She touched him. It was only a brief moment, but for her, it lasted an eternity. Something was different about this time. Something felt… wrong. She stopped in her tracks; she did not recognize him. He was different from the others. She needed to know what had caused this. She gave chase and caught up to him after some time. She grabbed at him, but soon let go as her mind was barraged with the utter nothingness that consumed his soul. As she braved the nothingness, she embraced him. He shivered and stopped. She felt him go cold at the contact. He turned his head to meet her gaze. His eyes were grey, he did not bother to speak. He could not speak, there was nothing to say. No one else would understand him. As she let go, he continued his journey without a second thought, wasting no time putting distance between the two. Not even glancing back.
When he was gone, she sat there in silence, thinking over the day’s events. The man appeared normal, but the geode around her neck gave her a power that few could comprehend and that power usually gave her access to their inner thoughts. But this man seemingly had none. His mind was blank, not even the hint of anything within him. This scared her. To think that someone was at such a low point in their life that they no longer thought. What kind of torment would someone have to endure to experience such nothingness and seemingly be content? She was curious but ultimately decided that curiosity killed the cat, as it were; at least for the moment.
She decided to consult her friends on the matter. Surely, they could help her decide what to do. She knew she should not just leave him alone. She would set out to look for him, later. She met up with her friends at the old haunt. This was always where they met for important decisions, but it was cozy enough to just hang out as well. It was one of the few places She felt at home in this world.
She sat at her usual booth after texting her friends to meet her and that it was urgent. She had a bad feeling about this but knew none of the others would understand. After all, all her friends were The Aspects of Friendship. But her ability was more special. She saw raw emotion, or at least she would if it had been there.
Her friends burst in, they looked as though they had been running. They all bent over, hands on knees, huffing for air. When they had regained their breath, they sat down and addressed the girl who had been waiting for them. “Hey, Sunset. We got your message. What’s up?” They all asked.
“I have a bad feeling…” she began. She had to start at the beginning though. She knew they knew about her power, but she had to tell them of her experience with the man. So, she continued. “This morning, I met a man-”
Pinkie cut in, “ooh, are you seeing someone?” excitement clear in her voice.
Sunset’s facial expression remained somber. “No, this time things were different. He wasn’t like you or me. Something was wrong. When he brushed past me, I looked into his mind…” She paused. The others looked at her questioningly.
“What’s so wrong about that? You do it to us all the time.” Applejack said.
“I saw….” She shuttered at the thought. “I saw nothing. His mind was completely empty. It was a vast blackness with no trace of happiness or light.” The others looked at her, mouths dropped open in awe. This was certainly alarming. Never before had they seen anyone with nothing in their mind.
This encounter deeply moved the girls and they all made up their minds to try and find this strange, broken, lonely man to try and help him. Sunset had found her first friendship problem. Twilight would be proud. Or would she? Maybe Sunset had been the cause of this from back when she used to rule much of this little piece of the world in her stupid attempt at greatness. Maybe he was one of the people she used to bully and she had taken it too far with him. But he did not seem to recognize her, so maybe she was overthinking everything.
Fluttershy had taken this new knowledge pretty hard. Knowing there was someone that she did not know who needed desperately to be shown kindness and having no way to reach them except through blind luck. She would not have that. She set out to search. But where do you look for a man you know nothing about? Who most likely had no friends of his own and therefore no reason to go anywhere but his home or maybe the grocery store for food? The grocery store was probably her safest bet to find this man, though she knew she could be camping that spot for days if not a week before he showed up. The only other spot that everyone in the city visited on a weekly basis was the Sweets Shoppe. But Pinkie worked there every day, so that base was as covered as it could get. The other girls would no doubt have their own places they would check. There was a small fear that started nagging at Fluttershy: is she doing enough for this new person? Could she be doing more?