Lovequest - Chapter 1

>You are Anonymous. It’s Saturday night. You have Sundays off.
>That means you get to get out of Ponyville for a nice camping trip in Whitetail Woods.
>It wasn’t until your sudden arrival in Equestria did you find your love for the outdoors. You were distracted by all the technology and all the distractions that came with it. Now, you’re more at home inside a small tent than a house. The sounds of wildlife became your own lullaby.
>Sometimes you would get a pony or two to join you on the fun, but you haven’t dropped all habits you brought along from Earth. You still enjoy your privacy. Having to act socially acceptable in your most comfortable environment is, well, uncomfortable.
>And tonight is one of the comfortable nights.
>You set up camp in small clearing next to a fallen tree. Collecting decaying branches and leaves made starting a fire easy, and the large fallen tree was great for leaning against. The flat land was also perfect for you tiny blue tent.
>So here you are. Resting against a rotting tree with your eyes closed, listening to the crackling of the fire.
>A small rumbling in your stomach yanks you out of that peaceful state.
>Hungry already? Man, you ate a big dinner in hopes this exact thing wouldn’t happen.
>You always bring extra provisions in case of an emergency and this doesn’t fit the bill.
>You sigh and try to get comfortable again, but no luck.
>And to top it off, the fire is beginning to die down.
>Swearing under your breath, you push yourself off the ground and wipe the dirt off the back of your pants.
>No wood left by the fallen tree. Wonderful. Looks like you have to walk around in the dark.

>After unlatching the small lantern off of your backpack, you pick the direction opposite of the moon to go look for wood, just so you have something to follow to find your way back to camp. You manage to find hundreds of thousands of twigs that would burn up in an instant, but nothing thick enough to last half the night. It’s not unusual, just bad luck.
>About ten minutes of searching later, you almost quit, but lo and behold, another fallen tree with branches falling off everywhere. Awesome.
>You bend over to pick one of the branches up, but a large rustling from a nearby bush, followed by an odd clicking noise causes you to jump. You bring a large knife with you into the wilds for safety reasons, and your free hand is hovering over its belt pouch right now. You’re not anticipating on using it. Things in Whitetail Woods are mostly harmless. At the same time, most things in Whitetail are small, and that wasn’t the sound of a small creature.
>Taking a leap of faith here, you slowly approach the bush while tightening your grip on your blade. Once you’re close, you worry of something jumping out at you, but the lantern shining on the bush or your approach doesn’t gauge a reaction.
>Only a few steps away do you stop, waiting for any kind of reaction.
>But, nothing.
>After a few extra seconds, you start to walk away, still facing the bush. Still, no reaction.
>You let out a sigh of relief, and pull your hand away from the blade. Good thing too. You have absolutely no idea how to use this thing aside from stabby stabby crabby patty.

>With that quick moment of tension out of the way, you can get back to gathering wood. You pick up four large branches and haul the over your shoulder all the way back to the camp. You snuff out the lantern, throw one branch into the fire, and throw the rest into a pile off to the side.
>Through a series of grunts, you take your spot once again against the tree.
>Aaaaand the hunger is back. Awesome. Without something to occupy yourself with, you’re stuck with this hunger.
>Aaah, to heck with it.
>You push yourself off the ground and go to your tent. Some quick digging reveals your baggie of dried fruits. Jackpot.
>After quickly stuffing one in your face, you exit the tent with the bag in your hand.
>Then you notice something off.
>Not much. Just, you know, a mysterious blue mare with a purple hat and cape standing where you were a minute ago.
>Caught like a deer in headlights, you stand and stare at her as she returns that stare while accompanying it with a quivering expression.
“Hello?”
>”I love you.”
“Wha-?“
>She scrambles towards you, stumbling over her own hooves and tripping before coming to your own feet.
>”I loooove you!”
“I-“
>”Do you love me?” She adopts a cute begging expression and sit on her haunches.
“Heh, not going to buy me a drink first?”
>Her face contorts into confusion as the joke obviously goes over her head.
“Okaaaaay. Well the answer is no, of course. Sorry.”
>”Really?! Dang, I’m not very good at this. Hold on, lemme try again.”

“Um,”
>The mare gallops over to a bush and disappears inside, only to come out a few seconds later with a few leaves in her hair.
>”Ah! Alas, my love! I have found you!” She not-so-gracefully saunters over to you, hoof dramatically placed over her forehead right under her horn. “Now that we are finally united, I ask your hoof in marriage so we may love each other for the remainder of our lives!”
>You fail to suppress a chuckle at the absurdity of this situation.
>”S-still?! Dangit! Dangit, dangit! What… what about laying down together?”
“What.”
>”Y-yeah! I remember hearing something about ponies who love each other like to lay down and sometimes wrestle!”
“Stop. Just…” You can’t facepalm hard enough. “Just stop. Look I’m flattered but—Hey!”
>You’re cut off as the mare bites down on your shirt and attempts to pull you down.
>”Leff lay down!”
“Get, get off!”
>She has little strength, but that is a damn strong grip.
>You attempt to yank and pull her off, but to no avail.
“Get…” You place your boot against her chest and push as hard as you can. “Off!”
>Finally, the mare is off. She hits the ground hard and with a loud yelp. On impact, she ignites in a green flame that dies as just as quickly as it came.
>Except that’s not a blue mare in a wizard hat anymore.
>It’s a pitch black, bug-like pony with giant fangs.

