• Published 26th Aug 2013
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Comes the Sunset - Scipio Smith



Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria determined to save her home, but at such cost that destruction might be preferable. With Twilight imprisoned in the Labyrinth Box and the Mane Six captured the hopes of Equestria rest with the CMC.

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Consequences

Chapter 10

Consequences

When Luna opened her eyes she found she was in darkness.

The lack of light did not, in itself, impede her vision – she was princess of the night, after all, and her eyes could cut through any ordinary darkness – no, what alarmed her was the attitude that the lack of light indicated. A friend would have had no reason to leave her shrouded by the dark, indeed most of her friends would have welcomed the light. Instead she had been tossed into what looked distinctly like a cellar, with rough wooden beams above her head and stone walls all around her. In the corners, she thought she could hear something scurrying.

She tried to move, and found that she could not. She had been straitjacketed. Tightly straitjacketed, she found as she tried to wriggle her legs and could barely do even that. And when she reached for her magic she found something blocking it, cutting her off from the power that was her right.

Luna scowled, and swore that somepony would pay for this once she got free. In service of that goal she tried to roll across the floor, only to stop as she heard hoofsteps slowly descending towards her down the cellar steps, which creaked with the passage of her visitor.

“Is that you, Sunset Shimmer?” Luna snarled as she waited for her inquisitor to reveal herself. “I cannot see you but I can hear you coming well enough. Are you here to interrogate me? I will tell you nothing!”

“There is no need for anger or alarm,” the soft, sibilant voice was familiar, and that familiarity sent a chill down Luna’s spine as she saw a light blue pegasus mare with a dark blue mane descend down into the cellar. “You are safe now, Highness, and amongst friends.”

“It that were true you would not have to announce it so,” Luna replied. Her eyes narrowed, her breath slowing a little. “Shrike? Is that really you?”

Shrike, her wings bound up in bandages, her Shadowbolt uniform patched and frayed, beamed eagerly like a child returning home after a long absence. Her sapphire eyes sparkled. “You remember me, Highness.”

“Would that I could forget,” Luna murmured. “How is this possible?”

Shrike’s smile faded. “The spell you wrought, when you sent me forth, trapped me in between places. I was not in Equestria, nor was I anywhere else. Years passed and I did not feel them. I knew nothing between setting out to find you aid and being rescued by Sunset Shimmer.”

Luna sighed. “So you serve her now?”

“I serve you, Highness, I am your Shadowbolt, sworn to the dark and to night eternal,” Shrike replied vehemently. “That is why I am here, that is why Sunset Shimmer has given you into my care. I am here to save you.”

Luna laughed harshly. “I take it you don’t mean you’re going to get me out of this straitjacket? Or remove whatever is blocking my magic.”

Shrike bowed her head. “I regret, Highness that I cannot. Not until you are recovered from the damage that has been done to your mind, until the madness has been driven from you.”

Luna was silent, and Shrike was silent too, yet in that confined space the sound of their breathing echoed loud while they said nothing. Luna considered her erstwhile servant carefully. Shrike came from a period of her life of which she was not proud and which, unlike Nightmare Night, she could not wholly or even mostly blame upon her possession at the hands of an external malevolence. A time when the tendrils of her incipient madness had fed upon her envy and her paranoia, planting deep roots in the fertile soil of vanity and injured pride. She had craved anything that was uniquely hers, anything that Celestia did not have, could not have; and so she had gathered together malcontents and formed them into a corps that was hers and hers alone, that had no equivalent amongst the servants of the sun. Shrike had been her favourite: the most loyal, the most capable, the most unfettered by any consideration but obedience to her will.

Now, in this place and time, those qualities made her the most dangerous to Luna in her present circumstances. Especially since she had a sneaking feeling of what Shrike thought her madness was. It was not the madness of Nightmare Moon.

“I am not mad, Shrike,” Luna said softly, slowly. “I have been saved already, this year past.”

Shrike’s mouth tightened. “What is your name, Your Highness?”

“My name? My name is Luna.”

“A lie,” Shrike said harshly. “Your name is Nightmare Moon.”

And there it was, her fate laid out before her. Luna shook her head, her eyes widening. “No.”

“You yourself commanded that we should call you by that name always in your councils,” Shrike insisted. “It was your true name, you said, and by knowing it we might know which were truly loyal to you and which were spies in service to Celestia.”

