Equus Bravo - Equestria - Ponyville - The Streets

Rain poured from above and plopped on their umbrellas arrhythmically as they made way to Ponyville General Hospital to see those injured in the battle on Nightmare Night. The rockstar professor could tell when Celestia had a question she wanted to ask but was unsure how she wanted to word it. He had seen an alternate dimension version of the alicorn as a foal during her time under Starswirl’s tutelage. Differences probably existed between the two dimensions, but Bodo didn’t know what they were beyond what his interference may have caused.

“Where is Nightmare Moon, Mister....,” Celestia began.

“Just call me Bodo. I am not much for titles,” the former djinn offered. “To answer your question, the pony from last night is here, but the pony you are looking for is not.”

Celestia went cross-eyed at his answer. Had she known Bodo like the other Celestia had through his time in Clover’s body, she would have known how to interpreted the purposefully obfuscating philosopher. Bodo found it imperative to determine if Celestia knew him or now.

“Bodo, I would very like a clear and concise answers.”

Celestia was one of the only familiar faces Bodo knew in this world. He had technically seen that face more than he had Thomas and Autumn’s combined, so Bodo suffered from cognitive dissonance keeping in mind this Celestia did not know him.

Bodo sighed as he picked his words next very carefully. Autumn would have delighted at the opportunity to show off to Celestia and prove how much she knew of this world and its inhabitants. Bodo thought differently. He liked holding some cards to himself.

“It was simply a costume of sorts, Celty...Princess Celestia,” Bodo stated factually and bit his lip when he again let the Princess’s nickname slip. If his slippage affected Celestia, she did not show it to him. “My kind can take on any form we desire and I took the form of your...Nightmare Moon since it is her holiday.”

“Who is your friend there?” Celestia inquired while indicating the Clover clone sharing an umbrella with Bodo.

“She is just a magic construct.”

‘She, not it?’ Celestia glanced at the two for a moment, noticing how Bodo held the umbrella for the construct instead of the other way around, before averted her attention inward.

Bodo had expected judging eyes seeing him as some kind of deviant and words telling him he was misguided, but he was met with something very different.

“It is hard losing your other half, the one who completes you,” Celesia spoke in her trademark wise, motherly voice. “There is a legend that ponies used to have all heave two heads and eight limbs. They could do anything they put their minds towards. This made their neighbors jealous, so they casted a mighty spell splitting the ponies in half. The desire to find our other half in the world comes from our desire to be one being again.”

Bodo had been met with sympathy. He had missed it.

“So are you suggesting I am a pony?” he joked.

“Perhaps,” she replied with a smile.

They came upon the hospital and walked to the door of the room for those who all got injured last night. Bodo entered first.

“Bodo!” Pinkie shouted from her bed. The rest except for Dame Honest Penny gave their greetings.

“Hi Pinkie, Hi everyone,” Bodo returned. “How is everything?”

“Could be better,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I broke my right wing, ugh. Now I can’t help with the weather.”

A lightning strike reminded everyone about the storm outside.

“Is Doctor Mackey okay, dear?” Fleur wondered.

“He is just fine. The crowd really revitalized him. The thing about changelings is, as long as there is love and goodwill in the world, we will continue to exist.”

“Thanks for coming to visit, dear. Nopony seemed to know what had happened. It was quite bizarre,” Rarity commented.

Bodo laughed softly before quickly composing himself. “I am glad you are happy to see me, but I didn’t come alone.”

“Oh, did you bring that dear dryad, Autumn. Her leaf cloth was just a delight to use. There is nothing like it in the world.”

Somepony mumbled something about ‘dryads’ and ‘impossible’ behind Bodo, but he paid it no mind.

“Or did you bring that strange hooded pony-human?”

“No to the first, yes to the latter, but not the guest I am referring to. Please welcome-”

“Princess Celestia!”

All the ponies except Penny motioned to get up and kneel, but Celestia told them to not.

“Hehe, I see you all know my new friend. This kindred spirit came to me in the rain. I thought it might cheer you up to see your Princess.”

Rarity mouthed ‘friend.’

Celestia hid a giggle behind a hoof. “Bodo told me all about how you selflessly fought to protect him and all the ponies in this town against two dozen armed warriors and a changeling guard.”

Rainbow Dash visibly inflated with the description of their heroism. The cyan mare made a show of onomonopias and gestures to explain her role in the fight to the Princess. Pinkie naturally just started adding her own random gestures and explanations of what happened, turning the whole thing into an incomprehensible match.

“I am just glad we all came out in one piece,” Fancypants commented after the two mares calmed down.

“Not everypony,” Applejack corrected solemnly.

“Oh, my mane is just a mess, and one of those horrible ruffians cut off half of my tail,” Rarity explained before getting a disapproving glare from the farm pony.

Bodo hadn’t knelt for Celestia, but he did when he reached the last bed in the room.

