Hello fellow Bronies, this is Fire Gazer the Alchemist. Just wanted to say that this story came to me a long time ago, but I only just now managed to write the first chapter. Also, I can't update this one very often either [insert array of frowny faced emoticons here] because I'm placing top priority to my other story. [I'm not saying that you have to go to my profile and read the story, but yeah, do that.] Anyways, I hope everypony likes this story.

Chapter One – New Kid in Town

Applebloom flicked the pencil on her desk gently, so it rolled forward then back onto her hoof. She repeated this expression of boredom as she tried in vain to cancel out the rowdy noises that everypony in the classroom was making. Cheerilee was five minutes late to starting class, so naturally everypony in the schoolhouse had decided to do whatever they wanted.

She kicked the pencil forward again, but this time it decided to mutiny and slide over the edge of her desk. It dropped to the floor and rolled all the way to the empty desk beside of her, out of reach of her hooves. With an exasperated sigh, Applebloom resigned herself to the fact that she would have to get up to retrieve her only pencil. Before she could stand; however, the classroom around her quickly hushed into an eerie silence. Looking up, Applebloom saw the Cheerilee had walked back inside.

And she wasn't alone.

Beside her was a colt that Applebloom had never seen before. He had black hair with a single silver streak in it that curved back like a razor. His coat was white in contrast, and the lack of a horn or wings pegged him as an Earth pony. His eyes were the only splash of color; a leafy green hue that cut through the class, sizing up everypony in it. His mouth was not curved in a smile, but he certainly wasn't frowning either.

"Class," Cheerilee said, breaking the silence. "This is Obsidian Glass, he's new to Ponyville, and our newest student as well." Applebloom was surprised there weren't crickets chirping. Nopony in the class moved, or spoke. They just stared at the foreigner with mild curiosity.

"Well don't everypony welcome me at once." Obsidian said with a voice as smooth as, well… glass.

Laughter sprang from the back of the class, the unmistakable snorts came from Snips and Snails. "It's funny because we're not!" Snips managed through his uncontrollable fit.

Cheerilee sighed. "Well, Obsidian…"

"Glass. Just call me Glass." He interrupted. Cheerilee began again.

"Well, Glass just take an empty desk anywhere in the room."

The colt nonchalantly walked straight to the desk by Applebloom –probably because it was the one closest – and sat down. Cheerilee turned to the board and started writing down multiplication tables.

Easily ignoring the pony beside her, Applebloom prepared to copy down the problems on the board. Then she remembered her pencil shortage. The yellow filly turned her head back to where the pencil was. Right next to Glass's hoof.

"Psst." She directed toward him. He turned his head slightly, watching her from the corner of his eye. "Can you get my pencil?" She whispered, indicating where it was. His eyes lazily drifted down to where her hoof pointed. With disinterest, he flicked his hoof swiftly, sending the pencil into the air and landing it right on Applebloom's desk. It was so unexpected, that she verbally gasped. Cheerilee turned to face her.

"Is there something you'd like to add, Applebloom?" Her teacher asked, pointing at the board. Applebloom hadn't been paying attention, and was now lost in the labyrinth of equations that called itself a chalkboard.

"Uhhh… umm…" She sputtered.

"She was just reminding me that I would need a pencil to work out those problems." Glass said, coming to her rescue. "Thanks, Applebloom." He said to her, while producing a pencil from his saddlebag.

While Glass occupied himself with the math problems, Applebloom gave an uneasy smile to acknowledge he was right. Cheerilee was appeased, and turned back to the board.

Applebloom looked at Glass as he worked on the problems. The new kid definitely had her attention now. But it was also unnerving, the way he so easily lied to Cheerilee. Applebloom never got away with lying, ever. How had this colt managed to do it so casually, like it was the easiest thing in the world?

The yellow filly filed that question away for later, and returned her focus to the looming math problems that she had evaded for far too long. The bell for recess rang came by faster than expected.

Applebloom meant to ask Glass about his skill at lying, but as the class moved outdoors for recess, and blur of orange and white swept her away from him.

"Hey Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle's voice rang out as the trio walked onto the playground.

"Hey Sweetie Belle. Hey Scootaloo." She said. Not wanting to be rude, she let her best friends steer her away to the far side of the playground.

"I really wish we didn't have to do so many math problems." Scootaloo said, beginning a conversation that would likely not die down in time for Applebloom to talk to Glass. "Math stinks."

"With your luck, you'll get solving math problems for your Cutie Mark." Sweetie Belle said. Scootaloo made a face of disgust.

"There isn't a single pony in Equestria who would want a math Cutie Mark." She responded.

"So what are we going to try for our next crusading attempt?" Applebloom asked.

"I was thinking extreme sports." Scootaloo said, a fire in her eyes. "I know this one place where…"

"Can't we try something less… extreme… for our Cutie Marks?" Sweetie Belle said. "The last time you suggested a sport, a dodge ball knocked my tooth out." The purple-haired filly revealed a gaping hole in her mouth, where an adult tooth had yet to grow into. Scootaloo blushed, ashamed to be the guilty party in that story.

"Well then suggest somethin' else." Applebloom said. Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to respond, but never got the chance.

"Hey Blank Flank!" an all-too-familiar voice yelled from across the playground. The Crusaders cringed simultaneously, thinking it was directed at them. Applebloom peaked over her shoulder expecting to see Diamond Tiara for a daily dose of bullying. Only she wasn't there.

Instead, the pink bully and her silver sidekick had found a new victim. Obsidian Glass.

"Glass is a blank flank?" Applebloom said in shock. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other in confusion.

"You mean you didn't know?" The orange filly asked.

"You're usually the first to notice that kind of thing." Sweetie insisted. Applebloom bit her lip, realizing that she hadn't focused on that at all.

"We'd better go get Diamond Tiara off his back." Scootaloo said, as if defending fellow blanks was a chore. The three ran towards the two fillies, now taunting Glass. When they got close enough, they could hear the exact insults.

"Hey blank flank, she's talking to you!" Silver Spoon said to Glass.

"What?" He asked, not afraid but just slightly annoyed.

"How does it feel, to know you still don't have a Cutie Mark?" The pink filly asked.

Glass put on one of the cheesiest, fake-friendly smiles possible and said. "Fantastic. And how does it feel to be a brat?" Upon hearing this, Applebloom and her friends stopped in mid-run. Nopony talked to Diamond Tiara that way. In curiosity, the majority of the class swooped in around them.

Shocked for a moment by the question itself, Diamond was at a loss for words. Finally she managed a well thought out, "Excuse me?"

"No really, I am curious." He continued, fake smile ablaze. "What is it like, to have nothing to do but point out shortcomings of others when your own flaws are right out there for the world to see? What exactly do you do besides walk around calling ponies 'blank flank' because that is literally the most intelligent level that your brain can function at? In short, what is it like to be an undeniable, unquestionable brat?"

Diamond Tiara had no answer to that. Silver Spoon managed a half-hearted, "You can't talk to her like that." The bell for recess rang at that moment, sparing Diamond Tiara anymore humiliation. The ponies that had been listening dispersed. All except for three.

"Wow." Applebloom said. There wasn't much else to say. Nopony had ever stood up to Diamond Tiara like that, and the ones who tried normally ended up in the fetal position crying for their mothers. Glass trotted back inside, his victory secure.

"Did you girls see that?" Sweetie Belle said with amazement and excitement.

"Yeah." Applebloom said. "What do you think of it?"

"I think," Scootaloo said. "That Glass is Crusader material."

Thanks to the Bronies and Pegasisters who have been reading so far. I know that I'm probably not posting at a pace your happy with, but deal with it, I'm already overworked. Uh, lets see... reviews, follows, and favorites are greatly appreciated... and umm... yeah that's it for now.

Chapter Two – Eternal Sunshine of the Pacing Mind

Sweetie Belle paced for the three hundred and fifteenth time across the floor of the clubhouse. Applebloom still had not shown up, despite being the one who called the meeting. Scootaloo was absent as well, meaning Sweetie Belle could do nothing but pace.

Three hundred sixteen

The remainder of class had been mildly uninteresting to say the least. Diamond Tiara had been flushed with anger, but sat quietly in her desk, not speaking for the rest of the day. Most of the subtle whispers that occurred behind Cheerilee's back were about the recess incident. No surprise there.

The elephant in the room – so to speak – barely spoke for the rest of class, and handed his work in when the final bell rang just like everypony else. No sooner had that final bell rung, than when Glass had walked right out of the schoolhouse, and disappeared off the face of Equestria. Determined to find him, and begin recruiting a newest member – an idea that Sweetie Belle had not technically agreed to – Applebloom suggested they split up to search and then meet up again at the clubhouse later.

Sweetie Belle had given a search, despite it being a half-hearted one, and found no Obsidian Glass anywhere. Promptly, she arrived at the clubhouse earlier than her friends, and the pacing had begun.

Three hundred seventeen.

"Where are those two?" She asked the wall in front of her. It did not respond. It just stood there, as blank as her flank, giving her no answers. The window, sitting off to the side of the wall revealed a sunset of orange and reds that would have been breath taking under normal circumstances She groaned inwardly, unable to enjoy the sunset, and paced for the three hundred and eighteenth time.

Her mind flooded with the days events yet again, as Sweetie Belle's meticulous nature compelled her to search for something she missed. School, recess, Glass telling off Diamond Tiara, more school, miniscule amount of searching, pacing.

Three hundred nineteen.

Apparently that was her lucky number, because the door flew open and a sweaty, exhausted Scootaloo walked in. She dragged her scooter in behind her, looking kind of depressed.

"What happened to you?" Sweetie Belle asked the orange filly.

"I was riding around town trying to find Glass," Scootaloo said, propping her scooter up. "And I hit a pothole near Sugar Cube Corner." Inspecting the scooter further, Sweetie Belle saw that the front wheel was bent.

"Will your scooter be okay?" Sweetie Belle asked with genuine concern.

Scootaloo nodded, flinging her sweat around the room. "It should. I mean, I hope so. I've never broken this thing before." The orange filly started fiddling with the wheel. Sweetie Belle could see her friend biting back sadness, but she had no way to address it.

Steps outside came to Sweetie's rescue, as Applebloom arrived. "Hey, girls." She said, with all the usual meaning, but not the usual perkiness.

"Hi Applebloom, how did the search go?" Scootaloo said.

"Bad." The yellow filly said. "No sign of Glass anywhere." She noticed Scootaloo sitting with her damaged wheel. "Scoots what happened?"

The orange filly recounted her tale of woe curtly for her. Sweetie Belle saw more concern on Applebloom's face than on Scootaloo's. None of the fillies spoke for a moment, as they digested the possibility of Scootaloo never riding her scooter again.

"Look, my scooter will be fine." Scootaloo said, putting on a brave face. "We need to figure out how to find Glass."

"If we don't find him, I guess we can't invite him to be a Crusader." Sweetie Belle said with false disappointment.

"Ah wouldn't worry 'bout that." Applebloom said. "He'll be in class tomorrow anyways. We outta be able to ask him then."

"Great." Sweetie Belle said with no real joy in it. Neither of her friends seemed to notice. Scootaloo was bent over her scooter attempting to crudely realign the wheel. Applebloom was staring out the window at Celestia's sun, which had begun its descent to make room for Luna's moon.

"It's gettin' to be pretty late." She said. "Ah gotta get home before Applejack gets mad."

"Okay." Scootaloo said, still preoccupied with her scooter.

Applebloom headed for the door as Sweetie Belle waved her off. She started to dread tomorrow, wondering what Glass would say about their offer. Scootaloo stood up too.

"I think I need to head home to." The orange filly said. "Clearly this scooter needs somepony who knows what they're doing to fix it."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then." Sweetie Belle said as her magenta-haired friend dragged her scooter out of the door to the clubhouse. Scootaloo waved back at her before disappearing down the ramp.

Sweetie was now alone in the clubhouse with only her thoughts to occupy her. She considered more pacing but decided against it. A three hundred and twentieth time might give her insanity.

Looking out the window, she saw that the sun was almost completely down. Sighing, she realized it only meant tomorrow was that much closer. Getting up to go home, Sweetie Belle found herself hoping Glass would decline an offer to get into the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

She didn't really hate Glass – he had given her no reason too—but something about him just seemed… off. It wasn't something that Sweetie Belle could put her hoof on just yet, but it was giving her discomfort. The way Diamond Tiara's insults just bounced off him was unnatural. How was he immune to her taunts?

There was something else too. When the pink bully had asked Glass what it felt like to be a blank flank, he said, "Fantastic." It hadn't even come across as sarcastic either.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. You're being irrational. She scolded herself. Sure Glass was weird, but he deserved a chance. The white filly resigned herself to that much.

She walked out the clubhouse into the now dark night, shutting the door behind her.

This is my favorite chapter title so far. It's a quote (though I did ponify for censoring purposes) from In Bruges, if you haven't seen the movie, at least watch the scene with this quote in it for a good laugh, cause there is no laughing in this chapter.

Chapter Three – It's An Inanimate Bucking Object

The three undamaged wheels of her scooter dragged along in the dirt, making small trails in the ground behind her. The bent wheel was kept above ground, spared the humiliating job of creating a trench simply out of fear that it might break further. This was probably the first time in years Scootaloo had never rode home on her scooter. It was kind of depressing.

It also wasn't going to depress her. Scootaloo was sure the blue scooter could be fixed. It had to be. That scooter had been her best friend before meeting Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. She learned how to ride it before she could walk. In an attempt to remember life before her scooter, Scootaloo failed to come up with anything.

But it would be fixed. It was only a bent wheel, right? No way that could put her best friend out of commission. No way at all.

The orange filly abruptly stopped her trudging in front of a modest house at the end of the road. Looking back she saw the seemingly endless, three-pronged trail she had inadvertently dug stretching all the way to the edge of the street. Nope, that wasn't going to depress her.

Turning back to the house, her house to be accurate, she knocked on the door. Nothing. Her dad was absent again. Scootaloo didn't keep a spare key to the house on her, but she knew where her father kept the spare.

Rolling the welcome mat over, Scootaloo scooped up the key and inserted in the lock. The familiar click of the tumblers, and she was in. The magenta-haired filly no longer dragged her scooter with her, she propped it up against the coat rack that her father insisted on having, despite never having owned a coat. Instinctively taking off her helmet, Scootaloo realized that she hadn't need to wear it for the trip home. She set it by her scooter nonetheless, and moved deeper into the living room. There she found a note that had been hastily scribbled by her father.

Scootaloo –

Called into a business trip at the last minute. Sorry to do this to you kiddo, but it was urgent. Food's in the pantry and Derpy will stop by to check on you in the morning. Be back in two days.

-Dad

What else had Scootaloo expected? It was another good ole disappearing act by her father. No warning whatsoever and poof… he was out of her life for a few days. Then he would pop back in to say hi, and leave just as fast. It hadn't been so bad when Scootaloo's mom was alive. They used to stay up late and talk and make smores. It was like a slumber party that never ended. Until, well… it ended forever.

But Scootaloo refused to be depressed.

She walked into the kitchen, and selected an apple for her dinner. Chomping into the first bite, she kicked around what to do for the rest of the night. She had homework from school, but she felt like procrastinating it. It was math. She hated math.

May this day would depress her after all.

Biting into her apple, Scootaloo heard a loud clang. Perplexed, she looked at the apple and wondered for a moment if she had somehow caused that noise. Before she even had time to dismiss the thought, another loud clang occurred. This time Scootaloo could tell it was coming outside.

Glancing out the window, Scootaloo saw something she never expected to see outside of her kitchen window. Obsidian Glass was standing out in the street, flinging pebbles at a metal garbage can.

Clang.

Another stone ricocheted off the trash can. Scootaloo stared at Glass quizzically. There were plenty of questions racing in her mind right now. Instead of thinking about them, Scootaloo decided to take action.

The orange filly bounded out her front door and around the corner to Glass. His back was turned, so he didn't see her come out. He chucked another pebble at the trash can.

Clang.

He raised his hoof to throw another one. Scootaloo spoke first.

"Hey." She said. His hoof halted in midair. The white colt turned around and looked at Scootaloo with his piercing green eyes.

"Hi." Glass said. "Do I know you?"

"We're in the same class. I remember cause you burned Diamond Tiara at recess today."

"Oh, so that's her name." Glass said. "Well she earned it. Nice to meet you by the way." He dropped the tiny stone he had intended to throw and extended his hoof to her. She shook it.

"I'm Scootaloo." She said. There was silence. Glass grabbed another hoof-full of stones and when back to assaulting the trash can. After two dents had been made Scootaloo's curiosity peaked. "What are you doing?"

"Throwing rocks at garbage cans." He said nonchalantly. Scootaloo bit her lip. She hated sarcasm sometimes.

"I know, but… why?" She asked.

"Cause my dad is an angry drunk." Glass responded with an equal amount of indifference. Scootaloo blinked in shock.

"W-what?"

"My dad…" Clang "… is an…" Clang "…angry…" Clang "…drunk." He repeated striking the trash can harder each time. Scootaloo walked up next to Glass. She honestly didn't know what to say.

"Umm… sorry." She finally said.

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault." He said, hurling another stone. "My mom always sends me to my room when he gets drunk. I usually just sneak out and do whatever." Clang. "This time I felt like throwing rocks at a garbage can." He had one stone left. Looking over at Scootaloo he said, "I take it you don't like your dad too much either."

"Well, not really. How did you know?" She asked.

"Says it all over your face." He tossed her the last rock. She caught it easily. "See ya in school." Scootaloo watched him walk away for a moment as he rounded the corner by her house. Turning back to the trash can, Scootaloo decided to give it a go. She threw the rock as hard as she possibly could, yet it only bounced off the trash can with a dull pang. Inspecting the steel can, she saw that her throw hadn't even made a dent. Obsidian Glass on the other hoof seemed to have made a dent in every throw. Some even tore holes in the trash can.

Scootaloo was impressed to say the least. Then, she suddenly remembered she was supposed to ask Glass to join the Crusaders. Running to catch up to him, the orange filly rounded the same corner he had. Even though it had only been a few seconds since the dark-haired colt left, Scootaloo saw no pony there. Obsidian Glass had vanished.

Chapter Four – The Million Dollar Question

"And he just, disappeared?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo nodded, clearly telling the truth.

"I just don't see how that's possible." Sweetie Belle said. "Ponies don't just disappear like that."

The trio pondered this fact as they trudged onward to the schoolhouse. The early morning light of Celestia's sun shone in their eyes as they walked down the familiar path.

"Well at least we'll be able to ask him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders today." Applebloom said, shielding her eyes with her hoof.

"Yeah." Sweetie Belle said. Applebloom thought she detected a note of dread in her friend's voice.

"Was that all Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked. The orange filly nodded her head.

"After he left I just went inside and tried to fix my scooter. Without much success." Scootaloo's lack of an actual scooter affirmed that statement. "By the way, can I copy your math homework?" She added.

Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom groaned, used to this kind of behavior by now.

"Really Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked, though she knew the answer. After a little bit of persuading, Scootaloo managed to coax Sweetie into giving up the answers.

The schoolhouse came into view at last, and a bell rang out from inside. The trio ran forward, realizing they would soon be late. They managed to make it inside before class had begun. Applebloom saw that Obsidian Glass had already arrived and was sitting in the same desk as yesterday.

Cheerilee told the rest of the class to get seated. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took their seats toward the back of the class, while Applebloom sat in her desk right beside the mysterious colt. He nodded, acknowledging her existence, but didn't say anything to her.

"Class, today's lesson is on Equestrian history…" Cheerilee began. Applebloom tried to pay attention to her, but felt her mind drift. She formulated a plan in her mind to ask Glass to join the Crusaders, playing out the scenario in her head dozens of times. She kept exchanging anxious glances at the clock every twenty minutes, only to learn that about five minutes had passed overall. The yellow filly eagerly waited for recess as the day's lesson droned on, switching eventually to language, then science, and then finally math.

Halfway through the lesson, a piece of paper landed on Applebloom's desk. Checking the direction of the thrower, Applebloom saw that it was Diamond Tiara, who was trying hard not to laugh. Unfolding the paper, Applebloom saw that it was blank and she groaned inwardly. At least once a week Diamond Tiara pulled the same joke that she had been using on Applebloom since the beginning of the year. It was tiresome to say the least.

"Look familiar, Applebloom?" Diamond whispered at her. She could think of no reply. As it turned out, she didn't need to.

"Yeah," Glass whispered, having overheard the conversation. "It looks like your IQ score." Applebloom choked back a laugh, while Diamond Tiara's cheeks burned with anger. The pink filly turned back to her work, almost unable to contain her outrage. Applebloom turned to thank Glass, but he had already redirected his attention to the board, pretending the encounter had not happened.

As her magenta teacher finished her lesson on geometry, Applebloom almost prematurely jumped out of her seat. The bell rang and the class full of ponies rushed out to enjoy recess. In the havoc, Applebloom lost sight of Glass.

Once outside, she regrouped with Sweetie and Scootaloo. "Didya see where he went?" She asked them. Both fillies shook their heads. "Darn. How does he keep disappearing on us?" Neither had an answer for her, so they began scouring the playground.

It seemed like a futile effort before too long. Glass wasn't near the school, on any of the playground equipment, or socializing with anypony. Applebloom asked around, but Featherweight hadn't seen him, and Snips and Snails simultaneously pointed her in opposite directions before laughing at their own joke.

Sweetie Belle seemed to put little to know effort into the search. Merely glancing in a direction or two before she gave up and moved on. That was very unlike her, Applebloom decided. Normally her purple-haired friend was ecstatic about things like this.

Finally they caught a break when Scootaloo came running up declaring she had found him. Making a mental note to talk to Sweetie Belle later, Applebloom ran to where Scootaloo led them.

Towards the fringe of the schoolyard – right before the forest area began – there was a large oak tree. Scootaloo was apparently leading the Crusaders in that direction. Applebloom assumed that Glass was sitting on one side of the giant oak tree, which is why they hadn't found him earlier.

Scootaloo suddenly stopped before rounding the tree trunk, which gave Applebloom little time to stop before crashing into her orange friend. She did however, manage to stop. Sweetie Belle on the other hoof, hadn't realized that her friends had ceased running, and crashed into Applebloom. The yellow filly promptly tumbled into Scootaloo, and all three fell onto the ground.

"Sorry." Sweetie Belle said, disentangling herself from the pile.

"It's okay." Applebloom said, getting up. She looked around. "Hey Scootaloo, didn't you say you found Glass?" The yellow filly asked.

Scootaloo stood. "Yeah I did." Then she pointed up. Craning her neck back, Applebloom looked up the massive tree. There she saw a white pony lying supine on a branch. It was Glass.

"What the…" Sweetie Belle said. Applebloom merely stood dumbstruck. Somehow Glass had ascended the gap between the ground and the lowest branch on the tree, which was twenty feet up.

Applebloom began to form a question. "So what do we ––"

"Hey Glass!" Scootaloo suddenly screamed. Applebloom flinched with the sudden fear that Glass would fall out of the tree in shock. He didn't. As best she could tell, he stretched out his hooves as if waking from a nap, and rolled over to look down at them.

"Hi Scootaloo." He said. "Ya need something?"

"Yah! My friends and I wanted to ask you a question." Wordlessly, the dark-haired colt jumped off the tree limb. Applebloom and Scootaloo both gasped as he sailed to the ground. Sweetie Belle watched in silence, her eyes wide. Just before he hit the ground, Glass curled up into a ball, and managed a safe tuck and roll. He stood up and brushed himself off, completely unharmed.

"Are you crazy?" Applebloom screamed at him. "You could have killed yourself!"

"I wouldn't have gotten up there if I couldn't get myself down again. Now if that was the question you were referring to…"

"No, that wasn't it." Scootaloo said. Glass shrugged, then he looked at Sweetie.

"Who exactly are you?" He asked.

"Uh… Sweetie Belle." She said sort of surprised, as if she didn't expect Glass to even look at her.

"Okay. Now the question?" Obsidian Glass said.

"Oh right." Scootaloo remembered. "Would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Glass blinked inquisitively. Applebloom decided to elaborate for him.

"We're a club," She said. "Dedicated to finding our Cutie Marks. We go on adventures to discover our destinies and find our special talents."

"So what do you say? You wanna join?" Scootaloo asked eagerly. Faintly, Applebloom heard Sweetie Belle sigh.

Glass looked as if he was pondering the offer. A moment passed that felt like an hour to Applebloom. Then he spoke. "No thanks."

The Crusaders each reacted differently. Applebloom was sure she looked like a fish thrown out of water. Scootaloo looked something like she did when her scooter broke. And Sweetie Belle looked… relieved?

Without even giving the Crusaders a moment to digest what he'd said, Glass gave them a friendly smile and said, "Goodbye." Then he turned and trotted off just as the bell to end recess rang.

Stunned and a little downtrodden, Applebloom walked back to school slowly, her friends right behind her.

---

Whew! I barely got this one done before vacation. More or less I've had to do this fanfic in my free time (of which there is none), and at the same time as my other one. So yeah, the well of creativity is starting to run a little dry. Don't worry though, I'll work on this story no matter what.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Five – A City Upon A Hill

"Well Ah just don't get it." Applebloom said. "Why didn't he wanna join the Crusaders?"

"I don't know, Applebloom." Sweetie Belle said for the twentieth time. The purple-haired filly was wishing the topic of Obsidian Glass would be dropped soon. Applebloom seemed determined to make sure that wish died.

"Aren't you curious though?" The yellow filly asked her. "Ah mean, was it something we said? Did he not like the name?"

"There's nothing wrong with our name." Sweetie Belle said. "Just let it go already."

"Ah can't." Applebloom said. Scootaloo sighed softly in the corner. The orange pegasus had been unusually quiet as of late. She had been sitting in the corner of the clubhouse, mutely staring out the window for the past half hour. Sweetie Belle was actually starting to worry about her.

During the rest of the school day, Glass hadn't talked to any of them. He had just done his work and then left wordlessly when the bell rang. Vanishing in the same way he had the previous day. So far the group as a whole hadn't been taking it well.

"Look, he didn't want to join the Crusaders alright? You two just need to accept that and move on." Sweetie said, attempting to reel in her friends from their emotional upheaval. All of which had been caused by Glass. Sweetie Belle was really starting to dislike that colt.

