Author's Notes: And after a weekend away on a trip with no internet, I'm back to give you yet another chapter!

Sorry for leaving you all on the cliffhanger for the weekend, but I'm back now, and better yet, I've managed to get ahead with my writing, so you can expect Chapter 45 to follow really, really quickly after this one!

Not much more to say this time around, just read on, enjoy, and get ready for the battle of a lifetime!

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Chapter 44

Sun and Moon

A battle between two alicorns was always going to be a sight nopony would ever forget in a hurry, and the right from the very onset, Starfall knew he could never, ever forget this. He had always known Celestia and Luna were very powerful magically...now he got to see that power first hoof.

The two beams of gold and blue magic slammed into each other, Starfall staggering a couple of steps as the magical feedback from the two colliding spells sent out a small pulse wave of sorts. The fight quickly turned into a battle of wills, as each alicorn tried to overpower the other, and force their beam through the intercepting magic pulse of their opponent.

Princess Celestia's face was grim, almost sad...but also determined. She had battled Nightmare Moon before, and even though it was her own sister, it was a sister that was corrupted and possessed by dark magic, and she could not allow Nightmare Moon to follow through with her horrific plan.

Nightmare Moon, however, was still smirking. Smug, and radiating confidence. The dark mare clearly believed she could overpower Celestia, and claim total victory this night. She had no care that Celestia was her older sister, the dark magic had a strong hold on her, making her think of nothing but her own sinister plans, and desire for fame and power.

Starfall, while watching all of this, was horribly torn. He knew that Nightmare Moon had to be stopped, that Celestia could not afford to lose. But at the same time, Princess Luna was still there, buried somewhere beneath the dark magic currently taking hold of her. The love of his life was being corrupted into destroying Equestria...and he just did not know what to think about the whole mess.

After a few moments, the two magical beams finally started to shift...Celestia's beam shrinking back as Nightmare's started to overpower it and push forward, the black alicorn's grin only widening. Nightmare's boasts had not been made idly...with the dark magic coursing through her, it seemed she actually was more powerful than the leader of Equestria herself.

Starfall knew that Celestia had to do something quickly, or else suffer whatever effect the blue beam pushing towards her intended...which was likely highly unpleasant. He was still trying to think of something, anything he could do to diffuse the situation, to held stop this insanity...but if he was honest, he was too terrified to really even think, let alone help. He just did not have the courage to try and interfere in such a deadly battle.

In the end, though, Celestia seemed to see that her situation was fast turning bad, and so acted. She broke off her spell, her beam fading out of existence and giving Nightmare's magic pulse a clear line to her. But even as the beam raced across the remaining space, Celestia twisted aside, the beam slamming into the wall behind her, leaving a black, slightly smoking mark on the wall, Starfall wincing. If that had hit the Princess...

Before Starfall could think on it any further, though, Celestia launched another spell, the pulse of gold light easily deflected away by Nightmare Moon, smashing into the vaulted ceiling, before she used her magic, levitating a few large pieces of rubble and hurling them in Celestia's direction.

In a flash of gold light, Celestia simply vanished, the boulders finding nothing but air where she used to be. Another gold flash saw Celestia reappear behind Nightmare Moon, her horn still glowing, golden flames swirling from the tip, spiralling around the Princess of the Sun, before blasting forward in a massive wave of scorching heat.

Nightmare Moon, however, copied Celestia's tactic, her wispy mane and tail swirling around her, transforming her into a cloud of purple smoke that flew above the raging wave of flames. She took on her solid, equine form on the far side of the room, her face contorted into a vicious snarl and she launched another barrage of spells. Gone was the confident smirk, now Nightmare Moon was all business, totally intent on defeating her older sister, and was willing to use any spell or trick in the book to accomplish this.

Princess Celestia quickly conjured up a small shield of sorts in front of her, using it like a tennis racquet to bat the spells out of the way, sending them every which way. One even bounced back towards its owner, Nightmare forced the dive aside to avoid it, though her aggressive display continued as soon as she had gathered herself. Spells slammed into the ceiling and walls, leaving scorch marks and craters in them from the multitude of magical blasts.

