The roar of wind drowned out any further thoughts. The cool air and cutting wind chilled her fiery frustration. The world around her, by sight, by sound, by scent, it fell away, reduced to eddies and currents and the flow of air across her wings. She flew to escape her worries. They would follow, of course, but up here, they didn't matter.

Ponyville was getting closer now, no longer a clearcut speck of rioting color, she could make out shapes. The school. The castle. The square where Twilight's old library used to be. Marks she had left on the town.

Even this high above the world, her heart still found a way to ache. She streaked down from the sky, no longer aiming for town. She struck cloud, and stayed there.

Burying her face in its softness, letting the chill creep into her bones, she tried not to think, and thought too much, and couldn't hold onto any of it. Her head was spinning. Who was she, if her love of magic was so easily exchanged? Could she force herself to want that back? And she should want it back, shouldn't she? There were things to do, a school to run, she didn't have the time to adjust to being a pegasus. Would she even want to run the school anymore, or could that change too?

She could not identify what made her fundamentally her. It seemed to her that that was the whole point of a cutie mark, until that turned out to be just as malleable as the rest. Twilight had pointed to bits of personality, but that personality was informed by her life, a life bent around unicorn magic. Who could she be, as a pegasus? Not the mare Twilight had come to know. They never would have met.

“Hey!” A familiar voice cut into her thoughts. She buried her head deeper, vaguely wondering if she was cursed.

It shouted again, “Hey! Off the cloud! It's clear skies over Ponyville this evening, and you're in the way. Find another one.”

She could feel the rush of unsettled air as the pegasus maneuvered around to the bottom of the cloud. A hoof punched through the semi-solid form, drilling right up to her snout. It pulled away, and a bright blue face, red-pink eyes, and a shock of rainbow mane filled the view.

Starlight stared. Rainbow Dash stared back, gawking.

“Wait, Starlight?” The pegasus disappeared from the view as she made a quick circle around the cloud, then back to put her face to the viewport, “I mean, nice wings and all, but… huh?”

Starlight dragged herself upright. No getting out of this one. Rainbow Dash was beside her in a flash, and Starlight took a moment to be impressed at the level of skill it must take to move that fast, that easily, using so little space. She could appreciate that sort of thing now.

Maybe she even looked impressed, because Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and smirked, “Not as easy as I make it look, right?” The mare’s eyes dipped to the smear of grass and dirt still coating Starlight's chest, “Buuut maybe you already figured that out.”

“The going up part is easy,” She flexed her own wings with a hint of pride, “Haven't quite gotten down getting down.”

Rainbow Dash laughed, at least, but it trailed off awkwardly, “So what gives? Unicorn experiment gone wrong?”

Starlight's face fell, “Gone right, you could say. Twilight had a new spell to show me, but neither of us knew how it would work out.”

Rainbow Dash shot a look towards Canterlot, “You flew here? That's not a casual trip you know. You're a natural, I guess those kites paid off after all.”

“I wasn't really thinking much about it. It just happened,” She pressed her hooves together, nervous, “Hey, Dash, if you're not too busy, could I ask you for some advice?”

Her eyes went wide, shocked, “You're asking me for advice? Sheesh, who are you, cuz you're definitely not Starlight.”

“I don't know!” Starlight cried out, “That's the whole problem!” Her eyes suddenly blurred, stinging and wet.

“Woah, woah,” Dash’s hooves rose together, placating her, “It was a joke, seriously, you still seem like Starlight Glimmer to me. Tell you what, this is the last cloud to take care of, I'll clear it up and we can go for a fly. That always clears my head.”

Starlight ran her forelegs across her eyes, wiping her vision clear. With a little hop, she took to the air, wings a steady beat to hold her just above the cloud.

Rainbow Dash nodded her approval, a shock of pride that made Starlight puff her chest out just a bit. Dash’s own takeoff was much more casual, she seemed to simply slide into the air. One strong kick blew the cloud into invisible atoms.

“Come on,” She jerked her head towards Ponyville proper, “I'll show you the sights. I took Twilight on a tour when she first got her wings too.”

