It was a lovely springtime morning; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Twilight Sparkle was where she belonged, digging through the hundreds upon hundreds of books in her library. Her mane was unkempt, her eyes were bloodshot, and her movements were jerky and frantic as she tore through book after book, quickly dismissing each one and tossing it over her shoulder to join the rapidly growing pile of literature. "Where is it, where is it..." She muttered underneath her breath in a very un-Twilight-like voice.
"Here's...more...books-" Stammered a young purple dragon, dropping an enormous pile of scrolls, books, and papers where he stood. He fell backwards, panting and hyperventilating, "Can I stop now?" He begged. He had just carried a stack of books twice as tall as he up from the basement, and he did not want to go back down there again.
"No-" Twilight began in a rough voice, then she quickly cleared her throat and said normally, "No, Spike, I need more books!"
"But Twilight!" Spike whined loudly, "I can't!"
"I am your caregiver, and you take orders from me, and I say go get more books!" Twilight demanded, staring Spike down.
Spike felt chills up his spine as Twilight screamed at him. He had never been screamed at before. He had heard the mares talking about a 'time of the month', once, whatever that meant, but apparently mares got very cranky during those times. This was probably that time. He smiled nervously and crawled back to the basement door, rolling down the stairs: too tired to get up.
Twilight finally took a moment to steady herself, fixing her mane and massaging her sore eyes. "This is not easy at all!" She whined in a rough voice, one that was not Twilight's. Straightening up as an idea hit her, she smiled slyly and walked over to a closet door. She opened it up to reveal Twilight Sparkle tied up inside, tied up and gagged, staring at her with a steely look in her eyes. She was wearing a strange metal contraption around her horn, which had been specially designed to inhibit magic.
The imposter smiled at her disposition, "You know, this would be much easier for you if you complied."
Twilight's brow furrowed in anger, and a muffled sound came from around her gag.
The imposter just chuckled, "Tell you what, I'll take off your gag if you tell me where 'It' is, okay?"
Twilight stared at her angrily, then loosened her shoulders and nodded in defeat.
"Excellent!" The imposter said. Correction, this is too easy. She thought as she removed the gag. "Now," She said slowly, savoring the moment as she bent down closer, "Where is it?"
Twilight hesitated for a moment, then spat on the imposter's face.
She recoiled, wiping at it and hissing violently, her eyes turning bright green as she flicked a forked tongue. She looked down at Twilight and said, "You're going to wish you hadn't-"
"More books!" Spike suddenly announced, dropping another stack as he fell over from exhaustion, "Can I take a break now?"
The imposter slammed the closet door shut and spun around, blocking it with her body, "Sure-" She cleared her throat and replied in Twilight's voice, "Sure, uh, go outside and play, or something."
Spike sat up straight, smiling at the request, "Alright!" He cheered and ran outside, his exhaustion forgotten.
The imposter waited until he was gone, then let out a sigh of relief, turned around and opened the closet door again, hissing, "I'll deal with you later," to the tied up pony inside, then shut it again and locked it.
She then returned to the stack of books she had been working on and scanned the contents of each book briefly, before tossing it aside in rejection.
Some ways away, in a house made of clouds in the sky, Rainbow Dash was just waking up from a perfect night's sleep. She looked out her window and said, "What a beautiful day!" She then looked down at her nightstand and saw her favorite picture of Twilight. She picked it up, gazed at it lovingly, kissed it, and then replaced it where it had been, jumping out of bed to face the day.
She brushed her mane and teeth and went into her kitchen. She made herself some breakfast and glanced over her schedule, which was completely empty. Setting it down happily, she thought aloud, "I guess I'll go see Twilight!" and dove through her floor, flying across the sky and down to the ground, landing deftly outside of the Cake's Cake Shop. She skipped through the town commons, greeting ponies as she passed them and smiling all the while. She was in a perfect mood.
Making her way to Twilight's library, she reached up and knocked on the door three times, "Twilight!" She called, "It's me!" and waited a few moments. Not receiving any answer, her brow furrowed in worry and she knocked again, "Twilight?"
She suddenly felt a tug on her leg. She looked down to see Spike trying to get her attention, "I wouldn't bother Twilight today if I were you," He whispered, glancing warily at the door.
Rainbow was puzzled, "Why not?" She asked, bending down to get level with Spike.
"Well, she was being grumpy all morning, and she even yelled at me! I think it's her 'time of the month'?" Spike whispered, using his claws to make air quotes.
Rainbow nodded understandingly, "Noted, thanks for telling me, Spike." It sounded like Twilight was feeling pretty bad, she decided to do something to make her feel better! "I know just what to do," She promised Spike, turning and walking towards the market.
