Paradox [NaPoWriMo]

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Celestia rose from her bed and made her way towards the wide glass double doors leading out to the balcony. She opened them and stepped outside, feeling the cool morning air blowing against her coat and mane. She extended her wings, and her horn lit up with a bright golden aura, as her body lifted off the ground.

Luna’s moon was barely visible over the horizon, and from the opposite side, Celestia’s sun began to rise up into the sky, shining its light across all of Equestria. Celestia landed back onto the ground, and smiled contentedly at her work. “Now then, I think I’ll say good morning to Luna, before she dozes off to sleep.”

Celestia turned around and retreated back into her room, making her way to her dresser, where she levitated a brush and began to tidy up her bed mane. Once it was more presentable, she began to dress herself in her Royal attire: her tiara, necklace, and gold shoes.

Celestia left her room once she was fully dressed, and made her way down the hallway towards her sister’s room. One the way, she passed may servants and guards going about their morning duty, all of which stopped to greet her with a polite bow as she passed by them.

After reaching Luna’s room, Celestia knocked on the door and waited for a response. “Come in,” a voice called out from behind the door. Celestia opened the door and stepped inside. As always, it was like night-time inside her sister’s room. In fact, because of the lack of a moon, it was even darker than night-time. The only light came from the computer monitor next to Luna’s bed.

Although anypony else, Celestia included, would have to wait for their eyes to adjust, and then take care when navigating the dark room, Luna was different. She was the Princess of the Moon, and her eyes were magically enhanced so that she could see in even the darkest room as if it was brightly lit. It was a necessity when guarding the night, especially on nights of a new moon.

Luna turned around to face her sister, who had stopped upon entering the room to let her eyes adjust. “Good morning, sister. Hath thou come to wish us a peaceful sleep?”

Celestia smiled and took a few steps into the room, using her horn to light her way as she approached her sister. “Playing games again? I do hope you haven’t been skipping your duties to play, Luna.”

Luna paused her game and rose to her hooves quickly. “Of course we haven’t, sister! We would never abandon our Royal duties to play around!” Luna calmed down a little and grinned at Celestia. “We’re not you, after all.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at her younger sister, who glared back at the older sibling. After a few seconds, Luna broke the silence by breaking into laughter, soon followed by Celestia.

“Well,” Celestia began, once her laughter had died down, “Good morning, sister. And pleasant dreams.”

Luna’s laughter also died down, but instead of the cheerful look that Celestia was expecting, Luna’s face suddenly took on a serious expression. “Sister, we need to ask you something.”

“Yes?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Who is Paradox?”

Celestia’s eyes widened in shock, and she quickly reached out and placed both of her hooves on her sister’s shoulders. Luna was taken aback by the look on Celestia’s face. The stern look that she hadn’t seen her sister wear since she was Nightmare Moon.

“Where did you hear that name, Luna?”

Luna stared into Celestia’s eyes for a few seconds, her body shaking, until she managed to compose herself, and pointed a hoof to her bed, where a small box was seen by Celestia. On it was a letter. “That box was waiting for us in the throne room. We’ve examined the contents, and they don’t seem to be dangerous, but…”

Celestia released her sister, and walked over to examine the box. She reached out for the letter with her magic, and brought it up to her face in order to read it.

“Dear Princess Celesta,

It has been a long time. I’m sure you thought I was dead.
But I can assure you, I am very much alive.
I wish I could see your smiling face at this revelation, but alas, I am far too busy right now.
I have a date with destiny, you see. I’m sorry that I could not meet with you face-to-face.
But perhaps this present will suffice.
Don’t worry. We will meet each other very soon. Until then, do take care.

Love, Paradox.

P.S. I hear your sister has returned. Give her my best regards.”

Celestia placed the letter to one side, and shifted her gaze over to the box next to it. It had already been opened, presumably by Luna, to make sure that it wasn’t a trap designed to take the elder sister’s life. She hesitated for a moment before taking off the lid, and gasped when she laid eyes upon the box’s contents.

It was a bunch of rose flowers, all torn up and scatted throughout the box. Underneath the flower petals, there was something carved into the bottom of the box: “IV”.

Twilight hummed a merry tune as she skipped through the town of Ponyville, dressed in very warm clothing to protect her from the winter coldness. She was wearing a purple and pink stripped scarf, and some yellow boots to keep her hooves nice and warm. She also proudly wore her special vest, designed just for her, the head organiser for Winter Wrap Up. It was half green and half blue, with a brown trim.

Twilight held a clipboard in front of her with her magic, reading over the schedule she had prepared in advance for each of the teams, making sure that there were no errors, that everything fell correctly into place, and that adequate backup plans were ready, in case something were to go wrong.

She was so absorbed in her reading that she didn’t notice the pony in front of her until she had bumped into him, causing her to fall back onto her haunches and drop her clipboard. Twilight rubbed her head as she looked up at the pony she had bumped into. She saw a tall stallion, about the size of Princess Luna, with a Unicorn horn, looking down at her with a worried look on his face. His coat was dark green, and his mane and tail light brown. He was wearing a black cape that covered most of his body, with the hood down.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going, and…”

“No, no, it’s my fault,” the stallion insisted, “I was daydreaming, and didn’t notice you approaching.” The stallion extended a hoof towards Twilight to lift her up, which she accepted.

Twilight was surprised that he wasn’t knocked down too, since his build was rather slim, and he didn’t look very strong. “Still, I’m sorry for bumping into you like that.”

“It’s fine, Miss Sparkle,” the stallion said.

“Well…Wait, how do you know my name?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow and moving one step back.

The stallion let out a slight laugh. “You’re the reason I came to Ponyville, actually,” he answered, “I wanted to see Princess Celestia’s personal pupil at work during Winter Wrap Up. I heard that your organisational skills last year caused this town to finish much faster than ever before, and that you were commended greatly for it.”

Twilight’s ears flattened and her eyes turned away from the stallion’s own emerald coloured eyes, as a tinge of red crossed her face. “Oh, no…It’s nothing special, really.”

The stallion laughed again. “As modest as they say.” He reached down with his hooves and picked up Twilight’s clipboard, and then handed it back to her. “Oh, my name is Paradox, by the way.”

Twilight nodded and took the clipboard into her magic. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Paradox,” she said as she straightened out the paper attached to the board. “I’m actually on my way to meet with Mayor Mare and the rest of Ponyville now, so that we can start Winter Wrap Up. You wanna come along?”

