“No, no, no! What is this?!” Asked a very irate Changeling Queen.

“Well...this is Twilight. This is Princess Celestia. This is Rarity. This is a rug. This is a table. This-”

A certain pink pony was not helping the situation.

“Enough! I will not be mocked! And the rest of you need to leave!” Chrysalis soon declared to the gathered ponies, specifically Princess Twilight's five closest friends.

“Are we ready to go already?” Pinkie Pie innocently asked as she adjusted her saddlebags.

Chrysalis looked ready to leap into quite the angry rant, when an alabaster hoof was laid across the Changeling Queen's withers. A moment later, Princess Celestia's ever so calmly went about trying to soothe tempers “Now, Chryssie. There's no need to get so worked up. I don't believe Miss Pinkie Pie was trying to mock you and we can all be reasonable. Right?”

At this point, Princess Celestia sent what would have been a pointed look, if it had come from anyone else, towards Queen Chrysalis. Naturally, coming from Princess Celestia it was an entirely pleasant and entirely reasonable 'look' that could not at all be considered pointed. Chrysalis, also naturally, found this tendency towards omni-benevolence altogether annoying, but nonetheless took a calming breath.

“Why would I be mocking the new 'Nice' Chrys-” Fortunately, Twilight was able to stop this line of inquiry from Pinkie Pie...well, not stop, so much as muffle. Pinkie Pie still seemed to be talking around the hoof covering her mouth.

Chrysalis still seemed rather agitated and uncomfortable with Princess Celestia's proximity, but still managed to rein in her annoyance enough to address the issue at hoof “Why is there an entire herd of ponies here, acting as if I'm going to be leading all of them to the secret location of my swarm's home?”

Pinkie Pie immediately tried to respond, but Twilight hadn't yet removed her hoof, fortunately. The pink pony, nevertheless, attempted to give an answer that, while well-meaning, probably would have annoyed the Changeling Queen even further. In the end, it fell to Applejack to explain.

“Frankly, we just plain don't trust ya not to do nothing, if we leave Twilight alone with ya.”

Bluntly. It fell to Applejack to explain, bluntly. Chrysalis seemed even less amused by Applejack's response than the one Pinkie Pie originally gave. Before she could express her displeasure, Rainbow Dash quickly took to the forefront.

“Yeah! And if you think you're getting your slimy hooves on our friend, you've got another thing coming! If this is-!”

“Miss Rainbow Dash?” Princess Celestia calmly called over the protective mare's attention.

Stumbling a bit as she was interrupted, she glanced over towards the Princess of the Sun with some confusion “Uhm, yeah?”

Again with great calm, and a gentle smile “Could you please lower your voice? It's a bit inappropriate for a meeting like this.”

“What? But she-...!” The azure pegasus soon lapsed into silence, as she took note of Princess Celestia's expression. It seemed as calm and reassuring as it always did, and the gentle smile hadn't shifted, but even then it felt like the Princess' gentle request was more like a gentle command.

“Uh...yeah, no problem, Princess. Sorry about that.” Rainbow Dash quickly settled to the ground, with an awkward chuckle.

“It's quite alright. I understand that you were simply feeling protective of someone dear to you.” Princess Celestia calmly reassured, before continuing “Now, obviously, we've had a bit of a breakdown in communication that we need to settle, right?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, which earned a couple of looks from Twilight's friends, before Twilight finally decided to try to step into the discussion. Pausing as she remembered that she was still covering Pinkie's mouth with her hoof, she glanced towards Pinkie, who still seemed to be trying to talk around Twilight's hoof. Twilight shook her head, in exasperation, before lowering her hoof.

“-and then we can all have even more wedding cake! Okay, I'm done.” Pinkie finished with a smile, even though no one had been able to properly follow along with what she had said.

Twilight simply raised an eyebrow at her excitable friend, before turning back to the matter at hoof. Turning towards Chrysalis “Right. First of all, I didn't mean to surprise anypony or disrupt the plan, for visiting your changelings. It's just that-...”

As Twilight lapsed into silence as she tried to articulate the worries that she and her friends had shared about this little endeavor, Rarity decided to step-in “It's just that this is a very unusual endeavor, even for someone as well-traveled as Twilight. After all, nopony even knew changelings were real, until recently. There's obviously going to be a great number of unknowns to deal with, and it only makes sense that we should lend our friend our support.”

