Twilight Sparkle carefully worked away into the night, cleaning the skin layers harboring the cutie marks for her book and harvesting the organs to laminate as its pages. As always, the organs were rather painstaking to sterilize - not to mention, as always, bloody - but Twilight was pleased to note as she separated the bone, muscle, and viscera that Applejack's leg muscles were, indeed, very strong. Stronger than that of some of the other earth ponies she had looked at.

"It must be all that apple bucking," Twilight muttered to herself. "That amount of hard work would make anypony have that kind of strength. Very impressive muscle structure."

As the scientist continued in her research, taking notes and observing the Elements with her darting, contracted eyes, she didn't notice the ponies watching, separated by the barrier between the living world and their purgatory. The two familiar ones were now joined by a third, charred companion.

Applejack had joined the purgatory-bound group, staring numbly. She glanced at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, but for the moment said nothing.

Rainbow Dash was looking at the studious unicorn, her rose eyes staring quizzically. Something had seemed different about the psychopathic murderer. And Rainbow wasn't entirely sue how that difference would effect any further action the scientist would take.

"Something seemed a bit off about her," the pegasus remarked. "Even in her insanity. She seemed to look almost... sympathetic at times." She stepped several paces closer, head tilted slightly, her mane - which was quickly obtaining its former length, as was Pinkie's - encircling her neck. The pegasus turned to the charred newcomer, who's emerald eyes were darting around. "You noticed it when she was torturing you didn't you?"

Applejack tilted her head upward now to briefly meet the cyan-colored pegasus's eyes, but the direct gaze was quickly broken as the irises of her eyes turned downward to their equivalent of ground. Her voice sounded stifled, wincing every so often as she spoke. "No... yes.... I don't know...." It was clear through her actions that Twilight's combination of memory-alteration and shock therapy had left her broken. She had all truth taken from her, wanting to lie... but so deluded and warped she was unsure what was true and what was false. She only turned her view toward her singed hooves, blackened from Twilight's shock therapy, a few blood-clotted holes visible where her hooves had been impaled during the shock treatment.

Rainbow spat at her, speaking in a taunting manner. "Oh yeah, Miss Broken-Honesty, you don't know what's true or fake anymore, or at least you won't say. In any case, those sympathetic looks were probably fake. Just a stupid trick."

Pinkie started gesturing, coming a bit closer to her broken friend. Her blue eyes were clearly worried as she tried to get Applejack's attention.

Noticing the pink earth pony's gestures, Applejack stared incredulously. "What?"

"She's trying to say something about how you still have us, but she's wrong. You just might say you still have her. Though you'll probably just tear each other apart. Fine by me."

Pinkie's shoulder's sagged a little. It seemed that she never really would get her old friendships back... at least, not back to the way they were before.

Rainbow moved her own irises around in an attempt to stare down the farming pony, to intimidate her. Almost as if it were a game.

Finally, Applejack spoke sharply, irritated at the mutilated pegasus's behavior. "Ya'll stop that!"

Rainbow blinked, surprised at the forcefulness of Applejack's voice. "I'll stop when I want to. Though," she paused, straightening up again as she looked away from the other pony, "it seems that you aren't a complete weakling from the experiments after all. You may not be able to say a truth or lie, but you can at least demand a neutral statement." She huffed.

Applejack shot a brief stern look at the pegasus, but said nothing else.

"As for her," Rainbow indicated toward the living scientist with a sharp flick of her tail, "there's something else I noticed about her."

The two earth ponies looked at her in interest, their eyes speaking their intrigue for them.

"Her magic aura seemed a little darker. And I don't think it was just from the lighting"

Unnerved by her words, yet afflicted with a nagging curiosity, Pinkie and Applejack turned their focus toward the veil that separated them from the laboratory - veil that seemed to be somewhat thinner - and lingered their gazes on Twilight.

Sure enough, as the three ponies quietly observed, they could see the lavender unicorn using her magic to draw her experimental tools closer to her, her notebook by her side. Her eyes were focused intently on the energy of Honesty she monitored, levitating all manner of instruments to her and connecting some wires to the containment chambers. Several connections even were hooked to the chambers of Loyalty and Laughter as well, comparing the genetic signatures of each one.

All this with a dark magenta aura surrounding the connections, slightly darker than normal. In fact, it was almost a violet color.

"I have no idea what that's about," Rainbow snarled. "But I do know I don't like it."

A mutter of intrigue from Twilight caused the trio to look more intently at her doings, wanting to know exactly what was up. It seemed as if the murderess had noticed something.

Twilight had, indeed, realized something that was rather interesting. The colors of Loyalty's energy was fading to a white color, like when ordinary DNA can be seen with the naked eye. Laughter, too, had faded in color, though not quite yet to the degree that Loyalty had done.

For an instant, Twilight's eyes widened as she was gripped with panic, but the feeling quickly left to be replaced with an excitement.

"So, the Elements are truly beginning to release their hold on their old inhabitants. They're going to be pure genetic code now!" The mare grinned, shuffling papers out of the way eagerly and adjusting the wires to monitor them. "The energy signatures are starting to be at an untainted state, so I can do a little bit of comparing their initially extracted state with their pure state!"

"Pure?" Applejack questioned as she and the others listened on. "What's she goin' on about 'pure'?"

Pinkie Pie, a puzzled expression on her face, gestured her confused inquiry as well. "And 'tainted'?" Her blue eyes showed her hurt feelings, saddened at the thought. "Is she saying... we're tainted?!"

"That's exactly what she seems to be saying, Voiceless," Rainbow snapped. "It's like she thinks that stinking Harmony stuff is all she really cares about! And I still can't figure out why." She stamped her hoof.

Twilight continued her work all through the night into the morning. Not sleeping, not eating, not resting. Only researching, reading her books, focusing on her deadly task. And, in her mind, plotting on how to obtain that Element of Generosity.

I'll get that Element from Rarity... but how... how?...

A thought occurred to the scientist. Generosity was linked to empathy and compassion. Where were those feelings stored? In the amygdala, the part of the brain that harbors emotion. She grinned to herself.

"I think there will be a bit more playing around with emotions to be done..."

---

As morning drew near, a certain family on the other side of Ponyville began to awaken at the crack of dawn, as they always did... with one tragic difference that they would soon come to learn.

Apple Bloom was the first one to wake, her eyes slowly opening from a somewhat fitful sleep. She had dreamt the night before, but it wasn't one of her normal, cheerful dreams. There had been a darkness, and she saw Pinkie Pie and Rainbow disappear right before her eyes. The same had happened to Appplejack... Twilight had been there too, but only briefly, so sudden that she had startled the filly. All of them had been taken. Taken to... where? She wasn't sure. And she was almost afraid to find out.

But it was just a nightmare. She was free of that now.

The filly briefly closed her eyes and tried to push the dream out of her mind. She was just concerned about Pinkie and Rainbow, with all the events that were going on, and thinking about her sister's suspicion that something was up. That something wasn't right.

Her sister... Applejack would probably be up now. It was a short while before sunrise.

'Ah can talk to her about my nightmare, Apple Bloom thought as she rose from her bed and headed off to Applejack's room down the hall, confident that her older sister would be willing to listen.

"Hey, Applejack? Are you-"

The filly halted her words mid-sentence as she entered Applejack's room, knowing right away that something was amiss. The bed where her sister normally slept was empty. The sheets were muffled and twisted, not neatly made like they normally were when the farming pony went out for the day. It was as if she had been removed from her rest by force. And her hat was still where she put it when she slept...

Applejack never left her room like this.

Somepony else had been here. An unwelcome visitor.

