//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 – Campfire Tales (part 2) // 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]     Far up in the Frozen North, at the borders of Omnifaria, there once stood, or so legend says, a beautiful pony-kingdom, an empire of pure crystal that held great power, with love flowing through its very streets and joy coloring even the skies above... until one day, it vanished, taking all of its riches and love with it. For years and years, many sought to find the secrets of the lost pony-empire, to find out what had happened to it, or even just to prove it was ever real. And so, in the early days of Omnifaria, it came to pass that a small group of explorers set out to climb the Crystal Mountains, seeking truth in the legends. But the travelers were ambushed by a snowstorm – it came practically out of nowhere! They tried calling out for help, but the snowstorm had cut off their connection to the hive mind. The travelers couldn't get a signal out to call for help, and the storm was getting worse by the minute! With the air thick with snow, flying became impossible! And, worst of all, they'd been caught in the middle of climbing the mountainside, stuck to the wall, unable to go back or forth without risking a fall. With their legs shifted into pikes, driven into the icy mountain wall, they thought they could wait out the storm – at first. But, as the hours passed, it became clear this was no ordinary storm – it was magical! It simply would not end! Slowly but steadily, the snow was wearing down their reserves, as it seeped into all the little cracks on their chitin, under their plates, and buried their faces in layers of ice. After hours and hours of weathering the storm, one of the group grew restless, and decided enough was enough; before his hive mates had even sensed his conviction, he had already taken several shaky steps up the mountain. His comrades could only watch in horror as his grip failed and he plummeted, vanishing behind a curtain of white. If only he had waited a little longer – almost as if satisfied with claiming a victim, the storm soon subsided, leaving the group to climb down the mountain, journey abandoned, in search of their fallen friend. But the snow had swallowed any and all traces; there was nothing to be found. Even a full-scale search team, once assembled, had no luck finding the fallen changeling, their search hindered by the freezing weather and communication difficulties. It was a lost cause for sure! So, imagine every-ling's surprise when, upon the sixth day, a signal, distorted and weak, came through the hive-mind, asking for help. They found the changeling on a small plateau near the base of the mountain, wings bandaged, his body wrapped in warm cloths and carrying a small bag he had not previously possessed. “What happened?” they asked. “How did you survive?” And he told them a most peculiar tale; of a hidden hive of changelings with butterfly wings and carapaces in every color of the aurora. Some with horns, some without, some with bigger wings, some with gemstones embedded into their necks. Eyes of every shade of orange, green, blue and purple, all in a single hive. “Surely, they were just wearing disguises?” they said to him, for none had ever heard of a changeling breed like this before. But this, he denied. “They were all always in their natural form,” or so he claimed. That they had rescued him from the blizzard, and taken care of some ghastly spirits on the mountain that had been causing the storm. And while it seemed unlikely, but not impossible for genetic experimentation to have produced such an unusual sub-species of changeling, what next he claimed was downright unimaginable: For while the changelings of this small hive certainly had love for each other, they had very little to share. He inquired about their love storage, questioned how they kept themselves fed in these cold mountains, but they didn't seem to understand. When he asked for food, they offered him fruits and meat, nothing more. In all his time there, he never saw them feed, only eat of the fruits of their underground gardens and meats they brought in from the mountain. They barely had a hive mind of their own, no centralized structure, little in the way of telepathy. And yet they healed him, nursed him back to health as best they could with their minimal love, even negotiated calm skies with the wind-spirits that had caused the snow-storm earlier. “Where was the entrance to this hive?” his hivemates asked. But he couldn't say. They had known he could not have stayed with them, that he needed more love to survive than what they could offer – and one night, he had gone to sleep in their hive, and woken up the next day in a tent of woven resin and cloth out on the mountain, with plenty of fruits and meats to last him the day. He had felt a weak connection to the