It Takes a Village to Reform a Changeling

by MattTOB

Chapter 9: Out of Town

"JUST A TEST!?"

Mandy groaned as he turned in his bed. He could hear Twilight's ranting all the way downstairs.

"Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam, and you're trying to tell me to calm down because it's just a test?!"

He couldn't see it, but Mandy knew that Spike was bracing himself. "Uh... yes."

The sound of an angry magical discharge thundered, and for a moment, it felt to Mandy as if the entire Library had shot into the sky, then crashed back down.

After a moment of trying and failing to compose herself, Twilight ran upstairs and hastily said, "Mandyareyousureyou'llbefineonyourownohwhoamIkiddingI'msurethatyou'llbeokayBYE!" And just like that, she was gone.

Spike came up after a moment, and talked much more slowly, "Okay, I've left enough crystallized love in the fridge to feed you for a week, and I've also set out special parchment that'll send itself to Twilight as soon as it's sealed. Don't get into too much trouble, get your chores done, and whatever you do, DON'T mess with Twilight's Organizational System, alright?"

Mandy nodded, still reeling from Twilight's earlier intrusion.

"Okay, we'll be back as soon as we can; hopefully, it'll be sometime this afternoon. Bye," Spike waved before he left the room to head outside.

Mandy sighed as the front door swung open and closed, signalling their departure. Today was supposed to be the test date between him and Applejack, but Princess Celestia's surprise letter had cut all of their plans short.

Well, he wouldn't be of much use if he just sat around all day. Grunting, he got out of his bed and headed downstairs to get started on his chores.

Mandy wiped his brow as he spat out the feather duster. It was two hours later, and he'd just finished dusting the ground floor of the library as per his chores.

He turned to consult the list of chores he'd written, and grimaced at the next item on it.

– Pick up the groceries Twilight has pre-ordered

The Changeling wasn't looking forward to this part, but he knew he had to do it eventually. It was long enough after his sentencing that Celestia felt comfortable with withdrawing her Royal Guards, but that did little to calm his nerves; in fact, it made him even more nervous about what the citizens of Ponyville would do to an unguarded Changeling.

He took a deep breath before opening the door and heading off to Market.

Ponies stared as the Changeling walked nervously down the street. Some looked with disgust, but continued on their way; others glared angrily at the bug before they stormed off in the direction of Town Hall; still others looked at him before running off in fear; and a lone few looked at him with confusion and possibly pity.

But regardless, Mandy pressed forward to the Marketplace.

As soon as he got there, he could tell it wasn't much different from the street.

Except this time, there was a familiar pegasus filly riding a scooter, pulling along two more familiar fillies in a red wagon.

"Make way!" Scootaloo shouted as she plowed down the path, undeterred by the density of the crowd. "Crusaders coming through!"

Mandy stopped and waved at them. They may have been a bit on the annoying side in the past, but they meant well; they were just overeager. And besides, he wasn't moping around this time, so maybe he'd actually get to interact with them properly.

The orange filly turned her head and slammed on the brakes when she saw him, almost sending her passengers flying. "Hey, Mandy!" She eagerly waved back before she turned her scooter and rode it towards him.

"Hey, girls. What're you three–"

"Stand back!"

Mandy turned towards the new voice, and saw a mob of angry ponies marching over.

The Changeling grumbled, "I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later." He then turned to the crowd and asked, "What do you want?"

The leader of the group, a pink Earth Pony with purple side-swept hair and a literally upturned nose, glared at him. "For you to leave those fillies alone! They may be blank flanks, but they are still citizens of Ponyville, and they deserve protection from the likes of you!"

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all rolled their eyes at her offhanded remark.

Mandy cocked an eyebrow. "If you don't want me near these fillies, then why didn't you do anything when Scootaloo here first met me?"

She scoffed. "It took me a while to gather this mob."

Mandy sighed. "I'm just talking to them; what's the big deal?"

Another of the ponies, a blue unicorn with wavy white hair and a safety-pin Cutie Mark, declared, "You could hypnotize them with your Changeling magic!"

Mandy eyed him, silently pointing at the magic-inhibiting ring that was still clamped around his horn.

That made the pony stutter. "W-well, I don't know what you'll do, but we're gonna stop it!"

The rest of the mob voiced their agreement, then continued their advance.

Mandy braced himself against the oncoming victimization, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders all jumped in between the bug and the ponies.

The blue pony shouted, "Aha! I knew it! You've hypnotized them!"

Mandy deadpanned, "Seriously?"

Apple Bloom stepped forward. "Look at yerselves," she addressed the crowd, "gangin' up on a pony just 'cuz yer scared!"

