Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

What Else?

Weeks later

"Over here," a tour guide—for he was wearing a visor—said, leading a group of ponies, griffons, and changelings with a forceful hoof, "we have the Canterlot Royal Musuem. Let's go inside."

So, the group and its tour guide walked inside, entering through its massive gilded doors.

They left two changelings at the sidewalk.

Nastic sighed.

"What's wrong?" Long Winded said, patting his friend on the head.

"Nothing," Nastic said. "And, maybe, that is what's wrong."

"So, no wrong is wrong?"

Nastic just shrugged his shoulders as he took his hat out and examined it with hoof and eye. "I don't really know anymore, Long Winded"—an air of unwanted boredom—"but here we all are. We're the new and improved changelings—we come in many different colors and in many different flavors of harmonious friendship. You can't rebel against that—well, not without accidentally picking on the entire hive for a fight—and, before that, they'll convince you with arguments that do support the truth that friendship is magical and statements like that."

"So, you don't like friendship?" Long Winded asked, slowly and articulating the accented word.

"I don't just like it. I love it." Nastic smiled. "But, after that, what else? Barring the changelings who try their best to go on crazy adventures like the Elements of Harmony, what else? What do we ordinary changelings do when we've done our jobs for the day?"

"Better than preparing every moment of your life for a military invasion, if you ask me," Long Winded said.

Nastic sighed.

The two walked down the paved sidewalk, passing by several fancy ponies who paid them no mind—whether good or bad. They just walked on.

"Yes, better than that," Nastic said, "knowing that what you do now is infinitely better than harming others for your own gain—and then you realize you're not even getting your own gain. But, really, it's starting to get routine—dull."

"What's dull with friendship?" Long Winded said, sounding a bit shocked. "Endless memories and experiences to have!" He sweeped a hoof across the space in front of them—beaming.

"Maybe it's not friendship itself," Nastic said. "It's maybe the way we do friendship. Thorax may invent one activity for each day of the year, but even then, he doesn't have a limitless supply of creativity—nor do we. I've talked to my share of ponies—Silver Spanner, Natural Deduction, Stormfeather, Half Baked Apple, Zephyr Breeze, Bluenote, Check Mate—and I have a list of other notable ponies that I've had a chat with. They never seem bored at all with having a society solely based on being friends with each other—as cheesy as that sounds."

"It has good results, though," Long Winded said as they crossed the street and went on to the other side. "I mean, just look at what Equestria is now. Prosperous, peaceful, and a great place to visit! The inhabitants surely testify to it!"

"They're Equestrians," Nastic said. "Of course, they'll tell you that their land is the best. In fact, we're the odd one out because a lot of us think that the Changeling Hive isn't a great place to visit—compared to Equestria, that is. But, that's beside the point."

"What is your point?"

A pause—thinking, wondering.

"I just don't know what else to do after I'm done with work," Nastic said. "Thorax lets us out quite leniently and I'm fine with that. But, what's the use of that if I don't have anything to do?"

"The world beyond the hive is big!" Long Winded said. "Remember when Equestria opened up relations with Klugetown and Hippogriffia and Seaquestria after that whole invasion of Canterlot? I heard they're already preparing some tours for those places!"

"That's just delaying the inevitable when it comes and, when it comes, what else?"

"Don't be such a worrier, Nastic!" Long Winded said. "You've already let go of your hostility against ponies a long time ago! Why don't you let your worries go, too?"

"Because I'm not going to blind myself with false optimism, Long Winded," Nastic answered.

Long Winded sniffed. "Ah!"

"I know—flowers. They're beautiful and fragrant—but, like I said, I'm not the optimistic kind of guy."

"Why do you always have to steer the topic back?" Long Winded complained.

"Because I think it's important and because I think you won't stop pestering me about it until I give you a good enough answer."

"Oh. Right." Long Winded grinned.

"Anyway, what else is there for us? While I like the idea of continuing to go throughout all of Equestria and beyond for fun, what will we do when we finally get home? Are we just going to make plays, craft art, and learn complex dance techniques? I know there's more to it than just that, but unless the hive expands considerably, then I'm going to be awfully bored."

"You have me and the rest of your friends, Nastic!" Long Winded said. "No matter what, we're going to be there for you to brighten up your life! Isn't that what friendship does? Enriches your life to the fullest? And, it's essential for a good life!"

Nastic smiled again as they still walked. "Well, good thing I kept you around as my optimistic friend."

"Hey! I think I just thought of something! Don't we, uh, balance each other out?"

"Why?" Nastic looked confused.

"You're pessimistic, I'm optimistic—we provide the best opinions out there!"

Nastic giggled at that. "I don't think so."

"Oh, and there's also Hearth's Warming Eve coming up!" Long Winded said. "They're already preparing for it—even though it's not gonna start until several more weeks down the line—but, it's still there! Come on, Nastic! This is going to be the first Hearth's Warming we're going to celebrate! Just imagine all the fesitivities!" Then, he hugged Nastic. "We're going to have the largest potluck meal ever, we're going to be singing Hearth's Warming carols all day and night long, and we can even stage our own pageant for the occasion! And, from that, we can make our own Hearth's Warming traditions! We can end up, well, creating Hearth's Warming bells for the carolers! We can take pictures of us creating those bells! We can take pictures of those of us taking pictures of those of us creating those bells!"

"You're getting too far with this," Nastic said.

"Am I, though?" Long Winded asked with a raised eyebrow. "You can never go too far when your'e going all out for our first ever Hearth's Warming!"

Nastic nodded. "Looks like I have to agree with you."

---

A few hours later

"Uh, exactly how many chess boards do you need?" Nastic asked.

"Just twenty!" Long Winded said as he plopped the chess boards to each table of the room (which was lined with bookshelves), flitting about from one table to the next. "I figured that, since you were bored and since chess is a fun game, I thought we could have lots of fun if we had lots of chess boards!"

"Who's gonna play them all?" Nastic inquired, irritated. "There's only two of us here and, well, twenty chessboards. You need thirty-eight more in order to have a full session!"

"That's why I invited random ponies to wait in the other room over there!" Long Winded said, pointing to some wooden double doors through which muffled conversations could be heard.

"How were you able to convince them to come here?" Nastic said, slightly surprised.

"Whoever's the winner of the tournament gets a year's supply of chocolate," Long Winded answered.

"What?!" Nastic placed his forehooves on his cheeks. "We don't have enough bits on us to afford a month's supply of chocolate!"

"I thought so, too. Which is why I cut the chocolate up to tiny pieces! That way, the winner has to ration his chocolate! One crumb per day for the next year!"

"A crumb per day?!"

It was now Long Winded's turn to shrug. "How else am I supposed to fulfill my promise of a year's supply of chocolate?"

"You know we don't even have enough chocolate for them!"

Then, the double doors opened.

"What's going on?" one of the many participants of the chess tournament asked—he was bearded.

The two changelings glanced at the group of concerned chess players.

Nastic shot a glare at his friend. "You explain the situation to them."