“The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship!” Twilight called out, as she combined her power with the other five girls.
“No! Aaaaaahhhhh! What is happening!” Sunset Shimmer screamed out as she became enveloped in the rainbow blast. I can feel every atom in my body burning in pain. It’s slowly travelling up my entire body. Once it reaches my brain… She thought, her eyes suddenly widened in terror as the horrible realization hit her. If this rainbow is doing to me what it did to Nightmare Moon, then… She then furrowed her brow. No! I will not allow my years of planning and revenge to become undone in a single night. Not when I am so close to my goal. I am Sunset Shimmer.
The rainbows purifying power had now reached her breast. There must be some way I can escape this fate. Turning her head towards her left arm, she tried as hard as she could to move it. Come on, arm. Move! Then, just as the rainbows power had reached her neck, she jerked her hand towards it as fast as she could, and with her razor sharp claws, cut right through her neck, cutting it off.
The momentum of her strike caused her severed head to shoot up into the sky, outside of the rainbows blast radius, where her demonic servant Snails had quickly flown up to grab her. Fortunately, the light from the Elements was so bright that it prevented anyone inside the blast from seeing her, though the crown did fall from her head, towards the ground. With his master’s head cradled in his arms, the demon boy quickly flew away at top speed, before anyone could see him.
In a manner of seconds, he managed to reach the roof of a nearby building where he landed. Looking at his master’s severed head, her eyes were closed, but thanks to the Element of Magic’s power, she was still very much alive. “Sunset Shimmer,” he muttered, sounding sad at his master’s defeat. “We’ll need to get you a new body,” he said, quickly steeling himself, and flying off once again.
Back inside the rainbow blast, with nothing left of its target to purify and the life inside of it gone, the rainbow’s power disintegrated the body left behind until there was nothing left of it. There was then one final implosion, dispersing the magic power of the blast until the courtyard in front of the school was clear once again. The only sound was that of the crown hitting the ground.
Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy all descended back down towards the ground, and the hypnotised students all regained their senses as Sunset’s brainwashing magic wore off. Once she was back on the ground again, Twilight opened her eyes, expecting to see a defeated Sunset Shimmer lying before her, however, her eyes suddenly widened in shock when she could not see any trace of her at all, save the crown lying on the ground between her and the crowd of students.
Worry beginning to rise in her heart, she quickly looked from side to side, looking for any trace of her at all. “W-where is Sunset Shimmer?” she stammered out.
Hearing how worried she was, the other girls looked around them as well, but saw nothing either. “Ah don’t see her anywhere,” Applejack said.
Rarity suddenly brought her hand to her mouth, trembling. “We didn’t… kill her, did we?”
That caused the others to look at her, except for Twilight, who didn’t turn towards her, but was the one who responded. “We couldn’t have,” she said in what was barely above a whisper. “The Elements don’t kill. They’re simply not capable of doing that… No matter what.”
As she brought her trembling hands in towards her body, her eyes suddenly shot open. “Although,” she continued. “Sunset said that the Elements worked differently in this world, and when she put it on, she was able to use it and transformed into a demon, and turn others against each other…”
She then fell to her knees, as she was hit with the terrible realization that she may have just killed someone.
Behind her, the other girls were equally horrified at the ramifications of what they had just done… except for Rainbow Dash, who looked less guilty about what happened. “Even if we did kill her, so what?” She said, speaking up. “Sunset was clearly evil; she turned into a raging she-demon, brainwashed the students into becoming her army, announced her plans to take over the world, and blatantly tried to kill us.” Rainbow justified. “Why should we feel guilty for trying to defend ourselves and something like this happening that we had no way of knowing would even happen? And why would Twilight feel bad for killing someone like her?” she wondered.
While the other girls, except for Twilight, all turned to look at the rainbow haired girl, it was Fluttershy who placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s because Twilight’s a Princess,” she explained. “And regardless of the things that Sunset had done, she still didn’t deserve such a fate, as it was not in Twilight’s purview to give out. Even now, in spite of all the evil things that Sunset had done, both tonight and before, she still weeps for her. It truly shows just how noble a person she really is. She is a Princess, through and through.”
Looking back to Twilight, she was still slumped on to her knees, silently crying her eyes out. “Well, I guess that’s true,” Rainbow Dash spoke up again, scratching at the back of her head. She then shrugged her shoulders. “But I’m not a Princess, and personally, I couldn’t be happier that she’s gone, even if this is how it had to happen. I’m so happy I could sing about it.”
As Twilight lay there, not listening to what Rainbow was saying, she then felt an arm across her shoulders. When she looked up, she saw Flash Sentry staring back at her, with those big, sympathetic eyes staring back at her. She didn’t say anything; the look in her eyes said it all. She then simply buried her head in his chest and wept.
