Practice Makes Perfect

Twilight stared at the door in the same way she had been for the past ten minutes. She had become very familiar with the pattern of the wood grain, the gentle waves that seemed almost unique to each board that made up the whole structure. She was in the process of trying to work out, mathematically, how likely it was that any two boards were from the same tree based off a study of the grain pattern and it’s inherent tie to the tree’s age and health and she certainly wasn’t procrastinating because she was insanely nervous about spending a night with her g--good friend who she’d been practicing mildly amorous activities with for some time now friends did that all the time didn’t they?

She was on roughly her fifth loop of this little spiral when a sharp pain in her shin made her yelp and look down with a flinch. Twilight locked eyes with a very unamused looking bunny. He had his tiny arms crossed and one foot impatiently tap-tap-tapping against the ground, and as she watched, he made a gesture that rather easily conveyed, Well, get on with it!

Twilight closed her eyes, and ran through the little calming ritual she’d been taught as a filly. Deep breath...hold....release and sweep away the nerves. Deep breath...hold...release and sweep away the nerves. Deep breath....

Twilight knocked on the door. She barely got two knocks in before it swung open, revealing a smiling Fluttershy.

“You came! I didn’t--uh, I mean, please come in!” Fluttershy squeaked excitedly. Twilight stepped inside and paused for a moment as everything hit her at once. First off was the scent--she had expected something rather...earthier from her friends cottage, but the place smelled mostly of lavender and...cinnamon? The place was extremely clean, with no sign of animal fur or feathers. She could hear a soft twittering from the ceiling’s exposed rafters and the occasional scurrying, but the place just felt very….lived in, rather than overrun as she’d secretly feared.

Wait, wasn’t she forgetting some-“Thank you for having me over!” Twilight said when she realized how long she’d just been standing there.

“Of course! I-I did invite you, after all,” Fluttershy said, ears perking up at a ding from what Twilight assumed was the kitchen. “I need to check on the cinnamon rolls! Please, have a seat!”

The pegasus rushed off, leaving Twilight to set her bag--packed carefully in accordance with her studies on the art and science of sleepovers--by the couch and settle on it. The setting sun slanted through the many windows the cottage had, lending everything a wonderful amber radiance. It was very relaxing.

After a moment, Twilight became aware that she was being watched. It was a singularly unnerving feeling, and she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. A moment later, she realized that she could hear Fluttershy in the kitchen--an oven opening, some quiet humming--and absolutely nothing else. Slowly, she looked up to where the birds had been softly twittering before, only to find well over a dozen sets of eyes locked on her, including a few perched on either side of truly nasty looking beaks.

She cast her eyes down, and saw dozens of small critters--rats, mice, ferrets, a pair of snakes, was that a badger?!--staring not so much at her, as into her. The tension stretched on for an agonizing minute as Twilight wondered if she was being...weighed? Judged? Condemned? On and on, like a rubber band, and she just knew something would happen when it snap--

“A few minutes of cooling while the icing sets, and they’ll be ready!” Fluttershy called as she stepped back in, wiping her hands on a dishrag. The birds twittered quietly, the mice and rats and snakes and the badger trundled along and played with one another, and Twilight wondered if she’d just had a hallucinogenic episode.

“Y-you made cinnamon rolls?” she asked rather than think about what just happened. A drowning mare will swim for any shore. “Is that what that smell is? It smells delicious!”

-|-

Twilight hadn’t thought changing into her pajamas would have changed the mood at all, but it had. Settling onto Fluttershy’s comfortable couch with her in her own--lime green with little carrots all over them, while Twilight’s were a pale blue with lavender stripes--she felt...relaxed and at ease, in a way she hadn’t since she’d arrived. Maybe the third cinnamon roll had helped.

Fluttershy sat up and sighed happily, stretching. Twilight’s eyes dipped for a moment. Her eyes paused for a moment at the swell of her friend's breasts, before sliding down further. A line of yellow was exposed by the stretch, and an idle part of Twilight's brain wondered what it would feel like to run her hands along that line. Caressing there, letting her hand slide up a little, under her pajama top.

