//------------------------------//
// Equestrian Efforts 
// Story: Society as We Know It 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

The changeling landed in front of the bakery. It was now sunset—the sky was orange and yellow, the sun was about to go behind the mountains in the distance. A few pegasi were in the sky, clearing it up as they pushed several clouds away, making the sun shine more brilliantly.
The changeling looked at his surroundings. Ponies were already turning on their inside lights, giving Ponyville an early nightlife look and feel. A few ponies stopped to see the buildings and their lights. They smiled as they admired the timely beauty of it.
The changeling placed a hoof on his ear and looked to his left. He saw Pinkie Pie hopping and bouncing happily towards the bakery. Then, she hopped inside.
"Pinkie," the changeling said. "She's a strange pony. Yet, strange in a good way—always cheery, always smiling." Then, his smile went away. "Should I go and visit her again? Maybe she might get tired of me checking in on her. Am I even checking in on her or am I just finding an excuse to go visit her for some reason? It's the latter, I guess."
He inched closer and closer to the bakery, hesitating at each step. He looked behind him. A few ponies were looking at his awkward position and stance. "Uh, what are you doing?" a curious stallion asked.
"I'm just doing...something," the changeling awkwardly answered.
"Uh-huh." The pony placed a hoof on his chin as he inspected the changeling from afar. "You're not doing anything suspicious or anything? Nothing evil behind our backs?"
"Nope!" the changeling responded, placing a smile on his face. "I'm just walking...the way I'm walking right now. Very slowly." He took a slow step towards the bakery, still looking at the onlookers.
"Alright," the stallion said. He looked to the ponies around him. "There's nothing to see, folks! You can just move along, now!"
Then, the ponies moved along, going here and there as they talked to each other while they smiled.
The changeling sweated; beads of sweat went down his face. "What are you doing?" he said to himself. "Now, you just made yourself look weird! Then again, there's Pinkie—but, they've known her for a long time! They understand why she acts like that! Me? I've been here for how long? Less than a week! My weirdness is not going to make them any more comfortable!" He groaned. He sighed. He straightened himself up and walked firmly towards the bakery. "If I'm going to solve this dilemma, I'm going to solve it myself!"
He stormed into the bakery, smiling as he did so. The customers that were inside stopped their eating and their talking and looked at the changeling who just came in.
Pinkie looked at him from behind the counter. "Oh, you again? You must like the place, don't you?" She smiled and brought out her party cannon. Then, she fired it, decorating the entire room with confetti, balloons, streamers and other party decorations. There were even more cakes on the tables of the customers who smiled at the sight of them.
The changeling looked at it all, confused and perplexed. "Uh, what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on!" Pinkie said. "Well, technically, something is going on—the sun is going down, ponies are moving, ponies are enjoying the delicious treats that we're serving up for all of them!" She brought out a pie. "Would you like some? It's made with the best ingredients you could ever get!"
"Uh, no thanks," the changeling said. "Sorry for declining the offer. I don't feel that hungry now."
"Maybe you will if I show you the rest of the catalogue!" Pinkie said. "First, we have lots of sweets and pastries to fill your hunger, to make you smile and happy! I'm here to make sure that your tummy is full and that your day is glad! Do you want to meet Mr. and Mrs. Cake? You haven't met them before! I know because I've been with them all day and I haven't seen you even approach those two ponies! Don't worry—are you scared or afraid of them! They're not that mean or naughty at all! They're kind and loving ponies! They have their own children, but they're upstairs so I don't think you're allowed to make them cry or anything like that! But, if you wanted to come here for the pastires and the desserts only, then that's alright! I'm here to make sure that you're happy with what you plan to do here, whether it's just to eat or it's to meet the Cakes!" She grinned. "So, did you understand all of that? Do you need me to specify something or to clarify something? Hm?"
The changeling opened his mouth in more confusion. "Uh, what?"
"We don't have a dessert called that, silly!" Pinkie said, grabbing the changeling. "Now, what about I just give you something for free! Maybe it will be a cake, or a pie. Can it be the cakepie? Nah! I won't be telling the secret recipe about that! All you need to know is that you combine a cake and a pie! Wait, did I just say my own secret recipe without me knowing it until just a few seconds ago?"
