//------------------------------// // 13 - Somewhere Over the Rainboom // Story: Chrysalis: Saviour of Time // by Robo Bro //------------------------------// Chrysalis let out a satisfied sigh for what seemed like the millionth time as she walked next to Rarity through Ponyville. “I need to do that more often.” Chrysalis spoke dreamily. Rarity chuckled. “You’re welcome to join Fluttershy and I on our weekly visits.” “I might have to take you up on that, I haven’t felt this good in years.” “I told you that Aloe and Lotus are masters of their craft, at least when they’re not interrupted by a family emergency. It is nice to see you so relaxed. You have been terribly tense since moving to Ponyville. Not that I can blame you, I’ve never seen a mare attract more trouble than you.” “Can we not talk about trouble? I’d just like to ride this wave of good feelings for awhile.” Chrysalis requested. “Of course, darling. Whatever should we speak of then?” Rarity’s eye took on a mischievous gleam. “Perhaps love?” “Love is wonderful.” Chrysalis replied breathily, enjoying all of the love she had gleaned from her spa day. “Well then, a couple weeks ago when the Princesses came for tea, I could not help but notice the way that Princess Luna looked at you.” Chrysalis stopped in her tracks and shut her eyes tight for a few seconds as she gave a far less contented sigh. There went the wave of good emotions. When she opened her eyes, Rarity had stopped as well and was looking at her with an excited expression. “So it’s true then? You and Princess Luna?” “Shh!” Chrysalis shushed her before she could go any further. “Not so loud! It’s supposed to be a secret!” “Whatever for? I think it’s wonderful! Why, the idea that the Princess could fall in love after all the terrible things in her past! It’s almost like a story book, a villainess redeemed by love!” “Well, there’s the age difference for one, I’m barely an adult and she’s—” “Over a thousand years old. Nopony in the world is anywhere near her age, except her sister, and I don’t think that’s happening. What is she supposed to do? Marry a dragon?” Chrysalis’ chest tightened at the mention of marriage. Entertaining the idea of a relationship was frightening enough, the idea of marrying one of her mortal enemies was terrifying beyond belief. “Okay, she doesn’t want to go public yet. She’s from a different time with different values. Also, she’s worried about Princess Celestia disapproving of the relationship.” “Hmm…” “Look , can we just not talk about this? It’s a secret, end of story.” Rarity laughed at her distress, causing Chrysalis to scowl. “Sorry, Twilight, I don’t mean to laugh at you. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret, even if I do think the two of you should just be open about it.” “Rarity…” Chrysalis glared warningly at her. “Not another word, I promise!” Rarity conceded. “Good.” Chrysalis began walking again. “Now maybe I can go back to enjoying the memories of our trip.” Before she had gone even ten steps, she heard a scream rocketing towards her. “Waaaaatch ooooouuuut!” Chrysalis’ eyes turned to the wailing and widened with panic. Rainbow Dash was spinning through the air on a small cloud and headed straight for the two of them. Without thinking, she shoved Rarity out of the way and jumped at the incoming missile, attempting and failing to leap over it. Instead, she landed belly first, half on the cloud and half on Rainbow Dash with her head next to the other’s cutie mark. The two of them screamed in unified terror as their cloud skidded across the ground, their world an indecipherable blur, until they both crashed into a tree. Chrysalis groaned in pain. The world still seemed to be spinning and she fought back the urge to vomit. Perhaps wisely, she chose not to try and stand. “Dash?” “Yeah, Twi?” “What the fuck are you doing, Dash?” Rainbow stood up and shook herself off. “I was—” “Are you two okay?!” Rarity interrupted frantically as she finally caught up to the runaway duo. “Pfft! I’m fine!” Rainbow Dash brushed off her concern. “I can’t expect to win the Best Young Flyer’s Competition if I can’t handle one little wipe out during practice.” “Little wipe out?” Rarity nearly screeched. “You’re lucky you didn’t break your wings!” The mention of broken wings earned a wince from the brash mare, but she quickly recovered. “Aw, you worry too much.” “What about you Twilight? Are you okay?” “As soon as the world stops spinning, I’m gonna kill her.” “See, she’s fine!” Dash said as Rarity helped Chrysalis to her hooves. “Well, I suppose.” Rarity replied somewhat hesitantly. “By the way, what were you doing to cause such an accident?” “As I said, I was practicing for the Best Young Flyer’s Competition.” Dash broke into a grin akin to a child opening a present on her birthday. “The grand prize winner gets to spend a day with the Wonderbolts!” “Oh my, that sounds wonderful! Perhaps we could go and cheer you on.” “Nah, it’s up in Cloudsdale, cloud walkers only. Fluters’ll be there though. I mean, not that I need a cheer squad, I’ve got this in the bag! Still, a little practice never hurt anypony, right?” “Except for me.” Chrysalis grumbled under her breath. “Speaking of practice, I’d like to get a little more before I head to Cloudsdale for the contest. Seeya later!” “Goodbye and good luck!” Rarity cheerfully waved at the receding form of Rainbow Dash. Chrysalis merely gave a relieved sigh. “I know you don’t really like her, Twilight, but would it kill you to pretend to be nice to her?” Chrysalis flicked her tail and began walking again. “Maybe.” Rarity sighed and followed after her. “Anyway, thank you for saving me back there.” “Huh?” Chrysalis turned her head to look at her. “When you pushed me out of Rainbow’s way back there.” “Oh, right.” Chrysalis only now just realized she had done so. That was weird, why did she do that? “What are friends for?” “So…I wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject, so I’ll just ask outright. How did you ride that cloud instead of falling straight through? I thought only pegasi could do that.” Chrysalis stumbled, nearly falling, but managed to recover and continue on. Rarity looked at her with concern. “Uh, sorry, I guess I’m still shaking off that accident.” She explained, stalling so she could come up with a reasonable excuse. She had forgotten that she wasn’t supposed to be able to cloud walk as a unicorn. All changelings could do it inherently, much like any pegasi, and also knew they weren’t supposed to do it when they weren’t disguised as a pegasus. It was easy to forget, though, considering how rarely unicorns and earth ponies came in contact with clouds. “As for the cloud thing, it’s a spell I’ve been working on. I kinda forgot I even had it on me.” “A spell? For walking on clouds?” Rarity asked with a glimmer in her eyes. “Uh…yes?” Chrysalis suddenly wished she could have given a different explanation for her unusual ability. “Oh, ho ho! So perhaps we can go and cheer on Dash after all!” Chrysalis cringed. “I should