The Bottle Labeled 'Fun'

One peaceful day in Ponyville, with small rolling winds and barely any clouds, a certain rainbow maned pony rested upon a cloud, staring up to the sky. She looked rather frustrated upon her cloud, making many faces to show her discomfort. Her tail waved impatiently as she listened to the giggles of ponies below, emitted from a group of fillies and foals playing a game of tag. Suddenly, Rainbow got an idea.

Flipping off her cloud, she launched down to the group, planting her hooves in the earth quite forcibly, causing each of the young ponies to freeze, staring directly to her with bewilderment in their eyes.

"Hey, guys! Can I play?" Rainbow smiled as she spoke, getting down into a 'ready-to-go' position.

"Uh," a small white foal spoke first, "I mean, it's kinda not something for just ANY pony. You're too old. Sorry."

"Aww, please..?" Rainbow Dash frowned quite a bit as she looked to them with pleading eyes. It was quite clear she was bored beyond belief. The young ponies shook their heads all together and resumed play, leaving Dashie to simply sigh and walk off, head hung low. She was so bored, and she didn't know what to do to fix it. Sure, she could just go home and go to bed, but then that's a whole day wasted. Oh! She knew what to do! She'd go talk to Twilight!

With her new idea, she perked her head up and sprinted toward the spiraling tree. Her mane flowed behind her as she ran on, hopes growing higher and higher, hooves moving faster and faster until she was just using her wings to launch towards Twilight's door.

SLAM!

She crashed through the door, straight into a pile of books and to her face, which she used as a sled to skid across the floor on. Her snout burned from the floor burning it, causing her to wince until she hit another hoof, one that was quickly tapping the floor. Glancing up from her lowered position, Rainbow saw Twilight Sparkle glaring down at her, frustrated look on her face. She clearly hadn't been expecting her friend. Rainbow glanced at the endless book stacks around the room and landed her eyes on Spike who seemed to have been furiously writing letters before she had crashed in.

"What in Equestria are you doing, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice brought Rainbow back towards her. Pushing up and shaking her body, Rainbow changed from a happy expression to a more embarrassed one, knowing her cheeks were well flushed.

"I-... Uhm... I just wanted to see if you wanted to... do anything? I'm super bored and stuff..."

"Well, I'm super busy. And you just knocked over half the books I had finished labelling," Twilight's gaze hardened, "Now, is there anything ELSE you wanted to do beside bursting in my door and messing me up?"

Rainbow felt her heart sting, knowing she had just upset one of her friends. She gave a deep, deep sigh, before shaking her head and looking to Spike, then to all the books she knocked over. Way to go, Dash she thought to herself.

"I'll just... help y-"

"NO. When you help, you always get so excited and try to turn it into a game, and I can't do that right now, Dash!" Twilight gave a deep sigh, "Dash, you know I care about you, but I'm just really stressed. It'd be better if you went out and tried someone else. Maybe Pinkie can throw a party for you or something!" Twilight gave a genuine smile.

"Hey... That's not a bad idea. I'll see if she's free! Thanks for not getting too mad, Twi! Uh, sorry for... whatever I did. Bye!" And like that Dash had launched out and sent papers flying all over. Her target was the bakery. Oh, she just knew that Pinkie would have fun with her! No way would Pinkie turn her down!

She burst through the Bakery doors and skidded to a halt on her hooves. The place was bustling with noises, plates moving, bells dinging, hooves moving. All the bakery ponies were moving behind the counter, except for Pinkie. She had stopped and looked at Dashie. She quickly put down the pan of cupcakes on her head and literally leaped over the counter to her. Bouncing up and down, she began spluttering out words, seeming to not even NEED breath to supply sentences.

"OhheyDashiehow'sitgoingdidsomethinghappen?Doyouneedmeforsomething?OHOHOH,didyou-"

"Pinkie!"

"Oh! Sorry, Dashie! Sometimes I just get so caught up in what I'm saying I forget to let other ponies talk! Sorry! What do ya' need, bestie?"

"I was uh... Wondering if you and I could do something, you know, for fun!"

"Oh, Dashie, I would love, love, LOVE to do something with you!" Rainbow's heart felt like it had grown wings and flown up her chest, "but, I'm really busy today. I've got lotsa cupcakes and stuff to bake! Mmm, mmm~! I'll be sure to give you some when I can, but I'm jam-PACKED all this week! Soooo sorry! I hope you understand!" The wings were chopped off, an anchor was attached to her heart's foot, and it sunk to her stomach.

