Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Debate and Entering Cloudsdale

The morning sky was clear. The sun shone. The landscape was beautiful with grass and trees and plants. It was an idyllic scene, a place to behold and to wonder at. There were a few animals here and there. A few pegasi were in the sky, flying.

And, on the railroad, a train was going.

Inside the colorful train, four changelings sat along with many other ponies. There were friendly talks and chats while some ponies were reading their books and their newspapers. A few were sleeping.

"So, you're telling me that we're going back to Ponyville, and then we're going to fly to Cloudsdale?" Red Noise asked Neon Guard.

"That's the plan," Neon Guard replied, taking a quick look out the window. "And, what about the nice scenery outside? Why don't you look?"

Red Noise looked out the window. Then, he looked at Neon Guard. "Yeah, I know. It's nice."

Blue Alarm sat beside the sleeping Humerus. "It's quite early to leave, actually."

"I wanted to experience a morning train ride," Neon Guard said. "A morning train ride that was really early."

"Does it encourage you?" Red Noise asked, a little annoyed.

"I don't think 'encourage' is the right word for it."

"Maybe you're looking for a calmer word," Blue Alarm said.

A pony walked towards the changelings. "Uh, here's the newspaper you ordered, Neon Guard."

"Thanks!" Neon Guard took the newspaper.

The pony walked away.

"What's the news?" Red Noise asked, looking at Neon Guard reading the newspaper.

"We've got...Princess Twilight Sparkle on the way to the Dragon Lands for a friendship summit there."

Blue Alarm looked at Neon Guard. "That's interesting. I wonder how successful she will be, considering that the dragons aren't really that accepting of friendship."

"It's not like that they're not that accepting of friendship, Blue Alarm," Neon Guard said. "I think that the dragons are taught to act tough and strong towards others, even towards other dragons. Friendship is indeed tough, but it also entails being considerate towards others."

"You have Dragon Lord Ember being very friendly with Twilight Sparkle," Red Noise pointed out, "so, I'm sure that the dragons are going to get used to easily."

"It's not going to be that easy," a pony interrupted.

The three changelings looked at the pony.

He was seated at the seat behind Blue Alarm and Humerus's. He was a blue-purple stallion, a pegasus. He had scruffy gray mane and tail. His cutie mark was a rainbow. He was eyeing the changelings with a competitive look. "There are a few things about the dragons and their situation that won't make it that easy for Twilight to bring friendship to them, even with a helpful leader like Dragon Lord Ember."

"And, what would those few things be?" Neon Guard asked, sounding competitive.

"One, the dragons have always lived with that same attitude of being tough towards others. To overthrow that traditional attitude is going to take lots of effort. You cannot convince dragons who have always been tough to instantly become nice like Spike."

"But, Ember is their leader!" Red Noise argued. "That's going to make it easy! They'll have to follow her or else she's going to punish them!"

"What about the dragons who decide to against their leader?" the pegasus pointed out. "There's going to be some dragons who won't like their new leader. When you think about it, Ember is extremely nice compared to her citizens."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Red Noise asked.

"Not really. Some dragons are going to tell Ember that she's being too nice, that she's being too lenient on dragons and on ponies. What about the dragons that think the Ember is not really there for the dragons but for the ponies? That's something dragons don't want."

"Well, the ponies are going to be giving them what's good, right?" Red Noise argued. "They're not giving the dragons something that's bad!"

"What about being quiet about it?" Neon Guard interrupted. "Humerus is sleeping." He pointed at the sleeping Humerus.

The red changeling and the blue-purple stallion stared at each other with angry stares.

"Let's try to settle the issue by being more peaceful than that," Blue Alarm said. "I don't want you to go punching each other."

"What about we settle the issue before it gets worse?" the stallion suggested, eyeing Red Noise. "Because, to resume the conversation, the dragons might be hesitant about supporting the ponies."

"I thought we were talking about Ember!" Red Noise yelled.

