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// What Is a Friend? 
// Story: The Everfree Monster 
// by Iridescence T Wind 
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	A Friend is somepony you are familiar with, physically and mentally. You know them, and they know you.But there are stages to becoming this friend instead of just instantly being there. One must first become an Acquaintance of the pony you are trying to befriend which means getting to know that pony on the surface before gradually working your way into knowing them entirely. There are also noted activities that can promote or ruin friendship as well. But after an unspecified amount of time and shared activities, both parties grow to want to see each other more, and then friends are made. Of course, friendship can go deeper, but eventually that would mean that they ceased being friends and started being something more... 

I wonder though, where has this phrase of, "Friendship is Magic" originate from and what does it mean? I mean, I realise it is a catchy song and that the elements involved represent the 'Elements of Harmony' but that's just it. They're the Elements of Harmony, not the 'Elements of Friendship' despite popular belief. This gives good cause to wonder... Just what magic is friendship made out of?


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They were in his forest again, three little fillies. He didn't mind it as long as they didn't harm the trees but occasionally ponies would wander too far into his realm and he would have to scare them back into the right direction. These fillies however seemed prone to ignoring all danger and going the impossible route through his forest on a routine basis. Case in point, he sent a Timberwolf to scare the trio but they had ignored it as a stinky puppet and shattered it to pieces with a scooter. Though their hi jinks were absolutely adorable. He still remembered their attempt at trying to be something called 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Forestry planners.' and tried to press their ways of organization onto the forest critters around the edge.

The result had been a spectacular mess that left one filly tied up in vines, and the other two stuck to each other in tree sap as they had chased a squirrel into a tree and tried to climb it to talk to said squirrel. Only the pegasus had succeeded only later to be tied up in a vine as the squirrel used another one to cross into another tree. They had dubbed it a failure, but for the caretaker it was the best comedy he had seen in years. Now they were trying their luck at butterfly catching but looking in all the wrong places. Momentarily he thought about what season it was, most butterflies would be found in summer, seeing as it was late fall however, meant that the usual flock of insects had already migrated south for the winter in a giant migration. 

Mentally he adjusted his forest to allow them to view a variety of beetles instead while he talked with his bird friend and smirked, they were in for a surprise. His bird friend Summer chirped for hours about the various states of the food and weather found in ponyville and the Caretaker suggested to the bird in it's langauge to rebuild it's nest for the winter months. Unlike other birds Summer wasn't migrating so it took some special care, and allowing the bird to stay indoors during the season, to survive. He didn't particularly mind, but those winter months could be harsh on the unprepared. Now that it was well into daylight though, it was time to check on his other guests.


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The sound of wood cracking and bending as the Caretaker formed out of wood was the primary warning Chrysalis had before the newest subject of her desires arrived. She forced her usually annoyed scowl at the distant castle with a less menacing grim line as he trotted up to the Changeling. It was time to start acting on her plans, "Ah, Caretaker, I was just thinking about you. How may I greet you on this chilly day?"

She still found those glowing orbs where his eyes would be unsettling, those glowing yellow orbs were only tinted slightly by green and one eye still partially hidden by one of the vines that made up his mane. The Wooden pony's mouth  still didn't move when he spoke. Giving her the impression that he smoke throughout the forest without need of a voice, "Ah, greet me however you wish, for a forest holds no formality that a civilization might need."  the old voice chuckled, "As for this chilly day, is it really that cold already?"

She looked at him in mild surprise, "Do you not feel winters grip settling in Caretaker?"

"No more than a rock would feel morning's dew. I may be connected to a forest, but that forest has sunlight and sun and water is all a forest really needs to survive."

"What of the winter months though? Do your leaves not fall and leave you wanting?" 

He made a dismissive gesture, "The winter months are for rest, we store our energy ahead of time and when the time comes, our leaves fall off. I often find it funny to follow what a bird told me about, where a bunch of ponies run throughout the edges of both the nearby forest and my own in an attempt to bring the leaves down. It never works, mind you, though not that they know that. I tend to help."

"Wouldn't keeping your leaves be more beneficial though?" Chrysalis knew not a lot about plants, though more than a few of her drones knew a lot about keeping them. She still would of liked the answer if only for future reference for her hive members.  

"For certain trees perhaps." The caretaker agreed, "Pine trees don't lose their needles easily, but for leaves? Imagine if your mouth was stuffed with snow. Losing our leaves help us keep energy better within us rather than around out where errant snow could kill it. That is the delicate nature of a tree."

"I see..." Chrysalis filed the information away, she tried pressing a request to the Caretaker, "Though I am rather curious to the wonders of this place. Would you mind showing me?"

She could feel the air around the forest change between a calm natural one into a mild suspicion but it gave way to a curious joyful one, "If you wish I could, though I would have to ask your guards to stay here. some things around my lands are... Delicate, and disturbed easily. I swear no purposeful harm as long as you can listen to my words of warning."

"Deal." Chrysalis agreed, first it was time to gather more information about this creature, then she could formulate a better plan to deal with him. Next to him a pod erupted from the ground, the same kind that had taken her drone not a night before to Apple Acre's. He gestured to it and she trotted inside. Time waits for no mare after all.