Im petty sure this is the greatest day of my life! Rainbow grinned ecstatically from ear to ear. I'm also pretty sure this is the most bubbles I've seen in one place at a time! Did Twilight use some magic soap, because this is getting out of hoof! Dash closed her eyes, taking full advantage of her hot bubble bath. Even though the bath was an absolutely amazing experience, it was not the reason that she was in such a peppy mood.

Rainbow was so extremely happy because in the other room sat Twilight Sparkle, the pony who Rainbow had been secretly infatuated with for the past few months. Twilight simply being present in the other room normally would have been nothing special, but after the events that had just occurred, it was the greatest thing that could have possibly happened.

Yep, this definitely is the greatest day of my life! Twilight loves me. Twilight loves me! Twilight Sparkle, protégé to the princess, element of magic, unicorn extraordinaire, loves me back! This is so crazy! Rainbow's whole body radiated as she was overcome with a feeling of pure euphoria.

Dash could not control herself, letting out a subtle "squee!"

Someone who happened to notice the "squee" was that same 'unicorn extraordinaire' that Rainbow was so infatuated with, Twilight Sparkle. The door of the bathroom creaked open just before Dash made the incredibly cute, yet terribly embarrassing noise.

"Is Fluttershy in here? Because that can't be the rough and tough Rainbow Dash making such a cute noise!"

Rainbow blushed as she aggressively sputtered, "yeah well why don't you get over here and I can show you just how 'cute' I can be!"

Twilight smirked slightly. "However much I might like to, I interrupted your bath because I think that we need to talk about some things, Dash."

Rainbow Dash looked terribly concerned. "Like what kinda things?"

"Things that involve what just happened, where we stand as of right now, and where we are going to take our relationship if we even decide to have a relationship at all!" justified Twilight.

"Ohh... but I thought you said that we were just gonna go with the flow. Ya know, just live life," Rainbow Dash objected with a glum look on her face.

"Well yes, I did say that, but I was on an emotional high, as I'm sure you were too. Now that I think about it, I don't know how the hay I got the courage to kiss you in the first place," explained Twilight with a slight blush, "but now that we've both calmed down, I think we can have an honest discussion about where we stand right now."

Rainbow Dash nodded her head subtly, acknowledging Twilight's point, "Alright Twi', I'm all ears, Shoot."

"Actually why don't you get out of the bath and then we can talk, because there is no way that I can take you seriously when you have a bubble mustache!" Twilight grinned.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her snout, taking notice of the bubbles for the first time. They did make her look quite ridiculous, actually. She smiled slightly as she shook her head, flinging the bubbles away.

"Okay, I'll be out in a minute." Dash responded in a neutral tone.

Twilight turned away from Rainbow Dash, calling back over her shoulder. "I'll be in the kitchen."

As Twilight closed the door, Rainbow Dash's hooves began shivering. Oh Celestia, what am i going to do? I can't do this, i just can't! What if she doesn't really like me? What if that kiss was just in the heat of the moment? What if she thought she liked me but just needed to relieve some sexual tension? What if I'm a bad kisser and turned her off?

The 'what ifs' we're racing through Rainbow's mind at light speed. The prospect of Twilight not actually having feelings for her after that kiss was absolutely mind boggling, and also extremely scary. It's like Princess Celestia gave me the greatest thing in the whole world, only to take it away and make it worse! Why are you doing this to me, Twilight, why!?

Dash took a deep breath. Calm down RD, it’s normal for a pony have questions. She was perfectly happy when she walked out of here and there is no reason to think that anything is—

Rainbow's thought process was interrupted by a loud thumping at the door. She snapped her head around to face the source of the noise as a familiar voice leaked through from the other side. "Rainbow Dash, are you coming? It's been almost ten minutes now. Are you okay in there?"

Rainbow Dash scrambled to get out of the tub, nearly tripping as she stepped over the edge. "Umm... ya, sorry... lost track of time... I'll be out in a second."

Well, here we go.

Rainbow quickly dried her coat and tail with one of Twilight's towels. She wrapped a fresh towel around her head to dry her mane, not to mention that the softness of the towel comforted Rainbow Dash quite some bit, and stepped out of the bathroom.

Dash's eyes darted around the room as if she was paranoid, but in reality this was just nervousness. I have to get out. I have to go! No! No you can't! You have to stay, for Twilight! Rainbow resisted the urge to dart out the front door.

Dash hesitantly made her way into the kitchen, where Twilight was, hard at work preparing some kind of drink.

