.

She decided to get moving. There was probably nothing here, but if there was, then she wouldn’t find it by staying in one place. So she flew, and the longer she did, the more strength she put into her wing beats, but no matter how hard she pushed, she never felt any sign of exhaustion. If there was such a thing as distance here, then she must have already flown far. And she was fast; if nothing else, the feeling of the air against her feathers gave her an indication. And yet, she could probably fly like this forever. Minutes crept by while she flew and her mind wandered, trying to remember more, trying to track back the memories she had to their end... but there was no hard end, there were only vague lights and disconnected bits. It was a swamp, and her hooves seemed to sink in deeper the longer she tried, until she just gave up, resigning to not making progress and instead staring blankly ahead into the blackness while she flew.

Hours must have passed already. She couldn’t know for sure, but they must have. It felt like she had always been here, always in the dark. Maybe she was. Those bits of her memory might be mere illusions, threads to a world that didn’t exist. Perhaps she had only just been born. Or perhaps she was as old as time itself, but not able to trace back her own memories faithfully. Had she really been somewhere else before she had awoken here? It seemed impossible. It seemed to her more and more like she had always been here.

No. No, the place was getting to her. Understandably so. She remembered parts of her life, after all. Fragmented and blurry, but still. She had once lived. Probably not too long ago.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure why she wasn’t panicking. Maybe she was afraid to. Maybe this was easier. She would spend a long time here, probably forever. It was better to stay calm. So she kept on breathing and flew.

And flew. And flew. It was still cold, and seeing as nothing she did caused her any exhaustion, there was probably also nothing she could do about the cold. It would stay with her, always be there. Truly, always. She pushed the thought away and kept flying, but the more time passed, the more she got bored, and there was also this vague feeling of threat that slowly, slowly rose inside of her.

It was to be expected. To be expected.

Time didn’t speed up, but eventually, it seemed to be bleeding into itself. Fluttershy had never stopped flying, not as hours became days and not as days became weeks. Somehow, some way, she knew that if she just kept flying, she would be fine. She had kept flying when panic had overwhelmed her, when boredom had consumed her, when a feeling of numbness had seemed to encompass everything. Always flying.

A lot of time had passed. A lot of time. Sometimes, she tried to guess how much it was, but mostly she preferred not to think about it, thinking instead about Rarity... just her name, saying it over and over again in her thoughts. Or sometimes aloud. That helped.

And things had gotten better. Fluttershy had learned to appreciate how peaceful it was. She often felt calm and content, and the panic attacks had become less and less frequent, too. Someday, perhaps, she might learn to be happy. Perhaps, it was just a matter of time. And she had all the time in the world.

At least that’s what she thought until she saw it. A gray