Author's Notes: Well, after the massive response I got from Chapter 30, here it is, at long last! What is the secret of Starfall's past that he has been so desperate to hide? Here's the answer, so go ahead and enjoy!

Before you rush off, though, a word of warning; this chapter goes get rather dark...I've increased the story's rating to "T" for the darker tone it's going to be taking at various points from now on, but here's another warning, just in case.

Also, as another little bonus to those who haven't noticed, I have added a custom cover art for Magic in the Stars. I pulled it together myself, simply by layering several screenshots and vectors I pulled from the show myself, along with a couple of images taken from GeneralZoi's amazing Pony Creator (for Starfall and Cosmo, specifically). The small display size the site limits the image to doesn't really do it justice, in my opinion, especially I'm pleased with how it turned out, considering it was a rather spur-of-the-moment, rushed thing. Anyways, take a peek, and hopefully you all like it!

As always, thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, faved and alerted. You're all awesome! "DiamondGirl400" was once again unavailable to beta, so any mistakes and goofs are all my responsibility.

Now go on, read! I'm sure many of you have been waiting for this for a long time...

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Chapter 31

Stratos Crossing

Stratos Crossing
Western Equestria
4 years earlier...

Stratos Crossing...the result of an effort by Princess Celestia to try and bridge the growing cultural gap between pegasus ponies and the other ponies. Thanks to the fact that both were land-bound, Earth Ponies and Unicorns already had plenty of mixed culture, the two subspecies mingling fairly well. But Pegusi, with their cloud-cities and high-altitude societies, were separated from the Earth Ponies, who found accessing their lofty society, even with the assistance of spells and inventions, was a difficult task.

The town of Stratos Crossing was a symbol of the Princess' efforts, and had been a remarkable success. The town was divided into two districts, a symbol of the gap that was being bridged. The first, larger district was your traditional, run of the mill Earth Pony township, with it's helping of Unicorn architecture and technology as well. Built onto the side of a cliff overlooking Canterlot's western coast, this 'Earth District' of the town alone was a tourist destination, especially during summer, when ponies from all over Equestria travelled to the coast to cool off in the bright ocean and enjoy the warm sun and sand on the beaches far below the cliff-top town.

The second district, however, was what set this town apart. Sprawled over away from the cliff-face, out over the ocean, was a cloud town, connected to the cliff-top town by a series of small gatehouses, all watched by unicorns who provided any earth-bound ponies heading into the cloud district with a cloud-walking spell. Despite being located out over the beach and ocean far below, the Cloud District was also raised up to a slightly higher altitude than the Earth District, so that the Earth District's view of the ocean below was not blocked by the aerial township. The Cloud District was your standard pegasus town, filled with historically-themed cloud architecture that was eye-catching and creative, to make up for the lack of colour building with clouds offered, although the streams and waterfalls made of rainbows did liven the district up considerably.

Stratos Crossing; The Gateway between the Earth and the Sky. The experimental town had been founded several years prior on the order of Princess Celestia, and had become a massive success. While the population had never grown too large, the town still smaller than Ponyville, the fact that it was not only a coastal town, but a bridge between the earth and the clouds, meant it generated massive tourist attention. It was unique...and for a young pegasus stallion, it was also home.

Starfall's parents had moved to the town early in it's development, meaning the yellow stallion had spent most of his adolescent years there. He loved the town, especially since the experimental nature of it meant he had met his best friend while living there...a unicorn stallion named Cosmo. It was a wonderful place...and if he got his way, Starfall intended on spending the rest of his life here.

But right now, the chances of Starfall's dream future becoming a reality seemed slim at best, as he once more left the Town Hall, feeling the irritated stares of the town officials on his back as he wandered off down the street, trying to come up with a new plan. He had spent the last two days trying to get the town officals to see reason and evacuate the town, with absolutely no success, except in being called every name under the sun that was not excessively derogatory.

Starfall had to admit to himself that he understood their reluctance. Evacuating even a small town like this one was no small task, and the officials wanted solid proof the town was in danger...proof Starfall was unable to make them see. The most frustrating part for Starfall was that he knew that, if he could just get them to humour him for one minute, he could convince them...he could show them the danger. But because he was still young...barely an adult...the senior officials simply brushed him off, believing their, with the extra years, knew better than a jumpy, attention-seeking colt they believed was pulling some kind of cruel prank.

The thought made Starfall give a dark, humourless laugh to nopony in particular. He wished he was only pranking them...he really did. It would be far better than what was going to happen within the next few days...unless something really drastic happened to change the minds of the town officials.

Fortunately, though, Starfall had not just pestered to town's leadership. Once it had become obvious that they were not going to listen, Starfall had tried warning several fellow citizens personally, speaking up to anypony he felt comfortable with relaying the tale to. Most reacted the same as the officials, passing him off as either a prankster or just insane. But he had noticed that he had gotten through to a few families, who had packed their things on gone a week-long holiday. Starfall just hoped a week was long enough to keep them safe...his observations were telling him disaster would strike soon, but an exact time was just impossible to work out at the moment.

