//------------------------------//
// Nastic and Long Winded 
// Story: Society as We Know It 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Nastic sighed as he sat on the ground.
The laughter of ponies as they played on the grass, whether it was a physical sport or whether it was just a board game like chess or checkers or backgammon. The laughter emanated a sort of happiness and excitement—as ponies ran or flew, as ponies sat and talk. The open space on this otherwise forested area was full of joyful activity.
Yet, Nastic sat on the ground. He sighed again.
"Long Winded," Nastic muttered, "where are you?" His voice sounded droopy. "You may not always be so likable, but...you're still my friend."
The ponies played on in front of him.
"Here, the ponies are having fun," Nastic said. "In the Changeling Kingdom, they're having fun there, too, probably playing the same games these ponies are playing. I could go on and ramble about why that's a bad thing, yet...it doesn't feel the same, anymore. Not to mention the talking down Twilight Sparkle gave to me." Nastic sighed again. "Could I list all the points about why this is bad? I could...but, it's not the same without Long Winded and his bright optimism following me around with him." He smiled. "I have to admire him and his attitude."
Nastic stood up and flew away from the group of playing ponies. He glanced back at them. They were still laughing, still happy.
"I'll be looking for Long Winded."



A few changelings hovered down the sidewalk. They laughed as they passed by a few buildings. One changeling pointed at something, and the other changelings looked. They opened their mouths in awe as they beheld that something—it was a bag that stood on a platform behind a window.
"And it costs hundreds of bits," Long Winded said. "These ponies are really rich."
"I would like to ask  about why they need bags like this," Abdo said. "It's just a bag, yet it will lose the pony a lot of money. I wonder why these ponies are falling into this lie, unless it's not really a lie."
Long Winded looked at him.
"Maybe the ponies do know that the bag costs that much money, yet they still buy because they have lots of money, anyway. And, after that, what's there to talk about? The only thing to talk about is being proud of your expensive item."
Long Winded smiled. "Well, that's good."
"Are you sure that it is good?"
"Probably?"
"It definitely is," Abdo said. "I don't know why it's good, but it must be if that means that the rich ponies are going to have a good and fun time."
"What's in the bag, anyway?" Long Winded asked.
"High quality materials," Abdo answered. "And, I think that's it."
"So, where can I get those high quality materials?"
Abdo laughed. "It's not that easy to find. There's a reason why high quality materials are expensive to get—they're not so common even in Equestria."
"I would like to find those materials."
"You might as well try finding those materials without knowing where they are, because, first, we really don't know where they are and, two, if we know where they are, they're probably hard to get."
"Like where?"
"I don't know."
They stopped in front of an intersection.
Carriages were passing by on the streets with their fancy customers inside, most of them smiling as they faced upwards towards the sky.
"I find it hard to think that the Princesses live here," Long Winded said. "Just look at the many ponies that live here, too. They're very not like the Princesses who are so humble and so considerate."
"Then again, this is the capital of Equestria," Abdo said. "This is where the Princesses live, and where the Prinesses live are ponies who want to get rich."
"Because they're royalty?"
"Exactly."
Long Winded sighed as he watched the carriages zoom by. "There's a few good ones here like Fancy Pants."
"Yes, but they're the exception."
"So, why are we in Canterlot again?"
"Just to be here in Canterlot," Abdo said. "It's nice to be here and to just relax inside the captial of Equestria. Everything is so calm."
"Why?" Long Winded asked. "I don't get it."
"Canterlot isn't as busy as the other citites in Equestria," Abdo said. "Also, you know that the Princesses themselves reside here in this city. So, you're already calm and safe knowing that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are here."
"Will they be willing to accept us into their royal room or whatever they call it? Because, I remember this one time—"
"They're always accepting," Abdo said. "I think if you tell me about that one time you went there, you would just make yourself more confident about that truth."
"Oh, uh, let me just save that for some other time," Long Winded said, smiling.
"I guess."



"So," Nastic asked Pinkie Pie, "where have you seen Long Winded?"
"You mean the changeling that was always at your side?" Pinkie asked behind the counter while she looked at the cake in front of her. She looked at the changeling. "Well, you could say that he's now somewhere else, probably in a place like Canterlot."
"How do you know that he's in Canterlot?" Nastic asked.
"Because why wouldn't he be?" Pinkie said. "Besides, he and this other changeling named Abdo decided to come here just a few hours ago and told me that they were going to Canterlot."
"OK!" Nastic shouted as he flew out of the bakery.
"Nastic!" Pinkie yelled. "You forgot your cake! You're going to let me eat it?" Then, she smiled and took a bite out of the cake. "I love customers who do that."



Long Winded and Abdo walked past the bookshelves as a guard escorted them. It was a quiet place with the only sounds being the sounds of their hoofsteps. The guard, wearing his armor, eyed the two changelings as they smiled, whispered, and pointed at certain books and grabbed them.
"Be careful with those books," the guard said. "They're quite valuable."
"Don't worry about us!" Long Winded said. "We're going to be just fine with handling these books!"
Abdo nodded. "I agree with him."
The guard sighed. "That's what they always say before they drop a book. It's as if they didn't care."
"Well, we're not going to do that!" Long Winded declared.
"What about you start with being quiet?" the guard said.
"Quietness is what we will have."
The guard sighed again. "This is not going to go the way you expected it to be, changelings."
Abdo brought a book back to where it belonged. "So, what's next?"
"Another changeling visitor!" another guard yelled from his place.
The guard near the two changelings looked at the guard. "Keep an eye on him!"
"Will do!"
"Another changeling?" Long Winded asked. "I wonder who could that be. I hope it's Nastic. I haven't seen him in a long time—well, it's not that long of a time, but it's been a few days without him. He said that he wouldn't be going because of something that even I didn't know about, and we're best friends!"
"Well, let's say that I lied."
Long Winded looked at the changeling. "Nastic!" He hugged Nastic. "I don't wanna hear about the lie because now you're here and we can read all the booksk here together with Abdo and this guard over here!"
"I'm not going to read books with you!" the guard yelled.
"Aww, you're not being so quiet like you said!" Long Winded yelled. "I wonder what must've happened to you and your behavior!"
"This is me trying to guard this library!" the guard yelled back. Then, he sighed and calmed down. "OK, what you must know is that you should be quiet and that you shouldn't do anything bad and illegal here, OK?"
The changelings nodded.
"I'm certain that, with me here, you're going to be happy," Nastic said. "They're going to be well-behaved."
The guard inspected the changeling. "You seem quite formal compared to the others here."
"That's because I'm quite formal."
The guard sighed. "You can move about, now. I'll still keep an eye on you, though."
Long Winded and Abdo were smiling at Nastic. "Now, you're here! What are we going to be reading together? We can find all kinds of books here!" Long Winded placed a hoof on his friend's head. "We're going to have lots of fun!"
Nastic smiled.