Nothingness surrounded Somnambula and Set. Both of them adrift in a void of darkness, looking each other deep in the eyes, their breathing deepening with each passing second. Her wings fluttered steadily, while his horn crackled with power. Both of them just sat and waited, for one to make a move that the other would exploit or counter.

"You do realise that, no matter what you do to me or my vessel, that I will remain, correct?" Set asked, looking deep into Somnambula's eyes. "I am a god; and one who can transcend more than just a simple puppet like Howling Dune."

"It matters not whether or not you are a god, nor does it matter what my own resolve is." Somnambula put a hoof to her heart. "All that I know is that you are a boil on this world, and one that I should pop before it grows out of control."

"Brave words from a mere mortal; especially a pegasus like you in these weather conditions." Set's eyes glowed, and another stroke of lightning hammered down the air between them, amplifying the winds within. "The odds play against you, and you still desire to fight me?"

"No. I don't intend to fight you." Somnambula flapped her wings harder and harder to keep with the ferocious storm surrounding her. "I intend to exile you from this pony's body, and finally bring him to his senses."

"I grow weary of this joke. Try entertaining me with something ELSE!" Set coiled black energy through Howling's horn and let a powerful spell fire out of it, piercing a hole through the void which quickly sealed back up again. More and more laser-like shots were fired, making more and more punctures in the black tornado.

Within the chaos of the storm, Somnambula found it hard to keep control of her flying while evading the shots that rang out at her. At times, where she was trying to keep up with the storm's winds, she found some of the spells grazing against her wing feathers, leaving singed marks behind. And the times when she managed to dodge them, she ended up losing control and began to spiral around on the edge of the tornado, almost at speeds too fast for the eye to keep track of.

What am I to do? Somnambula asked herself as she tried to regain control of the situation with another hasty set of wingbeats. I cannot fight back, but at the same time, I can't let him continue to terrorise the sphinxes like this...

"Is this your hope? The thing you remain so adamant and steadfast on safeguarding? A mockery, if I ever saw it with my own eyes." Set shook his head as he watched Somnambula finally regain a speed where she could fly against the winds. "I should show mercy upon you, but then that would be a disservice to my namesake. After all, evil has no mercy to spare; for all its' thoughts are on its' own desires."

"I never needed mercy from a tyrant anyway. Keep your pity for yourself, Set." Somnambula couldn't fight the winds anymore and instead dove down towards the bottom of the storm, forces battering her from all sides as she drilled herself further and further towards it. "All I need is a little bit of hope, and you're through."

"Really now? Well, let's just see what that hope of yours really can do, little one. After all, if I don't destroy you, then this storm will." He grinned and looked down upon Somnambula as she continued to fight on against the ferocious winds and dark magic that surrounded her.

"Not if hope has a helping hand on her side!"

Somnambula continued to fly downward, and as she did so, a speck of light began to form at the bottom of the hurricane of dark energy. It was small to begin with, but the closer and closer she got to it, the brighter it glowed until finally in enveloped her entire body. Blinded by its' radiance, Somnambula flew through the light and back out into the cavern; where the rest of the sphinxes awaited. And when her eyes readjusted, what she saw was a sight unlike any other.

All of the sphinxes, male, female, and even the children were casting their own magic, which spat out of their own little crowns and tiaras. All coalescing and coating the tornado Set commanded and coating it in a bright veil of colours and light. Everyone except Fwynxie and the Queen pitched on. The queen because her crown had already been splintered and fractured, and Fwynxie because she was still huddled next to her as they watched the rest of their kind battle back the darkness.

"Enigma! What are you doing?" Somnambula asked, looking up at him as his undivided attention remained focused on the tornado. "Set is the God of Evil! He'll just turn his attention on all of you!"

"Given how much you risked to protect us from Howling Dune and his ways, I think it's only fair that we protect you from Set in return. A favour repaid in full." Enigma slammed his front paw on the ground, channelling stronger magic through his crown.

"Yeah. And you don't have magic of your own, so he would have defeated you long before you would have had the chance to lay a hoof on him," said a female sphinx. "Trust me, pony, it's ALWAYS good to have friends in high places."

