//------------------------------// // I'm Beyond All Hope // Story: A Mother's Duty // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// A Mother’s Duty By The Rated Ponystar Edited and based on the KillerRarityVerse by BronyWriter Chapter 3: I’m Beyond All Hope “I gave up love and happiness a long time ago." - Richard Ramirez (aka The Night Stalker) *** Another visit. Another day of hope or disappointment. Sweetie Belle sighed as she waited for her daughter to arrive in the room. According to the guards, she was very resistant and was even asking Rarity to stop them. Sweetie Belle did her best to resist tearing up. Somedays, to her shame, she wished she didn’t have a sister who became a murder. A sister who ruined her life and her daughter’s life because of her actions. Yet the Rarity that Blossom knew was nothing more than a delusion, spurred on by the rumors and opinions of others. Sweetie Belle knew her sister, even if she was a killer. Rarity would never have let Blossom or herself go down her own dark path. She could still remember the final look in her eyes before they were shut forever. It was a look of sorrow, guilt, and yet comfort. Rarity’s last act of kindness to her before she died. Those eyes had haunted her, even to this day. Sweetie bit her lip, feeling more alone in the world than ever. Her sister was dead for horrible crimes, the worst Equestria had ever seen. Her parents abandoned her, unable to take the shame of what their bloodline has become. And her sweet daughter was now ciminally insane and locked up for not just her protection but all of Equestria. There was still a divided line between her friends and her sister’s friends, and she would never fully trust the princesses ever again. No, I am alone. I’ve been alone ever since Rarity died, thought Sweetie Belle, as her mask broke and a tear fell down her cheek. The door soon opened and in came Blossom, chained and jacketed with two guards, swords drawn, guiding her. Sweetie got up and nearly grabbed her daughter upon seeing blood on her lip. “Oh, my baby. What did they do to you?” “I’m sorry, Miss Belle, but we had no choice,” said one of the guards, forcing Blossom to sit down. “She tried to take one of our swords. We had to get a little... rough.” “Your lucky,” muttered Blossom, slowly grinning. “If I had just gotten an inch closer, Aunt Rarity would finally have left me alone.” “Rarity isn’t there you nutcase,” muttered the other guard. “You can’t kill a delusion.” “No, but I can still kill somepony and that would have gotten her to finally SHUT UP!” shouted Blossom, yelling towards her left where there was nopony there. The two guards looked at each other before walking out of the room. Sweetie Belle didn’t know what to say to her daughter, or even what to do. Before she could say anything, Blossom looked at her with pleading eyes. “Mommy, can you tell Aunt Rarity to be quiet this time? I just want to talk to you and you alone.” Sweetie Belle gulped, and slowly turned her head towards where ‘Rarity’ was. She knew it wasn’t a good idea to feed into her daughter’s delusions, but if she wanted to have her in a clear mind then she would have no choice. “Rarity... um, big sis? Do you think you can... leave us alone, please?” A long silence went by before Blossom sighed in relief. “Thank you, Mommy.” “A-anytime,” said Sweetie Belle. Before trying to think of something to change the conversation. Suddenly, she remembered why she was here. “I... I spoke with Apple Seed yesterday...” Blossom’s head rose in interest. “She... she wanted to apologize for something she did last week and... well, I was to blame too.” “Apple Seed has a way with hurting those she loves,” muttered Blossom, teeth clenched. Sweetie Belle winced. “A-anyway, we talked and she wanted me to ask you something.” “Yes?” “Why did you bite her?” asked Sweetie Belle. It was the million bit question that many had asked. The Apple Family, Twilight, the princesses, and various psychologist asked. Joyous Blossom sighed and leaned back into her seat. She looked up and smiled. “It was suppose to be a message.” “A... message?” asked Sweetie Belle, tilting her head. “Yeah,” said Blossom, sighing. “Apple Seed was suppose to die. She was supposed to lie there, bleeding to death until her last sight on this planet was me, looking straight into her eye, eating her jugular. Her death was suppose to break Apple Bloom’s heart, and everypony else. Papers would spread about my murder. Vigils would be held for Apple Seed, wishing her safe passage into the afterlife. They would make her look pretty for her funeral. Lying there in a coffin, all dressed up, smiling like an angel, and holding her favorite flowers between her hooves. She would look so peaceful as everypony walked up to her and said their final goodbyes. And then they would see it. The small tear that I left. A reminder of what had happen to her. And they would all ask, ‘Why did Blossom, her sworn sister do this?’ and then they would see the message...” “What message?” whispered Sweetie Belle, frozen in fear. Blossom, with a sad smile, muttered, “That I am beyond hope.” Sweetie Belle sat in silence as the guards rushed in and took her away. Looks of disgust and hate on their faces. “Monster,” one muttered. “I know...” cried Blossom now weeping. Her daughter didn’t resist their rough handling, only look at her and said, “Don’t tell Apple Seed, Mommy. Please.” Sweetie Belle only nodded and sat there in silence. It took her