“All I was wondering is why Ms. Sea Breeze was calling you 'my grumpy little kitten' last night. I mean, have you been, like, hanging out with her or something?” Scootaloo asked of her irritable Earth pony cabinmate.
“It's not a big deal! Would you just drop it already?!” Snapped Diamond Tiara, as she continued to march towards the messhall. It was another early morning at the camp, with the many campers either filing from their cabins, the restrooms, or the showers towards the messhall for breakfast.
“If it's no big deal, then why don't you just tell me then?” Scootaloo countered.
Flipping her loose mane, in an attempt to get it out of her eyes, Diamond Tiara had to pause for a moment as she almost flipped her tiara off of her head. Scowling slightly as she used a hoof to push it back into place, Diamond Tiara then glanced back towards Scootaloo “Tch, why do you even care anyways?”
“Wha- I don't care. I just-...was wondering if you started hanging out with her is all, or something.” Scootaloo answered hesitantly, while avoiding Diamond Tiara's gaze.
“...Oh. My. Gosh. Are you jealous?” Diamond Tiara slyly asked, as she eyed the pegasus.
“What? N-...Pfft! As if!” Scootaloo haltingly denied “I don't care who Ms. Sea Breeze wants to hang out with. I just-...wanted to know if...I could get some extra time with her to practice flying! Yeah.”
“Yeah, right. Like, what? Do you have some kind of crush on that crazy bat-pony or something?” Diamond Tiara continued, not buying into Scootaloo's explanation.
“What?! No!” Scootaloo quickly denied, looking just offended enough for Diamond Tiara to maybe believe her “I- She's just really cool, alright? So, I thought it was weird that she might be hanging around you! That's all.”
Diamond Tiara quickly frowned at the insinuation, that it would be weird for 'cool ponies' to want to hang out with her. She was about to retort when Snails spoke up, from the back of their little group, along with the still drowsy Delicacy.
“Maybe it's cause DT gets all grumpy a bunch of the time?” Snails suggested absently.
The three fillies of Cabin 12 all spared a moment to stare at the unicorn colt for a few moments, before Scootaloo broke the silence.
“Well, I could've figured out that Diamond Tiara gets grumpy.”
“Wha- I am not grumpy!” Diamond Tiara quickly argued.
“Uh-Huh!” Snails continued happily “And the kitten part's cause you're all cute and adorable, like a kitten, DT.”
Diamond Tiara's jaw dropped at this, before her cheeks quickly flushed with embarrassment “I'm n-not-”
“Oh, wow. Look who has the crush now, DT.” Scootaloo teased back at the flustered Earth pony filly.
“Sh-shut up! I don't have a crush on Snails! And at least, I'm not the one that's jealous of a crazy-...bucket-pony!” Diamond Tiara quickly shouted, her cheeks still red, due to Snails innocent remark.
“...bucket-pony?” Scootaloo asked in bewilderment, not having heard the part of the story involving buckets.
“...Nevermind!” Diamond Tiara quickly shouted, before continuing on her way towards the messhall, at a quicker pace.
A few moments later, Scootaloo cantered after Diamond Tiara calling out “Wait! Have you been hanging out with Ms. Sea Breeze or not?!”
Delicacy took a moment to glance towards Snails, who was happily smiling back towards the unicorn filly “I...don't think Diamond Tiara meant anything by what she said. About you, I mean.”
Snails smile didn't waver as he nodded at Delicacy's attempt to reassure the colt “Oh, I know. I just figured you were still too tired, is all.”
“Pardon?” Delicacy asked, perplexed.
“To keep Scoots and DT from arguing.” Snails explained casually, eliciting a stare from Delicacy, as her own jaw dropped a bit. She didn't think anypony had noticed her attempts to divert Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo's constant arguing.
“P-pardon?” She asked once more.
There was a pause, as Snails turned his nose up and took in several whiffs. Suddenly grinning excitedly “I smell biscuits!! Come on Deli! We're having biscuits for breakfast!”
Delicacy quietly watched, as Snails galloped after the other foals towards the messhall, trying to figure out what had just happened here. Trying, for the first time, to figure out if there was something going on below the surface, when it came to Snails.
