Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

A Talk over Donuts

The sunset sky was still bright despite the lateness of the afternoon. The bright beams and of the sun pierced through the tall windows of the donut shop's entrance, yielding an array of beautiful, stunning rays of sunlight and bringing them into the shop's interior, providing the customers and the sole baker an atmosphere that was sunny and peaceful, serving to liven the conversations and the interactions among the cheery ponies eating and drinking inside.

The two changelings and the five ponies sat around one of the bigger wooden pink tables. Plates decked with donuts and other baked goods filled the table, bringing their smells to be comined and to be mixed into a cacophony of harmonious sweet aromas that further incited Long Winded to lick his lips and to water his mouth as he stared at one of the dounts.

"I'm going to eat!"

And then Long Winded threw down his paper bag and all the donuts inside rolled and dropped onto his plate. He proceeded to smack his face onto the plate, chewing and dining rather slobbily without even using his hooves.

The five ponies gawked at him. Their gaze went towards Nastic.

He had a straight face. "How he eats." He rested an elbow onto the table. "Unlike most other changelings, I wasn't captured by the newfound experience of taste."

"Are you dull?" Minuette innocently asked.

"Probably." He showed a smug smirk. Then, he snagged a donut and took a small bite. "Chocolate donuts are my favorite, by the way. No pizzaz or anything elaborate. Just a donut and chocolate frosting. Well, I think it's frosting."

"Oh, heh-heh-heh..." Twilight exhibited a face of awkwardness. "I like...bagels." A grin appeared on her face—an awkward grin.

"I like the lemon donuts!" Lemon Hearts cried out. "They're sweet and sour!"

"Should've known it," Nastic remarked, "considering your name."

"Well, if you think you're so smart," Minuette said, raising her voice, "then what's my favorite donut?"

He shrugged and gave the same smug smirk. "It only works on some ponies, not all."

"Hah!" Minuette pointed at Nastic. "I've beaten a changeling without even hurting him!"

"Uh, it's just a game," Twinkleshine noted. "And, you're already causing a stir."

Minuette looked around her.

Most of the ponies were eyeing her.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh." She scratched her mane, slowly turning away from everypony outside her table.

Twinkleshine placed her donut down. "I prefer chocolate donuts, too."

Long Winded looked up from his feeding frenzy, his face was covered with frosting, sugar, and other ingredients. "Me, too!"

"Any donut would be nice," Moon Dancer said, "as long as it makes me full." The mare smiled while she picked up her donut with her magic.

"I like every donut in the shop!" Long Winded shouted before he went back to his crazed dining experience, munching loudly and unmannerly, much to the irritation of the other ponies in the room as they glanced at the naive changeling.

"Uh, Nastic, are you going to tell him about being considerate to others?" Twilight asked.

"Alright, Princess," he replied through a grin. He nudged the snacking changeling.

Long Winded kept eating on.

Nastic pushed him off the chair.

A few donuts fell to the floor and Long Winded crashed.

The five ponies glared at Nastic.

"OK, so?" He picked his friend up, dodging the eyes and the looks of the rest of the ponies watching the event. "I just had to do what I had to do."

"You could've at least shouted at him," Twilight said. "That would still be wrong and inconsiderate of the ponies around in the room, but you shouldn't have gone that overboard that quickly!"

Nastic shrugged again, patting his friend as he struggled to regain his composure. "I do that several times in one week and we're still friends; wouldn't that be alright?"

"Long Winded, you're used to this?" Twilight asked further, pressing the matter.

"Tough...love..." he managed to reply before he got back to eating yet another donut, this time calmly and with consideration for others.

The other four ponies looked at each other, exchanging glances. "Did I just see what I just saw?" Minuette asked.

Nopony answered her question. They returned to eating and talking over their donuts.

"OK, let's talk about something else before you end up pushing your friend again?" Twilight demanded.

Nastic nodded as he gave yet another smug smirk. "Yes, of course, Princess Twilight Sparkle." He then took a bite of his donut, watching her as he did.

Twilight watched back, taking a bite of her levitating donut.

All that happened as the other four ponies and Long Winded chatted happily, with their chats dotted and adorned with the occasional laughter. So it also was with the other ponies in the donut shop—they sat and they ate and they talked and, sometimes, they laughed, all under the sunset sky.

