Chapter One: Disciplinary Action

Filthy Rich has had better days.

Oh, it was true that the weather ponies were at the top of their game today, having brought about clear skies and cooling breezes in perfect measure for the day. His business was having one of those rare days that didn't require much supervision on his part. And Filthy Rich knew that he generally had fewer reasons to complain than most ponies, due to his monetary success.

If only his precious Diamond had gotten the memo that the day was going to be a good one.

He could scarcely understand it, but despite his efforts she seemed to only be getting more and more...rambunctious.

Ms. Cheerilee had actually sent someone to get him from work for this latest incident. Worse than the usual antagonism between his daughter and the youngest Apple, the two had finally broken out into a full on brawl. In the middle of the classroom, no less. Over glitter.

That little detail had really gotten his blood up, during the little meeting he just had with Ms. Cheerilee and Big Macintosh. It had been little solace that little Applebloom's older brother had been so understanding, given the moment Filthy had started admonishing Diamond Tiara and spelling out her punishment, she had immediately started blaming Applebloom for it all. And naturally Applebloom reciprocated, which quickly led to both stallions holding them back from another brawl. Filthy Rich had doubled the time for Diamond Tiara's grounding right there, but it quickly lead right back to his daughter blaming “the Blank-flank” and vice versa.

He had been kind of relieved to find out that Diamond still had detention time to serve for the next couple of hours. Filthy Rich needed some time to clear his thoughts.

While Filthy Rich certainly trusted the Apples to address matters from their end, as things stood he just didn't know what to do from his own end. The schoolyard grudge was starting to drag others into the middle of it, and Filthy didn't even really know what had started it. Just last week he had a rather awkward conversation with little Silver Spoon's parents on the very subject; Diamond's behavior aside, her grades had been slipping and it seemed she was rubbing off more and more on her best friend.

He could understand them, his daughter and little Applebloom, not getting along, even if it was disappointing, given the long standing friendship between the two families. But the situation was getting out-of-hoof.

'Maybe, I should take my vacation early this year, maybe take on a more hooves-on approach...'

He wasn't particularly excited about the idea, as it would make it harder to take an actual vacation with Diamond Tiara, and spend actual quality time with his daughter. But maybe it was a bit late to keep taking half-measures...

...he would've kept mulling over this line-of-thought, had he not suddenly found himself rolling head-over-hooves into the ground.

'Well, that could have been worse...at least, I fell onto something soft...and warm...and groaning.'

Scrambling away, as he surmised that it hadn't been his own hooves betraying him that had led to his spill, he soon found himself tangled up in the other pony's dress.

“Gyah!”

This time it was Filthy with a confused pony on top of him. A pony princess at that.

“Oooh, I don't think Rarity's idea of dressing up more often is going to last.”

Filthy Rich's senses finally catching up with the situation, he began to take a more reasoned approach to sorting out this little faux pas. Working a bit more calmly to untangle himself from the purple alicorn's dress this time around “Sorry about that Princess Twilight. Really, very sorry. Here let me help you with that.”

With Twilight coordinating this time around they were both quickly on their hooves, with Twilight rubbing her head, and Filthy Rich trying his best to dust off the princess. Soon she waved him off, not overly concerned with the dress.

“It's alright. Accidents happen, Mr. Rich.”

“Hardly an excuse. If I wasn't so caught up in my own problems, this wouldn't have happened, Princess Twilight.”

“Just Twilight, if that's alright. And really it's fine, I wasn't really paying attention either. Probably shouldn't try reading and walking at the same time in the middle of the street.”

Quickly nodding at Twilight's request, used to having to deal with same issue of what he preferred to be called, he soon noted the scattered documents around them. “Oh, let me help you gather these back together, Ms. Twilight. And afterwards we can swing by my store and get you something new to wear, free-of-charge. I can't say it will be up to Ms. Rarity's standards, but we at Barnyards Bargains take pride in our quality products.” He chuckled a bit at that, scarcely aware that he had slipped a bit into advertising, even as he started gathering the scattered documents.

“Thanks, but you don't need to go through all that trouble. Rarity has been trying to get me into more and more clothes lately; I've got more than ever right now.”

“It wouldn't be any trouble at all.” The two of them soon had the documents into a relatively neat pile.

“Really, it's fine. You don't need to make anything up to me. Like I said accidents happen.” This time Twilight tried smiling to let the stallion know that everything really was fine.

“Well, if you're sure...well, even so if you happen to need to pick up anything you be sure to swing on by. Especially if you're planning on traveling.”

“I'm sorry?”

“You are planning on traveling soon, right? My apologies, but I caught a glance at a few lines here and there. Rather used to looking over paperwork you know.”

“Oh. Well, yes. I suppose I am going to be...visiting with some folk and-...”

“Say no more. Top secret work for our newest princess, am I right? Sorry for my nosiness.” Filthy Rich said with a wink.

“Oh, well...it's not really top secret. I'm just...anxious is all.” She finished lamely.

“About traveling or the folks you're meeting when you get there?” The stallion asked.

“Uh, mostly the second one.” Twilight smiled a bit sheepishly at that, as she started to head down the street again, Filthy Rich in tow.

“Really now? With everything you've done, I can't imagine what would make you anxious, Ms. Twilight.” Mr. Rich chuckled at that.

“Yeah, I suppose so. I guess it's just easier to not worry when things are spur of the moment for me. Most of the time, I don't have the opportunity to worry for very long.” Twilight admitted.

“My advice? Take your mind off of it for a little while, maybe get something to eat.”

“That's what Spike said. It hasn't really worked so far.”

“And naturally, I come along and interrupt your lunch hour. Here let me get out of your mane.”

“I wasn't really hungry, honestly. And I'm not really like Spike; eating doesn't really wash away my problems.” She giggled at that, knowing that Spike wouldn't give much mind to the sky falling if he had a nice pile of gems in front of him.

“If only it were that easy. I suppose we should hold up young Spike as an example then...anyway, I should let you get back to your business. Again if you need anything, you be sure to swing on by.” Filthy Rich was just about to walk away, when Twilight called back.

“Wait. Didn't you say you were having problems too?” Twilight asked.

Turning back, as his mind quickly turned back to the issues that he had been mulling over earlier, he quickly decided it best to not burden the young mare. “Nothing to trouble yourself with, Ms. Twilight. I'm sure you have much bigger things on your mind.”

“I want to know. Really. I mean you listened to me, right? Maybe I can help.” Twilight insisted.

“I really don't want to keep you from your lunch, when you seem busy enough as it is.” Mr. Rich continued to hedge.

“Well, we could always chat while we eat. And I really would like to know if I might be able to help.” Twilight offered.

Mr. Rich was about to spare Twilight his company, when his stomach grumbled mightily at the word 'eat'. He had missed his own lunch to his meeting with Cheerilee. Sighing as his gut turned on him “I suppose I can't say I'm keeping you from your lunch then, can I? Alright, but I insist on it being my treat.”

“Deal.”

A little while later...

“...so here I am, wondering where I went wrong!” Punctuating this declaration by abruptly dropping his head onto his untouched plate of food, and getting the attention of several other patrons, Filthy Rich admitted to being at his wit's end.

Twilight gave an awkward smile to the other ponies around, before taking a sip of her hay-shake. Taking a breath, she leaned forward before using her telekinesis to lift Mr. Rich's face from the plate. Pushing the plate to the side, she wasn't really sure off the top of her head how to help the stallion, so settled for letting him set his head back on the table. She'd probably need to ask for extra napkins from the waiter in a bit.

She had no idea how severe the situation had become. Sure, she had been peripherally aware of the fact that her friend's younger sister had something of a rivalry with Mr. Rich's daughter. But she had always figured it was simply a foalhood issue, and nothing to be overly concerned with; she hadn't really gotten any indications otherwise from Applejack. But, apparently, they were breaking out into actual fights, sniping at each other in the middle of class, and dragging all of their friends into it, as well. Apparently, some of the more noteworthy-...disasters in Ponyville had been set off by their rivalry.

And she didn't want to take sides, but she had never really noticed any particularly negative qualities from Applebloom...well, aside from a certain over-eagerness in some of her pursuits. And a tendency to inadvertently cause a bit of havoc. And she did possess the Apple family stubbornness and pride.

'Okay, so little Applebloom probably bears a fair share there. But still, little Diamond Tiara sounds like a little terror.'

In any event, it wasn't a matter of assigning blame, but figuring out how to get the situation under control.

“Mr. Rich?”

“...I apologize for that little outburst there, Ms. Sparkle. I suppose I'm not used to discussing this kind of thing with other ponies.” Mr. Rich lifted his head, and started to take back his normal controlled posture. Soon he was brushing off the hayfries and adjusting his tie. “In any event, I thank you for taking the time to listen...”

Sensing that he intended to leave Twilight quickly reached a hoof forward to stop him “Wait! Didn't you want to figure out how to...address the problem?”

Blinking in surprise “I-...That's very kind of you Ms. Twilight. But I've already unloaded on you enough for one day. And you must have more business to attend to. I'm sure I do...”

“No, not really. I kind of make a point of being well ahead of most of the work I need to do anyway. I can take some time to brainstorm on this problem. And I want to help.”

“But...I'm not really sure how you could help. I mean, you're free to try talking with her, I suppose. But I've tried that myself. I've tried grounding her. Taking away privileges. More creative punishment. It seems to work right up until the two meet, every time.”

“Uhm, well, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy...but, I do know something about...impossible seeming conflicts. And if there's one thing I've learned is that there is always a way!” She punctuated her claim with a radiant smile, as she placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulders.

Smiling at the words of encouragement from the young princess “Well, I suppose you're right. Have to keep getting back on that horse. After all, you've faced dragons and all manner of troubles, maybe keeping two foals from tearing into each other isn't too great a challenge for Princess Twilight Sparkle...even if we need to call in the royal guard from time to time to keep them apart.”

Mr. Rich chuckled at the joke at the end. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that Twilight seemed to be staring blankly at him. “Ms. Twilight? Are you-”

“That's it!”

Exclaiming loud enough to cause nearly every pony in place to jump a few inches in the air, she scarcely noticed the disturbance she just caused.

“I know what we can try! Come on, I'll explain when we get back to the library.”

Filthy Rich blinked in confusion briefly, as he watched the mare run off, before shrugging and following after her.

Silence reigned over the patrons and staff of the restaurant as their discussion concluded. About a minute after the two had exited, one mare looked around and spoke her mind “So...do we just not involve ourselves or something? I mean, we could right? Not like we didn't hear what was going on.”

The ponies looked amongst themselves at the mare's question mumbling to themselves a bit, before the waiter gave his own piece “Probably best to let this play out on it's own for a bit.”

Ponies nodded and generally agreed with the assessment as they turned back to their meals. Aside from the mare who first posed the question, as she pursed her lips in consideration before saying to herself “It's not like the rest of us can't contribute...”

A few minutes later...

Soon, Filthy Rich found himself following Twilight into the town library, winded and bewildered. Leaning against the door frame as he got his breath, he took note of the younger mare making a beeline for her desk.

“Haaah, hah, huuuh...if you don't...mind me asking-”

“Yes! The timing is perfect!” Twilight soon turned back towards the stallion with a calendar held in her magic.

His brow arching at this, he decided to continue his earlier line of questioning “...-why did we need to run all the way here.”

“To check the date, of course.”

“...That's it?”

“Well, I mean-”

“I could have told you the date, Ms. Twilight.”

“...”

“Or we could have asked somepony.”

“...”

“Or checked a newspaper.”

“...Ok, so maybe running here was kind of unnecessary.” Twilight soon tilted her head at Mr. Rich's points. “I guess, I'm just kind of used to running here in the middle of every emergency.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head, mildly embarrassed by the admission. Certain ponies might have been right about her; it kind of said something about her, that in an emergency she usually found herself running to the library.

“Well...I guess I can appreciate how seriously you're taking the issue, though emergency might be too strong a word. Anyway, why did you need to know the date?” Filthy Rich asked, with a gesture of his hoof.

“Oh! Well, it just occurred to me that the timing seemed about right. All the foals are going to be getting out of school for the summer soon, right?”

“I believe so.”

“Well, it just so happens I know of the perfect solution, and it's going to be taking place over the summer.” Twilight announced with a smile.

Twilight soon filled him in on her grand scheme. With much gesticulating and reassurances, Mr. Rich scarcely noticed when Spike provided the two of them drinks, during their discussion.

As Twilight finished, Mr. Rich still had his reservations “...well, still. It seems a bit extreme, don't you think? Sending her off to-”

“Trust me, Mr. Rich, it's a great experience. My Big Brother used to go every year, and he would go on-and-on about it. He loved it. And you can't find a pony more disciplined or responsible than Shiny.”

“I understand, but...she would be away from Ponyville for an entire month? Away from home? And it doesn't sound entirely safe.”

“They have a great record though! And...maybe that's what she needs, Mr. Rich.” Twilight said.

Filthy's expression showed his doubts at the thought quite clearly. But before he could voice his opinions, Twilight pressed on “I mean, you seem like a very loving father and a good stallion. But you admitted not ten minutes ago that anytime you try to discipline little Diamond Tiara, it doesn't ever seem to sink in. She's too used to it coming from you. You need to take her out of her comfort zone, I think. And if nothing else, it'll be a month where she can be away from Ponyville. Maybe make new friends and grow up a little. I bet she'll even enjoy it!”

Filthy Rich considered this for a few minutes, not entirely comfortable with the idea. But...perhaps it was like Twilight said, and he too was stuck in his comfort zone. And that wasn't working.

Soon he nodded “Well, alright then, we can give it a shot.”

“Great”

“But, I'm going to have to insist on getting in contact with those in charge.”

“Of course.”

“And I wouldn't mind getting in contact with your brother.”

“Not a problem.”

“And, I'll need to see the facilities.”

“That should be doable.”

“...well, great then. I guess it's off to-”

...One week later.

“Boot Camp!?”

Filthy Rich flinched and folded back his ears at his daughter's outburst.

“You're making me join the Royal Guard cause of that stupid blank-flank?!”

Filthy Rich scowled a bit at that, as he was quickly reminded of what was at stake. “It's not 'Boot Camp' it's Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp. And it comes highly recommended for foals with disciplinary problems, by Princess Twilight herself. And her brother.”

“Princess Twilight?! She isn't even a real princess though! All she does is hang out in that silly library of hers.”

“That's enough, Diamond Tiara! You don't have to like this, but I will not have you disrespecting a fine mare like Ms. Twilight. Princess or not!” Filthy Rich liked to think of himself as a very patient pony, and very rarely saw a need to raise his voice, but he was quickly realizing that he needed to put his hoof down. His filly soon bit her tongue, not used to her daddy yelling, before her eyes quickly started welling up with tears.

“But-but daddy, I don't want to be a guardpony, and Summer vacation just started and Silver Spoon won't be there and what about all those dirty ponies?!”

Filthy Rich soon found himself rubbing his face with his hoof, as his daughter quickly turned on the waterworks. He had enough troubles trying to be strict with her, without her resorting to that.

“I understand this isn't what you were expecting, sweetie. But this is already settled. I've looked into everything, travel arrangements have been made, and all that's left is the packing. We're giving this a chance, and that's that.”

“B-but whyyy?” The filly punctuated the question with the most heartbreaking sniffles.

'And here we go. Celestia help me.'

“I think you know why.”

“So it really is because of those goofball blank-flanks?!”

'And we're back to square one.'

“No, it's because of this terrible attitude you've started taking with everything, especially little Applebloom and her friends. Picking fights, bullying others, bad grades. And I had to have a very uncomfortable conversation with Silver Spoon's parents about your bad influence on your friend. To say nothing of the Gabby Gums incident or Family Appreciation Day.”

“B-but, daddy!”

“No more buts, Diamond Tiara. I suggest you make the best of this week. Because you are going to be spending the next month learning how to be a grown-up.”

Next week...

'The week could have gone a lot worse, looking back.'

Despite numerous attempts on his daughter's part to sabotage things, he had managed to pull everything together in time, and was even now escorting his daughter to the train station.

Begging, bargaining, excessively good behavior, excessively bad behavior, the old “I'm Sick” routine, a runaway attempt that didn't even get out the door, attempts to delay the inevitable and an attempt involving a body double, had all been either thwarted or ignored by Mr. Rich.

Though admittedly not all of the delays and inconveniences had been planned by Diamond Tiara. It had come as a sobering realization when he had to, in detail, explain just what a sleeping bag was for, among other things. She had not responded well to the camping aspect of her coming trip, when she heard what was involved.

'Regardless of how this turns out, I'm going to have to start spending more time with her.' It had started to become painfully apparent just how sheltered his little filly truly was. And he was going to do something about it.

Glancing to his side, he soon noted that, once again, his filly had tried to fall behind in a last ditch effort to avoid going on her little adventure. “Diamond Tiara. Unless you want me to carry you like a newborn into the train station in front of everypony, I suggest you pick up the pace.”

“But daddy, all this stuff is too heavy!”

Rolling his eyes once more at his filly's whining, he soon cantered back down the road to where his daughter was making a show of struggling with her saddlebags and the pack of supplies he had purchased over the last week. In under a minute he had soon moved both the pack and his daughters saddlebags onto himself; if walking through town while loaded up with his daughter's notably pink supplies was what was required to make this happen, he'd accept it.

“There. Now you should be able to handle the short walk to the train station.”

Left without any sort of excuse to slow down their journey, and with her daddy keeping a constant scrutiny on her now, she did what most foals did when they were cornered. She pouted.

With the uncomfortable silence guiding them to their destination, they were soon stopping in front of the train that would be carrying his little filly to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp for the next month.

“Last call!” And just in time at that.

Realizing just how long their walk had taken, Mr. Rich hastened to the pony calling for the last riders to get on. He was relieved to note that Diamond Tiara had followed, perhaps entirely out of habit.

“Wait! We have one more rider. This is the train for the Junior Summer Camp, right?”

“Yessir. That's one of our stops, and you got here just in time sir...though ya seem a bit old for summer camp.”

“Oh, no. It's my filly here.” Quickly gesturing to Diamond Tiara, who sported an expression that suggested she was thinking about bolting.

Quickly placing a hoof behind his daughter he scooted her in front of him, before she could think to do anything rash. Quickly pulling out the ticket, Filthy soon passed it to the stallion.

Giving it a cursory glance he soon turned back to Mr. Rich “Looks like everything's in order. I take it that's her luggage. Let me go ahead and load that up for ya.”

Soon divested of his burden, Filthy Rich soon found himself alone with his little filly. The same filly that was looking up at him with big, watery eyes and a look of near panic.

Briefly tempted to just say 'screw it' and take his little filly back home, the father soon squashed that line of thought. Kneeling down, he soon wrapped her in a hug. He was relieved when she returned it a few seconds later.

“I know you don't think this is fair, and that you're a bit scared-”

“Am not.” Rather than an outburst, her voice was rather resigned to the situation.

“-but...I'm only doing this because I really think this is what's best for you. And I want you to know that I love you with all my heart, and I'll be waiting for you to come back. Alright?”

Sniffling again as she wiped her face in embarrassment, she managed to let out a quiet “Alright.”

Before the scene could continue much longer, the train let out a loud whistle, just as the stallion from earlier returned.

“Time's up, Mister. We gotta get your filly situated on board now.”

“Alright. Please keep an eye on her for me.”

“No problem.”

With one more hug shared between father and daughter, she was carried aboard just as the train started off.

About an hour later...

Filthy Rich had taken his time walking back to his home. There weren't any pressing issues and he had taken the day off to see Diamond Tiara off. And he needed the time to remind himself that this whole plan was the right thing to do for his filly.

As he closed the door to his rather large and comfortable home, he took in a breath as he considered how empty the house seemed when he knew that his daughter was miles away by now. And quiet.

“Huzzah!”

Or not-so-quiet and not-so-empty. Startled for a moment as he considered what sounded like a cheer, he moved further into his house.

Soon standing in front of a simple door, he had to remind himself that he wasn't really all that alone and the house was far from empty. Still curious, he opened the door to his household staff's breakroom.

“Pop!”

Ducking just as a wine cork was launched over his head, he soon turned back to take in the scene.

“Huzza- Oomph!” The latest cheer was cutoff as a mare, Fine Dining, elbowed the stallion that had popped open the bottle in the gut, Mr. Rich's Butler, Posh Polish.

The last occupant of the room let out a sudden squeak as she noticed her employer standing in the doorway. Mademoiselle, his Prench maid, quickly and quietly threw the cake she was eating in the trash, as she cantered in front of him and bowed “Monsieur Rich, was zere something you needed?”

Tilting his head, he considered the apparently celebratory cake sitting on the counter, the frozen and bordering-on panicked looks on the other two ponies faces, before facing his maid “Just wondering what the commotion is all about, is all.”

Mademoiselle soon opened her mouth, but halted as she realized she didn't know how to explain the party they were throwing. “It's a, how you say...a birthday party?”

Raising an eyebrow at this answer, he considered the three before turning towards Posh Polish “Posh's right?”

“Oh, oui. You remembered.” The other two visibly relaxed, as Mademoiselle quickly agreed.

“Wasn't Posh's birthday next month?” The other two visibly tensed up again.

“O-oui. W-well, you see. There was a...uhm...a time rift?”

“A time rift?” Fine Dining and Posh Polish were both staring in shock at Mademoiselle's explanation.

“Oui, Monsieur Rich.”

“I see...well, carry on then. And Happy Temporally Displaced Birthday, Posh.”

Filthy Rich soon stepped back out, closing the door behind him, catching the sounds of hushed words being exchanged on the other side.

He considered his staff's actions for a moment, before shaking his head with a chuckle. He wasn't an idiot. He could put two-and-two together well enough.

He supposed it wasn't all that surprising, his people were very loyal and reliable, but given recent events he had to admit his daughter was quite the handful when she wanted to be. Really, that they were trying to be as considerate of his feelings as they were, was kind of touching in it's own right. After all, they had never complained before.

'I can at least play along for now. And they have been needing a new coffee maker in their breakroom...'

Deciding to do something nice for the ponies around him, Filthy Rich headed back to town.

In the staff breakroom...

“A time rift? Really, Maddy?” Fine Dining was not pleased with the youngest of their group.

“Désolé. It waz just so sudden. You know zat I'm a terrible liar." The maid was nearly in tears over her slip.

Posh Polish was curled over the sink, sick with anxiety “We are so dead. He's going to have our hides mounted, I just know it."

Fine Dining sighed as she glanced between her two less composed comrades. Raising her hoof in a placating gesture “Alright. Alright. We just need to take a breath and calm down. For all we know, everything's fine, and he won't even notice that-"

She was soon cutoff by the sound of a sudden knock at the door. The three ponies glanced among themselves, stricken with panic at the sound. As another knock began, Mademoiselle jumped into action again.

Peeking out the door, she groaned in misery as she saw who it was. She opened the door to let the others see “Bonjour again, Monsieur Whooves."

“Thanks. And it's Doctor...Now which one of you told Mr. Rich about the time rift?"

Posh Polish and Fine Dining both got over their shock quickly enough to shoot identical glares towards Mademoiselle, who cringed under their scorn.

“Alright then. You three know the deal. Pack your bags, we gotta try it again."

Author's Notes:

Alright, so first chapter of my second story. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it.

As before, questions and criticisms are welcome. I plan on this story being a bit longer than the first, Advanced Lessons, and the humor will be a bit tamer considering it's foals this time around.

Anyway, I've always found Diamond Tiara to be a rather interesting character, for a variety of reasons I'm not going to get into right here. So, I wanted to write a story focusing on her, and addressing some of her character flaws and strengths. Hopefully, I can even put an interesting spin on her, and help her develop a bit as a character in everyone's eyes.

As I mentioned, this story is taking place in the two month timeskip between Chapters 2 and 3 of my first story, Advanced Lessons. There is some connectivity between the two, and reading the first will provide some context for some of things going on in this story, but it's not really necessary that you read it to be able to appreciate this story.

Again, enjoy. And feel free ask questions and offer criticism. It's always appreciated.

Chapter Two: Rendevous Point

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Diamond Tiara was not a happy camper.

And she didn't want to be one.

'I gotta sleep in the dirt and bugs, all because that stupid blank-flank couldn't keep her hooves to herself. Not to mention that silly librarian that tricked daddy.'

Sulking on a cushion, that only barely qualified as decent in her mind, she took a moment to look out the window. Watching as the trees and countryside passed, she briefly considered jumping the train. But that wouldn't really solve the whole sleeping in the dirt and bugs dilemma.

Turning back, she considered the only bright side thus far; daddy had at least sprung for her own compartment on the train, letting her put off having to deal with any other unfortunate souls doomed to go to the camp for a couple of hours.

It might even have been kinda awesome, if Silver Spoon was here to keep her company. But no, Silver Spoon's parents were paying for some kind of special summer tutors. Which, while lame, was still better than what Diamond Tiara was looking forward to...

'Like getting eaten by a bear. Or a timber wolf. Or some kind of giant pony-eating bird...like a duck...'

About now would be the point that her best friend would be reminding her that ducks aren't generally known for eating ponies. And now is about the point Diamond Tiara would be reminding Silver Spoon of the time that duck bit her. The very large, menacing duck that lived near the town pond. Which, no doubt, came from ancient times when ducks were just flying all over the place eating perfect little ponies like Diamond Tiara. While Applebloom chased her on a broom, ordering her duck minions after her, including Scootaloo...

...yeah, right about now is when Silver Spoon would be derailing that line-of-thought.

Knock-knock.

Suddenly shaken from her thoughts by a knock at the sliding door, Diamond Tiara quickly rolled off her cushion. Not thinking about the improbability of it, she quickly slid back the door, hoping to see Silver Spoon. Smart, wonderful Silver Spoon ready to assure her that she wouldn't be eaten by ducks and that this was all Applebloom's fault.

It wasn't Silver Spoon.

No, standing in front of Diamond Tiara's compartment was a unicorn filly with a pale blue coat and a pastel yellow mane and tail, looking slightly startled by Diamond Tiara slapping open the door. The poor filly's expression went from startled to worried as she noticed the sudden frown that overtook Diamond Tiara's features, and the gloomy look that was directed towards her.

“Uhm, my- That is-...” Trailing off uncertainly, the filly soon lapsed into anxious silence, certain that she had done something wrong. Diamond Tiara, in no mood for her antics, quickly snapped.

“Well?!”

Jumping a bit and quickly straightening her posture, the strange filly quickly bowed her head before blurting out. “HellomynameisDelicacy. Couldyoudirectmetothefacilities?”

Blinking, Diamond Tiara's anger had been slightly defused by her lack of understanding of what was just asked of her.

The other filly looked up, a bit nervously, not having caught wind of Diamond Tiara's confusion.

Diamond Tiara realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere just standing there, decided to approach the situation with the class and sophistication that only a filly of her upbringing could bring to the table.

“What?”

The other filly, seemingly relieved by Diamond Tiara having calmed down, tried again “Sorry...My name is Delicacy...”

“Oh...Well, what did you want?”

Blushing, she rubbed her two front hooves together, nervously, before quietly answering “I-...it's not important, I apologize for bothering you.”

“The what are you even doing here then...bothering me?” Diamond Tiara felt the need to tack on the last bit just to remind everyone involved that she was still feeling upset.

“Oh-...I-I'd rather not...”

As Delicacy shuffled anxiously, Diamond Tiara got around to actually taking in the details of the filly in front of her. The filly's mane and tail looked to be well-cared for, suggesting regular brushing. Her coat was, likewise, rather cleaner than Diamond Tiara was used to seeing from her fellow foals. Outside of Silver Spoon and herself, that is. Good posture, manners, and she didn't seem to have any sort of yokel accent.

Just about the as far from Applebloom, as one could get. A positive.

In fact, the unicorn was pretty far removed from most of the foals from Ponyville. Struck by a thought, Diamond Tiara decided to ask “Let me guess, some stupid blank-flank got you stuck going to this stupid boot camp too?”

The filly blinked at the question, not expecting it “Uhm, no. My Auntie has her Cutie Mark.”

“Your Aunt's forcing you to come here? What is she, like, some sort of drill sergeant? I don't know how anyone could convince my Daddy-”

“She's not forcing me to come...I mean, not to interrupt. Sorry.”

“What? Then who's making you go?” She was a bit too surprised to care about being interrupted. Most of the ponies on Ponyville didn't even have the good manners to apologize.

“Uhm, me.”

“Wait. You want to sleep in the dirt and, like, eat bugs?!”

“Well, no. And I don't think you have to eat bugs...it wasn't in the pamphlet. At least, I don't think it was.”

“But you do want to go? Why?” This was baffling, for Diamond Tiara. What kind of rational pony would want to go? At least rational in the sense that they didn't want to play in the mud and get yelled at by soldiers. Nevermind that those things probably weren't mentioned in any pamphlet either.

The filly continued to shift from hoof-to-hoof in apparent anxiety, before looking back up towards Diamond Tiara “Well, it's not really a big deal. It's kind of related to my Cutie Mark-”

Diamond Tiara finally thought to take a look at the other fillies flank, briefly worried she was dealing with another blank-flank. The universe seemed to pick on her whenever it came to dealing with blank-flanks. She was a bit relieved to see the mark on the unicorn's flank. Even though she couldn't exactly figure out what it meant.

On Delicacy's flank there seemed to be a stylized feather, with concentric circles expanding out around it. It was kind of pretty, Diamond Tiara would admit, though not very descriptive.

“-and I don't want to bore you with the details. And do you perhaps know where-”

Unaware of Diamond Tiara's confusion Delicacy had continued right along. Until Diamond Tiara gave voice to her curiosity, with her usual eloquence.

“What's it mean?”

“...I'm sorry?”

“Your Cutie Mark.”

“Oh...”

Delicacy glanced to her Cutie Mark, before visibly seeming to consider it.

“Uhm, it's kind of hard to explain. My Auntie said it really well. She says it means I have a light-touch.”

“That tells me, like, nothing. What does that even mean?”

Blushing a bit at the criticism before she attempted to explain it again “I'm...delicate?”

“Like a flower?”

“I-”

“Watch out below!!”

Before Delicacy could even get another word out, she found herself rolling head-over-hoof down the hall, wrapped up in what she would later describe as an orange and purple tornado. On her back, the young unicorn finally was able to make sense of what had bowled her over. It started with an orange tomcolt's dazed expression, framed by a shock of wild purple hair...

