In an old dimly lit attic, a collection of unicorn stallions dropped index cards into a bowl, each card bearing a name. Another one, much older than the others, dropped in a card of his own and picked up the bowl in a levitation field.
“Alright. Who's going to do it this time?” He deftly launched the contents of the bowl into the air before catching them again. He tossed it up a couple more times before looking straight to the closest of the stallions before him.
“Now.”
As he tossed the cards one last time, the chosen unicorn snatched one up in his levitation field and unfolded it. He then passed it over to his younger brother.
“Looks like you won the toss this time,” he smiled. The others cheered as he accepted the card with a smile of his own.
After the annual ritual was completed, they all stepped downstairs and parted ways, one remaining behind, and the others each heading to their homes.
It was a dark evening, the end of a long day of travel, and the solitary stallion was tired and ready to be back home. As he arrived in Ponyville, his ears twitched. Something was moving in the shadows.
A pair of wings flapped behind him, and another pair approached before him. Just briefly, he caught a glimpse of a shadow peeking out from behind a rooftop. It disappeared just as he lit his horn to illuminate the area.
Something rattled in the street to his side. He turned to look at it, but saw nothing.
That was when they struck. With a flurry of wings, two forms tackled him, nearly knocking him to the ground. As they did, they both cried out in a single voice.
“DAAAAAAD!”
Quartz chuckled, still stumbling under the weight of both foals.
“You two just couldn't wait till I got home to do that, could you?”
Feldspar wrapped both hooves around him as she squeaked her response.
“Nope!”
By this point, Obsidian had already jumped off Quartz's back and landed in front of him.
“So where’s it gonna be this time?”
“Shouldn't we wait to get home so your mom can hear it too?”
“No need.”
All of them looked up to see Gneiss sitting on top of a cloud just above them.
“You two really thought you could sneak out of the house this late without my noticing, didn't you?” She fluttered down, landing next to her husband, and nuzzled him. “They were quite excited about the possibility that it might be here. The first time all day that they stopped talking about it was when they thought you'd gotten back.”
“Well, we won't be holding it here just yet.”
“Awwwwwww…”
He chuckled. “It's going to be in Fillydelphia this time, at Cor’s place, or at least the park right near his place.”
“Well, that'll be nice,” Gneiss smiled. “It's been a while since we've been there.”
“It's certainly not a bad place to go. Besides, regardless of where it is, it'll be good to see everypony again.”
“Don't forget your assignments for next week…”
Half the class had already galloped out the doors, with the other half flying, jumping, or trotting out instead.
“Hey Kind Face! What's up?”
The red earth pony looked up and stepped aside just in time for Feldspar to come in for a hard landing right in the spot where she had been standing.
The pegasus filly apparently made no notice of her near-collision, still grinning like a loon. Obsidian, meanwhile, silently stepped forward, displaying an apologetic face on his sister's behalf.
“Not much,” she replied. “What about you two?”
Feldspar pronked in place as she squealed.
“We're going to Fillydelphia this weekend!”
“Wait. What?”
As Feldspar bounced around, Obsidian explained. “We're going to a family reunion at Uncle Corundum’s place. We've been there a few times before. I was kinda hoping it would be here this time, but we didn't get picked.”
“Why?”
“It's sort of a tradition. We take the names of everypony who thinks they can host it and pick one at random. Corundum’s name came up first, so we're all going to his place.”
“So, you two are going off to see the rest of your family?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh.” Kind Face's ears lowered slightly, then lifted again. She then turned in the direction of her house. “I thought we could hang out this weekend.”
“Well, we still have a few days.”
“Well yeah, but… I… I guess I oughtta go make sure I've got my homework ready. I'll see you later.”
Feldspar waved as Obsidian tilted his head.
“Um, okay. Bye?...”
Kind Face smiled at the ponies who saw her on the way back to her house. She smiled as her Aunt Masquerade asked her how her day went. She smiled as she went upstairs to her room.
Her smile disappeared as soon as she got into her room and closed the door.
“They're leaving?”
