Moonglade stood outside the residence of Pinkie Pie, just watching the white front door and clutching the gift tightly in her hands. It was a relatively big house, but from what her aunt had told her, Moonglade knew that the Pie family was a rather sizeable one, and probably needed the space.

Her aunt’s words from the ride over still rang in her ears and she kept playing it back in her head over and over again.

Remember, sweetie, unless you want another beating from your mother, I suggest you remember this boy is but a meal. While he may love you, you as a changeling should not be in love with him. Do not let it control you. Remember that.

Moonglade sighed deeply. That was why she was still out here. She didn’t know what to do. She had to distance herself from Home Run but what if she couldn’t? She just really wanted to be with him, but she knew that was not a possibility. And then she had to be careful about what she said. Her mother had heard everything the last time and she wasn’t going to make that same mistake again.

Adjusting her mother’s heavy hairclip on her head, Moonglade took another deep breath, then pushed a finger against the doorbell by the side.

She heard a resounding bell sound go through the house, followed by a rush of footsteps.

No turning back now…

The door was suddenly pulled open and a pink girl made herself known. Pinkie Pie was clad in an entirely pink outfit.

“Moonglade, you’re here!” she said a little too loudly for the young changeling. “Come in, come in! Welcome to my home! It’s not too small, is it? I mean, compared to yours.”

“Oh, no, the size doesn’t matter, Pinkie Pie.” Moonglade rubbed the back of her neck and laughed. “I-Is Home Run here yet? I have his gift.”

The changeling shook the box that held Home Run’s present. She had wrapped it in a blue paper with kittens decorating its surface, all by herself. She had been rather impressed with her small accomplishment.

“Yes! Come in, come in!” Pinkie bounced on the spot. “Now that everyone’s here, the party can really start!”

Moonglade allowed the pink girl to lead her into the living room, which was decorated with blue streamers and blue balloons, which Moonglade obviously knew was Home Run’s favourite color.

For having someone drive her around and everything, she wasn’t usually on time.

Home Run and the other girls including Sunset were already seated on sofas in the room, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack playing a game on the TV.

The young changeling’s heart fluttered when she saw Home Run, but then she shook her head and reminded herself what she shouldn’t do. Moonglade and Chrysidea had to be separate entities. She couldn’t fall in love, even if she wanted to.

“Hey, Moonglade, you’re here!” Home Run got up and walked over to give her a hug.

Moonglade wanted to return it with equal gusto, but instead, she froze, unsure of what to do. In the end, she simply placed her head on his chest and breathed in the love he was giving her.

“It’s um, great to see you, Home Run.” She grinned awkwardly. She held out the gift in her hands to him. “Umm, here, for you. Your present. I hope you like it.”

“Oh, for me?” Home Run accepted it from her hands. “Wow, did you wrap this? It’s nice.”

“Oh, well… yeah, I did…” Moonglade blushed. It was nice to receive praise from him.

“But you know? Whether it’s nice or not, it was done by you, and that’s what matters, isn’t it?” Home Run lightly kissed her on the cheek, making the young changeling blush harder.

Sure, she liked that, but with her current conflicted feelings and the eyes of the others around them, it was a tad bit embarrassing.

“Aw, you two are so cute together.” Rarity had whipped out her strange camera. “Come on, do it again for the camera!”

“Do-do we have to…?” Moonglade pinched the hem of her shirt. She didn’t like having so much attention on her.

“Yeah, come on, Rarity, just a simple picture will do.” Home Run put an arm around the changeling. That always seemed to help calm her, if only just a little.

“Oh, very well. Say cheese!” Rarity readied the camera and snapped.

In less than a second, the faded picture slid out from the bottom of the camera and the violet haired girl took it out and began waving it.

“Come on, Moonglade.” Home Run took her hand and led her over to the sofas. “You like video games, right? Have you ever heard of Field Fighter? Rainbow Dash and Applejack have been at it for the last hour.”

“You play video games, Moonglade?” Rainbow turned from the TV screen to face her. “I didn’t know that! What games do you play?”

“Um, mostly Finest Fantasy. I haven’t played too far into the game, but I’m enjoying it so far.”

“You’re gonna lose, Dash, if ya keep tryin’ to bug her.” With one more tap on the controller, Applejack’s character delivered an uppercut to Rainbow’s character, launching him into the air as the letters, “K.O”, appeared on the screen. “See?”

