//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Saving Private Rarity // by Show Off //------------------------------// The sound of a bugle woke us at o’dark thirty, and we groggily got out of bed. Quill had obviously been up for a while before us, scratching out plans in the notebook that he perpetually carried. “Been busy, eh lieutenant?” Snap yawned. He waved the comment away with a hoof, apparently putting the finishing touches on his course of action. We each went about our usual morning routines, trying to rub the sleep from our eyes. Fam joined us after a moment and we waited patiently for the lieutenant to finish his scribbles. We made our way to the mess hall, where we were encouraged by our fearless leader to eat quickly so we could go begin our hunt for his love. I tried my best to keep his enthusiasm up, but I could only suck down my rations so quickly. After breakfast, Quill practically dragged us down into the quagmire of the trenches, sneering a little, but forging ahead all the same. “Alright, here’s the plan; Show, Snap, you take off and search by air. Famosity, you’re with me to map their progress. With luck, we’ll find Rarity by early afternoon.” Snap and I looked at each other. “Shouldn’t you ask the general what she thinks about that?” I inquired. The lieutenant looked at me desperately. “Please, Show. I’m asking for just one day to find her. Surely the general wouldn’t mind that…” I looked for confirmation from my wingman, and we both nodded. “You can count on us, sir,” he said. “I know this isn’t exactly protocol,” Quill continued. “I’m asking you to act under the orders of a lower officer. But I promise that the ire of command will not fall on you.” Snap rolled his eyes. “Quill, this front isn’t exactly the most organized offensive in the world. I think we’ll manage to slip away for one day.” “Alright then; let’s get to it!” “Huah!” It took an agonizingly long time for the ground crew to give us permission to leave; it took Snap three tries to finally get an answer. "Friesian Flight, Outpost 3 Control, you are cleared for take off; go when ready. Just watch out for Shire Flight coming down; they have wounded.” The panicked filly’s voice in our ears didn’t instill the kind of confidence we were looking for. But despite our misgivings, we took to the skies. The shelling continued unabated, and more than once Snap and I had to dodge the falling harbingers of death. We set up a standard search grid, keeping in constant contact with Fam. While Quill was hopeful at first, as the day wore on I could tell he was getting frustrated. More than once, he snatched the radio from Famosity and told us to recheck a certain area. All the while, we had to dodge other airponies and try to stay out of the line of fire of the cloudships the CB’s were so fond of. Finally, the inevitable came to pass. “Watch it, Lunatic; you’ve picked up a shadow,” my wingman said through my earpiece. I checked my six. A cloudship piloted by a particularly angry-looking purple bear was gaining fast. “Roger that, I see him.” I was about to go weapons-free, until I realized we hadn’t picked up our usual outfit of lightning guns. “Shutterbug…” His voice crackled to life in my headset. “Yes, Lunatic?” “Why did we think it was a good idea to go out on a battlefield with our armaments?” The radio was quiet for a moment. I guessed he was checking his back for his guns like I had. “Horse apples…” The CB opened up on me, sending a flurry of gumballs whizzing angrily past. I barely had time to roll out of the way. “Buck it all! I’m gonna try and shake this guy; keep your guard up.” I put on a burst of speed and climbed into the sun, hoping to lose my shadow in its glare. When I checked back behind me after a couple dozen feet, he was still there. “Oh come on!” An idea struck me, and I smiled; those two long, mandatory years of weather school were about to pay off. I stopped climbing and settled into a hover directly in front of the sun, staring back over my shoulder as the fuzzy ball of death approached. “Closer…closer…” He didn’t see me until he was right on top of me, and by then it was too late. At the last second before impact, I kicked out as hard as I could against his cloud, vaporizing it instantly. The bear gave me the funniest confused look as his cloud disintegrated around him. He tried to lash out as he started to fall, but his deadly claws fell short of their mark. I was just going to let him fall, but my arrogance got the better of me and I dove after him, grinning madly. I pulled ahead of his fall and stopped again. “Get out of my sky!” I yelled and kicked him again as he fell past me. I felt his spine crack through my hooves, and his limp corpse arced beautifully back into his comrades’ trenches. My headset crackled to life again. “Don’t you think that was a bit unnecessary?” Shutterbug asked condescendingly. “Maybe,” I replied. “But it was still fun.” The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully, and by the time Snap and I finally touched earth again, we’d been in the air for almost ten hours. My mane was slick with sweat and my wings hurt like they never had before. Quill was severely disappointed by our lack of success earlier. “We’ll have to hit it again tomorrow,” he said, pacing around our tent. “Quill, we have other duties tomorrow. Snap and I are on the roster for camp patrol. We can’t go running off.” I grabbed a knife and sliced the leather once more. Fourteen kills. “When do your duties end?” he asked pointedly. Snap pulled a copy of the schedule out of his flight suit and checked it. “1800 hours.” “That will give us about an hour of light afterwards. Meet me on the far western edge of the camp; we will continue from there.” He stepped out into the cold night air, desperate to be alone for a bit. “I’m worried about him…” Fam said when she was sure he was out of earshot. “Yeah… I’m afraid this won’t end well.” I set the knife down and hung my helmet from the corner of my cot. “Me too,” Snap chimed in. “But you can’t really blame him. A stallion in love is a force to be reckoned with.” “So what are we gonna do about it?” I wondered aloud. “Technically, there’s nothing we can do,” Fam replied. “He hasn’t broken protocol or anything like that, and we all volunteered to help.” Snap nodded his agreement. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on him until this all blows over.” “Let’s hope that happens soon…” Fam said. “We better tuck in,” I advised. “Long day tomorrow.”