I awoke in a dark world, all I could hear was the howling of wind. I brought my hand to my head in a splitting headache, but the sight of my hand stopped me. It was distorted, like I was looking at it through water. Slowly, I brought myself to a standing position, seeing all my limbs shared the rippling effect I saw in my hand.
"Where am I?" I wondered. There was nothing but black in all directions, and only the wind echoed in the vast emptiness. In the distance, I could see six colors, each slowly growing brighter. They were very dim, but I could still tell that was my best option to escaping this place. There was a pain in my thigh and back, as I began my slow trudge to the colors. As I pressed on, I heard a voice. A female voice.
"Daddy?" It said. I knew the voice as soon as I heard it. The sweet yet assertive tone that had been used so many times in my day to day life. My daughter. I didn't know what to feel. It had been over a year ago since her real family and friends had found her, and took her home.
"Daddy, can you hear me?" Her voice asked. I wanted to cry out to her, scream that I had missed her. But I didn't, I just kept walking toward the colors. They began to glow brighter as my daughter's voice grew louder.
"Daddy! Are you okay?" My vision briefly faded to white, and I saw that cardboard box I had found her in over 16 years ago. I reached out to it, only for my vision to flash again, and return to the darkness and the colors. After a few seconds my pains worsened, my back and thigh had never burned so badly. I wanted to collapse and scream in pain, but for some reason, I could not. The colors grew closer, and once again my vision faded to white. This time I saw her sleeping, only 7 years old, whispering
"I love you daddy." before falling asleep completely. I instantly was overwhelmed with love and joy, and began to feel tears strolling down my cheeks. I reached for her, but my vision faded to white again. Again I was surrounded by the wind and darkness, the colors nearly upon me. My pains once again worsened, my body may as well have made of magma. But I could not stop walking, my daughter whispered in encouragement;
"You can do it dad. I believe in you." That was all it took. Gritting my teeth through the intense pain, I reached the colors. I reached out to grab the blue light. But the ground collapsed beneath me, sending me plummeting into the darkness. Falling in the black all I could hear was my daughter's tearful voice.
"Why did you just let them take me away from you?" she cried in sorrow. I closed my eyes as I lost feeling all across my body, falling ever deeper into the bottomless pit...
I awoke again, this time in a meadow. I looked at my hand again. It was no longer distorted, but I could see right through it. It was like I was like I was a ghost. I looked to the right and left, it was beautiful meadow, it looked just like the one I had taken my daughter to when she was facing a deep inner turmoil. I thought back to those days, when her smile was all I needed to be happy. Now I was never happy. My vision faded to white, and I saw her again, 17 now, watching the TV in our living room. She turned to me and smiled.
"Hey pops. What's up?" she asked. As she got off the couch and began to come to me, my vision once again faded, and I was back in the meadow. I rolled over to my front and brought myself to my hands and knees. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and brought myself to my knees. Slowly I stood, and my vision faded to white. This time, it was to the day she was taken away from me. I saw her friends standing in my living room, and I heard her voice call down from her upstairs bedroom.
"Dad, is everything alright?" I heard once again. I teared up and sobbed. I remembered this day too well. My vision again faded to white. Back in the meadow, I heard a conversation with her and one of her real friends.
"I don't care our worlds are separated, he still took care of me for 15 years! He's still my dad in my eyes!"
"Please, try and listen to reason, the more you dwell on the past, the worse the pain will feel."
"Well how am I supposed to represent loyalty if I can't stay loyal to my dad? The man who took me in, gave me a home, food, water, and love? I can't! I can't just turn my back on him..." Love, joy, and sadness came over me as tears continued to slowly drip from my cheeks. A black fog engulfed me, slowly blocking out the meadow. Once again feeling faded from my body, and I heard her sad voice again.
"Didn't I mean anything to you?" My heart broke. I broke down sobbing as I once again fell into the blackness.
"I'm sorry Dashie..." I said between my tears.
"I'm so sorry..." There was no more feeling in my limbs...
A third awakening found me in a white room, the exact opposite of my first. It was silent, only my breathing disrupted the quiet. I looked at my hand again, it was normal. Nothing unusual about it at all. I brought myself to my feet, any physical pain I once felt was gone, like it had never existed. I saw my daughter sitting across the vast canvas of white, only to vanish into it. It was just toying with me now. Dangling her right in front of my face, then taking her away, making me feel sad, and abandoned. I let my anger boil and shouted into the nothingness.
"I just want to hold her one more time! Is that too much to ask?" I choked out the last words, and became filled with sorrow as they hit me. Was that to much to ask? I softly wept, curled into a ball and just stayed there.
"Please... I love her so much... Just one more time..." I said between my sobs. A rainbow sparkle appeared in the white, and I looked up, my face still red from the tears. I stood and reached out to the light, and stepped inside it. A cooling sensation filled my body as it slowly filled the white...
...
Rainbow awakened to find herself in a large white room. What was she doing here? It didn't make any sense.
Slowly, she brought herself up, and looked around. There was just an empty whiteness. Quickly, she flapped her wings and took to the sky. The room was still empty, not a single living thing in the vast wasteland. The cyan pegasus scratched her head with her hoof as she tried to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, she heard him, her dad.
