//------------------------------//
// Not Her 
// Story: Broken Blossom 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

Blossom trotted up the steps to her father's house with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. It has been a few days since her conversation with Apple Seed and, while she could certainly understand where her sister was coming from, she knew that her fears would be assuaged when life returned to its normal state and her visits to her father, or vice-versa, became commonplace in her life. At any rate, she was eager to begin the long planned tour of Baltimare that her father had promised her the day that the two of them met. 

She raised her hoof and knocked three times on the door and it was almost immediately opened up by her smiling father. "Blossom!" he greeted, throwing a foreleg around her shoulder in a hug. "It's nice to see you, kid."

Blossom smiled and returned the hug. "It's nice to see you too, dad. It's great that we're finally going to be able to do this!" 

Before Rolling Thunder could respond, he was cut off by a squeal of delight from a green and blue blur that shot past him and attached itself to Blossom's left foreleg. "Blossom's here!" Comet squeed, "Blossom's here!" 

Blossom chuckled and used her magic to pry her sister off of her and levitate her onto her back. The filly instantly latched onto her neck and nuzzled her sister. "Hey, how's my favorite little sister?" Blossom giggled. "I take it you missed me?"

Comet nodded eagerly as Blossom walked into the house. "I missed you a whole lot!" she confirmed. "I've been so excited about our vacation together!"

"Well you'd better make sure that I don't miss anything cool while I'm here, okay?" Blossom reached her hoof back for an awkward hoof-bump with Comet. "I'll make sure to do the same when you come to Ponyville to stay with me." 

Comet hopped off of Blossom's back and turned to her with a mock salute. "There is no cool place in all of Baltimare that you will not see, sister of mine!" Her royal guard demeanor faded and she looked up at her father with a wide grin. "What are we gonna show her first?" 

Rolling Thunder tapped his chin thoughtfully as he put Blossom's saddlebag down on the desk. "Well given the time I think that lunch is a good place to start." He glanced down at Comet. "Do you have any suggestions?" 

Comet began bouncing up and down happily. "Ooh, ooh, ooh, we could take her to Cheebow's Cafe!" The filly leaned in next to Blossom in an almost conspiratorial manner "Best hay fries in the whole entire universe," she mock-whispered. 

That was the moment that Lilly decided to walk in and to Blossom' unease, she had a slight frown on her face. "Comet, Cheebow's is a bit on the expensive side. We can pick somewhere else."

At that moment Blossom and Lilly made eye contact. Blossom blinked and when she opened her eyes, she was horrified to see that she was in the basement once more. Lilly was on the table, Rarity was holding out the knife and motioning over to her immobilized step-mother. 

However as quickly as the vision had come it faded away, leaving Blossom standing dumbly in the entryway, unsure of what she had just seen. Her father's voice cut through her shock. "Nonsense, this is a special occasion and I think that Cheebow's is just the place to take her." He turned to Blossom with a smile. "What do you think, Blossom?" he asked. 

Blossom had to take a moment to blink away her surprise but she managed to work a smile back on her face. "I think that Cheebow's sounds good," she said. 

Rolling Thunder nodded happily. "Well then let's go!" 


*  *  *  *


The four ponies arrived at Cheebow's and were greeted by a waiter in a bow tie who led them to an outdoor table for four at Comet's request. The family sat down with Rolling Thunder to Blossom's left and Comet to her right while Lilly had taken the place in front of her. The waiter placed a menu in front of each of them and took their drink orders. 

After he had left, Blossom opened up her menu and perused the inside of it. The food was pretty much limited to a few dozen different varieties of burgers and the foods that normally came with said burgers. Blossom scanned the menu. Most of them looked pretty appealing, though there was a small section for burgers made out of meat that Blossom assumed was for griffin clientele that came through the city, but she eventually settled on the hay bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, pickles, and Canterlot Cheese. 

The waiter returned with their drinks a few minutes later and took their food orders right afterwards. Comet got the same thing she did, something that was slightly amusing to Blossom. 