"Oh, also," Long Winded declared with a raised voice, "I and Nastic were able to get the Princesses' audience! I mean, the audience of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! It was a great time, I'm telling you!"

Almost everypony stopped what they were doing (some of them dropped the donuts they were holding) and gasped. They turned their faces towards Long Winded.

"Yeah, it's great, right, everypony?" Long Winded went on. "I think it's happened before, with Neon Guard and his friends, but for us to not just see the Princesses for ourselves but to actually and really have an actual and real audience with them!" He held his face with his front hooves, smiling and almost screaming with pure cheer and gladness. "They actually talked to me and my friend! Not only that, when Nastic was done with his speech about how Princess Twilight was not really a good Princess and all—"

Twilight spat out the water that she was drinking. "What did Nastic say about me?"

"Wow, that's a brave changeling," Lemon Hearts commented, concerned.

"Are you sure that was a good idea, Nastic?" Moon Dancer inquired.

"But, Princess Twilight is a good Princess!" Twinkleshine defended.

"And, who doesn't like the Princesses, including our good old friend, Twilight Sparkle?" Minuette added.

Nastic gulped. He sweated a lot. He brushed off the sweat on his face twice.

"Hey, that's not how you speak about our Princesses!" a pony yelled from his seat.

"Yeah! We love the Princesses of Equestria!" another pony shouted from her chair.

"We've been friends for a long time!" Joe voiced out from behind the counter.

And more ponies joined the one-sided, one-liner shouting match against the apparent changeling critic who dared go against the norm and the tradition of loving and adoring the Princesses by speaking his opinion that was unpopular, not widely shared, and almost provocative. This changeling went closer and closer to the table in front of him, almost hugging the table, as the shouts and the yells of the ponies grew louder, drowning out any possible claim to the contrary, any possible outcry that went against what was normal and traditional, any possible voice that challenged the status quo of the minds at the time—and, in the minds of the ponies, the changeling was wrong to criticize the Princess by calling her "not good," and they were right for not just loving and adoring their royalty, their Princesses, but that they were also right for sometimes offering complaints that was just justifiable and plain for all to see.

In the mind of the changeling, amidst all the pressure, he was right.

Nastic looked at Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She wasn't giving him an angry look or a mean face. She was afraid—her mouth was shivering while she was walking away from the incoming, gathering crowd of offended and outraged ponies. "Uh, everypony, please calm down!" she bellowed. "Uh, everypony! Take your seats and please resume eating donuts!"

The raucous, deafening tumult of the mad ponies continued to increase in volume and in danger.

"OK, everpony, quiet!"

And everypony who dared go against the changeling was caught in a magical field, frozen where they stood.

Twilight sighed. "When I unfreeze all of you, promise me that you won't spontaneously raise an angry mob against some random changeling without actually checking and analyzing why he said it in the first place, OK?!" She took a sweeping look of everypony magically frozen. "OK?!"

Then, she unfreezed them all.

And they quickly rushed back to their seats, hurriedly going back to whatever they were doing, several of them staring awkwardly and apolgetically at Princess Twilight Sparkle who wasn't in a happy mood.

She sighed again.

"Wow!" Minuette looked around, seeing all the ponies trying their best to act normal and calm. "Just the weird things that can go on any day, I guess."

Everypony else around the table and Long Winded just stared in surprise and in confusion at both Twilight and Nastic.

"Sorry for what they just did, Nastic," Twilight pleaded. "I know that there will be ponies that won't instantly accept you and your kind, Nastic, but I didn't expect this to happen, not especially to a changeling who actually has a passion for his kind—even though there were still some mistakes, last time I remembered."

"Hey!"

"So...Nastic." Her face was downcast, showing her sorrow and sadness. "Will you forgive me and the ponies who hurt you?"

Nastic took his seat. "I'll forgive you."

Twilight smiled. Her friends smiled. Long Winded smiled. "Aww!" Minuette expressed.

"Besides, what's going to happen if I didn't forgive you?" Nastic went on. "There's going to be this grudge, your friends are going to get sad, Long Winded is probably going to bother me for not forgiving you, and the ponies might as well make an angry mod again to force me to forgive."

