Reconnection

Applejack

Applejack stopped once she was sure Pinkie Pie was out of earshot. Pinkie was still visible in the distance, but it was quite a ways off and there was hardly any chance of Applejack and Big Mac being overheard.

"What is it A.J.?" asked Big Mac.

Applejack sighed to herself in frustration. She doubted this would end well, but darnit, it needed to be done.

"What Pinkie just said convinced me," she began. "We can't just wait around for an opportunity to frame Twilight. She needs to be dealt with soon." She forced a hint of finality into that last word, hoping to show her big brother how important this was.

"What are you suggesting?" Big Mac was glaring at her. He surely knew what Applejack was suggesting, and he clearly didn't like it.

"I'm suggesting the same thing I suggested when I first told you this had to be dealt with. Twilight needs to die. What with all these changes happening things are becoming more unpredictable, and the predictability was the only reason I said I'd go along with that frame-up business anyway. Now that that's gone, Twilight is a danger to have around, and I'm not going to risk my family, my friends, or myself anymore."

Her voice had gotten louder the longer she spoke. Once she was done, she briefly wondered if she was overheard. She glanced around briefly but it still seemed nopony but Pinkie Pie was anywhere near them.

"I will not allow that, little sis." The normally soft-spoken pony was getting closer, probably trying to use his size to help his point. It wasn't going to work. "I can't sit around and allow my little sister to murder somepony. It just ain't right."

"First of all, I ain't much of a 'little' sister to you! I must be some ten years older than you are, so don't be thinking you know more than me just because you're firstborn!" She pressed her face right up against his, staring him down. Big Mac however, wasn't budging. "And second, it ain't murder, it's self defence! Even bigger than that, it's justice!"

"But -"

"No buts!," said Applejack. "There's nothing you can do to change my mind. If you don't want to help me, fine! Just don't get in my way!"

And with that, she turned around and made for her room, leaving her brother alone.

As soon as she was in her room she collapsed in her bed, suddenly exhausted. She didn't like arguing, really arguing, and especially arguing with family. It made her feel they couldn't understand her.

For the first time since she told Big Mac what happened, and found out Pinkie Pie was in the same situation, she felt completely and utterly alone. But she didn't cry. She'd grown tired of crying.

Sometime later, there was a knock on her door. She closed her eyes tightly in frustration, before saying a quick, "come in."
The door opened. It was her brother, looking mighty down.

"I sent Pinkie Pie on her way," he began, his head just barely poking through the door. Applejack didn't tell him to leave.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Applejack rolled on her side facing her window, away from Big Mac. She heard him walk over to her bedside.

"Uh, A.J.?" he asked. Applejack grunted to show she was listening. She could feel his weight shift her bed around, as he sat down next to her. "I'm...I'm sorry." He sounded frustrated too. "I can't say I really understand what you've been through. I know it was terrible, but...." He sighed. "It's just difficult to hear you talk about doing those things. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that it's all just for revenge and you'll find out the hard way that revenge doesn't help nopony. I just want to protect you from that."

Applejack said nothing for a while, thinking. He didn't understand. He couldn't, and it was good he admitted it. What Twilight had done to her, what she had done to Pinkie Pie, to Rainbow Dash, and went on to do with the rest of her friends, was unforgivable. Twilight Sparkle was a danger that needed to be gotten rid of. But still, Applejack couldn't help but feel that maybe her brother had a point.

She rolled on her back and then sat up. She looked at her brother and she felt a tug somewhere in her chest. The amount of concern in his eyes removed all doubt in her mind about his sincerity.

"I can't say revenge wasn't a part of it," she said in almost a whisper. Big Mac said nothing, letting her continue. "I can't even think about Twilight anymore without thinking about the amount of trust I put into her, believing she'd keep me and my foal alive, and how she never planned to do either. You have no idea the feeling of hatred that thought brings me. Sometimes I want to just drop everything, run over, and kick her to death myself, and 'justice' or 'self-defence' doesn't enter into my thoughts at all."

Sometime during her speech she had almost forgotten Big Mac was even there. She chuckled lightly to herself.

