Chapter 1: The Trip Begins
Sunset, her mind so concentrated on the previous, monotonous week, glared obliviously through the window of the bus, observing the cell-shaded environment before her eyes. Ever since she declared friendship with Trixie and the Dazzlings, the environment had been honestly quite gloomy. The only article of real note happened last night when she accidentally stumbled over an incredibly strange dream. The mere thought of it had consequences for Sunset.
“What’s up?” the voice disrupted Sunset’s train of consideration.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Sunset responded as her gaze warped onto Trixie.
“You know, friends are always welcomed for a friend’s problem, right?” Trixie comforted Sunset in a polite tone: the manner and attitude of the speech persuading Sunset. Thinking of it for a slight moment, Sunset determined, “I suppose you’re right.”
“Now, what’s the problem?”
“Well, I experienced a strange dream…”
“A dream…?” Trixie, in an impulse, requested out of interest.
“Yes, and ever since for the past week, I keep the touch of my pony self out of the periphery of my eye.”
Before Trixie could gather her words, the bus drove to a halt at Camp Ponyville. “I guess we have to go,” Sunset, speaking adversely, stepped off straightforwardly off her seat without a regard to anything.
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Keeping a tight strangle over the settling positions right after the withdrawal of the bus, Celestia informed all the scholars to the camp’s lunch hall. The students started to converse between each other when they arrived on the benches, sitting in a motionless posture – observing with oblivious eyes. Luna, then, obtained their attention.
“Now, all of you might wonder why I decided to take a field trip here. The reason why is because we have an opportunity to explore the Everfree Ruins located near here,” Celestia announced, cheering in a gracious manner.
Almost immediately, most of the students looked and whispered amongst themselves, their uncertainties undoubtedly seen by Celestia. “Now, before you start asking questions, let me clarify that any rumors that you have heard about the ruins are not true.” The students, while not being reassured, did quiet down.
“Now, all students will be separated into groups, and the groups will be determined tomorrow. For now, all students will report back to the dorms for the night.” With that declaration, all the students directly seated up, just a second away from slipping off of their positions. Still dubious, they relocated to their dorms, while not even speaking a word.
The young nighttime went deaf of noise, the residents and students dormant in their dreams. However, while all the students unconsciously slumbered, Celestia and Luna were in their bright awareness, deliberating the to-do activities for tomorrow. Their conversation was disturbed as Wind, not noting the situation, came into the room abruptly.
“Hello, how’s it going, Wind?” Luna, cognizant of Wind’s mood, asked civilly.
“Good… I’m glad that I volunteered here; the work is exhausting thought.”
“Hey, remember: the job is only temporary,” Celesta gave a humming shout out.
“So, do you know who’ll end up in my watch?”
Celestia, in response, handed Wind a report of a few names, as if she, herself, selected the names arbitrarily. Wind’s eyes recited the titles over and over, then nodding in a slight grin; “Did you assign me with these five girls on purpose?”
“You may have an inquisitive scent; however, these five are far from the standard, and you seem like an appropriate candidate for them.”
“I just hope the activity isn’t too draining on them,” Wind, in his conclusive speech, commented.
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Sunset woke up with a chilling start, petrified from a dream far beyond the renders of the nightmare; her cheeks swelled by sweat, her expression sought by panic. “Wh-What was that?” She seated upright, her posture hesitant. The air remained fairly damp from her breaths, but she ignored it, relocating to the bathroom and prepping herself for the fresh, hectic day.
Quickly, she slammed the door of the restroom, silently gasping to herself in the dark gloom. Diffidently, her mind dithered whether to note her dream or not: I don’t want to believe that dream, but what was that a shadow? Sunset considered in terror, attempting to sooth herself.
After taking a bath and getting dressed, Sunset, then, preceded to the lunch hall, famished. The long, endless path seemed to take an eternity as Sunset considered of the glitzy reminiscences of her dreams. But the sudden realization that she was, in her posture, sitting on a lunch bench, staring straight at some students who were jogging and shining some sort of armbands.
Then her head perceived Celestia’s movement—the adult swinging an armband alike to the others—the armband gripped tightly by Celestia. As Celestia ambled over, she—in a gentle swing—handed Sunset an armband, the word “Sacred” punctured on it.