Starfall yelped and dived for cover as a couple of the magical blasts were inadvertently deflected his way, forcing him to retreat back to the entrance hall to ensure he was not accidentally caught in the powerful magical crossfire. It had never even occurred to him to get out of harm's way earlier than that moment...he was just so shocked and mesmerised by the stunning, deadly magical battle taking place before him.

Now that he was away from the battle between the royal sisters, though, he could hear more scuffles, coming from upstairs, near the balcony. Twilight and her friends were still trying to fight Cosmo and his thugs...and by the sounds of it, that fight was not really making any progress one way or another.

This left Starfall torn as he sat there, in the middle of the hall, silently debating with himself. Twilight and her friends needed some help, and would likely need it soon...but once again, his own fear and sense of inadequacy was holding him back. He was not a fighter...there was little he could do to help, and even if he tried, he would only be getting in the way, more than likely just making an already bad situation worse.

But then Starfall looked the other way, towards the main door, where all the guests of the Ball were crowding, trying desperately to find some way through the magical barrier blocking their way. A couple of unicorns were even trying to undo the barrier with their own magic, but having absolutely no success. Cosmo was somehow still keeping his shield up, even while fighting Twilight. Despite the dark gem now being embedded in Nightmare's collar, it was still heavily influencing him, keeping his magic strong and focused.

Starfall knew that Twilight was a gifted, versatile user of magic, but considering how much power Nightmare Moon had, she would be struggling to defeat Cosmo in his corrupted state. Her friends, aside from Rarity, had no magical ability, and were likely busy tending to his guards, who looked like tough, experienced fighters.

But not only was Starfall worried about making things worse, he had to admit, he was scared for his own safety. He was sure that ponies were already dead, and if he got involved, he could very well be the next victim of this whole mess...something Cosmo would be ecstatic over, in his current state.

But as Starfall's desire to help fought with his own sense of cowardice, he looked towards the desperate ponies still struggling to escape. They were all trapped, with no escape...and if Cosmo won, if Starfall's vision came to pass...

The yellow pegasus jumped as he heard another loud explosion, as Celestia and Nightmare's battle only seemed to increase in ferocity out in the lobby. It did, however, remind him of the stakes at play here. If they failed...if Cosmo and Nightmare, and the darkness consuming them, won this battle, then Starfall's vision said Canterlot was doomed, turned to dust and rubble as the evil duo carried out their plan of revenge.

In the end, Starfall realised there was not much of a choice to make. If he did nothing, and let this play out on it's own, there was a very good chance he, and everypony else in Canterlot, would be dead within the hour. If he took a stand, made an attempt to fight back, however...then maybe, just maybe the extra set of hooves and wings would be enough to see Nightmare and Cosmo defeated, and his horrendous vision averted.

Starfall absolutely refused to believe the vision he was seeing was set by fate. He was sure that he was being given these visions of cosmic disaster because they could be stopped. He did not know why fate had chosen him, of all the ponies in Equestria, to be the one see these warnings...but now that he understood the nature of them, he could no longer just sit back and let them turn to reality.

Taking a few deep breaths, steeling himself, Starfall finally stood, his decision made. If he was going to die tonight, he might as well at least go down trying to stop the end of Equestria. The fact that he, at this moment, had little left to lose helped keep his fear contained as he pushed through the crowd still trying to find a way out, making his way to the stairs leading up to the lobby's balcony, now thinking about exactly what it was he intended to do.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he could already see one of the fights taking place. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack were all working together to try and take down two of Cosmo's thugs, who were holding the trio back fairly well.

Fluttershy was clearly out of her depth, seemingly only fighting because her friends were in danger, but too timid to really have any effect. Rarity was using her fashion-based magic to surprisingly good effect, variously distracting and annoying one of the guards, occasionally lashing out with her hooves when she found an opening. It was not stopping the thug, but it was keeping him at bay. Applejack was clearly their best fighter, all that time spent out in the fields bucking trees lending some impressive strength to her hind legs, and her country upbringing meaning she wasn't afraid to get dirty...or fight dirty.

