“You know, even after all this time, this view still takes my breath away.”
Sunset felt the wind flow through her mane, a gentle but exhilarating breeze that you could only experience at the top of the world. Or rather, as close as you could get to it upon the balcony of the castle’s highest tower.
Sunset could feel the rush of nostalgia that accompanied the gust of air. Thoughts and memories from another lifetime coming back to her in that single instant. It really had been a lifetime, hadn’t it? She honestly couldn’t remember exactly how many years it had been since she had last had the pleasure of gazing out at the evening sun from on high, framed by the mountains, hills, and valleys of Equestria. The rivers and lakes that ran through it all sparkling like crystals in the low light.
No, she couldn’t remember how long it had been, but she remembered the feeling. The exhilaration, the freedom, the idea that, standing above it all, if she just let go then all her worries and problems would just fall away and she’d soar. A child’s fantasy, but she remembered it all so clearly like it was only yesterday she had stood in this exact spot.
But it wasn’t yesterday, and technically, she had never really stood in this spot. As far as she could tell, it was in nearly the exact same position as the balcony Celestia had favored when raising the sun, yet that tower had been blown to smithereens long ago by a group of villains Sunset had a feeling she could probably identify at this point.
The structure, stone, plaster, etchings, and color were no longer familiar to her. It was all newer, sleeker, and more modern. Different. Just like the view. Spotted in houses and villages that hadn’t been there nearly a century ago when she had last gazed upon it.
It still made her feel out of place, but she couldn’t deny that it was just as alluring as it had been all those many moons ago. Much of what she had once loved about it remained, and a new quality she couldn’t place made it even more captivating. Perhaps, just because something had changed didn’t mean it wasn’t still beautiful.
“There’s just nothing quite like this in the human world,” Sunset lamented.
She was home, wasn’t she? She had been back and living in Equestria for the better part of a month now and yet that fact still hadn’t really sunk in. This was home, right?
Twilight, who had led her to this spot to continue their discussion, gave a simple nod in response, not shifting her eyes from the distant horizon. “So, how have you been doing? I’m sorry we haven’t really seen too much of each other lately. You wouldn’t believe how much paperwork manages to pile up in just one week.”
Sunset shook her head. “Actually, I think I have a pretty good idea. Princess Celestia’s desk was always buried in it. At least, I always assumed there was a desk in there somewhere,” Sunset quipped.
Twilight gave a good-natured chuckle. “Okay, but really, what have you been up to? Please tell me it’s something more exciting than a fifty-page report on proposed tax policies.”
“Here I thought you enjoyed reading.”
“I enjoy learning. The only thing I learn there is how much some politicians think they can push it. Now quit stalling,” Twilight insisted, shifting her attention over to her companion with clearly visible interest.
Sunset put a hoof to her chin. “Well, I did learn a few new methods to improve my security wards. I just need to wait for Discord’s next ‘visit’ to test them. I picked up a pretty great new book on the mechanics of shapeshifting. Communication with the changeling kingdom has really advanced our understanding of biological transfiguration…Oh, and I’m making some great progress on this new thing I’m working on. Wiring it has been a little tricky. I have to design a lot of my own parts now, but I should have a working prototype soon.”
“Oh, anything else?” Twilight asked looking strangely concerned.
“No, not really, I…why are you giving me that look?”
“What look?”
Sunset shifted her hoof to point at Twilight’s face so quickly she made contact with her muzzle. “That look. I know that look. That’s the, ‘I’m worried about you’ look. Princess Celestia used to give it to me all the time.”
Twilight backed away, rubbing her muzzle. “It’s nothing bad. I guess I just couldn’t help but notice that you don’t really…do much.”
Sunset raised an annoyed eyebrow to let Twilight know that she had a few seconds to explain herself before she got offended.
“Okay, that was a poor choice of words. What I mean is, well, it seems like you tend to do a lot of the same things every day.”
“I do not.”
“Uh-huh. What did you do the day after we returned to Canterlot?” Twilight asked.
“I picked up some new books from the library to study,” Sunset answered, with full confidence, not seeing the issue. If anything, she was learning new things every day at a rapid pace.
“What about the day after that?”
“Well, I returned those and rented some new ones.”
“And what did you do yesterday?”
“Well, I…gave those books back to the…library…and…studied some more,” Sunset answered again, only this time gradually deflating as Twilight’s insinuation dawned on her.
Sunset mentally charted her course over the past week in her head only to find it was a woefully depressing straight line between her room and the castle library, with the occasional detour to the kitchen.
To make matters worse, Twilight was now making a different, but equally infuriating, face. It was her trademark, ‘I just made an extremely good point and now I’m going to be all smug about it’ face. She really hated that face.
“O-okay, so I’ve gotten into a routine. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Of course not,” Twilight agreed. “I was just hoping that by now you could start branching out a little. Get out of the castle and-”
“Make some new friends,” Sunset finished for her. It was funny how history tended to repeat itself. Just as she remembered standing high above the city in this very spot, she also clearly remembered being told something very similar by Twilight’s predecessor.
“Exactly. I think it would be good for you to start forging some new connections. See what Equestria has to offer you that you can’t find in books,” Twilight prompted, fully aware of the irony that she would one day be the one to tell somepony else to stop reading so much and start living a little.
“I went to Ponyville not even a week ago,” Sunset tried to deflect.
