Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Under the Night Sky

"At least the hay burger was very good," the changeling said as he sat on the bench in the middle of the park. A fountain was in front of him—a simple fountain that poured out water. It was elegant in its basic way. He observed it. He looked at the water going and going. He looked around—there were ponies sitting on benches, there were others going around in the park. There were some sitting on the green grass, talking to each other in hushed tones as they looked at the moon and the stars in the sky above. There were others who were playing on the grass, their laughters heard from a long way off as they joyfully participated in their games. Still, there was a couple who just looked yearningly at each other's eyes and then looked off into the night sky, holding each other.

Then, a purple pony noticed the changeling. "Oh. Hi!"

The changeling noticed her. "Hi." He waved at her. "What's your name?"

"Cheerilee," she said. "Just trying to wind down, getting my head in the clouds! Well, not really in the clouds, because I'm not a pegasus, but you get what I mean, correct? Right?"

"Yeah," the changeling said. "I'm well-versed in pony phrases and pony expressions. I might have to be."

"OK," Cheerilee said. Then, she took a seat on the bench.

There was silence between the two for a little while.

"So, what do you do?" the changeling asked. "What's your talent? I notice that your cutie mark is made up of three smiling flowers. Are you a gardener? Florist?"

"Cutie marks don't always work like that," Cheerilee said in a cheery tone. "There are cutie marks whose meaning may not be so clear. Applejack, for example, has apples for her cutie mark and that tells you that she's good at...well, doing things related to apples. But, I'm not a gardner nor am I a florist, so what's the meaning of my cutie mark? I taught my class about this some time ago—the flowers signify my desire to make my students bloom by nurturing them mentally."

"I see," the changeling stated. "Anything else? Are you sure you're not a gardener, not even if you don't know it?"

"Oh, I've had my hoof there once," Cheerilee answered, "but I just didn't find the time nor the motivation to actually garden or do anything that has to do with flowers. Although, I'm OK with flowers—I like them and I don't mind the ponies whose talents involve florist things. But, it's just not my passion."

"So...you're a teacher?" the changeling asked, slowly pointing a hoof at her. "You said you were a teacher."

"Oh, yes, I'm a teacher!" Cheerilee happily replied.

"What do you do?" the changeling questioned. "I know that you help foals, but exactly how? Is it like the teachers I remember from back in the day? The teachers who teach with a chalkboard and a lecture?"

"That's what teaching looks like," Cheerilee answered, "but it isn't all of teaching. That's only the surface of teaching. You have to make sure that the foals understand what they're learning, but before you get to make them understand, you have to make them, well, eager to learn. Is it a perfect system? This...chalkboard-lecture thing? I don't think so, but I always try to make clear to my students that this isn't just to make them pass a quiz."

"Which is what I expected," the changeling interrutped. "I sometimes hear the foals say that it might as well be like that. But, what makes you different? I mean, what makes your teaching...effective? Is it 'effective' or some other word?"

"You mean, 'What makes your teaching work?'" Cheerilee said. "It's about guiding each student, knowing that each student is not exactly the same as another. Their minds operate differently, even if only slightly. So, once I'm done with the chalkboard and the lecture, I then encourage my class to ask questions. Why? So that they may understand the lesson more fully."

"That's good and all," the changeling said. "But, what else do you do besides teaching?"

"Besides teaching?" Cheerilee asked. She looked around. Several ponies were walking around in the park, enjoying themselves in the night. "I also have my own hobbies. I appreciate a good concert here and there, especially with the Pony Tones. Even though I already heard that Fluttershy was a part of them, I haven't heard her sing as a member, yet." She placed a hoof on her chin and pondered and thought about it. "Come to think of it, it's been a long time since she sang for the Pony Tones."

"Who are the Pony Tones?" the changeling asked. "Are they a singing group?"

"Yeah, they are," Cheerilee said. "They're always—well, not always, but frequently enough—they perform sometimes and I love to attend their concerts whenever they announce one. When they go out to the rest of Equestria, however, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to their concerts. If they get popular, I don't know if I'll be able to get in line at all! Imagine all the tickets!"

