It was a poster hanging on the wall in the entrance to Canterlot High that first let the Careers know that the Friendship Games existed.
“The Friendship Games? What kind of a name for a competition is that, guys? It just sounds non-fitting, in my opinion” Urchin spoke as the four just stood staring at the sign, waiting for their friends and girlfriends to arrive.
“I mean, Urchin does have a point. Like, I’m getting chills just thinking about what to expect at this, and I don’t even know why” Marvel stated.
It was then that Cameron noticed the two schools participating in this.
“Crystal Preparatory Academy, or Crystal Prep for short.. hmm.. interesting choice of words for what seems like a public high school” he muttered to his friends, only to hear someone else call out and all four of them jumped.
“Guessing you four never heard of the Canterlot High - Crystal Prep rivalry then” said a janitor who just happened to be walking by. Cato looked at Cameron, who looked at Marvel, who looked at Urchin, confused.
“Uhm..” Cato said awkwardly after a moment of silence. “You would be correct?”
The janitor leaned against the wall and sighed. “In that case, boys..” he said in a moody tone. “..I’ll tell you all you need to know.”
The four Careers tuned in, eager to hear what the Janitor had to say.
“No one really knows why Canterlot High and Crystal Prep were always fierce rivals. It just seemingly sprouted right when the two schools first opened, and it’s been like that ever since. A few years ago, former Principals Sombra and Faust of Crystal Prep and Canterlot High respectively came up with the idea of the Friendship Games to try to promote unity and quiet the feud down. Unfortunately, however, when Sombra left Crystal Prep to teach at a university, he picked possibly the worst choice to replace him as the principal of Crystal Prep, Abacus Cinch" said the Janitor, as the four boys listened intently, though two certain members were already getting very pissed off at what they were hearing. "Under Cinch, the friendship games lost its meaning, and she turned it and Crystal Prep into a unfriendly environment where the feud between both schools basically hit new lows, with Canterlot High going onto a losing streak in everything it faced Crystal Prep in. It gets worse, too. The Crystal Prep students also rub it in this school's students' faces every chance they get, even going as so far as pranking them and making their lives miserable. Heck, this school was already miserable from all that before Sunset Shimmer came around. If I were you four, I'd think twice about taking on Crystal Prep. This school is just cursed to lose to them. Well, good day you all."
The janitor left, leaving the four Careers standing there, processing their thoughts. Marvel was livid, Urchin was clenching his fists, Cato's face kept twitching and switching between calm and fury, and Cameron.. one look at his face and you think the kid was plotting to kill someone, he was that mad. They felt betrayed, they felt lied to, they felt stupid. They all felt dumb for not asking their girlfriends after the Fall Formal incident if there was anything else that was making them miserable. But as much as they wanted to blame themselves, they all knew that it wouldn't solve anything, for the real people to blame were Crystal Prep.. and that Abacus Cinch woman. Cato was the first of the Careers to move on from the self blame after a few more moments, and after several more moments of thinking, he got an idea.
"Well, this is great" Marvel said, pissed. "We wanted to improve the lives of our friends and classmates and it turns out, even after all the shit we've already been through, we're only halfway fucking done."
"Marvel, calm down. As a wise man once said, the status quo is always meant to be broken" Cato replies, and it only takes seconds for the other three to figure out what Cato means and they all get devious grins, all except Thresh, who had been standing right behind them almost the entire time and quietly listening in on the conversation. Then, Cato points to a filer for a pep rally today in the afternoon and chuckles.
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" he asks, enthusiastically. The other three boys get stupid grins on their faces.
"Yup" says Cameron.
"Count me in, Cato" Marvel chimes in.
"Time to kick some Crystal Prep ass!" Urchin hollers, as the four fist bump each other and head off to class, not noticing Thresh still standing in plain view of them.
After the four are gone, Thresh sighs and facepalms himself. Here we go again, he thought. Maybe Glimmer was right in saying you four have a death wish.