The yellow filly stepped backwards in shock and terror, terrible thoughts rising into her head. It was if aspects of her nightmare had crept out of her head and invaded her waking life. The terrible implications had hit her. The mysterious disappearances of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash... now this!

The horrified scream that came from Apple Bloom's mouth might have been heard to anypony within the perimeter of the farm, had anypony else been awake. One thing was certain though - the cry would put an end to the restful sleep of the inhabitants of Sweet Apple Acres for quite a while.

"APPLEJACK!"

---

Several hours later, Twilight managed to traverse up to the main part of the library, attempting to rid the grit of sleep deprivation from her eyes. She hadn't slept a moment throughout the night, intently researching the Elements' signatures now that they were becoming "pure", and compiling her notes on Applejack.

And she did a little bit of work on Spike as well.

"I might be able to use his skin for something," she had said as she worked. Not to mention that examining his skin, skeleton, and organs helped her learn a lot about dragon anatomy.

How brilliant, all this knowledge-collection. And how tiring.

It's all worth it, though, Twilight mentally assured herself as she wandered into the central library, as nopony was there with Spike no longer present. I'm learning about the Elements' signatures already. And there's just a few more to get...

Attempting to shake off the lack of sleep, and brush down her disheveled mane and coat (without much success), Twilight Sparkle stepped out the door of the library, expecting to see the inhabitants of Ponyville going about their daily business as per usual.

Not the case.

Rather than coming out to quiet streets, it seemed that everypony was outside, all in a crowd. Heading over toward Town Hall.

Twilight froze. She had a feeling what this was all about, a sinking, terrible feeling...

She was right.

"Twilight dear, there you are!"

"Twilight, have you seen her?!"

True to the cocktail party effect, Twilight's attention was immediately drawn to the two familiar voices that addressed her. Sure enough, both Rarity and Fluttershy came running up to her. "Seen who?" she inquired as casually as possible. "What's got everypony so excited?"

"Not excited - more like worried!" Rarity corrected, the three of them now mingling with the crowd. "Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?'

"Applejack's gone!" Fluttershy exclaimed, clearly worried. "Apple Bloom was saying that she was there last night, and this morning, she was gone! Just like that!"

Oh no oh no oh no... The unicorn forced herself to stay calm and look directly at her friends, though her deceit toward them was pressuring her to look away. "Are you sure? Maybe she just went out for a morning walk."

Fluttershy frowned in thought. "If she goes somewhere, she tells everypony! She wouldn't just leave!"

"And according to Apple Bloom, her room was left an absolute pigsty!" Rarity added. "That's definitely not normal. And in any case, she'd certainly be back by now if it was just a 'morning walk'."

"Oh no..." Twilight didn't need to feign worry - she made her anxiety quite visible on her face. Though, it was for different reasons than anypony else would think. Her reasoning was that now her deeds has alerted the attention of everypony. They would be more on alert.

Fluttershy's eyes widened in concern as she took in Twilight's appearance. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

"Huh?" Twilight rapidly shook her head to jolt herself into a more alert state. "I'm fine, Fluttershy. J-Just a little tired. I was up all night reading."

"Oh, if only you had been at Sweet Apple Acres at the time!" Rarity said. "You would have been able to find out what happened and stop that ruffian!"

"Y-Yeah..."

Twilight couldn't meet her friends' eyes.

She'd have to be very careful not to give herself away. But she forced herself to remain quiet and casual, and yet show a reasonable amount of worry to be natural for a situation when a friend goes missing.

And when the congregation arrived at Town Hall, things only got worse from there.

The Mayor was standing behind the elevated wooden podium, the three members of the Apple family off to her right. The three, as expected, were clearly worried. Wondering what in the world had happened; where Applejack had been taken to.

The assembled ponies' voices were a mess of chatter, swapping concerns, rumors, and fears. Nopony knew the full story of what was going on.

Nopony, that is, except Twilight, the ponynapper in question.

"Everypony, settle down!" the Mayor raised her voice, trying to quiet the gathered assembly.

Soon enough, the noise of the chatter slowly lessened before ceasing completely, the ponies looking up at the Mayor in anticipation.

It was then that the elderly mare took the opportunity to speak. "It has come to my attention that we have a concern among the citizens of Ponyville. It seems that Applejack has disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

"I-It's true!" Apple Bloom called out, hurrying up to the podium to make herself heard. "She wasn't there when 'Ah woke up, and her room looked like she had been forced out!" The filly seemed to find it difficult to talk - it was clear that she was scared. "An' I knew somethin' must've happened because... last night she t-told us that she'd... s-she'd..."

The filly's voice faltered, struggling.

"... s-see us... in the... m-mornin'..."

Tears fell from the young pony's eyes, her grandmother and brother coming up to comfort her. The same worry and sorrow was present in their eyes. Apple Bloom hugged them tightly, as if terrified that her remaining family members would disappear as well. She looked more broken than anypony had ever seen her.

"First Pinkie an' Rainbow... an' now..." Apple Bloom was unable to finish as tears fell from her eyes, and she made no attempt to stop them.

"It's clear that there's some sort of danger around Ponyville," the Mayor announced, looking sadly at the grieving family beside her. "If Applejack really was ponynapped, it may be assumed that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash have been taken the same way."

That set the assembled crowd into a panic, murmuring to each other worriedly. A few ponies even looked at each other before moving away a few paces, as if thinking that the pony next to them would leap up and take them at any moment.

Apple Bloom's two friends, Scootaloo and Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle, slowly came through the crowd to join the Apple family, attempting to comfort their friend. Twilight, surrounded by her own thoughts, dimly thought she heard Scootaloo say something about "Cutie Mark Crusader Investigators". With no verbal response from the despondent filly, the two friends simply leaned against her to act as a shoulder to cry on.

Like Twilight's friends would have done for her.

The thought dimly resonated in Twilight's head, being drowned by her own desperation to keep control of herself.

"With that in mind," the Mayor went on, "I think we ought to take a few precautions..."

---

For Twilight, the entire day was filled with putting on a facade of normalcy. Pretending to be the organizer, the one in charge, the one determined to help catch the one who threatened the population of Ponyville.

How ironic that she was helping guard the citizens from herself. In a way, however, it was a good thing - she'd know how to bypass any sort of defenses that the others might try to put up. Not that it would matter - nopony had any sort of magic shielding.

The ponies locked their doors and boarded up their windows, trying to protect their homes from any threat that might try to get in. They couldn't be too careful.

The pegasi of the town flew around the surrounding area, searching carefully for any place nearby that somepony might hide with a hostage or two in their clutches. Much to their despair, they found nothing. No sign of their missing friends.

Twilight forced her psyche not to break down as the day waned, caught between a desire to do more of her work and keeping a normal composure. The combination of a lack of sleep and her anxiety certainly didn't help matters.

At times, when nopony was really looking at her, Twilight had a mental war with herself, struggling to keep herself stable. It seemed her conscience hadn't completely shut up after all.

I just have to act normal and stay calm.

Stay calm?! You're completely breaking inside!

At least I know the various defenses that are being used in an attempt to keep me out. And they don't even know it's me!

Yet! They'll find out!

Not if I'm careful, stealthy, and thorough like I have been. I've been that way, I'll stay that way!

Despite her unease, she made it through the day helping to "protect the town", and managing to safely converse with Fluttershy and Rarity. Talking them through it. Assuring them that everything would be fine.

But everything wouldn't be fine. They wouldn't be fine.

When night fell, Twilight was forced to use the same procedures that she had everypony else use: closing the windows, placing barriers over them, tightly locking the doors.

It didn't matter. She could just teleport in and out anyway, and she was only looking to infiltrate one particular residence.

Before executing her plan to go out, Twilight looked at where the mirror had once been, staring at the shards that still littered the floor from the previous night. Gazing at her tired-yet-determined self.