go get the others, I’m sure they would be delighted to join us!” “We can’t!” Chrysalis blurted out. “Why ever not? You do have a spell for letting ponies walk on clouds, don’t you?” “Of course I do! I just…can only cast it on myself!” “Really? I would think there must be a way to cast it on others, Twilight.” “I’m sure I could figure it out, but by the time I do, the contest will be over.” Rarity frowned as she opened the library door. Chrysalis hadn’t even noticed that they had arrived. “Well, if that’s the case, it can’t be helped.” Chrysalis relaxed with her lie accepted, but her relief was short lived. “It appears that you will just have to do it without us.” “What?! No!” “Do what by herself?” A third voice asked. Chrysalis’ eyes darted to the couch inside the library they had just entered to find Time Keeper looking up from a book. “She’s going to cheer on Rainbow Dash at the Best Young Flyer’s Competition.” “Best Young Flyer’s Competition? Why does that sound familiar?” Time Keeper wondered aloud. “Really? That’s great!” Spike’s head popped up from behind the couch as he climbed over the back. “No, not really!” Chrysalis denied fiercely, staring daggers at the one who had volunteered her. “Come on, you really should do this.” Time Keeper glared at her, as if to say ‘you know why’. Chrysalis felt a hoof draw her head away from Spike and Time Keeper and came face to face with Rarity, any closer and their lips would touch. She smiled sweetly. “Please?” Rarity batted her eyelashes seductively. “Do it for me?” Chrysalis wrenched herself from Rarity’s hoof. “Are you trying to manipulate me by flirting?” “Is it working?” “You’re straight.” “You’re not.” Chrysalis blinked at how brazen Rarity was being. She reminded her of some of the more ambitious changelings in her hive. She couldn’t help but laugh. “So…is that a no?” Rarity asked, frowning now. “I’ll do it.” Chrysalis conceded grumpily. “I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.” “Thanks, Twilight.” Rarity winked at her. “Yeah, yeah. If you try that again I’m going to hurt you.” “Duly noted.” Rarity acknowledged with a laugh. “Thanks for doing this. Dash may seem brash and confident, but I’m sure she’s actually very nervous. She could use all the support she can get.” “You don’t have to keep convincing me, I’ve already agreed to it.” Chrysalis replied sourly, earning another chuckle from Rarity. “Regardless, I appreciate it. Anyway, I should probably head back to the boutique. Sweetie Belle has probably cut apart one of my dresses to make a costume by now and I’ll need to fix it.” “Yeah, you do that. Goodbye, Rarity.” “Farewell, Twilight, Spike and Snowball.” Rarity waved before leaving, and a mumbled farewell could be heard from the other denizens of the library. Chrysalis turned back to face the others. Time Keeper had a bit of a blush on his face, and Spike was hanging off the back of the sofa while biting his lip. The former cleared his throat. “Hot.” “Please don’t steal Rarity from me, Twilight.” Spike begged, nearly in tears. Chrysalis rolled her eyes at both of them. “It’s not happening.” “Not happening as in you’re not interested in her, or you’re not going to grant my request?” Spike’s tears caused his wide eyes to glisten. Chrysalis sighed. “I can’t believe I agreed to go to Cloudsdale so easily. I don’t suppose you two would like to forget you heard me, would you?” “No. You need to do this. You’ve messed up your relationship with Rainbow Dash enough, and you need to do something to fix it.” “Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t actually going to bail anyway.” “No, seriously, which way did you mean that, Twilight?! I really need to know!” Spike had gotten right in front of Chrysalis and had grabbed the end of her snout, pulling it down so that she would be forced to look directly at him. With a hoof, she smacked his claws away from her face. “I’m not gonna fuck Rarity, okay?” She growled at the dragon, and he blushed at her phrasing. Time Keeper gave her a disapproving stare. “Uh…good.” Spike sighed with relief. “How long before the competition starts?” Time Keeper brought her back on track impatiently. “I don’t know, actually.” Chrysalis admitted. “Dash said she was going to train for a little while before going, though.” “So today? We should definitely get going right away so that we don’t risk missing it.” “We?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m coming with you.” “Uh huh…yeah, no you’re not.” “If there’s anything I’ve learned living with you, it’s that if I give you the chance to screw up your relationships, you will. I’m going there to keep you on track.” “I don’t need your help.” Chrysalis said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to be there, whether you like it or not. You can’t stop me from coming.” “Uh…guys?” Spike tried to interrupt the two. At some point, they had gotten right up in each other’s faces. “I could tie you up before I go.” Chrysalis threatened. “Spike’s too nice, he’d untie me.” “I could tie him up too.” “Wait, what?” Spike yelped in alarm. “Please leave me out of this!” “And leave a poor, defenseless kid bound for who knows how many hours? The ropes digging painfully into his scales, his body cramping up, unable to eat or drink and left in his own filth as his under developed bladder fails him?” Time Keeper raised his nose defiantly. “You…you wouldn’t really do that, right?” Spike asked with a nervous chuckle, noticeably having taken several steps back from his guardian. Chrysalis’ eyes darted over to the frightened dragon and her heart ached, though she tried to not let it show. She glared back at Time Keeper for a few seconds more before backing down. “No. I wouldn’t.” Spike let out another nervous chuckle. “That was a g…good joke, Twilight. I didn’t believe for a second that you’d actually do it!” Time Keeper smirked triumphantly, and it weighed heavily on Chrysalis’ nerves. She hated that that moron had made her look a fool. Chrysalis’ scowl slowly transformed into a mischievous grin. “If we want to get there in time, we’d better hurry and rent a chariot.” “A chariot?” Time raised one eyebrow suspiciously. “I’m a unicorn, I can’t exactly fly to Cloudsdale, now can I?” “Oh, right.” He relaxed a little. “A chariot ride does sound pretty nice.” Chrysalis’ smile widened. “It really does.” __________________________________________ “I don’t know what your problem is, I’m having a wonderful time!” Chrysalis taunted her companion. “You did this on purpose!” Time Keeper shouted between gasps for breath as he pulled a small, red chariot through the air. “Not at all, I swear that I thought I had enough to rent both a chariot and somepony to fly us up there.” Chrysalis shouted back from her reclined position on the chariot. “Fuck you, Chrysalis!” “Now, now, Snowball, you had your chance and turned it down, you’re not getting a second. Also, you know not to call me that, it’s Twilight, remember?” “Shut up…Twilight…” Chrysalis chuckled and then proceeded to hum a happy little