Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon get to talking about current events in the wake of “To Where And Back Again,” and discover just how differently they feel about the changelings.
Friendship may be magic, but is is powerful enough to overcome political divisions?
An early draft of this story appeared as “The Equestrian Candidate” in the March 2016 Writeoff ("It's Your Funeral"), but the version here has been completely overhauled, thanks in large part to horizon's assistance.
Featured on FimFiction 8Nov.2016 
Now with a reading by Snogwritts! 
Chapters (1)
Well written, but not really all that interesting. It's neither a 'yay' or a 'nay' from me, I'm afraid.
What a wonderfully well-crafted story, the choice of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as the main characters discussing opposing views on the changelings and their reformation was perfect. I also liked how you weaved Diamond's reformation into her argument to believe that the changelings have truly reformed while also constructing a great counter argument on Silver Spoon's side that the changelings should not be trusted, even though her beliefs were due to what her father believes about them instead of forming her own opinion on the subject.
Back in the beginning of the twenty first century I got into a huge fight over politics with my best friend... And fifteen years later we still rarely speak and mostly ignore each other.
Good for SS and DT that they ably to find a middle ground :).
This was a great story. I loved how Diamond and Silver discussed opposing viewpoints on if friendship can truly reform not just Changelings, but other characters as well, like Discord, who's reformation is sometimes in dispute within the fandom. But I'm also glad that they were able to find a middle ground despite their opposing views.
Silver talked as some pony that is concerned about a race whose main weapon is deception.
Diamond talked from experience as some pony that was a bad guy, now looking for redemption.
Very Interesting in deed.
One of the hardest things to do in a story like this is represent each side authentically. I like that Silver Spoon's stance comes across as healthy suspicion rather than xenophobia. I also like that Diamond Tiara's hopeful optimism is grounded in her personal experience. All in all, a well written debate between friends.
Hee hee, I liked this. I thought that Silver and Diamond both sounded a bit older than they really are, both in their vocabulary and speaking skills, but still very nice.
A nice little slice of life story.
Vastly improved from where it began... though it's a sad statement when schoolchildren can have more polite and reasonable political discourse than presidential candidates.
Still, as a mirror to what I said regarding the Writeoff entry: Yes.
7707050
I feel somewhat silly in that I can't help but somewhat see this as an allegory regarding like, Syrian refugees in particular. Then again I like it a lot better that way than as commentary on TWABA
It's an interesting story. It's also something I can relate to as well and reminds me of a discussion I had in sixth grade with another kid. Granted it wasn't about friendship it was about tax policy and various issues with international politics (as we understood them).
It's well formatted the argument and counter arguments are solid and both make their points which both have merits and flaws. So I appreciate this story quite a bit.
One typo did jump out at me: “No,” Silver said. “No, I don’t buy it. They way you...
Anyway good read. I needed one.
"I mean, would it matter if I w—"
"Finish that sentence and I'm going to punch you."
Hello there! I enjoyed this fic so I narrated it! Hope you don't mind
I'm as behind on replies as with just about anything this month, but I always appreciate hearing from you guys!
7706257 Can't win 'em all I suppose, but thanks for reading!
7706305 Why thank you.
7706327 That's sad, and I'm sorry to hear it. I know from experience that it's hard having very different beliefs from someone close to you, though. Relationships are built on shared meaning, and when the foundational stuff doesn't line up, then the things you share have to come from somewhere else, which may or may not be enough.
7706330 I'll confess this is a bit of a statement of hope on my part that people can do that in their real lives. And maybe it's hope in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
7706348 Believe it or not, in earlier drafts they were on the opposite sides of this. The story didn't work at all until I realized it made more sense if they traded places.
7706358 Much credit goes to horizon for helping me strengthen each side's argument while keeping them grounded in what made sense for the characters.
7706445 I suppose I should tweak some of my word choice given that these are kids. Oh well; I credited horizon for some good things above, but maybe now I'll blame horizon for not pointing that out during editing.
7707050 I'm glad for your comment, as it represents this coming full-circle.
Of all the Writeoff drabbles I thought I could whip into shape, this seemed the least likely, and I was actually just trying to figure out a minimal set of tweaks to get it ready for my DOA shorts collection when something about it grabbed me. Maybe it was that no small amount of tweaking could fix it? 
7707794 Fixed, and thank you!!
7708903 Yes, I know it, and it was all I could do not to lampshade it.
I never meant for this to turn into a revival for that phenomenon, but as I was going through some 11th-hour tweaks, it crept in there and made so much sense that I couldn't take it out.
7751052 Not at all; thank you so much!
Excellent and interesting fic both DT and Sliver Spoon have very good points and arguments , I certainly understand both their view points
The subject matter is interesting, and while I can believe that Diamond and Silver are bright enough to have this conversation, I don't believe they would have it like this. By that I mean, I don't think they would have a political debate at recess, and they wouldn't talk this way either. Diamond and Silver tend to communicate in more abrasive terms, and their thoughts are sprinkled liberally with "likes", "you knows" and other Valleyspeak. That's missing from this story, which makes it seem not completely authentic. Regardless, it is a good read and I like that you did something truly original with these two ponies.
Ironically, Silver has a point, but not how she thinks. Tirek presented himself as a friend who offered freedom to Discord that he was denied being with Fluttershy, Tirek was the REAL kinda false friend spoken of in Twilight Sparkle's 'Griffin The Brush Off' .
No one has brought up Bob Dylan yet?
Plot twist: the most vocal anti-changeling ponies are in fact unaffiliated Changelings not part of any hive who do not want the new "immigrants" to come and steal all their love away.
I really enjoyed this one, though to note one thing, this does feel more allegory-esque or parallel to political discussions. Heck, 'current event discussion' might be a better way to say so, and those do tend to be infused with some political subtext anyway. By the description, I was expecting to see something that could qualify as more overtly political, because of the description and a) seeing different takes on pony politics is neat and b) children taking a real interest in values, leadership, and politics is also neat. (Plus, D.T. and Silver Spoon would certainly be the two foals in Cheerliee's class to be the most intrigued by politics.)
I can see why you didn't, though. The lesson, while universal, would generally apply better to human political climates and views (within reason) than ponies - after all, ponies are more well-managed by princesses and most nations are monarchies that aren't caught up in any inter-war conflicts and such. Going too heavily into unique pony political views could also deter from the message, because then it would be more a matter of setting. There's also the elephant in the room: pony political views, even from the mouths of school-foals wouldn't resemble people political views much. What's their political spectrum? What does it entail? Would any political jargon they be written with mean the same thing if it overlapped with a human one? What would that position even believe compared to a human one? Who knows?
So. I can totally see why it remained a more loosely-themed playground story of two friends understanding their differences.
Good Lord, two characters having a disagreement about political matters that ends on a civil note? Equestria really IS a fantasy land!
Joking aside, I quite enjoyed this. Good to see Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara in stories, and I really enjoyed Diamond's perspective on the matter of reformation. Also, it felt quite realistic that Silver's own argument is largely informed by her father's perspective/opinion, that does feel quite realistic to me - smart or canny as these two fillies can be, they are still children, and all too often children are shaped by their parents in ways both big and small.