//------------------------------//
// With Apples 
// Story: Society as We Know It 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Blue Alarm looked upon the land.
Hills flowed in an infinite stream, all blooming with apple trees. Dirt paths went between the rows and the columns of so many trees. White, wooden fences served as short walls, seperating the visiting pony or changeling from the trees.
In some places, the apple trees were hunched together. In others, a few trees stood out in the open plowed field.
Green, thick bushes abounded, too.
Not far off, there was that familiar red barn, standing and enduring in its place.
"So, how d'ya say about it?"
Applejack walked up to the changeling.
Now, they both looked upon the land.
"It's big."
Applejack laughed.
Blue Alarm looked at her, sporting a confused face.
"Ah guess you're mighty speechless, aren't ya?"
Blue Alarm gazed back upon the farmland. "I've heard military reports about Sweet Apple Acres and I've heard it was big. Seeing it up close and personal can give you that sense of amazement."
He looked up. The blue morning sky was above it all, the sun shining and radiating its light and heat onto the many trees and plants there.
"What about ah show ya' around?" Applejack asked while she smiled at him.
"Why do you always wear that hat?" Blue Alarm asked.	
Applejack then frowned at him. "What's this? Some kinda' diversion or something?"
"I'm just asking that before we take the tour around."
Applejack chuckled a little. "When I first wore it, it was just because it was hot during the day at work. Now, it just sorta' sticks to me." She looked at Blue Alarm. "Now, you wanna go?"



The pony and the changeling walked on the path. Apple trees surrounded them. Most of them already had red apples hanging from their branches. The sight of so many apples made the hills be somewhat red, too.
It was quiet. There were only the sounds of hoofsteps and of chirps.
"What do you make and sell, other than just apples and apple cider?" Blue Alarm asked.
"Well..." Applejack inhaled. "There's apple strudels—not my uncle—apple pies, candied apples, apple juice, apple—"
"OK, that's enough and OK." Blue Alarm held out a hoof while grinning. "You have a variety of apple foods, I see."



"Over here, that's the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse." Applejack pointed to the treehouse.
Behind the large leaves, the other green foiliage, and the several apple trees, there was, in the middle of the grass, a tall and wide tree that also had apples hanging from its branches. Dark green ramps with round stoppers were the stairs that led up to the cream-pink treehouse fenced with a yellow fence. Cut-outs shaped the shape of hearts were on the window flaps and on the door. Near the top, there was a window with a few flowers sprouting from the overhanging flower-holder.
A yellow filly wearing a pink bow appeared from the door. "It's Applejack!" she shouted, looking over at whoever was inside. "And, she's also brought a changeling!"
"Wait, a changeling?!" two voices cried out together.
"Is it Blue Alarm?!" one of the two voices went on.
Blue Alarm glanced at Applejack who was looking at her sister happily. "Are you sure it's OK for me to interrupt?"
"It's alright!" she yelled. "You've been pretty trustworthy so far, and—" She shifted her eyes at him "—they seem to think that changelins' are cool, anyway. Meetin' a changeling would make their day."
Then, the three fillies stormed down the ramps and hugged the changeling while screaming and yelling.
Blue Alarm grunted. "It's rather tight!"
Applejack just smiled at him as he got hugged more.
"I can't believe it, sis!" the filly with the bow said. "He's going to show us some cool things from his place, right Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?"
The other two nodded.
"And, we'll show him around Ponyville after that!" the unicorn filly said.
Blue Alarm pushed the fillies gently away. "I think I've already had my share of going around Ponyville." He smiled a bit.
"And are you going to show us more cool changeling stuff?" the pegasus filly asked.
"Now, girls," Applejack said, "let's at least get back on the road, first."



