Diamond Tiara was not a happy camper.
And she didn't want to be one.
'I gotta sleep in the dirt and bugs, all because that stupid blank-flank couldn't keep her hooves to herself. Not to mention that silly librarian that tricked daddy.'
Sulking on a cushion, that only barely qualified as decent in her mind, she took a moment to look out the window. Watching as the trees and countryside passed, she briefly considered jumping the train. But that wouldn't really solve the whole sleeping in the dirt and bugs dilemma.
Turning back, she considered the only bright side thus far; daddy had at least sprung for her own compartment on the train, letting her put off having to deal with any other unfortunate souls doomed to go to the camp for a couple of hours.
It might even have been kinda awesome, if Silver Spoon was here to keep her company. But no, Silver Spoon's parents were paying for some kind of special summer tutors. Which, while lame, was still better than what Diamond Tiara was looking forward to...
'Like getting eaten by a bear. Or a timber wolf. Or some kind of giant pony-eating bird...like a duck...'
About now would be the point that her best friend would be reminding her that ducks aren't generally known for eating ponies. And now is about the point Diamond Tiara would be reminding Silver Spoon of the time that duck bit her. The very large, menacing duck that lived near the town pond. Which, no doubt, came from ancient times when ducks were just flying all over the place eating perfect little ponies like Diamond Tiara. While Applebloom chased her on a broom, ordering her duck minions after her, including Scootaloo...
...yeah, right about now is when Silver Spoon would be derailing that line-of-thought.
Knock-knock.
Suddenly shaken from her thoughts by a knock at the sliding door, Diamond Tiara quickly rolled off her cushion. Not thinking about the improbability of it, she quickly slid back the door, hoping to see Silver Spoon. Smart, wonderful Silver Spoon ready to assure her that she wouldn't be eaten by ducks and that this was all Applebloom's fault.
It wasn't Silver Spoon.
No, standing in front of Diamond Tiara's compartment was a unicorn filly with a pale blue coat and a pastel yellow mane and tail, looking slightly startled by Diamond Tiara slapping open the door. The poor filly's expression went from startled to worried as she noticed the sudden frown that overtook Diamond Tiara's features, and the gloomy look that was directed towards her.
“Uhm, my- That is-...” Trailing off uncertainly, the filly soon lapsed into anxious silence, certain that she had done something wrong. Diamond Tiara, in no mood for her antics, quickly snapped.
“Well?!”
Jumping a bit and quickly straightening her posture, the strange filly quickly bowed her head before blurting out. “HellomynameisDelicacy. Couldyoudirectmetothefacilities?”
Blinking, Diamond Tiara's anger had been slightly defused by her lack of understanding of what was just asked of her.
The other filly looked up, a bit nervously, not having caught wind of Diamond Tiara's confusion.
Diamond Tiara realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere just standing there, decided to approach the situation with the class and sophistication that only a filly of her upbringing could bring to the table.
“What?”
The other filly, seemingly relieved by Diamond Tiara having calmed down, tried again “Sorry...My name is Delicacy...”
“Oh...Well, what did you want?”
Blushing, she rubbed her two front hooves together, nervously, before quietly answering “I-...it's not important, I apologize for bothering you.”
“The what are you even doing here then...bothering me?” Diamond Tiara felt the need to tack on the last bit just to remind everyone involved that she was still feeling upset.
“Oh-...I-I'd rather not...”
As Delicacy shuffled anxiously, Diamond Tiara got around to actually taking in the details of the filly in front of her. The filly's mane and tail looked to be well-cared for, suggesting regular brushing. Her coat was, likewise, rather cleaner than Diamond Tiara was used to seeing from her fellow foals. Outside of Silver Spoon and herself, that is. Good posture, manners, and she didn't seem to have any sort of yokel accent.
Just about the as far from Applebloom, as one could get. A positive.
In fact, the unicorn was pretty far removed from most of the foals from Ponyville. Struck by a thought, Diamond Tiara decided to ask “Let me guess, some stupid blank-flank got you stuck going to this stupid boot camp too?”
The filly blinked at the question, not expecting it “Uhm, no. My Auntie has her Cutie Mark.”