It had all started several weeks before, though Starfall did not know it at the time. A vague, recurring dream came to him repeatedly, and refused to leave him along. As time passed, the dream became clearer and clearer, until Starfall finally managed to discern that it was a nightmare of some terrible disaster striking Stratos Crossing. Initially, Starfall had ignored it, figuring it was a just a particularly vivid dream his imagination was creating, especially since the disaster seemed to involve the stars he was always so fascinated with.

Finally, after the dream...now a definitive nightmare, had refused to go away, and was now starting to disturb his sleep, he decided to take to his nightly stargazing with more focus than usual, trying to see if this dream really was trying to tell him something about the stars. He was highly sceptical, but if his search helped him sleep properly again, then he was not about to let that pass without at least trying.

But what he saw in the sky when he searched with his personal telescope confirmed his worst fears...his dreams were indeed warning him of an impending disaster from the skies, one that threatened to bring the entire town to ruin. There, high above Stratos Crossing, were a collection of meteors...falling stars. And from what Starfall could tell, they were all heading straight for this region of Equestria.

Starfall had instantly realised that these dreams, trying to forewarn him of this disaster, would not be coming to him unless the meteors were heading for Stratos Crossing, had immediately tried to warn the town. But that only left him in his current predicament; trotting down the street, the town officials still refusing to listen to him, and most of the town believing him insane and attention-seeking. It had been nearly a week since he had discovered the incoming meteors, and every night, he had pulled out his telescope and watched as they had drawn closer and closer...though he had no idea of telling exactly how close they were...Starfall feared they were no more than a couple of days away by now.

As he made his way back down the street, heading towards home, he finally gave a heavy sigh. Nopony was listening to him, and time was running out. He reluctantly forced himself to concede that there was nothing more he could do to try and save the town. All that was left for him to do was visit Cosmo, pray his best, and really only friend here didn't think him a nutter, too...before finally heading to his family to convince them that they had to leave, even if it was just for a few days.

The last though made a small shiver make it's way up Starfall's spine. His family was just going to love this. Starfall honestly did not know how he had turned out the way he had, with the ponies he had been raised by. His mother was kind enough, but stuck with out-dated values, believing mares maintained the house and family, while the stallions were the strong ones who provided for the family, and protected them in times of danger. While, of all his family, his mother was the one with the most genuine love for him, Starfall knew she was disappointed in how he was turning out. His lean, almost lanky frame gave no indication of any great physical strength his mother believed was crucial in a stallion, and his passion, bordering on obsession with the stars frustrated her, as she fully believed he would never be able to earn a living that would provide for a future family from it.

Starfall's father, meanwhile, was everything his mother wanted in a stallion...hence why she had married him all those years ago. He had been a member of Canterlot's Royal Guard once, but had voluntarily retired once they had started their family with Starfall's older brother, downgrading to simple security work that was far safer, and more family-friendly than the constant work of a Royal Guard, while still bringing in enough bits to ensure their new family was provided for. He was a security and military stallion through-and-through, and never missed an opportunity to voice his displeasure at Starfall's lack of 'true ambition'. While he was never overly cruel, and never even came close to being abusive towards Starfall, it was obvious to everypony who knew the family that he loved Star Hunter far more than Starfall, and believed the younger son to be a disappointment to his family, even if he still had some care for him. No matter how much of a disappointment he was, Starfall was still his son, and the young pegasus in question was glad his father believed that still counted for something, even if it wasn't much.

Then there was Star Hunter, Starfall's older brother and only sibling, and the favourite son in the family by a wide margin. Starfall honestly did not care that Hunter got all the attention, as he himself preferred being out of the spotlight. But while both of them had been raised on the virtues of their parents, Star Hunter had soaked them up and adopted them as universal truths, while Starfall had sought outside opinion, knowing he could never fit in his family's view of an ideal world, and had formed his own, contradicting opinions. Because of this, while Starfall's parents saw him as a disappointment, but still as their son, Star Hunter had never really had any love for his little brother. He was a weak, pitiful excuse for a stallion, and a shame upon their family...and Hunter was not one to hide his thoughts...especially since his parents never really condemned his behaviour unless he got particularly cold or venomous.

With those three, trying to convince them of the disaster he knew was coming would be a near-impossible challenge. They generally thought poorly of his pursuit of astronomy, so would likely refuse to listen when he tried to explain what he was seeing in the stars. Add in the fact that he had dreams forewarning him of this, and he would lucky if his family did not just flat out laugh him out of the house to cool off.

Starfall quickly realised that, if he wanted to convince his parents to leave, he was going to have to come up with a way of bending the truth to make the story at least believable enough in their eyes that they would listen. He realised that he probably should have done this with the town officials, but it was far too late for that now. Besides, he knew he was a pretty poor liar, particularly when it came to something as serious as this, and the officials would probably see right through his ruse, anyway.

But before then, he needed to find a way of convincing Cosmo as well. While Cosmo was a friend of his, he highly doubted the unicorn stallion would believe anything about his dreams and premonitions. But Cosmo, like Starfall, had some interest in the night sky, and Starfall reasoned that this should be enough. If he could just get Cosmo to see the incoming meteors for himself, that should be all it would take to convince him that he needed to get his family and get out of town.

