Fluttershy and Twilight walk side by side down the street, laughing like school-fillies about the quality of their rest last night.  The decision to go get breakfast before returning to Rainbow and Applejack directs their attention toward Sugar Cube Corner for something quick and simple.  The ponies look out front of the elaborately decorated store facade and notice that it's surprisingly empty for a late morning like this one.  

"I hope they're not closed today,"  Twilight says quietly as she walks past the store, looking in through the windows.  She sees a very familiar pink wad of cotton-candy colored (and shaped, oddly enough) pony mane behind the counter.  "Well, Pinkie's in there.  Shall we?"  

Fluttershy nods and trots toward the door, flashing a smile at the unicorn as they approach.  She lays her hoof gently on the door and pushes to see if it's locked; it opens and quickly rings the small bell set above it.  The sound surprises Pinkie Pie, who promptly tries to stand up with a start.  She accidentally bashes her head on the counter, which of course makes Fluttershy feel absolutely terrible.

"Oh no, I'm sorry about that Pinkie!  I didn't mean to surprise you."  She says just loudly enough that Pinkie could hear her on the other side of the room.

The pink earth pony emerges from under the desk and shakes her head to try and get her bearings once more.  After a few blinks to focus her vision on the pair that just entered she becomes ecstatic, as usual, to see her friends that have been more or less absent for the past few days.

"Hey you two!"  Pinkie yells, following with a big grin and placing her hooves on the counter.  Twilight and Fluttershy approach the pony and can't help but notice a splotch of what looks to be flour or confectioner's sugar just beneath Pinkie's nose.

"Hey there, Pinkie.  Uh, you've got a little somethin' right here,"  Twilight says while rubbing her own muzzle with her foreleg to indicate what she's talking about.  Pinkie glances around nervously for a second and then disappears under the counter one more time, rubbing her muzzle furiously with her foreleg while taking a deep, noisy breath through her nose; she reemerges after a few seconds with a small tweak in her eye.

"There!  All better... Now then, what can I help you girls with?"  

"If you have any oat muffins left that'd be wonderf--"  Twilight says calmly right before being interrupted by the hyper mare.

"Comin' right up!"  Pinkie disappears with a flash and returns with two large muffins that seem to be fresh from the oven.  The circumstances are a bit odd that she would have just baked oat muffins on an empty day like this, but after living in Ponyville for so long the couple has learned not to ask too many questions when it comes to Pinkie Pie.  

"Thanks, Pinkie...  What do we owe you?"

"Two bits."

"Allow me, Twilight...  You got dinner a few nights ago."  Fluttershy chimes in and drops the coins onto the counter.  Pinkie loses herself in their shininess for a second or two before snapping back to reality and waving the two off.  Twilight doesn't object and simply levitates the muffins along with her as they head toward the door.  

"I dunno quite how I feel about that one, Rainbow..."  Applejack and Rainbow Dash quickly try to dry themselves off after their little mutual shower.  "Maybe next time we should keep this out of our friends' houses...  I know they'd be okay with us bein' together, but probably not with us bein' together in their shower."

"Well you're the one who wanted to stay out of the bed,"  The rainbow-maned pegasus states matter-of-factly and follows with a grin.  She folds up the towel that she 'borrowed' from Fluttershy and replaces it in its exact location, hopefully avoiding any suspicion when the pegasus finally returns home.  Applejack keeps hers draped over her shoulders and tries to get her mane back into its usual style.

"Can you imagine how awkward it'd be if she walked in on us like that?"

"Oh I've been walked in on before, s'not that bad..."

"Jeez, Rainbow... How many mares you been with?"

"None that I've actually cared about until now, AJ."  She gladly lets her rough-around-the-edges personality fall for just a brief moment of sentiment, leaning in to kiss the still slightly damp mare standing with her in the bathroom.  They both lose themselves in a short period of bliss, letting the world around them melt away until they're the only things that matter.

"I had no idea you were able to be sweet like that,"  Applejack says after the comfortable silence immediately following the kiss; Rainbow playfully pushes her away in response and steals her towel.  She winks at the not-so-bashful earth pony and then quickly twirls the towel up and uses it to snap her flank once.  

"Oh yer gonna pay for that one!"  Applejack yells as she recovers from the injury.  The couple each take hold of a damp towel and proceed to have one more of their affectionate competitions: whichever one gives up first loses.

"So..."  Twilight speaks with a mouthful of oat muffin as she and Fluttershy slowly return toward the yellow pegasus's home, "You're tellin' me that, mmnghh, you're tellin' me that little voice in your head actually took you out of a dream?"

"Well...  I was asleep, dreaming of, uhm... well... of you..."  She pauses and blushes a little, though tries to continue carefree, "a-and suddenly she pulled me into this black... void.  And told me that she and I were going to have a talk next time I fell asleep.  Since then she hasn't talked to me at all, so I don't know quite what happened, or what's going to happen."

"Dreams aren't usually indicative of things that happen in the real world... but since this is pretty much only in your head I don't quite know what's going to happen either...  Would you be willing to let me study you?"  Twilight finishes her breakfast and tosses it into a nearby trashcan that they pass.  Fluttershy had finished eating several blocks ago.

"Don't you 'study' me every day?"  She says with a grin, trying to make the unicorn blush if she can.

"True,"  Twilight winks at Fluttershy and steps closer, walking side by side again and letting their shoulders touch, "But I mean a sleep study.  I just want to see if you have any physiological changes in your sleep.  That is if you have that meeting with the voice when you fall asleep of course.  It could be of some help to you in the long run."

