[Story/Chapter Tester]

Celestia returned herself to the present after that part of her memory. The first fall was the most frightening. Despite her appearance at that point in history- a fully matured alicorn- she couldn't help but look back at that first flight and think how inexperienced and naive she was. Even a century later, she already thought that about her past self.

If distance was one value Celestia had different perspectives on, time was another. Few ever did put long lengths of time in proper perspective.

As for Celestia, she learned it the hard way. One thousand years she was without Luna. Her sister's embraces. Her sister's voice. Her sister's comforting presence.

Celestia sighed as she looked at the world in front of her. Civilization had gone a long way since her first flights. There were actually visible signs of civilization from space now. Artificial constructs so great in size, usually cities but there have been some other things, that they managed to make a visible mark on the Earth.

And yet, even then, the Earth felt so indifferent to the passage of time. She may have been old, but she was young compared to the Earth. And yet, throughout the eons, it just spun and spun and spun, seemingly without care as to what happened on its surface.

When she thought about it that way, Equestria eventually forgetting Luna's importance throughout the millennia of her banishment felt insignificant. It felt wrong to Celestia, that ponies eventually did not see Luna the same way as those did during their time. And yet, here was her entire planet, drifting through a universe so immense that it made everything that ever occurred on the Earth feel insignificant.

The thought used to keep Celestia up at night, accompanying her longing for her sister, but she got over it. After all, despite how insignificant they might be, that was just in the perspective of everything. However, Celestia came to the conclusion that her own perspective was equally as significant, and so whatever happened in her time on Earth was significant.

And because Celestia's own perspective mattered, Luna mattered, and that was good enough for her, no matter what anything else thought of Luna.

And for the ones around Celestia, her happiness was important, and that was enough of a reason for them...

"Firefly, I thank you again for taking this time to fly with me."

"It is no matter, Princess; anything for you. But if I may ask, what do you believe I could contribute to your enormous task?"

General Firefly was one of the most skilled pegasi in Equestria, and certainly the easiest to reach for Celestia. The pink mare had a wonderful aura of life, and she flew as if the sky was hers, something that no one could take from her. Celestia shared her joy in flying as they flew together, lazily making their way across the sky.

"I am only one pony," Celestia answered as she flew inverted, staring up deep into the sky. "Though wise and experienced I might be, this new goal I seek is beyond even my own wisdom. As you know, Star Swirl and his intelligent apprentice Clover the Clever assist me in my task as well, but they are unicorns. You, however, are a pegasus, and so you are naturally in touch with matters regarding flight and the sky."

Firefly nodded, but was still unsure. "But you've flown higher than anypony has ever had. I am still unsure if I will be of any assistance."

"As I said, I am only one pony, and you are the pegasus I have chosen to aid me in my journey," Celestia answered. "Two minds..." Celestia paused as she remembered the rightful half of her pair, lost to a seemingly unreachable place, "... are greater than one."

Firefly must have felt Celestia's thoughts in that pause, as she firmly nodded and accepted her role. "Then I will try my best to help you, Princess. What currently concerns you about the matter that you believe I will be of help with?"

Celestia went straight to the point. "When I fly high enough, I can no longer use my wings to control my flight. Even unicorn magic coursed through my wings have no effect. I have since determined that the air is much too thin or becomes non-existent at extremely high altitudes."

The pegasus rolled around Celestia, switching sides as made the maneuver to loosen her muscles. "Interesting. We have known the limitations because of the thin air to breathe and fly upon, but the air completely disappears? Fascinating."

"And so it seems that even with my great magic, I cannot simply fly to the moon," Celestia said. "After I had left the air behind, I remained in the abyss of a dark, black sky without any way to control myself. I should mention, however, that the view is beautiful from so high up. The world, as I saw it, was a circle. Round, I think, even."

"Round?" Firefly echoed. "I will take your word about the view; I can only imagine how far you could see."

"Well, it is also incredibly cold," Celestia added. "And it was quite jarring to have lost control over my direction. However, it seemed that since I flew so fast, I threw myself at a speed so quickly that I continued to drift upward for a short time."

"I’d imagine so, Princess. Lack of air drag would mean you could go on forever if you were not pulled back down to the earth. Could you not use your unicorn magic to do anything?" Firefly asked.

