Prologue: Princess of Paperwork

Celestia felt harassed. Seriously. The least known part of being a princess was all the paperwork. Celestia’s office was crowded with stack after stack of various documents having to do with the administration of Equestria. And now… these had started to show up. In the wake of the wedding and attempted invasion by the changeling hive of Queen Chrysalis, the Royal Guard had been kept busy seeking out and rounding up changelings all over Equestria. That, though, was not the cause of the excess paperwork. Not directly anyway. The growing mountain of paper here consisted of petitions from ponies asking for amnesties for changelings. There were dozens of them, more coming every day. The Princess of the Sun sighed. There was not enough time in the day (and there was no way that a newly returned Luna would ever agree to shorten her night for the sake of finishing paperwork), but it was all still there. Paperwork. Ugh.

Her mental complaints were interrupted by a knock on the door. “What?” The princess snapped. The door was eased open by a pale blue aura and a dark blue alicorn stepped through, bearing a tray with a teapot, two cups, and Celestia’s favorite angel food cake on a platter of its own. “Sister, thy Luna hast brought thee some repast!” Celestia glanced at the clock and started. It was that time already? She and Luna had restarted an old hobby of sharing a snack just before each princess performed her duties at sundown. Luna was looking askance at her sister. “You forgot again, did you not?” Celestia sighed guiltily. “Yes.”

“Tia, you are working too hard! What in the name of Faust is all this?” Luna levitated a page off the stack nearest to her with her shimmering magic aura and read the first few lines. She glanced back up at her sister. “Tia, how many of these changeling petitions are in here?”

Celestia rubbed at her forehead with a hoof. “I do not know. I have not had time to look. Too many.”

Luna rolled her eyes at her workaholic sibling. “Sister, you have not slept in two days. Do not try and tell me otherwise; I know these things. You will wear yourself to a nub if you do not take a break. Is there any of this that you would let me take over,” she tapped the pile of petitions, “like these?”

Celestia looked confused. “But Luna, are you sure…?” She began hesitantly.

Luna quelled her by looking Celestia in the baggy eyes and interrupted. “I am not fresh from the nightmare moon thing any longer, Tia. Plus…” the blue alicorn hesitated before continuing, “I am not certain you would be the best judge for these non-hive changelings. Both you and Cadence had painful encounters with Chrysalis and her hive. I am not sure that, were I the friend of a changeling, I would trust your objectivity.”

Celestia looked scandalized, then thoughtful, then guilty. It was true; she was not inclined toward a gentle treatment of the changelings. “And you are?” the older alicorn asked.

“Moreso than you think. I did, after all, sleep through the whole incident when it all blew up. I at least have the advantage of no direct encounters with the attackers. Besides, due to what little we know of the changelings’ feeding needs, we should deal with this as quickly as possible. Not even changelings from a hostile hive should be allowed to starve.”

They were good reasons, all of them. Celestia inhaled before responding. “This seems… odd for you, Luna. I am not used to you being a voice of… mercy.”

Luna smiled in sympathy. “You taught me about the benefit of mercy, sister. Do not forget the role you played during my salvation via the elements at our old castle. I would like to apply it my way, to help some pony, or some changelings as the case would be. And who knows, these changelings could be of benefit to society in Equestria.”

Celestia sighed again before slowly nodding. This was one argument she was not about to win. Luna had always been a lover of logic puzzles, even as a foal. Celestia preferred to use her time differently. Besides, her sister had brought up good points. “All right, Lulu. If you are certain you want to take these on as part of your Night Court duties, I will let you do so. I will also notify the couriers to direct all changeling petitions to you from now on.”

“I thank you, sister, for trusting me with this.” Luna lifted the entire stack of petitions off her sister’s desk and replaced them with the cake and hot cocoa. “Now Tia, it is time we ate and spoke of naught but pleasantries.”

Author's Notes:

I just want to say a couple things:
1) This was my NaNoWriMo novel. If it seems too wordy, that's why. I will be editing it more as I get time.

2) This is also my first attempt at a fic on here. I am open to advice (but please don't be too evil).

3) The format involves a string of changeling scenarios stretching anywhere from 1 to 5 chapters. All will be longer than this first one. Consider yourself warned, dear reader.

