//------------------------------// // Intermission // Story: Diamond Tiara goes to Boot Camp // by dungeonguy88 //------------------------------// Snails... “Do you think Ms. Arcana is mad?” Silver Shield blinked, as Snails worriedly asked the stallion his question “I-Well-...” The stallion rubbed the back of his head as he was put on the spot by the worried colt. “...Ms. Arcana certainly seems a bit...eccentric? But I wouldn't say she's mad.” Silver Shield haltingly answered. She certainly wasn't the most sociable of mares, but Silver Shield was pretty sure she wasn't insane. They wouldn't let a madpony work with foals. Snails scrunched his face as he processed that, before asking “...what's 'ex-cent-trick' mean? Is that like just being a little bit angry?” “Oh-...Oh! You're worried that Ms. Arcana's angry. I thought you meant-...nevermind, what I thought. But, why would you think she was angry? Did something happen on the survival hike?” Silver Shield had heard bits and pieces from the foals talking amongst themselves, about how the first trip into the woods hadn't gone smoothly, but hadn't had the opportunity to ask the other camp staff members. And it didn't seem very professional to get the gossip from the foals he was looking after. “I don't know...” Snails mournfully answered. And it was sort of the truth, Snails had always been a bit out of sync with other ponies, and often had a trouble following along. He had just been minding his own business, watching the bees. Then suddenly everypony was shouting and looking angry or disappointed. Especially Ms. Arcana. Seeing how upset the young colt seemed about this issue, Silver Shield quickly glanced over the field, making sure that there wasn't any trouble among the other colts and fillies, before ushering Snails off to the side. With a bit of privacy now, Silver Shield leaned down towards Snails “Alright, buddy, how about you just tell me what happened?” Snails frowned again, before going over the events again in his head “I don't know...we were all just doing that survival thingy, I guess. And it was really cool and all, cause Ms. Arcana knew all this cool stuff, and...I don't know, she was just really cool and smart.” The older mare had been ready to answer just about any question young Snails had asked of her, and every question he asked about the questions he just had answered. Ms. Arcana didn't get all weird or icked out by any topic he brought up, like most other ponies did. Which was kind of how Ms. Arcana always was, not really judging or getting all disappointed when he had trouble during the magic classes she gave, just telling him what he got wrong and helping him through it. The colt couldn't really articulate why he liked it, that somepony didn't treat him like he was slow or odd. Just that it was cool. It might have helped that the two topics Ms. Arcana had been covering with Snails, were magic and bugs. Nodding along as Snails explained how yesterday had gone, Silver Shield prodded the colt along “Sounds like everypony was having a good time then, right? I'm guessing something happened?” “I guess...” Snails agreed. “Can you tell me what happened?” Silver Shield again prompted, upon realizing the colt wasn't going to elaborate on his own. “Weeellll...there were these bees, I guess...” Silver Shield nodded, as Snail began to broach the topic. “Right. Bees. Go on.” Silver Shield wasn't entirely surprised that a mishap involving Snails happened to include bees. “And we were all just hanging out...Scoots and DT were arguing about something, I guess. And there was this beehive.” Snails slowly explained. “...Bees...Beehive. That makes sense.” Silver Shield conceded. “It was a really big one, and they were flying all around it-” Snails continued before being interrupted by the stallion. “The bees, right?” Silver Shield clarified. “Uh-huh. There was a whole bunch of them. Then, uhm...some stuff happened, and the beehive almost fell on everypony.” “I see. Was anypony hurt?” Silver Shield asked the most obvious question. “Naw. Ms. Arcana caught it with her magic, but the bees were still really mad about it falling down.” Snails answered, still mostly focusing on the bees. “But, nopony was hurt right?” Silver Shield asked again. “I don't think so, but...DT was kind of sniffle-y. You don't think she got stung do you?” Snails asked. “I probably would have heard if she had been hurt...So, I'm guessing Ms. Arcana was upset with you and your cabinmates after this all went down?” Silver Shield guessed. “Yeah...I guess. Everypony was arguing, and then Ms. Arcana started pointing at us, and