//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 - Part of a Plan // Story: Servant of the Queen // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// When the last bell rang on Friday, Silver Rose happily skipped out of her classroom, heading right for the carpark, where her aunt was waiting as usual. Once she was home, the young changeling headed for her bathroom and spent a long while changing personas, making sure everything was in order. Now exiting her bathroom as Moonglade, the girl headed for the sirens’ room, knocking on the door twice. When no one answered, she knocked again and waited. Still nothing. “Hello?” Moonglade said, pushing open their bedroom door. Empty. “Where could they be?” “Oh, you’re done, Moonglade. Glad to have you back.” Ivory Wings walked up the steps and saw her by the sirens’ door, a half-eaten pastry in her hand. “Yes, about them. They’re still at school. Apparently, Adagio and Sonata wanted to catch their school’s baseball game. I’m sorry. I should’ve known to tell you.” “It’s fine, Aunt Ivory.” Moonglade looked back at their room. “Well, maybe today’s outing can be a visit to their school? I’ve never gotten to see it.” “Is that so?” Ivory smiled and took another bite of her tart. “Well, I don’t see why not. With your level of fame, though, it would probably be best to stay in the car.” “Aw, okay, but it’ll still be fun! I’ll get to know more about the place they study at.” “Okay, then we’ll head out in forty-five minutes, dear. Why don’t you play on that Neighstation of yours while we wait? Or homework? Do you have homework?” Moonglade nodded. Missing school on Tuesday and Wednesday, she had a small pile up of homework, so she knew what she had to do. “I guess I better start on my homework, or Silver Rose’s homework, that is…” she smiled cheekily. “That’s my niece.” Ivory patted her head with her free hand. “Always knowing what’s more important. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” Ivory Wings left the hallway, humming a tune to herself as she disappeared down the stairs. Moonglade went back to her room, retrieving her backpack and laptop as she made for the study. There were several assignments from mostly every class. The forty-five minutes passed in a blur as she chipped away at the small mountain of work she had to do. When Aunt Ivory returned, she had only completed about half of it. “Ready to pick up the sirens and see their school?” the older changeling asked as she peeked her head into the study. “You bet, Aunt Ivory.” Moonglade closed her textbook and hopped off the chair, following behind her aunt. In no time, she was belted in beside her aunt as the car rolled down towards the front gates, exiting the Wings’ Estate. “So, how has your training been going?” Ivory asked her niece as she turned the steering wheel. “Your mother said you’re particularly good with handling anger.” “I guess so,” Silver nodded. “It feels terrible, having so much anger and hatred around you. It feels like I could explode at any minute and do something I regret.” “That’s… probably the case if you’re not careful, sweetie,” Ivory said, driving the car down a small sloped street. “Yeah, mother said something like that.” Moonglade rested an elbow on the window. “Aunt Ivory, can I ask you a… a personal question?” “Personal? Sure, sweetie, anything you want,” the older changeling smiled. Moonglade’s cheeks were a tinge red, more obvious on her tan skin than on Silver Rose’s mauve skin. “You know… when you deal with lust… Were you like me? I mean, I can’t quite control myself around it. Mother does it easily and she doesn’t want to tell me if she was like me at some point.” Ivory sighed, but smiled for her niece again. “Of course we were like you once, before we knew anything about really blending in and living amongst the humans like this. It started with my first love, dear. Looking back, I shouldn’t have, but… we all do crazy things for love, don’t we?” “Well, I don’t know yet, Aunt Ivory. I haven’t loved anyone except family.” “Perhaps one day, huh, Moonglade?” Ivory reached over and patted the girl’s leg. “Anyway, I guess I should elaborate. When we first started living in a human village, we were farmers, dear. We fed them and then they fed us with their love.” “Makes sense,” Moonglade said. “It works out for both you and the humans. So what happened, Aunt Ivory?” “It was my fault,” Ivory sighed again. “I thought I was ready to handle my emotions, but I wasn’t. I loved the man so much that I just… wanted him. In the end, I lost to the lust around me and he found out what I truly was. From that night on, things were never the same for us again.” “I’m so sorry, Aunt Ivory…” Moonglade looked at her hands. She remembered her teeth easing into view when she was exposed