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// Chapter 24: The winds they are a changeling 
// Story: What you Need 
// by Hemlock conium 
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The bright morning sun came in, unobscured through the windows; down into the cafeteria. All in all it was a relatively quiet evening which was a nice change of pace. It gave me time to sit and retreat into my mind and escape Equestria as well as the position I found myself in. 

For a brief moment I found myself back on Earth, but more importantly outside my old house, well my mom’s house. The landscape was quickly becoming dark as the onset of a familiar spring storm began to set in and roll over the rural flatland. Its sweeping winds easily knocked over anything that wasn't nailed to the ground, and sometimes even things that were too. It's dark figure seemed to absorb what little light the street lamps struggled to provide; making it near impossible to make heads or tails of my surroundings. The rain only supported this complete denervation of my sight, as its downpour was like a heavy and thick paint plastering itself over everything as if it were a blank canvas. 
The sound was little better. It came down with all the oppressive force of a raging waterfall. Every pellet was like a gunshot; deafening out even my own thoughts into its hypnotic white noise. The wind was the only thing that dared try and stand against the monstrous noise of the waters. Its faint howl whispered ever so quietly to my ears like a lover. When the two noises combined however they went from garbled monstrous noises to a clear harmonic melody. They sung in tandem for what felt like an eternity. Their voices comparable with that of the angels’ in heaven finest hymns. 
Within seconds its heavy waters devoured the lower landscape, drawing my street under their dark and unknowing waters. This new visual distortion mixed with the rapid flooding made the world alien. Though maybe uncanny was more apt. 
As it still had a metaphysical sense of ‘homeyness’ but it was also some perverted distortion of it at the same time. An unfathomable paradox of familiarity and complete alienation all in one image. Yet whereas one might describe such a visage as unnerving for myself it was relaxing stepping back into the storm of my youth. 
But this paradoxical set of auroras were not the only ones that radiated from the storm… Nor even the strongest of them. That honor went to an indescribable sense of hunger from deep within the depths of the rain’s inky blackness. A hunger that threatened to consume everything in this world. This gluttonous beast however was not scary as one might expect. Even when its danger and raw power was: unfathomable, irresistible, and unstoppable… 
It greeted me with a comforting familiarity but not like the one earlier but not entirely unlike it either. It was a familiarity all the same but unlike the one I'd received upon seeing my home, this was something more akin to an old acquaintance. Regardless, familiarity was a luxury that I sorely lacked in Equestria. A luxury that I missed. I didn’t want this reality I found myself in and would take anything else. Even if it was a gross prevention of the emotion, it was still comforting. The hunger took full advantage of this and sold me my missing comfort. It told me it would be better than anything Equestria could offer. All I needed to do was just step forward and out into its hungry waters and let it-...  

I nearly took the offer but before I could sink into its tangible darkness someone yanked me back into the hell that was Equestria. I let out a slight groan as I hunched over the Lunch table hooves covering my face.  So close, I bitterly lamented as I tried to block out the bright sunshine coming in. That's when I felt the hoof on my shoulder again shake me. 


“Um, P-Phoenix. Lunch is almost over and...” Carapace began.

“I know… I know,” I let out a sigh as I slowly rose back up shaking my head; still covering my eyes from the sun’s illuminating light, “I’ll get a move on to the courtyard.” 

“Well that's the thing,” Carapace replied as she used her magic to gently brush my hair back into place for me and let some of the light slip in through my defenses, “I was wondering if well… Maybe you'd like to do something else.” This got a reaction out of me as I immediately raised my brow to this uncharacteristic boldness. 
“Zeal and Red Ribbon are busy anyway, and so I was wondering if maybe you might want to learn how to uh, fly.” Her face turned a pale embarrassed green after giving her offer. 
“I’m not the best flyer, maybe even the weakest in the whole place, but I still know how so I just wanted to, you know, offer a chance to learn.”

“Isn’t Virulent lesson going to be upset if I'm skipping recreational stuff?” I countered. 

