When Silver Rose lowered her hand, the light had already died down, with Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle standing in the middle, looking normal once again, their crazy outfits and wings gone. All the other students were gathered around them now and the huge rift in the ground had disappeared.

Is everything finally back to normal?

Then she looked at her clawed hands and sighed. Not everything.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen…” Twilight said, looking away from Sunset.

“I know…” Sunset replied her with a smile. “And going by my own experiences, they’ll forgive you.”

“What, just like that?” Silver wanted to go out there and join the others, but then remembered the talons on the tips of her fingers.

She contemplated trying to break them off against the school wall, but she doubted they would come off so easily. These things weren’t just longer nails, they were full fledged claws, kind of like a bear or something, but longer.

The mauve-skinned girl sighed for herself to hear. She wasn’t going to be able to leave this alcove, unless…

Sticking her hands behind her back, Silver pointed her clawtips up, hiding her hands under her blazer, feeling one claw poke her in the shoulder blade.

“Ow!” Silver rearranged them to rest them comfortably against her back.

She looked around, satisfied enough that at least her claws weren’t visible like this, but annoyed that she would have to keep her hands hidden for the rest of the event, or at least until her aunt got here. Perhaps she kept one of those claw cutting tools in the car for emergency use.

“Well… time to go out there…” Silver swallowed, then left her hiding spot, walking casually towards the scene.

By the time she got there, the purple dog had already tackled Twilight down, licking at her face as the lavender-skinned girl chuckled.

“Silver, there you are!” Canvas ran over, her camera and sketchbook in hand. “I was worried you fell into one of those holey thingies. Sketchy said you got away, and thankfully he was right!”

Canvas had tried to give her a hug, but Silver stepped aside and smiled awkwardly. “Uhh… hey, where’s Principal Cinch? I saw her running away like a little pus- ahem, pansy. Did she leave?”

“I don’t know, Silver. Kind of lost track of where everyone was in all the… um, chaos.”

Just then, Silver spotted their principal pop up from behind the stands behind Canvas, looking around warily before stalking out, replacing the usual stern look on her face as the other principals walked over to meet her.

“Principal Celestia, on behalf of Crystal Prep, I demand that you forfeit the Friendship Games!” She pointed a menacing finger at the CHS principal.

Silver almost facepalmed herself, stopping when she remembered the state of her hands. “After all that, all the magic and madness, that is what she cares about? Is she serious?”

“That’s Principal Cinch for ya.” Canvas shifted her sketchbook under her arm. In the process, her hand slipped and her camera flipped up into the air once, then landed on the ground with an audible crash, making Silver flinch. “Oops!”

“Canvas!” Silver gasped at her friend’s sloppiness.

“My bad!” The artist quickly bent down to check on her camera. “Oh good, it still works. I’m so sorry I dropped you! I won’t do it again! I hope...”

“Clearly CHS has had unfair advantage for quite some time.” Cinch folded her arms. “And it’s certainly obvious that your students have been using magic for their own benefit!”

“Does everyone not even ask what magic is?” Silver asked Canvas, bewildered at how everyone was taking this magic so well.

“I’d like to think saving the world benefits us all,” Celestia smirked at their principal.

Way to tell her, Principal Celestia! That statement and that smirk on her face instantly put her in Silver Rose’s good books.

“At least they didn't manipulate Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic and turning into a power-crazed magical creature that tried to rip the world apart just to win a game,” Sugarcoat said in a single breath.

Everyone just paused and looked at her for a few seconds, taking it all in. At least, Silver felt she needed that long to absorb everything Sugarcoat said.

“Wow.” Pinkie Pie widened her eyes and pointed to Sugarcoat. “That’s a lot to take in when you say it all at once.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Principal Cinch exploded.

“Nope, that’s pretty much what happened,” both Silver and the purple dog said at the same time. The purple dog said… “Wait, did that dog just say something? Did that dog just speak?” Silver looked at Canvas, who was busy checking her camera’s screen, which had a spiderweb of cracks from the bottom left of it, spreading up to the top.

