Chapter 19: Tales of Ponyville
It Takes a Village to Reform a Changeling
Chapter 19: Tales of Ponyville
Story 1: The Changeling and The Wasp
Mandy, Thorax, and all 6 Elements (plus their pets and Spike) sat in the park, having a picnic.
"So," Fluttershy began, "Mandy says that you're really nice, like me?"
Thorax blushed. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm as kind as you, what with you being Element of Kindness. But compared to other Changelings, I suppose I am."
AJ smiled. "An' he's modest, too."
Spike then asked, "I'm curious; if you're so gentle, then what exactly did you do back in the hive?"
"Well, I was mainly a janitor, although sometimes, my brother Pharynx would get me to go on patrols with him."
"So you're kinda like me," the little dragon smiled, holding out a fist.
Thorax, unsure of what to do, stared at it. Spike gestured to Thorax's hoof, then bumped his own fist with his other in demonstration. The bug hesitantly reached out his hoof and they bumped together gingerly.
"Eh, we can work on it," Spike shrugged.
"You two keep mentioning this 'Pharynx' character," Rarity restarted the conversation, "What's he like?"
Thorax smiled in remembrance. "He's the eldest of our brood, and the head of patrols. He's really tough like the other Changelings, but deep down, he cares about us. He used to scare off bullies that'd tease me for being weak."
Mandy added, "Then he'd berate you for being weak, too."
Thorax nodded. "Yeah, but it was always from a place of concern. That's why he started bringing me on patrols, and that's also why I was dragged along to the invasion."
Twilight shuddered at the memory.
Applejack then asked, "Speaking of which, you said you saw us all during that?"
Thorax nodded. "I saw you six fighting the swarm, in such perfect harmony with each other! I'd never seen friendship like that, and something inside me just refused to let me feed on it. I'm thankful Mandy came back for me when he did, because honestly, I was thinking about running away anyway."
Fluttershy cooed, "I understand not feeling like you belong with your peers. When I fell out of Cloudsdale, I didn't want to return for fear of being bullied again. Then I met Rarity, and she was the one who convinced me to live in Ponyville."
Rarity blinked. "Really? I'm the reason you moved here?"
"You were always just so kind to me!"
The fashionista's face flushed red. "I'm touched, Fluttershy!"
Twilight added, "And Rainbow Dash moved here because of Fluttershy, right?" Rainbow nodded. "So in essence, Rainbow Dash moved here because of Rarity!"
Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other. "I guess you're right, Twi," the prismatic pegasus admitted.
Then Pinkie butted in, "I think we're getting off-topic here."
Mandy blinked. "Pinkie Pie getting the conversation back on topic? Now I've seen everything..."
They all laughed (except for Thorax, who didn't understand the jab).
After the picnic, the six Elements began to play with their pets, Spike and Thorax looked through the former's comic collection, and Mandy was left to sit on the sidelines.
All alone.
Mandy frowned, then muttered to himself, "I know this is rather cliché for this kind of story, but I really want a pet now..."
Somehow, Fluttershy heard him from all the way across the field, and she closed the distance between them with speed that rivaled Pinkie Pie. "YOU DO!?" she whisper-shouted.
Mandy jumped back with a yelp, but Fluttershy was prepared; she zipped around him, catching him on her back, and she began to cart him off to her cottage.
One song later, Mandy was let loose to look at all the pets. He walked amongst animals such as mice, parrots, flamingos (Thorax would love those, Mandy absently noted), squirrels, and even a seal!
Finally, he stopped when he saw something he liked: a ring-tailed wasp with eyes as blue as the evening sky.
"She's quite reserved," Fluttershy explained, "but she's got a heart as sweet as honey."
Mandy looked down at the wasp; she looked back with starry blue compound eyes.
He smiled as he came up with the perfect name.
Thorax regarded Mandy's new pet with curiosity. "Her name's Vesper? Like the Changeling word for 'wasp'?"
Mandy nodded. "It also means 'Evening' in Old Ponish, according to Twilight."
"Oh, I see; her eyes are like an evening sky," his brother reasoned.
"Exactly."
With a flash of green fire, Thorax turned into a wasp and hovered in front of Vesper. "Nice to meet you," he greeted.
Vesper stared back, and Mandy could sense an animalistic confusion emanating from her. "She'll have to get used to that..."
Story 2: Ponysona
"What's your pony form?"
Mandy looked up from the book he was reading. "Pardon?"
Twilight elaborated, "You were an infiltrator before, right? Did you have a fictional alter ego you defaulted to? Or did you only use existing ponies?"
