//------------------------------//
// Tying up Loose Ends 
// Story: Eq. Divided: Whitegold's Silent Wing 
// by PurpleFire18 
//------------------------------//

Sky Dreamer woke up slowly from his unconscious state to see that he was in an oddly familiar room. While he didn't catch it at first, he saw that it was the same room he had been in months ago, it was a medical room in Redhearth's Refuge. However this time he did not know how he ended up in there, and while he tried to remember, it was all a blur. Almost fortunately, a medic entered the room.

"Oh, you are awake, Mr. Dreamer." The medic approached him. "How are you feeling?"

"Not sure..." Sky Dreamer attempted to move his forelegs, noticing some bandages. "...How bad was it?"

"Worse than last time, I'm afraid. Months ago you came here with a missing eye and minor physical trauma. This time you had lost a good amount of blood, your wing bones were almost broken and your body was terribly injured. We did what we could as quickly as possible, but you should be fine now." The medic held Sky Dreamer's foreleg and noticed he felt no pain. "Yes, we can remove those bandages today."

"How long was I here?" Sky Dreamer shook his head, remembering what had happened between him and his old friends and the slaves' escape. "What about the ponies that brought me here?!"

"They are all fine, Mr. Dreamer. All of them are being treated right now, you will understand that they need it. And you have been here about eight days." The medic began taking off Sky Dreamer's bandages.

"Eight days?! Sweet heavens, my friends must be worried."

"I would not be so sure about that. As a matter of fact, the same ponies who brought you here months ago are outside waiting for you."

Sky Dreamer felt joy as he heard that, but it all seemed too good to be true. "Really?"

The medic had finished removing most of the bandages. "Yes, and do not worry, we have been keeping them up to speed with your condition."

"Well, now I'm not sure if I want to go outside. They could either embrace me or scold me for being reckless," Sky Dreamer joked.

"You can't stay here forever either." The medic was now finished removing all bandages. "Now go out there and don't keep them waiting."

"Thank you, doctor." Sky Dreamer walked up to his uniform, hanging on the wall. He put on his blades' bracers, then the uniform itself but kept his hood down. He walked up to the door and opened it, taking a deep breath.

Almost as soon as he walked out of the room, he was assaulted by a hug from Starsong, the little filly crying into her father's chest. Sky Dreamer hugged her back before noticing that his friends were there as well. The next thing he got was a hug from Leaf Heart, the earth pony happy to see him awake again.

"Hello." It was all Sky Dreamer could say, being under so much pressure.

"You feeling alright, partner?"

"Yes, Lucky Shot, I'm fine. How come you're all here?"

Leaf Heart broke her embrace with her lover to speak. "Lucky Shot went to Manehattan as soon as you got help, then brought Starsong, Guardian and me. Decoy stayed behind to watch the house. When we arrived, we told Guardian to get Hadya and Rain Cloud, and here they are."

Sky Dreamer was happy that his friends once more proved how much he meant to them, but could not help but feel they risked too much. "You shouldn't have. It's too risk-"

"Risky? You are the one who caused this to happen with your liberation attempt," Hadya said, though she seemed to be joking.

"...Good point. Are the slaves alright?"

"Yes, there was one of them, called Cold Steel, who wanted you to talk to him once you were ok," Rain Cloud said.

"Then I'll go do that in a while. Wait, where is Guardian?"

"He took some time to relax. By flying. He's likely circling around this building," Hadya replied.

"I see...I'll call him once I get out. Where is Cold Steel?"

Almost as if he had been waiting for him to ask, Cold Steel walked into the scene, having been behind a corner the entire time. "I am right here." He walked up to Sky Dreamer, his face bandaged but clearly unable to be reconstructed. Sky Dreamer and Lucky Shot noticed that his fur hat was now adorned with three unicorn horns. "I never had the chance to properly thank you for what you did."

"You don't have to, Cold Steel, I did what had to be done."

"It had to be done, but you were the only one who did it. Me and the other free ponies are in your debt, Sky Dreamer. If there is ever anything you need from us, we will gladly help you out."

Sky Dreamer wasn't comfortable with having more ponies owing him their freedom and being willing to repay the debt, but he still smiled and nodded. "I will keep that in mind, my friend."