“Penny,” he said simply. No other words were necessary to communicate his sympathy. Few can understand what Penny was going through. The few who can would be like a painter who lost their hands and their eyes, a storyteller who lost their voice, or a changeling who lost their body.

“The first spell I ever used was one that could change anything to the color blue,” the Royal Knight mentioned with a rueful laugh. “I remember how my parents reacted to find our whole villa had turned blue overnight. I was so enthusiastic about using magic they had to send me to knight school to teach me both how to wield it and discipline. I graduated top of my class and was let into the Royal Knights with honors.”

The room was deathly silent as Penny reached up to the bandages around what used to be her horn. “I got my cutie mark when I first used my lie detection spell to solve who stole my best friend’s favorite bow. I loved the feeling of undercovering the truth.”

Bodo also said something, the mare continued.

“Use to think the only way to do that was with my magic. Then I met you three, and you turned my lie detection spell into a joke. I had originally decided to ‘protect’ you because I wanted revenge my lost honor and identity. I had tied my whole idea of myself in my ability to use that one spell. I wanted you to lead me to some changeling conspiracy to do something ridiculous like conquer the world, so I could lock you up and prove nopony gets around me.

“And lead me to a conspiracy you did in almost no time at all. I had to use everything I had learned from years of Royal Knight work to figure out who killed Pretty Skirt and what their true intentions were. The crazy thing was that my special lie detection spell was the only thing I didn’t need. It was actually learning how useless my magic was that I was able to save to figure out that I needed to save Princess Cadence and Ambassador Fleur.”

She had another rueful laugh. “So what I really want to say is this-” She pointed to her missing horn. “-won’t hold me back. I am not weaker without it. I will figure out what is going on in this crazy world, and when I am done, I will bring the Queen to justice.”

“I really hope you do. You have no idea.” Bodo smiled at the most well-accomplished Royal Knight of the Bitaly. He wished he had half of her strength as he had spent weeks in depression after losing Clover. The philosopher knew that being depressed didn’t make him weak, but it was not something he wanted to be either way.

“Bodo, I would like to talk some of the ponies here about what happened last night. That is if everypony here is okay with doing that,” Celestia said.

“I understand.”

Everypony saw Bodo and Clover walk out of the room.

“Ambassador Fleur, would you fill me in on what you saw happened?” Celestia asked. “If I remember correctly, Fleur was sent to Ponyville by the Magistry of Loyalty with a Loyal Guard to accompany her. Is your guard still with you?”

Fleur frowned and took a moment to compose herself. “The Loyal Guard was a traitor.”

“She had told us the Magistry of Loyalty had given the okay to attack the changelings while they were holding a charity concert for the local school,” Penny interjected. “When we were fighting to protect the changeling, she made sure to let some attackers get on stage.”

“After we defeated the leader of the attackers, Glados — the guard, that is — transformed into a changeling. She was the same changeling we saw on the train coming here, I believe.”

The civilian ponies in the room started rabble rousing at the revelations. Celestia silenced them with a single gesture.

“If what you say is true, the magistry may have been corrupted. This is dire indeed.”

The room became tense as their beloved Princess quietly ruminated on her coming actions.

“Do you know where Glados is right now?” she eventually inquired.

“She was captured by Bodo and this magic pony-human thing I created with Fleur and Fancy’s kiss!” Pinkie half-explained, half-shouted. Rainbow Dash, who sat next to her, had to cover her ears.

Celestia tapped her hoof against the ground nervously. “How would you all evaluate Bodo and his friends? Are they ponies you would trust?”

Most of the ponies all gave their own affirmations.

“Shucks, Thomas is one of the most thoughtful ponies I had ever met, even if he isn’t a pony.”

“Thomas also cooks all these new foods I have never tried before. I really have to get him to cater some birthparties. I know Golden Harvest loves his food. I have Thomas make all the curry she can eat as a gift.”

“Autumn knows everypony. She might be a bit of show off, but you can tell she cares about all of us. I am always hearing about some kind deed she did for a pony and only asks for the things she needs for some project in return.”

“Oh, I know. The dear gave me leaf cloth for my birthday, and even though she asked to use my tools in return, I really felt like she helped me more. After all, she reminded me why it was important to reconnect with my old friend Applejack.”

“Speaking of generosity, Bodo was the one who organized and got Fluttershy’s animal sanctuary built. I used to think the dude was a real downer nopony, but anypony who does something awesome like that for a pony like Fluttershy is one of the coolest ponies in my books.”

Only a few ponies hadn’t said anything. Fleur and Fancypants basically just gave mild affirmations, but all ponies turned to the knight.

“Lady Knight, what of you? You have spent the longest time with these changelings who have come to my kingdom.”

