Four days after the event, the city of Canterlot was undergoing some major reconstruction. The attacker tried their best to leave no building standing, but Celestia had sent letters to Cloudsdale, Manhattan, and Los Pegasus; those cities responded promptly, all sending ponies to help with the reconstruction. Most of the population of Canterlot, however, was at the Canterlot gardens, attending funerals for a great many ponies.
There were three different funerals and burials; one for the nobles, one for members of the Solar guard, and a third for the pony citizens that had gotten caught in the crossfire.
A sad Blue Blood attended the nobles funeral, and way in the back stood Snooty Blue and Quiz Lamoni. An Earth pony stallion with deep voice, a coat as blue as the ocean, a pink mane and tail, and purple eyes, spoke to them.
“When last I heard from High Blood, he said that he was close to finding out how the Order could use the armor, or at least what’s left of it.”
Snooty said, “I think he had the answers in this.” As she spoke, she revealed a journal that was partially burned and had rubble on it. As she gave it to the Earth pony stallion, she said, “I trust you know what to look for?”
The deep-voiced pony said, “Of course,” as he looked at Quiz Lamoni.
Quiz said, “I’ll show you how to do the spell later.”
As Snooty walked back to her son, Quiz looked at the deep-voiced pony and said, “Did you, Hard Stone, manage to get the armor out before the construction ponies found it?”
Hard Stone replied, “Yes. It should be in the cave near Ponyville.”
Then Quiz asked quickly, “Are you sure its location is secret?”
Hard Stone replied, “The cave entrance has a cloaking spell over it, and the area is almost never visited by ponies. Would you just relax?” Then Quiz released his breath, which he did not know he had been holding in.
Blue Blood went to hug his mother, and asked, “Why didn’t he run away? I mean, why did he challenge that thing?”
Snooty Blue lied, saying, “I don’t know, my son, but there is one thing I do know, and that is that he loved you, even when you gave him a hard time.” Then Snooty Blue said, “C’mon, let’s go home." And both Blues left the Canterlot Gardens.
At the Solar Guard funeral, all remaining guards in uniform attended the burial of the fifty-five fallen Solar Guards.
Shining Armor, in his new captain’s armor, got up and said, “I remember how some of them would always be trying to make us laugh. I think it was their way of saying we were friends to the end. I think we should remember that in some way, they’ll always be here, watching us.”
Then Shining lifted his hoof to signal both the Wonderbolts and five unicorns. The Wonderbolt each flew around in the sky displaying some crazy acrobatic flight skills. At one point, each of them flew straight at each other; as they collided, they managed to make the Wonderbolt symbol, a lightning bolt with two wings.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the five unicorns charged up their horns. When Shining Armor said, “Fire!” the unicorns simultaneously fired their horns, creating a loud “Bang!” Afterward, the Solar Guard funeral broke up. Some of the Solar Guards went back to guarding duty; others went to get a drink, like Shining Armor. He planned to get drunk.
At the edge of the Ever Free forest, two ponies made their way into the cover of the trees. Crystal Shade asked as they trailed through the forest, “Are you sure about this? I mean, she is responsible for what happened at Canterlot.”
Snow Trail levitated the letter from her saddle bag and said, “Well, we got called here by a letter, and it has the Umbrum seal in it, so that means she reaching out to us. I’m hoping this is the beginning of good fortune."
They entered a clearing with some boulders and a small pond, then looked at a purple alicorn wearing black armor, two hollow ponies at her side.
Snow Trail and her son bowed low before her, but Twilight shook her head and said, “No need to bow before me.”
Getting up from the bow, Snow Trail said, “I’m sorry but you are a royal Umbrum. We just want to go back home to the Kingdom of Shadows. You see, we got banished from there for a crime that both my son and I failed to commit, and I miss that place.”
Twilight gave them a serious look and said, “You know who my father is.”
Snow Trail responded, “Yes, he is the King of Darkness, the Terror in the Night, the one who enjoys seeing other ponies’ fears. His name is King Sombra, and you, Twilight, are his heir. We are hoping that you will allow us to come with you.”
Twilight said to them, “I will allow you two to lead me to the Kingdom of Shadows, and when we get there, all charges against you will be cleared.”
Snow Trail and Crystal Shade replied, “Then we will lead you to your kingdom.”
But before they began their journey, Twilight commanded one of her hollow ponies to keep Sunset safe. Upon receiving its order, the hollow pony ran off.
Four years had gone by and Sunset was still in Canterlot Hospital General, in the private wing of the hospital. She lay there, twisting and turning in her bed. Her father held her hoof and prayed that everything would be alright. “I just hope you pull through," he whispered.
Inside Sunset’s dream, things were not good. She was looking up at herself, but this second version of herself had firey wings and a flowing, flaming mane and tail. In this terrible dream, she was fighting herself.
She dodged spell after spell that had been cast by her firey reflection. It almost felt like she was going through a training session as her double said, “You know, it’s a miracle you didn’t lose control. Who knows? Maybe next time you will.”
A white hot magical blade shot forward to stab her, and she nearly escaped the blow. Sunset said, “You’re right, I could have lost control, but thanks to my years of research and studying of the magical arts, I will never lose control. By the way, I think it’s high time you disappeared!”
With that, Sunset fired an ice beam at Fire Wings Sunset, who was covered in ice. Fire Wings Sunset fell down to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. Sunset was about to walk away when a dark purple smoke figure towered over her. The tower slowly shrank down until, standing right in front of her, Twilight Sparkle was revealed.
“Hello again, Sunset Shimmer,” she said.