What was wrong with Rainbow Dash?
Well, what was right? That would be the shorter answer.

Her hooves were aching, and her legs were tired. She was hungry, thirsty, and hadn't slept in days. She was certainly too weak to fly.

She could feel herself sweating under the harsh summer sun, dehydrating her to the point of nearly collapsing.

She watched as ponies passed her, silently judging the mare based on the poor quality of her coat and mane, which she could understand. Her filthy, scruffy coat looked atrocious when compared to their coats. Manehattan ponies were always so egotistic when it came to these sorts of things.

She looked up the sky, it was very bland, only a few clouds were left dangling in the picturesque blue sky. It reminded her a lot of Ponyville, her home, but she quickly shook away these thoughts. She didn't want to think of Ponyville right now. She didn't even want to think of her friends. They were all so angry at her when she had left.

Rainbow Dash was feeling awful, and not just physically. She was hating herself at the moment. Everything she had done, why she had left, it all made her feel so ashamed and guilty.

Eventually, she stopped walking, and looked around. Her hooves felt like they were about to shatter. She looked around for somewhere to rest, but upon not seeing anywhere suitable, she just decided to sit down beside a nearby bale of hay, resting beside a building.

All she had with her was her saddlebags, which she had only packed enough food and water to last her a couple of days, but was now empty.

She groaned slightly as her hungriness got the best of her, the city ponies still looking at her as a disgrace to their society. Rainbow Dash wished they would help her, but why would they? She was no different from the many other homeless ponies they passed. No one cared, Rainbow Dash wasn't even sure if she cared anymore.

She ate a few stalks of hay from the bale that she was resting against, but of course that didn't satisfy her hunger. She wanted to eat more but she knew she couldn't, it wasn't hers to take.

Although she knew she had to do something soon to save her own life, she just sat there, trying to overcome her memories of home. She thought about what she had done, why her friends were mad, and why she had to leave. She didn't think somepony's life could fall apart in a mere ten days, but somehow she had managed to do it.

She also thought about how it had all started. She thought back to ten days ago, a single orange feather falling from the sky...

Author's Notes:

A short prologue, intended to make the reader curious, therefore making them want to continue reading.