Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Flashback to That Time

That time, months ago again

A big bonfire was at the center of the hive—or, what remained of the hive, that is.

It was night and it only accentuated the barrenness, the desolation, of the otherwise empty land. Gust of dust, mites and bites to escape; watchful, wary, wondering eyes taking bounds here and there with a tiny tremble for only changelings were here.

Only changelings. Colorful against the scenery's dominating gray and brown, glimmering and sparkling in their wings and eyes and carapaces as they reflected—reminiscent of the moon—the lights in the sky and the fire in front.

The ashy smell—but, the changelings still rejoiced as they sang, dance, talked, flew, walked. A scrambled party, but it was a party nonetheless—no balloons nor confetti nor fun music on a vinyl player, but the changelings paid no mind to that as could be seen by the smiles that persisted despite the lack of what may be called "party essentials."

A sound that rose up for no one else but the passing pegasus to hear, and, even then, the pegasus that was passing by right now took a little detour away from the hive, panic on her face.

On the ruins—shattered pieces—of the hive some changelings sat, not contemplating on what to do next or what the future might hold but singing merry songs and chatting with each other in a lively manner. A few beside them were already sleeping upright but the happy tumult around them was not rousing them up anytime soon.

Around the bonfire, several changelings were engaged in more of the party activities mentioned—sure, some of the dancing was awkward and some of the singing was out of tune, but it was all endured as could be seen by the changelings still happy in their smiles.

Standing beside some of his own fellows, Thorax looked upon the bonfire. The fire gleamed in his eyes, a smile graced his face. No words were said, no hissing was made; all Thorax did was to look away from the fire and to behold the many changelings now revelling in their new-found freedom, in their new life.

Farther away from Thorax and the bonfire, those four changelings were huddled together again, gathered around, all wearing smiles—an air of curiosity and questions, though.

Neon Guard clasped his front hooves together. "I still can't believe it. I was expecting something slow, but, here we are!" He spread out his front hooves as if inviting a hug. "It's a brand new day, and we're charging into the known unknown, guys. Everything out there—" He stretched out a hoof toward the forests not too far away, straddling between lush greenery and arid emptiness "—is open to us, to all of us. Tomorrow is going to be a great day, and I know it—what will be the first thing we will do when we finish the work Thorax gave us?"

"I know, right?!" Humerus yelled. "There's lots of things that I can imagine and there are more that I can't even imagine right now! I still remember what they were doing back when we were disguising ourselves—but, I just know that there's more I haven't heard of yet!"

"Hey, calm down, Humerus!" Red Noise said, placing a hoof on his shoulder and restraining him. "Let the rest of us talk, OK?"

Humerus nodded, grinning. "I'll happily wait—besides, the four of us probably know more than just me!"

Blue Alarm smiled, turning to face Neon Guard. "So, things to do tomorrow? We could go out to Dodge Junction—little steps first. See how the ponies there live without having to hide ourselves under a pony name and pony form."

"Are you sure they'll be welcoming, Blue Alarm?" Neon Guard asked.

"I think so, rationally speaking. Dodge Junction, being the closest pony village to us, has to be kind to us—and, from what I remember from my missions there, they're kind if not rougher than the usual pony. Those ponies don't want to destroy any plans that the Princesses may have in regards to helping us. That would make more than just a few other ponies angry, not to mention hurt more than a few of us changelings."

"Good point," Neon Guard said, leaning back. He turned to Red Noise. "You—anything to add to the list of activities?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm prepped up for an Equestria-wide travel trip!" Red Noise suggested in a blare. "I was so famished and desperate for food during our infilitrations before that I didn't care about what Equestria looked like at all—unless it helped me steal somepony's love. Now that we're fine and full, I say we go everywhere in Equestria! I hope cameras aren't too expensive."

Neon Guard nodded, placing a hoof on his chin. "I don't know about cameras, but that's a nice idea. Not now, though—like what Blue Alarm said, little steps first." Then, he turned to Humerus. "What about you?"

"I have no idea!" Humerus shouted in happy joy.

Neon Guard tilted his head in confusion. "Uh, what?"

"I wanna be surprised!" Humerus went on, extending his hooves out into the open air, smiling while he did so. "There must be so many things to do in any city of ponies! I don't think anything ponies are doing is boring—even just reading a book or painting a wall is so exciting compared to having to suffer a lot for a daily portion of food that isn't even enough! And, what's the best part of it? I get to do it with all of you! Thorax looked happy when he was enjoying all the friendships he had with ponies. That's the best part of it! I get to do things with you!"

And he gathered them together in a hug.

Silence within the group as they enjoyed each other's friendly company.

Then, they let go of each other, Humerus laughing.

Neon Guard sighed. "I have to agree with you. That is the best part of all these sudden changes in our lives. And, really, anything is possible with us now that we can do, uh, anything." He made a sheepish smile before going on: "Gone are those times of strife and never-ending hunger. Now, before us we have something great: freedom."