“Uuughhh...That wasn't such a hot idea after all...”

“Oh, great. Applebloom sent her duck after me, after all.”

“Stop calling me a duck, Diamond Tiara!...Wait! What are you doing here?!” Quickly picking herself up, the pegasus quickly turned around to face the facts. The face of those facts being that she was sharing a train with Diamond Tiara, Super-Jerk.

“Watching you faceplant. Again. You do that a lot for a duck.” Diamond Tiara was soon pulling on every ounce of her arrogant attitude.

“Shut up! That was just practice! And, I told you to stop calling me a duck!”

“Then you shouldn't have bit me that time!”

“Why does that make me a duck?!”

“At least real ducks can fly!”

“...hello?”

Both of the arguing fillies broken from the angry glares they were sending one another turned towards the soft voice, which happened to come from under Scootaloo. She had stood up, but had neglected to actually move off of her earlier victim, leaving Delicacy staring up at Scootaloo's belly through the whole argument.

Realizing her earlier blunder, she quickly started checking over the other filly “Oh! I'm so, so, sorry! Like Super-Sorry. I was trying to get some speed and- Are you alright?”

Delicacy blinked, still dazed by every thing going around her “...I'm not delicate like a flower.”

“What? I never said you were.”

Shaking her head to clear it a bit, Delicacy soon realized that everyone had moved on from the previous conversation. Noticing the filly looming over her, she soon pulled her hooves to her chest out of reflex “Oh...I'm alright.”

“Are you sure? There's nothing you need?”

“Well...you could tell me where the-”

“Of course! You're gonna need a nurse to look at you! I'm not sure where one is though...”

Delicacy just sighed.

“But that's alright! I was a pet doctor for a little while. Well sorta. The point is everything turned out alright! So what you need is-...”

“For you to get off of her, blank-flank!” Diamond Tiara interjected again, cantering up beside the two, sporting a scowl.

“What?...oh.” Scootaloo wasn't exactly happy with being called a blank-flank, but she could admit that Diamond Tiara was right about needing to get off of the other filly. She still shot a glare at her though.

Looking back at Delicacy, she quickly shuffled off of the bemused filly, before lending a hoof “Hehe, sorry again. I thought I had it that time.”

Delicacy hesitated for a second, before taking the hoof and getting back on hers “It's okay. I think I'm alright...may I ask, what were you doing?”

“Oh, right! I was just getting some last minute practice in. I've really gotta wow them, if I'm going to impress Rainbow Dash, when I get back to Ponyville.” At this she pointed towards the end of the hallway where a food trolley, sans the food, sat with a rope trailing behind it. Delicacy considered all of this, with some concern; she couldn't think of many activities that could be helped by being launched dozens of feet through the air.

“You were trying to fly?”

“Yeah, trying.” Diamond Tiara assessed snidely.

“Hey! I've already got most of it figured out!” Which was true. Scootaloo could pretty reliably get off the ground on her own wingpower now, though it was mostly limited to just unsteadily hovering in the air. Actual maneuvering and flight were proving a bit more difficult, for the young pegasus.

Turning back towards the unicorn filly she had crashed into earlier “Trust me. By the end of the month, I'll be flying circles around everypony.”

“I hope so.” Delicacy rubbed her head at that.

“Wait. You're not going to that camp, are you?” The only positive behind this whole summer camp idea had been the thought of not having to deal with the Dumbie Mark Crusaders for a while.

“Uh, yeah?”

“That is so unfair! I gotta sleep in the dirt for a month, all cause of a fight that Applebloom started. And now instead of hanging out with my friends, I'm stuck with you. What? You couldn't burn down the schoolhouse some other time?”

Nonplussed by Diamond Tiara's outburst, Scootaloo asked the first question that came to mind “Why would I burn down the schoolhouse?”

“I don't know! I'm not some crazy blank-flank! How should I know what you had to destroy to get put on this train?!”

Feeling a bit more defensive now “I didn't destroy anything! And I'm not crazy! I had to be totally good for, like, most of a month just to go!”

“Oh really? It wasn't bad enough that I was stuck going to this stupid camp, you had to come along to annoy me, too? Is that it, Scoota-loser?”

“I don't even know why anyone would let a jerk like you go!”

“Let me go?!”

“You heard-”

“Excuse me?”

Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara stalled to a halt, as Delicacy interrupted their exchange. The two fillies had been steadily been getting in the others face as their argument escalated, until they were staring one another down mere inches apart. Now they were both facing her, not sure what the soft-spoken filly wanted. Glancing between the two, a bit anxiously, Delicacy took a breath “We never finished our introductions...”

Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara stared, uncomprehendingly. Deciding to take their silence as leave to continue “Uhm, well...I introduced myself and talked about myself a bit...Oh, wait-”

She stopped, before facing Scootaloo “My name is Delicacy. And I...I'm going to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp so that I can be a stronger pony.”

Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo, derailed from their earlier anger, glanced towards one another in confusion before looking back to Delicacy.

“...Now one of you introduce yourself.” Delicacy gently encouraged.

“Uh, my name is-”

“My name is Diamond Tiara.” Diamond Tiara wasn't going to let some blank-flank cut ahead of her.

“And I'm stuck going to this stupid camp, cause Applebloom couldn't wait her turn.”

Scootaloo had been glaring at Diamond Tiara after being cut-off, but had managed to hold her tongue until that last part “You weren't even using the glitter! You just wanted it cause Applebloom-”

“Uhm, it's your turn.” Delicacy cut in again, quietly.

“What? Oh...what was the question again?” Diamond Tiara snickered at that, before Delicacy answered before Scootaloo could take offense again.

“What's your name? And you can say a bit about yourself...”

“Right...Uh, I'm Scootaloo, and...I'm going to camp, so I can get better at flying?”

Delicacy nodded, and was about to speak when Diamond Tiara took the lead again.

“Pfft. And just how are you going to get better at flying by going camping?”

“Uh, duh. They have ponies there that can teach flying.” Now it was Scootaloo's turn to be condescending.

“That's true. They have a really good program for beginning flyers, I heard.” Delicacy gave a bit more input.

“Yeah, totally! Like the best this side of Cloudsdale! They even have some of the Wonderbolts there!”

“Why would the Wonderbolts be teaching flying at a summer camp?” Diamond Tiara pointedly asked.

“How should I know? Maybe they heard I was coming this year, and couldn't wait to see my stuff! I can't wait to tell Rainbow Dash, when I get back. Now we'll both have flown with the Wonderbolts!”

“Yeah, I-”

“Hey, Scootaloo?” Diamond Tiara didn't get her chance to rain on Scootaloo's excitement, as a voice called from down the hall. It was a familiar, and particularly goofy, colt's voice.

“What's up, Snails?” Scootaloo nonchalantly called back, as Diamond Tiara facehoofed, lamenting her terrible luck.

Walking around the food trolley from earlier, it started to become evident where all the food from the trolley had gone. The colt was covered in a fair amount of it, and was cradling his stomach in obvious discomfort “I'm not so sure I can eat all of it, after all. Not without Snips.”

“Aw, come on. That's the easiest part.”

“But...there's a lot of it.”

“Well, I can't eat that much food. I've got way too much flying left to do.”

“...Are you sure I have to eat all of it?”

“Pretty sure.”

“What are you doing here, Snails?” Diamond Tiara interjected in annoyance.

“Huh? Oh, hey DT. What are you doing here?”

Diamond Tiara's eye twitched. “I asked you first.”

“...Were we racing?”

“What are you doing here, Snails!?”

Delicacy and Scootaloo jumped at the outburst, though Snails just seemed to take it in stride “Just helping out Scoots, is all.”

“By eating your own weight in food?!”

“I found the rope, too.”

Scootaloo chimed in “But it was my idea for him to eat all the food.”

Delicacy raised her own concerns “Why did he need to eat all the food?”

Snails took over, and explained with some pride “Well, the adults said we couldn't use a food trolley, cause of all the food on it. So I figured if we got rid of the food, it wouldn't be a food trolley, so we could use it.”

“And we couldn't just let all that food go to waste, right? So somepony had to eat it.”

“I guess that makes sense...”

“No, it doesn't.” Diamond Tiara countered.

Delicacy decided not to argue the point “Well, it's nice to meet you Snails.”

“It's nice to meet you too. Whoever you are.” Snails smiled back in his absent fashion, before he started making an odd face. Diamond Tiara was ready to just dismiss that as just one of the odd things Snails did, before his stomach let out a rather impressive rumble. Groaning again “Uh, does anyone know where the bathroom is?”

Delicacy's ears perked at the question. But before anyone could answer the colt, the whole train shook a bit, as it started slowing down, before it finally ground to a halt. At the sound of the whistle, it quickly became evident that they had arrived at their destination.

Fortunately, the Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp had the kind of funding and good fortune to have it's own stop along the railroad. You could walk off the platform and you were basically at the camp, making it quite convenient. So convenient, in fact, that it was often swamped with large crowds of ponies when they all disembarked. As Diamond Tiara found out, as she struggled under the weight of luggage, while dodging all the other foals.

Contrary to her earlier claims, she could manage the weight of her luggage just fine. That didn't make it easy or something she enjoyed in the least.

“Watch it!”

“Are you just going to stand there?”

“Move it!”

“Are you dumb or just slow?”

“Get out of my way!”

Delicacy could tell that Diamond Tiara was making lots of friends, as she sheepishly followed the path of agitated foals Diamond Tiara had left in her wake.

Catching up with the Earth pony filly, Delicacy soon noted that Diamond Tiara had driven away the others and had succeeded in creating a small patch of space for herself.

Diamond Tiara's tongue clicked in annoyance, as she set her pack down, oblivious to the ire she had cultivated “I can't believe how many ponies don't seem to understand simple orders. It's like they're trying to get in the way.”

Delicacy wisely decided not to comment on that; Diamond Tiara hadn't driven the other ponies so far away that they were out of earshot after all.

“I suppose there are just a lot ponies coming in right now.”

“Seriously, what's up with that?”

Delicacy just shrugged helplessly, as Diamond Tiara set down her pack and started to rummage through it.

“I don't know why daddy thought I would need all this junk...”

Diamond Tiara considered the various odds and ends that had been relentlessly jabbing into her back, ever since she had been forced to carry her own luggage from the train. And Delicacy hadn't been much help, claiming she couldn't help her since she had to go find her own bags. She was fairly sure she could have convinced the feather-brain to carry something, if she had told her it would somehow impress that pony she was always going on about. Snails, though...she might not have liked the junk she was being forced to lug around, but she didn't want it covered in pudding and spaghetti.

“Alright everyone! Quit your jawing, and start filing off the platform! No rushing and no pushing!”

Snapped from her thoughts, Diamond Tiara looked up at the sound of a mare bellowing over the noise of the crowded platform. Looking up she saw...an impressive specimen of a pegasus mare. Her indigo mane and tail were kept both short and straight, with what looked to be a spear with little, feathered wings as her Cutie Mark, standing out against her white coat. The only adornment on the mare was a gray scarf wrapped around her neck. She was bigger than some stallions and looked like she could chew nails, without flinching. It was hardly surprising when most of the foals quickly broke off from their socializing and started following the other members of the camp's staff. What was surprising was when the, frankly, scary mare turned her gaze towards Diamond Tiara; she actually flinched at the intensity coming from the mare. The filly was rather relieved when the mare turned her attention back to the crowd of foals a few seconds later.

Turning away, Diamond Tiara remembered that everyone was supposed to be getting a move on, and she had just unpacked half of her stuff on the middle of the platform. She turned towards Delicacy, ready to ask the unicorn for a hoof before she noticed some strange behavior coming from her fellow filly. Delicacy didn't seem to be giving much mind to her surroundings, and was instead gazing steadfastly at her own hooves, as she kept shifting her weight from side-to-side. Diamond Tiara was about to ask if perhaps the mare from before had scared her or something.

'Not that I think she was scary or anything...'

“Hey Delicacy!” Diamond Tiara didn't get the chance as Scootaloo cantered up, Snails only a few paces behind.

“What? Oh, hello again Scootaloo, Snails.”

“Hey. Did you see that one mare? She was intense, huh? Do you think she might have been a Wonderbolt? I bet she was.”

Diamond Tiara, soon turned back to her own pack and started shoving things back into it, feeling a bit put out, whereas Delicacy just blinked at the sudden barrage of questions.

“Uhm, I wasn't really paying that much attention.”

“Heh, I don't how you could have missed her. So, anyway the others were saying that we were having something called Orientation. Did you want to sit with us?”

“Well, that sounds nice but...I was kinda hoping to...”

“She was hoping to sit with her new friend. Instead of a couple of dweebs, like you two.” Diamond Tiara quickly cut back into the conversation, her pack having been sloppily repacked, she quickly wrapped her forehoof over Delicacy's shoulders and pulled her over to her side.

Delicacy bemused by the sudden turn of events turned towards Diamond Tiara “We're friends now?”

“Yes.”

“...Okay, I didn't know.” While she didn't seem to object to the sudden declaration, she did send a rather apologetic glance towards the annoyed Scootaloo.

Scootaloo, aggravated, idly asked Snails “Can you even believe her sometimes?”

Snails nodded before saying “Yeah, it's cool that DT's making friends already.”

Scootaloo considered the colt for a moment, before she rolled her eyes “Just come on.”

“You know what? This isn't so bad.”

Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly for Silver Shield. Sure he had been kind of worried at first, having heard the horror stories about the summer camp, and foals in general. But as they marched past him in a reasonably orderly fashion, he could feel his anxiety slipping away. Leaning towards his compatriot, the ever stoic, Stalwart Gaze “I mean, I was actually kind of afraid that they were just going to charge at us, and tear us limb from limb. Seeing it now...well, I'm not so afraid now..”

Stalwart Gaze, glanced towards the younger stallion, before continuing to survey the hoard of foals passing them by “That's good...if they smell your fear, they won't hesitate to strike.”

Silver Shield was nodding absently till he actually processed what was said. A bit shocked by the older stallion's assessment, he lapsed into silence.

“...”

“So...what about all those stories about the Cutie Mark Crusaders? You were just kidding me, right?”

“Well...statistically, you probably won't have to deal with anything that bad.”

Within the hour, the many foals had managed to get themselves situated in an outdoor amphitheater, with relatively little guidance from the staff. Most were taking the opportunity to set their packs down, including Diamond Tiara, as the adults themselves worked their way down to the stage.

“Geez, this thing is getting even worse...it's like they made it just to dig into your back.” Diamond Tiara tried rubbing the back of her neck, before kicking the now misshapen pack. Glancing towards the filly at her side in annoyance “And would you quit squirming so much?”

Delicacy looked up from her aforementioned squirming “S-sorry, Diamond Tiara. I'll try to control it better.”

“If you're so worried, why'd you even come to this stupid camp anyway?”

“It's not that, it's-”

“Alright everyone, quiet down!” It was the same, kinda scary, mare from before. At some point, she had stepped in front of the rest of the staff members and looked like she was going to be addressing everypony.

“First of all, I'd like to welcome everypony to Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp, both new campers and those that are coming back to us. Some of you probably already know me, but for those of you that don't, my name is Lancer. Just Lancer.”

Some of the older foals chuckled at that, apparently in on some joke, though most just kept listening.

“What none of you are probably aware of, is that I will now be camp director. Just a warning to any troublemakers, I'll not be having my first-year in charge being upset lightly.”

At this the intimidating mare cast her gaze across everyone gathered, hammering her point home; Diamond Tiara was pretty sure that Lancer's eyes lingered on her for a bit longer than the others.

“That being said, I hope you all enjoy this opportunity to learn about independence, teamwork, self-discipline, loyalty, honor, and most importantly, having fun. We'll be kicking things off by assigning cabins. For new arrivals you're all going to be assigned cabins in groups of four. Most of you that are coming back will probably be assigned with your previous cabinmates, though there will be some exceptions, obviously. Your cabinmates will be your team and comrades during campus wide events and such. Flight training and other activities tailored to particular tribes will be the exception, and if teams are needed for those they will be assigned on a case-by-case basis. Speaking of which-”

At this point Lancer gestured to the other adults on stage. There was quite a varied line-up of ponies, from all three tribes, and of all shapes and colors. It looked like there was even one of those bat-ponies on stage.

“-I'd like to introduce the volunteers that are taking the time to manage most of what we have planned for the next four weeks. You will show them their due respect, both for their work here and for their service to Equestria. That being said, I don't foresee any problems on that front. Now onto a few of the rules for our-”

At this point, Delicacy, who up and till this point had been fidgeting constantly, suddenly stood up and raised her hoof, startling Diamond Tiara in the process. Stopping her prepared speech, Lancer turned to the filly.

“I'd like to ask that you save all questions until the end.”

This didn't seem to deter the young unicorn, to Diamond Tiara's surprise. All it did was make Delicacy start waving her hoof a bit manically.

Sighing at the filly's antics, Lancer addressed her “Fine, what is it you need?”

“I'm sorry for interrupting, really, really sorry. But-but...Where are your facilities?!” Diamond Tiara stared at her new friend, not having heard the filly ever raise her voice, before now.

Lancer blinked as she took this in, before nodding, she gestured towards one of the staff members before saying “Alright, miss, he'll lead you to the 'facilities'. Just don't dawdle.”

Poor Delicacy's distress was so great that she didn't even take the time to say 'thank you' before galloping down the stairs at top speed.

Watching, with some amusement, as the filly was lead off, Lancer soon faced the crowd of now snickering foals. After slightly narrowing her eyes, the snickers stopped.

“Anypony else?”

After a few seconds of quiet, a goodly number of foals decided to follow Delicacy's example, and started filing off in a more controlled manner. Lancer soon noticed one orange filly had raised her own hoof. Deciding that she might as well get it out of the way, seeing as how her speech had already been interrupted “Yes?”

“When are the Wonderbolts going to be doing autographs?”

Lancer just sighed.

Chapter Three: Squad Up

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“Will you hurry up?”

“Sorry, Diamond Tiara.”

The Earth Pony filly, looked back to see Delicacy had picked up her pace, though not by much. After having come back from her little emergency, the young unicorn had been completely mortified by her outburst. The poor filly seemed to shrink every time a passing foal snickered, whether or not it was practical at the time to try to curl up into a ball. And sure, Diamond Tiara could understand being embarrassed about the whole thing...

...that didn't mean she liked that it was causing the unicorn to drag her hooves. Diamond Tiara's pack was still really uncomfortable and heavy.

It had taken almost twenty minutes for all the foals to relieve themselves, after that Lancer mare gave them the opportunity to go to the bathroom; she seemed kind of annoyed by how much it had cut into her speech. By the time everyone had taken their seats she only had enough time left to go over a few rules, the curfew time and where all the cabin assignments were to be posted. Apparently there was always an early dinner held after Orientation on the first day, for the foals that hadn't gotten to eat while traveling to the camp, and no one wanted to keep the kitchen staff waiting. Ultimately, she decided to go over the remaining details in the mess hall, when everyone had gotten their food, and had sent the foals off to find their cabins and drop off their packs.

“I still can't believe how much they're making us carry this junk. You'd think if this camp was so great they could afford to hire somepony for this sort of thing.”

Delicacy glanced up at Diamond Tiara's complaint, considering it for a moment “...maybe they think it will help us build character?”

“What character? The kind that carry junk around all day? I bet if my daddy knew what kind of an operation they're runn-”

“Give it a rest already, Tiara!”

Diamond Tiara's mouth snapped shut, before she glared back at the pony that had so rudely interrupted her. The purple maned pegasus trailing behind her.

“I will not! It's stupid. And if you don't want to hear the truth, then I suggest you stop following us!”

This time it was Scootaloo's turn to shoot a glare towards Diamond Tiara “You've been complaining non-stop, since before we even got here! And just because we're walking by you does not mean that we're following you!”

“But, I thought we were following them, Scoots?” Chimed in Snails.

“Pfft, just because we're going to the same place as them doesn't mean we're following her.”

Snails bit his lip as he considered this reasoning, before responding “That makes sense, I guess...but didn't you say we should just follow them, since we didn't know where to go?”

“Uh, well. Yeah, I meant we're just gonna follow everypony else. Obviously. It's not like I want to listen to her whining.”

“I'm not whining!”

Scootaloo just rolled her eyes at Diamond Tiara's objection, before she turned her attention back to the colt at her side.

“Like I said, we're not following Diamond Tiara. Just everypony else.”

“...bbuuutttt, you pointed right at DT and Delicacy.”

“Hah! I knew you were following me!”

“We are not!”

“...are you sure we're not following DT, Scoots?”

“Would you quit calling me 'DT' already?!”

“Sorry, DT.”

“Uhm, excuse me everypony? I think we're here.” Just a few paces a head of the arguing foals, stood Delicacy pointing to a large building behind her. With a lot of foals crowding around the front of the building, each trying to get a look at what seemed to be a large bulletin board.

At the sight of the large crowd of foals in between her and a chance to drop off her heavy pack, Diamond Tiara let out a loud moan of frustration. Both Delicacy's and Scootaloo's ears flattened at the grating noise, though only Scootaloo chose to shoot a glare towards the Earth pony of their group. And, unfortunately, none of the ponies ahead paid any heed to Diamond Tiara's frustration, focused as they were on finding out where their own cabins were.

“It's like these losers have no idea of how to get a move on!”

Delicacy flinched again at Diamond Tiara's complaint, before offering up her own thoughts “Well, there are a lot of ponies here...maybe it's taking everyone a long time to find their names on the board?”

Without even looking, Diamond Tiara gave off a dismissive grunt “That's hardly any excuse for everypony to be crowding and getting in the way like a bunch of little foals! Come on, we're-”

“But, I thought this camp was just for foals?” Snails asked out of confusion.

“That's not-...J-just come on! We're getting to the front!” Diamond Tiara just scowled as she marched up to the back of the crowd. Struggling to see over some of the older foals, she stretched and stood upon the tips of her hooves to try to see past everypony, but with all the foals shifting around and how far away she was from the bulletin board she couldn't make out anything useful. Huffing in annoyance, she glanced back to the three foals behind her watching.

“Well, are you three going to help me or not?”

Scootaloo scowled a bit, but before she could get in a word, Snails took the lead.

“Sure, DT!” Snails grinned as he cantered up to the Earth pony filly. Scootaloo was just about to protest, that she wasn't going to help a jerk like Diamond Tiara, before she saw Delicacy cantering up behind Snails. Not one to be left out on her own, Scootaloo grumbled a bit before joining the others.

“Fine, Diamond Tiara. What's your stupid plan?” Of course, she wasn't going to let it go unknown that she was unhappy about this.

“Yeah, tell us DT!”

“Don't worry, it's a plan so great even you two won't be able to mess it up.” Diamond Tiara reassured.

“Well?” The pegasus asked doubtfully.

“You two push the others out of the way so me and Delicacy can get up to the board.” Diamond Tiara smirked as shared her 'brilliant' plan. Scootaloo was having none of it however.

“That's stupid! How are me and Snails gonna get to the front if we're busy pushing everypony else out of the way for you!?” Scootaloo asked angrily.

“How should I know? And it's not stupid!” Diamond Tiara defended.

“Is too! We might as well just do it on our own!”

“Hmph! That's the last time I ever try to help you, blank-flank!”

“You just want to help yourself, Diamond Tiara.”

“Fine, don't come crying to me when you're sitting out here in the mud, while we're in our cabins.”

“Hah! I bet I'll find my cabin way before you ever do!”

“You're on!”

Turning back towards the crowd of foals still in front of her, Diamond Tiara decided to simply use a re-worked version of her original plan. She'd just push her way through. It took all of about fifteen seconds, before an annoyed colt pushed back, sending Diamond Tiara tumbling back on to her backside.

“Wow. That was super-impressive.” Scootaloo started chuckling, at the Earth pony's plight.

“But...all she did was fall down, Scoots...” Snails pointed out, in confusion.

“Sh-shut up!” Diamond Tiara shouted towards the others, before she started struggling with her pack “I just need to get rid of this stupid thing!”

“Whatever you say, Diamond Tiara. While you're doing that, I'll be flying to the finish.” Scootaloo finished with a smirk.

Glaring at the pegasus, Diamond Tiara managed to struggle out from under the weight of her pack, before dumping it in front of Snails.

“Make sure nobody touches my stuff!” Diamond Tiara didn't even spare a second look towards the colt as she got ready to dive back into the crowd.

“Ok, DT.” Snails happily agreed.

“Especially the feather-brain!” Diamond Tiara shouted back as she took the plunge back into the crowd.

“Who?” Snails tilted his head in confusion.

Of course, Scootaloo had no trouble realizing who Diamond Tiara was referring to. Growling as she too tossed her pack at Snails' hooves.

“Watch my stuff too!...I've got a race to win!”

“Yep.”

Bracing herself at the back of crowd, the little pegasus closed her eyes as she concentrated as hard as she could on taking off. And to her credit, within a few seconds Scootaloo found herself hovering a few feet off the ground. Looking down she exclaimed in excitement, as she turned her gaze to the crowd in front of her.

“Yes! Victory, here I come!” Bobbing a bit in the air, as she almost lost her concentration, Scootaloo struck what she thought to be the most Rainbow Dash-like flying pose she could.

“...”

“...Uhhh, aren't you gonna go forward, Scoots?” Snails asked.

“Y-yes. Just give me a second.”

“Oh, ok.”

Scootaloo concentrated as hard as she could on going forward for a couple of seconds, before she grew desperate enough to try just kicking her legs. Her struggle soon caused her to tilt forward a bit, and in turn start moving forward slowly.

“Hah! I knew I could get it! Now Diamond Tiara doesn't stand a-” Scootaloo was abruptly cut-off from her self-congratulations as one of her hooves clipped the back of a particularly tall colt's head. While this elicited only a minor reaction from the colt, Scootaloo's was far more interesting. Suddenly tilting forward far more than she had meant to, Scootaloo quickly tried to beat her wings even harder in an attempt to fix the problem. Unfortunately, this was exactly the wrong thing to do as her wings pushed her head-over-hooves into the the tilt. She only had a chance to yelp in panic as she crashed into the crowd below.

Watching this whole scene unfold by Snails at the back of the crowd, Delicacy soon voiced her thoughts to her sole remaining companion “So, should I, uhm...try to get to the front too?”

“...”

Curious about the lack of response from the colt, Delicacy looked over towards Snails to find him bent over, steadily following the path a beetle was making up the side of the packs he was ostensibly watching. Deciding against interrupting him when he was so...focused, she decided to simply slide her own pack by the others, before she edged up to the crowd and tried to follow the others.

Ten minutes later...

As the rest of the foals finally cleared the area, Diamond Tiara found herself once again scowling at the world in general. Even as the number of ponies between her and her goal had dwindled, she had been thwarted at every turn. And on more than one occasion, being thwarted had turned out to be synonymous with tripping into the dirt. Really, the only consolation for Diamond Tiara had been that Scootaloo had no better luck than her at getting to the notice board. As could be evidenced by the pegasus lying in a daze on the roof of the building the bulletin board had been mounted upon. Still intent on at least beating the pegasus to their goal, Diamond Tiara angrily stomped over to the now empty space in front of the board, ignoring Scootaloo for the moment...

“Ooooo-k...I got it this time.” Scootaloo said from somewhere above.

...this turned out to be a mistake, considering that if she had paid heed, she might not have been standing where Scootaloo had “landed” this time.

“Sorry...”

Snarling again at her luck, as well as the filly on top of her, Diamond Tiara quickly rolled the dazed Scootaloo off of her.

“Can you stop crashing into ponies for even one minute?!”

Finally shaking herself back into clarity, Scootaloo soon barked back “I said I was sorry! It's not like I meant to...”

“Did you guys finally get to the bulletin board?” Once again their argument was cut-short, as an exhausted looking Delicacy slowly cantered up to them.

“And where have you been?!” snapped Diamond Tiara, still in too foul a mood.

“Oh, uhm-...well, I got lost. And there was this foal that needed help finding the-...facilities.” Delicacy was cringing away from Diamond Tiara's ire.

“That took you this long?!”

“Don't yell at her!” Scootaloo cut in again, her anger re-ignited by Diamond Tiara's attitude.

“Well...then another pony needed help finding the bulletin board...and someone else needed some help too...” Delicacy explained further.

Growling again in annoyance, but not really willing to lay into Delicacy much more, just stood there scowling, as Scootaloo in turn glared at Diamond Tiara.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's all the yelling about?” The three were soon pulled from their respective issues, at the sound of a stallion's call. And indeed, a white unicorn stallion with a lilac mane, holding a clipboard in his telekinesis came around the building.

“What are you three still doing here? There about to start serving in the mess hall.” The stallion, Silver Shield, questioned.

Both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara moved to answer, before they both saw the other doing the same. Glaring at one another, they soon both turned away from each other, each in a huff. Turning from one filly to the other, in the process showing off his Cutie Mark of a shield, the bemused stallion was almost ready to investigate their behavior, when Delicacy stepped forward to try to answer his earlier question.

“We were...still trying to find out what cabins we were assigned...sir.”

Raising an eyebrow, as he glanced between the group of foals and the bulletin board “All three of you?”

“Well, yeah!” Scootaloo broke out of her sulking long enough to answer, leaving Delicacy to just second her answer with a nod.

“Uh, well...if you guys are the only ones that haven't already figured out who you're bunking with...then it should be pretty easy to figure out.”

Diamond Tiara finally pulled herself out of her pouting, at the suggestion that there was an easy way to figure who she was stuck with “What do you mean?”

“Well, uh, there are only four foals to each cabin...and there are only three of you left, so...”

It took each of them a moment to put together just what the stallion was implying. And a couple of more moments for Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo's jaws to drop.

“So you're saying that...” It was Diamond Tiara that managed to ask first.

“That you three are probably cabinmates.” Silver Shield answered with a bit of cheer.

Delicacy nervously glanced between the two other fillies, wondering if perhaps this revelation had broken the two. She jumped in fright as they both suddenly pointed hooves at each other and asked the most pressing question on both of their minds.

“Her?!”

“Well, yes. You three and one more. Whom we should probably find before-”

“Hey guys! Look!” Snails called.

