Queen Chrysalis walked through the streets of Ponyville yet again, this time guided to her new destination by Fluttershy.
Everything indicated that Twilight was right in what she had told her when she was the one who had directed her to the animal keeper, or at least that she was doing a diligent job to be right, and the looks and emotions coming from the ponies who watched them pass had decreased in intensity toward her.
She could still feel a certain fear and aversion emanating from them, but in a smaller, more tolerable and manageable dose; It was distrust. She could ignore that, especially since her attention was focused and occupied on her guide.
While on the day she actually met Fluttershy, she was slightly dazzled by the amount of Agape that the Pegasus exuded, and of which she had taken a bite or two of, this Agape was directed particularly towards the animals she cared for. Aware that by consuming part of this love she was technically breaking the rules, but if Fluttershy had realized this, it seems she didn't care.
Today Chrysalis was having a pretty good breakfast. The meek Fluttershy, who usually acted shy and nervous, today walked happily and peppy, emanating a love that Chrysalis consumed with pleasure and at ease, but with self-control so as not to hurt the pegasus or raise the levels of distrust of those who observed them.
And she could do this openly because the Queen knew that this love was directed to her, as payment and gratitude for the help she had given her, or so she assumed. But that was usually rewarded with Pragma, and no matter how much she tested it for something different, what Fluttershy was giving her was unadulterated Philia. This continued to confuse her.
Getting this kind of love from a pony can't be that easy. This doesn't make sense. It must be an anomaly. This is nothing like I know.
"Here we are," Fluttershy announced, breaking the Queen out of her musings.
Chrysalis looked ahead, seeing nothing. Ready to point out the obvious, she now followed the direction where Fluttershy's hoof was pointing, placing her eyes on something that, in her view, offended her sensibilities for what she considered good taste.
It was a house of clouds. A gaudy three store tall cloud house, each floor adorned with columns of clouds, with rainbows pouring out of it top, creating rainbow ponds on its cloud garden, spilling out towards the earth. Chrysalis knew that pony architecture tended to be an extension of her twisted personalities, but this seemed like an exaggeration even to her.
"Is that where I have to go?" Chrysalis asked, her face reflecting disgust.
"That's the house of my dear friend, Rainbow Dash. And it is with her that you will spend the day." Fluttershy said. And before she left to return to her cotage with her animals, she added: "And please, remember to be patient."
Chrysalis waited for Fluttershy to disappear into the distance and, with a grumble, unfolded her insect wings and flew in the direction of Rainbow Dash's house.
Chrysalis knocked on the door. At least this house has a door of adequate size to allow someone of my royal stature easy access. It was the first and only thing the Queen thought of as a complement to the house.
"Who's there? Oh, it's you," Rainbow Dash said in slight annoyance once she opened the door and saw Chrysalis on the other side. "You can come in."
Chrysalis entered the house and internally sighed with relief when she saw that the inside of the building was more normal than its exterior appearance implied.
The lobby, because that's what it was, was a mess. Books, boxes and various items were scattered around, without any apparent order or reason.
"What is the meaning of this?" Chrysalis asked.
"I was packing some things that I was planning to take to the academy, but I got bored and decided to stop and rest for a while."
"Didn't Twilight tell you I was coming?"
"Twilight says a lot of things that don't always make sense to me, so I tend to tune them out. So I didn't plan anything we could do," Rainbow Dash said, jumping up and letting herself fall nonchalantly on a couch.
"If you want, you can sit on that couch and rest too," the cyan pegasus said, pointing to a couch just visible among the boxes. "Or you can look around. Just be careful not to break anything, my stuffs will one day be collector's items worth a fortune, or they will be in a museum exhibit dedicated exclusively to me."
Suddenly the exterior of the house became clear to her.
Chrysalis was upset and at the same time happy. Upset by this lack of respect coming from Rainbow Dash. Happy because this was the return to normality. This was the kind of behavior she remembered and recognized from ponies, especially pegasus. Creatures who think as highly of themselves as their wings can lift them. Attitude that validated her point of view and took away the credit of Sparckle's words.
How can you ask a pegasus to give love to another creature, especially to one that is a predator, when they are so full of themselves?
This house reeked of Philautia. Philautia was not bad on its own, she herself had fed on creatures that were aware of their worth, but more times than she could count, if these individuals were not grounded in reality or their egos did not keep on check, Philautia would become narcissism. And narcissism to changelings was a kind of cage or puzzle, a long maze that needed to be solve in order to get to the good love.