Penny stared out the hospital window. The rain fell heavily upon the panes as if the skies were knocking to be let inside. “They know more than they let on. They already show way more knowledge about Equestria than is reasonable. Whatever it is that they are keeping from all of us, it is big, really big. Whole villages have been burnt to ashes in the Queen’s conquest. We don’t know how to find her, but we knew she was moving fast. These three admitted to meeting the Queen. They will be the key to finding her.”

“You have more experience with the changelings than I do. What do you recommend?”

“I...wish I knew. The Royal Knights only knew about changelings from secondhoof accounts from the hoofful of survivors who had had their whole communities destroyed. We didn’t even understand why the changelings were killing so many so quickly. I know from being with those three that they don’t need to kill to get the food and power they need to survive and power their magic. We simply don’t know enough about Queen Chrysalis and her intentions to know what to do about her.”

“How can I find out who is a changeling in my government?”

Penny turned to face the Princess. “Unless you want to knock out every single one of your ponies with a magical dissonance shock, there is no way. A changeling could be anywhere and anypony at anytime. You could even be a changeling, and we wouldn’t even know the difference. We once try to chase after some changelings. The moment they turned a corner or entered a crowd, it was impossible to find them. We couldn’t afford to quarantine our populace just to find who was a changeling. Plus, a changeling could just transform into someone we already checked to throw us off. In short, if a changeling doesn’t want to be found, you won’t find them.”

“So how do we fight back if they decide to attack us?” Applejack wondered.

“We believe that their Queen is in something called the hive where the majority of her forces live. This conquest began with her, and we hope that, by neutralizing her, we can stop the Burning Crusade.”

“So it’s easy. Find this hive place, take out big bad bug lady, save Equus,” Rainbow Dash summarized.

“If only it was. We have sent several investigation teams and every time the changelings knew immediately, killed most of the team, and sent one back with a message to never try again. The problem is that the moment you know you have a changeling problem, they have you in their grasp.”

“How in the hay do you fight those varmints?” Applejack complained.

“They are weak to magical dissonance because they are mostly made of magic. A direct hit from a sufficiently powerful magical dissonance grenade will probably leave them an empty husk. Also, since all of their attacks are all magical in nature, anti-magical amulets will render them as weak as a young colt. Give a non-magical race like the buffalo one of those amulets, and the changelings will probably get crushed.”

“What about depriving them of love? That is where they get their powers,” Fancypants suggested.

“That is the problem. If you try to stand together against the changelings, you give them a powerful source of friendship and camaraderie to feed upon. If you start doubting everyone around you and succumb to fear, they won’t need magic to take you down.”

“Are there any other good changelings out there who can help?” Pinkie questioned.

“Bodo said they came from a group called the ‘humans,’” Penny stated and gave a frustrated puff of air. “That is means nothing apparently. However, I never heard of these humans, and these three are the only changelings we have ever met who actually cooperated with the Royal Knights at all. I didn’t realize how momentous their forthrightness was until I started receiving reports from the Bitaly about how their investigations into the Queen were going.”

“So we just need to convince Bodo and his friends to lead us straight to the Queen with an army behind us. The Queen can’t possible be a match for the Princess and the whole Royal Guard.”

“I hope you can, but I doubt you will be successful. The three are all obsessed with being in Equestria and doing business, socializing, and politicking. We have only been here for a little more than two months, and they are picking a fight with the local big fish in a small pond Filthy and Spoiled Rich.”

The ponies became despondent as Penny explained the situation to them. The Princess gave her ponies a smile. “Don’t worry my little ponies. I will get to the bottom of this. I am proud of how strong all of you have been. You are all heroes.”

Celestia gave them a bow before leaving the door. She didn’t walk out of the hospital though, but instead had teleported.

The ponies all chatted between each other after she left. Had they been quiet and paying attention, the ponies would have heard two pairs of footsteps and the door open once again.

Equus Bravo - Equestria - Canterlot - Harmony Hall - Outside the Loyal Court

It had been a week since Celestia had visited Ponyville, and it was time for the first preliminary trial to determine whether Lo-Costs had grounds to sue the Riches. Bodo mind went back to what he had overheard the ponies talking about when he had supposedly left.

“Oi, Bodo, over here!”

The man woke from his inner thoughts and found several ponies standing around a tall, bald dryad. He straightened his tie and moseyed over to them with the Clover construct at his side.

“Autumn, where have you been?” he asked.

“I had been with Smokey Quartz,” she answered while pointing to a dark grey stallion with emerald eyes. The pony gave an aura of intensity that reminded Bodo of Gladius but magnified threefold. “You know, my friend.”

“Ah, now I remember.” He didn’t know the stallion, but the philosopher knew better than to contradict her. “Smokey, I hope Autumn wasn’t too much of a hassle.”

“She is a good student. I have had a lot to teach her now that she is taking over a little thing for me and my associates before I leave for Prance.”

