That day after school, I hopped on my motorcycle and headed home right away. Usually on Fridays I dedicate all the remaining hours of the day to myself. Whether it's playing games or simply watching stuff varies. However, that day I had so much on my head that when I got home, I was just laying in bed, trying to put my scattered thoughts together. The only light that was in my room was the dim orange light of the sun that passed through the windows.
I tried everything. I tried talking, I let Twilight talk, I tried to make it more serious and I even tried my magic. But none helped me to get one step closer to figure out what Steely Armor has been doing lately. Let alone prevent the possible catastrophe it might have brought. In the process, not only did I gain nothing, I even lost the hard-achieved little progress I made with Flaming Star. However, I had to. I don't like using my magic a lot, but if I feel it is justified, I won't hold it. I rather do what I can to perhaps prevent another catastrophe in CHS than waiting for catastrophe to happen first.
But what now? What am I going to do now? Well, It was actually quite clear. I was going to head to Steely Armor's garage. I had a gut feeling that all the weird things that had been happening lately had to do something with that blueprint I saw that other day. It all started when I saw it, and it would have probably ended when I understood what it held.
I waited till it was night, dressed up in black so that even if there was guard or something, I could have some more cover in the night. I picked up my phone, the old semi-rusted crowbar that for some reason the previous owner left in the closet, and my back pack. And without any more delays, I hopped on my motorcycle and rode to Car's Graveyard.
I won't lie, I was tired, but also desperate. So much so that I didn't even care for the cold wind of the night blasting my face off. If anything, that even helped my eyelids to stay up. But apart from that, I doubted I could have slept with all that happened. Not if I did nothing.
It took me way less time to get to Car's Graveyard this time around. There were a car or a pedestrian but apart from them, no one was on the streets. And once I was outside of the city, it was just me, my motorcycle and the road. I parked near Car's Graveyard. No lights, no guard, and not even a gate. Seemed like Twilight was right about this place.
I turned on the flashlight on my phone and walked in. Dumps of various cars and vehicles were turned into mountains of rusted metal and dozens of scattered parts around. This time I noticed the place was vaster than I expected. The silhouette of another set of rusted metal mountains could be seen in the distance. Moving my light around, I spotted my target. Steely Armor's Garage.
It was closed off by roller doors. I could have opened it with the crowbar but I decided to look around first so that maybe I could have found an easier way to break in. I still wonder whether I was breaking through private property or simply the authorities' domain. Anyway, I had no luck in finding a back door. There was a window but even that was blocked by one of the shelves from the inside. It seemed the only way in was the front way. However, I was not going to attempt breaking the big lock it had with the rusted crowbar I had.
"There has to be another way in," I said out loud as I looked at the garage from up to down once more. And suddenly a thought hit me, the roof! I knew the chances of there being a hatch on top would be low. But I wanted to give it a shot. The garage wasn't terribly big but I still needed a ladder of some sort to get on the roof. Thankfully I was in a literal junkyard. And I bet there had to be something that could have helped me.
I went looking around in a nearby mountain of junks. I picked one that could have some other stuff other than just car pieces. There were some toys and some messed up furniture in it. I thought maybe it might have a ladder in there. But then again, who throws away a ladder? Like who even replaces their ladder? It's one of those things you buy and keep for the rest of your life. If there was any reason for anyone to throw away your ladder, it would always come down to the ladder breaking or...has been introduced to a bunch of beavers. And yes, I did not find a ladder. Or should I say I did not find a usable ladder. Although, I managed to fetch some rope here and there. They were cut to pieces but I could have tied them together and had a long rope. I just had to find something to use as the hook at the end of the rope.
After a bit more searching, I found a metal bar that thankfully was small enough and was possible to be bent. I made a hook out of that and attached it to the end of the rope. I hurled the hook on the roof and after pulling it twice to make sure it's stable enough, I started climbing. Now I just had to hope to not fall off midway in the climb. After a little while I could sense the grip of the hook slipping. I hurried and got to the top and held onto the ledge just in time the hook slipped. After pulling myself up, I looked down to see what sort of fate would have awaited me if I was a bit slow and had to join the grappling hook. Even though the distance wasn't a lot to grant me a broken back, it still could have given myself back pain for a whole week.
I looked around the roof. There was a tall antenna that had some wires and cables connected to it that leaded down from the roof. And apart from a lot of pigeon poop scattered around, there was only one more thing that stood out. A hatch door! I quickly took my crowbar out and put it at the edge of the door. The door was not easy to open up. It required a lot of force and I legit was giving it my all. It was not until I put all my weight down on it that it opened. However, the moment I looked down the opened hatch, I noticed a bigger problem. There was no ladder to get down and I had lost my grappling hook. A total fall!
To top it all, there wasn't a way back either! I had to fall off the roof to get down from the building too. I either had to drop down, or wait the whole night on the roof and maybe call someone to help me get down in the morning. Sadly I was not planning on sleeping on bird poop which left me with one option.
