It was a nice summer day in Ponyville. The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
Foals were playing in the park, and all ponies were out, buying groceries at the market or just relaxing and enjoying the great weather.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were running around, dragging a brown earth pony colt with a blank flank behind them. They were giggling like madponies as they pushed him towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Somewhere, deep in the orchard, an orange earth pony mare was bucking apple trees. After one especially hard kick, a rainbow maned Pegasus yelped and crashed to the ground. Looking up to her best friend with a dumbstruck expression, she suddenly burst out laughing, the earth pony soon joining her.
Meanwhile, in the park, two mares sat on a bench, chatting. One was a mint green unicorn with messy hair, the other a creme colored earth pony. They just talked about this and that and enjoyed their time together, not knowing that their piece would soon be disturbed.
"AAAARGH, JUST COME ON!"
See, disturbed.
The sudden shout came from the crystal castle owned by Twilight Sparkle.
And this Twilight Sparkle was getting more and more frustrated with every passing second.
On the top floor of the highest tower, the Princess of friendship was lying on the ground and ripping pages from a journal lying in front of her with her magic. All the while, she was cursing under her breath.
"Aaw, dear Twily, what's the matter? Can't figure out how to solve this problem? Maybe you should ask your little map of friendship. I'm sure it'll help." The pony sitting on the bed chuckled. Well, pony might be a little far fetched. She was a changeling. THE changeling. Queen Chrysalis.
And, coincidentally the origin of Twilight's distress.
The young alicorn sighed. "How in Tartarus am I supposed to teach YOU of all ponies friendship? I'm not Fluttershy, who can reform about anything. And you're certainly not Discord, who's really easy to guilt-trip if you know how. I have no idea what Princess Celestia expected."
"So you're giving up? We can just go back to being enemies and you FINALLY allow me to return to my FAMILY? That'd be nice." Chrysalis asked, a growl from Twilight her only answer. "Aww, don't be like that!" She purred, getting off the bed and gently hugging Twilight. "We both know you LOVE being stuck with me..."
"No! I hate it!" The Alicorn cried. "I'm failing at a task given to me by Princess Celestia herself! And I HATE failure! Even more so if it's something like a friendship problem, which is EXACTLY my domain! I HATE this task! I HATE your very presence! I HATE YOU! I... hate..." She trailed off and looked at the ground in contemplation.
"That's IT!" She suddenly snapped back to reality.
Chrysalis, startled by the sudden shout, stumbled backwards and fell over, crashing into the bed. Head spinning and nose bleeding, she straightened herself and sat up before asking "What's what?"
"My dear Chrysalis, I think I've just found the solution to our little problem. I know how to teach you the values of friendship! Hatred!"
The changeling looked at her like she just claimed to be Discord's father. "What?" She asked, dumbfounded. "Will you make me hate you so I'll be your friend just so that you let me go? You gonna hate me until we're friends?" She laughed.
"Exactly!" Twilight stated. "Well, the second one."
Chrysalis only laughed louder and pleaded mockingly "Please don't hate me, Twilight! You mean too much to me!"
___________________
"Please don't hate me, Twilight! I can't take it anymore!" Chrysalis sobbed.
She was currently in the living room. More precisely, lying on the ground before a rather annoyed Twilight Sparkle.
"I've learned my lesson! Please do-" she was abruptly interrupted by a purple hoove slamming in her face before Twilight returned to her book.
It had been two weeks. Two weeks of absolute horror.
Well, mostly horror. But more about that later...
The day Twilight had announced her new method went uneventful. Chrysalis spent the whole evening joking about the idea. In retrospect, it had been dumb. She told Twilight every flaw of the plan, thereby giving her the opportunity to correct every mistake before it could happen.
The first morning, she awoke with a harsh kick in the gut from Twilight.
"Get up, you no-good piece of trash! I have to go to town and definitely won't leave YOU alone in MY castle!" The princess shouted. Chrysalis instinctively tried to absorb the hatred and feed on it, only to notice that she... couldn't. She stood up and took in her surroundings. She was lying in the throne room. In the corner. On the ground.
That was when she noticed the golden collar fastened around her neck, as well as the ring around her horn. She tentatively asked "Are those magic restricting?" only to be pushed back on the floor by a incredibly out-of-character evil Twilight. "You only speak when you are asked, scum, and yes! The ring restricts magic, the collar reflects emotions."
So Twilight took her into town, never missing an opportunity to make her feel miserable. Not that she actually succeeded with this. Chrysalis wasn't a stranger to mistreatment, or being a completely helpless prisoner, for that matter.
