Fluttershy opens her eyes slowly, expecting to see some other horrible test from her mind, but instead seeing the placid, dimly lit basement that she fell asleep in.  The pegasus lets out a deep sigh of relief and then glances over her shoulder in response to some rustling from behind her.

"Next time we spoon like this...  You're in back."  Twilight props herself up with her foreleg and spits out a single yellow feather.  Fluttershy realizes her wings have extended right into the unicorn's face and turns a little red from the thought.

"Sorry, Twilight...  How'd you sleep otherwise?"  Fluttershy rolls over and looks her marefriend in the eye, retaining that same serenity of the mind that she had gained in her dream.  She can remember every single second of it at this moment, and plays it over and over in her head.

"I slept alright... I was having some weird dreams though."  Twilight stretches and yawns, resting her foreleg around Fluttershy and pulling her in for a kiss. "Uhm... you've still got those electrodes on your head."

Fluttershy rolls her eyes up as far as they'll go and sees the edge of the net of wires, smiling and pulling them off with her hooves.  "There, better?"

"Yeah, but now your hair is all mussed up."  Twilight gently smiles and pulls herself closer to the pegasus.

"There's just no pleasing you is there?"

"Nope, it's just not possible, ask Spike."

The two ponies share a laugh and go back to laying together, staring happily into each others' eyes.  Twilight starts to lean forward a little, prompting Fluttershy to move her nose as well.  She presses her muzzle up against Twilight's and rubs it back and forth, smiling happily and then letting it melt into a kiss.  The two ponies don't want the kiss to ever end, so they breathe through their noses and hold each other close, basking in the warmth that radiates from each of them.  It doesn't take too long for the feeling to slowly fade and bring Fluttershy to break away from the kiss.

"Twilight?"  The pegasus asks, not really having to think about what she's about to say.

"Yes?"  Twilight tilts her head and waits patiently for the question, feeling totally at home with being quizzed.

"Would you feel like this was moving too quickly if I told you... that I think I love you?"

Twilight blushes and giggles a little bit, looking down and tilting her head up slowly, blinking and flashing a shy smile.  "Actually...  I was afraid you'd never say it."

Fluttershy smiles and bumps her muzzle up against Twilight's chin, nudging it up so that they can lock eyes one more time. "What can I say?  I guess after a good night's sleep I've gotten a little extra dose of courage."

Rainbow Dash opens her eyes to a beam of morning light shining in through a crack in the window.  Applejack, already awake, rests her chin on the pegasus's shoulder and smiles down at her.

"Mornin', Dashie."

"Mornin', Biscuit."

"I thought you left me last night."  Applejack noses Rainbow in the cheek, gently giving her a kiss and refusing to move herself away.

"I just went out for some air is all.  I woke up and couldn't quite get back to sleep; there's no constant white noise from the jetstream like there is way up in the sky."

"Well I still worried.  I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't relieved when you came back in."

"I wish you woulda' told me you were awake.  We could have fooled around a bit."  Rainbow rolls herself over after this comment and grins at Applejack, looking her in the eyes all the while.

"I sure as hay hope that's not all this is to you..."  

"Of course not, AJ!  You really do make me feel something I've never felt before...  I just can't help myself sometimes: you're just that sexy."

"Don't be too flatterin'... You're pretty good lookin' yourself, Rainbow."

"Oh I know, you'd have a run for your money if there were two of me, I can tell ya that right now."

Applejack rolls her eyes and flops onto her back, not paying anymore attention to the snickering pegasus.  Rainbow immediately apologizes in her usual half-hearted manner, trying to get the earth pony to crack a smile with some tickling.  After a short period of calm, Applejack writhes beneath Rainbow's hooves and has to fight herself from kicking the bed into splinters with her powerful hind legs.  

"Rainbow!  Cut it out!" The earth pony tries to push a tinge of seriousness into her voice, though the incessant giggling doesn't make that work quite as well as she wants it to.

