Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

A Night and Appleloosa

It was night. The moon was there, shining its light on to the town of Ponyville. The chatter of ponies was still there, livening up the night. There was the noise of a party going on, with streamers and balloons here and there.

Along with a few ponies on the way to the train station, there were Blue Alarm, Red Noise, Humerus, and Neon Guard, all wearing their bags.

"That was a crazy party!" Humerus yelled. "And, Pinkie was there!"

"We know that!" Red Noise angrily replied. "We know that she's the pony throwing all the parties!"

"And, I know that you want to stay, Humerus," Neon Guard said with a tone of concern, "but we cannot just stay here in Ponyville. There are other places in Equestria to visit and to visit again. There's the rock farm where Pinkie grew up in. There's Manehattan, the big city that's bustling with activity. There's the Crystal Empire, and Blue Alarm went there." He looked at Blue Alarm as they walked under the night sky. "I'm sure you had a great time there."

Blue Alarm nodded, smiling a little. He brought out a book from his bag. It was a big, old book. The pages were slightly brown. "I borrowed a book from Sunburst. This one's about the history of Equestria's greatest unicorns."

Neon Guard smiled, looking at the book. "I wonder about all that you're going to learn from that!"

They neared the train station. Then, they went inside.

They went on the platform. They stood in front of the railroad.

"Where's the train going?" Red Noise asked. "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking about going to Cloudsdale," Neon Guard replied. "Then, I changed my mind. We're going to Appleloosa."

Humerus gasped, excited. "Braeburn lives there!"

"And, who is Braeburn?" Neon Guard asked, eyeing Humerus.

"He's a cousin of Applejack! He's related to Applejack!"

Several ponies on the platform were watching him in his excited behavior.

"Uh, are you alright?" one of the ponies asked.

"I'm more than alright!" Humerus answered, looking at the pony. "I'm really alright!"

The pony glanced at his friends. "OK?"

"Would you keep yourself quiet?!" Red Noise yelled at him. "We're already gathering attention we don't want!"

"The train's arriving," Neon Guard announced.

And, the sound of the train arriving was there. The train approached the train station. Then, it stopped.

The train's doors opened. Ponies went outside the train, some of them carrying bags.

Ponies went inside the train, some of them also carrying bags.

The four changelings went inside the train.

After a short while, the train's doors closed and the train accelerated its way towards Appleloosa.

---

The train finally stopped at the train station.

The train's doors opened.

Ponies and the changelings went outside.

It was hot. The ground was dry and brown. There were several wooden buildings, not that many. Ponies were walking on the path between the buildings. Some of them were wearing hats with wide brims. There was a pony wearing a mustache.

Humerus jumped up and down, smiling.

"I don't know why you're so happy!" Red Noise said. "What can we do in Appleloosa? Just look at it! It's not complete! There's no roads, the living conditions aren't great, and there's really not much to do!"

"That's why it's called a frontier town," Blue Alarm said. "It's not supposed to be like Ponyville. Well, not now. The ponies are going to build it up until it's a town that everypony would want to go to."

"Who wants to live here?!"

"What about being polite?" Neon Guard said, looking at Red Noise with a stern face. "You might offend the ponies living here."

"To answer the question about the ponies who want to live here," Blue Alarm replied, facing Red Noise, "there's the ponies who are adventurous. They like adventure, and they don't want to stay in a town where everything is relatively safe. They like action, they like risk. They like to make a name for themselves, to be the first ponies to settle this place, to be the ponies who will turn this desert into a place where ponies can thrive in."

"Yeah, thrive in what? Apples?" Red Noise pointed at the orchards of apple trees in the distance. "What else do they eat here? Apples?"

"Try being polite!" Neon Guard screeched.

"Alright, alright, Neon Guard!" Red Noise said, holding out his front hooves in self-defense. "There's no need to be loud here, no need to be unnecessarily loud."

"Except you are," Neon Guard answered back.

Then, the train left.

Blue Alarm watched the train leave. "We're going to be staying here for the night."

"What?!" Red Noise shouted. "OK, where are we going to be staying here for the night? Because, it's hot! It's even hotter than the Changeling Kingdom! I cannot withstand this much heat!"

"Is it the temperature you're worried about?" Blue Alarm asked.

"Why am I shouting about it?!"

"Uh, can ya' please quiet down?" a voice asked. "Some o' the ponies here are tryin' to sleep."

Humerus screamed. "Braeburn!"

Braeburn adjusted his hat, his face bearing an expression of bewilderment. "Uh, howdy!" He smiled. "Yer' not the first changelins' Ah've seen here in Appleloosa, but Ah' would be more than glad to answer all yer' questions and to give ya' a nice welcome! Mah' name's Braeburn, and Ah already see that one o' you already knows mah' name!" He looked at Humerus. "Now, what's yer' name?"

"I'm Humerus, and these are my friends, Blue Alarm, Red Noise, and Neon Guard!"

"You brought yourself a good group o' friends with ya' for the time, partner! Ah' live here in Appleloosa!" He stood on two hooves and whinnied. He went back on four hooves. "It's the best town yer' ever gonna see, an' it's gonna get even better! Here, Ah'm gonna give ya' changelins' a tour of Appleloosa!" He stood on two hooves again and whinnied. He went back on four hooves. He hopped off the wooden platform of the train station.