tune. As much of a roller coaster this day was proving to be, and how certain she was that she would soon enter another low point, at this particular moment she was flying high. Her humming gradually faded as Cloudsdale appeared in the distance. A city in the sky made of clouds. It sounded all too unstable to her. She was used to the rigidity of the stone and earth that made up her hive, or even the wood that many ponies built with. Sure, she could walk on clouds and manipulate them like any pegasus, but cloud was still such a flimsy building material. “Over there, I think that’s where visitors are supposed to park.” Chrysalis pointed to a busy parking lot manned by several pegasi in valet uniforms. Time Keeper didn’t answer as he gasped for breath, but the chariot jerked towards the lot. They soon landed somewhat roughly behind another chariot in a line to enter, and Time Keeper collapsed to the clouds beneath his hooves. One of the valet ponies approached them and eyed the fallen stallion with concern. “Is he okay?” “He’ll be fine.” Chrysalis dismissed his concern. “Very well, ma’am.” He shrugged and focused his attention on her. “Oh, a unicorn. I’m sure you have, but it’s standard procedure to ask, have you imbibed a cloud walking potion or in some other way attained the ability to avoid falling through the clouds?” “Yes. A spell.” “And this spell will last for the duration of your stay?” “Yes.” Chrysalis answered impatiently. The valet pulled out a long piece of paper from his vest. “Okay, I’ll need you to sign here, here and here. It’s a legal document saying that you won’t hold anypony other than yourself accountable if at any point in time you fall from—” “Yes, yes, I get it!” Chrysalis snatched the paper from him and signed as Twilight Sparkle where he had indicated. “Very good. How long will you need to be parking today?” “As long as the Best Young Flyer’s Competition is.” “That’ll be four bits.” “But we don’t—” Time Keeper began to say, finally standing up. “Here you go!” Chrysalis replied cheerfully as she counted out four coins from her nearly full coin purse. “Thank you, ma’am.” The valet accepted the coin and then helped remove the harness from Time Keeper and then placed on himself before pulling the chariot to the parking area. The entire time, Time Keeper glared at Chrysalis. “Is something wrong?” She asked innocently once the valet was out of earshot. “You. Bitch.” Chrysalis’ only response was a cruel laugh. Maybe next time he’d think twice before trying to make her look the fool. She turned away and walked into Cloudsdale proper, and he followed shortly after her, scowling the whole time. It wasn’t long before she had to admit that she was lost. While there had always been a few spies embedded in the cloud city, it had never really factored into any of her schemes, so she had never bothered to learn its layout. “Do you know how to get around here?” Chrysalis asked Time Keeper. Keeper narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips for a couple seconds and then looked around to see if anybody was close by. Seeing that nobody was immediately next to them, he leaned in close. “I grew up here, but that’s a thousand years from now. A lot has changed.” He whispered harshly. “So, no, I don’t know my way around.” He stepped back and muttered something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like him calling her an idiot. Before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a familiar voice. “Twilight?” Chrysalis flinched and she fought to prevent her ears from flattening against her skull in annoyance. “Hello, Dash.” She answered flatly as she turned to see the rainbow maned pegasus. “What are you doing here? Sightseeing?” Time Keeper looked between the two mares with concern. “She’s here to—” “Shut up, Snowball, I can speak for myself.” Chrysalis covered his mouth with her magic and turned away from him so that she wouldn’t see his irritating gestures of objection. “I’m here to cheer you on in the Best Young Flyers Competition.” “Really?” Dash’s seemingly relaxed attitude melted away and in its place she seemed almost like a hopeful puppy, at least for a second before she put up her walls again. “I mean, I thought you’d be the last pony to come cheer for me.” Chrysalis felt a sudden, sharp pain in one of her hind legs. She looked back to see Time Keeper, his mouth still blocked by her magic, nodding towards Dash and then staring at her expectantly. It almost reminded her of the looks her mother would give her when she had obstinately refused to apologize for something as a child. Chrysalis sighed. “Look, I know I’m a jerk, but I can see this is really important to you. As frustrating as you can be, I don’t actually hate you, so I’m not gonna leave you hanging here without any support.” Rainbow’s face softened again and her eyes glistened as tears began to form, thought not enough for any to fall. “Thanks, Twilight. That actually means a lot to me.” She blinked her eyes to force away the shameful fluids and put on a cocky grin. “Heh. What am I getting all sappy for? Be sure to cheer real loud in the third part of my performance, it’s when I’m gonna do my sonic rainboom! It’s gonna be awesome!” “No doubt.” Chrysalis agreed with a smile and a laugh, both insincere. “Anyway, I gotta go to the coliseum. I’ll see you there!” “Wait, before you go—” Dash flew off before she could finish her question, “—could you give us directions? Ugh…I hate that mare.” Time Keeper walked into her field of view and pointed angrily at the magical seal on his lips. Chrysalis sighed and removed it. “If you expect an apology, forget it.” “Say it ain’t so.” He deadpanned and then looked to the sky where Dash had flown off. “Something about what she said is bugging me, but I can’t figure out what it is.” “Uh huh.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and started walking. “Come on, let’s go find somepony to give us directions.” ________________________________ “I’m just saying that if you had been a little bit nicer, we could have found this place much sooner.” Time Keeper whined. “He insulted my mother.”Chrysalis replied coolly. “You lit his mane on fire!” The ponies in the coliseum lobby noticeably stepped away from the duo upon hearing their conversation. Time Keeper gave a frustrated sigh. Chrysalis growled. “Nopony insults my mother.” “And you wonder why I worry you’re going to screw up.” “You’re one to talk about screwing up. I’m only here to clean up your mess, remember?” “Whatever. Let’s just go find some seats.” The two of them drove through the crowds with Time Keeper in the lead, the space afforded to them unfortunately disappearing in the face of an ocean of excited ponies. The two got separated, not that Chrysalis was worried or even really cared. She was sure that irritant would show up again whether she wanted him to or not. Just to give herself a few blissful minutes longer, she slowed her pace so she wouldn’t catch up. The crowds began to thin once she got through the door bottle necking the ponies and emerged in the stands. