A usual day in the field for Twilight, thought the purple unicorn as she scanned the market stands for some delicious food for the next few days, it had been just over a fortnight for her since the day of the audit and Mark still kept evading her questions regarding what he talked about with Celestia behind those doors soon after Twilight’s turn ended, perhaps today Mark might soften up enough to tell her.
The unicorn approached a familiar stand selling apples.
“Hi, Applejack”
“Hay there twilight! Out early today ah see”
“I was hoping to catch Mark before he goes to the Canterlot library again”
“I’m sorry Twilight but He already went today in the mornin’ what do ya need him for anyway? Are you still wantin’ to find out what he talked to princess Celestia about? Ah told ya already Twilight, that’s somethang between Mark and Celestia and if he doesn’t want to tell us then we should respect that, he is our friend after all”
“I know but- I can’t help but to worry, and he’s always going to the Canterlot Library ever since he got Celestia’s permission, I know he means well but don’t you think it’s a little too much work for just one changeling? I feel like I should help somehow”
“Ah know what you mean about somepony biting off more than they can chew-“
“Eyeup”
“Shut up Big brother”
Big Mac resumed stacking the fresh merchandise from the carriage onto the stand
“If you can remember Ah had a few problems some time ago when Bigmac here got hurt and had to rest”
Twilight rolled her eyes
“I remember…”
“In the end you shouldn’t be ashamed to ask your friends help but ah also learned one other thang”
“And that was?”
“That sometimes it’s better to let a friend do a mistake than not letting him do it”
“How does that help?”
“Well think about it, sometimes we need to make the mistakes ourselves to fully understand their meaning and the value of the lesson learned”
“I don’t get it”
“Let me put it this way, have you ever touched a fire and got burnt?”
“Who didn't?”
“Did your parents tell you not to touch it or you’ll get burned and it will hurt?”
“Well of course”
“But you touched it anyway”
“Well yeah, I didn't know what it felt like to be burned so I touched it anyway”
“Exactly, the same thang applies here, you can tell Mark that he won’t manage on his own but he will do it anyway until he finds out by himself, look ah’m really worried about Mark too but If I tell him what he shouldn't do then he’s just going to want to do it even more, its better to let these thangs take their course sometimes”
“I think I understand now”
“Excuse me, are you going to buy something or not?” replied a pony behind Twilight, Twi and AJ looked at the Pony to discover a line of more than irritated customers behind Twilight.
Twilight blushed in embarassment
"O-oh I am so sorry, I'll move"
Twilight sidestepped out of the line releasing the customer's tensions enough not to warrant an argument.
“I think I’ll be going now”
AJ’s muffled bye protruded from the crowd engulfing her in her duties.
Twilight resumed her daily duties and began to listen in to the crowd as she scouted for everyday essentials
“So what do you think?” a voice asked from one side
“About what?” replied another anonymous voice
“About letting the changelings walk among us? Do you think this is true?”
“No way, our princess would never let us even close to those things; all they want to do is feed on us until there is nothing left”
A third voice joined in
“I don’t know, what if they’re not that bad?”
“That bad? Let me tell you something, my brother was in Canterlot when they attacked us, try saying that to him! Or are you with them?”
“No, it’s not what I- nevermind, you’re right”
“Damn right I’m right, they should just go away and die”
“Sounds a bit harsh though”
“It’s us or them, do you think they’d hesitate? Besides it’s not us we’re talking about, its them, not our problem”
“You’re right”
These kinds of conversations were appearing more and more frequently, the rumor seemed to live a life of its own now and it sure gave Twilight some important insight into how Ponies would react to such a situation and she did not like it one bit, it’s a good thing that Pacifica and Mark had been keeping a low profile otherwise it would have been over for them in an instant…
The school bell rang marking the end of classes and the beginning of a new adventure for the three musketeers (and Pacifica), the CMC trotted excitingly in the direction of their HQ, Pacifica followed along, undisturbed by the gang’s ex-bullies who were now wary of the dangers of getting on Pacifica’s bad side, whoever was with her, had immunity to bullying, consequently the Changeling in hiding happened to be forced to be friends with practically everypony in school and was given little to no rest making her breaks from transformations ever harder.
The adventurers entered their hideout and began plotting their next sets of adventures.
“Cutie-mark quilters?”
“No, we tried that last week”
“Cutie-mark racers?”
