Conflict of Interests

Chapters

2000 years ago (opt.)
The Fall of Steelmare
Dreams of change (opt.)
Lost
Of culture and Colors
Interior Conflicts
Even Before (opt.)

2000 years ago (opt.)

''Surrender now Red, you cannot win this''

Celestia's voice resonated within the walls of the throne room. She had trouble hiding her exhaustion and pain through her callings.

''It's not even a question of winning at this point, you know it.''

Her voice was twisted, pleading with the tone of an order, it did not work. Her sister Luna was much closer to Red, she had him cornered, he was bleeding badly and would probably collapse soon. Celestia did not want it to end like this, too many lives were lost, if she could only save this one...

''He won't listen Tia... Let's just finish this''

Luna was enraged, she was not thinking straight. Then again, no one was thinking straight anymore. Every last thought was tainted by blood tears and sweat. Luna made a step forward, her crescent blades hovered around her, almost alive ; enraged, ready to strike.

''Luna wait'' Celestia pleaded,

''Wait for what ?''

Celestia wasn't even sure, the pain was letting her emotions take the best of her. She just wanted to buy time.

''Why don't you let go Celestia ? He's not your husband anymore, he is responsible of thousands of death, there is only one way to end this''

Both of the sisters' voices were broken. Red grinned, he liked the irony.

''He deserves bette-

''And you don't think the people who died in this useless war deserved better too ?''

Luna's rage had her dropping focus for an instant, she only glanced at her sister. Red saw the opening. He lunged forward, his own blade clenched between his teeth. Luna noticed the movement just in time to sidestep barely dodging Red's sword which traced a deep wound on her right flank. The pain clouded her vision and reflexes took over in an instant, she directed her blades to strike.

It was over.

Celestia watched through what seemed like a blurry veil, her brain did not register the information. She wanted to shout. For an instant she thought she would, but she collapsed instead. She did not even cry. She just stood there, on her flank, trying to make sense of what happened, of how they got to this point, of why. Why ? Why did he do that ? Why him ?

Luna released the magical grasp she had on her blades. They fell on the ground with a sound that seemed to echo much longer than it should have. She clenched her flank, trying to gauge the wound. She would certainly live, but right now the pain had her sit down and refrain a tear.

The whole scene was surreal.

Celestia finally found the strength to stand up and walk to her sister. She quickly glanced at her flank and nodded her horn, white light emanated from the now quickly healing wound.

''Thank you'' Luna said absently.

Celestia nodded silently, her sister was still lying down. She seemed in peace. But how could she ? Celestia tough. Luna lifted her head toward her sister.

''you know I had no choice''

Celestia silence meant agreement. She was looking in the distance, blatantly ignoring the body of her former husband. She too seemed in peace. But Luna knew better. Celestia has always been the kind type – maybe too kind – So even if her once white coat was now barren by the scars of war, its her soul which bore the deepest wounds. These could not magically heal. These were here to stay.

Luna took a look at her flank, the wound had closed itself completely. She would still feel pain for a few day, but nothing she never endured.

''Now what ?''

Luna's question remained unanswered. Celestia was not there anymore. She was thinking.

''How did we end up there, sister?'' Celestia asked, while still looking in the distance through a gap in the wall. The view was magnificent...

''We did everything right Tia, it's all his fault'' She nodded toward Red

Celestia wouldn't take that as an answer.

''No, we didn't do everything right, we overlooked something''

''Greed, lust for power, discord'' Luna calmly stated, she continued.

''Those were always issues, you cannot prevent those sister, you cannot change the nature of what we are''

Celestia's response was almost instantaneous.

''And what if we could ?''

For the first time she broke her lost gaze to look at her sister. Her eyes cried not tears but pain, suffering, guilt.

Her words made no sense to Luna. It was obviously the emotions talking, not her sister. Still, the simple idea resonated through her own mind.

''What if we could'' She repeated, in a neutral tone.

''What if we could....''

The Fall of Steelmare

The coastal town of Steelmare was standing still in the night, quietly waiting, hoping its sleep would not be disturbed. The lights were all out, and the clouded sky offered no moon for the brave soldiers standing guard at the different outposts scattered throughout the city. They had managed to get a whole 2 days without any attack now, but as much as it was a relief, everypony knew this only meant the next one would be more brutal.

In the war-torn land of Cydonia, culture was different. War was the way of life of most of the ponies living there. Thousands of years of conflicts had scarred the land and its inhabitants, and nopony could even remember days of lasting peace. Even books couldn't go further back than the First Great War, where the alicorns – immortal gods basically – left all of Cydonia to the mercy of the then surviving and power hungry royal families.

In a command bunker, buried under the town hall of Steelmare, First lieutenant Silverwing was sleeping lightly, surrounded by his cadets. The aces of the 7th Cydonian air division had already seen the brunt of the battle that left Steelmare as the burning ghost town it was today, but being stretched thin, the air force could simply not offer them leave for their service. Not that they complained though, fighting was in their blood. Every last one of these pegasi were highly trained fliers and decorates from flight school, there were no better unit than those brave stallions and mare when it came to taking on the skies.

A loud buzz suddenly ripped the silent town apart, hastily awaking every last one of its inhabitants.

Steelmare was under attack.

Silverwing quickly opened his crimson eyes and rolled out of his bunk, shaking off his sleep and deep black mane with a quick nod. All of the cadets around him scrambled, quickly putting their flight armors on and forming ranks. Under a whole 2 minutes, every last one of them was fully awake and awaiting for orders. Silverwing directed his sergeants to prepare the ranks for take off in the main hangar and await orders then headed to the control room through corridors that were getting more and more crowded by the second.

The control room was dimly lit, but Silverwing could recognize his Colonel and the unicorn Captain talking over the map of the town. Pegasi scouts were flashing by through reserved tunnels, dropping envelopes of intel in a box as the other lieutenants were sorting the incoming information.

Silverwing dropped in on his superiors, quickly saluting.

''First Lieutenant Silverwing, reporting in''

''Glad to see you Silverwing, we got what seems like a very dire situation at the south gates. The first wave of scouts supposed to sound the alarm were intercepted as something hit Delta camp. We only now had the survivors of the second wave bring the signal to sound the alarm. They were sent in urgency, so they didn't carry any intel.'' The Colonel spoke quickly but in a calm tone. Eveypony reaching such an high rank knew that panic was costly during war.

Silverwing glanced at the intel envelopes periodically dropping in, seemingly dropped by flying blurs. Those scouts were not the most remembered by the people, but in his eyes, they were the most important elements of this army.

''What about the intel dropping in ? Anything we can use ?'' The gray pegasus enquired.

Its the unicorn Captain that spoke.

''Its mostly loss reports, the scouts don't take much time to write anything detailed, the one that we asked to never came back. As of now, the only thing we know is that whatever is attacking is gravely overwhelming every defenses we have'' Her tone was emotionless.

''What are our orders then Colonel ?'' The pegasus asked.

''I don't like this, but seeing the rate at which we are loosing troops, we must form a strong inner defense. We can't afford loosing more troops by sending waves, and its too dark because of the clouds, we can't get any kind of visual from afar''

Silverwing nodded.

''I need your division to form light cruisers, two pegasi and one unicorn per team, you shield the vessels, get close and try to get us information on what is attacking, you have 15 minutes, after that we'll have to prepare to fight blind''

Silverwing frowned, he didn't like the idea of cruisers. They were some kinds of armored chariot that pegasi could drag quickly around the battlefield, having a passenger fire lightning bolts or in this case, a unicorn forming a shield. Still, cruisers were significantly slower than a lone scout, thus more vulnerable. But he knew better than to question his Colonel, especially in a time sensitive situation like this.

''I'll provide my best sergeants to manage the shields and write the intel, you just get us in and out'' the unicorn added.

Silverwing acknowledged, saluted his Colonel and headed into the hangar followed by the unicorn.

''I'm Amethyst, 4th magical ground division, by the way'' the unicorn said while trotting quickly through the crowded hallways, trying to follow Silverwing's pace.

''First lieutenant Silverwing, 7th air division'' he muttered.

Amethyst gasped lightly.

''You are the First Lieutenant from the 7th ? The one that d-''

''Yes, that would be me'' Silverwing dryly cut off. He abruptly stopped and turned towards Amethyst.

''Now, I know what you are thinking right now, and I can assure you its all wrong. I'll be harnessing the cruisers. Have your troops ready and in the hangar under 2 mikes.''

Silverwing clenched his teeth and turned away, not even waiting for an answer. He knew what he had done in the past, and he could understand the concern, but now was not the time to argue. They had 15 minutes to potentially save this whole section, he wouldn't lose a single second of it.

The gray pegasus stormed in the hangar where his troops were waiting standing in clean ranks, visibly worried and exhausted, but ready for action. Those in front of him were the remnants of a unit once two time bigger, they were survivors, they knew the cost of mistakes. That's why Silverwing was proud of leading them. He stopped in front of the ranks and looked every last one of his unit in the eyes before speaking up.

''Alright everypony, we'll be flying in unicorn-shielded cruisers in order to get intel on what got our south gates overwhelmed in such short notice. Now, I know what you are thinking and I assure you I don't like it either, but we have no other choice. The losses are extreme, and the Colonel needs to know what we are fighting to stand a chance at defending the inner city. We have less than 15 minutes left to make this happen so move those flanks''

The cadets quickly saluted and scrambled, forming flaying pairs and harnessing all the available cruisers chariots. A sergeant detached from the preparations and headed towards Silverwing, which was preparing his own cruiser.

''So, we're doing scouting in cruisers now ?''

Silverwing sighted and turned to his sergeant.

''Like I said, I don't like it either Swift, but we cannot afford to fight such a big threat blind''

''So you mean that out of the 4 scouting parties and the multiple couriers they still don't have even any remote ideas of what we are fighting ?''

''Guess not'' Silverwing was growing impatient.

''Lieutenant'' a mare's voice echoed from further in the hangar.

Silverwing turned to the source of the shout. It was Amethyst leading half a dozen unicorns into the hangar. Great, he though.

''You have any specific preferences for team pairings ?'' the unicorn enquired, stopping near Silverwing, slightly panting.

''Stronger shields with lower speeds, performances marks are printed on my guy's helmets, good job getting your troops ready that fast.'' His tone was neutral, but his congratulations were genuine.

The unicorn saluted and directed her troops. Silverwing finished harnessing his own cruiser with Swift's help. He was by far the strongest flier of the bunch – hence his high rank – so he could manage solo pulling a chariot. It had the advantage of being more maneuverable. The lieutenant then joined his troops who were finishing up preparations and last second corrections.

