I hardly managed to fall asleep that night with all the thoughts in my head. I headed to school with my now 'renewed' motorcycle and I just couldn't stop being baffled by how perfectly it was working. It started easily, roared like a lion in the wild and it didn't make any sound that was concerning.
I got to school early that day. Apparently, I had underestimated my motorcycle's capabilities. I made sure I locked it up nice and tight and left it in the yard. Not many students were there yet so I decided to head to my locker real quick and dump my stuff in it. I took out Geometry and physics and put Math and Calculus in, the rest of the schedule was the same. For me at least!
After I closed my locker, I noticed someone walking past me very quickly, so quickly that I felt the swoosh of air rushing past. I turned back out of instinct, only to see a rather large figure take a left turn around a corner before I managed to completely make out who they were. I managed to make out that they were wearing a blue shirt, and I thought I saw something in their hand, but wasn't sure.
"Was that Steely Armor?" A thought jumped into my head, but before I could take that thought and make sure of it by going after the figure, I was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Hey Sunshim! how is it going?"
I looked back and saw Rainbow Dash's face decorated with a soft smile.
"Oh. Hi Rainbow," I responded to her smile with a smile of my own. "I’d say better than yesterday, now that my motorcycle is fixed."
"Oh man, mine is just sooooooo AWESOME right now. Back before we took it to Steely, it really wasn't doing that well. But now you can hear the
' when it starts." She tried to replicate herself riding the motorcycle by twisting her hands. Clearly I was not the only one who was impressed by Steely Armor's work.
"That's good to hear."
"Were you looking for someone, by the way?" She looked around the hallway.
"No.....never mind." I gave up on that trail of thought. "So, why are you so early today?" I started walking back to the main entrance.
"I was excited to use my bike!'' She started walking beside me.
"I get what you mean!"
We walked together back to the entrance and waited there for the others to show up. Usually the last quarter to the first class is when everyone shows up. That is, if there is not a particular club like the Parade happening before it. We were laying on the lockers for quite some time till Rainbow Dash decided to break the silence.
"Hey, um, you never told me what exactly happened yesterday at Steely Armor's garage that made him rush towards you in a hurry."
I took a deep breath and crossed my arms. "The truth is, I don't know either. I think it was something personal or something he didn't want us to see. But...."
"But?" She raised her eyebrow slightly.
"But something is fishy about it." I shook my head. "Maybe I'm just looking at this the wrong way. I don't know!"
Before Rainbow Dash could say anything, Pinkie Pie jumped between us out of nowhere.
"Heeeeeey Rainbow! Hey Sunset!" She grabbed our necks in her arms and pulled us to herself.
"Oouh!" I said as I tried to release my head from her grasp. "Pinkie! let got, it-"
"HURTS!" We both shouted.
She let go of both of our necks immediately. "Oh, sorry!" She tried to hold her laughter with her hand.
"It's ok," I rubbed my neck, "Just, do it a bit less aggressively next time."
"Or not at all!” Rainbow Dash added.
Pinkie stood in front of us, moving around constantly, jumping up and down and asking questions and talking non-stop. Whenever she is around, I don't feel how time passes. She told us a weird story about gum that I can't quite remember. However, before I knew it, the others came one by one.
"Oooooooh, hi Fluttershy!" She waved her hand rapidly and gave us all a giant smile.
"Hi!" Fluttershy said softly and forced herself to wave her hand. She had been there for a while, but I had just been so into Pinkie Pie's story that I hadn’t even noticed her.
"Oh, um, hi Fluttershy. Since when have you been here?"
"Since 'Gum tried to bite the ice cube'." She adjusted the back pack and Angel tried to hold herself with Fluttershy's shoulder.
Rainbow Dash came closer to her and gave me a little nudge. "Man, we really didn't see you there."
It was then that Rarity and Applejack stepped into the room too.
"I'm telling you darling, you should take better care of your skin!" Rarity said, touching Applejack's face with one of her fingers.
"But ah got no time for that! Besides, who needs to put those weird masks on?" She rolled her eyes.
We greeted them both and they joined us as we listened to Pinkie's weird story.
We all started talking for a while. But it was getting close to the first class and Twilight hadn't shown up yet. I was certain Twilight wouldn't be late for physics, but with every second that passed, I was getting less and less confident.
The time for the first class started. We all headed to our own classes. Geometry was first. The teacher hadn't stepped into the classroom and I was staring at the door in hopes for Twilight to show up. I was looking closely at the door handle, the blue painted planks until I suddenly heard some footsteps. The sound was hard to follow when almost all the students were talking to one another. However, I could tell they were coming towards the class.