“That is good to hear. Speaking of good students, it is nice to finally speak to you, Twilight Sparkle,” Bodo greeted the lavender unicorn. “I heard so much about you from Autumn.”

“What are you?” Twilight wondered wide-eyed. She hadn’t really been paying attention as the scholarly pony had become obsessed with the new creature before her. Sure meeting a dryad had surprised her, but she had seen pictures of dryads in old books.

“Anything,” Bodo began his answer while transforming into several creatures and ended in the form of Twilight. “Therefore, nothing.”

Twilight went cross-eyed at the weird answer. but quickly recovered. She got a moment to inspect Twilight-Bodo before the philosopher reverted back to his human form in a lawyer costume. Autumn remembered the form from when he had represented them in Bitaly.

“I am sure Autumn can explain everything to you want to know about our species after you help us with getting some important testimony from Gummy.”

“Let’s go then!”

Bodo could literally see sparkles in Twilight’s eyes as the idea of learning more about changelings and humans.

Shining Armor laughed at his sister’s antics.

“‘That is the Twiley I know and love.’” Both Autumn and the Captain of the Royal Guard said in unison, shocking both of the siblings.

It was Autumn’s turn to chuckled. Surprising ponies never got old for her. “So Shining, did you tell Twilight yet?”

“Tell me what?”

Shining blushed.

“You wouldn’t hide anything from your LSBFF, would you Captain?” Autumn teased.

“No, no…Twilight, I am getting married to Princess Cadence. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret or anything. It has been crazy in Canterlot. A lot of stuff I can’t talk about is going on.”

“I can imagine,” Smokey commented with a smug grin.

“Really!” Princess Celestia’s protege beamed.

The two siblings caught up until they all entered the Loyal Court.

“You know, I keep hearing about these magistries, but I no one ever told me about them and what they do,” Bodo mentioned. He had done a lot of research in Equestrian laws and history, and it hit him once he entered the courtroom that he hadn’t looked deeply into the magistries and the equestrian government. It was a classic case of focusing way too much on a few things and missing the big picture.

“There are five magistries-” Twilight began.

“Wait, not six?” Autumn interrupted.

The Captain squinted his eyes at the dryad.

“Where did you get that idea?” Twilight wondered. “There are only five. Each represent a cardinal virtue of Equestria and deals with sectors of governance so that the Princess can focus on more important things.

“The Magistry of Laughter headed by Harshwhinny handles parks, recreation, and major celebration planning.

“The Magistry of Generosity headed by Iron Pockets handles welfare and public utilities like the Pony Express.

“The Magistry of Kindness, which is headed by Red Iron (Iron Pocket’s sister), handles healthcare and violent crimes. You wouldn’t think those are related, but it is the hospitals that determine the severity of the injuries and their cause for the Kind Court.

“The Magistry of Honesty, which headed by Neigh Silvertongue, handles public service announcements, public records, government-owned newspapers, and public libraries.

“Finally, there is the Magistry of Loyalty. It is headed by Silver Slate after Turner Coat had an accident. They handle government audits and inspect large businesses and organizations for compliance to the laws of Equestria since infringements by such entities would be too difficult for a local court to handle.”

It was a lot of information, but it was also important to know. The changelings took as many mental notes as they could.

The Riches took their seats and then the door behind the judge’s chair opened. Everypony and the changelings stood.

They ponies had all expected Silver Slate to walk in, but instead Celestia had entered. The room filled with murmurs.

“Everypony be seated,” the Princess commanded. “Many of you were expecting the acting magister of loyalty, but I must inform you that Silver Slate could no longer perform his duties. Until we have a replacement, I will be assuming direct control of Loyalty, including this court. Would Lo-Costs approach state their grievance for the court?”

Bodo stood up. “The Riches infringed upon the Lo-Costs’ ballpoint pen patent by producing and selling these pens without our permission.” Bodo handed Celestia a pen for her to inspect. She played around with it, discovering its uses, and then gave it to her student Twilight who delighted in the useful device. “The Riches neither once contacted us for our permission nor sought to provide us payment for use of our invention.”

“What do the owners of Barnyard Bargains say?”

Spoil rose up. “The accusation is preposterous. Lo-Costs has an illegitimate patent signed by a third party. We were simply following the law that renders inventions of foreign nations and foreign nationals public domain in Equestria. There is no treaty with the changelings saying otherwise.”

It was true that Equestria didn’t respect the patents and other intellectual property of other nations unless Equestria had a relationship with their nation. Since citizenship was thought as species-oriented in most Equus nations, non-ponies were treated as foreign nationals Equestria.

“This is true, but I assume you knew that, Doctor Stein.”

Bodo nodded. Equestrian courts were far less formal and structured than earth ones. It was more of a facilitated discussion with a few rules etiquette like respecting the presiding pony.

