“And here I thought you’d at least have the decency to close the blinds when you want to parade around the house naked.” Ebony Wings flipped around from her daughter’s window and folded her arms, shaking her head at the same time. “If that drone belonged to someone in the paparazzi or a crazed fanatic of me, imagine what kind of damage that would do to me should your nude pictures be thrown all across the internet or the news.”

Moonglade’s cheeks were bright red and her hands were still positioned over her breasts and her crotch as she scuttled across the floor to get to her discarded towel. “I’m s-sorry, mother. I… I never thought anyone would actually be able to see in here…”

“That’s what I thought too, but it seems the pests have decided to upgrade. I’ll ask your aunt about drones, maybe she knows how to keep them away from here. One of them almost saw me upstairs doing some alchemy, but I don’t think they got very much footage.”

Moonglade snatched up her towel and wrapped it around her body before jumping to her feet. “What even is a drone? How do people see me through those?”

“A drone,” Ebony Wings explained impatiently. “Is a small flying device that often has a camera attached. It’s used to look at things that are otherwise too much trouble to get to. Think of it as an airborne video recorder.”

“Such advancements these days.” Moonglade began stroking at her blonde hair. “But really, I can’t believe someone had the nerve to come spy on me! I-I’m sorry, m-mother. I didn’t know.”

“If I find the person behind the drone…” Ebony muttered menacingly. “So no more parading around naked. At least not in front of the windows. Get dressed, will you?”

With that, Ebony left the room, slamming the door shut.

Moonglade looked at the door for a good long while before finally getting up and walking to her closet to pick out her summer attire and do up her hair.

She blushed at the thought that someone had seen her naked. She would never show her body out in public, yet, someone had likely gotten a good glimpse of it and it made her worry.

What if what mother said was true? Someone would put it up on the internet?

“I’d never live this down!” Moonglade groaned and leaned her head on one of her clothes shelves.

She cursed herself for not being more attentive; she had been caught unaware, busy looking through more photos of Prance that Canvas had sent her. Her mother had noticed the drone earlier, so it couldn’t have been too hard to notice, right?

Or perhaps she just wasn’t as sharp as she thought she was.

She put up a reminder to cover the windows from now on and to open them only when she wanted to look outside.

“You sure messed up today, didn’t you?” Mishter Schniffs called from her bed, outside the closet. “Why do you even remove your towel when you’re not going to change yet?”

“It’s… I just… enjoy looking at my body…” Moonglade answered him meekly, even if she was really just talking to herself. “And it’s nice to be without clothes from time to time.”

“Uh huh. Well, I hope you learnt your lesson.”

“Well how was she supposed to know someone would be able to spy on her from right outside her window?” Stargaze Sunshine spoke. “It’s not like anything like this has happened before.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Moonglade finished tying her braids. “How was I supposed to know?”

“Constant vigilance,” Mishter Schniffs said stoutly. “You have reputations to uphold.”

Moonglade gave the changeling plush an odd look past the closet door, then went back to picking out clothes.

Ivory Wings carefully considered the question.

“Drones, you say?” she said while pouring herself a glass of sparkling water. “Well, I do know a thing or two about them. One of them being that if you want to keep them out of the estate, we’re going to have to employ an electromagnetic field, which would also affect all electronics in the house. So unless you’re willing to go back to living in medieval times…”

Ebony Wings growled and ran a finger along the wall. It was pristine as ever. “Well, I refuse to live in fear of people flying those things around my property. Is there anything we can do on a smaller scale?”

Ivory Wings nodded. “We could always shoot them down. I have a net launcher from my Assassin days back in Manehattan we could use.”

“Why not just use a regular gun?”

Ivory Wings sighed. “If you want, we could do that. But if you would like to find out who and where the drone’s operator is, I would not recommend destroying it so quickly. Besides, if you miss, the drone will have a shot of you trying to shoot it down. And I don’t think I need to remind you that some of the guns we have on the estate aren’t exactly legal to own.”

Ebony scoffed. “I don’t miss.”

