Diamond Tiara refused to acknowledge the stares she was getting from the other campers, as she was led away, now utterly certain that she didn't care what anypony thought of her. She was tired of everypony picking on her. She was tired of being stuck with the blank-flank and Snails. She was done with this camp, and she didn't care what Lancer had to say about it. In fact, she was ready and waiting to tell the burly pegasus off, the very moment Lancer tried scolding her...any minute now...
So far, Lancer hadn't said a thing, as she lead Diamond Tiara from the field and out of sight of the other campers. Lancer didn't slow down when they passed the messhall or the restrooms. It wasn't until they started coming up on the staff building, where the camp volunteers slept, relaxed and kept their offices, that Diamond Tiara realized where she was being lead.
A few moments later, Lancer opened the door to the squat building before leading Diamond Tiara in, revealing a room divided up into a small living area and kitchen. Without slowing down, Lancer walked through the room before leading Diamond Tiara down a hallway. A couple of doors down the plain hallway, Lancer opened an equally plain door, to reveal an even more equally plain office.
Lancer held the door open for a few moments, evidently waiting for Diamond Tiara to step in. Finally taking the hint, the pink pony trudged into the room. It was an incredibly boring room, by Diamond Tiara's estimation, featuring a modest desk, littered with typical desk things, a filing cabinet like the one her daddy owned, and a small box tucked in the corner with a door on the front. The only thing that actually stood out was a long, narrow case propped against the wall. It actually had a touch of decent craftsmanship to it, with some carvings etched into the wood of the case, and shiny, clean latches and hinges. Though, the most eye-catching thing about the case was definitely the two heavy locks keeping it sealed. Diamond Tiara could admit to a bit of curiosity about that...
“How about you?” Lancer quietly asked the filly, as she closed the door, breaking Diamond Tiara from her scrutiny of the room.
“What?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“You don't look hurt, but is anything sore or out of place?” Lancer clarified as she walked past the filly towards her desk.
It took a moment for Diamond Tiara to think about the question. She had to resist the urge to rub a hoof along her undercarriage, where the the older filly had planted her hooves to toss her through the air, during the fight. Her back was also kind of sore from the landing for that matter. Frowning as she considered this, Diamond Tiara soon had her answer.
“Pfft. Yeah, right!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, as she lifted her nose up at the thought “That pitiful filly barely even laid a hoof on me.”
“Is that so?” Lancer neutrally asked.
“Yeah. Maybe she really did need those stupid lessons on bucking of all things.” Diamond Tiara continued confidently.
“...right.” Lancer said with so much skepticism that it would have been impossible for the filly to miss it.
“I'm serious! She-” Diamond Tiara began.
“-was about to make you swallow your own teeth.” Lancer finished for Diamond Tiara.
“What?! She didn't even-” Diamond Tiara began again.
“-hit you? Be glad she didn't. That filly's been coming to this camp for the last two years. Three, if you want to count this year. She was about to lay you out.” Lancer said with certainty, before stepping around her desk. Taking a moment to unwrap the threadbare, gray scarf from around her neck before setting it on her desk, Lancer rubbed the spot around her neck where it had been “If you want my advice, next time you decide to sucker-hoof someone, you better make sure they go down in the first hit.”
“Tch. What do you know, anyway?” Diamond Tiara sniped back, while pouting.
“About fighting? Quite a bit.” Lancer easily answered without looking towards the filly, before stepping over towards the small box tucked into the corner, opening the door to the box and reaching a hoof into it. Diamond Tiara couldn't tell much about the contents of the box, but a few moments later Lancer pulled out a cloth, before closing the door.
“I know quite a bit about you too, Ms. Tiara.” Lancer said, before stepping back around her desk and offering the cloth to the filly “Here. Even if she 'barely laid a hoof on you' you'll probably want this.”
After a few moments of scrutiny, Diamond Tiara hesitantly took the cloth. It was wet. And surprisingly cool. There weren't many things around the camp that were this cool during the day. It was summer, after all. It didn't take long for Lancer to note the confusion on the filly's face.
“Icebox.” Lancer supplied without any additional detail “Now, we need to talk about-”
“She's the one that started it!” Diamond Tiara interrupted, with a stomp of her hoof, incidentally dropping the cloth onto the floor “She wouldn't stop-”
“We're not here to talk about the fight.” Lancer quickly overrode Diamond Tiara's explanation with a stern voice and an expression that made Diamond Tiara want to take a step back “If one little fight was the issue, you'd be out there running laps right now. We're here to talk about you.”
“Uggghh! Can't I just go home already?” Diamond Tiara griped, not seeing the point of this conversation.
