//------------------------------//
// Joke's On You 
// Story: Eq. Divided: Whitegold's Silent Wing 
// by PurpleFire18 
//------------------------------//

The Wall had served three purposes since its construction. One of them was to protect the inner city, giving Manehattan the name "Fortress City", another one was to serve as a military district for Whitegold's forces, at the command and direction of General Fancy Pants. The least known purpose was being a jail for war prisoners to be interrogated. This was precisely what Sky Dreamer, or rather, Silent Wing, was sent to do.

Walking down the dark halls barely lit with torches reminded him of how dark his job was. Spying is one thing, assassinating is another, and interrogating was the thing that he didn't enjoy. He could get information out of his targets, but who could tell if it was trustworthy? How could he tell if the target was lying? How could he tell if the target was just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Simply put, if the target did have information, even with the worst torture or the best offer, the information could be either the truth or lies; and if the target did not have any useful information, there was the risk of capturing or killing an innocent, and that was Sky Dreamer's problem.

"Stop, sir." A guard came to his encounter. "This area is only for authorized-"

Sky Dreamer interrupted him with a note he took from his pockets. "Lady Fleur de Lis has sent me to interrogate the changeling prisoner."

The guard read the note carefully. "...Forgive me, sir," the guard said before moving out of his way. "The other interrogators are waiting for you. Be careful, you are aware of how deceptive changelings are."

'Can't be worse than Fleur de Lis, Rarity or Diamond Tiara.' Sky Dreamer thought, laughing to himself. He kept walking towards an old wooden door with steel bars that allowed one to look inside. In front of the door were a pair of ponies, Nighthooves like him, waiting. "Greetings," he said to them as he saluted them respectfully, both mares doing the same afterwards.

"Fleur de Lis and the Mistress have given us clear instructions, Silent Wing. You are to interrogate this changeling alone, and we will make sure it doesn't attempt to kill you." The nighthooves prepared to open the door. "Whenever you are ready."

Sky Dreamer knew that they weren't there just to protect him, there had to be another reason. However, knowing what his superiors were planning against him wasn't his problem right now. He nodded at the nighthooves and they opened the door. The three of them walked in to see an obscured figure chained to the wall, staring at them with glowing green eyes. One of the nighthooves took a glowing gem from her pocket, using it as a light source.

The prisoner was indeed a changeling, clad in strange, seemingly light armor. Its black skin barely reflecting the diamond's light, its eerie green eyes and legs and wings full of holes was a sight that would make even veterans feel uneasy. The changeling stared almost exclusively at Sky Dreamer, but it was unclear with what exact intent.

"...What is your name?" Sky Dreamer asked.

For a few seconds the changeling didn't respond, but before he could ask another question, it began talking. "I am like you, I have no name..." it said with a strange voice and with short pauses between one or two words.

"...You were caught undisguised in the middle of a riot started by the Cult of Laughter in the Undercity, what were you doing there?" Sky Dreamer asked, not showing any reaction to the changeling's answer.

"I feed. The Undercity has love, though very small. The Cult spreads emotions I need." The changeling kept staring at Sky Dreamer, though it knew it didn't intimidate him.

"They spread it through insanity and chaos. Even a changeling must know that isn't, what do you call it, 'fancy food'?" Sky Dreamer laughed, followed by chuckles from his fellow nighthooves. "Don't stall, changeling. I find it very hard to believe that you were there simply to feed on emotions."

"The Cult's ways are destructive, I do not need them."

"Then what DO you need?"

"Ponies like you." The changeling smiled, making Sky Dreamer feel uneasy. "You are different. Ponies of Manehattan love their possessions, I do not need that. You love ponies important to you, that, I need."

Sky Dreamer could feel his "protectors" looking at each other, likely suspicious and confused, but not as much as he was. "Watch your tongue, changeling, and limit yourself to answering my questions. Do you know ANYTHING about the Cult's plans in Manehattan?"

"I do not need the Cult. I am not interested in their plans."