Celestia managed to send over a smile at Rarity's more diplomatic approach, while Chrysalis was still huffing in annoyance. At least the changeling didn't look ready to launch anypony through a wall.

Exhaling forcefully, Chrysalis started to respond just as Fluttershy tried to quietly add her own support.

Chrysalis started “Regardless, of what you po-”

“And it's just- Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean-” Fluttershy soon began apologizing, as she realized that she had just interrupted the changeling queen.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes “Just say what you were going to say.”

Shrinking away from the looks being sent her way, Fluttershy quickly tried to backtrack “Oh, no. I couldn't. I didn't even really mean to say-”

“Just say it!” Chrysalis snapped, causing the butter-coated mare to flinch.

“Hey! You can't talk to her like that!” Rainbow Dash quickly leaped to the defense of her gentler friend, and was once again angrily hovering in front of the Changeling Queen.

“I shall speak to her however I like!” Chrysalis spat back.

“Yeah, well-!”

“Enough.” As per usual, Princess Celestia did not need to raise her voice in order to command attention. And it seemed that her patience was finally starting to wane. Sighing, before turning towards the Changeling Queen “Chrysalis, will you please speak with me over here.”

As Celestia gestured over to the far corner of the room, Chrysalis forced herself to look away from the antagonistic blue pegasus. The changeling looked ready to bite out another retort, before Celestia asked again, in a beseeching tone “Please, Chrysalis.”

Biting back the words, at the look Celestia sent her way, Chrysalis hesitated a moment before sighing. A moment later, Chrysalis was trudging over to where the white alicorn was waiting, earning a smile from Celestia.

Rarity raised an eyebrow at the unusual interactions between the two rulers, as she and the others gathered around Twilight.

“Can you believe her?! She deserves a buck right in the snout if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash quickly made her displeasure known.

“I know she's hard to be around, Dash. Believe me. But, please, try to remember what we're trying to do.” Twilight implored of her friend.

“It's not that we don' git what's going on here, Twi. But, there just ain't no way we can really trust somepony like her. Kinda wonderin' how Princess Celestia can trust ya with somepony like her.” Applejack quickly responded.

“Right, and that overgrown bug had no reason to go shouting at Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash quickly added.

“I-it's alright. I really shouldn't have interrupted her, and-”

“That's still no reason for her to yell at you, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash quickly countered, as Fluttershy tried to take the blame for the situation.

“But Dashie, you're yelling at Fluttershy right now.” Pinkie innocently pointed out.

“Th-that's different! I was yelling as a friend. She was yelling as a big, slimy, creepy-”

“Guys!” Twilight shouted, in an effort to get things back under control.

Everypony settled a bit, before Applejack took the lead again “Like Ah said, we're all for settlin' this peaceful-like, but we still want ta keep ya safe too, Sugarcube. And Ah haven't even heard so much as an 'Ah'm sorry' from her. And that Chrysalis doesn't care a thing about anythin' but getting' as much love as possible to chow down on.”

“I think that's exactly why I can trust her though.” Twilight pointed out.

“Uh, come again?” While Applejack was the one that gave voice to the question, as it seemed everypony was wondering the same thing.

Twilight quickly tried to explain “What I mean is, if she wants her changelings to be safe and have as much love as they want, then she won't do anything to jeopardize what we're trying to do. She might be completely selfish, but in this case we want the same thing as she does. A way to feed her subjects without anypony getting hurt.”

Applejack rubbed her head as she began to understand Twilight's reasoning, along with everypony else. And that really was the primary reason that Twilight wasn't too worried about this trip. But, it also didn't hurt that in the last couple of weeks, she had been given an opportunity to be around the Changeling Queen, in a non-violent context. It was only a little while back, that Twilight had inadvertently stumbled upon Chrysalis, in Princess Celestia's private study, and discovered the secret history between her mentor and the changeling. And while she hadn't really come around to liking Chrysalis, she had come to kinda accept that Princess Celestia and Chrysalis actually did like being around one another...after a fashion. They did seem to spend a lot of time teasing and embarrassing one another, but friendship came in many forms.

