1,000 Years, 7,000 Meters Per Second

by The Grey Pegasus

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure
Length: 15606

It's a long, long way up, and a long, long time to wait. ||| A twist on the “Celestia’s millennium of lament” story.

An alicorn can fly, fly so very high, high above the sky.

Celestia recalls the evolution of her love of flying.
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A twist on the “Celestia’s millennium of lament” story. This one includes hypersonic velocities (although if you read the title, it was probably obvious).

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The third story in the Flight: Altitude series, a series focused on the sensual experience of flying high.
30,000 Feet || Stratosphere

Published 2015-08-06 05:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-06 05:50:02 UTC

600,000 Meters

1,000 Years, 7,000 Meters Per Second
By: The Grey Pegasus

There was no sound.

All was quiet except for her breathing and her thoughts.

Down at the ground, they built skyscrapers. To ponies on the ground, those skyscrapers reached for the heavens. For winged creatures like Celestia, they were merely stepping stones to the skies.

Canterlot was a great city upon the side of a high mountain, and palace spires pointed towards the heavens. The city of unicorn nobles looked down across Equestria, their eyes looking over all of the land they owned. But for Celestia, it was only an earthly throne. Now, she looked down at the Earth, her eyes searching across the land she shared with all creation.

Looking straight ahead, Celestia was met no longer with just the vast land stretching ahead, but also the vast darkness of the universe of infinite size. Even more so on the dark side of the Earth, the Sun hidden away by her home. It wasn't a common thought, to think of the terrestrial rock as covering the Sun. But to be so high up and away—it was all she could think of.

Celestia saw the world fall away as the Earth rolled away into space. This was her planet. They were but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. Even herself. And for but a few hours, the alicorn had chosen to escape her small speck of dust for some time to meditate by herself.

It was a tradition of Celestia's to go up and take some time alone. Down on the ground, Equestria always felt so big. So many petty things to worry about. It was a difficult life, albeit one she had grown accustomed to. No, she did not intend on neglecting her duties every time she took such a flight. Instead, Celestia viewed it as a way to return everything to a proper perspective. That the multitude of lives on the blue marble below her interconnected in so many ways, and that those webs of lives created the vast picture of life she saw before her right then.

Celestia twirled effortlessly as she orbited the Earth, wings relaxed against her sides. With proper maneuvering and application of magic, she stopped her movement, looking away from the planet. She left just an hour before sunset. The flight up to low Earth orbit had brought her far across the globe. Celestia found herself deep into the night side, but if she craned her head up, the atmosphere of the Earth glowed a dull orange, refracting the sunlight.

Oh, the Sun. Celestia was connected with it for as long as she could remember. So long ago, so very young, she remembered her desire to experience her sun...

"Oh Celestia, what are you thinking now?"

It was the light voice of Celestia's dearest sister, Luna. They were barely matured at the time. No longer fillies, but not quite grown mares yet.

Celestia turned to answer."We are supposed to be the masters of the Sun and Moon. Have you ever wondered what they're really like? It just feels... so... potent."

Luna considered. "I have, Tia, but what about it?"

"I want to know. To experience it. To find myself next to it and know the truth of the Sun."

"The truth, Tia?"

"Just look around us. All the life... given by the Sun."

Luna nuzzled up to Celestia. "And I believe there is no better caretaker of the Sun than you, Tia."

Celestia walked forward, engrossed in her thoughts.

"Sister?"

"I just... want to know." Celestia turned to her younger sister with a smile. "Maybe... I could..."

"But Tia, they say it is not possible," Luna said, her expression falling. "That it is something ponykind is not meant to experience."

"They say I am to be the regent of the Sun," Celestia replied. "Perhaps it is different for me."

"Oh, Tia..." Luna's face began turning into a frown, if only concerned for her sister's safety.

Celestia sensed it. "Do not worry, Luna. I will return safely."

"But you do not even know how long the journey may be. And the Pegasi—they have told tales of what happens to ponies that try to fly towards the Sun. They do not even near it. They are unable to, as if the universe itself is telling us that it is not meant to be. That any flier is stopped by being unable to physically go on, and that they are forced to return to the earth."

"But we are alicorns," Celestia replied. "And connected with those heavenly bodies. Maybe it will be different, Luna. I will see what the universe will say to me. I will not be gone for very long."

And with that, Celestia took to the skies, deciding to go on a flight of discovery on a whim. She recalled the tales of the Pegasi. How it got harder to breathe as one flew higher up. She cast a spell that she figured would work. And she prayed.

Her powerful wings, already some of the largest in Equestria, effortlessly flapped to higher and higher altitudes. It was only a few minutes of flight, but Celestia did not expect the air to become so cold as she left the clouds below. Nervous chills did not help either. She did not expect to feel so lonely so high up. She did not even expect such a flight to be so quick. How long had it been? Mere minutes?

But the Sun enticed her. Its rays continued shining down upon her. Celestia's breathing grew heavier as she exerted herself to go even higher. She recalled her lessons in flight. How flight was limited by one's magic potential. And as an alicorn, that potential was very, very great.

Celestia flapped harder and harder. But it was soon evident that all her flapping would not get her anywhere. Not only that, but it was getting even harder to breathe.

'No... am I... am I not worthy either?'

The thought passed through Celestia's mind as she finally fell to exhaustion, then fell to the gravitational pull of the Earth. She fell and fell, and her tired body closed tight as she rushed downwards.

Then she felt a strange sensation. She only registered it for a few moments until she felt herself break through some sort of barrier. But she didn't hear anything. She was clueless as to what happened, but she was still not slowing down. Instead, there was a new feeling building up in her wings. Celestia barely registered that as well before she felt flight magic burst from them.

'What... just happened?'

Celestia didn't know how long it took her to fall back down, but she knew she regained her senses as she saw the clouds approach. She opened her wings and felt herself glide on the outpouring of flight magic.

"Tia!"

It was Luna. In a moment, Celestia found her younger sister flying alongside her. It wasn't long before they were both back on the ground.

"Tia, what happened?" Luna held her sister square in her hooves. "There was this great sound, and also this great light! What had occurred in the skies?"

Celestia's expression remained flat. "I do not know, Luna. Just that... I too, was not able to reach the sun."

Luna brought her elder sister into an embrace. "Do not worry, Tia. Perhaps in the future, you will find a way."

