In the Ivory Tower, Sky Dreamer stood in front of a door in a formal white and gold outfit, patiently waiting for it to open. While returning to Manehattan after a week was difficult, explaining to the General and the Mistress what he hoped to achieve with it was not.The Mistress had heard his tale with interest, focusing greatly on what happened with Stalliongrad and the slaves. While the General was still displeased with his recklessness, Rarity instead cryptically told him that she was running out of rewards to give him. And there he was, three days later, waiting for the reward Rarity had prepared for him.
He did not think he deserved it, he was not important enough to deserve it. He was simply loyal, well, mostly, and most of the recent events he was involved with were for personal reasons rather than in the service of his House. He was not sure he even wanted this reward, as Rarity would likely find a way to use it to manipulate him . However, there was no going back now. A reward was a reward, the good consequence of an action, wasn't it?
The door finally opened and Sky Dreamer walked into the room. It was a fairly large room, enough to hold about two hundred ponies, which was fairly close to the number of ponies currently in the room. In front of him were two lines of fellow Nighthooves, standing at his sides and making way for him to continue walking while separating him from the rest of the ponies, all of them either part of the military, important nobles or merchants. At the end of the line were a small group of Praetorponies, and behind them were Mistress Rarity, General Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis, Sweetie Belle and the other leaders of Whitegold. After a small moment of silence, Sky Dreamer began walking, the Nighthooves at his sides raising their weapons in salute as he did so. It took him a short while to get to the Praetorponies, who moved aside themselves once he reached them. He was now standing in front of Rarity, who was staring at him with her well-known smirk.
"Sky Dreamer, Silent Wing. You have done great things in the service of House Whitegold. You have proven yourself a capable spy and military strategist, returned valuable possessions to us, showed your loyalty to Whitegold and manipulated our enemies, thinning their numbers from the shadows. Your actions cannot go unrewarded." Rarity nodded at the General, who gladly took a step forward, levitating an open box at his side.
"In reward for your devotion and extraordinary service to House Whitegold, with the consent of our Mistress and leaders, I hereby award you with the title -" The General levitated a decoration from the box, a gold medal in the shape of Whitegold's emblem in a silver shield attached to a light purple ribbon with a white design resembling a gem. "- of Captain." The General carefully placed the decoration on Sky Dreamer.
Immediately after it was done, Sky Dreamer saluted. Even though he still thought he did not deserve it, he couldn't help but feel somewhat proud. The General held out his hoof, and Sky Dreamer immediately shook it with his own. He was then given the silent instruction to turn around, and once his back was no longer on the audience, everypony began applauding him. He took a look at all the ponies, stopping once he noticed Leaf Heart, Starsong and Lucky Shot among them smiling at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.
***
After the ceremony and the celebration afterwards, Sky Dreamer and his family walked home in the night. It was a mostly silent walk, and it was also silent when they walked into the house. While Leaf Heart and Starsong went to their rooms, Sky Dreamer took a moment alone in his office, promising Leaf Heart he would join her soon. He sat on his desk, looking at himself on a mirror. He focused on the decoration that now gave him the rank of Captain, feeling both proud and uncomfortable at the same time. He felt that even after all, the victory was an empty one...Though he did not know why.
"Captain Silent Wing?" said a female voice.
Sky Dreamer was almost startled by the sudden sound. "I...I thought I was alone."
"My apologies." Crystal Eclipse's crystal orb appeared in front of him. "And you are technically alone."
"Crystal Eclipse...How did you...?"
"I placed my orb inside your marefriend's saddlebag when she was not looking. I am sorry." The orb moved and Sky Dreamer followed it with his eye. "So, you are a Captain now. Congratulations."
"Thank you. How is Dusk Fire?"
"He is in Canterlot at the moment. What you said apparently affected him, he wished to be left alone."
"I see..."
"So, you have what you deserve now. What will you do now?"
"...A good question. But it is like asking you what will you do when you become a High Inquisitor."