"Lemonade?" asked Twilight with a smile.

"Umm ya sure that sounds great," responded an unflinching Rainbow Dash, who had not really even heard the question.

Twilight magically poured two glasses of the drink out of the pitcher she had just prepared moments ago. She put a straw in each of them and placed one in front of Rainbow Dash and the other on the opposite side of the table for herself.

"How was your bath?" inquired Twilight.

Rainbow directed her gaze to the floor. "Oh it was all right."

"All right?" protested Twilight, "When I went in there it looked like it was the greatest thing you have ever experienced!"

"Ya it was pretty good, I guess..." mumbled Rainbow Dash as if she was afraid to look Twilight in the eyes.

Twilight's face revealed a confused look. "Rainbow, are you okay, is it something that I said?"

"Well... no, actually, forget about it it's nothing..." stammered Dash who now looked up at Twilight, only to look away again when she saw that Twilight was looking directly at her.

"Rainbow, right now we need to be honest with each other. Now please, is there something that I need to know?" Twilight clearly vocalized.

"Well... no, there's really not anything that—"

"Rainbow."

Twilight stated this while staring directly into Rainbow’s eyes. Dash understood Twilight's message loud and clear; she was not playing games anymore. Rainbow knew that any lie she could conjure up would be utterly useless against Twilight right now. There was only one way out, the truth, the entire truth.

"Promise you won't get mad?" cringed Rainbow Dash.

Twilight did not break eye contact. "Promise."

"Pinkie promise?" Rainbow responded seriously.

Twilight smiled slightly as she performed the ritual, "Pinkie promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Okay, umm well..." Rainbow hesitated, "when you came in the bathroom, you sounded like you were more or less 'letting me down,' and I don't know if I can handle that anymore."

"Rainbow Dash I..."

"Twilight, please let me finish," interrupted Dash as she looked Twilight straight in the eye.

Twilight opened her mouth to protest but saw the serious look in Rainbow Dash's eyes and instead just nodded her head and let Dash continue.

"I've had my heart broken before," continued Rainbow Dash, "now I know that you probably think that this sounds 'girly' or 'sappy' or whatever, and I'm not real proud of it either, but to tell the truth, I felt worthless. I could barely make it thought the day, it took me nearly a whole year to get over it, but that's behind me now. Is that why I try to always be 'tough' and not show my emotions? Maybe. Sure, most of my edginess is natural, but maybe a lot of it came from that moment a few years back. I know all of you probably think of me as Tom-colt Rainbow Dash, never crying, never scared, ready to take on any challenge and whatever else you could think of, but I have feelings too! Sure I'm not into all that sappy girly stuff that ponies like Rarity like, but I sure as hay have feelings!" Rainbow let out a long sigh, "the point is that I... I love you Twilight, I really can't say exactly why, but I know that I really do. I was just so scared when you came into the bathroom and told me that we needed to have an 'honest discussion' because it brought up those old memories. I know it sounds really lame and not like me at all, but that's the truth."

Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight for only a moment longer before gazing back down at the ground. Well, that's all I could do. I put it all out there. I wonder how this is gonna end up, probably with me flying home I'm tears. Dash let out a barely audible sigh.

Twilight was left completely speechless for a few moments, but eventually responded. "Rainbow, I... I had no idea," stammered Twilight, "but that's not what I meant when I said that we needed to talk."

"It's not?" asked Rainbow with somber surprise as she looked back up at Twilight with heavy eyes.

"No!" responded Twilight loudly, "I don't want to end this, I just want us to take it a little slower, that's all!"

"What?" sniffled an obviously confused Dash.

"It's just that I think that we rushed into this pretty fast," explained Twilight, "I may have been the cause of that in the first place but that is beyond the point. I want what's best for both of us, and I just the best thing that we can do is take it slower. I think that I might love you, but statistics show that the best relationships are the ones that..."

Twilight could not finish her speech as was interrupted suddenly by Rainbow Dash, who had leaped over the table, tackled her to the ground, and started passionately kissing her. The towel on Dash's head had fallen off, and her wet mane made her look even more stunning than she had appeared before.

Oh boy, this is twice as good as the first time!

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were no longer two ponies, they were seamlessly entwined with each other and now only existed as one being. The world melted away from Rainbow Dash. There was nothing but her and Twilight, and it felt so right. Then suddenly, the seamlessly entwined being once again became two ponies when Dash broke the kiss.

Rainbow gasped for breath. "Twilight?"

