Queen's Vengeance

by Zervziel

Chapter 6: Egomania pt 1

Ponies looked up in awe as a low echoing roar cut through the buzz of every day Ponyville life. High above the sleepy village, highlighted against the high soaring clouds, a brilliant rainbow contrail split the sky.

Even though it was a common occurrence, many ponies found themselves ceasing whatever they were doing to watch the head weather manager as fast as the single colorful trail suddenly erupted into a head spinning display of aerial acrobatics. Even some of the town's many resident pegasi looked on in awe as they watched the chromatic blur pull maneuvers they would never dare to do. When the pony high above finally completed her exercises, she ended her practice with a heart stopping nose dive that ended with a last second pull out that had ponies gasping in shock or the cases of a few of the less faithful, covering their eyes.

As the pegasus finally set touched down to the adoring cheers of her fans and the not so adoring scowls of a few mothers, Rainbow Dash nonchalantly rubbed her chest with a hoof, feeling the spot where a few strands of fur had been painfully pulled out as they snagged on the cobblestone street. Her last-minute pull up had truly been last minute. A few microseconds more and she would have cannoned into the street with less than awesome results. She would need to pull up sooner to give herself a greater margin of error. Partially because she didn't want to get hurt, but also because Rainbow did not want to deal with the doctor's teasing her about stealing any more books. It happened once, dangit! Besides, she already owned most of the series now anyway.

Just as the boastful mare flashed a winning smile to her fans and waving a gracious hoof, a rolled up newspaper descended upon her quickly inflating head and ego with a loud smack.

"Ow! Hey what gives?!" Rainbow squawked as she ducked another strike from the vengeful newspaper. Doing so brought her face to face with the animate newspaper's wielder, a particularly irate lavender alicorn.

"Rainbow Dash, what have I said about practicing over the town?!" snapped Twilight Sparkle. The newly crowned princess jabbed the newspaper forward with the skill of a practice fencer, stopping just short of ramming the help wanted section up Rainbow's nose.

The blue pegasus shrank back in the face of such a fiercely armed foe, raising her fore hooves placatingly. "Um...tooooo...not do it?" She asked, hoping it was the right answer. The newspaper shot forward and upward, giving her ears a sharp flick. "Ow!"

"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed. "You need to practice outside of town! The risk of hurting somepony else is just too high! I know I can't stop you from practicing completely, but you can't do it here!"

"Ahem."

Both ponies turned at the sound, becoming aware that the entire square was looking at them. One beat later and the town slowly turned it's attention back to what it had been doing as the pony who had cleared her throat so pointedly stepped forward. Rainbow and Twilight instantly recognized the speaker as Mrs. Cake, co-proprietor of Sugar Cube Corner and Pinkie's employer. The pudgy blue earth pony with the hot pink mane, nudged her stick of a husband as she spoke.

"I hope you don't mind us saying so, Ms. Dash,, but would you please do as the Princess says?"

Here her husband spoke up, encouraged by his wife's example. "We're kinda worried that your stunts might inspire some of the young ones to try some of your tricks and end up getting hurt."

Rainbow Dash, still itching to fly, did not appreciate being teamed up of on by a friend and a couple she barely knew outside of Pinkie.

"Ok, while I hadn't thought of that, just how far out of town do you want me to go?" She waved a hoof towards the horizon. "I mean I was already pretty far up, (and technically outside of Ponyville's airspace) and anywhere I practice outside of town will likely be just as visible!"

Before the Cakes could speak again, Twilight laid a hoof on Mrs. Cake's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but she is right about that. But still..." She turned her attention back to Rainbow. "Do you think you could practice your less flashy and dangerous moves near Ponyville and save the rest for when you head back to the Wonderbolts Academy?" she asked with a winning smile.

The cyan pegasus narrowed her eyes at the alicorn. While they were friends, the "Princess" had a very bad habit of conveniently forgetting certain details and Rainbow was just the pony to jar her memory. "Sure thing, Twilight!"

Twilight's smile turned brittle as Rainbow finished. "Just as soon as you stop practicing your magic in the library in the middle of town."

