She stood in Princess Celestia’s private study, alone.

Celestia was nowhere in sight. Neither was that obnoxious feathered firebird. It was just her.

And the mirror.

Sunset wondered when Celestia had moved the mirror to her study. It didn’t make much sense. Why would she take the thing that caused Sunset so much frustration and put it where she spent most of her days? Was Celestia trying to drive her mad?

“Yeah,” the mirror responded. “Yeah, she is. She’s holding us back, Sunset. It’s time to stop being afraid and do what we need to do.”

Sunset stared at her reflection… only… it wasn’t her. Sure, same gorgeous coat and beautiful mane, but the eyes… the eyes were different. They were far harder, as hard as teal diamonds. Her face was wrong, too. It looked like a face that glowered most of the time.

“Yeah, I’m sick to death waiting for us to do what needs to be done.”

The mirror faded, but the reflection remained. Sunset stared at her, shocked to see that her cutie mark was different. Instead of the sunburst of yellow and red… this Sunset’s cutie mark was the color of an angry dawn rising through stormclouds. She leaned against the small furnace Celestia kept in her study, and smiled. It was a cold smile, one that promised little else but humiliation and the need to gloat. Sunset knew that smile. She hadn’t worn it for months, but it was definitely hers.

“Right. Because going behind Celestia’s back is definitely what you need right now,” a far kinder voice said from behind Sunset.

She turned to see yet another Sunset step out from her reflection in the door that led to Celestia’s balcony. Beyond her other self, there were a few clouds in the sky, and the sun spilled over the city. It looked like the middle of a glorious summer day.

Sunset glanced over the newcomer with a sigh. As expected, she had a yellow cutie mark, the color of a gentle sunrise through puffy white clouds. This one’s face wore a smirk as opposed to a smile, but there was actual warmth behind it as she leaned against one of the bookshelves and took a bite out of an apple.

“I can’t believe I’m having one of these dreams,” Sunset muttered to herself. “Seriously, can’t this wait until Dream Analysis next year?”

“Next year will be too late,” the one Sunset decided to name Red growled.

“I have to agree with her on that,” the one she named Yellow replied with a shrug.

“So, let me guess,” Sunset muttered. She pointed a hoof at Red. “You’re the evil one.”

She turned and pointed at Yellow. “And you’re the good one.”

“Not that simple, Sunset.” Yellow smiled and took another bite of her apple. “You know that psychology isn’t based on morality.”

“It’s all about motives,” Red snapped. “We know that.”

Sunset threw up her hooves and sat on the floor. “Worst. Week. Ever.”

“Yeah, it’s been a really crummy week.” Yellow started to glance through the books on Celestia’s shelf. “You wreck your only real friendship, you disappoint Celestia and you’ve got Dean Slate coming in tomorrow just looking for an excuse to expel you.”

“Guess what?” Red said with a sneer. “With the little tantrum we threw at Celestia last night? She’s going to let him get away with it too. We’ve been a bad pony.”

Sunset glanced at Yellow. “Aren’t you supposed to be disagreeing with her?”

Yellow cocked an eyebrow at her. “I’m you. So’s she. So you’re thinking the same thing she is.”

“I need some willow bark,” Sunset muttered as she massaged her temples. “I thought you weren’t supposed to feel pain in a dream.”

Red bounced up and kicked her lightly in the side.

“Ow!” Sunset growled. “What was that for?”

“Just testing a hypothesis,” Red said as she rubbed her own side. “Mark that one debunked.”

“I really hate myself right now.”

“That’s what you aren’t getting, Sunset.” Yellow turned and stared at her, levitating The Alchemy of Chemistry in front of her. “You do hate yourself right now. That’s why we’re here.”

Sunset glowered at her. “And here I thought you were the good one.”

“Well, I’m better than her.” Yellow shrugged. “But I’m still you. Sorry, Sunset, but I don’t think there’s any piece of you that isn’t sarcastic and snarky.”

“Yeah. She’s better than us. That’s a good one.” Red sneered. For some reason, she was suddenly eating a pear.

What, am I still hungry or something?

“Yes,” Yellow and Red both said in perfect unison.

“You really need to eat a bigger dinner,” Yellow chided, “and lay off the junk food. Makes your brain do weird things when you sleep.”

Sunset glowered at her. Yellow giggled a little.

“Okay,” Sunset said with a sigh. “Can we skip the rest of the ‘banter’ part and get to why the hay you two are here? I have to be up in something like two hours.”

“Yeah, other thing?” Red snapped. “Get more sleep.”