"Uh, that's not how forgiveness works, Nastic."

"I was just explaining to you something, Princess Twilight." Nastic then smiled. He eyed a donut in front of him, on his plate. "So, let's talk about my criticism of you?"

Twilight chuckled, magically levitating her own donut. "I'll try my best to keep a level head, Nastic." She looked at her friends and at Long Winded.

They were all looking intently at Twilight and at Nastic.

"I guess they all want to listen," Twilight noted.

Nastic made a sly smile. "OK."

Twilight shifted her eyes to the left and to the right. She looked back at Nastic. "So, um, what exactly was your criticism about me?"

Nastic took a second. "Basically, I thought you didn't send a letter to Princess Celestia about what we had talked about that night in the castle."

"But, I did."

"And that's where I went wrong. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gave me..." He observed the ponies outside the table—several of them were giving him uneasy looks. "They just gave me a summary of what you'd said to me. I think that's enough 'being proven wrong' to me." He chuckled anxiously, restlessly as he again saw the ponies and their faces of suspicion towards him.

Twilight threw a glance at the ponies.

They hastily went back to eating their donuts and talking about normal things like the day and the weather and their time with the Princesses back at their royal castle.

Natic saw his friend and Twilight's friends still looking rather engaged in the conversation.

"So, what did you learn today, Nastic?" Twilight finally asked, sporting a professional face.

He again wiped off the sweat on his face. "That...what you said back in the library was right."

She closed her eyes for a while. After opening them, she said, "I can see that the Changeling Kingdom has the means, the ability, and the ambition to be a great kingdom. I know, and I think that it's rather clear here, that you don't want the changelings to just be copying off ponies." She paused, taking in a silence that was peaceful yet tense as Nastic didn't frown nor did he smile. "You have to understand their condition, the condition of your fellow changelings. Like I'd said before, they want pony culture because it's probably the only one they know about. And, besides, like I'd also said before, culture is not just the obvious things."

"I know all about that, Twilight," Nastic interjected.

"OK, you know about it." She gave him a knowing stare. "Then, what else is wrong? Any more reasons?"

Nastic looked away.

Twilight opened her mouth, realizing something. "It's that deep, isn't it, Nastic."

Nastic raised a hoof towards his head. He placed both of his front hooves on his head. The look of misery on his face was subtle, shown in the slight movements of his hooves and of his head. Nastic placed down his hat, revealing a carapace head that glimmered in the sunset sunlight.

Twilight's friends anticipated for something to happen, for a word to appear between Twilight and Nastic. They leaned closer, not saying a word.

Long Winded ate even more donuts, but he also leaned in towards Nastic.

Nastic sighed. "I'm just...I just don't want to see my fellow changelings and our kingdom to be destroyed."

"What?!" Minuette blurted out. "We aren't planning to destroy your kingdom or anything, right Twilight?" She gripped Twilight and did a striking pose at Nastic.

"Not destruction like breaking things." He looked up to Twilight.

Her face was that of expectation and of preparation; her eyes were wide open, her mouth closed. She was looking at Nastic.

"I meant the quiet destruction of a kingdom—by destroying what makes it its own kingdom in the first place, by destroying what makes the changelings...changelings."

Twilight placed a hoof on the table, slowly and quietly. She glanced again at the ponies outside their table.

Only a few of them were still looking at Nastic.

She turned towards Nastic. "I know that changelings being, well, changed in less than an hour—less than a minute, I believe!—it's...not going to go so well for some changelings. You went all the way from creatures that hungered for love and seeked to obtain it with no regards to what other creatures might feel about it—you went all the way from that to creatures that are pretty much good, happy, nice, and seeking to share love with others. I'd say that's a pretty big difference."

Long Winded took another bite of a donut.

"When something like that happens to a society, it leaves it in a new state, a new condition. It's a place where nopony has recorded in, um, recorded history. The closest we've got to something like that was Princess Luna right after she was—"

"Saved by you and your friends," Nastic interrupted.

