“Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Listen up!” Coach Force barked. “As you all know, the Friendship Games against Canterlot High are in roughly two months, and that means we have to pick the best of the best this school has to offer!”

Twilight shrank in on herself, trying to stay fairly invisible at the back of the crowd of students. She had no desire to even go to the Friendship Games—it was not like she could even enjoy spending time with Sunset, since no one at either school knew they were friends...and it was very likely that none of their classmates would handle that well, not with how aggressive their schools’ rivalry could be.

The gym coach grinned. “That means today, we’re doing fitness tests so I can start to narrow down which of you will be on our team! Here’s how we’re going to handle this...”

As if the day could not get any more stressful for Twilight, now she had to participate with her best effort. Even if it was only a fitness test, it was still a test, and Twilight Sparkle could never give less than her best on any kind of test. The coach wasn’t cruel, but he expected the students to try, so even if she did poorly (and she usually did), he respected her attempt and would still give her a decent grade.

While the coach detailed the tests and how they were being divided up, Twilight found herself falling into the stretches that Sunset always did with her before their lessons. “Gotta loosen your muscles up first, Sparky, or you’ll risk hurting yourself. Any time you do exercise, stretch first and cool down after. Trust me,” Sunset had told her in the beginning, drilled into her until the stretching was automatic, unconscious. It felt good to do right then, the tug and pull on her muscles coaxing some of the tension out of them.

The added stamina from their weekly sessions and the light exercise regimen her girlfriend insisted on as part of it was certainly not something Twilight would complain about either, not when the girls were instructed to start the test with a mile run while the boys did things like push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. She settled for a light jog, the same pace she and Sunset sometimes used when they took Spike out to the little nearby dog park, a pace she knew she could keep up without ending up too sweaty and out of breath.

Absorbed in her own thoughts and memories that made her smile softly, Twilight was surprised when she reached the end of her run. Instead of being dead last—or close to it—she had actually finished ahead of a portion of her classmates. It wasn’t a performance for the record books, by any means, but “middle of the group” was a far cry from “the nerd everyone was waiting on to finish.” Coach Force eyed her speculatively, before favoring her with a respectful nod and a smile. “That’s what I like to see, Sparkle!” he boomed. “I don’t expect miracles, but it’s nice to see you brainy types keeping up with your health! Good job!”

She could feel the eyes on her as his voice carried through the gym. “...thank you, sir,” she offered quietly, hoping he’d send her over to the next test without any more attention.

“Go join the rest of the girls for the other tests,” he instructed, before turning his attention to some of the boys who were goofing off. “Knock it off, you three! Starburst, Tumble, if you have enough energy to cause problems you’ve got the energy to give me a mile run! Get to it!”

Taking the chance, Twilight crept over to the other girls, who were doing flexibility and agility tests, cringing internally at the nasty look Suri sent her way before engaging in a whispered conversation with Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare. From the glances being sent her way, she knew that it was about her, and that it was decidedly unpleasant. Probably their next malicious prank, if she had to guess, and she resolved to be extra alert for a while. With that in mind, she positioned herself as far from them as possible, in a spot where it would be difficult to sneak up without her noticing, before beginning the second part of the fitness test.

Like the running, Twilight was surprised to find her skills had measurably improved since the test at the beginning of the year, and while she was still sweaty and overheated from exertion, she finished each of the exercises with a decent score and without feeling like she was about to collapse from utter exhaustion. It felt...strangely satisfying to finish a round of sit-ups with out a sensation like a mule had kicked her in the stomach, and while the attention it drew her way was distinctly uncomfortable, having Coach Force comment positively on her form for push-ups made her pleased enough that she couldn’t wait to call Sunset later and tell her about it.

Class finished out with the coach addressing them all again. “Good hustle today, all of you! I liked what I saw, and some of you even managed to surprise me! Those public school kids don’t stand a chance at the Games if you continue to perform like this! I’ll be submitting my recommendations to the Principal for the teams next week, but never forget that this is a school effort! That means whether you’re on the team or not, you’ll all be training hard for the next two months, so come prepared next week to work up a real sweat!” There was a long pause as he let that sink in. “Now get out of here and go shower!”

Shower. The word sank into Twilight’s stomach like a lead weight. She sniffed her shirt, and realized that she reeked of sweat—she couldn’t go to her meeting smelling like this. That meant a shower. In the locker room. Surrounded by other girls, and more nudity than she felt it wise to think about. The teen forced herself to take several deep breaths, trying to remember what Cadence had said when she had talked to her about the subject: that it was her anxiety making things seem a lot worse than it really was, and she just needed to breathe and try to relax.