'Did that just happen?'
At breakfast...
As anticipated, Snails was enjoying a hearty breakfast of biscuits covered in butter and jellies, as the others watched with a bit of morbid fascination. Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo amazed by the pace at which the colt was eating, and Delicacy for other reasons. After about a minute of watching this, Diamond Tiara visibly shuddered at the sight of Snails eating.
“Ugh, figures. The first time they serve actual food for breakfast, and I have to sit next to that.” Diamond Tiara complained, as she turned an eye towards her own food, her appetite somewhat spoiled.
Scootaloo also grimaced a bit, as a particularly large piece of jelly covered biscuit hit the table close to her own plate “Uh, yeah. Snails? You want to slow down a bit?”
“Huh?” Snails looked up, a ring of jelly and crumbs around his mouth.
“With eating your biscuits?” Scootaloo elaborated.
“...Heh. Yeah, they're really good aren't they?” Snails said with a grin before digging back into his meal.
Delicacy was no closer to figuring out the colt.
Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head, in consternation with the colt, before glancing back towards Diamond Tiara. The Earth pony filly seemed to be trying to face away from the colt, before beginning her own meal. As she watched, Scootaloo's mind went back over some of the thoughts that had been plaguing her since the little incident that had occurred on the survival hike.
The orange pegasus was a bit startled when Diamond Tiara suddenly looked her way, and with a mouthful of her own biscuits, snapped at Scootaloo “What?”
“I- What?” Scootaloo blinked, uncertain for a moment as to what to say.
“What do you mean 'what'? You're the one staring at me, feather-brain.” Diamond Tiara bit out, before swallowing her mouthful of food. Delicacy might have noted what poor manners it takes to talk with your mouth full, but she'd been sitting next to Snails for the last few minutes.
Scootaloo looked away from Diamond Tiara for a moment, before, again, rubbing the back of her head. A couple of moments later, she glanced back towards Diamond Tiara, from the corner of her eye “I was just wondering...what you did the other day?”
“Why do you care?” Diamond Tiara immediately asked with a sneer.
“I-...look, it's not like you aren't the biggest jerk ever. But, I kinda-” Scootaloo began.
“I told you I'm not a jerk!” Diamond Tiara loudly cut her off, drawing the attention of the other nearby campers.
“Would you just shut-up, and let me say something! I'm trying to apologize, alright?!” Scootaloo quickly yelled back.
“Well, I don't want an apology from you! So there!” Diamond Tiara shouted back.
“Oh yeah?! Well, maybe I don't care if you want an apology!” Scootaloo countered.
“I don't care-” Diamond Tiara began again.
“Will you two give it a rest!” Shouted a filly from the next table over. Delicacy noted it was the same filly from the other day, the one that had invited her swimming.
“Yeah, you two argue like an old married couple!” A colt said from the filly's side. Again Delicacy recognized the older colt as being the same one from yesterday.
“Wha- we do not!” Diamond Tiara quickly denied.
“You take that back!” Scootaloo quickly followed.
This just set the two older foals, and a number of nearby campers, to snickering and laughing. Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara ducked their heads in embarrassment then, as they realized they were at the center of everyone's attention in the messhall.
“You two should get a room, the way you're always messing with each other.” Called over the filly from before.
“W-what?! What is that even supposed to mean?!” Diamond Tiara sputtered.
“Yeah! Why would I want to be in the same room as her!?” Scootaloo added, jabbing a hoof towards the Earth pony filly.
As it turned out, the other foals didn't seem to know what it meant either. The other campers actually paused in their teasing, as they looked for one in their group that might know what that phrase might be implying.
“I think it means that-” Delicacy began, having raised her hoof to get their attention, and breaking everypony from their theorizing.
“I don't want to know that!” Scootaloo quickly cut off the unicorn filly.
“Does this mean you guys are gonna get married?” Snails obliviously asked.
Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara stared in shock for several moments at this question. Which, incidentally, gave Delicacy enough time to have a few thoughts of her own on the topic.
