Blossom's horn powered down and her chosen disguise washed over her body. He would be here soon now. He was almost never more than a few minutes late and their latest session started in a minute or so. Once he walked in she would get him. He wouldn't even see it coming.
Blossom's magical grip encased her chosen weapon. Yes, it would be perfect for when he came in, unsuspecting and unknowing. He would be down for the count before he even knew what had happened.
The knocks on the door came, just like they had every Friday for the past month. "Come in," Blossom called out. She saw the door open and she grinned to herself. Thought Process walked into the room with an unknowing smile on his face. He would never suspect what she had in store for him. She had even camouflaged her weapon.
Though Process' smile quickly faded when he looked around the room which seemed to be missing his patient. That made no sense, he had heard her calling out to him. A sly smile of realization crossed his face and he began scanning the room. "Oh Blossom, come out, come out, wherever you are!"
Blossom had to hold back a devious laugh and she readied herself for her attack. Just a few hooves closer.
"Blossom I know you're in here so you might as well not bother playing any games this time."
Blossom licked her lips in anticipation. Just... a little... closer.
Thought Process chuckled and fluttered his wings out. "Even if you hide I will find you. There are only so many viable places for you to hide. I'm coming to--"
Without warning Blossom pounced out of her hiding spot with an inequine war cry. She raised her chosen weapon high and brought it down, smashing it into the side of Thought Process' head. The psychologist went down without a sound. Blossom landed next to him and put the weapon down. She grinned at the downed psychologist and let out a mad giggle. "Gotcha," she whispered.
She heard a chuckle in front of her. "Indeed you did, Blossom," said Thought Process. "I admit that I should have seen it coming. The curtains are a different color. Bright blue instead of the normal purple. You even changed the color of the pillow to match the curtains. A stroke of genius, that."
Blossom giggled again as the psychologist pushed himself off of the floor. The blue filly fired up her horn and her, the curtains, and her pillow weapon all changed back to their normal colors. Thought Process smirked at her and beckoned over to their usual spot on the floor. Blossom used her magic to put the pillow back on the bed before trotting over to a beam of sunlight that was coming through the window. Thought Process sat in front of her and put his saddlebag next to him and took out a quill and notebook as usual. He ran a hoof through his mane and shuffled his wings to get more comfortable. "How is everything today, Blossom?" he asked. "You seem to be doing okay. You never pounce me when something's wrong."
Blossom smiled. "Oh yes, things are going good," she confirmed. "Princess Celestia's private tutor for me started teaching me some easy spells that don't have to do with my cutie mark. He says that I'm really good at changing the appearance at stuff and levitating things, but I need to study some other stuff too."
Thought Process began taking notes. "Such as?"
Blossom shrugged. "He said he wanted to teach me some stuff about healing magic; something that would make small cuts and bruises better, you know?"
Thought Process nodded. "Yes that does sound pretty useful," he admitted. "I wish I could learn things like that."
"It's kinda fun once you get the hang of it," Blossom confirmed. "I really like it."
Thought Process chuckled at Blossom's happiness but his smile slowly started fading and he took a deep breath. "Blossom... I'd like to talk to you about today, how you pounced on me."
Blossom frowned and cocked her head. "Was that too mean of me?"
Thought Process waved his hoof dismissively. "No I wasn't hurt and it was amusing but..." He sighed. "Basically what I'm worried about is what you're going to do with it. How do you see yourself applying that in real life?"
Blossom tapped her chin with her hoof. "Uh... I dunno," she admitted. She thought for another moment before her eyes widened and she looked up at Thought Process. "Is my special talent useless?"
Thought Process vigorously shook his head. "Far from it, my dear," he reassured her. "Nopony has a special talent that is useless and certainly not somepony with a special talent as impressive as yours. I only ask because I'm curious. You can hardly be expected to know how it's going to affect your life at the age of eight. I'm just wondering what your thoughts were, that's all."
Blossom slowly nodded. "Okay..." She paused for a brief second. "But you asked about it in terms of me pouncing on you. Are you worried that I'll use my special talent to be like my aunt Rarity?"
Thought Process uneasily scratched the back of his head. "Well no," he said. "It was just a general question."
Blossom lowered her gaze to the floor. "I dunno," Blossom mumbled. "I guess I could use it to hurt other ponies and get away with it. It would be easy to look like somepony else entirely when I hurt somepony." She looked up at Thought Process with wide eyes. "But I don't want to hurt anypony!" she insisted. "My aunt Rarity died because she hurt ponies and Mommy was taken away so why would I want to do something like that?"