“We were aware of this law, so we approached the animal caretaker Fluttershy to sponsor our patent. Her position of animal caretaker for Ponyville gives her wide-reaching powers to protect the interests of the animal residents of the town. It was in our interests to have a patent, so she agreed to sign the patent for us.”

“Like I said, preposterous,” the defendant barked. “That is clearly overstepping the bounds of what animal caretakers can do. There is no precedence of an animal caretaker ever doing anything like signing off on patent paperwork before.”

Celestia calmed her with a gesture. “Mrs. Rich has a point, Doctor Stein.”

“Keep in mind that there has never been a case that an animal caretaker has ever asked for a patent before. Animal caretakers do not discriminate between the rarity or strangeness of the interests of animals. The powers granted to caretakers are wide precisely because animals have diverse needs. It would have been more unprecedented had Fluttershy not sponsored our patent once we made it clear that is was in our interest.”

“But you are not animals. You can clearly talk and animals can’t talk!” Spoiled countered.

“Celestia, may I bring some people before the court? I wish to answer Spoiled’s concern.”

“You may.”

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, who had an alligator in her mane, walked up to the front of the courtroom. The party mare had healed quickly while at the hospital and acted as if nothing had happened a week prior.

“This is Gummy,” Bodo stated while pointing to the alligator. “Would you agree that he is clearly an animal by your understanding?”

Spoiled nodded.

“Twilight Sparkle would you please cast the spell we discussed earlier.”

The unicorn obliged the old philosopher.

There was silence for a moment and then everypony could hear a depressing male voice emanating from the alligator. “Is anypony ever happy? Many run after thrill after thrill, never satisfied. Others struggle, hoping to reach some great goal, but by pushing their happiness further and further into the future, they find that after obtaining their goal, the happiness passes in a moment and their life was only filled with struggle. In reality, nopony is ever truly happy. If one were, it would have intoxicated her.”

The spell wore off, and the courtroom became deafeningly silent. Pinkie was the most impacted by the monologue as it rubbed against an inner sadness she hid from everypony except her alligator.

Bodo coughed. “Thanks Gummy for that riff of classic Schopenhauer. Anyway, Twilight would explain what just happened.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“I mean would you explain the spell you used.”

“Oh, um, I casted a spell created by Clover the Clever to allow somepony to talk with just their mind.”

“Celestia, Twilight is your student. Do you trust that she performed the spell correctly and that the results speak for themselves?”

The Princess giggled and nodded.

“Now I would like the court to imagine all animals having spells allowing them to speak Equusish like ponies. Would they cease to be animals just because they could finally talk? It is not like Gummy is an exception. It is well-known that the animals of Equestria talk all the time — just not in a language most ponies can understand. Those at Fluttershy’s cottage even have a book club where they read classic Equestrian literature. In summation, the assumption that an animal is a non-talking creature is insufficient. We must broaden it and I think we can safely now included changelings like Lo-Costs with animals.”

The courtroom started murmuring again until Celestia was ready to respond to Bodo’s argument.

“I have concluded that Fluttershy has the power to sponsor patents for animals, and that animals can talk and still be seen as animals,” Celestia began.

Bodo wore the most smug grin ever as he put away a bunch of blank pieces of paper back into his briefcase.

“But-” Bodo tripped and the Clover construct caught him. “Fluttershy does not have the right to sponsor changelings. The definition of animals has been lost in the last few centuries, but the original is ‘an animals is any creature who does not belong to formerly recognized nation.’ I have formerly recognized Queen Chrysalis as the ruler of the nation of Changelings. Her nation may not have borders, but long ago, Equestria didn’t have formal borders either. As such, you are foreign nationals of a nation with which Equestria does not have a relationship. Do you have any other arguments for your case or are we done here, Doctor Stein?”

“We do, but we need some time to regroup,” Bodo spluttered.

“How more definitive can you be than that?” Spoiled complained. “This is a waste of time.”

“Very well, Bodo,” Celestia said. “We will hear your other arguments when court resumes after a two hour recess.”

Celestia adjourned the court, but most ponies stayed to talk about what had happened. When Bodo and his friends left the room, they got swamped in media looking for a scoop.

Equus Bravo - Equestria - Canterlot - Pony Joe’s

The group finally found time to get away from prying eyes by entering a donut shop that Twilight recommended. The ponies and a baby dragon ordered some food while the changelings found other things to occupy themselves. Bodo got himself a newspaper and flipped through its pages.

“So who is this?” Autumn asked, referring to the being sitting next to the pseudo-lawyer. The two hadn’t met though Autumn had seen the pony-human through the video feed of the Nightmare Night concert the Black Hoof had set up in Silver Slate’s mansion.

“This is Clover,” Bodo stated but said no further. “If you want to know more, I am sure Thomas can fill you in.”

Twilight looked more closely at Clover. “She is a magical construct. I have never seen one this powerful before. Is that illusion magic?”