"Did you at least see WHO started the riot?!" Sky Dreamer asked, irritated.

"A hornless unicorn using the music machines that spread emotions."

Sky Dreamer's eye opened wide. Tricky Note was back and in Manehattan, it couldn't be coincidence. He felt that information was more than enough for him, and turned around, to the surprise of the changeling and the nighthooves. "We have what we needed. Let's go, friends." No more words were needed, and the three nighthooves left, the changeling looking at them go. Once outside the cell, Sky Dreamer turned to nighthooves. "I will report this to Fleur de Lis and the General. Feel free to accompany me." After both mares nodded, Sky Dreamer left the prison with them.


***


The General had, for some reason, decided to take a stroll in the Wall, where he could see the Undercity from above. He was walking in the middle of the night, accompanied by Fleur de Lis and a pair of Praetorponies. It was likely his idea of a romantic date, and unfortunately it was interrupted by three nighthooves flying and landing in front of them. He recognized Sky Dreamer's diamond eye patch and his disappointment seemingly turned into curiosity. "Ah, Silent Wing. It is nice to see you are working again. How is your shoulder?" the general said with genuine interest.

"It still hurts to lift my foreleg," Sky Dreamer replied.

"If you are here, then I assume you have already...?" Fleur de Lis asked, not finishing her question on purpose.

Sky Dreamer nodded, knowing where the question led. "Indeed, ma'am. The prisoner revealed the identity of the supposed mastermind behind the riot earlier today. I believe it is a unicorn, well, formerly a unicorn, high cultist called Tricky Note. If I am right, then Manehattan might have a more active Cult in the near future."

"I see...what do you propose we do?" the general asked, hoping Sky Dreamer would give him a good answer.

"...You are the general, sir. I am not the one best suited to propose a course of action." Sky Dreamer knew he was disappointing one of the few allies he had in Manehattan, but he was strongly against making difficult decisions that involved more than a small group.

"But, surely you have faced Tricky Note in battle before, you must have an idea of her tactics, if she has any!" the general said, attempting to remain optimistic.

"Maybe so, but I-" Sky Dreamer's good eye took notice of something at them from the Undercity side of the Wall at high speed, and quickly saw that it was dangerous. "Watch out, General!" Sky Dreamer shoved the General out of the way, to the surprise of the other ponies, but it saved him from a harmful projectile: a pie with explosives on it.

The incendiary pie hit the surface they were standing on, causing an explosion too weak to kill a pony, but still strong enough to cause severe injuries. Sky Dreamer was unfortunate enough to have his bad foreleg caught in the explosion, however the General had gotten the worst, his entire right side being injured despite his ally's intervention, though without it it would certainly have been worst for both of them, while the other ponies and Fleur de Lis were mostly unaffected. The smoke left behind by the explosion had the smell of a recently baked apple pie and gunpowder, a very odd and somewhat sickening combination, undoubtedly the Cult's work.

"Fleur de Lis? General?!" Sky Dreamer tried to clear the smoke with his wings, and he quickly noticed his foreleg was worse than before. After clearing the smoke he saw Fancy Pants on the ground with Fleur de Lis and the other ponies standing by his side. "Sweet Heavens...!" He rushed to the general's side, ignoring the excruciating pain for the moment.

"Fancy? Please say something!" Fleur de Lis said, concerned about her lover's well-being.

After a few coughs, the general began talking. "I am fine, Fleur. It's just a flesh wound!" he said faking a smile, attempting to calm her down. His fake smile disappeared when more explosions were heard on the Wall. "What is this?"

One of the praetorponies looked down at the Undercity from where they were standing. "The Cult! They are assaulting the Wall!" He pointed down at the Undercity, where the Cult had established a small forward point, attacking the wall with cannons.

"What?!" The general attempted to move, only to be held down by his lover. "But...What happened to the Wall's defenses?!"

