The Bottle Labeled 'Fun'

The ground was approaching Rainbow Dash quite quickly. Too quickly. She knew she was going down, but couldn't be bothered to raise herself back up. The Rainboom had sent her to some large fields just outside the Orchard and Ponyville, and her tears had finally gotten the best of her.

Feeling her depression looming above her like an appending doom, she simply accepted her crash. The dirt piled up like it would in a cartoon, looking like fat rolls more than actual dirt, until it exploded at a certain point and spread all around her. Her cheek stung horribly. Dirt found it's way in her mouth. Her eyes were closed, but tears moistened the earth behind her. Her entire body cried with pain, stinging and burning as the dirt lurched all around her, her screams utterly muffled by dirt.

The abrupt stop by a rock meeting her snout stung the worse. It bent her snout towards her and scrunched it up painfully, horribly causing her to screech. Her body was covered in scrapes and cuts, her snout burning with agony as it stayed scrunched up on the rock. She didn't want to move. Her legs burned, her wings stung, and her brain told her that she wasn't worth standing up. She should just lie there and die. Nopony cared about her anymore. They were all too busy for her 'idiotic pass times', as Twilight had called them. She felt like she was alone in the world now. Nopony to talk to. Nopony to spend time with. No reason to stand up.

Depression was winning. She couldn't find the want or need to get up, to even move. She couldn't muster the strength inside her to even inch in any direction. All she could do was lie in the skid marks, her own blood, and her tears.

She was useless.

She couldn't do anything without her friends.

She wanted to just die.

But, knowing what might happen if she DID in fact die. Ponies would notice the cloud build up. Ponies would notice her absence. Only because she was gone for good, though. Because they clearly didn't notice her now.

Dashie slowly pushed up, legs shaky and wobbly with countless scrapes and cuts on each. Her cutie mark looked like a solid red rainbow instead of a multi-colored one, covered in trickling blood. Her wing was bent at an odd angle, snapped somewhat in a horrible direction. She could feel the broken wing. She could feel each inch of scarred tissue. She could feel the blood seeping down her legs, down her neck and chest, from her snout. She could feel the tears as they rolled from each eye to the ground. She simply fell to her flank, giving a deep sniff and cry, before yelling at the sky.

"WHY! WHY DOES EVERYPONY H-HAVE TO BE SO BUSY! TELL ME CELESTIA! TELL ME WHY!" Her voice was becoming strained, just from the few seconds of yelling. "WHAT DID I DO!? I THOUGHT I WAS A GOOD ENOUGH PONY! I TRIED, OKAY!? I TRIED! I KNOW I'VE DONE BAD BUT I'LL FIX IT! I SWEAR I'LL FIX IT! MAKE IT STOP, PLEA-.." She choked up on her tears, as well as her reddening, raw throat. She simply collapsed once more, letting her tears stream like mini rivers from her eyes down her cheeks and to the ground. She didn't know what to do. She was in so much pain, and all she could do was lie down and cry. She couldn't move. She couldn't fly.

She could only cry.

She knew she had to get up. So, she tried. Oh, how she tried to stand, but she simply couldn't. She tried for what seemed like hours, until she finally, at long last, managed to stand. Her legs were shaky, and the dirt in the wounds that covered her body only made them sting worse. She began to limp towards what she assumed was the way she came, due to the skid marks, allowing her tears to freely flow now. While she limped, however, she felt something bump against her hoof.

Glancing down, she noticed a bit of glass and a cork poking up out of a portion of her skid-mark trail. She tilted her head, wondering why anypony would bury a bottle. Oh wait! What if it was an ancient pirate pony? What if it was Daring Do? What if it was an artifact!? Oh, she just HAD to have it!

Dashie furiously began tugging on the exposed portion of the bottle, until, at long last, she ripped it from the ground. The bottle was filled with a fizzy pinkish liquid. It clearly wasn't ancient, because it had a label. The label simply read:

!FUN!

!DRINK TO WASH ALL YOUR WORRIES AWAY!

!SURE-FIRE WAY TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY!

Fun? How can a pony put fun in a bottle? Dashie thought Well, I mean, if they could, I suppose it WOULD be pink... maybe if I take a sip... I'll get a little happier. Maybe it's an anti-depressant! Dashie gave a weak, strained giggle as she popped the cork off, flicking it aside. She turned the bottle to see if anything else were on it, any other written label or warning or SOMETHING.

Finding nothing, she was satisfied. She pushed the who knows how old bottle to her lips, tilting it back and downing the ENTIRE bottle. The fizzy liquid felt cool on her throat, soothing it... making it feel completely fine. As if nothing had happened to it. She blinked a few times, before testing it out by releasing a little giggle. She, indeed, sounding perfectly fine now. She felt her entire body shiver in a chill, and suddenly, all her wounds were numb. Her eyes widened, before she realized what she had just drank. It was a potion.

So far, however, it was doing her well. She felt her wing snap back into place, and she felt her wounds being softly repaired, as if they never happened. She felt like a million bits! This was fantastic!

Until the burning set in. It felt like the liquid had turned to lava inside her stomach, scorching her insides. She could only scream, but then she couldn't. It was like something was holding her mouth shut while the burning intensified. She felt warm tears rolling down her cheeks, but they did little to help her as she slammed her eyes shut. She flapped her wings in agony as the burning sensation spread throughout her body. She stomped and flicked her tail violently to somehow try to ease the pain, before too abruptly, it all stopped. She let out her scream and fell to the ground. The bottle... it was on the ground in front of her. She looked there, only to see nothing.

Nothing but a bloodstain.

She sniffed a bit, but slowly pushed up. Shaking her head clear, she looked back to the bloodstain as she reared on her hind legs. Giving a powerful push and a final glance to her skid marks, she blasted back towards Ponyville, digging into the dirt powerfully with her blast off.