After New Year's Day, I started paying more attention to life in High Pointe in general, and was surprised at how much I was able to piece together. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake had started first grade last year, and I could tell from the tired eyes of their parents that they weren't exactly model students. My perception of Lyra's behavior around Bon-Bon being indicative of some big surprise was affirmed when I saw her talking to Rarity and Pinkie Pie outside the Carousel Boutique. As to the nature of the surprise, I couldn't be sure. I thought it might have something to do with High Pointe Hill, given that I caught the name a few times.
High Pointe had a perfect view of Lake Michigan and a marina tucked away in a small bay. A hill less than a mile from the marina led to a large rock outcrop, a continuation of the same plateua that gave High Pointe it's name. The outcrop and hill was aptly named High Pointe Hill, and was a popular spot for romantic evenings, stargazing, cliffdiving, parties, and anything else that required some privacy and seclusion. As I wondered and wandered I was greeted by old friends and new faces at irregular intervals, each one pulling me out of the deep waters of my mind. I barely had time to respond before they were lost from vision and I was again submerged into my stream of imagination.
Along the way I passed an outdoor party, where Vinyl Scratch had been called out as a DJ. I was proud to see that Vinyl had adopted the name I'd helped her come up with a few years ago before I left for the war. On the wall behind her was a massive banner reading: DJ PON-3. I had figured (and still do) that it was much better than using Vinyl Scratch, since many DJ's come up with their own persona's to use when on stage. A more subtle, and incidental, reason was that our friend Lyra was obsessed with horses, more than the Apple family themselves. We thought a nod in her direction was just the thing to bring us together.
Rarity was hanging back from the crowd, admiring the dresses and other outfits she'd designed for some event, Twilight's little brother Spike at her side as usual. Although, "little" doesn't really describe him anymore. Since entering High Pointe High School, Spike had grown up. His hair was no longer spiky; it was short and regulation length, which he pulled off nicely. His muscles were toned and his jaw was chiseled. A few scars on his arms were immediately noticeable, as they stuck out against the tanned skin. I found myself nodding in approval. I mean come on: captain of the football, soccer, and baseball teams? Football quarterback? On the fast track to beating the school record for longest touchdown pass (held by me)? I couldn't be prouder.
I'd noticed a reason he was hanging around Rarity was another certain high schooler she couldn't seem to get rid of, either. That's right, Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle was a knockout now. Her hair fell in subtle curls all around her soft face and past her slim shoulders, and her hips were tapered to perfection. Her long legs were slender and firm from being a dancer and member of the school's color guard. She was a head smaller than Spike, which might explain another reason he liked her, but despite her fragile appearance I knew she had lots of strength (I think Spike knew this, too). Sweetie Belle's eyes were still kind and full of youth, her red lips almost always split by an experession of mirth. Her laugh had grown, her voice had smoothed out (bringing an end to her nickname, "Squeaky" Belle), and even her attitude had changed. Her maturity was equal with her looks, earning her the title of "young adult" instead of "adolescent." This girl had hit puberty and rocked it.
Apple Bloom...I think I mentioned her earlier. Her hair had only grown longer and now was in one long pony tail down her back. The bow had been replaced by a simple hair band and a cowboy hat; unlike her sister's, the hat didn't have a half circle cut out of the front. Apple Bloom usually had a High Pointe High sweatshirt tied around her waist, and reddish brown cowgirl boots pulled over blue jeans. Her top was the only part of her appearance that would change, aside from it being a button down shirt tied just above her navel. The captain of the volleyball team showed off the scars and bruises on her arms and chest from life on the farm and the sport she so loved without a qualm, almost welcoming subtle touches.
However, Scootaloo was the one who'd changed the most. In her middleschool days, Scootaloo looked a little sporty like Apple Bloom, but also a little geeky. However, now, no one would ever make the mistake of calling her anything but a tough girl. Her leather jacket and wild hairstyle were exactly the kind of thing I used to wear back then. Her jeans were usually tight and showed off her shapely figure, though her wolf stare was enough to deter any groping fingers. My little sister had spunk and attitude, traits that while they earned the approval of my inner child usually ended up getting her into trouble with the administration. There was a seat in detention that she'd actually scratched her name into, with little tic marks for each time she got sent to it. The deep blue chair was almost white at this point. Despite all her rebellion my little Scooter still had the grades of a star student and painted in ways that put all the great artists before her to shame. Her room in the Apple Family Homestead was painted in rainbows and colors, like Applejack once told me: "...looked like she was painting her sister with every stroke." Knowing my sister loved me enough to practically paint me in her room was enough to melt my heart and make me tear up. As a birthday present I planned to get Scootaloo black fingerless gloves and a blue motor scooter I'd seen her eyeballing in a dealership window a few weeks back. "Best Sister Ever" right here, just in case you were wondering.
"Rainbow Dash! Wait up!" A young voice called. I recognized that country twang immediately, and turned around to see Apple Bloom racing toward me. Her grin widened as I turned, and she came to a stumbling stop against my legs.