"You know, I never planned to accept that frame-up idea anyway. I just agreed to make you happy, so you'd help me. I thought we could frame her and then somewhere in prison she would have some sort of 'accident' and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. But that's the thing. So long as Twilight is alive, I'll have to worry. Even if vengeance is a part of it, self-defence really is there too, and that's the important part.

"You're right, vengeance is no good. But I've already been hurt plenty because of Twilight, if I have to get hurt a little more so we can all be safe, then so be it. It has to be done."

She laid back down. Big Mac looked down at her, saying nothing. Her eyes were unfocused. She couldn't bear to take a good look at her brother, to see his face and what he must be thinking. She was worried about what he thought.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way," was all he said before getting back to his feet. Applejack watched him move to the door. He turned and looked inter her eyes. "If you need any help, anything at all, I'm here for you."

Applejack watched as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight kept herself hidden as she set loose her snake. She hated snakes. They still creeped her out a bit, but she had long outgrown her phobia. Even this one, she took care not to touch.

Even though she knew it only had one thing on its mind, and that wasn't Twilight. She had caught this snake the night before. It was annoying, trying to find the right kind. It had to be a decent size, and it had to be hungry. With enough searching though, she found this one. It wasn't perfect, but it was acceptable.

Slowly the snake slithered over to where Fluttershy was fussing over her old favourite bunny friend Angel. She remembered, Fluttershy had been so upset when he had died of old age. Hopefully, it'd be enough.

The spells Twilight has put on the snake caused it to totally ignore Fluttershy as she began to talk to it. It probably didn't even hear her.

"Angel bunny, maybe you should move away?" said Fluttershy as the Snake ignored her. She had said that, but she obviously wasn't expecting anything to happen. Twilight smiled. Angel just looked annoyed, probably at the pony's presumption that he could be eaten.

A small spark of magic left Twilight's horn, and the snake sped into action.

Twilight could barely see it move as it passed Fluttershy, opened its mouth, and clamped down on Angel. Fluttershy screamed.

"Oh no, no, no, no!" shrieked Fluttershy. Twilight could see her visibly restraining herself from attacking the snake. Even in this situation Fluttershy's first instinct was to not hurt an animal.

Now, Twilight focused her magic on keeping Angel alive and struggling for as long as possible. With the spells she put on that snake, it didn't matter how much anypony helped Angel, he wouldn't be getting out of this.

"Please stop, that's my friend, you can't eat him!"

The snake ignored her.

Finally Fluttershy began to do something besides yell, as she tried to pry open the snake's mouth. After several attempts, she began to hit it.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

She had clearly lost herself. Flutterhy thrashed at the snake wildly, tears running down her face, but still it would not stop.
A final spark from Twilight's horn and a loud snap could be heard. Fluttershy screamed again.

Twilight watched the snake finally form its mouth completely around the now dead angel. Fluttershy just slumped down to the ground.

Twilight began to worry.

Suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes hardened. Twilight's ears perked up in interest. Here was her moment.

Fluttershy stood up, tears still streaming down her face, eyes glaring as she picked up a medium sized rock, and slammed it against the snake. She wasted no time in turning around and bucking the snake. It was dead, but she kept kicking it anyway.

Twilight closed her eyes in concentration. Here was her moment. She began tugging at the Element. She could feel it there. It wouldn't budge. Twilight kept pulling, but slowly, delicately. She couldn't mess this up.

Finally, it happened. She could feel the element wobble, and as soon as it did she pulled it free. Quickly, she cast her binding spell. She had spent days working on it, making sure it was perfect and would do what it needed to do.

It was done. She didn't feel any different. She opened her eyes.

Fluttershy was laying next to the thoroughly dead snake, crying, cradling Angel's corpse. She must have extracted it from the body. Twilight grimaced at the sight.

Her work done, she left the now Element-less Fluttershy to her mourning. Twilight had more important things to do than pretend to care. She'd return later for further analysis of her process.

Pinkie Pie

"Thanks for coming Pinkie," said Applejack. Big Mac had led her into the spooky dark cellar where Applejack put some of her apples.

"I was afraid of discussing this out in the open. Even though it's night and nopony should be around, you never can be too careful with this sort of thing."

"What do you mean, Applejack?" asked Pinkie. "Why am I here in this dark cellar? I can't see you." A light turned on, and Pinkie had no problem seeing Applejack now. Pinkie could see there weren't any apples in the cellar. Big Mac walked to Pinkie's side.