saying we had messed up. But I didn't even do anything, and she was still angry.” Snails tried to explain. Silver Shield tilted his head, before running his hoof through his mane. He couldn't really say that he had ever seen the older mare angry before, so he wasn't sure how to interpret what Snails was saying. Though one thing he did know about the mare, was that she was never one to waste words, and that seemed as good a point to focus on as any “Well, what exactly did Ms. Arcana say? Did she shout at you?” “Uhm, no? She didn't really shout or anything. She just sorta said that I shoulda focused more on important stuff, I guess. But-...” Snails hesitated, prompting Silver Shield to set a hoof across the colt's withers. “But, what?” “...bugs and stuff, are the only things I'm really good at.” Snails finally admitted, sadly “And Ms. Arcana seemed cool about it all before, but...” “...but, suddenly she's all upset, and saying you're spending too much time with your bugs, right?” Silver Shield supplied the rest, pretty sure where the colt was going. The stallion was rewarded with a nod from Snails. “Ok, I think I understand what Ms. Arcana was getting at...” Silver Shield nodded to himself as he began to process this. “What's Ms. Arcana getting at, Mr. Shield?” Snails asked, curious now. “Well, I don't think Ms. Arcana is really angry at you. More worried, I would say.” Silver Shield assured the young colt before continuing “And I think she meant to say that...nopony can get by on just the stuff they're good at.” “But...what about my Cutie Mark?” Snails asked. “Oh, you should still follow your Cutie Mark and all, but you've still got to cultivate other skills too. Even if they're boring to you.” Silver Shield explained. The colt furrowed his brow as he processed this “...like what kind of skills, Mr. Shield.” “Well, like...talking to other ponies, or hard work, or schoolwork, or staying safe. That's some important stuff, that everypony should be able to handle, don't you think?” Silver Shield explained. “I guess...but those all sound like hard work...” Snails tentatively agreed. Chuckling a bit at the colt's observation, before he responded “I suppose that's true. But they're still important. What I'm saying is, I think Ms. Arcana is fine with you liking your bugs, but you can't ignore everything else just for them. Does that make sense?” Snails again twisted his face as he thought about it “...I think so.” Ruffling the colt's mane with smile “Well, you just mull it over some more, and let me know if you need any help. But in the meantime, how about you run along and join the others?” “Ok, Mr. Shield.” With a nod, Snails began to canter off, still sporting a look of intense thought. Smiling as the young colt went on his way “I'm sure he'll ge-” Silver Shield was cut-off from his observation by the large rubber ball that had just careened into his head. A moment later, a filly shouted over towards the dazed stallion “Sorry, Mr. Shield!” Swaying a bit on his hooves, Silver Shield slowly waved a hoof towards the filly “...S'alright.” Scootaloo... A light thud could be heard from the direction of the pegasus practice course, the very same where the flight evaluations had taken place. By the small wooden platform that marked the start of the course, was a little orange filly spitting out the grass and dirt she had taken a bite of during her latest faceplant. A few moments later, Scootaloo was determinedly climbing her way back onto the wooden platform. She had been at it since lunch and it was already easy enough to tell where the filly had fallen each time. The camp didn't have any flight-training planned for the day, on account of most of the senior members of the staff being off in the woods with around half of the campers. Scootaloo had held out some hope that Ms. Sea Breeze might be up for giving Scootaloo some pointers during the day, but the bat-pony had volunteered to give anypony interested swimming lessons instead. When Lancer had made a point of voicing approval for the idea, it pretty much became set-in-stone. So here Scootaloo was practicing on her own. Without her cabinmates. Or any of the other campers. She wanted to fly. She didn't want to be around Diamond Tiara. Delicacy was alright, but the unicorn filly spent far too much of her time around Diamond Tiara, and Scootaloo didn't want to risk that. And Snails was...Snails. And Scootaloo was sure most of the other campers were spending their time snickering about her. Why wouldn't they be? She couldn't get off the ground, and there was that whole...thing, from yesterday. So