A few seconds later, Miss Golden Ratio stepped into the class. My hopes for seeing Twilight before her were shattered. As the students saw her in her puffy clothes and black skirt, they became silent.
"Good morning class, open your books to page 31, and let's get started." She put her notebooks and her own textbook on the desk. She bent down and opened it to a certain page. She then picked up her blue pen and list to check who was absent. "Let's do the role call real quick! OK, Crimson Napalm!"
"Ready!" he said from the back of the class. And Miss Golden Ratio noted down and moved on to the next student.
"Flash Sentry?"
"I'm here!"
She called every student one by one until she got to me. "Sunset Shimmer?"
I responded without delay, "I'm ready!"
"Steely Armor?"
"I am ready."
And it was then that she got to Twilight's name. She called it only two times and was about to move on when suddenly someone knocked on the door and opened it.
It was no one else other than Twilight. She was panting heavily and was almost about to collapse. "I....I ah, ready!"
The whole class was staring at her as she walked her way slowly to sit next to me. Miss Golden Ration softly asked her whether she was fine or not, to which she replied with a nod.
"OK then. Uhm, Wallflower Blush?"
"I....I'm ready!"
"OK, everyone's here, so let's start!" She put down the list and her pen on the desk again and picked up the chalk. She drew the shapes that were on page 31 on the board and started teaching.
Just seeing Twilight's state, I couldn't focus on the subject properly. I leaned towards her a little and whispered, "Are you ok?"
She looked at me and leaned closer. "It's a long story. I will tell you after class."
So I sat down and listened to the lesson. It was not very hard but I could see why Miss Golden Ratio was rushing through it. I took a quick glance at the next lessons and they seemed to be pretty complex trigonometry . So my assumption was that she wanted to save time by not sticking around on this subject to give us more time to work on the other ones next week.
The students didn't have many questions either. It seemed the subject was as clear and straightforward for them as it was for me.
After class I asked Twilight about what happened and why she was late as we both were walking to our lockers.
She sighed and stretched a little bit. "Spike decided to follow a squirrel mid-way here so I had to run all the way to catch up with them."
It was then that Spike stuck his head out of her backpack. "That squirrel was sticking its tongue at me!"
Twilight sighed again. "And before we knew it we were way further than we expected and I had to run the whole way."
I patted her on the back. "At least look on the bright side. Spike got a workout."
"I guess," she said, looking at Spike over her shoulder. And then Twilight adjusted her backpack, while she stretched a little bit more. "I just remembered..." She caught my attention. "I've been thinking about what you were saying about Steely Armor. I thought maybe it was just something very personal or I don't know."
"Yeah, I....am kinda on the same wavelength right now."
"But..."
I looked at her to see what she wanted to say. "But it's weird anyway....?"
"Sort of. Both there being a blueprint written in shapes and him working in Car's Graveyard."
We got to my locker then. "Hey, you go catch up with the girls I'll join you in a bit."
"OK." She then wandered off.
I needed to pick my Physics notebook, but as I was looking in my locker to find it, a tiny yellow sheet of paper fell from the peepholes of my locker onto the ground. I looked around to check if anyone was nearby. But except for a few students who were also checking their lockers, no one else was in that section. I kneeled down and picked it up. I turned it around and read what was written on it:
"Wait for me after school, I have something to tell you. -Flaming Star"
I was quite shocked to see his name there. But mostly, I was furious because I recalled my tutoring session with him. "He better have an apology readied up," I thought to myself and put the paper in my pocket. After that I continued the search for my notebook.
I joined the girls after I found it. This time, it was easier to find them now that I knew they were waiting in the main hall as always. When I got there, Rainbow Dash was in the spotlight.
"It's going soooo smooth. Steering it has become waaaaay easier." Rainbow Dash jumped in front of Applejack.
"Uh huh," Applejack said, and then noticed me. "Look who's here! Ah reckon ya can tell us what you two did yesterday?" She came closer and gave me a nudge.
"Hi guys and...uhhh, what thing, exactly?" I narrowed my eyes and looked at them both after I waved at the girls.
"SUNSET!" Pinkie just showed up in front of me out of nowhere.
"OH DEAR CELESTIA!" I jumped back, and took a few seconds to breathe. "PINKIE!"
"RainbowsaidthatyoutwotookyourmotorcyclestoSteelyArmorandherepairedthemforyoutwoforfreeandtheyaregoingsoooo fastandsmoothsincethen!" She paused for a few seconds with a big smile on her face. "OH, also, sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you!"
"It's...ok, just...don't do it again alright?"
"Pinkie promise!"
"And, please repeat whatever you just said."
