wannabolt | 13

[Well, now that the possession insanity is over with, maybe it's time for Dash to address something that's been bothering her for a while. So here, Luceti, have a view of one colorful, cartoony pony chilling in the sky somewhere. Probably one one of those clouds she loves perching on so much.

She takes a quick look around, wipes her forehead with one of her hooves, and lets out a great big sigh.]

Okay, so I know that a lot of you guys are from worlds where fighting's... kinda routine. You might be warriors, heroes, knights, whatever... I guess to you guys, going out and fighting the Third Party's no big deal. Just another war to add to your resume.

Buuuut here's the thing. Equestria's really peaceful for the most part. Sure, I've helped save the world from eternal night, but when I went out to fight in that last draft, things got ugly. Fast.

[She winces, looking the other way.]

How do you guys deal with it? Especially if you've gotta kill to keep moving. My speed kept me in shape for the most part, and I KO'd some cultists, but that's about as far as I could go.

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You don't gotta kill people-! ... You really don't. There's no reason that you've gotta kill people.

[Whatever Silver said. He feels bad, a little, as he thinks that. Because he never got a chance to prove Silver wrong]

At least somebody thinks that.

[Sigh. It's a bit closer to her comfort zone.]

I'd much rather knock 'em out or give 'em a good beating than make 'em croak. It's just not how things work back home.

Not to mention they're still people. I'll burn up their gear and stuff, but I'm not gonna kill 'em.

Not a bad way to look at it, though their whole sacrificing schtick's kinda creepy.

Mmm, yeah. It is, and I'm not gonna let 'em win or hurt none of my friends or allies, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna be apart of the killing, either. I didn't ask for the whole war situation.

[Precis. He words come to him, echoing along with Silver as he adds-] But if I'm out there, I'm gonna do what I can.

I don't think anybody asked for it. The same goes for the experiments, but here we are, stuck rolling with the punches.

[She groans.]

But doing what we can... that's probably the best approach, period. Definitely better than doing nothing.

Of course we didn't. But it doesn't mean that any one needs to get rolled into doing stuff they don't want to do.

Yeah. Too bad the Malnosso got all their morals sucked out. Somebody oughta make them write friendship reports.

[The last bit's said more as a joke than anything. Really, she can hardly imagine those weirdos reporting to Celestia.]

Friendship reports?

Ha, yeah. Just a bit of an inside joke. Basically, my friend Twilight's gotta report to Princess Celestia about what she learns about friendship. It's not really a punishment for her, though. Pretty sure she enjoys every minute of it.

But forcing the Malnosso to do that? Or, heck, write essays about how screwed up they are? I'd pay to see that.

...Wait, so is she like studying friendship?

Yep! She's totally studying it. Why, you think that's weird?

[Dash snickers. Twi could probably study just about anything, really.]

Of course that's weird! How do you even study a feeling?!

Friendship's not just a feeling. It's a connection and an experience.

Plus, friends hit all kinds of crazy roadblocks along the way. That's the kinda stuff Twilight writes letters about along with the lessons she learns.

[So there is something to study after all. ...Wow]

I guess that's true, isn't it?

I guess it is one of those things you don't stop to think about too much. It's kinda a big deal in Equestria, though. Friendship's basically the strongest kinda magic out there.

Friendship is magic?

Considering that friendship's basically what powers the Elements of Harmony? I'd say that it is.

[...]

But. ...But it's magic? Like that just makes it powerful?

Hey, I'd say it's magic in its own way. Just not the kinda magic that makes stuff explode, levitate, or disappear.

[...]

Okay, I mean, I guess it's pretty nice to have, but... magic...

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