She knew what she had to do. What she was going to do. It had to be done, it needed to...

She remembered realizing the urgency. Desiring to bring the world to be as she saw it should be.

Thinking about the Elements, their fragile presence. The knowledge that needed to be preserved and fully realized. Repelling chaos for good.

Making them see... wanting to know...

The books. The underground storage that she had transformed...

It had been cold... so cold, then burning like the fires of Tartarus...

The world was like that, in its mixture... harmony tainted by chaos...

She knew how that felt...

The mare shook herself out of her thoughts and back into reality. Thinking about those past events would come later, when there wasn't a task to be so urgently accomplished. And those thoughts, in any case, were a part of her future goal.

As before, Twilight swung a small saddlebag onto her back. But rather than only having a tranquilizer injection, there was a little something more contained within. In fact, in this case, the injection was just a Plan B.

This time around, she was trying something different.

Twilight levitated a small, iridescent gem in front of her, its swirling colors almost hypnotizing. She focused a small concentration of magic around it, the clouded aura encircling the object in smoky magenta tendrils, seeping into the shimmering stone.

It was a spell she had learned from one of her books - a different form of the "Want It Need It" spell she had used previously. That original variation enchanted the object in question so that anypony who witnessed the object fell in love with it. Now, the item was enchanted in a way that would only affect the pony that the caster intended it to. The afflicted target would not lunge or chase after the item either. They would walk slowly, entranced, not making a sound.

Perfect for what she needed to do.

Anxiously waiting for time to tick by, waiting and watching for everypony to be deep in their slumber, Twilight Sparkle teleported out of her library, swiftly heading toward her destination:

Rarity's house.

Looking around just to be absolutely safe, she teleported inside Rarity's place of residence, silently making her way over to the other unicorn's room.

Rarity was sleeping soundly, her luxurious purple mane draped over her face., hooves close by her head. She looked so peaceful, sleeping like that.

Not for long.

Removing the alluring stone from its holding place, the bookish unicorn raised it up in front of her friend, gently nudging her with a hoof.

"Rarity... wake up..."

The sleeping unicorn was slowly roused from her restful slumber, eyes blinking open. "Tw-Twilight-"

She stopped short as her gaze was met by the shimmering gem before her eyes, and fell under the spell that Twilight had placed on it. Her eyes became half-closed, her pupil's dilated, and she slowly rose from her bed as Twilight moved a little further away.

"That's it..." Twilight gently whispered, "that's it..."

The lavender unicorn was caught off guard by another voice - a voice mumbled and tired, but the surprise in the speaker's tone was unmistakable.

"Huh?... T-Twilight?!"

Twilight's head jerked around instantly, her eyes wide as she turned toward the unexpected speaker. It was Rarity's little sister, Sweetie Belle. She must have decided to stay with Rarity that night instead of with her parents!

"Wh-what are-?!" the filly stepped back, stunned at what she was realizing. Twilight's appearance, what she was doing to Rarity - it began to click in Sweetie Belle's mind. "Y-Youre-"

Twilight didn't waste any time. Before the filly could run or call for help, she focused her magic on the gem once again, this time concentrating her thoughts on Sweetie Belle. At the same time, another aspect of her dark magic aura was lunged at the stricken filly, wrapping itself around her and constricting like cords, making the younger pony incapable of movement.

That other new spell works quite nicely! Twilight thought.

The jewel was suddenly in front of Sweetie Belle's view, and once her bright eyes met the glimmering stone, she took on the same entranced appearance as her older sister.

The sinister trespasser smiled in satisfaction, releasing her magic hold on Sweetie Belle. She moved herself away, the gem levitated in front of her, the two other unicorns stepping forward to follow it.

A thought occurred to Twilight, causing her to chuckle. "You know, Sweetie Belle... you've just given me an interesting opportunity to experiment with."

The two unicorns didn't respond, only gingerly stepped forward toward the enchanted object, trapped in a zombie-like trance.

And, as if chanting through a soothing lullaby, Twilight Sparkle began to sing.

"Walk here with me, on through the darkness.
Don't ask where it is we're going.
It's for the best, if you are quiet.
Just follow me, and please, stay silent..."

The dark aura of her magic energy swirled around the three of them, teleporting them out of the household and into the open night air. The two entranced unicorns didn't even seem to notice as they were led away. Twilight made the gem hover beside her, the two mind-controlled unicorns following quietly behind her like a procession of the dead. And Twilight, still in that same quiet, gentle tone, continued her song.

"You'd likely inquire,
What it is I'm going to do.
Just trust me when I say,
That I have so much planned for you.

It's all for Harmony...
All for Harmony..."

There wasn't a sound in the night, save for the hoofsteps of the three, and the scientist's continuing tune. She glanced up at the full moon, bright and high in the sky now, and as they neared the library, her voice grew quicker, more frantic.

"I have to lead you away,
And nopony will ever hear,
The screams I know you'll utter;
The cries of agony and fear...

All I really want,
Is to bring a sense of unity.
To find those that have the power,
Can learn to wield it properly.

It's all for Harmony...
All for Harmony..."

Twilight transported their small group into the library, the hypnotized duo trailing behind as she went over to her bookshelf, pressing the panel that caused the case to turn, revealing the pathway to her laboratory. Leading them into the dark as they moved past the entryway, her voice grew increasingly hushed and fast-paced as they descended into the underground.

"Can't you understand?
Why is it you won't see,
The harmonious world,
That I'm trying to bring?

Just have to find the energy in others,
And allow it to finally grow.
I may have take away some lives,
But it's worth it for my goal.

It's all for Harmony....
All for Harmony..."

Her dark magic current swirled around as the two ponies were lifted into the air, moved toward two of the tables she kept, lifting them to bind her captives tightly in the restraints. She propped them up, moving the two close to the Scalper, Rarity's table elevated just underneath it. She adjusted the position of Sweetie Belle's table, then, so it was a good distance away but facing Rarity's direction at a slight tilt. The two sisters would be able to go through it all together.

The spell was almost broken on them as Twilight finished her song, the sinister emotion clear in her whispering voice.

"All this torture and murder, this pain I'm inflicting,
It's vital for this,
They'll see...
It's all for Harmony...
All for Harmony...

It's all for Harmony...
All for Harmony..."

With that, she canceled out the spell on the gem and removed it from sight, allowing the sisters to gradually snap out of their daze.

"Wha-?" Rarity seemed to be a bit out of it at first, partially from sleep and partially from the lingering effects of the spell. However, she instantly was brought back to her senses by a familiar shout, the other having been freed from the trance as well.

"R-Rarity!"

The white unicorn's heart rate instantly quickened as she noticed her sister there in front of her, strapped down and immobile. "Sweetie Belle!" She struggled to move, to get her sister out of the shackles that bound her. But her desire to reach her sister turned to fear as she came to the realization that she, too, was trapped.

"I-I can't move!" the filly called out, trying to struggle out herself.

"D-Don't worry!" her older sister tried to reassure her, despite being in the same frightening situation. Rarity's horn started to glow with a blue light, like a faint ray of hope. "I'll help get us out of here!"

"No you won't."

The voice was so sudden that Rarity was startled out of her attempt at a spell, both her and Sweetie Belle looking for the speaker. They got their answer when the unicorn in question stepped into their view, her eyes narrowed. "You won't be leaving here."

"Twilight," Rarity demanded, horn resuming its light blue glow as her mind raced on how to free herself and her sister, "what in the world is the meaning of-"

There was a flash of light as a beam of dark magenta energy shot out of Twilight's horn, colliding with Rarity's own. Startled, Rarity attempted to combat the magical aura with her own, but she was quickly overpowered by the dark energy of Twilight's, consuming her own energy field. As if that weren't enough, she was further surprised by a sharp dagger flying toward her, the same color of magic surrounding it.

