Sunny Flare dribbled the ball to the side of the court, then like a spring, she shot up and let the ball loose, watching as it flew right into the hoop.

“There we go!” she cheered, clapping her hands together. “How’d you like that?”

“Great work, Sunny!” Lemon Zest pumped an arm out. “You’re going back to being yourself!”

“I sure am, aren’t I?” Sunny dusted her arms. “I had a normal talk with Silver Rose before practice. I think that helped with making me less fearful.”

“Well, good on her for that!”

Both girls left the court and entered the changing rooms. Sunny looked at the broken cubicle, remembering the horrors that had happened in there, but for once, she didn’t break down.

“It’s what I have to do, hmm?” Sunny opened her locker and got her towel out. “The Friendship Games are less than two weeks away now. I can’t afford to pull us down now.”

“Guess not!” Lemon Zest answered happily and put her headphones in the locker. “Welcome back, Sunny.”

Entering a cubicle with a door, Sunny took off her clothes and hung them behind the door, then got to showering her sweat and grime off. She heard the one next to her close as well as Lemon Zest turned on her shower.

“You completely okay, Sunny?” her friend asked as she began washing down her hair. “The cubicle isn’t giving you any bad vibes, is it?”

“No, no, not this time,” Sunny said confidently. “No more nightmares for me now.”

“Yay, first place, here we come!” Lemon Zest whooped from the other side of the cubicle wall.

Sunny looked up at the showerhead confidently and nodded. There were no more chances for messing up here. Whatever Silver had done before, whatever she might be, she was trying to make up for it now by being a friend. Sunny didn’t mind. It helped to take her mind off what had happened in this very room, and she needed all her focus if she wanted to outperform during the Games.

Canterlot High School is but a place for commoners and losers. Crystal Prep had always beaten them in everything, ranging from tennis, to basketball, to baseball, even golf. So what if they were suddenly getting better at what they did? Sunny was going to show them that Crystal Prep would always be the one to come out on top.

She smiled, water trailing down her face, knowing no one was going to stand in her way. Principal Cinch still hadn’t revealed who the twelfth member was, but Sunny knew it would be someone competent. It was a pity Silver Rose didn’t want to take part in the Games; she would likely destroy Canterlot High’s team with ease, though Sunny did want part of the credit too.

Silver Rose… She was such a strange one.

Sunny had recounted the horrible things Silver had done to her many times in her head, but the girl had also done plenty of good. She had carried her to the infirmary not once, but twice, while no one else had done so.

Then there was also the kiss in the cubicle just opposite hers. Sunny touched her lips, remembering the feeling. It was pleasant. Quite different from the kisses she had received from her ex-boyfriend, but felt nice. Then her eyes widened and she blushed deeply, covering herself and taking a step back.

“What’s gotten into you, Sunny?” she gasped.

“What’s that, Sunny?” Lemon Zest asked from the other side.

“Um, nothing!” Sunny quickly said. “It was nothing.”

Finishing up her shower, Sunny dried herself down, then changed into her school uniform before leaving the cubicle, with Lemon Zest already by one of the lockers, but only just putting her bra on.

“Oh, that was fast, Sunny,” she snickered, hooking the back, then fishing her skirt from the locker. “Should’ve thought ahead and brought all this in with me.”

“Yeah, you should’ve.” Sunny grabbed her bag from her locker. “Hey, do you think… do you think Silver Rose is into… girls?”

“What?” Lemon Zest turned to face Sunny. “What makes you say that? Was it because she kissed you?”

Sunny blushed. She forgot everyone had heard the story. “I-I was just wondering…”

“And here I thought you liked guys.” Lemon Zest scratched her head as she zipped up her skirt. “I mean, you and Domino Ace were pretty serious last year before you broke up. You guys used to make out all the time, remember? Even when we were around.”

“Yes, I remember, Lemon Zest.” Sunny glared at her, her cheeks glowing redder. “You don’t need to bring him up again.”

“And Fast Bender,” the lime haired girl said, wagging a finger. “With you always fangirling over him, I figured you were straight.”

“I am!” Sunny protested. “I’m into guys! I adore Fast Bender! I just… weird things have been happening, okay?”

“I mean, if you say so.” Lemon got her headphones out and put them back on, starting up her tunes. “And do I think Silver Rose is straight too? I mean, there’s the possibility she’s not. She did kiss you, after all. Maybe she likes girls.”

“Maybe…” Then Sunny frowned and pointed at her friend. “But I don’t like her, okay? She’s just a friend. I mean, she wasn’t even my friend until now.”

“Okay. I gotcha!” Lemon Zest nodded and did up her bowtie. “Well, I’m done. Shall we?”

“Yeah, I gotta get home fast to have as much time as I can for Ms. Script’s homework,” Sunny sighed. She really hated poets now, for making all their lives so miserable.

“Dude, you really need to work on that English,” Lemon Zest chuckled and began rocking out to a song on her headphones. “Like, what if English comes up during the Friendship Games?”