Even so, the two thugs had experience on their side, leaving the battle at a bit of a stalemate...Starfall feeling his face form a determined frown as he realised it was a stalemate he could break. He may not know how to fight very well, but the thugs did not seem to have any idea that Starfall was there. He had the element of surprise...and that might be enough to give the three mares a chance to get the upper hoof in this brawl.

Moving carefully, trying not to do anything that would give his appearance away, Starfall closed the distance on the thugs, getting a small brainwave and actually taking off into the air to fly up above the fight, pausing only to grab one of the marble unicorn busts that adorned the railing of the staircase. He did not want to break something so valuable, especially with it being valuable property...but it was all he could think of that did not involve directly confronting the thugs, which he knew would end disastrously.

Hovering up above the fighting, he looked down, tying to figure out where and how to drop the bust so I did not hurt any of Twilight's friends, who also did not know he was there. With all five ponies moving about constantly, in very close proximity, there was simply no way of dropping the bust in such a way that he was certain to hit the stallion targets.

Quietly cursing himself for his lack of foresight, feeling his forehooves starting to ache with the effort of holding the heavy bust, Starfall was just about to figure out another way of giving Twilight's friends a helping hoof, when tables turned on the mares below him, leaving him no choice but to intervene.

One of the thugs had caught Rarity trying to distract the other stallion with her magic, and swung a hoof at her that had connected solidly with her horn, making her recoil and cry out, her spell snapping out of existence half-completed from the blow as she staggered back. The cry made Applejack spin around, worried for her friend, the moment of distraction being all the second stallion needed to give her a taste of her own potent medicine, a solid kick sending the country Earth Pony sprawling to the ground, the wind knocked out of her.

With Fluttershy rushing to their aid, and the two stallions taking a moment to bask in their triumph, Twilight's friends were briefly out of the way, giving Starfall seconds to make his move. Knowing he could not hesitate, he quickly manoeuvred himself over the two stallions, grimacing and closing his eyes, scared for what he might see, and he finally built up enough courage to let the marble bust go, adjusting his wing beats to account for the sudden reduction in weight before he flew straight into the ceiling.

Despite his best attempts, curiosity...and fear of hitting Twilight's friends...got the better of him, forcing him to look as the heavy marble figure dropped down to the thugs below, striking one of them straight in the ear. The indirect hit, glancing the side of his face rather than dropping straight on his skull, probably saved the stallion's life, but it still made a sound that left Starfall cringing as the rough Earth Pony simply dropped like a sack of potatoes, likely unconscious before he even hit the floor.

The other thug, having not expected the sudden attack against his companion, stopped and stared at the fallen stallion, stunned. The three mares, seemingly more used to such volatile situations, took the opportunity and sprang, Rarity and Applejack simply diving at the last stallion, while Fluttershy seemed a little more hesitant, sparing a glance up, Starfall catching her surprised expression when she saw him, leaving him only able to give her a sheepish sort of grimace in return...he still felt kind of sick, deliberately hurting a fellow pony like that.

Fluttershy's lack of aggression did not seem to matter, though. Applejack and Rarity, now able to focus all their attention together on one foe, gave the last stallion no quarter, Rarity's distracting spells combining with Applejack's ferocious fighting to see the stallion subdued in a matter of seconds, lying unconscious on the floor near his comrade, his fight fought for the night.

As Starfall descended down to the floor again, Applejack and Rarity spotted him, showing the same sort of surprise Fluttershy had upon realising he was the one that had helped them. "Starfall?" Applejack called, sounding slightly disbelieving...and slightly impressed, as well. "That...that was you that dropped that thing?" she asked, Starfall nodding softly as he reached the ground, standing near Fluttershy, making sure to avoid getting anywhere near the unconscious thugs.

"Why, if you hadn't intervened when you did, Starfall..." Rarity muttered, seeming to shudder at the thought that that sentence ended on, though she never said any more aloud. Starfall did not need to hear her say it to understand, though...they could not afford to be defeated, here...it was the reason he had interfered on the fight at all, after all.

