Alternative Ending: Since it was requested such a while back I wrote this alternate ending to please readers with a different taste. It takes place immediately after chapter 9. The first block of text is just the last few paragraphs of chapter 9 that lead into the alternate ending.

"Wait, stop!" a voice called out from the doorway. Fluttershy looked up; she was surprised to see Rainbow Dash standing there. Rainbow Dash showed worry. She never seen Fluttershy act out in violence, and in her mind, she never would have imagined to see two male unicorns helplessly incapacitated by Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash herd Fluttershy's war cry from earlier and could only assume that Fluttershy would be the one in trouble.

Fluttershy left the knife pointed at Flam's throat. "Why would I stop! I should have done this a long time ago!"

Rainbow Dash wasn't expecting to be talking her friend out of murder, but she gave her best effort to anyway. "Is murder really the right way?"

Fluttershy answered with confidence, "It's the best way to do it! These ponies deserve to die!"

"Maybe they do, but do you have the authority to decide that for them?" Rainbow Dash said sympathetically.

Fluttershy was panting heavily. Even the muscles in between each of her ribs contracted as she took in a breath. She cried out, "Who better than their victim? Who better than the pony whose life they ruined! They took everything from me!"

Rainbow Dash lowered her voice, just a little, in effort to calm Fluttershy. "If you kill them, how will you be able to live with yourself?"

Fluttershy said angrily, "It doesn't matter how I live with myself. I have nothing left in my life to live for. I'm a pony with nothing left in my soul to salvage. Flim, Flam, and I have all overstayed our welcome on earth. I don't care how I live with myself after this! I don't care if I live after this! I just want them dead! I want to kill them like they killed my heart, and soul! I want them dead—They killed my daughter!"

Rainbow dash replied, "No matter how evil these guys are, killing them won't bring your daughter back."

"I know... It's just..." Fluttershy stuttered.

Rainbow Dash added, "What would your daughter say if she was here right now?"

"... She would say..." Fluttershy had to think a moment about what her daughter would actually say. "She would say that you always lose more from violence than you gain." For the first time since she was in the Everfree Forest, she started to cry. "Oh! I don't know what to do now!" Fluttershy's heart started racing.

Rainbow Dash said with comfort, "You can start by putting down the knife. Please Fluttershy, I'll do whatever it takes to help you get through this, but you have to put the knife down."

Tears started leaking out of Fluttershy's eyes, and for the first time she was able to admit, "I'm no less responsible for my daughter's death than they are." Once said, she let the knife fall from her hoof onto the ground.

"It will be okay," Rainbow dash promised. "It will be okay."

Fluttershy became dizzy. Everything looked like it was spinning. Her vision faded out with a dark haze. She fell to the ground.

Your input is valuable to me, and I'd like to know if you like this ending or the original ending better. The following is the alternative ending:

Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy fall to the ground. Immediately she leaped to Fluttershy's aid. Fluttershy, with her rage replaced by regrets, felt sick to her stomach and rolled on the ground sobbing. She felt dizzy and shaky with her face buried in the wood floors. She felt weak. She felt like her body is finally giving up on her. She had some pretty severe injuries, and now that her adrenaline has transformed into tears, she lost all her ability to keep going. Rainbow Dash put her hoof on the sobbing pony's back.

"It will be okay," promised Rainbow Dash, "You've been through a lot. Let's first get you out of here, then we can make sure you get whatever help you need."

Fluttershy didn't make any effort to budge, but Rainbow Dash became insistent. "Come on now, let's get you back on her hooves."

Rainbow Dash tried to support some of Fluttershy's weight from her side, and tried to lift her on her feet.

Rainbow Dash heard the door nudge open behind her. Her head quickly turned to the doorway where she saw two male pegasi enter the door. They were the same gray and brown pegasi who chased after Fluttershy after she escaped the last time she was here. They both appeared surprised to see the aftermath of the battle that just occurred.

"What's going on here?" shouted the brown pegasus.

The gray pegasus pointed at Fluttershy, "Isn't that the mare we pursued earlier today?"

"How did she survive!" said the brown pegasus. Seeing grotesque condition Fluttershy was in gave both the male pagasi a fright.

Flam pushed himself back onto his hooves, and limped toward the two male pagasi. He looked hurt and his leg was bleeding rapidly, but the knife that he was stabbed with was now between his teeth with his own blood dripping off the blade. The expression on Flam's face showed no signs of pain like the rest of his body did. It just showed pure furry. The male pegasi were even more fearful after seeing their boss's condition.

"Are you okay boss?" said the brown pegasus.

"Shut up!" replied Flam. He muttered between his teeth, "I'll be damned before I admit defeat to this ugly bitch!" Then, Flam pointed straight at Rainbow Dash, who was still standing at Fluttershy's side. As much as she took pride in being fearless, she couldn't deny being scared. Flam pointed straight at Rainbow Dash. "Grab the blue one!" ordered Flam.