“...my Auntie does say that, lots of ponies end up falling for the ones they disagree with the most.” Delicacy quietly offered.
Both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo paled at the possibility.
“What?!” They shouted simultaneously, causing Delicacy to duck below the edge of the table, in fright.
“Ahem!”
Thankfully, before the discussion could spiral much further out of control, or the other foals could persist in their teasing, Lancer took this moment to get the attention of the campers.
While some gazes lingered on Cabin 12's table for a few moments, everypony soon turned towards the large pergasus mare. To the relief of most of the members of Cabin 12. Delicacy and Scootaloo, in particular, were glad to no longer be at the center of everypony's attention.
Diamond Tiara was simply irritable.
Casting her gaze across the messhall, making sure that the many foals were giving her their undivided attention, Lancer again took a moment to clear her throat, before speaking “Thank you. Now, we're going to be having another set of special lessons for today. Which, I will personally be overseeing. So let me just start by saying I will not be tolerating any acting out on my watch. Anypony that might have a problem behaving, is on notice. This is not the day to fool around.”
Letting those words sink in for a few moments, Lancer then gestured to rest of the camp staff “Alright. Today, we're going to be covering...”
A little while later...
“...self-defense. The general rules and basics of surviving a dangerous encounter.”
After breakfast, Lancer had moved all of the campers and staff members outside, to the field by the obstacle course. After directing everypony to join up with their cabinmates, for those who weren't already, Lancer took to the front of the gathering. The whole time the campers were filing out to the field, Delicacy got to watch as both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo were torn between shooting glares at one another and glaring at anything but one another.
'Maybe the other campers were onto to something, when it comes to those two...' Delicacy mused to herself, a bit intrigued by the idea.
“Let's take care of the basics first! We're going over the ground rules for today, before anything else!” Delicacy, along with every other camper, was soon broken from their thoughts and conversations, as Lancer called for everypony's attention “As I said, I will not tolerate any antics today. You will be giving us your utmost attention, and I want no disruptions!”
Lancer took to the air a moment later, hovering above everypony, before continuing “Secondly, even more so than usual, you will follow what I, and our camp officers, have to say. If we give you directions, you follow them. If one of us tells you to stop what you are doing, you stop. No questions. It could very well be the difference between somepony getting hurt or not.”
“And most importantly.” At this Lancer set back down, before marching up to the closest foals “You, absolutely, will not use anything you learn here today for anything but an emergency. You won't show it off to your friends. You won't practice it, without supervision. And you definitely won't be using it against one another, seriously or not!”
“You will use what you learn here today only when it's an emergency situation that you can't avoid or get out of any other way. If anypony breaks this rule, not only will they face the steepest punishments I can legally give out, it will also be the end of these classes for the year. For everypony. Is that understood?”
After that Lancer took several moments looking out across the gathered campers. The younger, newer campers looking somewhat anxious at these declarations, while the older foals just seemed to act as if this was just a matter of routine.
When it became clear that nopony was going to contradict her, Lancer turned and started marching towards the rest of the camp staff “Good. Now, please join us over here...”
All of this quickly got the younger campers talking, as they began to follow the Camp Director.
“I hope we're not learning anything dangerous...” Delicacy quietly said, earning glances from Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo.
Lancer soon lead the group over to a number of scarecrow-like dummies planted in the ground, to one side of the field. Facing back towards the foals “Okay. First thing's first. What should be your first choice if you're dealing with someone or something dangerous?”
After a few moments hesitation from the gathered foals, a small number of hooves went up. Glancing over the crowd of foals, Lancer pointed towards the hoof of one of the younger campers “Yes. You there.”
The young colt lowered his hoof, before giving his halting answer “Uhm, we...defend ourselves?”
“Not quite. Not the worst answer I've heard, but not quite. Anypony else?” Lancer responded before pointing out to another raised hoof, this time from one of the older fillies.
“We run away.” The filly called out, with somewhat more confidence.