"Dashie? Where are you?"
"Dad?" She asked into the white. She looked every direction she could, and flew across the white area.
"Rainbow Dash, talk to me sweetie!"
Her dad's voice called. Rainbow turned every direction, she began to cry.
"Daddy, where are you?" She sobbed. Her vision faded, and she was in a box. She looked up, and saw her dad. He took his jacket and wrapped it around her.
"Easy, I'm not gonna hurt you." Her vision faded again, and she was back in the room. Rainbow landed and sat. She could remember that day, but it was very long ago.
"Dashie, I'm here. Are up okay?" She heard. She turned around, but there was just white. Her vision faded again, and she was in her room, her old room. In the doorway, standing with a smile, was her dad. He came over to her and kissed her forehead. She smiled.
"I love you too, My Little Dashie." In that moment, she was happy. Once again her vision faded, and she was being engulfed by darkness. Rainbow began to panic, but once again she hears her dad.
"Don't worry Dashie, you'll be ok." With that, she relaxed, and let the black take her.
Again Rainbow Dash awakens, this time in a meadow. She recognized it instantly, it was the same one her dad had taken her to when she felt unsure of herself. He always loved to take her there, especially with all the open space and such. Again she brought herself to her hooves, and flapped her wings. The air was magnificent, with a wonderful array of flowers, and a small pond she and her dad would swim in. She smiled, as tears fell down her cheeks. This meadow was full of so many great and wonderful memories. She loved this meadow, it meant so much to her. And to her dad.
"Oh dad, I wish you were here now." She said longingly. Her vision faded to white, and she could see her dad, sitting alone, his face red with tears. He sat under a large tree in a storm, and was crying his eyes out.
"I'm so sorry Dashie... I'm so sorry..." He said over and over again. Rainbow tried to fly over and comfort him, but she couldn't move. She had to watch her father cry and apologize for seemingly no reason. Then she remembered, this was when she was 15 and discovered the truth. She was witnessing her dad that fateful day under the tree. She softly let tears drip as her vision faded. Back in the meadow, she found a journal, with her dad's name on it. She opened the book to a random page and began to read.
"Not a day goes by I don't think about her. I miss her so much. I'm happy she's home, but I can't help but feel empty inside. She was my life, the only thing I had left in the world. This depression is taking so much out of me, all that keeps me going is the fact I know she would want me to stay strong. None of my co-workers get it. I just wish I could talk to someone. Why does this have to be so difficult? I'm trying so hard to be strong, but it's so hard... There's no one I can turn to. Nowhere I can go. That's why I'm so happy for Dashie. She has Twilight and the others, she's like a sister to them. I know she's cared for, and that helps ease my pain. I just wish I could see her again, Christmas is only a few months away, and that's all I want."
Rainbow teared up and covered her mouth. Her dad was depressed? This was terrible... How could this happen? The report had said time was slowing down between the two worlds, and it was down to 2 days there for each day in Equestria. This couldn't have been written that long ago. Black once again began to surround her, and she heard his voice.
"I love you Dashie. I promise I'll never let anything to happen to you." He said. She smiled as the darkness swallowed her...
A third awakening found RD in a black room, completely silent. She looked around, but there was nothing for her to see. Her dad's voice cried out;
"I just want to hold her one more time! Is that too much to ask?"Rainbow brought herself to her hooves and looked around. She still couldn't see her dad.
"Why do I keep hearing his voice if I can't see him?" She wondered. She flapped her wings again and took to the air. Or at least she tried to. The second she was in the sky, there was a deep ripping, burning pain in her wings. She screamed and fell to the ground. Groaning in pain, she tried ferociously to flap her wings and fly. But it was of no use. With a sigh she slumped to the ground as her vision faded. Once again she saw her dad, but this time he was reading a note. He smiled as tears fell down his cheeks. Rainbow remembered now. This must have been just after she had been taken back to Ponyville. She smiled along with her dad. It was good to see him happy. Her vision faded, and she was back in the dark room. Her dad's notebook was once again on the ground, but this time was on a set page. She walked to it and began to read.
"I feel so... alone... Like there's nobody on the Earth who knows how I feel. There's Dashie, but she has friends she can turn to. I have nobody. I'm trying so hard to go on my day to day routine, but really... I just can't. The only time I ever get any peace is at night, where I can just dream she's still with me. I know Rainbow wants me to be strong (if she even remembers me), but I can't! I just know I'm letting her down. I had a dream where she just cried and told me how upset she was with me. I had never been so happy to wake up. I can't stand the thought of making her sad. If she's in Eqestria crying, in pain, or even just unsure, I would give my right arm... Just to be there for her. I love her so much. I just wish I could escape this pain..."
Rainbow began bawling, this was awful. Her dad was slipping away and there was nothing she could do. She cried so hard that she couldn't see. Altogether, she heard a voice, his voice.
"No Dashie, don't be sad for me. Be happy for your life. I love you, and I just want you to be happy. Do that for me... Please." Rainbow sniffed and wiped her nose.
"Okay dad..." She whispered.
"I will." with that, a rainbow sparkle appeared, and slowly grew larger. She walked over to it, and felt a cooling sensation. It was so relaxing...