//------------------------------//
// Unwelcome Revelations 
// Story: Comes the Sunset 
// by Scipio Smith 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 19

Unwelcome Revelations


The Dark Queen sat upon her Dark Throne, shrouded in shadows, hiding from the light. 

Sunset hunched upon the velvet seat from which, for so many years, Celestia had ruled Equestria in peace and prosperity. Now she, who had given it war, curled up on the cushions like some frightened cat or a hedgehog trying to form a ball to warn off predators. Her forelegs were wrapped around her hind legs, her head resting on her knees, her dishevelled mane falling all over the place, half covering her eyes. 

She shivered, though it was not cold. She hid from the darkness, though there was no light. She had ordered all the curtains closed throughout the entire palace, drenching it in shadow and in shade, and in the throne room there was not a speck of sunlight to be seen. Sunset could not even tell if it was day or night, she had lost all track of time. 

Closing the curtains had also hidden all the windows from her sight. Those stained glass windows. Those pictures of heroes and triumphs, those images of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, those reminders of everything that she was not. 

There had been a time when she had dreamed of her own image adorning such a window, but that time was gone now, like a dream... or something even less real than a dream, perhaps, vanished in the cold, hard light of day, gone beyond recall. 

Yes, the sun had snatched away all her dreams from her. Was it any wonder that she hid from its light?

"I have achieved everything I ever wanted," Sunset muttered to the empty air, for she was utterly alone here. "I have conquered Equestria and rule it now. I have humbled Celestia, and set Twilight Sparkle and her friends at defiance. I have won. The prize is mine. All that I aimed for I have hit the mark. So why do I feel so empty inside?"

"Maybe it's because you've got nopony to share it with?"

Sunset started as if somepony had put a tack on her seat. Pinkie Pie was standing by the side of the throne, dressed in the fool's motley that Sunset had dressed her in, the bells jingling in her cap. Despite which she had been able to sneak up on Sunset and half yell in her ear as the first sign of her presence in the room. There had been no hoofsteps, no sound of a door opening. Just... Pinkie, there, all of a sudden. 

"How do you do that?" Sunset demanded, twisting her body around to give Pinkie the stinkeye. 

"It's a gift," Pinkie said airily, not with any arrogance in her but rather, as though she didn't consider the question very important. Perhaps, in her mind, she was the normal one, and all the poor souls who lived their lives constrained by the bounds of something so base as logic were a little weird. "The more important question is: how do you do it?"

Sunset frowned deeply. "Do what? I'm not doing anything?"

"Yes you are," Pinkie replied in a sing-song voice.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Go on then, what am I doing?"

"You're lying to yourself, silly," Pinkie said. "And you're doing it so well it's as if you don't realise that you're doing it! That would be really cool if it weren't so sad."

"I'm not sad," Sunset snapped.

"You sounded it a moment ago."

"That was... it's very rude to listen in on people who don't know that you're there," Sunset said primly.

"So is invading other people's countries," Pinkie said.

Sunset sighed. "Touche, Pinkie." She closed her eyes for a moment, enclosing herself absolutely in the darkness. "So, what am I lying about?"

"You pretend not to know why you're so sad, but you know."

"Because I'm lonely?"

"And because you know you're wrong," Pinkie said.

"Do I?" Sunset said. "What makes you so sure?"

"My friend Fluttershy once said that there aren't bad people, just bad choices," Pinkie said. Her tone became a little more solemn as she said, "And I'm afraid that you've made some very bad choices."

"Choices, choices, choices," Sunset murmured. "Tell me, Pinkie Pie, if destiny is all then why does life throw so many choices into our path? Or is free choice just an illusion and I was always fated to take this road?"

"I don't think there was a plan to bring you here," Pinkie said. She glanced to one side, as if looking at someone that only she could see. "At least not a very good one." She looked at Sunset again. "There were just some vague nudges in this direction."

