By three thirty, Crystal Prep Academy had far less students than a half hour ago, seeing as most of them have already left for home. Those that were still around were either staying back to do homework together or to stay for their club activities. Silver Rose would’ve been in fencing right now if not for the fact that she was sitting in detention.

She looked out the window, watching as a yellow bird flew from tree to tree, likely searching for a good place to build a nest.

“Really, I’m disappointed, Silver,” Dean Cadance said, getting her attention back. “I thought you at least would’ve shown more restraint in the matter. And for you, Ms. Flare…” Cadance looked to the girl at the desk next to Silver’s. “You shouldn’t be going around bullying your fellow classmates like this. I hope I don’t need to tell you both what you did was wrong.”

“Yes, Dean Cadance,” the girls said in unison.

“Good, so please, learn from your mistakes and don’t let this happen again.” Cadance walked around the desk and sat down in the chair. “I’ll let you both go at five, so until then, you’re to be here with me. You’ll have a long time to think on your mistakes until then, so I suggest you get started.”

Sunny Flare looked at Silver, then inched to the side slightly like she was afraid of her. Silver Rose didn’t blame her for being afraid. She had been rather frightening, now that she looked back on it. She sniffed, then coughed softly. The taste wasn’t very nice. Perhaps she had gone a little too far.

Silver tapped her fingers on her knuckles anxiously. Indeed, she had been very mad at Sunny for taking her clothes, but now that she had thought long and hard about it, she was here to hunt and make friends. Love was the food source she was looking for, not anger or fear. She wanted to do something about it, but she just didn’t know how she could ever be friends with Sunny. It had been hard before, but now it just looked impossible.

Come on, Silver. Surely you can think of something to change this outcome.

Silver looked out the window and sighed, startling Sunny. The girl, who had once been so confident about herself and really good at putting others down, was now afraid of every little thing Silver did. She had thought she hadn’t scared the girl enough, but she never expected it to work so well to the point of traumatizing the girl.

Watching the bird outside again, she noticed that it had been joined by another yellow bird, though slightly smaller than it. A child perhaps? The two birds flew around, picking at small sticks from the branches, then disappearing out of sight only to reappear again to do the same thing.

They weren’t looking for a place to build a nest. They were looking for the materials needed to build one somewhere else.

Silver Rose marveled at how hardworking those birds were. They took time and effort to build their homes and even if they’re torn down again and again, they would just build up another one. That was something most people didn’t have, including herself. If her home had been torn down, her mother would simply buy a new one, or hire people to rebuild it on the same spot. Actually, it was most likely the second option. Silver also had no experience in construction, so she would leave it all to her mother to decide.

Eventually, after a long time looking out the window, Dean Cadance got up and pointed to the clock.

“It’s five minutes to five, girls,” she said. “I think you’ve been here long enough. You may go. Please, refrain from doing things like that again.”

“Yes, Dean Cadance,” Silver and Sunny said again.

Packing up, Silver watched Sunny at the corner of her eye. The girl was now getting up, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. The pink haired girl decided she should at least give it a try to change things between them now.

“Umm… Sunny,” Silver started, getting the other girl’s attention. “Look, I’m, uh, sorry for what I did. I shouldn’t have scared you like that. I just, um, lost my temper. I’m sorry about that.”

“O-Oh…” Sunny fidgeted on the spot, moving away from Silver. “I, uh, okay…”

Silver reached over. “I’m-I didn’t mean to…” She didn’t know what to say.

Sunny Flare suddenly leaned away and brought her arms up to cover her face, like Silver was spitting some kind of acid at her. The young changeling watched her with a surprised, but also ashamed face. It seems she had really left a lasting mark on the girl and she was disappointed with herself for not having better self control.

In the end, she gave up and returned her hand to her backpack on her chair. “I’m sorry.”

Sunny Flare was the first to leave the room, scooting away from Silver and walking out as fast as her legs would move her, disappearing from sight in less than five seconds.