Scootaloo felt it was pretty easy to figure out what she was gonna do for the day. Work on her flying...Which was why she had been standing on the little wooden platform thinking about all the ponies she wasn't hanging out with. None of this was going like Scootaloo thought it would. She shouldn't have to be a punchline in Ponyville and at camp. It was supposed to be a chance for the pegasus filly to reinvent herself a bit. But, she still had foals snickering behind her back about stuff that wasn't even her fault. And obviously, Scootaloo was supposed to be flying by now, but that hadn't happened either. And it was pretty much all Diamond Tiara's fault. It's not as if the Camp's main selling point for Scootaloo was the idea of being away from Diamond Tiara and her evil henchpony, Silver Spoon, but it had been kind of a plus. But no, Scootaloo had ended up running into her Earth pony nemesis before she even got to the camp itself. Because Diamond Tiara's family was rich the pink pony got to go, just like that, when Scootaloo had to spend most of month pleading to be allowed to go and staying on her best behavior. It was just so unfair. And Diamond Tiara had wasted no time in trying to ruin everything. Making fun of Scootaloo. Acting like a spoiled brat the whole time. Sabotaging their team at the obstacle course. Getting their whole cabin in trouble yesterday... Scootaloo took another leap off the small platform, trying to get the hang of the slow, powerful wingbeats that Mrs. Rockette and Ms. Sea Breeze said were the key to flying. She could feel herself bobbing lightly in the air for the first couple of flaps of her wings but was soon sinking towards the ground again. Her, apparently incorrect, instinct to flap her wings faster to compensate started kicking in again, despite her best efforts. And as usual, the buzzing of her wings held her aloft for a couple of seconds, before Scootaloo quickly lost her balance and crashed into the ground. Again. Spitting out several blades of grass, Scootaloo decided to just lie down on the ground for a little bit. She was getting a bit sore from hitting the ground so many times. Sighing, as she lie in the grass, the filly's quickly wandered back to her previous train of thought, again, despite her best efforts. It wasn't as if Scootaloo had been the one to start the whole argument, and Diamond Tiara was asking for it anyway. That didn't stop Mrs. Rockette and Ms. Arcana from-...well they didn't ever actually yell at anypony, but they had made it clear that they were just as disappointed in Scootaloo as they were in Diamond Tiara. Which, again, was so unfair. It's not like anything Scootaloo had said was untrue, right? Sure Diamond Tiara could get their class wrapped around her hoof pretty easily, but given the choice pretty much nopony in their class actually hung out with the pink Earth pony. Aside from Silver Spoon. And who would want to be friends with a jerk like Diamond Tiara? The only friend she seemed to have made here at camp was Delicacy, and that was pretty much because Diamond Tiara didn't give the unicorn filly any choice in the matter. And when Delicacy had been put on the spot, the filly hadn't even agreed with Diamond Tiara, that they were friends. So really, Scootaloo had been right all along. Diamond Tiara was just a mean filly, who had, like, one friend all the way back in Ponyville who was just as mean as she was. Which was why, while Scootaloo was having all this fun learning to fly, Diamond Tiara was probably off moping all on her own. Alone. Without any friends. Scootaloo had to frown at that thought. It made sense and all...but now it kind of seemed...sad or mean. The pegasus filly shook her head clear of those thoughts, before picking herself up. It's not like any of that was Scootaloo's fault, and she still had to practice her flying. Sure, Scootaloo knew what it was like to not have a lot of friends; she had been new to Ponyville once. And sure it had sucked, not really having others to hang out with, on top of not having her Cutie Mark. But Scootaloo had went and made friends with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. 