"Vague nudges," Sunset repeated. "Vague nudges that have been the ruin of me." She opened her eyes to glare at Pinkie. "I dressed you as my fool, so fool around. Banish my melancholy, if you can. Make me smile."

"Ooh, how about a song?" Pinkie asked. She cleared her throat, and guitar music appeared from out of nowhere.

Equestria, the land I love,
A land of harmony-

"Not that one," Sunset said firmly. 

"How about the Hearth's Warming Carol?" Pinkie suggested. "The fire of friendship-"

"No," Sunset said.

Pinkie pouted for a moment. Then she began to sing again, with renewed vigor.

My name is Pinkie Pie (Hello!)
And I am here to say!

"Ugh, you know what, let's not do singing," Sunset said quickly. "All your songs are too happy to make me happy, if you know what I mean."

"Do you want a hug?"

"Certainly not," Sunset said frostily.

"Then how about a riddle game?" Pinkie asked. "I'll go first. Why does a snail carry his house on his back?"

"That's less a riddle and more the set up to a joke," Sunset said. "But I'll bite: why does a snail carry his house on his back?"

"Because that way he always remembers where home is," Pinkie said. "And that's something even ponies sometimes forget." She looked at Sunset pointedly.

Sunset groaned.

"Do you want to hear another one?"

"Is it as tediously moralistic as the first?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Go on then."

"Why does a thief like the shadows?"

"Because it's easier to hide in the dark," Sunset said.

"Nope," Pinkie said. "Because she's ashamed of herself."

"I'm not..." Sunset said. "What does it matter anyway? So what if I am? It's too late now."

"Only if you don't do anything about it."

"And what do you suggest that I-" Sunset was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "What?"

The door to the throne room opened by a fraction, and a nervous looking zebra noble poked his head in. "Esteemed regent...um, we have a problem."





The proud young lord swelled up like an angry toad, his eyes boggling from behind his gaudy mask. "You refuse? Did I hear true? What mockery is this?"

"Not mockery, my lord, but mutiny," Hardy said, smirking with undisguised insolence. "At least I think that's the word for this sort of thing in the army. It seems that your warriors have decided that they don't want to take your orders any more." She looked the zebra commander up and down theatrically. "I can't imagine why they would come to the decision."

"Silence!" the zebra commander roared, raising one hoof to strike Hardy across the face. 

Zetenes, the big zebra warrior, moved quickly to block the blow. "Young lord, I cannot allow you to harm our spokesmare thus, nor any other zebra here."

"You dare?" the zebra hissed. "You dare to so much as touch one of the High Blood, you peasant cur! How dare you?"

"How dare he?" Hardy asked. "How dare you, you puffed up little popinjay? What have you ever done in the course of your life of unearned luxury to make you fit to treat the people around you the way you do? What in Grevyia or Equestria makes you so special?"

"My ancestors-"

"Aren't here any more," Hardy snapped. "You are, and you're not worthy of the people you lord it over. Maybe your ancestor was, maybe she wasn't, but you aren't. Not by a long way. You've been living off Daddy's money your whole life; well it stops now. It ends."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Hardy, Laurel and Cherry stood in the shadow of the gates of Canterlot, surrounded by a phalanx of zebra warriors. Once their captors, now their bodyguards. Their chains were off, and lay on the ground in a heap behind them. 

Laurel was crouched on the ground, a long parchment scroll laid out in front of her, pen gripped in her mouth as she scribbled away writing a list of demands for the appropriate authorities. In the guardhouse, Cherry had opened up the stores reserved for lords and captains and was cooking the rank and file a taste of what they'd been missing out on during their years of faithful service to their so-called betters. It probably wasn't going to turn out just like their mothers used to make - not least because their mother's couldn't have gotten these ingredients either - but it would probably be a step up from the thin gruel that they ate normally. 

"We're tired, my lord," one of the zebra warriors said. "This war is not our war. Why are we here?"

The young lord sniffed in distaste. "Have these mares turned you all to cowards that you are unwilling to fight for your country? Does the glory of the Most Ancient Empire mean nothing to you? Will you let August Grevyia fall into ruin for your own comfort?"

