Author's Note

Hello, it's Fireflower as always ready to give you another chapter on the way: of course, this chapter contains references to certain subject matters and thusly the reason why this story has been rated M for Mature; the only thing I can say is that I hope you are not under eighteen, easily offended, and/or quickly nauseated.

Aside from disclaimers long ago, I'd like to take this time to say thank you for never pulling out too early since we're now in the halfway region of the story's progress; somehow, the new year will provide us with a new hope to have and hold with tender loving care rather than yet a totally lost cause and the strength to continue onward in staying tuned for the future that is the now: I believe at this rate, everything will make sense soon enough.

One last thing before I sign off, I hope you can be surprised about this chapter now even more than the others before it because another special guest is going to be joining our fateful protagonist in this chapter below; but, it will not be the end until otherwise so please stay tuned and enjoy, okay?

Gemstone

Darkness was the only way of how the small world works, let alone the real world to say the very least; as a matter of fact, the small world is indeed the real world and vice versa too nevertheless. The jet black void was all that could be seen but not heard, felt, tasted, or smelled and yet it can be also sensed as well anyways, devoid of even a modicum of light bearing any hue whatsoever. For a moment in time, it had seemed that all was completely lost, its mere fate already sealed and set in stone to say the least before the very beginning; nothing else was going to change all that.

“Sweetie Belle…!” a loud gasp was emitted right from there, creating an anomaly that had given such a darkness some semblance of life whatsoever: a suddenly new voice being nothing more than ragged panting and wheezing from between intervals; before long, the haphazard breathing had soon quieted itself down into stabilization almost immediately within due time.

In its very place was the shuffling about in a somewhat reckless abandon, each and every move making contact with the small dimensional boundaries surrounding the whole time no less. Next were the sounds of kicking about being muffed and muted upon contact all within, perhaps every decibel from the very noise pollution just greatly reduced almost rather completely. Then, there had appeared to be fabric finding itself; without warning, footfalls had begun tapping onto the floor, its surface being a whole different story compared to all the walls closing in. All that had remained was a faint snuffle from the occupant, a small snort or two notwithstanding as the oxygen all around had instantaneously gotten sucked into its very nostrils only gently. Suddenly, a loud plop made itself known, resounding against the hard floor surface as the silent voice metamorphosed into a wail, ghastly as it were but rather interrupted by choking fluids.

A small diagonal path had made its way through, another joining it to keep the lachrymose tenant company: small beams of light peering from the windowsill, a gateway that was high like a kite. Speaking of which, the firmament’s color had also contributed to the very light in and of itself, creating a diminutive glimpse of the external surroundings that were just beyond the four walls. The sun resided in there as well too, being the source of illumination that had just broken away from the circumnavigating clouds that were dispensing some rain with a few rumbles of thunder. The scarcity of brightness gave it some bit worthy of color: a patch of light blue standing up to contrast against the dingy gray for the sake of providing observers below a bastion of visibility. Touching the floor, it had revealed its surface to be that of a patch of white tainted by the vocal majority of darkness, its circle bearing a square tile as it glistened and gleamed out of all others. If one were to look inside of the segmented photons rather closely, then it would become perhaps possible to see magnificent mysteries ready to be solved at once by anyone from all walks of life.

Soon, a shadow appeared from within the jet black void, obscuring the very sunlight in an instant without even a care in the whole wide world: it had the shape of a foot and its skin possessed the color and texture of porcelain; slowly, its owner quickly trudged towards the light in a moment. A small set of mulberry locks had made its way from the very darkness as these tresses reflected the very rays of light that were peering from the clouds that had obscured the skyward treasure from about as they had reached to the nape of the neckline with only a few strands touching it. Turning around to face them all at once had revealed but a pair of sapphire orbs circling about the pupils, thin brows instantaneously furrowed into slanted inclines as they were forming that of an edgy and downward concave of frustration and melancholy all coexisting in a fragile balance. The observer’s face was feminine, possessing a clear complexion that was burning very brightly even against the moisten cheeks, a uniform commonality found all throughout the rest of the integumentary system as beads of liquid trailed from the long but delicate eyelashes above them. Draped over most of the body was a white ensemble of clothing upon her: on one layer was only a thick gown which was so long it had managed to cover up both arms and reach over past the kneecaps completely; the other outermost layer was a straitjacket holding both arms behind her.

The woman squirmed about towards the sunlight, surrounding it all as she looked over with a weary gaze in her dark blue eyes. She had sniffled silently again as they became easily flooded with little warning whatsoever before shutting them both away. The woman coughed and choked between intervals before the tears fell onto the floor, staying solely within place suffice to say. Aside from the beams being her natural guide, the warmth also kept the tenant company even though she was seeing darkness.