The alicorn's eyes bulged as she sputtered out a quick defense. "W-what?! Wait, my magic isn't.."

"What caused me to try care of Fluttershy's pets and almost getting eaten?" asked Rainbow as she floated past her friend's head. Her only answer was a grumpy snort. "Seriously, Twilight, lighten up!"

"I can't just lighten up, Rainbow. I'm trying to be serious here!" Twilight retorted angrily, her tail lashing angrily. Unknown to her and the pegasus, the Cakes slowly edged away, not wanting to get caught up in the argument.

"So am I!" Rainbow's response was somewhat undermined due to her being upside down as she floated past again. "My stunts are no more dangerous than casting unfinished spells in the middle of town."

Twilight closed her mouth. Rainbow had a point. She had been careless and not a little arrogant, thinking that speaking a magic spell aloud when six of the most potent magical artifacts in Equestria were in the room would not have any repercussions. It was an incredibly foolish mistake, one that turned the entire town upside down. "I-I guess that's true. But can you at least not practice directly over Ponyville?"

"I would, but I can't. The Cirrus Race course is being set up in the fields I usually practice in and the only other place is over the Everfree forest and I still have to practice my speed runs." Rainbow paused. "Speaking of which aren't you the Princess that was invited to attend this time?"

Twilight couldn't help but blush. "Well yes. It seems both the Princesses are quite busy with something in Canterlot and are not able to attend. So the race organizers invited me! Are you in the race?"

Rainbow dropped to the ground, posing as if she were waiting at the starting line already. "Are you kidding?! What race would be complete without the fastest pony in Equestria?!"

Right as she proclaimed this, a very light gray pony with a long flowing mane of sea-green hair trotted by, Rainbow Dash's bragging echoing through her ears, her mind, and finally into her queen's head.

In far away Canterlot, in a dark and secluded guest room, a long, black chitin-covered ear pricked up. It's owner, a tall, thin, insectal equine, turned her head to gaze out of the window towards Ponyville as if she herself had heard the pegasus's claims. Her mouth split into a wicked fang-filled smile.

"Oh my, it looks like we have a volunteer."

---

Across the palace, an alicorn found herself in the royal medical facilities. She was not there for herself but for a friend who had selflessly helped her out only to fall a victim of fashion sabotage. Princess Luna couldn't help but feel guilty for her part in these events, however small it was.

Still she knew it was miss Rarity's nature to over dramatize, but having the unicorn actually pass out after seeing the final stage of Queen Chrysalis's prank did not feel good at all. After Luna had moved her to a more private room in the dance hall, the unicorn woke up from her first faint, and immediately took a pair of scissors Luna supplied to her t-shirt with that ghastly face on it with a vengeance.

Before long the savage snipping and snapping took it's toll on the offensive shirt but as it fell away from Rarity's body, green sparks had shot from the fabrics as it shifted and warped until the remains of an elegant and very expensive dress made of high quality black silk fluttered to the floor. Luna would later recognize it as the same dress Chrysalis had originally gifted to the unicorn.
Seeing the damage she had unknowingly inflicted, Rarity had wavered for an instant, before dropping like a sack of potatoes as opposed to her graceful and dramatic swooning from earlier, forcing the princess to catch her before she hit the stone floor.

Now Luna found herself not only with an unconscious unicorn, but with a report of the first arrest of a piece of furniture with two charges of attempted breaking and entering. As the dark blue alicorn turned her attention to the newly arrived doctor, she swore to have every member of the Royal Guard screened for incompetence.

"Doctor, will she be ok?"

At the Princess's question, the tan stallion look up from his notes. "Oh yes, your highness. She's simply had a few shocks today so she really only needs some rest. She should be fine in a matter of hours.

The alicorn nodded her head before turning to leave. "I'll shall leave her in your care for now."

***

While she normally didn't much care for what most ponies thought of her and her changelings, Chrysalis was not going to push her luck with the blue alicorn. One look at the princess's face told her that Luna was still concerned about the white unicorn and tactfully kept her mouth shut. Shifting her form back to the form of a white unicorn mare with a dark blue mane and tail, the Queen sought out her only other source of information: Princess Celestia.