Sweetie Belle joined in, "He hasn't done anything to harm anypony, yet here you are, treating him like he's burned down the city!"

Scootaloo finished the trio, "Ponyville's supposed to be the most friendly place in Equestria, and this is how you act towards an outsider? You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Two fillies stepped out of the crowd. One of them was pink with pale-purple hair and a tiara both on her head and as her Cutie Mark; the other, who Mandy could tell was more hesitant, was grey with red glasses and an ornate spoon for a Cutie Mark.

"And who do you think you are, talking to us like that? You're nothing but a bunch of lowly Blank Flanks!" The pink one jeered at the three.

They flinched at her words, but held their ground. "Back off, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon!" Apple Bloom shot back. "This has nothin' to do with us not havin' Cutie Marks!"

Diamond Tiara glared at them, completely missing Silver Spoon waving her hooves in a futile effort to get her friend to back down before she said something they'd regret. She then spat, "Of course it does! Who would listen to a bunch of ponies who don't have a purpose!?"

Diamond Tiara expected the crowd to be with her on this point, and smugly smirked at the three fillies and the Changeling.

Instead, they gasped at her, and Silver Spoon face-hooved.

The upturned-nose pony, who Mandy guessed was Tiara's mother, quickly tried to save face by saying, "Uh, Diamond Tiara, dearie? We're not here to discuss Cutie Marks; we're here to persecute a Changeling!"

But instead of saving face, her words made the crowd turn to glare at her.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd just said, and she put on an innocent voice, "I-I mean, to stop an evil creature before it hurts those poor, defenseless fillies!"

But the crowd wasn't buying it. "Wait, persecute?" One of them asked.

"Oh no, is that what we're doing!?" Another wailed.

"I thought it'd already done something terrible!"

"Did we learn nothing from Zecora's arrival?!"

"I was just following the crowd!"

The crowd quickly dispersed, rethinking everything they'd done.

"W-wait!" The upturned-nose pony called out, running after them. "The Changelings have to pay for what they did! They–they terrorized my cousins in Canterlot; isn't that reason enough!?"

Diamond Tiara watched as her mother ran away. "Oh, she's never gonna let me hear the end of this..." she mumbled as she trudged away.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders blinked, as did Mandy. "Did... Did that just happen?" Scootaloo asked, bewildered.

"I think so..." Mandy agreed absently.

Surprisingly, the rest of the trip transpired without much further incident. Sure, there were still individuals who looked at him with disgust or fear. But almost all of the ones that were angry enough to act had been in that mob, and were now either holed up in their homes, or standing outside of them and apologizing to Mandy profusely.

And it was really starting to weird Mandy out. Was Ponyville really so easily influenced, and so forgiving?

But eventually, he picked up Twilight's groceries, and headed back to the Library for lunch. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had promised to stay with him until the others returned from their trip, and they kept that promise.

Though that didn't stop them from trying to get their Cutie Marks in book reorganization.

Mandy was still fixing the Crusaders' mess when the door clicked and swung open.

"Look, it wasn't my fault, it was the Crusaders; they–" Mandy launched into a defense as he turned around, but gave pause when he realized who was at the door.

It was a pale-tan earth pony, with deep black hair, a collar with a pink bowtie, and a treble clef Cutie Mark. Mandy vaguely recognized her from the mob earlier.

But now, instead of being mad, she looked apologetic.

"Hello... Mandible, was it?" She began politely.

"Just 'Mandy' is fine," he apprehensively corrected.

"Right." She turned away, as if steeling up her nerves, then turned and blurted, "I'm sorry."

Mandy blinked. "What?"

She looked up at him, a look of genuine sorriness in her eyes. She elaborated with mannerisms that reminded him of Rarity, "I wanted to apologise for my behavior earlier. It was uncouth of me to take part in the riot against you. I was at the wedding personally, so my prejudices were high, and I acted on impulse."

Mandy sighed and shook his head. "Like I always say, I don't blame you. Us Changelings terrorized this nation during that wedding, so you have every right to hold that opinion on us."

The pony looked up at the defeatist Changeling, who had returned to picking up and sorting books. "But if what those fillies say is true, you did nothing wrong. I shouldn't have–"

"I'm not innocent."

She blinked. "Pardon?"

Mandy looked her squarely in the eyes. "I was there, I took part in the Canterlot invasion. Whether willingly or not, I still captured ponies; I still flew those streets on that suicide mission; and..."

His voice broke, but he kept going, "I got enjoyment out of it. I enjoyed the thrill of the chase, the satisfaction of finally catching a target; even if I knew the plan was doomed from the start, I still..."