A little cough pulled her out of her ramblings, and she had to fight not to go bright red as she realized how long she’d just been staring at her friend. Fluttershy, however, didn’t look nearly as nervous as she normally did. A little, yes, but nowhere close to how she usually was at the start of their...practice sessions.

“So, um. I know it’s a little early to go to bed, but I thought...well, we don’t have to, but I’d like to have another...um. I’d like to...practice again? But I think it’d be more comfortable there,” Fluttershy said, cheeks a delicate pink. “I...really liked when we kissed while...um. L-laying down,” she continued, and Twilight could feel her own cheeks heating up a little at the memory. The thought of that again sent a little jolt through her, and some of that heat pooled down, lower in her core.

“I think that's a wonderful idea!” she said excitedly and only a little nervously.

Fluttershy’s smile widened just a little and she stood, offering her hand to the purple unicorn.. To Twilight's surprise Fluttershy gave a little tug once she’d stood, pulling her closer. The pegasus leaned in, and pressed her lips lightly against her friend’s. It took Twilight a moment to respond, shocked by Fluttershy’s uncharacteristic forwardness

It was just a moment though, before she was leaning into the kiss. Fluttershy’s lips were soft againsts hers, and when she let her tongue touch them for a too-brief moment, she tasted cinnamon and the gentle honey-sweet taste of the tea that had accompanied dinner.

Twilight felt something touch her lips, and then pushed past. Fluttershy leaned in closer, one arm sliding around Twilight's waist as the unicorn realized her friend's tongue was in her mouth!

She’d always privately though such displays were just a little...disgusting when she’d seen them before. But this...she couldn’t describe it. She could taste...well, cinnamon and honey, but she felt so close, so...intimate.

The two pulled back almost simultaneously, breathing hard. Fluttershy’s cheeks were a bright pink, and she was fighting to look Twilight in the eye as she smiled slightly. “T-too much?” she asked.

Twilight’s rapid head-shake seemed to put her even more at east.

Their fingers twined together, Fluttershy led the purple unicorn up to her bedroom.

Fluttershy’s bed was incredible. It sank under Twilight weight as she settled onto it, but didn’t give her the smothering, gripped-on-all-sides-sinking-into-marshmallow feeling some of the beds back in the palace in Canterlot had.

Most of that was only registering unconsciously, because Fluttershy was settled next to her, their legs touching. The pegasus wings stretched out in a way Twilight hadn’t seen before, and one actually curled around her for a moment--a moment far too short, as far as she was concerned. Those feathers brushing against her back as the wing re-folded itself sent a strange thrill through the unicorn. Concentrating so much on that, she was surprised to feel a hand on her cheek. She turned at its touch, and Fluttershy’s face was right there.

Their lips met as the pegasus leaned in, and Twilight felt Fluttershy’s lips part again. Her eyes widened as Fluttershy leaned further in. Her wings spread and curled, and Twilight could feel the tip of her tongue running over her own lips.

The unicorn pulled back, breaking the kiss with a little gasp. Uncertainty flit across Fluttershy’s face, and the pegasus shrank back, wings folding behind her once more. “I-I’m sorry. Was it too much?” she asked quietly, looking down.

Twilight could feel her hand pulling away and gave it a squeeze as she put on a smile. “No, no, I just--I wasn’t expecting you to be so...forward. Not that I didn’t like it! It was really really nice. Just...unexpected.”

The pegasus hesitated, mouth half open, and reached up with her free hand to toy with a length of pink hair. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I just...I feel...better here? S-safer. Not that the library isn’t wonderful, but I’m always...worried. About people walking in and s-seeing...me.” Her voice shrank, until the last was barely audible.

“...And you don’t like it when people stare at you,” Twilight murmured. “But that doesn’t worry you here.”

Fluttershy nodded, gaze averted. “I know I’m...safe. And I don’t feel the same way when it’s you looking. N-not anymore, anyway. I don’t mind you looking at me.”

Twilight smiled then, and reached out to touch Fluttershy’s cheek, guiding her gaze up until their eyes met. “I’m glad. Because I like looking at you. I’m happy you feel safe with me. Do you want to continue?” she asked.