Celestia saw the edge of the globe as an orange and blue lining as she orbited farther east. The Sun, when she rose over the horizon, would appear as a brilliant white from orbit. And she felt its warmth much more than when on the surface of the Earth. The rays shone so bright, and they reflected off of her white coat. Her body just felt like it could sink into the Sun's warm embrace. She felt even more livened up then, knowing she was close to leaving the slightly desolate darkness of the Earth's shadow.

It never failed. The memory of her first attempt to reach for the sun would always return. How could it not? But what struck her even more was what Luna told her.

Never would she have expected that such future motivation for a similar goal would manifest in the form of Luna herself...

"LUUUUUNAAAAAA!"

Celestia sobbed as she stared at the Moon. And not just the Moon, but the new image imprinted upon it.

That abomination had robbed her of the pony she had cared most about. How?

Celestia wondered about how would she live on. She knew not what Luna's fate was, but she knew her own. Possibly an eternity living with the consequence of her failure to protect her.

"No..."

Celestia lifted her head to look towards the white moon through her teary eyes. It may have been careless. It was not at all thought out. It was impulsive. But she struggled to get herself up to her hooves, then pushed off of the ground with all of her might.

The palace had been ravaged by their battle, but the crater left by Celestia's takeoff was the most substantial of them all. Compared to her first attempt, she had years of experience gained in flight. She had learned how to control her pegasus magic more effectively, especially in conjunction with her unicorn magic.

The air pushed against her muzzle and hooves, but she didn't care. With one last powerful pump of her wings, Celestia broke past that barrier once more. From that point, it was up to her unicorn magic to control the flight magic that was being torn from her wings by her incredible speed. She was going fast, but not yet fast enough. No, there was still faster.

Excessive levels of magic continued to exit her wings. Now Celestia was determined. She fed even more of her immense magic into the stream. The more magic she could put through her wings, the more lift she gained from the thinning air and the faster she propelled herself forward. The second sound barrier quickly rippled past her.

Celestia could feel the atmosphere around her. She was high up. So very high up. And she had just passed where she was stopped her first time around. But nothing was going to stop her this time.

'There exists no barriers between two sisters...'

Higher and higher she went. At some point, Celestia felt less like she was flying and more like she had thrown herself at such a great speed, that gravity and air drag had simply let go of her.

And it didn't get any easier. It only got worse.

The exertion Celestia was putting on herself, combined with her emotional grief, was tiring her. Especially her lungs. But something felt especially wrong.

She was having great difficulty breathing, and not just from exhaustion. Her wings, no matter how much magic she put through them, were providing less and less control over her flight. She began to flap her wings furiously, but Celestia did not feel as if she was truly flying anymore. Where was she? The night was so dark. And it felt like her own vision was darkening. Her head was starting to feel light.

The loss of control surprised Celestia. In her broken mental state and light-headed sensation, she began panicking. The panicking only made it even worse. She thought she had cast the spell to breathe in extremely thin air. No, she did. She was sure of it. She did it for Luna.

So what was it now? Celestia was running out of breath. She couldn't control her flight. And she could no longer tell which way she was going. She flailed her wings helplessly, as if hoping that her flight magic could gain some sort of traction anywhere.

Eventually, the helpless flailing spread to her legs. Then her head. The last thing she remembered was focusing on the Moon, which she had never seen in such a clearer white.

'I'm sorry, Luna...'

Celestia stared deep into the white of the Sun as it rose above the horizon. Even the heat of the star struggled to thaw her heart every time the memory surfaced. Her full underside was revealed towards the Sun, but inside, it felt chilly. Every time she recalled the memory, the cold throes of the tragedy reached inside of her.

Her heart felt as cold as the morning she woke up, crashed down somewhere far away from their castle. Yet her coat felt warm, also similar to how she felt this morning.

It would be a while before she learned why she felt, and in some places looked, like she had been lit on fire after she had fallen unconscious, but she didn't care too much at the time. In her anguish, Celestia managed to ignore even her burnt feathers as an immediate problem.

Later on, she would look back at that night and wonder how she didn't die from what had happened. The day after, she had healed all of her injuries, which included broken bones in places, but otherwise did not think much of her unconscious crash into the terrain.

Regardless of the aftermath of that flight, Celestia released the breath she was holding inside of her from recalling the more stressful emotional memory of losing Luna. She sought to regain control of her emotions and bring herself back to the present. Allow her sun to give its warmth to her.

Before, she would even spin around and turn her back towards the Sun to ease her chilling spine, but she had since learned to grasp control over herself when reminiscing that specific memory.

Besides, the memories afterwards were filled with more feelings of triumph than despair. They always brought a smile to Celestia. The journey she embarked on was difficult, but she did it for Luna, and that made everything right. As the Sun shined on her body, Celestia looked down and saw the Earth filling the bottom of her vision. Beyond the dawn terminator, sunlight lit up a blue and green marvelous sphere, and that was one of the first great truths about the universe she would learn about...

"Star Swirl, I require your assistance."

Celestia approached the unicorn wizard with an air of determination. It had only been a few days since her loss of Luna. She had taken that time to grieve and berate herself. She had countless sessions with important figures concerning the loss of the second alicorn on Equestria's thrones. And she had reflected on her failed journey to reach out to the Moon.

Star Swirl turned to face her. "Of your many recent concerns, Princess, with what do you ask my assistance for on this day?"

"I need a mind like yours to help me in finding a way to fly to the Moon."

The unicorn froze in place. "Fly to the Moon?"

"I have already asked General Firefly for her expertise, but I believe that the task will require a great amount of magic as well. And your wisdom in general will be of great use."

"I see," Star Swirl said. "When would you prefer that we begin?"

"Officially, later, but I would like to take the moment to speak with you now that I am here. Recount a few details of my experience."

"Very well. Continue."

"As I fly higher up, it changes," Celestia said, walking towards a window. "I have long used the method of unicorn magic to help achieve faster and higher flight, as well as breathing spells to allow me to fly in the thinner air. But that night, I flew further than I had ever before. I reached a point where I was no longer flying and I could no longer breathe."

Star Swirl nodded sagely. "I see. What else can you tell me about those altitudes? Anything you saw?"

Celestia bit her lip. "No... It was dark. Even in Luna's magnificent night... I could not see very much."

The unicorn smiled. "Well, my Princess, you are a very intelligent pony yourself. Advancement will require more details. You seek to achieve an incredibly ambitious plan. It will require a vastly large amount of details. Only then will we have sufficient knowledge to work from."

Celestia nodded in understanding. "Very well. I have plenty of hours to myself for a considerable length of time. I will go and repeat my actions from that night today, while it is still daytime."

