After everybody had settled back down and placed their orders from the chefs, Artex had a question,
"Alright, it's incredible that you have bacon here in the Palace for visiting ambassadors, but where does it come from? The pigs I met on the Apple Family farm were pretty passable conversationalists and I know Kavim well enough to know you would NEVER serve the meat of a sentient creature, so where does it come from?"

"I should say not!" Blueblood interjected, "Auntie, if I may?"

Celestia nodded to the white stallion, so he continued,
"The flesh comes from animals in Gryphonvale. You see the animals in Equestria are sentient because of all the residual Thamaturgic Energy that is used. The uses come from Unicorns using magic and the left over energy goes back into the air. The air here in Equestria is so thick and full of Thamaturgic Energy that it needs a place to go, so the animals take it in and it... sort of empowers them. The animals in Equestria are sentient, that does not happen anywhere else. Now from what Auntie has told me, your kind consider us animals on your world, so allow me to inform you of the, as we are known, Prime Races. There are the Kavim, us obviously, then you have the Minotauri, the Gryphons, the Zebras, the Dragons, the Buffalo, the Diamond Dogs, and the Changelings. There are three lands held by Kavim, but only in Equestria do four tribes live. Here in Equestria you have Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, and Alicorns. In the Crystal Kingdom to the North you have a land populated by Crystal Kavim, and to the far East in Saddle Arabia you have Wind Kavim and Desert Kavim. The nation of Saddle Arabia is allied with Equestria, but they have not subjugated themselves to the rule of any Alicorn. They are also not quite as peaceful as native Equestrian Kavim are. The Crystal Kingdom has only just accepted the rule of an Alicorn, Princess Cadence. They are now peaceful, but before Cadence came to power, the Crystal Kingdom was at war with Equestria and Saddle Arabia long ago. Over all, the Wind Kavim and Desert Kavim do not consider themselves as anything but very distant relatives to us, whereas the Crystal Kavim see Equestrian Kavim as family now."

Blueblood paused briefly before he turned his head toward Celestia,
"Auntie, speaking of the Changelings, what are you planning to do with the ones the commoners have been finding occasionally? I have my own ideas, but I know you well enough to know you would likely frown on what I would suggest."

Celestia looked up sharply,
"When did this develop?" she asked pointedly.

Blueblood waved his hooves in a placating gesture,
"It happened two days ago. We only just received word this morning. The Changelings were found by a group of commoner farmers and the local Guard was notified. They are supposed to be transported today, but I wanted to know what you wanted to do with them."

Celestia sighed,
"Do any of your ideas have anything to do with any form of execution, imprisonment, slavery, or exploitation?"

Blueblood shook his head looking offended,
"Not even remotely. You know me better than that Auntie. I am a snob, a lout, and a shameless flirt with an unbearable sense of entitlement, but I am no murdering monster. I make no apologies for what I am, but I am nothing like my former brother Proudhoof, may he rot in Tartarus. Needless to say, my ideas are not likely to be popular among the Changeling prisoners though."

Chris stared death at Blueblood from across the table,
"Proudhoof is your brother!?"

Blueblood lowered his head and peered at Chris with a fierce, piercing gaze,
"He WAS my brother, my half brother. My father died when a wall of masonry fell onto him when I was four. Mothers remarried, and all but abandoned me once they had he and my sisters. That trident he was so willing to murder for, was rightfully mine. It was my father's but I had no idea where it was and Proudhoof stole it. Auntie Celestia took me in, but her duties with the kingdom and her pupil kept her very busy so I ended up being raised by doting staff. When I heard of the atrocity Proudhoof perpetrated by misusing his authority, I not only disowned him, but I also offered to take his head. His actions were beyond anything I would have ever done. It was an idiotic move on his part. I might have petitioned for a select group of Unicorns to slip sleeping agents into food to allow for capture, but an out and out massacre?" Blueblood shook his head, "I would never have thought of such a thing. I'll be the first to admit I'm anything but a nice Pony, but there are lines even I wouldn't cross."

Artex' attention was focused on the conversation like a laser,
"Where have the Changelings been taken? And what about the dead ones?"