"Hey'a, squirt!" I said cheerfully, ruffling her hair despite her pout. This little girl hated having her hair messed with.
"You gotta come quick!" she declared, pulling me after her and not bothering to explain as she headed back the way she'd come. I tried to ask her about what was happening, but she either didn't hear me or didn't care. About twenty minutes and plenty of confusion later I saw the gray of the High Pointe Educational Campus. My confusion only mounted, as the general practice was for children to be running away from the Campus on a Friday afternoon, not toward it. Apple Bloom led me down a path I wasn't familiar with, taking me around to the side of the high school.
There was a door Apple Bloom was heading for and when she opened it I was greeted by the sounds of metal banging against metal and the whirring of circular saws and grinders. I heard power drills and shouts, welders and bursts of air I assumed came from compression pipes. Apple Bloom led me down a hallway in the direction of the noise, taking a left when the majority of the noises came from the right. Confused, I followed dumbly along like some sort of tame zombie while Apple Bloom rambled on about something-or-the-other.
"So yeah! What do you think?" Apple Bloom turned to me suddenly, and I racked my brain in an attempt to find some memory of her speech. Not finding any, and seeing Apple Bloom's facial expression begin to change from excited to worried, I nodded enthusiastically, glueing a smile to my face.
"That's a wonderful idea! Sure." I said, trying to pull off a nonchalant shrug. Apple Bloom's eyes brightened immediately and she squealed, hugging me tight around the waist with a, "YAY!" I had no idea what I'd just agreed to and Apple Bloom didn't give me much time to figure it out before she thrust me ahead of her into a classroom that had been transformed into a...robotics room. I was in Nerd Central Station, about to embark on the Humiliation Express.
The moment I had those thoughts I wanted to slap myself. I wasn't in high school anymore! I actually appreciated what these kids could do, after hearing stories from the engineering battalions and regiments about how they'd gotten interested in engineering because of their high school Robotics teams. In fact, the more I observed the room the more I realized that it was like a small machine shop. Only with more robots and robot parts. There were a few cabinet sets, two of which could roll, and three others that looked pretty stationary. Labes were placed on the drawers of most of the cabinets, including "Nuts, Bolts," "Measuring Tape, Duct Tape," and "Wheels, Gearboxes."
There was more than just labels and cabinets. I was impressed and amazed as I looked at the three robots in the room. All three seemed to pushed out of the center of the room, so I gathered that they were old, probably from years' past. Of course, that didn't stop it from being any less awesome.
"-And this is our instructor-slash-coach, Mr. Volts!" she proclaimed happily. My gaze was drawn to an elderly man that instantly struck me as looking like Santa Claus. I mean he really did! He had a bushy white beard and white hair. Medium-length white hair. So he looked like your traditional Santa Claus that had gotten a slight beard and hair trim. Mr. Volts looked at me for awhile, then turned and looked at Apple Bloom, an obvious question in his eyes.
"Oh! Right! This is Rainbow Dash, here to become one of our mentors! In fact, she agreed to it just now, out in the hall!" Apple Bloom was bouncing up on her toes and back down onto her heels in her excitement, grinning and eyes alight. A feeling of dread and stupidity washed over me. That's what she was saying earlier! I desperately tried to interrupt so I could clear away the confusion, but Mr. Volts was talking again.
"Oh, that's fantastic! Exactly what we need, another new adult to teach these youngsters about responsibilty and respect." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but Apple Bloom was grinning, as were two other teenagers in the room. "Welcome to the team, Ms. Dash." He sat up and extended his hoof to me.
"Listen, sir..." I began nervously, "When I 'agreed' to this, as Apple Bloom said, I wasn't really...paying attention to..." I happened to glance down at Apple Bloom just then, and saw her face slowly falling, disappointment written all over. The other teens weren't sad like her, but looked...angry...at me.
"What, Ms. Dash?" Mr. Volts asked me, a slight edge to his voice. He didn't seem angry or disappointed, in fact I couldn't read any emotion off him, but he clearly wanted me to finish.
"I was thinking about what was down here when Apple Bloom asked me to be a mentor. I can't. Of course, it's nothing against you personally, or your team, but..." But what, really? What was so bad about mentoring a Robotics team? Couldn't be too hard, and they clearly needed me. It's not like I had a job to take up my time, not even college (though Applejack and Twilight have been trying to talk me into it). "You know what? I'm in." I stated, nodding in support of the statement.
"YAY!" Apple Bloom cheered, hopping onto my front and huggging. I almost fell over. How hard could this really be? If only I knew. I didn't know the first thing about robots.
=== Apple Bloom===
Apple Bloom couldn't believe that Rainbow Dash had agreed to mentor. Her second-favorite adult and her favorite team? What could be better? Apple Bloom eventually let go and looked over at the two other teens in the room: the boy named Gears who had been her friend since the beginning of middle school and the girl named Glimmer who was the team captain and a Senior at their high school. Gears was smiling at Apple Bloom's reaction to Rainbow Dash's acceptance, but there was a guarded look on his face that was mirrored on Glimmer's.
