Rainbow Dash woke up entangled in Twilight’s sheets.

She groaned blearily, warm rays of sunlight drifting in through the half-open curtains. She yawned, then, feeling for the warm spot next to her, snuggled up closer to Twilight’s side.

Except Twilight wasn’t there.

Dash sat up in bed. She rubbed her eyes and yawned again, then blinked dumbly around the room. Twilight was nowhere to be seen...but her bathroom door was closed, and she could hear the sound of water running through it. Smiling, she scrunched up at the head of the bed and hugged her knees to her chest.

She’d...done it. She’d slept with another pony. Had sex with another pony, and stayed over for the night. And woken up in their bed. Twilight’s bed.

She felt giddy. Her chest was warm and felt ready to burst. She felt like there were butterflies fluttering in her gut, but they were happy butterflies. She found herself only wishing that she’d woken up with Twilight still beside her.

There came a knock on the door. “Twilight?” Spike’s voice called. “You up?”

“C’mon in!” Rainbow said automatically. Too late, as the door creaked open, she realized just where she was—and in what state of undress she was in. “Wait!” she hollered, heaving the blankets up over her bare chest just as Spike stepped through the door.

He took a moment to recognize her. He just stood there, somewhat awkwardly, staring dumbly at Twilight’s bed. Then a deep, red blush spread across his scaly purple cheeks.

“Um.” He coughed, quickly glancing away. “I, uh...got a scroll for Twilight.” He stared out in the hallway and hefted a cream-white scroll in her direction. It was tied in a bright red ribbon, and stamped with an official-looking seal. “It just came in.”

Rainbow Dash found herself frozen in place. “Ju-just leave it on the floor,” she choked out. “Or something.”

“Right!” Spike’s claws hastily opened, letting the scroll fall to the carpet. “Um...sorry.”

Dash’s ears burned. Damn it, why was he still here? “No problem.”

The bedroom door closed. Dash released a breath, exhaling heavily. Fuck.

Now she just had to hope Spike wasn’t a gossip.

A beat later, the bathroom door clicked open. “Good morning!” Twilight said brightly as she stepped out. There was a towel wrapped around her waist, and a clean white bra bound around her chest. “What was that?”

“Uh.” Dash blinked at her. “Spike. He left you a note.” She jabbed a finger toward the scroll on the ground.

“Oh!” Twilight levitated it over and opened it. “Thanks!”

She was silent for a moment, her eyes scanning each line in turn. Then she read it again, humming quietly to herself. When she was done, she wrapped the scroll back up and placed it on the dresser beside her bed.

“So?” Rainbow asked. She couldn’t help it; she was curious. “What is it?”

“Oh, just Princess—I mean, Celestia.” Twilight brushed a wet strand of her hair out of her eyes and cracked a tired-looking grin. “I have got to get used to saying that.”

“What’s she need?”

“Me, apparently.” Twilight bent over and slid open a drawer from her dresser. As she let her towel slip down, Rainbow got a very nice view of her plump, perky butt. Her cheeks burned, but she kept her gaze planted firmly on Twilight’s rear. She’d definitely seen worse by this point.

Once Twilight had tugged on a pair of black silk panties, she turned back to Rainbow. “Apparently Princess Luna’s gone off to Saddle Arabia on a diplomatic trip, and Celestia needs me to take care of some of her extra duties and projects while she’s gone. Nothing too big.”

“Like what?” Dash asked suspiciously.

Twilight shrugged. “I guess I’ll find out when I get there. I’ll have plenty of time to work through it—Celestia said that Luna might be gone for up to two weeks.”

“Wait,” Dash said. “Two weeks? In...Canterlot?”

When Twilight nodded, Rainbow flushed. “While I’m still...here, y’mean.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh! Yes, just me.” She cracked a guilty-looking smile and cupped the bulge her package made in her over-stretched panties. “Sorry that I won’t be around for any more fun in the meantime. But I’m sure you can find somepony else to keep you entertained!”

Entertained. Rainbow bit her lip. How could she tell Twilight that she couldn’t find somepony else—that it wasn’t just entertainment she wanted. Damn it; when she’d fallen asleep next to Twilight last night, she’d felt more...satisfied, more whole than she had in years! And Twilight was just going to up and leave?

“Are you sure you have to go?” she asked, trying not to sound desperate. “Maybe someone else could pick up the slack. Like that Blueblood guy!”

