Rarity was about half way home when regret sat in. She felt Twilight deserved a chance to explain herself, and Applebloom was right, the drama queen act was getting to everyone around her. She leveled her head and turned around. She took a minute to compose herself, raising her head up high and standing fully upright. With new found confidence she trotted back towards Twilight's office.

"Ha, I have nothing to worry about, who could ever ask for a pony better than me anyway?" Rarity gave herself an ego boost, then carried on, trying to force the image of Twilight with another mare out of her mind.

Twilight led the way down the dark hall, her horn dimly glowing, casting a blanket of soft purple light throughout the hallway. The dim lighting only made the situation that much more terrifying for the young mares. Twilight spotted Fluttershy at the end of the hall, she was perched on top of the out of shape and wounded middle aged stallion, a utility knife clamped tightly in her teeth. Twilight sent the orb of light floating towards her, hoping to find out exactly what was happening. Fluttershy's eyes were extremely dilated, her menacing grin as wide as could be, the razor blade protruding from the knife in her teeth only added to the evil vibe that shrouded her. Fluttershy cought the orb in mid air with her hoof, violently smashing it into the ground. A thick plume of purple smoke engulfed Fluttershy, the injured janitor coughed as he inhaled the smoke.

Twilight reignited her horn. "Fluttershy, please stop this, what is it you're after? Do you want to go home? Come with me and I'll take you back to Ponyville." Twilight attempted to reason with her.

"Oh silly Twilight, all I really want is to see you pay for what you did." Fluttershy spread her wings and hopped off of the janitor.

"What do you mean, what did I do?"

Fluttershy was humming a vaguely familiar song as she stood behind the terrified janitor, placing the knife up to his neck. "Well then Twilight, I'm beginning to feel angry again. Can you help me?"

"Yes I can Fluttershy, but first I need you to stop what you're doing and come with me."

The janitor spoke up again, "Please don't kill me, my name is Hal, its Hal. I'm just a simple janitor, I don't deserve this."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Fluttershy began to violently slice into the desperately pleading stallion, she shook her head back and forth cutting deeper into him with the fresh razor with each swipe.

"Stop it! Please stop right now!" Twilight screamed at Fluttershy, in a complete state of panic as she watched her friend murder an innocent pony. Twilight ran towards her, her horn illuminated and waiting to get into range to grab and restrain Fluttershy.

Fluttershy knew she couldn't allow Twilight to get into range or her fun would be over. She took a large bite out of the dead stallions sliced neck, shredding meat and skin all the way down to his chest. She then forcefully lobbed the hunk of bloody flesh at Twilight. Twilight was caught off guard by the sheer gruesomeness of Fluttershy's actions. Before Twilight was able to catch it, the slab of meat hit her in the face, blood splashed across her nose and into her eyes. Twilight closed her eyes, she took a few steps back and fell over, she frantically tried to wipe the blood off her face. Disgust and repulsion overwhelmed her senses, disbelief and panic clouded her mind. Twilight scrambled across the floor, distancing herself from the chunk of flesh lying in front of her.

Fluttershy giggled and flew down the hallway, but not before picking the bloody utility knife back up. Twilight looked back at Constance, her eyes were shaking, her breaths were short and fast. Clearly she was in a state of panic as well after having witnessed horror beyond her imagination.

"Cons, Constance, we have to get out of here and call the police. I think Fluttershy just wanted us to watch her kill that pony." Twilight struggled to retain her composure.

Constance simply nodded quickly and turned around towards the back exit. Before they made it half way down the hall, they heard a loud crash at the end. They both ran to investigate, as Twilight neared the corner, she readied her horn, preparing to capture Fluttershy. Constance sent out two bubbles of light floating around the corner. Twilight took three deep breaths, on the third she leaped around the corner, her horn exploded with magic, enveloping everything in a light aura. No sign of Fluttershy, however the metal square magical locking mechanism on the door was heavily indented. Twilight pressed her horn against it, it sparked but didn't unlock. She heard the gears within clicking, but were bent and unable to complete their cycle.

"How in Equestria did Fluttershy do this?!" Twilight shouted at Constance as panic began to set in.

Twilight looked out the metal grid window on the door. Rarity was standing outside the door, shrugging. Once she saw Twilight's blood soaked face, her mood changed greatly. Twilight yelled through the door, "Get help!" Rarity could hardly hear Twilight's muffled words but got the message and ran down the street to an emergency booth. She stamped her hoof on the alert. A second later some pony began to speak.

"Canterlot City Police, what's your emergency."

"I don't know for sure, my friend is locked in the Department of Research and her face is covered in blood, she screamed through the locked door telling me to get help, please send everyone you can right away and please hurry!"