Blueblood turned his attention to Artex,
"The dead are being buried where they are found. For now the living ones are being held in a barn with anti magic wards covering the entire thing. My idea was to give them a choice: stay and wear anti magic rings while they serve as indentured servants to pay for their crimes, or be taken back to the Badlands and deal with the rest of their perverse race."

"You could let us take a crack at them." Artex suggested.

Blueblood looked angrily at the disfigured man,
"I may detest them, but they will come to no harm while they are under my care! Cracking carapaces indeed! They do not even have a carapace, they have tough, stretchable skin and I will thank you not to indicate that you wish to torture them."

Artex sat back in his seat and rubbed the bridge of his nose,
"No, bad choice of words on my part. What I meant was we could talk to them."

Celestia, Luna, and Blueblood all looked at Artex intently,
"Go on." Luna prompted.

"Two Changelings came forward yesterday at the border of New Humansville. They said they wanted to live there with everybody else and they indicated there were more of them waiting in the woods." Artex paused to let the information sink in.

Blueblood looked like he was both angry and puzzled,
"They should have been arrested on the spot..."

"No." Luna said quietly, "Very clever Artex, very clever indeed." she smirked at the smug expression plastered on Artex' face, "The way The Unity Pact is written makes leeway for the Changelings to live anywhere in Equestria if they wish."

Blueblood's eyes widened and half a second later his head hit the table with a loud thump,
"You mean to tell me that I've been wrongfully imprisoning these Changelings?" he asked, his voice muffled by the table.

Celestia's right wing extended outward stroking Blueblood's back,
"Not quite. The Unity Pact states that any who wish to live in peace may do so freely. Have any of the Changelings asked to live here?"

Blueblood raised his head slightly,
"Not that I am aware of, but many have asked to be let out." he raised his head all the way and sighed heavily, "Well it seems that we have a problem. The Changelings being held in the barn have a right to know their options I suppose, but I would be loathe to just take their word after what happened. I am open to any suggestions since they will all obviously want to be set lose once they know they have the option. I see three huge issues here. We cannot tell them apart and if one decides to commit a crime, we will have no way of distinguishing the guilty one from the innocent and then there is the problem with the commoners. They will likely be out for revenge after the attack on Canterlot, not that I blame them, but if the Changelings have the rights of citizens then the Guard will have an obligation to protect them, as much as they will be willing to do. Before my brother led the massacre, I would have said the Guard would do their jobs and be done with it, but seeing what happened... I no longer have quite so much hope. We need to figure out a solution or else I fear that internal strife will end up tearing our nation apart."

Chris raised his hand, waving it about wildly,
"Ooh, ooh! I have an idea!"

Luna's face spoke of long experience with Chris's antics,
"Go ahead Chris," she said then mumbled, "Not that any of us could probably stop you anyway."

Chris sat up straight and made exaggerated motions of clearing his throat,
"Ahehem!" he spoke in a proper manner, over pronouncing every word, "Well, it seems to me that the predominant antithesis of ignorant prejudice is knowledge and understanding. Once one understands their foe they can effectively combat them with either words or actions. In this case, learning about the Changelings and the reasons why they attacked then disseminating that knowledge through the general population would serve to not only teach them about their new neighbors but also lessen the hard feelings left over after the attack. It wouldn't completely solve the problem, but it would certainly help."

Blueblood stared at Chris in disbelief,
"That... might actually work. However we still have the issue of their ability to shape-shift and even letting them into the general population would require us to actually believe their word that they wish to live peacefully. I would suggest Rectifiers act as truth seekers in regard to every Changeling when they pledge their loyalty to Equestria, and while that would give the commoners a better feeling of safety, I doubt I could actually convince the Rectifiers to do so. For all their skill they hate rooting around in anypony's mind."

Luna snorted in amusement,
"Nay, the law has been tampered with enough. Another solution must be found and we still do not know how to differentiate between Changelings."

Razor spoke up for the first time since entering the Dinning Room,
"How about a way to fix that and the problem with determining if they're being truthful? What if, instead of putting the Changelings in with the general populace, we ask them to stay in New Humansville and we give the Community Welfare Guardians permission to use their Mind magic in regard to finding out if anybody is telling the truth? It would be invasive, but it would guarantee that only guilty parties would be punished. Is there any spell we could teach the C.W.G. Officers so that they can tell if somepony is telling the truth but still let the individual's thoughts be left unread?"