to lust. “But… it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.” “Maybe, maybe not, but the main problem is that I followed my emotions. If anything, remember this, young princess. Always follow your mind, not your heart. The mind is your strongest weapon and your best ally. Never forget that.” “I will, Aunt Ivory,” the blonde haired girl nodded, putting a hand to her chest. “Good.” Then Ivory’s smile turned into a cheeky one. “Now, I also heard something about your mother touching you and licking-” “I don’t want to talk about it, Aunt Ivory!” Moonglade drew back, covering her face. “I’m kidding, dear.” Ivory rubbed a hand down Moonglade’s hair. “Honestly, I don’t know what she was thinking, doing something like that to her daughter… I asked her about it, but she completely ignored me.” “I-Is she allowed to do that?” “Technically, the queen is free to do as she wishes. There are certain things that common sense says you shouldn’t do, but between you and me, I don’t think your mother’s common sense is one of her strong suits.” Moonglade nodded and polished her spectacles. Her mother did indeed do some things that raised questions in her mind countless times, but she merely shrugged and left them alone. Her mother wasn’t the type to take criticism well, and besides, she was the queen. She had to be trusted to make all the important decisions in the royal family. According to some of the stories Aunt Ivory told her, her mother wasn’t. “Is that the school?” Moonglade looked out the front window, pointing at the building on the left of the road, just at the next block. “I mean, it looks like a school.” Ivory looked at her watch. “Looks like we’re a little early. We’ll wait here. They can’t possibly miss us.” She pulled the car to a stop next to a pavement beside the field. Moonglade looked through the tinted window. She could barely make out the school’s baseball field in the distance, where her sharp hearing could catch the sounds of cheering and excitement. “Have you ever watched a baseball game, Moonglade?” She shook her head no. “Same,” Ivory said with a sigh. “Human sports aren’t something we as a species are big on, especially not now when we have romance movies to watch on Neightflix.” “Neightflix?” Moonglade hadn’t heard of this thing. “Is that a movie theater?” “It’s a sort of television program that lets you watch any number of various movies, shows, and other such things,” Ivory explained. “There’s some good stuff on it. Give it a try sometime. I recommend The Mare’s Temptation series, based on the book by C.W. Step.” “But you like romance films, huh?” Moonglade took out a phone and searched up Neightflix. “I’m not too much of a romance type. I like a good action movie. Not the kind where the heroes are invincible. I prefer the more… realistic ones.” Ivory shrugged good-naturedly. “Whatever floats your boat, sweetie. The elder changeling reached under her seat and pulled out a large box. “Truffles?” “Huh?” “Truffles, darling. They’re chocolate.” Moonglade licked her lips. “Don’t mind if I do.” The two changelings spent the rest of the time making small talk and eating the truffles until there came a disturbance from the direction of the baseball field Moonglade put her phone down, which was in the process of downloading a Neightflix app. “What was that?” she said with a slightly full mouth as she looked out the window. “Are they done?” Ivory rolled the window down a crack and listened. “By the sounds of it… the game appears to be over. There’s a lot of cheering and shouting coming from over there. Listen, can you hear it?” Moonglade could indeed hear the cheering from their hiding spot in the car. Not much longer later, students could be seen trickling from the baseball field, most of them chatting animatedly with each other, most likely talking about the game. Moonglade watched them pass her car and pressed herself against the glass enviously. She wanted to be out there too, talking with her friends. “Do you see the sirens out there?” Ivory asked as she put the box of truffles away. “It’s not like the car is hard to miss. They should be able to spot us easily.” Moonglade peered out through the glass. “I don’t see them,” she reported. Ivory Wings thought a while before reaching to unbuckle her seat belt. “I’ll go look for them. They’re late as it is.” “You’ll stick out, though. Or is that the point?” Ivory glanced at her niece. “Unless you’d like to go search for them? Give me your glasses first though, and leave your jacket here.” “Hmm? Why?” Moonglade handed her spectacles to her aunt. “It’ll be harder for people to recognize you if you’re not in your iconic outfit,” Ivory reasoned. “Well, okay.” Moonglade next slipped her red jacket off and placed it nicely on the chair. “Here I