The Blade of the Scissors

by Anomal Malvale

Insanity

It was a dark, gloomy night. It rained softly as Rarity ran through the streets of Ponyville, knowing she was late.
She turned a corner and sped up the street as fast as she could, almost knocking somepony over as she barged through. Her hooves clopped loudly as she ran and her mane bounced up and down, getting wetter and wetter and annoying Rarity as the water moistened the hair on her face.

Finally, she rounded yet another corner and slowed down to a stroll as she caught her breath. She trotted towards her boutique and, as expected, Applejack stood right next to the door.

“I was startin’ to think you weren’t gonna get ‘ere” Applejack grinned.
“I’m dearly sorry, Applejack” Rarity panted. “I was getting my mane straightened at the salon”.
“At this time o’ night? Rarity, you’re always pamperin’ yourself too much”.
Rarity lifted her chin proudly as she closed her eyes.
“It takes a lot of effort to look beautiful” she said smugly
Applejack rolled her eyes.
“Let’s jus’ do this, k?”
Rarity opened her eyes and nodded. She reached for her keys in her purse and opened the door before politely allowing Applejack to walk inside. The inside of Raritys boutique looked the same as usual; clean and pristine, with not a speck of dirt to be seen.

A pony-model stood near the back wearing a dress. The dress was bright green and had a red lining around it, as well as hand-sewn pictures of apples on the side.

“What do you think of it?” Rarity said proudly.
“What do I think of it?” Applejack said detestably. “I don’t like it. It’s too colourful and frilly”.
Applejack turned to Rarity.
“Rarity, I asked ya if ya could make a new work outfit fer me when I go apple buckin’. This is nice, but it won’t do”.
“Why not?” Rarity asked, feeling a little offended.
“Honestly, Rarity, the dress looks lovely. But apple buckin’ is hard work and I need somethin’ that’s more durable”.
Applejack felt the dress and examined the fabric from which it was made from.
“This would jus’ get drenched in sweat and weigh me down all day an’ it could easily get ripped”.
Rarity scoffed.
“You never like my dresses” she moaned. “How can you not like it? The apples were hand-sewn and I even double stitched them!”
She grabbed the dress and admired it.
“I appreciate the effort” Applejack said matter-of-factly. “But I’m gonna need somethin’ better”.
“Better?!” Rarity said in a shocked and angry tone. “How can it be better? You asked me to make you a dress for apple bucking and I wanted to make you a dress that you could feel proud to wear”.
“Well I’m not gonna feel very proud when the loose fabric on this dress gets caught on a branch and rips off o’ me” Applejack argued back.
“It’s tailor made to handle the environment you work in. That’s why I used extra strong stitching” Rarity retorted.
“It won’t matter if it gets caught on a branch. It won’t rip at the stitchin’. The whole material’ll just rip” Applejack said a little more angrily.
“Why do you always criticize me? And not just my dresses; my mannerisms, my sense of style, the things I like. You always think I’m too soft”.
“Because you are too soft, Rarity!” Applejack yelled. “You need to stop being so worried about gettin’ dirty and stop always getting hooficures and your mane restyled. You need to lighten up”.
Rarity scowled.
“I refuse to expose myself to anything dirty. Being neat, clean and tidy is my way of life and I’m sticking with it”.
Applejack grunted irritably.
“Stop being such a clean-freak!” she growled.
Rarity looked hurt, but then just as angry.
“How dare you call me a clean-freak!” Rarity shouted. “I am not a clean-freak! I just take care of myself and keep clean. At least I don’t get muddy and filthy all day”.
“Do you think I just go divin’ into mud puddles? I have to do hard work on the farm to keep it runnin’ properly and that’s dirty work. But I still have to do it”.
“Well you could at least bathe once in a while” Rarity said mockingly.
Applejack looked deeply shocked and hurt, but this very rapidly evolved into rage. She struck Raritys face with her hoof. Rarity stumbled back and moaned in pain.
“Why did you do that?!” she demanded. “That really hurt!”
“You insulted me” Applejack said angrily, trying to keep herself from yelling again. “So I’m leaving”.
Applejack turned to leave, but Rarity stepped forwards and gave her a hard push.
“How dare you strike me!” she howled with rage.
She hit Applejacks face with her hoof, almost breaking Applejacks nose, but Applejack fought back by giving Rarity an uppercut to her chin.
Rarity fell back against one of her desks and was dazed for a moment. Applejack was furious and just lost it after that. She grabbed Raritys head and smashed her face against her desk, but then as she went to do it again Rarity countered and knocked Applejack back. Rarity gave her a savage haymaker which actually almost knocked Applejack off her feet, but Applejack fell against a mannequin and used it for support as she readied her body for more fighting.

