*The following recordings are excerpts from the sessions of the unicorn mare Joyous Blossom from the dates 4/15/10-8/17/10*
Patient 92544 Interview Seven Recording Excerpt. 4/15/10
AB: Blossom, I'd like to apologize for not asking your permission to write my research paper on you. If it makes you feel better, I've destroyed my work.
JB: How do I know that? Even if you show my torn up papers, you could still have a copy. As an earth pony it would take you longer to make one, but you could do it easily.
AB: Well... I suppose you'll just have to trust me, won't you?
JB: But I don't. I remember that article you wrote.
AB: Blossom, I have apologized for that article many times now. I don't know what else you want me to say.
JB: Why did you do it? Why did you say those things in that interview? I know it wasn't because of sensationalism, they would have printed the truth. If they wouldn't have, why did you need to say those things? I assume you made a lot of money off of those books about my aunt that you wrote.
AB: I don't know what you want me to say.
JB: I want you to tell me the truth. We're done here until you do.
AB: Blossom... *sigh* I said it because I believed it, okay? I'm not proud of it since I didn't even know you, but I looked at the case of you and those foals and I knew that you had to be the guilty party. I said those things because of who your aunt was. Again, I am not proud of it.
JB: Yeah... my aunt. That's the whole reason for all of this, isn't it? If my aunt wasn't a serial killer, then I wouldn't be here, would I? If you think about it, everything that has happened in the last thirty or so years can be traced back to her. Wouldn't you agree?
AB: I suppose so, yes.
JB: Those two foals told me that I'd be like her, and that scared me. So I killed them. Everypony else that the princesses threw at me, including the princesses themselves, believed that I would become my aunt. Everypony thought that I'd be my aunt. Now I am.
AB: Blossom, your aunt was a serial killer. You are not, thus you are not your aunt.
JB: I also spend most of my time in a cell. Be honest, if I wasn't locked up, do you think that I'd be out there right now, killing innocent ponies?
AB: No, I don't.
JB: I said be honest. Stop feeding me these placating lies, I'm sick of them!
AB: So I should just tell you that you're a psychopath who should have been put down every time you come in here, is that it? You seem to be unreceptive to anything else.
JB: Well... it's true, isn't it? Aren't I a psychopath who should have been put down? I... I wanted to die but they wouldn't let me! Why didn't they just let me die? I would have been so happy!
AB: Blossom, I--
JB: If you say 'your life is precious' I will snap your neck right now, I swear to Celestia. You disgust me, you little wimp. You all look down on me, but you should try living in my mind sometime! If you really want to get inside my head, call the guard in, take your pen, and stab him in the throat until he stops moving forever. Then you'd begin to understand what I'm going through. Until then... well, you can only guess, but you'd never understand for a moment.
Patient 92544 Interview Nine Recording Excerpt. 5/24/10
AB: Blossom, today I'd like to talk to you about what you feel you're getting out of our sessions here, and where you'd like to go with them. I'm not sure how to help you unless you open up to me.
JB: She's telling me to kill you.
AB: I know that. If you could please answer my question, I'd appreciate it. I want to help you.
JB: She's telling me to kill you.
AB: Blossom, that isn't important. I need you to answer me!
JB: She's telling me to kill you.
AB: Blossom, please resist her influence! She's a construct of your mind, an apparition that I can make go away if you meet me halfway!
JB: She's telling me to kill you.
Patient 92544 Interview Twelve Recording Excerpt. 6/04/10
AB: Blossom, I'd like to talk to you about how you resist the hallucinations of your aunt that you see.
JB: *singing* Dream, little one, dream. Dream, my little one, dream. For the hunter in the night, fills your childish heart with fright. Dream, little one, dream.
AB: ... did your mother sing that to you?
JB: *singing* Fear is only a dream. So dream, little one, dream.
AB: *quietly* Blossom, I... oh Celestia, I wish I knew how to help you. Celestia help me, I wish I knew.
JB: *singing* What have they done to its eyes? What have they done to its eyes? What have they done to its eyes?
AB: Blossom... please, let me help you!
JB: *singing* Hush, little one, hush. Hush, my little one, hush.
