>The private viewing room felt cold as ice, with nopony daring to break the silence.
>A ray of light streamed in from the window across from the bed that everypony was gathered around lightly illuminating the now still face of a dear friend.
>The doctors had done an excellent job cleaning and brushing her mane, it almost looked like rarity had done it.
>This thought was insignificant, the body lying upon the bed was still a crude facsimile.
>Her joyful face with eyes always bursting with elation stood still. 
>Twilight was furious, not with the doctors or nurses, but with herself.
>She had been the cause of this, or at the very least she felt like she was.
>Red hot anger filled her, she couldn’t stand that anypony, no; she, the element of magic, couldn't find a way to help her friend.
>The doctor who had been standing silently in the corner until now said meekly “We tried everything we could, I’m so sorry” her head hung low. The ‘sorry’ dragged on for just a moment too long to feel clinical. 
>Everypony knew that Pinkie was dead long before she was rushed through the doors of the emergency room at the Ponyville hospital. 
>Fluttershy was sobbing at the side of Pinkie’s bed, her desperate gasps for air between uncontrollable sobs signaled how the rest of the mane… 5 felt; crushed.
>Applejack wrapped her front leg around Twilight trying to pull her into a hug as the face she was trying desperately to hold stable was starting to crack
 >Twilight shook her off, the look of indignation on her face had only grown
>She approached the side of Pinkie’s bed, looked down upon the now cold pony
>The placed her hoof on Pinkie’s chest, she stood still for just a moment then she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth tightly. 
>She fell as if gravity had been increased by ten fold.
>Her body slouched over and through a flurry of tears she said “I’ll get you back Pinkiepie, I promise”.
>She picked herself up off of the floor and quickly hurried out of the room, ramming into a now confused Applejack.
>Rainbowdash called out to her from the door of the observation room, but Twilight just trotted faster away, now fully sprinting down the halls of Ponyville General. 
>The double doors of the hospital slammed open as a gurney was being rushed to the emergency room. Through her grief and anger Twilight sloppily used a levitation spell to move the entire group out of the way.
>Twilight is stunned only momentarily by the blazing sun of the equestrian summer.
>She continued to run as fast as she could towards her library, hot tears wetted her face and fell to the ground.
>She reached the door of her home and swung it wide open with such force that it hit the wall with a loud thud.
>Spike was pacing around the table that sat in the center of the room.
>He saw Twilight standing in the foyer, instantly recognizing the pain in her eyes he ran over.
>He threw himself at her, tears pooling in his eyes. He had already heard the news, stuff like this didn’t take long to get around town; everypony in ponyville already knew.
>Twilight, exhausted from the run and the crying, broke down into tears.
>Between her breaths she looked at Spike sternly, shakenly and said “I’m not going to rest until I’ve found a way to bring her back”.

>It's been at least 3 weeks, possibly more, Twilight has stopped counting and Spike has long since started to stay with Rarity to escape Twilight’s ever growing fanaticism with undoing death.
>The once pristine library now more resembles a disaster zone than a home; books, cups of instant hayraman and empty cans of PONYPOWER(™) energy drinks covering the floor.
>Twilight was in no better condition, her mane matted and her body aching from exhaustion and lack of care. Her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, only really resting whenever she keeled over a pile of books. She hardly resembled the pony so many once new. She had simply stopped caring for herself, completely dedicating herself to her new cause.
>Twilight had been driving herself to the edge of sanity since she came back home from the hospital. She had been scouring through every book she had in her collection tens of times desperately searching for something that anypony could tell you would never be there.
>She had almost completely lost hope, thinking that she could never bring back her friend 
>The idea crushed her, after all she was the one who hooked Pinke up to all of those machines. If she had any idea that a power surge would happen at that instant she would have never. 
>She replayed that moment over and over again in her mind, torturing herself over ‘what ifs’; what if she disconnected the power in time, what if she used a spell to cut the wires, what if she just believed her friend.
>Just like she had many times before she began to heave, she couldn’t live with herself. Admitting she couldn’t bring her back wasn’t an option, she had never felt so powerless, so desperate. 
>At that moment a scroll slipped through the front door’s mailslot.
>Twilight looked at it for a long moment before she approached, hoping this wasn’t some clever attempt by her friends to make her abandon her ‘studies’.
>Upon closer inspection the scroll had the royal crest of Celestia inlaid on the stamp that kept it closed. 
>She opened it gingerly.
