Their trip to the Ponyville Day Spa had been, as always, exhaustive- Which was not to say exhausting. Twilight was very refreshed, and it was clear both Rarity and Fluttershy felt the same. And after a battery of baths, a cavalcade of care, and layer upon layer of luxury, Twilight and her friends finally reached the baths. It had become a bit of a tradition between them that this was 'gossip time', since they had most of an hour (if not more) free from any excessive attention from Aloe or Lotus. The privacy, combined with the extreme relaxation and the wafting steam, made it very easy for Twilight to cut loose. She didn't feel nearly as nervous now, considering the things she had done with Rarity, and, well... Fluttershy being Fluttershy. After all, her pegasus friend was in the exact same boat as her, having done amazing things with one of the Celestial Diarchs over the past few days. And now they would share their stories...

"I'm all ears now, darling."

...Whether they liked it or not. Twilight quickly struggled to think of a way to delay her retelling and settled on the only obvious option.
"Hey Fluttershy! Why don't, uh... you go first?"

"Oh I would love to Twilight, but Rarity was involved in so much of my weekend, and neither of us had anything to do with yours, so I think you should start."
Twilight could almost swear she saw a devious glint in Fluttershy's eyes, but... No. She was just being paranoid again. Right?
"We could even trade back and forth... If you want to, that is."

She took her salvation where she could find it.
"That sounds great! Yeah. Trading. So... I start."

A few moments of silence ticked down. Rarity looked at her with thinly-veiled impatience.
"Do you now, darling?"

"Aheh! Yeah. Just let me... OK, yes. So it all started..."

--------

Fluttershy was a lot more curious than she wanted to let on. Twilight's weekend had been spent, after all, in Canterlot, not silly (but wonderful) old Ponyville. Just the trip itself would be enough to pique her interest, but the events with Celestia added onto that? Now she wanted to know, and quickly. Sure, maybe it hadn't been the nicest thing of her to goad Twilight into going first, but she really did mean it. They could trade off! Admittedly, she might make her turns very tiny... No. She'd do what was fair. Even if it made her very nervous, and more than a little warm. And part of being fair, in the circumstances, was listening- So she stopped overthinking and let Twilight tell her story.

"Alright, so, I left Ponyville and went to the waystation... It's not a terribly long trip, but I wanted to take a flight carriage so I had more time... With her, you know?"

"Well, naturally- I know how it feels, when you only have a limited chance to be with your lover."

"Hey! It's not as if me and her were already... that is to say, I was just being hopeful. And that hopefulness actually turned out to be appropriate, because I met somepony who was willing to help..."

Fluttershy perked her ears up at this. She had gotten some rather wonderful help from Pinkie and Rarity herself, and it turns out Twilight had somepony helping her as well? Maybe it was a sign that their relationships were fated to succeed in some way. And now her curiosity was getting even stronger.
"Really? Was it anypony we know?"

Twilight chuckled behind her hoof.
"Well, I'd certainly say so... You're apparently dating her, after all!"

She hid her shock behind a half-hearted attempt to reach for a loofah. W-what!?
"I-It was Luna?"

Twilight nodded, leaning back in the tub and reminiscing.
"Yup. She was on her way here- To see you. And she gave me some important advice... More like she asked a favor of me... It was complicated. But it ended up being a lot like advice. I guess I'll explain it when I get there, if it's... relevant."

Clearly she didn't see the confused expressions Fluttershy and Rarity were shooting her, and one another, because she kept going.
"So I made it into Canterlot, no issues, and Celestia was waiting for me, and oh girls it was just perfect."

Rarity leaned forward, eyes bright.
"Was it romantic?"

"Mmhmm."

Fluttershy found herself surprised again- Had it been a mutual confession, like in the romance novels which she certainly never borrowed from Rarity?
"Was it... intimate?"

"Oh yes."

"Well tell us darling!"

Twilight took a deep breath.
"Stroud's Dimensional Codex and Planar Guide."
They both deadpanned at her. She looked around in confusion.
"What? Well, I mean, it wasn't intended as romantic, but it was certainly very private, very close study, and we..."

At that point Twilight couldn't keep a straight face any longer, and burst out laughing.
"Oh you two. It's not like we just suddenly met and then did it or anything. Our weekend started out with a lovely study session over some very complex magic theory. It's not like your weekend started out absurdly fast or anything, right Fluttershy?"

She didn't say a word. Instead, she opted to hide behind her bangs. Twilight stared.
"Right, Fluttershy?"

"I, um... Guess that makes it my turn."

--------

On the tennis courts of Ponyville, there was currently a drag-out bare-hoof brawl. Two mares were fighting fast and brutal, attack after attack coming without cessation. Neither the pegasus nor the earth pony showed any sign of stopping, and the staff didn't plan on stepping in any time soon (even if they could have seen inside the walls of the enclosed private court, which they could not). After all, those two had the space rented out for another hour and a half, and this much violence was about average for them.

Hoof slammed into hoof, both of them moving faster than normal. Well, not Dash- She was moving faster than she did on a bad day, and even then that was only relative to being on the ground. ...Not that she could have told you she was on the ground right now- a fight like this always made her feel like she was flying. But instead of her wings, it was her legs lashing out and shaping the air, blow after blow. It also made her thoughts erratic, too busy concentrating on the interplay of the fight. And despite all this, despite her speed, she hit a solid block every time, no sweet impact of hoof on barrel, or even a decent leg shot. No matter how often she and AJ sparred, the winner didn't really come down to blows. Both of them had long ago learned how to block the other without any real consequence, so eventually, the fight came down to what it always did...

