//------------------------------// // What Makes a Killer? // 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 4: What Makes A Killer? “Do not be dismayed to learn there is a bit of the devil in you. There is a bit of the devil in us all.”  - Arthur Byron Cover *** When she learned about Rarity’s murders and saw the evidence of them all those years ago, Sweetie Belle was sure that nothing would ever make feel as horrified again. And yet just hours ago, she heard her own daughter talk so casualty about a dream where she had murdered everypony. She said it with such a happy tone, almost as if it was out of personal enjoyment. The only one who had been spared was Sweetie Belle. She wondered if, deep down, that was all Blossom ever wanted out of life, to be with her. Sweetie knew that their separation would cause problems, and she knew that the Princesses would never treat her daughter like she would. They treated her like a time bomb, waiting to go off at any minute. Even when she was living with the Apples they still considered her a risk. Sweetie glanced the distant city of Canterlot with such fury that if she had the power she would have wipe it off the face of the earth, along with the princesses. Yet a tear dripped down her face, knowing that a part of her daughter’s suffering was done by her own hoof. She had failed to protect her and separated herself from Blossom, hoping she would be strong without her. The train arriving at Ponyville finally settled at the station and she got off with haste. She didn’t feel like heading home yet, not after what had happened. There was nopony she knew off hoof that she could talk to about this either. After the incident with Apple Seed, Sweetie Belle had decided to stay away from the Apples for the time being. Then she thought of the one pony who always looked after her when her sister died, the one who never stopped helping her, even when she had tied her down and was prepared to kill her. With her mind made up, she made for Golden Oaks Library. *** It had been some time since she had last seen the library, even after she was released from the mental ward, but it still looked the same. She touched the bark and inhaled the familiar smell of nostalgia, remembering all the times she and her friends had played near the library or looked for books to help them with something school or cutie mark related. It brought back memories of the happier times that she, and was certain others, had longed for, when such warm and sunny days seemed to last forever. She wondered if those days could have continued had her sister not been caught. They would all be ignorant that one of them was a serial killer, but ignorance, they said, was bliss. Sweetie Belle opened the library door, hearing the greeting bell from above ring. Looking up from her book on the pedestal, Twilight saw who it was that entered and smiled. “Sweetie Belle! It’s good to see you!” The two old friends exchanged hugs before Sweetie Belle asked, “Twilight? Is it... is it alright if I talk to you? I need somepony to listen to me.” “Of course. I’ll make us some tea,” said the librarian as she went into her kitchen. Sweetie Belle took a look around, seeing that much hadn’t changed on the inside ether. She saw a few frames of Twilight's family, her friends, and even some with the Cutie Mark Crusaders back in their blank flank days. One of the more noticeable ones were a series of a certain dragon assistant growing older over time. Sweetie Belle sighed; she missed Spike a lot. The young dragon had been by her side, defending her from those that sought to harm her because she was Rarity’s sister. Spike had tried his best to remain strong as well, having cared for Rarity deeply. But then one day he left, leaving a letter that said he was going to see the world, and he hadn’t come back since. Twilight was devastated for a long time when it happened, and even begged Princess Celestia to tell her if she knew anything, but the princess did not. Nopony knew if he let because of Rarity, or if he sought to live his own life. Either way, he was gone, but everypony held hope that he would return one day, safe and sound. “Sweetie Belle?” Twilight entered the room with the tea in her magical grasp. “Do you want any sugar?” “Two please,” said Sweetie Belle as she sat down, accepting the drink with a small smile. The two of them engaged in light hearted chatter, talking about their lives, and keeping any conversations of Blossom or Rarity out. After a few rounds of tea, Sweetie Belle finally decided to talk about why she came here. “Twilight? Do you mind if I talk about somethings that has been bother me lately? I need... I need somepony to listen.” Twilight paused in raising her tea to her lips before closing her eyes with a sigh. Putting it down, she looked up with sympathetic eyes and said, “It’s about Blossom, right?” Sweetie Belle nodded, lowering her gaze downward as she struggled to speak. The events of the past week had finally taken it’s toll on her and she couldn’t keep them in anymore. “She’s... my daughter is getting worse, Twilight. It’s like I can’t recognize her anymore. She’s my baby, and yet I’m looking and hearing a complete stranger... no, a monster.” “Sweetie...” Twilight reached her hoof out and touched Sweetie Belle’s. “Why isn’t she getting better?!” Sweetie Belle screamed, slamming her hooves on the table. “We’ve tried everything! Medicine! Doctors! Therapy! And yet nothing is working! My