Rainbow Dash jumped back to escape their grab, but the two pegasi were bigger and stronger.

Rainbow Dash shouted, "Let go of me! I'm not afraid to fight you both!" truthfully though, she was quite scared. She thrashed her body around to free herself from the two pegasi's grasp. She bucked her hind legs wildly knocking down furniture in the room along with the lamp, and shattered the window that overlooked Ponyville Lake. The two male pegasi struggled holding onto her, but in the end, the two of them managed to pin her down with her stomach to the ground.

Fluttershy was still on the floor, and was in no condition to fight. In fact, she couldn't even see straight anymore. Flam grabbed Fluttershy's mane, and pulled her face to face with him.

Fluttershy's tears covered her eyes, and she could barely see what was happening.

Flam stared at her in utter rage before whispering in a dark tone, "You! Did you really expect this to end any differently? We could have gotten along fine had you just done the job we paid you to do from the beginning. If you want to blame us for you're daughter's death, because you were too careless with our product than fine! I'll take the blame. It wouldn't even be the worst thing I've ever done. Not even on the top five. Think whatever you want Fluttershy... Whatever helps you sleep at night..."

Rainbow Dash blurted out, "Get your hooves off my friend!" Rainbow Dash continued to squirm away from the two pegasi holding her down, but their grip didn't even loosen, and they had her well under control.

"Ahh! Forgive me. I don't believe we met," said Flam to Rainbow Dash. Flam continued, "Now ordinarily I wouldn't allow my emotions to forfeit a perfectly good business opportunity. You see, I have a cellar full of mares just downstairs for the sole purpose of servicing the colts that come in here. Now Fluttershy was perfect... however now, her looks clearly left her, and her injuries will kill her before we can make a bit off her. On the other hoof, you look perfectly healthy and fine, but you're just not quite the homeless nopony Fluttershy was, and I'm sure if you went missing, ponies will actually talk about you." Flam cleared his throat, "Now this puts me in a bind. I have no qualms with you, but you know too much, and I'm not going to risk my business on a pony who's perhaps moderately attractive at best. Unfortunately, you're not going to leave here alive, and you're not going to stay here long enough to be missed either."

Flam turned to the pegasi holding Rainbow Dash. "Take her to the cellar with the other mares. Since you two preformed adequately at the least, you two can do whatever you want with her. Have your way with her, and don't worry about being gentle. Before the sun comes up, she will be killed, and disposed of."

The male pegasi nodded and took her out the door. Flam limped back over to Fluttershy, where she helplessly laid on the floor. Flam held the knife closely to her neck.

"Now Fluttershy, look at the mess you made with Flim," said Flam.

Flim was completely unconscious, but breathing. There was a golfball sized bump on the side of his head. Fluttershy cried softly with the knife next to her neck. She had no strength left to resist. Fluttershy was scared, not because of the threat to her life, but everything else. What's going to happen to Rainbow Dash, what happened to her daughter, what life for the rest of the mares in the cellar will be like, but most of all, she was afraid of herself—not for herself. She was afraid of the monster she became. She was scared how she managed to give up each moral in just a short amount of time, and got driven by rage with the attempt to commit murder.

Flam looked at his brother, then back at Fluttershy. "I admit it. You put up a good fight, but in the end, I came out on top. I always come out on top... How does it feel; being as weak as a little filly? I'm sure that wing doesn't feel too good either. You're once perfect life in solitude becomes this. Your home burned down, your daughter dead from drug overdose—and whether you blame me or yourself, you're helplessly stuck in the same room with your daughter's killer. Not to mention your friend is at the cellar; possibly being gagged and raped right now. After which, she will be killed by yours truly. Then the flesh would be torn off her body and burned to dispose of any evidence of me or my business. Then her bones will be thrown into the Ponyville Lake so that some old pony can one day find, and everypony would have to assume she just drowned, and would give up looking for her. And to top it all off, you're going to die by the hooves of your enemy. Tell me Fluttershy, how does all that feel?"

Flam gave a long pause awaiting for a response, but Fluttershy didn't give him one. Flam had a fiendish smile. Flam eventually continued, "Now, killing you will be too easy at this point. I'm no doctor, but I think cutting the throat of a pony in your condition would just be a wast of time. But I still have to return the favor you gave me." Flam took the knife, and plunged it into Fluttershy's upper hind leg, and forced it all the way through into the wood floor beneath. Fluttershy shrieked from the pain into her thigh. "Lets make sure it goes deep into the floor board so it doesn't fall out," said Flam pushing the knife in further. "There," he said, "Now I'll give you some privacy, and while you die, I'll be getting my leg bandaged." Flam turned his back and limped out the door, closing it behind him.

