//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Paths Less Travelled 
// by Botched Lobotomy 
//------------------------------//


{Okay, tell me again. What did the Oracle say, word for word?}

You’re at another party, now. Only, here you aren’t hidden in a cupboard hanging from each other’s faces, cheating secretly on Shining Armour—you’re sitting outside in the cool approaching dark of sunset, Vinyl leaning on your shoulder, cheating on him openly. No, that isn’t right. As much as you don’t want to see it, as much as it feels wrong, you’re pretty sure that here you never got together with your husband. And that is distressing, that is wrong, but in the here and now (or then...or when?) of sunset, Vinyl fits you warm and sweet, and if anypony can sense when love is genuine, it should be you, even when you don’t want to see it. How did this happen? You’re far from either of your recollections, now.
Enough. Focus. Destiny is trying to tell you something, time to work out what it is.
{Word for word?}

{Everything that they told you.}

{There wasn’t all that much, actually. It was really very simple. Listen:}
{Your-partner-made-shall-crystal-clear-see-you;
A-unicorn-of-fur-fair-white-and-mane-sky-blue}

{Huh, that is pretty simple.}

{Right? I thought so, too! And I already had a crush on Shining Armour, and there wasn’t anypony else around that it could be...}

{...You know where this is going, right?}

Silence, at that. Vinyl’s breath is warm upon your shoulder, nuzzling up to peer at you. That gaze so full, unquestioning, and happy. “I really like you, Cadance,” she whispers, pressing up her cheek to yours. You feel her warmth upon your swallow.
“Yeah,” you find yourself saying, “I’m pretty sure I like you, too.”
“I really really like you,” she says. Her lips are strange against your own, so unlike Shining Armour’s, but in the kiss is love the same, as wilful, potent, just as fierce. She pulls back, unsatisfied. Kisses you again. Leans in a third time, mouth against your own, and murmurs, “I love you,” as if it’s meant to be a challenge. There’s nothing easier in all the world than to take her up on it: you meet her without hesitation.
“I love you, too,” you tell her, and together you lie back to watch the sunset.