The two ponies savagely hit each other with their hooves, hurting each other badly and even knocking their teeth out. Finally, Rarity grabbed Applejack and hurled her at a table. Applejacks body skidded along it and crashed to the floor at the other end, knocking everything from the table as well.

Applejack fell on the floor head first and almost fell unconscious. Some office supplies fell on the floor around her and she grunted when a stapler fell on her head.

But then she had a thought. She grabbed the stapler as Rarity stormed around the side of the table.
Applejack grasped the stapler tightly and smacked it against Raritys leg. Rarity screamed as the staple pierced her soft skin and made blood begin to drip from her. Applejack felt a slight sense of victory, but then gasped when she saw Rarity pick up her large, heavy computer monitor and stand up on her hind legs as she held the monitor high in the air with her forehooves.

“You bitch!” Rarity shrieked.
Applejack put her forehooves up in defence and closed her eyes. She was terrified of being maimed or even potentially killed.

Rarity felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she stood menacingly over her friend. She felt accelerated and her heart pounded furiously as she brought the monitor down on Applejacks body.

Applejack screamed as she rolled onto her stomach, but her attempt at defence failed miserably as the monitor smashed into her back. The glass shattered against her body and spread glass all through her mane, stinging her like tiny nettles.
She arched her back in agony, fearing her spine had been broken. Fortunately, it hadn’t, but she just knew that it had to be bleeding profusely.

Meanwhile, Rarity stood panting over Applejacks wounded body, staring at the crimson mass that was Applejacks back. The blood flowed through her orange mane, staining it with it’s viscous texture and softly dripping over her sides. The shards of glass shone in the light like small beads of glistening water.

Rarity stood over Applejack disdainfully, still clutching her destroyed monitor in her forehooves.
“Had enough, bitch?” Rarity panted as she lifted her wrecked monitor up to her belly.
Applejack shook her head.

Rarity sighed irritably.
“Here were go again, then!” she shouted as she lifted her monitor up once again.
Applejack thrust her body around and launched herself up at Rarity. Rarity made a gurgling sound and gasped for air. Her whole body was overcome with debilitation and she lost her grasp on her monitor.

It fell and struck her head with a lot of force, almost certainly breaking her neck. Her limp, lifeless body collapsed to the floor, her pounding heart reduced to no beating whatsoever in the space of a second.

A pair of scissors protruded from her neck leaving a huge wound from which a lot of blood poured from like a quiescent waterfall. Her lifeless eyes seemed to gaze across the room as her last breath escaped her lips, sealing her unfortunate fate.
Applejacks body quivered uncontrollably as she realised what she’d just done. Raritys body lay before her; the body of a pony she’d just murdered. Much more horribly, a pony she used to call a friend.

She sat down on the floor and held her head in her hooves and cried. Despite her back being in excruciating agony, tears still dropped from her eyes, ran down her cheeks and dripped from her chin, staining her soul as she came to grips with having murdered her good friend.

She took a deep breath and stood back up. She calmly grabbed the pair of scissors from Raritys throat with her mouth and placed them in her handbag, knowing full well that it was clear evidence. It was the murder weapon and if she was discovered with it she’d almost certainly be charged with Raritys murder.

She simply exited Raritys boutique like nothing had happened and set off for home. As she trotted through the desolate streets, her back still in pain, she felt like everypony was watching her, judging her, scorning her. Loathing her for her dreaded actions. She could claim self-defence, but she’d still get time in prison for manslaughter. The farm would potentially fail without her skill of apple bucking which filled her mind with a sense of dread.

She walked into her home and took hours to get the pieces of glass out of her back. She knew the road to recovery for her back would be arduous if she was nurse her wounds on her own, but she didn’t want anypony else to know she had these wounds. When the forensics team saw Raritys monitor on the floor next to her body and just inches from her forehooves, they might believe that she was acting in self-defence. And likely to be the only pony in Ponyville with a large wound on their back and probably tiny pieces of glass inside that she was unable to remove, the police would find it very likely that she murdered her in cold blood.

