friendyousohard | 26th Spell [Video]

So, we're in the first week of the new month and we'll probably be getting new people for a while... and it's occurred to me that there's something about that I've been thinking about for some time now, but have never really addressed.

[Twilight folds her arms a bit, frowning in consideration at the screen.]

Most of us ought to know by now about the helpful guide that Riku, the owner of the training center and the new breeding center, wrote about this world some time ago. It's still a useful resource despite needing some updating, and it's where I got the seed of my idea, but it's a bit... oversized for a newcomer, no offense Riku.

Is there a way to maybe... [She pauses a moment to grope for words.] Create some sort of collective document where we all put in our thoughts on what a new arrival should know about this world right away? Something simple and straightforward, that gives them a grounding point for their first few days. I always worry I've forgotten to mention something important when I talk to someone new, and I think that's a problem we all share. This could fix that, and give them a bit of a leg up in adapting to this world. And as long as we all know about it we can be sure someone's going to show it to them when they arrive.

It might not seem like much, but if you think back on how we all felt when we first arrived, I think most of us would have really liked something like that to at least be available.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The quality of my own opponents is not always... optimal, but they tend to work together on large-scale plans. That compensates for many weaknesses, as shown by Team Rocket's most damaging attacks.

Well, teamwork is a weapon both sides can use, and in my experience the other side tends to have too much pride and selfishness to use it effectively, unless there's one ringleader with a strong enough personality to rope them all into working together.

I've seen it go both ways: a group working as one, with each member playing their part perfectly for years... and a group collapsing upon itself the moment its members were given half an excuse. It depends on the goal to reach, I imagine.

And the personalities involved, to an extent. Trust and cooperation come easier to some than others.

...True. I cannot imagine people such as Kefka or the Emperor truly trusting others, even with a shared goal to reach. Then again, only fools would trust them back; perhaps they have a point there.

Which leaves you with a bunch of knives ready to be plunged into backs as soon as they think they've won. Really if you can make the other side think you're less of a threat to them than their own "allies", you might be able to get most of them to deal with each other.

Again assuming some superior force isn't holding them together.

...Even the strongest force in the world cannot hold certain people together. Especially if it cares little for its own goals, or the risk of betrayal.

Wait, then what did that force care about? It sounds completely apathetic.

Destroying his opponent, the goddess of Harmony. ...Or not, considering that her death left him without the will to live. It was only after her passing that he realized he had no one else to care for.

[Well, that's a familiar word to her...]

Wait wait wait. The Goddess of Harmony? Who... who exactly wanted someone like that destroyed?

The god of Discord, Chaos. A terrible opponent, a danger to his own world, and yet many of his chosen warriors were much more unpleasant.

The god of...

[She pauses for several moments, processing that.]

If Harmony and Discord weren't such universal, or I guess multiversal concepts, I'd say that's one of the most unlikely coincidences I've ever heard.

You have a Cosmos and a Chaos of your own, then? Or equivalent deities? Perhaps that's a sign that this world has its own, too.

No and yes. We have an entity named Discord, the spirit of Chaos. But as for Harmony, ours is split into six pieces, we call them the Elements. When united through a group that embodies harmony they can basically reharmonize the very fabric of reality around them. Discord is utterly helpless against them, but he has the advantages of being constantly united and his own being, with a will of his own.

Those Elements form Harmony as a whole, then? They're not simply shards of its power, willingly given up? As a concept, it makes sense that ot would be based on unity, but that's not very useful if even a single piece is missing.

Huh. Now that you mention it, I have absolutely no idea where the Elements came from to begin with. And you're right about them being unusable unless they're all united... and also unusable if even one of the holders isn't attuned with their Element at the time.

...Would a single bad day for a single holder suffice to upset the balance, or would it take a greater disruption? I suppose it depends on what one needs to be attuned to an Element, but if losing the connection is that easy...

Oh it takes a great deal for the attunement to be disrupted, but it can happen. On Discord's release, that was what he planned on to keep himself free.

...Please tell me his plan failed quickly and brutally. I'd rather not imagine what a creature of chaos could do, if left unstopped.

It succeeded at first, but with the help of our ruler, Princess Celestia, I managed to undo his magic and reunite the Elements in under the span of the day. As an added bonus, the Elements restored everything he'd done to normal.

Did they? Even Cosmos or the crystals could not manage such a feat. Perhaps that is why they exist as separate entities; who knows what could happen if a single being with that much power existed at all times?

You raise a good point. Their power seems to be entirely benevolent, but then again we've only ever invoked them in the most dire of circumstances. They could hardly have made things worse.

There is no such thing as a situation that cannot get worse. That said, a benevolent power can still be dangerous if misused, though it appears that was not an issue for you.

Well we've basically only ever used it to seal, reform, or otherwise defeat deity-level malevolent beings, so unless our aim was off I think it's pretty much guaranteed to have a positive outcome under circumstances like that.

Not that I think we can miss with it. It seems to be pretty good at sorting out its targets.

...Benevolent and possibly intelligent. That's a very reassuring combination, especially considering the sort of opponents you must face. Is it also sentient enough to communicate?

[video]

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