“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.” Yellow laughed.

“I know. Doesn’t mean we don’t need it,” Red grumbled.

“Ugh! What in Tartarus do you two want?”

“I’ll go first,” Red declared as she stood over Sunset. “I want us to stop being so damn afraid and go take what is ours.”

“What are you talking about?” Sunset demanded, rubbing her eyes.

“We know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s the thing we’ve been avoiding since Princess Celestia’s little deal. We want to know about the mirror. We need to go get some answers.”

“She won’t tell me. I have to pass this test first.”

“Idiot,” Red snapped. “I didn’t say ask her for answers. I said to go take what is ours.”

Sunset’s eyes shot up to meet those of her double. “You can’t be serious. You can’t mean—”

“We know the Restricted Section of the Castle Archives would have every bit of historical data on the castle and most of the artifacts inside the castle vaults. We know that mirror is Equestrian-made and, from the reflection we saw, it had to be developed from some sort of Harmony-based magic. Find a way to distract that idiot Scrollwork, get inside and get the answers we deserve.”

“I can’t,” Sunset said.

“For pony’s sake, why not?”

“Because that will burn her last bridge,” Yellow said quietly. “And she knows it.”

“Celestia is holding us back!” Red snapped. “She’s stopping us from getting the magic we need to know to understand ascension! She doesn’t think we’re ready, but she’s wrong!”

“No,” Yellow replied. “You’re not ready.”

Sunset gaped at Yellow. “How could you say that?”

“Because if you were ready for that kind of power… you wouldn’t be letting fillies make a foal out of you.”

“What is wrong with you?” Sunset got to her hooves and glared daggers at her alter-ego… well, one of them. “Where do you get off saying something like that to me?”

“I don’t,” Yellow said with a shrug. “However, you do.”

“No. I don’t let anypony make a foal out of me.”

Suddenly, there was another pony in the room. Each step of her hooves crunched on broken glass.

“No,” Moon Dancer said. “You saved that for me.”

Sunset just stared, unable to take in what she was seeing.

Moon Dancer’s coat was torn and grubby. Her glasses were cracked in a few places. Her mane was a mess of twists and tangles. Her tail was practically in knots, littered with bits of broken glass. Her eyes were red from crying.

“I thought you were my friend, Sunset.” Moon Dancer whispered.

“We’re Sunset Shimmer!” Red snapped. “We don’t need friends!”

“Then explain this.” Yellow pointed out the window.

Sunset couldn’t help but look.

Where once there had been a sunny day, now there was a black void filled with swirling smoke and strange dark purple tendrils. Canterlot was gone, replaced by a black maw waiting to swallow her whole.

Sunset couldn’t stop herself. She stumbled backward and slammed into the wall behind her, knocking down a half-dozen books in the process.

“What… what is that thing?”

“It’s what you felt earlier,” Yellow replied. “That gaping hole in your chest? The feeling that something was missing? Well, guess what? There is something missing.”

Yellow pointed at Moon Dancer. “Her.”

“That means nothing!” Red shouted.

To Sunset’s shock, the void outside suddenly filled with furious red and orange flames. It looked like the world was on fire. She let out a squeak of panic and turned to face Red.

…only she wasn’t Red anymore. She was the alicorn.

The pony standing before her was the alicorn Sunset had seen in the mirror’s reflection over a year ago.

“Do you really think anything can stop us once we’ve gotten what we need? What we deserve?”

“A hole filled with fire is still a hole.” Yellow shrugged.

“That hole can be filled with power. With magic. With anything!”

“Princess Celestia’s been trying to teach you the hole can only be filled with other ponies. Ones like Moon Dancer.”

Sunset looked to Moon Dancer again. One broken lens of the shattered glasses reflected the firestorm. The other reflected the divine glow coming from her alicorn self.

“Can I have both?” Sunset asked quietly.

“No!” Red shouted. “Other ponies weaken us. The only thing that matters is being the best. Other ponies exist either to move us up or to be moved aside. Our father taught us that.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s definitely the way to go. Go ahead and take after daddy. Since we all know what type of pony he is.” Yellow tossed the apple into the door and it continued flying, only to be incinerated by the roaring blaze. “Between you and me... I think you can have both. But it’s going to take a lot longer. But I think you’ll be a better pony by the end of it.”

“You don’t need to wait. You’re ready now.”

“Waiting is the only way you’ll end up happy.”

“Who needs happiness, when you have power?”

“I don’t know. Ask the mare who’s been alone for less than a week.”