“Did it?” her friend asked, not looking up.

“Actually, we’re all to blame,” Sour Sweet lamented apologetically. “But mostly it was her,” she added in a growl, glaring at Principal Cinch.

“Gotta agree with that.” Silver continued to watch the purple dog in Twilight’s arms, hoping it would speak again to prove she wasn’t seeing things, but then again, a talking dog was nothing compared to everything else she’d seen today.

“Man, you have one hay of a principal, Silver Rose.” Silver turned to see Home Run standing beside her, looking better than when she had last left him. “You okay?”

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine…” Silver smiled at him and hunched lower, keeping her hands hidden. “Much better now. You? Is your chest still, um, hot?”

“Oh, it got better after I, uhh…” He looked back at the bush. “You know…”

“I plan on taking all of this up with the school board!” Cinch finished, striking her fingertip downwards menacingly.

Celestia didn’t seem fazed at all. “Good, I’m sure they would be very interested in hearing all about the magical students with wings.”

It seems she was having fun doing this. Silver could smell it all. Then she also began smelling more from Vice Principal Luna and Dean Cadance, who looked like they too wanted to add their pieces to this.

“Oh, and the portals to different dimensions,” Vice Principal Luna smiled playfully.

“And don’t forget to tell them about the talking dog,” Dean Cadance finished.

I knew it! They all heard it too! That dog speaks!

“Because that would never ruin your reputation.” Even the talking dog knew how to pour more fire on that barbeque.

The young changeling couldn’t help but wonder what Cinch was going to say to get back at all of them. There wasn’t really much more she could comeback with, but Silver was curious what would come out of her mouth.

Cinch glared at the Shadowbolts and Wondercolts, but in the end, she didn’t say any more. The old bag simply straightened her coat and turned around to walk away.

“And that’s it.” Home Run smirked and folded his arms.

With the scene over, Silver, Canvas and Home Run decided to go off to the side, next to the stands, while the Shadowbolts and Wondercolts talked out their results with their principals. The other students from both their schools had vanished, and Silver didn’t know where they had all gone. Maybe back to the gym.

“Hi, I’m Home Run.” The boy stretched his arm out to Canvas. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hmm? Oh, uh, Canvas Splash.” She shook his hand, though quite halfheartedly. “Silver Rose’s friend. You know her?”

“Oh yeah, a little. She’s my girlfriend’s sister. Twin sister, in fact.”

Silver blushed and smiled. That was one lie that didn’t exactly make sense, but at least no one bothered to question it yet.

“Oh! You’re Moonglade’s boyfriend?” Canvas squealed excitedly. “Oh, that’s so cool! So how’s it like? Dating a daughter of an acclaimed actress?”

“Umm…” Home Run scratched at his head. “I’m not sure that makes any difference, but she’s cool. We have a ton of fun when we have time to meet up.”

“Man, I’m jealous!” Canvas shook her camera, almost dropping it again. “I wish I was in a relationship with someone famous!”

Home Run looked at Silver and shrugged. She guessed he didn’t know what to say to that.

“Well, uh, now that the two of you know each other, how about we go find the others?” Silver decided to help him out a bit, seeing as he was Moonglade’s boyfriend, though she wished she only had one persona. “We don’t know where everyone else has gone to.”

At that moment, a black car pulled up on the side of the road, rolling to an abrupt stop. The driver’s seat window rolled down a few inches and a pair of narrowed eyes could be seen. Then the window rolled itself back up, and the rear passenger door popped open.

“Oh, um, I think my ride’s here,” Silver Rose said, backing away from her friends. “Canvas, can you tell Dean Cadance that I had to go home early? Thanks.”

“Oh, um, sure, Silver.” Canvas nodded and looked at the car. “Are you okay? You didn’t look well before the hocus pocus stuff.”

“I’ll be fine once I get home,” Silver said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. “Umm, I’ll say hi to Moonglade for you, Home Run.”