"So, what's in your bag?" the pegasus filly asked as they all walked on the path.
There were many, many apple trees on both sides.
"Wait, I haven't even gotten your names, yet."
"That's easy!" Apple Bloom yelled. "My name's Apple Bloom!" She pointed to the other two fillies. "The pegasus is Scootaloo, and the unicorn's Sweetie Belle who's—"
"Also Rarity's sister."
Sweetie Belle glared at him. "How did you know?"
"I prepare for my trips," Blue Alarm explained. "I read up about the ponies there, but not too much. I don't want to sound like a spy or anything. Asking questions and seeing how ponies answer those questions is something exciting for me, even though I'm not Pinkie-Pie kind of excited."
"More like Maud-Pie kind of excited?" Scootaloo asked.
"Somewhat."



In Ponyville, the marketplace was filled with some ponies. There were wooden carts and wooden stalls, all sporting and boasting of different kinds and types of produce and products. The rattling of coins were heard and paper bags and carts were moved around.
Behind another wooden stall that displayed a sign that showed a picture of an apple, there was a big red stallion. On the stall, there were individual apples and buckets of apples.
"That right there's Big McIntosh," Applejack said, gesturing to the pony.
"Your brother," Blue Alarm said.
"Mm-hmm! Wanna buy some apples?"
Blue Alarm smiled a little. "That's a nice way to advertise your product. Make friends and then lead your friends to the stall."
Applejack laughed again. "Isn't that a pretty funny way to scam somepony?"
"Well, it's a very deceptive way of scamming ponies."
"Ah assure ya', I don't scam nopony!"
Blue Alarm smirked. "Which means you do scam ponies. Not scamming nopony means scamming ponies."
"It's just a form of expression!"
The ponies around in the market looked at the shouting Applejack who was pointing a hoof at the changeling.
Applejack tipped her hat to everypony there. "Sorry for the noise, y'all!" She looked back at Blue Alarm. "I'm no deceptive pony, and ya' should know that."
"Just being humurous."
Then, they walked up to the stall.
Big McIntosh just looked at the changeling. There was no smile nor frown.
Blue Alarm looked at the apples for sale.
Everypony else was looking at Blue Alarm, smiling. Then, Scootaloo groaned. "Will you make an order already?"
The changeling took an apple. "What's the price of one apple?"
"One bit," McIntosh said.
"Really, one bit?"
"Eeyup."
Blue Alarm took out a bit and placed it on the stall.
"Thanks for the apple, Big McIntosh!"
The stallion smiled. "Welcome."
Blue Alarm walked back to the small crowd of ponies behind him. "Pony of not so many words, I see."
Applejack looked off at her brother. "He wasn't always like that, Blue Alarm."



