//------------------------------// // The Search is On! // Story: Equestria Girls und Panzer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// Would you believe that one tank was found inside the barn of the Apple family? I think it was hard for AJ to know that considering that she had few memories of her childhood when she used to live there; after she started to go to Elementary school, the family moved to the city since Applejack’s father was not a farmer, but instead took the apples that the family harvested and made one of the most famous beverages in the state with them. Thanks to that, Applejack maintained her family accent intact, but besides helping sporadically at the old farm, she was a city girl. Opening the old barn and letting the musky and pungent aroma of left over hay pass over them, Pinkie Pie, Muffin and Mystery Mint first coughed and hacked at the smell and the dust storm that was set free from years of being abandoned by the farming family. It was clear that the place had seen better days and that it had been left unattended for a particularly long time, but this was their best bet to find one of the left over tanks; at least according to Pinkie’s weird gut feeling. While most people will simply take what Pinkie said with a grain of salt, the students of Canterlot High knew the importance of listening to Pinkie talk and her weird premonitions. Inside the barn, among the hay and dust, there was only silence and loneliness. Through the beams on the walls, light played games with the particles of dust, making weird shadows and figures appear. This light was slightly reflected on something metallic among all the hay that had been left inside the barn; once they removed it, they found out an interesting construction that made them smile in happiness and while Pinkie texted back to her friends the news, Muffin and Mystery called Big Mac over with his truck, ready to tow the tank back to the school. The Trixie Team meanwhile -named by Trixie herself, although the rest of the team would reject the name each and every time-stood behind, taking are of the tank found at the theater, already seeing how back the situation was with the powerful machine. Of the five girls currently sitting inside the tank, none of them truly knew how to even manage the beast. It was clear that the girls were excited at the idea of being in command of such a powerful machine, but the specifics of how to control it were lost to them. Trixie was sitting behind the driver seat, looking outside the tank as they waited for the tow truck, looking at everything and enjoying the feeling of power that brought her to be inside the tank. She imagined herself being adored by multitude of fans as they cheered her on. Inside the tank, the other two members of her band were busy checking the space across the turret control, in awe at such invention. It was clear that it would require a lot of strength to be able to load the tank. Baton Switch meanwhile, was resting comfortable at one side of the tank, looking at her phone at the different messages and photos accumulated inside. One of those photos showed a younger Baton accompanied by a girl of similar hair. The photo had been taken several years ago, before the twins took different roads; how ironic that that life had brought them into the road of tanks. Finally, the girl known as Cloudy Kicks entertained herself by looking at the controls of the tank. In a way it reminded her of a big truck, with levers and pedals that made the monster move and travel across the road. It was nostalgic for her to hold the levers, remembering her father and the years he spent working as a truck driver, traveling across states and regaling her with stories of things he had seen out there in the road. As a girl that was born on a big family -she had two brothers and a sister, not to mention the list of cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces-, Cloudy Kicks learned of the importance of family, teamwork and the values that were brought from the other side of the border. Her mother always joked that was probably the reason she drove like that. Imagining the things she could do on the tank and how she could bring the engine to the max brought a smile on her face. Meanwhile, the last team stood right in the middle of the park several streets away from the school looking astonished at what everyone so far thought it was only a statue. In reality, it was the resting place of what must have been one of the abandoned tanks of Canterlot High Sensha-do club. It was low, really low in comparison of anything they had ever seen before. Photo Finish had grown among people that either participated in wars or worked around wars. From soldiers to war photographers, Photo had found her calling thanks to an old and dusty Polaroid Pathfinder that had become the relic of the family. Her own great grandfather had been part of both wars as a journalist and although the Pathfinder wasn’t the camera that he had used then, it was the camera that had survived the longest and now stood inside the family home, to be admired by the new generations. The rather exuberant and theatrical teenager loved both sides of her family and the decision of joining the Sensha-do club was her way of paying tribute to the history of her family, although in a much safer way. Pixel gawked at the way the tank had been tagged by multiple hands and apparently no one had cleaned it. It was in a way almost artistic, due to the colors and precision of words and drawings painted across the metal body, but she also imagined how humiliating must be for members of the past Sensha-do team to see the state in which their tank had fallen to. She was a fashion oriented girl and over everything else was art, but sometimes pride and honor superseded fashion and Pixel was going to show some respect to this tank, first by cleaning it and then by driving the hell out of it on the battlefield. Of the two assistants of Photo Finish, Pizzazz was the one that talked the less, being usually distant with her peers, but it wasn’t because she thought herself better than the rest of her classmates, but due to deeper problems. While she was now renowned for being always extravagant and full of glitter and fashion, if one looked at pictures of her younger self, they will not be able to recognize her. Usually wearing overalls, shorts