“Okay, open your eyes, Sunny,” Sugarcoat said, dropping her hands from her friend’s face.

Sunny Flare inched her eyes open and realized they were at the cinema, and not just that. She was standing before a poster board of Fast Bender, dressed up as an android once again for the movie, Xeno: Pact.

“Fast Bender!” Sunny gasped excitedly. Up close, he was so handsome. More handsome. She had to control herself from just going up and kissing the cutout. He looked like he was actually here, smiling at her.

“I knew this would cheer you up.” Sugarcoat smiled smugly and pushed her glasses up her nose.

“Three tickets, just for us. Our treat for you.” Sour Sweet waved the tickets in her hand. “Just don’t get used to it.”

“We figured this will help with your current situation.” Sugarcoat patted her mulberry haired friend on the shoulder.

Sunny nodded, so glad that her friends, the ones she had turned away before, were here and trying to cheer her up.

Things haven’t been easy for her since the day Silver Rose had tried to kill her in the changing room. The other students have also taken steps up, not afraid to bother her about it. Sunny didn’t have the strength or the will to turn them away. Instead, she’d go home everyday and cry about it. Sugarcoat must’ve realized that and orchestrated their coming to the cinema.

“Come on, let’s go watch the movie,” the bespectacled girl beckoned, leading the way in. “And don’t you worry, Silver Rose isn’t here.”

“Why are you even afraid of her?” Sour Sweet walked alongside Sunny. “She looks just like us, except for some fantastic sports abilities.”

“She’s just horrified by the experience, Sour Sweet,” Sugarcoat said and waited for the purple haired girl to give the attendant their tickets. “Give her time and she’ll be back to being the Shadowbolt she trained to be.”

“As long as she doesn’t start going after Silver Rose again.” Sour Sweet folded her arms.

“I won’t.” Sunny shook her head. “I promise. I’m done with trying to take her down. We should just focus on the Friendship Games from here, like you suggested.”

“Well said, Sunny,” Sour Sweet smirked and lifted a fist as the attendant let them in. “We’re going to win this one, like Crystal Prep always does.”

Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat located their seats in the theater hall and sat themselves down, waiting for the movie to start.

Soon, the theater lights began to dim and the first advertisements began to show. There was one for a jewelry store, one for insurance, and, funnily enough, one for cinema advertising. Then the movie trailers began to show. The first one was for the latest Daring Do, although the trailer was narrated by none other than Ebony Wings, who had reprised her role as Cat Scratch again.

Thinking about Ebony Wings made Sunny thinking about Silver Rose, which sent chills down her spine. She put her feet on the chair and hugged her legs close to her chest, trying to feel warmer.

After that was a trailer for the upcoming Rapid and The Angry 7, which starred Van Diesel, an acclaimed actor, much like Ebony Wings and Fast Bender, though, in her opinion, he wasn’t as charming.

When that was over, the lights around them went out completely, signaling the start of the movie. Ominous music began to play as the logos came up, making Sunny’s heart beat faster as she waited for something to happen. The shot opened with a display of space, with hundreds of glittering stars painted across it. Then a spaceship’s hull soared into view. On it was painted the name, Pact.

After that, the camera entered the ship, focusing on the bridge, where two people were talking, and one of them was-

“Fast Bender!” Sunny squealed quietly, and covered her cheeks with her hands. He was so dashing with his blonde hair gelled back like that. “Oh, he’s so hot, right girls?”

“Shh.” Sour Sweet hissed. “I’m trying to watch.”

“Sorry!” Sunny whispered and looked back at the screen.

Eventually, the crew of the Pact, encountered some spores, which hatched out of two crew members who breathed them in. It was gruesome. Almost too gruesome for Sunny, but she didn’t cover her eyes. It was really realistic when the first xeno burst from a man’s back, spraying blood and bones across the room, but Sunny kept her lunch in.

Soon after, the remaining crew members encountered the old android from the first film, which was another copy of Fast Bender.

“There he is again!” Sunny pointed at the screen. “Now there’re two of him! He’s sooo cool.”

