After her second bath, Moonglade made sure to take the time to dry her hair completely before putting anything on. Daughter of a queen or no, turning up at dinner with damp shoulders was against every rule in the book. There was still half an hour until six anyway, and by now the sirens would be back from school. While Moonglade would never admit it out loud, she envied the three of them. From what stories the princess had managed to coax from her mother, the queen and the sirens had known each other for hundreds of years before they had split up. Why that had been, Moonglade had never been able to find out.
Sure enough, once Moonglade entered the second floor living room, she was greeted with the sight of Adagio Dazzle slumped on the couch with a glass of soda in one hand and the TV remote in the other. She spotted Moonglade and raised her drink in a mock salute.
“Moony,” Adagio said and sat up a bit straighter.
“Adagio,” Moonglade nodded back. “How was your day?”
The siren made a face and drained her glass. “Awful,” she said flatly. “But then again it’s Friday, so I won’t have to see the Rainbooms for the whole weekend, so I guess it balances out.” She shook her head and plonked the empty cup onto the coffee table. “How was yours?”
The princess shrugged, not wanting the siren to know about her argument with her mother. “Normal.”
Adagio rolled her eyes and went back to watching TV. “You know,” she said as a particularly obnoxious commercial for milk came up. “I don’t even know why we have to go to school. I mean, over the centuries we’ve learned more about the world than these morons could ever fit into a schoolbook. I wish I could stay here like you, and not have to put up with all that friendship is magic garbage that I get showered with on a daily basis.”
Moonglade couldn’t help it but scowl at the comment. “You want to stay here? There’s nothing to do and nobody to talk to.”
“Well, in school, you have to put up with the teachers and students,” Adagio rolled her eyes. “It’s worse because things are still sore from the musical showcase and some people haven’t let it go yet. Not that I mind.”
“Hmm...” Moonglade said neutrally, just before she was glomped from behind by two blue arms.
“Moooonyyy!” Sonata cried, hugging Moonglade close. “You’re here! Did your mean old tutor let you go early? Or did you poison him?”
The princess laughed, giving Sonata’s hair a stroke. “No, not yet. Mother gave me the day off today, because she has to look after Aunt Psithyra.” She looked around, noticing one of the sirens was missing. “By the way, where’s Aria?”
“Oh, she’s off being a grumpy face because Pinkie tried to give her a hug,” Sonata bounced onto the couch next to Adagio and put her feet up onto the table. “She said something about needing to bathe in hand sanitizer.”
“I don’t think we have that much hand sanitizer in the house,” Moonglade paused to say ‘thank you’ as a maid brought them all a fresh round of drinks. “But if she really wants to, I can ask Silver Platter to pick some up the next time he goes shopping.” The butler of the Ebony Wings estate went out once every three days to buy groceries, and the mistress of the house usually had special requests to add to the normal list of goods, like throwing knives or ingredients for alchemy.
“Please don’t encourage her,” Adagio muttered. Sonata giggled and slurped noisily on her soda.
They sat there watching the news for the rest of the time, with Adagio occasionally passing snide comments about current events and lamenting about how much negative energy she was missing out on whenever the reports turned to a natural or man-made disaster. Eventually the clock in the sitting room chimed six times, signalling the end of their little gathering.
“Yaaaay! Dinner time!” Sonata quickly hopped off the couch and dashed for the staircase.
Moonglade and Adagio followed suit, leaving the empty glasses for the staff. It took three whole minutes to walk from the sitting room to the dining room and by the time they got there, Sonata, and surprisingly, Aria, were both already seated. The latter siren’s face was set in a grimace of displeasure, and she smelled strongly of soap and shampoo.
“Well, I guess you weren’t kidding about that bath,” Adagio smirked as she slipped into her seat.
“Ooh, ooh! Did you use the hand sanitizer?” Sonata sniffed at Aria’s hair.
“Shut up and get off me.”
Moonglade smiled to herself. Even though the sirens weren’t as close to her as they were to, say, her aunt, she felt lucky to know them. The three of them definitely brought a bit more flavor to her otherwise by-the-clock life.
Speaking of flavor…
“Mmm!” Sonata inhaled deeply as a rich, toothsome aroma invaded the dining room. “I’m starving! Can we eat yet?”
“No, Sonata...” Aria put an arm on the table and sighed. “You’ve got to wait for the queen, remember? Or did your tiny brain not process that?”
“And the queen is here.”
