//------------------------------// // Chapter 80: Change of Plans // Story: Rosa // by awf //------------------------------// When Rosa emerged up the slightly scary ladder she was faced with an impossible sight. It didn't help that she had known exactly what to expect, it still came as a shock. "Lillian!" The girl was sitting up on a pile of blankets, blinking in the unexpected light. Iskra must have woken her up and she was staring at the newcomer with uncomprehension for a while. Rosa's ex-roommates hadn't lied, it really did look like the girl had everything she needed to keep her comfortable. There was a selection of plushy toys on her makeshift bed and a pile of papers with some crayons scattered around them on the floor. There was a small chair and an old bedside table which held a mirror and a comb. There was even a clothesline stretched between two wooden beams with several pairs of socks drying on it. Basic lighting was provided by a lone bulb hanging on its own wire from somewhere above. Hopefully the mares haven't been messing with electricity, but if they have, it seemed to be working. The scene would have been cute if Rosa hadn't been so horribly worried for so long. Lillian gasped, then squealed: "Rosa!" and rushed her. Her smell was still familiar and Rosa closed her eyes as the child hugged her for all she was worth. She leaned her muzzle on Lillian's shoulder and just soaked in her presence for a while. "I'm so glad you're okay!" "Yeah, me too, sweetie. Me too." In a minute Rosa would have to tell her she needed to go home, but for now they could just hold each other until Rosa could make herself believe Lillian was alright. She hadn't even realized it, but when the search had petered out Rosa had also lost hope. Sometimes it was nice to be wrong. Rosa snorted a little in amusement. All this time she had been living on smuggled food in her old school, hidden away by her old roommates. She would never have seen it coming! "God, you gave us all such a scare, Lillian," Rosa chided gently. The child was crying already, but they were tears of joy. "I know, I know, I'm sorry! I couldn't stay when you ran away! I wish I went with you!" That would have been extremely awkward, not to mention dangerous, but Rosa didn't tell her that. At long last, with a heavy heart, she peeled herself away and gave Lillian as serious a look as she could through her tear-filled eyes. "Lillian, you have to go home..." She was already shaking her head, so Rosa sighed and leaned her head on the girl's chest for another few seconds. "Sweetie, this isn't a good place for a little girl. I'm sorry, but you can't live like this." Lillian was about to say something, or start crying, but Rosa hushed her with a gentle hoof on her cheek. "Please, trust me?" That gave her pause. The last time Rosa had seen her, Lillian had been afraid of her. It was heartwarming to see this change and made her job a little easier. "I don't wanna go back," the child murmured quietly. "I know, sweetie, but your parents are worried sick. I was worried sick when I heard you were gone. They'll be nicer from now on, believe me." She wanted to. A part of Lillian didn't want to live in an attic her entire life, Rosa could see that. Felicity was standing quietly behind and Rosa gave her a surreptitious kick with her hind leg. "Ah!" the mare jerked in surprise, but quickly caught on. "Um, Rosa is right, Lillian. We'll all get in so much trouble if they find you here. Y-You need to go back home." The girl was sniffling now, but Rosa thought she would agree. She grabbed her again and pressed her muzzle against Lillian's face once more. "I know it's not easy, but don't you miss your mother? Can you imagine how sad she was when you went missing?" Rosa purposefully didn't bring up the father. "T-They said you were a bad pony!" Lillian explained. "They called you an ingrate and a b-b-" She couldn't quite say the next word, so she whispered it instead. "-bitch." "I'm sorry. They just didn't understand. About me and the cutie marks." Rosa looked around for a temporary distraction to give the girl some time to process it all. It was a bit of a stretch, but she managed to snag one of the papers with a hoof. "Did you draw this?" The crude picture showed a green surface with what looked like flowers and a simple representation of a pony. It was violet with a black mane. "Aw, this is a lovely picture!" This got Lillian smiling a little and she reached over for more papers. "I also drew one with both of us together!" She showed Rosa a picture which, with some imagination, showed her and the girl sitting on a bed with a book. It was a very nice memory and Rosa returned the smile. "I love it!" Solemnly, the girl held it out to her. "Y-You can have it if you want..." Rosa had to let her go so she could grasp the sheet of paper, but she never stopped smiling. "Aw, thank you! That's so sweet!" Encouraged, Lillian