Rainbow Dash was on top of her in an instant, pinning Chrysalis to the ground by the shoulders, teeth clenched and bared in fury. However, her first demand wasn't anything she expected, "Change back!" She orders.
Chrysalis was put off at her request, but complies, finally ridding herself of that wretched disguise and returning to her beautiful, natural self.
Rainbow Dash lets out a small gasp. Why was she surprised? She already knew beforehand. Maybe she had been hoping it was a lie.
"What are you doing here?!" She demands. Chrysalis is shocked; Rainbow reacted much quicker than she had ever expected. "Tell me!!" She demands, eyes locked in thinly veiled anger, nearly foaming at the mouth.
She would make a good changeling, Chrysalis suddenly finds herself thinking.
Not receiving any immediate answer, Rainbow Dash slowly nears Chrysalis's face and hisses, "Leave. And never come back. Or I won't be as kind."
Chrysalis takes her chance, sliding with ease out from under Dash and bolting towards the door; opening it and sprinting away, towards the forest, spitting obscenities under her breath. She was furious; how dare those, those ponies! They didn't understand, they didn't...
Chrysalis screeched to a halt. What was this? What was coming out of her eyes. She reached up and felt her wet face. Tears?! Chrysalis hadn't cried in her entire life! Although...she knew why. She didn't want to admit it - she really didn't want to admit it - so she didn't. She pushed away those awful, un-changeling thoughts and kept on running, not looking back.
"And stay out!" Rainbow Dash called after the fleeing changeling. She slammed the door roughly, and immediately turned her attention to the real Twilight Sparkle. She dashed across the room and helped her friend remove the remaining ropes from around her figure, "Twilight! Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"
"It's alright, Dash, I'm fine," Twilight assured, fully freeing herself.
"I just can't believe I almost..." Rainbow Dash trailed off, looking out into space for a moment. She quickly returned and smiled warmly, "I'm just glad you're okay," She stated, and gave Twilight a great big hug.
Twilight hugged her back, "It's alright, Rainbow, thank you." She let go of Rainbow Dash, but Dash kept on hugging her. They stood there awkwardly for several moments, until finally Twilight cleared her throat.
Rainbow immediately recognized her actions and quickly let go of Twilight, "Sorry..." She apologized, looking away bashfully.
"It's alright," Twilight repeated, then looked around at the horrible mess made of her precious library. She sighed in despair, "It'll take forever to clean all of this up," she mourned.
"I'll help you!" Rainbow Dash immediately suggested.
Twilight smiled at her friend, somewhat surprised at her enthusiasm, "Thank you," she immediately turned away and helped Spike out of his remaining ropes, "But it's not the most important thing to do right now. Firstly, I need to inform the Princess that Chrysalis is back; Spike, go get your scribing tools."
Spike nodded and ran up the steps.
"What was she doing here anyway, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously, pushing away the mix of emotions she was feeling inside.
Twilight slowly began picking up the scrolls and books strewn about, "She was looking for something," she said after a moment, "Something that I have. I found it and picked it up while we were in Canterlot, I didn't know it was something important."
Rainbow Dash began picking up the books alongside Twilight, upholding her promise, and asked, "What was it?"
Twilight looked around, surveying if anypony was around. Finding none, she pulled a book out of the highest shelf, where the books were untouched. She opened it to reveal a hollow carved out of the pages which housed a glowing, translucent, golden sphere, "I found this while we were fighting the Changelings in Canterlot," she explained, "I didn't think much of it at the time, but then Chrysalis showed up and tried to take it back, so I hid it." She put the sphere back and replaced the book where it had been, "That's when she kidnapped me, impersonated me, and tried to find it for herself," she turned towards Rainbow with concern in her eye, "I hope she didn't do anything too bad while she was pretending to be me."
"No, no, nothing major," Rainbow Dash assured, "I didn't even notice." she then realized what she had just said, "Sorry..."
"It's okay," Twilight sighed, returning to cleaning, "That's probably for the best."
Rainbow understood that, "How long did she have us all fooled?" She asked.
Twilight thought back, "Including today, about three days."
Rainbow stiffened, "But..." that would put it right before her 'date' with 'Twilight'. She had gone to a magic show and gotten a kiss on the cheek from a changeling. She felt her heart drop down into her hooves. It's not fair...
Twilight suddenly looked worried, "Rainbow, you're crying,"
She immediately wiped at her eyes, gaining control of her emotions, "No, no I'm not, just...something in my eye," she reassured. Twilight didn't look reassured.
"I got my stuff!" Spike called, tripping and tumbling down the steps to land in a pile of scrolls and quills at the bottom of the steps. He quickly picked himself up, sorted his supplies out, and put quill to page, prepared to take a letter.
Twilight and Rainbow were granted just a brief respite as they giggled at Spike's mirth. Then, Twilight cleared her throat and began speaking, "Dear Princess Celestia..."
