5 days to the Friendship Games

Silver Rose set her things down and sat on her chair, now waiting for Ms. Script to start taking the attendance for their homeroom. The reclusive Twilight Sparkle was already seated when she had walked in, reading a book about electromagnetic somethings. Silver forgot the name and she hadn’t bothered to remember it. She decided to check her phone, finding a message from Home Run, much to her excitement.

So ill c u on friday, canterlot central park?

Silver smiled and typed a reply.

U know it..

She ended it with a smoochy face.

She had planned with him the previous night to go on another date this Friday, this time, to the park to just spend time with each other.

Now that they were officially together, Silver found herself dreaming of things they would do together. For one, kissing. She really enjoyed doing it and she hoped to have a good long time on Friday for lots of kissing.

Wait. Not again… Silver sighed and bent on her desk. I’m Silver Rose. I’ve never met Home Run. Beyond your texts, you shouldn’t break your persona any more than you should. Or mother will be angry. Again.

Stowing her phone for the time being, she turned and waved to Sour Sweet, who was just coming into the classroom. The cranberry haired girl looked a little out of it, with slight dark rings under her eyes. She plonked her bag onto her desk and yawned widely.

“What’ve you been up to, Sour Sweet?” Silver asked from across the room. “You don’t look yourself.”

“Stayed up late studying for the Friendship Games,” Sour Sweet said, taking out her notebook and textbook. “Anything could be on it, so I had to brush up on every subject. Stupid biology and its stupid naming conventions.”

“There’s studying involved in the Games? Sunny doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Like I said, anything could be in it. Anything.”

“Maybe you ought to tell her that…” Silver forced a smile. She was a little uncomfortable from sleeping in the garden’s swinging chair and it had been a rather cold night, so she wasn’t at her full game either. “A little sleepy myself, actually…”

The young changeling had woken up rather groggy this morning, unable to get a good night’s rest. After a simple breakfast of Prench toast and eggs, Silver Platter had driven her to school, with her aunt nowhere in sight. It only made Silver wonder what had occurred last night. Perhaps this was one of those things that better remained a mystery. For the sake of her own sanity, maybe.

“So, how’s the school getting ready for this?” Silver decided to take her mind off her aunt and mother. “Do you guys have any pep rallies planned or something? I’ve heard about them and how they supposedly boost morale?”

Sugarcoat, who was between them, looked up from her textbook and shifted her glasses up. “We don’t really do pep rallies at Crystal Prep. Instead, we get speeches from Principal Cinch.”

“That sounds… boring,” Silver put it simply.

“Well, what do you expect?” Another student in front of Silver asked, turning around. “Besides, we don’t need pep rallies when we’re already the best.”

“Too true!” Another student joined in. “Let’s go, Shadowbolts! Win us another trophy.”

“Yes, we will.” Ms. Script got up and stood in front of the class with her clipboard, ready to begin homeroom. “Now return to your seats. It’s time to begin class. I will have to make sure your English is up to date for the Friendship Games.”

Fancy Pants, a student near the front, raised his hand. “We’re not… having English for the Games, are we Ms. Script?”

“Anything’s possible, young man. The Friendship Games are meant to test you in every way possible, and I’ll be blasted if I do anything but prepare you properly for it. Now. On to attendance.”

Silver Rose looked up at the sun in the sky, squinting as its rays cut down into her vision, forcing her to lift a hand to help reduce the glare. She still couldn’t really feel the heat, but she did find the weather wasn’t as cold as usual.

“Silver, I need your help!”

The young changeling’s attention snapped back to Canvas Splash, who was trying to do sit ups, unable to do them well because Silver had let go of her feet.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Canvas, I kinda spaced out there!” She quickly put her hands back on top of the artist’s shoes, holding her down.

“No biggie,” Canvas grunted as she continued her sit ups. “At least I’m not a part of the Friendship Games. If I was, I would really have to be working at it.”

