Pages of Harmony

by PotterPhantomKitten

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And when Twilight believes the essence of the Elements of Harmony is threatened, she creates her own research by forcefully extract the Elements from their holders But just how far is Twilight aiming to preserve harmony? For it is a goal that she strives to achieve - whatever the cost. Warning, extreme gore and psychological torment.

4. Paranoia

A/N: Well, after nearly losing the whole chapter due to a mess-up on the "Notes" app on my iPad, here we go, the fourth chapter! Well, I'm splitting my original idea of one chapter into two because it's so dang long the way it is! This way I can bring another chapter sooner (hopefully) and have it be a bit less overwhelming to read in one go, and I'll be able to have more space for the second of the two deaths that will be performed in this section of time! This is gonna be where things will get pretty intense - like, more intense than they already have been, just as a warning. And Twilight is gonna progress deeper into her insanity... very much so... With that, on we go!

Chapter 4: Paranoia

I think paranoia can be instructive in the right doses. Paranoia is a skill.
-John Shirley

As Twilight Sparkle became absorbed in working on her book and observing the Element of Laughter, she didn't see the two ponies - or rather, spirits of ponies - who were observing her. Then again, she had looked right in their direction several times, but they were in a state where they could see and hear her, but it didn't work the other way around. Very much as Rainbow Dash had described to her in Twilight's dream. It was really as if they were looking through a sort of one-sided window, primarily located in the place where Twilight had first seen Rainbow in the void-dream-world. Their purgatory.

Rainbow Dash looked over at the pink pony next to her, who had stepped back a bit and was now staring from Twilight to her with wide, scared eyes. The pink pony moved her hoof slightly, pointing to the gaping hole in her throat where her larynx - and therefore, ability to talk, laugh, and properly breathe - had once been.

"Yeah, whatever," the pegasus pony rolled her eyes, tail flicking to one side in irritation. "I get that you can't talk, and you're a bit startled by me. So what? That's what everypony'd likely think of me and I'm okay with it." She roughly used her teeth to tear of a small piece of hanging muscle in her wings, much to Pinkie's revulsion. "But that traitor there? Yeah, trusting her was a bad idea for you. All that trust and loyalty ever does is backstabbing, so I've gotten rid of that. You ponies are all fools to have done the same."

Despite her horror at Rainbow's apparent self-cannibalism (and seeing that what Twilight had shown her really wasn't a lie), Pinkie Pie stepped a few further paces away from Rainbow Dash, and then began to do something surprising. She started to move her hooves, head, body, and eyes in a few erratic sorts but hesitant movements, as if she was attempting to do a sort of strange dance but was getting stage fright. She seemed to be pointing somewhat to Twilight and somewhat to Rainbow, trying to convey a certain message without use of a larynx.

After a moment, as suddenly as it had started, the earth pony halted her gestures and shook her head, now tilted in a downcast manner with what was left of her straightened mane hanging over to the right side of her face. There was a ghost of a sigh present - it would have been a sigh if she were still in possession of a way to breathe.

To her surprise, the pegasus didn't call Pinkie Pie out for her strange behavior. Instead, she impatiently held up a hoof and said. "Okay, let me get this straight. You just were trying to convey that you realize she was telling the truth about me and you're scared of what she did to us and what she's going to do next." She waved a hoof in a kind of "blah, blah, blah" way. "Then you were thinking that I couldn't understand anything you were trying to tell me so you were getting all depressed and whatnot."

As Rainbow Dash spoke, Pinkie's blue eyes, dull and saddened from her murder and apparent lack of ability to communicate, widened, stunned. When Rainbow concluded her interpretation of her movements, her gaze seemed to have a new, however brief, spark of light to them, and she tackled the pegasus in a relieved hug. In contrast to her depressed, betrayed, Pinkamena-appearance from when Twilight had killed her, her color brightened and her mane and tail reverted to their bubbly selves. Aside from all but the front of her mane being cut off and the gaping hole in her throat, she looked like ordinary Pinkie Pie again. She still couldn't laugh or speak - Twilight had permanently taken that from her through her rough seizing of the Element of Laughter - but the earth pony could smile. And the very fact that another pony was actually able to understand her messages - her former best friend, at that - brought a little spark of happiness to her.

The pegasus let out a stunned, almost frightened shriek as a flash of "memories" came back to haunt her. Memories of the City, and any physical contact with others. "Hey, GET OFF OF ME!" Rainbow Dash shouted roughly, shoving Pinkie off of her with an angry snarl, drawing blood from where her hoof had impacted the energetic pony's jaw. There was a flicker of fear barely visible in Rainbow Dash's haunted eyes, but it was quickly overcome by spite. "Okay, yes, I can understand you. No need to get all clingy about it." Her expression turned dark and glowering. She clearly thought that Pinkie might have been one hoof away from stabbing her or something. Best to destroy others before they destroyed her.

Blinking and surprised at the sensation of Rainbow's blood that had splattered onto her coat, Pinkie started to follow up with a questioning gesture, but the pegasus cut her off.

"Let me guess, you were gonna ask how I knew what you were saying, right?" She huffed, turning her gaze angrily toward Twilight. "I've watched enough ponies in my life to be able to tell." Looking hard at the purple mare as if hoping she'd burn right there on the spot, she briefly broke her glare to look at Pinkie. "I kinda speak gesture language now." She turned back to Twilight. "And I could make some pretty dang firm gestures toward that traitorous mare right now. She can't even see me though, so what's the difference? I don't have an ounce of loyalty toward that murderer, or anypony."

The party pony was stunned that Rainbow Dash would out-and-out call Twilight a murderer, but she had to admit that Rainbow was right. After all this, Twilight wasa murderer, and a dangerous one at that. Preservation or not.

Pinkie Pie circled around so Rainbow could see her. She pointed at Rainbow's head, the skin and mane somewhat grown back on the very top, though the skull was still exposed, then at the remnants of mane and skin on her own head.

Rainbow was clearly getting irritated. "You want to know if your head will get normal again?"

A nod.

"Can't see why your's wouldn't," the pegasus snapped. "The way I see it, it seems our primary injuries that took part in our deaths are what stick with us." She casually gestured to her torn-up flank as an example. "And I hope it stays that way."

Pinkie cringed.

Rainbow looked at her. "What?" She tore off a minuscule strip of muscle that hung from her left flank, biting back a cry of pain before it came loose in her mouth as she swallowed. "The pain only stays for a few seconds." Her rose eyes grew cold, as if she expected the symbols on her flanks to reappear at any moment and was ready to tear them off all over again. "And if I have to destroy myself to keep loyalty traces from returning, then so be it."

The pink earth pony looked completely horrified and disgusted, but made no comment and for a brief moment stayed still.

With a wary gaze, the mutilated pegasus took in the other pony's torn-out throat and terrified eyes. "You don't seem to be quite the severing pony I remember."

Pinkie looked horrified at the notion, and upon recovering from her surprise, began to quickly gesture in protest. "Severing? Like, chopping up? I'd never do anything like that!"

"Don't deny it!" Rainbow snarled, "you look just like the pony who I remember trying to hack my wings off to turn them into cupcakes!"

Pinkie shook her head frantically, horror evident in her eyes. Why would Rainbow ever suggest such a terrible thing? Twilight really hadaltered her memories, so much to the point that the pegasus believed she had lived an entirely different life than the one everypony else knew her for.

Rainbow ignored the other pony's denial. "Okay, so you sure don't seem like you could do any harm to me now, but I still can't trust you. Loyalty is a worthless virtue. If you try to come toward me threateningly again, weapon or not, I willfight you to get away, and tear you limb from limb to make your nerves burn in agony like what they did to me."

Pinkie looked absolutely horrified by the thought, but her former friend only gave her a grim snarl in response.

Rainbow Dash then slowly looked at the bright balloons adorning Pinkie's flanks, eyes darting every so often to make sure the pink pony wouldn't lunge like she remembered. Her expression took on a grimace of disgust. "I see you still have your restriction marks."

