video } the wonderful part of the mess that we made we pick ourselves undone

[truefriendship]

[Starlight's not used to these devices or much about this place, but it's just like learning new magic. She's sure she can do it. After a few minutes of fiddling with a hoof, she turns it on, using her magic to hold it out in front of her.

Slightly upside-down, but she hasn't noticed.]

Greetings. My name is Starlight Glimmer. I am a newcomer here. I have read all your pamphlets and other resources, it's all very informative, but none of it answers my real question.

[She hesitates, then pushes through.]

...is this a friendship test?

Comments

[directed]

[Nope. Guess again Starlight.]

That certain events often involve brutal conflict up to and including murder, for one. As I understand it, bloodshed and death aren't quite so rampant in your world as they are in some.

[truefriendship]

[Rude! Very rude!]

Yeah, we just have demon overlords draining ponies of their magic or changelings kidnapping and replacing princesses or snowstorms trying to destroy whole kingdoms. Nothing brutal ever happens.

[She rolls her eyes.]

Did Sunburst tell you that? Just cause he's read through most of Equestria's latest disasters doesn't mean they didn't happen.

[directed]

[Well, seems someone leapt straight past “blood and murder” into assumption. Rip lets out a sigh.]

I never said that terrible things don’t happen in your world—nor did Sunburst, for that matter. [Might as well spare the pony some ire later on.] Only that the scope of what you’ll face here likely goes well beyond what you’ve encountered in your universe, something which can be said of many. It would do you well to be as prepared for it as you can.

[truefriendship]

You implied it.

[Starlight could probably backtrack now because there was clearly a misunderstanding.... or she could keep charging ahead.

Hahaha like Starlight's ever backtracked.]

Pretty sure I can handle it.

[directed]

I really didn’t.

[But semantics; arguing over who said or didn’t say what would only veer them further from the course—and as Starlight’s next reply makes clear, drive her further away from any sort of measures she might wisely take to ready herself for the worst of what may come.]

So are most, right up until the point they can’t. Wonderland may be gilded in a number of ways, but it remains a cage—one where prisoners are housed and left to their own devices until the time to torture them comes round. The trials are unavoidable; the events cannot be prevented, at least not through any effort made thus far, and too often the same is true of the specific effects of any given occurrence.

[Sure, there are small ways to mitigate the disaster. Hide from all manner of technology, alien or otherwise. Ignore all others and conserve your oxygen until you’re forced to swim between rooms. Shut your door and spare yourself the sight of your worst memories, played over and over again, each time with the promise that perhaps if this one thing might be changed, the past might be made right.]

Then comes the aftermath—which bleeds into a repetition of the cycle.

[truefriendship]

[It sounds bad, but really not worse than her actual life has been. Sure, most of her trials have been self-inflicted, but they still happened.]

So can you handle it?

[directed]

It rather depends on the event. [Somehow Rip doubts she’ll appreciate it if he tries to claim that he’s better equipped than many in some regards, thanks to his personal history—and lies won’t hold well at all. Thus, he gives a vague truth.

It’s the sort of thing he’s quite good at.]

Many have taken their toll.

[truefriendship]

[Hrmph. She still looks kind of annoyed, but also definitely curious.] What was the worst one?

[directed]

That answer no doubt varies depending on whom you ask.

[He knows well which was the worst for him--and quite purposefully doesn't offer it up.]

But you'll no doubt experience them for yourself soon enough.

[truefriendship]

Lucky me. [She hasn't been here very long at all and already she hates it here.] Well, thanks, I guess.