Lessons From Ponyville

by MattTOB

Lesson 1: Adapting to Change

Written by MattTOB

---

It was another ordinary day in Ponyville, and everypony was going about their business as usual.

That is, until Princess Chrysalis exited Twilight Sparkle's recently-minted Castle.

As the former Queen walked down the street, serveral ponies stopped and stared. Some, fully aware of what she'd done in the past, ran into the nearest building to hide (despite the fact that her magic was still being blocked by the inhibitor ring); others simply shuddered at the memory; and a few cast scrutinizing glares at her.

Chrysalis, able to sense their emotions, was grumpy. Sure, she knew that they had legitimate reason to have those feelings, but it still made her irate.

Thus, the Changeling stomped down the street towards the market.

---

Before she could get there, however, she accidentally bumped into a certain yellow pegasus, who was once again leading baby ducks through town.

Fluttershy, recognizing the scenario, quickly blurted, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Unlike a certain griffon, however, Chrysalis plastered on a smile and said, "No, it was my fault; I wasn't looking where I was going."

Fluttershy gave an apologetic look, "Oh, but it was also my fault; I was focusing too much on these baby ducks."

Chrysalis gave a forced chuckle, "I insist, it was my fault, and I'm sorry. No need to argue any further."

Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no, are we arguing? I'm so sorry!"

Chrysalis felt her eye twitch. "You don't need to apologize so much, Fluttershy..."

The pegasus blushed. "Oh, sorry..."

It took nearly all of Chrysalis's willpower not to blow up on the overly apologetic mare. Hastily, she rushed out of there, leaving behind a confused pegasus.

"Oh my, did I do something wrong?" Fluttershy asked herself, then called after Chrysalis, "I'm sorry!"

In the distance, Chrysalis could be heard screaming in frustration.

---

Somehow, despite being even more testy than before, Chrysalis managed to put on a face and complete the shopping.

However, as she was headed back, she spotted a certain rainbow-haired pegasus, being followed by a pink pony.

"Hey, Chryssie!" Rainbow greeted.

Chrysalis groaned at the sight, but reapplied her face and replied, "Hello, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pink. What brings you here?"

Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me 'Pinkie Pink'?"

Internally, Chrysalis slapped herself.

Externally, she doubled-down: "Yes, what of it?"

Pinkie blinked, then gave that way-too wide grin that Chrysalis found unsettling. "I like it; It's silly!" Then she started snorting with laughter.

Barely holding her anger back, Chrysalis repeated through gritted teeth, "What exactly brings you two here?"

Rainbow elbowed Pinkie, getting her to stop laughing. "Oh, nothing," Rainbow obviously lied, "we were just wondering if you'd be interested in having some of our extra peanut brittle."

The prismatic pegasus presented the can of peanut brittle to Princess Chrysalis, who eyed it suspiciously. She knew that these pastel ponies possessed a penchant for pulling pranks on passerby, so she thought she could pull a reversal.

"Why, don't mind if I do," Chrysalis replied fakely, taking the can with her open hoof. She readied herself, then, just as she opened it, she pointed it at the two and screamed, "Aha!"

Nothing happened.

Pinkie and Rainbow looked incredulously at her. "What was that for?"

Chrysalis, now all-too aware of the attention she was drawing from passerby, flushed red. She looked into the can, and was surprised to find actual peanut brittle. "Wait, where's the springy snake-things?"

Pinkie replied, without any detectable traces of deceit, "Why would you think we'd prank you like that?"

Chrysalis faltered. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who also wasn't emanating any kind of deceit, and calmed down. "Well, then... thank you for the snack," she replied honestly, then took a bite of a bar.

And the moment the bar was punctured by her teeth, a liquid squirted out of it, coating her mouth.

She gagged, spitting it out. "What the–?"

She gasped when she saw the color she'd spit out: Rainbow.

She wiped a hoof across her lips, finding them covered with the same color.

And now, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were laughing hysterically.

"How DARE you betray my trust!" Chrysalis bellowed, but to no avail; they were too busy laughing. The passerby also began to laugh at the sight, causing the former Queen to flush red. With INCREDIBLE self-restraint, she held her rainbow-stained muzzle up high, and stormed off indignantly.