brought out more pictures. A few of them showed the roommates, including a remarkably good attempt at Iskra with her wings outstretched. The girl blushed a little as she admitted: "Valentina helped me with that one." "It's very good!" "Um, should I give it to her?" Lillian asked, growing sad once again. "T-To remember me by?" She was accepting it! She would agree to go home! Rosa's heart began to beat faster when she recognized the clues. "I think that's a very nice thing to do," Rosa confirmed. "Can I say goodbye to the ponies?" They would have to take her down past the others, so that was a no-brainer. Rosa glanced at Felicity, who had been watching the whole scene, and she gave her a slight nod. There wasn't much room in the attic, so Iskra was standing on the ladder and the other three were on the corridor below, keeping watch. Their time was running out. Luna had said thirty minutes and it was probably already over. They needed to hurry back. She probably wouldn't leave without her and Starlight, but Rosa didn't want to risk it. There was just one thing left to do. Rosa tried to invent a plan on the spot. She couldn't leave the school with Lillian, not without risking being seen, or worse. She would have to bring the authorities to the School, instead. There were probably phones in the administration building... "Lillian, please listen to me very carefully. Some nice men from the police will come get you and they'll make sure you're okay, you understand? You can trust the police." Rosa didn't even know which direction the Boone house was, let alone how far. She didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to get the girl safely there and she didn't want to take a taxi or something. A different plan was starting to form. It was not the greatest, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice. "You have to tell them what happened at home, okay? Tell them about Mr.- about your dad and what he did to Benjamin. They'll find someone to help, okay? They'll talk to him and he won't do it again." Lillian nodded, despite the fresh tears in her eyes. "Please don't tell anyone we hid you!" Felicity squeaked suddenly. Rosa immediately had misgivings about leaving them all behind. If Lillian mentioned it to Mr. or Mrs. Boone, they might be vindictive. Who knew what would happen to her roommates then. Lillian might not want to tell them, but the grownups could trick her, or force her somehow, or something. Rosa hadn't even thought about that until that very moment, but it made her gut clench in fear. "M-Maybe you should all come with me after all," she suggested, looking at Felicity. The mare looked worried and undecided. "Please. I'll be so worried if you don't!" Felicity licked her lips, then her ears folded down. "I'll ask t-the others..." she said. It was encouraging and a little worrying at the same time. It'd mean more ponies to take with them, but Rosa didn't think Luna would object, not when it had ostensibly been their entire reason for being on Earth. "Okay, let's get down from here. There's phones in the admin building, we'll call 911 before we go." It could be risky, so Rosa would have to make sure it was the last thing they did before they stepped through the Bore and Luna closed it after them. This 'mission' was getting more and more complicated by the minute. "Come on, I'll help you down the stairs," she told Lillian. As Rosa led her ragtag group back down the dark, quiet stairs and past all those ponies' rooms, she couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable. Her gut told her that she should be rounding up all of them and taking them to Equestria, but she didn't think Luna would be too happy about that. The Princess had been afraid that a lot of the ponies might panic, or fight what they saw as intruders. It could turn out very bad. Knowing the upbringing they had gotten, and the lies they had been told, Rosa felt there was a significant chance that the Princess was right. All it would take was for one pegasus to run away and call the police or something. Still, it felt wrong to have a way to freedom and just leave them all there. Then again, when Rosa thought back on her time in the School, she had never felt particularly trapped. At worst she had sometimes been a little anxious about her future, but that was mainly because she didn't have too much of a say in it. It was probably a matter of perspective. Living outside, with Sky Light and her friends, had shown Rosa just how restrictive the School really was, but before she had experienced that, she had had no basis of comparison. Just like her roommates didn't know. They looked very uneasy about the idea of leaving behind everything they'd ever known in exchange for some unknown, dubious idea of 'freedom'. Would it be fair to put all the ponies in the dorm through that? Especially the younger ones, who might feel quite shocked and