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 Apparently the lot of them had been replaced by changelings, along with the entire court of the Crystal Empire, and even Luna and Celestia, too.”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.”
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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.