The rest of the final week of class went by relatively quickly, with Silver Rose doing her best to listen in class, taking down a lot of her final notes. She had also gone to the baseball championship semifinals and finals, mostly just to support Home Run. The semifinals were rather uneventful, nothing like the previous game against that Coltorado school. When it came time for the finals, she found that it was Canterlot High against Crystal Prep.

It was ironic, with her sitting there in her Crystal Prep uniform, supporting the other school.

It had been quite the drawn out game, and there were plenty of tense moments, but somehow, just somehow, Canterlot High was able to pull through and secure their first ever victory against Crystal Prep.

Silver had to stop herself from jumping up and cheering for Home Run and his team, and had to try even harder to stop herself from running out there to be with him.

Besides studies and classes, and the massive baseball games, Silver also had a side of Sunny Flare to go with it all, meeting her in the restroom twice in the week. She remembered what her aunt had warned her about doing, so she refrained from making Sunny climax, though she did feel up the girl a little. And she had a lot of kisses, seeing as she liked them.

And she had gotten more on Saturday as well when she met up to study her calculus work with Home Run. After reviewing everything she needed to know and trying her best to remember it all, Moonglade had another steamy kissing session, dragging Home Run to a secluded corner of the library to make out, telling him it was a reward for winning the baseball championships. She had really enjoyed it.

And that had been her final week before the exams.

Silver Rose now sat in English class, with her exam paper before her eyes and her pen in her hand. It was a nice pen, she thought. Smooth and cool.

The first part of the exam paper was multiple choice and focused mainly on the various poems they had studied in class. Silver made sure to choose the answers that had something to do with prison. She knew not all the poets referred to prison, but it was better than nothing if she really couldn’t figure out a better answer.

And then came a comprehension segment, with her having to write down thoughtful answers of questions about the short story she had to read there. She just sighed and scribbled down what she thought was correct. The exam was proving a lot harder than she had anticipated, but on the upside, at least she wasn’t suffering as badly as Sunny would.

The desk behind her was still empty, seeing as Twilight Sparkle had transferred over to Canterlot High. Silver couldn’t help but wonder how the girl was doing.

Next came the dreaded essay question, which asked about the comparison between poets and prisons.

“For real?” Silver muttered and pushed on.

The first segment of the history exam proved no problem for Silver as she flew through it, stopping only at the bits about Eastern history. She was more familiar with Canterlot history and Romarenian history, seeing as her mother had a great deal of influence during a good portion of both periods.

Perhaps I should have asked Aunt Ivory to teach me some Eastern history, Silver thought, but then shrugged and continued on with the test. Too late now.

Canvas Splash sat close by, busy working on her exam. From the corner of her eye, Silver spotted her good friend doodling all over the paper, having little square men and aliens all around her paper.

Good ol’ Canvas… Silver smiled and continued to work on her questions. She was glad she had a friend like Canvas, even if she was a bit weird.

“The Showyou period… Showyou…” Silver rubbed at her head. She couldn’t recall whether they were the ones responsible for making the bows or the throwing stars. “Confound it…”

In the end, the young girl went with bows and went on, not bothering to look back to check her answers. What was the point of checking if she didn’t know the answer?

The chemistry exam was almost no problem for Silver at all, with her already knowing plenty of formulas from her training with her mother in alchemy. It looked like there was no stopping her as her hand flew across her exam paper, scribbling down all the answers.

There was even a bonus question, and Silver smiled as she filled it out. A little trickier than the rest of the exam, but in the end it was no match for her. She completed the test in half an hour and leaned back in her chair, feeling rather pleased with herself.

Now able to take a look around the room, she spotted Indigo Zap bent low over her paper, busy tapping the side of her head with her pen, trying hard to recall something; beads of sweat were already forming at the side of her head.

Poor Indigo. I guess that’s why she should’ve talked less about boys and more about scientific methods.

Sunny didn’t look like she had any trouble too, looking as calm and composed as she usually did, working on her paper at a steady pace. She was one of the smartest in Crystal Prep and a member of the Shadowbolts, after all. Sunny was truly a smart human, except when it came to English, the only language she spoke.