"Yes, heh-heh-heh-heh, saved by me and my friends..." She made yet another awkward face towards her companions. "Anyway, Princess Luna had to fit in with a society that she hasn't seen that much of for a thousand years. However, that's on an individual level. A society experiencing something similar...that's a different story. To be honest, we don't know everything about you and your kingdom—which is why I'd love to volunteer to gather changeling-related information!" She grinned happily.

"Hey, Twilight!" Nastic yelled.

"OK, OK! I might be going off the track a little, but, really, we don't know a lot about changelings like you and how your kingdom works and operates, so, yes, sometimes, our interactions with you might be somewhat flawed. Maybe we're trying too much? Or, maybe we're trying too little? Anyway, back to the changeling society. What did you do when you became a good changeling some months' back?"

"Oh, uh..."

"Go on, Nastic!" Long Winded encouraged. "It's one of the best days of our lives!" Then, he went back to eating a donut, yet he was still looking at Nastic as he did so.

Nastic laughed a little. "Well, it was one of the best days of our lives, wasn't it? To finally be free from the hunger, from the starvation." A smile crept up on his face. "I went to my friends and we talked, my friends went to me and we talked, we laughed, we enjoyed ourselves as we celebrated the defeat of Chrysalis, the coronation of Thorax, and, well, being free in general. When you possess that freedom and you realize it—isn't that truly a wonderful feeling, when you haven't tasted true freedom ever since the beginning of your life? Then, of course, there was Long Winded." He hugged his friend—his friend hugged back.

"Aww, Nastic!" Long Winded yelled as he cried and as he sobbed tears of joy in that loving, friendly hug.

Nastic said no words—the smile on his face was there as the hug went on.

Twilight's warming smile went away. "So, what went wrong that made you the changeling you are now?"

Nastic got himself out of the hug.

Long Winded was still crying a little. He did not pick up a donut. His eyes were watery as they looked upon his best friend.

Twilight's friends also had watery eyes; all of them tried their best not to break into tears at the sight of such a hug.

Twilight herself smiled again, only for the smile to go away again. "So, what went wrong, Nastic?"

Nastic gazed towards the ceiling. Then, he looked back at the Princess in front of him. "Then, we started attending your events and buying your things, the pony-made items. I started learning that there was this thing called 'culture' and that each society, each kingdom, has its own culture. So, I thought that you were taking away our culture. When I read the news every morning, every afternoon, and every night, there were times that the headlines and some of the major stories were about ponies visiting the Changeling Kingdom and about changelings attending this pony event here and this pony event there, all while advertisements about things made by ponies were also there, brainwashing and manipulating the minds of the changelings that you saved." He took his hat and placed it back on his head. "Did I get emotional over it? Not really. I'm not that kind of changeling. What's the use of crying for your cause when you can casually breeze your way through it by rationale with just a hint of added emotion to make our case more believeable and more close-to-home, hm?" He sighed. "OK, I'll admit it and I probably did it already—I was wrong." He looked upon his plate of donuts with a melancholic face of sadness.

A hoof patted his shoulder.

It was Long Winded's. "Come on, cheer up, Nastic!" His smile was as energetic and as joyful as it ever was. "You probably know all the words and the ideas and what not that Twilight said! So, let's just take it to heart, roll with it, and eat!" He planted his face again onto a plate of donuts—Nastic's plate.

"Well." Nastic adjusted his hat and showed a reassuring smile at the ponies.

Twilight and her friends smiled, too.

"Thanks for the chat."

He stood up.

"Wait, we're leaving already?!" Long Winded whined.

"Hold on, Long Winded."

Nastic walked up to the counter.

Joe paid attention to the changeling customer. "So, do you want some more donuts?" he asked, although there was a sense of intimidation in his gruff tone.

Nastic opened his bag and took out a small sack. He dropped it on the counter. There was the rattling sound of bits.

"More donuts, please," Nastic said.

Long Winded gasped. "Yes! I get to talk even more with the Princess and her friends!" Then, he screamed with joy.

Twilight and her friends cheered, celebrating the moment.

Everypony else cheered and applauded in the donut shop.

Nastic patiently waited for his donuts. He was smiling.

---

The sun had already set a few minutes ago. Now, the interior lights of the donut shop had been turned on, providing illumination to all the ponies there. The sky outside was now adorned with stars and its bright, peaceful moon. Outside, the streets of Canterlot were lit up by the elegant street lights and by the various lights of the buildings there.