''Okay listen up 4th magical. My boys will do their jobs but I need you to cooperate. As soon as you get a visual you start noting. Assuming that they are ponies ; numbers, weaponry, formations, anything of interest. In the wild chance that they aren't ponies, like we had in Fillystine a few weeks ago, you note absolutely everything. I want hard and smart shields, no permanent projectile shields, understood ?''

The unicorns all echoed a ''Yes sir.''

''And you 7th air, you take our guests in low and fast, don't use normal vectors for nothing we got 10 minutes of clear sky, use them. I want clean curves, plan your turns ahead, no quickly changing direction, those cruisers have way more inertia than your fat flanks, keep it in mind. Low light also means to stay focused, the glare from the shields will likely be a vision hindrance, but I trust you to deal with it.''

Silverwing quickly scanned the troops one last time and signaled Amethyst to hop on his own cruiser.

''Alright everypony move out !''

***

Silverwing was flying at a medium speed, ensuring all of his unit could follow. The air was still filled with the scent of the sea, it meant the fires hadn't started yet, good thing, he though.

The night was extremely dark and the formation had to fly a bit higher than the roofs to avoid unexpected obstacles ; sole fliers could easily recuperate from a collision, not so much whole cruisers, another hindrance. After a couple of minutes of flight, the south gates' fires became visible in the distance, Silverwing slowed down, trying to spot anything of interest. He quickly whistled an order and the whole formation changed shape to expand, each cruiser approaching the gates at a different angle.

''It's mightily calm for an overwhelming onslaught...'' Amethyst whispered.

''Agreed, we need to be careful'' Silverwing replied.

The lieutenant signaled his immediate wingmen to take a bit of altitude and try to get an overview, but without any lights, they couldn't even discern the street layout. The south gate was getting near, and they still hadn't encountered even a single sound, let alone an hostile army. Silverwing was about to call a wider formation when he heard a loud screech followed by a flash and some kind of deep reverberation. It was coming from one of the low fliers on his left. Silverwing quickly looked at his cadets, still flying the cruiser. Whatever it was, the unicorn reacted well and apparently shielded on time. The gray pegasus steered his own chariot towards his cadets, one of them – Sunray – was obviously panicked, but his companion was trying to keep him calm.

''What happened cadet ?'' Silverwing asked.

''Something jumped on us from the roofs, the unicorn saw it before us and shielded but I think it managed to wound Sunray'' the other pegasus calmly stated.

''How bad is it Sunray ? You can still fly ok ?'' Silverwing addressed the other pegasus, he could see the wound on the cadet's tan coat.

''Yeah.. I-I think it's just a scratch bu- but I don't know. Whatever it was but it was not a pony, this thing had cla-''

The cadet was abruptly cut off by another loud screech, Amethyst instantly put up her shield as a black furry mass bounced off the magical barrier, the shock of magic against flesh echoed deeply in Silverwing's head. As soon as the lieutenant realized what just happened, more screeches got heard and multiple flashes spotted the sky as his troops were getting attacked. Silverwing quickly reacted and shouted his next orders on the top of his lungs.

''Everypony take altitude now !''

The troops in his voice range immediately obeyed as the attacks became exponentially more frequent. Silverwing hastily followed his own order and flew up in a flash, followed by Sunray's cruiser. The lieutenant tried to get a visual and track most of his unit, the situation was not at their advantage. Another beast leaped towards Silverwing's chariot from a roof but a blinding magic bolt hit it just as it was spreading wings to cover the missing distance from its already humongous leap. The gray pegasus quickly shook off the fear and addressed his wingmate.

''Cadets you note what you just saw and get that intel back to base ASAP'' I'll try to pull everypony out, move !''

Sunray and his partner immediately nodded and took a sharp turn to head back. At least the HQ will have some information on the menace, Silverwing though. He immediately scanned again to spot his troops, the formation was still more or less intact as the cruisers were repelling off the attacks, but he could see at least one chariot missing. The pegasus took a wide turn trying to gather as much speed as possible while heading towards his formation.

''Amethyst, global light, now !'' He shouted.

The unicorn immediately obeyed and a huge sphere of light emanated from the mare's body, filling the immediate area in blinding light that quickly expanded towards the ground, revealing dozens of crawling beasts on the roofs and streets. They looked like a mix between an oversized pegasus and a lion, except with disturbingly large grins and claws. The lieutenant looked in shock.

''Take a look and fall back !'' Silverwing shouted almost absently, his stare fixed on the monstrosities.

The pegasi quickly relayed the order and curved in a way to get a glimpse of the lighted area while gathering speed for their escape, Silverwing did the same, hoping his boys could all distance the beasts in time and headed towards the HQ. The shields quickly got replaced by magic bolts, as the attacks were getting more and more intense from the virtually invisible beasts, another cruiser fell to one of them, but Silverwing knew he hadn't the luxury to try and help them.

The situation took a turn for the worse when whole groups of the beasts started joining the pegasi in the sky, not only leaping, but fully flying as well. The 7th air got gravely outnumbered in and instant and Silverwing could only watch as his cruisers were getting picked down one after the other by the beasts. After what seemed like only a handful of seconds, Silverwing was the only pegasus still fighting. Amethyst tried to speak out between casting magic bolts.

''If you take us back closer I can try to mass teleport everyone out !'' she shouted

''What ? You can't seek out and teleport everyone selectively in these conditions, that's impossible !''

''I could mass teleport the troops, but you need to take me back closer !''

She seemed overconfident.

Silverwing quickly got overwhelmed with doubt. He surely did not want to leave his men for anything in the world, but his intel and the survival of two officers were also valuable assets. The whole battle in the pagasus' mind took only a painfully long split second, but the choice was obvious. He nodded negatively.

''We can't risk it, HQ needs that intel and us'' His tone was dark and decided.

Silverwing knew his emotions would eventually make him regret this decision – sacrificing troops for intel - but right now, he had little choices. Amethyst was obviously not agreeing with him.

''With all due respect officer, buck you, it may not be your style but I'm saving my troops''

Silverwing was about to angrily call her off for coming back to that again when he realized she had already jumped off the speeding cruiser, teleporting herself to a nearby roof. The pegasus tried to turn back but without the unicorn's help, he was vulnerable to attack, and these harness couldn't unlock in flight.

''Oh for damn Luna's sake !'' he outraged, quickly changing his trajectory to try and go pick up the unicorn before he got mauled by one of those beast for lacking a shield. But the harm had already been done. As soon as he tried to curve back towards Amethyst he felt a deep wound tear through his harness and armor, hurting his left wing and hind leg with what seemed a white hot iron. Next thing he saw through his pain-clouded vision was an immense burst of white followed by an endless void.

For a moment, Silverwing could only sense pain, all of his other senses dulled beyond useability. After what seemed like an eternity, slowly, he started to smell the scent of his own sweat and hear the ringing in his head. He was not flying anymore, he was lying on the ground somewhere. He tried to open his eyes, but realized he was blind.

Images formed in his brain ; colors, sounds, Silverwing could feel his memory slip away, slowly replaced by a strange and peaceful emptiness. He closed his eyes, both physically and psychologically, and let himself fall into the void.

Dreams of change (opt.)

''Tia ?''

Luna's voice seemed tense.

''Sister are you in there ?''

Celestia heard the knock on the door following her sister's voice. It had been two days now she had herself locked in the library, surely she could grant her own sister some time. She stood up from her books and went to unlock the door.

''There you are''

Luna's voice was genuinely relieved.

''The east camps are able to recover most of the injured, but they could use your help''

Her voice was softer than usual, she could see the pain in her sister's eyes. Now was not the time to be harsh.

''You know healing spells too Luna, I've got many things to prepare'' She sternly remarked.

Luna grew impatient.

''This again sister ? We should be helping rebuild, not doing research''

Celestia was oblivious to her sister's words. She opened the door all the way through and sidestepped, nodding at Luna to step in. The black mare rolled her eyes and followed her sister's lead, stepping inside of the dimly lit room. There were dozens of books scattered around on the floor, some open, some torn apart. The only real sources of light were the candles arranged in the center of the room to provide reading light and the moon filtering through the small tainted glass of a single window. She looked worryingly at her sister.

''What exactly have you been up too Tia ?''

Celestia did not answer, instead, she showed the assortment of scrolls and books spread around the candles. It was pages upon pages of magically printed documents. Luna recognized her sister's work. She was frankly about to just surrender and leave her sister to her crazy ideas, but her curiosity got the best of her. She sat down and started reading the headlines of the many pages scattered around.

''This... Its... Its planning for...''

She couldn't really say. It looked like political documents, but the themes extended to a whole society. They seemed to state policies and methods for a dozen of different subjects, going from individual liberties and ethics to... genetic modifications. The whole mess was very drafty but is was somewhat comprehensible. One key word was repeated throughout ; Harmony.

Luna raised her head to look at her sister. She was now standing in silence at the open window, looking at the scorched fields below the castle. She wanted to speak but instead returned to her reading. It started to make sense ;

These were plans for a whole new model of society. One that would completely rid its future citizens of any harmful thoughts and habits, thus of crimes altogether It was like some sort of global brainwash, but one that would start from the very birth of a society, the perfect, idyllic society, based around harmony. Luna was horrified and impressed at the same time. Her sister wanted to erase this war from the memories so badly ? Still, as sugarcoated and ridiculous as all of this looked, it still made some kind of twisted sense.

''You.. You really think this could work ?'' Luna asked nervously.

''Not here, this land is scarred, and so are its inhabitants'' Celestia replied calmly.

''This is why we need to start again elsewhere''

Luna finally understood. This was not just some crazy theories. Her sister was actually serious. She really wanted to start everything again, far from Cydonia.

Far from the memories of war.

Luna stood up. She was trying to find arguments against such an insane plan, but there was the catch ; It was not insane at all. It all made sense, and as stubborn as she was, Luna was intelligent enough to recognize that if this all worked, her sister may have found a way to rid this planet of wars. Forever.

Or at least a part of it.

Celestia turned around, facing her sister.

''We'll need a very large vessel. flying of naval, whichever is most reliable for a long trip. According to my calculations, there is fertile land about 40 days of walking distance west of Steelmare, but across the ocean.''

Luna stood still.

''We'll take the orphan foals from the nurseries in Cantessia and a couple of volunteers from the minor cities that were not directly touched by the fighting. We need clean slates for this to work''

The dark alicorn was almost disgusted by her sister's logic which lacked any kind of empathy. But again, it made sense.

''Clean minds''

''how many ?'' Luna asked.

''At least a hundred of each species, including the foals''

Luna stood up. Feeling as much resignation as determination in carrying this plan trough. It would be for the better in the end. But everything still seemed off, it seemed right, but not at the same time. She wanted to be sure about it all. Luna looked Celestia directly in the eyes and carefully voiced her next question.

''So we are leaving this land just like this ? Leaving them all to keep ripping eachother's throats ?''

