Up To The Highest Height

by stillinbeta

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 5116

Starlight and Rainbow Dash build a kite

Starlight Glimmer really likes kites. Rainbow Dash crashes into things. When Rainbow destroys one of Starlight's creations, she agrees to help replace it. And wouldn't you know it, she turns out to be pretty good at it! That's probably why she looks forward to hanging out so much...

Published 2017-05-09 22:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-05-09 22:40:01 UTC

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Rainbow Dash was having a good morning. At least to the extent such a thing was possible. Her ideal “morning” was getting up around noon, getting in a quick workout, and then maybe a solid nap or two. She had to be in peak physical condition, after all, and resting was the most important part of that. Probably.

To her regret, though, sometimes being the manager of the Ponyville weather team meant getting up when the sun rose, or on certain, extra-uncool days, even earlier than that. Today was just a sunrise shift, but even so she found herself yawning as she finished pushing the last fluffy cloud into place.

Still, it had been a productive morning. Contrary to what some annoying orange earth ponies thought, Rainbow took great pride in her work, and enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done. It was no stunt flying, to be sure, but this was important work, and she was very awesome at it. Just like everything else she did.

She smiled to herself in satisfaction and flew into a large box kite.

Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria, weather pony, and full-fledged Wonderbolt, was no stranger to a crash. How does the awesomest pony in Equestria deal with a nickname like “Rainbow Crash?” She became the most awesome at crashing, of course. She had a mental checklist of procedures that she ran through in a crash-like situation, and the rapidly approaching ground told her this was just such a time.

The best way to crash, of course, was to not crash at all. A quick flexing of her wings, though, told her that was not going to be an option. Her left wing was tangled in a knot of kite string, and a giant knot of fabric pinned her right. Wings. Pinned. Don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic.

Think, think. Falling, gotta slow down. She flared her wings as best she could, but the ground was still coming up awfully fast, and if anything it might be even faster than before. Right. No wings. Can’t slow down. A few shakes of her wing to free the debris just bound them tighter. Not good! Not good not good not...

Can’t stop, can’t slow down. She felt the panic leave her as she realised there was nothing she could do. If she was gonna crash, better make it a Rainbow Crash. She curled herself into into a ball to maximise the debris, let out a giant yell, shut her eyes, and prepared for impact. It was pretty anticlimactic when it didn’t happen.

“Ahh! My Kite! What did you do? Do you have any idea how much work I put into this? I spent days getting the balance of the ribbons right, and the weather won’t be right for flying Maregrave kites for weeks!”

Rainbow opened her eyes to a world bathed in turquoise. A very upset looking Starlight Glimmer held her and the remains of the kite in her magic, ranting about “ballast” or something. This was unusual. Usually when she crashed, at least near Ponyville, someone would come out and check that she was okay, but Starlight didn’t even seem to notice she was there.

“Uh, little help here?” Rainbow struggled a bit against her colourful cloth bonds.

“Oh, right, yes. Hi Rainbow, are you okay?” The cords unwound themselves and the cloth pulled out of her wings. The fact that they tugged a couple feathers out and left a few rope burns on their way out was probably an accident.

Rainbow flexed a wing experimentally. Sore, and would need a thorough preening, but all the primaries were still there. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good. Now I can go back to being mad at you for destroying my handiwork.” Starlight’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Rainbow gave what she hoped was a disarming pout and clutched one of her hooves. “I mean, ahhh, my leg, I can’t walk on it, I think it’s broken! Ahhhhh!”

She opened one eye cautiously. Starlight looked back at her, an eyebrow quirked skeptically. Rainbow knew the “I’m not buying it” face very well.

“Okay, fine. No yelling. But only because you’re so cute.”

Wait, what?

“You’re going to help me fix it, though.” A tangled pile of what had once been a kite lifted themselves in Starlight's magic. “Or maybe we’ll have to start from scratch.”

Rainbow sighed. The kite looked like it had taken a lot of work. Starlight wasn’t milking it either, she looked pretty upset.

“Okay, okay, I’ll help you. But didn’t you say the last one took you days? I’m working two jobs, you know! I don’t have a lot of free time!” Rainbow spread her wings and got ready to take off again.

Starlight grabbed her in her magic again. “Guess you’ll just have to get up early.”

Rainbow groaned. “How early are we talkin’ here?”

“What kind of pony gets up at six in the morning on purpose?” Rainbow complained to a bowl of Froot Hooves.

