How Friendship doesn't work in Starfleet · 5:08am Jan 28th, 2017
Despite people don't listen, I may as well write it down so I don't have keep repeating myself.
In Starfleet, it's not that they don't BELIEVE in friendship, because they do, just not the way Twilight and Friends do. They don't believe friendship is a bad thing... they are all god friends, they lookout for one another, and team up in battles too...
...It's just that what they DO know, from experience, is that sometimes you can't always rely on it... or it just isn't enough.
friendship cannot save you from all things... it cannot undo what's been done (Not all the time) and sometimes... it just can't make things better, not right away or even at all.
These are facts of REAL LIFE, things I like to enforce into the pony-verse to show Twilight and friends how bad things can really be.
EXAMPLES throughout the series...
Season 1
-When Super Nightmare Moon invaded Equestria with an iron fist, Twilight and Princess Cadance tried to reason with Titan's minions by appealing to their hearts (Something they usually would do... trying to use FRIENDSHIP and LOVE to reason with the subjects) Unfortunately, much to their horror, they discovered the minions physically DID NOT HAVE HEARTS, making the friendship and love they use completely ineffective.
The minions do not even care to be reasoned with. They are 100% genuine pure evil, CREATED by evil and to SERVE/DO evil. No ammount of friendship will convince them otherwise.
...Friendship Failed
Season 2
Cadance's elder brother (Fan-made by me) he was taken over by, and turned into a powerful robotic menace that had come to destroy United Equestria and conquer it int he name of the Robot Empire. Of course being a robot, he has no heart, such things like love and friendship will be most ineffective on him, and even still... robots are resistant to most kinds of magic anyway. Cadance's love magic, the Elements of Harmony, even Celestia's strongest reasoning spell... it would just slide right off him with no affect whatsoever.
-He cannot be redeemed, nor turned back to what he used to be.
-They can't reprogram him (As his circuitry was far too complicated and dangerous to understand)
-He cannot be imprisoned as Robots are resistant to capture and containment.
-They can't just send him to another world or something like that, he'll still be free... free to continue his rampage and even return, and he'll still kill so many innocent beings.
No, there was no alternative but to destroy him, even Fratello knew it was the right course of action.
This was done not just because I hate Cadance and wish to torture her... but it does reflect on a LIFE LESSON (though I detest it myself, even I have to follow it) "Sometimes, we have to make hard choices. Sometimes we have to do the right thing, what's best for everyone."
Point is, Fratello was killed, there was no other way, and Cadance was devastated. Even though she can continue with her life... no amount of friendship, love or even friends and family will ever make the scars heal.
Shining Armor:"Isn't there anything we can do?"
Lightning: "We can make repairs to the robot... but we can never bring back that life he had; it's gone."
ALTERNATIVE PLOT
Twilight: "Poor Cadance. I wish there was something we could do."
Celestia: "Twilight, we've been over this. The robot has been damaged beyond any hope of repair."
Celesto: "Even if we could fix it... you know just as well as we do that Magic and Friendship cannot bring the dead back to life. The dead are better off left alone. Just let them rest in peace."
...Friendship Failed!
Season 4
Dr. Emil Kudos/ The Phantom of Magic
After his ultimate defeat, no matter how hard the ponies tried to reach out to him and offer him help, he balked at their every offer, making it perfectly clear that he had no intention of ever giving friendship another chance. To prove his word on it, and unable to face his defeat or anymore pain, he decided to commit suicide, despite everyone's pleas for him to reconsider, he just wasn't interested.
That is another lesson of LIFE that I like to enforce on MLP...
"You cannot force your ways on someone. They have to be willing to want to accept"
That's what I see in Twilight... when someone doesn't want to be her friend, she just keeps pestering them until they comply. Though the SHOW has it so the characters usually make up with her... in real life that's not how it always works.
(I wanted MoonDancer to CONTINUE hating Twilight, not give her another chance)
Since the ponies were not able to reach out to Kudos and convince him they wanted to help... (Despite I wrote it so) It still reflects on reality.
Esroh Dab: "If I could change who I am, where I come from, why I exist, maybe I'd try... but that's just not possible."
...Friendship Failed!
ESROH DAB/THUNDER CLOUD
Servant of the Dark King, sent as a Sleeper agent to spy on the ponies and learn their weaknesses. Despite during his time in New Ponyville and getting along with Rarity, he seems to be growing understanding of light, friendship, love... ect, ect, ect... Esroh ultimatley remained loyal to his King and his mission, to destroy the ponies.
Desptie Rarity's many pleas and begs for him to reconsider and that he can change who he is, her cries fall on deaf ears, and he continues to attack her mercilessly. Rarity even tries to use the power of the HARMONY BEAM (The very magic used to originally vanquish Nightmare Moon and change her to Princess Luna) Much to her sadness, the magic had no effect whatsoever, as Esroh was an artificial demon created from the very darkness itself. He is 100% Genuine pure evil. He has no heart... no soul... and therefore, that type of magic is useless against him.
In the end, though Rarity finally convinces him to stop fighting, Esroh still cannot ultimately turn against what he was created for, and surrenders to the Dark King... to face his execution. Despite Rarity's cries for him not to go and trying to convince him that he could change... Esroh, knowing that was not possible, bids her a final farewell, thanking her for all she showed him... and is executed before her eyes.