“What…. What are,”
>”Aaaaah! Whoops! Here,” It ignites once more, taking the form of the blue pony once more. “Okay! Now can we be in love?”
“No! You’re a changeling!”
>”What?! Awwwwuh!” It changes again into its black form. “You know what I am?”
“Everyone knows of what happened to Canterlot!”
>You take a step back and place your hand on the knife again, but fear actually using it.
>”Canterlot? What’s that?”
“It’s… No. No! You can’t fool me!”
>You take a step back and drop your dried fruits.
“I-I’m warning you!”
>”Hey, guy! Calm down! I’m not going to hurt you!”
“No! You’re going to make me love you and… do things!”
>”No… I mean, yes! But… I’m sorry! I’m just hungry!”
“Oh god, you’re going to eat me?”
>”Stop jumping to conclusions!”
“No!”
>”Yes! If you just sit down and… talk with me, we can… we can work this out.”
“… No eating?”
>”Promise. No, double-promise.”

>Why did you do this? Somehow this little changeling girl has convinced you to sit down and talk about… something.
>But she isn’t talking. She’s just eating all of your dried fruits.
>After finishing one off, she lets out a loud belch.
>”Oops, sorry!”
“Can you stop eating all my food?”
>”B-but… I’m so hungry and… I-I’m sorry!”
“As long as you’re not eating me, I’m fine.”
>”I won’t eat… okay, lemme explain here. I don’t EAT ACTUAL FLESH!”
“… Right, it’s love, or something.”
>”Yes, or, kinda. It’s like… we become stronger from certain emotions creatures put off. Love is by far, the most nutritious.” She begins nibbling on another piece of dried fruit. “Makef uf feel goof.”
“And then you drain all life out of the pony?”
>”No!” She yanks the food out of her mouth. “They only feel a little tired and that’s if we’re taking a LOT out of them. Some changelings like to mind control a pony into loving them but… I… um, so yeah. They do that to make it easy.”
“And you don’t?”
>An enormous blush creeps across the changeling’s face.
>”S-shut up!”
“Whoooa. Sensitive subject?”
>”Nevermind!” She transforms into the blue pony again. “Besides, don’t you know it’s rude to ask a mare about her… um… dang. That could have been a good joke.” She then swallows the dried fruit whole. “Aah, using a pony’s body to eat this plant stuff is soooo much better!”
“… So what was all that back there?”
>”It was me trying to get some sweet lovin’.”

>No words. Because if you opened your mouth, you would laugh.
>”… Stop looking at me like that!”
“Stop… stop being… Oh god, I don’t know.”
>”So now that you know everything, can I have your love now?”
“Sure, it’s in a purple bottle inside my backpack.”
>”Is that where it is? Wow, thanks!”
>She transforms back into her normal self and scurries towards your backpack as you roll your eyes behind her back.
>After digging for a whole thirty seconds, she drops the backpack and glares at you.
>”You lied.”
“Yeah-huh.”
>”Why are you so mean to me?”
“The idea of freely giving out love, let alone in physical form, is really weird.”
>”Why?”
“It’s impossible.”
>”… O-oh…”
>She falls silent for a while. Finally.
>Too bad she has to talk again.
>”Sooo do you think we could try making love? It would be really yummy. I promise to share some!”
“That’s it, I’m going to bed.”
>”Yes!”
“Alone.”
>”… Nooo…”
>You push yourself up and walk towards the tent, the little changeling following you the entire way.
>”Aww c’mon, pleeease? We can find a way! I know we can.”
“Stop making this weirder.”
>You crawl into your tent, the little changeling flittering in behind you before you can close it.
>”No, I have a new plan. Listen, this is going to be great. Now,-”
“No.”
>You pick her up and set her outside. She begins to voice protests before, during, and after you zip the opening up and place the miniature padlock that comes with it on the zipper.
>”Noooo! You don’t understand! I’m desperate!”
>Your silence seems to drive her into hysterics.
>”F-fine! I don’t need your love! It smells rotten anyway! I’m leaving.” She fakes fading hoofsteps even though her silhouette is still visible. She’s silent for a while before the begging began.
>”Please. I-I can’t take it anymore. Just lie to me and tell me you love me. I can get off to the lie itself. Do this for me, oh please oh please just do this one thing for me.”

>The night was long and she never stopped. But eventually you drowned it out and managed to sleep.
>It was a rough morning, and that was just the waking up part.
>You emerge from the tent with a slight stumble.
>Much to your relief, there is no clingy changeling hanging around. Good riddance.
>Wanting to spend not a single extra second in this forest, you immediately pack up your tent, pour a little extra water on the smoldering fire pit, strap on your backpack, and head back to Ponyville.
>The hike back is quiet, much to your relief, and in seemingly not time, you arrive back to town.
>You pass many ponies on your way back, most giving friendly greetings or stopping you for a friendly conversation.
>But you want to go home and get a couple extra hours of sleep. You keep those conversations short and speed walk home.
>As you enter your small home, you drop everything off down by the door and aim straight for your bedroom. Nope. Your couch catches you first and you collapse on it.
>Only a few moments later you fall asleep once again.

>”Heeeey.”
>A voice and a quick prodding on your nose stirs you from your sleep.
>”Come oooon. Please wake up.”
“Uuurnh…”
>”Hey. Hey!”
>Your eyes slowly open up, and two green orbs block your vision of anything else.
>”Are you awake now?”
“… Nnngh. Nooo. Go away.”
>”But you need to help me!”
“The door is over there.”
>You don’t actually point anywhere.
>”No! Not that! I need your help with the making love thing!”