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Who Are You, And What Have You Done With Diamond Tiara?

by Bucking Nonsense

Chapter 1: Diamond Tiara Finally Goes Too Far...

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"So, what do you want to do to those three losers today?"

Silver Spoon was surprised to see Diamond Tiara turn to look back at her friend with a look of confusion on her face. After a moment, the look changed to one of disbelief, and Di said, "So, you're asking me what we're going to do to get us in even more trouble than we are already?"

The two were sitting, as usual, inside the school, while the other colts and fillies played outside. They had lost their recess privileges a week ago, although Di had forgotten that earlier, and instead had to sit at their desks while Cheerilee graded papers. Big Macintosh was watching the youngsters play, as a favor for the teacher, while she worked.

Losing recess had stung a little, but Silver Spoon had considered it bearable, since she still had her best friend to talk with while they waited for recess to end. It wasn't as if Sil had any other friends, after all. But something had seemed off about Diamond Tiara all day. She seemed to be nervous, yet at the same time, incredibly depressed. That was unlike her: Di had always seemed absolutely self-assured, regardless of the situation.

Still...

"I guess you have a point," Silver Spoon admitted. "I mean, we've already lost recess, and Miss Cheerilee has threatened us with suspension yesterday. The last thing we really need is to get into even more hot water..." In retrospect, it did seem kind of childish to keep making fun of Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom for not having their cutie marks. After all, they might get them any day now, at which point Sil and Di would both be left looking foolish. "So," she asked, "What would you like to do instead?"

"I don't know," Diamond said, "What would you like to do?"

Now that was definitely odd: Diamond had never asked what Sil wanted to do. It was always what Di wanted. "Well," Silver said, after a moment's thought, "We could go to Sugarcube Corner. I heard they're giving a discount on cupcakes today." Just because Silver Spoon's family was rich didn't mean that her personal supply of money was limitless: her parents had cut her allowance to the bone due to the pair's misbehavior. Sure, it was still more in a week than most ponies got in a year, but still...

Well, Di wasn't likely to go for it, though: she was almost always on a diet...

"Sure," Di said, nodding. "That sounds good."

Cheerilee, smiling, surprisingly enough, stood up holding two test papers in her hoof. She walked over and gave one to Sil, and said, "A solid B+, Silver Spoon. Much better than last time. Keep up the good work."

Silver Spoon blushed a little bit at the praise. She had worked hard for that grade. Her parents had told her that if she got a B or higher on her next test, they'd raise her allowance back to what it once was. It was good to know her hard work hadn't been wasted.

Turning to Diamond Tiara, Cheerilee's grin grew wider, and placed the paper down on the desk. Sil couldn't believe her eyes: A+, a perfect score. Diamond Tiara never got anything above a C-. In fact, she almost always got a D-. She'd never seen the point of actually studying for a test. Surprisingly enough, Di seemed proud of herself, smiling for the first time all day.

And then, Cheerilee, chucking with good humor, asked, "Who are you, and what have you done with Diamond Tiara?"

Silver Spoon was about to laugh, when Diamond Tiara, her face a mask of absolute horror, screamed, then jumped out of her chair, and ran for one of the windows. She leapt, and slammed directly into the glass, knocking herself out cold. The windows held together, since they were reinforced safety glass: it was a lot cheaper than having to replace the windows every time a dodgeball, baseball, or whatever went astray, after all. The moment she hit the ground, she changed...

Lying on the ground, were once had been Silver Spoon's best friend, was a young changeling.
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Cheerilee was... stunned, to be honest. She'd heard the two fillies talking, about how they'd go and do something other than making her student's lives miserable, and she'd started to feel genuine joy. All this time, it had seemed like her words had fallen on deaf ears, but here was proof that she was getting through, and the sudden change in their grades had seemed like a cherry on top, but then suddenly...

Silver Spoon, her face just as shocked as her teacher's, asked, "What... what's going on?"

Cheerilee gathered her wits, then admitted, "I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out." Stepping outside, the teacher called Big Macintosh over, and asked him to run over to Twilight Sparkle's place, before calling the rest of the students in. A changeling replacing one of her students was an emergency worthy of royal intervention...

While Mac ran off to get the princess, Cheerilee knelt over the changeling, and checked to make sure the creature wasn't hurt. Thankfully, it seemed she was unharmed: the teacher had heard that the creatures were quite hardy, due to their exoskeletons. Yes, a good knock upside the head might knock them out, but to do lasting harm you'd need much, much worse.