“Okay. You take care then, Silver Rose.” Home Run waved, just like he did when he said goodbye to Moonglade.

Silver was about to go up to him to give him a goodbye kiss, but then she remembered who she currently was and instead just nodded before retreating to the car, careful to keep her hands under her blazer as she sat down on the leather seat.

“Good to see you, Aunt Ivory. Um, I have a slight problem, so could we head home now?” Silver greeted as she sighed with relief and closed the door with a foot. Once her hands were out of sight from outsiders, she removed them from her blazer and stuck them in between the front seats for her aunt to see. “Look at this, Aunt Ivory. What do you make of it?”

Ivory Wings put down the gun she had been holding. It was a serious looking weapon, with a drum magazine and an underbarrel grenade launcher. “These are a very fine set of talons, sweetie. But how did you get them? And where’s the monster you asked me to come take care of?”

“Oh, ummm…” Silver’s cheeks colored and she tapped her claws against each other. “You see… umm… it was taken care of. With magic. By the same girls who beat the sirens.”

“Sunset Shimmer and her gang of groupies?” Ivory asked as she put the car into gear.

“Yes, Aunt Ivory. Here’s the thing though. The monster was one of my classmates, Twilight Sparkle.” Silver went on to explain how the whole day went, with the maneating plants, the magical flying demons and how her hands suddenly grew claws. “And that’s how these claws appeared as well.”

“So it’s confirmed that Sunset and her friends have magic. Hm. This could be tricky,” Ivory muttered. “And you grew those very fine claws during the event? I’m not sure why that happened, but you can bet that your mother will be pleased about it. You didn’t let anyone see them, did you?”

“I kept them as well hidden as I could. Umm… I hope no one saw them. But that magical device, Aunt Ivory. If it could absorb magic and give it, perhaps you could use it to help the sirens?”

“That’s hard to say, but I doubt it’ll do anything. We want to repair their gems, not steal more magic,” Ivory said thoughtfully. “I’ll need to speak to this Sunset Shimmer and that Twilight Sparkle.”

Silver was a little disappointed. She thought she had at least done her part in helping out with the gem repair. Silver caught the dark tone that crept into Ivory’s voice. “I don’t think it’d be a good idea to attack them head on.” She examined her talons more carefully, noting the way the shiny black appendages caught the light and gleamed. “I mean, they have magic. Real magic.”

Ivory Wings laughed. “Sweetie, in the time you’ve known me, have you ever heard of me attacking someone head on? And I’m past violence, dear. Mostly. If it’s not needed, I prefer not to use it. I owe her that much.”

“Twilight goes to my school, so I can always ask her if she wants to meet you or something.” Silver buckled herself in carefully, trying to avoid tearing a hole in the seatbelt. “As for Sunset Shimmer, I don’t see her. You might have to ask the sirens about that one. And she’s quite the skilled fighter too, Aunt Ivory. She beat me in a fencing match. Though… I wouldn’t call it fencing. It was more like a full blown swordfight.”

“Wait, Twilight Sparkle goes to your school?” Ivory said, confusion in her voice. “But the sirens said that Twilight is from their world, Equestria.”

“What?” Silver looked confusedly at her aunt with the rearview mirror. “But… she goes to my school. She sits behind me in homeroom.”

“Yeah… this needs to be looked into before I make my move,” Ivory muttered. She put her foot on the brake as an upcoming light turned yellow, then red. “So, did you have fun today, sweetie?”

“Oh, today was great! I sure had a whole lot of fun watching the Games,” Silver said eagerly. “The only problem I have is with all the pride and competition from a lot of the students. Home Run felt the same too.”

“Hmm, yes…” Ivory said slowly. “You didn’t give yourself away, did you? You have different personas for a reason.”

