Sobering Flare

The following you are about to read is a description of a video that was discovered on a hard drive belonging to Mia Forbis, approximately a week after she sparked the Holland High School shooting.
Shortly after authorities arrived, Mia took her own life in the midst of the school cafeteria by placing her chin over the barrel of her firearm and pulling the trigger. Investigators also reportedly found a typed manifesto hidden in her backpack, explaining her plan in full detail.
The filename of the video was simply titled "sf.mov" and it was a fan-created My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animation by Mia herself. One of the characters was found out to have been voiced by her. The identities of the various voice actors who participated aside from her, and whether or not the voice actors were paid for their work remain unknown.
The video would begin with Times New Roman text, reading "Sobering Flare" with a faint, blurry glow. A reverse cymbal sound effect would play before cutting to Fluttershy, staring at a vanity mirror, with a look of annoyance and grief. Darkness surrounded her cottage interior, the only light being somewhat dimly lit from a nearby window, as if she was stuck in a somewhat brighter void with nothing but her own reflection. After a few cuts rotating around Fluttershy, she would speak to the mirror like if it were another person. 
"The sea of ignorance bubbles up like soap. There is no winning for you unless you're at your boiling point. Why don't you... make it more clear to one of them tomorrow afternoon?"
The voice given to Fluttershy is that of a girl in her late teen years, rather than an impression of the canon voice itself. This basically makes it clear that Mia is her voice actor. The scene jump cuts to a daytime setting, with Rainbow Dash knocking on her cottage door. Fluttershy answers the door with the same gloomy, irritated look she had in the first scene.
"Rainbow."
"Flutters! Took ya long enough, I've been waiting to go out for lunch with you for HOURS. I'm like, bored to death! You're ready, right?"
"I want you to listen to me on our way to the café. Do not interrupt. I know how inept at paying attention you can get."
"Umm, okay?"
Fluttershy trots outside and slams the door behind her, maintaining the same poker-faced emotion as she does so. She and Rainbow Dash then make their way down the dusty, gravel-filled road back to Ponyville. Nothing but the ambience of tweeting birds and clopping hooves can be heard. Around ten seconds into walking down the road, Fluttershy turns to Rainbow Dash and speaks to her.
"Some consider life as a whole to be a precious gift, wouldn't you agree? Some people take a good look at nature and wonder whether or not it was made purely by intelligent design. Sure, Celestia raises the sun, but did she create it? Did she make all this?"
"Woah, did Twilight show up to your house for an egghead sesh or something? Heh, I'm just kidding. I like life! It ain't bad when you get used to what you're good at, I mean, look at me. I got a sick mane style, people think I'm awesome and cool, what can be better than that?"
"I don't."
"Uh, what?"
"I don't like life, as much as you think I do. Sure, you have things to muffle the pain, like how I have my animals, but that doesn't change the fact you can't save everyone, or save every THING, for that matter. Look at the Everfree Forest. Do you see a predator lying down with prey when you walk in there? It's absurd to think about. It connects back to your likes, too. Someday, you're going to crash and burn at that speed."
"...e-eheh, Fluttershy, I dunno what the bookworm taught you, but you're probably just in a bad mood or something. Let's chat more at the café, okay? I got us a reservation for some hay fries and veggie stew!"
"Sure. Whatever."
Rainbow looks away for a moment, eyelids drooping with a slightly worried expression, before shaking her head. Perhaps Fluttershy is just having a bad day and she's overthinking it... or is she?
The scene cuts to the two mares at the Ponyville Café, sitting at a table outside. The sun shines down upon the two, with Rainbow Dash sipping from a bowl of vegetable stew, all while Fluttershy was just sitting there. Staring down into her bowl. Bags more visible under her eyes as the screen closes up on her face.
"Hm, you know what this stew reminds me of, Rainbow?"
"Mmmm, wait, lemme guess! That stuff you try to feed to your rabbit every so often?"
"It reminds me of the mirror I looked into this morning, kind of."
"You look like a vegetable?"
"No. Notice how the stew is an assortment of many vegetables. Carrots, potatoes, peas, broth. Imagine you spilled all of it."
"I guess, that would suck?"
