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// Chapter 5 - Interplanetary Performer! 
// Story: When Stars Come Out to Play 
// by Chicago Ted 
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Out further from the center of the system, one girl was nearly finished practicing some sort of ballet routine on her planet. Although she was already a master of this craft, she strove for nothing less than perfection in every facet.
After a rather long pirouette on the north pole, she landed flat on her feet. “Et voilà!” Even though nobody was watching, she still felt the need to take a bow for her stellar performance.
At least, she thought nobody was watching. She looked up in surprise to see Mercury applauding her, almost sarcastically. “What!” she said. “Have you come to gloat about your achievements, Mercury?”
“Nope!” Mercury replied. “Much as I’d like to, I’m just waiting on the others to show up.” She looked behind her, towards the star. “Should be here any minute now. . . .”
A moment later, they could see the Sun’s brilliance approaching – accompanied by the Moon, and another girl Venus couldn’t identify. “’Bout time you showed up!” said Mercury. “What took you so long?”
“Mercury, please!” Venus said. “That’s no way to treat your friends – or especially strangers!” she added, once she noticed Milky Way. “Might I ask your name, on that note?”
“I’m Milky Way,” she said, “and this is Twilight. We’re trying to find pieces of a planetoid that I accidentally broke – because apparently it was holding this guy named Black Hole at bay, and if we don’t do it fast, he’ll compress the universe into a singularity.”
Better not speak at the moment, Twilight thought, lest I complicate matters.
Venus considered Milky Way’s words for a moment. “Well!” she eventually said. “I’m used to dancing in tight confines, but a single point in space is far too little for someone with the likes of I.” She gracefully stepped down from her planet, landing right on her toes and deftly onto the wheels of her own skates. “If it’s my help you seek, then I am at your service. What shall you have me do?”
Milky Way showed Venus the three planetoid fragments she had collected earlier. “I’ve already found these,” she explained, “but I have no idea how many are left, nor where they are.”
“I thought you might have a piece yourself,” the Sun interjected, “so we came right out to here once we collected Mercury’s.”
“Tut-tut, dear Sun,” Venus chastised. “How could you assume I would have taken and kept one of these fragments for myself? Especially with such a vital quest at hand.”
“I know every piece was scattered around this solar system,” Milky Way explained, “so it’s not out of the question that you might have one and not know it.”
Venus nodded. “I see. I haven’t noticed any of these. . . stone shards on me. You don’t suppose it could be in my planet, do you?”
“Why don’t we find out?” the Sun asked. “No harm, no foul, right?” She reached her hand through the planet’s thick cloud layer – then reeled it right back with a sharp cry of pain. The tips of her fingers looked like they were burned.
“That’s why,” Venus clarified. “There’d be great harm and foul to reach through the acid rainclouds.”
“Moon?” the Sun asked. “Think you’ve got something for this?”
“But of course,” she said. She conjured a scroll and handed it to the Sun.
Milky Way turned back towards Venus. “Is that why you do ballet?” she asked.
“Partly so,” Venus replied. “And partly since dance is the finest expression of my creativity. Staying atop of your planet, especially one as noxious as mine – ’tis quite the balancing act indeed. Which is why I strive for nothing less than absolute perfection.”
“I would imagine so,” Milky Way commented. “How often does that happen to you? Getting burned, I mean.”
“Not for a very long time,” she mentioned. “Honestly, what was the Sun thinking? Then again, her own star may be far more dangerous than this.”
“Can confirm, it’s worse.” The Sun held up her now newly-healed hand. “But that’s for another time. Thanks, sugar.”
The Moon simply nodded.
“Twilight, you’ve got your magic, don’t you?” the Sun asked. “Can you see if the fragment’s inside the atmosphere?”
“Sure.” Twilight lit her horn and went over the planet’s atmosphere and surface with a fine-tooth comb – probably literally, even if it wasn’t visible to the others. “I’m not feeling anything down here,” she said. “You sure you saw something land here, Milky Way?”
If Venus was shocked at seeing Twilight speak, she did not show it.
“I could have sworn I did,” Milky Way said. “Anyone else, any ideas?”
Venus cleared her throat. “If it indeed landed on the surface of my world,” she said, “it would not be likely to survive the immense temperatures or pressures there.” She looked beyond them, almost wistfully. “I remember when great white and silver probes came my way. They were trying to see below the cloud layers.” She giggled under her breath. “They were in for quite the surprise, at what they found. Especially considering that their earlier crafts were designed for landing in water of all things!”
“And how would you know what’s beneath the cloud cover?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure it would burn your face to see into there.”
“I am my own world,” she answered. “Would it make sense not to know myself?”
Okay, Twilight, relax. This universe is full of non-sequiturs. Don’t question this one. “I guess that’s true,” she said. Hey, here’s an idea! “Although. . . given the densities of the atmospheric layers, could something conceivably survive in the upper atmosphere?”