“Ah, that would probably be him, let's- WHOA!!” The stallion's sudden shout broke everypony from their respective thoughts, as they all turned to see what had startled him.

“I'm making lots of friends too!” There stood Snails, a big grin on his face, just about covered in every kind of bug imaginable, without an entomology textbook on hand.

"Aren't they cool? I call this one-”

“Ahhhhh!!!”

For the first time since they had arrived at the camp, Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo, and Delicacy were in perfect agreement, as they all shrieked and hid behind the stallion.

“Uh, son? You-uhhh...You got something...somethings on ya there.” Silver Shield pointed out in his calmest voice.

“Yep.” Snails agreed happily.

“...alright then.”

A little while later the four foals were walking into the, now bustling, mess hall. The stallion from earlier had managed to clear away the swarm of “friends” that Snails had made, and had managed to calm everypony down, in short order. Aside from Snails, who remained pretty easy going through the whole ordeal, and was disappointed at seeing all the bugs leaving. With that settled and reconfirming that the four of them were all indeed cabinmates on his clipboard, he sent them ahead to the mess hall, while he dropped off their stuff at the cabin for them. They were already running behind as it was, and the stallion knew that the camp director wanted to cover a few more things while everyone ate.

As far as Diamond Tiara was concerned, the stallion taking care of her luggage had been the first good thing that had happened this whole trip. She didn't understand why it had been so hard to get a bit of service in the first place. And there was a bright side to being the last ones to the mess hall. Just about all the other foals were already eating so it didn't take the four of them long to get their own food...

“What is this?” Diamond Tiara asked with a bit of distress, as she propped her two front hooves on the table to scrutinize the “food” that was being served.

“I don't know but it's pretty tasty!” Snails was, naturally, already digging in with gusto. Apparently he had already forgotten the stomachache he had earned himself on the train ride, earlier.

“Well...it does look kind of gnarly, but it doesn't smell too bad.” Scootaloo gave her own assessment as she prodded it lightly. It seemed to be some kind of pasta-casserole thing, with vegetables liberally mixed in. It was also vaguely gelatinous.

Diamond Tiara glanced towards Delicacy, wondering is she had anything to add. The unicorn filly seemed much more concerned with trying to eat it properly than with it's appearance. With a small spoon gripped in her telekinesis, she seemed to be having trouble separating properly sized-out portions, and with keeping the gobs of food from falling off of her spoon. More than once Delicacy ducked away, scared of getting her coat messy, when a bit of the food rolled off her spoon and splattered back down.

Watching as Scootaloo and Snails tucked into their food, and Delicacy struggled to do the same, Diamond Tiara gave her tray one more look before she pushed it away deciding that she didn't want to risk eating...whatever it was.

“We sure are lucky, guys!” Snails exclaimed around his mouthful of food, causing the others to all glance towards one another in uncertainty.

Scootaloo managed to ask first “Lucky how?”

“Uh, well, we all get to be in the same cabin. And out of all the cabins we could have been put in, we all ended up in cabin 12! That's really lucky”

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes at the colt's assessment “Yeah, that's a kind of luck.”

“Yeah. That's only one away from being stuck in cabin 13!”

“What's wrong with cabin 13?” Delicacy asked this time.

“I dunno. But it's gotta be bad.”

“Oh yeah. I guess we did kinda lucked-out there.” Scootaloo agreed.

“That's just silly. Nopony said anything about unlucky cabins.” Diamond Tiara argued.

“Well, I guess. But it was really lucky Mr. Silver Shield came along when he did, right?” Snails pointed out.

“It was nice of Mr. Silver Shield to carry our stuff for us...” Delicacy agreed with Snails.

“Pfft, he probably would have done that no matter what cabin we were stuck in.” Diamond Tiara pointed out.

“I dunno...maybe Diamond Tiara's right.” Shockingly enough this came from Scootaloo.

“Hah! Even she realizes I'm right! There's no such thing as bad luck.” Diamond Tiara was looking quite smug about this declaration, until she noticed everyone else had edged away from her part of the table.

“What?”

“...I just said, you might be right...not that there is no such thing as bad luck.” Scootaloo clarified

“And bad luck is always the worst when someone says there's no such thing as bad luck, DT.” Snails sagely explained.

“My Auntie calls it tempting fate.”

“Yeah, that's totally bad luck bait.” Scootaloo agreed.

“You three are just hopeless.” Diamond Tiara, couldn't believe how immature everyone was being.

“...”

“...will you three stop staring at me!?”

“We don't wanna miss it.” Scootaloo said.

Sighing in annoyance, Diamond Tiara asked “What do you think is going to happen? I'm gonna get hit by a pie?”

The other three looked towards one another, silently communicating with one another, before Scootaloo answered for them “That does...sound about right.”

“I told you there is no such thing as bad luck. Look!” She soon started pointing her hoof around as she continued “No bad luck over here. None over here. And none over there. So will you three qui- Ahhhhh!”

It wasn't a pie that struck, but rather a defective chair. More accurately, a chair leg which gave out from all the turning and shifting that Diamond Tiara was doing, sending her falling to the floor.

“Is there any bad luck down there, Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo teased.

“Yeah, DT, what's it look like?” Snails asked earnestly.

Scowling up from the floor, a fairly dirty floor at that, Diamond Tiara considered just staying there. At least until a pale blue hoof came into view. Grunting in annoyance, she took Delicacy's offered hoof and got back onto hers.

“Maybe we shouldn't tempt fate anymore?” Delicacy quietly asked.

Diamond Tiara decided against responding to that as she took a different seat at the table. She was ready to settle into a sulk, something caught her ear.

As she started turning her eyes to the rest of the mess hall, she soon noted that the mare from the Orientation, Lancer, was standing up and seemed to be trying to get everypony's attention, with limited success. A few more moments of frustration, Lancer soon took to the air with a few beats of her wings, getting the attention of her fellow camp staff and a few of the nearby campers. She soon was level with a bell mounted on the wall, used for signaling when the meal hours began, which she quickly delivered a swift kick to.

The loud noise soon got everypony's attention. A moment later Lancer was clearing her throat, as she flew back down to her seat “Now that I have everypony's attention, I'd like to cover a few things we didn't get to earlier. First of all, I mentioned that we have a strict curfew for our campers. Lights out, means lights out, barring emergencies. Or visits to the facilities.”

A few ponies snickered at that, and poor Delicacy turned cherry red, before the pegasus mare continued.

“To that end we usually have some of our staff patrol around after dark, in case anything comes up. Thankfully, this year we have a volunteer. Ms. Sea Breeze here-”

“Excuse me, ma'am?” The bat-pony a few seats to her right, got Lancer's attention.

“Yes, Ms. Sea Breeze?”

“Uh, yeah. Hey, everypony...just a heads up I'm planning on changing the name, so-”

“Have you changed it yet?” Lancer abruptly asked.

“Well, no, still working on name ideas-”

“Like I said, Ms. Sea Breeze here, has graciously agreed to take on the night patrols for us this year. Let's all try to show our gratitude by making it an easy job for her.” Lancer continued on, determined to not be dealt anymore interruptions.

Sea Breeze looking a bit sheepish at her earlier interruption, just waved and grinned to everypony before sitting back down next to an older pegasus with a pair of goggles hanging around her neck, allowing Lancer to continue.

“With that taken care of, I'd like to explain to our new arrivals how tomorrow is going to go. Wake-up call is at 7:30 AM, giving you till 8:00 AM to get cleaned up and get to breakfast. After which we're going to be taking everypony over for evaluations.”

A few of the newer campers started murmuring to themselves, not quite understanding what the mare meant by evaluations. Soon Lancer was holding up a hoof for silence as she continued “Don't worry, it's just a way to get an idea of where everyone stands, where they need improvement, and so on. First we'll be doing a team exercise. You'll be doing this part with your cabin mates. Afterward, we'll be separating everyone up into their respective tribes so that our staff can likewise get an idea of where to place you in our programs. For example pegasi that are still learning to fly will go in the Beginners Flying group, unicorns with well-developed telekinesis will in the Advanced Telekinesis group, and so on.”

That seemed to settle everypony's nerves pretty quickly. If anything, some foals actually seemed excited at the prospect, and Lancer had to quiet everyone down again, as they started wondering how well they would do “Naturally the first day, is going to be a bit hectic, as we are finding where everyone needs to go. But afterward the schedules should be more manageable. We'll also be doing another set of evaluations in the last week, letting you all see how much you've improved, and letting us know what we need to work on things to make the camp even better.”

“And speaking of the last week, that's also when we'll be having our Talent Contest. It's open to everypony, and anypony can sign up on the bulletin board where you found your cabin assignments.”

“Whoa! A talent show? That's great!” Snails, thankfully, had stopped eating before talking.

“Sounds stupid to me.” Diamond Tiara groused, before deciding to ignore both the foals she was sitting with and the rest of Ms. Lancer's prepared remarks.

“Heh, just means more time for the real stars. Right, Snails?” Scoots said.

“Yep!...oh! Maybe I can do a super-awesome magic show, with fireworks and-and, uhm, magic!”

“Cool!” Scootaloo quickly agreed with the idea. It was hard to beat foals playing around with fireworks.

“What did you have in mind for your talent, Scootaloo?” Asked Delicacy.

“I-...well, uh....I guess, another musical number is out...hmm...oh, well. I'm sure I'll come with something by then.”

“You have to have a talent first, to actually be in a talent show.” Snidely pointed out, Diamond Tiara.

“I-I've got a talent! I just don't know what it is yet! It could be anything.” Scootaloo defended herself.

“I'm sure you'll think of something, Scootaloo. You have most of a month.” Delicacy reassured, causing Diamond Tiara to simply roll her eyes before laying her head down. She could scarcely believe it, but she couldn't wait to get to their cabin.

She was all too ready to go to sleep, and for this day to end.

Chapter Four: Field Ops

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Her second day at Junior Guard Cadet Summer camp was not off to a good start.

Unfortunately for Diamond Tiara, her trials hadn't really ended when she was finally able to retire to her cabin. Sure, the stallion from before had indeed brought her luggage to her cabin and she was very ready to go to bed. Of course, figuring out who got which bed of the two sets of bunks beds should have gone smoothly, but naturally the blank-flank just couldn't let things be easy.

Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo must have argued for hours over who got to sleep on the top bunks. Never mind the fact that Delicacy didn't particularly want a top bunk and Snails had happily plopped down into one of the bottom bunks and had been dozing since arriving. It might not actually have been hours, but it still took far longer than it should have for the two of them to stop arguing over two top bunks that no one else in their cabin wanted.

Of course, the fact that they both got the top bunks that they wanted had the unintended side-effect of leaving them glaring awkwardly at one another for a good portion of the night.

All of this, meant that none of the members of Cabin 12 were exactly ready for the blaring sound of a trumpet echoing across the camp grounds at 7:30 AM. The three fillies of the cabin were all running a bit short on sleep when the wake-up call jolted them from their slumber. Snails, despite sleeping longer than any of them, was slow to rise as well, and apparently just wasn't the kind of pony that had an easy time waking up in the morning.

After managing to hastily shower, after a goodly number of the foals had already used up most of the hot water, the foursome managed to trudge into the mess hall as breakfast was starting.

Scootaloo had, naturally, managed to handle the lost sleep a bit better than the others, a bit used to long days and occasionally strange hours from all of her Cutie Mark crusades. Which meant she was the first one to notice...

“Wow, Tiara. Nice bedmane.”

At that remark, Diamond Tiara blinked as she shook herself back to wakefulness, having nearly fallen back to sleep at their table. Sending an annoyed, still drowsy, look towards the pegasus “Mm haff ooo wrrr-”

Blinking as she realized that she still had her mane brush in her mouth, having apparently carried it all the way from the showers without realizing it, Diamond Tiara quickly spat it out. Choosing to ignore Scootaloo's laughter, she started over “Hmph, I'll have you know that a mane as delicate and lustrous as mine takes a great deal of work every morning.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Scootaloo snickered, as she pointed at the unruly state of Diamond Tiara's mane.

Finally taking the moment to examine her own mane, she had to stifle her own embarrassment, as she realized that even the earlier shower hadn't settled the bedmane from earlier. The result being uneven portions of hair hanging down wet, with others sticking out at weird angles. Growling a bit at the mess, she soon started trying to run her hooves through her mane, to at least get it to lay down. Eventually, the Earth pony filly remembered the brush from earlier, and set about getting her mane into proper order.

“How do they expect anypony to get ready in the morning like this?” Diamond Tiara griped.

“I didn't have any trouble getting ready.” Scootaloo pointed out.

“That's because no one cares if your mane looks like a rat's nest.” Diamond Tiara shot back.

“Hey! That's not fair. My mane just looks naturally awesome.” Scootaloo countered.

“Yeah, a naturally awesome rat's nest.”

“You're one to talk!”

“Will you two please stop talking?” Delicacy asked in a very...indelicate manner.

Both a bit surprised by the sudden grousing from the normally very polite unicorn, both Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara looked over towards the pale blue filly. Her head nodding as she tried to stay awake herself, Delicacy blinked as she noted the surprised looks from the other two fillies at the table, before blushing as she realized what she had just said.

“I- That is-...it's very early.” Delicacy awkwardly explained, before she focused very intently on the slice of toast that came with her breakfast.

Snails, head down on the table, happily snoozed on.

A little while later...

“Stop staring at my mane!”

“Sorry. It just looks weird.” Scootaloo explained to the irate Earth pony.

“It does not!” Diamond Tiara defended.

“I like it!” Snails gave his opinion on the matter, with a grin on his face. “It looks all different.”

Glancing towards Snails, Diamond Tiara turned away before readjusting her tiara once more “It doesn't matter, anyway! I can't even get this to stay on anyway.”

Indeed, without a small collection of mane products and an extra hour to work on it, Diamond Tiara's mane was a far cry from the carefully coiffed perfection that was the norm. And with her mane down and loose her trademark tiara was having a bit of difficulty keeping it's perch.

“Do you really think it was a good idea to bring that here anyway?” Scootaloo pointed out, as Diamond Tiara again adjusted her headwear.

At that Diamond Tiara simply scowled and refused to give a response as she continued to get her tiara securely in place.

After quietly yawning, Delicacy added her piece from the back of their little group “Maybe you can leave it in the cabin with the rest of your things, Diamond Tiara?”

Again Diamond Tiara decided against giving any response, leaving the rest of the group to trail off into silence. That is, until they got to their destination, along with everypony else.

“Whoa...” Snails quietly said.

“Yeah, whoa...” Scootaloo soon agreed, as both Delicacy and Diamond Tiara also looked on, similarly impressed.

There in front of all the campers and camp staff was a rather large obstacle course, that looked as if it would require climbing, running, jumping, swinging, crawling, and a fair amount of messiness to actually get through.

Everyone's attention was soon pulled away from the expansive course set out before them, as a sharp whistle echoed across the field.

“Alright everyone. Let's get this show on the road.” Lancer called out to the gathered foals and staff. “We got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. If you aren't with your cabin mates already, get together, and I'll explain how this all works.”

A few minutes later, after some of the foals got reorganized, Lancer was standing in front of everypony with an older looking unicorn mare holding a clipboard, at her side. “Alright. As mentioned yesterday, our first order of business is an exercise in team work. Specifically-”

Lancer paused to gesture a hoof to the large obstacle course behind her.

“-this. We're going to be doing this one cabin at a time, going by cabin number. The rules are pretty simple. Each cabin must make their way through the course as quickly as possible or go through as many obstacles as they can, before stopping, while working together. You are free to use whatever skills you have at your disposal, with just three stipulations; we don't want anyone getting hurt, you must go through the obstacles themselves, so you can't just fly over them all, and we'd like to avoid too much damage to the course. Everyone following along so far?”

After some nods and a chorus of “Yes, ma'am” from most of the foals, Lancer continued “Good. Just to reiterate, this is a team exercise. As far as we're concerned, until the last member of your cabin reaches the end, you aren't finished. Likewise, each obstacle is only counted as completed if all cabin members have gotten past it. And while I encourage all of you to do your best, if you don't think you can go any further or if anypony gets stuck, that's alright. The goal is to push yourselves, not hurt yourselves. To that end, all of our volunteers will be on hoof keeping an eye on things.”

Lancer again gestured to the eclectic mix of ponies that made up the staff, including the unicorn mare at her side, who simply nodded her head to the foals absently. Just as she was about to continue, Lancer did a brief double-take before focusing on the bat-pony from the other day, Sea Breeze. The bat-pony mare seemed to be dozing on her hooves, with her wings hanging limp at her side. Lancer glanced to the older pegasus mare at Sea Breeze's side, questioningly, but only received a shake of the head in response.

Lancer sighed, before refocusing on the foals again.

“Right. This will probably take a couple of hours, after which we'll take a short break. After that we'll be separating everyone into their respective tribes, so that our staff can test everyone on those skills, and figure out what level everyone belongs at. So...let's get started.”

With that Lancer loosed a sharp whistle as she began leading everyone closer to the start of the obstacle course, startling the sleeping bat-pony in the process.

A few minutes later, Diamond Tiara was overlooking the first of the obstacles, with clear contempt. Before the many foals was a stretch of deep, dirty mud with a number of ropes suspended overhead by wooden beams.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“What? Afraid to get covered in a little mud, Diamond Tiara.” Teased Scootaloo.

While Diamond Tiara glared at the pegasus, Delicacy stepped back from the edge anxiously, before quietly observing “That's...more than a little mud.”

“Exactly. I don't think daddy is going to happy when hears this is what he's paying good bits for.” Diamond Tiara agreed before turning her nose up at the course.

“Tch, whatever. This thing looks pretty cool if you ask me.” Scootaloo asserted.

“Hey guys! Look what I found!” Over by the edge of the mud, Snails was excitedly holding up a glob of mud with several worms peeking out from it's mass.

Delicacy audibly squeaked in horror at the sight, while Diamond Tiara stuck out her tongue in disgust “Ugh, gross! Put those down!”

Scootaloo looked on, also a bit put off by the sight of the creepy crawlies “...well, the rest of the course still looks really cool.”

“Alright everyone, quit your gawking! Clear the start and let's get Cabin 1 upfront!” Everyone soon turned as Lancer directed most of the foals away from the start. Though Diamond Tiara stopped Snails before he went ahead.

“You are not bringing those with us.” Diamond Tiara firmly commanded.

“Awww! But they're real friendly, DT. I call this one Mr.-...” Snails tried to argue at first, before he saw the look on Diamond Tiara's face, and deposited his most recent friends back into their home, clearly disappointed.

Soon enough the two of them rejoined with Delicacy and Scootaloo, though Diamond Tiara made a point of watching closely to make sure Snails didn't bring anymore “friends” with him.

“...I miss Mr. Squirmy.” Snails lamented, to Diamond Tiara's annoyance.

Thankfully he didn't have long to miss Mr. Squirmy as Cabin 1 quickly launched into action. It seemed like this group was a bit older than most, and quickly dived into the mud, before launching onto the other obstacles. Through the mud pit, this weird thing where you were supposed to crawl under a low hanging net, a log roll where you had to use the log to get across a ditch, scaling a wall, and balancing your way across a series of platforms, this Cabin 1 quickly traversed the lot of them. There was a wide variety, and Diamon Tiara was actually having trouble seeing what laid beyond the last of those obstacles. She wasn't particularly eager to find out though.

“This is, like, so stupid. If I wanted to run around like an idiot I could have done that back in Ponyville.” Diamond Tiara complained, as the unicorn with the clipboard called up Cabin 2.

“What? Did you see those guys? That was amazing.” Scootaloo asked in incredulity.

“Amazingly dumb, you mean. This is such a waste a time.” Diamond Tiara countered with certainty.

"They sure want us to do a lotta stuff.” Snails interrupted the two before they could delve into the respective pros and cons of the course.

“It is pretty big...and messy.” Delicacy quietly agreed, as she watched the next group leap into the mud pit with abandon.

“Aww, come on. Not you guys too. We can totally take this thing down.” Scootaloo finished with a confident grin.

“I don't know...they made it sound like they don't really expect everyone to finish.” Delicacy observed.

“Well, yeah, I guess...But, Ms. Lancer said we can totally use whatever we want to go through it, right? I'll just fly on through.” Scootaloo said, not letting her confidence waver.

“But Scootaloo, you can't fly.” Snails innocently pointed out, sparking some snickering from Diamond Tiara.

“I can so!” Scootaloo said indignantly “There's just...some complicated stuff I haven't gotten down yet.”

“Yeah, like landing.” Diamond Tiara said through her snickers.

Scootaloo scowled, before Delicacy cut-in “Uhm, well...you can sorta land. Right?”

“That's right! And Rainbow Dash told me that any landing you walk away from is a good one.” Scootaloo argued.

“Pfft, then I guess that means you can't fly or land. Cause I haven't seen you walk away from any of your landings.” Diamond Tiara fired back.

Soon they were going round and round, as Snails and Delicacy looked on, occasionally contributing their own bits. As they again got wrapped in their animosity towards one another, the rest of the campers took their own turns going through the course, with varying results. Before they realized it, Cabin 11 was just wrapping up their own attempt.

“Yeah, well you're-” Scootaloo was cut off mid-shout by another sharp whistle.

“I said, Cabin 12! You're up!” Lancer shouted as she pointedly looked towards the four of them.

“Oh, cool! We're next!” Scootaloo shouted with exuberance, before she galloped to the edge of the mud, with Snails quickly following behind.

Delicacy looked a bit uncertain, until she noticed Diamond Tiara cantering up ahead, with a frown on her face. Soon the little unicorn filly followed, and caught up in time to catch the beginnings of their next conversation.

“-we're gonna blow everyone away! I just know it!” Scootaloo said with confidence, as she nudged Snails companionably, who just grinned back happily.

“You can go play in the mud if you want. Some of us would like to hold on to a bit of class.” Diamond Tiara said in a rather snooty tone.

“Whatever, Tiara. I wasn't talking to you anyway.” Scootaloo shot back, as she rolled her eyes.

Before they could go on, they heard another whistle, come from Lancer. As the unicorn mare at her aside finished some scribbling on her clipboard before readying a stopwatch, Lancer nodded before calling out to the four “Alright, Cabin 12. Whenever you're ready, you can start.”

“Alright let's do it!” Scootaloo shouted as she got ready to leap into what she figured would be some great action.

“I already told you, I'm not rolling around in the mud.” Diamond Tiara reaffirmed, before raising her nose rather arrogantly.

“Fine! Just sit on your flank, while we win this!” Scootaloo called back in annoyance, before again getting ready to leap forward.

“But-” Scootaloo again halted as she turned back to Delicacy, as the unicorn filly tried to get her attention.

“Don't tell me you're just gonna sit here with her?” Scootaloo asked with a bit of incredulity, as she noticed Delicacy sitting almost as far away from the edge as Diamond Tiara.

“It's just-...didn't they say we have to do this together? Or it doesn't count?” Delicacy asked with a bit of uncertainty, as she rubbed her hooves together anxiously.

Scootaloo looked at her in confusion before a look of remembrance crossed her face “What? Oh, right. I-”

“Wheeeee!” Scootaloo was soon cut-off by the sound of Snails leaping straight into the mud. The colt had apparently not noticed that the rest of his cabin hadn't been quite ready to start. This didn't stop the unicorn with the stopwatch from starting the timer.

“Snails!” Scootaloo groaned, as she realized that Snails had inadvertently kicked things off.

“What?” Snails asked, not understanding what was wrong.

“Oh, nevermind!” Scootaloo quickly turned away from Snails as she focused on the problem of Diamond Tiara “Alright, come on! You heard her, we gotta go, Tiara!”

“No! I already told you I'm not going to play in the mud like some sort of...pig!” Diamond Tiara soon turned away, deciding that the matter was closed.

Scootaloo tried again to argue with the stubborn Earth filly “But-”

“I said no!”

Delicacy looked between the two, with some concern, as she noticed Scootaloo's growing annoyance.

“Yeah, well-...I guess, you won't miss this!” She quickly ran forward before snagging Diamond Tiara's tiara up in her teeth before running towards the mud. As it turned out, Diamond Tiara had been right. Without her mane's carefully cultivated style, her trademark tiara had no particular inclination towards staying atop her head. Quickly, feeling the top of her head in shock, as she realized what just happened, Diamond Tiara's temper quickly flared.

“Give that back!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she quickly began the chase.

“You'll have to catch me!” Scootaloo shouted back, around the tiara in her mouth, as she quickly approached the edge of the first obstacle. Closing her eyes, and gritting her teeth a little around the tiara, Scootaloo began flapping her wings as hard as she could before leaping forward. Her wings' furious flapping had managed to get her just off of the ground and her forward momentum actually managed to carry her out a fair bit ahead over the mud. Opening her eyes, as she felt herself bump into one of the ropes hanging from above, Scootaloo looked down in surprise to note that she was managing to hover in place over the mud. She didn't have long to enjoy her limited success, as she took note of the very angry Earth pony filly diving in to the mud behind her.

“Give my tiara BACK!” Shouted Diamond Tiara as she forcibly slogged her way through the mud after Scootaloo.

Yelping in fright, Scootaloo quickly tried, futilely, to get some forward momentum going again, in an effort to get some distance from the angry filly reaching up for her. Scootaloo's plan certainly seemed to have worked, albeit with the unfortunate side-effect of making Diamond Tiara angrier than the pegasus had ever seen her.

Delicacy still pawing her hooves anxiously at the edge of the mud, as she looked on at her three cabin mates. Gulping, she finally decided that she couldn't put it off any longer. That is, if she wanted to keep Diamond Tiara from throttling Scootaloo. Leaning out, the little unicorn tried to reach for the closest of the ropes, hanging over the mud, in the hopes of maybe crossing with a minimum of messiness. Not quite able to reach, she closed her eyes in concentration, before her pale aura of telekinesis edged the rough rope into reach. Pulling it closer she took one more breath before she tried to put her idea into action. A few seconds later, Delicacy was hanging onto the rope as she dangled lazily over the mud, miraculously mud-free. She was already smiling to herself at the progress she made, before she took note of just how far away the next rope was outside of her reach. And just how far away the nice clean grass was.

“Oh.”

Letting out a pitiable moan out, Delicacy tried to again reach out with her telekinesis, to no avail. She just couldn't pull the heavy rope close enough for her to even think about attempting to reach it. She briefly tried swinging a bit closer, but soon found her grip a bit too loose. Squealing in fright as she slid down the rope, she managed to stop herself inches above the mud below.

As Delicacy was desperately clinging to her rope, Scootaloo continued to try to stay out of hoof's reach of Diamond Tiara.

“Get down here, blank-flank!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she again tried to leap out of the mud towards the hovering Scootaloo.

“Nooo!!” Scootaloo shouted fearfully, as she desperately tried to maintain altitude. But as the muscles in her wings began to burn and ache, the buzzing of her wings started to slow down, and she started to dip lower and lower.

“I said...GET DOWN HERE!” Diamond Tiara again shouted at the top of her lungs, before taking one of the many dangling ropes and whipping it as hard as she could. And while the rope only lightly thudded into Scootaloo's side it was enough to break the pegasus' concentration and cause her to fall into the mud with a yelp.

“My tiara!” Diamond Tiara entirely ignored Scootaloo, as the pegasus filly landed face first into the muck, in favor of grabbing her tiara before it sank into the mud.

“Hey guys! I think I found Mr. Squirmy!...No...it's just a stick. Uh, guys?” Snails looked around oblivious to what had unfolded.

Lancer just facehoofed from the sidelines. She couldn't remember ever seeing such a disaster of a start on the obstacle course. Sure, a lot of foals never finished the course, in it's entirety. But this...?

One filly was dangling from a rope, on the verge of tears. The colt was up to his neck in mud, as he searched around for a worm, oblivious to his cabin mates. The little orange pegasus was flailing her hind legs about, as she tried to extract herself from the mud. And of course, there was Ms. Diamond Tiara...

At Lancer's side, the unicorn mare idly considered the stopwatch, before blandly observing.

“So...I think it's safe to say they're done.”

“...”

“Pretty rough batch, for your first year as camp director.”

“...”

“But hey...it could be worse.”

“...”

“And I'm sure you'll manage. Big, strapping soldier like you? It'll be no problem at all, right?”

“...”

“...you can scowl at me all you want. It's just gonna give you wrinkles.”

Sighing at the antics of her colleague, Lancer turned to her side “Thank you, just, so much. That's a big help, Arcana.”

“Anytime, Lancer.” The unicorn responded, ignoring the sarcasm, as she idly hit the button to stop the timer.

A few minutes later, Delicacy was being deposited back on solid ground, after having been coaxed from the rope by one of the camp's staff. And through the whole ordeal, she had managed to avoid becoming covered in the same muck as her cabin mates, somewhat miraculously. That is until Snails made an attempt to shake off the mud clinging to his own coat, tail and mane.

“Wow. There was a lot more mud than it looked like, huh? And a lot more worms too. It's gonna take forever giving them all names...uh, Delicacy? Are you alright.” After finally noticing the now equally dirty unicorn filly staring at her now thoroughly soiled coat and mane, he tried prodding her.

“Oh, wow. You really got a lot of mud on ya, Delicacy.” Snails observed.

Delicacy looked over at the colt with a bit of incredulity, before just sighing “...yeah.”

Meanwhile, a fairly burly Earth pony stallion was busy keeping some space between two very irate fillies.

“This is totally your fault, Tiara. We coulda won this if you hadn't been so selfish!” Scootaloo shouted as she tried to wipe away some of the mud from her face.

“Teeth marks! You left teeth marks on MY tiara!”

“It's just a stupid piece of jewelry!”

“You're stupid!”

“Alright! That's enough you two!” Lancer called over sharply, as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. The stallion just blandly rose an eyebrow at the mare's outburst, before looking back to the two fillies. To Lancer's credit, she had managed to startle the two from their row. Before the two could get into it again, the stallion gestured towards Delicacy and Snails.

“You two should go over with the rest of your cabin mates, while we wrap up. You'll have a chance to shower off, after we're done.” Stalwart Gaze quietly suggested. At their hesitation, he pointedly glanced towards Lancer. Quickly picking up on this the two of them, only sparing one another a glance, cantered over to the two unicorns of Cabin 12.

Stalwart Gaze merely rolled his eyes at their continued antics.

“Foals these days...”

