//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: BPT: The Coup of Avarice 
// by Wolven5 
//------------------------------//

A cloaked figure tread carefully through the foggy mountainside, her destination in sight. Remembering the security wards, she cast the right spells, allowing her safe passage into the narrow passageway that led to her mistress's lair within the tight space of two mountain peaks. While the outside wasn't much to look at, the interior was far more appealing, especially since she had finally left the cold out there and lowered her hood, revealing the face of Sunset Shimmer. 

Gazing at the hall before her, it was an underground hall with red carpeting, wall-mounted orbs of soft light, giving it an oddly pleasant atmosphere, and there was even the sound of lounge music echoing off the stony walls. If it weren't for the faint smell of her mistress's habit, it would be almost homey. As she made her way down the hall, she heard a sinister chuckle and looked to the hallway that she was about to pass, seeing Tirek skulking in the shadows. 

"Pleasant trip?" he asked with a growling smirk.

"Hmph," Sunset never spared a word to that monster if she could help it. Why Catrina decided to recruit that brute, she had no earthly idea. 

She came to the end of the hallway she was taking and saw the armored unicorn standing vigil at the door. 
"Lady Catrina is expecting me."

The armored unicorn nodded his permission and Sunset opened the door, stepping in to see Catrina was not alone. It was a spacious lounge with luxurious furniture, furnishings, and even a fully-stocked bar, where that insipid comic book character, the Phony Pharaoh (or Pharaoh Phetlock, as he insisted) was polishing a glass, Queen Chrysalis (or rather one of Chrysalis's proxies) barely regarded Sunset's arrival whereas Catrina, stretched comfortably upon a fainting couch while holding a cigar-holder that held a wrapped up joint of witch weed in her paw-like hand, exhaling a green mist before her eyes lit up at the sight of Sunset.

"Ah, Sunset, my dear, you're back sooner than expected. I trust everything went smoothly?"

"Yes, and I have it, just as you requested, my Lady," Sunset levitated something out from her cloak and laid it upon the coffee table in the middle of the room, revealing it to be the Aegis Armor medallion!

Catrina purred with satisfaction as she twirled her finger, her poisonous green magic levitating the relic to her clawed hand so she could examine it, "You have done purrrfectly, my loyal apprentice."

"That crazy duke did quite a number on the alicorns and Canterlot," Sunset reported. "Honestly, I find it a miracle that Midnight Blaze was able to defeat him."

"Tsk-tsk-tsk, even the strongest armor can't protect the weakest of creatures," the proxy Chrysalis sneered, serving as the mouthpiece and extension of her mother-queen.

"In the possession of one who knows how to bring out the Aegis Armor's true potential, this artifact can make one the greatest warrior alive," Catrina clarified, nodding in satisfaction that it was the real thing.  
"The strength of an entire army embodied in the wearer of this relic... I take it that foolish duke is no more?"

"Celestia sentenced him to death," Sunset answered, "and Midnight carried out the deed."

"Well, at least they are more ruthless than I give them credit for, which makes for a more interesting opposition," Catrina purred before giving Sunset mysterious smile, "Well done, Sunset. Everything is going according to plan..."

"But... what about Starlight Glimmer?" Sunset brought up. "She escaped, and who knows what-"

"Put that worthless conformist out of your head, my dear," Catrina waved off the concern, "she knows nothing that could inconvenience us, and though I was unable to master her cutie-mark removal spell... I am fairly certain I've discovered a new avenue of its power."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunset, becoming more and more disturbed.

"Patience, Sunset," Catrina returned to relaxing, "all will be made clear soon enough... You are dismissed, take some time to relax."

Sunset gave a respectful bow and turned to leave, her uncertainty slowly but surely convincing her that whatever Catrina was planning, it was more than she bargained for.


Much more...