"We are not cowards," Zetenes said softly. "If Grevyia is imperilled then it shall always find us brave and willing to fight for her. But we cannot see that our country stands in peril in any way, unless we have placed it in danger by our actions in this land."

"We want to go home," one of the other zebras said.

"I want to see my son," one said.

"I want to kiss my wife again," said another.

"I want to watch my daughters grow up," said a third.

"We are tired, my lord," Zetenes said. "We do not want to die in this land, far from home. We want to go home."

"It turns out that isn't all they want," Hardy remarked. "It seems they also want to stop having to slave until their backs break while you and yours live in luxury. They want to be your equals instead."

"Equal?" the zebra lord gasped. He laughed aloud. "What foolishness is this? Can the ant be equal with the lion?"

"Perhaps not, but a thousand ants can chew on the lion until there's nothing left but bone," Hardy said. "All they have to do is stop fearing him. And I'd say that my new friends are done being afraid."

The zebra lord cast his gaze upon those who had, until very recently, been his followers. There was no deference in their looks now, no yielding to his blood right and born authority. None of them acknowledged the superiority of his blood. Hardy smiled. It had turned out that the only thing keeping the zebras loyal to their lords was a fear that they would be the only one to speak up if they were unfaithful. The truth was, this young lord was not a lion. He was a mouse, who had convinced himself that he was a lion and tried to convince others of that fact too. But, once everyone had the courage to say that he was a just a mouse, and found that everyone else agreed with them, his roars were revealed for the pathetic things that they were. 

"You will have no home," he snapped. "You will have no freedom, you will have no, no, equality," he spat the word. "You will all be on crossed pikes by nightfall!"

"And who do you think is going to put us there?" Hardy said. "Other contingents of poor, put upon zebras dragged from their homes and pressed into service?"

"We have already spoken with the warriors of the Makkai, Libu, Meshwesh, Matho, Tanit and Milcar," Zetenes said. "They are with us, so is the Fourth Legion of the Imperial Army. That is the strength of half the houses, and some of the imperial regulars too. We are all tired."

"And once they realise that at least some zebras are friends to them and enemies to Sunset Shimmer then you'd be surprised how many ponies will come out on the streets to lend their support to the birth of a new freedom. So how exactly are you going to brutally murder us all when no one wants to follow you?" Hardy asked. "Are you and your lordly friends and relatives going to take us all on, on the basis that one of you is worth a dozen of your 'peasants'?"

The young lord shook his head. "You would turn your back upon all tradition-"

"Look at this land, my lord," Zetenes said. "Is it not richer than our own? More fertile? Are not its people happier and more prosperous than we? Might it not be that there is something in their way of life from which we could learn?"

Laurel stopped writing. "All done, Hardy."

"Excellent," Hardy said. "Read it out, so that everyone can hear how they like it."

"Read what?" the zebra lord demanded.

"Our list of demands, to be presented to the regent Sunset Shimmer," Hardy said jovially. "Off you go, Laurel. The floor is yours, as it were."

Laurel smiled slightly as she cleared her throat and adjusted her spectacles. "Ahem. 'We, the zebras currently serving in the army of the Most August and Ancient Empire of Grevyia..."





"...being a body representative of the people of our nation," Sunset read aloud. "Do hereby proclaim blah, blah, blah hold these truths to be blah shall take no further military action blah blah present the following demands: an immediate truce with the representatives of the government of Equestria to be followed by negotiations for peace. The return of Grevyian warriors to Grevyia to commence immediately. All warriors to be paid for their service at the rate of one Imperial silver a day plus compensation for any equipment damaged during the campaign. The abolition of slavery. The abolition of feudal dues. Reform of the rights and privileges of the High Blood. Formation of a national assembly to draw up a constitution and represent the will of the people and a solemn and binding oath by the Emperor that he will abide by all of the above terms for all time and until the end of time." Sunset looked up from the parchment roll that had been delivered. "A constitution? Of all things under the sun, they want a constitution." She laughed. "Is this a joke?"