The cereal stared back at her with dozens of brightly coloured eyes.

“I mean seriously, she’s a student. She can probably sleep as late as she wanted.”

The cereal kept staring, though with noticeably less eyes. Rainbow noisily lapped up a couple more.

“It’s probably Twilight rubbing off on her. I don’t think that mare ever sleeps more than an hour at a time.”

The empty bowl of sugary milk was giving her a funny look. She slurped it up defiantly.

“No wonder she’s so uncool. You gotta sleep in to be as awesome as me.”

The empty bowl stood before her, defeated. She carried it over to an already overflowing sink. Doing the dishes was not awesome, but she should probably make time for it at some point. Right now, though, she was late.

Technically Rainbow’s cloud house had a door, but it was really more of a formality than anything else. A quick look out the kitchen window showed a view of Sweet Apple acres, which meant Twilight’s castle was through her bedroom. Trotting over to her cloud bed, she crouched briefly and jumped through the open “window.” Her wings extended and she glided gracefully towards the Castle of Friendship.

After making a graceful landing on the castle’s deck, then picking herself off the ground, checking for damage, and giving her wings a quick preen after said flawless landing, Rainbow wandered into the castle to find Starlight Glimmer. That was easier said than done. The castle seemed to have hundreds of passages, all of which looked identical. Even Twilight had trouble navigating this place sometimes. She had mentioned something about it being “non-Hoofclidean” which Rainbow had immediately tuned out.

“Rainbow? Is that you?”

Ah. Speak of the Nightmare, there was the egghead herself.

“What are you doing here so early? Is everything okay?” Twilight was making her Concerned Princess face. Rainbow hated that face.

“Everything’s awesome, Twilight, don’t worry. I’m just looking for Starlight.”

“At six in the morning?” The Skeptical Twilight face was better than Concerned Princess, at least.

“Yeah, I uh, said I’d help her fix her kite.” Rainbow grinned sheepishly. She hated admitting she’d done something so uncool.

“Oh, I didn’t realise she flew kites.”

Huh.

“Apparently she does! So, Any idea where I can find the Princess of Brainwashing?”

Annoyed Twilight was a good face. Rainbow was very familiar with it.

“Probably in the library. Down this hallway, first left, third right, second left, up the stairs, then through the double doors.”

“First right, third second, up the double doors, then second stairs. Got it.”

Twilight just rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’ll walk you over.”

“Thanks, egghead.” Twilight flinched as Rainbow slapped her on the back affectionately.

“Let’s go before I change my mind.”

Twilight trotted off down the hallway, Rainbow hovering just behind her. Corridor led to hallway led to passage, all completely indistinguishable. This was why she hated doors. Doors just led to more rooms. Windows always led outside. Easy.

“Good morning, Starlight!”

Apparently they had arrived. And there was the kite mare herself, drinking a mug of cocoa and reading a magazine.

She looked up from her reading. “Morning, Twilight. Oh, and you too Rainbow!”

“Why do you sound surprised?”

“Well, I wasn’t really sure you’d show. Honestly I usually sleep in, I just told you to get up this early to mess with you.” She smirked.

“Hey, you’re talking to the Element of Loyalty here! A promise is a promise for me. And double-hey, that was totally not cool! I need my beauty sleep!”

Starlight smirked. “I think you’re doing just fine as you are.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by a polite cough from a blushing Twilight. “I’ll just... leave you two uh, to it.”

“Have a good morning, Twilight.”

“See ya, egghead.”

Twilight waved a hoof over her shoulders as she walked quickly out of the library.

The two mares watched her leave, then looked at each other. Rainbow was not suddenly nervous, because that wouldn’t be awesome.

“So, uh, Starlight.”

“Yes, Rainbow?” Starlight was still smirking, because of course she was.

“Are we gonna make a kite or what?”

The smirk turned into a much friendlier smile. “Do you actually want to? I know that I told you you had to come here, but I was kind of just messing with you. I know a lot about kites and you’re not exactly an engineer, so if you just wanna go back to bed I totally get it.”

Rainbow considered this. Going back to bed did sound pretty good right now. The Wonderbolts were out for the summer, and the weather for today was a cloudless, sunny day. But a deal was a deal. “Rainbow Dash never goes back on her word.” Her ears flattened. “And I do feel pretty bad about destroying your kite, it looked like a lot of work. So yeah, let’s do this.”

Starlight’s smile widened. Her horn flared and grabbed her coffee. “Thanks, Rainbow, that means a lot to me. My atelier is right by my room.”

