//------------------------------// // Don't Look Back … or Down // Story: Mission to the Pony Planet // by ersmiller //------------------------------// Sunset stared with an intense, burning determination and considered the current state of Twi's study. Furniture reduced to dust and debris, scorch marks and dents in the shape of very large hooves, deep scratches and cracks in the crystal floor. And worst of all, the books. Burnt, ripped, shredded, and otherwise destroyed books from wall to wall. It didn’t take knowing two Twilight Sparkles to know that destroying books was a serious offense. Twilight’s own books for that matter. From her personal study. A whole room full of them! And this Twilight is a princess! She could make book destruction a state crime—a capital offense—if she wanted to. Oh sure, she was being nice about it. All smiles and lighthearted titters. She never once brought it up. But anytime anypony mentioned it, Sunset could see a crack in the mask. The twinge in the eye, the twitch of the ear, the flick of her tail, the fluffed feathers. In a world without digital backups, how many were rare pieces. One-of-a-kinds? And it was all her fault. Again. They had all already forgiven her. She knew that. They told her over and over. It wasn’t really her fault. It could have been any of them getting hit by that concentrated magic blast. Sunset’s mind drifted for a moment, seeing a giant she-demon Fluttershy leading Greenpeace, P.E.T.A., and an army of animals, all of them with glowing eyes, up the steps of Congress, crushing any vehicle that wasn’t electric, or at least a hybrid. Or if Pinkie had been hit—Sunset’s eyes snapped open and she quickly shook the image from her mind. Okay, fine. She shouldn’t beat herself up over it, but she should still help clean!  Of course, she probably should be going to see her family, but—she pawed the floor nervously—did she really need to? Refocusing on her target, twenty-five shelves up, Sunset squinted. Too far to read the title, but the card catalog in a library inside Twilight’s own castle certainly wouldn’t be wrong. The mare probably re-shelved the whole place on a set schedule for fun! So she knew it was the book she needed. Overly Specific Texts, volume 85, Deluxe Edition 101 Spells for Cleaning and Restoring Ancient Crystal Cottages, Curiosities, and Castles Now with 35 added Tome, Text, and Type Restoration Spells! Foreword by Convenient Shortcut Perfect. She knew she could have just climbed a ladder or levitated the book down and be done with it. But—she looked back at the unfolded wings at her sides, spread, angled, and ready for flight—why not kill two birds with one stone? Sunset blinked and her form faltered. Perhaps that wasn’t the best phrase for a winged creature to use. Didn’t she count as part bird now? She’d figure that out later. For now, though, Sunset hadn’t had any chance to actually try using her new wings, and the library was so open, with nothing but a few tables and chairs between the distant, bookcase-lined walls. It was a quick process to levitate those out of the way. Straightening up again, checking her wing angle, setting her posture, she leapt, flapping hard. The jump was perfect. Good form, good distance. The flapping, however, left much to be desired. Sunset quickly veered off her intended path when her wings failed to keep their alignment. Ten shelves up and eight cases to the left she nearly skewered a book with her horn when she slammed into the bookcase. And then crashed onto the floor tail first. “… Ow.” She stared up at the twenty-fifth shelf while rubbing her sore bottom. Twi was sleeping off the chaos of the past few days, Spike had a different kind of wing, the Rainbows were out flying who knew where—occasional high-altitude rainbooms providing the only clues—and the Fluttershies were having an animal picnic and book club meeting that she just didn't feel right interrupting. Finally, Flash only had his new pegasus instincts to go on without any real teachable knowledge. That meant no winged friends to ask for lessons. In addition, she had already checked for books on flight. Ironically Overly Specific Texts, volumes sixty four through eight dealt with that topic, but they were two shelves higher. Using levitation to grab those books to learn how to fly to her target right below them just felt wrong. She was on her own. But she had a plan! *** *** *** Sunset stared with an intense, burning determination from the staircase across the room. Tall room, tall staircase. It was all in a tree after all. With the public access areas all in the trunk, many of the rooms were connected by stairs as much as doors. A lower floor