Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

An Afternoon and a Night

Sweetie Belle hummed her merry way from the school.

Nastic shot an angry look at Long Winded. "I'm serious now. You should do something about this."

"But, I tried everything!"

Nastic gave a long sigh. "That's not everything you can do! Notify her family, probably her sister, hmm?"

"Good idea!"

Then, Long Winded dashed off. He also grabbed Nastic who was now shouting at him to stop as they flew.

---

As Rarity left the spa, she took a good look around.

She inhaled the afternoon air. "Ahh, isn't this day just lovely? Now, I wonder where Sweetie Belle is." She gloomed, dramatically holding her face in an almost disarray of confusion and terror. "Where's Sweetie—"

"Hey, hi, Rarity!" Long Winded yelled as he held Rarity by the neck, letting go of Nastic and making him fly off to the ground. He placed Sweetie Belle on the ground. "She's still playing that silly hide-and-seek game!" He brushed off the sweat from his face. "Those kids are very skilled, I must say, right?" He nudged the filly, prompting her to wear a big smile.

Rarity mumbled. "Maybe too skilled. Don't you think Applejack is already worried about where her sister is? They've been gone for more than half a day!"

"What about you use your magic to look for them?" Sweetie Bele asked. Then, she jumped and raised her hoof. "Everfree Forest! I almost forgot!"

The fashionista pony balked. "Are you suggesting that they're in the Everfree Forest?!"

"Just maybe," Nastic commented as he walked in to the scene, reading his comic book. "Just maybe, Rarity."

Rarity turned towards her sister. She gave her a concerned glare. "Sweetie Belle! Haven't you already learned your lesson that the Everfree Forest is a dangerous place for a filly like you to enter?"

"But, what if my—"

"No matter how skilled or talented they are at hiding and seeking, I think your friends have the common sense of avoiding Everfree Forest. It's just not worth it to be the last one to be found if it also means risking being turned into stone or being taken prisoner by whatever's inside that...place." She shuddered.

"What if I can join her?" asked Long Winded.

"No!" She was seething mad, breathing slowly but forcefully. "It's a terrible thing to think about! Having your sister get lost all for a game of hide-and-seek?!"

"What about we bring in Twilight Sparkle?"

Sweetie Belle hopped and bounced. "Yeah! I'm sure with her help—"

"No! We're not asking Twilight to help you find your friends because it's a trivial game and what do you get out from seeking your friends in the end?"

"Fun?"

Long Winded nodded. "She does have a point."

"Did somepony say fun?!" a voice yelled.

"Yes!" Long Winded shouted.

Nastic looked up from his comic. "Oh, no..."

Pinkie Pie sprinted her way to the group. "Ooh, what are we going to have? A game of hide-and-seek?" She grinned.

Rarity recoiled from her friend. "How did you—"

"Just a random guess!"

"Well, we're going to have to stop the game of hide-and-seek that my sister and her friends have ongoing!" Rarity stomped a hoof. "I won't allow Sweetie Belle to get hurt or injured by this innocent game any longer!"

"So, you're going to the Everfree Forest with me?" Sweetie Belle asked again.

Rarity sighed. "No! They're just somewhere in Ponyville that you haven't thought about looking at yet, that's all!"

---

"Any more comics?" Nastic asked amidst the noise of ponies hasting their way through the marketplace, all of those ponies smiling as they bought and sold their goods.

The changeling placed a hoof on the stall. "OK, I know that you're a travelling salespony. Nothing too hard about that except probably shortest distances for the mathsponies. So, do you have any more issues for 'POWER'?" He held up his comic book.

The brown Earth pony eyed his large white hat. He pulled it towards him. The stallion considered the changeling in front of him, holding a comic book with his hoof. "I've got the latest issues, changeling. It turns out that you've single-hoofedly read the entire 'POWER' series in just a few nights."

"What about any new issues of 'MIGHT'?"

"Apparently, you've finished that one, too."

Nastic grumbled and balled up his other front hoof.