"I could not think of any way," Celestia replied. "I even tried to move the sun during my time there, but I could not manipulate it. It was very puzzling."

"Have you told Clover these details yet? She is very intelligent in many practices."

"I have, and she continues her meticulous work. But I also chose to discuss it with you, as perhaps your pegasus heritage will help shine a new light on this mystery from a different perspective."

Firefly paused, mulling over what Celestia had told her. She flew over Celestia, facing downwards to look at her conversation partner. "If you tried to move the sun, does that not mean telekinesis is in play?"

Celestia considered the question. "I... I believe it should be. But when I tried to move it in the manner that I normally do, it had no effect."

"But if you could grab onto it, could you not move yourself?" Firefly suggested.

"No, telekinesis does not work like that. At least, it should not. I felt no effect upon my body when I attempted to move the sun. And unicorn magic does not function in that way- I cannot grab an object and pull myself towards it. I can only grab objects and move them relative to myself."

"So you cannot simply grab ahold of the moon and pull yourself towards it?"

"No. And despite the moon being an object that my magic can affect, I can only move the moon across the sky, not move it closer. It is set in its path."

"But is there not a spell that allows a unicorn to levitate themselves?"

Celestia put a hoof to her chin. "There is. But I am not sure how that would apply."

"What if, when you can no longer use flight magic, you resort to such levitation magic instead?" Firefly suggested.

The alicorn was struck into silence. It could solve the problem if it worked. But that's how problem-solving went- a good idea comes up and seems like the solution, but one couldn't simply rush to it as if it was the solution. It had to be considered. Tested.

But it did seem like it was a solution.

"How difficult is the spell to perform?" Firefly said, as Celestia was not able to form a reply. "In fact, how does the spell work?"

"That is... a good suggestion, and those are good questions," Celestia answered. "Levitating one's self requires enough effort to lift one's self, so that is one consideration. The process also requires a continuous expenditure of magic, so it is also physically straining.

"As for how it works..." Celestia thought about her studies and the studies of many unicorns. "When levitating other objects, the anchor point is the unicorn, but when levitating one's self, the unicorn cannot move relative to themselves. They move relative to the ground, and so the ground is treated as the anchor point."

"I know that when a unicorn levitates an object, they can only reach so far," Firefly said. "I have always thought that unicorns never levitated themselves so high because of their uneasiness to the heights, but is it because of these reasons also?"

Celestia flew out from underneath Firefly and repositioned herself alongside the pegasus. "A combination of all factors, yes. I should note that levitation of one's self is more difficult vertically than horizontally. I am wondering what effects these will have if I attempt to use it when at a high altitude."

"Your magic is strong, Princess. Can you not simply use such levitation to bring yourself to the moon?" Firefly thought about another point. "In fact, since you have such great magical potential, can you not simply teleport yourself to the moon?"

"According to Luna, she had always thought about the possibility," Celestia answered. "But she was unsure how far the distance was. Teleportation over a vast distance is both exhausting and difficult to perform. If the moon is, in fact, so distant, then such a solution may not be easy to come by."

"Trial and error?"

"Although spells have been developed that return one's self to their origin, I do not think it would be a reliable or safe path to take. And it is the same answer to levitating myself to the moon. I do not know how far it is.”

“Do you even know what to expect if it turns out you can fly to the moon?” Firefly asked.

Celestia looked away. The pegasus had a point. She was trying to achieve a goal without even being sure as to what was at the end. The moon was said to be a stone in the sky, but that was it. “I suppose these are questions that I must search the answers to over time, and have others help me in solving the universe’s mysteries.”

“Pegasi learn to fly in small hops,” Firefly said. “But at least we know where we’re flying to.”

“Then I’ll have to explore the unknown and learn. Then I’ll know.”

Celestia remained still during her entire time reminiscing. In that time, her position in orbit had moved so that the Earth was no longer straight in front of her, but she was instead starting to peek over it under the sun and into the great beyond. Before the next flight, she didn’t think of it as ‘peeking over’, but instead staring at the edge.

Oh, how wrong she was.

She looked back at her acquaintance with Firefly with fondness. The mare always aimed to please. Her legacy to Equestria was, of course, the Wonderbolts, a showcase of the love of flight.

