Over the next few days, Ponyville’s new LDV was in operation. Rarity had originally decided for them to meet at the Town Hall for parade, but the Mayor was still not impressed with them using her office without her permission and had denied them this, since she was already allowing Trixie to use it for her ARP lectures, however the Vicar of the town’s church had given them access to use the Church Hall instead on the other side of town, and had promised them that if a Changeling army should invade he shall ring the bells as a warning. Parade would then start in the evenings at 5:30, since many members of the platoon such as Cheerilee, Applejack and especially Rarity, had jobs to maintain, it was seen best that it wouldn’t clash with their occupations. Rarity had also managed to convince Fluttershy to hand over her rifle, and she had swapped it for a Medical bag which she had slung over her shoulders, while everypony else stood in their ranks with their choice of weapons.
They had gotten excited when they had been told they were receiving their uniforms and weapons a week into their training, but were extremely disappointed when it turned out to be just a white armband with “LDV” written on the side, (Rarity, Twilight and Pinkie were given two armbands each, with Rarity’s having “Captain” written on it, Twilights had three stripes and Pinkies just had a single stripe)and their weapons just turned out to be a box of pepper, with instructions telling them to throw it in the faces of Changelings. Eventually, they were soon starting to get irritated with all the waiting, but Rarity kept re-assuring them that their rifles will come soon enough, although she was starting to doubt her own words.
Halfway into the second week, Rarity told the ponies that while without their weapons, they would be continuing with their un-armed combat, (“That’s about all we can do.” Rainbow Dash had sniggered to Spike) and she called for them all to fall out and form a circle around the hall to watch that nights’ demonstration, Pinkie Pie standing next to her.
“Are you volunteering to be the attacker again, Pinkie?” Rarity asked.
“Of course, silly.” smiled Pinkie, “I have to do something to keep the morale up.”
“Now, last night,” Rarity told the platoon “we were dealing with the ways to stop an assailant with a dagger, however after last night’s incident,” she lifted her left hoof which was heavily bandaged, “we better not use Mrs Cake’s best knife this time.” and she took away the knife Pinkie had brought with her, and Pinkie jumped onto her hindlegs, in an attacker’s position with her left hoof just under Rarity’s chin and her right hoof raised, as if to strike.
“Now once you use your left foreleg to cushion the blow, you will remember that you then push your hoof under the attacker’s hoof joint, like so.” said Rarity as she demonstrated the manoeuvre and pushed Pinkie’s right foreleg down, “That was correct, Twilight?”
“Yes, that was as far as we got until Nurse Redheart had to be called.” said Twilight.
“Now the next step is to try and knock out your opponent.” continued Rarity, “This can either be done by the edge of the hoof against the throat, or if you wish to, you can use both hooves to jab them in the eyes.”
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof in the air, “I have a question Rarity. This whole idea of ‘jabbing them in the eyes’ thing, how are we supposed to do that if the attacker is wearing a Gas-Mask?”
“Ah.” said Rarity, putting her hoof to chin and thinking, “That’s a good question Rainbow; what to do if he’s wearing a Service Respirator. It’s probably best to call them by their technical terms. Is there anything in the manual, Twilight?”
Twilight picked up the Learner’s Manual that GHQ had given and scanned through the pages, “There doesn’t seem to be anything written on the subject.” she finally said.
“Well there you are, ladies,” said Rarity, “Rainbow Dash has found and considered a problem that even the desk sitters of GHQ have not considered.” Rainbow sat up straight, looking proud and smug at Rarity’s comment, “However that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way, we shall improvise. Pinkie, put your Gas-Mask on.”
“Service Respirator.” Twilight whispered.
“Yes, thank you Sergeant.” Rarity hissed, as Pinkie open the box around her neck, took out her Gas-Mask, placed her face into it and pulled the straps back over her mane until it was as tight enough not to let outside air escape into it. “Now obviously, we can’t jab our hooves into the eyes.” she continued after Pinkie had prepared herself, “So, what do we do?”
“Breathe over the little window so he can’t see.” Applejack suggested as a joke, as everypony started to giggle.
“Well I don’t believe that will work Applejack.” said Twilight, missing the joke, “You see, the window is made out of celluloid material, so it doesn’t get steamed up.”
“That’s a very good point, Twilight.” said Rarity, “So I believe our only other option is to try and cut off the air supply.” and with that, she put her hoof over the air-intake of the Gas-Mask, “Now in some cases, you may have to grasp on to the air-tube and squeeze it if they have one, which this one does not. Now we all know, that no matter how big the fighter is, whether it be a Changeling or even Chrysalis herself, he or she cannot survive long without an air supply.”
The words had just left Rarity’s mouth, when suddenly Pinkie Pie keeled over onto the floor. Rarity suddenly realised she had left her hoof over the air-intake throughout the whole discussion and the lack of air must have caused Pinkie to pass out. “Quick, get her mask off!” she shouted in a panic as they all crowded around the unconscious pink form.
A few minutes later, Pinkie was sitting in the Vicar’s office with Rarity and Twilight, breathing heavily as Twilight passed her a glass of water. “I’m sorry about that, Rarity.” she gasped as she got her breath back.
“It wasn’t your fault, Pinkie.” Twilight reassured her.
“Yes, it’s entirely my fault.” said Rarity, patting her hoof, “I should have just asked you to take out your Gas-Mask, rather than having you put it on.”
“I only did it to keep their morale up.” breathed Pinkie, “But when your own morale is broken, it’s not so easy. I’m used to throwing parties to keep ponies smiling, balloons, cake and streamers and all that, but these past few days have not been so super fun at all.”
“Yes, I completely understand, Pinkie.” said Rarity, in a motherly tone, “It’s going to be difficult, but we will pull through.”
“It’s not just that.” continued Pinkie, her head hung low, “I’m struggling to balance this with my personal life as well. With Mr Cake off fighting, I have more work to do at Sugar Cube Corner, helping Mrs Cake with the baked goods, while trying to baby-sit the twins on top of it. But all we can offer really now is just a few muffins and a candy cane. You don’t understand the precision in it, you beat the dough as hard as you can, you put it in the oven, and if it’s just a centigrade off, the Gates of Tartarus open up.”
“Well it does happen to the best of us, Pinkie.” said Twilight.
“Yes, we just have to keep remembering there is a war on.” finished Rarity.
“Yes, but I can’t help it.” Pinkie whimpered, her bottom lip shaking and her eyes were starting to brim with tears, “I mean I’m always there, with the cakes in the display window, day in and day out, and after I finish my shift I have to nurse the twins and put them to bed, and then I have to go down and help Mrs Cake count the coupons, and then I come down to parade and I think ‘They’ll give me a rifle tonight’, but… there never…”
Pinkie couldn’t finish her sentence as all the stress and waiting finally took over and she burst into tears. Twilight magically made a handkerchief appear and gave to Pinkie as she sobbed uncontrollably in her seat.
“Our first casualty, Twilight.” sighed Rarity, “I never thought Pinkie would be the one to collapse like this.”
“I guess this shows she was never one to be in a situation like this.” said Twilight, feeling sorry for her friend.
“Nonsense.” said Rarity, “She’s just as eager to get to the Changelings like the rest of us. We have to get those rifles here quickly.”
“Well you can’t just keep saying that they will be coming.” said Twilight sternly as she helped Pinkie onto her hooves, “Unless something comes up by the end of the week, I’ll be very surprised if anypony comes again.” and she led Pinkie out through the other door that led to the courtyard as she walked her back to Sugar Cube Corner, leaving Rarity deep in thought.