The Blade of the Scissors

In our fury we sought after it, but does what we seek exist? We claim ourselves to be humanitarians, but how does one deserve this title when one allows superfluously negative feelings such as this to engulf oneself? Lest they let their victim breathe; for deeds committed, perhaps forgotten, but never forgiven.
It is worth nothing to no one, yet means everything to some.
It brings anguish to all, and for happiness, there is none.
Revenge is what I speak of, of course.

The cyan pegasus calmly rejoiced as she stretched out her stiff wings. The bolt cutters clattered as they fell to the ground in front of her hooves. Despite her depression and anger, she couldn’t help but let a small gasp of cheerfulness escape her lips. Her wings felt stiff, but had a yearning to take to the air and cut through the clouds high up in the sky.
But the time for content was not now, nor near. For a desire for vengeance was all that filled Rainbow Dashs unstable mind. The anger burning within her was a raging inferno with an intensity of a thousand white suns, quelled only by her current inability to find Applejacks exact location. Her feathers were rustled and messy, thus it took some time for her to get to fly properly again. But after just a few tries at leaping off the ground, her wing muscles felt rejuvenated, her feathers straightened out and her wings felt much less sore and stiff.

Now that her wings were finally available to her once again, she could stop using her fatigue stricken legs; something she desperately craved after all the distance her hooves had stepped across. The pegasus took to the air, swooping behind a building to avoid being seen by ponies walking along the street. She carefully calculated her next move, knowing it could mean the difference between sweet revenge and being put back in prison.

She hovered above a roof top, just inches from its wooden top, her wings slowly oscillating up and down in the breeze. She scanned the streets with her eyes, similar to how a hawk scans a field for mice; the bird hunters were the police, just as Applejack was her pray. But Applejacks yellow mane and orange coat couldn’t be seen amongst the small crowds of ponies down below. Rainbow grunted and gently landed on the rooftop. Her breathing was heavy as she contemplated a safe route to Applejacks farm. Now that she could fly, this broadly expanded her options. But of course it made her far more conspicuous; many ponies enjoyed looking up at the clouds floating through the azure sea of air that was the sky.

Then she had a thought; the clouds! She tilted her head upwards and gazed up at the sky. She grinned slightly when she saw a cluster of clouds almost directly above her, billowing like waves in the sky that accurately portrayed a quiescent ocean. She gulped slowly as she readied herself for takeoff. A sharp outtake of breath shot out from her mouth and her legs wobbled beneath her. Fear became instilled in her mind and emanated from her eyes; anypony looking at her face would clearly be able to see her terror. The chances of somepony seeing her seemed miniscule before, but now that she was about to attempt the feat, they appeared almost certain.
However her wings stretched out far from her sides, her cyan feathers flowing with the soft current of air. Her wings seemed to possess a mind of their own; they’d been locked up for what seemed like an eternity, and now begged for a lengthy, assiduous and swift flight. In fact, they pleaded for a hypersonic flight that would quickly evolve into a sonic rainboom. She felt able, and she had the will, but knew better. The amount of attention that would attract…it would be phenomenal.

She shook her head and tried to get her thoughts straight. She took three short breaths, then forced herself to fly up into the air. She aimed directly for the mass of clouds above her, and within seconds she could feel the gaseous clouds covering her fur and tickling her skin. She stopped, dead in the centre of a cloud, and sighed in relief.

“I’m safe”.

Those words softly exited her lips and escaped in the breeze, a whisper in the wind. But she knew it wasn’t over. No, there was still much work to be done if vengeance was to be acquired.
She used the clouds for cover as she darted across the sky, always looking down on the maze of streets beneath her for any potential onlookers. Her eyes darted up and down in their sockets, first in front of her then down on the streets, just as fast as her body cut through the air. She was more than weary of anypony seeing her; it would spell her end.

But it only took about ten minutes of swooping carefully through the air for Sweet Apple Acres to come into view in the distance. She smiled mischievously as her wings curved in mid-flight, beginning to slow her body down before descending. She landed just next to the Apple families large barn, skidding forwards slightly and leaving small hoofprints in the dirt as she jogged forwards a few feet. She had braced herself for the landing and therefore didn’t fall flat on her face.

