//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 – Campfire Tales (part 1) // Story: A Nation of Love // by Ultra-the-HedgeToaster //------------------------------// This chapter is available as a "synthesized" audio book: > [click here] - no background music > [click here] - with ambient music loop > [overview of all chapters] . . . . Faithful Bravery let her gaze wander, slowly, to each of her friends; her face was cast in ominous shadows by the crackling fire, transforming her fang-toothed grin into something sinister. The clearing around them was an island in the moonless night, bordered by unsteadily-lit trees quickly fading to darkness. The reflected light of the flames danced and glistened on the nearby sleeping pods hanging from them; Reassurance's resin-woven sleeping pod – or, rather, her makeshift “one-room apartment” built into the canopy of a tree – shimmered with bioluminescent liquid, casting a dim blue glow across the clearing, but this homey radiance did little to push back the night. From beyond the light, only sound reached the group, the screeches and chirps of distant animals and what must have been the rustling of leaves in the wind. They and the fire were all that could be heard, until Faithful Bravery spoke. “It was just a routine check...” she thrummed in a deep, ominous tone. “One of the batteries had gone dark... So the drone went to investigate the dead battery. Because, how could a love-battery just die? They're supposed to last forever!” Thoughtful Curiosity let out a fake cough. Faithful ignored her. “And then...” The glow from Bravery's horn took on a menacing yellowy-green aura, and she slowly waved her forelegs over the campfire. “The dead battery broke out of its cocoon and flew right in the drone's face! And then...” Bravery paused for dramatic effect. “It sucked out all of his love... And when he was weak and tired, even when he felt numb and drained of all emotion... It just kept going, and going... and going...! Until the poor drone was nothing more than an empty shell! Because... the love-battery... wanted its love back! Aaaaall of it... Oooooooooooo!” “Oh, please.” Thoughtful Curiosity scoffed. “Oh? Well then, what did happen in womb-factory #14?” Bravery challenged. Thoughtful rolled her eyes. “I'll tell you what didn't happen. There was no ghost of the pony-princesses possessing the batteries, because ghosts aren't real. It wasn't Nightmare Cadence's wrath, because she's still in her dream-cocoon under high-security wards that would trigger if she so much as sleep-cast a light-spell. And it was definitely not a love-battery breaking out of its stasis and, Chrysalis forbid, attacking someling, because that is so many levels of stupidly impossible, I don't even know where to begin.” Faithful Bravery shared a look with the others. They knew what was coming next. “It's a love-battery! Love! It's right in the name!” Thoughtful threw her hooves up in a burst of annoyance and frustration. “They aren't even physically capable of attacking... anything. Have you seen a love-battery? It's not designed for physical activity!” In a green flash, Thoughtful Curiosity shrank down, body unchanged with one notable exception. Lying on her belly, she demonstratively shuffled her now nubby hooves that barely touched the ground, oblivious to Faithful Bravery's snickering. “There! See? How would something like this even walk?” “Well, maybe it –“ Bravery's mirth was now broadcast openly, earning her a glare. “Maybe it flew?” Another flash, and Thoughtful flapped her now useless, downy wings, raising an eye ridge at Bravery. The aura of mirth became almost tangible, as it was joined by several more changelings. It was only now Thoughtful Curiosity realized she had made a foal of herself. “Or... or, haha, or... Or maybe they used magic? Eh? Eh??” Faithful Bravery nudged the currently stubby changeling, sending her falling over into the grass. One could've cut the taste of mirth with a butter-knife. Thoughtful Curiosity huffed. If they expected her to shorten her horn into a stub, she wasn't gonna give them the satisfaction. Boundless Cheer didn't need the full package, though. A cry of “Snuggle-Bug-Hug!” was her only warning before she was scooped up in an embrace too tight to transform. “Awww, Thoughty, you look so cute!” Thoughtful Curiosity scowled indignantly at Faithful Bravery's laughing fit, but her heart wasn't in it, seeing the rest of her friends' own stifled snickers as Boundless was hugging the resin out of her. With another huff, she concluded her lecture. “Love batteries don't think. They cannot think. All they can do is produce love, it's what they were genetically engineered for. Love batteries aren't