Apple Bloom slowly pushed open the door to the CMC headquarters. Her hooves were muddy, her mane unkempt, her head low. She dared not look at the imposing walls covered with papers around her, because she knew it already- she just wasn't meant for that Cutie Mark. There were no ponies that needed help.
But... If she wasn't meant for this cutie Mark... And her friends ones are linked to hers... And they can't find problems too... Does that mean they were not meant for it too?
No.
Twisted, dark thoughts filled her head. What if they couldn't find a purpose in life? What could they do? She considered asking Starlight Glimmer to remove their Cutie Mark for them, but she knew that Starlight would refuse anyway because she has changed. Zecora's potions will only give a cutie mark, not remove it. Twilight will definitely not agree to this idea. There leaves only one choice- To do it herself.
She knew that Rarity kept a pair of scissors, sharp, small and precise for trimming cloth. She trotted over to Rarity's carousel, and politely knocked the door. "Coming!" Rarity trilled, and after a few moments Apple Bloom could hear Hoofsteps thumping down the stairs, and Rarity opened the door. "Welcome to Rarity's boutique, where everything is- Oh hello Apple Bloom, I didn't see you there! Come in! Sweetie isn't at home right now, what do you need?"
Apple Bloom faked a smile. "Do you mind if I borrow a pair of scissors? Those small ones?" She asked."
"Sure! What do you need them for?" Rarity asked.
"Oh- um... Some art project that I need to do for school."
"You sure you don't need help? I'll be really glad to help you design your project!"
"It's fine!" Applebloom smiled, and accepted the scissors Rarity handed to her, and trotted away, ready to begin.
"I really loved crocheting that scarf! It was so fun to do it! I think I'm gonna go back and do it again!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she was walking back to the CMC Clubhouse with Scootaloo. "So Scoots, did you enjoy your bungee jumping?"
"Yea! Second best thing to scootering, I loved it!" Scootaloo replied. "I should try it again too. It feels so awesome, like I'm doing some awesome dive when jumping down!"
They trotted up the stairs, and opened the door.
They froze.
Applebloom was standing there, right in front of the door, holding a pair of scissors, a grin on her face.
"Hey, girls."
"Oh hey, Applebloom! How was your activity? Did you f-find anything to do?" Scootaloo nervously took a step back.
Applebloom turned her head around and gestured into the pitch black room. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took a step forward into the room. Suddenly, they heard the door slam shut and a lock click behind them. Sweetie jumped, startled. "E-erm... Applebloom... W-Why did you s-shut us in here?" Scootaloo asked, getting more nervous by the moment.
"Look at the wall." Applebloom whispered behind them. "What do you see?" A light bulb turned on and the two fillies looked at the wall in front of them. On the wall was what looked like hundreds of pictures, all hastily drawn and marked with scraggly crimson X's on them. They looked up at the roof, and all the other walls, and saw that they were covered on pictures too.
"No matter how much I tried, I still cannot find something I can do. Sweetie, even the scarf you made was not pretty. Scootaloo. Admit that you failed several times. See? We are not good at anything, our cutie marks are useless, we have no problems to solve. So why have them?" Appleblooms grin became more wider and sinister by the second, her voice becoming maniacally insane. She snipped the scissors in the air a couple times. Suddenly, the lights went out again. It was only a few seconds before Sweetie heard a desperate scream from Scootaloo behind her. Suddenly, she could hear scissors cutting through something- Not paper.... was it skin? Sweetie blanched at the thought. She could hear the panicked breaths of Scootaloo slowly fade into rhythmic small breaths. "You're insane!" Sweetie Belle yelled.
Sweetie suddenly choked, a hoof around her neck, and the hoof shoved her to the floor and put her firmly there. She could see the scissors glinting in the dark, and she broke into a cold sweat. A piercing pain hit her flank, and she screamed. She could feel the scissors snipping, and she couldn't do anything about it. The pain escalated to something that didn't even seem possible. But right when she was about to sink into unconsciousness, she heard a rip. On her flank. She could feel veins and muscles disconnecting with skin, blood dripping down her flank, but she was too weak, and could only groan in pain.
Sweetie heard the sound of a knife being unsheathed out. She could feel it repeatedly going in her chest. "I... Am... Only... Doing... This... For... Us... And... Friendship!" Applebloom yelled between stabs. She thought she was dying, because she heard a door burst open and light flood in from outside, like somepony was receiving her to go to heaven. And then she faded into blackout.
Applebloom looked down, and saw what she had done. But it was too late, there was no going back. Her sister was standing in front of her, shocked.
A week later, Applejack and Big Mac were walking to the local Ponyville hospital. They tentatively pushed open the door, walked down the hallway full of rooms, and walked down the stairs, into the basement- the MHCA, or the Mental Health Care Area. Right now, there was only one pony there- Applebloom. After what she had done, she was dragged here, bloody and spattered with guts, holding two cutie marks in her hand, into the asylum.
Applejack and Big Mac looked through the window into a room and saw Applebloom straining against the straitjacket she was wearing, an insane look on her face, her hair messy. She was shouting repeatedly, "All I ever wanted to do was keep us together! Together! TOGETHER!"
Applejack and Big Mac opened the door, and entered the pristine, blank white room in which Applebloom was in. Applebloom looked up, eyes bloodshot. "Please, I just want to be with my friends! Let me out!"
Applejack knelt in front of her sister and looked in her eyes. Applebloom sat still, and met eyes with her. Tears fell from Applebloom's eyes, and she knelt her head in sadness. "I-I just want to be... Together... I k-know they're there outside, waiting for me... We can do everything together..."
Applejack left Applebloom alone to her mumbling. She shook her head and walked away, sorrow filling her as she thought of what had become of her sister and her twisted fantasy.
Author's Note
I hope you've enjoyed the story! I really didn't spend much time on it, so if there are any grammatical errors, etc. Please do tell me in the comments below :) Also, thanks for the appreciation and if you have any short story ideas, feel free to tell me in the comments too :)