She slept terribly that night, experiencing a mixture of mourning over her deceased friend and worrying for her own quality of life; life in jail at such a young age would be a sad, sad fate.

2 days later…

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat in Sugar Cube Corner sharing a bag full of candy. Pinkie Pie smiled as she stuffed a hoofful of licorice into her mouth.

“It’s nice to see you again, Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy said in her usual, quiet tone.
“It’s great to see you to, Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie said in her oppositely loud tone.
“So, how come you wanted to meet me here?” Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped smiling and instantaneously drooped down in her seat, almost beginning to cry; a rare sight.
“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.
“I thought I should tell you…about Rarity…”
Fluttershy felt confused.
“Oh, what happened to her?”
The bell at the front of the shop rang, indicating somepony was coming inside. Mr Cake stood behind the counter and said his usual, mundane greeting.
“Hi, welcome to Sugar Cube Corner” he said cheerfully.
Applejack slowly stepped inside. Still mourning over the death of Rarity, she felt depressed. She also felt enraged at herself for thinking of attacking her friend with such a deadly weapon. But Pinkie Pie had asked to meet her at Sugar Cube Corner, saying she needed to tell her something, so she felt it best to show up, fearing that if she didn’t it might make Pinkie Pie suspicious.

She felt like she was starting to go insane. The previous night she even heard voices in her head, telling her to retrieve the body from the morgue and burn it before the forensics team could conduct a full DNA investigation.

“Hey, Applejack” Pinkie Pie called out from across the table she shared with Fluttershy, her tone a mixture of her usual cheerfulness and her grievance that related to the topic she was about to discuss.
Applejack wandered over and sat next to her friends.
“So, what was it you wanted to tell me?” Applejack asked, knowing full-well what it was.
“Yes. What happened to Rarity?” Fluttershy added.
Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and sighed miserably.
“Fluttershy, Applejack. What would be the worst thing that could ever happen?”
Fluttershy thought hard for a moment, while Applejack felt a sense of guilt as she pretended to think.
“There are a lot of terrible things that could happen” Fluttershy said, breaking a long pause.
Applejack hastily nodded in agreement.
Pinkie Pie took a took another deep breath and gulped before she began to speak in a grim tone.
“The night before last night, Rarity…”
She sighed solemnly.
“Rarity was found dead in her boutique”.
Applejack acted shocked, but Fluttershy immediately began to cry. Her face flooded with tears as she started wailing quietly.
“That can’t be true” she cried. “Rarity can’t be dead!”
“I thought the same thing” Pinkie muttered, she herself also beginning to cry. “But she is”.
Applejack decided to take on the role of the strong pony here, although inside she felt the worst possible feeling she could ever imagine existed. It felt like she had a swirling torrent of guilt and despair charging through her stomach, making her feel more and more nauseous with anxiety and regret by the minute.

“I’m sure she’s in a better place right now” Applejack sniffed, beginning to cry genuine tears.
But despite these tears being tears of anguish, as were the tears of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Applejacks tears also possessed a sense of not only guilt, but anxiety. She dreaded the thought of anypony finding out what she’d done.

“Where she can make dresses to her hearts content” Fluttershy added, beginning to calm down a bit.
Pinkie Pie nodded.
“Anyway, the funeral is in 3 days. The forensics team are still doing an investigation and the chilling part is, they’re very sure that it was a murder”.
“Murder?!” Fluttershy gasped. “Somepony in Ponyville is a murderer?!?”
Pinkie Pie nodded reluctantly.
“Oh, shucks, that’s terrible!” Applejack gasped, pretending to act horrified.
“It is. A broken computer monitor was found by her head, although there are no visible signs of it being used to hurt her in anyway” Pinkie Pie continued. “Although one of the detectives said there was a large, deep wound in her throat, like she’d been stabbed, and other than that she just had bruises, grazes and cuts all over her and her mane was a mess, so they reckoned there’d been a fight shortly before she was killed”
Fluttershy and Applejack gasped in unison.
Oh no, they’ll find out it was me soon enough Applejack thought in her head. Her heart started racing faster and faster. She grabbed her bag underneath with one of her forehooves and clutched it tightly. She could feel the pair of scissors she’d killed Rarity with just less than 48 hours earlier. She held it tightly, and couldn’t stop herself from breaking out into tears.