“Your Aunt's forcing you to come here? What is she, like, some sort of drill sergeant? I don't know how anyone could convince my Daddy-”
“She's not forcing me to come...I mean, not to interrupt. Sorry.”
“What? Then who's making you go?” She was a bit too surprised to care about being interrupted. Most of the ponies on Ponyville didn't even have the good manners to apologize.
“Uhm, me.”
“Wait. You want to sleep in the dirt and, like, eat bugs?!”
“Well, no. And I don't think you have to eat bugs...it wasn't in the pamphlet. At least, I don't think it was.”
“But you do want to go? Why?” This was baffling, for Diamond Tiara. What kind of rational pony would want to go? At least rational in the sense that they didn't want to play in the mud and get yelled at by soldiers. Nevermind that those things probably weren't mentioned in any pamphlet either.
The filly continued to shift from hoof-to-hoof in apparent anxiety, before looking back up towards Diamond Tiara “Well, it's not really a big deal. It's kind of related to my Cutie Mark-”
Diamond Tiara finally thought to take a look at the other fillies flank, briefly worried she was dealing with another blank-flank. The universe seemed to pick on her whenever it came to dealing with blank-flanks. She was a bit relieved to see the mark on the unicorn's flank. Even though she couldn't exactly figure out what it meant.
On Delicacy's flank there seemed to be a stylized feather, with concentric circles expanding out around it. It was kind of pretty, Diamond Tiara would admit, though not very descriptive.
“-and I don't want to bore you with the details. And do you perhaps know where-”
Unaware of Diamond Tiara's confusion Delicacy had continued right along. Until Diamond Tiara gave voice to her curiosity, with her usual eloquence.
“What's it mean?”
“...I'm sorry?”
“Your Cutie Mark.”
“Oh...”
Delicacy glanced to her Cutie Mark, before visibly seeming to consider it.
“Uhm, it's kind of hard to explain. My Auntie said it really well. She says it means I have a light-touch.”
“That tells me, like, nothing. What does that even mean?”
Blushing a bit at the criticism before she attempted to explain it again “I'm...delicate?”
“Like a flower?”
“I-”
“Watch out below!!”
Before Delicacy could even get another word out, she found herself rolling head-over-hoof down the hall, wrapped up in what she would later describe as an orange and purple tornado. On her back, the young unicorn finally was able to make sense of what had bowled her over. It started with an orange tomcolt's dazed expression, framed by a shock of wild purple hair...
“Uuughhh...That wasn't such a hot idea after all...”
“Oh, great. Applebloom sent her duck after me, after all.”
“Stop calling me a duck, Diamond Tiara!...Wait! What are you doing here?!” Quickly picking herself up, the pegasus quickly turned around to face the facts. The face of those facts being that she was sharing a train with Diamond Tiara, Super-Jerk.
“Watching you faceplant. Again. You do that a lot for a duck.” Diamond Tiara was soon pulling on every ounce of her arrogant attitude.
“Shut up! That was just practice! And, I told you to stop calling me a duck!”
“Then you shouldn't have bit me that time!”
“Why does that make me a duck?!”
“At least real ducks can fly!”
“...hello?”
Both of the arguing fillies broken from the angry glares they were sending one another turned towards the soft voice, which happened to come from under Scootaloo. She had stood up, but had neglected to actually move off of her earlier victim, leaving Delicacy staring up at Scootaloo's belly through the whole argument.
Realizing her earlier blunder, she quickly started checking over the other filly “Oh! I'm so, so, sorry! Like Super-Sorry. I was trying to get some speed and- Are you alright?”
Delicacy blinked, still dazed by every thing going around her “...I'm not delicate like a flower.”
“What? I never said you were.”
Shaking her head to clear it a bit, Delicacy soon realized that everyone had moved on from the previous conversation. Noticing the filly looming over her, she soon pulled her hooves to her chest out of reflex “Oh...I'm alright.”
“Are you sure? There's nothing you need?”
“Well...you could tell me where the-”
“Of course! You're gonna need a nurse to look at you! I'm not sure where one is though...”
Delicacy just sighed.
“But that's alright! I was a pet doctor for a little while. Well sorta. The point is everything turned out alright! So what you need is-...”
