It had been about an hour since the three ponies had begun trotting; Sweet groaning every so often and complaining about the events in the mines. Acidic and Sour, in their annoyance with this, had told Sweet off for what appeared to be purposeful and disruptive complaining. Sour had also realized that he had forgotten what he had found in the mines during the spirit debacle, but he figured his life was worth far more by default. By the time they made it to the outskirts of the city, the sun had started to lower in the sky. The sky having begun to add a hue of orange to its colour palette.
“Oh thank Crimson we’re here! Now for the love of all things can we PLEASE take a break!?” is what Sweet had shouted out as the other two groaned themselves. Sour and Acidic having become so annoyed, that they began replicating the behavior they experienced out of spite. “You can take a break, but it’s not like we’re going to have a pleasant night out in the cold that’s to come!” Sour responded with sarcasm. Sweet, not catching onto the sarcasm, decided to respond back. “Well, if you two can look for some sleeping bags we can-“ but before Sweet could finish, Acidic had picked up a rock from the ground and lobbed it at Sweet. Sweet yelling out in pain at the force of the throw…
And that’s when something strange happened.
As if it were synchronized, the other two also ended up yelping out in pain. Sour and Acidic quickly looked at eachother. However, to the pairs surprise, Sweet was the one to point out what had happened. “So you two felt that as well? Payback I suppose, although it’s weird, how is a Unicorn like me linked with you?!” he asked both the other two and himself. “I think we already answered that ourselves when we woke up today” Sour ended up responding with.
“Since the three of us are technically one pony, I believe that both our emotional feelings and physical experiences are connected with eachother. I guess that’s how you- or rather all three of us- were able to stop our velocity in the face of certain death. Fear being the catalyst for the magic, I think?” Acidic then hypothesized. When Sour and Sweet had taken it all in however, they just shook their heads in confusion. “Simplify that, uh, Acidic” Sour responded with a great strain on his mind. Acidic, hearing this, took a moment to think about how he would shorten what he said specifically for the other two. “Oh, sorry! What I mean is that we’re all one unit. Any damage to ourselves or any emotions we have are shared with eachother, at least again I think” is what he ended up summarizing.
“You do go on too much” Sweet ended up responding; clearly exhausted from both explanations. Regardless of how exhausting he found them however, he had a certain level of understanding as to what he had heard. “Well at least you managed to make it, well, manageable I suppose” Sour added on. This, in turn, made Acidic continue apologizing as they all trotted into the city. Added with the repeated “Don’t worry about it” from Sour, and the three were certainly headed into interesting times. As they headed into the city they started noticing the streets becoming filled with ponies walking around and trotting to whatever place they needed to go to. It was certainly overwhelming for the three of them.
“You’d think the streets here would be less packed! This place looked so small!” Sour exclaimed; his expression being one of shock. “Yes well unfortunately for me, this city doesn’t seem to have many Unicorns. It’s just filled with Pegasi and Earthponies…” Sweet lamented to himself, adding on a tinge of spite to his words that seemed to be focused toward the other two. The other two simply rolled their eyes with even more annoyance than before as they all trotted onwards.
Around them, buildings made from red and maroon bricks stood. Most were houses, with few places in the path they trotted through being shops and actual community areas. Some cafes, two bookstores and restaurants were what they saw. They nearly bumped into ponies as they trotted past these places, with Acidic and Sour apologizing about the incidents. However, Sweet just glared at anypony who even so much as got close to him; specifically at the Earthponies and Pegasi that trotted around them. He maliciously repeated his words as he stated, “It’s all just Earthponies and Pegasi!” and the other two looked at eachother. “Can you stop?! So what if they’re just Earthponies and-“ but before Sour could finish his protest, Sweet interrupted. “Oh yes of course I’ll stop doing what we would usually do! Again you lack pride that you’d have in your true form!” he protested in return. Sour loudly sighed in futility as Acidic tapped Sour with his hoof. “What!?” Sour angrily asked, obvious anger that had built up being released; taking it out on Acidic. Sour, immediately realizing what he’d done, tried apologizing. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just-“ but before he could finish, Acidic had begun flying off.
