//------------------------------//
// Lesson 3 - Music: A Sonata of the Dying Universe 
// Story: Memories of a Star 
// by Karach 
//------------------------------//


FLASH


Just as I thought I would be able to join my sisters in whatever afterlife our Mother had prepared for us, I woke up in the deserted, cold and empty void of space. My star must have imploded, as Luna and the scientist had predicted all those eons ago, swallowing both Terra and Luna into its corona as it had been expanding prior to that.

I cursed the life I was given, wept the dry tears within my core for my sisters and ponies, and prayed to my Mother—or whichever god was listening—to end my misery.

A lonely core of the expired star, gifted with consciousness, who would wish for nothing more than death.

Eventually, after all the feelings died inside me, I fell in an unconscious lethargy, in which I was fortunate not to feel a thing anymore.

Was it any different than death? Perhaps only in the sense that I could wake up. 

Like I did earlier.

The question remains: why now? I have no idea whatsoever how long have I been hibernating in the barely glowing, cold core of my star. I suppose it has been eons, millions if not billions of years. But now something woke me up. What?

I strain all of my organless senses to detect any kind of anomaly in the unchanging dead void of space I'm drifting through. There is none. 

But... There had to be something to wake me up from my eternal slumber...

And then I hear it. Not much of a sound per se, because of all those scientific reasons I can't recall anymore. But it is similar to the feeling I felt whenever Terra had sung. The closest thing I can find to describe the feeling is as if a single sharp note reverberated through the whole universe.

I feel like a lonely pony in an empty concert hall, in which a musician I can't see tests their instrument before a grand concert.

I had been to many concerts in my pony life, most of the time accompanied by Luna. I briefly wonder whether she would enjoy this one as well, before the memory of my sisters and her demise in my corona causes fluctuations of feelings in my core.

In the overwhelming silence of the dead universe, a quiet music starts. It is unlike anything I had ever heard from Terra, but I can't shake the ominous feeling, I felt each time she sang her song of destruction.


***


Like a paralyzed spectator bound to her chair, I have been enjoying the concert of the universe for I don't know how long. What else am I to do? What say do I have in the matter?

But... are my celestial senses deceiving me? Just on the border of my gravitational field, which is as much as my senses can pierce the lifeless void, I sense a disturbance.

Back again in the concert hall I imagine myself to be, I can see an occupied chair on the verge of my field of view. The other guest must have sensed me too. I have no idea what a creature it is—I have never seen such a being created by Terra—but I can clearly see it turning its head and flailing its arm at me. Its face, though so different to mine, displays a vibrant smile.

I hesitantly smile and wave back, wishing for the guest to get closer so maybe we could talk.


***


As time passes by, another silhouettes appear in the distance, the space between them and between them and me shrinking with each passing century. Each of the guests is different, too. Some seem grumpy, some cheerful, some are distant and concentrated, some seem like life was sucked out of them—if it was ever given to them in the first place. They are of different sizes and colors, and some of them look similar to the long-gone children of Terra! Just what is happening?

"Hi!"

A cheerful voice of the first guest to join the hall beside me reverberates in my ears. His—well, I assume whatever species he represents, he's a male, because of his masculine voice—chair has closed most of the distance between us by now. And we can talk, just like I desired.

If only I knew what to say to him.

"Greetings," I force out, immediately regretting how formal and cold I sounded.

If he noticed that, however, he didn't show.

"I'm Sol. Who are you?" He asks, his cheerful smile reminding me of Luna.

"Celestia."

Before he can respond, another creature similar to him jumps from behind him, and starts walking my way. The planet balances on the brim of Sol's gravitational pull, almost falling into mine, but then falls back, throwing their tongue at me.

"One of these days you will break from my pull, Neptune." Sol makes a warning gesture with his arm. "And another star will pull you into their gravitational field. I wonder how much you will like your new host. And how much you will miss your other brothers and sister. It's only your luck we haven't met one of those red giants along the way yet."

"Or a black hole." Another one of Sol's siblings emerges from behind him.

Neptune waves his arm. "Shut your trap, Saturn." 

The biggest one of the siblings jumps from behind Sol, subduing his unruly brother with a light pat at the back of his head. "Language, Neptune."

"Thanks, Jupiter." Sol sighs heavily.

A cute little planet—if the others were males, this one must surely be a girl—pulls Sol by his trousers. At least I believe they are trousers. Hard to tell since every one of them has only two legs on which they walk. "Sol, are black holes really that scary?"

The oldest brother grabs his sister and places her gently on his laps. "I'm afraid so, Mars. If one was to catch you in their pull, I wouldn't be able to pull you out."

The girl covers her mouth with her... hands? Was that the word Tirek used to describe his forelimbs? She dives deeper into his brother's embrace. A few of Sol's gentle pats on her head seem enough to calm her a little, though.