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Time Keeper seated next to a pretty, pegasus mare. She was sitting a lot closer to him than a stranger typically would sit, and gazing at him intently as they chatted. She even seemed to giggle at something he said and nudged his shoulder playfully with a wing tip. Chrysalis groaned before marching over to them. “He’s not available, buzz off!” She announced brusquely to the mare. “What?” The pretty mare and Time Keeper said in near unison. “I said he’s taken, now leave before I launch you all the way to Canterlot!” Chrysalis lit up her horn to emphasize her threat. “Um…right. I think I should go.” The mare said as she awkwardly skirted around Chrysalis in her escape. “What are you doing?!” Time Keeper barely held himself back from shouting. “What am I doing? What are you doing?!” Chrysalis hissed back. “What? I…” Time Keeper sputtered. “She was really nice, I think she liked me! Why would you do that?” Chrysalis planted a forehoof on her face. With how she had been all over him, she wouldn’t be surprised if that was one of her changelings picking out an easy mark for some love. She offered a silent apology to her if that was true, and sat down beside Time Keeper. She stared at him like he was an idiot. “Are you really that stupid?” She whispered. “You don’t belong here in this time. The last thing we need is for you to become your own great great grandpa.” “But—” “No buts, especially ones that you could have a foal with. You’re not so much as to look at a mare, got it?” “I…” Time growled with frustration, but she could see in his eyes that he understood her point. “Fine!” Out of the corner of her eye, Chrysalis noticed a rather large, and very fit stallion walking up the aisle past them. She openly stared at him and as he walked by, he gave a wink to her. Once he was past, he flicked his tail, giving her a tantalizing peek. Chrysalis returned her eyes forward only to find Time Keeper staring at her with his jaw wide open. “What?” She snapped at him. “Seriously?” He pointed at the receding figure she had just ogled. “What?” “Right after telling me I can’t so much as look at a mare, you do that?” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and lowered her voice. “My past self already exists, I can’t mess up my own birth. Besides, unless he’s a changeling under there, no pregnancy is happening.” “This is so not fair!” “If it makes you feel better, I haven’t had sex since coming here, either.” Chrysalis grumbled. “Only because you’re afraid of what Luna would do if you did!” “I’m not afraid of Luna.” Chrysalis hissed. “If I wanted to, I could and would fuck every stallion in Ponyville.” Time Keeper’s eyes drifted away from Chrysalis’ face and focused on something behind her. “Hello, Princess Luna.” He greeted evenly. Chrysalis yelped in surprise and turned to face Luna, prepared to apologize profusely. All that was there was one confused looking blue pegasus mare. “Uh…I think you’re mistaken.” The mare said before hurrying on her way. Chrysalis’ face contorted into a grim scowl and she turned on her companion. “You son of a bitch. When did you get so mouthy?” Time held her gaze, unfazed. “I’m learning from an expert at using her mouth.” Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to insinuate that I’m a slut?” “If the horseshoe fits.” He huffed. “I mean, you did offer to do anything I wanted minutes after we met.” Chrysalis’ eye twitched and she gritted her teeth. That bastard was getting really close to finding out why you shouldn’t mess with a changeling queen. “Not to mention you drool at every stallion in Ponyville, and half the mares too. I’m not the only one who thinks that you’re a wh—” Time Keeper’s words were cut off with a choking sputter. An attentive pony might have noticed a subtle ring of green wrapping around his neck. His eyes bulged as panic began to set in. Chrysalis leaned in close and threw her hooves around his neck in a gentle embrace, hiding any chance for somebody to see the magic choking him and his pained face both. “You just saw me light a stallion on fire for angering me. Do you really need a second demonstration for why that’s a bad idea?” She whispered into his ear. He tried to shake his head, but she tightened her magic. “Don’t move. You’re lucky we’re not alone, or I’d do far worse than this. I am the most dangerous creature alive in this world. I suggest you remember that the next time you get the desire to antagonize me.” Time Keeper began to spasm, but otherwise did not move. “Umm…is this a bad time?” A familiar, timid voice could barely be heard over the general chatter of the crowd around them. Chrysalis shoved Time Keeper away and turned to greet Fluttershy with a big smile as he fell to the cloudy floor, gasping for breath. “Not at all, Fluttershy! We were just having a little chat, isn’t that right, Snowball?” “Yeah.” He answered hoarsely as he returned to his hooves. “I’m…I’m just gonna go to the bathroom.” Fluttershy stood awkwardly as Time walked past her. “Well, sit down!” Chrysalis moved over and offered the seat she had been sitting in, right between her new spot and Time Keeper’s. “Oh…thank you.” Fluttershy smiled slightly as she took the offered spot. She then bit her lip and faced rigidly forward, trying to pretend she wasn’t staring at her. Chrysalis sighed. “What is it?” “That didn’t seem like a very friendly conversation.” Chrysalis sighed again. “No. It really wasn’t.” “He…he called you a…a…” Fluttershy’s cheeks grew flushed as she stuttered. “He called me a slut, yes.” Fluttershy flinched on the word being voiced. “W…why would he call you that? I mean…you’re…um…definitely not…” Her sentence faded into indecipherable mumbles. “Look, it’s not that he accused me of sleeping around a lot, there’s nothing wrong with that, it was the intent behind his words. He did it purely to disrespect me, and I’m not going to take that kind of attitude from him of all ponies.” Fluttershy wilted to the point of nearly hiding herself in the cloud she was sitting on. That seat would definitely need some reshaping later. Just one example of why clouds made for lousy building materials, Chrysalis thought. “Can…can we talk about something else?” Fluttershy squeaked, her face radiating heat from her blush. Chrysalis fought the temptation to torment the mare with continued sex talk. As annoying as her timidity often was, sometimes it was awfully cute. That shyness provided quite a paradox, she thought. It was undoubtedly both the reason why many a stallion would want to bed her, and precisely the reason why none of them would. Chrysalis shrugged. It was Fluttershy’s loss. “Sure.” Chrysalis conceded. “You here to support Rainbow Dash, too?” Fluttershy nodded with an appreciative smile. “Yes. I’ve been practicing my cheering.” “Really? You cheering?