“Prince Blueblood?” Twilight actually giggled. “I don’t think he’s up to this kind of thing at all. And Celestia mentioned that she’d need me specifically for a few things, so I don’t think he’d be qualified to take over even if he was...well, qualified.” She snorted and tugged a pair of jeans up over her panties.

Once she’d pulled a turtleneck over her head, she evened the hem out over her hips and shot Dash a friendly smile. “Don’t worry, Dash. You’ll still be able to get plenty of action while I’m gone, right? And you’ve got training with the ‘Bolts, right? I’ll bet Soarin’s been eyeing you.”

“Soarin’,” Dash mumbled. “Right.”

“And besides,” Twilight said, levitating over a pair of shoes. “It’s only two weeks. I know I said all that stuff about stretching you out last night, but I don’t think it’s actually physically possible. You should,” she said brightly, “at least in theory, still be able to have pleasurable intercourse with any other pony. Though they won’t have both sets of equipment, like I do.” She cupped her ample bosom and jiggled it a bit.

A grin touched her face. “Oh! You’ll see me off at the train station, right? I’ll have to catch the early one, so that means just a quick breakfast. I can have Spike whip up some pancakes for us, if you’d like.”

“Sure,” Dash said. She could already tell that she’d lost. She huddled back against Twilight’s bed’s headboard and nodded sullenly. “Sounds perfect.”

Two weeks passed far too slowly.

Rainbow Dash tried masturbating. She really did. Her fingers felt...good, just as they always had. And yet, even on the nights that she reached it, her climaxes felt...hollow. Empty. Insincere.

Damn it, Twilight, she’d think to herself, glaring up at her ceiling. It stared blankly down back at her. What the fuck have you done to me?

When she went to sleep, she found herself tossing and turning. Her bed felt...cold. Empty, just as her orgasms did. She found herself snuggling against Twilight in her dreams, and awoke to just another lumpy pillow.

Find other ponies, Twilight had said. But Dash didn’t dare. She still had no idea how Twilight had managed to initiate their...deal in the first place, and even if she did, hooking up with another pony would have felt...wrong. Sure, maybe Twilight had mentioned it with a grin, and sure, maybe another stallion’s cock, or another mare’s chest would have felt just as nice.

But they wouldn’t be Twilight’s. Rainbow slammed her fists against that metaphorical wall more times than she could count, but only came up empty. Gah! Why the fuck did she care so much? Why couldn’t she just waltz up to Soarin’, or Big Mac, or Rarity, and blurt out, “Yo, wanna fuck?”

Because they wouldn’t be Twilight, she knew. Because they wouldn’t have her stallionhood, or her chest. Because they wouldn’t have her smile, or her tight hug, or her laugh. Because she would feel them pressing up against her at night, and it would feel wrong, because they weren’t Twilight. Because Twilight had taken from and given to her what nopony else had, and Rainbow didn’t know how she would ever do that again.

Two weeks passed like an eternity.

Rainbow was standing on the platform when the train rolled in.

Her wings twitched incessantly behind her. Spread to half of their full width behind her, she’d found herself unable to fold them fully. But she didn’t care. She wanted to feel them twitching, wanted to feel her feathers rustling to the beat of her heart. She wanted to be reminded that this was it, that this was the day that Twilight came back.

As the train emptied, she flapped her wings to hover a good few feet above the oncoming crowd. She squinted past the sea of ponies, searching for the dark, striped purple mane and horn. And...there! Sticking up like a sore thumb, and wearing a white blouse that looked far too small around her chest, was Twilight. A small suitcase levitated beside her, and she seemed to be looking for something.

“There she is!” A few inches below Dash’s knees, Applejack waved and whooped excitedly. “Hey, Twilight! Welcome home!”

“Girls!” Twilight rushed toward them, her hair bouncing and swaying behind her. As Dash touched back down onto the ground, she noticed that Twilight seemed to be wearing new clothes entirely...and that she was a good inch taller than she remembered. And there it was: the bulge at her crotch, as obscene as ever. That looked bigger, too.

All of her looked bigger, really. More voluptuous. But the wide, innocent smile on her face… That just lit up the whole platform. Dash hardly knew what she was doing as she pushed past Rarity and Fluttershy, shoved the floating baggage aside, and seized Twilight in a bear hug.