"Especially if those friends are sphinxes like us," said another one.

"It matters not how many allies you bring to your side, little pony. In the end, you are all the same: Livestock! One that we gods can dispose of with merely a wave of our arms!" The tornado erupted, spreading magic all around the place and breaking the sphinxes' spells. "Livestock in any form is still expendable. And I intend to expend the lot of you before the moon rises."

Set regained his composure and creaked his neck, casting a gaze upon all of the sphinxes that caused their confidence and bravery to dissipate instantly, as they now cowered before him as he let another spell fester at the tip of his horn. Aiming it at Somnambula, a thick and powerful pillar of purple and black energy shot out like a torrent towards Somnambula, hitting the ground as she flew back up in time. From there, the battle resumed, and without a tornado to hold her back, the pegasus found herself able to outrun him and his magic at every corner, performing slick moves and swoops around the stalactites and stalagmites around her.

"Stop moving! You cannot defeat a god!" Set howled, smashing Howling's feet against the sand floor, causing spikes made of sand to erupt out from underneath Somnambula and reach the ceiling of the cavern. She had little time to react against it, and felt the sharp, sandy edges strike her in the chest, knocking her stable pattern off and causing her to tumble into a wall. "This act of fleeing is cowardice, and proof that your conviction is not enough to save you."

"No. It simply shows that I refuse to give in to the will of evil. Fleeing is not cowardice if you use it with purpose." Somnambula clutched her chest and pulled her head out of the rock wall to stare back at Set. "Howling Dune may have provoked your arrival, but the second you leave his body, he'll give up this pointless charade of studying sphinxes so he can fight back against them!"

"Or maybe he'll keep on going, even despite the fact that he had me controlling him. For it was not his own evil that influenced me, but rather the evil that was committed by the sphinxes that so doomed his land and people." Set hovered quietly in the air, pushing Howling's hooves together. "Maybe you need to think and re-evaluate everything that happened, instead of make up false accusations on ponies who have a reason to fight back."

"No matter what you choose to believe, Set, I fail to see how Howling is on the side of good after everything he did to Fwynxie and the Queen. The acts of aggression, destroying their home, stripping the elder of her power, and leaving them to rot in a cage like that." She gritted her teeth and threw her wings outward. "How can that be considered GOOD?!"

"Again you are wrong! You are looking at an innocent pony who has no darkness within his heart, yet you choose to continue chastising his actions and paint him as a dark-hearted soul; when in reality, he is simply trying to find some way to find a sense of balance, and close off that chapter." Set landed on the ground before her. "But because of all the resistance you have been giving him, you have only added to that fire, and now it is tainted with malice and lack of remorse. So in a sense, you have made him evil, Somnambula."

"I... What?" Somnambula choked on her own words as Set took more and more steps closer and closer to her.

"Look at this pony! He lost everything to a group of rogue, lawless sphinxes, who despite having been sentenced for their actions against him, still scarred him, and left him with a darkened scar on his heart." Set moved Howling's face closer to Somnambula. "And how do you choose to treat him for his loss? Deny him the chance to prepare for another attack, so that he won't be able to save more ponies whenever the time that more evil sphinxes try and take the homes from many more families? How can what you have been doing be considered good?

"Not once have you taken the time to feel sorry for his loss, the ponies that were taken from him in his time of need, the barbaric ritual he went through when confronted by those sphinxes. Instead, you've been fighting back against his desires at every turn and denying him the chance to receive any sense of closure for what transpired on that fateful day." He looked around the cavern, his eyes focused now on the sphinxes that still hid themselves behind the scenery. "His wife, Topaz Eye was taken from him, and now you intend to mark him as the bad guy and paint all the sphinxes as good, no matter what kind of history they might have or which paths they took. You say that sphinxes are without flaw, and yet you don't even choose to feel bad for a pony who lost his world because of sphinxes."

"I—" Somnambula tried to speak, but a hoof wave from Set's puppet stopped him.