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem the type.” “I’m not.” Fluttershy shuddered. “That’s why I’ve been practicing. Rainbow’s been teaching me.” “Ah, now that I’d believe. That mare would do anything to stroke her own ego.” “That’s not it…” Fluttershy denied quietly. “Excuse me.” Time Keeper spoke as he returned. The two mares moved out of the way to let him return to his seat. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure she convinced you it was your idea.” “Oh no, it was her idea, but I agreed to it because she needs me here.” Fluttershy looked at her earnestly. “She acts all confident so others don’t worry about her, but she’s really nervous…I think.” Chrysalis eyed Fluttershy, trying to determine if she really believed her own words. “Hmph. Rarity said the same thing and I think she’s crazy too. You’ll see. Dash’ll do her little rainboom, bask in the praise of the audience, and forget all about us as she goes on her merry, egotistical way.” “Did you know that she hasn’t once been able to the sonic rainboom during practice?” Time Keeper, who up to that moment had been trying his best to ignore them, turned his full attention to Fluttershy, his mouth hanging open and eyes wide. “She hasn’t?” Chrysalis’ brow wrinkled. “Why would she put something in her routine that she can’t do?” “She did it once…when she was really young.” She explained. “I thought that maybe if I cheered loud enough, she could actually do it again.” The two fell silent. Faced with Fluttershy’s words, Chrysalis wondered what that meant for her assessment of Rainbow Dash. Rarity said she was wrong. Fluttershy said she was wrong. Even she herself had, on rare occasions, exceptionally rare mind you, felt that perhaps she might have misjudged her. The tears that had been in Dash’s eyes when Chrysalis had told her she was there to cheer her on came to mind, and how she had, without hesitation, attacked a timber wolf that had leaped onto her. Maybe beneath all the abrasive bluster was a pony worth reevaluating. Not to say that she would be worthy of respect, but at least another chance. “Twilight! Why won’t you listen to me!?” “Um…Twilight? I think Snowball wants to talk to you.” Fluttershy whispered. Chrysalis shook her head of her thoughts and turned to him. “What is it?” She growled at the pony that most certainly didn’t deserve a second chance. “We need to talk!” “Then talk.” Chrysalis snapped back. “Alone.” He urged. “It’s about that.” Chrysalis held his gaze for a moment before addressing Fluttershy. “I’m afraid I need to go speak with him in private, if you’ll excuse us.” “Oh…um, okay.” She stood up and dragged Time Keeper away, leaving the stands for the now much less busy, yet still far from empty, lobby. Where she was going to find privacy in such a crowded place, she wasn’t sure. She spied a door nearby with a symbol indicating it was a bathroom and decided it would have to do. She yanked him into the mare’s room only to be greeted by two startled faces. “Hey, he’s not allowed in here!” The first one objected with a nasally voice that irritated Chrysalis. “Leave.” Chrysalis demanded. “But we’re not—” The second began. “I’m about to bend him over the sink and fuck him up the ass with a dildo of magic, now get the fuck out of here before I decide to do it to you too.” The two mares looked at each other with disgust and made a beeline for the door. “I swear, you hear about this sort of thing happening all the time in places like this, but I never thought—” The mare’s voice was cut off as the door shut behind her. Chrysalis cast sound dampening and locking spells on the door to give them a little extra privacy. “You’re…not really going to—” “What’s the big idea?!” Chrysalis cut him off, holding back the urge to strangle him. She wouldn’t be able to get answers from a corpse. “You said there was nothing major again until Discord comes back!” Time Keeper flinched. “Well…nothing major for Twilight…” “Meaning?” “Well, Rainbow Dash is supposed to do her first sonic rainboom in years today.” “And that has what to do with me?” “She only succeeded in doing it to save Rarity and the Wonderbolts from falling to their deaths.” He spilled out as quickly as he could. “What?” Chrysalis replied flatly. “Rarity was supposed to have wings from one of Twilight’s spells. She entered the competition, something went wrong and both she and the Wonderbolts end up in trouble because of it. Rainbow Dash rescued them with a sonic rainboom.” “But Rarity’s not here!” “I know!” “This really would have been good to know about earlier!” Chrysalis screamed, hoping that the sound dampening spell she used had been strong enough. “I mean, it’s too late to get Rarity now! Even if it wasn’t, I don’t know how to give her wings!” “I’m sorry! It wasn’t part of the tour of Twilight’s life! I mean, I only remember it from history books!” Time Keeper stopped to take a few deep breaths. “Maybe you can just take on Rarity’s form and enter in her stead?” “I think it’s a little late for new entries, they’ve probably already started by now!” Chrysalis in turn took a deep, calming breath. “Okay, maybe it’s not that important. Maybe it won’t matter if she never does a rainboom.” “Her entire life revolved around two things. Rainbooms and Wonderbolts.” He began with tightly controlled volume, only to continue with a shriek. “Both of which are supposed to start here!” “Fine, I’ll fix this!” Chrysalis grumbled. “Can you be a little more specific as to what’s supposed to happen?” “Just what I said already. Rarity joins the competition, something goes wrong, and Rainbow Dash does the rainboom to save her and the Wonderbolts. I don’t even know what a sonic rainboom is! The textbooks didn’t explain it very well and there were no pictures!” Chrysalis sighed. He really was a useless guide. “I know what a rainboom is.” “What is it?” “Doesn’t matter, does it? Either you’re going to see it today and find out, or it’s not going to happen and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.” “That’s not very reassuring.” Time Keeper whined. “Neither is having you as an ally.” Chrysalis retorted. “Now go back to Fluttershy and make up some excuse for why I’m not there.” “You have a plan?” “Yes.” Chrysalis lied. _________________________________ Chrysalis nervously tapped a large black hoof against the cloud she was hiding on. She was an uncomfortably long distance above the arena, not because she feared she would fall, but because of how long it would take to get there when the time came. She didn’t have much choice, unfortunately, since any stray clouds that drifted too close to the contest below were swiftly removed by the staff. After Time Keeper had left, she had transformed into a pegasus, left the stadium and found a cloud she could sneak a little closer to the action with. Once she was in position, she donned the same changeling like disguise she had worn when she had rescued Time Keeper from Celestia’s dungeon. She had contemplated becoming a dragon for this, but reluctantly discarded the idea. It was probably bad for the timeline to risk accidentally sparking a war between Equestria and the dragon nation. Even