@patchwork_soldier  
Except for Nero. Hooooo boy except for Nero!
 
 
@Millennial Dan Well they already said no new Babs so I couldn’t very well pick that one.

@Niggoslav_Krawczyk  
That wasn’t even that great an episode, but you’re crazy anyway.

@Niggoslav_Krawczyk  
The saying has been twisted by many cultures through the years but you have the basic idea down. It goes even the bloodiest tyrant still loves his mother.

Psh, give me a week and a single episode and you would see the best ep since Sleepless

@Niggoslav_Krawczyk  
You’ve already proven that you know absolutely nothing about such things, so I’m not surprised at this comment in the least.

@Eggonaught And a refusal to learn, grow, and change. Resulting in sameep once more.
 
@patchwork_soldier  
There’s a whole trope for that yanno. EvenBadMenLoveTheirMommas, something like that.

@youregoingtoloveme  
Really? I thought it was cayenne pepper or chili powder.

@Mattatatta  
Use ground cinnamon. It’s a natural ant repellent.

Except when it is helplessness.

Could I get a version of this clipped from 16x9 to 8x5 please?

@Daruqe  
Don’t be a moron.

Unless you’re Fluttershy.

@someguy111  
[]Kindness and gentleness
 
[]Human beings and society
 

 

 
[✓]Third option, both.

[]Kindness and gentleness
 
[]Human beings and society
 
Choose one

I think this is a reference to “The return of harmony” where Discord called Flutters weak and helpless and she agreed. Celestia is telling her she’s isn’t, Fluttershy may be very sensitive and a scaredy cat but she’s strong and useful where she needs to be.

@DanielTepesKraus
 
That’s not exactly kindness at fault, but the lack of common sense of the ultimate victims. I doubt Fluttershy approaches a natural predator without taking a few precautions to protect herself and others around her - assuming she will even approach the creature in the first place. Heck, if Discord was as bad as her friends made him out to be, Fluttershy wouldn’t have been so open to accepting him as a friend.
 
Take her fear of adult dragons for example, or the hostile intent of the Changelings. Both are threats to not just regular ponies but to Fluttershy too, and she would rather avoid contact with them than foolishly put herself or her friends in danger because she wants to be nice.
 
She may be the nicest pony around and have the scary ability to befriend manticores, but if she senses danger in something, she’ll keep away from it. She might even ‘fight’ it (Red Dragon/Basil and the Cockatrice) if it threatens to harm her or others around her.
 
One can be kind and utilise their common sense and knowledge. Being one doesn’t override the other. Me finding a rodent in my house or a hurt bird outside may kindle my desire to be nice and give them a second chance at life, but it doesn’t erase the fact that they can carry illness over to me or directly attack me. I take precautions to protect myself and my family while still being compassionate to other living creatures. I get chided occasionally for releasing creepy-looking bugs and spiders instead of squishing them, but I feel that I should let something live if it isn’t an immediate threat.
 
That said, I have to draw the line at Black Widows and potentially lethal creatures, because relocating them can put someone else in danger if it nests in their home instead, or hurt me or someone I know if it just comes back a day later. This is something that bothers me when it comes to ants invading my house. I hate killing things, but if those scouting ants are allowed to live and return to their nest outside, the whole damn army will show up. And if the whole army shows up, I’ll have to lay down poison and use boiling water to kill many more.
 
There is more to my perspective of life, but explaining it will just fly past the point I’m trying to make. I aspire to be kind to all living things, but even I know and understand that people must be careful and wise in their actions, because if they don’t they’ll do something stupid like let a viper sit in their pocket.
 
In all honesty, those two anecdotal tales you gave are precisely the kind of thinking that makes people grow to expect the worst in everything instead of using learning their sense and heart. This constant belief that everything will kill you if you’re nice to it is what makes people cruel to each other and quick to fall into aggression. It isn’t right or fair - we should be trying to help one another and be compassionate and empathetic, not meeting every person with mistrust or outright scorn. There are people in the world that are too horrible to ever be given the benefit of the doubt, yes - or even allowed to live if they have heartlessly murdered others - but nobody is exempt from experiencing kindness and mercy at least in once in their lifetime. And there is no excuse for not being kind to the people who come into your life.

@DanielTepesKraus  
But do you remember the tale of the Dove and the Ant?
 
An Ant, going to a river to drink, fell in, and was carried along in  
the stream. A Dove pitied her condition, and threw into the river a  
small bough, by means of which the Ant gained the shore. The Ant  
afterward, seeing a man with a fowling-piece aiming at the Dove, stung  
him in the foot sharply, and made him miss his aim, and so saved the  
Dove’s life.

@Millennial Dan
 
Likewise it is an anecdotal argument. I am not saying it’s lacking in the wisdom it’s trying to put forth but only that it is not a universal application.
 
I can make a short parable about a kind beggar who makes all your wishes come true when you give him a piece of your bread. It can be a parable about generosity, for example. It still does not have universal application. I think it’s important to gleam wisdom from small parables like this but not to hold them as philosophies to be adopted in general practice.

@DanielTepesKraus  
You’re confusing kindness with imprudence. One can be kind and still employ good sense.

Kindness and gentleness can be a weakness, though. Remember the Farmer and the Viper?  
One day in the winter a farmer found a viper freezing in the snow. Taking pity on it, he picked it up and placed it within his coat. No sooner had the viper been revived by the warmth of it’s rescuer it turned and bit him, leaving him where he fell. As the farmer lay dying, he lamented “Foolish was I to share kindness with a creature so vile as a viper.”
 
Or the story of the Scorpion and the Frog:  
One day a frog came upon a scorpion at a pond’s edge. The scorpion asked for a ride across, to which the frog replied “But you would sting me.” The scorpion said “If I did, we would both sink and drown.” Agreeing with this logic, the frog carried the scorpion out into the pond. As they were midway across, the scorpion did indeed sting the frog. As they sank the frog asked why, and the scorpion simply replied “It is my nature.”

@Background Pony #9055  
He said that? =verifies=
 
Whoa, I already had respect for him, but this quote makes him even cooler.

Fun Fakt: The Prince is diametrically opposed to everything else Machiavelli wrote both before and afterwards.

Alright people just chill your tits pull up a chair and listen up.
 
Kindness in essence is not a weakness. Some of the worst tempered assholes in my barracks were kinder then teddy bears when with friends and family. It didn’t change the fact that they were uncaring brutal murderers working for this country.
 
 
There dedication was full on and blind. They never got rewarded personally for that dedication no. The reward was given to the people we all nearly died fighting for. Their dedication rewarded the assholes who take their freedom for granted.
 
 
As for gentleness. Nothing in this world,not winning a battle with no one getting injured,not even the crushing defeat of an enemy during a war, can ever feel as good as Knowing that even to battle hardened soldiers. A gentle touch can mean the difference between a bullet in there head and a new lease on life.
 
 
Kindness and gentleness are nor weaknesses no. They are the strongest tools we have that could mean the difference between us men and the monsters we face everyday.

@Background Pony #5A43  
Same here. Truth be told it’s part of the reason why the show means as much to me as it does.
 
It’s no secret the world is cruel and apathetic. But really the world is only as cruel as we make it, and we can choose to make better as well.

You can be kind to people without being a doormat. People generally respond better to kindness and empathy than rudeness and disdain.
 
Like, if someone is expressing their thoughts, they might be asking for help, they may want a discussion, or they just may want some empathy. Empathy and kindness doesn’t mean agreement or passiveness, but it means being able to stay civil about it.