“Yes, my eyes also work,” Sugarcoat said quietly. “Now keep quiet or we’ll get kicked out.” Though she ended off with a smile.

Sunny screamed a few times when xenos jumped up at the screen and from around corners, but she really enjoyed the movie. It kept her heart beating and her on the edge of her seat. She really did enjoy horror movies, and having Fast Bender in it just made it all the more enjoyable.

In the end, the heroes managed to detonate the entire structure housing the xenos, escaping only at the last minute before leaving the planet on their ship.

When the credits began rolling and the lights came back on, the girls headed out, with Sunny squealing all about how good the movie was.

“I can’t believe it was the evil Fast Bender that survived at the end! What a twist! But good or bad, that man is so dreamy…”

“True, it was an enjoyable movie.” Sugarcoat wiped at her glasses with a sleeve. “Thankfully not everyone in the theater is like you, Sunny, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

“That was the goal of our visit here,” Sour Sweet said nicely. “It’s nice to see you more normal again.”

“Though now she’s deathly afraid of Silver Rose,” Sugarcoat blurted.

“I-I am n-not,” Sunny stammered, feeling a chill up her spine again as she thought of those glowing purple eyes and the hand that had been around her throat, ready to squeeze her head off her neck.

“You don’t need to hide it, Sunny, everyone already knows about it.”

“Everyone?!” Sunny squawked. “My reputation is ruined…” she put her head in her hands and groaned.

“You pretty much already ruined it when you tried to get back at Silver.” Sugarcoat lifted an eyebrow. “And besides, why do you think so many students are making fun of you now? Stories spread fast.”

“That’s why we brought you to see a movie. To cheer you up!” Sour Sweet put her arm around Sunny. “Though you kept talking and gawking at Fast Bender.”

At that point, the three girls were so busy with their conversation that they almost bumped into another group that was heading in the opposite direction.

“Oh, sorry,” the girl in the center said, backing off. She had blonde hair and glasses, and wore a somber ensemble of red and black. “Hey… I know you.”

“Watch where you’re going next time,” Sunny barked, then looked at her up and down. “Have we met?”

The other girl drew back a little and gave her the barest hint of a smile. “No, but my, ah, sister talks about you a lot. Showed me your MyStable page. Sunny Flare, wasn’t it?”

“What?” Sunny was quite furious. Who would show their sibling someone else’s MyStable account like that?

Suddenly, she was pulled back by Sugarcoat. “Sunny, in case you didn’t recognize her, you’re talking to Moonglade. Silver Rose’s sister.”

“Silver R-Rose?” Now that Sugarcoat had mentioned it, their faces did look similar, but that only made things worse for Sunny.

Her breathing became more ragged and she drew back two steps, her arms already out in front, instinctively ready to defend herself.

Moonglade and the other three girls she was with noticed the stance change and exchanged looks. “Uh, kind of high strung, aren’t you?”

“N-No…” Sunny placed a hand on her chest, trying to calm her heartbeat. “I-I…” Then she fell to her rear and scooted back against Sour Sweet’s legs, holding onto them like they were her only hope. “I can’t, I can’t! Help me…”

Frightening pictures of Silver Rose’s face began to plague Sunny’s mind. She closed her eyes and tried to shut them out, but it was to no avail.

“Wow,” the girl on the far left, one with a purple and blue ponytail, remarked. “What did you- I mean what did Silver do to her? She’s shaking like a leaf.”

“I think you better leave,” Sour Sweet told them. “You’re scaring her.”

Moonglade looked at the stricken Sunny Flare, then to her companions and nodded. Sunny couldn’t help but notice the apologetic face on Moonglade as she and her friends left.

“Come on, Sunny. What happened to you? Why are you like this?” Sour Sweet asked after the other girls had gone. “I know Silver Rose did a strange thing, but you can’t be like this now.”

“Do you want to lose to Canterlot High?” Sugarcoat looked at her sternly. “Because this is how you lose to Canterlot High. We can’t have you on the team if you can’t get over this.”

“What does this have to do with the Friendship Games?” Sunny asked, staggering to her feet.

