IT'S HERE. YES, I MEAN IT. SERIOUSLY, LOOK AT THE TITLE. JUST GO AHEAD AND READ IT. SRSLY. Guise. Srsly. Please.

Chapter 5: The Vigil

Twilight stood behind the curtain of the stage, peeking through it at all the guests in the crowd as she and the rest of the mane six, as well as some of the night's other speakers, stood around nervously, awaiting the start of the ceremony; though Twilight was more nervous than the rest of them, something that gave her friends cause for concern.

"Nervous," AJ said, coming up from behind the unicorn, causing her to jump slightly.

"A little," Twilight said after taking a deep breath. "OK, a lot. I just...I still don't know what I should say; also, I...I'm getting the feeling that...something bad is going to happen soon. I don't know why, but it's just a gut feeling; and the last time I followed my gut, well, this happened."

"Aw, don't worry about it," AJ replied. "The princesses are here and guards are all over the place. If something happens, they can take care of it."

"You...you're right, Applejack," Twilight said with a grin. "But still, I...I just don't know what to say; obviously I can't tell them what really happened; there's little foals in the audience."

"Just do what you think Rainbow'd want ya to do. That's what we're all doing," AJ said.

"Starting in 5, everypony," Luna called from just beyond the two, walking up to Twilight and AJ. "You seem troubled, miss Sparkle. Art thou OK?"

"No, I'm fine, just nervous is all, like everypony else is."

"So are...am I," Luna said, breaking character for a moment. "These last few hours...everything's just begun sinking in for I and Celestia. Truth be told, we're both an emotional wreck on the inside. But, we have a duty to uphold, and a ceremony to hold, and these events are not going to stop us. Anyway, we have to return to our post to make the final preparations. Good luck, everypony."

"Thanks, princess," AJ said, Luna walking off as Fluttershy and Rarity joined the two soon afterward.

"Everypony ready to do this," Twilight said.

"Ready, willing, and able," Rarity said, Fluttershy and AJ nodding in agreement.

"Listen, girls, you have...no idea how much you've helped me in the last day; I can't thank you enough," Twilight said. "Now let's go make RD proud of us."

"Will do," AJ said with agreements from the other girls. As the girls left to take their positions backstage, Twilight poked her head out the curtain one last time, swearing she saw a pony duck behind some buildings off in the distance. Twilight gulped and said: "Oh, I have a bad feeling about this..."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The underworld portal dumped Dash off just inside the entrance to the Everfree forest, the rainbow-maned pegusus instantly dropping to the ground and praising it, hugging and kissing it. She then stood up and, after leaping into the air, pulled her mask up just enough to expose her mouth and took a deep breath and exhaled gently soon after.

"I'm...alive," Dash said dreamily. "Man, I owe Exodius so much. He has no idea how happy I feel right now." Rainbow suddenly remembered she was on a mission, and pulled her mask down over her face."But I have a job to do now..." she paused after hearing her voice through the collar, noticing that it had distorted her voice to the point of lowering the pitch and deepening the intensity of it; carrying an intimidating presence her own voice never could, but at the same time keeping it relatively soft and majestic.

"Wow, I sound so awesome right now! OK, I'm getting off topic. So, game plan; gotta find the spirit of a serial killer and bring it back to the underworld. And, unfortunately, I know just where to start. Well, here I come, girls; if you know it was me coming, you'd be so happy to see me," Rainbow Dash said to herself, sighing at the idea of not being able to reveal herself to anyone per Exodius's orders, but paid it no mind as she took off to the skies and towards ponyville.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Once Rainbow made it into Ponyville, she noticed a large group of ponies gathered in the center of town. Floating her cloud up enough to not be detectable, she looked down to see a stage with a podium that had a picture of her on the front sitting towards the back, a casket sitting off to the side with several bushels of flowers piled up on either side of it. A small slide show was playing off to the opposite side with various pictures of Rainbow in them; some she'd found cute, and some she'd wish they hadn't picked.