With that, Celestia walked out of the wizard's room. First, the alicorn headed for her room to retrieve an item that would be of use. Once there, she opened up a chest of belongings and took a necklace with a few hoof-sized crystals. The necklace was created for a pony to wear underwater; the crystals were enchanted to hold air and would act as an extension of one's lungs. Celestia recalled that hers would hold enough for a few hours, more than enough to last her experiment. She removed her golden neck piece and replaced it with the necklace.

Afterwards, the alicorn walked to the courtyard, where the afternoon sun was high above. General Firefly had agreed to help the Princess in her ventures, though as a pegasus, she could only do so much. It would be up to Celestia to do much of the experimentation.

Celestia looked upwards and traced a line down from the sun to a random spot high in the sky. She would make that spot her target. The deep blue sky was void of any clouds. She took a deep breath, then strongly flapped her wings, sending her upwards.

Faster and faster she pushed herself. Effortlessly, she broke the sound barrier. Not long after that, she outflew her wing magic, leaving behind another spectacular explosion. She focused magic through her wings, propelling her even faster.

Air compressed ahead of her, and she felt the tip of her muzzle and hooves warm up. Hot, even. She had a passing thought about how the air drag might have affected her ability to fly faster. Still, Celestia felt that the ordeal was much easier this time, surmising that it was because she was physically refreshed and psychologically calmer.

The minutes actually felt slower than from that fateful night. Celestia counted the ascent as taking around three minutes at the longest before she started having the sensation of losing control again. At the same time, she also felt as if she could pour immense power through her wings and fly even faster than before without any air drag stopping her. So she did, sending her even higher up, into the aether where she would lose control, even faster.

The alicorn felt the onset of panic but immediately forced herself to focus. She started to hyperventilate in anticipation, yet her breathing slowed as she calmed herself down.

With the necklace giving her air to breathe, she did not have to worry about her head feeling light. She felt... mostly normal, if cold. Very chilly, in fact. And yet, she was still going higher and higher... while her ability to control her flying through her unicorn powers was disappearing more and more.

Her heart rate, already fast from her physical exertion, now lent its effects to mental concerns. Again, the threat of losing focus loomed in Celestia's face as she continued to uncontrollably rise further from the earth. A fear that she would somehow not be able to return.

At that moment, she wondered if it was the same feeling of helplessness Luna might have had. It caused sadness to well up inside of her, and at the same time, connecting herself to her sister gave her the will to face her fear.

'Focus, Celestia. Luna would want you to focus. To return safely.'

Celestia remembered the first time she flew high up. Luna was so worried.

"Do not worry, Celestia," she told herself. "This is a journey of discovery you have chosen to embark on for Luna, and once the final goal is achieved, we shall find ourselves together again."

Through sheer will, Celestia calmed her mind and stopped all attempts at using her magic to fly. Now was not the time for panic. It was the time for observation and learning about what she had gotten herself into.

For the first time in her flight, Celestia focused on her surroundings and felt herself in awe. It was no longer simply bright like the day... but everywhere above, it was black like the night. The horizon was different—unlike the horizon she knew on the ground, this one instead glowed blue. But if the sky was the backdrop of the horizon on the ground, then what was this dark backdrop of the horizon of the sky?

The Earth glowed below her. Glowed, she thought, compared to the backdrop of darkness if she looked straight. Around her, she could see the edges of the vast lands on which she and her subjects lived upon. And even further, perhaps to the far edges of the vast lands of their neighboring countries.

A chill went down her spine as she suddenly felt small. A powerful alicorn... humbled by the truth of nature. Well, that, and it was absolutely freezing.

She wondered why her sun, a pure, blazing white, could not warm her.

Nonetheless, with her mouth agape, she looked around. The world... it just seemed to end. Like she was on a large disk, with edges far away and nothing past them. And those edges were a radiant blue, a border against the abyss.

Celestia smiled as she remembered that specific moment. She didn't know what she had gotten herself into, and even more, she didn't know that there were still more wonders of nature waiting ahead.

She slowly twirled herself around with a precise application of magic, stopping herself facing the Earth below. She was passing over a large continent, somewhere halfway around the world from her home. Places she had very rarely visited. The thought occurred to her that visiting such places was much easier now. It wouldn't take her much time to just fly over herself. And now that Luna was home, perhaps she could put her flights to different uses.

Distances became strange to Celestia after her experiences. It all depended on the context. At the beginning of the millennium without Luna, different countries were far. As the years passed, it didn't seem so. 'Far' became the Moon.

Nowadays, she used relative distances interchangeably. Right now, she considered herself truly far away from anything. Not as far as Luna and the Moon was, yet it was still considerably far.

Or to be technically correct, how high she was above the Earth. That, at least, was something she quickly realized that first flight...

"The world is round... And larger than the impressive size I had already imagined it to be..."

Celestia took her first thought and passed it through her mind once more. A round world...

She looked around again, and this time, barely made out a slight curvature on the edges.

"Maybe round... like an overturned plate?"

There were some ponies that theorized about the true nature of their world. Some even searched for evidence that the world was a sphere, much as the same as the Sun and Moon were widely believed to be. A few came to conclusive measurements with mathematical proof. Celestia was never sure what to think of the theories, but now, she was giving them some consideration.

"If it is a sphere, then just how big is the world?"

The thought shook Celestia. She wasn't sure she could imagine something that great of a size. Evidently, the ponies that calculated the size of the Earth had an easier time than her coming to terms with that idea. Maybe.

Yet, even with these new ideas, she wondered what it would mean in her journey to reach the moon.

'Perhaps now is not the time to ponder such a question. I should try and learn more from my surroundings.'

Celestia's studious side began to show itself as she began experimenting in her new environment. Although she was shivering from the cold, she still kept her mind on track.

'I cannot fly in any way anymore. Maybe very, very slight movements, but very difficult. How would I go about controlling myself up here then?'

Celestia continued to try and contort herself into different positions. She tried pulling herself with her magic. Yet all she accomplished was leaving herself flailing around, confused. All that was happening to her was... floating around aimlessly while also tangling up her limbs in an attempt to move around. Was she just drifting along? Gliding through the strange aether she now found herself in?

It was incredibly jarring, but her incredible will to remain calm and on task overshadowed her insecurities.

"I can control the Sun's path across the heavens, but I cannot control my own?"

Celestia growled in frustration before realizing what she just said. Her eyes moved to look at the Sun. Its warm rays really did look enticing as she froze in the high atmosphere.

