Rainbow Dash, Aaron, Gilda, and Ridley looked towards the cloudy dome sky as it began to swirl violently. Thunder roared and lightning bolts shot down from the clouds. A large wind began blowing throughout the town and all of the spirits froze and watched as the world around them began to change. The false sun began to swing rapidly in the sky. There was a loud crack as it broke free from its spiritual bonds and fell towards the ground below. It smashed into Sugar Cube Corner, leaving nothing but a burning crater in its wake. Luckily nopony was inside the store when the sun fell. The ground shook violently as large cracks began appearing in the dome.

"What the hell is going on?!" asked Gilda. Rainbow smiled as she looked at the crumbling world.

"I think it happened," she said.

"What?" Ridley asked.

"I think Pinkamena Diane Pie is dead."

The three ponies and the griffin fell silent. A few tears began forming in Rainbow's eyes.

"Dash?" said Gilda as she approached her friend, placing a claw over one of her hooves. "Are you okay?"

"Pinkie Pie," said Rainbow. Suddenly, a massive burst of light lit up the world like a firecracker. The light was emanating from the center of town.

"Something tells me that we need to go see what's causing that light," said Aaron. They all nodded in agreement and made their way towards the light.

By the time they had arrived in the center of town, everypony else had already arrived. A massive pillar of light was shooting out of the ground. The earth beneath the pillar was split wide open, revealing a never-ending, black crevasse. Everypony watched in awe as a figure slowly floated up from the depths of the crevasse. The light pillar vanished as the figure was laid on the grassy earth. Everypony gasped at the sight of the new arrival. It was a pink mare with extremely vibrant, fluffy, pink hair.

"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said as the pink mare opened her eyes. She slowly sat up and stared and the group surrounding her. Tears formed in her eyes and she began crying. She curled up in a fetal position and placed her hooves over her face.

"I'm sorry everypony!" she cried at the top of her lungs. "I'm so, so sorry. I know you all hate me to the core right now but I just want you all to know that I'm sorry!"

Some of the victims began advancing on Pinkie but Rainbow, Aaron, Gilda, and Ridley surrounded the new arrival. Some of the ponies in town had heard about the complex creation of Pinkamena Diane Pie and how Pinkie Pie was innocent in regards to their deaths. Some of the ponies, however, had yet to hear the details and were now fuming with hatred at the sight of the pink earth pony.

"What are you doing?" snapped one pegasus stallion. "You're protecting the one who killed us!"

"It wasn't her!" Rainbow snapped back. "There are two Pinkie Pies!"

"What is this nonsense?" asked a unicorn mare. "How can there be two?!"

"It's true!" yelled Trixie. "Rainbow and Aaron told me all about it! This Pinkie Pie is innocent!"

Rainbow instantly gained a huge amount of respect for Trixie the magician. She could remember clearly the day Trixie had arrived in Ponyville bragging about her magical talents. Now she was here defending Pinkie Pie. Death sure had a way of changing a pony.

Half of the ponies and creatures in town nodded in agreement with Trixie's statement but some were still skeptical.

"Why haven't we heard about it then?" questioned an earth pony mare.

"News travels slowly in the afterlife," said Ridley with a nervous grin. Pinkie looked up to face her four protectors. She stood up and pushed her way past Aaron and Gilda. She looked at the crowd of Pinkamena's victims and wiped away her tears.

"Here you all are," she said. A new wave of tears was beginning to emerge from her eyes. "Gathered together. Here to witness the arrival and punishment of your killer."

Some of the suspicious ponies began advancing but Aaron and Gilda stood them down.

"Let her speak!" said Derpy as she flew in to help the protectors. Derpy looked at Pinkie and gave her a quick hug. "It's good to see you again, Pinkie Pie. You're so much more enjoyable than Pinkamena!"

Pinkie smiled as Derpy turned back towards the advancing crowd.

