A few days had passed since the last Changeling attack, much to the girl's relief. While the action was entertaining in a way, the quiet time was appreciated as well. Well, as quiet as time could be while training with Cadance. The principal was ruthless, and even if she did tone down the training a bit, so they weren’t completely exhausted on the next day, it was far from easy. Bruises and grazes were a daily occurrence, one that had grown increasingly hard to hide from their parents.
Indigo didn’t really have much of a problem, her parents were already used to her daughter looking beat up every day. For a sports fanatic, a few bruises were nothing new. The rest, however, was another story entirely.
Sugar’s parents were suspicious, but after she stated that she was training with her friends, they just accepted that apparently they were used to her hobby. Sour Sweet definitely had it harder, ending up in a passive-aggressive shouting match with her parents that could even partially be heard on the street, at least if Sunny was to be believed. Ultimately she actually managed to convince her parents that she was taking part in a school program aimed for self-defense.
That was also the story Sunny went with and after much surprise from her parents, worried attempts to convince her otherwise they finally relented, letting her train self-defense. It also helped a bit that with the mew rise of monster attacks in the city, they could feel safe that their daughter could at least defend herself.
The last one to convince her parents of this was Lemon Zest, primarily because she just pushed that part off until the last possible moment, something her friends were all too family with. Whenever a project was due Lemon hocked herself up with one of the other Shadow Bolts and just hung back while her partner did all the work, well at least when the project didn’t interest her, something that happened quite often. When it did scratch that certain edge, however, no one could slow her down, how rare it might be. So it was no surprise to her friends when she admitted to still not having told her parents.
After what felt like hours and at least five hot chicklets the girl finally related, bowing to the tenacity and stubbornness of her friends. And worst of all, deep down she knew they were right and that feeling just didn’t want to die down, no matter how much she tried to shut it up. And with a defeated sigh, she finally related.
In the end, it all came down to this. This moment, on this ordinary Saturday morning. The sun was shining into her room like on every day, casting its light on the mess that was her floor. Papers, books and some clothes were all thrown around the room, showing a good representation of how her head felt right now. Countless thoughts had run through her head for hours now, and she hatted it. She hadn’t really gotten any shuteye, and one could see that undeniably, the bags around her eyes were massive.
As she turned around in her bed, her eyes fell on the wireless headphones, her dad had brought her recently. They had a strange magnetic aura about them, refusing to let her eyes stray for even one second. She didn’t know why, but these headphones just were the most fascinating thing for her in her entire room right now, more than her cd’s, her games or her guitars.
She didn’t even know how long she had stared at the lifeless hunks of plastic and wires when a loud scream snapped her out of it. The scream caught her entirely off guard, almost letting her fall out of her bed and face-first on the floor, almost.
For a moment the thought that it might be a Changeling attack raced through her head, but this theory was quickly discarded when the voice echoed through the house once more, this time clearly audible to the girl.
“Lemy! Breakfast!” It once again came from down below. On every other day, this lovely scream would have ripped her from her sweet dreams and at the same time filled with new energy for the delicious breakfast waiting for her, but not today. Her stomach was twisting together, but unlike the usual hunger, she felt in the morning, this was an entirely different feeling. She didn’t want to admit it, but it was a mixture of fear and nervousness. “Lemy? Did you fall back asleep again?” Her mother called out again, a playful tone in her voice.
With one last look at the headphones, she sighed and let her head sink low. Her body felt like it had awoken out of a thousand-year slumber when she pulled herself up in the bed, almost like it was trying to do everything in its power to keep her in bed. And the part that made her the most uncomfortable was the fact that it wasn’t entirely unwelcome. The bed was warm and cozy, fluffy, and comforting, she could just stay inside it, right? Just the entire day in bed, it didn’t sound all that bad all things consi-
“No!” A voice shouted in her head, drowning out the thoughts that had swirled around her mind like a black cloud. “No!” It repeated again and again, like a chorus of a single voice, her voice. As comforting it might have been, that wasn’t what she had promised her friends, not what she really wanted.
