//------------------------------// // Night 21 // Story: Nights on Horlick's Hill // by RarityEQM //------------------------------// Silence was not one of Scootaloo's favorite things to listen to. Even with the cosmos over head, and the gentle sound of the summer breeze drifting across the hilltop, Scootaloo felt some sense of unease sitting with an companion without conversation. She glanced below her. Diamond was a few branches down, loafing and looking remarkably relaxed. Her forelegs were propping her head up and her hind legs were neatly folded over one and other in a remarkable display of balance for a filly who couldn't feel anything. "Say, D?" "Sup?" "You hear about the Changeling attack a coupla years ago back in Canterlot?" "Heard about it? Pfft, I was there!" "You were? Really?! What were you doing?" "Fightin' em!" Diamond exclaimed proudly, much to Scootaloo's skepticism. The orange pegasus peered down at the filly below her, who was in turn, grinning up at her with that bright silver smile of hers. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes, doing her best to tell if Diamond was lying to her or not. "You were fending off Changelings when they attacked Canterlot?" "Yepperoonie!" "That's what you were doing? You were in Canterlot at the time? Seriously?" "Yeah huh. I was doin' an errand for Luna that night. She was havin' me fetch some cider from one of the cellars back in the old Castle. She said it was for the weddin! She saids, "A proper wedding must have a proper toast, and a proper toast cannot be done without a proper beverage!" I'd just gotten back with a barrel of the stuff when all Tartarus broke loose," "What happened?!" "There was like a hund-no a thousand of 'em. I mean, seriously. They were totally out numbering us, right? But Virga was there, he's the 'Night's Champion' and Luna's prized fighter. Or, somethin. I don't actually know what she considers him, but he's the pony you go to when things get rough. He grabs me by my tail, see, and asks me if I'm 'ready for a ride' Then he, ya know, swung me around like a flippin' ball and chain," Diamond grumbled quietly, her voice fading to a flat tone as the memories came flooding back to her. Scootaloo burst into giggles. "Seriously?!" "Well, yeah, I told you, Virga doesn't really need me in combat unless it's to use me as a weapon. Turns out, a crystal skull is as good as a ball and chain if not better. See, he can whip me around all he likes and if he lets go, I can run back to him. Sometimes he'd use the momentum to hurl me into a monster or something. He did that a couple of times while we were in the brawl. He'd twirl me around, let me go, I'd smack into a changeling at full force and then go racing back to him!" "That, actually sounds kind of cool. Don't you get dizzy though?" "...yeeeeeah. So, that's kind of a thing too. I'll get really super duper dizzy, and I'll tell him I'm gonna toss my cookies. He lets go, I land on a monster and yuck all over' em. They're grossed out, I'm grossed out, they can't see cause I aim for the face, Virga takes the opportunity to freeze 'em while they're distracted," "Hahaha, grooooooss! Weaponized puking! That's super nasty!" Scootaloo giggled. Diamond grinned. "Well, it works cause they never expect it. Much the same way they never expect to see a filly in the field! We've got all kinds of tricks!" "Well, how do you guys tell each other apart? I mean, how do you know Changelings don't infiltrate your ranks?" "We got's our Royal Runes for that!" "They can't mimic a Royal Rune?" "I...Um...I don't think so? I mean, it's not like any changling could ever morph into me anyway," "Yeah, I guess you're right. It'd be really easy to tell you apart from other ponies. I'd just set you in fire," "...whut?" "Fire," "No, I heard you, but...what?" "Well, yeah!" "Ok. Wait. Stop. Waitwaitwait," Diamond said, squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could. When she opened then again, Scootaloo was hanging from the tree branch, peering at her with an upside-down grin that traveled from ear to ear. Diamond frowned. "So, just, Lemme get this straight. You'se is telling me, that in order to tell the difference between me and a changeling impersonating me, your first impulse is to set me on fire?" Diamond sputtered. If it were possible, Scootaloo smug smile grew even larger than before. "Yeah, or, ya know, take a hatchet to your face. Either would have the same effect," she chirped. Brightly. Diamond scowled. "A hatchet?" "Yup," "You would purchase a hatchet, just to take it to my face, in order to tell if I were a changeling or not?" "Yup," "I feel that this raises severe questions about the nature of our relationship," "It would totally work though! A changeling can't replicate your crazy crystal skin! It's a perfect solution to the problem!" "That is soooooooooooooo not the point of my argument!" "Aww, come on, it'd be awesome!" "We have extremely different definitions of awesome," "You wouldn't even feel it!" "Not the problem I'm having here," "Can you think of a better way?" "Several. Royal Runes to start with," "Yeah, but if I were like "Hey, D, lemme set you in fire to prove if your a changeling or not," you say 'yes' and a changeling would say 'no'!" "Ok, first, wrong, second, very wrong. If you needed to tell the difference between me and a changeling and asked if you could set me on fire, and I was me, I'd still say 'no, you can not.' "Then, the hatchet, then?" "I don't think you've thought this though," "I don't know, seems like a good plan," "Ok. No. It is not. Look at it this way, if I was a changeling in your scenario and you took a hatchet to my face , you'd be covered in changeling blood and brain," "...uh..." "That's what I thought. Now, as for you, I'd just be like, "Hey, Scoots, do a sick trick on your scooter and you'd do it and that would be that," "How do you know changelings can't do sick tricks?" "Do you think they have scooters in the hive?" "They could!" "I don't see that being the case," "Ok, so how would I tell you apart from a changeling? What if they can mimic a Royal Rune?" "Um....oh, ohohohoh! You'd ask me something only I would know!" "Hmmm...OH, I go it! Whats your middle name!" "That's a good one! Nopony knows that!" "Yeah and there ain't a lot of ponies named Desiree!" "I