As promised, over the course of the next half hour, they wrapped up everypony's run on the obstacle course and gave everypony the chance to shower off, and gave them all a brief break. Most of the foals were milling about, with the exception of Cabin 12. They mostly stood to the side, with Delicacy and Snails watching awkwardly as Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara did everything they could to ignore one another. It could have been worse, particularly if the camp's staff hadn't sent someone to keep an eye on them. And even if all it amounted to was Silver Shield, also awkwardly watching as the two fillies ignored one another, at least it stayed relatively peaceful.

And for the first time since getting to the camp, Diamond Tiara wasn't interested in sharing her many complaints with everypony. She was far too aggravated to complain out loud. Wiping her mane from her eyes again, she steadfastly re-focused on trying to clean the mud from her tiara. Unfortunately, it's delicate work had allowed for no small amount of mud to slip into small, difficult to clean areas. Especially if one was relying on their own hooves...and if their stupid mane kept getting in their eyes.

Diamond Tiara quietly grumbled as she again had to move her mane from her eyes. What order she had managed to coax into it that morning had been lost, when she had gotten cleaned up, in what the camp generously called 'showers'. Really, they were little more than bare water pipes attached to a wooden scaffold. And they were so...public. The camp didn't even bother setting up stalls to give a bit of privacy.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo was trying very hard to tune out the chuckles and glances of some of the other foals. Sure, she didn't think that she was going to set any sort of record on the obstacle course, but she hoped to at least finish the thing. Or at least get past the first obstacle. Instead, because of Diamond Tiara, she ended up looking like a complete goofball, in front of everypony. And worse, she had faceplanted pretty badly into the mud, right in front of the ponies that were supposed to be covering the flying lessons.

It was about that time that the rest of the camp staff seemed to get through comparing notes, or whatever it was that they were doing, and began calling over the many campers. Silver Shield looked almost relieved when Cabin 12 went to join them.

“Okay, good job, everypony! Now that we got that out of the way, it's time we moved on to the tribe specific evaluations. Earth ponies, please follow Mr. Stalwart Gaze and Mr. Brick Brawn.”

Off to the side was a younger stallion, who began enthusiastically waving the Earth pony foals towards him, as the burlier, older stallion from earlier looked on somewhat impassively.

“Unicorns, go with Ms. Arcana and Mr. Silver Shield.”

The middle-aged unicorn mare from earlier idly nodded to the foals, before she turned her attention back to her clipboard. Silver Shield meanwhile, glanced between Arcana, the foals and the other groups, wandering if perhaps they were supposed to head off somewhere too.

“And Pegasi, you'll be heading out with Mrs. Rockette and Ms. Sea Breeze.”

And finally, there stood the bat-pony from the other day, asleep on her hooves, as a grey coated, red-maned pegasus mare at her side tried nudging her back to wakefulness. Unresponsive, at first, Ms. Sea Breeze started tilting to her side, as Rockette's prodding became a bit more insistent. Before either of them knew it, a very confused, though awake, bat-pony was looking up from the ground.

“Waazzit?” the bat-pony asked rather sharply.

Mrs. Rockette simply tilted her head towards the quickly gathering Pegasi foals, as an explanation.

Sea Breeze blinked, before trying to suppress a yawn “Oh...right.”

Soon Diamond Tiara was standing amongst a bunch of her fellow Earth pony foals. And still trying to get both her mane and her tiara into their proper states.

“Do you think perhaps you should have left that back at your cabin?” Another foal idly asked Diamond Tiara, as she again readjusted her tiara.

Diamond Tiara responded by sending an annoyed look towards the other foal “Oh, what do you know!”

Quickly dismissing the disgruntled foal and the grumbling of some of the other nearby foals, Diamond Tiara chose to turn her attention to the two stallions at the front of their group. While trying to keep from tilting her head too much, and causing her tiara to become dislodged again.

About that time, the copper-coated, umber-maned stallion, Stalwart Gaze, cleared his throat “Alright, everypony. What we have planned for today is-”

The red-coated stallion, with a brick wall for a Cutie mark, coughed at Stalwart's side“Not to interrupt, Mr. Stalwart, but perhaps I should take care of this part. I know they made you senior officer, but I do have some experience with this sort of thing.” the younger stallion finished in a rather smug tone, as he brushed his dark gray mane to the side.

Stalwart Gaze, and a fair number of the older foals, raised an eyebrow at this, before Stalwart Gaze just shrugged and gestured with a hoof for Brick to go ahead and take the lead.

“Thank you...Now to get started, we'll be taking a bit of time to stretch and get warmed-up before we start our run. Then-”

“That's the special lesson you have planned for us? Running?” Diamond Tiara asked. Despite her rather sharp tone, a few of the other younger foals did seem a bit skeptical too.

“I, well-” Brick Brawn not really having expected to be interrupted, stumbled over his words a bit, before Stalwart Gaze took the lead again “Good question. The short answer is, yes. While all ponies have their own inherent magic, Earth pony magic is somewhat subtler than that of of pegasi and unicorns.”

“Right! Exactly.” Brick quickly recovered and went on to take the explanation from there “Earth pony magic-...that is you can't really see it in action. Rather than casting spells or making weather it-...”

As Brick drew to another pause, Stalwart leaned in and offered up a word “Permeates?”

“Yes! It permeates our bodies and the land. So our magic tends to make us stronger and sturdier, but it also gives us a stronger connection with the land. It's why you can see so many Earth pony farmers.”

A colt, a bit of ways from Diamond Tiara, raised his hoof before asking “So, we're going to...plant stuff?”

Brick rubbed the back of his head at this “Uh...well, no. We do have a garden that we encourage the campers to help with, but-...Alright, so it's like this, our magic tends to make us tougher and stronger, right? Well it also tends to work the other way around. If you're really healthy, so is your Earth pony magic. Which then makes you healthier and stronger. Get it?”

As Brick awkwardly finished, a silence hung over the group as most of the foals looked up to the two stallions, most of their faces showing looks of skepticism or confusion. Stalwart Gaze closed his eyes before shaking his head “Again, the short answer is, yes. We're going to be exercising.”

A moment later, Diamond Tiara huffed “This is-”

A little while later...

“-...s-stupid...mane...”

Diamond Tiara was huffing and wheezing, as she plodded forward slowly along the worn dirt path, her mane again hanging in front of her eyes. In the distance she could see the rest of the foals well ahead of her, as well as the marker for the first stopping point. Out of breath from trying to keep up with the rest of the foals earlier, and her hooves and legs aching from the galloping, then walking, Diamond Tiara steadily drew to a halt.

“Come on, kid. It's just a little ways further, to the first marker.” Stalwart Gaze said from at her side, having stayed back as she had fallen behind the rest of the group.

Diamond Tiara let out a groan, before continuing in between breaths “So stupid...waste of...time.”

“Only going to take longer, at this rate.” Stalwart quietly pointed out, causing her to glare at him out of the corner of her eye. This incidentally caused her to finally catch sight of his Cutie Mark, a half-lidded eye. Which seemed kind of funny to her, as she really wanted to lay down...

“If you're at your limit, I can carry you the rest of the way.” The stallion offered.

Suddenly, shaking her head she growled out between gasps for air “I'm not some...baby. I can do this...on my own!”

Rearing back, Diamond Tiara set a renewed pace for the first marker, eyes focused on the group of foals gathered together about a hundred yards ahead.

A few minutes later, Stalwart Gaze was cantering easily up to the rest of the foals that had chosen to stop at the first marker. Stepping up to a water spigot that had been set out for those that were dehydrated, the stallion leaned down to let the exhausted Diamond Tiara slide down from his back. As she stood up on wobbly legs, and made a point of not looking at the other foals around her (if she had, she might have taken some comfort in the knowledge that most of them looked pretty exhausted too), Stalwart Gaze retrieved her tiara before delicately offering it back to her.

“Might want to leave this back in your cabin next time.” He quietly suggessted.

Diamond Tiara tiredly took back her tiara, before grumbling.

“This...is...so...unfair.”

A little ways away from the obstacle course still stood all of the unicorn campers, in front of a jade coated unicorn mare sporting a pale mane with vivid yellow streaks. Along with Silver Shield, most of them were watching Arcana, as she continued to scribble away at her clipboard. Getting a bit uncomfortable with the continued silence, Silver Shield felt it fell to him to ask the question that everypony there was thinking.

“Soooo...Ms. Arcana. Should we be...going somewhere?”

Again not looking up from her clipboard and pen, the mare answered evenly “No. Here, will be fine.”

“Ah...I see.” Silver Shield nodded at her answer, before shuffling his hooves.

Pausing briefly, to glance towards Silver Shield, Arcana spoke up again “But, if you're feeling restless, you can go retrieve some things that we'll be needing.”

“Of course! That is...I'm happy to do anything I can to help.” Silver Shield, rather pleased at the prospect of doing...well, anything other than sitting in uncomfortable silence, nodded to the older mare.

“Right. Head over to the storage shed. There should be a couple of sacks sitting out front. Go grab those, will you?” Arcana quietly explained to the eager-to-help stallion.

Silver Shield sharply saluted, before running off on his task, with the many foals watching as he galloped off. A few minutes later, which was filled with the quiet murmurs of confused foals, Silver Shield returned, with two rather large sacks slung over his back. With a slight strain in his voice “Here we go, Ms. Arcana. Right where you said they would be.”

“Excellent. I suppose it's about time we get started...” Clipping the pen to her clipboard before setting them both to the side, the unicorn mare looked up towards the gathered foals. Clearing her throat, she began “Alright, as you heard earlier, my name is Arcana. You may call me Ms. Arcana. I'm a professor from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but I also serve as the Expert Consultant on Magical Affairs for the Royal Guard. And here is my junior officer, Mr. Silver Shield -you can set those down anywhere- from the Royal Guard, and we're going to be doing a simple evaluation of your magical abilities.”

As directed, Silver Shield set down the two sacks, with one of them giving off some metallic clanging as it thudded to the ground heavily.

“Thank you, Mr. Shield. Now, we have three sections to this little test. The first two will be focusing on telekinesis. To that end, we will be testing your overall strength and magical endurance, using these...”

As she trailed off, her horn lit up causing the heavier of the two sacks to open, allowing several metal spheres, of different sizes, to float out. Setting them out in front of the gathered foals, arranged from smallest to largest, Ms. Arcana continued her explanation “All you need to do is lift the greatest weight you can manage, and then hold it for as long as you can. Quite simple. And for your second test of your telekinesis, you will be using this...”

Out of the other sack, floated...what, to all appearances, looked to be a length of string. At the skeptical looks sent her way, Arcana rolled her eyes, before then using her own telekinesis to tangle the length of string into a messy knot.

“The second test will be a test of your telekinetic control and finesse. All you need to do, is use your telekinesis to untangle the string as thoroughly as you can...and before anyone gets any smart ideas, you may not break the string in the process. If the string breaks, by accident or by design, that's the end of the test. Everypony understand so far?”

After a few nods, and a chorus of “Yes, Ms. Arcana” from the foals, the mare set down the string “The third part of our evaluation is free form. You will all be allowed a few minutes each, to show off any additional magical abilities you may know...so if everypony is ready, let's get started. Thankfully, we have an extra set of weights and plenty of string. So if we could form two lines, one in front of myself and one in front of Mr. Shield...”

In short order, the many unicorn foals had been organized into two, roughly equal, lines, with Delicacy standing in the line for Ms. Arcana, and Snails in the one for Mr. Silver Shield. Conveniently enough, they were both about the same distance from the fronts of their respective lines, making it pretty easy for Snails to chat up his cabin mate.

“So what kind of magic are you gonna do, Delicacy?” Snails idly asked the unicorn filly.

“What? Oh...I don't know. I don't really know anything aside from telekinesis.” Delicacy explained.

“Wow...you must be really, really, good at that then, huh?” Snails exclaimed.

“W-what do you mean?” Delicacy asked, not really following the colt's reasoning.

“Since you can't do anything else, you must be great at the thing you can do, right?” Snails cheerfully clarified.

“N-not...really.” Delicacy responded, now worrying about her future performance.

“Oh. Well, that's OK. I'm not really good at telekinesis either.” Snails grinned at this admission, failing to notice the negative effect his words had on his cabin mate.

And far too soon for Delicacy tastes, she found herself standing in front of Ms. Arcana. Idly shifting on her hooves, she watched as the unicorn mare pulled out another length of string and knotted it up. Up this close, Delicacy was finally able to get a good look at the mare's Cutie Mark. On the mare's flank was some sort of staff, that seemed to have lightning bolts radiating out from it's top. Delicacy's gaze was soon broken, as Ms. Arcana got her attention.

“You're free to start when you're ready, and with whichever test you feel more comfortable with.”

Delicacy nodded towards the mare, before stepping up a bit closer. Looking between the two tests, she bit her lip in consideration, before turning towards the knotted up string. Thus far most of the campers seemed to have preferred the simple weightlifting test; more than one foal had gotten quite frustrated with the string test.

About a minute later, Delicacy let out a held breath, as she undid the last tangle in the string. At this Ms. Arcana rose an eyebrow, before commenting “Hmm, very nicely done, Ms. Delicacy. And in fairly short order. Alright, take a moment, then you can try with the weights.”

Delicacy nodded, before setting the string to the side, and facing the weights lined up in front of her, the lightest of which looked to be only a few pounds. After about a minute of hesitation on Delicacy's part, Arcana sent a glance towards the filly, obviously wondering what was taking her so long. Swallowing, as she realized she couldn't stall any longer, Delicacy's horn lit up, and wrapped the smallest of the metal balls in a magical aura. For a few seconds, nothing seemed to happen. At this, Delicacy closed her eyes, and tried putting as much concentration into it as she could. Ultimately, all she managed was to get the ball to wobble around, before it lazily rolled forward few inches, and came to a complete stop. Delicacy, though winded, still had the presence of mind to look rather embarrassed by her performance on this test.

“It does seem we need to work on your magical strength. Alright, take a breather with the others.” Arcana calmly noted.

Delicacy simply nodded as she trotted away, her head hung low.

Just as Delicacy wrapped up her test, Snails was stepping up to his own test. Silver Shield finished giving some words of encouragement to the last foal tested, before turning towards Snails. With a smile, he nodded towards the colt “Alright, Mr. Snails. Show us what you can do.”

Nodding happily, Snails then looked intensely between the two tests, even bringing a hoof up to rub his chin in thought. After a little bit of this, Silver Shield chuckled a bit to himself “Anytime, kid.”

Broken from his thought, Snails blinked, before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and nodded to the stallion. Spreading his legs out, Snails pointed his horn ahead, and began visibly concentrating. A few magical sparks, then a full magical aura popped up around the colt's horn as he concentrated very hard. Having closed his eyes to concentrate, Snails soon reopened them at the sound of buzzing. Looking up he saw a small cloud of small flying bugs floating around his horn. Silver Shield rubbed the back of his head, a bit bemused by this development.

Grinning sheepishly, Snails quickly explained “Sorry about that, Mr. Shield. I sometimes get that mixed up with moving stuff.”

Silver Shield nodded at that, before considering the situation “Alright then...well, let's try this then. Try again, but this time try to empty your mind. Once you feel the magic, we can go from there.”

Snails nodded amicably, shaking off the cloud of insects in the process. Again, the young colt pointed his horn forward, and began concentrating. Soon enough another magical aura had popped up around his horn.

“Alright. Now I want you to grab that magic and just move it forward. Just think about it getting closer to me and the tests.” Silver Shield directed, in an encouraging voice.

Nodding at the advice given to him, Snails kept his eyes nailed shut, as he tried to push his magic over towards the testing equipment. And, though he still had his eyes closed, it did feel like his magic wasn't just floating around his horn anymore. He started getting excited, but before he could start on the tests itself, the colt again heard the distinctive buzzing of a cloud of insects.

“Awwww, I almost had it...Uh, Mr. Silver Shield?” Snails finally looked over towards Silver Shield. The stallion seemed to be standing very still...probably because of the large cloud of bugs where his head should be.

“Uhhhh...Ms. Arcana?” Snails quietly called out.

The moment Arcana turned back from Delicacy to see why she was needed, also happened to be the moment that Silver Shield's self-control gave out.

“Aahhhhhhh!!” Rearing back, the guard pony soon took off at a run, screaming all the while. This, unfortunately, left the swarm of insects rather agitated. As he galloped to and fro, the now angry, cloud of insects following, the foals looked on and occasionally stepped out of the way of his frantic dash about the field.

As Silver Shield gallivanted back and forth across the field, Ms. Arcana considered Snails for a moment “An impressive summoning spell, for your age. But next time, save it for the free form part of our evaluation.”

“Uhhhh...” Snails didn't seem to be paying much attention, being far more concerned with Mr. Silver Shield. Glancing back towards the stallion, Arcana sighed to herself, before a magical glow formed around her horn.

There was a sudden pop, as a bucket appeared above Silver Shield's head in a magical burst, and quickly emptied a large amount of water over the stallion. Startled by suddenly being drenched, the stallion quickly tripped over his own hooves and tumbled into the ground. With the insects dispersed, Ms. Arcana cantered over to the stallion, as she dismissed the bucket she had summoned. She looked him over briefly, before asking him in a business-like tone “Any injuries to report, Mr. Shield?”

Looking up from the ground, and still in a daze, the stallion considered the mare for a moment “...I think I swallowed a bug...?”

Scootaloo couldn't decided whether she was more excited or more nervous. She'd spent the whole last month, whenever she wasn't making sure she was on her best behavior, trying to improve her flying skills. She was so sure that she was getting better. But she'd just faceplanted right in front of everypony. She was still shaking mud out of her ears. Which was just as well, cause she was pretty sure she heard some snickers from some of foals around her, at her expense. Taking another moment to tilt her head and tap her hoof against the side, in the hopes of dislodging the last of the mud, she did catch sight of something that shook her from her worries.

'Pretty safe bet, that Ms. Sea Breeze isn't worried about anything.'

Just up ahead, Scootaloo could easily watch as the bat-pony from earlier listed off-course from everypony else. Mrs. Rockette had to take a moment to prod the bat-pony back into partial wakefulness, before she was able to get her back on course.

"I wonder what's up with her?" Scootaloo asked aloud.

Surprisingly, she actually got an answer. One of the older colts leaned over "I'm guessing nopony told her about the Evaluations."

Scootaloo looked between the colt and Ms. Sea Breeze again, not really following what the older colt meant "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, you're new right?" At Scootaloo's nod, he continued "Well, you remember how they said that she volunteered to take on the night watch for the month? Normally, the camp tries to cut anypony stuck with the night watch some slack. Ya know? Let them sleep in, catch some naps during the day, that kind of thing."

Scootaloo nodded "But...if they let her sleep in..."

Another filly, chimed in "The thing is, everypony has to show up for the Evaluations. Including the staff. It's mandatory."

The colt took back over, after nodded towards the filly "Right. So, she's probably been awake since yesterday morning."

Scootaloo nodded in understanding, which was just as well, given that they didn't have anymore time left for chatting "Okay, everypony! We're here!"

At the front of the group, Rockette, faced the crowd of pegasus foals, after taking a moment to get Sea Breeze's attention once more. Rockette seemed to have a light gray coat, a deep red mane and tail, with an actual rocket, in-flight, as her Cutie Mark, and a pair of old flight goggle hanging around her neck. Looking with a bit of concern over the bat-pony, Rockette was quickly waved off by Sea Breeze. Evidently taking the bat-pony's word on the matter, the pegasus continued speaking.

"Alright, everypony. I'm Mrs. Rockette, if you don't already know me. Feel free to just call me Rockette or Rocky or whatever. As long as I know you're talking to me, it's fine. I'll be your senior officer for our flight classes. And before anyone asks, I am, in fact, a former Wonderbolt. With me-..."

Pausing as she saw several raised hooves "And, yes, I said former Wonderbolt. I'm retired. Now-"

Pausing again, as she saw several hooves again raised in the air. Sighing, she closed her eyes "We're not getting into why I retired."

Somehow without looking up, the pegasus mare seemed to just know that some foals still had their hooves in the air. Sighing, she answered the question that she knew was coming "You may have known me as the 'Rocket-Mare' when I still performed...and I'm not taking anymore questions."

Despite Sea Breeze's clear exhaustion she still managed to chuckle, at the sound of the disappointed foals, earning an annoyed glance from Rockette. "As I was saying...with me here is Ms. Sea Breeze, from Princess Luna's Night Guard. She will be serving as the junior officer during our classes."

At her introduction, Sea Breeze halfheartedly waved to all the foals, before using her hoof to cover up another yawn.

Nodding again, Rockette resumed her explanation "To break it down simply, we have the Beginners Flight course, for those of you still trying to get off the ground. The Intermediate course for those that can already fly, but still need to master the basics. And finally the Advanced course, where we will cover some basic maneuvers and conditioning. We'll also be covering basic weather techniques in the Advanced course. We'll be figuring out where each of you are placed, here..."

At that point, Rockette gestured to, what seemed to be, a fairly straightforward flight course. Flying up to it, she guided the gathered pegasi through the course. "We start here, at this flag. From here, you take off, fly this way and land on this platform." Demonstrating the course as she went along, Rockette set down easily onto a small, but sturdy, wooden platform. Thankfully, it wasn't too high up off the ground, barely coming up to a grown mare's shoulders. The pegasus mare then lifted off again, and started weaving between a number of flags "From there, you'll take off again, weave through the flags till you reach the red flag. From there, you'll fly back and land on the platform. Simple."

Rockette quickly demonstrated the whole course for the gathered foals once more, before setting down in front of everypony again "We'll be going by how much of the course you complete, how well you fly and time, for placing you in our courses. And I don't want anypony worrying if they can't manage to take-off. We're fully prepared to teach you from scratch if need be. For those of you can manage it, I'll be flying by you through the course, keeping an eye on things. Meanwhile, Ms. Sea Breeze will-..."

Rockette paused, as she considered the bat-pony once more, and the fact that she was half-way to nodding off again "...she'll take notes."

A couple of foals giggled at this, before Rockette started getting them into order. Again, Scootaloo was torn between two feelings; she was more than a bit disappointed and relieved to be stuck at the end of the line. She wanted to show what she could do...but it also wasn't the worst thing in Equestria to get a chance to see how the other pegasi did, on the course.

And as the number of foals between her and the front dwindled, she could feel some of her confidence coming back. It seemed more than a few of her fellow campers weren't such hot flyers themselves. And while there were a fair few that Scootaloo could admit were way better than her, there were some that couldn't even get off the ground. Which she could almost definitely manage.

She was actually filling kind of pumped again. After all, what did Diamond Tiara or Snails know about flying?

"Alright, Ms. Scootaloo, come up to the line, and we'll get started." Rockette called, as she let the last foal join the others.

Scootaloo quickly ran up to the starting line, a determined look on her face. Rockette briefly glanced towards her junior officer again, to make sure she was still conscious, before smiling toward Scootaloo "Whenever your ready."

Scootaloo nodded, before setting her hoof on the starting line. Soon she had her wings buzzing, and could feel her hooves starting to leave the ground. Excited, she quickly glanced towards Rockette, with a smile, before noting the expression on the mare's face.

The former Wonderbolt seemed to have a light frown, as she looked Scootaloo over "Hmm...could you set back down, Ms. Scootaloo?"

The purple-maned filly scarcely needed to be asked, as she quickly plopped back down to the ground, worry evident in her voice "Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing to be too worried about. This time, though, could you try flapping your wings slower?" Rockette calmly asked.

"S-slower?...I guess." Her doubt was plain, as the filly briefly looked back to her wings. Scootaloo had a hard enough time getting off the ground when she was flapping as hard and fast as she could. How could going slower possibly help?

Nonetheless, Scootaloo tried doing as she was asked. And despite her best efforts, after about thirty seconds of trying to get off the ground, Scootaloo turned back towards the older mare "I-I can't do it like this! I just need to get up a bit more speed."

Rockette shook her head, before explaining "It's not about not going fast enough. You're actually flapping too fast."

"What?!" Scootaloo couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"It's not a big problem. It's not even that uncommon." Rockette said in her most reassuring voice "It happens a lot with foals that try flying before their wings have properly developed."

"B-but I can totally fly! Watch!" Scootaloo again tried flapping her wings as quickly as possible. Within a few moments, the little filly was indeed hovering a few inches in the air.

"See?" But as she tried to prove that she could indeed fly, she ran into the same problem that she always ran into. She couldn't seem to control herself. Soon, she was starting to lean to far forward, and was forced to set down roughly to avoid completely losing control.

Rockette tried to explain "Listen, it's alright. Like I said, this isn't a big problem."

"But, what am I doing wrong?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes starting to get teary. She had spent a whole month trying to get better at flying. Really trying, so she'd be ready for this. And now, it turned out she was completely screwing up somehow.

Setting a hoof across the filly's shoulders, Rockette continued "You've got to remember that flying isn't all about how hard you're flapping your wings, when you're a pegasus. There's a lot of magic that goes into it too. Compared to a lot of other things that can fly, our wings are pretty small. Our magic helps make up for that. It sort of...gives us some extra lift. But when you're flapping as fast as you can, it starts to disrupt this magic, you see?"

As she explained, Rockette extended her own wings, and gave them a couple of slow flaps. But even as gently as she was flapping them, she still got a couple of inches off the ground. "Slower flaps mean that we can get more of our magic to do the work of keeping us in the air, and lets our wings guide and move us around. I'm guessing you've been having a lot of trouble with controlling yourself, when you get in the air, right?"

Taking Scootaloo's morose silence, as a 'yes' Rockette tried to bring her spirits up a bit "Hey, remember what I said. We have no problem, at all, teaching from scratch. We'll get this sorted out in no time. Alright?"

Scootaloo still sounded pretty disappointed, but nodded nonetheless "...alright."

"No worries now, kid. Now go on over with the others, while we wrap up."

A couple of hours later...

Sea Breeze snapped awake, before looking around in confusion. Thankfully, it still seemed to be light out, making the situation fairly easy to put together.

She had fallen asleep in a field.

Still groggy, the bat-pony tried clambering up onto her hooves, before realizing that she seemed to be having some unexpected trouble with the task. Looking down at her hooves, it quickly became evident that someone had done her the kindness of providing her a blanket...and what looked to be a note, written in large letters. Taking the note in hoof she checked it over real quick. On the front, it read 'LET HER SLEEP' with the word sleep underlined, obviously for the benefit of any pony that came across the sleep mare. The back on the other hoof seemed to be meant for her, and read 'Couldn't wake you. Or move you. Let you sleep.' in smaller writing.

After a moment of consideration, Sea Breeze simply shrugged, put the note back where she found it, and curled back up into the pleasantly warm blanket.

She had a few hours before nightfall.

Author's Notes:

Alright, so an extra long chapter, for an extra long wait.

Having seen the recent Cutie Mark Crusaders episode, I gotta say, I was surprised to find that it touched on a lot of the same stuff I was meaning to cover in this story. Particularly, Scootaloo's flying problems and Diamond Tiara's tendency to undercut others rather than improve herself. Obviously, I'm planning on taking it in a different direction, but still good to know I'm still sticking fairly close to their canon character.

Speaking of different directions, I couldn't really decide whether I wanted to try to integrate my stories together with canon or not. If the new episodes didn't run to far counter to my ideas I was going to try to work them together. But now I'm leaning more towards just doing my own thing, and just working in the ideas from the new season that I can easily make work.

And for anyone that's tired of the many OCs being introduced, good news. All the relevant OCs for this story have been introduced by now. It was kind of a necessity given the nature of the story, that I either create a fair number of OCs or shoehorn a bunch of canon characters into roles they might not fit in. Hopefully, it'll work out, and you'll find the OCs varied and likable. I also plan on posting a short list of the OCs I've created for this story, on my blog, later in the week. Just their names, appearances and a couple of relevant details. It's mostly for my benefit, helping to cement them all properly in my head, but if you want feel free to check it out when it's up.

One last thing. I had a bit of trouble actually sitting down and writing this chapter out. It's not that I didn't have everything planned out in my head, I was just so...easily distracted from writing it all down. So, I might try to write-up a couple of one-shots, as a brief break. Get a bit of variety. So just a heads up.

As always, I hope you guys enjoy this latest chapter. Questions and criticism are welcome.

Chapter Five: Situation Normal...

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“Alright, now really stretch them. Now up. Now down. Keep it up, everypony.”

It was closing in on the end of the first week of Junior Guard Cadet Summer Camp, and Scootaloo still wasn't getting off the ground. Which she was starting to think had something to do with the fact, that all they seemed to be doing was stretches and wing maintenance.

“Good. Now all of you take a quick breather and we'll go through the next set. And if we can all get through it without taking any breaks, I got something special for everypony. Cool, right?”

At least Ms. Sea Breeze seemed to be making enough time for her to fit in her naps now. And she seemed pretty cool and energetic now, but...

“Shouldn't Mrs. Rockette be teaching the beginner classes instead? I already know how to clean my wings, and she was a Wonderbolt, right?” Scootaloo asked, giving voice to some of her frustrations.

Laughing off Scootaloo's question, evidently not bothered by it, the bat-pony landed by the orange filly “Heh. Yeah, I get where you're coming from. I mean, you would want the pony that knows the most about flying to teach the foals that know the least, right?”

Seeming to think about it briefly, before realizing that, yeah, that was kind of Scootaloo's reasoning “Uhm, yeah?”

Smiling down at the filly, Sea Breeze raised her hoof as she explained “Ah. But ya gotta remember, the foals in the Advanced Class and Intermediate Class are doing tougher work. And they also are spending more time high up in the air...right?”

Scootaloo frowned as that bounced in her head a bit, before cautiously responding “...yeah?”

Nodding along, the bat-pony continued “So it makes sense that those foals have higher odds of getting hurt, if they mess up. So...you'd want the most experienced flyer looking out for those foals, in case something does go wrong, right?”

A few moments later, Scootaloo visibly sagged, before nodding “Yeah, I guess.”

Sea Breeze leaned down to look Scootaloo in the eyes “Aw, come on now, you don't need to worry. I can still teach ya everything you need to know to take to the skies. And we've got plenty of training left to cover, so-”

“But, all we're learning to do is move our wings around and pick through our feathers! I already know how to do all that stuff!” Scootaloo exclaimed with a pout.