if that weren’t an issue, her subjects couldn’t feed from the ponies if they were all slaughtered by dragons. She peeked over the edge as another pony began their routine in the stadium. It, like the several before, was not Rainbow Dash. Chrysalis’ nerves were only getting worse as time passed. She was not happy with the plan she had devised, if she could even really call it a plan. Her idea was to wreak havoc during Dash’s performance. She would superficially attack some ponies, destroy some flimsy cloud architecture, and goad the Wonderbolts into attacking her or, failing that, attack them herself. She’d send them into a nosedive towards the ground and hopefully Dash would perform her stupid trick to save them while she made her own getaway. It was risky and had far too many points it could fail at, but she was having a hard time thinking of better given how little time she had and the pressure gnawing away at her. A flash of rainbow far below informed her it was time. Chrysalis pushed her thoughts aside, took a deep breath and dived from her perch with her wings tucked close to her body. Air rushed past her, blocking all sound from her ears. Through watering eyes, she could see Dash spinning out of control on one of her tricks. A voice in her head warned her to slow down, changelings weren’t meant to fly this fast, but she ignored it. She charged up her horn and moments later crashed through a section of the arena, setting off a large, bright green explosion of magic that, while certainly visually impressive, was ultimately harmless to anything more than nearby cloud structures. She flared her wings and used some extra magic to assist her deceleration, moments later rising like a dark phoenix from the crater she had just created. As she hovered in the center of the arena, thousands of eyes upon her in either fear or confusion, the world seemed to freeze for one picturesque moment before the screams and panicked fleeing began. Chrysalis scanned the crowds rapidly in search of her targets, her eyes falling on a set of blue uniformed pegasi streaking through the air towards her. The Wonderbolts were playing their parts beautifully. She charged up her horn in anticipation of dealing with them, but before she could strike, she herself was struck from the side by what felt like a freight train. A cry of pain escaped Chrysalis’ lips as she redirected her magic to tear whatever had hit her off and fling it away. She cursed when she saw the rainbow tail of Dash trailing through the air, and cursed again when she righted herself and charged straight back at her with a furious scream. She created a net of magic, snaring the mare and bringing her to a halt in front of her. “Stay out of this!” Chrysalis hissed with her artificially deepened voice. Rainbow glared at her as she struggled to break free. “I won’t let you hurt anypony!” She shouted back defiantly. Chrysalis internally groaned, this wasn’t the time for her stubborn heroics! Couldn’t she have waited thirty seconds before trying to play hero? Just then, she was struck by another flying missile, and the spell holding Dash in place fizzled out as Chrysalis was sent involuntarily soaring through the air. She saw the next pony coming for her from the opposite direction too late to do anything about it and was struck again, sent hurtling to the floor of the arena as stars filled her vision. She crashed into the middle of her crater, for once glad for the softness of cloud structures. Despite the relatively soft landing, Chrysalis gasped in pain, but she had no time to catch her breath. A third pony with a fiery mane was diving straight down to deliver the next blow. Chrysalis erected a magical barrier and the fire maned pony struck it not even a second later, skidding off its surface and curving back up into the air. She could vaguely hear one of them shouting that their enemy was an alicorn and to be cautious. It was far more painful than Chrysalis cared to admit for her to climb back to her hooves, but her injuries weren’t nearly as bad as they could have been. The plan could still be salvaged, she just had to keep an eye on all of them and not get blindsided again. Yeah. Just keep an eye on four of the fastest fliers in Equestria who had already shown a tendency to split up and attack from multiple directions. Chrysalis wondered if perhaps it was too late to reconsider her decision against becoming a giant dragon for this. “Halt!” Chrysalis tensed as she heard that familiar, magically amplified voice cut through the screams of the crowd. While the fleeing spectators certainly had not obeyed the order, the pegasi attacking her obeyed the royal decree. How could Chrysalis have not noticed her presence? Her eyes locked onto Princess Celestia as she flew down to join her in the crater. “Why are you doing this?” Celestia demanded, fire in her eyes. Chrysalis paused for one moment. “I’m doing what must be done.” She finally answered. Celestia tilted her head as she stared. When she was offered no further explanation, she spoke again. “Wonderbolts, help evacuate the crowds. I shall deal with her.” “Are you sure, Princess?” The fiery maned one asked. “Go.” Celestia repeated firmly. Chrysalis watched with minor alarm as the Wonderbolts dispersed into the crowds, and the major alarm over being confronted by Princess Celestia prevented her from chasing after them. This was a disaster. How had she not noticed she was in the crowd? Her thoughts were torn between fleeing, how to salvage the situation, and charging straight at the princess. “We are alone, now.” Celestia announced. “Will you not reconsider speaking with me?” Chrysalis’ eyes flicked over to where she last saw the Wonderbolts. There was little chance of using them now as a catalyst for the rainboom. Her eyes returned to Celestia, whose own gaze had followed hers. A glimpse of rainbow tail, or perhaps mane, was visible jutting out from behind part of the course set up for the tournament in the background and told her that at least Dash was still around. The thought of finding a place to hide and transforming into one of the Wonderbolts so that she could take the dive herself briefly crossed her mind, but she dismissed it. Even if she could get away from Celestia and Dash long enough to do it, it would only be a matter of time before they would discover there had been two of the same pony around. It was bad enough that she was revealing a form similar to that of actual changelings, it would be far worse if she confirmed that she was a shape shifter, too. She needed a new victim to spur Rainbow Dash into a rescue. As nervous as she was about it, that victim was staring right at her. Chrysalis lowered her shield and relaxed her stance. Celestia smiled. Chrysalis smiled. Chrysalis swiftly channeled another bright green explosion through her horn, blasting a hole through the bottom of the crater she stood in and causing her to fall through to the open air below. There wouldn’t be much time before Celestia and Rainbow Dash recovered