“No.” Lancer bluntly answered, as her own expression hardened a bit in annoyance “You may not want to have this conversation, and I definitely don't want to have it, but we're having it.”
“Tch. Whatever...” Diamond Tiara said dismissively, eliciting a small scowl across Lancer's brow. It melted away a few moments later, as Lancer tilted her head, openly scrutinizing Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara soon began to feel uncomfortable under the cool gaze of the pegasus mare. As per usual, she chose to convert any discomfort or worry into agitation and bluster, trying to glare back at Lancer. It wasn't long before Diamond Tiara felt compelled to try to tell off the mare once again...
“Do you think you're a bad pony?” Lancer abruptly asked, startling the filly from her planned remark.
“Wh-what?” Diamond Tiara stuttered, taken a bit aback by the question.
“Do you think you're a bad pony?” Lancer reiterated.
“No! Why would I think that?! I'm not a bad pony!” Diamond Tiara quickly denied.
“Really?” Lancer asked, in a seemingly casual tone.
“No! I haven't done anything bad!” Diamond Tiara agitatedly declared. Pointing a hoof back towards the door leading from the room “They're the ones being mean to me!”
“That a fact?” Lancer asked.
“They're the ones picking on me! They're always laughing at me and making fun of me! Acting like they're better than me! And-”
“And, what? Not putting up with all of your usual crap?” Lancer cut her off, surprising Diamond Tiara a bit with the stronger language.
“You're pretty used to everypony eating out of your hooves, aren't you?” Lancer continued, taking advantage of the filly's momentary silence. Lancer turned her back on the filly, before cantering over to her desk again. A moment later, the mare was pulling open a drawer and rummaging through it's contents “...That's what I gathered anyway, from my meeting with your father. Not his words mind you, but that's what I took away from it.”
“You talked to my dad? When?” Diamond Tiara asked, surprised by this news.
“When he came here, about a week-and-a-half before camp started.” Lancer told her, bringing to Diamond Tiara's mind the mysterious out-of-town trip her daddy had taken around that time, with Princess Twilight Sparkle. It hadn't raised any red flags in her mind before, her daddy having taken many a business trip before then, but now it was becoming obvious where he had gone for those couple of days.
“This was all your idea, wasn't it!” Diamond Tiara suddenly accused, suddenly pointing a hoof at the bemused pegasus.
“Excuse me?” Lancer asked.
“You and that Library-Princess went and tricked him into sending me here!” Diamond Tiara continued.
“...what?” Lancer had no idea what the filly was getting at “I tricked him?...Why would I do that?”
“To get his money!” Diamond Tiara immediately blurted out.
“...We don't charge for admission at this camp.” Lancer pointed out.
“I bet you talked to those Dumbie-Mark Crusaders too! That's why you stuck me in that cabin!” Diamond Tiara continued on, deciding to finally let loose on all of her pent-up frustration with this stupid camp.
“You have a problem being in Cabin 12?” Lancer asked, seemingly ignoring the rest of Diamond Tiara's rant.
“Yes!” Diamond Tiara shouted with a stomp of her hoof.
“Then why didn't you put in a request for a cabin transfer?” Lancer asked.
“What?” Diamond Tiara responded caught off-guard by that question.
“If you had a problem with being in Cabin 12, why didn't you put in a request to be placed in another cabin?” Lancer slowly reiterated.
“I-...No one said I could do that!” Diamond Tiara countered angrily.
“Actually, I did. On Orientation day, in the mess hall?...Or were you not paying attention at the time?” Lancer reminded the filly.
“I-...I was paying attention! I was just-...I want to be put in a different cabin!” Diamond Tiara demanded. After a moment of thought, she spoke up again “...an-and Delicacy too!”
“Hm...If you had been paying attention on Orientation day, you would know that cabin transfers are only allowed in the first week of camp...You've missed the deadline.” Lancer explained, leaving Diamond Tiara with a look of flat incredulity.
“But that's not fair!” Diamond Tiara objected.
“That is exactly fair. You screwed up, and are now in a situation you don't want to be in.” Lancer countered irritably “That is exactly what we're here to talk about. How things work, when things are fair. If you're unpleasant to other ponies, they don't want to be pleasant back. You insult them, they insult you right back. When you try to order everypony around, they eventually stop bothering to listen to you. If you act like a spoiled, self-centered little princess, they don't respect you. That's the conversation we're having right now.”
Diamond Tiara was left staring agape at this, not used to anypony ever speaking to her like that. It wasn't pleasant, and it left the filly wishing she were somewhere else, all of a sudden. Again trying to marshal her pride, Diamond Tiara tried to dismiss Lancer's claims “I don't act-”
“And when you refuse to accept any help that's offered to you, and push everyone else away, you're left alone...that's why your father decided to send you here. To keep you from being left all alone.” Lancer sternly finished.