Pinkie looked at her own flanks in confusion. Restriction marks?

"I suppose you still have loyalty enough to whoever it was that branded those marks into you?"

The party pony had a look of utter confusion on her face as she gestured, "Branded? I got these marks by finding my special talent!"

"Special talent," Rainbow said skeptically. "Perhaps that's how it was for you, but where I came from they weren't so forgiving." Her gaze grew hard. "But if must of hurt, hmmm? Did you enjoy having the remnants of others mixed into your skin, their ground up, liquified forms seeping through your flesh to give you that mark?" She scoffed at her own memory, seeming to have a look of angered suppression. "Whatever, I'm not gonna help free you of your cursed marks. Tear them off yourself if you feel so inclined. If I actually had any sense of trust left - let alone toward you- I might eat the remnants of tendons for you."

Once those words left Rainbow Dash's mouth, Pinkie looked too horrified to 'say' anything more; the implications of all the things Rainbow Dash had said to her were too revolting to think about. And so the pair did the only thing that they felt they could do for the moment.

Watch.

-0-0-

Back in the laboratory, Twilight eventually completed Pinkie Pie's book, now fit to take its place next to Rainbow Dash's on the special shelf reserved for the remains of her friends. Within the party pony's pages, the larynx was the main organ showcased more than any other, with notes around it, to illustrate how it was truly here that the Element of Laughter had been found.

Twilight Sparkle grinned.

The book was turned to the final pages now, where she kept her notes on the Element of Laughter. She was studying it closely, carefully, just as she had done with the Element of Loyalty. Now that she had a bit more confidence that her idea was in fact successful - and thus more desperate to have the Elements fully contained - she could analyze them with more fervency and precision.

"... Laughter holds genetic signature of AATCCGATTG..."

Twilight's mutterings would sound like gibberish to a pony not in the scientific field, and even to those in that line of work, her voice inflection would sound somewhat off. She wasn't analyzing the structure with a cool composure, but rather with an anxious air.

She didn't want to be found out. Paranoia was overcoming her.

It was, in a way, paradoxical - if she got the Elements one right after the other, it would quickly become evident that ponies were missing, and search parties would be sent out, potentially ending her operation. On the other hoof, if she waited too long between each disappearance, it would become more clear that something had happened to the other ponies, there'd be more time for other ponies to search, and she might get discovered before all the elements were extracted.

"I'm safe down here," she told herself. "Loyalty and Laughter are right here with me and the genetic analysis is going well."

She briefly looked up from her work, taking in the quiet surroundings of her laboratory. The only sound she heard was the whir of machinery. No Pinkie Pie to jump out of nowhere and find her out like was her practice, and no Rainbow Dash to fly off and get someone to stop her.

"I'll have to be very stealthy," she said as she scribbled down a few more note points. "Having them all disappear one right after the other would be way too suspicious." Closing the book and placing it next to Rainbow's, the unicorn began to nervously pace. "I'll have to wait a day or so before properly catching the next one. But who to get... gotta pick the one who'd be most likely to find me out..."

Twilight slammed her front hooves together, a diabolical expression forming on her face. "Applejack, of course! She's the strongest one, and most likely able to knock me down and run if she caught on to what was going on." One ear twitched, her smile growing wider. "Plus, she harbors the Element of Honesty - if she found out, she'd go and telleverypony what's going on, and it'll be all over! She hasto be the next one! If I do, then I'll have plenty of time to observe the Elements much more closely and have more time for detailed notes!"

She looked over at her neuron-manipulation tools. Then her electrical current wires. Images them being tied around the target, shocking her, forcing her...

"And I'll have a bit of use for my electrical implements - there are different types of lies, after all! It'll be time for a little more experimentation in mental manipulation!"

With a quiet, triumphant laugh, Twilight put her equipment in properly clean arrangements before heading out, switching off the lights as the door shut tightly behind her.

And with that darkness came an obscured view for the spirit-ponies who quietly observed, trapped in their own dimensions of their afterlife.

The voiceless pony tried to charge through into the darkened laboratory, but she was stopped by a punch from Rainbow.

"Just wait 'til she dreams, Voiceless," Rainbow Dash said in a hiss, before turning away from the spazzing pony and their window to their old place of residence. "Then we'll be able to talk to the murderess."

Pinkie tugged on Rainbow's tail - at least that part of her wasn't mutilated at all - and pointed to her own neck when the pegasus whirled around in anger.

Rainbow Dash glared at her companion, then quickly averted her eyes, walking away. "Whatever, I'lltalk. And if you dare try to come near me again, I'll do more than just sock you in the jaw." She flicked her head to face Pinkie, mistrustful rose eyes staring into frightened blue. "I will tear you. I will rip you. You and any other pony who comes near me will be forced to feel the pain of limbs being snapped, muscle being torn and your eyes being pulled from your sockets. Do you want that? DO YOU?"

Even in gesture language, the only comment Pinkie made in response was a violent shudder. And that was a gesture that anypony could understand as fear. Although whether it was from Twilight or what twisted, fractured processes had been inflicted on Rainbow, she couldn't have 'said'.

-0-0-

Upon safely exiting her hideaway and into the main area of the library, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Quickly jerking her head about to make sure Spike wasn't within earshot - she heard him upstairs, but not there in the main section - she muttered to herself in a manic attempt to calm down.

"No more Pinkie Sense to threaten progress, everything's gonna be fine..." She closed her eyes. "Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine."

The chant played over and over again in her head like a circling mantra that wouldn't let up.

I'll just hang out here in the library for the rest of the day, then have tomorrow as a break, she thought. Can't have everypony be eliminated one right after the other. Gotta lay low.

But she knew Spike would have questions if she seemed to appear out of nowhere, so she went over to the library's door. She pushed it open, and then slammed the door shut again as she feigned entrance from the outside. "Spike?"

Sure enough, the little dragon emerged from their room and hurried down the stairs. "Hey, Twilight! Where've you been?"

"Uh... just, around," she quickly invented, trying to sound like everything was ordinary.

"I went and returned that cart to Sugarcube Corner since you left it behind," the dragon informed her, "but nopony was there when I showed up. Not Pinkie or the Cakes."

Twilight tried to get herself to calm down. Oh no, what if he starts getting meddlesome?She shook the thought away, acting as if nothing was wrong. "Did you look for them?"

"Well, no," Spike admitted. "I just didn't hear anypony in there when I went and returned the cart. The whole bakery seemed deserted." He looked at his friend, curious. "You didn't see anything, did you?"

Sweat began to form on Twilight's brow. "N-No. Last time I was there, I saw Pinkie - she was probably watching the bakery while the Cakes were out with their twins."

"Well, okay..." there was a bit of a curious tone to Spike's voice, as if he were either concerned that something happened, suspicious of Twilight's words, or both.

And the more Twilight thought about either possibility, the more frantic she became.

"I've had a bit of a long day," she said, using her magic to levitate several books of interest off their shelves. Most of them were about equine psychology and anatomy - it was good that she'd be able to research for possible new ideas while also using it as a tactic to hide her true thoughts and feelings. "I'm just gonna be doing a bit more research here."

"... Okay..." Now, to Twilight, his voice seemed to be laden with confusion.

He's starting to get suspicious, the unicorn thought frantically. He may try to send a letter to the Princess before I know it! C'mon, think of something, Twilight! Thinkthinkthinkthink!

In a flash, she had a spark of an idea, glancing at the dragon from behind her book-wall and trying to maintain a straight face. Haha, yes! I can get hold of both Spike and Applejack! Two eliminations for the price of one! Another Element down, and a threat removed from the picture! Hehe, brilliant!

For the rest of the day, Twilight Sparkle tried to hold on to her normal studying routine, researching the kinds of books she normally would while at the same time trying to figure out some way to properly carry out her plan.

Too bad I can't bring my copy of Psychological Plagues to the Minds of Ponies up here with me, she thought. OrTorments of the Limbs and Mind, now that would really be useful right now...

