Silver Rose got home that day, less burned out than she was yesterday, seeing as there wasn’t fencing practice today.

She just wanted to go over to her bed and take a nap, but with the extra tutors her mother hired for her calculus and English, resting would have to wait.

“Why couldn’t I be better at math?” Silver complained to herself. “Why couldn’t I get tutored by Home Run? That would be awesome and I wouldn’t mind…”

“Thinking about the boy again?” Ebony Wings’ voice came from her open door.

Silver jumped, standing up straight and putting her feet together. “Oh, um, hello, mother.”

“No use trying to hide it now, Silver.” Ebony swiped a hand through her long smooth hair. “I know you’ve… grown feelings for the boy.” Ebony had said it like the world was going to end after her sentence finished. “And I know I should be punishing you so that you don’t continue in your folly.”

“Yes, mother…” Silver looked down, waiting for the punishment.

“But…” Ebony lifted a finger in the air. “I’m not going to. What I wanted to say is, I’m going to give you time. Time to get your act in order. You have personas for a reason, dear, use them correctly.”

“R-Really?” Silver watched her mother carefully. “I-I’m not being punished?”

“Of course not.” Then Ebony leaned in close and smirked. “That is, unless you want to be punished.”

“No, no punishment is good, mother.” Silver backed away a step.

“Good.” Then Ebony Wings brought out a small box from behind her back. “Now, I had a good talk with your aunt and I’ve decided to give you this, because it’ll help in managing your personas better, at least a little bit.”

Silver accepted the box, knowing what it was. It was a new phone and according to the words on the box, it was the new nPhone 12.

“Really, mother? Does that mean I can-”

“You can message others and it won’t matter which skin you are currently wearing. Just use the right phone. As long as you know which persona the phones are being used by, I will have nothing more to say about that.”

“I… Thank you, mother.” Silver smiled. This was one of the nicest things her mother had ever done for her. She wanted to give her mother a hug, but she didn’t know if it was a good idea.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, my little daughter…” Ebony patted her on the head, then shifted her to the side and waltzed past. “I have some filming to get to. And don’t forget your extra lessons.”

Drat. I had forgotten about them in the moment…

“Umm, yes, mother. You have a good time,” Silver replied, waving to Ebony as she made her way out.

A new phone. That meant she would be allowed to message Home Run! But that also meant she would have to tell all her Crystal Prep friends that she had a new number. Well, that was simple. All she had to do get their contacts from her old phone and message them with her new one. That didn’t sound too hard, but it did sound bothersome.

For now, Silver decided to focus on her upcoming lessons instead, seeing as she would probably have to go charge the phone first. She dreaded having to sit through more hours of math equations and poetry, but she knew that if she wanted to please her mother, she needed to improve her weak classes. At least now with the new phone, she could go use her old Moonglade phone to message Home Run and ask him calculus questions.

“Why did I even take calculus?” Silver rubbed at her pink and grey hair. “I should’ve just gone for something easier like algebra or something. That would be easier. Right?”

“Hey, sweetie…” Silver’s aunt was at the second floor living room, looking more tired than usual, a Neighstation controller in her lap. Silver looked at the TV, noticing her aunt was playing Warlocker 3: Ghost Riders in the Sky, which was a new game the sirens had purchased over the weekend. Silver had yet to try it, but it looked decent. “How was your day?”

“It was okay, Aunt Ivory.” Silver sat down beside the older changeling. “The math tutor will be here soon and I’ll have to deal with more work…”

“Oh, don’t look at it like that.” Ivory gave Silver a pat on the head before getting back to her sword fighting in the game, just in time to lop the head off of a goblin. “Think of it as a way to improve your grades and impress your mother.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Aunt Ivory, but what a bother… Oh, did you know? Mother got me a new phone.”

“Yes, I do. I only agree with it partially, but… she’s the queen, so you may do as she instructs.” Ivory sheathed her sword in the game and got on a horse. “Happy, sweetie?”

“Yes, Aunt Ivory.” Silver nodded. “On that, I am.”

“But remember.” The white haired changeling wagged a finger. “He is food.”