"Exactly. When I look in the mirror, I see a jumbled mess. The vegetables represent my emotions. I'm upset, relieved, disappointed, disgusted, all at the same time. The broth represents my mind. Mashing it altogether into some ungodly mush. Like a foal would.”
“Huh? I thought you liked veggie stew!”
“Oh, believe me, I like how it tastes, but when you first look at it, it’s… not all that appetizing.”
Fluttershy picks up the bowl of vegetable stew and tilts it into her mouth, swallowing half of the bowl before placing it back down. Some of the stew gets in her hair, and upon taking the bowl away from her mouth, she’d cough up some of the broth, from letting it flow down the wrong pipe of her poor throat.
“Fluttershy, are you nuts?! Who eats stew that fast?! Eat slower next time, damn, you’ll explode like a balloon doing that!”
“Relax, I don’t need your coddling today.”
“Coddling? What coddling?”
“I’m talking about you acting like I need a mother for everything I do. Just like everyone else. It’s uncanny.”
Fluttershy’s voice now grunty from the broth that was poured down her throat, she would finish swallowing the other half before getting out of her seat, staring back at Rainbow, with her misaligned eyes, tired as can be. She raises a hoof, gesturing to Rainbow Dash to come with her someplace else. The only background noises consist of nothing but other ponies at the café, conversing with one another.
“Well? Let’s go relax by the lake, like you wanted.”
“Umm, can I eat my stew first?”
“Fine. I’ll see you there.”
Fluttershy then turns around and walks away, the clopping of hooves now turned into stomps against the dirt. Her hoof prints were almost like gopher holes at that point. She was clearly upset about something. Rainbow Dash would whisper to herself as her friend walked off.
“Oh gosh, did I make her mad or something?”
The scene then cuts to Rainbow Dash, making her way over to Ponyville’s bridge, until her walk is interrupted by Pinkie Pie, jumping right in front of her face with pure glee.
“Hi Dashie!”
Rainbow falls back in pure shock, squealing from the sudden jumpscare that was Pinkie Pie spontaneously appearing in front of her. She then gets back up, waving her mane back and forth in an attempt to get the dirt out.
“Ugh, oh my CELESTIA, Pinkie Pie, don’t do that! You scared the feathers off my wings, dammit!”
“Oh, umm, sorry! I just had a really good day today! When I see the twins all happy and playful, I get all giddy, you know? And I got to try Applejack’s seasonal cider early and WOW, it’s even better than last time, and- and- and-”
“Pinkie Pie, listen to me. Fluttershy isn’t doing so good.”
“Aww, why’s that?”
Pinkie Pie tilts her head curiously, raising an eyebrow. She still kept that smile on her face, though. Knowing her, she has a way to make people smile. At least, she thinks she has a way.
“Well… she’s been more uncomfortable around me than usual. I know she has an angry side, I’ve seen it, but… she’s being unreasonable, and I don’t know why. Just this morning, she told me she didn’t like life for some reason, and when I told her the reason I did, she told me that I’ll ‘crash and burn’ with how I fly? And when we were eating, she told me something about thinking she’s ugly, and when I just… ASKED her if I could finish eating, she scowled at me and stomped off! I don’t know what’s gotten into her, seriously! I didn’t even do anything!”
“Hmm, she’s probably just having one of those days! Nothing to get too uneasy about.”
“That’s what I thought when I showed up at her door this morning. I think there’s something going on that I don’t know about.”
“Doh, don’t worry about it too much, silly filly! How about I go talk to her? She knows me like she knows the rest of us. I’m sure she’ll listen!”
“Pinkie Pie, no, that’s not a good idea-”
Pinkie Pie cups her hooves around Rainbow Dash’s cheeks, staring her down with her big, glossy eyes, a smile widening over her cheek.
“Dashie, trust me. You can count on Pinkie Holmes to figure out the case of, well, why Fluttershy is sad, yeah!”
“PINKIE, NO!”
Rainbow would try to call her close friend back to her in an attempt to keep her from making things worse, but upon realizing that Pinkie probably won’t listen, and considering that she’s friends with everyone in Ponyville, all she could do is stand there and bite her hoof in fear. The scene cuts to Fluttershy, sitting next to the lake, her mane flowing gracefully underneath the bridge connecting Ponyville together.