Almost like an observer, she saw how the blanket was pulled aside, and her feet were forced out of bed, her toes sinking into the fluffy floor below them. It didn’t feel real like she was just watching, but she knew it was. “Coming!” Her voice shouted out, sounding so far and so distant, but at the same time just as close as ever. That feeling of nervousness still eating at the back of her mind like a bug that had dug itself into her brain and was currently having a delicious brain snack.
Like a slug, she weakly pulled herself into a pair of ripped dark blue jeans and a louse hanging light blue shirt she just grabbed out of her closet at random. Almost on instinct, she picked up both her handy and the new wireless headphones and shoved them into a pocket before turning towards the door. With a heavy gasp of air, she pushed her body towards it.
The door to her room creaked louder than it had ever done before as the sound of it echoed through the halls and down the stairs like she was in some kind of old, dilapidated haunted house. The familiar walls now felt like something foreign, strange, as if they were rejecting her as all the thoughts of how this could go wrong ran through her mind. Just bowing out now was tempting, oh so tempting, but she knew her friends wouldn’t let louse if she just chickened out now.
Every step down the stairs was agonizing as the smell of donuts, hot chocolate, and warm pancakes mixed with her anxiety just made her even more confused, the smells of delicious food just contrasting against her own feelings in a way that was just unnatural. The growling of her stomach was brought together with it tightening up by the sheer thought of actually talking with her parents about any of this.
Standing in front of the kitchen doorway, her thoughts were rushing past a mile a minute in her head, struggling to focus on one thing, but ultimately failing miserably at that. She must have stood there around one minute already, time having lost all meaning to her when the warm voice of her mother pierced through her thoughts, a bit of worry in it that Lemon barely managed to notice.
“Is anything Lemy? You don’t look so good,” she asked, carefully examining her daughter, who indeed looked less than stellar. Even more than usual, she looked like she hadn’t gotten any shuteye tonight. Her eyes were all sagy, and she had that expression on her face like she was a lost puppy a thousand kilometers away from home.
“I…” She started to say, only for her tongue to refuse to budge after her first word, leaving her to stutter, only gaining an even more worried look from Sweet Orange whos expression shifted towards a silent frown. “Ju… Just slept really bad tonight… That’s all,” she awkwardly chuckled back, rubbing the back of her head while trying to deliver the most convincing smile she had ever smiled.
“Are you… Sure?” She continued, taking a step closer to her daughter. “Doesn’t look like just a night of bad sleep.” Sweet’s expression shifted from her frown to worry, worry that just drove like a hot needle deeper into Lemon’s mind.
“Yeah… I’m fine,” she dodged once again, avoiding the piercing glare of her mother. Before Sweet could say, another word, Lemon already blurted out: “Mhm, this smells delicious. I’m gonna get something.” And like that she raced away, leaving her mother unable to get another word in, Sweet only staring after her and shaking her in silence.
Meanwhile Lemon was trying her damn hardest to put up a smile and inhale as much of the warm pancake smell as possible, just to get her mind into another mood. It worked partially at least, the scent definitely pushing away the tightness in her stomach reason and replacing it with simple plain hunger.
“Hey, Lemon.” As she opened her eyes again, she stared right at her father, reading his newspaper like every weekend. As he looked up from behind the wall of paper, his expression, however, changed a bit, now resembling more her mothers. “Didn’t sleep well?”
“Yeah,” she sheepishly chuckled in return.
Her father just raised an eyebrow before returning: “You know, you have been coming home later than usual recently,” he started, putting the paper down next to him, something that was never a good sign. Lemon just swallowed a bit, it was almost like her worst nightmares were right now just getting reality.
“And then there is the fact that you have so many bruises every time you come home. We might have believed you if this would have been a one-time occurrence, but you come back with more and more every day. What are you really up to because we know that you are better than hurting yourself every day? So, what are you really up to Lemon?” She asked in a strick, but still worried tone.