Rainbow once again tuned out the various twists and turns of the corridors Starlight led them down. She did notice, however, that the door they’d arrived at was emblazoned with Starlight’s cutie mark. She considered making a snide comment about an equals sign, but for whatever reason thought better of it.

The door next to Starlight’s swung open, then, and the scent of wood and glue wafted out into the hallway. Starlight thrust a hoof out gave a weak smile. “Welcome to my workshop. My uh, kite cave.”

Rainbow peered inside. A rack on the far wall held various sizes of wooden boards and dowels. A giant rack of hoof tools was propped up on an enormous crystal work table. Bolts of cloth in number and variety that might well make Rarity jealous sat neatly ordered on a nearby table, along with tightly-wound spools of rope and thread. Everything was neatly labelled and completely spotless.

All of that paled, however, in comparison to what hung from the ceiling. Dozens of brightly coloured, elegant kites hung suspended from the ceiling. Some were boxy shapes, like the one Rainbow had run into, but others were shaped like triangles, pinwheels, and even bright cloth animals. One that caught her eye was a perfect reproduction of a robin, complete with delicately painted feet. A yellow butterfly with elaborate wing markings hung in the centre of the room.

There was only one word for it. “Beautiful,” Rainbow breathed. “This is amazing, Starlight. You did this all by yourself?”

She looked over and saw the unicorn was blushing. “Thank you. It’s pretty much just me, yeah, and a lot of books.”

Rainbow flew up to inspect the robin that had caught her eye. “And they all really fly?”

“For the most part. Some better than others. That one looks really pretty, but it takes a pretty strong wind to even get it off the ground.”

Rainbow blew an experimental gust of wind at it with her wings. She heard a gasp from Starlight as the kite tugged on the strings attaching it to the ceiling, but it hung fast.

“Well no wonder, the wings are completely the wrong shape.”

“Really? I copied them right out of the book.” Starlight frowned, then peered up at the now-swinging bird.

“What kind of book was it?”

“Uhh, ornithology?”

Rainbow gave her a blank look.

“The study of birds.”

“Well, I dunno what the book thought wings looked like, but it’s nothing like that.” She landed and extended a cyan wing to to the unicorn. “See the long feathers at the end? Those are called primaries. They help generate lift. These wings are way too stubby. Maybe if they were actively flapping it’d work, but there’s no way they’d generate enough pressure to actually glide.”

Starlight looked at the wing, then she looked at the kite. In a flash of turquoise magic, a notebook appeared in front of her and started scribbling frantically with a quill. Rainbow stood there a little awkwardly. She tried to fold her wing up, but Starlight grabbed it with her magic and held it open. That tickled a bit, but it also felt kind of... nice?

“You’re a lot smarter than I gave you credit for, Rainbow.”

“Well, I’m no egghead like you and Twilight, but I’m the best flier in Equestria. I know my way around a wing.”

The two stood there for a second, just looking at each other. Then Rainbow coughed. “Um, Starlight? Can I have my wing back now?”

“Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry, of course!” Her magic disappeared and the wing fell down at her sides. Rainbow stretched it out a bit before tucking it neatly at her sides.

Was Starlight blushing? Was she blushing? Her face definitely felt warm. Sure, wings were pretty sensitive but that was no reason to blush. Blushing definitely wasn’t awesome. At least not on her...

“So! Kites!” Starlight announced. She was definitely blushing. That was probably why she was walking away so quickly. “I was going to make another box kite, but I think with your expertise a swallow might be a bit more fun.”

“Wait, swallow? You mean like, eat it!?”

Starlight face-hoofed. “No, Rainbow, a swallow kite. It’s named after... nevermind. Now, what colour should it be?”

Rainbow snorted. “Blue, obviously. And do you have anything rainbow-coloured?”

Every day for the next week, Rainbow’s alarm went off at six a.m., and every day she grumbled into her cereal. She told herself that she didn’t need to go, that her debt was well and proper repaid, but nonetheless every morning found her in Starlight’s artelly-whatever. By the third day, she had figured out what window lead to the workshop, and Starlight just left it open for her. By the fifth day, Starlight had started bringing pastries from Sugar Cube Corner.

Rainbow learned a lot about woodworking and fabric during their days together. She also learned that she retained a lot more than she thought she had during her days in the classroom at the Wonderbolt academy. But the most surprising thing she learned was that she was genuinely looking forward to seeing Starlight each morning. It didn’t happen all at once, but she began to really enjoy the unicorn’s company. She was very smart, super passionate, and, Rainbow was alarmed to discover, extremely cute.