"Ten years ago. That's when this all started," said Pinkie. "I was a mere filly at the time. So full of hope. So full of happiness. So...gullible. I befriended a certain pony who I never should have met. A stallion named Rufus. I can remember us having certain things in common. We loved parties and we loved to bring happiness to others; though, as I later found out, Rufus had a much darker way of doing this. I decided to introduce my sister, Bellamina, to him. That's when everything went wrong. Rufus led us to his secret cabin and that's where he did it. That's where he butchered and killed my little sister right before my eyes! The event was so traumatic that I just blocked it out of my mind. A little over a year ago, nine years of blissful forgetfulness, I began having nightmares. Horrible nightmares. Nightmares that were a million times worse than anything you could imagine...aside from what Pinkamena used me to do. I went to my friend, Twilight Sparkle, for help. She used a simple spell to cure me of my nightmares...and it worked. That is, until the memory came back. I remembered everything. Rufus, Bellamina, and everything that happened in that cabin. I was in shock. That's when she was born. She started off as a voice in my head. A voice that often said horrible things. But then she became louder, more powerful, and more...bloodthirsty. She grew so powerful that all it took for her to gain control of my body was a knock to the head. And that was it. I was locked away deep within the black depths of my mind while Pinkamena Diane Pie, my dark twin and your killer, took control. That's how it began. It began with Berry Punch and moved on to the rest of you. Pinkamena stopped at nothing to fulfill her dark fantasies. All the while, I was forced to watch from behind her soulless eyes. Forced to watch as all of you, the ponies that I love, were betrayed and tortured by a monster posing as somepony you trusted. You've all suffered at her hoof. You've all suffered because one stupid little filly was dumb enough to trust a skinny, red-eyed, murderous bastard! You've all suffered because I made a stupid mistake. Pinkamena killed you all, Rufus killed my sister, and my sister was led to her demise because of me. I am guilty of starting this horrible chain of events. I wouldn't be surprised if any of you still hate me after all of this. I just want to let you all know that I'm sorry. I was sorry when Pinkamena took over, I was sorry when she killed all of you, I was sorry as she killed Rainbow, killed Aaron, and kidnapped Scootaloo, and I was sorry as I killed her and myself. I am sorry and will always be sorry for what has happened."

The crowd was silent. Pinkie's face was now oozing with tears. Some of the ponies in the crowd had also broken into silent tears. Rainbow walked up to her pink friend and hugged her tightly.

"I forgive you, Pinkie Pie," she said.

"I forgive you, Pinkie Pie," said Aaron, Gilda, Ridley, and Derpy together.

"I forgive you, Pinkie Pie," said Trixie, Twist, and Berry Punch. Slowly but surely, an echo of that one message began reverberating throughout the entire crowd. Pinkie smiled and cried as she looked at the crowd of Pinkamena's victims. She then turned back to Rainbow and hugged her. Rainbow cried as she hugged her friend. That familiar scent of cotton candy rolled through her nostrils. She didn't realize how much she had missed that smell until now.

"I forgive you, Pinkie Pie," said a familiar voice. Pinkie turned away from Rainbow to see Bellamina standing a few feet away.

"Bellamina!" Pinkie gasped.

"It's been a long time. Hasn't it, sis?"

Pinkie nodded and ran towards her sister. The two sisters ran towards each other and met in a tearful hug. A huge smile formed on Bellamina's face. Rainbow had never seen the filly look that happy before. At most she had seen a sarcastic smile or a devious smile. But this was a smile of pure and total happiness. A smile only brought on by the end of a long ordeal of sadness and despair.

That's when the earth broke again. A large pillar of light shot out of the ground behind Rainbow, Aaron, Gilda, and Ridley. The crowd backed away as the light shot higher and higher into the sky. This light was different. While Pinkie's light had been white, beautiful, and welcoming, this light was red, frightening, and dark. A figure pulled itself out of the dark crevasse. The light disappeared as the figure pulled itself up onto the grassy earth. Rainbow felt the world around her grow cold. A second Pinkie Pie had emerged from the darkness. This Pinkie was redder than the original Pinkie. She had long, straight pink hair and dark, guiltless eyes.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie," said Rainbow. "The cupcake killer."