“Yes, Aunt Ivory…” Silver sighed, but still knew her aunt was wiser than she was.

“Come on, cheer up. Take your mind off all of that. You seen this game? Whoever made it is a genius. Like this, for example.”

Ivory walked her character into a building filled with women of all kinds.

“Umm… what’s this, Aunt Ivory?”

“I believe this is a brothel, sweetie.” Ivory walked over to an elf woman in a green silky dress. “It’s a place where you can go to… find pleasure.”

“Oh… So why is this-”

“Well, you don’t even need to go on the internet to find sex anymore. You can do it right here. I mean, minus the visibility of the sex organs, but it’s still something.”

“That’s… a good thing?” Silver rubbed the back of one of her hands as Ivory followed the elf into a small room.

“Hmm, maybe not exactly a good thing, but it’s a daring decision, that I’ll say.” Ivory rubbed her shoulder, then continued. “You know, I don’t know how your mother keeps up this sort of thing all night… It’s like she has stores and stores of love energy to use. I don’t even want to use mine up for nothing.”

“Is it any different now? Your relationship? I mean, you and mother were already, um… doing things before you decided to take it further.”

“The first difference is that she’s doing it a lot more now. She even has this black, uh, I’ll spare you those details. And well, it’s nice to wake up in the morning to see her smiling in bed beside me. Then there’s all the kisses we share like how I would kiss someone if I were married to them. Your mother’s a good kisser, of course. One of the best. And of course, the defining example… Don’t you see how happy she is now?”

Silver nodded. It was strange, yes, but it was a nice change. “I have. I kind of like it.”

“And that is why I have agreed to give this relationship a try, my sweet niece.” Ivory’s character in the game had stripped out of his clothes and the elf had also done the same, revealing her shapely chest. Silver had never seen breasts in a video game before. They looked so real. Her aunt was right, whoever had decided to do it must have a lot of guts. “With your mother happy, she’s less likely to cause trouble around the house, and for you and the sirens.”

“Yeah, thanks, Aunt Ivory.” Silver hugged her aunt, who groaned and stiffened up. “Oh, sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s okay, sweetie…” Ivory rubbed her shoulder again.

The scene on the TV began shifting between tender moments of Ivory’s character and the elf, featuring a lot of kissing and a lot of skin. After a sensual moan from the elf, the screen cut to black and the characters were already putting their clothes back on.

“Oh, that’s it, huh? I guess it’s still okay. Nothing too graphic,” Silver Rose said.

“Children shouldn’t be looking at breasts like they’re normal images in life, but…” Ivory kissed her niece on the forehead. “You’re not a child anymore, or at least, you’re old enough to know how all this works.”

“Yeah…” Silver could look at her own breasts whenever she wanted to anyway. And she did like to admire her body, after all. “Well, I’d like to stay and chat longer, Aunt Ivory, but you know, homework and tutors.”

“Yes, I guess you better go prepare, sweetie. Have fun, okay?”

“I’ll try…” Silver tried to sound less bored about it. “You have fun with your game, Aunt Ivory.”

“I intend to, dear, I intend to.” Ivory smirked and looked back to the TV screen as Silver went over to her room to drop her schoolbag.

“Ugh, more work…” The girl first flopped back onto her bed to relax for a few seconds after plugging her new phone in to charge.

When she was satisfied, Silver Rose got up and went to have a shower, changing out of her uniform and into one of her Discourse shirts, all the while humming a sweet tune to herself. She had never tried whistling before, but she figured it wouldn’t be too hard to learn if she wanted to, seeing as changelings were good with voice mimicry.

After that, she grabbed her hairband and put it on, before she went over to check on her phone, having to input her new data and information into it. It still needed to charge, so when she was done, she left it there and pulled out her school books from her bag. Even though exams were near, there was still plenty of homework to be done, so Silver lugged her books over to the study and sat down, waiting for her first tutor to show.

And it didn’t take long.

“Princess, your tutor is here,” one of the maids said by the doorway.