"I've informed a nearby unit of the situation, they'll be there in a few seconds."

"Thank you so much!"

Rarity ran back to the door, she kicked it as hard as she could, attempting to force it open. She only succeeded in hurting herself. She helplessly sat down in front of the door and began crying.

"I'm so sorry Twilight, this is all my fault I know it! Please don't die, I... I can't live without you, I won't. I need you to come out alive."

Twilight had her ear pressed up against the door, she was able to make out every word Rarity said, her heart pulsed rapidly, pumping pain throughout her entire body. Twilight knew very well that this may be the end for her.

"Well isn't that just the sweetest thing, hehe." Fluttershy's sinister voice echoed through the halls. Constance jumped and stood closer to Twilight, frantically lighting as much of the dark halls as she could, hoping to spot the crazed pegasus. Fluttershy was sitting in a dark doorway just around the corner. She took the razor and gripped it between her teeth, then she smiled. The magic soon faded, then she looked around the corner, Constance was facing away from her, and Twilight's eyes were closed as she leaned up against the door. Fluttershy prepared to attack again. Rage filled her heart and mind, all she wanted to do was inflict pain and suffering on everyone around her. She rushed around the corner, knife in mouth, Constance heard her coming and turned around, a light blue aura surrounded Fluttershy but wasn't strong enough to contain her. She broke through, and dived directly into Constance, she began to murderously slice into the helpless pony, cutting deep into her throat and chest. Twilight jumped up and attempted to grab Fluttershy, instead she grabbed both Fluttershy and Constance, they were still right next to one another, and the expanded aura just wasn't quite enough to hold the frantically flailing Fluttershy. She broke free and disappeared into the darkness.

Constance was laying in a growing puddle of her own blood. Her gashes were several centimeters deep and her carotid artery was severed. Constance attempted to speak, but instead blood welled up out of her mouth and she began to choke. Twilight looked down at her and bit her bottom lip. The pain in her chest was unbearable, and she felt the weight of the world come crashing down on her shoulders. Her legs began to shake and she collapsed next to Constance, she grabbed onto her dying friend and closed her eyes. She couldn't see a thing, it was too dark and the tears blurred what little vision she had. Twilight began to choke, her heavy crying was interfering with her breathing.

"No, please, this can't be happening. This isn't real, it can't be." Twilight's wishful thinking only caused her more pain. She noticed that Constance had already stopped breathing. Twilight wobbled up onto her legs, her coat was stained red from the pool of her close friends blood that she had been laying in. Twilight walked up to the door again, outside the window were flashing blue lights on a carriage, a couple police ponies were attempting to breach the door while another was questioning Rarity. Twilight looked back at her dear friend, she wasn't ready to cope with this. She wasn't ready to accept what had happened. She was broken. She knew better than anyone that this was her fault, her arrogance got the better of her judgment. The thought of making a breakthrough allowed her to put her loved ones in danger. Although she never imagined Fluttershy would be capable of anything like this. Twilight took a few steps back from the door, she looked down the hallway, it was still dark as can be, she almost welcomed Fluttershy to take her life next. She walked into the darkness, no light was cast, and she closed her eyes and braced herself for Fluttershy's attack. She looked back at Constance, her eyes were still partially open, they expressed a look of fear. Twilight began to stumble, the emotional distress was beginning to weigh in, she collapsed and blacked out, the dark hallways faded into nothingness as she felt the world around her spinning and spiraling out of control.

Twilight heard a dull thud, then another, this one sharper. Then another, this one loud and clear. She opened her eyes and was immediately stricken by a sharp and searing pain in her head. She felt as if someone had been chipping away at her skull. She looked up to see Fluttershy standing over her, sawing away at her horn with the utility knife.

"Oh, you're finally awake. Darn, too bad I didn't get to finish first." Fluttershy took a few steps back, leaving the knife stuck half way through Twilight's horn.

"Owe, my head." Twilight stumbled to her hooves. She looked back at the door, the police seemed to be using a battery ram of some sort to ram the door open, she then looked down at Constance, her eyes still open, but she was no longer bleeding.

