Moonglade carefully brushed her hair, straightening out any kinks that might have gotten into it while she had been sleeping. Once she was satisfied that her hair was just perfect, she did it up in her usual style, braiding up the sides, where it ended in a short ponytail.

She was just finishing up with her hair when the door to her room slammed open. Surprised, Moonglade squeaked and whipped around.

Ebony Wings stood in the doorway, smiling. This immediately seemed suspicious to Moonglade, as her mother rarely smiled about anything that wasn’t to do with her. In one hand she held a bottle of wine, and in the other was a small black object.

“Why the surprised face?” Moonglade’s mother asked sweetly. “You couldn’t smell me coming?”

“Oh, sorry mother.” The girl toyed with the brush in her hands. “I wasn’t quite paying attention.”

“Yes, well, try to do so more in the future,” Ebony Wings said sternly. “But enough harping on that, I have something for you.”

Ebony put down the bottle of wine and showed Moonglade the object. It was a large hairpin, fashioned to look like the blade of Chrysalis’s dark sword. Ebony Wings tipped it into Moonglade’s hands; it was surprisingly heavy.

“This is a clip that your aunt got me during the Renaissance period. I’m going to let you borrow it for your, ahem, date today.”

Moonglade was taken aback. Her mother had never shown much interest in her personal life before. Could this be a sudden outburst of motherly affection? She sniffed the air; there was love, yes, but also an undercurrent of something less than wholesome. She couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, but her instincts told her to ignore it. Her mother was hardly a pure white snowflake on the best of days.

“Um, well, thank you, mother. It’s nice.” Moonglade held the hairclip. The girl tucked the left side of her fringe back and pinned it up with the hairclip. It kind of pulled down at her hair, but as long as she didn’t move too quickly, it should be fine. “How does it look?”

“Just marvelous,” Ebony Wings said brightly. “You can return it to me after you get back home. Now, I believe Silver Platter is waiting to take you to your, ah, date.”

“Aunt Ivory’s not taking me? And I still need to get dressed…” Moonglade grabbed her new summer attire and vanished into her bathroom to change.

“Your aunt will be… busy with something.” Ebony looked at her fingers and frowned. “She’s been too busy as of late.”

“Oh.” Moonglade got done changing into her orange shirt and black skirt, stepping back outside. “How do I look, mother?”

“You look the part now, at least.” Ebony pushed her daughter out of her room. “Now run along. You don’t want to be late for your date.”

“Um, right. Yes, mother.” Moonglade found it strange that her mother was worrying about her date, but it was nice, so she let it slide.

The young changeling pranced down her stairs, skipping all the way to the car outside, all the while humming to herself.

“Hmmm, hmmm, I’m going on a date, hmm, hmmm, I get to see Home Run…”

“Good morning, princess,” Silver Platter greeted when she hopped into the back seat. “Where might you be going today?”

“The amusement park. Then lunch with Home Run after.” The girl smiled happily.

Silver Platter started the car, driving out of the estate gates and onto the city streets. “At once, princess.”

Moonglade rested one elbow on the windowsill and looked out, watching a swallow glide in the air above the car. It was a while since she got to see Home Run and she really wanted to be with him, even if she wasn’t supposed to be so in love with him.

Stupid changeling rules and all that…

She didn’t get why life had to be so complicated. If they just didn’t need to hide from everything, she didn’t need to pretend her love was fake.

“Oh, why does love need to be so hard…?” Moonglade sung quietly to herself. “Why does it seem like it’s tearing me apart…”

She knew Silver Platter wouldn’t mind her singing, so she kept going until the car finally pulled to a stop inside the amusement park entrance. Today, there were a trio of robot jester mascots standing by the entrance, dancing and juggling.

“Princess Moonglade.” Silver Platter called as the young girl left the car. “Do enjoy your date.”

“I will. Thank you, Silver Platter.”