“For you to get off of her, blank-flank!” Diamond Tiara interjected again, cantering up beside the two, sporting a scowl.
“What?...oh.” Scootaloo wasn't exactly happy with being called a blank-flank, but she could admit that Diamond Tiara was right about needing to get off of the other filly. She still shot a glare at her though.
Looking back at Delicacy, she quickly shuffled off of the bemused filly, before lending a hoof “Hehe, sorry again. I thought I had it that time.”
Delicacy hesitated for a second, before taking the hoof and getting back on hers “It's okay. I think I'm alright...may I ask, what were you doing?”
“Oh, right! I was just getting some last minute practice in. I've really gotta wow them, if I'm going to impress Rainbow Dash, when I get back to Ponyville.” At this she pointed towards the end of the hallway where a food trolley, sans the food, sat with a rope trailing behind it. Delicacy considered all of this, with some concern; she couldn't think of many activities that could be helped by being launched dozens of feet through the air.
“You were trying to fly?”
“Yeah, trying.” Diamond Tiara assessed snidely.
“Hey! I've already got most of it figured out!” Which was true. Scootaloo could pretty reliably get off the ground on her own wingpower now, though it was mostly limited to just unsteadily hovering in the air. Actual maneuvering and flight were proving a bit more difficult, for the young pegasus.
Turning back towards the unicorn filly she had crashed into earlier “Trust me. By the end of the month, I'll be flying circles around everypony.”
“I hope so.” Delicacy rubbed her head at that.
“Wait. You're not going to that camp, are you?” The only positive behind this whole summer camp idea had been the thought of not having to deal with the Dumbie Mark Crusaders for a while.
“Uh, yeah?”
“That is so unfair! I gotta sleep in the dirt for a month, all cause of a fight that Applebloom started. And now instead of hanging out with my friends, I'm stuck with you. What? You couldn't burn down the schoolhouse some other time?”
Nonplussed by Diamond Tiara's outburst, Scootaloo asked the first question that came to mind “Why would I burn down the schoolhouse?”
“I don't know! I'm not some crazy blank-flank! How should I know what you had to destroy to get put on this train?!”
Feeling a bit more defensive now “I didn't destroy anything! And I'm not crazy! I had to be totally good for, like, most of a month just to go!”
“Oh really? It wasn't bad enough that I was stuck going to this stupid camp, you had to come along to annoy me, too? Is that it, Scoota-loser?”
“I don't even know why anyone would let a jerk like you go!”
“Let me go?!”
“You heard-”
“Excuse me?”
Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara stalled to a halt, as Delicacy interrupted their exchange. The two fillies had been steadily been getting in the others face as their argument escalated, until they were staring one another down mere inches apart. Now they were both facing her, not sure what the soft-spoken filly wanted. Glancing between the two, a bit anxiously, Delicacy took a breath “We never finished our introductions...”
Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara stared, uncomprehendingly. Deciding to take their silence as leave to continue “Uhm, well...I introduced myself and talked about myself a bit...Oh, wait-”
She stopped, before facing Scootaloo “My name is Delicacy. And I...I'm going to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp so that I can be a stronger pony.”
Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo, derailed from their earlier anger, glanced towards one another in confusion before looking back to Delicacy.
“...Now one of you introduce yourself.” Delicacy gently encouraged.
“Uh, my name is-”
“My name is Diamond Tiara.” Diamond Tiara wasn't going to let some blank-flank cut ahead of her.
“And I'm stuck going to this stupid camp, cause Applebloom couldn't wait her turn.”
Scootaloo had been glaring at Diamond Tiara after being cut-off, but had managed to hold her tongue until that last part “You weren't even using the glitter! You just wanted it cause Applebloom-”
“Uhm, it's your turn.” Delicacy cut in again, quietly.
“What? Oh...what was the question again?” Diamond Tiara snickered at that, before Delicacy answered before Scootaloo could take offense again.
“What's your name? And you can say a bit about yourself...”
“Right...Uh, I'm Scootaloo, and...I'm going to camp, so I can get better at flying?”
Delicacy nodded, and was about to speak when Diamond Tiara took the lead again.