These thoughts swirled over and over in Twilight's head as she went through her studies throughout the day. Time that would normally be occupied by studying carefree subjects was now filled with anxiousness and a thirst for the most grim type of information that nopony should ever want.

As Celestia's sun set to make way for Luna's moon, the studious unicorn was haunted by thoughts of her plans and how to properly go about executing them. Even as she and Spike went off to bed for the night, the mental imagery and planning stayed with the unicorn even then.

Spike fell asleep rather quickly, but Twilight stayed awake, tossing and turning, mulling over her ideas for the next two days as she planned to gain the Element of Honesty.

"Tomorrow I'll just act as if everything's normal. Then the next day I'll get rid of them both for good..."

With that anticipation in mind, the mare eventually closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep.

And there were two ponies anticipating her arrival.

-0-0-

When Twilight Sparkle became aware of her surroundings, she came to realize that she was in that strange place from the night before. The darkness that seemed to extend forever and yet suffocate a pony all at once.

"Why am I back here?" she asked the dark expanse, as if hoping it would answer back. "Dreams usually are only in the same place once, unless I'm having a repeat of the same dream..." She placed a hoof to her head. "These are dreams, right?"

The response she received was sudden, but the familiarity of the voice caused her not to be surprised as much as the first time she had been here.

"They're not."

Twilight turned around, seeing the familiar mutilated pegasus glaring at her in the dark. "What do you mean, Rainbow Dash?"

The disdain in the pony's rose eyes seemed to stand out from her crimson-stained coat. "This is no dream. It may be for you, but not for us." She bared her teeth. "It's our purgatory, the place you condemned us to."

Twilight arched her brow, confused at Rainbow Dash's words. "What are you talking about?" She looked around the shadowy place, gesturing around with a hoof. "This place is merely a creation of my subconscious and you happen to be here! And who do you mean by 'us'?"

Her answer came as, from a few feet behind Rainbow Dash, another pony stepped out of the dark like passing through a mist. A pony who's bright pink coat was coated in red at her neck, a gaping hole where her vocal folds had once been located.

Twilight Sparkle blinked, now understanding exactly what Rainbow Dash had meant by 'us'. "Pinkie Pie?"

The earth pony, eyes wide, didn't move closer to Twilight as Rainbow had done. She only gave a shaky nod of confirmation.

"This place isn't just a creation of your sleeping, deranged mind," Rainbow insisted. Looking firmly into Twilight's eyes, she slowly stepped forward. "You broke us, killed us, stripped us in order to get your precious Elements. You only left me with my wretched memories of hate and Voiceless here with no vocal way of expression. And so we're forced to remain here in this place of isolation and darkness. Your actions have trapped us here, killing us for the sake of your science."

The two were only separated by about a foot now. Twilight tried to avert her gaze from Rainbow's, anxiousness overcoming her.

Pinkie Pie looked back and forth from Twilight to Rainbow Dash, her eyes wide and afraid.

"Voiceless here seems to be wondering exactly how you can stand to have murdered us," Rainbow said, "but I can answer that myself." She poked Twilight hard in the chest. "You're just like the rest of them - meant to break ponies by tearing their limbs, mind, and soul. You're a heartless stinking mare."

"You're wrong!" Twilight insisted, gathering her will together and staring back at Rainbow just as harshly. "I'm doing this to preserve and to protect! I couldn't just let you go free after the injuries I did to you."

At last, Pinkie dared herself to step closer to Twilight and slowly tapped Rainbow on the back.

The pegasus whirled around so fast that a sprinkling of blood from her torn wings impacted Twilight's face with a wet splatter. "What?"

The moment she had Rainbow's attention, Pinkie started gesturing, looking to her companion to translate as Twilight wiped off the blood from her own face.

"Why should I help you trans-"

Pinkie briefly stopped herself and simply looked at Rainbow with pleading eyes. She didn't even need to gesture to get her current point across: "I want to talk to her!"

Rainbow stared at Pinkie before groaning in irritation. "Fine, as long as you swear to never attack me again, or I will tear apart your flesh, blood, and bone. Starting with those cursed marks."

Twilight was surprised at Rainbow's harsh words, but they seemed to have gotten to Pinkie, who began making gestures while looking at the dream-visitor. The mare had never seen her friend act like this, but then again, she had used those vocal folds of hers to talk all the time, so she had to find some substitute for communication.

"Please, stop this, Twilight!" Pinkie begged, with Rainbow Dash translating. "You've already hurt enough ponies!"

Twilight shook her head. "If I don't, Equestria may be doomed for the future!" Her voice grew in volume, more fierce. "Everything that everypony worked for will be gone, some greater threat will take over, ponies everywhere will be tortured and maimed and enslaved forever!"

Pinkie stepped a few paces closer to Twilight, stretching her neck to move her head slightly closer as her eyes widened with tears. She gestured some more, her gaze pleading for Twilight to stop the murdering madness.

"You're already doing those things yourself!" Pinkie exclaimed through Rainbow's translating. "You're still killing ponies! Your

friends!" Though the tone was pleading to Pinkie Pie's mind, Rainbow Dash said the last translated word in a snarl, reflecting her own feelings toward the word and the memories she associated it with.

"IT'S DIFFERENT!" Twilight shouted, refusing to believe she had anything in common with the likes of beings like those. Her breathing became heavy, her eyes looked back and forth between the two. It was as if she was looking through a haze that was difficult to see through and yet she wanted to face the mysterious figures. "I, heheh, gotta do it! I'm doing it for a grander purpose!" Her voice went from sounding as if she were giving an inspirational speech to a threatening snarl. "I'm doing it to keep Equestria in harmony!"

Before anypony could respond, the purple unicorn turned and run away from the two dead ponies, refusing to look back and only go into her waking world to get her next phase completed.

Pinkie Pie started to trot after her, but was stopped by a firm tug on the tail from Rainbow that stopped her in her tracks.

"The murderess is beginning to snap," Rainbow growled. "There's not much anypony can say or do that'll bring someone like that away from the brink. Besides," her eyes seemed to go out of focus as she stared in the direction Twilight had run, "when I said the marks would curse her, before I died... I wasn't completely delirious. If I'm right... they will."

-0-0-

When Twilight came back to the waking world, she was overcome by a new sense of urgency. The words of the dream ponies, along with the awareness that the disappearances might become apparent, had begun to set Twilight on edge. She had to get the Element of Honesty, and free her passageway to the lab by eliminating Spike from the picture as well.

But she forced the troubling dreams - she insisted to herself that's what they were - out of her mind for the time being. She had a firm goal today - to stay calm and act casual, as if everything was fine. She planned to resume her plot to gather the Elements the following day.

Seeing that Spike was already up and about, she got up and prepared a small saddlebag to carry, trying to pull off a normal studying routine as she placed two books within it - that psychology ploy had held up well enough for Spike, it should do so with the others.

And when one got right down to it, it technically wasn't a lie - she wasapplying studies of the mind into her extraction of the Elements.

After getting her supplies in proper order, she went toward the small mirror in her room, using her magic to levitate her brush to brush her mane into its ordinary day-to-day style.

"Just gonna act like everything is completely normal," she told herself quietly in an effort to keep herself calm.

But her efforts were broken as another voice broke her out of her thoughts. "But everything isn't normal!"

Twilight's magic hold on the brush was broken in shock, the brush dropping to the desk as she stared straight at the mirror. At her own reflection. The voice was her own, no doubt, and the reflection"s expression was different from her own. While Twilight looked determined and with a firm plan set in mind, her reflection's eyes were wide, a frown of concern on her face.

The unicorn blinked in astonishment. This was just like when she had been stressed about finding a friendship problem, and began talking to her own mirrored self, her reflection answering back. It seemed the same thing was happening now.

"I know it's not normal, but I'm going to actlike it is!" Twilight snapped.

