• Published 3rd May 2013
  • 8,177 Views, 1,222 Comments

The Word is Fear - BronyWriter



Aternate ending to Broken Blossom, the threequel to the serial killer Rarity story The Secret Life of Rarity

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Cats in the Cradle

Silver Spoon rolled over in her bed and tried to sink deeper into the pillow. Ever since Blossom's arrest and incarceration, she had been staying in a hotel in Ponyville to help Sweetie Belle through this time. Yes she had the Apple family and the rest of the town to help her, but given how connected she was to this event, she felt that it was her obligation to help Sweetie Belle.

Silver Spoon sighed and tried to shut her eyes, but the events of the past few months had been weighing heavily upon her, and indeed, all of Ponyville. Sweetie Belle had gone to Canterlot many times with the intention of visiting her daughter, but Blossom had always refused to see her mother. Not even her father and Comet had been able to see her. Silver Spoon shook her head and nuzzled the pillow. She would go see Sweetie Belle in the morning. Maybe they could to see Princess Celestia directly and get her to help Sweetie Belle.

Silver Spoon sighed and tightened the blanket over her. She would talk to Sweetie Belle about that idea in the morning. For now, sleep.

The mare was just about to close her eyes to drift off when she heard a knock on the door. She sat up in bed and frowned. "Who...?" At first she was unsure if she actually heard it, but then the knock came again. She sighed and turned on the lights. She trotted over to her hotel room door and opened it. There, standing behind the door, were two official looking ponies in suits.

One of the ponies nodded slightly when she opened the door. "Are you Ms. Silver Spoon?" he asked.

Silver Spoon raised her right foreleg to take an uneasy step backwards, but she slowly nodded. "Yes, that's me."

Both ponies nodded and the first pony took a small step forwards. "Miss Spoon, my name is Storm Shaker and this is my partner, Stormy Weather. I'm afraid that we're here to take you into protective custody. Joyous Blossom escaped the prison last night after murdering five ponies. Given that she already tried to kill you, Princess Celestia ordered us to come collect you so she can keep an eye on you personally."

Silver Spoon let out a quiet gasp and began blinking rapidly. "I... y-yes, of course." She rubbed her left eye with her hoof to wake herself up a little more. "Should I get my saddlebag or will I not be needing it?"

"I wouldn't take it," said the stallion. "It would be best if we got you out of here as soon as possible. It's likely that she's already in Ponyville."

"Of course," said Silver Spoon. "We should get out of here."

The guards led Silver Spoon out of the hotel where there was a prison wagon waiting outside. Silver Spoon looked nervously at the guards and the stallion motioned towards it. "It's merely a precautionary measure. If she does know that you're in there, she'd have to break in and kill my partner and I before she could get to you. You're not a prisoner."

Silver Spoon slowly nodded and reluctantly walked up to the prison carriage. The two guards flanking Silver Spoon opened up the back doors and motioned for her to get inside. She hopped in and was followed by the guards, one of whom shut the doors behind the trio.

To Silver Spoon's delight, there as a pillow and blanket setup inside the wagon and Storm Shaker motioned over to Silver Spoon to take them. "We figured that you might want some rest," he explained. "It's a long flight to Canterlot and you're going to need your rest." Storm Shaker smirked. "I'm sorry that the floor is the best place for you, but these benches weren't designed with comfort in mind."

"It's okay," Silver Spoon assured him. "I can handle it."

Storm Shaker nodded and tapped the wall of the wagon three times. Silver Spoon heard three response taps and the wagon began moving. It spent a minute or so gaining some speed, but it soon took off.

As the wagon got higher up, Silver Spoon became steadily colder as the atmosphere became thinner. She laid down on the floor and wrapped the heavy blanket over her. It warmed her instantly and she gave a small, contented smile. Somehow the warmth of the blanket lessened the fear that she was feeling. She still felt butterflies in her stomach like nothing she had ever experienced, but it was somehow lessened by her being warm.

She shifted in her blanket and looked up at Stormy Weather and the mare smiled warmly at her. She returned the smile. "So... do you think that Blossom is going to try to kill me? Did she say something like that in the prison?"

"Well, no," Storm Shaker admitted. "The only pony she really talked about killing was her psychologist, Analytical Brain."

"Did she kill him?" Silver Spoon whispered.