"Hey, hey!" The stallion took a step and leaned his head forward. "I'm just an occasional buyer and seller of comics to make some more cash on the side! I'm not a comic book giant in the industry who can tell the ponies making the comics to work faster! Now, it's either you buy some other comic here or you don't!"

"Hmph!" Nastic stormed off the premises.

---

Long Winded rested his head on a hoof as he sat in front of the round table. As he continued reading his book, he sometimes looked up from the many pages. His happy smile would still be there, showing Long Winded's enthusiasm and eagerness.

And Spike sweeped the floor.

The changeling sometimes took a look at the dragon casually sweeping the floor. He would occasionally whistle along while he brushed and dusted the floor from the dirt and the grime that it had accumulated. Long Winded then returned to his book.

Then, Spike jumped up and sat down beside him.

"Hey!" He placed a clawed hand on his back. "What're you reading? More importantly, why are you here?"

The changeling looked at him. "Well, that was pretty sudden!"

Spike let out a breath. "I don't have much to do. I'm done with the final chore of the day, and I'm ahead of Twilight's schedule!" He slumped on the table, drawling out a long syllable out of boredom.

"How can you have nothing to do here in Ponyville?" Long Winded questioned. "There's so many things to do here in Ponyville—though, I just want to read this book for much of the time—but, there's spas, there's joke shops, there's the town hall, there's even a fountain!"

"What do changelings do with fountains, anyway?"

"It's just something I thought of, Spike."

That sentence, like all that came before it, echoed and bounced off the enormous walls of the library.

"This place contains a lot of things to behold and to comprehend!" He stretched his front hooves wide and grinned at the dragon still slumped on the table. "I'm just talking about the library! There's lots of flavors at Sugarcube Corner and so many kinds of...food there! Yes, food! Food other than love!"

"Ugh...at least you have that one going for you all." He got up from his slouch and yawned loudly.

That yawn, too, echoed through the room and to the hallways through the open doors.

"Yeah, we have that one going for us...whatever that phrase means." The changeling tapped on his head. "What does it mean, anyway?"

"It means it's going well for you."

Long Winded sighed. "Yeah..."

Spike looked upset. "What is it? Did I say something bad or horrible or what?" He turned away from him and whispered, "Oh, no! I hope I didn't hurt Long Winded's feelings! What will Twilight do if she finds out I insulted and berated a changeling, even if it's just by pure accident? I don't think I'm prepare for a lecture from her about being kind to—"

"It's just, that—"

Spike turned back around. With his claws behind his back, he smiled anxiously. "I'm listening, Long Winded!"

"Uh, it's that...it's just that, whenever I see a stall or a store in our kingdom, there's only like three or four flavors of a drink or of a cake or something like that. At the convenience store, we're kinda' lucky—so many brands, so many flavors, so many...versions of so many things! Then, when we got here, every store in Ponyville had so many variations! Sugarcube Corner has more different and unique foods there than all our bakeries and non-bakeries combined! And, I desperately wish for that to come over here. I bet everyone's going to crave all the diverse things to eat and drink!"

Spike licked his lips, his eyes half-open. Then, he opened his eyes wide and scratched his head in shyness. "Uh, yes, I understand your concern, Long Winded." He hid a mischievous smile.

There was silence. Then, a page flip that reverberated through the room and the hallways.

"Hey, where's your other changeling buddy, by the way?"

Long Winded looked up from the book. "He's at the marketplace, looking for some more of his comics."

"The changelings sell comics now?" Spike asked in a deadpan manner.

Long Winded gave a slight chuckle at that. "Not changeling comics, if that's the case."

The dragon had a baffled look. "Why's that funny?"

The changeling slipped in a bookmark and closed the book. Resting a hoof on the book, he replied, "Nastic's one of those...crazier changelings."

"What kind of crazy?" Spike laid a claw on the table.

"The kind of crazy where everything must be changeling-made and everything we consume must be changeling-made. I don't know where he gets those theories from. Do you have any idea, Spike?"

"Hmm..." He scratched his chin as he gazed upwards. He looked back at the changeling and shrugged. "Not really."

"Maybe if I ask King Thorax—he probably knows the answer or at least something that's close to it."

