Eq. Divided: Whitegold's Silent Wing

by PurpleFire18

New Strategy

Sky Dreamer sat in the General's office with the General himself, both of them looking at a map. As the general waited for him to speak, Sky Dreamer simply stared at the map. "Why here?" he asked as he put a hoof on a marked area.

"Our informants have told us that House Stormwing has developed new ways of attacking and has gained reinforcements. We must see how these tactics can be used against us, through the method we don't use very frequently." General Fancy Pants answered, knowing that Sky Dreamer was aware of what those words meant.

"Which means a battle of lies and deception. And why send me?"

"The Mistress has suggested that you be in charge of this operation, son." The general looked at Sky Dreamer, paying attention to his reaction.

"Me?" Sky Dreamer stood up. "General, I know you have faith in me, I know the troops respect me, mostly, but I can't do that."

"Why not? You have proven yourself a capable assassin and spy, and the nighthooves' reports on you describe you as a good leader. This is your chance to truly prove yourself to the Mistress!"

"This goes against all that I have known in my entire life, general." Sky Dreamer turned and pointed to his slave mark on his right flank. "I was a slave once, you know. I was forced to follow orders for a decade. I just wanted freedom, and now that I am no longer a slave, you tell me that now I have to make other ponies follow MY orders?" He put one of his hooves on the desk. "My answer is no, general."

"Sky Dreamer...you are no longer talking to your general now. I am just Fancy Pants, your parents' collaborator." Fancy Pants sighed as he looked at him. "I have seen how the nobles treat you, how everypony treats you simply because you were a slave. You deserve more after what you went through, everypony out there who is treated like garbage deserves more. This simple operation will prove that a former slave is not garbage in any form, and that will give you the respect you deserve!"

"...Gener- I mean, Mr. Fancy Pants, you say that, but to me it seems that Mistress Rarity is trying to get rid of me, like the rest of this House."

"Well then use this to show her that she shouldn't! To show the House your worth!"

"...I can tell there will be no way of convincing you otherwise..." Sky Dreamer put his hoof on his chin, deep in thought. "Alright, I will do it, but I ask two things in return."

"Hm?" Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow. "In return? Be careful what you wish for, son..."

"First, I decide the strategy and course of action."

"Oh, consider it done! Just remember how the House acts in battle, we do not want to risk more than what we can afford losing."

"We will risk LESS than what we can afford losing..." Sky Dreamer smirked, looking at the map. "I will ask for the other thing after the operation's success."

"Very well then, we have an agreement. But, I myself ask something of you." Fancy Pants said with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Do not tell the General of our agreement or he could have me punished!" Fancy Pants laughed.

Sky Dreamer laughed as well. "As you wish, Fancy Pants!"

***

Near the base of Dragonpoint Mountain, between the mines and Northgate, a Whitegold banner stood in front of a tunnel with a pair of militaponies guarding it. A Wind Rider scouting the area took notice of them and quickly left, likely to warn allies. The militiaponies looked at the tunnel and waved their hooves in a signal, then looked at a pile of rocks to their side, making the same signal. The rocks were in reality an illusion projected by an Illusion Projector, made to cover a group of ten Arqueteers, eight Nighthooves, twelve Gem Golems and five Sapphire Sirens, plus Sky Dreamer himself.

"They will be here shortly, gentlecolts." Sky Dreamer looked at the Arqueteers. "Open fire at my command."

"Certainly," an Arqueteer answered, preparing his arquebus.

Sky Dreamer looked at the Sirens. "Ladies, as soon as we lure their troops to our trap, you know what to do." Not waiting for their usual flirtatious responses, he looked at his fellow Nighthooves. "As soon as the battle starts, we follow our plan."

