//------------------------------// // Just Around The Riverbend // Story: Life in the Fast Lane // by TheAmazingMe //------------------------------// By mid-morning of the third day of searching, I wanted to scream. To begin, Stone insisted on keeping me engaged in trivial things. Then he sent Second and Bru off to meet a messenger from the other two search parties upriver. Aside from some morning stiffness, my hip felt loads better. If my commanding officer continued this, what was I going to do? When my relatives returned midafternoon, we had the camp to ourselves. “Sogni, couldn’t we just have a word with Sgt Stone?” Second asked. “He’s your boss, dad.” Bruiser reminded me ever so helpfully. “Exactly. Which means I’m stuck here until he decides I can go.” Exhaling, I looked at Second. “What was the message about?” Second shifted uneasily on his hooves. “I don’t think I should tell you, but I guess you’ll find out eventually. The team upriver have come up empty hooved. Before you ask, I looked over their search patterns. I’m not sure who the expert is, but they did their job well. If there was anything to find, they would have found it. Which means Life has to be somewhere down here.” I nodded. “Thanks Second. Well, with the searchers upstream, we should…” “Div.” Second cut me off. “They’re not coming.” I’m sure my expression must have been terrible, because both Second and Bru backed up a step. Fighting for calm, I spoke quietly. “What?” “Sgt. Stone ordered a few upstream searchers back to Canterlot. The rest of them are staying to guard the repair team until they’re relieved. A third of the PLHG is still off on assignment with Princess Luna and the other third are taking some sort of classes, so it’s just your unit, the rescue team ponies and the repair team. The sergeant hasn’t decided whether the rest will come down when their relief arrives. We might get another pegasus and a unicorn. There was some resistance, but Stone was adamant. He believes they’re too exhausted, the water levels upstream haven’t gone down as quickly as expected. Engineers think that there’s damage to the dam upstream. Those searchers have had a very rough time.” He explained quickly. I wasn't satisfied. “But some of them wanted to join us. Stone should have…” I closed my eyes and turned away. A wave of nausea overcame me. “Dad, are you okay.” Bru asked, his voice at me side. Opening my eyes, I threw a forehoof around his neck. With more confidence than I really felt, I smiled. “I’ll be okay. We just need to find him. Before Stone decides to send anypony else home.” *** Bru turned to me, our hooves deep in the sink washing the night's dishes. “Dad, go take a walk.” “You sure?” I asked. “You’ve been washing the same plate for the last ten minutes. Go take a breather, pops.” I kissed the top of his hat and bumped his shoulder gently. “I'll pop you, mister.” I called over my shoulder as I dried my forelimbs. “Yeah, yeah.” Bruiser muttered as I exited. I was going to have to get him for that. I wandered around camp, not bothering to pay attention to where I was going. Everything seemed quiet. Everypony must be exhausted, I reasoned. In the quiet, I heard my name. I turned and realized I was next to the sergeant’s tent. “Yes, young Bruiser and Div are washing dishes.” Mixer said evenly. “Good.” Mountain Stone replied. “Sarge, it’s not like Div would eavesdrop.” Golden Touch piped up. I felt decidedly uneasy and started to walk away. “Permission to speak freely, sir?” “I have a feeling I'll regret this, but go ahead.” He grumbled. “It is my medical opinion that Div’s physical condition is sufficient for involvement in the search efforts.” I stopped and turned back to listen in. Surely Stone had to listen to her, we were short hoofed as it was. “He is involved.” Stone challenged. I resisted snorting by the narrowest of margins. “You know what I mean.” She responded. “What would you do if I kept you out of the search for your special somepony?” Stone asked. “If you kept me from searching for my husband, I'd kick your rump.” She responded without missing a beat. “I’d almost prefer that. At least then I’d know what Div was thinking.” Stone grumbled. “Why not let him in, boss?” Astral questioned Stone. “Why don’t you tell everyone what you found today?” Stone answered, ignoring the question. Astral sounded nervous. “A few miles South, along both sides of the river, are a series of caves. Most of them are very small and filled with water. They extend along the riverbanks for a few miles. There are a few that have this odd glittering sand nearby, but I can’t make hooves or tails of it.” “Strange, any magic traces?” Golden asked. “I wasn’t able to get Mixer out there before nightfall.” Astral answered. “We’ll head over there in the morning.” “With so many caves, how can we search them all?” Mixer asked. Mountain Stone sighed. “You see my issue? How can I expect Div to be rational? What could I say to keep him from overexertion?” I heard a chair creak in protest, presumably as Stone sat down heavily. “I’ll send for Gear Grinder and Battle Ready in the morning. They'll be able to join us before nightfall tomorrow.” “Not to put too fine a point on it, sir, but we’re running out of time. The rescue ponies have already recommended we change this to a recovery mission. And we'll have to relieve Princess Luna’s current unit in just over a week.” Mixer said rationally. “So, perhaps if we kept Div at your side, we could…” Stone cut him off. “Thank you for the recommendations, everypony. I will take it under advisement. Get some rest, that’s an order.” As the sounds of tired ponies getting up reached my ears, I realized I’d be in serious trouble for spying on them. Quietly, I made a beeline around the rear of the tents and out into the desert. Looking around for some pretense, I gathered some driftwood for the fire. When I was satisfied, I headed back to camp. “Div, have you seen Bruiser?” Second asked as I dropped my load of firewood. “He told me to get some air while he finished the dishes. Why?” “I can’t find him. I’ll go check the tent and campfire area again. You go see if he went to... relieve himself.” I rolled my eyes at Second’s squeamishness. Like finding a pony in the commode would be that terrible. But Bru wasn’t at the latrine. Meeting back up with Second, I was alarmed to hear he’d come up without bumping into the colt. “We have to tell Stone.” Second decided. “You do that, I’m going to go down the riverbank and see if he decided to take matters into his own hooves.” I said. Just then, Mixer and Astral Bolt walked by, looking around for something. Astral saw us and I cursed under my breath. “Hey, have you seen a map lying around?" We shook our heads and Astral turned to Mixer. "I must have dropped the one with the glitter caves when I left the sergeant’s tent. I was sure I put it right at the top of my bag so...” “What's wrong diVolare?” Mixer asked, cutting off Astral. “Bruiser’s missing. I went to go get some wood and nopony's seen him since.” I answered. “You don’t think he found the map and went to find those caves, do you?” Astral asked Mixer, alarmed. “Only one way to find out. Do you remember where they were?” I asked. “’Course! I mapped ‘em myself!” He said with a grin. “You’re not thinking of disobeying the sergeant, are you Div?” Mixer asked, concerned. “I’m not haring off to go find my husband, so no, I’m not disobeying anypony.” I answered, nonchalantly. “I suppose, but somepony should tell Stone…” He replied. I nodded. “Okay, you and Second go tell Stone, Astral and I will head to the glitter caves and see if Bru headed there.” “You think you can keep up with a pegasus?” Astral asked. I smiled. “With one hoof tied behind my back!” We parted ways, I galloped down to the river. It felt remarkably good to have the wind in my mane again. Concentrating, I thanked Luna it was a full moon tonight. The river was dark, but the sandy banks shone with reflected moonlight. Astral led the way easily, not that there was a chance of me losing him. All I needed him for was to know when to stop and which side the glitter caves were on.