“A filly’s foolishness,” Luna replied. “A childish game that brought great evil to me and to Equestria. But it was not me, Shrike, it is not me. I am, I always was, Princess Luna. I know that now, I have accepted that. Please, I beg you to accept it also.”

“Deception,” Shrike hissed. “I see what has been done to you, Highness, have no fear. The tyrant Celestia and her puppet Twilight Sparkle have cast a spell upon you, manipulating your memories and clouding your mind. Your identity as Luna, your contentment in slavish subservience, these are tricks, illusions created by Celestia to make you her loyal instrument.”

“Celestia loves me, as I love her,” Luna replied.

“Nopony loves you save only I,” Shrike spat. “You told us so; you told the Shadowbolts that we were the only ponies who had ever loved you for yourself.”

“I was lying to myself and, in so doing, I lied to you as well,” Luna said. “Do you honestly believe that I returned one tenth of your devotion? I drank it up yet my heart gave you nothing in return. I used you to assuage my self-conceit, and for that I am truly sorry, but there is no need for any of this to continue. The Shadowbolts are gone, Shrike. Nightmare Moon is gone and the world is a better place for it. I am remade a better pony than I was, and being so remade I do despise what once I was. Please, Shrike, I beg of you: let the past lie. It is gone, dead and turned to dust, but you may yet seize a new and better future for yourself.”

Shrike regarded her coldly. “Nightmare’s mouth moves, but Celestia’s voice speaks. That will change. Fear not, Highness, I will get through to you, in time. Until we meet again, please think on what I have said and ask yourself this: you were subjected to the power of the Elements of Harmony; that being the case, would it not be stranger if you had not had your personality altered in some way?”

And with that charming thought he left Luna trapped, alone, and hoping that her will could hold out until rescue.


Canterlot was a city of whispers, as Celestia made her way through the streets in the light of the morning.

Everywhere she looked she could see ponies clustering in small groups: on the street corners, in the skies, in doorways and under porches. They grouped together, looked around nervously, and they whispered.

Celestia did not need to be able to hear them to know what they were whispering about. Few had seen the Night Guard set out, but a great many more ponies had seen them return, reduced in number and with many wounded. And, under the light of the sun, anypony who wanted to climb onto the upper levels of Canterlot could see the vast camp around Ponyville. It was a host of arms greater than any Equestria had seen in it's long history. Nopony knew who led it, nopony knew what the army wanted, and so they gathered and whispered amongst themselves, spreading rumours and fears in equal measure.

It was for that reason that Celestia did not run to the hospital, as she wished to do, letting her swift hooves and wings carry her to the side of her friends, to learn what was happening, what had become of Luna, what had become of Twilight. But she could not. Her little ponies were scared enough already. She must show them a calm princess, serene and unafraid, as she had always been. And so she forced her steps to slow, her wings to remain tucked in at her side, and walked with apparent peace and tranquillity through the streets, two guards following in her wake.

She felt the gaze of ponies on her, she knew that every eye was on her now, watching her carefully to see what she would do, desperate to know what answers she had.

Celestia wished that she had any answers to give them.

After what seemed like an agonisingly long walk, Celestia arrived at the Hurricane Hospital. It smelt, as it always did, of disinfectant and discomfort, and the nurses and doctors seemed busier than usual, more rushed, more harried.

The reception area, when Celestia stepped into it, was almost empty of the usual cough-sufferers or accident victims. Instead, beds laden with wounded guards where being rushed here or there, as their condition dictated, pushed on their way by anxious teams of medics.

Celestia wanted to shut her eyes, to turn away from the blood, to close her ears off to the groans of pain.

But she was a princess, she was their princess, and she had sent them off to fight. It was her duty to look at them now they had returned. It was the least that she could do.

"P-princess?" the voice that called out to her was low, soft, weak. She almost did not recognise it as belonging to Lancer. He was being wheeled on a gurney through the lobby, tubes poking into his legs, a bloody bandage covering most of his torso. The scub-clad nurses tried to keep him down, but he insisted upon sitting up, trembling as he rose, and tried to bring one quivering hoof up in salute. "Your...highness."

"No, Lancer, there is no need for that," Celestia said, swooping down upon him with concern in her voice. "Rest easy, captain, for my sake."