Fluttershy, however, seemed to sum it up for the three of them. "I...thank you, Starfall. If you hadn't distracted them when you did, we...well...umm..."

"We'd be toast, that's for sure," Applejack finished, giving Fluttershy the break she was looking for, the Earth clapping a hoof on Starfall's shoulder in her rough and tumble way of showing her gratitude. "And it all thanks to your help that we aren't, Starfall. We owe ya...all of us," she added, Rarity and Fluttershy both nodding their agreement.

Starfall ducked his head slightly, his cheeks flushing self-consciously. "I...I couldn't just sit there. I mean...we're talking about all of Equestria, here," he explained, his words only seeming to make the trio of mares smile all the wider at him.

The moment was broken, however, when they heard a loud, feminine yelp, followed by the crack of spell-fire. "TWILIGHT!" the shriek of two voices, clearly belonging to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, made Starfall freeze, even as he saw the three friends in front of him go completely pale.

Something had just happened out on the lobby balcony. Cosmo had clearly found an opening and hit Twilight with a spell...whatever it was, Starfall could no longer hear Twilight at all over the constant barrage of explosions and spell-fire coming from the Royal Sisters, and it had clearly sent Rainbow and Pinkie into a panic...it could only be bad.

An instant later, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all sprang into action, leaping passed Starfall, clearly intent on finding out what happened to Twilight, and subduing Cosmo before it could get any worse. Starfall was right on their tails, though, racing onto the balcony with them. Twilight was one of his closest friends, and the one he knew the best out of their group of six friends. He just prayed she was not hurt too badly.

From the balcony, Starfall could see the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon was still raging on, gold and blue spells flying every which way, the entire lobby a cratered, scorches mess compared to what it had once been. The windows looking out at the castle gardened had long since shattered, leaving shards of glass all over the place, and it seemed that the raging spells had even managed to find their way outside, a tree or two blasted over, with a couple more sporting small fires that were beginning to spread across their branches.

Starfall paled at the sight...the castle was starting to resemble his vision more and more with each passing minute. They were running out of time to stop the disaster that was rapidly coming at them. He was certain everything hinged on the next few minutes, and that the consequences of failure would be beyond anything he could possibly imagine, even after witnessing mass destruction first hoof at Stratos Crossing.

But another loud yell cause Starfall to whirl around once more, just in time to Rainbow Dash, surrounded by the silver aura of Cosmo's magic, simply vanish in a small flash of light, Cosmo smirking as the rainbow mare simply disappeared before his very eyes.

Starfall could only stare in horror at the spot where Rainbow Dash had been. What had Cosmo done to her? It looked like a teleportation spell of some kind, but Starfall could not know for sure...and even so, where was he sending her? Considering Cosmo's state, it could only be somewhere bad...

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy's cry, while far from the terrified shriek Rainbow and Pinkie had made earlier for Twilight, who seemed to have been victim to the same spell that had made Rainbow disappear, was clearly full of anguish. From what Starfall had heard, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's friendship dated all the way back to when they were both little fillies in Cloudsdale, and as such it was natural that Fluttershy would be the most anguished by Rainbow's disappearance.

As another of Cosmo's thugs...the last one, it seemed...pounced on the remaining ponies, forcing Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to fend him off, something in Fluttershy seemed to snap. Her timid, terrified look vanished, and Starfall actually took a half step back at the look of undeniable rage on the usually meek and innocent face. It seemed Fluttershy's passive surface hid a dark side...one that was coming out.

"You. Will. PAY!" Fluttershy screamed, directing all her rage and anger at Cosmo, before launching herself at him, lost in a kind of craze, seemingly intent on just barrelling him down and pummelling him with everything she had.

Cosmo, however, was having none of it, calming standing his ground, a silver beam of magic erupting from his horn, striking Fluttershy square in the chest, before she too vanished in a flash of light.

The disappearance of a third friend finally spurred Starfall into some form of action. This had to stop, or Starfall knew they would be powerless to stop Cosmo...he had to do something. Turning towards Cosmo, he launched himself at the stallion in a similar manner to Fluttershy, a fierce snarl taking over his own features. Cosmo may have been a friend once, but now he was attacking Starfall's new, true friends with impunity, something the young stallion could not tolerate any longer.