"But you're not the best at lying," the reflection insisted. "Everypony will find out if you say or do the wrong thing!"

"Then I'll say and do all the rightthings!" Twilight shot back. Sharply turning from the mirror, she closed her eyes to properly bring herself back to the present and ignoring the reflection. After a few tense seconds, she turned back toward the mirror.

Her reflection was, as expected, normal.

Twilight arched her brow before shaking her head. "Just gotta stay calm..." Putting the unusual occurrence out of her mind, she took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face as she began to head downstairs into the main part of the library, where she noticed Spike was carefully balancing on a ladder as he looked at one of her books he grasped in his hand, seeming to have a confused expression.

For an instant, Twilight was seized with a gripping panic, and a few of the hairs on her mane stood on end - how could he have-?

No, wait... it was just one of her psychology books from up here at ground level where all her ordinary tomes were known to be. Not one of her precious, forbidden grimoires. And Spike was doing nothing more than returning the research tome to its shelf.

The mare let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, closing her eyes to regain a casual demeanor. Get a hold of yourself, Twilight! What happened to your "act normal" plan? Stick to it!

After saying a quick "Good morning" to her assistant, Twilight told him that she was going to go around Ponyville for the day, and hurried out before he could ask any questions that might cause more of a risk of letting her anxiousness show.

As she went off into the main streets of Ponyville, managing a wave and a greeting to several ponies she knew, Twilight gave herself a little internal pep talk.

Today, I shall arouse no suspicious activity and act as normal as can be! Then tomorrow, nothing whatever will go wrong - I'll be able to plan out my actions carefully enough, and free my laboratory access and obtain the Element of Honesty in no time!

As the day's main event, she decided to head off to Sweet Apple Acres, where the Apple family resided. Visiting the day before will keep me on friendly terms well enough,she thought.

Maintaining her focus, Twilight headed off to her destination for the day - Sweet Apple Acres. Upon her arrival, Twilight saw Applejack with one of her apple carts, selling a few apples to a group of visitors. Apple Bloom was also with her, eagerly by her sister's side as the apples left their careful placing on the cart and into the hooves of their purchasers, earning the sisters a few bits in return.

Twilight carefully waited until the group was cleared out before coming up to the two eager apple-salesponies.

"Hey, Applejack! Hey, Apple Bloom!" Twilight called, attempting to maintain an appearance to show that she was normal as ever. She wasn't entirely the best at deception, but she told herself that if she kept calm she could give it a shot.

The two siblings looked in her direction at the sound of her approach. "Twilight!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, bouncing energetically at the sight of the purple pony. "Applejack and I are selling some of our best apples this season! Not as flashy as the Zap Apples, but, apples are apples!" The filly gently knocked the cart with a hind hoof, causing an apple to wobble off and land squarely on her forehoof. She grinned.

Twilight smiled, impressed despite nervousness festering in the corners of her brain. "Nice work, Apple Bloom!"

The filly grinned at the compliment.

"The apples are especially ripe this time of year," Applejack commented as she looked down proudly at her little sister. "Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh helped with them."

"Well, it seems you guys have a really good harvest," the unicorn said. She did have to admit that Applejack's family were likely the best farmers in Equestria; their fruits always seemed to have a special quality to them.

It's a shame that I have to get the Element of Honesty from Applejack,the unicorn mused to herself, her surroundings briefly lost to her as her thoughts turned to her later plans.

"Hey, Twilight?" Applejack looked at her curiously, noticing her friend's spacey look. "Twilight?"

The unicorn had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't heard Applejack at first. She shook her head in order to clear it, snapping back to the present. "Yeah?"

"Have you seen Pinkie Pie around today?"

Oh no. That topic. Okay, calm down, calm down, straight face!Twilight tried to let her expression only show enough concern to be normal, and tried to make eye contact - shifting eyes were a big sign that someone was lying, or up to something. "No... why?"

The farming pony arched her brow at Twilight's hesitant response. "She was lookin' for Rainbow Dash yesterday and couldn't find her. And then her knee started getting pinchy like it does when-"

"Something scary's gonna happen," Twilight finished. "Pinkie told me yesterday."

"So you talked to Pinkie yesterday?"

The unicorn nodded, her expression even.

"But y'all didn't see Rainbow Dash?"

"Nope." That was at least true besides the dreams - it was amazing how long ago the extraction of the Element of Loyalty seemed, when it was really only two days previous. "Hey, uh," she levitated several coins out of her bag, "think I could buy one of those apples?"

"Sure thing, Twi," the farm pony said as Twilight placed the bits into a basket where their earnings were, tossing the purple mare a red apple in return. The unicorn did her best to suppress a plotting smile, a small idea already forming in her brain.

"Ah' just don't get it," Apple Bloom piped up as she looked curiously at Twilight. "First Pinkie can't find Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie's knee gets pinchy, and now Pinkie's gone missing too?"

"It all seems suspicious to me," Applejack admitted. "What if somethin' bad happened to them?"

"I'm sure they're fine," the purple mare assured her friend, still attempting to keep up an honest appearance. The more she talked to Applejack about this topic, the more hurried her thoughts became.

She's starting to get suspicious, and she'll tell everypony if she finds out, she's the Element of Honesty! And there's also Spike to deal with... I can't have the procedure be midday tomorrow, it's too risky to wait that long! It has to be tonight, it has to! Just gotta wait for the day to be over. It'll be over soon. Clock is ticking ticking ticking!

"'Ah hope you're right." Applejack managed a light smile, though it was clear she was still concerned about her two missing friends.

"Pinkie and Rainbow are probably just off somewhere pulling pranks," Twilight said with a smile as she levitated her apple into one of her bag's side pockets. Despite her eyes itching to look away from Applejack, she was able maintain an appropriate look of concern. She turned to go, unsure of how much longer she could keep up her farce. "I'm sure that we'll be seeing them here again before we know it!"

Which was true - they wouldsee the pair again. There was just no way that Twilight was going to admit the truth.

With an encouraging smile and a wave of her hoof, the unicorn walked off to see the other residents of Ponyville, managing a breath of relief that, through half-truths, she had been able to keep her secret safe until the time was right.

-0-0-

The rest of the day was a blur of nervous looks toward the setting sun and quick conversations toward the other ponies that Twilight ran into. For the most part, she was able to keep up a casual conversation, and occasionally taking a bite of the apple that Apple Bloom had given her helped calm her nerves. But other times, anxiety overtook her. Her mane became disheveled, her chest felt tight, and she made sure to terminate the conversations as quickly as possible when things got too stressful.

It seemed to Twilight, in her paranoid state, that the day took forever to end as the sky grew dark. But once everypony had departed the streets and the moon rose in the sky, Twilight went back to the library, her anxiety only slightly lessened.

Spike whirled around as the door opened and shut, leaping up in surprise. "Twilight!" The dragon paused a moment to get over being startled before continuing. "You're back late, how was everything in-"

He took in her appearance as she came more into view. Her shrunken eyes and disheveled mane, one eye twitching before she closed her eyes, seeming to struggle to get her bearings.

"... Ponyville?" he finished quietly.

"Fi...F-Fine," Twilight stammered, too preoccupied in her thoughts to give a clear answer. Realizing her mistake, the anxious stammer which threatened to blow her cover on everything, she forced herself to speak again, more steadily this time, and get herself back into focus. "I mean, fine! N-No major accidents going on, anyway!"

Spike noticed the quaver in Twilight's voice. His friend hadseemed a bit off lately. Nervous, jittery, jumpy. Like when she had been so desperate to find a friendship problem that she had snapped. It seemed only a passing thing at first, but now Twilight not only sounded anxious, it appeared affecting her appearance as well. Something was clearly up, and curiosity was nagging at the young dragon too much.

"Uh, Twilight?"

Through her growing anxiety, Twilight forced herself to be calm and quell her fear. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

Twilight forced a more cheerful tone into her voice as she shifted a few books around with her magic, removing several books from their shelves and placing them in front of her, acting like a form of a shield away from curious eyes. "Fine. I've just doing a little work."

