//------------------------------//
// What If 
// Story: South of Somewhere 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

“What if he doesn’t come back?”

Spitfire glanced up from her lunch. “What?”

Fleetfoot shrugged. “I said, what if  he doesn’t come back.”

“You mean Rider?”

“Yeah. What if he… I don’t know, gets lost or something?”

Spitfire set down her fork, glancing up and down the mess hall. “... well, I guess someone would have to go find him, then.”

“But… would we want to?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Well of course not,” Spitfire scoffed. “We probably couldn’t find a volunteer in all of Cloudsdale to go search for him.”

Fleetfoot tapped her chin in thought, and Spitfire could practically hear the gears in her head turning. “So… chain of command means you’d be in charge, right?”

“If Wind gets declared MIA, then yes,” Spitfire answered, cocking an eyebrow. “But… why are you asking this?”

Fleetfoot shrugged again, poking at her food. “Just… speculating, Sarge.”

Spitfire blinked. “Fleety… what do you know that I don’t.”

“Nothing,” Fleetfoot replied with a bored wave of her hoof.

“Fleetfoot, if you keep playing games with me you’re on bathroom duty for a month.”

Fleetfoot shoved aside her food tray before leaning in to whisper in Spitfire’s ear. “Look, I heard a thing from Daring before Rainbow took off. Apparently, Rainbow wanted Daring to come with her.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “So you think Daring might try and bail?”

“Wouldn’t you?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Fleety, you know if Wind even gets a hint that she’s going to run, he’ll drop her like a sack of potatoes.”

“I know, Spits,” Fleetfoot replied, “but… what do you think their odds are? Y’know, that they’re gonna get away with this?”

Spitfire glanced down at her food before shoving it aside. “Honestly? Not good. Wind might be a stuffy LT, but he’s good enough to hold his own. Even then, you know that command has resources. It wouldn’t be hard for them to send a hunting party no matter what I do.”

“I mean… when you put it like that, sure. But wouldn’t it be fun to dream?”

“I don’t know, Fleety. I don’t know.”