Diamond Tiara shuddered in the damp base made of cobblestone and wood and tried to hide her intense blush.
Never had a pony been so nice to her, she had been almost sure Button would have blamed her for her cowardice when she had rushed to the safe interior of their base.
But no, he had looked almost relieved to see her go someplace safe. His strong and assured voice came back to her head.
Stay safe actually! What courageous words he had spoken while heading on to battle!
"Ohhhh... Nopony has ever cared about me like that! And especially no stallion! I mean sure a lot of stallions were nicer but not as!
Could it be...? Could it be that he likes me?! Oh wow! I mean he is super nice... And he's quite handsome compared to others!
Ohhhhh! Stop blushing Diamond!" squealed the pink earth pony, laying her hooves on her cheeks.
Some movement in front of the house alarmed her.
Diamond quickly jumped up strait, ready to... to do whatever she had to if a scary monster would pop up.
The door slammed open and an orange pegasus came 'flying' in at full speed, crash landing next to Diamond.
"Heyyyy!" the concerned exclaimed, her heartbeat decreasing. "There's something called knocking you know!"
An arrow landed next to her with a soft thump, planting itself quite deeply into the soil. "Okay, there are conditions I guess!"
Scootaloo tried to catch her breath. "Close the freaking door Diamond!" she puffed.
The earth pony simply rolled her eyes and sighed exaggeratively, making sure to slowly move towards the entrance of their small base. "Fine, fine! Just ask it nicely next-"
Another few arrows came in. One landed next to her right hoof, the other dug itself in the wall, and the third one sliced right through her mane, cutting in semi-long.
Time froze as the earth pony saw some pink wicks float in front of her eyes.
A deep silence went by as Diamond Tiara slowly lifted her hoof to catch the last few strands of pink hair falling to the floor. Her mouth opened wide and her eyes shone of a different light.
"Hey! What are you waiting for...?!" growled Scootaloo from the other side of the 'room', having finally caught her breath.
Diamond slammed the door shut with all her might, and it made a huge echoing bang through the little structure, sound bouncing off of every wall and resonating more.
"What gives?!" screamed the pegasus, startled by the sudden noise. But she jumped as Diamond violently turned to her, tears in her eyes and flowing down her cheeks.
Her mane was now cut to an untidy square and was freely falling down her forehead.
"I'll kill them..." she murmured with a twitch of her eye, wiping her tears away with rage. "I'll kill all those stupid monsters!"
Her scream made Scootaloo's ears fall back and she frightfully stared at the usually quite snobby and calm earth pony.
"H... Hey..." she awkwardly said, drawing closer to the filly. "Listen, I know it's hard to... um... loose a little bit of your mane and stuff, but you're probably going to have to face much more horrible things! I don't play Minecraft but I know for a fact that it's a dangerous game. We got fighters amongst us so I'm at least 120% sure we'll be okay" Scootaloo lifted her gaze up and gave a half hearted smile. "I'm sure we can all escape soon... The guards will directly link our absence to GameSpark and we'll be out in no time! So please... stop... crying okay?" she winced, wrapping a wing around her.
Diamond turned to her, tears still floating in her eyes, but no longer coming out of them. The filly looked miserable and so far from her usual self.
Her ears flopped down as well and she gladly buried her face in Scootaloo's fur, feeling somewhat protected.
"I'm sorry... I guess I'm just... scared!" her muffled voice was calm although a little shaky. "I'm scared-"
"Of the monsters I know... It's hard to listen to them growling outside, but I can assure you we're safe!" replied Scootaloo, starting to unconsciously stroke the remains of Diamond's mane, letting her mind wander on the others. Were they okay?
But the once snobby earth pony jerked back with anger. "No. Not that! I don't really care about the monsters! It's just... I'm scared that... that..." her voice went up in the higher levels. "That my parents don't care about me! All your relatives will look after you as Button's mother did... But what about my parents? I'm sure they don't give a dam about me! I'm actually... terrified. Terrified that I'll be forgotten..."
She turned to the opposite direction and tried to sniffle her doubts away, embarrassed to have let her feelings pour out so easily.
"Hey..." Scootaloo lifted Diamond's chin with her hoof and intensely stared in her eyes, trying to ignore her own pain. "Your parents love you no matter what. At least you... you have some I guess" she let go and took a deep breath. "Let's just wait for the others to come back."
"Sure..." Diamond didn't say anything further but sat next to her in companion silence.
They both had something in common at least... That was good...
Scootaloo on the other hoof was sweating. Why did she feel so... so...
It was a feeling she couldn't quite place a hoof on, but it was larger than her admiration for Rainbow Dash...
So... What was it...?