Celestia looked away in shame, refraining her emotions.

''We failed Luna'' She said, her voice breaking.

''Its hundred of years of decisions that brought us here, we cannot undo those, we cannot rewrite history on this land. Not with the memories that will scar those ponies for generations to come !'' She almost yelled. Her hoof hit the floor as she spoke.

''We don't know yet how long alicorns can live, I won't risk quitting this world leaving only this''

She waved at the fields below.

''But is is exactly what you are about to do Tia''

Lost

The bitterness of the cold stung Silverwing, assaulting his already weakened muscles. His memory was clouded, where was he ? He could feel the charred mud and leaves on which he lied, the surprisingly clean air flowing along his black mane. What exactly happened ? The pegasus mustered the strength to open one of his crimson eyes for the first time since what seemed like an eternity.

A forest ?

Bits of memory returned slowly to his mind. He remembered overwhelming beasts decimating his ranks, a magic spell. The events floated scattered around his mind. He decided to try to make sense of all of this later, for now, wherever he was, he was weak, hurt, and an easy prey.

Silverwing painfully managed to stand up. His left hind leg was badly hurt, if not broken, but he walked on worse. It's his wings that worried him most. He looked at his dark gray feathers, his left wing was missing more than a few and his muscles were wounded, it looked worse that it really was, but he couldn't really remember all of the details nor fly in that condition.

Still, he had to find shelter, and judging by the quickly lowering sunlight, he had a maximum of an hour before not being able to see at all in this dense forest. How long was he knocked out anyway ? He couldn't remember the time the battle took place, but it was during the night, for certain. If only this dumb Amethyst was here, she'd be able to light the way with magic. Where did everypony ended up anyway ? The earth around Silverwing was charred and displaced ; whatever spell brought him here was poorly controlled, or backfired. Maybe the unicorn Captain got badly hurt – or worse – while casting her spell to mass teleport his troops to safety.

''Well done then'' Silverwing muttered to himself, half sarcastic. At least he was not getting eaten by bloodthirsty beasts.

The pegasus started walking in a random direction, hoping he'd find something before sundown to increase his chances of survival. After about 20 minutes of wandering he finally heard voices afar. His first reaction was joy, but he quickly remember that not knowing exactly where he was, he had to consider the voices hostile until proven otherwise. Silverwing rummaged through the tall grass and trees, silently walking around twigs and leaves, closing in on the voices.

''Are you sure of what you saw, Fluttershy ?''

''Yes.. Well I think so.. I was trying to get Angel to get back home and I say a huge flash somewhere around here, whatever it was, we should at least make sure nopony got hurt''

''Fair enough, but we'll have to turn back soon, I wont carry you both if we have to fly out''

Silverwing could hear them talk very well, If they were hostiles, they surely didn't expect resistance in those parts. Either that or they had a death wish speaking out loud like that. He had trouble however imagining that sweet voice being a soldier's. The other seemed a bit young and he couldn't quite tell if it was the voice of a colt having over-tensed vocal chords or a very weird pitched mare.

His own thoughts made him chuckle. He was glad to see that despite all his other wounds his weird sense of humor was still intact. Not that he needed it right now.

''Shush ye two, we still have to be careful 'bout this all, this forest is darn creepy''

This was definitively a strong mare speaking. Silverwing kept listening, trying to decide the best course of action while closing in. These ponies seemed harmless enough, but then again, he could not see them to confirm if they were also unarmed.

Silverwing lost his focus a moment, out of exhaustion, his bad leg flinched and he fell on the ground with a soft sound, brushing leaves along the way. The three mares reacted.

''W-What was that ?'' Fluttershy asked.

''Is anypony there ?'' Applejack spoke out loud, barely hiding her worry.

Silverwing cursed silently for his stupid mistake. But hearing the tone of the voices, he figured he might as well take his chances. Whoever the were, he needed food, shelter and care, even prisons provided those, he'd manage. He also needed to locate his troops, if any survived.

''Sorry, didn't mean to startle you all,'' He shouted, waiting for an answer.

''Who is this ?'' Rainbow Dash asked.

Silverwing clenched his teeth, hating himself already for the risks he was about to take. He mustered his most formal tone.

''I'm First lieutenant Silverwing of the 7th Steelmare air division, I-

He paused a second, gauging his words.

''I'm hurt and I wish to surrender under the Cydonian Conventions of War.''

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at eachother's best puzzled faces, trying to make sense of what this pony was saying. Fluttershy squealed at the imposing tone of Silverwing's voice.

Applejack spoke first.

''Surrender for what exactly ?''

So they really were clueless, Silverwing thought. But he had to be sure.

''From which faction are you ?'' He asked, his voice more neutral.

The three mares looked at eachother again, not knowing what to say. Rainbow dash broke the silence.

''Well, I'm weather control...''

''And I guess I'm with food production or sumthin'' Applejack added.

''I- I take care of animals'' Fluttershy winced.

Silverwing let out a sight of relief. The couldn't be hostile. Not if they were that clueless. Maybe he had ended in a small neutral settlement south of Steelmare. In any case, he was pretty sure they wouldn't attack him on sight. He painfully stood up and walked through the leaves and grass, finally reaching what seemed like a path, before him stood three ponies. He could not distinguish exactly their traits in the growing darkness. But he certainly didn't spot any weapons.

The gray pegasus decided to break the ice a second time.

''I.. Like I said I'm hurt and frankly, I'm very, very lost, I'd appreciate if you could provide me with shelter and food, at least since tomorrow morning.''

Applejack glared at the gray pony.

''What in tarnation are you doing in the middle of the Everfree forest at this time all armored up like that anyway ?''

Oh, right, the armor. Silverwing decided to be somewhat honest. He was too tired to lie, and after what he already said, it's not like he could still try to play dumb.

''Honestly, I can't remember exactly, I'm pretty sure I was on scouting duty somewhere around Hoofsake, not sure what happened for me to end up here.''

The battle was really taking place around Steelmare, of that Silverwing remembered too well, but he didn't feel the urge to be too careless about details.

''Speaking of which. Where exactly is 'here' ?''

''The Everfree forest, it's on the outskirts of Ponyville'' Fluttery quietly mentioned

Ponyville ? Silverwing never heard of any Ponyville, It was certainly not a major city not any village near Steelmare, so he was at least a couple of days of walking distance from where he previously was.

''Ponyville ? Sorry, I never heard of it, where is it located, I mean, compared to major cities ?''

Applejack winked perplexedly

''Ponyville IS a major city, well, somewhat, Its just south-west of Canterlot''

She thought a moment before adding the next part with a touch of mockery.

''You know, the royal capital of Equestria ?''

Silverwing's heart missed a beat.

''I'm.. I'm in Equestria ?''

''Yeah, where else could you have been ?'' Rainbow Dash casually remarked.

Silverwing's eyes widened. He was teleported to Equestria. To the real, actual, Equestria. The Forbidden Land. The place only books still talked about. How much failure could one unicorn imbue into a damned teleportation spell to have him cross whole oceans ?!

Maybe he was a bit more than a couple of days from home finally.

***

''You okay mister - wa'wus'it – Silverwing ? Can you still walk ?''

Silverwing recovered his spirits and realized he sat down from the revelation.

''I'm... Yeah, sorry, I was just a bit shocked, I'm farther from home that I thought'' He tried to claim calmly.

Rainbow Dash still wasn't convinced about this all.

''So, where did you say you came from ? And you mentioned a battlefield. What is this all about ? Is there some sort of great pony war somewhere and no one got informed ?''

Silverwing suddenly regretted his previous honesty.

''I- Like I said my memory is a bit blurry, I'm pretty sure I have been babbling nonsense, I can't remember where I was, I just need some rest, please'' he pleaded, hoping his exhausted-and-confused act would be enough to convince them to stop asking questions.

''Yeah all right', just follow us we'll get ye someplace to stay.''

Applejack nodded towards the path and started walking, Silverwing and the rest followed.

''The farm is a bit far for you to walk to in that state, Rarity is out of town''

''And those wings won't get you to Cloudsdale anytime soon''

Silverwing tried to take another look at them, but the darkness prevented him from discerning anything.

''What about your cottage Fluttershy ? Got any room ?'' Dash asked.

'' I-, hum, I'm not sure if, I- I don't have any spare bedrooms and- sorry..''

''And Pinkie's place isn't what one could really call favorable for rest'' Applejack remarked.

Rainbow Dash nodded.

'''Guess we're headed to the library then''

***

After a short walk that seemed an eternity to Silverwing they started seeing lights from the forest's exit. It was really a stroke of luck he stumbled on these ponies. He'd never found such a small opening in the dense trees on his own. The walked out from the forest and Fluttershy broke off from the group.

''I'm headed home girls, good night''

The two mares exchanged salutations with the pegasus. What was her name ? Fluttersky ? Silverwing didn't catch it too well when they dropped it earlier. That made him think.

''I don't think you told me your names yet'' He casually remarked.

''Oh right', sorry 'bout that. Your attire made us forget our manners it'd seem'' Applejack winked.

''I'm Applejack, I own Sweet Apple Acres, just south of town''

''And I'm Rainbow Dash. Totally awesome weathermare and fastest young flier in Equestria !''

Silverwing didn't quite catch if the tone was bragging or just confidence. Maybe a bit of both. But she dropped that name again. Equestria. So he didn't hallucinate earlier. He really was there. The stallion looked at the sky. He recognized the star patterns, so at least he was on the same planet. That was a relief.

In the distance the trio could see the dim lights of sparse streetlights and a couple of houses still lit up. Fortunately, the library was one of them. Twilight was never an early sleeper. A good thing too, it was now approaching eleven on the clock according to town hall, not quite the ideal time for a visit, but these weren't exactly normal circumstances

As they entered the city, Silverwing looked nervously around, trying to reassure himself this was not just a very well staged ambush. Everything seemed just calm enough. There were voices afar, some faint music, maybe young colts relaxing in a tavern after a day of work, if this was an ambush, it was a very believable one. The night was cold but comfortable. Silverwing noticed the lack of a coastal smell. He must have been fairly inland then. It'd make it harder to get back home unnoticed. If he could get back at all.

Silverwing was looking all around and finally crossed Rainbow Dash's own stare.

''Woah dude, the eyes on you !'' She exclaimed. ''What's that color ? Badass red ? This can't be natural can it ?''

Silverwing raised an eyebrow.

''Yeah, it is. Were I'm from it's pretty common, we call it Crimson'' He stopped looking at Dash saying that, a bit embarrassed

Then it struck him.