“Closer. However, the ideal is that you avoid running into the danger in the first place.” Lancer explained. Beginning to pace in front of the gathered campers, as she often did “You'd be surprised how many conflicts you can avoid by paying attention and bypassing the dangers. Now, if it happens to be too late to avoid running into trouble, and it's not somepony you can reason with, then generally your best bet is to run away.”
This caused a number of the younger foals to begin mumbling to themselves.
“Is she being serious?” Scootaloo asked with a bit of incredulity.
Lancer stopped in her pacing, which seemed to be the cue for the muttering to come to a stop “There's a good reason for this...While your typical pony might not be the toughest or the most dangerous creature in the land, one thing we're very good at is running. Unless you're dealing with another pony or something that can fly, chances are a galloping pony can outpace and outlast anything out there. This is especially true over open terrain, which fortunately makes up a good portion of Equestria.”
“Another strength that we ponies have over most of the more dangerous creatures out there...there's a lot of us. If it doesn't look like you can avoid or outrun some monster or wild animal, your next best bet is to find other ponies. Even your most foul tempered of creatures will think twice about the prospect of dealing with a herd of angry ponies.”
“...Now, I'm sure I know what quite a few of you are thinking right now. So far I've only been telling you to run away from danger or go running for help. Well, fortunately, most of you won't even need to know even that much. By and large, we live in a very safe time. We have lots of ponies out there keeping things that way, like our volunteers from the guard here-” At this point, Lancer gestured a hoof towards the other staff members, before continuing “-and even Princess Celestia, making sure most of you probably will never even be in a situation where you need to run away from some monster or another. And for those of you that happen to run into trouble like that, running away or finding help is usually all you'll need to do to protect yourself.”
At this point, Lancer began walking over towards the training dummies “But sometimes you're going to need to do more than run away to escape a dangerous creature. You might find yourself all alone, or it might be you that needs to protect somepony else from some threat. Sometimes you're going to need to be able to fight. And to that end we're going to be covering one of the most tried-and-true of pony fighting techniques...bucking.”
If the younger campers had been less than impressed by being told that the key to protecting themselves was running away, being told that the super pony-fighting technique was bucking had left some of them down right rebellious.
“You've got to be kidding me.” Diamond Tiara griped.
“I never thought I'd ever agree with you of all ponies, but this is starting to seem kinda lame.” Scootaloo agreed.
“Well, who said I wanted you to agree with me anyway?” Diamond Tiara angrily sniped towards Scootaloo. Delicacy only shook her head, as they started squabbling again.
Meanwhile, at the front of the crowd of grumbling foals, Lancer found herself frowning once more at the reactions she was receiving. Arcana cantered over a few moments later towards the burly mare, before leaning in “I told you that you needed to 'spice' things up this year.”
Frowning back at the older unicorn mare, Lancer spoke from the corner of her mouth “I already told you, I'm not putting on a show here.”
“Not a good one, anyway. What's wrong with showing off some of your more impressive moves, before dealing with the 'boring' things.” Arcana quietly countered.
“I'm not having this discussion, again.” Lancer quietly said, before marching over towards the training dummies.
“Oh, yes. Ignore the advice of the mare that actually teaches for a living. That's reasonable.” Arcana snarked at her friend's retreating form, before rolling her eyes.
She and nearly every camper in the field visibly started, when a sharp crack sounded out over the field.
Lancer could be seen setting her back hooves down, the straw used to stuff one of the dummies falling down around her, along with the top half of a training dummy. With very little build-up the mare had, apparently, decided to snap one of the training dummies in two with a single buck. Which included the thick wooden pole holding most of the training dummy up.
Lancer chose to ignore the annoyed look coming from Arcana, choosing instead to focus on speaking to the gathered, and now very attentive, foals “Bucking is easy to learn, can be done by anypony, and with a little practice can be shockingly powerful and accurate. When done right, you can put the effort from most of your body's muscles into a single kick. One that can easily break bones. This is a fact that is not lost on most of the predators that would dare to prey upon a pony.”
Using one hoof to push aside the top-half of the training dummy to the side, before continuing “What's more, in the event that an assailant can land themselves on your back, bucking can be one of the best ways to remove them without getting off your hooves. Though most predators would certainly prefer the risks that coming with being thrown off of a bucking pony, to actually chasing a pony, for one simple reason-”
At this, Lancer punctuated the moment by suddenly bucking the air behind her.