Lancer groaned, flopping back down onto the bed. He sounded so weak. Lancer had been in Celestia's service since he was barely more than a colt, and he had often seemed to her to be made of stone, so solid did he appear. That was why she had given him to Twilight, so that she might have a solid stallion upon whom she could rely if need be. To see him like this, wounded, in bed, barely able to speak...it felt wrong, somehow. "Your Highness is kinder than I deserve," he murmured.

Celestia shook her head. "I am very sorry to see you hurt."

Lancer coughed. "A zebra got under my guard before I saw him coming; ten years ago he wouldn't have gotten close. I must have got old some time when I wasn't looking. I...I'm sorry, Princess. I failed."

"No, captain, you have not failed," Celestia replied, her tone insistent. "You brought them out, you brought here safe."

"Not all of them," Lancer murmured. "I am Princess Twilight's guard, and I do not even know where Princess Twilight is."

"Yet her friends are safe," Celestia said. Some of them, at least. "Twilight will thank you for that, when she returns." She would return, Celestia was sure of that. It was all the hope she had to hold to.

Lancer sighed wearily. "Perhaps. But I...I should have..." his eyes closed, his head lolling to one side as he began to mutter deliriously.

"He needs to rest, Your Highness," one of the doctors said.

Celestia nodded. "What is his condition? Where are you taking him?"

"We've bound his wound, stopped the blood loss and given him a transfusion, but he's running a fever. We're taking him to get that treated now."

"Of course, do what you must," Celestia said as they wheeled him away.

A hospital orderly approached, bowing before Celestia. "Princess. Do you wish to see the three Ponyville heroes?"

Celestia wished it very much, but she had another duty to perform first. "No, take me to the rest of the wounded first, if you would be so kind."

They took Celestia to a large ward, rammed from wall to wall with beds, and on every bed there lay a wounded pony. Some groaned, some coughed, some lay still and quiet and some slept off the chaos of the night. The nurses moved amongst them quietly, making as little noise as possible as they checked charts and bandages.

Celestia said nothing. She just stood in the doorway and looked at them, her heart welling with pity as tears began to well in the corners of her eyes. Her little ponies. It was not right that they should suffer so.

She said nothing, but they noticed her nonetheless. The nurses bowed briskly, while through the ward the whisper ran, “Princess Celestia.”

The eyes of every pony in the room turned towards her.

Celestia stepped into the ward, looking from one side to the other. “My brave ponies. I am very sorry to see so many of you ladies and gentlecolts here.”

“I would rather be here than hiding in shame in some dark hole, Princess,” said a light grey unicorn with a bandage covering one of his amber eyes. Other guards murmured their approval of his words.

“We’ll do better next time, Your Highness,” somepony called, to a louder chorus of assent.

“You have done well enough,” Celestia replied, forcing herself to smile in response to their good cheer. “You have all done superbly, and I shall not forget it. Rest now, and recover your strength.”

“Was it worth it, Princess?” a young pegasus plaintively asked.

The rest of the ward fell silent. Celestia could feel them hanging on her words.

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie. Three had been brought back to Canterlot, three remained in the hooves of their enemies. Had Twilight and all her friends been brought to Canterlot it would have been a success qualified only by the loss of Luna. But they had brought only three, which would make her decisions to come much harder than she had hoped that they would be.

But it was a victory, nonetheless. And she would not have told them differently in any case.

“It was indeed,” Celestia said. “Thank you. Thank you all, so much.”

She left them a little while later, after having spoken with a few in private. Though she could have spent all day there, she suspected that her enemy would move against her soon and she had much to do before the stroke of war fell upon Canterlot. Already she had asked the directors of the railway and the airship companies to attend upon her at the palace. But before she met with them, there were three other ponies and a baby dragon that she had to see.

Another orderly led her to the small room where Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Spike were being examined by a doctor. Or at least the doctor was trying to examine them.

“I don’t need you poking around at me, so quit it,” Rainbow snapped. “I need to get back out there and find Fluttershy and Applejack.”

“Rainbow, perhaps you ought to calm down,” Rarity murmured. “Leaving the city might not be such a good idea.”

“Do you really want to leave Fluttershy out there alone?” Rainbow demanded. “And what about Applejack?”

“Getting caught again won’t help either of them,” Rarity replied sharply.