'In a way, it's kind of because of Diamond Tiara that we even formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders...' Scootaloo set her hoof against the small wooden platform, readying herself to climb up again, when that thought came to mind. She remembered the day pretty clearly, considering how long ago it was. Diamond Tiara had invited everypony to her Cuteceanera, and then she had tried to make fun of Apple Bloom for not having her Cutie Mark. But Ms. Twilight pointed out that since they didn't have their own Cutie Marks, that just meant they could have just about any talent. When everypony jumped on-board with that idea, everypony had started focusing on them instead of Diamond Tiara. Which had kind of seemed fair at the time to Scootaloo. Diamond Tiara had been the one acting like a jerk. So of course, Diamond Tiara was going to be stuck on her own, with no one but her one friend there with her. Scootaloo even remembered seeing Diamond sulking in the stairwell glaring down upon the rest of the foals, with Silver Spoon there with her, keeping her company... Scootaloo went back to climbing onto the platform. She didn't need to be spending all this time thinking about Diamond Tiara, when she had her own stuff to do. Everything Scootaloo had said the other day was true. It's not like it was Scootaloo's fault that the bratty Earth Pony had like, one-and-a-half friends. Tops. One of which was half-way across Equestria, leaving Diamond Tiara pretty much all alone... “…” “…” “...” “...ponyfeathers.” Scootaloo didn't really feel like practicing her flying anymore. And it was all Diamond Tiara's fault... Delicacy... This place was just like Canterlot. Not physically, of course. The camp was wildly different from Canterlot in geography and aesthetics. And the ponies were all different; most were rougher and more relaxed. Plus, the food was different. The day-to-day activities were a far cry from what she was used to. And... ...perhaps it was more accurate to say that Delicacy was the same here as she was back home, in Canterlot. The unicorn filly had to sigh, at that disappointing realization, as she sat in the shade of one of the campus buildings, watching the other campers go about their business. Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara had stomped off in opposite directions after breakfast, and Snails had just sort of...wandered off, apparently thinking very hard on something. Delicacy didn't even want to begin to think about what was on the colt's mind. His fascination with creepy crawlies had been...difficult for the proper young filly to deal with. Delicacy had thus far had way too many bugs shoved in her face by the colt, during her time at camp. So here she was, sitting by her lonesome. And honestly, under different circumstances, Delicacy wouldn't have minded that overly much. In the circles of high society in Canterlot, one tended to get used to sitting quietly with one's own thoughts, while the adults all talked about things that were far over a foal's head. Oddly, there weren't that many foals her age in Canterlot despite it's large population of ponies. But you could make up little games to pass the time, until whatever party or event you had to attend was over. Slipping about unnoticed, was one that she had learned pretty easily. Watching the grown-ups and picking out little details to try to figure out what exactly they were discussing. Making a good impression on your parent's friends, who didn't really seem like friends. Figuring out how the patterns on the embroidery were repeated... Delicacy picked herself up, as she realized she had started idly counting the blades of grass. Turning away from the other foals, Delicacy walked without much direction about the camp. Again, she didn't really mind being left to her own devices. It was well within the filly's comfort zone, to not go about making waves. She was really good at it, in fact. Delicacy had spent so much time watching others, it just came so easily to her, when it came to saying just the right thing. Lot's of easy little rules, that just seemed to go over everypony's heads. Things like posture, talking about the right things, taking in the little details about who you were talking to, keeping the right things to yourself. Simple little things, that would leave all the grown-ups with beaming smiles telling each other about what a sweet and well-mannered filly you were. It was all very important to everypony in Canterlot. Apart from her Auntie... Her Aunt was well-mannered and all, but that never kept her from saying what she wanted to say. She always managed to be elegant and perfect, with lovely smiles that weren't always so fake. Delicacy's Aunt had taken a shine to the unicorn filly, as well, like most of the adults she ran into around Canterlot. But instead of complimenting Delicacy on her good manners or her dress for the day or sticking to all the rules that Delicacy had learned, she would ask her about other things. Asking Delicacy about Delicacy, what she liked, what she