And the thing was, it was only after that day that Twilight came to appreciate how lonely Princess Celestia had been, especially before Luna had been freed of Nightmare Moon, and returned to her. It had never even occurred to her before then that her wonderful mentor could have felt so alone; Twilight had seen her interacting with so many ponies before then. But then again, Twilight had never given real thought to what it might be to not only be royalty, but also immortal. How difficult would it be to find someone that would treat Princess Celestia as a friend and equal, that wouldn't be lost to old age in a, relatively, short time.

It wasn't just for Chrysalis' changelings that Twilight wanted this to work. If they could settle the conflict between changelings and ponies...

“Oh, oh, and if we don't give her a chance how are we ever gonna become friends with the new 'Nice' Chrysalis?” Pinkie Pie helpfully pointed out, breaking Twilight and the rest from their thoughts.

“Tch, yeah. Sure, Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash said, even as the others all sported varying degrees of skepticism at that possibility.

Twilight on the other hand, stared briefly at her pink friend, before she decided to simply smile at her friend's optimism. She had seen Pinkie pull off the improbable before, so who was she to say that Pinkie Pie couldn't manage it?

While the others focused on Pinkie's off-the-wall point, Fluttershy sidled over to her friend Rarity, somewhat concerned “Uhm, are you alright, Rarity? You've been awfully quiet. Not that there is anything wrong with that.”

“Hm? Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I was just...lost in thought, I suppose.” Rarity, quickly reassured her friend as she was shaken from her thoughts.

“Oh, OK then. It's just that you seemed...worried.” Fluttershy relaxed a bit at the other mare's reassurance.

“I'm sure it's nothing. Just entertaining some silly thoughts.” Rarity might have gone into these 'thoughts' further, if the Changeling Queen hadn't taken just that moment to stomp back over to the gathered group of ponies. Turning to Celestia, who was likewise rejoining the group of ponies “Fine, if it'll cease your nagging, we'll go along with your compromise.”

Not bothered by the changeling's tone, Princess Celestia smiled as she responded “That's all I ask, Chryssie.”

Raising an annoyed eyebrow at the nickname, before focusing on the group of ponies before her, Chrysalis pointed a hoof at Twilight “Pick two of your friends to come along. That's the deal.”

Blinking at the sudden order, Twilight was only able to articulate the first thought that came to mind “What?”

“Pick. Two. Of your friends. What part of that did you not understand?” Chrysalis explained.

“Wait a minute! You're only letting two of us come with Twilight? What about everypony else?” Rainbow Dash quickly demanded.

“Go home. Or whatever. I don't care. She can either pick two of you, or none of you. That's the deal.” Chrysalis waved a hole-filled hoof dismissively, as she said this.

“Well, you better believe that I'm going! No way I'm leaving her alone on this.” Rainbow Dash quickly asserted.

“Fine. She can pick one more of you to go along then.” Chrysalis agreed easily enough. A moment later Pinkie Pie started waving her hoof in the air, trying to get their attention.

“Oh, oh, oh, pick me! Pick me!”

“Not the pink one!” Chrysalis quickly eliminated that as a possibility, eliciting a moan of disappointment from Pinkie Pie.

“Now everypony, just wait one second.” Twilight demanded, as she approached Chrysalis “I don't know how I can pick just two of my friends. It's like the Grand Galloping Gala ticket fiasco, all over again.”

“Good, because you only have to pick one more of them now.” Chrysalis pointed out, unhelpfully, since as far as she was concerned Rainbow Dash was already one of Twilight's two picks. Chrysalis had no desire to listen to the shouting that would ensue, if Rainbow Dash wasn't allowed to go.

Soon Twilight, her friends, and Chrysalis were caught up in a heated discussion as to whom Twilight was going to be bringing.

As they tried to settle this dispute, Pinkie Pie soon noticed Princess Celestia subtly waving her over, a twinkle in the alicorn's eye.

A minute later, Pinkie Pie had sidled up to Chrysalis as the changeling continued the argument with Twilight, on who to bring along. Pinkie soon began tapping the changeling queen's leg to get her attention.

“It is entirely- What?!” Chrysalis soon snapped at the pink Earth pony's insistent tapping, and in the process managed to bring the whole argument to a brief pause, as everypony wondered what Pinkie Pie wanted.