"You don't seem too upset about it, Sweetie Belle." Applebloom said. "Don't you care that Glass didn't want to join?"

"Well, not really." Sweetie responded. Applebloom looked at her quizzically. "I mean, I just didn't want him to join. I have this weird feeling about him."

"Oh?" Applebloom said with a giddy grin. Scootaloo looked at her.

Sweetie Belle groaned. "Not that kind of feeling." She said. "It's just like he's hiding something. I don't trust him."

"Why?" Applebloom said, returning to the argument. "Ah get that he's a little weird, but that's no reason distrust somepony." Sweetie frowned.

"I gotta go with my instincts here. Sorry Applebloom, but I just can't shake that weird feeling about him."

"Glass." Scootaloo spoke, probably for the first time in hours.

"Yeah, Glass. I don't trust him because—–"

"No, Glass!" Scootaloo interrupted. "It's him. He's right outside!"

"Where? Let me see!" Applebloom ran over to the window by Scootaloo. The orange pegasus was pointing to somewhere outside Sweetie's vision. Applebloom looked only for a moment before she apparently saw the dark-haired colt. The two both looked elated. Sweetie Belle decided to hang back, hoping the Glass hysteria would be short lived. It wasn't.

"Let's go talk to him!" Scootaloo said, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"And say what?" Sweetie asked.

"We can ask him why he didn't wanta join the Crusaders." Applebloom suggested. "Maybe even change his mind!" Scootaloo nodded. While Sweetie Belle didn't doubt Applebloom's desire to root out any problems within their club and make it perfect, but Scootaloo did not appear to share her motive. The white unicorn filly wasn't quite sure what Scootaloo's motives were, but it made her uncomfortable.

Her two friends were already making their way to the clubhouse door. Sweetie Belle sighed, resigning herself to follow instead of being left behind. Applebloom dashed down the ramp, while Scootaloo chose the less bright move and leaped off the clubhouse's ledge in the tree. She attempted to perform a tuck and roll technique similar to Obsidian Glass's from the playground. Only difference was that she wasn't nearly as graceful. The orange pegasus pulled herself off of the ground, seemingly unhurt, and continued running with Applebloom.

Sweetie Belle shifted from a slow trot to a full on sprint to keep up with her friends. Only as she began to near them did Sweetie catch her first sight of Glass. Just as Scootaloo had said, the white Earth pony just happened to be out wandering the woods. Sweetie Belle felt like scoffing at how convenient it was. Or rather, how inconvenient it was for her.

"Hey Glass!" Scootaloo cried as they neared him. His ears rose at the mention of his name. Turning to face them, Sweetie Belle saw that his white coat was slightly purple under his eye.

"Hi Scootaloo, Applebloom." He paused slightly when seeing her. "Sweetie Belle, right?"

"Yes." She said, surprised he bothered to remember her name.

"What happened to ya?" Applebloom asked, also having noticed the purple bruise on Glass's face.

He covered it with his hoof. "Nothing. I ran into a wall." Sweetie Belle found herself struck with how odd it was that such a coordinated colt could have been so careless. "What do you girls want?" He asked, diverting the conversation away from his bruise.

"Ohh you know… just happened to be in the woods and saw you wandering around, and uh…" Scootaloo attempted to form a coherent sentence but seemed too… giddy… at the moment. Sweetie Belle had never known her pegasus friend to be giddy about anything unless she was talking about Rainbow Dash.

"We wanted to ask ya about joining the Crusaders again." Applebloom said, saving Scootaloo. Glass hesitated before answering.

"I don't think I'll be changing my mind about that." He said. Sweetie Belle breathed in relief. Applebloom didn't appear as happy as the white unicorn.

"Buy why dontcha wanna join?" The yellow filly asked.

Obsidian Glass didn't waste a beat this time. "I'm not really into discovering my Cutie Mark." All three Crusaders did a double take when he said that. They had never met a pony who wasn't eager to discover their destiny before.

"What?" Sweetie Belle cried.

"Why not?" Scootaloo shouted over her.

Glass just shrugged and looked off to the side. "I'd prefer not to talk about right now. Okay?"

"Is something wrong?" Applebloom asked him.

"No," He said. "It's… it's nothing Applebloom."

"It doesn't sound like nothing." Scootaloo said. Obsidian sighed.

"I… my dad kicked me out alright?" The Crusaders were stunned. Sweetie Belle had never heard of something like that happening before.

"What? How could he?" Scootaloo asked.

"He's an angry drunk, remember." Glass said. "And tonight, I may have pushed him too far. So he kicked me out."

"That's awful." Sweetie Belle said. She meant it too. No family member of hers had ever done that. Sure Rarity got a little cross with her sometimes, but never to that extent.

"And your mother just let him do that?" Scootaloo asked.

"She's never been the best at standing up to him." Glass said, being deliberately vague.

"So you don't have any place to stay tonight?" Applebloom said, watching Celestia's sun begin its descent below the horizon. Glass shook his head. Sweetie Belle could tell her friend was about to make a split second decision. "You can stay at mah place then." The yellow filly said confirming Sweetie's theory.

Now it was Glass's turn to do a double take. "What?" He said.

"What?" Sweetie Belle reiterated.

"What?" Scootaloo echoed.

"Sure, why not?" Applebloom asked. "You'd have to sleep in the barn though. Applejack doesn't let me have sleepovers with colts for some reason."

There was a moment of silence. Sweetie Belle could practically see gears turning in Glass's head. "Okay then." He finally said.

"Great!" Applebloom said. She turned to her friends. "Can one of you help me sneak Glass into mah barn?" Sweetie Belle felt confident that Scootaloo would volunteer.

"I'd like too." The orange filly said. "But Derpy was supposed to check on me today, and I can't keep her waiting." Applebloom looked to Sweetie Belle.

The purple-haired filly really didn't want to partake in Applebloom's crazy scheme, but she couldn't be rude to Glass when he was right in front of her. Also, she lacked a real excuse. Putting on a hollow smile she said, "I'd love to Applebloom."

Her friend gave an enthusiastic smile, but Sweetie Belle didn't feel nearly as good about it.

---

Standing right outside Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle couldn't help but wish she had declined the chance to help Applebloom. Obsidian Glass hadn't said much since accepting the yellow filly's offer. As he stood just outside of the gates of the farm though, he chose to speak.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Applebloom?" He asked. Sweetie Belle had the same question in mind.

"Of course. It's no trouble." Applebloom said.

"Out of blunt curiosity, why doesn't your sister let you have colts over for sleepovers?" Glass inquired.

"Oh, because…" the yellow filly paused. "Ah don't know." She eventually said.

"You should ask her someday." Glass said simply.

"Can we get on with this?" Sweetie Belle asked. Applebloom nodded. The yellow filly went ahead inside, prepared to distract her family while Sweetie Belle took Glass around the other way.

After waiting a few moments, Sweetie Belle wordlessly motioned for Glass to follow her. It had gotten darker as they had arrived at the farm, but they still had to avoid light coming from the windows inside the house.

Before long, the two of them had made it to the barn. Sweetie Belle pushed on the huge doors, trying to open them. Without much success, she turned to Glass. He took both hooves and shoved the door open wide enough for the two of them to walk in side by side if they had wanted to. Sweetie Belle admitted to herself that it had been an impressive show of strength. Glass didn't even seem like it had took him any effort.

"Okay." She said. "So, there's a lot of junk in here." The purple-haired filly indicated all the tools and supplies that probably served an important function on the farm. "But you should be able to find somewhere to sleep."

"Thanks." He said. She turned to leave. "Hey Sweetie Belle." Glass said. She stopped and turned around again.

"What?" She asked.

"You don't like me, do you?" He asked her.

"I don't trust you." She said calmly and began to walk out again.

"Is there a difference?" Glass asked.

Sweetie Belle paused at the doorway. "Maybe not." There was silence.

"Goodnight Sweetie Belle." Glass said finally.

"Goodnight Glass." And she walked home silently.

---

Well I had a severe case of writers block on this chapter. I can't tell you how many ideas I threw out before I settled with this ending. Luckily though the writers block is over (for now) so I'll be cranking out a new chapter of this fanfic, and my other one, before two long.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Six – Weeding Out The Lies

Applebloom relished the fact that she could sleep late that morning. School was officially out for the next two days. Two days of Crusading with her friends without losing eight hours of sunlight to classes. Smiling to herself, Applebloom found a comfortable position in her bed and prepared to relax and be lazy. She might have lain there for another few hours if she hadn't remembered something. Obsidian Glass was still in her barn!

Bolting up and snapping awake, Applebloom rushed out of her bed and down the stairs. Partly because, she was worried that Applejack or Big Macintosh would discover Glass in the barn. Also, she was hoping to keep Glass within her sights a little longer. Just long enough to convince him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

In her rush to get downstairs, Applebloom hadn't even considered the possibility that somepony else in the house was awake. The though did cross her mind when she saw and orange mare with a brown hat in the kitchen.

"Howdy Applebloom." Her big sister Applejack said. "What's got you up so early on a Saturday?" The yellow filly froze up. She had no excuse that didn't involve incriminating herself.

"Uh… Ah just uh… Well…" Applebloom stumbled over her words while her brain stayed frozen. Applejack got a look of suspicion in her eye. Mercifully, Applebloom came up with an excuse. "Ah was just going out to the barn to get a head start on today's chores." She said. The yellow filly attempted to make a believable face like she had seen Glass do when he had lied to Cheeriliee. It seemed to work for Applejack, but just barely.

"All right then." Her sister said. "Ah guess ya could start with those nasty weeds that are tryin' to take over the northwest acres." Applebloom grinned and started to head for the door. She stopped upon remembering something.

"Hey Applejack?" She said, turning back to her sister. "Why can't Ah have sleepovers with colts?"

The orange mare was taken aback by Applebloom's question to say the least. When she finally came out of shock she said. "Now what would make ya'll go and ask a question like that?"

"I'm just curious." Applebloom replied honestly. "Why can't Ah?"

Applejack's orange cheeks turned red as she became flustered. "Well, Applebloom, there are uh… reasons… why ya aren't allowed to have colts over to spend the night."

Applebloom tilted her head in curiosity, expecting further explanations. Her sister shifted uncomfortably. It was an incredibly awkward silence, until finally Applebloom decided she was wasting too much time.

"See ya later, Applejack." The yellow filly bounded out of the door, not catching the sigh of relief uttered by her big sister.

As Applebloom ran up to the barn she began to wonder if Glass would still be in there. Sure, it was fairly early in the morning, but she doubted he would have wanted to spend the entire night. Pushing open the barn door with all of her strength, Applebloom peeked her head inside.

No Obsidian Glass in sight.

"Glass?" She whispered into the barn. No response. "Glass?" She whispered, a little louder. Still nothing. The yellow filly sighed. So he had left after all. Applebloom was just about to leave when something caught her ear. It was a soft, rumbling noise. It faded, and then returned. Tracking the sound, Applebloom looked up towards the top of the barn. After a moment, she saw a quick flash of white.

It was Glass. Sleeping. On the rafters of the barn. Nearly forty feet in the air. His chest moved up and the rumbling noise came again. He was snoring. He was perched on a rafter subject to termite damage hanging forty feet in the air, and the dark-haired colt was sleeping.

If Applebloom had taken a moment to think, she probably wouldn't have been too surprised given Glass's above average habits. Instead however, she screamed loudly. The sound reverberated throughout the barn, doubtlessly hitting Glass's eardrums. He began to move.

A horrifying image of Glass plummeting to his death flashed across her eyes. This prediction didn't come to pass however, as Glass merely stretched and woke up in a similar manner that he had the previous day.

"Hey Applebloom." He said from the rafters. "How's your morning going?"

"Glass are you crazy?" Applebloom squeaked out.

"Probably. Why do you ask?" He called down.

"Ya couldha died!" Applebloom shouted at him. Glass chuckled. "Stop laughin' this is serious!" The yellow filly protested.

"You might want to quiet down before somepony hears you." He warned. Applebloom froze. Between her screaming and scolding, she had completely forgotten that her family would have easily been able to hear her. Quickly, she stuck her head back out the barn door and scanned around. The path from the barn to the house was clear. Apparently nopony had heard her. Just to be safe, she looked out to the orchard. Distantly, she saw the red figure of Big Mac already bucking apple trees in the far fields. No way he could have heard her.

Turning back inside, she got the second biggest surprise of the day. Glass was now standing two feet in front of her, smiling. Applebloom nearly jumped out of her coat in surprise.

"Don't do that!" She shouted.

He raised an eyebrow an innocently asked, "Do what?"

She gestured to all of him. "That… that teleporting thing you do."

He laughed again. "I didn't teleport down here." He tapped his forehead with his hoof. "Not exactly a unicorn here, Applebloom."

"Then how did you get down so fast? How did you get down at all?" The yellow filly bluntly asked. Glass pointed off to the side.

"There's your answer." He said. She followed his pointing to a pulley system on the side of the wall, a remnant from the last barn raising. She realized Glass had used it to get up and down from the rafters.

"That was still dangerous." She said. "Why didn't you just sleep on the floor?"

Obsidian shrugged. "I like heights." He said. Peeking over her shoulder, he seemed to notice the sun just over the horizon. "Dang, what time is it?" He inquired.

"I reckon it's about seven o'clock." Applebloom said, glancing at the still rising sun.

"Do you always get up this early?" Glass asked.

"Early?" Applebloom said, taken aback. "This is pretty late to be gettin' up on the farm. Normally Ah'm up and active before six."

"Every day?" Glass asked incredulously.

"Yup." Applebloom said proudly, having never thought her sleeping habits would be something to brag about.

"Must be nice to have some consistency I guess." He said.

After a short pause, Applebloom said, "Yeah, it's pretty nice."

Glass looked around and said. "So, what did you wake me up for?"

"Oh." Applebloom said. "I was going ask you about joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders again."

He sighed. "Come on Applebloom, if this friendship is going to work out, you've got to stop pestering me about that."

Applebloom suddenly perked up, realizing what he had just said. "So, we are friends?" She asked happily.

Glass grinned. "Yeah, I don't see how we couldn't be."

"Great!" Applebloom said, a cheery tone in her voice. She saddened when she remembered that Glass's answer to joining the club was still no. "Will ya at least tell me why ya don't wanna join the Crusaders?"

"I'm just not into finding my Cutie Mark. Can we leave it at that?" Glass said. Applebloom nodded, but was determined to pry the real answer out of him. "Great." He said. "So now that I'm up, what do you want to do," He nudged her shoulder playfully "friend?"

"Well, I do kinda have some chores to do, but I could put them off…" Glass immediately stopped her.

"I'll help you with them." He said.

"Really?" Applebloom asked. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo never wanted to work on the farm with her.

"Yeah, I do kinda owe you for last night." He said. "And who knows? Farm work could be a blast."

"Well then," Applebloom said, "what are we waiting for?"

---

Thirty minutes later, Applebloom and Obsidian Glass were yanking up the weeds on the northwest field of Sweet Apple Acres. Applebloom had explained the basics of the process, which was probably an easy concept to grasp that needed no explanation, and the two friends went the work. Glass was actually really efficient at pulling out the weeds from the ground and – as much as Applebloom hated to admit it – was already faster than she was. With the two of them working together, she surmised that they would be done within the hour.

Applebloom watched Glass as he worked. The young colt looked about the same as he did last night, including the bruise on his cheek. She noticed he would incessantly rub it whenever he took a break from the weeding, as if to remind himself that it was still there. The yellow filly couldn't help but feel curiousity about the bruise. Obviously last night's story about running into a wall had been a lie, which led Applebloom to wonder why he would cover up the truth about the bruise as well.

As the two neared the halfway point, Applebloom saw an orange figure approaching them. Her sister was checking up on her.

"Glass, you've got ta hide. Mah sister's coming." She said to him. He looked up.

"I don't see why that's reason for me to hide."

"Ya hafta hide because she doesn't know ya spent the night in the barn."

"Then don't tell her."

"But—" Applebloom wanted to explain how she was never able to hide something from her sister, but it was too late.

"Hey Applebloom. Who's your friend there?" Applejack said.

"He's uh…" Applebloom stumbled; still too worried her big sister would uncover her secret.

"Obsidian Glass. I'm a friend of Applebloom's from school." Glass said, stepping in to save her. "I stopped by to see if she wanted to hang out, and before I know it, I've volunteered to help her with her chores." Glass warm, friendly smile bolstered the false claim he made. Applejack looked to Applebloom for confirmation, and she weakly smiled; which at that point, was more than enough.

"Well, it's always nice to have extra help around here. It's nice to meet you by the way Obsidian Glass. Ah'm Applejack."

"You can just call me Glass." He said, extending a hoof. "Everyone does." The two shook and Applejack trotted off to do some more work, waving goodbye to the two of them as she left.

With her sister safely out of earshot, Applebloom turned to Glass. "How do you do that?" The yellow filly asked.

"What? Introduce myself?" He asked, knowing what she meant.

"No, how do you lie so easily? I never seem to be able to do that."

"Well, I didn't lie. Not technically." He said. Applebloom cocked her head, wanting to know more. "All I did was tell her I stopped by – which is the truth – and I told her I volunteered to do you chores – another truth."

"Okay fine, you didn't lie to my sister. But at class the other day, you told Cheerilee that I reminded you to get a pencil, when I didn't. Explain that one." She demanded.

"Simple, you did remind me. Just indirectly. By asking me to get your pencil, I was reminded that I needed one of my own." Glass explained.

"Wow." There was silence as the red-maned filly absorbed that. "You make it sound so easy." Applebloom said.

"It is, once you get the hang of it." He said. "Now come on, I do believe these weeds need to be extirpated."

"Look who brought their dictionary with them." Applebloom stated. The two laughed and yanked out more weeds.

---

Well this has to be my favorite chapter so far. Obsidian Glass is finally ceasing to be the mysterious, sneaky colt and open up to Applebloom. More secrets are soon to be spilled, and they're only going to get better from here on out. Thanks for all your feedback so far Bronies, it's all really appreciated, so keep it coming.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Seven – Separate Ways

A knocking sound roused Scootaloo from her slumber. Her eyes sluggishly opened, and searched the insides of her room for the noise's source. She didn't see anything that indicated the knocking sound, and decided to fall back asleep. No sooner had she closed her eyes then the sound returned, forcing them open again.

"So much for sleeping in." She wearily slurred to herself. The orange filly felt like muffling the noise by covering her ears with her pillow. The knocking raged on however in its quest to ruin Scootaloo's morning.

Finally, Scootaloo realized the sound she was hearing was coming from the front door of her house. Reluctantly, she got up and went to see who it was, and why they were making a house call so early in the morning.

Her tired brain kicked in finally, and Scootaloo thought that it might be her dad arriving home from his trip. Scootaloo then realized that foolish that was. If her father needed to get inside, he had a key and wouldn't bother to knock.

Upon reaching the door, she unlocked the deadbolt and turned the knob. A gray face with criss-crossed eyes greeted her. "Hi Scootaloo!" Derpy Hooves merrily said.

"Hey there Derpy. Checking in on me again?" Scootaloo tiredly said. Derpy's blonde mane bounced wildly as she nodded her head.

"Yep. Your dad wanted me to check on you every morning to make sure you were all right!" Derpy proudly said, no doubt happy somepony had actually trusted her with responsibility. Scootaloo knew that her dad had probably been in a hurry and had asked to first mare he'd seen to look after her. Still, she didn't want to put a damper on Derpy's happiness.

"Well, I'm doing fine. Thanks for stopping by." The magenta-haired filly started to close the door, ready to fall asleep again.

"Oh, wait!" Derpy said in an urgent tone. Scootaloo stopped shutting her front door and listened. "Your dad also mentioned that I shouldn't let you sleep in all day. He wanted you to be productive or something." The wall-eyed mare relayed.

Scootaloo smiled for Derpy's sake. "Of course I will." She said.

"Okay, great! Goodbye Scootaloo." Derpy said.

"Bye Derpy." The orange filly responded. She watched the gray mare trot away, before slowly shutting her front door. Well, for better or worse, Scootaloo was awake. She just didn't feel like being "productive" as her dad so aptly put it.

Giving the clock on the fireplace mantle a glance, Scootaloo saw that it was just about eight-thirty. Way too early for her to wake up on a Saturday. But she was awake, so there was no going back now. She stood where she was, struck with the burden of having nothing to do. Wistfully, she looked at her scooter, which had remained untouched since she had trudged home a day and a half ago.

Already the blue, wooden scooter had a thin layer of dust on it. Scootaloo wanted nothing more than to ride that scooter around Ponyville, but until she found a way to fix it then she was stuck. For a moment, Scootaloo wondered if her dad could help her fix it when he got back. The orange filly dismissed the thought. Her dad – assuming he was home long enough for Scootaloo to ask the question – wouldn't know anything about fixing a scooter. No, she was on her own to repair it.

Distracting herself from the depressing thoughts of the scooter, the magenta-haired filly gazed outside. It was a beautiful day to say the least. Not to warm, but not to cool. There seemed to be a gentle breeze outside because the leaves of the trees were swaying in consistent rhythm. Perfect scooter weather.

"No." Scootaloo said aloud. "Don't think about that." She needed to get out of the house. Maybe Sweetie Belle or Applebloom were up for Crusading today. That last thought sparked a memory for Scootaloo. Obsidian Glass had stayed in Applebloom's barn last night. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would still be there.

That thought actually managed to push the thoughts of her scooter out of her mind. The idea already brought up several new thoughts. It seemed like whenever Scootaloo thought about the strange, white colt that she got a weird feeling inside of her. No matter what she tried, the feeling always appeared, especially if Glass was nearby. Whatever it was, it made her feel great. Maybe that's why she couldn't seem to act normal whenever Glass was around.

Scootaloo finally decided that she would go to Sweet Apple Acres. Even if Glass wasn't there, she would still get to go Crusading with Applebloom and probably Sweetie Belle too. As she ran towards the door, Scootaloo instinctively reached for her helmet and scooter before remembering that it was pointless. She sighed, but continued out the door.

She raced through town and to the farm. By the time she got there, Scootaloo was sweating a great deal. The trek to Sweet Apple Acres seemed a lot longer without her usual mode of transport. Finally though it was over, Scootaloo walked right through the gate, figuring she would be welcome, and began the search for Applebloom and Glass.

After what seemed like forever – but was probably closer to five minutes – Scootaloo slumped by a random apple tree, convinced her friends were hiding from her. That feeling only lasted a moment, because then Scootaloo heard something that sounded suspiciously like apple bucking. This was followed by the sound of dozens of apples pelting the ground.

"How do ya do that?" A familiar filly's voice rang out. Scootaloo poked her head around the trunk and saw not three trees away Glass and Applebloom, standing in a pile of apples.

"Hey guys!" Scootaloo said, making her presence known. Both Applebloom and Glass turned their heads to face her.

"Scootaloo! When did you get here?" Applebloom joyously asked.

"I just arrived. What are you guys doing?" Scootaloo asked.

"We..." Glass started before Applebloom exictedly cut him off.

"Glass has bin helping me do mah chores." The yellow filly said.

"And as it turns out, I'm a natural born apple bucker." Glass said, gesturing to the huge pile of apples next to them. Scootaloo looked up at the tree they had come from, and saw that the limbs were completely bare.

"You did that?" Scootaloo asked incredulously. The orange filly had seen Applebloom buck trees before, or try to, but she could never manage to knock more than a couple off.

"In one strike too!" Applebloom said, impressed.

"It was nothing. You told me your brother and sister do that all the time." Glass said.

"Well, yeah." Applebloom admitted. "But they've bin doin' it for years. This was your first time."

"How'd you get to be so strong?" Scootaloo asked. Glass shrugged, uncomfortable with the question.

"Well, it don't matter too much." Applebloom said. "Thanks for helping me get all man chores done." The yellow filly told him.

"Don't we have more trees to buck?" Glass asked. Applebloom shook her head.

"Nah. I just wanted to see if ya could do it."

"You guys want to grab Sweetie Belle and go Crusading?" Scootaloo asked. Applebloom suddenly gave her a worried look that basically screamed "Abort Mission!"

"What?" The magenta haired filly asked. Then she saw Glass. He looked more distant, like somepony who had just been ousted. "Oh." Scootaloo said, suddenly realizing that Glass was still not part of the Crusaders.

"Look, its okay." Glass said, but his voice betrayed him. "I'll just go."

"Glass, we didn't..." Applebloom's plea went unnoticed, Glass was already walking off.

"Wait!" Scootaloo called. Though Glass had a head start, Applebloom and Scootaloo ran to catch him. Glass rounded a tree trunk. When Scootaloo went around the same one, she was shocked to find that there was nopony there.

"What the hay?" Applebloom about a half second later. They stared at each other in shock. Obsidian Glass was gone again.

---

"So he disappeared again." Sweetie Belle said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. The purple-haired unicorn sounded like she had expected that to happen. Applebloom nodded.

"Why does he keep doing this?" Scootaloo asked aloud. The orange filly was angry. Angry at Glass for disappearing, again. She slammed her hoof down on the table she was sitting just to demonstrate how angry she was. Sweetie Belle flinched when she did that, sending her sundae flying. It splattered on the floor.

"I've got it!" And extra happy voice shouted. A pink blurred whoosed by their table and in a split second the sundae mess was back to the sparkling tiled floor of Sugar Cube Corner.

"You want another sudae?" Pinkie Pie asked, now standing next to Sweetie Belle.

The white filly was wide eyed for a moment, before saying, "Yes, please." The pink mare zoomed off the to kitchen.

"Scootaloo, what has gotten into you?" Applebloom asked.

"I'm sorry, I just don't get why Glass had to run off like that." Scootaloo said. "He

"He was upset because we were talking about Crusading in front of him." Applebloom said.

"I don't see how that would upset anyone." Sweetie Belle said, joining the conversation. "I'm totally fine with him not joining."

"He isn't a Crusader that's why." Applebloom said.

"Well then why doesn't he join our club? We've offered plenty of times." Scootaloo exclaimed. Sweetie Belle looked like she wanted to say something about that, but thought better of it.

"Look, Ah want Glass to join the Crusaders too, but we can't force 'im to join."

"Why've you suddenly changed your mind?" Scootaloo asked. "Yesterday you wanted Glass to join as much as me."

Applebloom hesitated. "Well, Ah just don't think we should force it on him." She explained. "He'll join if he wants to."

