“Do you think we should try to escape?” Pearl asked, her eyes locked on the descending carriage.
“Yes,” Acrylic said softly. “Check please,” he said, raising a hoof to get the waiter’s attention. The pony didn’t even look at them, though.
“Should we just leave?” Pearl asked softly. “I don’t want to wait around for everypony to focus on--”
“CEASE YOUR SCREAMING!” Scorched Legacy’s gruff, deep voice rang out through the village, making everypony go still and focus entirely on them. “THERE IS NO DANGER FOR OBEDIENT PONIES OF THE FIRE TRIBES! WE ARE MERELY HERE IN SEARCH OF REBELS!”
“Let’s try and blend in for now,” Acrylic whispered. “Focus on ‘enjoying’ the festival until we can make our escape.”
Pearl nodded before pausing. “Ice sculptures,” she said.
“What?” Acrylic asked.
“If we get separated and aren’t sure if the pony we’re talking to is us and not a changeling, we’ll start with discussing ice sculptures,” Pearl said.
“R-right,” Acrylic said quickly, his cheeks burning. He hadn’t even considered that, at least one of them seemed to be considering things. “A buffalo one.”
“Perfect,” Pearl said before reaching into her bag and pulling out a few bits, tossing them on the table before the two of them quickly got to their hooves and left.
They weren’t the only ones, either. Already more than a few ponies were making their way towards the exit of the town.
Unfortunately, a few changelings were now outside the main entrance, scrutinizing everypony who headed that way. Acrylic glanced towards Pearl and couldn’t help but wonder just how well his disguise would hold under close scrutiny. Should he even take the risk? Could they hold out until--
“YOU TRAITOR!” a voice yelled out, silencing the bustling ponies. Acrylic would only watch helplessly when a unicorn with a grayish purple coat and a striped green and lighter green mane came running down the street at Scorched.
Well, partially running, partially stumbling. Scorched merely turned his head towards the pony, but didn’t make a move when the pony came closer. A few ponies tried to block his way, making him stumble a bit more before he shoved his way through, wobbling slightly as he ran. “You monster!” the pony yelled before taking a swing at Scorched.
Scorched merely stepped to the left, avoiding the awkward hoof before striking out with a back hoof, knocking the other pony’s front hoof out from under him and sending him crashing to the ground. The pony started to get up, but before he could a pair of changelings were on top of him, pinning him to the ground. “One of the rebellion?” Scorched asked, his head turned towards the pony. “No. You’re not even a fire bender, are you?”
“Y-you monster!” the pony yelled, tears flowing down his face. “How could you? After all the Discord did to us, after all he subjected us to? After he took EVERYTHING from us? Took our homes, our minds, our families, tore us apart? How can you side with HIM?”
Scorched didn’t say anything, his form unmoving while he stared down at the pony.
“Please, general,” one of the ponies said before quickly taking a step forward and bowing. “Firelight has just had too much cider, he’s upset. He doesn’t know what he’s--”
“I know EXACTLY what I’m saying!” the pony yelled, struggling against the changelings but unable to make them budge. “You’re a TRAITOR! Discord is a MONSTER! How could you side with him against us? Your own ponies? My wife, my little girl, I lost EVERYTHING because of what that monster d-did! You’re as bad as the Water Nation!”
Acrylic couldn’t help but cringe at that particular comment. He’d probably best not let his water bending slip, at least not here. Especially as when he glanced around, he couldn’t help but notice the ponies watching seemed concerned, but far from argumentative about his words.
“Perhaps you are right,” Scorched said. “Perhaps I am a traitor. But Discord cannot be stopped by any normal pony and neither may I. Only the Avatar could hope to defeat her now and, as you can see, she is nowhere to be seen.” Fire formed on the end of his horn. “But if you truly wish to see what happens to those who oppose Discord, would you like to make yourself an example?”
“D-do it! I don’t care!” Firelight yelled. “I’d rather die fighting a traitor like you than bending to the whims of that monster!”
Scorched stared down at the pony, his horn still on fire. Acrylic looked around the village, struggling to find something, anything, he could use. He glanced at his plate. He had two more of those little spicy orbs left, why not? He started to walk away and his horn lit up, picking both of them up.
A moment later he flung them through the air and teleported them. One appeared directly in front of Scorched’s face, splattering across his helmet, while the other appeared behind him, covering his armor in the spicy pastry. Scorched’s horn snuffed out a moment later and he reached up, wiping at the splattered helmet and trying to get it off.
Acrylic couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed. He’d hoped that the helmet had actual eye holes, but since there weren’t any screams he supposed it had to be well protected there. Second, the general didn’t take off the helmet. He’d have given his mane for a chance to see who Scorched was under that helmet of his.