A few minutes of idle chit-chat later, Comet poked her mother's foreleg. "Mommy, I gotta go to the bathroom," she whispered. 

"I'll take her," said Rolling Thunder. "I could use a pit stop myself."

Comet smiled and hopped off of her chair and followed her father inside towards the restrooms leaving the two mares alone at the table. Blossom uneasily glanced up at Lilly who seemed to be intently studying her soda water. Blossom looked over at her own drink and took a sip. 

"So," said Lilly suddenly, "are you enjoying your time?"

Blossom slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah, I am," she replied. 

Lilly sighed and turned her head to face Blossom. "Blossom let's just move past the frivolities, I want to apologize for how I treated you the other day." Lilly turned her gaze to the table. "It was wrong of me to just assume that... that you might be dangerous just because of who your aunt was or what your mother did." 

Blossom's ear twitched at the mention of her mother but Lilly didn't notice. "Yeah," Blossom said quietly. 

Lilly looked back up and gave Blossom a small smile. "I'll be willing to wager that you got that too much growing up."

"Yeah," said Blossom quietly. "It's the whole reason the princesses took me to Canterlot in the first place after... that. They were scared that I'd become my aunt if I wasn't watched twenty-four/seven."

"All the more reason that it was wrong of me to assume anything about you," said Lilly. 

Blossom's eyes flickered over to the entrance of the restaurant where Rolling Thunder and Comet had gone into a few minutes prior. "Do know one thing," she began. "I would never, ever hurt them, especially not Comet. I know that's what you were worried about when you found out who I was, but, and this might be macabre to say, even my aunt would never hurt foals, especially not ones she was close to. I'm not my aunt and even if I was mad at Dad for doing what he did, I would never have taken that out on Comet in any form." She turned her gaze back to her step-mother and managed a small smile. "Please believe that."

Lilly actually managed to return Blossom's smile and she reached across the table and patted her foreleg. "I'm really starting to," she said. "I'm really beginning to see what a truly great mare you are. Just seeing how you interact with Comet is enough to show me that you really do care and that you would never hurt her. What happened with that mare in Ponyville a few weeks back..." Lilly flattened her ears and her smile faded. "I won't say that I didn't feel guilty. If I hadn't driven you off you never would have left and she would have been re-captured before she tried anything. You and your father could have had a great time here in Baltimare with Comet!"

Blossom widened her smile just a hair and reached out a hoof to Lilly. However, as she did she was treated once more with a split second vision of her dream, causing her to retract her hoof ever so slightly. Lilly noticed her retraction and a hurt look crossed her face, something that Blossom was quick to rectify. She widened her smile and placed a comforting hoof on Lilly's foreleg. "We're here now and I'm doing fine," she reassured her. "I'm going to do as much as I can to make sure that I'm the best big sister that I can be to Comet. I'm going to make sure that I'm the best daughter that I can be to Dad and..." Blossom paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "You," she finished. "I wanna be a good daughter to you too."

Lilly's jaw dropped slightly at Blossom's declaration and the corners of her eyes began filling with tears. Before Blossom could say anything else, Lilly got up from her seat and wrapped Blossom in a maternal hug, something that Blossom eagerly returned.  

Unfortunately Blossom received none of the warmth and affection behind the hug. She found herself in the basement once more. Lilly wasn't hugging her, she was strapped to a cold metal table with her severed horn at her hooves, she wasn't waiting for her dad and sister, her aunt was standing in front of her offering Blossom a knife. "You can do it," Rarity giggled. "Even if this isn't real, there are means to do it on the table next to you."

Blossom whimpered as the scene shifted back to the restaurant, but this time Rarity was there as well, standing just behind Lilly. She smiled at Blossom and glanced down at the table where a silverware set had been wrapped in a cloth napkin. "There's a perfectly good knife in here," Rarity whispered. "It'll juuuust take a moment."  

