Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
—S. Williams
CHAPTER 5 – THE FINEST HOUR
The falling star was huge, easily as large as a house. It looked like an irregularly-cut diamond, nearly transparent and covered with facets. Any light which entered into it was refracted within, emerging in bursts which were uncomfortably bright. It was attended by several of the lesser red shards which circled the main shard in quick, close orbits. Though none of the pegasus-ponies watching it were unicorns, even they could sense enormous magical energies bound up within it.
As soon as all of the fliers were gathered, the Wonderbolts' leader called out "Passes in groups of two, kick to the left, keep at it! Watch for those red escorts and mind the vortex behind. GO!"
The Wonderbolts and their guest formed up as ordered. The first pair, Soarin' and Spitfire, banked and dived. As they picked up speed, they curved outward from the path of the falling star to avoid the superheated air behind it, then back in to intercept. Even as they did so, the next pair, Misty and Blizzard began their dive, with Captain and Tyco next. Nimbus and Rainbow Dash queued up behind them.
Soarin', in the lead, rolled as he came alongside the falling star, then made a mighty buck that would have equaled the best effort of any earth-pony. There was a dazzling flash and a sound like a slab of steel dropping to a concrete floor, then Soarin' was tumbling out of control, trailing smoke. Spitfire immediately aborted her pass and dove after Soarin', catching him on her back.
The next pair had already committed themselves to the pass. Again there was a flash on impact, and two ponies were cartwheeling through the sky, unconscious with smoldering wingtips. Captain yelled "ABORT!" as he and his wingman dove to save the injured ponies before they could hit the ground.
Rainbow Dash's heart was pounding. She had never felt such fear, not even when facing down Nightmare Moon. Nimbus descended towards Captain, calling "They may need backup!" Rainbow Dash followed, grateful for something to focus upon.
As they descended, their path took them past the falling star. Rainbow Dash could not help but stare at it as they flew past. A thousand glittering facets distorted the scene beyond the huge crystal, and for just a moment Rainbow Dash was looking at her own reflection. There was a stab of pain as she met her own gaze, a headache and an overwhelming feeling of malice from the direction of the great shard. For an instant, Rainbow Dash recalled the pitiless eyes of Nightmare Moon.
Just then, beyond the falling star and behind the mountains in the direction of Manehattan, there was a bright golden flare which illuminated the horizon. The light was caught in the crystal, and beams of every color radiated from its surface. As the light over Manehattan faded, so did the prismatic rays emanating from the falling star, and it continued its inexorable arc towards Ponyville.
An inspiration came to Rainbow Dash with a sudden heady rush. She turned to Nimbus. "I've got an idea. But you're going to have to get the Wonderbolts away from the falling star, far away!"
"What—" began Nimbus, who was still a little dazzled from the blinding color-burst.
"Trust me!" Rainbow Dash said, then pulled up sharply and began climbing as fast as her wings would take her, back in the direction of the falling star, then above it.
Nimbus shook her head, then turned and folded her wings, diving down to the other Wonderbolts to relay what Rainbow Dash had said. She thought she had an inkling of what Rainbow Dash intended, and it scared her, but there was no time to do anything else.
Rainbow Dash climbed as fast as she could, panting "hurry up, hurry up!" to herself. Glancing back, she saw that she would have to commit herself now if her plan would have a chance. Arcing up, she turned in a wing-over to dive again, and aimed straight at the falling star.
She accelerated. Stretching her hooves before her, she pushed herself to the limit. A multicolored vapor trail formed behind her. More speed, more speed, she needed more speed! Already she could feel the searing heat pouring from the wake of the falling star. Her forehoof-boots began to become warm, then hot. In a moment, though, a shockwave-cone began to form before her, and the worst of the heat was deflected. Still she accelerated, clenching her teeth as the blast of air distorted her face. The falling star seemed to expand rapidly before her as the shock-cone sharpened and began to collapse upon itself. The timing would have to be perfect...

The Wonderbolts descended toward a hill on the edge of town, bearing their injured to a group of ponies gathered on the hilltop. Captain had cursed like a sailor at Rainbow Dash's impetuousness, but had no ideas of his own. The pegasus-ponies slowed as they neared the ground, then looked back. They could see Rainbow Dash's color-streak as she closed on the falling star. "Is that crazy filly trying to kill herself?" he said. He turned to look for Nimbus, to ask her if she had any idea what was going on, but Nimbus had not followed the others down. Then he saw her... she was flying back up toward the path of the falling star. Nobody could fault a Wonderbolt for sticking to her wingman, regardless of anything else.
Captain shrugged Misty from his back onto the grass into the care of the others, then leaped into the air, surging toward the two reckless pegasus-ponies. Moments later, those of the Wonderbolts who could still fly followed.

The ponies of Ponyville looked up at the brilliant star descending upon them. Many of them were exhausted, smudged with soot, or bleeding from small cuts from fragments of shards that had made it to the ground. The area near Twilight was littered with ruby-like crystals, the remnants of those she had managed to deflect or shatter with her telekinetic magic. Beside her stood Rarity, bedraggled and covered with sweat; while Twilight had been deflecting large pieces from the town, Rarity had seen to it that shrapnel from the crushed shards had not harmed Twilight. Much depended upon the purple unicorn, and Rarity would not allow her friend to be hurt. Rarity's hobby of telekinetic archery had paid off handsomely; aside from leg-trembling exhaustion, they were both uninjured. There was no way that Twilight could stave off the approaching crystal, however, and it was too late to run. In a moment of eerie calm, the remaining ponies gathered around Twilight and Rarity. Whatever came next, they would face together.

