Monday. The most important day of the school year. The day that would decide which school would get the title of Best Team Spirit.

The day Dash dreaded more than anything this time.

She wished she could just stay in bed and pretend that today just didn't exist.

Too bad that she was the team captain and that wasn't an option for her. Reluctantly she got out of bed and got dressed.

* * *

On the field the teams were already doing stretches and warming up. Both schools were there to watch. With both all teachers and students (cuz they got soooo many students .-.) in the audience seats.

Sunset Shimmer was keeping her eyes open for any suspicion. All she could see now is the weird smirk on the two girls' faces from Crystal Prep. The other team members seemed just as confused as herself.

The main six who weren't playing were in the first row below and they had a pretty good view on each player.

And Sunset was torn between having an eye on her friend, and the CPA girls.

From what she could tell so far, their team captain was the green girl that was bullying Dash with her friend. Maybe even girlfriend, she dared to think. Watching those two interact was hinting to that pretty much.

"Ooooh I'm so excited!!! I can't wait for the games to staaaaaart!!!" Pinkie said, jumping up and down in her seat.

"I'm pretty sure we all are." Sunset said. And I'm also pretty sure that Dash just wants it to be over with, she thought.

And oh how right she was with that.

* * *

While doing their stretches, the CHS team was also going through with their strategy again.

"Soarin and Thunderlane are protecting the goal. Fleetfoot, you gotta be the back, make sure the others can't steal the ball. Spitfire, you're the best with ball control so I need you to get it, go with it to me and pass it over so I can make the goals. Any questions?"

"Yeah. What do we do when one of us is down?" Soarin asked, surprising Rainbow.

"Why?"

"Well we all know how they play. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of us is gonna be out." He said with a shrug.

"Well we still got Flitter and Cloudchaser on the bench so it's not like we're gonna be down on players. We'll just have to make sure that everyone has the position in the team that works for them." Dash explained.

"Aye Aye, captain." Thunderlane half joked.

"Is the Canterlot High team ready?" Their coach asked as she came over.

"Ready." Dash said with a nod.

"Alright. Crystal Prep is also ready. We're gonna start the games now." She said. Everyone nodded and got to their positions.

Dean Cadence made the entrance speech. "Welcome Crystal Prep Academy and Canterlot High School to the game for the title Best Team Spirit of this year! As every year we expect a fair game with play time of 45 minutes. As always we wish you a lot of fun at both playing and watching.

Now, it is a pleasure to say: Let The Game Begin!!!"

With that the coach blew her whistle and not even a second later the girls were fighting for the ball.

It didn't take long before Fleetfoot got the ball and passed it over to Spitfire. To her dismay, Gilda was quick with her feet and got the ball back and passed it over to Lightning Dust, who shot towards the goal.

Soarin was quicker than her and caught it, shooting it back with as much force as possible.
It landed before Dash, who managed to stop the ball and aimed. And in a matter of seconds the ball practically flew from her feet into the net.

"AND THE FIRST GOAL GOES TO CANTERLOT HIGH!!!"

The CHS students went wild.

The team shared a high five round.

Lightning Dust and Gilda both boiled with anger.

"Time for plan B." Gilda said to her and secretly grabbed a cigarette and lit it. It hadn't been going fast enough for her liking, so she decided to help a bit...

Lightning Dust smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. Gilda gave it over to Lightning Dust, since she was the ball keeper in the team and would follow Dash around everywhere.

"Show time."

* * *

"Spitfire!" Fleetfoot called over the field to get her team mate's attention before passing the ball over to her.

Spitfire quickly accepted it and started running. Lightning Dust grinned. She had the cigarette hidden in the sweat band around her wrist with the lit end covered by her hand. She had to be careful that only Dash would inhale the smoke and no one else notice it. She managed to trap some of the smoke in her hand and tackled Dash from behind, opening her hand right over her face.

Everything after that seemed to go by in slow motion.

Dash crumbling to the ground and coughing, Spitfire losing control over the ball as she was focusing on her team captain, Lightning Dust laughing evilly, the students gasping in shock.

Everything went silent except for Sunset's frantic yell and her running to the dressing room to search for the inhaler. In her frantic search through the bag she soon realized one very bad thing.

It wasn't there.

She knew the spot where Dash always put it by now. She even searched the other pockets.

Realization drawned upon her. What happened out there was not a coincidence or bad timing with wrong move incident.

It was on purpose.

Sunset quickly ran out again and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!!!!!"

The game had stopped. All players were now surrounding the fallen girl while paramedics rushed over to her.

To the CHS team it felt all too familiar. It was like a deja vu. Most likely because it was. With different circumstances but still the same situation.

"Damn somebody check that girl's water intake. Seriously..." Soarin muttered.

Spitfire glared at him and elbowed him in the chest. "It wasn't her fault! That girl did something to her, I saw it!"

"What do you mean? Are you saying they sabotaged to win?" Fleetfoot asked in shock.

"Well, we all know that that school is not playing fair. Never." Thunderlane said with his arms crossed over his chest and shaking his head.

The sirens of the ambulance cut their conversation short. The paramedics put an oxygen mask over her face and quickly put her onto a stretcher. Then they connected her to a heart monitor and an IV.

Everyone stared in shock. Some had tears in their eyes. The teachers were trying to calm everyone down.

The worst part was that they had to continue the game. The coach called in Cloudchaser to play for Dash once everyone was calmed down. They agreed for an half hour break though.

Sunset and her friends met at the ambulance transporter.

"What happened?!"

"What's going on?!"

"Is she alright??"

"What's happening?!"

"Sunset!"

The last voice brought her back to reality.

"Sorry.. it's just... this is the second time this happened.." Sunset confessed with a broken voice as her eyes started watering.

"What's the matter?" Applejack asked her deeply concerned.

"I gotta tell you guys something. But let us get to the hospital first..."

Author's Note

Well, shit is happening now.

I want to add that I have no idea how cigarettes actually work but since this is a magical world, screw it. It's magic. They are different. Deal with it. XD

What do you think, is it a good idea for Sunset to spill the beans already? While Dash is unconscious?

And sorry for my lack of knowledge at soccer. I rarely ever watched it and in sports I was the one who got hit with ball everywhere all the time -.-' yes I was bullied in school, so I'm not surprised but it still sucks.