Rarity tried to stop the dagger from getting near her, but Twilight's power easily overcame her own, as the knife made contact with Rarity's horn, carving around it at an angle and causing it to crack at some points.

"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle cried, green eyes wide in incomprehension. Why was Twilight using her magic to make slices in Rarity's horn?! Even more puzzling, the gashes didn't seem to be entirely random - there was a certain methodical air to it. As if every lash had to be in accordance to a perfect depth and angle.

The blade didn't sever the horn completely, but the weapon had made several cuts into it before Twilight used her magic to pull the blade away. "Go ahead," she said, smiling as her notebook and quill hovered nearby, ready to document interesting data, as always. "Try to use your magic to get yourself free. I'm giving you that chance, Rarity."

Fighting through the stinging of her horn, Rarity tried to focus her magic on getting free...

But nothing happened.

"R-Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked hesitantly, her voice increasingly scared. "You can still use your magic, right?!"

Rarity scrunched her eyes closed, trying with all her might to use her own magic. Soon enough, her horn was surrounded by its ordinary azure glow.

"Yes!" The young filly allowed some hope to fill her as her sister's power returned. "It's worki-"

But Sweetie Belle had spoken too soon.

The shimmering aura suddenly sparked out of control, and rather than shooting outward like the wielder had intended, seeped into Rarity's body and caused a jolt of pain like crackling electricity.

"Agh!" the white unicorn cried out from the shock, wincing at the unexpected discomfort. Her eyes opened wide, seeing her sister's look of dismay.

"Are you okay, Rarity?" the filly called, worry and fear evident in her gaze. She trembled slightly.

"I'm f-fine, Sweetie Belle... now why did that-" She stopped short as she heard a bout of laughter, managing to look just enough to her left to see its source.

Twilight stood nearby, grinning wildly as her quill scribbled away. "It seems my hypothesis has just been proven correct! If you damage a unicorn's horn through specific injuries, the magical charge channeled through it can't be focused properly, thus will go haywire and reflect back on the user! Brilliant!"

The hearts of the captives sunk. Just when they had thought there might be a chance of escape, that hope was shot down. Any attempt to escape would only be met with pain.

Of course, compared to what else they were to experience, the horn-carving was only a mild discomfort.

"Oh, by the way," Twilight went on with a light chuckle. "You were wondering where Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie went off to, weren't you?"

Rarity gasped, the implications beginning to sink in the moment the bookish unicorn mentioned Applejack's name, followed by those of her other two vanished friends. Sweetie Belle, too, was caught off guard by what the experimenter was implying.

"You mean-"

"Exactly!" Twilight interrupted with a laugh. "They're down here with us right now!" She frowned slightly, pupil's gazing upward in mock thought as she began waving her right front hoof aimlessly. "Of course, they're dead, but-"

"WHAT?!"

The cry came from both of the captured ponies, horrified at not just the confession itself, but how casually Twilight said it.

"It... It is you, isn't it?!" Sweetie Belle asked, trembling. "You were doing the ponynapping! That's why you were at our house tonight!"

"Of course!" Twilight exclaimed, looking into Rarity and Sweetie Belle's fearful faces. She trotted up to Rarity in particular, staring into the bright blue eyes that regarded her with shock. "I was only going to take you and bring you here - you're the one I need for the research, after all. But..." she whirled around to face the filly behind her. A grin slowly formed on her face, similar to when she planned to make a friendship problem. "Guess who happened to be in the house and waking up at the time."

The young pony trembled under the mare's unnerving expression.

The stalker-smile was still present on Twilight's face as she drew closer to Sweetie Belle. "You shouldn't have done that." Her voice was low, dangerous, as she moved so close to the filly that they were almost nose to nose. "You really shouldn't have done that."

Sweetie Belle shook with horror, wide eyes staring at the psychopathic scientist who looked like she was willing to do any manner of terrible things to her.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, Twilight pulled away. "Though as an afterthought, I'm actually glad that you were there tonight - now I can do a bit more experimentation, and getting Generosity will be much more entertaining!"

Despite her fear, Sweetie Belle arched her brow, confused. "H-Huh?"

"I'm talking about extracting the Element!" Twilight exclaimed. "It's why I need Rarity here in the first place! She is the holder of the Element of Generosity, which is just what I need for the procedure!"

"Twilight," Rarity spoke firmly, but her voice held a waver of unease, "might I ask what you need the Element for?"

"Oh Rarity, Rarity, Rarity," the scientist said with a shake of her head. "I need the Elements to analyze and preserve them, all for the future.

"What about the future?"

"The future where a new world will be created!" Twilight exclaimed. "A world of Harmony being in control!" After saying those words, the unicorn disappeared from the sisters' view as she teleported out of their sight.

"Hey!"

"What-"

The two sisters paused as they heard the low hum of machinery being started up. In particular, a loud noise that seemed to come from right above Rarity.

Sweetie Belle turned her sap green eyes upward and screamed, as she was the first to see the claw grip begin to descend to a lower height before stopping, the #10 scalpel ready to carve into the head of its next recipient.

Rarity's cry joined her sister's as she managed to turn her eyes upward just enough to see the mechanism lowering toward her, the scalpel's blade glinting above. "Tw-Twilight," she stammered, "what are you going to do to us?"

Twilight replied in an eager, sing-song tone. "You'll find out!" She laughed, but she stopped abruptly as her violet eyes lit up. The scalpel ceased its descent as the machine's operator leapt down so the others could see her. "Oh, I almost forgot! Before I work on extracting Generosity, I have a bit to show toward you in return!" She turned from the pair and went off to where the pair couldn't see. "Just a little gift to show how much I appreciate you being here with me!"

"W-What on earth do you mean?" There was no denying Rarity's unease. "Considering the circumstances, Twilight, I'm not so sure if I-"

Rarity got her answer as Twilight returned, magically causing what looked like an armband to hover next to her. As the pair looked at it, they could see that the band was purple with a few green marks on it, with red gems stuck into its surface.

"That does look kinda pretty..." Sweetie Belle admitted, but her voice was laced with suspicion and fear. She was terrified that it was going to do some harm to Rarity, particularly due to Twilight's actions.

The scientist noticed the younger unicorn's worried expression. "Oh, don't worry," Twilight assured her, "it won't do any physical harm to Rarity whatsoever."

That assurance only brought Sweetie Belle minimal relief. Twilight had, after all, only mentioned physical harm.

The band was quickly levitated onto one of Rarity's front legs, just below the clasp that strapped her hoof to the table.

The white unicorn arched her brow, understandably wary but not wanting to be impolite. "Well, um... it's lovely Twilight, but-"

As the aura faded and the armband encircled her arm tightly, the renewed color and the feeling against her skin caused Rarity to gasp.

"Wait.... T-Twilight?" she was stammering, her eyes seeming to attempt to shake away some forbidden idea. "These feel almost like..." her breath caught in her throat, eyes widening at the terrible implication "...Spike's scales..."

Twilight clapped her hooves. "Good job, Rarity! You figured it out in, as Rainbow would say, 10 seconds flat! Well, actually it was 7.23 seconds, but-"

"You did something to him..." Rarity tore her gaze away from the band on her arm, but was unable to ignore the scaly feel. Her blue eyes were wild with anger. "I demand you tell me what you did to Spike!"