Scorched stumbled back, however, turning his head wildly. “Who did that? Reveal yourself!” he yelled.
A tomato splattered against his side a moment later, making him stumble as he desperately tried to clean off his helmet, the two changelings got off Firelight and trying to protect the general from more pelting fruit from angry villagers. Acrylic gave a sharp intake of air when he saw the unicorn start to jump to his hooves and head towards the general.
Acrylic didn’t like this at all, but he couldn’t just stand there and let it happen. Angry ponies were enough of a distraction, he hoped, and he focused on casting his spell. Firelight disappeared, only to reappear by them a moment later, dropping a few inches to the ground and looking confused.
Pearl looked down at the dazed pony for a moment before quickly shoving a hoof over his mouth and shoving him, forcefully, behind the table. “If you really want to fight against Scorched, keep your mouth shut.”
The general was being pelted on all sides until, finally, his horn lit up and his entire body was enveloped in flames. A moment later the flame burst out from him, scattering ash into the air and leaving him standing there, the gold glowing in the light. Silence reigned in the town while the general scanned the area. “We see, is that truly how all of you ponies feel towards your new lord?”
He was greeted by silence.
“Very well,” Scorched Legacy said before turning around and heading back towards his chariot. “If any sign of the rebellion is found here, you will be treated to the full extent of Discord’s ‘mercy’.”
“You three, get in here.” It took Acrylic a moment to find the source of the call, an orange unicorn mare with a striped violet mane standing in a nearby doorway, motioning them in. Pearl gave a nod before shoving Firelight ahead of them, into the house. Acrylic and Pearl followed a moment later and the door was shut behind them. “Whew. Are you three okay?”
“Y-you shouldn’t have stopped me,” Firelight said, his head lightly wobbling from side to side. “That traitor--”
“You’ve had too much to drink,” the mare said, shaking her head. “You should have known better than to try and fight Scorched like that. You’re not even a bender. Thank you, you two. If you hadn’t interfered, who knows what would have happened?”
Acrylic nodded, though he couldn’t help but glance towards the door. “As much as I would love to say that it’s all over, I doubt it. Pearl and I need to get out of here before the changelings come looking or you’re all going to have a lot more trouble on your hooves than just a drunk unicorn.”
“What? Why?” the mare asked, before her eyes went wide. “You… you aren’t… you’re part of the rebellion?”
Acrylic cringed but, very slowly, he nodded.
“Perfect!” Firelight said before turning and giving an awkward salute. “Listen here, I may not look like much and I might not--”
“Oh, sit down,” the mare snapped. “If they’re part of the rebellion they have more to worry about than your vengeance.”
“You stay out of this, Stellar! This is my choice and I--”
“You don’t even have a plan,” she said before shaking her head and looking back to them. “Err, right. Sorry. I’m Stellar Flare. If not obvious, this is Firelight. He uhhh… had a little too much to drink.”
“I noticed,” Acrylic said. “I’m sorry, but we can’t stay. We don’t want to get you in any more trouble than we already have.”
“Yes, yes, fortunately for all of you I DO have a plan for situations like this,” Stellar said proudly. “Come, I have a place you can hide until things calm down. Follow me,” she said before walking down the hall.
Pearl gave Firelight a light nudge forward and the three followed the mare into a room filled with books and an old board game in the corner. In the center of the room was a carpet and a table, which she moved aside. Underneath the carpet was a small, wooden door. She lifted it with her magic before motioning them inside. “It won’t be the most comfortable place, but it should hold for now. If you need it, there’s some food, some books, a few board games, some perfume, things to make smoothies, a--”
“That’s more than enough,” Pearl said quickly, nudging Firelight down. Acrylic started to follow after him, but Stellar lifted a hoof to stop him.
“Yes?” Acrylic asked softly.
“Listen, I appreciate all that you and the rebellion are trying to do,” Stellar whispered. “But this is all we can offer you. I can offer you. Our home won’t have a future if we try to join in and--”
“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Acrylic said quickly. “We didn’t have any intention to get involved. Uhhhh, will he…?”
“He’ll be fine,” Stellar said before glancing down the stairs. “He’s… a good pony. Really, once you get to know him. He may not be from the Fire Tribes, but he’s still one of us. He just… he’s had a hard life. But he is good. Please, don’t let him get involved in this. He won’t survive.”
“Trust me, I have no intention to,” Acrylic said. “Thank you for this. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to avoid dragging you into this more than we already have. Him too.”