"This cellar was just built, it hasn't been used yet, and nopony outside the immediate family should know about it," said Big Mac.

"Pinkie, I've decided on a different strategy," said Applejack. She had a hard look on her face. Pinkie looked at Big Mac. He too looked very serious. Pinkie frowned.

"I convinced Big Macintosh that we should forget the frame job idea. We're gonna kill Twilight, and I want it done by the end of the week, damn the consequences."

Pinkie thought about it for a moment, before deciding this was a great idea, and smiled.

"Alright, how?!" she said. "You can't go wrong with kicking her to death! Or maybe we could tie her down and cut her up? Oh! I know, we could - "

"Pinkie," said Big Mac. His voice sounded deeper than usual. "I'm gonna tell you what I told A.J.. If this needs to be done, you need to make sure it's done for the right reasons. Revenge is a bad reason."

"Well I know that, silly," said Pinkie Pie. "I was just bouncing around ideas! It's always fun to come up with ideas! It's not about revenge."

Deep in her mind Pinkie knew that that was a lie.

Big Mac grunted to show that he heard her.

"Big Mac and I already came up with something, Pinkie," said Applejack. "We just wanted to know what you thought."

"Oh, can I guess?" A pause. Pinkie stopped smiling after a moment. "Well, I guess I shouldn't. What's your plan?"

Applejack took a deep breath.

"At the end of the week, Big Mac and I are sending Granny Smith and Apple Bloom away for the weekend." Applejack spoke fast, with a detached voice, as if she wasn't really the one speaking. Pinkie's ears perked up in interest. "Tomorrow, I'm gonna go invite you and Twilight to have dinner and spend the night at the farm for a slumber party. Gonna say that it's because we haven't seen each other in a while and I want to spend time with her." Applejack visibly grimaced. "Big Mac and I will feed Twilight a bunch of heavy stuff, stuff that'll get her sleepy you see? Big Mac's friends with one of the nurse ponies over at the urgent care centre, he's going to convince her to give him something that'll make sure Twilight won't wake up, no matter how much she's thrown around. When Twilight falls asleep, we're gonna inject her with that. And then the three of us are just gonna dig up a plot, and bury her. She'll die while unconscious, and nopony will know where she went. It'll be like she just disappeared one day."

It wasn't quite the way Pinkie would have liked Twilight to go, but it was good enough she supposed. It did have one thing going for it though.

She smiled again. "That sounds great Applejack! After that's done, we can have a real slumber party!"

Applejack didn't look excited.

"Whatever Pinkie," she said, sighing and rolling her eyes.

Rainbow Dash

"Oh dear," said Fluttershy, as Pinkie Pie dropped a full cup of tea. "Really you don't...." She took another deep breath. "Have to do this. They said I'd be fine...I just need rest." Her sentences were constantly broken up by deep breaths, making her even harder to hear than she normally was.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, you'll be taken care of."

Pinkie glanced awkwardly at Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie's right Fluttershy," said Twilight, not noticing. "We're your friends, and as such we're here to help in any way we can." She set a plate full of celery down on Fluttershy's bedside. The poor pony was having trouble looking at carrots, ever since Angel died.

Pinkie Pie laughed slowly. It almost sounded fake.

"You sure you should be here Twilight?" said Pinkie. "You don't have anything better to do? Rainbow Dash and I can take care of things here, I mean. I know you've been busy lately."

"Nonsense," said Twilight. "What could possibly be more important than helping Fluttershy? Besides, I haven't seen you girls in a long time." She paused for a moment. "Actually, shouldn't you be watching Sugarcube Corner? Aren't the Cake's away today?"

Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah, but the place can stay closed for one day. You said it yourself, Fluttershy's important."

"I really wish you didn't talk as if I wasn't here," said Fluttershy.

Pinkie said something in reply, but Rainbow Dash wasn't paying attention. Pinkie obviously wasn't home. She was here. And the Cake's weren't at Sugarcube Corner. And Pinkie lived on top of Sugarcube Corner. That means nopony was around Pinkie's house at all. Not Pinkie, not the Cake's, and because the shop was closed, there wouldn't be ponies hanging around outside eating.