As soon as Twilight had stopped crying, everyone went back inside the school, with Principal Celestia putting Twilight’s crown back on her head where it belonged. They had decided that since they still had a bit of time before the portal closed, they would continue the Fall Formal in order to cheer Twilight up, so that she didn’t have to go back to her own world in tears.
Since Twilight still wasn’t in the mood to be moving around a lot, Vinyl Scratch instead put on a slow song so that she could enjoy a slow, romantic dance with Flash.
As the two of them gently moved about on the dance floor, along with the other students, gently stepping side to side in rhythm, Twilight began to calm down and melted into his embrace as she lay her head on his shoulder as they continued dancing together. Maybe everything is going to be just fine.
As she opened her eyes again, however, her worry from before returned once again in full force. There, through the crowd of students dancing, poking his head into the room from the corridor, was one of Sunset’s demonic henchman, Snails, grinning maliciously.
The shock from seeing him caused Twilight to push back from Flash. T-that’s impossible. She thought to herself. But if he’s still like that, then that means… Her eyes then widened as far as they could. Sunset Shimmer is still alive!
Seeing how worried she looked again, Flash grabbed her by the shoulders to shake her out of her confusion. “Twilight, what’s wrong?”
Being jerked out of her shock, Twilight looked back at Flash, seeing the worried look on his face. After a moment, she then looked back to the entrance to the gymnasium, to see Snails turn back into the corridor and run away.
Reacting on instinct, Twilight half turned towards Flash Sentry, while taking a step forward and said, “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” She then broke into a sprint and ran out of the gymnasium.
Still not knowing what had suddenly made Twilight so anxious, Flash decided to listen to her, thinking that she may simply need some time to herself, and stayed there.
As Twilight entered the hallway, she only just saw Snails turn left into the next hallway up ahead, so she quickly regained her speed and charged after him. A part of her was worried that this might be some sort of trap, seeing how similar this was to when Sunset had her minions dognap Spike to get her attention, but right now she couldn’t think properly about that. If there was a chance that Sunset was still alive, then she needed to know for sure. She needed to know that she hadn’t killed someone.
After running through several corridors, always only just spotting the demon boy enter into the next corridor ahead, and not spotting a single other student, who were all currently in the gymnasium, she finally saw him duck into the boiler room. Knowing that she had him cornered now, she picked up her pace and ran after him.
The boiler room was nothing more than a small room, with a few steps several feet into the room, leading down to the boiler, and there, kneeling in front of the boiler, with his back to her, was the orange demon boy, with hair that flickered about like flames. Hearing her enter the room, he turned his head around to look at her. He then stood up and turned around completely, and instantly Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw that there, on his right arm, was Sunset Shimmer. It was only her head, but when she opened her eyes to look at her, Twilight could see that she was still very much alive.
Twilight had no idea what was going on or how Sunset was still alive like that, but for some reason, a part of her was relieved to see that she was.
“Twilight.” Sunset suddenly spoke, without any difficulty, despite her current situation.
“Sunset?” Twilight gasped. “You’re alive?”
“Yes, Twilight. I’m alive.” She responded in the same flat tone of voice. “I find myself in this position because of you.” But before Twilight could respond to this, she continued speaking. “But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not angry at you; on the contrary, for you, Twilight, I have only the deepest respect.”
“W-what?” Twilight stuttered. She had definitely not expected Sunset Shimmer to say that.
“You see, Twilight, I had you pegged all wrong. All this time, I had thought that you were merely some goody goody Princess who just tried solving her problems by hugging everyone and ranting about ‘the magic of friendship’, but it seems that I was wrong.” She smirked maliciously. “Staring down someone that you had never met so aggressively. Taking credit for another girl’s idea to become popular and pass it off as uniting everyone. And the cold look that you had on your face as you prepared to not strike me down, but to strip away my free will simply for opposing you,” Sunset began listing off. “Truly you are far more ruthless and cunning than I gave you credit for.”
Twilight took a step back in shock. “N-no, t-that’s not what I did. That’s…” She stammered out as she tried to speak.
“Come now, Twilight,” Sunset cut her off again, responding in a cool and calm tone of voice. “I am not criticising you; in fact, I’m impressed. Back when I was Princess Celestia’s student, I believed that even the Princess of the Sun was beneath me; but you, Twilight, are the first that I truly see as my equal. Truly, our destinies were only ever meant to be as one, and so they shall…” Her eyes then suddenly went wide as she shouted, “When I take your body for myself!”
“What?!” She reacted in shock, being taken by surprise for a moment, but that moment was all that was needed, as Sunset suddenly shot a high powered beam of energy out of her eyes, right at Twilight, and pierced her neck.
The surprise attack caused her to fall forward, flipping end over end, as she landed on her back against the cold, hard steps, with her crown falling from her head, landing behind her, near the door.