More bombs came at the Wall, causing minor damage but injuring most of the ponies stationed in the wall, and like the General implied, the trebuchets and airships were, for some reason, not aiding in the defense. Sky Dreamer looked at the Nighthooves and spoke like a leader giving orders. "Go get our fellow Nighthooves, split up in groups of 3 and aid in the defense, I will find out what is stopping the trebuchets and airships."

The nighthooves nodded in agreement and flew away, though the general was quick to protest. "By yourself? You must go home, Sky!"

"No, general! If Tricky Note is behind this, then it's me she wants!" Sky Dreamer said. "You must get to safety, and get medical aid!"

"You are not going to fight with that foreleg of yours, and if the Cult wants you, then that is more of a reason for you to stay where they can't get you! Go home, that is an order!"

"And make the Cult keep attacking us? No, sir, I am afraid I will have to disobey your order. You are free to do whatever you want to me afterwards, but I will not let the Cult endanger our city!" With those words, Sky Dreamer took off and flew across the Wall, looking for one of the trebuchets mounted on the Wall. 

After a short while, he found one, but to his surprise, the ponies supposed to operate it were held captive by cultists. 'What? Cultists HERE?! How did they...?!' he thought, but there was little time for thoughts unrelated to how to solve this. He thought of an idea that even to him seemed ridiculous but always seemed to work against cultists. He dived and landed behind the cultists. "Stop right there!" he shouted.

The cultists turned around to look at him, their smiling faces not making him flinch. "Oh how brave! The famous Silent Wing wants to attack us!" The cultists laughed like little foals. "You fool, we got you surrounded, at least from this side!"

"Surrounded? But I outnumber you!" Sky Dreamer said, taunting them.

"Wait, outnumber? But we are one...two...three..." One of the cultists turned around to count the rest of his friends. This was precisely what Sky Dreamer wanted, and the cultist was stabbed in the back and used as a charging meat shield by him.

As he made his way through the small group of cultists, Sky Dreamer dropped a smoke bomb that enabled him to hide from the crazy ponies as he made his way to the captured Whitegold ponies and released them. After the smoke cleared, the cultists' smiles turned into nervous ones as they saw that now the ponies they tied up were free. 

"Ah! This ain't good!" one of them shouted.

"Who cares, go get them punchline!" another one yelled.

The cultists had succeeded in defeating the guards earlier because they took them by surprise, but now it was the opposite, and as expected, they lost. After disposing of the cultists, Sky Dreamer turned to the ponies. "How did they get to you?"

"An explosion hit us, but before we could get a clear view, the cultists climbed up the Wall with the help of Grinning Worms!"

"No point in stalling now, get to the trebuchet and show them that Whitegold will not take more of their games!" Sky Dreamer ordered, the ponies complying shortly afterwards. With that trebuchet back up, Sky Dreamer left to find another one.


***


After no more than half an hour, the Wall was now defending itself perfectly, though the Cult kept attacking. Sky Dreamer had found the other trebuchets in similar conditions to the first one, though he had not found out what happened to the Airship Hangar. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the hangar's doors, though they were unguarded and had a large sign reading "HA HA HA". He knew this could only mean it was compromised, but before he could open the doors, a group of Whitegold forces arrived.

"Silent Wing, we were sent by the general to retake the hangar," one of the Arqueteers said.

"Your arrival is most fortunate, friends." Sky Dreamer looked at the doors. "I have no idea what is inside, so be ready for anything. I suggest sending the most durable ones first, then after taking the first hit the others will attack."

As if the suggestion was a direct order, a group of Gem Golems came to the front of the group. Not wasting more time, they opened the doors and the group charged inside. To Sky Dreamer's surprise and nearly shock, the hangar was overrun with cultists, including undead, astral demons and even ghosts, and it seemed they had been there since before the assault. Maybe it was luck or a miracle, but even though they were outnumbered, the defenders managed to dispose of the cultist threat, though not without losses. Sky Dreamer was about to kill one of the remaining cultists when he saw the cultist was begging for his life, something really strange for a cultist to do.

"Don't kill me! It's me!" the cultist said as he was engulfed in green flames and transformed into the changeling Sky Dreamer had interrogated earlier that night.