“If you’re going to shout at me then I’m off!” He shouted down at the landlocked pair as he flew towards the beach he saw on the coast. His silhouette disappearing over a building a few streets ahead. Sour and Sweet, looking at eachother with both anger and worry, both took a moment to compose themselves. Sour ended up being the one who spoke first. “Let’s go find him. He couldn’t have gotten far…”. “If we must” Sweet responded. A clear annoyance laced in his tone of speaking. Sour, trying to ignore this, started trotting in the direction of Acidic’s flying.
Meanwhile, Acidic had landed on the beach already. It had taken just that moment for him to find a place he liked on the beach and decided to sit there for a bit. Not too far away from him however, he noticed something; or rather somepony painting on a canvas. A raspberry type of hue to his mane. His tail and parts of his mane were a mess, and he had what appeared to be a brush balancing between his ear and mane. His coat colour being reminiscent of Sour’s coat colour. The resemblance to Sour extended to the fact that Acidic couldn’t see a horn or wings, so he presumed he was an Earthpony. He kept hearing “…Just dash that colour?”, “No, this one for sure”, “Maybe this colour?” as he decided to get up and approach. “Hey, excuse me” Acidic began. “What’re you painting?”.
The Earthpony turned his head for a second, before speaking. “And who’re you…?”. Acidic noticed that, upon a closer look, the Earthpony had lavender coloured eyes. They reminded him of some of the gems he wanted to take from the mines they were in earlier in the day. “Oh, me? I’m called Co- I mean- Acidic. Acidic Citrus. What’s your name?”. “Cluttered Canvas. An artist and owner of the Canvas Corner on Highbuck street. Not too popular but it’s what I like” is what the Earthpony responded with; speaking with passion as he mentioned his store. “Cluttered Canvas? Uh, nice name! I think?” Acidic then responded. Acidic, nor the other two, had any real interactions with anypony beyond their father and brother. Rarely striking conversation with guards back in Manestralia. Even then, as Covet, he’d only speak to the Unicorn guards. Something that started weighing on his mind. That was, until Cluttered spoke again.
“Well, you asked what I was painting, right?” is what he asked. Acidic, snapping out of his own thoughts, responded. “Oh yeah, I did!”. “Well take a look then! After that let me finish it. I’m gonna sell it for a fortune! It’s my best piece yet” Cluttered told Acidic. When Acidic looked at the painting, he could see the coast infront of him, with a few birds flying over the ocean. However, the sky was a horrid shade of brown. This confused Acidic immensely as he went to ask about it. “Is the sky meant to be brown?”. “No, sadly that’s the consequence of adjusting the colouring to the time of day. It was lunch when I started, now the sun is beginning to set” Cluttered responded as he sighed.
“Well, if you could fix the sky you could make this painting really great!” Acidic pointed out to Cluttered. “Here, use the brown to your advantage and try painting with the colour you have now! Using Brown as the edge colour and then, oh you could pass this off as a look at an ex-“ before Acidic finished however, Cluttered interrupted. “And how much do you know about art anyway!? It’s MY painting!” he protested. “I- I know! I was just suggest-“
“There you are!”
Acidic turned around before he could finish his sentence and saw Sour and Sweet approaching. Acidic rolled his eyes as he waited for them to come closer before Sour spoke, now at the same distance as Acidic was from Cluttered. “Why did you fly off?! What if Arcane and Dallasite come back!? You could’ve been killed! If you die, by your words, we die!” Sour shouted, clearly having worry in his voice. Cluttered looked at Acidic and simply asked “Who’re they…?” before Sweet responded. We’re Prin- Ow!”. Sour had hit his front leg as he took over. “My name is Sour Lemon, this is Sweet Lime. We’re brothers. We traveled to this city from a place… Let’s just say far from here" he explained. “Is that so? Well, it’s been nice meeting you three, I’m going to head back to my house and-“ but before Cluttered could finish his sentence, Acidic cut in. “Well, I was wondering if we could stay at your house… We have nowhere to stay is the thing”. Cluttered seemed confused. “Nowhere to stay…? You’re not pulling my hoof are you? Genuinely have no place to stay?!”.