Rhombus… Hahaha… Great work, Sunny…

Silver smiled to herself. That was definitely something everyone was going to remember forever.

And so Chemistry went by rather quickly, with Silver playing with her pens to pass the time.

“What an exam. What a piece of cake, I mean.”

The home economics exam was almost like a joke to Silver as she wrote down her answer to question twenty-seven. Some of the questions were so easy it was like she didn’t even need to be in class to know the answer.

“Question twenty-eight,” Silver read it out to herself in a whisper. “What is the use of an oven?”

She snickered quietly to herself and wrote the answer down. This exam was just ridiculous.

There didn’t seem to be a practical portion to this subject’s exam and she was pleased about it. If she had been asked to cook something or clean something, she definitely would have been in hot water. But no, it was only a written test, and that suited the changeling just fine.

Jet Set was next to her, going through his exam just as easily as she was. Mrs. Pot must’ve really wanted them all to pass with flying colors.

Silver had enough time to finish her exam and wonder whether Jet Set and Upper Crust had rolled in the hay with each other yet. As she watched, Jet Set pulled out a photograph and looked at it. It made her laugh. Quietly, of course. It was a picture of him and Upper Crust, both wearing clown suits at a carnival.

Perhaps they hadn’t rolled in the hay yet.

But then again, they were still in high school. By right, they shouldn’t even be screwing each other yet, like the young changeling had done with Sunny, or like Crystal Lullaby and Shock Coil. Comparing herself with those two, hers didn’t even really count.

Picturing Shock Coil thrusting into Crystal made her daydream about the day she and Home Run would finally do it.

Oh, Home Run… Just you and me… Mmm...

Then the young changeling shook her head and blushed. This wasn’t the time or the place to be having such vivid thoughts.

Instead, she decided to focus on scaring the life out of the two lovebirds and then the black eye she had given Cold Forecast. It was gone now, but at least the memory of punching her would still last.

“Sweet…” That night was something the young changeling was never going to forget.

The computer exam was almost as easy as the home economics one, with everything being super simple with the exception of the programming portion.

Silver Rose found herself staring at a squarish yellow figure on the screen, called Fernando. She had to input different sets of codes to make him do as the instructions for each question asked. She had gotten through the first four questions relatively quickly, but now she found herself staring at the fifth one, unsure of what to type in.

Darn Fernando. Who even programmed this to be programmed by us? Why couldn’t it be easier?

Silver didn’t quite know the right code, so she just tried a few different ones, but got errors for all of them.

The young changeling wanted to just pick up the computer and throw it across the classroom, preferably out the window, but that was probably something Mr. Blue Screen wouldn’t like.

In the end, she opted to skip the question and move on, further enraged when she found the sixth question even harder than the fifth.

Just great… And to think this class wasn’t going to be a problem…

When Friday finally rolled around the corner, Silver found herself at her final ordeal, the final challenge, the final obstacle standing in her way from victory.

Her calculus exam.

The young changeling had prepared day and night to ace this one and after the computer exam yesterday, she had gone straight home to add more knowledge to her head, trying to get in that last minute studying to succeed. She had even texted Home Run all night and she was glad he had been willing to stay up with her to help her.

Of course, she hadn’t told him she was rushing to learn more, because of her exam today.

The young girl watched Mr. Dee Wit pace around the room, checking each student’s papers as they busily worked on their formulas and equations.

Out of the whole week of exams, this one was certainly the most difficult. Silver didn’t even need to get halfway through the paper to know that. It had already been twenty minutes and she was still on question two. Things weren’t looking good at all.

You can do this, Silver. You’ve been working the hardest on this. You can get this done. Trust in yourself, girl.

The changeling groaned and picked up her pencil again, taking one more look at the same question. With a deep breath, she began scribbling down what she thought was the right answer, hoping the method she had in her mind was the right one.

Home Run will be so proud right now if he knew how hard I was trying… Oh, but then he doesn’t know that I’m Silver Rose too.

Silver fought on, using the thought of being with Home Run to fight harder than ever, wanting to do as much as she could. She owed it mostly to him for getting her this far. Sunny and the others had helped too, and her extra tutor had also done quite a good job, but it was Home Run who had given her simpler ways to remember her work.

