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.