“Yeah.” Silver looked over to where the Shadowbolts were. Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat were helping each other out, while Sour Sweet was with Lemon Zest. They seemed to be really pushing it, doing way more sit ups than Canvas was.

Silver Rose knew for sure that they had their strength and stamina covered. The question now was if they had their academic side covered. Like Sour Sweet had said, they might have some tests during the Games too. Silver guessed it was reasonable. Athletic skill wasn’t everything. They were an educational institution after all. If there wasn’t going to be any education, it kind of defeats the purpose.

“Alright, switch it up!” Coach Mustang blew on his whistle.

“Forty-five!” Canvas smiled and got up to her knees. “Not too bad. Your turn, Silver!”

“Right, let’s see what I’ve got…”

Going down on her back, Silver crossed her arms on her chest and let Canvas hold on to her feet.

“Everyone ready?” Coach Mustang put the whistle to his mouth. “Then go!”

He blew on it again, signaling for them to start. Silver wasted no time in sitting up to touch her knees, then going back down again almost as fast. The young changeling soon found a good rhythm and kept up her speed, expanding some love to keep going strong.

“Wow, Silver, you’re really going for it!” Canvas gawked at her. “You’re past fifty already! And we still have thirty seconds!”

“I did?” Silver stopped for a second. Whoops. Better turn it down a notch.

She stopped using up her reserves, instead, continuing on at her own skill. She was still quite fit for a teenager, but without her love energy, she was maybe a little less skilled than the Shadowbolts.

“Silver, if you’re tired, you can stop,” Canvas said, a little concerned. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I’ll keep trying, Canvas…” Silver huffed, doing as many sit ups as she could. She could feel the sweat building up on her forehead now, something that didn’t occur from heat, but from the exertion on her body. Maybe I need a little more exercise back home too…

Silver found she hadn’t been exercising as much as she used to ever since she started school. She had stuck to using her love tanks when she had PE, wanting to outshine Sunny and the others, but right now, since they were friends, she didn’t really have to do that anymore. She made it a note to get more training done. Another thing to add to her long list.

Eventually, Coach Mustang’s whistle blew again, letting Silver know to stop.

“How many was that…?” she panted. She hadn’t felt so tired in a long time.

“Man, you had seventy-three, Silver!” Canvas threw her hands up. “That’s crazy! I bet Sunny didn’t even come close.”

“Yeah…?” Silver slowly turned and looked over to the Shadowbolts. Sunny and Lemon Zest were all sweaty, having just done their set as well. The mulberry haired girl noticed Silver looking and gave her a thumbs up. “They seem to be doing fine.”

Moving on to the next exercise, Silver found herself and Canvas doing push ups. Not wanting to rely on her powers again, Silver began doing them using her own strength.

She had only gotten to her twentieth push up, when a loud voice suddenly echoed around the field.

“BEING QUIIIIEEEEET!”

She stopped, and along with the other students and their coach, turned their heads to see a familiar rainbow haired girl standing behind a bush. Silver remembered her from the last time, spying on them.

“Bush to Dash. Code Red,” the bush next to the girl said. Silver looked at it and frowned. “You have been spotted. RUUUUUUUN!”

And then the pink haired girl that had also been here the other day picked up the bush around herself and her legs began a whirl before she zoomed off, once again heading for the carpark. The rainbow haired one stood there for a second, looking at the Silver and the others, then running off after her friend.

Silver scratched her pink hair as she watched them go. This is the second time they’d been here and the second time they had run off. Just what were they hoping to accomplish, she wondered. It wasn’t as if Crystal Prep knew what the events for the Games would be either, with the exception of motocross, and there was no way they would be practicing that during PE.

“I remember them!” Canvas said after the two girls had disappeared from sight. “I drew the rainbow one in my sketchbook. I wonder what they’re doing back here.”

“I doubt it’s because they wanted an autograph,” Silver said, shaking her head.