hive mind, had reached out for help, and that was all he knew. With his tale shared on the hive mind, many more grew curious and set out to explore the mountains of the Frozen North, not just searching for the crystal city of the ponies, but also the mysterious, abstinent aurora-changelings. Yet, even with a hundred drones searching, even with the best equipment, none could weather the climb, forced to turn around by the wind spirits' harsh storms, or simply to vanish without a trace, just like the pony-empire had... Soon, it came to pass that the Crystal Mountains were declared a hazardous zone, unfit for settlement, too dangerous to explore. And so it remains until this day... “But, every once in a while, someling will ignore the Queen's warnings, and venture deep into the Frozen North, to climb the Crystal Mountains, in search of fame and treasure...” Gentle Caring thrummed the last bit of her story in a tone she hoped sounded ominous and foreboding. “They say that sometimes, if the skies are clear on a moonless night, you can see crystalline shimmers on the mountain, and hear strange whispers on the hive mind...” Gentle let her voice trail off into silence, signifying the end of her retelling. The silence continued. No-ling was saying anything. Five pairs of blazing blue orbs were just staring at her blankly, emotions momentarily obscured as the wind had picked up quite a bit, sending what were surely clouds of disapproving pheromones drifting off into the forest. Gentle was too afraid to probe psychically. Gentle Caring's face fell. “Oh. Oh, uhm... I'm s-sorry if you didn't like it...” “Didn't like it?” Faithful Bravery burst out incredulously. “Didn't LIKE it?! Gentle, that. was. AWESOME!” The eager buzz of her wings flung gusts of excitement-pheromones at Gentle Caring. “And just what were those weird changelings that didn't feed on love?!” Faithful Bravery gushed. “Were they, like, some sort of spliced pony-changeling hybrid experiment lost to history, or something?! And how were they related to that ancient pony-civilization from the start?” “Yeah! Go Gentle!” Boundless Cheer cheered. “Woooo!” Laevigata let out a chirping whistle, radiating approval and respect. “My word!” Reassurance raised a foreleg to her chest, emoting stunned admiration. “That was quite a story, Gentle,” Thoughtful broadcasted, intrigued. “I've never heard of these 'aurora-changelings' or a... 'Crystal-Empire' before, is that something your caretaker came up with, or – “ “Oh no.” Gentle shook her head vigorously. “Nurture used to tell me all sorts of stories and old legends when I was a nymph. This was one of my favorites...” Thoughtful was about to inquire further, but was cut off by an excited Faithful Bravery grabbing Gentle in a sideways hug. “...And you know what?” she thought loudly, proudly addressing the rest of the group. “This bug here doesn't even need to look up notes on the hive mind, she's got it all in here!” She playfully tapped Gentle's head with a hoof, eliciting a startled “eep!” Thoughtful was taken aback, dismissing the camping-activities-guide-, campfire-safety-, forest-survival-, stargazing-, and outdoor-sleeping-pod-setup-checklists as well as the notes she'd thought up during Gentle Caring's story from the back of her mind, openly radiating incredulity. “Wait, what? How?” “Oh, uhm, it's nothing, really.” Gentle blushed shyly. “I keep longer genome sequences in my head, stories aren't that hard to remember.” “Nothing?!” Reassurance flared up her own feelings of shock and disbelief. “Oh no, dear, that is not nothing – that's a talent! However did you not get chosen for a position in the entertainment caste?!” Reassurance gasped, scandalized, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Don't tell me you rejected your assignment!” “Uhm...” Gentle shrunk visibly. “Gentle, you've got a real talent! And in the entertainment caste, no less! Oh, the glamor! The fame! The set-designs! However could you say no to such an opportunity!” “Uhm, I really rather wouldn't...” “Pah, evaluazion izn't everyzing.” Laevigata rolled her eyes at her friends' antics. She raised an eye-ridge questioningly at the self-proclaimed 'interior design sculptor'. “Bezides, Ih recall you zaying somezing about rejecting ze assignment zey gave you?” “That's different.” Reassurance scoffed. “They assigned me to work in construction – construction! Can you imagine it?! Me, working on a construction site?! Seldom has there been a misassessment of talent as grave as this!” “Isn't what you're doing technically the same thing, only indoors?” Faithful asked. Reassurance let out a gasp of indignation. “Why, Faithful Bravery, how could you ever compare my designs to something as mundane as an office building!” “...Oh Chryzalis, ‘ere ve go again.” Laevigata facehoofed. Thoughtful Curiosity didn't really take note of her friends arguing, too absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge. What had begun as an absent-minded query to the hive mind when Gentle had been preoccupied quickly became a larger search for “aurora changelings” and a “crystal empire”. She wasn't having much luck finding reliable sources.   “The Unicorn of the Pleitran Jungle: Truth or Hoax?” “100% Proof! Top 10 Reasons why Ponies are secretly controlling the Government” “Top 25 pony-sightings (Year 202 Edition) #legit #nodisguise” “15 facts you WON'T BELIEVE you DIDN'T KNOW about earth-ponies!” “Movie Magic: The effects and transformations behind 'Pegasopony' explained” “Breaking down the Pony Craze: Why we love a species we drove to extinction.” “GENETICS MONTHLY – On the likelihood of ponies surviving into the modern era” “PONY PRANK GONE WRONG! FUNNY!! MUST WATCH!!! #qualitydisguise #gullible #ponyphiles” “REAL FOOTAGE of PEGASUS in flight over Kzylacata!” “The Ponies Are Out There – Five still unexplained pony sightings” “Vampony Princesses 2 – It Came From Equestria (new trailer!)” “Give your chitin that special aurora-rainbow shine with this one easy trick...” “Pop-Queen Aurora's new album hitting stores on Neigh 1st – pre-order now to receive the limited-time emotiogrammed special edition!” “Goofy disguise? Bad face? Floppy wings? LEARN TO TRANSFORM LIKE A PRO!! Say goodbye to the uncanny valley!! ORDER NOW! ONLY 39.99 CADENZI!!!!” “I was a unicorn prince in my previous cycle – The True Story and Autobiography (BUY NOW, 60% OFF!)”   “Ugh, stupid intrusive thoughts...” Thoughtful grumbled to herself, her focus momentarily diverted from a promising article. “Equestrian Myths and Legends: The Crystal Empire” Apparently the Crystal Empire had indeed been an old pony-legend; a rich empire entirely made of precious stone, allegedly inhabited by a genetic offshoot of earth-ponies that appeared as crystal themselves – which wasn't plausible even with current biomancy – and an evil king making the entire kingdom vanish overnight. How would that work? The energy requirements for teleporting just a small town would be absurd, let alone a whole kingdom! Did they mean to say it had been destroyed overnight? It'd certainly be more plausible. Yet according to the folklore, the Crystal Empire would return after 1000 years... Which, upon further research, had come and gone about two hundred years ago. That would put it right at the time of the Founding War, which she had studied well enough to know no such event had occurred. Still, it made for a lovely story. Apparently Honeycomb Studios thought so too, because querying for “aurora changelings” only brought up gossip for an upcoming romance film “re-imagining” the Crystal Empire myth, fittingly starring pop-singer 'Aurora', who in turn was cross-promoting the movie with several themed music albums, further muddling the search results. Thoughtful realized that she'd lost track of the conversation going on in the background, once again getting lost in her searches. Not only that, but both Boundless Cheer and Laevigata had apparently wandered off in the interim. “Reassurance... I'm sorry,” Faithful admitted with a scent of reluctance. “I guess I'm just not the artsy type, like, I mean, not much of that in the guard you know?” She rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “And I'm sorry for trying to pressure you, Gentle,” Reassurance let out a sigh. “I suppose it does make sense you went into bioengineering instead of an acting career...” Her expression grew thoughtful. “Though, don't you think they could use a bioengineer for practical effects?” “Uhm,” Gentle blinked, surprise and contemplation wafting in the air. “Now that you mention it... The aliens in 'Invasion of the Killer-Mammals 6' did look fake...” “Yes, dear, you certainly could –“ Reassurance blinked. Her muzzle scrunched, and one eye-ridge raised as if in slow motion. “You've... watched that ghastly atrocity of a film? A horror film?” She shook her head, as if to physically clear a bad thought. “Gentle, dear, don't take this the wrong way, but... that does not seem very... like you.” “Oh, uhm... It was... not so bad?” Gentle Caring shrunk in on herself, a fresh wave of uncertainty radiating off of her. Thoughtful's curiosity mixed with Reassurance's confusion. Faithful Bravery let her face fall into her hooves, and groaned. “We did it for a dare in High School, because some jerks kept making fun of us. Figured we'd show 'em who's too scared of a dumb movie.” Thoughtful Curiosity frowned. “You mean you did.” Reassurance gave voice to the other changeling's thoughts, sending out feelings of disapproval. “And you dragged poor terrified Gentle with you.” However, instead of the expected guilt, Faithful Bravery just emitted a burst of annoyance. “Yeah, well, that's not quite how it turned out.” “Oh?” “They almost threw us out of the cinema because Gentle's giggling was