“Pfft. And just how are you going to get better at flying by going camping?”
“Uh, duh. They have ponies there that can teach flying.” Now it was Scootaloo's turn to be condescending.
“That's true. They have a really good program for beginning flyers, I heard.” Delicacy gave a bit more input.
“Yeah, totally! Like the best this side of Cloudsdale! They even have some of the Wonderbolts there!”
“Why would the Wonderbolts be teaching flying at a summer camp?” Diamond Tiara pointedly asked.
“How should I know? Maybe they heard I was coming this year, and couldn't wait to see my stuff! I can't wait to tell Rainbow Dash, when I get back. Now we'll both have flown with the Wonderbolts!”
“Yeah, I-”
“Hey, Scootaloo?” Diamond Tiara didn't get her chance to rain on Scootaloo's excitement, as a voice called from down the hall. It was a familiar, and particularly goofy, colt's voice.
“What's up, Snails?” Scootaloo nonchalantly called back, as Diamond Tiara facehoofed, lamenting her terrible luck.
Walking around the food trolley from earlier, it started to become evident where all the food from the trolley had gone. The colt was covered in a fair amount of it, and was cradling his stomach in obvious discomfort “I'm not so sure I can eat all of it, after all. Not without Snips.”
“Aw, come on. That's the easiest part.”
“But...there's a lot of it.”
“Well, I can't eat that much food. I've got way too much flying left to do.”
“...Are you sure I have to eat all of it?”
“Pretty sure.”
“What are you doing here, Snails?” Diamond Tiara interjected in annoyance.
“Huh? Oh, hey DT. What are you doing here?”
Diamond Tiara's eye twitched. “I asked you first.”
“...Were we racing?”
“What are you doing here, Snails!?”
Delicacy and Scootaloo jumped at the outburst, though Snails just seemed to take it in stride “Just helping out Scoots, is all.”
“By eating your own weight in food?!”
“I found the rope, too.”
Scootaloo chimed in “But it was my idea for him to eat all the food.”
Delicacy raised her own concerns “Why did he need to eat all the food?”
Snails took over, and explained with some pride “Well, the adults said we couldn't use a food trolley, cause of all the food on it. So I figured if we got rid of the food, it wouldn't be a food trolley, so we could use it.”
“And we couldn't just let all that food go to waste, right? So somepony had to eat it.”
“I guess that makes sense...”
“No, it doesn't.” Diamond Tiara countered.
Delicacy decided not to argue the point “Well, it's nice to meet you Snails.”
“It's nice to meet you too. Whoever you are.” Snails smiled back in his absent fashion, before he started making an odd face. Diamond Tiara was ready to just dismiss that as just one of the odd things Snails did, before his stomach let out a rather impressive rumble. Groaning again “Uh, does anyone know where the bathroom is?”
Delicacy's ears perked at the question. But before anyone could answer the colt, the whole train shook a bit, as it started slowing down, before it finally ground to a halt. At the sound of the whistle, it quickly became evident that they had arrived at their destination.
Fortunately, the Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp had the kind of funding and good fortune to have it's own stop along the railroad. You could walk off the platform and you were basically at the camp, making it quite convenient. So convenient, in fact, that it was often swamped with large crowds of ponies when they all disembarked. As Diamond Tiara found out, as she struggled under the weight of luggage, while dodging all the other foals.
Contrary to her earlier claims, she could manage the weight of her luggage just fine. That didn't make it easy or something she enjoyed in the least.
“Watch it!”
“Are you just going to stand there?”
“Move it!”
“Are you dumb or just slow?”
“Get out of my way!”
Delicacy could tell that Diamond Tiara was making lots of friends, as she sheepishly followed the path of agitated foals Diamond Tiara had left in her wake.
Catching up with the Earth pony filly, Delicacy soon noted that Diamond Tiara had driven away the others and had succeeded in creating a small patch of space for herself.
Diamond Tiara's tongue clicked in annoyance, as she set her pack down, oblivious to the ire she had cultivated “I can't believe how many ponies don't seem to understand simple orders. It's like they're trying to get in the way.”
Delicacy wisely decided not to comment on that; Diamond Tiara hadn't driven the other ponies so far away that they were out of earshot after all.