read, what she wanted to to do. Always encouraging Delicacy, and her parents, to let the filly come out of her shell a bit. Delicacy liked being able to do what she could, knowing just the right thing to say, smoothing over tensions, staying in the background and making others happier with just a few words here or there. It's who she was. It was her talent. But Delicacy also wanted to be able to be like her Auntie too. That's why she had decided to come to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp, at her Aunt's encouragement. Thinking that maybe if she got away from all the expectations that home had for her, something different would come out... ...at least she had made a friend. And sure, Diamond Tiara was a bit...rough around the edges. It's not like the Earth pony filly had grown up in Canterlot, and knew how young fillies were supposed to act. Yes, she always got into fights with Scootaloo, which was frankly exhausting for Delicacy to always be dealing with. And Diamond Tiara was always rubbing others the wrong way and complaining. Her friend was demanding, rude, proud, uncompromising and never let anypony keep her from speaking her mind. Delicacy wasn't anything like that. Even when it was important... Delicacy let out another sigh, as she thought about yesterday. A day where it wasn't the several hour hike through the woods or almost getting attacked by a swarm of bees or being scolded that had been the worst part of the day. It was really no wonder that she had barely seen Diamond Tiara today... “Hey, kid!” Delicacy blinked as she realized that somepony had been calling out to her. Looking around, Delicacy realized that she had walked around a good portion of the camp and was now nearing the lake, that the camp sat near. Turning around, the unicorn filly quickly spotted the two older foals, a colt and a filly, that had called out to her quickly approaching from behind. “Can I help you?” Delicacy asked uncertainly. It was the colt that answered first, with a grin “Yeah, you're that filly from Cabin 12, right?” Delicacy tilted her head at the question, but before she could answer the older filly prodded her friend in the side “Dude, there's like two other fillies in Cabin 12, ya danderhead.” “Tch, I know that, I obviously meant- you know what? Forget it.” The colt soon turned away from the older filly, to focus back on Delicacy “Anyway, you headin' over to the lake for swimming lessons? Figured you could come with us.” It took a moment for Delicacy to figure out what the two older foals were referring to, before she glanced down the lakeshore. Sure enough, the unicorn filly could spot the form of a bat-pony hovering over the water, teaching a bunch of foals the basics of swimming “Oh, I see now...” “Yeah, right? Figured since you weren't stuck with those nutjobs from your cabin, you would want to hang out with us.” The colt explained, with a knowing wink. “I- well...I was really just taking a bit of a walk. I wasn't really planning on taking swimming lessons.” Delicacy explained after a moment. She wasn't really too keen on any part of that idea. She didn't think the lake's water was particularly clean, and the thought of flailing her hooves around like a crazypony in front of everypony seemed a bit undignified. Plus, she might drown or something. “Heh, well nopony was planning on taking swimming lessons.” The older filly pointed out, as she came up on one side of Delicacy, as the colt boxed her in from the other “I mean, Ms. Sea Breeze came up with the idea today.” “Right, and where else are you going to get quality swimming lessons, in Equestria?” The colt said, with a grin. At Delicacy's perplexed look, the older filly explained “He just wants to see Ms. Sea Breeze sporting a wet mane.” “True.” The colt quickly agreed. “Oh, well...I don't think that's really a problem for me. There's not really a lot of places to swim back home.” Delicacy again tried to excuse herself from the two older campers. She really wasn't up for this whole swimming idea. “Well, that's why you should enjoy this opportunity while you can. Right?” The colt asked, oblivious to Delicacy's discomfort. “And it's not like you've got any plans with your cabinmates, right?” The older filly added. “I-...well...” Delicacy was struggling to come up with any more ideas to politely excuse herself. “There you are!” The three foals quickly turned at the voice, to see a certain pink filly stomping over towards them. “I've been looking all over this stupid camp for you!