When Ever was sure Andrea and Sophia had fallen asleep, ze descended the mountain to clean the paint off zir body. Even without sight, the forest was full of beauty for the senses. Ever could hear the songs of bugs, feel the wind through zir holes, and taste the energy of powerful beings lurking in the bushes.
Eventually, Ever reached an acidic spring. Dipping into it, Ever relaxed for the first time in a long while.
"You left," called a large voice in the undergrowth.
"Bwah," Ever jumped a bit, splashing acidic water all around zir.
"Watch out!" the voice commanded, not happy that it was being sprayed with something foul.
"Sorry, Locke, you scared me," Ever replied. Locke was a powerful manticore, second only to Rousseau in strength. Like other manticores, he liked to come up quickly from behind his prey.
Calm now, Ever eased back down into the water, careful to get every nook and cranny super clean for tomorrow's adventure. He didn't any of yesterday's filth on zir for this future exploit. "Yes, I left the forest yesterday, and I will be leaving again today."
Locke the manticore laid down a safe distance from the spring with a tangible ompf. "You know all of the forest likes you. You help us expand our thinking without compromising who we are, but we will not miss you just because of that. You were a kindred spirit for all forest folk because we all shared a common bond in our love.."
"It is not my place to be here. I need to be with my daughter, and my daughter deserves to see a peaceful civilization."
Locke stared up at the distant, twinkling stars. "You know the manticores will be having a debate in a few days. You know where all of the manticores decide whether or not we should tolerate or kill the refugees."
"Yes, I know. Last time we talked, you were telling me that you were leaning towards the toleration camp."
Locke sighed. "I was, but it is Andrea. She only cares about the refugees who are taking over our lands and destroying our food. If there is a conflict between the natives of the forest and the refugees, she will always pick them. I feel that even though the refugees deserve there right to live in our forest with us, that when the person with the most power is ignoring our rights, we have the right to revolt."
"Yes, that sounds like Andrea. She has really attached herself to the roll of protector of the weak, but she still lacks vision to see how compromises can be made. It will be her folly."
Locke stretched. "You sound like an outsider to this conflict already."
"It is part of the moving on process," Ever said softly. "And I need moving on." Ever took this time to roll around in the burning spring of death a few times.
Locke watched with mild fascination. "You know, I would support the toleration camp again, if you stayed and became ruler. You could easily stop the war because you understand everyone and everyone knows you care about our needs. And your daughter could live in peace here as a princess."
Ever imagined such a happy life for a moment, but memories of those dead bodies of the people who last called zir ruler came to zir mind. Ze splashed zir chitinous face with water several times, causing the water to pool up below zir eyes and stream down the face as literally tears of death.
"You do not want an eternal ruler like myself," Ever said.
"Why not?" Locke asked, genuinely perplexed.
"Do you know what happens as you get older in your mind but your body just regenerates its youth?" Locke patiently listened. "Well, every year becomes a year that your mind moves from a present state of mind to a past state of mind. You must see that with the older manticores, how they can tell you countless stories of their past exploits. Now multiple that by a thousand. Now take away the inevitably of death and the responsibility of a daughter. I need an escape from the past before it destroys me in the present, and the only option I have is the future. Do you understand?"
Locke shook his mighty head. "No, I doubt I could ever understand what it is like to be ageless. What I do know is that you are made from the best part of all of us, our love, and we can see that when you take our love."
It wasn't technically love that Ever fed on, but ze didn't bother to correct him. Ze just pull zirself from the depths of an acidic bath, now clean of paint and grime. Ever then let zir natural flame-like nature evaporate the water.
Locke examined the body of the changeling and noticed the large holes in zir hooves and wings. "You must have used so much love yesterday. You will need more. Allow me to oblige. It is the least I can do for you before you leave us," the manticore said, submitting his neck for Ever. The act reflected Locke's belief that Ever should rule, but the changeling also would not deny any person who freely gave their energy to zir.
After injecting some of zir fiery substance into the lifestream of Locke, the two sat on a nearby boulder facing one another.
"You set the stage for the conversation, Locke," Ever offered.
Locke nodded his mighty head. He already had something he wanted to ask the changeling for a long time. "What do you believe, Ever? You have never told me and I would like to know."
"That is because I have very few beliefs."
"Then you can tell me them and why you hold them."
"Yes, I suppose. One belief I have is that we can become better by seeing our weaknesses, our blindnesses. One can only overcome themselves through doubting their ideas and having the mobility of thought to consider other ideas or even create new ideas.