Blossom whimpered again and slowly shook her head. "I'm not like you," she whispered almost inaudibly. 

Rarity scoffed. "I already told you that you don't have to be me to do something like this." Rarity nudged the napkin forward. "One little swipe and you'll understand everything."

"I'm not gonna hurt her!" Blossom growled. 

"I know you won't, Blossom," said Lilly quietly, completely unaware that something was begging Blossom to kill her. "You're a good mare."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "So good that you tortured Diamond Tiara with a vision of her daughter as you were disemboweling her. Seriously, Blossom, we don't have all day." She nudged the napkin forward again. The nudge pushed the knife ever so slightly out of the napkin and the exposed blade glistened in the sun. "Remember how much it hurt you when she said those things to you?" An evil grin crossed Rarity's face. "You would have done this to her with no prompting from me then, wouldn't you?"

"She doesn't have to worry about me I'm not going to do anything bad to her." said Blossom through clenched teeth. 

"I know, Blossom," cooed Lilly, "Comet is safe with you, you'd never hurt her or my husband." 

Rarity took a step forward and leaned in over Lilly's shoulder. "Tell me something, wasn't the feel of fresh, warm blood all over you exhilarating? When you clasped the handle of that knife and were driving it upwards..." Rarity's cat-like grin widened. "Have you ever felt so alive?" 

Blossom's mouth began flopping up and down like a fish out of water and Rarity nudged the knife forwards again. It was just within reach now, one little burst of her magic and she'd be holding Lilly's corpse instead of hugging her in acceptance. Rarity slowly trotted up next to Blossom and leaned in next to her ear. "To hold another pony's life in your hooves means absolute power. When you killed Diamond Tiara, you held complete power over her. When you killed her spawn and her friend, you held complete power over them. They couldn't make you sad and they couldn't hurt you or anypony that you loved. You were the one in total control." She leaned in closer until her muzzle was almost touching Blossom's damaged ear. "She hurt you when she told you to go away. She can still do that. Take control."

Before Blossom could respond the voice of her father cut through her struggle. "Well, you two seem to be getting along well. Maybe Comet and I should leave you two alone more often."

"They're hugging, Daddy!" said Comet excitedly. "Blossom's really family now!"

Lilly and Blossom broke off their hug and looked up at the approaching pair. Lilly smiled at her husband and stood up to give him a peck on the cheek. "We've been having a really good talk and I think that we've really come to understand each other a lot better. I don't think that there are going to be any more troubles between the two of us." Lilly smiled down at Blossom. "Comet's right, she is family now."

Blossom's eyes had been scanning the table for any sign that her aunt still wanted her to kill her step-mother, but all signs of that seemed to have gone away when her father and sister had appeared. When Lilly had welcomed her into the family, her eyes snapped over to her. A large smile slowly crept onto her face as Lilly's words slowly sunk in. She slowly got to her hooves. "You're my family too."


*  *  *  *


That night saw Blossom wide awake. 

She didn't dare fall asleep for fear of finding herself in her aunt's basement once more. She had thought that those dreams had stopped, that she wouldn't have to go to bed afraid that she'd open her eyes to find her aunt beckoning her into the basement. Heck, after everything that had happened she was scared that she'd just wake up already in Rarity's basement. 

She forced her eyes to remain open and flipped onto her back. "I'm not gonna dream about the basement again," She said resolutely. "I haven't had one of those dreams in a while, I'm not gonna start now. There's no reason to go through this again. I am not my aunt and I am not a killer."

"You know for all of your talk about not ending up in my basement you seem to forget we crossed paths in the restaurant again." 

Blossom growled to herself and shot up in bed. Sure enough, her aunt was sitting against the opposite wall, idly examining her hooves. Blossom glared at her and hopped onto the floor, throwing a sound spell around the room to keep their conversation private. "You really need to get out of here," she snarled. "I have my own life here and it doesn't involve you!"

