Nightmare at the Gala!

Chapters

Spread The Word
Karma
The Murderer's Nickname
Twilight Loses It
Fluttershy Gives In
The Final Hours
The Nightmare Begins
The Murderers First Attacks
Razor Sharp
The Insanity Ends
Breaking Point
The End of the Nightmare
The Murderer is Revealed
Memories
Royalty
Nostalgia
The End
The Beginning
The Hanging Object
Changeling

Spread The Word

The next day, Rainbow Dash hears about what happened yesterday and flies over to Sweet Apple Acres with Spike to comfort Applejack. "The way Fluttershy described how Applejack was yesterday seemed so calm, that's not like her! Applebloom was her own flesh and blood, I know she's devastated now, and that's way we're going to comfort her." says Rainbow Dash. "She's a strong pony, I know she can get through it." says Spike. Rainbow Dash touches ground at Sweet Apple Acres as Spike gets off her back and runs to the front of the barn. Spike knocks quietly but loud enough for somepony to hear it. After a long pause, nopony answers the door, the two check every door in the barn, they're all locked. All of the lights are off as well. "When I said Applejack was devastated, it might be more than I anticipated." says Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash and Spike fly back to Ponyville, thinking that Applejack is there and not Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash finds Twilight trotting to her home. "Twilight! We need your help." says Rainbow Dash. "Is everything okay? Speaking of which, did you hear about yesterday? Applejack must be s-" Twilight gets cut off. "Yes we heard about yesterday! We can't find Applejack here or Sweet Apple Acres." says Spike. "Okay, well I'll be glad to help you guys find Applejack." says Twilight. "Let's go back to Sweet Apple Acres and check one more time." The three now run to Sweet Apple Acres because of the majority of non Pegasi to Pegasi. Upon arriving, Rainbow Dash informs Twilight that the doors were locked and the lights are off. "Hmmm.. like I said, just check the doors again, I have an idea." says Twilight. Spike checks the doors and Rainbow checks the windows again. "Still the same." says Spike. "Can you tell us your idea now?" asks Rainbow Dash.

Twilight gives the two of them an 'are you serious?' look. "Did you check around back?" Rainbow Dash's eyes widen. "Uhm.. Not reall-.....No we didn't." The three run around back and find Applejack sitting under a shady tree, next to a grave with Appleblooms name on it. "You're just in time for the funeral. Ah wouldn't just leave her body out in the woods, now would ah? What're y'all doin' here?" "We came here to comfort you!" says Spike. Twilight sits down next to the grave. "We all miss her Applejack, we really do, and to think she just got her cutie mark too." says Twilight. "It's a real shame, believe me ah know, but for now ah don't wanna go anywhere, ah don't need any comforting right now." says Applejack. "We came here to stick around and make you feel better, an-" Twilight gets cut off again. "Twilight..." says Applejack, staring at her. "Ok fine, we'll leave." says Twilight. As the three depart, Spike turns around when he sees an object hanging from the tree above Applejack. "That's one weird Halloween decoration, a hanging object is a classic for Halloween. Rainbow Dash, you gotta see this!" says Spike. Rainbow Dash doesn't turn around. "Spike we don't have time, now lets go." says Rainbow Dash. Spike looks at the hanging object once more. "Maybe Big Macintosh knows about that hanging object." says Spike. Applejack, getting more broken inside, moves closer to Applebloom's grave. "You're in a better place now lil' sis." cries Applejack.

Time change

The day is now October 18th. Applejack is still broken inside, and Spike has yet to tell anyone about the hanging object. Down in Ponyville, Twilight is writing a response letter to Princess Celestia about a Gala that is set to happen on Halloween night. "Dear Princess Celestia, I would love to help you plan out your Halloween Gala. We can meet up until then and express our ideas. Just ask me when! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight writes. She gives the letter to Spike, who sends it to Canterlot. Around 5 minutes later, she gets a response back. "Dear Twilight, I was hoping you could come up today, if you cannot make it, i'll reschedule. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." Celestia writes back. Twilight reads the letter again in confusion. "Well that escalated quickly!" says Twilight. Twilight exits the Canterlot train station and makes her way through the sophisticated city. Everypony there already knows about the Gala and are more than excited for it, Twilight can already see ponies making costumes! As she arrives at Celestia's castle, she is already waiting for her inside. "Good day, my faithful student. It's so nice of you to be able to come here today, it's just something iv'e never done before and I need all the help I can get!" says Celestia. "It's no worry! Where were you planning on having this Gala?" asks Twilight. "Actually, I want it to be here in my castle!" exclaims Celestia. "That's great! Do you need help spreading the word in Ponyville?" asks Twilight. "Nope, I already have the perfect filly for the job, she'll start spreading the word tomorrow!" says Celestia. Before Twilight can say her next idea, a voice is heard outside.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia! I came as soon as possibl-... TWILIGHT!" yells Shining Armour. Twilight knows that voice anywhere, she turns around. "My big brother!" Twilight yells back. The two embrace as they finally see each other again. "I missed you so much! Why are you here?!" asks Twilight. "I felt like you two should see each other again." says Celestia. "This is amazing. While you're here, you wanna come with me to the Crystal Empire?" asks Shining Armour. "I don't see why not." says Twilight. "I haven't seen Cadence in a while though, I figured she is out and about." says Shining Armour. The two trot outside as Shining Armour gets his carriage ready, which is parked on the side of the castle. As he hooks himself to the carriage, he gets his hooves comfortable on the ground, and steps on a nail in the process. In anger, he mutters under his breath. "Don't move, Shining Armour. That nail is deep in your hoof." says Twilight. "I'm fine Twilight, just....FINE!" yells Shining Armour. He accidentally kicks the emergency brake, causing the carriage to roll downhill. "Twilight save me! I can't reach the brake!" yells Shining Armour. Twilight tries to run after him but is unable to reach him. As the hill gets faster, the carriage starts to lose balance and starts to flip upside down, crushing Shining Armour alone with it. Twilight opens her eyes and sees a blood trail going down the whole hill, and at the bottom lays her brother underneath the carriage, dead. Twilight starts to scream for help as other ponies attempt to get her brother out from the carriage.

The next day, Scootaloo rides on her scooter around Ponyville spreading the word about the Gala. "Halloween Gala! Halloween Gala in Canterlot on Halloween night! Get your costumes ready everypony." Scootaloo yells constantly. She makes a sharp turn near Carousel Boutique, and crashes, scraping herself and getting blood on her scooter. Rarity hears the impact inside and runs out to help Scootaloo. "Oh my! Scootaloo! Are you okay, darling? You can kill someone with this scooter." says Rarity. "It happens all the time Rarity. I planned on stopping here anyway. I have a special request from Princess Celestia with your name on it!" says Scootaloo "A special request for MOI?! Where is it? Where is it?!" asks Rarity. Rarity reaches into Scootaloo's backpack and pulls out a blueprint with multiple designs on it. Scootaloo takes it back. "Sorry Rarity, that's uh.. personal, my eyes only!" says Scootaloo, afraid that her plans got spoiled. Scootaloo pulls out the letter from Celestia. "Here is your letter." says Scootaloo. Rarity opens it carefully. It reads: "Dear Rarity, I need a dress for my Halloween Gala and where else would I get an elegant dress than Carousel Boutique? If you aren't able to make my dress, please don't hesitate to say so." Celestia writes. Rarity drops the letter in shock. "I can't believe she chose me to make her dress! I must begin working!" yells Rarity. She runs inside and places a 'Do not disturb' sign on her door. Scootaloo doesn't know what just happened. "Oh.... well goodbye to you too.." she says jokingly.

Karma

Across Ponyville, Applejack is slowly walking to Sugarcube Corner, hoping that Pinkie Pie will cheer her up, but walks inside only to find Pinkie Pie with flesh peeling off her skin. "PINKIE PIE! Your face... it's..." says Applejack, scared. "This is just make-up silly! "I'm gonna be a zombie for the Halloween Gala!" says Pinkie Pie. Applejack feels light-headed and sits down. "Ah think i'm losing it, Pinkie Pie. Ah'm just gonna go home and rest, you seem busy." says Applejack. She exits Sugarcube Corner when Gilda swoops in and bumps into her. "Move it country girl!" yells Gilda. As Gilda walks away, Applejack starts to get angry. "Maybe if you knew how to fly properly.." mutters Applejack under her breath. Gilda turns around. "Excuse me?! Do you wanna say something, country girl?!" yells Gilda. Applejack starts to breakdown in tears. "Uhm.. no... ah'm sorry." says Applejack, running away.

Gilda continues walking across Ponyville when she gets stopped by Rainbow Dash. "You know Gilda, Applejack was right. You don't know how to fly properly, you gotta be like me!" says Rainbow Dash. "Are you challenging me?!" asks Gilda, raising her voice. "Oh you know, I want a race, to see who's the better flyer!" says Rainbow Dash. "Let's do it! You name the obstacle, I don't wanna overdo it for an amateur like you!" says Gilda. "Oh, it's SO on! We take 5 laps around Sweet Apple Acres, cross the train tracks, and back to where were standing!" yells Rainbow Dash "Too easy." Gilda scoffs. "On your mark, get set, GO!" screams Rainbow Dash. The two pegasi are already at lightning speed as they approach Sweet Apple Acres. The first four laps have been neck and neck. On the fifth lap, Rainbow Dash remembers Appleblooms grave and slows down to get a look at it. She looks around for Applejack and spots the hanging object that Spike noticed. A hat falls off of the hanging object. Rainbow Dash starts panicking, but gets back in the race. "I'll catch up to you Gilda!" yells Rainbow Dash. Unaware of her talents, Gilda objects. "What are you gonna do? Use your Sonic Rainboom? HA!" asks Gilda. Rainbow gets intimidated by Gilda's comment. "I don't need that to catch up with you, slowpoke!" yells Rainbow Dash. All of the sudden, as the two are flying through the woods path, an arrow shoots one of Gilda's wings. "GILDA, NO!!" screams Rainbow Dash, as she continues to fly away in hopes that she won't get hurt as well. Gilda screams in pain as she crashes onto the train tracks, unable to move Gilda sees a train approaching, but can't fly away with an injured wing. On that train, is Twilight, who is coming home from Canterlot. The paralyzed bird struggles to fly away as the train runs her over and derails off the tracks, crashing into the woods.

Rainbow Dash arrives at the spot where she and Gilda were before the race started, trying to find the nearest source of help. In the distance, she sees Twilight leaving the train station on an emergency train. "Twilight, where were you for all this time?" asks Rainbow Dash. "Well.. I was in Canterlot with Celestia when I got to meet my big brother again, but our time together got... cut short." says Twilight. She starts to tear up when Rainbow Dash remembers the hanging object. "Twilight! I saw something! Sweet Apple Acres! There was a hanging object, a hat was on the ground, I think Applejack hung herself!" yells Rainbow Dash. "Wait, why were you at Sweet Apple Acres?" asks Twilight. "I challenged Gilda to a race and we had to fly 5 laps there and I saw the hat. I tried to ignore it and caught up with Gilda, then an arrow came out of nowhere and injured her." says Rainbow Dash, nervously. Twilight gives her an angry stare. "So some assassin is the reason why I almost died in that train crash! That arrow injuring Gilda caused the train to run her over. That's why the train derailed!" All of the sudden, a ball of smoke fills up the air.

"Oh my gosh.. Gilda's trapped under that train! I have to go save her!" yells Rainbow Dash. Twilight bites on her tail, preventing her from going to the train. "She'll be fine, Rainbow. Fireponys are trying to put out the smoke as we speak, it's too dangerous!" Twilight was wrong. Within a few seconds, the ball of smoke turned into a ball of fire. "GILDA! NO... GILDA!" Rainbow cries out. "Rainbow, I'm so sorry.." says Twilight. "I can't believe I'll never get to see her again." says Rainbow Dash. Just then, Gilda's decapitated head falls next to Rainbow Dash, she screams and flies away in horror. Twilight stares at it in conusion, then starts to back away slowly, followed by running away.