“Pinkie, I don’t want you going out there again,” Celestia noticed an unfamiliar grey mare standing unobtrusively in the corner of the room. Her voice was a low monotone, as though she could muster no emotion for the situation whatsoever. “It’s too dangerous.”

“But my friends are still out there,” Pinkie protested.

“Nevertheless, I think Rarity is correct,” Celestia said as she stepped into the room with them. “It would be of little service to your friends, and poor repayment for those who strove to free you, if you were to fall into unfriendly hands once more.”

All five ponies and the dragon – Twilight’s friends, the doctor and the soft-spoken grey mare – caught sight of her. All five bowed.

“Princess Celestia,” Rarity began nervously. “I’m sorry, we didn’t-“

Celestia cut her off by sweeping them all into a hug, enfolding them within the span of her great white wings as she pressed them close against her coat, nuzzling them against her as tears began to roll down her cheek.

“I’m so glad that you’re all right,” Celestia murmured. “Thank goodness.”

She released the three of them, rising up once more to her full height. “Doctor, are you quite finished.”

“There’s nothing wrong with them, as far as I can tell,” he replied, glaring at Rainbow Dash a little.

“Thank you. Then I should like to speak with the three of them alone.”

He nodded, bowed once more, and made his exit.

Celestia looked at the grey mare. The young mare looked right back at her.

“Oh, right, you haven’t been introduced,” Pinkie said. “Princess, this is my big sister Maud. Maud, this is Princess Celestia!”

“It’s a pleasure,” Maud murmured.

“It would be more so under more pleasant circumstances,” Celestia replied, a little briskly. “Now, if you will please excuse me.”

Maud looked at Pinkie.

“It’s okay, Maud, the Princess probably just wants to talk to us all secret like,” Pinkie said, her voice dropping to a whisper as the sentence ended.

“Then I’ll be outside if you need me,” Maud said as she walked, slowly, out of the room.

“See that we are not disturbed,” Celestia instructed her guards, then closed the door.

For a moment, nopony spoke.

“We’re so sorry about Luna,” Spike blurted out.

“Thank you, Spike,” Celestia said quietly. She had no time to think of Luna now, no time to grieve, no time to fret. She would have to trust that her little sister could take care of herself.

“What are we going to do?” Rainbow asked.

“That depends on what the four of you can tell me,” Celestia said, looking down on them. “I know almost nothing of what has gone on in Ponyville. You are the best source of intelligence I have. Who are these enemies? Who leads them?”

“Some jerk named Sunset Shimmer,” Rainbow muttered.

“Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia demanded sharply. “You are certain of that?”

“With all due respect, Princess, one finds it hard to forget the name of the pony who has you locked up,” Rarity said.

Celestia took a deep breath. Sunset, after all this time. It hardly seemed possible. “What did she look like? Was she an amber unicorn with fire in her mane, red and gold?”

Rarity nodded. “Exactly. Do you know her?”

Celestia closed her eyes, half turning away from them. “I have not heard the name of Sunset Shimmer in many years. She was my student, before Twilight, before Dawn.”

“Wow, you really don’t have a lot of luck with your protégés, do you?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity gave her a whack upside the head.

“What?” Rainbow demanded.

“The Sunset that I knew had her faults, to be sure, but she would never have been capable of something like this,” Celestia murmured. “Where did you go, Sunset? What happened to you?” She wheeled back upon the four friends. “What did you see of her strength?”

“Not much,” Spike said. “We were kept tied up or trapped most of the time. But we saw some zebras, earth ponies, griffons.”

“And some of those hideous diamond dogs,” Rarity added with a shudder.

Celestia sighed. “A formidable coalition. But why? Why, Sunset? What of the others, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack? Could they not be rescued?”

The four of them looked at one another.

“Applejack went back for our sisters, we don’t know what has happened to her,” Rarity confessed. “Fluttershy was already set free before your guards arrived, but we don’t know where she is either.”

“Set free?” Celestia asked. “By who?”

“The craziest unicorn ever,” Pinkie said. “One day he’s like ‘I’m big and mean and I’m gonna capture all of you.’ Then the next day he’s like ‘I’m really sad and I’m going to let you go, Fluttershy.’ And then tonight he’s like, ‘I’m going to try and take you prisoner again’. I don’t think he knows what he wants, it’s a little bit sad.”

