A week later Blossom was finally released from the hospital. The Apples came and helped her come back to Sweet Apple Acres until she was one-hundred percent again. Blossom still walked with a slight limp as the stitches had only come out a few days prior, leaving a nasty scar. Thus, she was rather proud of herself when she walked all of the way from the hospital to the farm without stumbling very often. Her father and sister had to go back to Baltimare for school and work but they both promised to come back to see her that upcoming weekend if they could.
When the five ponies arrived on the farm they walked inside the house where Applejack and Apple Bloom immediately got dinner going. They joked that Blossom had so much hospital food that she had forgotten what a good home cooked meal tasted like. Blossom replied with a quip that it was less of a joke than she would have liked.
The group was just about to sit down to dinner when they heard a knock on the door. Frowning, Applejack opened the door revealing Working Mind standing on their porch. "Hello, Applejack," he greeted.
Applejack smiled warmly at him. "Hey, doc, what brings you to these parts?"
The doctor's eyes flickered over to Blossom. "I would like to have a word with Blossom if that's okay," he said.
Applejack nodded and beckoned him inside. "Sure thing, doc," she said. "Ah know she's gonna need a lotta help to get through what just happened to her." Working Mind thanked Applejack and entered the house. "Feel free ta stay fer dinner if ya want to."
Working Mind shrugged and allowed Applejack to take off the hat he was wearing and place it on a coat rack. "We'll see how my talk with Blossom goes. If it's over and she's feeling good then I'll gladly stay. If she would feel uncomfortable around me after our discussion then it wouldn't be prudent."
Applejack tilted her head in a nod. "Fair 'nuff."
Working Mind and Applejack walked into the dining hall where Blossom was about to gingerly sit down on the chair at her usual spot. She looked up when she saw the psychologist walk in and the smile she had been wearing on her face faltered slightly. "Hello, Dr. Mind," she said.
Working Mind gave her a reassuring smile. "Hello, Blossom. I'd like to have a word with you if I may. It'll just be quick and informal."
Blossom slowly nodded and beckoned Working Mind up to her room. "They're not gonna listen in on us up here," she explained.
Working Mind cocked his head. "Er... would they anyway?"
Blossom shook her head. "I guess not but it’s going to be harder for them to hear us."
Blossom pointed to a simple chair that she had in her room but Working Mind shook his head. Blossom shrugged and slowly laid down on her bed. Working Mind walked closer to the bed and sat down in front of it. "You look tired," he observed.
"Yeah," said Blossom blankly. "I haven't been sleeping too well since..." She shook her head. "You know."
"I can imagine," said Working Mind sympathetically. "I can't begin to understand what that must have been like for you."
"I actually don't really dream about what happened to me down there." Blossom bowed her head. "I dream about something a lot worse."
Working Mind raised an eyebrow. "What might that be?"
Blossom took a deep breath before responding. "I've had this dream every night since the stuff with Miss Tiara. It starts out with me awake in the hospital. It's always night there. I look to my right and I see Aunt Rarity sitting next to me."
Working Mind's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "You see your aunt sitting next to you every night when you go to sleep?"
"Yeah." Blossom uneasily ran a hoof through the frayed remains of her mane. "Every night she leads me back to Carousel Boutique and into her basement. It looks like how all of the papers say that it did, with her kill trophies and the blood, kinda like how it looked when she was actually doing... that."
"She takes you down to her basement," Working Mind repeated. When Blossom nodded he shook his head incredulously. "What does she do?"
"She doesn't do anything," said Blossom quietly. "She wants me to do something. Every night Lilly is on her kill table. Aunt Rarity has already snapped off her horn but she offers me a knife so I can finish the job."
Working Mind stared at Blossom unable to believe what he was hearing. "Do you?"
Blossom's eyes widened and she vigorously shook her head. "Never!" she cried. "I never take the knife but she always tries to convince me that I should!" Blossom began crying. "She always tells me that it was really good that I killed Miss Tiara, that everypony is better off because of what I did!"