Setting a hoof across Scootaloo's withers, Sea Breeze again tried to explain “I know, I know. It's boring stuff. But ya gotta go through this kind of thing if you want to be a world-class flyer. And not everypony knows all this stuff like you; gotta make sure they know it too.”

At this last part, the bat-pony gestured with a hoof to the other Beginner flyers, some of which were still learning about these kinds of things. Scootaloo again found herself sighing, as she heard the fairly reasonable explanations. The filly's ears perked as a thought occurred.

“So...since I know how to do all this stuff already, maybe I should be in the Intermediate Class, instead?”

Sea Breeze just rolled her eyes, amused by Scootaloo's ongoing attempts to get into one of the more advanced classes “Heh, nice try. And I promise we'll get to some cooler stuff after we get this boring stuff out of the way. In fact, I was planning on something pretty cool, for when you guys all get done with your exercises, if you remember.”

Raising an eyebrow in skepticism, Scootaloo asked “What did you want to do anyway?”

“Uh-uh. Not until after you get done preening.” Sea Breeze reiterated.

“Aw, come on.” Scootaloo implored.

“Well, perhaps you just needed help straightening your feathers, and you were just too embarrassed to ask?” The bat-pony teased.

“N-no way! I can do it myself! I- wait...” At first a bit embarrassed at the thought of needing help with something like that, Scootaloo's expression soon changed to a scrutinizing one.

A bit confused by the change in the filly, Sea Breeze tilted her head “What?”

“...you don't even have any feathers!” Scootaloo soon exclaimed, as she realized what was bothering her.

The bat-pony blinked, before chuckling a few moments later “Are you just realizing that now?” as she asked this she stretched out one of her leathery wings.

“But, if you don't have feathers, how would you know so much about preening?” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Oh, well. Just cause I don't have feathers now, doesn't mean I didn't have them before. I wasn't always a bat-pony, ya know?” Sea Breeze explained flippantly.

“Really?” Scootaloo asked, looking the bat-pony up-and-down.

“Really.” Sea Breeze easily confirmed.

“I didn't know you could turn into a bat-pony! How'd it happen? Did you get bit, and that's how you got turned into one?” Scootaloo started asking excitedly.

Waving the filly's questions away “Naw, it doesn't work like that. And you really gotta wear them down before you can get them to give you even a little nibble.” Sea Breeze finished with a chuckle.

“Oh...Wait. Why would you want to get a bat-pony to nibble you then?” Scootaloo innocently asked.

“...Uh.” Sea Breeze's brain went into a bit of a lockdown, as she remembered that she was talking to a foal. About nibbling.

And there was little Scootaloo looking up at her, with those big, curious eyes.

“...Flying. I'm gonna take you guys flying.”

“Really?! Seriously?!” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“...Yep! But only after you finish those exercises!” The bat-pony agreed, relieved that giving away the surprise had distracted the little filly from her line of questioning.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo quickly darted over to the rest of the foals, and began alternating between waving her wings around and preening.

Sea Breeze sighed, as she rubbed the back of her head “Well, that could have gotten awkward.”

A little while later...

“Okay, are you ready to...come in for the landing?” Sea Breeze asked her charge, in-between labored breaths, as she started to descend.

“Aww! Do we have to? This is soooo awesome!!” Scootaloo exclaimed, as she was being held aloft in the bat-pony's hooves.

Exhaling sharply, as she tried to sigh at the filly's enthusiasm, before smiling down at the orange filly “Alright...just one more minute.”

“Awesome!” A few seconds later, Scootaloo was extending her little wings out as far as she could again, and closed her eyes as she felt the air rushing through her feathers. It was almost everything she imagined it would be. The wind, the speed, the freedom, she felt like she was on top of the whole world. The only way this could get any better is if she was flying herself around, instead of being carried by Ms. Sea Breeze. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. Mostly, because the bat-pony was exhausted from carrying all those other foals before then.

“Alright, now we're definitely coming in for a landing. Did you see how the others landed?” Sea Breeze then called down to her charge, as she began to angle towards the field they had started in.

“Already?!” Scootaloo called back.

“Yep! Get ready now!” Sea Breeze told her, as she began to slow down and approach the ground.

“What?! Oh.” Realizing that her experience was definitely over this time, she took the time to wrack her brain for how the way the bat-pony wanted her to land. Remembering just in the nick of time she started to move her legs, as if she were already running along the ground. Letting go of Scootaloo as the filly made contact with the ground, Sea Breeze turned around to see the orange filly slowing herself down. Scootaloo was doing a pretty good job of it, till she suddenly, and inexplicably, faceplanted.

“Whoa! Are you alright kid?” Setting down, to let her exhausted wings rest, the bat-pony cantered over to the foal.

“Did you see that?! That was awesome!” Evidently, Scootaloo was unhurt, as could be evidenced by the filly picking herself up and shaking the grass and dirt from her face without concern.

Smiling at the young pegasi's infectious joy, Sea Breeze chuckled tiredly “Heh, not a bad landing for your first one. You alright?”

“Yeah! That was the greatest thing ever! Can we do it again?!” Asked Scootaloo with big hopeful eyes.

Sea Breeze waved her hoof away at that, still chuckling “Not today, kid. Maybe some other time. Personally, it's about time I catch some shuteye.”

“Please, please, please, can we do it again?” Scootaloo begged.

Sea Breeze scratched the back of her head, as if she were really considering it, before flipping her sweaty mane from her eyes “I don't know...if I spend all our time flying you around, I'm not gonna have enough time to teach you how to fly yourself.”

“Oh! Oh, you're right! You still gotta teach me! You are gonna, right?” Scootaloo asked, calming down a bit, from her post-flight excitement.

“Definitely, kid. But to do that I'm gonna need some rest, right?” Sea Breeze pointed out as she ruffled the filly's mane.

“Well, yeah.” Scootaloo agreed quickly.

“Glad you agree. Now let's head after the others.” Sea Breeze waved Scootaloo along, after quickly seizing on to the filly's agreeing with the mare “Come on, I'll walk you to the messhall.”

A little while later...

“Worst. Day...Ever.” Diamond Tiara groused, as she set her head upon the lunch table, ignoring her food. After a long, boring, dirty hike down a trail with the rest of the Earth pony foals, Diamond Tiara was all too ready to go to sleep right there. Her mood hadn't been helped by the fact that she had skipped breakfast, when she couldn't readily identify what was being served, and thus deemed it gross. Or when the other foals kept chuckling whenever they saw her trip or complain, like she was somehow funny to them. Jerks.

While, it might be a stretch to call it the 'Worst. Day...Ever' it certainly didn't look like the little Earth pony was enjoying her day. Her coat and mane were slightly matted with dirt and sweat, and she had more than a few minor aches and scratches from tramping through prickly bits of underbrush. Her trademark tiara was sitting askew, as Diamond Tiara had yet to give in to common sense and put it away, and her mane kept slipping down into her eyes. It seemed that Diamond Tiara was very determined not to have any sort of good time at camp, and she seemed to be finding quite a bit of success, as the first week came to a close.

“Wow. You look terrible, Tiara.” Scootaloo observed as she trotted up to their lunch table, carrying her own tray of food. Scootaloo failed to notice the wince from Delicacy, at her tactless comment.

“Just shut-up, duck-brain. I don't feel like messing with you right now.” Diamond Tiara snarled, without looking up, eliciting another worried look from Delicacy. She really didn't want to have to deal with another of their fights.

“Tch, fine. It's not like I care, anyway.” Somewhat surprisingly, for Delicacy, Scootaloo didn't seem to rise to the bait. All that Diamond Tiara's comment seem to have gotten her, is a slight frown from the pegasus.

Setting her own food down before sitting down, Scoots smile returned as she turned towards Delicacy “So what about you? Did anything awesome happen to you?...Cause my day was awesome. Just in case, you were curious...” Scootaloo leaned in towards the unicorn filly, as she dropped some not so subtle hints about how her day had gone so far, earning a confused smile from Delicacy.

“Uhm, well, we-” the unicorn filly started, hesitantly.

“Alright, I'll tell you!” Scootaloo suddenly cut in, all excitement and smiles “I totally flew today! For real! It was soooo, insanely awesome!”

This actually got Diamond Tiara to look up, with a frown on her face, as she listened to Scootaloo's exclamations. Delicacy, meanwhile, was just recovering from the Scootaloo's sudden outburst “Oh, that's great, Scootaloo.”

“Yeah! We did some cool barrelrolls and flips! Oh, and we flew through these clouds! And we-” Scootaloo continued on gleefully.

“We?” Delicacy asked, picking up on that particular word choice.

“What? Oh. You know that bat-pony? She carried us all up after we got done with our wing exercises. It was so cool! I-” Scootaloo clarified, before suddenly being interrupted, by Diamond Tiara.

“Wait a minute! She, like, carried you? You didn't fly up yourself?”

“Well...yeah.” Scootaloo answered the question already wary of what was about to come next, and already not enjoying it.

“Pfft, I knew it. There was no one way a feather-brain like you could get off the ground.” Diamond Tiara smugly asserted.

“Yeah! Well-...What have you been doing that's so amazing, huh?!” Scootaloo countered hotly.

“I-...Well-” Diamond Tiara tried to respond, though flying did sound better than anything she had been stuck doing.

“Ms. Arcana showed us a really fun way to practice our telekinesis.” Delicacy chimed in with a forced smile, as she again tried to divert the Earth pony and the pegasus from their argument.

“Uh. I was kinda talking to her.” Scootaloo pointed out uncertainly.

“I'm sorry. I was just so...excited about it? Like you.” Delicacy tried to explain.

“What was so exciting about it?” Diamond Tiara asked doubtfully, again not convinced that one could have fun at this camp.

“Yeah, what'd you guys do?” Scootaloo added.

“Well, we, uhm...we played some sports games.” Delicacy explained hesitantly. At the other two's skeptical looks, concerning just how exciting that could be, Delicacy quickly continued “But we could only use our magic to play! So, that was kind of neat.”

Scootaloo thought about that for a moment, before asking “Wait. How can you play with just your magic? I mean, do you just all sit around waving your horns around.”

“Well, no. We just sort of have to only use our magic to move the balls around, and stuff like that. Ms. Arcana said, it was a good way to improve our telekinesis. It was kinda fun. Even though our team didn't win.” Delicacy elaborated, pleased that she had been able to divert the two, from their argument.

“That still doesn't sound all that exciting.” Diamond Tiara observed, as she started prodding her lunch, after it had long gone cold from neglect.

“Uhm...well, Mr. Shield got caught in an avalanche...”

A couple of hours ago...

“Alright everypony! Let's all get set up to have some fun!” Silver Shield called out enthusiastically, as he approached the sports shed, where the various balls and other such pieces of sporting equipment were stored. Most of the foals quickly gathered around Silver Shield, while Ms. Arcana was left busy guiding a couple of foals through some basic cantrips for them to practice.

“What game are we gonna play, Mr. Shield?” Snails asked enthusiastically, which elicited a chorus of the same question from the other foals. Silver Shield paused to think about that, raising his hoof to his chin to consider the question. As Ms. Arcana hadn't really spelled out any specific games the foals were going to play, so he figured it fell to him to make the decision.

“Well, how about kickball? We all know pretty much how to play that, right?” Silver Shield asked the gathered foals, which elicited plenty of nods and affirmatives from them.

“Excellent. I'll just get this open and-” Silver Shield quickly cut himself off, and quickly backed away from the shed, just after opening the door to it. There, piled right at the door, was a wall of rubber balls packed to the ceiling looking as if it would collapse from the slightest of nudges. It took him several nervous moments to realize that the balls, as precariously packed as they seemed, were not in any danger of burying him or his charges. Perhaps hopeful that his luck was starting to turn around, the stallion gave out a hefty sigh of relief.

Silver Shield gave a chuckle “Alright, I guess we should look into putting these away properly in the future. But for now let's just get a couple from the-”

He was cutoff as Snail ran forward in an excited rush, his horn glowing brightly “I got it, Mr. Shield!”

Snails' magic had come along fairly well in the last week, though it was still pretty iffy at times, though that was hardly Shield's principle concerns. Silver Shield quickly reached a hoof forward to stop the eager young colt, but he was a bit late as the magical aura wrapped around a ball at the bottom of the stack. Holding his breath in anticipation, Silver Shield quickly waved the rest of the foals back, as he got ready to hold back the tide of rubber.

A couple of moments later, Snails had successfully wiggled the bottom ball of the stack free and was holding it up high, with a smile on his face “Got it, Mr. Shield.” And astonishingly the stack hadn't fallen over on anypony; it seemed they were so tightly packed together that they couldn't even budge.

Silver Shield let out a sigh, again of relief, at this development. Smiling again “Excellent, Mr. Snails. Though next time perhaps let me get it, alright?”

“Yep!” Snails cheerfully agreed, just pleased that he had successfully grabbed the ball with his magic.

Silver Shield looked back towards the collection of balls, in consideration “Well, it seems safe enough. And we should probably grab a spare ball.”

Looking up towards the top of stack, Silver Shield reached out with his own magic, grabbing a ball that didn't look to be in any danger of setting off some sort of chain-reaction “I'll just grab th-”

Suddenly the whole stack of balls came loose, at the lightest of touches from his magic, and spilled free of the shed. Right on top of the poor stallion.

About half a minute later, the balls had stopped spilling out of the shed, leaving the many foals and Ms. Arcana staring at the large pile of sporting equipment. A few moments later, Delicacy edged towards the pile and nosed away a couple of balls, revealing Silver Shield's dazed expression.

Ms. Arcana cantered over, before leaning over the disoriented stallion “Are you alright, Mr. Shield?”

“...I think, I swallowed a bug.”

“Ms. Arcana said Mr. Shield was alright, though he did seem kind of woozy.” Delicacy finished.

“Wow, that guy has some really bad luck, doesn't he?...Hey, wait. Where's Snails anyway?” Scootaloo asked, finally noticing that while there were three foals sitting at the table, there seemed to be four trays of food set out.

Diamond Tiara simply rolled her eyes, before tapping her hoof on the table. Perplexed by this, Scootaloo leaned in to get a closer look at where Diamond Tiara was tapping “...is he tiny or something?”

“Not there! Under the table!” Diamond Tiara irritably explained.

Blinking at this, Scootaloo leaned over to look underneath their table, to spot Snails happily crouched down under the table looking up at the underside of the table.

“Snails? What are ya doing under the table?” Scootaloo asked.

Delicacy peeked her own head under the table, to answer “I think he said he was practicing a magic trick.”

“I was?” Snails asked, looking towards Delicacy.

“...That's what you said.” Delicacy slowly replied, while giving the colt a doubtful look.

“...Oh, right! Sorry I just got distracted.” Snails brightened up as he remembered the talent show slated for the end of the month, that he had meant to be practicing for.

Scootaloo tilted her head at the colt's response “What distracted you?”

“That cool spider crawling by your head.” Snails cheerfully answered.

“Oh-...ahhhhhh!” The little pegasus quickly jerked her head away, after processing this information, knocking her head against the table and falling from her chair in the process. Delicacy was not much better off, as she was startled by Scootaloo's shriek and quickly lost her balance in her own chair.

“What are you all doing?!” Diamond Tiara asked as she slid out of her own seat, though unlike the others, it was entirely on purpose and she landed on her hooves.

“I was just showing them this cool spider, DT. Then everypony started falling out of their seats.” A confused Snails explained as he showed Diamond Tiara the little spider, now perched on his hoof. Surprisingly, unlike the others, she didn't freak out or end up tripping over her own hooves in the process of getting away from the spider. Rather she just frowned before sending a look towards the other two fillies “Really? Like, it's so small it barely even counts as a spider.”

“I didn't know how big it was! And it was right by my head!” Scootaloo quickly defended herself.

“I-I was just startled when Scootaloo got scared.” Delicacy tried to explain as she tried to wipe the dust from her coat.

“I wasn't scared!” Scootaloo emphasized.

“Sure you weren't. I guess you were just thinking the floor looked awfully comfortable. Or maybe you're gonna be a Cutie Mark floor cleaner now, huh?” Diamond Tiara teased.

Scootaloo quickly scowled at Diamond Tiara's ribbing, and looked ready to get into the other filly's face, to tell her off. Delicacy just rolled her eyes at the sight, while the others weren't paying her any attention.

“Can I have everypony's attention!” Thankfully the two were interrupted, as Lancer called for everypony's attention. Most of the campers had learned that Lancer was the sort that demanded attention; she'd get it, one way or another.

“Just need to announce what we have planned for the weekend, then you can get back to lunch.” Lancer explained, before taking to the air so that everypony could hear her more easily. “This weekend we're going to be covering basic wilderness survival. The kind of stuff you'll be glad you know if you ever get lost in the woods, or something like that.”

A moment later, Lancer began flying back and forth, in an airborne approximation of pacing “To that end, we're going to be having our three senior officers, leading half of you out to the woods tomorrow for the lesson. And the other half the day after. The junior officers will be keeping the rest of you busy each of those days. Clear?”

“Wait! We're going on another stupid hike! We just got done with that!” Diamond Tiara quickly spoke up, which earned a couple of winces from the other foals, and an annoyed glance from Lancer.

“I assume you're talking about the hike Mr. Brick Brawn and Mr. Stalwart Gaze lead the Earth pony foals on, earlier today? Well, then I suggest you not worry.” Lancer explained, as she gazed straight towards Diamond Tiara, earning the slightest bit of discomfort from the outspoken filly “You aren't going to be traveling down a well-worn trail and you aren't doing this for exercise or to see the sights. You're going to be carried deep into the woods, and learning what you need to know to survive if you're ever caught in that kind of situation. How to find food, water, or shelter. Making a campfire. How to avoid getting hurt by a wild animal. That kind of thing.”

Setting down by Cabin 12's table, she tilted her head towards Diamond Tiara “Now are there anymore points you would like to raise, Ms. Diamond Tiara?”

The other three all looked towards Diamond Tiara, along with most of the other ponies in the messhall, as the mare put Diamond Tiara on the spot. Squirming a bit, from the discomfort of having so many eyes on her, Diamond Tiara found it a bit difficult to meet the mare's eyes “Uhm...no.”

“Excellent.” Lancer nodded at Diamond Tiara's muttered response, before turning back to the rest of the ponies “Alright, everypony. Remember to get up bright and early tomorrow. We'll be dividing you up into two groups tomorrow morning, after breakfast.”

There was a bit of hesitation from the other ponies, as they glanced between Lancer and the rather embarrassed Diamond Tiara. Noticing this, Lancer called out to the other campers, as she returned to her own meal “You can get back to your lunches now.”

That seemed to be the cue for the other ponies to all focus their attention back to their own affairs.

As Diamond Tiara climbed back into her own seat sulkily, Scootaloo glanced over towards Lancer before commenting “Wow...that was kind of scary.”

At the Camp staff's table...

“That was a bit much.” Stalwart Gaze observed, as Lancer sat down back in her spot.

Lancer raised an eyebrow towards the stallion, as he continued to placidly eat his own meal “Perhaps, but that filly has been raising Tartarus, since she got here. If you don't want me cutting her down to size, how else am I supposed to get her to shape up, hm?”

Lancer had always been strict when it came to troublemakers, and perhaps it could have been less public, but that filly was all to ready too make a scene whenever it seemed to suit her pubescent mood. And she was hearing more than a few complaints from the other campers about the snobbish Diamond Tiara. Lancer felt that if she didn't nip that behavior soon, it was gonna end badly for Diamond Tiara.

“Perhaps you could have called her to the side, after lunch, and spoken with her about her behavior then? Instead of embarrassing her in front of everypony?” Rockette pointedly suggested, while looking towards her fellow pegasus mare.

“Pretty uncool, I gotta say.” Sea Breeze observed.

Lancer glanced towards Silver Shield and Brick Brawn, evidently waiting for them to add their own two bits. The two stallions quickly shook their heads and focused back on their meals, not quite so ready to criticize their superior, as the others.

At this, Lancer took in a deep breath, before exhaling “...I suppose you all have a point. I'll try to rein it in next time. Alright?”

Stalwart Gaze simply shrugged, though Rockette smiled at the admission from the more militant pegasus “That's all I ask. You can't let this job get to you so much, you know? Just try talking to her next time.”

Lancer nodded “Right, right.”

“I say we bring back corporal punishment.”

The rest of the staff, including those that hadn't weighed in, turned to look towards Arcana. Most of them sported varying levels of surprise and shock at the casually delivered suggestion.

The unicorn mare looked up from her own plate towards the others, a few seconds later “Incidentally, I think they added too much salt to the potatoes today.”

“...they are a bit salty, huh?” Sea Breeze noted, while sparing a discerning glance towards her own half-finished potatoes "Not corporal punishment salty. But still.”

The next day, in the woods...

As promised, the various campers had all been divided into two groups, based on cabin, and had been led into the woods. Despite Lancer's word that they weren't going to be traipsing down trails all day, they did end up traveling along the trails for a while. They were a fair way into the woods, by the time Arcana led the group off of the path and in to the deeper part of the woods.

Along the way, each of the adults took the time to point out some general information about the plants they passed along the way. Mostly they were pointing out plants which were safe for ponies to consume and how somepony might figure out if something was safe to eat.

They spent a few hours walking through the woods, which eventually led to Diamond Tiara falling to the back of the group. Between her tired hooves and the poor rapport she had built up with...everypony, the only ponies that caught any of her complaints were Delicacy and Stalwart Gaze. And Stalwart Gaze wasn't very good conversation, frankly.

“Yeah, this isn't anything like a hike. I can't even hear what they're saying from back here!” Diamond Tiara whined, to which Delicacy just nodded along, unwilling to contradict her.

“They were telling everypony, how you can figure out which direction you're going by the position of the Sun.” Stalwart placidly explained, which earned a huff from Diamond Tiara.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo was happily crowding around Mrs. Rockette, along with several other foals, trying to slip in questions about flying tips and what it was like being a Wonderbolt. Rockette was unamused, and repeatedly found herself turning the conversation back to the topic at hoof.

“Yes, well being able to fly is certainly handy, and makes it pretty hard to get lost. But you might not always be in a position to fly away from your problems. You might get grounded during bad weather or have an injury that keeps you from flying. So it pays to know whether or not you can eat this plant...So can anypony tell me if this particular plant is safe to eat?”

As the foals looked between themselves, apparently clueless, Rockette just sighed, before going over the details of just why one should never eat poison sumac.

Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Snails was at the very front of the group, with Ms. Arcana, happily asking questions about everything. To everypony's surprise, the normally dim colt was rather knowledgeable about not just bugs, but plants, mosses, and the like. While he was still lacking a bit in common sense, he knew enough about the outdoors that Ms. Arcana actually needed to wrack her mind every once in a while, to supply the answers to Snails' questions

Some of the more experienced campers might have noted that the normally very reserved Ms. Arcana seemed rather pleased with this development.

By the time Ms. Arcana had called for a stop in a small clearing Diamond Tiara's mane and tail were, again, thoroughly sweaty and disheveled.

“Alright everypony! We'll all take fifteen minutes for a quick break, then we're going to go into detail about creating a shelter, campfires, and navigating.” Ms. Arcana called out to the foals, before gesturing for Snails to join up with his cabin mates.

“Isn't this great, guys?!” Snails happily exclaimed, as he joined up with Delicacy and Diamond Tiara under one of the many trees.

“No! It's hot and dirty out here, and all we're doing is wandering around.” Diamond Tiara countered, as she laid down in the shade.

“Aww, it's not so bad, DT. I bet Deli's having fun, right?” Snails turned towards Delicacy, eliciting a confused blink at the nickname and a hesitant nod of agreement.

At about that moment, Scootaloo wandered over to the group, having been shooed off by Mrs. Rockette.

“Isn't this great, guys?” Scootaloo asked as she drew up to her cabinmates.

Snails quickly nodded with a grin “Uh-huh, that's what I was saying, Scoots.”

“I mean, Ms. Sea Breeze is cool and all, but Mrs. Rockette was an actual Wonderbolt. You can't beat that when it comes to flying.” Scootaloo exclaimed, not really having picked up much on the actual point of the survival lessons. Diamond Tiara frowned mightily at the pegasus' upbeat attitude, feeling vaguely affronted by the thought of the 'blank-flank' enjoying herself, while Diamond Tiara was miserable. Snails meanwhile, perked his ears at something before wandering away from the three fillies, leaving Delicacy to find a relatively clean spot to lay down.

“Is that all you ever talk about, blank-flank?” Diamond Tiara asked, with some annoyance.

“Well, what's wrong with talking about it, huh?” Scootaloo countered.

“Uh, because you talk about it all the time, and it's annoying. And it's stupid, since it's not like you can fly anyway.” Diamond Tiara quickly went after one of her usual targets, when it came to Scootaloo.

“Yeah, well...at least, I'm not a big jerk like you! Being mean to everypony, all the time!” Scootaloo countered, her raised voice getting the attention of some of the other ponies in the small glade.

“I am not mean!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed.

“You are too! That's why nopony wants to be friends with you!” Scootaloo pointed out, even as a part of her felt a bit bad about pulling that up.

“I-I-...Lots of ponies want to be my friend! There's Silver Spoon and- and-...her!” Diamond Tiara defended herself, as she jabbed a hoof towards Delicacy. The unicorn filly looked entirely uncomfortable with being drawn into the argument.

“Right, Delicacy?!” Diamond Tiara asked of the unicorn filly, looking for her to be back up her claim to friendship.

As the two fillies looked towards Delicacy, her head turned from one to the other, before she focused on the ground in front of her, stubbornly not looking towards either. “I...don't really want to take sides.”

While Diamond Tiara looked taken aback by this, Scootaloo continued on, not used to finally getting the advantage over Diamond Tiara in their arguments “I told you so! Nopony wants to hang out with a jerk.”

Diamond Tiara glared at Scootaloo, thoroughly infuriated by the pegasus' comments, she had to resist the urge to let her eyes tear up. A moment later she bucked the tree they were sitting under as hard as she could, while shouting “I am not a JERK!”

At that, silence reigned over the small group, apart from the slight rustle of leaves above, from the bucking. While she was indeed an Earth pony and quite angry at the moment, Diamond Tiara's buck barely caused the tree to shift at all, even though the tree wasn't particularly large.

“Uh...guys.” Snails quietly called over to the three fillies, as he looked up into the boughs of the tree. Though weak, the buck did seem to be enough to shake a rather large beehive free of it's mooring. The four ponies soon had all turned their attention to the buzzing hive above, anxiously hoping that it wasn't going to come free.

It did.

As each had ducked down in the hopes of avoiding the angry bees, it took a few moments for the foursome to look up, after realizing that while there was quite a bit of angry buzzing, there was very little stinging going on.

Looking up they could see several furrows in the ground leading to where Rockette stood, her wings extended shielding the three fillies. Evidently the mare had crossed the entirety of the glade in less time than it took for the bee hive to reach the ground. Or even get half way to the ground.

Stalwart Gaze had likewise interposed himself between Snails and where the hive had been about to land, in impressively short order.

And there was Ms. Arcana, horn glowing, having apparently caught and contained both the hive and the bees themselves in her magic. Frowning as she cantered over towards Cabin 12, she called out to the rest of the campers “Take another five minutes, for your break.”

Turning back to the four foals in front of her, she tilted her head towards them “We need to have a small talk, Cabin 12.”

The four campers of Cabin 12 were lined up in front of the three adult ponies, each with varying degrees of shame and embarrassment on their little faces. The adults had lead the group outside of easy earshot of the rest of the campers before beginning their little 'talk'. The beehive, along with it's rather agitated residents, was still hanging idly in the air.

“Who wants to explain just what went on here?” Rockette asked the foursome, in a deceptively even tone.

After about a minute of uncomfortable silence for the four foals, Rockette's patience began to wane “Well?”

“...Diamond Tiara's the one who started it!” Scootaloo quickly accused.

“What?! You're the one that started it! Not me!” Diamond Tiara countered, with the eloquence only a child could manage.

“I'm really sorry, I just-” Delicacy started trying to explain, though she was quickly drowned out by the others.

“I was just watching bees!” Snails added his own bit to the mix.

Soon the four foals were shouting and arguing over one another, pointing hooves as each tried to avoid taking the blame for the incident. Rockette was quickly lost trying to follow what the four foals were each saying, and Stalwart Gaze simply raised an eyebrow at the ensuing chaos.

“Enough.” Arcana sharply declared, and while she didn't raise her voice, it seemed to do the trick. With the four foals looking up at her with worry now, the unicorn mare sharply exhaled out her nose, before speaking “I think, I've heard enough.”

“But, I-” Scootaloo tried to start again before Arcana stopped her with a gesture of her hoof.

“I said enough. I heard everything I needed to hear.”

At this she suddenly pointed a hoof towards Diamond Tiara, startling the filly “You have a bad attitude. Work on it.”

Shifting her hoof to Scootaloo, to the pegasus' surprise “Learn to control your temper and next time think about what you do before doing it.”

Delicacy was flinching before Arcana had even moved her hoof over towards her “Learn when it's time to speak your mind and when to tell your friends to shut-up.”

Ending with Snails “Next time, don't let your own interests distract you from what's important. Like your cabinmates sitting underneath a beehive.”

As the four foals looked up towards the unicorn mare, along with Stalwart Gaze and Rockette, Arcana began walking further into the woods. Along with the beehive.

“Mr. Gaze, Mrs. Rockette, would you mind seeing to the Survival instruction while I dispose of these.” Arcana called back to her two fellow adults.

Stalwart Gaze was too busy watching this unfold to respond, leaving it to Rockette “Uhm, yes. Certainly.”

“You're not gonna hurt the bees, right Ms. Arcana?” Snails asked with worry clear in voice, for the, relatively, innocent insects.

Pausing at the question, Arcana looked back before answering “Of course not.” And with that she marched off into the woods with the bees, leaving the other ponies to watch her leave.

“Hm...she gets rather terse when she's angry.” Stalwart Gaze staidly observed.

Intermission

View Online

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.

Author's Notes:

Right, so as usual I found myself writing far more than I had originally planned. That coupled with some computer trouble made this take a bit longer than it should have. Hopefully that won't be a problem for the next chapter.