Blue Alarm sat in the rowdy place as ponies sat and ate hay burgers and drank softdrinks. He stared at the mare and the fillies in front of him as they chowed down noisily and dirtily on the fast food on the fast drinks.
He looked and fiddled with the horseshoe fry in front of him.
"Aren't you gonna eat that?" Sweetie Belle asked, her face stained with ketchup and mustard.
"Later," Blue Alarm said, pushing the fry away. "I'm just settling in to eating food. I need to get used to food."
The three fillies gasped and stopped eating.
"You haven't eaten food?!" Apple Bloom asked in a surprised tone.
"You haven't tasted food?!" Scootaloo asked, also in such a surprised tone.
"Have you digested something?!" Sweetie Belle asked, still in a surprised tone.
"Girls!" Applejack yelled. "You're makin' everypony look at us like a bunch o' clowns!"
The girls looked around them.
The customers, the cashiers, and the cooks that were there were looking at them quietly.
"Hi, changeling!" a mint green unicorn asked, smiling at Blue Alarm. Then, she went back to eating her hay burger.
Then, everypony went back to their food and their drink.
The boiling of the fries and the exchange of the money and the slurps of the drinks were there again.
Blue Alarm held up a fry and smelled it. "It's like baked bread or something."
"It's much better than baked bread!" Scootaloo yelled rather excitedly. Then, she looked at the bag on the changeling's side. "So, what's in your bag?"
Blue Alarm placed down the fry.
The three fillies were now looking at him.
Applejack glanced at the fillies staring strangely at the changeling.
Blue Alarm opened his bag and brought out a picture with his mouth. He placed it on the table, pushing and pulling the picture away from any of the food there.
"Are those the rest of yer' friends?" Applejack asked. "Other than the ones who didn' wanna go tour aroun' Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Yes, they are," Blue Alarm replied. "You've already seen these two—" He pointed to the changelings in red and in green "—this one's Red Noise and this one's Humerus. You haven't met the one with the hat—he's Neon Guard, the leader of the group."
"So, what have you done together back when you were meanies?" Scootaloo asked.
Applejack shot a glare at the filly.
Blue Alarm chuckled at Scootaloo. "Do you really want to know?"
Scootaloo nodded. "It's true that you're evil back then, but—it's better than the namby-pamby stories with all the sappy feelings!"
"But Namby Pamby was a good filly!" Apple Bloom complained.
"Why don't we just look at the picture first and appreciate the memory?" Sweetie Belle suggested.
Then, she looked at the picture.
The image showed four changelings smiling and happy as they hugged each other while facing the camera. Blue Alarm stood there, just smiling. Red Noise crossed his front hooves and turned his head sideways. Humerus was flying above the whole group, spreading his front hooves as if he was about to hug whoever was holding the camera. Neon Guard stood, wearing his hat, rather calmly and firmly. The background was a barren and desert, craggy gray, with a yellow cloudy sky above.
"It's because I don't want to know about it again," Blue Alarm said, looking at one of his horseshoe fries. "I don't want to do whatever I did back when I was...bad. You don't want to know what it's like having to starve everyday. That starvation does things to your mind. It makes you desperate, but I didn't care. I stole love, disguised myself as somepony, and that pony was taken away and everypony else wouldn't know it. But that wasn't my main job."
He looked back at the ponies. Everypony was looking at him with open mouths and open eyes, not smiling. Only Scootaloo was smiling.
"But, maybe this is not the appropriate time to talk about it." He ate a horseshoe fry. Then, he looked at another fry. "Now, that is a crispiness that, combined with the somewhat sweet and also savory taste of the fry, makes it a nice taste experience. Very fitting for hoof food." He chewed on the food, opening his mouth wide as he did so.
Apple Bloom chuckled a little. So did Applejack.



In the midst of the all the talking that was going on, the changeling and the ponies stood in front of a wooden round table. The smell of sugar and pastries wafted through the air and out to the outdoor open.
Pinkie Pie bounced her way on the blue-green floor towards the table. "So, whaddya' want?!" She smiled at the small crowd.
Blue Alarm looked over her and at the counter. Behind the glass, there was an assortment of cakes, donuts, bagels, cupcakes, muffins, candies, and chocolates—all of many colors, many sizes, many flavors, all attractive and colorful.
"Maybe you want all the cakes?" Pinkie asked. She eyed everyone at the table, glaring at them with a curious glare. "Even Discord himself wanted all the cakes! Then, he decided to reject the offer." She frowned. Then, she smiled again almost immediately. "Then, somepony else decided to get all the cakes!" She looked behind her back. "Then, we made new cakes!" She firmly placed a hoof on Blue Alarm's head. "Maybe you want all the new cakes?"
"Pinkie!" Applejack yelled from her place. "Ya' might be  pressurin' the changelin'! Let 'im decide!"
Sweetie Belle raised a hoof and grinned. "I want all the cakes, Pinkie!"
Pinkie gasped and brought her front hooves to her face. "All the cakes!"
A desperate voice answered, "All the cakes, Sweetie Belle?!"
Rarity opened the door and rushed in. She grabbed her sister with a hoof. "We can't eat all the cakes, Sweetie, even if we wanted to!"
She looked at the changeling. "Sorry, there!" she said in a nice voice. "Would you please excuse us?"
Blue Alarm slowly turned his head towards Pinkie. "I'll have a simple chocolate cake."
"Okie dokie!"
Then, Pinkie sped off and threw the tall, brown, frosted cake at the table. It wobbled, then it became still.
Blue Alarm looked at Rarity who was still smiling at him. "Uh, OK."
"Hmph!" Rarity faced her head towards the ceiling, with closed eyes. Then, she opened her eyes at Sweetie Belle and made a mad face at her. "We'll be wasting cakes!" she shouted, in that desperate fashion. "We would have spent all those bits for only a few cakes! Then, they'll rot and decay! Pinkie will be sad if we don't eat all those cakes!" Rarity quickly placed a hoof on Sweetie Belle's head. "So! Don't! Order! All! The! Cakes!"
Rarity was huffing loudly, with eyes narrowed at Sweetie.
Everypony and Blue Alarm were looking at the enraged unicorn while she pointed at her sister.
Apple Bloom quietly took a bite from the chocolate cake while she looked.
"Uh...yes, Rarity?"
Rarity sighed, wiping the sweat off her face. "It's good that you've learned that lesson!" She trotted off to the door. Then, she went outside.
"You must have a nice sister," Blue Alarm said. "Rarity thinks ahead."
Everypony there laughed, including and especially Pinkie Pie.
Sweetie Belle groaned with her front hooves on the table.