"Uh..." Sweetie Belle tried to speak, having a very bad feeling that she wasn't going to like what she saw. She wanted to know, as Rarity did, but another part of her was screaming to not know. She was afraid. "I-"

"Aw, look, Rarity, your sister wants to know what happened, too!" Twilight smiled at the duo. "Well, since you asked..." Moving out of their sight once again and focusing her magic, Twilight allowed the energy to flow from her horn to its destination, to the object it would levitate. The aura surrounded the object and brought it over so it could be seen by the two captured unicorns. "Someone wants to see you!"

It was Spike's body, the skin looking almost stretched across the metal and stuffing that had replaced the muscle, organs, and skeletal structure. And just to drive the point home, a good part of the skin on Spike's back was torn away and patched together - it was that part of his scales that had been used to make the armband that Rarity now wore.

"AAAAAAHHHH!!!" Rarity screamed at the horrible sight of her mutilated, skinned friend. "SPIKE!"

Sweetie Belle tried to hold in her gag reflex, but she was unable to cover her mouth with her hooves, and retched at the sight of the young dragon's corpse. The vomit spilled onto the laboratory floor and stained some of the filly's coat.

Rather than throwing up as her sister had, Rarity shook with rage and revulsion, the urge to vomit overcome by anger. Her eyes blazed in fury and she tried with all her might to free herself, through strength or magic. "HOW COULD YOU?!" she screamed, tears falling from her eyes in sorrow and anger. "YOU KILLED HIM! HE WAS YOUR FRIEND!" Her entire body shook with rage. "I THOUGHT HE WAS YOUR FRIEND!"

"He was," Twilight assured her gently, looking back and forth between the sisters. "He always has been. He didn't have to die, but he threatened my pathway between here and the upper level." Her voice lowered to a firm whisper, no guilt present. "And I couldn't have that."

She grinned sadistically.

"And now with that out of the way, I have work to do with you!"

Before the two sisters had a chance to protest, Twilight quickly teleported away, returning in a flash to bring several wires and devices closer. With the two powerless to move, the scientist stuck the proper devices onto their bodies to measure their brainwaves and heart rate, in particular bringing the primary, much more high-tech scanner for use on Rarity.

"W-What's this stuff for?!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, trying and failing to keep fear out of her voice as the metal cabling hooked itself into the proper places.

Twilight's voice would have been considered soothing if she weren't working through these sinister circumstances. "Just be patient, Sweetie Belle. You both will find out very very soon. I can tell you two are eager - your heart rates have gone up on the monitors."

The two, in fact, weren't eager - they were terrified. Twilight was just taunting them, and they knew it.

"Now," Twilight went on, "Generosity stems from empathy - feeling compassion for the plights of others. Wanting to help them if any sort of harm were to come to them, and sympathizing."

A sinister grin. "For instance..."

Focusing her magic, Twilight used a spell to make a sharp metal blade appear, which was hurled directly at Sweetie Belle. Completely trapped, the filly could only stare, frozen, at the weapon hurtling toward her.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity shrieked, instantly trying to use her own magic to stop the weapon's deadly path. But all that occurred was a sharp sting from her own magic backfiring on her.

"Ouch!"

The knife, luckily, didn't stab the filly through, but the side barely grazed her cheek, causing a small cut to appear on the skin, a little blood trickling out.

Rarity seemed to relax very slightly when her sister came out of the ordeal only marginally injured, but she was still furious at Twilight. "You could have KILLED my sister!"

Twilight sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes slightly. "I never meant to severely hurt her. That was just a test to prove my point." The expression on her face, for the moment, was that of the friendly unicorn that they had once known. "You feel empathy for your sister's plight. You want to generously give her the gift of freedom. You care for her. That's what Generosity is really about - caring. Having empathy. And being the Element of Generosity, you have a lot of that."

The kind demeanor disappeared from Twilight's face, replaced by a thoughtful gaze. She glanced over at the active brain monitors, synapses firing in the siblings' emotional turmoil and physical discomfort.

"Not for long, though." A laugh as she looked over at the helpless duo. "I originally was going to take Generosity just by messing with your amygdala," she turned to Sweetie Belle with a menacing smile, "but now with Sweetie Belle here, I can accomplish a further amount of psychological torture than I could if it was just the two of us!"

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!" Rarity shouted, eyes narrowed so sternly that if looks could do damage, Twilight would be entirely paralyzed, or dead.

The scientist, however, was unperturbed. In response to Rarity's demand, she simply opened up her cabinet to remove two injector needles, and quickly injected one into each of the sisters before removing them. "That was so the two of you are kept awake - it will have the most impact for this to work, you see. It's an interesting psychological opportunity you've presented me with!

The mare chuckled darkly.

"You will each be forced to watch as the two of you are tortured together, in different ways. And you, Rarity, will care less and less for your sister's suffering until all Generosity and empathy are expunged from you completely."

"N-Never!" Rarity's voice was forceful, but she couldn't help but quaver in knowing that Twilight wasn't fooling around. From what had already been seen and implied, the scientist was perfectly capable of very dangerous things, and she wasn't afraid to use them. "I'll never stop caring for her!"

Sweetie Belle's heart rate and brain activity picked up severely at the threat. The thought of the agony that the lavender unicorn was promising filled her with dread. And here this was the unicorn who she had once considered one of the friendliest ponies around.

"'Never', you say?" Twilight taunted. "Well, let's just see how long you can keep up that end of the bargain for. I will break you both. Whatever it takes to get Generosity, I can and will accomplish it."

Twilight trotted over to the Scalper's controls, restarting the mechanism and causing the blade to slowly lower over Rarity's head as the target's eyes rose in terror.

"Of course, in order to properly do that," Twilight went on as she stepped onto her platform to oversee the process, neuron manipulation tool at the ready, "I need to get inside your head - literally. And sorry, Rarity, but your mane will need to be cut off for this. It'll just get in the way, otherwise."

Rarity flinched, but her fear of the scalpel itself and the anticipated pain far outclassed the thought of her mane being cut off. As much as she loved her mane, survival was far more important than fashion - what good was it if you were dead?

"You're gonna dig into her head?!" Sweetie Belle cried in alarm, visibly shaking.

Twilight tilted her head down to be seen by the two, only increasing the speed of the scalpel's descent. "Of course. I can't get Generosity with just a simple brain scan. I need to really manipulate it and change the properties enough!"

And then came the scream from Rarity as the small blade connected with the top of her head, pressing through the skin.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to be sick again as blood began to trickle out of her sister's head at the point of impact, watching helplessly at her older sister's attempt to struggle and flail. She felt as if she were living through a nightmare - she couldn't bear to see her sister suffering, but she was too traumatized to look away. "R-RARITY!"

As her sister looked on in horror, Rarity sobbed from the knife digging deep into her head, starting its curve all the way around her head, shearing away her violet-colored mane that was met with the blade along its path, muscle, flesh, and blood staining the hairs that were torn through..

At last, the terrible scalpel had completed its path around the head's circumference, and slowly rose up to make way for the Scalper's main construct - the claw grip that would fully remove the layers of skin atop Rarity's head.

Through Rarity's cries and screams, which intensified as the pointed metal grip dug underneath the skin to sever the remaining bits of muscle attached firmly to the skull, Sweetie Belle was shaking violently with revulsion. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare, but she knew full well it wasn't a dream.

"STOP IT!" Sweetie Belle pleaded as she watched her older sister go through this pain. "PLEASE, STOP IT!"

The only response from the experimenter above them was a laugh and the sound of a scribbling quill before responding as if the screams and cries weren't even there. "Oh, don't worry, Sweetie Belle. I'm not going to be doing that to you... I have other plans."

That only increased the sisters' panic.

"D-Don't...." Rarity gasped through the pain in her head, managing to keep one eye open to glare toward where she knew Twilight was, "you... d-dare... hurt h-her...."