“But-...but I'm not alone! I have l-lots of friends! And I have daddy! And Silver Spoon! And-and-...” Diamond Tiara found herself choking back on her words, at that moment, suddenly remembering the events that took place on the Survival hike. The pink filly had gone to some lengths, trying to forget about what happened. Could she really call Delicacy a friend? The pale blue unicorn filly was pretty much the only pony Diamond Tiara had willingly spent anytime around, at camp. Delicacy was the only pony whose sensibilities were even close to Diamond Tiara's own. But when that stupid blank-flank had said that Diamond Tiara didn't have any real friends, Delicacy hadn't really said anything against it. Like she wasn't sure herself if they were friends...
She wasn't even going to consider that blank-flank, Babs Seed.
“Wh-what do you know?!” Diamond Tiara suddenly shouted back to Lancer, trying to speak around the growing lump in her throat “I don't want any friends here anyway! And I'm plenty popular back in Ponyville!”
“...I know that you aren't going to have the luxury of having life be fair to you.” Lancer said, in a somewhat softer tone than before, leaving the filly even more confused than she already was, as the mare seemingly disregarded what Diamond Tiara was telling her.
“I know that you aren't that lucky, that you'll get to have the same kind of leeway as every other pony to mess up, because of your Cutie Mark. And your special talent.” Lancer continued, making Diamond Tiara glance towards her own Cutie Mark in confusion. Noticing the filly's apparent confusion, Lancer took in another breath before gesturing towards Diamond Tiara with a hoof “What's your talent?”
“Like, why does that matter?” Diamond Tiara demanded, frustrated with this conversation.
Lancer didn't respond, evidently waiting for the filly's answer.
“Tch! I...it means...” Diamond Tiara started, before again glancing towards her Cutie Mark.
Again Diamond Tiara was already quite upset from before, so she had no idea what the mare was trying to get at. After hesitating for a bit, Diamond Tiara eventually concluded that Lancer wasn't going to continue without getting an answer to the question “Obviously, it means that...I'm the best pony around, and everyone would be better off if they listened to me.”
“That's how you interpret it?” Lancer asked neutrally.
“Yeah! What's wrong with that?” Diamond Tiara answered heatedly.
“...A lot of growing up, comes from learning what one's Cutie Mark is really about.” Lancer explained.
All this elicited from Diamond Tiara was a pout, and the filly glaring off to the side.
Lancer sighed.
“Alright. What do you think my Cutie Mark represents then?” Lancer asked of the filly, turning to the side to show off the winged-spear that served as the pegasus' Cutie Mark.
After a couple of moments of staring at the older mare's flank, Diamond Tiara clicked her tongue in annoyance “Flying?...Like, how am I supposed to know what your talent is? Why-”
“Fighting. My talent is fighting.” Lancer abruptly supplied the answer.
Noting the uncertain look on the filly's face, Lancer again took the opportunity to elaborate “I enjoy fighting. And I am very good at fighting. Mostly with spears and such, but that's it. Fighting.”
“...so?” Diamond Tiara asked.
Lancer took a breath, before stepping over towards the case Diamond Tiara had noticed earlier “So...My talent is not fighting to protect others. It's not fighting evil. Not fighting for a good cause. Just fighting...”
Lancer paused, as she brought the long case over to her desk before setting it down “Most ponies aren't going to really hurt someone else with their talents, if they use them selfishly. Even for ponies that are...less than pleasant, the consequences of misusing their talents probably won't be all that terrible. I thought I had that same luxury, when I was younger...”
Lancer took a moment to retrieve two keys from her desk, before using them to undo the locks on the case. A moment later, Lancer revealed the contents of the case to Diamond Tiara. It was a spear, sporting some small nicks in it's tip and some grooves in the haft, but otherwise in good condition. Not that Diamond Tiara was a particularly fine judge of a weapon's quality. She couldn't actually remember ever standing this close to an actual weapon, apart from perhaps passing by one of the Royal Guardponies during a visit to Canterlot. And even then their weapons were always kept sheathed.
“I could have hurt a lot more ponies than I did, with a talent like mine. It was my talent, after all. It was mine to use. As long as it suited me, what did it matter as long as I was enjoying my life?” A moment later, Lancer put the spear back in it's case, before resetting both of it's locks and then setting the case back against the wall.
“I was always good at fighting. Not so good at knowing what to fight for. The mistakes I made when I was younger have taken me a long time to set aright...” Lancer said, before turning back towards Diamond Tiara “Your father, who seemed like a good enough fellow, was worried you might grow up to be a miserable pony...”