The four changelings followed him.

"Over there, we have our horse-drawn carriages!" Braeburn yelled, pointing a horse-drawn carriage.

The carriage was being pulled by a pony. There was a passenger inside the carriage.

"And, over there, we have our horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages!" He pointed a hoof towards a small group of ponies drawing and painting pictures of horse-drawn carriages.

"Do you sell those paintings?" Red Noise asked.

"To fund the town to make it better, of course!" Braeburn yelled. "We could have here a fine painter from Appleloosa!"

Braeburn trotted.

The changelings followed him.

"There, we have the waterin' hole of Appleloosa, the Salt Block!" He pointed at a wooden building among the other wooden buildings.

The Salt Block was a wooden blue building. There were several ponies inside, drinking containers of water.

Braeburn trotted away.

The changelings followed him.

"Over here, we have the office of Sheriff Silverstar!" Braeburn pointed at another wooden building.

A pony with a mustache and a hat wore a blue shirt with a badge that looked like a silver star. He was standing on the wooden platform of the building, eyeing and observing the ponies walking on the path.

"Anythin' else ya' wanna see before Ah' take ya' to the best sight o' all of Appleloosa?!" Braeburn yelled.

"Uh," Blue Alarm said, "are you going to—"

"Alright, then! We're gonna go straight to the apple orchards of Appleloosa!"

---

The pony and the changelings stood on the cliff.

The view was wide. Under the night sky, the many apple trees filled the ground. It was a quiet landscape, a peaceful landscape.

"Are ya' now amazed?!" Braeburn shouted. "This is where we get our food for us ponies livin' in Appleloosa! The apples are here o' top quality, unmatched! With these apples, ya' can make the best apple dishes anypony can make!"

Humerus was bouncing, smiling, excited.

Braeburn looked at him. "I guess yer' just in shock at the amount o' great apples that we have here in Appleloosa!"

"That's because you're related to Applejack!" Humerus said.

Neon Guard sighed. "Humerus! We talked about this before! He probably doesn't want to talk about it!"

"Talk about what? My cousin? Why wouldn't Ah be proud of my cousin?" Braeburn asked. He smiled. "She's a great cousin to have, and it's a great family to be a part of!"

"So, how does it feel to be a cousin of a heroine?!" Humerus asked by shouting at him.

Red Noise pulled him away from Braeburn. "Sorry for that, Braeburn, but he's very excited when the topic is about his favorite ponies."

"Ya' mean my cousin Applejack an' her best friends? That's alright to talk about!" He glanced at the many apple trees.

"What about we talk about where to sleep?" Red Noise said.

"Oh, ya' wanna go nappin' already?! There's much more of Appleloosa to see!"

"Like what?"

"We still haven't covered the wild west dances and the mild west dances and the wild-mild west dances!"

"Mild-wild west dances?" Red Noise asked.

"They're not as wild as the wild west dances, and they're not as mild as the mild west dances!"

"And, they're dancing now? It's quite late."

"It's not too late to dance!" Braeburn said. "Now, let's go back to the town and show you the rest of what Appleloosa has to offer!"

---

Inside one of the wooden buildings, there was a bedroom. It was small. There were four beds. There was a small wooden table. A lamp stood on one of the few desks. A window was at the wall, giving the ponies and the changelings who looked through it a great view of Appleloosa during the night. There were still many lights, there were still some ponies selling their apples to the other ponies passing by.

Red Noise yawned on his bed.

Humerus was sleeping on his bed.

Neon Guard stood beside Blue Alarm as they both looked out the window.

"It's been a nice day," Neon Guard said. "When you don't consider all the trouble with Humerus earlier, it's a nice day." He looked at Blue Alarm. "What did you learn while you were at the Crystal Emprie? Did Sunburst teach you something?"

"A few things," Blue Alarm said. "How magic works."

Neon Guard smiled. "Something very important, considering that there's the magic of friendship."

Blue Alarm smiled. "Seeing the ponies walk by, talking to each other and being friends. It's good to see ponies with their friendships."

"Is that why you're going to be out here for a while, not sleeping?" Neon Guard asked.

"I might as well use my abilities for something good," Blue Alarm said.

Neon Guard yawned. He walked towards his bed. He looked at Blue Alarm. "Well, have a good night, Blue Alarm. Braeburn's going to have breakfast with us tomorrow."

Blue Alarm looked at Neon Guard. "OK. Good night, Neon Guard."

Neon Guard got on his bed and lied down.

Blue Alarm looked out the window. He observed the ponies walking by under the lights of Appleloosa.

Comments

[Comma Typer]

8141963 It was a mistake. It's now fixed. Sorry. :)

[KingJoltik]

8141985 No problem.

[KingJoltik]

I've read a bit more of this and I'm still enjoying it. I will admit, the transitions and stiff dialogue can be distracting at times, but I really like how you've written the changelings here. I like that they're all different and don't really understand life, making it fun to see them...'change' so to speak and become more than just colorful bug ponies. Its stories like this that make me like the decision to make them good, unlike most of the fandom.