Void: Simple Solution

“That's the funny thing about trying to escape. You never really can. Maybe temporarily, but not completely.”

― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Onyx

  Rainbow Dash felt tears brimming in her dark pink eyes, and she had finally calmed her heart rate and breathing once she was in the cold black void she had grown used to. She blinked the growing tears away, glad to have left the previous situation and environment.

  "...Wow... I... What am I supposed to get from that?... I feel...", Rainbow Dash tried to think about what she had just experienced, but she just couldn't describe it. The fear and desperate tone in the voices stuck to her head. She felt horrified. Sick. Depressed, even.

  Rainbow Dash gasped in fear once she fell onto a cold grey floor of concrete. Rainbow Dash slowly stood up, and she gazed around her. Ahead of her were steel bars, as though a prison was her current destination. Beyond the prison, was the everlasting cold void that remained constant in Fluttershy's mind. When Rainbow Dash gazed behind her, she spotted a hallway. There was no colour plastered in the hall, nor the room. Yet Rainbow Dash felt a strange, yet subtle attraction to the unforgiving gaze of the hall.

  Rainbow Dash slowly took a few steps forward without a thought, and stepped into the hall. Uncertainty held close, she trudged onwards through the hall. The grey grew old, and lost any interest to Rainbow Dash.

  Rainbow Dash just stared ahead.

  Until she stepped out onto a small grassy cliff edge, with dim lighting from inside the hall serving as the sun, and beyond it remained the void of darkness. Rainbow Dash gulped, staring out upon the darkness. She quickly turned around, hoping to leave the creepy ledge, but behind her was more darkness.

  "Uhh... Where did... Fluttershy's mind, maybe stop playing around aaaand... I dunno, put me somewhere... Happier, maybe? Maybe just... NOT HERE?", Rainbow Dash spoke quickly, expecting to get a response. She didn't.

  Rainbow Dash froze as everything went quiet. And then, she heard crickets.

  "Where... Am I?...", she asked outloud, lightly able to see the ground and land around her. Rainbow Dash made notice of a short wooden dock, far ahead, standing over a calm body of water. Around Rainbow Dash laid shrubbery, bushes, trees, and rocks. She couldn't make complete sense of anything, as it was clear that it was night. Yet, the Moon had not been in the sky, nor any stars. Just pitch black, with a dark blue horizon off in the distance across the water.

  Rainbow Dash let a breath of air out, glad that she was in a better place.

  "Maybe this isn't SO bad... Well, it IS pretty bad, just sorta... Uh... Not that bad anymore.", Rainbow Dash thought, using her wing as a chin rest as she thought her situation through. Once she returned her wing to her side, she recognized a figure ahead. It was Fluttershy. The part that confused Rainbow Dash, was the fact that Fluttershy was probably a young filly at that time. The young filly gazed off the dock. Rainbow Dash noticed that she had a look of emptiness in her eyes, as she walked up next to her. Rainbow's instinct told her to comfort her, but at the same time she felt afraid. As though Fluttershy would shatter the moment she touched her.

  "What's it like to escape?", the young Fluttershy asked, knocking Rainbow Dash off guard.

  "Huh?", Rainbow Dash spoke, intelligently. Rainbow Dash froze in fear, when she recognized a shadowy void-figure of Fluttershy lightly mumbling, right behind the young filly.

  "It feels like being completely still, and in motion at the same time...", the voice lightly mumbled.

  "Sometimes I'm scared that I'll escape and then things will be exactly the same as before...", the solid Fluttershy stated quietly.

  "It actually changes. It's not the same.", the voice mumbles.

  "Oh, good! That's nice to hear... That makes me feel... Really happy.", filly Fluttershy spoke, a pleasant smile building onto her face, yet her eyes continued to gaze listlessly into the water, she then spoke. "What do I have to do?"

  "To be free, you need to tell me how you feel right now...", the voice mumbled into her ear, and Rainbow Dash approached the duo, sitting next to filly Fluttershy, and as she wrapped her wing around her without a thought, she cringed, feeling no body heat. She felt as though she was touching ice, but she didn't pull away from the wing hug. Instead, Rainbow Dash held Fluttershy close, yet Fluttershy didn't seem to react in any way.

  "...What?", Fluttershy said out loud, in response to the voice.

  "How do you feel?", the voice spoke again. Rainbow Dash listened intently, hoping for a solution.

  "Okay... I feel afraid that nothing will ever change...", Fluttershy spoke, emotionlessly.

