Conflict of Interests

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.