//------------------------------// // Chapter 206 - Let's Ride! // Story: Dadonequus Discord (Book 2) // by CrazedLaughter //------------------------------// “Chrysalis! Ah shit! Why is there a pit here?! Shit! Shit!” You screamed out, holding onto the belts on your seatbelt, shivering for dear life. “Come on, Anon! What is life without a little danger? Hm? Especially for those around me!” Chrysalis cackled. From the moment she took off, she had been taking many of the side tunnels, many of which that led to dangerous paths filled with stalagmites in the way, or the kind of path you currently found yourself in, in which it was a huge curve almost going along the wall as a pit sat at the center. One mishandling of the wheel or fluctuation in speed would send you all hurtling down a pit. At this point, Twilight’s screaming was no longer audible and you had to wonder if she had fallen off at any point. In addition, Chrysalis had been trying many of the features that were in her car. Many of which either caused the car to shoot a grappling hook into the wall for a tight turn or a jump button that nearly took your head clear off when the car jumped dangerously close to the roof of the tunnel.  “Chrysalis! Oh shit! It’s not that I don’t think you’re not skilled or anything! But I just don’t want to die yet!” You shrieked as you covered your eyes, prepared for the worst. You’ve been with her on crazy rides before, but the last time a deep death chasm was involved, she sent the car and you down the pit. It may have happened a long time ago, but goddamn, physics were physics! Chrysalis focused hard ahead of herself, keeping the car balanced on the near vertical curve, snickering at you. “You’re that scared? Even after how I drove in the tunnels back at Discord’s? Good… It means this truly is a fearsome weapon I can use to terrorize anypony I wish.” “Dammit! Chrysalis!” You broke your fear for a moment to look at her, point at her, and shout. “You’re not supposed to be wanting that shit anymore! Remem-Agh!” You slam back into the seat as Chrysalis increases the car’s speed just a tad to enter a tunnel below the curve.  Chrysalis sighed as she began to drive a little more leisurely through this straight and narrow tunnel. “Yes, I remember. Why can’t you just let me have a little fun? You’re actually forcing me to commend Twilight, at least she hasn’t said a word about it.” “Yeah, she actually has been kinda quiet. Twilight?...” You look back in the seat to see if she was even still there. And, she was, strapped into her seatbelt, eyes wide and pupils small, twitching, with no movement. “Oh no, Shit! Chrysalis, I think she’s dead!” “Unfortunately, no, she’s just gone unconscious with her eyes open.” Chrysalis then smirked to herself, then giggled. “See? This is an instrument of terror.” Chrysalis sighed, and grinned as she continued to drive on a more leisurely pace. “It’s not the exact revenge I was looking for, but it’s a start.” You sigh, a little aggravated by her words. “Revenge, huh? Chrysalis…” “Relax, Anon.” Chrysalis groaned. “It’s simple revenge against Twilight for being annoying, that’s all, nothing major. I had to get something out of this. And besides, I know you were annoyed with her too.” As soon as the tunnel ended, you both found yourselves in the deeper reaches of the main tunnel. Chrysalis stopped the car, and looked at you as she raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me that it’s not funny?” “Hmmnn… Okay, it’s a little funny.” You reluctantly admitted. But you still weren’t laughing, if only because this could have been serious, as Twilight had no way of getting used to such danger and speed all at once. You look back at Twilight only to see she was still scared stiff. “Actually…” You started to get a deviously innocent idea, if only because you figured something lighthearted would help the situation. “It would be kind of funny to just draw on her face while she’s out. But that's it, nothing too bad.” But Chrysalis said nothing. When you looked back at her, she seemed to be looking up at the roof of the main tunnel. The tunnel had one light on each side of the roof, with sets going both down and up the tunnel, to illuminate the path, and it seemed to be bothering Chrysalis greatly. “Hm, how odd…” “What? What’s up?” You asked. If messing with Twilight didn’t seem to catch her attention, something serious must have happened.  “This tunnel, those lights, I don’t remember them going so deeply.  