Silver hoisted her backpack over her shoulders and sighed. This task definitely wasn’t going to be an easy one.

Pulling out her cell phone, Silver dialled for her aunt to come pick her up. She sighed, mentally readying herself for whatever her mother had in store for her.

It was going to be a long day.

Ebony Wings was waiting in the courtyard when Silver returned home and got changed. The actress had a stoic frown on her face, and before her on a folding table were two glass bottles, one red, one close to black.

Silver looked around at the table. The other emotions were missing, including her favorite one. “Is-Is this my punishment, mother? Where are the other emotions?”

“This is all we’ll be playing with today, princess,” Ebony walked out from behind the table and leaned in close to Silver’s face. “Is that a problem?”

“Umm… n-no, mother…” Silver looked away and took one step back.

“Good.” Ebony walked back behind the table. “Now, as punishment and as more training, seeing as you can’t seem to control your anger, I’m going to menace you. I’m going to say mean things and I’m going to try to make you lash out. You will not. Am I clear, my daughter?”

“Um, yes, mother…” Silver didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“Good,” Ebony said and uncorked the red bottle. “Then let’s begin.”

Once again, that spicy scent of anger began to waft out and around in the air, making Silver want to cover her nose. After so many days practicing to handle anger, it still had a burning sensation to it, though not as bad as the first time she had inhaled it.

Then without warning, her mother was beside her, giving her shoulder a shove.

“Hey, what do you normally have for breakfast? It’s making you uglier than normal,” she said in a different voice than her normal Ebony Wings voice. Then she shoved Silver harder, knocking her back a step.

“Mother-”

“I’ve seen rhinos than are prettier than you are,” Ebony smirked and pushed her daughter again. “What are you going to do about this, Silver?”

“Please, mother, stop.” Silver was already putting her concentration into tuning out the smell of anger from the bottle, but her mother’s actions were making it harder for her to concentrate, plus, the words she was saying were somewhat hurtful.

“You call this fighting against anger?” Ebony stopped and folded her arms. “Terrible effort, Silver. You have to try harder than that.”

“I’m trying-”

“Trying isn’t good enough, Silver!” Ebony pushed her again. “You have to give it your best, even if someone is threatening you like I am. Can you handle the insults? Can you handle the pain?”

Whipping a hand back, Ebony slapped her daughter across the face. Silver’s head flinched to the side as she stared surprisedly at one of the courtyard’s many trees.

Did she really ju-just…

She slowly raised a hand to her cheek, which was now starting to turn red.

“So what happens if someone does that to you outside, huh?” she faintly heard her mother’s voice. “Are you going to fight back? Are you going to tear down their cubicle door to get them back?”

“No, I won’t fight back, mother…” Silver looked back at Ebony, lowering the hand at her cheek. It was starting to sting, but Silver fought it off, just like how she was fighting off the urge to hit her mother back. She couldn’t give in to the anger.

“Yes, you won’t fight back. Remember, Silver. You are pretending to be a human. If you react like you did again, you risk revealing our kind to the world. The humans didn’t take kindly to us when they found out we were different. So what are you going to do now? You’re pathetic, Silver. Surely I taught you better than for you to lose your cool in a changing room incident.”

Without warning, Ebony slapped Silver across the other cheek, hard enough to send her tumbling to the ground on her side.

“Ow, mother…” Silver rubbed her other cheek, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“So if someone were to hit you like that in school, what would you do?” Ebony glowered over her, her eyes turning into green fires. “Would you get up and try to strangle them? Or would you walk away?”

“I’ll-I would walk away…” Silver said, her voice slightly trembling.

“That’s what you say, yes.” Ebony crouched down beside her daughter. “But what if they don’t let you go? What if they do it again.”

Then she slapped Silver again, knocking her to her arms, scrapping her left arm across the brick flooring. Before Silver could get up, she was slapped across the other cheek, knocking her to the opposite side.

Silver lifted her hands to cover her face, but her mother pushed her arms aside and slapped her again.