Twilight let the bulk of the girls go on ahead of her, focusing on calming down, working out a ‘plan of attack’ to minimize her own embarrassment and awkwardness, and expedite the things she needed to accomplish in the locker room. Her nerves as settled as they would get, she headed in, keeping her eyes from zeroing in on anything in particular. The first stop was her gym locker, where she kept a towel and some toiletries for the days she had no choice but to shower. Running her plan through her head, she stripped quickly, storing her uniform with her regular clothes and making sure the lock was secured—a lesson she’d learned the hard way in freshman year, when someone had stolen her clothes while she was in the shower.

Steam greeted her from the shower area, a long, open area with a few dozen showerheads on each wall. Twilight felt herself flush as she caught sight of many of her classmates under the hot spray. She found an unoccupied showerhead to turn on, fixing her eyes firmly on the ugly brown tile wall. Cleaning was mechanical and rote, as she fought against both her rising anxiety and the memory of a nearly nude Sunset Shimmer. The last thing she wanted to do was get all flustered and worked up in a public shower space surrounded by people she didn’t trust.

It reminded her of the way Sunset had once complained about how much she also hated showering after gym. They’d been talking a little bit about school, Sunset finally opening up about her life at Canterlot High.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset blew a bit of hair out of her eyes as she reclined on the couch in the loft, Twilight stretched out on top of her, nuzzling into her collarbone. “It’s not that I care about nudity much—bodies are bodies, and don’t do anything for me...but after gym? I hate the locker room because of the smell. Humans stink horribly when they get all sweaty, and when you combine those stinks with gangly limbs and weird patches of hair in places that seem to exist solely to trap bodily odors, I want nothing to do with any of it. When I have to shower, I just try to not breathe too deep and think about anything else, and get it over with as quickly as possible.”

Twilight nuzzled into her girlfriend’s neck. “I...never thought about the smell, but you’re right...people do smell bad when they’re all hot and sweaty.” She paused thoughtfully as something occurred to her. “That’s why you always suggest showering after my self defense lesson, isn’t it?”

The redhead gave her a lopsided smile. “Pretty much—I can’t even stand the smell of myself when I get all sweaty and gross like that.”

She bit her lip. “I’ll try to remember that from now on.”

That earned her a kiss, and the squeeze of amber skinned arms around her. “You aren’t so bad, believe it or not. You don’t stink as bad as my friend Rainbow does after practice—sometimes I can’t decide what to invest in more: nose plugs or a high pressure water hose. In fact most of the time, it’s barely noticeable unless I’ve run you into the ground.” Blue-green eyes danced playfully. “You know, like that first weekend, when you melted onto the sofa until I tempted you with food and engineering.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Yo! Sparkle!”

Twilight was jerked roughly from her thoughts by a voice at full volume yelling just a short distance from her ear just as she was cutting off the water. She twisted around, finding herself face to face with one of the school sports stars, Indigo Zap.

Indigo grinned broadly at her. “Never thought I’d see the day when you could keep up with anyone! What got you off your dorky butt enough to exercise?” Honey colored eyes raked over Twilight, making her feel uncomfortably exposed and on display.

The dark haired girl hastily grabbed for her towel to wrap it around her body, providing some measure of separation between her and the girls now looking her way. “I...what?” she asked, confused.

Stepping way too far into her space, Indigo jabbed a finger at her arm, then her stomach. “This, Sparkle! You used to have stick thin nerd arms, but this looks like actual muscle tone...” Running her fingers through her short blue hair, the athlete circled Twilight like a predatory animal. “You’re getting yourself into shape, and I was just wondering what cau—”

When Indigo Zap stopped mid-word, Twilight swallowed, her nervousness ratcheting up a few notches. “I...um...I’ve just been walking my dog more,” she mumbled.

“No. Way.” Indigo was staring at her in openmouthed disbelief, and she squinted at Twilight’s chest. “No. Fucking. Way.”

Twilight cringed back, trying to decide if she could make a break for her locker and thus, her clothing, but there was a bit of a crowd now gathering to see what Indigo was being so loud about, the showers white noise being drowned out by the whispering of the girls.

“Is that a fucking hickey?! Holy shit, Sparkle! Are you getting laid?” Indigo’s grin got even bigger.

The words also set the proverbial cat loose amongst the pigeons, as every pair of eyes in the immediate vicinity zeroed in on Twilight and the spot on her collarbone that Zap was pointing at. Even her own eyes were drawn downwards, and she spotted what the other girl was talking about.