Paradox shook his head. “I’d love to, but I’ve got something else to take care of first. I’ll be there soon, so don’t finish up too quickly.”

Twilight nodded again, and walked past Paradox, waving goodbye to him as she made her way towards the meeting place for the three Winter Wrap Up teams. Once she was out of view, Paradox lifted the hood up to cover his head, and allowed a dark grin to appear on his face. “Well, that was easy enough. Now to pay a visit to this “Fluttershy”.”

Fluttershy was finishing feeding her animals that morning, making sure that all animals received their morning feed and trying to distribute the meals evenly, so that none of the animals felt like they were getting less than any of the other animals.

Once she was finished with the last of the animals, she made one last check to make sure that she hadn’t missed any of her friends, and when she was content with her work, she slipped on her Animal Team vest, and prepared to make her way to Ponyville, to join the rest of the group.

She was stopped, however, by the appearance of a green stallion moving right towards her. She turned her head away and stepped to the side, allowing the stallion to pass by. The stallion, however, stopped right next to Fluttershy, who turned her head away more, her eyes, hidden behind her mane, shifting between the stallion and the ground.

Paradox raised an eyebrow at the shy Pegasus, thinking to himself that she really lived up to her name. “Um…Miss Fluttershy, correct?” The shy Pegasus nodded meekly, and Paradox let out a relieved sigh. “Thank Luna! I need your help immediately!”

Fluttershy didn’t turn her head to face him, but fixed her gaze on him when she heard that he needed help. “W-What with?”

“There’s an injured animal in the Everfree forest!” he shouted frantically, and for a second, he smiled as he saw Fluttershy completely snap out of her shy state, and turn her full attention towards him, no longer hiding behind her mane. “I don’t know what to do, and I can’t move him! Please come and help him immediately!”

Fluttershy jumped into the air and flapped her wings wildly as she hovered in midair. “Yes! Of course! Please lead the way!”

Paradox turned around and began galloping towards the Everfree forest, a wicked grin crossing his face as the yellow Pegasus followed him closely. ‘Now let’s see how powerful she is.’

Three hours into Winter Wrap Up, and things were mostly proceeding smoothly. Fluttershy was absent, and the Animal Team was falling slightly behind, but luckily, Twilight had already planned ahead in case there were any absent ponies, and so it wasn’t going to affect the town’s time too badly.

“Ok Rainbow Dash, just wait for my signal, and then have your group move all of the clouds out of the way,” Twilight called up to the rainbow maned Pegasus.

“No problem!” Rainbow Dash called back, before falling back onto a cloud and resting whilst she waited for said signal.

Twilight then proceeded to make her way towards where the Animal Team were preparing to wake up the animals, when her body suddenly stopped moving, and she found herself frozen on the spot. Her eyes widened, or they would have, but for some reason, all control over her body was completely lost.

A flash of light surrounded Twilight, and before she could even begin to think about what was happening, she was blinded by a very bright flash of light.

When Twilight’s vision returned to her, she was standing in a clearing in the Everfree forest, and it took her a moment to realise that she was able to move her body once again. She took in a deep breath of air, and looked around at her surroundings, trying to figure out in her head what had just happened.

“Sorry about that,” a voice called out from behind Twilight. She quickly spun around to see the pony that she had run into earlier. “Teleportation magic isn’t my forte, you see, so I’m afraid a little nausea couldn’t really be helped. I’ll give you a moment to get used to it.”

Twilight stared at Paradox with wide open eyes. “W-What? What’s going on here? Did you teleport me here? How did you even do that? And why?”

Paradox silenced her by lifting a hoof. “So many questions…I teleported you using a spell that I placed on your clipboard earlier.” Twilight flipped her clipboard around, and noticed some kind of sticker on the back, with a symbol that seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember where from. “And as for why I did that…I want you to fight me.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow at the strange request. “What? You…Want me to fight you?”

Paradox nodded. “That’s right. Princess Celestia’s fourth personal student, the Spirit of Magic, Twilight Sparkle.” Paradox flashed a toothy grin at the confused mare, and continued. “I’ve heard the stories. But I want to know how powerful you really are.”

Twilight’s ears drooped, and she shuffled a forehoof against the ground nervously. “I’m…Not really into fighting, you know?”

“Oh yes, I’m well aware of that,” he said, before stepping aside to reveal an unconscious Fluttershy, chained to a tree. Twilight’s eyes widened, before her expression turned to one of rage, and she charged a little magic into her horn. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said, pointing a hoof at Fluttershy’s head, where a sticker with yet another familiar symbol was placed. “If you try to rescue her with magic or any other means, I’ll simply use my own magic to turn her brain to mush.”

Twilight’s spell dropped, and she took a few steps back, staring in horror at the sadistic stallion in front of her, who was still grinning madly at the frightened mare. “W-Why are you doing this? I thought you wanted to fight me…So why is Fluttershy here!?”

“She’s my insurance,” Paradox explained, “Here’s how it will work. You will fight me, without holding back, or she dies. Of course, even if you do fight me, I’ll still kill her if you lose.” Paradox cackled as he took a few steps closer towards Twilight, who stayed her ground, but lowered herself into a defensive stance. “In other words, the only way to save her, is by defeating me in a duel.”

Twilight furrowed her brow and clenched her teeth, growling angrily at Paradox, who was charging up energy into his horn. “Why do you want to fight me so badly? Who are you!?”

“There’ll be time for talking later, my little pony,” Paradox replied as he charged forward, his horn glowing a bright green as he lowered his head.

Twilight quickly gathered some energy into her own horn, and waited for Paradox’s next move. When she saw Paradox cast a spell that shook the ground beneath her, she quickly cast a teleportation spell to move behind him, and followed it up with an offensive blast of magical energy.

Paradox turned around and deflected the blast with his own magic, and his horn started glowing once again. Behind him, water from a nearby lake was starting to rise up and form some kind of shape. Twilight’s eyes widened as the water froze over, forming several dagger-like projectiles of ice.

‘That’s the spell devised by Frost Winters!’ Twilight exclaimed in her mind. ‘But Princess Celestia told me that it was too powerful for most Unicorns to handle! Even I can’t use that spell!’

Paradox threw the projectiles straight at Twilight, who quickly summoned up a barrier to deflect them. Paradox saw this coming though, and used a second spell to poke a few holes into Twilight’s barrier.

“No way!” Twilight shouted, and tried to repair the holes quickly. But she was too late; three of the ice projectiles passed through the holes, and made direct hits on Twilight. Two of them pierced her forelegs, and the third one flew right past her face, cutting her cheek in the process.

