Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Abdo

"It is a lovely day, isn't it?" the changeling said to the pony as they looked at the sky.

The sky was clear with no clouds. The sun shone brightly on to the ground. Several pegasi flew around in the sky, but they weren't clouding the view. A few laughs could be heard.

"It is a lovely day," the pony replied. "But, what are we gonna do?"

"What else do ponies do?" the changeling asked as they stood on the grass. Behind them were a few homely cottages. "I've discovered throughout the weeks that ponies can do lots of things and have lots of abilities and skills, but I'm sure there's still some things that I don't know about yet."

The pony giggled. "Well, do you want to find out?"

"I guess you know about some other things to do," the changeling said. "I heard that it's not, uh, uncommon."

"What's not uncommon?" The pony sported a confused look on his face.

"I don't know what I'm talking about." The changeling made an awkward smile and shrugged. "You're the one who's supposed to know the thing that we can do."

"I'll see," the pony said. "Do you have any of your changeling friends here from your place?"

"Not that I know of," the changeling answered.

"It's to think about," the pony said. "Well, I'm not sure what I can do about it."

"But, what are you talking about?" the changeling asked. "I don't know what it is that you're talking about. You're talking like this and that, but what is it you're talking about?"

"What about I keep that a surprise?" The pony smiled.

"I'm not so happy about surprises," the changeling said. "I'm wary about them."

"Don't you worry!" the pony said. "It's not going to be a bad surprise! I promise you, you'll have a good time!"

"Good time?"

"It's not much to think about."

"What if it is?"

"What about I just lead you there?"

"OK. As long as you won't surprise me badly."

The pony walked away.

The changeling followed the pony.

---

Pinkie Pie trotted her way through town, smiling while she trotted. She looked at each pony she passed by and greeted them. She waved a hoof at them and the pony would wave back. After a while, she sighed, wiped the sweat off of her face. "That's the happiness quota! Happiness greeting quota, that is! I don't know if I was able to get better on that from last time! Better? I wanna say that it was the best!" She jumped off to the air. "Although I don't know if I have enough confetti for my party cannon for tonight." She placed a hoof on her chin, pondering.

"Pinkie!" the stallion said as he approached the mare. Beside him was the changeling.

"Wensley!" Pinkie said, hugging him and the changeling. "How's the Apple family at Rainbow Falls, huh? I bet you're making tons of Zap Apple jam, huh? Because, the zap apples look like rainbow apples, and there are rainbows that are pouring out of the sky and they look like rainbow falls because they are rainbow falls!"

"Ah, it's alright!" Wensley replied. He looked at the changeling. "So, have you met him yet?"

"Abdo?" Pinkie said. "Of course, I know him, the changeling who likes to talk to other ponies!"

"Is that the thing you know me for?" Abdo asked. "Should I be proud of that?"

"Of course, you should!" Pinkie said, patting the changeling. "Talking to other ponies leads to lots of wonderful conversations about their lives, about their personalities, about their plans, about everything! You can even make more friends! You can ask me!"

"Ask you about what, Pinkie?"

"About the conversation!"

"The one we're having now?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm confused."

"You should be!"

"What?"

Pinkie laughed. Then, she brought a hoof around the changeling's head. "You can make lots of friends by talking with me because I'm friends with all the ponies in this town! Do you want to try and talk to me?"

The stallion laughed.

The changeling eyed the laughing stallion.

"Don't worry about that pony," Pinkie said, "he's sometimes like that. Wensley—always laughing!"

"He wasn't laughing when I first met him."

"That's because that's when you first met him!" Pinkie said. "Now, let's get going to Sugarcube Corner if you're up to the challenge of helping me out at the counter."

"Wait, help you out at your job?"

Pinkie nodded.

Abdo glanced at Wensley.

He was laughing.

"I should've known!"

"Should've known what?" Pinkie asked. "That you were going to help me keep the customers happy?"

"I wasn't thinking about it!"

"Aww, that's alright!" Pinkie said. "I understand if you're tired from whatever work that you're working on, if you do have a job, that is. Oh, I guess you have a job! Otherwise, why would you be here?"

"What does that have to do with me being in Ponyville?"

"Maybe you're here for a meeting!"

"There are no places to meet here!"

"Oh, there's the castle of my good friend, Twilight Sparkle!" Pinkie said. "Twilight always has meetings sometimes! Royal meetings with leaders like King Thorax who turns out to be your king! Isn't this amazing? You're going to meet with your king again and Princess Twilight Sparkle on the same day inside the castle!"

"And you'll take me there?" Abdo asked.

"Why not?" Pinkie asked. "Isn't it great to meet King Thorax and Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

"Uh, I wasn't going to Ponyville for that purpose or reason."

"Changing up the schedule, that's what I do here in Ponyville!" Pinkie said. She laughed. Then, Pinkie grabbed the changeling and galloped towards the castle.

Wensley stood there, his mouth open. Wensley laughed.

---

"Now, don't look!" Pinkie said, looking at the changeling. "This has to be a surprise!"

"That's what Wensley told me!"

"Wensley will tell you lots of things," Pinkie said, "but what about me? I'll tell you more than a lot of things, OK? Now, you can look!"

"But, my eyes were open all the time!"

Pinkie smiled. "That means that I forgot to open the doors!"

She opened the double doors in front of them.

"And, here they are!" Pinkie said. "Now, are you happy?"

"Happy about what?"

Thorax and Twilight Sparkle were looking at Pinkie Pie and Abdo at the entrance.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, I was just going to bring one of the changelings along for the trip to the castle because he apparently wants to eat something over here that Spike must've cooked! I wonder where Spike is!"

"Spike is at the kitchen," Twilight said, "if that's what you were wondering. But, why did you decide to come here at this time? You know that I'm having a royal meeting with Thorax."

"It's OK, Twilight," Thorax said. "I was getting tired."

Twilight looked at Thorax. "Oh, you were?"

"Being a king is tiring."

Twilight kept looking at Thorax. "So, you want to do something else other than just talk about the meeting?"

"I wasn't here for a meeting, anyway."

Twilight looked surprised. "Wait, what?!"

"I was just kidding!" Thorax said. "But, I need more than just meetings."

"Wait, who's going to talk to Abdo?" Pinkie asked.