"Ember is very friendly with Princess Twilight Sparkle. The dragons are going to perceive that as a dragon supporting the ponies. What if the ponies enact something that the dragons don't want, even if it really is good for them? The dragons aren't going to be giving their gems towards something that they don't like."

"That's why there's a friendship summit in the first place!" Red Noise said, getting angrier. "Princess Twilight Sparkle is going to be teaching the dragons about friendship and why it's good for them! She's going to bring the foundation of a good relationship between Equestria and the Dragon Lands with that friendship summit! Then, Dragon Lord Ember will imrpove that good relationship by convincing the rest of the dragons about friendship. Maybe she can invite them to parties, or maybe she can invite them to some games, or maybe she can just talk to them while she does her royal duties!"

"No matter how much effort is placed by both Princess Twilight Sparkle and Dragon Lord Ember, they still have to convince dragons who are very traditional about their attitude and are still somewhat wary about ponies."

"What about Twilight bringing Spike to the friendship summit?" Red Noise said.

"Whether she brings Spike to the friendship summit or not, it's not really going to make much of an impact."

"Why?!"

"Some of the dragons there are not going to be convinced by Spike."

"Why?!" Red Noise yelled. "Tell me the reason! Spike is a great hero in the Crystal Empire and he was even Dragon Lord for maybe a few minutes. He's supposed to have lots of clout, lots of influence with the dragons!"

"That's such a short time for being Dragon Lord that it doesn't even matter in the long run!" the stallion yelled back, pointing a hoof at his opponent. "Dragons won't see that as good enough credentials to believe in Spike and what he's saying!"

"What about the whole Crystal Empire hero thing, then?!"

"They don't care about his heroism in other places, what they care about is what he did for them, for their homes, for their lives!"

"He's made it safer for ponies and Equestria!"

"I already told you, I already made it clear to you, that the dragons don't really think much about ponies and Equestria! They're concerned about themselves and themselves only! It's been with them for how many years, decades, even centuries?! Well, it's a really long time!"

"Just because it takes much effort to make the dragons believe otherwise about friendship, that it isn't just something that the ponies are exporting to make them more like ponies and less like dragons, it doesn't mean that it's worth trying!"

"See?!" the stallion finally cried out, shouting at the changeling with extra volume, catching the gaze of several passengers in the carriage. "Without you knowing it, you've fallen for it!" He stood up on his seat and pointed again at Red Noise. "You've finally conceded, you've finally given up and you didn't even know it!"

"Uh, quick!" Red Noise pointed a hoof at the door. "There's the exit to the next carriage!"

"Why do you want me to go the next carriage? Are you just afraid because you're defeated?!"

"I'm not going to lose to a pony that I've just met in the train!" Red Noise said, flying over to his seat, shaking a hoof at him. "I'm going to prove it to you that it's going to be easy for Twilight Sparkle and Ember to make the dragons believe in friendship!"

The stallion raised a hoof.

Some ponies gasped as they, along with more ponies, watched the scene unravel before them, escalating towards an unwanted point as the peaceful green, grassy landscape dotted with beautiful, peaceful trees and plants and animals raced by them.

Blue Alarm grabbed Red Noise by one of his hooves and pulled him with great force back to his seat, even throwing him there. The red changeling landed with a thud and ended up rubbing his head.

Blue Alarm and Neon Guard observed the passengers.

Most of them were now watching them, many of them quivering in fear, others bearing angry expressions, still others wearing sad, sorrowful faces. A few ponies took a few steps back as the changelings looked at them. "Is this an attack?" a pony whispered, shivering.

The atmosphere, the mood of it all, was tense as both the changelings and the ponies stayed silent. The stallion who had argued with Red Noise gasped, looked at the ponies looking at him with looks that were painful to see, and took his seat with a somber pace.

A few foals cried.

Neon Guard folded the newspaper. "OK, then," he said slowly, eyeing the ponies. "We're very, very sorry for what just happened. It's not much to worry about! Just some heated discussion, that's all!" He raised his front hooves, making an attempt to smile though it wasn't really that much of a smile.