The scientist pretended not to hear, instead coming closer to Rarity's exposed skull so she could use another scalpel to carve the skull away to reach the brain. As Rarity cried out at the added pain in her head, Twilight stole a quick look at the more complex brain scanner that fully surveyed Rarity's brain. The amygdala on the side of the brain was overlayed with the pulse of emotions.

Where Generosity would be. And Twilight was going to make sure that the emotion in that area would be completely subdued.

The skull was carved away until Twilight at last had a full view of the brain that lay underneath its covering. She smiled.

"Oh Rarity, time to work on getting that Generosity now!"

Lowering the manipulation tool to touch the form of Rarity's brain, she paused just inches above it. Her eyes slowly moved in Sweetie Belle's direction.

Twilight smirked.

"Let's do a bit of multitasking, shall we?"

As Twilight's horn took on its now darker glow, she closed her eyes, as if reveling in the fact that she could do magic while the two unicorns below her could not. The magical current flowed outward from her horn, flowing down to the ground level where Sweetie Belle and Rarity were. The magic form condensed, until an item appeared to hover in front of them. It was a metal plate, about a fourth the size of Sweetie Belle's face, and at first looked relatively harmless.

That is, until it grew red hot with a burning substance and began to hover a little closer to Sweetie Belle.

"I think I'll try a little abacination," Twilight commented. "In case you don't know, abacination is a form of corporal punishment where a red-hot plate like this is held at their eyes!"

Despite the pain that Rarity was going through from her head having been carved, she shrieked as she noticed the red-hot plate moving toward her sister. "NOOO!" Her eyes darted, trying in vain to see Twilight, to beg her to stop. "DON'T HURT HER, TWILIGHT! PLEASE!"

But the scientist's reply was completely nonchalant. "This will be an interesting test, Rarity. It will show me how much empathy you feel toward your sister, and how much emotion is registered as a result! I know I'll get the essence of Generosity from in there somewhere!"

Sweetie Belle shrieked at a deafening volume as Twilight's magical aura pressed the hot plate directly onto one of her sap green eyes. The young pony flailed as much as she could in her restraints, but she was unable to move out of the way or shield her eyes, only forced to feel the agonizing burn of the poker against her left eye, pressing harder and harder.

Rarity screamed and cried, unable to bear her sister being tortured like this. Her brainwaves on the monitor registered overwhelming amounts of empathy, fear anger, and a desire to help get her sister free. "TWILIGHT, STOP THIS! PLEASE, STOP HURTING HER!"

"Sorry," Twilight said, noting down the response of Rarity's brainwaves as her sister was tortured. "She's actually helping gather some valuable data as to what your emotional reactions are. The brain activity in your amygdala is very very strong, you know - no wonder you're the Element of Generosity, being so empathetic to the plights of others."

The pressure of the metal plate on the filly's eye destroyed the neural connections as the metal burned through the cornea, iris, and pupil, scorching straight into the socket and causing the impulses along the retina and optic nerve to no longer function, completely rendering that eye useless.

When at last the plate was removed, Sweetie Belle's left eye and the skin around it was completely scorched and raw, having been burned completely away. A dark indent could clearly be seen from where the hot plate had been pressed against her skin.

Rarity's chest was heaving with every breath she took, enraged at what Twilight had done to her little sister. "HOW COULD YOU?! WHY ARE YOU TORTURING US LIKE THIS?!"

"Well," Twilight said as she caused the metal plate to vanish and switched her neuron manipulator on once again, "Sweetie Belle is simply making my job easier for me. I need to get Generosity from you, and it order to do that, I'll have to mess with your emotional reactions, Then you won't feel any sympathy at all, and Generosity will be mine for the taking!"

With that, Twilight lowered her instrument to mess with the structure of Rarity's brain. She rerouted the neural pathways, disrupting the neural connections between brain and nerves so that the white unicorn felt sharp jolts of pain on various parts of her body.

"Well, that's enough fooling around, Twilight said brightly after a few moments, staring more intently at the top of Rarity's brain as Sweetie Belle watched in horror. "It's time I really get down to business!"

Twilight's horn glowed again, the darkened aura shimmering around it in a wave. The scientist closed her eyes to concentrate as her captives could only stare, horrorstruck, at what she was doing. It was a spell that she had learned from one of her grimoires she kept, a spell that she hadn't tried before. The magenta-violet aura seeped from her horn and flowed in two separate tendrils, snaking down toward Rarity below. The captured pony had been unable to see Twilight's initial use of the spell, but she instantly noticed as the aura began to creep over the strap that held her head tight, making itself visible.

Sweetie Belle shook at the terrifying appearance of the magical aura, her single eye widening as her sister, too, noticed.

Rarity's irises darted around frantically, as if averting her gaze would prevent the sinister energy from affecting her. But it was no use - the aura snaked down her face and circled around her eyes in a slow spiral, before finally seeping into the eyes themselves.

And then one of Twilight's recording monitors, the same "mind's eye" one that had been used on the others, showed what Rarity was seeing as a result of the spell, a monitor that Sweetie Belle managed to be able to see.

She instantly closed her eye the moment she saw what her sister saw, though she couldn't deafen herself from the scream that came from Rarity's mouth.

On the monitor was Sweetie Belle, trapped in a darkened void. The filly's appearance, however, looked terrifying. Her left eye was still burned and blinded, but her stomach had been slashed, causing her viscera and ribcage to be seen in Rarity's view. Blood poured from the wound, and also fell from her face as the remaining working eye appeared to be crying tears of the sanguine fluid. One ear was mangled and practically hanging down on the side of her face, and a powerful, invisible force snapped each of her limbs at disjointed angles.

As Rarity screamed in utter horror at what she was seeing, Twilight noted that the brain scan was ablaze with terror and rage.

"SWEETIE BELLE, NOOO!" Rarity screeched, unable to prevent herself from seeing what it was that Twilight had implanted in her head. "I'LL DO ANYTHING! LET HER GO! PLEASE, PLEASE!"

Sweetie Belle felt tears come to her right eye, the anguish in her older sister's voice heartwrenching for her to hear. "I'm..." the filly nearly choked on her sobs. "I'm here, Rarity! I'm..." She trailed off, knowing she couldn't say she was "fine" - she wasn't fine at all.

But at the very least, she was in a better condition than what she had seen on the monitor for that flickering instant.

Twilight, still keeping up the spell, began to manipulate the neurons in Rarity's brain, focusing on the neural clusters of the amygdala. Manipulating emotion.

"You really do want to help, don't you, Rarity?" the scientist said in a gentle tone, using her magic to change the vision slightly, still keeping the magical hold on Rarity's view. "Go on then." She manipulated the vision so that Rarity could - at least, in her own mind - move. "Help her."

In the vision, Rarity began to gallop desperately toward her sister. "DON'T WORRY, SWEETIE BELLE! I'M COMING!" She was determined to reach her sister, fix her up, save her, take her home...

But then, Twilight rerouted the neural pathways. One emotion changing into another.

There was desperation, fear, anger...

And then, as Rarity reached Sweetie Belle, those feelings began to fade.

Sweetie Belle looked weakly up at her sister, in the vision. "R-Rarity...." she mumbled. "...Help... m-me..."

"I... I..."

In the laboratory, Sweetie Belle's breathing and heart rate quickened when Rarity's insistence began to fade. Her sister's voice was now a mumbling, an uncertainty.

And as Twilight looked on, there was a brief pulse in the signature.

The unicorn was so surprised that she almost broke her hold on the dark spell. "Yes, yes, yes! Generosity is starting to show itself! You're losing the desire to offer help to her!"

Sweetie Belle froze at Twilight's announcement. So that was what was going on. "NO!"