“...I, on the other hoof, am worried about all the other ponies you can make miserable with a talent like yours. Especially when that talent comes with an attitude like yours.” Lancer finished.
“Wha- how could I hurt anypony?! My talent isn't anything like yours!” Diamond Tiara argued, affronted at what was being suggested.
“You said it yourself. You were really popular back home, right? Are you trying to say you never used that against someone. Used others to get back at someone that you didn't like? Maybe convinced others to do something you knew was wrong?” Lancer asked.
“I- Well...” Diamond Tiara struggled for a moment with the question.
“You don't need to answer. Like I said, I've already spoken with your father.” Lancer supplied.
The pegasus mare couldn't help but glance towards the stack of papers on her desk, including Mr. Rich's original letter. And the letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle that had been sent along with it. Along with the letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle's brother, former Captain of the Royal Guard, and Lancer's predecessor as Camp Director, the Prince-consort Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire...Co-signed by his wife, the current sovereign of the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
It was a wonder that Lancer hadn't suffered a nervous breakdown before camp had even started, with ponies like those breathing down her neck.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, Lancer re-focused on the filly in front of her “So, don't tell me that you don't know how to use your talent to hurt others. I'll grant you, it's not the most impressive thing in the world to lead a bunch of foals around by the nose, but can you honestly tell me that it won't get worse?”
Diamond Tiara didn't want to be in this conversation anymore.
Lancer had to sigh again, as she looked down upon the clearly upset filly, softening her voice again “You want other ponies to like you. To respect you. You like it when they listen to you, cause you know that if they do, you can accomplish great things...Great things are not always good things, kid. You want to lead ponies, you have to give them someone worth following...”
Diamond Tiara kept looking away, glaring at the ground, almost preferring Lancer's sterner words to the more understanding tone she was receiving now.
“That day at the obstacle course. What pony would want to follow someone like that?” Lancer asked the filly.
“That wasn't my fault!” Diamond Tiara suddenly blurted out angrily “You're the ones that stuck me with-with-...”
Diamond Tiara trailed off at this point.
Lancer waited a moment, before rubbing the bridge of her nose with a hoof “Alright-”
“I could have done the whole thing myself, if I wanted to.” Diamond Tiara quietly said, before again looking to her side angrily.
“Right...” Lancer said skeptically, earning a glare from the filly. Lancer had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at that.
“I could have!” Diamond Tiara shouted again.
“Well, then what's coming up next shouldn't be a problem for you, since we seem to be done talking here.” Lancer responded easily.
Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow, as Lancer cantered over towards the door to her office's door “I need to relieve Mrs. Rockette, and you have a bunch of laps to run.”
“What?!” Diamond Tiara blurted out.
“You still started a fight, for which the punishment is laps. And while I'm Camp Director, that means running so many laps that you'll never want to start a fight again.” Lancer explained, while holding the door to her office open, waiting on Diamond Tiara.
“B-but-” Diamond Tiara started.
“You heard me, kid. Hop-to!”
Back at the practice field...
Scootaloo found herself meandering about the campgrounds, after wrapping up the bucking training. Being one of the more athletic foals in Ponyville, her inability to fly not withstanding, and having been friends with Applebloom for so long, bucking had been pretty easy for her to get downpat. Quite a few foals had wandered off from the practice field to pursue their own interests, after they had shown that they could buck to the camp staff's satisfaction.
Not too surprisingly, Snails and Delicacy were still going over the finer points of bucking with Ms. Arcana. What was kind of surprising was that Snails didn't seem to be having that much trouble with the lesson. It seemed he just wanted to hang out with Ms. Arcana some more.
Scootaloo didn't really get it, but it was fine with her. Her plan was to practice her flying a bit more, seeing as how she had some free time available, and Snails wouldn't have really been able to contribute to that anyway.
Catching sight of something out of the corner of her eye, Scootaloo found herself watching as Diamond Tiara and that older filly from before ran more laps with Lancer on their tails, still pushing them on.
They'd been at it for a while now, though it didn't seem Lancer had any intention of stopping anytime soon.
“She's really riding them hard, huh?” A voice chimed in from somewhere above Scootaloo's head.
Glancing up, Scootaloo quickly caught sight of a certain bat-pony relaxing in the boughs of the tree she had been standing under.
“Though, I guess that's not the best phrase to throw around when it involves foals. Might suggest the wrong thing.” Sea Breeze mused, while lounging amongst the tree branches.
“Ms. Sea Breeze!” Scootaloo exclaimed, more than a bit excited to see the bat-pony.
