2 days to the Friendship Games

Moonglade had been home all Saturday, finishing up some of her weekend homework and studying. After her violin and sword fighting lessons, Moonglade entered her bathroom, turning on the cold water to have a nice cooling shower. Seeing as she wasn’t going anywhere tomorrow and no one else was coming, she decided to wash off her persona, wanting to just relax and be herself for the night.

As Chrysidea stepped out of her shower, she took the chance to admire her body in the mirror as usual, before grabbing her towel and drying herself off. It was about dinner time now and having wet hair at the dining table was something she wanted to avoid. Plugging in her hairdryer, she got to work at fixing the problem, soon returning her turquoise hair to its dry and curly state.

She had inherited the curls from her father, at least that’s what she deduced, seeing as her mother had straight hair. Chrysidea had never met her father, because he had been killed before she was even born. The only things she had of him were her turquoise eyes and hair, if indeed he had the same.

Exiting her bathroom, Chrysidea threw her towel to the side, then entered her walk in closet, looking through her clothes. She first picked out her set of black underwear, putting them on before grabbing her blue sleeveless top and black skirt. In no time, she was dressed and ready to head down for dinner.

Stopping only to pick up and wear the hairband Home Run had gotten for her, Chrysidea was soon skipping down the staircase, running into the sirens on the first floor, also on their way to dinner.

“Hey, girls, you hungry?” she asked, hopping down the last step.

“Dea! You’re back!” Sonata Dusk wrapped her arms around the changeling’s back, squeezing hard.

“She’s been around all day, doofus.” Aria slapped her sister on the neck, before pulling her off Chrysidea.

“I meant her persona!” Sonata stomped a foot. “And I’m not a doofus!”

“Ugh…” Adagio stepped aside and pulled Chrysidea to the side where they were out of the way of her two arguing sisters. “Here we go again. Really, this is becoming a problem…”

Chrysidea figured she’d waited on the side too long. She had to do something. Stepping in between them, she pushed both sirens aside, stretching her arms out.

“Okay, you two, please. Don’t you think this fighting solves nothing?” she pleaded, hoping to make them see reason. “Can’t we all just be nice?”

“I’ll be nice when she’s dead!” Aria tried to reach for Sonata, but Chrysidea held her back.

“I don’t even know what I do to upset you!” Sonata wailed on the other side of the changeling. “I’m not doing anything wrong. Am I?”

“Everything you do is wrong!”

“Okay, girls, really!” Chrysidea raised her voice and gave them both a push. “Could you two just stop fighting for now and let’s go have dinner? Don’t keep everyone waiting!”

“She’s right, you know?” Adagio said, pushing the dining room door open. “Chrysalis doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Whatever…” Aria huffed and was the first of the group to enter the dining room.

“You see what I have to deal with all day?” Adagio rubbed her forehead and leaned her back against the wall next to the doors. “All. Day. I don’t even know why we go everywhere together.”

“Aw, cheer up, Adagio!” Sonata grinned, hopping over. “It isn’t as bad as it looks.”

“Trust me, Sonata, it is.” The orange haired siren pulled down at her face. When she was done, she pushed off the wall and went into the dining room, grumbling to herself how she was so unlucky.

“Everyone’s so down about all this…” Sonata scratched her head, then shook off the frown and put a smile back on her face. “Anyway, I’m hungry, Dea! And that’s a nice hairband! It makes you look pretty!”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Chrysidea touched her beautiful present and grinned. It really went well with all her personas. “Well, let’s not waste anymore time. We’ve got some food to eat.”

Following Sonata into the dining room, Chrysidea gave a wave to her aunt and mother, who were already seated at the long table.

“Took you long enough,” was the first thing Chrysalis said when she spotted her daughter. “I thought I should bring some dinner up for you if you weren’t coming down soon.”

“Wait, what…?” Chrysidea said before she could stop herself. “I mean, uh, thank you for thinking about me, mother.”

