Eq. Divided: Whitegold's Silent Wing

by PurpleFire18

No Matter the Cost

Sky Dreamer sat impatiently in his office. Decoy had already brought him tea about three times, or at least those were the times he counted. It had been two days, but the messenger had not appeared yet. Sky Dreamer had even arranged a slight change of plans and told Leaf Heart to move to Fillydelphia, where the operation was less of a risk and more believable, and had told the General believing this would require less time and ponies, however it was still the same.

Not wanting to fall deeper into his desperate state, he looked at his "pony" butler taking his empty teacup and replacing it with another one, and, against his better judgement, began a conversation.

"Decoy, may I ask you something?"

"Of course, sir." The changeling put down the teacup and looked at his master. "What is it?"

"Why are you here, and not with your Hive?"

"My hive no longer exists, sir. When the war started, the love we used to feed on wasn't there anymore. We starved, and not wanting to die, I left them. As fate would have it, my hive fell victim to infighting and despair. I later learned I was all that was left." Decoy explained, though he did not show sorrow or survivor's guilt.

"Really?" Sky Dreamer asked, intrigued and feeling a small bit of sympathy. "No eggs, larvae or other rogue changelings?"

"I was the only one who ever thought about leaving."

"...And why?"

"I became too aware of myself, in my Queen's words. Independence is a very rare trait in changelings, as you know."

"I see...It must have been hard for you."

"Not at all. I have no love for my hive, nor even my species."

"Seriously? Why?"

"You see this body? An earth pony used to have this very form, aside from this cutie mark." Decoy looked at his pony body in a mirror, though he took a moment to run a hoof down his own cheek. "...It belonged to my very first victim. I was still a larva, well, not literally, I was not a full adult. They sent me to feed on his love...I transformed into a pony he loved, and...you can guess what happened afterwards. But in the middle of the act, the disguise wore off." Decoy explained, this time his tone was indeed sad. "But he did not reject me, no. He loved me, and in a way, so did I. But the Queen felt the attachment was a threat...and influenced me to kill him."

"Sweet Celestia..." Sky Dreamer was, to say the least, surprised by such a story, so much that he forgot he no longer believed in the Princesses. "I can see why you grew independent, Decoy. I'm sorry."

"It is alright, sir." Decoy shook his head and looked back at him.

"...Allow me another question. Why is it that you want to help me with Leaf Heart's rescue? I know it was an order, but you smiled when I gave it to you...And answer honestly this time."

"...To survive. You are a pony who knows true love...If I help you be with your loved ones, I will have love to feed on. But with my independence, and our debt, I will do you no harm, nor to your loved ones."

Sky Dreamer, truthfully, expected as much, but the answer still caught him off-guard. He calmed down with ease, however, and continued to inquire. "Can I trust your words?"

"Yes, sir. I swear you can trust me."

Despite his ally's words, Sky Dreamer still didn't find it in himself to trust him. Still impatient about the operation, he dismissed him and left the room without touching the now cold tea, going straight to his daughter's room. He found her reading a book, and it made him quite proud to see that a filly who months ago could only read the numbers on the bit coins and the words "Mommy died. No daddy." could now read a book without problems. He had to thank her private teachers, ever since he had enough with her being bullied at school for her former life in poverty, he spent quite the fortune on some of the best tutors and teachers in order to homeschool her. He approached her and put a hoof on the book, urging the little unicorn to look up at him.

"Hello, Starsong."

"Hi, father. What's wrong?"

"We need to talk about something. Do you remember Leaf Heart?"

"The nice lady you like? Of course I do! What about her?"

"She...She's coming to live with us today. Forever."

"Really?! YAY!" The little filly jumped excitedly. She had always liked Leaf Heart, and she knew she made her father happy. However, she was not aware of the real problem with this. She had been to Redhearth's Refuge, where she met her and the other ponies that were so important to her father, but she was largely unaware of the war that separated them, and they all did their best to make sure it stayed that way.

"Yes, in fact, I will go to get her soon. I will be gone for a couple hours, but I promise you, I'll return with her," Sky Dreamer said, sure of his words. No matter what happened that night, he would definitely bring his loved one with him.

Decoy walked into the room, a faint smile on his pony face. "Boss. It's time."

"Excellent." Sky Dreamer hugged Starsong and kissed her forehead, then turned to leave. It was time to get Leaf Heart.

***

"We will be arriving outside Fillydelphia in ten minutes, everypony!" the captain of the airship shouted at the ponies on deck, mostly mercenaries, Militia ponies and Nighthooves. Though some of them were there following orders, most of them were in this operation simply because of the money.

"Alright, our spies tell us there is something of importance to Earthborn here and to the Cult here." Sky Dreamer said as he pointed at locations on a map of Fillydelphia. "If we are fast and lucky, we might be able to ignite a conflict between them both as we get what is rightfully ours. Applejack will see what it means to keep Equestria's gems from Whitegold, where they belong."

When everypony memorized the strategies he proposed, Sky Dreamer walked over to Lucky Shot and an undisguised Decoy, both of them looking over at Fillydelphia, the sun seemingly setting on it. "You two remember our plan, right?"

"We await direct conflict. Once flames of battle begin, we act." Decoy licked his teeth.

"We cover you and ourselves, get Leaf Heart, and get our flanks out of there!" Lucky Shot said as he played cards with himself.

"Good...remember, no matter what happens, three get in, four of us get out."

"Of course."