Back inside the donut shop, everypony was having a good time talking and chatting and laughing and eating. Twilight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Moon Dancer, Nastic, and Long Winded were part of the lively activities.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Long Winded shot out through his frosting-covered mouth. He scarfed yet another donut.

"Uh, have you drank a single glass of water, yet?" Lemon Hearts asked, distressed as Long Winded grabbed one more donut for the taking. "That's tons of sugar."

"Unless changelings don't work that way," Moon Dancer raised. She faced Twilight. "Maybe we should gather information about the changelings together, Twilight. Being with them has gotten me interested to know more about them!"

Twilight placed on an adorable yet awkward smile. "We're going to have the best information-gathering time ever!"

And the two hugged each other.

Minuette took a drink of her glass of water. She placed it down and eyed Nastic. "Do you still want to order more donuts?"

"Not really—"

"But, you're not really full, are you?"

"We don't wanna spend too much of our bits on just treating ourselves to donuts and all—"

Minuette slammed her front hooves on the table. "It's going to be my treat, Nastic! Don't worry about your bits!"

"Woah, Minuette," Twinkleshine expressed. "Calm down!"

"I'm trying to be nice and friendly to them, OK?!"

She gulped, whimpered, and ate a donut.

---

The five ponies and the two changelings finally walked out of the brightly lit donut shop, most of them laughing as they exited the eatery.

As ponies passed by the friendly group, there were faces and looks of confusion—they gazed at the changelings following them, then they looked at the alicorn that was among the group, Princess Twilight.

"What about, this time, we take a trip to Ponyville and you can all get to meet my Ponyville friends, formally and for real, for the first time!" Twilight grinned, waiting for her friends' response as they stopped on the sidewalk.

The ponies nodded. Long Winded nodded excitedly. Nastic nodded once and slowly.

"Alright, that's good! Now, off to the train station!"

And, so they trotted on, passing by shining buildings and illuminating street lights, through and past crowds of ponies as they moved through the sidewalks, through busy intersections and on the streets, past lovely music of all kinds and of all sorts, past the sumptuous and scrumptious smells of various restaurants, past the carriages that galloped by, all under the gentle night with its stars and its moon. In the distance, a pony announced that Princess Luna was over at someplace nearby, but another pony yelled back that it was just an illusion or somepony that only looked like her.

Meanwhile, behind a tree, Princess Luna peeked and observed all the activity that her ponies were engaged in under her night sky. She closed her eyes and smiled.

---

The train decelerated, slowing to a halt.

"Ponyville!" one of the train conductors declared. "Watch your steps as you go down the train!"

And many ponies, several of them wearing bags or hauling baggages or doing both, exited the train and arrived at Ponyville. Among them, Twilight Sparkle and her friends and the two changelings.

"And, we're back in Ponyville!" Long Winded cried out. He was bouncing up and down, a smile on his face confirming his excitement. "And, we're going to meet with the Elements of Harmony, all of them in one building!" He seized Nastic and shouted to his face, "Are you excited? Are you eagerly looking forward to this grand meeting?!"

Nastic moved away from the grip. "Don't give me a concussion."

---

"Wow!" Moon Dancer spoke, beholding all the sights and the landmarks and the ponies and the stalls and the produce and the structures and the liveliness of Ponyville. The chatter of the ponies, together with the yellow and white lights that brightened up the town under the night, made a suitable atmosphere for a homely nightlife visit. "This is such a...friendly place to live in. It's one thing to know about the magic of friendship, but it's really another when you actually see that magic manifest itself." Her eyes became watery, welling up tears. She levitated her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

Twilight patted her friend. "And, do you want to know what's best of all?"

"What's that?"

"You're going to have another set of friends."

As the five ponies hugged each other, Nastic and Long Winded looked on.

"OK, I know the ponies are nice and all, but this is way too much sentimentalism going on here."

And he was caught in another hug.

"Aww, it's a nice day to give out hugs, Nastic!" He loosened his grip on him. "Besides, you're my best friend, remember?"

Nastic smiled again. "I won't forget that."

Then, they hugged each other once more.