Time Change

The day is now October 24, the Halloween gala is only a week away, and Rarity is still designing Princess Celestia's dress to perfection. "This dress is going to forever." Rarity complains. "Where's my assistant?!" Pinkie Pie steps out in an old dress with pin cushions on it. "Ah there you are, Ms. Pie." says Rarity as she takes out another needle and starts to stitch again. Pinkie Pie looks at her in confusion. "Rarity, you're a unicorn, can't you just use your horn to make this dress?" Rarity stops stitching and looks at her straight in the eye. "Pinkie Pie, darling, I would use my horn for any other dress, but this dress is for the Princess of Equestria, I can't afford to make a single mistake. It needs to be perfection! This dress is also between you and me, nopony else can see it, not even my sister Sweetie Belle, I've already told her one too many times that she cannot see it until it is done, and that's how it's gonna be." She trots back to Pinkie Pie to pull out another needle and starts slightly hitting the dress. "This is really worn out, you can actually see the dust coming from it." The dust enters Pinkie Pies nose and let's out a giant sneeze.

The sneeze was so strong, a few pins fell onto the floor, the pins roll across the room and fall into an outlet mounted into the floor. The electrical shock from the pins power the plug in the outlet, which powers a fan. The fans automatic start causes it to go on High. Not far from the store outside is Sweetie Belle, trotting over to see if she can get her cutie mark by helping Rarity. All of the sudden, the fan blows the window open. Sweetie Belle stops and looks confused. The fan gets stronger as it knocks over a box of extra pins and starts blowing them outside. Sweetie Belle continues walking when the first pin stabs her front hoof. She squeals in pain as more and more pins stab her. She starts screaming and running to the store and trips over herself, falling on her face as the pins stab her heart. Inside the store, Rarity is unaware of what happened outside. "I wonder where Sweetie Belle could be? She'd be bothering me about the dress by now." Rarity hears the fan and turns around. "This fan shouldn't be on, and I didn't open this window." She looks over the windowsill and finds Sweetie Belle's dead and bloody body outside. "SWEETIE BELLE! NO!" screams Rarity. She runs outside and starts removing the pins from her body as a light shines from her flank. Her cutie mark shows a microphone, to show her talent of singing, or screaming in this situation.

The Murderer's Nickname

The day is now October 26, Princess Celestia's dress is finally finished as she arrives at Carousel Boutique for the revealing. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Twilight, and Spike are all there to support Rarity. "Good day everypony!" says Celestia. "Not only am I here for the revealing of my dress, but to pay respect for your most recent losses." As Celestia goes on, Spike daydreams about the hanging object at Sweet Apple Acres, and if it's a pony, or just a Halloween decoration. Twilight snaps him out of his daydream, "Spike, are you listening?" "Of course Twilight, but don't scare me like that, you know I site fire when I get scared." Princess Celestia cues Rarity to reveal the dress and pulls the curtain. The dress is a beautiful light orange shading into a black at the bottom. Across the dress are jewels matching the colors of Celestia's mane. Everypony stares in awe by the distinct beauty of the dress. Spike slowly walks out of the store, "That stuff is too girly for me, I'll think about the hanging object by myself."

"Oh, Rarity! It looks amazing! I will definitely wear this to the Gala!" says Celestia. Just then, Princess Luna bursts through the door. "I'm so sorry I'm late! Did i miss the dress?" "Not at all my dear sister, you're just in time!" says Celestia. Across from Carousel Boutique, an archer is aiming on Luna, but she walks inside the store, so the archer gives in. "I'll just wait until the Halloween Gala, they'll never see it coming!" says the archer. Back in the store, Celestia tries on her dress. "It fits perfectly, Rarity. How did you do that?" Rarity shrugs, "It's just in my talent, your heiness." Twilight turns to Spike, thinking he's still inside. "Isn't this amazing, Spi-." She turns in a circle. "Has anypony seen Spike?" asks Twilight. Applejack doesn't look surprised. "Ah don't believe we saw him at all, it's almost like he's hiding and watching our every move."

The next day, Fluttershy is at her cottage making her own touches to her Gala dress when Twilight enters. "Can I talk to you about something, Fluttershy?" "Oh.. D-Did I do something? I'm sorry.." says Fluttershy. Twilight looks really concerned. "I came to you because you were there when this all started. Don't you find it... weird? All these murders going on? I think that there's a murderer. These things cant just happen. Somepony is out to get us." "Fluttershy, it's been death after death for two weeks already. This can't be accidents. I'm gonna be after this murderer!" says Twilight. Just then, a rock with a note attached crashes threw Fluttershys window and hits Twilight on the head. It reads: 'October 31! Be ready, Ms. Detective! Signed, ~'. Twilight reads the signature again. "A tilde?! What kind of murderer names them self after a tilde?" "Twilight, that note is probably just a prank." Fluttershy assumes. "No, this is all real, this is only the beginning Fluttershy." says Twilight before running out of Fluttershy's cottage.

Hours later, Twilight addresses the presence of the murderer to Princess Celestia, and gets a reply back. "Hmph! At least somepony is listening to me." Twilight spoke too soon. Her reply reads the same thing that Fluttershy said, and that she is overreacting. "I can't believe nopony believes me, not even the princess!" She starts trotting slowly around her house. "It doesn't make sense, why would this so called murderer take away the one thing that meant the most to us? Rainbow Dash lost Gilda, Fluttershy lost her animals, Applejack lost Applebloom, Rarity lost Sweetie Belle, I lost Shining Armour, and Pinkie Pie lo-.... PINKIE PIE! She must've caused this! Nothing has happened to her yet!" Just then, another rock with a note attached hits her in the head. It reads: 'Think again! ~' Twilight throws the rock back out the window in anger. "Curse you Tilde! Curse you, curse you, curse you.!" Twilight then smells a foul stench coming from outside, she peeks her head out the broken window. Her assumption was wrong. A dead animal lays outside Twilight's home, it's Gummy.

Twilight Loses It

Twilight almost starts throwing up over the stench of Gummy outside her house. "Well, it's not Pinkie Pie. She wouldn't kill her own pet. This mystery is going downhill, but I'm gonna solve it! Even if it kills me!" Twilight pulls out an empty book and starts writing notes about the mystery now and what may come in the future, maybe at the Gala. After many hours of "carefully" crossing off ponies, she reaches an accusation. She bursts through her door and runs across Ponyville. Rainbow Dash is flying above her, watching her serious face run through town. "Twilight, what's the rush?" "I think I know who's causing all of this. Follow me if you want!" The two gallop further into the woods and reach Sweet Apple Acres. "Applejack?" asks Rainbow Dash. "You think the murderer.. is Applejack?" "My evidence makes sense, just watch me." Twilight tries to open the door to the barn, its locked once again. Rainbow Dash smirks at her, "Did you check around back?" asks Rainbow Dash imitating Twilight. Twilight looks at her with an angry look, "Don't think I simply forgot to check the back.." The two run around back and see Applejack beside her sisters grave once again. "Did you come here to make up for the funeral?" asks Applejack again, sarcastically. "No, I came here for something different! I figured you were here." says Twilight. "Where else would ah be? Ah gotta be by my sisters side every once in a while. Nopony else is here to comfort her most of the day." says Applejack, getting angry. Rainbow Dash gets a vision of the hanging object and gets chills throughout her body. She shakes it out and looks up at the tree. The hanging object isn't there anymore. She tries to hold it in but can't.

"Where is it?! Where is it?!" yells Rainbow, flying around the tree. "It was right here! I saw it!!" Applejack looks at her in confusion. "Hanging object? Rainbow, their wasn't anything there in the first place! Unless it was one of Big Mac's Halloween decorations to scare the fillies." says Applejack. "No! Their was a hanging object on THIS branch! I saw a hat fall from it and...and.." "We'll get to that another time Rainbow." says Twilight, interrupting her. "YOU, Applejack, you're in quite a heap of trouble. You couldn't get away with it cause I figured you out! You have been the pony causing all these murderers! When your sister died, you felt that we didn't care enough, so you went and killed everything that meant the most to us!" Rainbow Dash sits next to Applejack, whose looking at Twilight in anger. "Yeah, I know. She said it, Applejack." says Rainbow. "Now, would you like to prove her wrong?" Applejack gets up and twists her head both ways, trying to release the anger. "Yeah! AH WOULD! FIRST OF ALL, let ME be the first to say, you have gone COMPLETELY insane! Why would ah kill my OWN FLESH and BLOOD just for PUBLICITY?!" Applejacks yelling turns to screaming. "I SAW that arrow go through Applebloom's eye RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! SECOND OF ALL The only pony who was with me was Fluttershy and she witnessed the same darn thing ah did! SO, let me ask you, Twilight, who wasn't there when Applebloom died? Hmm, it's on the tip of my tongue, ah can't seem to get an answe- oh yeah, that's right. YOU, Twilight! YOU WEREN'T THERE! Accuse me all you want, but I didn't shove that arrow into my sisters eye, you weren't there to see it, so you have NO evidence against me, so back off!

Twilight's face turns from confidence, to embarrassment as Rainbow Dash has her jaw open from what she just heard. "I didn't miss a thing," says Twilight. "I thought my evidence made sense. Applejack sits back down. "Twilight, I'm sorry for my outburst but, you need to go deeper into detail with your evidence." Twilight tries to respond, but she doesn't. Instead, she starts trotting back to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash follows her after saying goodbye. Applejack lays down and thinks to herself who the murderer may be.

Time Change

The day is now October 29, only two days until the Gala. Twilight thinks long hard about the mystery, trying to "get into more detail". She reaches another accusation and bursts our of her house. She bumps into Pinkie Pie along the way, which was the pony she was going to find in the first place. "Gee Twilight, what's the rush?!" asks Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, i already accused Applejack of this and I thought long and uhm.. hard about this but, you are the murderer." says Twilight, confidently. Pinkie Pie raises an eyebrow and looks straight at her. "Me? The murderer? Are you crazy? I would never ever ever ever hurt my precious Gummy." "Gummy's death was the last of us six, it all made sense when i thought about it again." says Twilight. "I sure do miss Gummy, I remember when my mother had a pet just like Gummy, she practically almost tore the family part with that pet! She would always cuddle with him and go play fetch with him. Whenever me or my siblings wanted to play with him, she wouldn't let us. I almost got away with it and she said "Pinkamena Diane Pie, you bring him back inside!" After a few years, he got sick and their was nothing we could do, so my mom had to put him down. Our family was devastated, especially mother but-.... wait, what were we talking about again?" says Pinkie Pie, losing her train of thought. "Ughh! Nevermind! It's no use anymore!" says Twilight, trotting away, irritated. Pinkie Pie looks confused. "Well okie dokie lokie! See you around!" says Pinkie as she happily trots away. Twilight starts stomping on the ground as Fluttershy watches not far from her. "This is not the end, Tilde!" says Twilight. "I will find you before Halloween strikes, even if i have to kill you in front of everypony at the Gala! Nopony is gonna stop me! NOPONY!" Fluttershy watches Twilight as she slams her door closed. "I sure do feel bad for Twilight. I wanna help her but she completely lost her mind, even though I love her as a friend." says Fluttershy. She starts heading towards her cottage when the murderer sits upon the top of Twilight's house. "Think what you want, Ms. Detective, but it all starts in two days. You can't defeat me!" says the murderer, laughing maniacally.

Fluttershy Gives In

The day is now October 31, Halloween has come, and everypony is excited for the Gala, except for Twilight, who lies in her house, out of accusations to make. "Why must i run out of notes, Why? WHY?!" She starts shoving all of her notes off her desk and flings them across the living room. Spike stops Twilight from flinging any more. "Twilight, you need to let this go, it's no use. None of your friends wanna see you like this at the Gala, there is no murderer." Twilight drops her book and helps Spike pick up her papers. "Spike, you don't understand. I vowed to stop the murderer at all costs, and that's what I'm gonna do. These aren't just unfortunate events!" Fluttershy is about to knock on Twilight's door, asking to help her, but lowers her hoof and listens to Twilight outside. "This murderer obviously has a reason to go after all of us, but the thing is, who is it and what is their reason? The Gala is TONIGHT, and I haven't fit all the pieces together. Death is going to strike, and nopony will believe me! The Gala begins at 9:00, that's not enough time for more accusations." Twilight starts to get a throbbing headache. "I have a bad feeling about tonight, but I'm just gonna let it go and be confident that things go well." Fluttershy raises her hoof again, but lowers it and trots away.

Less than eight hours until the Gala, Twilight takes the afternoon train to Canterlot and tries to give Princess Celestia a last warning about the murderer, but she went at the wrong time. Celestia is too distracted by putting up decorations and making sure everything is stable. As Twilight tries to give her warnings, Celestia, without even looking at Twilight, calmly tells her to go rest at home and she'll see her tonight. Twilight leaves Celestia's castle and spends the train back to Ponyville in a sense of defeat. "Maybe if I gave her visual evidence, she'd believe me, but there's not enough time for that kind of information."

