Stop it!

All you’re doing with this self-pity garbage is making things worse! You made a decision and I followed through with it. You’re not her mother figure anymore, I am. Walk with an air of confidence and relax! Sweetie still needs a sister! I can’t be that for her! You’re the only pony who can!

Luna above, Rarity. Am I going to have to be a parental figure to you too?

If you want to talk to Sweetie, you know my door is always open to you. In fact, doing so soon would be a good idea. Sweetie seems to think it’s her fault you can’t take care of her.

It’s no one’s fault.

I can’t speak for Rarity, Sweetie. I’m sure there must have been a reason.

I’m sorry.

I’ll come get-…

…

Black Strawberry? Can you get Sweetie Belle? I trust you, if you’re still there.

I don’t know what to tell you, Sweetie…

Rarity didn’t want to tell you one thing and then have to take it back; neither did I.

Rarity stayed with Twilight and Gilda last night, to make sure she could get some cursed something-or-other out of the boutique with Twilight’s help. And last night Twilight and Gilda were doing that thing we talked about. I’m sure she just didn’t want you exposed to that again.

I… I hope you can forgive us one day… I feel horrible… I should have told you as soon as I found out yesterday, but… I was afraid you’d reject me…

Rarity’s afraid she won’t be able to take care of you. She’s ashamed of herself because she hasn’t been a good guardian.

I feel guilty because… Well, everything that happened is my fault.

Rarity and I both think it’s best if you stay with me and Bon-Bon, but I feel horrible about you being dragged around like this… I feel like I could have prevented this somehow if… I dunno, I fought harder or something.

Is that okay with you, Sweetie? Are you okay staying with us? Can you forgive us for pulling you around? You’ll still get to see Rarity. And with her no longer taking care of you, she can treat you like a sister, instead of a foal.

Stronger is relative. Their hind-legs tend to be stronger overall. Forelegs is about normal. Are about normal.

There’s the whole nature thing and connection to the land, but that’s mostly just cultural.

For the most part earth ponies have endurance on their side. An earth pony at the peak of physical performance can run for over twelve hours straight. I think it was twelve… Unicorns and Pegasi can’t even approach that.

In fact, no land-based creature in Equestria can.

Uh… I don’t know anything about discord.

But like I said, all things can have a certain level of harmony to them.

Kindess, harshness. Honesty, deception. Generosity, selfishness. Laughter, stoic. Even Loyalty to betrayal.

This expands to almost all things. Even life and death itself.

The only thing that doesn’t have an opposite is magic. Magic isn’t a trait, it’s a force. You could argue that a few ways, but I’m kinda losing focus. So I’ll stop here before I ramble.

I don’t think so.

If I somehow embodied such a concept, to remain in harmony I’d have to use it appropriately, right?

It’s a differing tactic, and yes, it conflicts at it’s core. But only if used incorrectly. The same can be said with honesty. Even Applejack has secrets.

Considering everything I’ve done in my life, the element of deception would probably work best.

And that’s not some self-loathing garbage either. We all have to lie a little, to ourselves and others, to spare their feelings, or get through the day.

It’ll never be a popular opinion, because it’s so easy to take things too far. But deception is just as important to harmony as honesty.

All things in balance.

You think no pony else ever has?

Just because Equestria hasn’t had a real war doesn’t mean there hasn’t been fighting. Most stallions grow up to be members of the Equestrian guard and are deployed to border towns. Why do you think there’s so few of them around?

Fighting does break out, and ponies do die. As I understand it, relations are particularly shaky on the border between ours and the griffin territories.

Two reasons.

One, because this is the internet, not face-to-face interaction. You have time to communicate without stumbling on words or being incredibly upset. There’s no excuse for swearing.

Secondly, I run a family friendly page. I operate under the assumption that some of the ponies following me don’t know those words and have no reason to be exposed to them. Plus, it shows a certain level of maturity. And swearing isn’t the way mature adults communicate in a casual interaction.

I swear, but not online, and not in front of children. When Gilda tossed me like a rag doll into a wall, I swore quite a few times. Not directed at anypony, just as a reaction to having the wind knocked out of me.

You’re probably right. I’ve never been in a war.

And as many times as my life was put into danger when I was a foal, there were safe places to be, if you could reach them. There aren’t any where you are. Not really.

But when somepony limps up to you and says they just watched their best friend or sister get raped and kidnapped, what exactly are you supposed to say?

It’s not fair to you because it’s my past vs. your present. I can choose to ignore what happened to me years ago, but you can’t ignore what’s happening right now.

But if I’m not sorry, what am I?

Should I put that I’m an orphan in my sidebar or something?

I don’t know of any living relatives. I don’t even know of any dead relatives! I assume I had a mother and father, but I have no memory of them what-so-ever.

So the answer to “Are you related to X” is always going to be, “Probably not, but I don’t really know.”

Actually, a tree uprooted itself, fell into another tree, and both trees fell on my next-door-neighbor’s roof.

Turns out taking all the loose branches off of trees only helps so far.

I was going to take care of Sweetie Belle from now on. In the end, I couldn’t bare the thought of splitting up their family.

I’m fine.

They were kidnapped. No one really bats an eye at an orphan disappearing. From there, any number of nightmarish scenarios.

Friendship is mostly about emotion. Taking others feelings into account when deciding upon your actions. “Treat others how you want to be treated” is a nice, general tactic, but not always the best.

But all three are important on at least some level. You wouldn’t buck a friend square in the jaw, for example. And you wouldn’t act dumb around them either. All things in balance, but having a solid and understanding emotional relationship is the key to a steady friendship.