“And how goes your studies, Silver Rose?” Fleur Dis Lee aimed a low stab at the mauve-skinned girl. “Not too overwhelming I hope? Since these will be your first exams?”

“I’m managing.” Silver ducked to the left and tried a counterattack, but Fleur easily deflected her strike. “My mother even hired extra tutors for my weaker subjects.”

“Oh, so did mine.” Fleur pivoted and lanced out, prodding Silver in the gut, sending her down on one knee. “I must say it’s helped.”

“I guess…” Silver rubbed at her abdomen. Even with the padded suit, Fleur’s attacks still hurt. She was really something. “I didn’t think you had any weak subjects, Fleur.”

“I’m weak in… don’t laugh Silver Rose, but I’m somewhat weak in English.” Fleur flicked her sword to the side, then held it up vertically.

Silver peeled off her fencing helmet, her face already coated in sweat, because she hadn’t expanded any love during the match, wanting to rely on her own strength.

“I don’t have much trouble myself, but I’m lacking a little in poetry.”

“Aren’t we all…” Fleur sighed. “On the bright side, at least I can spell ‘rhombus’.”

“Aw, come on, lighten up on the Sunny jokes, you know?” Silver tried to speak up for her friend. “Everyone keeps teasing her about it.”

Though, it’s really a joke that she can’t spell such a simple word…

“Perhaps. We’ll see how she does on her English exam, won’t we?” Fleur readied her stance again. “Again, Silver Rose.”

“How is the rest of the team prepping for the exams?” Silver asked as she put her helmet back on, then raised her foil’s tip to touch Fleur’s. “Are you studying together?”

“Not that I know of.” Fleur started the round by sliding forward at almost lightning speed, and Silver would’ve been hit if she hadn’t dropped to her knees. The changeling quickly scurried back as Fleur attacked again. “I’ve just been studying by myself. Sometimes with Fancy Pants. But I’ve been doing alright. I’m not sure about the others. You’ll have to ask Quillion.”

Silver got back to her feet and began trading blows with Fleur. Even after all this time, Silver found she was still nowhere close to the white-skinned girl’s skill level. She really had a talent for fencing, even though she was just a regular human and didn’t have abilities like Silver did.

“You require more finesse in your movements,” Fleur instructed and stopped to let Silver have some breathing room. “You’re still using too much strength.”

Silver also remembered Sunset Shimmer as she began her own offensive, stabbing at Fleur from the left and right. Sunset was a brilliant sword fighter, also without any abilities, and Silver couldn’t even beat her in a full on swordfight. The two of them hadn’t even kept to the fencing rules that day and still… she had lost to Sunset, even with the use of some love energy. That girl must really be something else.

Silver figured she would work harder during her sword fighting lessons on the weekends and if the two of them ever crossed swords again, the outcome was going to be different.

“You’re losing focus, Silver.” Fleur went for a thrust under Silver’s sword arm, catching her in the armpit.

“Ouch.” Silver stepped back and rubbed the spot she had been hit at. “Sorry. I was thinking of something, I guess.”

Fleur sighed and took her helmet off, swatting her elegant pink hair behind her head. “I can’t blame you, seeing as the exams are near. Well, perhaps that will be all for today, then. Even Mr. Fowl looks ready to close up early today.”

Silver looked over to their supervising teacher, who was currently looking at his watch, his shoulders hunched lower than normal.

“Yeah. Teachers don’t… don’t take exams, right?” Silver removed her own helmet and wiped her forehead.

“No, but they do have to try their best to make sure all their students pass, or they’ll have an inquiry.”

“Oh, I see. So he wants us to go home and study, huh?” Silver watched the history teacher, who went back to his book after another glance at his watch. “How kind of him to do so.”

“Yes, well, grades are everything.” Fleur walked with Silver to the side to grab her bottle to rehydrate. “Though, I’m guessing things are going to be different now, huh? Now that we know there’s more than just competitive spirit.”

“Here’s hoping.” Silver didn’t mind. A more friendly and less competitive atmosphere sounded much better. It would certainly taste better too, but she wouldn’t admit that to Fleur.

“We better go change out and go.” Quillion came over, swiping his purple hair from his brow. “The earlier we’re home, the more studying we can do.”

“You want to study?” Fleur shot him a weird look.

“Well, no, I don’t, but we don’t really have a choice, do we?” Quillion shrugged happily. “Do or die, Fleur.”

“Sometimes, I wish it was die.” Fleur nudged Silver and smirked for a second.

The young changeling giggled and gulped down a lot of water. It was brave of Fleur to attempt levity at a time like this, but she appreciated her friend’s sense of humor. It was easier to get than her mother’s own one.

“Well, let’s go get changed,” Fleur said at last. Silver nodded and followed her into the changing room. On the way there, she nodded a hello to Sunny Flare, who was busy on the basketball court. The girl stopped to wave and almost got hit in the face with the basketball, before getting back into the game.

One quick shower later, Silver Rose was walking from school to her waiting car. Humming a newly invented tune to herself, she climbed in and was surprised to see not her aunt but Silver Platter at the wheel.

“Uhm, hi, Silver Platter,” Silver Rose said uncertainly. “Did something happen to Aunt Ivory? She’s not uh, busy with mother again, is she?”

“Not to worry, princess. She said she was working on something important and has locked herself in the workshop,” the butler narrated. “Last I heard she said something about an invitation and then a menu.”