Firefly’s legacy to Celestia, however, was bringing her one step closer to the moon. Or, as it felt at the time, halfway to anywhere...

The wind whistled past Celestia’s ears.

Her heart beat in her ears and her breathing was deep and methodical.

It was her next flight deep into the sky. This time, however, she was armed with the idea of a new method to control her movement once the air had disappeared. She had left the ground at an astonishing speed; anyone watching would think she was trying to leave the world right then.

Celestia didn’t plan on it this time, but she kept the idea seated in her mind. It was about mid-morning when she left, giving her ample daytime for her journey of discovery.

Before leaving, she consulted Clover the Clever, who suggested that she take along some parchment and a stick of charcoal or two to write some notes about what she observed; Clover thought that ink would have been much too messy to use in flight. Celestia also brought along the latest map they had available, both as a navigation aid and to see if there were any corrections she could make.

Based on Celestia’s previous flight, they had plenty to learn about the world, and anything to further their knowledge about the world they lived in was welcome.

Celestia thought that the saddlebags would hinder her ability to fly by adding extra drag, but it didn’t seem to be the case. She continued to rocket upwards without any trouble, nor any discomfort from the bags.

Soon enough, she rose above the horizon and her unicorn magic-enhanced wings became ineffective. It was time to try out the new idea.

Celestia cast the self-levitation spell. Her magic enveloped her body, and immediately, she felt herself gain control of her orientation.

“Ha! Ha ha!” She continued to laugh in joy as she twirled around, looking at her surroundings. She was able to focus on the sights, now that she was in control of where she was facing.

Next, she attempted to move around in some direction. Curious, she tried to move herself higher up.

It occurred to Celestia that after a minute of applying magic, she’d have no way of knowing if it was working. Due to her vast magical potential, she wasn’t one to be easily tired, but she knew for a fact that over time, travel by pegasus magic flight was much less intensive than by whatever methods unicorns had access to.

For now, she would have to experiment close to the Earth. ‘Close’, in a relative sense, as she was high up enough that her home was a barely visible dot on the land.

‘At least I have learned to identify where home is from so high up...’

Celestia looked to the edge of the world. Clover asked the alicorn to record her findings, so why not start with finding out what was at the end of the world? At least she was close enough that she could fall back down to the ground if needed.

Right?

Steeling her nerves, Celestia applied the self-levitation magic and began moving in what seemed like an eastward direction. She watched the ground as she continued to move herself along, but Celestia wasn’t sure if she could tell if she was moving. Movement in the horizontal plane was not too strenuous, so she figured that she could keep it up for a while.

And for a while she did.

After what may have been half an hour, she had definitely moved over the land, but she did not feel any closer to the edge of the world.

‘It has not been very long. I should keep going. The world is very large, after all.’

Celestia kept up the application of her magic almost absentmindedly. At the same time, she decided that it was as good of a time as any to take out some parchment and begin taking notes.

As she pulled herself through the sky with her magic, Celestia took note of the world below. The shape of the landmasses. The seas.

She cocked her head and pulled out her map.

‘I don’t... believe any of these have been charted.’

Celestia looked behind her in what seemed like a westward direction and found the coastline of Equestria. From there, she began her cartography work.

All the while, she kept pulling herself farther eastward.

Celestia smiled fondly as she looked at the Earth below her. If she were on the ground, it would be about mid-morning. The terminator between day and night was visible behind her, if barely. Beyond it, the Earth darkened, almost to a complete blackness. Celestia looked at it now as a fact of nature, something that simply was.

Although as of this moment, she had left the dark of the Earth, falling around the planet ever eastward, she couldn’t help but remember her first encounter with the line of twilight.

Celestia remembered her naive self’s emotions. It absolutely terrified her…

There was no sound except for Celestia’s own breathing as she continued to move towards the edge of the Earth.

At least, Celestia thought it was the edge.

It wasn’t making any sense to her. She had been watching it closely and what she watched absolutely baffled her. Over the course of about ten minutes, she saw lands roll away into darkness.

They seemed to disappear into the abyss!

If that were true, though, then Equestria would meet the same fate!

... Or would it?