"No. After discovering what my superior did, I am no longer precisely devoted to the cause. Well, I never was, to be honest. I thought we would deliver justice, but it turns out we twisted words meant to save lives into others meant to justify taking life away. But, I made a choice and now I have to live with it..."
"We all have those choices, Crystal Eclipse." Sky Dreamer sighed. "Whitegold rewarded me for supposedly loyal acts, when I just did what had to be done. And this places me in a tighter situation than before. There are countless others out there who suffer the injustice of war, and I am here not being able to do anything about it unless authorized. A really big price for loyalty."
"Ask yourself this, Sky Dreamer. Are you truly loyal to Whitegold?"
Sky Dreamer thought about it. It took him about a minute of full silence to think about his answer. A part of him was loyal to Whitegold, but another one was not. He had been living a double life, he had seen his actions but never gave them much thought until recently. He finally looked directly at the crystal orb and stood up. "...Captain Sky Dreamer might be loyal to Whitegold...But I, myself, am not."
"Then, just like how you have been doing what you have been doing since you joined Whitegold, perhaps you can still do something about injustice. I talked through this magic to some of the slaves in the Refuge, you truly are an inspiration to them."
Sky Dreamer looked out his window. In one of his trademark moments of inspiration, he had an idea that made him smile. He turned to the orb, still smiling. "Yes, perhaps there IS something I can do...And I know just who are the ponies who can help me. If you are on my side in this, then perhaps you can help me as well."
"I will do what I can, I promise."
* * * * * *
The sun had just gone down and the Undercity's taverns began to get filled with ponies. One of them was not very full, however, and it was the perfect place for a very small group of masked ponies to walk into. Their leader, a pegasus in dark clothes, wearing a silver and blue mask and a hat above a hooded cloak walked to the bar as his two companions, a pony with a red and gold mask and a fur hat adorned with unicorn horns, and a pony with a mask designed after playing cards, talked to some of the other ponies. The masked pegasus sat at the bar and ordered grape juice. The bartender was slightly confused by the order, or rather, he would have been if he didn't know the pegasus, for he had seen him enter his tavern for at least a couple months.
Beside the pegasus was a pink earth pony with blonde mane and torn cultist clothes, sobbing. The pegasus looked at her and ordered a drink for her as well.
"T-Thank you..." The mare took the drink. "You shouldn't have..."
"I wanted to," the pegasus replied in a dark voice. "What happened to you?"
"I was a cultist...I left and they wanted to turn me into a Smiling Doll. I lost my sister...Maybe she got turned into one." The mare kept crying. "I joined them because I thought it would be fun, but it turned all creepy and sad..."
"I know how that feels..." The pegasus slightly lifted his mask to drink, showing his blue chin.
"I wanted to make ponies smile with a big boom, not kill them all...Now the Cult wants me dead."
"Ah, yes. You are quite famous in the Undercity for running from the Cult, having been one of them before. So, you want to be safe from the Cult and help others be safe from it?"
The mare nodded before looking at the pegasus. "Oh hey, a mask. I used to have a mask. It made me look pretty."
The pegasus found that statement familiar and looked at the mare. "What is your name?"
"Bomb Fuse..."
"Well, miss Bomb Fuse. I believe you can help us..."
"Help you...?" the mare asked, confused.
"We have a group. A group that fights injustice...If you want to help prevent the Cult from killing more ponies, you can join us." The pegasus looked at her carefully, and she could feel his piercing gaze despite the mask. "But to join us, you must forget your past and who you used to be and promise your absolute devotion to a brighter future. And if you double cross us, we will make you wish you were a Smiling Doll..."
"...No pressure, huh?"
"We live in a land of war, miss Bomb Fuse. We cannot afford relaxing in this situation. Are you in or not?"
"...Alright." The mare nodded. "I'm in!"
"Excellent." The pegasus took a different, blank mask from his bags and gave it to her. "Welcome to the Phantom Masquerade, miss Bomb Fuse."