Chapter I: From the Desk of Luna

After watching her sister lower the sun and raising and placing the stars in its place, Luna checked the docket for Night Court. She quickly made it through the few petitioners (most of them either wanted her to overturn some decision of Celestia’s or were from ponies who worked during the day. The former she loathed; the latter she enjoyed). Luna then settled down in her study, accompanied by her pet opossum, Tiberius, and her secretary, Eclipse.

Eclipse was unusual; she was from a subspecies of unicorn that was naturally nocturnal. Like Luna’s bat pony guards, ebon unicorns had been ostracized during Luna’s stint as Nightmare Moon, but had come back into royal regard with the lunar princess’s return. Eclipse was a green so dark it appeared black, with a horn that spiraled in the opposite direction of a daylight unicorn. Her aura was so pale as to be only visible at night, and her mane and tail were the same shade of blue as her turquoise ink pot cutie mark.

“What is all this?” Eclipse asked incredulously as Tiberius looked up from his lounging position on his mistress’s lap.

“My dear sister is allowing me to take on responsibility for these changeling requests.” Luna replied. Her brow furrowed a little. “But first we need a place to start.”

“You are quite right, princess,” Eclipse murmured, nodding as she levitated a scroll, ink bottle and quill to her desk, “Might I suggest that we begin with some rules to determine in what order you will deal with these and how?”

Luna mentally blessed one of her guards for bringing this very organized mare to her attention last year. She nodded in approval. “Let us begin with something simple. Petitioners must be able and willing to identify their changeling friend by name and appearance. Equestrian or Changeish name, either would do.” Eclipse wrote that down as Luna continued.

“Secondly, there must be more than one pony willing to vouch for the changeling’s character and verify his or her identity. Said pony must be willing to undergo a magic scan to ensure that he or she is a pony.” A very simple concept, but it was wise to cover all the bases here.

“Thirdly, the pony must show that the changeling has a way of feeding safely without causing harm to any other ponies or being at risk to themselves.” She paused to be certain Eclipse was still keeping up. She was.

“Finally, the changeling must have a place and form of their own and be able to contribute to their communities. It may not be safe for changelings to be out in their natural form these days, and it would be best if they did not use other ponies’ forms in public.” Eclipse finished and read the list back to the princess. Luna smiled and nodded again. “Very well. Time to start sorting. Let us begin with sorting by date of capture, since those will have been here the longest and will probably have the most dire hunger.”

Two magic auras lit up stacks of paper and three sets of eyes, two equine, and one not, began scanning petitions. Luna glanced at Eclipse and found the ebon unicorn looking back at her. “We need to know more about the care and feeding of changelings," the Night Princess added. "I shall ask one of my guards to speak to the detainees. Perhaps if one of them speaks Equestrian, we can make him of her an offer of amnesty in exchange for talking to us.”

Eclipse gave her boss a cockeyed grin. “Maybe we should offer Twilight a research opportunity.” Luna cringed. In pursuit of knowledge, the bearer of Magic could be, well, tactless, to put it mildly.

“I do not think that would be a good idea.” Luna said.

Eclipse flashed that grin again. “I know, Princess. But it was worth seeing your reaction. It would be worth a try to send somepony to talk to the changelings.”

Luna chuckled, recognizing the joke. “Very well. Let us return to our sorting. And Eclipse…”

“Yes?”

“When it is just us in here, please call me Luna.” The two mares exchanged smiles and returned to their work.

“Might I make another suggestion?” Eclipse inquired after an hour’s work.

Princess Luna nodded. “Please do, Eclipse. I am open to suggestions of any kind.”

“If there are any petitioners that are of a more, uh, sensitive nature, perhaps you should see them in private rather than at open night court. If we run into any changelings with, for example, pony lovers or spouses, they may not want to air that in public, especially given some of the… hmmm… less discrete nobles who attend court solely for their entertainment.” Eclipse paused, as if to collect her thoughts.

“Is there something else, my friend?” Asked Princess Luna, patiently eying her assistant.

“The only thing I was going to add is that maybe you should do some of these earliest ones in private. I think it would give you a better feel for the kinds of requests you will be getting and you will not need to worry about embarrassing either the changelings or their pony sponsors. It may make the whole situation easier to handle. I suspect there will be plenty of … ahhh… more public petitioners who will not wait to be summoned to a more private audience.”

