One By One

Twilight Sparkle sat her desk, her mane and tail frayed from stress, going through all the documented evidence for these horrendous murders that seem to occur in some form of fashion that even the genius Twilight Sparkle couldn't quite figure out.

Aside from the infamous "X" on the victims' cutiemarks, there seemed to be another pattern, but the only victim who broke up that pattern is the murder of Ditzy Hooves, also known as Derpy Hooves.

Twilight Sparkle had noticed that the serial killer was going after all the Elements of Harmony, but why would the killer kill Ditzy Doo? She wasn't an Element, she was just a simple mail mare who loved muffins, she was the picture of innocent, why would anypony want to kill her?

Then again, why would anypony want to kill somepony, that's just insane!

What's the motive of this? Fear? Dominance? Revenge?

"Wait a second," Twilight thought out loud. "If the killer is after the Elements of Harmony, that means..."

Twilight gasped at the thought, she did not want to say it, but, deep down, she knew it was true.

Twilight's voice shook in fear in what she was about to say. "The k-killer is after me, too."

Knock! Knock!

"Huh?" Twilight Sparkle snapped out of her state of shock, got up, and opened the door.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle?" The grey pegasus officer asked, sadness in his eyes.

"Yes," Twilight answered, oblivious. "What's the matter officer?"

"Please, just take this envelope," the officer said, bluntly, taking out an envelope out of his shirt pocket, and placing it in Twilight Sparkle's hooves. "You have a nice day, Miss. Sparkle."

With a tip of a hat, the officer left Twilight's palace.

Twilight Sparkle shut the door behind her and went back to her desk, with the envelope in her hand.

Reluctantly, Twilight ripped opened the envelope, planning for the worst, placed its contents on her desk, and began reading one of the few documents.

Though she planned for the worst, Twilight Sparkle wasn't prepared on what she was reading. Those documents were details and evidence on the most recent murder: Applejack Apple.

"No..." Twilight Sparkle denied, restraining her tears. "This can't be... I just saw her the other day."

Denial.

Twilight Sparkle, with shaky hooves, went tore through all the written documents until she saw the horrific picture of the corpse of of her beloved friend, with a pitchfork stabbed into her neck with blood coming out of the wound but also out of her neck, it was obvious that the unfortunate mare suffered greatly.

Twilight Sparkle put down that picture and went to the other picture behind it. Apparently, Applejack saw the killer and, with her remaining strength, tried to write the killer's name, but, try as Twilight might, the writing wasn't readable at all, it looked like chicken scratch, Applejack never had the best hoofwriting anyway.

Of course, the next picture was a picture of Applejack's cutiemark, a huge "X" shaped gash on it, typical and expected.

Twilight Sparkle threw down the picture, with a stressed-out grunt, frustrated at this entire case, the killer, the lack of evidence, and just everything.

"I hate this!" she cried, slamming her hoof on the desk. "I hate this killer! I hate these events! I hate have to figure the murder of my own friends! I hate everything!

Anger.

Twilight leaned on her desk, her front hooves covering her face, she wanted this to be over, she wanted everypony and everything to just go away, but, most of all, she just wanted her best friends back, and she would do anything just to do that.

"Please, Celestia!" she whimpered. "I'll do anything! Please just erase the past and give them back!"

Bargaining.

Though, there is no such "good magic" spell that could resurrect the dead, this made the whole grieving process worse.

Twilight Sparkle couldn't hold the tears back any long, the tears fell, and they fell with out ceasing, Twilight let out an agony-filled cry, finally letting go what she had been holding back, her tears falling on the pictures and documents just below her face.

Why were there ponies out there who do such things? Why were there ponies who love to cause pain and suffering to other ponies, don't they know how it feels? Don't they know what they are doing?

Depression.

Finally, after a few moments of wailing, she wiped her tears away, got off her rump and out off her desk, and went out the door. She knew what she wanted to do, she had gave in and accepted her fate, along with her element.

She was going to do it, she was going to take control of her own fate, she was going to go to the nearest cliff, do what the killer wanted her to do, she was going to jump off, and fall to her gruesome death.

She was the only who could control her destiny and she wasn't going to let just anypony take control of it without her consent. It was her life not anypony else, right?

Acceptance, bitter acceptance.

...

Twilight Sparkle stood on top of a tall cliff, standing in front of a huge body of water, Twilight was actually surprised to find this area just beyond the Everfree Forest.

Twilight Sparkle had been out there for what felt like an eternity, trying to coax herself to just take that leap and end it all, literally, but with every encouragement, she would psyche herself out, as pathetic as it sounds.

"Okay, Twilight," she encouraged herself. "It's simple, you just have to jump and it all will be over. I... I will be free from everything."

Twilight jumped in place and still couldn't do it, she constantly psyched herself out, and just could not do it, but, right when she was about to give she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, Twilight gasped in shock, but then fell to the ground dead.

The killer smirked and kicked Twilight Sparkle down the cliff, after, of course, carving his signature "X" on Twilight's cutiemark.