“I have to go, sorry” she cried out.
She grabbed her bag and ran out of Sugar Cube Corner in tears. Fluttershy got out of her seat and flew out after the furiously galloping pony.
She flew swiftly through the air just a few feet off the ground, catching up to Applejack.
“Applejack, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy called out feebly.
Applejack had tears streaming out of her eyes, but when she heard Fluttershys voice she ignored it and picked up the pace. But Fluttershy was determined to find out what was wrong with Applejack.
Applejack sprinted a corner as fast as she could, almost knocking over some barrels as her hooves skidded along the concrete road. Fluttershy flew around the corner with ease, still in pursuit.
The two ponies were heading towards the market, although Applejack didn’t realise it because she was blinded by her tears. All she wanted to do was run from the sound of Fluttershys wings. A few ponies jumped out of the way as Applejack barged her way through the crowd. Her vision was blurry and she could only vaguely see large stalls which she dodged at the last second. She ran hectically past a broccoli stall and the owner yelled out to her, telling her to stop running.

But she didn’t want to stop running. She didn’t even want to slow down. Not just because she feared Fluttershy might interrogate her if she caught her which would be an absurd thing, but also because she felt like she was trying to escape her problems. Normally this courageous pony would face her problems head on; but these problems were like a mountain, too insurmountable for her to climb to the top and thus deal with. She felt alone and miserable, even though she had many friends. However, aloneness and loneliness are two very different things.

She was almost out of the market when somepony stepped out in front of her, carrying a basket of oranges. She collided with the stallion and the latter was knocked to the ground. Applejack stumbled forward and fell over him, landing on her face.
She lay there motionless, just wanting to lie there and die.

“Applejack…! What’s wrong?” Fluttershy whimpered.
Applejack lifted her head slightly and groaned when she saw Fluttershy standing directly next to her.
“Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked.
She extended her hoof in a gesture implying she wanted to help Applejack up. Applejack accepted and grabbed her hoof.
“I’m fine” Applejack answered abruptly as she dusted herself off.
She reached down and started helping the deeply irritated stallion pick up his oranges. Fluttershy helped to.
“I’m sorry I ran away” Applejack apologized as the disgruntled stallion trotted away.
“I understand that you’re sad” Fluttershy responded. “I just needed to make sure you were ok. I’m worried, you seem tense”.
Applejack gulped and felt like Fluttershy knew what she’d done.
“I’m not tense, I’m just mourning” Applejack said slightly aggressively.
“Oh, please don’t get mad” Fluttershy said defensively.
“I’m sorry” Applejack sighed. “I just…I just can’t believe she’s gone”.
“You’re not the only one. I don’t know what to make of it…”
Applejack again cried for the umpteenth time.
“Why did this have to happen?”
“I guess somepony out there is just a really sick pony” Fluttershy shrugged. “But, it’s been done. What more can we do?”
“You’re right”.
“I wonder if Rainbow Dash knows?” Fluttershy asked rhetorically.
“How would she know when she wasn’t there?” Applejack blurted out.
She immediately put her hooves over her mouth, then slowly lowered them down like nothing had been said.
You fucking idiot! Now she probably knows! This thought swarmed through her head like a hive of bees.
“What was that?” Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nothing. Uh, yeah. Nothing. I’ll go tell Rainbow Dash the bad news. I’ll tell her in a way so she won’t get too upset”.
Fluttershy nodded.
“I need to go back to my cottage and feed Angel. He gets mad if I don’t feed him when he’s hungry”.
“Alright, goodbye then” Applejack said abruptly.
She ran in the opposite direction and started running through town.
You’re an idiot! If they gave you an IQ test, you’d score a negative ten on it and a shovel would score a positive 5 on the same test!
You don’t deserve your life, you retard!
You just can’t keep your mouth shut, can you?
Fucking idiot.
You’re stupid.
Go away, we don’t want you.
Why don’t you just go die in a hole?
These thoughts circulated around in her head as she ran through the streets of Ponyville. She didn’t even know where exactly she was going. She just wanted to leave this world and never come back.
Suddenly, she fell to the ground.

“Hey, get off of me!” somepony squealed.
“I’m sorry” Applejack blubbered.
She rolled over on the concrete and opened her eyes. Rainbow Dash methodically stood up and brushed some dust out of her mane with her forehooves.