daughter is losing her mind more and more everyday, and I’m afraid, Twilight!” She buried her head into her hooves and wept. Each tear carrying the fears and regrets she had been holding for so long. She felt like she was a filly again, lost and confused. “I’m... I’m scared she’ll go to a point where I can no longer recognize any part of her. That my sweet Joyous Blossom will be gone forever! I don’t want that, Twilight! I want my baby back!” Twilight wasted no time getting up and hugging Sweetie Belle, letting her rest her tear-eyed face on her shoulders. For a long time, neither of them moved, holding onto each other like a life line. “Why did this happen? How did this happen? Is what they’re saying right? That my family is nothing more than a bunch of murderers?” asked Sweetie Belle. “No, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight whispered, shaking her head. “It’s not like that. Not like that at all.” “Then why?!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Why is that my sister, myself, and my daughter are all murderers, Twilight?! Just why?!” Twilight didn’t answer at first, but moved very slowly away from Sweetie Belle before turning towards her basement door. Wiping the tears off her face, Sweetie Belle watched as Twilight pressed her hoof on the handle, staring at it with great intensity. Sighing, she said, “Sweetie Belle, do you want to see what I’ve been doing for the past decade since you took the fall for Blossom’s murders? It’s something I’ve never shown anypony, but I feel you have a right to see it. Maybe it will answer your questions, but I doubt it. I still haven’t found any answers myself.” “W-what is it?” asked Sweetie Belle, walking closer. Twilight looked at her with a grave expression. It almost was frightening to see such drive in the eyes, almost on the borderline of obsession. “I’ve been asking myself for a long time about the idea of murder, and how ponies can even do something so horrible. I used to believe it was impossible really, even knowing that serial killers existed at a certain point in our history long ago. That all changed with Rarity. After she died, I then I realized nopony ever talks about them unless it’s recent. I tried looking into the Canterlot Killer, the last serial murderer before Rarity, and it took me so much effort to even find a single book on him.” “Did you know that all the other races have more in depth of what goes through the mind of serial killers, rapists, arsonists, and more than Equestria? I guess when you live in a county that has the lowest crime rate in the world, you tend to think that where you live is utopia, never believing that your kind can do horrible things. But the truth is that ponies can commit acts of evil, and ponies can kill.” Twilight opened the door. Sweetie Belle peered inside and saw that it was dark below. “I wanted to know what makes a pony turn to something as horrible as murder, so I did what I used to do when I was still Princess Celestia’s student. And that was research.” The two of them went down the stairs, Twilight hitting the light switch. Sweetie Belle started at the basement in fascination. All the walls were covered in papers, photos, or newspaper articles, some were paintings or old newsprint or scrolls. Books on psychology and criminology were scattered across the floor, mostly written by names that sounded griffin or minotorian with very few being pony. Along side them with charts, notes, and other researching materials. Sweetie Belle recognized a section dedicated to her sister, detailing all the murders, and her signed statements of the horrible killing she had done over the life. Her date of birth, date of death, and the word “executed” were seen under her face. There were other ponies, other murderers, who shared the same fate over the years, and some who were killed during arrest or committed suicide. Sweetie Belle never recognized any of the names, except for the Canterlot Killer. She walked over to a few and read what was written about them before turning away in disgust. It hurt knowing that her sister was now forever linked with these monsters, and her daughter would probably be as well. “I’ve been getting what data I can about all the ponies who had committed murders ever since the princesses took control of Equestria,” said Twilight. “Why not go back to the point where Equestria was first formed?” asked Sweetie Belle. Twilight shook her head. “Because, from what I can theorized, back when Equestra wasn’t ruled by the princesses, horrible crimes were still being committed at a time. How or why is never explained, and I doubt Princess Celestia will answer my questions, even if I was still her student.” “But... why keep such knowledge hidden? Why forget it all?” asked Sweetie Belle, trying to think of the reason for such a thing. “Isn’t the point of learning history so we can not repeat the same mistakes?” “Yes, but I think, somewhere along the line, they thought it was better to hide such dark times away from the new generation. Maybe they feared that the influence of such evil would cause others to be inspired to act the same way. Or maybe they just wanted to forget. I don’t know who decided such a thing, and I hate to think the Princesses did. Or maybe crime just became less and less common to the point where they simply found no reason to write about it anymore and the knowledge was lost.” Twilight walked over to a few books and levitated one of them, titled Murderers