sapient. That's the entire point of love-batteries!” “Iht's juzt story, Thoughtful.” Laevigata provided with a shrug. Thoughtful Curiosity pouted. “...It still isn't scientifically accurate. How am I supposed to be scared when I know that the allegedly frightening parts of the story are completely impossible?” “Ghost stories aren’t meant to really scare you, silly!” said Boundless Cheer, holding the diminutive changeling up to her face. “They’re just for fun!” “Yeah,” added Faithful Bravery. “I tried real Fear in college.” She shuddered. “Never doing that again.” There was a pause, as everyling turned to stare at Faithful. Gentle Caring's face, as if in slow motion, morphed into an expression of sheer horror. Thoughtful Curiosity's eyes widened, shocked. “Bravery, that's illegal!” “Hey, I only did it that one time!” Faithful Bravery raised her hooves defensively. “And I didn't even like the stuff! Blegh, it just tastes so” – Bravery emitted a burst of emotion to her friends – “only, like, twenty times worse!” Everyling grimaced at the taste, Reassurance fanning the air as if to disperse the vile emotion, whereas Boundless Cheer tried to scrape it off her tongue with a hoof. Gentle Caring's face took on a slight shade of green. Thoughtful fell from Boundless's embrace, landing in the grass, and quickly transformed back, letting out a short series of coughs. “Urgh, you sure that's only Fear?” Boundless whined. “This tastes like Anxiety and Anguish rounded up the rest of the alphabet and jumped in a blender. And then the blender jumped into another blender too! Blegh!” Laevigata put down her can of love, leveling a glare at the changeling-guard. “Ih didn't have ze appetite anyvay. Bravery ignored the blatant taste of sarcasm from the love-harvester, as she always did. “And besides, it was a college thing. It was the 90s, everyling was doing it.” Bravery shrugged. “I don't get what somelings see in the stuff.” But Gentle Caring still emoted distress. “Hey, don't worry!” Bravery thought comfort at Gentle, putting a hoof on her shoulder for emphasis. “I said I only tried it once, I wasn't some crazy self-destructive fear-junkie.” “That's not it...” Gentle Caring shook her head. “But... the Fear had to come from somewhere...” “Huh?” “Someling must've re-wired a love-battery, or modded their chrysalis to give them nightmares...” Gentle Caring rubbed a hoof across her eyes. “It's horrible someling would do that... I just feel sorry for the poor things...” Everyling paused. “Gentle...” Reassurance emoted concern and comfort at the bio-engineer. “You know they aren't sapient...” Thoughtful frowned questioningly. “I'm pretty sure you of all changelings should know – you must've studied them in college... Right? Historical inventions of early Omnifaria? The dawn of the Industrial Age? Artificial love-production? Emotioneering?” Gentle Caring made a non-committal sound, pawing the ground with a hoof. “Zey aren't like your...” Laevigata paused, searching for the words. “Ah, ze 'little friendss' ya have in ze house.” “I know...” Gentle Caring still didn't look up. “But they still feel, don't they?” The five friends shared uncertain glances. Laevigata approached the sad changeling. “Ih've vorked at ze love-factories, ya know.” Laevigata put a hoof on Gentle's shoulder, emoting sympathy. “If iht helps, ze ponies don't...” She paused, hoof raised to her chin. “Hmm, how you zay it... Zey don't... remember anyzing?” Laevigata's muzzle scrunched in thought, but Thoughtful Curiosity had her back. “Love-batteries don't have long-term memory. Meaning, they lack the necessary means to even experience trauma – or if they did, it wouldn't last more than a few minutes before they went back to being all happy and loving again.” Thoughtful frowned. “And the correct biological term would be equus amore, not pony. Those are two entirely different subspecies!” “Cadence, cadanze, makes no difference.” Laevigata shrugged. “It izn't like yer gonna run into any real ponies around zhese parts anyvay, so Ih don't zee how any-ling could get ze two confused.” “I guess you're right...” Gentle sighed. “I just... don't like it when any creature gets hurt.” “Awww,” Boundless Cheer cooed, as she wrapped her forelimbs around the startled changeling. All eight of them, because she'd turned herself into a spider. After a beat, Laevigata and Faithful, standing closest, found themselves dragged into a hug also. Reassurance, with a good-natured roll of her eyes, placed a dainty hoof on the outer shell of the tangled-up mess of chitin and mane-fins, part of the group hug in spirit rather than in the crammed center getting her fins bent. Boundless waved the last straggler over into the group