A subtle sense of relief seemed to wash over Thought Process' body and he flashed her a more genuine smile. "I think that's wonderful to hear, Blossom," he said happily. "I think you're a wonderful filly who is going to go on to do great things and I'm sorry that you had to experience what you did in the clearing a few months ago."
Blossom nodded sadly. "It was scary, having to go through all of that."
"I can imagine."
"I still don't remember much about it," Blossom admitted. "I just remember that they were saying that I was gonna be like aunt Rarity and then I...I remember that they were dead." Blossom shrunk back and began shaking. "Then they took Mommy away."
Thought Process put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "If you don't want to talk about that's perfectly okay. It's obviously... well it's obviously not the best time in your life."
Blossom nodded and looked up at Thought Process. "Do ponies think that I did it?" she asked.
Thought Process froze up, his mouth slightly open as he tried to process her words and come up with a viable response. He flashed her a weak smile and cleared his throat. "Blossom... uh, it's best not to think about what other ponies think. With everything there will be nasty rumors going around. What matters is that you didn't do it."
Thought Process looked at the shaking filly in front of her. His words had done nothing to assuage her fears that everypony in Equestria suspected that she was a murder and that her mother had taken the fall for it. He shook his head sadly. "Blossom it doesn't matter what other ponies feel so long as you know the truth," he assured her. 'The brutal truth that her mother murdered her classmates' he silently finished.
Blossom slowly raised her head and made eye contact with Thought Process. He smiled warmly at her, but his smile faltered slightly when he saw what was behind her eyes: fear. Thought Process had been counseling ponies for ten years now and he had become adept at recognizing different types of fear, particularly where his specialty was concerned. In his expert opinion, Blossom's fear was not that of a filly who was scared of other ponies thinking bad things about her; it was a fear that came from... being scared of getting caught.
He cleared his throat and reinforced his smile. "Blossom, please believe me when I say that everything is going to be okay with you. Even if some ponies believe a false version of events."
Blossom's eyes widened. "You don't think I did it?"
Thought Process shook his head. "No, I don't. I think you are a wonderful filly who had some terrible things happen to her and you're very scared as a result. I don't think you are the type to... well, let's just say that I know for a fact that you won't be like your aunt. You're going to go on to do great things, Blossom. Life will work out for you, I know it will. You have ponies who love and care about you, right?"
Blossom slowly nodded and a small smile played at her lips. "Yeah, I do," she mumbled.
"Well there you go," said Thought Process. "You're going to be just fine."
Thought Process stretched his wings and glanced up at the clock. "I think that's a good place to end for today," he said. "Think about what I said about, about your special talent, okay? I'll see you on Wednesday?"
Blossom took a deep breath and got to her hooves. "Okay," she mumbled. "Have a good day."
"And you as well, Blossom," said Thought Process with a smile.
After packing his saddlebag, the psychologist walked out of the room. He glanced back to see Blossom changing the pattern on the curtains. He sighed and shut the door behind him. He walked down the hall for a minute and was surprised to run into both of the princesses. Celestia flashed him a smile and he returned it with a bow. "Good afternoon, princesses," he greeted.
"Good afternoon, Thought Process," greeted Celestia. "How was your time with Blossom?"
Thought Process smiled weakly. "It was--" His voice cracked and she cleared his throat. "Good," he finished lamely.
Luna frowned and cocked her head. "Is something amiss?" she questioned. "Thou seem uneasy."
Thought Process waved a hoof and shook his head. "No, nothing is wrong," he assured them. "Blossom and I just touched on some big things today, that's all. I'd talk to you about them but, you know, doctor/patient confidentiality."
Celestia nodded. "Of course, doctor. We wouldn't dare intrude upon such a thing, especially not with a filly like Blossom." Celestia looked down the hall. "My sister and I have some matters to attend to, but I assume we'll see you on Wednesday for her next appointment?"
Thought Process nodded and bowed to the princesses once more. "Yes, of course. I'll be here for her."
The three ponies exchanged goodbyes and Thought Process began trotting down the hall, a little too quickly for Luna's liking. "Sister, go ahead to the throne room. We must speak with him about something. We won't be long."
Celestia frowned but Luna preemptively waved away her objections. "We shall not question him about anything involving what he spoke with Blossom about as he is quite right that it would violate said agreement."