of the library was even built into the roots of the tree below ground. Now the twenty-fifth shelf was dead ahead. All Sunset had to do was fly straight and keep her altitude level. No need to ascend. She unfolded her wings, leveled and aligned them, took a few steps back, then ran forward launching herself over the edge of the stairs. Perfect leap. Until her left wing clipped the railing. She spun around, twisted over, and landed with a thud. *** *** *** Sunset stared with an intense, burning determination and considered all the fun spells she could use on that railing. She needed to freshen up her magic skills too, after all. But no. She was trying to clean up her mess, not make Twi have to deal with more destruction. So the real solution was to shove those thoughts into a rage bottle in her mind and simply jump higher rather than farther. She could just let her initial altitude drop slightly in the journey across the room. Or better yet …. Sunset perched herself atop the formerly offending railing and took a moment to steady herself before opening her wings again. She angled them, checked their alignment, bent her legs and lept, flapping mightily. She did it! She was airborne. And still rising. Wait. BONK Even tall rooms have ceilings. THUD *** *** *** Sunset stared with an intense, burning … she took a deep, calming breath but still shot a glare at the ceiling and then the floor. The same patch of floor she had crashed onto twice. The same patch of floor that now had a nice, cushy mattress placed on it. Safety first. Or safety eventually, at least. Sunset stretched her neck, popping the crick that developed there on the last fall. Returning to the staircase railing, Sunset decided to forego the jump altogether. She unfolded her wings, aligned them and flapped from a standstill. Slow at first, feeling the air pass over her new feathers and down below her. Then faster, feeling the sensation of growing lighter as her new pegasus magic kicked in. Soon she began to lift, her hooves leaving the rail one-by-one until she was in a full hover. The fact that the hovering was jittery was just a learning curve. Or so she told herself.  After a quick glance to the mattress below, she took a breath, and angled forward. She looked back. Success! Five inches and counting! She looked up. Plenty of clearance before the ceiling. She looked forward. That wasn’t the right bookcase. She had rotated to the left. And she was still moving forward. “Um, wait. Come on, wings, turn right!” Her spin just continued and she huffed, resigning herself to wait out the full rotation till she could see the correct bookcase again. Except she was still angled forward. She wasn’t spinning, she was orbiting. Or was it spiraling? A quick flash of railing approaching fast and she angled back sharply, finally managing to cross the room. In reverse. “Oh pony—!” She made contact with the bookcase cutie mark first and bounced off in a tumble. “… feathers,” she finished from the floor, just inches away from her safety mattress. Sunset sat up with a growl and addressed first one wing then the other and back. “This is going to happen whether you like it or not! I am Sunset Shimmer and I don’t like to lose! Just ask Flim, Flam, and an overly-stuffed, obese parakeet plush toy! You two are a part of me now so you better start acting like it!” *** *** *** Sunset stared with an intense, burning rage, taking only a pair of quick glances away from her target to glare at her wings before launching herself off the railing again. This time with a low forward jump and hard but paced flaps. She covered half the distance easily. Faltered. Recovered. Aimed for her book. It was right there. Right in front of her. Just a foreleg’s length away. Wait. How does one stop? BAM “… Ow.” To say Sunset met her goal would be putting it much more lightly than her muzzle would attest. But she managed to grab the shelf and read the bindings of the books before her. Overly Specific Texts, volume 64, Second Edition How to fly A beginner’s guide to the pegasus wing Foreword by Lookout Below Sunset blinked and looked to the left of the shelf, noticing the label indicating that the row number was “27.” She grumbled, but took volumes 64 through 68 in her magic and began climbing down the two shelves to her target. “Fine. A little brain damage never hurt anyone,” she scoured. “Just glad nopony saw that.” A snort caused her to pause. A very familiar snort. “Good thing I’m not a pony, eh, Shimmer?” This was followed up by sputtered laughter and another THUD after Sunset lost her grip on the twenty fifth shelf. Aria’s chuckles continued, “Guess we should start calling you Phoenix Down.”