A few more ponies stepped away from him.

"Come on, ponies! I know that your'e much more understanding than this! Uh, can you please speak out? This is a strange quiet! I don't like strange quiets because it makes me feel like that I've hurt somepony! Heh-heh-heh-heh."

A few more ponies backed away, shuddering, having on their faces expressions of fear. Some more looked away from them.

The scenery was still green, still peaceful. A few pegasi were flying in the sky.

Humerus was still sleeping.

"OK, who has the diplomatic skills for this?" Neon Guard said, looking at Blue Alarm. "This is not going to make Thorax proud." He glanced at the staring ponies. "What next? Maybe they'll seek revenge. Maybe they'll want us in jail! I'm not the one who's supposed to be having all these problems, not under this much tension!"

"What about we just explain what happened?" Blue Alarm replied, staying calm as could be heard in his tone, holding out a hoof towards his friend. He looked at Red Noise who was scared, looking at the ponies and being afraid. "Red Noise, it was just a conversation about the news. Why did you have to make it something to battle a pony about?"

"Well, he was the one brought it to such a horrible condition!" He pointed at the stallion.

The stallion looked at him, frowning. Then, he looked away.

"It's just morning and we've done enough quarelling for the day," Blue Alarm said. "Look at all the ponies you've affected! They're not going to be having a great afternoon and evening because they're going to be thinking about that moment when you almost punched a pony over something in the news! That doesn't sound like the changeling that Thorax would be happy to rule over!"

Red Noise frowned.

"Could you at least apologize to the ponies here?" Blue Alarm asked, pleading.

He slowly turned his head around to see the ponies there.

Most of them were still watching the changelings, looking at them with frowns, glares, and stares.

"I'm sorry, ponies."

His voice was quiet, remorseful, yet it could be heard by all the ponies there.

---

The four changelings were in the sky, flying, along with several other pegasi as they approached the city of Cloudsdale, that floating city of clouds. Its buildings contained the trappings of clouds—the roofs were usually made out of clouds. Waterfalls and rainbowfalls adorned Cloudsdale, giving it a colorful, vibrant feel.

"So, Rainbow Swoop was his name," Red Noise said. "And it turns out that he's a musician. And his albums are on sale at music stores around Equestria." He placed a hoof on his head. "Did I just argue with a musical celebrity?"

"Did you?" Humerus said. "That's great!"

"What's great about that?" Red Noise answered back, having a sorry tone. "What if he ends up writing a song against me? Or against the changelings?"

"He forgave you already, remember?" Humerus told him, smiling, extending his front hooves out as if to prove a point. "If he means it, he means it!"

"We could start a new friendship with him," Blue Alarm said. "We could start by buying one of his albums. And then, we can track him down and tell him that his music is good. A good conversastion starter is going to let a friendship grow into a big tree."

"Did Twilight say that?" Neon Guard asked.

"You could say I'm paraphrasing."

Then, they landed on the clouds of Cloudsdale.

Pegasi were flying about in this grand city. Much of the city was made out of clouds: the streets, the ground, the decorations, even the plants. Placed around in Cloudsdale were numerous flags representing Cloudsdale. The flag was blue with a rainbow circle behind two clouds. Even a few pegasi were holding and waving small Cloudsdale flags as they flew. Several pegasi also walked on the cloud streets and on the cloud grounds of their homes. There was a pegasus tending to his cloud plants—they looked like shrubs, except they were clouds.

In the distance, there were some stadiums decorated with clouds. The sounds of collective cheering and announcers' voices gave the stadiums activity and something to look forward to inside.

Some pegasi wore white uniforms—white shirts and white helmets.

"Those are the ponies working at the weather factory!" Humerus explained by yelling at his friends. "I went there once and Zephyr Breeze accompanied me there! It was awesome how they make the weather and everything that's in the sky! Zephyr even said that, if the pegasi want to, they could weaponize the weather."