"What would happen if I attempted to move it now?..."

She grabbed ahold of her sun with her special magic as she usually did, then tried to give a very light, experimental nudge.

Nothing.

The alicorn's face contorted into an expression of confusion. She didn't understand. She knew she controlled the day, and actually, as of recent events, the night as well, but when she attempted to move the Sun, nothing happened.

'I will have to examine this further when I am back on the ground.'

And speaking of the ground—

'... How do I get back down?'

The thought was first spoken in her mind very calmly, as if asking a very simple question. Her studious expression quickly changed into alarm when she realized—

'How do I get back down?!'

Celestia's first reaction was to begin flapping her wings, but she stopped almost as soon as she started. Her second reaction was to try to put magic through them, but she stopped herself short again.

She was left looking down at Equestria, wondering how she would return. She couldn't even make out where the towns were. Or where her castle was. They weren't exactly large settlements, but she never thought them as so tiny, that she would at some point consider them insubstantial.

Yet here she was, looking for some landmarks and failing to find any.

'Had I really flown so fast that I threw myself away from Equestria?'

Celestia bit her lip in anticipation. She decided to meditate about her situation. She had to return home. For Luna.

During her short meditation, Celestia noticed that something felt different. It felt... like the earth was closer.

Celestia decided to hold onto that strange sensation. Maybe something would come of it.

And after about a minute, she realized what was happening.

She was falling. And she was falling fast.

Celestia opened her wings and started trying to feel for some purchase on air. Something to slow herself down.

No luck. The glowing blue edge of the world was now pushing away the black abyss.

Faster. And faster.

But then her wings felt something. Celestia tried to stop her fall, but it was as if she was trying to grip ice while sliding at an incredible speed.

Celestia fell even further. She fought to push away her panic and remain level-headed. The air was getting thicker. Even her hind hooves could feel the air rushing by. She began flapping her wings. And she flapped furiously, because she could feel the tips of her hooves heating up.

In fact, it became so uncomfortable after the first few seconds, that she flipped herself over to face downwards.

And after a few more seconds, it turned out that it was not a very good idea.

'Hot! Hot!'

Celestia then turned so her stomach was facing downward, giving her wings the most area to work with. She also cast a shield spell to prevent herself from being singed as she plowed through the air at high speeds.

And in a moment, Celestia came to a conclusion that it was counter-productive, now that her wings were also shielded from acting upon the air. At least, that's what she assumed.

It wasn't easy for her to think as she watched the ground approach faster than she had ever done so before.

Celestia reduced the size of the shield to just cover her body, leaving her wings out to their purpose. Powerful flexing of her flight muscles worked to slow down her incredible speed; she strained to push her wings and fight against her immense downward speed. And at the same time, she was working through the heat her wings were experiencing.

And soon enough, still high above the ground, her speed slowed to a more familiar level of 'fast' as the air pushed up against her without any effort from her.

Celestia relaxed herself and let gravity take over from there. Maybe she didn't need to put in all that work earlier.

Maybe she should just enjoy the moment. Celestia always did love flying. Many that knew her personally would say to others that her love of flying was nearly unmatched except by the most dedicated of pegasi, and even then, she still considered herself unmatched.

Flying was a wonderful experience, and she knew many with wings would agree.

And right now, she accepted gracefully falling as well, and she wondered how many with wings would also agree.

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 after just a decade after it, she already thought that about her past self. By a century, she had fully accepted it as a necessary stage on the journey she took.

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 were an observable 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 millennium 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 an uncaring void of 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 over time, 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 such thoughts were much too negative, and that wasn't any way to live a life. Celestia still had a long life to live, and so she strove to make her future an adventure. Therefore, she concluded 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 one of the easiest for Celestia to reach. 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 daytime 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 assistant 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 still appeared 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 this time, 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 using unicorn powers to increase the flow of magic 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 she 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 because I flew so fast, I threw myself at such a speed 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 infinitely if you were not pulled back down to the earth. Could you not use your unicorn magic to do anything?" Firefly asked.

"My mind was clouded with anxiety. I could not think of any way," Celestia replied. "I even attempted 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, consulting other scholars in their respective fields. 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 attempted 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 in that way. At least, it should not. I cannot grab an object and pull myself towards it. I can only grab objects and move them relative to myself. I felt no effect upon my body when I attempted to move the Sun."

"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 are flying to.”

“Then I will have to explore the unknown and learn. And then I will know where I am flying to.”

Celestia remained still during her entire time reminiscing, not adjusting her orientation. 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, her breathing 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 have thought 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 wondered if 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 flight magic 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, nested amidst larger, more visible landmarks such as forests, lakes, and a mountain range.

‘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. However, she quickly determined that she was in fact moving, once she noticed that her ethereal mane had strayed behind her. That was good to know.

Movement in the horizontal plane was not too strenuous, so Celestia 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 aether 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, the separation between day and night, was still 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, having left the dark of the Earth and 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...

Celestia’s continued to move towards the edge of the Earth in silence.

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 as she had been doing. 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 to think, she would never return home? Lost for an 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. A danger to Equestria.

The doubt was building up so strongly in Celestia that her will to go on was disappearing. As if her hope of living through it could not even be helped by a prayer.

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, 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 Moon. "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 do not 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 had only 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. The necklace only having a limited supply of air was another cause for concern.

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 changed 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 occurrence.

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 on 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 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...”

Celestia felt a chill go down her spine for a second time in today’s flight. Except this was not one of fear and sorrow, but one of great wonder. That one flight had accomplished so much.

It was what enabled Celestia to discover true orbital spaceflight. Simply falling around the world, without any further effort from her. With a small application of self-levitation magic to reorient herself, Celestia bathed her full underside in the sun, seemingly careless to anything else in the world behind her. A few times, she even took naps while in orbit—she just let physics lead her along.

From that one journey, scholars were able to create a proper picture of the world. To model it in such a way that they felt satisfied all the strange anomalies in their former calculations. As the month went on, their work provided a new image of the universe, albeit one that Celestia expected would have caused quite a shock.

Certainly, the disruption in self-centric thinking was sure to shake ponies, including herself...

“Princess, I believe we have finally unraveled the truth to this mystery!”

A few ponies were gathered around a table for Celestia’s weekly assembly in her mission to eventually fly to the Moon. They turned towards the excited voice, finding Clover the Clever. The unicorn had been working with various scholars of different practices as her contribution to Celestia’s mission.

