It Takes a Village to Reform a Changeling

by MattTOB

Chapter 5: An Open-Minded Party

It Takes a Village to Reform a Changeling

Chapter 5: An Open-Minded Party

---

Mandibles and Spike stepped out of the Boutique and into the evening sun. It didn't exactly feel like it took forever; it was more like half of forever.

Mandy pondered over the paradoxical nature of that thought for a moment before Rarity waved him off. "Ta-ta, darlings! Oh, and Mandy? Just for today, I'll say that counted towards your community service."

Mandy looked back. "Really? Why, thank you, Rarity!"

She nodded. "Don't mention it. I'll see you again soon!" With that, she closed the door and headed back inside.

Spike sighed blissfully. "She's so generous..."

Mandy flicked his tongue out, tasting the large amount of love Spike was emitting. "And I'd say you are as well."

Spike looked at him. "Whaddya mea–?"

But before Spike could finish the thought, a pink blur had snatched away Mandy.

"Uh, Mandy?"

---

One moment, he was talking to Spike; then in less than the blink of an eye, Mandy found himself inside a dimly lit bakery.

"Uh, Spike?" He asked nervously, looking into the darkness with his night vision and finding the room to be lined with party decorations. "Anyone? Where am I?"

Suddenly, the lights turned on, blinding him momentarily. When he opened them, he almost wished he hadn't.

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie and 3 others cheered out as they jumped from behind the counter. One of the three mares, a cream-colored earth pony with blue-and-pink hair, said it more reluctantly, as though she were coerced into attending by another; the second, who Mandy recognized as Fluttershy, cheered more timidly (such was her nature); and the last mare, an aquamarine unicorn with a pale cyan and white mane, was excitedly cheering while eyeing him curiously.

Pinkie approached him quickly. "Welcome to Ponyville, Mandy! I'm so excited to host a party for you because I've never held a party for a changeling before! Well, except for the time when I inadvertently threw a party for Chrysalis when she was impersonating Cadance, but that doesn't count since I didn't know! And since my welcoming wagon is in the shop, I thought I'd just pick you up and bring you here for a party!"

Mandy had many, MANY questions and concerns about this situation, but the only one he managed to voice to the Element of Laughter was, "B-but where's Spike–?"

Pinkie gasped in an overly cartoonish manner. "He wanted to come?! Why didn't you say so sooner!?" And with that, she was gone.

Mandy looked helplessly at the others in the room.

The earth pony, named Bon Bon, explained, "That's Pinkie Pie. She's a bit..."

"Nutty?" The unicorn, Lyra, offered.

"I was gonna say 'eccentric', but that works, too."

Mandy looked warily between the three. Honestly, it was a larger turnout than he would've ever expected (that is, if he were given the chance to expect it in the first place).

After another moment of silence, Pinkie zipped in, depositing Spike next to Mandy. He blinked, then his eyelids fell to halfway as he deadpanned, "Oh, it's Pinkie Pie. That explains it."

Pinkie either ignored the comment or missed it entirely. "Sorry it's such a small party; I tried to get more ponies to come, but for some reason, everypony was being a mean ol' grumpy grump-face and refused!"

"Between the Changeling and the Party Loon, it isn't hard to imagine why," Mandy retorted under his breath.

Despite how quietly he was talking, Pinkie seemed to hear this, and she gasped. "Why would they not like my party balloons?!"

Mandy went to reply, but Spike held a claw in front of him. "It's not worth it, Mandy; trust me."

Pinkie quickly moved on from that, springing into the air and hanging there for just a bit too long, before pulling out a glass of cider from seemingly nowhere. "Now, let's PAAAR-TAY!"

Mandy couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her enthusiasm. He flicked out his tongue to taste her emotions, but stopped dead in his tracks.

Yes, most of her aura was joy and excitement.

But it was covering up an underlying depression.

His eyes widened. That'd certainly explain her overeager nature...

Suddenly, he didn't want to heckle her anymore, make jokes at her expense, or anything like that.

All he wanted to do was make her happy.

Sighing, he took the mug from the party planner and drank a swig.

---

His head was pounding and his body aching when he woke up the next morning. Groaning, he staggered to his hooves, the contents of his distended belly sloshing and churning. "Ugh... What happened?" He blearily asked nobody in particular, resisting the urge to vomit.

Looking around, he marvelled at the sight before him. He was still in Sugar Cube Corner, but the venue was almost entirely trashed. Tables were flipped, cake was lying discarded on the ground, the punch bowl had been spilt, and several extra ponies that hadn't been there at the start of the party lay unconscious all across the room.

Also, Pinkie Pie was hanging by her tail from one of the rafters.

She stirred, seeming uncharacteristically lethargic. "Wow," she began, "even I'M pooped after that party!"

"Pinkie, I can't seem to remember what happened," Mandy began, delicately treading around his headache. "Care to elaborate?"

"Oh, well," she took a deep breath, then rattled off rather slowly: "I had the great idea to press some cider specifically for the occasion, since you've probably never had cider before, right?"

Mandy nodded.

"Thought so. Anyways, you seemed to like it so much that you drank almost an entire gallon, and you got REALLY drunk because of it!"