It took Twilight some time to recover from the unexpected moment of passion, but she eventually responded. "Yes Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash then leaned her head next to Twilight's ear and whispered seven words, seven words that Twilight Sparkle would never forget. "I don't like to take things slowly."

"I think I can live with that," Twilight whispered back as she brought Rainbow into another kiss.

Rarity and Applejack trotted slowly down the streets of Ponyville, participating in what appeared casual chatter. To the causal passerby, if they even took notice, it would appear that this was nothing more than just two good friends out enjoying a beautiful day and, for the most part, they would be right. What that passerby probably would not figure out for themselves is that the two 'good friends' were more than just friends, they were secret lovers and had been in a serious and committed relationship for quite some time now.

Rarity was currently in the middle of one of her meaningless rants. "All I am saying is that I can hardly hope to understand how you can eat so many apples! I mean, you live on an apple farm darling! We go out to eat for the first time in Celestia knows how long, and you order an apple salad!"

Why are ya so dang cute when ya do this, Rar'? Everypony else hates it! What the hay is wrong with me?

"Ah like apples, they taste good," retorted Applejack clearly and concisely.

"I know you like apples, Darling, but do you not ever get sick of them?" asked Rarity over dramatically.

Applejack shrugged. "Umm... nope! Ah guess it's just in mah blood!"

"I'm sorry, but with all due respect, and I mean with all due respect, you are so boring!" exclaimed Rarity.

Applejack just shook her head and smiled as she cracked back, "well little miss know it all, if Ah'm so boring, why ain't you left me yet?"

"Haven't I told you before? It's because you are so good in the bedroom!" joked Rarity.

"Okay, but why do ya actually love me?" asked an honest Applejack.

With this statement, Applejack added a slightly awkward feel to the whole situation, but both ponies seemed to ignore it more or less.

"Well why don't we go inside and I will show you how much I love you," teased Rarity as she pointed to the door of the boutique, where the her and Applejack had just arrived. She fluttered her eyes.

"No Rarity, Ah want to hear why you love me," commanded a stubbornly serious Applejack.

Rarity looked her fillyfriend right in the eyes, unflinching. "I love you because you are nothing like me. I love you because you compliment me perfectly. I love you because you put up with me. I love they mane looks when you wear your hat. I love your athletic body. I love you because you make me feel safe. I love your stupid little country accent. I love—"

Rarity may have very well gone on all night is she was not cut off by the surprising feeling of Applejack's lips meeting her own. To Applejack, it felt exactly the same way it did every time when they kissed, like it was the very first time. She attempted to send kiss even deeper, but Rarity hesitated.

"Applejack!" shouted Rarity under her breath as she pulled her lips away from Applejack's, "at least wait until we are inside, someone might see us!"

"Ah don't care," inhaled a lustful and out of breath Applejack.

Applejack pushed her hoof against the door of the boutique, causing it to creek open. Applejack leaned in close to Rarity's muzzle, teasing her with the idea of a kiss. Rarity closed her eyes and pleasurably waited for the inevitable, but the expected kiss never came. Rarity opened her eyes.

"Is everything alright, Applejack?" whispered Rarity.

Applejack was speechless. She did not need to say a word, however, as her facial expression told the whole story. Her eyes were no longer fixated on Rarity, but instead stared in horror at something on the other side of the room. Rarity was probably not completely sure what had caught Applejack's attention but, more than likely, she had a pretty good idea.

"Umm, hi there Sweetie Belle," Applejack stammered awkwardly.

Oh Celestia.

Sweetie Belle stood in motionless shock. Well, least we ain't been caught red hoofed, or scarred Sweetie for life. Oh wait.

Applejack and Rarity scrambled to break away from each other and regain what composure they had left. For a while, not a word was spoken between the three ponies, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Well Rar' this one is for you, cause I sure as hay ain't sayin' anythin' else!

Rarity finally did break the silence. "Umm Sweetie Belle, why are you out of school so early?"

"It's three-thirty, Miss Cheerilee lets us out at three every day," stated Sweetie, who still looked absolutely stunned.

"Oh that's right! Silly me! Silly Rarity!" awkwardly laughed Rarity.

Silence.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay? Exactly what did you see?" asked Rarity as she again broke the awkward silence.

Sweetie Belle gazed into the distance as she told her older sister what she had seen. "Well, I came home and was just wondering where you were. I saw that you weren't home so I figured that you must be over at Sweet Apple Acres because you've been spending so much time with Applejack."

Sweetie Bell suddenly became the oldest pony in the room as the two 'older' mares blushed like two fillies who had been confronted about 'liking colts,' or, in this particular case, 'liking mares.'