But no matter how harsh she was towards Chrysalis, Twilight acted nice and friendly towards everypony else. Not that if mattered to Chrysalis, of course...
Looking down at her list, Twilight mumbled. "Let's see... We need apples, some sugar... OK, I'll get those at the market... A new quill, two bottles of ink, and... aah, some new emeralds for Spike! Perfect opportunity to meet up with Rarity. Haven't seen her since YOU arrived. Now hurry, you worthless fuck!" She directed the last part at Chrysalis.
And so they went on with their tour, Twilight still trying to break the changeling's spirit. Of course it didn't hurt her when Twilight pushed her into a ton of apples which lead to a furious earth pony shouting at Chrysalis to be careful. And it naturally didn't bother her that Twilight, after buying a bag of sugar, invited everypony at Sugar Cube Corner - except for Chrysalis - to a round of delicious looking cupcakes.
At least she didn't do anything when they bought the quill and ink. Not that she would have cared, of course.
When they arrived at Carousel Boutique though, Twilight tripped her and she crashed face first against the door. A short time later, the door opened to reveal a white unicorn mare with a perfectly styled mane.
As soon as she recognized her friend, Twilight smiled brightly and hugged her, stepping on Chrysalis' tail in the process and making her yelp out in pain. Rarity - Chrysalis supposed it was her - seemed surprised, bit after Twilight took her aside and talked to her, she turned back to her. "Twilight will join me for tea. Do you want any as well or do you prefer staying on the ground?" She asked in a nice tone.
Chrysalis nodded meekly and got up to follow them inside. Just as she had taken her first step, the door was engulfed in a lavender aura and slammed shut in her face.
After twenty minutes of waiting, Twilight finally returned, carrying a small bag of gemstones in her magic.
Not even looking at the changeling, Twilight hissed "You coming or what, scum?" before walking off towards her castle.
Four days passed and Twilight kept up the routine. In the morning, she would kick Chrysalis awake before making breakfast for herself and Spike. Chrysalis would always get some cold leftovers from the day before. Throughout the day, Twilight would kick the changeling around and spoil Spike whenever Chrysalis was watching. In the evening, Chrysalis would have to return to her cold, hard corner to sleep.
The first time something changed was on the fifth day, when Spike suddenly spoke up, catching both mares' attention.
"Twilight, I want to join in."
*What does he mean?* Chrysalis thought.
"I've read a few books about runes and I know what her" he jerked his head in Chrysalis' direction. "collar does. I know what to write and I want to do it."
*What? How can he join a spell that deflects emotions* Chrysalis wondered.
"Why?" Twilight asked the drake. "Why would you want to join?"
Spike smiled weakly. "Because I know that you need someone to take over from time to time."
That evening, Twilight went to bed early and left Spike and Chrysalis to themselves.
The young dragon kneeled before Chrysalis and began working on the collar with his claw. "She told you the collar deflects emotions, right?" He whispered. Chrysalis nodded slowly. "While she didn't lie, Twilight also didn't tell you everything. There are two other enchantments. One that you can't take the collar off and one that makes Twilight aggressive towards you. She did that because she knew she couldn't go through with her plan."
Chrysalis was more than surprised to hear that Twilight didn't want to act like this, but rather forced herself to do so. But she was even more surprised when Spike continued.
"She hates the plan and the enchantment. Twilight's been crying herself to sleep those past four days."
"And now you'll join in on the violence enchantment?" Chrysalis asked, hurt.
"No." Spike stated firmly. "I'm removing my emotions from the deflection spell."
"Why?" The changeling whispered. "Why are you lying to Twilight to help me?"
Spike smiled and said "Cause that's just what friends are for." Suddenly, Chrysalis tasted friendship in the air, as well as sorrow and hope. "Soo... did it work? Do you feel anything?"
The answer the dragon got was a bone-crushing hug and a few sobs.
From then on, things started to look up for Chrysalis. Well sort of at least.
Spike had to fake aggression everytime Twilight was nearby, but whenever they were alone - and Spike had a way of ensuring that it happened as often as possible - he was comforting Chrysalis and generally just being nice to her. Once, they spent a whole hour just cuddling while Chrysalis cried softly.
But there were a few times they were almost caught.
For example on the tenth day of torture, when they were staying up late to read a few of Spike's comic books, when Twilight suddenly walked in. Luckily, Spike was fast to react, and shouted a quick "Keep your whooves off my comics, piece of shit!" at Chrysalis before snatching the book she was reading from her.
He spent the next two and a half hours apologizing.
On the thirteenth day of torture though, things took a different turn. Twilight was out, dealing with some sort of friendship problem with her friends, and Spike and Chrysalis were spending the free time together reading some more comics.
