Diamond Dancer was atop the lone tree on Horlick's Hill when Scootaloo rolled up to the base. She sported a lofty grin across her lips and a relaxed position that had her hidden from sight, leaving only one hind leg dangling down above the canopy of the tree. Before Scootaloo could call up to her through, the silver filly plummeted from the branch she was hanging from, and landed face first into the hillside below her.
"Heya Scoots!" Diamond erupted, no worse for wear and a gleaming smile wrapped around her features. Even having seen Diamond fall out of trees and crash into things, Scootaloo still winced at seeing the other girl topple to the ground. She quietly sat down next to Diamond, who quickly righted herself into a sitting position.
"You seem like you're in a good mood. Whats the big deal?"she asked. Diamond's smile grew wider still and she drew in a deep breath, tossing out her lithe chest in a prideful boast of feathers and fuzz.
"Wha, me? Nuffin, jus aced my dreamcraft test tonight, thats all!" she announced. Scootaloo smiled on reaction, even if that reaction was immediately washed away with confusion. She shot the other filly a curious glance and raised an eyebrow.
"Kaaay, first of all I didn't know you were taking any classes, and secondly, You did what now?? I mean, like, great, I guess? But what?" Scootaloo asked, watching Diamond climb up to her hooves with an ever growing boastful gleam in her eye.
"Oh, I'm not takin' any classes, or things like that, but Luna's been teachin' me some Dreamcraft, and tonight she gave me an exam about the stuff I've learned and I totally passed!" Diamond announced again, louder this time, so her tiny voice echoed out to Ponyville. This was all news to Scootaloo, who nodded her head regardless of her confusion. But it certainly sounded interesting...
"Ok. Dreamcraft? Like that time she pulled the whole town into a dream? That kinda stuff?" she asked. Diamond immediately nodded her head,
"Yeah! Jus like that! I mean, she's really really good at it. I'm just, sorta startin' out, but Luna says it's my right to learn as a member of the Servants of Shadow, so she's been teachin me little tricks and stuff. Like, how to go to sleep on command, or how to recognize when you're in a dream," Diamond explained. Scootaloo's eyes widened slowly. If Diamond were learning abilities like that, then, maybe...
"Do you think you'll learn how to pull other people into dreams?" Scootaloo cooed. Diamond's eyes lit up like stars and the filly let out a boisterous cackle.
"Funny enough, THAT was what my test was about! I totally can!" she barked. Scootaloo slowly nodded her head, trying to bite back her own growing excitement. She'd wanted to visit the dream realm again since the Tatabus incident. There was no masking the fact that flight- even some flight within a dream- was intoxicating. She smiled sweetly, and tilted her head, looking the scrawny filly next to her over.
"So, could we hang out in the Dream Realm?" Scootaloo purred. Diamond immediately stopped laughing, and reached a hoof up to rub the back of her head.
"Of course we can! I passed with flyin' colors! Heh! All we gotta do, is...Is um...Oh....Aheh...y-yeah, I uh, mean we totally could, I just...um..." Diamond stammered. Immediately, Scootaloo rolled her eyes. While Diamond had never outright lied about her accomplishments, she did have a habit of embellishing her stories. Another one of those times, Scootaloo was sure. She gave a snort at Diamond's sudden shift in bravado and shook her head.
"What? This isn't like the time with those Timber wolves, is it?" Scootaloo growled. Diamond had once claimed she'd beaten up an entire pack of Timber wolves, and while the story had some merit to it, Diamond had simply managed to survive an encounter with a pack of them. An accomplishment in and of itself in its own right, to be sure, but not quite on par with besting a group of savage beasts.
"What?! No! It's nothing like that! I-I can totally do it, I-I just need um, some, time to prepare. First. T-thats all. I can totally do it. " Diamond stammered with a less than reassuring smile pointed at Scootaloo. The orange filly frowned, staring at Diamond hard. There was something slightly askew about her all of a sudden, the skiddish behavior an extremely sharp departure from the young braggart only moments before. Was she really capable of dream walking like she said? What caused the sudden change in her courage? More importantly, was it something Scootaloo could help with? She wasn't going to try and kid herself out of her desires. Getting back into the dream realm would be a chance to fly again, and it enticed her greatly, but Diamond was her friend, and whatever was suddenly wrong drew priority. Slowly, she shook her head, offering the silver filly a quiet smile.
"Look...it doesn't matter. We don't have to-" Scootaloo began, but paused when Diamond leapt to her hooves, a brash and utter defiance in her movements. Scootaloo grimaced. The sharp snort and angry looking demeanor Diamond suddenly wore said it all: Pegasus Pride was taking over.
"No! I said we could! We can! I just need a little bit of prep work...C-can't do it tonight, see. T-this weekend! We can do it this weekend" Diamond sputtered quietly. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, but slowly nodded her head.