Luna nodded again at her assistant’s idea; that was one of her favorite aspects of her secretary and friend. Eclipse had that odd combination of a solid core of common sense and an exterior idealism that bordered on whimsy. “I know what else you are thinking of, Eclipse.” Luna said, with a slight chiding note to her voice. “You are also trying to spare my feelings as much as possible.”

Eclipse’s face turned a slightly darker shade of green that Luna pretended not to notice. The princess of the night continued her thoughts: “While I appreciate the sentiment, there is no need to be so protective. Yes, it will be necessary to protect all parties involved here, but I still want some of this at least to be very public indeed. We need to show ponies that we are doing something to solve the present changeling threat as well as that we want to be able to prevent something like Chrysalis’s attempted invasion in the future. With that in mind, I hope we can find not only changelings that bear no hive affiliation, but also an alliance with a less hostile hive or two in order to gain us insight as to how a queen controls her underlings. My hope is that by granting resident changelings some semblance of citizenship, we open up diplomatic channels for hives as well.”

There was silence as Eclipse thought over the moon princess’s proposal. “That would be unprecedented, Luna,” the ebon unicorn commented a few minutes later, “but it would be very useful if you were able to manage it.”

The alicorn nodded. “Tis a noble goal to be certain, but one, I believe, that would be worth aiming for.” The pair returned to their amiable silence and sorting of petitions.

Author's Notes:

Ok, a little headcannon here: Eclipse and the ebon unicorns are basically night unicorns and equivalent to the bat-ponies. They're no less or more powerful than daylight unicorns, but they are much less common.

(I imagine that Sombra was an ebon unicorn and that his corruption and subsequent betrayal helped drive Luna into the nightmare.)

Chapter II: The First Petitioner

The next evening, Luna read the note her assistant had left before taking her preplanned evening off:

Luna, it read, I found this while looking through the older petitions earlier. Perhaps it would be an appropriate place to begin? ~Eclipse.

Curious, Luna examined the attached document. The first thing that attracted her notice was the quality of the paper. It was the stiff, pale blue stock with a magical watermark that contained the insignia of the night division of the Frontier Guard used by officers of that unit. The Frontier Guard was a holdover from the wilder days in Equestria’s history when border incursions were frequent and clashes with griffons and nomadic bands of roving bison or camels a regular occurrence. These days were more peaceful, but the Frontier Guard remained as an outlet for more adventurous ponies to serve their kingdom. On the page, the insignia of the night division showed the crest of the Lunar Guard, a silver crest of a crescent moon. A note stated pompously that it was “From the desk of Commander Star Skimmer” and had an address that listed a location near the mountainous northern border of Equestria. Luna felt proud and nostalgic knowing that at least this remnant of her ancient army structure had endured and remained intact after her centuries of banishment. The Frontier Guard had been a sort of sanctuary for bat ponies and ebon unicorns after her attempted coup. Luna let herself stay lost in thought for a few minutes before turning her attention to the letter’s contents.

To Her Majesty, Princess Luna,
I wish to thank you for your devotion to the night-born and humbly request that you consider my query regarding the amnesty of a young changeling recently brought to Canterlot by the Royal Guard. She goes by the name of Rough Diamond and is black with silver wings and crest in her natural state. When in pony form she wears the appearance of a black bat pony with a silver mane and tail and a cutie mark of a single white diamond on a spear shaft. Di has been an unofficial member of our regiment for three years, ever since a patrol found her as a foal in the foothills of the Drake’s Spine Mountains.

She was raised within our troop and those of us who care for her deeply also know how to ensure that she is well-fed and happy. She is an excellent comrade in battle and a benevolent trickster in camp and has come to be a sort of mascot for the lot of us. The troops rally around her name as if she were a princess or other high officer! Because we are concerned for her well-being, we humbly request that Rough Diamond be returned to her post with the regiment. Since her absence, morale has dropped to a level far below normal.

Should you wish to verify this with a present member of our regiment, I can endeavor to send someone on detached duty in a few weeks. However, if you are willing to speak to a former member, one of my sergeants, Gray Wing, was honorably discharged due to battle injuries. He and his wife retired to the Canterlot area last summer. I have written to him and his address is listed below. Thank you for your consideration of this matter, your highness.