One thing about Gears that really worried Apple Bloom was that she had never met his parents. She'd been his friend for four years, and she'd never met his parents. She wasn't sure whether it was a fault on her part or his, but it made her feel awkward all the same.
"So...what do you know about building robots, Miss Dash?" Gears asked, adjusting his "Air Force Legacy" cap, which Apple Bloom knew was an expression of unease. Clearly, Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how to respond and the tension in the room mounted to an unbearable degree before Gears broke in once more, "Hey, that's okay. It's just like building anything else mechanical. Whatever you don't know we can teach you. It's sorta like making a really good strategic plan. There are lots of different parts of drawing out a plan, not the least of which is to have a clear understanding of your objective. Right so far?" Apple Bloom was stunned. This kid, this high schooler, was speaking the language of an Air Force Captain. He'd adopted her straightforward thought process and appealed to her with a militaristic analogy. The retired Air Force Captain nodded, wiping the shock off her face.
"Cool. The next major thing. You need to know what you have at your disposal and what it can do. You can't order a major naval bombardment if all you have is one AAVP7A1, right? Same as how you can't coordinate an aerial strafing run with just two Boeing CH-7's.
"Well, that's pretty close to what we deal with here. If we need a lifting mechanism that requires chains and motors while all we have is one low-power motor and a broken, rusty chain, we'll obviously have to change that design and figure out something else. Jerry-rigging a robot is just as risky as improvising on a major strategy. It may pay off, but is it worth the decimation of a group or, in this case, a major point deduction because of unsafe conditions?" Gears said all of this without looking anywhere but Rainbow Dash's eyes, holding her gaze as she clearly visualized what he was saying. She found herself nodding and smiling a small smile of comprehension. The others in the room, with the exception of Mr. Volts, looked stunned. Apple Bloom was sure she and Glimmer didn't even know what Gears was talking about until he got to the robotics part.
Noticing their confused faces, Gears smiled apologetically, "Sorry. An AAVP7A1 is an Amphibious Assault Vehicle Personnel Model 7A1, and a Boeing CH-7 is a Chinook helicopter, you know, those big, honking helicopters with the two rotors?" Gears made little hand gestures for the things he was talking about, something Apple Bloom knew he was completely obvious to. She nodded her comprehension and smiled warmly at him, realizing he'd made Rainbow Dash feel comfortable while instilling confidence in the others at the same time. This could work. Rainbow Dash clearly caught on quickly and was very knowlegeable, able to follow his slightly confusing analogies with impressive tenacity. Apple Bloom really wanted to know more about Gears. He was so mysterious to her, despite her having known him for years.
At the moment when awkward silence would take over the small group again, four other students stumbled in with a frame in between them, trying to avoid hitting the ceiling or each other with little success on both fronts. Gears and Glimmer hastened to clear off a space on the table by swiping with their arms at the nuts, bolts, and pieces of metal. Apple Bloom rushed to assist with the frame, guiding it to the table and setting it down, noting the grunts of exhertion from the other four students.
One was a boy of considerable weight with a gross neck beard; his name was Gray Marbles. Another was tall and lanky with floppy red-brown hair; his name was Redwood. The third was a girl, small and lively, whose name was Emerald. Everyone guessed her name was derived from her bright green eyes and the odd green streaks running her brown-and-blonde hair. The fourth was a young and tall boy with short hair who always wore a hat; his name was Pepper Lightning.
Apple Bloom smiled at all of them, unsure which one to address first. There purpose had been to take the robot upstairs so they could drive it on carpet, but the looks on their faces were less then pleased.
Glimmer spoke first, though it looked like Gears wanted to say something, too, "What happened," it was stated as a command, not a question. None of the carriers seemed willing to answer for awhile. They looked a little p-ed off.
Finally, Redwood broke the awkward silence, "We're not allowed to practice up there." You'd think someone had just shot the President, Glimmer's mouth opened so wide. Apple Bloom racked her brain immediately for ways to calm things down, but she was too slow. A caucophony of shouts bounced around the walls as each teen tried to make their voice heard. Apple Bloom noticed that Rainbow Dash and Mr. Volts were watching the chaos unfold like vultures waiting for an animal to drop dead. She knew that if this carried on, Mr. Volts would begin his lecture about teamwork again, and no-one wanted that.
"YO! EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" the shout was so loud and commanding that Apple Bloom, even though she wasn't talking, immediately started tellling herself to be quiet and she started looking around. Her eyes settled on Gears, who was surprisingly calm. His posture identified him as the one who'd shouted, and the fact that Glimmer was quiet and clearly waiting for Gears to speak was a testament to the force of his command.
"Okay. Let's take this one step at a time. Redwood, what exactly happened?" Gears asked, his eyes focusing on Redwood's.
To Be Continued...