When Stars Come Out to Play

by Chicago Ted

Chapter 10 - Celestial Surfer Girl!

When Mercury arrived at the next planet to see Neptune, she found it barren. She wasn’t here, she wasn’t there – “Seriously, Neptune?” she asked. “Where are you right now?”

She resolved to slumping against the base of the planet and waiting for the rest of her friends to show up. “Did I really travel such a long way to get here?” she asked aloud to herself. She sighed. “This is gonna be a long wait, I can tell.”

To pass the time, she watched Neptune’s planet’s satellite drift past her field of vision. It eclipsed with the Sun’s star eventually, though considering how far away that was from here, it wasn’t that hard to do. Mercury noted the transient dimness, then as the satellite transited away, the familiar pinprick of light struck her eyes once again. She put a hand up, to block the shining again, then put it back down.

It was only then that Mercury noticed that her pulse had slowed down. As nice as skating at the speed of light was, sometimes she needed to take a breath, sit down, and just watch the universe around her. “All the more reason to stop Black Hole,” she reminded herself.

Not long after – a few minutes later – she noticed another, more familiar glow coming up on her. She leapt to her skates, anticipating some action. “There you are!” she called out.

As the other girls arrived and gathered around, with Twilight hopping down from Milky Way, Mercury said, “I can’t find Neptune anywhere.” She turned to Uranus. “Got any ideas, Uranus?”

Uranus simply chuckled. “I know my sister quite well,” she said. “I’m pretty sure she’s surfing the Kuiper Sea as we speak.” Kuiper Sea? Twilight thought. What kind of name is that?“Up for some swimming, girls?” she continued. “She’s not due back here for a good while.”And it’s an actual sea, to boot. Who’d’ve thunk?

“Where is the Kuiper Sea, anyway?” Milky Way asked.

Uranus extended her hand to further beyond the planet, away from the star. “All that lays out there, that’s the Kuiper Sea.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped – and, evidently, so did Milky Way’s. The Kuiper Sea was huge – if her planet was an ice giant, which it almost certainly was, then the Sea was unfathomable. One could spend a lifetime – nay, several lifetimes – exploring it and not discovering its full depth and breadth. It’s likely a good thing Equestria doesn’t have something like this, she thought. Who knows how many ponies would get lost in it for good? She looked down at her hooves, and noted she was standing on actual sand. She looked around, and though there was a small shack to her left, she couldn’t find any traces of Neptune’s presence anywhere.

Uranus squinted suddenly. “Oh, and there’s Neptune, all the way out there,” she told the others. “I really hope she didn’t get caught in the rip current again.”

Sigh. Why does everything in this universe have to be so dangerous? “Hold on,” Twilight said. “Instead of charging head-first into some dangerous situation, how about we look around her planet first?” She spotted its satellite, which she then pointed at. “Like that, for instance. Europa, a little help please? I’ll give the planet itself a look.” Should be easy if it’s an ice giant, like Uranus said.

The bunny nodded, and jetted over with Jupiter for a quick inspection. Twilight, lighting her horn, focused her attention on the planet itself. As with her old routine, she went over the entire (rather vast) surface of the planet. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she moved outwards through the cloud layers. Nothing. Oh well, worth a try.

Jupiter rejoined her a moment later. “Europa couldn’t find anything on the satellite,” she told the unicorn.

“And the planet’s bare as well,” Twilight told her. She looked out with dread to the Kuiper Sea. “We’re going to have to go out there, won’t we?”

Uranus nodded. “That we will, that we will.”

Mars was giddily jumping from skate to skate. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she said. “I’ll bet it’ll be so much fun!” Even Jupiter’s pets seemed excited at the prospective.

“Even so, sugar,” the Sun told Mars, “we should still be careful. The Kuiper Sea’s huge, even for us, and only Neptune would have any idea about navigating the place.” She scanned the “shoreline.” “Speaking of which, here she comes now!” She pointed at a silhouette of a surfer, coming in on a “wave” of some sort.

This must be Neptune, Twilight thought. As she got closer to the Kuiper shore, she could start making out better details about her – the teal color motif, the seashell motif, the beachwear – and the fact that she, amazingly, was surfing while still wearing skates. Huh, so that’s why I never found any on the beach here.

Finally, Neptune came ashore. She picked up her surfboard and planted it tail-first into the sand behind her. “’Sup, sis?” she said. “Nice to see you brought everyone else too. And a new friend!” she added when she saw Milky Way. “What brings you to my beachfront paradise?”

“I’m Milky Way,” she said, “and this here’s Twilight Sparkle. We’ve been looking for fragments of a planetoid that have been scattered around the Solar System. You think you can help us with that?”