A couple hours of catching up later, Sky Dreamer revealed to his friends that he had fought Tricky Note and Dusk Fire together in Stalliongrad, but that Tricky Note had escaped and he had saved Dusk Fire from certain death. This last revelation was met with strong disapproval from his friends, especially from Lucky Shot, who had warned him about letting his old friendship get in the way of the present problem. It was in the middle of the discussion that a crystal orb floated into the scene, glowing with magic. Sky Dreamer was the only one who recognized it, and therefore was the only one to understand what happened afterwards.

A voice echoed from the orb, it was the voice of Dusk Fire. "Northwest. Come alone..." As soon as those words were spoken, the orb vanished.

Sky Dreamer sighed and looked at his friends, each of them knowing what it meant. "...Stay here..."

"Give a cry if you need us," Leaf Heart said, knowing she wouldn't get Sky Dreamer to back down from this.

Sky Dreamer kissed his lover and hugged his daughter, then flew out of the refuge, headed to the northwest. Just outside he found a very small Moon and Star Inquisition force, made up of simply Dusk Fire and Crystal Eclipse. He landed in front of them, not showing neither hostility or passivity. Upon seeing him, Crystal Eclipse took a couple steps back and looked down, attempting to hide a bruise on her face.

"I'm here...What do you want?"

"Answers," Dusk Fire said in a passive aggressive tone. "Why did you kill my father?"

Sky Dreamer rolled his eye. "He killed my parents and took away my freedom."

Dusk Fire shook his head. "You can't possibly expect me to believe that. My father only killed enemies of the House, and according to what you told my marefriend here, both of your parents were in Moon and Star. My father would have never done what you claim."

"Your father was a cruel, heartless liar! Open your celestiadamn eyes, Dusk Fire! Why would I of all ponies lie about the death of MY parents?!"

The insult to his father reignited Dusk Fire's anger. "Enough of this!" Dusk Fire used his magic to lift Sky Dreamer off the ground, getting a magic grip on his neck and tightening. "I am taking you and your lies to Tartarus!"

As Sky Dreamer desperately struggled to get air, Crystal Eclipse got in front of Dusk Fire. "Dusk, please stop! He saved your life, forget this!"

Dusk Fire lifted his foreleg and painfully slapped Crystal Eclipse across her face, throwing her to the ground. "Don't you see?! I am this close to finally avenging my only family and ending this bastard's life! For your own sake, do NOT try to stop me!" he shouted, his eyes turning yellow and his magic turning black.

Sky Dreamer noticed this, and realized why his old friend was gone. He had let hatred take him over and he had unwittingly let that hatred taint his magic. He had heard and read about this from Whitegold's scholars, and knew what could happen to Dusk Fire if he kept doing it. He tried to speak, but it seemed like it was too late.

In the nick of time, a poisoned dart was shot at Dusk Fire, interrupting his magic and releasing Sky Dreamer. Seconds later, Sky Dreamer's friends appeared, having seen everything from a distance.

"You...coward! You would rather hide behind other victims of your lies rather than face me?!" Dusk Fire shouted, the yellow in his eyes intensifying.

Sky Dreamer coughed and took a breath. "I'm the coward? Look at you...You'd rather hit the mare you love and give in to hatred than accept the fact your father was a liar..."

"You bastard!" Dusk Fire attempted to cast another harmful spell, however the poison was blurring his vision and it made him an easy target for a harsh but non-lethal beating from Sky Dreamer's friends. 

It took Crystal's intervention to stop the beating, however Sky Dreamer still approached the now beaten Dusk Fire and used his blades to grab him by his nearly broken armor. "Look at yourself, Dusk...Look at what you've become...All these months, you've lost your mind to hatred?! You've become a monster, but not because of me..." His rage increased the more he stared at his old friend. He was tired of everything, of Dusk's mindless obsession, of his stubbornness, of Dusk Fire himself. "You want to kill me because you don't want to accept that your father was a cold-blooded murderer and a liar. He left me without parents and enslaved! I did what I had to do. This is war, Dusk, get over it! But you can't, because even though you want to be an important inquisitor like your father was, deep down you are no more than a helpless baby foal crying for daddy, and like a baby foal, you don't care what sacrifices are made as long as you get what you want. By your so-called Princesses, you even joined forces with Tricky Note, far more of a heretic than I am, you hurt your own marefriend and you sacrificed your very magic, tainting it with your hatred, all just to try to take my life! What do you think your Princesses would think of you?! I'm sick of it, go on with your stubborn revenge if you want, but sooner or later you'll realize how wrong you are, sooner or later you'll realize just which one of us doesn't care about our past!" He let his old friend go, dropping him on the ground as Dusk Fire looked at him with now normal eyes, opened wide in surprise. "Get out of my sight..." he said coldly.