"Yeah!" Humerus shouted. "Precious freedom!" He raised a hoof in the air.

Neon Guard nodded. "Let me finish, Humerus.

"So, where was I? Oh, right, talking about freedom. As long as we obey Thorax, we'll do everything that we want to do, see what we've been missing out on. We shouldn't be afraid to ask the ponies about what to do—two ponies helped save us, after all. Think about it: a civilization built not on war but on peace. What did they develop and invent throughout the centuries? What kind of jobs do they have, what kind of relaxation and recreation do they have? I'm sure all of us have solid ideas about what they are because I know all of us had to do some eavesdropping and we overheard strange terms like 'sports' and 'Daring Do' and the like. But, we'll finally get to see what they are. In short, I'm just as excited about this as you are."

His friends smiled.

"And, to think that this day was going to end just as any other would!" Humerus yelled. "I should've known something was suspicious when Thorax wanted to give himself up to Chrysalis!"

"Good thing it was the good kind of suspicious," Blue Alarm said. "I'd rather start anew with sharing love than to continue on stealing love knowing that it was all based on a ruse and an evil lie."

And his friends nodded in agreement.

"Thorax may be king," Red Noise spoke up, "but he's much better than Chrysalis!"

"Alright, let's wind down now, guys," Neon Guard said, holding up his front hooves. "We still have a few more hours of partying to do so, what, let's get to the bonfire and sing?"

"Sing?" Blue Alarm asked. "But, we never sang before."

"Who said you needed to sing at all until now?" Neon Guard asked back.

---

It was still night. The bonfire was gone, the ruins were still there, and most of the changelings were asleep, breathing slowly but surely as they dozed off the remaining hours until the expected morning. A few were flying about, looking here and there before moving about to a new location.

Blue Alarm stood alone on that crest, that cliff. But, he wasn't looking at the many sleeping changelings. Rather, he was looking at the forests beyond the hive—the trees, the bushes, the grass, the nocturnal animals he could see such as the owls and the crickets hooting and chirping.

He sighed. "This is it. The day has arrived. Chrysalis is gone, Thorax is here. We're done with stealing love, we're with sharing love now. We're no longer hungry—now, we can live in peace. We can be really happy now."

The blue changeling sighed again, glancing at the changelings sleeping. Then, he turned back, looking at the forest. "Beyond these trees is Equestria. Ah, Equestria—a beautiful kingdom of many wonderful inhabitants, shining in their success. I don't know its full history—it started small and humble, I am sure of that. But, how you've turned into a society that cares for more than just surviving and taking. In fact, I think it threw away the 'taking' part some time ago."

He took a few steps toward the forest, the hooting and chriping becoming a little louder.

"I remember the faces—the loving ponies who never suspected a thing. To see their smiles, to hear their cheery voices and accents, to see them play under the sun in their innocence, to listen to them say words of love to me—to who they thought was their lover, their husband, their dad, their friend. How cruel was I keep up that facade—I could say I didn't know, but I know that it isn't enough. I did feel something different and strange when they said those words to me—I knew they weren't fake. They were true—from a good heart, an honest heart. To play with their feelings like that, to deceive them until I had gotten enough—"

He clenched his jaw, he gritted his teeth.

A tear.

"It was terrible. Now that I think about it, I was more than just mean. I was vicious. I should've known—I should've run away like Thorax did, but I didn't know better. Chrysalis—it's unbelievable that she was lying to us all along, telling us that it was for the good of the hive that we were stealing the love of this town or that city. No—just her, giving us only what was enough for us to stay alive."

A stomp on the ground.

Silence, only broken by the crickets now.

"And then what? What is it all for? Was she just leeching off of us? Then, what would happen when she has enough—or was our never-ending hunger because of her? If she only shared...yes, shared. She was selfish all along."

A few more steps toward the forest.

"But, now, I don't have to keep up a lie. I don't have to say false things, false words—I didn't really love those ponies, did I? Just saying, 'I love you.'" He sighed. "I didn't really mean those words. Just to make sure that they would continue trusting me as the pony I was pretending to be. I knew that if I showed my true colors, not a single pony would like me—but, did I really care back then?"

Then, he sat down on the ground and sighed, looking up and seeing the stars that twinkled there—the moon shone bright, his eyes glinting with its soft light.

"It's over, now," Blue Alarm said. "That's it. It's a new day tomorrow, I don't really know what we're going to do past the rebuilding effort. I'm sure Thorax has the answers—the Princesses, too. They'll tell us what's up next—what's there to look forward to.

"And then, there's the freedom. It's so big—I don't know what to do with it. Should I invent something? Should I study and research, throw myself in there? Be a tourist and see what Equestria and the rest of the kingdoms look like? It's going to be an awesome time—just like how they would say it. If anything is possible, then I don't know, really, what to do since there's so many things that fit 'anything.' I don't know everything about pony culture, pony traditions—more than enough to help myself in stealing their love, but we're past that."

He paused, looking intently at the sky.

