>>191494Cavaliere surely looks out to the surrounding set of ponies for Pipette and Star Fire. Several ponies have indeed taken up position near the radio. These would be Blackheel, Pipette, Star Fire, the grey engineer pony, and Steppe Eagle, with the Captain, Primed Well, and Pinup Locker in a group a bit beyond that, Johan close by, and the clearly non-ponish speaking ponies and griffins beyond them or even not paying attention to the scene. The Captain is the only of the airship ponies paying close attention. The other two are monitoring the injured ponies, and attempting a sort of treatment. Star Fire stands next to Blackheel, who has a look of pure rage rivalled by none in the group, save
possibly Posey, and who firmly grasps his revolver, which he brandishes low to the ground.
Cavaliere surely turns around and moves the voice piece closer to the two ponies he asks to join. Pipette is the closest. She does not focus her eyes on the radio or Cavaliere, but has been nodding her head up and down in rhythmic fashion. When Cavaliere approaches with the receiver she turns her head, her ears go down, she shakes her head, places her tail between her legs and backs away from him.
"No no no, that thing already knows me as the one who tried to stab it. It doesn't need to remember me as opposing it. I've seen how it is with Blackheel. I do not want to be marked as an enemy by that thing."
The grey engineer pony bites his lip in a look of concern at this scene, and Cavaliere presumably walks past Steppe Eagle on the way towards Starfire. Starfire's eyes go wide, his ears go down, and he sits down as he's approached by Cavaliere. He stands back up and with a glow of his green magic, takes the receiver. Blackheel, standing next to Starfire, has an expression that may slightly unnerve Cavaliere, as there can be no doubt he would have shot Light Water were he present.
Light Water does not wait for Starfire to respond:
"Invasive species? Let me ask you. If you take ponies, zebras, or kirin, and introduce them to a new location. A sprawling rainforest, rolling hills, fertile plains - do you consider them an invasive species, soon to eat up all of the vegetation of the area and leave it dry and barren? You would never, and this is for two very obvious reasons. For one, there are simply not enough of them to eat themselves out of a larger, fertile area, where only a few are introduced. And second, but more importantly, they are intelligent. They have concern for the environment and for the limited resources. They are far from being mindless locusts, infinite in number and thoughtless in hunger. And so it is with Our Fellow Traveller. He is but one entity. His magical needs are greater than say, a single changeling drone, to be sure, but he only needs so many hosts, and the more he has, the less he needs from each host. With many thousands of hosts the amount taken from each would be near imperceptible. And more than that, he is sapient as you and I. He can perceive how what he does affects others, and can be-"
Starfire starts to speak, though all he manages is an "ech" as he attempts to form a word, but finds that his mouth is dry. This tiny sliver of a word is all it takes to make Light Water pause for the moment, though all Starfire can do is smile with all of his teeth.
"Doctor.... Uh,"
"Hello again, Starfire" Light Water says "And hello again to your supervisor over there, Blackheel."
Starfore manages to speak again,
"Doctor, you know that if it wanted to expand over all of the world you don't really have a means to contain it."
"Yes, but only if it wanted to"
"But if it did."
"I don't think it does."
"But what if it did? What if you're wrong. What if it wants to oppress or consume or..."
Light Water: "Those are all what ifs, but what if I'm right? Why not ask that question?"
Starfire: "We don't have a backup planet if what you're claiming fails."
Light Water: "It has neither the power nor the desire to take on the whole planet now"
Starfire: "But obviously it will need to for your plan."
Light Water: "You should know better than to just assume that every outsider is a mindless, evil monster. I believe it has the same better angels of its nature as do we."
Starfire: "But you
know it has the same inner demons as well. Where's the leash. How will you control it?"
Light Water: "It cares what I think of it. It cares what everyone thinks of it. Like a child it wants to be loved. It wants the affection. And your griffin friend is wrong. Well technically speaking he is strictly correct. It's loneliness, its hunger, is very real. It has a very real need for friends, for love, and for the approval of others. In the same way as a changeling does, yes, but also the same as a hippogriff chick or pony foal."
Starfire: "That helps you control it somehow?"
Light Water: "It does, yes. Just like a child."
Starfire: "You know others have failed to control it before."
Light Water: "They were not me."
Starfire: "How do you know it hasn't been fooling you?"
Light Water: "I've been around it."
Starfire: "So did the would-be-prophet of Suon Ruenalla."
Light Water: "When I was in university, I watched a classmate of mine, a young university pony, accidently catch herself on fire with a sample of lithium during a simple lab assignment. She died from it. Many years before that I watched a foalhood friend drown because his fin was trapped by collapsing coral. I'm aware that everything in life comes with a risk. It's never hard to die. I think that if I die in this, it is with far more dignity than in a stupid lab assignment. I will take that risk."
Starfire: "But it's a risk for the whole planet. There is no backup planet."
Light Water: "I think we'll succeed or fail long before we get to that point."