“Heh, you can just call me Sea Breeze. Makes me feel like an adult when you put a 'Ms.' in front of it, you know?” Sea Breeze said as she rolled out of the tree before landing easily in front of Scootaloo.
“So what are you up to, kid? Worrying about your pink-friend, I'm guessing?” The bat-pony asked with an easy grin.
“What?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow before glancing over towards Diamond Tiara as she was chased out of sight by Lancer once more “You mean her? I'm not friends with her. She's a total jerk!”
“Eh, friends can be jerks too, but whatever. Not really why I was looking for you anyway.” Sea Breeze finished easily.
“Really? Wait...aren't you supposed to be helping out with the training dummies or something?” Scootaloo asked, despite her desire to hang out with the bat-pony some more.
“Well, yeah, but a lot of foals already kind of had a good understanding of, you know, bucking. So when Rockette got back she told me she could handle it from there, and I should go ahead and catch up on some sleep or something.” Sea Breeze explained, with a gesture of her hoof.
“Oh! Oh...so does that mean you're getting ready to go take a nap or something?” Scootaloo asked, a bit worried what the answer to that question might be.
“Heh, why would I come looking for you, if all I wanted to do was take a nap? Naw, I've had plenty of rest.” Sea Breeze easily answered, waving away the filly's concerns.
“Oh. Then why did you come looking for me then?” Scootaloo asked, curious now.
“Well, I had this crazy-little idea last night, that I wanted to test. You're still having trouble getting off the ground right?” Sea Breeze asked.
“...yeah.” Scootaloo answered, a bit depressed with the reminder of her lack of progress when it came to flying.
“Aw, come on now, kid. Buck-up! I've got a plan that's just crazy-enough to work for anypony! That is, if you think you can handle it.” Sea Breeze said encouragingly, before using a hoof to ruffle the filly's mane playfully.
Taking a moment to pat her purple mane back down, Scootaloo then looked back up to the bat-pony with big, hopeful eyes, as she realized what Sea breeze had just said “Really!? You've got a way to help me fly?!”
“Maybe!” Sea Breeze chirped back.
“Really!? What is it!?” Scootaloo asked, almost bursting with excitement.
Seeing the filly's excitement, Sea Breeze raised a hoof to her chin “Well...you really want to know?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Please! Yes!” Scoots excitedly begged.
“These are some pretty advanced ideas I'll be throwing at you...you sure you can handle it?” Sea Breeze continued to tease.
“I promise I can handle anything!” Scootaloo swore.
“If you're absolutely sure...” At the repeated nods from Scootaloo, Sea Breeze finally lowered her hoof before grinning “Swimming lessons it is!”
“What?” Scootaloo blurted out.
Down by the lakeshore...
“Are you sure this is a good idea...?” Scootaloo asked with some trepidation, as the small waves lapped at the sand a few inches from her hooves.
“Pretty sure, yeah! It's right up there with a sure thing.” Sea Breeze called back over to Scootaloo, as she floated on her back in the water. After a moment's consideration, the bat-pony glanced back to the lakeshore and the anxious filly “I mean, there's gotta be like a...70% chance of nothing going wrong, so that's pretty good.”
“Okay...but what exactly does swimming have to do with flying, anyway?” Scootaloo asked sceptically, whilst dipping a hoof hesitantly into the water.
“Come on, it'll be easier to explain once you're in the water. And you did promise that you were absolutely ready for anything I might throw at you, right?” Sea Breeze said, before abruptly flexing her submerged wings and suddenly sinking backwards into the water. A moment later, the bat-pony resurfaced, now right-side-up, before shaking her wet mane from her eyes and grinning.
“And...you're sure I'm not gonna drown or something?” Scootaloo asked again.
“Mostly.” Sea Breeze casually said.
“Mostly?!” Scootaloo blurted out, suddenly worried again.
“Oh, come on! I'm only teasing.” Sea Breeze said, as she swam over towards Scootaloo. A few moments later she was in shallow enough water to stand “Seriously though, I used to work as a lifeguard. Keeping ponies from drowning was literally my job. I mean, you would have heard something if I'd let any of the other campers drown, right?”
“Y-yeah, I guess.” Scootaloo hesitantly agreed.
“Come on. We'll start out slow. We got time.” Sea Breeze reassured.
Scootaloo again looked down at the water with some trepidation, before glancing back towards Sea Breeze. Sure ponies could swim, but it wasn't really something they were generally known for being very good at. And sure, a good portion of ponies learned to swim at one point or another while growing up, just to be safe. But Scootaloo was neither a grown-up or somepony that had even really thought about swimming very much. She was much bigger on the idea getting into the air, rather than the water. But still...
