When Stars Come Out to Play

by Chicago Ted

Chapter 2 - Sizzlin' Solar Sister!

On a stage atop the star, another girl was singing out her heavenly song to all who would listen. And many were listening to her – surrounding the star’s southern hemisphere, countless tiny alien beings were cheering loudly, praising her vocals, begging for her to continue.
And joining them now was Milky Way and Twilight Sparkle, who only now feel the intense heat from the star. Unlike the aliens and Milky Way, Twilight had to squint to keep from going blind, and keep her distance, lest she burn up.
Milky Way was starting to make her way to the Sun, but Twilight held her back. “Let’s wait until she’s finished,” she told her. Then Twilight noticed that, as she sang, the star flared up, burning brighter and more intensely with her volume.
Even Milky Way was starting to get nervous. “Point taken,” she replied.
They stood there, watching her perform for a few minutes longer. Even Twilight had to admit, the singer’s talent was surpassed by few, if any. Her vocal range was a cut above any opera singer in Canterlot, and her lyrical ability rivalled Equestria’s greatest poëts.
Not long after, she finally finished her ballad:

She’s definitely boasting bright, Twilight figured. Another parallel to that poëm I read. Then she turned back to Milky Way. “Think you could walk up to her and ask about what’s bothering you? I’d do it, but, well. . . .” She swept the ‘ground’ with her hooves. “I’ll shadow you, at least. Er, no pun intended.”
Milky Way giggled. “Sure, right behind me!”
As the two slipped behind the star, the singer was just departing the stage. I guess even a prima donna like her needs a break every now and then.
Milky Way intercepted her when she got a moment. “Hey, excuse me, got a moment?” she asked.
“Hey sugar,” she greeted. “Love to give you my autograph, but how about later? I’m getting ready for my next big performance.”
“It’s not that.” Now Milky Way was a bit less sure than before. “Name’s Milky Way, and this is Twilight.” She pointed behind her, at the practically-blind unicorn. “We need your help with something really really important!”
The singer approached them, unperturbed by Milky Way’s urgency. “I’m the Sun. Maybe you’ve heard of me?” She put her hand up. “No no, don’t tell me – I’m sure you have. You need me to sing something on short notice, don’cha, sugar?”
“Not exactly.” Milky Way started fidgeting her hands, before rapidly blurting out, “You-see-there’s-a-really-really-bad-guy-out-there – ”
“Hey hey hey!” The Sun put her hand up again to stop her from rambling any further. “Slow down there, sugar; what’s got you all riled up?”
Milky Way took a deep breath, and tried again. “You see, there’s a really bad guy, named Black Hole, who’s out there trying to destroy the entire universe – squeezing everything down into a single point!”
“A singularity, she means,” Twilight cut in. “Its gravity would be so strong, not even your light can shine through it.” Hey, here’s an idea. . . . “So when it happens – if we let it happen – nobody would ever hear you sing again.”
That got the Sun’s attention. Nailed it. “Seriously. Not even my brilliant light can shine through that. . . what was that you called it again?” Her mood tuned sour, then determined. “Whatever. That guy is going down. What can I do to help you out, little pony?”
Milky Way took over. “We’ll need the fragments of the planetoid he was contained in, so we can, well. . . contain him again.” Twilight cringed at the repetition. “I think I saw one land inside your star.” Milky Way shifted her gaze at the burning ball of plasma – unlike Twilight, she had no problems with looking directly at the star. “Think you can reach in and yank it out?”
“Honey, you lost your mind?” The Sun started laughing. “Last time I tried that, I darn near singed my hair off.”
Twilight noticed the star flare up when the Sun laughed loudly. Inspiration struck. “Actually, I’ve got a better idea,” she told the Sun. “Start singing again, and really make it loud – if the fragment’s actually inside your star, it should spit it out eventually.”
The Sun grinned, pointing at Twilight. “Actually,” she said, “gotta say, sugar, that’s not a bad idea. Tell you what – ” she started making her way back onto her stage, microphone already in hand – “if y’all find some places around me and get ready to catch whatever’s gonna come out, I’ll keep improvising and belting out songs ’til the fat lady takes over.
“Oh, and one last thing – ” The Sun tossed a pair of shades to Twilight, who caught them in her telekinetic grip. Okay, so I know that still works out here. That’s helpful. “Heh. Keep ’em, honey. You’re gonna need ’em ’round these parts.”
Twilight slipped them on, and looked at the star. She couldn’t believe how much better it was on her eyes. “Wow. . . .” She was almost at a loss for words. Almost. “Thanks a lot, Sun! These’ll really help.”
“Thought you’d like ’em. Now y’all get ready!” The Sun resumed climbing back onstage. She checked behind her, and saw Milky Way waiting. Twilight was right behind the crowd of aliens. “Are you ready for more?” she asked the crowd.
Loud cheering and applause erupted from them.
“I said ‘Are you ready for more!?’” The star flared from the Sun’s mere emphasis. This question was clearly meant more for Milky Way and Twilight.
Milky Way cheered behind the Sun. Twilight merely nodded, remaining intensely focused on the task at hoof.
“Here we go!”
As the Sun started singing out once more, Twilight started looking for the fragment from the sudden flareup. No luck. Milky Way poked her head out from behind the star, and shook her head. No luck back there, either. Twilight signaled for another crescendo.
The Sun was happy to oblige, if only to feed her own ego – her voice rang out, and the star flared up as well. Quickly, Twilight scanned the area around the star – she couldn’t find anything it ejected. She started galloping to Milky Way, who apparently came up fruitless as well.