Twilight explained that Chrysalis was back, and that she was after a certain golden sphere. She explained that she had kidnapped and posed as herself for three days, and while Chrysalis was gone now, she felt she would return and requested any sort of help the princess could give, as soon as possible.
"...your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." she finished up.
Spike frantically scribbled her words, rolled up the scroll, and lit it up in a puff of green fire, sending it out the window and to Canterlot.
Twilight nodded in confirmation of one task completed, and then walked back to her shelves, pulling the book out once more. She handed it to Rainbow Dash and said, "Like I said to Celestia, Chrysalis might come back for this. I want you to take it and hide it somewhere only you know."
Rainbow gingerly took the book which housed the golden sphere, "But what is it?" she asked.
"I don't know," Twilight admitted, "But if Chrysalis wants it, it can't be good, so while she's free, you have to hide it. Please," she looked in Dash's eyes and requested, "For me?"
Dash looked into her eyes, holding her gaze for a moment. She nodded and held the book close, "I won't let anypony find it," she vowed.
Twilight nodded and sighed in relief, "That's two things, all that's left is to clean up this mess," she gestured to the mess of her library for emphasis.
"I'll hide this, come back and help you," Dash promised, "And I'm sure Spike will help too," she said loudly, startling the baby dragon who had prepared himself a bowl of ice cream. Now he looked up in surprise, mouth full of ice cream and stared dumbly, "Huh?"
The mares giggled, then Dash took the book, nodded, and exited the library, intent on her mission.
Meanwhile, Chrysalis, who had been listening at the window, unnoticed, smiled mischievously. Good thing I came back. She silently flew away; now that she knew where the sphere was being held, she had to get back to her colony and feed them what she had: the love she had harvested from Rainbow Dash.
Chrysalis flew far away from Ponyville, deep into the Everfree forest, until she came to a secluded, seemingly empty nook of the forest, someplace far away from any trails or paths, ponymade or otherwise. She landed deftly in the middle of the clearing, looked around, and made a high pitched clicking noise that could only be made by a changeling.
Slowly at first, but faster soon, several, several changelings began to trickle out of hiding spots in the foliage, greeting their queen. A few were adults, most were young, and some were very young, barely walking. It was these younglings she went to first, picking them up one by one and touching her horn to theirs, allowing them a small portion of the love she had received from Rainbow Dash. They greedily absorbed the energy, but it wasn't enough. She heard their clicking tongues, the changeling equivalent of a growling stomach, but she needed to feed everyone. She let the younglings each have a fair amount, then went to her other children, giving each of them as much as she could give without being unfair to everyone. The adults came last, and she let the remaining love she had trickle into their horns, keeping a small portion for herself. But, once everyone had been fed as much as she could give, she found one more changeling. Just a hatchling, riding on the back of one of the adults. She took this one and held it close, rocking it back and forth, and fed it the remaining love she had, keeping none for herself. This changeling was the only one who was satisfied.
She smiled when the young one let out a yawn and promptly fell asleep in her embrace. Then she turned to the rest of her colony, just a ragtag bunch of malnourished young changelings, with no idea anything better existed. "I promise you, my children, there will come a day when none of you will go hungry," she vowed, "I know where the sphere is, I will take it back for us as soon as I can," she felt a catch in her throat, but swallowed it and finished, "you just have to be patient a little while longer."
The young changelings looked at her, and for a moment, none of them would deny that they were secretly feeling slightly mutinous. But they nodded at her and sunk back into the foliage, returning to a state of hibernation that would keep them alive.
Chrysalis sent them all off, tucking the young ones into their nests. The youngest of them all clicked his tongue hungrily, but Chrysalis had no more love to give, and because she was a changeling, she was incapable of loving for herself. It broke her insect heart. "I'll get the sphere back," she promised, though her promise fell on sleeping earholes, "None of you will go hungry then. Those ponies, they just don't understand. They don't..." They don't understand what they have.
She sighed, stood up, and flew away, having a reinvigorated purpose. She had to get the sphere back, not just for herself, but for the whole of her colony.
Twilight Sparkle was feeling a mix of emotions that she couldn't even begin to list. Although, she gave it a try. First and foremost, she felt battered and tired after the whole ordeal of being trapped in a closet for three days. She was hungry, of course, but not that much; Chrysalis had seen to it that she was fed, if you could call it feeding, she had been forced to live off of bread and water for three days, twice daily. She was also feeling a bit of despair that her immaculate library had been torn apart like this, it looked as if a twister and an earthquake had happened both at the same time in her living room! She was now slowly picking it up, putting it back together piece by piece. Look on the bright side, she said to herself, The library needed a cleaning anyway.