"Every second of your life has involved me in one way or another," Rarity deadpanned. "Why stop now when you're so close to becoming an even more efficient killer than I ever was?"

"I am not a killer!" Blossom said angrily. 

"You have the ability to change your appearance at will. I don't need to tell you that that is the single most advantageous attribute that a serial killer could have." A wry smile crossed Rarity's face. "I myself would have killed to have your abilities." Rarity snorted at her own joke. "Literally."

"It doesn't matter," Blossom snapped. "You're not even my real aunt!"

Rarity snorted and got to her hooves. "Of course I'm not your real aunt, the real Rarity died thirty years ago in Celestia's execution chamber. However, that certainly does not mean that I cannot be her in the spirit!"

"You're just a manifestation of some sick part of me!" Blossom insisted. "If Rarity is visiting my dreams she isn't you!"

"What, you think that the Rarity who told you that she never wanted you to be a killer is the real one?" Rarity chuckled to herself and took a step in Blossom's direction. "As much as I denied it, I think that I would have loved to have a partner in crime. If I were still alive, you would make a wonderful apprentice."

"Mom said that the real Rarity hated herself and what she did!" Blossom retorted. "You think that the real Rarity would have wanted an apprentice, particularly somepony like me or mom?" Blossom let out a humorless chuckle. "You're just some part of my brain that needs to go away."

Rarity rolled her eyes and jumped onto the bed and sat on the end. "Let's say for grins and giggles that you're right and that I'm just some figment of your twisted murder-prone mind, what then? What are you going to do about that?"

"I'll..." Blossom paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I'll go talk to Dr. Nevitt or something," she finished lamely.

Rarity giggled. "Ah, you'll admit defeat then? You do realize that if you give up and see another psychologist, not that they've ever been any help to you whatsoever, you'll be proving everything that the princesses have worried about correct?"

"They were worried that I'd be a killer!" Blossom retorted. "If I take steps to make sure that I don't become one then they'll leave me alone!"

"Oh you don't believe that any more than I do," Rarity replied. "If you go see a psychologist about me then word will get back to the princesses and they'll be watching your every move. The only reason that they aren't watching now is because they think that you don't want to hurt anypony but if you go see a shrink then it will tell them that you are afraid that you might." Rarity smirked at her niece. "I don't see them ever leaving you alone after that."

Blossom's jaw tightened but she didn't reply. The cogs were whirring in her mind, each cell in her brain was trying to find some way to refute the logic of the mare across from her but no words came. Rarity took the silence as a clear victory if her ever growing smirk was any indication. "There is one way that you could get rid of me without the princesses standing over you every second of the day... if you're careful enough."

Blossom's face twisted into a snarl and she took an aggressive step forwards. "I'm not going to hurt Lilly. End of story!"

Rarity sighed. "Yes I have quite come to figure that out," she admitted. "You had every opportunity this afternoon and you didn't even consider it for a moment. I don't know if it's because you truly see her as a second mother or if you only refrain from attacking because of how much it would hurt your father and Comet." Rarity waved a hoof. "I know a lost cause when I see one so I'm not going to be bothering you about that anymore."

"Good, because I'm not going to hurt my family," Blossom muttered. 

"Well that doesn't exactly exclude the literally millions of other potential victims that you have between here and Ponyville!" said Rarity happily. "All you have to do is snuff the life out of just one of them and I'm gone forever."

"Yeah, because I'm on the execution table if you do!" Blossom growled. "I'm not going to hurt anypony!" 

"Just imagine it, Blossom, you can go to bed without having to worry that you're going to find yourself in the basement again!" Rarity squeed. "Wouldn't it be so lovely to get a full night's rest for the first time in months?"

"I'm not gonna hurt anypony, ever!" said Blossom a little louder than before. "This isn't going to happen!"

