• Published 28th Mar 2019
  • 374 Views, 47 Comments

Nights on Horlick's Hill - RarityEQM



A collection of conversations between Scootaloo and Diamond Dancer

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Night 4

"Canni see it?"

Diamond quietly lifted her head, bringing Scootaloo's gleaming visage into view; like a child begging for a treat. The crystal filly glanced down at the little glittering jewel hanging from her neck, before she nodded her head and nonchalantly peeled the jewelry away from her collar. Daintily, she held it aloft for Scootaloo to reach out and cup gently in her hooves.

"Is this really a star?" she asks quietly, peering at the tiny gem. it seemed to be a simple trinket; a tiny glass orb connected to a short silver chain that was usually wrapped snugly around Diamond's neck. It glowed ever so faintly in Scootaloo's hooves and Diamond rapidly shook her head.

"Its just a piece of a star. One percent. The rest of its hurling through space somewhere," Diamond explained, keeping a wary eye on the precious gem Scootaloo held. The orange filly knitted her brow, looking the bauble over before she tossed a hopeful glance in Diamond's direction. Diamond didn't even need to hear what the other girl had to ask. She simply shrugged her shoulders with an almost irritated sigh spilling passed her lips.

"You say "I wish:" And then whatever it is you want. Knock yourself out, it's not gonna work," Diamond sighed softly much to Scootaloo's confusion.

"I thought you said it grants wishes?" Scootaloo asked. Diamond resumed her position she'd taken before Scootaloo had asked to see her gem. She leaned back into the grass and pointed towards the sky.

"It does grant wishes, but I'm still tryin to figure it out, exactly. See, I figure it's only like, a chunk of the star, not the full thing. Just a little tiny bit, so the wishes it grants are faulty. Dare are rules. Like, you'se can't make a wish dat would destroy the star, or the pony makin' a wish. Not directly, anyway," Diamond mumbled ruefully. Something turned in the pit of Scootaloo's stomach with the way Diamond had said that; there was a distinct sense of regret to her words. As if sensing Scootaloo's discomfort, Diamond coughed and sat up, gesturing to Scootaloo for the jewel.

"Err, and uh, it usually only grants my wishes, but I don't know why dat is, Luna says da star is powered by my innocence, but I don't dink dats da case, ya know, since I used ta be a thief. Ain't exactly, what you'd call innocent in that sense but it seems to react to me anyway. As far as wishes go, I think it tries to do a variant of the wish, but within its limits? Or something? I don't know, I'm kinda scared of dis ding to be totally honest with you. I don't understand its rules at all," Diamond huffed, now cradling the jewel in her hooves. She held it up, peering through the clear crystal that encased the star itself and sighed.

"Well, why don't you ask Luna about it?" Scootaloo asked, but Diamond shook her head.

"Tried that. She says wish magic is not terribly well documented or understood. I mostly use it in emergencies, like, no matter where the star could send me, I make sure it's better than the place I'm in now. Usually it teleports me somewhere close by, but not in that exact spot, other times, it'll transport me half way around the globe. It's either super fickle or incredibly broad in terms of what it can and can't do," Diamond grumbled, slipping the orb back around her neck. It glistened in the moon light against her murky silver fur. Scootaloo nodded her head and slowly settled back into the grass, staring up into the sky.

"Well...why don't you practice using it? If you did that you'd know what you could wish for in an emergency, right?"

"Scootaloo..."

"And Luna entrusted it to you so clearly she thinks you can handle making wishes"

"Scoot-"

"And what if you find a wish that could totally help the Night Court in a super serious situation!? Wouldn't you be happy to have practiced making wishes?"

"Good lord, you're the devil,"

"It almost sounds like it's your duty to practice making wishes for the good of your team"

"Stop talking,"

"I mean whats the worst thing that could happen? It's only a tiny sliver of a star, right? It can't be that powerful, can it? How would you know if you don't test the limits?

"You'se is sellin' me Tickets to Tartarus, Scootaloo!" Diamond snarled, clutching the blue bangs that dangled in front of her face. Scootaloo just grinned.

"Did you ever stop to think maybe Luna gave you the star so that you could learn how to use it properly?"

"In da future, I'll look back and say this: this was the moment my common sense committed suicide," Diamond groaned, much to Scootaloo's glee. The moment Diamond had muttered the comment about her common sense, a billion things began to drift through Scootaloo's head. All the things she could do with a magic wishing star; the possibilities were endless!!

"How about spending the day in Cloudsdale? Ponies go up there all the time, and that's not a problem, right? It should be a simple wish, right?" Scootaloo asked, eyes brilliantly shining. If the star was as powerful as Diamond claimed it was, then a simple trip to Cloudsdale wasn't too far out of the question, was it? An easy wish that would whisk them away to Cloudsdale for a while, and if that worked, maybe she could convince Diamond to try and fix their wings. For both their sakes! Scootaloo glanced over towards Diamond hopefully and bit her lower lip. The other girl was staring hard at her star, holding it tightly in her hooves.

"So...So just to Cloudsdale and back, right? I mean, we don't have to go no where else, right?" Diamond whimpered. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Cloudsdale! Come on, don't you wanna go?"

"Meh. Not really. I've been to Cloudsdale before. It's full of yuppies and airheads. Mouth-breathers and shmucks, "Diamond grumbled. "But, I can't blame you for wanting to check it out, so, eh, let's see...I wish...hey come'ere. If it takes us anywhere you'se gotta be close," Diamond Dancer explained, reaching out to wrap a foreleg around Scootaloo's shoulders.

"Alright...Here goes...I wish me n' Scoots could spend da day in Cloudsdale," Diamond sputtered softly. The two of them sat there, under the bright glittering stars and waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened. Diamond blew out a held sigh of relief, but Scootaloo growled.

"Aww come on?! What, it's just not gonna do anything?" She snapped. Diamond shrugged her shoulders.

"I said it doesn't always work. There must have been some reason it couldn't take us to Cloudsdale, Maybe we weren't specific enough," Diamond explained, with a shrug. She reached a hoof up, poking at the star tentatively, but nothing happened. Scootaloo frowned.

"Lame," she snorted. Diamond winced. Her ears splayed back against her skull and she nibbled at her lower lip sheepishly.

"Ahh...S-sorry, Scoots. But, even if this star don't work, there are still a whole bunch of 'em up there, right?" she squeaked, pointing a blackened leg into the air, at the millions of trickling dots above them. Quietly, Scootaloo smiled, and nodded her head.

"Yeah...You're right. We'll get a wish eventually,"

"And we won't stop until we do!!" Diamond beamed, laying back down under the tree, where she gestured for Scootaloo to do the same. She did as such, and Diamond gave a quiet sigh.

"You know, Diamond, it doesn't really matter if the star works or not. This is cool as it is." The orange filly mumbled. Diamond glanced over, a lazy smile twisting over her lips.

"Yeah?"

"Heh. Yeah," Scootaloo said quietly, the together, the two of them peered into the night sky, waiting for another shooting star.