Dedicated to victims of depression - especially teenagers. I recently had a HORRIBLE case of depression, and I felt un-alive and dead. My message to you is - just keep going strong :D Suicide is NEVER the answer. True heroes press on untill the end.
It was 2:00 AM in the morning - a time that some little fillies feared, and a time that others loved. The skies were still midnight blue, and millions of tiny stars glittered brightly, decorating the sky with their radiant glow. Everypony was still asleep, and evidently, a new day had not begun yet. The trees swayed to the autumn chill that haunted the breeze, and the reeds sung their merry tunes, as the gust blew gently against them, interrupting the stillness and silence of the town, but instead - adding to the joy and love that always found itself wrapped around Ponyville, its heart-warming sounds entering the ponies's ears, adding to the lovely sensation - that was prone to add a fuzzy warm feeling in your heart. The silent breathing of sleeping ponies, the soft mumbling - the distant chirping of the birds...night was sure a peaceful incredible time. But not for everypony.
A blue pegasus crouched in her cloudy bed, crawling up into a ball, shivering and trembling like a leaf. Her eyes were trying their hardest to shut, and her eyelids fluttered madly - her muscles unrested, and unable to sleep. Her short rainbow mane rolled out like a carpet behind her head upon her pillow , and her cutie mark shone in the moonlight, that was creeping into her room from a tiny windowish-hole in the cloudy walls.
Almost at once, she opened her eyes out wide, letting a yell escape her lips. "Aargh!" It was not a scream, but merely a yell, but the pegasus, Rainbow Dash, was sweating furiously, violently trembling and shaking. "I can't sleep..." she muttered, as she stepped out of her bed, and turned on a lamp beside her bed.
Rainbow didn't understand it. She never had nightmares, well...not often, and she didn't have any caffeine or cider since noon. But yet her body wouldn't allow her to feel the lovely sensation of good rest. She grabbed a tiny frame off a little set of drawers in her room, and stared into it. It was a photo of herself and the Wonderbolt team, the photo she cherished most. Of course, she needed her sleep to prepare for the big day on which the Wonderbolts would host a flying contest, where the finalists were able to make it into Training Wonderbolts. But sleep-deprived, it was utterly...impossible.
Rainbow Dash breathed slowly, inhaling and exhaling, shutting her eyes, and sitting up in a yoga stance Rarity had taught her. Rarity was a master at yoga, and with Blossomforth, the two were the most famous yoga ponies in Equestria. Also, her unicorn friend had cared to teach her some of the most basic moves - the relaxation of the mind. Of course, it involved sitting cross-hoofed on the ground, front hooves on the knees, relaxing the muscles around the shoulders - and especially relaxing the mind.
The effect was easy to wear off. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, clenching her hooves into fists. "I can't stand it anymore!" she cried out, burying her face into a fluffy pillow. "The Wonderbolt Flying Competition is two days away! If I don't pass it - the Wonderbolts won't let me into their team!"
The mare grabbed her pillow, and unleashed her emotions onto it, beating the fluff out of it, before restlessly falling back onto it, sighing sadly. As she finally drifted off to sleep, she dreamt of her big day - but of failure and all things horrible.
"This isn't as awesome as I thought, after all," Rainbow Dash complained, when she arrived at Twilight's the day after. "I just feel so...empty. Y'know, I sorta feel...like a loser. Like life has no purpose!" She bashed against a bookshelf in her frustration, and books tumbled out of it, much to Twilight's annoyance. "Rainbow..." she scolded.
"It's killin' me!" Rainbow Dash cried out. "I don't feel awesome anymore. I don't feel like...like me. And I have NOT been drinking any cider OR alchohol since last afternoon! And that was only half-a-mug too!"
Twilight sighed. 'Calm down, Rainbow," she muttered. "I'm sure there's an explanation. And I don't get it - what do you mean by 'empty?'" She turned to Rainbow Dash, with big inquisitive eyes.
Rainbow Dash groaned, "I don't know, I don't know how to say it. Sorta depressed. And it's NOT awesome. I mean - I can't even sleep. I can't even get the energy I need for the Wonderbolts' competition. And that's tommorrow evening. NOT cool." She crossed her hooves, and added, "I also sorta feel like killing myself - it's THAT bad."
That last statement aroused Twilight's attention. "Kill youself?" she asked, trembling with dear and worry. Rainbow Dash shrugged, asking, with a scowl on her face, "Yeah, what's the big deal? Unless you get the idea..." Twilight didn't answer, but stood there, worried and anxious. "Twi?" the blue pegasus asked, flying closer to her friend.
Twilight gasped, and called out, "Spike!" The baby dragon came at once. "Yeah, Twilight?" he groaned, coming down the stairs, to see a very very horrified Twilight Sparkle. "Get me the book! The "101 Things You Want To Know About Medical Health But Were Afraid To Ask!" Hurry!"
Spike obeyed, but shook his head in confusion. Suddenly, he stopped, dropped the book on the wooden floor of the library, crying out, "Oh no! What if it's --" His voice lowered into a spooky whisper. "The zombie ponies!"
His idea was silenced by Twilight, who shot death-glares his way. He chuckled nervously, and handed her the book. Twilight smiled, and opened the book, scanning through the books, as the anxious look returned to her face. "Rainbow Dash..." she muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, what is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, obviously not in a good mood. Who wouldn't be - after a night of absolutely NO rest, but instead uneasy unexplained thoughts that unnaturally came flitting through your mind that you can't get rid of? Not me.
"You have a very serious case of --" Twilight replied.
She let out a horrified strangled gasp, as the words they all feared escaped her almost frozen mouth.
"Depression."
