"Alright everypony, fall in!" Rainbow Dash barked the order, but then seemed disappointed at the results. Twilight and Chrysalis stood to the side, giving her exasperated looks. Two changelings stood in front of her, looking confused. "Uhhh?"

"Not ponies for one,"Chrysalis supplied.

Rainbow suddenly looked apologetic. Twilight cut in before she could correct herself. "We're also not here to begin training them either. This isn't like Sweet Apple Acres, you're the chief Weather coordinator. You have to actually assess them for the job."

Rainbow seemed to try to brush that off. "Oh come on Twi. I know how to get the job done. We don't need to go through all that dumb paperwork stuff. I can just hire them right now if need be."

Twilight face hoofed. "Sweet Celestia, I do not want to see what your department's organization looks like." She then thought about it. "Wait. No actually, I'm a princess. So that technically makes me part of the government, so that actually does concern me. I'm auditing your department the next chance I get, Rainbow."

Rainbow suddenly looked concerned. "Oh crud."

"I'll send her with changelings so she can relay the results to the town hall instantly through the hive mind, " Chrysalis added.

Rainbow now looked very concerned. "You two are dangerous together." Chrysalis felt this observation produce a swirl of pleasure in Twilight.

"You're impending massive infractions notwithstanding," Twilight continued, "We're just here to assess if the changelings would be a good fit for the weather team. Although I'm starting to assume you just put in the application to be supportive."

Rainbow Dash now pointed at Twilight in accusation. Or at least as best as she could with one foreleg bandaged. "Hey, just because I don't like doing paperwork doesn't mean I don't do my own research."

Chrysalis grumbled as Twilight deadpanned and replied. "And what 'research' have you done for this exactly?"

Rainbow tried to look smug at this. "I've been studying how changelings fly. And while they aren't as fast as me," she flashed her usual smug smile at that. "They seem like they'd be good on the weather team."

Chrysalis now deadpanned. "So your 'research' is based upon you convincing I-25 to sneak off with you to do those asinine obstacle courses."

Rainbow now looked shocked. "How did you know about that?"

Chrysalis decided not to react to it as Twilight reached out and placed a hoof on her changeling companion's head, caressing it caringly. "Hive mind, Rainbow. As in there's literally nothing our changelings do that she doesn't know about."

Rainbow's eyes went wide. "You mean..."

"Yes, even that," Chrysalis confirmed.

Red now filled into Rainbows cheeks. Chrysalis restrained a grumble as Twilight seemed to be finished with toying with Rainbow. She stopped patting Chrysalis on the head to face Rainbow properly. "We honestly don't care that you convinced I-25 to change into Daring Do so you could see what it was like to make out with her." Ok, so maybe Twilight wasn't done messing with Rainbow.

"It's fine actually. Lust may not be nutritious, but it's a nice treat for them sometimes." Chrysalis ate up Twilight's delight as their torment now had Rainbow Dash on the ground with her good hoof over her head.

"Could we please talk about weather management?" came her muffled reply.

"Of course. So first off, why did you imagine changelings would be able to work with clouds?" Twilight inquired.

Rainbow at least managed to expose her face again, as red as it still was. "Like I said, I-25 is a good flier. So I figured it would be no sweat for them and the other changelings."

"So in all your dedicated research, I'm assuming you at least cracked open one of your old 'flying for beginners' books from flight school. Maybe the first chapter of the first page. The passage that explains that high altitude flight is actually a rare trait that takes magical creatures like pegasi to achieve." Twilight was in full lecture mode, and Rainbow seemed to be in full detention mode. The emotions played out in an entertaining way for Chrysalis.

"So, changelings don't fly by folding the magic under their wings?" Rainbow asked hesitantly.

"No!" Twilight and Chrysalis replied in unison.

"... So how do they fly?" She questioned further.

"By flying," Chrysalis deadpanned. "You pony birds are the weird ones, not us. We use our wings to beat the air and become airborne. Most clouds are high up where the air is thin. We can't fly up there, and technically you can't either."

