Zephyr Breeze Finally Succeeds at Something

by Demiequus

The Letter

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, a young pegasus by the name of Zephyr Breeze, after many trials and tribulations, learned to reach his true potential. Many had thought him completely worthless his whole life, even -neigh especially his family. And there to constantly remind him of how much further he had to go was his dear sister, Fluttershy. But that was over now, he did it. He finally completed his ultimate achievement. The mayor of Cloudsdale even sent letters congratulating his family of his accomplishment. However, his sister, Fluttershy, too busy to pay attention to her brother as usual, asked her visiting friend Rainbow Dash to read the letter aloud for her while she fed a member of her household she actually cared about. Angel was enjoying her delicious cabbage treat when Rainbow Dash said something she just couldn't believe. Could this letter actually contain good news about her brother?

“...I-I'm sorry, could repeat that please?”
“Fluttershy, Zephyr is dead.”

Fluttershy absent-mindedly set down Angel's bowl and crossed the room, staring at Rainbow Dash in stunned silence, her heart surely soaring in exultation.

“No, you must have misread something. Zephyr isn't dead, he's in Cloudsdale. He's just started at the Mane Therapy Salon. Let me see that.”

Unable to believe the good news, Fluttershy snatched the letter from Dash's hooves and read it herself.

Dear Fluttershy,
I regret to inform you of the death of your brother, Zephyr Breeze. Your brother died yesterday at approximately 8pm as a result of hanging in an apparent suicide. I have already informed your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Shy. I sincerely regret that this message must bring so much sorrow to you and your family and my deepest sympathy is with you in your bereavement.

Sincerely yours,

Boreas Gale,

Mayor of Cloudsdale.

Now, the astute reader may be wondering how such a tall pony so easily managed to off himself by hanging, especially one so cowardly and pathetic, and thus unlikely to want to die from a good strangulation. The answer is quite simple. You see Cloudsdale lies approximately 3000 meters up in the sky, and while the architecture does not greatly emphasize high ceilings, there are a great many windows and balconies with gorgeous views over the landscape of Equestria below, and so with several feet of strong rope (including some to bind his wings) Zephyr managed to snap his neck quite cleanly. Quite a clever feat considering what little material our Zephyr had to go on. You see few ponies actually decide to take their own lives in Equestria, considering that most have friends and families that go out of their way to make their loved ones not feel worthless. But if anyone could manage it, it would be a brother of Fluttershy!

Fluttershy sat down in her chair, shaking and holding herself in shock at the stupendous news, while Rainbow Dash looked on with a concerned look on her face, obviously wondering whether it would be more appropriate to contact an EMT or to contact Pinkie Pie to organize a party such that the whole town could join in the celebration.

“Um Fluttershy? Are you going to be ok?” asked Rainbow Dash. Afterall while it was important to let her friend have her moment of joy, there were the needs of others to consider here! Chocolate cake or vanilla? Pin the Noose on Freeloader or Hangpony?

Fluttershy looked up at Dash, “Why? Why would he … Rainbow you saw him, he was so happy when he graduated Mane Therapy School. What could drive him to … kill himself?” At this point Fluttershy's face had become quite apparently flooded with tears. No mere tears of joy, either. This was no simple shock, something must have truly upset her.

Such as the fact that he died so quickly and painlessly rather than starving to death out in the Everfree Forest.

“I don't know Fluttershy, maybe he just … lost hope somehow, ya know with Mane Therapy?” Rainbow Dash was certainly on to something here, if they could have somehow managed to keep him from falling completely into hopelessness, they could have kept him strung out for years in a stressful, political, creatively unfulfilling job he would be constantly unsatisfied with.

“No Rainbow he … we helped him through that! We taught him to face his fears and pursue his dreams. He may have fought us the whole way, but in the end we taught him he didn't have to live in fear of failure.”

At this Rainbow Dash looked somewhat uneasy in the wake of Fluttershy's assurances. Afterall, Dash mostly supported her friend's efforts. It was really Fluttershy who had put in most of the work to make Zephyr feel like a walking sack of garbage. And that guilt at realizing how much her friend had contributed to this while Rainbow did practically nothing in comparison was clearly eating away at her.

They stayed there in silence for a while before Fluttershy asked, “Rainbow, I think I'd like to be left alone for a while.”

“Are you sure? It's ok if you need me to be here.”

“I'm sure. I need to think about a few things,” Like should she invite her parents, or would they prefer to celebrate with their own friends? “But thanks.”

“Ok, but I'll come by later to check up on you.”

“Alright, thank you for being here for me.”

“Hey, that's what friends are for, right?”

Rainbow Dash kept that guilty look on her face as she left, which Fluttershy noticed and mirrored herself. One can only imagine the thoughts swimming through her head at that time. Surely she couldn't be solely responsible for her brother's sudden stop on the path of life? Rainbow Dash had no reason to feel guilty for not contributing enough. I mean, he was so pitiful to begin with he would have undoubtedly killed himself sooner or later, right? Clearly she needed a professional opinion on this.

“Ok,” she said to herself, “I'll go ask Twilight about this, she would know more about what could drive somepony to do something like that than I would. She'll tell me I don't have to feel guilty about this.”

Author's Note:

I wrote this shortly after Flutter Brutter, but only got around to publish it now so I could get into Quills and Sofas. Enjoy! Or don't!

Note: Accidentally disabled comments and ratings. Fixed now!

Comments

[rainbow_swoop]

Fucking lol! My kind of humor, take a favorite.

[Midnight Song18]

7322748
Sorry, I don't want to fight fire with fire here, but I just hoped I might be able to help you be a bit more open-minded.

To claim that suicide is a selfish act is quite narrow-minded. In fact, in the mind of the person committing suicide, it's actually a bit more of a selfless act. People who suffer from suicidal thoughts might feel like a burden to those around them and feel that they'd be better off without them.

I'm not sure why people believe suicide to be a selfish act. Maybe it's to shift the guilt or blame onto the person who committed the suicide. Maybe it's to help with coping instead of trying to process why someone would actually commit suicide.

However, I don't think you can just blame somebody for suicide since most people aren't thinking logistically or rationally when they commit the act. In their minds, they truly believe that those around them will be relieved or happy that they're gone.

[Demiequus]

9764883
Pwnego was being sarcastic with that comment.
Source: He told me. He's a friend of mine.

[Demiequus]

9763426
I'm honored! I never expected anyone to read it (unless I specifically told them about it), let alone favorite it!

[Midnight Song18]

9765882
Oh, okay. If you'd like me to delete the comment, I will, but a lot of people will take that seriously. Just tell Pwengo to be careful.

[Demiequus]

9765949
Don't worry about it. It was definitely a good thing for you to mention. Kind of ties into the whole theme of the story. It's mocking all those kinds of "blame the victim" knee jerk reactions.

[SoloBrony]

The only people worse than those who write such drivel are those who encourage it!

Moar!

[Pwnego]

9765949
The emoticon may have been too light, but I thought the comment paralleled the style of the story well enough to convey the intent.