"Oh yeah, they still think I'm dead," Dash said to herself. "Well, I'm sure Exodius wouldn't mind if I stuck around for...whatever this is." Rainbow laid down on the cloud, hooves crossed as she covertly watched the lights around the stage dim slightly, the Princesses walking out onto the stage. "Looks like I'm just in time," Dash whispered as she bowed out of respect for the two.

"Foals, Mares, Gentlecolts," Celestia said. "We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Equestria's most loyal Pegasus, Rainbow Dash. We gather here not to cry and weep, but to celebrate Rainbow Dash's life, her accomplishments and her pitfalls. We celebrate her as two separate but equal ponies; As the Element of Loyalty, where she protected Equestria from two of the greatest evils this land has ever known; one of them being my own sister, and as Rainbow Dash the pony, was always there for her friends, saying that she'd 'never leave them hanging, as well as demonstrating her athletic prowess by performing the legendary Sonic Rainboom not once, but twice in one lifetime."

"Can't argue with that," Rainbow said to herself.

"At this time, before we begin, we ask for a moment of silence for the departed," Celestia said, all the ponies including Dash herself bowing their heads, some silent sobbing being heard.

"We have invited several special speakers for tonight to share their own thoughts on the deceased: those who knew Rainbow Dash personally, those who may not have known her but looked up to her, and those who she herself looked up to or idolized."

Rainbow gasped inwardly at this statement. "Ohmygosh...they can't be there, can they?"

"However, before we bring out the guests, I and my sister would like to share some opening words. First, Luna."

Celestia stepped back as Luna took to the stand. "First and foremost, We offer our deepest regrets and sympathies to those affected by this tragedy; Our ever-vigilant watch was eluded as these heinous acts were committed, and We condemn thee who was responsible and will stop at nothing to dispense justice."

Several hooves stomped the ground quietly as Luna continued. "Now then, Our words on the departed. T'was Rainbow Dash's loyalty to her friends in the face of an ultimate decision, among other trials and tribulations, that allowed the Elements of Harmony to purge from Us the jealous vengeance that had consumed Us and turned Us into what thou referred to as "Nightmare Moon," Luna added. "We...um...I am eternally thankful and wish Rainbow Dash a peaceful eternal rest."

Luna bowed her head and stepped back as Celestia returned to the stage. "On the subject of bravery, continuing from my sister's words, we also cannot forget about the spirit of chaos himself, Discord, who was freed from his stone prison after a thousand years," she continued. "Discord thought he could break up the elements by turning them against each other, corrupting Rainbow Dash's loyalty and warping it into selfish possession. But, thanks to her friends, she was able to regain her senses and be there to help the other elements stop Discord, imprisoning him in stone once again and restoring order to Equestria. For this, and several other achievements, we owe her our gratitude and our respect."

Rainbow smiled heroically inside her mask. "Yeah, that's right, you know it," she thought to herself.

"Now, we will start bringing up the guests. Our first speaker, or speakers, rather, were Rainbow Dash's biggest inspirations and idols. Please welcome, the co-captains of the Wonderbolts, Soarin' and Spitfire."

Rainbow Dash began freaking out as her idols walked out onto the stage, receiving a hoofshake from the princesses. "Oh man, this is so cool..." Dash thought.

"Thank you, princess," Spitfire said. "While we may not have known miss Rainbow Dash personally, we have been well aware of her, well, I guess you could say, idolization of not only us, but of the whole Wonderbolt organization."

"Her athletic talents have been displayed in our presence multiple times, most notably at the best young flier competition," Soarin' added. "I've always heard the pony tales of the sonic rainboom, but I'd never thought I'd see it with my own eyes until she unleashed it that day. Well, we didn't actually SEE it, but, you get the idea."

Rarity swore she felt both Soarin' and Spitfire glare in her direction, smirking sheepishly.

"We're also calling mulligan on the Grand Galloping Gala," Spitfire said jokingly. Some giggles were heard in the crowd as Dash tried to stifle her own chuckle. "All in all, Ranbow Dash is one of the coolest fans and ponies we've met in a while, and had she been just a few years older, she would totally have been Wonderbolt material."

