Fulfillment

by Amaranthine Thought

old Chapter 6

Emptiness had cleaned up Diamond’s blood. Twilight never knew what had happened that night. Sweetie was relieved at that.

I think Twilight tried to discover what was happening, though I don’t know how. I do know that Sweetie had to put her to sleep two times, and the last night, she had to lock Spike in the closet.

I met Sweetie only once more before the last two nights, and told her the last step Emptiness would take.

Active destruction.

Emptiness would break things in between her and her target, and often throw things for an added distraction, or even injury. Sweetie needed to take care that Emptiness couldn’t find things like knives, or heavy objects.

Something that Twilight took objection to, considering Sweetie then buried all her knives.

I gave her three more potions, all that I could take from Emptiness. This was her last chance. Her last two nights, and then, she would win. And Emptiness would leave, and she could tell everypony what happened. We were… optimistic if nothing else.

The first night, Twilight never noticed Sweetie boiling some of the potion, and Sweetie tucked her away in her study, exiting out into the main room where she made her preparations.

Scattering books and glow sticks around, and taking shelter under the stairs. It was her best place to hide; the bedroom was too small and too easy to get into for her to be safe there.

The first night, Emptiness did her best… or worst if you think of it that way.

Sweetie had been smart choosing her spot; Emptiness had a hard time getting to her, and the stairs creaked if she stepped on them no matter how quiet she tried to be. The open nature of the room and the lack of entries forced her to try and walk the distance to her, allowing Sweetie more than enough time to spot her and blind her.

She was quite upset at that. Really, really upset, and in the end, Sweetie was perfectly safe, though the room wasn’t. Emptiness had torn books to shreds in her attempts to reach Sweetie.

Sweetie knew Twilight, and hid from the purple mare when she did stumble awake. She knew she had been drugged. She knew something was wrong, very wrong.

Sweetie hid in the high reaches of the tree for the entire day, avoiding Twilight, and eventually, other ponies out looking for her. Nopony found her, and when night came again, she acted quickly.

She tricked Spike into going into the closet, and when Twilight tried to get him out, she got her to sleep again. Then she drank the last of the potion for herself.

The final night was coming, and Sweetie was determined to win. If Emptiness thought she could break things, then Emptiness would find Sweetie more than willing to fight back.

It was the last night. Her last trial, Emptiness’ last chance. And neither side was going to let the other win.

Sweetie took the shredded paper, and covered the floor. Hiding marbles and nails under several spots. Reinforcing her hiding spot, nailing boards to the staircase to give her a shelter that she could see and shine her light out of. She trapped every shelf so she could pull them down and hid more lights in the room just in case she would need them.

She told me it was more like a battle than the normal game of cat and mouse.

Emptiness ran at her, trying to make the distance, throwing books and rocks at her. And Sweetie tossed them back at her, shining her light in Emptiness’ eyes as Emptiness slipped on marbles and stepped on nails.

They were screaming at each other, Emptiness’ threats and Sweetie’s taunts. Sweetie even used the boiling potion against her, which got her very upset.

When Emptiness managed to rip a board from her hiding place, Sweetie tried to drop a book shelf on her. The first missed, but the second didn’t.

For a moment, everything was quiet. The shelves were very heavy, and Sweetie thought that she might have killed Emptiness.

And then Emptiness threw it off of herself and screamed, no longer caring about anything but getting Sweetie, several of her stolen horns broken off. That’s when Sweetie used her trump card.

She had hidden a knife, and kept it. And when Emptiness ran at her, she let her, and when she reached for her, she stabbed her foreleg. Emptiness screamed and pulled away, stumbling, limping. But then she recovered, and ripped the knife free and turned on Sweetie with it.

Sweetie didn’t really care. Sweetie was ready for her.

Sweetie had another knife.

She forwent her flashlight, and slashed wildly at Emptiness, the larger mare an easier target. Emptiness didn’t bleed, though she felt pain.

Emptiness was larger and faster, but Sweetie was smart, and had more tricks. In the end, every bookshelf was pulled down, the stair’s banister broken when Emptiness tripped on marbles, and everything had slash marks, paper covering everything.

And then it was over. The sunlight came in through the window, and Emptiness faded away with a cry of denial and rage.

Sweetie sat amidst the destruction, panting. She was gone. The sun coming in through the window felt surreal after the long and violent night. She heard Spike thumping in the closet upstairs, heard birds singing in the morning.