If Neptune noticed Twilight’s horn, she never said anything. “You think I might have it? Milky, my new friend, I should tell you I collect seashells, not rocks. I wouldn’t know of any fragments.”

“What she means is,” Uranus butted in, “that planetoid was holding in Black Hole. She shattered that planetoid – by accident, or so she says – and now that Black Hole’s free, he’ll reverse the Big Bang, compressing the universe down into a single point. In case you haven’t been paying attention to your studies – ” she well emphasized that bit – “that means you’re going with it too!”

Clearly, this one was not so austere, not when compared to her twin sister. “Yeah, so?” she said. “Just one more reason to go surfing – if only for one last time, before it all comes crashing down. You dig me, sis?” Gah, just how flaky can somepony be?

“Neptune, honey, I really don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation,” the Sun told her. “Especially considering Milky Way and Twilight here have been running through the system with the rest of us, hunting down each fragment. And I should know – I was the first they visited!” The Sun shone her hair lighter, to make sure Neptune was paying attention – who apparently was. “We can still stop him, but only if you can stop surfing for a moment to help us.”

Neptune stopped. “You’ve been trying to stop the unstoppable?” she said. “That’s, like, far-out girl, but you’ve got a lot of work cut out for you – and that’s even if you can piece his planetoid back together.” She crossed her arms, and leaned back against her surfboard. “But sure, I can help you. Whaddaya need?”

Twilight spoke up, spooking Neptune by accident. “We’ve already looked through your planet and the satellite orbiting, but couldn’t find it. Which means, if you do have one, it’ll be out in the Kuiper Sea somewhere.”

“Oh, I see your point now,” she said. “Let me just say, though – looking through the Kuiper Sea for something that’s. . . how big are the pieces again?”

Milky Way showed her one they found.

“Yeah, that’s going to be especially tough. Everyone’s going to have to dive, and really, we don’t have nearly enough girls to go through the whole sea.” She grabbed her surfboard. “I have spare boards in that yonder shack. Grab one and paddle out. Try not to group up.”

“Milky Way, do you actually know how to surf?” Twilight whispered to her.

“I’ve done it a time or two before,” she whispered back. “I travel the universe, remember?” She took off her skates, leaving them on the beach, and grabbed a surfboard – which happened to have a starry pattern on it. Almost like Neptune’s been expecting us. Almost.“I take it you can’t really surf by yourself, right Twilight?” she asked.

“Never done it before,” Twilight said. “Never really interested me that much. I just prefer staying in and reading.”

Milky Way laughed. “Are you sure you’re not Uranus yourself?” She tapped her shoulder, cuing Twilight to grab on for the ride. Once the unicorn did, Milky Way started paddling out to sea.

“You sure you don’t want to change into something more. . . appropriate?” Twilight asked. “I mean, just look at what Neptune wore. Don’t you have anything like that?”

“I do, but I didn’t think I’d need it, so I left it behind,” Milky Way replied. “Oh well, no going back now – it’d take too much time as it is.”

Slowly, Twilight moved down from Milky Way’s shoulder and perched upon her back. She glanced down into the water. Looks murky. I hope it’s not actually salty too. Then Milky Way hit a wave, splashing some water into her mouth. Huh, no salt. For a sea, that’s a first. It should definitely help for when we dive down.

Despite Neptune’s instructions otherwise, the two ran into another girl – Saturn. She waved at them, then pointed at herself and further beyond them, then at them and in her current spot. Twilight understood it as “I’ll head over there, you two can have this spot.”

Milky Way must have understood her as well, since she stopped paddling eventually. “Okay,” she said. “How are we going to do this?”

Twilight gave it some thought. “Hmm. . . .” Ideally, one of us needs to stay on the board, both so it doesn’t go anywhere and so the one diving can easily find her way back. Milky Way can use her hands to grab the fragment – if it’s down there – but if I stay on the board and let her dive, she might not find me, even with my horn flared. But if I dive down and use my magic. . . yes. That should work. “You stay on the board,” she told Milky Way. “I’ll be going under. Pull me up if you have to.”

“Got it!” Milky Way said.

And without further ado, Twilight leapt off of Milky Way’s back and plunged below the surface of the Kuiper Sea. Woah. . . . She had to resist the temptation to breathe in underwater. It looks amazing down here! She saw a great variety of marine life, surrounding her, paying her no heed. I wonder what Jupiter would do if she saw this. She’d probably take some of them home with her.

Okay, right. Gotta find that fragment, Twilight. You’ve only got so much air and time. With her magic, she shined a light upon the seafloor, noting some of the smaller critters scurrying about this way and that. Lots of stones and crevices, many of which were caked in seaweed – but no fragment to be seen.