As soon as Twilight had fallen, Snails, with a slasher smile on his face, began to walk towards her. “Such a shame,” Sunset said, almost sounding sincere. “Had you remained still, I assure you that your death would have been quick and painless. Twilight,” she began again when Snails came to a stop before here. “Please know that I do not mean to cause you any unnecessary harm.” She continued to speak in her creepily calm voice.
As she spoke, Twilight slowly raised her hand feel her neck wound. This is bad. That attack went right through my windpipe. I can’t speak. Her eyes then suddenly widened in fear. That means that I can’t call for help. In the state I’m in now, I can’t move, and I can barely breathe. She thought as she tried to take in a pained breath of air, causing blood to spurt out of the hole in her throat.
“Hahahahahaha,” Snails laughed maniacally. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. That’s what you get for daring to stand against Sunset Shimmer. The once great Princess has now been reduced to blubbering mess who can’t even speak or stand up. Hahahahahaha.”
“Snails, that’s enough!” Sunset suddenly shouted at him. “You will not speak one bad word about Twilight. She is the only one who can help me reach my full potential. You will remove her head as painlessly as possible, and treat her with the same dignity and respect that you would show me. Is that understood?” She said, raising her voice as if scolding a disobedient child.
Snails was now suddenly worried over the thought of disapproving his master. “Y-yes, of course, Sunset Shimmer.”
Twilight tried to use her free hand to grab on to the stairs behind her and drag herself away, but she was simply too weak. Seeing this, Sunset returned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, don’t fight it. Can’t you see that this was meant to be? As I am now, I still possess the Element of Magic’s power just as you do, but another part of it. Light and dark. Positive and negative. I now understand that true power can only come from the union of the two. I shall attain a new level of power that even I never thought possible, and I shall attain this power with your help.” With a slight nudge in Snails’ direction, he suddenly lunged at her. “Now go to sleep and live on, as my body!” She suddenly screamed at the end.
Knowing that there was nothing that she could do to stop her in this state, Twilight shut her eyes and prepared for what was to come, knowing that she had failed in her mission. However, she then suddenly heard a sound from behind her, over by the door. Opening her eyes again, at the tiny glimmer of hope that she had been saved, Sunset and Snails also stopped and looked over at the door and saw Flash Sentry standing there. Before she could respond, however, he quickly reared his right leg back and kicked with it. Sunset had realised only when it was too late that he had kicked a football directly at the demon holding her, with enough force to send him flying backwards, into the open boiler behind him.
Sunset Shimmer, however, was able to react fast enough and flew up into the air, thanks to the magic that she still had from the Element. Looking back down towards Flash, she dropped her calm demeanour, and faced him with a scowl on her face. “Flash Sentry,” she said, through hissed teeth.
“Sunset Shimmer.” He responded in kind. Just as Sunset was about to speak again, he quickly spoke up, pointed at her, and said with a smile, “Let me guess: you’re going to say, ‘What are you doing here, Flash?’”
“What are you doing here, Flash?” Sunset said immediately after, and then winced a bit, in surprise.
Smirking, Flash continued talking. “When Twilight ran off, I figured that she needed some time to herself, but after a while, I decided to check in on her. When I was just outside the boiler room, I heard both your and Snails’ voices. Since I figured that he would still be a demon and I wouldn’t be able to take him on in a normal fight, I grabbed some equipment from the sports closet across the way and came in quickly for a sneak attack.” He then raised his left arm and showed her that he was holding a baseball bat and then gripped it tightly in both arms. “Now, Sunset, why don’t you quit while you’re ‘a head’.” He smirked.
After a moment of simply staring at him, Sunset closed her eyes briefly and smirked herself. “Cute. How long did it take you to come up with that?” she asked, sarcastically. “But bare no false hope. You are a mere paper tiger in front of a storm. Even as I am now, I still possess an advantage that you sorely lack: Magic.” She then opened her eyes again suddenly and screamed, “So don’t you dare look down on me, human!” She then shot a beam out of her eyes and hit Flash in the knee, causing him to fall to the ground in pain, dropping the baseball bat.
As Flash lay on the ground in pain, Sunset smirked to herself. “You never stood a chance against me, Flash. I’m almost glad that you came in when you did. You always did make me sick, and I would have hated for the first action with my new body to have been puking my guts out.” She then rolled her eyes. “To think that we actually used to date.”
Flash grunted at her. “Fuck you, you bitch.”
“Cute,” Sunset repeated. “But you will die knowing that you didn’t even succeed in slowing me down. I will take Twilight’s body, and with it I shall reach even greater heights.” She then used her magic to throw herself forward. “Now die!”
Flash braced himself for impact, however, before Sunset could close the distance between them, Twilight suddenly threw herself forward, catching Sunset’s head in her arms, and crashing against the wall at the back of the room, just next to the boiler.