"There, there, I'm sure Neptune will notify us if he feels a black hole entering our system." He says with a calming voice."Won't he?" he adds a little louder.

The rowdy boy turns his back on the pair, but a quiet whimper from his sister is enough to turn him around on the spot. "You can count on me!" He puts a bright smile on his face.

"I wish I met a black hole..." a boy, who staid quiet ever since I saw him, finally speaks, his voice distant and cheerful, like he was having a peaceful dream.

"I'd rather you didn't, Uranus –" Sol draws a deep sigh "- but if you do, please let us know about it."

"Sure." The boy puts his hands in the pockets of his blouse, leaning back like he was enjoying a sunny afternoon.

"Sorry about all of that." Sol's cheeks flush red as he turns back to me. "They can be quite a handful, especially Neptune. And Uranus, ever the odd one out."

I can't help but chuckle. "Not at all. I envy you of your companions. I'm all alone, as you can see." I wave my hoof around.

"Then I envy you of your peace and quiet." Sol chuckles. "You have no idea what it's like having to watch over them all the time."

"Indeed, I do not." I smile back. "I used to have but two sisters. We sometimes quarreled, but I loved them dearly." I look away, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "Sadly, they are not here anymore."

Sol looks away. "Sorry to hear that. "If you don't mind me asking..." He bites his lip. "Out of hydrogen, burning helium, and poof, they're gone in your corona?"

Though the process he described is far from laughable, the way he put it forces a weak smile on my face. I nod.

"Been there, done that." Sol hugs the girl sitting on his lap tighter. "Besides this little angel, I had three other sisters. A shy Mercury, a pretty Venus, and ever curious about the universe around her Earth. Can you imagine—little Earth was so eager to learn and get to know the universe that she bred her own lifeforms?"

I offer a meek smile. "Just like my sister Terra."

Sol raises his eyebrow. "Oh?"

"We were entrusted with the seeds of life from our Mother. We were told to nurture and protect them, and we did, up to the moment Luna and Terra perished in my corona."

Sol draws a positively surprised whistle. "Wow, you must have risen a mature species. Earth's experiments didn't end quite so well. And she had experimented for quite a while before she came up with a race focused on gathering knowledge and exploring the universe. In their prime time, humans even invented means to cross the interstellar space and paid a visit to Mars." He pats the head of his little sister.

She responds with puffing out her cheeks. "I didn't like them."

Sol bursts in a hearty laugh. "I don't suppose any of us did, beside Earth of course. Quite the arrogant creatures they were... Much too self-centered and convinced the universe was their playground. They did what Earth wanted them to do, though. They understood some part of the cosmos my sister wanted to learn of so eagerly."

"What happened to them?" I ask.

"Well, for some reason Earth couldn't explain, beside their drive to understand and explore, they were a race of conquerors and warriors. Along the copious amount of devices they had crafted to help them understand how everything works, they had also created weapons and tools to kill. Even on the global scale. Needless to say, one time they used them against their own kind. Nearly every form of life Earth had ever created perished on that day alongside them... Can you even imagine such arrogance?"

I draw a sigh. "I can. Similar thing happened with Terra's children once, too. She then understood she wasn't supposed to experiment with the seeds of life Mother had entrusted to us. She allowed only them to reborn."

"A wise decision, I should say." Sol nods, his eyes half closed. "As humans wiped nearly all life from little Earth, she concluded her experiment a failure. Her heart nearly broke at the time, and she jumped in front of the first comet passing through our system. She wanted to end her life and take the remaining rest of her children with her, but the comet, thankfully, wasn't large enough. It gave Earth a huge bruise, that's for sure, and destroyed the rest of her inhabitants, granting at least that part of her wish. She never recreated any life afterwards."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I lower my head. "Did... did the humans look like you do now?"

Sol takes a confirming glance at his body. "As a matter of fact, they did. A curious thing, really. Neither of us had any names before they had given them to us. We took to like them and decided to take their forms as a little token of our appreciation." Sol pierces me with his yellow eyes. "Did the dominant species on Terra was a horse, like you?"

"A horse?" I blink.

"Oh?" Sol raises his eyebrow. "Am I mistaken, then? During her experiments, Earth had created a race which looked nearly like you-except for the lack of wings and a horn. That's what she called them."

"Mother called her children ponies. There were a few different kinds, too: winged pegasi, unicorns with their horns, and earth ponies with no accessories, so to speak." I stifle a light chuckle. "Also, they were smaller than me. My sisters and I were the only ones equipped with both wings and horns. Such was the world Mother had desired."

"We never got to see our mother." Sol lets his sister off his laps and she joins her brothers, running relentless laps around him. "She had to die, so that from her ashes scattered around the space, I and my siblings could be born. At least that's the theory humans deduced as to their, and our, origin." Sol offers a gentle smile. "I wonder what it's like to know your mother. Yours must have been a wise star, indeed."