Ivory sighed. “I’ll go get the net launcher tomorrow. Anything else you want from Manehattan?”

“Yes, actually. Do you still have that painting of us and the sirens?”

“That won’t fit in the car,” Ebony’s sister rolled her eyes. “But if you want to see it so badly, I can arrange for it to be transported here. Since I’m heading to Manehattan on the morrow, will you tell Silver Platter to drive Moonglade to the concert?”

“Yes, yes, whatever. You know, all this talk of drones has given me an idea: what if we used one of our own to track my daughter’s movements? That way we can jump in immediately if she does something stupid.”

“Wouldn’t that just mean you have no confidence in your daughter’s abilities?”

“Pretty much, yes,” Ebony said shamelessly.

“Well, I won’t do it,” Ivory sniffed. “Have some faith in Moonglade, sister. Maybe she will prove herself tomorrow at the concert.”

Ebony Wings swept up the hem of her dress and billowed from the room like smoke.

“We shall see.”

The nest day dawned bright and early on the Wings’ Estate. The sunlight crept up on Moonglade and shone on her face. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stretched like a cat.

“Ah, another day,” she sighed and turned on her side, enjoying the comfort of her bed. “Oh hey, today’s the concert day. I get to see Home Run.”

“Are you excited?” Stargaze flopped a hoof on her forehead. “Not too excited, I hope?”

“Yeah, you don’t want another spanking.” Mishter Schniffs added in.

“Uh, ye-yeah, I’m excited for the uh, concert! That’s right,” Moonglade quickly said as she pushed to a sitting position. “N-Not so much on Home Run!”

But in her heart, she knew it. She wanted to be with him. He made her feel… special. More special than simply just being more than human. He loved her and that love tasted really good. It was unlike anything else she had tasted before, even better than Sunny’s, which was usually more lust than love.

Oh, Home Run… I wish I could love you too…

Moonglade wished it could happen one day, but knowing her mother, this was something that was never going to happen. Even her aunt was against having real relations with humans, and she had every right to think that way, having lost family to them because of love.

Like a fog creeping into the room, the door to Moonglade’s room eased open, uncovering one of the maids.

“Oh, are you awake, young mistress?” she said, bowing to Moonglade. “Your mother wanted to tell you that your aunt is unavailable today, so Silver Platter will be taking you to the concert. Do you know when and where it is?”

“Er…” Moonglade said. “I guess I’d better find out.”

She retrieved her phone and texted a short message to Home Run. He offered to come pick her, but she figured her mother wouldn’t like her riding around on a bike with him, so she politely declined, getting the address from him in the end. It seemed the concert was being held in Canterlot Park, near Canterlot High. Moonglade remembered passing by many times on her way around town. It least it wasn’t a completely foreign place to her, and the concert was to begin at three o’clock.

With the destination and time in mind, Moonglade got dressed quickly and hurried downstairs. She was just in time to catch her aunt getting up from the table.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Ivory said amicably. “I’m going to my penthouse to collect a few things. I should be back before dinner time.” She twirled her car keys around her index finger. “You have somewhere to be today too, don’t you?”

Moonglade nodded as breakfast was brought for her. “Where’s mother going to be?”

Ivory shrugged. “I don’t think she’s up yet. Your mother was awake very late into the night. Probably on the internet or something.”

“At least it wasn’t… that sort of thing…” Moonglade sat down. “You know… that craziness for… well, you.”

“Yes, I’m far too busy to attend to those needs. She’ll need to take care of it herself. But she was probably on the computer all night.” Ivory smoothed out her shirt. “Either that or alchemy. She’s singularly talented when it comes to that.”

“But mother can go without sleep.”

“Yes, well, we can do without wine too, but look at us. Well, I must be off. Enjoy breakfast and your day ahead, sweetie.”

With one last hug, Moonglade watched her aunt leave as breakfast was placed before her. She finished in short order and was about to go back upstairs when she remembered that the sirens had been invited too. She supposed she should go and wake them and make sure they were ready for the outing.