How the Hell did she do that? Sunset thought, as Twilight cradled her head in her arms. In the state that she was in, she would have had to have used every last ounce of her energy in order to make that leap. But how could she… Her eyes suddenly widened in realization when she felt Twilight’s arms holding her even tighter. Wait, that’s it. She did use up all of her remaining energy. Her body is dying, and when a body dies, rigor mortis sets in, causing the limbs to stiffen. I may have magic, but in the state that I’m in now, I can’t escape her grasp. However…
Sunset suddenly cracked a grin and started laughing. “Is this your last resort, Twilight? Your final desperate ploy? If it is, then it’s pathetic because it will amount to nothing.” She then rolled her eyes to the side. “Snails, to me. Tear me from her grasp.” However, when her minion didn’t respond, she dropped her smile. “Snails?” She repeated.
When she looked closer at where Flash had shoved him through the boiler, however, she suddenly became worried. Before, Flash managed to send him crashing into the boiler. A demon’s body is stronger than that of an ordinary human’s, but Flash caught him off guard with that attack, and the extra momentum caused him to crash into the boiler with greater force than it can withstand. The inside of the boiler is completely destroyed, causing it to go haywire. If the pressure continues to build up… Her eyes then widened. “It’s going to explode!”
Flash only heard the end of what Sunset was thinking, but that was the only thing that he needed to hear. Something big then crashed inside the boiler, causing the whole room to shake. Using the handrail next to the steps to help him stand back up, he called out to Twilight. “Twilight, the boiler is going to explode. We need to get out of here now.”
With what little strength that she had left in her body, she merely lifted her head up just the slightest bit and nodded her head slightly.
“What?” Flash uttered, unfortunately understanding what she was saying, but not wanting to believe it. She then managed to signal him by moving her eyes over to look at her crown, which lay on the ground next to him. Looking over at the crown himself, he then started speaking quietly, but obviously addressing Twilight, without looking at her. “The crown? You told me that you came to this world to retrieve your crown in order to stop Sunset from abusing its magic.” Flash then closed his eyes dejectedly. “And now you want me to take the crown and leave so that I can get it back to your world in time, so that you can sacrifice yourself in order to save both worlds?” He then looked back at Twilight. “Isn’t that right?”
Twilight merely nodded her head in affirmation.
Flash balled his fist in anger. “It’s just not fair. You had won. If you had just gone back to your world right away, none of this would be happening, but like an idiot, I wanted you to stay.” He then looked at Twilight, with tears in his eyes. “I love you, Twilight. I know that we only knew each other for a few days and we’re from two different worlds, but I love you. I knew that you couldn’t stay here, and I knew that I couldn’t go with you. I just wanted to spend a little bit more time with you, and now you’re dying.” He then slammed his fist against the ground and completely broke down. “This is all my fault.”
Daring to look back up at her again, Twilight only held a sympathetic smile on her face, as if to say, ‘It’s not your fault’. She then winced her eye a bit, reminding him that he needed to take the crown and get out of there now.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Flash moved over to grab the crown. His leg wasn’t that hurt, so he was still able to walk if he dragged his foot along slowly. When he grabbed the crown and made his way over to the door, he turned around one last time, said, “Goodbye,” and then closed the door and went to warn the rest of the school about the boiler explosion.
Once Flash left and they were all alone in the room, Sunset spoke up. “Twilight, release me at once. With my magic, I can heal your wounds,” she bargained with her, cracking a smile. “You can go back to your friends. You’re the Princess of Friendship; that’s what you want isn’t it? To be with your friends forever?” Her smile suddenly dropped when Twilight didn’t do anything to respond. “Twilight?” She called out again, but was met with no response. Twilight simply stared blankly ahead and her eyes slowly fell down, with a peaceful smile on her face. “It’s too late. She’s already dead.” Sunset said, in defeat.
The two of them simply lay there for the next few minutes, with Sunset’s head wrapped tightly in Twilight’s embrace.
Then the boiler exploded.
Twilight Sparkle died that night. However, because Flash Sentry left when he did, he was able to reach the other students and warn them in time so that no one else would die.
After the school had been evacuated, he told them all about what happened – about Sunset Shimmer, and how Twilight Sparkle had sacrificed herself to save two worlds. Everyone who heard the story was heartbroken after hearing the news, but none more so than Spike, who had blamed himself for not being there for his friend. With only one minute until the portal between their worlds closed, Flash gave the crown to Spike, who took it back Equestria and completed the mission that he and Twilight had set out on together.
When he returned, he relayed the news to his Equestrian friends, who took it even worse than their human counterparts. From that day forward, Spike vowed that he would become Twilight’s living legacy and swore to live out the rest of her life for her, managing to accomplish such feats as defeating Tirek, and reforming Starlight Glimmer.
However, this is not the end of the story, but merely the beginning of this bizarre adventure.
