Eight days under the Zebrican sun

After lunch, Swift Glaze headed back to the Gymnasium, where most ponies had already gathered themselves together. After a while of searching Swift Glaze finally made it to Squadron 27.

"Oh, finally." one of the airponies remarked. The Squadron leader shot a glare at the air pony and introduced himself

"Hello, My name is Scalding Controls. I will be the Squadron lieutenant." Pointing to another pony, Scalding controls introduced everypony else. "His name is Black Condolence, but we just call him Black Cat." pointing to the pony that had insulted Scalding controls said "Just call him Burning Mittens, fits hits personality" Pointing to another pony "She is Waning Mechalany. She might be a bit quiet, but when she opens up she is a sweetheart. We usually just call her fluffy" When he said her nickname, she huffed in annoyance. Seeing his cue, Swift Glaze introduced himself "My name is Swift Glaze" But before he could fully introduce himself, a first-class lieutenant came by and put down a package.

The package was wrapped in brown paper with large stamped letters on it saying "FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY"

The lieutenant finally spoke "This is your survival pack. It contains 4 quarts of water, two days of rations, a knife, some firestarter, a blanket, a compass, a map of the area you will be in, some pens, and a flair gun with three flairs. If not obvious already, this is NOT your snack pack, This is NOT your chair. And if any of you even unwrap the package without an emergency, there will be hell to pay. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" everypony in Squadron 27 responded

taking apart the package the lieutenant showed them how it worked and what to do if they crash

"If you crash in the desert, do not leave your airplane. Instead, shoot a flair, and if your radio still works, then you must call in as a "Charlie Mike" understood?"

Again everypony said "Yes Sir" This continued with various scenarios for another half hour before they finally got to look at the airplanes. "They are fitted with extra fuel, so you can stay in the sky longer. The extra tanks are here, and here" the Lieutenant explained while pointing in between the biplane wings. The Lieutenant showed them the cockpit, which was cramped and jammed full of electronics.

Eventually, the lieutenant was finished and Squadron 27 was dismissed while walking to the barracks Black Cat spoke

"Whatdya think about the brief?" asked Black Cat with a slight tone of boredom

"Usual bland safety crap. I doubt more than 12 bad airponies will ever use any of that safety crap in the briefs." Burning Mittens responded.

"I was thinking, our Squadron doesn't have a name. At lunch, I heard that Squadron 45 already has the name 'Flying Rats" We need a name for our squadron before all the good ones are taken!" Fluffy said.

"What about the Burning Vipers," Swift Glaze said

Scalding controls, who was walking in front looked back and said "We'd be more like… Fluffy Mittens. You all are too weak to be something that aggressive"

"That's it! Fluffy Mittens! I will sew us some patches" Fluffy excitedly responded.