go.” She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, though she could barely contain her excitement. This was her first time outside without an entourage. A few students watched her exit the car, but no one seemed to look twice at her. So far so good. Some of them did look at her, like they were trying to remember who she was. Moonglade just kept going, already feeling her face heat up. She saw the bleachers from here and decided to look there first. With no sirens in sight, Moonglade looked around surreptitiously and gave a discreet sniff. Each person in the world had a distinct smell when you looked closely, and after living with the sirens for months, it was easy to obtain a lock onto the sirens’ scent. Adagio’s slightly unpleasant pride and confidence mixed with the dry apathy of Aria and the unflappable bubbly enthusiasm of Sonata. Following the trail, Moonglade soon spotted the sirens gathered around what appeared to be a vending machine. “I told you to just leave it,” she heard Aria say. “Yeah, but now it has my dollar and I want it back!” Sonata pushed the coin refund button. “It doesn’t want to give it back! How was I supposed to know they were sold out on the grape soda?” “Well, it says right here…” Adagio pointed a finger at the glass panel, which separated the drinks from the outside. Moonglade could see the words ‘Sold Out’ on the grape soda. “Come on, give it back!” Sonata shook the machine. Moonglade simply walked up to the machine and gave it a solid kick. With a clatter, two fifty cent coins came rattling out into the till. “There we go,” Moonglade said as the sirens turned to look at her. “Moony!” Sonata embraced her tightly. “Thanks for getting my money back.” “Good to see you.” Then Adagio looked around her. “Are you alone? I didn’t think your mother would’ve allowed that.” “It’s just a short while,” the blonde haired girl said, waving her hands. “Aunt Ivory was fine with it. What mother doesn’t know won’t hurt. Right?” “Well said, Moonglade.” Adagio patted her on the shoulder. “Come, let us get back before anything goes wrong.” “And where’s your jacket, Moonglade?” Aria asked as they began walking back to the car, away from the bleachers. “And can you, uh, see without your glasses? Did you forget them?” “I can see fine without my  glasses,” Moonglade replied with a smirk. “They’re just part of the disguise, like Aunt Ivory’s glasses. I removed them so I wouldn’t be so easily recognized.” “Really?” Sonata giggled. “I thought you needed those and that Silver Rose wore contacts or something.” “Shh!” Aria smacked her sister on the arm. “Don’t tell everyone else.” “Tell what?” Sonata questioned her sister. “That she wears glasses? Who cares?” “You’d be surprised at what people find interesting about celebrities…” Adagio said with a roll of her eyes. “Well, I guess we’d better get going. We’ve wasted enough time at this baseball game already, and I’m thinking Moony here is ready for another night on the town.” “But you wanted to come watch that baseball game too, Dagi,” Sonata said. “No, no I d-didn’t!” Adagio turned away and kept walking. “Come on, we’re late.” “She did,” Aria told Moonglade as they passed a group of students with guitars. They looked at the group, but Moonglade kept up with the sirens, blending in among them. “I guess she wanted to see someone in action.” “Oh?” Moonglade looked to Adagio, who was far ahead by now. She took a sniff to try and determine what it was, however, all she was able to detect was a vast, roiling sea of emotion, with a thin coating of pride on top of it all. Hardly surprising, as Adagio was the one member of the sirens who always seemed unflappable, and in her case, nigh-unreadable. Adagio was good at controlling her emotions, letting nothing slip. Must be a side effect of living with mother and Aunt Ivory for so long. “Actually, I just wanted to see the school you girls go to.” Moonglade craned her neck to take a better look. “It’s not as… shiny as Crystal Prep, but ooohhh…” She took a long, deep sniff. “It smells so much nicer.” “It should. You mentioned your school is full of competition and stuff,” Aria said. “I mean, look at this place. No one bothers if others are better than them.” “Maybe we got sent to the wrong schools then,” Moonglade said casually. “There’s plenty more negative emotion at CPA, compared to how nice it is here. It reeks of friendship and positivity.” “A little too much friendship if you ask me,” Adagio said half to herself. “Well, did you want a tour or something?” “No, I just wanted to look at it. Somehow I think heading inside would stir up trouble.” “Not really,” Aria said drolly. “You’d be surprised of how accepting of weird things this school is. I mean, they’re so weak minded that a single song can change their entire view of