Blue Alarm, Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders continued walking in Ponyville. The hay-timber cottages surrounded them, and the laughters and smiles of ponies were all around.
Back at the marketplace, the same stalls were there again. Apples, asparaguses, bread, lettuces, and other such foods were sold by the several ponies behind their counters and places. A white rabbit bounced after a pegasus, wearing a bag on her side.
Applejack pointed at her. "I've heard yer' friends met Fluttershy, right?"
Blue Alarm nodded.
"She was so sweet to them, right?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Probably too sweet," Scootaloo mumbled.
"Might as well strike a conversation with her," Blue Alarm said as he flew towards the pegasus. Then he halted himself. "Or, I'll just observe and see."
"Huh?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Blue Alarm looked at the pegasus placing a few bits onto the counter. The rabbit was jumping, stretching his arms. A smile was on his face, showing his two large teeth.
"Of course, carrots," Blue Alarm said to himself. "Rabbits are said to love carrots, and that confirmed my guess—why would the pegasus bring a rabbit to the marketplace if carrots were not to be sold? Another good thing—she's in the vegetable section, and rabbits would prefer salad dishes. She would make a few stops in the section since I just saw her enter the marketplace."
Then, a white, bright light appeared and a tall pony-dragon creature appeared, holding a cup of carrots. He was beside Fluttershy.
Everypony and the rabbit recoiled and stepped back at the sight of the draconequus. Except Fluttershy. She turned around to look at him. "Discord, I know that you said you were coming, but not in that kind of manner."
"So, why in that kind of manner?" Discord asked. He pulled out the string of carrots and gave it to the cheery and jittery rabbit. "I'm the god and spirit of chaos, so I have all the right to come in anytime I want to." He brushed himself.
"OK, I didn't expect Discord himself to come here," Blue Alarm said.
"Me, too," Applejack replied, the smile on her face not there.
"Discord!" the Cutie Mark Crusaders shouted as they ran to him.
"Wait, fillies, no!" Applejack then ran and reached out to the fillies.
Discord looked at the happy fillies running on the smooth rock ground, passing by the scared and trembling shopkeepers and stallkeepers and cartkeepers.
"Uh, can we have both the changeling and Discord buy something then go?" the mare behind the carrot stall complained in a shaky voice.
Discord glanced at her nonchalantly. "I don't need to buy something to be at the market, do I? It's not like the royal guard way over at Canterlot will come in and arrest me if I go through the market for a few hours and then go away, right?" He inched towards the mare.
Then, the mare stomped a hoof. "Ponies go to the market to—"
Discord placed his lion paw on the mare's face. "Now, you orderly ponies go to—"
"Can we just buy carrots, Discord, and—"
"This is a nice conversation."
Discord looked at the changeling. He removed his paw from the mare's face and the mare fell over. As he slowly walked to him, he threw some bits at the stall and carrots appeared in his claw's grasp. "Fluttershy didn't tell me about a changeling coming here. Also—" Discord looked down at the fillies staring at him "—I am now popular among the young ponies. Everypony now admires me." He cackled a laugh.
Blue Alarm walked up to him.
"Let me guess," Discord said, holding out his claw at the changeling, letting the carrots fall to the ground and then fall back up to his lion's paw.  "You're going to greet me, thank me again for probably the hundredth time about how I saved you, and then you're going to ask me about how was my day, if I'm OK, and all the old conversation starters." Discord teleported and appeared at his side, startling the changeling. "Am I right?"
Blue Alarm nodded, recoiling a little from the spirit of chaos.
Few ponies walked by as they glanced and stared at Discord. They tried not to look terrified.
"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted.
The draconequus teleported flashily and appeared at Fluttershy's side. "Just meeting the new neighbors here," he said while he held up his paw towards Fluttershy's ear. "Probably need some carrots?"
Blue Alarm scratched his chin.
"Oh! The time's up!" He looked at his wrist which had no watch on it. "I gotta go because—heh-heh-heh—why not?" With a glare at the changeling, he snapped his claw and he disappeared in a bright white flash.
Everypony there just looked at the empty space. The rabbit was munching on many carrots beside Fluttershy.
"Well, that was rather awkward," Applejack said.
"Yeah, but did you see all the carrots he had?" Scootaloo asked with a tone of amazement.
Fluttershy walked up to the rest of them. "Uh, sorry about that, girls." Then, she faced the changeling. "And...I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
"It's Blue Alarm," the changeling said. He held out a hoof.
Fluttershy smiled and shook his hoof in the middle of the market.
Several ponies, both passing by and behind the stalls, gazed at the two talking. Some smiled. Others didn't.
Then, there was laughter among the ponies and the changeling as they walked away.



