I managed to wake up on time for once, and I don’t need a psychologist to tell me why. The Canterlot Kite Festival couldn’t be timed more perfectly. Now, how to bring it up? I was halfway through with my breakfast when I heard a familiar yawn to my right.

None other than Starlight herself trudged through the doorway, eyes half closed, ears halfway down, obviously only half awake. She didn’t seem to notice me as she grabbed her own plate of food from the counter stacked with various breakfast foods. Pancakes, eggs, toast, muffins, you name it. Spike spoils us. I’ve got to thank him at some point.

Starlight turned and sat down across the table from me. She took a couple bites before stopping, eyes widening, with her third halfway to her mouth. She gazed up at my smirking face as I was attempting to stifle a giggle. I couldn’t help myself and just chuckled to myself.

Her face flushed as she finished her third bite before smacking the top of my head with her fork. “Ow!” I exclaimed, a smile still plastered on my face.

“What’s so funny?” Starlight asked as she took another bite.

I let out a few final chuckles before answering, “Not really funny, you’re just cute when you’re tired.” There she goes, blushing again. “And also when you blush like that.” Her blush deepened and she just returned to her food, mumbling about something or other.

I guess this is as good of a time as any to ask. “Hey, Glim?” She looked back at me, a single eyebrow raised. “Wanna go to Canterlot this weekend with me?”

Her dissipating blush returned in full force, cute, and her eyebrow somehow raised slightly higher. Gulping down the food in her mouth, she responded, “Uh, what’s in Canterlot?”

I leaned on the table. “Oh, nothing much,” I say nonchalantly. “Just the Canterlot Kite Festival.”

Her mouth hung slightly agape, eyes wide as probably possible. “That exists?!”

I allow myself a small smirk. “Yeah, but since you haven’t even heard of it, I’ll assume you’re not interes-”

“NO!” She all but screamed as she practically leapt over the table, knocking me onto the floor, pinning me, her face mere inches from mine. “Please, let’s go!”

Gathering myself after the commotion, I chuckled at her before reaching up and booping her muzzle. Her face scrunched up and her eyes went crossed. “I figured you’d want to, don’t worry.”

When she regained her senses, she noticed her position on top of me and quickly got off with a light blush. “Sorry...” she said, giggling nervously and shifting on her hooves.

Damn she’s cute when she does that. I rose to my feat and ruffled her mane slightly. “Let’s finish our breakfast, then we’ll head to the train station and get our tickets, that way we don’t have to worry about it the day of. The lines on the weekend always suck.”

Starlight sat back down in front of her food, face still flushed, and a dopey smile on her face. “Sounds good to me.” She said, taking occasional glances at me.

I sat down as well, finishing my own breakfast, looking forward to the weekend.

A loud knock sounded off at my door, rousing me from my sweet slumber. I groaned my disapproval.

“Seth! Get up, we're going to be late!” I heard Starlight from outside my door.

I opened my eyes a bit and glanced at my bedside clock to see it was a quarter til six in the morning. Mustering up my strength, I tiredly yelled out, “Starlight, the train doesn't leave for another three hours. Let me sleep through one of them.”

A burst of light appeared on top of me, blinding me as I felt a weight on my stomach. “Please~? I want to make sure everything is ready, and I could really use your help.”

I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to cure my temporary blindness. Opening my eyes, I find favorite pony and best friend sitting on me, giving me those damn sad puppy dog eyes she likes to use. Not being able to take the cuteness any longer, I sighed and conceded. “Fine. But you owe me.” I said, giving her a wink.

If I didn't know any better I'd say she blushed before composing herself. “Yes! Thank you! Come on!” she said, dragging me out of bed with her magic.

We made it about halfway down the hall before I decided to bring my current predicament to her attention. “Yo Glim, you don't have to drag me all the way to the festival.”

She turned and realized she had been dragging me by my arm the whole time. And with a small squeak, she dropped my arm. “Sorry, I guess I'm just a little excited.” She said with a nervous giggle.

That’s when I came up with an idea to tease her a bit. “It’s all good, you can restrain me all you like.” I said with a sly grin.

This time, I know I saw her blush. “I, uh… hehe… Well, our bags aren’t going to pack themselves!”

I chuckled and followed her down the hall to a storage closet where we kept most of our things that we didn’t use often. With her magic, Starlight opened the door, grabbed her soft pink suitcase, and not so gently threw my dark purple suitcase at my chest. It hit me with a thump and I had to take a step back. “Yo, what was that for?” I asked.

She threw a sly smile at me, mimicking my previous smirk. “For teasing me like that. Now go put that in your room and come down to the dining room. I already have breakfast prepared.”

