The few ponies who had ventured out into the marketplace scattered quickly as the two sides squared off against each other. Wild Reed had brought at least as many ponies as Dancing Pinion, such that there were now close to a hundred grim-faced ponies, separated by ten meters of open flagstones. In the silence, the drop of a bit would have rung like a bell.
“You’ve brought a lot of ponies for a simple apology, Dancing Pinion,” Wild Reed called, his tone laced with venom. “Of course, we hope for the safe return of your family’s youngling, but by now you have surely determined that we had nothing to do with it. If you release your hostage, perhaps I will argue that you should suffer no worse punishment than banishment for your crimes.”
“And you have some nerve showing your face here, Wild Reed!” Dancing Pinion’s reply was a roar of pent up fury. “Let me make a counteroffer: tell me if Rainbow Plume is still alive, and what you have done with her, and I will not cut you down where you stand!”
“A member of your family is missing, and here you are posturing in front of the town hall instead of looking for her? Have an innocent pegasus arrested rather than making every effort to find one who is lost?” Wild Reed paused for effect, as if unwilling even to voice the next thought. “To an outsider, it nearly seems that you are more interested in securing your position in the coming ballot than in finding out if Rainbow Plume is safe.”
Back in the safety of the alleyway, Hearthfire cuffed the frozen Stonefeather.
“They’re about ready to kill each other! Get out there and tell them... I don’t know! Tell them Blossom and Plume were friends, that Blossom wouldn’t do it!”
“They won’t listen. It’ll just make the Verdants even more sure they’re in the right, and Pinion will accuse me of betraying the family!”
“So? You have to try, darn it! Look, how are you going to feel if this turns for the worse, and you sat here and did nothing? You wanted to do something to help, this is your big chance. Either get out there, or you go and help the ponies looking for Rainbow Plume!”
It was a cheap shot of the lowest order, but it worked. Stonefeather stood up. “No, you’re right. I can’t do much to help find Plume, but I might be able to do some good here.”
The small contingent of ponies trooped out into the square like Bronco Cassidy and the Sundance Colt. The angry confrontation had devolved into a shouting match. Some of the ponies on either side were doing their best to restrain the two leaders, but others were baying for blood. The two contingents of guards eyed each other nervously, gripping their weapons tightly. Neither side noticed Stonefeather and his friends until they were almost between the two groups.
“Hold it!” Stonefeather screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Stay out of this, Stonefeather! You think I don’t know you’ve been hanging around with that murderer Blossom?”
“Arbor! Get away from those Feathers! They’ve already kidnapped one pony! Do you want them to have two hostages?”
“No! Both of you shut up! You said it yourself, uncle, ” Stonefeather roared, “Blossom is my friend! I know she wouldn’t do this!”
Hearthfire surprised herself with an involuntary flinch. Stonefeather had an impressive voice, when he chose to use it to its full force. Unfortunately, the silence he created lasted hardly a single stunned breath before the old Feathers pegasus and Verdant unicorn snapped out of it.
“You can’t trust them, you foal! Rainbow Plume trusted them too, didn’t she? And who knows where she is now!”
“You hear that, Dancing Pinion? Even your own flesh and blood is on our side!”
With a furious cry, Dancing Pinion broke free of the ponies trying to restrain him, wings beating the air as he lunged over the heads of his followers towards his adversary’s triumphant smirk. Hearthfire watched open mouthed in horror as the pegasus sailed across the gap, sensing rather than seeing the way guards on both sides tensed to spring forward, weapons raised.
Stonefeather and Arbor moved at the same instant, breaking into a headlong gallop to try and intercept the raging pegasus. With a flash of sudden insight, and far more presence of mind than she could possibly have imagined under ordinary circumstances, Hearthfire sprang into action, shoving Arbor hard to one side as he passed her. He stumbled, and Stonefeather surged ahead.
Leapt.
The pegasus and the earth pony hit the ground part way between the two camps and rolled over and over. Stonefeather ended up on top, his younger, stronger earth pony frame letting him easily pin his uncle.
“You call me a foal?” he asked, his words dangerously quiet. No pony was moving aside from the pegasus’ feeble struggles; Arbor and Hearthfire were sprawled on the ground, and Pinion’s guards seemed unsure of what to do next. “You’d rather tear this city apart than acquiesce to any single thing asked of you by another pony. You oppose everything the Verdants propose, not because you believe that they’re wrong, but because they’re not one of us.”
“My wing! I think it’s broken. You’ve broken my bucking wing, you -” Stonefeather cuffed him around the muzzle, just hard enough to shut him up.
“Now. Tell them to let Blossom go. She had nothing to do with this. If you really cared, you’d have been out there all morning with the other pegasi, looking for Plume, not wasting your time here.”
“You don’t understand anything, do you?” the pegasus spat through gritted teeth, when he found his voice again, “I care. I care more about this family than you can imagine. What are you going to do if I refuse?”
“I don’t know.” He released his elder, and picked himself up, looking around as if daring any of the assembled ponies to touch him. “And the same goes for you, too, Wild Reed. This isn’t a demand, just a suggestion; leave. Blossom won’t be found guilty. She can’t. You don’t need to do anything rash to save her, if that is what you’re really here for. Leave it to the Watch, and the magistrates.”
He helped Arbor and Hearthfire up, and turned to his meagre band of rebels. “We’re leaving. There’s nothing else we can do if they don’t want to listen.”
They turned, and trooped away, leaving the eerily still tableau behind them. Some ponies turned to watch them go, others were still watching their opponents or gawking at the fallen and injured Dancing Pinion.
“Faster, please, mares and gentlecolts,” he muttered as they trotted away.
“Huh? Why?”
“Because if we’re very lucky, Wild Reed will be smart enough to back away rather than brawling on the town hall steps. And as soon as that happens, there’s a chance that uncle will realise he can send his guards after us. Oh, buck it all, why did I have to go and smack him in the jaw?”
“Language, please. Well, I thought you did pretty well, in the circumstances,” Hearthfire offered, as they picked up the pace to a canter. “There would have been a full scale fight if you hadn’t moved so fast, and now, there might not be. That’s worth something. What happens now?”
“Who knows? I’m making it up as I go along.”
They made the cover of the buildings at the edge of the market place before Stonefeather let go. He was shaking from head to hoof, and Hearthfire hadn’t realised until that moment how hard he had been working to hide the fact that he was limping.
“Oh, buck, I’m screwed.” He leaned against the wall to take the weight off his front left shoulder. “I thought we were all going to die right there. We still might! He’s going to... I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s going to do now.”
“For now, let’s find someone who can look at that shoulder,” Arbor cut in, earning himself a glare from Stonefeather. “What? You said yourself, there’s nothing more we can do here. Most of the pegasi are already looking for Plume, so are the sea ponies. What can we possibly do to help? We just have to hope somepony else can talk sense into those two. We already tried our best.”
“...All right. You’re right.” He tried a grin, but it came out as a grimace. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
“I think everyone might already be in this. Everyone from both families. Maybe everyone in Whinnycia.”