She put her hoof in the water.
And nothing bad happened.
“Alright, that's one! Let's see if we can get anymore of those hooves in the water, now.” Sea Breeze encouraged.
It didn't turn out to be such a big deal. It hadn't taken much more coaxing to get the orange filly to tread out a bit further, and soon enough the water was just barely brushing up against her undercarriage. Sure, Scootaloo didn't really know how to swim, but she'd stood in bath water deeper than this. No big deal.
“Great! First things first! Treading water! This is really simple.” Sea Breeze said with a smile, as she bobbed in the water a bit further out from the shore than Scootaloo “Just come out a bit further, enough so that your hooves are only just barely touching the bottom.”
Scootaloo acquiesced in a short enough time, before looking back to Sea Breeze “Okay, but...what exactly does swimming have to do with getting better at flying?”
“We're getting there, alright?" Sea Breeze assured.
"You did say it would be easier to explain if I was in the water. I'm in the water now." Scootaloo pointed out, giving Sea Breeze some momentary pause.
"...Heh. Alright, I guess you got me there." Sea Breeze conceded, before moving over to the filly "Alright, so you're still having trouble with the whole flapping your wings too fast, right?"
"Yeah?" Scootaloo agreed without much excitement.
"Well, just look at my wings." Sea Breeze directed Scootaloo's attention, as the bat-pony purposely sank a bit deeper in the water "What's it look like they're doing?"
"Uhm...swimming?" Scootaloo supplied.
"Haha, well, yeah. But, my wings are also going a lot slower, right?" At a nod from the filly, Sea Breeze continued "That's from the water-resistance. Makes your wings work a bit harder and a bit slower. Which is exactly what you need right?"
"So...if I use my wings to swim...I might be able to fly?" Scootaloo asked while glancing back towards her own wings.
"Couldn't hurt." Sea Breeze responded with a smile "And if nothing else, you'll learn how to swim!"
"You really think it'll work?" Scootaloo asked excitedly.
"It's worth a shot. But before you do that, we gotta take care of the basics first.” Sea Breeze easily explained while holding up a hoof above the water “Now, in a second, I want you to lift your hooves up a bit. You should feel yourself float a bit, before you start sinking.”
“Sinking?!” Scootaloo blurted out, before quickly stretching her hooves back down to the sand below her.
“Relax! Relax. You're not gonna be sinking for long. Trust me.” Sea Breeze said, as she came over to Scootaloo's side “And even if you do I'm right here, see?”
“A-alright.” Scootaloo said anxiously.
“Now when you start to sink, just start moving your hooves a bit. Not a lot. Just enough to stay in place.” The bat-pony explained again.
After a few moments of hesitation, Scootaloo suddenly took a breath before jerking her hooves up from the bottom of the lakebed.
She sank like a stone.
A moment later, she was brought back to the surface with a few prods from Sea Breeze's hooves, and quickly started spitting up water.
“I thought you said I wouldn't sink!” Scootaloo shouted at the bat-pony, who seemed to be having some trouble suppressing some amusement.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't think you were going to jerk your hooves up quite that fast.” Sea Breeze explained around her mirth.
“What? What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked, now that her hooves were once more planted in the soft sand.
“Well, if you do it like that, you're gonna sink quite a bit before you start to buoy again. It's kind of hard to explain, but, yeah, it's not something ya really need to force.” Sea Breeze finished with a chuckle, before noticing the slightly betrayed, pouty look the filly was sending her.
“Heh, sorry, sorry. My fault, it's an easy mistake to make, but I should have said something before. Forgive me?” Sea Breeze asked.
Scootaloo looked at the not particularly repentant expression on the bat-pony's face “I don't know...”
“Oh, come on. Pretty-please forgive me?” Sea Breeze asked again, though she still seemed to be enjoying the situation a bit too much for Scootaloo's tastes. A moment later, Sea Breeze leaned in “I've got a much better way of learning how to tread water anyway.”
“What? If you had a better way for me to learn how, then why'd we do it that way?” Scootaloo demanded, still a bit cross with the mare.
“Eh, well, some ponies learn to tread water right away, without any trouble. And I didn't want to invade your personal space with the other method, if it wasn't needed. That's all. Wasn't trying to hold out on you, I promise.” Sea Breeze finished by crossing a hoof across her chest.
“Personal space?” Scootaloo asked, not understanding why the bat-pony would need to invade her space to teach her how to swim.
“It's no big deal.” A moment later, Sea Breeze moved one of her hooves underneath Scootaloo, earning some glances from the filly, as the hoof just barely began to support her weight.