  "Keep going.", the voice urged. Before everything faded to black, and Rainbow Dash tried to reach over and hold Fluttershy more, but couldn't find her form in the void.

  Rainbow Dash had grown used to the black voids, and looked around once she reappeared somewhere. She wasn't in a hallway, or behind bars, or in a white room. Rainbow Dash was on a cloud, and ahead of her was a place she recognized as flight camp.

  "Huh?... Flight camp?...", Rainbow Dash thought outloud, as she felt memories pouring into her heart like warm cider. She walked into a small yard ahead of the camp ground. She laughed slightly.

"C'mon, Fluttershy!", spoke a young Rainbow Dash. Her grin was wild, and filled with joy. Her eyes burned a comforting and caring gaze.

Fluttershy followed Rainbow Dash, and then stood ahead of her, with a slight smile on her face. She looked content. Happy.

"Let's get you flyin'! I'm sure with ME around, you'll be off the ground in NO time!", said Rainbow Dash, flying up slightly.

  Rainbow Dash smiled at the memory, and then gazed upon the empty cloud yard. Cold wind blowing against her coat. Rainbow Dash walked over to yet another filly Fluttershy, and then sat next to her once again. The filly had grown older, clearly. About the age she had been when they both gained their cutiemarks.

  "Did... I escape?", the filly asked, facing down towards the surface of the Earth, off the edge of the cloud.

  The wind ceased, and the air around Rainbow Dash grew morbidly chilled. She shuddered, feeling a chill go up her spine. Yet, no black figure accompanied Fluttershy this time. Instead, Rainbow Dash turned to see a light transparent figure moving towards them.

  Rainbow Dash tried to make sense of the figure, but everything went black before she could. Rainbow's vision was regained. She looked around. She was in a long hall, that she recognized almost immediately.

  "Huh?... Isn't this the highschool 'Shy, and I went to?...", Rainbow Dash looked down the hallway. It had white cloud walls, and the floor was coated in light blue tiles. Rainbow Dash took a few cautious steps forward, and found herself compelled to walk into the only room with a wide open door.

  A large grey figure stood at the front of the room. The chalkboard was laced with scribbled words. Rainbow Dash looked ahead and towards the students. In the room laid twenty desks, containing mere voids and grey figures, and slightly grey Fluttershy. The teacher didn't seem to speak, and Rainbow Dash finally looked at the words upon the board.

  'Useless.'

  'Worthless.'

  'Pathetic.'

  'Failure.'

  Rainbow Dash felt rage building up, and her blood boiled. But she felt sick to her stomach. She just wanted to kick and scream denials. But nothing came out. She felt tears burning violently in her eyes, and Rainbow Dash felt weak.

  And then the unexpected happened. A bell rang, and Fluttershy stood up from her desk slowly, and exitted the room, with the grey figures doing the same.

  Rainbow Dash said, "Wait!", and then flew up and followed the Fluttershy, seeing her walk towards the bright, and vibrant figure.

  Before everything became black once again.

  "Ugh!", Rainbow Dash groaned, "I don't understand! How am I supposed to help, when I can't DO anything?!..", Rainbow Dash angrily asked the darkness, not even expecting an answer.

  She found herself on a large stage. There were many seats, lined up one by one. They all had grey shadowy figures viewing up upon the stage.

  "You are me.", a voice said. The voice sounded like Fluttershy, but nearly emotionless.

  "What?", Rainbow Dash quickly said.

  "In this scene, you will be me."

  "Oh. Uh. Sure, I guess.", Rainbow Dash said.

  A chair appeared, with a grey figure upon it, seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  "The mare across the room is a professional veterinarian. It's your dream to be a veterinarian. This is your one chance to learn something from her, to gain something. To succeed.", Fluttershy's voice continued.

  "Go on. Say something to her.", Fluttershy urged.

  "...Hello?", Rainbow Dash spoke, plainly. She wasn't sure how to react to this, but once again, she felt disturbed.

  "That's it?... Hello? That's not a conversation. You need to actually converse with her. Do as I say, act how I demand of you.", the voice lost all emotion, and had lost any resemblance to Fluttershy's voice. The voice became cold, and cruel. It wasn't patient. It wasn't polite. It wasn't Fluttershy.

  "Do it again.", the voice demanded.

  Rainbow Dash's face held an expression of pure shock, and horror. Her eyes were the size of pinpricks, trying to find an answer for what just happened. She wondered what led this to be?

  "Alright. Hey, uh... I'm--", Rainbow Dash started, trying to create a conversation with the grey figure.

