Ember carefully placed the egg into the hearth of their crystal palace suite, breathing out hot blue flames onto the charcoal, starting the slow burn. Her quiet inferno snugly kept the egg warm, toasty, and comfortable.
Spike flicked his gaze away from his wife, looking at the pink party invitation on the table, picking it up to read it again.
You and the rest of the planet are invited to a party! You don’t have to come, but we really really really want you to! Everybody will be there, and we mean everybody.
If you don’t want to come, please hold onto this invitation with two hooves/claws/paws/whatever appendage you have and you won’t be immediately teleported to the party at 7:00pm on Saturday.
But don’t do that, okay? It’s gonna be loads of fun!
So be ready at 7:00pm this Saturday and we’ll teleport you back by midnight.
It even had a caricature of Pinkie and what looked like a stallion version of Luna smiling and dancing.
“I know Pinkie’s planning this thing, but nobody knows any details,” said Spike, still looking at the enigmatic invitation.
“Did your book mention anything about it,” asked Ember, still fussing with the egg, trying to figure out the optimal location it should be located in the hearth.
“No, but I’m not even halfway through it yet,” said Spike, putting the invitation back on the table, his claws making a clinking sound on the crystal. “How far are you on yours?”
“Finished a little while ago.”
“How was it?”
He gave her time to finish another round of breathing on the egg.
“It was... different,” she said as he walked over to the hearth, breathing out his own green flames onto the egg. “I mean it was all about me, which is great,” she flashed a toothy grin, her sharp teeth radiating white. “But it was also full of random advice and critiques, parts when I did something good were encouraged, but the book pointed out when I did something bad and gave me advice to improve myself. I have a few disagreements about what was assigned as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”
Spike pulled away from the hearth. “That sounds... kind of annoying. And similar to my book.”
“Yeah, but it was still pretty good though. I’ve never read anything that felt so tailor made for me before,” she said, breathing a little more on the egg. “Did yours tell you anything about past lives?”
Spike furrowed his eyebrows, “No, did yours?”
“No, the book mentioned we had been under a reincarnation system, but didn’t bother to tell me about all my past lives.” She placed a palm on the egg, feeling how warm it was.
“Odd,” said Spike, breathing out more flame onto the charcoal, the smoke billowing up through a vent above and to the outside.
“Hold on,” said Ember, taking her claws off the egg and putting them above and below Spike’s snout, closing his mouth, “it’s already warm enough.”
Some smoke escaped from his nostrils as her hold on his mouth weakened and he spoke. “You sure? Knowing Pinkie this party is not gonna end on schedule.”
She gazed at her handiwork, “The way that hearth’s set up and with the spells that Twilight put on the coal, it should be fine for however long we’re away.”
Spike looked back at the pink invitation and then to a clock on the wall of their suite, the time counting down.
“So... we’ll just be teleported somewhere soon?” asked Ember.
“I think so,” said Spike, reaching out his claws and grabbing hers, the spaces between their claws intertwining perfectly.
“Where in Equestria could possibly be big enough to hold the entire planet’s population?” asked Ember, just as the clock on the wall reached seven o’ clock.
But nothing happened.
Spike stared back at Ember and raised an eyebrow.
“That clock is a bit—“
Without so much as a pop, a flash, or a whoosh of air, they found themselves in the middle of the most decked out party that either of them had ever seen, the transition so seamless that if they had been blinking they would have missed the change.
“—fast.”
The landscape was of a shiny wooden dance floor running clear to the horizon. Beyond that was a sight that filled Spike with awe.
Equestria. A beautiful, pristine, large and looming glass ball of blue, green and stray color in between. Fluffy clouds dotted the surface in waves, cities and towns almost invisible at this scale, the majesty of his home slacking his jaw as he looked at it.
“We’re on the moon,” said Ember.
“Sweet Celestia,” said Spike, his eyes widening.