“Hey, not fair! I was talking!” Rainbow complained.

“Field Fighter waits for no excuses.” Applejack spun the controller on her index finger. “Wanna have a go, Moonglade?”

“Oh, umm, do-don’t mind me…” Moonglade laughed sheepishly and waved a hand. “Go on ahead.”

“No, really, come on. I wanna see how you do!” Rainbow Dash got up and shoved the controller into her hand.

“It’s r-really… it’s fine…” Unsure of what to do, Moonglade looked to Home Run, who she was most comfortable with. Aside from her awkwardness to not get too close to him, he still managed to cast a sense of calm around her.

“You can give it a try, Moonglade. Go ahead. I know you like video games.”

“O-Oh… Well, okay then.” Moonglade meekly placed both hands on the controller. At least gaming would likely take away some of that awkwardness she currently had before Home Run and his friends.

After a quick explanation of the controls, the young changeling was soon thrust into the world of Field Fighter. She had never played anything like this before, but she couldn’t deny a few moments of the fight put a smile on her face.

She had picked a character with a bright red suit, who seemed to have special powers, while Applejack had a character that knew some kind of martial arts, though he was able to somehow shoot blue balls from his hands.

Moonglade ended up losing every match, but she found she was getting better as they played on, slowly mimicking what Applejack was doing, though, the cowgirl herself was on much higher level.

She also enjoyed the touch of Home Run’s hand on her shoulder, but she had to keep reminding herself not to be so crazy about him.

Home Run was prey. He was a source of food. He couldn’t be anything more.

But why had she fallen for him so? Was it because he was her first target? Or maybe it was his character. Home Run was always so nice to her and she knew he really cared about her. Was this why she was so driven to love him back?

Whatever it was, she knew she couldn’t. She wanted to, but unless she wanted another severe spanking from her mother, she couldn’t love him like she used to.

“Are you okay, Moonglade?” Home Run squeezed her shoulder and jolted her from her thoughts. “You’ve been mashing buttons even after the game over screen.”

“Yeah, somethin’ on your mind?” Applejack leaned over to look at her closer.

“Oh, no no, I guess I was, uh… Just spacing out. Yeah. I-I’m fine.” Moonglade laughed nervously. “Say, you’re really good at this game, Ap-Applejack.”

“Well, Ah do have the game at home, so it’d be weird if Ah wasn’t good at it.” Applejack laughed. “But you did pretty well, ‘specially if this was your first time playin’.”

Moonglade put down the controller and put on a brave smile. “Thanks, Applejack. Maybe I’ll see if I can get the game myself. I’d put up more of a fight next time.”

“Punch?” Pinkie popped up between Applejack and Moonglade, holding up two glasses of cherry-red liquid.

“Oh, I don’t mind.” The changeling accepted a glass and gulped down half its contents. It was quite a sweet drink, but still, it pleased her taste buds. “Ooh, this is good.”

“Of course it is.” Rainbow gulped down her own glass. “Pinkie makes the best punch at any party!”

“Darn right she does.” Applejack accepted her glass from the pink girl and held it up. “Thanks, Pinkie. And here, a toast to Home Run, huh? Our guest of honor.”

“Oh, no no, I don’t need a toast-”

“A toast to Home Run!” Pinkie somersaulted beside him and clapped him hard on the back. “Happy Birthday to the birthday boy!”

Moonglade stood beside him and smiled. This was the first birthday party she’d been to, not counting her own. So far, she found it loud, but it was certainly an interesting experience, though, she wished she would be able to fully enjoy it. Alas, as a changeling, she would never be allowed to, seeing as her mother was very against her falling in love.

“It’s for your own good, you know,” Mishter Schniffs’ voice said in her head.

“Yeah, listen to him,” Stargaze Sunshine added, also in her head.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Moonglade replied out loud, then realized everyone was now looking at her, red quickly forming on her cheeks.

“Oh, to Home Run!” Moonglade said quickly, quaffing the rest of her drink in one gulp.

The girls continued to look quizzically at her as she swapped her attention to her empty cup, but Home Run just smiled and gave her a friendly pat on the back.

“I’m glad I get to celebrate with you, Moonglade.”

Moonglade shrugged and smiled at him. “Well, if it makes you happy, then I am too.”

Moonglade paused and looked down. Her heart was doing it again. It was beginning to beat faster. She had been trying to calm it down, to feel more normal around Home Run, but whenever he did something nice to her, its beat would shoot right up again, her effort wasted.