So Rainbow was actually quite disappointed when Starlight announced one morning that their creation was finished.

It wasn’t just one kite, of course. They’d gone through several iterations, bouncing ideas off each other, experimenting, and getting into the occasional argument. Starlight had converted one of the lesser-used hallways into a Rainbow-powered wind tunnel. But after a bunch of design iterations, the Dashlight (mark seven) was done, and ready for field testing.

“Are you sure?” Rainbow scrutinised their creation. “Maybe another round of tensile flow tests? Are we sure we picked the right gauge of string?”

Starlight gave her trademark smirk. It was as maddening as it was adorable. “And you call me the egghead.”

“Hey! I just want this kite to be awesome!”

“And you think this isn’t?”

She may not have been Applejack, but there was no way she could lie about this. The kite had kept her initial suggestion of cyan fabric, but it had traded its totally cool rainbow tails for purple and green ones. They’d been Rainbow’s suggestion, in fact. For some reason Starlight got really flustered when she suggested it. That mare was so awkward.

“Listen,” Starlight continued. “I know this stuff is fun, but the best part of a kite is flying it. I picked this up to give myself an excuse to get outside every once in awhile, and staying inside all the time kind of defeats the purpose.”

“Okay, okay. We’ll go fly the thing. Where are we headed?” Rainbow started flying towards the window.

“Right now we’re not headed anywhere. Look outside.”

Rainbow did not need to look outside to know there was thunderstorm going on. She’d been an hour late getting to the castle because she’d been setting it up. It was a pretty good one, too, if she did say so herself, which she did. The thunderheads were perfectly aligned to work out the excess energy in the clouds without damaging anything important in ponyville, and the rain was giving a much-needed soaking to the surrounding farms.

“Have you ever hear the story of Benjamare Franklin?” Starlight asked.

“Did she fly kites?”

“She flew a kite in a thunderstorm and got electrocuted. She almost died.”

“Oh.” Rainbow put a hoof on her chin. “Well that’s no big deal. I’ll just get up there and take the storm apart. Time me, I bet I can do it in under a minute.”

Rainbow rocketed out the window, only to be pulled back in by Starlight’s magic. It seemed like that happened a lot lately.

“I hate to be that mare, but isn’t there a reason we’re having a thunderstorm today?” Starlight set Rainbow down gently on the crystal floor of the workshop.

“Well yeah, there’s too much magic in the clouds right now that needs to be drained, and Sweet Apple Acres was way overdue for a watering. But –”

“And aren’t those things important?”

Rainbow flattened her ears. “Yeah, I guess. And last time I cancelled a rainstorm on her, Applejack made me sleep on the couch.”

Starlight quirked an eyebrow. “Um, don’t you have your own house? In the sky maybe, where it would be really difficult for an earth pony to go?”

“That’s what I said! She said it was ‘the principle of the thing’ or whatever.”

Starlight was probably trying not to laugh. Rainbow could tell because she was laughing pretty hard.

“Hey, you weren’t there! Applejack can be very insistent!”

“Oh, I’m sure, I’m sure,” Starlight managed to get out from between a fit of giggles.

“Okay, so no flying today.” Rainbow changed the subject.

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“So, uh, what now then?”

Starlight frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t have to go back to work for another couple hours, what are we going to do?”

“Rainbow whatever debt you thought you had has been completely paid off by now. You’re not required to hang around here. What do you usually do this time of day? Isn’t there a cloud you could nap on or something?”

As Starlight spoke, Rainbow’s ears lowered until they were flat against her head. Maybe it was time to take off. She started to slink towards the door.

“Wait, Rainbow are you okay? Did I say something wrong? Oh horsefeathers, was that too much? I’m so bad at this, I’m sorry!” At least this time Starlight didn’t grab Rainbow in her magic.

“I... I like hanging out with you okay? I don’t say that to a lot of ponies, and if you repeat it to anyone else I’m gonna deny it, but it’s been really nice hanging out with you.”

Rainbow hated having to get all sappy, but sometimes you had to jump off a cloud if you wanted to fly.

“Hey, Rainbow?”

“What?”

“You wanna go grab some coffee?”

Rainbow hated coffee. “That’d be cool.”

“Come on, let’s see if we can find the kitchen.” Starlight trotted out the door of the workshop, and down the maze of twisted passages. Rainbow didn’t even spare a glance at the window before she flew after her.