And she waltzed on over to the entrance, where she had decided with Home Run to meet up. The jesters didn’t bother, opting to entertain younger kids instead, which was fine by her. She didn’t really want to meet them anyway.

“He’s running late again,” Moonglade muttered to herself. This seemed to be a trend with Home Run. Normally she wouldn’t have minded, but she felt a little out of place among all the smaller children who were milling around the park. “Typical Home Ranger. Hey, how about Home Ranger?”

She began mulling over nicknames when her ears picked out the sound of pedalling. Pedalling from a bicycle.

“Sorry, I’m late. Again.” Home Run slowed to a stop beside her, his face all sweaty, trying to catch his breath. He had done away with his usual blue striped shirt, now only wearing his white shirt with his baseball field emblem on it.

“Hey, Home Ranger, I was just thinking about when you were going to show.” Moonglade gave it a try.

“Ha, yeah, uh… That’s a weird name,” Home Run laughed and scratched his cheek.

“Back to the drawing board then.” Moonglade shrugged and smiled. “So, ready to go? I’m dying to try out some of the rides!”

“Yeah, sure,” Home Run looked a little guilty. “Look, I know this is meant to be just the two of us, but I kind of brought some people along…”

“Huh?” Moonglade said blankly.

“Yeah, umm… They… weren’t gonna take no for an answer…” Home Run rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah… Sorry.”

Moonglade tried not to look so disappointed, but she guessed it showed. Home Run got off his bike and gave her a hug.

“I’ll, uh… I’ll try to give most of my time to you, okay? You’re still my girlfriend, after all. And uh, I like the shirt. It’s nice. Looks better up close than on the phone screen. It really feels like I can give it my all to achieve glory here.”

Moonglade sniffed and chuckled. “All this isn’t enough to make up for it, yeah? You owe me more than this.” She looked around. “Where are these other people, then? I only see you.”

“Oh, they’re parking the car. I didn’t want to squeeze, plus, I needed to get my bike over, so here I am.”

Moonglade blinked slowly while Home Run chained his bike to the fence.“Oh. Well, I hope they won’t take too long-”

“HEEYYY!” a bubbly, high pitched voice came, making Moonglade jump, her arms wrapping around Home Run’s.

A head of fluffy pink hair made itself known. “Hey, you two! We finally got the car parked. I mean, between Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting over the best parking spots and Rarity almost losing it, I think we did okay! Ooh, who’s this? Is this…?”

Moonglade stepped forward, a slightly forced smile on her face. “Hello, Pink-” Her mouth snapped shut.

Silver Rose has met these people, A voice that was similar to her aunt’s said in her head. Moonglade has not. Tread carefully.

“Umm, h-hi…” Moonglade said again. “Umm… I’m Moonglade.”

“Yeah, we know!” Pinkie Pie reached out and shook her hand vigorously. “We know a lot about you, that you’re a daughter of Ebony Wings, the acclaimed actress, but Home Run said not to bring that up, because you’re quite shy about it, so I won’t!”

“Uh, heheh… ri-right…” Moonglade’s cheeks turned red at the mention of her mother. She hoped no one around had heard that. The last thing she needed now was a mob wanting her autograph, or worse, her mother’s.

“Yeah, not so loud about her, okay, Pinkie?” Home Run said, patting Moonglade on the back. “We don’t want to be swarmed by random people.”

“Righty-o, Spaghetti-o!” Pinkie saluted. “Hey, here they come. Took them a while.”

Moonglade looked past the pink girl and spotted another six girls walking over. To her surprise, Twilight Sparkle was among them.

“I told you that was a good spot!” The rainbow haired one folded her arms smugly. Moonglade recalled her name was Rainbow… Rainbow something.

Moonglade gave herself a nervous giggle. She should have put more effort into memorizing the names of these girls during the Friendship Games. Then again, Moonglade wasn’t supposed to know their names, so maybe that was a good thing.