She immediately checked her surroundings, but all seemed clear, so she slowly ran to the barn doorway and peered inside. Nopony was inside the old, decaying barn though, so she went to the Apple families house and looked in through a window. She immediately crouched down when she saw Apple Bloom walk into the room she was looking into though.
Apple Bloom appeared distraught though, which made Rainbow feel slightly confused. Why did she look depressed? This peeked Rainbows curiosity, and so she crept around the side of the house until she reached a window that was a lot closer to Apple Bloom. This window was also open, letting Rainbow sit underneath as she listened to what Apple Bloom had to say.

“I just wish she didn’t have to leave!” Apple Bloom cried out.
Rainbow felt even more confused.

“She couldn’t stay here in the state she was in” Granny Smith called back.
“What the?” Rainbow muttered under her breath.
The conversation carried on, so Rainbow continued listening.
“She’s my big sister and I love her. Why did this have to happen?” Apple Bloom sobbed.
Rainbow realised they were talking about Applejack. But what had happened to her? Where was she? Did she die or something?! Rainbow dreaded this thought, for it would of course mean she couldn’t get revenge.

“”I know you love her, but do you honestly think she could stay here if she was going to act like that?” Granny Smith asked.
Apple Bloom sighed.

“I suppose not” Apple Bloom said miserably. “But I just miss her so much, even though it’s only been two days”.

“We all miss her” Granny Smith said softly. “But they had to take her away”.

Apple Bloom began to cry as Rainbow tried to comprehend what she was hearing.

“Once she gets better, can she come back?” Apple Bloom asked, with a sense of begging in her tone.

“I don’t know. Maybe” Granny Smith said unsurely. “But as for now, she’ll be there for a while”.

That was it; Rainbow couldn’t handle anymore. The suspense was too much, she needed to know what had happened to Applejack.
She burst up and jumped in through the open window, landing right in front of Apple Bloom. Granny Smith stood in the doorway a few metres away. Both of them jumped back immediately, which of course is the normal basic instinct when somepony jumps in through a window at you unexpectedly. But when Apple Bloom gazed over Rainbows multi-coloured mane and followed it with her eyes down onto Rainbows cyan coat and across her wings, her scream seemed to pierce through Rainbows very eardrums.

“It’s Rainbow Dash!!” Apple Bloom shouted fearfully.
Granny Smiths ears perked up at the mention of the cyan pegasi’s name.
“What?!” she gasped.
Rainbow began to wonder if she’d made the right move, watching as Apple Bloom went up against the wall and cowered in fear.
“You fowl murderer!” Granny Smith screeched, stepping out of the doorway that went through to the kitchen.
Rainbows thoughts of hesitation immediately changed to that of anger.
“I’m not the murderer!” she shouted. “Applejack is!”

Granny Smith looked bewildered.
“How dare you say that!” Granny Smith retorted.
The old mare turned to face her grand-daughter.
“Apple Bloom, call the police!” she told her.
Apple Bloom cautiously wandered over to the telephone on the other side of the room as Rainbow began panicking. Her breathing accelerated with every step Apple Bloom took; the fillies footsteps against the hard wooden floor acted like echoes of the pegasi’s heartbeat, loud and rapidly getting faster, with Apple Bloom slowly picking up her pace as she reached the telephone.
Rainbows fear took control of her body. She raced past Granny Smith and charged towards Apple Bloom through the air as she picked up the receiver, which trembled in her hands. She began dialing the number for the police, but then turned around when she heard the sound of wings flapping. Her scream almost shook the house down when she saw Rainbow coming right at her.
“Get away from me!” she howled as she collapsed to the floor.
The receiver hung over the table the telephone sat on, but not for long. Rainbow picked up the entire telephone and smashed it against the wall. It shattered into a dozen pieces as both Apple Bloom and Granny Smith let out frightened gasps.
“Get out of here!” Granny Smith yelled.
Rainbow was prepared to take desperate measures in order to be able to get revenge. She grabbed Apple Bloom, who immediately began panicking more than you could imagine. Her body squirmed and writhed as Rainbow tried to keep hold of her. Her back hooves hit Rainbows face, but she held on and squeezed her tightly.
Granny Smith shrieked as Rainbow threw the filly at a small window, sending shards of glass all over the grass underneath it outside. Apple Blooms panic began to fade as she slipped into unconsciousness. Her face was full of glistening pieces of glass that filled every inch of skin on her face, filling and staining her fur with a crimson mass of blood. But Rainbow wasn’t done. She grabbed a large shard of glass off the wooden floor with one hoof while she held Apple Blooms limp body up with her other hoof.