The changelings have this game, a game she enjoys more as a spectator than a participant, in which they have to get a creature with narcissism and find a way to get it to give its love to them. And once love is achieved, the changeling abandons the creature never to see it again. The more severe the case of narcissism, the more outstanding the achievement. The more broken the heart is left, the funnier the anecdote becomes.
Chrysalis wandered around the space, while being taller than the average pony gave her a better view of her surroundings, her legs, being thicker, meant she had to be more careful when navigating crowded spaces, so she moved around carefuly; not because she cared about the things around her, they were all garbage to the Queen, but because she knew she was being watched.
She could feel the suspicious gaze of the blue pegasus following her every movement. Waiting for her to make a mistake, for Chrysalis to do something so Rainbow Dash could accuse her to Twilight, like a jealous little filly waiting to catch a schoolmate doing something wrong and tattle on her to the teacher to affect her grades. But the Queen knew better. If this experiment was going to fail, and by its very nature it was destined to do so, it would not be the fault of Chrysalis's nature, but of the ponies.
The first thing Chrysalis noticed was a stack of Daring Do books. Next to all that (and what was impossible to ignore) was the memorabilia regarding the Wonderbolts. Posters, books, collectible figures, next to the entrance there was a life-size statue of one. But what really caught her attention was a picture on the wall. While the print was recent, the photo belonged to an ancient time, the sepia colors gave it away.
It was a photo of one of the first teams belonging to the Wonderbolts, posing for the camera, uniform on and wings spread.
Chrysalis tapped on one of the pegasus that made up that team. It had short mane. It was difficult to tell, but it was a mare, small physical differences were an indication of this, but what clearly gave it away was that her uniform had an ornament similar to a short skirt around her hip, unlike the rest.
The Queen smile, a toothy smile, an impish smile.
"I did not know you were a fan of... me"
"What...? What was that?" Rainbow Dash asks having faintly heard Chrysalis' voice.
"I didn't know you were a Wonderbolts fan," Chrysalis responds in a louder and more animated tone, turning to face the Pegasus.
"Oh, yeah! I was a fan, their biggest, but now I'm much more than that. Now I'm an official member of the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash says, almost shouting, Chrysalis wickedness flying above her head, trapped in emotion at the name of the Wonderbolts, jumping out of her couch made bed, flying, proud of her accomplishment.
"Then you wouldn't mind giving me a taste of what today's Wonderbolts can do, right?" ask Chrysalis, cocking her head.
"What do you mean?" said Rainbow, finally suspecting that the Queen was planning something.
"A race, a competition between you and me, to see who is the best flyer."
"Ha! You really think you could beat me, the faster flyer in all Equestria?"
"I will understand if you are afraid..."
"Oh, you're on!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying towards Chrysalis, nose to nose, fiery eyes meeting gleeful eyes.
"Follow me! If you can!" Rainbow Dash said, dashing out of her house, leaving a rainbow trail behind.
Chrysalis laughed loudly at how easy it was to manipulate the cyan pegasus to do exactly what she wanted.
I could have dared her to break rocks with her head and then watch her spill her brain out just to show how good at it she is. Well, now I know how to get rid of her if... when this experiment fails and we become enemies again, Chrysalis thought leaving the house. Looking up at the sky, in the direction of the rainbow trail, she opened her elytra, spread her wings and followed Rainbow Dash.
"Welcome to the Pegasusdrome!" Rainbow Dash announced once they touched the ground on the top of a mountain, presenting an immense building whose top had the appearance of a gigantic cloud. Dozens of pegasi could be seen entering and leaving that place.
"The Pegasusdrome is the place where we pegasi can exercise, improve our flight techniques and compete with each other to see who is the best flyer of all."
Chrysalis looked around with genuine interest. They, the Changelings, never had anything like it, never needed it; most of the physical training took place inside the hive, and the flight exercises took place in the outer space that existed around it.
Suddenly green fire emerged from the ground around Chrysalis, covering her completely, leaving a mare in her place.
"Hey, Twilight said and you agree that you wouldn't take any other forms!" After the surprise of the change, Rainbow Dash almost yelled at Chrysalis, accusing her of breaking her word, angry and ready to fight.
"Calm down, Dash! What I agreed with Twilight was that I wouldn't take other forms with the intention of deceiving anyone," Chrysalis said calmly, in a false defensive tone, with a voice that was clearly no longer hers. "This appearance is not to deceive anyone, it is to make our competition fair."
Rainbow Dash looked at the Queen suspiciously, trying to figure out if there was a trap or an evil plan at play, but she couldn't come up with any ideas, the appearance of the disguise rubbing her in the wrong way. The mare she saw in front of her was a little older than her, but not that different in build. Her coat was a dark grayish-purple, and her tail and mane, which was trimmed into a short mohawk, were a double teal color, very similar to her original changeling mane. Her cutie mark was a five-pointed blue shooting star with a trail of green fire. She was sure she knew this mare from somewhere, but she could not put her hoof from where.
