It was well into evening when Twilight Sparkle returned to her castle. Her mind was still in shock, trying to process the days events. Her tread was heavy as she made her way inside and down into her basement laboratory.

All she wanted to do was to rest. To fall asleep and wake up to realize that this had all been a terrible nightmare. Probably brought about by the jostling brought about by the train ride home, combined with three weeks of foreign food. But deep down, she knew that it wasn’t so, and that she could not allow herself to rest until she found a way to fix this, and to turn everypony back to normal. Perhaps it was this single mindedness, or perhaps it was the fatigue, either way, she never saw the blow coming toward her, striking the back of her head, and bouncing her face off the table in front of her, causing her to black out.

She awoke in agony. She tried to rise, but she found herself bound to the table by magic. Her limbs and wings spread wide, held fast and helpless. Then a familiar figure stepped into her field of vision.

“Hello Twilight. I see you are awake. That’s a shame, this would have gone much more smoothly if you had remained unconscious until it was over.”

“Starlight Glimmer?” Twilight said in surprise. "Don’t tell me that you’re a part of this as well."

“If by ‘a part of all of this’ you mean fixing all of your recent mistakes, then yes, yes I am.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asks, her head still foggy from being struck.

“I found Spike, Twilight.” Starlight says, matter-of-factually. “He was locked inside the pantry by magic. You’re magic. He filled me in on the state of affairs since your return. Neglecting your duties to run off to see your friends, locking up your assistant, and lets not forget harboring a fugitive.”

“Pinkie Pie? What have you done with her?” Twilight says, struggling in vain to rise, her mind still unable to focus enough to use her magic to escape.

“Don’t worry about her Twilight. Spike is hunting her down as we speak. I would think that what is about to happen will give you something much more important to focus on.”

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Twilight asks, as a sudden feeling of dread begins to rise within her.

“It’s time for a change Twilight,” Starlight says, going over to a rack of tools, and removing a long sharp scalpel. “In retrospect, this should have happened a long time ago.” Starlight approaches Twilight’s prone form. “I was always the superior mare. We both knew that. My intellect was sharper, my magic was stronger, if not for the circumstances of my youth, I’m sure that Celestia would have made me her favorite pony. Made ME her next princess. But sadly everypony makes mistakes. Fortunately, we still have time to correct them.”

“Starlight? Starlight you are my student, my friend, what are you planning to do Starlight? What are you about to do!”

Starlight climbs on top of the table, and straddles her onetime teacher.

“Why, I’m going to replace you Twilight. Unfortunately for me, ponies see alicorns as the natural rulers of Equestria. So for me to be accepted, I’m going to need those wings from you. I can use healing magic to graft them onto me. Yes, the color is slightly different, but nothing a little dye wont fix. Then I will simply let you bleed out, and take your corpse to Fluttershy for processing. All nice, neat, and efficient. Not that I expect YOU to understand anything about that!”

Twilight desperately struggles to move, to use her magic, anything to stop the rapidly descending blade aimed for her left wing.

“Arrrraaahhhhhhh!” She screams as the scalpel cuts into her flesh. She can feel it, the muscle parting around the razor sharp blade, as it quickly severs her left wing from her body. The pain is almost unbearable. Blood pumps steadily from her side as Starlight almost casually tosses the wing over her shoulder before moving to the other side of her body.

“See Twilight, that wasn’t hard at all.” Starlight says, staring down at Twilight with wide eyes and a blood splattered muzzle. “Just a few minutes more, and this will all be over.”

Suddenly Starlight convulses. Her eyes widen even further as she looks down at her chest in shock to see three inches of steel blade protruding from it.

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” a voice says regretfully, from outside of Twilight’s field of vision.

Starlight collapses off of Twilight onto the floor. Suddenly the magic that had been holding her vanishes, and she struggles to sit herself upright, wincing in fresh agony as she does so.

“Pinkie Pie? You’re okay?” Twilight asks, as she finally sees her savior.

“Better than you Twi,” Pinkie says, grabbing up some nearby rags, to try and stop the bleeding. Can you fix… this?” she asks, gesturing between her side and her severed wing.

“Yes, it hasn’t been very long. I just need to be able to focus my magic. What happened after I left?” Twilight asks, weakly levitating her severed wing over to her side, and beginning her healing spell.

“Starlight showed up shortly after you left. Somepony must have told her that you were back from your trip, because she was looking for you. She heard Spike yelling from the pantry as I was coming downstairs. When I saw she was about to free him, I quickly went back and hid in the rafters, taking the cheese knife you left in my room with me for protection. I was planning on waiting until they went to sleep to go and find you, but then I saw you coming back toward the castle gates, and I knew that I had to try and warn you. I snuck my way downstairs, just as Starlight was cutting off your wing. I didn’t have time for anything else Twi! It was all I could think of to do! Oh sweet Celestia! I killed her Twilight! I killed our friend!”

Pinkie falls to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Twilight tries to think of something that she can say to her friend. Anything that could ease the pain and guilt that she is feeling. But then a voice rings down from above.

“You killed her!” Spike yells, making his way down the stairs. I’ll burn you to ash Pinkie Pie!”

Twilight takes Spike into her magical grasp, and slams him across the room, crashing him into the set of shelves filled with potions marked “Extremely Dangerous’. He slumps to the floor and struggles to rise, as the contents of the shattered bottles rain down upon him.

Pinkie and Twilight watch in horror as Spikes body begins to undergo horrible changes. Parts of his skin swells and discolors before bursting. One eye is rapidly transforming into different animal types, nearly faster than can be recognized. Other parts of Spike melt, turn to glass, catch on fire, and glow an eerie green color. Even once Spike is obviously dead, the changes to his body continue to occur.

“Twilight?” Pinkie says, finally looking away from the gristly remains of her friend.

“Yes, Pinkie?” Twilight says quietly.

“That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Yes Pinkie, it was.” Twilight says bitterly.

“Twilight?”

“Yes Pinkie?”

“Spike crashed into the shelves marked ‘Extremely Dangerous’.”

“Yes he did Pinkie.”

“Twilight. I never want to know what you have on the shelves marked ‘Armageddon Level Dangerous’.”

“No Pinkie… No you don’t.”

Author's Note

I had hoped to finish this final chapter in time for Halloween, but I didn't make it in time.
But it's still the Day of the Dead, I'm sure Spike and Starlight would approve.