from that blinding flash and followed, so she flapped her wings hard as soon as she was clear of their lines of sight, forcing her way into the bottom of the massive cloud layer that supported Cloudsdale where she hid herself, ready to strike. Despite having been further away, Rainbow Dash was the first to appear through the hole. Chrysalis growled from her hiding spot. She needed a chance to get at Celestia without Dash’s interference, but her speed was proving to be quite the problem. She channeled a spell through her horn, one that she was not very familiar with. In the air beneath her, not obscured by the clouds of her hiding spot, a blurry illusion formed that looked vaguely like her current disguise, clearly not real on close or even moderately distant inspection but close enough at range, especially if it were moving quickly. With a thought, she sent the illusion soaring through the sky away from her and, like an obedient puppy chasing a stick, Dash followed after it. The distraction likely wouldn’t last more than fifteen seconds, she figured, but hopefully it would be enough. Moments after Dash had chased after the illusory Chrysalis, Princess Celestia dived through as well. She too saw the bait and began to give chase, but Chrysalis cast another spell, a simple one so as to not lose the illusion she had to maintain. Thin bands of green energy coiled around Celestia’s barrel, strapping her wings down to her sides. A flash of panic graced Celestia’s features as she began to fall and a small scream of surprise escaped her lips. However, before she could truly even begin to plummet, her own horn shone its radiant gold and Chrysalis’ relatively weak restraints were shredded by the stronger alicorn magic. Celestia’s determined countenance scanned the area, only for her eyes to go wide with alarm as Chrysalis’ large, black body crashed straight into her. Both of them tumbled through the air and started to fall. Chrysalis internally cursed. She had been aiming for the Princess’ wings, but she had seen it coming and twisted her body just enough before impact to protect them. She held no delusion that she could beat her in a straight fight, not at that moment with her mediocre love reserves, but even an alicorn would fall without her wings to support her. The two struggled against one another, one trying to damage the other’s wings with hoof, horn, fang or magic, while the other tried to force herself free from her attacker. Chrysalis saw an opening and lunged forth with her maw open, sinking her teeth into the base of Celestia’s wing and then jerked her head back to cause as much damage as she could before releasing. With a toothy grin, she shoved against Celestia, splitting off from her, but her grin quickly faded upon hearing a sharp crack and felt an intense agony from one of her own wings. She tried to flap them and bring her free fall under control, but the pain only intensified with nothing to show for her efforts. She looked to her back and one of her delicate, insect like wings was bent over itself in a very unhealthy looking manner. Whether by accident or by intent, the Princess had damaged one of Chrysalis’ wings too. The urge to panic rose, but Chrysalis fought it back. Panic wouldn’t do her any good. She would have time to panic and bemoan the damage later, she needed to focus on survival first. As much as she hadn’t wanted to, she would need to transform and risk discovery. If she waited until the last moment, just before she hit the ground, then maybe they wouldn’t notice and assume she had fallen to her death. She twisted her neck to look straight to the ground below. She didn’t have much time. Just then, an explosion went off above her. Reactively, she looked up to see an expanding ring of rainbow light spreading through the sky, and a much smaller trail of rainbow tore through the air as it descended from the explosion at a speed that Chrysalis had barely thought even possible. She saw it reach Celestia above and smiled. She had done it. Mission accomplished. A panic that she had previously forced down forced its way back up as the rainbow streak altered direction slightly, coming straight for her next. Before she could even brace for impact, she too was scooped up by Rainbow Dash and her vision became a blur of blinding rainbow hues. The forces of her new, ludicrous speed threatened to tear her skin from her body and sent lightning bolts of pain from her injured wing through her. An eternity of speed and pain later, Chrysalis was unceremoniously dumped on the clouds back inside the arena she had been in only a minute earlier. She breathed rapidly as she attempted to make the world stop spinning, though with little success. To make matters worse, she had landed on her broken wing. Rainbow Dash had saved her. Her. An enemy of Equestria that had just destroyed much of an arena in Cloudsdale, terrified countless ponies, and directly attacked the leader of their nation, had just been rescued. Why? Any sane person would have let her fall, unless…of course. Her intent was to interrogate her. Chrysalis shook her head, gritted her teeth and tried to flip herself over so she could get to her hooves, only to have a leg come down on her belly, forcing her to remain prone. “Stay right where you are!” A stallion’s deep voice commanded. It was one of Celestia’s royal guard. Who knows where he had been earlier, probably helping the evacuation for that bleeding heart of a princess. “My wing…” Chrysalis gasped in only mildly exaggerated pain, hoping he would ease up and give her a chance to escape without needing to hurt him. “it’s broken! You’re hurting me!” “You’ll live.” Was his only response. Wrong answer. Chrysalis’ horn began to glow only for Celestia to come into view with her own horn glowing menacingly. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The princess warned. “I do not take kindly to my little ponies being hurt.” Chrysalis glared at both of them and, realizing she was clearly outmatched, cut off the flow of magic to her horn. “Take your hoof off her.” Celestia ordered. “Her wing is broken, she wasn’t lying about that.” The guard nodded and did as ordered, lifting considerable pressure from her injury. With the opportunity presented, she flipped onto her belly and let out a sigh of relief. She could hear a sharp intake of breath from the guard. “Never seen wings like that on a pony before, but even I can tell that’s bad.