“What’s with the armbands?” Sunset enquired in a snooping tone.
“All you need to know for now is that they’re part of picking the teams,” Celestia responded, placing the armband on Sunset’s arm and then tightening it softly.
After positioning the armband on, a camp counselor extracted a solid entrance into the hall; “All campers with armbands, report to the forest after breakfast!” the counselor hastily announced out of worries.
A few students seated upright, and without hesitation, withdrawing from the lunch hall; however, Sunset looked at Celestia in apprehension, her eyes almost swelled by tears. “Don’t worry, you’ll be happy with your team,” Celesta consoled Sunset in her always-motherly tendency.
“If I did know you, Ms. Celestia, it would be,” Sunset teased. Celestia smirked as Sunset, in a sluggish drive, ported with the other scholars and shifted to find Luna and Wind. Unknown to her, an insignificant, red car drifted off of the hall, shadowing Sunset into the forest without her notice.
Grouping alongside other students, they carried the identical, red armband Sunset had placed on her arm; the group then reached to a clearing. The counselor proceeds to insist of the first activity, “Okay, now that we’re here, it’s time to start the first camp commotion.”
His gesture twisted to a providing hand: he snatched a few dyed, bleached papers, each of it extraordinarily similar to the students’ armband, and a word matching likewise to it; a map of the area, and a compass. “Your teams have already been chosen, but this activity is to find your teammates,” the counselor presented further instructions.
When no one spoke, the counselor said, “When you’ve found your teammates, head back to the camp; now, any questions?”
“How many members are there per team?” Sunset inquisitively investigated, breaking the bland silence.
“There are six per team: five students and a counselor to watch over you,” the counselor answered. When no one requested further orders and questions, the counselor paused for about a minute, observing his watch, hesitating for the correct moment. The precise timing had its sway; however, it didn’t last long as the counselor signaled for the initiation, the game starting violently off.
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“Why can I never remember the layout of this forest?” Sonata pondered as her feet strolled through the Everfree Forest ever so slowly. Sonata, persuaded by the brief moment, attempted to navigate through the obscure forest she had visited several times before, however, with no avail. I just want to find my teammates and get out of this forest, she swayed while the roots beneath her crunched.
Her gaze focused on the map, she remained solemn with her work. In a precipitous instant, Sonata ceased her movement, darting her glare at the forest; a slow, abrupt noise called to her, as if the words were painstaking and so indecorous with the environment of Everfree.
She turned to the glaze of the racket, her regard staggered as a bland, green, truck-like toy stood before her feet. “A truck?” she expressed audibly, harvesting the toy truck off from the ground. In her amusement, a symbol stood pinned onto the truck: an irrational, simplistic depiction presented what she did not know.
Unexpectedly, the truck gave Sonata a trivial shock, causing her to drop it. “Ow! Did that toy just give me a shock?"
"Sorry about that; I needed to see if this worked," a dazzling, secretive voice excused itself, the ambiguous sound making Sunset recognize insanity under her skin, presumably from a lack of magic; she twisted her glance nearby to find the source of the voice.
"Down here," the voice called. Glancing underneath the roots, again to the model, she had her mere consideration as if it was a masquerade of some sort.
"H-Hello?" Sonata spoke in her imperceptible tone.
"It’s nice to meet you.”
"Wah!" Sonata shrieked in anxiety, in an effort to plummet the anomaly.
"A good pair of lungs you got there.”
“W-What are you?" Trembling, a few words managed to escape her mouth.
"I am a Shift Car," the truck responded.
"S-Shift C-Car?"
"Yes, you could call me a hidden hero or protector."
“W-Well, what are you called?"
"Shift Technic, but you can call me Technic."
"M-My name is Sonata Dusk," she now spoke in her abrupt sequence, however, comfortable with the new friend.
Technic, priming to specify further, was disrupted as it scented an alarm within the forest. "What is it?"
"Don't worry; I'm just getting the signals from four of my friends."
"Are we going to meet them?" Sonata asked, now anxiety twisting into alacrity.
"Yes, just follow directions I give with my headlights." Their movement commenced as Technic demonstrated the route with its illuminating beam of light.