At some point, Spike had left for the kitchen to fix himself a sandwich, but hadn't returned yet. Chrysalis was - understandably - worried, so she decided to search for him. Buzzing her wings, she took off and shot out of the throne room and down the corridor.
One of the great disadvantages of flying fast, though, is that you only have limited control, especially when it comes to stopping.
Which would have been necessary to avoid crashing into Spike who was leaving the kitchen in that exact moment.
But Chrysalis sadly WAS flying really fast, so she DID crash into him, sending the two of them tumbling down the hallway.
Eventually, they came to a halt, dragon on top of changeling. The moment they looked at each other's face, they both burst out laughing.
When the laughter died down, though, they looked at each other again. Two pairs of green eyes locked and two sets of lips slowly inched closer to each other as if caught in a trance. And then, they kissed.
Even with her nose bleeding - she was used to it by then - Chrysalis smiled as she remembered how Spike had kissed her. They had stayed up late that evening. The two of them had spent the whole night cuddling and talking.
And that was the exact reason why Chrysalis was trying her best to convince Twilight that she learned. That she now knew friendship.
But it wasn't working at all. The Alicorn was too stubborn. She just wouldn't listen.
Later that day, Twilight left for a party with her friends, once again leaving Spike and Chrysalis alone.
As soon as the door closed, the changeling broke down, now crying freely. Spike held her close and tried to comfort her.
"When she returns, I'll talk to Twilight, I promise. This has been going on for way too long!" He gently whispered into her ear. "She just HAS to stop! She can't possibly continue like that! You clearly have changed."
Pulling her even closer, the dragon added "And definitely for the better I'd say." and kissed Chrysalis' forehead.
"How come you always know exactly what I need to hear?" Chrysalis asked with a giggle and snuggled deeper into his chest.
Spike looked down at the creature in his arms and couldn't help but smile warmly. "Instinct." He mumbled.
"What'd you say?" Chrysalis asked curiously.
"I said 'instinc'." Spike blushed. "Dragons have to watch out for their most valuable treasures and-" He was suddenly cut off by a black hoof rammed into his mouth, efficiently silencing him.
"That's incredibly sweet of you, Spike." Chrysalis whispered into his ear before standing up and turning around. "But also unbearably cheesy, so I'm afraid you'll have to be punished. No snuggles for you!"
Spike smirked and slung his arms around her midsection, pulling her back down with him. "Don't be like that! We both know you want it just as much as I do." Chrysalis huffed but didn't resist.
Just as Spike had gotten her to kiss him again, the door opened and - being a perfect proof of Murphy's law - Twilight came in.
That was bad.
"Spike. Room. Five minutes." The princess ordered in a shrill voice before instantly turning around and galloping down the hallway.
With one last glance at Chrysalis, the young dragon followed her.
And all the changeling could do was sit there and wait. She didn't know what exactly she was waiting for, though. Maybe being called for a talk herself. Probably shouting.
After ten minutes of absolute silence, she couldn't take it anymore, so she got up and slowly walked down the hallway she had witnessed Twilight and Spike follow earlier.
As she walked, Chrysalis slowly began hearing voices. The linger she walked, the clearer they became.
"-uld have thought more of you!" Definitely Twilight.
"And what exactly is the problem with us spending time together?!? That just proves that she has changed!" That was Spike's voice.
* He's... He's standing up for me?* Chrysalis thought, feeling a single tear of joy run down her face.
"But did you have to KISS her?" Twilight sounded desperate, like a mother trying to prevent her foal from doing something stupid.
"No, I didn't have to." Spike stated calmly. "But I really wanted to."
As soon as he had said this, Twilight exploded. "Don't you pretend you're soo smart! How about you treat me with respect?!"
Chrysalis couldn't take it anymore and burst through the door, startling Spike, even though Twilight didn't seem surprised.
"Now would you look at that. The bug finally decided to join us." She mocked.
"Stop shouting at Spike!" Chrysalis cried "be angry at me! It's all my fault, so leave him alone! He did nothing wrong!"
"So you'd accept any punishment in order to save him?" Twilight asked.
"Yes." Was all she got as an answer. But as it seemed, it was all she needed to hear. Twilight raised a hoof high over her head before bringing it down on Chrysalis'... collar, which in turn just... vanished.
"You did it! Congratulations, you are now officially a good friend." Twilight beamed before turning to leave.
Spike and Chrysalis looked at each other. "Oh." They said in unison.
Without looking back, Twilight growled "But if you hurt my baby brother, I won't need a spell to be your greatest fear."