The wagon was silent for a few moments, a silence that told Silver Spoon all she needed to know. She took a deep breath and laid her head on the pillow. "If she can kill five ponies in a maximum security prison, how do you know that you can keep me safe from her?"

"There is no way, I repeat, no way that Blossom would risk getting that close to Princess Celestia," Storm Shaker assured her. "Our identities are checked practically every ten minutes in the palace. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna know where every member of the staff is at all times. If a staff member is missing for even a minute the whole palace goes on lockdown, and our identities are triple checked. We all have security codes that we have to recite whenever asked." Storm Shaker smirked. "Trust me; there is no place in all of Equestria safer than the palace."

"She's that dangerous?" Silver Spoon whispered.

Storm Shaker's smile fell and he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Uh..." He sighed. "Okay... I'm not going to sugar-coat this: yes, she is that dangerous. A serial killer who change her appearance to whomever she desires? We cannot take any risks with that."

"Can she turn into any race or gender?" Silver Spoon asked.

"As far as we know, no. She can only turn into unicorns roughly her size. Plus, I think she doesn't have the power to change her voice. Trust us, if she gets within a hundred yards of the palace, we'll get her."

Silver Spoon nodded and the journey continued on in silence for another half hour. Eventually, Stormy Weather began twitching in her seat and a look of discomfort crossed her face. Storm Shaker cocked his head. "You okay, Storm?"

"Yeah," she whispered, "Just shouldn't have drunk so much coffee before we left."

Storm Shaker smirked and rolled his eyes. He reached back and banged on the wall again. Slowly Silver Spoon felt the carriage descend. When it had come to a complete stop, Stormy Weather opened the doors with her magic and hopped out of the wagon. "Be right back," she mumbled as she shut the doors behind her.

Storm Shaker smirked and Silver Spoon heard the two pegasi poking fun at Stormy Weather. "Too much coffee, huh, Storm?"

"Yeah," she groaned. "Just give me a second."

"Oh take your time," the second guard chortled. We have some time."

"No you don't."

The eyes of Storm Shaker and Silver Spoon simultaneously widened as the unmistakable voice of Joyous Blossom cut through the night, shattering the tranquil and easygoing mood that has been the tone during the flight. Storm Shaker gasped and ran towards the doors of the carriage and tried to see out of the barred windows. Meanwhile, the piercing screams of the two pegasi guards filled the air along with the cackles of Blossom.

"Stormy Weather, let me out!" Storm Shaker pleaded. "I can't help you if you don't let me out!"

"Mr. Shaker, please don't let her kill me!" Silver Spoon sobbed. "I don't wanna die!"

"You aren't going to die, Ms. Spoon, we're going to get you out of here if I have to kill her myself!" Storm Shaker turned back to the bars. "Is anypony alive out there?!"

Silence.

Where there was once piercing screams as Blossom tore apart the pegasi guards weighted down by the cumbersome wagon, now there was nothing.

Wait... there was something now.

Crying, there was crying.

Storm Shaker's eyes widened. "Stormy Weather?"

The crying grew in volume as the sobbing pony dragged herself towards the wagon. The two earth ponies fearfully backed up as they heard a horn fire up. The door was engulfed in a magical glow, and the left door swung open, revealing Stormy Weather covered in blood and clutching at her side. Storm Shaker gasped and rushed over to his partner. "Where is she?" he questioned. "Stormy, where is Blossom?"

"H-Hurts," Stormy Weather whimpered.

"Celestia help me," Storm Shaker whispered as he took off his jacket. He pressed it into Stormy Weather's side to stop the flow of blood. "Okay, just put some pressure on that and we can stop the bleeding."

Stormy Weather sniffled and, to Storm Shaker's surprise, she pushed the jacket away. "Not my blood," she whispered.

"Not your..."

Before anypony could do anything, Stormy Weather slammed a hoof into the side of Storm Shaker's head. She was knocked back with a grunt and Stormy Weather used that to her advantage. She jumped on top of him in a flash and, ignoring the screams of terror from Silver Spoon, she pulled a large knife out of her jacket and pressed the tip directly into Storm Shaker's back, drawing a miniscule amount of blood.

"I would stay very still if I were you," said Stormy Weather. However, it wasn't Stormy Weather's voice. It was...

"Blossom?" whispered Silver Spoon.