"Yeah..."

Spike rested his head on the table.

They looked at each other. They looked at all the books in the library. They looked at the banners on the ceiling. They looked at the wide hallways past the open doors.

"Do you have anything to do today, Spike?" Long Winded asked.

"Nah..." He waved a claw.

---

The six mares stood on the balcony. They were high up, beyond the ground. Their attention was towards the yellow-orange sky.

The bright, glowing sun was lowered.

The sky became a dark blue and purple.

Stars appeared, twinkling into view.

The moon was raised, shining its nightly gleam onto all.

Twilight turned to her friends. "Thank you all for taking a few minutes of your time to see the sunset. With all of the Princess work recently—" She chuckled "—and, of course, the book club, as well, there has been less free time just to relax with you."

"At least I went to every single one of your sessions from the very first!" Rainbow Dash boasted.

"To the point that you haven't thought of inviting any of us?" Rarity pointed out.

The rainbow pegasus brushed it off with a hoof. "Heh! Why would I bother since you're not bookish enough for the task!"

"Ya' know," Applejack began, "we do like a read from time to time, Rainbow."

"Sometimes, I just indulge myself into various books to obtain inspiration for my next clothing line!" said Rarity.

"And I read cookbooks!" Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing up to the air as confetti and balloons appeared around her.

Twilight smacked a hoof on her head. "How could I've forgot! I should've gotten my order of cookbooks this morning!"

"Uh, why do ya' need cookbooks, Twi?" Applejack asked, confused.

"Well, other than that they're books, I also need to learn how to cook other dishes as well! Can't get stuck with the same ones everyday, right?"

"Isn't that the reason why Sugarcube Corner even exists?!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "You can just order a different cake from us everyday, every week, every month, every year!"

"Except that your specialty is dessert—not something appropriate for breakfast or lunch, if you ask me."

She turned towards the sky again. She sighed. She inhaled the cold night air as the windy breeze sped past the mares.

"So," said Fluttershy, "what exactly is your Princess work recently?"

She looked at her friends. "Ever since Starlight Glimmer and her friends saved the Changeling Kingdom and defeated Queen Chrysalis, there have been lots of additional work in order to bring the kingdom up to speed with Equestria. Then, I and the other Princesses realized that, with at least one friend in the surrounding nations, we could start bringing up more plans and more activities to spread friendship to those places and to their inhabitants. Since King Thorax was quite keen on spreading friendship to the rest of the changelings compared to the leaders of the other kingdoms and empires, we've decided to focus on the Changeling Kingdom. That's why I've been there a couple of times to speak and lecture about the magic of friendship to the changelings, that's why we had a Wonderbolt performance there a few days ago, that's why I've had to toil overtime thinking about what else to spread friendship to the changelings."

"Um, Twilight?"

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"Don't you think we might be in trouble of intervening in their affairs too much?"

"Not much of intervening and more of influencing," Twilight replied. She paced the balcony. "The changelings are indeed reformed and...well, changed, but who will be there to guide them to what's right and to what's good? That's why Equestria is offering a helping hoof to assist them in discovering the wonders that being friends can be! And, we're also giving them physical and material aid as well such as food and water and other things!"

"So, what's so tiring about that?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight groaned. "Paperwork, visits, being visited, attending various events by both Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom, attending bi-lateral talks between the two nations every so often, sometimes personally going to the Changeling Kingdom with the changelings who bring the aid we give them, sometimes going there to conduct friendship talks and lectures, preparing other plans and discussing with the other Princesses about developments within the Changeling Kingdom and with changelings in general, studying changeling culture—and, since there's a shortage of books about changeling culture, I usually have to go and observe and interview changelings myself to get the data—just talking with changelings, accommodating changelings who visit Ponyville and the other places throughout Equestria wherever I go, being updated about changeling news. Sometimes I do all that in one week! Which is why I'm grateful that my workload has been lessened for the meantime and that the other Princesses are carrying some of my work for now." She sighed again.

"Wow! That's a lot of work!" said Pinkie Pie. "What about we join you more often?"