"Of course, I can enter in my true form and cause a commotion. But then you don't want to say that the race wasn't fair and that your defeat wasn't valid, right?"
"In your dreams! Let's go inside, so I can beat you faster and make you eat cloud dust."
Inside the Pegasusdrome, Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash got inside the obstacle course, a wind tunnel suspended at the top of the building and that circulated throughout its entire length. Chrysalis set the difficulty to medium, but Rainbow Dash immediately, with a confident and challenging grin, set it to hard. Chrysalis's smile never left her face, simply raising an eyebrow, in a 'are you sure?' meaning. Rainbow Dash's grin just grew wider in response.
"Are you ready?!" Rainbow Dash asked, her wings spread to their fullest extent, crouching into position to start the race.
"Wait a second," said the pegasus that was now Chrysalis, beginning to stretch and contract its limbs, wings included, moving them up and down in an almost mechanical manner.
Is she warming up? Rainbow Dash wondered in bafflement. What had her confused was not imagining the Changeling Queen doing those warm-up moves, but the fact that they belonged to the old school, calling them obsolete would not be inaccurate, and the only reason she recognized them as such was because she had seen them in the history books. Who is she? The nagging feeling that she knew the mare she had next to her returned.
"I'm ready," Chrysalis said getting into position, breaking Rainbow Dash out of her musings, concentrating back on winning the race.
The two looked at the flag and the lights that would indicate the start of the race, Rainbow Dash with anticipation and Chrysalis with a disinterested calm.
For a split second, Rainbow Dash looked at Chrysalis and wondered if the disguised Changelings could maintain a face that reflected an emotion they weren't internally feeling, as if they were wearing a mask that they could program to maintain a facial expression at all times, or if Chrysalis was really so calm, so sure of her victory.
That stopped being important to Rainbow Dash almost immediately, looking intensely at the flag again.
The moment the flag lowered, and the restraining bar gave way to them, Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash started the race with a trot, a flap of their wings and in a couple of seconds, the two were already soaring through the sky track.
The first part of the obstacle course started as a sunny day with a calm breeze. While Rainbow Dash knew she needed to get a quick lead, she was aware that this part wouldn't do her any good to expend her energy, so she didn't push herself to get the lead, flying neck and neck with the pegasus that was Chrysalis's costume.
The calm breeze turned into a windy one, with a wind speed of up to 3 knots. That was the first and only obstacle of this section of the race... and when Rainbow Dash finally decided it was the time to gain the advantage, beginning to leave Chrysalis behind.
The wind began to increase its speed, now the air currents reached a speed of 7 knots and the first real obstacle appeared in the form of clouds. These were not the typical clouds that pegasi could use as resting points, squeeze them to cause rain or hit them to produce lightning. These were harmless to contact, but could obscure the sight of those who collided with them. It was better to avoid them.
The third part of the obstacle course began with an increase in wind speed, now at 10 knots, or 12 mph. False birds were added to the obstacles. Depending on the size of the 'bird' will depend on how much the hit will affect you, which wouldn't be much, but even hitting one would make you look bad among your flying teammates. Both Rainbow Dash and Chrysalis dodged them all with ease, however the cyan pegasus keep gaining advantage over the changeling.
The wind increased again, now reaching 16 knots speed, or 18 mph. Adding to the clouds and birds, the new obstacle was now some sheets of paper, simulating the leaves of the trees. Just like clouds, this accumulation of 'leaves' was mostly harmless, intended to cause the flyers to lose speed by getting stuck in their wing feathers; In the least case, a minor discomfort that would only cause a slight itch, in the worst case, hinder their flight, forcing them to have to make a pit stop to preen their feathers. Better to avoid them.
By the end of that part, Rainbow Dash already had a few hundred feet lead over Chrysalis, but she knew things were about to get... interesting.
The light began to diminish, that was the sign that the easy part of the obstacle course had ended and the medium difficulty had begun.
21 knots of wind speed, the 'walk' turned into a 'jog'.
27 knots. The clouds turn gray and hitting one of these can hurt. Rainbow Dash can hear the wind howling.
33 knots. There are no longer 'birds', but the clusters of 'leaves' have increased in size and are now accompanied by hard padded bars that act as 'branches'. Excitement and adrenaline flow through the body of the cyan pegasus as she swayed from side to side, up and down, avoiding that and all obstacles. The road was getting darker.