This mare had a powder blue coat and a rainbow mane ? He didn't notice it earlier because of the darkness. But just now his brain seemed to register the information. He looked at his other escort, the mare had deep green eyes and sported a pale brilliant orange coat. What was with those colors ? He looked around, trying to spot other ponies, he caught glimpse of many hues of pink and purple, some yellows and rare greens. Almost no deep colors, grays or brown. Everypony in this damn town sported pastel coats and they all had some sort of marking on their flank.

Something was off, something was really off.

''Are...'' Silverwing wasn't sure on how to construct his next question.

''Is coat dying some sort of widespread fashion around here ?''

He tried to make his question as casual as possible.

Rainbow Dash looked perplexedly at the gray pony.

''Well, not really. I mean, someponies do dye their coat and mane, but most of us don't go through all the trouble'' She said this as if it was obvious. ''Why ?''

Silverwing tried once again honesty. Surely being honest about coat colors wouldn't get him any trouble would it ?

''Where I'm from its rare to see light colors like that. Its usually deeper colors, grays, browns, sometimes blue.'' He nodded at Rainbow Dash ''But not powder blue..'' His voice couldn't decide between shock and curiosity.

Applejack frowned perplexedly at Rainbow Dash over Silverwing's back. Awkward silence ensued.

''Oh look'' Rainbow's enthusiasm was obviously exaggerated ''We're there''

The rainbow colored pony pointed at a giant house built within a tree, in the middle of a small park It was hard to tell in the dim light, but even that seemed extremely light-colored.

Applejack knocked on the door.

''Coming !''

It was another mare voice. How much of this town was female ? Silverwing was going to ask himself questions again but his brain refused to cooperate. All of the shock was taking its toll on him.

A purple pony soon opened the door magically, smiling at her guests.

''Applejack, Rainbow !''

She was obviously happy to see them. Her look finally stopped on Silverwing.

''Oh hi !''

Silverwing nodded.

''We found him in the Everfree forest, he says he's hurt and needs someplace to stay. You have the only available house right now. Would you mind ?'' Applejack asked.

''Oh, not at all'' Twilight gently said.

''But shouldn't you get him to the hospital if he's hur-

''It won't be necessary, thank you'' Silverwing quickly added. ''I'm not badly hurt, I just need a bed and maybe some food.''

He had trouble keeping his eyes open. Sure, he was not hurt that bad, but the mix of pain, exhaustion and sheer shock was getting overwhelming.

''No problem, come in, I'll get you something to eat''

She looked at the girls

''We'll see eachother tomorrow ?''

''Not likely'' Applejack answered. ''I've got a lot of work on the farm.''

''And I got afternoon shift'' Rainbow Dash added ''Big storm planned, you better not be out by 4.''

''Oh all right, thanks ! At the very worst we'll see eachother at Pinkie's birthday then !''

The two mares agreed and left. Leaving Silverwing standing in the hall with Twilight.

''So, I think my friends forgot to make proper presentations, I'm Twilight Sparkle''

Her smile brought comfort to Silverwing, he felt at ease here.

''And I'm First Lieutenant Silverwing, pleased to meet you Miss Sparkle.''

He didn't know why he felt the need to drop rank. Maybe to impress ? He could have sworn he was about to blush. He really had to go to sleep soon.

''Lieutenant ? That would explain the attire, but please, call me Twilight'' She smiled and turned away, heading towards the kitchen.

''I got an extra room just behind you, other side of the door. Just make yourself comfortable, I'll bring you some food and drink''

Silverwing looked behind him.

''Thank you very much. Miss Twilight''

The purple pony dropped a giggle before disappearing in the other room. Silverwing headed through the door and started to remove his armor. His muscles were tense and the pain was making this a colossal task. Once he finally removed his last hoofboot he let himself fall on the bed.

A soft bed. He closed his eyes.

Twilight entered with a glass of apple juice and some bread, only to discover Silverwing already fast asleep. She smiled lightly. Poor thing she thought. He must have been trough a lot. Her questions certainly could wait until the next day.

She left the plate on the night stand and dimmed the lamps, leaving the room silently to go finish her own research.

Memories of the disastrous scouting mission came back to Silverwing as he was slowly falling asleep. Was he the only one to have landed this far ? Probably not. At least he hoped. Maybe some of his unit were still out there, somewhere, but he couldn't begin search and rescue just like this. Especially not in the middle of a whole other land of all places, and not until his wing healed.

As much as he wanted answers, Silverwing could recognize an useless uphill battle when he saw one. He'd get used to the place, heal his wounds, and in one week top he'd be off. Maybe even in the meantime some ponies from his unit would find their way here too.

He could only hope.

But at least he was safe here. Far from death and war.

Of culture and Colors

Bird signing ? Was he hearing actual birds signing ?

Silverwing slowly opened his eyes, recollecting the events of the night before as they agreed to pass by his brain, one by one, in disorder. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get used to the light filtering in his room through the windows. It was certainly approaching noon, judging by the brightness of the sun.

The stallion slowly sat down on the bed, feeling for each and every muscle of his body, gauging for pain. His hind leg still felt like something was displaced on top of the clean claw marks, and his left wing was still in a pretty lame shape, but at least he could move it ; it was a start. He'd need to get his leg examined tough, the pain was not horrible -he had worse- but it was definitively a serious discomfort.

Silverwing stood up and walked to the clear windows, noticing the meal the purple mare probably brought him just after he fell asleep. He suddenly felt a bit ashamed. The mare -what was her name again ? Twilight, right.

He drank the juice without further thinking and bit the bread. Both were a bit stale from staying out overnight, but he was more than just a bit hungry. He looked through the window.

Through the glass that led to some sort of square he could finally observe all the colors this world had to offer. In the daylight, it almost seemed surreal. Pink roofs ? Yellow roads ? Purple bridges ? He looked at all the candy colored ponies trotting around in joy, exchanging smiles and salutations. Everyone seemed happy.

This was a bit too much for him. He could not believe that what he was seeing on the other side of this window was real. He sat down on the ground and buried his face in his hooves. Was this really Equestria ? How could a place like that even exist ? Let alone be labeled as 'forbidden' by his government ? If anything, its Equestria who should be afraid of Cydonia, not the other way around. Everything was so peaceful and happy here ; Harmonious - not like his war torn home.

''Oh ! You're awake''

Silverwing quickly looked up at the door. The purple mare was standing in the opening, two full saddlebags hanging on both sides.

''I noticed you wouldn't probably wake up very early judging by the state you were in yesterday, so I went out and bought some more food in the meantime'' She happily claimed.

Twilight turned around and trotted towards the kitchen, Silverwing stood up and followed loosely.

''You see, I usually eat out with friends or very little when I'm home. I'm not much of a cook anyway, so I had to restock a bit. Didn't want you to starve while you're here''

Silverwing followed the voice to the small kitchen. Twilight was placing down the stocks she had bought. There was at least two full weeks of food right here.

''I hope you will find things you like. I didn't really want to wake you up and ask you see''

''It is very nice of you miss Twilight'' He answered.

Twilight giggled.

''Aww come on, you can call me miss when I hit my second decade, right now just Twilight is enough''

''Alright then, thanks for the food miss just Twilight'' He remarked with a light smile.

Silverwing just realized how awkward what he had just said sounded and quickly lost his smile. He just have been awake for less than an hour on this continent and this town was already getting to him. Usually at this time he would have been doing push ups in the mud or something, not trying to be funny in a casual exchange with a mare. Especially not a darn purple mare. Purple. He still couldn't digest the whole color thing. Still, maybe it was his relative sleepiness compared to the pony's energy, but he found this whole scene strangely adorable.

He quickly retaliated.

''Sorry, I-''

Twilight cut him off.

''Its all right 'Mister First Lieutenant Silverwing'' She said mockingly.

Silverwing was about to be offended by principle. But it was actually deserved and funny. Besides, it's not like ranks meant anything anymore for him over here.

''Right''

He cornered a smile. Twilight jumped on the occasion to learn more about the stallion.

''Speaking of which. I'm very curious to know where in Equestria one would have the need for a First lieutenant except at the Canterlot palace''

She was trying to hide her unhealthy curiosity behind causal talk. She turned back to the groceries while talking.

''And although I don't know all the guards, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed you before''

The unintentional emphasis she put on the 'you' made her realize how awkward this last sentence sounded. She had a small pause.

''The eyes, I mean. You know''

She sighted internally She was never good with casual talk. Engage her in a conversation about mathematics, history or even better ; magic - She would speak coherently for hours. But small talk, no. That was way too complicated for her.

''Yeah, I noticed you guys don't have quite the same palette as ours back home'' Silverwing casually said.

''Your friend the pegasus especially''

''Who Rainbow Dash ? Ha, its true her mane is quite.. extravagant !'' She answered, happy the stallion just ignored her last sentence

''Well, no offense, but yours too, back home colors like this are considered outrage''

He nodded towards Twilight, not realizing how outlandish this made him sound.

''I mean, if the guard found a neighbor like this, it'd probably be burnt down and all ponies dyed black'' He added in a dismissive tone.

Twilight blinked Silence ensued.

''Okay, sorry to be blunt but you are getting the best of my curiosity right now ; where are you from exactly ?''

Silverwing tried to evaluate the risk of telling the truth versus the advantage of having him excused from his very weird and misplaced last two sentences

''I was born and raised in Steelmare, its just east of..''

He stopped, realizing that the most he said, the most likely she was to discover the truth about its hometown. In fact, he was curious as to see if Equestria even had documentation about Cydonia.

''Its east of nothing in fact, its a bit of a lost place, and I never traveled a lot. I don't know much more I'm afraid''

''Steelmare.. I can't seem to remember it being mentioned in any of my books''

She trotted around Silverwing and headed back into the library's main room. Just now the gray stallion noticed the walls were actually lined up with books. Twilight started magically sorting some of them from a particular section.

''It sound a bit northern, maybe its around New Foal Lands''

She was frantically looking through books after books, quickly scanning the headlines for any kind of clue. Her sudden determination made Silverwing laugh. He really had the mare on the tip of his hooves, with this big mysterious secret hometown of his. He decided to cut her some slack, but he did not want to tell everything just now. Not before he knew what was Equestria's stance about Cydonia.

''You know, my hometown is really boring anyway. Yours looks much more lively. Maybe you could show me around, if I'm to be there some time I'll need to get my markings'' He told with a genuine touch of enthusiasm in his voice.

Twilight stopped her carrousel of pages and looked at Silverwing.

''Oh. Right. Sorry ! How horrible of a host I am. I should help you get installed before trying to do any research''

She rolled her eyes walked down from the small pile of book she had formed.

''Let's go for a walk then. I needed to grab something at Rarity's shop anyw- Oh my sweet Celestia what happened to your leg ? And your cutie mark ?'' she remarked in a panicked tone as she spotted for the first time Silverwing's left flank.

