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