Rainbow Dash was flying through the clouds in Ponyville with a sorrow look on her face during the night. Why was she so sorrow? Well earlier today, she tried to help her friends with various activities, but everything ended up failing miserably and Rainbow was scapegoated harshly for it and it really took a toll on her.

Here is how they all turned out. Rainbow began helping Twilight redecorate her new bedroom at Canterlot Castle (given that she was the new ruler of Equestria and all), but when she ends up accidentally getting a face full of dust bunnies while moving some furniture, Rainbow Dash sneezes roughly and flies back into a decoractive mirror that Twilight brought when she first moved into the Golden Oaks Library all those years prior when she first came to Ponyville and learned about the magic of friendship. Unsurpisingly, when Rainbow inadvertently flies into the mirror, it ends up breaking. Aside from a few cuts, Rainbow is not all that hurt. Needless to say however, Twilight was upset with Rainbow Dash for breaking her mirror and sent her away, much to Rainbow's chagrin.

Next, she tried to help Applejack collect apples needed for cider season and she does this by flying through the tree leaves so that every apple can fall into the baskets below the trees and Rainbow did this without a single apple missing a basket. While nearly completing the task, Rainbow ends up distracted by some vampire fruit bats (who were trying to eat some apples out of their sanctuary given that they've ran out of them in the sancuary) and accidentally flies into a chicken coop, too late to stop herself from destroying it when contact was made. An upset Applejack chews Rainbow out for not watching where she was going and therefore Pony Non Grata's her from cider season. Humiliated and mad, Rainbow flies off.

Rainbow then goes to Fluttershy's animal sanctuary to help her take care of some of the new inhabitants that are staying there. Everything was going okay until Rainbow Dash was tasked with bathing a Timberwolf (which came to the sanctuary after it ended up getting into a scrape with a small forest fire). Rainbow did the task despite being rather wary of the wooden creature and was faced with many obstacles, like how the Timberwolf keeps breathing on her, which results in Rainbow being exposed to its bad breath, forcing her to hold her breath when bathing the beast. Her holding her breath makes her woozy and soon knocks herself out at the cost of bathing the beast only halfway and she is soon awoken and reprimanded by Fluttershy for her insufficient work. Upset, Rainbow leaves in a huff.

Rarity was next. She asks Rainbow to help clean her boutique due to a rush of customers wanting new clothes (on account of a moth infestation that happened just two days ago, though thankfully, Fluttershy resolved it) and Rarity was too worn out after tending to her customers to clean it. Rainbow Dash started doing just fine at first, but she ended up stepping on a small gem that was discarded during the customer rush and in a moment of pain, Rainbow accidentally knocks over some mannequisn that Rarity had just finished cleaning as if they were dominoes, and the mannaquin knocked over a box of yarn, sending the yarn flying to an unsuspecting Opalescence and getting her entangled in it. Rarity, having dodged the butterfly effect, angrily but calmly tells Rainbow to get out of her boutique and Rainbow sadly complies.

Last but not least was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie asks Rainbow to assist her in delivering some goodies for everyone around Ponyville since she was carrying a cart that is holding the goodies. Rainbow thought she could not mess this up and finally catch a break from her bad luck and for the most part, the delivery was fine with barely any trouble. The last one who they ended up delivering to is Starlight, who was at the Friendship School and wearing her new "Headmare" suit (that was, unsurpisingly, made by Rarity). When Rainbow makes the delivery personally, as Pinkie was tired from puling the cart, an untimely gust of wind comes from Rainbow's backside and it causes her to stumble and accidentally throw the goodies at Starlight, ruining her suit. When Starlight gets angry, Pinke blames Rainbow's clumsiness for the mess.

This was the final nail in the coffin for Rainbow Dash as she frustraitingly zooms out after that and she got to where she was now. She spent the rest of her day feeling resentful to her friends for rounding on her for her accidents and they didn't even come to talk to her about it. Now that she thinks about it, this isn't the first time her friends treated her like she was a mess of a pony. She had a long list of things that extended far beyond this along with other ponies who treated her as such:

-Little Strongheart the buffalo had Rainbow flew into a train sign which gave her a huge headache that lasted for a few hours.

-There was the incident with Mare-Do-Well. While Rainbow Dash does admit she was letting her pride overcome her, her friends still should have at least tried to talk to her first.

-She wanted Fluttershy to watch a dragon migration with her and the group in order to even things out to when she made Rainbow Dash see a butterfly migration that she obviously didn't want to see, but Fluttershy kicked her in the stomach in order to avoid doing as such. Rainbow was hurt for a good 10 minutes.

-When she finally became a Wonderbolt, an accident had her plagued with the nickname "Rainbow Crash", which made her really uncomfortable since she had that nickname since childhood and she's been desperately trying to get another nickname. Granted, she didn't help matters by keeping quiet about it (along with that stunt at one of their shows), but they didn't exactly tell her not to feel shamed by mentioning their own nicknames.

-The entirety of Ponyville ganged up on her to make her think she's turned them all into zombies in order to get her to stop pulling a bunch of pranks on them. While they were entitled to be annoyed by her antics and have begged her to stop (of which she didn't adhere to), making her think she's turned everyone she considers her friends in mindless zombies with no cure could pretty much scar even the toughest of ponies for life.