“Yeah, for me,” Twilight emphasized by pointing a hoof at her face. “Now, it’s time to focus on you. What does Sunset Shimmer want?”
Sunset leaned over the guard rail to face the city. “That’s not really important.”
Twilight took a seat next to her friend in an attempt to be more eye-level with her. It didn’t help much, but the sentiment was appreciated.
“It’s important to me.”
Sunset felt a jolt run through her. “Well…I guess I just don’t really know. It all used to be so clear to me, but I guess I never really made a new plan when the old one fell through.”
“What was your old plan?”
Sunset waved a foreleg in dismissal. “Oh, just some silly filly’s dream. Something about owning a big castle, wearing a crown, and being loved and adored by everypony.”
Twilight chuckled awkwardly. “Oh, that long ago, huh?”
“Yeah, guess I’ve just been kinda floating through life for a while now,” Sunset said, resting her chin upon the rail.
“Sounds like you’re upset about more than just not having your own castle,” Twilight picked out.
Sunset sighed. “It’s just…I don’t know, I always thought it’d be different. All these years and what do I really have to show for it? A cheap apartment and a handful of diplomas I never really wanted?”
“And a bunch of friends that love and care about you,” Twilight gently reminded.
Twilight’s earnest attempt to comfort her did little more than frustrate Sunset. Twilight was right. She did have that at least. That should have been enough, shouldn’t it? What did it say about her that it just wasn’t?
“I know, I know. Still, I always figured I’d do something more. Be something more. I know I’ll never be a princess, but I can’t help feeling like I’m still falling short. Like I just don’t matter.”
“Sunset, that’s ridiculous,” Twilight interjected. “Of course you matter. Just look at everything you’ve done. Everything you’ve accomplished. You’ve seen things no pony has seen before. You’ve saved the world. You’ve changed lives,” Twilight listed off.
“Does it matter if I’m the only one who knows it happened?”
“What?” Twilight asked in confusion.
Sunset hated what she was about to say. Hated how it made her sound, but she had learned a long time ago that lying to herself was far worse. Even if the truth wasn’t pretty.
“I came from nothing, Twi. So, all my life, the thing I’ve wanted more than anything was to be something. To matter. To stand out. I thought I had changed, but maybe you can really only change so much. The truth is that even after all this time, my ego still can’t handle the thought that nopony will remember me.”
Twilight scooted closer and took the opportunity to place a wing around Sunset’s shoulders. It wasn’t often Sunset opened up so freely, so she vowed to always be there to lean on when her little unicorn needed support.
“Remember when I blew up at you? The day I arrived?” Sunset brought up after adjusting herself to better fill out the wing Twilight had offered her.
“Remember it? I thought you were going to set me on fire.”
“I wasn’t going to set you on fire…maybe just singe you a little.”
Sunset felt the gentle jostle of Twilight’s wing jerking her closer in a playful warning.
“Well…” Sunset picked up, “I’ve had some time to think about why exactly I reacted that way. It wasn’t like I had really lost anything, and for a long time I had pretty much come to terms with the idea of spending the rest of my life outside of Equestria anyway.”
“Equestria was still your home, Sunset. You grew up here. It makes sense that you’d miss it, even if you don’t think you should.”
“No, that’s not it. At least not entirely. I don’t think I really got it myself until our trip to Ponyville. It hit me right after seeing the castle museum. Seeing all those ponies of my era immortalized like that. Reading about each of the ways that they made their impact. I left and Equestria just moved on…without me. I guess I just feel like somewhere along the line, I got left behind. I’ve always wanted to make an impact. Now I have to accept the fact that I haven’t. That probably sounds pretty self-centered, doesn’t it?”
“Well, yeah.”
Okay, so, it’d be pretty hypocritical to hold anything against Twilight for agreeing with her, but it would have been nice to be put down a bit more gently.
Twilight smirked at the adorable pout Sunset clearly couldn’t suppress. “I’m only saying that because I’m no better than you are.”
Sunset immediately pulled herself out from under Twilight's wing to face the alicorn. She had absolutley never heard anything so fundamentally wrong in her entire life. “Okay, how can you even try and get me to believe that? You’re basically the greatest pony to have ever lived.”
Twilight was caught off guard by Sunset’s sheer conviction on that statement. “I really wouldn’t-”
“No, no, no. Don’t even try to be humble about it. You’ve saved Equestria dozens of times, you earned the title of a Princess and got Princess Celestia to pass an over one thousand year reign onto you and changed the entire world for the better, you work yourself tirelessly day and night helping everyone, so it’s no wonder everypony from here to the end of Equus adores you. I adore you. How could I not? You’re…well, you’re…you’re…”
You’re everything I always wished I was.
It seemed that once again, Sunset Shimmer’s heart had run too far ahead of her brain. It hardly mattered that she never put it into words, the sentiment hung in the air clear as day.
A tense moment of silence lingered over them as Sunset waited for Twilight’s reaction. Several apologies and explanations raced through her mind. It honestly wasn’t as though she resented Twilight. She didn’t. How could she? She owed her everything.
No, the problem, as always, was her. The desire, the envy, the yearning, it was nowhere near as strong as it used to be. It would never control her again, that she was certain of, but it was still her, wasn’t it? Those feelings and desires hadn’t simply been born out of nothing and they didn’t simply return to nothing because she had come to her senses. She had buried them years ago though, and living in the human world, far away from Equestria, she was allowed to leave them that way. Forget about them. An unintended consequence of coming home it seemed, was that it gave her plenty of ways to dig it all back up.