>It read “Dear my prized pupal Twilight Sparkle, Spike has informed me that your dear friend Pinkiepie has passed. I am so sorry for your loss and I understand that grieving looks different for everypony, but I am starting to become concerned. I have not received a letter from you in over a month. Spike speaks about how you have shut out everypony in your life, including all of your friends. The dire condition he describes you in is deeply troubling. Luna also tells me about the disturbing dreams you have been having recently. I am worried about you Twilight, please write back so I know you are ok.”
>The letter ends in the same way all of Celestia’s letters do “With much love, Princess Celestia”.
>Twilight stares at the letter blankly for a time.
>She had not realized how long it had been since Pinkie had passed, time had almost lost all meaning to Twilight.
>Twilight’s already shattered heart began to hurt, the tiny shards left being broken once more. She had spent over a month and had gotten nowhere.
>This reality made the once kind pony furious, and yelled in anger. Her magic became uncontrollable creating a vortex of books and debris around her. Then suddenly in a nearly unparalleled burst of magic a shockwave erupted from her horn. 
>Windows shattered and doors flew open off of their hinges, the library she had been standing in just before in smolders. 
>The tip of her horn was burnt, smelling of burnt bread.
>Twilight knew what she had to do. The knowledge, the power she needed was locked away inside of the restricted wing of Canterlot magic library.
>”Everything will be alright once pinkie is back” she whispered to herself before stepping out the door and starting to make her way to the train station 

>Twilight sat in the back of the train car, trying to plot a way to break into the highly restricted level of the library. 
>She knew it would be highly guarded, and completely off limits for anypony but the princesses. So she had to break in.
>She knew she was a known entity in the castle so slipping past without anyone recognizing her was going to be nearly impossible. 
>Luckly during her manic episode back in Ponyville she stumbled on a spell that, when used, could transform somepony into looking like anotherpony for a short period of time.
>She intended to disguise herself as the recently returned Luna. Nopony would question her if she started to act out of character for Luna, because hardly anypony had met her yet. 
>As she walked up to the library doors she felt nervous. She had been here hundreds of times but never with such immoral reasons. Following through on this would be treason of the highest order, and Twilight feared the consequences.
>Twilight shook off those thoughts and reassured herself that this was the only way to save Pinkiepie; and to ease the guilt that had been crippling her. 
>Twilight opened the tall double doors of the library and quickly ducked into the bathroom. 
>Magic sparked from her burnt horn as she tried and failed to cast the complex spell multiple times. Panic overcame her.
>Then a flash of purple light came out of Twilight’s horn blinding her for a few moments. When she winked her eyes open again she was greeted with her new temporary form, Princess Luna. 
>She snuck through the halls of the library dodging anypony that came near. Even though she could mask her physical form she couldn’t do anything about her voice or mannerisms, so it was best to avoid interactions. 
>She soon arrives at the stairs to the restricted level of the library, a guard is standing in front of a locked door blocking the way up. 
>Twilight shoots him a look and without a word he levitates the key into the lock and with a hearty click the door creeps open.
>Twilight was filled with anxiety as she walked into the damp stairway.  
>Still hidden in the magical fake skin of Luna, she starts to ascend the stairs quickly with the guard only steps behind her. 
>All is going well until they reach the top of the staircase where Twilight is greeted by another set of locked doors.  
>The guard who had  stayed quite until now speaks up and says jovially “To open the next door I must be told the royal passcode, but of course you already know this Princess”
>Twilight’s heart instantly drops, she never anticipated a verbal passkey. Her fear and nervousness quickly turned into desperation. 
>”I’ve gotten so close, I can’t go back now” she thought to herself as her horn started to glow.
>Still facing away from the guard, she uncloaked herself. 
>The guard in shock from what he just saw muttered “Twilight?”. 
>His training quickly took over as he stood in a battle ready stance, assuming what stood in front of him could neither be Twilight or  Luna. 
>Twilight spun around looking at the guard in the eyes with no expression on her face. “Give me the keys,” she growled. 
>The guard shouted back “You will have to rip them out of my cold dead hooves”.
>Twilight sighed and picked up the earthpony guard and slammed him against the wall, the sound of bone crunching could be heard as he hit the wall.
>Twilight gagged a bit at the sound.
> She walked over to the guard and grabbed the keys with her magic. 
>She turned back around with a little hesitation.
>When she reached the locked door she shoved the key into the lock and opened the door.
>A wave of cold air rushed over her as she opened the door wider. The room was circular with shelves judding out from the walls. 
>Scrolls and books and even some artifacts lay neatly upon the shelves. As if they had been waiting in anticipation for this moment just as Twilight had. 