Rainbow looked to Twilight for salvation. It was not forthcoming from her. "Yeah, that's kinda the reason I had a hard time learning to fly initially. With pegasus magic, it's more like we, swim through magic. Flying on air, a pegasus would struggle to even get airborne, much less to high altitude."

Rainbow Dash now looked sheepish, seeming to already understand the implications of this information. "So, probably a no on cloud manipulation too then, huh?" Rainbow now sounded slightly defeated.

"Also pegasus magic. We can replicate biology almost perfectly, but most of your weird pony magic is too, illogical." Chrysalis confirmed this by whipping out her wings. Just a few beats of her wings sent more dust flying than Rainbow would expect from a full crash.

She seemed to at least understand enough about flight to see the implications of that. Getting back up tentatively on her good leg, Rainbow looked apologetic. "Yeah, I guess this isn't going to work out, Twilight."

Twilight summoned a clipboard with her magic. "No, I don't think so either. Although we are happy for your support and consideration."

"She is. I'm very upset at the waste of my valuable time." Chrysalis said this with a yawn as she was already gesturing to the still confused changelings to start back to the hive.

Twilight stuck her tongue out at Chrysalis while not looking up from filling out her notes. "We are thinking of setting up a changeling communication system at some point, if we can work out the logistics of it. If you still feel like you want to work with them, you can reapply when that becomes a reality. I think it could be a massive benefit if you at least had one at your field office. We can even see if I-25 wants to join up with you then."

This seemed to perk Rainbow Dash up some. "So, you don't mind that I sneak I-25 away to come fly with me?"

Chrysalis decided to reply. "They were in no way obliged to either go with you or to stay put whenever you contacted them. They did so of their own free will. Plus, the information about your flying abilities they are gathering will help me to defeat you when I'm ready to oust Twilight and retake our hive." Rainbow seemed a little off put by this, but seemed to be focusing on the positive. Sensing this, Chrysalis decided one more jab was in order. She bent down to Rainbows eye level to emphasize her next point. "By the way. You'll never be able to pull off a dead stop turn. Your body and wings just aren't made for it. But by all means, feel free to break another leg trying it. You being injured will only make my takeover all the easier."

"But I can still hang out with them, right?" She inquired.

Chrysalis patted Rainbow on her head dismissively. "I'll let them keep you as a pet once changelings rule. They'll take good care of you I'm sure."

"Thanks. I think?" Rainbow responded, confused at how she felt about it.

Twilight seemed to be double checking the information on her checklist. "That's just her way of saying to be careful. I-25 seems to like flying with you as well, and they were really upset when you got hurt." She finally looked up to smile at Rainbow Dash. "And if you're important to them, you're important to her."

"Don't put words into my mouth, pony." Chrysalis turned to sneer in Twilight's face. Deciding she was done with the conversation, Chrysalis once again whipped out her wings. With a fierce buzz she was in the air, leaving Rainbow and Twilight behind her quickly.

Twilight had to bite her lip to restrain a giggle. "She's so cute when she's embarrassed." Magically dispelling her clipboard, she too extended her wings. "Sorry it didn't work out, Rainbow. I'll see you later." With that, she took off after Chrysalis with a bright smile on her face.

Left behind, Rainbow watched as Chrysalis at least seemed to be trying to outrun or avoid Twilight. Yet despite her lack of flight skill, Twilight somehow managed to stick close to Chrysalis as they flew away. Rainbow thought she even heard Twilight laughing as Chrysalis made an easily followed turn to avoid her.

Rainbow watched the display with confusion. "If they were pegasi, I'd swear they were flirting right now."

Author's Note

Dang, almost forgot author's notes. Short chapter, but I enjoyed writing it. Not as much angry Chrysalis as I'd like, but I think it's showing her character growth well enough.

Currently trying to think up other careers the changelings might want to try as part of pony society, so please feel free to offer suggestions.

As always, feel free to comment. Good or bad, I like hearing from everyone. Especially if you have suggestions for more chapters I could write.