She thumped down on the floor, chin and all, and stared at nothing in particular as her ears fell.
Indeed, she was hoping to hang out with them again, but something about her mood didn't add up. She was too disappointed for it to have just been that.
Looking up, she saw an old picture on her bookshelf. It was just a picture of her and her aunt putting on a show together back in Canterlot. She had a few pictures like that, copied with permission from those taken by the tourists. She was a parody of a unicorn guard in that one, giving a hard time to a dimwitted would-be spy. In another, she was a thief who kept getting tricked into giving back everything she took. In yet another, she was a birdwatcher, trying to identify the species of a decoration on somepony's roof.
All their routines together, all of her memories of Canterlot, it was always her and her aunt.
She sighed. At least now she knew for sure what was eating at her.
She had had a few friends back in Canterlot, mostly among other performers who shared her aunt's territory. As far as family went however, real family at least, she only ever remembered her aunt.
It wasn't something she thought about often, but it was something she did occasionally wonder. What would it be like to have others in the family? Why couldn't she be like the Apples, with their roots running all over Equestria?
She sighed again.
It's not like she could change whatever had happened back before she could remember. Tartarus, she didn't even know what to change if she could. For all she knew she could be a long lost descendant of royalty in some country off Celestia-knows-where, or she could just as easily be a clump of dirt shaped like a pony and animated by some sort of advanced come-to-life spell.
What would it be like, though? What would it be like to belong somewhere?
“Kind Face. It's time for dinner.”
She jumped up and looked at the clock.
Yikes, how long was I up here?
She stepped downstairs to find her aunt waiting for her. Both of them sat down at the table and started eating the soup.
It was a good one, an old recipe Masquerade learned from who-knows-where. “Mixed with love,” she'd always said it was, although Kind Face was pretty sure it was tomato juice.
“Kind Face, what's the matter?”
She looked up to see her aunt watching her, concerned.
“I could tell something was off the moment you stepped in the front door. What is it?”
She hesitated a couple times, then finally asked.
“Do you remember my mom? Or my dad? Or… well… anypony?”
Masquerade paused, then sighed.
“They were good ponies, Kind, very good ponies. Wasn't a pony out there that your dad wouldn't stop to help, and your mom knew how to share a smile the same way Princess Cadence can share love.
“You take after them more than you realize. You've certainly got your mom's talent for characters, along with your dad's kindness towards ponies that are alone.”
She paused for a moment.
“What brings this up?”
“I… no, it's my friends from school, the ones who I went to Canterlot with that time. Their family's getting together and, well… that just got me thinking about my family and…”
Her ears gradually drooped lower.
“I see…”
Masquerade stepped around the table and enveloped Kind in an embrace.
“Kind, I can't say what happened to your parents. The details are too scarce… too distorted to make heads or tails of anything. All I can say for sure is that they loved you more than anything.”
They stayed that way for a while, neither knew how long, then separated and finished their soup. It had gotten cold, but it was somehow better now.
Kind Face then went upstairs to start her homework, as Masquerade silently stepped into her own room. She pulled out a wooden box and looked at it, then looked up at the calendar on the wall.
Soon. She would give it to her very soon.
As Kind Face was about to go to sleep, she saw the last picture on her shelf. It was one of her most recent pictures, also from Canterlot. The photo was taken on the roof of some building out in the commercial district, with Feldspar, still in her purple and green dye job, holding the camera at hoof’s length to capture the three of them together. She chuckled at the sight of herself as a blue, musically talented unicorn next to Obsidian who, unaware of the camera until just before the picture was snapped, had just taken off the saddlebags that he had used to conceal his wings.
An idea came into her head. It only popped in for a moment, but that was all it took to plant the seeds for a larger scheme.
She wanted to know what larger families were like, so why not see for herself? She already knew where one would be gathering after all. All she needed was a few supplies, some details of the location, and just a touch of her mother's special magic, just like in Canterlot.
She pulled open a drawer on her nightstand revealing bottles of dye and spare horns.
It was time for another road trip.