Starlight's heart dropped in her chest and it took every ounce of control to keep her wings beating and not drop to the ground with it. It should be Twilight showing her the sights, helping her see the world from a new perspective, the way she always did. Rainbow Dash was the last pony she wanted here with her.

That didn't mean Rainbow Dash wasn't the pony she needed right now. Maybe.

She pushed the air beneath her and veered towards Rainbow Dash. The pegasus held a steady, sedate pace, accommodating her in the air just the same way Twilight slowed her own trot. They began to trace a lazy spiral around the edge of town as the sun made for the horizon. Not quite sunset yet, but soon.

Her eyes traced the familiar streets, following tiny dots, going about their lives. She marveled at the name of the town, Ponyville, and how it was anything but. For every little figure she could identify as a pony, there was another that walked on two legs only, a dragon, or the great bulk of a yak, the peregrine forms of griffons and so many more. Twilight's impossible dream of friendship, made real.

“So what's got your head twisted up?” Rainbow Dash posed the question casually while leading them both into a gentle banking turn, still tracing out the perimeter.

“Long story,” She sighed back, exhausted even just reflecting on it.

“The short version, then.”

“Twilight made me a pegasus and I lost my interest in magic, it's like my cutie mark is about flying now, not magic,” She said, “She wants to change me back. I don't want that, but I would, I should. How can I give this up though?” She dove and swooped back up to make the point, reveling in it.

Rainbow Dash whistled a breath through her lips, awed and exasperated in equal measure, “I'd just keep the wings, unicorn magic is nothing but trouble.”

“You wouldn't even be curious? If you knew you would be naturally talented with magic, you wouldn't want to try? Just to know?”

“What, try being an egghead like you and Twi?” She barked a laugh, “Not a chance. I know what I'm about, I don't need unicorn magic messing with my head.”

“Glad it's so simple for you, at least.” She tried not to sound sour.

Rainbow Dash flipped and reclined casually, backstroking through the air with her eyes on Starlight. “Why do you have to pick one?”

Starlight sputtered, shocked enough she had to beat her wings harder to regain altitude, eventually snapping back, “I am not becoming an alicorn, no thanks, not me.”

“Point taken,” Her hooves slipped behind her head, helping to hold it up, “But can't you just, y'know, flip-flop? Twilight figured out the spell, so you can change it up whenever you want, right?”

“It's not an easy spell. She might be the only pony in the world who can even cast it,” She turned the thought over in her mind, poking it full of as many holes as she could, “I wouldn't want to be a burden, she's a busy mare now, busier than ever. Besides, Canterlot is a long way from Ponyville just to ask her to cast some of the most complex spellwork ever devised.”

“That sort of thing gets easier with practice right?” Dash did a barrel roll, and Starlight wasn't sure if she was showing off to make a point, “And Canterlot is only like an hour by train. Faster if you fly straight there. Those sound like excuses to be lazy, AJ is always giving me grief for that.”

“Oh right! I never gave you two a proper congratulations, huh! How'd it happen, making it official?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “I just asked. And then she told me she had been waiting for so long she thought she might have to buck me in the head to knock some sense into me.” She shrugged and added an affectionately grumpy aside, “I dunno why she couldn't ask. You know how the Apples are about their traditions.”

Of course she just asked. It was that simple for her, she and Applejack were just regular ponies to each other. It couldn't be that easy for Starlight. It wasn't any normal pony she wanted to ask.

Unless… Could it? Be that easy? Was that an excuse to be lazy too? And hoping that she might ask first, ask at all, hoping for her to take the decision out of Starlight's hooves, when that was the last thing the princess wanted to do.

“This is all your fault, in a way,” Starlight said suddenly, a nonsequitur linked only with a stray thought.

Rainbow Dash froze, as much as a flying pegasus could freeze without dropping like a stone. Hovering in place, she put her hooves to her hips, a striking figure of righteous indignance. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“You might not even remember giving me that brush. I kept it in my desk. One time, Twilight came to my office for, I don't know, but her feathers were a mess,” Rainbow Dash interrupted with a frustrated groan at that, “I know, I know. I asked if I could brush them for her. She said yes.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, her pose softening, “Oh. You know that's kind of. Uh.”

