Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Good Thoughts

"We offer Changeling Kingdom souvenirs!" a changeling shouted as ponies and changelings passed him and his stall by.

The buzzes of the changelings flying filled the air. Ponies looked around them as they beheld the changeling architecture that was ever changing even if it was a little. They looked around and saw the changelings themselves, all of them happy as they talked with one another, all smiling as they did so. A few more stalls were on the sidewalks in front of the changeling buildings—there was one selling apple food, happily yelling, "These apple products are from Sweet Apple Acres, home to one of the Elements of Harmony, Applejack!" Another was pushing a piece of furniture towards a passing pony while the pony was hurriedly trotting away, glancing at the changeling. Yet another was eagerly shouting to passers-by about his amazing sofas. "These are from Davenport of Ponyville!" he proudly declared, even raising both of his front hooves as he did so.

A few ponies wore cameras; they held them and took pictures of whatever and whoever they deemed worthy of a good photo.

"Come on, everypony and every changeling!" the changeling with the souvenir stall yelled as more passed by him. "We have changeling postcards; perfect for you and your family to remember those wonderful memories. Oh, what about some pictures of King Thorax?" He held up a picture of Thorax. The changeling was looking at the camera. "Or, what if I call Thorax himself and bring him here and he will ask any kind of question? I'm sure that that will cheer you up!"

"We don't want any of your produce!" a pony gruffly yelled at him.

The changeling looked at the pony that yelled at him. The pony trotted away.

The changeling placed a hoof on his head; a frown appeared on his face as he held a postcard with a hoof. He looked at it.

The postcard showed a nice picture of the Changeling Kingdom.

The changeling sighed. "Maybe they just don't want the souvenirs now. Probably later."

---

The changeling walked on the dirt path. The wooden buildings on each side of the path were small yet firm. The sky was yellow. Ponies were walking about, some pulling carts, others just relaxing.

The train made a sound.

The changeling looked at it.

He trotted to the train and entered it.

A few ponies were inside the train. There were some changelings, also.

The changelings smiled as they looked at him.

"Hexapod!" Eucalypti yelled. "The day was indeed rough, but I'm glad that you could get here! I've brought Dorso and Abdo along with me! I tried to bring in Humerus, too, but he's busy in Ponyville trying to talk to Fluttershy."

"Trying?" Hexapod asked.

"I don't know why he said 'trying,'" Eucalypti said. "Probably facing difficulty in getting to Fluttershy because of her schedule."

"But, let's talk about something else, now!" Dorso said, having a confident and eager tone. "Do you want to hear about some of my Wonderbolt tales?"

"I think we'll save that for another time," Eucalypti said, extending a hoof towards him. He looked at Hexapod. "I know about the rough time you had with your souvenir stall, but that's why we're here—to be with you as friends! We're here to comfort you and to tell you that it's going to be OK."

"Are you sure it's going to be OK?" Hexapod asked.

"Just stop worrying too much," Eucalypti said. "You're always wondering about if this is going to be a bad idea, always troubled by this and that—how are you even sure that it's going to happen?"

"It might happen," Hexapod said.

"It doesn't mean it will."

"What if it does happen?"

"You're going to be making more trouble for yourself if you go and live like that," Eucalypti said. "Don't you at least want to have some joy in your life, Hexapod?"

"I do want to have some joy," Hexapod answered, "but I'm not sure if I could get it so easily. It turns out that having a job is harder than I thought."

"That's because you're looking at all the wrong things about having a job," Eucalypti said. "What you need to do is to look at what's fun about your job! You're handling souvenirs, so what you should do is think about your role. You are giving ponies things that they will remember the Changeling Kingdom by! Isn't that good?"

"What if it's not so popular?"

"Ponies are visiting lots of places even within their own places just to see what's there and just to talk to friends there. Friendship in multiple different places; doesn't that sound great?"

"Uh-huh."

Then, the train moved, accelerating; the desert landscape was now moving by as the buildings moved away from view.

Abdo looked out the window. "On our way to Ponyville!"

"Do you think changelings are tired of Ponyville already?" Hexapod asked. "The town is small, it's not a city, and there's not much else to see when you've seen all the popular landmarks."

"What attracts us there is the friendship," Eucalypti said. "The friendship of the ponies there are of the most amazing quality! Also, you have Starlight Glimmer and Trixie there along with Discord, three of the four creatures that brought us to see what's good! And, you have the Elements of Harmony who live there! They're the ones who teach us all about friendship and who would not like to go to Ponyville if one is in search of some friendship advice?"

"That's true," Hexapod said.

"Now you're agreeing!" Eucalypti said. He looked at Abdo and Dorso. "Do you agree with me as well?"

Abdo and Dorso smiled. "Of course, we do!" Abdo said.

Eucalypti looked at Hexapod. "Now, if today was a rough day for you, then just relax with us in Ponyville! We're going to go to Pinkie Pie's bakery and—"

"I don't think you'll have a relaxing time there," Hexapod interrupted.

"Who said that we're going to relax there?"

"You just did, Eucalypti."

"Hexapod, don't you place words inside what I say!"

"But, you just said that we were going to relax in Ponyville."

"Never mind about the small details about words and phrases and other kinds of things like that, Hexapod," Eucalypti said. "It's all going to not matter when we're actually in Ponyville, making lots of noise as we talk about this and that, probably annoying some ponies as they sleep early and making them throw their books and their bottles and their furniture at us, and we end up dodging those furniture and go back to the Changeling Kingdom and tell each other what kind of events happened there in Ponyville and that we managed to survive!" He placed a hoof on Abdo's shoulder. "Is that good or not, Abdo?

"Uh, I wasn't following."

"I don't want to cause any trouble or problem there," Hexapod said.

"Sometimes, problems are what makes things fun!" Eucalypti said. "As long as you're the one who's escaping from the trouble, not the one who started it!"

Hexapod looked at Abdo and Dorso. "Do you want to relax in Ponyville?"

"Yeah," Abdo said.

"Isn't that what you said?" Dorso asked.

"I don't want to be rude or anything like that," Hexapod said, "but to do anything bad in Ponyville, like what Eucalypti said, is a bad idea."

"I think it's a good enough idea," Eucalypti said. "Just think about it, Hexapod!"

"I don't want to think about it," Hexapod said.

"Then, just relax as we go to Ponyville. We'll talk about everything to do in Ponyville when we get there."

"I agree," Hexapod said.

And the train moved on as the changelings remained quiet. Some ponies glanced at the changelings then went back to talking to each other.

---

"We're here again!" Eucalypti yelled as he beheld Ponyville's buildings in front of him. "This is indeed a place of friendship!"

"As long as you don't annoy the ponies, that is," Hexapod said as they passed by a few ponies that were glancing at him. "Just don't do anything bad and we'll be fine."

The four changelings walked past buildings and ponies; the sky was yellow, the sun was about to set, and a few pegasi were in the sky, moving a few clouds. One pegasus looked down for a while, then he looked back at the cloud he was holding.

"It's great here!" Eucalypti said. "Ponyville!"