Twilight laughed. Of all the reactions she could have gotten, from shame to disappointment, Sunset had never expected Twilight to find humor in her inability to cope with mediocrity.
“Am…am I missing something here?”
Twilight bit down on her chuckles enough to give Sunset a proper response. “No. no more than anypony else at least. They all think I’m some flawless perfect princess when, really, I’m more selfish than anypony.”
Sunset quickly opened her mouth to argue only to feel it forced shut by a magical pull.
“Sunset, please, you might not even be here if I wasn’t, but that’s not really the point. The point is, I know exactly how you feel,” Twilight explained and released Sunset’s muzzle, having finally said her piece.
“You do?” Sunset responded after making sure her jaw was under her control once again, an undertone of doubt she couldn’t suppress laced into her words.
“Maybe ‘exactly’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but I do know what it’s like to feel lost, like everything and everpony’s leaving you behind, like life just didn’t turn out the way you thought it would,” Twilight said softly.
The tail end of Twilight’s admission caught Sunset’s attention. In all the years they had known each other, she had never even thought to ask.
“How did you think life would turn out?”
Twilight blinked in response and turned to face the city below them once more. “I…don’t actually know. Just not like this, I guess. Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself where I am today. Just, who would have ever thought I’d be in charge of all Equestria?”
“Certainly not me.”
“Hey!”
“Did I say that out loud?”
Sparing her companion an agitated growl and an annoyed glance, Twilight returned to her original train of thought. What was her plan before the wings and the crown? Had she even had one? She must have, right? It would have been completely unlike her not to have one. It had just been so long ago since it mattered. Still, some part of her still would have liked to remember. A librarian maybe? Or a historian? A great sorcerer? Yeah, that last one sounded okay. Maybe she could have been one of those.
“Twi? Are you okay?” Sunset reached out, noticing Twilight’s face had fallen into a wistful expression.
Twilight blinked harder than usual before responding, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
Sunset moved back over to share the view beside Twilight, leaning against her in the best show of physical affection she could manage given the size difference. “I guess we’re both just a couple of mares with lots of issues then, huh?” Sunset chuckled
Twilight looked down and smiled, sharing Sunset’s sense of bitter humor, “Well, at least some things never change, right?”
That one got an honest laugh out of both of them for the first time that day and did the much-needed duty of lightening the mood.
Sunset could only speak for herself, but she always felt lighter after these precious moments. Even if they didn’t necessarily resolve anything, it was so liberating to just talk about it with somepony who understood her. She had spent a lot of those last few years in the human world keeping these things to herself. She couldn’t fault any of her friends for it. They were always willing to listen, but they had their own lives to lead and they just couldn’t really understand. Not the way Twilight could.
It seemed she had taken to leaning on her. Well, more than she already did before they could regularly see each other in person. Her tried and true rock. A metaphor that was now much more literal as Sunset noticed she was placing the majority of her weight onto the alicorn’s side. She really still wasn’t used to seeing Twilight as the bonafide goddess she had become, but maybe she could get used to it. Eventually.
They sat there for several minutes simply taking the moment in, looking over all the creatures going about their individual lives, and being content in each other’s presence.
It was the kind of moment you almost wished could last forever, which was why it pained Sunset to break it, but she had already put this particular discussion off for too long as is and it was time to set to work.
“Twilight?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to talk. About Flurry Heart.”
Twilight pulled away so fast Sunset had to flail around in order to keep her balance at the sudden loss of support.
“Oh no. What did she do this time?” Twilight asked, quickly slipping back into work mode.
“Uhm, What?”
“She didn’t break anything, did she? Please tell me there wasn’t a fire this time. No, wait, don’t answer that. Just tell me if anypony is threatening to press charges.”
Sunset took a brief moment to process that reaction. “Okay, no, nothing's on fire, and what? Flurry didn’t do anything wrong. We just had her first lesson today.”
Twilight visibly untensed and let out a breath she had been holding, but still didn’t completely relax. “Oh, and how did that go?” Twilight asked with what Sunset believed to be an absurd amount of caution, almost as though she thought the answer would attack her.
“It went fine. There were a few hurdles on both ends at first, but I’d say she was a model student.”
That seemed to allow Twilight to finally relax and stop acting as if there was a disaster she needed to respond to. “That’s good. Actually, that’s great. Flurry’s had a bit of a rough history with instructors.”
“Yeah, she mentioned that, but that’s not really what I wanted to talk about,” Sunset said, weaving her way to her point, fully aware of the potential minefield she was stepping into.
“Is something wrong?”
“Well…yes. I just can’t help but notice that Flurry seems a bit…maladjusted.”
Twilight shifted around, clearly outside of her comfort zone once again. “I admit...she has some difficulty handling certain situations.”
“Right, and she can be somewhat emotionally unstable,” Sunset piggybacked off of Twilight’s admission building her own confidence.
“…Well, she is young.”
“She qualifies as a senior citizen.”
Twilight stared dumbfounded at her, evidently blanking on a response, which Sunset took as her cue to cut to the chase. “Twilight, I don’t think Flurry Heart has really been getting the guidance and attention she needs. Not from her teachers, not from her peers, and most importantly…not from you.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, the pieces clicking together. “Wait a minute. Is this a parent-teacher conference?”