“Menu?”

“I am simply relaying what I heard, young mistress. Perhaps you can find out more once we get back home.”

She knew her aunt was preparing a picnic, but what kind of picnic had a menu? Well, to be fair, Silver had never been to a picnic in her life, so perhaps she still had more to learn about picnics.

Once the car arrived back at the estate, Silver disembarked and set out to the workshop, where her aunt might still possibly be at.

Surely enough, the door was still locked and she could her some faint, upbeat music from inside. It sounded like it was being sung in the Eastern language.

“Umm… Aunt Ivory, you in there?” Silver knocked on the door and waited.

The music came to a sudden stop. “Someone say something?”

“It’s me, Aunt Ivory,” Silver said again.

“Oh, Silver, sweetie, come on it.” There was the click of the lock and the door came slightly ajar, allowing Silver entrance.

The young changeling stepped into the workshop, noticing the lack of wood shavings on the floor. Instead, Ivory's workbench was full various sheets of paper and images of food items on her computer screen.

“Ohayo, Silver,” Ivory said, walking back to her seat in front of a laptop and turning the music back on, though at a softer volume.

“What’s up, Aunt Ivory?” Silver stopped by her aunt and wrapped her arms around her, leaning her head on her shoulder. “Is this what you’re bringing to the picnic?”

“Why yes, though I’m still deciding on what to make.” Ivory panned a hand past her computer screen. There were pictures of burgers, hot dogs, salads, and even fried eggs. “Plenty of choices as you can see.”

“How about burgers, Aunt Ivory?” Silver chuckled. “I like burgers. We don’t really have those for dinner, because mother thinks they’re too uncivilized. I quite like the ones with beef.”

“Ah, a traditional burger, then.” Ivory licked her lips. “I still think those are the best. These days, you have burgers that even have fish in them. I mean, who does that? A good burger needs beef.”

“I… haven’t tried all the other ones, but I’ll take your word for it!” Silver began feeling hungry just thinking about burgers. “So, burgers, then?”

“Burgers it will be, my sweet niece. I’ll leave you one or two as well.”

“Ooh, thanks, Aunt Ivory! So when is the picnic anyway?”

“I’m planning on having it during the summer break, where they’ll likely be free.” Ivory picked up one of the papers, which was an invitation card. “As for this, I’m sure I’ll need to send it out before school ends to make sure they get it. It’s still in the designing phases though. I want the invitation to be as, well, inviting as it possibly can.”

And with that, she turned back to the laptop and began clicking around in the photo editing program she had pulled up, humming to herself.

“So…” Silver said slowly. “Is the food going to be poisoned too?”

“Hmm? No, no I don’t think so. It would be too much trouble to fine tune a poison that doesn’t affect the taste of the food. It took a long while just to get the lemonade right. Also, I have to make sure I don’t look scary either. I want to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere,” Ivory said brightly.

“So you really think they’ll know how to fix the gems?” Silver pulled up a stool and sat herself down. “What if they don’t?”

“They will,” Ivory Wings said confidently. “Of that, I am certain. They know magic, correct? Then of course they will know how to fix the gems. What was destroyed by magic can be repaired by magic. That only sounds reasonable.”

“But what if they refuse to cooperate?” Silver pointed out.

“That’s where the lemonade comes in. And me, of course. I can be very scary when I want to be.”

“You, scary?” Silver said, having a hard time imagining her aunt as frightening.

“There’re different kinds of scary, sweetie. I don’t have to hide in a sewer and bite kids’ arms off to be scary. There’s a subtler kind of fear that I just love working off of.”

“You won’t have to kill anyone, will you?” Silver had a quick think about it. She knew Sunset Shimmer. It would be a shame if someone she knew were to get killed.

“Well, that’s up to them, isn’t it? I’ll also need to go back to my penthouse to pick up some, ahem, disguise material. Hm, yes.”

“Well, I hope it all goes well, Aunt Ivory.” Silver picked up one of the invitations and had a look at it. They were white and pink and the words were hand-written by none other than her aunt. It was really neat and fancy. Silver hadn’t noticed it sooner, but her aunt wrote using her left hand. Ivory was now in the process of writing down some ingredients. “That’s cool, Aunt Ivory. I didn’t know you were left-handed.”

“I’m not, really. I can use both my hands, just my left one happens to be closer to the pen and I do prefer to use my left.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Silver lifted her right hand. “I’m right-handed myself. I think so is mother.”

“Yes, your mother was born right-handed, just like almost everyone in the world.” Ivory put down the pen and looked at her fingers. “Well, I’m glad to be on the minority. It makes me more unique, don’t you think so?”

“Sure does, Aunt Ivory,” the young changeling answered happily. “Though we’re already a minority, or at least, you and mother are. There aren’t anymore changelings out there, right?”

“None that I know of,” Ivory Wings huffed. “Of course, if things hadn’t gone pear-shaped in Trotsylvania, we might have more…” she closed her eyes and opened them again. “Still, no point dwelling on the past. We live in the present.” Ivory glanced at the clock on the wall. “Say, isn’t it almost time for your tuition?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Silver hopped off the stool and it tumbled to the ground. “I gotta go, Aunt Ivory! I’ll see you later!”

Ivory Wings watched her niece go, then pulled a lock of her hair into view.

“I wonder how it would look in pink…”