The Stranger Among Friends

by PhycoKrusk

Decision

When the door of the conference room closed behind Driftwood the second time, it did not sound as much like the lid of a coffin. His stomach was uneasy, but did not churn, and breathing came more easily to him.

Twilight remained sitting at the head of the table, her expression still carefully neutral and her emotions still a mystery. “It’s nice to see you again, Driftwood,” she said. She gestured to the single cushion that was in the same spot — perhaps the exact same spot — it had been previously. “Please.”

“Yes, Princess,” Driftwood replied, although he did not walk to the cushion quite as smartly as he had before. He paused when he reached it, drawing in a deep breath, holding it for a moment, and then exhaling before he sat down. He kept his eyes firmly on the same spot on the table he’d picked out the last time.

“I know what to do with you now that I’ve talked to Rarity, but before we get into that, there’s something I want to make sure is absolutely clear first,” Twilight said. “I am a Princess of Equestria. That means that in cases when it’s not clear how a law is to be applied, I am granted some freedom to interpret the law as it would pertain to the situation.”

Driftwood’s muscles were so tense that he felt like he had steel underneath his chitin.

“The laws that provide legal protections to ponies do not make allowances for changelings,” Twilight continued. “They also do not make allowances for donkeys, griffons, or any other creatures either, but those protections are still applied because the laws do not make allowances for any specific creature, ponies included. They do not make specific exclusions of changelings.

“As a Princess of Equestria, I, Twilight Sparkle, hereby declare that you, Driftwood of Portside, possess the same legal protections that would be afforded to a pony in your situation, effective as of the day of your birth and into perpetuity.”

For the first time since he’d met her, Driftwood looked directly at Twilight Sparkle, shock and surprise written all across his face. “I-I don’t,” he tried, groping for words that wouldn’t cooperate with his desire to communicate for several moments. “I don’t understand. I’m a changeling!”

“That shouldn’t matter,” Twilight replied evenly, to which Driftwood could reply in no fashion other than staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. Suddenly, nothing made sense to him anymore. He shook free of his stupor when he heard Twilight address him again.

“There’s so much that we don’t know about changelings, and I’d like to ask you more about them, but not here,” she continued, her magic sweeping up the few notes she took during her talk with Rarity. “I’d like for you to come with us to Ponyville, at least for a few days, as a guest of the Crowns. I know that’s probably not the circumstance you’d like to visit under, but it’s the best that I can do.”

Driftwood looked down at the table in front of him again for a few moments. “So I possess the same legal protections as a pony?” he said, looking to Twilight again. “And it doesn’t matter that I’m a changeling?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s correct.”

“Then why did you say ‘shouldn’t?’”

Twilight did not reply. Her mood was not betrayed by so much as a twitch of her eyes, and to that, Driftwood nodded. “Princess, I’m not well educated at all, but I notice things. For example, I noticed that you said it shouldn’t matter that I’m a changeling and also agreed that it doesn’t matter, when those don’t mean the same thing. I also noticed, now that I’ve had some time to think about it, that I can’t feel any emotions from you at all, and that’s impossible. So please, in your own words, tell me again why it doesn’t matter that I’m a changeling.”

“Because Equestrian law doesn’t make allowances or exceptions for any specific creatures, so logically they apply equally to all creatures,” Twilight replied.

“Now, tell me why it shouldn’t matter that I’m a changeling.”

To this, Twilight offered only silence as an answer, and several seconds passed before she finally spoke. “It shouldn’t matter because you haven’t done anything illegal or harmful to others, and it’s not fair to treat you differently just because of what you are. I’m the Princess of Friendship, and I don’t know if I can do what I need to do.”

Both alicorn and changeling were silent for several seconds, Twilight watching Driftwood, and Driftwood watching the table. Finally, he looked up and made a deliberate eye contact.

“A crossroad, then.”

Author's Note:

The chapter originally had a very different, much happier ending.

And then nightwalker left a comment:

I always did agree with the idea that Twilight would not be easily forgiving towards changelings.

And I realized pretty immediately that this would make for a more interesting story and ran with it. Of all the cast, I think I find Twilight the most complex. The show tries to convey this complexity, but I feel that it falls short because they’ve written themselves into a limited space where the mane 6 have accomplished so much that it’s getting difficult to think of things to reasonably challenge them with. This is especially true with Twilight; she’s an actual alicorn with actual alicorn magic, and a princess with actual princess duties. Where else is there to go?

Of course, writing a compelling psycho-moral dilemma for a program with the designated demographic is probably challenging.

I struggle with cliffhangers.

Comments

[nightwalker]

Whoo hoo! Story influence!

Certainly an interesting development in that case. I look forward to how she goes about resolving her feelings for Driftwood now that such has been made clear.

[tsaukpaetra]

Thank you, Twilight, for realizing the rocky situation you've accidentally been thrust into. Harmony had many reasons for this path.
Let's see whose ideology wins out...