Celestia wasn’t sure, but at the rate it was happening, Equestria still had hours if she estimated the rate of movement by the land, combined with her new knowledge of lands she had passed over.

Perhaps about twelve hours.

At that estimate, Celestia’s expression went from wide-eyed concern to puzzlement. At twelve hours, the day ended, the sun set, and the dark of the night came upon them.

The dark of the night, that is, with Luna’s moon providing some luminance.

Then a second thought occurred to her. Where was Luna’s moon?

Celestia thought about the process. It was normally brought up during the night, but in actuality, it could be brought up at any time.

In fact, such was the case with both heavenly bodies. And for the first time that she could remember, she really questioned why the sun and moon traveled across the sky, the same direction every cycle. From east to west.

They traveled under the land, right? That was the accepted belief. But what exactly did 'under the land' mean? What was 'under the land'?

Celestia decided that continuing on in her flight would be her course of action. It was a journey of discovery after all.

After ten minutes, she was near. And... all felt the same. Celestia was still pulling herself along all the same as before. The darkness frightened her, but she built up her courage to go on.

Nearer. And nearer. Celestia kept up the self-levitation spell, pulling herself across the surface.

She was beginning to have doubts. What if the underside was something not meant for ponykind? What if it led to some other realm? What if, if she continued, she would never return home? Lost to eternity. She would not have reached Luna, and when Luna returned, she would not be Luna. She would still be Nightmare Moon, the abomination that robbed her of her sister.

The doubt was building up so strongly in Celestia that her will to go on was disappearing.

Until she saw it rise above the dark horizon.

The Moon, and on it, the image of a mare imprinted on its face. It shone brightly in the darkness, a light in the dark of the night.

“Luna?...”

Celestia felt so scared. She was so far from anywhere she knew. She didn't even know where she was flying to.

Celestia felt so alone. She felt forgettable, as if crossing that dark border would mean she would cease to exist.

And at that moment, Celestia also felt whole, for in her solitude/solidarity, she was accompanied by her sister. Both alone in an endless abyss, looking down at the land below where everyone went on living their lives.

“I will not stop, Luna. I will find a way.”

The sight of the Moon brought Celestia’s determination to a level higher than ever. Now, she was sure that she would venture on, despite the darkness. Should Celestia need comforting, all she needed to do was look up to her sister.

With that settled, Celestia set herself to go into that deep night.

The alicorn resolved to simply go forward as she had been doing. Which, strangely, she could not sense any difference between when she had started and the current moment- for what she estimated was almost an hour, she had simply commanded her magic to move her forward. No changes in altitude. She approached the border between light and dark with no difference in orientation that she could feel.

Further into the darkness she went. Soon enough, the last rays of the Sun disappeared around the horizon, leaving Celestia alone to herself and what she assumed was the dark underside of the Earth.

To help calm her anxiety, Celestia oriented herself to face the bright Moon. Astronomers said that it was bright because the light of the Sun shone on it, and its surface was such that it reflected the intense sunlight back.

Celestia took some comfort in that fact. It was another way that she and Luna were connected.

"Oh, Luna," Celestia spoke as she looked at the Sun. "Help me through this. It's so dark. I hope I can return to Equestria safely."

Celestia stared at the moon a little longer, then noticed the surrounding backdrop.

Stars.

So many of them dotted the scene before Celestia.

"Night," Celestia smiled. "It's... like night."

Celestia wondered if star charts would have been of use to her right then. She cast a spell to provide herself some light to allow herself to continue taking notes with her writing materials.

'Perhaps with more knowledge, I can make use of star charts to aid my navigation. As of now, however, I don't believe they would have been of much use.'

Absentmindedly, Celestia kept her levitation magic running, continuing to pull her over the land at a speed she no longer knew. Going straight felt like the right thing to do. If the Sun and Moon traveled underneath the land to return to the same starting positions, then eventually she must appear on the other side again, she reasoned.

And soon enough, her hypothesis was proven correct. Celestia's mouth opened in a happy smile upon seeing the Sun peek its rays over the horizon. She was going home.

Around ten minutes later, Celestia caught sight of the world’s edge below her again. Except this time, new land seemed to be coming up from the darkness.