“And Twilight?” Celestia asked. “What has Sunset done with Twilight?” Do not say that she has fallen so far from the mare I knew.

“Sunset trapped her in a box,” Rainbow said.

“A box?”

Spike nodded. “Along with Breaking Dawn, Chrysalis and Trixie.”

Celestia frowned. It hardly seemed possible, but then Sunset must have been in Grevyia in order to have sharked up her zebra army, so it was not out of the question that she might have found it. “This box, tell me, what did it look like?”

“Small,” Rarity answered, her keen eye for detail serving her better than the rest. “A little larger than two hoofspans wide and one span tall. It was made of dark wood, old but not worn, varnished. It was carved all over, and very well I must say. Leaf patterns, and strange words that I couldn’t read.”

“The Labyrinth Box,” Celestia murmured. In spite of the grim nature of the circumstances, she permitted herself a small smile.

“What is it, Princess?” Spike asked. “How is this a good thing?”
“Sunset was always very clever,” Celestia said. “But she was never wise, and it seems she has not learned wisdom. She has not trapped Twilight nearly so perfectly as she believes. The Labyrinth Box is an ancient artefact, created with a magic predating the power of unicorns, when zebras had great power of their own. It was not created as a prison but, rather, as an obstacle course.”

“An obstacle course?” Rainbow said sceptically.

“In days of old, the Emperors of Ancient Grevyia would open the box and put their sons inside of it,” Celestia said. “Inside the box, they would be tested, matched against the best and worst elements of their natures, challenged to make their way to the end of the road in spite of all kinds of help and hindrance. At a given time, the box would be opened again, and whosoever had made it to the end of the road in that time would have proved themselves worthy to succeed the Ivory Throne, while those who took too long would be barred from the succession, if they emerged at all.”

“That’s…weird,” Rainbow said.

“I never said it was a kind system, or even a particularly efficient one,” Celestia replied. “But it does offer a chance I do not think Sunset has anticipated. If Twilight can reach the end of the road when the box is opened – and if anypony can overcome these challenges then Twilight is that mare – then she will be free again, and Sunset will be unable to imprison her a second time.”

“But Sunset probably won’t open the box for her,” Spike said, without much hope in his voice.

“No,” Celestia said. “That will be our task. Now, if you will excuse me, I expect that Sunset will be calling on me soon. And I have much to do before he gets here.”

“But we’re going to go back, right?” Rainbow demanded; her eyes were pleadingly wide. “Fluttershy, Applejack, Ponyville, we can’t just leave ‘em.”

Celestia bowed her head, her back turned to the four of them. “I wish I had some comfort to offer you, but I am afraid that that would be a lie. The truth is that I doubt we have the strength to oppose Sunset when she comes, let alone take the battle to her a second time. In fact, I am about to begin preparations to evacuate Canterlot.”

They all gasped, Pinkie melodramatically so.

“Evacuate Canterlot,” Rarity cried. “Are things really so bad?”

“I will not risk the lives of ponies in a battle that cannot be won,” Celestia said. “And it cannot be won with the strength we have now.” She hesitated, wondering if she had the right to say what she was about to say next.

After a moment, she concluded that it was not a question of right. Equestria needed these three ponies, this dragon. Just as it needed Fluttershy, and Applejack, and if need be the Cutie Mark Crusaders too. Equestria needed them, and so for her not to ask would be a dereliction of her duty as a princess.

“It is no secret that, in the past, I have relied greatly on Twilight in moments of great hazard,” Celestia said. “Since Twilight is, for the moment, lost to us, I hope that you will all allow me to rely on you in her stead.”

They did not hesitate, and she loved them for that. They simply bowed as Rarity said, “Whatever you need, Your Highness, we will give it to you. Whatever can be done, we will do. We are at your service.”

“Thank you,” Celestia murmured as her voice started to crack. “And bless you all.”


Applejack said nothing at all as the two zebras dragged her into the mayor's office and threw her down on the floor in front of Sunset Shimmer. For her part, that darned mare wouldn't even look at her. She kept her eyes down, writing something in her books.

Applejack sat there, her forehooves in manacles, glaring at a pony who didn't seem to even acknowledge she was there. Applejack's efforts to burn some of Sunset's mane off through the intensity of her gaze proved all for nought.

And it didn't take long for the sound of that quill scratching to get mighty annoying.