“I suppose there are just a lot ponies coming in right now.”
“Seriously, what's up with that?”
Delicacy just shrugged helplessly, as Diamond Tiara set down her pack and started to rummage through it.
“I don't know why daddy thought I would need all this junk...”
Diamond Tiara considered the various odds and ends that had been relentlessly jabbing into her back, ever since she had been forced to carry her own luggage from the train. And Delicacy hadn't been much help, claiming she couldn't help her since she had to go find her own bags. She was fairly sure she could have convinced the feather-brain to carry something, if she had told her it would somehow impress that pony she was always going on about. Snails, though...she might not have liked the junk she was being forced to lug around, but she didn't want it covered in pudding and spaghetti.
“Alright everyone! Quit your jawing, and start filing off the platform! No rushing and no pushing!”
Snapped from her thoughts, Diamond Tiara looked up at the sound of a mare bellowing over the noise of the crowded platform. Looking up she saw...an impressive specimen of a pegasus mare. Her indigo mane and tail were kept both short and straight, with what looked to be a spear with little, feathered wings as her Cutie Mark, standing out against her white coat. The only adornment on the mare was a gray scarf wrapped around her neck. She was bigger than some stallions and looked like she could chew nails, without flinching. It was hardly surprising when most of the foals quickly broke off from their socializing and started following the other members of the camp's staff. What was surprising was when the, frankly, scary mare turned her gaze towards Diamond Tiara; she actually flinched at the intensity coming from the mare. The filly was rather relieved when the mare turned her attention back to the crowd of foals a few seconds later.
Turning away, Diamond Tiara remembered that everyone was supposed to be getting a move on, and she had just unpacked half of her stuff on the middle of the platform. She turned towards Delicacy, ready to ask the unicorn for a hoof before she noticed some strange behavior coming from her fellow filly. Delicacy didn't seem to be giving much mind to her surroundings, and was instead gazing steadfastly at her own hooves, as she kept shifting her weight from side-to-side. Diamond Tiara was about to ask if perhaps the mare from before had scared her or something.
'Not that I think she was scary or anything...'
“Hey Delicacy!” Diamond Tiara didn't get the chance as Scootaloo cantered up, Snails only a few paces behind.
“What? Oh, hello again Scootaloo, Snails.”
“Hey. Did you see that one mare? She was intense, huh? Do you think she might have been a Wonderbolt? I bet she was.”
Diamond Tiara, soon turned back to her own pack and started shoving things back into it, feeling a bit put out, whereas Delicacy just blinked at the sudden barrage of questions.
“Uhm, I wasn't really paying that much attention.”
“Heh, I don't how you could have missed her. So, anyway the others were saying that we were having something called Orientation. Did you want to sit with us?”
“Well, that sounds nice but...I was kinda hoping to...”
“She was hoping to sit with her new friend. Instead of a couple of dweebs, like you two.” Diamond Tiara quickly cut back into the conversation, her pack having been sloppily repacked, she quickly wrapped her forehoof over Delicacy's shoulders and pulled her over to her side.
Delicacy bemused by the sudden turn of events turned towards Diamond Tiara “We're friends now?”
“Yes.”
“...Okay, I didn't know.” While she didn't seem to object to the sudden declaration, she did send a rather apologetic glance towards the annoyed Scootaloo.
Scootaloo, aggravated, idly asked Snails “Can you even believe her sometimes?”
Snails nodded before saying “Yeah, it's cool that DT's making friends already.”
Scootaloo considered the colt for a moment, before she rolled her eyes “Just come on.”
“You know what? This isn't so bad.”
Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly for Silver Shield. Sure he had been kind of worried at first, having heard the horror stories about the summer camp, and foals in general. But as they marched past him in a reasonably orderly fashion, he could feel his anxiety slipping away. Leaning towards his compatriot, the ever stoic, Stalwart Gaze “I mean, I was actually kind of afraid that they were just going to charge at us, and tear us limb from limb. Seeing it now...well, I'm not so afraid now..”
Stalwart Gaze, glanced towards the younger stallion, before continuing to survey the hoard of foals passing them by “That's good...if they smell your fear, they won't hesitate to strike.”