Anyway, this was a more introspective chapter than most, taking a look at how each of the foals from Cabin 12 is handling everything, showing what their thoughts are, how they think, and so on. It was also a bit of an opportunity for everyone to find out a bit more about Delicacy. As always, I'm a bit uncertain of some parts, but I think I covered most of what I wanted to.

As usual, if there's anything that strikes you as curious or odd, feel free to ask in the comments section; chances are I have an explanation for it. Also, feel free to offer any criticisms.

Hope you all enjoyed this little break. The next chapter will be advancing the story more than this one, and will be a big turning point for Diamond Tiara.

Chapter Six: ...Beyond All Recognition

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“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.”

Author's Notes:

Snails is a playa.

But seriously, there isn't any shipping that's going to be happening in this story. That really was just a bunch of foals teasing one another. And if we take getting one's Cutie Mark as being analogous to going through puberty, then it seems to fit that foals would start to tease one another over that kind of thing.

In other news, you don't want to be kicked by a horse. One presumes this extends to magically endowed, intelligent ponies.

And now we're finally getting to the proverbial "bag-of-hammers" upside Diamond Tiara's head that she needs to, maybe, start getting her act together. I thought about having her 'Talk' with Lancer taking place in this chapter, but I think it's going to work better to cover it in the next chapter. We get to cover a long, important conversation and cover Diamond Tiara's reactions to it that way, without having to keep you guys waiting for another couple of days for an update.

Speaking of which, life seems to be getting back to being reasonably orderly for now, and I should be able to get in some more frequent updates again. As always, feel free to toss any questions or criticisms that come to mind at me, in the comment section. And as always, I hope you guys enjoy the story.

Chapter Seven: Debriefing

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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.

Chapter Eight: First Light

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It didn't take long for Diamond Tiara to reach her intended destination.

With the night giving way to morning, the sky was steadily starting to brighten making it easier to navigate with every passing minute for the filly. That, along with the fact that she was in no mood to bother trying to be sneaky about things, let Diamond Tiara set a quick pace. She didn't particularly care if she was breaking curfew, and if that crazy bat-pony showed up again, she planned on telling her off then-and-there.

'Maybe I'll even tell her to go ahead and splash me with that stupid bucket of hers...'

Diamond Tiara thought to herself, as she realized she might need a good rinsing soon, as she glared down at the soggy stretch of dirt that marked the first portion of the camp obstacle course.

The sun wasn't up yet, but it was still light enough to see that the mud pit had dried out a bit since she had last seen it, though not as much as one might expect. Some of the pegasi about camp made a point of bringing in a small cloudburst over the pit every couple of days to keep things, well, muddy. A bit of maintenance could save them a lot of work, as the whole camp would be making use of it again at the end of the month, and breaking up that much dried up mud could take hours.

Not that any of this occurred to Diamond Tiara, as the only thing that came to mind for her was how it looked just as disgustingly gross as before.

And worse still, the mud was probably a bit chilly this early in the morning...

Diamond Tiara found herself chewing on her lip, as she hesitated at the edge of the obstacle course, suddenly wondering why she felt like she should even bother with something so stupid. And messy. And stupid.

She didn't care what any of these other ponies thought of her. So what, if these ponies couldn't realize that Diamond Tiara didn't need to prove to anypony how great she was? Sure she hadn't finished the obstacle course herself, but that had only been because she hadn't wanted to. If she had wanted to, she could have finished it without any help at all...

...which was totally why she didn't even need to bother doing anything as stupid as this. Why even bother being out here? It was just more time she was stuck here looking at the ugly little buildings that made up the camp. Just more time reminding herself that she was stuck at this stupid camp. More time spent without anyone that cared about her for miles...

Everypony around here thought she was a snob or a jerk or some weak little nobody. They kept making fun of her for things that weren't even her fault, like being stuck in the same cabin as that lousy blank-flank and-...Snails.

And there were crazy bat-ponies teasing her, threatening to dump cold water on her.

And that Lancer trying to tell her that she was a bad filly, that Diamond Tiara might...

She'd finish this stupid obstacle course on her own, and then make them take her back home. Then she could go back to hanging out with Silver Spoon and being popular and not have to deal with all the jerks that wouldn't leave her alone at this camp. Once she showed them that she didn't need anything from this camp, they would have to send her home.

Diamond Tiara glared down once more into the muck, as she started taking in deep breaths, trying to prepare herself for the first plunge. It was just mud, after all, and she could always take another shower afterward.

It hadn't even occurred to her that she had left her tiara back in her cabin, though that was just as well. It would have probably just come loose again.

Taking one more deep breath, Diamond Tiara edged her hooves closer to the very edge of the pit, before glancing up towards the wooden beams above it, and the ropes hanging from said beams. Swallowing, the pink filly reached a hoof out towards one of the dangling ropes, recalling how some of the other campers had used them to pull themselves through the mud before.

The one she was reaching for was just a hair too far.

She could brush her hoof against it easily enough, but couldn't reach quite far enough to pull it closer.

Diamond Tiara loosed something between a growl and an aggravated sigh, before glaring down at her hoof. Sometimes, it might actually be handy to have wings or some sort of magic for this sort of thing.

Or some opposable claws like that little dragon, she sometimes saw around Ponyville.

Sending an ugly look towards the frayed rope now, she inched ever closer to the edge of the pit, till she found herself leaning out over the mud reaching for that first rope. She might have wondered why she was trying so hard to avoid getting any mud on herself at this point, considering that she intended on jumping into the mud immediately after she got a hold of the rope. But she was far too concerned with how close she was to reaching her first goal...

Her prodding had gotten the rope swinging a bit now, and if she just timed it right she could just reach her hoof around it, and...

“You know campers aren't allowed on to the obstacle course without supervision?”

“Gyah!” Startled by the quiet, masculine, voice behind her, Diamond Tiara ended up swiping at the rope in surprise knocking it entirely out of reach. And far more distressingly, costing Diamond Tiara her rather precarious balance on the edge of the mud pit, as she soon started windmilling her hoof in an order to keep from falling forward “Wha- No-No-No-No-No-No. Almost...Oh no...”

Despite her desperate efforts she soon found herself falling face first towards the mud, with only a moment to cover her face with her hooves before the inevitable happened...

...that inevitable thing that was taking a bit longer than she thought it would.

Moving her hooves away, and opening her eyes, she looked down to see the mud still below her, though it didn't seem to be getting any closer than before. And in fact she seemed to be just hanging over the mud, despite her forehooves having no purchase. It took her a moment to notice that this wasn't the only thing that seemed amiss, before looking back.

It was one of the camp staff, the really burly stallion, with the copper-colored coat and dark mane and tail, looking back at her with his almost trademark half-lidded gaze.

He still had his hoof pinning her tail to the ground.

“Is that your hoof on my tail?!” Diamond Tiara shrieked.

Stalwart Gaze slowly turned his gaze down to the hoof in question, and the white-streaked, lightly-violet tail pinned underneath it. After a few moments of silence he turned his eyes back towards the angry filly.

“Would you like me to move it?” The stallion calmly asked.

“Uh, yeah!” Diamond Tiara rather hastily answered, eliciting the steady rise of Stalwart Gaze's eyebrow. With his typical patience, he pointedly glanced towards the mud, drawing attention to the fact that the only thing keeping the filly from falling face first into said mud was the stallion's hoof pinning down her tail.

“...Right now?” He asked again, as if to make absolutely sure of the filly's choice.

“I just said-...” Diamond Tiara almost blurted out the 'Yes!' that would have sealed her fate, before taking the hint from the stallion and reminding herself of her position. Quickly planting her forehooves on the edge of the grass once more, she used her rediscovered traction to quickly scramble back from the edge of the muddy section of ground. Without a word and a firmly unhappy look on her face, she turned around before using a hoof to try to swipe her tail out from under the stallion's hoof, now that her position was more secure.

Diamond Tiara grunted with effort, as she found neither the stallion's hoof or her tail had budged.

Shooting a glare up at the bemused stallion, Diamond Tiara turned her attention back towards her tail before again trying to pull it out from under the stallion's hoof.

Again without any progress.

Huffing in annoyance, the filly looked angrily back up towards Stalwart Gaze “Will you, please, move your stupid hoof, now?!”

“Of course.” The stallion easily agreed, without any fuss or anger with Diamond Tiara's tone.

Her tail now freed, she quickly pulled it up with a hoof, looking over the part of it that had been pinned under the large stallion's equally large hoof. It was basically fine, or at least as fine as it ever got at this stupid camp. Without the carefully tuned beauty regimen that she normally underwent each day, both her mane and tail had been looking worse and worse. They were already losing there luster and shine, and both were steadily straightening out without their regular curling, and she was increasingly having to deal with knots and tangles.

But her poor tail was otherwise fine.

“You're out rather early.” Stalwart Gaze pointed out blandly.

“Tch! Yeah, so? Is that a crime?” Diamond Tiara irritably remarked, as she again ran a hoof over the end of her tail again before letting it go.

“Calling it a crime would be a bit too strong...” Stalwart Gaze observed, before slowly turning his gaze across the empty field. Taking in a deep breath of the cool, crisp morning air, he looked back down upon the aggravated filly “May I ask what you were doing out here?”

“What are you doing out here?” Diamond Tiara immaturely countered, as she looked back towards the obstacle course.

“I always try to take my walks in the morning. I find the quiet atmosphere and cool air relaxing.” Stalwart Gaze easily answered, again not letting Diamond Tiara's manner bother him; he had dealt with far greater obnoxiousness before, from Canterlot's supposed nobility. Noting the filly's stubborn silence, he glanced over their surroundings before shrugging internally. She didn't have to answer if she didn't want to.

And it was fairly obvious what she had been intending on doing, anyway.

“You probably wouldn't have made much progress on your own.” Stalwart Gaze remarked, as he too looked over the expansive obstacle course.

“Hmph!” Diamond Tiara went, as she smartly turned away.

“Did you have a plan in mind for this part?” Stalwart continued on conversationally.

“Like I would need a plan to deal with a little mud! If you hadn't interrupted, I probably would have already been done with it.” Diamond Tiara claimed, which only earned a tilt of the stallion's head.

“That's a possibility, I suppose.” Stalwart Gaze conceded, before seeming to consider his own thoughts for a few moments. Turning an eye towards the taciturn filly “You just seemed to be thinking about something very hard, is all. I assumed you were coming up with some sort of plan of attack for the course.”

“Well, I wasn't.” Diamond Tiara sharply replied.

“Makes one wonder what you were thinking about so hard...” Stalwart Gaze observed, eliciting a brief start from the filly, as she was reminded of her earlier thoughts.

That quickly took the wind from her sails.

Silence quickly fell across the duo, one that didn't seem to bother the stallion but left the filly squirming in agitation.

...Why was she even bothering with any of this?

“It's really supposed to be a team exercise, you know?” Stalwart Gaze suddenly spoke up, keeping her from getting too lost in her thoughts once more. Noticing that he had the filly's attention, the stallion shifted on his hooves briefly before continuing “It's designed to encourage teamwork between campers, and teach them to capitalize on both what they have in common and their differences.”

Diamond Tiara just continued to send a confused stare his way.

He took this as a sign to continue.

“You might have noticed that each cabin has at least one member from each of the three primary pony tribes?” Stalwart asked, before gesturing a hoof idly towards the stretch of mud “Earth ponies take the lead, fording the path for the Unicorns and non-flying Pegasi. You'll want to avoid just jumping in, as that's a good way to get stuck. Take slow, but steady, steps. Meanwhile, you have your Unicorns and your Pegasi that can fly put their talents towards bringing the ropes into easy reach, so you can use them to pull yourself through the mud. Unicorns and non-flying Pegasi help push on the Earth Ponies from the back, and soon enough you're on the other side.”

Diamond Tiara just sat there, a bit flabbergasted by the point-by-point breakdown of how to get past the first obstacle.

“...At least, that's how I would go about it.” Stalwart Gaze finished, without acknowledging the little filly.

Blinking away the bewilderment, Diamond Tiara again frowned to herself, glaring down at her own hooves “...who asked you anyway?”

Stalwart Gaze was as impassive towards this remark as he ever was, sparing the filly little more than a shrug “It's just something to think about.”

“Well, maybe I don't want to think about it!” Diamond Tiara suddenly snapped at the stallion, who, rather infuriatingly, continued not to react to the angry filly's poor manners.

“I already told you that I don't need a plan! I can do this this lame course on my own!...Not that I even really want to!” Diamond Tiara continued to rant.

“I see.” Stalwart Gaze nodded easily.

“I mean, this stupid thing won't prove anything!...Not that I need to prove anything! It's just something for idiots and blank-flanks to use to make themselves feel better about themselves anyway!” Diamond Tiara claimed with a stomp of her hoof, and a glare sent towards the stallion.

“...”

“...Forget it! I'm not doing this stupid course!” Diamond Tiara suddenly declared.

“Is that so?” Stalwart Gaze prompted.

“That's right! I don't need to prove anything to these...feather-brains! It's not my fault if they're jealous of me!” Diamond Tiara continued on, not giving any mind to the way the stallion's gaze seemed to have wandered away from her.

“...Ahem.” Stalwart Gaze audibly cleared his throat, though Diamond Tiara was too caught up in the moment to notice.

“They're the ones that are jerks! Making fun of me all the time, and acting like it's my fault!”

Stalwart Gaze again cleared his throat, in an effort to get the filly's attention.

“Well, I don't like them either! And you know what, if everypony hates me so much, maybe I don't need any fr-”

“Diamond Tiara?” A filly's voice softly called over, causing Diamond Tiara to suddenly snap her mouth shut in surprise.

It was Delicacy.

“D-Delicacy?!” Diamond Tiara blurted out, reaffirming the obvious, as she spotted the filly. She couldn't help but note that the Canterlot filly's pale blue coat, made her seem almost like a ghost in the early morning light. Swallowing down her surprise, the pink filly tried to avoid looking towards Delicacy, even as the other filly slowly approached “W-what are you doing out here?”

“An excellent question. It is quite early, Ms. Delicacy.” Stalwart Gaze noted, as she approached the two of them.

“Oh, uhm, yes...” Delicacy hesitantly began, glancing to the side as she noticed Diamond Tiara awkwardly doing the same. Swallowing, before clearing her throat, Delicacy gestured towards the pink filly “Uhm, I saw you...earlier? When you left the cabin?”

“Yeah...” Diamond Tiara muttered, still unsure how much of her angry ranting Delicacy had heard, before being noticed.

“And...I was a bit worried? Cause you seemed upset?” Delicacy slowly elaborated.

“I'm not upset!” Diamond Tiara blurted out forcefully, startling Delicacy a bit, as the pink pony turned towards her. After a few moments, Diamond Tiara cleared her throat uncomfortably before again looking to the side “It's not like I have anything to be upset about...I just didn't want to spend anymore time in that gross cabin, is all...”

“O-oh...I didn't mean, I mean after everything...” Delicacy began before drawing to a pause, as she turned a sad gaze towards her own hooves.

Stalwart Gaze watched the two fillies as they awkwardly stood in silence, neither looking towards the other, or dealing with the issues that were obviously plaguing each of them respectively.

The stallion had to resist the urge to sigh.

And while he was busy managing to hold back the heavy sigh that had built up in him, he found his eye drawn to one of the camp's buildings.

Or more specifically, one particular building's roof and it's occupant.

Stalwart Gaze gave a slow tilt of his head towards Sea Breeze, as the eccentric bat-pony waved a hoof towards the stallion, her presence completely unnoticed by the two fillies.

Lowering her hoof, the distant bat-pony made a show of leaning back against the metal roof of the building she had chosen. She wasted only a few moments doing so before noticing the two fillies in the most exaggerated way possible, pointing her hoof towards the two of them with a look faux shock for Stalwart Gaze's benefit.

He simply rose a single eyebrow at the bat-pony's antics.

Noting his reaction, Sea Breeze shrugged before reaching over to the other side of the peaked roof with a hoof, retrieving an old bucket in the process. Again going through great lengths to make sure that the stallion could see her every gesture, she held out the bucket for Stalwart to see, before nodding her head towards it.

After a brief pause, Stalwart Gaze shook his head.

Sea Breeze, still overacting, glanced towards her bucket before making an almost theatrically disappointed expression. Turning back towards the stallion, she held up the bucket again before pointing her other hoof towards the bucket, shaking her head and mirroring the stallion's earlier action.

Stalwart Gaze nodded in turn, re-confirming his decision for the bat-pony.

Sea Breeze slowly nodded, before casually tossing the bucket back over the other side of the roof. With an easy shrug, the bat-pony took to the air before sending a salute Stalwart Gaze's way and lazily flying away, off to finish up her patrol.

If he wanted to handle things here, that was his call.

Stalwart Gaze slowly followed her with his gaze as she flew off, before turning his attention back to the two fillies.

It seemed the two had been far too preoccupied with not speaking with one another to notice any of these recent events.

He had to work very hard to keep in that sigh.

“...Ahem.” Stalwart Gaze loudly cleared his throat, breaking both fillies from their thoughts, and earning their attention. Nodding towards Delicacy “Well, as you can see, Ms. Tiara is in fine health.”

At this, Delicacy glanced towards Diamond Tiara before turning back towards Stalwart Gaze and nodding. She almost managed to speak up, before Stalwart Gaze continued.

“And I can keep an eye on her, but for now you should probably head back to your cabin. You can still-” The stallion prompted, in his usual even tone.

“W-wait!” Delicacy suddenly shouted, which by most pony standards amounted to barely raising her voice above a normal speaking volume. But still it was a fair effort on her part, and more than enough to halt the stallion's words.

Much to her surprise.

And Diamond Tiara's.

“I-I mean, I can't- That is not yet...uhm, sir. I-I have to-...” Delicacy began to babble, even as Stalwart Gaze looked on calmly. Turning towards Diamond Tiara with a look of brief, but intense, worry, Delicacy closed her eyes as she suddenly took in a deep breath. Shifting her hooves again, Delicacy turned back towards the bemused stallion “I-...I really need to say something to Diamond Tiara.”

The pink filly in question watched all of this with her own uncharacteristic worry, and only just noticed Stalwart Gaze's nod towards Delicacy, prompting her to speak her mind.

Diamond Tiara almost found herself petrified as she noted Delicacy taking a few hesitant steps forward. She had been very busy dealing with some very...lame emotions just now, and was not nearly composed enough to be dealing with this. She didn't even know how much the unicorn filly had heard. What if she saw? What had she heard? Diamond Tiara couldn't even remember what she had been shouting about earlier, only the feelings that had been tied up in her head coming loose. What if she-

“I-I'm really sorry, Diamond Tiara.” Delicacy quietly said, as she had trouble meeting the pink filly's own somewhat panicked eyes.

Diamond Tiara blinked.

“Like...what?” The pink filly asked, her head tilting in confusion.

“F-for the other day...on the hike?” Delicacy hesitantly reminded.

“...Oh.” Diamond Tiara grunted, as she was suddenly forced to recall that day “That-”

“I-I didn't mean to not...say anything...” Delicacy suddenly cut-in again, surprising Diamond Tiara again with her surprisingly forceful attempt to get her words out. Delicacy briefly glanced towards her hooves again, before forcing her gaze back up towards Diamond Tiara “It's just-...I'm really not good at-...those kinds of situations. A-and-...And I'm not used to...saying things...you know? When I...mean to...”

Diamond Tiara found herself staring at the filly in front of her, at a loss for words. Seeing Delicacy shifting about on her hooves anxiously, left her almost tempted to say something. It made her feel as if she was supposed to say something.

“I really am your f-friend!” Delicacy blurted out suddenly, saving Diamond Tiara the trouble of having to do so. The unicorn filly gave a brief pause, before again turning to the side, as she struggled to say the next words “I-I mean, I want to be...I know I'm not-...I didn't do very well before. There aren't many ponies to be friends with back home. And I know you probably want someone better or-....or nicer than me. I know I'm not very nice sometimes- I'll try harder! And...”

Delicacy again trailed off, as her throat started to tighten. Diamond Tiara was just staring at her now, like she was some kind of crazy pony, which is exactly how she should be staring at her. She had just babbled on like some sort of-...babbling pony! Delicacy didn't babble. She couldn't just- just....throw her feelings at somepony like this! She was supposed to say all of this nicely, and here she was just-...

Delicacy started to feel the corners of her own eyes burn, as she sat under the pink pony's scrutiny. She was messing this all up! Diamond Tiara was-

“Will you, like, just chill already!?” Diamond Tiara suddenly shouted, giving Delicacy some pause.

“W-what?” Delicacy stuttered out, as she stared at Diamond Tiara.

“I don't even know what's got you so upset. You're acting like such a baby.” Diamond Tiara said with a roll of her eyes.

“B-but I- The survival hike?” Delicacy reminded with a sniffle.

“Hmph, I'd like totally forgotten about that whole thing. I mean, that was so last week. ” Diamond Tiara said dismissively. Stalwart Gaze let one of his eyebrows raise a touch at that, musing to himself that the events in question had technically occurred at the end of last week.

“...E-even the part when Scootaloo-” Delicacy began to broach again.

“Hah! As if I could be bothered to remember anything that feather-brain happened to say. Probably something about Cutie Marks or flying anyway. Lame.” Diamond Tiara continued on, with an upturn of her nose.

“...Oh.” Delicacy said weakly and with no small amount of confusion.

“Though, I guess I can see why somepony like you might be so worried. I mean, when you're friends with a pony as popular as me, you might worry a bit about getting lost in the crowd, or something.” Diamond Tiara glanced to the side, casually looking over one of her hooves “Luckily for you, I'm just not the kind of filly to forget my friends...”

Delicacy had to consider the pink filly for a few moments, clearing her own thoughts, before she started to grasp what was really going on. Swallowing again, the unicorn filly hesitantly began to smile “So...you still want to be friends after all?”

“Well, obviously the best filly in camp can't be friends with any less than the second best filly in-” Diamond Tiara haughtily began, before being interrupted by the unicorn filly colliding with her.

Well, less colliding, and more hugging...

Suddenly realizing what she had done, Delicacy quickly disengaged from the blushing pink filly, with her own awkward laugh “I shouldn't have done that...I'm sorry, it was...really improper...”

After a few moments of silence, Diamond Tiara shook her head clear, before turning up her nose “Yes, well, don't let it happen again...I mean, like, unless I say so. The foals around here are so clueless, they might get the wrong idea or something.”

Delicacy just nodded, her own expression beaming.

“Well, Ms. Delicacy, was there anything else you needed to discuss with Ms. Tiara?” Stalwart Gaze suddenly interjected, gaining the filly's attention.

“O-oh, uhm, no sir.” Delicacy answered, as she recalled the stallion's presence.

“I'm glad to hear that. Perhaps you should be on your way back to your cabin, now?” Stalwart Gaze suggested.

Delicacy hesitated, before glancing towards Diamond Tiara, which the stallion easily picked up on “I'll be sending along Ms. Tiara shortly.”

“Okay. I mean, yes sir...I'll see you in a little while, Diamond Tiara?” Delicacy asked with another glance towards the pink filly, to which Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.

“Like, duh! It's not like this is some huge place.” Diamond Tiara pointed out, a bit obnoxiously, though Delicacy didn't seem to pay mind. She simply nodded with another smile, before turning back the way she had come.

“One more thing...” Stalwart Gaze called after the filly, as she began to leave. Having garnered her attention, the stallion made a pointed glance towards their surroundings, before re-focusing upon the unicorn filly “If Ms. Sea Breeze stops you, remind her that she's not allowed to chase you back to your cabin with a bucket of frigid lakewater...this time.”

“O-...kay?” Delicacy hesitantly agreed, before glancing towards the the gray sky, pushing her pale yellow mane from her eyes as she did so. A moment later, she re-doubled her pace back to the cabin.

The unicorn filly failed to notice as Diamond Tiara watched her disappear across the field, the pink filly's earlier confidence utterly absent.

After about half-a-minute of watching the surprisingly worried look of contemplation the pink filly was sporting, Stalwart Gaze cleared his throat once more.

“Well, that was rather nice of you, Ms. Tiara. A bit unorthodox, but nice...” The stallion observed, shaking the filly from her thoughts, and earning a glare from the Earth pony filly.

“Tch, like, are you still here?” Diamond Tiara sneered out before turning her scowl off to the side.

“I am. I was wondering if there was anything else you still wanted to get off your chest.” Stalwart Gaze explained.

“If there was, why would I want to tell you?” Diamond Tiara pointed out with a huff.

There were actually quite a few things going through her head at the moment. Private things, that she didn't feel like sharing with anypony. Like how, despite part of her feeling somewhat exulted by Delicacy saying she still wanted to be her friend, a larger part of her somehow felt even worse. Or wondering how the Canterlot filly could have been so upset about the possibility of losing her as a friend? Then reminding her self that, of course Delicacy would be upset at the possibility of not being her friend anymore. Then wondering why that thought seemed to upset her so much.

Diamond Tiara was really starting to wish that Delicacy had picked a better time to...talk to her.

The Earth pony filly was feeling particularly raw at the moment, and was finding herself increasingly exhausted, despite not having really done anything.

She really just wanted to go home. And hang out with Sil, and talk about how stupid all of this was. And remind everypony how lame Apple Bloom and her little pack of friends really were...

“Any plans then?” Stalwart Gaze asked conversationally. Noticing the confused, and irritated, expression the filly sent his way, he elaborated “You are still planning on tackling the obstacle course?”

Diamond Tiara blinked, before glancing towards the obstacle course again. It had been her whole reason for sneaking out, but now after everything that had just happened...

She didn't really have all the anger from before to spur her on, and now the thing just seemed so...

Big.

“What? No! That thing is like...stupid. I don't even know why you think I would want to bother with that stupid thing...” Diamond Tiara muttered.

“To show everyone that you can?” Stalwart Gaze calmly supplied, though, after a moment or two, was disappointed to see Diamond Tiara just stare off to the side without comment.

“Walk with me.” The stallion suddenly requested, before quickly trotting past the bemused filly.

“What? Why?” Diamond Tiara demanded, confused by the sudden request.

“I haven't finished my walk. And I feel like you might have something you'd like to say.” Stalwart Gaze easily answered.

“Tch. I already told you I don't want to talk about anything! Why would I now?” Diamond Tiara demanded.

“You don't have to say anything. Or you can say whatever you want. Talk about what's bothering you, or don't. Complain some more, if you want. Or you can just curse at me for a while, if it suits you.” Stalwart Gaze suggested to the filly, with his usual stony expression.

“C-curse at you?” Diamond Tiara asked, a bit surprised by that last suggestion.

“If you want. We aren't really teaching you 'independence' or 'self-discipline' if we aren't even allowing you to manage your own words.” Stalwart Gaze pointed out.

Diamond Tiara had to admit that she felt briefly tempted to go right then. Even if everypony else thought she was some sort of...bad pony, she had never really tried cursing too much. Her own daddy had always been really strict on that point, and she almost doubted that she even could.

Or that she wouldn't suddenly get in trouble if she did, no matter what this strange pony said...

…It was still kind of a thrilling, the idea of being able to use any dirty words that she wanted.

“Walk with me. You can speak your mind if you feel like it, or not.” Stalwart Gaze again reiterated, breaking Diamond Tiara from those thoughts. Noticing the stubborn reluctance on the filly's face, the stallion tilted his head towards her “Or you can always take a walk back to your cabin with Ms. Sea Breeze.”

Diamond Tiara took a moment to shoot a glare towards the stallion, before she grudgingly began following him.

Several minutes later...

“Mmrrgh, if I don't have to say anything, why do I even have to be here?” Diamond Tiara suddenly demanded of the impassive stallion, breaking what he had thought had been a comfortable silence.

Stalwart Gaze only spared her a small glance, before continuing to set the brisk pace for their walk.

“You said you weren't going to ignore me!” Diamond Tiara blurted out in annoyance, eliciting a twitch from one of Stalwart Gaze's ears.

“I said I would listen to what you had to say...and I am listening.” Stalwart Gaze calmly countered.

“...Where are we even going anyway? My hooves are starting to hurt.” Diamond Tiara complained.

“We're walking.”

“Ughh! Where are we walking?”

“You'll see when we get there.”

“This is stupid.”

“Maybe you can practicing cursing for a while. Expand your vocabulary.”

Diamond Tiara glared up at the stallion once more, both for his enigmatic answers and his...stupid suggestion.

Stalwart Gaze let out a sigh, as he felt the filly's angry gaze fall upon him.

“You're starting to remind me of my own colt.” The stallion idly noted.

“What?” Diamond Tiara asked, briefly stumbling over her hooves, as she tried to keep up with the stallion's longer strides.

“Back in Canterlot. A bit younger than you. Still looking to find his own Cutie Mark.” Stalwart Gaze elaborated.

“Uh, I have my Cutie Mark.” Diamond Tiara smartly pointed out.

“And a hard head. Like my son.” Stalwart Gaze continued, without bothering to look for the irritable look that he knew Diamond Tiara was sporting at his remark.

“We, myself and his mother, may have tried pushing him towards our own interests when he was younger. Get him to follow in our respective hoofsteps.” Stalwart Gaze explained to the bemused filly. He briefly paused mid-step to shrug “Now he doesn't want to listen to anyone.”

“Uhm, why should I care?” Diamond Tiara asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You don't have to. Just making conversation. I imagine you don't listen to others for entirely different reasons.” Stalwart Gaze remarked, again showing a good deal of patience for the filly.

And Diamond Tiara didn't really have anything to say against that. Even she could admit that she didn't bother listening to what many ponies had to say to her.

“So, why'd you decide to come to this camp?” Stalwart Gaze asked, not allowing them to lapse into silence again.

“Uh, I didn't. Daddy made me come.” Diamond Tiara replied, making it sound like it should be obvious that she hadn't wanted to come.

“Ah, I see.” The stallion nodded, before continuing “So, you don't really have any goals for while you're here, then?”

“Why would I?”

“You might enjoy yourself a bit more if you set some goals.”

“Fat chance. There isn't even anything to do here anyway.” Diamond Tiara quickly dismissed the idea.

“You don't want to improve yourself, at all?” The stallion asked, his ear turning towards her, listening for her answer.

“I don't need to improve myself, at all.” Diamond Tiara confidently stated

“That's not what the other campers seem to think.”

“I already told you, I don't care what they think.”

“And very convincingly at that.”