"What?!" Sky Dreamer froze in shock before going back to threatening him. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now, you have ten seconds." He waved his good foreleg with an activated blade in front of the changeling.

"I know what Cult wants! They want bodies, corpses to bolster their numbers and their magic! Attack not meant to bring down Wall, it meant to be trap for ponies! The hornless unicorn planned this!"

Sky Dreamer thought for a second. It explained the nature of the attack, but could Tricky Note's obsession with him be secondary to her current plans or was the changeling lying? Not wanting to waste time, he kept interrogating the changeling. "What are YOU doing here with the Cult?"

"I escape! I had no choice but blend in with them! Do not send me back! I do anything!"

Sky Dreamer let the changeling go, but told his allies to watch it closely. The Wall was now safe, or so it seemed. With that in mind, he decided to ask the airships' surviving crew what had happened. He walked up to an injured and disturbed but still sane pony. "How did the Cult get here?"

"They...they got into our ships...they waited, they waited until we were back, until this moment, and then they attacked us!" the pony explained, visibly shaken by what he had to experience, and Sky Dreamer could understand this.

Sky Dreamer walked closer to the windows to take a look outside, but what he saw left him with fear. The Cult was approaching the wall with a large strange contraption pulled by two Grinning Worms. On top of it were a small group of cultists, but he could not get a clear view. He asked for a spyglass and used it to take a better look. Among the cultists was none other than Tricky Note, with her unsettling smile, dark blue make up and severed horn. The mere sight of her made him boil with rage, but he chose to focus on the large contraption. While he knew the Wall was more than prepared to take it,  he wanted to put an end to Tricky Note's actions once and for all, and get some answers from her as well. He spent a minute thinking of ideas when he got one from looking at the airships. He turned to the changeling and approached it. "You said ANYTHING, right?"

"Yes. But don't send me back to prison!"

"If you do as I tell you, EXACTLY as I tell you, you will be free." He got more than a couple suspicious looks from his allies, but Sky Dreamer proceeded to explain his plan.


***


The carnival contraption moved towards the wall, the cultist ponies on top of it laughing and giggling like crazy. The highest-ranking cultist among them, Tricky Note, wasn't laughing, but her smile was psychotic enough to give away her internal laughter. She waved a hoof to the drivers to tell them to stop, for in front of them was a small group of Gem Golems and Militia ponies, led by a single Nighthoof with a diamond eye patch. "DREAMY! Isn't this great? We are again together! Only, you are the one down on the ground, and I'm up here! Funny how things change, huh? Huh? Huh?!"

"We stopped your attack, Tricky Note! Surrender now or prepare to die!" Sky Dreamer shouted.

"Let me think about it for a second!" Tricky Note ducked, then got back up. "NOPE! Let's get ready to PAAAR-TAY!" With her words, the cultists began getting ready to attack. The cannon mounted on the contraption aimed at the group of defenders. "Fire at one, number that comes after one, and two plus one!" Tricky Note yelled.

However, right before the cannon fired, a volley of cannonballs came down from the sky at the cultists, destroying the contraption and blasting the cultists off of it. Before the cultists could get an idea of what had just happened, the ground defenders attacked them and an airship came out from behind a cloud, and from it came a group of Nighthooves led by Sky Dreamer, flying towards the cultists.

"Wait, what?!" Tricky Note looked at the Sky Dreamer on the ground and the one flying at her. "...I really have to lay off of this whole cider thing..." she said to herself as the flying Sky Dreamer got to her and pinned her on the ground. "Ok, you are Dreamy, but he is Dreamy too!" she said as she pointed to where the defenders were, only to see "Sky Dreamer" transforming into a changeling. "...Ooh, clever little pegasus. Imagine how smart our kids will be!" she said excitedly before being punched in the face.

"You heartless maniac! Did you tell Dusk about me and his father?!" Sky Dreamer asked before punching her again.

"Owie! Yes, I did! It wasn't nice to leave poor Dusky out of the party!" she replied before laughing.