“It’s a matter of psyche,” Sugarcoat explained. “You’ve got to be on top of your game to win the Friendship Games. You can’t get all jelly legged and sweaty palmed just because you see Silver Rose in the crowd, or think of her at an inopportune time. Get a hold of yourself, girl!”

“But she-she…” Sunny pictured Silver ripping the cubicle door off its hinges. “She could’ve killed me there. She could’ve… I felt it. I was so close.”

“I’m really starting to wonder what went down in the locker rooms that day,” Sugarcoat said pensively. “You’re making it sound like a horror movie.”

“It was scarier than any movie I’ve seen…” Sunny shivered. “First, there was some kind of cry, like a roar of rage or something, then she tore my door right off and tried to strangle me, all the while smiling with those glowing eyes… I swear, I’m not making any of it up!”

“People’s eyes don’t glow,” Sour Sweet pointed out.

“But they were!” Sunny insisted. “I wouldn’t make that up! You were there, Sour Sweet. You saw her rip the door off.”

“It’s true,” she replied sweetly. “And she jumped over our heads during the run.”

Sugarcoat put a hand to her chin and nodded. “True, things don’t add up with Silver Rose here. But Sunny, we need you to go back to normal. Silver likely won’t bother you if you don’t bother her. Just leave her alone and try to focus.”

“O-Okay, I’ll try…” Sunny took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Sugarcoat had a point. Silver only attacked her because she had tossed the girl’s clothes out. So perhaps if she didn’t bother Silver anymore, then she didn’t have anything to worry about. “I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Clearly,” Sugarcoat said flatly. “But from today, it’s time to get serious. No more Silver Rose and changing room doors. Winning the Friendship Games is all that matters. Can I trust you to focus, Sunny?”

“I’ll… I’ll do my best.” Sunny nodded confidently. She just hoped it wasn’t all talk and no show.

“Oh boy, oh boy, this is going to be exciting!” Moonglade sat down in her seat and waited.

She and the sirens had gotten tickets for a movie called Xeno: Pact, which looked like some kind of horror sci-fi movie.

Sonata seemed like she was going to enjoy it, but the other two certainly didn’t. In fact, Adagio looked like she had her mind on something else.

“Adagio, everything alright?” Moonglade asked after reaching over to tap her shoulder. “You seem distracted.

Adagio Dazzle blinked a few times, then waved a hand dismissively. “Everything’s fine.”

“I think she’s still upset that you’re going out with Home Run.”

“Am not!” The poofy haired siren yelled, then looked to the side when other people turned around to look at her.

Moonglade looked at her, then sniffed a few times; there was disappointment coming from her.

“Adagio, do you really?” Moonglade kept her nose on her. “You didn’t say anything.”

Adagio folded her arms and sighed. “I’ve never had to deal with this before. I think it might be a side effect from losing our gems. We’ve become more… human. But what’s done is done, Moony. You’ve got a date tomorrow. Do your best.”

“Really? You’re okay with that?”

“Hey, Ivory’s putting a plan to get our gems working again. If it does, perhaps this feeling will go away.”

“Alright then.”

Moonglade was partially relieved, but also sad for her friend. She didn’t know Adagio had an eye on Home Run, but now, so did she. Even now, the boy was taking up a portion of her thoughts. Moonglade had never gone out on dates before and she couldn’t deny she was excited. She wondered what kind of drinks Home Run liked.

“Gee, you really like Home Run too, huh?” Aria Blaze watched her. “It’s written all over your face.”

“Oh, is it?” Moonglade laughed slightly awkwardly. “Well, I’m supposed to. That’s the idea behind the plan, is it not?”

“I suppose.” Aria blew up at her hair and leaned back. “Whatever. The movie should be starting soon.”

“Hey, Moony.” Sonata tapped her arm. “Question, what exactly did you do to that girl outside? The one that fell back when she saw you.”

