The changelings went out the donut shop, holding paper bags on their backs or with their mouths or in their bags. The ones with a free mouth were chatting and talking about how delicious the donuts were, how that mare Silence did not speak at all, and how wonderful Canterlot was in general. They laughed, presumably at jokes. They smiled, sharp teeth with their fangs showing. It was all right for them.
The upper-class ponies, on the other hand, were mixed in opinion as they passed by the pack of happy, brightly-colored bug things talking like normal ponies and talking about normal things as they passed the same buildings normal ponies pass and on the same roads and sidewalks that normal ponies walk on.
A couple of unicorns wearing fancy, stylish clothes looked at the changelings. He, wearing glasses and a neutral expression on his face, said, "Changelings in Canterlot again? The sight of them only reeks of suspicion."
"Even without that queen, they still have a sense of...what do you call it?" She brought her hoof to her head and paused, facing up."Rowdishness."
The two unicorns looked up with closed eyes as they walked, being snobbish in their movements.
The changelings would not have heard the unicorns' remarks over the talking and the beholding of the wonderful architecture that was around them. Many of the buildings were mainly white. The corners and curves were placed in ways that made their buildings fancy, regal, royal. They were certainly not houses and businesses the normal pony could afford. Canopies draped the entrances and the terraces of some buildings, flags flew in stationary form on the top of other buildings. The clean streets were half-full, many of the ponies at least pausing to take a look at the group of strange changelings. Some little colts and fillies tried to run to the changelings, with a colt crying out "But I heard that they're cool!" as he was restrained by his mother and then his father as well when the colt just could not stop moving towards the changelings.
The green changeling who had ordered two of every flavor of donut pointed at the same building far off the distance but not too far off. The grand and enormous white castle with purple and gold spires that was off the cliff where Canterlot had been founded on was the Canterlot Castle Residence of the Two Sister Princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
"Hey, Humerus!" Red Noise shouted at his fellow changeling. "You've pointed at that castle how many times now?"
"But I want to see the Princesses!" Humerus replied.
Red Noise laughed. Blue Alarm covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.
"What's so funny about that, guys?"
"Heh, it's just that..." Red Noise glared at Humerus. "You sound like a little larva just saying that."
"It's my first time that I get to meet them!" Humerus shouted back. "Can't you deal with that?"
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, everyone." Another green changeling stood between the two, moving carefully since his bag of donuts was on his back. He was wearing a brown hat. "I don't want anyone fighting over where to visit and how someone sounds like. Besides, remember that friendship is magic?"
Red Noise laughed.
The other green changeling glared at him.
"OK, OK, whatever you say, Neon Guard!" Red Noise said between anxious laughs.
As the changelings walked pass yet another fancy looking restaurant, they did not notice the faces looking at them. Behind the wide and tall curved windows, behind the simple door under a narrow and lengthy canopy, two unicorns, orange and amber, saw them talk. The young orange mare had puffy and curly hair and wore a fancy shirt. The amber, older stallion was plump, had short yet puffy hair just like his daughter and wore a simpler shirt.
"It's almost opening time," he said. "How much longer do you have to stay there? I know that the changelings are nice and all but you can see them later when they come here."
"I know that, too, father," she replied. "It's that, with the success we've been having lately because of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, I've been having less time just...looking at the world around us."
He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He walked to her side. Observing the street in front of them, the changelings were almost out of sight. If he was not mistaken, one of the changelings was wearing a hat. That is not something I expected, he thought. Some ponies were still looking at the changeligns, a few even running, maybe to talk to these new creatures. A fancy couple walked by, heads up and eyes closed. An ice cream vendor pushed his ice cream cart on the street and rang the bell many times. Some colts and fillies ran to the vendor, shouting at him the names of this and that ice cream flavor. Their parents were behind them, watching their money and their children. Many smiled.
He hugged his daughter.
"Saffron," he said, "it's good that you still have that in you. You remind me of..." He trailed off. "Of myself when I was young and observed like you."
"Father..." Saffron said. A hint of embarassment was audible.
A minute passed as they looked out the window together.
"We can have time for that later," he finally said. "I promise that. Now, it's just minutes until the restaurant opens."
"OK, father!" Saffron said. There was cheer in her voice.
Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala walked away from the window and further inside the Tasty Treat. The lights turned on.
Outside, dozens of ponies were moving furniture and other building equipment out and in a few restaurants in Canterlot. Out were the dull tables and chairs, in went decorations and furniture of various colors, styles, and shapes. Some restaurants opened their doors, letting the smells of their kitchens waft out to the street.
A racetrack made out of clouds floated off the grass on the cliff. Flags decorated it. Below the racetrack was the ground below, miles and miles below. The stands that held many spectating ponies did not float miles above ground. In fact, it was on ground. The stands' foundation on the cliffside was clear to the ponies walking by the racetrack. In front of them was the open air, the racetrack, and the ground that was miles below.