It was, in fact, a mark that could be classified as a hickey, a few inches from the hollow of her throat, in one of the spots Sunset had been nibbling on a few days prior. It wasn’t very big or dark, looking more like a smudge of dirt or a faint shadow on lavender skin than anything, but it’s shape and placement meant it was unlikely to have been caused by anything other than another human being.

Twilight found refuge in one of the many odd alcoves that existed around Crystal Prep, sinking against the wall to take weight off of legs that were trembling too much to support her anymore. She was suddenly thankful for the old building and its nonsensical architecture that normally drove her nuts, with its strange alcoves and short corridors that went nowhere, irregular door placement and what had to be oodles of wasted space in the walls. In this moment, she ignored all that, because those maddening quirks provided her with a semi-private spot to bring herself back under some semblance of control after the complete...

Her mind struggled to find words that adequately described what had occurred in the locker room, but fell short, and she found herself borrowing one of Shining’s terms instead. The events in the locker room had become completely FUBAR’ed, blindsiding her with something she couldn’t stop, not once the words were out of Indigo Zap’s mouth.

It wasn’t just the acrid taste of the half dissolved anxiety tablet that left her mouth full of bitterness and ash, but the way the announcement had sent tongues wagging and caused girls she didn’t even remember the names of to bombard her with deeply personal questions about her now suspected love life. Her stomach churned and twisted back in on itself, and every breath was a struggle as she desperately tried to use one of the calming exercises her therapist had taught her in order to bring her racing heart rate under control before she passed out.

“Safe place, Twilight,” she mumbled under her breath, repeating the instructions Dr. Soft-Spoken had given her. “Picture a safe place and put yourself there in your mind...” Saying the words aloud gave her enough of something to focus on to be able to start following them. She needed to build a mental image of the safest place she could think of...

Red and gold hair paired with smooth, warm amber skin immediately came to mind, the vision of Sunset Shimmer reclining on Twilight’s pillows with her arms held open in invitation for her girlfriend to curl up against her something that dominated the backdrop of her bedroom. A twitch and her focus fell away from even bothering with the room, fixated instead on the way her mind would always manage to slow and calm as Sunset held her, when she nuzzled her nose into Twilight’s hair or breathed sweet affection in her ear...something about it made Twilight feel as though nothing and no one, no matter how powerful, could ever hurt her when she was wrapped up tight in the world that existed just for the two of them.

It was a vivid image, one that somehow managed to draw in her other senses...warm breath tickling her ear with every word, fingers and palms that rubbed up and down her back, or down her shoulders and arms, making her skin tingle pleasantly from the contact... The tight band around her chest let go at last, letting her inhale fully, and bringing with it the way Sunset smelled, a fresh, clean scent that reminded her of a summer afternoon touched lightly by shampoo and body wash, purging the cloying, perfume-over-human-funk stench that always pervaded the locker room and its showers.

Fingers flexed, releasing their stranglehold on her own arms and tingling as the circulation in them returned to normal. Without really thinking, she visualized them running through tresses of curling fire, over and over in a gesture that was mutual pleasure, until the words being half sung in her ear transformed into soft, throaty sounds of encouragement that made Twilight feel warm inside.

She wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed before she brought herself back to the present, though logically it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Her uniform still felt cold and clammy from the moisture it had absorbed when she threw it on in a rush over still damp skin, in too much of a hurry to flee the speculative stares and inappropriate questions to fully dry off—had it been that long, it would have warmed to her body temperature and begun to dry. Twilight opened her eyes, reluctant to let go of the serene comfort of Sunset’s arms for the dimly lit alcove in an unforgiving school.

Only to find herself facing a sight that made the top of the list of the top five things she didn’t want to see tight at that moment: Indigo Zap, standing before her, watching her intently. Indignation colder than a winter storm swept through her, purple eyes glaring balefully over the top of her glasses at the athletic student.

“Hey, Sparkle,” Indigo started, only for Twilight to cut her off sharply.

“What? Once wasn’t enough for you today?” she hissed, the bitterness that still sat heavy on her tongue filling her words. “Felt like trying another round of ‘humiliate the nerd?’ Don’t you have something better to do with your time, like mindlessly kicking a ball at other people?” The words were out before she realized what she had said, and she was torn between the same heady thrill that she’d felt when she’d put Silver Dollar in his place and a gnawing sense of unease and guilt when Indigo recoiled like she’d been slapped, her mouth working soundlessly for a moment.