More and more dragons had teleported in by this point, many confused and a little frustrated, but they all gaped in shock as they saw the planet above them. The sight kept even the most boisterous dragon in almost quiet reverence as they recognized that everything and everyone they had ever loved or known had lived and died on that huge spherical gem.
The silence was slowly interrupted as the dragons started talking amongst themselves in excited whispers and wonder.
“Welcome to the moon everyone!”
Spike heard Pinkie’s voice but couldn’t place where it was coming from. The bright, untethered balloons seemed likely culprits.
“I taught Pinkie a new word this week, and I thought you all ought to know it too,” said an unfamiliar, excited male voice. “The word is terraforming! And that’s what we did to the moon so you can breathe!”
“I was like ‘Cosmos, is that really such a good idea?’ And he was all ‘Yeah.’ And so I was like ‘okay,’ and so we’re on the moon! If you wanna look up the word ‘terraforming’ later you can, but you don’t need to know all the sciency reasons on how we got here right now. So just shrug and party on!”
Spike raised an eyebrow, the vast array of dragons in front of him also looked confused.
“Yeah! Have fun! Tonight we’re gonna party like there’s an infinite amount of tomorrow!” said the male voice.
“And we’re starting off with a surprise, too! The more you talk to everybody, the easier the surprise will be to figure out!” said Pinkie, her voice bubbling over with excitement.
“Pinkie, you can’t tell them there’s a surprise this early.”
“They’ll find out within the first five minutes anyway. Now everybody say hello! Make friends! Party!”
Spike held onto his wife’s claws tighter as some rather silly music started to play, the music more appropriate for a five year old’s birthday party than the entire population.
They looked around sheepish for a moment, drinking the scene in. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as he felt it should be, and there was a plethora of gems and many other kinds of foods on various tables scattered across the landscape. He could see in the distance that the dance floor changed to a forest in certain spots, different environments for different partygoers.
“Some party huh?” Spike spoke to a gray dragon with black stripes.
“Yeah...” said the gray dragon, raising a claw to his face, unsure of what was going on.
Spike looked at Ember for a moment before releasing his grip on her claws, holding out a claw to the dragon in front of him. “The name’s Spike.”
“Zaylim,” said the striped dragon.
Spike turned back to Ember, but she was already talking animatedly to a brown dragon.
“So...” said Spike, unsure of what to say. “Nice night to be on the moon.”
“I guess so,” said Zaylim. “I wasn’t expecting this,” he took a sip of cider. “Well, everything really.”
“Yeah...”
“Did you get a gray alicorn on your doorstep giving you a book with your entire life story, and telling you everyone was now immortal?”
Spike nodded his head. “These things... happen,” he looked at the crowd of dragons, all of them roughly the same size.
“So where are you from?” asked Zaylim.
“Ponyville, where the bearer of the element of magic lives,” said Spike, shrugging. “What clan are you from?”
Zaylim furrowed his eyebrows, “Clan? I’m of the tribe of Zeriff.”
“Tribe?” asked Spike. “What kind of dragon is from a tribe?”
“Dragon, what are you talking about?”
“You. You’re a dragon, you should be from one of the clans,” said Spike.
“I’m not a dragon.”
“Wait, if you’re not a dragon...” Spike thought about the word “tribe,” thinking back to the only group that used the term. “You’re a... zebra?”
As soon as the words left his lips, the dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a zebra underneath.
“Woah!” said Spike smiling in shock and starting to laugh, the puzzled zebra in front of him stood there, confused.
“You’re a zebra!” Spike repeated, laughing.
“And so are you.“ said Zaylim, “What’s so special about that?”
“No, you don’t understand, you’re a zebra and I’m a — ” he was cut off by a small buzzing noise, preventing him from saying the word.
He said the word again and again, laughing as the noises from the buzzes changed every time he said the word, each strange noise making Spike laugh harder.
“I have no idea what you are doing, or how you’re making those strange noises,” said Zaylim, thoroughly disturbed.