This time, when he trailed off, he broke. His tough demeanor shattered as he collapsed to his belly, letting out soft sobs.

The musician, who had just watched all of this, stepped back, unsure of what to do.

Then, she mustered up the courage, stepped forward, and put a hoof on his shoulders.

"Mandy," she began, "It's okay. We all make mistakes, and we all have less desirable quirks; it's part of life. The fact that you feel this bad about it means that, deep down, you WANT to change!"

Mandy, who was now full-on crying, looked at her. "But how can I possibly be good? I'm a Changeling! Most ponies won't see me as anything but evil! Even if I tried being good, they'll never accept me!"

The mare looked off in thought. "....I don't know. But regardless, just because most ponies won't see it, it doesn't mean you aren't good at heart."

Mandy sobbed for another few minutes, until he'd spent his tears. He sniffled, wiping the liquid away with a hoof. "I suppose you're right... I think I just need a little time to myself."

Nodding solemnly, the mare backed off and left him to contemplate.

The Next Day...

The door opened, and in stepped Twilight and Spike, finally back from their trip.

"Mandy!" Twilight called chipperly, "We're home! We've got an amazing story to tell about our visit to the newly-returned Crystal Empire!"

Spike added in, "You'll never guess what happened! Twilight was–"

But any other thoughts were stopped when they saw Mandy, who hadn't moved since his breakdown yesterday.

"Mandy?" Twilight asked warily, "Are you okay?"

"Am I good?"

Twilight reeled, the unexpected question hitting her like a sack of bricks. "W-what?"

"Am I a good person?" Mandy repeated.

Spike looked at him quizzically. "Okay, what happened?"

Mandy barely gave enough effort to turn his head towards them. "A mob harassed me in the street. I got out with the help of the CMC's, but I started thinking: I may not have willingly participated, but I still enjoyed the Invasion. Even now, I make snarky comments, and I make ponies uncomfortable with my sour attitude. So, I ask you this: am I a good person, or no?"

Twilight sucked her cheeks in. "O-of course you–"

"You're lying."

She winced. "I... I'm just not sure yet."

Mandy groaned and dragged himself to his hooves. "That's what I thought," he moaned dejectedly as he began to trudge towards his bed.

However, Spike quickly blocked the staircase. "Well, I'm sure! You're a great guy!"

Mandy eyed him levelly. "Spike, no offense, but I don't think you're the best judge of character."

If Spike was hurt by that comment, he hid it well. "But still, I know you! Sure, you're rough around the edges, but that's just the surface! You admitted your mistakes when Twilight first captured you; you've been helpful despite having no reason to be; and you're not sour, you're a realist!"

Mandy blinked. "What makes you say that?"

Spike puffed up his chest a bit. "Trust me: when you spend your entire life living with the bookworm known as Twilight Sparkle, you pick up a thing or two about semantics."

Twilight blushed.

"But more than that," Spike continued, "you're actually concerned about whether or not you're good! And that means..." He motioned for Twilight to continue.

Twilight gasped. "That means you truly ARE good!"

Mandy blinked. He tasted the emotions coming off of Twilight, but sensed no doubt. "Really? That convinced you?"

Instead of responding, Twilight grabbed a book of philosophical quotes. She flipped to a certain section, and showed Mandy a specific entry:

"Chronic remorse, as all moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean."
–Aldous Huxley

Mandy blinked, staring down at the passage. He then tried to voice his objections, but she flipped to another page and pointed to another quote:

"Your dignity can be mocked, abused, compromised, toyed with, lowered and even badmouthed, but it can never be taken from you. You have the power today to reset your boundaries, restore your image, start fresh with renewed values and rebuild what has happened to you in the past."
–Shannon L. Alder

And just for good measure, she flipped to one final passage:

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."
–Marcus Aurelius

Mandy pushed the book away. "Alright, I get it! You can stop hammering it in now!"

She blushed. "Sorry; I really like philosophy quotes."

He looked to Spike, then Twilight, and smiled. "Thank you, I needed that."

And, for the first time ever, he grabbed them both and gave them a hug.

"Now," he eventually broke off the hug, "I wanna hear all about your trip."

"Well," Spike began in his most 'humble' voice, "I don't mean to brag, but there's a new stained glass window in Canterlot Castle!"

Mandy raised an eyebrow. "I feel like that should've made sense, but it didn't. What does that have to do with anything, and how is that bragging?"

Twilight chuckled at Spike's 'modesty'. "Well, it all started when we got to Canterlot..."