With his adrenaline well and truly kicked in, Starfall saw Cosmo winding up for a magical attack to stop him, and used his wings to help him sidestep with surprising agility, the spell just barely missing to his right, before the snarled, pouncing at Cosmo, throwing his entire body at the corrupted unicorn.

He knew this was stupid, reckless, and potentially dangerous. A large part of Starfall's psyche screamed at him to stop, to just run to a dark corner and hide, wait it out while praying for a miracle that would never come. The rest of him, however, had realised that this was not a time to sit back...to him, this was not about Equestria, or Canterlot...this was about his friends, about their safety. And it was about Luna...he had to bring her back.

His tackle connected, crashing heavily into Cosmo and sending the two of them tumbling, Cosmo's second spell dying before it could be cast as they both crashed into the balcony railing, Cosmo getting the wind knocked out of him, while Starfall tumbled off to the side, dazed and disoriented.

Knowing Cosmo's magic gave him a huge advantage, though, Starfall sprang back to his hooves, rapidly trying to get his bearings, spotting Cosmo and rushing at him again. The only way to stop Cosmo was to keep the aggression going, keep him on the back hoof so he could not focus long enough to get a spell going.

Cosmo, however, did the last thing Starfall expected...as the young pegasus was just about to tackle the unicorn stallion again, Cosmo simply vaulted over the balcony railing, leaving Starfall to crash into it bodily, jarring his shoulder and leaving him wondering what had just happened.

He quickly looked over the railing, to try and find where Cosmo had landed...but the unicorn had disappeared. Paling, knowing what had likely happened, Starfall whirled around, ready to get out of the way...a split-second too late.

Just as Starfall spun around, the spell struck him in the side, though it was not the same one being used on Twilight and her friends. The spell instead saw the pegasus thrown onto the floor, his right wing and forehoof sore and numb from the spell's effects, more of less immobilising him.

He tried to get back up as he saw Cosmo, having teleported back up to the balcony immediately after vaulting off, smirking at him, but all he could do was stagger half-heartedly, before crashing back down on his side, leaving him powerless to do anything but watch as Cosmo turned his attention to the three remaining mares, another blast of what seemed to be his new signature spell seeing Applejack disappear like the others.

Cosmo was too late to stop them defeating his last bodyguard, however, meaning Pinkie and Rarity now turned their attention to him. Cosmo had the element of surprise on his side this time, however, making Pinkie disappear before either of them could really react, leaving Rarity to face Cosmo alone.

The stallion shot the same spell at the fashionista, but her own horn flared to life, a pale blue force field appearing in front of her, Cosmo's magic blasting it apart and making Rarity stagger back, crying out at the backlash of having her magic shattered so easily, but at the cost of Cosmo's spell being cancelled, along with his advantage.

The magical battle that followed was nowhere near the scale of the one raging below...and nowhere near as long either. The two traded rather simple spells, Rarity ducking and weaving around, while Cosmo simply batted Rarity's attacks away like so many annoying, but harmless flies. There could only be one outcome, and Starfall heard a faint cry tear from his throat as Cosmo finally struck Rarity, throwing her to the ground, before one final spell saw her disappear like all the others.

For a moment, Cosmo just stood there, panting heavily...though whether from exertion or frustration, Starfall couldn't tell. What was telling though, was that his horn was still glowing, holding those barriers up. Starfall knew that if he was not seeing it with his own eyes, he would not have believed such a feat of magic was even possible. The darkness corrupting Cosmo was clearly a vast source of power.

But soon enough, Cosmo turned to Starfall, frowning at him, eyes full of malice. "I did not appreciate that little stunt you and your friends just pulled, Starfall," he drawled, his tone low and threatening. "Interruptions on that scale annoy me...and you do not want to see me when I am truly annoyed."