With an immediate plan in mind, Starfall quickly turned down another street, heading away from his own home, and towards Cosmo's. Since both the Town Hall and Cosmo's house were in the Earth District, while Starfall's own home was over in the Cloud District, the pegasus decided to work the fastest route...especially since convincing his own family was probably going to be a frustrating and highly time-consuming affair.

As Starfall trotted through the streets of the Earth District, he started getting a strange feeling, like something was poking the inside of his skull, trying to get his mind's attention on something. Figuring it was just the onset of a headache from dealing with the fools in the Town Hall, he did his best to ignore it and keep moving. But the sensation persisted, getting stronger, and spreading, almost as if something was attempting to take over his mind.

Within moments, it had become strong enough that Starfall was forced to stop, leaning against the front fence of somepony's yard while he tried to fend off the ache in his skull. As it turned out, this was a good thing, for the moment he had balanced himself, he totally lost his awareness as the sensation finally took over, all his senses being overridden as he lost himself in what could only be a vision of some sort.

What he saw was still Stratos Crossing, though now he appeared to be floating above the cliff-top town, looking down from above in what was normally a wonderful, awe-inspiring view. Now, however, it was anything but that. Ponies everywhere were looking up at the sky, screaming and panicking wildly,galloping every which way without any sense for where they were going. Several pegusi had taken to the skies, diving down below the Cloud District, using the sheer drop along the cliff-side to gather up speed, clearly trying to get as far away from Stratos Crossing as fast as possible.

Before Starfall could gather any more details, though, the vision flickered, now showing a ground-level view...he saw the town clock chime, having just hit three in the afternoon, before a flaming projectile travelling at insane speeds smashed right through it, the entire tower simply vanishing in an explosion of debris that rained down onto the streets around the tower, while the projectile itself smashed into a house a few blocks down, totally obliterating the structure and destroying three more around it. Starfall flinched, gasping...he prayed to Celestia that those homes were empty...

Back to a more general view of Stratos, and now Starfall was looking at untold devastation. Every few moments, another small meteor slammed into the town, usually with enough force to destroy a small block of homes, leaving huge craters in the town, and debris all over the place. The shock-waves from the impacts had more far-reaching effects, pegusi trying to fly away jolted from the sky roughly. The Cloud District was no better off than the Earth District, the meteors simply causing the cloud roads and buildings to disintegrate into vapour. All around, all Starfall could hear was the terrified shrieking of his fellow townsponies, interrupted only by the occasional, ear-shattering explosion as another meteor smashed into the town.

From there, the visions got much more brief, but no less horrifying. Ponies simply disappearing from view as a meteor slammed into a crowded street. Ponies...many of them wingless Earth Ponies or Unicorns, screaming as they plummeted towards the ocean below the Cloud District, , remains of the broken cloud town also falling around them, the destroyed clouds no longer supporting the simple structures that had been built atop some of them. Starfall felt sick as he saw Cosmo's house blasted to pieces as a particularly large meteor struck his block...the entire cluster of houses reduced to rubble in an instant.

The last thing Starfall saw, though, was by far the worst. He could see the entire town sprawled out below him, the Cloud District simply gone, either obliterated into puffs of vapour, or having long since fallen into the ocean. The Earth District was a shattered remnant of its former self, very few building's left standing, and fewer still that were undamaged. But the town wasn't the only thing that had taken a beating...the very cliff the town was perched on had also been struck hard, large chunks of the sheer, rocky face having been blown out, and as the deadly cascade of meteors finally came to a end, the inevitable happened...a massive chunk of the cliff-top, including the entire Earth District of Stratos Crossing, simply crumbled away as the damaged rock holding it up failed, huge chunks of stone, earth and pony-made materials simply falling away into the ocean, taking what could only be a large portion of towns survivors into the sea with it.

The vision ended even more abruptly as it had come, Starfall yelling and staggering slightly as he snapped back to reality, a hurried glance around him confirming he was once more in the streets of Stratos' Earth District, and that no meteors had come crashing down to obliterate the town.

Starfall's panic did not recede, however...somehow, he knew this vision was real, that he was getting some message of something that was going to happen...soon. Remembering the way the vision had shown the devastation starting at roughly three in the afternoon, Starfall swung his gaze around, quickly spotting the clock tower over the roof of a nearby house, the time displayed there causing his blood to run cold.

Two forty...it was two forty in the afternoon. Hesitating, almost dreading what he would see, Starfall slowly swung his gaze skyward, towards where he had been observing the incoming meteors. There they were, at the moment little more than pinpricks of flickering light...but if he could see them in the middle of the day, then that meant they were already dangerously close.

The realisation hit Starfall like a buck to the chin...time had run out. His vision was a final, dire warning...in twenty minutes, the quiet, progressive town of Stratos Crossing, his home, and the home of all that he held dear, was going to be wiped out of existence, along with anything and anypony still within the town limits.