It was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Well I uh, I think you two have things covered around here," she said, interrupting what sounded like an argument between Twilight and Pinkie. "But I just remembered, I have something really important to get to."

Rainbow Dash didn't wait for a reply as she rushed out of the house.

"I hope you feel better soon Fluttershy!" she called out just as she flew out the door.

It was rude of her, but she'd been waiting months for an opportunity like today.

Quick as...well, not lightning, she arrived at Pinkie's house, paused for a moment to make sure nopony was watching from the ground, and forced open Pinkie's bedroom window. She entered the room and shut the window behind her.

Her eyes darted around, looking for the book Pinkie had been writing in. It wasn't anywhere out in the open, and she never did get to see where Pinkie put it when not using it.

Her eyes drifted to the nightstand. She opened the drawer. Not there. She looked through the closet. Not there either. She looked under the bed, left and checked the bathroom, even looked in the bathtub. It wasn't anywhere. Rainbow Dash tapped her chin with her hoof, thinking.

Rushing back to the bedroom she looked under the mattress.

It was there.

Rainbow Dash picked it up, and looked at it. Rainbow Dash was suddenly reminded of what she was about to do. This was certainly Pinkie's diary. In here were Pinkie's most private, most personal thoughts. Was she really going to look through them?

Yes.

Rainbow Dash opened the book, and was immediately confused. Flipping through it, there weren't any entries. It looked to be just one long ramble. Rainbow Dash flipped to the middle, and scanned the contents.

"...I had never been so scared at that point, rushing Twinkie to the new hospital. But I couldn't afford to show it, Twinkie needed me to appear calm. When I got her there...."

Rainbow Dash didn't have a clue who Twinkie was, so she flipped back about one fourth of the way through.

"He was nice, but I shouldn't have been so silly in thinking it would be anything more than a fling."

Rainbow Dash groaned to herself. Maybe she had it wrong, and this wasn't a diary, but a story, some sort of novel Pinkie was working on. But why when she was writing did she spend most of her time crying?

Rainbow Dash continued to scan through it. It was about Pinkie Pie, no doubt about it. But she was older in here. Meeting colts, having kids, raising them... there were three of them, by three different stallions! Heck, they were three different kinds of ponies! Rainbow Dash didn't understand why Pinkie would write herself doing these things.

Rainbow Dash heard a door outside open. Pinkie must have been back. Rainbow Dash dropped the book in a panic.

Quickly, she picked it back up and stuffed it under the mattress, before shoving the window open and flying out.

She had forgotten to close it again. But it was too late now, if she went back to close it she'd be caught.

Instead, she just went back home, wondering what all that stuff she read was about.

Rarity

Rarity opened her package.

It was small, unmarked, and poorly done. She briefly wondered how it got to her. There was no way it went through the proper channels. It was, after all, not strictly legal for her to have this.

Inside was an unmarked bottle of Nimetazepam. Rarity didn't know all the pharmacological specifics, but she did know that if Twilight took a few of these, she'd be in no state to struggle while Rarity strapped her down.

She had everything now.

With a sadistic glee she rushed down to the basement, where her other packages were. She had moved them from her closet when the first table came. Excitedly, she began to "unpack."

By themselves, these things were perfectly innocent.

A sturdy, long, hard wood table. Some limb restraints. A bridle. Sewing needles (no way would she use her own for this!), a set of chef's knives, a cheese grater, pepper spray, a claw hammer and some nails, and most importantly, a bone saw....

Even if somebody had been watching, and she had unpacked them upstairs as they came, they probably wouldn't have understood what she was planning.

Soon everything was in its proper place, and all that needed to be done now was the removal of the empty boxes all the stuff had come in.

Once that was done, Rarity returned to her basement and turned off the light, and shut the door. Tomorrow was the end of the week. Tomorrow, she would have Twilight here, and she could have her revenge.

Twilight Sparkle

"You're majesty," said Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student," said Princess Celestia. "You don't appear to have grown since last time I saw you. Nor does your aura appear to be much more powerful. There's hardly a difference."

She seemed more amused than anything.

"Yes, your majesty. However, I have succeeded in severing the Element of Kindness. I did predict there wouldn't be a substantial power increase until I acquired them all."