Lemon just let her eyes snap back and forth between her dad and her mom, her mind looking for a good enough answer before after a few seconds and her dad about to once again say something she simply sighed: “Yeah, I wanted to talk with you about that anyway.”
“Oh?” Came it from both of them simultaneously as they stared at her in surprise. “So, what was it that you wanted to tell us?”
Lemon shifted uncomfortably on her chair from one side to the other: “Well… How do I say this…” She started, the words just refusing to settle into a coherent sentence. “I didn’t really injure myself during skating,” she finally let out, her eyes closed, awaiting the reaction from her parents.
“So it really wasn’t skating,” Sweet sighed, shaking her head. “But when it wasn’t scathing, what was it then? And why did you hide it from us? You know you can tell us everything, you know that?” She continued, putting a hand on Lemon’s shoulder while smiling at her.
“Well, you see, I kinda joined a self-defense course with the girls,” she finally let out, her parents just staring at her with open eyes.
“That… That is all?” Sweet asked, shaking the surprise from herself. “Just a self-defense course? Then why try and lie to keep it from us?”
Lemon was about to say something before her words became stuck in her mouth. She knew why she had lied the first day, she just didn’t come up with anything better, and the rest of her friends came up with that lie later than that, so yeah. But that wasn’t something she could tell her parents, now could she? But what to do? Her mind was once again racing with dozens of thoughts simultaneously, dismissing every single one of them until her eyes caught one of her bruises from yesterday and an idea started to form in her head. “Yeah, that might sound a bit stupid, but…” She started nervously. “Well, our trainer is very rough and doesn’t do easy,” she pointed at one of the bruises. “And, to be honest, I was kinda afraid that you would forbid it.”
Both Sweet Orange and Grapefruit looked at each other and let out a slight chuckle. “Oh, Lemy, why would you think that? Have we ever forbidden you from skating because it was too dangerous? No, so why would we now?” Sweet returned before her expression turned a bit more serious. “Though, I have to admit that seeing you like this the first time wasn’t all that pleasant. But as long as your schoolwork won’t suffer from that, we are fine with it. Well, as long as you look out for yourself.”
Lemon was about to return a loud and far more happy thank you to her mom when Grapefruit interrupted her: “Come to think of it, there was another thing we wanted to talk with you about.”
“Huh, what?” She returned, looking at him quite confused and with a strange nagging feeling in the back of her head.
“You are in your last year of school,” he started, his voice unnervingly serious. “Right now it looks like the end of the school year is still far away, but before you even realize it the year is over. So, do you have any idea what you are gonna do after school?”
Lemon just stared at him blankly, unable to form a proper response. She was at a loss for words here, and really, did it matter now? She had bigger fish to fry, with the Changelings and being a Power Ranger, something like that could wait after all. The year was young, wasn’t it? “Eh, I’ll figure something out,” she simply shrugged.
“Lemy, I know that you might think that, but trust me, that is nothing but imagination. I’ve seen what happens when you don’t know what you want to do with your life when you don’t have a plan when school ends. You know auntie Clementine?” Sweet Orange looked at her daughter with a somber look in her eyes.
“Sure I know auntie Clementine! She runs a Saddle Eleven in Griffonstone now, and while she does it quite well, that doesn’t mean that was what she really wanted to do. She always was a girl that did everything one hundred percent or not at all. She is quite similar to you in that way,” her mom weakly smiled before continuing. “She also had no idea what to do after school ended. She made the same excuses as you right now did Lemy, that something would come to her, but nothing did. So when she graduated, she had nothing to do and instead of actually looking for a job in the meantime while looking for something to do with her life. That went on for at least a year, and dad got more and more annoyed with her.”
“And what then?” Lemon asked, her voice weak and shaky, already dreading the answer.