Everyone looked up to see Chrysalis sweep into the room, tall and imposing in a black and green dress, a small black crown on her head. Psithyra followed behind, doing her best to hide her limp. The queen’s sister pulled the chair out for her sister, sitting only once Chrysalis was comfortably settled herself.
As if responding to some hidden signal, six maids glided out from the kitchen, each carrying a tray with a cloche and a tall,fluted glass on it, setting one down in front of each diner. The silver domes were lifted, revealing a steak and lobster dish, served with a side of grilled asparagus and thin slices of cucumber and mushroom, drizzled with a thick brown gravy. The already mouthwatering scent reached its apex, but no one moved to pick up a knife, waiting for Chrysalis to say those three magic words that would end their torment.
The Changeling Queen took a long, laborious look around the table, relishing in the power she held, no matter how small it was, before announcing, “Dinner is served.”
“About time!” Moonglade let out a giggle as Sonata tore into her lobster with gusto. Silver Platter clandestinely circled the table, filling up the empty glasses with an appropriate beverage.
“So,” Chrysalis said after a few bites of steak. “How go your studies at school, you three? I trust that it isn’t too unbearable?”
Adagio bit a cucumber slice in half with a snap. “Not usually, no. Just when the Rainbooms get involved, things tend to get too touchy-feely for my tastes.”
“And mine,” Aria growled through a mouthful of lobster, a rivulet of juice running down her chin.
"Mm ‘aving a great ‘ime in school!" Sonata’s mouth was packed to bursting. She swallowed before continuing. “And history is easy, because we know everything without having to study at all! Only sometimes they get it wrong, but they think we got it wrong instead.”
There was a general murmuring of assent as the entire table acknowledged the ignorance of the human race as a whole. The conversation turned to Adagio and Aria reminiscing about Canterlot back when Dawn Saber had been king, which brought Moonglade back to her early morning walk, and the book that was doubtless now moldering at the bottom of the lake.
“...got to hand it to you, Psithyra, you sure know how to run a scam,” Adagio was saying. “All those years of moonlighting as muses of the kingdom, and no one ever guessed that the source of the curses and the blessings were one and the same. Ah, those were the days.”
The queen’s sister inclined her head modestly. “It’s only natural that the queen’s servant be able to do such things. And I can’t take all the credit; I couldn’t have done it without you three.”
Moonglade sat uncomfortably in silence, listening to the rest of the table’s occupants as they hearkened back to times gone by. It was no secret to her that Moonglade’s mother was an immortal, and presumably so was her aunt, able to last through the ages unless they were killed by something or ran out of love. What this meant was that when they or the sirens swapped stories about historical events, Moonglade had little to no idea what they were talking about and was left to fade into the background.
Once the main course was finished, every last bit of lobster devoured, the maids came back with plates of imported wild strawberry ice cream and blackberries, served with a freshly baked tuile. Chrysalis watched with satisfaction as everyone dug into theirs, having forgone dessert herself. The love that now permeated the room was to her sweeter than any confectionery that money could buy, and a lot more filling.
The sun was setting by the time every plate had been scraped clean and as the maids cleared them away, Moonglade grew more and more uncomfortable. Her mother had yet to say anything about their argument earlier today, which was very uncharacteristic of her; every other time in the past, she had just brought it up at dinner. The feeling was not dissimilar to the tide pulling out to sea right before a tsunami struck, and Moonglade felt drops of sweat prickle her neck as she thought back to the fate of an unfortunate thief whom her mother had once caught trying to break into their home. She had been all calm and collected back then too, no matter what the robber had threatened. Then she had ripped his throat out with her fangs. Moonglade glanced out the wide window and out onto the darkening grounds, where somewhere, Chrysalis had hidden the body.
No. It definitely didn’t do to have mother angry at her.
The three sirens eventually got up, most likely heading back to the living room to relax, leaving Moonglade alone with Psithyra and Chrysalis.
“Well, uh, thank you for the dinner, mother,” Moonglade said uncertainly, pushing her chair back and getting to her feet.
Chrysalis pointed a finger earthwards. “Sit.”
Like a trained hound, Moonglade sat. Chrysalis’ eyes bored into her daughter’s, pinning her in place. Then the queen reached into the folds of her dress and casually drew out her kris. The jagged black blade scraped unpleasantly as it left its sheath, taking on a dull, sickly green glow which meant the poison on the weapon had begun to react with the air. The Changeling Queen flipped it over her hand several times before stabbing it into the table with an audible thunk, startling the young princess. She let go, leaving the weapon quivering in the tabletop.