"Second, I think that people should strive to live in a better world with where more people can live together, striving for their own respective goods.
"My final belief is related to the other two. I think no one should take their own beliefs too seriously. One can tell one is taking their beliefs too seriously if they are willing enough to fight for them. I have yet to see a belief in which it would have been better to fight for it rather than doubt it."
Locke shook his head. "No, Ever, you are wrong. There are times when it is justified to fight for what you believe to be right."
"I would like to know this justified fighting for beliefs," Ever replied.
"Yes, you see there is a creator who made us all," Locke began but Ever had to interject here.
"Remember I have no beliefs about a creator, but for the sake of argument I will just have to accept it for now since it is so central to your belief system," Ever said.
"Okay, understood. This creator made every person reasonable and tolerant but also selfish. Because we think and can understand one another, it is possible for every people, even us manticores, to create a civilization together.
"Now there are three things that everyone has a right to because of how the creator made us. First is life. Everyone has a right to their own survival. Observe anyone in danger and you will see them defend themselves. Watch any manticore and they will seek out food. Because we all seek survival, we cannot blame a person for acting for the sake of survival.
"Next is liberty. We also cannot blame a person for what they do that has no impact on anyone. The creator gave each person life and then reason so that he or she may be the steward of that life. People should not interfere with another person's stewardship of their live as long as that person is using reason.
"Every person has the right to own that which they have created by the sweat of their own brow. This applies more to the herbivores and omnivores than us predators because it is they who will till the land and store food. This is because the creator has made this world and by stewarding a part of it, it becomes your unique responsibility like your body.
"If any of these rights are violated by another, the people have the right to take actions to prevent the person from violating their rights. If it is necessary, the violated party has the right to fight for its creator-given rights. Because Andrea is only sides with the refugees who are taking from our forest while unfairly not putting themselves into the food chain to balance, Andrea is letting our right of survival be violated and thus we are in the right to object to her leadership."
Ever listened carefully to all of this explaining, and when it became clear that Locke was done, Ever voiced zir objections.
"You basically said that everyone naturally acts for survival and that is the basis of the right to survive," Ever said and Locke nodded. "I have seen many a suicide in my long life. What do you say of those people? Were they not acting naturally?"
"They were acting unnaturally. The creator gave us the desire to live, and they are going against that natural desire."
Ever buzzed in a pedantic way, though no one could possibly no that other than another changeling. "That sounds circular to me. You 'know' that the creator made people act for their survival because they act for survival naturally. You 'know' that people commit suicide unnaturally because the creator made people act for their survival. The problem is that you could have easily said: 'people commit suicide naturally so the creator must have made people to commit suicide, and surviving is unnatural because the creator created people to commit suicide.' You will need to make a better case why you think survival is a right."
Locke concede this point with some reservation, but had another answer to it. "The creator owns our bodies and has given them to us to use within reason. To destroy these bodies would destroy the creator's property."
Ever concede that was reasonable assuming that people had the right to property. Ever had some objections about what property was and how one got property, but ze was not going to bring them up in this philosophical exchange.
"You said that we could not punish people for acting reasonably, does this mean we can punish people for acting unreasonably?" Ever asked.
"Yes. It is with reason that we act as stewards of the creator, and to act outside unreasonably is to fail at our jobs as stewards."
"This also seems has the issue of whether or not the creator gave us unreason and how you can tell if the creator wants us to us it, but a more important question is how you tell a person is using unreason."
Locke was prepared for this question. "That is because reason is universal among all people, and with reason, we can be judges of when people are not using it."
"Well, it is universal among all people because you defined people as having reason, Locke."
"True, but that does not make my point any less valid. And if you disagree, notice that your very act of pointing out flaws in my belief system is proof that you believe reason to be universal as well, for how can you judge another person's reason if you don't suppose that both you and the person has it."
"Oh, but if I am correctly pointing out flaws because I can tell that you are being unreasonable, then you must be wrong. If I am not correctly pointing out flaws in your argument because I cannot tell reason from unreason, you are still wrong. Therefore, either way, you are wrong."
This made Locke's eyes go cross as he tried to contemplate what Ever just said. This made Ever flap zir wings in laughter. "Don't worry. It is a silly objection, so take from it what you will."
When Locke had refocused again, Ever continued in zir objections.