The students began filing in, giving the changeling a look as they came in. Cheerilee told them to take their seats, and read the next chapter of their textbooks quietly while she took care of this.

Twilight Sparkle and Big Macinosh returned just as the changeling was starting to come to. The youngster took one look at the princess, and started screaming again, cowering in fear. At first, what it was shouting made no sense, but after a moment, Cheerilee started to understand what was going on.

"I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT! SHE MADE ME! I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T EAT MY BRAIN!!!"

Twilight Sparkle and Big Macintosh were utterly confused, since they didn't spend much time with Diamond Tiara. Cheeliee, on the other hand, knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what this was all about.

The teacher asked, "Your highness, do you know where Filthy Rich lives, right?" The princess nodded. "Good. If you could please head over there and check Diamond Tiara's room for me? Oh, and if Diamond is there, please bring her, and her father, over here right away. She has some explaining to do."

The princess raised an eyebrow, but was quick on the uptake. After a moment, she nodded, then flew off. Almost immediately, the changeling relaxed slightly.

Cheerilee turned to look the changeling over: the little bug was... well, exactly what you imagined a young changeling would look like. Putting on her best smile, Cheerilee asked, "Now, while we wait, I have a few questions I'd like to ask. You don't mind, do you?"

The changeling shook its (it's almost impossible to tell the gender of a changeling without asking) head, still nervous. After a moment, the bug said, "I don't mind..."

Cheerilee nodded and asked, "Good. What's your name?"

The changeling said, "My hatching number was 10001110101. The, ah, nurse that was in charge of numbering that day didn't know any other numbers."

That got a giggle from the assembled children, and the changeling couldn't seem to help smiling as well. Cheerilee giggled, then asked, "And what do your friends call you?"

"Stinkbug," the changeling said, a little more confidently.

An eyebrow raised, the teacher asked, "Why would they call you that?"

"When I was really little, me and a group of hatchlings got separated from the swarm, and a chimera came after us. I drew the beast away from the others, so they could run and get help, and then hid in a pool of stinkmud until adults came and chased the monster off." The changeling paused there, wrinkling it's nose at the memory, and said, "I was in there for three hours, before help finally came, and since there wasn't any soap available, the, ah, smell took a long time to go away." Grinning, the changeling said, "But I got a nickname out of it, and usually you have to work for years to get one of those. Instead, I got my nickname before I even got a first name."

Well, that proved that he was a boy, then: only a boy could be proud of being called "Stinky". "And what," Cheerilee asked, "Is 'stinkmud'?"

"It's mud that stinks. You see a lot of it in Stinkmire Bog."

"Right..." Cheerilee said, then, after a moment's thought said, "Well, Stinkbug, while Twilight goes and checks things out, how about you tell me what's going on?" The changeling hesitated. Patting the changeling on the shoulder, Cheerilee said, "I promise, you're not in any trouble right now. I just want to hear your side of things before Diamond Tiara gets here."

After a moment, the changeling nodded, and started explaining...
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Diamond Tiara was enjoying her free time. Sure, she'd have to spend the entire day in her room or else she'd get caught, but since her parents had both seen 'her' leave for school today, she could relax, and do whatever she pleased. It was the perfect crime...

Well, that was what she thought, until her father, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, burst in, both of them surprised to see her there.

"Young lady," Daddy said, angrier than Di had ever seen him before, "You are in so much trouble right now."
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Cheerilee shook her head, sighing sadly, as the changeling finished his story. She suspected that it was something like that. Still, it hurt to hear that one of her students would stoop that low...

Stinkbug, now looking nervous again, asked, "I'm... I'm not going to get sent to the princesses, am I?"

Cheerilee walked over to the changeling, put a gentle hoof on his shoulder and said, "While I imagine that the princesses will probably want to meet you, it's nothing like Diamond Tiara said it would be."

Big Macintosh nodded in agreement, then said, "Eeyup."

The changeling, after a moment, asked, "Promise?"

Cheerilee, smiling, said, "Promise."

A few minutes later, Twilight Sparkle came in with Filthy Rich and his daughter in tow. The stallion looked down at the changeling, and seemed to catch on almost immediately. Turning to his daughter, the earth pony asked, "Care to explain why a changeling was here, sitting in for you, while you were playing around in your room?"

Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to reply, but Cheerilee cut her off. "Young lady," the teacher said, trying very hard to keep the anger out of her voice, "This young fellow just told me exactly what happened. So, before you start lying, think very carefully about what you're going to say, because you're already in a lot more trouble than you think you are." Diamond Tiara's mouth closed with a click, and looked properly abashed. It was true, the young filly had just made a royal mess of things, in more ways than one.