“Oh! H-hey, Rainbow!” Twilight chuckled as she hugged her back. Rainbow grinned, then snuggled a bit more closely against Twilight’s chest. She could feel the other mare’s breasts squishing against her chin, could feel Twilight’s package grinding against her crotch.

“Group hug!” Pinkie chirped. And then the other five piled on. Applejack whooped as she grabbed all three of them in a hug; Rarity mostly kept her hands to herself, though she managed a delicate hug around Twilight’s middle. But Rainbow stayed in close, feeling Twilight’s warmth suffuse her. She took a deep breath, inhaling her scent.

The hug ended, and they pulled away. Except for Rainbow...at least fully. She kept one arm curled around Twilight’s waist and faced the others with a grin. Twilight waited for a moment, then gave her an odd look. Rainbow blinked as Twilight gently pushed her hand away with a pulse of magic, then let it fall to her side.

“It’s really great to see you girls,” Twilight said, turning back to the others. “Canterlot has been invigorating, but it’s really good to be home. And away from all of that paperwork. I could definitely use a vacation after all of that.”

She shot Rainbow Dash a wink. On impulse, her heart beating a little bit faster, Dash made a grab for Twilight’s hand. She wasn’t even fully aware of doing so—just that one moment, her hand was hanging by her side, and the next it was twisted in Twilight’s, their fingers intertwining.

And then Twilight was pushing her away, a plastic-looking grin on her face. “Rainbow,” she said, out of the corner of her mouth. “What are you doing?”

Dash started. “Oh!” She glanced at Twilight’s chest, then up at her eyes. She offered a half-smirk. “Well, uh…”

“Girls, could you excuse us for a moment?” And Twilight took hold of Rainbow’s hand—though by the wrist, not by the fingers, and pulled her away.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked, once they’d moved fully behind a pillar. Her tone wasn’t even harsh, just...confused. Rainbow winced.

“Just...saying hi,” she said lamely. “Is there something wrong with that?”

Now Twilight looked uncomfortable. “It’s just...you’re getting a little too touchy-feely,” she said. She chewed on her lower lip. “And especially in front of everypony else. I mean, I know you want to have some fun, but...time and place, right?”

“Oh.” Dash’s words felt hollow as they left her lips. “Right. Got it.”

Twilight shot her an awkward grin. “Great,” she said. “Because I am looking forward to it. Just...later, alright? When not everypony’s watching.” And she turned, paused, and gave Dash a swat on her ass.

Something snapped.

“When everypony’s not watching?” Dash burst out. “What the hell does that mean?”

Twilight spun back. She stared at her, her cheeks reddening. “I’m sorry?”

“We do...all of that!” Dash gesticulated wildly, flinging her arms every which way. She didn’t care who she hit. “And you’re scared of how you look in public?”

Twilight drew herself up. In that moment, Rainbow realized just how much taller she’d gotten. Once barely five-foot six, Twilight had to be pushing six feet now, if not an inch or so more. Another half-foot, and she’d be rivaling Celestia in height.

“Well, yes.” Twilight didn’t sound haughty so much as disappointed, her lip curling as she spoke. “I thought we made it clear that this was a professional kind of situation. Not...well…”

“Not what?”

“Romantic!” Twilight threw up her own arms. “Gods, Dash. I’d expected you to handle this all better than this. You’re getting grabby at the train station—what am I supposed to say? I thought you’d dealt with this kind of thing before!”

“I haven’t!”

The platform seemed to go dead silent. Twilight stared at her, her eyes wide. Around them, the crowd buzzed mindlessly. Rainbow swallowed.

“I haven’t,” she said hoarsely. “I...lied. I’ve always been lying.” Her hands balled up into fists and she stared at the ground. “Fuck, Twilight. Of course I was a fucking virgin when we started. I didn’t know a single fucking thing about sex. I was doing my best to just keep you from noticing.”

Twilight’s hand flew to her mouth. “So...you mean…”

“Yeah,” Dash said miserably. She struggled to meet Twilight’s gaze. “Look, I get that you wanted this to be casual, right? Friends with benefits, all that bullshit. And I tried to remember that. But I just...loved being so close to you. Being with you, in that way. And then you left, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.” Her fists trembled against her sides. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“I’m sorry, too,” Twilight said softly. “I had no idea—I didn’t know that I needed… I mean, I thought I’d made it clear—”

“Clear.” Dash snorted. “Flirting. All that talk about stretching and owning me. Calling me your mare. Sure. Slapping my fuckin’ ass and winking at me, just like I’m a fuckin’ piece of meat. I’m not, right?” Her voice was scratchy, her throat like sandpaper. Her tongue was raw, and something was blurry at the corners of her eyes. “I’m not just a fuckbuddy to you, right?”

