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.