//------------------------------// // About the Friendship Journal // Story: Society as We Know It // by Comma Typer //------------------------------// "What is it?" Crusoe asked, scratching his blonde or yellow mane as he faced the changeling. "I know that I've been paranoid about things before, but it's going to take time for me to change—for me to stop getting scared every time I see a changeling who isn't smiling all the time." "I'm not forcing you to do anything," the changeling said. "I'm not going to coerce you to do anything bad. I'm a good, kind changeling, Crusoe. I'm just asking you to be a bit more considerate and a bit more...friendly." "Well, why like this?" he asked. They were sitting under the shade of a large tree. Its leaves were wide and big, giving much shade. The air was cool around them—it was past sunset and now it was night; the stars were up in the sky along with the moon that was shining. A few ponies looked up towards the moon. A pony that was passing by even said, "I wonder if Princess Luna is going to pay us a visit? Not in the dream realm but here. Wouldn't it be fun? It would be a royal day for us." "Yeah, it would," the stallion beside the mare that was passing by stated. "It would. But, I guess she has a lot of ponies to attend to even in the dream realm. Imagine all of us, dreaming dreams, experiencing things that aren't real. Yet, when we wake up, there we are, in our beds. When we do see her, it's just in the dream." "But, I've only met her a couple of times in my life." The mare stopped her walking. "That's more than enough for some ponies or some creatures," the stallion said. He took his hat off and held it near his face. "There are ponies out there who haven't met her in a dream at all. Most of them are young foals, but some of them are older ones—the older ponies among us. I've seen her once—there I was, looking out the window and seeing the clouds of the beautiful, sunny sky when my friends were with me. There we were, just running down the grassy hills and climbing this and that; we were just enjoying the day. Then, I heard a voice. It was a royal voice, a calm and soothing one. I looked behind me and saw the Princess herself. I gasped at the sight of her. But, she just smiled. 'Just checking on you,' she said. She said those words to me. She said those words to me!" "Was it your first time?" the mare asked. "I guess so," the stallion said. Crusoe and the changeling looked back at each other. "Have you had a dream?" Crusoe asked. "I'm honestly curious about this. I don't know if changelings do dream at all—I hope they're not nightmares. Just OK dreams—dreams where you just...I don't know, dream." "I can tell you the first time I've had a dream," the changeling said. Crusoe straightned his pose up, leaning towards the changeling. "I'm ready to listen." "You don't have to do that," the changeling responded. "I'm not going to give you a full-fledged story filled with so many details. It was a short dream." "A dream's a dream." Crusoe smiled. "Any dream is good enough for me as long as it's not a nightmare." "OK, then." The changeling took in a large breath of air. "So, I was inside a house. There were ponies and changelings there. They were talking about random things like what stairs were or what their favorite color was. It was strange to just keep walking past them and hearing those random conversations coming from those ponies and changelings. They were asking what kind of food they were eating when it was dinner—it wasn't weird, but it was specific. Very specific. I don't know what it was all about—does Princess Luna know about it?" "She probably was at least aware that you were dreaming that kind of dream," Crusoe said. "Nothing too bad. Just a weird dream." The changeling sighed. "What's wrong?" Crusoe asked. "Is there something wrong?" "Not really," the changeling answered. "Just wondering and thinking and imagining—maybe even conceptualizing, although I'm not sure if the word 'conceptualizing' fits my situation. It's an odd word, isn't it?" "No, it isn't," Crusoe said. "It's a word that's supposed to be used professionally. It's a fancy, formal kind of word. It's the word you'd see in fancy old books. It's the word you'd hear when the ponies in Canterlot talk about their complicated subject matters. It's the word you might hear Twilight use. Yeah, I would expect to hear that word from Twilight." The changeling giggled. Crusoe just smiled. "At least you got a laugh." "But, it just fits Twilight Sparkle's personality so well!" the changeling stated. "Or, maybe it's just what I've heard from my friends. Anyway, I did meet her and it was a fun experience, although I didn't get to be with her for a long time to be able to see that side of her." "We Ponyville residents have known her for a long time," Crusoe said. "Not as long as her friends in Canterlot like Minuette and Lemon Hearts and Moon Dancer and Twinkleshine, but long enough to know that she is...weird. Obsessed with this and that kind of