“N-No, I managed to preserve my identities.” Silver looked down at her claws. “But about this persona thing, Aunt Ivory… I don’t two having two was such a good idea. I think sending Moonglade to school would’ve been the better idea.” Then that way, I would’ve gotten to be with Home Run during the Games…

“Normally I would agree,” Ivory Wings said with a sigh. “But this is the plan your mother insisted on, so you’ll have to bear with it. I know keeping up two personas can be troublesome. I had to hold down two once and it wasn’t easy. But Moonglade and Silver Rose have already been established, so there’s not much we can do about it. Besides, I have every confidence that you can do it.”

“Well… okay, Aunt Ivory.” Silver tried to rub her neck, but forgot she had claws and cut herself. “Agh! Shi-”

“Language, sweetie. Please.” Ivory shot her a look with the rearview mirror. “You okay? You need to watch out for those.”

Silver tried to put a hand over the cut to stop her bleeding, but ended up stabbing three holes in the seat instead. She grumbled to herself then channeled some of her love energy to her neck, stopping the bleeding.

“I’m fine, Aunt Ivory, but I really need to cut these. Do you have a cutter right now?”

Ivory Wings spun the steering wheel around a slow moving car and shook her head.

“Nonsense, sweetie. We have to show these to your mother! Imagine how pleased she’ll be once she sees your new talons.”

“Ohhhh… alright…” Silver groaned and put her hands safely by her sides, hoping not to destroy anything else. “I just hope they don’t keep growing on their own. They burst into flames all by themselves.”

“That’s just how it works. You’ve seen me transform before. We changelings are creatures of earth and fire, like how the sirens are creatures of air and water. Your hands bursting into flames is just how we grow talons and hair,” Silver’s aunt smiled at her in the rearview mirror. “I just wonder why you weren’t able to do it until now…”

“But I don’t want them just growing out when they want to!” Silver wailed and almost grabbed for her head, but remembered not to do it. “And I don’t know… It happened after I saved Home Run from falling into one of those portals.”

“These are the magical portals you were telling me about?”

“Yes, Aunt Ivory. I had to help Home Run. I couldn’t let him fall, so I got there as quickly as I could. I got him at the last second.”

“Hmm…” Ivory Wings mused. “Well, I can’t think of any reason off the top of my head how that would enable you to grow talons, so I’ll have a talk with your mother about it. Maybe we can pinpoint something.”

“Okay, Aunt Ivory.”

Eventually, the car arrived back home, taking longer than usual, but at least Silver could finally go and get rid of her claws, at least, after her mother saw them.

She had only just pushed the door open when her mother strode down the hall, dressed in her white shirt and jeans. That outfit only meant she was heading out for a shoot.

“Hello, Silver…” Then her mother stopped and seemed to peer at her in confusion. Looking at her hands in confusion. “What on earth happened to your fingers? You can make… claws?”

“Yes, mother.” Silver nodded. “It happened after I tried to pull Home Run out of a magical portal, umm…” She went on to describe the events that had occurred during the Friendship Games to give her mother context. “And after that, my hands were hot. Really hot. I managed to get to cover before they burst into flames and became claws.”

Ebony Wings didn’t say anything, instead standing there and rubbing her chin.

“What do you think, sis?” Ivory walked in, swinging the large rifle back and forth.

“About her claws or the magic?” Ebony lifted a hand up to her cheek. “My daughter has claws now? Fantastic. But as for everything that happened… the threat to our world again… this is news indeed. And you say your friend built this device? Just like that? The one that absorbed the magic?”

“Yes, mother. If it can absorb magic…”

Ebony looked past them and out the front door. “Then it may help in restoring the sirens’ powers. Ivory, what do you make of this? I want you to have a talk with this Twilight Glitter.”

“Sparkle,” Silver corrected.

“Sparkle Glitter. Whatever,” Ebony waved her hand dismissively. “Ivory?”

“Yes, sister, I’ll arrange a meeting with her and that Sunset Shimmer. I’ve already planned out how I want to do it.” Ivory shifted her glasses up her nose and grinned. “Just give me some time and I’ll get you the results.”

Ebony sniffed. “Well, don’t take too long. Oh, and I’m heading out to the Canterlot studio for a modeling shoot. I don’t expect to be back by dinner, so you’ll have to eat without me.”

