Far away from the hustle and bustle of Canterlot was the town of Hayslee. Nestled away into its own quiet little corner of nowhere, and bordered by steep cliffs and mountainsides. Only a single road stretched to the south. Hayslee’s isolation shielded it from many happenings of the outside world.
It had come as a surprise to everypony when the town’s newest and strangest residents moved in. There was no explanation as to where they had come from, or why they’d sough out such an isolated place. Even less explicable was their bizarre and frightening appearance.
The ponies of Hayslee weren’t a judgmental lot, though. They were willing to give the strangers a chance. The larger of the two, Stitch, wore a full-body suit of sack cloth. She told the villagers she had no skin underneath, and they had no reason to doubt her. The only openings in the suit were two eye-holes, and a hole for her unicorn horn.
Stitch was always smiling, because a smile had been embroidered into her face with yarn. She had no eyes. Only mysterious red lights that hovered in her eye sockets, like hot coals on a dark night. Her voice had a warped, disturbing sound to it. But in spite of her terrifying appearance and even more terrifying voice, she was as friendly as anypony else in Hayslee.
Stitch offered her services as a doctor, and proved to be quite a good one. She had particular skill with sutures, but that wasn’t her only talent. With a small library of medical texts, she could easily figure out how to solve any problem she didn’t recognize right off the bat.
Stitch’s companion was little more than a talking skill, the unfortunate result of a run-in with some hungry diamond dogs. Like Stitch, she lacked eyes, and instead had the same specks of red light in her eye sockets. She called herself Red Eye. When she first arrived in town, she would only speak if spoken to, and never initiated conversations with the townsfolk.
Stitch brought Red Eye along for walks through town every so often. Red Eye got past her shyness a little at a time, and grew accustomed to making small talk with her neighbors. It took time to get her talking, but once somepony did, they found she was full of stories to tell. The places she’d seen, the ponies she’d known, the things that had happened to her and Stitch.
The Hayslee ponies grew to accept and appreciate their new residents within just a few short months. So it came as a surprise to Stitch when she headed home from the clinic to find a crowd of ponies barring her path.
Such situations had always ended badly before. Terribly, even. Every single time. However, these ponies weren’t brandishing weapons. They were even smiling. Stitch suppressed her panic reflex and came closer.
“Stitch, we noticed you’re starting to show some wear and tear,” said Rosemary. “So, a bunch of us got together and made you a quilt.”
The unicorns in the crowd used their magic to lift and unfold a quilt, holding it open by its corners for Stitch to see. No two squares were the same. Fabrics, colors, and patterns differed across the entire work. Some squares had images or short messages embroidered. One in particular said ‘Welcome to Hayslee’. If Stitch had tear ducts, she’d have cried.
“There’s a little something from each of us in this quilt,” said Whisperwind.
“We’d be honored if you wore it,” said Midnight Oil.
“I-I’m touched! Thank you, all of you,” said Stitch. “I’ll sew it into a suit right away!”
Stitch accepted the quilt and draped it across her back, folded over once so the edges didn’t drag on the ground. The crowd of ponies cleared a path for Stitch. She walked through, offering thanks to each pony she passed.
Inside, Red Eye stared at the door. Sometimes she went to work with Stitch, but not always. She valued her solitude, but the soul-crushing boredom of being just a skull made her pine for Stitch to return. Stitch finally did return, proudly strolling through the door with a quilt on her back.
“Oh my, what a lovely quilt,” said Red Eye. “Where did you get it?”
“Our neighbors made it,” said Stitch. “They wanted to make us feel more at home.”
“That’s so thoughtful! The ponies here really do like us, don’t they?”
“They do. After all this time, we’ve finally found a place we can call home.”