---

When she got back to the Castle, she found Mothra and Twilight waiting. Mothra was smiling hesitantly; Twilight held a clipboard and pencil in her magic, a flat expression on her face.

"So," Mothra tried to cut through the tension, "how'd the shopping go?"

Chrysalis let out an overdrawn groan, slumping onto the Map table.

Mothra sighed. "That bad?"

Chrysalis cringed at the memory. "The yellow one –"

"Fluttershy," Twilight corrected.

"Whatever," Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "We bumped into each other, and she just wouldn't stop apologizing! I barely got out of there before I exploded! And THEN, I ran into Rainbow Rash and Pinkie Pink, –"

Twilight was about to correct her again, but a glare from the former Queen stopped her cold.

"Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie came up and made a fool out of me!" She pointed to her rainbow-flavored muzzle. "If my magic weren't restricted, I probably would've blasted them on the spot; I wanted so badly to teach them a lesson about pranking me!"

Then the former Queen sighed, her anger giving way to uncertainty. "I don't think I'm really the 'friendship' type."

Twilight's gaze softened to concern. "No, you are; you're just... You're like Rainbow Dash! You're really self-confident and assertive, and admittedly kinda oblivious (no offense), but ultimately, you still care for those close to you."

Chrysalis glared flatly at Twilight. "First off, don't think I didn't take offense to you calling me oblivious; second, Rainbow's the one I get along the least with..."

"Exactly!" Twilight replied. "You're both always trying to be the best, so of course you'd butt heads!"

Chrysalis stared off into space, letting those words sink in. "I dunno..."

Mothra's face lit up as he had an idea. "Why don't you try and hang out more with them? I hear Pinkie Pie's throwing a 'Post Friendship Summit' party tonight; it'd be a great excuse to spend some time together, get to know each other."

Twilight chimed in, "I'll even get Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to not prank you during it!"

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "How will you do that? Surely, if you ask them not to do it, that'll only make them want to do it even more?"

Twilight smiled deviously. "Don't worry; I Pinkie Promise that nopony will prank you at the party."

Chrysalis was just about to ask how that was supposed to help, but before she could even finish drawing in her breath, a blur of pink shot out from under the Map Table. It zipped across the room and came to a screeching halt in front of Twilight, whining, "Aw, come on!"

Everyling in the room reeled at the sudden appearance of Pinkie Pie; Twilight merely smirked, then performed the Pinkie Promise ritual.

Pinkie looked downtrodden. "Alright, I'll go tell Rainbow Dash..." But thankfully, she seemed to brighten up as she left the room.

Mothra blinked. "What just happened...?"

Twilight shook her head. "It's best to not think about it."

---

Sugar Cube Corner, the site of many a party. This locale had seen many varied patrons throughout its existence, such as a baby dragon, a griffon, and even some yak royalty recently.

But now, it hosted one of the most unusual visitors it'd ever hosted: The former Queen of the Changelings, Princess Chrysalis.

Pinkie Pie, however, didn't mind the unusual guest; instead, she relished in her presence. "Wow, this must be the first time you've shown up for one of my parties! I mean, there was that surprise 'Welcome to Ponyville' party I threw for you, but you didn't even stay for a minute; instead, you ran away screaming. Hey, why did you do that?"

Chrysalis dismissively replied, "You practically scared me out of my carapace."

Pinkie blinked. "You can take it off?"

Chrysalis did a double-take. "Wha– No, of course not! It's a figure of speech, you–"

Thankfully, Chrysalis caught herself just in time. She took a deep breath, and explained calmly, as though she were speaking to a nymph, "It's like when a pony says 'scared to death'; they don't literally die."

"Ohhh..." Pinkie drew out far longer than she should've, affirming Chrysalis's impression that, despite her hyper exterior, her brain was rather slow to catch up.

Then she continued, "Still, I wish you'd stayed; I had so much planned, and even if you didn't like it, you could've told me what you do like so I'd know for next time!"

Chrysalis groaned. Did this loon ever stop, or even pause to take a breath?

She downed a quick swig of punch, then stood up and walked over to the dessert table. She looked over the plates loaded with various confectionaries, such as vanilla ice cream from Twilight, white chocolate chip cookies from Rarity, gem tarts for Spike, and a giant chocolate cake.