The young changeling headed to their room, rapping her knuckles on the door as she paced around outside, hoping perhaps they could hang out for a while before lunch. Maybe some Finest Fantasy or even the pool. Moonglade just wanted to do something to pass the time till the concert.

With no reply on the other end after twenty seconds, Moonglade got a little impatient. “Um… girls? Are you up? Do you want to do something together? I dunno, a game? Or we could go for a swim? It’s supposed to be hot after all, right?”

She heard a groan from inside, followed by a very soft, “Can we not…?”

“We’ll be down for a swim in ten, Moony.”

“Do we have to…?”

“We might as well get up already.”

“Ugh…”

Moonglade quietly left their door, heading to her room to change into her swimsuit, grabbing her goggles as well before skipping along to the pool.

The sun shone brightly in the sky and it wasn’t even afternoon yet. She guessed if she could feel how hot it was, she would be like Aria and just want to stay in the air-conditioned room all day.

But… she wasn’t a siren.

Deciding to kick it off first, Moonglade took and step back and leapt, diving into the pool with an almost graceful splash, swimming all the way to the bottom and touching the floor before propelling herself back to the surface with a gasp.

“Ah… how nice.” She smiled and pushed her hair out of her face, spitting a mouthful of water from her mouth like one of those expensive fountain statues.

She trod water for a while, luxuriating in the feeling of the wind against her moist skin, when she saw something move in one of the trees that stood on the south side of the pool. There was a large brown owl sitting on a branch, peering down at her.

Moonglade looked back at the owl. It struck her as strange that an owl would be up and about during the day.

“Hello,” she said eventually. The owl’s eyes squinted at the girl. Then it waddled back into the cover of the leaves, out of sight.

“Huh.”

Whoever this owl was, it was a strange one. It never really seemed to do anything.

Going to the pool’s edge, Moonglade pulled in an inflatable raft and climbed aboard it, paddling until she was at the center of the pool.

Lying on her back, she closed her eyes and listened to the wind blow through the trees, making a rustling noise as the breeze shook the leaves. It tickled her skin, but it didn’t feel cold, seeing as it was a summer’s wind. It was supposed to be a hot wind blowing.

After another few minutes of relaxing under the sun, Moonglade heard chatter coming from inside the house, followed by a loud crash and a swathe of yelling.

“Here they come…” She continued to lie there with her eyes closed as she listened the bickering voices approach the door.

Their voices became more audible as soon as the door was thrown open, with Aria and Sonata squabbling as always. She might’ve found it cute at first, but now, it was really getting out of hand.

“I didn’t break it!” Sonata whined as she pulled her shirt off, wearing a red bikini swimsuit today. “I just stretched and it fell!”

“That’s you breaking it, Sonata…” Aria slapped a hand to her forehead. “You really left your brain somewhere. You need to go find it before I really lose my patience…”

Adagio was the first of the three into the pool, diving in gracefully before emerging close to Moonglade, resting a hand on her raft. Today, she had on a one-piece suit as well, similar to Moonglade’s, just filled with holes everywhere. It didn’t really do much in covering up. She swore she could even see Adagio’s nipples poking through the suit.

“Really, those two…” Adagio sighed and slicked her orange hair back. “We really need our gems back, Moony.”

“Tell me about it…” Moonglade grinned and adjusted her goggles. “Slept well?”

“I suppose so.” Adagio waved a hand around and rested it under her chin. “Aside from Sonata’s snoring, I think I actually do get enough sleep. And you got a good night’s rest too, I guess? You’re down here swimming in that dreadful swimsuit again. Energetic as always, my dear Moony.”

“It’s not dreadful.” Moonglade eyed her swimsuit. She liked the colors. “B-Besides, yours shows way too much skin. Waaaaay to much.”

“In Equestria, we don’t even wear clothes.” Adagio smirked and pulled at one of her straps. “You know, back in the day on the age of kings and queens, we swam naked. Swimsuits only came about in the last two hundred years. I wonder how you would like that if you were around then.”