hug, but Thoughtful Curiosity just stared absentmindedly into the campfire. “Can't get the two confused...” She scowled, at nothing in particular. “Tell that to the Minotaurs,” she thought bitterly. “Pardon, vhat was zat?” Thoughtful Curiosity startled, realizing only too late she had thought openly. She turned to looked to her friends, tangled somewhat comically in a twenty-legged embrace. Faithful was trying unsuccessfully to push her way out from somewhere inside the hug, emoting mild annoyance and discomfort, but the others' emotions were primarily that of curiosity and concern, with even the hug's instigator distracted from it. “Ponies and modern love-batteries are two completely different things,” Thoughtful insisted, an undertone of urgency in her transmission. “Ih... didn't say zey weren't.” Laevigata raised an eyeridge, the distinct smell of confusion wafting off the love-harvester. “...Vhy are you so upzet about zis?” Thoughtful looked to each of her friends in turn – but found only incomprehension. She sighed. Her next broadcast was quiet, subdued, almost a private thought. “Did you know that most minotaurs think we still use ponies to fuel our economy? Real, thinking ponies?” “Vait, vhat?” Laevigata reeled back at the statement, just as Boundless transformed back, leaving five startled changelings to tumble into the dirt and grass. For once, not even Reassurance voiced a complaint. “Yes...” Thoughtful grimaced. “Most of them... they think we're all monsters that eat pony-foals for breakfast.” “What!?” Reassurance gasped, scandalized. “What kind of barbarians do they take us for?! Why, the thought of it alone!” “Yeah! And I bet pony-foals don't even taste good!” Boundless Cheer chipped in. “If they accuse us of eating something, it should at least be tasty!” She leaned over to Faithful Bravery and quietly vocalized into her ear-fin, so as to not have her thought overheard by the others. “...’Foals’ are pony-nymphs, right?” Her gaze grew unfocused for several seconds, as she raised a foreleg to her chin in thought. “And wouldn't it make more sense to eat the grown-up ponies anyway? Cause they'd be bigger...” “Chitin rust,” Laevigata cursed. “Vhat do zey think ze love factories are for? Vhy do zey think we 'ave ze genetic engineering of ze love batteries?! Vhy would we uze real ponies?! Zhat's 'orrible!” “Oh, come on!” Faithful Bravery grit her teeth, seething, frustration leaking from her every pore. “This isn't the Dark Ages anymore! No-ling would ever do something like that now!” “I, uhm,” Gentle Caring thought quietly. “I can, uhm, understand why they would think that...” She hadn't thought quietly enough. All eyes were on her. “We, uhm, did take away the ponies' land, and... and then locked up all the ponies, and... and... and t-then we took all their l-love... a-a-and n-now, now all the ponies are... are...” Both Reassurance and Boundless Cheer were by her side in an instant, radiating warmth and compassion. Laevigata followed, while Thoughtful still blinked rapidly in shock. “I wasn't really planning on eating any ponies,” Boundless spoke softly. “It was just a joke, I'm actually on a strict no-pony diet.” “Gentle... We've been over this... It's not your fault.” Faithful Bravery spoke, uncharacteristically quietly. “All of that was, like, hundreds of years ago, and you weren't even born.” “Actually, it was around 140 years ago when the last–“ Thoughtful cut herself off abruptly when Faithful shot her a harsh wave of mixed emotions best interpreted as “Thoughtful, you are my friend and you know that, but if you don't shut up right now I will make you stop talking.” “Eheheh,” Thoughtful squeaked. “Sorry.” She decided, right then and there, never to bring up the old statistics comparing pony-love output to that of the first-generation equus amore models, and the most likely economic decision behind dropping ponies as a love source. “It’s been a long time,” Faithful said firmly. “Even if the minotaurs can’t get that through their heads for some reason.” “You know, that might be why they're trying to downplay Nightmare Cadence so much in the news,” Thoughtful pondered out loud. “Make her out to be some creature that escaped from Tartarus, rather than a princess-pony. Bad PR.” A sense of unease went through the group at the reminder of their near-death experience. Laevigata frowned, unable to suppress the feeling of disapproval. Though at Thoughtful Curiosity's inquisitive prompt, she put on a smile and forced out a vaguely positive emotion, deciding to drop the issue for now. “Vhat's Thar... thar'russ?” she inquired instead, her tongue flicking out in an attempt to vocalize the strange name. “What, you've never heard of