The Gala starts in seven hours. Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are making finishing touches to their costumes inside Carousel Boutique when Spike stops working and speaks up. "I honestly feel awful for you girls, I'm not really sure what it feels like to lose somepony close to you." Rarity trots over to Spike to hug him. "Awwh Spike, there's not a thing to worry about." says Rarity, following by kissing Spike on the cheek, causing him to go speechless. (You knew he was gonna react like that!) Spike pulls himself together. "I especially feel bad for Scootaloo, losing her two best friends like that." Rainbow Dash stops working, and gets concerned. "Wait, where is Scootaloo?!" Rarity gets a flashback of the blueprints in Scootaloo's backpack and drops her needles in a sense of panic. "Oh dear..." The three turn towards her. "I believe I may know where Scootaloo is.... We need to go right now!" The four leave Carousel Boutique and head across Ponyville. "Applejack, you need to show me where the Cutie Mark Crusaders fort is." says Rarity. Applejack takes the lead. "Ah know just where it is. Just follow me." They all set onto a trail near Sweet Apple Acres as they reach the fort where Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, think of ideas and/or good deeds to get their cutie marks. The four find Scootaloo alive, but she is building a memorial, a memorial to recognize her two best friends.

"Oh my, Scootaloo, thank goodness you're okay!" says Rarity. "We thought you weren't exactly okay.. if you know what were saying." says Rainbow Dash. "Ah'm just glad we didn't lose the third Cutie Mark Crusader." says Applejack. Scootaloo stops building. "I'm not sure why I'd be dead, but I was here the whole time, except for taking breaks and all that." Rarity looks embarrassed. "B... But the blueprint, it looked suspicious." Scootaloo knows what Rarity is trying to point out and tosses it to her. "What you saw was just this addition to the clubhouse, I can understand why you thought it looked suspicious solely because I took it away immediately, but there's nothing suspicious here. I'm just happy my friends are in a better place, and that they got their cutie marks. When I get mine, I'll think of them, and remember that we never gave up and we pushed ourselves to reach our goal, and I couldn't ask for better best friends. I'll see you girls at the Gala tonight, I wanna get some more work done." "Bye Scootaloo!" says the four simultaneously as they run back to Ponyville. Scootaloo slowly stops building again and realizes that she doesn't have the best friends she could ask for, and starts to tear up. "Now I really want my friends here, why wasn't it me?" There's a long silence. "WHY WASN'T IT ME MURDERER?! HUH? You couldn't have been any more stupid as to killing my bestest friends in all of Equestria! You have no idea what kind of impact you've set on all of us!" She starts breathing heavily through the pain, and breaks into tears. "Stupid murderer!" Just then, a shadow approaches Scootaloo from behind and puts a pressure point on her neck, silently taking her unconscious body away from the fort.

The Gala starts in four hours. Fluttershy is in Ponyville watching the Halloween sunset when she hears screaming in the distance. It's Twilight, going completely insane, like Applejack said. "Maybe I should go see if shes oka-"says Fluttershy upon seeing Rainbow Dash flying down to Twilight, furiously. "Twilight, YOU NEED to stop this right now! This mystery is taking over your life! Let it go! There's no need to dedicate your life to this!" Twilight starts pacing back and forth and then approaches Rainbow Dash slowly. "I will make a positive influence on everypony tonight, and there is nothing you can do about it! You can't tell me how to live my life!" Fluttershy starts approaching the two slowly when Twilight slaps Rainbow Dash across the face, throwing her to the ground. Fluttershy sits back down. "I'm sure Rainbow Dash will calm her dow-" Pinkie Pie sees the fight and starts pushing Twilight. "Who are you to slap my best friend?! You have no right to do that! Rainbow Dash is right! You need to let it go!" Twilight approaches Pinkie Pie and slaps her but harder. She and Rainbow Dash leave Twilight alone when Flutershy has seen enough. "That's it. I'm helping Twilight. Whether she likes it or not, I'm helping her. I'm not even going to tell her." Fluttershy runs to her cottage and wakes up her rabbit, Angel. "I've made up my mind Angel, I'm solving this murderer with Twilight." she grabs a pile of papers and gives half to Angel. "I'm going to give you a list of the victims over the past 18 days, you analyze them and try to come up with ideas." She gives the list to Angel. "According to Twilight, this murderer impacted all six of us by killing the one thing that meant the most to us, but Twilight isn't going deeper into detail. There HAS to be a reason this is happening."

The Final Hours

An hour has passed since Fluttershy started her research, the Gala starts in three hours. So far, Fluttershy hasn't found the final piece to her evidence, Angel is having the same problem. "I didn't think solving a mystery was this hard." says Fluttershy. "No wonder Twilight went insane." More minutes pass when Angel gets an idea, but his inability to talk makes it harder for him to give Fluttershy the idea, so he has to try another way. For Angels first attempt, he starts tucking on Fluttershy's hair. After a few tucks, she turns around. "Angel, I'm sorry but I'm trying to concentrate, there's no time to waste." Angel paces in circle for more minutes and then comes up with a second attempt. This time, Angel climbs on top of Fluttershy's head and rests there. Fluttershy giggles a little and then pick her off of her head. "Angel, I know you're bored, but i need all the help i can get. We need to concentrate!" Angel walks back to his notes and accidentally walks over them. The third idea sparks in his mind. He climbs onto Fluttershy's desk and pretends to not look suspicious. He then "accidentally" slips and falls on Fluttershy's notes. Fluttershy now looks serious at Angel. "Spill it, Angel, tell me what it is you want. I don't know why you keep bothering me, I promise I'll listen when this is done." Angel walks behind Fluttershy and smirks, waiting for the plan to go into full effect. "Sometimes all you want is attention, like you want me to notice you." says Fluttershy as shes straightening her notes. Suddenly, her eyes pop open, and her papers go everywhere.

"ANGEL! THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE FINAL PIECE! WE DID IT!" screams Fluttershy. Angel crosses his arms and smirks again, upon being picked up by Fluttershy and getting hugged tightly. "We can carry on the investigation now!" Fluttershy lays on the ground with Angel. "So, now we know that this murderer just wants attention! We know it's not Applejack, she didn't fire the arrow into her sister. I was there, I wouldn't be lying about that, though the hanging object is a different story, if it even is a hanging object for the most part, and it's a good thing the word hasn't spread about that. It's not Twilight, she wouldn't kill her brother, she loves him so much. It's not Rainbow Dash, she wasn't part of the train crash, though she blinded Gilda in the first place, and that crash almost killed Twilight. It's not Rarity, she wouldn't kill her sister, though she was found outside Carousel Boutique. It's not Pinkie Pie, she wouldn't kill her own pet, she loved Gummy more than anything, but Gummy was found outside Twilight's house, and we all want a piece of Twilight at the moment. Since it's not us six, that narrows it down a bit, but I can't seem to pick out that specific pony." Fluttershy decides to go deeper into detail. "Angel, make a list of ponies you haven't seen since the day Applebloom died." Angel lays on the floor again, too lazy to make more notes.

The Gala starts in two hours. Rarity is frantically running about Ponyville, trying to find somepony to talk to when she sees Fluttershy's cottage. She barges in but Fluttershy doesn't see her, instead she's too busy crossing off ponies as to who isn't the murderer. "Fluttershy, can I ask for your opinion?" asks Rarity. Fluttershy turns around. "Oh! Rarity, I didn't see you come in, I'm sorry... anyway, what do you need help with?" "What if tonight, nopony finds my dress amazing? What if they don't like MY dress?!" "Rarity, if you can wait, I'm trying to figure something out." says Fluttershy. "This is an emergency though! I've been nervous this whole day and I can't calm down! I just really hope that everypony likes Princess Celestia's dress." The word 'princess' echoes in Fluttershy's mind. "Wait, Celestia, it can't be her. She and her sister are the ones who planned this party. So that leaves... RARITY! RARITY!" Rarity stands still. "Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not the murderer." Fluttershy trots in circles. "No! I meant I know who the murderer is! This is amazing, just in time for the Gala!" "I'm proud of you darling, but the dress..." says Rarity. Fluttershy looks at the clock. "Rarity, what if i said that the Gala starts in 90 minutes and you aren't even in your costume." smirks Fluttershy. Rarity jumps and burtsts through Fluttershy's door. "See you at Twilight's!" Fluttershy closes her door when Rarity stops running. "Hmm.. I wonder if I tell Twilight about Fluttershy." She snaps out of the thought and continues running to Carousel Boutique.

30 minutes pass as everypony except for Fluttershy is at Twilight's house, waiting for Spike to take them to Canterlot. "How do you like my costume, girls?" asks Rainbow Dash, stepping out in a replica of a Wonderbolts suit, whom she dreams of joining. "Wow, Rainbow, you show alot of dedication towards the Wonderbolts, maybe you'll actually get into the group someday!" says Pinkie, trotting out in the zombie costume that scared Applejack. "Oh jeez, Pinkie Pie, that costume looks real everytime ah look at it!" says Applejack, trotting out in a cowgirl costume, with her cutie mark stitched onto it. "Applejack, darling, you sure know how to show your Apple Family spirit!" says Rarity, trotting out in a beautiful, fluorescent dress, with shades of blue and purple going top to bottom on her dress. Fluttershy steps through Twilight's door in a green dress with an olive wreath on her head. "You girls look amazing!" says Fluttershy. The four look at each others costumes. "Wait, where's Twilight?" asks Rainbow Dash. Twilight walks down her steps in a normal, fancy dress. Applejack is the first to look surprised. "Uh.. Twilight, aren't ya gonna dress up? Ah mean, it IS Halloween after all." "Oh no Applejack, I wanna look presentable when I catch the murderer at the Gala. Pinkie Pie doesn't say a word as Rainbow Dash facehoofs herself. "Please tell me you're still not hooked on this mystery." says Rarity. "This mystery will be solved, under my hoof, and nopony... will stop me, or I will not be happy." says Twilight. Fluttershy starts to panic inside but calms down. "You are really pushing yourself with this mystery." says Rarity. Before Twilight gives Rarity a piece of her mind, Spike walks in at the right time. "Your carriage awaits you outside, are you girls ready?" asks Spike. Pinkie Pie, looking like somethings on her mind, starts hugging her friends one by one. "Let's make this the BEST Halloween ever!" yells Pinkie Pie. "Best Halloween ever!" chants the other five as they all glance at each other with confidence.

As the six approach their carriage, Twilight is at the end of the group, walking slower and slower. The five sit in the carraige, waiting for her to get inside. She takes a deep breath and trots inside the carriage. Rainbow Dash smirks at Applejack. "This oughta be good." "Tell me about it." says Applejack. The carriage departs Ponyville and makes its way to Canterlot.

The Nightmare Begins

As the carriage enters Canterlot, the group can see Luna on the castles balcony, raising the moon as the day turns to night. The castle is decorated like never before for a Halloween Gala. "Princess Celestia really went above standards for this Gala." says Applejack. "Just look at these ponies contumes, It's nothing I would ever make." says Rarity. "I think they look nice." says Fluttershy. Spike stops the carriage and all of the six go silent. "The Gala awaits you, girls." says Spike as their hearts stop. Spike opens the door to the carriage as one by one, they slowly exit the vehicle. Twilight takes a deep breath and confidently starts trotting towards the castle. The other five follow behind her, scared out of their minds. "I don't know Rainbow Dash, I have a weird feeling that tonight might go really bad, and It's not about the dress." says Rarity. "I have the same feeling too!" says Rainbow Dash. "I know I'm not the only one, just look at Pinkie Pie." Rarity leans over and sees Pinkie Pie with no smile, eyes wide open, and a horrified look. "She looked worse than she did at Twilight's house." says Rarity. She nudges Applejack. "Do you think something's up with Pinkie Pie?" asks Rarity. Applejack leans over and tries not look twice at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, is their uh.. something wrong?" asks Applejack. Fluttershy looks over. "Oh my.. you don't look good Pinkie Pie, you seem scared." Pinkie Pie slightly turns her head, and lets out a small smile. "Me? Scared? No! I'm more than excited for the Gala... yay!" says Pinkie Pie. "Don't let anything get to you tonight sugar cube, we're gonna be just fine." says Applejack. "Unless you're Twilight, then this Gala really got to her." says Rarity. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash start bursting out in laughter, but cover their mouths quickly.