"What kind of work?"

Twilight twitched. Her assistant could be frustratingly meddlesome at times. Especially now, when she didn't want him to be. "Just, psychological research, okay?" She hadn't meant for her tone to sound harsh on the last word, but her mind was so caught up in a mess of thoughts. She forced herself not to twitch again, though she was becoming increasingly nervous.

Spike jumped a little at the snappy tone in his friend's voice, raising his hands as if to defend himself. "Okay, okay! You've been doing that psychological stuff for the past few days..."

"Well," Twilight sighed, choosing her words carefully and urging herself to keep her composure, "it's complicated work. The mind isa very tough thing to analyze, you know!" She forced a laugh, but managed to keep it from sounding too forced as she slowly walked upstairs, faking a yawn. "Going around Ponyville allows for more behavioral observations."

Everything's fine, the mare thought, mind racing to the point that the words of the tomes she scoured became blurred. It's all gonna be fine. Just gotta wait for Spike to fall asleep. Just got be stealthy and quiet and inconspicuous...

"Well, you seem to be kinda stressed." Her assistant gave her a concerned look as he followed. "Maybe you should, I dunno, let up on it a bit, relax!"

Twilight looked back at him as she reached their room, looking exhausted..

"Or at leastget some sleep," Spike advised. "No offense, Twilight, but you..." his sentence was interrupted by a yawn, eyelids drooping, "... don't really look so good."

"I'm just... tired, that's all. Twilight removed her saddlebag and flopped onto her bed, sighing as if she just wanted to fall asleep in that moment. But she wasn't really tired; she was anything but. She needed to be as wide awake as possible. "Everything'll be fine by tomorrow."

Spike got into his own bed and looked up at Twilight, struggling to keep his eyes open. "You sure?"

When Twilight spoke, her voice harbored a tone of genuine relief. "I'm sure."

Of course I'm sure, a thought lingered in her head, Ponyville's two main threats to me will be gone.

Twilight waited with increasing urgency, biding her time until she was absolutely certain that Spike had fallen into a deep slumber. She couldn't take any chances of him waking up to question her, only daring to move when she was certain that he wouldn't stir.

Wide awake, the pony eventually got off of her bed and, as quietly as she could, went over to her saddleback and unlatched a small compartment. A needle injector was safely tucked within, filled with a liquid throughout.

Twilight grinned and managed a chuckle. Snapping the bag shut, she secured it tight around her and began to walk past her desk and down the stairs to the library's central room.

Once she was certain that there was no creaking from the room above, Twilight forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Knowing that she'd have to accomplish this fast, she teleported herself outside the library into the quiet streets of Ponyville.

Relishing in the night's silence, she teleported in short distances until she reached Sweet Apple Acres.

"Okay... okay... you can do this."

Upon getting to a point where she could safely teleport into the house that the Apple family called home, the mare made sure to be as stealthy as possible, eyes darting around and ears listening for the sound of anypony who might be alerted to her presence. She treated each and every sound as the possibility that somepony was watching and suspecting what she was up to, and in no time they'd catch her in the act.

Slowly stepping by the bedrooms of each of the sleeping ponies, Twilight was able to peek through the slightly ajar door to find the room she had been looking for - Applejack's.

Shaking slightly from nerves, Twilight gently nudged open Applejack's door with a hoof, tensing up at the light creaking of its hinges. Apprehensively, she listened carefully for the sound of ponies being roused from their sleep and coming up to investigate, but much to her relief, all was quiet.

Assured that the house's inhabitants were still deeply in slumber, Twilight crept into the room and observed the sleeping pony. Applejack was snuggled tightly underneath her bedsheets, and the movements of her eyes could be clearly seen underneath her closed eyelids.

If things were different, I'd go for analyzing her REM sleep cycle,Twilight mused as she withdrew the injector from her bag, hurriedly forcing it into Applejack's skin before she could wake up and inquire what was going on. It only took a few seconds for the earth pony's eye movements to become still as she fell into an unconscious state.

Okay, that's done, Twilight thought as she turned her head to make sure nopony was watching or listening. Now I just gotta... arch, forget it, I have no time to worry about concealment like that!Aware that every second counted here, the unicorn quickly teleported herself and Applejack out of the house, then onward through Ponyville and back to the library.

Twilight was breathing heavily, eager to get started with her plan. Okay, got Applejack here, now for Spike! She teleported herself and Applejack up to her room, fearing that something would happen if she left the unconscious pony out of her sight for even a second.

She was just opening her bag to ready the sleeping needle for another shot when a voice broke the gloom.

"You aren't seriously going to do this, are you?"

Twilight gasped and whipped around at the voice, staring straight at where the voice had come from... her reflection. Just as that morning, the reflection bore a different expression than Twilight herself. Rather, the look was desperate.

"Of course I am!" Twilight hissed. "Now be quiet!" Her eyes darted to Spike, who stirred lightly in his sleep.

"They're your friends!" Mirror-Twilight said desperately. "We're supposed to care about friends and help them, not torture them for science!"

Twilight looked back and forth from her reflection, to Applejack, to Spike. She used her forehooves to cover her ears, attempting to ignore what her reflection - her conscience - was saying. "I have to..."

"There has to be some other way!"

Twilight shut her eyes tight. "There's not!"

The reflection's voice grew more pleading. "Just listen! Ponies will find out if you keep doing this!"

The barest hint of tears began to form at Twilight's eyes as she shook her head. "No..."

"And what if the Princesses find out? You don't need to kill-"

The pony's eyes snapped open, the remnants of tears leaving as she acted on a deranged impulse. Anything to get that voice out of her head.

"SHUT UP!" Twilight screeched, her eyes practically glowing in fury as she shot her left hoof forward, causing the glass of the mirror to shatter from the impact into small fragments, gravity bringing some of them down in large shards.

Unsurprisingly, the crescendo of noise jolted Spike from his sleep, blinking rapidly as he noticed Twilight staring at the broken mirror dully.

"Twuh-Twilight?" he questioned, confused by what he was seeing, "what's going-"

He was cut off as the unicorn whirled around to face him, her appearance looking horrifying in the moonlight that shone on parts of her body. The hairs on her mane and coat were stuck up and eccentric, as if she hadn't taken care of her hygiene in weeks, her violet eyes seemed out of focus, and the mad grin on her face made it seem like she was going to lunge out and attack the first thing she saw.

And she was using her magic to raise the needle of benzodiazepine like a dagger, stabbing it roughly into the young dragon before he had time to react, causing him to quickly fall into the darkness of unconsciousness.

As her assistant collapsed, Twilight let out a cackle of delight and brought the needle to her eye level. "Oh benzodiazepine, you neverlet me down!" Practically dancing, she focused her magic on her two unconscious subjects, the magenta aura swirling around them as she levitated them off the ground, hovering in her wake as she went down to the central area, bringing her two captives over as she pressed the secret button to make the bookcase allow its master into the secret passage.

Twilight hurried through the tunnel and down the winding stairs to her laboratory, unconscious captives in tow. A deranged smile arose on her face as she rubbed her hooves together in anticipation.

"Now I have just a bit of arranging to do for you two..."

-0-0-

Applejack was the first to open her eyes. Her vision sluggishly drifted in and out of focus before she suddenly became aware of the reality of her surroundings, eyes snapping wide open.

"WHAT THE HAY?"

She tried, instinctively, to move, but found to her growing alarm that she was strapped down tight to a slanted table, unable to even turn her head to examine the place. But from what she could see of all the machinery, it didn't look at all pleasant.

A voice interrupted her lone attempts at escape, seeming to come from a little behind her and to her left. "A-Applejack?"

The earth pony's breath caught in her throat. She recognized the voice,though she was unable to see the speaker. "Spike?"

"Y-Yeah," Spike stammered, able to barely see Applejack strapped to the table out of the corner of his eye.