But there was also something else, something...weird, to say the least. Chrysalis had said she was feeding off the love Rainbow Dash had had for Twilight. She must have just been trying to get under her skin! ...Right? Rainbow Dash had always been friendlier than others, but she had always just thought it ended there; friendship. Rainbow Dash didn't have a crush on her, that was ridiculous! And besides, she wasn't even into mares! Ugh, this is too confusing. Was Rainbow Dash into her, and...did she feel the same way? No, of course not! Rainbow Dash was not like that! ...Right? She had seen the way Rainbow Dash and Chrysalis were looking into each others' eyes, when Dash had thought Chrysalis was actually her. It was just for a moment, but she had seen it. Plus, she remembered the lingering hug they had shared for a few awkward moments.
Twilight dropped the book she was holding.
Rainbow Dash likes me!
She felt a mix of emotions. She was in shock at what seemed like a blatantly obvious revelation now, and yet she couldn't help feeling just a bit giddy. She had never been someponies' crush before, at least, not that she had ever known about. But did she feel the same way? Of course she loved Rainbow Dash, but she didn't love her! And yet...she was always there for her; loyal, unswerving, a bit rambunctious at times, but still caring deep down.
Twilight stiffened as she realized something else. She wasn't totally opposed to the idea, even though Dashie was a mare, what was wrong with that anyway? Or maybe she could be wrong, and Chrysalis could have just been lying; she did do that often. Nevertheless, her opinion of her friend had been changed. She suddenly wanted to spend some time with her, to make an educated guess.
Where was she, anyways? She hoped Dash wasn't going overboard on hiding the sphere, she had a tendency to do that. Twilight finished cleaning up the shelf she had been working on and decided to go find her, just to make sure she was okay. Plus, Chrysalis was still out there somewhere, but she wouldn't come back this soon! ...Right?
She picked up her saddlebags, told Spike he could take a break, and left.
Rainbow Dash flew across Ponyville, clutching to the book for dear life. Her eyes scanned the ground for evidence of changelings. She found none, but moved carefully nonetheless. She dove into a cloud, pulling the fluff up and over to conceal herself. Inside the cloud, she opened the book, and her little hut lit up with a warm golden light. She picked up the sphere and held it up to her eyes, examining it up close for the first time. It's warm, amber light was oddly soothing; she felt like she could just hold the sphere close and feel warm and fuzzy inside forever. Why was that?
She took a closer look. There, at the center of the sphere, was an image of a tiny, scarlet heart, encased in the translucent, golden substance. "What are you...?" Rainbow asked aloud to the sphere. Not surprisingly, the sphere did not answer. She sighed and placed the sphere in the hollowed out book once more, lingering in the light for a moment before shutting it. She clawed a piece of cloud away and peeked outside, wondering where she should hide it. Twilight had entrusted her to keep it from Chrysalis, and that was what she intended to do. What would her role model, Daring Do, do in a time like this? She looked down and picked up the book, suddenly remembering a perfect quote for her situation, The best place to hide a leaf...
She held the book close and dove out of the cloud, zipping across the sky to her house in the clouds, going through the walls into her bedroom, landing deftly in front of a shelf of books, mostly flight training manuals and Daring Do novels. ...is the forest! she slid the book which held the sphere into place between two other books. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never find it. Perfect.
She nodded in satisfaction at her cleverness, and then dove back out through the walls, heading back to the library to fulfill her promise of assistance to Twilight. She zipped across town once more, flying past the Cake's Cake Shop, Rarity's Boutique, the Apple's Apple Farm, Chrysalis standing alone outside of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy's Nursery.
She screeched to a halt. Wait, what? She back-tracked, and sure enough, there was Chrysalis, standing alone in a clearing on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Just standing there.
The very sight of her made Rainbow Dash seeth with rage. She rocketed through the air, knocking her square off her hooves, flat on her back, pinned to the ground by the shoulders. Teeth bared and snarling, she demanded, "What are you doing back here?!"
"Rainbow Dash, please," Chrysalis spluttered, chin trembling and tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, "You have to help me."
Rainbow's anger subsided for a moment and was instead replaced with confusion, "What?"
"I need your help, Rainbow, please," Chrysalis begged. She held up her hooves in surrender, "I come in peace."
Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do. She wanted nothing more than to tear this bug limb from limb, but she wouldn't attack anypony coming in the spirit of surrender. She's not a pony, though. Sighing, she let go of Chrysalis's shoulders, letting her stand, but held a steely expression of anger on her face, "What do you want?" She demanded.
Chrysalis stood up, legs shaking as she dusted herself off. She looked at Rainbow with an expression of despair, "My colony is starving."
Rainbow was off-put, and her anger subsided for another moment, "What?"
"My young, innocent children are hungry," she elaborated, chin trembling, "Not just that, they're dying. If they don't get a full feeding, they'll die within the week. And even you won't let innocent creatures die, right? Even changelings?" Chrysalis blinked tears away, "Please, you're my only hope."
Rainbow Dash looked into her eyes, holding her gaze intently. Somehow, someway, she felt that Chrysalis spoke the truth. But she was at a loss, "Well, what can I do?" She asked, gesturing grandly to emphasis the outrageousness of the request.
"They need love," Chrysalis explained, "The love you have for Twilight...And so do I."
Now she was really confused.