She held the glass against the fillies throat and stared into Granny Smiths eyes.
“What do you want?!?” Granny Smith begged, her body trembling to the very core.

“Where’s Applejack?” Rainbow demanded, speaking quietly, but her tone full of rage.
“She’s at the mental health institute in Ponyville” Granny Smith said, shaking vigorously in fear. “Why are you doing this??”
“I’m asking the questions!” Rainbow growled, clutching the shard of glass tighter against Apple Bloom throat. “You want me to kill her?!”
“No, please! Please don’t!” Granny Smith pleaded.
A cascade of tears ran down the old mares face, symbolizing her immense fear. Rainbow felt remorse for her actions, but her anger told her she needed to carry on if she wanted sweet revenge.
“What room is she being kept in?” Rainbow asked.
“Room 7B” Granny Smith sniffed.
Rainbow nodded and threw the fillies body at the floor ruthlessly. She sprinted to the window as Granny Smith ran to her grand-daughters aid. Rainbow felt a large sense of guilt for what she’d just done, as she tilted her head and looked back at the filly she’d just threatened to murder in cold blood as her grand-mother stood over, wailing and crying. But the pegasus shrugged it off; if lives had to be lost or destroyed for her to gain what she wanted, so be it.

Her eyes opened with a startle, but then her eyelids began to droop once again. Her vision was blurred as her eyesight hovered over the room. All she could see was a white, tiled wall a few metres away. She looked left and right; it was the same thing. What was going on?

Then she remembered what had happened; the incident at the hospital.
Applejack rose from the floor and rubbed her head. She was in need of painkillers for a headache she was stricken with, but right now that was the least of her worries. She had no idea where she was, or how long it had been. Her eyes followed the milky white tiles across the wall until her vision met with a camera mounted high up on the wall. A small red dot of light flashed on and off on the side, with a two second period in between each flash, and there was a constant humming sound emanating from the camera. She also noticed that there was only one door in the room, which was directly behind her. It was a tall, white door, with a small window on it that she could look through. However, there was something covering it on the other side.
She sighed and closed her eyes, hanging her head in shame. A few tears dripped from her face and hit the floor like raindrops, which ran across the small spaces in between each tile and formed tiny rivers, made of bitter tears.
A knock at the door startled her, and her eyes immediately opened.

“Applejack, you’re scheduled for a meeting with a psychologist now that you’ve woken up. Please get down on the floor on your back and put your hooves on your head”.
Applejack slowly did as the voice said, and as soon as she was on the floor the door creaked open. Two stallions dressed in pure white lab coats entered the room. They wore goggles with lenses that couldn’t be seen through, and one held a pair of hoofcuffs. Their names were Mike and Jasper.
The stallion who didn’t have the hoofcuffs was Mike, and held a tazer in his hooves, which he aimed at Applejack as Jasper ruthlessly picked up her up off the floor and locked the hoofcuffs onto her forehooves as tightly as possible. Her forehooves were now in shackles, and the chain connecting them was small, meaning that Applejack could only take tiny steps. Thus, she couldn’t move quickly, so if she tried to escape she’d be easy to catch.

She again hung her head in shame as the two doctors escorted her out of the room. Mike stood behind the other two aiming his tazer at Applejack, as Jasper walked just beside Applejack, his eyes watching Applejacks every move like a hawk as the trio walked up the chillingly empty stone hallway. The walls were drywall, but the floor was stone, the hallway itself was narrow and their hoofsteps sent echoes up and down it; the only audible sounds other than the soft breathing of the ponies. Not a word was spoken as they walked up the lonesome hall.