Pinkamena stood up and examined her surroundings. She looked at all of her victims and then turned to Pinkie and Bellamina. An evil smile appeared on her face and she laughed at the sight of their surprised faces. Her laugh faded as she charged for Pinkie. Aaron got in the way but Pinkamena simply pushed him aside. Pinkamena ran up to Pinkie and came to a halt right in front of her. Pinkie pushed Bellamina behind her as she looked into the eyes of her dark twin.

"You did this," Pinkamena snarled.

"I had no choice. The death and suffering could not continue," said Pinkie.

"That was not your choice to make!"

"Oh yes it was. You've had enough freedom, Pinkamena. Now it's time for all of that to end. Here they all are. Every single pony and creature that you ripped life from. Every griffin, every rabbit, every pegasus, every unicorn, every stallion, every mare, and so forth. You destroyed them, and now it's time to pay up."

Pinkamena looked at the crowd and laughed again.

"Hello again, my little cupcakes!" she cackled. The crowd shuddered at the mention of the word. "Look at you all! You have me trapped like a rat in a maze! And yet you are still afraid of me! I can see it in your eyes! You fear me! You'll always fear me!"

"No," said Rainbow as she stepped forward. "I'm not afraid of you, Pinkamena. I was afraid, then angry, and now...I'm just sorry."

"Hello, Dashie! How has death been recently?!"

"Pretty good. Now it's over. Your massacre has come to an end. Now it's time to face the light, Pinkamena Diane Pie."

Pinkamena was about to say something when the ground began to shake. A large explosion ripped through one side of the town, throwing buildings into the air like playing cards. The earth opened up like a plastic bag and a massive creature arose from the depths below. The creature instantly spread fear throughout everypony who saw it, even Pinkamena. The creature was hard to describe for it kept changing shape and form. Two things that remained consistent were the fire emanating from its many limbs and its eyes, which burned with endless vengeance and power.

"It's come to collect. The Beast has come to collect and judge," said Bellamina. The Beast continued to grow. It grew so much that it expanded beyond that of the breaking cloud dome. The dome began to shatter and collapse like a breaking window. Fires began erupting from around the feet of the Beast. An endless black void was situated on the other side of the cloud dome. Once the dome had completely collapsed, all that was left was the gray town floating on a small piece of earth. The remaining town began to burn and crumble as the Beast continued on its path. It looked down towards the crowd and pointed one of its sharp fingers.

"PINKAMENA DIANE PIE!" it screamed. It's voice was so terrible that neither Rainbow nor anypony else could come up with words to describe it. "YOUR TRIAL AWAITS!"

Pinkamena cursed at the monster, took one last hateful look at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow, and took off into the burning wreckage of the town. The Beast continued on its way. Its eyes set in the direction that Pinkamena was headed.

"It's going to crush us!" Gilda screamed. Suddenly a light appeared in the darkness. The edge of a wheat field appeared next to the floating town. The ghostly image of Susie Salmon appeared above the crowd, her arms were spread wide open.

"Follow me! It's time to be free! Heaven awaits!" she said as she flew towards the growing wheat field. Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, Bellamina, and the others ran after her. Rainbow watched as the buildings of the dying town burned all around her. The ground crumbled away beneath her hooves and bursts of fire shot up through the holes. The Beast continued making its way through town as the defiant screams of Pinkamena echoed through the air. Rainbow tried to fly but found that her wings were being held still by some spiritual force. Aaron ran close behind her along with Gilda and Ridley. Bellamina kept close to her sister.

"We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it!" Pinkie chanted. Bellamina looked up at Pinkie and nodded. The wheat field grew closer and closer. The world became silent as Rainbow focused on one simple goal, reaching the boundary. She looked back to see that the town center had fallen down into the dark abyss. Only around a third of the original town remained. The barrier was coming up fast. "This is it, Bellamina!"

Everypony closed their eyes as they passed through the spiritual barrier.