Mandy licked his lips, still able to taste the cider. That would certainly explain his stomach ache.

"Spike got in on the action, too – which surprised me at first, but now that I think about it, he IS nearly as old as Twilight, so I suppose it's okay – and so did I, not wanting to be left out. Then you suggested doing something for your community service, so we all tried to bake some cake, but... let's just say that drunk ponies and kitchen utensils don't mix well," she trailed off sheepishly, blushing.

Mandy blinked, looking around the room yet again. Sure enough, there was half-cooked cake batter splattered haphazardly in places, and some cooking utensils were also scattered across the floor.

"You got a bit pouty after that, so I called in a favor with some of my friends and they came to try and cheer you up. They asked what was wrong, and you started on this whole spiel about how your Mom never loved you, and how you're afraid that everypony else will be the same after what happened in Canterlot..."

Mandy froze up completely as she continued to ramble on, but he wasn't listening anymore. Did he really say that last night?! He'd never admitted that to anyone – not even himself!

Suddenly, Mandy felt like he wanted nothing more than to hole himself up in Twilight's Library and die of embarrassment.

"Y'know what, Pinkie," he interrupted, trying to save face, "It's been real fun and all, but I need to get going. Twilight's probably worried sick."

Pinkie blinked, her ears drooping. "Oh, I see. Well, at least let me have somepony escort you home to help explain yourself!"

Mandy sighed. "Sure, why not?"

Pinkie smiled and turned to one of the unconscious ponies, who Mandy only now recognized as Applejack, shaking her awake.

"Whuzzuh?" she mumbled groggily. "Pinkie? What happened last night?"

Pinkie took a deep breath and began to repeat the entire story she'd told Mandy. The Changeling groaned, resting his head and tuning the world out as he waited for the party mare to finish.

---

22 minutes (and some commercial breaks) later, Pinkie was waving off Applejack and Mandy as they headed towards the library.

As they walked, Mandy couldn't help noticing Applejack's sidelong glances at him. He'd expected something like that, seeing as his kind still wasn't exactly on good terms with ponies, but AJ's looks were different. They weren't judging or scathing;

They seemed almost... sympathetic?

Just how much of last night had Pinkie told her?

Eventually, she broke the silence: "How ya doin', Mandy?"

Mandy grunted. "I feel nauseous and hung over, and I'm still dreading what Twilight'll say. But why would you care, anyway?"

AJ looked away, biting her lip. Then she steeled herself, and said something he hadn't expected:
"Ah'm sorry."

Mandy blinked. "For what?"

"Ah'm sorry for judgin' you just because yer a Changelin'. That don't make ya any less of a pony; Ah see that now. Ya may be a creepy bug thingy with almost zero social skills, but ya still got worries, desires, and... and Ah almost refused ta see it just because o' the Invasion."

Mandy stopped dead in his tracks, unable to form words. Why was she being so sympathetic?! He couldn't quite wrap his head around it, but regardless, the fact that she admitted her mistake, and that she cared...

It felt nice.

"Th-thanks..." he managed, allowing a small smile to grace his lips. "You have no idea how much it means to me that somepony cares."

Applejack returned this with a grin. "Aw, don't mention it, sugarcube. Now c'mon, let's get ya back ta Twilight's."

She continued on, but he hung back for a moment. "Hey, uh, Applejack?"

The farmer turned her head. "Yeah?"

He swallowed his pride. "I think today, after we talk to Twilight, that I wanna help you out with your work. Y'know, for the community service, and... and because it'll be nice to hang out with a..." he hesitated, the upcoming word feeling unfamiliar on his forked tongue. "...with a friend."

AJ blinked, then smiled. "Ah'd like that very much, Mandy."

And with that, they continued in a comfortable silence.

Comments

[MattTOB]

10393891
Apparently, there are two versions of her or something. One (who's a unicorn) is aide to Celestia in The Crystal Empire Part 1; the other (who's an earth pony) is Mayor Mare's aide in both Luna Eclipsed and Filli Vanilli (and also appears in Canterlot in Spice Up Your Life). It's rather inconsistent.

[Yoshifan30]

"Oh, well," she took a deep breath, then rattled off rather slowly: "I had the great idea to press some cider specifically for the occasion, since you've probably never had cider before, right?"

"Thought so. Anyways, you seemed to like it so much that you drank almost an entire gallon, and you got REALLY drunk because of it!"

A little hangover Reference nice man

[Yoshifan30]

Wow pinkie pie knows how to throw a party and mandy dang I didn't know he was this upset with Chrysalis not treating him and thorax and pharynx well well mostly mandy now at least they have got to know him better and started to bound with some of the ponys

[KittyrinnAiko]

I just have to post this here.

[KittyrinnAiko]

10394634
Raven has many incarnations.

[Amos Anon]

But it was covering up an underlying depression.

Holey smokes

[SomePersonOnTheInternet]

10541924
Indeed

[JazzyWaffles]

He swallowed his pride. "I think today, after we talk to Twilight, that I wanna help you out with your work. Y'know, for the community service, and... and because it'll be nice to hang out with a..." he hesitated, the upcoming word feeling unfamiliar on his forked tongue. "...with a friend."

Dawwwwwww

[Revluc_The_Pony]

WOW.