Princess Celestia sat in the throne room with her sister, waiting for the meeting to come. Ever since Blossom's incarceration for the murders of her two classmates, she had hoped that something would come along that would stay her hoof, prevent her upcoming execution from happening. The deciding factor had been Blossom's own insistence that she be given the needle. Now her family was in the dungeons, trying to talk her out of her choice. They wanted her to live.

While she understood Blossom's family's need to keep her alive, she also understood Blossom's desire to die. Despite everything that had happened, and Blossom's life had been a living Tartarus for months, she knew that paradise awaited her. She could be free of her sorrow, and her pain there. She would be free of the guilt that had consumed her life since her murder of Diamond Tiara. She could be free of apparitions of her aunt demanding that she kill anypony within reach.

She could be free.

The two princesses exchanged a look of sorrow just in time for the large double doors to the throne room to open up. Blossom's family walked through the door, and to Celestia's relief, they almost seemed relieved themselves. She stood up and walked over to meet them. "What was her choice?"

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, but the first traces of a smile appeared on her lips. "It took us a while, but... we convinced her that she still has something to live for: us. My daughter doesn't want to die anymore."

Were Celestia not trained to be expressionless in dark times, she too would have breathed a sigh of relief and joined in with Sweetie Belle's tears of joy. As it was, she kept her regal demeanor and gave only a short nod. "If that is her choice, then I shall honor it. Blossom will remain in prison, probably for the rest of her life. She will be subjected to tri-weekly counseling from a trained psychologist, but I will not execute your daughter, Sweetie Belle."

Upon hearing Celestia's declaration, the gathered crowd of ponies all breathed a collective sigh of relief, and began happily hugging each other. Sweetie Belle, for her part, was so overjoyed that she rushed up to Celestia and wrapped her forelegs around the goddess in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for sparing my daughter. She isn't a bad mare, she didn't deserve any of this."

"I know," said Celestia softly. "We will do everything in our power to help her. We will leave no stone unturned if it means that we can help her like we should have from the beginning. We will make that mare happy again, I promise you."

Celestia sat on her haunches to better hug Sweetie Belle, and as she did, she saw Blossom's half-sister, Comet, walking up to her. The young filly smiled weakly up at the sun-goddess, and Celestia reached out and hugged her too. "Make Blossom better, okay, Princess?" said the filly. "I just got her. I don't want to see her die." The filly leaned her head against Sweetie Belle. "She's really sick and she scares me right now."

"What do you mean 'she scares you'?" Celestia questioned.

"She slipped through the bars to hug Blossom when we got down," Sweetie Belle explained. "I know she shouldn't have, but they both needed it, I think. When she was being hugged, Rarity appeared to Blossom, and..." Tears began falling from Sweetie Belle's eyes and she had to wipe her eyes with her foreleg. "She told Blossom to kill Comet."

"Blossom is sick, but she didn't hurt me," Comet mewled. "It was still scary to see her yelling at somepony who wasn't there."

"I imagine it must have been," said Celestia gently. "And that is why we shall do everything in our power to make sure that Blossom gets better so when you do see her, she'll be better."

"Do you promise?" Comet whispered.

Celestia smiled warmly at the filly. "I promise."

Blossom reclined on her bed, shakily rubbing her hooves together as she tried to get some sleep.

Life would be Tartarus now. She would have to see her Aunt Rarity every day for the rest of her life, and she was not sure how much longer she would be able to refrain from following her orders to kill. She would likely appear the second another pony was within sight.

In fact, it was likely that she had already appeared on Blossom's cell.

"I know you're there, Aunt Rarity," she groaned. "I can't do anything right now so just leave me alone."

Blossom heard the mocking scoff of her psychopathic aunt behind her and she rolled over in bed to glare at her. Rarity was sitting on the opposite end of the cell, buffing her hoof against her chest. She smiled when she made eye contact with her niece. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you aren't happier about this!" she insisted. "You have far more opportunities to kill somepony now. Why, if you did then I'd go away forever and you'd be executed. You win if that happens!"

"No I wouldn't!" Blossom moaned. "I don't wanna kill anypony!" Blossom put her head in her hooves and blinked away tears. "Why couldn't they just let me die?"

"Because they're selfish!" Rarity cackled. "They don't care about how you're feeling at all! They'll prolong your misery forever if it means that they don't get to lose you. They'd rather see you miserable than dead."

"No, you're wrong!" Blossom covered her ears with her hooves. "They want to see me happy, not dead!"

"You and I both know that you need one to be the other." Rarity's voice rang clear in Blossom's head despite the mare's attempts at blocking her words out. The unicorn chuckled. "I can't wait to see how you deal with having this conversation every day until you do as I ask."

"I'll never become you!" Blossom insisted.

Rarity giggled and stood up. "Yes, that's a nice thought, darling. You do seem to forget that you're half me already." Rarity walked over to her niece and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Just give in and be truly happy for once in your wretched life. It's not so hard once you get used to the idea. Just give in."