Friendship Is A-Chang(el)ing
Sounds of laughter broke through Diamond Tiara’s quiet lunchtime reverie. She looked up from her half-eaten daisy sandwich to watch as her classmates gallivanted across the playground equipment at the other end of the schoolyard. She smiled, thinking of the heady combination of Class President Pip’s wild campaign promises and her father’s money that had made such extravagance possible.
She turned that smile toward her friend Silver Spoon, who sat beside her, munching on apple chips. Silver Spoon glanced over at the playground with a frown, and looked back down at her lunch.
Diamond furrowed her brow. “Silver, is everything alright? You haven’t said much today.”
Silver met her eyes for a moment, but then shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Diamond said.
“Just something my dad was talking about last night.”
“And that is…?”
Silver looked toward the playground before focusing on Diamond. “He’s worried about Ponyville. I guess the paper said the changelings have reformed now.”
Diamond blinked. “The changelings?”
“Are you living under a rock?” Silver scoffed. “Didn’t you notice how Princess Twilight and her friends were acting all weird last week? Apparently the lot of them had been replaced by changelings, along with the entire court of the Crystal Empire, and even Luna and Celestia, too.”
Diamond furrowed her brow. “I should really keep a closer eye on current events. But… you say the changelings reformed after that all got dealt with?”
Silver shook her head. “My dad says that the royals say they’re friendly now, but he doesn’t buy it. I mean, isn’t it terribly convenient that those same royals all just got abducted by the changelings themselves? Couldn’t they still be under their influence? Do they think we’re just supposed to forget what happened at Canterlot?!”
Diamond took a breath. “I don’t know, the princesses are always saying that the power of friendship can overcome just about anything. I mean, look at how it’s changed me.”
“No, that’s different. You and I have been friends forever, but you made a conscious decision to change.” Silver gestured at the schoolyard. “It’s like the playground; lots of ponies wanted it to be better, but nopony tried to make it better, until you did.”
Diamond smirked. “Well, we can thank my Daddy’s money for a lot of that, too.” A look of uncertainty crossed her face. “But I don’t know, it might not be so bad. Ponyville’s been getting all kinds of new and different creatures for a while now, anyway.”
“Dad talked about that, too. It's hard to miss a minotaur or a yak, but a changeling can look like anything. If we start letting them in, then what’s to stop us from getting a flood of impostors claiming to be actual citizens?”
Diamond shifted in her seat. “I guess, but couldn’t they be doing that already if they wanted to?”
Silver’s features tensed. “And who's to say they aren't? They just did it last week! And they were clearly doing it for a while before the wedding at Canterlot.”
“Sure, but…” Diamond shook her head. “Silver, I can’t live my life wondering if the ponies around me are actually the ponies I think they are. Maybe they’ve taken the royals by surprise a couple times, but I have to think they’d be on alert to keep it from happening again?”
“Yeah, well, the royals don’t exactly have the best track record.” Silver gestured with a hoof. “The events of last week aside, my dad’s always saying how Celestia’s plan to deal with Tirek was a joke, and and how she should have done more with Starlight Glimmer.”
Diamond went quiet for a moment. “But Starlight reformed.”
“Yes, after she mind-controlled a whole town and threatened time itself. And don’t forget her whole fiasco with mind-controlling the Element bearers a few weeks ago! Do you really think it makes sense to let her spend so much time with Princess Twilight, since it seems to be improving her ability to do it again?”
Diamond studied her hooves. “Are you saying… that we shouldn’t let a pony’s past be in the past?”
Silver hesitated. “N… no, I’m saying that the punishment should fit the crime. I know you had your issues, but just being a jerk to other ponies is different than what Starlight did.”
“You don’t get it,” Diamond said. “The princesses solve things through friendship, not through punishment. They trust that friendship is a stronger force than all the bad things that get thrown at us.”
“Friendship didn’t stop Tirek.”
“Actually… didn’t it?”
Silver waved a hoof. “Yes, but it also caused it! If Celestia had gone after Tirek herself instead of trusting Discord and then getting betrayed, he probably wouldn't have destroyed half of Ponyville! I’d say the princesses got lucky that time. What happens if their luck runs out?”
Diamond sighed. “Look, Silver… how much of this is how you feel, and how much is just stuff your dad was talking about?”
“I…” Silver paused and furrowed her brow. “Well, I mean… my dad keeps a closer eye on politics than I do…”
“That isn’t what I asked. I want to know what you think.”
Silver’s muzzle tightened and worked from side to side slowly. “I don’t know. I guess… I really am concerned about the changelings. Maybe there really are some friendly ones, but who knows how many less-friendly ones will take this as an invitation?”
Diamond shrugged. “I guess I can see that, but doesn’t it have to start somewhere if we’re ever going to make friends with them?”
“But is that even possible?” Silver looked down at her hooves. “I mean, how can we know for absolutely sure that we can trust them, and that it isn’t all just an elaborate deception? Isn’t that, like, what they do?”
“How do you know…” Diamond said, pausing and taking a breath. “That… that what I’m doing isn’t an elaborate deception?”
Silver frowned. “What do you mean?”
Diamond met her eyes. “I haven’t exactly been… nice for very long, you know. What if… I don’t mean it? What if it’s all just an act I put on to be… more accepted?”
“No,” Silver said. “No, I don’t buy it. The way you stood up to your mother showed how hard you were willing to work on bettering yourself as a friend. That was gutsy. Genuine. You can’t fake that!”
“How do you know?” Diamond bit her lip. “There was a lot of pressure on me, and the Crusaders offered me a way out… who’s to say I really meant it, especially at first? Or that I would’ve done what I did under different circumstances?”
The sound of nearby laughter jarred both ponies’ concentration, and they looked out at the schoolyard, watching as young Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi kinds alternately ran or flew about the playground equipment, dodging and whooping in the midst of some sort of grand, chaotic game. There among them were a pair of small griffons, laughing as they kept pace with the ponies, and both receiving and passing a ball as part of the game.
The two looked at each other with uncertainty. Diamond looked down again, hoofing at the ground. Silver bit her lip and took another deep breath. “Look, Diamond… I see your point. Maybe you changed because you had to, and it took a while for your… heart to catch up with that. But… I still think it’s different with the changelings. Please, try not to let that get in the way of seeing that I care about both you and Equestria.”
“I know the situation’s different,” Diamond said. “But it just seems like you ought to have a little bit more faith that they can do the work to really change, if you believe the change I made is genuine.”
Silver frowned. “We’ll have to wait and see if they work as hard as you did to change. Until then, having them around just doesn’t feel right to me… and am I supposed to just ignore that feeling? Should I care more about saying what you want to hear than being honest with my best friend?”
Diamond blushed. “I’m glad you still would call me that, at least.”
“Well… yeah.” Silver put a hoof around her shoulder. “And even if I think you’re way too trusting of the changelings, I see all the work you’ve put into our friendship lately and… well, it helps me know that you’re my friend, no matter how things were before.”
“Friendship takes a lot of work,” Diamond said.
Silver grinned. “Hey, finally, there’s something we can both agree on.”