“Why I oughta- Oh! Applejack! It’s you” she smiled.
She helped Applejack stand up.
“I haven’t seen you since last week. What’s going on?”
Applejack also felt like Rainbow Dash knew what she’d done, even though she was clearly oblivious of Raritys fate.
“I…I have something terrible to tell you…” Applejack said grimly.
“What’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked in a puzzled tone.
“Well, you see…Raritys dead…she was murdered the night before last night…”
Rainbow Dash looked confused for a moment.
“What?”
“I just told you” Applejack said. “Rarity’s dead. I-“
She stopped herself.
“Somepony murdered her in her boutique.
Rainbow dash looked stunned.
“You’re…you’re kidding? You’ve gotta be joking…no, no, I’m clearly just dreaming”.
“It’s not a dream, but do you know how much I wish it was?” Applejack replied.
“No…No, she can’t be dead…”
Rainbow Dash sat down and started bawling her eyes out. Applejack calmly rubbed her back, comforting her; hoping someone would come along and at least attempt to comfort her.

Applejack felt like her body contained a black hole, absorbing every shred of positive emotion out of her body, leaving only anguish and pain where happiness once laid. She knew that in time this pain would stain her soul to the core as she succumbed to it’s depression.

She just couldn’t believe she’d done what she’d done.

1 week later…

The funeral had been and gone. It ran for about an hour and while no words were uttered, everypony spoke their emotions through their bitter tears. Almost everypony in Ponyville made an effort to go to it, as it wasn’t often somepony died. And it was much less often that somepony was murdered.

Everypony in Ponyville mourned over the loss of Rarity and not a single Pony was exempt. Banners were hung from local stores and buildings bearing Raritys picture and name, in respect and remembrance of her. A musician also dedicated a song to her and played it at Raritys funeral.

The mayor of Ponyville also delivered a speech just a few hours after Raritys funeral, explaining that all of Raritys unsold dresses would be sold and the money raised from that would go towards hiring some expert detectives to find the murderer, so that Raritys death would be avenged, much to the horror of Applejack.
On the other hand, virtually nopony wandered the streets after about the time it became dark each day. Especially not when there was a potential murderer lurking the streets.

“So you want me to come to the court hearing?” Applejack gulped as she spoke into the receiver of her phone.
“Well, you were there about the time it happened” Fluttershy spoke softly into the other end.
“I never saw anypony suspicious wander in and kill her” Applejack said firmly, which was technically true.
“Well, they want you to appear in court, since you were at her boutique around the time it happened. Sweetie Belle overheard Rarity saying it not long before…you know”.
Applejack sighed.
“Ok…ok, I’ll go there and tell them that I didn’t see anypony wander in and kill her, then I can leave, right?”
“Of course” Fluttershy said. “But why are you so uptight?”
“I’m fine, ok?” Applejack said angrily, although she immediately calmed down and spoke a lot softer.
“I’m sorry. Look, I’m just having a tough time with things right now. I…I’ll see you later, Fluttershy”.
She hung up and grabbed her bag. She clutched it tightly, feeling the scissors that had caused this tragedy as she headed out the door.
She looked up at her surroundings and even though there was clearly nopony near her, she felt like somepony, or multiple ponies, were watching her. Staring at her. Judging her. Like they’d witnessed what she’d done and were angry with her.
“Get away from me!!” she screamed into the air.
She ran all the way to the courthouse; the quicker she got there the quicker she could get out. She knew she was going crazy. But she also knew she couldn’t prevent it. Her emotions were tearing the very fabric of her sanity to pieces and all she could do was cry. Nothing could ever rectify this.
She walked into the courthouse and saw a bunch of ponies about to walk in. Rainbow Dash was amongst them.
“Hey, Applejack” she said solemnly. “So you’re here to explain what you saw?”
“More like what I didn-” Applejack answered.
But she stopped at the end of her sentence.
She couldn’t handle the guilt. She couldn’t handle the regret. She had to tell somepony. She desperately needed to confess.
“Rainbow Dash, can you keep a secret?”
“Of course”.
Applejack beckoned for Rainbow Dash to follow her to the mares public toilets. She checked in all the toilet stalls to make sure nopony was in them as Rainbow Dash stood near the entrance feeling confused.
“Alright…” Applejack said.
“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked feeling highly confused.
“Rainbow Dash, I…”
A tear trickled down her cheek.
“I have to confess something to you”.
“What’s that?
She didn’t know how to tell her. She couldn’t find the words. So she did the only thing that came to mind. She reached into her bag and pulled out the scissors she’d kept all this time. At first, she’d taken it because it was obvious evidence, but later she kept it as a grim reminder of the friend she once had.

