Blue Alarm sat on the seat inside the train as it whizzed past more grass and more trees. His friends were there near him as they smiled and as they talked to each other, sometimes laughing.
The blue changeling looked outside.
Ponies were headed towards Manehattan whether in large groups or in small ones. Several of them were carrying several bags and items, others carried nothing with them. A few pegasi were flying in the sky, going towards the city.
Blue Alarm looked at his friends. "So, we're going to go back to the Changeling Kingdom?"
"Might as well be," Neon Guard answered. "Travelling Equestria is fun but we have our duties to attend to, remember?"
"I know," Blue Alarm said, turning away from him and looking back outside. He glanced at him. "So, anything else after this? Maybe a party or maybe inviting Pinkie Pie to help with a party over at the kingdom?"
"It depends," Neon Guard said. "Pinkie Pie has her own responsibilities—she has her own bakery to attend to or at least a bakery that she's working in, she is also planning parties here and there, and she is also an Element of Harmony. I think you know all of that already, though."
"Yeah."
"And, that doesn't seem good."
Blue Alarm opened his eyes wider.
"Uh, that's not what I meant," Neon Guard said. "You know that and that's good. What's not good is that you've changed your attitude recently."
"What are you saying?"
"I didn't expect you to be the changeling to start a party," Red Noise said, sounding concerned. "I actually find it difficult to imagine you be the one inviting Pinkie Pie or being one of the hosts of a party. It sounds very weird."
"Maybe it's just me lightening up," Blue Alarm said. "Besides, I guess we've all been lightening up ever since we, uh, changed into better creatures."
The three changelings smiled.
"Does that mean we can now go to the part where we order the chocolate bars and the chocolate and the candies and the other sweets from the carriage next to us?" Humerus asked, smiling.
"Uh, why?" Neon Guard asked.
"I told one of the ponies working here that I want to order all the sweets he has in the train! He told me that it was gonna cost a hundred bits."
"Humerus!" Red Noise shouted, grabbing the changeling. "When will you know how to treat your money correctly?!"
"Not this again," Blue Alarm muttered.
Neon Guard sighed.
Red Noise grabbed Humerus's ear. "Tell me, Humerus! Why didn't you think about the money that you wasted? What about the money that we could've spent on, I don't know, something more useful than lots of sweet food?! Tell me!"
"It was so delectable and tasty!" Humerus yelled. "Please, I'm pleading now! Don't hurt me! The sweets are going to be coming here any minute now!"
"I don't care about chocolate or candies of whatever flavor, Mister Waste-a-lot!" Red Noise shouted. "What I care about is using our resources wisely!" He grabbed Humerus by the shoulder and hovered above the floor. "I don't want you to do that ever again!"
A pony stood up from his seat. "Uh, I think you should stop that!" the pony yelled, pointing at the red changeling.
"Oh, Trenderhoof!" Red Noise yelled at him. "I didn't know you were going to be here! It's none of your business, now get away while I teach Humerus something about handling your money!"
Trenderhoof adjusted his white glasses. "Don't make me stop you! I'll use my magic if I have to!"
"You should calm down, Red Noise!" Neon Guard said. "You've already caused enough trouble as it is, Red Noise! If you don't stop, you're going to cause even more trouble!"
"I've already had more irritations and annoyances caused by Humerus than you could ever think of!" Red Noise answered. "You're not going to stop me!" He turned towards Humerus who was now whimpering and even crying. "Humerus, I might as well throw out all of those sweet chocolates and candies even if it means we're going to have to pay for the damages to be done. Do you want to know why?"
Humerus kept on whimpering and crying, his sobbing only growing louder and louder.
Trenderhoof's horn glowed.
Red Noise was surrounded by a blue violet magic glow.
Then, Red Noise was slowly moving away from Humerus.
Humerus flapped his wings and hovered as he watched Red Noise look angrily at him.
"Oh, no," Neon Guard said. He looked distraught. "This is not good!"
A few more ponies rushed into the scene. More ponies were stepping back from the situation. Trenderhoof walked towards Red Noise. There were shouts.
"Can we solve this peacefully?" Neon Guard said, looking at Red Noise. "I already told you that if you went on like this, you would only be causing more trouble!"
"Humerus started it!" Red Noise yelled, still being surrounded in the blue violet magic glow. "I don't want to give up teaching Humerus about what's good about handling money the way we should handle it!"
"It doesn't meant you have to hurt him like that!" Neon Guard said. "Look! You're already making lots of ponies scared and afraid of you, maybe even of all of us! Think about what's going to happen if you keep this up! You're going to make more and more ponies scared of all of us changelings! Red Noise, please stop this!"
Red Noise looked at Humerus.
There were tears running on his face.
He looked at Trenderhoof.
"At least say an apology," Trenderhoof said. "After that, I won't do this again."
Red Noise looked at Humerus. "OK! I'm sorry about what I did and said to you!"
Trenderhoof sighed.
Red Noise looked around him. There was no magic glow.
He flapped his wings and hovered.
Neon Guard looked at Trenderhoof. "Uh, thank you, Trenderhoof."
"Just wanting to be the good pony that stops and helps others," Trenderhoof said. "I'm just relaxing for the day, preparing myself for the journalism work. Journalism? I meant magazine work." He laughed a little.
Neon Guard laughed a little, too. He glanced at Humerus. "You can go down now."
Humerus and Red Noise went down to the floor.
Neon Guard looked around.
Some ponies were trembling a little as they looked at him and his friends. Others were simply just looking at them with varied expressions on their faces.
"I have to go to my seat now," Trenderhoof said. He trotted to his seat.
Neon Guard walked back to his seat. He sat down.
Neon Guard sighed. "How are we going to explain this?"
Humerus sniffled as he placed a hoof on Blue Alarm. He looked at Neon Guard.
Neon Guard looked out the window. Then he glanced at Blue Alarm. "When we get home, we need to have a good explanation for this."
"You mean the honest one?"
"Yeah," Neon Guard said, "the honest one. The honest explanation. No lying. Just telling whoever needs to be told about it the truth and nothing else. That's all and that's what's supposed to be said."
"What about me?" Red Noise said, looking at Neon Guard.
"You tell it," Neon Guard said.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"But, what if I don't want to tell it?"
"You're telling it whether you like it or not."
"But I don't like having to face all the shame!"
"It's not supposed to matter. You did something bad and you're going to get punished for it. You don't get away from it like that."
"But, what if I do what to get away from it like that?"
"That's not how this being good thing is."
"What if I want to do something else?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know."
"Then, just tell them what happened and why you did what you did," Neon Guard said. Then, he sighed and glanced at Blue Alarm. "Let's keep this quiet. Keep Humerus OK."
"OK," Blue Alarm said. He looked at Humerus.
Neon Guard looked at the ponies on their seats.
He looked at Blue Alarm.
Neon Guard sighed and looked out the window.
He looked back at his friends.
Neon Guard smiled. "At least we're still here."