What Counts

After finishing their written reports, Rainbow, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity decided to unwind for the night. Rainbow borrowed Twilight's laptop and played her friend's custom music mix while she streamed on Twitch. Spike and Twilight played video games in the background while the others rested. Not long into the stream, one of their regular viewers showed up. His screen name was DragonMaster666.

"Yo, DragonMaster! What's up, my guy!"

"That guy stole my title," Spike yelled comically.

DragonMaster started typing.

"How's work been goin'?"

"Good enough for us to get paid."

"I don't normally like to make serious posts, but I feel like I can trust you guys to help me. Will you hear me out?"

"Of course we'll help. That's why we're here."

"Well, lately, I've been thinking a lot about death and suicide. I don't know what to do. It's really been bumming me out."

Rainbow winced. While it was true she was surrounded by the concepts in media, dwelling on them was something she hadn't done much of during her life. However, she did know two people that had.

"Spike, Fluttershy, can you guys help me out?"

"What's wrong," Fluttershy asked.

"Read this."

The dragon and mare were horrified. Now they understood.

"Are you okay, dude," Spike asked.

"I don't know, man. Every day, I wake up, go to work, come home, take a shower, and watch the news until I fall asleep. Between the daily grind and all the depressing stuff on the TV and in the papers, it's hard to stay positive."

"We understand," Fluttershy said sweetly and sympathetically, "We've had struggles of our own."

"You have?"

"Fluttershy has generalized anxiety disorder," Spike stated, "Pinkie's a manic depressive, and I was suicidal for a few months."

"Why?"

"I used to get made fun of a lot for being the loud fat kid. All I was really trying to do was make people laugh, you know? I guess they didn't really see it that way. I got so used to being that way that I didn't know how else to be."

"How did you deal with it?"

"A lot of support. I started hanging out with these guys and things just kind of started looking up from there. They taught me a lot about being a better person."

"So...self-improvement?"

"That's part of it, but I also had to take control of my life. I know how easy it can be to feel sorry for yourself and pity everyone else, but the only way we can actually fix it is by doing something."

"What can I do?"

"What you feel is right."

"Could I do the same thing as you guys?"

"Absolutely, man. You can do anything you want to do and be anything you want to be. Appeal your case to Celestia and she'd probably be more than happy to make you part of the team."

"Thanks, dudes. I feel better now."

"Glad to hear it."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, we're here for you," Fluttershy said.

"Would you guys mind streaming a little longer than usual tonight? I could use the company."

"I'm cool with it," Rainbow said.

"As am I," Rarity replied.

The others concurred.

"You guys must be real-life superheroes or something."

Spike let out a lighthearted laugh.

"I don't know about all that, but we try."