The airship landed one mile away from Fillydelphia. Not even three minutes afterwards, the assault began with the mercenaries creating a diversion, aided by the Nighthooves. After that, a group moved into Fillydelphia, heading directly for the places marked as Cult safehouses, purposely attracting attention from the Earthborn forces in Fillydelphia. It doesn't take a genius to guess that it was the perfect bait for the Cult to come out and play. It was the desired effect, and the battle soon ensued. While the Cult, the mercenaries and Earthborn fought, Whitegold's loyal forces looked for where the gems from the Fillydelphia gem mines ended up, with the intention of stealing them for Whitegold.

Meanwhile, Sky Dreamer, Decoy and Lucky Shot went into Fillydelphia. While Sky Dreamer and Lucky Shot ran across the streets looking for the place Leaf Heart said she'd be at, Decoy took out some of the immediate threats, like hoof cannoneers or the new Firespitters, using his ability to quickly disguise and his weapons of choice, serrated blades attached to his forelegs, to do so unnoticed. For his part, Lucky Shot used his revolver, made in the pre-war era, to get rid of other hostilities at range. For the greater threats, such as Juggernauts, it was Sky Dreamer's job, carefully waiting the right time to strike and blind them with his trademark stabbing-in-the-eyes tactic, then taking advantage of that to keep running.

It wasn't long before they found the place, an old, abandoned house. Leaf Heart had left a window open with a plant sitting on it like she said she would, indicating it was the right place. Sky Dreamer and his companions quickly entered the house, making sure that nopony was looking, and killing the ones that were. It wasn't long before they reached the room where Leaf Heart, alone and with her packed belongings, was waiting. Though she was wary of a changeling's presence, upon seeing Sky Dreamer taking off his mask and recognizing him, she jumped to him and hugged him tightly, a gesture he returned immediately.

"Sky, I was so worried, I...I'm glad you are alright!" she said as she tightened her grip on him.

"It's alright, Leaf Heart, I'm here." He ran his hoof down her mane, both of them lost in that moment.

"Ehem. I hate to be a buzz kill, but we gotta get the hay out of here, pronto!" Lucky Shot said, looking at the battle outside.

"Right!" Sky Dreamer let go of Leaf Heart. "Alright, we gotta go back quickly, if we're lucky they won't see you."

"And just how exactly are we going to do that?" she asked before looking clearly at Decoy. "...What is this thing, by the way?"

"Oh, right, this is a changeling that wants to serve. His name is Decoy. I'll explain later."

"Time's runnin' out!" Lucky Shot shouted.

"OK! Here, take this." Sky Dreamer took off his Nighthoof clothes and gave them to Leaf Heart, keeping the bracers that held his concealed blades, only that now they were clearly visible. "You are not a pegasus, but those bags will make it look like you can't fly. The way is long but we should pull this off if we are quick."

Though Leaf Heart was smaller compared to Sky Dreamer, the disguise was convincing enough unless inspected closely. The bags concealed the lack of wings and a large cloth concealed her tail and cutie mark, making for a good temporary cover.

Once everything was ready, the four of them ran back towards the airship. This time Sky Dreamer took on everypony that came at them from the front, fueled by nothing more than his desire to get back in one piece with his lover. If at the start of the operation Sky Dreamer killed light-armored ponies and buffalos in the cleanest way possible, he was now more ferocious, so much that it would have scared Leaf Heart and Lucky Shot if they didn't know what was at stake here. However, it was that ferocity what almost made him the victim of an unimaginably fast pegasus' spear, were it not for Decoy taking the hit for him, fortunately only hurting his hind legs.

Taking shortcuts and not risking any more surprise attacks, they reached the airship quickly, and luckily the extraction had just begun. Though some ponies were surprised to see Leaf Heart returning with them, Sky Dreamer managed to convince them she was a spy working for them. In the following minutes, the Whitegold ponies returned with stolen gems, and once all surviving ponies were on board, the airship flew back to Manehattan as Earthborn continued to battle the Cult in Fillydelphia, the battle lasting for a little longer. Sky Dreamer and Leaf Heart walked out of the crowd, Decoy and Lucky Shot following and making sure they were uninterrupted by anypony else.

Before talking with his marefriend, Sky Dreamer looked at Decoy, remembering how he risked himself to save him. "Sorry about your legs, Decoy. If you hadn't been there...Thank you."

"No need to thank me, sir. My legs can heal, I hope this proves my loyalty."

"Indeed. It did, friend." He smiled at him before looking at Leaf Heart.

"Why is that we have to do the craziest things for each other?" she asked, laughing.

"I don't know about you, but I know my reason." Sky Dreamer spread out his wing to hold her close to him. "I love you, Leaf Heart."

Leaf Heart blushed and rubbed her head against his neck. "I love you too."

"Are you sure? When we met it could hardly be called love, a more appropriate term would have been filly crush." He laughed, and he could hear Lucky Shot was laughing too.

"Oh, be quiet!" she said before kissing him. "I only have one question. How are you going to get Whitegold to stop threatening you, and to prevent them from using me for more blackmailing?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm sure you can defend yourself quite well. Besides, I think I still have an ally in the high society...Hopefully."

"Hopefully?"

"Yes...I just hope Rarity doesn't discover this whole operation, including the gem stealing cover, was my idea, or else I will really be in trouble and might just lose my only ally there..."

"Not to mention, partner, you still have a pending punishment..." Lucky Shot added.

"...Thanks for reminding me." Sky Dreamer sighed and looked up at the night sky.

"...Pending punishment?" Leaf Heart asked, now truly worried.

"Long story, Leaf Heart. It involves HER..." he replied, not happy to even mention the pony responsible for the attack on the Wall.

"Oh, Tricky Note." Leaf Heart herself felt enraged. "That heartless monster..."

"Exactly." Sky Dreamer touched his eyepatch, remembering the disturbing event which led to Tricky Note cutting his right eye off. "Even within Whitegold she makes my life a thousand times more complicated..."