>She began to walk around the room hurriedly, knowing that it wouldn’t be long until somepony too  nosy for their own good decided to check on the sounds from the stairwell.
>After a few moments of searching her eyes were drawn to a glass case that contained a leather bound book with a picture of a lion's paw on the cover. 
>Twilight had heard of such a book before, though she always thought it was an old mare's tale. 
>According to legends this was the personal spellbook of an ancient mage that had the power of the gods. After a lifetime of creating cursed spells and hexes the mage created a book that would give the user nearly unlimited power. At the cost of their soul.
>Twilight knew this would be a deal with the devil, but she had no choice. Her desperation to bring Pinkiepie back had clouded all of her judgement. 
>Twilight smashed the glass case open using her magic. 
>She levitated the book towards herself, uneasily undoing the knot that kept the book sealed. 
>In a flash of light the book flew open as if it was powered by itself ,a massive shockwave of energy hit Twilight knocking her down as the book continued to float in the air unassisted. 
>As the light from the book continued to blind Twilight she could feel herself changing. The shockwave of magical power that hit her was absorbed almost in its totality and started to force her body to undergo unholy changes. 
>Her entire body began to shake as she started to float in mid air. Bright light began shooting out of her eyes and mouth as a magical cocoon enveloped her.
>After a very still moment Twilight emerged from her cocoon of light. 
>Her purple body had been burnt with her hooves and parts of her legs entirely black, her horn had grown thrice its size with the burnt tip now covering nearly the entire length, most shockingly though was that she had grown raven wings.
>The magic from the book had amplified her anger and guilt tenfold, turning her into a monster. It stripped her of her cutie mark replacing it with a shattered heart.
>After examining her body for a few moments she heard the sound of dozens of guards running up the stairs. Twilight flicked her head to look at the door as they started pouring in.
>The book whispered in Twilight’s ear, telling her to do horrible violent things. At first she resisted, but the deal had already been signed.
>Twilight had become that of a god, but in return she lost herself, more a slave of the writings in the book than an individual pony.
>The book picked itself off of the ground and swung in front of Twilight, flicking to a page deep inside. The picture showed a pony getting turned into a pile of ash. 
 >The last bit of resistance in Twilight gave out as the text started to glow red.
>Twilight started to read  the spell out loud.
>Red magic started to swirl around her horn, growing in size and intensity as she continued to read out the spell. 
>Then a massive burst of red energy enveloped all of the guards in the room. Twilight could see their skin melting off their body as their muscles broke asunder. The screams of the guards made her hesitate just for a moment. Until a force inside her demanded she intensify the blast. 
>In a horrifying development Twilight started to enjoy the feeling. 
>She did not stop blasting the guards with her twisted magic until their bodies were reduced to ashes. 
>Twilight stood in front of the ash piles of the small army of guards and felt a small smile form on her face. 
>She reveled in the power for a moment, then burst out of the room using her new wings.

>As she flew back to Ponyville the book levitated effortlessly in front of her.
>She knew that somewhere within the pages of this cursed book would be a spell that would allow her to bring back Pinkiepie. 
>After some searching Twilight did find what she was looking for, she stopped and flapped in one place mid air to read the page better.
>The picture showed a mildly disturbing scene of one pony’s lifeforce being stolen away and given to another pony.
 >Along the margins of the page the long dead mage scribbled a note for himself.
>”This spell requires the soul of a truly pure pony, one of good heart and mind. If cast with an impure soul the resurrected will fall dead again shortly.”
>Twilight knew the perfect pony for the job. 
>She raced over to Fluttershy’s cottage on the edge of town.
>She landed at the other side of the bridge that spanned the river approaching Fluttershy’s house.
>As twilight began to walk up to the door, every step she took the grass underneath her hooves turned brown.
>The animals didn’t dare get close to her, fish swam away upstream to escape, birds flew off into the distance, and the ground critters ran into bushes and trees.
>Soon Twilight was at the door, she didn’t bother to knock as she just blew the door open.
>Fluttershy wiped her head around to see Twilight.
>In shock Fluttershy asked “Twilight what’s wrong” in her typical hushed tone.
>It took her a moment to realize that something was deeply wrong with Twilight.
>As Twilight began to walk closer to her Fluttershy began to become scared.
>”What’s going on?” asked Fluttershy, pleading for any sort of understanding.
>”I’m sorry Flutters but it has to be this way” says Twilight hanging her head low.