That last tunnel, I’ve explored it before, and it always led to the end of the main tunnel. And yet now it seems to go in much deeper than before. Anon, did you do this?” Chrysalis asked, curious to see if you were the cause. “I… Don’t know. Maybe? That’s weird, I could have sworn I just made the car.” How peculiar, if you did do this, how and why did it happen? Even if you overdid the chaos, it should have only had an effect on the car. “Hmmm…” Chrysalis starts to casually drive down the tunnel, keeping her eyes forward as she begins to ponder. “It looks like it goes pretty far forward. That’s making me think.” “Making you think? Think of what? W-woah, wait! You don’t think there’s a super crazy set of turns and paths down there, do you?” Oh, god, if Twilight was taken out by the lunatic driving in those tunnels, then whatever you created now would be much worse if it involved this crazy car. “Oh no, I think there’s something much better at the end of this tunnel.” Chrysalis said as she began to speed up. “Haven’t you figured it out by now?” “What do you mean? What else could be…” But then it hit you. The car, the way the lights are set up, the idea of the car matching up with the motif of the tunnel… The basement cave suddenly became a… Queen Cave. “Chrysalis! No! You can’t!” “Why not?” Chrysalis said with a grin as she picked up the pace. “You decided to rush things. So why can’t I? Besides, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner everypony else will leave me alone.” Chrysalis said as she suddenly slows down for a moment, and gives you a serious stare. “Why would you even protest anyway? What happened to you, Anon? I remember when you used to do whatever you wanted to do, not caring about the consequences. If you acted like this before, we would have been trapped in that other Equestria until the windigos got us. So, what? Have you just become a coward?” A coward? You weren't a coward! You just… You just didn’t want anything going wrong. “Chrysalis, I just don’t want Shining having any more of a reason to come after you. Not to mention Celestia. What do you think is going to happen if you roll up in this car?” “That was the idea…” Chrysalis stops to think for a moment as her speed becomes more leisurely “But I can see convincing you is going to be annoying as well. So how about a compromise? I’ll drive my car up to Canterlot at a pleasant pace, we won’t even drive into Ponyville. I’ll avoid hitting anything and will even look out for any cart toting ponies coming from across the way. How does that sound to you?” Wut? “Seriously? You’d do that? Why?” “Anon, I’d be happy to drive this thing outside at all at this point. I want other ponies to gawk, and I want Celestia to lose her little mind when she sees we have her precious pupil on board. The alternative is just to toss you out of my car and speed my way into Canterlot. But, well…” She gently puts her hoof on your head and rubs. “I’d like you to ride with me on my first road trip.” “Really?” Woah, she suddenly became very gentle. It surprised you she'd even admit something like that all of a sudden. “Of course. It gives me a small sense of nostalgia, and perhaps it’ll keep me from getting the urge to run somepony down. Besides, It may be… Fun? Well, my driving is already fun, but it may make the trip itself enjoyable.” Chrysalis said, being hesitant and reluctant in her words. “Chrysalis…” Came a voice from the back of the car. Chrysalis’s eyes went wide as she looked behind her seat to see Twilight looking back at her with a gentle smile. Chrysalis’s face suddenly twisted into shock. “You?! Now?! You’re conscious now?! You heard everything, didn’t you?!” Twilight nodded. “I did, and aside from a few things, it was very sweet.” “You’re getting on my last nerve, Princess. Why can’t you be a good little mare and stay out of my affairs?” Chrysalis said, giving Twilight a threatening look as her eyes glowed green. “Alright.” Twilight said, herself being rather arrogant as she shrugged. “I won’t get in the way of your friendship with Anon. I’m just here to help you ‘freak out’ Princess Celestia.” Wut? “...You’re fine with that? A-are you really Twilight?” Was that Discord? That didn’t sound like Twilight at all. “Even I have to ask that. What do you gain out of scaring your mentor?” Chrysalis asked, looking at Twilight closely for anything out of the ordinary. “In the end, we’re here to talk to Chancellor Neighsay and fix the problems everypony here has. Friendship, love, and saving the schools as well as helping my brother understand that you have changed is the most important thing right now. I can see it in your eyes, Chrysalis, you have changed. But I also understand now that you really aren’t like anypony else. So, I’ll just stay out of it.” Twilight then relaxed herself on her seat, even snuggling on it, it really was quite comfy.  