“Your grandfather was always a very passionate and emotional man that was very… steadfast in his ways one could say,” she awkwardly continued, looking at the ground while doing though. “That meant that when someone disagreed with him, it didn’t take long for the discussion to become loud. He and Clementine always butted heads, they were in that way very similar. And after a year of her not doing anything and still not having a job, he made an ultimatum, either find any job or leave the house. To my surprise, she actually did the former, not the later and started working at the local Saddle Eleven.”
“So, everything worked out in the end? She learned that it was what she wanted to do anyway? So, I should be fine,” Lemon dismissively returned, pushing any other thoughts she had about this far back into her mind, well at least she tried until her mother started to shake her head.
“No, she just never found what she really wanted to do in life. And since my sister was someone who did everything to the best of her abilities she quickly became their best worker and climbed up the cooperate ladder until they offer her a manager position in Grifonstone,” she chuckled before her expression turned sour once again. “She took it because at this point she kinda got used to her life and accepted that she would be doing this forever. She never told any of us that she liked working there and to this day she doesn’t, but she still puts her all into it. Every time we talk about it she tries to change the subject or just complains about everything with it and I can tell that she hates it, but since she has settled into that life now, she doesn’t want to make any changes to it. She has a secure life now and doesn’t want to take any risks, even if she is unhappy with it.”
Sweet stopped for a few moments, looking down at the floor before raising her head again, her eyes starting to fill with tears before she continued with a shaky voice. “Please, I don’t want you to end up like her, she was always so energetic, and everything and seeing her like this just breaks me every time we come together. I couldn’t stand it if you ended up like her.” With that Sweet almost lunged forward and hugging her daughter tightly, leaving Lemon no word in all of this.
“What your mother said. I too don’t want to see you end up like Clementine. You have to think about a secure job, Lemon. Why not start with a part-time job? I’m sure you could find something if you looked for it,” her father added, sounding just as desperate as her mother, letting any complaint Lemon might have had suddenly swelled up inside her throat like a sponge and prevented her from actually saying anything. Her eyes just darted around the room, helplessly as she thought of anything to say when her father continued. “By Tartarus, if that also doesn’t work I’m sure I could pull a few strings for you and maybe get you an internship at Change Industries. How does that sound?”
That was the moment when her throat was pulled shut completely, her eyes turned into small little ponds as they were ripped open and her body slowed down to a crawl. Her mind suddenly started to race a mile a minute again, about what she would do if she had to fight a monster during her time working, or far worse if she wouldn’t need to go to a fight, but the fight would come to her. The Changelings already knew who she was, that much was clear after their last battle and the donut shop. If they had no qualms about throwing a car at them, there was no way to predict how far they were willing to go when she was working anywhere where a lot of people would be. She hadn't even thought about all of this and what to do if this took longer than the school year. What would she do or her friends?
And then came the idea of working at Change Industries, the company lead by the Changelings. That was more or less suicide. While she trusted her father not to be one of the Changelings, this was still insane to attempt, especially after how much the last Changeling had thrown her around like a ragdoll. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted as the voice of her father pulled her back into reality.
“Lemon! Do you hear me? Is something the matter?” He asked, his forehead cast in wrinkles as he looked at his daughter with a worried frown. “You have to talk to us, please. We just want to help you, and that means right now help you find out what to do after school. You can’t just live into the day like before anymore, you have to think about what to do with your life. You don’t still have a year, you only have one year left. You have to do something,” he continued.
Grapefruit looked at Lemon with an expecting expression. The young girl was getting more and more worried as the thoughts of everything that could go wrong came flooding in more and more, letting sweet drop from her forehead. Her breathing started to grow more frantic and ridged with every passing second, answer flooding her mind and struggling for dominance only to disappear into the void of it just as quickly as they were formed, the looks of her parents like a burning hot needle stabbed into her skin until…
Almost like on instinct, Lemon pulled herself of free from her mother's tight grip, even pushing her back, staring at both of her parents with a desperate look in her eyes. Her parents just stared at her with open mouths and unable to say anything, surprised at the sudden outburst of her daughter. Their stares were even worse than before, like the weight of a truck had suddenly fallen on her, crushing her beneath.