“Yes, Mom.” I blew a raspberry at her and smiled as I turned and headed back to my room to toss the suitcase in it.

I walked downstairs to the castles dining room, or from my perspective, dining cathedral. Seriously, that thing was massive and had no place being that big. But I digress. I opened the doors to the dining room to see Starlight placing a couple plates with omelets on them on the table.

“Omelets? Are you actually my mother?” I joked, gaining her attention.

She looked at me with a small smile. “Well, you can call me mommy if you want.” she retorted. Now it was my turn to blush, unable to come up with a comeback. The sound of giggling brought me out of my stupor. “You alright there, Seth? I was only teasing.”

I shook my head to clear my... thoughts. “Uh, yeah. Where’s my food?” I said in an attempt to change the topic.

Starlight giggled. “Right here.” She gestured to the plate to her left and patted the seat in front of it.

I sat down next to her and proceeded to take my first bite of my omelet, only to be taken aback by how good it was. “Holy shit, Starlight. Did you make this?”

She turned to me, a confused expression adorning her face. “Uh, yeah? No one else is up. Why?”

“This shit is wonderful! I don’t think I’ve ever had eggs that taste this fantastic before.” I took another bite and suppressed a satisfied moan. Then I turned to face her again, but with a serious expression. “Will you marry me?”

Her face exploded into a visible blush that made me instinctually press my foot against a non-existent brake pedal. “Let’s just make it past today.” she responds, her blush deepening.

Huh, usually she either changes the subject or comes back at me. I thought as I continue eating my own piece of heaven. Wait, what about today? “What’s today?”

“Uh, our date?” she responds with a nervous look. “Right?”

Date? Oh shit, she thinks the festival was me asking her out? I didn’t mean to do that! Fuck, how am I going to fix this? She’s my best friend, I don’t wanna ruin that! Is this even salvageable now?

Wait, does that mean she’s interested in me? I don’t even like ponies like that! I mean, I joke around when I flirt with her, I think… I was joking, right? I joke flirt with all the mares I know, don’t I?

…

Nope, only Starlight.

I mean, sure they’re cute as fuck, but they’re ponies! They do talk and think like people, but they’re ponies! Alright, I’ll admit some of them have nice asses, but ponies! And the way Starlight looks at me whenever I do something nice for her makes me feel butterflies, and the way she styles her mane when we hang out is pretty sexy, but… but…

And that’s when it hit me. Starlight Glimmer, my best friend across both worlds, at the very least, was romantically interested in me. And thinking about it a bit more, I think the feeling is mutual. And at this point, I’d been staring at my food for a solid minute and a half while my friend is probably feeling pretty shitty because it looks like I turned her down.

I heard a sniffle from next to me. “It’s okay, Seth… I thought… We… The teasing...” She sighed. “I’ll run and cancel our tickets… You can go back to sleep if you want...”

She gets up to do so, but I react quickly and sit her back down. “Woah, hold up. Don’t do that.”

Starlight refused to look at me, and instead, stared at her own plate. “Why? It’s clear you didn’t mean what… what I thought you meant, so why continue?” she said between sniffles. Tears began to flow down her face

I reach over and turn her face towards me, forcing her to look me in the eyes. I wiped away the tears from her face with my thumb and smiled slightly. “Because, while I didn’t mean to ask you out, I do mean this; You are a wonderful mare, Starlight. You’ve stuck with me, an alien who dropped into town randomly, through a lot and asked for nothing in return, and that means a lot to me.” She tried to pull away, but I pulled her back. “Look, what I’m trying to say is, I like you Starlight. I like you a lot. And I’d be thrilled to go on a date with you.”

Her mouth opened slightly, and all I could see was surprise as her wide eyes shimmered in the morning sun. I pulled my hand away, smiling. She stared at me for about ten seconds or so before reaching up to place her hooves on my shoulders and kissing me.

To say I was shocked is an understatement. My eyes went wide before I gave in halfway through and leaned back into it. While it only lasted for a few seconds, it was far from unpleasant. The fur on her lips was a bit weird, but nice.

She broke the kiss and went back to sitting on her own seat. “Um, sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I said. “I liked it.”

“Can we do it more?” she asked sheepishly.

I give her a smirk. “Let’s just make it past today.”

Author's Note

Added the actual scene where Seth asks Starlight to go to the festival and edited the other bits to contain more thoughts. Hope the pacing is at least a bit better.

Also, I will be writing chapter 3 during the road trip to BronyCon tomorrow!

As always, hope you enjoy!