Just as the woman had felt alone in the whole wide world with her strained breathing, a new sound permeated throughout the dulled atmosphere: the erratic ringing of metal rapidly clanging against another resounded within both eardrums; suddenly, the echo had quickly subsided. As if on cue, she had turned her eyes to the partition away from her head as the lights came on instantaneously, revealing the dark secret dimensions of her confines where she looked on ahead at the doorway out of expectation for some other individual to appear before herself at once. Both of the woman’s ears currently had stood on endwise as a series of footfalls were echoing about, its sound being of softened fabric treading lightly against the hard flooring coming from outside the checkered room that she was already inside of now, preparing for the lone visitor. Needless to say, she had remained slouched upon the very flooring underneath herself at once, the light from the egress becoming instantaneously obscured as the outsider’s footsteps were now being replaced by the likes of thin metal scraping about in a refrained legato of jingles.

Sure enough, the crack in the door had started to grow wide a bit within a second as both of the woman’s ears wriggled about, greeted by a curt voice already entering them almost instantly, “morning, your highness…”

“Huh…?” she had groaned, regaining the strength to back away from the very door all at once, “what’s going on…?”

“Today’s your monthly; I suggest you behave yourself…” the visitor had snapped a bit gently, stepping in to face the woman within only seconds.

At this moment in time, she was now in the presence of another figure, the latter possessing a shadow that had overtaken the former’s body. The woman was able to find that she and the visitor had shared one thing in common: their faces possessed the same gender upon them thereof. Nevertheless, the two individuals whom were present had many considerable differences that had already separated each other instantaneously.

The figure in question whom had arrived to see her had stood tall and rarefied, the source of the shadow’s dimensions in which the latter was made aware of. Unlike the woman’s hair which was clean and pristine, the visitor happened to possess so many greasy locks of blue in different shades constricted by a caul. Eyes belonging to the lanky individual happened were a toxic green; both of them had steadily focused upon the prostrate occupant with some mild contempt. The observant visitor had a slightly tanned complexion, one that was rather as clear as the golden sun was shining directly above in the big blue sky above them. Compared to the woman’s attire, the lanky individual wore a pale yellow ensemble consisting of a jacket, skirt, and slippers that covered up most of the owner.

Seeing the lone visitor in question appearing had made her spit out within a mere second, “Coldheart?!”

“That’s Nurse Snowheart to you, wretch…!” the lanky individual had snapped right back at the woman already instantaneously, “let’s go: Doctor Sevenfold isn’t going to be waiting any longer Miss Rarity…!”

“What’s the point anyway; what good will it ever do for the likes of me…?” the eponymous occupant had choked out rather immediately.

The nurse had stepped forward and picked her up by the collar with only a lowly growl, “the whole purpose of this entire exercise is to keep you from trying to end your life; for a while now, you’ve been nothing but a head case for the half of the staff here at the hospital…! Sweetheart was fortunate enough to coax you into taking a bath yesterday but today you’re going to be dealing with me on the way over to and from Doctor Sevenfold’s office for the time being. Under normal circumstances, people who try to kill their own siblings are no better than those who have succeeded in doing so, let alone those who allow it to happen, especially in my eyes! Now having said that, you should be counting your blessing that you were sent here instead of prison up in the capital for the rest of your life for what you did to your own sister. As far as I am concerned, you’re basically worse than Applejack for all I could know; the poor woman gave up one of her rapists’ child to someone else because of what they had done to her. Meanwhile, your response to finding your sister left in a burning home to die after being defiled forever and watching your parents being murdered was to simply wring her neck out to dry…! In any case, it’s time to go on and meet him soon enough; we haven’t got all day for whatever mess is going to go down out there: besides, feeding you has been quite a pain lately since then.”

“Fine then, nurse…!” Rarity sighed as she had gotten onto her own two feet already, “sometimes I wish I could sleep a lot more longer than that…”

“You’ll get your chance soon enough but now, I suggest you stay out of trouble…” the lanky individual had retorted while guiding the restrained woman out from the simple and sterile spot from the stounds.

It wasn’t long until she watched Snowheart close the door right behind her; afterwards, they had started walking away from there as they were guided by a series of lights directly above them. The sights and sounds of footfalls going between the twosome created a pattern in which would be observed every time a door frame was passed by, occasionally interspersed with the droning. Rarity had been steadily staring at her own two feet moving about upon the white tiles beneath as they traveled onward throughout the hallway with the nurse keeping a sharp eye all upon herself.