“If it helps for you to think of it that way.”
Twilight was honestly feeling slightly betrayed, but more so bewildered. “I thought you said she was a model student.”
“She’s clearly trying her best which means, as her teacher, I’d be doing her a disservice to turn a blind eye to her problems,” Sunset asserted, and on that she vowed not to budge.
“What problems exactly?” Twilight prompted, without necessarily looking forward to the answer.
“Well, I figured we should probably start with her issues with emotional neglect.”
“Her what?”
“She’s lonely, Twilight. VERY lonely. She doesn’t feel like anypony’s giving her their time or attention, so she’s doing anything she can to get it. She practically latched onto me the moment I gave her an ounce of concern. Most ponies don’t call other ponies they just met family.”
“Well, she has plenty of attendants, guards, and advisors she can talk to.”
Sunset met that defense with a deadpan stare. “Remind me what you’re supposed to be the princess of again.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Okay, point taken. What are you suggesting?”
“I want you to help me teach her.”
Twilight immediately backed up. “Sunset, I can’t-”
“I know I know. You’re the busiest pony in the world. I get that, and I’m not asking you to take over, but Flurry loves you, she wants you to spend time with her, and I get the sense she always wanted to learn from you, the greatest spell caster Equestria has ever known.”
“You think I’m the greatest?”
“So, I’ll handle the heavy lifting. I’ll do the scheduling, lesson plans, and the majority of the teaching. I just want you to give her a lesson or two when she comes to Canterlot. Can you make time for that?” Sunset explained.
Twilight sat back to ponder Sunset’s proposition, turning it over with all the scrutiny of a legislative proposal. It sounded simple enough. Mostly because it was. Every point Sunset had made was valid and her request was plenty generous. Even with her packed schedule, barring some unforeseen political disaster, it would be possible to make time for what was being asked of her, which wasn’t much all things considered. Sunset was essentially asking her to make time to spend with her niece. Something she intended to do anyway. And yet, she was hesitant. She couldn’t really say why, it was just a feeling she couldn’t quite shake.
“Do you really think this is a good idea?” Twilight asked.
Sunset simply nodded.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Twilight committed with only a moment’s hesitation.
Sunset gave her a gentle smile at that while internally sighing in relief. Today had shown her she may have been over her head in promising to take on the youngest Princess as her own protégé. True to her word, she planned on doing the lion’s share of the work, but it eased her worries to be able to fall back on Twilight, who must have been an incredibly experienced teacher by this point. A school of gifted unicorns was left in her care after all.
“I guess Flurry’s not the only pony to get quickly attached,” Twilight mused.
“Huh?”
Twilight took Sunset’s dumbfounded expression as an invitation to elaborate. “You’re going through an awful lot of trouble for Flurry Heart, aren’t you?”
“I guess I just want to see her happy,” Sunset shrugged.
Twilight didn’t seem to see any reason to respond to that. Instead, content to simply offer up a small smile.
There it was. That little sparkle. The unmistakable mark of genuine life and happiness in her eyes that was so frequently missing now.
Even after all these years, Sunset still remembered the first time she had really noticed it. She had been lying in a hole battered and defeated, wallowing in her own misery. When Twilight found the kindness in herself to pull her up, it was the first time she had ever really looked at her. The first time she had looked into her eyes and saw it. The light of friendship and love she held inside her. That was when she had known for certain that she had been wrong. About everything. And for as much as she had tried to deny it, she knew that they had been right. Celestia…Cadenza…they had known all along. She was special.
It had honestly worried her how that same sparkle was so often absent. It had been her first real clue that things weren’t quite right. It wasn’t gone. Just…buried. Hidden behind a cloud of a million emotions.
It’s wasn’t as though Twilight didn’t smile often. She did, but you could always tell how real it was by whether or not it reached her eyes as it did right now. It was something truly special to put that little sparkle back where it belonged. Maybe one day, she dared to dream, she’d find a way to keep it there.
Sunset tuned back into reality, only to notice Twilight had resumed her position at the balcony’s edge staring up at the clouds.
Retaking her position next to her, Sunset tried her own hoof at cloud watching. The same place or not, this really did bring back memories. When she had been much younger, she and Celestia used to waste away time gazing at the clouds and picking out shapes. They weren’t usually more than puffy white splotches, but it had been just one of the countless little things they did together.
Maybe that was part of the reason the idea of becoming a Princess had enamored her so. Staring at clouds was fine enough, but she couldn’t help but envy the Pegasi. Rather than look at the clouds, they could be among them, be like them, be free.
She loved her horn, but even if she could only do it once, she wondered what it would be like to fly. It must have been something else.
“Hey, Twi, can I ask you something?”
Twilight turned to face her, that sparkle still in her eyes. “Sunset, you don’t have to ask for permission.”
Sunset twiddled her hooves, her usual confidence alluding her. “Oh, right. Well, I was just curious, and I never really thought to ask before, but I was wondering if you could tell me what it’s like?”
“What what’s like?”
“Oh, y’know…flying.”
Twilight blinked a few times in reaction. “Why would you want to know about that?”
Sunset gave a nervous chuckle and shied away “I-it’s nothing. Just a stupid question that popped into my head is all. Just forget about it,” Sunset quickly tried to brush off in an extremely rare case of her nerve escaping her.