"You just did?" the changeling asked in confusion.
"Whoops!" Pinkie exclaimed. She looked at the ponies who were looking at her. "Did you hear anything that I just said?!"
The ponies quietly looked at each other. Then, they looked back at Pinkie, their faces remaining straight.
"Alright, then," Pinkie said in a suspicious tone. "If you're not talking about it—" Then, she smiled "—then you must not have heard of it! We're all fine together!" She looked at the changeling. "Today, what is it?"
"Uh, why are you acting like that to me?" the changeling asked. "I didn't ask you to give me monologues that are so fast that I couldn't even understand half of what you said."
"I told you to tell me to specify or clarify anything you didn't understand!" Pinkie shouted. Then, she calmed down. "So, what did you do for today? Did you go on one of those flying trips where you just fly around in Ponyville? Changelings have been doing a lot of that lately. Is it natural? Do you have to fly or else you won't get enough energy for the next day or something?" She gasped. "Maybe I should go tell Twilight about this! She will be so excited about this new discovery and then she'll go and update her changeling notebook!"
"Her changeling notebook?"
"Yes, silly! Twilight has a changeling notebook! That's where she keeps all her notes about changelings. How they live, what their everyday lives are like, what they eat, what they drink, what their events and their parties are like—and, trust me, I'm an expert at parties, but I can also acknowledge that you changelings have a pretty unique kind of partying that I haven't seen anywhere in all of Equestria—what their habits are like, what their culture is like, what their topics are when it comes to talking about them—Twilight just wants to cover everything! See? Everything! She wants to document everything about you guys! Isn't that exciting to know? She will then spread more and more of that knowledge, of that information, to other ponies, and we ponies can relate to you more and more. Then, we can visit you and you can visit us more often, and we'll be together, living happily everyday! Don't you see where this is going, changeling? We're going to have fun together!"
"I didn't even know our kind of parties were unique," the changeling said, glancing away from the pink pony for a short while. Then, he looked back at her. "I...didn't know you were that excited about us. I knew that you were excited, but not this excited. And, Twilight is trying to take notes of everything about us? That's...a lot of work."
"Ponies don't know a lot about dragons as well," Pinkie said. "Or about Yaks. Or about Zebras—maybe? I don't know. But, that's besides the point! The point is that we just want to give you a good time! Enjoy being good and never think about doing evil again like stealing love!"
The changeling looked at the ponies who were watching the conversation. Then, he looked at Pinkie. He smiled. "Well, if that's what you all want. I like it."
"Does that mean that you want some cake or pie now?"
The changeling sighed, yet kept his smile. "No, Pinkie. I'm still not hungry."
"Then, what did you eat?"
"A few hay burgers," the changeling said. "Greasy? Yeah. But, are they good? Yeah."
"Did you know Twilight likes to eat there from time to time?"
The changeling had a surprised look on his face. "Wait? You're telling me that the Princess of Friendship—one of the most influential ponies in all of Equestria—, the Element of Magic, one of the most powerful ponies there in all of Equestria—you're telling me that Princess Twilight Sparkle likes to go to the Hay Burger?"
"Why are you so surprised?" Pinkie asked. "I thought that it would make sense that the Princess of Friendship would go to Hay Burger every so often!"
"It doesn't make sense," the changeling stated.
"It makes sense because she gets hungry! But, other than that, she wants to be just like the other ponies here—she doesn't want to become very formal just because she's a Princess. There are times when she tells us that she misses eating there because of her long trips and journeys to this and that place in Equestria. Sometimes, we just go and eat there and just have fun there as friends—talking about what happened over the course of the day, maybe telling a few jokes—usually I'm the one who tells the jokes because, well, I'm an expert at jokes—and, most of the time, we tell each other what we learned about friendship. We've been together for a long time, and there's still lots of things to learn about friendship. Isn't it nice, changeling?"
"Yeah, it is nice," the changeling answered.
"Does that mean you want a cake or pie now?"
The changeling sighed, though he still smiled. "No, Pinkie."