“English in the Games?” Sunny scoffed. “Please, as if they would put something so trivial into our competition with CHS.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hey, you know what I hope they put in? Speed skating. I love speed skating!”

Sunny’s eyes gleamed as they stepped out of the changing room. “Oh, yes! I hope they have it. We’d totally beat CHS if they added that in.”

“Totally, dude!” They high fived. “Well, I’ve gotta run, Sunny. I’m supposed to meet Sound Wave to swap some tracks with him. You stay okay, alright?”

“Alright, you have fun then.” Sunny waved as the pink-skinned girl ran off down the hallway.

Now there was a girl that was always happy. Sunny wished she could do that, but not everyone had the talent. Thankfully, she’d solved most of her Silver Rose problem, but she had regretted trying to put her in her place before. She pushed the girl to attack her that day and looking back, perhaps she should’ve left her alone like her friends had asked her to do.

Whatever the case, at least they were friends now, and Silver didn’t seem as scary as she was when she had tried to strangle her.

“I wonder what she’s up to now, that Silver Rose?”

Silver Rose sat in her room, her legs curled up to her chest and her wide eyes staring at her wall, looking at nothing in particular and rocking back and forth.

This afternoon didn’t happen, right? It couldn’t have happened right?

She had seen her mother do scenes like that on set before, but to see her and Aunt Ivory get it on, and in their own courtyard... It was weird and it was an image that wasn’t going to go away for a while. It was as though they weren’t sisters right there.

Is this what it’s like to be traumatized? I’m sorry, Sunny.

Then there was a knock at the door, which opened, revealing a charcoal-skinned figure with long purple hair reaching her lower back, dressed in a white sleeveless night top and blue shorts.

“Sweetie, you okay?” Psithyra asked as she walked over to sit beside her niece.

“I’m… not dreaming, am I…?” Silver continued to look at the wall, her mind running in confusion now.

“No, you’re not.” Psithyra stroked the girl’s head gently. “I apologize that our actions, um, disturbed you, but you know we have good intentions? We’re showing you how to hunt and lure your prey in. I mean, soon you’ll be doing what we just did. I mean, we might’ve overdone it a little, but if your relationship keeps going, you’ll get there one day.”

“I know, Aunt Psithyra, that part I know.” The young changeling still continued to look at her blank wall. “And that part I acknowledge is important. What I can’t get over is that you and mother… did things. You’re sisters.”

“Well, that might seem a little unsettling in the regular human life these days, yes…” Psithyra scratched her chin. “But we didn’t have anything else to demonstrate with. That was the best we could come up with. You okay? You don’t look very good.”

“Is it that obvious?” Silver asked bluntly.

“Well, keep in mind that what we… er… demonstrated is probably meant to be used on the fifteenth date or something. Or whenever you feel ready for, uh, that step. Yeah.”

“Yeah, I figured it wasn’t second date material…”

“Right… We might’ve gotten a little carried away with all that…” Psithyra rubbed the back of her neck. “I had planned to end it all before we started taking our clothes off, but, well… If it’s two things your mother is good at, it’s fighting and seduction. Such is her, um, power. As queen. Yeah.”

“So if that’s not second date material...” Silver Rose shuddered at the thought of things going like that on the second date. “Then what is? I have to meet Home Run soon, and I still don’t know what to do!”

“I think how we started today is still applicable. If you’d like, you could start kissing him. On the lips, I mean. That’s always a step to winning a human’s heart. Just… ignore everything else. Maybe sitting on her lap wasn’t the best of things to do first… From what I’ve learnt, humans like touch. They like hugs, they like holding hands, to name a few. Maybe read some poetry.”

“I hate poetry,” Silver said with a frown. “None of it makes any sense.”

“Well,” Psithrya said lightly. “I once poetry’d my way into a heavily guarded fortress while disguised as a geisha to assassinate the lord inside. Poetry works. Sometimes. Other times you just need to dress up as a vampire and scare the crap out of Assassins.”

“That sounds weird.” Silver recovered enough to hug Mishter Schniffs to her chest. “I doubt I’ll ever need to use it. It’s too complicated. Home Run feels the same way.”

“Well, take him out, spend some time with him,” Psithyra listed. “Though what we wanted to teach you was how to get him to want you. You’ve already got the ‘friend’ part covered. Now you just need to fish that love out of him with the art of seduction.”

“It sounds so… low when you put it that way,” Silver said, raising her doll to her nose and taking a sniff.

“Sie sind das essen und wir sind die jäger, sweetie. You can’t expect to not hunt and still get food, it just doesn’t work that way.”

“Well, that’s why I’m learning…” Silver thought back to what her aunt and mother had done. “Do I… Do I have to do all of that eventually? All of it? I don’t know if I can, um, take my clothes off for someone else…”

“Then do it when you’re comfortable, sweetie.” Psithyra rubbed her niece’s back. “Getting intimate will usually get you the most love, plus, it feels good, if you’ve got a competent partner.”

“I don’t think I’m ready for something like that…” Silver said queasily. “I mean, I don’t even know how.”

