//------------------------------//
// 174. A Little Taste 
// Story: Azure Edge 
// by Leaf Blade 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow groaned and fell flat on her back onto the grass for what must’ve been the fiftieth time, and just like always, the infinitely patient Twilight Sparkle just let out a cute chuckle under her breath.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Twilight said, leaning against a tree in the cozy private garden that she rented out during the party’s stay in Green Neigh. “Magic is rough, especially when you’ve never done it before. But you can do anything with enough practice, plus I believe in you.”

“And I have a great teacher,” Rainbow sat up and grinned at Twilight, who snorted and looked away as her face turned all red.

“You’re just saying that,” Twilight mumbled.

“Only cuz I mean it,” Rainbow jumped up and put her hand on the tree beside Twilight’s head, floating just off the ground to be at eye level with Twilight, who looked into Rainbow’s eyes with a look of surprise that quickly melted into affection.

“You’re sweet,” Twilight hummed, her thumb rubbing against Rainbow’s cheek. “Do you wanna take a break?”

“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough for one day,” Rainbow sighed, but she was proud of herself for excluding the word ‘failure’ from that sentence. “You say it’s easier after you’ve done it for the first time, but I feel like I’m never gonna get there! I wish there was a way for me to get like, a little taste of using magic! Just a little bit! As a treat!”

“Well I mean, there is,” Twilight muttered, tapping her thumbs together, “it’s just kinda awkward and I didn’t want to bring it up in case you were uncomfortable with it.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow’s attention was laser focused on Twilight now, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.

“I uh, I just mean that there’s um—”

Twilight puffed up her cheeks, but Rainbow needed to hear this information so she squished her own cheek right up against Twilight’s and gave her the most inquisitive look possible until Twilight just blurted out what Rainbow wanted to hear.

“There’s a spell that lets two people share magic but to activate it we’d need to kiss okay there you go so you don’t wanna do that or anything so I’ll just let you be on your—”

“Wait hold up,” Rainbow put up her hands before Twilight talked herself into a tizzy or something. “What exactly does the spell do?”

“It would allow me to share with you a fraction of my magic,” Twilight explained, remarkably calmly given how blushy and sweaty she looked. “You wouldn’t be able to do all the things that I can do, but you would have the raw magical energy to tap into your own­— well, to create your own spells, basically.”

“That sounds awesome!” Rainbow pumped her fists and grinned ear to ear. “Why aren’t we doing that like right now?”

“Cuz like I said!” Twilight’s voice cracked as she hit some kind of world record octave. “It would require us to, y’know.”

“What if I already wanna kiss you?” Rainbow whispered in Twilight’s ear, soft smile on her face and eyes half-lidded. She wasn’t sure if it was coming off as like ‘bedroom eyes’ or ‘stoner eyes’ though.

“U-uh, w-well then, I uh,” Twilight stammered, eyes wide and face pink like an undercooked steak. “Then I guess um, that I uhm, you would be—”

“How ‘bout I give you some time to think about it,” Rainbow cackled and flew away from Twilight, perching on a tree branch a few feet from her. “I gotta go anyway, I took a mission while I was here, and Fluttershy agreed to go with me, so we gotta make plans.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Twilight said with a shaky smile and nod, clearly still stuck in her own brain thinking of Rainbow, who did tend to have that kinda effect on people.

“And once I get back-” Rainbow zipped over to the tree branch right behind Twilight, Rainbow holding herself up by her legs as she dangled herself down from the branch to meet Twilight’s eyes “-I would really like for you to share your magic with me, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight sighed and let her lips come mere inches from Rainbow’s, before she lost herself to a fit of giggles and backed away, Rainbow grinning at how silly and cute she was. “Rainbow Dash, it would be my pleasure.”