"But what if he doesn't?" Scootaloo asked. Applebloom opened her mouth to speak, but Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"I'm getting sick of this!" She announced, standing up.

"What are ya-" Applebloom started.

"Don't you two care about anything besides Glass?" The unicorn filly shouted. "I just can't take it anymore." Both Scootaloo and Applebloom stared at her quietly. "I'm going to take a walk." Sweetie Belle declared, before storming out of the store. Both the yellow Earth pony and the orange pegasus were too shocked to say or do anything. Instead, the only pony who did anything to deter Sweetie Belle was Pinkie Pie, asking if she wanted to stay and finish her sundae. Sweetie Belle promptly declined.

Chapter Eight – I Knew You Were Trouble

Sweetie Belle kicked the pale, black stone in front of her, pretending it was Obsidian Glass's head. It tumbled down the dirt road for a little bit, before inevitably stopping. Sweetie Belle walked three steps to catch up to it.

"You're ruining everything." The purple-haired filly accused the rock. She gave it another swift kick, sending it down the dirt path. She imagined that the rock could talk back to her.

"What did I do?" The rock asked in the snarky voice of Glass.

"You've been messing with my friend's heads!" Sweetie Belle shouted, chasing after the rock and kicking it again. "Why would you do that?" The rock stand-in of Glass tumbled some more but did not answer. Some ponies nearby stared at her momentarily, confused at why a random filly was screaming at a rock. She ignored them till they moved on.

"I really don't like you." She hissed at the rock, still pretending it was Glass.

"You know, Gummy and I both think that talking to rocks is strange and not exactly healthy either." A familiar and hated, smooth as glass voice told her. She looked around for a moment, then – remembering a well-known fact about Glass – searched upward.

On the top of a two story building on the same side of the street as Sweetie Belle, Obsidian Glass sat next to a green reptile of sorts. Looking a little closer, Sweetie identified it to be Pinkie Pie's pet alligator.

"What do you care?" She finally managed to ask.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't care?" Glass said.

"We're not friends." Sweetie Belle replied. Glass responded simply. He sat Gummy on his head, and leapt off the building. Sweetie Belle knew better than to worry at this point, and watched calmly as Glass caught a loose brick on the structure, and swung down. He landed softly in front of Sweetie Belle, seemingly unfazed about yet another potentially dangerous fall. Gummy was equally undisturbed, and had taken to teething on the silver streak in Glass's hair.

"And why is that?" He asked.

"I don't like you." Sweetie Belle said. Gummy sensed the impending negative energy, and hopped off the top of Glass's head.

"You don't trust me." Glass reminded her. She grunted, realizing he was using her own words against her.

"Shouldn't you be moping right now?" Sweetie Belle said, attempting to change the subject. Glass's demeanor did not change.

"I was, for a bit. But Gummy here helped me see reason." Glass held out his hoof, about to pet the alligator. Gummy responded by viciously snapping his jaw around Glass's hoof. Sweetie Belle flinched at how fast the gator moved. Glass, instead of crying out in pain, laughed.

"That never gets old, Gummy!" He said. The gator released the hoof and blinked. Then he slowly walked away. Glass turned his attention back to Sweetie Belle. "You know, I should ask why you aren't with the other Crusaders."

"None of your business." She said. Gummy returned, carrying in his mouth a very familiar looking rock.

"I should think it is." Glass said, accepting the rock from Gummy. "Judging by the way you were talking to me about it." Sweetie Belle clenched her teeth.

"Look, because you keep refusing to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applebloom has practically been killing herself trying to figure out what's wrong with the club, and Scootaloo…" Sweetie Belle paused. "I don't really know what's wrong with Scootaloo." She admitted.

"So I'm to blame for that." Glass said. Sweetie Belle nodded. "Am I also to blame for the fact that you don't resent my decision?"

The white unicorn filly froze. "How did you know that?" She asked quietly.

Glass gave a semi-devilish grin – bruised face and all – and said, "Says it all over your face."

"Forget you!" Sweetie screamed. She stormed passed him, Gummy bouncing out of her way just in time. She made it all of two steps before a pale, black stone landed in front of her. Partly furious, partly impressed, Sweetie Belle turned back around at the white colt. "What?!" She yelled.

"What will it take?" Glass said calmly. "What will it take to get you to stop seeing me as a villain?"

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and a long thought before saying, "I wouldn't mind getting a Cutie Mark."

---

"Where do ya think she went?" Applebloom asked.

"I don't know." Scootaloo said.

"When do ya think she'll be back?" The yellow filly persisted.

"I don't know." The orange pegasus repeated.

The two friends had been walking in a wide loop of Ponyville for a while now, neither of them any closer to finding Sweetie Belle. They would have immediately gone after their friend, if Pinkie Pie hadn't made them finish their deserts first. The party pony had claimed that no desert should ever go wasted, and made it clear to the remaining Crusaders that they weren't going to leave without a little indulgence.

Now the two were aimlessly wondering through town, checking every corner for Sweetie Belle, and coming up short every time.

"Do ya think she was right. Have we bin obsessing over Glass?" Applebloom asked.

"I don't— maybe." Scootaloo said. "I just have this funny feeling about him you know? Like, when he's around, things just feel real good. My whole body gets this warm feeling, and my coat gets all prickly and kinda sweaty. You know what that feeling is like?" Applebloom shook her head. She had never had a feeling like that before. She had an idea about it though.

"Ah think, maybe, ya might like Glass." Applebloom said.

"Of course I like him. We're friends. I think. Sort of." Scootaloo told her. The yellow filly shook her head.

"Ah think ya might like him just a little bit more than that." She said. Applebloom noticed her friend's ordinarily orange cheeks become flushed with red.

"What?!" She sputtered. "That's crazy Applebloom. I don't like Glass that way. I just, well… um…" Scootaloo found herself saved from answering when Applebloom suddenly found herself tripping and falling on the ground. As she stood up, the yellow filly saw what it was she had tripped over.

"Gummy!" She said aloud. Scootaloo was perplexed, having never met the alligator before.

"Applebloom, please tell me you know this alligator." She said. The red-maned filly nodded.

"This is Gummy, Pinkie Pie's alligator." Applebloom informed Scootaloo. She turned to face the reptile. "What're ya doing out here, little guy?" She asked, expecting no response seeing as how she wasn't Fluttershy and could not in any way communicate with animals. To her surprise however, Gummy responded. The green little reptile rotated his body in a weird, wobbling manner, and pointed with his tail.

Both Applebloom and Scootaloo followed the direction Gummy had pointed to, and saw in the distance two white ponies heading for the Everfree Forest.

"Sweetie Belle." Applebloom said, recognizing her friend.

"And Glass." Scootaloo said, recognizing the other.

---

Sweetie Belle crossed into the darkly shaded territory of the Everfree Forest to the tune of "Muskrat Love". Or well, a very poor coverage of. Obsidian Glass, despite his many talents, was tone deaf when it came to whistling.

"Will you stop butchering that song!" The purple-haired filly yelled. Glass abruptly stopped whistling.

"Sorry." He said quietly. "So what kind of Cute Mark can you even get in the Everfree Forest?"

"Any kind really. Why do you ask? Are you scared of going into one of the most dangerous place in all of Equestria?" Sweetie Belle taunted him, grinning slyly. This was the whole purpose for her reason to want to come into the Everfree Forest. Not only would it convince Glass to stop his quest to become her friend, it would practically excommunicate him from ever joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of fear. The dark-haired colt claimed not to want in, but Sweetie Belle suspected otherwise.

Another good reason to see if he was scared of Everfree was because Sweetie Belle wanted to find some personality flaw with him. Being scared of going into the cursed forest – something the Crusaders had done often – would be a sure way to get Applebloom and Scootaloo to not like him.

"Nah. Not really." Glass said, earnestly. Sweetie Belle's plan fell apart right there. If Glass had said that more defensively, Sweetie Belle would know he was lying. Instead though, Glass said it as nonchalantly as he said anything else. "What exactly are you hoping for in your Cutie Mark?" Glass asked her, continuing to traverse the gnarled ground of the deadly forest.

Sweetie Belle gave a quick look back at the entrance to the forest. It seemed to be swallowed up by the brush and foliage as they went deeper. Now that her plan was ruined, she didn't have any reason to stay in the forest longer than she had to.

"Uh... You know, just a Cutie Mark. Something to define me." Sweetie Belle said.

"That's stupid." Glass bluntly remarked. Sweetie Belle stopped in her tracks.

"Excuse me?" She asked. Glass stopped too and rotated to face her.

"That's stupid." He repeated. "Your reason for wanting a Cutie Mark is stupid."

"It's stupid?" Sweetie Belle howled with rage. "It's stupid to want to know my place in this world? Stupid to want to know what makes me special? An individual? It's stupid to want the simplest thing anypony can get, especially when so many other ponies already have it and practically rub it in your face every day? That's what you think is stupid?!" The white unicorn felt tears well up in her eyes as she angrily poured out emotions she had bottled up for so long.

Glass stood calmly in front of her, accepting every word she angrily spouted at him. "Yes and no." He said. Sweetie Belle screamed in frustration.

"What does that even mean?" She asked wildly.

"Yes, it's stupid to have to be told what about you is special and makes you an individual. Especially when you feel that it's the only thing that makes you different from others. No, it's not stupid to want individualism, because unless you know yourself, you'll never feel good when comparing yourself to other ponies." Glass said, finishing an explanation that left Sweetie Belle slightly less confused, but no less enraged.

Unsure of what to do, Sweetie Belle just slammed her hoofs on the ground, hoping to release her directionless fury. It helped… a little.

"I just don't understand what it is about me that makes me special." Sweetie Belle miserably said. In the distance, there was the howls of supposedly timber wolves who probably picked up on Sweetie Belle's earlier outburst. She and Glass ignored them.

"Are you different from your friends?" Glass asked. She nodded. "Are you different from that pink bully Diamond… something or other?" He asked. Again, Sweetie Belle nodded. "How are you different?" He asked her.

The white unicorn filly paused for a moment to think. "Well, there are a lot of differences between me and my friends, or me and Diamond Tiara." She said.

"Then each one of those differences makes you special. Not because of some mark on your flank, but because you are you." A single tear trickled down Sweetie Belle's cheek. The timber wolf howled again, closer. Again it was ignored.

"Really?" She asked. "You aren't lying?"

"You think I followed you out here to the Everfree Forest and delivered that whole monologue just to lie to you?" Glass asked with mock incredulousness. "I would think my friend would know better than that."

Sweetie Belle felt the faintest of smiles creep up on her face. She did not refute Glass's statement.

She wouldn't have, even if she got the chance. Because at that moment, a timber wolf broke through the trees and roared at them both.

Sweetie Belle was frozen with so much fear that she couldn't scream. Glass just looked at her with the most brilliant poker face ever.

"Think we should leave the Everfree Forest now?" He asked.

---

Okay, I really despise Taylor Swift and her music, but this chapter title was too good an opportunity to pass up. With that explained, this might have been one of the most emotional chapters I have ever put together. This was probably due to the fact that I was fueled by Sweetarts for the majority of it. Please give me your thoughts and criticisms. I will thrive on both.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Nine – Hooves Don't Fail Me Now

Applebloom's hooves were carrying her as fast as physically possible. After Gummy's enlightening revilement of the location of both of her missing friends – whether the gator had done that accidentally or on purpose she will never know – the yellow filly had taken off after them. Scootaloo was right in front of her. Even though the orange filly was lacking her scooter, she was slightly more athletic than Applebloom, giving her the lead.

"Why would Glass and Sweetie Belle go off into the Everfree Forest alone?" Applebloom inquired as the two fillies ran.

"Maybe they were, umm… I really don't know, Applebloom." Scootaloo panted back. Suddenly, the orange pegasus tripped and tumbled down to the ground. Applebloom immediately stopped to check on her friend.

"I'm fine." Scootaloo said, standing. Looking at the ground, Applebloom saw that Scootaloo had stumbled over one of three small ruts somepony had carelessly dug into the ground. "This wouldn't have happened if my scooter wasn't broken." The orange pegasus dejectedly said.

"No time to worry 'bout that now. We need to get to Sweetie Belle and Glass. Ah have a feelin' they might need our help." Applebloom told her friend. Scootaloo nodded, knowing the yellow filly was probably right.

"Then let's not waste any more time." She exclaimed. The two picked up their original pace, quickly making up for lost time. The grassy ground of Ponyville gave way to a bare, dirt ground as they neared the Everfree Forest. It seemed as if the grass itself knew better than to go near the cursed forest.

The two fillies reached the spot they had seen their friends enter Everfree. Both simultaneously halted before going in. Applebloom shared a look with Scootaloo, both knowing that entering the forest would be no picnic.

"Do ya think we should tell somepony?" Applebloom asked. "Mah sister could likely help us."

Scootaloo shook her head, flinging several drops of dirty sweat in all directions. "Too late now, we're already here." Applebloom nodded, conceding to Scootaloo's argument. Both looked back at the Everfree forest with slight uncertainty. They were tentative to take steps in there, despite having survived it before.

A sharp, unmistakable scream snapped them out of this trance. The two friends identified it instantly. "Sweetie Belle." Applebloom said, under her breath. There was no hesitation after that. Both of the fillies dived into the thick and dangerous hazard that was called the Everfree Forest.

---

Sweetie Belle had finally found enough courage to scream, and she did so with all her might. The looming timber wolf – a massive and hungry-looking beast – paused as if its ears were hurt. When Sweetie Belle finally ran out of breath, she stopped her cry of fear.

Glass stared at her, looking slightly annoyed. "Geez, you get mad at me for whistling, and then you go and do that?" He rubbed his hoof to his ear lobe. "I think there might be some serious damage here. Thanks a lot."

"G-Glass…" Sweetie Belle said, now shaking with fear. "T-timber wolf!"

Glass turned his head with mild interest at the massive monster. "Yeah, I can see that. It's no real concern. On the other hoof, my ear drums as still ringing slightly. That's a little disturbing. Do you think that's a sign of permanent damage?"

Sweetie Belle had the immediate thought of fleeing. In fact, running away was about her only thought at that moment. Unfortunately, her hooves did not get the message, as they stayed firmly planted to the ground. She realized that she was frozen with fear at this point. "Glass, I can't move." She whispered through clenched teeth.

The timber wolf, clearly still unhappy about Glass's dismissal, roared loudly at him.

"Do you mind?" Glass said to the timber wolf. The beast paused, seemingly confused as to why it's prey was not terrified or fleeing. "We're kind of having a conversation here."

"Glass, we need to escape!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. She could still not move. The timber wolf leaned in real close to Glass and roared again, probably expecting another reaction.

The foul odor of the timber wolf's breath assaulted Sweetie Belle's nose. It was so bad she recoiled, fell back, and landed on her plot. At least she could move again. Glass wrinkled his snout, having sniffed the breath of the beast himself.

"Sweet Celestia, you need a breath mint." He said.

---

Applebloom and Scootaloo cut there way through the stagnant bushes and brustle of the trees just in time to hear Glass's breath mint remark.

"Glass! Sweetie Belle!" She called out happily. Glass cocked his head around to see them. That's when Applebloom saw the timber wolf, which until that moment she had somehow unconsciously ignored.

"Oh crap! What's a timber wolf doing here?" Scootaloo screamed. The yellow filly felt her legs turn to jelly. She could barely stand out of pure fear. The orange pegasus to her left seemed to be in an almost worse state.

"We have to get out of here!" Sweetie Belle said, a mere five feet from Glass who himself was directly in front of the wooden monster.

The timber wolf must have felt like its time to wait was up. With a final, heinously scented roar it raised a wooden claw, ready to strike Glass. Sweetie Belle backed up swiftly, drawing herself out of danger. Glass looked… mildly interested at best.

As the wooden monster's claw came down, Scootaloo shrieked. Glass deftly sidestepped the beasts' attack with little effort. For a moment the timber wolf looked confused. Seizing the advantage, Glass grabbed a moderately sized stone and chucked it at the monster. The rock sailed right into the glowing yellow eye of the timber wolf and it howled in pain.

"Both of you, back up now!" Glass suddenly yelled at them. Applebloom was confused at his remark, but Scootaloo grabbed her and pulled the yellow filly back into the bushes behind them. It was just in time too, for the timber wolf had released a semi-blind strike in their general direction. Applebloom felt the wind of the blow as it passed by her and Scootaloo. It had missed them by mere inches.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Glass asked the timber wolf as it blinked away the pain in its eye. It responded by moving its massive foot to step on Glass. He jumped to avoid it, and landed on a tree branch ten feet away and twenty feet up!

Applebloom blinked to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Nope. Obsidian Glass had preformed a leap that most ponies would need wings to accomplish.

"So I guess we aren't going to rationally work this out then." Glass said from his branch. The wooden monster looked around in confusion before spying him in the tree. "That's cool."

The timber wolf roared again and rushed forward to strike Glass on the tree limb. Glass preformed another incredible leap, and the timber wolf only managed to smash the branch Glass had originally sitting on.

The white colt landed on the top of the timber wolf's head. In retaliation, the timber wolf raised a claw to strike Glass again. Glass took one step forward, sending himself nimbly sliding down the monster's back. The timber wolf's attack – meant for Applebloom's friend – ended up striking it's own head with extreme force. The blow smashed the beast's head into hundreds of splinters, which were sent in all directions.

The three fillies shut their eyes as the splinters flew through the air. When it was safe to look again, Applebloom opened her eyes again. She saw the formerly intimidating timber wolf now lying on the ground, headless.

"Is it over?" Sweetie Belle asked, worriedly. Applebloom nodded. She was certain that timber wolf would not be getting up again.

"But where is…" Scootaloo began to ask.

"Right here." A familiar voice called out. The trio turned around to see as grinning dark-haired colt with a toothpick-sized piece of the timber wolf between his teeth.

"Glass!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily. She ran forward in an orange blur a hugged the colt so hard the wind was actually knocked out of him. The little toothpick fell out of his mouth.

"Geez. Maybe I should save you from certain doom more often." Glass said, grinning. Scootaloo released him from the hug, blushing.

"That was amazing, Glass!" Applebloom told him.

"How did you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Glass shrugged his shoulders. "You saw me do it. Why are you asking that question?" Sarcasm again. Sweetie Belle gave an exasperated – yet friendly – sigh of annoyance.

"We should probably get out of here." Applebloom said, reminding her friends that they were still in one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria.

"Yeah." Scootaloo said. Everypony was silent for a moment. They were all thinking the same thought, but Glass was the only one brave enough to say it out loud.

"Anypony know the way out?" Glass asked, grin ablaze. "Because I've got nothing."

An hour later, the four ponies managed to drag themselves out of the Everfree forest. Luckily, they had avoided any run-ins with the more dangerous fauna. In fact, once the timber wolf was defeated, the only other creature they saw was the star spider that landed in Sweetie Belle's purple mane. After about twenty seconds of screaming, Glass had managed to get her still enough to flick it away.

"It's good ta finally be out of there." Applebloom said, tiredly. She saw that Celestia's sun had begun its descent in the sky. "What time is it anyways?" She asked.

"Late enough that we should probably think about heading home." Sweetie Belle replied. "No use trying for a Crusade when we'd have to stop it in a few minutes anyway."

Applebloom gave a dejected look. "Darn." She said.

"At least we have tomorrow." Scootaloo said, cheering her up a little.

"Yeah, we can do something then." Applebloom said. She looked to Glass to make sure they hadn't hurt his feelings again, but he had become preoccupied by a gator who had wandered up to them.

"I guess I'll just go home. See you all tomorrow." Sweetie Belle said. The white unicorn walked away, waving goodbye to her friends.

Applebloom waved back for a moment, then turned to Scootaloo and Glass. "What are you guys planning to do?" She asked them.

"Convince Gummy to let go of my foreleg." Glass said, outstretching his hoof to show the dangling reptile latching onto it.

"I'll probably just go home and try to fix my scooter some more." Scootaloo said. Glass's attention turned to her.

"You've got a broken scooter?" He asked, tugging at Gummy some in a vain attempt to get the alligator off of him.

"Yeah, it's been broke for a few days now." The orange pony dejectedly said. "I've been trying to fix it but…"

"I'll help you." Glass said, finally wringing Gummy off his leg. He set the gator down and let him wobble off.

"Really?" Scootaloo said, perking up. Her wings flapped vigorously. Glass didn't let on if he noticed her change in demeanor or not.

"Yeah, no problem." He said.

"Well let's go!" Scootaloo said. Glass began to walk off, but Applebloom caught Scootaloo for a moment.

"See if ya can find out how he managed ta beat that timber wolf." She whispered. The magenta-haired filly nodded.

"If you're curious, all you had to do was ask." Glass said, still walking off. Applebloom blushed, realizing he had heard what she just said.

"Okay, then. Goodbye. Ah gotta get home myself." Applebloom said. Scootaloo walked off with Glass and Applebloom began to make her way back to the farm. She only wished she could be there for the conversation those two were about to have.

---

Yeah, this took longer than normal. Sorry about that. I've been trying to finish up my other story first, since it's almost done, but it's been having some issues with my good friend Writer's Block. So I thought I'd come back to this story for a moment and knock out chapter nine. Let me know what you thought of this one.

Chapter Ten – Can't Buy Me Love

Scootaloo was feeling amazing as she walked. After what felt like a lifetime her scooter was finally about to be fixed. She was so happy she would have flown home if she could.

Scootaloo also felt that there was another reason for her happiness. Not nearly as pronounced as the reason of her scooter getting fixed up. It was… different… but happiness all the same, which was good.

Glass was walking right to her left, keeping her pace though he lacked the jovial attitude of her walk. The orange pegasus couldn't tell why exactly he wasn't, and it kind of bothered her. She wanted Glass to have a good time, like her. If anything it was because their friendship was very thinly established and she wanted to strengthen it.

"We're not much further from my house." Scootaloo told Glass. He nodded, but didn't say anything. It was sort of an awkward silence. At least for Scootaloo. She wanted to say something to fill in the long pause, but couldn't come up with anything really creative or witty to say. Unfortunately she didn't have to.

"Hey, look! It's the blank flanks." A nasally voice shouted. Scootaloo groaned. Glass stopped for a moment, and looked like he was about to turn around.

"Don't." Scootaloo advised him. "Let's just ignore them."

Glass gave a mischievous grin. "And give them the satisfaction? I don't think so."

Scootaloo rotated along with the white colt to face her tormentors. Diamond Tiara was only a couple of feet away, flanked by Silver Spoon to her left. Glass just silently stared at them, while Scootaloo felt anxious.

"What's the matter with you, blank flank? You'll never get a Cutie Mark if all you do is stand around." Diamond Tiara said.

"Well you see," Glass began, fake smile on his face. "I would have gotten my Cutie Mark in being annoying, but unfortunately you beat me to it." Scootaloo cracked a laugh as Diamond Tiara gave a dumb struck look, face turning red with apparent rage. Silver Spoon was actually trying to hold back a chuckle of her own.

Like a pro, Diamond Tiara shrugged off the insult plowed on, just with a new tactic in mind. "So where are you two blank flanks headed? Oh wait, I get it now! Glass is your coltfriend, isn't he Scootaloo?"

"Wait what?" Scootaloo asked. This was a new breed of taunting that she wasn't prepared for. She felt blood rise to her cheeks and they turned from orange to red. "He's not my…"

"You so want to kiss him, don't you?" The pink filly asked.

"There perfect for each other." Silver Spoon said. Both girls gave a derisive giggle. "A couple of blank flanks in love."

Scootaloo felt the need to justify hanging out with Glass suddenly. "Wait, we're not–" She began.

"Oh Diamond, jealousy is so unbecoming of you." Glass said, cutting the orange filly off. Scootaloo, along with Diamond Tiara, looked at him in confusion.

"Huh?" Diamond Tiara asked, her pink cheeks looking a little red..

"You don't need to be envious of Scootaloo." Glass said with a wink. "There's plenty of me to go around."

Diamond Tiara's eyes narrowed and darted to the side. "Wh-what are you talking about?" She asked, stepping back.

"Oh come on now, don't deny it." Glass said. "The entire class knows by now. You've had it bad for me ever since you failed to humiliate me on the playground." Slowly, Glass began to gain ground, while simultaneously the pink filly backed up. "Now you've got a little crush on me because no matter how much you can't stand to be beaten, it's actually quite endearing to you."

"You don't… I… wait I can… NO!" Diamond Tiara spluttered out, but for a moment Scootaloo thought it looked like even the pink filly herself didn't believe what she was saying. Not that she was saying very much.

"If you don't have a crush on me, then ask yourself why you came all the way to the edge of town, just to look for me. That pathetic attempt at a taunt can't be your only reason, Diamond." Glass said. Scootaloo at this point was slack-jawed. Diamond Tiara looked crushed, as if her worst, most embarrassing secret had just been exposed, which it probably had. The pink filly turned and fled; trying to keep whatever dignity she still had left. Silver Spoon's shocked expression went from Glass to her fleeing friend as the gray pony tried to digest the situation.

"Uh… Diamond?" The gray filly called, shimmying off after her friend. Scootaloo watched them run off. It felt great seeing them both so humiliated, but even so… Diamond Tiara having a crush on Glass was shocking. Not to mention that for once, the pink bully's insults had left a lasting mark on Scootaloo. Normally her remarks about being blank flanks could be shrugged off after she left, but the comment about her and Glass was… confusing.

"So, we're close to your house, right?" Glass said, returning to the path they had been on. His jaunty attitude had been dropped to a more melancholy tone. Scootaloo bounded to catch him.

"How did you do that?" Scootaloo asked incredulously. She had about a hundred more questions to. Glass didn't look in the mood to answer one.

"It was easy." He said, his face unreadable. "Too easy." He whispered to himself. Scootaloo didn't ask anything else, though one question was racing through her mind more than any other. When Diamond Tiara had accused them of being in love, Glass hadn't refuted her. She understood his strategy, but the question she need an answer to was: Why had she not refuted Diamond Tiara when she said they were in love?

---

"So this is the famous, broken scooter." Glass stated, standing in front of said scooter. Scootaloo dropped the spare key underneath her welcome mat, set it back down, and shut the door to her house.

"Yep. That's it." She said. Glass lifted the scooter up to inspect the broken wheel further.

"So how did you break it anyways?" He asked. Scootaloo bit her lip. She had broken the scooter outside Sugar Cube Corner, looking for Glass. The orange filly didn't actually want to tell him that because it might come off as creepy.

