[Story/Chapter Tester]

Twilight Sparkle looked down.

Then she felt her gut twist into an even tighter knot than it already was.

It was a strange thing. It was a mix of many things. Rainbow going on and on about how it's good for one's self to take a flight somewhere up into the sky all alone, as far as one could be from anypony else. There was her own curiosity about what was up above them all the time. To get closer to Celestia's celestial ball of light, or Luna's lunar body. To see and be with the wonders of the heavens above.

'I don't remember why I ever thought this was a good idea. I don't remember how I agreed with myself to this.'

Twilight didn't quite expect it to get so... eery, lonely, and... dark. Upon a small cloud she had conjured up for herself to stand on and catch her breath, she observed the world glow below her.

Even the sight took her down from her trembling stance down to her knees. Sitting, she continued to stare at her vast surroundings. Off to her sides, the globe dipped down, dropping to a darkening blue, and above the curving horizon was just black. Just... dark.

She gulped down air, the height getting to her even more. She had remembered that air became thinner the higher one went, and so she had cast a spell on herself earlier to counteract altitude. With every nervous breath she took air rushed into her lungs furiously. She didn't feel it, actually, but she knew what was happening.

It was amplified as she was the only audible sound in her vicinity. The silence pressed against her ears. She felt herself as a lonely speck in a very large universe.

And yet, sitting upon her tiny cloud, she wondered, 'What's higher up?'

Twilight didn't know and it wasn't the time to find out. She hadn't really prepared for such a journey.

Besides preparation, she wasn't up to it in the first place. She felt her spine chill every time she saw land, be it below her or straight ahead at the horizon. She felt herself chill from how high up she was.

Twilight didn't really like heights. Sure, she had been an alicorn for a while by now, but she hadn't been used to the 'wings' thing her entire life. Her natural instincts- her inborn senses- told her that height was bad. Within her brain, her genetics were screaming at her that being really high up was not good for a unicorn's health.

Naturally, she safely cast aside those warnings for survival, given that they didn't really apply to her anymore. Or at least attempted to consciously cast them aside. Still, she consciously knew that subconsciously she was still not at agreeable terms with her current situation.

'42,000 meters... 42,000 meters...' "I'm in the stratosphere... I've been in the stratosphere... since more than 10,000 meters ago..."

Yes, thinking statistically would get her head straight and composure settled down. Recite the facts. Remind herself that she knew what spot she was in and that knowledge was power. And with that power, she still had control over her situation.

"... The air is extremely thin... and oxygen in breathable form is actually starting to decompose at these heights... ha ha..."

Okay, well, mostly had control over her situation. Twilight knew she had stepped into the trap of analyzing a fairly precarious scenario, which really just served to accentuate the kind of spot she had flew herself into. She had control over that, and she chose to inform herself of where she was.

It comforted her to know how insane of a position she was in, if that made sense to herself. She looked down at the dot that was Ponyville. Or what might have been Ponyville. It was hard to tell against the slightly larger and darker green spot that might have been the Everfree Forest.

"Ha ha, yeah, that's quite a drop."

Twilight hovered a hoof in front of her gaze, moving it over the landscape below. With a single slight motion of her hoof, she spanned the Canterlot Mountain Range. Bringing her eyes farther up revealed the Frozen North, where the Crystal Empire lay. For the alicorn, the wintery land seemed quite warm at that moment.

The glowing blue line of the edge of the horizon brought her eyes farther up. The curvature of the earth still continued to impress her. The thin line of the atmosphere curving away reminded her of the emotions running within her at that moment. A thin fence between the comforts of familiarity and safety, and the thrill of somewhere new and bold and definitely frightening.

Twilight sighed, and it mentally clicked in her head that it was only by magic that she was actually breathing.

"Well... flying up here was kind of hard... since wing magic does work by manipulating the air around it. I'm not sure if evolution ever intended for ponies to go up this high..."

Upon her little cloud, Twilight took one last chance to take in her surroundings. The Eastern Sea was not far away at all. Every city on the coast she felt like she could reach out and touch.

Twilight truly felt like a princess right then. With just a lift of a hoof, she could reach out to any pony in Equestria from her small floating throne in the heavens. Everywhere below her was her land, and even farther out, she could still reach out and touch. She could touch the world.

But even with the world so vast, her own home called for her. The humble surroundings she had settled within with the ones she was close with. From far above, they were as small as anyone else could be, but to her, they were so much more. Twilight couldn't resist craning her neck around one last time.

"I wonder if this is how Celestia feels... So powerful... yet somewhat disconnected... I used to wonder before, but now, don't think I can fathom how important to her getting Luna back was."

Twilight looked up. The black void opened up to her again. Somewhere out there was Luna's moon. Even farther from Equestria than her small cloud in the stratosphere. So far from home.

Twilight peered over the edge of her cloud.

"I think it's time to go home."