life.” “No geas to hold them in line, huh?” Moonglade instinctively curled one hand over her heart. According to her mother, each changeling was born with a geas inside them linking them with the queen. This mysterious force made sure that the queen and her kin would always know who was in charge, as well as protecting them from certain magical effects, such as sirens’ song. “Not everyone’s as lucky as you, Moonglade,” Adagio muttered. “Humans like these are so easy to bend… which would explain how easily the Rainbooms managed to turn the crowd against us back at the Battle of the Bands.” “Well, it also explains how we managed to turn them all so easily and how we got Principal Celestia to endorse our version of the Battle of the Bands,” Sonata blabbered. “I mean wow, it was never this easy. All it took was one song.” “Mph,” Aria groused. “Just one more thing I miss doing, no thanks to the Rainbooms.” Adagio’s eyelid twitched, but she forced a smile back on her face and began to steer the group back toward the road, where the car was still waiting. “Come on, girls. Let’s not dwell on the past too much. It’s the weekend; we won’t have to see any of the Rainbooms for two days. I’m sure Ivory Wings is doing the best she can to fix our gems and our voices.” The four girls piled into the car, with the sirens taking the back seats and Moonglade returning to her spot on the passenger seat, putting on her red jacket and glasses again. Ivory smiled at them. “Ready to go home, girls?” “Yes,” the four girls chorused back at her. Ivory pulled the car away from the sidewalk, retracing her route back to the estate. “This might take a little while,” Ivory said, gripping the steering wheel reflexively. “Traffic’s really bad around here at this hour.” “Well, I got to see Canterlot High, so it’s not so bad.” Moonglade looked out the window at the fleeting school building. “It’s a nice place, though it doesn’t look as clean as Crystal Prep. I think the shine might have something to do with that.” “It is good that you go to the same school as these ‘Rainbooms’,” Ivory said cheerily. “I’ll soon have a message for them that you three can deliver.” “What kind of message?” Sonata said as Aria helped herself to a bottle of sparkling water from the car’s cooler. “An invitation, so to speak. I want to meet with these Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle and discuss gem repair.” The changeling paused, turning her face upwards, sniffing. After a few more sniffs, she checked the rearview mirror. Then she shrugged and pointed the car in a completely new direction, off their intended route. “What makes you think they’ll cooperate with you?” Adagio queried. “I doubt they’d agree to help their old enemies just like that.” For the first time since Moonglade had known Ivory Wings, a sinister smirk crept across her aunt’s face. It scared her a little. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be,” Ivory said, holding her head high. “I am a princess, and I’m used to getting what I want.” “You’re a- oh yeah, I guess that would make you a princess,” Sonata said, one finger in the air. “I never thought of it like that.” “That’s because you don’t think, Sonata,” Aria told her. “Oh, here we go again…” Adagio rested her forehead on a hand. Moonglade had giggled when the two sirens began throwing insults at each other. Her aunt remained silent through the drive, but wore a smile on her face. She must’ve just been happy that she had found them again. She looked out the window. Hadn’t they passed this block already, or was Aunt Ivory driving in circles? The young changeling shrugged and went back to listening to the sirens bicker. Eventually, the car pulled into the Wings’ Estate, dropping off Moonglade and the sirens before Ivory Wings headed for the garage. “I’ll need to take care of something before I come inside, so have fun without me,” Ivory Wings had said. Moonglade wondered what exactly it was that her aunt might be so preoccupied with, but eventually waved the thought away. Must be something important. “Well, you girls go on.” Moonglade caught up with the sirens. “I’ve got some homework I need to take care of first.” “Ugh, homework…” Aria Blaze scowled and walked towards the first floor living room. “Gross…” “I guess there’s a reason she doesn’t do particularly well in class,” Adagio said and followed her sister. Sonata waved and skipped along to join the others as Moonglade went back up to the study to continue her work. Her teachers had given her till Monday to make up the homework she had missed, but the young changeling figured that finishing it all in one day was the best course of action. That way, she could do whatever she wanted the rest of the weekend. She had completed her English homework and history homework