“She asked me to do it again. Every night, while she studied, trying to figure out how to give me wings. Every night for years, until she moved to Canterlot.”

Dash scratched behind her head, “Maybe it's different for Twilight, she was a unicorn after all, but with pegasi, something like that is um… Uh…” She clearly couldn't find the right word, but the message was clear.

“Yeah, it is pretty uh. Um. Isn't it?” She sighed long and hard, “I tried not to think about it, after she left. Apparently, she thought about it enough to do this.”

“Yeahhh, I'm starting to think this isn't really about the wings.”

Starlight couldn't help but groan. Was she that transparent? But she forced a nod, “It's about… Choices, I guess. I have to jump, don't I? Just like this, just like sprouting wings. I have to know, even if it kills me, because I can't just walk away from it.”

It almost felt demeaning when Rainbow Dash patted the top of her head, right where her horn used to be. Only almost, because it was so very like her. “Look, I can do the Canterlot corridor in twenty minutes. Newbie like you? Forty-five and you'd still make it before sunset.”

Starlight grinned, thought better of attempting a midair hug, and stretched her hoof out for Dash to bump it. “Your advice was actually helpful. Thanks for that.” She spun in the air, set her sights on Canterlot Castle, and shoved her wings through the air.

As she rocketed away, a distant shout caught up to her on the wind, “Could you put that in writing for Applejack for me!?” Starlight almost lost control in a fit of laughter, but off she went.

The only thing left was the leap.

“Twilight!” Starlight cried as she streaked down towards the garden balcony. The princess was still there, huddled at the bench with her attendant, and thank Celestia because Starlight was definitely coming in too fast. She started to pull up right as the cloud of magic once again arrested her momentum, and she struck a clumsy landing. At least the groundskeeper wouldn't have two headaches in the morning.

Twilight looked up, her eyes glassy, twinned trails of damp fur down her cheeks.

Starlight missed the first beat, but not the second, “Come fly with me.”

Twilight fixed her attendant with a wan smile, and the unicorn gracefully backed away. The alicorn, the princess, stood to her full regal height, and shook her head, “Flying at night can be dangerous, and I have to set the sun soon. I'm sorry, Starlight, I really am.”

Starlight's heart dropped, her wings shot out to the side– stupid reflex– and she stomped her hoof into the ground again. “You could set the sun with your eyes closed, in mid-air, upside-down, with a foal dancing on your barrel, and you'd still be able to keep me from crash landing while doing it. Fly with me.”

She didn't wait for an answer, she took off, only a couple dozen feet from the ground, but enough to force Twilight up into the air alongside her.

“Starlight!” She called after her, climbing, gaining on her, “I'm serious! This is dangerous!”

Starlight stopped in the air, wings holding her in place. She set her hooves to her hips and struck the pose no different from Rainbow Dash, “More or less dangerous than magical mad science?”

“That was a mistake too! When you didn't wake up, I spent a whole hour thinking I'd accidentally killed you, or close to it.” Twilight was level with her now, a hoof to her chest.

“None of this was a mistake, it never was. Not a single second I spend with you could ever be a mistake.”

Twilight faltered, dropping a fraction before recovering, “But your cutie mark– your magic, your you?”

“Why should I have to choose? It doesn't matter. If I'm a unicorn, we'll do mad science, we'll bend reality together. If I'm a pegasus, we can fly together, under your sun, under my stars. Even if I was an earth pony, I'd, I don't know! Grow flowers! More flowers than you could ever name, in dazzling bouquets!”

The sun touched the horizon. Almost automatically, Twilight lit her horn and guided it the rest of the way down, slipping it past the curve of the world. It was time, the perfect time, as Twilight looked up and tried to work out the words, Starlight swooped, crashed into her, hugging herself tight to Twilight's chest.

They dropped, tangled together like falcons, plummeting past the balcony, down, down towards the forests below.

“Starlight!” Twilight cried out, trying to work her wings free, pull them upright and upwards. Her opinion was clear, Starlight had gone mad, maybe she wasn't wrong.

