Author's Notes: And here's yet another chapter! The response to last chapter has been astounding...but I'm afraid the twists, teases and cliffhangers aren't quite over yet...

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Chapter 45

Magic in the Stars

Starfall could feel his heart getting heavier and heavier with every second that passed as he stood, held into place by Cosmo's magic, unable to look away from the sight of Celestia's defeated form lying on the floor of her own castle, bruised, scorched, and totally defeated.

The young pegasus could think of nothing but disbelief at the sight. This could not be happening...Celestia could not have been defeated...Twilight and her friends could not be gone...the darkness could not have won, it just could not be possible. The consequences were too dire for Starfall to be able to fully accept the reality of what was happening for several moments.

His attempt at denial was brought crashing down, however, by the triumphant, manic laugh that started up, Nightmare Moon clearly basking in her victory. Despite it being twisted from it's original sound, he could still clearly recognise it as Luna's voice...and that hurt him more than anything else. She was still trapped in there, helpless to fight the corruption of the dark gem feeding her the potent, dark magic.

"Celestia, you pathetic old fool," Nightmare drawled, thought the glee in her voice was unmistakable. She had won, and she knew it. "I told you that you were nothing without the Elements, and now your fall from grace is finally complete! Now you will bear witness to the greatest event in Equestrian history since we first rose to power! May it be the last thing your eyes ever see, big sister," she finally said, practically spitting out the last two words, before turning her back on the fallen Princess, making her way towards the broken remains of the door leading out to the castle gardens, still feeling the effects of the previous battle as the spot fires happily burned away at the trees they were consuming, seemingly unable to spread beyond their point of origin.

It was a hollow relief to Starfall, who jumped slightly as Cosmo's magic pulled him just above the ground, levitating him after the black unicorn, who was making his way down to follow Nightmare outside, grinning the whole way. The unicorn was clearly sharing the glee of their victory, and preparing to finish what they had started.

Starfall, with no other options, tried one last, desperate attempt to talk Cosmo. Maybe, with the gem focusing on Nightmare Moon, it would be a little easier to break Cosmo's influence. "Cosmo, please..." he practically begged, his voice rough, still feeling the pain of all the times he had been struck by spells and variously tossed about during the previous fight. "It's not too late...you don't have to do this..."

"Too late?!" Cosmo whirled around, making Starfall flinch as the unicorn's spittle flew into his face. Clearly he had said the wrong thing. "You think it's not too late?" he continued to roar, Starfall's ears flattening to his head to protect his hearing, and out of an instinctive sense of fear. "It was too late four years ago, Starfall! It was too late when that meteor shower destroyed everything I have ever known!" For a moment, Cosmo's anger seemed to ease off, and Starfall could suddenly see the pain, the deep, soul-crushing anguish in Cosmo's eyes. Something else had happened that day...something Starfall had not been privy to.

Before he could open his mouth to ask about it, though, Cosmo continued on. "It's been four long years since she died...since I held her in my hooves,watching as her life slipped away...while the help that could have saved delayed and stalled. It's been four years, Starfall...and now, at long last, Nocturna can finally be put to rest."

Starfall froze, his fur standing up on end. He could almost feel the colour and warmth draining from his whole body as Cosmo's words sunk in. Nocturna...Cosmo's little sister. She had only been a little foal at the time Stratos Crossing had been destroyed, in her second year at school. She had been a bright and bubbly little thing, and when Starfall had come around to visit Cosmo, Nocturna had always melted his heart with her pleas for him to play with her.

Starfall's heart didn't feel like it had simply dropped...it felt it had been torn to tiny pieces, and abandoned his body entirely. He had never known...in Cosmo's anger, the argument they had gone through after Stratos Crossing had never mention Nocturna, Starfall assuming all of Cosmo's family had survived with him. "I...Cosmo...I didn't know..." he feebly tried to explain.

Cosmo's angry snort cut him off, however, making the pegasus flinch once again. "Of course you didn't...just like you didn't know the meteor shower was coming until it was too late," he spat disbelievingly. "She was still in town when the meteors hit...when the town fell into the ocean."

Cosmo no longer seemed to be speaking to Starfall...at least not directly. His voice, and his gaze, were distant and unfocused as he spoke, and he seemed to be reliving the event, venting all the sorrow, pain and rage. Starfall never spoke up throughout Cosmo's rant...what could he say?

"She always was a tough filly...she survived everything, against the odds. I went to the wreckage as soon as I could, knowing she was in there somewhere. She was trapped for a whole day before I found her. Even then, after being put through so much, she was still alive...still awake. I just held her, promising her it would be alright, that the Princesses would come, that they would make the pain go away. All day, I just held her...she was in so much pain, so scared...so cold..."