Still confident in her abilities and her assured victory, Rainbow Dash looks back, expecting to see the Changeling Queen far behind, having trouble with the weather obstacles, but to her surprise, Chrysalis is flying with the same ease with which she started the race and was closing the distance. Her face showing a confidence very similar to that of the rainbow-maned pegasus.
40 knots, 46 mph winds. The gale. They were officially entering the danger zone. Pegasus without proper training were not supposed to fly under these conditions.
47 knots. The most difficult part of the obstacle course started here. This was 'Lock yourself in your house, close the doors, and stay away from the windows' territory. The wind was so strong that Rainbow Dash felt like she was carrying one of the heavy training vests and a movement restrictor on her wings. Being hit by the smaller obstacles was equivalent to being stoned and colliding with one of the larger obstacles would be more equivalent to a knock out than a pit stop. Chrysalis was not doing better, but the Queen continued to close the distance.
55 knots! THE STORM! This was 'Applejack's barn is about to be torn from its foundations and thrown into Manehattan.' Only Wonderbolts and weather control veteran Pegasus were intended to fly in these conditions, and only to save lives. The small obstacles were left behind, or rather had become inconsequential. Now what the pegasus and the changeling had to worry about were the bars that were now as thick as tree trunks. But Rainbow Danger Dash wasn't about to give up so close to the finish line and especially when she was about to dunk on one of their (if not the) worst enemy. So she pushed onward, to go even further beyond!
63 KNOTS! THUNDERSTORM!! This was 'Ponyville is about to be wiped off the map' kind of storm. Winds moving at 1/10 the speed of sound. Lightning bolts were added to the list of obstacles. One wrong move and you would have to be taken to the ER. If there was a moment of doubt in Rainbow Dash's mind, this was it. Even Chrysalis allowed worry and fear to show on his face; she was a Changeling Queen, but not even Celestia would be foolish enough to challenge the power of unleashed nature.
Well, that is my answer, Rainbow Dash thought, remembering her question before the race.
This was it! This was what Rainbow Dash had been waiting for and this was the time to take advantage of! Pushing with everything she had, and flying as fast as she could, she pushed forward, ready to overcome the last obstacle!
70 KNOTS!! HURRICANE!!! This was no-pony land, where winds howled at speeds greater than 80 miles per hour. Only Alicorns or a small battalion of well-trained pegasi were capable of facing this kind of climate, and coming out unscathed was not guaranteed. Luckily for Rainbow Dash, she didn't need to face it, just walk through it.
While Chrysalis was busy navigating the storm clouds, dodging the lightning bolts, Rainbow Dash entered the swirling winds, struggling not to lose control of her flight. She was trapped by the strong winds, but she remained in control. In the middle of it all, there it was, the eye of the storm! That was a safe place where one could escape and take refuge from the strong winds, but it was also an obstacle, a trap! To pass this test, you had to overcome the hurricane, entering its eye meant having to re-enter the storm once again, and it was a guaranteed that the second time it would hit you even harder than the first time you entered.
Avoiding obstacles that could kill any pegasus, Rainbow Dash was ready to get out of the hurricane and win the race. When the winds brought her close to the opposite end of the storm, she folded one of her wings while stretching the other to its maximum extension, allowing and ensuring that all of her momentum was directed in a single direction and that direction was outward of the hurricane.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash celebrated once she was out of the whirling winds, opening both wings again.
So sure was she of her victory that she slowed down and turned around, only to see the hurricane take over the Queen.
Chrysalis had finally left the lightning bolts behind and with surprise and awe she saw the last of the obstacles. She, too, could see that on the other side and almost completely stopped, was Rainbow Dash, cocky as ever.
Oh, it's on! Chrysalis thought, changing her surprised face to a big confident grin.
Spreading her wings, Chrysalis contracts her muscles so that her secondary feathers rise on her right wing and lowered on her left wing, beginning to spin faster and faster around her longitudinal axis.
Within a couple of seconds, she was spinning so fast that the image of the pegasus was no longer visible, now a shooting star took her place, leaving a trail of green flames that propelled her forward, increasing her speed.
In this form, the shooting star entered the hurricane, cutting in a straight line through the strong winds that were deflected by the spinning force.
Rainbow Dash stands stunned in her place, all thoughts regarding the race forgotten as she witnesses and recognizes that movement.
Before she could even react, the shooting star had broken through the hurricane; rushing past her, the strong air current it carried making Rainbow Dash spin in place.
Finally, the shooting star begins to slow down, both in its forward movement and in its spin, the figure of the pegasus reappearing in time to descend on solid ground, having won the race.