Venus put a hand up to her chin, clearly deep in thought. Then she snapped her fingers. “Yes!” she triumphantly answered. “However, the object in question would have to enter at just the right angle, and even then, it isn’t guaranteed not to go below the troposphere.”
“Right, the troposphere. . . .” Twilight, hopped down from Milky Way’s shoulder, lit her horn again, and as before, started feeling around the planet – but this time, shifted her focus to above the surface. “This could take me a while,” she said. “Bear with me!”
“You must tell me, however did you find such a marvelous creature as Twilight?” Venus asked. “I’ve not seen a unicorn before, nor a talking animal of any sort.”
“Funny story,” Milky Way said. “As I was exploring this system, trying to find all the fragments of Black Hole’s planetoid, I just found her floating in midair.” She pointed beyond their orbit. “Must’ve been somewhere in between the next two orbits, I think. Anyway, she told me she was out here because – ”
“I think I’ve found it!” Twilight said. She pointed with her hoof at one spot on the globe, taking care not to poke it through the cloud cover. “It’s perfectly intact; no signs of damage. Bad news, however, is that it is below the troposphere – but a good shake should dislodge it and let me pull it out.” She turned to face the girls. “Any ideas?”
“Why, it’s simple!” Venus declared. “We must dance! That should jostle my planet enough to dislodge your prize.” And to the others, “Who shall be my partner?”
The others quickly looked to each other, as though looking for someone to volunteer herself.
“Honey, I’d love to, but I don’t do well with dancing onstage,” the Sun said.
“I’m built for speed, not flexibility,” said Mercury. “Count me out.”
“I don’t know how well your movements would translate to hooves like mine,” Twilight added. “Besides, it’ll distract me.”
The Moon simply shrouded herself behind her hair.
“Milky Way!” Venus pointed at her. “You’ll do just fine, ma chérie. Now come along!”
She sighed. “How did I get myself into this situation again?” she asked herself.
“Now,” Venus said, “given the urgency of the situation, I’m afraid we’ll be working out of costume – ” Good thing I’m not up there – “so just follow my movements and you’ll do splendidly. Yes?”
Milky Way scratched the back of her neck. “I dunno Venus,” she admitted, “this all still seems too hard for me.”
“Oh posh, you worry too much.” Venus put a finger to Milky Way’s mouth. “I understand you’re new, so I’ll keep it simple for you.”
“Okay then,” said Milky Way, “I’m trusting you on this.”
Twilight and the others were merely content on watching from the sidelines. Eventually the Sun spoke up. “Mercury, who exactly did you meet on the racetracks back there?” she asked.
“Didn’t catch his name,” she admitted, “but he was racing something fierce. Tried to clear the raceway in under a minute, and before me too. And granted, he got close, but I was faster.”
“And what is your top speed, anyway?” Twilight asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, little pony?” Mercury glared at Twilight, then burst out laughing. “I’m just joking around. I can skate at the speed of light – and no, that’s not an exaggeration.”
“Was that how fast you were going earlier?” Twilight asked. “To grab that fragment, I mean.”
“Nah, that was pretty sluggish to me,” Mercury responded. “Lightspeed’s much faster than that. You should see it!”
“I can attest to this,” the Moon said. “At times I see her skate past me – not e’en my hastiest haiku is able to describe the sight. It really is worth seeing for yourself.”
That would be something to see indeed, Twilight thought. “But would it be enough to go up against Black Hole?” she asked. “From what I remember, not even light can escape their gravitational pulls.”
Mercury looked genuinely surprised. “That strong, huh?” she asked. “Guess I better be in my A-game when we face off. Soon as we get this fragment and how many others out there. Woah!” She noticed Milky Way trip over her skates, while trying to pull off a particularly difficult move.“Careful there, Milky!” she shouted out.
“Thanks!” she shouted back.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, Twilight,” the Sun told Twilight, “how does that horn of yours work anyway? You just think about moving something and it just does, or what?”
“Oh, uh. . . .” How do I put this? “It’s a little hard to describe if you’ve never done it before,” she said. “That said, it takes a bit of concentration on what you want to grab, and a lot of foalhood practice, but once you get the hang of it, it just becomes something you do. Like singing, for instance.” Yeah, that’s an apt analogy.
“So you can handle really hot things safely that way?” the Sun followed up. “That would explain pulling that fragment out of my star.”
“Yeah, it sure would.” Twilight looked to the planet. “And I could try it here, but the atmosphere’s too turbulent for me to get a good grip. Plus, from what Venus has said, it’s acidic – which my magic can handle with no problem, but I don’t know about the rest of you, especially Milky Way.”
“Is it like my poëtic magic?” the Moon asked. “I cannot imagine any other form.”
“Well, we do have spells written down, and yes, they do tend to be in verse.” This only interested the Moon even further. “But it takes a trained unicorn to use them. I’m one, if that helps, but not every unicorn is.”