When the princesses heard about this...

Twilight Sparkle, more than a little confused, asked, "I'm not really sure I get what's going on. Would you mind filling me in?"

Cheerilee turned over to the changeling and said, "Stinkbug, please tell her what you told me."

The changeling nodded, then said, "Yesterday, I was disguised as a stray dog, trying to get some love: everyone loves a scruffy-looking puppy, so it's a quick way to get a little affection. Not enough for a stockpile, but it's been keeping me going since the Canterlot thing a year ago. Well, I had to take a quick breather, since I'm not very good at holding disguises yet, and she saw me when I changed." Here, the changeling pointed at Diamond Tiara.

Twilight Sparkle nodded, then said, "I follow you so far. Go on."

Clearing his throat, the changeling said, "She told me that if I didn't do like she said, she'd call the guards, and that they'd, ah..." Here, Stinkbug hesitated, shuddered, then said, with a voice with more than a little bit of fear in it, "They'd take me to meet the princesses. If I was lucky, all they'd do is put me in the dungeon for a thousand years, or maybe turn me to stone and set me up in the garden as a warning to others. If I wasn't, they'd use their alicorn magic to eat my brains. I need my brains, I use them almost every day, so I went along with it."

Twilight Sparkle looked down at Diamond Tiara, her jaw dropping, and her expression horrified. "Why... why would you even joke about that?"

Cheerilee sighed, and said, "I imagine that, for a chance to play hookey, she'd have said just about anything."

Twilight Sparkle sighed, and said, holding a hoof against her forehead, "So, ah, Stinkbug, DIamond Tiara told you that if you didn't sit in for her today, she'd turn you in?"

"Oh no," the changeling said, shuddering slightly. "I wasn't getting off that easy. I was supposed to be sitting in for her for the whole week."

Silver Spoon, who'd been quiet the entire time, burst into the conversation, angrily asking Diamond Tiara, "And you were just going to do all of that without telling me anything?"

The pink pony sputtered, trying to come up with a response, but couldn't.

Sil, tears starting to run down her cheeks, said, "I can't believe you. I thought you were my friend. But you were just going to... to leave me here with a stand in while you just got to play around all day. And not just for one day, but a whole week? Does my friendship really mean so little to you?"

Diamond Tiara, looking a little sad, said, "I'm sorry..." It really didn't sound all that sincere...

"Save it," Silver Spoon said, her eyes narrowed in anger, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You can apologize all you want next week: I'm not talking to you until then. You obviously weren't planning to talk to me, after all." With that, she stormed off, sat back at her desk, and stared at the chalkboard, sniffling.

The pink earth pony looked thoroughly distressed, realizing that her thoughtless actions had just hurt the only friend she really had in the world. However, her problems had only just started.

Sighing, Cheerilee said, "This will have to go before Princess Celestia. Under the new Changeling Protection Act, any attempt to force a changeling to use their abilities to commit a crime has to be brought before her, or Luna, to decide the proper response. And truancy is considered a crime." While not exactly the most popular law ever passed, the fact that expatriate changelings were showing up all over Equestria had required a new law to be passed in order to ensure that they were allowed the same rights as any other creature. The princesses had decided that the best way to solve the problems that kept popping up was to deal with things on a case by case basis personally, so that proper precedents could be established for the future.

Diamond Tiara's eyes widened in shock. Well, like Cheerilee said, the filly was in far more trouble than she had thought. This was going to be a major, major headache, not just for the filly, but for Cheerilee and for Filthy Rich as well. Given Di's academic record, she'd be looking at least at a suspension, or possibly even expulsion. Or maybe her father would decide that it was time to take matters into his own hooves, and have her transferred to a different school, one that had more stringent methods of dealing with discipline problems. Whatever happened, things were about to change drastically for the filly...

Sighing sadly himself, Filthy Rich said, "Right." Turning back to his daughter, he said, "Diamond Dazzle Tiara, I honestly thought I raised you better than this. Can you please explain to me why you thought that this was a good idea?"

The filly opened and closed her mouth several times, but in the end, she couldn't say anything in her defense...

With another long, weary sigh, Filthy Rich shook his head and said, "I didn't think so." Turning to Twilight Sparkle, he said, "Alright, I'll take her home, and keep her there until the princesses can schedule a hearing. Shouldn't take more than a day, right?"