The six arrive at the entrance to the castle when Twilight turns around. "I'll see you girls at the grand entrance." Twilight moves through the crowd inside the castle. Rarity starts trotting inside, but then stops and turns around. "I have to go see Princess Celestia, would any of you girls want to join me?" Rainbow Dash starts running away, hoping to find the Wonderbolts. Applejack puts her hoof around Pinkie Pie. "I'll stay with her, Rarity." That leaves Fluttershy. "Come, Fluttershy, we must not waste time." says Rarity. The two make their way up a staircase and into Celestia's room where she is accompanied by Princess Luna and Spike. "Rarity! I'm so glad you and Fluttershy can make it! Both of your costumes are amazing!" says Celestia. Luna agrees. "Everypony is going crazy about what Celestia's dress looks like!" says Luna as she puts on her dress, and accidentally tears it. "Oh no! My dress! Rarity, do you think you can fix it quickly?" asks Luna. Rarity grabs a sewing kit from Celestias vanity. "Fixing dresses is my specialty!" As Rarity works on Luna's dress, Fluttershy approaches Celestia. "Can I talk to you about something?" asks Fluttershy. "Sure Fluttershy, What's the issue? It's the overload on decorations isn't it?" "No, no, the decorations are great. It's just... I think you've been doubting Twilight." "What do you mean? Twilight may be overreacting but she is still my faithful student. The thing is, their has never been a murderer in Equestria. It's alot to take in." says Celestia. "Celestia, it will all make sense if you look at it this way." Fluttershy proceeds to tell Celestia about the evidence Twilight missed. "Wow.." says Celestia. "What you said was as close as what Twilight said, she would just repeatedly say that there's a murderer, nothing else. For now, I will continue the Gala, but if everything starts going downhill, I will try to take action."

Luna walks over to Celestia and Fluttershy with her dress good as new. "I swear, Rarity is a dress charmer." Rarity blushes, "Oh, it's nothing, really." "The Gala starts pretty soon, you should go and socialize." says Celestia. "Come Fluttershy, we must not waste time." says Rarity as the two walk back to the staircase. "Thanks for your help, Rarity!" says Luna. The two walk down the staircase and see Applejack doing everything she can to snap out Pinkie Pie, not even screaming in her ear works, she stands still without blinking. "Pinkie Pie. Get. Into. Reality." All of the sudden, Pinkie Pie starts mildly twitching. Her tail curls up, her legs start shaking, her head turns to Applejack and tilts 90 degrees. "Everything is just fine Applejack, don't you worry about a THING!" Fluttershy gets creeped out. "Oh my... that's disturbing."

In another section of the castle, Rainbow Dash finds the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. "Hey Spitfire! Like my costume?!" asks Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow! You look just like a member. If you join our group someday, you can wear that outfit for real and perform Sonic Rainbooms at galas like these." says Spitfire. Rainbow Dash starts smiling. "I would absolutely LOVE that!" Before the two continue their conversation, a fanfare is heard throughout the castle, the grand entrance is about to begin. Everypony gathers in the main lobby of the castle, ponies are watching from every angle. Rainbow Dash and Twilight are watching from upstairs, the other four remain downstairs. the fanfare continues as Spike walks in front of a curtain that reveals both of the princesses. The fanfare dampens, and a drumroll booms across the castle. Spike pulls a velvet as Celestia and Luna walk in front of the curtain. Immediately, everypony is cheering for the dresses, especially Rarity, who is in the front row. The fanfare gets quieter as it begins to rain outside, Luna turns her head to look outside and starts getting worried. Everypony is still cheering when one loud thunder crash is heard outside. Seconds later, another thunder crash is heard outside, and the cheering gets softer. By the time the cheering dies out, a third thunder crash is heard, and every light in the castle goes out, leaving everypony in pitch black. Everypony starts whispering to each other in panic, wondering what's going on.

The Nightmare At The Gala has begun.

The Murderers First Attacks

The sound of thunder continues to boom across Canterlot, and everypony stands still in the dark, silent. A sudden flash of lightning turns on the lights of the castle. Everypony looks around for any changes that were made, and at the top of the staircase is a chandelier, and a filly is hanging by a noose from the chandelier. It's Scootaloo. "NO!!!" screams Rainbow Dash. She flies over to the chandelier and unties the noose. She rests Scootaloo on the floor and places her hoof against her neck, there's no pulse. Rainbow Dash can't breathe. "She wouldn't just do this to herself!" she yells. "WHO KILLED HER WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT?!" Everypony keeps silent as Applejack walks over to Scootaloo. "Poor little fella never got her cutie mark." Just then, another flash of lightning strikes, but louder. Outside the castle, there is a parked scooter, with blood stains on it. Suddenly, a blue aura glows around it, but nopony is in sight, everypony is in the castle. The scooter starts moving towards the castle and gets faster and faster, Inside the castle, a light shines on Scootaloo's flank. "Is that what I think it is?" asks Applejack. "It's her cutie mark!" says Rarity. The light dims out and shows a scooter with blood stains on Scootaloo's flank. "Uhm.. Applejack.. I'm no expert with cutie marks but.. don't you find this one to be weird?" asks Rainbow Dash. "Well of course ah do! Why is there a scooter with blood stains for her cutie mark?" Rarity gets a flashback to when Scootaloo crashed outside of her store, she shivers and turns around. "I can't look anymore." says Rarity.

Just then, a loud revving sound is heard from outside. "Does anypony else hear that sound?" asks Celestia. Luna hears it as well. "It sounds like a sound to a vehicle." Applejack recognizes the sound as it gets louder and louder. "EVERYPONY DUCK!" she screams. Outside, the blue aura around the scooter starts flying. The aura disappears as the scooter crashes through the window behind the staircase. At the bottom of the staircase is Rarity, whose back is turned from the horror behind her. She didn't listen to Applejack, as she is the only pony who didn't take cover. The scooter is flying towards her. "Rarity! Watch out!!" yells Fluttershy. "What?" asks Rarity turning around. Before she can even scream in reaction, the scooter goes right through her head, splitting her skull and brain in half. She collapses to the floor in a pool of blood.

Twilight and Applejack stare with their mouths open, Rainbow Dash starts vomiting, Fluttershy screams in terror, and Pinkie Pie is still standing where she has been, stiff as a statue. "Oh my gosh... Rarity." says Twilight. Luna covers both of her eyes when Celestia calls the royal guards. Rainbow Dash wipes her mouth. "That was the worst thing that I have ever seen." she almost throws up again, but holds it back. Two royal guards come to pick up the bodies, as they pick up Rarity, one of the guards starts throwing up as they walk away.

Everypony starts to shake in fear when Celestia speaks out to them. "There's nothing to worry about for now, hopefully there won't be any more accidents!" says Celestia. Rainbow Dash flies over to Celestia. "Do you think somepony in here did it?" "I'm really not sure." says Celestia. "I can't really confirm that there's a murderer at the moment." "I'm just gonna go try and have a good time." says Rainbow Dash. Celestia spoke too soon. All of the sudden, the ground starts shaking. "What's going on outside?" asks Luna. "I'll check!" says Spitfire. She flies over to the entrance. "It happens to be..." She looks outside. "A SONIC RAINBOOM?" Rainbow Dash flies over to Spitfire. "WHAT?! HOW?" yells Rainbow Dash. "Everypony, shield your eyes!" A huge Sonic Rainboom engulfs the castle in bright strobe colors, everypony is shielding their eyes, except for Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire fly over to Pinkie Pie. "You need to cover your eyes now!" says Rainbow Dash. "Stop acting like a statue and save your life for a few seconds!" says Spitfire. PInkie Pie turns to Twilight and gives her an angry look, she then pushes the two out of the way and makes a run for the entrance. She stares at the flashing colors and starts breathing heavily. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire run towards her. "Get back in here!" yells Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie looks at her, and before she can take a breath, she collapses on the floor, shaking.

"Help! Help!" yells Spitfire. "She's having a seizure!" "We need help! NOW!" yells Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie's eyes start to roll back.

Razor Sharp

"We need to get her to a hospital!" yells Rainbow Dash. Before help even gets to the scene, Pinkie Pie stops shaking and lies on the ground. Applejack runs over and places her hoof against her heart. "It's not beating anymore!" She starts to panic. "Does anypony know CPR?" Twilight smirks and slowly trots through the crowd. "I know CPR." says Twilight, arrogantly. "Of course she does." Applejack mutters under her breath. Twilight kneels down and places her lips against Pinkie Pie's. "Oh, wow." says Applejack. Spitfire looks away. Twilight puts pressure on Pinkie Pie's chest in the form of a heart beat, then loses hope. "It's too late, Pinkie Pie is gone." In the moment Twilight gets back up, the Sonic Rainboom fades away. Spike is watching from the staircase when his stomach starts to grumble. "I can't believe three ponies are dead already. What if I'm next?" His stomach growls louder. "Oh no, I think I'm gonna-" Spike starts spitting out fire. The more scared he gets, the stronger the flames are.

Everypony tries to defend themselves from the uncontrollable flames when Luna steps in. "Spike! You must calm down! These flames need to stop immediately!" Spikes flames die out. "I can't control them, your heiress. Whenever I get scared like this, that happens. I shouldn't be so scared about the.... the.... murderer... oh no." Spike gulps a huge flame right in front of Luna, and engulfs her body on fire. "Somepony HELP ME! HELP ME!" yells Luna. "The dress!" yells Celestia. "Try to rip off the dress!" Luna tries pulling off the dress, but the fire is burning her hooves. The fire starts to penetrate Luna's eyes. "I'm blind! I'm blind!" yells Luna as she starts flying in the air towards the window that was broken by the scooter. The fire then penetrates her ears, but Celestia doesn't know that. "You need to stop flying!" Luna's wings get tired as she falls, hoping to fall on the ground, but instead, she lands on a shard of glass, going through her wing. Everypony backs away as she hangs in the inferno.

Moments pass as the flames on Luna die out. She can barely breathe, as the fire burned her badly. "Stay strong Luna, help is on the way!" says Celestia. Luna takes deep, dying breaths. "It's too late for me... my dear sister, keep Equestria the way it is now, strong. Raise the moon in my name. I'll always be with you in your dreams, forever and always. I give you all a final goodbye, I love you all." Help bursts through the door when Luna takes one last deep breath as her wings rips apart, slamming her body onto the ground. Celestia kneels beside her, on the verge of tears. Everypony has a cringed look on their faces when a pony just can't take it anymore. "EVERYPONY RUN!"

The room goes from silence into utter chaos, with pegasi trying to fly away, earth ponies and unicorns are trying to mosh their way to the exit when a blue aura covers the door, making it impossible to open. Spike feels as if he can redeem himself by trying to calm everypony down. He makes his way through the mosh pit. "There's nothing to worry about! You can all calm dow-" Everypony is too panicked to even listen to Spike as they trample and stomp on him. Celestia wants to get up and stop the chaos but she doesn't want to leave her sister behind. Rainbow Dash flies over to her. "You take care of your sister, I got this!" "Thank you Rainbow Dash!" says Celestia with a bland tone. Rainbow Dash flies over the crowd looking down when she looks up and goes lip to lip with Soarin Stallion, a member of the Wonderbolts. As the two kiss, Rainbow Dash attempts to apologize but she starts to blush. "I'm sorry, I wasn't uhm.. paying attention." She tries to make complete sentences but her heart is pounding!

Above Rainbow Dash and Soarin Stallion, pegasi are flying all over the castle, trying to find an exit. Derpy is in the air, unaware of what is going on, and why is everypony on a rampage? All of the sudden, Fleetfoot, one of the members of the Wonderbolts, crashes into Derpy head to head. knocking the both of them into the chandelier. The impact was so strong, the chandelier starts to swing back and forth. Soon, the chain that holds it breaks. Rainbow Dash is too distracted by Soarin and doesn't know about the chandelier. "Uhm.. Rainbow.. I wanna tell you something.." says Soarin, blushing. "What is it?" asks Rainbow Dash, in love. "I just wanna say that.. I lov-" The falling chandelier lands on top of Soarin and crushes his body to the floor. "NO! SOARIN!!" screams Spitfire. The room immediately stops moving. Rainbow Dash is staring from above, speechless. "He... He loved me..." says Rainbow Dash, crying. A royal guard comes down the staircase and removes the chandelier off of Soarin. "The chandelier punctured his lungs, he stopped breathing on impact." says the Royal Guard. Twilight stomps her hoof on the ground. "Have you FORGOTTEN about Spike?! Make way for him!" says Twilight, moving through the crowd. She starts shoving ponies out of the way as she sees Spike on the floor, with bones popping out of his chest. "No..Spike.. I can't believe you're gone.." says Twilight. Suddenly a voice booms across the castle.