“It will be very confusing at first, but as I explain, I hope it will become clear,” Clover continued. She projected an image of a sphere with her magic, then began drawing on it with another spell. “According to your descriptions, you flew towards the eastern coast of Equestria.”

A line was traced along the sphere to simulate Celestia’s path, starting at a point about halfway up from the middle of the sphere.

“You may have expected to simply return to the point you started at by traveling in a circle.”

The line went around the top of the sphere, closing in a ring.

“But in actuality, that is not the case when you fly straight while remaining level to the ground.”

The first line was erased, and a new line began tracing Celestia’s path. It circled around the sphere, bisecting it perfectly.

“But if that were true,” Celestia said, “then why did I have to fly eastward from Saddle Arabia?”

“This solution was provided by some unconventional thinkers, based on your descriptions of lands moving in and out of darkness,” Clover replied. She graduated the sphere with vertical lines to help show the effect. Then she put it in a slow rotation.

Celestia’s path was traced again. The origin point was represented Equestria. As the path moved on, ‘Equestria’ continued to rotate with the world, while Celestia’s path remained straight. As the line made a complete circumnavigation of the sphere, the ending point was west of the origin.

“This also implies that the day cycle is controlled by the Earth’s rotation, not the Sun literally moving across the sky.”

Celestia was dumbfounded, and the ponies around her murmured in skepticism. “But I control the Sun. I have displayed my control over it!”

“We still believe you, Princess,” Clover replied calmly. “The ones I have spoken with have supplied an alternate explanation to your control of the heavenly bodies. You said that the first time you flew high up, you attempted to move the Sun to no avail. We believe it is because the Sun is actually an immoveable object.

“Instead, as this display suggests, the day-night cycle is due to the rotation of the Earth. So, when you are on Earth, you can influence its rotation.”

Celestia put a hoof to her chin, mulling over the theory. “It... is plausible. Even if the explanation has changed, my ability remains the same. What about the Moon?”

“Oh, that is still an object that you move along its path in the heavens. As an added note, the idea that the Sun is an fixed object has spread amongst the astronomical community. They have found additional explanations for the changing positions of stars and planets in the sky over time.”

Celestia’s expression remained thoughtful. “Although I am not sure if this is directly relatable to flying to the Moon, I am curious to hear it.”

Clover nodded, then reduced the size of the magic sphere. Around it, she placed smaller spheres, representing the objects they found in the sky that were determined to be different from stars. Some moved in different inclinations, determined from the strange paths they took in the night sky over time. “They have theorized that the Earth is simply one of the planets circling the Sun. An interesting proposition. It seems to hold truth.”

Celestia nodded, following the unicorn's explanation. "Fascinating."

Clover bowed. "Thank you, Princess."

Celestia continued to face the Sun. They had learned much more since then. New minds, new mathematical concepts, new magical methods...

A millennium was a long time for progress to be made.

Whenever Celestia grabbed ahold of the sun now, she remembered how truly massive the star was. Every day, she latched onto the sun with her magical grasp and turned the Earth a little further.

She did experiment later that one week about what would happen if she didn't go through the 'sunrise' routine.

Much to her great surprise, and at the same time, partially to her expectations, the day went on as normal!

A part of her was thrilled that she could feasibly sleep in without any ill effects on the world. The more she knew!

In any case, such a discovery certainly changed Celestia's way of thinking. If the size of the world made her feel small, then learning that they were not the center of everything made her feel even more humbled. Yet, even then, Celestia couldn't help but feel that it was... right.

Of course, even after the presentation of the movements of their planet and the other heavenly bodies, there was still much needed progress to be made in the area of spaceflight. Celestia’s one circumnavigation of the Earth ended with her feeling a little bit worn after exerting magic for that length of time. And that was while she still had relatively easy access to land.

If distance across land was a quantity not always put into proper perspective, distance across space was something vastly underestimated. Celestia was powerful, but she was not infinitely so. Fortunately, a certain pony managed to help her along the right path once more...

“Have you considered how you will make the journey to the Moon, Princess? They say it is very far away.”

Firefly again accompanied Celestia in the sky for a conversation. However, this time, they were gliding along at a few thousand meters, under the starry blanket of Luna's sky and the soft radiance of the Moon, with her image watching over them.

"I suppose I could just use my self-levitation magic to travel there," Celestia replied. "However, it seems that it is an inefficient method of travel. Unicorns were not meant to travel vast distances like so. It is the Pegasi that are the ones who have the ability to travel far, through flight."

"But this is different, Princess," Firefly said. "If it is completely empty space when you reach such altitudes, as you say, then our wings are of no use. It would be a task left to those with magic to achieve, for the potential abilities of magic continue to be explored."

Celestia nodded. "Indeed, that is true. Although, the thought has occurred to me—if I can fly at such great speeds in the atmosphere, once the air disappears and I am thrown as far as my momentum can take me, would it be possible to throw myself away from the earth at such a speed that I reach the moon?"

Firefly's expression turned pensive as she rolled inverted to look up at the Moon. "It may be, Princess. But for you to attain such speeds, you need air to fly through, do you not? Unless you instead throw yourself with your magic?"

"I can increase my speed with the self-levitation spell, but I am not sure how fast I will have to go," Celestia answered. "If the Moon is incredibly distant, then I will have to expend a great amount of magic to bring myself to such a speed so that I will be thrown far enough."

"You believe that it would be much easier to build up your speed with your pegasus magic?"

"Magic from the wings is different from magic from the horn," Celestia answered. "Magic from the wings is much more easy to coerce, and so is less exhausting over time compared to magic from the horn, which requires focus. Magic from the wings cooperates easily with one's will. Through the horn, it is not as simple."

"I see," Firefly responded. "You seek an easier method of flight through space first, before traveling to the Moon?"

Celestia twirled around, facing the Moon with Firefly. "I eagerly await the moment in which I can be reunited with Luna, even if just through contact with her prison. But it is a long journey through parts unknown. Preparations must be taken. Despite my longing, I cannot be hasty."

"Then... you will just have to fly up more and more until your work opens up our eyes to a satisfactory solution," Firefly declared.

"It is so," Celestia said. "I suppose I could begin exploring... spaceflight... methods by further examination of my wings."

"You say you want to travel faster, yes?" Firefly asked.

"Of course."

"Then why not spend more time in the air to gain speed?" Firefly suggested. "If the world is a sphere, then at some point, you could be going quickly enough to throw yourself away from the surface, even tangentially."

