The Strangers in Ponyville

by PhycoKrusk

Everything Is Going to Be Fine

It was the day after the short-lived battle that would become just another memory for Ponyville that Princess Twilight Sparkle had called everyone to town hall. They had begun to gather at the front door at noon, and by half-past, every resident was present and Twilight took to the stage, a small valise carried along in her magic field. She stopped at the center where a microphone had been set up — connected to a simple loudspeaker — and the valise settled onto the stage beside her, a small stack of notecards making their way out and coming to hover just to one side and slightly below her head so that her face was not obscured.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, everypony,” she said, her voice amplified only enough to carry to the back of the not very large crowd. “Last night, I promised that by this afternoon, I would have a meeting with Mayor Mare and then address all of you with the information we had, and I am here to do that now. After reviewing the statements that you made with the Royal Guard as well as with Mayor Mare, it is clear to me that you are all very concerned about the presence of a changeling in Ponyville, and are concerned about the whereabouts of Lyra Heartstrings. After conducting our investigation and several interviews, we have been able to determine the following facts.”

Twilight stopped then, and although she did well to conceal it, those closest to the stage could nonetheless see her draw in a deep breath and shuffle her hooves. “The changeling that was disguised as Lyra Heartstrings is, in fact, Lyra Heartstrings, and always has been.”

A murmur swept over the crowd as ponies tried to make sense of that statement. “I didn’t believe it myself, at first, but this fact has been corroborated by a Crown Agent who has been observing Ms Heartstrings for a length of time. The exact length of time, and the identity of the Agent in question are currently considered secret, but I will be submitting a formal appeal to Princess Celestia in order to discover this information.” Twilight grinned shakily. “Apparently, even a Princess has to ask permission sometimes.” When a moment passed without a response, she shuffled her notecards and cleared her throat.

“Besides Lyra Heartstrings, another changeling known as Driftwood is also present, having arrived here with me and my entourage last night. His presence was known prior to the events last night, and he is here by order of the Crown. Additionally, the pony known as Golden Harvest is also a changeling, real name Harper Heartstrings. We have been able to confirm that there is a residence record for a Harper Heartstrings in Canterlot, officially documented as the cousin of Lyra Heartstrings, and who left Canterlot on the morning of the Twentieth of First Fire, Two Thousand Fifty Nine, which lines up with the arrival of Golden Harvest in Ponyville on the evening of the Twentieth of First Fire, Two Thousand Fifty Nine. So far, we haven’t been able to confirm the existence of another Golden Harvest, but are continuing to search Midland records.”

Twilight paused to shuffle her notecards again, and someone called from the crowd, “How’d you catch that one?” A low murmur of agreement followed.

“Please save any questions for the end,” Twilight replied. “But this is relevant to what I was about to say, so I’ll answer it now. Harper Heartstrings self-surrendered to my Guards last night, so that her sister wouldn’t have to face the inquiry alone.”

The murmur that followed that information was hushed to Twilight, but she could nonetheless hear one or two pockets of approval: Changelings were not something that Ponyvillians understood, but putting family first — even at great personal cost — was.

Switching her cards again, she continued. “Concerning the self-proclaimed ‘changeling hunters,’ I want to reiterate that the Crown has not reinstated the bounty on changelings, and there is no individual bounty placed on anyone presently in or around Ponyville. The four stallions last night were found in possession of forged documents and are not lettered bounty hunters, and will be dealt with appropriately.”

Twilight moved on to her next card, and then the whole stack moved through the air to rest in the valise she’d taken them from originally. “Lastly, our resident Guard cohort has had no change in its readiness. After our investigation, we’re confident there isn’t some other plot being worked, so there is no benefit to an increase in security, especially when dragging them all with me to and back from Hoofington has disrupted enough schedules already,” she said. She took a moment to look out at the crowd, and then added, “Are there any questions now?”

She was met with silence. Some of the crowd looked to their neighbors to see what they thought, and low murmurs were heard here and there and some asked what their neighbors thought. After a moment, a dark-coated pegasus near the front, whom Twilight recognized as Thunderlane, raised his hoof and asked, “What happens now?”

“Now?” Twilight began. “Now, we do what we’ve always done. We remember what happened as another one of the experiences we never thought we’d have. We repair the damage that was caused. And we come together to help our friends and neighbors who need it, pony or otherwise.

“You all —” Twilight paused, and drew in a deep breath. “You all know what happened at my brother’s wedding. There’s more that happened that hasn’t been discussed publicly, but the end result of that fiasco is that I’m afraid of changelings, for no reason other than they’re changelings. That’s no better a reason than being afraid of roses because they have thorns, or quesadillas because they’re full of cheese, but it’s true. I know that some of you have been concerned, worried or even afraid of them because of what you read in the newspapers or magazines. We’ve been afraid of changelings because of what others have said about them, and not because of what they’ve done. We’ve been afraid of them because of what they are, and not who they are, and that’s not who we are.

“Maybe we used to be like that, but we’ve all grown since then. We know better, now, even if we stumble sometimes, and we can look around us and see scores of ponies, and donkeys, and cattle, and who can say how many other creatures we wouldn’t count among our friends if we didn’t know better.

“I don’t —” Twilight paused, and drew in a deep breath — “I don’t think this is going to be simple. We’re just discovering that there are… individuals living with us that we don’t know as well as we thought we did. But should that matter? Should we let that change who we are? What we do? No, it shouldn’t, and it won’t. We’re better than that. We’re more than that. Whether the strangers we meet are old friends or new, they’re still friends, and if they treat us kindly and generously, if they behave honestly, help us to smile and stand by our side, then we will treat them the same, because we are Ponyville, and that is who we are.”

Twilight was answered with the stomping of hooves as the crowd, whether moved by harmony or by the magic of friendship, broke into applause. Not raucous or deafening, but enthusiastic nonetheless. She raised her own hoof and wiped her eyes and looked out at the crowd with a smile.

Everything was going to be fine.

Author's Note:

“Everything is going to be fine” is not, in fact, any kind of personal life advice that I offer. But given the general tone of this and other Strangerverse stories, “Don’t worry, be happy” doesn’t fit quite as well.

I’d say I struggle with offering life advice, but I don’t really worry about that.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Good. Was kinda hoping Twilight would do something like this. It's perhaps too early to outright say "changelings welcome", but the undertone is clear enough.