“-if something's chasing you, then they're already in a prime position to receive a buck to the face. A simple buck, can let a pony go from retreating to attacking in an instant. An instant that could end a threat then-and-there. Now, do I have any questions?”
None of the campers chose to raise their hooves.
While Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and Delicacy were busy being a bit intimidated by the blunt assessment of bucking by Lancer, Snails seemed to have a thoughtful expression on his face.
Turning towards his fellow cabinmates, Snails gave voice to his thoughts “Do you think that makes Applebloom, like, the toughest filly in Ms. Cheerilee's whole class?”
Blinking as their attention was pulled away from Lancer, Scootaloo was the one that first spoke up “What do you mean?”
“Uhm, well, doesn't Applebloom spend all of her time bucking trees?” Snails asked.
Diamond Tiara considered this for a moment, before glancing towards the broken training dummy.
Before she could follow that...worrying train-of-thought much further, Lancer called back everypony's attention.
“Alright, if we don't have anymore questions, let's get started!”
Soon enough, the campers were divided up by cabin, to go over bucking technique. And as it happened Cabin 12 was placed under Ms. Arcana's watch, alongside one other cabin, Cabin 2.
“Alright, Mr. Snails, it's pretty straight-forward. Please buck this training dummy, and we'll go from there.” Arcana said from behind her ever-present clipboard.
“Uhm, do you want to tell me how to do it first, Ms. Arcana?” Snails asked, while glancing towards the straw-filled dummy.
Glancing from behind her clipboard, Arcana spared a moment to explain “Let's just start with you attempting to buck it yourself. Afterward, we'll go over what you need to change, and try again.”
“Oh, okay then...” Snails said before stepping over towards the training dummy, his eyes still on Ms. Arcana; he had been kind of hoping for a chance to speak with the older mare.
Turning around, so that his hind legs faced the dummy, Snails glanced back towards the dummy before looking back towards Ms. Arcana “Whenever you're ready, Mr. Snails.”
“Okay...” Snails took a quick breath, before putting his weight onto his front hooves and attempting to kick out with his back legs as hard as he could.
He faceplanted.
“Owwww....” Snails let out a groan, as he rubbed his face with one of his hooves. Not being used to balancing on his front hooves mixed poorly with his unusual height for his age, and quickly led to the colt leaning forward way too much during the buck. That, along with the force of his back legs kicking out, quickly led to the colt driving his face into the grass, and leaving the dummy untouched.
“Well, that wasn't the worst first attempt at a buck I've seen, Mr. Snails.” Arcana observed, leading to some snickers from the campers of the other cabin. A single look from Arcana quieted them.
“I-I'm sorry, Ms. Arcana. I thought I did it like-” Snails began.
“This is no time for apologies, Mr. Snails.” Arcana said, as she cantered over.
“B-but I got it wrong...” Snails pointed out.
“Have you been practicing bucking when nopony was looking, Mr. Snails?” Arcana asked of the colt.
“Uhm...no?” Snails hesitantly answered.
“Then it would be perfectly normal for you to mess up on your first attempt, Mr. Snails.” Arcana explained, before pointedly looking the colt over “Especially so, in your case.”
“Oh...is it because I'm-” Snails began to ask the obvious question.
“Tall for your age? Yes.” Arcana supplied before Snails could finish his question.
“W-what?” Snails asked, a bit surprised by the answer she gave.
“You seem to have had an earlier growth spurt than a lot of the other campers. It's the kind of thing that could easily throw off your balance when bucking. You'll probably grow out the problem, when you're a bit older and your proportions have evened out a bit.” Arcana explained.
“Oh...”
“Now let's try it again, Mr. Snails. This time, I'll be guiding you through the motions.” Arcana said, before stepping over to the training dummy.
“Uhm, okay. But won't I just fall over again, Ms. Arcana?” Snails asked as he got back into position again.
