//------------------------------// // old Chapter 5 // Story: Fulfillment // by Amaranthine Thought //------------------------------//             I woke the next morning with Emptiness staring down at me.             “I hurt you.” she said.  “I… I never wanted to…  I’m sorry.  I’ll fix you.”             The potion is strong stuff.  And Emptiness knew how to use it well.  She was… kind and caring as she fixed my leg, drinking lots of potion to allow her to heal the bone.  Making sure I was alright.             Then she hugged me, told me that she… that she loved me and promised that she wouldn’t do it again.             She did that a lot.  She would hurt me and then fix it, whispering that she loved me.  Pain and agony being inflicted in a sudden rage, only for her to calm again, and act so sorry and help me recover.  That was the pattern.  Hate, pain, sorry, healing, love, promise not to again.  She did it every time she hurt me.             I went back to the town, finding that I was wanted by a lot of ponies.  They were fairly mad, and for good reason.  I had to sneak about, trying to find Sweetie.             I found her waiting in that same alley we had been in before.  I saw that she had been crying, and hurried to her, worried that she had been hurt by Emptiness.             “Hi Gentle.” she said, smiling, “I did another one.”             “Sweetie, what happened?!” I asked, concerned.  She took a breath and looked away.             “Emptiness… destroyed some things.  And something really important.  She tricked Rarity and now, Rarity doesn’t want to see me again…”             She sniffled at that.  “Sweetie, you can fix it.” I told her.  “Just wait the week, and then you can tell everypony the truth.  She’ll be gone then.”             “You… You really think so?”             “I know so!  She always does that.  She claims a victim and then leaves, always.  Emptiness is predictable that way.”             “She was pretending to be my sister.”             “She told me.  You should never go after her Sweetie…”             “I had to.  But I don’t think I have to worry about that anymore.  Will Emptiness do anything different in a library?”             I hesitated.  “I… don’t think so… maybe she can hide behind a shelf, but not if they’re against a wall.  And she shouldn’t destroy books either, she likes books… maybe you can even use them to trip her when she turns invisible.”             “The nights are getting brighter; maybe you can see better without a light too.”             “What if I’m in a room with a sleeping pony?”             “I… Don’t.  Just don’t.  Maybe Emptiness would ignore them, but if they wake up, she’ll kill them.”             “How about a dragon?”             “A dragon?  In a library?”             “Just a little one, his name is Spike.”             “The same thing… Or not.  Dragons aren’t like ponies, but she’ll still try to kill him.”             She sighed.             “If it helps, Emptiness will make sure that other ponies that are asleep elsewhere in the house stay asleep.  They will wake up if you make too much noise though.”             “Twilight sometimes doesn’t go to sleep, and I’m with her right now.”             I worried about that, but I soon thought of something.  I gave Sweetie another potion, and told her how to use it differently.             If she boiled it, it put nearby ponies to sleep and was mostly undetectable.  And she could boil it with a candle; simple and easy.             “Three nights to go.” I said, smiling.  “The last one is going to be real bad, but I’ll tell you that later.”             “I can do it.”             “I know you can.”             She ran off, waving back at me, and I waved as she went.  That’s when I turned and saw Diamond Tiara staring at me.  She looked smug.             “I knew it.  You’re working together with her.  Afraid of Emptiness, huh?  I bet I can do something about that…”             I found courage, and stood in front of her, blocking her way.             “As for you…”             “HELP!” she screamed suddenly, “I found the thief!  Help!”             That was far from the easiest escape I ever did.  The ponies after me were mostly rushing to her aid rather than my capture, but they still tried to stop me.  Several recognized me and voiced their complaints about my thievery.             I weaved under their legs and ran, and some blue pegasus kept dive bombing me.  She nearly had me several times.  I ended up escaping by going into the bakery, having that pegasus slam into the confections and then slipping away in the resulting mess.             “That was Rainbow Dash I think.”             “Is she blue and reckless?”             “Very.”             “Then yes, that was her.”             I was still worried about what Diamond might be planning for Sweetie, so I stayed as night fell.  Being very, very careful so that Emptiness didn’t spot me.  I followed after her that night, and saw her pause, regarding the library.             I saw something enter the library, and worried.  As Emptiness headed forward and climbed up the side, I went to a window and peered in.             I do know that the story of Emptiness had a chance to be known by ponies other than unicorns.  But even then, I didn’t really believe what I was seeing.             Diamond was in the building, creeping around.  I wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, and she wasn’t hard to see in the darkness.             