“See? Now this way, you won't sink if you mess up.” Sea Breeze explained with a smile.
“Uhm...alright.” Scootaloo nodded, getting the idea, despite feeling a bit awkward.
“Ready? Just lift your hooves, whenever.” Sea Breeze explained with a wave of her hoof.
After a few more moments, Scootaloo lifted her hooves up, slowly this time. And she did feel herself sink a bit this time, but not nearly as much as before. Especially with the support Sea Breeze was providing.
“Good, good.” Sea Breeze encouraged, at about the same moment Scootaloo realized that the only thing keeping her from sinking was the bat-pony's hoof now “Now, just start moving your hooves about slowly.”
With another nod, Scootaloo began to do just that.
After a few seconds of this, it actually felt like she was starting to, well, float.
It was actually kind of cool. Not flying-levels of cool, but still pretty cool.
Sea Breeze was pretty cool.
An errant memory popped into Scootaloo's head a moment later.
“Alright, I think you've got it, kid. I'm gonna start to-” Sea Breeze began, getting ready to move her hoof away and let the filly support herself in the water, when Scootaloo suddenly tensed up and took an unintentional dip underwater.
A moment later, Scootaloo's head popped back above the water, with the filly spitting up water. After a moment, Sea Breeze quickly herded the filly back into shallower water.
“You alright there, kiddo?” Sea Breeze asked with a touch of concern.
It took a moment for Scootaloo to regain her bearings and realize what had happened. A moment later she ducked her head, suddenly very embarrassed. Coughing up a bit of water, Scootaloo then nodded, while not looking back towards the bat-pony.
“Heh, I think you almost had it there. That's pretty good for your second go, kid...Kid?” Sea Breeze eventually noticed the filly's apparent discomfort “You alright there, Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo ducked her head again, before nodding “Y-yeah. I'm fine.”
Raising an eyebrow at the filly's strange behavior, Sea Breeze stood up from the water, before using her hoof to push her wet mane from her face “You sure? You're all red.”
“I'm fine! Really!” Scootaloo tried to claim, but she was betrayed as her face got a bit redder under the bat-pony's scrutiny.
“You're embarrassed about something.” Sea Breeze easily diagnosed, with a nod.
“N-no!” The filly denied too quickly.
“Are you embarrassed cause you messed up?” Sea Breeze asked.
“...no.” Scootaloo answered.
“Ah, but you are embarrassed about something, then?” Sea Breeze asked with a grin.
“What? I didn't say-” Scootaloo began, realizing that she had been had.
“Whoa, whoa! Relax, kid. You don't gotta tell me if you don't want to.” Sea Breeze explained, while holding her hooves up to calm the filly.
“...Really?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah! I just wanted to make sure you weren't getting down on yourself over the whole treading water thing.” Sea Breeze explained “I mean lot's of ponies take a few tries to get it down.”
“It's not that...” Scootaloo admitted.
“Okay then. And like I said, you don't gotta tell me anything you don't want to. I mean, it's not like it's me that's embarrassing you, is it?” Sea Breeze joked in the hopes of getting the filly to relax.
It took a moment for the bat-pony to notice that her little joke had seemed to have the opposite effect on the filly.
Sea Breeze blinked in befuddlement, before it hit her.
“Ahhhhh...I get it.” Sea Breeze said, with a nod to herself.
“Get what?” Scootaloo asked, glancing up towards the bat-pony a bit curious now.
“That's adorable! You've got a little crush on me, don't you?!” Sea Breeze exclaimed.
“What!?! No!” Scootaloo loudly denied.
“Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, it's not the first time-” Sea Breeze started.
“I really don't-” Scootaloo tried to deny again, to no avail.
“-I mean, it's flattering and all, but-” Sea Breeze continued.
“I don't have a crush on you!” Scootaloo shouted, finally interrupting Sea Breeze.
“Hm?” Sea Breeze tilted her head towards the filly, waiting for Scootaloo to say her piece this time.
“Th-that is to say...I really don't...” Scootaloo reiterated.
“Oh?” Sea Breeze prompted.
Scootaloo really didn't have a crush on the bat-pony, or at least the filly was pretty sure she didn't. But getting to hang out with Sea Breeze had reminded the filly of the argument she had earlier today with Diamond Tiara...
“You're just...cool and all, and...I didn't want anypony to go and think that I did have a...crush or something, cause...you know?” Scootaloo haltingly tried to explain.
“I see...Well, that make's sense, I guess.” Sea Breeze easily said, startling Scootaloo.
“It-it does?” The filly asked.