Celestia nodded,
"Such a spell does indeed exist, it is a common spell for the Rectifiers. It has nothing to do with Mind magic though, it detects a minuscule change in tone of voice which has been proven as a guaranteed way to detect lies. We can request that several Rectifiers instruct the Community Welfare Guardians on how to cast the spell. It will leave all personal thoughts, experiences, and memories to the individual and still be able to tell if one is being truthful or not. It is a lie detector spell and nothing more. There will have to be a system of checks and balances in place to help ensure the power is not abused, but it is a good idea."

"Am I the only one here who sees a big problem with all this?" Artex asked, "All this talk about the use of Mind magic and lie detector spells is being thrown around rather freely and while I will admit it has its uses, it's also going to reinforce the idea that Changelings are not trustworthy. The Kavim will see it and act on it because that's what they see their authority figures doing. I say we still teach the C.W.G. the lie detector spell, but we don't, we CAN'T force the Changelings to submit to the Rectifiers monitoring their thoughts when they do pledge their willingness to live peacefully." he said emphatically, pounding the table with his fist, "We CANNOT expect them to swear fealty or even loyalty to Equestria. We cannot expect that especially when their entire race is dying and they were told that Kavim didn't give a shit. We haven't exactly been particularly welcoming have we? Look at it from their perspective. They were starving, they were told their Queen asked for assistance and was denied. They felt desperate so they do something desperate. They get their asses handed to them and then nearly all the ones that participated ended up exploding from getting overstuffed. Did you send out any search parties to look for injured ones? Did you do anything to prove their Queen wrong? No, you take them prisoner and now we're talking about forcing them to swear fealty to a nation they were told hates them? And on top of that, we're going to keep them as prisoners unless they do? Sounds like a perfect example of a statement made under duress. If we want to have ANY chance of them actually MEANING what they say or have any faith in us then we have to give them a show of trust first. We have the dominant position and we have to show kindness here. " Artex sat back in his chair, "Besides, I'm pretty sure that the C.W.G. can handle a couple dozen Changelings."

* * *

Captain Joyner was nearly at his wit's end. Not only did he have to help organize whom got paired up with whom and in which houses, which was being decided that day since the houses and buildings were almost all completed, but he also had to deal with nonsense complaints about the two Changelings. He already had four claims of the Changelings impersonating random Kavim, a claim of theft, and an instance of somepony throwing perfectly good tomatoes at Alana.

"The tomato thrower, have they been identified?" Mike asked.

Bobby Jewel stood in front of his Captain with his arms crossed and Alana standing right next to him in her Human disguise,
"Yep." Bobby said simply, "The perpetrator is one Cinder Spark, a light brown Unicorn stallion. He was arrested for assault and his five wives have been verbally tearing him a new asshole for the past hour. They're taking turns."

Mike rubbed his eyes as he leaned against the inner wall of the second floor of Town Hall,
"This is just the beginning. I've had somepony claim that a Changeling stole a container of shampoo, which it turns out was only misplaced, and four claims of Changelings replacing Ponies, all of which supposedly happened at the same time. I'm inclined to think that those accusations are more than a bit on the false side." his eyes shifted to Alana, "Did you or Vaiawa replace anypony today?"

Alana shook her head looking almost fearful,
"No, why would we jeopardize our chances here?"

Mike nodded,
"That's what I thought." his eyes shifted back to Bobby, "You've been with her all day, haven't you?"

Bobby shifted his weight,
"Sure have. Had Alana in my sight the whole time too."

"Where is Vaiawa?" Mike asked.

"Catalyst latched onto her like an octopus. Been asking her questions about Changelings all day. The Arch Magister seems to be curious about Changeling... everything." Bobby replied.

Mike nodded,
"Good, that means both have been accounted for all day and we can dismiss the idea that Kavim are being replaced. I've been given the task of placing every citizen into a house, lord knows we have more than enough, heck we probably have double the number of houses necessary to put everybody in. I'm going to have Morris draft a list of houses according to street names, thankfully the construction workers put those up already."

Bobby snorted,
"So what are you going to do about these accusations?"

