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!