The earth pony took a deep breath before straining with all her might to free herself of her restraints, but to no avail. Gathering her strength, her green eyes gazed around what was within her field of vision, taking in the sight of the whirring, humming machinery. "Where in the hay are we?"

"I don't know," Spike admitted, a growing feeling of dread rising inside him. "I just remember... wait a minute... Twilight!"

"You called?"

"AH!" Both Applejack and Spike let out cries of surprise as the pony in question teleported in front of them. She looked roughly the same as when Spike had last seen her, though easily the most frightening aspect was the dangerous grin present on her face.

"I see you two are awake!" Twilight exclaimed, rubbing her hooves together in glee. "I would have woken you two up sooner, but I had to get a few things ready first!" She chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I found where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are!"

The pair had a strong feeling that it was something bad.

"What are you talkin' about, Twi?" Applejack inquired, arching her brow.

"I'll show you, silly!" With those words, Twilight's horn glowed as she utilized her magic to rotate the bottom wheels of both tables, turning them far enough to the right so that the figures she had waiting were clearly visible. "Tadah!"

The two captives could only freeze at terrible appearance of the bodies they recognized, limp layers of skin with their skeletal structures placed on their own separate pedestals, their organs removed to be replaced by a form of stuffing to prop their forms upright.

Staring in revulsion at the bloody, cavernous holes in Rainbow's flanks that reached to where her bones had once been, one wing shredded the same way, and many stitches where her skin had been sewn back from self-inflicted wounds. Looking at Pinkie Pie, remnants of mane straightened in her last minutes of life and a crimson void where her throat had once been, cutie mark also skinned off, though her flanks merely had it torn away in a clean strip.

Tears of horror and anger fell from Applejack's eyes as she breathed heavily at the sight of her dead friends. "PINKIE! RAINBOW!"

"I told you that you'd see Rainbow and Pinkie again, Applejack!" Twilight smiled giddily. "It took a while to clean them all up, but they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! And having both you andSpike here is really such a treat for observing my research! Isn't that right, Rainbow Dash?" Laughing, she went over to the corpse of Rainbow Dash and moved her head up and down, mimicking the pegasus's voice. "Right, Twilight! Having them both here makes this 20% cooler!"

"I thought you said you were doing psychological research!" Spike cried out in alarm through his tears, tearing his gaze away from the corpses of the two ponies and Twilight's deluded eyes. "You've been lying to me this whole time! HOW COULD YOU?"

"'Psychological research', what kinda horseapples is that?" Applejack trembled, glaring furiously at Twilight. "This 'aint psychological stuff - it's torture!" Tears rolled down the pony's cheeks like a trickling stream. "IT'S FLAT-OUT MURDER!"

"It's research and data collection!" Twilight corrected, only flinching a little at her friends' accusations. "Technically, I was telling the truth - part of it ispsychological, since my procedures tend to involve messing with memories. It's why Rainbow Dash committed self-cannibalistic suicide."

The two captives were horrified at that notion. Rainbow Dash? Killing herself through devouring her own body? Spike looked like he wanted to vomit from what he had seen and heard, but he managed to barely restrain himself from doing so.

"Twi... j-just listen to reason," Applejack said cautiously, trying to find some way out of this deadly predicament. "You 'ain't actin' right. You're..." her voice grew hard, eyes narrowed. "You're not thinkin' clearly!"

"Not thinking clearly?" Twilight shot back, the glance of her shrunken irises darting about in a frenzy. Her voice rose to a higher, more fervent volume. "Not thinking clearly? HA! I'm thinking more clearly than ever!" She paced in front of the two of them, looking wildly back and forth as if paranoid that either one would spontaneously escape if she focused on the other for too long. And at this point, she was. Her voice now grew softer, a quick muttering. "You don't see, do you? If we don't find the proper genetic components for the Elements, how will the world be protected after we're gone? Nopony really knew about the Elements until we found them, remember? And now look what's happened since then - Nightmare Moon, Discord, a possible return of the Windigos? And what if a greater threat comes? Makes sense to preserve the Elements then, huh? Huh?"

"But Celestia and Luna-"

"You've heard Celestia yourself," Twilight growled, cutting Applejack off and leering hard at her, "she and Luna are no longer connected to the Elements. The genes are still there, they just can't control the Elements' physical forms. Do you know why?" She laughed, but it clearly harbored insanity within it. "It's because the next group activated them, that's why! The power of the Elements still remain within them, but only a few can wield their true power at a time - why do you think their current physical manifestations resemble our cutie marks? But if I discover their true essence, contain it, control it," her voice turned into a manic growl on the last two words , "then the Elements will NEVER be forgotten! There will ALWAYS be a way to find the pony who has those qualities, and then they shall truly be harnessed! Haha!"

While Twilight was focused on the other pony, Spike tried to look for some way to get himself free and get out. Look for a piece of paper, a quill-

Yes! There was some at Twilight's worktable! Now if he could just get free...

"Just gotta... send letter to... Celestia-"

When the dragon's whisper reached her ears, the shout from the deranged pony was like that of an angry grown dragon protecting its hoard, a bit of a growl accompanying the word she shouted. "NO!" Twilight whirled her head toward Spike, an enraged fire present in her eyes as she leapt over, growling like a manticore, giving him a look that stated she would be likely to tear his head off, slowly and painfully. "You will NOT be sending a letter to her." She drew her head closer, laughing in a way that clearly showed that she wasn't in her right mind. "You won't be sending a letter to anypony ever again."

With that, Spike's eyes noticeably widened. That laugh clearly cemented just how much his friend had changed, and there was likely no going back. She was no longer the bright, friendly pony of days past. She had become something far more sinister, no longer the Princess's faithful student but rather a deranged, mentally unstable pony who was perfectly willing to murder her friends to get what she wanted. All this for "preservation of the Elements".

And the worst part of all: she seemed to be enjoyingit.

Both Applejack and Spike suppressed a shudder. Their friend had begun to completely and utterly snap. If they didn't stop her, who's to say she wouldn't progress into insanity even further?

"Now, who to take care of first?" The smile on the unicorn's face was bordering on sadistic.

The two captives knew very well that by "take care of", Twilight really meant "murder".

"Don't kill anypony, Twi!" Applejack tried to reason with her as she attempted to buck her way out. "Ya don't need to do this! Just stop, before anypony else gets hurt!" Her green eyes held a look of desperation, a nonverbal plea to just stop all this madness, something to bring her friend back from the brink of insanity. "Come to your senses, sugarcube!"

Ignoring the farming pony completely, Twilight's expression brightened. But the brightness in her eyes did not bring hope, only fear for her mental state. "I've got it! You may be strong, Applejack, but I have you strapped firmly tight! If Spike gets in contact with Celestia, it's all gonna be over for me! The research on the Elements will be halted!" She stared hard at the dragon in question. "I'm sorry, but you're too much of a risk."

Spike began to panic, seeming to try to back away only to remember that he was tied down. "J-Just, let us go! I... I won't tell anypony, Twilight! I promise!"

"Sure," Twilight said skeptically with a roll of her eyes. "Ponies are already starting to wonder where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are. You'd crack eventually. You'd spill the beans before the Elements are all harnessed, and Applejack would be let free too. And if you didn't tell my little secret to everypony, Applejack would - she has the Element of Honesty, she'd tell everypony the moment she was free!"

She gave a hurried glance in Applejack's direction so quick that the captives heard her neck crack, as if suddenly thinking the pony might have somehow gotten free when she wasn't paying attention. Affirming that the farm pony was, indeed, still properly secured, Twilight turned to Spike again, her eyes narrowed and voice threatening. "I can't have that happen."

Applejack tried to struggle even further, trying to move her legs and hooves to kick her restraints off. But no matter how much she bucked and kicked and moved, her metal bounds had her strapped down tight. "SOMEPONY GET USOUT!"