“I wouldn’t even be swimming then.” Moonglade glanced away, her cheeks red as she imagined herself taking a swim in the lake with nothing on. “How can you stand having so many people look at your body?”

“I love people giving me attention.” Adagio slipped her swimsuit strap off her shoulder and ran a finger along her collarbone. “It makes me feel… wanted. With our gems, we used to attract thousands. Our voices were so magical, we were renown through many lands.” Sonata and Aria, who were still squabbling and trying to flick each others’ heads, slipped on the edge and fell into the pool. “Now look at us. We’re a laughing stock. I want it again. I want to feel loved. I want to be loved. Perhaps that’s why I’m so attracted to that boyfriend of yours.”

“O-Oh, yeah… maybe…” Moonglade pitied Adagio and her sisters, but there was no chance she was going to share Home Run with her. “I hope Aunt Ivory is close to figuring out how to repair your gems.”

“She’s making a good effort,” Adagio complimented. “Especially since she has no formal training in magic at all. With the help of the Rainbooms, we might actually get our gems back soon.”

“Yeah, Aunt Ivory seems like a really hard worker.” Moonglade dipped a hand in the water and playfully scooped some in her hand. “She’s really nice too. And oh, you’re okay right? With going to the concert? I mean, it being a Rainboom concert and all.”

“I don’t like it. But… maybe it would do some good to listen to some music.” Adagio closed her eyes. “I do miss our voices. Just thinking about how melodious we sung and the negative energy we can obtain from the masses… oh, it’s turning me on.”

“Uhhhh…” Moonglade scooted further to the edge of her floatie. She’d had enough experiences with Sunny to know some people just can’t control themselves.

Adagio chuckled lightly. “You’re so bad around these things. Have you ever touched yourself, Moonglade? You know? For pleasure.”

“Wh-what? Why-why would I…?” The young changeling hid her red face behind her hands. Adagio enjoyed talking about this kind of thing. She was about to say no straight up, but then she remembered almost giving in and touching herself in the shower that one day. “N-No… I-I have ne-never. Why would I? Yeah, exactly. I wouldn’t.”

“You’re so cute when you lie, Moony.” Adagio’s smirk widened. She ran her fingers from her collarbone down to her right breast, pinching at the bump under her swimsuit, which indeed was her nipple. “Oh man… It feels good.”

A rustling noise in the tree nearby announced the return of the owl, this time returning with a miniature straw hat on its head.

“Such a strange creature…” Moonglade looked over, glad to have something to take her attention away from Adagio and watched as it seemed to be wishing her a good morning with one wing.

“Heyyyy! I remember that owl!” Sonata said suddenly. “Or, did I know its great-great-great-grandfather? They used to live in the tree in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle! Hi, Mister Owl!”

“Shut up, it’s not the same guy.” Aria clubbed her on the head with a fist. “Besides, all owls look the same. It could be any owl.”

The owl hooted. It sounded like laughter. And then it retreated back up to the tree, where it shut a door behind itself.

“Huh.” Moonglade leaned over to Aria and Sonata, who were squabbling again. “You two, will you please stop? I wanted to relax and have a fairly chill morning.”

“Well tell her to get some brains then.” Aria folded her arms and kicked back, floating away on her back.

“Hey, I do have brains!” Sonata complained and turned her back to her, but at least they stopped. For now.

“Gee, I wish you girls could get along better.” Moonglade looked back to Adagio, but turned away quickly when she realized she was still teasing her nipples through the swimsuit.

“We used to get along really well… you know?” Adagio pulled her other strap off her shoulder. “Before entering your world, would you believe it, Sonata and Aria were the best of sisters.”

“Wow, really?” Moonglade asked without turning around, trying to forget the sight of Adagio touching herself.

“Come on, you’ve seen that Sunny Flare naked countless times. Turn around. But anyway, yes. I guess they just got upset that we weren’t at home anymore.”

Moonglade hesitantly flipped herself to face the oldest siren, keeping her eyes above her neck. She did make a good point though. “Really? But I thought you three loved it here.”