Shortly after he finished, the sounds of wings flapping and hooves running were heard. A small but well-armed group of Hoplites and Ground Guards came running towards the tunnel. Sky Dreamer counted them, there were 2 of both, but judging from the few times he had been involved in battle against Stormwing, this was clearly not their full attack. The Stormwing soldiers came closer but the militiaponies did not do anything besides holding their halberds defensively. When the enemy was in range, however, the militiaponies held their halberds to stab the incoming pegasi, while from the ground in front of them a pair of armored Diamond Dogs came out and attacked the Ground Guards. The defense was successful, while the Dogs made short work of the Ground Guards, the surprise from the counterattack made the Hoplites lose their concentration for a moment, and that moment was enough for the militiaponies to attack and defeat them. Eventually, the real attack came to them, and a larger group of Hoplites, Ground Guards and Griffon Prowlers were seen approaching.

"Gentlecolts, this is it. Wait for it..." Sky Dreamer held his hoof up as the Arqueteers prepared to shoot. The enemy came closer, but Sky Dreamer did not move.

"Sir?" an Arqueteer asked, slightly nervous seeing how quickly the enemy approached the tunnel. Sky Dreamer did not respond. "If I may make a suggestion, this might be a good time to shoot!" the Arqueteer said, attempting to get the commanding officer to react, but received no response either.

The enemy was dangerously close to the tunnel's defenders when Sky Dreamer finally pointed his hoof at them. "Fire!" he commanded, and less than a second later the Arqueteers fired their guns in sync. The attack killed most of the enemy ponies, but the remaining ones and the griffons engaged the defenders in battle while reinforcements were coming from afar. This was precisely what Sky Dreamer planned, and he ordered the illusion to stop being projected. The attackers witnessed in surprise how the seemingly harmless rocks disappeared and from their place came forth a group of Gem Golems, Sirens and Nighthooves while Arqueteers were ready to shoot at them again. As the Gem Golems joined the defense of the tunnel, the Sirens stood behind the defenders and sang, then a group of militiaponies, Dogs and Ponies of Fortune came from the tunnel. With the tunnel now well defended, Sky Dreamer looked at his fellow nighthooves and began flying towards the sky. "Nighthooves, move out!" he shouted, and soon after he was joined by them.

The Nighthoof squad took the sky and targeted incoming elite pegasi and griffons, as well as retreating attackers, with Sky Dreamer taking advantage of his trademark eye stabs to take out the enemy. In the middle of the flight what seemed to be a tornado came to them. This was likely one of the new tactics of Stormwing, and the squad was forced to split up to avoid it. Almost as soon as he was out of the tornado's way, he was ambushed by a Hoplite, sending them both to the ground in the middle of the dust the tornado brought up. The Hoplite attempted to impale him with her spear, to which Sky Dreamer put his blades in front of him, just barely blocking the spear. He attempted to stab her, only to stop with his blade inches from her face. "Rain Cloud?" he asked, getting a clear view of the hoplite's face.

"Wha- You?!" Rain Cloud was surprised to see her friend, especially after the agreement they had. "What do you think you're doing here?!"

"Nice to see you too," Sky Dreamer replied sarcastically.

"You know Order 313!" Rain Cloud attempted to be quiet to avoid alerting her own allies. "Do you WANT me to kill you?!" she asked furiously.

"You wouldn't kill me even if I wanted you to." Sky Dreamer quickly jumped back and took a smoke bomb from under his clothes, throwing it to the ground below Rain Cloud. As her sight was disabled by the smoke, Sky Dreamer approached her and whispered in her ear. "Mistress Rarity knows about me and you and the others, to some extent. For now, I'm forced to play by her rules, so I strongly recommend you stay out of this." Before the smoke cleared out, he fled back to where his squad split up, the tornado having stopped during his short conversation with his friend. "Sorry, Rain Cloud...I believe we can both understand each other now."

"Sir, look who we found," a Nighthoof said upon seeing him arrive, showing him the body of a pegasus with a different design of armor. "Our spies have seen these 'Stormbringers' before."

"That report was from when they were still in training. They must be fully implemented in the military if one was here..." Sky Dreamer looked around. "Keep an eye out for more, they might send-" He was interrupted by an arrow shot at his back, just barely missing his wing. "How in Equestria...?!" he said with surprise.