I owe him a kiss tomorrow. No. A few hours worth of kisses.

Whether she knew if it was right or not, Silver wrote down everything she could think of, deciding that an answer was better than no answer. At least that way, she could show that she had tried.

Looking at the clock, Silver shrugged and made it to the last page of the exams, where all the word problems were. Cracking her knuckles, she made out what she could and completed the exam just as the bell rang.

“Your time is up.” Mr. Wit returned to the front of the classroom. “Stop writing and pass your papers forward.”

Rubbing her right wrist, Silver handed her paper down the row, sighing with relief that she had managed to complete the exam paper at the literal last second. It was over. It was all finally over and she had vanquished the final and hardest of them all.

“Relieved, huh, Silver Rose?” Sound Wave put his headphones back on his head. “I sure am. School’s out! Rock on!”

“Yeah… It was tough, but it’s done…” Silver leaned back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling. “Ugh, I feel like my head’s about to explode…”

“Well, maybe go get yourself a ginger beer or something,” Sound Wave suggested. “Kick back and relax. That’s what I’m going to do.”

“Huh. Sounds like a good plan, Sound Wave.”

When all the papers were in front, Mr. Wit collected them and stacked them nicely on his desk before picking up one of his markers.

“Now class, with this exam done and with the weekend right around the corner…” Mr. Wit smiled. “I’m pleased to say your summer break is finally upon you. Now, unlike your English teacher, I’m not giving you any homework over the break.”

Silver cheered along with her classmates. She really didn’t want to have to do math when she was supposed to be having a good long time to rest and relax. She did have a reading from Ms. Script. She had to finish an old book called, One Thousand Years of Companionship, and write a report about it, but that didn’t seem too hard.

“And so… With everything settled here…” Mr. Wit pulled back, then tossed his marker hard to the opposite end of the classroom. It bounced off the wall miraculously and landed on top one of the fan blades. Everyone was awed. “Have a good break and I will see you all when you return! Happy summer, everyone.”

The room emptied faster than a cooler full of soda on a hot day. Silver was among those to rush out of the school and throw her arms wide, head tilted back.

“It feels so good to be free!”

Sure, she had really enjoyed coming to school and leaving home, but now there was going to be a break from homework and calculus.

“You can say that again, Silver!” Indigo gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder, then stretched her arms wide like Silver had done. “Nightmare slain!”

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a nightmare, but sure, Indigo,” Silver chuckled. “Going anywhere for the break?”

“Yes, actually.” The athlete nodded. “My family’s thinking of heading up to Docklin to see the sights. It’s going to be great!”

“Docklin, huh? Well, I hope you have a great time there. Take some pictures for the rest of us, won’t you?”

“Sure will.” Indigo slung both straps of her backpack on her shoulders. “Well, I’m off first. I’ll see you around, Silver Rose!”

The young changeling waved to her friend as she ran off, jumping up once further away and punching both her arms skyward. It was nice to have friends.

“Siiillllvvvvveeeeerrrrrr!” It was Canvas Splash, who threw herself against the pink haired changeling, wrapping her arms around her in a rib crushing hug. “School’s over! Exams are over!”

“Yeah… I… know…” Silver gasped, still wrapped in Canvas’ arms. “Canvas.. Can’t… breathe!”

“Oh, oh, sorry!” The artist let her go and grinned. “Any plans this break, Silver? Oh! This is your first school break, isn’t it? That’s awesome!”

“I’m sure my mother can think of something,” Silver said, already wondering if Aunt Ivory would take her to Manehattan now that school was no longer an issue.

“You wanna hang out sometime?” Canvas asked happily. “You’re my best friend, after all. I mean, as long as it’s after June. I’ll be in Prance until then, touring the art museums.”

“By yourself?” Silver knew Canvas had no other friends. “How about family?”

“Oh, they’re coming too. I mean, my Prench isn’t all that good, but my mom’s Prench, so she can do the speaking for me.”

“Hey, that’s neat. You never told me your mother was Prench.”

Canvas shrugged. “You never asked. But now you know! My dad’s from Canterlot. He runs a printing shop. My mom’s the other artist of the family. She paints too! Just like me!”