The pink filly frowned mightily at that particular remark.

“I don't care what you think either! This whole camp is pointless anyway.” Diamond Tiara declared, coming to a rather definitive stop “And I'm done with this stupid walk!”

“Setting goals gives the camp a point.” Stalwart Gaze pointed out, as he too came to a stop.

“I don't care! What sort of goals am I supposed to come up with here anyway?! And where are we?!” Diamond Tiara demanded with another stomp of her hoof, surprising herself with her desire to go back to her bed. Sure the cabin was dusty and disgusting, and the bunk beds were uncomfortable, but she really didn't want to have to deal with this annoying pony anymore.

“...You can set any goals you want.” Stalwart Gaze told her, pointedly glancing to the side to draw the filly's own gaze towards something.

It was the first distance marker that she had stopped at on the day of the Evaluations.

Or, more accurately, the spot that Stalwart Gaze had carried her to after she had collapsed on the day of Evaluations.

Diamond Tiara had to look down at her hooves in momentary disbelief, before again looking up at the post that had been jammed into the ground.

That didn't make any sense.

Sure her hooves and legs were aching some, but before...

“You might even exceed those goals.” Stalwart Gaze remarked from her side, breaking the filly from her staring. Noting the uncomprehending look on the filly's face, the stallion gave a bit of a shrug “You'd be surprised how quickly Earth pony magic can begin to kick in.”

Diamond Tiara again couldn't really find any words, too busy staring at her own hooves in wonder, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

“Ms. Lancer probably ran you a lot further than this yesterday. Take it a step at a time, and you'll be surprised by how far you can get.” Stalwart Gaze pointed out.

“...Yeah.” And that was all the filly could think to say.

“Take a few minutes, and we can begin to head back. You can get in a hot shower, and be the first one in line for breakfast.” Stalwart Gaze suggested, before cantering a short distance away, letting the filly be alone with her thoughts for a bit.

She only really had the one thought going through her mind.

'I'm going to show them all who the best pony really is...'

Chapter Nine: Relief Action

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The camp showers had hot water.

Diamond Tiara had not been made aware of this till now.

As promised, Stalwart Gaze had escorted the pink filly to the camp proper well before most of the other campers were awake. There, she made this most recent discovery, finding out that the little markings on the shower handles were for more than simple decoration. And while the hot water had been a pleasant surprise, the implications left an unpleasant aftertaste.

What kind of barbarians would use up all the hot water before her? Just because she didn't get up quite as early or as quickly as the other campers, didn't mean she should have had to put up with that injustice. For over a week straight, she had been operating under the assumption that the shower water came in two varieties: cold and freezing.

It was simply in-equine...

...which was precisely the reason that Diamond Tiara made a point of using up as much of the hot water as she could, before any of the other campers could start to file into the shower stalls.

She was sure that would teach somepony a lesson.

It was still a far cry from the luxury she was used to, of course. But seeing the surprised, confused looks the other campers gave her, seeing her trot away from the showers before anyone else had even gotten into the other stalls, had been oddly satisfying.

She couldn't help but note that Stalwart Gaze had left after having escorted her to the showers...Not that she cared, as it wasn't as if she had anything to say to the stallion.

And besides, for once her hunger might actually be able to outpace her disdain for the camp's cafeteria food. She'd barely eaten anything the day before, and had basically skipped last night's dinner. With all the running about she'd been forced into lately, her tummy was grumbling for just about any sort of food. As simple and cheap as the camp's food seemed, she couldn't help but hurry a bit towards breakfast.

Diamond Tiara was just opening the door to the mess hall, when she heard a firm voice from behind her.

“Ms. Tiara. You seem to be up-and-about a bit earlier than usual.” Lancer calmly noted.

Diamond Tiara couldn't help but let the door close, as she backed away from the door to turn towards the pegasus mare. Her brief surprise quickly gave way to discomfort and a bit of anger, as the filly recalled the events of yesterday. Within the time it took to blink away her surprise, Diamond Tiara was glaring off to the side with her mouth clamped shut.

This wore on for several seconds, until Lancer cleared her throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence “Yes, well...don't let me keep you, Ms. Tiara.”

Lancer reached a hoof to the door, pushing it open.

It took the pink pony a moment to realize that Lancer hadn't yet passed through the doorway, and that the pegasus was actually holding the door for her.

Diamond Tiara didn't let herself give any thought to this, before stomping her way past the older mare and into the mess hall.

Lancer let loose a sigh that went unnoticed by Diamond Tiara.

The little pink filly's mind wasn't ready to accept the idea anyway, that the older mare didn't want to be her enemy. She was a bit more preoccupied with getting some food for her empty belly and was still too young too differentiate criticism from mean-spirited insults.

And they were serving oatmeal. Something normal, to Diamond Tiara, that wouldn't be casually dismissed as weird or gross. With the addition of some of the fruit, cinnamon, and butter the cafeteria was offering, the pink Earth pony filly might have gotten some, even if she wasn't starving.

And she would be the first one to hit the line, apart from a few of the early-rising camp officers, that were already sitting down to their own food. Admittedly, it was a fairly shallow pleasure, but there were few things as thrilling to a young mind as being at the very front of a line. It also meant she would be getting the food at it's freshest and get her pick of her favorite fruits, before any of the other campers could pick it clean.

She might never admit it, but waking up bright-and-early came with a few perks.

Diamond Tiara almost eagerly pushed her tray down the line, snapping up orange slices, grapes, and assorted berries to pile into her bowl of oatmeal, while pointedly turning her nose up at the apple slices. With a generous amount of cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter added to the bowl, Diamond Tiara was almost salivating and ready to slide the tray onto her back, when she felt a tap on her flank.

“Huh? What-” Diamond Tiara glanced back, expecting to see some impatient, impolite pony trying to prod her along. She was given some pause when it turned out there was nopony for her to berate.

She was about to dismiss the whole thing as just being her imagination, and return to her breakfast, when she felt another tap, this time on her other side.

Being quite familiar with this particular prank, Diamond Tiara abruptly turned around entirely, her hoof already raised in an accusing motion “Just who do-...huh?”

There was nopony behind her or to either of her sides. There were barely even any other campers in line right now, with just a few of the earliest rising foals getting started at the other end of the lunch-line.

“Oh, hey, that looks pretty tasty.”

Diamond Tiara stumbled a bit this time, as she quickly turned around to catch the culprit only to fall back on her haunches.

“You!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed angrily.

Sea Breeze gave an easy grin at that, as she continued to hover just above the lunch-line “Me!”

“What are you doing here?!” Diamond Tiara demanded.

“Oh, not much, not much. Thanks for asking, by the way. I'm just looking for something tasty to eat, is all.” The bat-pony easily remarked, as she set her hooves down on the floor. Taking a couple of sniffs at the air, the mare sighed, before approaching Diamond Tiara's tray of food “And, I gotta say, that does look pretty tasty...”

Quickly following where the bat-pony's eyes were glued, Diamond Tiara pushed the mare back with a hoof, as she got between Sea Breeze and her breakfast. Now shooting a glare up at Sea Breeze “Just who do you think you are, nosing in on my food?!”

“Oh, come on! It looks so good!” Sea Breeze teased, even as she tried to sidestep the pink filly.

“Quit it!”

“Just one bite? For the pretty kitty-cat's best friend?” The bat-pony pleaded, even as she tried to reach a hoof around Diamond Tiara's head.

The pink filly quickly batted the hoof away, before turning around and hovering over her food protectively “Why don't you get your own?!”

“Huh?...Oh, that's right!” Sea Breeze suddenly declared, as if she was just now remembering something. The bat-pony took a step back and turned to her side, revealing a tray deftly balanced between two leathery wings “I already got my own. Silly me, huh?”

“You had your own this whole time?!” Diamond Tiara angrily demanded.

“Yep!”

“Then why were you trying to take mine?!”

“Well, that bowl of oatmeal does look pretty good...”

This prompted Diamond Tiara to resume her defensive stance, ready to defend her breakfast once more.

Sea Breeze shook her head at this, chuckling the whole time “...but, you know, you're just missing one crucial part of breakfast that I just can't do without.”

“What's that?” The filly asked, in a suspicious tone.

“Coffee!” Sea Breeze declared. And as if to prove her point, the bat-pony tilted her head back towards her own tray, which did indeed feature a big, steaming, cup of coffee at it's center.

“Wait...you actually drink that stuff?” Diamond Tiara asked, skeptical of the mare now. She'd once managed to sneak a taste of her daddy's own coffee one morning, curious as to what was so great about the beverage that necessitated drinking it everyday. She'd immediately spat-out the wretchedly bitter drink, and spent the next fifteen minutes or so trying to get the taste out of her mouth. Her maid, Maddy, eventually had to give her a glass of orange juice, just to clear away the terrible taste.

“Yeah, why wouldn't I drink it?” Sea Breeze asked of the filly.

“Uh, because it tastes terrible?” Diamond Tiara smartly supplied.

“Aw, it's not that bad. Also, I'm not really drinking it for the taste.” The bat-pony explained. The mare did look a bit tired, her motions a bit more sluggish, her eyelids drooping a bit, and her energetic manner a bit more subdued.

“It's still gross.” Diamond Tiara primly replied, turning away to slide her own tray onto her back.

“Heh. Come back to me in a few years, and tell me how gross it is then.” Sea Breeze suggested with a chuckle. The pink filly couldn't help but notice Sea Breeze following just behind her “So, kitty-cat, what have you been up to this morning?”

“...Nothing.” Diamond Tiara replied, after a few seconds.

“Really? So, you weren't wandering around camp a little over an hour ago?” Sea Breeze coyly asked.

“...No.”

"Really? Cause I could of sworn I saw you hugging-it-out with that nice filly from your cabin, or was I just imagining that?" Sea Breeze added, after a moment of thought.

"No!" Diamond Tiara quickly blurted out.

"Oh, so I wasn't imagining that? Good to know."

"Gya-...that wasn't what I meant!" The filly exclaimed.

"Well, what did you mean?" The bat-pony casually prompted.

"I-...it doesn't matter, cause I wasn't out there anyway!" Diamond Tiara replied, worried that she might get pulled into another verbal trap.

“Well, that's good. I would hate to have to chase after you again with another bucket of cold water.” Sea Breeze remarked, a grin audible in her words.

“Well, that's certainly a relief.” Came another mare's voice before Diamond Tiara could give any further response.

It was Rockette.

“Huh? Oh, hey, Rocky! How's the morning treating you?” Sea Breeze lightly greeted the older pegasus.

“It's going well, so far. I'm hoping it will continue to do so.” The former Wonderbolt remarked, cantering a bit closer to the two of them.

“Can't imagine why it wouldn't.” Sea Breeze remarked.

Rockette's smile was kindly, as she cantered up alongside the younger mare “Getting ready to get some sleep, Sea Breeze?”

“Heh. Guess it's kind of obvious, huh?” The bat-pony confirmed, not bothering to hide her exhaustion.

The gray pegasus nodded at this, before extending a wing out towards Sea Breeze. In the next moment, the bat-pony's breakfast tray was sliding onto Rockette's back, thanks to a bit of adroit wing-work.

“Hey-” Sea Breeze began.

“How many times have I spoken to you about drinking coffee right before going to sleep?” Rockette interrupted.

“Uh...like a few times, I guess. But-” Sea Breeze started to reply, still visibly eying the coffee mug.

“No buts. Your sleep habits are already terrible enough as things stand now. You don't need to keep making them worse.” Rockette replied, in a chiding tone.

“But, but-...caffeine!” Sea Breeze pitifully pleaded, even as she reached a hoof for the mug sitting on the pegasus' back.

Rockette wasted no time in slapping away the bat-pony hoof “Not while you're my junior officer. So, you'll just have to have something else to drink with your breakfast.”

Sea Breeze let out a defeated groan at that.

“And, I take it this is the filly that broke curfew a couple of nights back?” The older mare prompted, turning towards Diamond Tiara, as a way of explanation.

The bat-pony tilted her own head at this change of topic “Huh? Well, yeah-”

“The same filly that let loose that terrified screech, as you chased her through the camp?” Rockette added.

“I wasn't terrified!” Diamond Tiara interjected.

“You did let out some pretty loud screeching though.” Sea Breeze pointed out. Noticing the frown on the older mare's face, the bat-pony let out a bit of a gulp “I mean, there's the curfew-”

“We have a prescribed manner of punishing curfew breakers, Sea Breeze.” Rockette pointed out in a calmer, though somewhat disappointed, tone.

“Well, yeah, I guess...but, Lancer did say it was up to my discretion when it came to punishments for that sort of thing.” Sea Breeze reminded.

“Yes. Discretion, Sea Breeze. Chasing fillies around with buckets full of lake-water, is not showing a great deal of discretion. Now is it?” Rockette countered.

“I guess not...?”

“I'm glad you agree...Now let's see about your breakfast.” Rockette replied with a nod, before turning towards the staff table, along with Sea Breeze's food tray.

Sea Breeze and Diamond Tiara stood there for several moments in silence.

“...Ha-ha. You got in tro~uble!” Diamond Tiara sang, while pointing a hoof towards the bat-pony.

Sea Breeze raised an eyebrow at this, before cracking a bit of a smile. Before she could say anything in response to the filly's teasing, Rockette turned around “And Ms. Tiara?”

Diamond Tiara's own amusement immediately evaporated, as she recognized the pegasus' tone. She'd heard that same tone-of-voice coming from Ms. Cheerilee often enough...

“Don't take any of what was just said, as my disapproving of Sea Breeze bringing a bit of creativity in doling out punishments. If she can find another way to reprimand curfew-breakers, without waking up half-the-camp, she will have my unwavering support.” Rockette carefully explained, even as she pointedly sent a glance towards the bat-pony. Focusing back upon the filly now, Rockette leaned a bit forward “And, when I say that, I am including you, Ms. Tiara. Is that understood? ”

The pink-filly gave a quick nod.

“Excellent.” Rockette smiled at her quick response, suddenly back to being all sunshine and rainbows “Now, let's all get back to our breakfast. Most important meal of the day, you know.”

There followed another silence, between Diamond Tiara and Sea Breeze, as Rockette once more took her leave.

“...Ha-ha. You got in tro~uble!” This time it was Sea Breeze singing the little tune, while pointing a hoof at the pink filly.

Diamond Tiara scowled at this. Lacking any sort of proper retort though, the filly simply stuck her tongue out towards the bat-pony.

Her tongue had to quickly return to it's home, when the bat-pony began to playfully ruffle Diamond Tiara's mane, forcing her to adjust her balance to save the tray on her back “H-hey! Quit it!”

Sea Breeze obliged a couple of seconds later, completely unrepentant, despite the filly's querulous manner. Diamond Tiara, still glaring up at the mare, began running a hoof through her mane to straighten it “As if my mane hasn't suffered enough, you-...where's my tiara?”

“Huh?” Sea Breeze cleverly responded.

“My tiara! Where is it?!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, while looking from side to side, hoping to spot it on the floor “It's- you must have knocked it off, when-”

“Uh, are you sure you were wearing it?” Sea Breeze supplied, bemused by the filly's reaction.

“Of course, I was wearing it! I always-...I mean- I almost-...” Diamond Tiara trailed off, as she started to process the question properly. She was kind of surprised to recall that, she had, in fact, neglected to put on her trademark tiara this morning.

That was unlike her, the filly couldn't help but note to herself, even as she ran her hoof through her mane again.

“Heh. Well, don't sweat it, kitty-cat. You look pretty good without it, anyway.” Sea Breeze remarked, before again playfully running a hoof through the filly's mane.

“Anyway, enjoy your breakfast, while I go chat-up the adults.” Sea Breeze said, not minding it when Diamond Tiara again batted away her hoof.

Diamond Tiara frowned, as she watched the bat-pony let out a yawn before trotting off towards the camp staff's table. The whole direction of that conversation had proven a bit unsettling...

So, she forgot her tiara. Big deal.

Not like it was the end of the world. She'd just go back to the cabin after breakfast and get it.

Totally, not a big deal...

At the staff table...

“You'll be happy to know, that the practice equipment was where it was supposed to be this year.” Arcana remarked, sipping at a mug of tea, as she set down her ever-present clipboard.

“I suppose that's something...” Lancer replied, popping another grape into her mouth, as she did so.

“...Don't tell me you're brooding now?” The unicorn irritably asked.

“Excuse me?” Lancer replied defensively, suddenly giving her full attention to the unicorn mare.

“You should know, by now, that I have no patience for moping. So...desist.” Arcana sharply demanded.

“Moping? Where are you getting moping from? Am I supposed to just start dancing on the table, because the equipment shed was in proper order this year?” Lancer countered.

“Well, I just have to assume you're feeling moody, given this reaction. You should, at least, be showing a little excitement at the prospect of getting to hit things.” The unicorn pointed out.

“You do seem a bit stressed out, Lancer.” Rockette noted, with some concern. A moment later, she batted a certain bat-pony's hoof away from a mug of coffee, without looking.

Lancer glanced towards her fellow pegasus at that remark, before letting loose a puff of air and rolling her eyes “For sweet Celestia's sake, I am allowed to be preoccupied.”

“Preoccupied?” Rockette prompted.

“I am just considering the best way to proceed with this year's classes, alright?” Lancer replied, aggravated by the prying.

“The same way we did last year. There, issue resolved. Now stop brooding.” Arcana quickly said.

“You know-” Lancer began, glaring at Arcana now.

“I do know. Many things, in fact. One thing you might like to know, is that I found a full-sized training spear in the shed, tucked away in the back. It should serve you well, for your demonstration.” The unicorn mare calmly informed.

“Demonstration?” Lancer asked, confused by that last part.

“Indeed. This seems like the perfect year for you to demonstrate some of your more impressive techniques for the campers. Before we get into the more boring, run-of-the-mill parts, that is.” Arcana elaborated.

“What? I'm not doing any sort of demonstration.” Lancer sharply denied, all too familiar with this argument.

“And, why not?” The unicorn countered.

“It might not be a bad change of pace.” Rockette added, in an encouraging tone.

“I wouldn't mind seeing that.” Brick Brawn remarked from the other side of the table.

“For one thing, it's hardly appropriate to turn this sort of thing into...entertainment. And for another, I'm not going to have time. Somepony still needs to carry Ms. Tiara through the basic course.” Lancer declared with some finality.

“I can take care of Ms. Tiara.” Stalwart Gaze suddenly spoke up.

“Excuse me?” Lancer asked.

“I don't mind taking Ms. Tiara through the basics of bucking.” Stalwart Gaze clarified, between bites of oatmeal.

“I can't really ask you to-” Lancer began.

“It makes more sense this way. I haven't handled any of the advanced classes before now, but I should be more than capable of teaching Ms. Tiara a bit about bucking.” The stallion pointed out.

“That is a fair point. This is his first year here.” Brick Brawn agreed.

“And that aside, I think the filly could use some distance from you, ma'am.” Stalwart Gaze added a moment later.

“How do you mean?” Lancer asked.

“She might be a bit too busy resenting you to pick up on what you're trying to teach her. Especially if it's in a one-on-one scenario.” The stallion explained a bit bluntly.

“That's...a fair point, I suppose. Fine then.” The burly pegasus eventually relented.

“Ah, good. I take it that means we won't have to listen to any more excuses from you, then?” Arcana asked, earning an annoyed look from Lancer.

A short silence reigned over the table, as the older unicorn pointedly ignored her friend's ire.

“Good morning, everypony!” Silver Shield enthusiastically greeted, as he approached the staff table with his own tray of food “Did I miss anything?”

“Coffee, now...need...caffeine...” Sea Breeze pitifully requested, as she slumped over the table, her eyelids heavy with drowsiness.

Rockette sighed.

A little while later...

“DT sure did look weird without her thing-y, huh?”

Scootaloo glanced to the gangly colt at her side, before facing forward again “Huh? Yeah, I guess. That was kinda weird...”

The little orange filly found a lot of things about that breakfast weird. Most of them pertained to Diamond Tiara.

“Do you think she lost it or something?” Snails pressed.

“What? Her tiara? How would I know that?” Scootaloo asked with a confused look.

“I dunno.” Snails admitted.

“I think she might have just forgotten it this morning. She, uhm...” Delicacy quietly offered from the pegasus filly's other side.

“Oh...but, isn't that kinda weird too?” Snails countered after a couple of moments.

“I don't know. And can we talk about something other than Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo requested.

The trio of foals fell quiet at that, as they trailed after the rest of the campers towards the practice field, just as they did the day before.

After several seconds of this, it became evident to Scootaloo that her pink nemesis might very well be the only topic on anypony's mind right then. Including her own.

Diamond Tiara was really starting to worr-...weird-out Scootaloo.

First it was the thing with the Survival hike, then that fight she got into the other day over that older filly's teasing. Normally, Scootaloo wasn't one to complain when Diamond Tiara ended up getting herself into trouble or otherwise got her comeuppance. And it was only fair for the pink filly to have to deal with being picked-on and teased, after all of the times she'd done the same to Scootaloo and her friends. Still, it had become increasingly difficult for Scootaloo not to notice that it seemed to be getting to Diamond Tiara...

...probably, because she knew what it was like to be picked on.

She could tell herself that DT was just bringing it on herself, but it still left the pegasus filly a bit uncomfortable.

She didn't really have any particular expectations for this morning, but she didn't think Diamond Tiara would have ended up being all...quiet. No teasing, no complaining, no put-downs, just a pink filly slowly eating her food, while sporting a weird look on her face. She didn't even snap, or anything, when Snails started asking her where her tiara was, bringing attention to it's conspicuous absence.

Very weird.

And it did seem like the pink filly was aware of it's absence, as DT kept running a hoof through her mane, like she still expected to find it there.

What exactly did Ms. Lancer say to her yesterday?

After the fight the other day, she hadn't really had the opportunity to figure out if the pink filly was alright. She looked pretty out-of-sorts, by the end of the day, and Scootaloo would admit to finding Ms. Lancer a tad intimidating herself. What if the burly pegasus had gone too far or something? Diamond Tiara didn't say anything at dinner, last night. Nor did they get into any arguments back in the cabin, as they normally did, when they were all getting ready to turn-in.

Which, again, was just so weird.

And nopony could really ask Diamond Tiara right now, what was up with her. Right after the pink filly had finished eating, that older stallion came over to their table and took her away. He hadn't really clarified why he needed the filly, nor had Diamond Tiara put up too much of a fight.

Was Diamond Tiara in even more trouble? Was there something wrong? Why...did Scootaloo have to keep thinking about it?

Diamond Tiara was the enemy. She'd always had been, and always would be. Diamond Tiara was always gonna be the rich, spoiled, popular filly, that would always take the time to mess with Scootaloo and her friends. She'd always complain when things didn't go her way or if she got in trouble. And she totally didn't deserve any sympathy...

Scootaloo never really did get in a proper apology, the day before.

“Arrrgg! Just what is her problem?!?!” Scootaloo suddenly shouted, her eyes screwed shut. She was thoroughly tired of having to think about this issue.

“...Uhm, Scootaloo?” Came Delicacy's quiet voice.

“Huh?” The pegasus answered, opening her eyes as she did so.

“Is there something you would like to share with everypony, Ms. Scootaloo?” Came the gruff call from Lancer. Scootaloo had been so lost in thought, she hadn't noticed when she, Snails and Delicacy, along with the majority of the other campers had made it to the practice field from yesterday. She hadn't noticed the piles of small, padded, practice weapons piled around. She hadn't even really noticed the presence of her two cabinmates, at her sides.

What she did notice, was nearly every camper and camp staff member staring at her, after her little outburst.

She also noticed the snickers from the nearby foals, as they started whispering to one another.

“Uh...what is who's problem, Scoots?” She noticed Snails, as he prodded her side with a hoof.

“Well, Ms. Scootaloo?” Lancer called over again, with what looked to be some sort of padded wooden pole tucked under one of her wings.

Scootaloo had to swallow a growing lump in her throat, as she sat under the collective scrutiny of nearly everypony present.

Scootaloo shook her head.

Lancer didn't respond, and just instead kept staring her way expectantly.

The orange pegasus filly tried to clear her throat, as she realized that the older mare wanted a better answer than a shake of the head “N-no, Ms. Lancer!...M-ma'am!”

Lancer gave a nod at that response “...Good. Now if I can have everypony's attention?”

Author's Notes:

Well, this turned out to be a bit of breather episode, which isn't a bad thing, I don't think. I originally wanted to carry things farther, but we've already had three chapters in a row with a heavy focus on Diamond Tiara. And sure, she's the title character, but I think we can stand to segue back to the others for a bit.

So there will be a short part focusing back on Diamond Tiara in the next chapter, before the main focus switches back to the others.

I am going to spend this coming week on a fic for Valentine's day. Probably going to be three chapters like my Christmas story, with the first one featuring Twilight, Prince Blueblood, Snails and Delicacy.

But, worry not. As after the first chapter of that story, I'm going to be back to writing a chapter for this story. And alternate like so, till the Valentine's day story is done. I feel like Diamond Tiara goes to Boot Camp has fallen a bit behind schedule.

As always, I welcome any criticisms and questions and I hope everyone has enjoyed this latest chapter. Thanks.

And, as always, you can expect some edits over the next few days, as I pick out typos and straighten out some of the writing.

Chapter Ten: Voluntold

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“What are we even doing out here?”

Stalwart Gaze spared a glance for the pink filly trailing just a few hoofsteps behind him before fixing his eyes ahead once more. Just out of the corner of his eye, he could already see the other campers filing out of the messhall after the other members of the camp's staff.

Scowling as the stallion once more failed to answer her, Diamond Tiara glanced to one side, trying to contain the urge to complain and pout.

She didn't manage for too long.

“If you're going to drag me over this whole stupid camp again, can we at least swing by the cabin?”

“Which cabin?”

“My Cabin. Duh.”

“For what?”

“I need to get my-...” Diamond Tiara ended up trailing off again, as she thought about her conspicuously absent tiara.

“You need to get your...?” Stalwart prompted, without looking back.

The filly briefly turned her gaze towards her own hooves once more. A few seconds later she shook her head clear of her lingering thoughts “Tch! What are we even doing out here?!”

Again Stalwart failed to reply.

“...Well?” Diamond Tiara snapped, perturbed by the stallion's ongoing silence.

“I thought I explained myself rather completely back in the messhall.” Stalwart replied, without turning back or slowing his pace.

“Well, explain it again!” The filly demanded, even as she stomped her small hooves into the grass.

Stalwart managed to internalize the desire to roll his eyes, with only a modicum of effort. After a few more steps, the stallion quietly exhaled before answering “You missed out on the lesson yesterday.”

“So?”

“Remedial lesson.” Stalwart blandly supplied.

The filly briefly came to a stop at that, tilting her head towards the stallion as she tried to parse about what he meant “Wait...you're saying I've still got to waste time bucking pieces of wood?”

“It's not hard.”

“It's stupid.” Diamond Tiara sharply asserted.

“Also mandatory.”

“That's even stupider! Why do I have to learn this anyway?”

Stalwart stopped for a moment, before brushing the back of his head with his hoof. Letting out a sigh, he turned back towards the filly “The basic class is required, just to make sure you have something to fall back on if you're ever in danger. Once you-”

“It's bucking.”

“...Once you've gotten the basics out of the way, the rest of the self-defense courses are purely optional.” Stalwart patiently finished.

“Well-...what's in the rest of the courses?” Diamond Tiara asked, a bit curious now.

“I'm sure it wouldn't be of interest to you.”

“And why not?” The filly demanded.

“I imagine those courses would be a bit too challenging for you. Particularly since the other campers-” Stalwart glanced to the side, as he replied as nonchalantly as he could.

“You don't think I can do it?!”

“I'm sure if you put your mind to it-...though, you have already fallen behind the rest of the campers...”

“I have not!” Diamond Tiara sharply denied.

“It's fine. I'm sure you could catch up with the others if you wanted to...” The stallion mused.

“...Tch!” The filly snipped, before glaring off towards the other campers that were now gathering on the far side of the field.

“...And since you've made it clear that you don't want to do any of this, there's no real shame if you can't catch up with the others.” Stalwart continued on just a bit too nonchalantly, even as he ignored the glare the pink filly had transferred back to him.

“I already told you that I could do this if I wanted to!”

Stalwart gave a shrug at that “You just don't want it enough, obviously.”

Stymied by the unflappable stallion's stoicism, Diamond Tiara start shifting from one hoof to the other in pure frustration, scowling terribly as she reached her boiling point “You know what? Fine!”

“Pardon?” Stalwart queried, as the filly promptly turned tail and started marching off.

“We'll just see who can't buck!”

“I never said you couldn't-”

“In fact, I'll probably be bucking circles around the others before the day is even out!”

“...”

“I bet even you won't be able to keep up with me!” Diamond Tiara declared even as she continued to stomp away.

“...”

Drawing to a sudden halt, the Earth pony filly snapped her gaze back to the silent stallion “Well? Are you coming or not?!”

Calmly meeting the filly's glare, Stalwart quietly cleared his throat before pointing a hoof towards the other end of the field, where a lone training dummy remained. This happened to be in the exact opposite direction Diamond Tiara was marching.

Blinking as she realized the point he was trying to make, her cheeks briefly reddened “...Oh.”

Stalwart simply let one of his eyebrow's climb slowly upward.

“...Shut-up.” Diamond Tiara quietly groused as she marched back past the stallion, on the way to the training dummy now.

“Alright.” The guardpony easily acquiesced, before trailing after the filly.

Back with the rest of the campers...

“...”

A fair few of the campers at the forefront of the large crowd of foals easily caught the sight of Ms. Arcana raising an eyebrow at Lancer's uncharacteristic silence. Indeed, some of the older campers were starting to have some trouble suppressing their curiosity at this.

Scootaloo, having mostly gotten over her embarrassment caused by her earlier outburst, glanced towards the other campers gathered in the field, before sidling a bit closer to Delicacy and Snails.

Leaning towards Delicacy, the pegasus filly rose a hoof to her mouth before quietly speaking her mind “Do you think she's going to say anything, soon?”

Glancing towards Scootaloo, the young unicorn seemed to give a moment of thought before giving a small hum “Uhm, I think we're just supposed to wait. Everyone else seems to be doing that.”