Stormy Weather smiled and fired up her horn. Instantly the disguise washed away, revealing none other than Joyous Blossom herself. She glared down at a grunting Storm Shaker. "If I get even a hint that you're going to try to buck me off, I'm going to stab you in the back of the head before you even know what's happening, do I make myself clear?" she growled.

Storm Shaker groaned, but he didn't attempt to move.

Blossom smirked and chuckled to herself. "This is a little more extreme than that color changing spell I hit you with when I was a filly, isn't it?" She punctuated her sentence by pressing the knife in half a millimeter deeper. "But, I'm not here to reminisce. I'm here to tell you that I'm not going to kill you. I wouldn't kill ponies that I have a use for, that would be silly." Blossom leaned in next to Storm Shaker's ear. "I have a message for Princess Celestia. If you don't repeat it exactly as I say, I'll know."

"You're bluffing," Storm Shaker groaned. "There's no way you could know if I didn't."

Blossom scoffed. "Well if you aren't going to tell her then I guess I can just gouge out your eyes right now. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Storm Shaker whimpered and shook his head. "No, I'll tell! What's the message?"

"That's a good little foal," Blossom giggled. She leaned down and whispered something in Storm Shaker's ear, then leaned back up. "Do you have all of that?" Storm Shaker weakly nodded. "Good. Now, Ms. Spoon and I have a little unfinished business and I can't exactly have you getting in the way of that so..."

With a sadistic smile, Blossom threw all of her weight onto the knife. Storm Shaker screamed in pain then began gasping as the knife severed his spine.

"Head on a stick," Blossom muttered. She looked up at Silver Spoon who was sobbing in the corner of the wagon. One of her forelegs was extended as if to ward Blossom off, but the psychotic mare only smiled. "No need to try to delay the inevitable, Ms. Spoon." Blossom levitated the knife with her magic and stood up. "I'll bet you're wondering how I infiltrated a military escort for you." Blossom sat down on the bench opposite Silver Spoon and leaned back. "Well, I was in Ponyville to kill you anyway. It was really quite a stroke of luck that I arrived just before the escort did. I figured that they must be here for you, so I cornered and killed Mr. Snails and took his identity. I used his look to subtly follow the guards and when I saw one of them head off to the bathroom for a brief moment, I followed her inside and strangled her."

Blossom looked down at the suit she was wearing and brushed a bit of lint off with the edge of the knife. "No need to go bloodying this up, it would give everything away." Blossom grinned and stood back up. "I think that you can figure it out from there."

Silver Spoon backed further into the corner as if she was trying to phase through the wall itself. "Please," she whimpered. "I don't wanna die!"

Blossom giggled and advanced towards the mare. "Well, that's too bad, isn't it?"

* * * *

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna trotted down the hall of the Ponyville hospital, each saying nothing. Even if one ignored the fact that hospitals were usually quiet and subdued, there was a sense that everypony in the building was frightened. It was not hard to imagine why.

The princesses reached a doorway which led to an intensive care unit where they saw Nurse Redheart shakily relaying information to Shining Armor. Both stopped talking when the princesses reached the door.

"What is the situation, captain?" Celestia questioned.

Shining Armor tightened his jaw and sighed before answering. "I don't know how she did it, but Blossom managed to kill or maim every member of that escort. We found Stormy Weather strangled in a bathroom in one of the shops around here and there was also a stallion named Snails that we found gutted in the back alleyway behind Horte Cuisines." Shining Armor ran a hoof through his mane and shook his head. "I guess from there she took Stormy Weather's identity and the rest is pretty self-explanatory."

"None survived?" Luna guessed.

Nurse Redheart and Shining Armor exchanged an uneasy look, a look that led to Redheart bursting into tears. "She left Storm Shaker alive," Shining Armor began quietly. "she told him a message to give to you, then she severed his spine so he couldn't interfere with her plans for Silver Spoon."

Both goddesses were silent, but only for a moment. It was Luna who spoke up first. "Joyous Blossom killed Silver Spoon, did she not?"

Shining Armor began blinking rapidly and he had to steady himself on the wall. "I haven't seen anything like it since Rarity's basement," he whispered. "We found her gutted and hanging from a tree by her intestines. We found no other wounds on her body. She was still alive when she was being cut open." Shining Armor lost the battle with his legs and he collapsed onto his haunches. He put his head in his hooves and leaned against the wall. "She looked so scared," he whispered.