Twilight fell to the floor in pain, and her barrier, as well as the magic gathered in her horn, disappeared.

“How disappointing,” Paradox said as he moved closer to her. “This is Princess Celestia’s current pupil? Man, she must have really dumbed down her lessons…Or maybe that’s why you now live in Ponyville. Maybe you were a failure, and she just doesn’t want to put up with you.”

Twilight looked up at Paradox with growing anger, but was unable to get up with her forelegs pinned to the ground. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that, compared to your predecessors, you’re a joke,” Paradox said bluntly, before manifesting a long, sharp blade with his magic. “Why did you try to repair the holes in your barrier? Any of the Princess’ previous pupils would have used a heating spell to melt the incoming ice. Yes, it would have weakened you, too, but at least you’d still have a shot.”

Twilight looked at Paradox with a mixture of anger and confusion. “And I suppose you would know that for a fact?”

Paradox grinned at the trapped Unicorn. “Well, there’s little doubt that her first pupil would have; he was a genius among stallions. Heck, he may have been able to come up with something better. Her second pupil would at least have realised there wasn’t enough time to repair the holes.” Paradox knelt down to look at Twilight at eyelevel. “And I know for a fact that I would have done that.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she realised what he was saying. “You’re…One of the Princess’ pupils?”

“Bingo!” he shouted, rising up to his hooves quickly. “Well, it seems you’re at least somewhat smarter than the average pony. I’d wager the Princess never mentioned me once to you. Or her second pupil, for that matter.” Paradox let out a soft chuckle, before continuing. “She never did like talking about her “failures”.”

“Failures?” Twilight asked.

“Well, that’s what the Princess would call us. Tell me, what do you know about her past pupils?” The silence from Twilight answered his question for him. “I see. You never asked her about us? You were never once curious about the ponies you were succeeding? Well, if you ask her, I bet she’d just dodge the question, or come up with some kind of nice little tale to satisfy your curiosity.”

There was another length of silence from Twilight. “The truth is,” Paradox started, his grin falling and his face becoming completely serious, “The Princess killed her second pupil, and attempted to kill me, too.”

“That’s a lie!” Twilight shouted reflexively. “The Princess would never do something like that!”

More laughter from Paradox silenced the shaking mare. “There’s a lot about the Princess that you don’t know! But, I suppose there’s no need to waste time going into all of that with you. Since I’ve reached my decision: you’re too weak to be of any use to me.”

Paradox levitated the long blade above Twilight’s head, and pointed it directly downwards. “W-What do you mean? What are you going to do?” Twilight asked, trying to shake off the fear surrounding her and looking for a way out.

“It’s my revenge against the Princess. If you were strong enough, I would’ve asked you to join up with me. But with this level of strength, I think I’ll just kill you, instead. And then, I’ll target her.”

““Her?”” Twilight asked, and then gasped when she realised that he was talking about the Princess. She grinded her teeth together, and tried to force herself to stand up, but Paradox’s magic kept her down on the ground. “Don’t you dare! I won’t let you lay a hoof on the Princess!”

Paradox ignored her threats, and simply lowered the blade quickly into Twilight’s head. Or at least, that was his intention. But as he did so, he noticed a purple aura surrounding his blade, and before he could process what was going in, his own blade was thrown right back at him, aiming for his right foreleg.

He quickly cancelled his magic, causing the blade to vanish before it could strike him, and then looked down at the only pony that could be responsible for this: Twilight Sparkle, who was staring back into Paradox’s eyes with fire in her eyes. Literally.

The ice pinning Twilight down suddenly shattered, and she quickly rose up into the air. Paradox had to turn his head away as Twilight’s mane and tail burst into flames, and when he was able to turn back to face her, he saw that her coat had changed too; it was now a very bright white colour, and her eyes were a bright red. Her expression was one of complete rage. He could tell that she was being fuelled only by one thing at this point: anger.

“Well, this is interesting,” Paradox commented, using his previous spell to summon a few more ice projectiles behind him. He threw them right at Twilight, who fired a beam of raw magic at them. “That won’t work. I’ve reinforce them with my own magic, so they won’t break so easily.” Paradox was shocked when his words betrayed him, and the projectiles shattered upon being hit by Twilight’s magic. “Impossible!”

Twilight, who had now landed back on the ground, charged straight forward, her horn glowing as she approached Paradox. Paradox charged magic into his own horn, only for Twilight to disappear suddenly. He turned around 180 degrees, and fired a stream of electricity at the incoming mare, who disappeared once again, taking Paradox by surprise.

‘How is she able to conjure up teleportation spells so quickly?’ he asked himself in his mind. He quickly turned to his left, and threw a forehoof forward, connecting with Twilight’s face as the purple Unicorn tried to catch him off guard with a binding spell. “Fool,” he said as Twilight was thrown backwards. “I was wrong; you’ve got the skill, but you lack the will to harm others. Even if it’s your enemy, you hold back because you fear hurting them. Or worse.”

Twilight rose to her hooves quickly, but a quick wave a dizziness rendered her vulnerable for a few seconds. A few seconds which Paradox took full advantage of, by hitting Twilight with a binding spell of his own. Twilight was suddenly shackled to the ground, her magic bound by a chain wrapped around her horn.

“I think you may just be worth recruiting after all,” Paradox said, and then waited a few moments for Twilight to shake off the dizziness that had hit her earlier. Her mane and tail returned to the way they were before, albeit a little messed up, with stray hairs sticking out in various places, and her eyes and coat soon followed. “Twilight, I want you to join me in my quest to kill Princess Celestia.”

Twilight groaned from the headache she had, and then scowled at Paradox. “You’re joking, right?”

Paradox grinned at the bound mare, and then turned his head to face Fluttershy. Twilight did the same. “It’s not just her,” he said. “If you don’t want to help me, it would be no trouble wiping all of Ponyville off the map.”

“You wouldn’t!” Twilight shouted. “You couldn’t!”

“Oh? Would you care to take the risk?”

“You…Why are you doing this? Why are you dragging innocent ponies who have nothing to do with me into this!? You coward!”

Paradox lifted a forehoof, and thrust it towards Twilight’s chest, delivering a huge shockwave of pain throughout her entire body. “Not cowardice, Twilight. It’s called a strategic maneuver. This way, I can control your movements with my hostages. And if you refuse to join me, or step out of line, I can wipe the Spirits of Harmony out with a single spell.”