"Indeed you did. So your process was a success then? No unintended consequences? No unforeseen problems?"

Twilight stood tall. "There was something," she began. "The shock of having the element torn from her caused Fluttershy to enter a state of severe exhaustion. Her body was greatly stressed from it. However, she did recuperate. It is of note that she no longer has any extra life force or magical power within her, which means I've modified my previous theory about holder augmentation."

"Could you give me a brief synopsis?"

Twilight didn't miss a beat. "My previous theory was that it was a simple increase in these two things. I now believe it's more of a restructuring. There is indeed extra power there, but only for additional 'materials' as it were, in order to make major modifications to a pony's soul. When I ripped the element of Kindness from its owner, the modifications were ripped with them and destroyed, causing the physical collapse, and the loss of additional magical power. I'm still not quite sure why the orthodox severing method transfers these modifications intact, but I'm working on understand that."

She pulled several notebooks from her bag.

"I have here a complete analysis of what happened, as well as revised versions of some of my theories in wake of the new data, so you can have a full explanation."

Princess Celestia didn't bother to look at them. She looked concerned.

"I've been meaning to ask you Twilight, about all this."

"Do you not understand?" she asked. She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Celestia's face contorted in anger.

"Do not presume yourself capable of understanding things beyond my grasp!" she said. Her suddenly changed, back to normal. Nice even, a face of motherly concern. "I'm simply astonished that you, a young mare who should still have much studying ahead of her, has managed to not only succeed in getting an element so soon, but has devised an entirely new method to do so, all based on completely new, yet sound theories that would put my greatest scholars to shame."

Twilight blushed at the compliment.

"To be honest your majesty," she began. She knew this was coming. She had rehearsed this. It was convenient that she could tell the partial truth, instead of needing to lie. "I'm unsure about it myself. When I was doing preliminary research, it all seemed so obviously wrong, for reasons I couldn't explain. I just began researching under the admittedly odd assumption that everypony else had been wrong. I don't know what made me think that, but that's all there was to it."

There was a very long pause.

"I see," said Princess Celestia. "Well, I hope to see more progress in these matters."

Twilight bowed.

"Of course your majesty."

Rainbow Dash

Finally, it was the end of the week.

Rainbow Dash opened her package with interest. It was from Spike, so she knew it must be her new magic horseshoes.
Digging through the packing peanuts, she found them. Looking them over, feeling them in her hooves, she could tell they weren't quite as good as the ones she used to have. Or would have, in the future.

A letter was attached to one of them. She opened it.

It was just another letter from Spike. Apparently he had decided to send his letter with the package, instead of separately. Rainbow Dash began reading.

He was making new friends, Jewel Flowers was treating him a bit nicer, yadda yadda yadda. Nothing too spectacular.

Until the end. When he started talking about the horseshoes.

...I'm pretty sure they'll fit you, but if they don't you can send them back and we can try again. I know they aren't pretty but they should work just like any other pair. No matter how bad the lightning is, it'll never strike you. That's a promise.
Rainbow Dash stopped reading, her mind buzzing with thoughts. If these were just as good as her old ones, and they repelled all lightning, then how did she get hit in the future?

A thought occurred to Rainbow Dash. She didn't want to believe it, but it was so strong she couldn't ignore it. It was so strong, she almost felt it should have occurred to her much earlier.

That lightning wasn't natural. Spike said the horseshoes would protect against lightning, but that didn't mean it'd protect against those magic lightning bolts unicorns could throw around. Which means she hadn't just died. She had been murdered.

The realisation made Dash want to hit something, but she knew that wouldn't help the situation right now.
Only unicorn ponies could throw lightning around, and as far as she knew, the only unicorn pony who had been around when she died was -

Twilight.

It made sense. Everything made sense now. Pinkie's statement about Twilight not being her friend, Pinkie's diary, Twilight's plans, Pinkie's nervousness around Twilight.... Twilight had killed her, and Pinkie knew. Rainbow Dash had been watching Twilight work on her plans for murder all over again, and Pinkie...

Pinkie...she was in the same situation as Rainbow Dash herself! That was the only explanation for her diary. Then there was the weird conversation they had had when Rainbow Dash had first come back. And the comment that Twilight was not their friend.

She had to leave, now. She wasn't going to let herself die again.