“I bet they were spies from Canterlot High or something. Trying to find out what we know.”

“Maybe…” Silver got back to her push ups.

“What are they doing out of class anyway?” Canvas pondered. “Don’t they have the same school hours as us?”

“Oh, you make a good point, Canvas…” Silver did another sixteen pushups before Coach Mustang blew his whistle again.

“Switch it up!” Their teacher walked over to the side to inspect the Shadowbolts.

“I think our team has it covered…” Canvas pointed to them as she sat up from her pushups, breathing hard.

Sunny was wiping sweat from her head, but she looked like she could still go for another set easily. Another thing she was doing was looking over at Silver. When she noticed Silver looking back, she quickly looked away.

“Hm,” Silver said to herself, taking a deep sniff. The air smelled of sweat, which in itself wasn’t surprising, but she also smelled something sweet coming from Sunny’s general direction. Sunny got back to her exercises, and the smell vanished so quickly that Silver wondered if it had ever been there at all. “I wonder what’s going on in that girl’s head.”

“What was that?” Canvas swapped over to crunches.

“Oh, nothing.” Silver changed her position as well. “Just a lot going on in my mind, with us being so close to the Friendship Games and all.”

“Yeah,” Canvas agreed, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I wish people wouldn’t take the Games so seriously. Aren’t they supposed to be fun, and build relationships between schools?”

“What? I dunno.” Silver shrugged and began her set of crunches. “I still haven’t been here that long yet. I take it that Crystal Prep is expected to do well?”

“Of course!” Canvas said proudly, exhaling as she brought her upper body back up to her knees. “We always win! We’re the best!”

“Oh. Not so much of a contest then, is it?”

“If you put it like that,” Canvas said thoughtfully. “No, no it isn’t.”

Just then, the coach blew his whistle again, two short ones, then one long one.

“All right, everyone. Good work today. Get washed up and ready for your next class!”

Silver and Canvas glanced at each other.

“Race you,” they said, and were off like a shot.

“I’m home!” Silver Rose announced as she walked in through the front doors.

Silver Platter was the one who had picked her up again, making the girl wonder just what had happened to her aunt. She walked through the house, looking around to see if her aunt was in. Perhaps she had finally gone out to enact her plan on fixing the sirens’ gems, or perhaps it is as Silver guessed, and she was upstairs in her room resting from last night’s ordeal.

“Aunt Ivory?” She called out as she began heading up the stairs to her room. “Are you home?”

“Welcome home, Silver.” To her astonishment, it wasn’t her aunt who answered, but her mother.

Chrysalis glided down the stairs to where Silver was standing, dressed in a simple white t-shirt and a long dark green skirt.

“Oh, mother, you’re home.” Silver watched her warily, in case she still wanted to punish her.

“Yes, I’m currently off from work, seeing as we just came back from Canterbury yesterday.” She raised a hand and caressed the back of it against her daughter’s cheek. “How was school?”

“Umm, school was good, mother.” Silver thought something wasn’t quite right with how happy her mother seemed to be. “We’re just studying and preparing for the Friendship Games now. Are you-are you okay, mother?”

“Yes.” Chrysalis grinned widely and gave her long teal hair a flick. “I’m very much okay. What makes you ask that?”

You’re not normally this happy. And you were destroying the house yesterday…

Silver scratched her head and shrugged. “Um, just wondering, mother. You seem very… happy today.”

“Oh, you can thank your aunt for that.” Chrysalis’ smile widened. “She really gave me a good time last night. I don’t even quite remember why I was so angry with you, but all is forgiven, my daughter.”

“Oh, umm… okay, mother.” Silver tried not to think of what happened in her mother’s room last night.

“You know, I had trained up your aunt back when she still had no idea how to please another?” Chrysalis said proudly. “Well, I and another sister, Chlorina, since we were the oldest. Your aunt didn’t know a single thing back then, but now… I’m proud to have taught her everything I know.”