Rarity's face twisted into a mocking pout. "Oh but why not, darling? Won't it be worth offing some faceless drone just to get rid of me? I can keep pestering you about it..." Rarity's gaze turned thoughtful and she tapped her lower jaw with her hoof. "I think forever is the amount of time that I can keep this up. Can you do this every night for the rest of your life? Can you resist every time something like today at the restaurant happens?"

Blossom's eyes began filling with tears and she began backing away. "Just leave me alone!" she pleaded. 

"Just imagine it, you're sitting at the table right next to Apple Seed three years from now. You've had this conversation with me every night, sometimes more than once! You see the knife next to you and you see just how vulnerable she is."

"Go away!" Blossom mewled. 

Rarity continued on, completely ignoring Blossom. "Wouldn't it be terrible if you messed up when you snapped and stabbed her in the neck? I mean, watching her take ten minutes to bleed out all while she looks at you with a look of utter sadness and betrayal..." Rarity tisked. "That would be tragic, wouldn't it?"

"I don't want you here!" Blossom cried. "I don't wanna hurt anypony!"

"Anypony you know," Rarity corrected. "If you killed some faceless drunkard on the street, somepony that nopony would miss then I'm gone and both of your families are safe!"

Blossom collapsed onto her haunches and backed against the wall. "Please just leave me alone!"

"You could make it as painless for you as you liked; that's the best part. If you wanted to make it so quick you didn't even get a good look at him or her you could do that or you could have as much fun as you did with Diamond Tiara. That was fun for you, wasn't it?"

"No!" Blossom insisted. "I don't want to hurt anypony!"

"But you did and you enjoyed it is my point," said Rarity simply. "You can do it again to some faceless stranger to get rid of me for good, or you can do it to somepony you love and I promise you that if you hurt somepony you love I will not be going away until you do it right or you get the needle. You notice that even I never hurt anypony close to me. I was never tempted to kill your mother."

Blossom was curled into a ball by this point and sobbing into her forelegs. Rarity sighed at her niece and hopped off the bed. "You only have three options. One, you kill and get rid of me, two, you try to live with having this happen to you every day for the rest of your life, or three you give up, see a shrink, maybe get rid of me and definitely have to live with the princesses watching you forever. Celestia will send guards to spy on you, Luna will walk in your dreams every night and you’ll be more of a prisoner than ever! It's your choice in the end." Rarity shook her head. "I can see I'm not getting an answer out of you tonight, though. Just think about it some more, okay?" 

When Blossom opened her eyes again Rarity was gone. 


*  *  *  *


Rolling Thunder rolled around in his bed, unable to get to sleep.

He didn't get it, Blossom had seemed so excited to come to Baltimare but now it was almost as if she was going through Tartarus every moment she stayed. She had been here for a week and every morning she came downstairs looking as though she was about to drop from exhaustion. She drank three or four cups of coffee to wake up enough so that Comet didn't notice, but it didn't escape his eye. 

He sighed and slid out of bed. It was likely that whatever it was that was bothering Blossom was happening at night. She didn't want to talk about it when he questioned her, but it was past time to see what was going on. He slipped out the door without walking Lilly and quietly walked up to Blossom's door. He pressed his ear against the wooden door to see if he could hear anything and to his surprise, he heard what sounded like whimpering coming from inside. He quickly pushed the door open and poked his head in. 

His heart sank when he saw his daughter. She was asleep, but her fur was wet with tears that were streaking down her face. She was talking quietly to herself but Rolling Thunder couldn't hear what she was saying. Still, it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. "Nightmares," he whispered to himself. "What happened with that mare is giving her nightmares. I should have seen it."

Rolling Thunder sighed and a plan formed in his head. He knew that there was a twenty-four hour pharmacy that was close by. They would definitely have some dream suppressing herbs that could aide in Blossom's sleep. 

Rolling Thunder quietly shut the door and walked down the stairs to get Blossom some medicine. As he left, Blossom continued crying and thrashing about on the bed. However her muttering became slowly more pronounced culminating in one clear sentence. 

"Alright, I'll do it!"