“Uh well no. I already asked and it's still a good way to exercise. So he approved. I-if you accept of course. Which you should, it would be a worthwhile experience after all.” I leaned back with a slightly agitated sigh. On one hand, hoof, I would love to learn how to soar amongst the clouds. On the other hand, I didn’t really like the idea of being taught, it made me feel like a child. It was something I'd rather have figured out on my own. Yet all the same it probably wasn't something I could learn on my own. 
I mused the thought for a few minutes, nearly declining the offer before remembering that this at least meant I wouldn’t have to deal with the kids from the twin’s games. So I begrudgingly accepted her offer. To which the ling’ gave a seemingly happy noise that was somewhere between a chirp, a click and a buzz. It was mildly amusing as it sounded like a giddy child, which I guess she was, struggling for words amidst their excitement. Or maybe it was changeling speech. 
“I promise we’ll get you flying in no time… Well sometime, just that I promise to make it quick I mean. As quick as I can I mean!” She quickly got up; levitating our trays up and away to put them up.

“Hey! I wasn't done with that,” I protested trying to get a hold of my half eaten food again.

“You never finish,” she argued.

“I was going to… this time…” 

“Well then eat it on the way out. I know a good spot for practice, but it gets crowded pretty quickly so we have to hurry.” 
 Not sure if her excited side is more or less obnoxious than her nervous side… I thought as she held my meal hostage. Though admittedly her more excited and playful mood did manage to crack a slight bemused smile in the corner of my muzzle. There was something about it that was just contagious in a way that's hard to describe. Or was it changeling mind control? That latter through petrified me. Hooves crossed I guess for the prior? 



Outside was just as clear and sunny as it was inside. Well as clear as a city made of clouds could be that is. The sun beamed down with just enough warmth to ebb off the chill of winter. While the light hid away all the shadows. In some ways it was refreshing, but personally for me anything below scorching heat was too cold for my liking. Though at least the brightness was close enough to the south Texas sun. 
As Carapace got ready I took my time to examine the open skies once more. They were a bright blue that allowed one to see for seemingly ever. Nothing blocking my view, nothing to obscure my sense of direction, just open sky. As free as anything ever could be. No limitations of visibility, of gravity, obstacles. 

Just clear, blue... Sky. 

In its own way the sky was a mirror match of the ocean. Infinite, powerful, uncontrollable. The only difference is the sky was clear unlike the murky waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

“Okay. Are you ready for Phoenix?” carapace called as she finished up the last of her own pre-flight warm ups. 

“As ready as I can be, I guess.” 

“Good.” She replied before igniting her horn in a green flame. This was unlike her normal magic however. Her normal magic was gentle and more dull. This looked as if her magic was made of actual emerald green flames that wavered wildly in the open air defiant of the gentle breeze blowing through. Not all that unlike the flames of the dragon from Sleeping Beauty. 

 She isn't, is she? 

Then like the birth of, well a phoenix, her body was consumed in flames. Her whole being disappeared beneath the emerald flames until it suddenly burst apart like a supernova in all directions. As the last of the flames dissipated into nothing, the figure that was once Carapace was now a familiar azure pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. The disguised changeling brushed some of the ash out of her mane and onto the cloud below before finally looking back to me.
I felt my head jerk back in a mix of surprise and confusion as she changed into the tie dye, abomination, of a color pallet that was the element of loyalty. After taking a minute to fix my slack jaw appearance and understand just what I was looking at  I leaned forward to examine her closer. I even poked her new fur with my hoof just to test her disguise. It no longer felt like her once hard chitin but felt like the soft, toned flesh of a trained athlete with a velvety coating of fur over it. 

“I, uhh, what's this about,” I finally managed to stammer out in my confusion. 

"I thought you'd be more inspired if you were getting lessons from Equestria's best flyer or at least the closest I could get…"

“You don't need to do that,” I began before shutting up as I saw the ling’s face fold in on itself in dismay, “But I appreciate the gesture so lets not let it go to waste.”  I felt a pain of guilt build up as the ling’ kept her same dismal appearance even after I tried to save the statement. Which on a side note, was a bit odd seeing a defeated and depressed expression on the embodiment of confidence. Though it did make me wonder if the disguise was for me, or rather herself. 