She dropped it on the bathroom floor at Rainbow Dashs hooves. The blades were covered in dry blood and Applejack herself hadn’t actually seen it since the night she killed Rarity. She’d only put it in her bag and felt it through the material her bag was made of. Until now, she couldn’t bring herself to look at it.

“What…what’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Applejack knew there was no going back now.
“That’s the murder weapon…I…I was the one…”
Rainbow Dash was stunned.
“You…you murderer!”
She stumbled back.
“Please, keep your voice down!” Applejack pleaded.
Rainbow Dash gazed at her in disbelief.
“Why…? Why did you do that?”
Applejack took a deep breath.
“We got into an argument. It became more aggressive from there and eventually erupted into a fight…she hit my back with the computer monitor that the forensics team found by her body. I grabbed a pair of scissors and in self defence, right after she hit me…”
She burst into tears and collapsed to the floor.
“I shot up and stabbed her throat!”
She lay on the floor and whimpered as Rainbow Dash started quivering.
“I...I don’t know what to say…” Rainbow Dash uttered.
Applejack slowly stood up and wiped her tears away.
“Please…please, don’t tell anypony. If I go to prison, Sweet Apple Acres will surely fail”.
Rainbow Dash sighed.
“I…Ok”.
She nodded.
“I won’t tell anypony”.
Applejack smiled gratefully.
“Thank you so much. But there’s one more thing”.
“What’s that?”
Applejack picked up the scissors and passed them to Rainbow Dash.
“For whatever reason, they might feel the need to search me. Can you please hold onto these?”
Rainbow Dash clearly didn’t want to, but after a few seconds she nodded reluctantly.
“Ok...sure. I mean, I am loyal”.
Rainbow Dash took the scissors and put them in her own bag which she carried with her. Afterwards, the two ponies went outside and went into the court hearing. Applejack sat down in the seat where witnesses were supposed to sit.
“All rise for the honourable judge” a police officer called out across the room.

Everypony stood up as a judge entered the room and sat in the judges chair.
“All sit” he announced.
Everypony did as he said.
“We are now commencing with the trial of Raritys murder. First, we will hear from Miss Applejack, who was present at the boutique at roughly the time of Raritys murder”.
Applejack sighed guiltily as a lawyer walked over to her.
“Applejack, do you agree to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” the lawyer said.
Applejack reluctantly nodded.
“Right then”.
The lawyer faced the jury.
“Now, this pony was at Raritys boutique at roughly the same time Rarity was murdered. How do we know this? Because Raritys younger sister, Sweetie Belle, had heard Rarity mention that Applejack was coming over at that time. Of course, Sweetie Belle was having a sleepover at her friends house so she can’t be a witness”.
The lawyer turned back to Applejack.

“Applejack…let’s be frank here. Did you kill Miss Rarity?”
Applejack gulped. Time seemed to slow down as the words repeated in her head, echoing throughout her skull. Not only was she under oath, but she represented the element of honesty. She couldn’t lie. And now she was in a position where if she did tell the truth, she’d very likely be facing life in prison.

Do it! Do you really want to go to the slammer? Do you?
It’s just one little lie, it’s no big deal.
You’re still young, do you really want to spend your life in prison?
She could actually hear voices in her head telling her these things, persuading her to lie.
She sighed softly.
“No…no, I did not murder Rarity”.
The words she spoke gave her a deep feeling of dread. She’d just told a lie.
“Alright then” the lawyer said. “Well, is the murderer sitting in this room here?”
Applejack nodded. This was true.
“Could you point to the murderer then?”
Applejack raised her hoof. She was tempted to point at herself, but that would contradict her earlier statement and would not only show that she’s guilty, but it would also show that she lied.
Her hoof hovered over the audience before abruptly stopping over a particular pony.

“That’s her” Applejack muttered.
“Is that so?” the lawyer said.
Applejack nodded.
“What?!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “Rainbow Dash is the murderer?!?”
Rainbow Dash had zoned out during the court hearing but immediately came to her senses.
“What’s going on?!” she said hectically.
“Can you prove this?” the lawyer asked Applejack.
“Check her pockets. She probably still has the weapon”.
The lawyer nodded to a police officer standing against a wall. The officer walked over to Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow Dash flew up into the air.

