The sun was high in the sky, sloping towards noon, as Fluttershy happily hummed and sang, flitting from place to place. Her patrol of feeding, caring, and checking-up-on all her animal friends didn't actually require her to fly today. And normally, before? She wouldn't have. But ever since she came to the realization about Luna, she had been stretching her wings, flying more often, and even (secretly) carrying heavier weights, such as full feed-bags, as she flew. It was tough, but she was sure training with Rainbow Dash would be even tougher, so she dealt with it. And it really had been nice- She was getting much more work done, faster, than if she had been hoofing it. The downside to all this flying was that it tired her out fast: By the end of her rounds she was starting to feel a bit lethargic. Fluttershy was sure she would build up stamina in time, however, and went inside.

Speaking of time, she had just settled down into her couch, looking at the ancient clock in the corner, when somepony knocked at the front door.
"Oh! Um, come in. It's open."

Twilight stepped inside, looking a bit frazzled- Her hair was messier than usual, and her purple saddlebags in use for a change.
"Good morning, Fluttershy!"

"Hello Twilight. Did your, ah, lesson go well?"

"Actually, that's exactly what I came over to talk about! Well, partially, I mean. I just wanted to compare notes and see how both of us did- You helped Rarity with the clothes-fitting, right?"

She could feel the hot blush on her cheeks in response to the question- Last night was still a bit of a heavenly blur, all flowers and kisses and music and very lewdly-placed tape measures (did that last one actually happen, or had she dreamed again?)
"Yyyes. I did that."

"Oh great! Can we sit down and talk about it?"

She didn't bother responding, simply gesturing for Twilight to join her on the chair opposite the couch. The lavender unicorn sat, grinning up a storm, and shrugged off her bags.
"Alright, so... lemme hear about it!"

"Twilight, I haven't seen you this giddy since you found my old book collection."

"Well, I... OK, so, yes. I am really giddy. I've never really done anything like this before, and having someone to go through it alongside me is really nice."

"Me too. So, yes, the fitting..."

She proceeded to retell the entire story of the previous night- Or tried. Twilight interrupted her when she got to the bit about kissing Luna.
"You what!? But Fluttershy, that..."

"I know. I just felt so... assertive."

"Wasn't that risky? What if she didn't like that, or want that? What if it's against some law or custom or-"

"It was worth the risk... Something I never thought I'd say, hehe."

Twilight seemed to be looking at her with newfound respect, and she wasn't arguing any further, so Fluttershy assumed it was fine to go further in her story.

A little further.
"And she kissed you back? Fluttershy that's wonderful!"

"Yeah. It really was. But..."

"But? What's there to be 'but'ing about?"

"I don't think she really thought of it like that. She's just... very affectionate."

"Oh. I'm sorry to have jumped to that conclusion."

"It's perfectly fine Twilight. She might change her mind in time. Or maybe I’m just worrying, and she really does feel that way, but that would make me worried too, because..."

Twilight held up a hoof and stopped her.
"Right, I understand. Well, moving on?"

And this time, she actually managed to get through a significant chunk of the story without silly interruptions, all the way until...
"REALLY!? So you... we both saw the Risings?"

"Yes. It was... Oh Twilight I can hardly describe it. Although, when she started, she described it..."
So she retold the way Luna had spoken about it, recalling the moment verbatim- She was sure she'd remember those words for her entire life. Twilight looked enraptured as she listened, and Fluttershy bet her wings that the unicorn would have taken notes if she had the tools out.

"...She was right, you know."

"What about?"

"Celestia's Rising. It was everything Luna told you it was. I barely managed to see it all."

"Twilight, what do you mean?"

"I... I admit I had been using a fair bit of magic beforehand, and might have been a bit over-excited, and... It was just so overwhelming that I... may have passed out."

"Ohno are you hurt is everything OK how many hooves am I holding up?"

"No, yes, one. It's perfectly alright, and I should have expected it- It was my own fault for overtaxing myself."

"But..."

"No buts. I'm alright, and, well, afterwards..."

--------

It was only a short dream. It was beautiful, and glorious. The scents and colors, the sounds and especially the heat. She was able to just give up and let go, completely fall into the flow and the ebb of the warm, soft mane and the glorious golden light. Sure, it would have been completely ridiculous to come out and say as much, but she knew what she wanted. And she wanted to give herself to Celestia in every way, if only she knew she could do so without facing that kind, motherly smile and the chill bite of rejection. Celestia...

She cracked one eye open woozily. The mare herself, seated calmly on a small couch, was at her bedside, looking down with concern, her eyes filled with a shining light.
"P...princess?"

"Welcome back, my student. I trust that you are alright?"

"I... I am so sorry."

"Whatever are you apologizing for? It's perfectly reasonable. The fault is mine."

