Rarity turned to Princess Celestia, bowed to her and said "Thank you for being so understanding. Now I must return to my Hive and tell them the good news." And she spread her wings and flew away. Shining Armour asked Celestia "Your Majesty, should we not follow her covertly to her Hive, so that we can root it out with fire and sword?" Celestia turned to him and shook her head. "Captain, you have a lot to learn about diplomacy. I understand that you don't like Changelings and I can't blame you after they hurt you, imprisoned your fiancée and ruined your wedding. But if we can befriend this Hive successfully, then the Queens who rule the other Hives might decide to do the same thing. And if the changelings are friendly then they won't be committing mischief and mayhem in Equestria, at least not on a regular basis. You finding and destroying this Hive would ruin all of that. The peace and safety of Equestria is more important then your hatred of the Changeling race."
Unbothered and unfollowed, Rarity took the shape of a pretty Pegasus with a scroll for a cutie mark and flew back to the Badlands. As a changeling, she had a rough sense of the internal borders that separated the Badlands territory of each changeling hive from the other one and she was careful to stay within her area. As she reached her Hive, she transformed back into her naturel form of a Changeling Princess and first her sentries and then many of her other changelings flew out to meet her, all asking questions at once.
"What did Celestia say?"
"Will it be peace or war?"
"What was Canterlot like? I have never been there."
"Quiet! Princess Celestia has granted what I asked of her, peace between Equestria and our Hive, and we are to be allowed to come to Canterlot openly under certain conditions. No weapons can be carried in Canterlot, and no armour except the naturel armour provided by our carapaces. No fighting, stealing, or otherwise misbehaving. And we have to come openly at least for now."
"Come openly? I'll feel naked in the outside world wearing only my chitin," a large changeling mare replied. "And such a thing goes against the basic tenants of the Changeling Way. What will the other Hives that we co-exists with think of us? Will they think we are as bad as Queen Chrysalis for going public? "
"Because of Queen Chrysalis, our secret is rather out in the open anyway. Obviously some of the more traditionalist Queens won't be happy with us, but I doubt they are going to launch a crusade against us any time soon. We are not a threat to them and besides, war really uses up a Hive's love supply, I would guess. Trust me, I am your Princess and I know Princess Celestia very well. I also know better then most changelings how ponies think, as I thought that I was one for so many years. Who will come to Canterlot with me and try to make new friends? I won't pull rank on you and force you to come with me, it's your choice. You have an hour to choose what to do. Either come to Canterlot with me or stay here. Spread the word around the Hive for me please...my mother is very much alive and still the Queen, and only she as far as I know can use the Hive mind."
Soon enough Rarity set off for Canterlot, taking most of the Hive with her, and ponies stared from the sky and from the ground at the rare sight of a hive of undisguised changelings on the move within their lands. Some ponies were clearly shocked, others gave bitter looks of hatred; clearly the mental wounds caused by the attack on Canterlot were still raw with them. For their own safety, the changelings kept their emotion gathering sacs tightly shut. When they reached Canterlot, they were met by rank on rank of grim-faced Royal Guards and both of the Princesses. Rarity turned to her Hive.
"Now, remember what I said. Behave yourselves, even if your instincts are telling you to fight, and all will be well."
Princess Celestia and Rarity bowed politely to each other and the Princess said "Welcome to Canterlot; if you treat you well, so will we. And that means you too Shining Armour."
Then the guards allowed the changelings into Canterlot, and the changelings, some of who had rarely left their Hive, started to explore and buy in the shops. Some of them had bits earned from pony jobs done whilst undercover, or stolen from the relatively few kidnappings that the Hive had carried out. Others had no bits, but they did have gemstones and jewels both cut and uncut from the Badlands. These could be changed at the Equestrian banks and jewellery shops for large numbers of bits, which enabled the changelings to buy a large number of things. Fruit and hay and other food, fine clothes and jewellery, mattresses and furniture, books, objects d'art and weapons, the latter of which were legal as long as the owner had no criminal record and did not brandish them publicly, were all brought in large numbers by the changelings. And once the ponies realized that the changelings were both peaceful, and rich, their attitudes towards them started to change. Soon things were friendly enough for the changelings to open their emotion sacs and gather in the pleasant emotions, and almost everything went well, with only two or three incidents.
In Stallion Street a pony spat on a changeling and hooves nearly flew on both sides, but the Royal Guards pounced and hauled the offending pony away for a day in the cells, preventing a possible riot. In Goldmonger's Lane a changeling was accused of stealing a gold bracelet, then flying away and changing shape to escape detection. After several witnesses conformed it, Rarity paid for it out of her funds and warned her Hive. "If you are going to act like common thieves, then you don't belong amongst ponies and I will send you all back home. You are representing your Hive and Changelingkind, so be nice or else. Behave."
At the end of the day Celestia said "You and your Hive have behaved well....feel free to come back in the future. Many ponies would like to visit your Hive; some want to buy and sell, others merely to look. Would you be willing to let them do that?"
"I would love that, as long as they behave. They can come tomorrow if they like, I will guide them in personally. If they should accidently stray across the borders into another Hive's territory, said Hive might see them as food."
*****
Unknown to Rarity, one of her Hive was one of Queen Chrysalis's most skilled infiltrators, able even to sneak into a different Hive without detection. He teleported a short letter to her.
Your Majesty, Princess Rarity is going to let ponies into her Hive, that goes against everything we believe in. What should we do about it?