Spike glanced back at the library, "I hope so..." He muttered, and slowly walked towards the door, thinking he had taken a long enough break. It had almost been an hour, what had Twilight been doing all this time? He opened the door and stepped inside, "Twilight, I'm back, do you need me to do anything-"
He stopped.
There, in front of him, was Twilight Sparkle, tied to a chair, being interrogated by Twilight Sparkle.
"Uh..." That was all Spike could think to say.
"Spike! Help! Queen Chrysalis kidnapped me! That's not me!" Called the Twilight tied up.
"No! She's lying! I caught her trying to impersonate me! She tied me up, but I broke out! I'm the real me!" The free Twilight said, backing away from the tied up one.
"No! She's lying! Please, listen to me!"
"No! She's lying! Listen to me!"
"No!"
"No!"
"ALRIGHT!" Spike interrupted, holding up a lit torch in shaking claws, "Until I know who the real Twilight Sparkle is, nopony moves, nopony gets hurt!"
The two Twilights looked at each other and started giggling, "Spike, that's just a torch," explained the tied up one.
"Yeah, what are you going to do with that?" Asked the free one.
Spike belched fire into the torch, which amplified the fire into a rather large, threatening blast, which instantly disintegrated a coat tree next to the Twilights, reducing it to ash.
The Twilights did not know how to react.
"Now then," Spike said, "Twilight, untie Twilight."
The free Twilight complied; the little dragon could be very menacing. Once both the Twilights were free, Spike thought for a moment, then ran upstairs quickly and came back down, holding a red and blue sweater, "Put these on so I can tell you apart," he instructed, still wielding his fearsome torch.
The Twilights complied, and within moments there was now two discernible Twilights, Red and Blue.
Spike nodded, "Alright...uh, oh yeah! Now, I'll ask you two questions, questions only the real Twilight could answer."
Red and Blue nodded in confirmation; Spike was rather enjoying his newfound power. He thought back, trying to remember things that his favorite detective, Sherlock Hooves, would ask in a situation like this, "Question one," He started, "How did you get me?"
Blue spoke up, "You were given to me as an egg in magic kindergarten."
"Right," Spike nodded, glancing at Red warily. "Question two," he continued, "uh...oh yeah, what do you call your brother?"
"BBBFF!" Answered Red.
"Correct," Spike said, now totally unsure, "Question three...uh, what is something only the real Twilight would know."
Red and Blue thought for a moment, racking their heads and thinking intently. Finally, Red held up her hoof in realization and said, "You always steal from my secret chocolate stash, every Tuesday night after I go to bed early."
Spike lowered his torch, "You knew?"
"Why do you think I leave it in the same place every week?" Red said, smiling with love at Spike.
Spike smiled back.
"Well this is all very touching," Blue said in a suddenly very rough voice, her eyes turning green and her forked tongue slithering out of her mouth, "But I have a plan of my own."
Within minutes, both Spike and Twilight had been tied up and gagged, and Chrysalis was putting them in the closet. Twilight pushed the gag out of the way of her mouth and said, "How are you so strong? You weren't this strong in Canterlot!"
Chrysalis smiled evilly, then replaced the gag in her mouth, tightening it, "I've been feeding off the love that Rainbow Dash has for you."
Twilight looked at her in confusion, like she didn't know what she was talking about.
Chrysalis nodded in realization, "Oh yes, she never told you, did she?" She shoved Twilight into the closet, "Well she told me." She turned around and picked up Spike, who was shivering in fear, "I had wanted to leave you out of this, but you're the one who got nosy." And she rolled Spike into the closet, closing it and locking it. She turned around and clapped her hooves together, returning to her Twilight disguise, "Now then, back to business."
But suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Now who could that be? It didn't matter, they were interfering with Chrysalis's plans. They must be punished. Harshly. She went to the door and opened it, her expression softening considerably as she recognized the pony on the other side of the door, Rainbow Dash. Not her again, now she would have to act like she was smitten. Not impossible, but such a chore. Rainbow was holding a small heart-shaped box of candies, a little bouquet of flowers, and what looked like a cheesy romantic comedy. "H-hey, Twilight," Rainbow greeted, looking down and kicking her hooves bashfully, "I heard you weren't feeling so hot, so..." She held up the gifts to finish, "I brought you some stuff! Can I come in?"
Chrysalis was screaming inwardly. Why didn't she just reach out and snap her neck. It would be simple enough, she could dispose of the body easily, but since she found Rainbow so pathetic, she decided to spare her, at least for tonight. She reached out and took the gifts, pretending to look grateful and loving, "Gee, thanks, Dash," she said in a falsetto voice, emulating Twilight's horrid shrieks-what she wouldn't give to yell obscenities in her beautiful, natural voice-she opened the door wider and said, "Please, come in."
Rainbow stepped inside, slightly off-put at the sheer amount of literature strewn about the room, "Gee, Twi, you sure have let your library go!" She immediately looked at Twilight, concern filling her gaze, "Are you feeling worse than I thought?"