Within only minutes, the otherwise strenuous pattern had now met its end, overtaken by a vast new area that they had just walked in. Filling the widened space were but many sets of round tables strewn across from their position, each of which were occupied at once. Above the very occupants were a few wooden fans that were all spinning about from underneath the ceiling in the same speed thereof. The four walls had but a set of some windows providing both light and scenery from the outside world beyond the premises all at once. There was also another hallway within the vicinity where people were coming in from, more numerous than that of the two thereof. Even the very flooring now had gained some bits of color that were sprinkled across the uniformity of whiteness all throughout.

The woman had looked around and asked the lanky individual briefly, “come to think of it, where’s Doctor Sevenfold’s office…?”

“It’s just around the corner; as a matter of fact, he’s not too far away…” Snowheart answered snidely as she was greeted by the sight of another; unlike the one that the latter had been pulled out of, it was rather different so to speak: it was mostly wooden save for some acrylic glass, “here we are; enjoy…!”

It wasn’t long until Rarity was lightly shoved into there after the nurse had opened it up within due time, free from the latter’s influence but still restrained by the clothing anyway nevertheless. The woman was now surrounded with wider walls of wintergreen wearing out the willows within them alongside some flowers and posters adorned upon them with a few words painted upon. Another window was found on the left side, bearing the scenery of the landscape beyond their confines as they bore the golden sun shining right upon the brilliant green underneath the sky. Lying right nearby the woman’s legs were some furniture in a dark blue scheme: one of them was a long couch that was touching a bookshelf; the other was a chair aligned towards a desk. Yonder over her head was a source light that was in a series of coils burning brightly all at once, providing the room she was in some extra guidance and warmth all throughout its dimensions.

Standing up in front Rarity was a light skinned man sitting down upon a chair within the chestnut desk, bearing a rather different form than the lanky individual. Unlike the visiting woman’s sizeable yet colorful tresses, he was currently wearing some thin locks of jet black narrowly crawling out from the owner’s scalp. The lone man was bearing eyes of two separate but equally significant colors: on one side, the left on was a light lime; on the other, the right was a dark lemon. He was wearing a large white overcoat that had allowed his very arms the freedom to go and move around wherever he’d seemed fit at any given time.

“Ah, Miss Rarity, good morning; I was looking forward to your arrival…” the man said he had looked upon towards her from the top of the desk.

The titular tenant had rolled her true blue eyes around counterclockwise and replied slowly, “said the nurse with caustic condemnation…”

“We’re aware that it’s not your first time here…” he had said, laying down his utensil gently, “have you seen Nurse Sweetheart today…?”

“Not at all; I heard that today’s her day off: it’s not unusual for a woman like her to seek solace once a week from here…” the woman answered.

The man reached down beneath the desk only to return with a small aluminum can in his hand, “anyways, have a seat… I understand that you’re still looking for ways to end you life: it’s what some people wish to do but they pay the price themselves; so then, you want to talk about it…?”

“What is there to talk about…?” she had scoffed, looking towards the books on the right without a care in the world, “for all we know, if it wasn’t for those damned dastards, then I would like to have what they had taken kept intact and everything else would be fucking peachy–keen…! Of course, people like me can’t afford to have nice things this day and age, let alone even keep them no matter how hard one works their heart and soul into clothes for girls and boys of all ages and backgrounds. Growing up, I had used to dream about making it into the capital of this great nation because it was, at the time, the ultimate statement of legitimacy for an aspiring prodigy that meant absolute achievement. In the past decade I had spent making dresses to no end in sight, I had ran the risk of endangering my relationships with the people I had grown up with in this town time and time again, including my own family so to speak. Even though that many of them didn’t mind it, we were able to live in peace nonetheless, at least until that day these brutes, these curs, these demons sent our home off to Tartarus in a handbasket without so much as a balm! Not only have they succeeded in blatantly degrading and depreciating those whom have been borne and/or nurtured only to die in this town, they have torn asunder those whose lives are forever effected by the war itself! I am aware of other people who had lost their homes, their gardens, their savings, and livelihoods in there alongside the ones who had so much more than that with a price which can never be truly replaced or repaid with mere material goods and/or services! My friend Applejack ended up watching her grandmother be killed by that sorry excuse of a living being which had dared to wear a soldier’s uniform before being left for dead in her family’s farm with memories of my sister’s friend kidnapped to make money at her expense! Even worse, aside from being debased like that newly diseased rancher, Sweetie Belle had been left to die in a burning boutique that I and my pet Opal, may she rest in peace, called home after watching both of our own parents being murdered and being stripped of her innocence completely forevermore!”