Psithyra rolled her eyes, as if to say, Is that really necessary?
Unfortunately, Chrysalis saw it. “Shut it, Thyra.”
“I didn’t say anything,” The queen’s sister said innocently.
“You know what I mean. And you!” Chrysalis whipped her head around to face her daughter, baring her long fangs in the dying daylight. “We have business to settle, you and I.”
“Yes, mother.” It seemed like a good, non-provocative answer. She won’t stab me, the princess nervously thought behind her mask of polite curiosity. I’m her daughter, she won’t stab me, not in front of everyone.
“Don’t you ‘yes, mother’ me,” the queen snarled. “We both know what I’m about to bring up, and I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your mouth shut until I am done.” Only after Moonglade had nodded assent did Chrysalis relax ever so slightly, the green fire in her eyes fading somewhat.
“Earlier today, you came to me with a certain… request. A request that I denied,” she said it like a judge reading out a criminal’s charges. “Do you have anything to say to refute that?”
Not daring to speak, Moonglade shook her head.
“I thought not. Furthermore, I recall telling you that there was no way that I would ever let you roam around in that city down there. And as you know, as Queen of the Changelings, my word is law.”
A pregnant silence followed, broken only by the hiss of the poison on the kris eating through the table.
“Just get on with it, Chryssie…” Psithyra muttered. She had taken out her own, shorter kris and was using it to pick her teeth, ignoring the dirty look this earned from her sister.
“Anyway,” Chrysalis glared at her sister. “I have not at all reconsidered my decision. However,” stood up and strode to the window, silhouetting herself in the setting sun. “I also understand that keeping you on the estate would ultimately do more harm than good.
“You are a princess, and not just any princess. You are my daughter, Chrysidea, and it wouldn’t do for you to go traipsing on the streets like some commoner, something which I had hoped you would understand by now.” Now Chrysalis began to circle the table. “In our long, illustrious history, you are the first of my line to be given such a stable, well-adjusted upbringing, and it’s of the utmost importance that… ”
“You’re still delaaaaying,” Psithyra sang, smiling as Chrysalis gave her another borderline murderous look.
Just for doing that, Moonglade made a reminder to treat her aunt better, just because she had the guts to talk back to her mother.
“Thyra!” Chrysalis warned, and Moonglade could have sworn she saw venom drip off her mother’s fangs. “Let. Me. Finish.” Psithyra shrugged and put her head onto the table to rest.
“The point is, that although I have carved out a comfortable niche for our kind here in our ancestral home in Canterlot, is no excuse for you not to learn how hard things were for us back then. Hunting among the sheep, disguised as one of them and learning their ways. Compared to us, you have it easy.”
Moonglade could scarcely believe her ears. Was her mother really saying what she thought she was saying?
“Therefore, in light of all this, I have decided that you should put your training to the test in a practical environment, with humans that will easily accept you as one of them. I have already selected the location, and you are to attend each and every session that the programme contains. Is that clear?”
“Huh?” Moonglade vocalized, momentarily forgetting that it was rude to do so. In truth, she had been doing what she always did when her mother launched into a tirade: tune out and nod every now and then.
“Oh for crying out loud!” Psithyra exclaimed, jerking back upright. “She’s sending you to school, all right? I don’t know why you have to wrap it all up in fifty layers of diplomacy, Chrysalis. You’re the queen, just say whatever you bloody well please!”
“I was,” Chrysalis said sourly.
“Well next time try not writing an entire epic in your head,” said Psithyra crossly. “I’ve got no plans to sit here until breakfast while you recite the entire story of Gilgamaresh”
“Go back to sleep, Psithyra.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. “Love you too, sis. Good night, Moonglade.”
Psithyra trotted out of the dining room and up the stairs, leaving only Chrysalis and Moonglade to each other.
A long moment passed.
“So...” Chrysalis said eventually. She pulled her kris from the tabletop and pinched the blade between her fingers. Green liquid glistened on the Changeling Queen’s dark skin, tiny droplets hissing as they dripped onto the varnished wood below.
“Yes, mother?” Moonglade dared, banking on the assumption that if Chrysalis had asked a question, then she was allowed to answer.
Chrysalis sighed, visibly annoyed. “As your aunt has let the cat out of the bag, I see no point in elaborating any further. Allowing you to roam around aimlessly in Canterlot is something I am never going to permit, but keeping you here would only prompt you to resent me and eventually try to escape, and then I would have to tell your aunt to hunt you down and bring you back, none of which would be worth the effort. I only want to know if you want to go to school, or if you would prefer to stay at home with your tutors.”