"Oh, poor Twilight! Your little assistant is now DEAD! Everypony who tries to stop me will die, and YOU'RE NEXT!" screams the mysterious voice. Applejack's eyes widen as the words 'you're next' echo in her head. The day Applebloom died. Her sister's voice echoes now. The pain inside of her gets stronger and stronger. She starts screaming through the pain. "You murderer... you took my sister away from me. She was my world! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH!" She starts breathing heavily. "APPLEBLOOM!" Just then, another window breaks in the castle. "SHOW YOURSELF!" yells Applejack. Suddenly, an arrow with blood stains zooms through the castle and pierces Applejack's right eye.

The Insanity Ends

The arrow slams Applejack's body against the nearest corner of the wall, making her unable to release herself. Ponies start to back away and scream in horror. Applejack tries to find the broken window, but the arrow is blurring her vision. She finds the broken window, just above the broken window. She sees a pony, cloaked in black, it's the murderer. "Twilight! Twilight! It's the murderer! The murderer is real!" yells Applejack. Twilight looks up and finds the murderer, then looks back down at everypony trying to back away from Applejack. "Everypony calm down and be quiet!" yells Twilight. Everypony is still panicking as the murderer pulls out a long blade. "Everypony, CALM DOWN AND BE QUIET... NOW!" screams Twilight. The whole castle instantly goes silent. "All of you ponies must be completely clueless of what's going on!" Twilight looks up at the murderer again, the murderer raises the blade higher. Twilight starts to get a bit nervous. "None of you find it odd that death after death has occurred these past 18 days? Open your eyes, there is a murderer afoot, and who doubted me? Not only my best friends... but your beloved Princess Celestia!

Everypony gasps and turns to Princess Celestia. Celestia looks around the room and feels guilty. "How was I supposed to believe something that came up so abruptly." "Abruptly?" asks Twilight. "I warned you more than once and you denied it everytime!" "Well, you didn't convince me, but another pony did." says Celestia. "WHAT? Somepony else is investigating this mystery?!" asks Twilight angry. Celestia looks at Fluttershy, who stealthily shakes her head side to side, telling her not to speak of anything else. "I spent all this time to find out that another pony has been doing to same thing as me?!" asks Twilight, angrily. "Now poor Applejack is on the verge of death with the murderer about to pull another move. "Don't worry about me, Twilight, ah'll be fine." says Applejack, fighting through the pain. "No! I will not let you die!" yells Twilight.

The murderer, still on top of the window, realizes that ponies are aware are the actions that went on, and finds out that the more ponies who believe it, the greater the chances of getting hunted down. The murderer lets out a small, high pitched shriek and starts to panick. The murderer throws the blade directly towards Applejack. Rainbow Dash notices the blade. "Everypony DUCK!" she screams. "Oh no you don't" says Twilight as she dives in front of the blade, sacrificing herself. The sharp blade makes a clean slice through Twilight's hoof and goes right into Applejack's neck, decapitating her. "APPLEJACK!" screams Twilight, clutching her amputated hoof in pain. Now, Twilight is MAD. "I cannot take one more minute of this nonsense! Did you all see what just happened here?! Who's feeling stupid now?! You ALL thought i was some freak show huh? A little woozy in the head? Just another pony who lost their mind? Well you're ALL WRONG! You should all know not to doubt Twilight Sparkle, but what did you do?!" There is silence. "Exactly!" Twilight limps over to Applejack's bloody neck and rips the bloody blade out from it, she then rips the arrow out of Applejack's eye and limps her way to the center of the castle, where a circle forms around her. "Take a good look at these weapons, if these were to kill someone very close to you, a family member... or even your best friend, how would you feel? How would you react to that? When I mean 'someone', I mean a murderer, and THERE YOU HAVE IT PONIES! There's one sitting above us at this very moment!" Some ponies start to look guilty. "Do you realize what's been leading to this very night? It all started with Applebloom's death, when an arrow went in HER eye! Fluttershy, you were there that day, tell us what happened." She waits for a response, even turns around a few times. "Fluttershy?"

"I'm right here..." says Fluttershy, slowing trotting to the front of the circle surrounding Twilight. Celestia is still at the top of the staircase, overlooking the circle. "Fluttershy," Twilight proceeds. "Tell everypony what exactly happened the day Applebloom died." "Oh...o-..okay." Fluttershy slowly reaches the middle of the circle, with everypony watching her every move. "Well, Applebloom and I were just fine. We each had our own tress to pick apples from, Applejack was at the farm, unloading her batch of apples." Twilight slightly turns her head to see Applejack's body. "Go on." "I was accompanied by some of my rabbits. They were there to carry the apples on the ground to our buckets. Now, Appleblooms main goal was to perfectly buck an appletree, and when she accomplished that, she let out the most joyous scream I've ever heard. Applejack thought something horrible happened, she arrived where we were about to pass out. Applebloom screamed so happily because she got her cutie mark. Both Applejack and I were both so excited for her, but the murderer just had to cut her moment too short. We heard a sharp piercing sound and Applejack ordered us to duck our heads. It's almost like she knew it was an arrow, which questions me. Before we knew it, the arrow pierced Applebloom's right eye."

Twilight makes a confused grin on her face, "Right eye..." she whispers. She limps over to Applejack's head, rolls it over to the center of the circle, and starts examining it. A pony in the back begins to vomit. Twilight limps around the circle with the arrow in her hand. "This arrow also hit Applejack's right eye, and according to the blood stains on this arrow, most of these have already been there, so this is the same arrow that was used to kill Applebloom! Pure evidence everypony, you all heard the story straight from Fluttershy, who was THERE at the crime!" In no turn of events, everypony still gives Twilight the same look. "You CANNOT be serious!! You are all difficult! You all don't know this mystery like I do! I'M THE SMART PONY!" she accidently stomps the ground with her amputated hoof and starts yelling in agony. "I'm gonna do something that I should've done weeks ago!" She limps to the middle of the staircase, uses her magic to raise the sharp blade high into the air, above her head. "You will ALL regret this! Good Riddance." Twilight releases her magic as the blade falls and stabs through her head.

Breaking Point

"TWILIGHT!" yells Celestia. "Oh no... What have I done?!" Twilights dead body rolls down the staircase and onto the floor with the blade still in her head. "Something is going to be done about this immediately! Fluttershy, keep telling everypony your evidence." Fluttershy turns around, looks at Twilight, sheds a tear, and turns back around, still in the middle of the circle. "When Applebloom died, the arrow that killed her, it had the words 'You're next' inscribed on it." She grabs the arrow from Twilight, and tosses it to Celestia. "Read what's on the arrow." Celestia takes a close look at the arrow and sees 'You're next' inscribed on it. "Oh my gosh... it's the same arrow!" says Celestia. "Applejack was so frightened at the sight of the arrow, she backed into a tree and caused a lot of apples to fall down. Now, I had rabbits with me to make our work easier, and they haven't eaten all day. Don't you think they would go for the apples? Of course, they were so hungry!" She walks up to a pony and leans in on them. "You know what happened next?" she whispers to the pony. "Uh..n-...no...I don't." says the pony. "Their heads... went..." she makes a small exploding sound in the ponies ear. The pony jumps in fear.

Fluttershy trots back to the middle of the circle. "My rabbits heads... blew up! This murderer poisoned the apples just as we were picking them, right above us, and we didn't even notice. The Apple family didn't know about the apples, but I knew something was up! I'm pretty sure I don't need to go any further." She moves in a circle to see everypony still motionless, expressionless. "You know what?! I'm not done with you ponies! I want you to know how disgusted I am!" Spitfire and Rainbow Dash fly over to Celestia. "She's gonna go mad." says Spitfire. "Want us to stop her?" asks Rainbow Dash. "Actually... no. I wanna see this go down!" says Celestia. "Sit tight."

"You ponies ARE clueless! You just think "Ooo, all these mysterious deaths are happening, there isn't something wrong". Not at all! You all had the wrong idea. Twilight Sparkle... was right, she was your only hope. She knew about the murders. She tried getting your attention. You all didn't listen to her... and what happened? You killed her... YOU ALL KILLED HER!" "I tried listening..." says a pony, quietly. "No you didn't! NOPONY LISTENED! You killed her and there's no going back. You all wanna listen now, but you didn't before! If all of you "listened" then why is Twilight DEAD on the floor?! I don't understand how you could do this to such an innocent pony." Fluttershy starts to cry.

Rainbow Dash flies over to Fluttershy and looks up at the murderer. "Alright! You are driving us crazy! You killed the one thing that meant the most to us. What more do you want?! I've had enough of you!" "I've had enough of Tilde too, Rainbow. "The murderer calls them self Tilde?! What a dumb nickname!" The murderer speaks again, but the voice is still cloaked. "Oh, sweet Rainbow Dash, don't get too angry, you might burst into tears like your friend Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash gets furious. "THAT'S IT! I'm coming up there!" Fluttershy steps in front of Rainbow Dash. "It's too risky, I don't wanna see you get killed" she whispers. The murderer starts to tease them. "Oh smart, smart Fluttershy you're starting to seem like the smart pony, you really are. How did you become so skeptical? You're usually...shy." "Well, my rabbit Angel and I resear-" "Your rabbit, Angel eh? You mean... this rabbit?" The murderer reaches and pulls out a white rabbit with a knife through his stomach and his throat cut open. "ANGEL!" Flutterhy cries out.

"You...are sick." says Rainbow Dash. "I took a short trip to Fluttershys cottage before the grand entrance even started. What are you gonna do about it?" asks the murderer, giggling. "Do your worst! I'm not afraid of you!" yells Rainbow Dash. "Do my worst huh? I'll have that in a jiffy!" The murderer snaps its fingers, and one by one, everyponies cutie mark disappears. The castle uproars in a panic again, except for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia. "Why must you continue this chaos?!" asks a pony. Celestia's eyes widen, "Chaos.." she thinks. She walks over to Fluttershy. "I have a weird feeling I know who the murderer is." "Me too.." says Fluttershy. The panic settles down and Celestia gets everyponies attention. "From the start of this Gala, I have been fully convinced that there is a murderer, as bad as that sounds. My sincere apologies for doubting Twilight. I have nopony to blame but myself. I guess the murderer got the best of me."

Everypony seems to give Celestia the dirty look except for the murderer, who's laughing out loud. "Got the best of you?! Oh, I'm not even done! I may have been up here this whole time, but be prepared to see what else I have for you!" The murderer stomps their hoof once and the lights go out again, but this time, nopony is panicking. "What happened to everypony panicking? I guess you're all used to my antics. Doesn't anypony want to come after me? Come on, just try and reveal who I am! I know one of you ponies want to!" Nopony moves. "That's not what I expected, so I'll just kick it up a notch!" The murderers voice is still disguised, but it angers Rainbow Dash. "Why can't you just reveal yourself?! Nopony is afraid of you!!" "Oh! I'll make everypony bow down to me and treat me like everypony else!" The murderer stomps their hoof three times and teleports inside the big circle. Celestia is still overlooking from the staircase. "Mhm, it's him under that cloak for sure!"

The End of the Nightmare

"Where have you been this whole time?!" yells Rainbow Dash, angrily as the lights go back on, revealing Big Macintosh in a pool of blood. "Who knew that a baseball bat could do so much damage." says Big Mac, surprised. "How do you know about the Hanging Object?" asks Princess Celestia. Big Mac hesitates to even open his mouth. "Because... I was the Hanging Object." The room fills with gasps as Big Mac knew that was going to happen. "You see, when little Applebloom died, the whole Apple family was devastated. A word wasn't said the whole day after her death. It was truly the worst thing that I have put up with, I couldn't live like this. So, I tied a noose around my neck and let it do its work. You may be asking 'How am I still alive?' or 'How did I go unnoticed?', here's the story. I don't remember alot from the moment I hung myself, but I know that all of the sudden, I hit the ground and when I opened my eyes, I saw a Sonic Rainboom." "Whoa whoa whoa," says Rainbow Dash, "You mean to tell us that you hung yourself the same day I raced Gilda, and my Sonic Rainboom saved your life?" "Pretty much. The Rainboom was so strong, it broke the noose." says Big Mac, continuing his explanation. "Now, that second question, it's weird how Applejack didn't notice me, considering I was above Applebloom's grave." Fluttershy approaches Big Mac, "Next question, who do you think is under that cloak?" Big Mac looks at Fluttershy with a serious look. "Oh, I know exactly who's under this cloak." "So do I." says Fluttershy. "Me three!" Celestia joins in. Fluttershy turns around. "Who do you think is under here then?" Celestia pauses for a moment, "It's pretty obvious, after everything this murderer has done. I'd be surprised if we didn't have the same accusations. I've dealt with this so called murderer for a long long time." Big Mac interrupts. "That doesn't matter now. Everypony needs to get out of here, this Gala is over." Nopony speaks up, not even Celestia. "Everypony evacuate this castle... NOW!" As the clock strikes midnight, November First, everypony leaves the castle. The Nightmare At The Gala has ended.