Twilight quickly rose to her hooves and closed whatever distance Sunset had a chance to create. “Now hold on. It’s not stupid. Surprising, but definitely not stupid.
“Flying is…flying is…,” Twilight trailed off shortly after starting. It had been a long time since somepony had asked her that question, back when she was a unicorn who had just grown wings, and she was fairly certain her description was incredibly lacking at the time anyway. “It’s like a different perspective,” she eventually settled on. “Being up there just lets you experience the world differently. Big things seem small and you can see how everything comes together. It’s like taking a step back to look at the full picture.”
Sunset’s ever so slightly scrunched brow indicated that her description wasn’t really doing it for her. Fair enough really. That certainly wasn’t the way Rainbow Dash would have described it. It needed to be about twenty percent cooler for that. Besides, no matter how you phrased it, there wasn’t really any way you could really understand it without doing it.
“If you’d like, I actually know a few spells that can simulate flight. They’re pretty advanced, but with your magical aptitude, you should be able to learn them pretty fast,” Twilight thought to offer.
Sunset shook her head, not even taking the time to think about it. “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Why not? If you’re really curious about what flying’s like, then the best way to understand it is to do it.”
“But, that’s not really flying. It’s not the same as what real wings can give you.”
Twilight tilted her head, not at all understanding Sunset’s meaning.
Sunset couldn’t blame her. It didn’t really make any sense. She probably hadn’t been making sense since she made the mistake of trying to understand the nature of a pegasus from the perspective of a unicorn. That was just it. She was a unicorn. She wasn’t meant to know what it meant to fly.
“It’s like you said, Twi. Unicorn magic can emulate those things, but it’s just not the same.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, Sunset’s meaning becoming crystal clear to her upon hearing her own paraphrased words. Whatever magic she could teach would only ever serve as a pale imitation of the real thing. She knew that better than anypony.
There just wasn’t any way to explain it or fake it. Twilight felt an illogical disappointment with herself at failing to do the impossible. If she could lend Sunset the wings off her back to gift her with the experience she would, but she couldn’t...could she?
Twilight noticeably perked up, an idea she considered borderline ingenious inspiring her.
Sunset had to force herself not to back away in concern. She recognized that look. Her Twilight always got that look whenever she was inspired. A sudden and unexplained realization that nearly popped her glasses off. Things usually either blew up or went haywire when she got that look.
Sunset coached herself into settling down. She was probably overreacting. Sure, a lot of things were common between Twilights, but the Princess didn’t usually share her counterpart’s predilection for radical ideas. There was no reason to worry.
“Sunset! I know exactly what to do,” Twilight practically giggled with a mixture of excitement and pride, leaning down and getting close enough to put them nose to nose.
Okay, maybe worry a little.
In a less uncertain situation, Sunset might have been able to appreciate the way Twilight’s eyes were lit up. “Oh, what’s that, Twi?” Sunset asked with a bit of caution.
“You want to know exactly what flying feels like, right?”
Sunset nodded her head in response. That was what she wanted. There was no use denying it at this point.
“Well, I can show you exactly what it feels like,” Twilight claimed, finally backing off and turning her flank to face her. “Hop on.”
Okay, worry a lot.
“I’m sorry. Can you please repeat that?” Sunset said in the slim hope that she misunderstood something.
“Just climb on my back, and I’ll show you what flying is all about,” Twilight rephrased.
Yeah, that was pretty much exactly what Sunset had thought she meant, and it still sounded just as crazy the second time.
“And, uhm, how will that show me what it’s like, exactly?”
Twilight either somehow didn’t notice or just didn’t mind Sunset’s rather blatant stalling. “Well, it’s a little unconventional, but if you want to see and feel exactly how a pegasus feels when soaring through the sky, why don’t I just bring you along for the ride? It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it. They do say experience is the best teacher. You’ll see and feel everything I do, and it's perfect weather for it.”
“Twi, are you sure that’s such a good idea?”
Twilight remained undeterred. “Come on. It’s basically the same as the last few times I carried you.”
“Okay, first of all,” Sunset interjected, putting a hoof up, “I’ve never voluntarily put myself up there.”
“You’ve never voluntarily gotten off either.”
Sunset shot the alicorn a dirty look. When had Twilight become so cheeky? That was supposed to be her role in this relationship.
“Second,” Sunset pushed on, putting her hoof down upon realizing she didn’t have any fingers to properly complete the gesture, “This sounds a little more dangerous than a walk through the street.”
That remark finally seemed to dull Twilight’s enthusiasm in favor of looking somewhat offended. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It just means that I’m not really comfortable with what you’re suggesting,” Sunset stated without quite meeting Twilight’s eyes.
“You think I could drop you, don't you!?” Twilight accused; this time very much full-out offended.
“What? No! I just think there’s a possibility that the forces of gravity might eventually wrench me off your back and send me plummeting towards the ground at a fatal velocity.”
“So, you do think I’m going to drop you!”
“Not intentionally.”
“But you think I will?”
“I'm just saying that sort of situation leaves room for a lot of uncontrollable variables!”
“Sunset!”
“Okay! Maybe I’m a little afraid I’d fall. Happy?”
“One of my best friends thinks I’d let something awful happen to her. That’s not really something to be happy about.”
“It’s not like that!” Sunset practically groaned in frustration, “Look, can we just drop it? You don’t need to waste your time entertaining some silly filly’s fantasy in the first place.”
