Ch. 2
Poisonous Promises
BY: cleverpun
It had been a week since Rainbow Dash had begun her new training regimen, and it simply wasn’t doing any good. She had pushed herself to the limit every morning, but no matter what she did she wasn’t getting any better; Her wingpower readings were still the same, her endurance hadn't really increased, and her accuracy was acceptable but unchanged.
As Chrysalis watched from under her tree, still disguised as Lyra, she could feel Rainbow’s frustration easily. It didn’t take an empath to notice her increasing irritation at her own shortcomings. Rainbow shot past the anemometer yet again, and even Chrysalis felt a gust despite being several yards away. When the multicolored blur ground to a halt, she was visibly strained, countless beads of sweat dripping from her as she attempted to catch her breath. She stumbled back to the device, and stamped the ground angrily when she finally read the number on it. Her exhaustion finally caught up with her, and she collapsed onto the ground, her breathing heavy, her eyes staring defiantly at the wingpower readout.
A toothy smile crept over Chrysalis’ face. This was it, the moment she had been watching for. She took a deep breath, wiping away her malevolent grin and replacing it with a curious, innocent one. She waited a few seconds, then sauntered carefully over to Rainbow’s prone body.
“Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash! Fancy meeting you here!”
Rainbow reluctantly rolled over onto her back. “Uh, hi? Do I know you?”
“Oh don’t be coy, I’m Lyra! Lyra Heartstrings? We met at Queen C... I mean Princess Cadence's wedding, remember? I was one of her bridesmaids.”
“Uh, yeah, sure. Sorry, but that whole ‘changeling army’ thing kept me from meeting new ponies. Look, I’m kinda busy, did you want somethin’?” Rainbow tried to get up, failed, and took a few deep breaths.
“Oh, I was just walking by, and noticed you working out. I saw that sonic rainboom you did at the wedding; very glamorous!”
“Yea, I am pretty awesome.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you seem a little… tired out. You don’t need any help do you?”
“Help? ME? This is the one and only Rainbow Dash you’re talkin’ to! I definitely don’t need any help.” Rainbow made another attempt to rotate onto her stomach, but was again defeated by her lack of energy.
“Well, I know we don’t know each other very well, but one of my magical abilities just happens to be the ability to… inspire ponies with my magic. That’s what the harp means.” She waved a hoof at her fake cutie mark. “It’s like your own private cheering section in your head. Guaranteed to make any pony a hundred-and-ten percent better at anything.”
“Uh… thanks but no thanks, that sort of stuff is for losers; us winners don’t need magic tricks or boosts. Besides, Twilight always said that magic like that is really… unstable.”
“Oh come now, it’s not like you haven’t ignored her opinion before. Like when she was suspicious of that fake Princess Cadence and you left her in tears in the throne room…”
Rainbow immediately stood bolt upright, and stepped very close to Chrysalis’ fake face, her anger temporarily overriding her fatigue.
“Hey, just where do you get off bringing that up!? And how do you even know about that anyways?”
“I was there, remember? Royal bridesmaid you know.” Chrysalis turned her face to the side, mocking embarrassment as she covered her cheek with her hoof. “Oh, how stupid of me, I’ve upset you. I’m sorry if I offended you, but I was just being honest you see. I only offered because you seemed so stressed about your little wheel thing there.” She opened her bag with a burst of green magic and drew out a small card and quill. “Here, let me give you my address in case you change your mind. No charge after my faux pas of course. Think about it.” Chrysalis levitated the card over to Rainbow’s mane and stuck it behind her ear. “I promise you’ll feel like a whole new pony afterwards…” Chrysalis strolled off, as nonchalant as possible, and once she was out of sight she ducked behind a building, waiting to see if she could sense a response.
With a huff Dash pulled the card out of her hair, staring at the uneven cursive. She pulled her arm back to fling it on the ground, but at the top of her swing she hesitated…
“Well, guess it couldn’t hurt to have an extra… bookmark…” She walked over to her bag and tucked it in the front pocket, then proceeded to gather the rest of her things. “And that dumb unicorn nearly made me late to help Twilight move her new bookshelf…”
As Rainbow swiftly dabbed herself with a towel and trotted out of the park, Chrysalis watched her go.
Hmm… A seed well-planted, but I still need to make sure it sprouts if my plan is to succeed. She thought to herself.
She kept Lyra’s body shape, but changed the colors of her mane and body. After picking a new cutie mark at random, she stepped out from behind the building, making sure nopony had noticed the flickering light, and began to follow her target to the Ponyville Library.
Chrysalis kept her distance, but she could see that Rainbow was still groggy from her intense workout. The same malevolent grin from earlier snuck onto her lips, as a brilliant idea formed in her head. She gauged Rainbow’s walking path for a moment, and just before one of those blue hooves hit the ground, she nudged a cobblestone a few centimeters out of place with her magic. Rainbow tripped fantastically, only saving herself from a faceplant by a few inches. Chrysalis quickly moved the rock back into place, and as Rainbow checked for the cause of her fall, Chrysalis could sense shame and embarrassment flare up in the pegasus’ mind. A few bystanders began to stare as they walked past, and Rainbow quickly turned and continued walking, her pace slightly faster than before.