‘No, that is how one would try to rationalize it… If the world is actually round, then that would mean…  as the Sun goes across the sky, it actually goes around the world? That would mean… there are even more lands we did not know about. And if it is daytime on one side… then it is nighttime on the other?’

Celestia pictured the world as a large ball, just as some of those astronomers suggested. She figured that when she returned home, she would have to speak with them. Celestia expected them to be ecstatic about the prospect of such findings.

She was suddenly curious about how long she had been gone. They told the time by observing the position of the sun above them, but in her position, that was not an option. She only had her instinct to go upon, and her estimate was around an hour and a half.

The thought remained with Celestia as she passed over into daytime.

Although she was now back in the land of the light, worry remained that she still did not know where she was. Even referring to her map, Celestia could not recognize any of the landforms.

‘I only traveled in a straight line… where could I be?’

Celestia recalled the angle of the sun from when she left and concluded that she should just keep moving forward. With natural light now available to her once more, the alicorn resumed her note taking without aid from her horn’s light. Before, she drew landforms, trying to help create a new, larger map of the world.

Now she drew the world, trying to trace the path she took and calculate her position. Hopefully she could figure out where she was relative to Equestria.

Celestia tried and tried for a few minutes, but finally admitted defeat that her own mind was not up to the task, at least not with what little she could cite as fact. After stowing away the parchment and charcoal sticks in her saddlebags, she began her plan to descend. To do so, she change the force she was applying on herself, stopping with her forward application of magic and instead directing her telekinetic pull downwards.

The horizon began rising higher, and Celestia figured that she must have begun her fall. However, she also noted that the ground below her was moving… fairly quickly.

‘How did I apply the self-levitation magic again?...”

Was she moving herself forward or was she adding speed to her movement forward?

A minute or so went by before Celestia felt air begin moving past her wings. The alicorn quickly followed her instinct and began controlling her orientation through the normal pegasus methods. She oriented herself in such a way that she presented the largest area of her wings against her direction of descent.

Faster and faster Celestia went. She could feel the air being caught in her wings and against her body.

Heat began building up again, and with that, Celestia hid herself behind a shield. As she continued falling, she saw the air hitting her shield glow hot. It was only brief, but she took note of the occurrance.

Celestia knew that air did not take too kindly to fast moving objects, and so she figured that hiding behind her shield was an acceptable course of action, even without showing her wings to the airstream. The air would slow her down to manageable flight speeds of its own accord.

She listened to her instincts, feeling her inertia. When she felt it was right, Celestia dissipated her shield and began flying naturally.

The land Celestia had descended to was an arid desert. Her sun shone high above the dry land, and Celestia felt its warmth, something she missed after the cold of the high atmosphere. It may have been empty, but it also helped her locate some sort of settlement more easily. There was one such city ahead of her.

Celestia flew down, intending to land just outside of its borders.

When her hooves set down on the sand, she found a few figures standing some distance away.

They looked like ponies. Except a little different in form.

They saw her figure and began to back away. Celestia called out after them. “Do not be afraid! I come with no intentions of harm! I have descended from high up in the sky and I am lost. I am trying to find my way home!”

The figures nodded slowly. Celestia approached them carefully. She held a brief conversation with them, then they pointed Celestia towards the city. They said it was towards their capital.

After a little bit of flying, she found herself at the entrance. Guards met the strange figure, but Celestia was taken in without much incident.

And that was how she started a relationship with the Saddle Arabians.

The Arabians aided Celestia in navigating her way home. Though there were no maps large enough to work off of, they were able to work from Celestia’s details of time, direction, description of the lands’ movement, and location of the sun.

After a quick hop back into the aether directed northeast, Celestia found Equestria’s western borders and from there, was able to find her way back. She returned from her grand adventure with a weary mind, more than happy to set hoof back home.

“Clover! How long was I gone?! Has it been a day? The passage of time escapes me.”

Clover stuck her head out of a nearby window. “Judging by the position of the sun, no more than six hours.”

“Six… hours?”

Clover noted the look of surprise, confusion, and awe in her princess’s face. “What did you find?”

Celestia removed her saddlebag slowly placing it on a table. As she took out the sheets of parchment she wrote on, “Only what may be the most magnificent discoveries for ponykind yet…”