It was only the sense that backing down now would worsen her situation kept her from babbling the apology that hovered on her lips, especially when Indigo’s honey colored eyes turned confused and her demeanor reminded Twilight of a scolded puppy.

“Gonna say I...” The girl rubbed the back of her neck, clearing her throat and correcting her speech to erase the hint of an accent that leaked through. It reminded Twilight of the unpleasant rumors that had circulated the year before about Indigo’s family background “...I deserved that,” she finished, looking down at her shoes briefly. Then she squared her shoulders, and brought her eyes back up to meet Twilight’s. “Didn’t mean to set all that off, Sparkle, not like that. Just saw you in class, ya know? And maybe you didn’t do as many push-ups or sit-ups as some of us, or finish the mile at the head of the class, but...”. Zap shrugged. “Your form was spot on. Perfect, and I figured maybe you got a personal trainer like I did, someone getting you in shape.”

Twilight blinked, unsure of how to reply. “...oh...” was all that she managed, but it was enough for her classmate to continue.

“And you are getting in shape—that’s why I was saying something, because damn, you’ve definitely put on something and it isn’t flab. You’ve got muscle tone you didn’t have at the beginning of the year, enough that I was gonna ask who you were working with, what your secret was. That’s all, I swear. The...uh...hickey...just caught me by surprise.”

Folding her arms across her chest defensively, Twilight gave Indigo a flat stare that Sunset would have been proud of. “...if that was all you wanted to do, why didn’t you do it privately instead of making a scene?” she asked, not really expecting a real answer. After an awkward pause where the athletic girl looked more than a little sheepish, Twilight let out a sigh that barely scratched the surface of her rapidly rising frustration. “Look, it’s fine,” she stressed, even though it really wasn’t. Before the week was out there’d be a rumor (or several) about who she was having nonexistent sex with, and she really didn’t want to deal with that or anything related to it. It wouldn’t take much sleuthing to find out how she spent her free time—the only males that were involved in her life were her father and brother.

“...if you’re sure...” Indigo rubbed the back of her neck again. “Look…fair warning, but you might wanna steer clear of Suri and her group for a while.”

Purple eyes blinked. What had she somehow done to offend Suri this time? The girl talking to her caught the look, and tried to explain. “She’s not happy with your new look, ya know? And when she started making comments after you left, Rose Bubble thought it would be a great idea to ask why it even mattered if you cleaned up and turned out to be hot enough to snag a boyfriend.”

Twilight cringed for a great many reasons. “She didn't.”

“...yeah, she super did, Sparkle, I swear. And then she put her other foot in it, by telling Suri real loudly that with the way she was acting, people might start thinking you went and stole Suri’s boyfriend from her.” Indigo’s brows furrowed, and she gave Twilight a long look. “You didn’t, right? Hook up with Suri’s guy? Cuz that would be suicidal, Sparkle.”

She snorted loudly. “I can promise you and everyone else that I’m not ‘hooking up’ with anyone or anything that’s been with Suri first.” The words dripped sarcasm, and she scowled. “I don’t even know why she has it out for me in the first place.”

That made Indigo laugh. “Yeah, I didn’t think so, Sparkle, given that you’re kinda a brainiac....but hey, it wouldn’t be the first time a crush made a girl stupid.”

Sheer force of will kept her from reacting, from letting her thoughts flit back to Sunset, and she managed to keep her tone level, if a bit curt. “I like to think I remain in control of my faculties, no matter what I might be doing.” Inwardly, she acknowledged how untrue that was when she got so easily lost in the moment with her girlfriend.

“Wouldn't expect anything less of the smartest girl in school,” Indigo responded, grinning broadly. “Keep it that way so we can win the Games, alright? We need your brain to put those Canterlot nobodies in their place.”

Twilight didn't want to dwell on the impending competition between her school and Sunset’s—given half a chance, she fully intended on being conveniently too busy to consider going. She wasn’t sure if she could handle being that close to her fiery haired paramour and having to pretend they were total strangers. “I have no intention of letting myself become complacent in intellectual endeavors...now...if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with Principal Cinch I cannot be late for.” Her eyes flicked to a nearby clock, realizing she was cutting it close.

The athlete nodded, backing down. “Good luck with that...and sorry again. You’re not half bad, Sparkle, when you get talking. See ya ‘round!” With a final wave, she sprinted off down the hall, leaving Twilight to hurry to her meeting.

Twilight's day is just going swimmingly, isn't it?

I'd be more witty, but I'm sick as a dog right now, and barely able to remain vertical. So enjoy this week's chapter, and if you haven't checked out the holiday short, you should! :}