“Oh, Sunny?” Moonglade rubbed her head, blushing as she remembered all the mistakes she had done. “I kinda did things no normal person could do. Aaaand… I kinda tried to strangle her too…”

“You did what?” Adagio said with a bark of laughter. “No wonder your mother and aunt were so on edge. Still, as long as you didn’t expose the entire masquerade, I guess they decided it could be forgiven. I expected your mother to get more worked up about it though. When things don’t go her way she usually explodes.”

“She did, I think…” Moonglade touched her cheeks. Her mother had really taken it out on her that day. Thankfully, her aunt had stepped in before it could get any worse. “But I regret my actions. I shouldn’t have gotten worked up myself. I could’ve jeopardized everything my mother and aunt have worked so hard to achieve.”

“Well, no harm done in the end, right?” Sonata said through a mouthful of popcorn. “Except maybe scaring that girl half to death. But hey, it’s kind of funny once you think about it.”

“The punishments weren’t funny…” Moonglade answered, holding a hand to her cheek. Her mother had grounded her at first too, but thankfully, her aunt had managed to put in some word for her to let her come out today.

Eventually, the ads started, followed shortly by the movie. Moonglade was impressed by the realism of the xenos, which didn’t look like they were even computer generated or anything. The movie had a whole fistful of gore and the girl was slightly disgusted with it all, but at least it was an interesting story.

When the movie was all over, Moonglade got off the seat and stretched her arms back. “That wasn’t too bad. Quite interesting, really.”

“It was okay,” Aria said.

“A little too scary, if you ask me…” Sonata got off the chair, her hands shaking.

“That’s because you’re a scaredy-cat, Sonata.” Aria stuck her face in her sister’s.

“Am not!”

“Girls, not now, please.” Adagio rubbed her forehead.

Proceeding out of the theater, Moonglade walked alongside Adagio, hanging back a few steps to keep away from Sonata and Aria, who were still arguing.

She walked along with the more mature siren, saying nothing at first, but then after a sniff of the air around Adagio, Moonglade felt like she needed to speak up again.

“Adagio,” she called, getting her friend’s attention. “Are you… Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine,” Adagio said firmly.

“You don’t smell like you are. You should’ve said something sooner, you know? I didn’t know.”

“You changelings and your sense of smell,” Adagio said with a sigh. “Can’t keep anything from you, can I?”

“Nope,” Moonglade answered happily. “So really, me going out with Home Run, it’s bothering you and I don’t like seeing you like this. Is there anything I could do to make you feel better?”

“Date someone else?” Adagio suggested. “That’s a joke. I know that your mother wants you to see him, I get that. We’ll just have to wait until our gems get fixed, then we’ll see where we stand. These mortal desires are playing havoc with our emotions. Just look at Aria and Sonata.”

“I thought they’ve always been like this.” Moonglade watched as Aria flicked a finger on Sonata’s nose.

“No, they haven’t. We used to get along a lot better than this. With the loss of our pendants, something has gone wrong inside. Aria hides it by picking on Sonata, but I can tell. Sonata’s ditziness is also at an all time high, and her common sense suffers as a result. It’s all out of balance,” the siren said morosely. "I hope your aunt comes up with a way to fix our gems soon, before things spiral out of control even more.”

“Yeah…” Moonglade never thought about it that way. “So you’re okay with me dating Home Run?”

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “I think the term your mother used was ‘hunt’. Same thing though, anyway. I know you need to eat.”

“Thanks for understanding, Adagio.” Moonglade hugged the siren with one arm.

Moonglade and the sirens made their way back outside, where Aunt Ivory was already waiting. As Moonglade got in the car, and watched the city pass by, all she could think of was Home Run and her first date tomorrow. She didn’t know what was going to go down, but she hoped it would be something tasty.

“How did you like the movie?” Ivory Wings asked as she pulled the car into the driveway of their home.

“It was pretty interesting,” Moonglade admitted, remembering how spot on the animation was. “It looked pretty real. The people behind it really didn’t put any stops in that. It was a little scary, I have to say, and maybe too violent, but overall it was nice.”

“I’ll catch it when it comes to Neightflix or something,” Ivory said, parking the car. “Now, let’s get inside before the clock strikes eight. Your mother’s most likely waiting for us. It’s not like she has anything better to do.”