"Do you actually want somethin', or can I go?" Applejack demanded.

Sunset looked up, a smirk playing across her features. "Do you have somewhere important to be?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Applejack said. "There's some parts of my new cell I haven't stared at yet."

Sunset chuckled. "Your courage is quite admirable."

"If you think flattery will get you anyplace, you're dumber than I thought," Applejack replied firmly. "I'm not telling you nothing."

Sunset smiled, leaning back a little. "And what could you possibly tell me, Applejack? You have no intelligence on...well, you have very little intelligence."

"You sure know how to make a mare feel appreciated, don't you?" Applejack asked sarcastically. "If I'm not here to spill my guts out, what do you want?"

"I want you to support me," Sunset said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "You have no great mind, but you have a strong back and a good heart and you are well liked by everypony who knows you. And trusted, what is more. If you were to lend me your support, speak up for me, who knows how much of the present hostility would evaporate like morning dew."

Applejack stared at Sunset for a moment, struck dumb by the sheer audacity of it. She looked at that young pegasus besides Sunset, the one who had tried to fight Applejack in the forest.

"Was your friend here always so stupid, or has winnin' gone to her head?" Applejack asked.

The pegasus bared his teeth. "You watch your mouth!"

"Easy, Firethorn," Sunset murmured. She stared into Applejack's eyes. "Is it so absurd, really?"

"You expect me to betray my friends and act like we're buddies all of a sudden?" Applejack said. "Yeah, I'd call that absurd. Reckon I'm not wrong, neither."

"Betrayal is such an elastic concept, Applejack," Sunset said. "It means whatever the speaker wishes it to mean. If I have a job working for a bit an hour in a store, and somepony offers me to two bits an hour to do a similar job elsewhere, I would be a fool not to take it, yet my old boss could say that I had betrayed her. But I, of course, would say that I was merely advancing my own interests. Looking out for myself. That is all that I am asking you to do, Applejack, look out for yourself."

"And walk away, leaving my friends in a whole mess of trouble."

"Isn't that exactly what they have done?" Sunset asked. "I don't see them here. They're safe in Canterlot by now. They left you behind. Do you think they even looked back?"

"No, I don't reckon they did," Applejack answered. She grinned. "Anypony who knows anything about running knows that you don't run so fast when you're looking behind you."

Sunset sighed. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

"Really? I doubt that," Sunset murmured. "I was taught that, whenever an inquisitor offered one food or drink one should always take it. You never knew when you might next get the opportunity."

"You were taught that sort of thing?" Applejack said, her voice lazy, drawling. "That explains so much."

Sunset smiled. "I understand your mockery, Applejack. When we are powerless, it is tempting to strike out with the only weapon that remains to us, with our tongues. Tempting, but not wise. I have been where you are, and believe me when I tell you that I would have had a much easier time of it had I resisted the temptation to shoot my mouth off."

"Is that a threat?"

"A friendly warning."

"Being where I am now certainly didn't make you determined to never put anypony else in your position, did it?"

"I am burdened with glorious purpose, I do what I must in the service of that purpose."

"Uh huh." Applejack considered asking if Sunset could hear herself, but decided that some of the other mare's advice might be worth taking and bit back that particular comment.

Sunset stood up, walking around the desk to sit down with her back to it. "I understand your suspicion, your scepticism. In your place I would be suspicious too. As I said, I have been in your position, and many similar. I was suspicious. So, perhaps today I will talk, and you can listen. And then, maybe, soon, you will be ready to speak out in support of me."

Applejack frowned sceptically.

"Let us talk about betrayal," Sunset continued. "About the border between treachery and pragmatism. Let us visit that border together, and see where those boundaries lie in the soul of Applejack.
"I thought that when I left Equestria I thought I was going to be on a grand adventure. Instead the very first place I came to I was enslaved. A collar was put around my neck, a block placed upon my magic and I was tied to the ponies in front of and behind me in a chain stretching as far as the eye could see. I was marched for days under a blisteringly hot sun all the way from a conquered city to a miserable army staging post where the flies bit at me as I was examined, interrogated then put up for sale." Sunset shuddered at the memory, a shadow of pain passing over her face. "'Lot number fifty six: unicorn, mare, young, healthy, unathletic but good physical condition. Magically talented, speaks several languages, reads, writes, sings and plays piano; might be suitable as a governess for children of good family. May need breaking in first.' Believe me, Applejack, you may think me terrible but there are those out there who would deal with you and all these other ponies here in a far harsher manner than I. It was only a mixture of luck and my prodigious intelligence and magical talent that saw me released. I was put to work for the Empire, but when I was offered the opportunity to go work for the Council instead I took it. Was that a betrayal? The Empire probably saw it so, but I had done nothing wrong. I was not happy where I was, I was not treated as I deserved to be treated, so I left to go somewhere else. Somewhere that suited me better. That was fair enough, don't you agree?"