Fluttershy laid motionless with the knife through her leg. She didn't have the strength to do anything. Fluttershy cried. The pain in her leg was agonizing, but most of her tears were due to the thought of everything she did.

She remembered the time she use to take pride in being a good pony. Back in the day where she still had her house, and her daughter. At that time, she use to imagine little Lantana growing to be a nice, caring, and loving pony just as she was. It broke her heart to think about it. Not only will Lantana never grow up to be anything, but Fluttershy broke every ethic she raised her daughter by.

She remembered when her house burned down, she felt like she lost everything—how far from the truth that was—but because she felt like she hit rock bottom at the time, her mind started to justify each horrible thing she got herself into one by one. She ruined pony's lives with the drugs she sold for Flim and Flam, but at the time it seemed okay, because she needed the money to care for her daughter. She remembered when she justified the murder of Flim and Flam, because they were bad ponies. She remembered what she told her daughter the day she came home from detention for fighting: you will always lose more from violence than you gain.Fluttershy began to cry harder. It's true, Fluttershy thought to herself. Not only did her violence cause her to lose her life, but she lost her daughter, she hurt innocent ponies, but even after getting in a fight with her best friend, Rainbow Dash was still there for her. She still came to help her, but because of violence, Fluttershy became responsible for the death of the only friend she could count on for anything.

Fluttershy's body began feeling cold. She knew she was dying, and she knew it was her own fault. But she didn't care about dying. If anything, she felt like she deserved it. She wished that she could take back all the horrible things she done—all her regrets. She wished that just for a day, an hour, or even a minute, she could go back to being the the pony that lived up to her own standards instead of the fiend that she was.

Fluttershy noticed an open window on the other side of the room that overlooked the Ponyville Lake. It was the window Rainbow Dash broke. She was reminded of what Flam said about throwing Rainbow Dash's bones into the Lake so that pony's would think she just drowned. Fluttershy felt guilty for what she did to Rainbow Dash. It was bad enough that she yelled at the only friend who truly cared about her, but now she's responsible for her execution.

Fluttershy thought about escaping through the window, but even if her leg wasn't pinned by the knife, she knew she would never be able to climb to the window yet alone through it. Fluttershy looked at Flim who was still on the floor unconscious. The first thought that crossed her mind was to find away to get the knife out her leg, and with her dying breath take Flim's life, but she shook the thought from her mind reminding herself what she told her daughter: you will always lose more from violence than you gain. Besides, the knife was in her leg and the floor pretty good, and she didn't see any way of pulling it out.

She could just barely reach Flims front hoof if she reached with all her might. Then Fluttershy noticed her saddlebag that she brought with her. It was empty now, and was barely within her reach. She leaned over and grabbed the saddlebag. It pulled on her leg some which was very painful for her. Once she had the saddlebag, she wiped her hoof across her leg, wiping off some of the blood. Then began to write on her saddlebag. Using her hoof as a quil, and her blood as ink, and her saddlebag as a lumpy parchment, she wrote the words "Flim + Flam killed RD" She wasn't able to fit Rainbow Dash on the bag. Without a proper quill she had to write big, and even still the writing was just barely readable, but she prayed that if someone found it, they would be able to figure it out.

Now it was just a matter of getting the saddlebag out the window. She knew there wasn't a chance that she would be able to walk the bag to the window. She was losing a lot of blood, and lost feeling in the bottoms of her hooves. She could throw it, but the saddlebag was made from a very thin, light, and cheap material, and didn't have enough weight to go very far. Maybe if I found something to weigh it down, she thought. She looked at Flim. She was just barely able to reach his front hoof. However, on that hoof, he had a horseshoe on. Fluttershy fought the pain and discomfort reaching for Flim's front hoof, and with her hooves going numb she struggled getting the horseshoe off his hoof, but she managed to pull it off.

Fluttershy stuck the horseshoe inside the saddlebag. Okay, she thought to herself, The only thing left is to throw the saddlebag out the window. Hopefully Flim and Flam suffered to much head trama to really notice the saddlebag went missing, and hopefully somepony finds the bag just outside the window before Flim and Flam do, and hopefuly they can read the smudgy writing and figure out what it means. Now, I've never been really well coordinated, and I only have one chance to throw the saddlebag out the window. My vision is hazy, my hooves are numb, and the bag is slippery with blood... here goes nothing.

Author's Note

If you read the entire story, it would mean a lot to me for some feedback. I've been surprised to see how much the reviews on this site contradict with reviews on fanfiction.net. By no means do I take negative reviews too critically. Unfortunately fimfiction.net doesn't recognize the same file types I used on fanfiction.net so I don't know how to fix paragraph spacing without losing italicized fonts. Though posting this alternate ending took much longer than it was suppose to, I did it to address disgruntlement from this site. So this would have never happened had people not been commenting, and the only reason this chapter exists is because the readers from this site offered their support.

From the bottom of my heart,
Thank you all for reading