For an instant, Twilight focused her magic on a sort of multitasking. Still keeping her hold on the spell used to entrance Rarity, she levitated a sharp blade over to her before having it rush at Sweetie Belle. Just as quickly, she pulled the spell on Rarity's mind away slightly, so that it came out from the crevices of the white unicorn's eyeballs just enough for her to see reality.

And Rarity was brought back just in time to see the knife roughly dig into Sweetie Belle's stomach, forming a slash on the surface.

The filly screamed from the pain in her abdomen. The weapon hadn't sliced enough to make its way to her organs, but the cut was still deep enough to bleed.

Rarity's eyes only widened very slightly before the tendrils of magic seeped back into her vision again, taking her away from reality and throwing her back into the world of the mind's eye once more.

Through the stinging in her stomach, Sweetie Belle felt a wave of dismay come over her. Rarity hadn't screamed, or looked utterly horrified by the torture inflicted on her. She had only widened her eyes slightly, as if more confused than horrified.

Definitely not a good sign.

Twilight altered the vision once again. In this new state, Sweetie Belle was joined by several other ponies. Now, Rarity would see what happened to her friends.

And in the laboratory Sweetie Belle screamed about half an octave higher when she saw her mutilated vision-self joined by the others.

There was Rainbow Dash, tearing herself apart. Pinkie Pie, her larynx being torn out. Applejack, being tortured through shock therapy.

Sweetie Belle was trembling violently, her tears becoming a practical waterfall from her one good eye as she vomited once again at the sight of the mutilated ponies, the rank substance causing her to cough and sputter. She felt traumatized by what she had seen and heard.

And Rarity?

She flinched, eyes widening at the mutilations of her friends. But her voice, thanks to Twilight constantly altering the structures of her amygdala, wasn't a screaming of revulsion and terror.... it was simple questioning.

"Rainbow? Pinkie? Applejack?

Another change of separation in the signature. A light purple spark visible from that part of the brain.

"Just a little more!" Twilight urged, gazing at the Element's spark almost hungrily. "Just a bit more to get that Generosity!"

"RARITY!" Sweetie Belle tried to call out as much as she could to her sister. To bring her back to her caring self, the pony who would care for her friends and help them.

But Rarity was still in the trance of the spell, feeling less and less emotion toward her friends and sister.

Barely able to speak now, Vision-Sweetie Belle turned her gaze up to her sister and croaked out a single word.

"... Help..."

But by now, on Twilight's monitor, the strong emotional reactions from the amygdala had vanished. The brainwave patterns were at a steady drone, as if all the brain activity had become almost mechanical.

And the amygdala indeed, had, because Rarity was now completely without emotion. Incapable of emotional response.

In her vision, her gaze toward her sister and friends was steady, She felt no fear, or sadness, or dread, or generosity. No desire to help.

And like her sister had inquired with a single word, Rarity replied with a one-word answer.

"No."

The cold monotone in which Rarity said this caused Sweetie Belle's heart to break - both in Rarity's vision and the real Sweetie Belle. She had never felt so dejected - Twilight had completely broken her sister to the point where her emotions were torn from her.

The trance was removed as Twilight's aura retreated from Rarity's eyes before fading away completely. The two sisters could directly see each other again, but Rarity's gaze was cold and unfeeling.

And the spark of Generosity appeared, the light purple aura completely separated.

"Aha, there you are!" Twilight exclaimed giddily. "Found you at last, Generosity!" Laughing as her quill scribbled frantically on her notepad, she levitated a containment chamber and swiftly contained the spark within it, moving it to its place along with the others. She looked at the Element's spark almost fondly. "Extracting you allowed for an interesting turn of events!"

It was then that she noticed the expression on Sweetie Belle's face. In contrast to her sister, the poor filly looked absolutely miserable and broken. She had been hurt physically and psychologically.

Twilight's own eyes widened slightly, and she leapt down from her spot to come over to the trembling filly. "Aw, Sweetie Belle, why are you frowning? I know you're horrified by what I've done, but a young filly like you shouldn't be frowning like that." Her voice turned almost kind. "You should smile - it's been scientifically proven to be good for your health!"

Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight, having a momentary glimmer of hope at her friendly tone. But that feeling rapidly changed to one of pure terror as the lavender unicorn used her magic to bring forth another knife, its sharp metal shining in the laboratory's light. The mare came close to Sweetie Belle, grin wide as the filly cringed in fright.

"You, at least, still have emotion, so smile for me." They were almost nose to nose again, veins visible on the edge of Twilight's eyes. "Pinkie Pie knows that smiling helps ponies be happy, and it's a fact." Her voice grew quiet. "Now come on. Smile. It'll help you feel better."

The filly wanted to shake her head, but the straps kept her from doing so. She didn't smile - she was too terrified to smile, but at the same time she was terrified as to what would happen if she didn't.

She found out three seconds later.

"You're not smiling!"

With that, the deranged unicorn caused the knife to move forward in a half-circle, gradually slashing it across the lower half of Sweetie Belle's face in a large sweeping motion. The blade tore through the flesh on the filly's face and ruptured her lips, forming the strips of flesh into a large smile - a Glasgow grin, as it was called. The filly desperately fought through the delirium to look at her older sister with her remaining eye, helpless as the knife moved from her mouth in a wide arc, reaching almost up to her eyes as the forced grin was accompanied by dripping blood.

She tried to call out to Rarity, but the cry was muffled by the knife steadily widening her carved-in smile, and came out as a blood-filled gargle.

Rarity, however, stared evenly, uncaring. She showed no emotion that it was her sister there being flayed, tortured, murdered. Her expression was blank and cold. There was no generosity, no compassion, no love. That had all been taken.

Just as Twilight Sparkle had wanted.

"Oh Rarity," the lavender unicorn said all-too sweetly. "Now that I've messed around with your amygdala enough and have rendered you cold, it's time for one more thing!" Unhooking the table's bottom wheels, she brought Rarity over to Sweetie Belle, releasing the unicorn's front hooves from their bonds.

With a sadistic smile, Twilight used her own magic to levitate a device she hadn't used yet. It was a pair of hoofguards, though rather than being simple armor, sharp blades extended from the end of each one. She placed the clawed hoofgaurds onto Rarity's front hooves, bringing her closer to Sweetie Belle. "This shouldn't be a problem for you..." Twilight's voice lowered to a chilling whisper as she leaned in close to Rarity's ear.

"Kill her."

Rarity blinked, staring at Twilight. As if she was unsure if she had heard wrong or not. "Why? I don't need to do you any favors. There's no point in doing that." She spoke in a way that was near monotone. "Don't tell me what to do. I only do things for myself. Nopony else deserves anything from me."

Twilight's smile only widened. Just the kind of wording she hoped to hear. She waited for Rarity's decision, violet eyes staring hungrily. Generosity and empathy were gone, so the other unicorn should feel no moral qualms about murdering her sister.

And by the look on her face... Rarity wanted to kill her sister.

The scientist knew that if she demanded Rarity to perform the act, she wouldn't listen. But inside her head, the mare was screaming. DO IT! NOW! KILL HER! Unnoticed by the pair, her eyes briefly flashed a bright white, but even when it faded, her gaze was stern. GO ON! SHE HAS NO HARMONY, KILL HER!

Sweetie Belle trembled with terror, searching with her wide green eye for any sense that her sister was still the generous, loving pony she had known before. But the blue eyes that had once regarded her with sisterly love were now as cold and emotionless as ice in the dead of winter.

The young filly, viewing the crazed eyes of Twilight and the unsympathetic eyes of her sister, knew what was coming. She closed her remaining eye and braced herself. Braced herself for the pain.

Braced herself for death.