They all turned around a corner. Applejack looked from side to side every now and again, looking at all the doors along this empty hallway. Its emptiness reminded her of her conscience, and how shallow it felt after the insane actions she’d performed in the events leading up to where she was now. Inevitably, her voices weren’t letting up right now; they badgered her with insults, demanding to know why she’d let herself get caught and thrown in what seemed like a prison.

The hallway was dark, with just dim lights above the trio to light their path. Many sections of the hallway were shrouded in darkness and made Applejack feel nervous, even though a fear of the dark is an unfounded phobia. She shook her head and tried to think about everything that was going on. She had no idea where she was, how much time had elapsed or what was going to happen to her.
It was then, now that they’d almost reached a door marked as ‘Head Psychologist’, that the first words were spoken for the trios short journey.
“Alright Mike, have you got the keys?” Jasper asked flatly.
But there was no response.
“Mike, did you hear me?” he asked.
He turned around, as did Applejack, only to see the space behind them devoid of any life. Mike was nowhere to be seen, nor heard.
“What the??” Jasper gasped. “Mike, where’d you go?”
There were no sounds at all; you could hear a pin drop in that hallway. Jasper began to feel deeply afraid, which was evident in his breathing and heart rate. He grabbed a cell phone out of a small bag that hung from his side and began dialing a number. Applejack turned around and looked up the hallway. It felt blood curdling that the only audible noise was her breathing and the sound of a phone being hastily dialed.

Then something happened that almost made the mare jump out of her skin. The sound of something being smashed against the floor sent out shockwaves of sound up and down the empty hall. Right behind her, where Jasper had just been standing.
She spun around, but jumped back at the sight before her. The cell phone lay in pieces on the floor, although now she knew of Mikes unfortunate fate.
A pair of bolt cutters were stabbed straight through his head, and the end of the blade carried on stabbing straight through Jaspers head and into the drywall. Their limp, lifeless bodies hung from the bolt cutters by their heads as the bolt cutters were stuck in the wall, going straight through both of their heads.
“How…? What…?!”
Applejack began hyper-ventilating. She couldn’t stop herself from screaming. She fell to the floor and shook with fear as she began looking around her, immense distress and despair in her eyes. Fear ran rampant throughout her body, making all of her muscles uncontrollably shake as her breathing rate rapidly increased. But the voice in her head had other ideas.

Grab those bolt cutters and cut through your hoof cuffs! a voice shrieked.
She slowly and lethargically stood up, thinking about what the voice just said. It was a good idea, especially since two ponies had just been killed and she would probably be next.
She reached up and used all her effort to rip the bolt cutters out of the heads of the two doctors. There was this gross sound as the metal blades slid against the skulls and flesh of the two ponies. Their bodies immediately collapsed to the floor once she removed the bolt cutters. Its blades were covered in blood, reflecting all light with a reddish tint. She looked at her reflection; it was like a mirror, that reflected everything, but with a blood red tint. She closed her eyes and began to cry tears of anxiety. Was she about to be killed?

She opened her eyes again, which opened widely with panic when she saw the rose tinted eyes staring back at her, reflecting off the shiny, metal blades. The bolt cutters clattered to the floor as she spun around, her heart skipping a beat. But Rainbow and her crimson eyes were nowhere to be seen. From the angle of reflection, Rainbow should’ve been standing right behind her, but now she’d vanished. Applejacks heart began racing twice as fast as her eyes looked at every inch of visible space in the room, scouring the area for any sight of Rainbow. But the hall appeared completely empty, except for her.

Cut the hoofcuffs! the voice demanded.
Applejack gulped as she remembered what she was meant to be doing. She almost didn’t want to pick up the bolt cutters, scared to death that she’d see Rainbows eyes reflected in them again. Her hooves shook with fear as she carefully used them to the cut the chain between her shackles. There was a crunching, metallic sound as the chain cut.

Now get out of here! the voice shouted.
Applejack tried not to let her fear overwhelm her, but it was a futile effort. She dropped the bolt cutters and began running, faster and faster, right down the hallway in the direction from whence she came.