"Don't remind me," Dash said, noting that she was still a few years shy of making the Wonderbolts.

"However, in this case, we can make an exception," Spitfire said, Soarin' bringing out a small blue bag with the wonderbolts logo on it. "We wanted to do something special for Rainbow, so we had this made for her," Spitfire continued, pulling something surprising out of the bag: a Wonderbolt uniform with Dash's cutie mark on the flanks, along with a pair of Wonderbolt goggles. "Even though we can't accept her into the Wonderbolts, we still wanted to recognize her. So, for tonight's ceremony, Rainbow Dash is hereby declared an honorary Junior Wonderbolt."

Sptifire set the costume on top of the casket and saluted her, Soarin' and the rest of the crowd doing the same. Rainbow herself even gave a salute, tears falling from her cheeks inside her mask. "Wow...an honorary Wonderbolt...oh man, this is so awesome!" "Thank you," Spitfire said, she and Soarin' walking off stage.

Rainbow watched quietly as the next few guests came up; Applejack, who admired Dash's competitiveness and athleticism, though still playfully bragging that she was the better pony, Fluttershy, who actually had to abandon her speech halfway through because she couldn't stop crying, and Rarity, who admittedly cared for Dash despite her 'lingo' and 'brashness'.

And then it was Twilight's turn. As she walked onto the stage, Rainbow Dash began to recall a small exchange she'd had with Gravehoof during their walk to Marebus...

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So...you said you know how and when I died," Dash said.

"Yes, I did," Gravehoof replied. "Why?"

"Well...before I died, I...swore I heard somepony saying my name...and it wasn't Pinkie. It was like...they were standing right beside me..."

"We did receive reports that there was another pony at the scene about 20 minutes after your recorded death," Gravehoof said. "A purple Unicorn...Twilight...Sparkle I believe her name was?"

Rainbow Dash suddenly grew silent. "T...Twilight...she was there..." Rainbow stuttered.

"According to the reports. Did you...know her?"

"Yes...she was...a friend...a really good friend. She must've come looking for me after I disappeared. I..I hope she didn't meet the same fate I did..."

"We've received no reports on her," Gravehoof said. "For all I know, she's still alive."

"I just...hope nothing bad happens to her...if she saw what she did and is still alive, there's...a chance...Pinkie might try to..."

"Hunt her down and kill her," Gravehoof added. "I understand your concern for your friend. Let's hope Celestia keeps her safe..."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Twilight...oh thank Celestia, you're alive," Dash whispered softly as the Unicorn took to the standing in silence for several moments.

"I...I really don't know what to say right now," Twilight said. "But...I'll do what I can. I...it's been hard for me...for all of us over the last day. Rainbow's death...it was a shock to both me and her friends. Some of us were able to take it; others, not so much."

Fluttershy hung her head in the background as Twilight continued, pulling out what looked like a scroll. The crowd groaned slightly at this.

"Heh, typical Twilight," Rainbow whispered. As the unicorn droned on with her speech, crediting and 'constructively criticizing' various traits of the pegusus, Dash herself suddenly noticed a lone pony out of the corner of her eye, tucked inside an alleyway and out of sight from the rest. Raising an eyebrow, Dash watched as the pony, whose identity was concealed by the darkness of the alley, began stroking some sort of object in its hand.

Dash went to lower her cloud in for a closer look, but as she did, the pony suddenly poked out of the alley just enough to watch a...pink hoof...throw the object, which dash just now identified as a butcher's knife, directly up over the crowed and right towards Twilight. Dash was awestruck by how fast the knife got to it's destination, just to the left of Twilight's head, but that notion was washed out by the sudden gasps that followed. Twilight's eyes grew wide, Dash watching as several things happened at once: ponies started running around screaming, guards began scrambling and checking the perimeter, forming a barrier around the princesses and twilight, and the isolated pony suddenly branding another, now glowing, weapon and slamming the bottom end into the ground.