With no emotion whatsoever present on her face, Rarity leaned over and slowly dug the metallic claws into the sides of her sister's head, deaf to the shrieks of pain as the claws dug in further, through flesh, and muscle. The sudden, unexpected pain forced the filly's eye open, the vivid gaze of the right showing nothing but incomprehension and terror, tears mixing with blood and causing her vision to blur. As the vital fluid flowed down Sweetie Belle's face, the sharp metal made contact with the bone, splintering her cheeks and causing the framework of her skull to fracture, cracking in fragments.

Rarity coldly burrowed the instruments on her hooves still further into Sweetie Belle's head, their length becoming less and less visible outside the head's perimeter as they dug in deeper. The spikes traveled horizontally, then vertically, through the soft epidermis and muscle, splintering the bone of the young unicorn's skull and causing it to fall apart into fractured pieces. The structure of the filly's face became instantly distorted and maimed, jaw suddenly collapsing and hanging slack.

Despite the terrible mutilation that the young filly was enduring, she was still clinging to a shred of her rapidly fading life. But as Twilight observed the contrast in the sisters' eyes, there was one more thing that she wanted done, just to drive the murder home. Sweetie Belle was only going to live a few more seconds, if even that.

This time, Twilight herself wasn't going to deal the final blow. She'd let Rarity take care of that honor. And, as Generosity was truly taken, Rarity wouldn't care in the slightest.

She didn't. And her action was just as Twilight had hoped.

The former fashion designer quickly tore the bladed hoofguards from Sweetie Belle's cheeks and, moving them a fair distance away, roughly swung them in opposite directions. One vertically, to cut straight through the center of the head, the other moving horizontally across the neck. The bone was sliced through, and the metal blades met in the center with a loud clang as they collided at the top of the spinal column.

The filly's severed head fell to the ground in two halves, disconnected from the spine. The remaining green eye was wide open, its remaining light replaced by the glassy cold of death, no longer needed by its owner to see the gruesome surroundings.

Twilight smiled, levitating the hoofguards off of Rarity and quickly placing her hooves back in their restraints before the other unicorn could make any attempt to attack. According to the heart monitor, Sweetie Belle's heart had gone flatline mere seconds before her head had been sliced all the way through by Rarity, but the intention had been there, all the same.

She beamed at her friend, notepad levitating close by, acting much like a therapist speaking to a patient - she found it interesting to take that sort of tone. "So, Rarity, you just watched your sister perish by your own hooves. Don't you feel anything emotionally about that?" She drew a little closer, still talking in her therapist-voice. "Empathy? Rage? Compassion? Regret? Sadness?"

When Rarity replied, she spoke in that same emotionless monotone as before. "Nothing. What did she matter, anyway? She was just my annoying little sister."

Empathy, and thus Generosity, had been taken quite nicely.

"Good, good," Twilight said soothingly as the pen scratched a few notes onto the notebook's thin pages. "That's just what I hoped to hear. No qualms about murder, no emotion in your voice, excellent... Your sister is off to the heavens above, now. As for you..."

The scientist quickly levitated the clawed-mechanism firmly onto her own hooves, their metallic points poised and ready to strike.

Rarity stared straight at the other pony. "You wouldn't-"

But Twilight didn't let her former friend complete her sentence. Without any hesitation, she thrust both her front hooves forward roughly into two different points on the other unicorn's body. Her left hoof was directed at Rarity's face, and the right moved toward the exposed chest.

The claws aimed at Rarity's head just barely missed her eyes, but the force that slammed into her lower face jarred everything. The bone of her nose became smashed into pieces, and every bone and muscle from her mouth to her mandible was completely shattered, the whole of her lower face practically falling off, her jaw barely attached. The strips of muscle and blood were clearly seen, as if the lower half of her head were ensnared by pink-and-red strips, coming apart to hang down like frayed ropes.

The other of the two clawed hoofguards, angled directly at Rarity's heart, accurately struck its target. The armor punctured the epidermis and slammed straight through the ribcage, demolishing the bone to burst through to the beating organ's ventricles and arteries. The papillary muscles within the heart's central chamber were completely disconnected from the valves, and blood began to flow outside her body from the blow. The sticky red substance stained her beautiful white coat a dark crimson, joining the remnants of the sanguine fluid that cascaded down from her mangled face.

The combination of these injuries very quickly took their toll on the unicorn's body, and the cold blue of her eyes quickly faded into a dull lifeless color. The blood steadily flowed from the limp corpse, like a trickling stream.

There was quite a bit of a mess in the laboratory - especially with Sweetie Belle's body lying around as well as Rarity's. But to Twilight, it was all worth it. Generosity's raw energy was safely inside its own containment chamber for analysis, and she had gotten a bit of interesting data out of the deadly procedures, especially with two participants to work on. And it was particularly interesting to see a young pony such as Sweetie Belle handle the torment.

Like the others before her, Rarity was now dead, never to walk among the living again.

It was a pity. Ponyville would have to find a new dressmaker to replace her. And poor little Sweetie Belle... though she had helped very much with furthering the extraction.

Generosity was contained, and it had been quite fun to take as well.

And now...

Of course... Fluttershy was the last of her friends to go. Kindness, the last of the Elements to extract from her friends - and likely the hardiest.

"Kindness is a very tough thing to break, when you get right down to it," Twilight said to herself. "I'll have to use quite a lot of contraptions for it. But it's going to be wonderful to use such a myriad of devices and experiments for the purpose of getting that Element! I'll even get to test the apparatuses I've had in reserve for this kind of work!"

A demented, wide grin slowly began to form on the unicorn's face as she concocted a plan, ideas swirling around in her brain. She slowly walked over to her bookshelf, and eyed several of the grim tomes that she kept down here. She hadn't totally used some of their methods yet... but with Fluttershy, they could be very useful. Very very useful indeed.

Especially some of the more sinister spells she had learned. Like death energy, for instance - she had plenty of that.

The knowledge she had learned was pieced together in her head, taking shape into various schemes, perhaps even some that no other pony had dared to ever think of. The research to explore, the methods to try... the tactics to painfully inflict to achieve her goal.

For the moment, Twilight stepped out of her laboratory, carefully locking the door behind her for both safety and prevention of outside bacteria creeping its way in. She traversed down the hallway still further, pupils dilated for her to see better in the near-total darkness that surrounded her. Soon enough, she came to a door a little more hidden than the last, down a corner from her main laboratory.

She hadn't opened this room in quite a while.

"There's only one way I can really describe the kind of things I'll be doing to her..."

Punching in the proper security code, a click was heard to announce that the door was now unlocked. Slowly, the unicorn opened the door, letting the hall's dim light just barely creep through into the pitch-black chamber. Dim shadows of many shapes could be seen, but their features were otherwise hidden from view. It was obvious something was there, but the actual forms went unseen. Anypony could only guess the kind of apparatuses contained within the chamber.

A bright white glow began to appear in Twilight's eyes like fire, illuminating a bit more of the room's contents without switching on the room's light switch. There were now a myriad of mechanisms visible, some modern, some old-fashioned. There were large tubes filled with various fluids, several housing the injections she had used before, but also more varied, complex, dangerous concoctions. The metal of machinery was glinting faintly, and a few of the larger constructs even looked Medieval. Small bits of metal just barely visible on the otherwise wooden constructs.

With Twilight's glowing eyes the only thing to bring light into the room, the glow slightly illuminating part of her face, she appeared almost like a sort of demonic pony rather than the friendly unicorn the populace knew her to be. But what was most chilling of all was her voice. A voice so cold that, if it had physical form, it would turn the blood of anypony into ice. As if she was a Windigo or a demon having taken an ordinary equine form.

"Welcome to Tartarus."