>”Twilight your scaring me stop” begged Fluttershy while tears began to pool in her eyes. 
>Twilight faltered for a moment, seeing her dear friend who was now crying covering her eyes with her hooves. 
>Something deep within her demanded she stop.
>But Twilight’s body moved anyway.
>The book flung itself in front of Twilight once again reminding her of what must be done. 
>With her eyes held closed and teeth pressed together she started to charge at Fluttershy. Her horn shot through the poor yellow ponies chest.
>Fluttershy screamed so loudly it made Twilight’s ears ring. Fluttershy writhed in pain for a few moments until she went still.
>The blood from Twilight’s old friend dripped onto her face in beads. Some got into her left eye, dying it red.
>Twilight let Fluttershy fall to the ground with a thump.
>Twilight knew it’s what she needed to do, and the book reassured her that Fluttershy died for something larger than herself. 
>As the ponies corpse sat on the ground leaking blood Twilight stood still. She hardened her expression and started the spell to take Fluttershy’s soul. 
>She read off of the book's text and a snow white trail of vapor began to lift out of Fluttershy’s mouth and into Twilight's horn.
>The entire process tingled mildly. When it was all over Twilight turned around and slowly walked out of her friend’s house. 
>She wanted to look back so badly but she knew that she had places to be. 
>The book whispered into her ear once again, justifying what she had done

>Twilight had skipped Pinkie’s funeral, she was much too overwhelmed with trying to find a way to bring her back to go. 
>She regretted that decision deeply. 
>But it was now time to make everything right. All of the things she had done were leading to this moment.
>She had convinced herself that if she brought Pinkiepie back everything would be ok.
>She neglected the fact that even if she was brought back it might not be the same Pinkiepie, or if she would even want to be her friend after all that Twilight had done. 
>The ponies she had killed wouldn’t ever be able to come back, and the blood of Fluttershy still would be on her hooves. In the act of bringing one life back she had taken so many more. 
>But she was in far too deep now to stop, the deaths she brought had to be for something. O r that's what she told herself as she hovered over the gravemarker. 
>She began to dig up Pinkie, an unholy action that the old Twilight would have never dared to consider to do. 
>Then again the old Twilight is gone, replaced by a shadow, a husk of the pony she once was.
>Typically Twilight would have used her magic for this, but it felt much too impersonal. She dug with her hooves until she hit the coffin's hard exterior. 
>She levitated the coffin out of the pit she had created, setting it down gingerly next to herself.
>She popped open the cover and saw Pinkie laying there so peacefully.
>Pinkie's skin had begun to grey and her mane was already falling out.
>Twilight asked herself if she will be brought back to the way she was, or if she will remain the facsimile of herself that sat in the observation room of the hospital. 
>She rested her front legs over the side of the coffin and carefully picked up Pinkie's body. Almost cradling it as she set it on the soft grass. 
>A single tear rolled down her face. It wetted some of Fluttershy’s blood and when it fell it was a crimson red.
>Seeing this red tear hit Pinkie's chest reminded Twilight about all that she had done to get here. 
>Twilight snapped out of her emotional fever and began the ritual. 
>The called upon the book as she had many times before, and started to chant the spell.
>As her horn started to glow in red a thick fog rolled in behind herself while great black clouds covered the sky.
>The world was masking her sickly action, bringing a pony back from the dead was against nature itself but Twilight, dear Twilight didn’t care.
>As the incantation continued the white vaper that contained the essence of Fluttershy’s soul escaped from her horn and went into Pinkie’s mouth.
>Twilight was so absorbed in the spell that she failed to notice the golden chariot that pierced the sky and landed only a few dozen feet behind her. 
>Celestia stepped out of the chariot hurriedly, looking upon the horror in front of her she was at a loss of words. 
>Twilight was nearly completed with the spell, the last bits of essence had been taken by Pinkiepie, now she just needed to wait. 
>She stood up and just then she heard a voice from behind her. 
>”Twilight what are you doing” said Celestia uneasily.
>There was a short pause as Twilight tensed her muscles in reaction, almost as if the words of Celestia hurt.
>”My star pupil” muttered Celestia, “I had seen you from the window of my throne room escaping Canterlot”.
>“I couldn’t believe what I had seen, so I ran to the library and before me I saw destruction and death,” said Celestia worriedly. 
>“It’s not to late Twil-” She was cut off
>”It had to be done, I had no other choice” barked Twilight as she was hunched over the now twitching body of Pinkiepie.
>Twilight turned around and faced Celestia.