Too much information, mother… Silver blushed, fighting to keep the images from entering her mind.

“Oh, what’s with the face?” Chrysalis put a hand on Silver’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t shy away from such things. They’re what get us the most love. Shall I show you some techniques?”

“Nothanksmotherihavehomeworkbye!” In a blur, Silver was up the stairs and into her room, closing the door behind herself, breathing in and out to calm her nerves.

Stalking over to her bedside table, Silver picked up her hairband, needing to take her mind off her mother’s words and the pictures of both of them out of her mind. Thinking about Home Run always seemed to work, even if she wasn’t Moonglade right now. Patting down her hair, Silver put the hairband on, adjusting it nicely before sitting down by her desk, grabbing her handheld mirror.

“Mmm, yes. That looks good, doesn’t it?” It also worked well with Silver Rose’s hairstyle.

“I suppose it does,” Mishter Schniffs said from her bed.

“Home Run has pretty good taste.” The girl smiled and turned her head from left to right to admire herself. “Mishter Schniffs, do you think there’s something wrong with mother?”

The stuffed changeling’s head flopped to one side. “Why do you say that?”

“You know. She was so… happy. She’s not usually like that.”

“Your mother’s not allowed to be happy?” Mishter Schniffs sniffed. “Surely it’s within the queen’s rights to be happy. What kind of a complaint is that?”

“I know, I know. It’s just weird.” Silver played with the little lily atop her hairband. It was a fake one, but it was still soft and nice to touch. “What do you think Aunt Ivory did that she’s so happy?”

“Sometimes,” her doll said ominously. “It’s better not to know. There are things that should stay between your mother and your aunt.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Silver clutched her shoulders and shivered. She had heard them within her mother’s room. Perhaps it was better than she just left it at that. She was already so freaked out when they had played with each other out in the courtyard. Anything going on in the privacy of her mother’s room was likely more traumatizing. “Why do you think they do that? They’re sisters… Siblings don’t… you know.”

Mishter Schniffs didn’t answer. Perhaps because he didn’t know the answer. The doll remained silent on her bed before toppling over on its side with a small noise.

“Huh…” Silver turned back to her mirror. Her hairband was really beautiful. Perhaps she would buy something for Home Run too, perhaps on Friday itself or after, but she didn’t know what to get. Perhaps she needed to get to know him better first.

Then there was a knock on her door, taking her attention away from her looks.

“Um, come in,” she said, placing the mirror back down on her table.

The door cracked open a little, revealing the relieved face of Aunt Psithyra, her purple hair in a mess around her face and tied back in a ponytail that was just as messy.

“Hey, sweetie…” She opened the door further so she could walk in. Silver noticed her legs were very close together and she walked with very small steps. Silver’s aunt tottered into her room and closed the door, looking once at Mishter Schniffs. “How was your day at school?”

“It was good,” Silver told her the same thing she told her mother. “We’re preparing for the Friendship Games now. Or at least, the Shadowbolts are. I’m not participating, after all. Umm… do you need help, Aunt Psithyra? You seem to be having trouble walking.” Silver got up from her chair and stopped by her aunt, holding her arm with one hand, the other around her waist. “Here, you can sit on my chair.”

“That’s not necessary, sweetie. I’m just a little sore from, ehehe, last night.” Psithyra gave Silver a small smile and arched her back, stretching. “I think you’ll notice your mother is in a much better mood today, and has even decided to mitigate any punishment she might have had planned.”

“Yes, I met her on the way up. She was way too happy.” Silver still helped her aunt over to her chair, gently setting her down. “Um, did you sleep well, Aunt Psithyra? You have bags under your eyes. That’s quite unusual for… you and mother.”

“No, I didn’t sleep last night, as a matter of fact,” Psithyra said, wincing as she stretched her legs out. “Your mother’s stamina is decidedly impressive, for a older woman.”

