Friendship

"How do you measure the value of a friendship?", Twilight inquired.

"Do you mean to imply we should be measuring it?" Replied Celestia. Twilight stares back with a stern look of curiosity.

Celestia smiles, “While I don’t consider you my pupil anymore Twilight, I do realize I’ve been around for quite a bit longer than you have.”

Walking over to a nearby stain glass in the great hall, Celestia states, “Friendship is about understanding, Twilight. An understanding that can only be achieved through vicarious attempt.”

Further straining her face, Twilight prods the statement, “Vicarious attempt?”

Stretching her wing out, Celestia brings it around Twilight, “As curious as ever.” Giving her a quick nuzzle, “That curiosity is your will to understand, and why I placed you in your role as the princess of amity.”

With a slight blush, Twilight reaffirms her interest, “What did you mean, vicarious attempt?”

"Well Twilight." Celestia sighs, "I’ve met plenty of others in my time, most of which I could not hope to understand. I could not empathize, let alone sympathize with them and their point of view, so how could I grant compassion and friendship?"

Twilight holds her head down in silence for a moment before raising it, “You can’t possibly mean to say that one should belie their own beliefs in false friendship, then?”

"Of course not." Celestia refutes, "The idea is to be willing to suspend that belief, much like the reading of a book." Twilight’s eyes light up as Celestia continues, "The individuals and worlds described by their text may be so foreign that you can’t possibly believe it to be an actuality, much like the beliefs of others, but if you could just let go for a moment and try and put yourself into their hooves, claws, or feet even, you can reach some kind of mutual understanding that requires no such denial of self; merely it’s deference in search of something beyond the self."

Twilight gives a discerning smile as Celestia finishes, “At that point, it’s not a question of whether you can gauge the worth of a friendship, but whether you’re willing to learn something from a view beyond your own. That’s what makes friendship valuable.”