"The day and the night—I almost forgot that the Princesses of Equestria control the skies and what's in them. Come to think of it, they're the ones with the greatest martial potential. The Earth ponies have inconsiderable physical strength, the pegasi can control and weaponize the weather, the unicorns have a mastery over all sorts of offensive and defensive magic, and the alicorn Princesses themselves—the thought of controlling the sun and the moon to turn the tide of battle! We can be the subversive selves we've always been before, but enough brute force can break that, too.

"And, look at how they use that enormous power—not wielding it over others, not imposing others to submit or to be slaves, but to use it for friendship. And, look at where they are now—the pinnacle of civility, advances, and progress. Us?" He placed a hoof on his own chest. "The outside intruders who use their unique abilities to raid, to take, to run away with what we can get."

The changeling continued his sitting position, still looking up at the sky as he breathed out yet another sigh.

It was a quiet, lonely night for him. No one was around him, nobody near him except the crickets who had been hopping ever so inchingly closer to him. Blue Alarm's ears perked up at their noise—a faint song appearing through.

Then, he saw one of them.

Right there, in front of him, its eyes like his as it kept chirping.

He held the cricket up.

Examined it, observed it.

Placed it down.

The cricket walked away.

The changeling watched it move.

Then, he looked up at the sky again.

"It's said that it will be a new day tomorrow." He chuckled. "And, I don't wanna wake up late for that."

He hovered over the air and travelled back to the crowd of sleeping changelings.

---

In the morning

The morning sun pierced the sky with its sharp rays of soothing, shining light.

The hive—broken, destroyed—was under the rejuvenating day in its first hour of life, under sunrise's warm glow and cool early breeze bending the grass and the trees with their leaves.

One by one, several by several, changelings woke up to the auroras above—blue and yellow playing around in the horizon, dressed in dormant clouds as it danced around that bright sun. Distant mountains gave the sky a fair image, bringing pretty distinction to the landscape. The forests came alive with the cadent melodies of brids and the sprawling of woodlife—rabbits, butterflies, ducks, bears, and so on. Though the bleak dryness of the hive's surroundings had not gone away, even that was somewhat improved by the morning hours as the light brought upon it its fresh zest of life. All of this was accompanied and completed by the buzzing of changeling wings.

However, as a changeling said after a moment's contemplation of what was laid before him, this morning "doesn't look that different to me!"

And, so it was. He went on, "I woke up yesterday and the day before that and the days and months and years before that to the same old morning. So, what's different?" There was in his words, however, not a scathing doubt but a curious, wanting desire for an answer.

Other than the hive now being in a bad shape, there was, at least on the surface, not much difference between this morning and the previous one. The same forest was there, the same animals lived there, the same sky was there with the expected and understandable variation of clouds. The mountains, too, had not moved in as if on short notice. The barren ground around them had not moved a single meter at all; not even a flower had sprouted in the middle of the night. The breeze was also there—it could be said that it was there on schedule. Even the buzzing of the changelings' wings was still there.

But, within the words and the sentences they exchanged with one another, their talk was indeed different. Instead of planning yet another attack or stealthy skrimish, instead of moaning and complaining about the hunger that never went away, instead of hidden whispers about what one might do to bring about some semblance of reform (often with guarded looks and ever-glancing eyes side-to-side and never in the open spaces)—instead of all these, there was in them talk about a hopeful future.

It could be said the non-stop, incessant talking was painful to listen to after a while, even intolerable, for there was no pause or break to the fast track of desires, longings, dreams, and optimistic and amibitious ideas. Yet, these were all conveyed by changelings who, with no fail, smiled and smiled and kept on smiling no matter where they were, regularly eyeing the wonderful, wondrous morning sky with its restoring visage.

Blue Alarm stood among the many changelings who were hurrying to this or that spot, hastening to this or that friend that they've met before yet, now—now was the time to truly be friends with them. Hugs, embraces, pats on the torso or on the shoulder or on the head, hoofshakes and hoofbumps and laughter all around as harmony sparked up inside them.

"Blue Alarm!" a voice called out.

The blue changeling looked around.

"It's about time you woke up!" Red Noise blabbed, pointing a chummy hoof at him as he stood his rocky ground. "We have like thirty or so minutes left until Thorax makes his announcement about what we'll do for the day! Then, we're going to have those 'free days' and 'free time' he's been talking about."

"Yeah; as you can see, Red Noise, I'm awake." He gave him a smirk.

"Don't you go acting that way to me!" Red Noise yelled. "Only I can do that!"

"Then, what else? Are you going to say that I can't go and fly about because it's something only you can do?"

Red Noise groaned. "Just—come here and let's regroup with Neon Guard and Humerus, alright, buddy?"

"Alright, friend," Blue Alarm responded, flying alongside him.

Red Noise had a strange look on his face. "Huh. Looks like I'll have to get used to calling you 'friend.' Friend. Hm."

So, the red changeling placed a hoof on his chin as the two of them flew.