“It’s not a waste of time if it makes you happy,” Twilight asserted with what Sunset saw as an unnecessary amount of resolve.
“Why are you making such a big deal out of this, Twi?” Sunset sighed. It was just a silly question. It was never supposed to go this far, and she was never supposed to actually leave the ground.
“It’s not a big deal. I can tell you want to see it for yourself, and I want to do this for you.” Twilight explained as if it was simple math.
Sunset looked away from her, not sure what to do with the large well of confusing emotions only Twilight seemed to bring out. Especially this Twilight. For as similar as they could be, her Twilight was never this stubborn. Obsessive, compulsive, and resolved, sure, but not stubborn. Not like this. Not willing to butt heads and lock horns with her until one or both of them tapped out. To be honest, Twilight’s human counterpart was usually something of a pushover when it came to arguments. The Princess on the other hoof always gave as good as she got. As somepony that didn’t like to lose, she almost hated to admit that she found herself on the losing end of these spats as often as she won them.
“Sunset, do you trust me?” Twilight asked, completely shattering her train of thought.
“Twilight, that’s not fair,” Sunset all but whined. More than her vast intellect or eye for details, that was exactly the sort of thing that made arguments with Twilight so difficult. She played dirty.
Okay, that was just bitterness talking. Twilight’s intentions were pure. They always were. It was unlikely she even knew it, but she always seemed to press exactly the right buttons in order to get her to fold like a scrap of paper.
“What’s so unfair about it? I just want to know,” Twilight said, her tone oozing with sincerity, vulnerability, and even a twinge of trepidation.
Sunset winced at it. “Of course I trust you, Twi. More than I trust anypony. As much as I’ve ever trusted anybody. How could I not trust you?”
Strangely, Twilight’s face flooded with what could clearly be described as relief. Had she really expected any other answer?
“Then please, Sunset, trust that I’ll protect you. No matter what happens, I’ll keep you safe. I promise,” Twilight placed a hoof over her heart and bowed in sincerity.
“...Okay.”
“Okay?” Twilight tilted her head. She was prepared for a multitude of responses, none of which were that one.
“Yeah. You’re right. I trust you, so if you think this is a good idea, then I trust you.”
Twilight was rendered speechless. Those words were exactly what she wanted to hear, but a part of her couldn't help wondering if she was still fit to hear them.
“You’re going to need to help me out here, Twilight. I can’t make it all the way up there by myself,” Sunset spoke up after circling around her and motioning to Twilight’s hindlegs.
Almost obediently, Twilight dropped down to her haunches to allow the smaller pony easy access.
Sunset swiftly mounted her with a surprising degree of dexterity. She had to admit, she never expected AJ’s horseback riding lessons to come in handy on this side of the mirror, but it seemed to be quite applicable to alicorns. If you ignored the wings, horn, and the little fact that Twilight was an intelligent close personal friend, it was practically the same thing.
“Okay, now what?” Sunset asked upon Twilight rising back to her full height. Perhaps she could manage to parlay her familiarity of the situation into the confidence she’d need to make it through what came next.
“Oh…well, I guess we just do it?” Twilight said with all the certainty of somepony who was just amazed to have made it this far.
Twilight lurched forward causing Sunset to momentarily struggle for balance. With mutual anxiety, the pair gingerly slid up to the balcony’s edge, Sunset left with little choice other than to follow Twilight’s lead.
From her already high perch atop Equestria’s most vertically gifted mare, Sunset had a clear view over the balcony’s safety rails. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t describe herself as somepony with any particular fear of heights, but she also ordinarily wasn’t preparing to suspend herself hundreds of feet in the air with only a pair of lavender wings keeping her suspended in flight. She also wasn’t normally the type of pony to put herself in situations where she didn’t have at least some degree of control, but she’d be leaving it all to Twilight on this one. Some unease was perfectly understandable with how far she was venturing outside of her comfort zone, and maybe her memory was a little spotty, but she could swear they made this tower taller when they rebuilt it.
“Okay, are you ready for this?” Twilight called back, propping herself up on the railing so that only her hind legs remained on the ground.
An audible gulp was Sunset’s first response, followed by an almost imperceptible, “Uh-huh.”
The nervousness in her voice and posture was impossible for Twilight to miss and only served to complement and enhance her own. Despite her initial enthusiasm about the idea, her own nerves were beginning to creep up on her and she didn’t even understand why. Flying was practically second nature to her now. She could almost do it in her sleep if she needed to. Something in her just couldn’t stop fretting. This needed to be perfect.
Twilight’s wings fanned out in anticipation, an impressive wingspan on display.
“Hold on tight,” Twilight advised, tensing her muscles and pulling all of her focus into the comforting words of an old friend. She didn’t need them. She hadn’t needed them for years, but it just helped her to remember them and hear Rainbow’s voice again.
“C’mon, Twilight, wings up! Hey, watch your form. You’ve gotta really leap into it and catch the wind with those feathers! There we go! Now just relax and try to find your rhythm. Don’t tense up. Don’t go too soft either. you need to really flap those wings hard! Hey, you got it! Not bad for an egghead.”
“Here we go,” Twilight whispered to herself before taking one great leap over the edge and into the wind.
As gravity took hold, Sunset was reminded of what it felt like to be on a rollercoaster. The slow build-up that gave you all the time in the world to process where you were and exactly what was going to happen. A few brief seconds at the very peak to stare right into the fall with nowhere else to go. Then, finally, the sudden heart-stopping drop where any small delusions of control were unceremoniously ripped from you, and you were left to the total mercy of the ride.
