//------------------------------//
// The test 
// Story: Heir to the Throne 
// by Arkantos 
//------------------------------//

The coronation of Princess Cadance went smoothly and she spread her love to all of Canterlot, but she noticed that Celestia seemed lost in her heart. Princess Cadance decided she would ask her about it later.

Five years passed.

The sun rose and woke up Sunset Shimmer. It was the day of her test exam for the School for Gifted Unicorns. If she failed to pass, she didn’t know what she would do. All of her hopes and dreams would be lost if she failed.She was looking for a book she was studying before she fell asleep. Somehow, she had misplaced that book.

“Breakfast!” Her mom called.

She found the book. It was titled The Complete Work of Magic, Book 26.

“Coming!.” she called back.

After breakfast, Sunset and her mom went to the School for Gifted Unicorns.

The School for Gifted Unicorns looked more like a wizard’s tower with white stones which made it sturdy. It also had golden roofs. In a way, it was a wizard’s tower because Starswirl the Bearded made it. The council of Canterlot saw a new way to use the building after it was made by turning it into a school for gifted unicorns.

After going through the open gate, they approached the main office. The mare at the desk look up and said, “Oh, Clover the Clever! what brings you here?”

“I’m bringing my daughter to the testing exam,” she said.

“I heard that the test is hard,” the pony at the desk said while handing over the papers.

“You heard right. The new court wizard is trying to make sure the students have more cutie marks, so the test is to challenge the students’ talents.”

Sunset Shimmer finished writing her name on the paper and handed it to the pony at the desk.

Then the pony at the desk said, “Head up the stairs and wait for your name to be called.”

Sunset and her mom made their way to the tower staircase.

As they entered the waiting room, they saw another pair, a colt unicorn and his mother. The reason there weren’t a lot of other ponies there was because the test was brutal and the magic they taught was next level and very complicated, so the unicorns needed to have perfect scores on the test which did not always end well.

Sunset looked at the pony that was there for the test. He had a green coat with blue and turquoise stripes in his mane and tail. His eyes were red, and his horn didn't look normal. Most unicorn horns are straight, but his was curved to a sharp point, and if he were to use it as a horn, then it could surely pierce through acoat.

"Hello?" said Sunset with a smile. "My name is Sunset Shimmer."

The colt turned and said, "Hello, my name is Crystal Shade."

He gave her a smile that made her uncomfortable and she said, "Are you new here?" 

As she looked up at his horn, he chuckled and said, "What makes you say that?" He laughed and Sunset glared at him. He recovered from his joke and said, "I'm sorry. You just cracked me up. To answer your question, yes, my mother and I just arrived last month."

Sunset lost her glare and said, "Well, welcome to Canterlot. Seeing as you’re here, you are probably going to get your cutie mark, right?" He nodded his head.

"Well, good luck with that," said Sunset as she heard her name called by a voice behind the door. She and her mom walked to it.

Meanwhile, at Canterlot, the Princess of the Sun decided to have afternoon tea and cake, She invited Princess Cadance to join her. While they were eating and talking, a loud explosion caught their attention. They looked up and saw a magical rainbow wave. Then, a second explosion erupted, this time coming from one of the towers in the School for Gifted Unicorns. The tower had flames in the magic and bright light, and seeing this, Celestia acted quickly. She spread her wings and flew to the tower.

An hour later, Sunset Shimmer’s name got called. She and her mom walked to the door that led to the staircase to the testing room. As she walked up, she saw a colt unicorn with a light blue coat. He was crying on his way downstairs. She guessed that he had failed to pass. She hoped that she didn’t end up like him. She finally reached the door and pushed it open. She saw one stallion and two mares, all holding clipboards. She walked to the center of the room and her mom stood by the open door. One of the mares said,

“Bring in the egg.”

A pony came in with a cart full of hay, and in the hay was her test. It was a phoenix egg.

Sunset Shimmer was not prepared for this but she had to succeed. If she didn’t, she didn’t know what she would do.

She tried casting a heat spell because phoenixes are known as the sun birds and she figured they needed heat to hatch, but when the magic faded away, the egg had not hatched. She tried several other spells; a levitation spell, a cold spell, and even a fire spell, but still the egg didn't hatch. She was about to give up, but then a loud explosion sounded and a magical rainbow wave appeared and filled up Sunset Shimmer with ten times the limit  of her normal reserves. She could not control it and the entire tower blew up with her magic. Flames shot out and burned for several seconds before dying down. Soon, the flames disappeared. Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and saw what was left of the room. Fire cinders were on the floor and the walls, as well as broken glass. But next to her, a baby phoenix was looking at her. But she didn’t notice it, for she is looking at her mom’s burned body. “MOM!” she cried, galloping to her mom’s body. “Please, mom! Please don’t be dead!” As she looked at her mom’s burned body, the floodgates broke open and her tears flowed freely down her face.

The teachers judging her exam had been saved by Princess Celestia And the princess was saddened by Clover the Clever’s death, so she made funeral arrangements for her best friend. As she looked at Sunset Shimmer, Celestia saw her cutie mark. It was a red and yellow sun and Celestial knew that Sunset Shimmer would forever blame herself for the death of her mom.

Far away, in the middle of the garden maze, several cracks appeared the statue of Twilight Sparkle. Smoky shadows began pouring out of the cracks. Through one of the cracks, a venom-purple eye glowed.