"Just… riding around. I think it might've been a pothole or something that broke the wheel." She finally said. Glass didn't press her for details, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It looks like we'll need some actual tools to fix this. Do you have any?" Glass asked.

"Uh, yeah. I think my dad keeps a toolbox in the basement." Scootaloo pointed to a door at the very edge of the living room.

"I'll be right back." He said. Glass set her scooter propped so the wheels were facing the ceiling. He walked quietly over to the door and opened it.

"Oh, Glass!" Scootaloo said as he walked through. "I think the toolbox is on the top shelf!" The door had already shut though, and Scootaloo had no idea if Glass had heard her. She decided to go after him, just to make sure. First, Scootaloo moved her scooter into the living room, so they could at least sit on the couch when trying to fix it. She set it on the coffee table.

When she looked up, Glass was standing in front of her, holding a red toolbox in his mouth by the handle. The orange filly felt her jaw go slack for the second time that night.

"I-It wasn't on the top shelf?" She asked. Glass set the toolbox on the table before speaking.

"No it was, just like you said." He responded. Scootaloo wanted to ask for a little more info, but decided to let it drop for now.

"Let's get started." Glass said, popping open the lid of the toolbox and selecting a random screwdriver. The next few minutes were spent in total silence as Glass worked away at her scooter. He unscrewed the wheel completely, and worked to bend back the axel, which had been knocked out of place.

He finished in ten minutes flat, completing a task that Scootaloo had spent hours on with no success.

"And… done!" Glass exclaimed, tightening the wheel back in place.

"I can ride it now?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, her wings flapping wildly. Glass nodded. In one deft maneuver, Scootaloo leapt into the air, grabbed hold of her scooter, swung it around, and landed expertly on the gound.

"Very nice." Glass said. "A few more tricks like that, and I'll have to learn how to ride one of those."

"I can teach you!" Scootaloo said, pushing off and riding around. "And you can teach me how to fix a scooter, since I have a feeling you'll be breaking it a lot."

"Oh, I don't really know how to fix scooters." Glass responded, stopping Scootaloo dead in her tracks. "I've just been doing a little impromptu this entire time." He sounded completely honest

"Really? So you were just lying to me when you said you knew how to fix my scooter?" The orange pegasus accused. Glass held up his hooves in defense.

"I never said that. All I said was I'd help you. And I did. So you can't call me a liar." He said.

"Well I can't call you a truther." Scootaloo said. "You're never fully honest with me, or any of us." She pointed out.

Glass frowned. "Maybe you're right." He said softly. "How about this. We play Truth or Dare, just… without the dare. You can ask me a question, and I have to answer truthfully. And vice versa."

Scootaloo pondered this for a moment. "Okay." She finally said.

Glass made a big, bow-like gesture and said, "Ladies first."

"Oh… Um…" Scootaloo stepped off her scooter and prepared to choose her first question. "Is it true that Diamond Tiara has a crush on you?" She asked.

"Yep." He said. "Wasn't it obvious?"

"Well no." Scootaloo said. "No it was not. How did you…"

"Whoa whoa whoa. You already asked a question. It's my turn." Glass exclaimed.

"No it isn't." Scootaloo said, grinning. "You already asked, 'Wasn't it obvious?' and I answered."

Glass froze for a moment. "Huh." He finally said. "Well I'll be darned. It is your turn then."

"Okay, how did you know about Diamond's crush on you?" Scootaloo asked. It was a question she was dying to know.

"Ah. Good one." Glass said. "I didn't really know it after the playground incident, but the very next day when she tried to insult Applebloom, I shot her down again. She was pretty angry, so at first I thought that was why her face was red. Then I realized she was blushing."

"Wow." Scootaloo said. "That's a pretty big assumption."

Glass leaned back on the sofa. "I guess so. But I wasn't wrong." Scootaloo nodded in agreement, not needing a reminder of how Diamond Tiara acted earlier. "Okay, now it's my turn for real. What's the whole story behind how your scooter broke? It's pretty clear that you left something out."

"How did… Oh never mind." Scootaloo exclaimed. "Look, all I left out was the fact that I was trying to find you, and I didn't say anything before because I didn't want you to think I was weird." She lowered her head, a little ashamed.

"Scootaloo, take a moment to realize who you're talking to about being weird." Glass said happily. Scootaloo raised her head, and grinned.

"All right. My turn. Do you like Diamond Tiara?" She asked, genuinely curious.

Obsidian Glass laughed so hard, a tear welled up in his eye. "That's a – hahaha – that's a good one, Scoots. Me and that pompous, irritating, preppy rich girl. Haha! That's a riot." He wiped the tear out of his face. "Okay, now ask your real question."

"But…" Scootaloo protested. Glass shook his head.

"That wasn't a question, that was a joke. Now really, ask me a question." Scootaloo was temporarily stunned. She had meant it to be a legitimate question, and Glass had technically answered it. Now she was floundering for something to ask just to keep the game going. Then she noticed the light purple bruise still on Glass's cheek as he removed his hoof.

"Okay." She began. "How did you really get that bruise? You obviously didn't get that from hitting a wall."

Glass's laughter died quickly. "I did hit a wall." He said, seriously. "But the circumstances leading up to that hit, are probably not what you think."

"Then elaborate." She demanded. "Otherwise, you haven't answered my question."

Glass smiled weakly. "Fine, you asked for it." He sighed, then spoke with a slight shake in his voice. "My dad… My dad got really drunk last night." Scootaloo moved over to the couch, transfixed by the story. "My mom asked him to stop drinking, and he… he hit her."

The orange pegasus gasped, but didn't interrupt.

"When I tried to stop him, he told me to shut up. Then he hit mom again and…" Glass actually choked up. "I smacked the stupid beer bottle out of his hoof. That turned his attention on me. He threw me against the wall, which is how I got the bruise. Then he just… kicked me out. He shouted a lot at me, then the bastard said not to come back until I learned some respect. I wandered for a bit before running into you guys."

Scootaloo realized she was now sitting on the couch right next to Glass as he told his story. The white colt's head was bowed slightly, and another tear was in his eye.

"Glass I…" Scootaloo wasn't sure what to say to him.

"My turn to ask a question." Glass said, picking himself back up and out of emotional distress. "What is your honest opinion of me?"

"Oh... well..." Scootaloo thought for a moment. There was a lot she could say about Glass, but she wasn't entirely sure how she felt with so many new feelings that surfaced every time she saw him. "I don't know that much about you. But I think you're a great friend so far, and I like having you around." There, the truth.

Glass cheered up some, and no more tears welled up in his eyes. "Okay, now it's your turn." He said.

"I guess I want to know your honest opinion of me." Scootaloo asked, without needing to think. "What is it?"

Glass gave a smile, not one of his fake ones, and said, "You're pretty awesome. I don't know a lot of fillies who are willing to put up with me. And I can safely say that I like having you around too."

Scootaloo smiled brightly and she felt her heart beat a little faster. "Thanks. And now you get to ask a question." She said.

"Can I spend the night here?" Glass asked.

The question took Scootaloo some time to digest. For a moment it was just her staring at Glass. She gulped, and replied with a shaky "Okay."

"If it's too much trouble I can–"

"NO!" Scootaloo said quickly, and loudly. Glass stared at her. "I mean… It's no trouble. My dad's not going to be back for a few more days probably. You can just sleep on the couch."

Glass gave a light smile. "Thank you." He whispered. Their muzzles were extremely close now, but it seemed that neither really knew what to do next.

"I think we've played enough." Scootaloo finally said. She awkwardly shifted off the couch and moved toward her room. "Good night." She called over her shoulder.

"Scootaloo, wait!" Glass called back. She stopped and turned, standing in the middle of the doorway. Glass walked up to her. "I'm going to bend the rules of the game really quick. I need to dare you."

"What?" Scootaloo asked. "No, I don't think so."

"Don't tell me you're chicken." Glass wryly said.

"Don't call me chicken." Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes. "What's your dare?"

"I dare you to close your eyes." He said. Scootaloo blinked for a confused moment, but then complied with the dare. With her eyes now closed, Scootaloo was about to ask Glass what the point of it was. Then a soft pair of lips brushed lightly against her cheek.

The orange filly gasped as her heart skipped a beat and she immediately opened her eyes. All she could see was darkness. Obsidian Glass had turned out the light, and disappeared back onto the couch.

For a moment she contemplated going over to him, but she didn't want to ruin the finality of the moment. Wordlessly, Scootaloo walked into her room, letting the darkness hide her enormous grin.

---

Damn, that was something. Besides the fun little references I dropped, this chapter got heavy. While writing this one, things went in a completely different direction than I anticipated. I still think it turned out awesome though.

Now I've got a fun little poll for you guys. I've yet to decide the next POV for the upcoming chapter, so I've set up a poll. For just a few days [like, only a few because I actually have to write this chapter at some point] you can decide who's perspective the next chapter will be in. Vote fast, and vote multiple times if you want to.

Well let's give a big hand to the winner of the poll... Diamond Tiara. [How the buck did this happen?] Uhh... Yeah folks, you read that correctly. This chapter's POV will be from Diamond bucking Tiara's perspective. [Why God?] Oh well, I put up the poll, and now I must honor it. As a side note, this chapter is shorter than most. Just be glad I could actually write it.

---

Chapter Eleven – The Rough in the Diamond

A pink filly ran through the streets of Ponyville, face red with either anger or shame. She couldn't decide which it was. She almost ran into a mint-colored unicorn, but the pink filly did not slow down.

"Stupid Glass. What does he know anyway?" Diamond Tiara muttered to herself under her breath. The answer: a lot, apparently. Diamond didn't know how Obsidian Glass had found out. She herself had only barely begun to contemplate the possibility of liking him. The only reason she had gone looking for him was a vain attempt to convince herself that the feelings hadn't been real.

It had not gone as planned.

Ever since Glass had stood up to Diamond Tiara during recess, she'd had a weird feeling about him. Clearly, the white colt had been a threat to her, but that hadn't been it. When Glass dampened her attempts to humiliate Applebloom in class, that's when she realized what that feeling was and what it meant.

She liked Glass.

Diamond hadn't really comprehended how that was possible at all. At least, not until he had set her feelings on display for everypony to see. Now Scootaloo knew, which meant that the rest of her blank flank friends would find out before school next Monday.

The pink filly was not entirely concerned about that. She could handle a couple of blank flanks when the time came. It was the gray filly trying to catch up to her that presented a bigger problem.

"Diamond, wait up!" Silver Spoon called out to her friend.

"Just go away, Silver!" Diamond Tiara yelled over her shoulder. She couldn't face the silver-maned filly. Not now. She needed time to come up with an excuse, some way to convince her that Glass had been lying.

"But Diamond, I–"

"NO!" Diamond Tiara yelled at her friend, turning her head while still running. "Just leave me alone! I've got to–" The pink filly was interrupted when she crashed into a mare wandering around the streets. As they both recovered, the mare spook.

"Oops, are you okay?" The blonde mare asked.

"I'm fine, just watch where you're going!" Diamond responded.

"Sorry, I just don't know what went wrong." The gray mare said before trotting off. Diamond was about to continue running, but it was too late. Silver Spoon had caught up to her.

The pink filly gave an awkward smile at her friend while she considered her options. Resuming the chase now would be pointless. Talking it out with her friend was certainly not desirable. Silver's eyes were narrowed, silently demanding answers. Finally, Diamond sighed, conceding defeat.

"What happened back there?" Silver Spoon asked her. "How could you let that blank flank walk all over you?"

Diamond sat down on the ground – which was filthy, but she couldn't muster the energy to stand back up – and said, "I can't tell you."

Silver Spoon didn't seem to like that answer. "Yes you can." She said. Diamond shook her head fervently, face red with embarrassment. Silver frowned, and sat down next to her friend.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Silver asked her. Diamond nodded, biting her lip to keep from speaking, for she was afraid of what she might say. "Then I have to know one thing." The gray filly told Diamond, looking her dead in the eye.

"Do you like Glass?"

Diamond sensed that Silver immediately regretted asking the question so bluntly. It was too late to take it back however. The band-aid had been ripped off. Not wanting to answer, but not able to say nothing, Diamond Tiara resorted to the one thing she'd felt like doing since Glass had revealed her feelings.

She broke down crying.

Silver Spoon was so shocked that the glasses fell off of her face. Diamond had let the first tear escape, and then the dam had burst. The pink filly sat in the middle of the road, water streaming down her face as she desperately tried to choke back each sob.

Not willing to let her friend suffer alone, Silver wrapped a hoof around Diamond's shoulder. Patting her back lightly, Silver said, "You okay?"

"I'm… Yes." Diamond said. "I just… oh Silver Spoon." The pink filly wrapped her forelegs around her surprised friend, and continued crying hysterically. Silver returned the embrace without hesitation.

"It's true." Diamond finally managed, shakily. "I can't believe it, Silver, but it's true. I like Glass." The words rolled out of her mouth easier than she first imagined. With the big secret out, Diamond began to calm down. The two friends released each other, and Silver retrieved her glasses. They had been covered in a bit of dirt, and she had to rub it off. As she did, Diamond kept talking.

"I- I don't even know how it happened. I can't even explain why, but it's true, everything Glass said is true."

"I don't understand though." Silver said. "He's insulting, and a blank flank, and well…"

"I think he's cute." Diamond sniffled out.

"Oh." Silver said.

"And he stood up to me. Nopony has ever done that before. Not even my parents. Everypony has just given me whatever I wanted in life. Then when I met him, that changed. It's different, but I like it. If he had just lied down and rolled over like any other blank flank, then I wouldn't have respected him. And now I... now I like him for it." Diamond couldn't stop rambling. She wasn't lying, but she wished she was. The truth – this truth – was painful to admit. The fact that she had developed feelings for Glass was… humiliating at best. Her chances of ever getting him to return those feelings were pitiful.

"He probably thinks I'm some sort of pompous, irritating, preppy rich girl or something." Diamond said, still sniffling. "You must think I'm a fool."

"It's okay, Diamond." Silver Spoon said. "I don't think any less of you for liking Glass." Diamond brushed her purple and white mane out of her eyes, and stared at her friend.

"You don't?" She asked.

"No." Silver said honestly. "How could I? You're my best friend. Nothing would ever change that. Not even falling in love with a blank flank."

"I'm not in love with him." Diamond mumbled. Silver grinned coyly at her. "I have a crush on him." Diamond said in an effort to justify herself. "That doesn't mean I love him."

"Yeah, sure." Silver Spoon said with a hint of sarcasm. "You only think he's cute, nothing else to it."

"Well… he is." Diamond said, feeling like saying it had become slightly more natural.

"Eh… maybe." Silver admitted. "On the bright side, it could be worse."

"How could this be any worse?" Diamond asked.

"You could want to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders." Silver asked. The joke eased the mood slightly, as both fillies found themselves laughing. Eventually, Silver stood up. She offered a hoof to Diamond Tiara, who accepted it and stood up as well.

The two friends began walking towards their homes on the other side of Ponyville. It was a long walk though, and Diamond had a question of her own.

"Hey, Silver Spoon?" Diamond asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Silver replied.

"Do you think Scootaloo likes Glass?" For a moment, Silver Spoon just had on a face of deep thought.

"I thought that was just you trying to get under her skin. Did you really mean it?"

"Well…" The pink filly started. "I didn't really think so at first. But then she just started blushing so much after I said it. What do you think it means?"

"I don't know." Silver admitted. "I guess it means she likes him." Diamond's spirit dampened when she heard that. Her head slowly lowered.

"Oh." She said.

"Are you worried that you have some competition for Glass's love?" Silver asked, teasing her again.

"Stop saying that!" Diamond demanded. "… but yes, I am. He already is hanging around with her a lot. What if he likes her too? I'm really worried, Silver."

The gray filly was silent for only a moment, probably digesting what the pink filly had just told her.

"Well you shouldn't be." Silver Spoon finally said. Diamond raised her head when she heard that. "You're way better than Scootaloo. Just look at your Cutie Mark if you need proof." The pink filly did, the tiara on her flank confirming what her friend told her.

"Yeah," Diamond said. "You're right. You're absolutely right." Silver grinned, happy to have cheered up her friend. "Glass should feel lucky that I like him, and Scootaloo should feel grateful he isn't already spending all of his time with me!" Diamond's confidence was soaring now.

Eventually, they came across Silver Spoon's house, and the gray filly waved good-bye to her pink friend. Diamond waved back, only half paying attention.

She continued to walk home, her head held up high. Her thoughts on the other hoof, were pretty low down. For as she walked home, Diamond Tiara planned Scootaloo's downfall.

Chapter Twelve – The Breakfast Club

Scootaloo's eyelids groggily opened up. It was late in the morning. She could tell because sun had rose above her window, sending beams of light across her face. Yawning, she stretched out her forelegs, and forced her body to roll out of bed. Three hooves touched down on the floor, the fourth was rubbing Scootaloo's eye as she tried to become fully awake.

It took a while for her brain to begin functioning. When it finally did, she dragged herself out of her room, and towards the kitchen. Memories from last night were starting to come to her, but they were all fuzzy. They were also slightly confused with a dream she had been having right before she woke up. Scootaloo didn't try to force anything into making sense just yet.

The orange filly plucked a clean looking bowl out of the sink and set it on the table. Poking around the cabinets, she found a box of cereal. On her way back to the table, she glanced into the living room.

"Morning, Sunshine." Obsidian Glass said enthusiastically. He was sitting laxly on the couch, facing Scootaloo. The cereal box dropped to the floor, scattering the contents all around.

"Y-you're still here." Scootaloo whispered in shock.

"Where else would I be?" Glass asked. Memories from last night came flooding back to Scootaloo, as she began to comprehend what was going on.

"So it wasn't a dream then." Scootaloo said. Glass hopped off the couch and crossed over to her.

"No, I suppose it wasn't." He told her.

"So you really…"

"Yep." Glass said, running a hoof through his hair, which had been mangled by the couch last night. "I really did."

"…I just can't believe it." Scootaloo said. Glass grinned.

"I really hope you mean that in a good way." He said. Scootaloo smiled.

"Yeah, I do." She told him. The white colt couldn't seem to stop grinning, which only made Scootaloo smile more. A tint of red hinted at both of their cheeks. "So… now what happens?"

Glass opened his mouth to respond, but the moment was stolen from him by a knock at the door. Scootaloo immediately knew who it was.

"I got it." Glass said, moving to open the door.

"No don't!" Scootaloo said urgently. Glass looked at her confused. "It's Derpy." The orange pegasus explained. "My dad is having her check up on me, and she can't know you're here."

Glass nodded. "Got it. So I need to disappear."

"No!" Scootaloo said. "Don't do that disappearing thing you always do. We still… need to talk."

Glass narrowed his eyes. "Okay." He said slowly. "So you just want me to hide?" Scootaloo nodded.

"Only for a little while. Derpy won't stay long." She pleaded.

"All right." Glass said. He moved to the other side of the living room and took refuge behind her father's recliner.

With Glass securely hidden, Scootaloo moved to the door. A second knock came before she got there. As soon as it ended, the orange filly opened the door to greet the wall-eyed mare on the other side.

"Hi Derpy." She told the smiling gray mare.

"Hi Scootaloo." Derpy replied. "Sorry I'm a little later today."

"Oh, that's ok–"

"But I brought blueberry muffins!" Derpy excitedly said. She reached into her saddlebag and withdrew a package from Sugar Cube Corner.

"Oh, great." Scootaloo said through partially clenched teeth.

"I was thinking maybe we could share them." Derpy said, oblivious to Scootaloo's tone. The orange filly wasn't entirely sure what to do. She didn't want to turn down the gray mare's offer, because it would create some suspicion and probably hurt Derpy's feelings. But if she invited her in, it would mean Glass would be stuck in hiding for a while, along with the threat of Derpy finding out at almost anytime. It was a difficult choice to make.

"Uh… yeah sure. Come on in." Scootaloo finally said, nervously. Derpy happily walked into the house, muffins in tow. Scootaloo anxiously glanced at Glass's hiding spot. The white colt had poked his head around the recliner, and was raising his eyebrow at Scootaloo, as if to ask why Derpy hadn't already left. The orange filly motioned with her hoof for him to stay hidden.

Scootaloo turned around to the kitchen in time to see Derpy setting up their breakfast. Putting on a smile that looked far more awkward than she was willing to admit, Scootaloo walked in and took a seat.

She had to admit, the blueberry muffins smelled really good. Derpy had already started eating, but Scootaloo was a bit more reluctant. The fear of the gray mare finding Glass at potentially any moment was enough to make her lose her appetite. Eventually, Derpy noticed the orange pegasus wasn't eating.

"Aren't you hungry, Scootaloo?" The blonde mare asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted." Scootaloo said. She took a bite of the muffin, if anything it was to appease Derpy. A fantastic sensation immediately exploded in her mouth. The baked dough was still warm and soft, and the blueberries were by far the sweetest she had ever had.

Derpy was grinning. "Based on the look on your face, you must like them." She said. Scootaloo nodded vigorously. The orange filly tried to say something, but found it difficult with a mouth full of muffins.

Her attempt at speech made Derpy giggle. "What was that?" The gray mare asked her.

Scootaloo remembered to swallow this time before answering. "It's the best muffin I've ever had." Derpy smiled with delight.

"I knew you'd like them." She said. "Blueberry is always a winner." Scootaloo took another bite of the baked good.

Both ponies worked their way through several more of the dozen muffins that Derpy had brought. Each one just as good – if not better – than the last.

"So why were you distracted?" Derpy asked.

"Hmm?" Scootaloo responded, unable to answer as she was halfway through her third helping of blueberry muffin.

"Early you said something was distracting you. I was just a little curious as to what it was." The blonde mare clarified. Scootaloo swallowed slowly.

"Oh… well…" The orange filly scanned her brain for an excuse, but none came to mind. The truth would have been to incriminating for her to say. Luckily – or perhaps unluckily – she wasn't the one to say it.

"I suppose that's my fault." Glass said, stepping into the kitchen.

---

Sweetie Belle cracked her eyelids open one at a time. Light was spilling into her room through her closed curtains, letting her know it was well into the morning. In the next room over, Sweetie Belle heard four hooves running back and forth frantically.

It was probably Rarity, Sweetie Belle deduced. Her sister had recently received a large order. Apparently some heiress in Canterlot was having a birthday soon, and had requested a very special dress for the occasion. Rarity had somehow gotten it in her head that if she did a fabulous job making the dress, then she would be invited to the party as a thank you from the heiress.

Sweetie Belle didn't follow that logic.

Realizing she was hungry, Sweetie Belle leapt out of bed and made her way to the door. Making breakfast would be a difficult excursion, considering her last few attempts hadn't ended well. On the way to the stairs, Sweetie Belle stopped by Rarity's workroom.

The whole area was thrown about in the usual Rarity mess of dress creating, with fabrics spilling over the table and onto the floor, various scissors and pins lying around everywhere from the dresser to the window sill, and mannequins covered in half finished dress designs that had been abandoned. Rarity herself was running back and forth between the sketchpad and a mannequin that held her latest design.

"Hey, Rarity. Did you want some breakfast?" Sweetie Belle asked in an attempt to get out of having to make it herself.

"What? Oh… breakfast. Sorry Sweetie Belle, I'm much to busy to eat right now." The white unicorn said as she realigned the mannequin's headdress.

"Oh, that's okay." Sweetie Belle said with mock disappointment. "I can just make something for myself then." The filly took one step out of the doorway, and let the words sink in.

"Make something by yourself…" Rarity said, pausing her work on the outfit. The unicorn filly imagined that Rarity was remembering the time Sweetie Belle had managed to burn juice. "On second thought," Rarity said, turning around and heading for the door. "I could go for some breakfast. Allow me to take care of it."

"No problem." Sweetie Belle said as Rarity brushed passed her and went to the kitchen.

It took overly long for Rarity to make them both some toast and pour some orange juice, but Sweetie Belle could hardly complain. She bit into the slightly crunchy bread and stared out the window. Distantly, some pegasi could be seen placing clouds in the sky for the scheduled shower later in the afternoon. Her thoughts turned to her friends as the filly pondered what they might do as a Crusading attempt. With the rain coming, a lot of opportunities would be closed. Scootaloo's attempts at extreme sports would likely be canceled – a relief to Sweetie Belle – but almost any outdoor activity would be ruined if they got rained out.

Thoughts about Crusading eventually turned into thoughts about Glass. Sweetie Belle would be curiously watching him during their attempts to get their Cutie Marks. He seemed fine with being left out now, based on yesterday's overall reaction when they came out of the Everfree Forest. Still, Sweetie Belle suspected that he still wanted his Cutie Mark, despite what he said. It was confusing her to no end.

Sweetie Belle's thoughts were interrupted by a white hoof waving in front of her face.

"Sweetie Belle?" She heard her sister say. The filly blinked a few times, coming back to reality.

"What?" She asked, a little annoyed.

"You've been in some sort of trance for the past five minutes." Rarity informed her. Sweetie Belle looked down at her plate to see her toast only had a single bite out of it, while her sister had nearly finished her entire meal.

"Oh." Sweetie Belle said, realizing she had gone too deep into her thoughts.

"What were you thinking about that made you zone out like that?" Rarity asked.

"Uh… it was nothing." Sweetie Belle said. It must have come out more defensive than she meant, because Rarity looked at her smugly.

"You were thinking about a colt, weren't you?" The white mare asked. Sweetie Belle felt her cheeks instantly flush.

"N-no." Sweetie Belle lied. While she had been thinking about Glass, it was certainly not in the way Rarity thought it was.

"You can't fool me, Sweetie Belle." Rarity said. "What's his name?"

"I wasn't thinking about a colt." The unicorn filly responded, getting up from her seat.

"Come on now. Who is he?" Rarity responded. "I have a right to know if my sister has a little crush on somepony."

"Goodbye sis." Sweetie Belle said, leaving to avoid further teasing. As she shut the door, Sweetie Belle wondered if she would find better company at Applebloom's house.

---

"Uhh… Scootaloo?" Derpy asked as Glass beamed nonchalantly. "Do you know this colt?"

"Y-yes. I know him." Scootaloo said, embarrassed by the situation and furious at Glass for revealing himself. Neither of those reasons really explained why her cheeks had turned red. "This is Glass. He's uh… a friend… of mine." The white Earth pony smiled innocently at Derpy, who was still in a state of disbelief.