“You could’ve told me you didn’t like coffee, Rainbow.” Starlight gave her trademark smirk.

Rainbow put the mug down and stopped pretending to make what she had thought was appreciative noises. “I don’t get how you and Twilight can drink this stuff. It tastes like that time Pinkie tried to make dirt muffins.”

Starlight snorted. “Or maybe like the muffins Sugar Belle served in that town I brainwashed.”

“I wasn’t gonna say it.” Rainbow wasn’t sure if she should laugh or not, but she decided to go for it. “That was a special kind of awful, though.”

“The first time I tried them I almost gave up on the entire project then and there. Only time I ever doubted myself. I guess I should’ve been doing a lot more of that.”

Rainbow just coughed politely. Starlight was really good at making things awkward. Maybe one of these days she’d ascend and become the Princess of Oversharing.

“Anyway, what do you like? I think we’ve got some soda in the fridge.”

“Do you have any apple juice?”

“Heh, I guess that makes sense. Lemme check.” Starlight got up to rummage around, leaving Rainbow to wonder what exactly she meant by that. She didn’t have long, though, as a triumphant-looking Starlight returned levitating two bottles bearing Sweet Apple Acres’ distinctive logo.

“Don’t want your coffee?” Rainbow pointed a wing at the two bottles.

“You were right. Coffee is gross.” Starlight levitated one of the bottles to Rainbow, who grabbed one in a hoof. Another flash of magic and the bottle caps disappeared.

“Cheers.”

“Cheers.” Starlight clinked her bottle against Rainbow’s and they both took a drink.

“So when do you think we’re gonna be able to fly this thing?” Rainbow broke a brief, comfortable silence.

“Well, there’s a lot of factors to consider. Wind speed, cloud cover, ambient temperature...”

“Hey, remember who you’re talking to. I'm the Rainbow Dash. There’s two things I know: weather, and flying, and you already know how good I am at the second one.” She flashed her best winning smile at Starlight. “Let’s talk shop.”

Starlight’s eye lit up, just like they did every time she got excited about something. Rainbow was used to that expression with Twilight, but with Starlight it was different. Maybe it was because she actually knew what Starlight was talking about, but more importantly Rainbow actually had things to say. Twilight ranted at Rainbow, but Starlight and Rainbow discussed. It was the only time she felt smart.

“So obviously it’s easier to fly the kites on a cloudless day,” Starlight started off.

“Well sure it’s easier to see the kite, but we definitely don’t want a totally clear sky. You can learn a lot about the state of the sky by watching clouds. The speed of the clouds gives you wind speed, and fluffy clouds might indicate thermals.”

“What’s a thermal?”

“Oh, you’ll love this. It’s a current of warm air that rises straight up. I use them to get up to higher altitudes without working too hard.”

“That’s perfect! What causes them?”

“It’s kinda complicated, but basically you just need a couple of the right clouds in the

right place. I could make one in my sleep.”

“Perfect! Now, about the temperature differentials...”

The two bounced ideas back and forth, getting more and more animated. Neither of them noticed time passing, until a certain purple alicorn interrupted them.

“Um, am I interrupting something?” Twilight poked her head in through the kitchen door, face flushed.

Rainbow looked down to see she and Starlight had gotten much closer together over the course of their conversation. At this point they were practically muzzle to muzzle on the bench. They both hurriedly separated, faces hot. Rainbow did so by taking to the air and since the kitchen lacked a window, scrambled for the door.

“It was uh, really good to see you, Starlight, but I’m late for uhhh, weatherbolts practice squad!” Rainbow took off before either of them could respond, zigzagging randomly through the castle until she found a window.

“That was not awesome, Rainbow Dash. You’re not scared of anything, why did you just rush out of there?”

She had forgotten that it was still storming when she flew out, and she was quickly drenched. Being wet was fine, but flying with damp wings was tricky, and soaked wings verged on impossible. She sprinted towards her cloud house and flew into the nearest window.

“I’ll make it up to her tomorrow,” she told herself. “Hopefully that's soon enough.”

The next morning Rainbow’s alarm went off while the moon was still in the sky. She flew all the way out to Cloudsdale, which was a half hour round trip this time of year, and called in a few favours. A couple of special clouds, a few high-level wind currents, a couple of low pressure fronts coming in from Canterlot and her work was done.

To top it all off, she swung by Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie was her usual chipper self, despite the still-early hour.