There was one way that I could have neglected the pain of falling such a distance, and that was by rolling the moment I was about to hit the ground. Now how do I know that works? Well I didn't know! I saw it in movies all the time and thought maybe that would work. I dropped my bag and after that I took a deep breath, focused and repeated what I was going to do in my head, pictured it in there and then I dropped down!
I made sure I initiated a roll the moment my toes hit the ground. And I did! However what I didn't account for was the distance of which I was going to be rolling. I did not end up with my back like a pancake on the ground, but It did get smacked into the wall.
My head was dizzy after the hit. It took me a while to get back on my feet again and once I did, my body still hurt. I stretched a little bit in the darkness and took my phone out and used it's light. I looked around the now dark garage that I got my motorcycle fixed in search for the light switch. There was a blue van in the garage however I didn't mind it much. I found the light switch and turned it on. Not much had changed since the last time I was there. There were various tools and different pieces of vehicles on the shelves. The vans, and a bunch of tools just laying around the floor. The only thing that was granting the light was the lonely light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
I walked up to where I saw the blueprint for the first time. The desk in the corner. But there was no blueprint on it this time around. Only a small studying light and some pencils and chalk on there. I looked around the desk to see if I found anything else. There were drawers on the desk. One on each side. I tried to open them but they were locked. I had suspected that the blueprint might have been there.
Thankfully, there were various tools at my disposal so I didn't have to rely on the crowbar for opening the drawers. I picked one of the screwdrivers and squeezed the tip in the peephole and used it as a lever. The first drawer put less of a fight than the hatch door on the roof and opened with ease. And the moment I looked at it, I knew I hit the jackpot. The blueprints were rolled inside the drawer alongside one-another. I picked a few and opened them on the table.
They all were written in shapes! The only thing I could make out was the shapes they had on them. There was a gauntlet on one. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie that TV shows on Sundays. The other one was a pair of goggles. Steely Armor's goggles! And last but not least, the claw. I took my phone out and took some shots from them. There was no need to bring the blueprints with myself. And unfortunately, I couldn't find much else. There were more blueprints in the drawers but I thought I had enough pictures. For now at least.
After that, I only had to find my way out. Which I only had to get out, how I got in, right? Well, no. Because the hatch was up there and I couldn't find anything that could help me get up there. No ladder, no possible grappling hook, and not even a step. The front entrance was locked up from the other side too. I was stuck. I didn't have a way back on the roof, but now, I didn't have a way back nor a way forward. I got out of a whole, just to fall in another.
I couldn't get out, not by myself anyway. I had to get help from someone. But who would be up till midnight? And even come outside of the city to bail me out of a garage in the middle of a junkyard? Still, it was my only ticket out. So I gave it a try. I took my phone and went into my contacts. Now the question was who should I have called?
Twilight would have been the best option considering she could open locks with her magic but I was certain she would already be asleep or working on her new schedule. Next up was Applejack. However I knew she would have been asleep too. No super strength for me! I didn't want to bother Fluttershy either. She is not comfortable being out at night. Specially in such places. Nope definitely not her. It seemed I could only hope for three. Rainbow, Pinkie and Rarity. I decided to try Rainbow Dash first. Wasn't sure whether she was playing games till dawn or was knocked out till tomorrow's afternoon but she could get to me faster than anyone else. So I took her number and waited. And waited. And waited, till I realized It would have probably taken hours of doing so for her to finally pick up.
"Ugh! C'mon!"
I took Pinkie's number afterwards. There was an amazing chance that she would have been awake. To be honest I doubt she even sleeps. Somewhere deep down I feel she just pretends to be asleep every night. Anyway, it didn't take long till she picked up.
"Hi Sunset," Pinkie could be heard along with the loud noise of music in the background.
"Hi Pinkie! Look, you gotta come to the location I'll be sending you."
"WHAT?" she shouted, "I can't hear you!"
"I said: YOU HAVE TO COME TO THE LOCATION I'LL SEND YOU!"
"Is there a party?"
"No, I'm stuck somewhere and I need your help."
"You're a sick souvenir?"
"NO! I'm STUCK! I. AM. STUCK!"
"Oh ok..." She stayed silent for a few seconds and let the sound of music be heard more clearly, "So there is no party there?"
"NO!" I was losing my mind! "Just come here ok?"
"Alright." She then hung up.
I sent the address for her and waited to see if she gave a response or not. And moments later, she replied with: "I'm coming."
I sighed, and hoped from the deepest parts of my heart that she'd hurry up. Meanwhile, I walked back to the desk and looked at the blueprints once again. I had nothing better to do anyway. I opened the blueprint that had a picture of a gauntlet, or was it a prosthetic hand I don't know. It had various signs of being electronic on the picture from what looked like lights and wires to the overall design. It looked nothing like a medieval gauntlet. Maybe a bit like the one I saw in that superhero movie, Guardians of the Universe: Battle of infinity? Either that or the one that was labeled Game Finale. Anyway, there wasn't much else I could have gathered from the picture, and I couldn't read what was on it either. After looking at the blueprint with the goggles again, I was certain that it was the same goggles Steely Armor has hanging on his head all the time. So it wasn't just a normal pair of goggles. However, I doubt I'll be using that word for Steely Armor anymore.