Mandy thought back. "Well, most of the time, I'd go with a pegasus I named 'Harrowing Winds'."
A swirl of burgundy fire surrounded him, and when it dissipated, there stood a cream-colored pegasus. His cyan mane was windswept, his burgundy eyes were piercing, and his flank sported a Cutie Mark depicting a feather in a hurricane.
Twilight looked him over. "What's his backstory?" She eventually asked.
Mandy recited almost instinctually, "He's from Fillydelphia, where he grew up with his parents Dreary Skies and Mrs. Flora. He left home at 18, determined to travel the world and make friends."
Twilight chuckled. "That's incredibly generic, but okay."
He shot back, "That's the point! 'Go for the average, so you don't attract attention to yourself'; that's the first thing we learn in espionage training!"
She shook her head. "Or attract more attention by being a living cliché...."
Mandy frowned. It'd taken him three weeks to create that persona!
"Wow," he stage-whispered to Vesper, who was sitting on a bookshelf nearby, "Everybody's a critic..."
Story 3: Ponyville Tour
Thorax was walking down Main Street with Spike, who was pointing out landmarks like a tour guide. Several ponies were looking his way, but unlike when Mandy had first arrived, they were now used to seeing a Changeling around town, and some of them even waved at him.
"Mandy's right; this place IS really friendly!" Thorax remarked.
Spike chuckled. "It wasn't always like that, though; Mandy was pretty heavily ostracized when he first came here. Heck, a mob once harassed him when he was just trying to talk to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
Thorax blinked. "Who?"
Spike slapped himself. "Right, I should probably warn you about them. They're three fillies – Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, the sisters of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash respectively – who are constantly doing all sorts of crazy things in attempts to get their Cutie Marks."
"What sort of crazy things?" The bug asked.
"They've zip-lined, jumped off a bridge, made a love poison,–" (Thorax gagged at the thought) "–hunted for a chicken in the Everfree Forest, made a potion to try and force their Marks to appear, and PLENTY of other things. They've done so much to earn their Cutie Marks, but the only thing they end up with is a bunch of tree sap stuck in their pelts."
Thorax blinked.
"You'd be surprised how often–"
"Mandy and Applejack already did this joke!" Pinkie Pie leaned in out of nowhere to stop Spike from recycling jokes, then returned to wherever she'd come from.
Thorax looked around wildly, trying to see where the party mare had come from or gone to.
"Oh, and you ought to know," Spike added, "the first rule of living in Ponyville: Don't question Pinkie Pie."
Thorax nodded absently. "I think I got that already..."
They continued on with the tour, unaware that someling nearby was watching them.
Only, instead of mal-intent, they were watching with curiosity...
Story 4: Deadpan Poet's Society
Today was certainly a strange day.
It started when Pinkie Pie mentioned that her sister Maud would be visiting today, and she had everybody taste-test several pounds of rock candy.
After recovering from the resulting stomachache, Mandy was told to wait in the library while they met up with her (they said that Maud would need to be eased into the company of a Changeling).
So after a while of playing card games with Spike (the baby dragon was surprisingly good at Go Fish, but Mandy absolutely dominated in War), they were alerted of Twilight's approach when they heard the door open.
"Alright, Maud," they heard her saying, "I have somepony I want you to meet, so please keep an open mind."
"Okay," a monotone voice replied.
Mandy blinked. Why did she sound so unenthused? She was Pinkie Pie's sister, wasn't she?
Before he could think further on it, the door to their room opened, and in stepped the Princess of Friendship, followed closely by a gray pony with flat purple hair. He could also see Pinkie Pie behind them, playing around on the bookshelves' ladder.
Twilight gestured to the bug. "Maud, this is Mandy. He's a Changeling, but he's a nice one."
Maud looked at him for a long while, her face expressionless but her emotional aura continually fluctuating between too many emotions to name.
Finally, she turned to look at Spike, and deadpanned, "And who's the dragon?"
Twilight was taken aback by her lack of reaction, but after a moment, she absently replied, "That's Spike, my adoptive brother and assistant."
She blinked rather slowly, then said levelly, "Nice to meet you. I'm Maud Pie."
Mandy stared at the enigma of a pony. She was incredibly subdued in her outward appearance, but her emotions were still very much intact.
He tried to start up a conversation. "So, uh, Maud... Tell me about yourself."
She looked at him silently before replying, "I like rocks and geology"
He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that makes sense; Pinkie Pie did mention she grew up on a rock farm, whatever that is."