Spike stopped laughing just long enough to cough out an explanation. “They switched how everyone looks, and you have to guess what species I am.”
Zaylim turned his head in confusion, “So... you’re not a zebra?”
“Nope, I do breathe fire though.”
Zaylim’s eyes went wide with shock, “a... a dragon?” he stuttered out.
Spike didn’t notice any smoke escape from himself, but Zaylim seemed aghast.
“That’s the game! The more creatures we talk to, the more we find out what species they are underneath.”
“Strange game...” said Zaylim, his eyes still wide upon seeing Spike’s true form, he slowly trotted away into the crowd, making his way to the tables of snacks and food on the side.
“Talk to you later, Zaylim!”
Spike eyed all of the dragons around him, plotting out the next one to talk to.
A small green dragon bumped into him and started pelting him with species names.
“Earth Pony! Unicorn! Pegasi! Camel! Griffon! Minotaur! Cow!” she started firing off at Spike in rapid succession.
“Nope, none of those,” said Spike, smiling.
She placed a claw to her snout, “Changeling!”
“None of the above,” said Spike.
“Buffalo?”
“How many buffalo do you know that are green and purple?” asked Spike.
“Diamond Dog?”
“Aren’t you defeating the purpose of getting to know everyone by shooting off questions?”
“Hippogriff?”
“What’s a hippogriff?” asked Spike, the species familiar, but he couldn’t make out a picture of it in his mind.
“Dragon?”
Spike couldn’t see it, but he was sure whatever he had been, had vanished in a puff of smoke and his true form had been revealed.
“Yes!” said the excited dragon, turning toward another dragon far off, “EIGHT!” she yelled.
Another voice piped back, “TEN!”
The lively dragon almost escaped but Spike grabbed her at the last second, “Hey, at least tell me your name!”
“Cloudshifter.”
“Pegasi?”
With a burst of smoke, a teenage green pegasi with a cloud cutie mark popped out, smiling and eager to move on.
He let the pegasi go, laughing at the game.
He spotted a bright pink dragon bouncing around in the distance, the spring in her step and her failure to use her wings making Spike watch in fascination. She kept bouncing up and down, repeating names and welcomes to every single dragon there.
“Pinkie?” asked Spike.
She bounded further in his direction and Spike yelled her name, “Pinkie!”
She stopped. “Hiya Spike the earth pony!” she said giggling.
“I... I look like...?”
“You sure do! At least to me, it’s different for everypony though, for example,” Pinkie reached a hoof into what seemed like empty space, pulling it back to reveal a lilac dragon.
“Twilight, what does that handsome fellow in front of you look like?”
“Alicorns, everypony’s an alicorn,” said Twilight as her eye twitched.
“Exactly!” Pinkie looked at Twilight, “But don’t worry, he’s still a dragon underneath,” she said bubbling.
“Oh shoot, forgot my own game, now you look all normal. Oh well, this is still fun!” said Pinkie, starting to bounce again.
“Oh look! It’s Little Strongheart! Hi!” she said, bounding away happily.
Spike looked at Twilight, “Some party, huh?” He said, flashing a toothy grin.
“You... pull off a good alicorn, Spike,” said Twilight, peering at him.
“You’re a good looking dragon yourself,” said Spike.
They paused for a second before something inside them made them start laughing, the absurdity of it all keeping them going for a long time.
⬡ ⬡ ⬡
“Nice party,” said Hope. The crowd of creatures below paid no heed to the shining alicorn, even as Accord felt himself enveloped by the stream of souls as they cast an invisibility spell on him, lifting him above and far away.
“Pinkie and Cosmos organized most of it,” said Accord looking down below him, the entire moon alive with color, dancing and music.
“We have some questions,” said Hope, shifting between watching the party below and watching Accord. “Your multiple thoughts spell is unlike anything we’ve ever seen or used.”
“I’ve tried to teach Fluttershy, but she couldn’t grasp the magic.”