"But that's the truth, Somnambula of Southern Equestria. Plain and simple, for every single soul in this room to see." He pulled her head up and locked eyes with her again. "No dark magic, no grudge against sphinxes, nothing like that or any of the sort. You're no hero. And neither are the sphinxes that you surround yourself with. You don't deserve to be their guardian after all of the stuff that you've been doing to a pony trying to grieve." He cast an eye towards Fwynxie and the Queen. "And you certainly don't deserve to become the mother of an infantile one that you stumbled across in that pyramid."

"Fwynxie..." Somnambula looked towards her as well, seeing tears beginning to form in her eyes as she reached out for her.

"The truth is irrefutable. Opinions do not matter when weighed against fact. The real villain of the story is you. For stopping Howling Dune for properly mourning his losses and giving the ponies of the world a chance to prevent these disasters from happening." Set's voice became very smooth and deep. "Just give up here and now. It's easier than fighting this own pointless battle of yours."

Somnambula looked around at everything for a moment, letting the words that Set had said hang heavy on her heart. She wanted to say something in response, but the more that she thought about it, the more and more guilty she felt for everything that happened since the sphinxes attacked Howling's home. Looking at Enigma, Fwynxie, and then to the sky, Somnambula felt her hooves begin to tremble.

Maybe he's right. It would be easier to just surrender here and let Howling Dune write his book. Somnambula brought her gaze back to Howling's body, thinking back on everything he had done. What's the point in stopping someone who's trying to properly put the past behind him if it only brings them more sadness, resentment, and anguish? I'm merely breaking what's already broken. And like he said, I'm just adding to the fire within his heart. His evil intentions spawned from my actions. I'm to blame for all of these recent events. The destruction of their home, the queen losing their power, them both being trapped in the cage, and now this. Her vision became blurry as she looked down at her hooves, feeling the strength within her fade. Why did Set not choose to take me for what I did? And why do the sphinxes still believe in me? Don't they see the acts I've committed? A callous pegasus, forbidding Howling Dune from making his book and moving on.

The sun in the sky vanished over the horizon, sinking deeper down through the sands as the cave slowly became blanketed in shadows. The only light left was from the aura that Set was radiating, and even then, it was one only a black-hearted being could have created.

And Fwynxie... I let her down most of all. A baby, I should have protected her more, and done my best to treat her with love rather than apprehension. And now, she's been roped into all of this. And all of it's on my head. Another sin to add to the pile, I suppose. A small tear hung from her own eye and fell to the ground as she looked back at Fwynxie one last time. I'm not only a bad pony, but a bad mother at the same time. But then again, she was my greatest adventure of all, the greatest, and potentially last tale that I would ever tell. One that would forever live; most likely in infamy...

As Somnambula closed her wings up, Fwynxie just watched on as she lowered her head and bowed before Set. Letting out an inaudible whimper, a small speck of light from her crown flew over from her and into Somnambula's chest. It took a few moments, but the speck quickly erupted into a brilliant cascade of light that filled the entire cavern up with a single blast and never dimmed once.

"What?! What kind of sorcery is this?!" Set asked, backing away from Somnambula's magical surge. "You are a PEGASUS! Pegasi have NO MAGIC! No runes, no unicorn horns, no Earth Pony strength, NOTHING!"

"This isn't magic, Set. This is hope." Somnambula proudly unfurled her wings, which glistened a bright shade of platinum that trickled rainbow lights before his eyes. "I know that what I did was wrong, and that Howling deserves to write that book for all I did to him, but at the same time, I know that I cannot continue to let YOU inhabit his body. Howling Dune needs to forge his own path; not let a malefic god decide for him! He does not want to exact revenge on the sphinxes. You only see it as an entrance for you to cause destruction and misery. And I will NOT let that happen. Under ANY circumstance!"

"Hope. Cannot. Defeat. EVIL!" Set roared loudly, and let loose a massive wave of darkness towards Somnambula. And she in return, flapped her wings once, sending a similarly-sized wave of light out towards him. Both power smashed against each other and ended up in a power struggle, with both types of energy colliding and pushing vigorously against each other; with neither side giving an inch.