"See anything ya like?" Pinkie butted in from out of nowhere, making Chrysalis yelp in surprise.

"That quiet corner over there is certainly seeming appealing right now," the Changeling snarked under her breath.

Pinkie giggled. "No, silly, I was talking about the food!"

Chrysalis sighed, then silently picked up a strawberry cookie. Pinkie Pie nodded, duly noting her choice.

Then a familiar voice called out, "What's up, Chrysalis?"

Chrysalis cringed, nearly choking on a bite of the cookie. "Hello, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow seemed to flinch at Chrysalis's tone. Surprisingly, her demeanor shifted and she said, "Look, I want to apologize for earlier."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, taken aback. "Really?"

The prismatic pegasus nodded. "It wasn't right of me to misuse your trust like I did, and I feel really bad about it."

Chrysalis blinked, studying the pegasus closely. Unlike last time, where she simply wasn't showing deceit, she actually had an active aura of sincerity around her this time. She wasn't making excuses, wasn't calling Chrysalis oversensitive, and wasn't trying to downplay it; she was taking responsibility for her screw-up, and genuinely felt bad about what had happened.

So, as is normal for her, the former Queen dismissively replied, "Hmph, it seems you're not as heartless as I first thought."

Rainbow slowly blinked. "Uhh... Thanks?"

Thankfully, before the conversation could get any more awkward, the record player began to play a much more jazzy tune than before. However, the track seemed to keep glitching, stopping Chrysalis from getting into it. "What the... What is wrong with this music?!"

Rarity approached and explained, "It's a genre called 'Glitch', and it's intentional. DJ Pon-3 introduced it to Pinkie Pie, and now she's hooked."

Chrysalis groaned, covering her ears as the track intensified in its glitchiness. "Well, I'd like it better if it WEREN'T grating on my ears!" (In the distance, Pinkie could be seen noting Chrysalis's distaste for Glitch music.)

Rarity shuddered. "Oh, I couldn't agree more; it's positively dreadful."

Chrysalis chuckled. "Finally, a pony I agree with! Where have you BEEN the last month?"

She brushed aside her hair. "Why, I was in Canterlot, starting up a brand new boutique and doing some detective work."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Detective work?"

"Indeed," she elaborated, "one of the Wonderbolts framed Rainbow Dash for a crime, and I helped prove her innocence." Rainbow Dash smiled at the memory.

The former Queen nodded. "And here, I thought you were nothing but fashion and melodrama."

Rarity gasped in mock offense. "Good heavens no! If that were true, I simply wouldn't be able to live with myself!"

For the first time in a while, Chrysalis laughed. "Y'know what? I'd say you're probably the most tolerable of the bunch."

Rarity gasped. "Why, thank you! Coming from you, that's quite the compliment!"

Rainbow Dash teasingly poked Chrysalis with her elbow. "Wouldja look at that; Chryssie's actually making friends!"

Chrysalis glared coldly at the prismatic pegasus. "Don't push it."

Rainbow Dash immediately pulled back. "Sorry."

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

And the moment the bar was punctured by her teeth, a liquid squirted out of it, coating her mouth.

Oh my God its that rainbow cookie or those joke cookies lol

[Yoshifan30]

Mothra blinked. "What just happened...?"

Twilight shook her head. "It's best to not think about it."

Trust me dude I question that a long time ago and I realize it's just Pinkie Pie you can question her at all 😅

[Yoshifan30]

Well it looks like chrysalis doing good for herself well sort of she's trying to getting used to ponies around her because since she's being watched during her punishments just like Mandy she's wearing that ring thing to block her magic and she's trying her best to not snap at other ponies but you know old habits doesn't die but she's trying can't wait to see how this will work out and it looks like this is during the time of season 5 cool

[tsaukpaetra]

Chrissy ate rainbow!

[Starlight Glimmer1]

"Oh my, did I do something wrong?" Fluttershy asked herself, then called after Chrysalis, "I'm sorry!"

In the distance, Chrysalis could be heard screaming in frustration.

Fluttershy: Sorry.

[Velvet-Fresh]

Fluttershy the canadian

[Revluc_The_Pony]

PFFFT This is just too good.