Rainbow Dash lands seconds later, rolling and sliding across the platform, stopping at the feet of the pegasus that was Queen Chrysalis, who saw her wearing a victorious smile.
"That was the 'Jade Flame Shooting Star Aileron Roll'! But, but, but, but that would mean that you are... you are...!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, finally recognizing the mare in front of her.
The mare is engulfed by a bubble of green fire, and when the flames disappear, she is wearing a Wonderbolts uniform, one with a skirt-like attachment around her hip, being the same image and position of the mare in the photo that Rainbow Dash had in her house.
"Fast Flame!"
Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash return to the cloud house, the first in her true form, still wearing a triumphant smile, from time to time her happiness was accentuated by some chuckles; the second was still in shock, processing what happened at the Pegasusdrome.
On this occasion Chrysalis took possession and a place on the large sofa that Dash had used as a bed in the morning.
With nowhere else to rest, Rainbow Dash took the single couch.
"What? When? Who? How?" Rainbow Dash asked quickly, finally recovering from her shock, wanting to know, well, everything!
"He, he, he, he," Chrysalis laughed once more before telling her story. "Back in the old days, when the Wonderbolts were formed as Equestria's air defense force, they became a mystery of great interest to us Changelings. We needed to know if this group of pegasi were going to be a problem, a nuisance or a non issue for us. So, I started sending changelings who could infiltrate them and get us an answer. But there was a problem. We could easily fake identities for each of the dozens of spies I sent, but at that time, our talents in the art of flight were not what they are today, so none were accepted. The only changeling with the ability to match and surpass your average pegasus was me.
"With a little 'Changeling Magic' to create an identity from scratch, and a changeling with the talent to pass the entrance exams, Fast Flame was accepted into the ranks of the Wonderbolts!
"Mind you, maybe it would have been a better idea to go incognito like a stallion over a mare, because back then females were rare in the military ranks, and this made it more difficult to blend in and not stand out. Also females were force to use some additions in their uniforms, such as the 'aerodynamik skirt', this do to the prevalent belief that female pegasi could not fly as good nor as fast as males, what a bunch of nonsense."
Rainbow Dash let out a low growl. She was not deaf to the truth, but she did not like to hear things that tarnished the good name of the Wonderbolts, no matter how true and valid they were.
"Ah, but you see, a good spies knows to take advantage of their identity disadvantages. Yes, the majority of the Wonderbolts were not happy to have a mare on their team and they never lost an opportunity to let me know, constantly catcalling me or through similar behaviors. But among them there was a fool among fools. His name was Storm Chaser. I would call him a pig, but that would be an insult to the porks.
"He was shameless, always trying to look down my tail. Always showering me with the most insulting pick up lines. He was a tool and I had all the intention to use him as such. You see, while his attitude was the worst, his feelings were genuine... to some extent, and so, he became my energy source during the mission.
"The rest, wanting to get rid of me, began an investigation about me, looking through my past, or rather Fast Flame none existing past, trying to find something with which to expel me, now that it had become clear that their behavior would not be enough. We changelings are masters in the forging of identities, but our trails don't then to go very far. It is one thing to falsify a birth certificate, another one is to forge an entire life full of memories in which other ponies have participated and can vouch for the existence of our false identity. Too much effort for what tends to be a life of a few days or a low-risk infiltration.
"Which meant I had to leave early, before they catch on the fact that Fast Flame does not actually have a past to investigate. Not a big problem, between the insults and the amount of intel I have manage to gatter thus far, I concluded that the Wonderbolts would be nothing more than a sideline annoyance for us changelings, at that time.
"But at the exact moment I was ready to leave, we received an emergency call. A level 5 storm formed in the north and was heading towards Cloudsdale, and all active members of the Wonderbolts were called in to help. Can you guess what happen next?"
"The storm of '87!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, knowing what Chrysalis was talking about.
"That's right! From time to time I visited the Wonderbolts museum, to see my memorial and admire my medals... well, until the museum was renovated and my things stored who knows where.
"Mind you, if I had known that my heroic but mysterious 'Missing In Action' would eventually spark an investigation that would allow the development of the Wonderbolts from being a dude-bro fraternity to an actual competent branch of the equestria military, I would have just saved the day, accepted the medals, then quit and disappear into obscurity."
"You were part of the Wonderbolts," Dash said in a new state of shock. "I probably wouldn't be a Wonderbolt if it weren't for you."
"Yeah, just... do not go screaming about it to the four winds, would you? Is not one of my proudest moments, now it seems," said Queen Chrysalis, petting Tank the turtle, who had finally come down from the third floor to see who visited them, a reflex she gained after her time with Fluttershy.