“Sugarcoat, Sunny, there you are!” Lemon Zest jogged over, with Indigo Zap and Sour Sweet following behind.

Just a few minutes ago, Sugarcoat had brought Sunny Flare out of the school building, finding a bench beside the field to sit down under the sun. Sunny had been in the changing room, under the shower, since her PE class, which hadn’t been so good for her. To try and counter the effects, Sugarcoat had thought some sun would do her friend some good.

“How is she?” Lemon Zest looked at the mulberry haired girl.

Sunny didn’t look so much of a mess as she did when Sugarcoat first found her, but she was still clearly shaken by the experience and the hit to her large ego.

“She’s not doing very well,” Sugarcoat answered. “But give her time.”

“Sunny, you see what your actions have done?” Indigo criticized. “I hope you’ve learnt your lesson here.”

“She knows, Indigo.” Sugarcoat glared at the athlete. “So please, not now.”

“Well, what do you want us to do then?” Indigo threw her hands up. “Tell her it isn’t her fault? Tell her we should’ve helped her out? What, Sugarcoat?”

“It was her fault,” Sugarcoat said bluntly. “But that’s past now. Right now, we just need to be here for her.”

“Even after she said we’re no longer her friends?” Indigo wasn’t happy about it.

“I’m sorry I said that, Indigo…” Sunny Flare wiped at her eyes. “I was… I was just being stupid. I’m sorry I pushed you all away instead of listening.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, Sugarcoat.” Lemon Zest looked skeptical. “She said some really mean things to us.”

“She did,” Sour Sweet nodded. “So why should we forgive you, Sunny?”

“I know, I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m sorry…” Sunny looked down at her legs. “I brought this on myself…”

“You did.” Indigo put her hands on her hips.

“Come on, Indigo, give her a chance,” Sugarcoat tried to reason. “She’s been through quite an ordeal.”

“She’s been through an ordeal, alright.” Even Lemon Zest wore an annoyed expression. Sugarcoat had rarely ever seen the excitable girl like this. “An ordeal she went through because she chased us away when we tried to help.”

“Yeah, it’s all her fault, so why do we have to help her now?” Sour Sweet complained. “I was so nice and everything and I even helped her. But when I thought things were a little too over the line… She turned around and tossed me aside too.”

“Give us a reason to be friends again, Sunny,” Lemon Zest said. “That’s all we need.”

The mulberry haired girl began to tear up again and covered her face with her hands. “I-I don’t know. I can’t come up with anything…”

“Girls, come on.” Sugarcoat patted Sunny on the back. “Look at her. We need to be here for her right now. She’s a Shadowbolt, just like us. She’s the pride of Crystal Prep Academy. We can’t just abandon her when she needs us.”

Eventually, Lemon Zest sighed and sat down beside Sunny, placing an arm on her shoulder. “You know what, I don’t want to see you like this, Sunny. You were our friend, but this Silver Rose vendetta has messed you up. If… If you really want us to be your friends again, then please, forget about what Silver Rose did.”

“Really?” Sunny looked out from behind her hands. “You mean it, Lemon Zest?”

“Sure, why not?”

“That’s the spirit, Lemon.” Sugarcoat looked to the others. “You girls? The Friendship Games are coming up. If we’re divided like this, perhaps there’s even a slight chance we could lose this. I don’t like to take chances.”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Sunny nodded her head. “I’ll-I’ll try to change. I’m done with this obsession… I want things to go back to normal. Can you girls forgive me…?”

“I hope this lesson is well learnt, Sunny,” Sour Sweet said. “But I’m so glad you realized your fault. We forgive you. But don’t try this again.”

Lemon Zest flipped through her music list on her phone, picking a cheery song. “Sure, Sunny. I’ll forgive you too. Friends again?”

“Yeah,” Sunny smiled, wiping her tears from her eyes. “I’d like that, Lemon Zest.”

“You, Indigo?” Sugarcoat looked back at the athlete.

“Alright, if everyone’s doing this, then I guess I will too. Sunny, if you’re really sorry, then I accept your apology.”