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. It was a little late for sympathy, he’d already made her injury worse. Fortunately, though rather delicate by pony standards, a changeling’s wings were significantly faster to heal by comparison. She might not be flying on her own wings for a week or so, but she could still transform into a creature with a perfectly functional pair. Even so, Chrysalis sorely wished that she could get through one of these events without hurting herself for once. “That was amazing!” A new, female voice arrived and Chrysalis looked over to see it was that fire maned Wonderbolt. “What’s your name?” “I’m Rainbow Dash!” Came the confident answer. “Well, Rainbow Dash, I think we’ve found our winner of the competition.” “Really?” Chrysalis laid her chin against the clouds and ignored the rest of their conversation. Good for Dash, she won. Chrysalis had more important things to think about, specifically escaping from her imminent incarceration, preferably before anybody noticed that Twilight Sparkle was missing. Before long, a chariot pulled up nearby, pulled by two royal guards. Chrysalis was clapped in chains and herded onto it by her captors. Much to her consternation, Celestia sat down beside her, though not before whispering something to the ones pulling their transport. Soon thereafter, Cloudsdale was fading into the horizon. “Do you still insist on keeping quiet?” Celestia asked suddenly. “Is ‘doing what must be done’ all the explanation I am to receive?” Chrysalis’ eyes shifted to look at her for a moment before returning forward in silence. Celestia sighed. “That is disappointing.” Suddenly, the chariot began to descend and Chrysalis blinked in confusion. They were nowhere near Canterlot, or anywhere else for that matter. They were above a bunch of wild lands, no settlement in sight. Not wanting to give Celestia the satisfaction of seeing her confusion, she remained aloof as she could muster. “I hope you don’t mind if I continue speaking.” Celestia said. “I have a hard time deciding on a motive for your actions today. Last time you were clearly trying to help out your little friend.” Before Chrysalis could suppress it, a growl arose in her throat. Celestia gave her a sidelong glance, with a raised eyebrow and an infuriating smirk. Chrysalis took a deep breath, resisting the urge to lash out at her, and said nothing. “Well, you can keep him, if he’s that important to you. I would love to have some answers from ‘Zarplat’, but I suspect I will get them from you instead. Eventually.” Celestia gave a short, unconvincing laugh. “Zarplat. What was your friend thinking? I haven’t heard such an obvious fabrication in…” Celestia’s brow furrowed as she seemed to think back on what was undoubtedly a very long life. “Well, ever really. Not one I was meant to believe, at least. Regardless, back to the matter at hoof. I really don’t know why you attacked today. You clearly weren’t rescuing anypony, nor did you seem focused on harming anypony, outside of myself, of course. I’d say you there to make an attempt on my life if you hadn’t been so shocked, and dare I say frightened, when I confronted you. You don’t seem the type to cause wanton destruction to no end, either, at least I don't think so. Even if you were, I doubt that you’d destroy easily repaired cloud structures to satisfy such an itch.” Celestia paused, closely examining Chrysalis’ face. “Perhaps your efforts today were meant as a distraction from your true goal? A distraction from an ally of yours that conducted business elsewhere? Though, probably not the one you had rescued. He seems, to put it bluntly, a little incompetent for covert operations.” Chrysalis fought back a chuckle at her assessment of Time Keeper, though her lip did curl slightly in amusement. Celestia herself did not hold back her own mirth at seeing the reaction. “You try so hard to keep your emotions hidden, but you’re not nearly as good at it as you’d like to be. I can see it in your eyes that you hate me, though for the life of me I can’t understand why. I truly would appreciate it if you would open up to me. I think that if you did so, we could be good friends rather than enemies. Despite your seemingly villainous actions, not a single pony has been permanently harmed by you, and you did save Equestria from Nightmare Moon. We could put the destruction of property behind us as a misunderstanding if you would just speak with me.” Silence. Celestia sighed. “I don’t suppose you have anything to say about what happened in Ponyville recently where a being with a description quite similar to yours abducted a pony?” Chrysalis held her lips firmly together. She wasn’t going to admit it wasn’t her that was responsible. No matter how much she detested that particular changeling’s actions, they were still a changeling, and it was her duty to protect them. Celestia gave a sad smile. “No. Of course not.” The princess looked to the sky, seemingly deep in thought, as the chariot landed in a field. She stepped out onto the ground and took a few steps through the grass that reached as high as her knees and then stretched. “Come on, get out of there.” Celestia urged cheerfully. Chrysalis hesitated. “You’re not going to make me pull you out of there myself, are you?” Chrysalis warily descended from the chariot, though kept her distance from her captor. Celestia took a deep breath and smiled radiantly. “It’s always nice to get out into the middle of nowhere to appreciate nature, don’t you agree?” She nodded to the guards that had taken them there and they began to move again. Chrysalis jumped in surprise as they lifted off the ground. “Nopony around to bother you, you’re free to do as you please with no judgments.” Chrysalis tensed. Something about Celestia’s voice had changed, taken on a hard edge, and her smile held of hint of malicious intent. “If I wasn’t your target, there was nopony to rescue, and wanton destruction not the point, then I can only see one thing of importance happening as a result of your actions. One of my student’s friends performed an amazing feat, one thought by many to be a mere myth. The problem is that you’d have no way of knowing that would happen, unless you could see into the future, or,” Celestia loomed over Chrysalis’ chained form menacingly, “if the two of you were working together. Set up an emergency where she could play the hero and ingratiate her with some very important ponies. I want answers, and you will give them to me.” Chrysalis fought very hard to stand her ground, but it was a very difficult battle. She was almost certain she was trembling. Celestia placed a hoof on Chrysalis’ chest and shoved, forcing her to fall on her rump. Her horn glowed as she leaned her head closer until Chrysalis could feel her breath on her face. Suddenly, she heard a click. “Gotcha.” Celestia whispered playfully and then stepped away. “I’m sure we’ll meet again, so until then, goodbye. Hopefully you’ll be more receptive to my offer of friendship next time.” Chrysalis looked down to see both pairs of manacles binding her hooves together had been undone. She looked back up to the princess. “What are you doing?” Chrysalis asked with a confusion that finally burst past her desire to keep it hidden from the princess. Celestia spread her wings, examining the one that Chrysalis had bitten as she flexed the muscles beneath the sea of feathers. She looked over to Chrysalis with a patient smile. “I’m doing what must be done.” With those last words, Celestia flapped her wings mightily and soared up into the sky, leaving Chrysalis alone in the field.