of Equestria. “But no matter how much they tried to hide the history, they couldn’t stop the darker nature of ponies from being unleashed. And it’s happened, from regular ponies like you and me who one day snapped and became what they are.” “LIke how?” asked Sweetie Belle. Twilight looked around her list of serial killers before walking over to one on the opposite side of the wall and pointed to a young earth pony with a red cross on his flank. “This is Doctor Scalpel. He was a surgeon, young and brilliant, who seemed like a normal everyday doctor.” Twilight grimaced and slowly moved some pages out of the way and revealed a horrible sight that made Sweetie Belle nearly lose her lunch. It was a mare, strapped to a table with chains, her face in agony as her womb area was sliced open, her intestine and inner liquids leaking out. “He... he killed that mare?” asked Sweetie Belle, terrified. It reminded her of the remains of the victims in Rarity’s hidden room. “Yes, her and four other mares,” Twilight muttered, grimly much to Sweetie Belle’s horror. She couldn’t help but imagine the idea of her strapped to that table, with that sick psycho tearing into her and ripping out her organs. “He surgically removed parts of the lower abdomen of the mare with rusty equipment, making the pain even worse. When he was done carving her up he left her bleeding to death. He finally got caught when a nurse noticed him leaving early from his workstation and witnessed him kidnap a sixth victim before getting the guard. He was executed three days later after confessing his crime.” “Why did he... do something so horrible?” muttered Sweetie Belle. “Nopony really knew back then. They just called him evil, killed him, and moved on.” Twilight shook her head sadly before she took out pictures of each of the victims and then a sixth one that she didn’t recognize. “See anything familiar?” Sweetie narrowed her eyes. They were all different types of ponies, with different cutie marks, but then she noticed something they all had in common. “They all have the same mane style, and freckles.” Twilight nodded and showed the sixth one. “This is Doctor Scapel’s mother. She left his father when he was six, running away with another stallion and living a new life while her ex-husband, and Scalpel barely scraped by. I think he killed those mares because he hated the fact that his mom abandoned him and his dad, and so he sought to unleash his anger on any mare who looked like her.” The more Sweetie Belle thought about it, the more it made sense. If I saw anypony that reminded me of Diamond Tiara, I sure as hay would feel angry. Walking over to another killer, Sweetie Belle quickly thought she was looking at a deranged maniac. The unicorn mare was in her late mid-years, her hair frizzled and coat dirty and muddy looking. There was a crazed look in her eyes, like she had lost touch with reality and had a violent streak behind her. The strangest thing, Sweetie Belle noticed, was the necklace she had on. It was holding a baby’ pacifier. “This is Willow Whistler,” said Twilight, pointing to the crazed unicorn. “She was a well known flute player back in her days. She had a good life, loving husband, a lot of friends, and was even getting ready to have her first foal.” Twilight shook her head in sympathy. “But after her baby was born, it died of a disease seven days after birth. The tragedy was so crushing to her that she took up drinking and it caused her to ruin her career, her friendships, and her marriage in less than five years. She lost everything because she couldn’t get over the fact that her foal was dead.” Twilight, hesitantly, then showed three photos of three children, one colt and two fillies. They were all smiling or looking happy, but Sweetie Belle had a feeling that their fates were not. “These three children each disappeared in the same month. The first, Wing Striker, was kidnapped walking home from  school and turned up a week later... like this.” Sweetie Belle got ready to shut her eyes incase it was too gory, but to her shock it was anything but. The colt was dead, but it was how he was found that just baffled and yet saddened Sweetie Belle. He was in a homemade looking coffin, his size, while dressed in a nice suit. His hooves were folded over his chest while holding a single rose, and his face was peacefully looking. It almost look like he didn’t suffer at all. “They found him, in this coffin near a graveyard just a week after he disappeared. He hadn’t been malnourished, beaten, or raped, but was suffocated. Presumably in his sleep.” Twilight levitated two other photos. This time it was the fillies, dressed up in dresses instead, but still were in similar homemade coffins. “These two were found a week after their kidnapping. They also died of suffocation.” Sweetie Belle nearly felt her heart stop when she saw one of the fillies, a unicorn, looked almost like Blossom. She wondered how the families dealt with such a horrible tragedy. The very idea that their own child was dead and gone. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and hugged herself, trying to shake of the imagination of her daughter lying in a casket. “W-why did she do it?” “Well, she kidnapped another colt, but he managed to escape five days after he was kidnapped and later they arrested Willow. He said he kept calling her his baby, treating him like he was a newborn foal in all the ways. Feeding him, forcing him to wear a diaper and pacifier, and rocked him to sleep,” explained Twilight. “So why kill him on the seventh...” Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “Her child died after a week of being born.” She looked at the photo of Willow Whistle and muttered, “She was reenacting the only time she ever had with her baby.” “Yes, when they arrested her, she insisted that they were all her children. The courts were unsure to declare her insane or execute, her but before they could do anything she took her own life in her cell. The loss of her child was so great that it changed her, broke her.” Sweetie Belle could only nod. Losing a child was the worst fear a mother could have, one that she had to live with every day now. Even her own mother was never the same when Rarity died, and the same was said for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who had fallen from grace in their own ways. “Are all of them like this?” asked Sweetie Belle, looking around her. “Were they all turned into these monsters because of a tragedy in their lives?” “If only that was true,” said Twilight, shaking her head. “So... what about my sister?” asked Sweetie Belle, a question she had to know as she looked at the photo of Equestria’s most recent killer. Twilight lowered her head as she walked towards Rarity’s section on the wall and looked at it. “I’ve studied her more than any of them.I find it hard to think that the most generous mare that I knew was also one of the most cruel and murderous of us all. But why did she do it? I think it was because of what happened back then, her first three murders.” “You mean Dug, Kicker, and Annie?” asked Sweetie Belle, remembering the three names who were Rarity’s first victims. “Yes, they were bullies and were cruel to your sister,” said Twilight, closing her eyes. “She felt so scared, so pathetic, that when they cornered her she killed them out of fear and rage.” “So why kill all those other ponies?!” shouted Sweetie Belle, growling. “Even if they were horrible individuals they didn’t necessarily do anything to her!” “It was because she had the power, Sweetie Belle,” answered Twilight, sighing. “That’s the only thing I can think of. The power of life and death in her hooves, having such power after being weak for so long? It changed her, making her want to kill more for the thrill and energy. The idea that she wasn’t weak. Maybe she changed her victims to more horrible behaving ponies to make some moral crusade of them or maybe she had a twisted sense of justice. I don’t know, but I think if she hadn’t killed those three bullies, then she wouldn’t have become like this.” “Just like Blossom,” muttered Sweetie Belle, realizing the similarities. “She killed them the same way.” “Yes, but Blossom did so because she was afraid of her life. And fear is what’s been driving her down to what she is now,” said Twilight. “Fear of being a killer, fear of dying, fear of the princesses and society, the fear of her family's dark past. I guess she couldn’t just take the pressure anymore and it’s made her become well...” Sweetie Belle looked at her sister’s smiling face and wished it would just burn off. She screamed and pounded on it, much to Twilight’s surprise. “Stop smiling you monster! It’s all your fault! Everything is your fault! If you hadn’t been such a horrible pony none of us would be suffering like this!” “Sweetie Belle, calm down!” urged Twilight. “Why should I, Twilight?!” sweetie Belle shouted, giving her sister’s face a look that could kill. “Everypony’s lives have been ruined because of her! Mine, yours, our friends, my daughter’s, and everypony else who's suffered because of her! I wish I never had a sister! If she really loved me...” Sweetie Belle banged her head on the wall and let her tears fall. “If she really was a good sister... if she really loved me... she wouldn’t have done the things she did... she wouldn’t have had to get killed like that... Rarity, why? Why did you do that?” Twilight hugged Sweetie Belle from behind and whispered, “Sweetie Belle, Rarity loved you. She always loved you and she never wanted you to suffer for her sins. I know that. If she were here right now she would regret everything you and Blossom have had to go through.” “Doesn’t matter, Twilight. Nopony except maybe you, me, and your friends will believe that. I have to live with the knowledge that my sister is the worst murderer ever. I doubt anypony in your list is worse than her.” “No, Sweetie Belle,” muttered Twilight, shaking her head. “Maybe they haven’t killed as many ponies as Rarity did, but there are just as many evil or more evil ponies that you see besides her.” “Like who?” Twilight turned to another killer, this one bald with a stone cold expression on his face. He looked almost emotionless, a void in his eyes that showed no signs of life inside of him. It was like looking at something hollow and empty. “This pony... nopony know his name. He only gave himself the name ‘Soulless’ because that’s what he was. His cutie mark was, of all things, a stuffed animal, but it might as well have been a blade.” To Sweetie Belle’s surprise, Twilight’s eyes flashed with pure hatred when she looked at the picture. “What did he do?” Sweetie Belle asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. Twilight didn’t answer. She only handed off a piece of paper which Sweetie Belle read. Upon finishing the first page, Sweetie Belle ran to the nearest trash can and puked. This stallion, to her disbelief, was in