The pegasus tried to process all of the questions this one sentence created. Did she really just praise Celestia ? What was a cutie mark ? How was he going to convince her this huge wound really was nothing to worry about ? Did she really just praise Celestia ? Celestia as in Celestia-the-Alicorn-Godess herself ?

''I-Its nothing really, its just a scratch, it looks worse than it is because of the short coat, I'm fine, really. At the very least I've had much worse.'' he tried to casually claim.

Twilight had a genuine mix of shock and slight horror on her face. She looked at Silverwing's bare flank once again. Well bare - except for the foot long claw mark.

''And what about your cutie mark ?''

That again, he didn't hallucinate the first time. Silverwing didn't even try to hide his confusion.

''I... I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about..''

Twilight winked, staring blankly at the clueless stallion before her. She pointed her own flank.

''Well... you know ; cutie mark, the symbol you get when growing up that tells you what is your special talent..''

An awkward silence crept in the kitchen while Twilight and Silverwing were exchanging their best puzzled looks.

''you know what, let's just get on with the walk, we can talk about those later around a good bottle of cider okay ?'' Twilight spoke in a bit of a crazy voice, obviously overwhelmed by Silverwing outlandishness.

She quickly dropped her saddlebags on her back and headed trough the front door, followed by Silverwing.

This is going to be interesting, he tough.

***

The town was as lively in person as it looked like through a window. Maybe even more. Silverwing never was the overenthusiastic type, but this town ? The colors, the happiness Everything was so... sugary. And even though like all the colts back home he was trained in the art of war, he was still a living breathing pony at heart, and all this joy made his softer side slowly crawl back from the tangle of scars it was buried in.

Silverwing let himself get basked in the warm sun and harmony, he even found himself trotting at one time, but then the pain in his hind leg made him slow down. Still, this was a marvelous day.

''It is quite the lovely town you have there, Twilight'' He remarked, still frantically looking around.

''Oh it's nothing compared to Canterlot and all the other bigger cities, Applejack talked to me about Manehattan and it sounds like a really nice place with huge buildings ! Tallest building around here is the Royal Castle and...'' She stopped

''Oh I'm sorry, I tend to get overexcited with words. I'm not used to having casual conversations'' She apologized

''How come ?''

''Well, studies, mainly, my social interactions are fairly limited outside of my normal friends''

''Those that brought me to you yesterday ?''

''Yes, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but I got more'' She said happily ''Wait until you meet Pinkie Pie, if you though Rainbow Dash was colorful, Pinkie will certainly show you another definition of the word'' She said with a giggle.

Silverwing truly smiled for the first time in ages. He certainly could get used to living in a place like this.

They kept trotting north, eventually getting to the Town Hall Square. Twilight remembered the primary goal of their walk and cleared her throat

''This is the Town Hall Square. Its visible from almost anywhere in Ponyville and it's central. So if you ever get lost, you can just come back here and ask somepony. Even at night there are attractions and groups hanging out, since its far from any houses, so they don't annoy anypony''

Silverwing didn't quite understood.

''You mean, the troublemaker, like, agree to come make noise here because its far from the houses ?'' He asked, uncertain.

''Oh, they are not troublemakers. It's mainly just fillies and colts hanging out late after a glass of cider or two''

''But you do have troublemakers to deal with from time to time ?''

''Not really, I mean, from time to time there is a pony that gets too much cider or don't realize he's speaking a bit loud. But usually somepony just helps them back home and that's that.''

Silverwing was astounded.

''Somepony, you mean a guard ?''

''What ? No, silly ! There are no guards in Ponyville, except the ones that come visit while off duty from Canterlot.''

No guards ? And he tough that this place might have been hostile. This was borderline ridiculous.

''But.. how do you prevent crime ?''

Twilight seemed shocked by the question.

''Well... that is a weird question. Crime is practically nonexistent in Ponyville... In almost all of Equestria for that matter.''

She gave him that intrigued look again, except now it was mixed with a bit of uncertainty.

''I get it's not exactly how things roll where you're from'' She added in a worried voice. ''I mean, it's not like you talked to me a lot about it, but from what I've gathered, I'm almost surprised such a town even exists in Equestria.''

She quickly turned to look Silverwing in the eyes.

''No offenses''

''None taken'' He replied.

His mind was somewhere else. He was getting confused by this all, should he be telling her the truth ? He still didn't know if Equestrians even knew about Cydonia.

Twilight didn't know how to pursue the conversation either, so she just stopped talking. They were getting close to Rarity's place anyway.

''We're here'' She said with enthusiasm ''Carousel Boutique. Its in fancy. Rarity likes to speak fancy.''

They walked through the open door and Silverwing immediately started to feel uneasy The overabundance of mares ; ok. Pastel colors ; he could live with them. But there was something about girly shops that. Just.. did not resonate well with him.

''Hum, If you don't mind I'll be waiting outside'' He asked.

Twilight giggled

''Oh sorry, I forgot I had a stallion following, at least let me introduce you to Rarity. She just came back from Canterlot this morning.''

A voice came from upstairs, it spoke along with the sound of hooves hitting the stairs.

''Comiiing, I'm so sorry I was taking care of matters upstairs and- Oh, Twilight !''

The blinding white mare quickly joined Twilight in a friendly hug. Rarity looked at Silverwing over Twilight's shoulder.

''And who in Equestria is this handsome stallion ?''

Her voice was quite charming but Silverwing guessed it was just her natural tone. The mare trotted to him, extending a hoof.

''I'm Rarity, pleased to meet you, mister ?''

''First Lieutenant Silverwing, nice to meet you too miss Rarity'' He said in a soft tone.

''Oh ain't he just the lovely kind ! Twilight, I go out of town for just a few days and you just had to chose that moment to make new acquaintances didn't you ?''

Her emphasis on the last words made Twilight uneasy.

''He just got here yesterday, I'm just lodging him until we can find out how to get him back home.''

''And where could you be from miser ?''

Silverwing sighted internally Now that he had made himself a story, he might as well stick to it.

''Steelmare, I can't quite say where it it from here, my travel here was.. hum, unusual.''

''Steelmare you say ? I never heard of it. They must not be into fashion, or I would at least have heard of their new tendances here and there.'' She said that with a hint of harmless snobbism. ''And no offenses but those colors on you are a true hindrance to your stature. Surely there would be something better to do around those marvelous crimson eyes ! All the gray and black is most depressing''

Silverwing was not sure if this was meant to be a compliment or an insult. Maybe both ? He never stopped himself to think about how he looked before. And he'd certainly not start now.

''Thank you but I don't think it'll be necessary'' He gently replied, turning to Twilight. ''I'll wait outside''

The gray colt stepped politely around Twilight and out the door, stopping to sit on a bench a bit further away. He noticed the beginning of a big storm forming just west of the city. By looking closely he noticed a multitude of pegasi working around the clouds to corral them towards Ponyville. So the pegasi here did use their abilities to control the weather ?

This had Silverwing think of home once again. He remembered flight school, where weather control got slowly replaced by other, more war-oriented disciplines. Sure, he learned to transport, reload and discharge small thunderclouds as weapons, but they never learned large scale weather control. This could have saved countless lives back in the days of the night wars, at more than one occasion.

But not here. Here, it was just because ponies wanted to schedule the weather to their liking. Because they had nothing else to worry about.

How come this society managed to have such a peaceful way of life ? How could they be so oblivious to, well, everything ? Even petty crimes were almost nonexistent here, or so Twilight said him. He had trouble believing it. But then again, if somepony back home had told him that whole cities filled with candy-colored ponies existed, he'd have probably nudged him in the back of the head. Hard.

The stallion was torn apart internally by these events. All his life he was trained in being bound by honor towards his fellows but right now he wanted to repress that. He would've gladly forgotten his old life to be in this peaceful place forever. ; slowly healing the scars Cydonia left on his body and soul.

But what if his allies still needed him ? What will become of them ? The small colt that is likely to replace him – Swift - is not even 15 yet, and that's assuming he survived and was not teleported here too. Some part of him truly hoped that Steelmare survived the attack and that he could go back to his friends, but another part knew fairly well that even if he did all he could to go back as soon as possible, it would not make a difference. By now, the troops occupying Steelmare certainly had to deal with the menace of those beasts, the fate of the town was probably already sealed

The ignorance teared him apart, so he tried to stop thinking about it.

Silverwing felt a tear coming. But a self respecting stallion never shed tears unless there was an inch-deep wound implied.

He shed it anyway.

Maybe the wound was simply not physical...

***

''So, what about this ?'' Rarity exclaimed

''What about what ?'' Twilight defended, obviously caught off guard.

''Oh come on Twi, we've been friends for two wholes years now, I can tell when there is more to something that you let on my dear !''

Twilight's eyes widened.

''Wait. Are you insinuating I... NO ?!'' she replied, irritated.

''My dear Twilight, I can tell from a mile away that you find this Silverwing most interesting'' Rarity added half-jokingly while magically dusting her outfits, as if nothing.

Twilight frowned at her friend.

''Well yes, I do, but only because of how he stands out'' She pointed the streets. ''He's not exactly blending in, and I'm pretty worried about this place he's coming from -Steelmare – It looks like a lot of bad things happens there..''

Rarity regained a bit of composure from the revelation

''What kind of bad things ?''

Twilight's tone lowered.

''I don't know, but apparently, crimes are frequent in his town, also he keeps freaking out about our manes and coat colors, apparently this is unnatural where he is from...''

Genuine worry punctuated her words. Rarity seemed very surprised.

''Unnatural ? I haven't traveled that much, but I'm pretty sure its his kind of color that is the exception in Equestria, not the other way around'' She looked at the stallion afar and both mares paused from a second. Twilight sighted.

''I.. I know it sound stupid, but I'm starting to think he may not..'' She paused ''Maybe he's not even from Equestria at all.'' She looked at her friend. Rarity turned back to Twilight.

''Well.. that's not that stupid of an idea.'' The white mare turned back and trotted towards one of the shelves, picking up a sealed bag and hovering it towards Twilight ''After all, that would explain a lot of things. What are the chances of Equestria being the only kingdom on this planet anyway ?''

Twilight perked up. Rarity was actually right ! None of her books ever mentioned another known kingdom however, but that didn't mean it was impossible. She'd have to refer this to Celestia. If there was any answer to this question, the Princess would surely have it. The purple unicorn quickly thanked her friend and gently stored the sealed bag away, trotting excitedly through the door.

***

Silverwing was about to fall asleep. The warm weather, the slight breeze of the upcoming storm, the gentle chatter of the crowd. He could not remember when was the last time he felt so comfortable. His reverie got gently interrupted by a mare's voice.

''Hey, Silverwing !''

The gray pony turned his head to spot his purple companion trotting happily towards the bench he was sitting on.

''Enjoying the weather ?'' She gently smiled.