distracting the other moviegoers.” Reassurance blinked. Thoughtful Curiosity opened her mouth, then closed it. Faithful Bravery let out a sigh. Slowly, they turned to a deeply blushing Gentle Caring, who was radiating awkwardness. “I, uhm, I thought it was funny,” Gentle thought quietly. Reassurance blinked. Thoughtful Curiosity opened her mouth, then closed it. Faithful Bravery just rolled her eyes. “I mean...” The bio-engineer nervously fiddled with a strand of her mane-fin. “Everyling knows that mammals don't lay eggs, except for monotremes, and they got the minimum gestation period wrong, and the way their joints moved was so silly – how did they expect us to believe the Chitin Eater can gallop on two hooves when her center of mass is so off-balance? And, and vertebrates don't even have exoskeletons, why would they evolve to feed on chitin? Haha, chitin is a polymer of amino sugars, not amino acids!” Gentle stifled a giggle. “And also, it's clearly female, but, haha, but, but, but, they keep saying it, it has no gender, which, haha, which, hahahaha!” Gentle Caring fell over, clutching her sides. “They, they, haha, they confused gender with sex! And they're saying she doesn't have any, a-a-and, and, and, and, and then she sprays acid from her mammary glands! Ahahahahah!” Thoughtful and Reassurance shared a glance. It only served to confirm their shared sense of befuddlement. Faithful Bravery shook her head with a dejected sigh. “I can never look at the monsters in horror-films the same way ever again...” Gentle, meanwhile, just kept on giggling. “Oh, I get it,” Thoughtful's face brightened. “Amino sugars and amino acids, heh. I suppose that is a little funny.” Reassurance grasped at the only straw she could. “...Hold on, did you say you watched it in your school-years? I was under the impression the movie came out more recently.” “You're thinking of 'Invasion of the Killer-Mammals 6'.” Faithful responded, expression still deadpan. “I was talking about when we went to see the first one.” Thoughtful opened her mouth. Then she closed it. Reassurance blinked. Then she blinked with her inner eye-lids. The three of them looked down at the bio-engineer, rolling in the grass, giggling maniacally. “Enzymes! They meant enzymes! Ahahahihihi!” “I... see.” Reassurance nodded dumbly. “How'd you know about the movie anyway?” Faithful Bravery queried. “I didn't think you'd be into horror either.” Reassurance waved her off. “Oh, I was going out with this drone, Zethrax – positively huge, hooves like tree trunks, and he had this accent...” Staring off into the starry sky, Reassurance let out a sigh, fluttering her inner eyelids. “Just the thought of those big, strong hooves holding me...” Thoughtful sent Faithful a mild reprimand for making gagging motions behind Reassurance's back. Reassurance's wistful nostalgia churned, turning sour. “Well. As it turned out, he couldn't stand the sight of ichor. Not even on the silver screen. I spent the evening thinking he'd spit up resin at me at any moment. And of course he was too proud to leave, and I was stuck sitting through two hours of watching that horrid, ahem, film.” Thoughtful noticed the strong scent of Gentle Caring's mirth fading, replaced by embarrassment. Gentle blushed crimson, hiding behind her mane. “Uhm. I, uhm, thought it was a good movie series. I mean, if all of you think it's bad, then it probably is. Sorry.” “Oh, ah, no no, dear, it's alright.” “Yeah, yeah, it's cool, it's cool.” “I've never seen that film series, so I cannot make an informed judgment about its quality.” Thoughtful felt Faithful's disapproval coming from right behind her. “ But I'm sure it's decent if you say so,” Thoughtful added hastily.     Laevigata returned carrying a large wooden barrel, finding all four changelings sharing a group hug. “You zee?” Laevigata smiled. “It no haz to be like ze movies with ze avkward misunderstandings and ze drama; Iz better to talk zings out right avay, no?” She took a moment to get a better grip on the barrel, counter-balancing the shifting weight of its viscous contents before the container could escape her grasp. A loud rustle from the bushes made Laevigata turn around, noticing the shadowy silhouette of an animal in hiding, and two red eyes peer out at her from in-between the thicket. Then she noticed another pair of eyes. And then another. And another. And then the creature rose from the bushes, and Laevigata looked up. Eight pairs of glowing, beady red eyes stared down at her, towering over her, from a disproportionately large head stuck on an elongated body with bulges on its torso and midsection, standing upright on two unnaturally thin hindlegs. The creature's maw stretched into a smile that was all teeth and saliva and a bulbous, fat tongue. Laevigata dropped her barrel of love. Thoughtful let out a startled shriek. Reassurance and Faithful screamed. Gentle