"Everypony remain calm," Princess Celestia shouted. "We will have the situation under control shortly and resume the..." The princess was cut off when the ground suddenly started to shake violently, Dash watching as several cracks and tremors appeared all around the stage, etheral green energy forming around them before giving way to a green-orange flame that encircled the stage and the outlying area, splitting through buildings and causing them to catch fire and even collapsing in some cases.

"What is Equestria is this," Luna asked Celestia, who was equally puzzled. Celestia was about to respond but was interrupted by something strange but so familiar.

It was a laugh.

But it wasn't just any laugh.

It was a bubbly laugh that only one pony in equestria was capable of making.

The entire crowd fell silent to the giggles as soon nothing could be heard except for the roaring fire, burning wood, and the giggling. The princesses, Rainbow, Twilight, and the rest of the main...4, along with a good majority of the crowd, suddenly felt a massive chill run straight down their backs, even swearing the bones of their spines themselves were being affected.

Rainbow's mind suddenly induced a flashback, the events of her 'party' appearing right before her eyes. Dash closed her eyes and fought back tears, also holding back her gag reflex at the brutal images. Rainbow reminded herself that Pinkie, despite how fucked up she was now, was still her friend in need of help, and knew had it been any other pony she'd personally hunt them down and exact her revenge on the sick pony.

Twilight, meanwhile, was having flashes of her own.

"Oh no..." Twilight muttered, her eyes darting around in fear, her own personal demons flashing before her eyes yet again. "No, no it...it can't be...she's not here, not now!"

"We must make a confession," Luna said silently. "This is the first time...I...have ever felt as scared as I am right now."

"...I as well," Celestia surprisingly admitted.

"This AIN'T happinin'," AJ said. "It...it just ain't!"

"Rarity...girls...I'm scared," Fluttershy said, curling into a ball timidly.

"It's...oh, forget it, this is the most terrified I've ever felt," Rarity said. "And I don't think it's going to get any better."

Suddenly, the giggling silenced, and for a moment, things seemed calm. However, when the sounds of hooves were heard, the fear resumed as the crowd looked over to see the one pony nopony wanted to see right now; Pinkie, hair just as poofy as ever, brandishing a strange-looking weapon that looked like a combination spear and warhammer.

"Isn't it neat," Pinkie said in her normal voice. "They say it's one of the strongest weapons in existence; granted it's only found in the underworld, and some...strings had to be plucked to get it...now that I think of it, who is 'they', anyway? Oh, oopsie, I'm going off topic! Anyway...oh, by the way, there's a reason this thing is only found in Marebus; it's illegal to own here in the mortal world! At least, that's what 'they' say. I still don't know who 'they' are supposed to be, I've never met these ponies they seem smart though always knowing things and freely telling ponies things, I wanna meet 'them' someday...oh, darn, I did it again, didn't I?"

The crowd, though scared out of their minds, had to applaud pinkie to sticking to what she was good at.

"OK...anyway, back to business," Pinkie said, her facial expression suddenly darkening with an evil grin. "Seems...SOMEPONY...in this audience wanted to be a party pooper yesterday. Well, you know I don't like party poopers; especially those that go and ruin surprises. And if I can't have my...surprises, then I'm not a happy little pony, now, am I?"

Pinkie's face suddenly turned into a sneer, which disappeared quickly. She started fiddling with her new weapon, Celestia and Luna, along with the guards, switching to a 'defense-ready' stance, Rainbow getting on the edge of her cloud should things get out of hand. Suddenly, though, Rainbow swore she heard something...odd.

"Dashie...help me..."

"What the hay," Dash whispered. As quickly as it went, though, it disappeared, Dash focusing back on the scene below.

"And when I'm not happy...well...THINGS...happen," she said, raising her weapon as it glowed with ethereal green energy.

"We won't allow it," Luna said, signaling her guards to stand ready. "We want the subject alive, so do not use lethal force unless absolutely necessary."

"Same for you all," Celestia said to her own guards who nodded confidently.