“Cutie-mark hair stylists?”
“Cutie-mark Bakers?”
Pacifica was really tired of this, how long can it take for them to discover their talents? She’s been with them just over 2 weeks and she already knew what their cutie marks are going to be, she just wanted to shout them out to them, though if she’d do that, the club would be disbanded and Pacifica wouldn’t have any way of staying inconspicuous, especially after all that attention she’s been getting from everypony, she needs an excuse to be away from everypony as much as possible… Still though, Pacifica felt sorry for the CMC, they sure seem to be having a hard time with finding their cutie marks, Perhaps she will tell them where to look for their talents before she goes back to the future as a farewell gift.
“What do you think we should try Pacifica?” asked Applebloom
Pacifica improvised and mimed unclogging a toilet
“Cutie-mark Plumbers? Eww! No way!” responded Sweetiebelle
“I don’t know, we won’t know until we try”
“This is going to be a looong stay…” mumbled Pacifica under her little snout
“Did you say somethang Pacifica?”
Pacifica turned her head in a steady “no”
Another few days passed in a calm river of slow events, under revealing dangerous currents slowly beginning to bode a bad future, the Rumor now has developed and some ponies out there are beginning to claim that there is going to be a pony and changeling summit.
The mane 6 sat comfortably beside one of the tables in Mark’s restaurant, enjoying their occasional meetup.
Twilight, this time was determined to find out what Mark has been up to all this time he’s been away now that he can’t escape.
“So what have you been up to all this time Mark?”
“I assumed that by now it was obvious”
AJ already knew what he was on about
“Ya mean the rumors about the pony summit are true?”
“Yes, I finally managed to find a few unbiased representatives worthy of representing my kind”
Rainbow dash was confused
“Why not represent them yourself?”
“because you need someone from their side on your side”
“Ah don’t think that would be a very good idea Mark, ah’ve been hearin’ what the townsfoalk have been talkin’ about your kind and it’s not pretty”
“It’s OK nopony except the ones at the summit need to know this”
Rarity butted in
“I want all this to end in a civilized manner as much as anypony would but I have to agree on Applejack on this one, I don’t think this will work given your circumstances, in this world, appearance and reputation is absolutely everything darling”
The entrance doors to the restaurant opened, a silent Pacifica sluggishly crossed the room, up the stairs and to her bedroom
Applejack suddenly remembered what Applebloom asked her
“Ah, this reminds me Mark, is everything all right with Pacifica? Mah little sister says she’s been a little down this week”
“She’s fine, just going through a phase I guess, but coming back to the point, you all need to trust me a bit more, I’ve had days to figure all of this out, if the foalk won’t believe us we will just have to show them”
“How?” asked twilight
“What do you think I was doing all of this time while I was away?”
“Setting up the summit?” answered rainbow dash
“That took me one day; my kind is desperate at this point and are ready to agree to anything if it means we could live to see another day”
“So… what have you been doing all of this time?”
The group’s attention veered towards Mark who could taste a little bit of doubt creep into each and every pony on the table
“Look, It’s OK, I really got all of this planned out down to every little detail”
“Having the summit in public outside is not a good idea Mark, angry ponies could attack us and even if we set up a magic barrier we don’t know if it’ll hold” pointed out twilight
“Who said we were going to have it outside?”
“But you said you were going to make everypony see everything”
“Yeah but I never said how, speaking of which, I think we will have to cut our chat short, I see the guards are here” stated Mark as he changed into his pony form.
“Guards? What guar-“ Twilight’s response was sliced by the doors which opened once again revealing 10 royal Canterlot guards waiting for something.
One of the guards approached the group of friends and gave each one a letter with Celestia’s seal.
“Wait-”
“-Is this-“
“-What I think it is?”
The ponies looked at Mark who showed no surprise at all
“You seemed like the best choice, who else to represent ponykind at the summit than friends of a changeling? If anypony will come to terms with the changelings then it’s going to be you six, after all, you already represent friendship and harmony so it would be a huge boost to public relations”
Rarity became even more pale than usual (as impossible as that may seem)
“B-but at once just like that without any preparations? that won’t do! I have nothing to wear for the occasion!”