Silverwing shook off the dizziness of his aborted nap and approved silently. Twilight looked up at the giant gray clouds slowly hovering towards them. The weather team was almost ready to bring it over town.

''It wont stay like that for very long however, we should head back to the library. We can stop to pick a bottle of local cider on the way back, I'm sure you'll like it''

Twilight wasn't sure of how exactly her proposition sounded like, but she didn't really care. Silverwing paused for a moment and stood back up.

''That seems like a good ide-Arg !.'' The stallion dropped a sharp exclamation as he put back weight on his hind leg. Twilight instantly closed to help.

''Are you all right ?'' she inquired.

''Yes, I'm fine, don't worry'' he quickly replied.

Silverwing's tone was probably a bit too sharp for the situation, but it was only his ego talking. He knew that he would probably benefit from help at this point, but he didn't want to appear weak. The pegasus promptly shook off the pain and started walking around Twilight.

''See, perfectly fine, it was just a cramp''

''You're sure ? It flinched pretty badly for a cramp, maybe I could take a look once we're back ?'' Her tone was almost angry, as if she was growing tired of the pegasus' dismissal.

Silverwing dropped his head and sighted internally What was he even trying to prove by sucking it up like this ? It's not like she was going to throw him out or try to kill him while he was hurt. Old habits die hard he though, looking at the worried mare behind him.

''Yeah, ok'' he said softly.

Twilight smiled. She was not an expert in interpony relationships, but she could see when somepony was softening up. After all, she was once the stuck up, defensive and annoyed pony too.

The two of them walked silently towards the liquor shop, smiling. Silverwing was genuinely enjoying his day so far, the first in a long time where he didn't have to fight for his life. Twilight had stopped to chat with the vendor, discussing prices, probably. The gray pony looked at the now completely clouded sky. The cover was very thick, it was probably a very heavy storm coming, but the weather team seemed to wait a bit for everypony to get under a roof before activating the clouds. How nice of them.

Twilight returned from the stand, hovering a bottle of Apple Cider towards Silverwing. He took a quick glance at the bottle and silently nodded in approval. It did seem a lot lighter than what he had at home, but he was not the kind of pony to be picky when offered free alcohol Or free food and shelter for that matter.

As the library finally got in sight after a dozen of minutes of walking they heard a loud crack coming from above. The moment after the two ponies were getting soaked by the downpour. Silverwing tried to trot a bit faster towards the house and Twilight followed, as they both got into the house they looked at eachother. Twilight let out a cute giggle.

''Humph, so much for trying to stay dry !''

Silverwing grunted something that could probably pass for a laugh, Twilight acknowledged it as such.

''You can use your room to shake it off, I'll go upside and try to put some order back in that mane'' She quickly rubbed her hoofs on the rug to get the mud off and headed up the stairs.

Silverwing did the same and got to his room. Another loud crack of thunder made everything flash for a moment.

The gray pegasus got in a corner of the room and vigorously shook off the rain from his coat and mane. Good thing they were both relatively short, it would take only a few moments to dry. Silverwing took a glance at his armor lying on the ground, exhaling slightly before going back into the living area.

''So, how about that leg ?'' the mare asked while trotting downstairs.

Right, the leg. Silverwing stopped and looked at his flank.

''Its painful to walk on, but its only when I move it, not when I just stand on it''

Twilight approached Silverwing and closed her eyes, her horn started to glow a reddish purple. The pegasus stared at the mare as he started to feel a soft and warm feeling coursing through his wound. After a couple of seconds, the claw marks started glowing in unison with the mare's horn and finally flashed as the magic dissipated.

Silverwing blinked a couple of time to shake off the surprise and instinctively tried moving his leg ; the pain was gone.

''That's the most I can do I'm afraid, I had not many occasions to practice healing spells, the scar will have to stay for a bit'' she said in a soft voice, almost sorry.

Silverwing was astounded. Sure, back home the unicorns could heal much more efficiently, but for a peaceful pony she managed to heal him pretty thoroughly At least he could walk on his hind leg completely now. The pegasus looked at his leg and trotted a bit around Twilight, testing the extent of the healing. Everything was in order, not even a discomfort.

''I'm impressed'' he simply said. ''You think you could help with the wing too ?''

Silverwing spread out his wing, showing his missing feathers and the continuation of the scar on his leg. Twilight nodded.

''I'll do my best !''

The unicorn went a second time through her spell, this time healing the pegasus' wing. Silverwing could feel the vigor coming back to his muscles a second time. The two ponies stood silently for a couple of seconds, looking at eachother.

''I- I'll go try to prepare something, you just take a seat and open the bottle okay ?'' Twilight quickly turned away towards the kitchen, visibly embarrassed

The gray pegasus smiled and let himself fall on one of the reading chairs, closing his eyes briefly before reaching for the bottle of cider Twilight had left on the table. He swiftly popped the cork and smelt the sweet aroma of apple and bubbles. Silverwing was more used to stronger alcohols - like the standard-issue Steelmare Brandy they had in whole crates back at HQ - but nothing he ever tasted smelled that good.

After a couple of minutes Twilight came back from the kitchen hovering two bowls of salad, whole oranges and glasses towards the table.

''I really ain't much of a cook, it's mostly just all good stuff thrown together in a bowl, at least you can't burn a salad, because I'm sure I would have managed'' she said jokingly.

Silverwing emitted what seemed like an actual, fully-voiced giggle and proceeded to pour some of the cider in the glasses as Twilight was taking place in the adjacent chair. The pegasus then placed down his glass in his hoof and proposed a toast

''I thank you for your hospitality, miss Twilight. I'm glad I met such a fine pony in this oh-so-strange-but-lovely town'' he said with a detached voice. Twilight smirked.

''And I'm glad I could help an oh-so-strange-but-mostly-fine stallion get used to my town''

They ported their respective glasses to their mouths and drank. Silverwing admittedly way faster than Twilight.

''Wow... this is so sugary, very sweet. I like it, it's different'' he remarked, surprised

Twilight took another sip of hers, not even looking at Silverwing.

''It's even better when you take time to actually taste it'' she remarked mockingly.

Both of them laughed as the pegasus refilled his glass.

***

''Wait, so I did not misunderstood that. You are Princess Celestia's student ? Princess Celestia as in the Princess Celestia ?''

''Well, yeah. I mean I'm not one to brag but I am. And her majesty is as great of a teacher as she is a ruler.''

Twilight was very happy of the turn of events. Silverwing had drank most of the cider - her being only at her second glass – and he was getting way more talkative and enthusiast than before. He took great interest when she talked to him about her studies about friendship and the elements of harmony. His tone was a bit uncertain at times, almost mocking at some points, but at least she had been talking for a little over an hour now and he hadn't asked her to shut up just yet. Victories comes in all sizes she though.

''Wow.. so she is real..'' Silverwing remarked almost to himself, leaning back in his chair.

Twilight was slightly shocked by his words.

''Well of course she is ! Who in Equestria thinks the princess isn't real ?!''

The both of them had their smiles dimmed by the following silence. Silverwing realized his mistake and started considering just telling her all of the truth, but its Twilight who broke the silence again, trying to take advantage of the situation to finally learn something about this gray stranger's origins. She sighted deeply.

''I mean. I wouldn't jump to conclusion earlier, but this really has been bugging me since you got here. Don't take this the wrong way, but there is a lot of things about you that doesn't adds up. You show up here all armored up, back at Rarity's you mentioned that you had an unusual travel, both her and I never even heard of your town's name before'' Twilight paused for a second, she was trying to sound as neutral as possible while enumerating her thoughts, she didn't want to sound aggressive ''You- you don't even know what a cutie mark is, you were surprise to learn that Celestia is real... Not to mention all the very...strange.. things you told me about your home... No offense, and pardon me from saying it so bluntly... but I'm starting to suspect that you are not even from Equestria.''

Silverwing blinked longingly and smiled. He knew the unicorn would probably figure it out. As much as he tried to hide it, his society and hers were too different for him to blend in just like that. The pegasus took the last shot from his glass and looked back at Twilight.

''Guilty as charged.'' he simply said. Twilight's eyes lighted up from her renewed curiosity. She waited a moment, looking right at the stallion's crimson eyes. Several seconds passed.

''Care to expand a bit on that ?'' She enquired barely hiding her annoyance of Silverwing's cliffhanger.

''Like I said, I come from a town called Steelmare. Its a coastal town near the Great Ocean, just a bit south of Hoofington and a couple of days of travel west from Fillystine.'' He paused a moment, toying a bit with the mare's fiery curiosity ''And all these are war thorn right now and fighting for political stability because, apparently, a couple of millenias ago our Gods decided to leave Cydonia in a dying state after ending the First Great War that marked the last time of lasting peace in our recorded history.''

Twilight's curiosity transformed instantly in deep horror. She couldn't even imagine the implications of all Silverwing had just told her. It took a whole minute before she could utter a straight though.

''B-But.. how did you know Celestia's name if you're not from Equestria ?'' she finally said quietly, fearing the answer.

''Because they were our rulers, once. Before they, well.. left...'' Silverwing's tone was as bitter as sorry. None of that was of this poor mare's fault, yet, he could feel her pain.

Twilight's eyes became vitreous from the tears wanting to come out. She was certain that it was not Silverwing's explicit intention to hurt her that badly – Why would he ? - but she just had a big part of her belief system shattered by a stranger.

''That....That can't be right. You are wrong, it was not the same Celestia.. It couldn't be.'' Her voice was broken and high pitched. Tears started rolling down her panicked eyes. She was trying to fight the truth. For the first time in her life, Twilight Sparkle was regretting learning something.

Silverwing tried to say something to comfort the mess his host suddenly became. It was not his intention to cause this reaction – far from it – but the harm was done. A painful silence took over the library.

''I-I'll be going to sleep. Sorry to.. well... I...'' Twilight had trouble speaking, Silverwing took over.

''It's okay, I'll do that too...''

The both of them slowly stood up and Twilight immediately walked towards the stairs. Silverwing tried to catch up but stopped after a few steps, realizing how faint his actions would be.

''I'm sorry Twilight'' he simply said.

The mare stopped, looked at Silverwing under her mane and silently nodded before disappearing upstairs.

''Well that was brilliant of you Silverwing'' the pegasus told to himself sarcastically.

The pony picked up the remnants of their meal and dropped them in the kitchen before going to his own room, a bit tipsy from the cider and guilt. He let himself fall on the bed, trying to just forget the events of the last hour to allow himself some sleep.

Somehow, it had worked better before.

Interior Conflicts

It was almost midnight, dim lights were filtering into the throne room of the Canterlot palace. Two voices were talking, whispered concerns echoing through the hall.

''Are you sure about this sister ?'' a voice asked sternly.