In the end, the young changeling just guessed her mother was still in a good mood. She made a note to not upset her again too soon. Her mother being nice was something extremely rare. In fact, she had never seen her mother this happy ever.

“Since we are all here…” Chrysalis stood up and clapped her hands, signalling the maids to bring the food out. “Dinner is served.”

Tonight, dinner consisted of spaghetti, lasagna, chicken drumlets and a bowl of broccoli. It all looked so good, but then again, everything cooked in the Wings’ Estate always looked really delicious, plus it all tasted good too.

“So, Dea…” Chrysalis asked after swallowing a forkful of spaghetti. “How was your day? How were your lessons?”

Chrysidea cut up her chicken drumlet and cleared her throat. “It was okay today, mother. Violin lesson was as per usual. Sword fighting lessons were a bit more aggressive today, but I managed to follow Ms. Lionstrike’s instructions. It’s certainly easier than fencing. There are far less rules.”

“Gee, I want to try fencing!” Sonata waved a hand excitedly. “You think you could teach me, Dea?”

“Sonata, you do not want to try fencing,” Aria said through a mouthful of spaghetti, one strand hanging out of her mouth. “You’re too dumb for it and you’ll likely just hurt yourself. Actually you know what? Go for it.”

“Girls, please, not at the dinner table.” Ivory Wings shot them both a look, tipping her glasses lower. “Not in front of the queen.”

“Yes, girls.” Chrysalis smiled at them. “I’m in a very good mood as of late. We don’t need any negativity around the house.”

“Wait, you?” Aria raised an eyebrow at her. “In a good mood? I mean, the reason I spend more time with you than with Ivory is because you aren’t always happy and cheery.”

“No offense, Chrysalis,” Adagio quickly added for her sister.

“None taken currently.” Chrysalis began humming as she spun more spaghetti around her fork. It was really disturbing for Chrysidea to see her mother like that, but at least she wasn’t destroying things around the house. “It’s all thanks to Ivory here. She showed me a good time the other night. A really good time. Won’t you say so, sister dear?”

“As much as I don’t want to talk about it right now…” Ivory spun her utensils in her hands. “It was a good time. Left me sore for a couple of days, but it was a good time spent with my older sister.”

The two changelings shared a look, then both smiled. Chrysidea simply scrunched up her face in minor disgust.

“Oh?” Adagio Dazzle leaned closer and smirked. “You two haven’t done something like that in a long time… Do tell…”

“Well, it was rather simple, actually.” Chrysalis dabbed a napkin over her mouth. “First, Thyra just came over and started getting intimate, then after a steamy session of kissing and touching, I went over to my cupboard to get my-”

“Mother!” When all eyes turned to Chrysidea, she blushed and hid her face behind her hands, looking through her fingers with one eye. “Umm… I… Can we, um, talk about something else…?”

Instead of looking put off, Chrysalis instead cleared her throat and nodded, picking up her fork again. “Right. My apologies, Dea. This is a topic we shouldn’t discuss at the dinner table.”

Chrysidea began to calm herself, taking deep and long breaths. Perhaps having a nice mother wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Wow, you really must be in a good mood, Chrysalis!” Sonata said with a mouthful of chicken, spitting it out over the table.

“It’s true, I am.” Chrysalis leaned to the side and flicked a hand through her long hair. “Perhaps you could spend the night with me again, Thyra?”

“Not so soon again, Chryssie. And don’t mention it in front of your daughter. She’s traumatized enough as it is.”

“What? What’s wrong with what we do?” Chrysalis wore a confused face, then looked at Chrysidea. “I’m just expressing my love for my sister.”

“Because humans don’t do that…” Ivory stressed. “Not anymore at least. Human siblings don’t usually go to bed together.”

“Ah…” Chrysalis wagged a finger and smirked. “That’s where we’re different, dear. Did you think we all came from the same mother?”