“We do, it’s just… different from home.” Adagio stopped touching her nipples and rested both arms on the inflatable raft. “I suppose you won’t get it, Moonglade. You’ve never really been away from home. Not like we have. I guess you’ll know it when you do.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’re right…” The young changeling leaned back on the floaty and looked at the sky’s moving clouds. “I hope the two of them make up one day.”

“Yeah… In the meantime, I’d like if someone made out with me. I don’t suppose you’d like to, Moonglade?” Adagio crept closer.

“No…” Moonglade shook her head and managed an awkward smile. “I don’t suppose I do.”

After lunch, Moonglade was back in her summer attire, and all set to head on to the concert. The sirens took a longer time to get ready as usual, but they were down before two-thirty, which was okay.

“All set?” She clutched a slingbag over one shoulder and smiled excitedly. She was really looking forward to this concert. By what Home Run had been telling her, she was going to be in for a musical treat. “I can’t wait to listen to what kind of music they play.”

“I’m not…” Aria blew up at her fringe. “They broke our gems. I hate their guts.”

“Awww come on, Aria.” Sonata hopped down the last step. “At least they play good music.”

“We used to make good music.” Aria prodded a finger in her sister’s chest. “Look at us now. We can’t even sing. It’s all thanks to the Rainbooms.”

“Aaaannd…” Adagio stepped in, groaning internally. Moonglade could smell her frustration. “Ivory is helping us fix our gems. We’ll have our singing back in no time. For now, how about just waiting patiently and seeing what the Rainbooms have to offer, hmm?”

“Sounds like a plan, right?” Moonglade watched them expectantly.

There was a moment of silence.

“Meh,” Aria said at last.

With Ivory busy in Manehattan today, Moonglade and the sirens got into a car Silver Platter was driving and left for Canterlot Park. The young changeling was radiating with excitement, hoping to hear some good music. The sirens all had varying degrees of emotions. Sonata had the best taste, mostly excited herself, while Aria had a very sour taste as she brooded in the back of the car. Adagio seemed to smell of anger and anticipation mixed together, which tasted slightly confusing.

The car took them through the suburbs of Canterlot until it pulled up next to the Canterlot Park. There were various white painted gazebos dotted here and there, as well as a rather extensive playground and a stage where a small crowd had already gathered.

“That must be your destination,” Silver Platter commented, turning around in his seat. “When you’re ready to leave, just call back home. I’ll head back to the estate for now.”

Moonglade and the sirens disembarked into the sweltering summer afternoon. While Moonglade still felt fresh and cool, Sonata immediately gasped and began fanning herself with her hand.

“Let’s go find some shade or something,” the blue siren moaned. “It’s boiling out here.”

“It’s not that hot,” Moonglade said skeptically.

Aria snorted. “That’s ‘cause you changelings are heatproof. I wish I was heatproof; right now I want to go home and go for a swim.”

“There’s some shade under the pavilion where the stage is,” Adagio gestured to the group to follow her. “There might be people selling drinks too. Come on. Unless you like standing here in the sun?”

Moonglade and the sirens set off toward the stage, chatting as they went.

None of them paid any special attention to the van that was parked just behind some shrubbery on the street.

“Turn up the air conditioning, Lemon.”

Lemon sighed and gave Sugarcoat a look. “It’s already as far up as it’ll go.”

Sugarcoat tutted and took a drink from her water bottle. “Then how come it’s still so hot in here?”

“I don’t think it’s that hot,” Sour Sweet said, tapping away at Lemon’s laptop. Behind her, Sunny Flare held onto her drone, checking its battery level.

“Drone’s fully charged,” Sunny reported. “Good job following the car by the way, Lemon. I don’t think they suspect anything.”

“Eh, I have a lot of practice from Salaryday 2,” Lemon said cheerily. “Knew it would pay off eventually.”

“Salaryday doesn’t have tailing missions,” Sour Sweet pointed out. “Nevermind. So I think I found out why Moonglade is here today. There’s a post on MyStable which says there is a Rainboom concert here today. You know, Canterlot High’s six magical girls?”