Bodo nodded. “Any illusion powerful enough become practically real. At this level of power, Clover is the same as you and I except for the fact I haven’t gotten Thomas’s help restoring her mind.”

“Restoring?” Twilight asked, but the philosopher waved off the question as too complicated to explain.

“So she is basically your waifu,” Autumn teased.

“I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think I want to know.”

Autumn giggled before recomposing herself. “So what are your new arguments now the animal one fell apart?”

“I don’t have any.”

“But you said-”

“I lied. We really need to win this case. I just don’t know what I am going to say.”

Autumn became somber as the good mood left her. She was already upset about losing the first part of the trial. “Ugh, you know what really pisses me off. Ponies. I had this image in my head that Equestria was this perfect country that everyone would want to live in, but all this discrimination just...ugh. Why can’t ponies just treat everybody just like anyone else?”

“Little one, it is only natural,” Smokey Quartz (aka Silver Slate (aka Black Hoof)) answered. It was awkward for him to call the towering dryad ‘little,’ but the changelings knew why he did. “Almost all species need a sufficiently wide gene pool in order to maintain proper genetic health. That means joining any community requires having many of your same species for it to a viable place to live in. With so many different species competing for space, every species made communities just for them. Other species were pushed out with discriminatory laws so that there would be more room for their own. Ponies are no different than the griffons, yaks, or dragons.”

“But a person should be treated differently just because of their appearance,” the dryad countered. “It is what is inside that matters, not what covers it. I saw how Spoiled looked at us. She thinks we are beneath her just because we are not ponies.”

“While a changeling might feel that way, we need to take into account the very real differences between ponies,” Smokey explained. “If I say what kind of pony can fly, nopony would deny that pegasi are the ponies that fly. It is just a fact. Likewise, there are very factual differences between species.”

“There is also the historical context of these laws,” Twilight interjected. “Our defense against the windigos is the harmony between ponies. If we let non-ponies settle in Equestria in large numbers, it could easily upset the harmony and bring back the windigos and put our nation into another ice age. As long as we have these laws, we are safe.

“Also, these laws help keep ponies employed. Every job necessary for keeping the harmony corresponds to one cutie mark. If non-ponies come in and take jobs from ponies, then ponies will find themselves unable to get a job in a career that corresponds to destiny. To deny a pony their destiny, the one thing that makes them happy, is a fate worse than failing an exam.”

Twilight had a tendency to lecture when she talked. Shining Armor coughed and looked embarrassed on her behalf. “I, as Captain of the Royal Guard, stand by the non-ponies. I think any and all discriminatory behavior should be rooted out and those who perpetrate it should be made an example of so that nopony should suffer it.”

“What do you think, Bodo?” Autumn wondered. “This is really your forte, but you have been silent.”

He sighed before going into professor mode. “It is interesting listen to you all talk. There are really six popular positions on issues of discrimination, and people who hold them tend to hate those who hold a different position. They are in order normativists, naturalists, historians, egalitarians, behaviorists, and institutionalists. There are the normativists, who assign values to what people are as the basis of their discrimination. We typically think of this group as the racists of the world, and Spoiled Rich would fit this category.”

“So you think Spoiled is this ‘racist’?” Twilight asked, hearing a new word.

“Well, racism connection is complicated by the fact there aren’t anything resembling races here in Equestria per se. What you have here is more speciesism and breedism,” the doctor of philosophy clarified.

“Races among humans usually referred to one’s skin color,” Autumn added. “You ponies don’t have anything like that given how diverse your color palette is.”

“Actually, they do,” Bodo corrected. “If you look at how color is used in pony storytelling and fashion, you start to see biases everywhere. White coats are considered more beautiful among the unicorns because it is the color of Celestia’s coat; as a result, more unicorns have white coats than any other type of pony.”

“That can’t be true,” Autumn protested.

“But it is. Think about all our unicorn friends we have met. Fleur, Fancypants, Rarity, and Shining Armor all have white coats. The only ones that don’t are Penny and, more recently, Twilight Sparkle. If we look at the other types of ponies, I haven’t met one that has a white coat. The pony called Blueblood is the epitome of this obsession with white coats.”

The philosopher closed his newspaper and accidently placed it in some water that had condensed near a glass of juice. This caused the ink to run and muddy the white pages. “If we consider the villains of Equestria, they are almost universally have dark colors. Look at Sombra, Nightmare Moon, the Pony of Shadows (Stygian), and Queen Chrysalis. This has caused ponies to fear darker colors as a sign of evil intent. This isn’t to say that ponies actively value each other with these color-based discrimination, but it is worth noticing.”

Twilight blushed as she became self-conscious of her darker than average coat. She had what the young ponies euphemistically called a nighttime coat. Her brother snorted at the reduction of pony culture to such themes.

“But at least ponies don’t have prejudices between each other, right?” Autumn begged.