"Applejack, Applejack," Twilight said in what would almost seem like a gentle tone in different circumstances, "having you struggle and scream will just wear you out. You're a bit tooenergetic right now, and it would only be really safe to work on one of you at a time..." With those words, she teleported away from Applejack, leaving the pony's sight.

"Wha-?" Applejack turned her gaze back and forth, trying to pinpoint where it was that her captor had gone. "Twilight?"

The insane pony had teleported behind Applejack now, a needle of benzodiazepine visible in the grip of her hoof and an expression that was both determined and psychotic.

And Spike was able to just barely see a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. "Applejack!" he called out, wanting to jump out of there and knock Twilight away the moment he noticed the needle's metallic glint. "BEHIND YOU!"

But the captured earth pony was unable to move, only quickly turn her eyes in surprise just as there was a sharp pinch as the needle plunged deep into her neck. Within only a few seconds, the drug kicked in and Applejack fell unconscious, the needle slowly removed from her skin by the other pony.

"Good night, Applejack," Twilight said pleasantly, though her appearance, upon coming out from behind the table where the unconscious pony was propped up, was anything but pleasant. Her eyes were wild, the hair on her mane and tail sticking out at eccentric angles, her teeth grinding, and giggling in a way that sounded as if she were an asylum's most unstable resident.

And Spike was terrified.

"Aw, is dear little Spike scared of his old friend?" the unicorn said in that dangerously gentle voice as she looked into the dragon's wide green eyes. "It's for a noble purpose, you know."

Spike was trembling in his restraints. "W-W-Why?" The look in his eyes was uncomprehending as to how his friend could have become twisted into such a monster. "Twilight... Why don't you just let us go?"

"I have to keep you here," Twilight insisted. "I have to get all the Elements to analyze them. You don't think I could let those subjected to my experiments go free, could you? Nopony would ever allow me to continue with ponies getting hurt like this! How would I ever complete my experiments if I was banished?" For a moment, she was overcome by a wave of anxiousness as she thought of Celestia finding out and that possibility actually occurring, but she snapped out of it and focused on the task at hand, sounding more enthusiastic. "You should consider yourself lucky though."

"L-L-Lucky?" Spike stammered, becoming increasingly nervous at his friend's increasingly cheery tone..

"Yes," Twilight affirmed, her voice sounding almost happy now. "Because you're not connected to one of the Elements, I don't feel the need to use the Scalper on you." She pointed at the mechanism used to carve out the tops of the other ponies' heads. "Of course, I didn't really needto use it on Pinkie, but I couldn't help myself to mess with her head just a little."

Despite his terror, Spike allowed himself to feel the smallest sense of relief that he wouldn't be subjected to that terrible. The Scalper did look incredibly painful, and he could only imagine what it had felt like for Pinkie and Rainbow Dash... and a new wave of horror over came him at the realization that the others just might be subject to the same thing.

But Twilight had more planned for him.

"So this means you can be my first subject for some of my other instruments instead!"

Spike's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the varied manner of machinery that Twilight had at her disposal.

"Sorry Spike, but if you weren't so meddlesome you wouldn't be in this mess," Twilight explained, setting up bits of sharp-looking machinery frighteningly close. "You're like a guard that shouldn't be there, unintentionally preventing me from getting through to this place. If it weren't for that, you'd be free from here, and you wouldn't be meeting a similar fate as Rainbow and Pinkie."

A chill went down Spike's back.

"... You're gonna d-do the same thing to... to Applejack?"

Twilight nodded.

Spike's eyes grew wide as his thoughts moved forward... if she was going to do the same to Applejack... "W-What about... F-Fluttershy and..." he almost choked out the last word, "R-R-Rairity?"

When Twilight gave her answer, she was completely and frighteningly nonchalant. "Them too."

"NO!" Spike's voice cracked on the word, his eyes filled with despair and tears coming to his eyes. "You can't do that to them!" He tried desperately to wiggle his way free, even blowing fire at the metal restraints on his wrists in an attempt to burn them off. To the young dragon's terror, nothing worked.

"Oh come on, Spike," Twilight said. "You're just making this harder. I'm going to haveto mess with the others' brains in order to properly make the Elements' signature surface. But enough of that for now. We have some work to do." Picking up another injector, she hurriedly injected a liquid into the side of Spike's neck, close to his spinal cord, a different kind of shot that she hadn't used before.

As much as the dragon tried to struggle, he felt his movements become sluggish. No matter how much he tried to break free, or at least move, it seemed that his muscles were slowly becoming more and more relaxed.

"Whuh.. What's happening?" Spike exclaimed fearfully. "I... I can't move!"

"30 more seconds, Spike," the unicorn said patiently.

As those 30 seconds passed, the dragon's muscles became slowed until almost every limb was rendered immobile, paralyzing him.

"What did you do to me, Twilight?"

"I simply injected you with a small touch of vecuronium bromide," the scientist explained cheerfully as she went over to her cabinet to return the vecuronium injection to its proper place. "It's a muscle relaxant that's also used as a paralyzing agent." She smiled. "Thank you somuch for being patient and giving the drug the 60 seconds it needed to take effect!"

A twitch of her right ear. An unhinged giggle.

"Now, it usually works for a timeframe of, oh, about half an hour to 40 minutes, but it would probably take over an hour to get total control back." Rummaging around, she bypassed the section that held her various injections and drugs, coming to a section of more physical devices, as she pulled out a sharp hatchet. "But even if it does get about 25% worn off within 20 minutes, that won't matter - my main work is Applejack here, you probably won't last that long, anyway."

Spike's heart was beating erratically and his breath came in labored gasps. Twilight, the pony who had been his friend since he was born, had just given him a death sentence. She had killed at least two ponies and was now going to do the same to him.

Twilight then came forward with her weapon, mouth turned up in a sadistic grim, clearly seeing the terror in her assistant's eyes.

"First, I just have to make sure that there's no way you'll be able to write to the Princess should you escape. Of course, it's a near certainty that you won't be able to get free anyway," she flicked her head toward the door for a split second before turning back to the small dragon, voice desperate and paranoid, "but I can't take any chances!"

Shooting forward like an arrow, Twilight roughly brought down the sharp hatchet upon the dragon's left wrist and sliced straight through, cutting straight through skin, muscle, and bone. Ignoring Spike's scream of pain, the deranged unicorn did the same to the other wrist just as quickly, the severed hands impacting the ground with a dull thud.

"THERE!" Twilight shouted as blood flowed freely from Spike's wrists, his arms now ending in bloody stumps. "No way to send any letters NOW!" A wide grin spread across her face, her shrunken irises turning cross-eyed as she let out a loud, deranged cackle.

Spike's screams had eventually subsided, his breath coming in slow, choked gasps. His eyes were mostly closed from tears, but when they were open only horror and pain could be seen in their gaze.

A sterilized cloth hovered over through Twilight's magic as she used it to properly clean off the blood-splattered hatchet. "Well, now that I've cut off any way for you to write to the Princess," Twilight knocked one of the severed hands with a hoof, laughing at her "cut off" pun, "it's time for something fun!"

A chill went down Spike's back. What kind of thing was planned in Twilight's deranged state that she'd consider "fun"?

Cantering over to her cabinet of tools and drugs again, the unicorn levitated her blade back into its spot, while at the same time removing another device from its storage. As she brought it more into the open, it could be seen that the tool looked very much like an apple-peeler, the kind known as a Y-peeler, with the blade perpendicular to the handle. However, this blade was noticeably sharper than the ordinary kind of peeler. One could guess that the device wasn't to be used for releasing a simple fruit from its skin.

Using another sterilizing cloth, the unicorn rubbed cleansing alcohol onto the blade until it shone as if it had been newly shaped. "Now that I've properly cleaned it, the alcohol on the blade is gonna cause it to sting a liiiiittlemore than it normally would." She didn't seem bothered by the idea of that at all. And it was clear that by "a little", she meant "a heck of a lot more".

The peeler was brought closer to Spike as Twilight pressed a button on its side to let the blade extend slightly. With the dragon powerless to move he could only watch, numb with horror, as the large peeler moved closer and closer until it impacted his scaly skin.

