Learning Friendship in These Times

Find the rest of my art series, 'Save The World', on derpibooru.

Hello, friends. It has been a while, hasn't it? As ever, I hope you're all staying well and safe. 

I hope that soon we will be talking of more of my usual things, fun things, in happier times. But while the times we are in now are not necessarily fun nor happy, it doesn't mean we can't still talk. And perhaps, perhaps it is important that we do just that; Talk about the times, good or bad, as friends do. 

I'm sure you remember as well as I do the first few episodes of the show. I recall a much younger me rolling my eyes a little at the premise of Twilight Sparkle 'learning about Friendship' (please forgive my younger self, she had yet to do all the embarrassing and humbling parts of growing up).

8 years ago the whole notion struck me as one of the many childish mores I was expected to take in stride to enjoy the rest of what the show had to offer. In many ways, I immediately identified with episode 1 Twilight on her arrival in Ponyville; 'Who needs to do something so infantile like learning about Friendship anyway? Friendship is so obvious, learning it is like trying to learn that the sky is blue!'

9 seasons on after the adversity that was Nightmare Moon brought the Mane 6 together as besties, the magic (and lasers) of Friendship still overcomes any and all Friendship problems, of the monstrous villain or misinformed unicorn variety or otherwise. But as I look at the world outside today, I can't help but reflect on how we ourselves respond to adversity. 

I think it is safe to say that 2020 has been our Ponyville, a strange and new place where challenges and adversity is not on some distant shore but right here in our homes, our neighbourhoods, our communities. And as we hop off our sky chariot, we emerge into a land that has not only been repeatedly struck by disaster, but has also had to adapt to adversity as a way of life. Go outside and you will see the ‘new normal’ of life in the pandemic, with everyone social-distancing and wearing masks. To see something so bizarre juxtaposed against what you think you know as normal can be surreal; Mayhaps as jarring as the day Twilight Sparkle saw Ponyville and how different its ponies were from herself, and declared, in her own words, ‘All. The. Ponies. In. This. Town. Are. CRAZY!’ 

But as Twilight faced off against the first of her Ponyville disasters, an (admittedly adorable) eldritch abomination from the moon, she learned to see more than the differences that sets her apart from the wacky band of ponies she ended up with. She learned to see past their weird quirks and appreciate their virtues; their loyalty, their generosity, their honesty, their kindness, their laughter. Discovering what they had in common was the magic that helped them overcome the evil moon goddess, and every single big-bad of the week since (I guess it also helps that it also powers magic friendship laser beams). 

I look out at what's going on in the world today and I wonder to myself; Perhaps the sky isn’t always blue, and perhaps Friendship isn’t as obvious as I thought. As we all venture off our sky chariots into our personal Ponyville, perhaps all of us can stand to learn a little Friendship. And perhaps, as we face off against whatever disaster or friendship problem Ponyville throws at us next, we should decide whether we wish to remain stuck at differences and quirks, or revel in the magic of coming together and overcoming differences in the face of adversity. Who knows? We might get a magic friendship laser beam of our own. 

Friends, stay safe, stay well and let us talk again in happier times.

Comments

[Griseus]

Who needs to do something so infantile like learning about Friendship anyway? Friendship is so obvious, learning it is like trying to learn that the sky is blue!

Yeah obvious, but I'm an old man who hasn't learn his lesson. Also, as with friendship, doesn't understand why the sky is blue. Except it's friendship in this case.