Pinkie took a deep breath but before she started Rarity put her hand on her shoulder. "Uh, slower, darling!"
"Rainbow said that you two took your motorcycles to Steely Armor and he repaired them for you two for free and they are going soooo fast and smooth since then."
I let out a sigh. "Yep, we did, and they are pretty amazing now."
Twilight looked at me and said, "And he has a garage near Car’s Graveyard."
"Yeah, we took our motorcycles there to get them fixed."
"Does he....own the place?" Fluttershy asked, raising a finger slightly.
I shrugged. "I don't know, but it seemed like he knew his way around there."
"Though I still doubt that whatever he is doing there is legal." Twilight added, crossing her arms.
"What do you mean by that, Twilight dear?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.
Twilight adjusted her glasses before responding. "Like, I doubt someone can start a certified garage in an authorized area."
"It's an authorized area?" Rainbow Dash asked. "But the place looks more like a wasteland."
"She's right!" Applejack followed up. "It's jus' filled with trash tha' no-one takes care of!"
Twilight wanted to elaborate more on the topic but I decided to step in. "Let's just say it's a long story."
It was time for the second class. We each had to head to our classes. Twilight, Rainbow and I had Physics and the others headed to art class. The subject was about electromagnetic fields but to be honest I didn't really pay much attention. I was thinking about what Twilight was saying a bit more. If Twilight was right, which she probably was, it opened up a whole other layer about Steely Armor. "How is he staying and messing around with stuff in Car’s Graveyard? He probably doesn't have the permission to be there, does he?"
And then a thought just hit me. "What if he doesn't own the blueprint and he just found it?" There was a lot of crap in there so I would not be surprised if he found a random weird blueprint while scavenging there. But what about the claw that was there? I doubt he found that one. "Maybe he managed to decipher the blueprint and actually create what was on it."
It was not until after the class was over that I held my thoughts back again. "C'mon Sunset, it's not that big of a deal. Let's go already!" But for some reason I just couldn't.
I was walking down the halls alone. I needed some time to put my thoughts together so I decided not to go with the girls this time. However, suddenly I saw a tennis ball get shot full force and hit a locker. I was frozen in place. The speed and the force with which that tennis ball had been shot was so much that it had damaged the locker! "Has someone brought a tennis machine and put it on extreme?" I thought. I slowly stepped forward and looked down the way the ball was shot from. It came from the lab! And someone was stepping out of there in a hurry!
"HEY! WAIT!" I shouted as I started chasing after them. From what I could gather from so far away, they looked suspiciously familiar.
They started to speed up too, but they were not very fast. It seemed as if they were carrying something that slowed them down, but I couldn't tell exactly what. I sped up too. I was closing the distance rather quickly and as I got closer and closer, I was getting more certain of who I was chasing. There were not many students in that part of the school that day so it was easier for me to keep my eyes on them.
I was very close, so much so I could clearly see their snapback hat and their blue shirt. But suddenly they took a sharp turn that I couldn't execute properly since I was going too quickly. As a result, I crashed into the lockers and was dazed for a couple of seconds. When I was on my feet again, I was in a crowded hallway filled with students. The runner probably knew they could lose me here but unfortunately for them, I had already recognized them.
I went looking around among the students but I had no luck finding him. It was then that I stumbled into Fluttershy! We crashed to one another as I was not paying attention.
"OH! Sorry Fluttershy. Didn't see you there!"
"Oh, no....it's ok." She tried to maintain her balance.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, I-i'm fine." She was finally able to stand without assistance. "I-I just have a lot in my head that's....all."
"I know what you mean." I stepped back to let her have some space. It was then that I noticed the painting she had in her hands. "Hey, what is that? Shouldn't you leave your arts in the classroom?"
She then turned the canvas towards me and I saw it. It was us! Me, her, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. we were all holding each other's hand. "I thought maybe.....I should share this with you all," she said as she hid her face with her hair.
I was staring at her drawing for a few minutes, She had drawn us perfectly! Our hair! Our dresses! Everything! "Oh dear Celestia! This.....is....AMAZING!"
"Y-you like it?" She showed her face again with a soft smile on it.
"I like it? I LOVE IT!" I took the painting from her to look at it closely. "C'mon, let's go show this to the girls!"
And yes, I forgot what I wanted to do the moment I saw her painting. But don't blame me. It was just breathtaking. I wish there was a way I could have shared it with you. But maybe one day that we meet up again I will show you a picture or something. Anyway as I was saying:
We went to find the girls and show them Fluttershy's painting. Thankfully it didn't take us long to do so. And as I suspected, they too were in love with it!