I saw Sweetie hiding under some stairs, watching her with confusion.  And then I saw Emptiness at the top of the stairs, watching her.  I got really, really worried that she was going to stop The Game.             Diamond eventually stopped fumbling in the dark and stood still.             Then I saw her spot Sweetie.  “Emptiness, she’s over here!” she said, waving a hoof around.             Neither I nor Sweetie knew how to respond to that.  Emptiness did.             She walked past Sweetie’s hiding place without Diamond ever seeing her until she was right in front of her.             “Twilight?  Is that…”             “Never did I see such... such stupid evil.” Emptiness said, snatching Diamond in one hoof and holding her struggling form up.             “You think you can intrude in The Game?  You think you can help me?  Your heart is a dark thing indeed for you to try and help me…”             Diamond probably couldn’t breathe; she didn’t respond at all.             “This sin is my own.  It is not something to be picked up by anypony else.  Accept your punishment.”             Emptiness threw her against a shelf, and went to her as she recovered, picking up a heavy book as she went.             I eventually had to stop looking.  Emptiness was… merciless.             It took a long time for Diamond’s screams to finally stop.  And when they did, I heard Emptiness speaking to Sweetie.             “I won’t count this one.  She was trying to hurt, not help.  Tonight, I’ll leave you be.  Tomorrow, we begin in earnest.”             I started when she exited by the front door and came to me.  I waited for her to do something, but instead she only huffed.             She threw the unmoving form of Diamond in front of me.             “Grab her.  She’s going to come with us.”             I didn’t question it, and grabbed her bloody form.  She was still breathing as I dragged her after Emptiness.  I had seen Emptiness kill a lot of ponies, sometimes in some… disgusting ways.             The time Diamond spent with her was the worst things I ever saw done to another living thing.  Emptiness tormented her, taking great, great care in her experiments so she wouldn’t die.             Do you know what happens when an earth pony is forced to drink unicorn horn blood until they literally can’t stomach any more?  I do.  I might never forget.             Diamond’s screams still haunt me.  Emptiness took care not to kill her and I think she enjoyed inflicting pain.  Diamond sometimes… sometimes begged me to kill her.  It only took one night for her to reach that point.             Rarity looked ill as Gentle finished speaking.  Gentle coughed, and rasped for a moment, trying to find her breath.  Rarity didn’t notice, too occupied with horrible mental images.             Gentle recovered and sighed.             “I think she was trying to scare Sweetie.  She was likely looking for some revenge for Silver’s injury, but I don’t know.  The true reason can’t be known anymore.”             “Is she…”             Gentle nodded and Rarity shook her head.  “That… poor filly...”             “She was vital in the end.  She made it possible for Sweetie to save us.”             “How?”             “That’s… I’ll get to that.  It’s not… not…”             Gentle coughed again, and Rarity watched her in concern.  Concern that turned into fear when she coughed blood.             “Gentle, are you..?”             “Fine!  Just fine… I…”             “You are not fine.  I… You are badly hurt, let me help...”  Rarity reached toward Gentle only to stop midway.             “No!  Stay away!  Don’t… don’t touch me… Please…”             Gentle wiggled away from Rarity in terror, and Rarity felt miserable.  She had caused Gentle’s pain, and she was beginning to see why Gentle was so terrified of her.             In her sudden rage, she had hurt her badly.  And then, she recovered, grew to know the filly better, felt… closer to her.  She was possibly the only pony who knew and had been near Sweetie during her… last hours.  Gentle had kept her little sister as safe as she could and Rarity felt indebted to her.             And Rarity had been doing things that were so very similar to what Emptiness had done to her.  Hurting her and then saying sorry and trying to help… She had never had the filly’s trust, but she had accidently made sure that she might never have it.             Worse; Gentle was obviously hurt far worse than the filly was letting on.  A broken leg was one thing, coughing blood was another.             But what could she do?  Any indication of care after her anger reminded the filly of Emptiness.  Rarity struggled to figure something out, some way to get the filly to allow her to help.  And then it came to her.             She sat up again, and took a drink of her tea, moving away from Gentle.  Gentle watched her in faint confusion as she took a breath and dispelled any indication of concern from herself.  It was hard, but she managed.             “Continue.” she said, not even looking at Gentle.             “Wha… what?”             “Keep telling me.  The story isn’t over.”             Gentle watched her carefully, looking for anything that said she was doing something.  Rarity didn’t move at all, focusing on her tea.             “… Alright.  I will.”             “Go ahead.  I’m waiting.”             “I’ll tell you everything.”             “Do try to stop coughing.  It is distracting.”             “Fine.  No mistakes.”             “That’s better.”