//------------------------------// // Part 1 // Story: Imposter // by Kodeake //------------------------------// Imposter Part 1 Twilight groaned quietly, her head pounding painfully as she awoke. The bright light bleeding through her eyelids was enough to make her wish she was still asleep, her heart beat hammering in her ears as spikes of pain lanced through her mind. “Hey Twi,” a familiar voice called softly, a smile could easily be heard in her voice. “Rainbow?” Twilight asked blearily, lifting a hoof to her head and rubbing it gently before bringing it down over her eyes and shielding them as she slowly peeled back her eyelids. Struggling to see through the light, Twilight saw five hazy, indistinct blobs of colour, though one of them – the closest one – she could point out of a crowd at any distance. Partially because of the unique rainbow colouring of her mane, and partly because the pegasus in question was her wife. “Yeah, it's me,” the cyan blob said, extending a globular appendage and rubbing Twilight's foreleg gently. “We're all here.” “And...” Twilight blinked, some of the haze clearing from her vision. “Where is here?” “The hospital,” Rainbow answered. “Do you remember what happened?” Struggling to sort through memories just as hazy as her vision, Twilight eventually gave up and shook her head. “No, all I remember is...” The sound of shifting came from the bed as Twilight's wings rustled uncomfortably. “I... I was flying to Zecora's hut...” she said slowly as she examined the feathered appendages, the purple blobs sticking out from beneath the green blanket covering her. Rainbow nodded, Twilight's vision now clear enough to make out some details in her face, and she recognized her other four friends standing around the foot of her bed. “That's right; you were looking for that rare flower. We don't know what happened but Zecora found you unconscious in the forest with a pretty nasty head wound. She brought you back here.” “How long was I out?” “Only a couple hours,” a new voice answered, a brown stallion coming into view behind her friends. “We fixed you up, but you needed a dozen or so stitches on the back of your head. You have a concussion, so we're going to keep you here under observation for a few more days, but you should be fine.” Twilight blinked slowly as her vision focused fully. Something as off about the scene before her, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. Her friends all wore relieved expressions on their faces, especially Rainbow Dash, but still something seemed... different. Something she couldn't put her hoof on. Shaking the thought from her mind, Twilight looked to the doctor. “Thank you.” The stallion chuckled, waving his hoof back and forth. “No need to thank me; I'm simply doing my job.” “Oh!” Rainbow's ears suddenly perked up as she reached to something out of Twilight vision. When she pulled back, she held a small blue vase in her hooves. Inside was a single flower with bright red petals and a deep green stem. The petals themselves twisted and turned in random shapes, and there were five of them in total. “Zecora brought this for you; it's the flower you were looking for, right?” Twilight smiled. “The Aurora Bud... yes; it blooms once every twenty years, and is incredibly rare.” “You'll have to thank Zecora the next time you see her; she was supposed to be coming back to check on you tomorrow,” Rainbow explained, setting the flower down on the nightstand before leaning down. “I'm glad you're okay,” she whispered, placing a delicate peck on Twilight's lips. The alicorn smiled at the contact, but something about the situation still felt off to her. -_-_-_- Twilight knew without a doubt something was wrong. Something about Rainbow Dash. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but there was just something off about the mare. There had been ever since she woke up in the hospital. The pegasus had visited her multiple times a day every day, and after each visit Twilight was a little bit closer to figuring out what was wrong. A knock sounded at her door, bringing Twilight out of her intense thoughts. “Come in,” she called, a orange coated farm mare accepting her offer. “Howdy Twilight,” Applejack greeted, walking over and sitting in the chair next to Twilight's bed. “AJ!” Twilight greeted with a warm smile, sitting up in her bed. “How are things at the farm?” “Crazy,” applejack breathed as she sat down, removing her stetson from atop her head. “We're all getting ready for the winter, which means fixin' everything that went wrong over the summer. Leaky roofs 'n such. I wish I'd have had more time to come an' visit ya', but