After a few more seconds staring at them, she just couldn’t stand there anymore, and without as much of another word, she turned around on the spot and dashed towards the door.”Lemy!” Her mother shouted from behind, her voice desperate and in utter shock. Lemon couldn’t do anything else than to grimace and press her eyes together and pick up even more speed. She, however, had to open them again when she reached the door, pushing it open, grabbing her board that was leaning against the wall and rolled out the door before any of her parents could even halfway catch up to her.
She was almost on auto-pilot the moment she had started to dash, and the world just rushed past her. It didn’t matter where she was going, just away, that was all that mattered right now. In the distance, she heard the screams of her mother. “Lemy!” But as much it hurt, she just wanted to not be here right now, just away. And within a few seconds, she was already around the next corner and disappeared from sight, leaving both Sweet Orange and Grapefruit standing behind on their lawn and watching their daughter disappear.
“Lemy…” Sweet stammered, unable to divert her stare from the point where Lemon had disappeared, her arms hanging limply from her side as several tears rolled down her cheeks.
She winked when her husband placed his arm around her and pulled her closer. As she looked up to him, she didn’t look into a comforting face, but one just as worried as hers, just trying to keep it hidden.
“I’m sure she will be fine,” he weakly returned. “She just needs a bit of time alone.” And as silent, as he could, he added a nervous, “I hope.”
>-------<S>-------<
She had just passed the corner when she had shoved her earphones into her ears and put on her music on max volume. In an instant the world around her became more distant, just an annoyance that she could choose to ignore and let dance to the beat she decided, well that was how it usually went, but not this time. Her thoughts were liked glued to what had happened right now, refusing to fade in the background and let the music do its magic. No, they just got worse, clawing away at her mind, whispering of guilt, anger and just… forlornness.
The music was just alleviating the feelings that were currently rampaging through her, she didn’t even want to know how bad it would be without the music. The thought alone was almost terrifying to her.
While she was skating through the city, her entire attention was diverted to her thoughts and trying to bring them in any manageable order and on not driving headfirst into a car, but that had almost become second nature to her. What she still didn’t waste any thought about was where she was going, just forward, always forward, taking a few corners as well. If she stopped right now, she might figure out where she was right now, but that was not something that even crossed her mind, that she would worry about later.
After what felt like hours she had been on her board, she finally decided to step down from it, sure she was far away from home to ultimately let everything sink in. When the board stopped, and she stepped off it, everything just felt… wrong. Like if she didn’t move forward again, everything would crush her, and she was tempted to do exactly that when she took a look around, finally realizing where she had ended up, almost on the front porch of Cadance’s house.
She just stared at the building, unable to comprehend how she ended up here and just standing there, her jaw wide open. Then a different thought came to her, what if she asked Cadance for help? They had a lesson later this day, so if she showed up early, she might not mind? But it didn’t take long before her doubts came back to her. Maybe cadence would be annoyed if she asked her about such personal stuff? She was her trainer, not her private psychiatrist after all and she already had to deal with the problems of an entire Highschool during the week, she surely didn’t want to deal with even more teenage problems on her off days.
But before she could dwell on these thoughts any longer the door to the mansion opened, and two people stepped out, Cadance and a muscular young man with white skin and blue hair in what looked like a costly suit. Cadance meanwhile wore a white shirt and short jeans, something that she still wasn’t used to, she had always seen the former dean in very formal clothing, this just felt wrong, even if the view wasn’t all that bad.
No! That wasn’t the time for this, what if she saw her now? What would she think? She had to hide somewhere, this was far too uncomfortable, and she couldn’t deal with this right now!
“Have a good day at work Shining and be careful,” Cadance said, giving the man a kiss on his cheek.
“Thanks, Honey, and don’t worry, I always am. If something would happen to me, we could eat breakfast together after all, and that is something I wouldn’t give up for anything in this world,” he returned with a chuckle. “I’ll just have to be careful not to be caught in any of Light Bulb’s crazy inventions, and I’ll be fine.”