"I didn't know you were so ticklish, AJ."  Rainbow holds the earth pony down, though just barely, and keeps rubbing her hooves up and down beneath her forelegs, grinning and starting to laugh herself.  The earth pony manages to position her foreleg behind Rainbow's shoulder just high enough to pull her down, slamming her face-first into the mattress and holding her there.  The pegasus grins and uses her new proximity to Applejack to give her a gentle kiss that neither of them decide to break.

"What're y'all doin'?"  A little, familiar voice chimes in from the slightly cracked open doorway; Rainbow didn't latch it last night because she though Applejack was still asleep.  

"Apple Bloom!  You spyin' on us?"  Applejack pokes her head up from the bed and scolds the filly in the doorway.

"No, y'all are just makin' so darn much noise it's hard not to ask."  This comment makes Applejack blush a tad, prompting a torrent of laughter from Rainbow Dash.

"Why don't you c'mon in here Apple Bloom, we're not doin' anything bad."  Rainbow pats the side of the bed with her hoof and stretches out to make a little bit of room.

"Whaddya mean by bad? Were y'all doin' somethin' wrong?"

Rainbow flashes Applejack a slight cringe, not quite sure how to approach the situation and looking for some kind of help.

"What she means is that we weren't doin' nothin' that you're too young to see.  We were just havin' a tickle fight."  

"Ohhhh, I get it.  Kinda like that time I walked in on Big Macintosh in his room all by himself with--"

"Yes! Exactly like that...  But we promised him we wouldn't go a-talkin' about that, remember?"  Applejack makes sure to interrupt the filly before she says too much.

"Wull gee sis, you must really like Rainbow.  It's been ages since you've had a tickle fight with me."

"You could say I really really really do like Rainbow."  Rainbow Dash can see that very unique smile that Applejack gets whenever something sentimental gets in her head, and so reaches over and hugs her.  She uses the fact that Apple Bloom isn't quite paying attention to her other foreleg to get her hoof behind the filly and viciously surprise her.  

"We'll just have to change that then won't we?"  Dash asks as she tickles the writhing and giggling earth pony, smiling up at Applejack, who happily joins in until the pair are afraid that Apple Bloom is going to pass out from laughter.

Twilight steps into her kitchen area, the pile of papers taken from the EEG machine downstairs levitating lazily beside her and with Fluttershy in tow.  She drops the stack of paper on the end of her dining room table and steps over to the counter, removing a small bag of coffee and a covered bowl of sugar from a nearby cabinet.  

"I didn't know you drank coffee, Twilight."  Fluttershy takes a seat at the table and watches Twilight's movements, trying to make a little smalltalk as the unicorn produces an old looking french-press coffee pot and begins boiling enough water for two.

"I only do sometimes, frankly I feel like I didn't sleep a wink.  I think I was having nightmares."

"Oh?  Remember anything about it?"

Twilight doesn't want to admit to being so worked up about a failing grade, so she slightly distorts the truth. "I do... but it's a little fuzzy...  I remember being in my room but that's pretty much it."

"Well I'm sorry you didn't sleep well...  Uhm, need any help with all that?"

"Oh, no that's okay, but here."  Twilight steps away from the kettle of water on the stove after placing the coffee grounds into the coffee pot, moving to sit down right across from Fluttershy and flipping through the stack of papers. "Let's take a look at this, I'm still interested.  Do you remember any out-of-the-ordinary type dreams from last night?"

"Heh, you could say that..."  Fluttershy struggles to remember specific events as the day drags on, losing more and more of the strange happenings to the information of the day, but still clings onto a few noteworthy events.  

"Anything specific?  Also: it seems like you had some unusually long REM patterns last night..."

"Uhm...  What does that mean?"

"It means you spent more time in an actual dreamstate than most normal ponies... though I don't have any data from an average night to compare it to...  unfortunately."