"Alright, D, Sure. We can try it this weekend! I can't wait to see the Dream Realm again! You're so lucky you get to visit all these cool places," Scootaloo lamented quietly. Diamond flashed Scootaloo what looked to be a forced smile, and slowly took a step back, then another, and then a third, turning towards towards the path to White Tail Woods.
"Well, don't worry, Scoots, I'll show ya real soon! I gotta run. I'm not sleepin' at the castle tonight, and I still need to gather from flowers from Everfree before the sun comes up," Diamond explained. Scootaloo nodded, slowly making her way down the hill where she climbed aboard her scooter. She spared a glance back at Diamond, who had started to make her way down the path towards White Tail Woods. Peering over her shoulder at her wings, Scootaloo gave them each a flicker, imagining what it would be like to fly again, even if it were just a dream.
Diamond groaned as she meandered down the path. The night had started off so well. She'd passed her test, earned some time off, and now, somehow, she'd managed to screw everything up with her big stupid mouth. The filly hung her head with another volatile groan bursting from her throat. It would have been easy to say no. She should have said no. She could just as easily have said that it was outside of her power to bring people into dreams. That wasn't so hard, was it? But no. She had to go and tell her best friend that she'd be ready by the weekend.
"You, Diamond are a dumb pony. You are the dumbest pony, Diamond. The dumbest of dumb ponies," Diamond growled quietly. No so quietly, that it didn't go unheard.
"SSkeeeEEeeeee?"
Diamond perked her ears ever so slightly at the sound, but it did nothing to sway her abysmal walk down the dirt road to home. She didn't even bother to look up and address the little black bat that swooped down over her head.
"Hey, Echo. Yeah, dumb. How are you?" The filly glumly asked. The tiny bat over head squeaked again, landing delicately on Diamond's head where it settled itself down between her ears. It screeched, twice, and Diamond forced a gentle smile. The little black bat wasn't exactly what Diamond would call a 'pet.' It didn't sleep in a cage, and didn't wear a collar. It was simply a wild bat Diamond had managed to befriend in her travels. On occasion, they encountered one another in the wild. When given the chance, Diamond had grown fond of feeding the little bat berries and fruit, grape being her favorite, and the little bat had grown rather fond of Diamond's company. With a few dialect lessons from her friend, and bat-pony, Dawn, Diamond was able to hold rudimentary conversations with the bat on her head, and vice versa.
"No, no, I'm fine. Yeah, I went to the hill. I just...I said somethin' stupid tonight, Echo," Diamond explained softly. " My buddy, Scootaloo, right? She...ugh. This is stupid. She wants to go to visit the Dream Realm and she wants me to take her there. I told her I just passed a dreamcraft test,"
"SKREEEEEEEEK" said Echo. Diamond frowned again, shaking her head sending Echo wobbling back and forth.
"No. I can do it. I know I can do it. That's not the problem, I'm just not...good at it, so if I wanna drag her in, we gotta both be asleep and I gotta be holdin' onto some part of her," Diamond mumbled. Above her, Echo raised a tiny bat eyebrow. Her lips peeled back into a slow, wicked, fang filled grin.
"SKreeee-eeee?" asked Echo.
"...No, that wouldn't work, It's gotta be closer than that, So, like, ya know...c-cuddling, I guess," Diamond squeaked. Her voice was raising higher and higher the nearer she got to panic mode.
"SKree?" Echo asked. Diamond did not like the tone in her voice of the insinuation she implied.
"N- no. Nothing like that!! She's just my friend, is all. It's not weird. There's nothing weird about it, you're makin' it weird! Quit makin it weird!" Diamond stammered, her cheeks starting to pinken. Her ears perked, immediately flinching at the sound Echo was making. Could bats laugh? If Diamond didn't know any better, she'd swear Echo was having a giggle fit on the top of her head.
"REEEEE?! SKEEEE," asked Echo, drawing Diamond into a sudden spike of rage with her callus attitude towards her accusation.
"No, I am not SCARED! It's because I'm a fierce warrior of the night! I'm not some stuffed animal! I don't DO cuddling! There's a warrior's pride at stake and I can feel you rolling your eyes, Echo," Diamond growled.
"Skreeeee! EEEree!" Echo squawked in that way Diamond could swear she was laughting. She, hopped off of her head to take flight again, loftily gliding in circles around Diamond as the pega-pony headed home.
"But I what if I smell funny? I can't smell anything, how would I ever know?! Or what if I drool in my sleep?! What if I snore?! I've never been to a sleepover before, what if I get it wrong?!" Diamond shrieked, her fur standing on end. This was a terrible idea! Why on earth would she ever agree to transporting somepony into the Dream Realm? Was it because she wanted to impress Scootaloo? Is that why she did it? Why was it so important to impress Scootaloo? Was she really so scared of losing Scootaloo's friendship? Could she lose in trying to keep it?
"Skreee-skree!"
"Hahah, thanks for the vote of confidence. You're right, I'm a Servant of Shadow! I can do anything! Still, though, you'd think sleeping with your best friend wouldn't be so complicated, but here we are," Diamond whined.