“You’re bluffing! Nopony has that kind of power!”

“Oh? And what about the Princesses?” Paradox reached into his clock, and pulled out a few stickers, similar to the ones earlier, with many different markings on them. “Alicorn magic, my little successor, is more powerful than anything we could imagine. Strong enough to move celestial bodies with just one pony.”

“Alicorn magic?” Twilight asked, her eyes and mouth wide open in shock. “That’s…Alicorn magic?” She examined the stickers once more, and it suddenly hit her. ‘That’s right! Now I remember! I saw those symbols in a really old text book! Cadance told me that they were from the language used by the Alicorns!’

Paradox put away the stickers, and his maniacal grin returned to his face. “Now, this is your last chance, Twilight. Will you join me, or will you perish, along with your friends?”

“She will do neither!” a voice called out from beyond the trees. Paradox and Twilight turned their heads to see the regal figure of Princess Celestia approaching them. “Because…I will protect her!”

Chapter 2

Celestia and her small party of 4 Royal Guards descended from the sky, landing in a small field not too far from Ponyville. Celestia motioned for the Royal Guard to follow her, and began moving closer to the town in front of them, paying close attention to her surroundings.

She stopped when she spotted something in her path. Something that would have been invisible to anypony else, but not to an Alicorn, like Celestia. It was a magical field. A green one, which stretched out for many miles, completely surrounding Ponyville and most of the surrounding area. She had a good idea what this barrier was, but she wanted to dismiss the idea, thinking it to be completely impossible. ‘There’s no way he could have access to Alicorn magic, right?’

Her doubts were washed away after she followed the barrier to one of its focal points: a small, circular sticker on the ground, with a symbol on it that she recognised right away. It was the symbol Γ (Gamma).

Celestia’s horn lit up, and she knelt down so that she could examine the sticker closely. “I see…This was designed to keep me and my sister out…” Celestia rose back up to her hooves, and let out a deep sigh. “Paradox, how in Equestria did you come across such a thing? Clearly not legally…” Celestia passed through the barrier, and motioned for her guards to follow. “…Since you don’t know how to properly use it.”

Celestia made her way towards the small town of Ponyville, and she drew closer, she noticed how all of the residents were running – or flying, in the case of some Pegasi – frantically around the town.

“Where’s Twilight!?”

“Should we move the clouds or not!?”

“What do we do with all these leftover seeds!?”

“Our ploughs have broken! What do we do!?”

Celestia and her guards looked around the town with confusion clear on their faces. A few ponies noticed the Princess, and stopped their running around to bow to their majestic ruler. Celestia dismissed them with a wave of her hoof, and much to her surprise, the ponies were more than eager to get back to their frantic running.

Rainbow Dash was one of the ponies who had spotted the Princess, and quickly flew over to her, stopping just short of Celestia’s face. The guards were ready to pin her down for approaching the Princess too closely, but Celestia motioned for them to remain at ease.

“Princess! This is bad! Real bad! We can’t find Twilight anywhere! And now we can’t get winter wrapped up in time, and-”

“Twilight’s missing!?” Celestia interrupted.

“Yeah, and- Wait, what are you doing here, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked, not paying too much mind to her tone of voice, despite being in the presence of Royalty. “Did something happen? Is Twilight in danger!?”

Celestia thought for a second, carefully planning out her next move. “No…” she lied, before taking a breath to calm herself down. “Everything will be just fine, Rainbow Dash. Do you know where Twilight was last seen?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I was there when she disappeared in this big, bright flash of light.” She pointed a hoof over towards the park area. “It was about ten minutes ago…And now that I think about it, Fluttershy’s gone missing, too.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, and looked over the town once more. ‘Ten minutes without Twilight…And this happens?’ She couldn’t help but feel a little proud that her student was obviously an important part in everypony’s lives here in Ponyville, but also a little disturbed that they seemed to rely on her to the extent that chaos would break out were she not there.

“Princess?” Celestia turned to face Rainbow Dash, who was staring down at her with a serious look. “What’s going on? What’s happened to Twilight?”

Celestia stared back at Rainbow Dash, and then showed her a calm, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash,” she said, “Twilight will be just fine. You have my word. Now, as for the town…I would imagine my faithful student has left some sort of easy to follow guide for everypony, in the event that she would fall ill or something.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, and called over Mayor Mare. Mayor Mare bowed down to the Princess, and then handed her the clipboard left by Twilight, and some papers found in the library.

“These are all we found…But we don’t get them,” Rainbow Dash said.

Celestia scanned the pages, and let out a simple sigh. ‘Well, to anypony raised in Canterlot, these would be simple, but…’ Celestia decided to hang on to that thought, not wanting to offend any of the ponies in Ponyville. She levitated the documents to her guards. “Ok, stallions…And mare,” Celestia added, noticing the one mare in the group, who responded to Celestia’s acknowledgement with a smile.

“I will find and protect Twilight Sparkle. I want you four to remain here and assist the town with their Winter Wrap Up, by following the instructions left by my student.”

“Um, actually, Princess,” Mayor Mare said, flinching when Celestia turned to face her. “I-It’s a tradition in our town during Winter Wrap Up to, uh…Not accept the aid of outsiders…I-I hope you understand.”

“I see…But, I must insist…” Celestia looked down at the ground, to hide the shame on her face as she mumbled her next words. “Since it’s essentially my fault that your Winter Wrap Up was ruined.”

Before she could hear any further protest from Mayor Mare, Celestia turned around and began moving to the area that Rainbow Dash had pointed out to her earlier. Her guards saluted and agreed to their new mission, but were hesitant after hearing that about the tradition of “no outside help”.

Celestia stopped in the general are where Twilight Sparkle had disappeared, and could already feel a familiar aura in the air. “There’s no doubt about it,” she said quietly to herself. “This is Alicorn magic…Paradox, what have you done?”

“Who’s Paradox?” a cheery voice asked next to Celestia.

Celestia’s eyes shot wide open, and she turned her head to her side, where she saw a pink Earth Pony with a curly pink mane and tail, bouncing up and down in one spot, smiling at the Princess with an innocent look on her. “Pinkie Pie,” Celestia said, before composing herself.

“Ooh! Is he a new pony here in Ponyville? Does he have any friends?” Pinkie gasped. “I gotta throw him a surprise party! That is, if nopony else has.”

“Pinkie,” Celestia called out.

“Aw, what the hay, I can still throw him one even if somepony else has! After all, two parties are better than one!”