“Hiya, Dashie! You’re up early!”

“Hey, Pinks. Can you do me a favour?”

“Absa-total-lutely! Pinkie Pie is on the case, what do you need? Villains vanquished? Friendships mended? Oooh! Oooh! Do you need a party?!”

“Uh, I just wanted to know Starlight’s favourite kind of pastry.”

If Pinkie was disappointed, she definitely didn’t show it. “Of course! She likes double chocolate muffins with caramel sauce and chocolate sprinkles!”

“Wouldn’t that be triple chocolate then?”

Pinkie was silent for a second, then dashed off back into the kitchen. A very tired Mrs. Cake walked out after her.

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash. Can I get you anything?”

“Do you have any, uh, double chocolate muffins with caramel sauce and sprinkles?”

“Yeah, I think Pinkie just made a batch. How many do you want?”

“Just two should do it. Thanks!”

Rainbow tossed a couple bits onto the counter, threw the muffins into her saddlebags and headed for the Castle.

She found Starlight in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee. It didn’t look like the unicorn had got enough sleep.

“Good Morning, Starlight! I brought you muffins.”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! Wow, you’re up early. And uh, here. I wasn’t sure you were actually gonna come back after, y’know, what happened yesterday. I’m sorry, by the way, I didn’t mean to... ooh are those triple chocolate caramel?”

“Ugh, I knew it! And we can talk about our feelings later, Starlight. We have a kite to fly.”

Starlight smiled and got to her feet. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The two of them walked (and flew) in silence to Starlight’s workshop. They grabbed the kite, triple checked it for any flaws, and headed for the door.

“Grab my hoof,” Starlight announced.

What.

“What?” Rainbow landed and looked at her.

“Just... take my hoof.”

Rainbow did. It felt... nice. It was a lot softer than it looked. She was just starting to enjoy it when there was a pop of magic and the two of them appeared in the field they’d met on, was it only a week ago? Time sure flew.

Starlight looked up at the nearly cloudless sky. A light breeze blew through the grass, the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. There was a light chill in the air, just enough leave frost on the grass.

“It’s perfect, Rainbow.”

“Of course it is! Like I said, I know weather.” She blushed, then added, “But thank you.”

“Well, moment of truth.” Starlight grabbed the kite bobbin in her magic, and got ready to launch it. Then she hesitated. “Hey, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I think you should have the honours.”

“What are you talking about, Starlight? This is like, your thing!”

“You worked just as hard on this as I did, Rainbow. I think you should do it. I’ve launched dozens of these kites, and it’s a special feeling. I want you to experience it.”

“How about this, Starlight. We do it together.”

“Together?”

“Yeah.”

“Rainbow stood up behind Starlight and wrapped her hooves around her, gripping the bobbin with one hoof and the kite with another. “Is, uh, this okay?”

“It’s perfect. On three?”

“On Three. One, two, THREE!”

They carefully let line out of the bobbin as the kite soared up into the sky. Starlight was right, this was a magical experience. Of course, the mare she was holding in her hooves definitely didn’t hurt.

The kite rose high into the sky, taking up line as quickly as they could feed it. Pretty soon it was just a cyan dot, barely visible against the perfect blue sky.

“This is nice,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah.” Starlight nestled ever so slightly deeper into Rainbow. “Thank you.”

“Hey, Starlight? Can you take the line in your magic for a second?”

A familiar tingle took the bobbin out of Rainbow’s hooves. “Sure, why?”

Rainbow flushed. This was it. The moment was perfect. She swallowed the lump in her throat, calmed the butterflies, and spun Starlight around with her hooves. “Because I really wanna kiss you right now.”

Starlight turned bright red. “Is Applejack gonna make you sleep on the couch again?”

“She'd only do that if I didn't if I didn't ask. I've uh, kinda been talking about you a lot.” Rainbow had been told she turned slightly purple when she blushed. She probably perfectly matched Starlight's mane right now.

“That’s lucky for us, because I really want to kiss you too”

And so they did.

There’s nothing really quite like a first kiss with somepony. It may not be the best kiss, when everypony’s still figuring out what they like, but there’s a spark of magic that can never be reproduced. A spark of magic that might, say, distract a powerful unicorn from holding onto her kite string, and require her new marefriend to take off into the air to chase it, but fail to catch it before it falls into the Everfree forest.

Fortunately, making the kite is half the fun.

Author's Note

Thanks to Krickis and Robin for all their help proofreading and editing!