I couldn't leave mah brother all alone.” Twilight shook her head. “Don't worry about it; I know you're busy. Although... I have a question for you.” “Shoot.” “Well... it's about Rainbow Dash,” she started uneasily. “Have you noticed anything... off about her?” Applejack rubbed her chin in thought for a moment before shaking her head. “Can't rightly say I have. Though to be fair I haven't seen much of her since you woke up; the girl goes between here and her job and nothin' else. She was beside herself while the doc was patchin' you up.” Humming in thought, Twilight sighed. “Alright. I'm sure she's just worried about me. Thanks, AJ.” Applejack smiled kindly. “Not a problem. So you hear when you're getting out of here?” “Tonight, actually. It's been almost a week and I don't have any warning signs for my concussion, so they're thinking it's healing properly,” Twilight answered. “I can't wait to get home and back into my own bed; this one's not exactly the most comfortable thing in the world.” “Ah hear ya; last time I was here I was just about climbing the walls before they finally let me go home,” Applejack noted empatheticaly. “Still, it's a lot better in the long run if you listen to them doctors.” Another knock came at the door, this time the visitor didn't wait for Twilight to call them in. “Hey Twi, I'm... oh, hey AJ!” Rainbow greeted with a smile. “I figured you'd be here; Big Mac caught me on my way here and asked me to let you know he needed you back at the farm. Something about a hole in the wall?” Applejack sighed. “Shoot; ah new there was somethin' I was forgetting. Well, sorry to cut this short Twilight, but I gotta go.” The farmer rose from the chair, slapping her hat back on her head and giving a polite nod to Rainbow as she passed by. “Bye Applejack!” Twilight called with a wave as the door was shut gently. Her attention shifted to Rainbow Dash as the pegasus took up the seat Applejack had been sitting in previously. “Just got off my weather shift and figured I'd see how you were doing,” Rainbow explained. “They told me you could come home tonight, you excited?” Twilight frowned for an imperceptible second. Rainbow didn't seem worried; in fact she seemed rather happy and positive, as she usually was. What was off about her? “I can't wait,” Twilight answered, putting on a smile even as the gears in her mind kept turning. “Heh, I know how you feel. If it weren't for those Daring Do books the last time I was in here I'd have lost my mind,” Rainbow laughed, reaching over and grabbing her wife's hoof. “I gotta admit though; you had me scared for a while there.” Tilting her head curiously, Twilight asked, “How do you mean?” Rainbow shrugged. “You were missing for quite a while before Zecora showed up carrying you on her back. All I knew was that you'd gone into the Everfree forest. I thought something had happened to you,” she admitted quietly, adding, “much worse than a crash.” “But what happened to you?” Twilight thought to herself, wearing a smile but still thinking. “It's... it's like she's not even Rainbow Dash at all...” “Twi? You okay?” Rainbow's voice snapped her out of her thoughts again, and she frowned. The voice was a perfect match; everything was. But still something was different. “Yeah, I'm fine,” she lied. She knew one thing for sure now; the mare sitting next to her was not the same mare she married. “Just a little tired. I think I'm gonna have a nap before they discharge me.” Rainbow smiled understandingly. “Alright, I have to go run a few errands in town today. I'll be back to pick you up tonight.” With that, the pegasus leaned in and kissed Twilight again, this time the alicorn flinched away from the contact that was saved for her wife. Her real wife. Luckily, Rainbow didn't notice the reaction, and stood to leave the room. -_-_-_- “She's gotta be a changeling,” Twilight thought aloud, pacing back and forth across the floor. Time was ticking down to when she would be released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, and she knew that 'Rainbow Dash' would be waiting for her. Luckily, changelings were easy enough to deal with; a simple anti-illusion spell to prove it, then have it arrested. The real problem came from the fact that she didn't know where the real Rainbow Dash was being held. The mare had to be kept alive for the changeling to take her form, but where? “Hello!” The doctor called merrily, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him, clip board floating alongside. Twilight snapped herself out of her mind, smiling kindly to stallion. “I'm good to go?” He nodded. “Yep; your concussion seems to have healed without a