And then it pressed further. The peeler was able to slice through the thin scales that made up Spike's skin and dug through the epidermis to reach the soft tissue and veins underneath. Spike screamed as it tore through muscle, through tendons, reaching the ligaments that held together bone. Getting to the proper depth, with her subject powerless to move at all, Twilight moved the peeler up and down Spike's right arm, leaving the skin trapped under the metal restraints as the rest of it was stripped away.

Spike screamed in agony as the nerves through almost every part of his arm were cut as if he were an apple, blood pouring out of the limb and onto the floor. The pain from this new torture only felt worse accompanying the blood pouring from his wrists, and the sting of the alcohol further increased the pain.

"Tw-Tw-TWILIGHT!" the dragon sobbed, water falling from his eyes in a stream of agonized tears. "P-P-PLEASE STOP! STOP... JUST M-M-MAKE IT STOP!"

Blood splattered onto the mare's lavender pelt, staining it a wet crimson, but she didn't seem to care all that much. "Man, this is going to be a pretty big mess to clean up," Twilight commented as she started on the other arm, skinning it the same way as she ignored her assistant's cries. Continuing from there, the skinner's path traced upward from the dragon's arms, past his shoulders and up to his neck where the blue veins throbbed, several tearing and spilling the blood that flowed through them.

Realizing that the dragon's eyes were beginning to close, slipping into unconsciousness from the pain and loss of blood, she swiftly brought an adreneline shot over and injected the needle's contents into the traumatized dragon. True, it wouldn't null the pain or keep her assistant alive, but at least he'd be kept awake long enough. Upon removing it, Twilight looked at the needle injector in her hoof and started talking to it, scoldingly as if it were a pet. "Now, now, adrenaline, I'm starting to think you've been overworking yourself lately. Don't worry, it's not your fault that the subjects can't stay awake and alive through the procedures on their own and need you to help. And you and benzodiazepine still have work to do for the others!"

Spike managed to hear the pony's words through the fiery pain in his arms and neck, and knew with a sinking heart that Twilight truly had gone off the deep end. He felt weak from blood loss and aguish as remnants of the torn skin and muscle hung from him like old rags, what was left of his veins throbbed, and a warm liquid was felt between his legs as his bladder released urine onto the laboratory's floor.

Twilight scrunched up her nose at the urine smell, but didn't lessen in her work. "You're only making this harder for me, Spike. I'm going to have a lot to clean up after all this. And it was just after I got rid of the rot-and-blood smell, too." Her voice was almost pouting by the last sentence.

She scrutinized the torn skin and muscle as the bone became visible, acting for a moment as if she was a doctor and Spike was her patient. "Hhhmmm... I couldskin the legs too, but you're losing a lot of blood already and I still want to get something from you before I work on Applejack. Doing any more would only hinder things, and I want you to be alive for it, just to take note of your reaction."

Spike swallowed, barely able to speak with the torment that caused his body to sting. "Wh... What?"

"I know that dragons have different anatomy than ponies," Twilight carried on as if her subject had inquired anyway. "If I examine you, I might be able to learn more about dragons than I'd be able to in a book!"

She wore a twisted grin on her face as Spike's breath quickened.

Removing the peeler and cleaning up the remnants of skin that still clung to its surface, Twilight trotted off to retrieve a sharp knife and a plastic bag, chattering away as she went. "I could give you an analgesic to numb the pain for this, but that would help keep you alive, and I need to have a lot more time to work on Applejack." She brought the knife close to the dragon's exposed belly. "Let's just go ahead and get this over with, shall we?"

Trembling with fear and trauma, the dragon managed to keep his eyes open enough to say something to Twilight. To beg her, plead with her, try to bring back his old friend...

"Twi... Tw-Twilight?"

Twilight paused, the knife inches from Spike's underside. When her eyes met those of her skinned, tortured assistant, the look she gave him was almost sympathetic - if you could call a fleeting look of normalcy "sympathetic". "Yes, Spike?"

"Please... th-they're... w-we're your..."

"Oh, Spike," the unicorn replied, her twisted grin slowly returning and her voice growing threateningly quiet, "trust me, Iknowthat they're my friends, and I still remember all the times we had together. Even the two of us." Without giving him time to respond, she plunged the knife into the young dragon's exposed abdomen.

Spike cried out as the knife in his underside only added to the pain he already felt. His screams grew louder as the pain grew, with Twilight slicing from his chest to his abdominal cavity to allow the viscera to clearly be visible as they were kept properly functioning through the dragon's working systems.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! TWILIGHT, PLEASE, STOP! STOP!"

The scientist, acting as if the screaming didn't exist, seemed merely surprised as she noticed the inner workings of the dragon's anatomy. "Woah, so dragons have twostomachs? That explains where all the fire is stored I suppose!" She jotted a quick scribble on a notepad before, without warning, using her knife to slice within Spike's gut and sever his second stomach from the rest of his body. With the second stomach having a smaller connection to the esophagus, due to its processes being used to create the necessary reaction for fire, part of the esophagus was taken with it, the second connection now merely a severed stump. The dragon screamed in utter agony as one of his major organs was mercilessly cut out of his gut. But it didn't really matter to Twilight - the damage was done. The organ landed within the plastic bag to hold and sterilize it as the vacant space dripped with remnants of fluid.

"Perfect!" the unicorn exclaimed as she sealed the bag up. "Now I'll be able to examine a dragon's fire mechanics properly! Isn't that exciting?"

But Spike didn't hear her words. He felt the trauma of these horrific events taking its toll, quickly overpowering the fading effects of the adrenaline that had, until that point, been keeping him alive. He was going to die. He could feel it. His vision began to fade, his heart rapidly slowing.

With one last look, as if devoting his last moments to searching for the pony he once knew, the dying desperation and fear in the young dragon's gaze faded, the spark of life left his eyes completely, and his body grew limp.

"... Too bad you won't be able to see the others die, though," Twilight murmured, making sure the dragon was surely dead before saying those words, as if concerned that the dragon's lingering spirit might hear - wherever he was going, the heavens above or that strange purgatory that those stripped of the Elements had gone to. "It was great knowing you, Spike."

After a moment of silence as she stared at her assistant's limp body, his blood still pooling on the floor, Twilight began to laugh.

It wasn't just a chuckle of anticipation. It was nearly a shriek, an insane, unhinged cackle of triumph, of a victory, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Hahaha, and the guard has been taken down!" the insane unicorn exclaimed almost joyously, a manic grin visible on her face. "How wonderful! Now I'll be able to get the necessities back and forth to the laboratory much more easily!"

Nearly dancing, Twilight glanced over at the still-unconscious Applejack. Her grin grew wider in anticipation. She circled around the table that Applejack was propped up on, staring at the captive pony as she spoke in a slow, sing-song voice:

"Now that the guard is out of the way, time to bring Honesty out to play..."

-0-0-0-

A/N: Yeeeaaaahhhh, Twilight is completely going psychotic. O apologize for the length because, dang this chapter was a doozy to write! It's probably gonna be the longest chapter, though I may be proven wrong later... Also, as for Pinkie and Rainbow Dash knowing gesture language (Abhinaya), that's a bit of a shout out to the book "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", as Mudra the Shadow Warrior speaks Abhinaya rather than words.
Oh, and to lighten the mood, and as a bit of a release for Applejack's upcoming death next chapter, I also have some epic news: I've posted this story on dA (well, I'm posting it as I go along), and this one person who wrote another kind of infamous fic in the fandom, "The experiments of Twilight Sparkle", thinks my story is better than his, he's jealous, and he wants me to give him pointers! Even more? Another person on dA asked me if he could do a reading of my fic, just like has been done with fics like "Cupcakes", "Rainbow Factory", and "Sweet Apple Massacre"! ... I am still stunned in happiness.
Anyway, excitement of rising popularity aside, remember to review!