Just then, I heard the footsteps of someone walking outside. The night was so silent that it could be heard with ease. I walked up to the roller door and put my ear on it. The footsteps were getting louder and louder. They couldn't have been Pinkie. She couldn't have come here that fast. Was it the guard? Does the place even have a guard?
Before I could drown myself in more thoughts, I heard the shackling of metal objects bangling. And moments later, the roller door started to open up!
I stepped back. Someone was coming in and I imagined being caught or seen there, meant trouble. I walked back and hid myself behind the blue van. I crouched and tried to see if I could get a glimpse of whoever was opening the door to come in. The door was still slowly opening up. Only the shoes and the trousers of the person outside could be seen.
After a few seconds the door stopped clanking. And I heard the sound of footsteps coming in. I crouched even lower, and held my breath in hopes of them not noticing me. But it was too late. They already knew me.
"Sunset Shimmer, I know you are there!" a strong male voice called, "come out!"
I recognized Steely Armors voice, but I didn't know how he knew I was there. But I recalled what Flaming Star said that day. “He has cameras set up everywhere.”
I left my hideout. As I stood tall, I could see Steely Armor's face in the dim light of the garage. Frowning, his face no longer lacked emotions. The eyes narrowed and stared at me directly. His arms crossed, resting on his chest.
"What are you doing here?" Steely Armor asked, letting go of his crossed arms.
I stood in silence. I wasn't sure how I was going to respond.
Steely Armor walked forward, "Did you hear me? What are you doing in my garage? How did you even get in?”
I took a deep breath. I wasn't expecting this to end up like this, but it seemed I was getting the confrontation I wanted after all. "I came here looking for answers."
Steely Armor stopped moving forward. "The answer to what?"
I shook my head, "Even now you keep on ignoring the matter." I walked up to the desk, picked up a blueprint and threw it towards him. "The answer to those! What have you been doing lately in school? The answer to how you managed to have a garage in here? How you just, vanished in a hallway?" I raised my voice.
Steely Armor crouched and picked up the blueprint as fast as possible. "Why do you want to know?"
I sighed before answering, "Because I have been in a similar situation and it didn't go well. I don't want you to go through the same thing!"
"What thing? What happened?" he said sarcastically, "You guys never tell me what happened!"
I shook my head, "That's because it's not easy to explain" I looked him in the eyes before continuing. "But what is this that you are hiding? At first I wasn't minding it but then, I saw a tennis ball get blasted into a locker in front of me! And don't even try to lie your way out that you weren't the guy running away."
Steely Armor took a few steps back and looked down.
"And on top of that..." I continued, "...my magic didn't work on you! Why?”
He looked at me with his eyes widened only to look away instantly. "It doesn't matter!" he raised his voice. "You shouldn't have come here like this! You must leave!” He pointed outside.
I nodded, "No, I shouldn't have...but you left me no choice! I asked you about what was going on multiple times. Twilight even talked to you once! But you were always shaking us off! WHY?" I shouted.
"BECAUSE I WAS NOT READY!" Steely Armor shouted back and silenced me with his voice. "I AM NOT READY! IT'S COMPLICATED! IT’S NOT EASY TO EXPLAIN!”
"YOU CAN'T AVOID ANSWERING FOREVER!"
The moment I said that, everything flashed before my eyes. My thoughts, me talking to Twilight and Flaming Star and their words. It all made sense now. Even though I was not touching Steely Armor, I could sense what he felt. He was just like me. Lost, trying to make sense of what is going on around him without having the puzzle pieces to do so. Both, afraid of what we keep from others. Both, not ready.
Steely Armor stood tall and pointed outside once again. His teeth pushing on one another. “LEAVE! NOW!”
"I get it..." I said, as I lowered my voice and slowly walked up to Steely Armor. He still refused to look up. "Stay after school on Monday. I will tell you everything that has happened."
That caught his attention and made him give me a glimpse from the corner of his eyes. “w-what?”
"And sorry...I truly shouldn't have come here...not this way." I picked up my stuff and started walking out.
Steely Armor though, still had a few words. "W-w-what d-do you mean?"
"I will tell you what happened with magic in our school. You have the right to know it. And I rather do it myself than someone else. And don't worry, I didn't steal anything. I was just...looking."
Steely Armor stood still. Looking around, checking stuff, but not saying a word.
I texted pinkie to not come anymore and that I had sorted out the situation. Though she didn't see it as soon as I hoped to. I rode my motorcycle home and took some rest. I just passed a long night.
I've realized that the true reason why I could never break the ice with the boys wasn't that they weren't used to the school. Or at least that wasn't all of it. I was keeping a boundary between us that I should have thought of breaking sooner. Even though it may be hard, I have to do it. I have to, if I expect the same thing from them.
Your friend and student, Sunset Shimmer.