Love Me

Silver Spoon grinned as she walked up to an unhappy Diamond Tiara. "Hello, Diamond," she said softly. "This is me, the real me. Now you see the CMC over there, the Cutie Mark Crusaders? You're going to go over there and say sorry to them that you keep on calling them blank flanks, and then you're going to play nice and hang around with them like a good little filly instead of a spoiled brat. Maybe with you helping them, they'll finally get their cutie marks at last, and you'll have three new friends. And don't forget, Friendship is Magic." She looked at the front door of the school, which like all schools in Equestria, be they public or private, had the slogan written above it in capital letters. FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC.

Diamond scowled at her. "I thought you hated those blank flanks as much as I did?"

"Oh, I do, it's just that I hate you a whole lot more. None of the Crusaders were caught by me making out with a Changeling double of myself, unlike you. Now go over there and start making friends. And I'll be watching to make sure that you go through with it."

Diamond sighed and walked over to where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were playing hoofball with Snips, Snails and Twist. "What do you want, crown-flank," asked Sweetie Belle crossly, expecting more nastiness from Diamond Tiara, who had never had a nice word to say to them since she met them.

"I, well, this is really hard to say, but I want to say that I'm sorry for being so horrible to you, and I want to be friends with you and help you earn your cutie marks."

All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared at her, wondering if she was telling the truth. "Ok then, you can start by joining us in our hoofball game." As Diamond played it, at first reluctantly, she found herself enjoying it. "When school is over tonight you can come back to my mansion and I'll see if I can help you get your cutie marks in singing and in fine art," she told them, Silver Spoon smirking at her as she said it.

After school Silver Spoon walked home alone, without Diamond by her side for the first time in a very long while. She happened to encounter Twilight Sparkle. "Hello Twilight, I really need your help. I heard about what happened with the Changelings, and I'm scared. Scared that they might one day come back and kidnap me. I'm a rich pony and my family love me deeply and that makes me a prime Changeling target. Oh, and I'm willing to pay two hundred bits."

"Well, I may be busy but I'm not one to turn down some money." She took a stone of clear quartz, as clear as glass, out of her bag, and her horn glowed softly as she cast a spell upon it and then a second one. "Give this to your parents and tell them of your fears and how the stone works. If they hold it up to you and say "Is this a Changeling?" it will glow a dull red if it is a Changeling and not you. If they say...Find Silver Spoon, it will float in the air and lead them to your exact location. Now, the bits please?"

Silver Spoon reached into her saddlebags with a hoof, pulled out her purse, opened it with her teeth, and Twilight Sparkle used her horn to levitate out two hundred bits and transfer them to her own purse, then went on her way, happy to have both addressed Silver Spoon's fears and to have made some money for a job well done.

When she got home Silver Spoon found her mother and father and hugged them and kissed them. "Mummy, Daddy, I am worried that one day the Changelings will come back and kidnap me so that they can grow fat on your love for me. So I brought this from no less then Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle." She showed her parents the stone and explained how it worked. "Once a day, after supper, I won't you to make sure that I am me, and then to at least try to rescue me from the Changelings if indeed I have been kidnapped."

Silver Tray nodded. "If the worst should happen, we will do our very best to rescue you, rather then accept a Changeling replacement."

*****
Meanwhile the Cutie Mark Crusaders, after a little bit of wildness at first, had settled down with Diamond Tiara's art materials. With the right help, such as braces for their hooves that could hold pencils and paintbrushes, earth ponies could write and draw and paint as well as any unicorn. Scootaloo was making a picture of Rainbow Dash, Applebloom was making a picture of Canterlot Castle and Sweetie Belle was making a picture of Princess Celestia in all her royal glory and seated upon her throne. There was a flash and a picture of a paintbrush appeared upon Sweetie Belle's leg. Diamond Tiara was the first one to see it and point it out. " Oh, Sweetie, you just earned your Cutie Mark!"

Sweetie Belle looked at her leg and let out a squeak of joy, then grabbed Diamond Tiara in a huge hug and planted kiss after kiss upon her forehead. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Did I mention thank you? I've been trying for years to get my Cutie Mark, and now because of you I've got it at last." Diamond smiled and didn't wipe the kisses away. After the initial chaos, she had started to quite like the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were nothing like as good to be with as her sweet Changeling girlfriend, of course, but they were nice to hang around with and very good new friends. Maybe friendship really was magic. "I'll see if Rarity can give you a new dress from Rarity Originals," Sweetie said.
*****
Eight Changelings, led by Chilek and in disguise as random Pegusai, finally reached Ponyville once more. "I've studied Silver Spoon's routes with care, and she never goes out without two or three other ponies, but there is an underground tunnel that goes under the main road, and that is where we can trap and replace them. One of you can take Silver Spoon's place, I hope to persuade Diamond Tiara to come and live in the Hive with me, at least on a trial basis. One of you can be the lucky Changeling to take her place and feed on the love her parents have for her. But only if she agrees."