“You don’t need to wear anything, just come as you are” assured Mark
“You don’t understand, this is a huge part of pony history that shall be remembered for all time to come!” Rarity came dangerously close to mark holding him by the chest, her face so close to Mark’s that he could practically count the number of tiny veins on her bloodshot eyes
“And you say I don’t need to look the occasion?”
“I know how important giving a good impression is for you but you are going to represent the commonfoalk, every single pony in equestria, you need to make them understand that you are just like them, just a regular pony, please, do this for me just this once”
Rarity grabbed her head in agony as she was slowly coming to terms what she was about to do
“FINE! But you are going to owe me an entire fashion show!”
Mark laughed wholeheartedly
“If this works out, I will personally make sure that you will be the first to launch a line of clothing for changelings”
Rarity's eyes widened, it hadn't occurred to her what the success of this summit would do to her career, it would launch it far beyond her wildest dreams, she could become a fashion icon for the ages.
"W-well if you put it that way" Replied rarity being able to only partially hold back her giddy laughter and excitement
"Well" Began Mark "I think its time to go"
The guards began to escort the cluster of close friends to the station
“Mark?” began Twilight
“Yes?”
“Why do we need an escort?”
“I hope you won’t need to find out”
Unfortunately as soon as they reached the train station, the ponies found out why, the train blocked by a small crowd from Ponyville in protest of the train leaving, some ponies more familiar than others.
“What is this?” asked Twilight
Mrs. Cake emerged from the crowd
“We heard about the summit and that you’re going to be in it, we won’t let you go”
Pinkie jumped in shock
“Mrs. Cake?!?”
“Don’t look at me like that Pinkie, I’m sorry but I have a family, I have children to worry about, what if all of this is just a trap set up by them again? I don’t want to raise my children in fear in a land of war, I just can’t take that risk”
“I don’t know Mrs. Cake, I don’t think the changelings could even strike back at us if they wanted, not after what we did to them last time” began Twilight
“You don’t know that!” shouted out a voice from the crowd
“Everypony calm down, why do you think the princess asked us to be there? If anything happens we will use the elements of harmony again”
“Can you promise us that?” replied another voice among the crowd
Pinkie jumped out in front of the crowd
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“This isn't a joke Pinkie” began Mrs. Cake
”I know, I am really really reallyreallyreally serious! If they try anything funny they will have to deal with one party they won’t want to be in!”
"Please, everypony" started Twilight "We have been through so much, Discord, Nightmare moon, even queen chrysalis, and we all came out fine, We have always protected everypony, all of you, every single time, I know this is difficult but that is why we are here, so you don't have to be scared anymore, Please, let us all be more than who we already are, do you want to be remembered as the ones who helped those in need or do you want to be the ones remembered as those who closed their doors from kindness because you were afraid? I too was afraid, everytime somepony came, I always doubted whether I could do the right thing but with time I learned to trust my friends, to trust all of you, the magic of friendship isn't just a bunch of magical items, it is more than that, it comes from all of us, that is why it never fails, if you don't trust us trust in your own hearts because if you turn away from kindness and friendship, the magic will die, and nopony will be able to protect you"
The end of Twilight's speech made way to a long and tense silence as the crowd began to think, and look deep down inside, maybe it is time to change the way of thinking that has been the standard for so long, perhaps even that becomes outdated... and what Twilight said was true, she and her friends never failed to step up and protect them so why be afraid now?
Eventually, the crowd unsurely parted making way for the train that was about to depart, most ponies still unsure whether this was a good idea or not but right now, that was good enough.
The soon to be representatives boarded the train not quite ready for the upcoming events, Mark looked back one last time at Ponyville before boarding, things are never going to be the same after this summit, he turned around ready to embrace the future but moments before entering the point of no return something held him back, a little part of him asking him not to go… it was Pacifica, her hoof grabbing his tail at a desperate attempt to keep him from going away
Applejack noticed the two looking at each other in silence and decided to intervene, her head bobbed out of the carriage window
“What is it Sugarcube?”
“Don’t go”
“It’ll be okay sweetie”
“Don’t go” Pacifica turned her head wanting to reject their reality and substitute her own. She knew that something bad is going to happen, life isn’t as simple as many make it out to be.
“I have to go now” jutted Mark, Pacifica’s hoof was harshly thrown off his tail and the cold steel enforced doors slammed shut before her.
The whistle blew and the train sped up towards a hopefully brighter future on the other end of a long dark tunnel.