"Aw, how cute, the princesses think they stand a chance," Pinkie said with a giggle. "Let's see what you got."

"Easy, everyone, she's just using scare tactics," Celestia whispered. "Scare being the right word in this case."

Pinkie only smirked and, without a single warning, raised her weapon and shot a green bolt of electricity right at a guard, hitting him square in the head and launching him backwards, knocking him unconscious. Luna and Celestia both nodded to their guards, who immediately rushed to attack.

Celestia, meanwhile, after whispering something into her sister's ear, turned to Twilight and said: "We're going to create two passages behind us through the fire that you and the girls will split up and heard the citizens through. Then I want you to come back here and use as much of your element power as you can to help detain Pinkie. Understand?"

"Yes, princess! Come on girls, you heard her," Twilight replied as the girls scrambled around, herding the citizens away whilst the guards surrounded Pinkie with weapons and magic drawn.

Unfortunately, the guards stood absolutely no chance, as within the time it took Twilight, AJ, Rarity, and Fluttershy to get all the citizens over to the stage, Pinkie had slaughtered all of the guards with little effort. Celestia, Luna, the girls, Dash, and even the citizens, looked on, astonished, Pinkie simply shrugging with a smile.

"You really need to train your army better," she said. Celestia narrowed her eyes at this comment. "However, before you yourselves decide to attack me, I'd suggest following through with your evacuation plan."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this.

"Hey, I may be a psychopath, but I don't like getting innocent bystanders involved in personal issues. Jeez, what do you guys take me for, anyway?"

The princesses said nothing more but nodded at the girls, and soon, all the citizens were let out and it was only Pinkie, Celestia, Luna, Twilight, AJ, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

"Now that that's settled, I believe we have some business to discuss," Celestia said.

"We do, don't we," Pinkie said. "Unfortunately for you, I don't negotiate with tattle tales. I KILL THEM."

Pinkie said the last few words with a strange, warbled voice that sounded nothing like her own, the weapon in her hands glowing brightly. Celestia nodded to the others, who nodded back, Luna readying her own power while Twilight and the others readied their elements. Pinkie grinned devilishly, signaling for them to attack. Twilight and the others got into formation while Celestia and Luna readied a spell which, as Twilight had explained to everypony previously during their brainstorming sessions, could end up helping Pinkie more than she'd think...

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So, we're going with the possession route it seems," AJ said as she and Twilight hammered out their plan.

"Correct. It all lines up perfectly; a soul or demonic presence has possessed pinkie into murdering all those ponies; whether it was for revenge, entertainment, or something else entirely, I haven't figured out yet, but I'm doing as much research on the afterlife and such as possible. Also, I relayed this message to Celestia previously and she's working on a powerful exorcism spell should this end up being the correct theory; which I'm about 90% sure it is."

"How will this spell affect Pinkie, as in, the real Pinkie," AJ said.

"The spell could save her life, and her sanity; but it could also, well...kill her."

"W...what? How?"

"The spell works at the spiritual level, severing the connection the demonic or ghostly entity has on Pinkie's own soul. It also harnesses the power of her element of harmony to restore her natural self. It's a very delicate procedure, much like heart or brain surgery, and one wrong move could damage Pinkie's soul to the point of, well, death, if not damage her element. It's really complicated, but if it works, it could, like I said, save her life."

"What about the, well, other soul? Is it destroyed, or will it still...exist?"

"I don't know...but hopefully, we can contain it."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Get ready, everypony," Twilight said, the crown on her head along with the three other elements, beginning to glow. Celestia and Luna's horns were also glowing, and as the princesses let their magic flow from their horns into the crown, something unexpected happened; the element of laughter suddenly appeared around Pinkie's neck.

"Just what I thought," Twilight said. "Get ready...now!" Twilight let the energy from the crown flow through her body, expelling it in one gigantic rainbow right towards Pinkie Pie.

Meanwhile, as all this was unfolding, something strange also happened; the element of Loyalty had appeared around Dash's neck; something she did NOT want to have happen.