The sound of her hoofsteps sent echoes down the hallway, but she stopped when she heard a second set of hoofsteps following her. She instinctively turned her head, inevitably seeing nopony. Applejack began to cry, fearing for her life.
She carried on running, looking at every doorway, searching desperately for an exit. She felt reminded of the hospital scenario with the way she was looking at every door, except that all of them were locked, preventing her from stepping inside.
Her breathing was fast, her heart beat faster, as the orange coated mare tore up the hall as fast as she could. She looked constantly left and right, trying to find some kind of exit. But the maze of halls had just more and more endless halls at every corner, driving her back to insanity, coupled with only depression and fear. Her eyes darted around the halls, searching frantically for any door that looked like it might be unlocked.

She tried every door she could, grasping the handle with her sweaty hooves and twisting the knob, only to find that it was locked. There were constant hoofsteps behind her, but every time she looked there was nopony there. These hoofsteps were getting louder with every corner she took, every door she tried to open.
Finally, she found a door marked as ‘Janitor’, the only marked door in this insanity inducing maze of halls. Applejack twisted the handle and actually felt a shred of hope as she heard the door handle click open. She pushed it open and jumped inside, before slamming it shut as hard as she could. She searched the janitors closet for something; anything. There had to be something she could use as a weapon, or some kind of escape route.

She saw a broom and slowly picked it up. But it fell from her hooves as her head spun around and faced the door, for its handle was turning.
But it turned incredibly slowly, giving her enough time to do something she felt like kicking herself for not immediately doing; locking it.
The handle stopped turning and again, there was silence. She stepped back cautiously and accidentally stepped in a bucket half full of dirty water. Her hoof slipped forwards, and she found herself falling backwards as her feet came out from under her. She landed hard on her back and let out a quiet grunt as her spine hit the broom she was holding just seconds earlier.
She had one eye open, gasping in pain as she stared at the ceiling. But there was a sense of relief when she spotted an entrance to an air duct in the ceiling. She got up and climbed up the shelf at the side of the closet, desperately trying to reach it. There was a metal sheet covering the entrance to the air duct, dotted with hundreds of tiny holes. She grabbed it with her forehooves and pried it off. It fell to the floor and clattered loudly as she pulled herself up.

Just as she entered the air duct, she heard the closet door crash to the floor. It made her jump, and she had to cover her mouth with her hoof to stop herself from screaming. Somepony had just smashed down the door in an instant, and were now likely to be searching the closet she’d been in just less than five seconds ago.
She tried not to think about that as she crawled through the air duct. It was very small and narrow, thus she had to lie on her belly and inch across its metal floor using her forehooves to pull herself along. She felt uncomfortable, with her belly sliding across the metal as she used her forehooves to pull herself along, but it was too small to be able to stand.

It was also so small that she couldn’t even look behind her, and the metal constantly creaked as she slid across it, so she knew that Rainbow would easily be able to hear her. The air duct was also pitch black with darkness; she couldn’t see more than about a foot in front of her.
She slowly crawled up the air duct, reaching a corner about every twenty seconds. The fact that she couldn’t see only added to her anxiety; these air ducts were a maze and there were multiple paths she could crawl down, meaning that if Rainbow had crawled the other way and gone around, she could be just feet in front of Applejack at any time, without her even knowing it.
She tried to forget that thought as tears streamed down her face. She was trying to be silent, but with this level of anxiety, fear and depression, that was impossible. Just the sound of her rapid breathing alone sent echoes up and down the air duct, not to mention her sobbing.
She reached a corner for the umpteenth time. But unfortunately, it was a crossroads. She could go left or right. She couldn’t see up either of them and had no idea which led to an exit and which led deeper into the maze of the air duct. She chose one at random and started crawling up it. She had this constant fear that she’d just chosen the wrong path. But it didn’t matter now; the air duct was too narrow in order to turn around and go back, no matter how much she wanted to.
All she could do is look forward and hope she found an exit soon. Her eyes struggled to see up the air duct though, leaving her only to know what was just a foot in front of her; anything outside that boundary was completely unknown to her until she crawled towards it.