book. Actually, she's obsessed with all books, likes making lists, and is very interested in the formal, complex topics that most of us ponies wouldn't mind or care about at all. Then again, it's better now because she's a Princess—she's probably supposed to know what she knows. But...it's still there." The changeling scratched his head, looking here and there. There were ponies passing by on the street. There was a burly stallion pulling a wagon filled with apples. He looked back at Crusoe. "Have you met them many times?" "Many times," Crusoe answered. "By them, I guess you mean Twilight and her friends. They're not always out on adventures like what some changelings might tell you. Or what some of us ponies might tell you. I don't know. Anyway, they're normal ponies. Yes, we respect them because they're the Elements of Harmony and they've saved Equestria numerous times—but, they're normal ponies. It might be strange to see a heroine of Equestria just walking around buying a few gifts for her friends, not demanding any additional thing to be done about it. She just asks for things and buys things and lives her life just like one of us would." "I guess you're right," the changeling said. "I like your perspective on this." "It's not just a perspective," Cruose said. "I'm telling you what it is. It's also for your own good—a month or two ago, there were a few crazy changelings going about in Ponyville all super-excited over the Elements of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle had to make them do some work in Ponyville—not that they didn't like working for the Princess herself, but still. It was fun seeing what happened at the time—the changelings were shouting their names, asking for autographs. I know that not all of you are like that, but it just made the changelings look so poorly-mannered." The changeling sighed. "Yeah, I remember that. Made some ponies angry at us. It wasn't a great event for us. Then again, what about you guys? Just recently, I heard that there was a big problem about the ponies and the Friendship Journal Princess Twilight Sparkle published. What was going on? I've heard the news and I've seen the newspapers, but I haven't really heard about it from a pony like you." Crusoe made an awkward smile. He laughed nervously. "Uh, well, I guess it's best that we shouldn't mention that at all." He made an awkward grin. "There's not much I can tell you other than that...well...I was involved in that whole problem. I...was..." "Was what?" the changeling asked. Then, he smiled. "I guess you were one of the fans, huh?" "Yeah," Crusoe said. "Fan of Pinkie Pie. She even wrote her autograph on my copy of the Friendship Journal. Then, I ended up complaining to everypony that she was the best out of the Elements of Harmony. I've always liked a good laugh, so I naturally liked Pinkie more than the others. But, why would you go and stop my enthusiasm for her and her laughter? I debated and even fought with the ponies who thought that some other pony was better than Pinkie—there were the Fluttershy fans, the Rarity fans, the Rainbow Dash fans, the Applejack fans, and a few Twilight Sparkle fans. We were all competing—or, was it competing to begin with? It was just pure chaos—and, even though Pinkie and her friends sang that song about them not being perfect, we still argued over who was the best out of the ponies there. I could tell you for certain that Pinkie Pie is the best." "I don't know if that means you've learned your lesson," the changeling said. "It doesn't sound like you did." "That's why I said 'could,'" Crusoe said. He sighed and looked forlorn. "After that, it got better, but Twilight Sparkle wasn't happy with us—being very unfriendly over the ponies who wrote the Friendship Journal. That wasn't good, was it? She was frustrated with us—she smiled less often the days immediately after she sang that song. I understand why she was mad at us—she was the Princess of Friendship, after all. To see your neighbors go on bickering at each other would make her feel angry." "I would see why," the changeling said. He looked around. There were more ponies passing by on the street. "What about the ponies themselves? The Elements of Harmony, I mean." "They've gotten better, too," Crusoe answered. "All this time, they just recovered from what happened. Now, it's all back to normal. But, I am still sad about what happened. We could've been better ponies." "Well, at least you're the ones who are spreading friendship around," the changeling said. "Because of you and your friendship, we wouldn't have realized how great friendship is." "Well, there's that," Crusoe said. The changeling smiled. Crusoe smiled. "I have to go," he said. He stood up. The changeling stood as well. "It was nice talking to you, Crusoe." "You, too, changeling," Crusoe said. They shook hooves. Then, Crusoe walked away. The changeling looked at the buildings with their bright lights. There were more ponies on the street under the night. The changeling walked.