Psithyra looked to the side. “As much as I would like to teach you, I somehow think that after today you’d prefer that I don’t.”

Silver widened her eyes and looked back at the wall. “Y-Yeah, maybe not yet… Where did you learn all this from, Aunt Psithyra?”

The older changeling had pulled her purple hair in front of herself and began combing it with one of Silver’s combs. “Why, your mother, of course. She had taught me how to control my emotions after my mistake cost us our home so long ago. Of course, she taught me how to please another alongside all of that.”

“Oh… So you two have… done these things to each other before…”

“Eh, well… yes, but my memory’s fuzzy when it comes to stuff that long ago.” Silver’s aunt shrugged. “But I have had a lot of experience since then with humans. They’re easy once you know what buttons to push.”

“Oh, okay. So do you think Home Run would... react like how mother reacted to you today?”

“Ha. Anything’s possible, so I advise you keep your affections moderately low-key until you can establish what turns him on. A good indication would be to get a look at his computer, but until we can figure out a way to get into there without arousing suspicion, I’d say to play it cool. Maybe I can put that phone to good use…”

“Okay, Aunt Psithyra…” Silver squished Mishter Schniffs’ head in her hands. “I think he’s a nice boy. He’s always willing to help me out. I can’t wait for the date this Friday, though… I’m a little worried I might mess up.”

“Hmm. Curb your enthusiasm. Your sister is the one going on the date, not you. Other than that, stay civil, stay polite, and stay kind, and everything should fall into place. It’s early days yet.”

“I’ll try, Aunt Psithyra.” Silver also worried about looking at Home Run. After what her mother had done today, dressed up as Home Run, she hoped she wouldn’t imagine too much of that during her date. “Did you and mother really have to do all that for me today, Aunt Psithyra? Couldn’t you have just told me how to do it instead?”

“Eh, well… you know the saying, ‘when I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large’?”

Silver Rose shook her head, confused at what eggs had to do with all this.

“Well, you see, when you eat a lot of eggs, it’s not always a nice feeling, but if you do it, you’ll get large, which is a good thing. The man who told me that had been eating eggs like that for most of his life, and he was quite a specimen. Almost all the girls in the village wanted him. So if there’s unpleasantness now, endure it and it’ll get better. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Psithyra said with a smile.

“I think so…” Silver Rose nodded, though she was sure her aunt was just making things up now.

“Good!” the elder changeling grinned. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to put my Ivory Wings persona back on.”

“I think you look prettier as Aunt Psithyra, Aunt Psithyra,” Silver told her. “By the way, what ended up happening to the man who told you about the eggs?”

“Oh, he ended up dying of heart disease,” Psithyra said with a chuckle. “Don’t eat that many eggs. It’s not good for you.”

When Psithyra returned to her room to look for her hair tie, she was instead greeted by something else. Something else in a silk night robe with long teal hair, lying across her bed like it was her own.

“Welcome back, sister dear,” Chrysalis said with a smirk at the side of her mouth. “Are you ready for round two?”

“What, already?” Psithyra raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you need your beauty sleep or something?”

“You can’t expect me to forget what we did this afternoon, do you?” She slightly lifted a leg, parting the night robe below. She didn’t have anything else on under them. “You’ve left me hungry, Thyra.”

“You scared your daughter, you know? When I went into her room, she was rocking back and forth and staring at the wall.”

“Well, you had some part in that too…” Chrysalis batted her eyelids and flicked a hand through her long smooth hair. “I wasn’t the only one to get carried away.”

“Fine, but can this wait another night?” Psithyra went to her bedside table and picked up her hair tie. “I’ve got some more preparations to make after I put my persona back on.”

“No, I don’t want to see Ivory Wings right now.” Chrysalis inched closer to her on the bed. “I want my sister the way she is…” And then she reached out and pulled Psithyra down, cuddling her close. “It’s been almost aeons since we last got this intimate.”

“You exaggerate,” Psithyra chuckled and gave her sister a pat. “But really, I have to prepare for my work.”

“Surely you’ll have more time in the week…” Chrysalis leaned close and sniffed, bringing her nose up her sister’s face. “I on the other hand, have to head off to Canterbury tomorrow afternoon for my movie. I’ll only be back on Tuesday. That’s almost a week from now.”

Psithyra sat up and looked at her. “And your point?”

“I want to settle my urges before I leave, you see…” She got up as well and leaned in towards Psithyra. “You’ll help me won’t you? My dear sister… And you’ll look after my daughter while I’m gone?”

“You know I’ll look after her.” Psithyra grinned and placed a hand on her sister’s cheek. “You won’t have to worry about her with me around.”

“I’m glad I can count on you, Thyra.” Then she pulled the sash of her night robe, letting the garb fall of her shoulders. “For so many things…”

Psithyra sighed, then smiled and removed her top, followed by her bra. “The things I do for you, my queen.”

“That’s because you love me, hmm?” Chrysalis leaned closer for a kiss.

“You’re right on that.” Psithyra wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck and returned the kiss. “I love you, Chrysalis.”