Silver Shield was nodding absently till he actually processed what was said. A bit shocked by the older stallion's assessment, he lapsed into silence.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“So...what about all those stories about the Cutie Mark Crusaders? You were just kidding me, right?”
“Well...statistically, you probably won't have to deal with anything that bad.”
Within the hour, the many foals had managed to get themselves situated in an outdoor amphitheater, with relatively little guidance from the staff. Most were taking the opportunity to set their packs down, including Diamond Tiara, as the adults themselves worked their way down to the stage.
“Geez, this thing is getting even worse...it's like they made it just to dig into your back.” Diamond Tiara tried rubbing the back of her neck, before kicking the now misshapen pack. Glancing towards the filly at her side in annoyance “And would you quit squirming so much?”
Delicacy looked up from her aforementioned squirming “S-sorry, Diamond Tiara. I'll try to control it better.”
“If you're so worried, why'd you even come to this stupid camp anyway?”
“It's not that, it's-”
“Alright everyone, quiet down!” It was the same, kinda scary, mare from before. At some point, she had stepped in front of the rest of the staff members and looked like she was going to be addressing everypony.
“First of all, I'd like to welcome everypony to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp, both new campers and those that are coming back to us. Some of you probably already know me, but for those of you that don't, my name is Lancer. Just Lancer.”
Some of the older foals chuckled at that, apparently in on some joke, though most just kept listening.
“What none of you are probably aware of, is that I will now be camp director. Just a warning to any troublemakers, I'll not be having my first-year in charge being upset lightly.”
At this the intimidating mare cast her gaze across everyone gathered, hammering her point home; Diamond Tiara was pretty sure that Lancer's eyes lingered on her for a bit longer than the others.
“That being said, I hope you all enjoy this opportunity to learn about independence, teamwork, self-discipline, loyalty, honor, and most importantly, having fun. We'll be kicking things off by assigning cabins. For new arrivals you're all going to be assigned cabins in groups of four. Most of you that are coming back will probably be assigned with your previous cabinmates, though there will be some exceptions, obviously. Your cabinmates will be your team and comrades during campus wide events and such. Flight training and other activities tailored to particular tribes will be the exception, and if teams are needed for those they will be assigned on a case-by-case basis. Speaking of which-”
At this point Lancer gestured to the other adults on stage. There was quite a varied line-up of ponies, from all three tribes, and of all shapes and colors. It looked like there was even one of those bat-ponies on stage.
“-I'd like to introduce the volunteers that are taking the time to manage most of what we have planned for the next four weeks. You will show them their due respect, both for their work here and for their service to Equestria. That being said, I don't foresee any problems on that front. Now onto a few of the rules for our-”
At this point, Delicacy, who up and till this point had been fidgeting constantly, suddenly stood up and raised her hoof, startling Diamond Tiara in the process. Stopping her prepared speech, Lancer turned to the filly.
“I'd like to ask that you save all questions until the end.”
This didn't seem to deter the young unicorn, to Diamond Tiara's surprise. All it did was make Delicacy start waving her hoof a bit manically.
Sighing at the filly's antics, Lancer addressed her “Fine, what is it you need?”
“I'm sorry for interrupting, really, really sorry. But-but...Where are your facilities?!” Diamond Tiara stared at her new friend, not having heard the filly ever raise her voice, before now.
Lancer blinked as she took this in, before nodding, she gestured towards one of the staff members before saying “Alright, miss, he'll lead you to the 'facilities'. Just don't dawdle.”
Poor Delicacy's distress was so great that she didn't even take the time to say 'thank you' before galloping down the stairs at top speed.
Watching, with some amusement, as the filly was lead off, Lancer soon faced the crowd of now snickering foals. After slightly narrowing her eyes, the snickers stopped.
“Anypony else?”
After a few seconds of quiet, a goodly number of foals decided to follow Delicacy's example, and started filing off in a more controlled manner. Lancer soon noticed one orange filly had raised her own hoof. Deciding that she might as well get it out of the way, seeing as how her speech had already been interrupted “Yes?”
“When are the Wonderbolts going to be doing autographs?”
Lancer just sighed.