Chrysalis quickly shook her head, forcing herself to smile like a buffoon, "No no, I was just looking for something."
Rainbow Dash suddenly was very close to Chrysalis, holding her sight with a seductive wink, "You know, you should put your energy into something-or somepony-who needs it."
Oh barf. She didn't want to blow her cover, but she wasn't going to do anything with this, this pony. Thinking fast, she quickly held up the movie and suggested as innocently as she could muster, "Hey, why don't we watch this?"
Rainbow was caught off guard for a moment, then quickly returned, smiling brightly, "Sure!"
The two shoved large piles of books and scrolls out of the way, setting up a small movie watching nook while Rainbow told an anecdote, "...and then Rarity says, 'That's no mannequin, that's my sister!'" And she finished by laughing at her own joke.
Chrysalis forced some laughter; gosh, her voice was just so annoying. But she could bear with it, at least for a night.
Rainbow leapt over the sizeable pile she had fashioned, landing deftly on the lumpy couch they had pulled from the corner, "So what are we waiting for? Pop the movie in!"
Chrysalis nodded, and walked over to where she had placed it. She glanced out a window as she did so; it was some time in the afternoon, judging from the sun's angle. Was this pony going to waste another one of her precious days here? She only had a week! Of course, she could stay longer, who would stop her? But it was inconvenient. Nevertheless, she delivered the movie to the TV they had brought up from the basement, depositing the movie, and then walking over and taking a seat as far away from Rainbow Dash as she could.
Of course, Rainbow sidled right on over, sitting uncomfortably close to Chrysalis. But what was she going to do; she couldn't object. So she sat there as the movie began playing. The entire time it was playing she had a barely contained urge to vomit. At one point Rainbow attempted to wrap her hoof around Chrysalis's shoulders, who thought she was cuddling Twilight Sparkle. After an awkward moment, they settled into an awkward hold for the rest of the movie. As much as she hated to admit it, Chrysalis was actually quite comfortable; Rainbow's body was warm and soft, and the movie had a good story, if you could suppress the urge to barf violently. After a tearful ending, even Rainbow Dash was holding back liquid pride. And Chrysalis will deny it if she's ever asked, but even she was touched by the movie.
Rainbow let go of Chrysalis and wiped at her eyes, smiling all the while, "That was a great movie," she said, turning to Twilight, "What did you think?"
It wasn't hard for Chrysalis to come up with a believable answer, "It...it was very nicely done."
"That it was!" Rainbow agreed, and the two shared a not totally fake laugh. When they settled, Rainbow opened her mouth and said, "You know, Twilight,-" She stopped talking, blushed furiously, and looked away.
Even Chrysalis was curious, "What? What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing," Rainbow tried to assure, trying to control her flushing face, "It's-it's nothing."
Chrysalis smirked, "That's quite the blush for nothing."
Rainbow blushed even more. What a nervous pony, it made Chrysalis laugh. She finally swallowed a lump in her throat and blurted, "I-I really like you, Twilight."
Was that it? Nevertheless, she looked away and pretended to be embarrassed, "I like you too, Dashie," She forced herself to say, then whispered under her breath as she reached for the remote, "You wouldn't if you knew what I was."
She turned back around and handed the remote over, but Rainbow didn't take it. Instead, she looked at Chrysalis, worry and confusion in her eyes, "What do you mean?"
Chrysalis hadn't realized she had heard, "What?"
"What do you mean, 'not if I knew what you were?'?" Rainbow said, nearing her face closer confrontationally.
"Rainbow-"
"Because you're wrong," Rainbow said, "I'd like you no matter what you were. I...I l-love you, Twilight."
Chrysalis didn't know how to react. She knew Rainbow wasn't lying; she could feel the strength of her love. It took all her strength not to suck it up like a greedy leech, but there was something else. Something she didn't want to admit, but something that was certainly there. For the first time in her entire life, she didn't want to just consume the love, she wanted to...feel it. "Rainbow..." was all she could think to say. Their faces neared closer and closer.
Suddenly, the closet door burst open, and the real Twilight Sparkle and Spike burst out, their ropes cut and hanging around their bodies. Chrysalis could see where the ropes were cut; they had been burnt. She hissed involuntarily at her own foolishness; she should have tightened the gag on the dragon too.
The real Twilight removed her own gag and called out, "Rainbow! That's not me! That's Queen Chrysalis, she's pretending to be me!"
Chrysalis turned around and saw Rainbow looking at her. There was a mixture of emotions on her face; anger, lots of anger, confusion, and at the very core of it all, a hint of despair. But there was something else, buried deep in her gaze, so small it was insignificant, but Chrysalis saw it.
She saw Rainbow's hurt.