“I'll be using my magic to help this time. We'll go through it step-by-step so you can get a feel for it and find your balance.” Arcana explained, setting her horn alight as she did so.
“Okay, Ms. Arcana...” Snails acquiesced.
“Are you ready, Mr. Snails?” Arcana asked.
“Uhm...can I ask you something, Ms. Arcana?” Snails hesitantly asked.
“What is it?” Arcana asked, letting the glow from her horn dim for a moment.
“Are you still mad at me, for the other day?” Snails asked.
Arcana considered the young colt for a moment “You mean for what happened on the Survival hike?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you remember what I told you that day?” Arcana calmly asked.
“Uhm...the stuff you told me about not getting distracted all the time or the stuff about which direction mosses and stuff grows?” Snails asked.
“Let's say, both.”Arcana supplied.
“Oh, cause I remember both those things.” Snails answered.
“Then I'm not mad at you.” Arcana easily replied.
“Really?” Snails asked.
“Really. Now are you ready to try again, Mr. Snails?” Arcana asked, before brightening her horn's glow again with magic.
“Yep.” Snails eagerly answered, with a pleased smile.
The rest of Cabin 12 found themselves sitting to the side, along with the members of Cabin 2, more or less, eagerly waiting for their turn to try bucking the training dummy.
Scootaloo was more, Diamond Tiara was less, and Delicacy was anxiously sitting some where in the middle, when it came to degrees of eagerness.
“Wow, I never knew how awesome something like bucking could be. I mean, sure Applebloom does it all the time, but it was never as awesome as that.” Scootaloo said excitedly.
“It was pretty impressive.” Delicacy quietly agreed.
“Yeah! I mean, the way she said it, you gotta know that Lancer's been bucking flanks all over the place!” Scootaloo continued.
“Tch, please. All she did was kick a big piece of wood.” Diamond Tiara countered dismissively.
“Heh, so? That's way more than you can do, DT.” Scootaloo said back, her mood not deflated by Diamond Tiara's attitude.
“Weren't you even listening, feather-brain? She even said that anypony could do it. Bucking isn't anything special.” Diamond Tiara argued.
“Oh, what do you know anyway? I've never seen you so much as buck a twig.” Scootaloo pointed out, a bit annoyed by the insult thrown at her.
“Hmmp. It's like you said, Applebloom does it all the time, and we all know she isn't anything special. I bet I could buck circles around her, if I wanted to.” Diamond Tiara smugly answered.
“Y-you take that-” Scootaloo angrily began.
“Heh, I'd like to see that.”
It wasn't a member of Cabin 12 this time, but an older Earth pony filly from Cabin 2, marching over to the younger trio.
“What? What exactly do you want?” Diamond Tiara angrily asked of the older filly.
“I just told you. I'd like to see somepony like you buck circles around anypony.” The older filly reiterated around a smirk.
Diamond Tiara scowled at the older foal for a moment, before turning her nose up “Well, that's too bad for you then. I'm not some sort of showpony, sent here for your entertainment.”
At this the older filly turned back towards her own cabinmates, before calling out “See? It's like I said, she really is all bark-and-no-bite.”
At the laughs from the other foals, Diamond Tiara stopped before sending a glare towards the older filly “I am not all bark.”
The older filly just rolled her eyes at this “Please. You act like you're some sort of princess, but really, the only thing you're good at is being a tantrum-throwing brat.”
Delicacy was starting to consider getting Ms. Arcana's attention.
Diamond Tiara looked almost as furious as she did when Scootaloo stole her tiara.
The older filly didn't look particularly impressed, even as Diamond Tiara marched up to her and started glaring straight-up in to the older camper's eyes. To their credit, the other campers from Cabin 2 looked like they were getting a bit uncomfortable with the direction this was taking.
“Guys. I don't think this is really a good idea.”
Delicacy was a bit startled when it turned out to be Scootaloo that made the effort to deescalate things.
“Come on, Tiara. Ms. Arcana is standing right there. Just forget her.” Scootaloo added a moment later, earning an annoyed glance from Diamond Tiara. A moment later her gaze moved over to Delicacy surprising the unicorn filly. A couple of seconds later Diamond Tiara let out an annoyed huff before turning away from the older filly.