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed to Delicacy. “Oh, hey-” Delicacy tried to greet her cabinmate, somewhat relieved to see her, before the older colt cut in. “And just what do you want?” Diamond Tiara took a moment to send a glare towards the colt, before turning her nose up at the two older foals “Like, since when is it any of your beeswax? Now if you don't mind, she and I have business.” With that, Diamond Tiara began marching off, apparently expecting Delicacy to follow. The unicorn filly glanced between the two older foals, sheepishly, before slipping out between them “I-uh...I shouldn't keep her waiting...It was nice speaking to you.” A few moments later, the two older campers shrugged before marching off towards the lakeshore. After moving at a brief canter, to catch up with her cabinmate, Delicacy pulled alongside Diamond Tiara. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Delicacy turned towards the scowling Earth pony. “So...you were looking for me?” “Ugh! It took, like, hours! They really need to spend the bits to install some maps or signs, or something. And these other ponies couldn't give directions, if their lives depended on it!” Delicacy had to tilt her head in confusion at this tirade “I-...was there something you wanted to talk about?” There was a moment's hesitation, where Diamond Tiara's frown briefly deepened “...those two had some nerve butting their muzzles into our business, don't you think? It's like some ponies just don't have any manners...” Diamond Tiara soon trailed off, allowing an awkward silence to fall over the two. Diamond Tiara... After an awkward dinner in the messhall, Diamond Tiara had gone pretty much straight to bed that evening. Which was a bit understandable given how the last few days had gone for her. A couple of hours later, the camp was quiet. It was dark. And everypony was asleep. Making it the perfect time to sneak out of the cabin. Starting with climbing out of her bed... She was having a bit trouble getting her hooves down to the floor. Diamond Tiara's plan to escape was not gonna be ruined, because she couldn't get out of bed. And she was right, as her grip on her bedsheets finally slipped, and she fell rump first to the floor, with a stifled yelp. Rubbing her sore bottom, and stifling both her desire to complain and to cry, Diamond Tiara quickly glanced around the cabin. Fortunately, landing on her rump, rather than her hooves, had muffled the fall a bit and everypony was still happily asleep. Her tiara hadn't even fallen off. Things were looking up. After briefly considering the footlocker, that she shared with Delicacy, Diamond Tiara just shrugged before sneaking over towards the door. She didn't care about any of that junk anyway, and even if she did, daddy could just buy more when she got back to Ponyville. Slowly nudging open the door, before peeking out, Diamond Tiara quickly concluded that no one was around. Briefly glancing back to her sleeping cabinmates, she briefly considered maybe saying something to them or leaving a note. Very briefly, as she soon turned her nose up at the thought. Diamond Tiara didn't want to be there, and nopony wanted her there anyway. With that settled, she quickly slipped out the door, and quietly shut it behind her. There was a mostly full moon out, lighting a good deal of the camp in pale light, and stretching long shadows along the ground. A fact the Earth pony filly took advantage of, as she sidled along the outside of her cabin, staying in the shadow of the small building. Quickly checking that the coast was clear, and re-adjusting her tiara once more, to make sure it was secure, Diamond Tiara darted over across the ground into the shadow of the next building. Ducking into the shadows as quickly as she could, the pink filly again glanced around making sure nopony had seen her. Catching her breath briefly, from the short run, she slipped over to the edge of this buildings shadows and got ready to repeat the process. It actually turned out to be pretty easy, leapfrogging between the shadows, as she made her way to the other side of the camp grounds. Soon she could see the train station's platform, sitting just across a wide open expanse of grass. Being exposed, to be seen by anypony that looked that direction might have worried her earlier, but this whole sneaking away thing had been easy so far. With a smirk, Diamond Tiara got ready to run the last stretch between her and home. “Bet ya figured it wouldn't have been this easy, huh?” “Totally, it's like they're not even-...” Diamond Tiara's offhand response quickly drew to a pause, as her eyes widened in realization. Quickly looking up, the filly quickly cast her