The changeling smiled. "I don't think you ponies are as excited for your own culture than we arre for...yours."

Cheerilee sighed, yet kept her smile. "I know what you're talking about. Recent events, recent times—what was it? Aww, now look at me! If a pony asked me months ago if I would be comfortable with casually talking to a changeling on a bench in the park of Ponyville at night, I would've said, 'I would never do that!' But, here we are now." She sighed, still keeping her smile. "Great times, aren't they?"

The changeling smiled. "Yeah, great times."

"So, you were talking about...?"

"How we're excited for pony culture?" the changeling said. "I wanted to get to that because...after a long time, we're still enamored, still attracted, still amazed, still lured to all that you ponies make and the kind of culture that you have. I think you've already heard this from some of my friends, but I hope it doesn't hurt to tell you—we always lived inside a culture where everything was done for Chrysalis and for ourselves. You might think that, at least in some ways, we had some stories to tell, some art to paint, some songs to sing, some books to write. But, we didn't. Chrysalis ruled very badly—and I'm not just saying that she's evil. I'm also saying that she's evil to us, not just to you. We didn't realize it before, but when we disguised ourselves as ponies and sneaked into your towns and cities, the changelings that saw a real pony place for the first time had to keep themselves in check. Why? Even here in Ponyville—not a big place, not a bustling city—the sheer amount of...everything you could have there was something that astounded us. You had food—so many choices of food, even the flavors for the same food were in lots of choices! Then, when you get past the neccessities, you get to the things that, as a changeling, I've heard of but I've never seen with my own eyes before: books, paintings, music! I didn't think they were that useful—who needs them? But, I realized that you had the freedom and the ability to actually make them—using your imagination. And, here we are, just sitting here in the gray rooms of our lives! It was hard for some of us to go back to the Changeling Kingdom when you've seen such...good things."

Cheerilee kept paying attention to the changeling.

"We were all disorderly—all going here and there. We were trying to get to this pony and to that pony, but the thought of all those...freedoms kept us from going forward when we should've gone forward. We intended to go to a place like Manehattan to steal love, but then we ended up staying there yearning for what the ponies offered there. Disguised as ponies, we felt the kindness that the ponies had for us. Not all ponies were kind, but most of them were. They offered us a variety of food and drink, they told us that we should go see this or go read that or to visit this or to take a trip there. It was great, it felt great to feel accepted even though they weren't really accepting our true changeling selves.

"Then, we tried to keep this a secret from Chrysalis. She didn't want us to succumb to wanting to stay in those places. She wanted us to stay loyal to her—and, most, if not all of us, actually did. I stayed loyal to her, too. I kept telling myself that it was all going to be ours anyway when we successfully defeat the ponies. And, if it was all bad—if Chrysalis said it was bad, then it must be bad. She was our ruler, after all. What she says we must follow.

"Of course, you know what happens next. Thorax and his friends come along and save us from Chrysalis and he becomes king and we become good creatures. With the Princesses trying to convince you ponies to accept us, we were on our way to visiting places in Equestria—and, when we first went to those places as good creatures, a lot of you accepted us for who we are, for what we wanted to be, for that's who we are.

"I'm sorry if I sound like I'm just rambling along, trying to tell you something imperfectly, Cheerilee. But, sometimes, you just gotta get it out. That's what I feel." He paused for a little while, looking at Cheerilee's curious face. "Thank you for listening, Cheerilee."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, changeling," she said.

They shook hooves.

"So, what do you plan to do?" the changeling asked. "You were walking around in the park tonight. What were you doing?"

"Just relaxing," Cheerilee replied. "I don't have to be working or doing something that relates to my work all the time."

"Yeah, I know," the changeling said.

"So, what are you doing here?" Cheerilee asked. "Are you here on vacation? Is it one of those free days that Thorax gave you?"

"Yeah, one of those free days," the changeling said. "Or, free weeks. I've done intensive work for the kingdom—I was doing lots of rebuilding and redecorating efforts. I could say that it's going to look nice in the end."

Cheerilee smiled. She got up from her bench.

"See you!" Cheerilee said.

"Bye!" the changeling said, smiling.