The Music of the Spheres

by MrBossMan

Sole Intention

The evening was late, and the sun was being shepherded on its trip to and beyond the horizon. Twilight strode along a wide, brick-laden road that curved its way gracefully through the commons of Canterlot. The streets were darkened by the shadows of homes and shops, their roofs glowing a soft amber in the dying sunlight.

She gave a deep breathe as she trotted along, her mind entirely separated from the surrounding lazy scene. Many ponies around her were heading home from work or standing about and idly chatting with their fellow townsfolk. The unicorn needn't listen to know what they were all discussing—what by now all of Canterlot was discussing. And by tomorrow, all of Equestria.

It was on her way back to the city that Twilight began to fully grasp the implications of the day's events. Her excitement had waned steadily and was entirely absent upon arrival; in its place rose a sort of passive dread. There was no anxiety, no stress, yet the unicorn felt a strange haze about herself. It was as if her vision was blurred with inattention, and she found her mind wandering aimlessly as time slipped by before her eyes.

She continued on, her hooves clapping starkly against the silence as they came to a stop before a familiar door. The house was built in a cookie-cutter style like most homes in Canterlot, yet to Twilight it seemed to hold a certain charm. The door was painted a light brown, and the lower windows were open to the cooling air. A glow escaped through the openings, passing over the small plants hanging before them, and Twilight heaved a sigh before softly knocking.

The door opened shortly afterward, an older mare answering the call. Her coat was an eggshell white; purple and white streams ran through both mane and tail. Her azure blue eyes lit up almost instantly and a serene smile spread across her face.

Twilight gave the mare a warm hug. “Hey, Mom.”

“Oh, Twilight,” she sang back. “I’m so happy to see you, especially so soon.” Silver Moon ushered her daughter inside with a slight pull. Twilight stepped in solemnly, her eyes taking in the foyer and the surrounding linked rooms. It was the same as ever, really, and in a small way she was grateful for that.

Silver gave a sharp shout up the stairs, calling for her husband. A grumble could be heard along with the scrape of a chair. Hooves followed, and Indigo Sparkle came into view as he rounded the stairway. His expression matched Twilight’s sad smile when he saw his daughter.

“Twilight,” he began, meeting them on the foyer floor, “It’s good to see you again. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well, Dad,” she replied unenthusiastically. Her mother escorted them to the den, where Twilight sat down on a couch across from her parents. Indigo stared blankly at the table between them while Silver Moon telekinetically fidgeted with a nearby family portrait, attempting to wipe the dust from it.

She suddenly hooked her eyes onto her daughter. “Dear, what brings you here so soon? The wedding was only, what, six or seven months ago?”

Twilight swallowed, her mind groping frantically for a smooth response. “No, I—well, yes, but... I’m here to tell you something. Something important.” She hesitated.

“Oh, well.. What is it, Honey? You know you can tell us anything.” Silver Moon’s smile stretched unevenly.

“Moon,” Indigo said, looking up but not into the eyes of either mare. “You know why she’s here. Just let her speak.”

The elder mare’s face fell immediately, and she looked at Twilight with pleading eyes. “It’s about... him, isn’t it?”

She swallowed again. “Yes. Something bad is coming. Err, well, something bad is already here. But much worse is about to arrive, and-”

“And the Princess is sending you on another one of her errands,” Indigo finished, poorly hidden resentment occupying the statement.

Father and daughter locked eyes, if only for a moment. “Yes,” she replied, and the stallion nodded slowly. Twilight detected the dread and hopelessness that had spread so quickly since the announcement of Equestria’s impending doom.

“Twilight, Honey, I have no doubt of your abilities,” Silver Moon said, her eyes starting to stare blankly into space. “But... I was there. I felt the power wash over me. This isn’t like the other times, is it? It didn’t feel the same as Discord, or Chrysalis, or Nightmare Moon—it wasn’t a threat, or a possibility. It was real, and it was wrong.” Silver Moon looked back up at her daughter. “Do you—no, does Celestia even know how to stop it?”

Twilight nodded. “She does. The Princess already has a plan laid out, and my friends Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie will be coming along with me.” At this, Indigo looked up. “You’re right that this is different, and we can’t do it on our own, but with luck everything should be alright when we get back.”

