The ‘home’ I stayed in was little more than a clearing in the Everfree. I slept there; if Emptiness found me anywhere else during the night, she would hurt me. She made that very clear.
She was upset when she came back that morning. Angry. Sweetie had hurt her, and she wasn’t supposed to do that. She wanted to hurt something.
The ghosts helped me to hide while she screamed and tried to hurt the ghosts. She couldn’t touch them, but they knew she could hurt me. I left the forest and headed back into town.
If Emptiness was mad, she was going to get much worse. I wasn’t sure what she might do, but I needed to warn Sweetie.
So I found the schoolhouse, and found Ms. Cheerilee. So I made up a story about moving into town recently, and asked if I could join the class. She said yes.
So she introduced me to the class, and by chance, I got seated next to Sweetie. She was exhausted, falling asleep. She wasn’t going to make it another night like that.
“Sweetie, are you alright?” I whispered to her.
“Tired…” she told me. I… I had to help her, so I gave her the… something special.
A purple liquid in a little vial. I call it potion. Sweetie eyed it and I told her, “It will help, trust me.”
She drank it, and she was much better. It woke her up and gave her some energy.
“Thanks.” she whispered back, smiling at me. I smiled back.
“Wait… I think I know that…”
“Sweetie did get a little addicted to it. It’s… strong stuff.”
“Twilight called it some kind of magic.”
“It is.”
“Do you know what it was?”
“… Promise not to hurt me?”
“I… Gentle, I… I won’t. I promise. I might yell though.”
“It’s unicorn horn blood.”
Rarity choked on her own tea. “What?!” she asked, sickened and dismayed.
“Emptiness’ horns bled. A lot. She collected the blood and drank it; it gave her tiny bits of power for a short time. I thought it would help Sweetie, and it did. It gave her the ability to keep awake and moving when she really shouldn’t have been.”
“It gave her a better chance at least.”
Rarity frowned at Gentle, but the sheer… resigned nature of the last comment slowed her anger. Gentle had felt it necessary.
“And the school incident?”
“That’s easier to explain.”
I followed Sweetie out when they let us go play. I wanted to try and talk with her when she was alone, to warn her about Emptiness’ anger.
I soon found that she had two friends, and I couldn’t speak up in front of them. I was too shy and I couldn’t tell them about Emptiness; both would try to help Sweetie even if she told them not to.
They were curious, but Sweetie defended me from their questions. I felt that it was going well until Diamond and Silver came over.
They tried to tease me, but they were… nastier than just that. I had told Cheerilee that I was sensitive about my mane and she told the class. That pair took it as an invitation to touch my mane.
They tricked me, and when one of them touched it, I… panicked. I hit her with everything I had without really thinking what I was doing.
Everything went silent as she collapsed. I had thrown her thirty feet, and she was hurt. I think I might have broken something of hers.
I ended up separated from Sweetie and Cheerilee tried to discover why I had hit her. I couldn’t say anything. She wanted to meet my parents, so I named an address and she let me go, resolving to speak with my parents later.
I couldn’t find Sweetie after that, and the night came soon.
“I remember that.” Rarity said. “I picked Sweetie up since school was let out early, and took her to Twilight, to try and discover what was wrong with her. Her behavior was off and I had… hoped that she was ill.”
“Twilight was the one that discovered your… ‘help’. I had a long talk with Sweetie about… well, bad things.”
“Drugs?”
“How do you..?”
“I’m three centuries old. I know a lot.”
“Ah… right. But yes, those. Sweetie was evasive and unwilling to tell me anything at first. I managed to get her to tell me that you gave them to her and I warned her not to go near you again.”
“Twilight went to try and discover your parents, and I wanted nothing more than to return home and rest after a rather hard day. Sweetie begged me to stop by the store, to buy a new nightlight and a few flashlights and lanterns.”
“For the life of me, I didn’t know why she was so desperate. But I relented. I warned her that if she broke them again, I wasn’t going to buy new ones for her, and she agreed.”
“I should have been more observant. I could have done something.”
“Emptiness would have killed you and Sweetie if you did.”
“I meant… support her. Let her sleep during the day, kept her from school… I could have done lots of things to keep her as safe as possible.”
“Of course, hindsight is perfect. I didn’t and now, I never can. The night went poorly?”
“It did.”
Sweetie had two flashlights, and had relit the lantern under her bed. She felt… more prepared for Emptiness.
Emptiness was mad. She terrified Sweetie with her mad laughter, screaming in the house, breaking stuff. She kept whispering how she was going to love ripping her horn off.
Sweetie had to fend her off dozens of times. It was a little harder too; you were the one who put the room back together. Gave Emptiness lots of hiding places.
It was at midnight that Emptiness decided to find her revenge. She slowed trying to reach Sweetie, and began tearing the room apart. Pulling the drawers of the dresser out, going into the closet and ripping things apart, breaking Sweetie’s bedside table…
It was a message. ‘Don’t hurt me, or else’ so to speak. And it was revenge as well...
Emptiness made sure that everything she did could have been done by Sweetie. To pin the blame on her. And it worked too.
“Celestia take it…” Rarity murmured, staring at the floor. “That… I…”
“If it helps, Sweetie didn’t really blame you.”
“I punished her for that. I even made her promise to come right home after school, so I could keep her in her room for a while. I was so mad and confused…”
“She just had that… understanding on her face. And I never knew why.”
“I thought… I… I was a horrible big sister.”
“Sweetie didn’t think so.”
“How didn’t she? I think so.”
Gentle nodded slowly. “But Sweetie knew why. She was protecting you. She wanted me to tell you that she never hated you, and that you never had to say sorry.”
“Truly?”
“Yes. She was very insistent about that. And… I forgive you.”
“For what darli… Oh… I… Oh dear, I… I never…”
“It’s fine. I’ve been hurt worse. And if Sweetie can forgive like she did, then so can I.”
Rarity was crying, actually seeing Gentle for the first time. Her anger was gone, and she saw clearly. The leg at an odd angle, the pain in her eyes, even if it was kept from her voice. She had done that. She caused that in anger and grief.
She reached out, and her pain grew worse when Gentle flinched at her touch and moved away.
“I’m fine.” the filly said quickly, pushing her hoof away. “Don’t… don’t touch me please. Let me finish.”