The princesses exchanged an uneasy look, but Celestia spoke up. "Shining Armor, if you would please go to your sister's house to make sure she is safe. It is imperative that you open the conversation with a question that only she would know. Once you are sure that it is her, I want you to make sure she is safe. Don't tell her about what happened tonight."

Shining Armor nodded and weakly pushed himself up on his hooves. He slowly trotted down the hall as if the weight of the world was bearing down upon him. Celestia decided that she would make him take a leave of absence for a time. He didn't need this again.

"Well, shall we go converse with Storm Shaker?" Luna questioned. "Any message from Joyous Blossom is of the utmost importance, is it not?"

Celestia sighed and nodded. "Yes, it is, isn't it?"

Nurse Redheart merely pointed down the hallway. "Room twenty. It'll be on your right."

Celestia nodded and the two princesses walked down the hall to Storm Shaker's room. Despite their stoicism in the face of strife, even they were not prepared for the sight of one of their guards mutilated as he was. He had an I.V. in his right foreleg and another on the top of his head. An oxygen machine had been implanted in his lungs and was breathing for him. He was hooked up to a dozen different kinds of monitors, most of them relaying faint signals. When Storm Shaker saw the princesses enter the room, he blinked back tears.

"I'm sorry," he croaked weakly. "I failed you and Equestria."

Princess Celestia vigorously shook her head and walked up beside him. "No, Storm Shaker. You did everything that you could. You didn't know that she was capable of infiltrating your group."

"Should have asked Stormy Weather the security question when she came back. If I had... if I had I'd have feeling below my neck." Tears began streaming down Storm Shaker's face. "I can't feel my legs. It's like I'm gone from the neck down."

"Storm Shaker--"

"She wanted me to give you a message. She said that if I didn't she'd torture me even more." Storm shaker looked back up at the princesses. "She says that she's going to kill whoever she wants, and that you can't stop her. She's going to kill three ponies in every city, and once she's completed the cycle she'll start again. If you make any effort to hinder her, she'll kill five. The next time you try, she'll kill ten. In a city like Manehattan or Baltimare, how can you protect the entire city from a mare who can look like anypony she wants?" Storm Shaker let out an almost inaudible sniffle. "You can't."

The princesses stared down at Storm Shaker for a few minutes more before they quietly exited the room. When they reached the hallway outside of the intensive care ward, they were stopped by one of the doctors.

"I take it you've come to see Storm Shaker?" he guessed. Celestia nodded and the doctor returned it. "Given that he has no immediate family and he was injured in the line of duty, the law dictates that this decision falls to you. Do you want us to take him off of life support?"

Celestia's mask of stoicism began cracking at the idea that one of her ponies life was in her hooves in that manner. She might as well be killing one of her children. However, she knew what was best for Storm Shaker, and indeed everypony. She made eye contact with the doctor and silently tilted her head in a subtle nod.

* * * *

Blossom trotted through the streets of Ponyville, walking towards her target. She had already killed Mr. Snails to take his appearance, and now anypony looking for Mr. Snips would find a nasty surprise in one of the rooms of town hall. She would have giggled if not for the knowledge of what she needed to do. This one wasn't for pleasure; this one was almost... business, but not quite. It needed to be done and that was that.

The streets of Ponyville were bare so late at night. She wasn't sure if word of her escape had gotten out yet, but they would all know in the morning when they found the bodies. She suspected that if the princesses had been here, they would have kept the bodies of that mare and Mr. Snails a secret.

Ah yes, that mare. She remembered her from when she lived in the castle. She was one of the ponies who had arrested her when she tried to escape. She had led the apologies when Blossom had seen her next. Now she was gone forever. No more... Blossom mused that she didn't know the mare's name, but decided that it didn't matter. The time to do what needed to be done was at hoof.

There it was. Her target. It loomed over her as she approached it. It was so familiar, so welcoming, but at the same time alien and foreign. She hadn't been here in a long time.

She stopped in front of the door and reached out to push it open. She had to do this, she had to make sure that this wouldn't be so bad.

Blossom shook her head. She was being foolish. It would be better to not think about it and do it quickly.

Slowly Blossom pushed the door open, and entered Carousel Boutique.

Author's Note:

Will Blossom kill Sweetie Belle? Will this story be littered with cliffhangers like this? Tune in next time to find out!

Blossom's confirmed kill count: 15

How do I churn out chapters like this? Twelve hour overnight desk shift at work.