Dusk Fire was not the only one surprised by Sky Dreamer's cold words. While everypony was shocked, they knew he spoke the truth. Crystal Eclipse quickly ran to her coltfriend's side and tried to comfort him. Sky Dreamer simply turned around, his angry look still there.

"Are you....alright?" Leaf Heart asked.

"...Somewhat." Sky Dreamer looked up. "....That takes care of one problem, and now there is one left. And I've had just about enough of all this."

The rest of that day had gone awkwardly for him and his friends. When his friends returned to their homes, he told Lucky Shot to take his family back to Manehattan and wait for him, for he had planned to stop by somewhere else first.


***


For the first time in months, Sky Dreamer walked in Baltimare with the actual intent of killing a specific target, without having been ordered to. He had no intention of going incognito, and against Nighthoof rules, he wore his hood down and did not wear a mask. It was this what gave him away to a fellow Nighthoof that had been patrolling the area.

Mainly out of curiosity, the Nighthoof approached him and walked by him. "First you disappear for a week and now you appear without your mask? What do you think Fleur de Lis, and the General, will think?"

"I am not going to stay here for long, friend. I will leave as soon as I kill somepony." Sky Dreamer looked around. "If you want to help me find her..."

"Who are we talking about, 'sir'?"

"A dehorned cultist unicorn called Tricky Note."

"Dark blue make up and green eyes?" The Nighthoof pointed down a street. "I just saw her outside a Cult safehouse down the street. You better hurry if you want to kill her without attracting too much cultist attention."

"Good..." Sky Dreamer began running down the street. To his satisfaction, he saw Tricky Note talking with converted townsfolk outside a building, though she was at long a distance from the door, giving him enough time to go in for the kill. 

However, as soon as he came into view, Tricky Note noticed him, losing her smile for the first time in a very long time. Surprised that he was still alive, she was gripped by fear and after nervously looking around began to run further down the street, prompting Sky Dreamer to chase her.

'You are NOT getting away this time, Tricky Note!' Sky Dreamer thought as he ran after her as fast as possible, eventually deciding to fly.

The chase lasted long enough for them to go through alleys, rooftops and through the crowd, eventually leading them to the port. Not wanting it to end there, Tricky Note tried to run into the boats and ships, hoping to lose him. Unfortunately for her, Sky Dreamer was quick enough to grab her and take her into the air above the waters before she had the chance to do so.

"It ends here and it ends NOW, Tricky Note!"

"Wait! You don't have to do this! I- I'll get better! Please, I promise to leave the Cult and reform!" Tricky Note said, fearing for her life, having no weapons on her and being afraid of the sea as she never learned how to swim.

"Oh no, I have given you FAR too many second chances!"

"You are insane!"

"Takes one to know one..." Sky Dreamer activated one of his blades and held her with his other foreleg under her chin, around her neck. "This one's for my sanity!" He stabbed her side once, ignoring her screams of pain. "This one's for all the ponies I've killed by letting you live!" He stabbed and cut through her stomach. "And now, one for every time you escaped me!" He repeatedly stabbed her in multiple parts of her body as he counted. "One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!" He kept going on like that until he counted to thirteen. Tricky Note was not going to survive another minute before bleeding to death, but it wasn't enough for him. In one last moment of absolute rage, Sky Dreamer snapped her neck, definitely and finally killing what had become of his old best friend. Before calming down, he let her go, dropping her corpse to the sea. He breathed heavily before his upset expression turned into a faint smile.

Unbeknownst to him, the Nighthoof that had helped him had been following him and flew behind him as he brutally killed his enemy. She slowly approached him and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Silent Wing?" she asked nervously.

Sky Dreamer turned to face her as he calmed down completely. "Yes...Never better." He looked to the west, in the direction of Manehattan. "...I am going back home."

"Travel safe, Silent Wing." The Nighthoof saluted.

Taking one last look at the slightly red water below him, Sky Dreamer began the flight back to Manehattan. Though the General, Fleur de Lis and Rarity might scold and punish him for his reckless acts, he no longer cared. The nightmare of his past was now gone forever and his mind was at ease, and this was enough to make him smile throughout the entire flight.