The Six Habits of Very Friendly Ponies

by Ponygon

Chapter 3: Kindness and Generosity

Did you get the time to help a security nurse? That was the second exercise from the last chapter. Perhaps you may not have understood how it would make you happy, but did it not bring a smile of gratitude to the nurse’s face?

How did you feel when you saw that smile, when you generously offered her your time and effort?

In this chapter, we will be discussing kindness and generosity. There is much overlap between the two, so it makes sense to discuss both in the same chapter. However, in reality—as you saw with the security nurse—all these elements are highly interlinked.

The Friendship Institute is jointly run by all the ministries, but most prominent are the Ministries of Kindness and Generosity. Whilst you are here, they will keep you fed, warm, and clothed. They will keep you safe. Your well-being, both mental and physical, is the Friendship Institute’s main concern.

Here in these white corridors—devoid of distracting smells, of any scent except that of antiseptic and lemon—you are safe. No harm will come to you in your room, in the corridor outside, the canteen, or the outdoor physical activity areas. You will not feel pain in the Advanced Studies Lab on the lowest level, though it is best for you to avoid thinking about that.

Do not get me wrong. It is not forbidden to think about it. However, if you wish to successfully complete your course and leave the Friendship Institute, it would be best to keep it from crossing your mind.

Remember your breathing exercises from the previous chapter. You must be calm. It is important that you do not exhibit pre-Overturn behaviours.

Let us engage in this breathing exercise again.

Breathe in. Envision the air as it passes through your nose, into your lungs, and out into the rest of your body. Feel it swirl inside you, as it fills you up. Breathe in, that is, keep breathing in until you are so full of air that it hurts.

Remember your lesson from the previous chapter. Remember what you saw.

Envision the Friendship Institute in your mind. You are high above it; you see everything. You see white arms that branch out like a snowflake. Think of those arms as they envelop you like a caring mother. Like a mother, the Friendship Institute keeps a close eye on her children. It sees what you saw. What you could not see, it also could not see.

Were you curious about what you could not see?

Did you look for what you could not see?

What did you find there?

The Friendship Institute cares for what it cannot see deep within you. The ponies that work here only want what’s best for you. That is the reason the Friendship Institute exists, to make you better, to ensure you make good friends that support you in the Grand World Peace. It is the Friendship Institute’s desire that you leave a sane pony, a good pony: kind and generous, honest, happy, loyal to friends, with the Magic of Friendship burning deep within your heart.

Kindness and generosity were things ill-suited to the dark days before the advent of the Grand World Peace. Some say it was a lack of kindness and generosity that brought about the colossal explosions and choking gases that took away so many innocent lives, and ripped—in some cases, quite literally—countries apart. That, however, is for a later chapter.

For now, know that it is important to be kind and generous. In this brave new world, ponies no longer have hands. We must help one another, if we are to complete tasks that may have been trivial to our human ancestors. Bathing, for example, is now a communal affair: first the communal shower where other ponies help you scrub where you cannot reach, then the communal hot bath where you soothe your aches and pains away, then the second communal shower.

As a human—that is, presuming you are still a human—it may be a strange affair, an alarming loss of privacy. Even those from the former State of Japan would shower individually, before joining one another in the communal hot bath. In theory, unicorns could shower alone, using their magic to scrub in places where an earth pony or pegasus could not reach. However, how else would a pony express the little kindnesses of helping one another out?

There are, of course, other opportunities, but this is the one guaranteed opportunity in life.

Remember the water rations in the bunker? Water was precious back then. Not a drop could be spared. Bathing was infrequent at best. Most of the water was for drinking, or for hydroponics. You were lucky to have hydroponics. Other survivors had only the rations they had brought with them; some ran out. Generosity was but a mere memory to those humans.

Next time you see a pony drop her lunch on the floor, like tomorrow at 12:13, be generous, offer to share your food with her, though I suppose you will not need much prompting. You were always a kind soul. Do you remember that time your best friend lost her favourite teddy bear to Eric Mitchell? You gave her your own: a brown thing with curly fur and buttons for eyes, one of which was loose. Yes, it was shabby, and, honestly, it didn’t smell all that nice, but then again, the original didn’t smell that good either. Besides, it was the thought that counted.

In that one small act of kindness, you brought a smile to a little girl’s face, a little human girl who cherished it. The teddy bear held so much sentimental value, she took it with her when she left the bunker.