"Well if it gives me an excuse to spend the night with you again I guess it couldn't be all bad right?"  Fluttershy smiles in her usual shy demeanor and rests her wing on Twilight's back, deciding that she doesn't really care if the public sees them together; she avoids them most of the time anyhow.

"Good!  For now though, I think we've kept AJ and Rainbow waiting long enough, let's go see them about that cleanup."

The happy couple slowly walk together toward Fluttershy's home, taking in the sights around them and feeling almost like they have a new appreciation for Ponyville since they got together.  Birds seem louder, flowers seem to smell better, other ponies seem friendlier and the sun seems brighter to them.  They're euphoric almost, walking together without saying a word, and only having the silence broken by a slightly familiar pair calling out for them.  

"Yoo hoo!  Hey you!  Wait up, we have something to say!"  

Twilight and Fluttershy halt and turn around, watching as a cream colored earth pony with blue eyes and a navy blue and hot-pink mane, followed by a sea-foam green unicorn canter up to them excitedly.  

"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced yet.  I'm Lyra and this is Bon Bon.  We were at Friesian's when this one here stood up in front of everypony about you two being together,"  Lyra states happily as she points her hoof toward Twilight.

"It was our anniversary that day and we hoped we'd get to see you again.  I wanted to let you know how brave I thought that was and how cute a couple you two are!  We know what it's like to have to go against the prying eyes and social drama like that, so good for you."  Bon Bon reaches her hoof out and shakes it with Twilight and Fluttershy's as she finishes her tiny speech.

"Well, thank you very much, it's uhm... a pleasure to meet you."  Twilight gingerly smiles, seeming to be nearly as uncomfortable as Fluttershy in this situation, but does genuinely take some pride in being recognized in a positive light for being with her.  

"The pleasure's all ours, but we won't hold you up any longer.  Go enjoy your date, and maybe we'll see each other again soon!  Either way it was nice to finally see another couple like us, I was worried we were the only ones."  Lyra nuzzles her head against Bon Bon's neck as she finishes.  The two of them turn and slowly walk back toward their favorite park bench and leave Twilight and Fluttershy blushing and giggling to each other.  

"Well that sure was nice of them."  Fluttershy wraps her wing a little more tightly around Twilight's back as they walk away, taking a small jolt of pride from the encounter and smiling at her marefriend.

"Yeah it was..."  Twilight pauses a little and tries to really take in the moment.  The whole town is going to be seeing them as a couple; she doesn't really care but it certainly is something to think about.

"Something wrong?"  

"Hm?  No, no everything's just fine.  I couldn't ask for more."  She leans over and kisses Fluttershy's cheek to punctuate her statement, resolving that everything would be just fine no matter what.

The bell above the door at sugar-cube corner rings once more as Rarity enters the shop.  Pinkie Pie bolts back to the front counter from the back room, presumably preparing more baked goods for sale.  

"Hello there, Pinkie, what's on the menu today?"

"We don't have a menu, silly, just what's in the window!"

"It's just a turn of ph-- oh... nevermind.  I finally have one day to myself now that Sweetie Belle is off with her teacher for a while so I've decided to treat myself to something sweet and then maybe curl up with a good book.  Have any recommendations?"  

"It's been kinda slow today, but I've got some fresh strawberry tarts in the oven if you wanna hang around and chat for a while!  They'll be done soon."

"So that's what that smell is...  I'll take two of those when they're done."

"Okey dokey lokey!  So how is Sweetie Belle anyway?  I haven't seen her around much."

"Frustrating, as usual... but she's still got that heart of gold so you needn't worry about her.  You said it was slow today?  Seems kind of strange for being almost lunchtime."

"I know right?  The only ones who have even come in recently have been Twilight and Fluttershy..."  

"Oh?  And how are they?  I feel like it's been a week since I've had any contact with either of those two."  

"Well from what I could tell they seemed happy together..."  Pinkie rests her elbows on the counter and props her head up.  She has been on somewhat of a sugar rush from eating her share of the pastries and is nearing a crash.

"Happy together?"

"Mhm, like two peas in a pod... Which is kinda goofy if you think about it because peas can't be happy.  Or can they?  If so I bet they don't like being eaten..."

"Now now, dear, don't get side tracked... This is the juiciest thing I've heard in months.  You couldn't possibly mean that Twilight and Fluttershy are... Going together could you?"

"Seemed like it to me...  I've seen a few happy mares and colts walkin' around together and they looked the same as Twi' 'n 'Shy."

"No way,"

"Bet you five bits."

"Five bits huh?  Your 'Pinkie Sense' didn't tell you about this fiasco did it?"

"Nopers, if it did that wouldn't be a fair bet."

"I suppose you... have a point there... I guess.  You're on."

"What am I on?"

"It's a turn of phrase, Pinkie!"

"Phrases can't turn, silly filly,"

Rarity, dumbfounded by the mental gymnastics that Pinkie always seems to pull on her, is broken out of her trance by the sound of the oven timer in the back room.  The pink earth pony stands up and bounces back, returning a few minutes later to the patiently waiting unicorn with two of her tarts, bagged and wrapped up to keep them warm.

"Thank you, dear."  Rarity says calmly as she takes the bag in her teeth and pays by levitating two coins onto the counter.  Pinkie drops them in the register and waves goodbye to her friend, who mulls over the idea of Twilight and Fluttershy dating.  She had never thought that either of them would feel that way, so it certainly did come as a surprise.  

Next they'll be telling me Applejack and Rainbow are going together.  Pah!