-There was the incident where Scootaloo told Rainbow's mother and father about her Wonderbolt job. However, Rainbow had a very good reason not to tell them, they go overboard with support. When Rainbow Dash finally calls them out when they show support for even the most trivial of things, Scootaloo basically guilt rips Rainbow to allow their embarrassing behavior by telling them their support made her the pony she is today. However, Rainbow feels as though that doesn't excuse her antics.

-She has been keeping her dislike of pies from Pinkie Pie in order to avoid hurting her feelings because Pinkie kept saying she made the pies specially for her. The is soon found out but, while Pinkie does have a right to feel upset, Pinkie probably should have at least asked Rainbow Dash if she liked pies instead of presumptuously baking one and expecting Rainbow to like it. Twilight and Applejack were of no help and told Rainbow she could've told her the truth, which basically said she should have took a chance to hurt Pinkie's feelings by being honest.

-Rarity not reading her favorite book when she called Rainbow Dash on doing the same thing.

-Twilight forced her to coach a cheerleadingsquad of which she is not qualified for, all in the name of teaching her a lesson about doing something others like even though she doesn't care much for it, even though Rainbow Dash is well within her rights to turn it down.

-Fluttershy basically refused to see her side of things when she wanted to give Dr. Cabelleron a chance ot be trusted, even though Rainbow had every right not to trust the guy given the fact he ponynapped her twice (and nearly had her killed on the second time) and for being doubtful of Daring Do even though the latter proved to be a trustworthy pony. While it's true her kindness did lead to both Dr. C. and Ahuizotl to change, with the latter revealing that was simply guarding the relic Daring Do took, she still felt resentful to both of them, especially since Ahuzotl never once mentioned that he was guarding the relics, not to mention how being a guardian ties in to nearly setting a location to eight centures of unrelenting heat and nearly destroying the village of Somnambula.

Rainbow feels like she's a punching bag for her group, both physically and emotionally. While there are times she's in the wrong, there are also times where sh eis in the right and nobody seems to notice. She just feels like someone who's being shamed for having the right to do something or someone who is a victim of overreaction. She wondered whether or not if her friends took her feelings into account and after all these incidents combined, she wondered if they even cared about her.

Rainbow soon found herself approaching her cloud home nearby. As her home drew in closer, she saw some strange pony near the door. Curious, she ends up going to the pony when she lands on her cloud. The pony is a red unicorn with a slick gray mane and tail and a broken heart for a cutie mark.

"Ah, hello Miss Rainbow Dash." The unicorn says in a rather calm tone.

"Uh, hi." said Rainbow, "Who are you?"

"You may call me Bitter Taste," the unicorn said, identifying himself.

"Okay," said Rainbow, "Why are you at my house?"

"Well," said Bitter Taste, "I couldn't help but notice that you friends in Ponyville have been giving you a hard time today. Princess Twilight imost likely included since I wasn't in Canterlot."

"You could say that," said Rainbow Dash, still feeling upset over what happened between her and her friends. "What is it to you?"

"Oh, I just wanted to offer my empathy," said Bitter Taste modestly, "Anypony who's anypony would feel lower than dirt after having a rotten day like that."

"I guess," Rainbow said unsurely.

"In fact Rainbow Dash," asked Bitter Taste, "I'd like to ask you, is this the first time your friends have ever treated you like that?"

Rainbow Dash was rather surprised to hear that, but she answered 'no' and proceeded to tell Bitter Taste about all of the times her friends have given her such a hard time.

"Wow," said Bitter Taste, "Talk about being the pony who takes the most brunt out of everyone."

"I know," said Rainbow Dash indignitly, "As much as I try to move past those times, it still hurts inside."

"Well Miss Dash," said Bitter Taste, "Far be it from my opinion, but you might want to consider hanging on to that hurt. Because it might make you see just how flawed your friends are in regards to all of those times they treated you, good reason or otherwise."

"Isn't that a little unhealthy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Could be," said Bitter Taste, as he started charging up his horn, "But I am just trying to ease your mental scars."

Rainbow Dash looked a little confused at this. But before she could respond, Bitter Taste hit her with a blast of his magic, more specifically, her head was hit and he had a rather slimy smile on his face.

"Don't worry Rainbow Dash," said Bitter Taste as Rainbow Dash struggled in his magic grasp, "Everything will be okay now that I'm here."

Rainbow Dash suddenly ceased her struggles and her eyes suddenly became red swirls and her body was completely lax. Rainbow Dash was now hypnotized and under Bitter Taste's command. Bitter Taste came up to his hypnotized victim and put a hoof to her chin and gave a crooked smile.

"My, my, aren't you beautiful for a tomboy?" He said lustfully.

As he lets her chin go, the hypnotized Rainbow Dash said mechanically, "Thank you master."

Bitter Taste grinned as she called her that before stating, "Alright, come my dear, we have some work to do."

With that Bitter Taste zapped himself and his mindless puppet away.

TO BE CONTINUED...