"So I decided I would go get Scoot and meet up with Applebloom at the clubhouse, and maybe I would see you there too. Then right when I was about to leave, you and Applejack opened the door. It looked like you had tripped when you were outside or something because you were both up on two hooves and Applejack had you wrapped in her arms. I almost thought you were kissing somepony for a second, but then I saw Applejack and figured that you must have just fell or something."

We're sunk. Well, maybe not. She ain't exactly sure what was happenin', but she's got a pretty dang good idea. Maybe we should jus' tell 'er now and get it over with. Hay, we should probably tell everypony! It's only a matter o' time before they find out anyway!

"That... that is exactly what happened Sweetie! And thank you Applejack for catching me!" emphasized Rarity, whose face bore terribly a false smile.

"Rar'," Applejack began to protest, "Ah think that we need to tell—"

Applejack could not finish her point, as she was interrupted by an apple being shoved into her mouth. "What the hay!? That's my move! Where the hay did she even get... Ah don't even... well I guess Ah do like apples. Ahh what the hay, let's see where this goes." Applejack slowly chewed the apple, letting Rarity continue.

Rarity put on a cheesy smile and tried to salvage the situation, "Sweetie, didn't you say that you were going to get Scootaloo and head over to Applebloom's?" Rarity asked rhetorically.

"Well yes, but—"

"Right! Now come on Sweetie, you don't want to be late!" urged Rarity strongly as she frantically motioned towards Sweetie with her hoof.

Sweetie Belle, although somewhat reluctantly, complied to her sisters requests. "Umm… ok sis, if you say so."

Sweetie Belle trotted off in the direction of Scootaloo's house in a somewhat hurried state. Rarity was sure to send her sister off properly. "Have fun, Sweetie, and be careful! Don’t bother rushing home! Stay as long as you would like!” Sweetie Belle faded from sight.

Not bad, but now that Ah think 'bout it, we really do need to tell everypony

Rarity quickly slammed the door shut. "Well, that was a close call!"

Applejack shot her a dirty look.

"What!?"

Applejack looked Rarity right in the eyes. "You know Ah don't like liars, Rar'."

Rarity defended her actions. "Oh be reasonable Applejack, you know we couldn't let Sweetie know about us! How would she react?"

Applejack made sure that Rarity got the message. "We've been puttin' on this show for almost month now, and Ah've had 'bout enough of it. Ah'm the element of honesty Rarity, and Ah just can't take lyin' to our friends and family anymore, we need to come out."

"Applejack, do you know how crazy that sounds?" responded Rarity viciously, "how would our friends even react! What if they reject us? And what about your family! What are Granny Smith and Big Macintosh going to think? How are Sweetie and Applebloom going to respond?"

"Ah don't care anymore Rar', Ah'm sick of livin' two different lives! They'll all figure it out eventually, so we might as well tell 'em now," snapped Applejack with a threatening inclination in her voice.

At this moment, Rarity realized just how serious the whole situation was. She let out a long exasperated sigh. "Okay Applejack, there's no sense arguing with you, you are the only one I know that is just as stubborn as me, and if you are anything like me at all, you will not budge," half-joked Rarity, "but I want to tell our friends first to, as you could say, 'test the waters,' then we can move to family."

"Do ya want to tell 'em individually, or have somethin' like a big get together and tell 'em all at once?" Applejack asked.

Rarity's eyes lit up. "Actually, what you said sounds like a marvelous idea! More or less a 'coming out' party! I like it!"

"Fair enough," responded Applejack sharply, "but we gotta do it sometime soon, okay?"

"Alright," said Rarity who leaned in to embrace her Applejack in a hug.

Applejack let out an almost unnecessarily long sigh, attempting to flush the anger from her body, the hug from her fillyfriend also helped quite a bit too.

"I love you, Applejack," whispered Rarity lovingly.

How can Ah stay mad at that?

"Ah love you too, Rarity," Applejack replied genuinely as few the two ponies just stood completely still without saying a word, locked in a loving embrace.

Sweet Celestia, we should do this more often! How long's it been exactly? A minute? An hour? What the hay, Ah like it? Applejack let the moment continue for a few more precious moments. Ah guess Ah gotta make all the decisions 'round here!

"If they are really our friends, they'll accept us for who we are," reassured Applejack, effectively ending the silence.

"I sure hope so, Applejack," responded Rarity as she planted Applejack a quick but loving kiss on her partner's snout, "I sure hope so."