displaced? Perhaps it was kinder to leave them somewhere familiar. Besides, Luna had promised they'd come back for Maribelle, and maybe Rosa could get more of the School ponies out too. Luna had also been very confident in her sister's diplomatic ability, but Rosa couldn't help quietly thinking that it had been decades since the whole thing had started and ponies and humans were still apparently at war. "What's wrong?" Paolo asked suddenly, as Rosa stepped out of the building into full moonlight. That was another problem right there. Rosa wanted to be with the colt, she really did, but she was worried it would distract her too much from Sky Light. Her pegasus friend needed her, badly, and Rosa simply had to be there for her until she gave birth, at least. Probably she would help her after that, too. Babysitting, or cleaning up, or cooking. Things Rosa was good at and Sky Light probably wasn't. Until then, Sky would need Rosa on her side one hundred percent. "Paolo, can I be honest with you?" Her tone and the way she had been avoiding his gaze immediately lowered his ears and Rosa felt sad for the poor colt. He had just agreed to give up everything he knew, all his friends, to go with her. "Y-Yes?" he asked nervously. Starlight Glimmer noticed her talking with Paolo and she gently ushered the other ponies and the girl toward the administrative building, giving the pair a bit of privacy and some time. Rosa took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I- We'll have to wait a bit. F-For 'us', y-you know?" "Huh? Why?" She sat down and gave the colt as tight a hug as she dared without breaking his bones. "Sky Light - she's a friend. Some... things happened and she lost her, um, coltfriend and now she's pregnant. I really need to be there for her. She's had a tough life." "Oh," Paolo said, but then he brightened up a bit. "B-But we'll be together, right? I mean, after... after- you know?" "Oh! Yes! I t-think I'd like that." "We can still see each other while, uh, while we wait, right?" the colt asked. "I guess so. I don't see why not," Rosa replied, unsure where he was going with it. He gave her a relieved smile and somehow it made her feel better. "Well, then it's just like we're dating, isn't it? I'll come visit and we'll go out for drinks and, um, dinner. And- well, someday..." The thought he had was making him blush furiously. He shifted his body to hide something from Rosa and when she realized what it probably was, she blushed as well. Hopefully he'd stop... 'dangling' before Lillian saw. Rosa realized that her tail was hitched up and forced it down. Both their muzzles looked like a couple of embers by now, but Rosa forcefully pushed the thought out of her mind and stood up. There was just one thing she had to do before they left. She leaned in and gave Paolo a quick kiss, right on the muzzle. "Thanks for thinking straight, Paolo. I dunno why I was imagining I'd never see you for a year until Sky Light has her baby." He grinned with relief. "Yeah, sure! We'll go on dates. We probably shouldn't, um, rush things anyway..." He didn't really believe that and neither did Rosa. She had already decided she wanted this colt. She would have to put him in second place until Sky Light was okay, which would be hard, but Rosa knew she could do it. She had waited this long. "Let's get back with the others. Luna has probably gotten everyone in the basement out, so she'll be opening the Bore soon. We have to watch Lillian until we're ready to go." Paolo thrust his chest out. "I'll keep her company!" he offered. "I've spent a lot of time with her! She's a good kid." That would actually work pretty well. Paolo wouldn't be there to distract Rosa when she met her mother and Lillian would be safe with Paolo and her roommates. She gave the pegasus a happy smile and threw her hooves around him again. "Thank you!" As a little extra reward, she gave his muzzle another kiss which made his tail swish and his ears flatten. "W-Welcome," he mumbled. They both hastened their steps to catch up with the rest of the group and make sure the plan was going ahead. One of the empty offices would have a comfy chair for Lillian and a phone. There should also be some water for her to drink while she waited, and the toilets were nearby. Using a chamber pot must have been embarrassing and uncomfortable, Rosa imagined. Then - then... She didn't even know what to think. Her legs felt numb, as if she had no nerves in them, which was making her walk rather stiffly. All the while she was thinking about what she would say to Fluttershy and what she might say in return. Would she even feel anything for her mother after all this time? What if Fluttershy was just another pony and Rosa wouldn't have a real connection with her? What if they didn't even like each other?! Rosa was not aware of it, but her ears went flat and her tail tucked up almost against her belly out of worry.