"Okay." Derpy said slowly. "Why is here?"

"Uhh…" Scootaloo mumbled. The orange filly tried to come up with some excuse that would sound reasonable given the circumstances. Apparently, her brain was still not fully awake, because nothing came to mind.

"We had a sleepover." Glass said, picking up where Scootaloo had left off.

"Did your dad say that was okay, Scootaloo?" Derpy inquired. The blonde mare was still unconvinced by the whole situation.

Scootaloo, of course, had no response and turned to Glass for help. Picking up on the cue, Glass said, "I don't believe he ever said she could not have a sleepover."

"Right. That's right." Scootaloo said, facing Derpy again with an incredibly awkward fake smile. Derpy's eyes narrowed as she pondered this. Her gaze shifted from Scootaloo's shaky grin and Glass's even smirk.

"Okay then." Derpy said. Her tone had changed dramatically, going from suspicious to happy in mere nanoseconds. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. "So Glass," the gray mare began. "Would you like a muffin?" Derpy reached into the package from Sugar Cube Corner and pulled out another blueberry muffin.

Glass allowed his eyes to dart around the room a bit, as if he was considering Derpy's proposal. Then a low growling sound could be heard from his stomach.

"Yes." Glass conceded. He hopped onto the third and final chair by the table and bit into the muffin. Glass's seat was really close to Scootaloo's, and his hoof brushed against her's as he went for to muffin. Both ponies tried and failed to contain their blushes when it happened.

"So how was the sleepover?" Derpy asked in an attempt to make conversation.

"I found it very enjoyable. What about you, Scootaloo?" Glass said, mouth half-full. He turned to face the orange filly, staring intently into her eyes. Scootaloo knew that Glass was talking about more than just spending the night.

"I thought is was pretty great." The orange pegasus responded. They both smiled.

"You know, I can't even remember the last time my little Dinky had a sleepover." Derpy said, clearly thinking of something other than the two ponies on the other side of the table.

Scootaloo tilted her head in confusion. "Dinky?" She asked, quizzically.

Derpy gave a small smile. "She's my daughter. You might have seen her around school a few times."

Scootaloo swallowed in earnest surprise. "That Dinky?" She asked. Dinky Doo was somepony Scootaloo only knew vaguely. Infamous only for being a bit of a clutz, and very shy in class, the blonde unicorn filly went under almost everypony's radar. In fact, Scootaloo had seen her more than once just playing by herself during recess. "You're her mother?" Scoots asked again, incredulously.

"I am." Derpy said, not at all offended by Scootaloo's surprise. "I can understand why you didn't know. Dinky never really talks to anypony… or even try to make friends."

"Why not?" Glass asked, grabbing for a second muffin.

"Well… I guess you could say it's because of her… disability." Derpy explained.

"What disability?" Scootaloo heard herself ask, though she knew she probably shouldn't bring it up.

The gray mare gestured to her eyes. "Like me." She said.

"Oh…" Scootaloo said softly. Though she – nor anypony else for that matter – ever paid Dinky much attention, everypony had noticed she was wall-eyed. Scootaloo had just never put two and two together and made the connection between Dinky and her mother.

"I don't see how that's a disability, to be honest with you." Glass said. The mare gave him a quizzical look.

"What do you mean? My eyes are…" Derpy didn't finish the sentence. She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"It just doesn't seem like a disability to me." Glass said. "It hasn't made you any less of a pony. So you shouldn't consider yourself any less of one."

Derpy smiled slightly. "I suppose not." She said. "But other ponies don't see it like that. They've always treated me like an outcast because of it. And I can't bare the thought of Dinky having to go through what I have because I passed down this…" Derpy gestured to her eyes again "…to her."

"That's… horrible." Scootaloo whispered. She never thought ponies would treat Derpy differently just because of her eyes. The atmosphere of the breakfast table had gotten really dark suddenly. All the muffins were gone now, so there was little the group could do to fill the silence.

"You know." Glass said. "If I ever see Dinky, I'll be sure to say hello to her."

"Me too." Scootaloo said. Derpy grinned at the two of them, tears threatening to well up in her eyes.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me." The gray mare said. It was quiet for a moment. Derpy nudged the empty muffin box. "I suppose breakfast is done now." She said. Slowly the three of them got up from their chairs, and wordlessly cleaned off the table.

"Uh… hey Glass." Scootaloo said, deciding to change the topic of conversation.

"Yeah?" Glass responded.

"We should probably go check in on Sweetie Belle and Applebloom." She said.

Glass nodded, and said goodbye to Derpy before walking towards the door. Scootaloo stayed a minute to help throw away the trash.

"I can see why you like him." Derpy said as she collapsed the muffin box.

"Wh-what?" Scootaloo asked, cheek's mutinying from orange to red.

"You two make such a cute couple." The gray mare continued.

Realizing her secret was out, Scootaloo stammered, "H-how did you know?"

Derpy grinned. "I'm wall-eyed. Not blind." She said.

"That obvious?" Scootaloo asked, embarrassed.

"Yeah." Derpy said. "But don't worry about it."

"Can I be honest with you?" Scootaloo asked. The blonde pegasus nodded. "I'm not really sure where we're supposed to go from here. I like him, and I'm pretty sure he likes me. But I'm just all nervous and excited, and a little scared about where it's going to lead."

The gray mare looked at her seriously. "I… I know with your mom gone and all and… it's probably not my place to say this but… if you need anything Scootaloo, just ask me. I'll be there for you."

Scootaloo was so stunned, she didn't know what to do. Luckily, her body took over and she wrapped her hooves around Derpy for a hug. The blonde mare was surprised, but did not turn away the young filly. She hugged Scootaloo back.

The two of them lingered like that for a while. For a moment, Scootaloo felt like she was years younger, hugging her own mother. Derpy's hug was so warm and caring and protective; everything Scoots remembered about her own mom's embraces. Maybe it was just something all mothers were really good at.

---

I tossed around quite a few ideas for the chapter title before settling on "The Breakfast Club", but I'm still not sure if it was a good idea or not. [It was either that, or "Do You Know the Muffin Mare?"].

As for Derpy's more prominent role, this was not something I had originally planned for when I started writing this fic [though my original idea was that Shattered Glass would not go beyond five or six chapters], so let me know what you think about it.

As for a writing schedule on this story, I'm not sure if I can keep it going as far as weekly updates. The main reason is because I have this story, a one-shot backstory for Sombra and Chrysalis planned, and the first chapter of the next Frostburn fic to write. Pile on a shitload of school work, and a lot of other crap I've got going on, and I don't know if I can make that happen without sacrificing sleep and sanity. Wish me luck.

Chapter Thirteen – A Stitch in Time

Applebloom ran the soapy brush across Little Pigington for the last time. The large pig oinked in protest as the yellow filly bushed away the final bits of mud. Applebloom then stepped back to survey her work. Pigington was cleaner than a brand new wagon.

"Finally." Applebloom said with an exasperated sigh. Little Pigington oinked at the red-maned filly. "You sure like gettin' filthy." Applebloom told the massively sized swine. Little Pigington oinked in agreement.

"Hey, Applebloom!" A voice that was pretty far off called out. The yellow filly turned her head, fairly certain she recognized the voice. A purple-haired, white unicorn trotting towards her confirmed her theory.

"How's it going, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked as her friend approached.

"Not bad, I guess." The unicorn filly said as she slowed her trot down to a walk before finally coming to rest in front of the yellow filly. "I was just stopping by to see if you wanted to go Crusading."

"Sure! Ah did just finish mah chores, so Applejack and Big Mac won't mind if Ah take off."

"Really?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I though one of your chores was giving Little Pigington a bath."

"Ah did, and she's…" Applebloom turned her head to indicate a clean swine, but instead found the reprehensible pig had jumped into a mud puddle when she hadn't been looking. "…filthy."

"So I guess that's a no on the Crusading?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Are ya kidding? There ain't no way Ah'm washing that pig twice in a row." The yellow filly tossed the brush away and led Sweetie Belle away from the pigsty. "What did you have in mind?" The yellow filly asked her friend.

"I was kind of hoping we could try sewing." Sweetie Belle said. "Rarity's got a lot of supplies and stuff we can use."

"Okay." Applebloom said, enthusiastic for an idea. "Let's round up Scootaloo and Glass and try it out."

The unicorn filly's brows knitted together. "Are you sure we should bring Glass?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't we?" Applebloom said. "Aren't you two friends now?"

"We are." Sweetie Belle said. "It's just that he got really bummed out the last time you talked about Crusading in front of him. He may run off again."

The yellow filly pondered this as the two left Sweet Apple Acres. "Ah don't think he will." She said, not entirely sure herself. "Glass seemed like he's come to terms with it."

"All right then." Sweetie Belle said, though she didn't sound all that convinced. Applebloom overlooked her tone, because at that moment, Scootaloo came riding up. Applebloom's eyes widened as she saw the blue scooter that her orange friend was using. The same one that had been broken for days now, fixed. As if by magic. Or the more likely excuse was Glass.

The white colt trotted alongside Scootaloo, who looked ecstatic.

"Hey Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, guess what!" The orange filly exclaimed as she rode up in front of them.

"Your scooter's fixed?" Sweetie Belle said with a touch of sarcasm.

"How'd you know?" Glass said, returning the slightly sardonic, yet friendly, tone.

"Glad ya'll could make it. We were goin' to stop by the Boutique for a Crusading attempt." Applebloom said. She inwardly prepared herself, expecting Glass to give some sort of reaction.

He was about as indifferent as ever, and looked to Scootaloo for her reaction.

"Are we trying for sewing Cutie Marks?" The orange pegasus asked, loosing a tad of her happy momentum.

"That's the plan." Sweetie Belle said.

"Great." Scootaloo responded. Applebloom had no doubt that the orange filly would prefer something more along the lines of extreme sports. However, she was outvoted. Probably. Glass didn't really add his opinion into the mix.

"Looks like we're going to be Cutie Mark Crusader Seamstresses!" Applebloom called out. The three fillies eached raised their hooves for a three way high-five.

"Yay!" They all chorused together. Glass just watched their ritual with mild interest.

Applebloom gave him an inquisitive look, silently asking the white colt if he would be joining them.

He shrugged. "As long as you don't need me to be the mannequin." He answered.

---

The four ponies neared the Carousel Boutique, their conversation seriously lacking anything of substance. As Applebloom made small talk, a question was gnawing at the back of her head. Eventually it caused her to drop out of the chat altogether as she tried to work it out in her head.

"Applebloom?" Glass finally asked, waving a white hoof in front of her face. Applebloom pulled her thoughts back to reality.

"What?" She asked.

"You've been wanting to ask me a question for the last fifteen minutes, and I'm a little sick of waiting." He responded.

"Oh… wait, how did ya…? Nevermind. Ah just wanted to know if you'll be trying sewing with us."

"Nah. I don't think I could live with a sewing Cutie Mark. Seriously, who could spend their entire life sitting at a desk running fabric through a machine? I'd bet they go crazy." Glass stated.

"Just wait until you meet my sister." Sweetie Belle said under her breath.

"I'll probably just sit on the sidelines and offer some encouraging words." Glass continued.

"Like a cheerleader?" Scootaloo playfully teased him.

"No." Glass said firmly. "Definitely not a cheerleader." Then he smiled. "For that, I'd need pom-poms" The joke made all of them laugh, though Applebloom noticed Scootaloo laughed a little bit longer than everypony else.

At least the laughter managed to carry them to the door of the Boutique. As Scootaloo dismounted her ride, Sweetie Belle let everypony inside, and they immediately ran into Rarity.

The unicorn mare was assembling some dresses on a metal rack with wheels. She glanced her head back to see who came in.

"Hello Sweetie Belle." Rarity said, focusing her attention back to arranging the outfits. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah. We were going to try for some Cutie Marks in sewing today. Can we use your studio?"

Rarity paused as she worked on the outfits. "I don't know Sweetie Belle." She said. "I have to deliver these dresses today, so I won't be able to supervise."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure they don't get into any trouble." Obsidian Glass said. At the sound of his voice, Rarity turned around surprised.

"I see. And who are you exactly?" Rarity asked, intrigued by the new pony.

"Glass." The white colt responded. "I'm…"

"He's… uh… a friend." Sweetie Belle interjected. Applebloom watched as Rarity looked back and forth from Glass to Sweetie Belle. Then the unicorn mare got a knowing look on her face.

"Oh, I see." Rarity said, smugly looking right at Sweetie Belle. Applebloom noticed the white filly looked sort of embarrassed. "All right then. I'll just leave you alone with your 'friend'." The white unicorn said, as she left the Boutique. The dress rack followed her, surrounded by a blue glow of magic.

"What was that all about?" Applebloom asked her unicorn friend when Rarity left.

"Uh… nothing." Sweetie Belle said, looking a little weird. "Let's just go upstairs." The yellow filly eyed her friend suspiciously, but followed her up to the Boutique's workshop. Glass and Scootaloo followed, the two of them staying noticeably close together.

When they reached the top of the staircase, Sweetie Belle threw open the nearest door. Inside, Applebloom saw what appeared to be a workshop. The cluttered mess of fabrics, mannequins, and accessories made it hard to determine if this room was for making dresses, or Rarity's personal garbage dump.

"Oh great." Sweetie Belle said, surveying the mess in front of them.

"Do we have to clean all that if we want to Crusade?" Scootaloo complained.

"If so, you've got quite a bit of cleaning to do." Glass said. The three fillies looked at him, irritated.

"Ya mean ya won't help us clean all this." Applebloom asked.

"I'm not trying to get my Cutie Mark." Glass responded in a sort of mocking defensive tone.

"In that case, at least sit on the sidelines and offer some encouraging cheers." Scootaloo said. Glass actually laughed. Not the first time Applebloom had heard this noise, but it never sounded as genuine as this. When the white colt was laughing in earnest, he made an interesting sound. Glass's laugh was like a warm summer night breeze whistling through tall blades of grass. A sound that could make anypony relax.

The yellow filly also noticed Scootaloo's reaction to Glass's laugh. The orange pegasus was grinning wildly. Her cheeks were also slightly flushed with red. For the first time, Applebloom wondered what actually transpired last night, besides Scootaloo's scooter getting fixed.

It actually took only a short time straightening up the Boutique. And by straightening up, Applebloom meant that the three fillies shoved almost everything they could onto onside of the room, leaving just enough space to work at.

Since the Boutique had one employee, it had only one sewing machine as well. Applebloom and Scootaloo agreed to let Sweetie Belle try it first, seeing as how being seamstresses was her idea in the first place.

After some trial and error, Sweetie Belle managed to turn the machine on, and Scootaloo grabbed some fabric to feed the hungry mechanism. With nothing of her own to do, Applebloom waited off to the side with Glass.

They stood in silence, just watching Sweetie Belle's attempt. Applebloom was more interested than Glass, but only because she would eventually be trying the same thing herself.

"How long do your attempts usually last?" Glass asked after Sweetie Belle spent an excessive amount of time on the machine.

"Normally they end pretty quickly. Usually we have to stop when something blows up or we get covered in tree sap." Applebloom replied.

"Does that happen a lot?" Glass asked, interested.

"The tree sap part… more often than ya think. The blowing up was a bit of an exaggeration. It only happened once." After a disbelieving look from Glass, Applebloom amended her statement. "Fine… twice. But that's only because nopony warned us that pool cleaning chemicals are fire hazards."

"You set fire to a pool." Glass realized.

"No, we only scorched the edges a bit. And set fire to the diving board. And some inflatables that were in the water." Applebloom said, realizing the list was increasing to incredulous proportions.

Glass didn't seem the least bit fazed though. In fact, he grinned. "Maybe I should reconsider joining the Crusaders then, if that's how your average day goes."

Surprise filled Applebloom, and then quickly turned to happiness. "Really?!"

"Yeah, maybe." Glass responed. Applebloom smiled brightly. It wasn't a guarantee, but it seemed like Obsidian Glass was actually willing to join the club. For Applebloom, this was great news. Ever since Glass had first turned down her offer to join the Crusaders, the yellow filly had been in a bit of a slump trying to figure out what it was about the club that Glass didn't like. Now that Glass was warming up to the idea, Applebloom was beginning to come out of her little burst of depression.

Then the panicked sound of Sweetie Belle screaming snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Help!" The white unicorn filly screamed. Applebloom looked over at her friend and processed the emergency in less than a second. Some of Sweetie Belle's purple mane had gotten caught in the sewing machine. Scootaloo was already trying to pull Sweetie Belle free, but it was a dying effort.

Immediately, Applebloom and Glass rushed to the aid of their friend. Applebloom grabbed the sewing machine and pulled on it, while Scootaloo mimicked the action. The result was about the same. More of Sweetie Belle's mane was stitched into the fabric, and she screamed in panic.

Glass took a different approach. He grabbed a pair of scissors on the workbench, and rushed over to Sweetie's side. In one swift motion, he hacked off the bit of Sweetie Belle's mane that were heading for the ravenous sewing machine. She fell backwards, now suddenly free, and landed on the ground. The machine stitched the last few bits of purple hair into the fabric. Applebloom dropped the sewing machine onto the floor. It made a whirring sound, and Scootaloo unplugged it from the wall.

Glass walked over to Sweetie Belle. "Are you all right?" He asked. Sweetie Belle nodded. Glass offered a hoof, and helped the white unicorn filly to stand up. "Sorry about your mane." He said.

Sweetie Belle ran her hoof along the back of her mane, exploring its shortness. "It's okay." She replied. Glancing over at the sewing machine. "I'm probably lucky I still have a mane."

"Ah guess we shouldn't try again." Applebloom says. Scootaloo gave the sewing machine a swift kick.

"I agree. There is no way I'm using this beast." The orange filly said.

"Shame the whole seamstresses idea didn't pan out." Glass told the group in earnest. "Did you guys have any other plans today besides this?"

The trio looked at each other. "No. Ah guess we hadn't planned very far ahead." Applebloom said.

"You can just go home if your feeling bored, Glass." Sweetie Belle said.

The white colt's expression darkened a little. "I don't think I'll be going home for a while." He replied.

"Why not?" Applebloom asked, confused. "Didn't ya go home last night?"

"No." Scootaloo answered for Glass. "He spent the night at my place."

"Wait, what?" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said simultaneously. They looked back form the white colt to the orange pegasus. To the yellow filly, Scoots and Glass's slightly off kilter behavior began to make sense.

"You mean you haven't gone home in two days?" Sweetie Belle asked, continuing the conversation while Applebloom was piecing the puzzle together.

"I haven't." Glass said casually.

"Glass, your parents must be so worried about you!" Scootaloo said.

The white colt grunted. "Maybe one of them. But both my parents? Doubt it."

Sweetie Belle crossed in front of Glass. "You need to go home. At least tell your parents that you're okay."

The dark-haired colt shook his head. "That's not a good idea."

"Why not?" Scootaloo asked.

"Because of my dad." Glass said solemnly.

The trio of fillies remained silent for a moment. They all remembered what Glass had told them about his father.

"Ya should still go home." Applebloom said. "Yer mom must be worried sick."

At the mention of his mother, Glass looked away. Scootaloo walked up and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"We'll come with you if it helps." She said. Glass looked at her, then Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Neither of them hesitated before nodding.

"I'll be right there on the sidelines, offering some encouraging words." Scootaloo whispered to him. Even so, Applebloom managed to hear it, and it only added to the evidence of a new theory she was forming.

"Okay then." Glass said finally. "Let it be known that on this day my friends have peer pressured me into a horrible idea, and I went along with it."

Despite his sarcastic words, the Crusaders smiled, convinced they were doing a good deed.

---

All right, finally got this chapter uploaded. In fact, you guys may have had to wait another week if it weren't for a series of snow days for me. Now, here's some bad news... I might have to put this story on hold for a while. And while you slam your head into your computer screen in a frustrated rage, let explain why. In a few days from this chapter being uploaded, the second book in The Saga of Frostburn will be posted. That, and along with yet another side project, means I'm overbooked. (... That was very 'punny' of me... ok I'll stop). So yeah, I may have to put this story on hold. We'll just have to see.

Chapter Fourteen – Meet the Parents

The orange pegasus filly flapped her wings to propel her scooter through the busy streets of Ponyville. Behind her, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were cantering to keep up. Behind them, was Glass. The white colt walked at a staggeringly slow pace, as if he dreaded every second of this. It was making Scootaloo a little impatient. She slowed down to let her friends take the lead, resuming pace when she ended up next to Glass.

"You okay?" She asked him. Glass brought his eyes up from the ground.

"No." He said in a melancholy voice. "No, I'm not doing so good."

"Come on." Scootaloo said, playfully nudging his shoulder. "I'm sure it won't be so bad."

"Just wait." He said. "It will be."

Scootaloo frowned. She didn't want Glass acting so unhappy. Should she not make him go through with this? No, it had to be done. His parents needed to know he was all right after being on his own for so long. Even if he didn't want to see his father, Scootaloo was sure he was worried about him in some capacity.

"Hey Glass?" Applebloom called back. "How much further."

"Left at the corner." He yelled up front. "First house on the row." Applebloom nodded and shifted focus to following the directions. Scootaloo got the feeling that Glass was about to flat out run away or do his disappearing act if they got much closer. She decided to stick by him for the remainder of the trip.

Glass remained pretty quiet for the rest of the journey to his house. His melancholy attitude didn't improve when the four of them found his building. It was a quaint, one-story home in Ponyville's resident district. Scootaloo didn't see anything that made it stand out from any other house. In fact, if Glass hadn't stopped in front of it she may have passed by altogether.

"Okay." Sweetie Belle said when they had stood outside for several minutes. "Glass, go ahead and knock." Glass blinked once, but merely stared at the ground otherwise.

Scootaloo got off her scooter and put a hoof around his shoulder. He glanced her way and stared into her eyes.

"Please?" Scootaloo asked. The white colt sighed.

"Just… don't think any less of me for what's about to happen." He said. Glass took three steps towards his home, and swiftly hit the door twice before any of the fillies could ponder about what he just said.

It was a moment of silence right before the turn of the knob was heard. The door steadily opened, revealing a chestnut mare with a ruby mane and bright purple eyes. It took less than a second for a mixture of surprise and joy to registered on her face.

"Obsidian!" Her ecstatic voice squeaked out. "I missed you so much!" She wrapped the white colt in a bear hug that made Scootaloo wince just from seeing it. Even Glass couldn't keep his poker face.

Through slightly clenched teeth he managed to say, "Good to… see you too… mom!" He breathlessly managed. Glass's mother realized that she was almost choking her son, and set him down.

"Sorry honey." She apologized. "I just haven't heard from you in so long…"

"It was only a weekend." Glass said trying to reassure her. "I've been fine, honestly."

"But where did you go? Where have you been sleeping? Have you even eaten anything in the past few days? You're looking skinnier." Glass's mother then noticed Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle.

"Mom, these are my friends." Glass said, answering her question before she asked it.

Glass's mother smiled warmly at them all. It was a smile that made Scootaloo feel great on the inside. She walked over to the three of them. As she did, Scootaloo noticed a line of purple dots that were barely visible on her neck. Bruises.

"It's so nice to meet you all." The chestnut mare said. "I'm Glass Candle, and you've probably guessed by now that I'm Obsidian's mother."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Candle." Scootaloo said. The ruby haired mare just smiled.

"I can't stand being called Misses." Glass Candle informed them. "You can just call me Candle."

"Well it's great ta meet ya, Candle." Applebloom said. Sweetie Belle nodded her hello.

"So, I take it my little Obsidian's been driving you all crazy over the past weekend?"

"You could say that." Sweetie Belle said, eyeing her shortened mane. Scootaloo remembered all the events of the past few days, and agreed. It had been crazy… but also amazing.

"Look mom," Glass said, nervously eyeing the door to his house. "It's been great catching up and all, but–"

"Candle?" A gruff voice inside angrily called out. The white colt winced. "That better not be who I think it is." The chestnut mare's eyes shrunk with fear.

"Obsidian, honey, you should go before…" Glass stepped around his mother, a grim look on his face.

"It's okay mom." He assured her. "I know what I'm doing." Scootaloo could tell from his expression that Glass had a plan, one he wasn't proud of.

The door to Glass's home was forcibly thrown open, making a loud clatter as it banged against the inside of the house. The pony that walked out made all three of the Crusaders gasp. Based on Glass's stories about his father, Scootaloo had built up a mental image of him in her mind. That image was shattered when the stallion clumsily walked outside.

The stallion looked exactly like Glass.

Same pale, white coat. Same dark, slick hair. Same silver streak in his mane. Same piercing green eyes.

There were a few differences though. Aside from obviously being taller and older than Glass, his father sported a tipped mug as his Cutie Mark. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot red and had dark circles under them. In one hoof, Glass's father held a brown bottle, probably filled with liquor. As the stallion stumbled forward, and squinted in the sunlight, Scootaloo realized he was drunk. Or at the very least he was hung over.

The stallion who looked like Glass blinked with slow recognition. "So it's you." He slurred. "Come crawlin' back to say you're sorry?"

"Good to see you too, dad." Glass said, voice dripping with so much sarcasm that he practically spat out the last word. "Still putting away the booze I see."

Glass's father grunted angrily. "Now listen here you little punk." He growled. "You've been nothing but a pain in the neck since day one. I'm willing to be the nice guy here and let you return home. All you have to do is admit you're wrong and apologize."

"Apologize? Wow. I'm impressed, dad." Glass said, causing an eyebrow raise from his father. "Impressed that a pathetic drunk like yourself can even say a three syllable word!"

"Glass!" Scootaloo called out in shock. His quip had been funny, but definitely ill-timed. "What are you doing?"

"You little piece of shit." Glass's father said darkly. The white colt didn't blink.

"Onyx…" Candle said, speaking to Glass's father in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

"You've had this coming for a long time." Glass's father said. He moved faster than any intoxicated pony should be able to, striking Glass across the face with a well-placed swipe. The Crusader's and Candle gasped in horror.

The white colt recoiled slightly, but did a fairly decent job of hiding any pain. Onyx tried again to strike Glass, this time with the bottle. The white colt managed to duck down just in time to avoid it, but not the kick that followed.