“Pretty sure it’s seven.” Sugarcoat shifted her glasses up her nose.

“Whatever,” Sour muttered. “Anyway, she’s probably here to attend the concert. Her boyfriend is a close friend of the Rainboom girls. Is the drone ready?”

“Yep,” Sunny said, slipping the goggles onto her face. “Fully synced to the laptop and the goggles. We can fly anytime.”

“Right, let’s go.” Sugarcoat moved over to the side door and pulled it open.

Activating the drone, Sunny piloted it out of the van and up into the air, making sure she was high enough before moving towards the stage, where there was already quite a sizeable crowd at. Scanning her eyes around for her target, she eventually spotted Moonglade and the three girls over by the back of the crowd.

The wind was blowing around them and Moonglade’s short skirt was flapping around, with Sunny hoping it would rise up high enough. Before she could even think to reach a hand under her skirt, she felt a tap on her shoulder, followed by a cough.

“Do not even think to start touching yourself again,” Sugarcoat stressed. “I have the fire extinguisher right here.”

Sunny squirmed and went back to controlling the drone.

“Question,” Lemon said from the front of the van. “Why are we following Silver’s sister out here when the obviously creepy stuff is back at their house?”

“In case Moonglade has ensorcelled her boyfriend, like we suspect Silver has done to Sunny?” Sour Sweet piped up.

“She h-hasn’t!” Even though she said that, Sunny was also having doubts about it now. What if indeed Silver had cast a spell on her to make her into a sex-crazed lunatic? She wasn’t anything like this before, after all.

“Just make sure the camera’s recording it all.” Sugarcoat poked at the laptop screen. “If she does cast any magic, I want to have it saved.”

“That’s a nice word, ‘ensorcelled’,” Lemon said, inserting a stick of gum into the hole beneath her nose. “How do you even know it, Sour?”

“I read it in a book once.”

Lemon blew a bubble with her gum. “Oh. Nice.”

The drone flew quietly over the crowd and Sunny zoomed in the camera as far as she could onto Moonglade. The girl was a little squirmish, constantly looking down and standing a good distance behind the rest of the crowd with her friends. Sunny guessed she was as shy as Silver was.

“Ohh, Silvy… I want you… I need your touch…” Sunny’s mind with filled with thoughts of her girlfriend. She wished Silver was the one at the concert instead, though, Moonglade was just about as attractive as she was.

“Are we going to be hovering over the concert the entire time?” Lemon asked, sliding out of her seat into the back of the van so she could see the screen. “I mean, it’s like having one of the best views in the house.”

“Would the battery even last that long?” Sugarcoat’s fingers played over the trigger for the fire extinguisher. She kept an eye on Sunny to make sure she wasn’t doing any funny business.

“I suppose we don’t need to stay for the majority of it. Just enough to see what Moonglade will do. Speaking of her, where’s that boyfriend of hers? Shouldn’t she be meeting him?”

“Speaking of him, where are the Rainbooms?” Sour Sweet complained and wiped at her forehead. “They’re taking so long. Why do concerts always start late?”

Through the van’s thin walls, the Shadowbolts heard a sudden fanfare.

“Hey, I think it’s starting!” Lemon moved closer to the screen.

Various colored spotlights were aimed at the stage, and the curtains slowly slid aside to reveal a lot of smoke and seven outlines in the haze.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” An unseen announcer declared. “Canterlot Park proudly presents… The Rainbooms!”

On cue, a set of offstage fans blew the fog away, and Rainbow Dash Slid forward, playing a riff on her electric guitar. A great cheer went up from the crowd as the rest of the band began to play their first song.

“They’re the top students, have magic, and play in an awesome band?” Lemon Zest said enviously. “Some people have all the luck.”

Ignoring Lemon’s outburst, Sunny flew the drone over the crowd and swept its lens over the people until she found Moonglade. She was close to the front now, with the three Canterlot High girls behind her. There was a blue-haired boy next to Moonglade.

