Of Stones and Roots

by Ignimbrite

Backstage

Masquerade, Rising Star, and Lime Light made it to the park as quickly as they could. Unfortunately, they had no idea which fillies to check. They could eliminate Feldspar, at least, as she was flying off away from everypony else at the moment, but unfortunately, the rest were all fair game as potential disguises for Kind Face.

“Come on. Let's go ask the parents here. See if there's any foals they don't know.”

---

“Go away.”

Obsidian didn't even look behind him as his sister landed in a run and trotted up behind him.

“What were you doing back there?”

“It was nothing, okay?”

“Obsidian, that wasn't nothing, and it definitely wasn't okay.”

That voice was different. Twisting his head around, he saw that Emerald Rainbow had for some reason accompanied her.

“You too?”

“Something wrong with that? Gold and Silver probably would have come too, but they're too busy comforting their crying sister right now. What happened?”

He grouched down to the ground and spoke to the dirt.

“I'm tired of being called stuff I'm not. I thought it was finally over with. I thought it would finally end.” He snorted.

“Now it's just happening all over again.”

---

“I thought he was cool!”

“I know…”

“Why'd he turn mean?”

“I don't know, Rose. I don't know.”

“Am I stupid?”

“No, Rose, you aren't.”

“Then why did he say I was?”

Gold and Silver looked at each other. “I… I don't know why. I don't know what got him all mad all of a sudden, but I don't think he was mad at you. Not really.”

She looked up, still sniffling.

“What do you mean?”

Silver looked off in the direction her cousins had gone, then back to Rose Quartz.

“I don't know for sure.” She looked up to Gold, who nodded. “But I think we can find out.”

---

The remaining members of the Hooves club reconvened by an old statue. Emerald was lying down prone with Rose Quartz, who had finally calmed down somewhat, resting on her back. Gold and Silver sat in front of her, while Feldspar lay with a hoof under her chin and her wings splayed on the ground.

“That's… He's never done that before.”

Emerald looked over to Silver. “Never?”

“No. He corrects her sometimes, but he usually at least tolerates it when she does that. He's never just blown up like that.”

Emerald looked down. “He has. Once.”

She looked up at Gold and Silver. “I'm from Ponyville, so I met him there. He did blow up like that once while I was there.”

Gold thought a while, then looked back up. “Did it have anything to do with that stuff in Canterlot?”

Emerald nodded.

---

“She did what?”

“She just took off. I was wondering if any new fillies showed up here, any that might be Kind Face in one of her disguises again.”

Quartz and Gneiss looked at each other.

“I could ask my brothers and cousins; see if they saw anypony.”

“And I could fly over the park for a quick scan.”

Gneiss was already spreading her wings for takeoff as Masquerade thanked them. As she did, Quartz asked if Masquerade had contacted the police. She nodded.

“Alright then. Let's go find our mystery filly.”

---

Obsidian rested in the dirt, chin on the ground, with a hundred thoughts racing through his head.

Was he mad?

Definitely. Oh so definitely.

He was mad at the reporters that had attacked his dad, mad at the kids in his old school, mad at the kids in the school before that, mad at his cousin…

Why did she still think he was an alicorn anyway? He'd corrected her at least a couple times every year.

She was just like all the others…

…

… No…

As he thought about it, she wasn't like the others. To the others, he was a freak. To her… to her… she'd been looking up to him, hadn't she?

He shook his head. She still called him…

No, she was barely a filly. He shouldn't expect her to understand.

Ugggggh…

What was it like for her, anyway? Imagining that some special creature was a member of your family?

She actually thought he was special, didn't she?

No mocking, no jokes, no attacks… she wasn't trying to hurt him like the others; she was just calling him what she thought he was.

He snorted again.

She'd been looking up to him this whole time, and he'd insulted her and taken off.

…

...

...

Horseapples…

…

...

...

His ears pricked upwards and swiveled around, and he lifted his head to see the source of the noise behind him.

“Mom?”

“Obsidian? What are you doing all the way out here?”

“Just… thinking. What are you doing?”

“I'm looking for Kind Face. She ran off, and Masquerade suspects that she might have come here.”

“Why would she do that?”

“I don't know, but we're just trying to be sure she's safe. Would you mind keeping an eye out?”

“Yeah, of course.”

As Gneiss was spreading her wings to take off again, Obsidian sat up.

“Mom?”

She folded her wings and stepped closer.

“What is it?”

“What if I did something, and if I ended up hurting somepony because of it, and she's…” He lowered his head, not sure of the right words to continue.

“Obsidian, what happened?”

“I… I don't know. Someone called me that thing again, and I know they didn't mean anything bad by it. I think they thought it was something good, but I still got all mad, and I think I hurt their feelings too, and it's all just…” He groaned and thumped back down to the ground. “What am I gonna do?”

Gneiss sighed. “Please don't tell me you blew up at Rose.”

Slowly he nodded, leading to another sigh.

“Obsidian, what am I going to do with you? You know she's just a foal.”

“I know…”

“And you know she doesn't mean any harm by it.”

“I know. I don't know why I did that. She's not even like the other ponies. She's… oh man, she was actually trying to be nice, and I…”. He shook his head to clear it out, then looked back up at his mom.

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“I think you already know. You're just hoping I'll tell you something else so you don't have to do it, aren't you?”

He lowered his eyes. “Maybe…”

“Obsidian.” She waited for him to look back up at her. “You were right about a minor detail that, in the grand scheme of things, is pointless. You won your little argument against a foal. Does that satisfy you?”

He slowly shook his head.

“Why not?”

“It's… it wasn't… I didn't want her to get upset or anything. I was just tired of being called stuff I'm not.”

“But you did upset her.”

“So I'm supposed to apologize for being right?”

“No, you're supposed to apologize for caring more about yourself than about somepony else. You know she's too young to understand, you know she doesn't mean any harm, and you still snapped at her.”

He looked down into the dirt.

“Obsidian, drop your pride. It's the only thing standing between you and making things right, and it will only make things worse down the road as long as you hold on to it.”

She prepared to take off again, turning back one last time.

“I won't make your decision for you. You're old enough to do that. But, I won't clean up the consequences for you either. You're old enough to do that too.”

She lifted her wings and took off to return to her search, leaving him to think.