The ponies grieve of the loss of their Could-Be-Friend... but ultimately realized there WAS no way for them to help him. Even if they tried to hide him, the Dark King would have found him anyway and taken him back to kill him no matter what they tried.
Even still, after season 4, since the future was going to be revised, The Dark King would never originally exist, and therefore neither would Esroh Dab (I don't do the Time Paradox Duplicate thing)
...So, despite that they did manage to convince Esroh to stop fighting, the ponies were still ultimatley unable to change him, or convince him of such things...
...Friendship still failed.
I think that'll do it... but that's just a few example of what FRIENDSHIP DOESN'T WORK IN STARFLEET... really means. It's not made to make my Starfleet guys look better... it's made to bash the Equestrians because I don't like them... to give them a REALITY CHECK... truth is I don't even HAVE to include my Starfleet ponies to do that...
Hence my FRIENDSHIP IS FAILURE series.
But that's about the size of it. You can't ALWAYS depend on friendship to make things right or better for you... sometimes, it'll just turn out ugly.
Think with your HEAD... Not your Heart.
No offense, but you do kinda bring that on yourself by reading what I post when you could just look away and ignore it... I may post this stuff, but neither I nor anyone else is forcing you to look at it.
4399775
I see. That's understandable.
I prefer to think with both my head and my heart, Mykan.
I haven't read any of that series yet, though. I'll have to find time later. I'm curious to see if I come to a different interpretation like the last story I read from you.
... You are aware that MLP is a kid's show that tries to avoid certain aspects of reality, right?
4401112
Ah, but Sesame street is ALSO a children's show, and they deal with those things...
-Death
-Parents in the Army
-Children who have a parent in jail
-Autism
Some people actually accuse shows like MLP and Barney and friends being like this...
"Their shows do not assist children in learning to deal with negative feelings and emotions. The real danger from the show is 'denial: the refusal to recognize the existence of unpleasant realities. For along with his steady diet of giggles and unconditional love, the show offers our children a one-dimensional world where everyone must be happy and everything must be resolved right away.'"
That is a direct quote (Well almost, I had to edit it a little)... and MLP DOES fall into that up there.
I'm not saying you're totally wrong, I'm just saying to Beware, and don't be fooled.
and even still, my Starfleet series isn't intended for Little kids like that, more like ages 8 and up
4401225 '
Can you please show me where you got this quote from?
Please understand that I'm not saying you are wrong either, or that I'm trying to purposefully annoy you.
I have to concede that I was wrong in making my previous comment. MLP does deal with things like that, but it does it in a more abstract way. I can't really judge the content of the examples you gave my (I live in a country where the things they discuss in Sesame Street are not that, for lack of a better phrase, heavy-handed) but from what I've gathered, the material in those episodes is handled differently than in MLP.
Take Tanks for the Memories for example. The episode states that Tank is going into hibernation, but the episode treats it as if he's dying with Rainbow going through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). Even though he doesn't actually die, the message of the episode (which is about acceptance of the loss of something close to you), is still made clear.
Another example, In Flight to the Finish (even though I confess I have never seen the episode and I'm just going off of what I know about it), it's implied that Scootaloo is completely incapable of flight. The episodes never states that she has a physical disability, but through the way the episode handles it subject matter, the audience is hinted to that it may be.
In my eyes, there's two ways to teach certain morals in a show. The "hard" way, likein the examples you gave, or in a more subtleway, like in MLP.
4401612
It was from Wikipedia... but is a real quote, and it DOES tell the truth.
I'm afraid that is just not the same. It's reverse logic. the fact remains that Tank was not truly dying, and he would return to Rainbow Dash in the Spring, therefore it cannot classify as "Dealing with Death" nor TRULY losing what you love.
the episode does not deal with how HARD someone can take it (and I don't mean crying hysterically) I'm talking about falling into total despondency... giving up on life... possibly even the insane desire to commit suicide.
MLP is just much to subtle and abstract.
I'm afraid that's still not good enough, and incidents like that hardly happen in MLP. Even so, they seem to be overcome so easily.... when in real life, that's just not how it happens
Perhaps there are, and most of the time, the characters in my way get it the HARD way
Again, it's not about what happens in the episode, but the way the episode presents it.
That's just a matter of preference. I have nothing to say to that.
4401628
I'm sorry, but I just don't work that way.
"Close is NOT close enough"
"Most is not All"
"99 is not 100"
4401639
Then I guess it's just the same as my previous comment. A matter of preference.
Don't feel obliged to reply to this comment. I don't really want to further this debate.
4401641
Well, at least let me say Thank you for being civil...
4415222
The answer is "No".
1: It doesn't matter what it's called (Everything's been done before) Star Command comes from TOY STORY (Duh!)
2: I'm sorry but, this is my fiction, only I will decide what is right and wrong with it.
Care to rethink that...?
I do surmise that the majority of the down votes on those stories are from those who read just the synopsis and/or maybe a chapter, saw it was not the Starfleet they were expecting, and hit the thumbs down as the modern way of tossing a bad script at a writer.
No actually, it is merely people's ignorance (which I must tell you... YOU have just demonstrated) By rather than asking simple questions, you merely scoff, insult, and act baffflingly rude, and they merely hit the thumbs down automatically. (I have proof)
They even tell me flat out,t hey don't INTEND to read the story, automatically regarding it as bad to them as it goes against their preferences. I'm afraid the many thumbs down I have are truly illogical and given to me out of vanity. Very few are legitimate.