Glass fell to the ground, seething indecipherable words through his teeth as he clutched his side. Onyx moved closer, ready to strike his son again. Scootaloo however, was through watching from the sidelines.

The orange pegasus ran forward to Glass's side, screaming with fury at his father.

"You monster! What's wrong with you!" She shouted.

"Scootaloo, don't!" Glass cried from the ground.

Onyx regarded her with discontent, and raised the hoof with the beer bottle in it to strike her. Scoots eyes bulged with fear as she realized Onyx wasn't going to spare her simply because she was a filly, or because he didn't know her. Without anytime to dodge, she simply shut her eyes and braced herself.

She felt the bottle swoosh through the air. She heard the deafening crack as it made contact.

But she didn't feel any pain.

Scootaloo snapped her eyes open and saw Glass lying in front of her. Shards from a broken bottle decorated his hair, and fresh cuts lined his face. The putrid smell of alcohol permeated the air as the remained contents of the bottle had splashed over him.

Mortified, Scootaloo looked up at Onyx for his reaction. Glass's father showed complete indifference to what he had just done. The white stallion examined the broken bottle in his hoof.

"That's twice you've ruined my beer." Onyx declared to his son. Glass moaned softly. "Maybe now you'll have learned your lesson." The drunkard pony hobbled back inside grumbling to himself.

Glass Candle immediately ran over to her son, practically knocking Scootaloo down as she did. "Obsidian?" Candle choked out from sadness.

"It's okay, mom." Glass muttered. "I'm fine."

"No you aren't!" Candle declared, horrified. She brushed some of the bottle shards out of Glasses hair. "Obsidian, why do you keep doing this?" She sobbed. "You know how he gets…"

"Candle!" The annoyed voice of Onyx suddenly shouted out. "Get in here!" Candle's head whipped from the door to her son.

"Go." Glass said. "I'll be fine."

Candle sniffled. "Are you sure?" She asked. Glass nodded.

"Don't worry Candle." Scootaloo interjected. "I– we'll make sure he's all right." Candle looked from Scootaloo to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The other Crusaders had finally come out of their paralyzed shock and nodded along with the orange filly.

"O-okay." Candle said shakily. "Obsidian… I love you."

"Love you too, mom." He whispered. The four of them watched as the sobbing chestnut mare uncertainly walked back inside, glancing over her shoulder constantly. She eventually reached the door and slowly shut it in compliance to the voice inside.

"Glass?" Scootaloo said, returning to his side. The white colt blinked, his eyes out of focus. He was still recovering from the last blow. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom ran up, each concerned.

"Are ya okay?" Applebloom asked. Glass nodded.

"What were you thinking?" Sweetie Belle demanded. Scootaloo wanted to know the same thing. Glass's eyes finally righted themselves, and with some help from the orange pegasus he managed to sit up.

"I'll explain everything." He said. The white colt shot a glance at his house. "But not here."

"Do you want us to take you to a hospital?" Scootaloo asked. Glass wiped some of the blood from the cuts on his face, looking at the sticky, red fluid that was left on his foreleg.

"No." He said.

---

Half an hour later, Scootaloo found herself staring down at a chocolate chip sundae with absolutely no appetite. Sugar Cube Corner was relatively empty for a Sunday afternoon, and the lack of noise in the background was very apparent to her eardrums as she waited.

To her left Sweetie Belle sat with a frozen treat similar to hers. The purple-haired filly poked at it with a spoon, eating about as much as Scootaloo was. Applebloom was to the orange filly's right with a plate of cookies. She had managed to eat some, but it was clear her appetite was also stifled by the events from earlier.

In front of Scootaloo was an empty seat just across the table. Glass had excused himself to the restroom so he could wash away the alcohol stench and the blood.

Your fault. A small voice in her head whispered. Scootaloo winced at the thought. It was her fault that Glass was that roughed up. Onyx meant for that strike to be for her. She knew it. Glass knew it. Her friends knew it. But Glass stepped in at the last possible second and took the beating for her. She was touched that he went that far to protect her, but mortified for the same reason.

Scootaloo had tried multiple times to try and get him to a hospital to have his cuts looked at, but each time he refused. It was just one of the growing concerns about Glass that she had. It also just added to her guilt that he was suffering without medical attention. The orange filly was also curious as to why he staunchly refused to get attention for his wounds. There were a lot of other questions too, and Scootaloo was determined to get answers.

"How long does it take to splash some water in your face?" Sweetie Belle asked, commenting on the abnormal amount of time Glass was taking in the bathroom.

"Ya think he's disappearin' on us?" Applebloom asked.

"No." Scootaloo said quickly. "He wouldn't do that to me."

"Ya mean us, right?" Applebloom asked inquisitively. Both the yellow filly and the white unicorn looked at Scootaloo quizzically.

"Uh…" Scootaloo felt her face get hot. Now was a really bad time for her to give away the secret relationship (it was a relationship, right?) between her and Glass.

Thankfully, she was spared that humiliating moment as Glass seemingly materialized by the table.

"Hey." He said. That one word took the focus completely off of Scootaloo. The three filly's heads swiveled to see the white colt. Glass had cleaned away most of the blood that had coated his face earlier. All that was left was a multitude of small scars across his cheek and one that was right above his eye brow. The wounds were already beginning to close up but Scootaloo knew she would have felt better if she had insisted on taking him to the hospital. The orange filly also knew that she never would have convinced Glass to go.

"Why don't ya sit down, Glass." Applebloom said. "We gotta a lot of questions for ya." The colt complied, filling in the empty seat at the table.

"Wha–" Sweetie Belle began.

"What the hay was all that?!" Scootaloo screamed, interrupting the purple-haired filly. She didn't acknowledge the offended glance her friend shot her and instead barreled forward. "How could you have let us even convince you to go back there? Why did your father beat you? Why didn't you try to fight back? Why won't you go to a hospital? Why did you…" Why did you save me? Scootaloo didn't put voice to her last question. She just let it hang in the silence of the table.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom turned from Scootaloo's outburst to see Glass's reaction. The white colt waited for her barrage of question to cease. Then he sighed.

"It was my choice to go back." Glass said. "I could have easily said no, but I have my reasons. As for why my father beat me… it's a different reason every week."

"Wait, he beats you every week?" Sweetie Belle asked in shock.

"If he remembers I exist, then yes." Glass said. "That's also why I'm not going to the hospital. There wouldn't be a point."

Silence.

Scootaloo had to wait for her brain to process exactly what Glass had said. When it did, she was furious. What sort of horrible father would do that to his own child? It was horrible. Judging by the looks on Applebloom and Sweetie's faces, they felt the same way.

"Why do ya stay there if it's that bad?" The yellow filly inquired.

"One reason." Glass replied. "And you've met her."

The puzzle pieces clicked together. "Your mother." Scootaloo said with realization. Glass nodded slightly.

"I don't understand." Sweetie Belle said. "How does she fit into all this?"

"I'm not the only pony he abuses." Glass said. Another puzzle piece clicked together in Scootaloo's mind. The bruises on Candle's neck suddenly made more sense. "I don't know why my mom stays with that jerk when she deserves so much better." Glass continued. "I like to think it's because she did love him, once; before he became awful. Whatever the real reason is, she isn't leaving him anytime soon."

"But why don't ya fight back?" Applebloom asked. "We've seen ya take down a timberwolf, yesterday. And today, ya just stood there as Onyx attacked. Ah can't think of any reason why that is, unless…"

"Unless you let him beat you." Scootaloo finished.

More silence.

"Yes." Glass said shakily. A shocked gasp from Applebloom followed, along with a noise of disbelief from Sweetie Belle.

"Why?" The white filly managed to ask.

Glass looked away. "I think I'm done explaining." He whispered. The white colt started to get up, but Scootaloo moved in a blur of orange to block his path.

"Oh no you don't!" She said as Glass avoided looking at her. "You're not leaving just yet. You can't leave us with that without some kind of explanation."

Glass finally faced her, water building up behind his eyes. Scootaloo realized she had pushed him too hard, but it was also too late.

"He leaves her alone when he's beating me!" Glass screamed at her. Water streaked down his face, the salty tears passing over his cuts. "He'll ignore her if I'm around to beat on. That's why I had to go back! If I'm gone for too long, my mother becomes his personal punching bag! I have to let him beat me! I've been doing it for so long I'm surprised it's not my Cutie Mark!"

Scootaloo was speechless for a moment. She now realized exactly who she was dealing with. This wasn't Glass, the enigma with a million emotional barriers. This was Glass, a pony who was in all sense of the word, was shattered.

The white colt stood in front of her, his entire body shaking and tears running down his face. "I… I didn't know." She whispered.

"Of course you don't!" Glass screamed again. "Nopony knows what it's like to let that drunken bastard beat the shit out of them but me, and that's the way it's has to stay. I'm not going to let my mother, or you, or anypony else suffer at his hooves if I can prevent it just by being there."

"But it shouldn't have to be that way." Scootaloo insisted. Glass shook his head.

"I knew you wouldn't understand. Nopony ever understands why it has to be me." Glass bit his lip as he finally managed to stop the steady flow of tears from his eyes. "Goodbye, Scootaloo." He said, and walked right passed her.

Scootaloo watched, unable to move until Glass slammed the shop's door behind himself. The orange filly turned her head to her friends. Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom's mouths were agape.

Scootaloo turned back to the closed doors in disarray. She shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have forced Glass open and dissected his life. She shouldn't have forced him to tears in just to make her understand. She certainly shouldn't have done all of that in a bakery of all places.

And as Scootaloo went through all the things she shouldn't have done, she realized something she couldn't do. She couldn't leave it like this. Even though she only known Glass for a short time, been his friend an even shorter amount of time, and been his… something more even less than that, she shouldn't just let him run away like that.

She didn't want last night to be their only night.

"Glass?!"

---

You may have noticed that the K+ rating is now a T, and that's solely because of this chapter. Domestic abuse is a serious issue, and firstly I want everypony to know that I am not trying to satire it in any way. Secondly, I don't condone it in any sense of the word. I have no personal experience on the subject and therefore probably did a bad job representing what situations like these are really like.

On that note, Glass's way of dealing with it is not to be duplicated by anyone. If you are in abusive in a relationship... Get out of it as soon as possible. Glass's actions do not represent the appropriate way to deal with these kinds of conflicts, nor do they represent my personal feelings on how it should be handled. His actions are based on how I think he - as a character in a fanfiction about a show of candy-colored ponies - would react to the circumstances.

This chapter was not easy for me to write, nor was it fun to write. In fact, I've been putting it off for so long because of how I knew I would have to write it, and making you guys wait over a month for it is something I apologize for. There will be no more delaying chapters now, because I am on a stricter schedule. Chapters for my three stories will be written on a weekly basis in a rotating order, with the next one on the list being chapter three of Forbidden.

And now that I've made you sit through the longest author's note in history, I do want to give you a reward. Therefore, in a few weeks when I get to post the next chapter of this story, I am making an Obsidian Glass POV. I'll see you all next time.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Fifteen – Risky Business

A pale white colt with dark hair streaked through the streets of Ponyville. He was doing his best to distance himself from the bakery called Sugar Cube Corner, but more precisely the fillies inside.

Though his leafy green eyes were no longer flooded with tears, the very real possibility of him crying again was threatening to return. Racing through his mind were hundreds of thoughts, each vying for its opportunity to fester in his mind. On top of that, he couldn't stop replaying his last conversation over and over again in his head.

Why Scootaloo? He thought to himself. Why had she done that to him? He thought he could trust her. Thought he could have something special with her. And then she ripped him open and tore through some of his deepest secrets.

He'd made a mistake, letting other ponies slide through the emotional walls he'd constructed. That's what it was… a mistake. Glass should have known that from the beginning. If there was anything his horrible excuse for a father had taught him, it was that relationships like these never worked out.

The white colt had been running for too long, so he cantered into a narrow alleyway to rest. The alley was just wide enough for him to stand with his head pressed against the brick wall. He did just that while stifling any more sobs that formed.

Breaking from his run turned out to be a bad idea. Shortly after he'd stopped, a certain orange pegasus filly pulled up on a blue scooter. She dismounted, flung her helmet off to the side, and ran up to him.

"Glass?" Scootaloo tentatively asked, placing an orange hoof on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, unable to look at her.

"Glass, I'm sorry." Scootaloo said, her voice shaking. Glass shut his eyes, forehead still pressed against the wall. He didn't respond.

"Please Glass, just… just look at me."

Reluctantly complying, Glass opened his eyes, and gave Scootaloo a sideways glance. Her face was a knot of concern, beads of sweat on her forehead from chasing him down.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I… I had no idea what I was forcing you to do. I should have seen you weren't comfortable talking this out." Glass thought she sounded genuine. But then again…

"I forgive you." He finally said, his voice not nearly as smooth as it usually was. Scootaloo's face brightened at those words.

"Really? You do?" The orange filly asked a notable rise in happiness in her voice.

"I do." Glass said, bringing his forehead off the brick wall. "But Scootaloo… I think we have to stop whatever it is we've started." Her face fell as he spoke the words, and Glass felt his heart sink along with it. It wasn't easy, but he had to say it.

"W-why?" Scootaloo asked. Glass took a deep breath.

"I can't…" the white colt paused, searching for the right words. The least painful words. "I can't be with you… right now. After everything that's just happened how can I put any trust in you? How can I know you won't tear through my emotions again?"

"I swear I won't!" The orange filly cried out. "I'd never do that again if I know I'm hurting you!"

"And if you don't know?" Glass asked. He let the question hang in the air for a moment. Scootaloo floundered for an answer, but ended up staring at him, mouth agape.

"I can't go through that again, Scoots." He whispered. "I'd prefer to just keep my emotions bottled up. It's better for everypony that way."

Tears began to form in the orange pegasus' eyes, but Glass found it too difficult to watch. He shut his eyes again wanting to run off again.

"Please don't do this Glass." Scootaloo said. "I know you don't want to do this."

"I don't." He responded. "But I feel like I don't have a choice. I can't be around you if all it's going to lead to is more pain like this." The white colt turned to face the long narrow alleyway, prepared to walk away.

As he started to, Scootaloo called out. "Wait."

The fresh cuts on his cheek throbbed. They reminded him that he took that beating to protect her. They reminded him why he did it too. Glass waited.

"I can't promise you that I won't hurt you." Scootaloo said. "Nopony in this world can promise that. Pain is a part of life, Glass… but I know I don't want to hurt you, and I know you don't want to hurt me. Especially not right now. Please give me another chance. Give us another chance."

Glass turned around, but his face still spoke all the uncertainty he had. Scootaloo seemed to see this, and gave a dejected look.

"Out of all the risks I've taken in my life," He said. "This one is probably going to be the biggest." Scootaloo's face did a one-eighty, immediately becoming brighter.

"Does this mean?"

"Yes."

The orange filly moved as a blur, hugging Glass tightly. Her tiny wings vibrated adorably fast with enthusiasm. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She beamed. "I promise you won't regret this!"

Glass placed his forelegs around her, hugging her back gently and pressed his muzzle into her magenta mane. "Hopefully, neither will you."

Their hug was silent for a moment, Scootaloo ecstatically smiling while Glass still found himself in an air of uncertainty. Finally, the orange filly ended the silence, but not the embrace.

"I guess you can't really go home tonight." She said. His cuts throbbed again, the memory still fresh in his mind.

"No, probably not." He replied.

"You can stay at my place again if you want."

"I'd like that." He said. Scootaloo squeezed him even tighter, no doubt elated. Finally, they disentangled themselves, both blushing in a similar fashion.

"We should probably get going then." Scootaloo said, observing the time. Glass looked and saw that Celestia had already begun the sun's daily descent. With all the events of the day, the white colt had barely been aware that time had been passing.

"Sounds good." He said. He waited for Scootaloo to retrieve her helmet and leap onto her scooter. Glass trotted along at a comfortable pace that the orange filly could easily match. They didn't feel the need to talk much on the journey to Scootaloo's home, and ended up spending the entire time in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence by any means, but more of a peaceful, content one.

That ended when the made it to Scootaloo's house and saw a light on through one of the windows. The orange filly skidded to a halt, surprise covering her face.

"What's wrong?" Glass immediately asked.

"I think my dad's home." She informed him. "And at the worst possible time."

"Ah." Glass said, realizing what this meant. Scootaloo's father did even know he existed, and would definitely not approve of him sleeping over.

"You're going to have to find someplace else to sleep tonight." The orange filly told him.

"I can probably just sleep in Applebloom's barn again." He told her. Scootaloo looked content that he would have someplace to go, but still upset that it wasn't her place. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, okay?"

Scootaloo nodded, and he turned to start heading for Sweet Apple Acres.

"Uh… Glass?" The orange filly called out to him. He stopped and began to turn around.

"Yea-" Before he could finish speaking, Scootaloo closed the gap between them and planted a soft kiss on his cut cheek, causing a tingle to spread through the still tender wounds. Caught completely off guard, Glass stood in stunned silence.

"See you in school." Scootaloo said with her face beat red; though not quite as red as his.

The orange filly propelled her scooter over to her house, leaving Glass to ponder about what just happened.

---

Scootaloo made it to her house, her blush not receding. She quickly opened the door and bounced inside, leaving her scooter by the coat rack. Did I really just do that? She thought to herself. Yes, she had. Did he like it? Was that a good reaction? Oh, please tell me I haven't royally screwed up!

The orange filly was barely able to second-guess her actions before she started noticing the change in her house. Her father's suitcase was set up next to the coffee table. It was still packed.

Taking off her helmet and setting it by her scooter, the magenta-haired pegasus walked into the kitchen. In one chair of the kitchen table sat a reddish-orange stallion with a purple mane that held a few gray hairs. He wore a white button down shirt and a red tie. His Cutie Mark was a briefcase. He had a professional manner to his posture that seemed to dominate everything else about him. There was not doubt about it; that was Blank Check, her father.

Sitting across from him, was a wall-eyed, blonde mare that Scootaloo hadn't expected to see. Derpy Hooves was making small talk with her father while they drank coffee. She rubbed her eyes to be sure it wasn't some sort of delusion.

"Oh, hello Scootaloo." Derpy said, noticing her and confirming that this was reality. Check turned his head to see his daughter.

"Hey, kiddo." He said, using the same quasi-nickname he always gave her.

"Hi dad." She said. "Hi Derpy."

"I'm glad I managed catch you before I leave." Her father said.

"What?" She asked mood taking a turn for the worse. "You're leaving again? But you just got back." Blank Check flashed a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, I know kiddo. But the bank's opening up a new branch in Saddle Arabia in a few days, and I need to be there."

"How long?" Scootaloo asked, concealing her disappointment.

"Two weeks." Her father said. Scootaloo's eyes widened. He'd never been gone that long since… since before her mother died. Did he just expect her to live on her own for all that time?

Before she could voice that question, he answered it. "It's probably not a good idea to leave you on your own for so long. So I've talked it over with Derpy, and she's all right with having you move in with her for the next few weeks. If that's okay with you, of course."

The orange filly was surprised that he'd even bothered to ask her opinion. However, one reassuring look from the kind mare across the table was all she needed.

"That'll be fine." She said. Derpy smiled, and her father nodded.

"Great." He said, checking the clock mounted on the wall. "I've got to run or I'll miss my train." Standing up, he walked past Scootaloo, barely taking the time to playfully ruffle her hair. "See ya in a week, kiddo."

"Bye dad." She replied half-heartedly. Blank Check grabbed his suitcase from the living room and was out the door. She watched it quickly shut behind him before turning back to an empathetic Derpy.

"I'm sorry." The gray mare said, walking over to her.

"I… I had so much I wanted to tell him." Scootaloo said recalling what an outlandish weekend it had been. "It's like he never has time for me anymore."

Derpy took her hoof and patted Scootaloo's mane back to its original style much like a mother would. "I know it's hard." She said. "But I'm sure he's trying. Maybe some day soon you two will be able to sit down and talk about things without him running off."

"Yeah." Scootaloo replied doubtfully. "Maybe." Derpy sensed the disappointment in Scootaloo and brought her in for a warm hug. Scootaloo did not hesitate to return it.

---

The road to Sweet Apple Acres was dusty and long, but Glass didn't mind either characteristics of his walk. He was more focused on all the conflicting emotions that were whirling in his head.

The white colt was not sure if he should be hanging his head low, or have a smile plastered on his face. His cut cheek tingled in remembrance of the spot were Scootaloo had kissed it. The memory brought a smile to his face, but it also reminded him of the several new scars he bore on that cheek and the smile fled his face.

Glass grunted, angry with himself for not knowing what to feel right now. He was glad to have patched things up with Scootaloo. He was upset that his friends had found out about the secrets he constantly attempted to keep hidden. He was… confused.

Trails of dust were kicked up from behind him as Glass made his through the gates of the apple orchard. The sun was much lower in the sky, bathing the farm in a golden glow as he meandered over to the house.

He tapped on the screen door twice, unsure who would answer. A yellow filly with a bow in her hair appeared on the other side, a surprised look on her face.

"Glass?" She asked, the screen door creaking open.

"Hey Applebloom." He said.

"How are ya feelin'?" She asked.

"Tired." He responded. "Is it all right if I sleep in your barn again?" The red-haired filly winced.

"Ah'm sorry Glass, but mah brother's been in the barn since noon repaintin' the inside. He tends ta work really late."

"Oh." Glass said, understanding.

"Can't ya go to Scootaloo's place?" Applebloom said, then backtracked, realizing what she just said. "Ah mean, have the two of you… made up yet?"

"We have." Glass assured her, and the yellow filly responded with a relieved sigh. "But her dad's home, so I can't spend the night there."

The gears in Applebloom's head turned for a moment, before she offered a suggestion. "What about Sweetie Belle's place? Can't ya go there?"

"I could try." Glass said. Applebloom offered a nod of confidence.

"Ah'm sure she'd let ya stay the night." There was a brief pause. "Ah'm glad ya worked things out with Scootaloo. She was awfully hurt when you just ran out like that."

Glass eyes sunk, recalling the memory. "Yeah…"

"Ya like eachother, don'tcha?" Applebloom asked.

Glass blinked, curious as to how Applebloom came to that conclusion. "Yes, we do" He said, seeing no reason to conceal it from his friend. Applebloom got a wide grin on her face.

"Ah knew it! Scootaloo never was good at hidin' things like that."

Glass offered a small smile in return. "I should get going." He said, beginning to turn away.

"Uh, Glass." Applebloom said. "About yer parents… Ah didn't mean ta–"

"Applebloom." The white colt said, cutting her off. "I'm not really ready to talk about that yet."

"Ah understand." She replied. "Good night, Glass."

"Night." He said, watching his friend shut the screen door. He trotted off, and started down the path to Sweetie Belle's house.

The walk to the unicorn filly's home was much shorter than the walk to Sweet Apple Acres, but by the time Glass had reached Carousel Boutique, Luna had finished raising the moon, and it was dark out.

There was only one light on in the building, which Glass guessed was in Sweetie's bedroom. Picking up a small stone, he lightly tossed it at the window that the light was coming out of. It pinged off, and fell back to the ground. Two seconds later, Sweetie was at the window to investigate the source of the noise.

She opened the window upon seeing him. "Glass?" She called out. "What are you doing here?"

"I need a place to sleep." He yelled up to her. Even though the white colt was two stories below the unicorn filly, he could practically see her weighing her options.

"I'll be right down." She said, and disappeared inside. Glass trotted around to the front door. A moment later, he heard the tumblers unlock and it opened up.

"Come on in." Sweetie Belle said, slightly hesitant.

"Thanks." He replied, walking in. Sweetie Belle shut the door behind him.

"You're lucky my sister is still out making a dress delivery in Canterlot." The white unicorn said.

He nodded. "I'm just glad to have somewhere to sleep tonight."

"I guess Scootaloo and Applebloom couldn't take you in?" Sweetie asked. He shook his head. "You're not still mad at Scootaloo… are you?" The unicorn asked cautiously.

"No. We talked it out." He said, and felt his cheek tingle again.

"Okay then." Sweetie Belle said. She moved towards the stairs and motioned for him to follow. He did, and at the top of the steps he followed the unicorn filly into her room. She begain digging around in her closet, looking for something.

"I know I have an old sleeping bag in here from the last time Rarity and I went camping." She mumbled to herself. "You can use it for tonight." Glass thought back to the posh indigo haired unicorn from earlier that day.

"Really? She went camping?" He asked her. Sweetie Belle half-smirked at him as she continued to rummage around.

"It was a while ago… and I practically had to beg her to do it. Oh, here it is!" Sweetie Belle's horn lit up in a light green aura and she struggled to manipulate a rolled up pink floral sleeping bag out of her closet. She offered it to Glass, who eyeballed it.

"Pink flowers?" He asked. Sweetie Belle groaned.

"Oh, colt up." She said. "It's flowers or the floor." Begrudgingly, Glass accepted the wad of a sleeping bad.

"Thanks." He said earnestly. He unrolled the pink flower pattern, with the head coming to rest near Sweetie Belle's nightstand. As his gaze shifted upwards, Glass noticed a small square board on top of the stand, with several oddly shaped wooden figures. "What's that?" He asked, pointing to it.

"Oh, that's just my old chess set." Sweetie Belle explained.. "Rarity used to play it with me all the time, but ever since she started the Boutique she's been too busy most days. Hey… do you know how to play?"

"No." Glass replied, shaking his head. "Chess is a two pony game." He said with no more elaboration needed.

"Oh." Sweetie Belle realized. "Well… I could teach you."

Glass's line of sight shifted from the chessboard to Sweetie Belle. He was tired, but knew he wouldn't be falling asleep for a while anyways. The white colt also needed something to distract his mind from his befuddled emotions.

"Sure." He responded simply. Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Great! I think you'll like it. You see, the object of the game is to use your pieces to capture your opponent's king…" For several minutes, Sweetie Belle laid out the basics of the game to Glass. He didn't find it particularly difficult to grasp, and eventually agreed to play a round with her.

Sweetie made the first move, sliding a pawn two spaces forward with a nudge of green magic. "So, if Scootaloo's not mad at you anymore, how come you couldn't spend the night at her house?" The unicorn asked with curiosity.

Glass maneuvered one of his own pawns forward a single space. "Her dad was home."

Sweetie Belle brought out one of her knights and said, "Oh yeah, that makes sense."