She stares at the water as the ambience of tweeting birds and rushing water fade to screeching, reverbed violins. The screen cuts to the water, with a visible picture of someone’s face forming in the water’s reflection. It was very blurred, but just as it was about to show, Pinkie Pie jumped in front of Fluttershy like she did with Rainbow Dash, blocking her view of the river.
“Hi Fluttershy! A little birdie told me you were having a bad day!”
“Leave me alone. I’m already annoyed enough that no one can see the obvious problem. What makes me think you will?”
“See what? All I see is a frowny face! Tell ya what, why don’t you come over to my place and we can have some muffins?”
“I ate at the café. Please go away.”
“Aww, but I wanna see you happy! Come on, I bet I can put a smile on your face! How about you help me take care of the twins? Holding a foal is like petting a cute little puppy!”
“Pinkie… shut up.”
Fluttershy was visibly gritting her teeth, her hooves digging into the earth below her from the sheer annoyance that was Pinkie’s voice.
“Well, uhh, how about I come over to your cottage and I can help with your anima-”
“Katie, I said shut up.”
Pinkie falls silent for a few seconds, tilting her head once again out of confusion, still keeping that happy go-lucky smile on her bright pink face.
“Hehe, I’m no Katie, silly! Only Pinkie! What, do I remind you of a Katie? Is she like me?! Can I meet her?! Can I, can I, can I-”
“YOU SPINELESS TWAT, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
At that moment, Fluttershy gets up out of her sitting position, and rams her head directly into Pinkie’s. Pinkie is flown back at least five feet away by the sudden headbutt as she was bouncing erratically before the hit. A mix of saliva and mucus spewed out of her nose in a line, some of it getting into Fluttershy’s hair.
Pinkie tried to stand up, but the hit from her close friend affected her to such a negative degree. Physically, yes, but emotionally, even more. She would press a hoof against her nostril and pull it away, with tears welling up in her squinted eyes.
She was bleeding out. There were no stallions or mares around to see this, surprisingly enough. No one to help her, except for Rainbow Dash. Her forehead was shooting veins out in pure anger.
Rainbow Dash, upon seeing this, would zoom over to where poor Pinkie was, kneeling and helping her up, by biting down on part of her hair, like a handbag.
“PINKIE! ARE YOU OKAY?! CAN YOU STAND?!”
Pinkie was indeed able to stand, just barely, as she was having a bit of trouble keeping balance from the frontal assault. She sniffles, and her voice starts choking up, with the background music morphing to a depressing xylophone.
“I-I… what did I do wrong? I did everything I could to be nice to her, she’s such a good pony! W-what happened to her? What happened?! S-she usually likes me, why?!”
Upon seeing Pinkie Pie break down into tears, Rainbow Dash darts her head to her right and opens her mouth, about to say something to Fluttershy, but she sees her running off towards the direction of her cottage. She sighs, believing that she can confront her later. Right now, she has to get Pinkie Pie somewhere. To a hospital, perhaps. Rainbow Dash gestures to Pinkie to hold onto her back for balance, as the screen cuts to a view behind them, slowly turning upward, fading to black as the sky is the only thing visible…
The scene cuts to a night setting, with Rainbow Dash repeatedly slamming her hoof against Fluttershy’s front door, her teeth clenched and eyes widened with a paroxysm of rage. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, with small amounts of Pinkie’s blood on her hooves from when she had to carry her to the hospital.
“OPEN THE DOOR NOOOOW!”
Rainbow’s voice boomed throughout not only Fluttershy’s cottage, but the surrounding area too, causing most of the animals to back up. Shortly after, Fluttershy opens the door, her expression even more despondent and upset than before.
“What? What do you want from me!? How long will it take for you to realize-”
Before Fluttershy can even finish, Rainbow storms inside and slams the door behind her, huffing clouds of air out of her nose and gaps of her teeth. She looked like she was about to burst.
“Don’t you fuckin’ back away from me, we’re going to talk whether you like it or NOT! Just tell me this. What happened to you!? You were so sweet, so kind to everypony! You showed me that I should be GRATEFUL with what I fucking get! I trusted you! I invited you to have lunch with me, and THIS is what you give in return!? BEATING UP PINKIE?! The pony that LOVED you, AND me like sisters?! What the fuck happened?! TELL ME!”