Celestia did not respond immediately, picturing Firefly's suggestion. "I suppose it could work. It would allow me to attain greater speeds, but what if it is not enough?"

"Then you would simply fall back down to the earth, would you not?" Firefly answered. "Although, if you were going incredibly fast, as your forward velocity is not lost due to absence of air, maybe you would somehow 'fall' around the Earth?"

"I... can see what you mean," Celestia replied. "It is certainly an interesting thought. Continuous movement over the surface without any effort. I wonder how fast I must go to do so." Her facial expression changed into one of pleasant ponderation.

“I know some pegasi well-versed in the mathematics of flight. I will go consult them and the astronomers Clover knows.” Firefly turned her head to look at her Princess, seeing the alicorn's smile. It brought one to herself. "This idea excites you."

"Things we did not know we are now learning. The loss of Luna is a great tragedy, yet she continues to lead us into these new wonders."

"It is your dedication to your sister that leads us, Princess."

"Yes, but I cannot ignore that my motivation is because of that dedication. Luna knew I loved to fly. If only she knew the new thrills of flight I have discovered because of her."

"And there will be many more to come, I am sure."

Celestia looked back at that time affectionately. Despite the loss of her sister, she was never without family. For as she showed her dedication to Luna, the ponies around the princess showed their dedication to her. Although Celestia lost the closest pony to her, she was never short of others to share the joys of her triumphs and the frustrations of new problems. She may have been a ruler to many, but to others, she was a part of their family.

Still, Equestria would not run itself. Celestia still faced being the sole ruler of her land. Everyday, she faced the burden of taking care of her country without Luna to aid her. She would learn eventually, she knew, but it wasn’t the same. Despite the multitude of advisors, Celestia could never feel free form her work.

Against the pressures of her life, Celestia sought a way to escape it all for even a few hours.

Some said tranquility could be found by surrounding one's self with nature.

Celestia found it by experiencing all nature had to offer at once. Forests, jungles, fields, snow-capped mountains, deserts, and the vast oceans—she saw it all. And if she looked away, a field of stars in the grand universe.

It turned out that Firefly’s prediction of falling around the Earth was true. It was the most serenity Celestia could gain for herself. To be alone, far away from the pressures in Equestria. And the only companion she could see was the Moon.

In many cases, Celestia did not go up only for herself, but to be with Luna, alone together in orbit around the Earth. No one could bother them at any time while Celestia was up there.

As for her continued mission of eventually flying to the Moon, it took a few more years before she saw it through. Before it came advances in spells. In tools.

Celestia’s most prized possession of that era was her golden neck piece. With the help of Star Swirl and Clover, they imbued advanced orbital maneuvering spells into it. Such enchantments included the simple air-containment spell, except Celestia’s neck piece now held weeks of air. Another important spell allowed her to divert the propagation of the self-levitation spell—instead of having to focus and channel it through her horn, all Celestia had to do now was will herself to move and it would flow out from her wings as if she were in normal flight. It changed the properties of the spell somewhat, but overall, it felt much more natural.

It also enhanced her senses, allowing her to accurately determine her movement in all axes and planes. Even in free-fall in orbit, Celestia could feel the tiniest of movement towards or away from the ground. She could feel how much force she was exerting through her wings, allowing her to determine its effects on her orbit. It even contained a spell that permitted her to see an outline of her path ahead of her, letting Celestia know just where she was headed and how much she may have to correct her course.

The neck piece felt like almost everything to her. It was the manifestation of her joy of flight. It was her bridge to Luna. It was her testament to her journey of many discoveries and the work of ponies that helped her achieve spaceflight. Over the years, newer attire was presented to her, newer jewelry, but through an entire millennium it remained as an unchanging part of her...

“... Go make some friends!”

Celestia had just sent off a letter to her student, who had just discovered a prophecy set in motion a millennium ago. The time had come. Her millennium of wait had ended. Now, all that remained were but hours. Celestia did not have to leave for the Summer Sun Celebrations for some time and decided to try to calm her tense nerves in a way that had always helped her to do so. Her heart was beating quickly for what was to come, and it was not going to slow until it was over. She might as well put all her pent-up tension to some use.

The alicorn went about the process of removing all of her ornamental pieces, bar her neck piece. Then she stepped outside facing eastward, taking off for the skies in a thunderous boom, her anticipation and joy fueling the first flap of her wings.

Celestia felt her way through the air, a mental altimeter ticking as she rose in height. Her airspeed climbed as fast as her altitude. First the sound barrier. Then her wings' magic limit. She was already so far away from Canterlot that not many were likely to notice.

Flight magic was normally passive, in a sense. It acted through the wings as air passed by, and the magic would flow out at its natural rate in response to the speed of the airflow, providing lift and propulsion. Faster flight required faster airflow, usually achieved through further exertion by the pegasus to flap the wings faster. Doing so increases the magic flow up until a point where one hit the limit of their wings’ capability to controllably release magic.

In simple terms, maximum speed was linked with one’s own physical attributes and inner magic potential; some ponies were simply more gifted than others.

Yet once one manages to pass that point, the result was the same for anyone. Magic would explode from the wings in a spectacular manner and propel the flier at even greater speeds, as if a valve suddenly burst. Reaching such a point requires a great enough speed that the magic stream, resulting from the high-speed airflow, is practically ripped from the magic-channeling organ. It usually also requires great discipline. Usually.

Celestia was disciplined to do such a thing on a daily basis. Her own flying ability was so immense that she broke Mach 1 almost effortlessly in thinner air; her wings' magic capability allowed her to surpass that speed without any further help from advanced techniques. Yet that wasn’t fast enough for her destination today.

Using her unicorn powers, she throttled more of her magic from her inner reservoir through her wings, sending her through the air ever faster. At the same time, she pitched downwards, flying almost horizontal at an extremely high altitude. Her wings were tight against her body; the air passing over the outside of her closed wings was more than enough for the magic to work on. The presentation of a smaller, more aerodynamic shape was essential to flight at her intended speeds. The air was so thin that Celestia could bring herself to hypersonic velocities before noticeable resistance from air drag set in.

Her muzzle and the tips of her hooves began warming up as she continued to zoom through the stratosphere, accelerating towards orbital speed, faster than 7,000 meters per second. Even with the air so thin, she could hear it moving past her ears. She was already above the Eastern Sea, and she was nearing the Gryphon homelands.

Using the Gryphon’s coastline as an aid to her own sense of speed, Celestia pitched upwards, the immense force of the magic from her wings giving her a significant increase in vertical velocity. The change in net velocity would allow her momentum to carry her through the mesosphere.