Indigo cleared his throat, and the two mares looked in his direction. “It’s just you and those two friends?” he asked. “What happened to the other three you told us about?”

Silver Moon gave a thoughtful nod. “I was just wondering the same thing.” She turned to her daughter. “Here I thought you and your friends were just going to go face the threat like normal. But you’re saying that you’re going on some sort of journey? What about the... Elements of Harmony?”

Twilight shook her head. “They aren’t enough this time. Apollyon—the stallion you saw—outranks Princess Celestia, and something about the Elements keeps them from working in that case.” A pause. “I admit that I don’t understand all the details, but that’s what the Princess told us at least.”

“And she knows of another way?” asked the elder mare. Twilight nodded the affirmative. “How confident is she in this plan? What will you be doing—where will you be going? When will you be back?” Silver Moon’s voice grew more frantic with each question.

Twilight halted as she considered these questions. She realized that nobody had given much specific information—she wondered if any of the alicorns actually knew, or whether it was just more divine intuition. “I don’t know. But honestly, I don’t think it really matters at this point. If we can’t trust the Princesses, what else can we do?”

Indigo sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It’s better than doing nothing, at least.”

“But you still haven’t told us where you’re going,” Silver Moon reminded. “Is it too far? Or too dangerous?”

Twilight winced slightly. She knew what the reaction would be to what she was about to say, and she had hoped to avoid saying it. But she wasn’t about to lie to her parents, however bitter a medicine the truth may be. “It’s... about as far as you can get. Princess Celestia said we’re going out in space, to the edge of the universe.”

“What?!” her father shouted.

“Twilight!” said her mother. “I... Are you sure this is necessary?!”

“Well, Apollyon rules the entire galaxy,” Twilight explained. “It makes sense that we’d have to go somewhere else to be able to stop him... right?”

“But this is dangerous! It’s probably never even been done before—how can we be sure it’ll even work?”

“What if you don’t make it?” cried Indigo. “We wouldn’t even have a body to...” He trailed off, his jaw hanging with a half-formed thought and his eyes staring into his daughter’s.

Twilight was sobbing, tears streaming down her cheeks. That was it—all the fear, all the uncertainty that had built up, unnoticed, just under the surface of her mind finally burst out. “Don’t you think I’m scared, too?” she breathed.

“Oh, Honey...” Silver Moon brought her daughter into her embrace, allowed Twilight’s tears to fall upon her shoulder.

“I mean, what if I fail?” she whimpered. “It would... The whole world...”

A hoof stroked Twilight’s mane. “Sh-sh-sh. You won’t.” The elder mare pulled back to make eye contact, and her face was set and determined. “Twilight, you are the most intelligent, most capable, strongest young mare in the entire kingdom, and I have personally seen that you can do whatever you put your mind to. That’s why Celestia chose you as her student, and that’s why she chose you for this mission. Because you can do it.” Silver Moon searched for words. “You will. You’ll go wherever you need to go, do whatever you need to do, come back whenever the Fates decide, and when you do...” She paused and gave a small smile. “I’ll be here, ready to say ‘I told you so.’”

Twilight sniffed, wiped her eyes, and smiled back. Her mother had always had a certain way with words when it mattered most. “Thanks, Mom.” The two mares looked questioningly over to Indigo.

“I’m not happy about sending you away like that.” He then smiled as well. “But, for the sake of the planet, I can think of no one more qualified for this mission than my daughter.” Twilight drew her father into a hug, the force of which made him groan softly before returning it. “Just be careful, alright?”

“I will.” She drew back. “And the second I set hoof on terra firma again I’ll come running to let you know I’m okay. Pinkie Promise.” Her parents looked queerly at her, understanding the sentiment but not the context. “Uhh, it’s something Pinkie Pie says. Speaking of, I hate to cut this short, but the other two are probably waiting for me.” She looked out the window to see that the sun had already set. Come to think of it, Celestia had said something about seeing them off. Twilight was keeping her up.

“Good luck, Sweetie,” said Silver Moon as the three Sparkles rose and cantered into the foyer. “We’re so very proud of you.”

“Thank you. I’ll miss you both.” She wrapped one arm around each of her parents’ necks.

“We’ll miss you too, Twilight,” Indigo said, smiling warmly.