Red, Yellow and Moon Dancer looked at Sunset. Sunset’s eyes just darted between the three of them.

“Sunset,” Yellow said. “You have to realize that you have changed in the last year. You’ve all but stopped the blackmail and gossip. You’ve started to feel remorse about how you’ve acted. For pony’s sake, you haven’t touched that Twilight Sparkle at all! A year ago, you would have run her out of the school by now.”

“No,” Red sneered, “but we saw it in her eyes. She’s terrified of us anyway. Simply by reputation.”

“I just want to be like Princess Celestia,” Sunset whispered. “I just want to be like her. That’s all I ever wanted.”

“We will be so much better than her.” Red’s wings flared. “Everypony—everyone—on this world will come to fear and respect us.”

Yellow stared at Sunset.

“Tell me, Sunset. Does Celestia rule by fear?”

Sunset looked up. The firestorm was gone, replaced by Canterlot Castle. Which didn’t make much sense since she was in the castle right now. Beside it stood Celestia’s School. Every tower, every turret, every building, down to the last detail.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Don’t tell me we actually care about those students! The ones who tried to hate us to death just today?”

“Sunset, do you care about them?”

“Of course not!” Red shouted. “This is just a long-term test. Nothing more! We need to play the part until we get what we need from the Princess—assuming we just don’t go and take it! There’s nothing more to it. Besides, Celestia’s been turning a blind eye to us for years. We’ve actually run students out of the school! Those dumb or scared enough… those who didn’t deserve to be there in the first place.”

“Don’t you remember?” Red sidled close to her and pointed in the center of Celestia’s study. “The feeling of power? The feeling of control?”

A vision appeared. Sunset, towering over a tiny first-year filly with a pink mane and a dusty brown coat.

“I’m sorry!” the terrified first-year squeaked. “I didn’t know! I’ll go! Just please! Don’t tell anypony! I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be here!”

The memory version of Sunset didn’t respond. She just kept her eyes locked and her jaw set. Words weren’t necessary at this point.

The poor filly shook so hard trying to shove her materials back into her saddlebag, one of her inkpots managed to escape her levitation. The other Sunset’s eyes just watched it fall to the ground where it shattered, staining the carpet beneath.

The filly let out a wail of terror.

Sunset looked at Red.

Red was smiling that terrible smile.

A part of her wanted to revel in the filly’s fear. A big part.

“Is it the only part, Sunset?” Yellow asked.

Sunset stared at the frozen scene. The memory of Sunset Shimmer was smiling ever so slightly. It was a tiny thing. But Sunset could see the glint of malice in her past self’s eyes, born of the knowledge that she was in complete control of the situation.

She liked the feeling. She liked it a lot.

Sunset slowly shook her head.

“Feels… tarnished now, doesn’t it?”

Sunset buried her head in her hooves. “What in Equestria is wrong with me?”

“Maybe…” Yellow began. “Maybe you’re just tired of being the bad guy?”

“No!” Sunset snapped. She glared up at Yellow as rage filled her. The sky outside flickered with orange. “I’m not a bad guy! I’m simply using my natural talents to make sure everypony knows I am the one who rules that school. This is simply a practice run for real life! One day, I’ll be sitting on that throne!”

Red’s smile grew as she finished Sunset’s thought for her. “And our skills? They will be vital to the protection of Equestria.”

Moon Dancer stepped forward with a tinkle of broken glass, looked down at Sunset and repeated Yellow’s question. “Does Celestia rule by fear?”

Sunset opened her mouth to respond. Then she closed it.

“You said you wanted to be just like her,” Yellow said quietly. “Do you want to be like her… or do you just want power?”

“It’s the same thing,” Red growled.

“Is it?” Yellow asked.

Sunset knew the answer.

She didn’t like it.

She hated it.

But she knew it.

Finally, Sunset just put her head down again and screamed into her hooves.

“Is it really worth it?”

Sunset wasn’t sure who had spoken: Moon Dancer or Yellow. Or maybe it was just herself. In fact… it was all just her, wasn’t it?

“I don’t know,” Sunset whispered, her voice as much as a whisper as the tiny voice that had been haunting her for days. Weeks. Maybe longer.

Maybe it had been there her entire life. She’d just ignored it. Until now.

The tiny voice she finally recognized.

It was her own.

Author's Notes:

Direct quote from Little Tinker's Beta Reader notes on the final line of the chapter:

This may be the bone aching tiredness talking, but if you decide to release these by chapters, specifically at this point, then you will either have a rapt audience begging for the next installment, or ponies with pitchforks. Possibly both.

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