"Was this Empire holding any of your friends prisoner?" Applejack asked.

"No," Sunset answered coldly. "They were too scared to even go with me."

"Then I think there's a mighty big difference between your situation and mine," Applejack said.

"Is there? Really? Your friends have abandoned you, as mine abandoned me," Sunset said. "I was alone, you are alone. You are, as I was, under the shadow of a power you cannot hope to rival. I could have been stubborn. I could have stuck to my principles. I could have cursed my captors with every breath in me. And none of it would have made the slightest bit of difference. I would still have been a slave. The chains and whips would have ground me down and in the end they would have broken me. In the end I would have started to think of myself as a slave, and been incapable of even contemplating freedom." Sunset's eyes became haunted for a moment, either by memories or by imaginings, and she looked away from Applejack for a moment. When she turned her face on Applejack once more the haunted look was gone, her smile returned.

"But I didn't, thank Celestia. I got out, while I could. I looked out for number one. You asked me if they were enslaving my friends and I said no, for Flash and Trixie had rejected. But I had some kindnesses from those I met in the slave pens: the goat who tried to protect me on that first night, the night pony who shared her water with me, the minotaur who gave me a cloak to keep myself warm. I left them all behind. I had no choice. I had no power to free them. What was I supposed to do, suffer with them out of some misguided sense of solidarity? I had the chance to improve my life, I took it. Any of them would have done the same in my place, because we all knew that it was the smart thing to do.
"That is all that I am asking of you, Applejack. Do the smart thing. Help me, and I can help you."

Sunset stood up, looking expectantly at Applejack. Clearly she was expected to say something now.

Applejack took a deep breath. "You know, I'm just your simple farm pony, while you're a real smart mare, or think you are, so maybe you can explain something to me. Suppose you came down to my farm and offered me a hundred bits to buy one of my cows, suppose the cow didn't want to go with you, but I went ahead and sold it anyway. That would be bad, right?"

Sunset nodded. "That would be slavery, to all intents and purposes, and all beings are imbued from birth with a love of liberty and a hatred of slavery."

"That's what I thought too," Applejack said. "So perhaps you can explain something to me. Suppose you come to my farm and you say 'I want one of your cows, and in return I'll do you a mighty fine favour or three.' Perhaps, being so smart and all, you can tell me what the difference is between me selling you a cow for bits and selling you one for a favour, when you get right down to it."

Sunset blinked, no words escaping her lips. A small smile crossed her features. "Your point is elegantly made, Applejack. You have my word I will not insult you again. You may go now."

"Thank you," Applejack said. "Those walls won't stare at themselves, you know."


Fluttershy ran.

She fled across an open plain, and Virtue pursued her. His eyes were aflame, he spat red fire, he held an axe in the grip of a black magical aura. And he was gaining on her.

"Please, stop," Fluttershy said. "You let me go."

"For the sport of hunting you," he snarled. "Did you think that there was any kindness in my black heart? You will die at my hooves, and die a coward who abandoned her friends, what's more?"

"No," Fluttershy squeaked. "Rarity...she said it was okay."

"Do you doubt that they despise you?" Virtue asked, and as he spoke Rarity appeared, a ghostly image hovering by Fluttershy's side.

"Don't worry darling, death isn't so bad," Rarity said. "We'll be together again."

Fluttershy gasped. "Rarity, he...?"

"Yes, he let you go and killed me," Rarity said sadly. "Aren't you the lucky one? But then, you always did know how to save your own skin, didn't you?"

Fluttershy shook her head desperately, her mane getting in her eyes. "This isn't what I wanted."

"No," Rarity replied coldly. "But you're a coward, without the courage to stand up for what you want in any case."

"That's not true!"

"Then why are you running?" Virtue demanded. "Why have you not joined your friend in death."