Behind the chatter and the many buzzes that echoed through the place, Blue Alarm flew inside the room.
Humerus flew quickly to him. He shook his neck. "Did you bring the apple cider?!"
"I knew it," Red Noise said as he sat on his bed, eyeing the emotional changeling. "Once he tasted apple cider, he wants apple cider every night. And morning."
Neon Guard just shook his head. "That drink is going to make Humerus..." He shrugged. "I don't know. It's probably not a good idea."
"I didn't bring any," Blue Alarm said as he walked into the room.
Humerus gasped. "No!"
Then, he flew off.
Blue Alarm grabbed him before Humerus left the room.
He struggled, reaching out to the outside. "I want my apple cider!"
Neon Guard placed a hoof on his head. "We're going to have him drink something else next time we go out."
Red Noise nodded his head. "I agree with that. He's already causing trouble with no cider."
Humerus still struggled.
No changeling outside noticed, or at least looked at him.
Blue Alarm placed the changeling back to his bed. "It's already nighttime, so just don't...don't go for any apple cider, OK?"
Humerus then looked at the three changelings in front of him.
Then, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. "OK."
He opened his eyes and just sat on his bed as the other three changelings stood around on the rocky ground under the soft light.
The changelings outside went on, buzzing along as they flew.
"Starting tonight," Neon Guard said, glancing at Humerus, "we're going to ban you from apple cider until you can behave yourself."
Humerus gasped again.
"Orders are orders."
Humerus looked slowly at his leader. "I'll do so. Sorry."
Red Noise yawned. "OK, I'll sleep early, guys." Then, he closed his eyes and laid down on his rocky, stony bed.



Blue Alarm stood outside again. He looked behind him. The darkened room no longer had the ceiling lights on. However, the lights from the outside glowed.
He looked at the many changelings as they went about, bringing food and drinks along as they talked to each other as they walked and flew and stood. Now, there were more wooden stalls, more changelings buying and selling things. There were a few changelings holding a book. Several changelings wore bags of different kinds.
"Signs of progress," Blue Alarm said.
Then, he turned his gaze onto a nearby room. There was no light emitting from that room, too.
"Solver would be scared if he went outside right now."
Blue Alarm turned back to the changeling crowd in front of him.