I blink. "You know, it has never even crossed my mind to consider her a star. I always pictured her as an alicorn, just like me and my sisters. But, to be honest, after she had created our world, and named us its guardians, we have never seen or heard from her again."

Sol opens his mouth to speak, but before he can utter a word, we both notice an enormous mass, entering the region of space we share. I strain my senses, expecting a humongous star to breach the border of my gravitational field any moment. Imagine my disappointment, when a tiny, luminous ladybug, several times smaller than Luna, appears on the border of my perception.

"Neptune, now's definitely not the time to play dare! Get over here this instant!" I hear Sol's frantic whisper. His siblings cover behind him, and even the rowdy Neptune heeds his brother's words.

The ladybug flies beside us, its enormous gravitational pull almost tearing me apart despite it merely sliding on the borders of our system. As it passes by, I notice a leash hanging on one of its tiny legs. At its other end, a series of other stars, each considerably bigger than me and Sol—not to mention the tiny ladybug—draggle behind it like its obedient pets. Some of them carry their own planets, too.

"That was much closer than I would call comfortable..." I whisper as the last member of the procession passes by. "How could a star so little have such a strong gravity?"

"A great example of how appearances can be deceiving." Sol sheds a nasty smirk. "Rest assured, however, that when we still burned hydrogen in our cores, that ladybug must have been an enormous star, several times the size of you or me. A few more suns added to its mass, and it would have collapsed into a black hole. But it survived this drastic catastrophe, and remains a neutron star." Sol follows the ladybug traversing the concert hall with his eyes. "According to humans, they're objects of tremendous density, topped only by the black holes themselves. That's why so much mass can be cramped into such a tiny creature."

"Sol, where is it going?" Mars looks up at her big brother, fear slowly draining from her face.

Sol runs his gentle fingers through his sister's hair, his calming smile radiating his warmth over to her. "I don't suppose it can choose its path. Just like us, bound to our chairs in this concert hall of a dying universe, it too patiently waits to be given its own place."

I clear my throat quietly. "Sol, you seem to know a lot more about what's going on here. The moment my core imploded, I entered a state of hibernation I never expected to wake up from. And yet I did. Why now? What is this music? What is going to happen?"

Sol scratches the back of his head, an apologetic smile creeping slowly on his face. "I wish Earth was here. I'm sure she could explain it better than me."

"And I'm sure Luna would be more than interested to hear it, if she was still among us."

"Right." Sol runs his palm through his blazing hair. I almost expect it to come out burnt, but of course it doesn't. "See, humans calculated two different outcomes for the universe to meet its end. According to the first one, the cosmos will keep expanding indefinitely, until it dies, cold and empty, when every single star burns its fuel out, and there is no more energy in it. They've given such a state a poetic name of Big Freeze. But, as we are given a chance to witness, such a thing won't be happening."

"Then what will?" I ask, somehow managing to stop my lip from quivering.

"The Big Crunch."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, according to the other of their theories, this universe was born in a giant explosion of all mass, space, and time, squeezed previously in one point of infinite density. They named the event the Big Bang. Now, that we know the gravity managed to overcome the expanding force, the universe is shrinking back to a pinhead."

I narrow my eyes. "Will we... will we be given our final rest, then?"

Sol shrugs. "Who knows what will happen with us. But it's getting rather crowded here, don't you think?"

I look around. Wrapped in the conversation with him, I didn't notice stars lining behind me. I fold my imaginary wings when I feel something hard brushing against them. "Sorry," I whisper towards a tortoise. He offers an apologetic smile and nods, before moving away.

"Brothers, come join your sister here." Sol points at the small fragment of unoccupied space between me and him. "That means you too, Neptune!" He extends his arm, an apologetic smile plastered on his face. "Do you mind?"

I shake my head. "Of course not."

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune move to the spot between us, and Sol grabs my hooves. I extend my wings, shielding us from the pushing crowd.

I have never manipulated the gravity of my star this way before, but Sol helps me, bending to my pull and shifting his own, to assure his siblings won't be burnt by either of us.

"There." He winces, but immediately covers it with a smile. "All comfy? We shouldn't get trampled here. Well, not unless a black hole or another neutron star decides to pass through." He whispers, trying to hide his pain and effort behind a brave smile. Does shifting his gravitational pull cost him so much?

The hall is full to the brim with stars and planets. Over the constant murmur, not unlike the atmosphere of the ever busy Canterlot railway station, I can occasionally hear a plea or a threat not to push, or a distant cry. An unwanted meeting with a black hole, perhaps?

I look back at Sol. His face twisting in pain, I notice a distinct lack of the star behind him. I lean over him. A black shade, looking like a hole in the fabric of the universe, stares back at me.