She broke the hug and turned to leave. It was a good thing that she was able see her family before she left—chances were this info wouldn’t be released to the public, and she would be bereft if she disappeared without saying goodbye to her relatives.

“Oh,” Twilight realized, turning back. “Make sure to let Shiny know. I might not see him before we leave.”

Silver Moon nodded her head. “We will. He’s just been at the palace so much ever since the wedding.” She suddenly looked thoughtful. “I saw Cadence up there this morning, standing next to the Sisters. Poor thing, she looked terrified.”

“She did. I saw, too,” Twilight commented. “I should probably ask Princess Celestia about that. Anyway, bye!” she added hastily—and perhaps awkwardly—attempting to quash any possibility of further chatter. She hated to do that to them, but if she let it go on much longer she would be there all night. She really had to be going.

“Goodbye, Twilight,” her mom said as the unicorn stepped through the door. “Take care, and follow up on your promise.” Her chin quivered slightly and her voice was choked as she continued. “We love you, so much.” At this, Indigo nodded slowly.

Twilight turned her head and looked in from the front steps. “I love you too. Both of you. I’ll be back before you know it.” She offered a final reassuring smile before turning back toward the light of the gas lamps outside. “Goodbye!”

She trotted a few steps, then stopped to listen to the sound of the door shutting behind her. She heaved a sigh through her nostrils, then continued on toward the market with renewed vigor.

* * *

Rainbow Dash soared purposefully across Canterlot, weaving through the sky-piercing marble spires with ease. She found that the airways were remarkably empty for such a big city, even at this time of night—this was due to Canterlot being populated mainly by unicorns, with pegasi and earth ponies mostly commuting in for those jobs that required them. Royal guards flew in formation here and there, but otherwise Rainbow almost had the skies to herself.

The wooden cart trailing behind her was weighty in its impossible way. It didn’t have any tendency to fall thanks to her intuitive flight magic, nor did it add any drag, but some part of the pegasus’s psyche felt the need to constantly notify her that she was carrying something heavy, that she couldn’t stay aloft forever.

This weight was due to the mountain of literature that a certain unicorn mare had commissioned her to buy. Hipparcos had some manner of prep to take care of for the Aethon, Pinkie Pie was in charge of the food, and Twilight actually had a family to see, so Rainbow was left with a lengthy shopping list of necessary scientific references, speculative essays, and selections from the small, but apparently burgeoning, new genre of space-related speculative fiction—as well as a few suggestions from Twilight of book series that might interest the pegasus now that she was finished with Daring Do, and a couple rather odd requests by Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash touched down as gently as she could onto the road below so as to not topple the tower of books she was attached to. She undid the harness and scanned the area around her. Various wooden stands with colorfully painted signs advertising their wares, most of which were being emptied and closed as the purveyors packed up for the night. This was the market district, alright—but where was Pinkie?

The pegasus left her cart behind as she began trotting along the road in an attempt to find the pink pony. Pinkie Pie wasn’t one to take very long with any task, thus by now either she was finished and doing something completely random, or she hadn’t started and was doing something completely random. Rainbow Dash hoped that it was the former.

A short trot down the road revealed a large metal structure resembling a warehouse, only distinguishable from one by the large glowing sign across the front and the sliding glass door that poured cold white light from the inside. It was one of those new chain superstores that were starting to catch on. Rainbow had heard of them, but since there weren’t any in Ponyville and it was nigh-impossible to put one in Cloudsdale, this was the first time she’d seen one with her own eyes.

It was likely the same situation for Pinkie Pie, so this was the best bet for finding her. And it wouldn’t hurt to check it out, anyway.

The pegasus strode up to the front of the building, whistling in appreciation as the door slid open for her, hitting her head-on with a gust of conditioned air. It wasn’t uncomfortably warm outside, nor was the air inside particularly cold, but it did make her aware of just how humid the Summer air was. She concluded with disapproval that it was probably due to the magical weather service here in Canterlot--all done on the ground, no real intimacy or understanding.

Rainbow Dash cantered slowly through the leviathan and labyrinth of a store, taking in the ridiculous selection of items weighing down the rows of shelves, as well as the exceedingly simple sterile white ambience otherwise. It almost reminded her of the sky, though the relatively small amount of appliances fit for use by hooves reminded her that she was still on the ground, in Canterlot.