“Figures. Now she's hiding behind the wings of her little fillyfr-” The older filly didn't get to finish what she was saying, as she was tackled by an angry pink blur.
“What are you-” The older filly shouted up at the furious filly on top of her, before being interrupted by a pink hoof swiping her across the mouth. Now just as angry as Diamond Tiara, the older filly started struggling in earnest.
A couple of moments of struggling later, Diamond Tiara could feel the hooves of her opponent against her stomach. In the next second she found herself flying through the air, with the breath knocked out of her lungs, as the older filly launched Diamond Tiara off of her with her back hooves. Landing a few feet away, it took a moment for Diamond Tiara to get her senses back. By the time she looked back towards her opponent, she found herself looking at the other, now very angry, filly through a glowing transparent wall.
Both fillies quickly turned towards Ms. Arcana, the source of the magical wall separating the two and the most severe look of annoyance the two had ever seen on the mare's face. While Diamond Tiara acted unimpressed, the anger on the Cabin 2 filly's face was quickly replaced with worry.
Snails just looked a bit freaked out by what was going on.
“What is going on here?” Lancer asked sternly a moment later, having arrived while the two fillies were staring at Ms. Arcana. The filly from Cabin 2 visibly wilted as she realized the Camp Director had just arrived on the scene.
“Well?” Lancer asked again, when the two fillies failed to answer, with Diamond Tiara glaring off to the side and the older filly's mouth sealed by worry.
“It seems, that these two got bored waiting for me to get to their instruction, and started themselves a little brawl.” Arcana supplied.
Diamond Tiara didn't bother saying anything, but the filly from Cabin 2 paled at that summation. Looking from Diamond Tiara to Lancer, the older filly tried to explain “No, no, no. We were- That is-”
“Enough.” Lancer quietly demanded, quickly earning silence from the older filly. A moment later, Lancer began looking over the Cabin 2 filly, before saying “Teeth.”
“What?” The older filly asked in momentary confusion.
“Teeth. Are any of your teeth loose, chipped, or missing?” Lancer clarified. After taking a moment to process what was being asked of her, the filly hesitantly ran her tongue along her teeth checking for anything wrong. A few moments later she shook her head.
Lancer nodded, before looking over the filly “Any other injuries that you need to see the nurse for?”
The filly paused for a moment before shaking her head.
“Alright.” Lancer looked up, casting her gaze across the camp staff members, before settling on Rockette “Mrs. Rockette, would you mind taking her to get cleaned up?”
“C-certainly. It's not a problem.” Rockette quickly nodded.
“Excellent. Once that's taken care of, would you mind also escorting her as she begins running her laps around the camp?” Lancer asked.
“I...can take care of that, yes.” Rockette confirmed again.
The Cabin 2 filly looked almost relieved that she was only running laps around the camp.
“Thank you, Mrs. Rockette. I'll be along to take over from you, after I've had a talk with Ms. Tiara here.” Lancer added, while gesturing towards Diamond Tiara. She then turned towards Stalwart Gaze “Mr. Gaze, do you think you can take over for the rest of today's self-defense instruction?”
Stalwart Gaze considered this for only a moment, before nodding.
Lancer nodded, before turning back towards Diamond Tiara “Ms. Tiara, if you would follow me.”
As Lancer began to turn to lead Diamond Tiara off, Snails spoke up “Uhm, Ms. Lancer?”
Lancer turned towards the young colt “Yes? And, 'Lancer' is fine.”
"Okay, uhm...are we still doing the class? Cause I thought the rules said we wouldn't get to have anymore classes, if we fought.” Snails asked.
“...I said, that if I caught any of you using what I taught you against one another, the classes would be over.” Lancer clarified, before pointedly glancing toward Diamond Tiara “I didn't teach anyponies to roll around in the dirt while flailing their hooves at one another.”
As everypony watched Lancer lead Diamond Tiara off, a certain bat-pony rubbed the back of her head for a moment, before saying to herself “...starting to think the kitten took the wrong message away from our little talk.”