She had done it. Seven nights of fear. Or more like five. At the library, Sweetie had been certain that Emptiness would not win over her. Determination fueled her, and anger; Emptiness tried to take her from her family, her friends.

And she would not allow that. The thought gave her the bravery to stand firm and do what she felt was necessary without fear. Those last two nights she hadn’t felt afraid at all.

But it was over. She did it. She had won The Game. She was safe.

That’s when Emptiness grabbed her.

---

“What!? But…”

“We should have seen it. I mean, she even told us all. The Game. A game. It wasn’t real; The Game never mattered.”

“Emptiness didn’t care about bright lights. She didn’t care about the sun, or any of her rules. She made a choice to play, but when the game ended, she would have what she was after.”

“The Game ended, Sweetie the very first victor. But life continued, and Emptiness was still alive. And she wasn’t about to let her hunt end in failure.”

“Twilight woke up from the screams. Emptiness took great pleasure in drawing out her pain as she claimed her underserved prize. Twilight ran to help, but only found the destruction, Emptiness’ echoing laugh, and a pool of blood. Sweetie’s blood.”

Gentle stopped, choking and gasping. She coughed more blood, and wheezed, unable to find her breath again.

Rarity picked her up in her magic, and when Gentle turned to see her, she didn’t see hate, or love, or even sorrow.

She saw apathy.

“The tale continues, does it not?” Rarity asked the confused filly.

“Y… Yes.” she managed, still coking a little.

“Well, I won’t ever hear the rest of it with you like this. You’re going to get better, and finish. Understand?”

Rarity saw understanding blossom in Gentle’s eyes. It wasn’t hate, nor love. It was nothing like Emptiness, who only cared when she felt like it, hate and love blurring together over the long years.

It was forced apathy. Rarity was keeping herself in check, and in that control, Gentle understood.

Rarity wasn’t what she feared. She was nothing like Emptiness, who never had control.

She cared enough about her so much that she was willing to not care about her at all. A control that overcame any love or anger.

Gentle hesitated for a long moment, barely breathing, and her breath raspy. Then she decided.

“Rarity…”

“Yes?” she asked, heading outside with the filly in tow.

“H… Carry me. Please.”

Rarity paused just before exiting and turned to see Gentle. She saw fear, but she also saw a hope. Gentle was trusting her, at least a little.

She nodded, and carefully deposited the filly on her back. Then she left her there, and said nothing as she left. And with every time she didn’t care, Gentle trusted that she wouldn’t do anything to her. It was… relaxing to the filly.

Rarity nearly bumped into her friends when she opened the door and gasped in slight surprise. Only Twilight was missing, and after hearing of the final night, wasn’t surprised.

Twilight must be impossibly busy trying to put the library back together again.

“Rarity, we…” Fluttershy paused, noticing Gentle.

“What th… Rarity, what happened?”

“Who’s this?” Rainbow asked, “And why is she like that?”

“Her leg…”

“Now is not the time girls. I need to get her to the hospital and quickly.” She passed them and they followed in a mixture of curiosity, surprise, and concern for the filly.

“But who is she?” Applejack asked, matching her pace. “An why is she so hurt an why do ya seem so… uncarin? Aren’t ya worried fer th mite?”

“She is Gentle Flowers. And I don’t care. I don’t have a single twinge of sympathy for her. She can make her own choices about what she wants or needs, and I am not going to do anything.”

Her friends gaped in shock, but Rarity smiled. And she felt Gentle grip her just a little tighter.

Comments

[Wolfren]

Crabapples, I really should have waited until morning.
But in the mornings I was too chicken to read it.
Oh well, excellent writing as always. The reveal that it was just a game was down-right bone chilling. This feels almost like an ending, but you still have it up as incomplete. If you don't mind me asking, is the next chapter going to be more nightmare fuel or just a continuation of the story?

Note to self: get FiMFiction back on PC, touchpad is inefficient...

[Amaranthine Thought]

8369149

The story is progressing to an end. After this, the last steps are taken and everything needs closure. Proper closure.

If I ended now there's lots of questions left.

And nightmare fuel or continuation... continuation for now, and, depending on perspective, maybe both.

[Awesometacular]

Well, that was just f*cked up. Sweetiebelle won, but Emptyness didn't care. She just wanted to have fun with Sweetiebelle, gave her false hope that there was a chance Sweetiebelle would be allowed to live if she won. As it turns out, Emptyness spares no one, she just likes to prolong it for the fillies.