“I think that’s all talk for another day, sister.” Ivory put a hand on her sister’s arm. “The story is too long and it’ll bore them all.”

What? No, I want to hear mother’s and Aunt Ivory’s origins… Chrysidea thought in her head, but didn’t say it out loud.

Ivory sniffed and found Chrysidea’s questioning look, then frowned slightly. “I don’t think you’ll like the story, sweetie. But perhaps another time, when we have more time, hmm?”

“Umm, okay, Aunt Ivory…” Chrysidea smiled sheepishly. It was hard to hide anything in this household.

The family continued on with their dinner until the last drumstick was gone. With the maids coming to clear the table, Chrysidea hopped off her chair and began making her way back to her room, still needing to get more of her homework done.

Perhaps I can get some help from Home Run…

Now that was something she really looked forward to.

Sunny Flare sat in Lemon Zest’s room, brooding over her homework, resting her head on her palm and mumbling all kinds of curses on their teachers for assigning so much homework over the weekend to prepare them for the Friendship Games.

“This isn’t preparation!” Indigo Zap wailed and slammed her head against the desk. “This is torture before the Games. And they really want us to win?”

“Intense study like this is good for the mind.” Sugarcoat pushed up her glasses. “It keeps it sharp. Your whining, on the other hand, isn’t good for anything.”

“She’s right, you know, girls?” Lemon Zest was busy listening to something on her headphones while she worked. “Just keep at it! If we really want to win, we’ll need all this information!”

“Are we even sure the Games will have academics?” Sour Sweet tossed her eraser up into the air. “What if someone lied and is trying to throw us off track?”

“Now that they’ve mentioned studies, it does make sense.” Sugarcoat rubbed her chin and looked at her friends. “We’re in school. Academics in the Games will only further our learning. That’s exactly what a school will want to do. As to how they’ll test us, we still don’t know.”

“I hope it’s not some stupid spelling bee…” Sunny blew up at her fringe and placed her head in her arms. “Spelling bees are for kids.”

“You’re just hoping they don’t test you on your bad English skills, right?” Sugarcoat said bluntly.

“Hey! My English is standard!” Sunny yelled, pointing a thumb at herself. “At least I still get a pass in that class!”

“Yeah, at least you do…” Sour Sweet replied sweetly. Then an alarm on her phone stole her attention. “Whoops, looks like it’s pills time.”

While the cranberry haired girl dug through her backpack, Sunny went back to looking over her homework, finishing up the last of her math work. At least her other subjects were easy enough. She still had no idea how she could struggle so much with English homework, which she spoke all the time.

They had all met up at Lemon Zest’s place to work on their homework together, deciding since they’re going to be working as a team during the Friendship Games, then they should actually start practicing now. The girl’s room was mostly pink, except for her tech and speakers, which were all black and green. She had a large pink stuffed toy of a bear on her bed, and it had some sort of flower on its white chest.

“Do those actually work, Sour?” Lemon Zest pulled off her headphones and watched as her friend grabbed two capsules from a box from her bag. “I mean, it doesn’t seem to do much.”

“Trust me…” Sunny slammed her math book shut and replaced it in her bag. “It makes a difference. You should see her without them.”

“Yeah, she’ll start talking to herself like there are more people in the room!” Indigo added her piece. “Kinda creepy, actually. Makes your hair stand when you think about it too much.”

“Girls, can we focus on the studying?” Sugarcoat said angrily, tapping her fingers on the table to get their attention. “Do you really want to win?”

“Of course we do!” Indigo looked proudly to the ceiling. “Winning is everything!”

Sunny nodded in agreement, then got back to her homework, pulling out her dreaded English textbook. While she worked on it, she started thinking about Silver Rose and what she could possibly be up to this night. Surely she was at home studying alone, but at least she wasn’t taking part in the Games.