"Oh no...notgoodnotgoodnotgood," she said. "This could completely ruin my cover...I need to..."

"Dashie...don't leave me...I know you're up there and can hear me...please, help them...I don't like what I've done...I want it to stop..."

"P...pinkie is...is that...you? I mean, the real you?"

Nopony responded, as Dash looked down to see the rainbow collide with Pinkie's body, levitating her into the air. Dash swore she saw Pinkie's eyes and mouth start glowing white, as a strange white wisp started to float out from her.

"Hang on girls, we're not done yet," Twilight said, closing her eyes and, using the resonance of the elements, was able to visually detect Pinkie's soul. "Found ya," Twilight said. OK, Princesses, you're up."

The princesses nodded and began their work, Twilight suddenly getting an idea. Using the power of the elements, she was able to 'enter' pinkie's soul, and when she did, she saw something she thought she'd never see; pinkie literally rocking back and forth, tears flowing from her eyes. She was scared; really scared.

"Pinkie...it's OK...I'm here to help...all of us are..."

"T...twilight..." Pinkie said, looking up to see her. "How are you..."

"That's not important. Right now, Celestia and Luna are working to get whatever's been possessing you out. I'm just projecting myself inside your soul to keep you company."

"Twilight...I...I don't know what to say..."

"I would suggest telling her to get out of MY domain," Another voice said.

"Who are you? If you're the evil thing that's been making Pinkie kill all those ponies, then forget it! We're getting you out of her and that's final!"

The voice then started laughing maniacally, saying: "I'm sorry, but the only one who's going anywhere is you. And I'll make damn sure of that. I DON'T give in so easily, miss Sparkle, and you and your princesses are about to find that out the hard way."

"What do you..." Twilight began asking, but was cut off when she suddenly felt herself being pulled away. When she opened her eyes, she was back in reality, and saw Pinkie's arms raise the weapon up and hold it in front of the rainbow, blocking it successfully and causing her to drop to the ground, stunning both the mane 4 and the princesses.

"Nice trick," she said, her voice now a fusion of her normal voice and another, stallion-sounding voice Twilight recognized as the voice she was talking to earlier. "But I'm still superior!" Pinkie then used the weapon and forced ethereal energy through the rainbow, which traveled up the stream and into Twilight's crown, crackling before causing a massive energetic explosion that engulfed the elements and the princesses, causing them to scream in pain before being thrown backwards, ripping the curtains off before crashing into the back of the stage hard and falling to the ground, injured, unconscious (Save for Twilight, somehow) and drained of almost all their energy.

"I...I don't understand...how...that was planned perfectly..." Twilight said in between pants, trying to get on her feet but struggling to stand, her legs finally giving out as she collapsed on the stage floor.

Dash, meanwhile, had watched this all unfold and even, somehow, heard everything going on in Pinkie's soul. Unable to explain it all, other than it might have something to do with her powers, Dash simply watched on as Pinkie walked up to Twilight with her weapon glowing with energy.

"I told you I don't lose that easily," Pinkie said in her weird dual voice, the stallion-sounding part being strangely familiar to Dash. "Once you're out of the way, I'll kill your friends too, your princesses, and, even your beloved assistant."

Twilight gasped at this reveal, realizing that even Spike was in danger.

"It's a shame their deaths will be painless, while yours will be VERY painful. But, I guess that's how things work sometimes. And once your all out of the way NOTHING will stop me from killing again...oh, wait, did I just reveal myself as the killer to the entire town? Oh well. Guess I'll just have to kill them too. But, that can wait. I think starting with the one who decided to go spill the beans seems most appropriate."

Pinkie raised her weapon, execution-style, above Twilight's head, saying: "Rest in pieces, Twilight Sparkle."

Cliffhanger! This scene played out longer than I thought so I cut it off here.

NEXT CHAPTER: Will Twilight become another addition to Marebus? And what of the others? Will Rainbow just sit there and let Pinkie cut twilight's head off? I doubt it. But, you'll have to wait and see what happens; or, what doesn't happen.