~Star Skimmer, Commanding Officer, Night Division, Frontier Guard, North

Enclosed with the letter, Luna found the aforementioned address as well as a photograph. The photo showed a crowd of ponies in frontier guard uniforms clustered around two figures. One was a dark changeling with light markings and bright eyes who grinned straight at the camera. The troops around her looked happy, proud, and very cocky. All wore the dark purple armor of the Lunar Guard but were armed with the crossbows favored on the frontier. The most prominent of these was the other central figure, a tough- looking tall stallion with an old-fashioned crested helmet with more in common to the armor of ancient Pegasopolis than the modern guard. That fierce impression was somewhat spoiled by the way he smiled down at the changeling, much like a proud grandfather would do over a particularly precocious first grandchild. Luna admired the image before flipping the photo over to read the note on the back. The Night Frontiersponies: Note the diamond within our roughness! Luna chuckled. Frontier guards had a reputation for rowdy fun and a wicked sense of humor. She was startled out of her contemplation when a servant tapped on the door frame to remind her that Night Court was scheduled to begin. Before the session started, Luna sent a note to Gray Wings’ address via courier inviting the retired sergeant to meet with her about Diamond. By the end of Night Court, a trivial one as such things went, she had received an answer. Sergeant Gray Wings would arrive an hour past midnight.

At one a.m. sharp, a Lunar Guard led a stallion and his companion into the audience chamber. Luna studied the newcomers. The stallion was large for a bat pony, with a straight-spined military dignity that was counteracted by a glint in his green eye that belied a wry sense of humor. The cause of his discharge was quite apparent, as his left eye was covered with a patch and his left wing bound to a splint that suggested a wound had not healed right. The most attractive thing about the charcoal gray stallion was his attitude. He swaggered with a boldness that only a cinematic pirate could aspire to. His tufted ears were in constant motion, as if to take in any unexpected action and confront it.

The mare who accompanied him had a decidedly different air about her. Luna recognized it as similar to that which Twilight Sparkle occasionally had with her sister when Celestia was feeling fractious. The mare looked at the Gray Wings’ swagger with a look that said something akin to “I know you and respect you, but by Faust, do you have to act like that in public?” The mare was a pegasus the color of butter, but with the stallion’s dark gray mane and tail. Like the stallion she too had tufted ears, though her wings were feathered.

“I greet you, Sergeant Gray Wings, and…?” Luna began.

“My daughter, Sandstone,” the stallion replied, “but please, I prefer to be called Sarge.” Sandstone rolled her eyes.

“Ah, yes, quite.” Luna said regaining her composure. Faust, she thought, I’d forgotten how awkward these private audiences were. The stallion rescued her from her awkward silence.

“I heard through the grape vine that you were in charge of the shifties. When I heard that Rough Diamond had gotten caught up in all that I thought I would give the little scamp a wing. Faust knows she is no danger to Equestria. Old Skimmer is probably itching to have her back on patrol. No one is better at noticing border crossers.”

Luna blinked. No one had spoken so directly to her since her return except for Celestia. It was surprisingly refreshing. From his attitude, Sergeant Gray Wings considered her as a sort of comrade. That warmed her heart.

“Indeed, Sarge,” the princess of the night said, chuckling. “Of course, would you be willing to answer a few questions about Rough Diamond and her… exploits with the Frontier Guard?”
“Absolutely, your majesty. Fire at will!” The stallion replied, shifting into a seated position. He turned to his daughter. “You might as well sit and listen too, you whippersnapper. This will take a while and you haven't heard some of these stories.” The mare rolled her eyes. Luna winked at her as Sandstone took a seat next to her father.

“Very well. Let us begin. Can you tell me how Rough Diamond became attached to the regiment?” Luna asked.

“Certainly.” The bat pony replied. “It all started in the winter…”

Author's Notes:

I wrote this before reading the comic with Trixie and a different Rough Diamond.

Chapter III: Gray Wings and the Diamond

"It was a dark and snowy night, very cold and windy, so all around poor flying weather. I have never seen such a storm before nor since. It was one of those blusterers where you can not tell what direction the wind is coming from without getting blown half the way to Griffonia. We were on patrol near the border. I think we were all complaining up a storm as much as the storm was complaining about everything, including us being out in it. All of a sudden, we heard the sound of someone whimpering. Now, I was not a parent yet, but it takes a harder stally than me to ignore the cry of a young thing in distress.