"This might be it for me." He winks, forcing a smile, as he notices what I saw. "Stay with aunt Celestia for a while, won't you?" he asks his siblings. Over the voices of protests, the loudest from the little girl, I can clearly hear his painful whisper. "Sorry about that. It was nice meeting you here."

I open my mouth, but before I can utter a word, Sol gives out his last flash, before disappearing within the black hole. I grasp his sibling in a tight embrace, shielding them with my wings, saving them the view of their devoured brother.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper. "I might not be able to protect you much longer." I force out, feeling the tips of my wings bend outside by the enormous pull of the black hole. A wince of pain crosses my face, as my wings are torn apart by the enormous gravitational pull. Like Sol, I try to hide my pain behind a weak smile. "Looks like your wish might be granted after all, Uranus." I manage a wink. "You wanted to meet a black hole, didn't you?"

The boy looks at the dark abyss, tearing my wings apart, then back at me, his face ever behind that absent smile of his. "I don't wanna anymore. I want to stay with you, auntie."

Before I so much as blink, he jumps at my neck, burning against my faint corona. A moment of sizzle is all that takes for him to disappear within me.

"I think Uranus did just the thing we were all thinking about." The biggest of the siblings says. "Rather than being sucked into a black hole, may we die within you?"

My lip quivers, as I open my mouth to protest. But then I take a peek inside the glaring hole of void in front of me and my mind is clear. I force a weak nod, extending my hooves towards them.

Jupiter kneels in front of his little sister. "Do you want to go first, Mars?"

Her eyes dart between him, me, and the black hole for a moment of hesitation, but ultimately she nods, the tears in the corners of her eyes shaken away with a smile. She jumps at my neck. "Thank you for looking after us while brother was gone." Mars say, managing a tiny kiss on my cheek before disappearing in my corona.

"Thank you." Saturn offers a shallow bow, then pushes himself towards me, following his brother and sister silently, his face ever rid of emotions.

Jupiter takes a look back at Neptune, who balances on the very edge of my gravity, as if daring the black hole to swallow him. "Neptune, you coming?"

"After you, big brother," Neptune snickers, affording the deepest bow he can manage. 

Jupiter only shakes his head, drawing a deep sigh, then looks back at me. "Take care, Miss."

I manage a weak nod, before welcoming him as well in my fiery embrace.

As the last cloud of Jupiter's gaseous atmosphere evaporates in my heat, I look into the hole's black maw, and locate Neptune, balancing on the thin border of my gravitational pull. I strain my wings, ripped to pieces and bare of their feathers as they are, to hold the rowdy boy.

"I won't be able to hold you much longer, Neptune," I cry towards him. "Do you want to end your life inside that ever-hungry maw?"

"What choice do I have?" he shouts back, relaxing at the edge of my pull. "To burn to a tasty crisp inside your corona?"

"I cannot offer you any better alternative. The choice is yours to make." I pierce him with my sad eyes. "Whatever your decision is, though, just please make it quick."

As if to punctuate my words, my left wing is torn from my body at this very moment. Uranus loses his balance as my gravity pull is broken, and for a fraction of a second I think I see a hint of fear cross his face. I turn to my side, extending the remains left of my right wing towards him. "Just make sure you have no regrets!"

Neptune looks at me then in the black maw. "Ah, to hell with it!" He makes a—most likely insulting—gesture with his fingers towards the black hole, before jumping towards me. "Brothers, sister, wait for me!" He cries, crashing against my corona. Before he disappears completely inside me, he manages to steal a kiss from me, a proud smile brightening his face.

I'm not given any time to regret or even miss Sol's siblings, as my right wing is torn from my body the moment Neptune evaporates in my fire. Curious thing, though. Besides a barely noticeable itch, I don't feel any pain; definitely not as much as when my other wing was torn earlier. By and large, I don't feel much at all, except for a decrease in my already weak celestial power.

I take a glance inside the maw of impenetrable darkness, its gravity so strong that even light is not fast enough to escape its powerful grasp. "Come on, eat me, you insatiable monster!" I shout in its faceless maw. "I will gladly join my sisters on the other side, after all those years of solitude." That is, if the afterlife theories of Mother's children are correct, and there is, in fact, an afterlife even for us, celestial beings.

As my body is being torn apart, bits and pieces of it sucked into the black hole, I feel my power slowly draining from me, as my life is gradually sucked away.

Are my celestial senses deceiving me? Has the ever present murmur of the nearby stars ceased? Has the music of the expiring universe died, or is it no longer audible from the inside of the hole? Did I really register a blinding flash, or is it simply the last part of my core dying in the black hole?

So this is the end, huh? Even a celestial being has to end their life at some point. 

There is no immortality in this universe.


FLASH