Granted it was daytime, meaning that the majestic "Shepherd of Light" would have her white flank installed on her throne. This meant that she'd have to catch the Princess as she left for lunch....or was it brunch? So the disguised changeling simply lingered near the hallway, studying the Royal Throne. It was a behemoth of a chair. High-back and perched upon a terraced platform, one couldn't help but stare at it. The queen's own throne was an ancient wooden affair that she had pulled out of an abandoned castle at the edge of the gryphon kingdoms. That or this weird pink puffball. Bizarre thing had a tendency to shuffle about on occasion.

Eventually the trumpets sounded, signalling a recess for lunch. The changeling didn't quite understand why lunch must be announced with complete fanfare, but all that mattered was it helped drag her from a light doze in time to catch the princess as she made for the hallway. However as she closed, a guard stepped forward to accost her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you'll need to wait until after lunch," he said, trotting up to put a hoof on her shoulder. None were more surprised than he when a fierce green glow surrounded his leg, stopping it a surely as any wall.

"Oh don't mind me," smirked the unicorn, as she allowed an unsettling reverb in her voice to give her identity to the observant. Thankfully the pony just behind the nervous guard was one such pony.

"Queen Chrysalis." Celestia greeted her. The changeling could have sworn she saw the guard go pale under his enchanted white fur. "Will you be honoring us with your presence for lunch?"

Despite her manners, Celestia's tone very clearly gave away her opinion on the manner. Chrysalis only momentarily played with the though of doing just that if only to nettle the Princess. Sadly she had other engagements to make for a certain raonbow pegasus.

"I'm only here for information on the pegasus known as Rainbow Dash. She is next in line for one of my little pranks."

The white alicorn could only sigh in resignation. If she didn't give the information the queen wanted, it'd undermine Luna's efforts to end the tensions between ponies and changelings. She could only hope Rainbow would understand how important that was for Equestria. Plus if what the lands newest Princess had said was true in her latest letter, it seemed Rainbow could use a good ego check.

"Very well. What do you wish to know?"

---

Back in Ponyville, at the nearby the race course that was being constructed, a rainbow-maned pegasus found herself in a rather novel situation. A light gray stallion with a light orange mane stared at her with determined eyes as he flared his broad wings in the traditional pegasus challenge.

"Rainbow Dash, I challenge you to a race! I'll prove to you that I'm the true fastest pony in Equestria!"

The challenge had barely left the pony's mouth before Rainbow had accepted, not even thinking once why this pony simply didn't wait until the official race. With a nod of mutual understanding, the two ponies moved closer to Ponyville, away from the race track that was being constructed. The two stopped atop a lone cloud at the start of a rough race course set up above the town; turns and altitude were marked with with clouds adorned with flags with a gauntlet of thunderclouds leading to the two clouds marking the end of the race.

Rainbow Dash was even surprised to see Cloudkicker acting as referee and Blossomforth manning the finish line with a camera. That was good, she was planning on making this a photo finish.

"I gotta say you put a lot of effort into a race." Dash remarked in a sardonic tone. "Just try not to get too upset when I beat ya."

The stallion snorted. "Looks like the rumor mill is right for once: You are as arrogant as they say."

Rainbow frowned at him. "This coming from the pony that challenged me."

"I challenged you so that the title of "fastest pony" doesn't go to the one with the fattest head!"

"I don't have a fat head!" came the enraged reply.

The stallion gave her a sardonic look. "Oh? So that immense party a couple weeks ago that needed two party planners wasn't for you? What about your career as town hero before that?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to go into how one pf the party planners had been a guest/Pinkie fan that wanted to work with the party pony. Granted they went a little overboard, but Dash hadn't seen any reason to complain...until now. As for the town hero bit, that was ages ago and some ponies still held it against her.

"Whatever. Let's get this race over with!"

With that the two dropped into a starting crouch as Cloudkicker laid down the rules.