Caring fell over laughing. “Raaaawr, I am the Chitin-Eater from the planet Uolululoa! Rawr rawr!” The monstrosity stifled a very un-monstrous giggle behind one of its fleshy arms. “I have come to eat your shells! Rawr! Raaa– woah!” The creature took two steps out into the clearing, then flailed its arms in an attempt to balance itself – and then fell over. Gentle Caring let out a guffaw loud enough to rouse the recycled, rolling on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. Reassurance and Faithful Bravery let go of each other, suddenly a lot more interested in the surrounding trees and very decidedly not broadcasting any emotions whatsoever. “Chitin-rust, Boundless!” Laevigata fumed. “Ih nearly had my hemolymph curdled!” Scowling, she examined the dropped barrel for damage. There wasn't any, thankfully, and the love harvester let out a breath of relief. “Hehe...” The monstrous pale face with its sixteen tiny eyes grinned sheepishly up at her from where it had fallen. “Sorry, Laevi.” Laevigata glared at her, feelings of irritation and annoyance replacing fear. Gentle kept on radiating joy and laughter in the background. Feelings of irritation mixed with feelings of relief and a trickle of amusement. “Heh. Yer got me good.” Laevigata shook her head. She uncorked the barrel, inhaling the sweet whiff of pink love-energy that wafted up, a satisfied chitter escaping her throat. “Ahh, zis is ze good sstuff.” A glint of reflected firelight drew her attention to something lying on the ground. “Look out, puny changelings! I am the scaaary Chitin Eater!” Boundless Cheer stalked towards a still giggle-writhing Gentle Caring struggling to breathe. “I'm an eeeeevil mammalalal – mamammamal? mammalade. – from space!” Her big fleshy tongue made an exaggerated slurping noise. “I'm gonna recycle your shells into soup-bowls! And theeeeen I'm gonna make fruit-sooooup! ...Or whatever soup mammammalalas eat. Ooooooooohooooo!" Boundless waved her currently spindly flesh-arms about in a decidedly not scary manner. Gentle Caring, who'd barely just caught her breath, fell on her back again, hindlegs peddling in the air as she chirped incoherently in another bout of laughter. “Hey, Chitin Eater,” Laevigata addressed the disguised changeling. “Before ya rezycle uz, don't ya zhink ya shouldh do ze rezycl'ing vor somezing elze first??" She pointed at the empty bag of chips Boundless had evidently forgotten about completely. “Huh?” Boundless looked down to, where Laevigata was pointing. Seeing the crumpled, empty soft-resin bag, she gasped. A bright green blush of embarrassment further broke the illusion of a mammalian alien, and a sheepish Boundless Cheer scurried to pick up her garbage. Perhaps a bit too hastily so – and the towering monstrosity of flesh and spindly limbs promptly tripped over her own hindlegs, stumbled forwards... and slipped on the empty bag she'd been trying to pick up, sending her falling backwards to land on her fleshy rump with a plop. “...Hey, where'd my trash go?” The dread-Chitin Eater turned her head this way and that, sixteen tiny red eyes blinking in confusion. Then the empty bag of chips landed on her head. At this, Gentle Caring had to laugh so hard her vocal cords went out of alignment. Boundless triumphantly grabbed the empty soft-resin bag and stuffed it into the backpack they'd brought for their refuse. “Hey! That's the glass-sac!” Thoughtful Curiosity exclaimed. And a second later: “No, that one's for metals and alloys!” And a moment later: “No, that's– ...Just give it to me.” Boundless, still in her Chitin Eater-form, took two steps – and then tripped, again. Gentle Caring struggled to inquire telepathically if she was alright, though Boundless's emotions made it pretty clear she was none the worse for wear. “I... I guess her center of balance really is off like you said,” Faithful Bravery commented with a chuckle directed at Gentle Caring, who promptly underwent another dual-toned asynchronous giggle-fit. Reassurance let out a rather unladylike snort, immediately covering her mouth with a hoof afterwards. She looked at the group, mortified. For a moment, her friends simply stared back at her, broadcasting nothing. Then the dam broke, and the entire group burst into laughter. All in all, the six friends had a great time. Bottles of distilled love clinked, stories were shared, and while Thoughtful Curiosity organized and re-organized their garbage for improved recycling efficiency, Boundless Cheer encouraged Gentle Caring into play-acting their own re-imagining of an Attack of the Killer-Mammals film, a performance that soon had everyling in stitches, Faithful Bravery and Reassurance most of all. Earlier worries about politics and historical tragedies were soon forgotten. Chittering laughter rang through the clearing, as pheromones of mirth and happiness drifted into the surrounding forest.