"Do you think that?"
"NO!" Blossom wailed. The distraught mare slowly slid off of the bed and began pacing around the room. "S-She hurt me, she hurt me really bad but I didn't m-mean to hurt her that bad!"
Blossom collapsed onto her haunches with a grunt of pain and began sobbing. Working Mind quickly stood up and wrapped his forelegs around her shoulders. "Shh," he said soothingly. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you, being in the situation that Diamond Tiara put you in, but you are not a bad mare for doing what you had to do to survive. It's a tragedy that you had to do it, but it's not like you enjoyed it."
Blossom paused for a heartbeat. "Of course not," she whimpered.
Unbeknownst to Blossom, Working Mind picked up on the pause. A subtle, uneasy frown crossed his face. "When you are down there in your dreams are you ever tempted to do what your aunt tells you to do?"
"No!" said Blossom instantly. "Every night I bat the knife away from me! She says that it'll be good for me but I never think so! I never even consider doing it!"
"Are you scared that someday you will?" asked Working Mind. "Not in real life, but the dream? You're scared of what that could mean if you did do something bad in the dream."
Blossom wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof. "Yeah," she muttered. "I'm scared that someday aunt Rarity is gonna force me to do it somehow or I won't be able to resist. Even when I try to leave the basement I can't. I'm stuck down there until I wake up." Blossom sighed and pushed herself to her hooves. "There's one last thing, though."
"Yes?"
"About a week ago the dream was a little different," Blossom began. "Aunt Rarity was trying to tell me to kill Lilly just like normal, and I shrunk down to a filly as she was. I backed into a corner to try to get away from her, but... something happened. She talked to me again, but she was gentler, nicer. She hugged me and it was almost like one of my mom's hugs. She said that she never wanted me or my mom to be like her."
Working Mind frowned. "She just changed her stance just like that?"
Blossom paused for a second then slowly shook her head. "No. When I asked her why she was saying I should kill Lilly... she said that it wasn't her saying those things."
Working Mind's expression slowly turned to one of concern to a more blank expression. "A different Rarity said that the one who told you to kill your step-mother wasn't her?"
"Yeah, and I think I believe her," said Blossom quietly. "I talked to my mom about my dreams, that one especially, and she said that the Rarity who told me that she didn't want me to be like her was more like the real one because Aunt Rarity never wanted Mom to be like her when she was alive. She never pressed her to kill and Mom said that she wouldn't press me to kill either." Blossom looked up at Working Mind. "What do you think?"
Working Mind tightened his jaw. "Having helped your mother, I can say that I think she is right, meaning that the pony in your dream who is telling you to kill your step-mother is not a manifestation of your aunt."
Blossom cocked her head. "Then who is it."
"I don't know for sure," Working Mind admitted. He glanced out the window with a grim expression. "But I think I have an idea."
* * * *
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat in Working Mind's office, waiting for him to return. Celestia sat nervously on the couch while Luna paced around the room. "He has been gone for too long, Tia," she said.
Celestia raised a hoof. "Patience, Luna," she said calmly. "He will return. He just went to go talk to Blossom and he'll be back."
"Of course he will be back," said Luna with a wave of her hoof. "But We are nervous that he will be less than receptive to your line of questioning."
"I know, Luna," said Celestia. "However our laws are clear. Doctor/patient confidentiality can be bent, if not broken, to preserve public safety."
"That does not mean that he cannot be stubborn about giving us the information," Luna grumbled.
Before Celestia could respond the door opened and Working Mind trotted into the room. "Princesses," he greeted simply.
Celestia inclined her head in a nod. "Dr. Mind."
"I take it you are here to get an update on Blossom's mental stability and how last week's events affected it?"
"Indeed," sad Luna. "We are all worried for her."
"Yes," said Working Mind stiffly. "But before I delve into what I think is happening with her, I need to ask you a question." Working Mind turned around and looked Princess Luna dead in the eye. "Have you been dream-walking in Blossom's dreams?"
