//------------------------------// // Plans // Story: Of Stones and Roots // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// “Well there is certainly quite a bit of history in that city,” Cheerilee acknowledged, “although with the distance, a field trip there would take a bit of planning.” Kind Face's ears fell again as yet another idea flew out the window.   It wasn't like she was running away again.  That idea was scrapped before it even began.  She was certain, after all, that grounding wasn't the worst punishment her aunt could come up with, and she wasn't particularly inclined to find out what was. That left her sitting on the swings, trying to plot her next move.  Unfortunately, she had exhausted her ideas, the best one being unlikely to get her to Fillydelphia earlier than a few weeks, meaning she would miss the reunion anyway. As she pondered what to do next, a letter floated down in front of her. “Oops.  Sorry about that.” Looking up, she saw Derpy hovering overhead.  The mailmare dropped to the ground and picked up the letter, putting it back into her bags. “I don't know why I keep dropping these.” Kind Face got off the swings, and took a closer look at Derpy’s mail bag.  “Looks like a button came loose.  The flap's probably blowing open every time you turn.” She looked at the bag herself, forcing both eyes to focus on it. “Huh… I guess I should get that fixed.  Thanks.”  She dug around in her other bag, then tossed something to Kind Face.  “Here, have a muffin.” “Thanks.” As Kind Face took a bite, she thought about the mailmare. The mailmare… The mail… This just might work… The next day was a fairly normal one… “EVERYPONY DOWN OR I WILL DROP THIS JAR!!!” … except for that one thing in the afternoon, at least. Quartz returned home from work to find Gneiss getting things ready for the trip.  Gneiss looked up as soon as she heard him come in the door. “Hi honey.  How was work today?” “It was bizarre, to say the least.  One of my new investigators charged in reporting that some lunatic threatened to release a jar full of parasprites inside Sugarcube Corner. Thankfully, Fluttershy was there and managed to talk her out of it.  I sent a couple other guys to help interview Fluttershy and the police officers.”   He sat down and started levitating items into some of the saddlebags that were out.   “Well,” Gneiss commented, “at least it will make for some interesting headlines in tomorrow’s print.” He nodded.   “It's certainly a change from covering weather patrol schedules.”  He picked up a hat and looked at it.  “Isn't it a bit early, by the way, to be packing?” “Might as well save a bit of time.  Besides, you already know Obsidian and Feldspar are going to wait until the very last minute, so we might as well have our own things ready so we can be free to help them.” Quartz nodded, remembering packing for the move.  He was quite glad that they didn't have to go through that again. “Come to think of it, school should be out by now.  What do you suppose they're up to?” SPLASH!!! Feldspar's head emerged from the creek, completely soaked. “How far did I make it?” “Five feet, but that one doesn't count.” “Aw come on, why not?” “I saw you using your wings.” She climbed out and shook off, very deliberately  spraying the other two. “Hey!” “Stop it!” All three of them laughed. Kind Face returned home dripping wet to find her aunt waiting for her. “Welcome home, Kind.  How was school today?” “It was great.  Well, school itself was about normal, but Obsidian and Feldspar and I all went out to the creek afterwards, and Feldspar tried to walk across it, but it didn't work, so she got soaked.  Then we joined in with her.  It was fun!” Masquerade chuckled.  “Sounds like fun, but why would anypony try to walk on water?” “Well, clouds are made of water, and pegasi walk on clouds all the time, so we figured if Obsidian gave her enough of a boost with his magic, she'd be able to cloudwalk across the creek.” “I see… I think.  If it's the same as cloudwalking, shouldn't it work without the boost?” “That's what she did first.  Didn't work either.  Of course, Pinkie Pie skipped across the creek just afterwards, but… well… she's Pinkie.” “Of course.”  Masquerade shook her head.   “Well I do have some news of my own for you.  You got a letter in the mail today.” “Really?  From who?”   Masquerade pulled out the envelope and held it up.  “I don't know.  It just says ‘FPAC’ on it, but either way, it's addressed to you.” Kind Face looked at the letter for a moment, then snatched it up and tore it open.  After all, it wasn't too often that she got letters addressed specifically to her. Dear miss Face, We had heard of your adventure in Canterlot in the newspapers and were surprised that a filly of your age would be as adept at improvised character portrayals as what was reported.  Since we are always seeking new talent, we desired to contact you to see your skills for ourselves. If it is not too much inconvenience, we wish to meet with you this Friday at our performance center and perhaps see if you would like to audition for one of our upcoming performances. We all hope to see you there.   Sincerely, Casting Call Director of the Fillydelphia Performing Art Center “Woah!  Check this out!” She held up the letter for her aunt to read. “What?... Fillydelphia?  I didn't think news of your escapade spread outside Ponyville and Canterlot.” “Ooh, could I go?  Pleeeeeease?  At least to audition?” Masquerade looked over the letter again.  “I don't know.  Something about this seems fishy.” “Please?  I've even been practicing some new characters.  Look!” She rushed upstairs and closed the door behind her.  A moment later, a yellow filly rushed back down. “Can ah go there now?  Maybe ah could get ma cutie mark up there.” “Did you get Applebloom’s permission to use her as a character?” Kind Face hesitated, then ran upstairs again.  This time, she came back down looking roughly like Obsidian, but with red eyes, a red mane and tail, and black wings. “I am Lord Edge!  Ruler of the Shadows!” “Kind Face, this isn't…” Before Masquerade could finish her sentence, Kind Face was already back in and out of her room. “Oh hello, my name is…” “Kind Face, listen.  I have no doubt you'd steal whatever show they're doing, but something seems odd about all this.” The pink unicorn looked up at her aunt with sad puppy eyes. Her aunt tried to resist the sad puppy eyes. “The city's pretty far from here.  Even if they like your performance… “Oh would you cut that out?  You know I can't think straight while you're looking at me like that.”   Ordinarily, earth ponies are not capable of telepathy, but this one particular instance was almost certainly an exception.  Either that, or Kind Face was just really good at sad puppy eyes. Masquerade sighed. “Fine, but when we get there, I'm going in first to make sure it's really legitimate.  Okay?” “Really?” “Yes, really.  If nothing else, it'll at least be a chance to see you perform in person again instead of reading about it in the newspaper.” Kind Face's grin stretched far wider than what should have been possible. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you…”  She hugged her aunt, then took off up the stairs to remove her costume. As soon as she got upstairs, she jumped in place. “Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  It worked!  It worked!” All that time convincing one of the colts at school to write that letter paid off wonderfully.  It was certainly a good thing he had such neat hornwriting. She laid down on her back and looked up at the ceiling, lost in a daydream. “I get to go to Fillydelphia after all!  I'll get to see what big families are like!  And the only thing I have to worry about is my aunt coming along…” Her smile shrank slightly. “To make sure…” Her eyes widened. “That my made-up organization is real…” She sat upright and stared ahead blankly. “Horseapples…”