  "No! That's not what I said to her at all!", the voice exclaimed, "You're completely missing this. Try again.", the voice demanded.

  "Right...", Rainbow Dash dryly stated.

  "Talk! Now! Do it!", the voice exclaimed.

  "Sheesh, okay!... Uhhh... Hey, what's up?", Rainbow Dash tried saying to the mare.

  "No! You've messed it ALL up again! You'll freak her out if the conversation became that personal that quickly! Do you not realize how important this was for me? I'll never get another opportunity like this again!"

  "But... What? I just...", Rainbow Dash tried to speak, but couldn't respond.

  "Do you want to see what happened?", the voice had returned to being Fluttershy.

  "...Yeah. I kinda do...", Rainbow Dash said through gritted teeth, slightly annoyed, but her interest remained.

  The curtain on the stage raised.

  "Go on.", Fluttershy urged.

  Rainbow Dash walked back into the large void, and cringed as a large wall slammed shut behind her.

  "I don't exactly follow...", she commented.

  The second wall closed.

  "This is good! The solution to my problems. Isn't it? The solution to my social anxiety, my fears of performing and failure. I hid myself away.

  Is it the solution?

  ... Is it?"

  Everything went white.

  "...Hello?", Rainbow Dash spoke, feeling like she just went blind from the sudden change of lighting. Her voice carried in the void, yet fog seemed to pull back from around her. Rainbow Dash felt grass beneath her hooves, and then tentatively took a few steps forward. She observed her surroundings. She was upon a small floating island of grass, and dirt, with a single lone tree next to a pathway. Around the small island laid a vast white void, replacing the previous darkness that had existed.

  "Oh, my!.. Hello there!", a voice distantly spoke.

  Rainbow grinded to a stop, suddenly unsure of what to say. She wondered if she was even being talked to.

  "I'm sorry, did I scare you?... I can be such a loudmouth sometimes... Anyhow, it's lovely to meet you!", the voice spoke again.

  Rainbow Dash was confused, and quickly realized who the voice reminded her of. Fluttershy.

  "Uh.. Hi! Nice to meet you too.", Rainbow Dash said, hoping that this would be how she found a way to help her friend.

  A path way formed, and the fog slipped back and into the white void.

  "Could... You come and maybe... Talk to me? Maybe, face to face?...", the voice asked shyly, with a hopeful tone.

"Alright. I'll come see you. Where are you, exactly?", Rainbow Dash responded, looking around.

  "The path that opened. You can find me there. Please hurry, I'm not sure how much... Nevermind, I'll see you soon... Right?", the disembodied voice of Fluttershy said back.

  "Of course.", Rainbow Dash said, walking across the path that formed.

  "I'm inside there!", the voice cheerily said, coming from the direction of a wooden door.

  Rainbow Dash grinned, finally expecting some answers. But when she stepped inside her grin faded instantly. There were white walls around her. The calm sound of birds and a forest slipped away, leaving nothing but silence.

  "...You're not here. Where are you?", Rainbow Dash asked, fear slipping into her mind, "No! Keep calm.", Rainbow Dash quickly thought, trying to ease her nerves.

  "Trust me. You'll see me. You have to say the truth."

  "What truth?...", Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, confused.

  "You have to say that I'm O.K.", the voice answered.

  "Uh... Sure. You're okay?", Rainbow Dash said, and cringed as she heard an echoing of sobbing and hurt moans.

  "Good.", the voice spoke lightly, and the walls seemed to lower into the ground, revealing another layer. The next layer had contained scratch marks.

  Rainbow Dash felt horrible. She wasn't sure what any of this meant, but it probably wasn't good.

  "...Say it's a simple solution, please?", the voice pleaded.

  "What is?", Rainbow Dash asked, hoping that there would be a revelation, or an answer. The solution.

  "The solution. It's simple, right?"

  "What IS the solution?"

  "I don't know."

  "Is the solution to... Hide?", Rainbow Dash spoke, unsure of what to do.

  "...Yes. That sounds right. Isn't it simple?"

  "But... I don't know! Yes? No?! I'm not sure!", Rainbow Dash exclaimed, before turning to a yellow mare ahead of her, facing away from her, "Fluttershy...", she lightly mumbled, slowly approaching her friend. Her friend was clearly in pain, sobbing, crying, and moaning. But everything just...

  Went black. No sound remained. All she saw was the black void that just kept returning.

  She felt warm tears stroll down her cheeks, and plummet down into the dark void that had captured her.