a few minutes to get up, but when she did she felt tears streaming down her eyes untils he left the facility. *** Celestia stared into the reports the staff at the mental hospital before throwing them away in anger. Nothing. Not a single change in behavior, unless you count the fact that Blossom was getting scarier and scarier to deal with. Some of them were even finding it hard to sleep at their homes, worried that Joyous Blossom, or even Rarity, would come out of the shadows and kill them and their families. She was running out of options. She had tried every psychologist, every drug they had. Nothing seemed to help Joyous Blossom, not even her own family and friends could bring back the playful spirit of the mare that Celestia found so innocent. Yet innocent or not, she is responsible for two filly's deaths. Diamond Tiara is dead because of her too, but that was for self-defence... And yet she relished in it. She remembered how Blossom, in tears, told them how happy she was killing her. The look on her face when she realized that she had her daughter's killer in her hooves and let her go in a moment of weakness. The utter despair that she kept seeing was both haunting and electrifying to the broken unicorn. Celestia had faced many things in her life, but never had she found such a problem like Joyous Blossom. Then again, there was a great deal about murderers that she didn’t understand. All the books and records of Equestria's previous murderers held very little information about them. It seemed that most scholars were more eager to claim them as “evil” and then just have them killed off, hopefully forgotten. But now Celestia knew there was more to these killers then met the eyes. Ponies just couldn’t have been born evil. Something had to have made them become this. The question is what triggered Blossom to become a murderer as well? asked Celestia, rubbing her temples. The sound of her door opening alerted her and she turned around to see Luna looking at her in disapproval. “We take thou are going to stay another night looking into Blossom?” Celestia turned away and went back to work. “Yes, Luna. Could you please tell one of the maids to send me a cup of coffee? A large one.” Luna sighed. “Sister, thy dedication is to be merited, but thy reasoning must be questioned. Thou hast spent too many nights worrying about Blossom and not for thyself. ‘Tis time thou takes a break and take a good long sleep before thy own health declines.” Shaking her head, Celestia got up and made her way for a book on her shelves when Luna walked in front of her and pointed to the bed. “Rest Tia, now.” “You do not order me, Luna,” said Celestia, narrowing her eyes. “I need to get to work. One of us has to keep that promise and find a way to help Blossom.” Sighing, Luna looked at the floor in sorrow. “Celestia, when will thou realize the truth? There is no way to save Joyous Blossom. She is too far gone. We cannot keep wasting our time on such matters when more important things are present.” Celestia stomped her hoof. “I can’t Luna! I can’t let anypony, not even Blossom, suffer anymore for what Rarity has done! There has been enough grief and suffering because of her actions! I won’t let her claim one more victim!” “Rarity has nothing to do with this, Celestia!” shouted Luna. “She is dead! She’s been dead for years! Joyous Blossom made her own mistake when she murdered two fillies!” “She was scared and angry, just like Rarity was!” shouted Celestia, eyes closed, remembering the final conversation she had with Element of Generosity. To this day she couldn’t understand how one chosen by one of the most powerful magical items in the world could have been a mass murder ever since she was eight. “It was like history repeating itself. Bullies threatening a hurt filly, scared of danger.” “And so the two fillies deserved what they had?” Luna shook her head. “Celestia, We know you want to make this right. So do We. To this day we still cannot forgive ourself for not telling anypony about Rarity’s actions before hoof.” A long silence reigned between the two sisters. Celestia, mouth trembling, asked, “Luna... did we play a part in creating this monster?” Luna blinked. “We... don’t understand.” “Do you remember what Nevitt said?” asked Celestia. “How we had continued to pressure Blossom? Watching her in fear of her being another Rarity? While we were right, I can’t help but feel our actions caused her to become this way. To her, it seems like she was born to be a killer because everypony assumed her to be like Rarity. And in a way... we made that happen.” Luna didn’t answer at first, but then she said. “There are many factors to this, Celestia. Perhaps the fault lies in Diamond Tiara or her child, We do not know. Perhaps We played some part of it. And maybe, in the end society failed her.” Luna nuzzled her sister and hugged her. “All We know right now is that our big sister needs some sleep and a few days off from this Blossom business.” Nodding, Celestia nuzzled her sister back and watched her leave the room. Before she exited, Celestia then asked, “Luna, have you ever looked into Blossom’s dreams before?” Luna stopped and answered, “Once... all We saw was a little filly in the darkness. Crying her eyes out. And no matter how much We tried, no matter how much We did, We could not reach her and comfort her. It is... a dream We will never forget.” Celestia watched her sister leave her room before getting into her own bed, and fell asleep.