“This is starting to become hopeless!” Twilight had to raise her voice to be heard over the Sun, even from such a short distance to Milky Way. “Are you sure the fragment landed inside the sun!? It would have disintegrated on impact!”
“I’m pretty sure it – yes, there it is!” Milky Way pointed at one dark patch on the star’s surface.
Twilight squinted. Surely she’s joking, she thought, that’s clearly a sunspot – wait a second. Is that. . . ? “But how would it have survived?” she asked Milky Way.
She shrugged. “Let’s not waste any more time!” She gestured to the Sun to give them another crescendo.
The Sun clearly saw that her regular crowd was loving this performance in particular – and indulged them further, sending out such a brilliant flash of light and fire as to make even Twilight and Milky Way squint. But the Sun didn’t relent – she kept the pressure on, and slowly, yet surely, the fragment started working its way out of the coronasphere, and by the time the Sun let down with a quiet lull, they could see a stone fragment afloat in front of the star, still glowing red-hot.
Milky Way started approaching it, but Twilight stopped her. “I’ve got this.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and she grabbed the fragment in her telekinetic grasp. She remembered the safety features from the School for Gifted Unicorns’ science classes – any endothermic or exothermic reactions are to remain on the counter or, if it must be held, held by telekinesis, as these did not conduct heat. Then with a gentle cryogenic spell, she started cooling the fragment down, slowly, so as not to crack it into several more fragments. After a few minutes of this, she let Milky Way hold the fragment, which had now cooled to a dark gray.
“One down, and. . . I dunno how many to go,” Milky Way admitted sheepishly, looking down at their new find. “Still, it’s better than nothing. We should probably thank the Sun for helping us out, huh?”
“If you want.” Twilight started trotting off. “I’m going to get a head-start looking around the system – you can catch up wi – gah!”
Milky Way started pulling Twilight along her tail. “Now hold on a minute – we might be in a hurry, but that’s no reason to be rude, is it?”
Twilight pulled herself free from Milky Way’s grasp. “Don’t grab me by there – that hurts!”
“Sorry, Twilight. I’ll make it quick, alright?” She then started skating back to the star, and by extension to the Sun.
The Sun seemed pretty tired, having sat on the “ground” panting gently, yet still seemingly proud of the show she just put on. She looked up when she heard roller skate wheels and shoed hooves approaching. “Did you get what you wanted?” she asked when they arrived.
Milky Way triumphantly held up the fragment. “Oh yeah!” she boasted. “Seriously, thanks a lot. You have no idea how big of a help you were out there.”
“Y’all think so? ’Cause that was my best performance to date. Should’ve seen the crowd!” She stood back onto her own skates. “But I’m not done yet – not until Black Hole is trapped back in his own hidey-hole.” She set her microphone down. “My singing can wait – this is much more important.”
“Thank you Sun,” said Twilight, “but we can handle this ourselves.”
“Nuh-uh.” The Sun skated right up to Milky Way’s side. “I’m sticking with you right now. Where are we going?”
After some thought, Milky Way answered, “Okay, I know for sure all the fragments are in this solar system. I don’t know how many fragments there are, and we have just the one right now.”
“If it helps,” the Sun replied, “I didn’t see any more come over here. Whatever you’re looking for must lie beyond its orbit.”
She sighed, and then chuckled. “Right then. So I’m going on a little treasure hunt with an explorer of the universe and her pet unicorn to stop Black Hole from collapsing the universe in on us.”
“I’m not her pet!” Twilight objected. “I got dragged into this through. . . some unrelated event. Milky Way said she’d find me a way home if I went along with her”
“Relax, Twilight. I get it.” The Sun patted her head. What is with these girls and my head? “But sure, this should give me some inspiration. Now, where to next?”
“You have any idea?” Milky Way asked.
Twilight shrugged. “You know this system better than I do.”
“Fine, I’ll take charge.” The Sun pointed out one dimly-gray dot in the sky beyond. “Out there’s the Moon – basically the exact opposite of me. Mopey, withdrawn, quiet – Idon’t know if I’ve ever gotten more than a hundred words out of her. Well, other than her poëms, of course. She’s probably written more poëms than I’ve sang songs, I’ll bet.”
“Sounds difficult to deal with,” Twilight commented. “I guess you mean we should ask her first so we get her out of the way first, right?”
“You nailed it right on the head,” the Sun purred.
“I thought there’d be more planets between here and the Moon,” Milky Way objected. “Could’ve sworn I’ve seen them earlier in my search. What about them?”
“Oh, Mercury and Venus?”
Milky Way nodded.
“Yeah, Mercury’s out training for speed, as she usually does – reckon she said she was slacking a bit lately – and Venus is practicing her new ballet routine.” The Sun shrugged. “I really don’t know where they are right now, and we really shouldn’t disturb either of them, you dig me, sugar?”
“Do you know when they’ll be back?” Twilight asked.
“Could be in five minutes, could be in an hour,” the Sun replied. “You honestly never know.” She pointed at the space beyond. “Now, are we gonna be here playing Twenty Questions, or do y’all wanna get a move-on?”
“Yes, let’s go!” Twilight hopped up onto Milky Way’s back. The Sun took off on her roller skates, following an unseen trail. Milky Way took off in the Sun’s wake, making sure not to deviate from her path.
“You sure she knows where to go?” Twilight asked Milky Way. “I don’t see the usual pathway here.”
“Yeah, I’m going to trust her on this,” Milky Way answered. “It’s going to be a long trip, I can tell – though not as long as from where I found you. Now get settled in.” She then picked up her pace, catching up to the Sun in a few moments.
Curiously, the Sun started singing again, with no less the same melody as the same song she was singing when Milky Way and Twilight first arrived.