“I-I…” Moonglade’s mind was still two minutes behind and struggling to catch up.
“Yes or no?” Chrysalis slid her finger across the already scarred surface of the table. Thin, acrid smoke rose from the point of contact, curling around the queen’s looming eyes. “It’s not that hard.”
To any other person, it might have seemed simple. But to someone who had spent her entire life around deceit and wearing masks, Moonglade rarely ever took anything at face value. Especially not her own mother.
Is she serious? Just that morning Chrysalis had just as good as passed a law saying that she wouldn’t let her out of the house, and now she was doing a complete reversal? Surely there had to be a catch.
“I’d like to go to school,” Moonglade tried not to sound too eager. “But I wouldn’t have tried to escape, mother. You’ve taught me better than that.”
Chrysalis smiled sardonically. “Of course you would have,” the queen chuckled, without a hint of menace but with genuine amusement. “You’re my daughter; I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t.” then she sobered up again. “Now, I’m sure you have at least some knowledge of what a human school is like: loud, chaotic, and full of people just ripe for the feeding. It will be a good place to start for you.” Chrysalis tittered some more, pleased with her analysis.
“As you say, mother,” Moonglade held back a smile. I’m going outside! Mother’s letting me go outside! Her heart leapt.
“That is all, Moonglade,” Chrysalis turned her head away and waved her daughter off. “I have other matters to tend to tonight, so you may go. Good night.”
Moonglade nodded and quietly got off her chair, not forgetting to push it in before heading out of the dining room. Only when she was two rooms away with three pairs of solid oak doors between her and Chrysalis did she leap into the air and cheer.
“Yes!”
With her daughter gone, Chrysalis played around with the kris before sliding it back into its sheath. The blade’s coating had left a series of long, deep burns in the table, but they could wait until tomorrow to deal with. The queen licked the last of the poison off her fingers and spoke into the darkness above.
“I thought I told you to go to sleep.”
There was a clinking of crystal and a bemused Psithyra dropped down from her hiding place within the massive chandelier. “Wondered how long it would take for you to notice.” she winced and rubbed her thigh; it hadn’t been the best of landings.
“You really should focus on recovering,” Chrysalis said plainly. “We have a lot to do and I can’t get it done without your help.”
“Yes, yes. I know that. Can’t have you going stir-crazy and tearing someone’s arm off and beating them to death with it again, can we?”
“That was once, and it was centuries ago...” Chrysalis felt the heat rise to her cheeks and she looked away, taking a gulp of wine to hide her embarrassment. “And I hope this is a good idea, Thyra. You know how much time I’ve spent grooming that girl… “
“All her life,” Psithyra said, leaning on her sister’s chair to take the weight off her leg. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help, Chryssie. It can’t have been easy, raising her alone.”
“You’d be surprised at how much simpler things were after I ditched my mate, actually,” Chrysalis smiled dryly into her almost empty glass. “Tiresome beyond all belief, but at least he helped bring Chrysidea into the world.” As soon as the baby had been announced, Chrysalis had begun planning on how to dispose of her husband. She’d chosen him for his strong body and his lack of dependency on drugs and alcohol that so many celebrities seemed to have these days. He’d even been a rather tasty source of love for a time, but keeping him around to interfere with how she reared Chrysidea would have been more trouble than he was worth.
Psithyra nodded, seemingly in agreement. “I should have been the one to do it though. You shouldn’t need to get your hands dirty, you’re the queen. Doing things like that is beneath you.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Chrysalis said mildly. “Kind of fun, actually. Did you know I could have bought a car with the donations from that month alone? Actually, I did.”
The darkened dining hall rang with the laughter of the two sisters. A heady cloud of love wafted around them in an invisible miasma, rich and delectable to both.
“Oh, Chryssie,” Psithyra giggled, wiping away a tear. “You haven’t changed at all.” After a few more seconds to sober up, she asked, “So have you decided which school you want to enroll her in? There aren’t all that many close by, but I’d have no trouble driving her to-”
“You’re not driving anyone anywhere until you’re well again,” Chrysalis said firmly, “And that’s an order, Thyra. Let me worry about schools and transport.”
The Changeling Queen left her seat and easily picked up her sister, carrying her bridal style upstairs and into her room. In no time at all, Psithyra was laid out in bed, the silken sheets hiding everything but her head.
Finally, Chrysalis reached to the gold and ivory lamp and plunged the room into darkness. “Good night, sister,” she whispered. “I love you.”