Stellar gave him a small smile and nodded. “It’s not your fault. If you hadn’t stepped in when you had, who knows what would have happened? That old foal just… Never mind. Just hide for now, okay? Thank you.”
Acrylic nodded before slowly walking down the stairs. A moment later the hiding hole was covered and he started trotting down. A small glow illuminated the steps slightly and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw the state of their new hiding hole. It was a lot more spacious than he would have expected, able to hold five or six ponies. Up against the wall there were some books and a small chest. A nearby lamp was glowing a white, dim light over Pearl and Firelight.
The former looking nervous and the latter looking excited. Acrylic could feel a headache growing. “So I guess we just need to wait for now,” he said.
“I knew it,” Firelight said. “I knew the rebellion would come eventually. Please, you have to let me help you.”
“You are,” Acrylic said as carefully as he could. “We’re hiding, aren’t we?”
“No, no, I mean against this new threat! This Discord! Please, I can be useful. I can fight!”
Acrylic shared a look of worry with Pearl. They didn’t need fighters, at least not now. They needed subtlety, carefulness. Ponies who could get in and out without drawing attention. Firelight looked like he was about to snap at any moment.
“Maybe you could help here,” Pearl offered. “I mean, surely there are ponies in this town who could use the help?”
Firelight paused and the excitement began to fade from his features. “I… see. You think I’ll be useless, then?”
Acrylic barely resisted the urge to say yes. Today was just supposed to be a day to relax, to calm down. Not to pick a fight with Scorched and recruit some stallion seeking vengeance for whatever. He glanced back up the stairs. Who knew how long they’d have to be here? “Not so much useless,” Acrylic said slowly. “But there’s not much fighting right now. We have to choose our battles very, very carefully. We weren’t supposed to fight at all today, but…”
“You were going to just let Scorched come here? Unabated?” Firelight asked.
“If he knew any of the rebellion were here he’d tear this village apart,” Pearl said.
“Then why come here?” Firelight asked.
“Because we needed a bucking break,” Acrylic said, unable to keep the tension out of his voice. “Because we’ve been running and hiding for who knows how long and we needed one day where we didn’t have to worry about dying or worse. But we couldn’t have that, now could we?” He cringed when Pearl glared at him. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re right,” Firelight said softly. “I… I’m sorry. I just… I… I shouldn’t have done that.” To his credit, the stallion DID look regretful.
Acrylic glanced towards the unicorn’s horn. “You called Scorched a traitor. But you aren’t a member of the Fire Tribes, are you?”
“Not by blood,” Firelight said bitterly. “I was… from the Earth Kingdoms.”
“Were?” Pearl asked.
“Yes, but ummm…” Firelight gave a soft sigh and lifted a hoof to his forehead. “When Discord came, when everything was all bucked up? I met… her. Everything had been so weird, then I found myself here. In the Fire Tribe lands. She just… she… I wasn’t…”
Acrylic gave a soft sigh before glancing towards the stairs again. Great, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to hear some pony’s life story. Wait, no, that was exactly it. He didn’t want to hear some random pony’s life story. But he supposed it was better than waiting for Scorched to maybe come and blast their way down the stairs. Maybe if they could distract this old stallion long enough he wouldn’t try to go hoof to hoof against Scorched again. “Let me guess. You came across a mare you fell for, couldn’t go home, ended up deciding to stay in these lands forever?”
“Heh, something like that,” Firelight said sheepishly, poking his hoof into the ground. “Just… she was… special. You know?”
Acrylic just cocked an eye. This stallion was wayyyyy too old to be talking like some love lost pony. Then again, the heart made a pony do strange things sometimes. His own heart left him more confused than he ever thought he’d be. “Yeah.”
“She needed me in a way nopony ever had,” Firelight said softly. “She was broken. My little Starember. I mean, she was… beautiful. But… like… an ancient vase covered in cracks. So beautiful it took your breath away, but you had to be careful lest you make the damage worse. I… loved her. No… I… I still love her. Even if she’s… even if…”
“Gone?” Pearl asked.
“Likely,” Firelight said softly. “I never found out. I tried to find her. I tried for so long to find her and our…” He took a long, slow breath. “It was all the Water Nation’s fault. That blasted Hornclipper. If he’d never…”
“Hornclipper?” Acrylic asked before cringing.
“That monster used to delight in de-horning the ponies here,” Firelight said bitterly. “Yet when the time came, when the war ended, the Avatar didn’t even properly punish him. Instead he was allowed to live out his days in peace. Instead he… oh, if only I hadn’t been so blind,” Firelight said before sitting down, the tears welling up in his eyes. “I was so… selfish. I was comfortable. We were comfortable. I didn’t… I didn’t want to… please. You have to let me help. Let me make up for the horrible things I’ve done.”