Celestia studied her sister for a moment but she eventually sighed. "Very well, but be quick about it. I would also like to know what it is you ask him," she said.
Luna nodded. "Of course, Tia, it shall be our first order of business."
With that Luna began walking down the hallway after the nervous psychologist. He was hiding something, something big and Luna wanted to know what that was. She wouldn't ask him directly of course, she would merely ask him benign questions and gauge how he reacted to them. They had talked about the murders, she knew they had. What she had told him could, and would, prove invaluable in her mind of discovering who was the true killer.
She turned a corner and saw her target. He was sitting down with his head in his hooves, leaning against a bench with his back to the princess. Luna opened her mouth to call to him, but she stopped when she saw that he seemed to be hyperventilating. She frowned and stepped forwards. He seemed to be muttering something to himself as well.
Luna took another step forward and swiveled her ear closer to hear what he was saying. She nearly gasped in shock when the words entered her ear.
"Holy Celestia, she did it, Blossom killed them."
* * * *
Princess Celestia was just about to sit down on her throne to hear the first of the day court cases when the west door to the throne room banged open, revealing a nearly livid Princess Luna. The assorted nobles gasped and muttered amongst themselves when she entered. Hearing this, Luna turned to them. "THE DAY COURT WILL BE POSTPONED FOR ONE HALF-HOUR!" she cried out in the Royal Canterlot Voice. "BEGONE FROM THIS HALL UNTIL THEN!"
Nopony dared argue with the night princess and within two minutes the entire hall was emptied leaving only a confused Celestia and an angry Luna standing in the throne room.
Princess Celestia came to her senses after a moment and glared at her sister. "Luna, would you mind explaining what that was?!" she yelled. "Why did you just kick our--"
Luna wheeled around and faced her sister. The fire in her eyes was such that ever the sun goddess was slightly unnerved. "Blossom is the killer!" she cried out.
Celestia's eyes widened and she let out a gasp. "What did you say?"
"We heard it from the doctor's own lips; he muttered to himself that Blossom was the guilty party!"
Celestia frowned. "You have no other evidence besides that?"
Luna groaned. "Tia, thou certainly saw how uneasy he was to be in our presence and on top of that he mentioned that he had discussed emotionally heavy topics with Blossom!" she growled. "Add that to the fact that there would be no heavier topic than the murders and directly after he left he said that Blossom is the killer, it leaves no doubt in Our mind that the foal is the guilty party!"
Celestia stared at her sister in open mouthed shock. She had to take more than a minute to fire up her brain again. "Luna, I realize that the circumstantial evidence of what you just heard does point to Blossom, but we have no evidence beyond what you overheard to overturn our judgment. I do not see that as sufficient."
Luna's glare intensified and she took an angry step towards her sister. "If what he said is true then we have been housing a murderer while her mother rots in a mental ward in her place! We realize that what We heard cannot overturn our judgment, but We wish to give Sweetie Belle her horn back!"
It was Celestia's turn to take an aggressive step forwards. "You know why we cannot do that, Luna," she growled. "If she committed murder then that is part of her punishment!"
"THAT MARE IS INNOCENT!" Luna screeched. "You have caused her enough suffering and it is your duty to return her horn. If thou wishes not to do it then We will give it back ourselves without your support!" Luna's eyes narrowed. "And We know thou would not wish to remove it again, particularly if We tell the foal of what transpired."
Celestia gasped. "Luna you wouldn't dare!"
"There is little that I would not do for justice," Luna snarled. "That goes double for this case. We know that this chain of events is traceable back to Rarity in the end and we do not wish to see any more suffering come out of what she did! We will give Sweetie Belle her horn back; it is the just thing to do!"
Celestia glowered at her sister but the night goddess gave no quarter. She returned the glare with an equally fiery one of her own until Celestia sighed sadly and looked towards the ground. "Do what you must."
"Thank you, Tia," Luna said curtly. "We shall begin the process immediately."
With that, Princess Luna turned around and walked out of the throne room.
* * * *
The next day saw Sweetie Belle in her room, her horn back on her forehead for the first time in months. She walked up to a mirror and grinned at the sight of it. It looked like it had never come off at all.
She fired up her horn and her toothbrush, manebrush, and an empty water glass were encased in a magical glow. They were lifted into the air with ease and Sweetie Belle lazily moved them around the room.
It was perfect.