“That’s right” Sour responded. “It’d only be temporary, I promise”. Cluttered looked at Acidic, then Sour, and then Sweet. Then, he took a few moments to think about his decision. The three ponies were anxious for a reply of any kind as they waited; seconds feeling like hours. Cluttered, then looking at Acidic, responded. “Only if one of you can carry the easel. Those things are heavy. Hey pointy, do you think you could carry it?”. Acidic and Sour turned to look at Sweet, who seemed very offended at the question. “You expect me to use my magic to serve the likes of you?!” Sweet began. However he backed down when he looked at Sour and Acidic; who both looked like they could’ve killed with their looks alone.
“Fine” Sweet finally responded as he lit up his horn. The easel, after Cluttered had saved his painting from falling into the sand, moved in the air and hovered next to the Unicorn. “Can you let me take the painting off first!?” Cluttered shouted with anger and panic in his voice. Sour and Acidic looked at Sweet, to which Sweet responded. “Fine” with a severe faked smile coming from his mouth after he had finished. After Sweet had done this, Sour spoke; turning his attention toward Acidic. “Acidic, look, I apologize about what happened earlier. I just…” Sour however couldn’t finish as Acidic, not even looking at Sour anymore, just responded with “Let’s get going” before he and Cluttered began trotting. Sour and Sweet looked at eachother. Sweet, grinning to himself, simply said “Maybe now you’ll see I’m right. Pegasi are too emotion- Hey wait!” he shouted as he noticed that Sour had begun trotting toward Acidic and Cluttered. The Easel lagging a little behind the four of them.
During their trotting to Cluttered’s home, Cluttered and Acidic struck up a sort of awkward conversation about the city around them. Cluttered suggesting places to visit whilst Acidic just replied with “Oh, uh, sure! I’ll consider that!”. Sour and Sweet gave eachother glances every once in a while as Sour made sure Sweet hadn’t fallen too far behind. About twenty minutes passed before the four of them finally reached Cluttered’s house. Sour, Sweet and Acidic seemed surprised at the condition of the house, wood barricading the windows and the front garden being very overgrown and unmaintained. It was thankfully away from most of the houses around it, Sour noticing that they were ontop of a hill looking down at the beach below that they were on. “So we moved up, instead of away. Interesting” he said to himself. Sweet simply rolling his eyes and Cluttered opening his door.
When they got inside, they got an immediate rotted smell. The house was a disaster. Mess everywhere. Plates from months old food, broken decorations that were from many years past and furniture lathered in dust. The three caught glimpses of places in the house and saw that the room Cluttered entered was significantly tidier than the rest. A black armchair and sofa as well as an oak table within. “You call this a house?” Sweet asked with genuine surprise in his voice. “It’s the best I could do. Don’t mind the other rooms, not like I need anything from them anyway!” Cluttered responded. The trio looked at eachother as they looked concerned to varying degrees. “Ok, now put the Easel there” Cluttered then told Sweet as he pointed to the corner of the room. Sweet, after hearing this, used his magic to toss it into the corner. That’s when Cluttered yelled out “DON’T DAMAGE IT FOR CEYONAIT’S SAKE!” as he galloped over hurryingly to the tossed Easel. “Do you have any idea as to how much that cost me?! That costed me Two-Hundred Ceyans!” he shrieked at the end.
“What’re you on about???” Sour asked in utter confusion. The other two sharing the same confusion. “Oh don’t tell me you don’t know what a Ceyan is! It’s our currency! And Ceyonait? Oh you’re kidding I can tell!” Cluttered joked to himself whilst explaining and putting the Easel up in the corner properly. When he turned around, he could tell that they were, infact, not joking. “You’re seriously telling me… You’ve never heard of these terms… At all? Did you flunk school?” he then asked with a look of concern. This made the three in turn shake their heads in unison. “It’s a long story” Acidic simply said in return as he shuffled awkwardly.
“Well I have time for a long story” Cluttered responded as he went into what looked like the kitchen of the house and then poked his head around the entrance. “You three take a seat on there. I’ll make us something to drink. Is tea good?” he asked. They all nodded as they sat down on the sofa and Sour simply asked “How’re we going to explain all this…?” before Sweet looked out of the window; noticing that the night had rolled in. The only light now coming from the kitchen. He used his magic to flick a switch on the wall and, the light shone somewhat. An orangish white coming from the bulb.