gaze in the direction she heard the voice coming from, the tin roof of the cabin. There she found herself looking at...nothing. Just a conspicuously unoccupied roof. Maybe she just imagined it. “Guessing you got lost on the way to the bathrooms?” This time the voice came from right beside her ear, causing Diamond Tiara to stumble forward in brief fright. Tripping over her hooves, it took the filly a moment to turn around and face the mysterious pony. It was the bat-pony. After a moment of anxious silence on Diamond Tiara's part, Sea Breeze simply quirked an eyebrow, before asking “Right?” “I- Uh-wha?” Diamond Tiara rather cleverly responded. The bat-pony simply shrugged before cantering over “Well, I mean that's so obviously why you're out after curfew, right?” After a moment, Diamond Tiara's mind finally kicked itself back into working order. Going over what the bat-pony had just said, the filly quickly latched onto whatever would keep her out of trouble “Uhm, right...that's right, I got lost...so, if you wouldn't mind directing me to the bathrooms, I'll just be on my way.” Sea Breeze quickly flashed a grin “Yep. That's what I thought.” With that the bat-pony took to the air, and set a slow pace back into camp “I mean, sure, someponies might think you were trying to make a break for the train station or something.” Diamond Tiara soon found herself avoiding the bat-pony's gaze, as the filly hesitantly began following the mare back into camp “Uh, yeah. Definitely not doing that...” “Right? Cause that would be a ridiculous plan. It's not like there would just be a train waiting there, to carry foals off to wherever they wanted to go. Way too silly a plan for a smart filly like you.” With that comment, the bat-pony turned about in mid-air and began casually flying backwards, as she continued to address Diamond Tiara “And since you're so smart, then the only logical explanation for you being out after curfew, is that you got lost on the way to the bathrooms, right?” “Uh, yeah. That's, like, what I already said.” The filly testily reconfirmed. Grinning at the attitude being displayed by Diamond Tiara, Sea Breeze flew down a bit closer “You know who you remind me of?” Frowning at the seeming non-sequitur, it was Diamond Tiara's turn to quirk an eyebrow, this time in confusion. “Yeah, there's definitely a resemblance going on here.” Sea Breeze nodded to herself, before continuing “There was this old cat, back in my hometown. A real grumpy, old codger of a cat. Always went wherever he pleased, and never paid any mind to what anypony had to say about him.” “I remind you of a cat?” Diamond Tiara asked skeptically. Sea Breeze waved a hoof at that “Well, you're not exactly the same I'll grant you...You're really more of a grumpy kitten than anything.” “I am not a grumpy kitten!” Diamond Tiara countered testily. Sea Breeze just chuckled at that “Yeah, that grumpy old cat, didn't take any guff either. Always king of his domain that one. And his domain always happened to be wherever he was at the time.” “I just told you-” Diamond Tiara again tried to stop the bat-pony from going off on this weird tangent. “And that old cat, he wouldn't let anyone tell him what he could or couldn't do. Never backed down from a fight, either. Even against dogs and the occasional feisty seagull.” At this point, the filly just rolled her eyes, realizing that she wasn't going to stop the bat-pony from talking. At least the mare seemed to be some kind of idiot, and had no plans on getting Diamond Tiara into any trouble. “I gotta tell ya, nopony really liked that old, grumpy cat. He didn't bother warming up to anypony. But one thing I always liked about him...never backed down or ran from a fight...And here we are, my grumpy little kitten.” Diamond Tiara had actually been almost listening, to the crazy bat-pony, when she realized that they had reached their destination. The camp bathrooms. Sea Breeze quickly set down beside the filly, still sporting a smile for the filly, before gesturing to the building “Welp, go on and get freshened up, and all that. I'll take you back to your cabin when you're done.” Diamond Tiara actually had to take a moment to look the bat-pony up-and-down, scrutinizing the seemingly odd mare “...right.” Still not sure what to make of the bat-pony, Diamond Tiara decided to just keep playing along. And she did actually need to use the bathrooms anyway, so... A few minutes later, Diamond Tiara cantered back out, to find the bat-pony still waiting on her. Noticing the filly, the bat-pony cantered over “All done?” “Uh-huh.” “Ready to head back to your