So far, flying felt a lot like falling, and unlike a rollercoaster, there were no rails to depend on. The sound of the rushing wind consumed her senses and time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. The earth seemed to be rushing to meet them all while they spent an eternity just falling.
Though it seemed to draw on forever, just when Sunset was almost beginning to wonder if they were ever going to stop falling, Twilight shifted her wings and the pair were jolted in the opposite direction.
Twilight expertly transferred her momentum into a gentle glide, ascending upwards at a steady pace, occasionally flapping her wings to maintain altitude and stability. It was a form of flying that was several times slower and more subdued than anything Rainbow would have ever liked, but she found that she honestly preferred this speed. Not to mention her passenger would likely appreciate a calmer pace as well, at least if the apparent shivering she could feel on her back and the sudden difficulty she was having breathing was any indication.
“Hey, are you doing…alright…back there?” Twilight asked, inexplicably choked up and almost beginning to feel light-headed.
“Y-yeah. I’m d-doing g-gr-great,” Sunset managed to stammer out, just thankful that they had finally stopped falling.
“Okay…could you maybe…ease up…just a little bit? You’re holding on…pretty…tight,” Twilight managed to gasp out.
“Tight” was something of an understatement. In her excitement, Sunset had latched onto the only thing she could find to brace herself on. That, unfortunately, happened to be Twilight’s neck, her forelegs wrapped around it in a vice-like death grip. Only now that the adrenaline was dying down could Sunset see that she was practically throttling her.
Sunset immediately unwrapped herself from her friend’s airway, only to immediately regret doing so as she remembered exactly where she was. After a brief panic, she settled for a much more relaxed hold on Twilight to keep herself in place without nearly suffocating her.
“S-sorry. I guess I wasn’t as prepared for that as I thought I was,” Sunset admitted, focusing on bringing down her own racing heart rate.
“Don’t worry. I know it definitely takes some getting used to. It’s actually pretty relaxing once you do though.”
“Really?” Sunset focused on Twilight’s voice. Much as she was ashamed to admit it, she wasn’t handling having her lifelong curiosity answered as well as she would have hoped. So far she hadn’t even found the courage to look down and see just how high up they really were, instead opting to stare into the evening sky to cope with what to her felt like sailing on nothing.
“Oh, Absolutely. It took me a while to really get into it, but at this point, I probably would have gone crazy without it. There’s always just too much happening on the ground. Sometimes, I just need to get above it all.”
Sunset found there was something surreal about having to duck a cloud. If that was any indication, they must have been quite high up by now. The air seemed to be cooler this far into the sky, but not uncomfortably so. Refreshing even.
“You know, it helps if you loosen up. That was the first thing I had to learn after getting wings. Nothing that belongs in the air is as stiff as a rock,” Twilight advised in a tone of voice that indicated she was repeating something verbatim.
“Somehow, I don’t think the pony without wings needs to worry about that,” Sunset excused. Sunset didn’t find anything particularly appealing about the idea of holding on any looser than she currently was.
“Maybe, but I promise it gets a lot better when you learn to flow into it.”
As if to drive home her point, Twilight began to pick up the pace with a single flap of her wings, turning her steady glide into a free-flowing dance through the nearby clouds.
The sudden increase in speed somehow managed to come without the anticipated sudden jolt, Twilight cutting through the air with the ease and fluidity of a fish in the water.
Twilight danced around the field of clouds with an elegance Sunset couldn’t claim to have ever associated with her. Twilight was sweet, gentle, and skilled, but elegant? No, not this Twilight. Not any Twilight. Not in a million years, she would have thought. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Twilight had proven her dead wrong.
Effortlessly flowing from breeze to breeze, skimming the edges of the clouds so closely the vapors rippled alongside them, and yet she never once made contact. It became an elaborate dance of twists and turns through a forest of white so enthralling you could almost lose track of which direction was up and which was down. All the while no matter how sharp the turn, how steep the dive, or how sudden the lift was, the ease and fluidity of her movements never wavered. A borderline impossible mixture of freedom and control that nothing else Sunset had ever experienced could hope to measure up to. It was positively captivating, and with each passing second Sunset’s own worries and fears fell to the wayside, forgotten amidst their dance in the skies.
The clouds were so close, Sunset could practically reach out and touch them, and once her inhibitions had faded enough, that was exactly what she did, extending a foreleg out as they flew by to run her hoof through the chilled vapors.
“Well? Pretty fun once you get used to it, right?”
The sound of Twilight’s voice pulled Sunset back to reality. The reality that she was a thousand feet high in the sky, and funnily enough, that didn’t bother her so much anymore. There probably wasn’t a safer pair of wings in all of Equus than the ones she was riding on.
“Yeah, it’s…really something,” Sunset lamely settled on. It was just as she had suspected. There really was nothing else quite like this. The sights, the sounds, the feelings were like nothing she had ever experienced before, and no words she could think of could really quite describe it. To think, this was something other ponies got to do every day.
“Hold on. I want to show you the best part.”
“Best part? What do you mea-WHOA!?”
In one quick motion, Twilight directed all her momentum straight up, driving them even higher skyward. Whereas before, the Princess had seen it fit to make a show of dancing as close to the edges of the clouds as physically possible, now she instead drove straight through them on her rise through the atmosphere. Higher and higher until they were met with a thin blanket of clouds that draped over the skies of Canterlot. With one final push, Twilight pierced through even that.