problem, and your head wound is coming along nicely. Just come back if you have any problems and we'll take a look. Things like the wound reopening and the like; I'm sure you'll be able to tell,” he explained, flipping through the sheets of paper he brought with him before turning it around and passing it to Twilight along with a quill. “Sign here and you're free to go.” With a glow of magic and a flourish of the pen, Twilight's name was signed on the dotted line. The doctor nodded in approval. “Everything's in order, and unless my vision's failing me I saw Rainbow Dash down in the lobby waiting for you,” the doctor said, stepping back toward the door. Twilight grimaced, reaching back with her magic and grabbing the flower she'd suffered a concussion for before walking out of the room and turning down the hall towards the stairs. It didn't take her long to navigate the maze like halls of the hospital, and soon enough she found her way to the lobby, where there was indeed a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane waiting for her. But she knew it wasn't Rainbow Dash. “Twi!” The mare called upon spotting the easily identifiable alicorn, rushing over and wrapping her in a brief hug. “Everything's good to go?” She asked, pulling back and smiling with eyes that were not her own. Before Twilight could answer the changeling leaned in for a kiss. Twilight instinctively pulled away, much to the confusion of the bug before her. “Twi? Something wrong?” Unable to take it anymore, Twilight jumped back, lowering her horn and charging her anti illusion spell. “You tell me, change-” Silence. Dead silence filled the lobby. All eyes were on her as she fired her spell. And it did nothing. “Twi?” Rainbow asked again. “What's going on?” Twilight blinked in confusion, charging and firing her spell again, to the exact same effect. The mare before her was not a changeling. But she knew it couldn't be her wife. “N-nothing!” She answered quickly, making a snap decision. If it wasn't a changeling, then she had no idea what it'd done to the real Rainbow Dash. She couldn't let it know she was on to its scheme. “That didn't look like nothing,” the thing pressed, “what spell did you just hit me with anyway?” “Umm...” Think Twilight, think! It can't know you know it's an imposter! “Just a diagnostic spell.” The fake tilted her head. “What?” Twilight leaned in closer, glancing around at the other ponies in the room. “Checking for any of the anti-biotic resistant super bugs found in hospitals,” she whispered. “You're clean, by the way.” It smiled shakily. “Heh... I'll take your word for it. Anyway, you wanna get heading home? It's almost time for dinner and I had Spike start it while I came to pick you up.” Putting on her best smile, the alicorn started walking for the door. “Dinner sounds wonderful,” she said as it raced to catch up with her. The walk back to Golden Oaks library was unusually long and uncomfortably silent. The thing pretending to be Rainbow had tried to start conversations multiple times, but each time she was met with either silence, a grunt of acknowledgement, or a short, cold answer. Twilight knew she shouldn't be so obviously mad at the thing lest it figure her game out, but she couldn't help it. This thing had taken advantage of her accident and replaced her wife, doing who knows what with the real Rainbow Dash. She was, understandably, stressed and angry. Perhaps the thing had even caused her accident to give it time to infiltrate her life? It was during another long, awkward stretch of silence that the pair reached Twilight's tree home that she shared with her wife, the sun setting behind the mountains and providing a brilliant backdrop for the old structure. Visibly hesitating, Twilight slowly opened her front door, motioning for the imposter to walk inside. “Spike!” Twilight called as she followed it inside. “Twilight!” The dragon called excitedly as he came barrelling around the corner form the kitchen, quickly wrapping Twilight's front leg in a hug. “I thought you'd never get out of there! I was cleaning the library while I wasn't visiting you, making sure it was kept nice and clean so you could just relax when you got home!” He announced proudly, taking a step back and motioning to the spotless library. “Hey, I helped too!” The thing called indignantly. Twilight's anger flared as she realized it had been living with Spike while she was in the hospital. Soon, she promised herself; soon she would fix this and bring home the real Rainbow Dash. “Well thank you.” She cringed and added, “Both of you. But I heard there was some dinner?” Spike perked up, rushing back into the