But the ponies walking by would not look at the stands. They looked at the racetrack. They would see pegasi in their blue and yellow Wonderbolt uniform race each other, flying at speeds so fast that the wind was loud and the pegasi became more like blurs than solid beings. If one caught a glimpse of any of their faces right now, they would not be smiling nor frowning. They would have an expression of focus, serious focus; it would be a face that told anyone to not disturb them, they were in a middle of a fun event. That they were high up above the ground did not scare them. It might even have moved them to be faster or at least to be more alert.
The tension did increase the excitement for those watching the Wonderbolts.
The ponies were awed at their speed and skill. The popcorns were passed around by a few ponies wearing trays that held up buckets of popcorn with various flavors and smells.
"What's that smell?" Humerus said as he sat beside his changeling friends on the stands. "It's...something different." He sniffed and turned his head around. He sniffed loudly.
Blue Alarm kept calm. Neon Guard just watched the race with a blank stare.
Red Noise turned to the right.
"You're annoying the ponies," he said.
"The smell..." Humerus repeated. "The smell."
Red Noise smacked a hoof on the head. "Do you know self-control?!" he shouted above the cheers.
But Humerus ignored the question and flew towards the smell.
The roasted smell of fresh popcorn tempted the green changeling as he hovered up the stairs, not minding the few ponies who dared look away from the Wonderbolts for a moment to see the changeling pass by. The changeling had his mouth open. One pony looked at the open-mouthed and buzzing changeling and ran up the stairs and screamed her way off the stands but no one minded her as they kept on shouting and screaming and cheering for their Wonderbolt of choice.
"Spitfire!"
"Soarin!"
"High Winds!"
A filly asked her mother, "Where's Rainbow Dash?" but her mother replied with a sad shake of her head.
Humerus finally reached one of the ponies with the tray of popcorn, still sniffing. His head moved inside a popcorn bucket. Some pieces of popcorn flew off the tray and on to the floor. The popcorn pony was not pleased. He groaned.
"That would be two bits, please," the pony said. "And, you eat the popcorn off my tray."
Munches and bites were heard. Humerus opened his bag and threw two bits at the pony, head still in the popcorn bucket. The bits landed on the tray.
"Now take your popcorn and go to your seat."
Humerus, with the bucket of popcorn covering his head, flew down the stairs. There was laughter.
"Tourists," the pony whispered to himself as he gathered the bits into his uniform's pocket.
The tea shop was yet another building that looked fancy. The four changelings that remained were Blue Alarm, Red Noise, Humerus, and Neon Guard. They sat around the table. The tea still remained in their cups. Humerus's cup was half-full.
"What does this taste like?!" Red Noise yelled. "It tastes like water!"
The other changelings looked at him in surprise.
"Don't talk like that in front of the shop!" Neon Guard ordered. "What will the waiter do to us if he hears that from you?"
"At least it smells good," Blue Alarm said. "Would serve as perfume or cologne if you don't want to drink it."
"I thought it would taste excellent!" Red Noise kept yelling. "It looked fancy, a lot of those fancy ponies, especially the unicorns—and it costs five bits to get one cup of tea! And look what I get!" He gestured at the cup in front of him. "It's just colored water!"
"Maybe it's because you're drinking it incorrectly."
Red Noise looked behind him.
He saw a white unicorn wearing a formal suit. He had blue mane, a bowtie, and a monocle, not to mention a cutie mark of three crowns on his flank. Following him were a few unicorns wearing similar formal clothes. The two mares had big, grand hats, the one unicorn had glasses.
"I wasn't mentioning you at all!" Red Noise was laughing a little in the anxiety. "You're a good unicorn, um, mister owner..."
"Fancy Pants," the white unicorn said, "and I am not the owner of the tea shop.
"As for your tea problem," Fancy Pants went on, "drinking tea is not like drinking normal water. The taste is not meant to be strong or bold. It is meant to be a quiet taste, a taste that can only be savored properly in sips, not in gulps like you were doing."
"I was thirsty!" Red Noise replied.
"Then why did you come here?" Fancy Pants asked. "Tea is not meant to be merely a drink that quenches your thirst. It is meant to be enjoyed as a drink on its own."
Red Noise laughed anxiously and nervously. The other changelings were now looking at him, no smiles on their faces.
"You are changelings, am I correct?" Fancy Pants said.
"Yes, we all are," Neon Guard said, getting out of his chair. "We just want to go around Canterlot and see what it has to offer."
"Are you not supposed to be helping your friends back in the Changeling Kingdom, fixing everything there?"
"We can have days off," Neon Guard replied. "King Thorax is not too strict. You could say that he's lenient."
Fancy pants nodded. "I hope he and the rest of the Changelings will remove the bad reputation they've had for years." He pasued. "In fact, you could provide a good example to many ponies by just being yourselves in...whatever you're doing."
Humerus was licking whatever tea was left in his cup.
"At least he's enjoying the expensive tea," Fancy Pants said. "That reminds me, who is paying for the tea? That's twenty bits that you have to pay. It's a hefty sum of money."
"Blue Alarm's paying for it," Red Noise said, pointing at Blue Alarm.
"Hey! Who said I was paying for it?"
Fancy Pants and his friends laughed. The other changelings laughed, too.