“Alright, alright, ya got me this time.” The cowgirl one, Applejohn or something, cleaned out the inside of her hat, then put it back on her head. “So, this is Moonglade huh? Howdy, partner, we’ve heard a lot about ya. Mostly good.”

Suddenly, Applejohn and Rainbow Something were shoved out of the way by another girl, this one, Moonglade remembered as Rarity.

“Oh my goodness, it really is real!” Rarity took Moonglade’s hand and shook it so hard, the changeling thought her shoulder was going to fall off. “I’m really shaking hands with Moonglade! Oh, I never dreamt this day would come!”

“N-no-o, really?” Moonglade stammered after extricating her hand and fixing her glasses, which had been shaken askew. “I mean, you’ve, uh, met my sister. Did you give her the same kind of welcome?”

“Oh yes, we met your sister,” the quiet one, Fluttershy, piped up, her voice so soft it would’ve almost gone unnoticed. “She and Sunset had a duel before the Games began.”

“Oh, heh, yeah, I heard about that.” Moonglade smiled sheepishly. She held one of Home Run’s hands to feel better. “So… um…”

Home Run looked and her and nodded. “Right, so these are my friends. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight was from your sister’s school.”

“Oh, I heard about her.” Moonglade pretended to feign knowledge. “She turned into a flying monster or something?”

Twilight looked distinctly uncomfortable at this.

“Well, yeah, she did, but everything worked out in the end,” Applejack said quickly. “Nobody was hurt and we’re all still here, that’s what matters.”

There was a general consensus of nodding and murmuring in agreement.

“Well,” Home Run said eventually. “Day’s not getting any younger. Let’s go in!”

Moonglade bowed slightly as the other girls filed past her, Pinkie in the lead. Moonglade decided to take this opportunity to ensure their scents were imprinted into her mind so that she would be able to recognize them easier in case she needed to find them in the future. They smelled relatively normal, brimming with excitement and anticipation, with a healthy topping of cheer on top of the emotional sundae.

And then, as Sunset Shimmer passed, the scent abruptly changed. Moonglade’s eyebrows knitted together for a brief moment as she inhaled a cocktail of uncertainty, self-doubt, and suspicion. Suspicion directed at her.

Oh? Why the suspicion, Sunset Shimmer? Does she know something?

Moonglade made a note to keep an eye on her throughout their so called, “date”.

“Come on, Home Run, let’s go spend some quality time on some rides.” Moonglade held his hand, the two of them following behind the girls, with Moonglade watching Sunset go.

“So, how is it, summer break and all?” The young changeling asked him.

“It’s my first summer break here,” Home Run chuckled and clasped her hand tighter. “They don’t exactly have the same sights like back at Fillydelphia, but I think it’s going to be fun.”

“Oh, I think so too, uh… How’s Batter?” Moonglade giggled. Since he played baseball, he was a batter.

“That’s… yeah, that’s a little weird too.”

“Man, it’s so hard to find a good nickname.” The girl looked to see Home Run’s friends still walking ahead, with Sunset Shimmer not seeming to pay her any attention. Moonglade took the chance to kiss Home Run on the cheek. “But that’s just you, isn’t it? I’ve gotta find something perfect for you.”

“Ha, yeah, me too. Nicknames, huh? How’s…” Home Run put a hand to his chin. “Moonshine?”

“Isn’t that something people drink?” Moonglade laughed and adjusted her glasses. “You know, a kind of alcohol?”

“Oh, uh…” The baseballer’s cheeks turned red. “That’s um, that’s right. Silly me, heheh… Guess we’ll still have to keep working at it.”

After procuring their tickets, Moonglade and the group entered the large park, anxious to get on the rides. Moonglade had only tried some of the rides so far and by the looks of it, there was still so much to explore.

Pinkie Pie immediately spotted a snack booth and skipped off to examine its wares, licking her lips as she did so.