"A rock farm is like a farm, except we harvest rocks," she explained without batting an eye.
Not knowing what to do with that, he decided to drop the subject altogether. "Right... So, what else do you like?"
"Minerals, plate tectonics... Oh, and I dabble with poetry, too."
That got everyone's attention. "Poetry?" Mandy asked.
Twilight became a little excited. "Ooh, I wanna hear some poetry!"
Maud nodded, and Mandy sensed excitement radiating from her expressionless exterior. She cleared her throat and began to recite.
Rock
You are a rock
Grey
You are grey
Like a rock
Which you are
Rock
She finished and looked around the room, at all the flabbergasted faces around her.
"That was... Certainly something," Twilight said politely. Mandy didn't even need to use his Changeling senses to tell she was uncomfortable.
And if he was being honest, he was on the fence about her. He could still tell that she was trying her best; she just had a different way of expressing her feelings.
But he'd be lying if her expressiveness (or rather, her lack thereof) wasn't somewhat off-putting.
"I've written thousands." Maud mentioned.
"She's so prolific!" Pinkie Pie called from the other room.
Maud nodded. "This next one's about rocks. They're all about rocks."
She took a breath and began to recite a second one:
Rocks
These are my rocks
Sediments
Make me sentimental
Smooth and round
And asleep in the ground
Shades of brown and grey
For a moment, everyone stood in silence.
Then, Mandy had an idea of how to get her to emote. A whirl of burgundy fire encompassed him, and when it vanished, he had transformed into a generic rock.
Maud looked at him with what seemed like scrutiny, before uttering two simple words:
"Needs work"
He transformed back. "What do you mean?"
She took a deep breath, then explained at length: "For starters, your form wasn't an actual type of rock. It had the coloration of shale, but it was igneous in its structure, had the texture of galena, the density of pyrite, and the chemical make-up of limestone. Furthermore, the shape of the rock was too unnatural to have reasonably formed naturally. The bottom face was perfectly flat so it could lay evenly on the ground, but rocks don't form that way; they dig into the ground, or have air gaps. If I found that rock in the wild, I would assume it was a Changeling."
Everybody in the room gaped at the mono-toned earth pony that had just thoroughly deconstructed his disguise.
Twilight eventually found her voice. "W-wow... You're good," she conceded.
"Mm-hmm," she nodded slowly.
Mandy was next to speak: "Okay, so how would you suggest I make my form?"
She looked to a shelf, found a book about geology, and turned to a page with a bunch of pictures of rocks. She pointed to a specific image and said, "You already have the coloration of slate, so I would go with that."
Mandy studied the image carefully, then transformed into a rock that, to Twilight and Spike, looked exactly like the illustration.
Maud's lips curled ever-so slightly. "That's better. Not great, but better."
Pinkie leapt in and gasped upon seeing Maud's face. "Look at that! You've already made her so happy!"
"Indeed," she confirmed monotonously.
Mandy turned back to his normal form, then sensed her emotions. Pinkie was right; she was actually rather amused!
He smiled. "Y'know what, Maud? I think I like you."
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An interesting chapter, you might need to fix the paragraphs near the end of the chapter after the second poem.
Thorax looked around wildly, trying to see where the party mare had come from or gone to.
"Oh, and you ought to know," Spike added, "the first rule of living in Ponyville: Don't question Pinkie Pie."
Thorax nodded absently. "I think I got that already..."
I know right dang it pinkie pie lol
Ok wow so we are going through a slice of life episodes one by one so anyway looks like thorax is pretty much be Comfortable with the main 6 and spike thats pretty cool and mandy got him self a pet thanks to fluttershy lol and It looks like the tour around ponyville is nice as well and hello looks like we have a spy there huh I wonder who could that be but anyway it looks like maud Made her appearance sweet and even her monotone emotion mandy can scene her but maud Got a pretty good conversation with him This was a pretty good chapter and As I said before who's spying on them I guess we will found out next time
He smiled. "Y'know what, Maud? I think I like you."
Maud took awhile to answer " I like you too "
I'm juts imagine fluttershy just do something out of a anime or something when Mandy says he wants a pet.
Did you by any chance read some of my stories?
I’m kinda worried for the fourth wall it’s bad enough that Pinkie is a habitual fourth wall breaker but it seems Mandy is learning how to from her
That last one, beautiful.
That was great.
Leave it to Maud to be able to find the flaws in a changeling's disguise of a rock.
I mean, it's chiastic, so it does infact meet a certain definition of "poem".