"No!"
She struggled herself into a sitting position in the bed- Infirmary. Probably in the palace. She had been here once or twice before, when a particular spell had backfired or she had simply over-worked herself into a cold or fever.
"Princess, absolutely nothing could possibly be your fault. I simply wasn't prepared."

"Twilight Sparkle, trust me when I say that what happened this evening is entirely my fault. Even if you were prepared, that would have been too much, too fast. I must apologize to you."

The Princess didn't get it. She didn't understand how painful those words were, how much it hurt Twilight to know that she had somehow, in some way, made Celestia sad. She couldn't imagine the alicorn mare crying, but her eyes were shimmering with tears, not yet spilled. Through her own weakness and foalish fool-hardiness, she had worried her. And that was not her...

She tried to keep thinking, to admonish herself further, but then she realized that Celestia had leaned down and, very gently, very quickly, kissed her forehead. She melted. She sunk into the covers and had to completely restrain herself to keep from making an embarrassing sound or two. And when she looked back up, Celestia was smiling, broadly, her face back into that lovely grin that Twilight had always looked up to.

"I am sorry."

"I... If you insist on apologizing, it would be utterly terrible of me not to accept it. So thank you, and... you're forgiven. Even though I have no right to forgive somepony like you."

"Heehee. Oh Twilight- You always know what to say to keep me on track. It's a wonder that I even managed to get by before you were my student. But now you need rest- We will continue our lessons next week, earlier in the evening- Please arrive at the end of the week and be prepared to stay the entire weekend."

Twilight stared.
"The whole thing?"

"Yes. I have a stringent lesson plan in mind, and quite a few activities. We will hit the books... Together."

And if Twilight had thought the gentle, motherly kiss was shocking to her system, had caused an undue and rather insistent heat in her loins, then she practically climaxed at the sound of that. Studying... with Her. It was the most unthinkably amazing thing she had ever heard, and if that made her a massive bookworm... So be it.

Weird or not, she felt that the idea of studying alongside the Princess was hot.

--------

"That... It sounds like it was actually for the best that you fainted."

"I... Huh. Yeah, I guess it was!"
They shared a grin and then started giggling-- The idea was so preposterous that it ended in them laughing until it hurt. But it seems like it had helped, and this helped too-- Twilight relaxed and Fluttershy felt refreshed. And as an added bonus, she managed to move the conversation onto another topic before Twilight asked what happened after the Rising-- She was pretty sure she couldn't bring herself to talk about that. It would just be... Wrong.

"So, did you get to do anything in Canterlot beforehand? You arrived pretty early."

"Oh! Oh wow Fluttershy I almost forgot-- You have to see this."
She pulled out a rather sizable tome from one saddlebag with her telekinesis, and Fluttershy blushed even harder than she had the first time-- She knew that book. Rarity had brought it to the spa one day, blushing like a bride, and shown it to Fluttershy-- It was apparently a copy signed by the author, which was quite a feat given that the book’s creator was anonymous. But apparently, Rarity had done a bit of work for said author (or authors plural, she never did say), and in return, they had slipped her that copy with a nod and a wink.

"Although come to think of it, if I extrapolate from Rarity and Applejack's reactions, you probably already know everything I'm about to say about this book."

"Yyeeess, just a bit."

"Well, darn. I had been figuring as much."

And then the mare blushed, which Fluttershy had to admit was a bit adorable- Her coat made the shade of it an interesting mingling of red and violet, much like the color of her magical aura.
"I sort of... discovered some stuff, biologically, after reading my way through some of this."

"Oh, do you mean you-"

"Yes! That. Which we won't discuss, because I still feel rather silly having just figured it out, especially since the reading I did afterwards suggests I'm more than a few years behind the herd on that one."

"Oh Twilight- That's perfectly OK. I was a bit of a late bloomer for that kind of thing myself."

"This late?"

"No. Definitely not. But later than most."

They laughed again, managing to relax once more.
"Well, I... I found an interesting sort of store in Canterlot, and I actually thought you might be interested in the place. The owner and his wife are both very nice ponies."

"What kind of shop is it?"

And at that, for some reason, Twilight blushed.
"It's... better if you see for yourself."

--------

Twilight had left Fluttershy’s cottage in a bit of a hurry, saying she had forgotten about an appointment. This left Fluttershy to contemplate what her friend had told her, and given her. A shop in Canterlot she might like, and a paper with the address. Well, she had been wanting to spend a day or so relaxing away from Ponyville-- Not that she didn’t love her hometown, it simply had a very high frequency of... Let’s call them shenanigans. Her mind made up, she took the address, packed a light lunch and some money in her saddlebags, and went on her way. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this trip was going to be eventful, but perhaps it was just carry-over optimism from the past few days.
Either way, she was positive she would enjoy herself.