>Twilight continued “I tried everything else, there were no other options”. 
>Celestia staggered back, seeing the blood covering the face of Twilight sparkle. 
>Twilight began to rise into the air using her wings, she yelled at Celestia “I did what I needed to” as she shot a zap of magic at her feet.
>”Now go” demanded Twilight 
>Celestia stumbled back and tried to reason with Twilight “It doesn’t have to be this way, I want to help you, we can fix you!”
>This comment made Twilight even more angry, all of the fear and guilt and hatred she had been feeling for herself for over a month was coming to head. 
>Twilight shot a much larger blast of energy at Celestia.
>Celestia covered herself in a shield made of pure light deflecting the shot, though it did shake her stance. 
>Celestia was no stranger to occurrences like this.
>Twilight continued to blast Celestia with stronger and stronger attacks, all of which were buffeted by the Princess.
>The book swung around to Twilight once more and flicked to a page, the picture was of a massive explosion, the strength of which could easily destroy Ponyville and anypony in it. 
>The text started to glow red and Twilight started to cast the spell. Only to be interrupted by a soft “Twilight?”
>She looked down, it was Pinkie.
>Twilight snapped out of her anger fueled warpath and dropped to the ground.
>”What are you doing?” said Pinkiepie with terror on her face.
>Twilight started tripping over her own words. The once eloquent pony had nothing to say for herself. So she stayed silent.
>Pinkie looked at her and asked sincerely, “Are you ok?”
>Twilight gazed upon her, eyes full of hope saying “I am now”, as she scooped her up for a hug. 
>Twilight was too happy to realize that her still active horn touched Pinkiepie’s forehead.
Sending a zap of magic through her body killing her already weakened self instantly. 
>Pinkepie went limp in Twilight’s arms.
>It took a few moments and a few shakes for her to realize what had happened. 
>She instantly felt sick, she became dizzy and tears pooled in her eyes. 
>Twilight’s already shattered heart broke again.
>Then as if clockwork, to take advantage of Twilight at her lowest the book began to whisper again.
>It promised the heartbroken Twilight that nopony could ever hurt her again. That she could still bring Pinkie back in other ways. 
>Twilight put Pinkiepie down heedfully, then stood back with her head hung low and tears descending from her face. 
>Celestia could tell that the corruption had won, that the Twilight she was grooming to be the next ruler of Equestria was dead. In her stead was a husk of a pony who would stop at nothing to ease her aching heart. 
>The Princess had tried to reason with Twilight, but it was already too late then; and much too late now. 
>They both stood on opposite sides of the cemetery looking at each other. 
>Both knew that there was only one way this could go, it all depended on who was brave enough, or foolish enough, to start. 
>Unshockenly Twilight began first, hurling beams of magic at Celesita. 
>She flipped through her unholy book looking for a way to slaughter the Princess. 
>She once again landed on the page with the town destroying magic spell. 
>With nothing to interrupt her this time Twilight began to read the inscription. Such a powerful spell would take a few moments to cast.
>This left Celestia with only seconds to decide what to do. Only one choice had been left for her. 
>Staring at the future Princess of Equestria with tears falling down her face she began to cast a spell to end all of this. 
>Her mind was flooded with the many memories she had gotten over the past decade with Twilight. 
>When she saw Twilight turn that stone into a real dragon, she knew she was going places.
>She knew that Twilight was born to be something great, but she never imagined that she would become this. 
>Celestia had nearly finished her spell, and so had Twilight. 
>Both of them hurried to be the first one done.
>When it came time to cast them they seemed to get done at the same moment.
>The two balls of magic, one red and one white passed next to each other. Both prayed they would land first. 
>When one of them impacted with their target a huge explosion rang out shaking trees for miles. 
>When the dust settled all that remained of the battlefield were grave markers, a defiled corpse, Princess Celestia, and a statue of stone.
>Celestia looked upon the statue of Twilight in deep sorrow.
>The now frozen Twilight had her book still in front of her with an angered look on her face. The last moment of her life is forever frozen in time. 

>It had been months since the fall of Twilight Sparkle. 
>Though Ponyville is still shaken, and the holes in families and communities caused by Twilight will never heal, society is starting to move forward again. 
>Twilight now sits in the garden of the royal castle in Canterlot, next to all the other ponies who tried to destroy peace in Equestria. 
>For the rest of time the element of magic, the next in line to rule the kingdom of Equestria, and the most magical unicorn ever known to ponykind will stand as a cautionary story. A permanent reminder of what pain can do to a pony.