Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, because there's bugger-all down here on Earth.
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This story is a sequel to Night Of Faded Sun
It's Spring. A lovely season, to be sure, but no one has seen Sunset Shimmer in over a week. Concerned, Rarity goes to visit Sunset in her dumpy apartment. For better and worse, Sunset explains exactly why she has cut herself off from the world. Rarity must decide how to handle an uncomfortable truth.
The third instalment in Sunset's Recovery Arc.
Rated "Teen" due to frank discussion of suicide, and mild cursing.
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It's kind of haunting to see Sunset that way, it almost made me uncomfortable when she rubbed the cuts on her wrist
And it's good that you managed to instill those types of feelings! This was a really good read
The way you write mental illness, you do it really well brah 
Keep up the awesome work
7472505 - Thank you! I try.
Interesting - and I hope you're doing OK! This seems to be coming from a somewhat dark place.
(Although if this has been a condition from before she left Equestria, one would think her teacher would have noticed...)
7472682
I do have one question, did you have any specific mental illness in mind when writing these fics?
The flipping between extreme highs and extreme lows leads me to think Bi-Polar Disorder, but I'd love to know what your actual thoughts are
7474141 - That answer is a little involved. If you're asking whether I consulted Wiki or the DSM before putting words to page, then no. I did look up information before making "Highs" public, but that was after finishing it. My thought going into the story was "manic-depression", forgetting that's just a less-medical term for bipolar disorder. On the other hand, I knew how she's broken from the get-go. So… yes in that sense?
Ultimately, I went where the writing -- and my own brain -- took me, and hoped to not offend half this site in the process. That's the big reason I sat on "Highs" for 8 months.
<b.r.b. going to look sh!t up again because forgot proper terms>
If I had to diagnose her, she probably falls under Bipolar II, the less-severe form -- she is rarely "high", and the highs aren't that extreme or dangerous (in other words, "hypomania"). She also fits the criteria for Melancholic Depression, which is closer to my original intention. It's true that hypomanic people rarely note anything may be wrong, which Sunset explicitly does, but you can chalk that up to her being well-read and more aware of her issues than a layman.
Hope that answers your question.
7473617 - Celestia seems to take a pretty "hooves-off" approach to her students, which has come back to bite her in the ass more than once. I wouldn't be shocked at all if she failed to notice or had misread Sunset's mental instability (in this AU).
so sad
Being sad sucks, but I never felt depressed. From what I hear, it's the worst feeling since it feels like your all alone, get better Sunset.
Perfect. Great story!!!!!
I drew something inspired partially by that description. It came out alright, I think.
8200466 - I think so. That's an excellent piece of art and I love it.
Hope you don't mind if I give you a shoutout for this in my next blogpost. You'll have to pardon me; I've inspired readings before, but not actual art. I'm kinda stoked.
8200603 Consider it yours to do what you want with. As a relatively new artist, a positive response is very encouraging.
It makes me think of those people in the forum keep saying ‘sorry’, being pitied, being forgiven, and backstab others again and again.
If someone has ever made me want to suicide, I will certainly not forgive him. Especially when I saw so many people being forgiven by new members of this fandom and they started to manipulate these newcomers.
I just can’t accept it.
Man, Rarity talking to Sunset is giving me flashbacks to talking to a friend of mine when they're really depressed. It's really hard work, especially because there's only so much you can do, and you feel bad for finding it exhausting and difficult when you aren't the one whose depressed.
And yeah, all the things Sunset is saying I've heard. This is really on point.
What is this parenthetical doing there? It reads like an author's note in the middle of the story and was super jarring.
Having Rarity in the story really helped things feel more impactful as compared to the previous story.
Painful, but heartwarming ending.
This is a solid template for how to properly write about suicide/self-harm in a respectful, realistic way. It's not over-played for dramatic effect, Sunset isn't sobbing her eyes out or having stupid-ass demon hallucinations (seriously why do people do those). She's tired and drained and just can't find the energy to care about herself anymore, which makes the resolution to the story all the better.
Rarity can't make Sunset care about herself, but maybe she can care about Sunset enough for the both of them. It's not a permanent solution, but it's not presented as one. It's heartwarming and uplifting in just the right way. I also like how Rarity isn't able to solve or make Sunset's problems go away at all. Instead, she does the best she can to help Sunset through this one bad night, and for now that's enough.
All the stories in this anthology are alright, but this one is really something special.
10071715
Thank you. This one was simultaneously easy and difficult to write. I spent a LOT of time thinking about how Rarity would respond because it had to be perfect in its imperfection. Anything less would have made the story fall apart.
This was a nice follow up to Night of the Faded Sun
9264338
There. It took three-and-a-half years, but I finally fixed that parenthetical and made it less suck. Happy?
10084135
Funny you say that considering I wrote this story six months before NOFS. But they do dovetail nicely.
10085842
I'm... gonna be honest. I wasn't smart enough to quote the surrounding text, so I have no idea where the parenthetical was
And why is it 2022 now? I don't wanna skip that far aheadYou can has review!
This sure was worse than I thought, even must be hard for rarity to listen to it.
She's right and rarity and the rest of your friends will be here to help you sunset.
Which is practically the title of the next story.