and her hair fluffed and uncared for, Pizzazz was always a rambunctious kid, one that enjoyed the outside. It was the norm for her and her family to go out on camping trips or spend her days watching tanks and Sensha-do matches in TV or live. The reason why she now hid that wild and carefree part of herself behind the mask of extravagant clothing was only known by her close friends Pixel and Photo, but watching the tank and the promise of being able to ride one for the first time woke up something inside Pizzazz, something that she thought had been left behind. She was practically doting on the tank now, talking to it and lightly caressing its exterior as if it were a wounded puppy; it was so surprising that the last member of the group stood gawking at the way the other girl was behaving. She had been part of the Photography Club for a time now and never before have she seen Pizzazz act like that; usually the other girl was quiet and rarely showed her feelings in such a dramatic fashion. Pointing at the girl and without even words, the sunglasses wearing girl smiled at their model. “Ya, little Pizzazz has always been a fan of tanks, which is wunderbar for our next project and yes, once you break the shell, fraulein Pizzazz has quite the animated personality, now, shall we?” Photo said with a grin to Amethyst as this one kept on looking at her companions with a dumbfounded look. Shrugging her shoulders, the model simply relaxed, knowing that even weirder stuff will happen considering how the club was. It might have been weird for someone that wanted to be a permanent part of runway shows the idea of driving and fighting on tanks, but she knew of other models and fashion debutants that also dabbed on the activity, like Suri Polomare of Crystal Prep and the captain of the Crystal Heart Team, none other than Fleur de Lys. Maybe Sensha-do had some lessons for the upcoming model, so why not enjoy the moment like the rest of her friends? “Yes? Fraulein Sunset? We have found da magicks!” even from the other side of the phone, Sunset could hear the dramatics and the flair of the extravagant girl and could only sigh. It was something that she had been doing lately way too many times and it only increased with all the idiosyncrasies that the rest of the girls showed by the minute. At least now they had more tanks, but it wasn’t enough yet for a fully-fledged team, considering the minimum amount of tanks allowed on Sensha-do was 5. With Photo’s call, now they had 4 and she was out of people that wanted to be part of the club, but just as she thought that, there came the sound of footsteps echoing on the still empty garage making her turn around and find a trio that was well known by the city. The Canterlot Motley Crew girls were renowned for their attempts to become famous while doing every kind of crazy tricks in front of a camera. They were moderately popular already, but mostly because of how hilarious their attempts usually were, not because they were cool or interesting, so seeing them in person only sent a jolt of dread across Sunset’s back. “Heya Sunset, are ya still lookin’ fer people?” the bow wearing girl asked while the other two alongside her smiled widely and Sunset already knew they had a plan. She was so going to regret this. “Yeah, I still need one more team and I think is good that you girls appeared. You are small enough to fit with more than enough space in the M3A1 that we have. Sadly that leaves me a team without a tank so unless you have one on your pockets I don’t know if we will revive the team.” “I wouldn’t be so sure,” wait, she knew that voice. “Flash?” the boy with the slicked back hair only smiled at her friend. It had been interesting to know the guitar playing boy the first few weeks in school, but for some reason the two established a friendship that still baffled most cliques in school. While the rumor of the two of them dating ran rampant for those first few weeks, both Sunset and Flash were more than comfortable enough just as friends. Of course, the boy was a bleeding heart and he truly believed on finding his perfect girl; every time he said that Sunset only rolled her eyes, but inwardly cheered for the boy. “Hey Sunset, heard you needed some help, so, well, me and the boys decided to lend you a hand with that; guys! Bring it here!” he said aloud as the sound of a motor signaled the entrance of a heavy vehicle with something being dragged behind. “Wait, where did you get that thing?” “That was from my mom; she kept her old tank and wanted to bring it here.” “Wait, what? Why?” “She wants you to revive the club once more, so, think you can do it?” Flash asked as Grease Monkey and Quick Wrench appeared from the inside of the heavy truck. The two boys were part of the vehicle club so if anyone knew how to repair things, it was them. With a grin that showed how happy she was, Sunset inspected the Crusader III vehicle in almost pristine conditions. It was clear that Flash’s mom did care a lot for the tank. It had its paint intact and the exterior seemed almost pristine. With this, alongside the StuG III that Photo Finish’s team found in the park and Muffin’s Russian T-50 in the barn, they had the beginnings of a true Sensha-do team. ----- Vice-Principal Luna was quite the opposite to her sister beyond obvious comparisons of dark hair, but what most didn’t know was that unlike Celestia, Luna found the daily paperwork as soothing and relaxing. She spend most of her mornings as she arrived at school taking care of it, all with her cup of coffee at the ready, but just as she was about to take a sip of the black gold, the very foundations of the school seemed to rumble as the sound of a shot shook everything. Leaving her cup on the table and opening a window, Luna’s eyes widened to ridiculous proportions as she saw something she wasn’t expecting. There, in the yard of the school stood Sunset Shimmer in a Crusader Mk. III as the gun of the tank still smoked from the blank that had been fired. The redhead was wearing her usual smirk as she watched the dumbfounded expression of the Vice-Principal. “Well, I came to officially re-open the Sensha-do club, have any objection?” It will not be easy and Sunset was sure they will have many obstacles in front of them, but she knew that the Canterlot High Sensha-do Club will bravely fight those obstacles any day of the week.