“What are you doing?! I didn’t do anything!!” she screamed.
She couldn’t believe her ears at what Applejack had just said. But she had bigger problems now. Two pegasi who were also police guards also flew up into the air. She tried to evade them but they were too fast and grabbed her. They brought her to the ground and locked her wings together with a set of wingcuffs so she couldn’t fly, as well as locking hoofcuffs onto her hooves.

One of the officers held Rainbow Dash in an attempt to restrain her but she was resisting like hell. The other officer checked through her bag and it didn’t take him long to find the scissors.

“Looks like we found the weapon. This looks like it probably was the weapon used to kill Rarity. It’s clearly from her office since it has her boutiques logo on it. Plus her throat wound looked like they’d been made by scissors” the officer announced.
Everypony gasped and broke out into a series of murmuring and shouting.
“Order in the court!” the judge yelled as he banged his gavel.
Everypony took a few moments to stop.
“Is the forensics team still working on the murder case?” the judge asked the officer.
“Yeah. They’ve even got blood samples so we can check the blood on these scissors to her blood. But yes, your honour, they are”.
“Not anymore, they’re not” the judge said kind of rudely. “I hereby declare Rainbow Dash guilty of murder and is to serve the remainder of her life in prison”.
These words hit Rainbow Dash like a freight train.
“No! I can’t go to jail for life! You don’t understand, it wasn’t me! You’ve got to listen!!!” she begged.
The two guards ignored her pleads for justice and dragged her out of the room as everypony began to stand and leave.
“Somepony! Help!” she screamed.
She stared over at Applejack and they gazed into each others eyes. Applejack mouthed “I’m so sorry” to her, while tears ran down her face.

“I’ll get you. I swear I will” Rainbow Dash mouthed back.
Applejack sat back in her chair and thought about the last few minutes. She’d just told a terrible lie…and now, because of her actions, one of her friends was dead and another was being sent to prison to serve a life sentence.

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to think. All she could do was cry. Throughout this whole event, she now felt the most troubling guilt of all; betrayal of one of her closest friends.

Comments

[ooooo13]

Fairly abrupt escalation into murder.. But the rest of the chapter was good.
I totally called that betrayal in the courtroom

[Appleloosa2011]

What!?

[Dragon Master Spike]

I would like to see a sequel where a blind with rage Rainbow Dash tries to hunt down A.J.

[leaderofstars]

love it

[IraqLobstah]

s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ir1i8vEV1rqnr6co1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1332966526&Signature=sPEVreerwUQnVFyKsdL9kOtPgl0%3D

Cheers
~iraqlobstah

[R-B-D]

umm... what?

[Anomal Malvale]

374682
There are still more chapters of this story to be uploaded yet. I'm not giving anything away though

[Anomal Malvale]

Why have so many people disliked my fan-fic? I put so much effort into it...

Everypony, please; if you're going to take the time to click the dislike button, why can't you take 30 seconds to explain WHY you disliked it. Just give me reasons. It'll help improve the fan-fics I plan to write in the future.

Thanks.

[Dragon Master Spike]

377554 Sweet.

[aporath25]

I like the story but the Thumbs up/Thumbs down thing is very ridiculous. Maybe some people got frightened over the story, I don't know the actual reason why but yeah, that thumbs down rating was just stupid. It's rated Teen for a reason people! But as far as the story goes, please don't let the stupid thumbs down rating stop you, it's a good story keep it up.

[Dan50]

When I saw what Applejack did I was all I would LOVE to read a sequel to this.....

[Anomal Malvale]

379428
First of all, thank you very much I love getting feedback, whether it's positive feedback or constructive criticism. Second of all, you're right. I mean, if they're frightened by stories like this, they should look at the rating. I rated this fan-fic 'teen' because of it's content.
If they're disturbed by this though, they should read my story "Travelling Through Maceponia Leaves Nopony The Same". You can read it yourself if you want, but bear in mind that when I wrote it I was basically just trying to make it as disturbing and horrifying as possible, so just keep that in mind. And the comments on that fan-fic certainly reflect that.
But with this story I tried to add some drama and suspense to make you guys not want to turn away, and always be eager to know what Applejacks encroaching insanity will drive her to do next. I won't give anything away though, of course.

[Napa39]

Very interesting. Very interesting indeed...
I liked it so far.
First I was like , then I was like , then I was like "Very interesting. Very interesting indeed..."