"Yeah! Wouldn't it be better when you have your friends when you do your royal duties?" Rainbow Dash added.

"And, we all get to socialize with the changelings and teach them about friendship along with you, Twilight," Rarity spoke.

"I'm sure it's they're gonna have as much of a fun time as we will!" Applejack said.

"What I can say is...it's a good idea." Fluttershy smiled.

They all smiled.

They hugged Twilight.

She closed her eyes. A tear went down her face.

"Thanks, girls."

Twilight sniffed.

And they hugged each other under the night sky, under the light of the moon, under the twinkling stars, as the cool night breeze kept going.

---

"Ugh!" Nastic struck the table. "We're here again! Why, Long Winded? There are other places to eat like the café or the Hay Burger or we could make a makeshift dinner by buying some random food over at the marketplace—why here again?!"

Long Winded took a gobble of the tall and towering chocoalte cake as it exuded an air of delicious elegance. "Ith' fun."

"They have proper dinner meals at the Hay Burger! We only get cakes and pies and—"

"Cake pies!" Pinkie Pie celebrated with a shot from her party cannon. And, a cake pie shot over to the changelings' table. "Free cake pie night!"

And, plates with cake pies on them were shot and fired at every table, satisfying the ponies already eating their sweets.

Nastic touched the cake pie. "What is this monstrous hybrid that ponies have come up with?"

"It's half-cake and half-pie, silly!" Pinkie Pie scrubbed Nastic's head. "Aww! You do have a hard head!"

He pushed her hooves away. "I'm trying to spend my night in peace here, Pinkie!"

Pinkie made an exaggerated frown. "Looks like you need some cheering up!" She raised a hoof and the frown disappeared. "Hey! I know you!"

"Yes, we met last night, Pinkie."

She grinned. "You remembered me! A changeling remembered me!"

He opened up a comic book, covering his face from her sight. "So, what's special about that?"

"I never had a changeling remember me before when we met at generally around the same time at generally around the same place when the first time we met was last night and I was doing something similar to what I was doing the first time we met!" She gasped for air.

Nastic placed a hoof on her mouth. "If you want to speak at the speed of sound, save it for somepony, not some changeling." He removed his hoof from her mouth. "Now, thanks for the cake pie, but let us try to have a quiet night."

And a lettuce leaf fell onto the cake pie.

She looked at the changeling, bearing a smug face. "Lettuce, you say?"

Long Winded howled with roaring laughter, throwing a large piece of the chocolate cake onto Nastic's face as he animatedly swung his hooves in boisterous, bursting laughs.

"Cheap puns," mumbled Nastic, wiping off the chocolate cake from his face.

Pinkie laughed, too.

---

Long Winded took out a camera from his bag and took a picture of the clock tower in front of him, all under the night sky and with the cold breeze.

The tower stood tall in its place, cresting a grassy, green hill. On one of its side was the large clock itself. Above the face, there situated a large, yellow bell. The clock was lit up by bright lights placed just under it.

"Nastic, wanna be in the picture?" Long Winded asked, readying his camera.

"Fine."

Nastic sighed and slowly walked to the foot of the tower. He turned to face Long Winded and his camera.

"Smile!"

He smiled.

A flash.

"Are we done, Long Winded?"

"One more!"

Nastic sighed again and smiled.

Another flash.

"Can I go, now? I wanna re-read the comics I have."

"Wait, just one more picture."

"Really?"

"Just one more!"

Nastic sighed yet again and placed on a smile.

Yet another flash.

Nastic walked away.

"No! Just one more picture, Nastic! I promise!"

Nastic groaned. "OK, Long Winded. You promised, alright?"

He walked back to where he had stood and smiled.

Still another flash.

He trotted off his place. "I'm leaving."

Long Winded flew his way to him, grabbed him, placed him at the foot of the tower, and stood beside him as he held the camera from afar and faced the camera towards them. "Of course, what's a trip without a picture of the both of us standing in front of the Ponyville Tower, Nastic?"

"A more comfortable trip, maybe?"

And, another flash.