in the first hour, but when it came to her math homework, the girl pushed the chair back and leaned her head down on her arms. “Uuuugghhh, why does math homework have to be so complicated…?” she complained to herself. Simple multiplication and all that was easy enough, but when it came to equations with all that ‘x’ and ‘y’ stuff, she didn’t have a complete understanding on them. She really didn’t want to have a math tutor to add to her list of tutors already, so she continued to try her best. “Dinner time!!!!” Moonglade suddenly jumped in her seat from Sonata Dusk’s voice behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry, Moony. Did I scare you?” “A little…” Moonglade adjusted her glasses. “Well, I guess that’s homework for now. Say, Sonata, are you any good with math?” “Nope!” the siren answered almost too happily. They exited the study and made for the staircase. “But it’s okay, I just try my best. That’s what matters, right?” “I suppose…” Moonglade sighed. Perhaps it was a subject everyone was bad at. For tonight, her mother had requested lobster and oysters to be served with some extra dishes. Moonglade didn’t mind. In fact, lobster was pretty tasty for her. Aunt Ivory sat at the table, a look of thought on her face. It must’ve had something to do with whatever she did after dropping Moonglade and the sirens earlier. “So, how was school?” Ebony Wings asked as they began consuming their dinner. “The usual, mother,” Moonglade said as she cut some meat off her lobster. “Sunny Flare hasn’t been bothering me since the last week. You… didn’t have something to do with that, did you?” “I didn’t,” Ebony simply stated. “But I’m sure after we complained to your school about the photos, they must’ve done something about it.” “Perhaps she’s simply grown tired of antagonizing you,” Ivory said, taking a sip of her wine. “Why do we even drink this?” she asked Ebony. “It’s not like it has any actual effect on us.” “It tastes nice.” Ebony dangled her glass under her fingers. “I only purchase the best wines in the world.” “So we’re drinking it because you’re really rich,” Ivory said, swirling the wine around in her glass. “Well, if you put it that way, then yes. We are. But hey, I did say it tastes nice. Don’t you think so?” “You’re incorrigible, you know that, sister?” “But it really is good!” Ebony reiterated. “What do you like eating or drinking for nothing then, Ivory?” “Hey, I don’t have any objections to it, I just wanted to know why,” Ivory waved her hand, making the candles sputter. “And it is good. You have great tastes in wine.” “See?” Ebony looked proud. “Anyway, back to business. I heard-” At that moment, Silver Platter edged into the dining room, wringing his hands nervously. “Mistress Wings,” the butler said quietly. “We have a bit of a situation on the grounds.” Ebony downed her glass contents and squinted at the man. “What kind of situation?” “The security grid was tripped about five minutes ago. We did some investigating on the cameras, and it would appear that we have… an intruder on the grounds.” “What?” Ebony stood up so fast her chair crashed to the floor with a resounding thud. “Where? We haven’t had an intruder in years! How did they get in?” Moonglade remembered the last time there was an intruder. It hadn’t been pleasant for him. “I don’t know, Mistress. But the intruder seems to be staying in the forested area of the estate, slowly approaching the manor. Shall I call the police?” “No need for police.” Then Ivory looked at her sister, who was about to say something. “Or violence. I will handle this.” “As you wish, Mistress.” Silver Platter bowed and retreated from the room. Ivory pulled off her napkin and stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back shortly.” Moonglade watched her go, chewing on her lobster. “Where’s she going?” “Probably to deal with the intruder,” Aria supplied. “I wonder who’s the poor sap that’s going to be on the receiving end of the Queen’s Reaper.” “Well, she said she was going to handle it without violence,” Moonglade reminded the siren. “She’s probably just gonna shine a laser pointer at the intruder or something.” Adagio waved a hand dismissively. “But wow. I mean who would even think to try and break in here? They’re either really brave or really dumb.” The oranged haired siren picked up her glass of juice and drank half of it. Moonglade only saw two reasons why someone would try to break into their house. Either for money, because her family was really rich, or because of her mother, seeing as she was one of the most attractive actresses and models. If the reason was the latter, they were certainly in for many surprises. Dinner continued in more or less silence, the only sound being that of the eating utensils making contact with a plate or with