“Thank you, girls.” Sunny put her arms around Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest, who were seated beside her. “I promise, I’ll forget about what Silver Rose did. I’ll try to get things back to the way they were between us.”

With everything said, the Shadowbolts converged into a group hug, Sunny’s past mistakes pushed aside, out of the way.

Chrysalis put a hand to her forehead and rubbed her face. She was seated in her favorite squashy throne in the first floor living room. Close by and seated on one of the couches was her sister, now free of the Ivory Wings disguise. She too, put her head in her hands and sighed heavily. Silver Rose sat on a stool between the two, trying to look as innocent as possible.

“You did what?” Chrysalis barked.

“I know, now when I look back at it, it was a ridiculous idea,” Silver Rose said, rubbing the back of her head. “But I was so upset and angry with her. She took my stuff and she tried to embarrass me.”

“But you ripped a door off its hinges?” Chrysalis groaned, banging her head on the back of her throne. “I don’t think I need to tell you, that isn’t something humans can do?!” She finished with a small scream of frustration.

“Yes, mother, I know.” Silver looked away. “I just wasn’t thinking straight then...”

“You don’t say…” Psithyra said quietly. “Sweetie, you should always think before you act. You do know people are going to ask questions once word of this gets out?”

Silver Rose winced. This wasn’t at all what she had intended. Though, now that she thought about it with a cool head, tearing the door off might not have been the best of ideas. Picking the lock maybe, but in the heat of the moment, there hadn’t been time to meticulously plot out a plan of attack. Now she was reaping the consequences, and she could feel and taste all too well the disappointment and frustration that was leaking out of the other two changelings.

“So let me get this straight,” Chrysalis said with a dour look on her face. “This Sunny Flare girl steals your clothes and throws them in a dumpster, and your first reaction is to use a changeling scream, rip the changing room door off its hinges, and then almost strangle the girl until she squeals, then you kiss her? What part of that makes sense?!”

“Because you’re all about making sense, aren’t you, Chryssie?” Psithyra muttered.

“I heard that.”

“The point is,” Psithrya said sternly. “You’ve gone and almost blown your cover, Silver. When inquiries begin, we’re going to have to make up some excuse for why the bathroom door was pried off. We might not even be able to wave it away. You left quite a few witnesses, you know.”

“Umm… I know, and I’m really sorry mother and Aunt Psithyra.” Silver bowed her head, afraid to make eye contact. “I was just so mad at her, I guess I forgot to account for everything else.”

“This cannot happen again, Silver.” Her mother glowered at her, her green eyes now glowing. “What if someone starts to suspect something and come looking for clues as to why you’re able to do that?”

“I don’t need to tell you why our kind started hiding from humans, do I, Silver?” Psithyra added.

Silver shook her head. She remembered the story her aunt had told her about losing family. Silver didn’t want to lose her family too.

“I’m sorry…” was all she knew to say.

“Just being sorry doesn’t cut it.” Chrysalis folded her arms grumpily. “There will be punishment for this, Silver. You know you can’t just walk away free with this mistake.”

“Yes, mother…”

Psithyra sighed and walked over to sit beside her niece. “Sweetie, was there more to this? Your mother said you were good at controlling anger and hatred. What happened here? Why did you suddenly snap over such a trivial thing?”

Silver shrugged. “I don’t know, Aunt Psithyra. I was just… so upset. I felt like she needed to be put in her place, you know?”

“Hmm…” Psithyra sniffed the air near Silver’s head. “Does this have anything to do with that Home Run boy not giving you a call?”

Silver didn’t know the answer, but she remembered being particularly put out about it. It had been her first day of hunting by herself and she had failed. Maybe she had gotten so worked up about Sunny taking her stuff, because she was upset that she couldn’t handle her own problems?

“Dear, it’s alright, you know?” Psithyra put a hand on Silver’s head and began smoothing her hair. “None of us start out good at everything.”

“Maybe you didn’t, but I was sure I did, sister,” Chrysalis interrupted.

“Chryssie, not helping.” Psithyra said flatly. “But as I was saying, Silver, failing once doesn’t mean it’s over and that you have to blame yourself for it. There’s always a next time. We’ll just go find him again this Friday. See? Simple, right?”