But she wasn’t about to give up. With her telekinesis, she started sweeping up the seafloor, seeing if the fragment might have been buried by the tide. No, nothing yet so far. She considered moving the rocks to see if it was buried that way, but found all the ones she tried to be immovable for some reason. Okay, so it’s just sand I have to worry about. How convenient.

Twilight started to notice she was running short of breath, so she looked up, to find Milky Way. Where is she, where is she. . . ? She couldn’t find the silhouette of a surfboard anywhere.

Now she started panicking. Did she abandon me out here!? Without any further thought, she swam to the surface, if only to catch her breath. C’mon. . . just a little further. . . .

When she did finally break the surface, she let in some life-giving. . . air? into her lungs. She started looking around her. There wasn’t a single soul out in the sea besides her. This is trouble.

“Milky Way!?” she called out, to no avail. “Where are you!? I’m lost!” She kept looking, but not seeing anyone nearby.

Then, finally, she heard some paddling coming up from the beach. There was Milky Way, looking embarrassed. “Sorry, Twilight,” she said. “A wave scooped me up a while back, and it took me this long to get back here. You weren’t scared, were you?”

Oh, of course that would happen.“No, not at all,” Twilight lied. “Anyway, I couldn’t find anything down here, so I guess we’re moving on.”

“Right you are.” Milky Way plucked the unicorn out of the water and placed her right back on her back. “I see an empty spot out there. Let’s go there next.” She started paddling along. Besides, Twilight thought, the further out we are from the Kuiper shore, the less likely an incident like that would happen again.

Just before they could arrive there, they bumped into a rather well-soaked Venus, who apparently had the same idea. “Pardonnez-moi,” she said. “I was about to dive here, but if you would prefer. . . .”

Milky Way saw another open spot, even further, and even vaster. “That’s okay,” she said. “We were just passing through.”

Venus simply nodded, and Milky Way and Twilight continued on their way. “Are you crazy?” Twilight whispered to Milky Way. “If you catch another wave by accident out here, how soon would you get back to me?”

“Relax,” she said back. “I think you’ll be just fine. Besides, Venus or one of the other girls would fish you out if they find you. You’ve really got nothing to worry about.” Well, other than that rip current Uranus mentioned, and some of the larger fauna – who knows how aggressive they might be?“And we’ve arrived. This time I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

“For my sake, I hope you’re right.” Twilight dove back into the water. Here, life was somewhat less sparse. Perhaps they like the shore better? she thought. What does it offer? Embarrassingly, in that moment she couldn’t recall much on her oceanological studies. Bah, what does it matter? The fragment awaits here somewhere. Just gotta find it, wherever it is.

As before, she lit her horn and shined a light on the seafloor. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an iridescent glimmer poking out of the sand. With her magic, she lifted the object out of the seafloor.

It was only an empty half of a clamshell, inlaid with mother of pearl. Drat, she thought. She dropped it back into the sand and, noticing her dwindling breath just then, swam to the surface.

Twilight gasped for life when she broke the surface. “Didn’t find anything yet!” she called out to Milky Way, each word punctuated by a breath. Okay, let’s try that again. She dove back into the water.

She shone a light with her magic, looking for anything that even remotely resembled a fragment. She looked this way and that, trying to find a familiar shape, a glimmer, anything really. But alas, she couldn’t find anything down here anymore.

Better cut my losses when I can, she thought. She swam back to the surface, both to catch her breath and to meet back up with Milky Way.

Once Twilight broke the surface, she lit her horn, as a signal flare. That caught Milky Way’s attention well enough, and she paddled over and yanked Twilight out of the water. “Nothing down there?” she asked the unicorn.

Twilight shook her head. “I wonder if the other girls are faring any better themselves. Think we should ask around?”

“I’m pretty sure they’d be making a lot more noise if they found the fragment out here,” Milky Way said. “Still, it’s worth a try.” She scanned the horizon. “I see the Moon over there. Let’s go ask her!” And off she paddled.

It seemed the Moon was rather hydrophobic herself – she was more or less perfectly dry, instead staying on her board and relying on her orbs of light to peer beneath the surface. She looked up, through her hair, to see Milky Way and a thoroughly-soaked Twilight Sparkle. “Forsooth,” the Moon said, “you haven’t any shame in getting wet.”

“Nope!” Twilight said. “As long as we get what we’re looking for.” She peered down in the waters below. “Did you find anything interesting?”

“I cannot say I have,” the Moon replied. “However – ” she pointed at one glowing orb – “there lies something shiny. What that is. . . .”

“Let me have a look,” Twilight said. “Keep that light on it.” She jumped off of Milky Way’s back and plunged into the water. Against her better judgment, she swam quickly to the spot the Moon indicated – and this time, Fortune smiled upon the unicorn. There, beneath a seaweed-covered stone and all but buried in the sand, was the thing Twilight and the other girls had been diving and hunting for all this time.