The young changeling almost stopped fighting the anger, wanting to strike back at her mother really badly, but she fought against it, even after she was slapped again and her tears began to trickle down her face.

She couldn’t let the anger consume her. Even if her mother was doing something like that, she knew she had to fight back against the urges to attack. It was what she was training to avoid. She couldn’t give in now, not after enduring so many slaps and insults from her mother.

Keep holding back, Silver. You have to…

Unfortunately, the thoughts of her mother treating her like that was too much for the girl to bear. She began sobbing, quiet whimpers escaping her mouth as her mother hit her again.

Then there was an almighty crash from above, and Ivory Wings landed in a crouch next to Silver in a shower of broken glass. Both her hands were ablaze with green flames, and in her right she held a scimitar.

“Where are they?” Ivory hissed, her eyes darting this way and that. “Who dares to lay a hand on… Oh,” she said, seeing Ebony Wings. “It’s you.”

“What on earth are you doing?” Ebony looked at her broken window. “You’re paying for that.”

“Nevermind that!” Ivory pushed her sister out of the way and went to her niece’s side, checking her for injuries. “Just what have you been doing out here?” Her eyes found the red bottle and she corked it up immediately. “What are you doing to your own daughter?” She wrapped her arms around her niece to console her.

Silver didn’t hold back, letting her sobs out into her aunt as she clung tightly to the older changeling. With the smell gone, she was glad it was all over, though she could still feel her cheeks throbbing with pain.

“Shh… Shh… It’s okay. I’m here for you,” Ivory murmured comfortingly. She took this opportunity to glare at Ebony Wings. “Just what the hay were you thinking?” Ivory growled at her sister.

“I was teaching her the important lesson on how to deal with her anger,” Ebony reasoned. “After what happened in school, she needed more lessons on how to react when these things happen! She needs to learn how to control her emotions!”

“But like this!?” Ivory let go of Silver and marched right up to Ebony, her fingers hooked and claws ready to strike. “You won’t teach her anything like that. All you’ll succeed in doing is making her resent you. Do you know anything about training at all?”

“Well, that’s what I have you for,” Ebony rebuffed.

“Then why in the name of all that is wrong did you not bring her to me to start with?” Ivory waved one hand at Silver, who was still sniffling. “If you know that I can do it better, why didn’t you just come to me?!”

“Well, I thought I’d give it a try…”

“No, you weren’t thinking.”

Ivory spun on the spot and hurried back to Silver’s side, escorting her back into the house, leaving behind a perplexed and slightly regretful Ebony Wings.

All too soon, it was time for dinner.

The clock struck six, signalling everyone to gather in the dining room. Silver Rose, escorted by Ivory Wings, made her way to the long table, where the sirens, but not her mother, were seated. The sirens looked at Silver, but didn’t say anything.

Ivory Wings had applied some special ointment on Silver’s cheeks after her training, helping to reduce the pain, but they were still slightly red and it still looked like Silver had painted something on her face.

Once she made sure her niece was seated and there were no problems, Ivory headed for her seat and sat down, her eyes looking to her sister’s empty chair. She raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing and got ready for dinner.

Silver Rose looked down at her hands, still thinking about what her mother had done. She knew her mother had the good intention of making sure she would never compromise their identities, but the way she had done it made Silver feel empty. It had her feel like her mother didn’t love her.

She sat in silence, pondering how her mother could do such a thing to her and hurt her feelings like that. Aunt Ivory had been right. Her mother had only made her resent her, if only slightly. Silver didn’t like what she had done to her.

After another twenty minutes of silence and thinking, Silver looked up as her mother threw open the dining room doors. As expected, the queen strolled in and sat at her chair like nothing had happened earlier, signalling the maids to bring out the food.

When dinner arrived, Silver got started on her plate of pasta, at the same time, keeping an eye on her mother. She really wanted to know if her mother perhaps felt even a little bit guilty about what she had done, but by the looks of it, she was still pretending like nothing had happened. Aunt Ivory sat beside her mother, busy eating her dinner, not once making eye contact with her mother.

