FimFiction Link - Short ID: 536468/tired
Published: May '23
Tired is a 1,6k word one-shot about depression. That's really it.
Rainbow Dash has depression. Nothing really seems worth doing. Not flying. Not practicing. Not doing tricks. Not hanging out with her friends. Nothing seems worth the effort.
As far as "Character has depression" one-shots go, this is pretty standard. I think the author put it best: "Yeah, this has been done before, but sometimes you just need to vent a bit."
What I will say, though, is that this story has heart. There was effort put into making Rainbow's lack of emotion come through to the reader. Sometimes, it really does feel like you don't want to do anything.
But that's as far as my praise goes. Rainbow is depressed. Her friends try helping. She blows up. Twilight confesses she's suffered from depression too. Rainbow asks for help. A full arc in just a couple hundred words. On that front, it should be commended. It did manage to put a lot in a small package. However, it's still bare bones for what it aimed to do.
There are worst offenders, but there are better offers, too.