"Hello, Twilight." Said the Mare Do Well who had now removed the costume to reveal his true identity.
"S-S-Shining Armour!? This has got to be some sort of joke!" Twilight cried. She didn't want to believe this, any of it.
"This is NOT A JOKE! I have had my fun with this little game, Twilight, and now this is the last straw!" Shining yelled. He was serious and Twilight knew it.
"Anything but this....please" Twilight cried, painfully.
"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS!?" Screamed Rarity, walking up to Shining. "YOU MURDERED RAINBOW AND THEN YOU MURDERED MY SISTER...I WILL KILL YOU!!!" Rarity started, ready to attack Shining.
"Not this time." As Shining said this, he took out his knife and began to stab Rarity several times and shoved her to the floor as she bled out on the ground.
"NOOO! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!!" Twilight screamed.
Shining Armour walked up to Twilight as he stared right at her. "You know what's funny, Twilight?...I actually cared about you once before, as a sister...and a friend. And do you know what happened?"
"What-what happened?" Twilight said, quietly.
"YOU HAPPENED! YOU BECAME A PRINCESS AND NOW YOU'RE THE TRUE STAR OF THIS FAMILY! I AM NOTHING!" Shining yelled.
"You have Cadence, you are married to a princess. You have the Crystal Empire! How can you be so jealous as to do something like this!?" Twilight asked, staring right back at him with tears in her eyes.
"Because....I want more. I want power, I want to take everything from you so that you understand." Shining backed away.
As Shining was getting ready to take his move, Cadence had escaped from her ropes. She began to rush at Shining in order to end this.
"Before that, however..." As Cadence rushed towards Shining, Shining Armour turned around with his knife in hand and before Cadence could attack Shining Armour stabbed her once, watching the light of love fade from her eyes and proceeded to slice her throat.
"That is what happens when you mess with my plans. It's a shame really, I actually loved her. Oh well.....the ends justifies the means." Shining's words had sent a chill down everypony. Everypony was in tears, losing it after what just happened.
"Now, who to kill next?...Who does Twilight care for the most here?...How about you, Starlight Glimmer?" Shining began to walk towards her ready to attack.
"NO!" Starlight yelled as she shot a blast of energy that knocked Shining back across the room.
"Maybe you haven't learned yet...MAGIC WON'T HELP YOU!" Shining yelled. "Not when there's a traitor in the room." Everypony looked confused.
"What are you talking about, Shining armour!?" Twilight yelled, confused.
"Oh, you don't know, Twilight? YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET? Maybe you can tell her yourself.....Applejack." Everypony began to look at Applejack.
"W-What?" Twilight said, speechless.
Applejack looked at Twilight. "Huh, ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HOO BOY! IT FEELS SO GOOD TO LET IT ALL OUT, RIGHT SHINING ARMOUR?" Applejack walked towards Shining and stood by him.
"Not you too, Applejack!" Twilight said, shocked seeing her friend like this.
"Oh yes, Applejack has been through with the plan through thick and thin. It's been a pleasure working with her." Shining Armour said.
"I know, and all it took was the idea that I could be something better than a simple farm pony! I could be you, Twilight! And you never even realised what was right in front of you!" Applejack taunted as Twilight still couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Why? Why would you do something like this, Applejack?" Twilight asked.
"It's really simple. Shining asked me if I would help him with a little project. I was obviously not going to help him at first but the offer to be something more was too great...and here we are." Applejack explained.
"So...the reason you were able to send those letters..." Twilight said.
"Yes." Shining said, quickly. "My magic is a lot more powerful than you ever thought, Twilight!"
"Why?..." Fluttershy walked forward. "Why, Applejack? How could you just leave us like this? You had Rainbow murdered and just stood there as Rarity was killed by that...that...BRUTE!" Shining walked forward.
"Here's the thing...I want Twilight. No-one else has to die, Fluttershy. So, just step back and let me do what I need to do." Shining Armour said.
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. ".....no." She said, with a menacing look in her face.
Pinkie Pie also walked forward. "She's right! If you want to get to Twilight, you're going to have to get past us!"
Starlight followed. "They're not wrong, Shining Armour!"
Shining Armour just stared at them before bursting out into laughter. "HA HA HA! Oh, you really think friendship is enough to stop me! Not when half of your friends are gone!"
Twilight walked forward. "Shining Armour, you don't have to do this. We could end this right now, and you can still have a second chance!" Twilight had tears in her eyes. She hoped he could come to his senses.
"Oh, Twilight...If only I could see it that way." Shining Armour said as he dived to plunge the knife into Twilight. Twilight was horrified as she came to the realisation that there was no saving her brother.
"NOOO!" Yelled Starlight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, their faces stricken with terror.
Just before the knife reached Twilight, a shot of light hit Shining. "AHHH!" Shining yelled as he fell to the floor, failing to kill Twilight.
As everypony looked up from the blast and as Shining Armour began to recover, Twilight recognised the figure. "Celestia?"
"I came as fast as I could, Twilight? Are you okay!?" She looked over at Shining Armour. "It's OVER, Shining Armour! No more games, enough damage has been done."
Shining stood up. "No...no, I'm not done. I'M NOT DONE!!" Shining dashed up to Twilight, knife in hand, ready for the kill before Celestia managed to pull him back.
"NO!!!" Shining Armour yelled. It was over.
"Shining, this isn't how you said it would go!" Applejack yelled. She felt cheated.
"Oh please, I only needed you because I needed someone close to Twilight to execute my plan. Obviously, it didn't go so well." Shining told Applejack. Applejack backed away.
"You're saying this was all a lie! You really do deserve what's coming to you." Applejack said, angrily.
Celestia looked at Applejack. "Actually Applejack, you helped Shining Armour with all of this. You are as much to blame as him. You will also be punished for this. Now guards, take them away!"
The guards proceeded to remove Shining and Applejack from the room. Applejack was hesitant, but after learning it was pointless, left without a word. Celestia walked up to Twilight.
"Twilight, are you okay?" Celestia asked.
Twilight looked up, finding it hard to breathe under all of her tears. "NO! Most of my friends are dead, my BROTHER tried to kill me and one of my friends helped him!....What do I do now?"
Celestia looked at her. "Twilight, you are the Princess Of Friendship. You may have lost your friends, but that doesn't mean you can't move on. It will be hard, but you still Pinkie Pie...and Fluttershy.....and Starlight Glimmer."
"I guess you're right." Twilight said. Twilight walked with Celestia to the window and looked out over the Crystal Empire. "What is going to happen to my brother and Applejack?"
"They will be questioned thoroughly on every detail. We need to know everything that happened here, from start to finish. After that...we don't know." Celestia said, concerned.
"Celestia...I just have one question. Why did Shining Armour want me dead? What did I do to him that caused all of this. He told me it was because I became something special and he didn't but I just keep feeling that it's something more." Twilight said. It had kept running through her mind ever since Shining Armour had said it.
"YOU BECAME A PRINCESS AND NOW YOU'RE THE TRUE STAR OF THIS FAMILY! I AM NOTHING!" Shining had said. What does that mean? Was he really jealous? Is that seriously the reason he tried to murder her and her friends?
"I do not know." Celestia said, suddenly. "But it doesn't matter now. He's gone, it's over."
"I suppose so." Twilight said, as she looked back at her friends. She had lost a lot over the past few days. Hopefully, everything could return back to the way it was soon...at least, as much as it could be.