“You’re looking for a way out, weren’t you Rarity…?” he said as the aforementioned visitor sat down upfront.

The woman still had looked away from the man and retorted, “if I had wanted out sooner, then I could have just found the next battle and let some soldier, if they had ever deserved to be called one, put me out of my misery; of course, that would mean leaving Sweetie Belle all alone in the cold cruel world that had already ate our parents…!”

“Tell me: where are you from; where did you spend your childhood, before the war, mind you…?” he had asked her immediately, “you had mentioned that you grew up in the countryside but where were you born exactly…?”

“Baltimare, Herr Doctor, otherwise known as the ABC of charms down equity…” Rarity sighed with a faint grin before reverting back.

The doctor frowned at the woman in front of him and had stated sternly at once, “let me lay this out for you here: I have a lot of cases to go until lunch time, some of which that last for at least an hour at most on average so I don’t have time to waste here. Now, you can sit here and remain silent if you want to but our sessions are going to begin until you begin talking to me; besides, I have a whole lot of work to catch up on in the meantime ‘til nightfall. Putting it lightly, it doesn’t matter to me if anyone is willing to talk or not: after all, I can listen to whatever is on their mind and/or in their hearts; however, I would like to see some positive progress for the time being, even from someone like you.”

“I should say the same thing but it’s actually not…” she had responded in turn with a quick huff, “what about prison…?”

“What about it…?” the man had asked briefly.

Rarity had replied, “just send me to prison…”

“This is prison right there; lock yourself up…” he had spoken up calmly while pushing the very beverage forward, “want something to drink…?”

“It’s just a waste of time for me to even drink, even if it’s only a carbonated one…” the woman had answered only bitterly while looking away.

The doctor had sighed and then retorted gently, “nothing’s a waste of time; maybe you can start by asking me a question. I don’t know… get things going; I can do that: you said that you had come from Baltimare, am I right…?”

“I did but I wasn’t born there, not in my mother’s hometown…” she had sighed with but a brief nod, “both of my parents were staying in that city on their honeymoon; they always happen to be seeing the world from beyond the homeland and within on a constant basis and the city happened to be the first place they had stayed a lot longer than a month, let alone a year or two. I kind of recalled the day that my baby sister had come into this world when we were on vacation there in Applewood; unlike Applejack’s family, ours was small as far as I had known: no grandparents, brothers, cousins, aunts, or uncles whatsoever. As to how I had ended up in south of the capital for little over a decade, they had been nice enough to move there and settle for once; that’s when I had found what I had thought to be my own destiny: a large geode filled to the brim with more gemstones than I could have ever understood what to do with. I could have fallen down when the erosion underneath me had given way and made the place of discovery my own early grave; back then, it was even safer for some people at my age to go to the big city all on their lonesome like in one of these Van Waifs books made by that lovely Gearwax C. Warren, the early ones, mind you.”

“Go on; what had caused you to go there by yourself on that day…?” the man had asked as he was intrigued enough to start writing again.

Moving forward to the drink, Rarity had said to him with a faint smile all at once, “I had a metal detector given to me on my tenth birthday by my dearest father; he was inspired by that stage show we had went to back in Applewood by that performer, Gilded Gourd. According to him, it was once claimed that sometimes when the conditions are just right, it could lead you to greater discoveries; at the time, my greatest discovery what that of fashion. Of course, this was when I had remembered there was a school play the following night when I was made in charge of the costumes; my schoolteacher had complimented them on looking nice but I had still felt that they were incomplete so I had tried out this device as one of my last resorts. Funny how something so gaudy like this could lead me to become more determined to not give up on my dreams so easily and yet it was used to turn our lives into a fucking nightmare; the last time I had seen it was after when the Carousel Boutique had burned down. The memory of my father’s wonderful gift had been snapped in two and thrown into an oven, presumably at a higher temperature than necessary to create a small fire that had destroyed everything in so much time whatsoever. The only thing that was saved, or rather salvaged, was my only sister, laying there bleeding and crying like there was no tomorrow with the memories of our parents murdered before her eyes; with the war impending ready to come down and rain fury upon the both of us, I had decided upon murder–suicide by drowning. Saddened and angered by the grave injustices done to my kin coupled with the lack of a prospective future for the lot of us, putting her out of my misery seemed like the only good deed I could think of rather letting her become dishonored any further before she had finally died. Death, it comes for everyone, it’s unavoidable, it’s unstoppable, for we cannot stop it: no matter what we do to try to cease or slow it down, it will always come for us, like it did with so many others like our parents. Of course, somehow I had felt that the same force thereof had become picky all of the sudden when I’d thrown us both into the river, fully expecting to die, and, in my case rotting in darkest pit of Tartarus while Sweetie Belle reunites with them in Elyse; instead of either one, we had ended up surviving downstream, far away from our hometown.”