"The six of us in that night’s patrol, it was me, Wild Ride, Blue Stone, Ice Slider, Rooke, and one of the rookies, Candlewick I think. Any ways, it was us six all following this little sound in a snow storm when Rooke stumbled into a little black thing. It looked like a rock that had been covered with ice, but we saw it wiggle a little and realized she was breathing. We did not know that she was a changeling, not that we knew what a changeling was of course, but it would not have been right to leave any critter out in that storm. Blue took her up on his back and said she felt cold. Well, you can bet we rushed her back to base as quickly as we could. We took her straight to our medic, Golden Touch. Sweet as honey, that one, I always loved her even back then."

“Daddy!”

“Sorry, Sandy”

"Anyhow, Touch got the little ling all warm and cozy and the six of us who found her took turns stayin’ up with the little thing and reading her stories and whatnot. She did not speak at all, but she was understandin’ us all the same. We did not realize it at the time, but whenever we were in there takin’ care of her, she was taking the bits and pieces of TLC, ya know, tender loving care, with an emphasis on the L. She would not eat anything, which was perplexing to all of us, but eventually Touch found an old book that said something about how changelings like to eat love. It did not seem worth causing a ruckus about, since it was just the one little ling. I never saw another changeling looking for her when we were out patrolling, so I guess she was outside of any hive connection.

"Anywho, she stayed, and once the little ling taught herself how to shift into something pony enough that we could understand her speaking Equestrian, she managed to worm her way into every pony who came into camp, from the travelers and merchants just passing through to those of us who were based there. She even had the commandant tied around her hoof. It was never any harm, you understand. She was always real sweet to everybody and as friendly as all get out. She never had to steal love from any pony. It was freely given by the trough full. As she got older, she stuck with us, doing all our exercises and going out on patrol and even fighting alongside us or helping Touch with the medical stuff. We joked that she was the luck of the regiment and to us she was the most valuable, the most special jewel in our treasure hoard. That’s where the name came from, you see. We were all these rough types, out for adventure and whatnot, and through it all was this little changeling, flying with us, fighting with us. She would do other things too. When we got new recruits especially, Di would give them some kind of initiation. Usually it was some kind of crazy over the top prank. I saw everything from a recruit’s uniform being dyed neon green to whoopee cushions in some pony’s cot to when she somehow filled a couple cannons with confetti during a ten-gun salute for the commandant’s birthday instead of shot.

"It was a lucky happening that she was with us when my patrol got caught by a pack of timber wolves. I stayed behind as rear guard to let the rest get away, but she stayed with me, though I did not realize it at the time. I got torn up something awful and I guess I was knocked out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in Golden Touch’s hooves at the infirmary with one wing and one eye bandaged. When I was able to talk again, dear Goldie told me that it was that little diamond in the rough who persuaded the commandant to send another patrol out to look for me and bring me back. If she had not, I would not be standing here.

"Well, after that I spent a lot of time getting used to what happened to the eye, but the wing just would not set properly. Golden Touch would stay by my side and so would Diamond. They were the only two ponies on base I felt I could talk to. Eventually we realized I was grounded permanently and the commander gave me a medal and a discharge and I retired back here to Canterlot. Golden Touch came with me as my nurse, and later as my bride. I never forgot about Diamond though. I would send her letters all the time. She sent me some too. Then after the Royal Wedding they just… stopped coming. I didn't know what had gone wrong until the commander wrote to me about what happened. I knew I had to do everything I could for that little diamond in the rough, just as she had done for me. It is a life debt, you know, Princess, as strong as any comrade’s blood bond or earth pony cupcake promise or pegasus feather swear or unicorn magical vow.

"She is a friend, Princess, one of the only ones still with the regiment. It always meant so much to her and the other guys and gals to have her there. I imagine that they all feel really unlucky now. That's dangerous, ya see. A pony who feels unlucky is more likely to be unlucky and come to disaster in battle. Just as an army with a reputation for being unbeatable wins battles, that regiment is lucky because it feels lucky. And since it only feels lucky when she is there…"