//------------------------------// // Ready to Fly // Story: Of Stones and Roots // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// The Hooves Club had reconvened, their first orders of business being to expel Emerald Rainbow on the charge of not existing and to induct their new decidedly not-a-unicorn friend Kind Face into her place. “So, are we supposed to introduce each other all over again?”  Feldspar asked. “I've already met your cousins, well sorta, at least.” “Yeah, but it's still part of the fun,” Obsidian added.  "Everypony, meet Kind Face, a friend of ours from Ponyville." As the others cheered for the not-quite-newcomer, Obsidian turned to Rose Quartz and chuckled.  “Just when I thought we had another unicorn member too.  I guess it's just the two of us again.” He looked at her and paused for a moment. "I'm sorry again about blowing up like that." She tilted her head. "But I already forgave you." "I know, and thanks for that... I just wish I never did that in the first place." He sighed, then looked at her again. "I used to be a lot like you." "You were a unicorn?" He chuckled. "No, but I did pretend I was a prince who'd go around rescuing everypony." "Really?" "Yep." "What happened?" He didn't answer at first, looking down at the ground instead. "I don't know. I guess I kinda lost that dream." Turning back to his cousin, he put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't lose yours." Just before he took his hoof away, his eyes briefly flashed with a new thought, and a small grin developed on his face. “Hold on a second.  I've got an idea.” With that, he bolted off towards the adults, leaving the others confused.  After a minute, he returned with the wooden box from Kind Face's saddlebags. “I just needed to borrow something from Masquerade.”  He looked over to Kind Face.  “Would you mind helping with this?  You know how it works better than me.” He then looked over at Rose Quartz.  “Would you mind closing your eyes for a bit?” Rose looked at him, confused, but hesitantly did so.  Shortly afterwards, she felt a pair of hooves doing something to her back and attaching some sort of straps around her barrel.  Another pair of hooves quickly joined in, along with Kind Face's voice. “You're putting that part on backwards.  Here it goes like… there, like that…” After a moment, they finally stopped. “Okay,” Obsidian said, “go ahead and open them.” She opened her eyes and saw… nothing.  There was absolutely nothing different except that her cousins and siblings were now grinning a lot wider and the wooden box was open. “You're the one who wants to be an alicorn, so this was the closest I could get.” Rose paused, then took off to the water fountain, jumped up on the edge, and looked at her reflection inside.  Rising up from her back was a pair of wings. “WOO-HOO!!!!” She took off to show her parents as the others laughed. "So, what's next?" Gold snorted between laughs, "a big hunt to see if we can make everypony else into alicorns?" Everypony was still laughing when she got back, still grinning like a loon. “So, how'd Uncle Zirc and Aunt Pyrite take your ascension?” “I don't know.  They haven't said anything yet.  They just stared at me like this.” She promptly displayed the most dumbfounded expression any of them had ever seen.  All of them laughed again. “Okay,” Obsidian was still chuckling at the filly’s imitation of her parents, “since you're now the alicorn of the group, that makes you our princess.  Therefore, what is your first command?” He bowed before her, with the others following suit. Rose Quartz's dumbfounded expression suddenly went from acting to genuine, only to be replaced moments later by a grin. “Quickly!  The ponies of Thulcandra need rescuing from the White Witch of the West!” “In that case, lead the way, Princess Rose!” “Who's Princess Rose?  I'm Princess Crystal Shield!” “Ooh!  We're using made-up names?”  Feldspar dug around in Kind Face's box, returning with the same horn she'd worn on the train.  “Then I'm Ice Heart of the Frozen North!” As Crystal Shield beamed at having another princess beside her, Kind Face gestured towards the box while facing the other two earth ponies. “Come on, if you want 'em.  I think I've got enough props in here for all of us.” In a short moment, Rose's two siblings joined her and Feldspar, ready to take on the White Witch of the West. Feldspar looked at Obsidian, smirking as she watched him search the ground for a long stick to use as his sword. “What?” She just kept smirking. “Fine.”  He turned to the rest of the group and bowed before them.  “I, Sir Stone Hoof, Defender of the Downtrodden, pledge my allegiance to this band of heroes.” He looked to his sister.  “There.  Happy?” As Feldspar grinned, Obsidian looked over to Kind Face. “Not in character this time?” “Nah.  I've been somepony else all day.  I think I'll be myself for a while.” As his shift had finally ended for the day, Timely Manner hung up his steward's uniform at the station and headed back to his home. As usual, he walked through the park on the way back, the fresh air bringing a welcome relief from being cooped up in a train all day. He always enjoyed it. The smell of the flowers, the sound of the water fountains, the sight of colts and fillies playing some game off to the side- all these were the perfect distraction from his day. As he walked along, enjoying the scenery, some of the foals ran past him across his path, led by a pink filly. "The White Witch is hiding at Barad Dur! Let's go!" The remaining foals joined in a battle cry and charged in behind her. "FOR KING AND COUNTRY!" Meanwhile, Timely Manner watched all of them, mouth agape. "Um... are you okay, mister?" He didn't look at the red earth filly, nor did he say anything. He settled instead on collapsing into a faint. After they had all finished defeating the White Witch of the West and taken off their horns and wings, Masquerade approached with Rising Star and a few unfamiliar ponies. “So you're Kind Face?” “Uhhh… yeah.” As Kind Face shuffled her hooves, Masquerade stepped forward.  “What's this about?” “I suppose I should introduce myself.  I'm Casting Call, and this is my wife, Curtain Call.  We heard rumors of a foal skilled in costume performance and a retired street actor who taught her everything she knows.” “That would be me and Aunt Masquerade, but what’s going on?” “We manage the community art center just downtown.  Granted, it's not often that we go out recruiting for auditions, but we were curious about the foals that supposedly went around Canterlot acting as several different characters.” Feldspar flapped up to them. “Wait, you two really are real?” “Yes.  Why wouldn't we be?” Kind Face glanced away.  “It's kinda a long story.” “Hmm… well I'm not sure what kind of story would lead to that, but…” Casting Call finally got a good look at Kind Face's friends.  He and Curtain Call both stared. “... You're…” Not even needing to notice who they were staring at, Obsidian looked up at them and rolled his eyes. “Oh just get it over with.” “Son of Celestia, the kid's really an alicorn…” “And there we go.”  He snorted and turned to his sister.  “Yeesh, you think anypony’s ever gonna get that right?”