Dashie couldn't even muster a word, simply looked down, nodded, turned, and walked out. Pinkie frowned a bit herself, but simply closed the door behind Dash and hopped back to work.

Man, I thought for sure Pinkie would have fun with me... maybe I can get Flutters... or Rarity... or maybe Applejack and I could have a competition...! Rainbow's hopes immediately began raising again. I'll go to Fluttershy's first. She's the least likely to be busy!

~*~

"Fluttershy?!" Rainbow yelled in front of Flutter's house. Within a minute or less, the door was open and the pale-coated pony was standing in it's path, making sure it was only cracked. Her pink mane was a bit of a mess, and her coat was ruffled quite a bit as well.

"U-Uhm, yes, Rainbow Dash? Is something wrong?"

"Sheesh, Flutters, you look bad! Is everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, everything's okay!" She flashed her gaze away for a moment, "B-But what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm... pretty bad. But, I was just wondering if you wanted to do anything? Maybe?" Rainbow tilted her head, putting on a fake smile that she hoped would pass as a genuine one.

"I'm... really busy right now, Dash. I'm sorry. If I could, I'd gladly help, oh, you know I would! But, I have a lot of stuff to do with Angel and the gar-..."

"Yeah, yeah... You're stressed, I got it. I'll just go," Dash blinked away her tear before it appeared, turning to begin trotting off.

"I-I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy whined after her. At least she still had two other chances. Actually, now that she considered it, Rarity had said that this week she'd be counting up her gems for a visit to Canterlot and working with clothes and dresses and such for said visit. That meant she was clearly going to be busy. That only left Applejack. Surely, SURELY, she'd be willing to take a break if Dash asked her to. If she was even busy, anyways.

Dash shook her head clear and launched into the air, quickly coming down upon Applejack's farm. Landing with a gentle pull up on her wings, she quickly scanned the area for her country pony. As her gaze fell over the barn, she saw a note on it's door, which she quickly sprinted to and began to read.

To anypony who reads this,

I'm out in the trees harvesting apples, and I'll be there through the night. Sorry to anypony who came looking for me, but if you come out here, I don't know if I'll be free or not. But, at least you know where I am. You can swing by out there if you want to, I sure could use a bit of company, but I'll have to get back to work rather quickly.

-Applejack

Rainbow had expected as much. At least Applejack had said she might be available. It was worth a shot.

Dash launched into the air, high above the trees, scanning for any shaking ones. After a moment, she noticed a tree violently shaking and being stripped of it's apples. Quickly launching down, Rainbow spotted Applejack, standing with two full baskets of apples at her sides.

"HEEYYY, APPLEJACK!" Rainbow called out as she skidded to a halt in the dirt. Applejack jumped, spilling a few apples from each basket with a little yelp.

"DARN TOOTIN'.... Rainbow don't scare a pony like that!" Applejack shook her head, hat becoming a bit askew.

"S-Sorry, Jack."

"Don't be. It's fine, honey bun. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to... race, or something?!" Rainbow sounded overly hopeful as she got into a racing-ready position.

"..." Applejack stared with an 'Are you serious?' look.

"...What?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow, but I'm really busy. Maybe somepony else can help, but I gotta do this for Big Mac. He's got a hurt leg and it's takin' a toll on em."

"... Right.... Right... Uhm. Thanks anyway." Rainbow didn't even wait for a response, simply blasting away with tears blurring her vision. She crashed through a few clouds, but simply kept going. Once she reached a large, suitable cloud that would hide her from sight, she slid onto it, slamming her face into it's poofy fluff. She let it absorb her tears, her hooves placed on her head, ruffling her mane.

Why does everypony have to be so BUSY! she thought, weeping even in her mind, I just need something to do, but everypony is so... f-... f-fu-fucking busy! The curse word made her cry harder. She had never cursed before, but she was so passionate that she felt it appropriate. I wish... I-I ju-just wish... I could do SOMETHING.. ANYTHING... I'm so... UGH! Frustrated!

The cloud began darkening as it absorbed her tears, her eyes closing on the cloud to keep from many more coming out. She felt so alone. She had nopony to talk to, they were all so busy, she didn't have anything to do. She couldn't take an entire week of this. She couldn't take another DAY of this. But she knew all her friends would be busy for at least a week... She knew it was time to learn what being alone felt like.