“Okay, send her over.” Silver nodded to the maid. After she had walked off, Silver realized she hadn’t put any pants on and blushed furiously. “Cripes…”

And then she got up and dashed back to her room to grab a pair.

“See you, Mr. Rulebook.” Silver waved to her English tutor as he left out through the front door. When he was well away, Silver closed it and leaned against the wall with a sigh.

That was another day of extra tuition done. And yet, she wasn’t free. She still had homework to do before the day was up.

“I don’t see the sirens having extra classes…” Silver skulked back to her room and fell on her chair.

“That’s because there aren’t any expectations for us,” Adagio said, leaning on Silver’s doorframe, a typical smirk on her face.

“Still, why can’t I just study on my own?” Silver blew air at her fringe. “I’m sure I can pass if I just do that.”

“I’m sure it’s because your mother wants you to do really well, not just enough.”

“Meh…” Silver turned around to face Adagio fully. “So, has Aunt Ivory told you anything about her plans to help you girls?”

“Ivory? Why, yes, she did.” Adagio patted the doorframe. “There’ll be a picnic soon and she’s already preparing some of that lemonade for the occasion.”

“She said she’s going to talk to Sunset Shimmer and the other Twilight. Is she really different from my Twilight? I’ve only heard the story.”

“They’re quite similar, actually, though Twilight Sparkle from Equestria doesn’t wear spectacles. They both seem to have the same interest in studying and learning.”

“That device that Twilight built, that little pendant…” Silver adjusted her hairband and looked at her little mirror to make sure it was okay. “I thought perhaps we could use something like that to get you three your powers back, but Aunt Ivory said it wasn’t a good idea.”

“You never know…” Adagio shrugged. “But perhaps it’s because she has ideas of her own. Or maybe she just wants to focus on what Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle might tell her first. Maybe if needed, then we could discuss acquiring another of the other Twilight Sparkle’s machines.”

“Maybe…”

There were so many possibilities with what they could do about the sirens’ pendants, but Silver wasn’t well versed in all this magic and machines. That’s where her aunt came in, but she would still do as much as she could for her friends, especially if it could help them sing better.

“Well, here’s hoping she already planned out everything.” Adagio massaged the space between her brows. “I wonder how she does it, with your mother having steamy sessions with her so often now.”

Silver gulped. “I-It’s not all that often, is it?”

“You don’t know huh?” Adagio shook her head, but smiled. “I think Ebony does it with Ivory whenever she’s home. They sure spend a lot of time in her room now. Did you know your mother owns a strapon? I’m sure she’s been quite active with that from all the pains Ivory’s been having.”

“She has a what?” Silver tilted her head to the side.

“It’s a dildo that you strap around you waist.” Adagio walked into the room. “You really don’t know?”

“Never heard of it, and uh…” Silver blushed. It sounded awkward to ask. “What’s a… dildo?”

“Really, you don’t know?” Adagio bent back with a rack of laughter. “Well, I can’t blame you, your mother hasn’t let you out until now and you don’t really see it in movies, huh? Well, it’s a toy. A sex toy, to be precise, shaped like a man’s penis for, I’m sure you can imagine what.”

“Oh… Oh.” Weird images began filling Silver’s mind of her aunt and mother. She put her hands to her cheeks and widened her eyes. “They’ve been doing… that?”

“Yes they have, Silver.” Adagio Dazzle patted the changeling on the shoulder. “I do hope your aunt is still in the right mind to plan out our gem repair after all those little sessions. I mean, I don’t want to rush her, but we don’t have forever. Not anymore.”

“Yeah…” Silver kicked her legs back and forth. She too wasn’t going to be around forever. “But I trust Aunt Ivory. I’m sure she’ll get the job done when the time comes.”

“Oh, that I don’t doubt, Silver.” Then a shadow passed over Adagio’s face when she bent her head down. “I just hope the time comes soon.” Then she looked back up and smirked again. “Before Sonata and Aria kill each other, of course. That would be preferable.”

With a nod, Adagio backed away and headed back outside, leaving Silver Rose by herself.

“Huh… I wonder what it’s like…” Silver picked up her hairbrush. “To be immortal…”