That’s how you knew she was gone, wasn’t it? You saw that it was no longer there, and knew, in that instant, Julie had left.

You sometimes speak in your sleep, you know. I would advise you to be more careful. Not that the Friendship Institute listens in on what you say. There are no microphones in your room to hear you call out Julie’s name; whoever she may be. Still, it would be best if you do not have these nightmares again; I would recommend you do your breathing exercises before you go to sleep and keep your mind clear throughout. Though I stress, again, that the Friendship Institute does not listen in on you.

Only somepony who presses her ear against the door would hear you, and really, nopony would do that without arousing suspicion. Unless, of course, she were to do it between the hours of 23:00 to 00:00, the same time as her security guard shift.

Which would be strange, of course. Why would she do such a thing? Can you imagine why anypony would want to do such a thing?

It is not for want. Why would it be for that? There is no want in our brave new world, or at least, none so dire as that we as a species once knew.

Wait, you didn’t say that? Well, good, because it is not for want. It couldn’t possibly be. The Ministry of Generosity sees to it that all three hundred million of us have enough to eat, and, if we so desire, enough to wear. Not all our wants are met—scarcity is not bad in itself—but we are not left lacking the essentials and those comforts that would make us happy. It is good for the Grand World Peace that society is somewhat generous, that inequality is not left unchecked, for if it is, it could lead to another Overturn.

Kindness and generosity are not only good for the stability of the Grand World Peace, they are also a good way to earn friends. You will need friends in the upcoming days, especially if you are to leave the Friendship Institute. However, you must not let your kindness and generosity get the better of you. There are still those who would parasitize, freeload off the generosity of others. They are like Queen Chrysalis, although she also—like Princess Celestia—does not exist in our world.

There are changelings in the Grand World Peace, but not literal changelings. They are metaphorical. Yes, they look like you or I, and they walk amongst us. These metaphorical changelings feed off your generosity. They will watch you, unsmiling, with eyes hidden behind sunglasses and books they do not read.

Do you remember them? Do you remember these unsmiling ponies and their unpleasant dogs?

You must not let them take advantage of you.

To be kind and generous to others, you must also be kind to yourself. Yes, there are “changelings” that will abuse your generosity, but if you are kind and generous to yourself, you will see them for what they are, for they will stop you from being kind to yourself.

What follows is a case study.

Imagine a pony with a gap-toothed smile. An eye watches her, like the eye that watches you. It sees her dark brown coat, the fringe of black and silver mane that falls across her face, how the two-toned mane is clipped short along her neck, so that a string of chocolate hearts runs its length.

She was once like you; this pony was not born a pony. She was not taken to Magic Kindergarten at the age of ten, to be reconditioned; all foals of that age are taken to Magic Kindergarten to be reconditioned. The Grand World Peace severs the link between foals and parents, to make sure that there are no more Eric Mitchells or Diamond Tiaras in the world. It does not suffer the existence of family, unless one counts the Grand World Peace itself as a family.

But I digress.

Let us go back to the pony. Yes, she was an inpatient here. She used to be human just like you. The transition was not difficult. She devoted her days to kindness, to small acts of kindness. From the beginning of the day to the end, she made a conscious decision to be friendly and compassionate in her interactions with other people and ponies, even if they frustrated her or bothered her. Kindness was her strength.

The pony with the two-toned mane occupied a room not unlike yours. It too had a bed, light, lamp, table, chair, sink, corner camera, cabinet, mirror, and sink.

Look around you. Do you see the same things, like say, the corner camera?

One day, the Friendship Institute allowed her to leave. This was not long after she’d been converted. She walked out the door, aware that the camera could see her, with or without lights. The door of her room opened onto a similar corridor to yours, with five doors—count them—to her right. Eyes watched her leave the corridor, the same eyes that watched her in her room.

They watched her with interest, but only in shifts of two hours. The Friendship Institute cares for all who stay and work within its walls, and the welfare of its wardens is just as important as that of its patients. So the parental eyes that watch the inpatients keep to two-hour shifts, and only have enough tape to record four hour’s-worth of footage before they rewrite over themselves.

This pony did not leave her room at 02:05; the Friendship Institute would never release its patients at such a late hour. However, she may have—at that time—entered the first door, which leads into the toilets. No one would suspect a pony who goes into that door at that hour, not even the wardens, who—like clockwork—would always find themselves at the end of the corridor at that time. Not that anypony was suspicious of anypony else or needed to be. This is merely a case study.