She tried to control her breathing; an impossible feat in this situation. She just tried to focus on crawling forward. Suddenly, the sound of metal being thrust against metal was made about a dozen metres behind her. Her heart rate tripled, and she let out a blood curdling scream. She crawled forward faster than ever, eager to get away from where she’d heard the sound.
She turned left at the next corner. But just as she turned, she stopped when she saw the rose coloured eyes sitting amongst the darkness about three metres in front of her. She was petrified with fear. There was nothing else visible; just two, rose coloured eyes surrounded by darkness, staring right at her.
The eyes disappeared after a few seconds, then reappeared, but now a metre closer. Applejack couldn’t even breathe, she was that afraid.
The eyes then disappeared again, then reappeared just a metre from the terrified mare. They seemed to be staring into her very soul, relishing in her anxiety.
They disappeared for a third time, then didn’t appear again.

Applejacks heart rate was off the charts. She waited about thirty seconds, trying to stop her emotions from taking over. She couldn’t even bring herself to slide even just an inch forward; her nerves wouldn’t let her. Fear had taken over.

Get moving!! the voice in her head howled.
She wiped away the tears from her eyes and sniffed, before taking a long, deep breath. She very slowly began crawling forwards, but encountered nopony as she carried on up through the air duct.
She turned around another corner, then another, crawling endlessly through this maze of corners. This carried on for almost forty minutes until finally, she saw a light up ahead. She raced toward it, so relieved to find it. She didn’t even care about her surroundings anymore; she just wanted to reach that light. It had to be an exit.
Once she reached it, she saw that the light was above her. Hundreds of tiny beams of light shone down on her. She reached up with one of her forehooves and softly touched the source of the beams of light. She ran her hooves across it and realised that it was a metal sheet filled with tiny holes, just like the one that she had to pry off in order to get into this air duct.
She lifted her strong back legs and bucked the metal sheet as hard as she could. It popped right off and she heard it hit the ground on the other side. Carefully lifting her head, she lifted herself up through the hole above her and looked around. All she could see was Ponyville in the distance. However, it was the dead of night.
She very quickly realised that this was the roof of the building she was in. She pulled herself up and out of the air duct and onto the concrete roof. As soon as she pulled herself up out of the air duct, she scooted away from it as fast as she could.
She looked around frantically for some kind of way to get off the roof, but found nothing.

She stood up, her legs shaking, and started walking around. She stepped over to the edge of the roof and looked out at Ponyville. It looked so quiet and peaceful at night; quiescently beautiful.
“And now I’ve found you” a voice whispered.
Applejack immediately spun around, and almost fell off the roof. She was terrified to see Rainbow Dash standing right in front of her, holding the same blood coated bolt cutters that had been used to kill Jasper and Mike earlier.
“Please don’t hurt me” Applejack pleaded as she fell to her knees. “I didn’t mean to frame you…I don’t know why I did it. I just, I just couldn’t let myself get arrested. Sweet Apple Acres would go out of busine-“
“Shut up!” Rainbow shouted.
Applejack stopped mid-sentence. She gulped, now more terrified than ever.
“Do you know how horrible it is to be framed by somepony you thought you could trust?” Rainbow asked calmly, but with slight anger in her tone.
Applejack was too afraid to make any sound, let alone speak properly.
“Do you?!?” Rainbow screamed.
Rainbow held the bolt cutters threateningly over Applejacks head.
“I got thrown in a prison with lots of cruel thugs who just tried to bully me. Hurt me. And not just with words. When I broke out, killing you was the only thing I could think of. I ran into some hardships along the way, but now, here you are”.
Applejack felt more horrified than ever. She knew her life now hung in the balance. She put her forehooves over her head as she cowered in fear. She pressed her face against the hard, cold concrete, just waiting for the bolt cutters to go straight into the back of her head and kill her.

But then there was a gunshot.