A clear orange sky awaited them on the other side, nothing standing between them and the late afternoon heavens. Still surrounded by the thin wisps of the cloud she had just broken through, Twilight lowered them onto the fluffy platform below them, the physics-defying ability of the pegasi allowing her to stand atop them as though she were situated on solid ground.
No sooner than they had touched down did Twilight’s horn ignite, and Sunset felt the relatively unfamiliar feeling of another pony’s magic being used to place a spell on her.
“You can step off now if you want. That spell lets anycreature walk on clouds. It came in handy a few times before I could do it naturally.”
So, that was a cloud-walking spell? Sunset had heard of them before. Surprisingly easy magic to cast, but she had never seen any reason to commit one to memory given her inability to get close enough to a cloud to even try walking on it. Funny, she didn’t really feel any different. At least she didn’t feel much like a pony that wouldn’t plummet straight through a cumulous if she tried standing on one.
“Are you sure you cast that spell right?” Sunset asked without much thought.
Twilight took on an amused look. “Should I be offended by that?”
“Oh…right,” Sunset muttered out, feeling about as silly as somepony who just asked if the element of magic was capable of performing a basic spell should.
Gingerly Sunset dismounted, not quite feeling brave enough to do it all at once and instead keeping a firm hold of her friend’s flank while she lowered her hind legs first. In hindsight, it was fortunate they were far out of anypony’s view because she was certain it was rather inappropriate all the ways she had handled and held a princess over the course of this day alone.
Sunset tried not to show her surprise when her hoof made contact with the cloud and held in place. One by one she set each leg down and gradually came to terms with the idea of standing on air. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel all that different from the earth. Bouncier, but much more firm than you would imagine it to be.
“See? There’s nothing to-oh, wow,” Twilight started before trailing off upon getting her first real look at Sunset since they had touched down.
“What?”
“N-nothing really. I guess I just got a teensy bit more excited down there than your mane could handle, but hey, I think windswept is actually a pretty good look on you.”
“Bend down, Twi,” Sunset ordered. Twilight complied without any resistance, kneeling to give Sunset a better view of her reflection in the reflective chest plate she wore as part of her regalia. “Windswept” was being a bit generous, to say the least. She could probably pass for one of the main characters in those Japanese cartoons they had back in the human world.
“Okay,” Sunset sighed, “You’re fixing this when we get back home.”
Twilight had the decency to look abashed and nodded in agreement.
Sunset took a few steps around without quite going anywhere, getting a feel for cloud walking. “What’s on this cloud that you wanted me to see anyway?”
“It’s not about what’s on the cloud, Sunset. Come over here and you’ll see it,” Twilight answered, trotting over to the cloud’s edge and taking a prone position right by it.
Sunset hesitated. If she wasn’t keen on heights before, she certainly wasn’t now after they had already gone who knows how high just to get up here.
“Oh, come on,” Twilight smiled back at her with what seemed to be an almost barely contained mirth. “It’s fine. You’re not going to fall and if for some reason you somehow did, I’d catch you. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Sunset smiled sheepishly. It was just being a bit silly at this point, and although her steps were somewhat more measured than usual, she made her own way over to sit beside Twilight at the edge of the sky.
Wordlessly, Twilight shifted her gaze from her unicorn friend to the horizon, the motion of her head prompting Sunset to do the same.
Finally, she saw it. She saw all of it. The castle, the hills, the mountains, the forests, the trees, the towns, the cities, the rivers, the ponds and lakes, the canyons and valleys, even the other clouds. It was Equestria. All of it. All at once and bathed in the golden orange light of the setting sun that shone off the kingdom in a way that made it look akin to heaven on earth. Right below them, she could see all of Canterlot. Shifting her eyes a little let her take in Ponyville and Cloudsdale hanging over it. If she really looked as far out as she could, she could make out a series of lights that would have been in the direction of Las Pegasus assuming her geography wasn’t too rusty. Then there were a handful of cities she had absolutely no recollection of. New ones that must have been established after her time. Logically, she couldn’t really see all of Equestria from up here, but she had never seen so much of it at once. It was new, fascinating, strange, and beautiful all at once, just looking over the world from above and taking it all in for what it truly was.
“It sure beats the view from the tower, doesn’t it?” Twilight sighed, a rare air of content settling over her.
Sunset turned her attention from the vast kingdom before her to a sight that was just as if not more captivating. Princess Twilight Sparkle at complete peace, overlooking the kingdom. Her kingdom. Sometimes she still tended to think of it as Celestia’s, but that age had come and gone now.
“Do you come here often?”
Twilight nodded. The now setting sun casting a warm glow on the Princess, who for once seemed to be able to lay the thoughts that must have constantly plagued her aside and only take in what was right in front of her. The tension she always carried loosened, her breathing was relaxed, and her eyes filled with what could best be described as a mixture of love and pride, though for what and in who she couldn’t tell. Regardless, she looked happy, and for as grand as the realm was, that was undoubtedly the most gratifying sight she had come across so far.
“I can see why. It’s something pretty special. We even got here at the prettiest time of day,” Sunset remarked, a cheeky idea forming in her head.
Twilight snorted. “At Sunset? Really?”
“No. Twilight.”