Patient 92544 Interview twenty Recording Excerpt. 8/15/10
AB: Blossom is only getting worse. I have tried to help her. Some days she's receptive and talks to me, despite the fact that her views on her life are bleak. She is still visited by constant hallucinations of her aunt. Every day she's bombarded with demands that she kill me. She's been holding on for around three months. Three months of constant hallucinations of her aunt. For today's session, I've requested that Princess Celestia attend. She agreed and brought Princess Luna with her. They are both in the room right now. We are waiting for Blossom.
PL: What can thou tell us about Joyous Blossom?
AB: The mare that used to be there is almost completely gone. There are some days where I wonder whether or not she even knows where she is. Sometimes she comes in here and we have a conversation, other times she sits there repeating a phrase, sometimes she just sits there, saying nothing. Once she sang what sounded like a lullaby, but it sent a shiver down my spine. Honestly, if she wasn't hoofcuffed and strapped to the chair, I think I'd already be dead. She wants to kill me.
PC: How are you trying to help her?
AB: I tried medication, but she hid it and tried to kill herself. I've tried Rorschach tests, but all she says she sees is ink. Our conversations about how she feels, and what she's gone through, have not yielded anything for a month now.
PC: Now, this is a difficult question, but I must ask that you answer me truthfully. Should we have executed her?
AB: As much as it pains me to say it... yes. In almost every sense but the physical one, she's dead already.
*Door opens and Blossom walks in. She is secured to the chair and the guard walks out*
PC: Good afternoon, Blossom. Do you remember me?
JB: *fearfully* Are you here to kill me? Are you here to chop off my horn and give me the bad shot like you gave Aunt Rarity?
PC: No! Of course we aren't!
JB: *sobbing* ... why not?
PC: Blossom, you must understand that killing you would not solve anything.
JB: You're wrong! Killing me would solve everything! Why can none of you see that? Why do I have to go through Tartarus every day of my life?! Why am I strapped to this chair?!
PC: Blossom, it's for Dr. Brain's protection. I'm sorry, but we think you may be dangerous.
JB: Can I have that pen?
AB: Which pen?
JB: The one that you have next to your notepad. Can I have it?
PC: Why do you want that pen?
JB: Because I want to kill Dr. Brain with it.
PC: Blossom, how can you say something like that?!
JB: Because it's true. Nothing would make me happier; Aunt Rarity said so. *giggle* They think they get it, but they don't, Aunt Rarity. They think that they can make you go away, isn't that funny? Well, I know how to make you go away. I think if I tell them they might let me.
PL: Joyous Blossom, thy aunt is not there!
JB: If you won't give me the pen, may I have a straight razor? I think that it would cut through my femoral artery the best. It might take me a few tries to find it, but I think that eventually I'd get it. You can do that, or we can draw this out until I kill Dr. Brain. Or... or you could just give me that shot now.
PC: Blossom, it is against our laws to execute you when we have already passed down our judgment for your crimes. If you are in as much pain as you say you are, please let Dr. Brain help you. *thirty second silence* Blossom? *thirty second silence* Blossom, can you hear me?
AB: She's shut down. I'm afraid that we cannot get anything more out of her today.
*Two guards enter room and lead Blossom out, shutting the door behind them*
AB: *sigh* Well, what do you think?
PC: After she asked for the pen to kill you with, I believe that mare is exceptionally dangerous. If she manages to get free, I believe that Equestria will see another serial killer. Thanks to Blossom's powers, she will be a far deadlier murderer than her aunt was.
AB: Are you certain of this? She seems to think that her aunt will leave her alone if she kills somepony.
PL: We fear that is not the case. It would be likely that Joyous Blossom would continue to be plagued with the visions of her aunt. We are not a psychologist, but hallucinations of that severity do not disappear overnight, are We correct?
AB: Yes. Having said that, I have never seen anything like her visions, nor have any of the colleagues I have discussed the case with. I'm hesitant to say this... but it might.
PC: Very well. I hate to have to do this... but we might want to look into fully removing her horn. I will discuss it with my sister and give you the order should we feel it is the best option.
Patient 92544 Interview Twenty-Six Recording Excerpt. 8/16/10
AB: Blossom? *fifteen second silence. Blossom, can you hear me? *twenty second silence.* If you can hear me, blink. *twenty second silence*
Patient 92544 Interview Thirty Recording Excerpt. 8/17/10
AB: Today will likely be my last day with Blossom. I... I can't take this anymore. Every time she walks into the room I fear that she has some plan, some means of escaping her hoofcuffs. If she even gets her magic back, I'm dead. If she gets one hoof out of her hoofcuffs, I'm dead. She wants to kill me. I have a colleague coming to replace me. He should be here sometime tomorrow. I'll give him the details of Blossom's case, then I'm going to take a leave of absence. I will be glad to see the back of this case. I do not think that I will write a book about this one.
