//------------------------------//
// The Four Stars 
// Story: The Sparkle in his Eye 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Ratchet sat back in the Great Clock, completely relaxed as he brushed Twilight's mane.  Not that she needed him to do that anymore, but it was a relaxing activity for both of them that they chose to indulge in every so often.  Qwark was nearby, playtesting new Qwark vidcomics based on their more recent adventures, with Clank watching on as he'd helped to program them.  Nefarious was spending time with Vendra and Neftin, having reached the conclusion that Vendra was close to a full recovery.  Kaden and Vashiir were also overlooking that group, as Sasha, Talwyn, and Angela had decided to join in to help Vendra feel more like the extended family.  This left the four Sparkle-Gyros to themselves to relax.

Their relaxation was cut short, however, when Orvus approached them.  "Ah, good, it's just the four of you," he observed cryptically.  "Please meet me swiftly with Aphelion.  The time has come."  Before any of them could question him, he'd floated off.

Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and Twilight exchanged confused glances.  "That was cryptic," Qwark observed.  "Think it's important?"

"Likely," Clank offered dryly.  "I believe we should go to Aphelion with all speed.  Father oversees all of time, so timing could be very important."

Nodding, Ratchet stood up, leading the group to the docks.  Orvus floated beside Aphelion as they approached.  "Good, you came quickly.  Timing is quite important here."  He gestured to Aphelion.  "I have given her the coordinates you need.  You should go post haste, the four of you alone at the moment.  Others might follow later if they choose, when the time is right.  For now, I bid you all a fond farewell.  Until we meet again."  With that, he vanished back into the Great Clock.

"What...what did he mean by that?" Ratchet demanded in confusion.

"Brother," Aphelion spoke up, "Orvus has given me what you need to keep your promise.  All of you, get in."

Ratchet's eyes widened as he realized what that meant.  Grabbing Twilight, he leapt into the cockpit, Clank and Qwark quickly following.  Aphelion's canopy closed, and she lifted into the air.

"Setting course for the Corrigé nebula," Aphelion spoke up.  "Actuating phase-shifter to lock onto mobile etheric source.  Course locked in."

"...you mean I wasn't full of it back on Mukow?" Qwark asked in surprise, causing Ratchet to facepalm and Twilight to burst into giggles.

"Estimated travel time...3 hours," Aphelion informed them.  "Please relax and try to enjoy the upcoming flight..."





Before long, Aphelion exited her hyperspatial flight path, coasting back into normal space.  "Approaching target destination," she informed everyone.  "Maximizing magnification."

Everyone looked on in wonder as the world they were approaching was thrown into full relief.  Blue oceans, green land masses, white clouds, soaring castles on mountain peaks, almost no signs of industrialization...it looked like a most idyllic medieval landscape.  Each of them had their own reactions.

"It's...it's beautiful," Qwark observed as he wiped tears from his eyes, tracing the curve of continents with a finger.  "I've never seen a world so...pristine."

"The energy flows..." Clank murmured softly.  "If so much power infuses your world, Twilight, it is no wonder you are so strong."

"I kept my promise, Twilight," Ratchet whispered, letting his tears flow freely.  "It took me more than a decade...but there it is.  Your homeworld, just like I promised."

"Not quite," Twilight offered dryly, her voice sounding raspy as she struggled to contain emotion.  As all eyes turned to her, she pointed to the small sun and moon that moved slowly around the planet.  "Daddy, you said my planet orbited a star, not the other way around."

The other three blinked for a time, and then all four burst into laughter.

"This may not be a laughing matter," Aphelion observed worriedly.  "The gravitational fields of this geocentric system are unlike any I have ever encountered.  I am having difficulty maintaining a steady course."

"Twilight, can you use your magic to help steady us?" Ratchet asked quickly.  When there was no answer, he turned.  "Twilight?  Twilight!"

Twilight had inexplicably slumped to the floor unconscious.  Her vital signs and nanotech level were stable, but she was completely unresponsive.

"Brother, we need to do something!" Aphelion warned.  "If I am unable to adapt to the gravitational fields, I am going to crash, and present course takes us into a highly populated sector of the planet!  Not to mention the density of the atmospheric envelope will damage my outer hull if I enter at this steep angle, and I will not be able to protect you all!"

"What about the moon?" Ratchet asked desperately, pointing to the small, magically charged satellite.  "Can we land there?"

"...affirmative," Aphelion confirmed, changing course.  "It won't be a gentle landing, but there aren't any settlements there, and I am detecting an M class atmosphere.  We should be fine while I adapt my systems and Twilight recovers from whatever has caused her to lose consciousness.  Brace for impact."

The reflection of light off Aphelion's hull made it seem as though four dots of light converged into the moon as she crashed, managing to avoid most damage to herself and her passengers.  However, the crash disturbed something, and a massive shadow erupted off the surface of the moon to flow to the planet below.

"I hope that wasn't important," Qwark murmured nervously.

"We'll deal with that later," Ratchet countered bluntly.  "For now, we need to tend Twilight.  Aphelion, open the canopy so we can-"

"That would be a bad idea," Aphelion warned.  "Look!"

Before their very eyes, the planet's small sun shifted to behind the moon, plunging the world below into darkness while bathing Aphelion in unwinking light and heat.

"Environmental systems are at maximum," Aphelion spoke up softly.  "I recommend everyone remain inside until this event passes."

"I hope it passes quickly," Ratchet fretted, stroking Twilight's mane worriedly.  "This heat can't be good for her..."





A few hours later, the sun shifted back to the opposite side of the planet, once more letting the surface of the moon cool.  A couple of hours after that, Twilight woke up.  Unnoticed to the others, she walked to the top of the moon where she could stare at the planet below.

"Twilight!" Ratchet called out in relief as he rushed towards her.  "You're alright!"

"I'm down there," she whispered softly in response.

"...eh?" Qwark asked, confused.

"I dreamed I was down there," she continued.  "I had friends...and we fought a Nightmare...and I lived in a library..."

"While that sounds much like a dream life for you," Clank observed, "are you...entirely certain it was a dream?"

"What do you mean?" Ratchet demanded crossly.

"The Dimensionator could not take us here because of a temporal anomaly," Clank reminded them.  "I believe that anomaly may have been the fact that Twilight had already been sent to Veldin, but hadn't already been sent there yet.  And if I'm not mistaken, we've just set in motion the course of events that will lead to her being sent...and Twilight dreamed the first of those events, and will likely wake when her self on the world below sleeps, to tell us of the dreams as she reexperiences the events of her life for however long before she is sent."

"Then we can't go down...until the dreams end," Twilight observed sadly.  She stared longingly at the world below...so close, but still beyond her reach.