Finally! With her magic, she started dusting off the sand, then with a great deal of force, moved the stone so she could uncover the fragment. When she lifted it to her eyes, she found no jagged edges, nor any indication it had been broken up beneath the waves. I wonder just how much force Mars needed to break hers, Twilight thought. Without another word, she swam back to the surface.

Once Twilight caught her breath, she cast a pyrotechnic spell – to signal the other girls that this leg of their quest is completed. Time I got back onto dry land, she thought – if that can be considered dry land.

As Milky Way pulled Twilight out of the water, the Moon extinguished her lights. “Huzzah!” she commended her. “O, how you brav’d the deep!”

“Hey, you’re the one who found it.” Twilight then looked to the shore – and saw just how far away they got to find it. We must be on the other side of the Kuiper Sea by now, she surmised.

Neptune paddled up to them not long after. “Righteous!” she said. “Saw the lightshow – I guess you found it after all.” Yeah, and this made the Belt look easy. “Now, y’all can paddle back into shore the boring old way. . . ooor y’all can catch a wave and let the Sea work for you for once.”

“Oh dear. . . .” The Moon shrouded her face in her hair. “I fear I haven’t even half the courage.”

“It’s alright, Moon,” Neptune said. “Just follow my lead, and you’ll be just fine. C’mon!” She started paddling towards the shore. “You can’t catch waves out here!” she called back.

Milky Way and Twilight started after Neptune, with the Moon reluctantly following behind. True to Neptune’s word, the Kuiper Sea became rougher the closer they got back ashore – then a large swell started forming behind them. “Here we go – surf’s up!” Neptune stood up, with her foot on the back of the board for stability – is she seriously still wearing skates out here? How is she not falling off!? – and the wave took her up.

Slowly, the Moon followed her actions – standing up with her foot to the back, trying to stay stable on the board – and miraculously, and to her surprise and excitement, she never fell off. “Is this what surfing is?” she asked Milky Way. “I quite enjoy this!”

“That’s the spirit!” Just before she stood up, Milky Way grabbed Twilight off her back and set her down at the nose of the board. “Just keep your eyes forward, Twilight. You’re going to love this.”

As Twilight watched, the sensed the water moving further away from her, almost as if she was about to flip over – then the wave started crashing, which sent the board flying forth to the shoreline. She gripped the nose and held on for dear life, praying to Celestia or whichever deity ruled this realm that she survive this ordeal. How does Neptune enjoy something like this? she pondered. Uranus seems to be making more and more logical sense the more I know her.

Finally, they reached the shore – where the other two girls were waiting for her and Milky Way. “I was wondering if you got lost at sea, sugar,” the Sun greeted. “How’s the Moon? Doing okay?”

“That. . . .” The Moon stood up, on shaky legs, still excited from surfing. “. . . was just divine!”

“Speak for yourself,” Twilight said. “I’m just glad to be back on dry land.” Let’s hope they get what I mean.

“From my experience,” Neptune said, “there are three kinds of groms: those who don’t want to do it again, those who want more, and those who are disappointed. Can’t really help the last of those.” She planted her surfboard into the sand. “Think you’ve got enough?”

“I could check. . . .” At Twilight’s cue, Milky Way pulled out all the fragments they have found, and in her magic she assembled them into a sphere. One gap was filled, but another two remained. “We’re definitely closer than before,” she said. “Got another destination?”

“Last stop would be Pluto,” the Sun said. “Might be off-putting for you, but she’ll come around – especially when the universe is at stake.” She breathed deeply. “Now, about drying off – ”

“Allow me, please.” The Moon had a scroll, floating in front of her so she wouldn’t get it wet, and began reciting:

Peel away the water from our skin,
Channel it away into air thin –
Do the same to our clothing as well –
Leave us all as dry as we had been.

And just like that, the seawater came pouring off of everyone, no towel needed. Twilight had to resist the urge to chuckle. I knew she’d have heard of rubáiyát before, she thought.

“Thanks, Moon,” Milky Way said. “Neptune, I realize you don’t really want any part in this – ”

“Oh, but I do now,” Neptune said. “No more universe, no more seas, no more surfing – there’s a time to go with the flow, and this ain’t it, chief.” She grabbed her surfboard. “Pluto, was it? It’d be nice to see her again.”

“Ready to go?” Mercury asked. “Because I already am!” And without any prompting, she took off at breakneck pace.

“Mercury never ceases to amaze me,” Neptune said. “But I think we should stick together.”

“That’s what we’ve been doing, for the most part.” Twilight hopped up onto Milky Way’s now-dry shoulder. “Lead the way, Sun!”

“Happy to, honey.” With that, the Sun took off, with the other girls and Jupiter’s pets right behind her.