Fluttershy bit her lip, and Twilight had to fight back a blush at how unutterably adorable it was. The pegasus nodded slowly, her wings spreading once more as she leaned in, as she had before. Her nervousness seemed to fall away as their lips met once more, and this time Twilight’s parted first, her tongue sliding over her friend's.

Twilight wasn’t even aware she was leaning back until Fluttershy was on top of her. And she found she didn’t mind at all. The weight pressing down on her was exciting, the warmth she felt from their kiss pooling low inside as their bodies pressed together. Her eyes were half-closed as their tongues wrestled, and she found her hands wandering. Fingertips explored the little line of Fluttershy’s stomach that she’d seen before, circling around her sides to caress her lower back slowly as they kissed, slowly and lingering.

When they finally broke and pulled apart, she found herself staring up at Fluttershy. Her wings were half-spread, a canopy of yellow feathers that framed the pink halo of her hair. One of her hands was helping to keep herself propped up a little, while the other...had gone wandering further north than Twilight's own.

It was cupping one of her breasts with a gentle pressure. Fluttershy’s gaze darted down to it and she started to move her hand, looking mortified. Twilight grabbed the pegasus's hand before she could start to apologize and gently put it back, smiling up at her. As encouraging as she could be without saying anything.

Fluttershy looked down, wide eyed, and bit her lip. Her hand shifted slightly, a hesitant squeeze that made Twilight let out a long, drawn out sigh. Then her friend's thumb stroked over the pert little nub capping her breast, just under the fabric of her top making the unicorn's eyes flutter closed as she let out a soft noise. She reached up, tangling a hand in her Fluttershy’s hair to urge her down so their lips could meet again, tongues wrestling.

Twilight let her hands slide under her friends top once more, stroking up her back. She found the taut muscles at the base of the pegasus's wings and felt Fluttershy stiffen and twitch as she did, breaking their kiss. Only a breathy whisper from the pegasus kept her hands where they were, exploring the space between, making Fluttershy gasp quietly and shift in such interesting ways. The pegasus gently squeezed Twilight's breast, eliciting a low moan from the unicorn.

Their legs tangled as they kissed again. Twilight felt Fluttershy’s hand slide under her top, flat against her belly, and was so, so glad she’d decided to sleep how she normally did and forgo a bra, so now there was nothing between those fingers and her breast. The warmth pooling so low in her pulsed as the pegasus's lips crushed against hers and all she could smell was lavender. She felt Fluttershy’s leg between her own, and one of hers raised as Fluttershy shifted down, pressing tighter against her. She shifted her hips up, pressing her groin against the pegasus’s thigh, mirroring her movements, and broke the kiss with a loud gasp at the shock of pleasure she felt.

The two stared into one another's eyes, knowing they were on the precipice of moving farther than either had thought when they’d first started “practicing”. Slowly, hesitantly, Fluttershy whispered, “W-we should...stop. And g-get ready for bed.”

Twilight didn’t want to. She wanted to keep going, to keep kissing the yellow pegasus and find how far their hands could wander, how much they could explore. She wanted more. But she nodded, smiling despite herself. “Y-yeah...we should.”

And soon the two were ensconced beneath the covers. Twilight found she rather liked the position they were in--Fluttershy spooning her from behind, one arm curling over her side, fingers curled with Twilight's own. .

“Sleep well, Twilight,” the pegasus murmured, snuggling against the unicorn. Twilight could feel her breath against her hair, ever so gentle.

“Sleep well, Fluttershy.” she responded. After a moment, she gave her hand a squeeze. “We...should do this again. I really liked it…”

She thought she could feel Fluttershy’s smile. She definitely felt the pegasus plant a soft kiss against the back of her head. “We should,” she murmured in response.

“...Fluttershy? I’m really happy you’re...comfortable with me.”

“...So am I, Twilight.”

A comfortable silence fell over the two. And if, when they woke, Twilight found that Fluttershy’s hand had wandered north once more and found something soft to hold in her sleep...she certainly didn’t mind.