Moonglade noticed Sunset Shimmer looking at her with a strangely suspicious look on her face, but as she turned to look, the other girl looked away, back at the drink in her hand.

That one… Moonglade thought. That one suspects something.

Pushing her heavy hairclip up, Moonglade turned her attention back to Home Run. She couldn’t keep pretending he wasn’t there. She was pretending to be his girlfriend after all, love or no. She would still need to act like it.

“So…” the young changeling ventured. “I’ve not been to a birthday party before. What else do we do?”

“You’ve never been to a birthday party before?!” Pinkie Pie gasped, levitating in the air as she inhaled. “What about your birthday? Doesn’t your mom celebrate that?”

“She does… I guess.” The blonde girl rubbed the back of her neck. “Usually I just get…” Then she remembered her mother could likely hear her, somehow, so she opted to pick her next words very carefully. “Um, a gift. Yeah. Mmhmm. I’ve… um, never had any friends until now…”

“What about your twin sister and the sirens?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking back from the TV.

“Oh, well, my sister only moved back recently, about the same time as the sirens. I had the house to myself until a couple of months ago.”

“That’s so lonely…” Fluttershy mumbled behind her friends.

“But… at least now you have us, hmm?” Home Run ran a hand along her cheek, which made her blush again.

“Yes, we’ll be your friends, darling.” Rarity gave her violet hair a flip behind her shoulder. “Everyone needs friends.”

Moonglade was taken aback by their plain honesty. She could smell and taste their hospitality; they genuinely wanted to be her friends, with no hidden undercurrents of ulterior motive. How different from her classmates at Crystal Prep Academy.

The young changeling raised a hand and held Home Run’s to her cheek. And she definitely loved the way he smelt around her. He genuinely loved her. The taste of his love was just so delicious, Moonglade’s mouth began to water, but she managed to control herself and once again have a mental reminder that she could not fall in love with him, no matter how true his love was for her.

Why does it have to be this way?

“Come on, let’s play a game!” Pinkie suggested, brandishing a foam baseball bat. “Who wants to whack a pinata?”

“Do you realize how suspicious we look?” Ivory Wings said from the driver’s seat of a large black-painted van. The vehicle had tinted windows and a long antennae coming out of the top. It was parked under a tree which kept it in shadow.

“No, I don’t.” Ebony Wings said, twiddling the volume dial on the console in front of her. The back of the van was brightly lit with halogen light strips in the ceiling. The actress was wearing headphones, and was listening to the sounds of Home Run’s birthday party. Currently, there was the sound of an obnoxiously high-pitched voice giving out instructions on how to play some game called ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’.

“Don’t you have to get to that shoot of yours soon?” Ivory looked at her watch. “It’s already three.”

“The shoot can wait, sister. Do you know how respected and acclaimed I am? They can wait a few minutes more for me.”

“Well, okay then.” Ivory picked out a chicken drumstick from a large bucket in the seat beside her and took a bite out of it. “Sho… howsh she doing?”

“She hasn’t done anything she shouldn’t. Yet…” Ebony reached a hand out. “Hand me one of those, will you?”

Ivory tossed her one of the chicken drumsticks, which she caught without looking. The actress then took a large chunk out of it, chewing noisily as she went back to listening to her daughter. The younger changeling looked on is disgust as she put her oily hands on the headphones.

“Really?” she mumbled to herself and shook her head.

“What a disappointment she is, you know?” Ebony Wings sighed and finished up her meal. “As my daughter, I expected more from her. I expected her to be able to control her emotions better.”

“She’s not a disappointment,” Ivory said patiently. “She’s just at a very young and impressionable age. I read that around this age, children are extremely susceptible to their hormones and the chemicals in their brains aren’t done settling yet-”

Ebony rolled her eyes. “So you’re saying that we shouldn’t have let her out of the house until all this mumbo jumbo is done settling? Is that it? Because if so, then I can say that this is all your fault for convincing me to let her go to school to start with.”

“That’s… It was good for her to learn to hunt.” Ivory took another bite out of her chicken. “It still is. Better she learn to sort all these feelings out now than when she’s older. This is experience.”

“When the next child comes along,” Ebony muttered. “And they will; I’m not letting them out of the house unsupervised until they’re like, twenty-five or so.”