cabin?” “Yeah.” “Done with trying to run away from your troubles?” “...” That last question made Diamond Tiara freeze up, despite the casual way the bat-pony had asked it. Glancing up towards the mare, Diamond Tiara could see she was sporting the same easy smile as before. After a few moments, the filly decided to nod, in response. “Great! There's just one more thing then.” Taking to the air again, Sea Breeze faced the pink filly once more “Wait here, for just a sec, okay?” Before Diamond Tiara could answer, the odd bat-pony darted off into the night sky. And before Diamond Tiara could even get around to thinking about leaving the spot, Sea Breeze had returned. With a bucket. First setting the bucket down, the bat-pony landed a moment later before setting a hoof on the bucket, almost fondly. Not sure what was going on, Diamond Tiara looked between the mare and the object several times before making her own sardonic observation “...a bucket?” With another grin, Sea Breeze held up a hoof “Not just any bucket. This is my bucket.” Seeing that Diamond Tiara was still struggling to follow what was going on, Sea Breeze cleared her throat before explaining “Well, I am on Night Patrol. And part of that job is making sure all the good colts and fillies stay in their cabins till morning. Apart from emergencies or going to the bathrooms, of course.” “Right...and I just went to the bathroom...so can we go now?” Diamond Tiara pointed out. “Ah, but you just admitted to trying to runaway, didn't you?” Sea Breeze asked with a smirk. It took Diamond Tiara a moment to realize just what the mare was suggesting. She had tacitly agreed that she had been running away in the first place, when she had agreed that she wasn't planning on running away anymore. The filly soon tried to back away, but was stopped as the bat-pony wrapped a foreleg around the filly. “And since it's up to me to decide how curfew breakers are punished...” “B-but, you said-” Diamond Tiara quickly tried to argue, but was cut-off by the bat-pony again. “You know, that lakewater gets pretty chilly at night. Personally, I love it. But, a splash of that on your coat would probably cause you to jump out of your skin...” Leaving that thought hanging, Sea Breeze casually cantered over to the bucket, before picking up it's handle in her mouth. Taking to the air, the bat-pony spoke around the bucket handle in her teeth “So here's the deal. You get back to your cabin by the time I get back from the lake, and you're homefree. But if you're too slow...” With that, Sea Breeze shot a toothy grin towards Diamond Tiara. Before Diamond Tiara could even get a word in, the bat-pony had begun her, unfortunately swift, flight towards the lake. Diamond Tiara, for once, didn't waste any words and started galloping as fast she could back towards Cabin 12. And to her credit, she was almost half-way there, when she heard the bat-pony calling after her. “Wow, doesn't look like you're gonna make it in time!” “Leave me alone!” “Nope! Looks like my grumpy little kitten is due for a bath!” “This is evil!” “Insert evil laugh here!” “My daddy will sue!” Diamond Tiara gulped in air as she pumped her legs as hard as she could. She was almost to the door of her cabin. But she could already hear the flaps of those leathery wings... “I've al~most got you!” The bat-pony sang from somewhere behind her. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Diamond Tiara loosed a high-pitch scream as she put on the last burst of speed she needed to make it to the door. “Here it comes!” Sea Breeze called down. A moment later, a pink blur slammed open the door as she ran into Cabin 12, which quickly devolved into flailing hooves as Diamond Tiara tripped over the threshold. Rolling to a stop, Diamond Tiara was soon sucking in deep breathes of air, as she laid on the floor of her cabin, miraculously dry. A cheerful voice called from the outside “Guess I'll have to catch you next time, my grumpy little kitten!” Standing on shaky hooves, Diamond Tiara soon jabbed a hoof towards the still open door. After gasping for air for a moment, she managed to get enough breath to shout back “Hah!...Fat...chance! “...Are you alright, Diamond?” Diamond Tiara lowered her hoof before glancing around the cabin, only to see her cabinmates all staring at her with varying degrees of surprise and confusion. Glancing towards Delicacy, who had been the one to ask the question, the Earth pony filly began marching over ready to climb back into her top bunk. “Just...had to...visit the bathrooms.” Diamond Tiara supplied as casually as she could while gasping for breath.