*Door opens and Blossom enters, escorted by a guard*
AB: Good afternoon, Blossom You seem... chipper.
JB: *happily* Oh I am. I'm very happy today. Thanks for saying so!
AB: May I ask why?
JB: *sing song* Today's the daaayyy!
AB: The day for what?
JB: Well, I've been fighting her for over five months now. For five months she's been telling me to kill you. Well, I'm pleased to announce that I don't think she's going to be bothering me anymore. I've finally given in, and now's the day that I actually get around to leaving you and this guard here in pools of your own blood! *giggle* I can't wait to feel that wonderful feeling again!
*A commotion is heard as the guard goes to secure Blossom. Blossom giggles and maneuvers so that the guard is off balance. Blossom takes advantage of this and tackles the guard to the ground. Groaning and thumping is heard as Blossom repeatedly slams her hooves into the guard's face and neck, crushing his trachea.*
JB: Come on, doc! It's time to do what I should have done five months ago!
AB: Blossom, please snap out of it! You're a good mare, you're not a murderer! Please don't do this!
JB: If I'm not a murderer, then who killed that guard behind me? It wasn't you, was it? That would be an interesting twist for sure.
*Blossom tackles Analytical Brain and grabs a nearby pen. Gurgling noises are heard as Blossom repeatedly stabs him in the face, neck, chest, and forelegs with it. She's giggling the entire time. Analytical Brain's screams slowly fade away until only Blossom's laughs are left*
JB: Oh, Aunt Rarity, that was wonderful! You were right, this was the best way to go. *ten second silence* Yep. I guess I don't want you to go away anymore. If I'm going to follow in your hoofsteps so that I can keep having that feeling then I'd better have somepony around who knows what they're doing. *five second silence* Oh, I think that I can manage. The guard was a unicorn, I can disguise myself as him. It's a wonderful thing that he has the keys to my hoofcuffs, isn't it?
*Blossom walks over to the guard. Clanking of keys is heard, followed by the sound of hoofcuffs hitting the floor. Movement is heard, and Blossom takes something off of Dr. Brain's desk. She begins picking the lock on the nullifier ring, and after a few minutes, the nullifier ring hits the floor. Blossom fires up her horn*
JB: I guess in the end they brought this upon themselves, wouldn't you say? I mean, if they had just killed me then none of this would have happened. Oh well, what's done is done. It's time to go.
* * * *
Princess Celestia shut off the tape recorder and closed her eyes, wiping tears away with a wing. She gently pushed the tape recorder away and bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Blossom," she whispered.
The sun goddess heard the door open behind her and she turned to see Luna walk into the room with a grim expression. "'tis not good news, Tia," she said sadly. "You know Joyous Blossom's powers, We have no way to track her."
"I know." Celestia stood up and walked up next to her sister. "What were the casualties at the prison?"
"Dr. Brain was stabbed twenty-seven times with his pen. He had passed away long before We arrived. The guard was in critical condition, but also passed on the way to the hospital. As Joyous Blossom exited the prison disguised as the guard, she managed to kill two more guards and a janitor. She left a fourth guard in critical condition, but it is likely he will survive... mostly."
"Mostly?"
"He is missing an eye and an ear, not to ignore the scars he will have on his face and legs." Luna sighed. "They were caught unawares, Tia. They believed that Blossom was their colleague, and as such they did not anticipate her attacks. By the time they knew what was happening, it was too late."
"But surely Blossom is not physically strong!" Celestia insisted. "How could she have overpowered four ponies, even with the element of surprise?"
"She made sure to go for vital parts first," Luna said sadly. "For example, the surviving guard's eye was the first thing to go."
Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Oh Blossom," she whispered.
"What do you suggest in terms of Joyous Blossom's capture?" Luna questioned.
Celestia sighed and opened her eyes. "I... I don't know, Luna. I don't know what to do. I only know one thing at this moment." Celestia looked up at her sister with fear in her eyes. "We have another serial killer on our hooves."