“How did that make you feel when you had ended up living…?” the lone doctor had asked as he already provided an achromatic straw for the woman upfront of him, “what were your sister’s thoughts as well…?”

“What were we supposed to think: we lost our home, our parents, our hopes and dreams in that damned fire but not our lives whereas everyone else for all I had known was probably dead, including Fluttershy of all people; are you saying that we shouldn’t even think of being happy?!” she had shrieked out loud before hyperventilating.

It was at this point where the man had noticed some redness growing upon Rarity’s visage and eyes and cautioned her very clearly, “calm down… you’re going hurt yourself with the way you’re in currently…”

“Calm down…?” the woman burst into laughter, “how can I calm down when I had already been hurt by what these poltroons have done to the likes of me…? How can I calm down when I had been cursed with the memories of trying to subject my own sister to a sanctimonious honor killing?! How can I calm down knowing that two of my friends had suffered the same fact as the likes of Sweetie Belle before being left to die?! HOW CAN I EVEN FUCKING CALM DOWN SINCE I’D KNOWN THAT GOOD PEOPLE LIKE FLUTTERSHY AND TWILIGHT HAD SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF COCKSUCKERS LIKE GELATIN AND WHATNOT?! TO EVEN SAY THAT ACHIEVING THIS PEACE WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAD HAPPENED THE DOG’S BOLLOCKS WOULD BE AN INSULT TO ALL BREEDS OF CANINES, INCLUDING APPLEJACK’S PET, MAY SHE REST IN PEACE! AS A MATTER OF FACT, EVEN OPALESCENCE DESERVED BETTER THAN BEING LOCKED IN A BURNING OVEN WITH THAT DESTROYED DEVICE I HAD ONCE CALLED A BIRTHDAY PRESENT FROM DAD; IF ANYONE DESERVED TO BE DEFILED AND DEBASED, THEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FUCKING ME INSTEAD, NOT MY SISTER!”

“Security…!” he had cried as he ended up pushing a nearby button on his right of way instantly all at once, discharging a harsh and loud klaxon.

At the same time, she had tipped herself over away from the brown desk, smashing the very chair right underneath in the process while cackling about, “BASTARDS, GREAT FIERY TARTARUS TO THEM; I OUGHT MEET THEM WITH CHAIN, KNIFE OR RAZOR ANYTIME SOON! I’M NOT HAVING ANYONE AIMING HITS AT HER REASONLESS; I HOPE THESE FUCKING DEMONS CHOKE ON IT ALL!”

“Doctor Sevenfold, what’s wrong?!” a pair of guards in whitish gray clothes asked, only to be greeted with an answer before them, “her again…?”

“I’LL AVENGE YOU SWEETIE, YOU TOO OPAL, AND I WON’T FORGET EITHER OF YOU MOM AND DAD; NEVER AGAIN…!” Rarity had roared resoundingly with hot tears within her otherwise desiccated eyes as one of them, another dark skinned man pulled out a needle with some yellow liquid within.

The other counterpart, another woman with a tanned complexion reminiscent of Snowheart’s skin albeit with freckles, had warned him immediately, “keep your distance; at this rate, she’s gonna end up having a seizure if it doesn’t stop…”

“Get Doctor Monitor and a gurney on the double…” the male guard said as grabbed onto the frantic patient’s left arm firmly “now, now…”

“GET READY TO BE FUCKED BY THE ARCHDEMON, YOU CURS; TARTARUS AWAITS YOU AND TELL THE REST I’LL BE COMING NEXT…!” Rarity had cackled about as the needle went right directly in her vein.

It wasn’t long until Sevenfold had asked, “is this her fifth outburst already, Vigilance?”

“Worse: seventh; at this rate, we might need to do another brain scan…” the eponymous guard answered at once, watching as the patient started slacking around about, “I’m betting that the next seizure she has will probably kill her unless we do something about it; no more of the lithium flowers for the time being…”

“So be it…” the doctor wheezed as he had watched Rarity be dragged out from the office by the other man, the percussion of horns still ringing about with reckless abandon; outside, sounds of other people chattering about faintly yet clearly were overlapping each other in a disorganized chorus all dazed and confused with some delay.