As the sun rises, ponies all around Canterlot and Ponyville come out of their homes and apporach their families and friends , glad to see them alive. Rainbow Dash leaves her home in Cloudsdale, having no sleep at all. She flies over to Fluttershy's house, about to fall asleep. "Must...talk...to......Flutter....Fluttershy..." She stops flying in mid air and falls asleep, proceeding to wake up immediately as she falls on Fluttershy's roof. She makes her way to the door and slowly knocks on it. Fluttershy opens the door, about to fall asleep. "Oh, good morning Rainbow, I assume you didn't get any sleep either?" "Definitely." Rainbow yawns aggressively. "It seems like we're the only ponies who didn't get sleep. Everypony else did though, probably exhausted from all that panicking." Fluttershy laughs and looks up in the distance to Celestias castle. "What do you think is going on up there?" Rainbow Dash turns around, "I'm not sure. I don't feel like going up there, but I do wanna know who the stupid murderer is." "Maybe we can catch the next train to Canterlot if we hurry." says Fluttershy. The two just make it in time to the train and make their way to Canterlot. Fluttershy looks out the window and watches the autumn leaves blow in the November breeze. She notices Rainbow close her eyes and lose balance from her seat. "Rainbow! Wake up!" yells Fluttershy. Rainbow immediately opens her eyes. "Sorry, I cannot stay awake, I really need to sleep." The train stops and the two make their way to Celestia's castle. Rainbow Dash hears a sound as they're about to enter the castle. "Someone's following us." She turns around, and then back around. "It's coming from inside the castle. I'm slowly turning into Applejack, going all crazy like this." Fluttershy opens the door to see the murderers dear body on the floor.

Celestia walks down the staircase. "What are you girls doing here?" "We wanted to see if everything is okay." Fluttershy explains. Rainbow Dash adds to it. "And we wanna know who is under that body bag." Celestia stares at the body. "To be honest, after everypony left, I ran upstairs, not having the slightest intimation of touching the body. Last time I saw the body, it was wrapped around the cloak, I don't know who put it around the body bag ." "I did, Princess Celestia." Big Mac slowly walks towards the group. Rainbow Dash turns around. "Oh, it's just you." Celestia walks around the three ponies. "I've done some thinking and I wanna refresh our memories. Now we know this murderer was the one who hung Scootaloo, and was responsible for Rarity. now here's my next problem, the Sonic Rainboom. What concerns me is that only one pony is capable of making a Sonic Rainboom." Celestia immediately stops behind Rainbow Dash, who gets fired up. "WHOA YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I KILLED PINKIE PIE?! I WAS IN THE CASTLE THE WHOLE TIME." Celestia walks back to where she was originally. "Rainbow, I'm sorry, but right now there's no way you can prove that you weren't part of the murderers scheme." Two royal guard grab each of her wings and hold her up. "What are you doing?! I didn't do anything!! I'm innocent!!" Fluttershy tries to step in but Celestia blocks her with her hoof. A third royal guard comes up and grabs Rainbow's head. She starts screaming in horror. "I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THIS, I DIDN'T CAUSE THE SONIC RAINBOOM, WHY ARE YOU DO THIS TO M-" The royal guard snaps her neck, and all three guards release her, dropping her to the floor, dead.

The Murderer is Revealed

Fluttershy stares at the royal guard with her mouth open and a disgusted look on her face. "If this isn't the most... SICKENING thing I have ever seen, I don't know what is! Everything I've seen since the day Applebloom died has been a total nightmare! All because of this stupid murderer, because of this, all FIVE of my best friends are dead." Celestia doesn't hesitate to explain herself. "Fluttershy, it had to be done, Rainbow was the one who cause the Sonic Rainboom." Fluttershy takes a deep breath, but fails. She stomps her hoof on the floor. "YOU FUCKING EXECUTED HER BEFORE SHE EVEN BREATHE!!" She covers her mouth, their is silence. Big Mac is looking in shock from Fluttershys outburst, but then looks down at the body bag. "Celestia, Rainbow wasn't the one who did it, I know who. I bet you don't even know who's under that body bag, do you?" Celestia raises her eyebrow. "I have an idea, just watch this." Celestia leans in on the body bag. "Alright Discord! This isn't funny anymore!" Fluttershy and Big Mac look at her with confusion. "Discord?" asks Big Mac. "You think it's... Discord?" he can't believe what Celestia is saying. "If by some chance it really is Discord..." Big mac looks at the ground, then back up. "Then I was completely wrong. my assumption was Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy's look gets worse. "Please tell me why you think it's her." "Well... I think... Okay... Look at it this way. Pinkie Pie had the least gruesome death." "Gruesome?" asks Fluttershy. "Let me continue. What I'm is this, what if Pinkie Pie's seizure wasn't real? The pony lives off of parties, don't you think she's used to flashing lights?" Fluttershy looks puzzled, but then understands better and better. "Wow, you have a point, but... her heart stopped." "That's what you think," Big Mac says. "Rainbow Dash didn't kill Pinkie Pie.

"Who was the pony who tried to save her life?" asks Big Mac. Fluttershy thinks about it when Celestia steps in. "It was Twilight." "Correct. Now do you think Twilight actually checked her heart? Did you think she... 'tried to save her life'?" "No, all she wanted to be was a show off." Fluttershy adds. "Correct. If you know Pinkie Pie really well, you should know that she likes to trick other ponies, almost like pranking." Celestia looks confused. "I don't know Big Mac, but we should hear what Fluttershy has to say, who do you think the murderer is?" Fluttershy slowly walks in front of the body bag. "This pony caused alot of heartbreaks. The nerve, the absolute nerve. It's simple, really, my thoughts are that the murderer was just looking for attention. They wanted to be noticed, more known than Celestia herself. Others would try different things to get attention, but going on a murderous rampage is a completely different story. She had it all, being happily married for almost two years. Not one pony has known this one as long as you Celestia, but you know who else? Twilight." Celestia looks as she is getting towards something with Fluttershys explanation. "You mean to tell me that Twilight and I know this pony very well?" Fluttershy silently nods 'yes' as she lifts up the body bag, revealing two pink hooves. Celestia's eyes widen. "Well.... there goes my assumption." Fluttershy looks at Big Mac. "Well.. I.... I told you it was Pinkie Pie." He says hesitantly. Fluttershy grabs the body bag again. "Wrong." She lifts up the body bag further to see a cutie mark, showing a blue, crystal heart. "It can't be!" yells Celestia. "I can't believe it." says Big Mac. "You better believe it, cause I'm not lying." says Fluttershy. She lifts the body bag up entirely, who's under it? Princess Cadence.

"I killed a princess... what have I done?" asks Big Mac. Fluttershy walks up to him. "It's not your fault, somepony had to stop her before she killed any more ponies." Celestia gets a flashback. "Wait a minute, she's married to Shining Armour. Remember what happened at the wedding? Fluttershy and Big Mac think about what happened for a few seconds. "Cadence turned out to be a changeling." says Fluttershy. "Yes but, you don't think the past is gonna repeat itself, do you?" asks Big Mac. "We won't really know for sure, Big Mac," says Celestia. "Understand that Twilight was so affectionate towards her brother, Cadence wanted to take out either of the siblings." Fluttershy starts to understand. "So what you're saying is, if this Cadence is Queen Chrysalis, then the real Cadence is somewhere else." "Exactly." says Celestia. "Who wants to check her eyes?" The two ponies stand still. "Okay, I'll do it." Celestia leans in on the dead body and lifts up one of the eyes., it's a greenish blue. The eyeball stares off into the ceiling, and then immediately looks at Celestia. "You'll NEVER see your precious adopted niece again. She's dead!" whispers Queen Chrysalis. Celestia screams and tramples backwards. "She looked at me and whispered in my face!" Big Mac spots a shadow from the window where the murderer stood the night before, about to shoot an arrow. "CELESTIA! DUCK!" She turns around as Fluttershy tackles her out of the way. The arrow goes directly into the Chrysalis' head. The three watch as Cadence's body fades into the body of Queen Chrysalis. Big Mac walks slowly towards the body. "It....It wasn't really Princess Cadence?"

Memories

Fluttershy sits at the edge of her door, crying her eyes out. "I want my friends back! I'll do anything! Please, I just want everything back to normal." She throws herself inside and lies on the floor, trying to catch her breath. "Why did all of this happen? Why must I be so alone?" She gets flashbacks in her head, one by one they start to haunt Fluttershy's mind. She hears the sound of a running engine. "Rarity..." she whispers. The afternoon sun starts to set and Fluttershy's hooves start to shake. "pinkie Pie..." she phispers. The pain gets worse. She feels her neck starting to swell up. "Applejack..." she whispers. She then develops a pounding headache. "Twilight..." she whispers, but growls through the pain. She lies in silence, her head pounding, her heart beating loudly. Suddenly, the sound of a neck cracking echoes in her mind. She starts to scream in terror. She tries to run upstairs, but she can't she through her tears, Instead, she collides into a wall, head first and falls back onto the floor. Her headache gets worse as the neck cracking echoes again, but louder. Then, all of the sudden, all the flashbacks come together as one big giant ball of memories. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screams as she lunges herself forward, slamming her head into the wall again, knocking herself unconscious.

Her vision is blurry as she wakes up, a pony stands in front of her, trying to wake her up. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! You need to wake up, we have to go to Canterlot." The voice in her head sounds like Rainbow Dash's. "Is that you, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asks. "I wish she was here." says the pony. Fluttershy's vision gets clearer, Big Mac is standing in front of her. "What happened in here?" Big Mac asks. Fluttershy looks around the room once again and the thoughts come back, tears fill her eyes. "I just want my friends back, I'm so alone." Big Mac doesn't know what to do. "We all wish they were here Fluttershy. Now c'mon, we have to get to Can-" "Big Mac, I appreciate this, I really do, but we don't have to be in Canterlot until sunset. "Big Mac leans in, "Fluttershy, it IS sunset." She runs to the window and pulls the curtains open to see the sun in the horizon lighting up the beautiful orange sky. "We have to go, now!" She starts to fly away as Big Mac runs outside. "Uhm Flutterhy?" She turns around. "I'm....you know... an Earth pony?" "Right, no time for the train, hop on my back." "Oh, well... if you say so." Big Mac gets on Fluttershy's back and takes off into the air without any flaws. "How are you able to carry me?" Big Mac asks. "I don't know... just skill I guess." The two arrive at the castle where Celestia awaits them inside.

"Welcome, both of you." says Celestia as she turns her head to Fluttershy. "Oh my! What happened to you?" "I... had a bad time at home." says Fluttershy, embarrassed. "I can make you look better just in time for your surprise!" Celestia says, confidently. "What surprise? I have no idea what you're talking about." says Fluttershy. "You don't need to just yet!" Celestia leads Fluttershy into a room where she starts putting different kinds of makeup on her. Celestia, being an alicorn, uses her horn to continue her work as she walks across the room. "I took the liberty of getting your dress from the Gala and fixing it up." Celestia opens up a curtain revealing Fluttershy's dress, completely refreshed. "How did you fix it so well?" Fluttershy asks. "I know a good friend, said that the dress didn't need much work at all." Fluttershy puts the dress on and stands in looks in front of a mirror. "Wait, something's missing... Oh! My olive wreath." "Oh your olive wreath," Celestia says. "You're not gonna need that tonight, I have something better to place on your head." Celestia opens a crystal box revealing a crown with a pink butterfly gem in the middle. "What's going on?" Fluttershy asks, nervously. "This crown will be very important to you from now on." The two exit the room when Big Mac is standing near the balcony. "It sounds like everypony in Equestria is outside." Fluttershy walks closer towards the balcony, she can hear the crowd of ponies. "That's because I invited everypony in Canterlot and Ponyville along with everypony who was at the Gala." "B-...But why?" Fluttershy asks. "They all came to see you," says Celestia as she places the crown on her head and kneels down. "Your heiress." Big Macs eyes open immediately.