Chrysalis took a calming breath, before asking in a more measured tone “What do you want?”

Pinkie Pie just grinned before asking “Oh, I was just wondering if you're really, really sure I can't come along. I mean, really, really sure.”

Raising an eyebrow at the peculiar antics of the pink pony, Chrysalis was unsure whether Pinkie Pie was just being odd or was up to something “...Yes. I'm absolutely sure, that I don't want you to come with us...why are you asking?”

“I just wanted to be really, really sure. Cause if I'm not going, I'm going to have to figure out what to do with all the brownies I made.” Pinkie Pie cheerfully explained, as she pulled a container of brownies from somewhere.

“Pinkie...no offense, but we're dealing with something kind of important here, you know?” Rainbow Dash pointed out, not really in the mood for her friend's randomness, at just that moment.

“Pinkie, where did you even get those? I didn't see you bring them with you.” Twilight asked. Sure she was used to this kind of thing from the Earth pony, but still.

“Just around.” Pinkie answered unhelpfully.

“Well, while it's a shame that your treats will be going to waste, I don't think your going to be changing...Queen Chrysalis' mind with them, dear. Isn't that...” Rarity tried to explain, before trailing off as she noticed that Chrysalis did seem rather focused on the container of sweets.

“Brownies?” Chrysalis asked with a clear frown on her face.

“Yep! Double-fudge and chocolate chunk icing!” Pinkie Pie confirmed.

“...Hm.” With a noncommittal grunt, Chrysalis shouldered past the gathered ponies, and cantered over towards Celestia. A moment later a hushed discussion soon ensued between the two monarchs.

“...Well, that was odd.” Twilight observed with some confusion.

“Uhm, perhaps she has a history with...brownies?” Fluttershy offered.

Less than a minute later, they could catch the tail end of the conversation between Princess Celestia and Chrysalis, as the changeling raised her voice in annoyance “Fine!...and this isn't funny!”

Celestia simply nodded with a smile, apparently satisfied with Chrysalis' decision.

The changeling quickly stomped back over to the group “The pink one's coming. Get your things ready.”

“Yay!” While Pinkie was simply celebrating her accomplishment, the others were baffled by this turn of events.

“Wait! You said I got to pick who was coming with us!” Twilight pointed out with some annoyance.

“Yes. And you made two very fine choices. Bravo. Now, let's hurry up before anything else annoying happens.” Chrysalis deadpanned.

“Excellent, it seems everypony is already here.” At that very moment, Prince Blueblood stepped through the doors into the antechamber, with a set of fully-loaded saddled bags strapped to his back.

Princess Celestia actually had to suppress a giggle at her nephew's serendipitous timing.

Chrysalis soon walked over, not giving any mind to the others “It's about time. We've already had enough annoyances without your beauty regimen dragging us down.”

“Well, excuse me, but this is a diplomatic mission if you recall, and maintaining appearances is-” Blueblood defended, before being brought to a halt by Rainbow Dash flying up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're letting this guy come? After all the hay we had to go through just to get you to let Twilight bring me and Pinkie too? What gives!?”

“I didn't actually pick you guys.” Twilight tried to point out. Nopony paid her any mind.

Blueblood frowned at the blue pegasus' assessment, before giving his two bits “Queen Chrysalis is indeed allowing me to come along. Since this guy, happens to be one of the few ponies that's actually been to the changeling swarm's home. To say nothing of my expert skills in-”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, before cutting off the stallion “Yes, the little popinjay is coming with us. Because I said so. Now say your goodbyes and stop wasting anymore of our daylight.”

As both Blueblood and Rainbow Dash scowled at the changeling's assertions, Rarity was cantering over to Pinkie Pie, who was in the middle of packing a number of strange objects and confections into her saddlebags.

“Need an extra hoof?” Rarity offered.

“Hmmm, I'm not sure...I'll definitely be needing a hoof, if I'm going to be using these flippers. What do you think, Rarity?”

“I...think, you'll be alright without the flippers. By the way, do you mind if I ask you something, Pinkie?” Rarity decided to just slide past that odd question.

“I think you just did, but you can always ask another one.” Pinkie Pie pointed out.

