//------------------------------//
// The end of the battle for Canterlot 
// Story: Heir to the Throne 
// by Arkantos 
//------------------------------//

Celestia flew back to where Sunset was. When she arrived, she saw Sunset working on some high level magic. Before her were four white, magical circles. One was formed around a shadow wisp and was keeping it imprisoned. The second magical circle was around her phoenix. The  third was around her book of spells, and the fourth circle would be around, Sunset but her high level magic spell was not yet complete, for she had to connect  each of the circles.

 Sunset noticed Celestia when she landed, but she  continued on with her work. 

Then, the Princess of the Sun said, “Sunset, what are you doing?” 

Sunset replied, “I’m making a spell that will help save Canterlot and clean up your  mess!” 

In that moment, Celestia realized that Sunset knew her secret, yet she didn’t want to kill her. Instead, she was doing her best to save the day.

Sunset finished. “That should do it. All that is left is for me to stand in the empty circle.”

Celestia asked, “Are you ok? You seem to be really focused.” 

Sunset  turned around and said, “After this is finished, we need to have a conversation about your sister and whatever else you’re hiding.” The Princess of the Sun  nodded as Sunset walked into the empty circle.

One by one, each of the circles began glowing brightly. There was a bright yellow flash of light, and suddenly, Sunset looked different. Her mane and tail had a flow like Celestia’s, but in the flow, there was a magical flame coursing through, almost like electricity. On her back, two firey wings had appeared. She didn’t expect anything less from Philomena; she and her pet had merged together. 

Sunset then said, “Let’s stop this violence.” And she took off to the sky as fast as lightning.

Twilight shook her head after her. Then her shadow clones faded away into a black dust, and the wind blew them away into the sky, leaving only one Twilight, the real Twilight.. 

She attacked, hitting Sunset then Cadence at lightning speed. Sunset and Cadence fell onto a cloud below, and Twilight flew up again, lighting up her horn with shadow magic to form a sword made out of black fire and  sickly green lightning. For the first time, Celestia feared that she would not make it, so she closed her eyes and waited for the blow.

But it didn’t happen.  

Did this mean Twilight was willing to bury the hatchet? 

She opened her eyes to see Twilight’s magical blade blocked by another magical blade, except the other blade was glowing with orange, yellow, and white fire. The firey blade was being wielded by none other than Sunset. 

Twilight and Sunset swung their swords several times, blocking each other’s strikes each time, until the magical swords shattered into a million pieces. 

Twilight said to Sunset, “It seems we’re evenly matched in magical strength.” 

Sunset asked, “Why are you doing this?” She looked up at Twilight’s horn, she saw it was glowing with a purple aura. 

Twilight said, “Do you really think you can save Celestia and Canterlot?” She pointed up with her hoof, and Sunset looked up and saw that the stars had started to glow orange. Sunset then realized what she had done.

She flew down to Celestia and said, “Twilight is going to flatten Canterlot! I need you to come with me!” 

Celestia nodded and flew with Sunset directly over the shield of light that was protecting Canterlot. Celestia and Sunset connected their horns. With their combined magic, they created an even more powerful second shield over the first one. It looked like the same shield that Sunset had made when Twilight had tried to kill Cadence.

As the magical shield blazed orange in the sky, the five stars came out. When each star hit the shield, the impact created an explosion as big as a mountain. Sunset grit her teeth as she screamed, “Hold together! Just hold together!"

Higher up in the clouds, Twilight’s face glowed with glee. 

Cadence got up and asked, “What happened?” She looked down and noticed that  Canterlot was gone, reduced to nothing but a cloud of dust. 

Cadence looked at Twilight and yelled, “Was it worth it?? You’ve got your revenge, so what now? Are you just going to rule over Equestria or are you going to enslave us and trade us for bits? Why won’t you answer me!?”

Twilight replied, “This wasn’t about you, or Canterlot, or Sunset. No, it was about Celeste lying. And now that she’s gone, I can disappear. I will go look for my father and his ponies up North.” 

Then Cadence looked down, and found reason to smile.“Well, it looks like you failed. Canterlot is still there.” Twilight glanced down and saw that Cadence was right; Canterlot was still standing.

Then Twilight saw Celestia, and in a blind rage, she charged at her at lightning speed, preparing a deadly spell of shadows. 

Slash!

Twilight was hit with a magical sword, the same sword that Sunset wielded.  She landed on a cloud then got up and used her hoof to feel her face. There was a deep cut  on her cheek. She looked up at Celestia, Sunset, and Cadence.

”It doesn’t matter how many allies you have, Celestia, for I know when the time comes, my mother will not show you mercy!”

Cadence asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Suddenly, Twilight turned into her shadow form and zoomed up to the cloud line. When she broke through the clouds, her cutie mark spread through the sky.

As her cutie mark disappeared from the sky, two forks of lightning struck. One hit the crystal at Canterlot Museum and the second hit the crystal at Canterlot Catacombs. The crystals shattered into millions of pieces and suddenly, all the hollow ponies and skeleton ponies collapsed into piles.

Sunset landed on the Canterlot castle balcony and then fell to her side as a bright light shone from within her. Cadence, acting fast, went to catch her before she hit the ground. When the light disappeared, Sunset looked like the same unicorn she was, and her phoenix was lying on her back looking worried.

The Princess of Love then exclaimed, "Auntie! Is she…? You know?!" The Princess of the Sun used a scanning spell on Sunset. A smile spread over her face and she said, "She’s not dead. She’s just exhausted. That was a whole lot of magic she used, but she is still alive and that’s what’s important. She’ll be out of it for somewhere between 40 and 80 days. I know that’s a really rough estimate, but it’s my best guess for now. I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did! That was the highest level magic she could have possibly used! It’s really complicated stuff! Let’s her sleep; she deserves it. I will tell her father about what happened."