“Man, Rocket Mountain!” Rainbow pointed to a rollercoaster ride that went through a fake mountain, spinning round and round around it and through it. It looked dangerous, which was one reason Moonglade hadn’t tried it yet. “We gotta go there, guys! I heard it’s sick!”

“I’m itching to try the photo booths myself,” Rarity declared. “And then after that, the house of mirrors.”

“What, like you don’t admire yourself in the mirror at home enough already?” Rainbow Dash teased.

“Ooooooh, good one, Dashie!” Pinkie giggled and high fived her rainbow haired friend.

“Wait, Pinkie I thought you just went to the snack booth?” Fluttershy asked, her voice almost unable to be heard with all the clamouring of the crowds.

“I am, silly!”

Moonglade had blinked, and almost like magic, Pinkie wasn’t with them anymore. She looked over to the snack booth and to her disbelief, the girl was there, pointing at a huge roll of cotton candy.

“How did she… She was just…” Moonglade’s finger went back and forth from Home Run’s friends to the snack booth.

“Don’t think too hard about it, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a wave of her hand. “That’s jus’ Pinkie bein’ Pinkie.”

“Uh, right, I guess…” The young changeling laughed awkwardly. She adjusted her hairclip; it was a little heavier than what she was used to and it kept threatening to pull her fringe back down and fall off.

“Oh yeah, Moonglade.” Home Run tapped her hairclip lightly. “I didn’t quite notice that before. It’s nice you know? Keeping your hair up like that.”

“O-Oh, you really think so?” Moonglade blushed.

“Yeah, it makes you look really pretty.” The boy gave her hair a brush.

The young changeling took a chance to inhale, smelling a warm trail of leaving coming straight from her boyfriend. It was delicious and it made her happier, along with his nice compliment.

“You’re the best, you know?” She hugged his arm.

Even though they had all come here together, most of the other girls split off to go try different rides, agreeing to meet back for lunch at the central square.

Rainbow Dash went to try that Rocket Mountain, while Fluttershy and Pinkie went to an animal petting attraction. Moonglade had guessed as much.

Applejack went ahead and decided to go for some dinosaur ride, taking off in a puff of smoke.

Moonglade had hoped they would all leave so she could be alone with Home Run, because she wanted to try out that one love tunnel ride near the center, but Rarity, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle hadn’t decided to get lost yet.

Rarity, of course, quizzed Moonglade nonstop about her daily life activities and being homeschooled. The young changeling felt like stuffing a map of the park down Rarity’s throat, but that would only serve to hurt her image, so she refrained from that.

“What do you study at home? Do you learn all the normal subjects? Who buys your clothes for you? Are they made? Oh, and do you plan on joining the acting industry one day?”

And then when she started quizzing her about her mother, Moonglade lost it.

“Oh, stop with the questions about my mother, please!” She spread her fingers out like claws. “I have had enough with people talking to me just because she’s my mother. Please, enough of that!” When she saw Rarity’s shocked expression, Moonglade realized her mistake and shrank back behind Home Run. “Umm… I didn’t, um, sorry. I kinda lost control.”

“Oh, I am so sorry, dear.” Rarity didn’t seem to take it too hard, a little to Moonglade’s surprise. “Yes, I see how it could get… overused. I apologize. I’m just such a big fan of your mother’s work.”

“A lot of people are,” Home Run said fairly. “Still, I can’t imagine it’s easy, living with someone as famous as that.”

“Oh, come on, Home Run, don’t you start bringing her up too, okay?” Moonglade squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to just keep being in her shadow. I’m my own person, okay?”

“Your sister’s making quite the name for herself at Crystal Prep,” Rarity said reproachfully. “Why, when she battled against Sunset, she seemed to have quite the fan group with her.” Rarity’s face grew slightly wistful. “I wish she could have enrolled at Canterlot High instead. Think of the conversations we could have had!” The fashionista sighed, then perked up considerably. “Say, Moonglade, would you mind terribly if I asked you about your sister? I know so very little about her, save that I got her autograph at the Friendship Games.”