Royalty

"You don't mean...Pr-...Pr-" Big Mac stutters. "Princess Fluttershy." says Celestia. Fluttershy stares at the ground with her mouth wide open. "Me... A princess?" "You solved the mystery of the Gala, and you saved my life. I trust you the most at being my partner of royalty." Fluttershy held a bland look, but then looked at her head. "Aren't princesses supposed to be alicorns?" "Oh yeah! Silly me, I almost forgot." says Celestia. Fluttershy feels a slight pressure on her head as a horn sprouts on her head. Big Mac immediately bows down. "What do you think?" asks Celestia. Fluttershy ignores the question as she sees ghosts behind the two ponies, but not just any ghosts, they're her friends. Rarity, with stitches going down the middle of her head, looks awfully jealous, but bows down. Applejack, wearing an eye patch and stitches going along her neck, gives an 'I'm proud of you' look and bows down. Twilight, wearing a prosthetic hoof, gives Fluttershy a guilty look, realizing that what she did at the Gala was too far, but bows down anyway. Rainbow Dash flies around everypony like her usual self. As she reaches the ground, she gives Fluttershy an 'I'm okay' hand gesture and she turns her head, revealing staples on her neck, then proceeds to bow down. Finally, Pinkie Pie, standing stiff as a statue, just like she did at the Gala. She has no wounds, no injuries, no flaws, perfectly normal, which confused Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie then collaspes on the floor and slowly floats in the air, disappearing from Fluttershy's sight. She glances at Big Mac, then back at the four, who didn't seem to realize that Pinkie Pie disappeared . They all run towards Fluttershy and give her a big group hug. She's never been so happy to see her friends again, but that miracle has been cut short. All of the sudden, one by one they start floating. The four wave goodbye to Fluttershy, in hopes that they will see her again soon. Once they disappear, she lowers her head, but looks sad. "I wish my friends were here to see this, but now they only exist in my eyes." Celestia slowly figures out what Fluttershy just witnessed. "The same thing happened to me this morning. When I woke up, I saw my sister standing right on that balcony and I thought this was all one big dream, the Gala, but this is the cruel reality." The sunset gets deeper as the crowd gets louder. "I think it's time." says Celestia. "Wait until they see you Fluttershy!" Celestia steps through the curtain as the crowd goes wild. "You saw your friends again huh?" Big Mac asks. "Yeah, it felt great seeing them again." "I wish I can see my sisters again, I miss them so much." Fluttershy glances at Big Mac, then hugs him. "We'll make it through Big Mac, I promise." Big Mac's frown turns into a smile and hugs back when he hears Celestia's voice behind him. "It is my greatest honor to present to you-" Big Mac lets go of Fluttershy. "This is your moment, have fun out there!" "Thank you Big Mac." Fluttershy says as she walks in front of the curtain.

'Big and exhilarating.' Fluttershy thought. 'Something the crowd will never forget.' "The new Princess of Equestria, Fluttershy!" The crowd is going insane, stomping their hooves so loud it can ring all throughout Canterlot. Fluttershy, who started out so timid, shows a confident look. "Let's show these ponies what you're made of." A pink aura glows from her horn. "I have a feeling this is gonna be good." She flies through the curtain and immediately goes into a vertical loop when she uses her horn and blasts a sparkling pink butterfly and flies through it, filling the air with pink sparkles. Celestia is shocked at Fluttershy's use of her horn, considering she just became an alicorn. "Fillies and Gentlehooves, on this beautiful evening, it is my honor to recognize Fluttershy, who showed the most potential last night at the Gala/ She also solved the mystery along with Big mac of Sweet Apple Acres and saved my life early this morning. I knew Fluttershy was a good choice to replace my sister as the new Princess of Equestria." Big Mac walks outside and immediately notices the crowd. "Wow! This really is a huge crowd!" "I think we should get this celebration started! Fluttershy?" Celestia tilts her head towards the horizon. "You... want me to do that?" "I believe in you, Fluttershy." says Celestia. Fluttershy flies over the crowd and takes a deep breath. The pink aura from her horn slowly raises the moon, setting off multiple fireworks, one spelling out her name. As she looks up, she sees a tiny white rabbit in the night sky. "Angel!" she squeals. "Mommy misses you so much..." Angel waves back as he disappears into the sky.

Nostalgia

The crowds cheering dies down as Celestia has one more surprise for Fluttershy. "If I don't recall earlier, Fluttershy wished for her friends to be here. Well that's exactly what I was hoping she'd wish for! I took the liberty of hanging a few banners." She uses her horn to drop six of seven banners, all hanging on the castle. "Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, The Mane Six. One more banner drops, all six of their cutie marks are on it. "No matter what happens here on out, Flutterhy's friends will always be with her. Fluttershy can't help but smile. "Now we should get this party started." Celestia says as she nods to Vinyl Scratch. (

Youtube Video

.. Please click on this song as I chose to put this in the story. This song is so amazing, so please read this chapter while listening to Dj Pon3! Thanks.) As the music plays throughout Canterlot, Fluttershy looks up at the banners and smiles once again. "Celestia's right, they will always be with me." She looks over the balcony and inot the night. "I am now a princess, I run Equestria with Celestia now. I am responsible for raising the moon. Not Luna... me. This is your new life, and it all started at Sweet Apple Acres 19 days ago. It's amazing how so much can happen in that time period, how many ponies you've known, all had their lives cut short by another Princess... Or was it? Oh Big Mac, now you have me wondering." A pony slowly approaches her. "Wow, what you just said was amazing." Fluttershy quickly turns around to see Spitfire with a backpack on her. "I didn't mean to disturb you," she kneels down, "your heiness."

"I suppose it's too late now." says Spitfire. "Too late for what?" asks Fluttershy. "I didn't know Rainbow Dash died until I got here for the celebration. I'm so devastated because I had a surprise for her." She opens her backpack to reveal goggles and a Wonderbolts suit. "Keep this, in memory of Rainbow Dash. The best flyer in Equestria." "You wanted her to be in your group?" asks Fluttershy, shocked. "Think of it this way, Rainbow Dash has been a long alternative for the Wonderbolts, and now that Soarin dead and Fleetfoot having amnesia, that narrows it down to 3 members, and Rainbow Dash was the perfect choice as a new member." Fluttershy takes the equipment. "Thank you so much Spitfire." Spitfire kneels down once more and flies off the balcony and back into the crowd. Fluttershy goes to the crowd shortly after and stops in front of Celestia. "Now that I'm a princess... does that make Canterlot my new home?" Celestia thinks about it for a moment. "Well, technically, yes. But, this is your decision Fluttershy. If you want to stay in Ponyville, that's okay with me. You can even do both and move here sometime in the future!" "I'll think about it, thanks!" says Fluttershy. She flies inside the castle and goes into Luna's room. "I'm assuming this is where Celestia would want me to stay." she says to herself. She practices her magic by herself while deciding on where she wants to live. When she finished, she flies back outside to see that more than half of the crowd has already left. "Where did everypony go?" Celestia walks towards her. "It's been like this for a while, what were you doing inside?" "I...I was practicing my magic in Luna's room.." Celestia laughs. "I thought so! Time really does go fast when you're practicing magic." "It really does... so I've decided to stay in Ponyville, it feels right for me." Celestia nods. "Whatever you choose is fine by me Fluttershy." Fluttershy looks up at the moon, ending a pretty good night, for the most part.

Yet another time change!

The day is now New Years Eve, 2013. Fluttershy wakes up to the sound of a beige bunny trying to wake her up. "Good morning, Angel!" She gets up and smiles at her new bunny. "Oh, you're so cute, just like my old bunny. I suppose you want breakfast?" Angel shakes her head 'No' and runs up to the her front window. Big Mac is standing outside, scared out of his mind. Fluttershy walks into the calm winter morning. "Big Mac, what's wrong? What are you doing out here?" Big Mac looks both ways twice. "It's back! The murderer is back! It tried to kill Granny Smith last night!" "You mean the second murderer?" "yes Fluttershy! The one that tried to kill Celestia." Fluttershy ponders at the thought when a sound is heard from inside her cottage. Big Mac kicks the door open. "Who's there?!" They close the door behind them. Angel is curled up on the floor shaking in fear. "Angel! What happened?!" Fluttershy asks, Angel points across the room to a knife and imitates somepony attempting to slice her throat. Fluttershy looks up at Big Mac. "Somepony tried to kill Angel the same way they did on Halloween." Angel runs to the door and spots a note on it. Fluttershy takes the note, it reads: "Canterlot Gardens. Tomorrow. Meet me there. 12:00 Noon. Bring nopony else but you and your little detective friend." Big mac reads it as well. "Do you think we should go?" "I'm not sure..." says Fluttershy. "Isn't it weird that somepony wants to meet us anonymously?" Big Mac asks. "Yeah... I guess they wanna start off 2014 with a fight... and I'll give them a fight. says Fluttershy.

The End

January 1, 2014. The sly is a cloudy grey but little sunshine brightens up Canterlot. Fluttershy and Big mac stand at the center of Canterlot Gardens. The wind is slow but bitter cold. Big Mac starts shivering. "You should've brought a coat." says Fluttershy. "It's gonna snow soon, you know?" "It can snow over my dead body for all I care... I don'e wanna be anymore cold than I am now." Big Mac says. "It's noon..." says Fluttershy. "And now we wait." Big Mac looks at the ground and sees a pair of eyes, he backs up slowly, thinking he's going crazy. Fluttershy notices the eyes as Discord let's out a big 'Boo' to scare Fluttershy, but she doesn't budge. Discord seems shocked. "It's been a long time since I last saw you. You were always so easy to scare, well I mean really... hence the name FlutterSHY?" "Discord," says Fluttershy, "Before the Gala, before I became a princes, before all this happened, I was shy, timid, sensitive, afraid of practically everything. When I saw Applebloom die right in front of my eyes, the very first death, the death that started everything, I knew I should've changed my ways and takes action, but good ol' Twilight Sparkle Smartie Pants was the heart of this whole massacre. When somepony died, SHE had to know about it. It all came down to when I was watching the sunset and I saw Twilight trying to be calmed down, from that moment I knew I should start following her hoofsteps." "You were less crazy than Twilight, I'll give you that." says Discord. "Exactly." Fluttershy says.

"Do you think anypony would believe a pony whose gone way over the edge because of murder? Okay maybe that's not the point. What I'm saying is that Twilight Sparkle made it seem like this situation was a joke, even Celestia didn't believe her! If that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what does, Twilight had no evidence. I've seen enough murders to be scared." Big Mac doesn't believe what he heard. "Wow Fluttershy, that was amazing." Discord walks around Fluttershy. "Yes yes I must say, truly amazing, but that last sentence was quite ironic don't you think? Once again, FlutterSHY." Discord giggles. Fluttershy turns around, followed by Big Mac. "I'm not scared anymore! Why do you want us here anyway?!" Fluttershy yells. "What in the name of Equestria are talking about Ms. Fluttershy?" asks Discord. "It's Princess Fluttershy!" she snarls. "We know it was you who left the note on Fluttershy's door and almost killed her bunny." says Big Mac. "pardon my honesty but that wasn't me." says Discord. "Then... who was it?" asks Big Mac. Big Mac thinks about it with his eyes closed. "Oh no... I got a bad feeling about this." Just then, the murderer that tried to kill Celestia swoops down from the nearest statue with a bow and arrow. "BIG MAC!" screams Fluttershy. Discord disappears into thin air as the murderer shoots the arrow going directly into his eye just as he opens them. Big Mac collapses to the ground with blood bursting through his head. All that leaves is the murderer and Fluttershy.