Maybe I should’ve asked if she wanted to join us for studying…

Then Sunny thought back to what she had done the other day and blushed deeply. A hand drifted down to her lap, embarrassed about what she had done. Somehow, her plan that night had failed completely and now she was sure she had strange feelings for Silver Rose, even if she didn’t want to accept it.

“Sunny?” Sugarcoat was the one who noticed her looking distracted. “Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”

“Yeah, your face is all red!” Lemon Zest stood up and leaned closer to see. Sunny drew back away from her, hoping she wouldn’t say more. Unfortunately, being Lemon Zest, she did. “You’re not fantasizing about a boy are you? Is it Domino?”

“I thought you said you were over him?” Indigo inched closer as well. It seemed their studying was currently forgotten. “You’re not trying to win him back, are you?”

“I-I’m not!” Sunny’s face grew redder and she turned away.

“Come on, Sunny.” Indigo gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder. “If you really want him back, all you have to do is win the Friendship Games. Surely he’ll recognize that achievement.”

“Yeah, who can resist such a feat?” Sour put her hands together and clutched them near her face. “But why would you want him back after he dumped you? What are you after?”

“I’m not-”

“Oooh, don’t tell me you want to finish what you started?” Lemon Zest began bouncing in her seat. “You two only used to kiss. Don’t tell me you want to have sex with him? After what he did to you?”

Sunny’s face was like an overloaded heater now, glowing so red that it looked like she was going to explode. She got off her chair and ducked to the side, hiding her face from the other Shadowbolts.

“You guys!” she wailed into her arms.

“Too much, Lemon Zest.” Sugarcoat pulled the joyful girl back on her seat. “You don’t need to say such things.”

“Sunny, we’re sorry.” Sour Sweet said. “We’ll get back to studying, okay?”

Sunny Flare refused to face her friends, at least not until her face cooled down. As if she would ever want to get back with Domino Ace, that traitor. He didn’t even show the slightest remorse for hurting her when he wanted to break up.

But then again… maybe her friends did have a point. What if getting back with Domino would help her forget about her feelings for Silver Rose? Perhaps a relationship was exactly what she needed. But was it that easy? Sunny guessed there was only one way to find out. Discreetly taking her phone out, using her body to block her actions from her friends, Sunny found Domino’s contact, still in her phone and typed a message to him.

Domino can we talk. I hav sum things i need to discuss with u i think….. abt us. Can we meet up smwhr? Tomorow?

Sunny hesitated to press the send button. It was almost as embarrassing to send him the message as her friends talking about them. In the end, she swallowed hard, then thumbed the button, closing her eyes as her message was sent.

I did it. No going back now. All I have to do is wait.

“Sunny, we’re sorry,” Sugarcoat called over. “So can you please come back here? We have more work to do.”

“R-Right… Okay.” Sunny got up and slowly walked back to her chair, hesitantly sitting down. “Sorry about that. I’m just a little… confused right now.”

“So you think having a boyfriend again will solve all that?” Sour Sweet folded her arms and looked at her.

“I don’t know, Sour…” Sunny rubbed her arm. She didn’t want to tell them that she had messaged Domino after what they all said. “Can we just get back to work? We need to be prepared for the Games.”

“We should.” Sugarcoat glared at the others as she flipped a page in her textbook. “We’re not here to talk about boys today. We’re here to study and fill our minds with enough knowledge to surpass Canterlot High in the Friendship Games.”

“Right on, dude!” Lemon Zest cheered, putting her headphones back on. “Come on, I’ll need some help over in home ec!”

“Got that right!” Indigo pumped a fist up. “Canterlot High’s got nothing on us! Let’s make this an event to remember! For both our schools!”

The others joined in in snickering.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Sunny nodded.

This was what she currently needed to take her mind off Silver Rose. Then she also had her contingency plan regarding Domino Ace. Maybe all she needed was a relationship again. She didn’t know what Domino would say to that, but she hoped he would be her answer to her obsession with the girl. It was going to be hard talking to him after what he did to her, but if she wanted to get better, then she was going to have to do this.