“Oh, well, uh…” Silver’s face turned red. “I-I didn’t know… that. But uh, you can’t keep up with mother, Aunt Psithyra? Uh, and did you manage to get some sleep when I was at school?”

“I’m younger and less powerful than she is, so no.” Psithyra stuck out her long tongue. “As for sleep, I’m afraid not. Your mother made it rather uncomfortable to sleep, so I’ve been up since last night. On the plus side, I’m almost done with season one of The Mare’s Temptation.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Silver said, grabbing a comb and tidying up her aunt’s hair. “Is it to your liking?”

“The show or your hairstyling? The show is a magnificent font of love, if a little predictable. Your comb through my hair feels divine, sweetie. But of course, you have a lot of practice with yourself, hm?”

“Of course, Aunt Psithyra.” Silver happily combed her aunt’s hair back down neatly. “You normally keep it all nice too. You must be really tired.”

“I’ll manage.” Psithyra rubbed at her eyes. “Anyway, how is your school preparing for the Friendship Games now? It’s already around the corner.”

“Yeah, everyone’s been studying extra hard this week. I think someone heard that there’s going to be some academics involved in the Games.”

“Well it shouldn’t trouble you overmuch,” the older changeling said. “You’re not participating, save for cheering your school’s team on. I’m not sure I’ll be able to drop by to watch, I’m afraid. There’s no one for me to impersonate this time.”

“You can’t go as yourself? I mean, as Aunt Ivory? That’s a shame. I was looking forward to seeing you there.”

“I’ve done the research. It’s a strictly school-only event. Unless I replace one of the teachers or staff, they won’t allow me in. I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell me all about it though.”

“I guess I can.” Silver removed her aunt’s hair tie, letting her purple hair flow down behind the back of her chair. “Crystal Prep seems to be very competitive. I do hope we win. School’s got a record to keep up and my friends have all trained so hard. It’d be a waste if it was all for nothing.”

“Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll all work out for the better, hmm?” Psithyra patted her niece on her hand. “And if you indeed lose this, don’t worry. It’s only an event.”

“Principal Cinch doesn’t seem to think so,” Silver groused, remembering the foul aura her principal had.

“Well… I have nothing to say about that one.”

Silver began combing down her aunt’s length of hair, straightening out all the knots. “And then we have exams after the Games. I wonder how these school exams work. Have you taken them before, Aunt Psithyra?”

“I never went to a proper school,” Psithyra sighed. “They hadn’t been invented yet. Not that I needed to, but is does deprive me of certain knowledge. I suppose you had best ask your schoolmates about how exams work. I’m out of my element on this one.”

“Alright.” The young changeling kept up her work on her aunt’s hair. “I hope they aren’t too difficult. It wouldn’t look good on my report card if I fail something. Especially not for mother.”

Psithyra shifted in the chair, rubbing at her hip. “I think you’ll do just fine, sweetie. You’re a bright little changeling.”

“And you’re such a good aunt, Aunt Psithyra. I know I’ve told you that so many times, but it doesn’t make it any less true.” Silver finished up and tied her aunt’s hair back into a neat ponytail.

“You’re such a sweet girl.” Psithyra patted Silver on the arm. “You’re one of the reasons I sacrificed myself to appease your mother. I couldn’t stand to see you getting yelled at for something you only had half a part in doing. And well, I guess I did still have a good time with your mother last night.”

Silver Rose made a weirded out face, and wisely did not pursue the topic any further. Her aunt rose to her feet, carefully walking to the bedroom door.

“I’m off to get some ice from the kitchens. Would you like me to send up some afternoon tea while I’m at it?”

“Um, sure! That would be nice.” Silver sat back down and adjusted her hairband. “Thanks, Aunt Psithyra.”

“Anything for my princess.” She pulled open the door, then shuffled outside slowly. “Study well, hmm?”