Tartarus?” Faithful's eye-ridges shot up. “It's where the pony-princesses sent their prisoners. Well. The ones they didn't turn to stone or blast into the sun or whatever.” “Turned 'em to stone and shot 'em into ze sun.” Laevigata gave her a flat look. “Riiiiight.” “To the moon, actually,” Thoughtful interjected helpfully. Laevigata turned to her, one eye-ridge raised. “The night-princess of the ponies attempted a coup,” Thoughtful elaborated. “And she was sentenced to one thousand years of solitary confinement on the moon. I read they also turned the previous ruler of Equestria to stone and put his statue on public display, though there's some debate on the subject.” Laevigata's disbelief was palpable. “Zhat's... zhat's jusst messed up.” “I quite agree,” Reassurance joined in on the conversation. “Why, for all the things she did, I wouldn't wish such a fate even on Nightmare Cadence!” A shiver went through the group. “Urg, can we change the subject?” Faithful Bravery groaned. “All this Fear reminds me of college again.” Both Thoughtful and Reassurance gave her a strange look, for entirely different reasons. The others didn't notice the discrepancy. There was a lull in the conversation. A silence that reeked of awkwardness, no-ling sure what to say. A lone animal rustled somewhere in the bushes, before swiftly making its retreat. The silence stretched on. It was Boundless Cheer who broke it. “How did we even get to being all serious-like?” She wondered. “This evening is supposed to be fun! We're out in the woods, on a super-creepy moonless night, spooky infrared shadows all around us, with oooooonly the liiiiight of our campfire to protec'c'c'c'c'ct ussssssss from the daaaaarrrrrrknessssssssss!~” Her eyes faded from black pools of nothingness back to their natural blue, and the menacing red glow subsided from her horn. She shrugged. “You know, just hanging out with friends. ...Can't we just go back to that?” “Yeah,” Faithful Bravery nodded. “I had a lot more fun telling horror stories before everything became about politics somehow.” “I must say I quite agree with Faithful,” Reassurance broadcasted, a bit sheepishly. “While I find tales of horror not quite my taste, I believe it is preferable to, uhm... our earlier topic of discussion.” Laevigata wordlessly sent out her approval. After a second, Thoughtful Curiosity nodded with mild indifference. “Alright! Storytime!” Faithful Bravery rubbed her hooves eagerly. “So... who wants to hear the legend of the nightmare-moon?” Gentle Caring flinched. “Could we... uhm, maybe tell stories that aren't so scary?” “Fine.” Faithful rolled her eyes. “What about the vampire-ponies of Kan-tah-lott Castle?” “Uhm, I'm not sure...” “The headless unicorn? The loveless ghost of the Mantis Hive? The flooded Hive of Queen Acidic and the Kelpies? The vengeful spirit of Tizoc?” There was a tinge of exasperated desperation in her broadcast as Gentle Caring’s anxiety became more and more pungent. “…The fall of Queen Mayfly? ...The slightly stressful scourge of the slobbering Smoozer?” Gentle's feelings on the subject were clear. “What about the battle at the Blazing Peaks of Mt. Aldrial? Where the Queen fought a dragon the size of a mountain? Inside a volcano?” Faithful was grasping at strands now. “That one isn't even about ghosts, and the Queen wins – isn't that 'not-scary' enough?” “Uhm, Ih already know zhat one.” “Seen the movie.” “Me too.” “I've read at least twelve different interpretations of that legend. ...And I've seen the movie. The book was better.” “I... I don't like stories about scary dragons.” Gentle's discomfort was palpable. “Urgh!” Faithful's head slumped into her hooves. “I'm sorry...” Gentle thought very quietly. “I just... I don't like hearing scary stories...” Faithful peeked at the other changeling through a hole in her hooves. One could practically smell the luciferase reacting. “Say, Gentle... why don't you tell us a story?” “What? Me?” Gentle Caring let out a small chirp of fright. “I– I'm no good at telling stories!” Faithful gave her a flat look at first, but her emotions gave her away. “Come on, you used to tell the best stories back when we were nymphs, you've got a real talent for it!” “Oh, but, I don't know...” Her eyes cast down, Gentle nervously pawed the ground. Yet her nervousness was soon smothered by a steady stream of encouragement. Gentle Caring looked up to find her friends all smiling at her. Boundless already had a bag of chips. They needn't have said anything more. Gentle Caring smiled back. “Well, there's this story my old caretaker Nurture used to tell me...” Unconsciously, she ran a hoof through the long strands of her mane-fin. “Have you ever heard of... the Crystal Empire?”