His three changelings gave him weird looks as they walked in Cloudsdale.

"It would be cool to see them fight by using clouds and lightning, and then we could see them go, 'zap!', and then the enemies are zapped with lightning, rendering them stunned for a while."

"Where are you getting those ideas, Humerus?" Neon Guard asked. "We're not planning for any war against Equestria."

"Oh, it's just fanciful thinking for me!" Humerus said.

"Fanciful for you, dangerous for me," Red Noise said. "Then again, I do like to see pegasi battles with cloud weapons."

"That would be cool, right?! Hoofbump!"

And the two changelings bumped each others' hooves.

"I'll take you to the weather factory!" Humerus said. "But, they usually require somepony else to guide you there, usually a pegasus."

"I heard you needed a pegasus to guide you!" a raspy, excited voice called out.

"Rainbow Dash?!" the four changelings shouted in unison, surprised, looking at the mare herself.

She slowly hovered her way to the ground.

She sighed a sigh of confidence. She flipped her mane. "So, how do you like it if I, Rainbow Dash, was your guide for your visit to the weather factory?"

Humerus gasped, placing his front hooves on his face excitedly. "How can I ever qualify this as any other day?! This is one of the best days of my life!" He grabbed Red Noise. "Do you believe me?!"

"Uh, maybe?"

Neon Guard smiled. "Well, at least the Rainbow Dash is going to accompany us to the weather factory." He looked at Rainbow Dash, standing with a confident, proud look. "Why are you here and not in your house or in Ponyville?"

"Even though I'm loyal to Ponyville and my friends there, I still have to visit the city that I grew up in. Fluttershy and I grew up as friends here before we moved to Ponyville!"

"That's sweet!" Humerus expressed loudly.

A few pegasi glanced at the excited changeling.

Rainbow glanced at those pegasi.

"Uh, OK." She smiled a bold smile at the changelings. "Now, are you just going to wait there or are you going to fly already?" She flapped her wings and hovered above the ground. "Come on, changelings! Let's go!"

---

The grand, wide halls of the room displayed the neatness of it all—the clean silver floors, the clean silver walls. Pegasi wearing thick clothes and white helmets stood in front of tables containing many, many unique and different snowflakes of varying sizes. Each had its own design. Some of them were under magnifying glasses as pegasi observed them, sometimes using their tools to adjust the design. More snowflakes were in the baskets and the bowls on the table.

"First, we have the place where they make the snowflakes," Rainbow told them through whispers. "Each and every one of the snowflakes you see not just here but also during the winter are hoof-made. Why am I whispering? This job requires the ponies working to be delicate. Even one shout is enough to make the snowflakes fly about and some, if not many of them, could get broken." She eyed and glared at the very excited and jittery Humerus whose smile was wide. "I'm looking at you, Mr. I'm-Very-Happy."

Humerus placed a hoof on his mouth. "I'll be quiet for you, Rainbow!" he whispered with great enthusiasm and joy.

The working ponies turned around and looked at the changeling with irritated looks before they went back to their snowflake work.

Red Noise nudged him.

"Follow me," Rainbow ordered quietly.

In hushed hoofsteps, they walked towards one of the tables. A stallion pegasus was looking through the magnifying glass. On display on the silver and shiny plate were a few snowflakes, containing beautiful and elegant designs of exquisite quality.

"Now, don't breathe too much," Rainbow cautioned. "Snowflakes are very light, so even a mild gust of wind is enough to send it flying."

The changelings observed the pegasus at his work. He adjusted the magnifying glass which had formations of ice on it. He looked through it. Then, he adjusted it again. He glanced at the bowl of snowflakes, then he looked back at the snowflakes on the plate in front of him.

"He's checking if they're different enough and not too similar," Rainbow explained, accompanying her explanation with hoof gestures. "If he thinks that it needs some adjustments, there's always a few tools that he can use to modify the snowflake."

"And you do this every winter?" Blue Alarm asked. "It sounds like a tedious task to do every year."