"What did you do you them?" Starfall growled, still trying to fight the partial paralysis and get up, having managed to shakily get to his hooves, though walking was still beyond him. Cosmo blinked, seemingly surprised by Starfall's stubbornness in fighting the spell, before sighing and surrounding the pegasus in his silver aura, Starfall, feeling his body simply stop listening to his will...Cosmo had him totally immobilised.

"Don't you worry your dull little head over your precious friends, Starfall," Cosmo replied, sounding almost bored now that the adrenaline had worn out of his system. "They're alive...for now. Wouldn't want them to miss the moment of Equestria's long-overdue revolution, now would we? You, on the other hoof, Starfall..."

Cosmo paused, taking a moment to step closer to the pegasus, Starfall finding himself being turned around against his will, forced to look over the balcony, at the battle raging below. Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon were still giving it their all, neither one giving an inch. Both alicorns seemed to have gained a few bruises, and Starfall though he saw that part of Celestia's tail had been singed from what must have been a very close call with a spell.

"...I want you to witness this from the front row. To watch as your precious Princesses are beaten and broken down, before their own actions mercifully end their overblown lives." Cosmo gave a low chuckle in Starfall's ear, making chills run down his spine. He knew that his old, former friend had gone totally insane from the dark power running through him now. "And when you die with them, Starfall...then, and only then, will my final revenge be complete."

Starfall paused, blinking in a paradoxical mix of understanding and confusion. That explained why Cosmo had targeted the Coronation Ball. If he had somehow gotten wind of Starfall's attendance as Luna's guest of honour, then Cosmo knew it was the one place he would be guaranteed to find all his targets in one location; not just Starfall, but the Royal Sisters, as well. What confused Starfall, was why Cosmo was targeting the Princesses, particularly Luna. Princess Celestia had been completely uninvolved in the disaster at Stratos Crossing, except to help organise rescue teams to look for survivors once she had gotten wind of the tragedy. Luna, on the other hoof, had still been imprisoned on the moon at the time, and as such could not have played any role in the disaster, before or after. So why target them, as well?

Starfall never got to think about that issue, as at that moment, the battle between the two Princesses finally hit a turning point. Both of them were clearly exhausted, their magic attacks becoming much less spectacular and potent as they ran out of energy to continue casting. They were both incredibly powerful, but even they had their limits.

Incredibly, despite having the most power out of the two of them, Nightmare Moon was the first one to make a mistake, a poorly-aimed spell leaving her wide open to a counter-attack, which Celestia did not miss, the gold pulse of energy striking Nightmare hard, sending the mare of darkness spinning wildly across the room.

The Princess of the Sun took the moment she had, glancing up at the balcony where Starfall was watching from, making him wince...she was obviously trying to check up on Twilight and her friends, not realising that they had all been defeated, and were gone, thrown out of the castle by Cosmo's magic.

The wide-eyed, horrified look the Princess adopted when she realised that he and Cosmo were the only ones there, and that Twilight was nowhere to be seen, only increased Starfall's pain...the Princess clearly thought highly of Twilight, and right now was likely assuming the worst of her prized pupil.

Her shock and horror at the situation, though, meant that Celestia froze for far too long, giving Nightmare Moon time to shift into her magical smoke form, float back down safely to the ground, and re-materialise, firing one more potent spell at a totally unprepared Celestia, the corrupted Princess clearly putting every last bit of magic she had into the one spell.

Starfall prayed for a miracle as Celestia turned, realising her horrendous error, her horn glowing with a gold aura once more as she tried to muster up some kind of counter. But the resigned look in her eyes told Starfall the whole story a microsecond before it actually happened...she was too slow, had diverted her attention for too long.

A cry of anguish like none Starfall had ever heard before tore from Celestia's throat as the spell caught her in the side of the face, detonating hard enough to throw the regal alicorn bodily across the room. As if to emphasise the moment, her golden crown, the symbol of her status as Equestria's primary ruler, was flung from her head, clattering to the floor nearby as her white form slammed to the ground hard, battered and bruised, just barely conscious, lying still like some kind of fallen angel.

Princess Celestia, Guardian of the Day and ruler of Equestria, had been defeated.