Silver nodded and smiled. She knew Canvas didn’t have any siblings, so that was her family. “Nice to know your parents are in your line of work too. Must be nice to have parents like that.”

Silver Rose didn’t think she would ever take up her parents’ line of work in acting, seeing as she had severe stagefright, so that was already out the window for her.

The two of them chatted on, until Silver noticed a familiar black car pull up next to the school.

“Well, looks like it’s time for me to go, Canvas. Have fun in Prance, and take lots of pictures, okay?”

“Gotcha, Silver! Sketchy and I will do our best!” Canvas leaned in for one more hug, before skipping away. “See ya, Silver!”

Silver walked up to the car sniffing at the air, but just as she reached for the door handle, she smelled someone familiar behind her. She turned around.

“Oh! Sunny Flare. Hi!”

“Hey, Silver.” Sunny had one hand on her bag’s strap. “Going home already?”

“Well, yeah. Can I help you with something, Sunny?” Silver leaned closer, just enough that Sunny could smell her strawberry scented breath.

“Well…” Sunny said hesitantly. “I was wondering if sometime you’d like to come over or something. I mean, it doesn’t have to be my house! We can go catch a movie or something… heheh.”

“Oh, you mean like…” Silver lowered her voice so no one else would hear her. “Like a date?”

“Umm, umm… yeah.” Sunny’s cheeks blazed a bright red. “Just you and me. H-How does that sound?”

“Sounds great, Sunny…” Silver thought maybe she should kiss her, but then they weren’t exactly in a private place, so a pat on the shoulder sufficed. “Just get back to me on when you want to… hang out, okay?”

“Sure will, Silver.” Sunny nodded with a smile. “You, uh, take care, hmm? Enjoy the break.”

“You too, Sunny. I’ll see you around!” And Silver got in the car, closing the door behind her. “School’s out, Aunt Ivory!”

“Yes, yes it is.” The older changeling adjusted her rearview mirror. Silver could see the corners of her mouth curved up into a sinister smirk.

“Umm…” Silver felt her arm hair stand up. “Did I do something wrong, Aunt Ivory…? Your smile’s kinda… creepy.”

“Well, you didn’t have sex with that Sunny Flare today, yes?” Ivory looked up at Silver from the rearview mirror.

“N-Nope.” Silver shook her head and belted herself in. “I didn’t see her today until now, just outside the car.”

“And so you are not in trouble, sweetie.” Ivory revved the engines and sped away from Crystal Prep Academy. “I’m pleased to say the plan has already been put into motion.”

“Plan?”

“My brilliant plan to help the sirens regain their magic, of course!” Ivory said. “This morning, I ordered Adagio to deliver the now-finished invitations to Sunset Shimmer. In a little over two weeks, we’ll meet and have ourselves a little discussion over tea and crumpets.”

“Oh, that’s cool, Aunt Ivory.” Silver looked out at the passing streets happily. Finally, they were going to do something about the siren problem. “And I thought it was lemonade? Not tea?”

“It’s just a saying, sweetie. I picked one of the hottest days of the year to host the picnic, so them drinking the lemonade is all but assured. It’s foolproof.” Ivory finished smugly. “Now, I believe your mother has something planned for celebrating the last day of the school year.”

“Oh. Umm, cool. It doesn’t involve you two… um, getting intimate, does it?” Silver closed one eye, flinching from her imagination.

“Relax, sweetie,” Ivory chuckled and overtook a row of slower cars. “I already settled your mother’s want for me this morning after you left. I suppose that’s why she’s in a rather good mood and wants to celebrate.”

“Ri-ight…”

The rest of the drive home was spent in pleasant silence, with nothing but the car’s engine punctuating the silence. Soon they were driving up the hill to the estate, and Silver Rose gaily skipped out of the car and indoors.

“I’m home!” she called, happily heading through the house.

“She’s home!” Silver heard her mother exclaim from the first floor living room. When she rounded the corner, her mother and the sirens were already there waiting, with her mother picking her up and spinning her around in the air before tossing her into one of the couches.

“Oof!” Silver landed against the soft furniture, almost knocking it over.