---

Twilight Sparkle and Moon Dancer stepped into the dark room.

"Uh, hello?" Twilight called out. "Pinkie Pie?"

Her voice echoed through the dark interior.

"Did I forget something?" she asked. "Uh, Pinkie Pie, did I forget to read a memo or a note?" She paused, expecting an answer.

There was no response.

Long Winded pushed his way inside. "OK, let me see if it's something I can handle—"

The lights turned on.

"Happy On-the-spot Friend Gathering Party, everypony!"

Streamers were thrown out, colorful balloons were everywhere, confetti scattered into the air and floated back to the floor, and happy music blared through the speakers as Pinkie Pie stood up from behind the counter along with her friends—Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. The rest of the ponies there made their appearances, several of them walking into the room, others just giving enough time for Twilight and her friends to catch a glimpse of them before they headed off to another room of the Sugarcube Corner.

"What?!" Twilight yelled, standing firmly though astonished. "How did you know?"

"Whoops!" Pinkie Pie brought up a huge, extremely tall cake covered in different colors and sweet, sugary flavors. "What's a party without a cake?!" And, with the other hoof, she brought up two foals who were quite happy and pleased to be present at the party. "I believe we're going to have a fun time—" She gasped for breath, and then, in one fast, breathless take "—Moon Dancer, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Nastic, Long Winded, and, of course, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight just stood there, staring at all the party fixtures and decorations that littered and decorated and place. "Wow, Pinkie Pie. I didn't expect you to prepare a surprise party for my Canterlot friends."

"We just got surprise-partied by Pinkie Pie!" Minuette screamed. "Don't you know how cool that is?!"

Moon Dancer looked at Minuette. "Yeah." The mare smiled.

Pinkie Pie trotted up to her. "Oh, we already met, but you haven't met the rest of Twilight's friends and they're all one-hundred-percent awesome!"

She gestured her friends to come over.

And, the four ponies walked over.

Long Winded couldn't contain himself. His front hooves were on his head, looking fast, darting his sight towards this Element of Harmony and that Element of Harmony, this friend of Twilight and that friend of Twilight. Then, he looked at the Canterlot friends of Twilight. Then, he looked back at Pinkie Pie. "I cannot believe me eyes, Nastic! We have the Elements of Harmony, the five friends of the Princess Twilight Sparkle, all inside the Sugarcube Corner, and, to top it all off, the Pinkie Pie threw all of us a surprise party!"

"If you emphasize the word 'the' again," Nastic replied bluntly, "I'm going to pull you out of this party."

Long Winded went down on his knees. "No, no! Please! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Hah. I don't think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at this point." He smiled. "But, I'll roll with it."

Nastic helped Long Winded up on his hooves.

Pinkie Pie inched up towards the two changelings. "And, familiar faces?" She blinked rapidly with an unmoving smile.

"I can't begin to process all the awesome things that's happening in this room!" Long Winded screamed. He flew up to Rainbow Dash. "What about we start with the awesome flying, Rainbow Dash herself?!" He hurriedly offered a hoofshake with his hoof. "And then we move on to the rest of you and then we'll all gather around one table and we're going to have the best surprise party ever!"

Rainbow Dash's face contained confused amazement. "Uh, OK, Long Winded?"

"Yes!" Long Winded flew up into the air and flew around and rushed around and glided fast, expertly dodging balloons and other things in the room.

"But, don't forget that we'll also talk with Twilight's Canterlot buddies, alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, keeping her eyes on the speeding changeling. "You can talk with them and us and me around the same table!"

---

"So, you're the Rainbow Dash I've heard about," Moon Dancer began as the ten ponies and the two changelings sat around the large wooden round table.

On the table, there were plates for each seated pony and changeling. At the center, there were dozens and dozens of plates filled to the brim with sweet, pleasant delicacies like cakes, pies, cake-pies, muffins, donuts, bagels, chocolates, candies, and even more.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash affirmed. She looked at all the ponies and the changelings that were there at the table. "Looks like we're going to have one cool party tonight, right?"

Comments

[Xanderfox]

Shouldn't Lyra been their too? She was part of the Canterlot crew before moving to Ponyville

[Comma Typer]

8065874 Looks like it must've slipped my mind. :)