“Pinkie.”

“Though I gotta make sure they don’t overlap…Or maybe we could combine them into one big super-duper-uber-epic-fun party!”

“Pinkie.”

“Oh! But it wouldn’t be much of a surprise party if he knew it was coming! Princess, would you mind not telling him about it? You can keep a secret, right?”

“…” Celestia realised that she wouldn’t be able to get through to Pinkie in the state that she was in, but at the same time, Pinkie was too busy talking about parties, cakes, presents, and for some reason, frogs, to notice anything that Celestia was doing.

Celestia gathered energy into her horn, and took in the familiar aura of Alicorn magic around her. She felt Twilight’s essence mixed in with the long range teleportation spell, and soon enough, she was able to get a fix on where the other end of the spell was located. Wasting no time, Celestia galloped off in the direction of the spell’s exit point: the Everfree forest.

“And hey, did you know that frogs can’t count any higher than 40? I think it’s because-” Pinkie Pie stopped when she realised that Celestia was no longer standing next to her. She looked around, confused, before simply shrugging, and bouncing away, merrily humming a tune to herself. ‘Surprise party for Paradox can come after I help everypony wrap up winter.’

Celestia galloped as fast as she could through the Everfree forest, using her magic to knock low hanging branches out of her way, and to light the way as she passed through some of the darker areas. Although most ponies would be afraid of the monsters lurking within the forest, and would walk cautiously to avoid being taken by surprise, Celestia was in much of a panicked state to take her time walking through the forest. Twilight had been with Paradox for 10 minutes. That was more than enough reason, in Celestia’s eyes, to dash through the forest at top speed.

‘Paradox…To think that you’re alive…I should be happier, and yet, it seems you’ve taken a path you were never meant to take. You’ve committed one of the gravest crimes ever, and…You’re targeting Twilight Sparkle.’ Celestia picked up her pace, desperate to reach her pupils before it was too late. ‘I hope he is willing to just sit down and talk. But what if he isn’t? What will I do then?’

Celestia eventually reached a clearing, where Paradox had Twilight bound to the ground by a spell. She also found Fluttershy, resting underneath a tree, also bound by a spell. She noticed the sticker on Fluttershy’s forehead, and immediately removed it, knowing full well what it was, and what it did.

“Alicorn magic?” Celestia heard Twilight ask. “That’s…Alicorn magic?”

She turned to see Paradox grinning down at Twilight Sparkle. “Now, this is your last chance, Twilight. Will you join me, or will you perish, along with your friends?”

Celestia quickly made her way towards the two Unicorns. “She will do neither!” she shouted, gaining the attention of both Unicorns, and continued approaching them. “Because…I will protect her.”

Paradox’s eyes widened, and he took a few steps back. “How? How are you…Those charms were supposed to keep you out!”

“You mean the ones creating the barrier around Ponyville?” Celestia asked, stopping in her advancement. “Yes, those would have kept me out…If they were set up properly. You need to soak them with the blood of whatever species you want repelled.”

Paradox narrowed his eyes and grinded his teeth in anger. Celestia smiled warmly at her former pupil. “You always did overlook the simplest things, Paradox.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!” Paradox shouted. “Don’t talk to me in that mocking tone! You’re not my mentor anymore, and I refuse to be talked down on by somepony like you!”

“Paradox…” Celestia didn’t know what to say. She wanted to ask him how he was still alive. What he’d been doing for the past 23 years. She wanted to comfort him, to apologize for the events leading to his “death”, and to scold him for abusing magic to hurt an innocent pony, despite her teachings.

But, despite her urge to catch up to her former pupil, she knew that had an important duty to perform. As Equestria’s ruler. ‘Doting on him was what made him like this in the first place…I have to be stern. I can’t spoil him any longer.’

“Paradox, where did you get those charms from?” It was then that she noticed the cloak that he was wearing, and she could also sense something else, hidden within his cloak. “That cloak, and…Paradox, please tell me you didn’t-”

“Stay back!” Paradox shouted, despite Celestia not having made any further movements towards him. “You know what kind of power I have now! One wrong move, and the whole of Ponyville goes up in flames!” As if to emphasis his point, Paradox reached into his cloak and pulled out another sticker – another Alicorn charm.

Celestia continued staring at him, a look of sorrow, and disappointment, on her face. “Please, Paradox. Calm down. I just want to-”

“Calm down!? You’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me! You try to kill me, and you want me to CALM DOWN!?”

“Paradox.”

“This is all your fault, anyway!”

“Please.”

“You spent all those years training me, raising me, and telling me how much I meant to you!”

“And it was all true,” Celestia said firmly.

“NO! You were LYING TO ME! It didn’t matter to you one bit if I lived or died! As the years passed, you started to lose interest. It’s because I was weak, right!? I was weak, so you no longer wanted me around! I got injured, and you shrugged it off and told me to take care of it myself! And then…One day, you finally had enough, and…”

The area was suddenly filled with a deathly silence, the only sounds being the choked back sobs coming from Paradox. “I hate you,” he mumbled quietly, and then raised his head up to look Celestia straight in the eyes. “I HATE YOU!”

Celestia’s horn lit up, and before Paradox could react, the charm in his hoof was lifted away, and torn to shreds. He let out a frightened gasp, and retreated a few more steps. “Sorry, Paradox…But this is between us two. There’s no need to involve innocent ponies…And there’s certainly no need to involve my student.”

“STOP IT WITH THE DAMN LIES!” he shouted, causing Twilight to flinch, but Celestia stood her ground firmly. “You don’t care about her! Just like you don’t care about me! You’re just using her! You’ll discard her when she becomes useless to you, RIGHT!?”

“Paradox, enough,” Celestia said sternly, starting to lose her patience. Twilight noticed a tear rolling down her mentor’s cheek. “I never wanted you to die, and I’m sorry if my…Harsh actions…Lead you to feel unloved. That was never my intention.”

Paradox attempted to interrupt once again, but Celestia stomped a hoof on the ground to silence him. “But that unhealthy dependence you had towards me…That feeling that you only had me to rely on…I had to do something, Paradox, to restore your faith in others. I had to keep you at a distance, and force you to interact with others. To look to other ponies for help, and not just lean on my shoulders all the time.

“Maybe I could have gone at it in a better way. Maybe I was too hard on you, but it was only because I was sure you could handle it. Please, Paradox…Can’t you forgive me? It’s not too late.”