Rarity took it from my hand and looked at it closely. "Oh my! Fluttershy darling this.....this is fabulous!" She then holds it in front of others to see too. "Just look at those fine lines of details on my dress....I mean....our dresses."
"OH, OH, OH!" Pinkie jumped forward and bounced in front of the painting. "THAT'S ME! THAT'S ME!"
"Yeah yeah Pinkie! we get it!" Rainbow Dash held her back to be able to see the painting. The moment she laid her eyes on it, they glowed bright like diamonds. "Tha-tha.....that is......."
"AWESOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!" She shouted so loudly that every student peered to see what was going on.
Fluttershy was blushing, though she tried to hide it. "uh-uhm....th-tanks."
Twilight took a peek from the side while she was adjusting her glasses. "OH WOW! This looks fantastic Fluttershy!" She then looked at Applejack. "Hey come see this!"
Applejack took a peek at the painting too and tightened her eyes, "To be honest, my eyes ain't that big."
Twilight gave her a nudge.
"A-ah mean....it looks pretty good!" She held a smile.
"Thank you all, it really means a lot to me." Fluttershy took the painting from Rarity. "Especially since it's coming from you guys."
"I mean it's amazing!" I came closer to her. "I'm just happy I didn't accidentally damage it when I bumped into you." I said as I scratched my head.
Fluttershy laughed silently. "It's OK, Sunset. Before that Steely Armor bumped into me and he was even worse."
And just when she said that, I remembered what I wanted to do. I facepalmed myself afterwards and grabbed Twilight away before the next class started.
"Wa-wait what are you doi-?"
"No time to explain!"
After I took her to a less crowded hallway I let go of her shirt. And she stepped back immediately. "What is all of this Sunset!?" She pushed me off. "Why did you drag me all the way here?"
"Just listen!" I held her shoulders. "The situation with Steely Armor has just gotten more complicated."
"How so?"
"OK, so I was thinking to myself about the things you were saying. And suddenly this tennis ball hits a locker so hard that the locker got blunted."
"I mean if you just throw the ball hard enou-" She wanted to explain stuff but I didn't have time for that.
"IT WAS SHOT FROM THE END OF THE HALLWAY!" I shook her. But I realized I was doing it too intensely so I let go of her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
She, who had her glasses all messed up and her hair quite messy from my intense shaking, picked up her glasses and put them back on properly. "I-it's alright...." She paused for a second. "How did a tennis ball get thrown from down the hallway and manage to blunt the locker? the only person I know that can do that might be Applejack."
"It was like a tennis ball machine set on extreme!" I stepped back and tried to emphasize with my hand gesture. "Besides, It wasn't Applejack.....It was Steely Armor that I saw down the hallway."
"And I doubt he had a tennis ball machine with him." She crossed her arms.
"No, but he was holding something. I couldn't make out what it was."
"So what happened next?"
"I chased him down and he started running. He wasn't very fast. I almost caught up with him but he took a hard turn and I just crashed into the lockers and lost him."
"Wait, are you feeling OK?" she asked, trying to check up on my face for any potential bruises.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I pushed her hands back. "It's just that....the more I think about it the more concerned I get with Steely Armor. You know I don't want what happened with sirens to happen again."
Twilight paused for a few seconds and tightened her eyes. "Sorry Sunset but, I don't think this goes back to the sirens.....nor do you think like that."
I looked her in the eyes. I could see my reflection in them. "What do you mean by that?"
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "You are not afraid the same thing that happened with sirens will happen with Steely Armor. You are afraid of what happened with me happening to him!"
I stood in silence. Truth be told, she was right! This whole time that he and Twilight had been tinkering with magic I had that fear in me. Of Steely Armor getting so into magic that he ended up going through what Twilight has. I didn't want to take the risk with him.
"I-" I wanted to respond but twilight beat me to it.
"I have the same fear too!" She looked down in shame. "I...just...don't want to accept or...end up looking at it the wrong way." She then shook her head and took another deep breath. "But I promised myself that I won't let what happened to me happen to anyone else."
As I was staring at her eyes I could clearly see that she meant every single word she said.
"So what do you have in mind?" Twilight asked.
I stood silent for a few seconds because I was still shocked by her words. "Uh, uh I'm...I'm gonna talk to him. This time however, I can use vice principal Luna to convince him to tell us about whatever he has been doing."
Twilight shook her head, "NO, let's not go that far yet. I'll be staying to do a little bit more research on magic. Then I will ask him about the whole situation. If he doesn't give a proper answer, then we'll use pressure."
I nodded and agreed with her. Sadly before our talk could go any further, we had to go back to class.