Of course, all of her optimism evaporated from Sunset’s mind once she took a look at the kind of people that ad responded to Pinkie’s emergency call not too long ago. Maybe it was the idea of getting one over Vice-Principal Luna or maybe it was just the high from the impossibly sugary juice-box she drank half an hour ago.
There was a little war that no on in the world knew about, mostly because the war was simply a mental construction created by Sunset’s imagination to represent the two decisions that Sunset could take at the moment. One side was fighting for running as far as she could from Canterlot and once again go into her self-imposed exile from anything that looked like a tank, which reality was harder than it sounds since tankery was as popular as football pretty much everywhere. The other side, the one that seemed to have the most power and drive was the side of her that wanted to be in charge of a tank once more, to feel the rumbling of a cannon being fired.
That side of her was being helped by a powerful ally, in this case the healing words and presence of the nicest and kindest girl she had ever met and this came from someone that originally came from a world that was ruled by those principles. Fluttershy didn’t raise her voice, didn’t demand anything or even used her patented glare to convince her to give Rainbow’s idea a chance; she simply listened to Sunset and her fears and never asked for any kind of retribution or reparations after the accident at the Blue Medal Cup last year. The worst part was that even thinking about ignoring her and the crazy idea of reviving the Sensha-do club made her feel queasy and almost as if she was betraying Fluttershy’s trust. Sunset hated the fact that she had gained a conscious since she left Princess Celestia and her old world.
Looking at the assembled students at the entrance of the garage made her think twice about the whole idea of Sensha-do. It was not only discouraging, but enough to make that part of Sunset that had fun making Vice-Principal lose her patience and think twice about what she had been planning.
It was one thing to have her friends -or at least acquaintances in the case of Rarity- at her side as she started to warm up to the idea of getting tanks and ride once more into the battlefield. It was another to see the students reunited and think of them as a unified front, ready to ride a tank and follow commands. It was impossible, maybe she could simply turn around, count to ten and suddenly all of them will disappear. No, she has never been lucky enough for something like that to help.
On the other hand, it was amazing that this many girls had arrived with the idea of learning about tanks and battle once more in the name of Canterlot High. It was refreshing to think that the ideals of Sensha-do haven’t been lost to the school and even after all these years students still wanted to represent the school. Of course, it still didn’t mean that they were all in the clear since they had possible recruits, but still no working tanks.
“Okay, listen up girls, you all came here because you want to be part of something great, right? You want to revive the Sensha-do club, or at least I hope since it was Pinkie the one that send the message and not even I trust Pinkie with something simple like that,” Sunset half joked making the reunited students laugh merrily. Pinkie was the friendliest girl one could meet, but they all knew of the strange and ridiculous things that could happen around her. Behind the redhead, the pinkette pouted at the joke at her expense, but it was simply playing around since she understood how useful some humor was helpful in breaking the ice.
Fluttershy also politely smiled at the joke as she saw a side that many people haven’t seen yet. There was a fire -pardon the pun- inside the usually grumpy and cantankerous teenager known as Sunset Shimmer, one that could only be seen once she was in the position that she took over by instinct; that of a commander. Well, technically speaking, it was the position of leader that Sunset was a natural at, almost as if she had been groomed for something like that.
“Leaving Pinkie and her pinkiness aside, let me be frank with you and no Rainbow, that was not an invitation to a joke,” without even turning around she could feel Rainbow deflate after having such an opportunity be simply yanked underneath her like that “right now there is no real Sensha-do club; the club was disbanded several decades ago and so far there is only one tank at our disposal. To make a return we will need to find more tanks, but thanks to other members of the new club we have a list of all the tanks that legally still belong to the club and we will be able to get them all back to the garage!” ‘Or at least I hope so,’ Sunset thought as she heard the way the other girls cheered at those words.
Looking around the garage, Sunset tried to get a closer look at those that had answered to the call, finding already some similarities among them, which made the bunch even more bizarre in her opinion. There was no real cohesion among the students due to the fashion and looks among them.
One group, obviously being led by the Annoying and Whiny Trixie, stood almost in a circle, with members of Trixie’s band, both Lavender Lace and Fuchsia Blush. Also with them there was Baton Switch -also known as Sweeten Sour due to how sweet she was in comparison with her sister at Crystal Prep- and Cloudy Kicks. It was interesting to see her without Tennis Match at her side considering how close those two usually were.
The other group was smaller, consisting of Muffins and none other than Mystery Mint. That in itself was a surprise and a rather strange duo considering how… odd Muffin was on a daily basis while Mystery was quite the rocker. A second later they were joined by the ever effervescent Pinkie Pie and the three began to joke as Mystery simply rolled her eyes at something the other two had said in good humor.
The other group -and also the most glamorous- was the full photography and modeling club. Photo Finish holding her ever present camera, alongside Pixel Pizzazz, Violet Blur and their usual photograph target, Amethyst Star. She knew about them since they were the most fashion oriented girls alongside Rarity. She knew about them mainly from Fluttershy who somehow knew a lot of the queens of fashion in school. How someone that was basically geared towards nature and cute critters knew so much about fashion was a true mystery.
Well, if this is the material she had to work with then there was nothing she could do except go forward; maybe it was time to take control of the whole operation like the commander she once thought she couldn’t be anymore.
“Okay everyone, who is ready for a treasure hunt!”