"Not to the thousands of warriors who have ground arms all over the city," Lord Syphax, whose troops were amongst those who had joined the mutineers, said gravely. Sunset had convened a council of her lords and commanders in the shadowy throne room. As a token concession to those who did not hate the light as she had come to, Sunset had lit a few candles, and they flickered like her waning hopes, casting their dying light into the darkness that threatened to smother them. 

In addition to her own subordinates, Sunset had had Celestia brought to the throne room too, where she sat in one corner, saying nothing, listening. Sunset couldn't have explained rationally why she was there, unless it was because she wanted somepony in council who was on her side, but the sun princess cast more light into the room than all the candles put together, and put all the zebra nobles to shame through the example of her regal grace. 

"They've begun to build barricades all throughout the western parts of the city, mistress," Virtue murmured. "They have taken the Canterlot tennis court as their headquarters, and ponies are coming onto the streets to join them."

"Of course they are," Sunset muttered. "Is it the whole army?"

"My diamond dogs are still ready to fight," Precious growled.

"And so are the Shadowbolts!" Lightning Dust declared.

"The mutiny has not spread to the zebra forces camped outside the city," Virtue said.

"Make sure it stays that way," Sunset said. "As for these absurd demands..."

"Does freedom truly seem so absurd to you now, Sunset?" Celestia asked calmly. "Is not freedom why you left me, so long ago?"

"I left because you made me go!" Sunset shouted, wheeling to face Celestia. She turned away, sighing deeply. "Virtue, Celestia, you stay. Everyone else out, now."

With much ill-concealed grumbling (from the zebra lords), growling (from Precious) and uncomfortable looks (courtesy of Lightning Dust) all her other subordinates left her, offering perfunctory bows in her direction before leaving the throne room. The doors closed behind them with a resounding slam. 

"They do not meet my eyes," Sunset muttered. "Most likely they are going to mutter behind their backs at how ill I look. Or how mad."

"Whatever happens next most of them will be worse off than they were before," Celestia observed. "You have just cost them all their slaves."

"Try not to sound so pleased at this turn of events," Sunset muttered.

"The spread of freedom is always something to smile about," Celestia said.

"Oh, is that so, Princess Celestia?" Sunset remarked pointedly. "Shall I have your crown melted down or sold to raise money for the poor?"

Celestia smiled. "You always had a quick tongue, Sunset, and a quick mind to match. You would have done well in politics."

"I have not done well in statecraft," Sunset said. "A mutiny, and these demands. A truce, and negotiations for peace. I asked for peace. I sent Lightning Dust to the Crystal Empire with an offer of peace and Cadance refused me."

"You hold her friends prisoner," Celestia observed.

"All the more reason for her to cooperate, surely?" Sunset demanded. "Now Rarity is raising an army to the north of here, and there are a rumours of a second army gathering to the south. All the while my own army mutinies." She shook her head. "Even if I wanted to agree to all of these demands they have, I could not."

"Could the Emperor?" Celestia asked.

"The Emperor," Sunset laughed, it came out as more of a cackle than anything else, half crazy and half despairing. "The Emperor is dead. As is his heir, his pretty daughter. I had Virtue kill them, to prevent my power from being challenged. Isn't that right, Virtue."

Virtue shuffled his hooves along the throne room floor. "It is true that the Emperor is dead, Mistress."

"And his heir?" Sunset asked.

Virtue continued to shuffle his hooves.

"Virtue," Sunset said. "I need to hear you say those words."

"That would be a lie, Mistress, though comforting to you," Virtue said. 

Sunset let out a deep breath. "What did you do?"

"She was a mere child, Mistress, I could not do it," Virtue admitted. "I stood over her but... my conscience would not permit me to do as you commanded, no more than would my honour. I sent her away, I had her run, far from the palace."

"Of course you did," Sunset murmured, rolling her eyes. "Tell me, Virtue, why do I keep you around?"

