what she had done. It was a pity since she had started to like the school; well, time to search for another academy.
As she walked, Sunset thought back to the moment where she left the nickname behind, the moment when she had said goodbye to Sensha-do and never again will she be pushed into another tank. This way everyone will be safe.