''I had them followed, I'm positive the stallion is not Equestrian.'' another, softer voice responded.

Silence.

''What are you planning to do then Tia ? We cannot let him act freely. Yet, if he's not a menace, having him arrested would probably create questioning in the population.''

Celestia gauged her answer.

''I will send a letter to Twilight, we are lucky he ended up staying with her, it will be easier to keep track of his doings.'' she responded. ''I'm a bit concerned though that she had not written about it yet. It's not her style to omit such things.''

Luna nodded.

''Maybe her curiosity had her forget her duties.'' the black mare casually proposed.

''Maybe...''

***

In Ponyville, a purple unicorn was staring at a blank parchment, hidden under her blankets. A hovering quill trembled as she commanded it to write the first lines of her letter ;

''Dear Princess Celestia,'' she spoke in a broken voice, as the words appeared on the parchment.

The paper quickly got punctuated with tears, the water mixing with the fresh ink and smearing the words Twilight had managed to write. She could not do this. She simply could not. Celestia was her mentor, her teacher, hay, she was technically family ! How could she do something as horrible as to leave a whole kingdom to die ?

The unicorn crumbled the parchment and threw it away along with the quill. A letter wouldn't cut it ; she'd have to ask her in person, see the truth in the alicorn's eyes.

She laid back down, hugging her pillow. Her eyes were getting tired of the crying and she had to sleep, but her mind wouldn't shut down and let her. The exhaustion finally got the best of the mare as she fell asleep, her cheeks and soul still soaked from the tears.

***

''Hum, excuse me, mister ?''

The young voice pierced the veil in Silverwing's head, gently freeing him from his troubled sleep. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards the side of his bed, where the voice came from. To his great surprise he didn't see anything. He blinked twice, not sure if he hallucinated.

''I didn't really want to wake you up, but its already 10 am and I need to clean the room in case Twilight comes back.'' the voice added.

Silverwing frowned and looked over the side of the mattress, spotting what he recognized being a baby dragon standing aside the bed. He tried to hide his smirk.

''Unh.. Yeah, sure, sorry I overslept'' he said while sitting up, stretching his wings and front legs ''I'm not used to quiet nights.'' he added, looking back at the small dragon. Twilight had mentioned his name briefly, something about her assistant being on vacation in Canterlot. What was it ?

''Hum.. I get it that you are.. Pike, correct ?'' the pegasus asked uncertain.

''I'm Sspike, with an S, but that was close enough.'' the dragon remarked, turning back to pick up what seemed like a cleaning trolley standing by the door. The thing was making a noise nightmares are made of, probably why he had the courtesy of waking Silverwing before dragging it in.

The pegasus jumped out of bed and trotted a bit in place to get the blood flowing in his hind legs. He was not really sure of what to do today, but he had to at least talk a bit with Twilight. Their last conversation didn't exactly end on a sharp note, and he wanted to correct that.

''Pardon me, but, you mentioned Twilight was away ?'' Silverwing asked the baby dragon, now busy sweeping the floor.

''Yeah, I received a letter for her this morning that really seemed to upset her. I didn't quite understand, she didn't say why and just got away, telling she had to get some clean air.'' He looked down at his watch. ''Its been about an hour now, if she's not back she must be at the park.'' he casually remarked.

Silverwing grew worried.

''It its not too intrusive, may I inquire on the content of the letter ?'' he asked cautiously.

''That's the thing ; it really didn't seem like anything important, something about Celestia wanting to meet her about her guest.'' The dragon looked up at Silverwing. ''I'm pretty sure that's you.''

Silverwing nodded. He was as intrigued as worried by this turn of events. Did Twilight already talk to Celestia about what he had told her ? Or was Celestia already aware of his presence ? In all cases, he had to talk to her. If not about the letter, at least about their previous discussion.

The pegasus quickly thanked Spike and headed out of the library. He wasn't sure on how to find the unicorn in Ponyville, then he remembered he could just fly over the town, now that his wing had healed. Still, it was a big town, and she could be anywhere. The dragon had mentioned something about a park. He'd look for that.

The sun was out over a slight cover of clouds, a warm breeze complementing the already comfortable weather. Silverwing looked around, it was still as surreal as the first time. The gray pegasus stretched his wings slowly, looking for any sign of regression in his wound, but Twilight had done a very good job ; everything was feeling fine. Silverwing started flapping his wings, warming then up, after a couple of seconds he boosted himself in the air and kept afloat above the ground.

He then took off in the blue, closing his eyes while ascending, stopping just under the cloud lining. He quietly contemplated the city of Ponyville in all of its colors and splendor. No fires, no destroyed houses, no condemned bridges, no soldiers patrolling the streets. Only happy ponies.

Silverwing quickly remembered the reason and started flying towards the town hall at medium speed, paying attention for any sign of the purple unicorn.

''Hold on mister !'' a screeching voice shouted behind him, Silverwing quickly halted to a stop and looked behind him. It was the rainbow-maned pony that he met when first getting in Equestria.

Rainbow dash stopped aside Silverwing, smirking challengingly at him.

''I know you're new around here, and Twilight probably forgot to mention it to you, but pegasi can't just start traveling in Ponyville's skies just like that.'' she told ''Its to prevent accidents, only licensed fliers can take the vectors.''

Silverwing was surprised by the revelation, but at least her claim were corroborated by the gray pegasus' observations ; he saw way more pegasi walking than actually flying.

''Licensed fliers ? Not all pegasi have to go through flight school ?'' he asked, genuinely interested.

''Nah, all the real ones, the ones from Cloudsdale do. But a lot of them are born in Ponyville and are used to walking in the streets more than flying, so to prevent accidents and smooth things up for the weather teams only licensed ponies can fly above the roofs.'' Dash added.

Silverwing agreed, it was a bit surprising to learn that not all pegasi went through flight school but all things considered, why would they ? Its not like flying was primordial to their survival here.

''Well, I'm more used to flying than walking.. Do I need to do flight school again just to fly here ?'' he inquired.

''Every flight school in Equestria give out licenses, you should have one.'' The mare remarked.

''Well... I got one – In fact back home flying was kind of my job – but I don't think it's valid here. Our school was very... hum.. particular.''

Silverwing frowned. He was not sure how much he should tell the mare, not after he saw Twilight's reaction earlier. Rainbow Dash smirked and performed a small loop before closing in even more on Silverwing.

''I'll tell you what mister, I can tell you are holding of stuff from me – and from everypony for that matter – but not being a very patient mare I'll just play dumb and offer you a deal : If you manage to keep up with me from here to the flight school in Cloudsdale, I'll get you an official weathermare's signature towards a license. How's that ?'' her tone was confident and challenging.

Silverwing smiled in turn. This mare probably never had to go through what he had too. There is no way he couldn't at least keep up.

''Deal.'' he simply said, a defying smile printed on his snout. Twilight surely wouldn't disappear in the next half hour anyway, and if he was planning on staying, he'd eventually need a license.

''Alright then, like I told, just try to keep up, see you there !'' she quickly said.

As soon as her sentence was finished, Rainbow Dash flew off in a flash towards the mountains. Silverwing got surprised by her acceleration, but he had no time to lose, especially since he didn't even know what and where Cloudsdale was. He quickly took off in the direction of the mare, slowly building up momentum. He knew that fast accelerations had their uses, but when the goal was pure speed and not simply sprinting off, it was better to speed up constantly.

Half a mile further Rainbow Dash took a look over her shoulder, trying to spot her challenger.

''Ha, maybe I got a bit too hard on him'' she said to herself, slowing down a notch.

However as soon as she turned back, she felt a burst of gray wind pass her right in the blink of an eye. She shook her head in confusion and picked up the pace, hellbent on taking back the ground she foolishly let this stranger take. He was not half bad however, she had to give him that.

A few wing flaps later she had lined up with Silverwing, both flying at the same speed.

''You know,'' Silverwing shouted over the sound of the wind ''I have no idea where I'm going. I'll get lost if you can't stay in front.'' He smiled mockingly. Rainbow Dash returned the gesture.

''We can be two playing that game blank flank, I was just warming up !''

The rainbow-maned pony took off once again, but now less drastically. She certainly had some in her Silverwing though, she was way faster than some of his boys, that was for sure.

The two of them kept playing their little of game of catching up and flying off for several minutes. As a huge city finally appeared amidst the clouds, Silverwing watched in awe as the white and gold buildings started revealing themselves. Taking advantage of it, Rainbow Dash took off in a final sprint that completely left Silverwing in the dust.

The rainbow mare swiftly landed on one of the smaller clouds adjacent to the main buildings, shortly followed by Silverwing. The stallion was not even paying attention to Rainbow Dash, he was just amazed at the imposing city before him. A whole city, in the clouds ! How much he would have wished for a painting of this. The gray pegasus finally stretched his wings one last time before folding them back and looked at Rainbow Dash, both of them were still heavily panting.

''I'm.. really impressed. Back home I had never been beaten in straight flights.'' he said, shaking a tuft of cloud off his tail.

''Well, I told you I was the fastest young flier in Equestria didn't I ?'' the mare responded, full of pride.

''I guess I'll have to take your word for it next time. Still, glad I could stretch those a bit.'' he responded pointing his wings. ''And definitively glad I got to see this !'' he added, looking at the city, still in shock.

''Yeah, it's pretty awesome isn't it ?'' the mare proudly added. ''From what I've heard, it's the only one of its kind in Equestria.''

Well, they certainly did not have those in Cydonia either, Silverwing though. This may as well be the only one in the world. Rainbow Dash started hovering along the clouds, telling Silverwing to follow. The pegasus nodded and followed the mare, trying to take in as much as he could from the beauty overwhelming his senses.

After a minute or two they finally landed and entered a huge brass-brown building.

''Cloudsdale Flight Academy.'' Silverwing spoke to himself while looking at the sign atop the main gates.

''Yup, the number one flight school in Equestria. Many pegasi from all over come here to attend the advanced courses like weather control and speed flight. For the locals it also doubles as an high school'' Rainbow Dash added slightly uneasy. ''I never liked this places, they got all serious and stuff when they became popular.'' she paused before continuing in a quieter voice as they entered the main building.

''These uniforms will haunt me until the end of my life...'' She whispered, pointing at the other mares trotting in the hallways.

Silverwing let out a chuckle. The uniforms looked like those they had in their officer schools back home. He always tough they looked kind of cute, but he could certainly picture why his rainbow companion disliked them ; she didn't look much of the girlish type. A bit like Cloudtamer, back in his unit.

The though hit him hard ; his efforts to put away his life in Cydonia made it even more hurtful when he remembered it. Thinking about his old unit was the worst. He just left them behind in Steelmare. Like that. Not even knowing if they had survived or not. And there he was, trying to even leave their memories behind...