“Wrong,” Paradox said, wiping the tears from his face. “It was too late 23 years ago. When you rejected me. When you told me to forget about you…And when I found my way to the Alicorn kingdom.”

Celestia’s eyes widened, and she immediately charged forward, her horn lighting up as tendril of golden light shot forth from the ground, making their way towards Paradox. Paradox tried to dodge, but was pinned down and rendered unable to move. “So you did…You stole these artefacts from the Alicorns!?”

“That’s right!” Paradox shouted, pride clear in his voice. “And now, I’ll take my revenge on you for rejecting me! For tossing me aside as if I were mere trash!”

“And to do that, you would kill my pupil!? I won’t let you!”

Paradox laughed, and quickly threw a charm from within his coat up at Celestia. Celestia dodged the charm, but doing so allowed Paradox to escape her grasp, and put up a barrier to protect himself. “Well, that was one part of my plan…If she refused to join me, I had to make sure the Elements of Harmony couldn’t be used against me.”

Celestia kept her eyes focused on Paradox, waiting for the right moment to strike. “Then what are you planning, then? What is you true goal?”

Paradox reached into his cloak, and pulled out another charm. “Sorry, Celestia, but I think I’ll be takin’ off now. Say hello to your sister for me. I never got the chance to meet her, after all. And we both have so much in common…Being betrayed by you and all.”

Celestia was about to say something, when a sudden flash of light took Paradox away to an unknown location. ‘Alicorn teleportation…There’s no telling where he is now, and by the time we find him, he’ll have definitely moved on…’ Celestia turned around to face her pupil, who was now free to move, the binding spell having worn off when Paradox fled the scene.

“Princess…What was…” Twilight gasped suddenly, and turned her head to where Fluttershy was earlier. To her relief, the yellow Pegasus was still there. “Is she…Is she going to be ok?”

Celestia walked up to her pupil, and leaned down to nuzzle her cheek comfortingly. “Yes, Twilight. She’ll be just fine,” Celestia assured her. “Now, I imagine you have a lot of questions…But for now, we need to return to Ponyville immediately.”

“But, Princess…All those things he said…They weren’t true, were they?”

Celestia looked down at Twilight, and into her big, pleading eyes. She sighed, and began walking away from Twilight, towards Fluttershy. “I will answer all of your questions later, Twilight Sparkle. But right now, all of Equestria is in danger, and I need to return to Ponyville right away.”

Twilight gulped at the tone in Celestia’s voice. It was a tone that Twilight had only ever heard a two times before: once during the Discord incident, and again during the changeling invasion. “Understood, Princess,” she said, running to catch up to her mentor, who was now carrying Fluttershy on her back, through the trees in front of her.

Chapter 3

“Twilight, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted after she burst through the library door, tumbling across the floor and crashing into the bookcase opposite the door. “Are you two ok!? What happened!?”

“That sure is a lot of Royal Guards outside yer house,” Applejack said as she entered more calmly, “Ah heard yah disappeared all’ve a sudden. What happened?”

“I’m fine, girls,” Twilight responded. Rarity and Pinkie Pie also entered, and Rarity’s attention was immediately drawn to the wounds on Twilight’s forehooves, which were still being wrapped in bandages, and the rather noticeable bruise on Twilight’s left cheek.

“Good heavens, Twilight! What happened to you? You look simply horrible!” she shouted, receiving a nudge and a scolding glare from Applejack. “I, I mean, you look exhausted, Twilight. Maybe you should, um, get some rest?”

Twilight smiled at her friends and shook her head. “I’m fine, really. The wounds aren’t as bad as they look.”

‘They’ve healed mostly by themselves…’ Celestia thought to herself. ‘Could Twilight’s magic really have improved so much since she started to live in Ponyville?’

“Besides,” Twilight continued, “I don’t really understand myself what’s going on. The Princess was just about to explain it to me.” Twilight looked up at Celestia with a warm smile on her face, but hidden beneath that smile was a look of fear. Fear of whatever story the Princess had in store for her. “Right?”

Celestia hesitated for a moment, and then reluctantly nodded her head. “Right,” she answered, and the group of friends, together with Spike, who had just returned from the kitchen with some cupcakes and some juice for the group. “It’s a long story…I guess I should start it at the beginning…44 years ago.”

“44 years ago, Equestria was thriving like it never had done before. All of the surrounding nations were at peace with us, there was no tension between us and them, and the economy could not have been any better. Indeed, it was a time of true harmony throughout the land. The sight of it would literally make Discord sick.

“Since things were so well, for the first time in hundreds of years, I was able to actually take a vacation, leaving the throne to my very dependable nephew while I was away. It was during my vacation that I found him. Paradox.

“Although, at the time, he did not yet have a name. You see, Paradox was but a poor colt, barely 5 years old, living in a wooden box on the side of the road leading up to Filydelphia. The sight shocked me. I had no idea that ponies were still living in poverty. That some ponies were actually suffering, in this seemingly perfect world. I guess I allowed myself to fall into the false belief that harmony had finally grasped the entire land, or maybe I just didn’t want to admit that, despite my best efforts, it was still not enough.

“In any case, I felt sorry for the young colt, and offered to find his family for him. He didn’t put up much of a fight, mostly because he was starving. But there was something else. Something in the way he looked at me…It was like he was seeing the sun for the first time, or that he was surprised to see another pony. I later learned that he saw me as some kind of grand saviour, and he admired me so much, that he was willing to let me take him away, without asking any questions.

“My attempts to find his parents were fruitless. As were my attempts to find any living relatives in his family. As it turned out, the boy’s family had died out 3 years ago, and the last survivor was left homeless, and without a bit to his name.

“My next move was to find a nice, new home for the young colt. I knew of many orphanages in Canterlot that get great funding from the government, and I also knew a lot of couples who were looking to adopt, and who I knew would make great parents. But my first attempt was…Well…”

“NO! I don’t wanna go! I don’t! Please, don’t make me! I’m sorry! I’m SORRY!”

“Sorry? What was he sorry for?” Twilight asked.

“I asked him that later, after I managed to get his magic under control.”

“Please! If I did something to make you angry, I’ll do anything to make up for it! Just…Please don’t hate me! Please…”

“The young colt fell to the floor, sobbing into his hooves, begging for my forgiveness. After piecing together his words and his actions, I hypothesized-”

“Hypofa-what?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“…Guessed, that his admiration for me had become much more…That, in the short time that we had spent together, he had come to see me as the mother he never had. And by trying to give him to a good home, he thought that I was throwing him away, because I was angry at him for some reason.