“Yes, mother.” Silver nodded as per usual.

“What on earth are you modeling for this time, sis.” Ivory looked perplexed. “I thought you just did one last week before you left for Canterbury?”

“I think it’s for jewelry and handbags this time,” Ebony Wings replied with a shrug. “I am this year’s top model, so anything goes.”

Ivory shook her head. “I still don’t understand why they made you this year’s top model already. We’re still in the first half of the year, for crying out loud.”

“I don’t pretend to know how the humans work,” the year’s top model said. “I just go with it. I’ll see you all tomorrow then. Bye!”

Silver watched as her mother got into her sports car and drove off. Then she turned to her aunt.

“So… can I cut the claws off now?”

Sunny Flare walked down the steps of Canterlot High School and looked up at the now bright sky, a clear difference from the dark and cloudy one they had for their capture the flag event, which didn’t go according to plan. Not even close.

Earlier, they had each been awarded medals, with Principal Celestia declaring the Games a tie, making both the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts winners.

Sunny enjoyed competition and being better, but for once, she was okay with it. It had been a really long day and she was tired. She had also talked to the Wondercolt, Rarity, finding out the two of them had a lot in common, in terms of enjoying makeup and shopping. Sunny did enjoy shopping for new clothes, but with everything that had been going on, she hadn’t found the time to do so.

After receiving the awards, they were dismissed from the gym and allowed to head back to the buses to go back to school. Sunny had tried to find Silver Rose to talk to her, but she had learnt from Canvas that she had left early, not feeling too well.

Sunny sighed and put a hand on her skirt, close to her nethers. Because she couldn’t control herself earlier, she had problems with the speed skating, not being able to skate to her full potential and they had lost that round.

It didn’t really matter now, seeing as they were all winners, but it made her feel guilty for forgetting which one had priority.

“Why the long face, Sunny?” Sour Sweet skipped up to walk beside her. “If it’s because we didn’t win, then tough luck.”

“No, no. It’s not that,” Sunny said, fingering the medal around her neck. “I’m just… tired I guess.”

“Then I hope you get a good rest once you get home.” Sour Sweet smiled sweetly. “Things have taken a wild turn, huh? I certainly wasn’t expecting to see a flying magical monster.”

“Well, that flying magical monster was Twilight. And we pushed her to unleashing that magic.”

“We did…” Sour Sweet closed her eyes and looked down as they walked for the bus. “But like I said, it was mostly Cinch’s fault.”

“Can’t avoid all the blame though,” Sunny pointed out. “We helped Cinch push Twilight over the edge. I hope we can make it up to her.”

“How about we buy her something nice on Monday?” Sour Sweet suggested and got on the bus first, passing the driver.

“I don’t know…” Sunny followed her up. “What does Twilight even like? I’ve never really talked to her. She’s weird like Canvas. Maybe we can just get her something weird.”

“Don’t ask me, how would I know?” Sour Sweet picked out a seat behind Indigo Zap.

Sunny sighed. The last thing she needed was another problem. But this was a minor problem. Perhaps it could wait. Maybe all they had to do was just be nice to Twilight, at least for a while.

As she sat down, Sunny began thinking of another problem. Silver Rose. After what she had did to herself in the restroom, she doubted she would be able to fight off this… affections for the girl. Why she wanted her so much, Sunny didn’t know. Something about Silver Rose had changed her so, made her lust after a girl instead of a guy.

Just thinking about it made Sunny feel warm and a little bit giddy.

Why am I crazy for her? What made me like this…?

She looked back at Sour Sweet and examined her. Though her cranberry haired friend was quite the fit one, she was still really skinny and with her hair tied back, everyone could see her slender neck as well. She had quite the body. Even with all this, Sunny had no feelings towards her. Sour Sweet was her friend, nothing more. So why did she feel differently about Silver?

This only raised more questions and doubts in Sunny’s mind.

Maybe there was more she could still figure out back at home.