I was playing catch outside of my mom’s house, with my best friend. It was a warm, sunny day in Canterlot, perfect for staying outside. My friend threw a ball over my head, and I flew up to catch it. My mom said it might take a while for me to fully grasp the basics of flying, but I felt that I was already doing pretty well at it. I grabbed the ball and threw it back to my friend. Unlike me, there was no way of throwing the ball over my friend, no matter how high I flew.

“Spike!” I could hear my mom call. My friend and I answered the beckoning of the Princess Twilight Sparkle. Spike had to duck to fit into the castle, even though the door was already pretty big.

“Did you see me fly up and catch that ball?” I asked the Princess of Equestria.

“Yes I did, Moon Glow. You’re really improving,” She didn’t respond in her calm, educated voice, that she usually kept. Her voice was rushed, and I could tell something was wrong. She held up a roll of paper with her magic, “Spike, I need you to send something for me.”

“Sure thing.” Spike took the paper and set it ablaze. After Princesses Celestia and Luna retired, leaving the kingdom to Twilight Sparkle, she had changed Spike’s mail spell, so that the mail arrived directly where Pinkie Pie was standing. Twilight had chosen Pinkie Pie because she seemed to be the least likely of her friends to be doing something of significant importance at any given moment, and she also had the strange ability to be able to find the rest of their friends quickly, making gathering them up in case of an emergency that much easier.

Sure enough, within the hour the remaining five Elements of Harmony had arrived at Canterlot Castle. Rarity was the first to speak, “We left as soon as we got the news, darling.”

“Ah thought your brother and Princess Cadance had taken care of that no-good varmint of a Changeling Queen last time.” Applejack added. Changeling Queen? As in the Changeling Queen? The same one who had enslaved my uncle and locked my aunt in a cavern? If she was back, that couldn’t be good.

My mother’s face showed definite signs of worry, adding to my suspicion that something most definitely was wrong. “I thought so too, but it seems not. Come into the conference hall, we have a lot to discuss.” The six ponies headed off to a room separated from the one we were currently in by a flight of stairs going up. I followed, but received a stiff refusal from the princess, “I’m sorry, Moon, but I don’t think this will be the kind of discussion you should take part in.”

Spike looked at me as though he was just as curious as to what was going on as I was. I guess he regretted not reading that letter before burning it. “Come on, kid, why don’t we head back outside.”

Spike may have been content to simply let them go about their business, but I was curious. I had to know what was going on, because I knew it was something big. “Just a second, I have to use the bathroom.” I lied. I knew lying was wrong, but it was for a good cause, right? It’s all for the sake of knowledge, my mom would say, and that would make it all right. I wondered off in the direction of the lavatories and the hid around a corner. I waited for Spike to duck under the doorframe back outside, and for the six mares to go into their conference room.

After I was sure the coast was clear, I quietly snuck up the stairs and placed my ear against the closed door to the conference room. I couldn’t hear all of the conversation very clearly, but what I could was enough to understand. My cousin, Iron Heart, was missing. The Changeling Queen had taken him, and demanded the Crystal Heart as ransom. Rainbow Dash suggested simply storming the gates, but Applejack reminded her of just how many of those Changelings there actually were. Twilight added that leading an army into the enemy territory would pretty quickly send the signal that we were not going to pay the ransom, and we might lose our only chance at getting Iron Heart back.

“We can’t just give them the Crystal Heart.” Rarity reminded the group, “The Crystal Ponies would be devastated, and go back into that depressed, non-crystal state. Not to mention, who knows what the Changelings would do with an artifact that allowed them to spread ponies’ emotions?”

Pinkie immediately chimed in with something to the effect of, “Well, they would probably use it to spread love for the Changelings throughout Equestria!”

Rarity then informed Pinkie of the fact that her question was rhetorical. It was uncertain what the plan would be. On one hoof, they couldn’t let the Changelings have the Crystal heart, and on another, they couldn’t let them keep Iron Heart either. Something had to be done.

Fluttershy eventually suggested just asking them nicely. Rainbow Dash immediately rejected this idea, saying that it would never work. However, Twilight Sparkle agreed with the yellow pegasus, wondering why she couldn’t have thought of doing that before. She explained how they would send a small group of ponies to make the journey to the Changeling Hive in order to try talking the Queen in to freeing their hostage. Yet, there was one problem in the plan. None of them could make it. Twilight had to stay to tend to the kingdom, and the rest of the Elements were now too elderly to go on such adventures. I knew what had to be done.

I opened the door slightly before slamming it open the rest of the way. I had to make a dramatic entrance, after all, and I wasn’t going to actually kick down the door. I triumphantly walked into the room, examining all of the surprised looks on the ponies’ faces, and declared, “I will be the ambassador for Equestria to the Changelings.”

Author's Note

So, my first fanfic. I'd love any advice on how to improve future chapters. Thanks for reading!