"Well... I do remember that there was a really big tree, uhm... my parents were there for a short time... ehm."  Fluttershy tries to remember specific details, but feels them slip just at the tip of her tongue.  "I think I had a talk with myself..."

"A talk with yourself?  Like... in a mirror? or face-to-face? or just you in the middle of nowhere talking to nopony else?"

"Face-to-face...  Different parts of myself actually... there was a unicorn who kinda reminded me of you... and an earth pony that reminded me of Rainbow Dash... and a pegasus that was kind of... uhm... really really really nice...  But they were all me... if that makes any sense."

"Very interesting...  do you remember what you talked about?"

"Not really...  I think the earth pony wanted to kill me, but the unicorn and the pegasus helped me out a little bit..."

"The earth pony wanted to kill you?  That's not good..."

"Yeah...  No kidding.  She wasn't as nice as Rainbow but she seemed to have the same attitude sometimes..."

"Oh well...  I'll just have to 'study' you for a few more nights to see just what's out of whack up there in your head."

"That sounds lovely, Twilight... but please don't make me wear anymore wires to bed."

Twilight giggles and gets up to pour the water into the coffee pot, pressing it down and bringing it over to the table along with a pair of cups. "Deal."

Twilight moves her chair to be right next to Fluttershy's, resting her head on the pegasus's shoulder and clearly exhausted as she concentrates on the small bubbles floating to the top of the clear glass pot.  Fluttershy leans over and nuzzles the top of Twilight's head, holding her close and trying to keep her awake with another conversation. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something..."

"I dunno if I like the sound of that...  What is it?"

Fluttershy laughs a little and props the unicorn's head up.  "I just think that maybe we should tell everypony about... well... us."

Twilight turns red in the cheeks and thinks for a minute, keeping a sly countenance and just smiling back at the pegasus.  "Alright, how did you want to do it?"

"Well... Pinkie Pie and Rarity are really the only ones of our close friends that don't know...  Maybe we just have Pinkie throw a party and we mention it while everypony is in good spirits?"

"Alright sure, she'll probably insist we throw a party anyway once we tell her.  Wanna head over to Sugar Cube Corner now?  I'll walk you home afterward and we can check on your pets."

"That sounds lovely, Twilight."

Pinkie Pie obsesses over the order in which to place the freshly baked cupcakes for the first few customers of the day, swapping them around and rearranging them over and over so that they have just the right quality of display for anypony looking in the window.  She nearly drops the tray as the bell above the doorway startles her, causing her to spin her head around and see none other than Rarity standing shivering just inside the store.

"Goodness it's cold out today..."  The purple maned unicorn shivers and kicks the door shut, trying to quickly escape the frigid air.

"Wull, it is winter."  Pinkie finally gets her cupcakes right and places them in the display window as she makes this obvious point even more so.

"Thank you, Pinkie... I had no idea."  

"You're welcome!  So what can I do for you?"

"Oh I just stopped by to pick up some breakfast again.  Sweetie Belle is set to come back today so I figure I should have something tasty waiting for her... just as a nice gesture."

"Awwh, well that's sweet of you!  What would you like?"

"I think two of those danishes would do just fine, one for each of us."

"Here ya go!  Two bits please."  Pinkie hands the pastries over, still steaming from the oven, and takes the coins over to the cash register.

"Thank you, these smell incredible.  By the way have you seen Twilight and Fluttershy around lately?  Our bet is still on you know."

"Oh I know, and I have seen them.  They're right there!"  Pinkie points over Rarity's shoulder to the storefront window; Twilight and Fluttershy walk side by side toward the door and lightly nudge it open.  The couple steps inside together; Fluttershy stands with her wing around Twilight's withers as usual, and takes their place near Rarity after extending a greeting to both of the ponies inside.

"Hey there you two!"  Twilight calls out as she and her marefriend happily step up to the counter.

"Heya, Twi.  What can I help you with today?"  Pinkie Pie takes a stance at the counter as if she's about to take up the bad habits of a door-to-door sales pony.  

