Saturday, October 17, 2015 / Early Morning
Today's Horoscope (Virgo): You may find yourself in a no-win situation today. It's important that you handle it with grace and maturity.

Breakfast turns into a small party, as Pinkie and Applejack work together to create a breakfast designed to give me maximum energy for the day ahead. Twilight and Fluttershy, meanwhile, are stuffing my sport bag with energy snacks, sports drinks, first-aid supplies, and sport tape.

After breakfast, I grab my bag and my racket. Twilight rushes up to me and kisses me. "Good luck," she says.

"Thanks." I leave for the bus to Hoofington.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 / Daytime

The bus ride to Hoofington is long. The mood on the bus is excited. Twilight and Pinkie are texting me constantly from Cadance's SUV.

When we arrive, the coach puts us through warm-up exercises. We head to the warm-up court for an hour of practice, then take a short lunch break before the matches begin.

The other team is good. Every member of our team plays hard, including me, but we're outclassed. I play singles against a guy who's probably been doing this since junior high school, and lose badly. At the end of the day, we've lost our first team tennis meet by two points.

As we're cooling down, the coach comes up to us. She's obviously disappointed. "Okay, guys. Shake it off. First match of the season, someone has to win, someone has to lose. One loss isn't the end of the season, but we know what we need to work on. We'll focus on our problem areas. Everyone who won their matches today, good job, but don't slack off. Everyone who lost..." She gets a particularly evil look on her face. "Look forward to Wednesday."

Crap.

Twilight and the others are all waiting when I come out of the locker room. The coach notices them and her brow furrows.

"Don't mind us, we're Flash's cheering section," Cadance says. "Or support squad, I suppose."

The coach shakes her head. "Good grief."

Some of my teammates have their own opinions.

"Dammit, Flash! You're hogging ALL the cute girls!"

"You are one lucky dude."

Twilight flushes. Rarity giggles. Fluttershy ducks her head behind her hair. Rainbow just grins cheekily. Applejack shakes her head, smirking.

I end up going back to Canterlot with the girls, to the hoots and lurid suggestions of my teammates and the coach's obvious irritation.

"So, uhh...sorry you didn't win, dude," Rainbow says. "Don't let it get to you. It happens."

"I think you did very well," Rarity says.

"You'll get 'em next time," Applejack says.

We stop for dinner on the way back to the dorm and have a great time together as a group.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 / Evening

I'm utterly exhausted from today, so as soon as we get back to the dorm, I head up to my room to rest. Pinkie's already back; I can hear the others talking to her about the day's matches as I head for the stairs.

I can't quite get to sleep, so I'm just lying in bed thinking and relaxing. I've been home for an hour when there's a knock on my door. Cadance peeks in. "Hey," she says.

"Hey."

Something's a little off about her. Her cheeks are flushed. She sits on the edge of my bed. "Tired?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"I enjoyed watching you play today," Cadance says. "Reminds me of when me and Shiny were in high school." She giggles. "Of course, he wasn't on any sports teams. So I guess it doesn't really." She wriggles around a bit and puts her hand on my knee. "You know...if I were younger, I'd be so jealous of Twilight." She grabs my hand and starts caressing it.

"Uhh..."

She shifts around and leans over me. Her top is very loose, and she isn't wearing a bra. Her hair frames her face like a curtain. "It'd be so easy to steal you from her, too. Every straight guy in CHS wants me." She giggles and leans very close, close enough that I can feel the heat of her breath on my face.

She's drunk.

"All I'd have to do...is this." Before I can protest, Cadance has pressed her lips against mine. My brain has completely frozen up. I know she's drunk and not in her right mind, but I feel like I'm trapped by my own panic.

And, admittedly, hormones. I mean, I'm being kissed by a gorgeous, sexy woman...

A married woman. Who's my girlfriend's sister-in-law. And drunk.

We're already well into the tongue part of the kiss by the time I come to my senses enough to push her away. "You're drunk."

She giggles. "I had a glass of wine when I got home, yeah..."

"You should...uh...you should...your room..." My brain is still short-circuiting.

"I'm good here," she says. She leans close and whispers in my ear, "You're way better than Shiny."

Her hand is somewhere it really shouldn't be.

I'm not really sure what to do anymore.

"Cadance..."

"Just..." She starts crying. "I need this. I need this so much."

An hour later, Cadance is asleep. I spend the rest of the night in our "secret headquarters" down the hall.

I don't think I'm going to be able to look Twilight in the eye tomorrow. Or possibly ever again...

Author's Notes:

Social Link Status:

0. FOOL (Zodiac Investigation Team): rank 2
I. MAGICIAN (Twilight Sparkle): rank 6
IV. EMPEROR (Coach Shining Armor): rank 3
VI. LOVERS (Nurse Cadance): rank 5 (Rank UP!)
VII. CHARIOT (Rainbow Dash): rank 4
IX. HERMIT (Coco Pommel): rank 6
XV. DEVIL (Juan the Janitor): rank 2
XVII. STAR (Pinkie Pie): rank 5
XVIII. MOON (Trixie Lulamoon): rank 5
XIX. SUN (Vinyl Scratch): rank 3