A tail wrapped around her rear leg and Applejack tried to slam her down to the ground. Calm, relax, exhale on purpose- Don't let her knock your wind out, just take the hit. The impact was softened, and Dash had enough composure to flip forward and pin Applejack. In the end, her position on the floor just gave her more leverage. Then they started wrestling in earnest, joints locking and teeth digging into manes and tails- Never too hard, just enough to get an angle and apply a little genuine pressure. Their fights got rough, yeah, but she wouldn't have it any other way- Applejack and her (awesome) self were too competitive for some soft-hoof tail-flicking sissy fight.

Another turnabout, and another, as they struggled on the open expanse of the tennis court. Ponies seeing the two of them rent a court to fight was normal by now- The only other good place in town to have a good fight had been closed for a while. Something about her little ‘karate training’ session with Applebloom causing too much property damage... Ah well. Distracted as she was by the train of thought, Dash ended up on her back again, hind legs spread around the other pony. One quick flex and she was pulling Applejack down with her. There was no way she was going to let this one end in another draw- Not after that mutual verbal beatdown earlier. So she leaned up, swung her muzzle to the side, and then dragged her teeth hard down the side of Applejack's neck. With any luck, that would get her to ease up out of shock and Dash could...

"Ow! Consarnit, rake, rake!"

Or maybe she would stop fighting, out of sheer confusion, pulling away from a suddenly-blushing Applejack. Dash had a little idea of why Applejack just randomly said that, but couldn't quite believe her ears. So she fell backwards and looked over at her sparring partner.
"And, uh, what was that all about?"

Applejack's face scrunched up in the closest thing she had to a poker face, which was to say, a "blatantly-trying-to-fib" face.
"Just... um... something me and Rarity use. Kinda like sayin' 'uncle' when you're gettin' whupped..."

Dash put two and two together about as fast as she did everything.
"...Yeah, only kinky."
Bingo! The farm-pony blushed about as red as her cutie mark, and Dash fell over laughing. This... This was too good.
"So you're telling me..."

"Shut up, Dash."

"That Rarity..."

"Shut up, Dash."

"Rarity, Ms. Pony Prim and Proper..."

"Shut up, Rainbow Dash."

"Actually hurts you so bad in the bedroom..."

"I swear to Celestia, Rainbow!"

"That you of all ponies need a safeword?"

Defeated, Applejack hung her head. Dash expected her to laugh, but this seemed to actually be a serious issue, to the point where Applejack plopped down next to her on the ground before she spoke.
"Look, Rainbow... It's not necessarily about hurtin', ya understand? We just... We do a lot of things. Varied things, maybe even weird things. And neither of us wants the other one sufferin', or not havin' a good time, so... We wanna make sure we can call a stop if we have to. Or even just pause things to catch our breath. Yaknow?"

She didn't know, actually. Dash had never thought about it that way. As far as she had ever known or thought, safewords were how you chickened out when things got too rough. But now that she was thinking about it, having one really didn't seem like the worst idea in Equestria... After all, between Pinkie and herself, the odds were in favor of one of them crossing the other's boundaries some day. And would it really hurt if they had some way to actually tell each other that, in the heat of the moment, before it got problematic? Maybe she'd bring it up later...
"Oh. Um... Sorry for making it out to be a bad thing, AJ."

"S'no problem Dash- I know 'taint exactly normal. But I'm glad ya understand."

"Of course! What are friends for?"

"Other than blowin' off steam by wailin' on 'em for a while?"

"Yeah, other than that obvious stuff."

All hints of the previous tension, or even the stress of their fight, were gone. They laughed, helped one another off the ground, and went to grab some snacks. Round Two would be a fun one for sure, at this rate...

--------

Twilight couldn't help but stare. Was... Was Fluttershy saying that she and Luna had just gone right to it? Like... That? Just suddenly jumped on one another and started rutting like mad? She was very glad for the hot bath all around her now, because thinking about the situation was making her react fast. And that made her think about her own situation, which made her more aroused, and the whole thing spiraled up from there. Or maybe spiraled down, pressing in with a wave of tight heat before OK get off that train of thought, because you certainly can't get off the -other- way right now.

"Well, I had been very nervous about how things were going to go, so... I went to Rarity for advice. And Rarity, I really do owe you: it was perfect."

"What did she suggest?"

Rarity herself responded.
"A party- Planned by Pinkie and myself. After all, Fluttershy always seems to open up in that kind of situation, so..."

"A party... just for two ponies?"

Fluttershy was blushing.
"Mmh. Silly, but... It really worked. Luna arrived, and the party let us really unwind and get to know each other. I learned so much about her, what she likes and how she feels about being back... There's still a lot for me to learn, but I guess I'll have time, hehe."

"So the two of you talked through the whole party."

"...Almost. But then we got to some quiet point, and I worked up the courage to confess how I felt... And we talked over each other."

Rarity visibly winced at the poor timing.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry."

"Uhm, well, don't be... Because, well..."

"Yeeess?"

Fluttershy's response was so quiet that even in this placid room, neither of them heard it. Twilight nudged her with a slight puff of magic, goading her to continue.
"What was that, Fluttershy?"

"She was mumblemumble."

"...Did you just actually say 'mumble'?"

Twilight didn't press any further, just waiting for the pegasus mare to relax and get comfortable saying this next bit. Obviously, it had to be something major. Had Luna revealed some major secret of the Royal Sisters? Maybe she had discussed this mysterious "plan" that was taking place tonight? Or...

"She was trying to confess the exact same thing."

She WHAT!?