“Uh, we-well…” Moonglade hadn’t prepared to talk about her sister, but for some reason, she did exactly the opposite of what her mind was yelling into her brain. “S-Sure, I guess that’s okay…”

“Ooh, splendid!” Rarity exclaimed before launching into a tirade of questions. Who had been born first? Who was taller? What was Silver Rose’s favorite food? Did she have a special someone?

Moonglade instantly regretted allowing her to ask these questions, but did her best to answer, even if some were just made up on the dot.

“Pizza,” she had said at the end. “I’m pretty sure she likes pizza. Umm… garlic and fried cheese. Yeah.”

Rarity was scribbling this down in a pocket notebook, one that was laden with dress ideas and designs.

“What was the answer to my last question, darling?”

“I don’t know if she has a special someone,” Moonglade lied. “She doesn’t talk about any of that.”

“And okay, Rarity.” Home Run waved a hand between her face and her notebook. “How about we leave questions for later and actually do what we came to do, huh?”

“Yes, we can save the interview for later,” Sunset Shimmer said, her face morphing into an expression of uncertainty for a second. “Come on, I’m sure there’s a ride we’ll enjoy here.”

That one doesn’t trust me. Moonglade thought to herself. What should I do?

At this, Moonglade suddenly imagined two miniature versions of herself, one with white wings and a golden halo and another with a black dress and devil horns.

“Tear her throat out,” the one in the black dress hissed, sounding unnervingly like her mother. “You’ve got the claws, do it!”

The angelic Moonglade shook her head. “Doing something like that in broad daylight would definitely compromise your disguise. Do nothing. Act normal.”

That’s more like it! Moonglade thought, smiling at the imaginary mini-self.

“Then, track her back to where she lives,” the self with the halo continued. “Make sure there are no witnesses, then you can tear her throat out!”

Moonglade raised both hands and buried her face in them, causing both of her miniature selves to disappear in a puff of smoke.

“Hey, Moonglade?” Twilight Sparkle asked timidly. “Is everything alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, what?” Moonglade lifted her head and looked around past the girls and Home Run. “Oh, yes, everything’s fine, Twilight. Hey, do you think we can try, uh, how about that one attraction where you have to shoot targets.”

“Oh, sure,” Home Run said. “I think it was this way?” He said, looking at the map.

The young changeling, Home Run and his friends went past the central square and through a segment called the Jungle Lands into a new area called the Old West, which Moonglade had never set foot in before. There was fake sand all over the ground, which was actually concrete made to look like sand. The constructors had really made the place look like a town from out of one of those cowboy movies, with the saloons and troughs.

One such saloon was the shooting booth, where a man in a weird button up shirt and vest with puffy shoulders was standing, smiling as children tried shooting orange and red moving targets in his booth.

“There, there, come on, we’ve gotta try that one.” Moonglade hopped excitedly, clinging to Home Run’s right arm.

“Step right up, step right up.” The man twiddled his moustache, then pointed to Home Run. “You there, blue boy! Yes, you! You look like you could hit a few odd targets. Care to have a go at this and win a prize for your lovely lady?”

Home Run swallowed, but stepped forward anyway. He and Moonglade examined the gun. It was a modified airsoft rifle, tooled to look like an old west gun. The mechanism was simple enough, at least no more complex than the guns that Chrysalis made Moonglade practice with.

“Looks simple enough…” Home Run muttered, aiming down the sight. Moonglade reached over and corrected his stance, putting the stock a bit lower on his shoulder.

“Aim down the sights, close one eye, take a deep breath, and squeeze, not pull the trigger,” Moonglade instructed.

“Gotcha.”

“Gee, Moonglade, you really know your way around a gun, don’t you?” Sunset walked over to the counter and watched Home Run aim.