"Ballistas!" a Nighthoof yelled before more arrows were shot. Sky Dreamer signaled them to retreat back to the location of the tunnel, and the squad complied.

The tunnel now had trenches in front of it, made by the diamond dogs, which served as more defense for the troops. Most of the defenders were still unharmed, though the ones injured kept fighting, inspired by the Sirens' songs, while the ones that were too injured to continue retreated into the tunnel. The squad resorted to aid in the defense of the tunnel, while Sky Dreamer retreated to the Arqueteers' position. "How many more bullets do you have?" Sky Dreamer asked one of them.

"We recently had a package of ammunition sent to us from the tunnel, sir. Why do you ask?" the Arqueteer responded, still shooting.

"Commander Rainbow Dash has decided to stop taking risks and sent ranged forces against us. Ballistas, it seems." Sky Dreamer attempted to see through the battle in front of him, and managed to catch a glimpse of one of said ballistas, behind the enemy attack force, operated by non-pegasus ponies. "This way, can you deal with it?" he said as he pointed in the direction.

"You offend me with your question, sir!" the Arqueteer said arrogantly as he pointed his arquebus in said direction and looked through the scope. "Ah, yes, now THAT is an insult! Watch this if you can." He waited for the split second the way was clear and fired, killing the pony operating the device. "Ha! Right between the eyes!"

It wasn't long after that Sky Dreamer decided to order the Arqueteers to take care of the newly discovered threats, that is to say, the ballistas and the Stormbringers, leaving the other enemy forces to his squad and the defenders. It was a dangerous move, but he had also planned ahead for this. "Bring the Trebuchet! he yelled in the direction of the tunnel. Shortly afterwards, a single Field Trebuchet was pulled out of the tunnel, just large enough to fit in, and was used to bolster the tunnel's defenses. While this was a solid strategy, it was all he brought to the battle, and he hoped there wouldn't be more surprises.

However, Whitegold wasn't the only house with surprises in this battle. When it seemed Stormwing had ran out of forces to send, a group of pony warriors wielding large weapons came into the battle, fighting with a ferocity not expected from disciplined forces. This new tactic required every defender to take action, including Sky Dreamer himself, who was injured by a blow to the shoulder soon after. These ponies had been seen by spies, but were not expected to join Stormwing so quickly. The defense ultimately prevailed when the last of these warriors was killed, at the cost of several of the defending forces, and Stormwing decided to bring the attack to a stop, their forces retreating.

"They retreat! Great work, everypony!" Sky Dreamer announced, his words were met with the cheers of the troops. He had accomplished his mission and had seen Stormwing's new tactics. Whitegold's work was done here.

Whitegold's forces returned to the tunnel. The battle had been small-scaled and short, not lasting more than a couple hours. There were many injured, but thankfully the casualties did not surpass expectations. They had 10 Arqueteers, 5 Sirens, 12 golems, 8 Nighthooves, 24 militiaponies and, counting both diamond dogs and ponies, 30 mercenaries when the battle started, while they lost 8 golems, 7 militiaponies and 16 mercenaries by the battle's end. Though the losses were few, it still made Sky Dreamer feel bad for them, after all this battle was only to test how well they could stand against Stormwing's new tactics, there was no other gain from this, save for the possible existence of another tunnel for Whitegold to use, though the exit would need to be relocated. He also felt respect for the enemy ponies that died in the battle. Nopony kept count, but he theorized it must have been close to 50, counting both griffons and ponies. He put those feelings aside, for the time being, as the troops returned to Manehattan. He hoped that this battle was enough to get Mistress Rarity and Fleur De Lis' spies to stop questioning his loyalty, but he also knew that if this battle was seen as that much of a success, he would eventually be called for more, and he had strongly mixed feelings towards this.

Author's Note:

A battle chapter. This took me 3 days to plan and write. For the record, I am NOT trying to make Whitegold overpowered in battle, I just tried to make them deceptive and tricky.