"Because...because I..."

"Because you're scared, aren't you?" Rarity shrieked. "You've always hid behind us until we couldn't protect you, haven't you? You aren't worthy to bear one of the elements, you aren't worthy to be our friend!"

"You are not worthy of life," Virtue snarled.

Fluttershy felt tears welling up in her eyes. Rarity...gone. Perhaps they were right. She had abandoned her friends, and now they were lost to her forever. Perhaps she should just-

"BEGONE, ALL OF YOU!" a thunderous voice erupted from the sky, speaking with the power of ages and the authority of years, a voice filled at once with such a wrath that would make kingdoms tremble and such a calm as would make storms cease. The night through which Fluttershy had been running was turned to bright day, Virtue was blown away in a great wind, turning into a scarecrow thing of threads and patches, while Rarity evaporated into nothingness like smoke.

The sun rose above the green, wide plain, and Princess Celestia descended from the now-clear sky to stand before Fluttershy.

"It's all right. You're safe now, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy stared up at the princess, her green eyes widening. "P-Princess..."

Celestia knelt down, wrapping one wing around Fluttershy while she nuzzled the little pony.

"Brave heart, Fluttershy," Celestia murmured. "Have courage, I fear you will have need of it."

"Princess Celestia," Fluttershy murmured. "What happened...where's Rarity?"

"Safe with me in Canterlot, along with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash," Celestia said.

Fluttershy frowned. "Then..."

"This is a dream," Celestia said. "I am not so practiced nor skilled at this as Luna is, but it was another skill I had to learn while she was banished to the moon. I am glad to see that you are not hurt."

"No, I'm not hurt," Fluttershy whispered. "Because I'm a coward."

"Do not take counsel of your fears, Fluttershy," Celestia said sternly. "Nopony thinks ill of you for what you have done. You made the only sensible decision. The only right decision. You had no way of knowing if another such chance would come. To refuse it would have been folly."

Fluttershy did not respond directly to that. She didn't know how. Princess Celestia was very wise, but she didn't feel smart for doing what she'd done. She felt afraid.

"What about Applejack?" Fluttershy asked. "Or Twilight?"

"They remain with Sunset Shimmer, I am afraid," Celestia said quietly. "As is Princess Luna."

Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, Princess, I'm so sorry."

"So am I," Celestia said, falling silent for a moment. Then she continued. "I must ask a great deal of you, Fluttershy. Are you willing to help me? I will not hold it against you if you are not?"

"You might not hold it against me, Your Highness," Fluttershy replied softly. "But I would hold it against myself. What do I need to do?"

"Canterlot cannot be held, Sunset Shimmer's host cannot be stopped by myself and my guard," Celestia said. "I have sent messages to the Crystal Empire, to Maretonia, to other pony lands, but whether any but Cadance will answer me I do not know. I must look for other allies. And so I ask you to be my envoy, Fluttershy, to find aid for all our friends against this new evil."

"Aid?"

Celestia nodded. "I ask you to travel to three places: to Appleoosa, and talk to the buffalo who live thereabouts, to Raven Rock where the griffons dwell and to White Tail Woods, where the deer are. Speak to their leaders, convince them of our need and of the threat that Sunset poses to us all, and bring them to our side."

Fluttershy felt an icy cold gripping her stomach. She had to travel across Equestria to speak to the leaders of peoples, to convince them to do something as drastic as that? That wasn't her. She wasn't Twilight, to negotiate with the high and speak eloquently before a crowd. She wasn't a princess, she was just a pegasus who couldn't fly very well. Why should anyone pay any attention to anything she had to say?
The answer, of course, was that her friends, who had always believed in her, now needed her help. So she would just have to make them all listen to her. For Twilight, for Rainbow Dash, for all of them.

"I'll do it," Fluttershy said, hoping that her voice did not tremble too much. "I don't know how, but I will. Whatever it takes."

Celestia smiled. "You are all the best ponies that I have ever known. I hope Twilight realises how blessed she is to count you her friends." She knelt down, and kissed Fluttershy upon the forehead. "Rest now, and when you wake you will hold friendship in your heart to warm your soul and light your way in darkness. All will be well."

"How can you be so sure?" Fluttershy asked.

"How can it not?" Celestia replied. "When Equestria has such fine ponies watching over it."