Chrysalis repeated her trick periodically as they moved along, taking care to only do it once Rainbow had forgotten about the previous time, and by the time they arrived at the library, she could tell concern and doubt had begun to fester in the athletes’ emotions.
Rainbow knocked on the door, and Twilight answered it eagerly.
“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash! Me and AJ were just sitting down to lunch before we start to move the bookcase up; come on in!”
As the door closed, Chrysalis scanned the area, then shamelessly walked up to the ground floor window, peeking in from the edge of the not-quite-closed curtains. One of the other windows must’ve been open; she could hear what they were saying without much trouble.
“Thanks again for helping me out with this, it’s too much for one pony to move alone.”
“No problem, sugarcube. That’s what friends are fer after all!”
“Yeah, don’t mention it Twilight.”
Twilight magicked some sandwich-bearing plates over to the table they were all sitting at, although once she sat down she was the only one who bothered with decorum. AJ picked hers up with her mouth and took a large bite out of it in one motion, while Rainbow was too drained to be concerned, and smacked her plate, flinging her own into her mouth and chewing messily.
“Fanks for th’food, Twilight.” She swallowed the wad of bread and hay loudly. “Pretty starved after my workout.”
“Oh yeah, I heard you were doing a lot of training lately! Worried the Wonderbolts might reject you again?” Twilight giggled slightly and took another bite of her meal, unaware of how fake Rainbow’s chuckles were.
“Naw, she’s jus’ gotta be in top form for when they finally wise up ‘n’ accept her, ain’t that right, Rainbow?” AJ gave Dash a playful nudge. “If’n you ever need a workout partner y’all let me know, I still owe you one for that race way back when.”
“Hehe… yeah, well, sometimes I’m glad when the Wonderbolts reject me; means I don’t have to work this hard all the time. Haha.”
“Oh, Rainbow, you’re such a kidder.”
“Yeah, like we didn’t see ya waitin’ for the mailpony every day for a week straight!”
“Or how every room in her house has a Wonderbolts poster in it!”
The two of them laughed together, while Rainbow forced out another chuckle.
“Aw we’re just foolin’ Rainbow. I betcha 5th time's the charm with this letter, if’n it ever gets here.”
“Yeah, yeah, enough with the pep talks, are we movin’ this thing or what?”
“Right, that’s Rainbow for you, always has to go fast!” Twilight dabbed her lips with a napkin, and then the three ponies went into the antechamber A massive oak bookcase was waiting for them.
“Me and AJ already moved the old one into the basement before you got here, but now the three of us have to get this one into my room.” Twilight gestured at the stairs “It’s really heavy, so I figured that I could levitate it, AJ could carry it, and you lift it from top, so that way it’ll be stable and none of us have to carry too much weight.”
“Sounds good, let’s do this.”
The three ponies took their positions, and as Twilight forced the heavy piece off the floor, AJ and Dash took their positions above and below it.
“Alright Rainbow, me and AJ can’t see too well, so you’ll have to guide us up the stairs and to my room.”
“Right…”
The three ponies inched along. The piece of furniture was both heavy and awkwardly shaped. But they made it to the stairs without much trouble, and as they slowly progressed up the steps, Chrysalis saw another opportunity…
She waited until the trio was about halfway up the staircase, and gently nudged the huge cabinet away from the wall and towards the steep side of the stairs. As it began to sway to the side, she could see Rainbow’s panic easily.
“Rainbow, keep it steady!”
“I am!”
Chrysalis nudged it a little more, and a little more, and finally she saw Rainbow’s hoof slip off one side, flailing about in mid-air. With a quiet chuckle she gave it a final, forceful push.
The bookcase immediately began to tilt steeply to the right, and as Twilight tugged at it with her magic, struggling to slow its fall, Rainbow realized what had happened, letting go of the other side and flying around to help push it back upright. Chrysalis subtly slid the bottom an inch or two off Applejack’s back, and gravity did the rest as the bottom hit the steps with a loud, creaking THUNK.
The shock of the movement caused Twilight to lose control of her spell, and as the purple light faded the full weight of the wood began to press onto Rainbow’s hooves. Chrysalis gave gravity a final prod, and Rainbow's determination shattered as she was forced to fly back and let the shelf drop onto the floor. It seemed to fall in slow-motion, and the impact made a terrific noise when it finally landed.
Chrysalis slunk below the edge of the window, her mission successful.
“Uhh… Ow…” Applejack muttered.
“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked nervously.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“My back is mite bit sore, but I’m alright.”
“Good. Whew, I didn’t think it would be that heavy… Do you think you could try again Rainbow?” Twilight asked.
“What? What are you lookin’ at me for?”
“Well, it did tilt from the top… It’s not a big deal, I’m sure your hooves were just a little sweaty.”
“Yeah, and nopony would be strong enough to push that thing back up after it’d wiggled outta their grasp,” Applejack noted.
“I didn’t… I could’ve…” Rainbow stared at the small dent the fall had caused in the floor, and then realized both her friends were staring at her.
“Rainbow, are you okay?”
“You look like a deer that wandered onto main street,” AJ observed.
“I’ve… I’ve gotta go.”
Without another word Rainbow flew out the door, and Chrysalis began to follow the rainbow trail at a leisurely pace, a triumphant sneer across her face.