“Right. Anyway, just how did you know how to convince Chrysalis to let you go with Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“Oh, that's easy. Princess Celestia told me that Chrysalis's favorite food is chocolate. It's like the only kind of pony food that she'll eat.” Pinkie helpfully explained.

“...Chocolate?” Rarity asked, having really expected some sort of more convoluted explanation than 'Chrysalis really likes chocolate'.

“Yep! Princess Celestia says it's a really easy way to get on her good side and stuff.” Pinkie Pie elaborated.

“...I see.” Rarity said as she considered that.

“Alright, if you are all quite done, we can finally set out.” Chrysalis called back impatiently.

“Alright then, well you look out for yourself, sugarcube. Ah'd hate to have to get rough with that varmint, if she pulled anything.” Applejack gave her own farewell to Twilight by wrapping a hoof around the young princess.

“I'll be sure to be extra careful, Applejack. But, I really think it's going to work out alright.” Twilight returned the hug, as she reassured her friend.

“I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Twilight.” Fluttershy quickly agreed, before letting Twilight move over to join everyone that was going on the trip.

As she cantered over, Rarity came over to give her own goodbye “Do look out for yourself, Twilight. I'm sure you can handle anything you might run into, but still that's no reason to be incautious.”

Smiling again at the consistent concern all her friends had for her “I'll be sure to be careful, Rarity. And thank you.”

“Good...and one more thing?”

Tilting her head in curiosity, at her friend “What is it?”

Rarity seemed to consider her words for a moment “Try to keep an ear out, as to whether Queen Chrysalis is...seeing anypony.”

“...What?”

“You know, if it comes up in conversation. Now you have a wonderful trip, dear.” With that she shared a hug with her friend, before leaving the young princess to her confusion.

Watching as Rarity joined Applejack and Fluttershy in saying their goodbyes to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Twilight almost didn't notice when Princess Celestia slipped beside her. For being so large, she could be quite stealthy, if you weren't paying attention.

“Feeling a bit anxious, Twilight?”

“Huh? Oh-...” Twilight took a moment to look between the changeling queen, her friends and Princess Celestia again before answering “-...well, now I am.”

The princess nodded at that, prompting Twilight to continue “I mean, we aren't even out the door and this almost blew up in our faces. And between Rainbow Dash and Chrysalis, we're probably going to have an international incident before we even reach the train station.”

Chuckling a bit at that, Celestia added her own thoughts “Yes, they both tend towards being a bit strong-willed and protective, don't they?...I hope you don't hold it too strongly against Chrysalis if she's a bit...grumpy. The changelings don't receive many visitors, and I think she's feeling anxious about all of this.”

“I guess, that makes sense, Princess Celestia...but it sure doesn't make my job any easier.” Twilight nodded at that, before snarking a bit.

“True...but, I'm sure you're up to the task, my student.” Princess Celestia reassured “Perhaps you'll be able to take her mind off it, on your way there.”

“Well, if anypony can distract her it's-...” Twilight's eyes widened as she looked between her beloved mentor, and the bouncing ball of pink that was her friend, Pinkie Pie. “-...Pinkie Pie?”

“I thought so, too.” Celestia remarked a bit too casually.

As Twilight appraised her mentor, she didn't catch what Princess Celestia said next “I'm sorry?”

“I said, you should probably join the others, I think Chryssie and my nephew are ready to go.” Celestia said in a kindly manner.

“Oh. Oh, right! Uhm...right.” Twilight said awkwardly. As she turned to join her friends, she felt Celestia stop her with a hoof on her withers.

“One more thing.”

“What is it, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.

Princess Celestia seemed to be considering her next words carefully, and with even a bit of worry. It was kind of surprising coming from her normally unflappable mentor.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked again, with growing concern.

“It's probably not going to be a problem...but do be careful if you happen to run into Chrysalis' mother.”

“...Her mother?!”

Author's Notes:

Alright, here's the first chapter detailing Twilight's visit with changelings, I hope you guys enjoy and review. As I mentioned int he description, you're probably not gonna be able to follow this without having ready "Advanced Lessons" first. Probably going to be three chapters in all.

Expect a bit of editing, for this first chapter in the next couple of days, and I'll be working on the next chapter of "Diamond Tiara goes to Boot Camp" this coming week.