Virtue blinked. "Mistress?"

"YOU'RE A STUPID, INCOMPETENT FOOL, VIRTUE!" Sunset yelled. "WHEN YOU'RE NOT OBSESSED WITH YOUR HONOUR YOU'RE MAKING MISTAKES A FILLY COULD SEE COMING! WHEN YOU AREN'T LETTING MY ENEMIES GO FREE YOU'RE LETTING THEM GET THE BETTER OF YOU IN SINGLE COMBAT! I WOULDN'T CARE IF YOU WANTED TO BE HONOURABLE ON YOUR OWN TIME, BUT YOU KEEP SCREWING UP MY PLANS AS WELL! WHY HAVEN'T I KILLED YOU YET?"

"Did you really think that he would kill a child?" Celestia asked. "Or did you give him the order knowing that he would not carry it out?"

Sunset frowned. "Are you saying I want him to mess up?"

Celestia said, "I told you once that you were not evil, Sunset. Is it not possible that, deep down, you know that what you are doing is wrong, and so you delegate the foulest of your tasks to one you know will not perform them? Perhaps you keep this stallion around so that, through his ineptitude, your soul will remain intact?" She glanced at Virtue. "No offence."

"I am still trying to decipher what was an insult and what was not," Virtue replied in a prickly tone. 

Celestia stood up, the light from her essential greatness burning brighter than ever in the grim enshrouded darkness of this room from which all other lights were banished. 

"Please, Sunset," she said. "You do not need a proxy to avoid evil acts. You do not need to employ a disobedient servant to keep you from having wicked things done in your name. You do not need to be as you are. Surrender. Lay down your arms as so many zebras have lain down theirs. End the pain and the suffering right now, for yourself and for all other ponies. Reject this demon lord who has a hold on you, do not bring him into this world-"

"I am here already, Princess Celestia."

Sunset felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as the deep, resounding voice echoed throughout the dark room. Abruptly, she wished that she had let some light in. 

For a few moments she struggled to find her voice. When it came, it was small and childlike, like a filly who had been caught with one hoof in the cookie jar. "L-L-Lord Moloch?"

"Turn and face me, child. Look on my vessel."

Sunset turned around, and as she turned her eyes widened. "Virtue?"

Virtuous Fury now looked even blacker than he had before. His coat had been black as coal, but now it was black as night itself; it was as though he was night, pure night, the essence of night and darkness poured in a physical vessel and made flesh. But not quite flesh. There was something insubstantial about him now, that sat ill with the big stallion who had always seemed so solid he might have been made of iron or stone. Dark power was pouring off his coat, magic leaking out of a vessel that could not contain it all, liquid drops of darkness sloughing off him like rain falling off a pony's coat when they come into the hall. And his eyes. His red eyes now held no hint of a pony in them, not a single trace of a soul remaining. They were pure red now, burning orbs like dying stars, blazing with capacity for evil.

When he opened his mouth, it too was burning red. He chuckled, a deep bass rumble like the beating of a thousand drums. "No. Not Virtue. Not Virtuous Fury, the fool. Moloch. Does the discovery not delight you, child?"

Sunset blinked. Oh, crap. I hope you're right about my quick tongue, Celestia, because I'm going to need to talk faster than Rainbow Flash can fly to get out of this one. "Of course, my lord. I have been working to prepare the way for your arrival-"

"Spare me your false flattery and your lies," Moloch said. "I know you meant to lure me to my doom, and win heroic acclaim by so doing. Little fool. Did you imagine I mistook you for a faithful servant, when I rescued you from the dungeons and the torture chambers? Did you think that I would give you power and let you use it as you saw fit, without watching you closely? Did you dare to presume that you could vanquish me, the great lord of the dark, devourer of worlds? Imbecile, you are as a gnat to me. Did you not notice that your thoughts, your plans, were inconsistent from the start? That once you talked of saving Equestria from me, that at another time you talked of luring me to my death, that at other times you acted as my loyal servant, and half believe in that loyalty. I was in your head, all along, confounding and confusing you, ensuring that you were never clear headed enough to pose a true threat to my plans. Or do you doubt that I have that power?"