"We're just here for some breakfast really... and uhm, to ask you something."  Fluttershy calmly looks over the freshly baked  treats in the window, trying to downplay that last portion of the comment.

"Oh? What would that be?"  Pinkie flashes Rarity a grin and goes about getting ready for another sale.

"We were just wondering if you'd mind throwing a party for the six of us and maybe just a few others..."

"What's the occasion?"  Pinkie giggles and seems to know exactly what's coming, Rarity on the other hand sits quietly and listens in on the conversation, determined to ride out the five bit bet with Pinkie until the bitter end.

Fluttershy smiles and blushes just a little bit, not so much in embarrassment but just from the uniqueness of the situation.  She looks over to Twilight and opens her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the unicorn.  "Frankly, Fluttershy and I have been spending a good deal of... well... 'personal' time together lately, and I guess we just wanted to make it official that we're going out.  The party was her idea, but what better way to celebrate than to get together with everypony and have some fun?"  Pinkie can barely hold back her glee, but does so just for Rarity's sake, considering how badly she's lost her bet.  The surprise definitely shows in her eyes, but she manages to extend a very sincere congratulation to the happy couple, as well as extending a hoof-full of bits over to Pinkie the instant Twilight's back is turned.

"Why don't you two come back around eight tonight?"  Pinkie asks as she frames out the store for in her head for decorations.  "I'll be off at six and then I can have plenty of time to decorate!"

"You sure two hours will be enough?"  Twilight asks the excited pony, breaking her away from her frantic mental acrobatics about the room.

"Uhm, hel-lo!  Have we met?"

"Okay, okay.  You've made your point...  

"Just go have a good time tonight you two, then come see me and everypony else!"

"Okay, Pinkie... Thank you so much."  Fluttershy chimes this last part in and nudges Twilight back toward the door.  The pegasus is eager to get home, but definitely feels the desire to cling onto her marefriend and keep her as close as she can.  Twilight gets the hint and walks toward the door, pushing it open with her hoof and holding it for Fluttershy.  The pegasus uses her wing as a shield for both her and Twilight against the wind, quickly trotting in the direction of her house.

The instant the two ponies are gone, Rarity looks over at Pinkie and lets her jaw almost drop to the floor.  

"Told ya, silly."  Pinkie drops the five coins on the table and counts them out, giggling at the unicorn in her usual manner.

"I never would have seen it coming...  You wouldn't happen to have any gossip on any other ponies around town that are... well... 'like that' would you?"

"Lyra and Bonbon for sure."

"Oh of course!  Even I can see that."

"Hmm...  Octavia and Vinyl."

"The DJ pony?"

"That's the one."

"Hmm...  Well I won't doubt that one too much, they certainly do seem to like each other.  Anypony else?  This is rather juicy."

"Well I've got a feeling about Rainbow and Applejack."

"There's no way...  Rainbow Dash maybe but I just don't see it at all in Applejack."

Pinkie giggles mischievously and rubs her hooves together.  "Wanna bet?"

"You're so on."

"Let's make this one interesting, got any ideas?"

"Perhaps staying with the theme of things...  Loser has to kiss one of the ponies at the party."  Rarity seems very sure of herself this time to risk such a thing.

"Like a kiss or a kiss kiss?"

"Kiss kiss."

"You're on."

"Please don't tell me you're a fillyfooler too, Pinkie..."

"Nah, mares are waaaay too hard to figure out, I like colts, they're nice and simple."  Pinkie Pie gazes over her hoof as if inspecting it for any small flaws, being as nonchalant as she possibly can.

"That's certainly an... interesting way of putting it, Pinkie."  Rarity wants so badly to call her a hypocrite, but just doesn't want to cross that line.

"I try!  By the way if I'm wrong I'll give you back your five bits on top of that little extra part."

"So we have a deal then, I look forward to this."

"So do I!"