“Now, we can celebrate!” Chrysalis picked up a bottle of wine. “To the beginning of your summer break! Where’s your aunt?”

“I’m here.” Ivory Wings walked in behind her sister, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I left Silver Platter to park the car. I wasn’t going to miss out today.”

“And I wasn’t going to start without my sweet sister.” Chrysalis pulled Ivory’s face in for a kiss on the lips, much to Silver’s disgust. “Mmm. Now come, let the party begin!”

And then she popped the cork on her wine bottle and held it high.

“No more school.” Aria smiled at the corner of her mouth for a second. “I thought it would never end…”

“How do you wonder you did on your exams, Aria?” Adagio smirked and raised her glass of soda. “I don’t recall you studying one bit.”

Aria Blaze folded her arms. “You didn’t either.”

“I don’t have to. You and Sonata, on the other hand…”

“Are you comparing me to Sonata?” Aria said, creases forming on her brow.

“Yeah, I studied.” Sonata raised a hand and sipped from her juice box. “Aria didn’t.”

“Hey! I probably still did better than you.” Aria roughly messed up her sister’s hair.

“Hey!”

“Girls, please.” Ivory split them apart, holding them away from each other. “We aren’t here to fight today. We’re here to celebrate. So please, let’s celebrate.”

“Yes, come, have a drink.” Chrysalis swooped around, handing each of the sirens an empty glass. “It’s time we kickstarted this party. Then later perhaps me and my sister could-”

“No, Chryssie.” Ivory cut in. “I promised your daughter, there’ll be none of that sort today.”

“Really?” Chrysalis gave her daughter a sour look. “I can’t just have a bit of fun?”

“Umm…” Silver looked around the room.

“I’m joking, snowdrop.” Chrysalis handed her a glass. “If that’s what you want, then for now, I’ll agree to it. This is a celebration for your school break, after all.”

“And no alcohol for her, sister.” Ivory Wings wagged a finger. “She’s underage.”

“Fine.” Then she uncorked the bottle. “But the sirens aren’t.”

“Yes, we’re technically older than you two, remember?” Adagio smirked and held out her glass.

“Wait, you are?” Silver blinked a few times.

“Why, of course.” Silver didn’t think Adagio’s face could get any more smug. “When we first met your mother and aunt, they weren’t even a millennia old, while we had been around for plenty.”

“Let us ignore the past and look ahead, girls.” Chrysalis poured wine into each of their glasses. “We don’t need to bring all that up.”

Silver found it weird to see the sirens with alcohol. They looked like they were only her age. Underaged, in fact. But to hear that they were indeed older than even her mother… She didn’t know what more to think, but she figured that was the case when you lived in a family of non-humans.

“Here, sweetie.” Ivory picked up a packet of juice and tossed it over. “You can drink this.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Aunt Ivory.” The young changeling put down her glass and stabbed a straw into her juicebox.

Chrysalis drank from her glass, then set it down, scooting over to her daughter’s side.

“So, have you thought about what you’re going to do with all this free time?” she asked with a smile. “I mean, you’ll still have private lessons, but I imagine that without school, you must have some idea of what you want to do.”

The young princess drank from her juicebox, swallowing before speaking. “I won’t still have the extra ones, will I?”

The queen put a hand to her chin, then nodded. “I think it would be best to keep the math one for now. You really need help on that. Though, I think twice a week will suffice.”

Silver sighed, but her mother was right. She only wished it could be Home Run helping her instead. “Yes, mother. Will I… will I be able to go out more during this break?”

“Hmm…” Chrysalis tilted her glass of wine from side to side. “Alright, Silver. You may. I figure you could do more hunting if I allowed it.”

“Thank you, mother.” Silver tried not to sound overexcited about it.

She was really looking forward to spending more time with Home Run. And then there was Sunny Flare as well now. She promised Sunny she would. And she wasn’t going to fall in love this time. She promised her aunt and mother as well.

“Yes, well, let us forget about everything else now and enjoy the celebration.” Chrysalis downed her glass and then reached for the bottle. “There is plenty to drink and so little time.”

And so Silver Rose smiled, excited how her first summer break was going to go. There was so much she wanted to do and so much she wanted to see. She hoped there would be enough time to do it all.