Glass launched his bishop forward, taking Sweetie's knight. She retaliated by knocking his bishop over with a pawn. The two traded pieces back and forth for a while, as both numbers slowly dwindled, Glass could tell Sweetie Belle was getting even more curious.

"So Glass," She said, sliding a rook into one of his pawns.

"Hmm?" He asked, moving his king to safer grounds.

"Is the reason you don't want your Cutie Mark somehow related to your father?"

Glass looked up from the board as Sweetie repositioned her rook. "What would make you think that?"

"Well, before we were attacked by that timber wolf, you told me all about how my differences make me an individual, but you're the most different pony I've ever met and yet your bent on not getting what would mark you as an individual. The only reason I can think of were you wouldn't have a Cutie Mark would be something to do with your dad. Check by the way."

Glass glanced down at the board to see Sweetie's rook was poised to take his king. He shoved a pawn in between them rather sloppily. "I don't really want to talk about it, Sweetie Belle."

The white unicorn knocked away his pawn with her queen. "Does that mean I'm right? Check again."

Glass gritted his teeth, and moved his king towards the protection of his last bishop. "You wouldn't understand." He insisted.

Sweetie's knight took Glass's bishop. "Try me."

Glass's king moved backwards. "No."

Sweetie's rook chased him. "Just tell me."

Glass's king took a diagonal leap away. "I'd rather not."

Sweetie's queen cornered him. "Checkmate."

"Fine!" Glass yelled, jolting Sweetie's pupils into shrinking. "You're right okay! My lack of a Cutie Mark has everything to do with my father. I don't want one, because I don't want to look anymore like him than I already do!"

Sweetie blinked in surprise. "Oh."

"Yeah." Glass said, calming down some. "I know I'm different from that bastard now, but we look so similar. What if that's a sign that I'll be like him one day?"

"Glass…" Sweetie Belle said, standing. "If you really believe that, then you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were." He looked at her, eyebrows raised. "You helped me see that everypony is different in some way, and that means they're unique. So what if you look like him? You're different on the inside, where it counts."

Glass stood up to be on the same level as Sweetie Belle. He stared at her for a while, before finally saying. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. I needed that." The purple haired filly smiled warmly.

"Thank you for playing chess with me." She responded. " It feels like it had been forever since I gotten to play this."

"Really?"

"Yeah. This is just something I only ever done with Rarity, but... well, you know how it is with sisters."

"Actually I don't." Glass responded.

"Oh."

"What is it like? Having an older sister an all?"

Sweetie Belle smiled, probably remembering some fond memories. "It has its ups and downs. But I think in the end it's pretty great."

Glass offered a half-hearted smile, and the action was not lost on Sweetie Belle.

"You know, for what it's worth, you would make an awesome brother."

"Thanks. Congratulations on your win by the way."

"I'll be honest, I forgot how good I was."

"You know, you only won by distracting me." Glass accused.

"Am I going to have to beat you again?" Sweetie Belle sarcastically asked, already resetting the game pieces with magic.

"Bring it on Sweetie Belle."

The white filly began by moving her knight out first. Glass played this time with a smile on his face. He was genuinely happy, and hoped it would stay that way.

---

Yah, new chapter! As promised this one was told from Glass's point of view (with one cut-away POV but still). Feel free to leave a review and give me your honest opinion on this story. Next time around I'll be getting started on a few subplots that involve Diamond Tiara and Dinky, so be sure to check in in a few weeks for that.

Chapter Sixteen – Back to School

Sweetie Belle's eyelids shuffled open, and she elicited a small yawn. Light seeped in through her blinds, letting her know morning had just arrived. Realizing that this meant school was soon to happen, the white unicorn filly rolled her blankets off her body, and heard two small clinks reverberate through her room. Looking down, Sweetie saw that two white knights – previously entrapped by her comforter – had tumbled to the ground.

Wait… knights?

Why were there chess pieces in her bed? Her green eyes flashed over to her nightstand where she kept her lonely chess set. Pieces from both sides were lying on their side, and many of them were missing from their original places. But that couldn't be right, she hadn't used her chess set in months.

Her eyes flicked downward, and she saw a white colt cocooned inside a sleeping bag with pink flowers decorating it. Her tired brain suddenly began remembering the events of last night. Letting Glass in. Teaching him how to play chess. Discovering why he didn't want a Cutie Mark. Had all that really been last night?

Setting her hooves down on the floor, Sweetie Belle nudged the dark-haired colt in her sleeping bag. He grunted.

Rubbing her eye to wake up, the unicorn filly said, "Come on Glass, wake up."

"No." Came the curt response.

"We've got to go to school." Sweetie Belle stated, still trying to fully wake up. Glass groaned a little.

"Fine." He said, sitting up.

"We should hurry before…" A sudden tapping at the door jarred Sweetie Belle from talking. "Uh-oh." She whispered, fear snapping her awake. Glass looked mildly bored.

"Sweetie Belle? Are you up yet? It's almost time for school!" The voice of Rarity said.

"Uh… Yeah!" Sweetie Belle called out, hoping her sister wouldn't catch the nervousness in her speech. She turned to her friend, lowering her voice. "Glass you have to hide."

"Your sister, right?" He asked, gesturing to the door. Sweetie nodded.

"She must've just gotten home. You can't let her see you, okay? I can't let her know I let a colt spend the night!" The white Earth pony nodded in simple understanding.

"Sweetie Belle, come out already!" Rarity said, knocking on the door again. "You're going to be late!" Nervously, Sweetie Belle ran up to the door. She opened it a crack, just enough to see her sister's blue eye on the other side. Seizing the opportunity, purple maned mare on the opposite end pushed the door in.

"Rarity, wait! I can explain!" Sweetie Belle squeaked in fear, assuming her sister had just seen Obsidian Glass.

"Explain what?" Came her older sister's response.

Whipping her head around, Sweetie Belle felt her jaw gape widely. The exact spot where Obsidian Glass had just been was completely empty. Even her floral patterned sleeping bag had vanished. Just… gone.

"Never mind." The purple maned filly squeaked in shock. One of Rarity's eyebrows crawled up her forehead to form a scrupulous look.

"Sweetie Belle, is there something you're not telling me?" The older sister asked.

Sweetie's eyes – already the size of marbles – shrunk even further. She had to think quickly or Rarity would discover what had happened. Lie? No, I'm a terrible liar, Rarity will see right through me. Then what can I…

An idea quickly bloomed in Sweetie Belle's mind. If there is one thing that could completely refocus Rarity's attention, it was talking… about herself.

"How was Canterlot, sis?" Sweetie asked. "Were you able to deliver the dress?"

Rarity immediately took the bait, for the moment overlooking her little sisters out of character behavior. "Oh yes, I delivered the dresses just in time and my word, the whole trip was just fascinating! You wouldn't believe all the…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great sis." Sweetie Belle muttered, taking the offense and pushing Rarity out of her room. "You can tell me about it over breakfast. I'll be right down."

"Oh, well sure Sweetie Belle." Rarity blinked in confusion as she was forcibly shoved out the doorway. "I can–" The white mare was interrupted by the sudden shutting of a door in her face.

Sweetie Belle collapsed at the base of her door, relieved to have avoided that disaster. She opened her pale green eyes for the second shock of the day: seeing Obsidian Glass smirking not five feet in front of her.

"Glass!" She exclaimed, surprise causing her voice to slip into full on squeaky mode. "How did you do that?"

"I can turn invisible." He deadpanned. Sweetie blinked twice before understanding he was joking. Glass sensed her realization and elaborated. "Hid under your bed."

"Really?" She asked. "What about the sleeping bag?" To answer, Glass moved by her bed, reached underneath it, and pulled out a wad of pink flowers. Sweetie Belle blinked again, at a loss for words. The dark maned colt had to be extremely fast to pull that off.

Glass shoved the sleeping bag back under the bed for safe keeping and said, "You should probably go to breakfast. I can get out with Rarity seeing me."

"How?" She asked. Glass nodded towards her bedroom window. Sweetie whipped her head from the colt to the window. "Oh no." She said. "Glass, that's a two story drop you can't–"

"Yes I can." He replied simply, moving to her window. As he unlatched it, Sweetie Belle did find herself recalling how the colt had jumped off of trees before, landing without a scratch. The rumbling stomach of Glass interrupted her memory.

"You want me to sneak you some breakfast?" Sweetie Belle asked with a smirk of her own.

Glass grinned as he opened her window. "Yeah sounds great."

"Thanks for playing chess with me last night." The white unicorn filly said.

"Thanks for letting me win that last game." He replied, sitting on the window sill.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. "I-I didn't let you win."

Glass chuckled slightly. "Sure you didn't." Then he leapt out to the ground.

---

The awkwardness of the breakfast table made Scootaloo want to pass out to make it end. Last night had been a rush of packing and silent moving into Derpy's quaint little home. The only other resident of the house, a purple unicorn filly by the name of Dinky, had been asleep at the time and Derpy wasn't willing to wake her just to explain the situation.

Now Dinky was whirling her spoon absent-mindedly in her cereal bowl, slightly confused and seemingly downtrodden. Not that Scootaloo could blame her too much. The orange pegasus herself wouldn't really appreciate waking up to learn she had a new roommate.

"Well girls," Derpy said, adjust the hat portion of her mailmare uniform. "I've gotta get a move on. Mail doesn't deliver itself after all." Dinky leapt out of her seat suddenly and ran to the gray pegasus, giving her a hug.

"Goodbye Mom." Dinky said, speaking for the first time that morning.

"Bye, my little muffin. I love you." Scootaloo felt a clutch in her heart as she was painfully reminded of her own mother. Not one to dwell on that though, she also got up from the table ready to go to school.

As the two ended their hug, Derpy nodded to her. "Goodbye Scootaloo."

"Bye Derpy." The orange pegasus waved her hoof as Derpy unfurled her wings and lightly flapped her way out of the house.

With the gray mare gone, Scootaloo was left standing around the kitchen with Dinky. The purple filly awkwardly stared at her with one eye, while the other was shifted off to the side, looking at what Scootaloo guessed was the chipped wallpaper across the room.

"So, uh… school… am I right?" Scootaloo attempted. Dinky's expression barely changed, but the purple filly was likely groaning inwardly at the orange pegasus' attempt to be social. Then the purple unicorn filly turned around and went to the door. It took Scootaloo a second to realize that Dinky was heading out to go to school. She followed.

"Hey, Dinky wait up!" The orange filly called out. Dinky turned her head back as she walked out the doorway, both eyes registering confusion.

"Why?"

The bluntness of the word caused Scootaloo to slow down. "You know, so we can walk to school together."

Dinky turned her head away. "Fine, I guess." Scootaloo closed the gap between the two of them and they kept an even pace as they started on the path to the schoolhouse.

Scootaloo waited for a while, wondering if Dinky was thinking of something to say. When she finally realized the silence was of an awkward nature, the orange filly spoke up. "So how are things?"

"Fine." Came the curt response. Scootaloo whipped her head around anxious for something to discuss. Her eyes located a few clouds in the sky that had likely broken free of the original formation set by the pegasi.

"Crazy weather we're having, huh?" The orange filly attempted.

"Really?" Dinky asked. The conversation was flat lining.

"Sorry, I was just looking for something to talk about."

"Why do you even want to talk?" The purple unicorn asked.

"I'm just trying to be friendly." Scootaloo justified. "You know, so we can be friends."

"Don't act like you care about me, Scootaloo." Dinky suddenly said furiously.

"What?" The magenta haired filly asked in confusion. "Dinky I–"

"Look, having you stay at my house for a few days is fine. I can tolerate it. But don't just act like that makes us friends okay?" The purple unicorn shook with frustration. "You've ignored me the whole school year just like everypony else. Don't pretend like you want things to change."

"That's not what I meant at all!" Scootaloo said desperately. She had just been trying to be nice. After hearing Derpy talk about her daughter, Scootaloo figured Dinky would be grateful to have a friend.

"Oh right!" Dinky said. "I get it now. Its all one big joke to you isn't it? I can practically see you and your friends laughing about it now. 'Hey, why don't we trick the stupid wall-eyed filly into thinking she has friends? What a riot!'" Dinky stopped and shoved Scootaloo back, tears blooming in her eyes. "Well too bad, Scootaloo! I've been led down that path before and I'm not going down it again! You'll just have to laugh at somepony else's expense!"

The purple filly ran ahead, leaving behind a Scootaloo whose mouth was wide open in shock. What did I do to make her think that? She thought. The orange filly stood motionless for quite some time, watching Dinky become a purple speck on the horizon and eventually disappearing. A look of shock was plastered on her face.

She was torn away from her detatched state when the orange filly heard voices behind her.

"I'm just saying, twenty minutes to make some toast is ridiculous."

"Would you rather I just let you go hungry then?"

"That's not what I'm saying…"

"Will the two of ya just stop? It's toast for pony's sake! No need to argue over it."

Scootaloo turned to see her friends, unsure of how to feel after the encounter with Dinky. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Glass were all walking down the path a little ways back, and they noticed her around the same time she saw them.

"Hey Scootaloo." Glass called out, crossing the distance between them and offering her a warm smile. His expression changed when he saw her hers, still frozen on the face from Dinky's outburst. As Glass spoke again, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom caught up, "What happened?"

With her friends nearby, Scootaloo regained her composure and briefly explained what had happened to her recently. Her father's return and abrupt departure, moving in with Derpy, the conversation with Dinky. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle managed to display an array of emotions from sympathy to confusion, while Glass struggled to keep his neutral face the entire time.

"Wow." Applebloom said as the four ponies picked up their walk to school. "Sounds like Dinky was real mad at ya."

"She was." Scootaloo said. "But I don't get it… What got her so upset? I was only trying to be nice."

The schoolhouse loomed in the distance, a ringing reminding each of them to hurry up. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle rushed ahead, but Glass held himself back to stay next to Scootaloo.

"Do you want to try talking to Dinky during recess?" The white colt asked. Scootaloo pondered the idea for a moment.

"Yeah. I need to explain I wasn't trying to make fun of her."

"I want to find out what made her think that in the first place." Glass said. Scootaloo scrunched her face in deep thought.

"She said she had been 'led down that path before', but didn't really elaborate."

The white colt flashed her a smile that made her heart blush. "We'll figure it out."

Scootaloo attempted to give a hopeful smile, but she sensed it came off as sort of depressed. They were at the door to the schoolhouse now, standing wistfully at the entrance. Neither of them wanted to break away from the conversation to partake in school. Reluctantly, Scootaloo stepped inside first, followed by Glass.

Most of her classmates were already in their seats, ready to begin. Their magenta teacher was ushering the last of the arrivals to their desks. Scootaloo started to make her way to the back when the corner of her eye caught something. Cheerilee had stopped Glass at the door and was speaking to him. With just a bit of focus, Scootaloo could pick up what they were saying.

"Glass, are you all right?" The magenta mare asked.

"Yeah, doing fine." The white colt replied.

"I only ask because… well… your face…" Scootaloo inwardly cringed, recalling how bad Glass's bruises and cuts were. Of course Cheerilee would've noticed them.

"Oh that. I ran into a brick wall." Scootaloo saw her teacher's eyebrows knit together with worry.

"Are you sure? It doesn't look that way."

"Just a reminder that I should always watch were I'm going." Glass responded. Cheerilee looked like she was far from believing the white colt's story, but couldn't exactly ignore the fact that her class needed teaching. She was still worried looking when she waved Glass to his seat and began the lesson.

"All right class, in today's math lesson we'll start…" Scootaloo zoned out of the lesson then and there, already sick of school. It was natural for her to do that, especially since her grades weren't in any danger. She wasn't exactly at the top of the class like Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but the orange filly wasn't at the bottom either.

She spent the interval until recess with a droll look in her eyes as they scanned the class. She reread the cheesy motivational posters that were strewn across the interior of the classroom for the five hundredth time. Following that her eyes darted to each of her classmates. Some diligently took notes, others had given that up a long time ago like her.

Scootaloo felt her eyes fall on Dinky Doo. The purple filly sat just ahead of her and to the right. She was nudging her pencil around her desk, a sad look in her eyes. The orange pegasus felt a twinge of pity, but chased it away. Dinky clearly hated pity, so if Scootaloo was going to make any progress towards a friendship then she couldn't do that. Scootaloo's eyes turned their attention elsewhere.

Finally the bell for recess came.

The orange filly popped out of her desk to catch up to her friends. Glass, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle were standing by the door when she caught up to them. They exchanged smiles and prepared to head outside.

"Excuse me for just one moment." The voice of Cheerilee said to them. All four turned around, curious as to why their teacher felt the need to delay them. The magenta mare may have addressed all of them, but her attention was on one pony in particular.

"Glass, could I speak with you for a minute?" The CMC each glanced at the white colt for his reaction. Glass had a poker face on, but Scootaloo had seen it often enough now to pick out some minor dents in the armor. Subtly, Glass's left eyebrow twitched. There was a slight clenching of his teeth that was barely visible.

"Sure." He said nonchalantly. Scootaloo knew better though. Glass was nonchalant right now; Glass was nervous. "I'll be right out, guys." He said to the three of them.

"All right then." Applebloom said. "See ya in a bit." The trio walked outside, too curious to care that it was recess.

"What do you think that was about?" Sweetie Belle asked when they were a safe distance from the school building.

Scootaloo glanced back. "I think Cheerilee is just worried about him. After all, his face is still messed up from the…" She trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.

"You're probably right." Sweetie Belle conceded.

"Hey, can you guys help me find Dinky?" Scootaloo asked. "I've got to talk to her."

"Of course." Sweetie Belle and Applebloom said simultaneously. Scootaloo smiled gratefully. Having her friends around might help open Dinky up a little. Unfortunately, before the trio could mount a search something got in the way.

"Hey, blank flanks." An annoying nasally voice called out.

"Oh, Celestia." Sweetie Belle muttered. Scootaloo turned around to a familiar pink face and a gray one directly beside it.

"What do you want, Diamond?" She hurriedly asked, eager to get the senseless teasing over with.

"I have a question for you Scootaloo." Diamond Tiara asked. Judging by the smirks on both her and Silver Spoon's face, Scootaloo could tell she was not going to like this particular question.

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked through clenched teeth.

"Does Glass even know you can't fly?"

The words hit her like a cinderblock. Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but floundered.

"Really Diamond, you're back on that?" Sweetie Belle came to Scootaloo's defense. The pink filly raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, what's yer problem?" Applebloom joined in. "Thought ya woulda learned better since the last time you tried that insult."

"Oh, I'm not insulting anypony." Diamond Tiara said with mock defensiveness. "It's an honest question. I just wanted to know if Scootaloo had told her little coltfriend that she's incapable of preforming the one act that makes her a pegasi." The pink bully looked Scootaloo dead in the eye. "Have you?"

"…No." Scootaloo admitted. "But Glass wouldn't care about something like that!"

"Coltfriend?" Sweetie Belle said distantly.

"Are you sure?" Diamond asked bluntly. "Even if he didn't care, that's a pretty big secret to keep from him. I wouldn't be surprised if he hates you for it."

"This may come as a surprise, but Glass ain't as shallow as you." Applebloom said.

"That was a pretty sad attempt, Diamond." Sweetie Belle added.

The irritated face of the pink filly in front of her gave Scootaloo a sudden burst of confidence. "Maybe you should just walk away now, Tiara." The orange filly leaned in close. "We wouldn't want anypony finding out about your secret, now would we?"

"Secret?" Applebloom asked with curiousity.

Diamond Tiara's pupils shrunk in fear. Shaking it off, the pink filly turned her uptight snout upward and walked off, her silver sidekick following.

With their bully out of sight, the CMC relaxed a little. "Ah think that was our first official win against her." Applebloom said.

Unfurling her tiny wings, Scootaloo spoke. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, you're not going to let her get you, right Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No, not again. But I'm just wondering… Should I've told Glass by now?" Scootaloo's friends looked at eachother. "I mean, you two have each known since the day I met you. And if Glass really does care then…"

"He's won't." Applebloom assured her. "After all, he's way too into ya ta care."

"Wait… so Diamond wasn't just mudslinging when she called Glass your coltfriend?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo kicked the ground a little. "…No. Glass and I… I guess you can say were dating." The orange pegasus wasn't quite sure what to expect. The squeal of excitement the came wasn't very high on the list though.

"Scootaloo, that's great!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"Yeah it is, though Ah kinda already knew 'bout it." Applebloom admitted. Scootaloo smiled, glad her friends were comfortable with the relationship that had bloomed between her and the strange white colt. She stretched out her hooves and brought them in for a group hug.

"Say," Applebloom began. "What was that secret of Diamond's that ya mentioned?"

Scootaloo got a sort of wicked grin on her face. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys."

---

Diamond Tiara skulked around the playground, grunting angrily. She had let those blank flanks walk all over her. It was humiliating! The pink Earth pony stopped just short of the slide and sighed.

Silver Spoon also stopped, and put a hoof on her friend' shoulder. "You okay Diamond?"

"No." Came her response. "I think I'm losing my touch, Silver."

"Hah, yeah right. You're still the same Diamond Tiara as always: richer and better than everypony else."

"But why couldn't I get under Scootaloo's skin back there?" Diamond wondered aloud. "Heck, why couldn't I hold my own against those three blank flanks? I used to have them wrapped around the tip of my hoof."

"It's probably cause of your crush on Glass." Silver Spoon bluntly said.

"Gah!" Diamond reacted. "Don't say it out loud. Somepony might here you!"

"Sorry." Said Silver. "But it might be true. You haven't been yourself ever since you started liking him." Diamond pondered this.

"I think you're right." She finally said. "I haven't been able to get the better of anypony since… well… you know."

"You just need to practice a little more." Silver Spoon recommended. "Work you way back up to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Then you can tear them apart one by one and have Glass all to yourself."

Diamond smiled at the support from her friend. "You're right Silver." The pink bully scanned the playground, now in full predator mode. She was on the hunt for somepony to humiliate. Somepony whom she could demean enough to prove her own self-worth.

Finally her eyes locked onto a target. A purple unicorn filly sitting alone at the fringe of the playground, blowing bubbles. Diamond's lips curled into a nasty smile. Perfect.

---

About time I finished this chapter. Sorry for the delays... again. Exams are beginning at my school, so time dedicated to writing has been minimal at best. I'll probably end up being delayed on all my stories for a while, but c'est la vie.

Anyways, there is a new poll on my profile for you guys to answer. You see, I've been on Shattered Glass for a long time now, and I need your opinion for how long it should continue. Make sure to vote, the poll will stay up for all of May and maybe some of June. I just really want to know how much I should continue to invest in this story.

Anyways, as always don't forget to leave a review, and I hope to see you all soon.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Get ready to hate Diamond Tiara more than you already do.

---

Chapter Seventeen – A Little Bit of Venting

"Glass, do you know why I want to speak with you?" Ms. Cheerilee asked as soon as the Crusaders had left the school.

Though the cuts on his cheek had long sinced knitted themselves closed, Glass felt them twitch in agitation to the question.

"I have a vague idea," he murmured. The magenta mare gestured to a nearby desk.

"Please, have a seat," she said. Glass complied, seeing no other option. As he did so, Cheerilee looked at him, a mixture of curiosity and concern washing over her face. "Okay, now what really happened to your face?"

Glass's cuts tingled in remembrance. "I told you," he replied. "I ran into a brick wall."

Cheerilee raised her eyebrow, not fooled at all. "That's not what it looks like."

Glass bit the inside of his cheek. "Well, that's what happened," he said firmly.

His teacher narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Glass as he lied.

"Uh huh," she said slowly. "Well I'm afraid I don't believe you Glass. And do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I've never known a brick wall to cut up somepony's face like that." Cheerilee said bluntly.

A cold sweat broke out on the back of Glass's neck. He tried desperately to keep an emotionless face. Forcing a small grin he said, "They were very sharp bricks."

"Glass, why won't you tell me the truth?" Cheerilee asked, not even acknowledging his answer. "I promise you all I want to do is help."

He looked away, reserve faltering slightly. "It's not something you can help me with."

"Try me," his teacher responded warmly.

Glass gave his teacher a glance. Her eyes looked sincere and her concern genuine, but would that be enough?

"I… uh…"

The simple answer was no. No, it would not be. It didn't matter if Cheerilee wanted to help; the truth of the matter was she couldn't. Nopony could. Glass had learned that lesson the hard way.

"I'm going to go outside now," Glass said hastily. He took off like a bullet towards the front door.

"Glass?" Cheerilee exclaimed in shock. She moved to go after him, but was far too slow. Glass was outside in seconds. He hopped down the steps to the school house, and then quickly ran around the wall and ensconced himself between it and the steps. Cheerilee's hoofsteps were heard a second later.

"Glass wait," she called out. Then his teacher paused and looked around. To her, it appeared that the young white colt had vanished. "Uh… Glass?" she said, looking around. He didn't respond, and held his breath, careful to make any noise. "Where did that colt get to?" Cheerilee murmured to herself. She slowly descended the steps and walked out into the school yard.

Seeing that her back was to him, Glass took off. He darted around the schoolhouse and to the playground with silent speed. Cheerilee did even notice him.

Once he made it to the other side he leaned against the wall and took a shaky breath.

"Too close," he whispered. He inhaled and exhaled a few more times, trying to calm down. He had almost told Ms. Cheerilee everything, and that would have been a disaster.

Glass had tried twice before to get some outside help regarding his father. It never ended well. Whenever somepony might be on to the misdeeds of Onyx, the bastard would just force his whole family to uproot and find a new location. Then the abuse would continue, often worse than before. Glass couldn't do that again; he had friends now… he had Scootaloo now. He didn't want to be forced to leave them.

The young colt stayed plastered to the wall, festering with these thoughts in his mind. His resolve steeled as he did, and Glass assured himself that he wouldn't tell the truth about his father to anypony else. It was just too risky.

His anger also rose as he thought on. He was sick of living in fear of what his father would do to him or his mother. The knowledge that he was powerless to do anything about it left him with the need to vent.

"Leave me alone!" A frightened voice yelled.

Glass's eyes jolted in the direction of the cry. At the edge of the playground he spied three fillies. One purple, one gray, and one pink. His eyes narrowed as Glass saw his chance to vent his frustrations. He began running.

---

"Hey there, Dinky," Diamond Tiara said smugly. The purple unicorn filly froze with sudden fear, her bubble wand sliding out of her hoof and clattering to the ground. She didn't respond.