Starfall could see the tears that were running down Cosmo's nose, staining his black fur and leaving even darker streaks across it. Dimly, he was aware of his own tears welling up, he had never known...nopony could be expected to survive such a disaster, especially not such a young filly.

But now Starfall was beginning to understand...having to sit there, amongst the wreckage of an entire town, holding his baby sister in his hooves, waiting for help while she lay dying...nopony should ever have to go through that, and the ordeal would likely his driven Cosmo to madness...madness enough that he would seek out some of darkest, foulest magic in Equestria to get revenge.

"But my promises were all empty, hollow...the Princesses never came, no rescue parties helped...no doctors were there to save her. The day came and went, and still nothing...I was the only pony there. Thirty hours...thirty hours, she had fought, survived...waited, for help that never came. I held her there that night as she took her last breath, as her life faded away, before it had even really begun." Cosmo's voice was shaking by now, too wrapped up in the emotion of the moment he was reliving.

Because of this, his sudden outburst of anger, kicking a pane of glass that was still intact in one of the windows as the approached the door making Starfall yelp...he would have jumped, were it not for the magic keeping it's hold on him. The shattering glass even made Nightmare turn around, not expecting his sudden outburst, either.

"Two days!" he screamed, all his frustration, sorrow and rage clearly coming to the forefront. "It took the Princess two whole days to send help! By then Nocturna was dead, along with everypony else that had not made it out of town in time! My sister is dead because of that meteor shower...a disaster you saw coming, but never acted on...and because Princess Celestia, in her infinite wisdom and power, delayed for days before bothering to send search and rescue parties!"

He sighed, lowering his head, wiping a hoof roughly against his face, shoving away the tears, before looking back up, a fierce determination in his eyes. "But it's too late now...she's dead, and no magic will bring her back. All I can do now is correct the balance, bring all of you who are responsible to justice," he said, his voice hard once more. "I have had four years to plan this, Starfall...I think you will find my methods rather...poetic."

Starfall had no response...the shocks that Cosmo had delivered had stilled and silenced him more effectively than any spell or blow could. Cosmo truly believed that he and Princess Celestia were to blame for Nocturna's death, and that the only way to get over the loss was to take revenge in the worst, most ultimate form.

Cosmo dragged Starfall with him as they reached a central area of the castle gardens, a small, grassy square lined with pathways and benches where ponies could relax, a small fountain adorning the square's centre. Next to the fountain was Nightmare Moon, looking up at the heavens.

The sight saw Starfall sag, all the fight leaving him. He was not sure he could even fight Cosmo any more, now that he knew the truth behind Cosmo's relentless pursuit of revenge. Princess Celestia was defeated, Twilight and her friends had vanished, and Luna had been corrupted and twisted...with Cosmo justifying his revenge as justice for a horrific tragedy, Starfall had just lost all will and reason to fight.

"Do you have magic enough to do it?" Cosmo asked Nightmare simply. There was no reluctance, no hesitation...this was something he was certain needed to be done, and it was something he would see through to the end as long as he could still stand.

Nightmare's response was a simple, knowing smirk. "There is magic in places you least expect it, young stallion," she replied mysteriously, thought paused to give Starfall, making him stop as well...her words made a part of vision make sense even before it happened.

The stars...Nightmare's fight with Celestia had drained her of all magic, but she retained Luna's knowledge of the magic hidden in the stars...a magic Cosmo was not aware of. With access to that magic, which Starfall knew contained as much, if not more power than Celestia wielded during the previous fight...

There was no doubting it now, and no stopping it, Starfall knew it was over, his vision was coming to pass, and the only ponies in any position to stop it were currently the ones making it happen. Even though he was already shedding tears for Nocturna, Starfall could feel himself start to cry at the hopelessness of it all. It was over, the darkness had won...within an hour, Canterlot would be a ruin, and Equestria would never see the light of day ever again.

Cosmo ignored Starfall's growing despair, nodding to Nightmare. "Then do it. No more delays, nopony can stop us now," he said, smirking once more at Nightmare, who smirked right back. "Justice will be served, as the eternal night begins..."

Nightmare smirked right back, before turning her attention back to the heavens, looking at the stars. Starfall followed her gaze, blinking as he saw a streak of light above them...the comet. Tonight was the night it came as close to Equestria as possible, now easily visible in the sky, though right now, Starfall wished it was on the other side of the universe to them.

Nightmare's horn once more glowed with her deep blue magic, her slitted eyes closing as she focused...Starfall knew what she was about to do required vast amounts of power. For a few long, tense seconds, there was silence, as Nightmare Moon gathered up her last magical reserves for once, final spell.

Cosmo watched on, smiling to himself as his plan finally started to come to fruition. This was the moment his revenge became complete, and Equestria changed forever. Starfall, still held my Cosmo's magic, could not do anything but watch...Cosmo clearly wanted to make him witness this, wanted to break him.