“How fascinating!” the Moon said.
“Heads up, girls,” the Sun warned. “Looks like they’re finally ready.”
“Or at least as ready as they’ll ever be,” Mercury quipped. Indeed, Venus looked a bit frazzled – Does Milky Way have two left skates? Twilight pondered. Whatever, let’s just get this out of the way.
“Ladies, your attention, please?” Venus asked. “Despite Milky Way’s. . . erm, nouveautée, I believe we have our petit pas de deux ready for you all. Milky Way?”
“I’m ready, I guess,” she said. “Um. . . this is a short improvised dance she calls ‘Réunion,’ and it’s supposed to symbolize two halves being, well. . . reunited.” No, really? “Is that all right?” she asked Venus.
“That should suffice,” said Venus. She turned back to the others. “Well? Are you ready for the grand premiere of our oh-so-brief performance?”
All four silently nodded their approval.
“Very well!” said Venus. “Twilight, I would imagine you know what to do behind the scenes, no?”
Twilight hopped up and trotted over to the planet, lighting up her horn. She then felt around with her magic and got a grip on the unseen fragment. “Ready when you are!”
“Splendid. Milky Way, the stage awaits.” Venus grabbed Milky Way’s hand and started pulling her to the “stage” – really, the planet. “And we begin.”
Milky Way swallowed. “Oh boy. . . .”
Venus was prim and proper, exact in her every movement, and Milky Way. . . not so much, with Venus gracefully compensating for her partner’s missteps. Still, the Moon, the Sun, and Mercury were amazed by their movements. Feeling suddenly inspired, the Moon quickly whipped out a scroll of parchment and started writing.
Twilight wasn’t paying attention – not to them. She concerned herself with not losing this piece of rock. As the duet moved and twirled upon the world, she started feeling some slight disturbances in the troposphere within. C’mon Venus, she thought, so she wouldn’t interrupt them. Don’t let me down now.
A tap here, a roll of the skates there – and finally Milky Way started getting a feel of what Venus wanted. Muscle memory took over, and as Venus glided over the surface, so did she.
It was a terrific performance, but it didn’t help Twilight make much progress. The piece was still lodged firmly inside the atmosphere. C’mon, she thought, hurry up!
Venus looked down to see Twilight struggle with pulling on her magic. She looked to Milky Way and nodded – and now for the big finale! she was signaling. Hand in hand, they started skating in circles across the surface.
Finally, some real progress! Twilight almost said aloud. The vibrations from the constant movement finally got one edge poking through the clouds. She doubled her telekinetic grip, and pulled harder than before.
But Venus wasn’t done just yet. Slowly, while still skating, she started pulling Milky Way towards herself, causing them both to start spinning faster and faster.
Just as they were about to collide at the pole, Twilight finally yanked the fragment free from its planetary prison. She fell back with a yelp, nearly dropping the acid-laced stone onto herself. She looked up to see the ‘reunion’ part of the dance – and then them turning to face their audience and bowing.
All three girls applauded the performance – even Mercury, genuinely this time, without irony – and Twilight hoisted her prize high for all to see, already working on a neutralizing spell to clean it off.
“I can definitely say that was the best dance I’ve ever done,” said Milky Way, catching her breath.
If Venus had any objections, she politely withheld them. “Regardless,” she did say, “we have your fragment. I suppose I should owe you an apology for earlier – I hadn’t realized I indeed had what you were looking for.”
“That’s okay,” said Milky Way. “The Sun and the Moon both said more or less the same thing. Besides, you didn’t exactly take it for yourself, like you said.”
“Zut alors! Perhaps I should avoid jumping to conclusions,” said Venus. “But, on another pressing matter. Do you have every piece you need?”
“Let me try,” said Twilight. When Milky Way showed her the other three fragments, the unicorn took them in her magic, and tried piecing them together in free space. Even with the newly-found fragment, none of them fit together. “Not even close,” she concluded. She gave them back to Milky Way. “We’ve got a long way to go still.”
“Where to next?” Mercury asked. “I’m itching to get going!”
“Well, Mars doesn’t seem particularly busy,” the Sun suggested. “Not outside of her planet, anyway.”
“Mars?” Venus asked. “You mean that. . . eccentric artist of the red world?” She shuddered. “I will never understand her fashion choices.”
“C’mon Venus, I’ve seen you in more ridiculous outfits before, and I never complained.” The Sun started making her way to the next orbit. “It’s going to be a long way away – better get a move-on, girls!” With a thrust of her skates, she disappeared down the pathway.
Mercury, not one to turn down a challenge, started a stopwatch and quickly skated after her, overtaking her soon after. That left Venus, the Moon, Milky Way, and Twilight to move together at their own pace. Once Twilight climbed back onto her usual place, they took off together, to catch up with the Sun.