"Alright, you two. Start to finish. No cutting corners and no contact. Anypony that shoves the other is disqualified and the other is deemed the winner. Also Dash, we're too low for rainbooms and Princess Twilight told me to tell you she has a spell that can take away flight she's been dying to try."

The blonde pony paused for a moment as she looked at the two racers. "Ok. Ready. Set. Go!"

With a blast of wind that threatened to blow her head over tail, Rainbow Dash and the mystery pony took off, the latter lagging slightly behind the former. As Rainbow bolted through the air she was surprised to see the gray stallion slowly catching up to her.

Not bad She thought but is he ready for this! Dash dove towards the first turn, bearing down on the flag-laden clouds. Pumping her wings, the pegasus pushed herself harder and harder until she felt the shock cone start building at her hooves. Not willing to chance what CK had said about Twilight and her new spell being true, Rainbow simply decided to ride the shockwave as opposed to bursting through it at the speed of sound.

Reduced to a speeding blur of chromatic hair and cyan fur, none were more surprised than Rainbow when the gray pegasus came shot around the curve, an orange aura building around him as he sped up even faster until he was equal with her.

Together, they dove and wound their way through the race course, Rainbow cursing under her breath as the stallion stuck with her through every flap of the way. As they came up to a dive that leveled out to the straight gauntlet of thundrclouds, Rainbow mouthed an apology to Twilight. She'd try not to make too big of a rainboom.

As the pegasus dove, the shock cone became sharper and and thinner until Rainbow felt herself surging past the sound barrier with an immense crack and a blast of vibrant colors. She shot towards the ground ready to level out when she got there. Confident in her win, Rainbow chanced a look back, not daring to move her head lest she accidentally change her course. What she did see almost made her look to be sure. The damn stallion was riding her slipstream, so close he was practically getting a face full of tail.

As the two leveled out, the stallion dropped out of Rainbow's slipstream, immediately losing ground. Before any ponies watching could ask why he'd do such a thing, blots of lighting lashed out from the first two clouds. They struck the stallion seeming to wrap around him for a second before he disappeared in an flash, leaving only a fiery contrail as he surged forward.*

Up ahead, Rainbow Dash bore down on the finish line with a vengeance. A blur of white, pink, and green told her that Blossomforth was abandoning her post as to not get caught up in the small windstorm following the pegasus. Dash really couldn't blame her but was given no time to dwell on it as that damn stallion reappeared, leaving bright orange flames in his wake as he passed her in an instant, before blowing past the finish line milliseconds later.

So startled at the sudden heat and flash of fire, Rainbow couldn't help instinctively jerk away. Unfortunately this lead to an uncontrollable tumble that ended in her barreling head first into one of the clouds marking the finish line.

Rainbow didn't immediately pull herself free, simply opting to let her rear legs and tail hang free as she hung there in shock and a little bit of awe. Her opponent had rode lighting to get his win! Lighting riding was as dangerous as it sounded, but for beings capable of surviving it, the boost it gave was incredible. The stallion had saved his energy by riding in her slipstream and had been able to overcome his temporary speed lose with a very risky gamble.

Four light impacts on the cloud told the mare she was no longer alone. The visitor pony then proceeded to grab hold of her tail to pull her out.

"Oh boy." Rainbow groaned. Pulling her head from the cloud, she braced herself for her friend's disapproval, only to stop as she saw the pony in front of her.

"Look, Twilight I'm.....you're not Twilight."

Author's Note:

* if this moment made you think of this, then congratulations on getting that reference. BTF references are never dated in my opinion.

Also got tired of waiting for the ending to come to me so I decided to split the damn thing. Rainbow has more coming to her.

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

Troll! Chrysalis strikes again!

[Zervziel]

4238339 It is what she is best at.

[Xaerouzle]

This is quite the intruiging comedy. 7.3/10

[nebulaegalaxy]

a certain raonbow pegasus.

Rainbow maybe?

into how one pf the party

Well then...

[DualKitsune]

Chrysy's prank in Rarity should have been stuck been to making her arrive messy and in that shirt/dress. The outfits that were never bought after working all night was too much.

If it was me, I would not rest until had my very painful vengeance.