The deep, muted whine of the woodland refused to give into Sonata’s footstep after what seemed like a few minutes of ideal sauntering. "Hey, Tech, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Who are your friends; more Shift Cars?" Sonata inquired.
"There are a variety of signals I’m sensing. About others, they are alike my type, really," Tech replied.
"What were you and your friends doing out here anyway?"
"Well, I would tell you, but I think it would better, as you would find it out yourself,"
Inquisitiveness swelled upon Sonata’s mind but she resisted her curious mind, soothing herself with a similar tune she discovered a while ago. This tune… Tech gathered the resemblance of the tune, only to consider otherwise than to ask.
"Looks like the signals are about to meet up ahead," Tech confronted. Tech, having a scent of Sonata’s jolt, relieved her from her worries. ”Scared?“
"A little…" she cried out.
"Don't worry; I know you'll be very happy." Sonata, swallowing into her gullet, headed to the clearing, then stood there as her eyes met another person, standing rigid.
"Sunset, is that you?" Sonata shrieked, concealing Tech from the view. Sunset, hearing the inaudible earshot of plea, warped her scent and observed Sonata’s crusade towards her.
"Get me close enough so I can touch her," Tech whispered, hidden from the eyesight. Sonata pondered the request but then remembered when she first handpicked Tech.
"Sonata, what are the chances that we see each other?" Sunset astounded.
"I should be asking why you're standing in a clearing," Sonata reacted in a lighthearted tone. Sunset, realizing the connotation of the statement, scrubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
"Hey, mind if I see your armband, Sonata?"
"Sure. I wonder if you're on my team.”
Sunset neared Sonata, covertly snatching onto something within her pockets. The two drew near, discovering that they were allies, however, subsequently, the two held an item in their hands, then hitting it onto each other. The two did likewise, only to be stunned for an instant.
"What was that?" Sunset freaked.
"I have an idea.” Presenting the item within her hands, Sunset realized the objective.
"You have one as well?"
The one Sunset obtainable represented a motorcycle hybrid.
"Where did you get yours?"
"I found it a few minutes ago on the ground." Before the two managed to pull out anything further, the branches alongside the trees rustled in the suppression of muffle.
"W-Who's there?" Sonata, freaking for the brief moment, requested.
In response, three people emanated into the clearing. "Adagio, Aria, Trixie?"
"Sonata, Sunset, what are you two doing here?" Adagio called back in response. Adagio, along with Aria and Trixie, sauntered towards Sonata and Sunset.
Wait, assuming Sonata found me with that Shift Car, then I wonder if... She mutely concealed her car in the coating of her pocket.
In essence, they were on the same side, fighting as allies; "Hey, is it me or is this all too convenient?"
"Sunset, what are you talking about?"
"Think about it; how did we exactly grouped this swiftly?" Sunset responded in a cautious tone. Adagio and the others remained silent, tentative of how to retort to the question. "I figured none of you would have an answer.”
"Well, do you have a theory, Sunset?" Trixie asked.
"Better, I can show you something." Sunset alongside Sonata exposed their Shift Cars, presenting in an offering conduct. The others were simply too surprised of whatever they were holding upon their palms, only to be augmented by lingering questions.
"What about you three?" Sunset questioned in a self-assured tone.
The three signaled to the alarm, knowing their objective and gripping onto their own cars; each one of them uniquely styled and embracing a brief history that they inherited: red sports car; black dune buggy; a blue formula car.
"How did you figure it out?"
"My Shift Car told me that there were four other signatures coming my way: three of which were together," Sunset explained.
"So did you know when you saw Sonata?"
"Not exactly; I started thinking about it when you three arrived."
"Your reservations were confirmed when you saw that we’re all on the same team, right?"
"Exactly, and to be sure, I checked with Deadheat," Sunset responded, keeping her casual tone.
"Would you like to introduce us?"
"I will, but I think we should get back to camp first."
"Um, which way is camp again?"
"I honestly don't know," Sunset responded in a nervous tone. No one spoke a word, silence oblivious and deaf in the core. Abruptly, Adagio’s Shift Car flashed its headlights, presenting the pathway.