Twilight nodded, and said, "I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia as soon as I get home. I'll be by this afternoon with the time, and I'll see about arranging transportation for you. You'll be there and back before you know it. The sooner this all gets straightened out, the better."

Rich nodded, then started marching his daughter home. Cheerilee could hear, very clearly, how unhappy the stallion was with the filly once they were outside. Cheerilee couldn't help but feel the same: She had spoken, at length, to the stallion about the filly's behavior, and both had worked very hard to correct her atrocious behavior...

Hopefully, the princesses could scare her straight.

Looking more than a little nervous, the changeling asked, "What about me?"

Cheerilee looked down at Stinkbug, then turned towards the princess. "Do you think you can get a message to the Bureau Of Changeling Affairs today?"

Twilight nodded, and said, "Sure. I know a representative from the bureau is here in town today, setting up housing for a pair of newlyweds who were looking to move here. I'll have him come by after school's out, and he can help in getting Stinkbug looked after."

Cheerilee nodded, smiled, then turned back to the changeling, and said, "In the meantime, Stinkbug, have a seat. School's still in session."

With a cute little salute, the changeling nodded, then sat at Diamond Tiara's desk.

After seeing Twilight Sparkle and Big Macintosh off, Cheerilee walked up to the chalkboard, turned to face her students, and said, "Alright, everyone, it seems that today, there's going to be a change in the lesson plan. Given what's just happened, and since our visitor here has probably not heard about it, I'm going to give you all a short rundown on a law that was passed a few weeks ago. It's called the Changeling Protection Act, and it's going to cause more than a few changes around here."

Cheerilee picked up a piece of chalk in her mouth and began writing the words on the chalkboard. Once she was done, she put the chalk down, and turned to address the class. "This law was put into effect a few weeks ago. It was created for several reasons. Among those reasons was to protect ponies from changelings who would use their powers to take advantage of them, and to protect changelings from being mistreated by ponies."

Raising his hoof, Stinkbug asked, "That's really a thing?"

The teacher giggled, then said, "Oh yes, it's definitely 'a thing'. After the invasion a year ago, the princesses saw a number of cases where changelings were taken advantage of by others. Several changelings had ended up forced to cooperate in criminal activities, for fear of being turned in to the authorities. Stories like the one Diamond Tiara used were common, and given recent events, they had every reason to believe that those tales were true. Fearing for their lives, they ended up doing things that they would normally never do, simply because they had no idea that they were never in any serious danger."

With a shrug, Cheerilee said, "There really isn't enough time today to go into detail about everything that went into making that law. There's a hundred stories that I could tell you, but, ah, not all of them are ones for kids your age. It took the hard work and dedication of several changelings over the last year to make it a reality, as well as several ponies who ended up befriending them. The end result is a set of regulations that were put into place to ensure the rights of an entire race of sentient and sapient creatures, as well as the formation of an organization that would serve to help changelings stranded in Equestria to adapt to their new home."

Turning back towards the chalkboard, Cheerilee said, "Now, there's a lot of stuff that goes into the Changeling Protection Act, and most of it is boring for children your age. Here's the bottom line: Changelings have the same rights that you, or any other creature in Equestria, have. That means that they are both subject to, and protected by, the same laws that you are. They also enjoy the same rights and privileges that you do. Treat any changeling you meet the same way you'd want to be treated, and you'll have it exactly right."
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A little while later, as school was winding down, Stinkbug said, "Um, I'm really sorry about..."

Silver Spoon held up a hoof and said, "Don't."

Turning towards the filly, the changeling was surprised to see her smiling.

"It really wasn't your fault," she said. "Diamond Tiara put you up to it. I'm angry with her, right now, not you. I mean, I knew she could be a bit insensitive sometimes, but..." sighed, rolled her eyes, then said, "Well, the less said, the better. I'll... probably forgive her later. That's what friends do, after all."

Stinkbug nodded, and said, "Right. Well, um, I'd ask if we were still going to Sugarcube Corner later, but I think I'm going to be busy today. Besides, you kind of planned on going with Diamond Tiara, not me." Changelings didn't eat pony food, but Stink was just at the age where he was starting to notice girls, and spending time with a cute filly his age was starting to have a certain appeal...

Giggling, Silver Spoon said, "Well, tomorrow's another day, and I don't think I'd mind going with you then, if you're not too busy."

Surprised, the changeling smiled and said, "Sure!"

Next Chapter: Consequences Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes
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