Abruptly, the room was plunged into dark. Not as it had been before, not merely the shadows cast by the curtains, not merely a lack of candle light, more merely thin slivers of sunlight battling against the black. This was true darkness, impenetrable darkness, the kind to breed ghost stories and conceal criminals, the kind to make honest mares keep to their homes and huddle round the fires. Sunset could see nothing, not even her own hooves. It took only a few moments for her to begin to feel disoriented. She gave a startled cry when she realised that she couldn't feel the floor on which she stood any more.

"Where am I, Sunset Shimmer?" Moloch asked. "Am I in front of you? Or behind? Am I at your throat? Am I the hoof upon your shoulder? Am I about to snuff the life out of your worthless carcass?"

"Enough!" Celestia yelled, and the darkness retreated before the princess' light. She was light itself, driving back the darkness, glowing so brightly that her individual features were becoming blurred and lost in the whiteness. It was like staring at the sun, Sunset had to look away, as much from shame as from the threat of blindness. "Enough, demon, enough, dark one, enough, tyrant. Make your quarrel with me, if you are more than a bully who delights in the terror of the weak."

Moloch laughed. "Such love for one who has given you nothing but betrayal. Truly, it will be a pleasure to devour your soul."

Celestia's lips curled into a sneer. "If you could have, foul creature, you would. You are but a fragment, aren't you? A piece of your master, sent to prepare the way for him?"

Moloch, or the piece of Moloch that was in Virtue, smiled. It was an ugly thing, self-satisfied and devious. "He was our vessel in his own world. I have possessed him since he was a colt and, under my direction, killed his parents and destroyed his entire home village. I watched as a kindly mare raised him as her own, thinking that she could tame my evil with stories of goodness, filling his head with notions of honour and chivalry. She was a fool. His life was never his to live, but mine to take whenever I chose. Why do you think, Sunset Shimmer, that I directed you to that world in particular, if not because I had an agent there waiting to observe you from your own right hoof. Still, I should thank you, child, for sending away his friend. He was much harder to possess with her around."

Glory Seeker. I should not have parted him from Glory Seeker, Sunset realised. I meant to punish him, but I have been the architect of my own downfall.

"You are bold to reveal yourself with only a single fragment of yourself present, demon," Celestia said. 

"One?" Moloch said. "Whoever said there was only one of me?"

"Perhaps there are two." the voice of Moloch declared, as Precious the Diamond Dog appeared in the throne room, as black as Virtue and with the same red eyes. "Perhaps I had a vessel in this world also, waiting for my moment."

"And perhaps there are three of me," Shrike said, as she too appeared behind Sunset. "Perhaps I captured a pony displaced from time and space, and took her body for my own. So full of rage, so full of lust and desire for her precious Nightmare Moon."

"So full of envy," said the Moloch that was Precious. "So full of greed for all the treasures of ponykind."

"So full of wrath," said the Moloch that was Virtue. "So full of pride. So full of sins are all my vessels. When I am finished with this world I will make you a vessel in turn, Sunset. You have sins enough to more than serve my purposes."

"You will not win," Celestia declared. "Evil will always be defeated by Harmony. Wrath will always give way to Kindness, Envy will not stand in the face of Loyalty, Greed must yield Generosity, Pride before Honesty... and darkness to the magic that unites them all. Twilight and her friends will stop you."

"Cling to your vain hope," Moloch said. "Cling to it as your world dies. When the shadow falls, all hope is in vain."

Sunset shivered, and not from the cold. "What will you do now? What will you do...to me?"

Moloch as Virtue affixed her with the glare from his burning eyes. "You have served me, though faithful service was not your intent. Your actions have served chaos, and chaos serves my purposes for now." 