think it's got a cool ring to it! So, there's a way you could figure out who the real me was, without, you know, the fire. Also, clones!" Diamond chirped brightly. Scootaloo cocked her head to the side. Clones? "Wait, what?" "Yeah, clones! I can clone myself!" Diamond squeaked. Scootaloo nodded her head quietly, offering Diamond a nervous smile. She had heard the words she said, the comment still ringing in her ears. She understood the words that she said clear as day, and yet her brain refused to give them meaning. They could not have meaning. This was something Scootaloo was not ready to accept. "You...OK. I, I don't understand. You can clone yourself?" Scootaloo asked skeptically. Nervously. Fearfully. Diamond smiled widely and nodded her head again. Scootaloo frowned. The words still didn't make any sense. She did not want them to make sense. They could not make sense. They weren't allowed to make sense. "You...You can...You can clone yourself?" Scootaloo asked skeptically. Nervously. Fearfully. Diamond smiled widely and nodded her head. Scootaloo frowned. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. She did not want this. "You...Hang on. Just, let me...You...You can...You can clone yourself?" Scootaloo asked a third time. Nervously. Fearfully. She paused and rubbed her temples with her hooves, trying meekly to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. She glanced at the grinning ten year old next to her, frowned and shook her head. Nope. Did not want. "I don't understand," Scootaloo finally whimpered. Diamond could not clone herself. That was a problem Scootaloo did not want to solve, or even attempt to tackle. Diamond dropped to the ground, and from her languid position under the tree, smiled even wider. Slowly, nervously, Scootaloo followed. "Sure can! Wanna see?!" She squeaked cheerfully. Scootaloo swallowed. "Please do not," Scootaloo begged. She did not know what was going to happen. She did not want to find out. Diamond took on the stance of a runner's pose and flexed her legs. "Jus watch! This is gonna be rad!" Diamond explained. Another warning flag. Anypony who used the term 'rad' to describe what they were about to do was a pony that was destined to visit the ER shortly. Scootaloo cringed. There was no way things tonight would not end in tears and tragedy. She could feel it. "D, I really don't think-" she began, but Diamond wasn't listening. She'd raced off like a shot, bounding down the side of the hill, her contrail kicking in moments after she'd taken off and now flickered brightly behind her, a crisp white light that burned brightly behind her. When she reached the foot of the hill she stopped, zigged to her left, then zagged to her right, pausing briefly in her movements before she slowed down altogether, tripped over her own hooves and went bouncing across the grass like a tennis ball. Every time she'd stopped, she left what appeared to be an exact clone of herself. A duplicate. Three of them. Scootaloo wanted to cry. Oh, god no. There were three of them. There were three Diamond Dancers. The world was not ready for this. Scootaloo was not ready for this. Any moment now, the fabric of reality was going to eat itself and Scootaloo expected to be cast into an empty void after being turned into a triangle or something. Still, curiosity beat horror and the orange pegasus timidly rose from her spot and made her way down the hill, keeping a wary eye on the clones as she walked. They did not move. One of the Diamonds (the original, as far as Scootaloo could tell) beamed brightly and waved a hoof, walking over with a still wide grin wrapped around her muzzle. "See?! See?! S'cool right?! They look jus like me!" Diamond exclaimed. Indeed they did. They were horrifyingly similar to the tiny filly bouncing around them. Nervously, Scootaloo nodded her head, licking at her lips and looking for the moisture that had gone missing from her tongue. "Y-yeah...yeeeeeeah," she stammered. She whimpered. This was not something she had ever expected to witness. Nor did she want to. She swallowed, peering at one of the Diamonds, who stared straight ahead, unmoving. "Do they...um..hey?" she asked nervously. The creature didn't respond. Diamond giggled. One of the Diamonds anyway. Idly, Scootaloo wondered what was taking the apocalypse so long to start. "They ain't 'real' clones, see? Back when Firefly was my trainer, she figured they was, uh, lesse, whad she call 'em. Uh...uh...you know, like, things that ain't really there, but they look like they're there?" Diamond Asked. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. Not really there? "Phantoms?" She asked. Diamond shook her head. "Nah, those is like, ghosts. I mean, um...um...like a...um..." The filly struggled, waving a hoof about idly while searching for the word. "Illusions?" Scootaloo asked. Diamond's face lit up. "Yeah! That's it! Firefly said they was illusions! See, when I stop, and my contrail catches up to me, the light bounces offa the reflective properties in my silver coat! Ain't that neat?! I can leave as many as I want, but they don't move or nothin," Diamond explained, reaching out to tap one of the Diamonds on the shoulder. Immediately it exploded into sparkles, tumbling down into nothingness while Scootaloo stood there, wide-eyed. Wide-eyed and relieved. Ohthankyousweetponyjesus Ok. So they weren't 'real' clones. That was good. That was very good. That was very very good. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and her shoulders slumped. "Whassa matter with you?" A voice quipped. Diamond's voice. Diamond was saying something to her. Scootaloo glanced over, and nibbled along the rubbery surface of her lower lip. "N-nothing. For a moment I thought existence was about to collapse. So, um, how'd you find out you could do this?" "By runnin' around and slammin' into stuff!" "I believe you. Hopefully, we'll never have to deal with this situation. Ever." "I dunno...it might be kinda cool having two Scootaloo's to hang out. I mean, you're really kinda the only other pony my age I talk to," "I keep offering to fix that for you!" "Correction: The only other pony my age that I tolerate," "I could still fix that for you," "Maybe one day, but, for now, you're all I need," "Hahaha and one of you is all I need too," Scootaloo snickered.