“Horrible things?” Pearl asked.
“I drove her off,” Firelight said softly. “She was so angry. That the Avatar had betrayed her. Betrayed us. She wanted to… to fight. To find Hornclipper and… when our daughter was born, she… she only got worse. I tried to calm her. Tell her that… that we had to keep calm. After all, we had a little girl to protect. To… take care of. If I had just… if I had helped. If I had risen up and helped her get her vengeance, then she’d… I’d have never lost her. Of course she hated him. He took her horn! He took so many horns… It’s all Discord’s fault. If he hadn’t… if he…”
Acrylic stared at the stallion, his mouth falling open. He didn’t know what to do as the unicorn started to cry, though Pearl mercifully reached out and patted him on the back. The stallion was… broken. In so many ways. Discord, water nation, Hornclipper. He didn’t even seem to know who he hated or if he really hated any of them. He was just lashing out where he could, trying to find something to direct his anger towards. The pony probably hated himself most of all.
He ground a hoof into the ground, his own mind turning now. Was that what he was doing? His own hatred towards Silver? She lied to him, tricked him, betrayed him. Trapped him. So why did any part of him want to protect her still? Why was it when he thought about her he struggled to focus on the hurt she’d caused and instead focused on the good she’d done for him? The times she’d offered him help and kindness?
He felt like he was adrift in a storm and not sure if he should cling to the shattered remains of a boat or let go and try to swim to shore. How he wished he could think like his mother and just continue and do, rather than over analyze everything as he struggled to find out what he should do.
------
“Feel better?” Pinkie asked when Acrylic and Pearl walked back into the hot, humid nest of the dragons.
“A little,” Pearl said.
“I have no idea,” Acrylic said. They’d had to hide for what felt like hours before, finally, Scorched had left. By that time night had already fallen and they’d even managed to miss the fireworks. Annoyingly, he felt like he was no closer to an answer, nor any more relaxed. All he felt like was that he’d wasted time he could have spent doing literally anything else.
“Welllll, I have some good news,” Pinkie said with a wide grin, almost seeming to be vibrating. “I managed to get some news from some old friends of ours.”
Acrylic gave a soft sigh. If it had Pinkie excited, it couldn’t really be good. “Oh? What news?”
“We may have a lead on Rarity and the others,” Pinkie said happily.
Acrylic went entirely still, his eyes going wide. “Wait, what?” he asked. “How? Why? WHEN?”
“Oh, a little birdy told me,” Pinkie said before giving a light giggle before motioning down the hall.
“I ain’t little,” a large, graying griffon said before walking out to glare at them, her talons scraping on the ground with each step.
“And I ain’t a birdy,” a pegasus with a graying green coat and blonde streaked mane said, an annoyed look on her face.
“… Who?” Acrylic asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Oh, right! Allow me to introduce some of our old friends,” Pinkie said. “Gilda and Lightning Dust.” She leaned in and stage whispered. “They’re pirates.”
“HEY!” Gilda said. “I’m a freelance mercenary now.”
“And I’ll have you know I now use the term privateer,” Lightning Dust said before smirking. “Though yeah, pirate still sounds cooler.”
“Twenty percent cooler?” Pinkie asked with a wide grin.
Lightning Dust just frowned at her. “We’re not doing that.”
Acrylic just blinked a few times, cocking his head to the other side this time. Pirates? Rainbow’s friends? What? “So, um, where are they?”
“Some group calling themselves the Remnants of Harmony may have them,” Gilda said with a shrug.
“May?” Acrylic asked.
“May,” Lightning Dust said. “Listen, do you want our help or not? The only reason we put our flanks on the line for you lot is because of Rainbow. We have information, you have benders, work it out. Either way, my ship leaves in an hour. If you want a lift, be on it.” With those words, the pegasus turned and walked away, the griffon following a moment later.
Acrylic sighed and looked to Pinkie. “Can we trust her?”
“Not at all,” Pinkie said with a light giggle. “But about this? Probably. So… gonna go?”
“Are you?” Acrylic asked.
“Well, duh,” Pinkie said with a roll of her eyes. “But I just wanna know if this is going to be one of those ‘I go and find my friends and then get captured’ things, or if it’s maybe going to be a ‘I go and guide the new generation towards the old guard so we can work to save them, only to run into some great threat at the end and have to give one last showing before leaving it all to you guys’ things. I mean, Lightning Dust AND Gilda are here. That’s realllllly pointing towards the latter.”
Acrylic just stared at her for a few moments before looking to Pearl. She looked as confused as he felt. Either way, though, one thing was clear.
It looked like they were going.