"Do not look for the mocking imp, Discord, to save you," Moloch as Shrike intoned. "We have him securely bound and held beyond the reach of any save myself. He cannot help you now."

"I will take this one and all the warriors that remain at your command," Moloch as Virtue said. "I will crush this army to the north of here, this Rarity, this font of Generosity. And I will return with her head mounted upon a pole."

"I will remain here, with you," Moloch as Precious declared. "And see that you continue to prepare for my true coming."

"I will remain here, also," Moloch as Shrike said. "Though not to observe you, but to woo my bride."

"Your bride?" Celestia said. "No...not Luna."

"She is so full of darkness," Moloch as Shrike said. "She will make an excellent consort."

"Luna will never accept you," Celestia said.

"She will not have a choice." Moloch said. "Remember, Sunset. I can be with you at any time. And I can do anything I wish to you... whenever I wish."

And then he was gone. Shrike vanished from the throne room as swiftly as she had appeared, Precious collapsed onto her knees. And Virtue curled up on the floor, weeping and whimpering.

"I... I am sorry, mistress," he whispered.

"You knew," Sunset said dully.

Virtue gave a minute nod. "I... I can feel it. The anger. The darkness. Kill me."

"What?" Sunset said. "What did you say."

"Kill me," Virtue said. "Make an end to us both."

Precious grunted. "Fool. He cannot be undone so easily. He is greater than any of us."

"There is nothing great in evil or destruction," Celestia said. "Greatness lies only in acts of harmony, and the virtues that combine to create it."

Precious's mouth curled into a sneer. "So says the prisoner."

"Get out," Sunset said, her voice as sharp as any sword. "Both of you."

Virtue climbed to his feet. "Mistress-"

"Go," Sunset said, her voice trembling. "Go, and do as your true master bids you. Go, and leave me to my misery." Neither of them moved. "Get out!"

Virtue bowed as he made his escape, Precious merely looked at Sunset with a disdainful leer. The door closed behind them with all the finality of Sunset's hopes and dreams vanishing for good. 

"I have been a fool," Sunset said. "And all the more foolish for congratulating myself on my own cleverness. What have I done?"

"Nothing that cannot be undone, yet," Celestia said softly. "Why did you not strike him down, as he asked you to?"

"Because... because..." Sunset hesitated. "Because it wouldn't have been right. Because... I didn't want you to think any worse of me than you already do, if that's even possible."

Celestia smiled. "You would have to be much worse than you are to hit rock-bottom in my estimations, Sunset. And even if you did I would not give up on you. I will never give up on you. All I ever wanted was for you to come home."

"And I did," Sunset said. "What a homecoming, huh? Oh, Princess Celestia, what do I do? How do I even begin to undo this?"

"You could begin by releasing Applejack and Pinkie Pie," Celestia said. "Let them go north, let them join with Rarity. Alone, they may get there ahead of Virtuous Fury and the zebra army. They will be stronger together than they are apart."

"Yes," Sunset said. "Yes I shall do that. I will recall the hunters after Fluttershy and Breaking Dawn's friends, if Moloch will let me. Not that it matters, I hear that Glory Seeker has betrayed me. She was the smart one, it seems."

"Sunset-"

"Don't," Sunset snapped. "Don't comfort me. I don't want it. I don't deserve it." She walked away from Celestia, bowed her head for a moment, and screamed. 

All her rage, all her fear, all her disappointment, all her rolling, squirming, broiling sense of ill-at-ease that had been building up inside her was let loose in one primal howl and the burst of magic that accompanied it. All the curtains in the throne room burst into flame, shrivelling and turning to black ash that fell slowly down to the floor. All the stained glass windows shattered, blasting inwards to land in pieces around Sunset's hooves.

The cold winds blew in through the empty window pains, bringing with them the first tiny snowflakes, and droplets of snow that tickled Sunset's nose.

"Who is making this weather?" Sunset asked.

"I fear nopony is," Celestia murmured. "I fear I can hear voices in the air. I fear, Sunset, that things have just gotten even worse."