"Yes. It. CAN!" Somnambula boomed out loudly. "Even though I might have committed some heinous actions towards Howling despite his loss, I still have hope that I can free him from the chains that bind him, so that he can make his own destiny with his own hooves. "And that alone is just the conviction I need that will end your reign over him, Set."

"You lie! Even if you fight back, we are equally matched. There is not a single thing that you can do that can stop this clash." Set snarled and let more magic pour out of his horn. "And, in case you have forgotten, I am a GOD of EVIL!" His magic intensified and began to push Somnambula's wave back towards her.

"Even gods need to lose sometimes." Enigma stepped out of the background once again and channelled more magic out from his crown, adding it to Somnambula's. "Come on, everyone! Supply Somnambula with your wills, and let Set know that he is not welcome here in the Shimmering Sands!"

Slowly, the sphinxes all came back out and let magic fester in their crowns and tiaras. One by one, they added their own magical flows to Somnambula's titanic wave of light. Slowly but surely, they all began to push his darkness back towards him. Even the Queen, who was without a crown, stood by Somnambula's side. Soon, everyone was helping them all out. All, except Fwynxie.

"Mama..." Fwynxie watched as the light show before her got brighter and brighter, more and more radiant with each passing second.

"Come on, Fwynxie. We need you to beat him. You're the only one left." Somnambula reached out a paw towards Fwynxie as the others continued to push back Set's dark power. "Without you, Som-Mama will be gone forever."

"I no wanna wose my Som-Mama..." She looked down at her own paws.

"Then come and help us. Just use your magic along with all of ours." Somnambula gave her a smile. "You can do it, my child."

Fwynxie's eyes lit up and a smile crossed her face as Somnambula reached out for her. Feeling a spring in her step, she bounced over to her side and began to cast her own magic from her tiny crown. With hers being added to the stream, the light was finally strong enough to break through Set's spell, splintering the dark beam and coating his vessel, Howling Dune, in a massive ray of heavenly light.

"N-no! I just received this vessel! I will NOT lose him..." Set struggled and thrashed around as he felt himself being ripped from Howling Dune's body. Despite his attempts to hold on, his true form, a slender dog with a massive, hairless tail that broke off into two sections at the end of it, and jewelry around his neck, wrists, and ankles appeared, and drifted further and further away from Howling's body. He let out one massive scream as he faded away into the light, which blasted out into the sky above, leaving nothing more than a constellation of himself behind as his cry faded away.

When the light began to fade away, everyone looked around. The Shimmering Sands had returned to normal. The hole that the sphinxes had cast to keep their children in had been restored, and the massive hole was non non-existent. Everything that had happened to the place when Howling had arrived had been restored to its' former state.

Somnambula returned to normal and carried Howling Dune's motionless body in her hooves. She laid him down gently on the sands, illuminated by the stars above. She gave a look up at the sphinxes, still letting the words that had been said echo over and over in her head.

"Everyone. Give him some time to rest. And when he wakes..." She turned her back. "He decides our fate. But one thing is for sure. We are not perfect. We are all flawed. And are we really to be trusted? Even after the accords were all signed and everything was all said and done?" She glanced back over her shoulder towards the crowd. "No matter what choice he takes, Howling Dune is not a bad pony. He was simply forced by what we all did to him. So if he decides to learn us for weaknesses and strategies on defeating us, then we should let him. Only then will he finally be able to mourn the loss of his world and move on with a clearer conscious." Somnambula gave herself a sigh as she looked back down at the sand by her feet again. "This must be done. To ensure proper peace between us all. I've made up my mind. Let's just hope that he does the same..."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the late upload, but I had to think long and hard for the ending to the Set story and which way to take it. With a lot of pressure piling up on me, I needed to make sure that I did something that would make it seem that even though what Howling did was wrong, he wasn't without fault either. And plus, what's the fun of having a generic villain who just says "I want to conquer the world" or "I want revenge against you and your kind for what you did to me."

And considering that I just came hot off of the heels of Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion, with an ending that really shook me to my core, I knew what I had in mind for the conclusion to this saga. I hope that you all liked it as much as I did when writing it, and I'll be seeing you soon for the epilogue chapter.