"How did you even do it?!"

"Stalliongrad has lots of ways you can leave a letter on an inquisitor's desk, silly!"

Sky Dreamer no longer needed to ask her anything, so he prepared to stab her with his left blade. However, Tricky Note hit him in the face with her forehead, knocking him back and allowing her to roll out the way. Not wanting to let her go now, he attempted to stab her with his bad foreleg, but the acrobatic unicorn was too quick for him and he hit the ground with his hoof, hurting his already badly injured shoulder. In pain, he fell to the ground and held his foreleg.

"Oh, so you are not invincible as everypony says!" she taunted him before grabbing a spear. "Dreamy, I wanted you to be happy with me! With me, you could have even kept your friends and we could have all been happy! Why can't you understand that I am the only pony that wants you to be happy, huh?!"

Sky Dreamer was in terrible pain, but he shrugged it off long enough to look at her. "Go buck yourself, Tricky Note..."

"Tsk, tsk, Dreamy...Hey, have you heard this joke? A spear meets a pony, and the spear says 'Hi, I'm a heart breaker and I'm gonna drive myself into your chest to break yours!' so the pony says 'Woah, a talking spear!'" Tricky Note laughed as she lifted the spear, standing on her hind legs, and prepared to impale him. "I LOVE that one, cracks me up every time!" Before she had the chance to hurt him, the changeling tackled her and threw her off balance, forcing her roll away. "Hey, you ruined the punchline!" she said angrily.

The cultists were forced to regroup behind Tricky Note, and the changeling, a pair of Praetorponies, Nighthooves and Militia ponies stood by Sky Dreamer and helped him get up. "I think the punchline was made better, Tricky." Sky Dreamer looked at her and she could feel his smirk under his mask. "We killed your necromancers in the Wall, we stopped your assault and we are keeping all the bodies inside. You failed, Tricky Note...Joke's on you."

"Buzz kill! Everypony, run for it!" Tricky Note yelled as she and the few surviving cultists fled, being picked up by Euphories before the defenders could chase them.

"...Great work, everypony. You too, 'decoy'," Sky Dreamer said to the ponies and changeling by his side.

"'Decoy'?...That is good name. I am Decoy." The changeling smiled at having found a name for itself. "Will you keep your promise, pegasus?"

"...Yes, but if we ever find you involved in more Cult actions, you will be killed."

"I will no longer be involved in their actions. From now on, I follow House Whitegold," the changeling called Decoy said, to the surprise of everypony.

"Why?" Sky Dreamer asked.

"You give me freedom, I am in your debt. Until debt is paid, I follow."

Sky Dreamer and the other ponies were somewhat confused and at at the same amused by the changeling's claim. "...Have it your way, 'Decoy'..." Sky Dreamer said before attempting to walk, only to feel terrible pain in his foreleg. Even though he was exhausted, he decided to fly back to the Wall, everypony plus the changeling following him. He knew Decoy had to have an ulterior motive behind its sudden loyalty, but he thought it was the higher-ups' problem now.

In the Wall, Sky Dreamer was greeted by an unusually serious Fancy Pants, bandaged and still recovering from his injuries, accompanied by Fleur de Lis. He had disobeyed direct orders, so he naturally would have a punishment. He braced himself for whatever the general had decided.

"Sky Dreamer, Silent Wing. You disobeyed direct orders, recklessly risked your life and even freed a prisoner. What do you have to say for yourself?" the general said.

"I had to do it, general. As I suspected, Tricky Note was behind this, and I also discovered the reason behind the attack with the prisoner's help. I only tried to protect the Wall, and to some extent, I succeeded."

There was a long silence in the room, a pony could have dropped a pen and it would have been heard across the room. The general finally decided to speak. "Go home. The Mistress will decide what will happen with you."

No more words were needed. Sky Dreamer proceeded to leave the Wall and go home, watched carefully by Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis as he left. Whatever they did to him wasn't his problem at the moment. He regretted nothing that was done that night, except letting Tricky Note go.