"Why are you out here by yourself? Oh wait, I remember now. You don't have any friends."

Dinky's lip quivered. "W-what do you want from me?"

"I just want to talk to you, assuming you're smart enough to handle a simple conversation that is," Diamond smirked. She was on a roll now.

"What do you mean?" Dinky asked.

Silver Spoon giggled. "Wow, she really is dumb."

"I mean," Diamond answered. "That you're stupid. It even says it all over your face." To clarify, Diamond crossed her eyes to imitate Dinky's disability.

The unicorn sniffled. "Why are you so mean to me?"

"I'm just telling the truth," the pink bully justified. "What's so mean about that?" Tears bloomed in Dinky's eyes.

"Oh look, Diamond, I think she's about to cry!" Silver Spoon said joyfully.

"Oh don't worry Dinky," Diamond Tiara said in a tone that was almost comforting. "It's not your fault. After all, everypony knows you inherited your stupidity from that brain-dead mother of yours."

"No…" Dinky whispered, the tears piling up behind her eyes.

"I mean," Diamond said with a chuckle. "She's so stupid, she doesn't even know who your father is."

"Shut up!" Dinky cried, her tears falling now. "Leave me alone!" The purple filly charged Diamond in a desperate and blind attempt to chase her off. Diamond scoffed at the effort, and – with the help of Silver Spoon – pushed Dinky back.

The filly stumbled before she finally landed on the dirt plot first. Dinky could do nothing at this point but cry. Tears and drivel began running down her face in copious amounts as she sobbed uncontrollably. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed.

"Stop it!" Somepony said. The two bullies turned to be greeted by an angry looking Obsidian Glass.

"Uh… h-hi," Diamond stumbled out.

"What the heck is wrong with you two?" Glass shouted. "How could you stoop so low?"

"Hey, we're just having a little fun," Silver Spoon said.

"Really," Glass angrily retorted. "Is she having fun?" He indicated Dinky, still crying on the ground. Neither Diamond nor Silver Spoon gave an answer.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves. What possible excuse are your twisted minds using to justify this?"

No response.

"Yeah that's what I thought," Glass spat out. "You two make me sick."

Diamond looked like she had been punched in the gut. "Glass I-"

"You know I thought you were just annoying," he cut her off. "You didn't seem that bad honestly. Of course I was wrong. You're just a bully, and I hate bullies."

"I… I didn't…" Diamond Tiara swallowed.

"Get out of here," Glass seethed. When neither filly moved, he shouted. "NOW!"

They bolted out of the way, running back towards the playground. Dinky was still a sniveling wreck, but the sight of seeing her tormentors flee gave her some joy.

"Are you okay?" Glass asked, offering a hoof. Dinky gratefully accepted it and Glass pulled her up.

"No," she sniffled.

"Look, I don't know what they said to you, but they're wrong," he told Dinky.

"Thanks," she said, wiping her eyes. "I just wish I knew why they always pick on me."

"It's not worth your time to find out," Glass assured her. Dinky offered a half-hearted half-smile.

She retrieved her dropped toys slowly.

"Your name's Dinky, right?" Glass asked. The filly's crossed eyes looked at Glass.

"Yeah… why?" she asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me and my friends," he said.

Dinky opened her mouth in surprise, having never thought anypony would ask her that. She pondered the offer silently. Glass was patient with her, but wondered why she hadn't already jumped at the opportunity.

"Okay," she finally said.

Glass smiled. "Awesome. Follow me, they should be around here somewhere."

---

Hey guys, I sincerely hope you haven't forgotten about me or this story. Sorry for the four month wait, and such a short chapter in general, I owe you all an explanation for this.

In short... Shattered Glass is essentially on hiatus.

Before you gather the torches and pitchforks, let me explain. On hiatus does not mean cancelled. That's the last thing I will ever do to any of my stories. I know people really like this fic, so I'm going to do my best to pump out chapters. During this hiatus, my hope is to write several chapters at once and then release them around the same time. Hopefully waiting several months for several chapters will be better than waiting several months for one chapter. But why exactly did it take me four months during summer vacation to write one chapter? many things actually.

Shattered Glass has never been my primary concern. I'm not going to lie, I have always focused more on Frostburn, and now even that story's on hiatus. The truth is, I get lots of ideas to write about, and they tend to take hold of my inspiration until I write them. Another reason is fimfiction, the official pony fanfiction website. I'm over there now way more often and I mainly write stories for there now.

Unless you are on fimfiction as well, this may be the last you hear from me for a while. I'll still pop in every few days to read or PM people or whatevs. Thank you very much for reading my nonsense.

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter Eighteen – A Polite Request

"Diamond Tiara has a what on Glass?" Apple Bloom shouted with barely contained laughter.

"A crush," Scootaloo said again. "Can you believe it? She actually has a crush on Glass."

"That's hilarious," Sweetie Belle remarked, snorting back a few chuckles of her own. "How's that even possible?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "All I know is that's the truth."

The three dissolved into giggles once again at the mere thought of it. They were still laughing by the time Glass jogged over to them.

"Hey, girls," he said, breaking apart their laughter. "What's so funny?"

"You know," Apple Bloom informed him. Glass raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the yellow filly with any more questions.

"Hi Glass," Scootaloo said with a smile. He returned it with a beam of his own. "What did Ms. Cheerilee want?"

"Eh, just to talk… about stuff," he murmured vaguely. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at him, but decided to talk to him about it later. Her focus was stolen by the teary filly behind him.

"Dinky?"

"Hey," the purple unicorn mumbled while kicking at the ground.

The Crusaders shared a quick look before they eyes fell back on Dinky. After what had happened earlier today, Scootaloo was surprised that she was anywhere near her.

"Hope you guys don't mind if Dinky joins us," Glass said.

"No, not at all," Scootaloo replied, still in a little shock. The trio expanded their circle, allowing both new ponies to walk in. Dinky was awkwardly avoiding eye contact, likely feeling that she shouldn't be there. "Are you okay?"

Dinky looked up, still blinking back a few tears. "I… I will be. I guess."

"What happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The look of modest surprise on Dinky's face told Scootaloo that she had expected no one to care. Which was silly; after all, why wouldn't they care?

"I… It was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

"Ah can't believe them," Apple Bloom said angrily. "What'd they say to ya?"

"Come on AB, don't force her to relive it," Sweetie Belle told her.

Apple Bloom was about to apologize, but Dinky cut her off. "They were insulting my mom."

Scootaloo blinked in shock. "They were insulting Derpy?" Those heartless jerks! Do they have any idea how sweet a pony she is? One glance at Glass let her know that the stallion was having the same thought as her.

"Why on Earth would they do that?" She asked.

"I… I don't know," Dinky admitted. "I don't know what I did to them to deserve this."

"I'm sure you didn't do anything to them," Sweetie Belle assured her. "Those two are just rotten for the sake of being rotten."

"Yeah, ya shouldn't let 'em get under yer skin," Apple Bloom affirmed. Glass nodded his agreement. It wasn't much, but Dinky found the strength to wipe away the tears and give something that resembled a smile.

"I just wish I could stand up to them." Dinky frowned. "If Glass hadn't shown up I..."

"Why can't ya stand up to 'em?" Applebloom asked.

Dinky looked away. "I... can't tell you."

Scootaloo opened her mouth, curious enough to press Dinky for further information, but it was then that the bell rang, signifying the end to recess. Reluctantly, the four girls turned back to the schoolhouse, ready to go. Scootaloo paused, and noticed that Glass wasn't following them.

"Uhh, Glass?" She asked. "You coming?"

"Probably not," he said. "I think I'm going to skip the rest of today."

"What?" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Glass you can't! I–"

"Hey you two, hurry up!" Sweetie Belle called back. Scootaloo turned, seeing her friends were almost inside.

"You should get to class," Glass said, her attention refocusing. "I'll see you at the clubhouse after school, okay?"

No, not okay. Scootaloo didn't want Glass running off in the middle of the day like this, especially with the Crusaders trying to befriend Dinky. They would probably need his help getting her to open up, considering his experience with buried emotions.

This has to be because of Cheerilee, Scootaloo thought. Whatever they talked about, it shook him up.

"Okay," she reluctantly said. "But you better be prepared to talk about it when I get out of school."

He nodded, before taking off in the other direction. Scootaloo felt an urge to go with him, but forced herself to fight it down.

Despondent from seeing Glass leave, she worked her way back to school. Cheerilee entered in after her, looking a little frazzled. It didn't take a genius to realize her teacher had been engaging in a fruitless search for Glass. She looked around the room as Scootaloo took her seat, and upon finding no sign of the white colt, began class again.

It was another lecture that seemed pointless to Scootaloo (then again they all did) so she quickly found herself spacing out. She would have stayed that way till the bell rang had it not been for a piece of paper that landed on her desk. Glancing in the direction that it came from, she saw Apple Bloom doing her best to be nonchalant.

Scootaloo grabbed the folded paper and opened it up.

Where did Glass go?

She looked to make sure Cheerilee was looking, and scribbled a hasty reply that said Glass was at the clubhouse before sending it over to Apple Bloom. The note came her way again.

Why did he leave?

Scootaloo bit her lip. She wrote "I don't know" onto the paper and flicked it over to her yellow friend. Apple Bloom read it over with squinted eyes before crumpling the paper up.

Confused at first, Scootaloo then realized it was because Cheerilee was standing over her.

"Girls," she said calmly but with latent annoyance. "Are these notes anything you would like to share with the class?"

Both students tried to avert their eyes. "Not in particular."

"Are they in anyway more important than the lesson right now?" Their teacher asked. Faintly, the sounds of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon giggling could be heard.

"Maybe," Scootaloo whispered under her breath. Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at her.

"Of course not, Miss Cheerilee," Apple Bloom quickly covered.

Appeased, she crossed back up to the board and resumed teaching. Scootaloo resumed her spacing out from earlier. It was going to be a long, long wait for the bell to ring.

The bell finally did ring, and Scootaloo hopped out of her seat eagerly. Sweetie Belle, Dinky, and Apple Bloom were a step ahead of her, but she easily caught up to them, anticipation for her talk with Glass driving her. She was almost out the door before she heard her teacher's voice.

"Scootaloo, can I talk with you for a second?"

She froze, her friends catching up to her. Turning, she saw her magenta teacher smiling sweetly at her.

"We'll see ya outside, Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said. Her friends waved goodbye and bolted.

"Is this about the note passing?" Scootaloo asked blatantly, looking at Cheerilee. "I promise I won't do it anymore."

"No, it's not that. It's about Glass." Just his name was enough to get her heart pounding. "I'm worried about him."

Before she spoke, Scootaloo remembered how much Glass wanted his personal life kept a secret. "What is there to worry about?"

"Something's happening to him, I just know it." Her teacher admitted. "I tried to talk to him about it, but he ran off. Scootaloo, you know him better than anypony, could you help? I just want to make sure nothing's wrong."

Scootaloo believe Cheerilee's words wholly, but she didn't know if Glass would feel the same way. "I"ll try," she promised.

Cheerilee smiled. "Thank you."

The orange filly bounded out the school door, some of her confusion dissipated. So that's why Glass ran off. She realized. But… this is good. Maybe Ms. Cheerilee can help! If he tells her about his dad, then maybe she can talk to him… or… do something so his life won't be so bad anymore!

Her friends were waiting for her, as promised.

"What did Ms. Cheerilee want?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It was about Glass." Scootaloo told them everything.

The three exchanged a few glances before looking back at Scootaloo. "What do you think?" she asked. "Should I tell Glass to talk with Ms. Cheerilee?"

"I don't see why not," Dinky said. "Ms. Cheerilee always tries helps me when I have problems."

"Plus, she might actually be able ta fix somethin'," Apple Bloom said.

"Okay then," Scootaloo decided. "Come on, we gotta get to the clubhouse."

---

Hey, guess what? I'm back! That's right, Shattered Glass's hiatus gets a temporary reprieve, and I'm brining you not one, not two, but THREE new chapters over the next three days. (Insert wide array of cheers.) But yeah, I really hope you guys didn't forget about this story yet. Anyways, I got two more chapters to proofread before posting, so see ya later, alligators!

Chapter Nineteen – Promising

The four fillies found themselves staring at the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse with hesitation. Somewhere inside, Scootaloo knew Glass was waiting for her. She just had to be careful not to push the wrong buttons like she had the other day.

"Your tree house looks cool," Dinky commented.

"Thanks, it took a lot to make it that way." Sweetie Belle said, making her fellow unicorn smile.

"So…" Apple Bloom rocked on her heels. "Do we all go in at once or what?"

"I-I should be the one to go," Scootaloo decided. "It's me that he wanted to talk to."

Dinky and the other Crusaders nodded, each providing a "fair enough" remark, or something similar. Scootaloo took a deep breath, unsure of what would happen. Considering the last "talk" she and Glass had, she was prepared for the worse.

Scootaloo ascended the steps to the clubhouse, giving her friends a short look before knocking on the door.

"Hey Scootaloo," Glass's voice said. "Come on in."

The wooden door creaked open. "How'd you know it was me?"

Glass nudged the door open the rest of the way. "Who else would it be?"

"Fair enough."

Scootaloo walked in, unsure of how to keep the conversation going. Finally she just decided to get straight to the point.

"Why'd you run off again?"

There was a pause as Glass took in a deep breath. When he finally exhaled, he said, "Cheerilee asked me about the cuts."

"And…?"

"And I left. End of story." Scootaloo's eyes narrowed. Glass was clamming up again, but she couldn't let that happen. She had to open him back up gently.

"Was there anything else to it?" She pried slightly. "Anything at all?"

He looked away, glanced back, started to say something, and then just walked over the nearest window, looking out it forlornly.

Scootaloo trotted beside him. "You're making it kind of difficult to empathize with you Glass."

"I don't want sympathy," he firmly stated.

"I said empathy," Scootaloo corrected. "As in, understanding your problems and wanting to make you feel better."

Glass blinked and paused. "Cheerilee wanted to help me."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Scootaloo asked. "I mean, she's a teacher. She could talk to your parents, make get your father some help so he'll stop drinking, or…"

"She wouldn't be the first to try!" Glass exploded. Scootaloo backed up, eyes widened. Glass realized his mistake and calmed down.

"W-what do you mean?"

Glass huffed, and crossed his forelegs over the windowsill, resting his head in them. "Every time somepony thinks they can help, it never works. My father – the drunken bastard his is – was always too smart to be caught beating me or my mom. Whenever a pony finally noticed he… he would just pack everything up and we be gone, off to some new town or city where the cycle just kept getting worse each time." He looked away. "So you can see why I don't exactly want any help."

Scootaloo didn't know what to say. There wasn't much she could say. Instead of trying to think of some words that would undoubtedly fail to cheer him up, Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around him, and nuzzled his cheek.

She heard a faint sniffling noise from the colt.

---

"They sure have bin in there a long time," Apple Bloom remarked. The three of them were sitting in a circle, lazily waiting for somepony to walk out of the clubhouse.

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Sweetie Belle asked. Dinky and Apple Bloom shrugged.

"Did anypony bring a deck o' cards?"

Wayward glances and sighs of boredom answered her question.

"I… I have my bubble wand," Dinky helpfully suggested. She held up the small toy and the bottle of soapy liquid that went with it.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a look. "Why not?" Sweetie Belle said with a shrug of her shoulders. Smiling, Dinky twisted off the cap of the bottle and dipped the wand inside. She swirled it around some. When she pulled it back out, it was dripping slightly.

Dinky brought the wand to her lips and exhaled into it. A small bubble bloomed on the other side before snapping loose and drifting free. The bubble wand dipped back in, and this time when Dinky blew into it, she waved it around in a rather unusual pattern. The bubble broke free, looking suspiciously like a caterpillar.

"Whoa," Sweetie Belle said. "That's amazing!"

"How'd ya do that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"It's nothing," Dinky modestly replied, blushing at the fan fare. "I've just practiced it a lot."

"Ah'm surprised it's not yer Cutie Mark," Apple Bloom remarked as the caterpillar popped. Dinky dipped her wand back into the bottle, and Apple Bloom took note of her bare flank. The Crusaders had discussed asking Dinky to join the CMC before, but never agreed on it. It's not that they never wanted her in, but more along the lines of they felt Dinky wouldn't want to join. After all, in a class with nearly twenty Cutie Mark-less kids, only three ever joined the club, and they were the founding members.

"I like blowing bubbles, but they're not something that would really be a special talent." Dinky sighed, and blew a bubble that resembled a giraffe.

"Well I still like it," Sweetie Belle declared, attempting to cheer their new friend up a little. It worked.

"If ya want," Apple Bloom mentioned. "We could let ya tag along on a few crusadin' adventures. Who knows, maybe you'll turn up somethin'."

"I don't know," Dinky began. "I wouldn't want to get in the way."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a look. "What would make ya think somethin' like that."

"No reason," Dinky looked away, setting her bubble supplies down.

"Oh come on, Dinky," Sweetie Belle protested. "I'm sure you'll like it if you just tag along. Can you at least give it a try?"

"…O-Okay."

---

Scootaloo wasn't sure how long she'd been holding on to Glass, but she wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon. His breathing was a little shaky; he was likely trying to stifle anymore sobs from coming out.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Maybe."

Scootaloo was silent. She wasn't really sure what to do or say, and decided to just blurt out the first thing that came to her mind. "Glass, I can't fly."

"What a coincidence," he replied. "Neither can I."

Scootaloo smiled. There's the old Glass. "I'm serious," she whispered. "I… I can't even get off the ground. It scares me sometimes. Foals half my age can at least hover, but my wings just don't work."

Glass looked up at her. "Okay…" he clearly couldn't see where she was going with this.

"I didn't want to admit it to anypony," Scootaloo continued. "I was just embarrassed. I thought I would be laughed at, or made fun of. But also, there was a part of me that just didn't want to ask for help. I felt I could learn to fly on my own and I pushed myself way to hard under that mentality. It got to the point where I stayed up all night one night just trying to get off the ground."

"So what did you do?"

"I got help. I talked to this one really awesome pony named Rainbow Dash, and she's coaching me through it. Every once in a while when she can fit it into her schedule, she helps me work on my wings, and you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm getting better. Rainbow Dash thinks I'll be able to fly any day now, and I believe her. And I never would have gotten this far without asking for help."

Glass blinked away a few tears. "What's your point?"

"I'm saying, maybe getting help can actually work this time. Maybe if you told Ms. Cheerilee, she'll be able to find a way to help you. I know she will. She's a good pony, and all she wants to do is help you."

The white colt bit his lip. "I'm still not sure, Scootaloo."

She was about to open her mouth to respond, but paused. She couldn't risk forcing the choice on Glass. "Alright," Scootaloo said despite how much she wanted to convince him. "You don't have to tell her until you're ready." She kissed him on the cheek, sealing the promise.

He smiled lightly. "Thanks, Scoots. You're amazing."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She grinned. "Come on, we'll probably have to go home soon."

"I doubt I can stay over at your place. Derpy seems pretty cool and all, but…"

"It is a lot to ask," Scootaloo admitted. "Don't worry, Apple Bloom probably has a nice, cozy barn for you to sleep in.

"Cool." His stomach growled furiously. "A-and maybe some apples too?"

Scootaloo laughed. "Sure."

They stood, neither really wanting to leave the comfort of the clubhouse and face the realities of their worlds, but they knew they couldn't stay there forever. Scootaloo started for the door first, and Glass was soon to follow. When they walked outside and down the steps, the others were waiting for them.

"So… everything worked out?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"More or less," Glass responded. "Hey Apple Bloom, can I bunk in your barn again?"

"Absolutely."

"We better be getting home," Scootaloo told Dinky. "You're mom's probably wondering where we are."

"I guess we should go." Dinky picked up her supplies and the five of them began to disperse.

"Oh, hey Dinky!" Sweetie Belle called back.

"Yeah?"

"You're going to have to teach me how to blow bubbles like that someday soon."

"S-sure. Totally!" Dinky smiled. "I can do that." She whispered to herself.

Scootaloo waved goodbye to Glass, wishing she could walk him home. She knew that she needed to get back to Derpy's place though; Glass would be fine for now. Besides… Derpy might have some fresh muffins for them.

Chapter Twenty – Settling in For the Night

Their walk home was rather silent, save the soft crunching of hooves on grass. Dinky was sporting a soft smile on her face, while Scootaloo was retaining expressionless features. She was knee deep in thinking, wondering if she had made the right choice by letting Glass decide when – and if – he tells Cheeilee. Every muscle in her body was screaming at her to go back and drag him to her teacher to explain everything, but she couldn't. She knew how sensitive the entire subject was to Glass, and she didn't want to risk what they had, especially if he would get the help himself. Did that make her selfish?

"Hey, Dinky?" Scootaloo asked, turning to her side.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Glass will be okay?"

Dinky blinked. "I don't know, what's wrong with him?" Scootaloo realized the Crusaders had yet to tell their newest friend about the whole Glass situation.

"Uh… It's really something he has to tell you. But they bottom line is his home life isn't… the best."

"Oh." Dinky blinked again. "Well, he seems pretty tough. After all, he stood up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for me. His home life can't be much worse than them."

Scootaloo shivered as a few memories flashed by. "You don't know his father, Dinky. Trust me, he's worse."

"Worse than those two conniving, betraying, lying…" Dinky trailed off, her rage building.

Scootaloo cocked her head in curiosity. "Are you okay?"

Dinky waited a moment, before giving a brief nod. "Yeah. Just some bad memories."

"Alright." Scootaloo kicked a stone along the path. "Do you want to talk about them?"

"Not really."

"Well, you kind of already brought it up, so there's no use trying to deny it."

Dinky looked at the ground, slightly uncomfortable. Scootaloo knew that look, it was very similar to one of Glass's warning signs that she was pushing too hard. She was about to step away from the issue when Dinky spoke.

"They tricked me," she whispered. "A couple of months ago, Diamond and Silver started acting nice to me. I didn't understand it really; they were always so mean to me before that I thought I was hallucinating or something."

Scootaloo nodded, knowing that if she ever saw Diamond Tiara acting nice the first thing she would do is check and make sure she wasn't on some sort of psychedelic drug.

"I ignored them for a bit, but it just became… so difficult. They'd share parts of their lunch with me, and watch me blow bubbles… I guess I just liked the fact that somepony was actually taking notice of me, and not because of… you know."

Scootaloo did her best not to look at Dinky's unsynced eyeballs.

"Anyway, I eventually started to open up to them. After a while they felt like friends to me. Then I made a huge mistake."

"What?"

"I told them I… I told them a secret. A really embarrassing secret. I thought I could trust them, but… the second I said it they just started laughing." Dinky looked like she might cry on the memory. "I… remember Silver Spoon saying something like, 'Told you she give us some good ammo if we pretended to be her friends'. Then, they just made fun of me until I cried. And Diamond leaned in and told me that I ever tried to stand up for myself, that she'd just reveal my secret to everypony."

"Whoa…" Scootaloo said. "That's low even for her. Why would she go through such links to do that to you?"

"Cause she's awful," Dinky murmured.

They were silent for a moment, both in agreement. Then Scootaloo said, "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. We've got a little dirt on Diamond ourselves, so she won't dare reveal whatever your secret is as long as we're around."

"Really? You guys would do that for me?"

"Totally," Scootaloo affirmed.

"Wow." Dinky looked at the ground. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk earlier today."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Based on what you've been through, you've got a right to distrust ponies trying to be your friends."

Another silence. Dinky's house was becoming visible on the horizon.

"So… uh… while you were in the treehouse with Glass, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle offered to let me come along on the next Crusading thingy you guys do. Would that be okay?"

"That would be awesome!" Scootaloo hooked her arm around Dinky. "It would be even more okay if you wanted to be a full fledged member."

"Oh… um… why don't we just take it from the outing and go from there?"

"Fair enough." They reached Dinky's house, and she pulled out a key. Inserting it into the lock and turning, the door clicked open. Scootaloo saw that the lights were off inside. "Is Derpy not back yet?"

Dinky shook her head. "She usually has to work into the afternoon most days. But it's okay, cause when she gets home, it's awesome! We always have a ton of fun together. We stay up super late sometimes and tell stories, eat muffins, and watch scary movies together."

Scootaloo felt a rather sick feeling in her chest. "Yeah, my mom was almost the exact same."

"Was?" Dinky asked, setting down her saddlebags. "Why the past tense?"

"She…" Scootaloo didn't need to finish the sentence; Dinky understood.

"Oh. But at least you have your dad."

"Yeah, a dad who shows up for thirty seconds just to tell me he's going to Saddle Arabia for Celestia knows how long. Some guy." Scootaloo was almost surprised at the amount of malice in her voice.

"At least you know him," Dinky softly replied. "I never knew my dad." Scootaloo was quiet after that, not knowing what to say. "Come on," Dinky broke the silence. "Let's grab a few muffins and get crackin' on our homework."

"Oh Celestia, not homework!"

---

Apple Bloom shoved open the heavy barn doors with familiar ease.

"Well," she said, dusting herself off. "Ya know the drill. Don't let mah family see ya, and Ah'll be by in the mornin'."

Glass nodded, surveying the inside of the barn.

"Hey, can ya not sleep on the rafters this time? Ya nearly gave me a heart attack when Ah saw ya up there last time."

"Yeah, no problem," he replied, walking in.

"Uh…" Apple Bloom coughed. "Can Ah ask ya a quick question?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"On what the question is."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and asked, "What was it that Cheerilee wanted ta talk ta ya about?"

He looked away. "I don't want to talk about it."

Apple Bloom sighed. "All right Ah get it. Talk ta yer marefriend but not yer best friend. Ah see how it is."

Glass grinned. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

"As if. But Ah am curious. Any chance you'll talk?"

"Nope."

"Well now yer startin' ta sound like my brother."

Glass snorted. "Hey, did you ever get an answer from your sister about why your not allowed to have sleepovers with colts."

Apple Bloom thought. "Huh… no Ah didn't. Thanks fer remindin' me."

Glass pretended to tip an imaginary hat. "Any time, pardner," he said with a farmer's accent. Apple Bloom shoved him.

"Oh just get in the barn!" she yelled. He complied, waving good night as he did. Apple Bloom shut the door behind him, and headed to her house.

---

And thus ends the reprieve. Sorry these chapters were each a little short; I need time to get back into the swing of things. Here's to hoping the next reprieve it right around the corner. Chao!