“I didn’t know what to do. I tried to convince him that I wasn’t angry, and that I just wanted what was best for him, but he refused to stay with anypony other than me. He even stole one of the maid outfits our servants wore, and offered to work in order to stay with me.

“I went to my nephew, Blueblood XIX-”

“Ugh,” Rarity gagged at the name ‘Blueblood’.

“-And asked him what I should do.”

“Well, auntie, if he doesn’t want to leave you so badly, why don’t you simply adopt him yourself?”

“You know I can’t, Blueblood. I have a kingdom to run, and the High Council would bite my head off I asked for time off to care for young Paradox.”

“Paradox?”

“A name I thought up for him. While I was caring for him in Fillydelphia, I read a book to him, and at a particular part that word came up, and he asked me what it meant. That was the first time he ever spoke to me, and when I explained to him what it meant, he also smiled at me for the first time…”

“…Auntie, you sound like my mother talking about my kid sister. I think you’ve really taken a shine to this colt.”

“…”

“Blueblood was right. It had been so long, 158 years, to be exact, since my last student had…Passed away…

“I missed the feelings of caring for young foals, bringing them up and teaching them the difference between right and wrong. Praising them when they did well, and scolding them when they messed up, followed by holding them close, to let them know you still loved them.

“…I have had 15 children in my lifetime, you know? Yes, throughout the thousands of years that I have lived, I have fallen in love many times, and formed many families…But after a while, the fact that I always outlived those families, the fact that I had to watch my beloveds die, along with our children, and their children, and so on…They all died, whilst I stayed the same, unchanging as time marched on.

“I missed the comfort of holding a loved one close to me at night, of having a family to greet me as I retire to my bedroom. But I didn’t want to have to suffer the way I had in the past. I vowed to never fall in love again…But this foal needed me. He had been through so much trauma in his life, and he was unwilling to accept anypony else. To him, I was his mother.

“And so, I decided to take Blueblood’s advice, and adopted Paradox as my son. To make sure the High Council couldn’t object, the formal proceedings were that I was taking him on as my pupil. It was something I was considering anyway, after his little episode earlier. He clearly had a lot of untapped magical potential, and I wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t become a bother for him in the future.”

“Mom! I just got the test results back! I placed third in mathematics!”

“Well done, Paradox. See? I told you that you could do well if you just had father in yourself.”

“Hee hee! Actually, I cheated!”

“…”

“…WHAT!?” Celestia shouted, dropping the scroll that she was currently reading. “What do you mean you 'cheated'!?”

Paradox backed away, a look of fear and confusion on his face. “D-Did I do something wrong? Y-You told me that I should be proud of my special talent, and use it wisely, and-”

“So you used magic to cheat, and you consider that WISE!?”

“BUT IF I DIDN’T, YOU’D BE MAD AT ME!” Paradox shouted, tears streaming down his face as he dropped to the floor. “I just wanted you to be proud of me…I wanted to show you that I can use my talents to cover for my weaknesses…You know, like my big brother…”

“Big brother?” Applejack asked. “Ah thought he was all alone.”

“That’s how he referred to my first pupil, who had sort of become Paradox’s hero in the passing years.”

“Paradox, I know you think that you were doing the right thing, but…” Celestia tried to think of a way to explain why what Paradox did was wrong. “The test was for mathematics, not magic. The other students there will now feel that they didn’t achieve as high as they should have done. You may have emotionally damaged somepony today, Paradox. Do you think that’s fair?”

“…No…”

Celestia wrapped her forelegs around her ‘son’, drawing him into a warm hug. “Now, you are going to tell the professors what you did tomorrow, and then-”

“I can’t!” Paradox shouted, trying to wriggle out of the hug, to no avail. “I can’t! That…Would be bad!”

“Bad? Paradox…I know they’ll give you a scolding, but it’s their jobs to-”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I USED FORBIDDEN MAGIC!” Celestia’s hug tightened, but more so to make sure that Paradox wouldn’t get away, than to comfort him. “I used the mindreading spell that I came across…In the library…”

“Mindreading? I thought spell was locked away in the Royal Vault.”

“There’s a copy of it in the library, at the back, section Y, shelf 36A.” Paradox stopped to swallow, and then continued. “I know it’s forbidden, and that I should have told you, but…”

“…Paradox…Why would hide something like this from me?”

“…Other ponies are scary. I never know what they’re thinking. It frightens me, so I…I’m sorry, mother.”

“But delving into sompony’s mind…Invading their personal space, and having no respect for their private lives…That’s just-”

“I know it’s bad! That’s why I only ever use it when I’m really scared! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“…Have you ever used the spell on me?”

Paradox shook his head, choking back a few sobs. “No, I’m not strong enough to read an Alicorn’s mind.”

The two remained silent, besides the sobs and hiccups coming from Paradox, as Celestia ran through her mind what to do.

“What’s the big deal?” Rainbow Dash asked, “How bad of a crime could that be?”

“It warrants execution,” Celestia said, causing the whole group to fall silent. “Because that spell is what caused the collapse of Olde Equestria, and almost caused a civil war between the three pony tribes. Simply knowing the spell without permission and constant surveillance by the Royal Court Magi is grounds for execution. To be honest, I was surprised that Paradox even told me at all…But that’s when I realised that Paradox’s feelings towards me were stronger than I first thought.

“Paradox no longer viewed me as just a mother. He viewed me as the only pony in the whole world he could trust. He was always by himself, even when other ponies approached them. He simply ignored them, too afraid to get close to them.”

“…There’s more to it than that, though, isn’t there Princess?” Rarity asked, a stern look on her face, which surprised her friends, given that she was talking to Royalty. “I know that look on your face, Princess, so I know that there’s another half to this story.”

“…Very perceptive, Rarity,” Celestia said, letting out a soft chuckle. “The truth is, Paradox was starting to fall in love with me.” Celestia sighed, and then continued. “At first, I tried my best to deny it. To convince myself that my imagination was simply playing up. But…After a while, there was no more denying it. He loved me, and it wouldn’t be long until he confessed his feelings towards me.

“I accepted him as a son, because I was lonely, and I felt sorry for him. But as a lover…I was never going to let that happen. Never again. I simply couldn’t stand the thought of seeing another family pass away before my eyes, leaving me all alone in the world once more.

“And so, I had to make a harsh decision…I had to return Paradox to the world.”

“That’s what you were talking about in the Everfree forest earlier, right?” Twilight asked.

