3rd Letter - Bad Day & Friendship

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am sorry that I haven’t written in so long. I’d like to say it’s because I’ve been busy, but mostly I’ve just been busy keeping myself occupied and trying to avoid the things I have to do. Sometimes it’s hard even for me to get out of bed every day, because I don’t want to deal with how sad I am. I made myself get up relatively early, for me, these days, and even now, at two o’clock, when I’m writing this, I might not have been up on any other day this week, because of how depressed I’ve been.

Sometimes, there’s no reason to depression. It just comes. I was talking to my mom earlier today, and we were having fun, singing songs we liked, talking about my writing, and suddenly, it felt like all the happiness drained out of me. It’s really scary when that happens, because all of a sudden, I didn’t feel like doing anything, I felt like I would never be happy again. All in the span of a few minutes.

I hope I’m not bringing you down, too, Princess, and anyone else who reads this after. I have good days, and bad days, and today was one of the bad.

Since I’ve made a promise to myself to talk about at least one good thing every time I write to you, though, I’ll tell you a little bit about my friends. Thinking about them and talking to them always makes me feel better. I’m thinking of putting a page on my blog, where I publish these, about them in case I reference them in future letters.

First I have to talk about my two amazing penpals, Movie Magic and Azure Dreams. Movie Magic is from Canterlot! She’s so amazing and stylish, and her passion is making videos and indie films. She’s so down-to-earth, and in our group, she represents the element of Honesty. She’ll always tell you how she feels, and I really admire her for her fearlessness. Azure Dreams is from Cloudsdale, and she would be the element of Kindness. I really wish Icould talk to her right now, because she’d know exactly what to say to help cheer me up, or what to do to help me out.

My beautiful stallion, Whitewing is next. I’m so thankful I have him in my life. Right now he’s living in Appleloosa, and I’m going to be moving soon to go live with him! He’s having sme hard times right now, too, and he also lives with depression. Still, he’s solid and dependable, and if I had to pick any element of Harmony that  he represented, it would be Loyalty.

Haalima is next, she’s amazing! She’s also an artist and she’s taught me a lot about art. She’s amazing and different and I love her to death. I know I can always talk to her when I’m upset. I don't know what element I'd say she was - she's kind of all of them! Maybe Generosity, because she's always giving of herself and helping others.

Just writing about and thinking about my friends is helping me feel better. I hope I haven’t bored you to tears with all of this, dear Princess, dear readers! Thank you all again.

Sincerely,
Midnite Brite

Re: Michael

Dear Midnite Brite,

Yes, I have heard about the case of poor young Michael. A lot of ponies feel the same way you do and are trying to help out - stylists, hooficurists, artists like yourself, even ponies far across Equestria are banding together to help Michael. Some of them are donating money; others are donating time, artwork, or simply even support. By writing this letter to me, you're helping Michael.

I do have information about resources and places you can go to donate to Michael's cause, and I'm including them in this letter. Also, the art donation you're mentioning is #ArtForMichael, which is a sub-project of You Will Rise, a project helping young ponies like Michael stand up to bullying, by asking them to express themselves through art. You absolutely should donate artwork to his cause - and encourage your readers to do so as well. You can find You Will Rise, and #ArtForMichael, at http://youwillriseproject.blogspot.com/p/artformichael.html.

Also, you can take this as a lesson for your readers and yourself - as down as you feel, there are always ponies out there who care about you.

Sincerely Yours,

Princess Celestia

P.S.: You and your readers can find out more about Michael, and donate to his cause, at http://michaelmorones.org

Concerning Michael

Dear Princess Celestia,

No art again - I'm sorry about that. But I'm writing you this time in regards to a very special little pony.

See, there's this colt named Michael. He's really young - he's only barely got his cutie mark. Recently, he started getting teased at school for liking a show made for fillies. Other ponies started calling him gay, because he liked 'girly' things. They picked on him relentlessly, Princess Celestia, and it's absolutely terrible.

But what's even more terrible is that Michael lost hope. Michael started to think that maybe, nopony in the world cared about him. Like it was never, ever going to get better.

Princess Celestia, Michael tried to take his own life.

It's hard even to write that, Princess. Have you heard of anyone doing it before? It's called 'suicide'. As a pony with depression, sometimes I think about it too, but I've never tried to do it. I've always known that there are ponies out there who love me, that they would miss me. That it would hurt them if I disappeared. I can't imagine what it must be like to be so far gone, to be so sad and so hurt, that you would actually do it.

The good news is that Michael survived, Princess. His family saved him. But they don't know if he's ever going to wake up. Right now, he's being kept alive by machines and unicorn magic, in a hospital where they can keep him breathing and give him nutrients, but they think he might have brain damage. They might not know for months, or years, if he'll ever be able to wake up.

It's just so sad, you know? For something as silly as liking something made for girls, ponies thought it was okay to push another pony to the point where he wanted to die.

I don't really know what to do or say - I wish there were something I could do to help. I want to reach out to Michael's family. I heard somepony is running a charity where you can donate art. Do you think I should do that?

Your faithful subject,
Midnite Brite