W-wut? “So you’re fine with the car being driven outside? Like, what if somepony sees?” “Yes, what about that? You’re not afraid I’ll break my word and run somepony down? That I may do something evil?” Chrysalis was baffled, she didn’t know Twilight could be so nonchalant about anything. “Nope. You said it yourself, you want to go on a road trip with Anon. As the Princess of Friendship, stopping something like that would go against my title. And besides, Princess Celestia isn’t afraid of anything, so I know that will turn out alright. As for anypony seeing us, I would recommend a disguise, of course, until things are settled. And with me in this car, I can easiAAAHHHH!!!” Suddenly, Twilight’s seat springs upwards and ejects her backwards from the car. Chrysalis had her hoof on a button, eye twitching as she looks at you, aggravated. “You wanted to get rid of her too, right? It wasn’t just me?” “Yeah, christ, I hate it when she gets like that. I don’t think I could ride all the way to Canterlot with her acting like she planned everything.” You reply. “Yes, I know, I feel like I would have crashed the car just to make it all stop. We can get along without her, she can deal with her brother for all I care.” Chrysalis said as she slowly began to pick up speed. “Yeah, for real. Okay, so, you’re still planning on not running anypony down?” You asked. “Sure, as long as you don’t act like some paragon of goodness.” Chrysalis said. “No problem, no fucking problem. We really don’t need Twilight for this, Celestia will do j-... She just teleported onto the hood of the car.” You could see Twilight standing there, angrily, as she tried to signal for Chrysalis to stop. “Hey! You can’t just leave me here! I’m coming tooWAAAAGH!” And with a flip of the button, the hood of the car launches up then slowly comes back down as Twilight is ejected backwards in a spin, causing her to get dizzy and unable to focus her magic as she crashes hard onto the ground. Chrysalis let out a relieved sigh as she relaxed herself. “Okay, I think that did it.  I don’t think she’ll be able to follow us now.” You tried to peek backwards, putting your forelegs on the door of the car as you saw Twilight trying to teleport towards the car now, but was too far back to properly plant herself on the hood or back in her seat this time. “Yep, she can’t catch us now.” “And I can see the tunnel opening up ahead of us. Now that is classy, worthy of a queen. I knew it was there. Let us see exactly where this leads to.” Chrysalis said as she drove a little faster, but nowhere near top speed. You wanted to remind her not to go crazy with her driving, but you didn’t want to upset her either. You were sure she got it. Hell, seeing the light of the outside fill your eyes, you actually felt kind of excited. A fun road trip with Chrysalis, just like before, just hopefully without ending up falling into a gorge. When the car finally came out from the exit, fresh air and beautiful light came upon your faces. Equestria in all of its glory, ready to be driven on in Chrysalis’s glorious Queenmobile. The location of the tunnel’s exit was actually quite surprising to you, as it was ways away from the Everfree Forest, and even from Ponyville. You both were at the bottom of the mountain Canterlot sat upon, the exit of the tunnel coming out from beside the train tracks that went into a tunnel through the mountain itself. Looking to your right, then upwards, you could see the waterfalls and glimpses of Canterlot high above the both of you.  “Huh, well that’s convenient.” You said as you looked upward. “Canterlot is up there, but… How are we supposed to get there by car?” “How else? We take the same paths earth ponies use, or we can take the train tracks. No, the tracks would be too easy, and I plan to keep my word.” Chrysalis said with a snicker “No derailing of any trains coming our way today.” “Y-yeah.. not today." You say with a nervous chuckle. "Hmmm…” You look back to see that the tunnel had already closed up. “I don’t think Twilight is gonna be able to teleport out of there. So we should be good. So, er… Ah, hold on.” You looked towards the dashboard of the car, and smirked to yourself as you played around with a dial. If this car had some built in music, like you hoped it did, then… “Aha! Got it!” “What? What are you doing to my-” But Chrysalis is stopped as music starts to come out of the speakers of the car. A very particular song, that one may know as ‘Bad to the Bone’. Chrysalis went wide eyed for a moment, as the guitar led the song into the main melody. “What is this? I’ve never heard this song before.” “It’s called ‘Bad to the Bone’, sounds rad, huh? Hmmmm?” You could see it, she began to bob her head ever so softly to the music as she sat back on her seat, relaxing herself. Chrysalis let out a soft chuckle as she looked to the road, charting out the route to Canterlot in her head. “I have to hand it to you, Anon, you always seem to be able to surprise me as well as you disappoint. So, it won’t take us too long to get to Canterlot. Can I count on you not to foul things up?” You give Chrysalis a confident smirk as you hold your hoof up for a hoof bump. “I won’t let you down. Let’s go freak out a princess.” “That’s my colt! Hahahaha!” Chrysalis laughed a more genuinely happy sounding laugh as she hoof bumped with you, and began to drive forward, heading towards the mountain path upwards into Canterlot.