“That must be him,” Sunny said, steadying the drone. “Home Run, right? He’s on their baseball team. I still can’t believe we lost to the likes of Canterlot High.”

“No queen rules forever, my daughter,” Sour Sweet quoted sagely.

“What?”

The other Rainbooms came out to join Rainbow Dash. Sunny didn’t remember all their names, but amongst them was a familiar lavender-skinned girl they knew all too well.

“Twilight Sparkle?” they all said at once.

“Really? They put her in the band?” Sour Sweet spat and gasped. “Some people really have all the luck.”

“What instrument is she playing?” Lemon goggled at the screen. “She doesn’t seem to be holding one…”

“She’s got a mic.” Sunny pointed out, her goggles having a better view of the scene. “Twilight sings? I thought maybe she would just do some science stuff.”

Sugarcoat nodded, then blinked a few times. “Wait, wait, Twilight isn’t our target. Moonglade is. Now, zoom in and see if she’s casting any magic on that boyfriend of hers.”

“How do we know what magic looks like? What if it’s invisible?”

“Well, perhaps if he starts doing things like what Sunny does…” Lemon Zest imitated her fingers thrusting up into something. “We’ll know.”

“Hey! I don’t do that!” Sunny yelled and pulled at her skirt sheepishly. “B-Besides, it’s crowded! No way he’ll start doing it in front of other people.”

“You don’t seem to have a problem with that,” Sugarcoat reminded her.

Sunny grumbled something inaudible but did as she was told, zooming in on Moonglade and Home Run.

“Hmm…” Sugarcoat tapped her chin. The two teens had their eyes on the stage, clearly enjoying the performance. “No visible magic yet. Let’s keep watching.”

And so they did. Through the first three songs, there was nothing out of the ordinary at all. By the end of the fourth song, an upbeat number called Shake Your Tail, most of the occupants of the van were getting bored.

“I’m starting to think this isn’t going anywhere,” Sour Sweet yawned.

“Yeah, their music is great and all,” Lemon said, poking her finger at the screen. “But if we’re just going to listen to it, why not do it out there with the rest of the crowd instead of through a laptop’s crappy speakers?”

Home Run had an arm around Moonglade, and they were waving their arms in time to the music. All things considered, it looked quite normal for a couple to do, though Moonglade did look a little skittish, like she wasn’t exactly comfortable with his arm around her.

“Concert’ll be over soon,” Lemon muttered after the seventh song. “I’m huuuungryyyy, Sugarcoat.”

“Why are you telling me?” Sugarcoat gave Lemon a weird look.

“Because Sunny’s flying the drone and Sour will just hit me if I whine at her,” Lemon replied with a grimace.

Sunny, for her part hadn’t actually done much other than make sure the drone stayed in one place. Her fingers only touched the control sticks to make minute adjustments to the drone to compensate for wind and gravity. All things considered it wasn’t very hard to do, which combined with the warm weather and the hum of the van’s paltry air conditioning, made her feel almost half asleep. And she dreamed.

Sunny stood before the Wings’ Estate, dressed in her school uniform. The sky was dark and thundery. The door to the estate was open, but it was all dark inside and kind of resembled the inside of the mansion from Crypt Spelunker. Sunny found herself walking inside, and feeling as though she was being watched.

Lightning crackled outside and Sunny went further into the darkened manor. She jumped as the door slammed shut behind her.

Sunny took a few steps forward, unable to see more than about a meter ahead because of the gloom. Then there was a scuffling noise from behind her. Sunny turned around. And went cold.

Behind her, where the door had been was now a long passageway, lined with creepy-looking tapestries. But it wasn’t the artwork that gave her pause. There was something solid-looking and dark in the shadows, and as she took a step back, two bright green eyes ignited like a match being lit, their slitted pupils fixed on her.

Sunny shrieked and ran in the opposite direction, her heartbeat loud in her ears as she fled from the eyes. A guttural growl from behind her told Sunny that the owner of those eyes was hot on her heels.