Finally, Nightmare's horn flared even brighter, before she angled it straight up at the night sky, her spell finally coming to life as a thin beam of deep blue light shot out of her horn, streaking straight into the night, passing through the shield Cosmo had set up above the gardens and continuing up into the heavens.

As it disappeared beyond the limits of Starfall's sight, Starfall saw a star above them glimmer, sparkling a little brighter than normal, and taking on a bright blue hue. As this star glowed, it seemed to send off a signal to the ones around it, which performed a similar light show, the effect continuing to spread across the night sky, until every star was glowing and flashing blue.

Starfall knew what was happening, especially once he saw Nightmare's beam of light hum and pulse in time with the pulsating light of the stars. Nightmare was calling on the magic within the stars, drawing on their power for the feat she was on the verge of performing.

As the heavenly light showed continued, Starfall could see the stars losing their shine and lustre. As their cosmic magic was drained, so too was their light, in a sight that must be astounding and confusing much of Equestria at this moment.

Finally, after almost a full minute, the stars stopped pulsing, their blue light fading away, turning a dull, almost lifeless grey, their magic absorbed and consumed. Nightmare's beam of light seemed to retreat back down from the heavens, slipping back to her horn, which now glowed brighter than ever.

"And now to bring the sky down on those responsible for the endless death at Stratos Crossing, just as the sky had fallen on those helpless ponies!" Cosmo cried, turning to the sky, sparing one last glance at Nightmare Moon. "Do it!"

Nightmare smirked, before turning her gaze from the night sky in general, to the comet crawling across Equestria's night sky, her horn glowing painfully bright for a few moments, before firing off an intense beam of magical energy, the blue pillar of light racing out of the castle and into the night sky once more, striking the comet several seconds later.

Starfall could only watch in mindless horror as the distant comet was engulfed in Nightmare's magical glow, nothing happening for several seconds. When the spell's effect did finally take hold, it took Starfall a few moments to notice it, the effect was so subtle from this incredible distance.

At first, it looked like the comet had slowed down, the contrail behind it appearing to shorten, while the comet's progress across the night sky seemed to slow down to a near-stop. But Starfall knew better, and knew that, in a few minutes, the truth would become apparent to any watching the scene unfold before them. Nightmare's magic had turned the massive, city-sized comet, changed it's path through the cosmos...putting it on a direct collision course with Canterlot!

Starfall, however, could not bring himself to put up even one final plea for the lives of those in Canterlot...it was done. Between Celestia's defeat, his own capture in Cosmo's magic, Twilight's disappearance, and that of her friends, and Cosmo revelations about the full depth of his quest for revenge, Starfall had finally broken...given up. Cosmo and Nightmare Moon could not be swayed, and he alone just did not have any means of stopping them.

Cosmo chuckled, spotting the look of ultimate defeat on Starfall's face. "You understand now, don't you Starfall? I've won...your day of reckoning, so long overdue, is finally upon you. In about twenty minutes, that comet will reach us, and turn Canterlot into a smoking crater in the side of the mountain. And there is nothing you can do, Starfall. Anypony you warn now will not be able to escape in time, even if you should try and fly away yourself. From the castle, it's too far to the edge of the city for you to flee in time."

Starfall saw the silver aura around him fade, Cosmo's magic finally letting him go, causing him to crash heavily to the grass. He did not try to get back up, however, just looking up at Cosmo, feeling all the hopelessness and sorrow of his situation...of all the ponies that were going to die soon.

Cosmo's smirk widened once more. "Equestria will get a long-overdue shake-up in the wake of this terrible tragedy. Unfortunately for you, Starfall, neither you, nor your new friends, will bear witness to that new age. It will have no place for the likes of you."

Starfall could not even muster up the will to feel any true sense of fear as Cosmo's horn glowed brightly over the top of the usual energy being poured into his force field, preparing to strike Starfall with another spell. Starfall knew that Cosmo was likely about to kill him personally, get that personal sense of revenge on him. He knew that despite much of Cosmo's anger being directed at Princess Celestia, most of it was reserved almost exclusively for him.

But Cosmo's last words before firing the spell seemed to contradict his intentions. "Why don't you go off now and spend the last twenty minutes of your life contemplating what you did to me...to everypony at Stratos. Maybe you'll find enlightenment or forgiveness or some silly notion like that in your last moments on this world...but I sincerely hope you don't."

This seemed to be all that Cosmo had to say to him, quickly firing off his spell as Starfall, in the millisecond he had to see what it was, recognised it as the teleportation spell he had used on all of Twilight's friends.

As the spell struck, throwing Starfall into a weird kind of limbo as the magic transported him from one location to another, the young pegasus could not decide whether it was better this way...or if he would have preferred being killed by Cosmo's hoof then and there. At least that way, he would not have spent the next twenty minutes waiting for a death he could see coming, like he was going to be forced to endure now.