When Cluttered returned to the room, he had four cups of tea that he carried onto the table infront of them, before he sat on the armchair adjacent to the sofa. “So, give me the details. Why’re you so clueless about the world around you?” Cluttered asked as he picked up his cup of tea. The trio picking up their cups and beginning the long, LONG explanation from when they awoke in the continent, finding out that it was indeed a continent, to their current point in time.
It took about an hour for the three of them to explain what had happened; or rather Sour and Acidic. Sweet didn’t speak much, but inserting his prejudice comments about Pegasi and Earthponies as he tuned into when they entered the city. After hearing this, Cluttered took a long few moments to just sit and process everything. “Did we break him?” Sour asked Acidic as they paid Sweet no mind. Cluttered, who seemed to have caught onto the comment, responded with “No I’m not I just… Well it’s all so much. Two Alicorns trying to kill you? Mines that I’ve never heard of? A door inside- it just sounds like it was exhausting!” before he put down his cup.
“Yeah, it’s a lot” Acidic replied, with exhaustion and a yawn hitting his voice. Sour continued the conversation as he could see that both Sweet and Acidic were growing tired. “So, we’re basically looking for a spell, or something to help us to… break the connection we have with eachother in terms of… What we told you about our feelings being connected. It’s unusual, right?” he asked Cluttered. Cluttered didn’t seem to have even processed the question, infact it seemed like he had ignored it as he simply responded with “Stay here” before the trio heard banging above them, in the room above there’s from what they could tell. Sour Acidic exchanged looks of slight concern until Cluttered came back; clutching blankets. “Pick one. Tomorrow I need to hop to the Buckgrove library-“.
“Oh THAT’S what this city is called!” Sour interjected.
“I thought I- Nevermind, just pick a blanket” Cluttered cut back in as he put them on a table. “Is he alright?” Cluttered then asked Sour, pointing at Sweet. Sweet, who at first looked like he was just staring out of the window, had actually fallen asleep. Sour took a look at Acidic and they grabbed a blanket; throwing it over Sweet. “Well, if you need the toilet the bathroom is up the stairs, right ahead of you” Cluttered simply said as he trotted away, presumably to sleep given the house remained silent once Sour and Acidic grabbed a blanket and fell asleep themselves. Although, before they did, Sour tried apologizing again; with Acidic just responding with “We’ll talk about it tomorrow” before they fell asleep.
Around the same time, in mountains far off to the north, in the northernmost point of the continent, screams of pain could be heard from two familiar voices. Arcane and Dallasite. Convinced that they had succeeded, they were quickly fact checked by a voice as they had infact found out that the three had survived. Arcane was the first to speak after they had been presumably hit with an unbearably long and concentrated Tormentius Totallio spell.
“Please stop! We didn’t mean to fail you! We just-“
“Silence” the voice responded. Cutting Arcane off completely. “I should clip your wings for your failure. I should just completely rip them from your body. Be grateful that I don’t” they then continued. “W-we can attack them now if you’d like!” Dallasite immediately responded as he seemed quick to want to please this voice. “Attacking them now would be a stupid move. In addition it would be cowardice. Not unlike your style Arcane. Sly and Vicious. I thought you, however Dallasite, would have a sense of honor at least. But perhaps, after all these years, I was wrong” the voice interrupted.
“S-should we try tomorrow?” Dallasite then asked with fear in his voice. “Perhaps. For now, just observe them. If they managed to elude the pair of you, then perhaps he’s not a lost cause to us. Perhaps he’s still there. Hopefully” the voice then responded as they seemed to have left the place they were in. When the voice seemed to have left, Dallasite crawled over to Arcane, both of them extremely weak from the torture they had endured. “Are you-“
“I’m fine Dallasite… Just, get some rest. You need it” Arcane responded. His tone was dismissive of the purple alicorn as he looked out into the night sky from the cave they were in. Dallasite didn’t try to interject as he laid on the stone-cold floor. He did however say one last thing to Arcane. “We’ll get him, and our country back Arcane. We’ll make sure of that” he said, with hope in his voice. Arcane however, ignored Dallasite. When he was sure he was asleep, Arcane simply ended said one thing before he called it a night for himself as well.
“It could be possible… For now, we’ll have to wait and see…”.