Cadance raised an eyebrow before letting out an amused chuckle only to add a more worried: “I know, but with these new monster, I’m just a bit more nervous that’s all. But, knowing who you surround yourself with, I shouldn’t be too wo-“ That was when she suddenly stopped and stared directly in where Lemon had stood just mere moments before, the girl having ducked behind one of the parking cars and prayed to the gods that no one would see her.
“Lemon Zest?” Cadance asked with a somewhat confused look on her face. “What are you doing here so early, and why are you hiding behind a car? You know I saw you, right?”
Lemon bit her tongue, if she hadn’t wasted so much time with standing there like an idiot, this might not have happened, but what was done was done. With is a silent curse she stepped out from behind the car and awkwardly returned: “Hey, Principal Cadance, what a coincidence, I was just in the area.”
Cadance just raised an eyebrow and shook her head, but before she could say anything herself, Shining Armor interrupted her. “I assume this is one of your students? Did you had anything planned?” He asked, while a bit confused he seemed kind enough.
Cadance looked over to him and the back to Lemon before finally giving him an answer she tried to make as convincing as possible: “Yeah, she is one of our star students. She represented us in the Friendship Games as one of our Shadow Bolts, just like your sister.”
“Ah,” he coldly returned. “So she was one of the students that pushed her into becoming a monster?” Shing shoot a cold glare at Lemon, letting her stager back a bit.
“I… I’m so sorry about that,” she quickly shot back, lowering her head in shame. “We were far to keen on winning instead of worrying about her safety. That entire thing really was a wakeup call for us.”
“Shining, the girl-“ Cadance tried to intervene, but her boyfriend just continued.
“If that is the case, then ok. If you learned your lesson, there is no point of holding a grudge, and if I did one of my friends would be really disappointed. But still, if you ever endanger my sister ever again, you will regret it,” he returned with a low tone.
“Shining Armor! Would you stop threatening this poor girl! You should be ashamed of yourself!” Cadance finally stepped in, growling at her boyfriend. What was even worse than her hostile tone was the glare with which she stared at Shining Armor, a glare that probably could kill if that was possible and even if not she was not brave enough to find that one out.
The boyfriend in question took a step back himself, looking nervously at his girlfriend before hastily returning: “Uhm… Sorry, that was uncalled for. I’m sure you are a fine girl and that you are serious about the apology.” His apology felt very awkward, but that could be the general situation as well, Lemon thought. “Oh, damn it. I have to go,” Shining burst out as he took a look on his phone and stormed towards a black car and within seconds he was gone, leaving both Cadance and Lemon behind.
“I’m so sorry for what Shing Armor said, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. When it comes to his sister, he can just be very protective,” she calmly said while taking a few steps towards her. “So, now that we are alone, why are you here? And don’t even try that ‘just in the area’ thing, I work with teenagers for a living, I know when they are lying.” Cadance’s smile was surprisingly calming, putting her at ease, letting the worries that had built up just melt away.
“I… I had an argument with my parents, I think…” Lemon returned weakly, looking away from Cadance, unable to look her into the eyes.
“Oh, that is… Why don’t we go inside? Have a bit privacy if it’s something that personal,” Cadance said, putting her hand on Lemon’s shoulder, letting the girl snap her head back in shock. The warm smile of her Principal cut through her doubts, and the only thing she could do was nod in return.
The older woman carefully guided her towards the door and through the house and even though these only partially familiar halls with Cadance’s hand a constant presence was precisely what she needed right now, letting all her thoughts melt into the background, just like her music usually did.
“You liked hot chocolate, right?” She was snapped out of her little world after Cadance had sat her down and asked this simple question.
That was when it all folded back to her, why she was here, not as bad as before but still and with it came the worries. “Uh… You don’t have to. I don’t want anything, I’m fine,” she hastily returned, frantically waving her hands in front of her. Much to her dismay, her body wasn’t exactly agreeing with her on that topic as her stomach started to act up.