There was a sudden explosion of light in the sky. Every color of the rainbow suddenly burst from a point next to the falling star, and a thunderous BOOM knocked everypony to the ground. A disc of brilliant color expanded rapidly, intersecting the falling star-crystal. The crystal glowed as brightly as the sun for a moment, then shattered into a million pieces as the shock-plane of the sonic rainbow sheared it, overwhelmed it, filled it with more pure light than it could absorb. Secondary detonations followed as the orbiting red lesser star-fragments crossed the shear-plane of the sonic rainboom. Over the rumbling echo of the explosion, everypony heard an anguished, hate-filled voice screaming, then fading.
From the center of the rainbow burst, a multicolored streak continued in the path of the fragments of the exploding falling star. The ribbon of color was irregular, erratic, as if its source was tumbling. The rainbow-streak was about to be engulfed in the deadly flak-field, but the streak was suddenly, sharply displaced from the shrapnel-path, then vanished.

The ruined shards began to fan out, tumbling, glittering, slowing. It was like a glass window that had just been shattered, only much larger and more violently. Twilight scrambled to her feet, lowered her head, then strained. Her horn began glowing as brightly as a blowtorch, and a moment later blood started trickling from Twilight's nose.
A faint hemispherical flicker stretched over the town plaza. The splinters of crystal began pelting it, raising little purple sparks where they hit the shield, disintegrating into pieces no larger than a grain of sand. The sound of the impacts was like hail on a tin roof. For ten, perhaps twenty seconds the town square was bombarded by the razor-sharp shotgun-blast of crystals, but none struck the ground, or any pony. Silence followed for long moments, followed by the gentle rushing sound of sand being poured onto a beach.
The night sky overhead was clean.
A ragged cheer went up from the crowd. As the last of the diamond-sand settled, Twilight staggered, then collapsed. A thin glowing wisp of violet smoke rose from her horn, and a small divot showed where a flake had spalled under the strain. Rarity knelt down beside her friend. "Twilight! Twilight, are you okay?"
It took a few moments before Twilight was able to lift her head. She was a mess, discolored on her muzzle and chest from the nosebleed. "Ugh... what a headache..." She was helped to her feet, then a scrap of cloth began dabbing away the blood as Rarity tended to Twilight. Twilight shooed Rarity away, "I'm okay, others need the help more."
At that moment, Captain descended to the town square. Draped across his back was a dazed Rainbow Dash. Two large bruises discolored the blue along one side of her chest; the bruises looked almost like a pair of heavy, indistinct hoof-marks. An ugly, profusely-bleeding gash on Rainbow Dash's wing from which a crystal fragment protruded drew a gasp from Rarity. Captain gently set Rainbow Dash down. As soon as he was free to do so, he urgently took wing again.
A white pony with a red cross on her flank began caring for Rainbow Dash at once, withdrawing the shrapnel shard, then pressing gauze against the wound to staunch the bleeding. While the nurse was doing so, Rarity carefully removed Rainbow Dash's steel hoof-boots, then called for a bucket of water. When it arrived, she began washing the scorched hooves. Other injured ponies gathered nearby, and volunteers began treating them as well. The casualties were given a respectful distance by the crowd.
It was several minutes before Rainbow Dash stirred. She began mumbling "What, how'd I get down..." She looked around, disoriented for a moment, then groaned as the pain in her ribs and wing began to bring back memories in bits and pieces. "Ow, Nimbus, that hurt, why did you... Nimbus?"
Her head snapped up as she realized where she was. Everyone was talking to her at once in an excited babble, but she ignored the crowd as she called "Nimbus? Where are you?" Rainbow Dash began to curse through clenched teeth. Her eyes locked onto the Wonderbolts' leader, standing alone near the edge of the gathered ponies.
Her voice took on an edge of panic. She roughly shouldered the crowd aside, stumbling toward Captain. "You've got to find her!" Captain lowered his head, then brusquely swept his flight-goggles to the ground. Rainbow Dash almost shrieked into his face, "WHERE IS SHE?!"
Slowly Captain looked up at Rainbow Dash, then toward the edge of Ponyville next to the library. There stood a small cluster of blue-suited ponies. Even as they watched, from the sky a pair of alicorns slowly descended to the group, flanked by two bedraggled-looking armored pegasus-ponies. The princesses looked down at the ground in the center of the group, then together lowered her heads. A chill of dread ran down Rainbow Dash's spine.
Rainbow Dash tried to take flight, but one wing wouldn't obey her. She began stumbling toward the library, angrily lashing out at ponies who tried to restrain her. She half-galloped, half-limped toward the circle of Wonderbolts. Behind her, Twilight and Captain followed.
Rainbow Dash suddenly halted. She could see a still pony-form on the ground, surrounded by jagged diamond shards, and by the Wonderbolts.
"No..."
Celestia stepped up to Rainbow Dash, leaned forward to nuzzle her. "I'm so sorry," Celestia whispered.
Rainbow Dash's lower jaw began quivering. "No, it can't... you have to do something. You have to!" She turned wet, pleading eyes up to Celestia.
Tears began to run down Celestia's cheeks. "I cannot. I have no power over this. No power..." Her voice took on a low, almost raspy sound of barely-restrained grief. For a brief moment, the burden of a thousand years bore down upon her. "I am helpless in the face of death."
"If I could trade places with her..." Luna stood forlornly a few steps away, her eyes closed as she tried to maintain a semblance of self-control. Twilight gingerly approached her, leaning against her. A moment later Captain did the same, wordlessly offering consolation and absolution.
Rainbow Dash buried her face against Celestia's shoulder, weeping. Luna, Twilight and Captain moved close, drawn by the need to share grief. The Wonderbolts pressed in around them, touching, trying to draw comfort from each other. Celestia extended her wings and held them all tightly, making no effort to hide her own tears.
...epilogue...