It would always take the security team thirty-nine steps to get to the other side. She would count them quietly, and then, when she left, they would be gone. We shall cover what happens next in another chapter.

Before she left, the pony made a valuable friend: a white rabbit who lived near the Friendship Institute.

Or was it a duck?

No, Alice, that would be silly. Her friend was a white rabbit, and she would often feed him carrots that she saved from her lunch. Sometimes, the quickest way to another’s heart, is through the stomach.

Sometimes, he would bother her for treats when she was outside doing her exercises. Those were bad times—as I’m sure you’re aware—because the Friendship Institute grades the progress of all those inpatients awaiting conversion; those who do not improve stay longer. This worried our pony, because she knew that if she stayed for too long, she would become eligible for enrolment into the Advanced Studies Lab, and she did not want that. If she wanted to stay outside of the Advanced Studies Lab, she would have to be firm with the little bunny.

I admit that I—she—might have been a bit too harsh with him. She upset the rabbit. He fled along a concrete path that curved down towards an oak tree by the chain link fence that surrounds the Friendship Institute.

Many a day, and night, she spent by the oak tree, hoping to catch the rabbit again and apologise. She would sit there and wait for him to reappear. The pony would see that the tree caught no artificial light from the Friendship Institute. At times, she would be startled, for at 05:30, a nearby gate would open, and a delivery carriage would come through, pulled by ponies. It would pass by the tree in a such a way, that she could have emerged from behind the tree, walk behind the carriage, and be completely unseen by anypony.

Imagine this pony doing just that. Imagine her walking through the forest. Three hundred and thirteen steps along the dirt ground, barefoot, because she is a pony, and she is nimbler without the Friendship Institute’s slippers. She will reach the river much faster without those slippers, a river that may be familiar to you, that may lead back home, and the other way to a lake.

Do you remember the lake? You met a pony there, who might or might not have been the same one. How would you know? You had only just come across ponies for the first time in your life! But she too had spent much time devoting her days to kindness and acts of generosity.

You may not have known it, but her act of generosity that day was to organise a concert, completely out of her own pocket. There were many singers there, and many ponies. They cheered and stomped their hooves in appreciation, as the singers spun stories with rhyme and rhythm. Others danced as only ponies can dance. There are other dances, of course, whirling dances with legs spread like rotors.

You met a pony there, didn’t you? She had a gap-toothed smile, and her cutie mark was… No, don’t say it aloud. Do not think it. Focus instead on the shock, the surprise, that appeared on her face, that faded into a smile. You smiled back, awkwardly, lips hesitant to pull back, but smile you did, unsurely.

This was not the reason that this pony stopped smiling. You mustn’t worry about that. There were other reasons for her to tell you to leave. She did not think less of you, and in fact, she had your best interest to heart. Sometimes it is kind to let go, to not help. Her words were a kindness, though you did not know it, and you looked alarmed and confused.

Eyes watched her then, as they watch you now. They did not hear her, as they do not hear you now, but they were there, in the audience. These eyes watched you through sunglasses, above books they did not read; they belonged to ponies that did not smile, but for reasons much different than that of the pony you met.

Imagine what these unsmiling ponies—with their unpleasant dogs—must have thought when they saw you standing tall above the pony by the lake. Imagine the work that goes into ensuring that the pony by the lake could bring singers and ponies together, so that singers can sing, and crowds can gather to enjoy music.

So much work went into that concert. A stage was built, an area cleaned. Trees were pruned to protect the rest of the trees.

It takes a lot of work to ensure that ponies are free.

What follows is another test. Complete it with a Number 2 pencil. Once you have finished, wait until 23:00 before depositing it in the Property Return slot.

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Question 1: How can you make kindness a habit?

Question 2: Name an example of a random act of kindness.

Question 3: Have you been practising handstands? It is important that you build upper body strength.

Question 4: How is generosity linked to caring?

Question 5: Have you seen the white rabbit, Alice? I do not mean it in jest. It is important that you see the white rabbit.

Comments

[StarsWillAidInHerEscape]

This is really interesting. I love how this chapter subtly says that there are no cameras in the Friendship Institute, then includes a story including them. I can not wait to see what the next chapter will bring!

[Ponygon]

8867105
On the contrary. The breathing exercise explicitly states there are cameras, and tells you exactly what it can and cannot see.