Twilight rubbed her eyes. Though Flim and Flam had not shown their faces in Ponyville since the tonic fiasco, Twilight was not exactly surprised to find them at her castle's doorstep one morning. However, the changeling chained onto a humble wooden cart did throw her for a loop.

Twilight sighed. “And here I was, thinking you were above selling slaves.”

Flim gasped, and his brother Flim did the same. Flim nudged the changeling, and the changeling also let out a gasp, albeit a considerably less passionate gasp than his captors’.

“Princess, you misunderstand. We’re not in the slavery business. You’ve got us all wrong,” Flim said, removing his hat and holding it to his chest.

Flam did the same. “We believe that changelings have rights, just like any other pony.”

“And now you have a chance to support his rights. Accommodation rights, to be precise.”

“And in exchange, you get a free, legally-bound friend!” Flam said, poking Twilight’s wing. “You’re all about friendship, Princess, are you not?”

The changeling mouthed the words “Help me” to Twilight. Twilight mouthed back the words “You’ll be free as soon as I pay for you here in just a minute”, but she had a feeling it would be difficult to pick up on those words without the accompanying word-noises.

“I’m not interested,” Twilight said, then turned to Spike and whispered in his ear, “Could you get me some bits, please?”

“But we haven’t even gotten to the special features yet!” Flam said. “Changelings can transform in the blink of an eye and become any pony you so desire, any pony at all! Watch and be amazed!” he said, presenting the changeling as it begrudgingly transformed into Twilight, wings and all.

Twilight paused, looking at the irritated copy of herself. She’d known changelings could transform, but a thought she’d had long ago popped back into her head that she’d never taken the time to truly consider. 

“Anypony?” Twilight rubbed her arm with her other hoof. “Can you… can you turn into Princess Celestia?” she said with an intense and very poorly concealed blush.

The Flim Flam brothers turned to the changeling, drilling their moustachioed glares into their next business venture.

Noticing just how deep Princess Twilight’s blush was, the changeling decided perhaps being rescued could be put off for the time being. He was unable to hold back an obscene amount of sweat. “I, uh, can’t. Can’t do that one. Nope.”

Flam held up a hoof, about ready to smack that feature into their product, when his brother gave a tug of his bow tie and arched an eyebrow, no mouthing or word-noises required.

Flim turned to the princess. “Why would you want that, anyway?”

It was Twilight’s turn to sweat obscenely.

Flim practically leapt, landing directly in front of Twilight. “Yes, what reason could a princess be so nervous about wanting a Princess Celestia look-alike around the castle, hmm?”

“I can imagine many reasons, dear brother,” Flam said, hounding Twilight from the left. “But I can’t say many of them are very innocent, shall we say.”

“I was asking for a friend,” Twilight said, swallowing, trying to fake a smile. “I’m all about friendship, after all, heh.”

“Let’s hope it’s not the kind of friendship with benefits, hmm?” Flim neared Twilight’s face with a broad grin that was far from fake. “I’ll tell you what, Princess. Throw in a few bits more, and we promise not to tell anyone about your particular inquiry, or the particularly [i]scandalous[/i] color of your face as you inquired.” 

Spike had never seen a sack of bits pass from one pony to another so quickly.

Flim and Flam telekinetically floated the changeling next to Twilight. Once they’d pocketed their earnings, they skipped down the road with their humble cart. “Adieu, Princess!” they sung in unison.

Twilight and the changeling stood on the doorstep. Neither made any sudden movements or word-noises. Both stood still as statues, Twilight’s neck tighter than the changeling’s jaw, and the changeling’s jaw almost as tight as Twilight’s neck.

Twilight coughed. “Have you ever [i]tried[/i] to change into—”

“Let’s never,” the changeling said, bolting up and away.

“Yes. Okay. Good.” Twilight nodded as she hurried inside, her face still luminously red. “Yep. Bye.”

Spike put his hands on his hips. He looked at the fleeing Flim Flam brothers, then the fleeing changeling, then the fleeing princess. His eyebrows furrowing, he fled towards Twilight. “Hey Twilight, what did Flim mean by that ‘friendship with benefits’ thing?”