"We've been doing this for hundreds of years," Rainbow answered confidently and quietly. "We got used to it. Not only did we get used to it, we improved it, perfected it!" She pointed a hoof towards the ceiling.

The changelings looked up.

White strings were holding large snowflakes.

"Do you like it?" Rainbow asked.

"It's very interesting," Blue Alarm said. "You don't get bored of doing the same thing every year?"

"They make sure that they make totally different snowflakes the next year," Rainbow assured. "Onto the next area!"

---

Walking outside from the cold snowflake area, Rainbow Dash and the changelings arrived at an ornately decorated room adorned with columns. Pegasi wearing the white shirt and the white helmet were carrying big mixing spoons or stirrers, some of them flying towards some of the floating bowls of rainbows, others already mixing the rainbows inside the bowls.

"This is where we create the rainbows!" Rainbow said, back in her normal volume. "Everyday, we send some rainbows. Makes the sky a lot more beautiful and appealing."

"I remember Pinkie telling me about the time she tried tasting one of the rainbows!" Humerus yelled, pointing a hoof at one of the huge bowls of rainbows. "She said it was spicy, even spicier than a bottle of spicy sauce!"

"You're supposed to admire the rainbows, not eat them!" Rainbow said, laughing a little. She smirked at the other changelings. "Although, if you want to, you can try!" She dipped one of her hooves into the rainbow mixture and presented her rainbow-dipped hoof to them. "Now, you try. I dare you!"

"Uh, it might not be good for me?" Neon Guard said, backing away from Rainbow with a scared look. "I'm alright with just seeing rainbows, not eating them!"

"I'll take the challenge!" Red Noise declared.

He dipped one of his hooves into the rainbow mixture and immediately tasted it. Then, his sure look went away as his face changed colors while he ran around yelling.

"Told ya'!" Rainbow said. Then, her smile went away. "Uh, didn't you see what happened to your friend?"

Blue Alarm dipped a hoof into the rainbow mixture and licked it.

Neon Guard groaned. "I'm really trying my best to stay out of this situation!"

And Humerus dipped a hoof into the rainbow mixture.

"Alright, that's enough eating!" Neon yelled, running towards his friends.

And the other two changelings' faces changed colors as Humerus yelled and shouted in pain while Blue Alarm held a calm face throughout it all.

The other pegasi working there stopped their stirring and looked at the chaotic changelings going about trying to relieve themselves of the spicy pain.

"Rainbow, can you tell them to stop?!" one of the pegasi demanded, glaring at Rainbow.

Rainbow smiled sheepishly. "Uh, changelings, let's go to the next area, shall we?"

---

Rainbow Dash and the changelings entered another room decorated with grand columns. Inside, there were rows and rows of purple machines spewing out clouds of different kinds—there were the simple clouds, then there were the clouds with complex shapes, then there were the clouds in between. Pegasi were at different places doing different tasks—some pegasi were holding stirrers, stirring the cloud mixture inside the machines, other pegasi were manually keeping the machine going by pushing on a step connected to each machine with it, while still other pegasi were carrying buckets of cloud mixture and pouring it into other machines that weren't so active. All of the pegasi were wearing that white uniform of a white shirt and a white helmet.

"Here's where we make the clouds!" Rainbow said. "Well, one part of the area, anyway!"

The changelings looked around in awe, observing the work of the pegasi as they coordinated with each other to create clouds of different shapes and sizes at regular intervals. Most of them were smiling as they worked, quite content and happy with the jobs that they have.

"I have this to say, Rainbow Dash," Blue Alarm said, facing Rainbow, "that this is quite an amazing accomplishment of the pegasi. Having to maintain and control the weather like this for how long?"

"Check the history books!" Rainbow answered with a proud tenacity. "We've been doing this for a long time, and we've only gotten better since!" She glanced at Humerus who was looking at her with an excited face. "And, didn't you say something about pegasi using lightning as weapons?"