Applejack opened an eye, and saw Rainbow lying on the concrete before her. She took her hooves off of her head and slowly stood up. Almost immediately, a hooded pony stepped out of the darkness, a few metres away. Applejack looked at her, then stared at the gun in the ponies forehooves, with smoke wafting out of the barrel.
The pony walked purposefully towards Rainbow. Applejack stepped away as the pony kicked Rainbows body over the edge of the roof.
“Who…who are you? Why did you save me?” Applejack asked, her voice stifled with fear.
She was practically choking with anxiety. The ponies head turned, although a hood covered most of its face.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. Although, I will tell you this. I’m sorry”.
Applejack felt confused.
“Sorry? You just saved my life”.
The pony shook its head.
“No, I mean what I’ve put you through. Or as it seems to me, what I’m going to put you through”.
“What are you talking about?” Applejack asked.
She felt oddly intrigued, but more confused than any other point in her life. The pony stared up at the sky and began explaining.
“Long ago, Rarity did something to me. Ever since then, I’ve felt a rage that only Rainbow Dashs anger towards you could have rivaled. I can’t express how angry I was at her. Then, you murdered her for me”.
Applejack was speechless. She didn’t know what to say.
“Or rather, I murdered her”.
The pony faced Applejack again, although she still couldn’t see its face. However, the pony then lifted its hood as Applejack tried to understand what she’d just heard. But to her utmost confusion, when the hood was lifted, Fluttershys yellow coat and pink mane were revealed.

“Flu…Fluttershy?!” Applejack gasped. “How are you here?? You’re supposed to be in hospital in a coma!”

“I woke up and knew I should come here, if my plan was to work. Like I said” Fluttershy began. “A long time ago, Rarity did something to me, which I don’t want to explain. Ever since then I’ve had a deep hatred for her. I wanted to murder her, so, so much. So before any of this happened, I devised a plan. A very complicated plan. I’ll try to explain it simply”.
“You see, I did a ritual that would allow my spirit to possess the mind of the pony who was closest to Rarity at the time that was shortly before her death. From there, I could use that pony to murder Rarity. Of course it would mean I would also have to die, but I just didn’t care. With what she did to me, killing her was all I wanted. But of course I didn’t want to do it in my own body; my quality of life would never be the same with the police after me. No, the best option was to kill myself and let my spirit possess the pony who was closest to her, which happened to be you. Unfortunately, I messed up the ritual and therefore wasn’t able to fully control your mind, and instead only had a large influence on your actions. But most of what you’ve done between the time of Raritys death and now was because of what my spirit has been telling you to do”.

“If you killed yourself, how are you here right now?” Applejack asked.
“I’m talking from the point of view of the voices in your head right now, not from my own point of view right now” Fluttershy explained. “I’m about to kill myself to complete the cycle, so my spirit can travel back to the time shortly before Raritys murder and possess your mind. So you see, those voices in your head aren’t schizophrenia; that was all me talking to you. But of course I disguised my voice. And now that you’re aware of my spirits presence, my spirit will be able to go onto the afterlife”.
“Now you see, I know this is complicated to explain. But, basically, I didn’t want you to be blamed for the murder, so I got you, well my spirit got you, to use Rainbow Dash as a scapegoat. I’ve never really liked her anyway. Then, all that was left was for me to die so that my spirit could travel back in time to possess your body and complete the loop. But you wouldn’t let me kill me, so it had to happen like this. I suppose that’s good though, because otherwise Rainbow Dash would’ve hunted you down and killed you. And you’ve always been one of my favorite friends, so of course I wouldn’t want that to happen to you”.

“So…you killed yourself, let your spirit go back in time, possess me and then use me to kill Rarity, then you got me to use Rainbow Dash as a scapegoat?” Applejack asked.

“Well, I haven’t killed myself yet. But now there’s only one thing left to do”.
She put the gun to her head.
“I want you to remember one thing before I pull this trigger” Fluttershy said.
Applejack didn’t know what to say or do. A few tears dripped down her face.
“Go live your life, Applejack. Enjoy it to the fullest. No deep wounds of such horrific evemts heal without leaving a scar, but just know that you were all but a pawn in my plan to murder Rarity. That’s it. And now that’s it over, you can carry on with your life”.
She turned away from Applejack, about to pull the trigger as Applejack began crying.

“For those who believe they are free, elusion is not possible” Fluttershy spoke softly into the still, night air.