each other. Ivory Wings eventually returned as Moonglade was cleaning her mouth with her napkin. “One intruder all taken care of,” Ivory announced before sitting back down to continue her dinner. “Let me guess…” Ebony flipped back her black hair. “Some crazy fan hoping to see my beautiful face?” “Just some kid, actually. Somehow he got over the fence and landed in the forested area. Probably climbed a tree to get onto this side. I’ll be sure to go investigate tomorrow and deal with it.” “A kid?” Aria scoffed and leaned back. “Why would a kid want to break in here?” “I didn’t ask,” Ivory mumbled through a mouthful of food. “I escorted him off the property and told him not to do it again. If he does, we’re going to let the police handle it.” “How are we going to know if it’s the same person?” “Obviously, if I see him again, I’ll remember.” Ivory Wings pointed to her head. “My memory is pretty good.” “What did he look like, this intruder?” Ebony Wings asked her sister. “Because if I’m the one to catch him on the premises again, he won’t be getting off easy.” “Well…” Ivory swallowed her food so she could speak more clearly. “He’s got blue hair and blue skin and he had on his ridiculous blue striped shirt over another shirt.” Moonglade thought about the description. That actually sounded pretty familiar. In fact, she thought she might actually have a face to go with the description. Before she could say anything, Sonata interrupted. “Does he have a baseball bat and field on his shirt?” “Oh?” Ivory turned to her. “You know him?” “Home Run.” All eyes turned to Moonglade. “Right? That’s his name, right?” “Home Run? Yeah! He goes to CHS!” Sonata piped up. “He’s on the baseball team.” “He’s the one Adagio likes,” Aria said flatly. “I do not!” Adagio raised her voice. “So he’s from your school…” Ebony folded her arms. “But Moonglade? How do you know him?” “Umm…” Moonglade looked away from her mother’s gaze. “He kinda almost knocked me over with his bicycle, uh, last week. Purely an accident, mother.” “He what?” Ebony Wings growled. “Please tell me you didn’t do anything rash,” Ivory said. “How exactly did this meeting go down?” “Umm…” Moonglade tapped her fingers together. “I kinda flipped him off his bike…” “You did what?” Ivory asked as Ebony sighed and put her head in the hands. “H-He was riding at me, s-so I just reacted and grabbed his bike before it could hit me.” Ebony sighed, gesturing for her sister to say something. “As accomplished as that might have made you feel,” Ivory said carefully. “It might have been more prudent to let the bike hit you. No chance of compromising your disguise that way.” “I’m sorry.” Moonglade looked down. “I panicked. I just acted in the moment.” Ivory smiled and raised a hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re not in trouble. You didn’t know any better. But now you do, right?” “Yes, Aunt Ivory.” “Well, if you’re lecture is done…” Ebony looked at her white haired sister. “Ivory, did you learn why he snuck in? Was it because of me?” The actress gave her hair another flip. “I doubt the kid broke in to see you, sister…” Ivory raised an eyebrow. “On the other hand, after what we’ve learnt today…  I think he might’ve come in for a different reason.” Then she trained her eyes on her niece and rubbed a hand under her chin. “W-What?” Moonglade looked between her aunt and mother, her glasses falling lower down her nose. Ebony and Ivory exchanged looks, both glances loaded with meaning and possibility. “Do you think…?” Ebony Wings finished the last of her wine and set the glass down. “It’s a possibility, although I could understand if they’d broken in to see me. Why sneak in to look at her?” “Stop talking about your daughter like that, Ebony,” Ivory said, walking over to Moonglade and wrapping an arm around the girl. “She’s pretty too, you know?” “Yeah well, not like I am.” Moonglade felt her aunt’s arm tense, but Ivory said nothing more about that. “Moonglade, sweetie, I think the boy, what was his name, Home Run? Come to think of it, I bumped into him while I was Celestia. I think he snuck in here to see you.” “Really?” Moonglade looked up at her aunt, then around to her mother and the sirens. “He wanted to see me?” “Wouldn’t you think so? When you met him that day, did he smell of any affection?” “I’m not sure. Maybe. I mean, I smelt something tasty coming from him, but it kept fading. Though, he did keep glancing at me, then looking away. Does that mean anything?” “It’s plausible that he’s one of those people who follow celebrities religiously,” Ivory said, sipping her wine. “Then he might know who you are. But to answer your question, it might mean something, it might not. Infatuation at first sight isn’t as uncommon as you might think.” “At first sight?” Moonglade giggled