Humerus gasped and immediately grabbed Red Noise. "She listened to us even before we knew she was there!"

"Will you keep it quiet!" one of the pegasi shouted. "Some of us are trying to concentrate! This is isn't an easy job, you know!"

Humerus pushed Red Noise away, almost making him hit one of the machines though he managed to fly away from it in time. Humerus smiled at the pegasus. "Well, I'll give you encouragement to do your job well! You have a great job and it's an important job! If you didn't do it well, there would be no clouds in Equestria and that would mean no rain and that would mean no food and that would mean everypony would starve!"

Rainbow Dash pushed Humerus away. "Sorry about that!" she said to the pegasus. "They're just visitors who are very excited to be here!"

---

Rainbow Dash closed the door.

"And, behold! The collection and storage of lightning!"

The room was sleek in design. The floor was shiny and metallic. The walls were shiny, too. On the shelves were jars of lightning of various colors, arranged neatly and in order. The glow of the lightnings lightened up the room. Signs on the shelves indicated what kind of lightning they were. Some signs showed a very sharp and jagged lightning, others showed a smooth lightning.

"Lightning wasn't really used as a weapon lately," Rainbow explained, "but, I sometimes take a jar of lightning for one of my pranks with Pinkie." She made a smirk. She grabbed one of the lightning jars. "Hold it with great care. It's amazing when you're this close to touching lightning!"

She held out the jar to Neon Guard.

He received the jar.

He inspected it, rotating it around with his hoof.

The lightning inside glowed a bright blue. It was static.

"This is...brilliant." He gave Rainbow a happy face. "You managed to contain lightning in a jar! How?"

"We're pegasi," Rainbow said confidently. "We place lightning inside a jar." She smiled.

"Can I hold the jar?!" Humerus yelled, reaching out his hoof towards the jar.

"Wait, don't grab it like that!"

"Hey, I was holding it first! Give me some time to look at it!"

"OK, let me try it!"

"Aren't you worried that we might break the jar and the lightning might shock us?"

The door opened.

Rainbow Swoop, in his white uniform, stood there, astounded and surprised at the sight of three changelings fighting over a jar of lightning while Rainbow and Blue Alarm were desperately attempting to resolve the problem.

"Uh, what's happening here?" he asked.

Rainbow Dash and the changelings stopped whatever they were doing and looked at Rainbow Swoop.

"We're still OK, right?" Red Noise asked, carefully holding the jar as his friends and Rainbow Dash went back to where they were. "We're now friends, right?"

"Everypony at the train was OK with it!" Rainbow Swoop said with a cheery attitude. "You don't have to worry about it all day long!" Then, he dropped the cheery attitude. "Although, I'm wondering about how you managed to almost break a jar of lightning. You know that it's dangerous to play with lightning." He looked at Rainbow. "You did tell them about it, didn't you?"

"I did," Rainbow Dash answered, then she pointed towards the changelings, "then one of them decided to take it for himself without being careful!"

"Are you trying to place the blame on another?" Rainbow Swoop asked. "It's not working."

"No! I'm not trying to blame one of the changelings! I'm just telling you the true story!"

Rainbow Swoop sighed. "Fine. I'll take it." He looked at the changelings. "It's not as bad as it sounds. You're just going to get electrified by the lightning as it escapes the jar. Besides, we have an abundance of lightning here!" He pointed a hoof towards the many jars of lightning in the room. "As long as nopony makes lightning production unstable, you'll face no trouble!"

"Does that mean the tour is done?" Humerus asked, saddened.

"Well, yeah, it's done," Rainbow answered. "But, that's just only one place in Cloudsdale! What about you just spend the day here and enjoy yourselves in the amazing city of Cloudsdale? I'll still be your guide throughout the day! And, maybe you might meet Fluttershy and her family!"

"Oh, I already met them!" Humerus shouted.

The three changelings looked at him.

"We know that already, Humerus," Blue Alarm said.

Comments

[Xanderfox]

Seriously they need a straight jacket for Humerus.