Scootaloo gave a frown at that, as she noticed a couple of other campers starting to mutter to themselves “How long though? And what for?”

“...Dramatic effect?” Delicacy quietly proposed.

“Maybe she forgot what she was going to say?”

Both fillies jumped in mild surprise as Snails offered his own thoughts on the matter. In a very audible and not at all discreet manner.

Indeed, both Scootaloo and Delicacy were staring at the young colt with mild horror, along with a good portion of the other campers. The remaining portion of the campers were quietly watching for the intimidating Lancer to react to the rather loudly stated notion.

After several seconds, Lancer found herself letting out a quiet sigh, before slowly facehoofing.

Turning to the side before rolling her own eyes, Arcana cleared her throat before gesturing a hoof towards her pegasus friend “I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Would you mind terribly restarting, Ms. Lancer?”

Sparing only a brief glance for the green-coated unicorn's words, Lancer again glanced out upon the crowd of waiting foals. Taking in a small breath, as she reminded herself that she was absolutely in her element, Lancer ran over the practiced words in her head. There was no special reason to treat this year as being any different than any other.

Apart from all the departures from the norm she was making this year.

And she was fairly sure that they were all good ideas anyway and she was in-charge now, so...

Shifting the padded training-weapon held under her wing into a more comfortable position, the pegasus used that brief motion as a point of focus, shooing away her remaining errant thoughts.

Briefly clearing her throat, Lancer straightened out her posture before finally addressing the campers in her usual authoritative tone “Right...First of all, I'd like to open things by making it absolutely clear that these additional lessons are strictly voluntary. Unlike yesterday's lesson, you should feel perfectly free to opt-out if the subject matter makes any of you uncomfortable. At any, and I do mean any, point in the lesson.”

This was greeted by surprised, and somewhat concerned, looks from many of the campers. This was especially the case with many of the younger campers, as they wondered what could be so bad that the already intimidating mare would let them opt out of it. That many of the older campers seemed a bit thrown did little to reassure.

Scootaloo and Delicacy just seemed relieved that Snails hadn't gotten them or himself into hot water with the Camp Director.

“I guess we're not in trouble, after all...Kinda feels weird, actually.” The sole member of the CMC observed.

“Why would we be in-” Snails began to ask, again in far too loud a voice, before being stopped by a pale blue hoof covering his mouth.

Following said hoof to its owner would lead to a blushing Delicacy, who quickly removed her hoof before giving the colt a sheepish smile.

Even by his typical standards, Snails found this a bit confusing.

Scootaloo just gave a shake of her head at this before turning her attention back to Lancer.

“That being said, I would encourage all of you to stick around through all of today's planned lessons, as we will be imparting some information that I believe is very important for everyone to have.” Lancer gave a brief nod, seemingly to herself, before beginning to pace over to a pile over training equipment “We will be discussing some matters that many ponies find patently discomforting, and in a frank, direct manner that many of you will find uncommon. Many of our older campers will notice some very obvious differences in this year's lessons, I'm sure.”

Coming to a pause by the pile of padded training weapons, Lancer turned back to look at the crowd of campers, as if to make sure she had their undivided attention. Slowly casting her gaze over the gathered foals, a few couldn't help but fidget a bit as the silence wore on.

The quiet was suddenly dispelled as Arcana gave a very audible sigh, surprising a few of the campers, before the older unicorn spoke-up “Tell us, Ms. Lancer, what is it you are going to be teaching us today?”

Lancer found herself closing her eyes, before letting out an annoyed huff.

A moment later, Arcana found Rockette nudging her in the side with a hoof, as the middle-aged pegasus leaned in to speak “Perhaps we can try being a bit more supportive, don't you think?”

Arcana gave off a snort, before speaking loudly enough for just about everypony gathered to hear “This is me being supportive.” Turning her attention back towards Lancer, the older unicorn then rose a hoof to her mouth before calling over “Perhaps some sort of demonstration is called for, Ms. Lancer! So you could show us all just what it is you are going to be teaching!”

Pursing her lips, Lancer slowly turned towards her unicorn friend “...Thank you, Arcana. What would I do without you?”

Arcana, utterly unbothered by the ire being sent her way, gave an easy shrug “Not much, apparently.”

Giving a shake of her head, one could visibly see Lancer finally giving in “Right...I'll be needing someone to assist. And I don't suppose that's something you'll be volunteering for, Arcana?”

“I do believe I've done my good deed for the day.” Arcana easily responded, earning a exasperated look from Rockette.

“Very well, then.” Lancer took a moment to shift the padded polearm from under one wing to the other, with an easy twirl “If I could get somepony with a basic foundation in weapons handling...?”

That got the crowd of foals to focus their collective attention.

“W-weapons?” Delicacy quietly exclaimed, already considering taking up Lancer's offer to let her excuse herself from the proceedings.

“Does she mean like with swords and shields and stuff? That's so cool!” Came Scootaloo's excited whispering.

“But-”

The pegasus filly didn't even seem to notice Delicacy's quiet objections the notion “Maybe they'll even let us get into some cool sword fights or something.”

“-it could be-”

“Oh, neat!” Snails quickly agreed with Scoots assessment, smiling happily at the notion, before turning towards Delicacy “You want to have a really cool sword fight, Deli?”

“-and what if-...me?” Delicacy suddenly halted her muttered worries as she realized that the unicorn colt was speaking to her.

“Uh-huh!” Snails easily nodded.

“You want to-...with me?”

“Uh-huh!” This was accompanied by another nod from the goofy colt.

“I-...okay then.” Delicacy ducked her head down, trying to hide her blushing.

“Yeah! And maybe Scoots can go with DT!” Snails suggested.

“Yeah! And- wait what?” The orange filly's excitement coming to an abrupt halt, as she processed just what Snails had suggested “Hold on. Why am I getting stuck with-”

Before Scootaloo could inquire as to why she was going to be stuck with Diamond Tiara, everyone's attention was drawn to the fore, as Lancer spoke up “I am going to need someone that is reasonably proficient if we're going to be doing this.”

Between the absence of Stalwart Gaze and Sea Breeze, and Arcana already shooting the notion down, there remained a fairly narrow field of candidates to choose from. Lancer certainly didn't expect Rockette to take on the role, so the campers and staff were soon turning expectant looks towards Brick Brawn and Silver Shield.

For Brick Brawn's part, he seemed fairly content to avoid anyone's gaze, all too wary of getting into anything resembling a sparring match with the burly pegasus mare.

Silver Shield, perhaps not picking up on his fellow stallion's reluctance, gave a bemused shrug and raised a hoof up “I'd be happy to assist.”

Lancer let an eyebrow raise up a bit at the young unicorn, before shrugging in-turn “Alright, feel free to pick up a training-weapon whenever you're ready...”

About ten minutes later...

“Told you I could do it if I wanted to!”

“Mm-Hmm.”

“And you know what? It was easy. Like, I don't know why you even bothered, it was so easy.”

“I didn't think it would give you much trouble.”

“Right? I mean, I don't know what Applebloom thinks is so special about bucking.”

“I suppose you showed her...whoever she is.” Stalwart again conceded, not yet inclined to disrupt the little pink filly's crowing. Indeed, he was lending much more of his attention to the large group of campers that they were even now approaching.

“Heh. I bet even Applebloom wouldn't have gotten the hang of it that quickly.” Diamond Tiara noted from the stallion's side, still holding her head up high. Which incidentally, did little to similarly bring her attention to her fellow foals and just what seemed to be holding their collective attention.

“I wouldn't really know about this Applebloom.” The stallion quietly pointed out, without looking her way.

Diamond Tiara spared a moment from her boasting to glance at the stallion “Huh? Oh, well she's not really-”

“Gyahhhh! Oooo-mph!”

Both foal and stallion came to an abrupt stop, as they both watched a white and lilac blur fly through the air, before rolling to a stop at the hooves of the two ponies. Shortly after that, a wooden training sword followed through the air to thump into the ground near their hooves.

A moment later, a dazed Silver Shield was staring up into the bemused frown that Diamond Tiara was sending his way “What happened to you?”

Giving a dizzy shake of his head at the filly's question, the unicorn stallion couldn't muster up anymore than a few sloppily muttered words “S-something-...don't know...I don't-”

“I can't leave you alone for even a few minutes, can I?” Stalwart ruefully noted.

“Uh, seriously. What's going on?” Diamond Tiara demanded, turning her inquiry towards the larger Earth pony stallion with a raised hoof.

“If I had to guess, a lesson in the matter of the aerodynamics of your typical pony.” Stalwart Gaze noted, while still casting an eye towards the dazed Silver Shield.

“More like leverage.” Arcana corrected a moment later, as she strode over towards the incapacitated stallion. Lancer was only a few steps behind her, still holding the padded spear under her wing as she approached.

Standing just to the side, as Arcana gave a cursory looking over of Silver Shield, Lancer glanced away in apparent discomfort “I recall telling you that this was a bad idea...”

“Nonsense. He's fine.” The academic quickly dismissed with a wave of her hoof, before leaning in towards Silver Shield to examine him more closely “Nothing's missing. He still has most of his faculties. Mr. Shield will be walking this off within a few minutes, I'm sure.”

“Where 'm I walkin'?” The unicorn stallion muttered, still in a daze.

A number of other campers took this moment to rush over to their little gathering.

“Mr. Shield has suffered enough, I think. It's time we moved on from this notion.” Lancer sternly stated, even as she spared a moment of her attention to take note of Diamond Tiara.

Furrowing her brow, as she took note of this, Diamond Tiara's face quickly became pinched with annoyance “What notion?”

“Is Mr. Shield hurt?” One colt suddenly asked, garnering an unseen look of chagrin from Lancer.

As if on cue, Arcana's horn lit up with a light blue glow. A similar glow surrounding Silver Shield's head, lasting for a few moments, before disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

“He's fine.” The middle-aged unicorn calmly declared.

Concealing her own relief, Lancer gave a shake of her head, before focusing on adjusting the spear resting under her wing “Well, even so, now's probably a good time to end-”

“Please. Throwing Mr. Shield through the air several times hardly qualifies as a proper demonstration.” Arcana carried on, lightly stamping a hoof as she said this.

“I didn't do that bad...” Silver Shield tried to interject, still lying on his back on the ground.

The unicorn mare gave a nod towards the stallion “You see? Mr. Shield is already recovering. We can dust him off and see if he can't last a bit longer this time.”

“...How long did I last this time?” Silver Shield absently asked.

Her eyes briefly darting towards the stallion, Arcana used her magic to bring out her clipboard for her perusal “...Eight seconds. Easily double where you were in your first bout.”

Laying his head back down and closing his eyes, Silver Shield slumped into the grass a bit “Oh, that's good...”

Lancer gave a pointed look towards the exhausted stallion, before sending a look of abject skepticism towards Arcana.

“...He'll be fine in a few minutes.” Arcana flatly countered.

Lancer gave a shake of her head at her friend's stubborn insistence “Ok. That's enough. We're done with this, Arcana.”

“It would be irresponsible of me to let Shield continue with this. Even if he was willing.” Stalwart Gaze quietly interjected before Arcana could continue her argument.

Frowning, as the stallion apparently took a side in their discussion, Arcana cast her gaze for another solution. She quickly settled her eyes upon Brick Brawn.

“You, Mr. Brawn. You have some experience with the handling of arms, do you not?” Arcana sharply called out to the stallion.

Jumping a bit, as everyponies attention was suddenly drawn his way, Brick Brawn found himself being stared at by several dozen expectant campers. Cringing a bit as he took in their hopeful looks, the stallion furtively glanced Lancer's way, as he brought a hoof up to rub the back of his neck “I, well, that would have been part of my training, yes.”

Arcana gave a sharp nod at that response “Excellent. If you would-”

“Oh. No...” Brick Brawn awkwardly denied with a shake of his head. Seeing the expectant, questioning look being sent his way by the unicorn mare, he had to think for a few moments before responding “I can't today, because...I slept on my neck funny?”

Lancer let out a huff of a laugh at this, before starting her way back towards the other side of the field “Well, now that we have that settled we can-”

“If you need someone that can handle a weapon, I could substitute for Shield.”

Again everypony's attention shifted, this time towards Stalwart Gaze, as the stallion calmly picked up the fallen practice sword from beside the fallen Silver Shield. As implacable as ever, when the stallion had a firm grip on the sword's hilt in his mouth, he gave a dull shrug towards the surprised Lancer.

“No need to stop things.” The burly stallion added, speaking around the handle of the weapon.

Lancer, still a bit surprised that someone had volunteered to 'assist' her with the demonstration, was only broken from her thoughts when Arcana audibly cleared her throat.

Having gotten the warrior pegasus' attention, the unicorn mare gestured towards the irate pink filly “She did miss your earlier demonstrations with Mr. Shield.”

“I still don't know what's going on here!” Diamond Tiara finally snapped, punctuating her words with a forceful stomp of her forehooves. For Stalwart Gaze's part, he simply let one of his eyebrows climb it's way up his brow, giving a far more mild reaction to the outburst than anypony else.

Lancer spared a few more moments to send a disapproving look Diamond Tiara's way, one that the filly refused to be bothered by. Letting out a sigh, the pale-coated pegasus looked over the gathered campers before making a gesturing nod towards Diamond Tiara “Go rejoin your cabinmates.”

Paying no mind to the petulant look being sent way by the pink filly, Lancer started leading the other campers back whence they came “Alright. Let's get this over with.

Arcana again pulled out her clipboard as she followed after, with Rockette following a moment later.

“...This would be part of those more advanced lessons, I mentioned earlier.” Stalwart quietly explained to Diamond Tiara.

“Well, what is it? A lesson in being confusing?” The filly irritably demanded of the older stallion, as she stepped around the supine Silver Shield. Most of the others seemed content to leave the younger stallion be, as they followed after Lancer.

Stopping briefly to check on Silver Shield, Stalwart Gaze replied in his usual placid manner “Not exactly.”

A few minutes later...

“So, uhm...what have you been up to since breakfast?”

Diamond Tiara sent a skeptical look Scootaloo's way, as the pegasus filly awkwardly tried to open up a dialogue with her “Uh, why do you care?”

Scootaloo found herself swallowing, as the pink filly focused on her “Well, I-I don't. I was just...curious. It wasn't really all that clear what Mr. Stalwart wanted with you.”

“Tch! Nothing important.” Diamond Tiara tersely said, before then turning her attention back towards Lancer and Stalwart Gaze. Briefly glancing that way revealed that the two adults seemed to be doing some quick warm-up stretches.

Frowning a bit at this response, Scootaloo briefly brought a hoof up to rub the back of her other foreleg. Turning from one side to the other, the orange filly eventually settled for staring at her hooves. Steeling herself, she eventually decided she couldn't let things go unsaid for any longer “Uh, Diamond Tiara?”

“Huh?” The pink filly grunted and sparing only a brief bit of her attention for the pegasus filly, being far more intent on what was going on with the adults and the padded weapons.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Scootaloo pushed ahead “...Alright. Look. I kinda meant to say this the other day, but then we got into that argument and...yeah. Then you got into that other fight and-...None of that's really important. I just wanted to say that I'm sor-”

“What are they doing?” Diamond Tiara interrupted with a tilt of her head.

“Huh?” Scootaloo cleverly replied.

“I said, what are they doing? And why are they carrying around those toy weapons?” The pink filly irritably reiterated.

“What?...Oh, uhm, I don't know. But Ms. Lancer said they aren't really toys-” The orange filly bemusedly tried to explain.

“Ms. Lancer seemed really serious about that.” Delicacy noted from one side, her own attention for what the adults were up to broken by the discussion.

Scootaloo gave an awkward nod at that, before again trying to approach Diamond Tiara “Uh, yeah...Anyway, like I was saying-”

“Hey, DT!” Snails abruptly interjected, drawing a few looks from the nearby campers.

“Stop calling me that.” Diamond Tiara demanded, her eyes narrowing a bit at Snails' use of the nickname.

“Stop calling you what, DT?” Snails inquired with an entirely earnest amount of confusion. After several seconds of silence, the colt gave a shake of his head, before focusing back on Diamond Tiara “Hey, is it alright if you have your sword-fight with Scoots? Me and Deli were-”

“What sword-fight?” The pink filly blurted out.

“Uh-huh.” Snails nodded with a smile, not picking up on the implied question.

“Can this wait, Snails? There's something I really need to-” Scootaloo again tried to take the reins of the conversation.

Diamond Tiara utterly failed to notice, of course.

“Is that what they're doing?! They're going to make us fight with swords!” This loud exclamation from Diamond Tiara netted her some grumbling from the nearby campers, those that were actually trying to listen on what the adults were saying.

“Uh-huh.” Snails replied with an excited grin.

Delicacy held up a hoof at that “I don't think they're going to force us to do anything...”

Scootaloo couldn't help but bring a hoof up to her forehead and let out a quiet groan.

“Then what are they doing?!” Diamond Tiara again demanded, pointing a hoof towards the fairly distant Stalwart Gaze and Lancer, who now seemed to be taking a few questions from the other campers.

“Hey! Can you keep it down?” One of the other nearby campers called over in a loud whisper.

“Yeah. Some of us are trying to listen.” Another quickly added.

“Why don't you keep it down!” DT quickly snapped.

“Wha- you're the ones that keep talking!” The first camper countered, bewildered by the turnabout.

Scootaloo had to swallow down even more anxiety, as she once again found herself sitting at the center of everypony's attention.

Well, not really everypony.

Really, it was just small number of the closest foals in the crowd that were even looking their way.

But it really felt like everypony was staring, leading her to wonder why it was so hard to give a simple apology to the snobby Earth pony filly. Why did this all have to be so hard? Scootaloo soon found herself trying to tune it all out, screwing her eyes shut, as she tried to sort this out in her head.

She must have actually hurt her feelings. It was still a novel thought for Scootaloo to think that her nemesis could be hurt by words, just like she or her friends could. It had to be why the pink filly was acting so strange lately, right? Getting into fights. Forgetting her tiara and moping around. And she was pretty sure that Diamond Tiara had been trying to run away that night, when she came stumbling back into the cabin out of breath.

It was a pretty mean thing to say to someone, that no one would want to be friends with them.

Scootaloo felt bad about what she said to Diamond Tiara. That much she knew. Sure Diamond Tiara was a jerk. Sure she had teased Scootaloo and her friends all the time. Sure what she said probably had a bit too much truth to it. None of that stopped her from feeling bad about it and there was only one way she was going to stop feeling bad about it...

“Well, if we're the only ones that are talking, maybe you should shut-up!”

“Maybe you should try it for once!”

“I'm sorry.”

“We're really sorry-”

“No we're not!”

“You don't even know how to be quiet, do you?”

“Wha- why should I have to be quiet?!”

“Because no one wants to hear what you have to say?”

“I said, I'm sorry.”

“Lots of ponies want to hear what I have to say!”

“Please. Who would want to hear what a snob has to say anyway?”

“Yeah, I bet there's hardly anypony that can even stand to be around-”

“I'M SORRY!”

“...”

Ok, now everypony was actually staring at Scootaloo. Or very nearly everypony.

Including Diamond Tiara.

“I, uh-...” The orange filly briefly glanced around, before focusing her gaze down towards the grass in front of her. Anxiously pushing her purple mane from her eyes, she tried to swallow down her embarrassment before attempting to speak again “I mean, what I meant was- I didn't mean for-”

Scootaloo's lips snapped shut, as she felt a feathery-soft touch alight upon her withers. Literally so, as it quickly became apparent that it was a light-gray wing settling over her back that got her attention, one that happened to be attached to Mrs. Rockette.

“Mrs. Rockette?” Scootaloo was surprised to find that it was Delicacy that blurted out the question instead of herself.

The former Wonderbolt gave a brief reassuring smile, before turning back to the rest of the campers “It's alright everypony. Nothing to see here, so please redirect your attention back to Ms. Lancer and Mr. Gaze.”

The rest of the campers seemed briefly torn, their gazes darting between the Camp Director and the unfolding scene, collectively unsure where their attention should be.

Without any further concern for the rest of the foals, the pegasus mare adjusted her wing and started herding the confused young filly along.

Scootaloo had to resist the urge to dig her hooves in, as she gave into the light prodding and sheepishly tried to vocalize her confusion “Uhm, where are we-”

“Hey! What are you-” Scootaloo was cut-off, as Rockette started to guide a slightly outraged Diamond Tiara with her other wing. Unlike the little orange filly, DT quickly tried to resist Rockette's attempts to guide her along.

“We're just gonna find some place quiet for you two to talk.” Rockette calmly replied.

The pink filly blinked at this, before shifting her gaze towards the still rather embarrassed Scootaloo “But, I don't want to-”

Rockette was having none of it and when it became apparent that her wing wasn't going to be sufficient, she wasted no time in placing a hoof to her backside and prodding the filly along a bit more forcefully. Digging little furrows into the ground for about a second, Diamond Tiara found herself stumbling forward a bit, before she got her hooves back under her. The older mare didn't give her the chance to dig-in again and kept prodding her along, ensuring that Diamond Tiara kept pace.

“I-quit it!”

“Just this way.” Rockette repeated, as they steadily made progress away from the crowd of campers, leaving a bemused and concerned Snails and Delicacy to watch their progress.

Scootaloo spared a glanced back towards the rest of the camp, only to duck her head once more, her cheeks going red as she was reminded of what had just happened. Why did this have to keep happening to her?

“Alright, everypony! We're going to take a fifteen minute break!” The orange filly distantly heard Lancer call out to the rest of the campers, just as Rockette had them turn the corner of a building.

“Alright you two. I'll leave you to talk this out.” The mare matter-of-factly said. A short canter later and Rockette was getting ready to step back around the corner “I'll just be waiting over here until you're done.”

“Wait! You can't just-” Diamond Tiara exclaimed while reaching a hoof after the older pegasus.

“Try not to take too long.” The mare added as she left their sight, proving Diamond Tiara's attempts to stop her utterly futile.

There followed an awkward silence, where Diamond Tiara seemed to be making a concerted effort to not acknowledge Scootaloo. The little orange filly couldn't help but frown, even while her wings gave the occasional nervous twitch, as Diamond Tiara continued to stare after Mrs. Rockette.

Sidling up alongside the pink filly, Scootaloo watched her out of the corner of her eyes for a few moments, before eventually taking in a deep breath “So, uhm-”

Almost immediately, Diamond Tiara jerked her head away “Hmph!”

Briefly taken aback by being given the cold shoulder, Scootaloo had to shake herself back on track “Just- Listen, alright? I-...I didn't really mean for it-...I want to apologize, Diamond Tiara.”

Feeling a bit more strength at finally having said as much, Scootaloo tried to step back into the pink filly's line-of-sight. Her efforts to speak face-to-face were quickly thwarted, as Diamond Tiara immediately turned away the moment she noticed the attempt.

Overtly frowning now, Scootaloo tried to quickly circle back around the other way, only for Diamond Tiara to once again avoid her. Pausing to give out a small sound of frustration, Scootaloo found herself speaking through gritted teeth “Will you quit that!”

“No.” As if to drive the point even further home, Diamond Tiara turned her nose up a bit further and closed her eyes.

“Wha- but you have to let me apologize!” Scootaloo exclaimed in growing outrage at this behavior.

“No, I don't.”

“But-”

“You can't make me.”

“Will you just let me-”

“I don't want your apology.”

“Well, too bad!” Scootaloo finally snapped. Taking a moment to plant all four of her hooves firmly on the ground, she looked back up to the prissy Earth pony “Cause I'm not going anywhere until you let me apologize to you!”

“...Is that supposed to scare me?” Diamond Tiara asked with apparent skepticism. Still, the fact that she was now, at least, looking at Scootaloo could be counted as progress.

“I- no. But-” The pegasus filly fruitlessly responded. She had to take another moment to keep from getting distracted by that, before taking another deep breath “I just want to apologize for-”

Scootaloo again found herself cut-off, though this time it was by way of a pink hoof shoving her backwards “Quit it!”

“Wha- you quit it!” Scootaloo quickly countered after re-planting her hooves.

“No, you!”

“You started it!”

Both fillies eventually settled for glaring at one another, neither apparently willing to give ground.

Yet again, this was not how Scootaloo had wanted this to go.

She wasn't getting anywhere just standing around exchanging angry looks with the obstinate Earth pony filly and if anything it seemed like things were only getting worse. At this rate, they were going to end up just going there separate ways again, angrier than ever with one another, leaving Scootaloo to keep wondering just how badly she felt about what she had said to Diamond Tiara.

Well, that couldn't happen.

“I'm sorry I hurt your feelings!”

Diamond Tiara seemed briefly surprised by the swiftly, and loudly, blurted out apology. But, her face soon hardened and she quickly shouted back “You didn't hurt my feelings!”

“What?”

“You didn't hurt my feelings and I didn't cry! So stop apologizing!”

This was unexpected.

This really was just about the last thing Scootaloo had expected to happen. And considering the number of crazy things she had come to see as fairly run-of-the-mill, that was saying quite a bit. If Diamond Tiara had simply been angry or dismissive or just generally a huge jerk, she wouldn't have been too surprised. Scootaloo could even have honestly imagined a few scenarios where the pink filly just accepted the apology and they got along afterwards, for the most part. And she wouldn't have ruled out Discord showing up for no other reason than to make her day weirder. All of those possibilities seemed entirely plausible to the orange filly.

But, Diamond Tiara pretending that she wasn't even upset was just too...

Pretending.

That was the operative word.

And it made sense. It wasn't exactly unheard of for Diamond Tiara to bend the truth or gloss over things or even outright fib. Particularly when it came to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. There were plenty of occasions where she would do it to make them feel bad or avoid getting in trouble. And there were probably a fair number of times when she would deny any number of things to avoid embarrassment.

So, why wouldn't she now?

'Oh.'

There was definitely a very tangible moment where Scootaloo could feel herself finally making the connections in her head. Looking over towards Diamond Tiara once more, it was apparent that the pink filly was going back to her strategy of quietly brooding once more. But, even that seemed to help confirm this notion in her head.

“...Sorry.”

“I already told you-”

“I know.” Scootaloo cut-in before Diamond Tiara could get to riled up “And even if you're fine with it, I still feel bad about what I said.”

She did.

Scootaloo had gotten into plenty of arguments before and had called out the pink filly more than a few times. But, she couldn't recall a time when she had specifically said something to really hurt anyone. Even Diamond Tiara.

And what she said had very clearly hurt Diamond Tiara.

“I'm sorry about what I said, back in the woods. There's- there's probably plenty of ponies that would want to be your friend...even when you're kind of being a jerk.”

Scootaloo flinched back a bit when she saw Diamond Tiara's head jerk up at that last bit, almost as if she was about to loudly object to being called a jerk. But, to her surprise, the prissy filly just ended up letting out an annoyed huff and glaring off to the side.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Scootaloo tried to quietly clear her throat, but was stopped when she heard the pink filly mutter something.

“Uh, what was that?” Scootaloo immediately asked, reflexively tilting her head forward to hear better.

After a couple of seconds of quiet grumbling, the pink filly seemed to swallow before speaking her mind once again “I said, I never cried.”

Scootaloo frowned at that response for a moment, before glancing off to the side herself “Well...I never cried either.”

That was a lie.

Though she was fairly sure that Diamond Tiara knew that.

...Maybe. It was kinda hard to tell.

“It's, uhm, I mean I didn't cry either, when you sometimes said-”

“I got it!” Diamond Tiara snapped, before again glaring off to one side.

Scootaloo found herself licking her lips, before clearing her throat “Maybe we should-”

“I'm not a-” Diamond Tiara began at the same time, leading to both abruptly pausing.

“...What?” Scootaloo eventually asked.

The pink filly just gave an annoyed snort “Nothing.”

Scootaloo gave a rueful shrug at that, before proffering a hoof towards her fellow filly “Ok...maybe we should go find Mrs. Rockette, so we can head back.”

Diamond Tiara gave another huff of a sigh at that “Fine. Let's just-”

“Are the two of you done talking things out?” A familiar voice called from just beyond the corner of the building. A moment later, Rockette popped her head back around the corner “If you two still need a few moments-”

“Have you been there this whole time?!” Diamond Tiara demanded.

Blinking in momentary surprise at the question, the older mare gave a smile before answering “Of course. I wasn't going to leave the two of you unsupervised.”

“So, you heard everything we were saying?” Scootaloo asked in a quieter, though also rather distressed, tone.

“Oh, calm down. I don't recall hearing anything too embarrassing.” Rockette replied with a wave of her hoof.

“That's not the point! That was a private conversation!” Diamond Tiara angrily exclaimed.

Raising a hoof up to her mouth, Rockette gave a sheepish look “Oh. I'm sorry for interrupting. Was there anything else you needed to say to Ms. Scootaloo?”

The pink filly came up a bit short at that, her mouth hanging open as she briefly glanced towards Scootaloo “I- Well-...I don't know!”

“We can spare a couple of more minutes, if there are any other personal matters you need to discuss.” The grey mare offered again.

The young pegasus briefly got to watch, as Diamond Tiara seemed to struggle and sputter over the relatively simple question of whether or not she had anything she wanted to say to Scootaloo. She even found herself giving a helpless shrug towards the Earth pony filly, when Diamond Tiara ended up looking her way.

“This- Can we just go?!” Diamond Tiara eventually blurted out, before stomping past the former Wonderbolt, as Scootaloo watched in confusion.

For Rockette's part, she seemed to give something between a nod and a shrug, before extending a hoof out to the bemused pegasus filly “How about you?”

Blinking, as she was shaken from her thoughts, Scootaloo took a moment to process the quesiton before giving a quick nod and running over “Yes, ma'am!”

The older mare quickly lead her off after Diamond Tiara, perhaps the only one of the three that was unbothered by recent happenings “So...do you feel any better after your little talk with Ms. Tiara?”

Glancing up at the question, Scootaloo found her attention turning back towards the pink filly ahead of them. For a second, she thought she saw Diamond Tiara looking back her way, before the pink filly quickly turned her attention elsewhere.

This whole thing left Scootaloo feeling confused, uncertain, embarrassed, a little bit exhausted, and wondering if anything had actually changed. And she was rather given over to thinking that it might be the same for Diamond Tiara, especially given how much trouble it had proven to be prying anything out of her.

Did she feel any better after her talk with Diamond Tiara?

“Kinda.”