---

The two changelings leaned on the wall of a cottage. The lights inside were on, showing a family of ponies happily enjoying their dinner as they talked about the day, the weather, and the plans for tomorrow and for next week.

Outside, Nastic continued reading his comic. Long Winded eyed everypony that passed by. Hiding behind a bush, he looked at the ponies' movements and heard what they said. The streetlights illuminated the path, clarifying the expressions and the activities of the ponies strolling in aronud Ponyville.

"Hey, Long Winded," Nastic said.

Long Winded looked up from his bush. "What is it? I'm currently observing the ponies of this place."

"What for? You're not even a scout. You've never been a scout or some kind of observer ever! Why would you do it now?"

"Because watching ponies is interesting."

Nastic turned back to this comic. "What do you mean it's interesting? They're going to walk, they're going to talk, they're going to eat, they're going to buy, they're going to sell, they're going to laugh, they're going to sleep. You're going to get bored after a few minutes."

"Well, I want to know why they're walking to where they're walking to. What are they talking about and why? Like Princess Twilight said Sparkle, everypony's unique and, if everypony's unique, then everypony's interesting in his or her own unique and special way!"

"Way to go for Twilight and her sappy sentimentalism."

Long Winded walked out from hiding. "Uh, don't you think you should take Princess Twilight's speeches seriously? Wasn't friendship the thing that saved Equestria a few times already?"

Nastic kept reading his comic.

"Come on, Nastic! Don't ignore me!"

"If you go on bothering and nagging me like that, ponies aren't going to ignore us."

Long Winded gasped and smiled. "What a great idea!"

"That's sarcasm, Long Winded."

"Hey! Everypony! I'm going to bother and nag my friend for attention!"

The ponies that were walking and passing by stopped and took a look at the changelings.

"Is this how you want to spend your free time?" Nastic asked.

"Shh!" Long Winded glanced at his friend. "We already got their attention! What should we do next, Nastic?"

"Well, since you got us into this mess, Long Winded," he whispered, "we might as well blend in and at least try to be friendly, but only just for you and just for this once because I'm already frustrated inside."

"Hmm." Long Winded spun and faced the ponies. "Hey, everypony! My friend, Nastic, likes comics! He has 'POWER,' he has 'MIGHT,' and...he has more comics than that! He has all the issues of a few popular comic series! He is such a dedicated fan!" All the while, he added expression and feeling to his words by moving his hooves here and there as he spoke.

The ponies cheered and approvingly stomped on the floor.

Meanwhile, Nastic wore a smile. He gave Long Winded a silent glare before he turned towards the ponies and smiled again.

---

Beams of light moved through the dim basement.

A cough. Mutterings and mumblings and quiet conversations among the colts and fillies.

Apple Bloom sat on the large, tall pillowed chair behind the prominent table. Beside the table, a trash can.

The filly yawned as her head rested on a hoof that itself rested on the wooden table. She looked at all that was happening before her.

Several of her friends and her classmates were already sleeping, some on the floor, others on chairs from the ground floor. Many turned on their flashlights, much to the annoyance of Scootaloo who gave a mean look to anypony who dared aim a flashlight towards one of the windows. A lot of the ponies uttered hushed words to each other. Others just observed what was happening around them.

Apple Bloom groaned and placed both of her front hooves on the table. She had a sad face. "This is more boring than ah' thought!"

Scootaloo walked to her side. "Just endure the boredom, Apple Bloom!" she shouted in a whisper. "We're going to beat the Equestria-wide record for the longest game of hide-and-seek! Don't you know how awesome it's going to be when we finally break the record? We'll be famous and we'll be in the history books!" She jumped to the table. "And colts and fillies everywhere are going to admire and look up to us and say, 'Wow! I wish we could be like the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their friends!'"

Apple Bloom sighed. She smiled a little at her close friend. "Thanks for the encouragement, Scootaloo."

"No problem!" Scootaloo jumped off the table and gladly joined one of the muted conversations on the floor.

The moonlight penetrated the narrow basement windows, giving the room a peaceful glow and atmosphere as the conversations and the sleepings went on in the night, the ponies waiting for the end of their game and the reward of their patience.