Once Celestia felt herself cross the stratopause and lose normal flight control, she relaxed herself and exhaled. The acceleration portion was always the hardest. Now was the coasting portion, during which she simply waited to reach the highest point on her trajectory. The heat buildup from both her tremendous speed and from her physical exertion remained with her, causing some discomfort; there was simply not enough air around her for it to radiate out to.

Celestia spread her wings, and another spell enchanted into her neck piece took effect to draw her body heat outwards in controlled amounts, ensuring that she did not cause injury to herself through excessive internal heat. Immediately, she began feeling better, allowing her to take the moment to herself in silence.

Only breathing. No sound of rushing air.

It was mid-morning when she left. Twilight must have been planning to leave for Ponyville right then.

A smile came to Celestia’s face, imagining how unhappy the unicorn was when assigned her task. But she knew that would all work out for the better, without any uncertainty. Furthermore, anything in Equestria was of no concern to Celestia at this moment. Only flying.

Celestia’s natural, ingrained flight instincts were refined over centuries of experience, and the orbital maneuvering spells in her neck piece tuned them to even keener levels. With little focus, she could feel her vertical distance and movement relative to the Earth. She could feel the minuscule changes as gravity decelerated her in that axis of movement.

When Celestia felt that her vertical speed was close to zero, she oriented herself in the direction of her intended acceleration. She eased herself forward, controlling the magic output from her wings, allowing acceleration of her body through the orbital maneuvering spell contained in her neck piece. The increase in velocity served to change her sub-orbital trajectory by raising the lowest point of her trajectory to an approximately equal altitude, establishing a proper orbit.

The process of orbital insertion took only seconds.

The flight brought Celestia far enough east that the dusk terminator was just ahead. Her heart continued racing from anticipation of Nightmare Moon's return, and with Nightmare Moon, Luna. She continued her fall around the world without any further thoughts, slipping past the twilight zone and into the night.

Then, the Moon came into view. Celestia looked upon the imprinted image of the mare she recognized as her sister. It would be the last time she would have to do so.

Celestia waited until the Sun's rays disappeared behind the Earth. She needed the dark of the Earth's shadow to feel alone. To be able share the moment between herself and Luna.

"It's not much longer, sister," Celestia said.

The Moon remained silent, as it always had.

"I've waited one thousand years for your return. Now, I wait only hours."

Celestia brought her head down. "I've missed you, Luna. I hope, that when I get you back, you'll know that I have always been there for you."

Celestia faced the Moon and the figure once more. "I embarked on a great journey to reach out to you. I knew nothing about the universe we lived in when I began. Yet, I tried to reach out to you as fast as I could.

"I have given great thanks to the ponies that got me this far in such a short time. It took a little longer to actually achieve the end goal, but I still did it before even a year had passed. You were an inspiration, Luna. You helped us achieve so much. Yet... I wish it didn't have to be this way.

"Days, weeks, years, centuries... Patiently I waited. I hope you knew that I continued to fly up here to visit you. Equestria may have forgotten you, but I never did.

"We were meant to rule together, sister. I have sent my student out to prepare for your coming. It will not be easy for her. As much as it was a journey of discovery for me, so it will be for her.

"And once the final goal is achieved, then we will find ourselves together again."

Celestia remembered the chills she felt afterwards. She was so nervous. A millennium was such a long time; she almost couldn't fathom that it was real. She continued the rest of that orbit in silence, trying to get some warmth once she passed into the light of the Sun. And then she stayed for another revolution.

And yet she still felt cold. She even remembered tightening her wings to herself, to see if the Sun's radiation could make her feel any warmer than what she felt like. Once it became clear that no amount of physical heat could tame her chills, she spread her wings open again. After all, she didn't want to return to Equestria suffering from heat stroke.

Then she remembered contemplating going through the re-entry process without a shield, just to see if the heat could do anything to calm her senses. The idea was quickly rejected on grounds of trying to remain presentable on return. And to ensure that she would return.

Finally, Celestia decided that her millennium of relying on herself was long enough, and instead remembered her faith in Twilight Sparkle.

Everything would be alright.

And everything did turn out alright.

Celestia remembered the first embrace she shared with Luna fondly. No longer did she have to connect with Luna through the vast distance of space or through the rock of the Moon. No, now Luna was actually there with her.

However, the greatest moment for Celestia was when Luna told her that she felt her sister's presence every time. Even when imprisoned in the Moon, struggling with her darker side, Luna felt her sister's presence.

That, at last, brought Celestia closure.

And yet, after so long, Celestia couldn't stop coming up to low Earth orbit. It had become a routine. It helped her loosen her muscles. Clear her mind. It also continued to bring her joy—it brought her even more joy, actually. For every time Celestia looked upon the moon, its face was clear, no longer marred by the image of a mistake that cost both of them so much.

Celestia had always loved flying, and now she could take full joy in what she did.

She even shared it with Luna. The first time, Luna was incredibly unsure, yet Celestia sensed she was also incredibly curious. Excited as well.

Luna was never as good as a flier as Celestia, so the older sister took it upon herself to fly both of them up that day. During the scenic coast up to the circularization point, Luna looked down at the world below her with wonder. It prompted her to ask her sister what the world was like during the time that she was gone.

Celestia simply answered that the world experienced great wonders, and at times, great sadness. The world was many things, Celestia said.

Luna said she expected all of that already. Surely Celestia's millennium of experience granted her greater wisdom.

And Luna was right.

Because Celestia's wisdom had grown, she simply waited for nature to reveal itself to her younger sister.

It was that look on Luna's face. The same one that Celestia knew she had on her own face a thousand years earlier when the world revealed its one simplest truth.

She just didn't expect it to be so big.

It brought Celestia joy when Luna enjoyed the experience of orbital flight. Luna even had the courage to experience re-entry herself. To both, it was the satisfaction of being able to fly alongside each other again. They re-entered Equestria during a clear night, passing over Ponyville and Canterlot.

Celestia relished flying with Luna home to Canterlot under her sister's beautiful sky that night.

However, Luna later noted couldn't share the same level of pleasure that Celestia received. Luna said that she always felt a little uncomfortably hot while sun-side. It wasn't that she didn't want to go, but just that it was slightly discomforting every time.

All it meant was that Luna did not accompany Celestia very frequently, and that was fine.

Speaking of being with Luna, Celestia noted her position over the Earth. She was floating past vast swaths of green fields, mountain ranges, forests, and deserts.