Fluttershy was silent at that moment, her eyelids drooping in a depressive state. She had a face that looked like she didn’t care at all about what she did.
“WELL?! SAY SOMETHING!”
“...did you just catch on?”
“Huh?! Catch onto what?!”
Upon saying that, Fluttershy would trot over to her front door and shut it, before turning the lock with her teeth. Her head slowly turned around, her droopy eyes goggling into Rainbow’s soul. The only light illuminating the room came from her fireplace. Fluttershy’s head would then tilt downward, to the point where her hair covered a majority of her face. A moment of silence would flow through the room, before Fluttershy stood up on her hind legs, assuming a human posture, slowly approaching Rainbow Dash with no problem. The background music began to slowly change into low-pitched trumpets, all blowing at random keys and echoing, as if they were in an orchestral hall.
“You never cared about me, Seth.”
“Seth?! First, you call Pinkie ‘Katie,’ and now I’m SETH?! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!”
“Stop pretending. You’re so god damn ignorant. You were like this earlier today when I left my cottage, and here you are, acting like you don’t even know yourself. You make me sick. To my stomach.”
Fluttershy comes closer to Rainbow Dash, with the background slowly traversing to nothing but darkness and the light crackling from her roaring fire.
“You just love acting like this is all a phase, don’t you? That I’m just a creep in the back of the classroom that’ll get over everything in a flash? Are you blind? Remember when you told me to talk to my mom? Yeah, she thought I was the one manipulating her. When I told her I hated my life. She felt that way, somehow. When I tried to tell you what was going on at home, you didn’t even acknowledge that I existed.”
“F-flutters, you’re sick! Let me take you to the ER, please-”
“Aww, how cute. You’re just now trying to act like you cared. Too fucking late. I was bullied for shit I couldn’t control in my life, betrayed, and ignored by people like you. Were you there for me when Becky shoved my face into my lunch tray? Or when Mike tried to run me off the road on my way home? Or when my insulin was stolen and hidden in some other guy’s backpack? Were you there?”
“Fluttershy, who… are you talking about?”
“Why are you still lying to me?”
Fluttershy lifted her head up ever so slightly, showing a pair of anatomically correct human eyes, gawking right at her with a soft glow. Rainbow, upon seeing this, would look down, shutting hers, her rage still very clear.
“Look at me, Seth. Look at me.”
Rainbow shook her head, her pure vexation now mixed with fear. That’s it. Fluttershy would never act this way, or do something like this to a friend. Unless…
“You’re not Fluttershy. Y-you’re… you’re a MONSTER! YOU’VE LOST ALL THE RESEMBLANCE OF MY FRIEND!”
“LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME, YOU FUCK!”
Fluttershy’s head would finally show in its entirety. It wasn’t a very pleasant sight.
Her face completely morphed to a human look. She didn’t just have a human’s face, however. It was specifically Mia’s face herself, edited and shaded to perfection. With a sinister smile plastered on, her eyes were now widened like saucers, and to top it all off, her mouth looked like it was cut out of a magazine. Changing pieces every single time she spoke. 
Rainbow Dash attempted to fly away, but Fluttershy would raise her hoof and slam it down on one of her wings, pinning her to the floor. Rainbow’s opposite wing would flap out of desperation to escape, but Fluttershy would pin that one down as well, without a care for how her close friend is feeling. Heavily breathing, she would spit out one final quote.
“I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces next week.”
With that, Fluttershy lifts her hoof up, and brings down a furious force to Rainbow Dash’s head. The animation cuts to black right before her head is stomped in, and the video ends with a single text box in Times New Roman.
“Created by Mia F.”
The manifesto mentioned in the beginning had writing that connected back to the dialogue in the video, starting off with how Mia felt about herself, and ending with how she felt about others. Once the institute was investigated and the deaths were recorded, it was found that some names mentioned in the animation were found to have been killed in the shooting.
Those people in question are Michael White, Katie Laurier, and Seth Laurier.
Seth’s body was found in a men’s restroom, jaw dislocated and skull smashed to pieces.
----Credit to GardenFlower for the Screenshot Edit
Category:My Little Pony
Category:Mental Illness
Category:Lafawnda's Reading Hour
Category:Remake
Category:Cartoons