Silver took a sniff in the air, but stopped when she found disappointment. It didn’t taste very nice, so she got back to eating her delicious food first. Perhaps in the end, her mother really didn’t love her as much as she thought.

When she was finished with her meal, Silver cleaned her mouth and sat in silence again as the maids came back to clear their crockery. The sirens were the first to get up and leave, talking about homework as they exited the dining room.

Deciding she had enough of awkward silences, Silver pushed her chair out and decided to head to her room.

“Wait.”

The order had come from Ebony Wings, who was still seated, holding onto a tall glass of wine. Silver stopped, first looking to her aunt to see what to do.

Ivory leaned back in her chair and watched her sister with narrowed eyes before nodding once.

Silver sat back down, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible, even though she was she the others could taste her apprehension for the situation.

Ebony leaned back on her chair and twirled a finger through her long dark hair.

“Look,” she said slowly. “Silver. It has come to my attention that earlier today, we tried something we really shouldn’t have.”

“‘We’?” Ivory said from her chair. “Come on, sister. If you’re going to do this at least take some responsibility for your actions.”

“Does it really matter, Ivory?” she dragged.

“Yes. Yes it does.” Silver’s aunt looked like she was about to slap a hand to her forehead.

“Fine then. I tried something I shouldn’t have done.”

There was a long pause before Ivory cleared her throat. “Continue, Ebony.”

“The thing is…” Ebony said, pursing her lips and staring to the side. “Well, I wanted to say that I overstepped my bounds today, subjecting you to the bottle of anger. That was… incorrect of me to do.”

“It isn’t the bottle of anger that was wrong, sister,” Ivory said scornfully. “Silver’s been training with the different bottles of emotion. It’s something else that you did that was overstepping your bounds, as a mother to her daughter.”

Ebony Wings shot a dour glare at her sister, who returned the stare in kind.

“Fine. I overstepped my bounds today with a rather ineffective method of teaching you to control your anger. Silver, I was wrong to say those things to you, and it was wrong of me to strike you. And for that, I would like to say… I’m sorry.”

Silver was taken aback for a second. Her mother never apologized for anything. This must’ve taken her a long time to think over before coming down for dinner, which would also explain why she was late. In the end, maybe she did care, at least to a certain extent. Silver was glad. At least she knew her mother went through a lot of effort to say this.

“It’s okay, mother,” Silver Rose nodded. “It was my fault that brought you to do this. If I hadn’t overreacted in the changing room and torn the door down, you wouldn’t have needed to discipline me.”

“Oh, Silver, you’re so quick to forgive your mother.” Ivory Wings looked back at her sister. “But I guess if your daughter forgives you, then I have nothing more to say.”

“Indeed…” Ebony Wings breathed. “Well, if that’s all, I have to go pick some belladonna from the garden. I’ll see you later, Silver, sister.”

“Why on earth are you picking belladonnas for?” Ivory got up and adjusted her spectacles.

“For alchemy, of course,” Ebony said loftily. “You may love your hemlock, but I prefer belladonna.”

“Huh, alright…”

When Ebony Wings left the dining room, Ivory circled over to her niece and placed both hands on the young changeling’s shoulders. “You alright, sweetie?”

“Yeah…” she said, putting a hand up to her cheek. “I didn’t think she’d actually apologize.”

“Me too…” Ivory patted her niece’s shoulders. “ She must’ve used every muscle and effort in her body and mind to apologize. It’s not something she does. Well, I’m glad it’s all clear now, but Silver, you can be sure I’ll be monitoring each and every one of your training sessions with your mother now. I’m not letting her try anything like that again.”

Thanks, Aunt Ivory,” Silver managed a smile, her mood bolstered by the love and adoration wafting from the older changeling.

“Now, I have a bit of free time. How about we go upstairs and you show me how the Neighstation works?”