Roughly a minute passed before the pegasus’s tendencies began to shine through, and she stopped admiring the surroundings to resume her search for Pinkie Pie. Her pace began to quicken as she scanned aisle by aisle for her pink quarry. Briefly she lifted off to seek from above, a feat made easy by the huge vaulted ceiling, but an unfamiliar masculine voice commanded from afar that she keep at least one hoof on the ground at all times.

Rainbow was just about to give up and try somewhere else when her ears pricked with the distant sound of falsetto giggling. The pegasus crouched low, stalking across the aisles in the direction of the laughter. It wasn’t long before she heard it again and, pinpointing its origin exactly, she flapped her wings and dove toward her prey with wanton disregard for store policy.

A pink pony, bowled over and lying spread eagle in Rainbow Dash’s hold, was nonetheless still chewing happily on some manner of free sample.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“Hi Dashie!” she squeaked through her full mouth.

“She yours?” said a gruff, and very exhausted, female voice originating from behind the nearby stand.

“Unfortunately.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” breathed the salesmare. “I was supposed to close down thirteen minutes ago, but management won’t let me do that when there are any customers still here.” She began to clean up her station.

The polychromatic pegasus looked back at Pinkie Pie. The latter swallowed. “What?”

Rainbow sighed. “Did you get everything on the list?”

“Well, yeah!” The blithe pink pony wriggled out of her captor’s grasp to canter a few steps beside and snatch up a pair of saddlebags in her mouth.

“Pinkie, we’re gonna need more than that,” the pegasus said dryly.

“Nmm-nmm!” Pinkie argued mutely through clenched teeth. She pranced daintily to Rainbow Dash’s side and rested the pair of bags on her withers.

Immediately the pegasus felt her legs buckle under the immense weight, her eyes bulging outward in surprise as she strained to remain upright.

Pinkie Pie took the bags back off and slid them onto her own back with incredible ease. Rainbow was sputtering. “What... How did... Huh?”

The pink mare giggled. “Silly Dashie, you act like you’ve never seen a bag of holding before!” She turned and began pronking merrily toward the checkout.

Rainbow Dash blinked, then shook her head. “Earth pony strength...”

* * *

Twilight Sparkle eyed the cart before her inquisitively in an attempt to identify it. She began reading the spine of each book inside and scouring her memory to see if it was on the list given to Rainbow Dash.

Then, with a blush and a few sidelong glances, she pulled said list from where it was hiding oh-so-sneakily right before her eyes. This was definitely their cart; the problem was that her friends were nowhere to be found.

The unicorn sat for a moment wondering what to do. Should she go looking for them, or should she wait? What if they came back while she was gone and ended up waiting for her? Then again, what if they were lost? Or worse? Princess Celestia was waiting on them, and tardiness simply would not do.

Twilight took a deep breath, recognizing how stressed she was getting, and elected to stay put. After all, Rainbow wouldn’t leave their cart unattended if she planned to be gone long.

Or, rather, she shouldn’t. Come to think of it, that sounded just like something Rainbow would do...

The Cosmic Adventures of Ad Astra levitated violently from the top of one of the stacks to Twilight’s eye level and, with a determination to stop worrying, she set upon reading it for the third time.

* * *

“Yes, yes!” the Nightmare laughed erratically. “Without your ship, you will be forced to stay here with me! And worship me, and love me, forever!”

Ad Astra smirked and lifted a leg to her muzzle. “You forget, oh Exile Queen--I have full control from here!” With a press of a button on the built-in control panel of her suit, Astra’s spacecraft burst from its dark magical trappings and sped toward her.

As the Expedient flew on its set trajectory through the Queen of Darkness and to its master, Nightmare Moon let out a piercing shriek...

Twilight looked up from the book as a high-pitched voice cleft the air. Pinkie Pie was bouncing toward her, Rainbow Dash in tow, squealing her name. “Twilight!”

The book shut itself with a thump and floated back to its place on the cart. “Where have you two been?”

“This one was gorging herself on samples and annoying supermarket employees all evening,” Rainbow Dash replied, gesturing toward her energetic friend with her head as she flew on at a semi-hurried pace. “Anyway, we got the stuff, let’s go.”

The pegasus was quickly secured into the harness of the cart while the other two ponies climbed in among the luggage, Twilight pushing some books aside and Pinkie perching atop the very peak of the mountain of books. The wagon lurched as Rainbow took off--so much so that Twilight had to use magic to keep the precious cargo from toppling over and falling out.

