Demeanor
Its a relaxingly dreary day. Not overly overcast, just enough to relax and take ones time, not enough to sleep and mope around all day.
Twilight Sparkle looks outside the castle's window from an easy distance as she quietly trots past. Nothing else to do on her checklist presently, her mind opens up to her past. Its a lot to take in. She has been adventuring with her friends for a little under a year now, but she doesn't fully understand the mechanics behind the friendship group dynamics yet. She never considered herself capable of stopping Nightmare Moon before, but her friendship empowered her. Was it arrogance that caused her to have confidence? Or had she simply learned from the past events on that night that they were an unstoppable force, a delusion of invincibility?
"Well I am walking past Celestia's chambers on her day off I might as well bring up conversation." Twilight trots a U-turn and proceeds to knock at her quarter's door. Twilight thinks maybe she heard somepony clear their throat.
"Come in." The smooth voice of Celestia washes over Twilight's ears gently. The door is opened and shut, now with a purple horned visitor. "Oh, it is good to see you Twilight. What brings you here?"
"I had some spare time so got to thinking. With my friendship I feel like I could do anything, even if I'm not initially confident it instills me with confidence. But we don't have like, a magical force that works like a deus ex machina or something in our favor, so was my confidence not ignorance?"
"Friendship is a powerful force, psychologically speaking. There is more at stake, one could not fathom the price to pay for not acting to protect it, so we do."
"But I was not simply acting in defense, was I? I had to go out and meet what threatened the kingdom."
Near silently a maid brings in some tea and Celestia has a delighted sip and thanks her with a nod and a smile. "Yes, even then, because in the end your friendship would have been impaired by not doing something about such a dark reign. Your friendship bolstered you with confidence, so you overcame your fear."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moondancer, with bags under her eyes, which are bloodshot, as she awakes late in this dreary day. She has a college project she should work on, but needs time to herself. If she could just relax. If she could just enjoy herself. If she could just- theres a ruckus downstairs and Moondancer's heart fills with dread but she doesn't notice. Yes she will just spend some more time in her room. Perhaps watch some anime. Yelling can be heard downstairs. Her mane and clothes are frazzled.
"You're eating soy!!! You know soy is causing deforestation in Chineigh! You're basically murdering and sending out a bunch of animals to be homeless!!! Starving!!! You're a murderer!!!" Fluttershy her schizophrenic sister won't stop screaming about this at their mother. Its been like this for months.
"Yes I'll just watch some anime. I'll do my college project last minute at the peaceful quiet of 1 am. Then I'll relax for 2 hours, then get ready for college at 7 am so I don't miss the bus."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia takes another sip from her tea, her mane breezing like the soft wind coming in through her balcony as she lightly smiles enjoying the tranquility.
"So it was about possible loss that motivated me? Is heroism inherently selfish?"
"If there was a conflict you would have resolved it internally or come to a resolution between the two. Something like 'but if I take out Nightmare Moon would Celestia not be sad?' but you sought to make peace with her so the conflict did not arise. In fact that avoids another conflict, the one of having to deal with having murdered somepony. The mind ignores what is too much to process in the moment for the sake of composure."
"Doesn't this mean thats a blindspot for being a hero?"
"The mind has a limited working memory Twilight. You would be scatter-brained-" Celestia giggles realizing her student already qualifies that statement at times-
"Hey!"
Celestia smiling and withholding her laughter takes a sip of tea. Twilight laughs a little as well. "Trying to carry more than one can hold is what causes scatter-brain. Ignorance is also a problem, the two balance each other. The mind always makes decisions on what to ignore. This does present a problem to heroism, if the hero has things they cannot ignore. That is the perfect time to have their friends help." Celestia winks.
Twilight smiles. "Thank you Princess."
Celestia giggles, no matter how many times she asks her to address her informally she still reverts to formal. Perhaps its my demeanor, Celestia thinks.
"Come closer Twilight, I have something to share with you." Twilight wonders if she is going to be given a great knowledge or secret or spell or perhaps-
Celestia hugs Twilight and nuzzles her close wrapping her wings around her.
"C-celestia!" Twilight stammers, and Celestia laughs briefly.
"Oh Twilight. I realized it was I who was acting too formal between us, so am trying to make the atmosphere more casual. Please forgive me for the effect it had on you."
"I... I don't mind, Princess." Twilight blushes. Celestia rolls her eyes. Students do tend to get infatuated with teachers. Oh well, seeing how this develops might be fun, mistake or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door slams open. At night. Fluttershy's shadow is cast inside from the light beyond the doorway her eyes glinting from the computer monitor in the unlit room.
"YOU WERE CRYING." Moondancer's expression becomes one of a 'yikes'.
"I-I was laughing, at t-the anime." Fluttershy pulls up a flashlight robotically swinging her leg up like she has poor fine motor control but highly precise coarse motor control. She covers moondancer in light up and down then left and right with the flashlight. Moondancer leans against the wall away from Fluttershy.
"You Are Lying."
"I'm not lying!"
"I heard you crying so I came to check on you."
"Leave me alone!" After a pause Fluttershy expressionlessly backs up, turns and closes the door.
"..." Moondancer cries. And watches more anime. Must hide, don't be noticed, don't express or you'll be noticed, must have me time, maybe Flutters is right about the soy, I an stay up longer, I was fine getting just 3 hours of sleep the other day. Besides when I lay down my heart hurts, I might die if I sleep! Moondancer sees lights and shadows cast from a lantern outside and hides herself from now what she thinks are aliens. Her pupils become too wide and she funnily enough looks like an alien some herself.
The next day she gets admitted to the horspital.