“Nonsense!” She got back from Cadance in a firm tone. “Like I said, I work with teenagers like yourself for a living, I know how you tick. And even if your body hadn’t betrayed you, it’s written right on your face Lemon. I have a little bit of food leftover from breakfast, so don’t worry about being an inconvenience,” she continued, already stepping towards the kitchen. When she returned, she held a few pancakes and a cup in her hand. “Now, what has you so worked up? You said you had an argument with your parents?”
“It’s…” She started only to stop again and stare at the floor.
“Wow, so bad? Ok, listen, just say it, I won’t laugh or think any less of you. I can see how much this bothers you. You are always so energetic and carefree, I don’t want to see you like this,” Cadance broke the silence, her smile just as sweet as before.
Lemon nodded in return before taking a deep breath and finally saying. “My parents asked me what I wanted to do when school is over,” she said, her eyes returning to the floor again.
“Oh? And what was your answer? Did they not like it?” Cadance asked, placing the pancakes and cup right in front of Lemon.
“No, I said I’ll figure something out like I always figured something out,” she weakly returned, almost expecting Cadance to berate her just like her parents did.
“Ah, now I see. I assume your parents said things along the line that time was of the essence and something similar?” She calmly returned, Lemon meanwhile taking a sip from the hot chocolate and even if it wasn’t the warmest anymore, it certainly felt rejuvenating.
“Yes, they also told me about my aunt. She couldn’t figure out what she wanted to be and now has forced herself into a job she doesn’t enjoy and is too comfortable in it to do anything about it.” She continued, tightening her grip on the handle of the cup.
“Well, I can understand where they are coming from in that regard if that is the case, but what about you? How do you feel about this?”
“I… I don’t know,” she stammered back, her head sinking even lower. “They looked so desperate, and I don’t want to see them like this…”
“I see, but that isn’t how you feel, right?” She said, much to Lemon’s surprise. She had expected another lecture, but instead, she got this question. “I understand where your parents are coming from and that they don’t want to see you without a job when school ends, but that all is rather fruitless if you force yourself into something you don’t want. They are just gonna dishearten you if you don’t find what you want all that fast and you could end up like your aunt. What is important here is how you feel about it. You have to figure out something to do, but that is something you can’t rush and have to come to terms with yourself,” she continued.
“Aww, isn’t that cute?” A new voice suddenly ripped through the warm atmosphere of the living room. Both Lemon and cadence immediately jumped up from their seats and stared towards the hallway where the voice had come from. Standing inside the large doorframe to the hall was a disgusting monstrosity of a Changeling. Her body was sleek and almost worm-like if one ignored the carapace that covered her. Her body was made out of a massive worm-like part that ended in a split tail. What was, however, more unsettling were what looked like dozens upon dozens of small leg-like things sticking off her. Her arms and legs were made out of similar shapes like its body, just slimmer and ending in long, twisted claws. Its golden chitin made way for a bug face with a twisted grin at the top of its body.
“I mean, seriously, how heartwarming. How you lay your hearth out and how she tries to help you, I could cry. No, really. You know, this is so touching, I think I want to help you! You won’t have to worry about finding a job when I’m done with you!” With no further warning, she let one of her arms rocket forward, right towards Lemon.
The girl just barely managed to jump out of the way in the last second, Cadance couch, however, wasn’t so lucky, being torn to shreds as its pieces were scattered across the entire room, thankfully missing the principal who was running towards the kitchen. While she was doing that.
While Lemon had jumped out of the way of the attack, she had simultaneously pulled out her own coin and activated her Morpher, so when she landed back on her feet, she wasted no time to transform. “Light up!”
[Re-Re-Red!]
[Shine Bright! Red!]
Just as the shadows around Lemon faded away the long arm of the Centapide Changeling was swung in her direction, smashing against her body before wrapping around it and pulling her closer with insane speed. “Hey! Let me go!” Lemon shouted back at as she struggled desperately to free herself from the grasp of the monster, all while ignoring the uncountable tiny legs that were scraping across her body.