“So...” said the unicorn once she had finished casting her spell. “Anyone having any doubts about this mission?”

“No way!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed without a moment’s hesitation. “I mean, I’ve flown pretty high before, but I never even thought about going to space! I always thought the sky was like...” She made a wide, upward gesture with her forehooves, “Like a big dome above the ground that you couldn’t get through, y’know?”

Twilight blinked and looked up at the pegasus, who had now locked eyes with her. “Uhh, yeah, me neither!” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “The not having any doubts... part.”

“It’s so exciting!” Pinkie Pie enthused. “We’re going into space! I wonder what it’s going to be like; will we get to meet space aliens? What are stars really like, up close? Oh Celestia, it’s going to be so cool! And the best part is,” she hugged Twilight in one forehoof and left the other groping blindly in Rainbow’s direction. “I get to spend the whole trip with two of my bestest friends! Although, I will miss my other, equally-bestest friends. And even my slightly-less-bestest friends! But that’s what we’re doing this for, right? What kind of world would it be if all the bestest, and less-bestest, and future-bestest friends got gobbled up by some big interstellar meanie? It wouldn’t be a world at all, because even the world itself would be gobbled, so we-”

“Pinkie!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “We’re here!”

The spires of Canterlot Palace loomed impressively over the painted concrete balcony upon which they had touched down. An identical pair of unicorn guards stood motionless beside a large set of ornate double doors.

Twilight blinked for a moment, then hopped off the cart and began trotting toward the guards. The two stallions instantly recognized the Princess’s student and, without a word to her or to each other, telekinetically opened the doors for her. “Thank you,” she recognized quite sincerely as the trio of mares entered the palace.

Then Twilight halted. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She looked both ways down the saffron-carpeted hall that they had entered. “I don’t know where to go,” she admitted. They had been told to return to the Palace when they were ready, but only now did the unicorn realize exactly how vague and unhelpful a direction that was.

Just as she had determined to find the nearest guard and ask whether he knew where Celestia was, a burst of warm golden light softly lit the room. The show of vastly powerful solar magic that was this godly teleportation spell impelled the three mares to bow in fear and veneration as the Princess of the Sun stepped out of the light. “I apologize, my little ponies,” she said calmingly, “I try to avoid exposing my subjects to my magic if possible, but every second is precious.”

The ponies rose and listened, wide-eyed. “This is, as you might expect, unlike anything you have done before. I must stress that failure is not an option, whatsoever; which means I will accept even the sacrifice of every one of the crew’s lives as prudent and necessary if doing so is the salvation of all life on Earth. Not the ship nor the safety of anypony on board, nor anything otherwise, will be held at higher value than the completion of the mission, understood?”

There was a pause, and the mares nodded gravely.

“I must admit,” the alicorn continued, “I cannot know the distance nor the time you will have to cover in the journey. Only my intuition can assure that you will reach the destination in time, and only faith allows me to trust that estimate. Which is why you have to leave as soon as possible and travel quickly; for the sake of the planet, you mustn’t waste a single second. Even shrouded in uncertainty, this is still our best hope of survival, and it is to be treated with the utmost care and respect.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” Twilight replied soberly as the others nodded behind her.

“Your friends have returned to Ponyville to tend to their affairs but have sent their most heartfelt regards. An escort is waiting outside the main Westward gate to take you to the Aethon; Hipparcos will brief you on the launch when you arrive.”

The Princess paused to emphasize her parting words. “Good luck and godspeed, little ponies.”

Author's Note:

I'm really, truly sorry to leave you guys waiting for so long. While I could cite all manner of excuses, such as Christmas, family, new season, learning to draw, my editor taking too long with the draft, schoolwork, Eagle Scout, etc... the truth is I was just lazy and unmotivated, and I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again. And though I hope this chapter is worth the wait, in all honesty I don't think it is...

I'd also like to take this opportunity to make an announcement: thanks to hyper-advanced Gallifreyan technology, this story is time-locked. Meaning it is entirely unaffected by Season 3 canon, excluding instances when we decide on a whim to include something. Watch out for Meanwhiles and Never-Weres.

Also, Happy New Year, everyone!