''We're here, put a smile on.'' The mare snapped Silverwing out of his thoughts for a moment.

They entered a rather spacious and brightly lit office and Rainbow Dash started talking to what looked like the headmaster. She said something about ''professional sponsorship'' among other slightly unintelligible things.

''So, you say you had a license, hum, mister... ?'' the headmaster asked, looking at the gray pegasus.

''Silverwing. And yes, I was attributed a professional license back home. Although I'm pretty sure our systems aren't equivalent..'' he responded with his best professional tone.

''I see.. where did you live and what kind of job did you have ?'' The headmaster followed, looking down at his papers, the gray pegasus couldn't tell if he was the subject of an interrogation or genuine interest.

''Steelmare.'' He paused a moment ''Search and Rescue.'' Silverwing was quite content with his answer. Surely this wouldn't sound too outlandish, and yet it was true... Well, partially anyway. He sure didn't do a lot of rescuing as of late. His memories came haunting him back for a moment.

''Hum.. I'm pretty stocked there is even an unlisted academy in Equestria, especially an SnR team.'' He looked at Silverwing over his thick glasses. ''And I can surely tell that you're not from any city around here by the look of yours, no offenses.''

''None taken.'' Silverwing politely responded. The headmaster continued.

''But since Rainbow Dash here offered to sponsor your integration, with such a professional and political reputation I'm inclined to trust her.'' He concluded, leaning back in his chair.

The headmaster pushed a folder towards Silverwing. It contained several documents that he had to fill out and sign. Most of the information he put in were either fake or embellished, but in the end it didn't seem like it mattered. The other pegasus didn't even take a second look before giving a certificate and a numbered ear clip. So much for that. Paperwork sure seemed a lot looser than back home.

Back home...

Polite hoofshakes and salutations were exchanged and the two ponies left the office.

''Here you go. Who's awesome ? I'm awesome !'' Rainbow Dash looked at Silverwing, waiting for any kind of reaction.

''Thank you very much.'' Silverwing paused before looking at the mare beside him. ''Professional and Political reputation ?'' he then asked with a touch of irony.

''Ahaha, yeah ! That kind of come with saving the world twice.'' Dash jokingly responded.

Silverwing eyes widened. Saving the world ? He couldn't tell if the mare was really joking or just boasting and embellishing facts. She was probably talking about what Twilight had mentioned to him the day before ; the whole ''Elements of Harmony'' nonsense. Fighting evil with friendship. He remembered painfully chocking on his cider at that point of the evening.

Back home the price for winning was sweat and blood.

Silverwing slapped himself internally. He couldn't keep doing that. Equestria was not Cydonia. If he was to stay here he had to get over his old life.

''Hey, you ok, you got all boring-looking all of a sudden.'' She added, her voice half mocking half worried.

''Yeah, I'll be fine. I was just thinking about stuff.'' He shrugged off, starting to walk towards the exit.

Rainbow Dash frowned but kept silent. She knew better than to start annoying ponies about their problems, so she just changed subjects.

''Sooo, what were you doing up in the clouds back there anyway ? You looked like you were looking for something.'' she asked while walking alongside the other pegasus.

''I was looking for Twilight.'' He simply answered, content with the mare's non-insistence on his other troubles and the refreshing change of subject.

''Twilight ? I saw her at the park, while clearing some clouds. She didn't look so good..'' the mare looked up at Silverwing ''Is this related ?'' she asked.

Silverwing sighted, looking at the ground, he couldn't just wait it out now could he ?

''Well.. maybe, I'm not sure. That's part of why I was looking for her in the first place.'' he responded in a low tone.

He knew it was very certainly related, but he didn't want to have to explain everything to Rainbow Dash. Although he kinda liked the mare he was not feeling very confident about having this kind of discussion with relative strangers.

They exited the building and the whiteness of the city blinded them both for a moment. Silverwing looked at the clouds now beneath his hooves, still pensive ; He had to talk to Twilight, the storm in his brain was getting out of control, he had to at least take care of some loose ends. Work the problems off one by one. The pegasus looked at Rainbow Dash.

''Thanks a lot for helping me out with this'' he looked up at the badge now clipped to the inside of his ear, where he used to wear his insignia.''..but I really need to find Twilight.'' he claimed.

Without waiting for her answer, Silverwing took off in the direction of Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash stood confused at the entrance of the Academy, trying to make sense of what just happened. Half an hour ago she would have sworn the pegasus was all playful and amazed and all. Now he suddenly grimed-out and stormed out with barely a thank.

''Pffff, next time I hear that mares are complicated, I'm bucking somepony...'' she told to herself.

***

After only a couple of minutes Silverwing was plundering over the park and hills on the outskirt of Ponyville -another thing they couldn't afford back home, for obvious security reasons- his eyes were scanning for a purple unicorn. He knew his chances were not that great, but it was a good a lead as any. Besides, it was his only lead, and he wanted to settle things as soon as possible.

After a couple of passes he finally noticed the mare sitting on a bench under a rather large apple tree. Silverwing slowly initiated his descent, making sure his eyes didn't deceive him ; the purple unicorn was indeed sitting alone, reading a book. The pegasus let out a sight of relief and proceeded to land a bit further, making sure to stay out of sight, he didn't want to just drop down on her like that.

Silverwing trotted along the road towards the bench, trying to find some better words to use this time. Twilight's puffed eyes and sad frown betrayed the neutral state she was pretending to be in, it was not the time to drive the nail even further. The pegasus finally came to talking distance of the mare, he stopped in his tracks, still searching for words.

''You don't have to say anything..'' Twilight told without even looking up from her book. Her voice half sad half sorry.

Silverwing took a step back in surprise. ''How did you-''

''You're not exactly hard to spot.'' Twilight cut off, the corner of her mouth issued a slight smile that faded instantly.

Silverwing proceeded to sit on the bench beside the unicorn. A moment of silence flew over the pair.

''I-'' Silverwing had to push the words out of his throat. ''I'm very sorry. I should have been more considerate yesterday.''

The wind blew gently, rustling the leaves of the tree behind the two ponies. It was the only sound for awhile before Twilight spoke again.

''I received a letter from the Princess.. She wants to talk to me, about you.'' she said, looking at the stallion this time.

''So I heard.'' He simply replied. Another silence snuck between them.

''I- I really don't know what to do... The greater part of me would just want everything you said to be a lie, but...'' She shook her head ''I'm smarter than that.'' her voice was breaking as her eyes were dampening again, making her purple eyes flicker in the daylight.

Silverwing tried to come up with an answer but at this very moment the ugly truth struck the pegasus ; nothing he could ever do or say would repair what he had done, because it was the cold hard truth. No amount of sweet talk and reassuring would change it. Sure, he could help the mare feel better, but in the end it wouldn't change a thing...

Unless the Princess actually denied it, then these ponies could continue living their white lie while Cydonia was left to slowly burn. But how fair was that ?

Many variables teared Silverwing's mind apart. A part of him wanted to completely forget about Cydonia and remake his life here, far from the war. But would he fit in ? More importantly, would he even be allowed to stay ?

And what if he was eventually forced to go back ? He had obligations towards the army, towards his whole land. But then again, these wars were without any goal or reason, they were simply wars of survival. And if he did go back he certainly couldn't forget Ponyville and his peaceful denizens. What were the implications of all this ? Would he be able to stay quiet ?

Could he even go back ?

And then there was this mare. Somehow, now that he disturbed such a peaceful life, he felt obligated towards the unicorn. But that was not rational, never he cared for such petty things ; so what if her whole life is a lie ? So what if this whole kingdom is a lie ? That was not his problem, so why did he care ?

Silverwing clenched his head in his hooves, trying desperately to untangle the moral mess that this all was, trying to find the path of his true self. But there was the problem ; none of the options offered to him were true to the pony he really was.

Sure he was loyal towards the corps, detached, fearless, and even violent at times, but this was all because of the war. Silverwing was not always like this, and his unexpected trip in this oasis of peace made him remember that.

Work the problem one by one, Silverwing remembered. Starting with Twilight.

And after a few seconds that felt like an eternity his mind finally settled on a short term consensus.

''I think I need to drink...''

Twilight slightly perked up.

''I am approving of this idea.'' she finally said, without any particular emotion.

Even Before (opt.)

The dark red earth pony was laying alone in front of a chimney fire. The room was dark, only lit by the dancing lights of the blaze. His expression was one of worry.

A white alicorn entered the room and lay down silently beside the other pony. The fire crackled while the two remained silent for several minutes.

''I'm a bit worried about you sweetheart.'' The alicorn finally spoke. ''You've been awfully silent these last days.'' She looked at her husband. The pony kept staring into the flames.

''I know about the clans...'' He finally said, emotionless.

The alicorn's eyes widened in shock. The pony accusing eyes turned to meet her own. She tried to utter a word but only her mouth obeyed, she remained silent.

''How could you do this Celestia ?'' his voice broke while pronouncing the name.

The alicorn turned her sight away from her husband, unable to bear the guilt. She struggled for words.

''I- I had no choice Red. The situation was getting out of hand..'' she sputtered.

''The were MY FAMILY !'' the stallion shouted, his voice resonated in the hallway beyond the open door. Celestia closed her eyes, trying to refrain her emotions.

''They were a danger for all of the settlements around. They killed many travelers, the population was growing wary, I had to do something.'' her voice was breaking, pleading for forgiveness.

''So you had them killed ?'' Red added accusingly, each word lacerating at Celestia's soul.

''It degenerated ! They wouldn't stop the massacres nor relocalize.'' Celestia was sobbing under her closed eyes. ''You know we can't afford another civil war.'' Her voice was now but a whisper. The stallion stood up. Pacing around, trying to contain his anger.

''Why didn't you tell me ?'' his voice lowered. ''I could have gone and talk to them, convince them to go away !''

Celestia finally opened her eyes and looked at her defying husband through the blur of the tears.

''They exiled you Red. They exiled you because you were not like them, because you didn't believe in the violence they preached. What makes you think you could have reasoned with them ?''

The alicorn tried to stand up but her muscles were paralyzed. There were no easy way out of this. She did something that couldn't be undone, and nothing she would say mattered. Be it for security or political reasons, in the end she had a whole clan wiped out.

''I had no choice Red..'' she pleaded one last time. The stallion looked down at her.

''Maybe you're right, maybe you had no choice.'' his voice was cold and emotionless. ''But I do.. And I chose to go..'' he sighted while finishing his sentence.

Turning away from Celestia the stallion marched out of the door.

''I'm so sorry Red'' The alicorn whispered almost to herself, breaking into tears.

The sounds of the hooves in the hallway became more and more distant, the echo slowly dying out. Soon, there was only the sound of the fire and Celestia's own sobbing.

''I'm so sorry..''