//------------------------------//
// Take Two 
// Story: Hive Alive Moments 
// by BlackWater 
//------------------------------//








R1-D5: #1 - Change is Profitable
Nifty," the princess remarked.
Chrysalis smiled and started toward the stairs across the room.
"I think Spike has finished preparing dinner," she explained.
Might as well, Twilight thought. She could settle the matter of her bedroom over the meal. Or perhaps just think it over. After that good bout of sleep, some thinking certainly was in order...wait.
"Dinner?" Twilight asked.
"Huh?" Chrysalis blinked and felt her heart go cold. "Oh, shoot."
"Cut!" shouted an off-screen Discord, who was wearing a full director's uniform.
Twilight smiled and even laughed a bit. "Gee," she grinned at the changeling. "I know I can sleep in sometimes, but dinner? I think my stomach would wake me up after the first sixteen hours of sleep."
"Ugh," Chrysalis groaned. "I didn't sleep well yesterday. Somepony left the TV on all night."









R2-D3: #2 - Communication is Critical
It's okay," the princess calmed her friend as she stepped into the cottage with the changeling in tow. "You know Chrysalis is as harmless as a marshmallow now."
The two guards took positions outside of the door, which only worked to continue the yellow mare's flustered state. Feeling just a tad awkward and closing the door again, she turned to her two guests.
"T-tea?"
"I prefer love," Chrysalis joked and received a purple elbow to her side.
"I don't think I can..." Fluttershy flustered even more.
"I don't know," Twilight wondered aloud with a smirk. "I mean, as far as mares go, you're quite the catch."
"Twi-?" Fluttershy went wide-eyed at her friend's off-script dialogue.
"I mean, dang, girl!" Twilight wiggled her brows. "I'd be all over you like a parasprite on AJ's apples."
Discord was laughing himself straight out of his director's chair. Chrysalis was already on the floor and nearly out of breath. The pink-maned pegasus felt like she was going to melt from embarrassment.
"Aw, c'mere," Twilight soothed her friend with a dopey hug.









R3-D7: #3 - Knowledge is Useful
Twilight then walked over to one of the bookshelves and looked across some titles, missing the gagging gesture that Spike gave her in return. Almost immediately, she found the folk lore section. “Spike?”
“Uh-huh?” he replied as if he expected some kind of jab. He didn't look up from the book he returned to but kept on reading it, using the cover to hide his frown from the purple pony.
“Did Cheerilee come through here earlier? After we got back from Fluttershy's?” Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration as she got closer to the title she was looking for.
At that, Spike did look up from the book, this time with a confused expression. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “You didn't know? She wanted to see your unfinished mid-terms.”
"Cut!" Discord called out.
"Spike!" Twilight grouched and face him with a tick in her eye. "That was going to be a perfect take."
"I wasn't the one that goofed," he shrugged without a care and waddled off stage to the snack and drink stand. "Cheerilee?"
"What?"
Rainbow Dash walked up to Twilight from the backstage area. "He's right. You said Cheerilee. The line's Chrysalis."
"Snap," Twilight muttered beneath her breath.









R4-D4: #4 - Pink is Preferable
The blur materialized to a very familiar pegasus and Element of Harmony flapping right before them. “Room for two now, huh?” the blue pony chuckled.
“Ha!” Pinkie Pie laughed in return. “It's not like I couldn't keep up, Dashie. I just like a stroll now and then, that's all.”
Twilight Sparkle felt very much like she had missed something important that had happened between her two friends. Perhaps that was just an inevitability of life.
“Well, Twilight doesn't need your thingamajig. She's got wings now!” Rainbow Dash countered proudly. She was still riddled with excitement about her new possible flying buddy.
The princess saw her chance to speak and took it. “I'm not that good a flier though. I still need...”
"Practice?" Rainbow Dash went monotone at the purple mare forgetting her line. It took her a second to realize what had distracted Twilight. She followed the mare's gaze just when the director called out.
"Clear the shot!" Discord grumped with folded arms.
Derpy had snuck into the camera view and was waving a hello to the lens.
"Derpy..." Rainbow groaned.









R5-D2: #5 - Reason is Subjective
Uh...yeah...” the dragon dropped his pose. It wasn't often that somepony (or someone) offered him help. The unusual occasion made him forget that the changeling had dodged the question again. “Could you take S-Z over there?”
“Ah, yes,” Chrysalis found the piles and started organizing them back on the shelf in the new order. “We'll finish faster together. Maybe we can make a jewel cake afterwards,” she added in the hope of keeping Spike from remembering anything about her earlier “errand.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Chrysalis could see the magical reptilian perk up and then deflate. “But I don't have any jewels right now. Help books don't help much when you don't have anything to begin with. And that's all I have until my next allowance.”
“I have a few to donate,” Chrysalis recovered hope for the dragon. “They're not much but we can space them around in the right spots so that you won't notice it all that-"
BAM! CRASH! THUD!
Spike's eyes were the size of dinner plates and his body froze as a claw clutched his heart. Ponies started racing onto the stage to clear the massive pile of books that had slipped off the shelves and buried Chrysalis. Discord was among them, demanding to know which of the stage-setters had improperly placed the heavy tomes. Eventually, Chrysalis became visible again, mostly okay.
"I'm fine," the changeling assured the ponies that pulled her out of the books and offered medical aid. "It happens. Right, Twilight?"
The purple mare was among those that had helped and she merely rolled her eyes. "Every day of my life."