It was a little bit past midday over where she was. It was time to begin re-entry maneuvers, if she was to land precisely back home. She and Luna had accepted an invitation, and she wasn't one to be late.

Celestia observed the position of the sun and her position over the Earth. From it, she worked out how much she would need to adjust in her trajectory in order to land as close to Canterlot as possible. She rolled around, twitching her wings in such ways that they pushed her ever so slightly. A small change in angle now could mean the difference of miles down below.

As soon as she was satisfied with her accuracy, Celestia oriented her body so that it faced towards her direction of travel. She released magic from her wings, pushing her ever so slightly backwards. She sensed her momentum change and saw her ethereal mane stray forward as her wings continued to decelerate her through the orbital maneuvering spell.

Once she had determined that she had sufficiently slowed herself down, Celestia set in for the coast down from 600 kilometers.

Celestia remained alert for the next half hour, in case she had to make adjustments to her descent profile. Yet it was completely routine, and Celestia had no trouble in determining what came next in the process.

She preemptively spread her wings, so that when she finally lowered down into the atmosphere enough, it would give her ample time to bleed off some speed, even in extremely thin air. It was a much better descent plan than hitting the thicker layers of the lower atmosphere at higher hypersonic speeds.

And soon enough, Celestia lowered down into the lower atmospheric layers. She could feel the particles of air flying into her wings. Even in the thin atmosphere, air compression eventually began warming Celestia's wings ever so slightly as she continued to soar over the land at an astonishing speed. Yet she felt calm as ever.

Equestria's western coastline came into view. She could recognize it easily, since it had not yet reached the terminator. It wasn't going to be much longer before she arrived over Canterlot. Fifteen minutes at the longest.

By this time, the heat buildup was beginning to rise higher than Celestia could be bothered to deal with, and so it was then that she raised the shield spell. Air began hitting the shield in greater volume. It heated up to a point where it became a plasma, lighting up the dusk around her.

After a few more minutes, she caught sight of gleaming in the distance, straight ahead of her. On closer inspection, they were golden spires on the side of a mountain. Spires of the majestic unicorn city reflecting the last rays of sunset before the sun completely dipped below the horizon. There was also some twinkling from the ground, near the Everfree Forest—Twilight's crystal tree palace in Ponyville.

Canterlot appeared to get closer and closer, and it never left the center of her vision.

Celestia gave a triumphant smirk. Another perfect approach.

The air now roared around Celestia as it was shunted aside or compressed ahead of her. However, she estimated that by the time she was very close to Canterlot, her airspeed would be slow enough that she could return to winged flight.

More minutes flew by until finally, Canterlot was clearly visible ahead of her, as was Ponyville.

Celestia wondered if she could cut down on her travel time. After all, she didn't know what time it was exactly. She hoped she would still have enough time to arrive at the time it said on the invitation. Minutes were all she asked for.

Although she was still traveling faster than terminal velocity, she was at least only in the realm of supersonic now. Celestia knew she had good control of her flight at those speeds.

Celestia oriented herself for winged flight, then dropped the shield.

:::::

"Hello, Tia. I see you barely made it in time."

"Yes, I figured that I was cutting it close. So I decided to fly directly to Ponyville instead after re-ent—"

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"But of course, Twilight. We wouldn't have missed your invitation for the world."

"Hm, you should've scheduled your flight a little bit earlier, Tia. You smell of ozone. Burnt ozone. Cleaning yourself up would have been the considerate thing to do."

"Luna, I would have if I had time, but the schedule was a little tight..."

"You didn't even get to put your other ornamental attire on..."

"... Oh. Um, I, uh... just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be late..."

"You are lucky that the... OMS is enchanted into your neck piece. Else I would consider you completely naked."

"It's alright, Celestia. I can understand if your schedule got in your way. And besides, Rainbow Dash doesn't always get the chance to clean up after her flights either... Wait, where did you fly that Luna smelled burnt ozone?"

"Don't worry about it, Twilight. It's of little concern to you. Now let's go in and have a nice dinner, shall we?"

"Hey, Twilight!"

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Did you see that shooting star just now? It looked so close! It looked awesome! And there were those really loud booms, too..."

"Uh, no... Actually, the booms... maybe. Celestia? Luna? Did you?"

"I... may not have been looking in that direction when it passed by... Nor did I hear anything...!"

"Celestia?"

"Uh... Nope! I saw nor heard nothing!"

Author's Note

I WISH SLICE OF LIFE/ADVENTURE WAS STILL ALLOWED AS A TAG COMBINATION

Disclaimer: Any noticeable inconsistencies between how the Sun and Moon work in this story and the show are obviously for story purposes. As well as so I could have fun putting them in a realistic-physics and plausible environment (again, barring the show cartoon stuff).

The story was originally going to be divided into three parts: New Horizons, Halfway to Anywhere, and 600,000 Meters. I decided to put it all back into a single piece after finishing just over 15k. The author's notes from the separate parts have been consolidated into here.

This story was originally going to be a one-shot. I thought it was going to be in the range of 6k. Well, it's not the first time that this type of thing happened to me.

Due to my wording of Firefly and Celestia's conversation, I suddenly convinced myself upon writing that section that the idea of Celestia x Firefly would be a very... fun thing to write.

Also, for those that know the original context of ‘halfway to anywhere’, yes, I know it doesn’t really apply to Celestia.

I don’t know if you could tell, but I had fun writing this story. Like, an inordinate amount.

You can tell I play Kerbal Space Program for my usage of apoapsis and periapsis, instead of apogee and perigee. Also for those familiar with KSP, the method which Celestia uses to attain orbital insertion is similar to that which was called 'airhogging', except all she needs is sufficient air flow, not volume. Celestia also looks at your SSTOs and pities you for your requirement of 'reaction mass' and 'delta-v'. She also pities you for your suffering by the 1.0.0 aerodynamic changes and your increased importance to of 'breathable air' and 'specific impulse'. She also brags about patched conics without map view. She does commend the bravery of those spunky green fellas, though.

Also, orbital flight techniques are not public domain material. Keep away from Twilight Sparkle. Celestia’s orders, on grounds that she wants to see the look of achievement on her student’s face if she ever discovers them through her own journey of discovery. Then the look on Twilight’s face once Celestia tells her that she lost the space race by a millennium.

Celestia also finds Twilight’s discovery of unicorn magic-boosted flight humorous. Trying such a thing while in a vertical dive...

More (actual) notes below!