Mike rubbed his chin,
"I'm going to go to each one of the Ponies that made a claim and explain that they were wrong and that they have one warning before we start issuing fines for false accusations."

"Fines?" Bobby asked, eyebrows rising, "From what source of income?"

Mike smirked knowingly,
"From the three-quarters of a million bits in the vault of the New Humansville City Bank. The vault is already secured and the staff are coming in tomorrow. Then the day after that, trade specialists from Canterlot are coming to offer folks training in whatever trade they want, after the announcement today." Mike leaned forward, "We have to have every C.W.G. Officer on alert. After today, the whole world will know about us and I will not tolerate us being swamped with reporters or whatever the Kavim have along those lines."

* * *

Razor licked her lips,
"Those oats were amazing!" she gushed.

Artex and Chris finished their bacon and eggs with relish,
"Ah, it feels like years since I've had bacon!" Artex said rubbing his stomach.

Chris belched into his closed fist,
"Next time, I'll have to show them how to make a bacon-weave."

Luna was still slowly eating her porridge, Blueblood finished off his salad, but Celestia was completely done with her sweet rolls,
"I have an announcement to make, two actually. Today we announce to Canterlot that Humans are here and that they have a town in Equestria. Obviously we won't disclose the location of New Humansville, but they will know. Also, I have sent off letters to the capitals of every nation, informing them about our new neighbors. The second announcement is that I'm going to follow my dear sister's lead and form a herd."

Luna chocked on her porridge and descended into a coughing fit as Celestia continued,
"Furthermore, I plan to join the same herd as Luna and am willing to defer to her as the head of the herd, if she'll have me."

Razor, Blueblood, Artex, and Chris just stared at her with their jaws hanging open,
"Who the hell is going to hold YOU TWO down on your wedding night?"

Chris's head swiveled around to his brother in law,
"Hold them down?"

"Inappropriate." Blueblood said from the other side of the table.

Chris ignored the white Unicorn,
"Man, these Kavim are into some kinky stuff!"

"INAPPROPRIATE!" Blueblood yelled, "Gah! Bad mental image about my Aunties!" he held his head with both hooves, his eyes closed.

Artex chuckled,
"Well he'll have to be quite the stallion. The only one I know who is big enough would be Big Macintosh, but he's already spoken for." a devious though popped into Artex' head and he could not help but to voice it, "Well, either him or Discord."

Luna finally managed to get her coughing under control and shook out her head,
"I am afraid I will have to decline sister."

Celestia looked puzzled,
"Why?"

"I already have a... hopeful, and I know how you feel about Discord. I do not share the same feelings I'm afraid." Luna explained, "Besides, while it is not uncommon for sisters to share a stallion, it would be awkward between us. We are too dissimilar for it to work."

Razor Wit's eyes were even larger than normal,
"If I may be so bold Princess, who is it you have eyes for?"

Luna smiled warmly,
"I shall keep that close to my heart for now, but I believe he will see me for who I am and eventually wish to court me. I will give you a hint though, I wish for my stallion to be able to best me. That should say enough."

The table was so quiet you could hear a gnat break wind.

Luna cleared her throat and continued,
"Anyway, the original reason Celestia and I summoned you here was to finalize the laws that are going into affect today. Celestia and I wish to make a single change to them. That change would... it would allow Humans to carry whatever weapon they chose."

Artex nodded,
"I'll keep my khopesh, but the people would be willing to accept that. I know they would." he crossed his arms and peered at each of the two Alicorns, "So who had the idea?"

Celestia smiled warmly,
"I did." she huffed a light sigh, "My sister came to me about a month ago and helped me to see that we had been treating and even thinking of you Humans improperly. To that end we both wish to work toward paying you all back for what we have done. This adjustment of the law is just to hold you over until my idea is complete."

Luna fluffed up her feathers,
"I have completed my own compensation." she favored Chris with a warm smile, "I will admit I had some help though. Would you be so kind as to go get it Chris?"

Chris giggled almost like a schoolgirl, rose from the table, then opened a portal, stepped through it, and was gone.

Razor addressed Luna,
"What is it Princess?"

Luna's grin was deep and bone-chilling,
"You will see shortly."