It felt like Sunny was trapped in slow motion, and no matter how hard she tried she wasn’t making any progress.

Then a second pair of glowing green eyes appeared in front of her. This pair had a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth, each one an arrowhead ready to pierce her flesh.

Sunny stopped running, windmilling her arms as the first creature collided with her back, knocking her to the floor. The second pair of eyes approached, the mouth positioned in a ghastly grin. Then it lunged at the prone Sunny and-

“Aaiiieee!!!” Sunny screamed, waking up and falling backward, landing on Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat, her goggles askew and a patch of sweat growing under each arm.

“Geroff me,” Sour Sweet grunted, pushing Sunny off.

Sugarcoat was a lot less bothered.

“What? What did you see? Is it magic?” She asked, scrutinizing the laptop screen while Sunny squirmed on the van floor.

Sugarcoat’s eyes darted from left to right, looking for anything unusual.

“I… don’t see anything,” she said slowly. “Sunny, what was that freakout? Did you or didn’t you see something?”

Sunny shakily took off the goggles and handed them to Lemon Zest, who immediately put them on with a grin, taking the joystick and assuming control of the drone.

“I… think I nodded off just now,” Sunny admitted sheepishly. She chose a bottle of water from the van’s cooler and drank half of it in one swallow. “Had a nightmare.”

“Maybe that’s magic, too!” Sour Sweet remarked, dusting herself off.

“Hmm...” Sugarcoat squinted at Sunny, then went back to looking at the screen, where Lemon was doing loops with the drone. “Stop that,” she said sternly. “If you move the drone around too much, people will notice.”

“How can you fall asleep during a time like this?!” Sour Sweet gave Sunny a prehistoric look. “We are on stakeout here!”

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” Sunny fanned at her collar, the nightmare still fresh in her head. “It was really scary though! I was being followed by a thing with green eyes-”

“You mean like what we saw at Silver’s house?” Lemon asked.

Sunny nodded, but realized Lemon couldn’t see her right now. “Ye-yeah… Something like that.”

“Man, that head of yours, Sunny, imagining things like that now.”

“Maybe that’s magic too!” Sour Sweet said, a little bit excited. “If it’s not, I don’t even know how you can fall asleep at a time like this. But you know what, it’s better than us finding you touching yourself again.”

“She’s right.” Sugarcoat flicked at her fingers. “Sunny, why don’t you go outside. Get some fresh air. You need it.”

“Yeah, okay…” Sunny stood up and stretched. Maybe it was the heat in the small van space making her delusional.

Sugarcoat tapped her leg. “But don’t you go hiding somewhere to masturbate, understand?”

Sunny’s face went red and she quickly got out, slamming the van door shut behind her. “I-I won’t!”

She gave her legs a few seconds to warm up to moving before setting off towards the performance. The music got louder as she got closer and the Shadowbolt didn’t deny that the Rainbooms sure knew how to make good music. Perhaps this was something they could actually beat Crystal Prep at.

Taking what Sugarcoat said to heart, Sunny made herself a mental note to fight the urge to touch herself if her thoughts were to drift back to Silver Rose. The drone was up there in the air, somewhere above her, likely keeping an eye on her too. She wasn’t about to let them catch her masturbating again.

“Oh, how will I ever live this down?” Sunny’s cheeks went red as she remembered herself moaning with pleasure when she was on the phone with Sugarcoat. Now that her secret was out, it seemed as though the urge had gotten more uncontrollable.

Magic. Could it really be magic that was making her so crazy over her girlfriend?

Sunny Flare would’ve normally scoffed at this and said magic wasn’t real, but after seeing what Silver can do and even the whole finale of the Friendship Games, magic wasn’t such a far off fairytale anymore.

Hay, she wasn’t even into girls until Silver Rose showed up. Something was definitely off about all of this.

Perhaps a direct approach would be the best thing to do.

Sunny eyed the crowd and walked towards it. She was going to go see how Moonglade and Home Run interacted firsthand.