“I’ve watched my mother practice with them,” Moonglade replied and lied again, trying to filter out the odd smell that was coming from Sunset. “You know, for movies. She’s, uh, shown me a few things.”

“Uh, uh huh.” Sunset Shimmer didn’t look convinced.

What problem does she have with me? Moonglade tried to ignore her smell and watch Home Run shoot the targets. She doesn’t even know me. Does she? Does she know something about me?

Home Run fired thrice and missed the first two, with the third one at least hitting the edge of a target. With his last two bullets, Home Run made a valiant effort to get a bullseye, but all he did was hit other rings around it, nowhere close to the bullseye.

“Aw, you tried. It’s okay,” Moonglade told him sweetly.

The rest of the group had a try at hitting the targets, with Moonglade scoring the highest and earning her a plush of a white unicorn with a iridescent mane and tail. Sunset took one look at it and went pale.

“What, you don’t like unicorns, Sunset?” Twilight poked at the plushie’s horn. “I think it’s kinda cute. Right, Moonglade?”

“I like it,” she said mildly. “It will be good to have a friend for Mishter Schniffs.”

“Mister what?”

“Nevermind.”

Moonglade had gotten the chance to try many other rides before their appointed lunch meeting time. She especially liked one that went on the water, where a giant crocodile would be trying to kill you all the way. Sure, it was a little scary, but it had been really exciting. She had still wanted to go on the love tunnel ride, but with Home Run’s friends around, it was a bit embarrassing to do so, so she decided to either leave it for next time, or if she could somehow get Home Run alone.

The whole group had congregated at the food court, which was near the center of the park. They found a table that was overshadowed by a huge umbrella. Pinkie had with her at least a dozen bags of cotton candy, which Moonglade couldn’t figure out how she could hold them all. Each bag was at least the size of her torso.

Applejack had with her a t-shirt that read, I survived the Mesozoic Park Rampage Ride! And she also had a hotdog in her hand, which had ketchup and mustard splattered all over the sausage, from one end to the other.

“Man, Rainbow Dash, ya should’a gone on that one. It was fantastic! I rode it three times total!” she whooped, taking a bite out of her hotdog, leaving a moustache of ketchup and mustard on her face. “They even had a dinosaur roar in your face and everythin’!”

“Nah, Rocket Mountain is more amazing!” Rainbow tried to explain it with her hands. “At one point, the whole thing just goes peeeeeewssshhhh, and then flips around and vwwwooooosh! It was amazing!”

“I’m just glad we were able to take a break,” Rarity sighed, fanning herself with a hand while moving further in under the umbrella’s shade. “It’s positively boiling out today.”

“It’s not that bad. I-Is it…?” Moonglade sat there, a cheeseburger in her hands. She liked the traditional kind where it came in a basket with fries and ketchup on the side. It helped to have nice aesthetics. “I mean, uh, it’s only the beginning of summer.”

She had gotten the same kind of burger as Home Run, mainly because she wanted to be on the same page with him, but also, cheeseburgers did taste pretty good.

“It does…” Fluttershy said quietly, a wide-brimmed hat appearing on her head. “But it’s already quite hot now.” She sipped from a tall cup of lemonade. “You d-don’t feel it, Moonglade?”

“Yeah, look at her, she’s not even breaking a sweat!” Rainbow punctuated her point by flicking sweat from her forehead. “Man, do you like, put something on your face to stop that?”

Moonglade put a hand to her cheek and shook her head. “No. I-I didn’t put anything on my face.”

Not anything related to the heat anyway…

“Not even makeup?” Rarity gawked.

“Some makeup,” Moonglade amended, pointing at her pink eyeliner. Like her skin color, her makeup was directly painted onto her face with dyes, so it wouldn’t smear or run. “Nothing to do with sweating though. I just suppose I’m used to the heat.”

“What do you do, bathe in lava at home?” Rainbow Dash cracked. The whole table tittered, Moonglade included.

Let them make their jokes. It’s better than them finding out what you really are.