someways worse the Rarity was. The torture methods this... monster had done paled in comparison. Rarity killed her victims in a single day with torture and breaking them until she ended their lives. Soulless, a name that Sweetie Belle found suited him, had only killed seven ponies, but he had his sick way with them for over an entire year. Every day he raped them, cut them, tore off part of their body and ate right in front of them, hanged the women from their teats, cut the males balls off, made them eat their own waste, tore out their eyes, cut off their tongues, and more. He did this to them, for an entire year with each victim until, even after they begged for death, and then ended their lives before searching for another one. This stallion deserved death. “How could... how could anypony do such a thing?” asked Sweetie Belle, who couldn’t help but wonder which was worse. Her sister who killed so many, or this stallion who killed so few but made them suffer for an entire year. “They asked him that when he turned himself in,” said Twilight. Noticing Sweetie Belle’s shocked and confused look she nodded. “That’s right, he turned himself in. And you know why? He said he wanted to see the expression on everypony’s face when he told them, showed them, and explained to them how he did it. When asked why he only said one thing, ‘It was just for fun, until it got boring.’ They executed him the same day they found him guilty. He didn’t show any emotion, in fact he even said he was looking forward to his descent into tartarus. Said it would be interesting.”  Sweetie Belle just stood there in stunned silence. Now she had some hint as to why murderers were not common knowledge to ponies. If she had known about this monster growing up then she would have been afraid to even go outside. Would Rarity even be who she is if she knew about this guy? Twilight sighed and looked over all her work and shook her head. “I haven’t found why he did it, and for a few other as well. The reasons, methods, and personalities of all these ponies are so different that... the truth is there is no one single reason why ponies kill. It’s just too complex to even think about, and I can’t help but wonder... what if this is something we can’t stop? What if this is part of our nature, the evil within in, that all of us have that could be unleashed? Are all of us capable of becoming killers?” “... Yes,” said Sweetie Belle, who slowly looked at her own hooves. “Because I almost did... with you.”  Twilight’s eyes widened as she remembered the time that Sweetie Belle found out about the memory block on her and nearly killed in anger. “Sweetie...” “No, Twilight, don’t....” Sweetie Belle flattened her ears. “I... I killed too, remember? I have blood on my hooves just like Rarity. Just like Blossom. All of us for a different reason, but it doesn’t change the fact we’re all murderers!” Neither of them said anything for awhile until Sweetie Belle asked, “Twilight? What should I do? Can’t I help, Blossom? Can’t I save her? And what about Rarity? Should I hate her? I want to, but I can’t help but still love her. Please, be honest.” Twilight closed her eye, her ears flattened. “Sweetie Belle, I won’t answer because it’s not the one you want to hear.” She then looked at Rarity and said, “All I can say it that I know there is good in Blossom, just as there is good in you, and I know that there was good in Rarity. I still can’t believe that the Element of Generosity wouldn’t choose her if there wasn’t. I know I will never be able to forget the sins she committed, but I choose to remember that despite all that, she had some good inside of her.” Sweetie Belle stared at Twilight for a good while before she nodded and made for the stairs. “I’m going to home... I have a lot to think about.” Twilight didn’t even say goodbye. She just watched Sweetie Belle exited the basement, leaving her with all her notes, surrounded by the faces of killers. *** “And you're saying her behavior changed?” asked Doctor Mindsweep as he followed one of the guards down the hall, towards the direction of their most infamous of patients. He had been reluctant to be under the same roof of such a crazed mare, but at the same time he was a bit fascinated by her. “She kept banging her head against the wall, screaming,” muttered the guard, looking disturbed by what he had just seen. “When we finally stopped, she wa crying and asking for her mother only... it was how she spoke that got our attention.” Mindsweep raised an eyebrow. “How so?” “See for yourself.” The guard directed him to the cell where doctors were cleaning up a bleeding Joyous Blossom’s face. Mindsweep faked a smile and looked at the terrified Blossom’s face, whose eyes were wide and staring at the strange like he was the boogypony. “Blossom? I’m Doctor Mindsweep.” “H-hi...” Mindsweep nodded. “Are you okay?” “It hurts, but the doctors say I’ll get better. I don’t even know how I got hurt like this,” Blossom whispered, her voice sounding small and fillyish. Doctor Mindsweep noticed this and made a mental note of it. “Um... Mr. Doctor pony?” “Yes, Blossom?” “Can... can you find my mommy? I’m supposed to be home right now,” said Blossom. This made Doctor Mindsweep raise an eyebrow as he leaned forward and asked, “Blossom... what is the last thing you remember?” Blossom looked up at the ceiling in concentration before smiling and said, “I was heading to bed because I wanted to wake up early for my first day of school!”