 

 Think confident. You are Rainbow Dash. The best flyer in the whole world! Nothing can stop you! Carapace mentally told herself as she took a deep breath to wave off her despair; which was an odd sensation given in her normal form she breathed through her spiracles, not her nostrils or mouth. But she didn't have time to worry about how it felt, she needed to be Rainbow Dash for this moment and if that meant using the weird breathing methods of other creatures, then so be it! Unfortunately, This change didn’t give her access to Rainbow's actual body meaning her muscles and appearance were only an imitation and she still only retained her own pitiful levels of strength and stamina. 
 That doesn't matter, nothing stands in your way. Your Rainbow dash now, not Carapace. You’re the best flyer in the world, she repeated. With that she took one more sharp breath before glaring down at Phoenix with a fiery intensity rivaled only by the sun itself. 
Phoenix jerked back in surprise at this sudden unfounded intensity given off by Carapace. Carapace could feel a banquet of emotions bleed out of Phoenix in that moment most notable of which was panic. Not the emotion she wanted, she wanted to inspire awe and confidence; thus she had to change it up a bit. So Carapace grew a wide grin across her muzzle but she kept her brow furrowed with the same intensity as before. 

“Alright listen up! You wanted flying lessons with the best so you’d better act like it. You can and will keep up with my carefully crafted regiment! It will push you and it may even hurt, but to be the best you have to train like the best. So that means that you listen to my every word down to the last detail! With my super awesome guidance you’ll be flying like a pro in no time kid!”  She flicked the wrist of her hoof in a nonchalant motion to try and keep her demon professional but relaxed, a tough line for Carapace to tread. 
 But your not Carapace, you’re Rainbow Dash, you live and breathe making the impossible look effortless. She reaffirmed as she glanced at Phoenix whom just gave a nod. Her panic was fading away which was good, what was less good was the fact this was being replaced by relative indifference to her performance.
 All right, I need to step it up then. 

“We’re going to start with the most important part of any flight. Warm up!” 






I let out a groan as I tried to force my wings to push up my body weight. They screamed in protest, likely from being neglected their whole existence of a few months, but “Rainbow Dash” wouldn’t have excuses. She just yelled at me to go again. It took a whole five minutes of floundering before I managed to get roughly an inch between my chest and the floor. I let out a gasp of excitement and exhaustion, mostly exhaustion, as I parted ways from the floor. However my mental concentration reached its breaking point when Carapace screamed once more but this time in approval. The sudden change caused me to fall over with a loud “offf.” 
Thankfully the cloud floor was softer than any pillow so it was soft at least. Almost soft enough to make me refuse getting back up. Unfortunately I knew such a thing would only get me an ear full of screaming from the ling’. 
Speaking of the ling’ I gave her a sideways annoyed glance for breaking my concentration as I got up. Though to her credit she managed to largely hide the regret in her eyes. Though this was done mostly by moving on to her next exercise before letting the moment really sink in. 

“Alright next will be backwards wings flutters!” She shouted.



By the end of her little “warm up” my wings felt absolutely drained of energy. Though somehow I managed to keep them from drooping down my side in exhaustion. A moot but proud moment for myself. But Carapace didn’t let me enjoy my little pride I got from it for long. As she was immediately onto the next part of her lesson. 

“Well start with the fundamentals,” she rambled. If by fundamentals she meant a delve into my least favorite subject, math; Most notably simple trig and geometry… Well as simple as those concepts could be, mixed with a recap of the muscles in a pegasus’ wings and how to properly distribute magic to generate lift. Honestly it felt more like rocket science than “fundamentals.” If this is what foals had to learn just for the basics of flight I’d hate to see the PHD a creature needs to be a professional flier. 
Regardless though, I think I had a general enough grasp of it to at least make an attempt. After all I had started to at least move magic to my hooves to pick up objects. How hard could it be moving it to my wings?
Answer: Very. 
Though upon seeing me ready myself she gave me one last piece of advice. 

“Remember If you find yourself stuck in a storm or cloud, fly up! Just keep flying till you break through to the other side and see the clear sky above. Remember it's far better to be in the open sky than even the calmest storm.” Which was a bit odd given I didn't see a cloud in sight. Maybe it was just general advice.