“Again, it isn’t that simple,” Bodo responded, disappointing the dryad. “While Twilight was right that there is a ‘harmony’ between the breeds or ‘tribes’ of ponies, that doesn’t mean there isn’t subtle forms of discrimination. Unicorns and alicorns are almost universally seen as the most heroic and most dangerous. Who was the leader of the pillars? A unicorn. Who will be the hero of the elements of harmony? A unicorn. Who did Celestia choose as her student? A unicorn. Who will the hero of the elements choose as her student? A unicorn. Who is the leader of the Royal Guard? A unicorn. What aspect is Celestia most revere for? Her ability to move the celestial bodies, a job that only unicorns and other magic users can do.”

Bodo was lost in thought as he made his list, so he didn’t realize he had given away information about the future. Fortunately, the ponies didn’t know what to make of ‘hero of the elements of harmony’.

“As for the most dangerous villains, they are all feared because of their powerful magical abilities. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, and the others. The earth ponies and pegasi have always been treated and will always be treated as side characters unworthy of the spotlight. They cannot wield the same power over our imaginations as a magic user can. As it should because the ability to do almost anything with magic will command more fear than just flying or just super strength.”

“Ha, that is where you are wrong,” Autumn countered. “You forgot all about Daring Do. She is by far one of the most popular heroes in all of Equestria, and she definitely commands the fear of the villains.”

“I don’t know this Daring Do, but one counterfactual is not sufficient to demonstrate that there isn’t a strong trend towards making non-unicorns into side characters in Equestrian history and storytelling.”

“I think we have gotten off track,” Smokey Quartz interjected.

“Quite,” Bodo agreed. “So where was I, yes, so the normativists are what we think of as racists or speciesists. Naturalists like Smokey think discrimination is only justifiable through unquestionable objective facts, particularly biological facts. Historians like Twilight think that discrimination is justified from a historical necessity perspective. Egalitarians like Autumn think discrimination is a subjective problem, and so they think that they can solve discrimination by removing the subjective element. Egalitarians are the ones who say things like ‘I don’t see color’ and are the ones who come up with practices like blind auditions.”

“You don’t sound convinced,” the ‘egalitarian’ dryad mentioned with a scornful tone.

“Turning a blind eye tends to ensure some problems never getting solved, but remember I said that these different perspectives have a tendency to not like each other. Don’t take my criticism with the wrong mindset. Anyways, the last two are the behaviorists and the institutionalists. The behaviorists think discrimination is a behavior problem, and so they try to change how people behave. This group is often attributed with creating politically correct culture. The institutionalists think discrimination starts and spreads from our institutions. They are the ones who talk about things like glass ceilings and the need for role models in positions of power. They would look at the court case we have now and see how Equestria has built the categories of discrimination right into their very institutions and how that has led to our situation.”

The ponies listened with concerned expressions. It was very odd listening to outsiders describe their culture. Twilight and Shining Armor had a lot to say about the subject due to their respective positions.

“So what are you?” Twilight wondered.

“Well, if Shining Armor is a behaviorist, then that must mean I am an institutionalist by elimination,” the professor joked. His ‘class’ wasn’t having any of it though. “To be honest, I just observe. I am Bodo, and I don’t care for taking sides. I will describe and say only what I think regardless of what camp that makes me at the time. I get what drives every group, even the normativists, and I can just say that real life is far more complicated than anyone gives it credit for.”

“Is it too much to be asked to be treated like a pony in Equestria?” Autumn demanded.

Bodo went wide-eyed as a thought hit him. He and Clover got up.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“I got an argument to prepare, and I will meet you at the courtroom,” he declared before leaving Pony Joe’s with his magical construct.

Equus Bravo - Equestria - Canterlot - Harmony Hall - Loyal Court

“So do you have a new argument for me, Doctor Stein?” Celestia asked.

“I do, Celt- Your Highness,” he responded with an embarrassed grin. “Before I begin, I have some questions for you.”

“That is acceptable. Ask away.”

“Is it true that ponies in Prance can file for patents in Equestria?”

“Yes, they can. We have an accord with Prance and they are ponies.”

“How about a pony from Saddle Arabia?”

“We have yet to make an accord with that nation yet, but we do offer any ponies from there the same rights as the ponies born here.”

“What about the seaponies in the Western Ocean?”

“While few have ever settled in Equestria, we do recognize them as our fellow ponies.”

“Thank you, then I am ready to begin my argument,” Bodo stated with a quick shuffling of blank papers he had just taken his illusionary briefcase. “I would like to let the court know that ponies have not always existed. In fact, ponies are an invention of recent date.”

The court erupted in disbelieving bickering. Even Celestia was shocked until it clicked for her, and then she smiled devilishly.

