The next day, Rainbow Dash woke up late in the afternoon paced around Fluttershy's house.
Fluttershy was currently outside feeding the animals and teaching the birds how to sing in four part harmony.
Rainbow Dash truly believed with all her heart that this was it. This was all that life had to offer her and that she would never get better. She fell into a deep depression and lost care for everything, despite the wonderful love she received from her mare friend. Soon, after she fell into this dark state of mind, she realized that something wasn't right with her body. She looked around and noticed that something was missing. It was her cutie mark! In all of her life, she had never heard of a pony who actually lost their cutie mark. Her cutie mark represented her deepest cares and passion in life and now even that was gone! She was a blank flank again and it caused her to only fall deeper and deeper into depression, to the point that she didn't want to exist anymore. She was so sick of all the suffering, that she wanted to end it all this very day.
Rainbow Dash snuck out of the house and flew over to Applejacks farm. She stealthily avoided Applejack and creaked open the door to her farm house. She went through Applejack's supplies looking for rope. Eventually, she found some and pulled at it.
Crash! Bang! Boom! She had knocked over a bunch of other farm equipment, as she was trying to free the rope from the supply closet.
"What in tarnation is goin' on in there?” Applejack called in. "Rainbow Dash! What the hay are ya doin' in my farm house?"
Rainbow Dash hesitated. "I was uh, just needed to borrow some rope. Fluttershy needs help pulling a rock out from where an animal friend of hers was trapped. I shouldn’t have it for too long. I'll bring it back as soon as possible, I promise."
Applejack eyed her aggressively. "Well, if ya say so. Ya know, I can take some time off and help ya with that, bein' that ya been so weak lately."
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "Gosh Applejack, that's awfully nice of you, but Fluttershy and I got this together. You just get back to work. I don't want you to miss bucking any apples out there."
"Well, if ya say so Rainbow Dash. Just don't be up to no funny business with that rope, ya hear? I don't want to have to worry about ya."
Rainbow Dash nodded and said, "Don't you worry. Everything will be okay. Catch you later!"
Rainbow Dash zipped out of the barn and flew up to the sky with what little strength she had left. She found a small cloud in the sky and landed on it. She tied her wings up together and made sure that the rope was tight. She stood there on the tiny cloud and looked down. This was it. She was going to say good bye to this world and end it all. A couple of tears ran down her soft cheek and fell down and splattered to the earth.
Fluttershy was busy conducting the bird choir when suddenly, a few drops of water hit her in the eye. She squinted and looked up at the sky. There was only a single tiny cloud in which she saw and it certainly wasn't a storm cloud. She instantly remembered that it was time to check on Rainbow Dash and rushed inside the house. Rainbow Dash was gone! Fluttershy began to panic. She raced back outside and flew up into the sky. She was terrified of heights, but this was her friend that was possibly in danger. As she reached the clouds, she saw Rainbow Dash getting ready to jump. "WAIT!" She called out to Rainbow Dash. "Please don't jump! This is entirely my fault! I should have been looking after you better. I am so sorry to leave you alone this long."
Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy. "It's no use. I have no passion in life about anything anymore and I lost my cutie mark. I don't want to be a burden to you any longer. Please let me put myself to rest for good."
Fluttershy looked like she was going to cry. "Oh, but Rainbow Dash, we all love you so very much and you..."
"YOU'RE JUST SAYING THAT!" Rainbow cried out angrily as she cut Fluttershy off.
Fluttershy let out a squeak, in fear at the angry words of the Pegasus. Fluttershy was running out of options. She knew the stare wouldn't work on Rainbow Dash and that she couldn't find much of anything else to say, then it hit her. "You can't jump Rainbow Dash."
”Oh yea?" Rainbow Dash called back. "And why is that?"
Fluttershy continued. "Because you represent the element of loyalty. I know that deep in your heart, you want to remain loyal to your friends and never leave us. You represent loyalty! You are a loyal friend!"
Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. A single teardrop formed in the corner of her eye and fell down to the earth. Fluttershy was right, and if she hadn't been reminded about representing the spirit of loyalty, she would have jumped.
Fluttershy smiled as she watched her friend back away from the edge of the cloud.
Rainbow Dash was about to say something, but as she moved, she lost her balance, due to her wings being tied up together and fell from the cloud.
Fluttershy did the only thing she could do. React quickly. She raced after her as fast as she possibly could. She was scared flying this fast, but she flapped her wings as hard as she could. At first, it appeared that she wouldn't be able to make it, but after several more wing pumps, she caught up to the falling pegasus and caught her from underneath. Fluttershy wasn't that strong and she tried to flap her wings as hard as she could, but it wasn't enough to get them both lifted back up into the air.
They both hit the ground hard.
Rainbow Dash got up with minor injuries, but Fluttershy was seriously hurt. She needed to be taken to the hospital for broken bones and deep wounds. She may have been able to break Rainbow Dash's fall, but she took the majority of the punishment from the great collision with the hard ground.