“That’s a bit much, don’t you think?” Ivory picked out a wing and peeled it in half. “And come on, you’re not going to marry again just to kill another man, are you? We could actually keep him, you know. And wow. They’re going to be so many years apart.”

“Now why would I let some human dictate how I raise my child?” Ebony asked. “Keeping a mate around is far too troublesome for my tastes.”

“The humans are going to stay clear of you when they find out your new husband died. Again.” Ivory bit into the wing and chewed.

“Nyyeeh…” Ebony said noncommittally. “I miss having other members of our race I could procreate with. What happened to them all anyway?”

“Are… Are you seriously asking me where they all went?” Ivory was so shocked she dropped her chicken wing. “Really?”

“What?”

“It was you. It was all your fault.” Ivory pointed an accusing finger at her sister. “It was because of you Chlorina and the others were killed. You. It was why I left all those years ago, and now you’ve forgotten?”

“Now now, let’s not play the blame game here.”

“When are you ever going to admit your faults, sister? Whenever I bring something up, you just push it aside. You need to learn to start accepting your failures.”

“As if I would forgive that traitorous sister of mine. Being killed by the hunters was already a much better fate than I would have given her.”

“They were still family, Chryssie.” Ivory gripped the back of her seat. “You didn’t kill me for leaving you after that.”

“Besides. If they were so easily slain by a band of sissy human hunters, then they probably weren’t going to be much use to me anyway.”

“You… You’re just as impossible as always.” Ivory went back to looking out through the windshield. “How’s your daughter doing now?”

Ebony went back to listening to the hidden receiver in Moonglade’s hairclip. There were multiple voices yelling out various directions, which began to get annoying after three or so seconds. She could hear a little background chatter amongst the directions, but as of now, they were nothing of interest.

“So what games do you like, Moonglade?”

“Oh, well, I only have Finest Fantasy and um… there was one more, I forgot what it was called,” Ebony heard her daughter reply. “It had some guy who hunted monsters. That one’s mainly played by Aria though. She got it.”

“Do you like cheese, Moonglade?”

“Oh, umm… I guess…”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Um, blu- I mean… umm… pink.”

“She’s just talking. Nothing special.” Ebony shook her head. Her daughter lacked so much confidence. She pondered as to why her offspring would even lack confidence. She never once was unsure of herself, nor had Crescentlane, besides the moment of his imminent death, but that one didn’t count. Chrysidea really was a great disappointment in the family, daughter of the queen or no.

“So have you met Home Run’s parents yet?”

“Oh, n-no… Not yet.”

This one question caught Ebony’s attention.

“Hey, you know, you should! My parents would love to meet you, Moonglade.”

“O-Oh… re-really? They would?”

“The boy wants to introduce her to his parents,” Ebony Wings said to her sister.

“Okay. So…?” Ivory didn’t bother turning around. Instead, she reached for another chicken piece.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t even met this boy,” Ebony said, raising the volume of the mic to get a better reading on the surrounding sounds. “Surely that should be a requirement for dating my daughter? That I give the all clear for this?”

“That’s… Hmm… That’s an idea. Yeah. We should arrange something like that.”

“Uh huh.” Ebony went back to the conversation.

“Oh, my mother? I’m not sure if she… umm… would want visitors. Perhaps we should just… see how it goes with your parents, umm, first?”

“Oh, she’s sure she wants a visitor this time.” The queen rubbed her oily hands together and grinned. “You know what? If I don’t like him, it would be the perfect chance to kill him too.”

“Somehow I think that Moonglade wouldn’t be too happy to hear you talking like that.”

“Please. She’s already not happy that she cannot love him. What difference would this make?”

“Because we don’t live in the middle ages anymore!” Ivory said through clenched teeth. “We can’t just kill people we don’t like in this day and age.”

“Uh, yeah, we can. We just killed that computer human a little while ago,” Ebony challenged. “Chrysidea was even the one to do so. And you were planning to kill him before that anyway, but you let a group of humans get the better of you.”

Ivory Wings sniffed derisively. “That man would have exposed all our secrets to the world. It wasn’t a matter of dislike, it was critical to the survival of our race. Although, yes, I did have his name on the chopping block for a long time, ever since he helped destroy that machine. What an odious little man he was.”

“Yes, so, if you can do that, I can kill this boy if I don’t like him, yes?” The older changeling smirked.

“He’s not a threat! The computer man was. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see what kind of impression this boy makes on me.” Ebony reached out her hand again. “Hand me another of those chicken sticks, will you?”