Razor then turned to Celestia,
"And what are you doing to pay the Humans back Princess?"

"New Humansville has a bright future, that's all I'll say on the subject." Celestia's troll grin was much in evidence.

A portal appeared above the center of the table and an armored man leaped onto the surface, landing in a crouch with its left hand pressed against the table top rattling the plates and glasses. The figure had silvery interlocking plates woven into a scale like pattern on its chest. The pauldrons made its shoulders look wide and the chest piece fit snugly to the form of the wearer. A pair of long, silvery, flexible gloves, also made out of scale weave plates, started at its fingertips and ascended up to its elbows. Its waist and legs were covered with small, interlocking silvery plates which descended to its knees. At its knees and going all the way to the bottoms of its feet, were silvery plated boots. Its head was adorned with a silvery helmet which had an open bottom opaque visor that covered the entire face.

The figure looked up, straight at Artex and said,
"What do you think Dan?"

Artex slowly stood up,
"Chris?"

The figure rose to its feet on the table top and lifted its visor, revealing Chris as the wearer,
"Pretty nifty huh?" he took a step and hopped off the table and onto the floor, "When Luna said she wanted to pay us back, I remembered what she said about making the uniforms for the Community Welfare Guardians and I offered to help."

Luna rose from her chair,
"Are you ready for the demonstration Christopher?"

Chris nodded,
"Yeah," he turned to Artex, "Now I get to show off. See, one of the things Luna taught me was Focusing Crystals and apparently I have a knack for coming up with new ideas of what to do with them. She brought one of my ideas to Queenie number two, but I don't know which one. Anyway Luna, you said you would describe every detail and I would show them off right?"

Luna nodded,
"Correct. First of all, this is the Community Welfare Guardian Utility Suit, Human version. We'll start with the helmet. It features enchantments to allow the wearer to freely communicate with any other individual with a properly aligned crystal just by speaking their name then speaking as if the recipient were right there with them. The second allows for light amplification through the visor. I wish for the Officers of the C.W.G. to see unhampered during my night. The third enchantment filters out smoke and noxious fumes and vapors to keep the wearer safe from inhaling something dangerous. The spell forms a transparent gorget to act as the filter. The visor is to help protect the wearer from dust and debris blowing around on the wind. The thin scale plates on the torso have a minor enchantment which hardens the scales and makes them lighter so as not to hamper mobility."

Luna's horn lit up and a knife from the table rose into the air then sped toward Chris's chest like a bullet out of a gun. It struck the armor and bounced off with a metallic clang and landed on the floor.

Luna levitated the knife back onto the table and continued,
"The tasset and cuisse, as Chris called them, have been modified and fused into one flexible piece to protect the groin and thighs. As you can see they are constructed of scale as well and they share the same enchantment as the torso. The greaves are enchanted to heighten the wearer's strength slightly, a second enchantment boosts the wearer's speed while running, and a third enchantment multiplies the wearer's jumping capability by a power of three."

Luna stepped back and Chris took a running start then leaped the entire length of the table, even clearing the top of Blueblood's head before landing on the far side, Luna continued,
"The pieces over the hands and forearms are attached as a metal bracer and glove. Each gauntlet has one enchantment. The first enchantment on the right glove emits a short-range burst of magic which makes the muscles of every extremity of the target, spasm rapidly. It is meant to incapacitate without causing any permanent harm. The first enchantment on the left glove allows for the formation of a shield barrier around the user and whatever they are touching, though through our tests we discovered the shield weakens with the increased size of an object. These enchantments are to allow the user a utilitarian range of useful abilities, however there is a drawback. The Utility Suit draws energy for the enchantments directly from the wearer's reserves of Thamaturgic Energy so using the enchantments is somewhat draining and it also nullifies the user's natural magic, as well as incoming magic, unless a Noun or Verb is above a potency of four or higher. Of course the versions for Ponies are different, but they utilize the usual enchantments that the Human version does except for the greaves and gauntlets." she paused, "So, would you say a thousand of these would be acceptable for the Community Welfare Guardian Human Officers as recompense for my transgressions?"

Artex just stared at Chris in the Utility Suit for several moments,
"... yeah, that'll do."

Take two, hopefully this works.

Typos are evil, destroy them!