Silver nodded slowly. “But what about school? Now that I’ve caused so much trouble... What’s going to happen?”

“There’s not much we can say about how a group of students saw you rip a door down.” Psithyra patted her niece’s head. “There were too many witnesses, Silver. I think what’s going to happen is that your school will want a word with you. Detention, most likely. And we’ll probably have to pay for the door too.”

“Psshh…” Chrysalis waved a hand. “Like money is a problem for me.”

“So is that my punishment? Detention?”

“Oh, that’s your school punishment,” Chrysalis said with a sniff. “What I’m planning to do is ground you from leaving the house on the weekends, except for your hunting business.”

“Oh…” Silver didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. This one was her fault anyway.

“I’m sorry, dear,” Psithyra sighed. “But this time, there is nothing I can do about your punishment.”

“I know, Aunt Psithyra,” Silver managed a smile. “It was my mistake.”

“Well, since we’re all done talking here…” Chrysalis pushed off her throne and flipped her blue hair back. “I’ve got a bath to get to. Even I need to look after my beautiful features from time to time, you know?”

Silver Rose sat on her bed in her room, holding Mishter Schniffs in one hand beside her. She had done her homework, but she was feeling very upset about everything that had happened from last Friday till today. She had let her emotions get the better of her and that had made her do some crazy things, like tearing a door off its hinges in front of her class. That was really the silliest thing she had ever done.

“Oh, Mishter Schniffs, see what I’ve done now?” She bounced the stuffed toy up and down. “I’ve really done it now, haven’t I?”

“I’m having a hard time disagreeing, Silver,” Mishter Schniffs replied.

“Do you think it was because I was upset Home Run didn’t call?” Silver fell back on her bed and stretched her arms out. “That I failed to catch him on my first try and I took it out on Sunny?”

“The heart works in mysterious ways,” Mishter Schniffs said sagely. At least it would have sounded sage-like if Silver wasn’t sure she’d read that in a novel sometime in the past. “You’re not in love with the boy already, are you? You barely know him.”

“Well, mother said it was my job to pretend that I was in love with him,” Silver Rose said. “Or at least, she said that Moonglade should be in love with Home Run. Not Silver Rose, not Chrysidea. It would be more convincing like that.”

“Then why were you upset as Silver Rose?” Schniffs hopped onto the young changeling’s chest and looked at her with his big blue eyes. “Could it be your feelings had transferred over to Silver Rose from Moonglade?”

Silver sighed and covered her eyes with a hand. “I don’t know, Mishter Schniffs. In the end, Silver Rose and Moonglade are the same person.”

“I think you were very upset that you failed to seduce the boy. The thought of having failed consumed you enough to spread to your other persona.”

“Well, what do you suppose I do then?” she asked her plushie.

“Plan your next move, princess. Think of what you’re going to do and say to Home Run when you go to meet him again this Friday. Look it over multiple times to see if it fits Aunt Psithyra’s advice.”

“You’re right, Mishter Schniffs.” The girl cradled the toy in her arms. “I need to work on my hunting skills. I need to make that boy want me instead of the other way around.”

“Now you’re thinking, Silver Rose. Good. When you next see him, I believe you’ll be well prepared to seduce him.”

“Ugh, seduce…” Silver spat, like it was a poison at the end of her tongue. “Such a strange word… It doesn’t sound like it was meant to be said.”

She cleared her throat and let Mishter Schniffs continue. “Just play it cool and slow. You’ll know you got it right when that boy starts calling you all the time.”

“You sure know a lot, huh, Mishter Schniffs?”

“Of course,” the plushie said, pointing a hoof to its head. “It’s all about survival. You need to know these things to get your food. Well, you can’t survive only on emotions anyway, seeing as you’re only half changeling. I, on the other hand, am supposed to be a real changeling.”

“Oh, Home Run…” Silver sighed. Lately, she had been thinking about him a lot. She really wanted to succeed. She really wanted to impress her mother and aunt. “I’ll see you soon, Home Run and the next time I do, you’ll be mine. All mine.”