“During the time of the three tribes, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies didn’t see each other as fellow ponies but rather members of different species in the same way we might say horses and donkeys are different species,” Bodo explained. Had Autumn been there to hear Bodo’s story about his time in Equus Delta, a dimension in the far past but where time moved much faster when compared to Equus Bravo, she would have noticed how none of the ponies ever called each other ‘ponies’ but just ‘equines’ instead. “Even after cutie marks only appeared on the three tribes, the term ‘pony’ hadn’t come into common usage. As far as the equines of old were concerned, pony meant small horse. Since horses like those found in Saddle Arabia didn’t have wings or horns, the term pony only applied to earth ponies. I would like to argue that we changelings be considered your fellow ponies.”

“But ponies have horns, wings, or are like us earth ponies,” Filthy retorted. “They definitely don’t look like some ape.”

Bodo dropped his disguise temporarily. Ever since he got out of his funk, his changeling instincts kicked in again, and he felt naked without a disguise around non-changelings. After giving the court a good look at his changeling body, he went back to his human lawyer one.

“As you see, my base form is equine in shape. I possess wings and a horn as well.”

“But ponies don’t have both wings and a horn. We are pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies.”

“Are you suggesting I am not a pony, Mr. Rich?” the alicorn princess interjected. The businesspony paled and shook his head vigorously in negation of what he had just said.

“But these changelings have no cutie marks,” Spoiled added to save her husband’s face. “All ponies have cutie marks.”

“Seaponies don’t,” Bodo corrected. “As the Princess has already stated, seaponies are considered fellow ponies. Since the definition of ‘pony’ is malleable, all it takes is somepony to recognize us as ponies, and I think we have that covered.”

Bodo walked up and gave Celestia the newspaper he bought at Pony Joe’s. The headline was ‘Barnyard Bargains sued by Local Heroes’. In the article, the journalist had interviewed several locals.

“I never heard of changelings before, but I can tell they are just like us ponies from what I can tell.” - Bonbon

“It is a real shame that the Riches tried to take from these three. They came to Equestria with almost nothing and have only done good things for us in Ponyville. They deserve our respect.” - Rarity

“Thomas and his friends are always welcome at my table. I consider him part of the family.” - Applejack

There were other statements taken from Riches and Lo-Costs, but they were the standard ‘we are taking this to court, and we plan to win’ fare. There was also a legal expert siding with the Riches, giving a similar argument that they had about the Lo-Costs not having grounds to sue. The cherry on the top was a picture of an upset Fluttershy who had just heard about what had happened to her ‘new friend’ Bodo.

Bodo had to admit that Thomas had really did a good job steering the newspaper to write the kind of article that would favor them in the eyes of the general populace. Sure, the journalist used objective language and gave equal representation to both sides, but there was no contest whose side the local Ponyvillians favored.

“You can’t possibly-” Filthy began.

Celestia stopped him with a gesture. “It seems that I must concede that the changelings are in fact ponies. These three have proven themselves before the eyes of Equestrians multiple times over and are deserving more than many of the right to call themselves ponies. As such, the Loyal Court on behalf of myself respects the right of Lo-Costs to sue Barnyard Bargains for patent infringement.”

The court erupted in chaos.

Equus Bravo - Equestria - Ponyville - The Streets

“You did it!” Autumn cheered. They had just gotten back after spending two weeks finishing settlements with the Riches.

“I know,” Bodo moaned as he rubbed his ear. “You don’t have to keep saying it.”

“But this means we have Barnyard Bargains and can convert it to Lo-Costs. There was no way they are keeping their business now that everypony thinks they steal from heroes. With control over distribution, we can finally start spreading our products across Equestria. Today, it is ballpoint pens. Tomorrow, it will be flying nimbuses.”

“We still need our own employees to make those for us, and I doubt Barnyard Bargains has invested in product development as a big box company.”

The two kept bickering until they reached Golden Oaks library, which had a long line going out the front of it. The two squeezed through the front crowd to enter the building that had been squatting in for the past three months. Inside they saw ponies at dozens of tables all eating food. More significantly, each table had a hosting changeling serving a pony.

The two professors walked to the kitchen to find Zecora, Thomas, and a dopey-looking Mayor Kraghorn.

“‘What is going on?’” Autumn and Bodo asked in frantic confusion.

“You received your gift,” a person who had snuck up behind them said. They turned around to find a human with dragonfly wings and a long object wrapped in cloth. Bodo noted that she had an slight potbelly hidden under her layered clothing while Autumn focused on the new human’s intricately designed outfit. They both realized after a few moments they were dealing with a Mater-class changeling who they needed to take very seriously from the aura she exuded. “My name is Roxanna. I am to tell you that She sends her regards. I am to be in your care and learn from you until my mission begins.”

Author's Note

I know I went overboard with the whole "what is discrimination" monologue, so I will see about slimming it down depending what you guys think.

Also, if you haven't rated the story yet, I would be happy if you did now. You should have read enough chapters to know whether you like the story or not.