Both princesses were silent as they studied Working Mind. Finally Luna sighed and nodded. "For the past three days We have been entering her dreams to see if We cannot gain some clue of her mental stability. Each night the dream is the same."
"She's in the basement and Rarity is asking her to kill her step-mother," said Working Mind. "She told me."
Luna nodded. "The first night we thought to inhabit the body of Rarity to test out Blossom's mental state with Our own line of questioning and prodding. If she did snap and kill Lilly then We would know that she might be willing to do such a thing in reality.
"But we were prevented from doing so. When We dream-walk, We cannot inhabit the form of a dream specter that is already a manifestation of something else. So we inhabited the form of the step-mother." Luna glanced down at the floor. "Every night Blossom refuses to commit murder, she never even considers it. However..." Luna trailed off but Working Mind spun his hoof in a 'go on' gesture. "Blossom said that Diamond Tiara was about to release her when she killed her."
Working Mind took a deep breath and bowed his head. "I had wondered..." he said quietly.
"Wondered what?" Celestia asked.
Working Mind sighed and sat down at his desk. "I had two theories of who the pony that is urging Blossom to kill could be." His eyes flickered up to Luna. "One of them was you."
"The other was Rarity herself, I'll wager?" Celestia guessed.
To the surprise of the sisters, Working Mind shook his head. "No. Blossom said that one night a version of Rarity appeared that was full of regret that Blossom was struggling with this at all. If Rarity is in her dreams at all, it was there."
"Then who was the pony urging Blossom to kill?" asked Luna.
"Blossom," said Working Mind quietly. "I think it's Blossom."
Celestia looked uneasily at the psychologist. "What do you mean?"
Working Mind closed his eyes and shook his head sadly. "If that pony isn't Rarity and isn't you, then my only other theory is that it is a physical manifestation of the side of Blossom that..." Working Mind hesitated for a moment. "Enjoyed what she did to Diamond Tiara. I think she gave it Rarity's face because of what Rarity did, but behind that mask she would find herself."
"You think she enjoyed what she did?" asked Luna.
"Not all of her," said Working Mind. "And I know that the dominant side of her regrets what she did." Working Mind opened his eyes. "But you saw what she did to that mare; didn't it seem a tad... excessive?"
Celestia sighed and nodded. "I'd be lying if I said that we hadn't had similar thoughts. However there are aspects of the situation such as Diamond Tiara had tortured her and that knife was sharp enough that that wound would have taken very little effort to inflict."
"But the foal said that Diamond Tiara was about to let her go!" Luna pointed out. "We must take that into consideration!"
"And we will," said Celestia gently. "And soon. Blossom's dreams, while technically not admissible in court, are an insight into her thought process. If she thinks that Diamond Tiara was about to let her go, we need to follow that train of thought."
"Agreed, sister," said Luna. The night-goddess turned back to Working Mind. "Before we do, We must ask you one last thing." Working Mind grunted in agreement. "Based on your analysis that the Rarity in the dream is a manifestation of the side of her that enjoyed killing Diamond Tiara, do you think that Blossom has the potential to cause harm to other ponies?"
Working Mind turned his attention to his desk and stared at it blankly. "When I talked to Blossom, she mentioned a dream in which she shrunk down to the size of a filly while the Rarity who insisted that she kill stayed the same. That side had all of the power in that scenario and if the 'real' Rarity hadn't shown up I don't know what she would have done."
"That does not answer our question," said Luna. "Is Blossom capable of first-degree murder? In your opinion, is she potentially dangerous?"
"...yes."
Both of the princesses released a breath and Celestia stood up. "If that is the case then we must take our leave. We have a lot to discuss with each other."
Working Mind nodded and stood up. He walked to the door and opened it for the princesses. "Then I..."
All three ponies in the room had to hold back a gasp when they saw who was on the other side of the door. Blossom was sitting on the floor, Working Mind's hat lying next to her. The injury to her leg had come open and was bleeding again. Tears of horror poured from her face.