“Not that part where you're feeling embarrassed, but I get the rest of it. Having feelings and all that can be kinda weird when you're young. And weird things tend to get made fun of. But really though, you're a pretty cool filly. You don't have that much you need to feel embarrassed about. Whether it's about what you feel or what you can or can't do.” Sea Breeze easily assured Scootaloo.
“But, what about-” Scootaloo began.
“You're gonna fly, kid. Even if it takes you a little longer than the other foals.” Sea Breeze cut her off, before Scootaloo could start listing her failings “And trust me. That and everything else that you might be feeling embarrassed about? Not gonna matter for very long anyway. So there's no reason to let it bother you.”
“...really?” Scootaloo asked, hoping the bat-pony was telling the truth.
“If ya hold on to that stuff, it's just gonna weigh you down.” Sea Breeze said with certainty.
Scootallo thought about that stuff for a moment before nodding towards Sea Breeze.
“And besides...you're gonna have to deal with way more embarrassing stuff when you're older!” Sea Breeze said with a laugh, finally getting the filly out of her funk, as Scootaloo cracked a bit of a smile.
“Now let's see if you can't figure out this whole swimming idea of mine.” Sea Breeze said, as she waded back into the water.
Scootaloo soon followed.
Later that night...
Diamond Tiara was brooding.
That wasn't particularly odd, but for the hour.
It was well, well into the night.
That insane pegasus had made Diamond Tiara run around the whole stupid camp almost all day. No matter how exhausted, or how sweaty, or how loud Diamond Tiara had been, Lancer had been unrelenting. Lancer hadn't been lying when she said she would be making sure that the filly would be running until she didn't even want to think about starting another fight. At more than one point during the day, Lancer had emphasized that she was gonna make the two fillies run until they literally dropped.
And despite how much she had needed them over the course of the day, Diamond Tiara now kind of resented all the breaks Lancer had allowed the two fillies to take. Letting them stop to get water and catch their breath, had allowed their punishments to be dragged out that much longer.
'Stupid, crazy, violent mare.' Diamond Tiara thought to herself, as she tried to roll over in her bed. She instantly regretted this, as her muscles reminded her of how much they ached from all of the running.
Diamond Tiara had barely been able to keep her head up at dinner, much less actually eat. Unfortunately, she'd still gotten an earful of the constant nattering from her cabinmates.
Scootaloo had gone on about...
'...something about flying?...Swimming?...Who cares?'
And Delicacy had kept asking Diamond Tiara whether or not she was feeling alright. And if Diamond Tiara needed her to see someone. And to ask if her food was alright...
That had quickly worn on Diamond Tiara's already frayed patience.
She couldn't even begin to remember what Snails had been babbling about. Probably something about bugs.
Diamond Tiara hadn't even bothered with getting cleaned up after dinner, having decided to march straight to her bunk and just pass out from exhaustion.
And now here she was, glaring at the wall of the cabin in the dark, as her mind refused to let her go back to sleep.
She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been asleep, but it was starting to get a bit light outside.
Diamond Tiara really just wanted to fall back to sleep.
But her body had apparently decided that she didn't need anymore sleep, and her thoughts weren't helping her convince it otherwise.
'What does she even know? I'm not a bad filly...'
Diamond Tiara rolled over again, forcing herself to ignore the protests coming from her muscles.
'And who does she think she is, trying to tell me about my Cutie Mark...Stupid.'
The pink filly found her gaze narrowing a bit, as she glared down at the floor of the cabin. It's not like any of what Lancer had said had been true. That mare was just like everypony else, always siding against the pink filly, for no good reason.
Just like Babs had...
And Daddy at Family Appreciation Day...
And Ms. Cheerilee with that stupid school newspaper...
And...the whole world during her Cute-Ceanera...
'Like it was suddenly so cool to be just another blank-flank...right after I had finally gotten my Cutie-Mark...'
It was all just so completely unfair...
'Well, that's just fine!' Diamond Tiara angrily thought to herself, as she jammed her hoof into her pillow.
“I don't need anypony's help anyway.” Diamond Tiara whispered angrily to herself.
Glaring down at her pillow once more, a thought crossed her mind, causing her to glance to the door leading out of the cabin.
A moment later, Diamond Tiara was kicking the sheets off and quickly climbing down from her bunk.
'I'll show them!'
She was out the door, without a second thought.
A few seconds passed, before Delicacy peeked out from underneath her own covers, her horn lightly glowing.
Pushing her own covers back, she took a moment to mark the page in the book she had been reading beneath her covers, before getting out of bed.
Moving towards the door, the unicorn filly hesitated a moment, before glancing between the door and back towards her unmade bunk...
A couple of minutes later, Delicacy followed Diamond Tiara out the door, leaving behind her, now, neatly made bed.