“No, she couldn’t have. But we tried the spell anyway, simultaneously casting it in a variety of constructs across millions of species and ideas.”
“Some of them could cast it?” asked Accord.
“We only had a few that could, Accord. It can only be cast by a soul that doesn’t have a memory cover, and that has been alive for several universe cycles. Only some of the truly ancients in our rare control groups fit that description.”
“They don’t have a memory cover? How do you keep track of them?”
“We don’t, we keep them in case we ever find that our memory covers do something detrimental to the souls underneath. And for the first time ever, we found a problem.”
His eyes diverted away from the party, staring at Hope.
“For a select few of the ancients, they could cast the spell. They could figure out how to think of two things at once, but not three.”
Accord’s eyes widened. “Why was that?”
“We think one of the ideas in one of the books Fluttershy read was correct. Hydrogen will connect to Trillion and slowly make that soul bigger, eventually forming element two trillion, and for every trillion hydrogen atoms added, the ability to think of more than one thing at a time increases.”
“Could you confirm it?”
“With the right measurement spell.”
“You found that spell?”
“Research and development, Accord. It’s faster than searching through all possibilities,” they said. “Of the souls we checked that could cast the spell, their atomic number was above two trillion.”
One of his eyebrows shot up.
“Thus, we have a favor to ask. We want to know the atomic number of your soul.”
Accord frowned, and then nodded his head, “Go ahead and cast it on me then.”
Hope smiled, their mane covering Accord’s head, analyzing it, before frowning.
“It’s not in your head, where is it?”
“Dig a little deeper, it’s probably in my library.”
Hope’s eyebrows furrowed but cast the spell. It took much longer than it should have, the extra search taking some time. Eventually the spell succeeded and a number popped up in front of Accord: 100,040,000,792,390,349,203,743.
“Over one hundred sextillion,” said Hope.
Accord stared at them as they released their spell, shocked at the number.
“Every soul with one of our memory covers stays at one trillion,” said Hope, their tone flat. “But still, the only advantage to this seems to be the ability to cast that spell.”
Accord stood in the air, motionless.
“Is it really worth it? What you’re doing? Micromanaging and talking to everyone? If this is your ultimate configuration, you’ll be stuck doing this forever.”
“I know,” said Accord.
“And what will happen when we succeed and we find an ultimate configuration that would not need a higher being’s help? Will you regret your choice to keep them immortal in a suboptimal state? Will you allow them to reincarnate into the perfection when we find it?”
“No,” said Accord, looking down to everyone on the moon, and even the staunch stragglers still on Equestria below. “I don’t know what ideas you expect to find in your ideal existence, but this...” he motioned to each soul down below, invisible connections forming that only he and Hope could see, every single relationship below being mapped out, the lines extending out from everyone, the vast web illuminating the universe far more than Celestia’s sun, new friendships forming with each passing conversation. “This is my happy continue.”
“But you’re spending an almost infinite time with each soul.”
“Some infinities are greater than other infinities,” said Accord, a small smile forming on his muzzle. “I’m okay with mine being the greatest.”
“But, it will fail eventually, won’t it?”
“Eventually may be the one word that describes a duration longer than infinity itself.” Accord sighed, deep in thought. “It will only happen if I concentrate on it, if I can but focus on now, the importance and the beauty of now, the most miraculous time in any soul’s existence, I can succeed.”
He looked up at the distant stars, drawing lines in between them to form a constellation of an hourglass. “Any event that has ever occurred in the past or will occur in the future has only occurred when it’s reached that special temporal place called now.”
His eyes focused on the center of the hourglass, watching stars filter through the neck, “For now is the time I can change, now is something I can control, now is something I can make better.”
He looked at Hope, “I can’t do anything to make one hundred universe cycles from now better. I can’t plan that far in advance.” He moved his gaze back to all of his friends, his eyes watering. “But I know if I make now matter and treat it like the important precious time that it is, I can make that ‘now’ last truly forever.”