Fluttershy feels Big Mac's heart as he looks at her, "Don't.. let.. them.. win.." he says as he takes his last breath. Fluttershy sheds a tear, then looks back up at the murderer. "You caused alot of harm, you know that. So many deaths in such little time, it's too much to take in." The murderer lets out a huge smile. Fluttershys serious look starts to die out. "You think this is all a joke.. a big joke! How can you just smile when you cause all of thi-" She looks shocked, the word 'Smile' echoes in her head. "How did this not occur to me?" The murderer lets out a high pitched giggle. Fluttershy starts breathing heavily. "Big Mac and Twilight were right, they were right all along. I knew you had something in you RIGHT BEFORE THE GALA EVEN STARTED! Why? Why did you do it?" She lifts up the arrow in Big Macs eye with her horn, and tosses it behind the murderer. "Go ahead, do you worse to me.." The murderer turns around to grab the arrow when Fluttershy teleports in front of the murderer, grabs the arrow, and pierces it through the murderers throat. Fluttershy stands in front of the murderer, as blood is spewing from their neck. "Let's see if you're breathing now!" says Fluttershy. Their is no heartbeat. "This is for Twilight and Big Mac!!" Fluttershy stomps on the murderers chest and gets covered in blood. she leans in on the murderer. "Happy New Year Pinkie Pie." says Fluttershy as she flies away, laughing.

The End

10-10-13 / 3-27-14 / 11-26-14

The Beginning

The night is October 31st, 2013. The Grand Galloping Halloween Gala is about to go under way. The city of Canterlot is crawling with fillies and gentlehooves dressed in costumes, as they were inspired by Rarity, who is attending the Gala herself. Everypony arrives at the Gala, excited to see Princess Celestia's dress, which was hand designed by Rarity. Just as Twilight and the other five arrive at the Gala, Princess Celestia is about to begin her grand entrance, beginning the worst night of everypony's lives! Before we go further into that night, lets flashback a few weeks.

The day is October 13, as the welcoming Autumn season starts to blossom down at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack returns to the farm with a whole wheelbarrow full of fresh, ripe apples. Her younger sister, Applebloom, trots behind her, only carrying a small bucket of apples. "It's a good thing Fluttershy voluntarily asked us to help her with todays pickin', ah wonder where she could be, she didn't bring anypony else, did she?" asks Applejack. "She said she'd be here just about now, big sis. Ah reckon that she would bring another pony to help, the more the merrier!" says Applebloom. "Yeah i guess you're right!" says Applejack. Just then, Applebloom sees Fluttershy over the horizon. "There she is big sis!" yells Applebloom. "Just on time, but it doesn't look like she brought any help." says Applejack, squinting. "Hmm.. Ah don't know, you might wanna look again." says Applebloom. As Fluttershy trots down to Sweet Apple Acres, a group of her rabbits follow her.

"Fluttershy, when Applebloom and ah assumed you'd bring more ponies to help, ah didn't think you were gonna bring your animals." says Applejack. "Oh.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you. My rabbits like to work hard and I brought them here to help you." says Fluttershy. "It's no problem at all! Ah'm gonna empty out my apple wheelbarrow. Applebloom, you and Fluttershy go into the North Field and pick more apples, there are more buckets inside the farm. If you need any help, just holler." says Applejack. "No problem big sis! Hopefully all this pickin' will help me get my cutie mark someday!" says Applebloom. The two trot off into the woods as Applejack empties the wheelbarrow while whistling to a familiar Apple Family tune.

"I...I hope it's not a bother that I brought my rabbits along with me" says Fluttershy. "It's no problem at all! Ah for one am glad you did. The more the merrier." says Applebloom. The two stop in an open area with trees on every corner they turn. Her rabbits pick up apples along the way and eat them. Fluttershy is about to apologize when AppleBloom bumps in. "No worries Fluttershy, ah'm sure they're hungry after all that trotting we just did. We have more apples than we can spare." "Oh... a-alright... as long as it's not a problem. We should get started." says Fluttershy. Applebloom observes the trees and picks out the one with most apples. "You know what they say, first time's the charm!" She bucks the tree and all of the apples come falling down and into the buckets, without a single miss. Fluttershy looks in amazement. "Did you see THAT Fluttershy?! That took me months to master! Ah can't believe I finally did it!" yells Applebloom. Just then, a light shines from her flank.

Back at the farm, Applejack just finished her work and starts trotting towards the North Field, but after hearing a faint scream in the distance, trotting turned into sprinting. Applejacks frantic sprinting caused her to trip a few times, but she makes it to where Applebloom and Fluttershy are. "What happened?! Ah heard a scream!" says Applejack, who's out of breath. Applebloom is enthusiastically jumping around Applejack. "Ah did it! Ah did it! I got my cutie mark!!" On Applebloom's flank are two buckets filled with apples. "I guess your true talent was pickin' apples after all Applebloom! It just took some time. YEE-HAW!" yells Applejack. Fluttershy is excited as well. "This is so great! I can't wait until we tell the others!"

Just then, a deafening whistle is heard in the distance, Applejack cringes at the frequency of the whistle. "What in the name of Equestria is that sound?! It's unbearable!" Fluttershy is suffering through the sound, and so are her rabbits, but Applebloom is blocking her ears. Applejack turns around and sees an object flying towards them. "DUCK!" she yells. Fluttershy ducks, but Applebloom didn't hear her. The whistle gets louder as an arrow soars over Applejack and pierces Applebloom's right eye, slamming her entire body against the tree behind her. "APPLEBLOOM!" Screams Applejack and Fluttershy. The two run over to Applebloom and get her head off the tree as they lay her down on the ground. "Ah cant believe it, my little sister is... gone... she just got her cutie mark too, she wanted it so bad." Fluttershy starts to tear up as Applejack rips the arrow out of Appleblooms right eye. "All because of this darn arrow!" She examines it, only to see the words 'You're Next' engraved in the arrow. She tosses the arrow in front of her in fright and backs up into a tree adjacent to Applebloom, and apples fall to the ground. The sound of the impact attracted the rabbits as they run over to the apples and eat them. All of then sudden, the rabbits heads start to swell up. "Fluttershy, cover your eyes." says Applejack. Before she can even lose her eyes, the rabbits heads explode and the two ponies get covered in blood. Fluttershy starts screaming in terror to the point where she cant speak. "Why is this happening Applejack?! WHY?!" Applejack looks at Applebloom, and then the rabbits. "Ah... Ah'm not sure! We need to get out of here before anything else happens." Applejack takes Applebloom and carries her on her back as they run away from the North Field.

The Hanging Object

The murderer stands in the middle of the circle, glancing at everypony. Some can't even control their fear, as they are shaking. The silence is a cold, bitter tone in the Halloween night. The murderer walks to Twilight's body, and stays there. "Poor Twilight, all she wanted was to warn you ponies about me, and you all blew it. You may be hearing the same thing over and over, but you all need to understand how much damage I've done." Fluttershy thinks about what the murderer just said. "Why is the murderer playing vulnerable?" she whispers to herself. "It all started with Applebloom." The murderer slowly starts to chuckle. "Then Shining Armour died, that death was pretty ugly. Then Gilda got hit by the train, that death was pretty funny." Rainbow Dash starts to twitch in anger. "Then their was poor Sweetie Belle, that was such a unfortunate event, but it's nothing her sister can do anymore." Other ponies stare in disgust while the murderer chuckles away. "Let's see... aha! I sliced open Gummy, I hung Scootaloo, I was the one who killed Rarity with the scooter, poor Pinkamena had a seizure, your princess of the night burned to death, because of Spike, who is also dead because of you ponies always panicking, but I'm not complaining, seeing all of you erupt into panic cracked me up! After Spike, the chandelier killed that stallion from the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash stomps her hooves on the ground and lets out a huge scream. "HIS NAME IS SOARIN!" Spitfire pulls her back again, "Do you have any idea what your outbursts could do to the murderer?!" whispers Spitfire. The murderer turns back around without a care in the world. "After that, I somehow triggered Applejack's memory to the day her sister died, so I shot the arrow at her before things got worse. Then Twilight Sparkle killed herself, which wasn't even my fault." Rainbow Dash gets angrier and pulls on her mane. "Finally, I sliced open Angel Bunny, but we already know how THAT happened.." Fluttershy starts to cry and Rainbow Dash bolts away from Spitfire. "Do you have ANY idea what Twilight went through to catch you?! She went on a complete rampage, she only cared about the safety of everypony by convincing them that you actually existed. She didn't care about herself. She's seen more than enough; she watched her brother slide down a hill and get trampled to death. Her brain has been filled with MURDER after MURDER and what does it lead to? A blade in her head... A BLADE!! There's no going back now, HOW do you even live with yourself? Are you insane?!" Rainbow Dash slowly trots back to Spitfire, who calms her down once again. The murderer asks the final question. "Now that her little... rant is over, are there any deaths I missed?" The room fills with quiet murmuring. Rainbow Dash gets a flashback to Sweet Apple Acres; the murderer doesn't know about the Hanging Object. "Spitfire, let me go, I know how to end this.." she whispers. "No! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Rainbow Dash rebels. "Trust me." she says as she goes back to where she was before. "YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE HANGING OBJECT!" she screams. The whole room goes silent again. "Hanging Object?!" asks the murderer. "What Hanging Object?" The murderers surprised look turns into an angry look. "So, you thought you could hide a secret like this huh?" the murderer says to everypony, pulling out a larger blade. "Who else knew about it? C'mon, don't be shy." The room is still silent for a few moments. The murderer takes a pony and holds it hostage. "Maybe THIS will make you talk!!" The murderer holds the knife to the ponys neck when a large banging is heard from outside, but the sound is ignored. "One by one, you'll all die until somepony speaks up." Suddenly, the doors to the castle swing open, the lights go out and at the door, is a silhouetted pony with a bat. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO KILL ANYPONY!" yells the pony as they smash the bat over the murderers head, knocking them unconscious. Fluttershy couldn't see what happened, but she understood that for whatever reason, it had to be done, everyponys life was at risk. "I'm just gonna assume that you know something about the Hanging Object?" asks Fluttershy. After a long pause, the pony speaks. "Eeyup."

Changeling

Celestia gets back up as the three stare at Chrysalis. "So you think she's still alive huh?" asks Fluttershy. "She looked at me!" says Celestia. Fluttershy leans in on Chrysalis and looks back up at Big Mac, wincing at him to grab his bat. Fluttershy leans in closer. "C'mon, wake up, you're not fooling anypony anymore. It's over murderer." Chrysalis' eyes open immediately and she grabs Fluttershy's hoof. "NOW Big Mac!!" Big Mac takes a big swing at Chrysalis' head and decapitates it. The head flies across the castle and lands behind them. Fluttershy looks shocked. "How did you behead her with a bat?" "Who said I used the bat?" Big Mac winks as he holds up the blade that killed Applejack. "I figured I should... return the favor, you know? Now that both of my sisters are dead, Apple production will decrease extremely. We might just have to close down the farm." Big Mac takes Chrysalis' head, rolls it over to the nearest wall, and places it upright. "Bring me the body and place it next to the head." The two push the body over next to the head and stand behind Big Mac as he gets his back hooves ready. "This ends now." He smashes his hooves against Chrysalis' horn and smashes it. He positions his body in front of the body and smashes both of the wings. "It's over. It's finally over." says Big Mac.

"What about the pony that appeared and almost killed me?" asks Celestia. Big Mac ponders at the question, then suddenly gets scared, but excited. "This isn't over yet!" He runs out of the castle and off into the distance. Celestia and Fluttershy are still in the castle. "Wait, what hasn't ended yet?" asks Celestia. "I don't even know. Why did he just run out like that?" asks Fluttershy. "I can't really answer that." says Celestia, slightly getting upset. Fluttershy looks around the castle. The broken window at the staircase, the broken chandelier, blood stains on the floor, torn curtains, pieces of fabric scattered all over the castle. Fluttershy slowly walks to the entrance of the castle when Celestia stops her. "Wait, Fluttershy, come with me." "Is there something wrong?" asks Fluttershy. "It's pretty important, I usually don't do this, but I have no other choice." says Celestia. The two walk towards the balcony of the castle. "I want you to be here at sunset, I have a surprise for you." says Celestia, firmly. "What kind of surprise? I'm not sure what's going on." says Fluttershy. "Think of it as a... gift." says Celestia, "Now rememeber, report back here at sunset!" Fluttershy slowly flies out of the castle and takes the evening train back to Ponyville. The leaves have subsided as Fluttershy watches fillies and colts jumping into big piles of leaves. As she approaches the Ponyville train station, she slowly realizes that she will never see her five best friends ever again, they're gone, all because of Queen Chrysalis. As she reaches the door to her cottage, she breaks.