The rest of lunch passed by uneventfully, with Home Run’s friends offering Moonglade an invitation to watch their next musical gig.

“You girls play in a band?”

“Well yeah, of course we do. And we’re pretty awesome too!” Rainbow Dash pointed at herself. “Home Run never told you about us?”

“I guess the band part slipped my mind.” The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Moonglade looked at Home Run quizzically. “How could you forget a detail like that?”

Not that I didn’t already know that. Moonglade thought. Adagio and her sisters have given us plenty of information on you and your band.

“Well, truthfully, I don’t go listen to them a whole lot. Uh, no offense, girls, of course. Baseball and all. They play well, though.”

“I see,” Moonglade said placidly. She looked around the table. “Well, seeing as we’re all done with lunch, should we move on?”

“Ah gotta go wash up,” Applejack announced. “Be back in a tic.”

“We’ll go with you,” Rarity chimed in. “I needed to powder my nose anyway.”

As the whole group got up to head to the washrooms nearby, Moonglade breathed deeply and found Sunset Shimmer extremely close behind her. Thinking back to her training with her mother, the changeling slowed down too, Sunset bumping into her from behind.

“Oh, sorry Moonglade.” Sunset stepped back and rubbed her nose. “I didn’t see you stopping.”

“No harm done,” Moonglade replied with a smile. “Say, Sunset. I might just be imagining things, but you look… troubled. Is something wrong?”

“No, no, everything’s fine.” The fiery haired girl shook her head. With a quick sniff, she knew Sunset was lying. “Hmm, well, since you mentioned it… You live with the sirens, right? Adagio actually handed me an invitation to some lunch. Do you know anything about this?”

“An invitation? To lunch?” Moonglade put on her best puzzled face. This was probably about her aunt’s grand plan to repair the sirens’ pendants. Trying very hard to keep her face arranged in an expression of polite curiosity, she shook her head. “No, I’m afraid this is my first time hearing about this.”

“It’s a shame they didn’t ask me to plan it!” Pinkie popped back out of the restroom. “I could’ve baked all kinds of goodies!”

“Yeah, but what I want to know is… why?” Sunset folded her arms. “Are you sure you don’t know, Moonglade?”

“Haven’t a clue,” Moonglade lied with a shrug.

She took another sniff at Sunset. There was still a whole lot of doubt clouding around her. She wasn’t making much progress in lying. Thankfully, Home Run believed her.

“Come on, Sunset, if she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know. Right?” Her boyfriend put an arm around her. “Besides, why would she lie to us?”

Deep down, Moonglade felt like a knife was pushed between her ribs. It felt slightly bad to lie to Home Run like this, but she knew she had to, if not for the sake of her friends the sirens.

“Hmm…” Sunset still didn’t smell convinced. “Nevermind then. I guess you’re right.”

Moonglade internally let out a breath, relieved that Sunset hadn’t exactly caught on to her. She wasn’t entirely sure what was to transpire at this picnic that her aunt had invited Sunset to, but from her aunt’s hints and idle chatter, it involved some kind of poisoned lemonade.

“Thanks, Home Run.” Moonglade smiled at him. “Hey, while the others are washing their hands and stuff, you wanna… umm…” She looked at Sunset and blushed, then said in a quieter voice, “Go on that love ride thing…?”

She wasn’t as quiet as she hoped, even with the crowd chatter, as Sunset laughed and waved at them. “Go on. I’ll keep the girls busy.”

“You-you would do that?” Moonglade blinked a few times.

“Sure,” Sunset said confidently. “If you and Home Run want a little time to yourselves, I’m all for it. Since, you know, we kind of gatecrashed your date anyway.”

“Great!” Moonglade exclaimed, tugging on Home Run’s arm. “Come on, let’s go!”

Moonglade practically dragged him along, excited that she could finally spend some alone time with the boy. Perhaps that Sunset Shimmer wasn’t completely bad.