“Of course not!” Twilight said. She stared at the ground, fidgeting. “You’re...a friend. A good one. A best friend, even.”

They stood there silently for a moment. Around them, the train platform cleared. A whistle sounded. Life went on.

And then Twilight said, softly, “But maybe I haven’t been treating you like one.”

Dash’s head jerked up. Their eyes met.

“I can understand how you feel, Rainbow,” Twilight said softly. “Even so...I’m kind of hurt that you would think that I might think about you as anything less than you are. Which is wonderful. You’re wonderful.”

Rainbow’s cheeks burned. “Thanks,” she said gruffly.

“But...this?” Twilight spread her arms stiffly. “I’ve never—I mean, I’ve never gone past this. Sex is just...a thing in Canterlot, okay? Love is—I’ve never even bothered to go on a date, for goodness sake. You five are the first ponies I’ve even been friends with, let alone all of that other stuff!”

Dash licked her lips. “So wait. What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Twilight slumped. Then she smiled, sadly, guiltily. “Maybe I should’ve realized that, whether I actually was or not, I wanted to lead you on. Wanted to get you, the cool, confident, awesome Rainbow Dash to like me. To...want to be with me. To maybe try something that I haven’t before.”

Dash’s heart skipped a beat. “So wait,” she blurted. “You mean you’ll—”

“Give it a try?” Twilight looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Um. Maybe.” Her ears were tinged a very bright pink. “I just...don’t even know where to begin.”

Dash swallowed. Without even knowing how, or why, she found herself reaching out to hold Twilight’s hand. This time, Twilight let her, their fingers lacing together as Dash pulled it up toward her chest.

Dash’s voice was soft. “How about nine o’clock?” she said quietly, searching within Twilight’s eyes. “Your place? Tonight? We don’t even have to do anything.” She searched her mind, wracking her brain for anything else to say. “We can...talk. Something. Anything. Maybe we could go out to dinner sometime. Just us.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment. Around them, the platform had gone totally silent, save for the distant clacking of wheels on rails.

And then Twilight laughed. It was a short, pathetic giggle, but it was enough. She returned Rainbow’s gaze and smiled. Her fingers tightened around hers.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, nodding. “Sounds like a plan.”

The library was quiet.

Downstairs, the television flickered dimly, it sound muted, its picture blurred with static. Across it, strewn across the coffee table before the couch, were the remnants of a takeout dinner from The Golden Longma. A single light flickered in the kitchen, and outside the dark windows, crickets chirped and hummed.

Upstairs, in a bedroom, Rainbow Dash hummed along as she tied her hair back over her neck. Letting that fall over her back, she pulled her hands back up and cupped them around her breasts. On the carpet beside her feet, her training bra lay forgotten. She gave her bust a squeeze, tight, perky tits jiggling slightly as her fingers brushed over her nipples.

She saw something move in the reflection of the mirror in front of her. Before she could turn, she felt a pair of warm hands wrapped around her waist, fingers tapping along her thigh. “You know,” Twilight purred into her ear. “I really have missed you.”

Dash smirked. Turning to face her, she planted a kiss on Twilight’s cheek. She moved one hand to Twilight’s crotch, and cupped the obscene bulge she found there. Twilight’s package throbbed in her palm, her dark black flare already starting to push out from the pre-smeared fabric of her panties.

“Pent-up again, huh?” Dash said. She chuckled and gave one of Twilight’s nuts a squeeze. Twilight gasped, then giggled when Dash planted a kiss on her other cheek. “Maybe I can help with that.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, growling playfully. “You certainly can.” And she darted forward, seizing Rainbow’s lips in a kiss of her own.

But it wasn’t a kiss like before. It wasn’t hungry, bestial, lustful. It was more like a peck: light, soft, warm. And when Twilight pulled away, Rainbow found her chest filling with what felt like warm light, her whole body feeling light enough to just float away.

Twilight smiled uncertainly at her. “So,” she said. “We’re really going to give this a try, huh?”

“Yup,” Rainbow said, and kissed her again.