"Okay, now here is a big problem for your idea of liberty, I think. You know how there are trails in the forest which everyone uses to reduce damage to the soil?" Locke nodded. "Well, the forest can only be damage if a lot of people walk off those paths because it is the hardening of soil under our hooves and paws which causes the soil to be unable to support life. The problem is that if one person strays off the path, no harm is actually done; however, if we do not punish the person, more people may break the rule, and the soil will suffer. These people as individuals did unharmful acts, but these same people as a collective have done a harmful one. This problem of the pathstrayer I believe how your system of punishment could not stop something we would agree is wrong, which is reduction of food in the ecosystem."
"I guess you are right in this case," Locke conceded after much thought. "People couldn't resolve this situation with just my list of natural rights. I have no plans on enumerating natural rights in order to solve all possible problems, but I have a solution, which is inspired by the refugee's civilized culture.
"As you explained to me in our previous conversation, there are things like governments in the civilized world. These governments have laws which apply to all people within a society. You didn't like them much, but I think they are for the best because they provide for the only solution problems like that of the pathstrayer. I believe that if people came together and out of their own volition agreed to be part of a group that follows laws and they made a law saying anyone who strays from the path unnecessarily is to be punished, then that group would be justified in punishing a pathstrayer within their community."
In response, Ever got up and flapped zir wings mournfully. "That is very good defense of governments Locke, but I have seen too many governments act cruelly to trust them."
Locke did not sympathize with the changeling. The pitiful state of the changeling just made the manticore mad. "It is my turn to object to you. You, Ei Rikr, created a little peaceful philosophical society and convinced them that they should doubt instead of acting. Yes, what you created was peaceful, but it was weak. Why was it weak? Because they were not willing to do what it takes to bring ideals into this world, and sometimes you have to fight to bring those about. Governments are just another thing that can fail, but you have to be willing to experiment or you will be stuck where you began. Taking these risks is all part that self-overcoming that you are always talking about.
"Now, you are fleeing the State of Nature for a civilization. You prefer a society that has already succeeded in becoming a civilization with its knowledge and technology because you thought that would be safer for your daughter than this place which has to get over that hurdle. It is this move to the safer option that will not only cause you to doom us in the State of Nature who need you to unite us but your daughter as well who will always be protected from these risks. Remember it was your fault that your philosophers couldn't fight to save themselves. With the exception of Andrea, you made them weak by making them doubt so much they couldn't fight, and Andrea's only an exception because you forced her to take a risk you were not willing to take yourself."
Ever fell down, no longer able to support zirself on zir legs. Ze pulled zirself into a beetle position and started to rock back and forth. In a quiet voice, the changeling just kept repeating the words "I can't. I can't." Ze was suffering at the fericous might of Locke's wisdom.
Locke saw the feeble changeling becoming more and more pitiful even after he stopped talking. The large manticore forgot his anger and then became very worried. Locke knew that he had been extremely verbally violent to this kindred spirit who had given him and many others the power to think in new and creative ways.
"I am sorry, Ei Rikr. I didn't mean to hurt you so much. You were just so aggravating with all your objections and your fear of all things violent that I just lost myself. Forgive me."
Ever did not calm down and was starting to burst at the seams with green flame because of instability. Locke didn't know what this meant, but he assumed it couldn't be good.
"Ever, tell me what I can do to make it better," Locke meowed into the changeling's ear nodes.
"Water, water, water!" Ever whispered urgently.
Locke looked around for water but could not find any other than the pool of acidic water. With no choice, Locke stuck his left paw into the water, dissolving all of its fur and claws and splashed as much water on the unstable changeling as possible.
Ever's body stopped exploding immediately, ze took a hoof to zir face. Feeling wetness below zir eyes, ze began to calm down.
Locke nursed his paw which was still capable of holding his weight but was now very sensitive and may never fully heal.
When the changeling was done, ze got up. "I am sorry Locke. I can never repay you. I must go, for I can barely keep myself together as it is here. Thanks for restoring my body with your love of wisdom." Ever was referring to how Locke's energy had fed the changeling enough to fill in the holes that had formed throughout zir body yesterday.
Locke sighed, and offered his right, unharmed paw. The changeling grasped it and was pulled into the manticore by his immense stregth. "Peace, Ei Rikr. Go and learn." After a moment, the manticore released the changeling and spoke again. "We will miss you, and when this is all over, we will all come over to this place you found and visit. Perhaps you can show us some nice locals to munch on." Locke chuckled.
Ever was not amused, but welcomed the manticores to visit zir at zir home in Equestria any time.
With the sun rising on a new day, Ever went back up the mountain to pick up zir daughter. Today would be the first day ze had a real job in a very long time, and it would hopefully bring about better things to come.