a little. “You mean that actually happens in real life? I thought it was only in the movies.” “I said infatuation, not love,” Ivory corrected. “Love at first sight is totally different. And rarer. Much rarer.” “Oh. What’s the difference?” “It’s hard to explain, but you can taste the difference. Love at first sight smells and tastes very distinctive, and the flavor differs whether it’s one sided or mutually shared,” Ivory shrugged. “That’s the best I can put it. You’d have to experience it for yourself to tell which is which.” “Oh.” “But nonetheless, this boy might’ve snuck in because he wanted to see you,” Ebony Wings continued. “I don’t know what you did to make this happen, but rest assured, you won’t have to worry about it, because I don’t approve of you being in a relationship.” “Yes, mother.” “Hold on, hold on,” Ivory interrupted. “Ebony, don’t you see the opportunity when it presents itself?” “No,” the actress folded her arms. “What opportunity?” “If this boy did sneak in to see your daughter, then he might very well actually be infatuated with her. I think this is the perfect chance to send Moonglade out there to hunt.” “No, no, absolutely not!” Ebony slammed a palm on the table. “I’m not letting my daughter go out there on her own, especially if she’s going to be in a relationship. No relationships for her.” Moonglade thought about it in her head. Could it be that he actually was interested in her? Since she had gotten the chance to leave the house, no one she’d met or befriended had even seemed to show one bit of affection towards her, except for the lust that had originated with her in her underwear. She had indeed tasted something nice from the boy, but was that actually infatuation? And it was the boy, Home Run. She remembered his clumsy airheaded behavior. It’s not like it was bad or anything and she did think it was rather cute. “Moonglade, did you hear me?” she heard her mother say. Shaking her head, Moonglade looked up at the changeling queen and lifted her glasses higher. “I’m sorry, what were you saying, mother?” “Your aunt wants me to release you to the world to hunt this Home Run as your first meal by yourself,” Ebony Wings said with a tinge of disgust. “Normally, I would say no, but your aunt is right. Holding you back again would just make it worse for you in the future. If you never learn to hunt on your own, then you’re no changeling.” “S-So… you want me to hunt Home Run?” she asked meekly. It sounded like that was what her mother was saying. “That’s what your aunt wants.” Ebony turned to the sirens. “What do you girls think? Do you agree with me or with Ivory?” “I think it’s a good idea to let her out to experience it on her own,” Adagio said. “But…” “Meh, go for it,” Aria shrugged and looked out a window. “I think it’s a swell idea!” Sonata bounced up from her seat. “That way, Moony can see what it’s like to have a more normal life!” “Hmm… Looks like they all agree with you, Ivory.” Ebony didn’t look happy with the outcome. “Because it’s a good idea, sister,” Moonglade’s aunt said. “It’s a great learning experience for the girl. Let her do it. Let her try.” Ebony huffed, but nodded. “Fine. Moonglade, it seems your aunt has convinced me. This Home Run, he is to be your first target for your first hunt.” “What am I supposed to do?” the blonde haired girl asked. “Why, you’re to attract him to you,” Ivory smiled and sat back down, picking up her fork. “Love is a changeling’s favorite emotion and your objective is to extract that emotion from the boy. You are to make him fall in love with you.” “F-Fall in love? With me…?” Moonglade pointed at herself. She didn’t know anything about courtship at all, besides the basics of telling someone else how you feel about them. “But I don’t know how, Aunt Ivory.” Ivory exhaled, a bemused look on her face. “You’re the daughter of the oldest seductress in the world, sweetie. Maybe you should ask her first?” Moonglade gulped, then looked to her mother for advice. “Wait, wait.” Sonata interrupted before Ebony could say anything. “Are you sure she’s the oldest? I mean, what if-” “Shut up, Sonata.” Aria smacked her at the back of the head. “It doesn’t matter. Let them talk. Say what you were gonna say, Ebony.” “I was going to say…” Eboy cleared her throat before continuing. “Teaching you will be easy, Moonglade. How you apply it though, is up to you. What we can do is practice. I can be the boy and you can try to work your magic on me. Sound good?” Moonglade swallowed her saliva again. It sounded easy and all, but with her mother, nothing was ever straight forward like that. In the end, she meekly nodded her head and smiled. “Yes, mother. T-That sounds good.” “Very well then, meet me in my room in an hour and we’ll see just how far we can get, shall we?”