"Hey, come here Twilight." Fluttershy walked up and yanked the knife out of Twilight's horn with her teeth. Twilight screamed out in agony as she felt the knife slice a bit deeper. Fluttershy began to swing the blade towards Twilight's throat, Twilight reacted at the last second, stopping Fluttershy with a small wall of magic. She then wrapped it tightly around her body, squeezing her as tightly as possible. Fluttershy choked as she gasped for breath, dropping the knife on the floor. Twilight walked with her further down the hall, levitating her into the back wall. Fluttershy let out a small yelp of pain as she hit the wall. Twilight was unphased by her cry. She exerted more magic, tightening her crushing grip. With every exhale, Fluttershy's breaths grew shorter until she was trapped in a cough, trying to gasp for breath, but her lungs were unable to expand under the pressure of Twilight's grasp. Twilight felt that Fluttershy's life was coming to an end, suddenly her horn cracked, the sharp sting caused Twilight to lose her grip momentarily. Fluttershy fell to the ground, desperately gasping for air. She started to stumble down the hallway, attempting to escape into the shadows. Twilight quickly grabbed her back hoof with magic, slamming her back into the wall. She lifted her back up into the air, wrapping her purple aura tightly around her neck like a rope. Fluttershy grabbed onto it with her hooves, trying to free herself. Twilight's eyes began to glow white, the aura on her horn exploded once again, growing exponentially larger. The deep purple magic appeared to be growing around Fluttershy like flames, they wrapped around her wings, ripping them off and sending them into opposite directions down either side of the hallway. Fluttershy attempted to cry out in misery, but the tight rope of magic around her neck only allowed her to let out a gargling choke. Soon Fluttershy's hooves stopped gripping the rope, her legs stopped kicking the air. She just dangled in the air, silent.

As soon as Twilight let her aura fade, her cracked horn split in two. The majority of it fell to the floor, bouncing off the tiles like glass. Twilight looked down at it in horror. It began to glow slightly, more cracks appeared and it burst into a black and purple flame. The horn was soon nothing but a pile of glowing ash that drifted away down the hall. Twilight touched the remaining part of her horn with her hoof. Upon touching it it became ash as well. She looked at Fluttershy, she laid there with her eyes close, a pool of blood had formed underneath her, dripping from back where wings once were.

The back door finally flew open, two police rushed in, followed by Rarity. They ordered Rarity to leave immediately but she refused, instead she ran straight to Twilight, hugging her, relieved that she was okay. The burning pain on Twilight's head overwhelmed her, she tightly shut her eyes trying to handle the agony. It was all too much, she fainted under the pain and stress, Rarity held her in her arms, gently lowering her to the floor. Rarity was nearly as devastated as Twilight was when she realized her horn was gone.

"We need an ambulance immediately!" Rarity yelled at an officer who then called it in.

Rarity looked upon the wreckage in the building. Fluttershy was dead, Constance was dead, two other ponies were dead. This was the worst catastrophe Rarity had ever seen, and certainly the most bloody. She noticed Fluttershy's wings were gone, she saw one up against the wall at the end of the hallway, the other was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened in here Twilight...." Rarity looked down at her unconscious love, and shed a few tears for the loss of another friend.

A few days later Twilight woke up in a hospital bed. Rarity was by her side.

"Oh you're finally awake?" Rarity spoke ecstatically.

"Rarity, where am I?" Twilight smiled and reached out to touch her hoof.

"You're in the hospital sweetheart, you were badly injured a few days ago, I wasn't sure when you'd wake up but I wanted to make sure I was here when you did."

Rarity's mane was matted up and messy, her coat was dingy and ruffled.

"How long have I been out?" Twilight looked at the clock, it was about ten in the morning.

"It's been four days. And before you worry about everything, I've taken care of all your meetings and appointments, they've been rescheduled, and I contacted your class substitute to fill in for you indefinitely. Don't worry my dear, Rarity's here to take care of you while you get better."

"Wow Rarity, you really are a life saver. Can I have some water?"

"Certainly dear, here you go." Rarity levitated a cup to Twilight's mouth, Twilight attempted to grab the cup herself, but only mustered up a sharp pain in her forehead.

"Ouch, what happened to me?" Twilight sipped from the cup while Rarity held it up for her.

"Well, um, I'm not sure how to break it to you, I kind of thought you'd remember. It's your horn, I'm not sure how it happened, but it broke off." The sympathy in Rarity's eyes scratched deeply at Twilight's heart. Her deep blue eyes soon became watery and too painful to look at.

Twilight looked down, she reached up to her head with her hoof, nothing was there. She double checked by reaching up with both hooves. Nothing was there, she felt panic beginning to rise up as she began to breath rapidly. Rarity walked up to her and place a soft hoof on her shoulder, she sat on the bed in front of Twilight and reached around her, sharing a warm hug, it was the only thing Rarity could think of that might be comforting. She kissed Twilight's forehead where her horn used to be. She then felt Twilight begin to shake while she held her, she was crying. She felt broken and useless. Rarity laid down in bed with her, holding onto the sobbing pony, hoping to make her suffering as endurable as possible, even if by simply making sure Twilight didn't have to endure one minute of it alone.