Her attempts were however entirely fruitless as she was pulled past the Changeling and flung out of the still-open door, landing with a loud crash inside of a sports car on parking on the other side of the street. Even though she had worn her suit, getting thrown into the side of a car was something quite unpleasant. Her entire back felt incredibly sore, she was just happy that he hadn't broken anything important.
The Changeling meanwhile almost strolled out of the doors of the mansion with such smug superiority that the blow to her pride almost stung more than her actual injuries, almost. Lemon in the meantime was pushing herself off the dent in the car with a silent growl. She was just about to pull out another Coin when the Changeling suddenly dashed forward, right towards her with inhuman speed.
Lemon wanted to take a step back but only bumped into the car again and as she noticed that the monster was already upon her, slicing cross her chest and pushing the Ranger and the car further back onto the sidewalk. The weight of the arm was pushing more and more against her chest, threatening to crush her when Lemon finally managed to get the coin into her Morpher.
[Sw-Sw-Sword!]
The weapon materialized in a way that it cut through parts of the Changelings arm, forcing her to pull the massive thing back if she wanted to keep it. With a loud screech, she released Lemon who landed on her knees, gasping for air while the Changeling was cursing and holding her arm close to her chest.
With a loud scream, the Red Ranger dashed forward, ignoring the pain all over her body to turn this fight around, but the Changling wasn’t just gonna take this while cowering in fear, no she snapped her head around and shot a vicious glare of hatred towards the young Ranger. Without any further warning shot both her arms forward at rocket speed. Her arms extended forward like and the claws at their end slammed against the blade of Lemon’s sword she had pushed in front of her in the last possible second. For a few moments, it looked like she could withstand the force of the attack, but that was not something to last as she was forced off her feet and frown back onto the sidewalk with a pained grunt.
The Changeling advanced, a low chuckle on her lips. “And you made us so many problems? You only got lucky until now! But now that luck has run out. You will regret what you did to him!” The monster raised its arms, ready to strike down Lemon who was still crawling along the ground towards her sword.
[G-G-Gun!]
[G-G-Gun!]
[G-G-Gun!]
[G-G-Gun!]
It echoed through the street, letting the Changeling stop dead in her tracks and before she could actually look around where the noise had come from several bolts of energy shot towards her, letting the bug stager backward as sparks and smoke exploded off her.
“Is this now a regular thing that we need to save you, Red?” Sugar asked, jumping down from the house they had been standing on top of and landing right next to Lemon.
She just chuckled awkwardly as the blue Ranger reached out her hand to her. “You know, I could get used to that. Always having a backup sounds sweet!” Sugar just coked her head at her as she pulled the battered and beaten Ranger from the ground.
“Don’t get used to it!” Sour hissed before adding a simple and far softer: “Glad your ok, though.”
“Aww, thanks. And since you are here now, it’s time we get to beat up this creepy bug!” She chuckled as she picked up her own blade and stepping next to her friends who all readied their guns. They had a similar design like the sword, a futuristic gun with a star holding the two pieces together.
They were just ready to fire when the Changeling finally recovered from the barrage of bolts that had left her in a cloud of smoke. “You think that this changes things? Pah! I’ll kill you all just as easily if I just had you Red!” She growled, several smoking wounds still visible on her carapace. Each of the Rangers tightened the hold on their weapons, ready to act the moment things turned sour.
The Changeling let out a loud roar and dashed forward, or at least that was what she initially attempted with the Rangers unleashing another salve of fire on her when right in front of her green flames burst up from the ground, deflecting each and every shoot they had fired. The Centapied Changeling stopped dead in its tracks as she stared in horror at what had appeared in front of her.
When the flames parted, another Changeling stood in their way. He was muscular and had a purple carapace with two red horns, and in his hand, he held a long double-sided spear. “What is the meaning of this?” His voice boomed through the streets, carrying an unnerving weight to it, as he turned his back to the Rangers stared at the other Changeling. “I demand an answer!"