“I'm ready to say it now!” She had to shout over the rush of wind, “I love you, Twilight Sparkle! I can't move on, no matter how much I try, no matter how much I lie to myself, that's the truth! Even if you don't feel the same, I have to know, I have to take the plunge, because this can't mean nothing, it just can't!”

Twilight was staring up at the ground, the branches of trees spread like open arms to catch them and shred them. “It always meant everything.” Her words were almost lost to the gale whipping past, but Starlight heard them, felt them in the rumble of Twilight's chest, every hurried heartbeat.

Princess Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes, lit her horn, wrapped them both up tight in her magic, and blinked them out of free fall, back to the balcony.

Upside-down.

They oofed to the ground and fell apart, faces up to the hazy twilit sky. Silence reigned as they both caught their breath. The more the sun’s light faded, the more the stars began to shine through.

“I didn't know how I could ever ask,” Twilight broke the silence first, “So I just didn't. It's terrifying, Starlight. I don't even have to ask, if I even mention something I want to get done, suddenly it's taken care of for me. It's like a whole different sort of magic, ponies at my beck and call, whether I want them or not. Even you, and this whole crazy experiment, just because I asked.”

Starlight flopped over, rested her head on her hooves, “I didn't do this because a princess asked me to. I did it because you did. Because I trust you, and because, clearly, you'd do anything for me. Even the impossible.” She thought for a moment, then laughed, adding, “I didn't even have to ask. You just took care of it.”

She was rewarded with the sight, noticeable even in the dull moonlight, of Twilight's cheeks flushing bright red.

“Say it again, would you?”

Starlight pulled herself a few inches closer, right up to her ear.

“I love you, Twilight Sparkle.”

In a flash, Twilight had Starlight's head between her hooves. She yanked her forward, tilted her own head back, (narrowly avoided goring Starlight with her horn) and kissed Starlight Glimmer.

A brief moment of surprise melted into warm relief. She sank into the kiss, Twilight's head turning as she lowered into the grass beside the alicorn.

Her eyelids drooped, exhaustion setting in. She'd gotten more exercise in one day than she got most moons, most semesters. She let them slide down, let them block out the world. Twilight pressed another kiss to her lips, reassuring, lulling.

She could have fallen asleep like that. Right out there on the cool grass, under her namesake, the stars. Could have, but didn't, because a rumble shook her gut and made a noise almost deafening in the quiet.

Grrrrup.

Her stomach. She was starving. Had she eaten anything at all that day? Half a cookie, perhaps.

Twilight broke out laughing, propping herself up and bending her head to nuzzle against Starlight. “We should do something about that before you pass out, one way or the other.”

“Do the cooks work this late?” Starlight began the long process of getting herself upright through sleepiness and her cramping stomach.

“Absolutely not, but I know where they keep the peanut butter and jelly.”

“Nothing could sound better,” She said before she groaned the whole way to her hooves. Her back was aching, right at the base of her wings. Strained muscles finally realizing they had been pushed to the limit.

“And, I was thinking,” Twilight rose beside her, “It would be a bit of a waste to change you back before we thoroughly research your new condition. If a free spirited pegasus like you can handle being part of a boring unicorn science project for a while, anyways.”

It was all she could do to keep from leaping into the air, and even still her muscles sang with pain at the mere suggestion. “I’m sure I’ll find a way to manage. Unicorn Starlight can thank me later, she's never gonna shut up about this one."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Twilight's head stooped gracefully to place another kiss at Starlight's cheek, "I love her. And you. And even earth pony Starlight. Any version of you, all of them, whatever you want to be, I'll love you all the same."

The words were almost too much, everything she had ever wanted to hear. It felt like the world had dropped out beneath her, all her plans and well tended self-deceptions launched into freefall.

She wasn't worried though, as she walked, held close to the love of her life, she didn't panic, because she knew.

Twilight would catch her. She always did.

Author's Note

it's my fanfiction and i can write an extremely self indulgent and overly long sequel if i want to

who needs to "plan things out" when you can write on vibes and stream of consciousness