kitchen and motioning for them to follow. “Yeah! I made your favourite; daisy sandwiches with daffodil seasoning.” “Sounds lovely, Spike; after nearly a week of hospital food I'm looking forward to some actual food,” Twilight said eagerly, walking into the kitchen and finding a plate stacked tall with the previously mentioned sandwiches. “Dig in!” Spike proclaimed happily, pulling a bowl of gems off the counter and joining Twilight at the table. The imposter sat down as well, eyeing the food with a ravenous glint in her stolen eyes. -_-_-_- “Hey Twi, you coming to bed?” A voice called suddenly, making Twilight nearly jump out of her chair. It was a voice she knew all to well; that of Rainbow Dash. Not the imposter, but the real one. For just a split second she thought her real wife had come home, but as she turned around, her eyes only found the thing that had stolen her lover's name. Twilight sighed; she'd simply misheard. “In a bit,” she answered shortly, turning back tot her desk and the open book on top. “I just wanna finish studying this book.” “Alright, if you're sure. I'm gonna head to bed; don't stay up too late!” The imposter called as the sound of fluttering wings filled the air, the mare ascending the stairs to the second floor and the bedroom Twilight shared with her wife. “Now I can finally find out just what you are,” she muttered to herself, flipping through the pages of her book. Normally she'd be taking notes, but she knew better than that; she couldn't leave any evidence of the research she was doing. It wouldn't be hard for the fake to figure it out, and if it knew it would be nearly impossible for Twilight to get the upper hoof and force it to tell her where the real Rainbow Dash was. No, she just had to rely on her memory to retain all the important information it could without the aid of notes. So she read, focusing as much as she could on each word. Time passed, evening turned to night as the moon rose high into the sky, and night in turn gave way to early morning as the moon once again began its decent. Twilight could feel her eyes growing heavy as her long night started catching up to her. Her first instinct was to go to bed, but she knew the imposter would be there, waiting in her bed, and the thought of sleeping with it sent a shiver of dread down her spine. She could try sleeping on the couch, but not only would that be suspicious, but just sleeping in the same house as the imposter made her nervous. The only viable option was to stay up all night and nap later when the imposter was away at Rainbow's job. That wasn't so suspicious; she'd often spent her nights studying whatever interested her. Surely she could do it tonight. However, even as she told herself this, her eyes started to droop closed. Thoughts and fears of what the imposter might do if it found her asleep rode through her mind, but even these could not keep her awake as the clock struck 3 AM. With a thud and subsequent snores, Twilight's head fell down into her book, and she was fast asleep. Rainbow Dash came down the stairs a few minutes later, having been awoken by Twilight's rather loud and obnoxious snoring brought on by her unusual sleeping position. She smiled lovingly at the image of the purple alicorn sleeping, her face still buried in her book. With a silent flutter of her wings, Rainbow came over next to Twilight and carefully lifted the mare out of her chair, carrying her in her forehooves as she floated a little above the ground. “Heh, it's been a while since I've carried you like this, Twi. Not since our wedding,” Rainbow noted, grinning at the mare in her hooves and the fond memory. She glanced curiously at the book her wife had fallen asleep reading, flipping it closed and reading the cover. Imposters, Doppelgangers, and Shadow Forms. Rainbow frowned; why would Twilight be researching such things? She'd never believed in anything like that before. Shrugging her shoulders, Rainbow flew back up the stairs and into their bedroom, passenger in tow. “You know, you're a little bit too cute when you're asleep,” she noted with a quiet giggle. Slowly, Twilight stirred, reacting to the voice in her sleep. “Rainbow...?” she murmured, rubbing her cheek into the soft coat of the pegasus carrying her. “Yeah, I'm here Twi,” she answered, leaning down and nuzzling the top of Twilight's head. With gentle movements, Rainbow gently rolled Twilight out of her hooves and into their bed, shifting the covers around until they were covering her then slipping into bed as well. Rainbow leaned forward, placing a delicate kiss on the back of Twilight's head and wrapping her hooves around her. “G'night.”