“That’s correct,” Celestia responded. “I wanted to help him learn to depend on other ponies, and hopefully, to make his love towards me fade away. And to do that, the only thing I could think of, was to stop mothering him the way I had done. I decided to distance myself, and force him to seek out others for help, instead of always relying on me.”

“So what happened?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I thought he would be tough enough. I thought he would be able to handle it, and that one day, he would see that it was all for his own good…But that did not happen. Paradox…His mental state progressively got worse as the years passed.

“It must have been the result of the only pony he ever trusted suddenly being cold towards him. By the time I realised what effect my actions were having on him, it was too late. I tried to calm him down, to assure him that everything was ok, but he was too far gone, and words would not reach him anymore.

“And then, one night, it happened. Paradox tried to take my life.”

“Princess Celestia! Now, we’ll always be together! In death, nothing shall keep us apart!”

“Paradox! What do you think you’re doing!? Lay down your weapon, now!” one of the Royal Guards shouted as he stood between Paradox and Celestia.

“Shut up! Get out of my way, or I’ll kill you, too!”

The group sat in complete silence for many minutes. Even Pinkie Pie, who was usually smiling in any situation, had a grim look on her face as she went over the Princess’ story in her head.

Finally, Princess Celestia broke the silence. “My guards managed to fend him off, and Paradox fled from the castle. However, despite my orders to let him go, my guards gave chase, and cornered him, just outside of Canterlot. At the time, the penalty for attacking me was immediate execution. And so, my guards chased Paradox in order to kill him, and by the time I arrived in order to stop them…

“…Paradox had already fallen off the cliff’s edge, and presumably to his death. Naturally, we searched for the body, but at the bottom of the cliff, all we could find was a nest of wolves, and so we assumed that Paradox had already been eaten by them. Even if he hadn’t, it should have been impossible for him to survive that fall. I wonder how he survived?”

Suddenly, Celestia’s horn lit up, and a golden beam shot out, a scroll materialising in the air. Celestia grabbed it with her magic and unrolled it. “Well, it seems the Royal Guard is working as efficiently as ever.”

“What d’ya mean?” Applejack asked.

“…I don’t know what has happened to Paradox these past 23 years, but from what I’ve seen, he’s no longer the scared, gentle Paradox that I once knew.” Celestia turned her head away to hide her look of uneasiness. “He attempted to take an entire village hostage, just to get to Twilight. And right now, he has powers beyond that of a regular Unicorn.”

“You mean those ‘Alicorn charms’?” Twilight asked, shuddering as she remembered the feeling of being teleported by one of them.

Celestia nodded. “Yes. I have no idea how he could have possibly acquired them, but one thing is for certain: he is a dangerous threat to all of Equestria, and he has to be dealt with.”

“But how do we find him?” Rarity asked, “And when we do find him, what would we do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Rainbow Dash said, “We kick his flank with the Elements of Harmony, just like Nightmare Moon and Discord!”

“No!” Celestia shouted, startling the group. “No, we can’t use the Elements! Despite his new power, he is still just a Unicorn! The Elements would completely destroy him!”

“But you just said he’s a threat to the whole of Equestria,” Applejack pointed out. “We have ta do somethin’, right?”

“We do, but…”

“You don’t want to harm him, because you still feel guilty about happened,” Fluttershy said, “Isn’t that what’s going through your mind right now?”

“…”

The room was once again filled with an uncomfortable silence, which was broken by another flash of light from Celestia’s horn. Surprised, Celestia took the new scroll into her magic, and unrolled it quickly. “Well, that was faster than I expected.”

“What happened?”

“It seems we already have an eyewitness account of Paradox,” Celestia explained, “Apparently, a ‘Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful’ witnessed a Unicorn matching Paradox’s description two days ago.”

“Trixie, eh?” Rainbow Dash said as she scratched her chin with her hoof. “I dunno…She’s not exactly the most reliable source in Equestria.”

“Because she told that one lie?” Rarity said, raising an eyebrow at her friend. “Honestly, Rainbow, you can be so childish sometimes.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity with a look of surprise. “Wait, you’re stickin’ up for Trixie? After what happened last time?”

Rarity rolled eyes at Rainbow Dash. “Please, Rainbow, a lady does not hold a grudge. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time somepony messed up my mane.” Rarity cast an accusing glance on both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, the latter struggling to hold back a giggle.

“In any case,” Twilight said, interrupting her two friends, “I think we’d better go check this out. It’s the only lead we really have right now.”

“Twilight,” Celestia began, “I want you and your friends to stay here. This is something that I have to deal with, and there’s no reason for you to become involved.”

“With respect, Princess, I’m already involved.” Twilight stared at her teacher with a determined look on her face, and continued. “Paradox came after me because he was afraid of the Elements of Harmony. There’s a chance he may come back. And besides, you’ve helped me so many times in the past, and now, I think it’s only fair that I help you.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “We’ll show this guy what happens when he messes with our friends!”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and after a moment of consideration, Princess Celestia backed down. “I see…You’ve really come a long way since you started living here in Ponyville, Twilight. Your lessons have taught you so much…”

“And now, it’s time to put them into practice,” Twilight said, smiling and extending her hoof to the centre of the group, where it was soon met by the hooves of her friends. “I can’t say I understand exactly how you feel, Princess, but one thing’s obvious: you miss Paradox, and really want to talk to him again. That’s why we’ll do our best to help you out.”

Celestia smiled warmly at her student, and extended her own hoof to meet with the rest of the group’s hooves. “Thank you, all of you,” she said softly, before rising to her hooves and regaining her regal composure. “Then let us make haste. We shall head for Trottingham, where our eyewitness is currently waiting for us.”

The rest of the group also stood up, and began to follow the Princess outside. Twilight asked Spike to watch the library for her, a job that Spike was more than happy to accept. Another flash of light from Celestia’s horn, followed by another scroll, startled the group of ponies.

Celestia unrolled the scroll and read the message, her eyes widening and her breathing slowing down as she did so. When her pupil asked her what was wrong, Celestia shook her head and put the message away. “Nothing, Twilight. It just seems that Luna has fallen ill, but it is apparently nothing serious.”

“I hope she gets well soon!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, bouncing next to the Princess.

Celestia nodded her head, and led the group to the chariot that would take them to Trottingham. ‘The Key of the Ancient Tomb has gone missing…Along with other items that Paradox now has…Paradox, what are you planning?’

Chapter 4

“How long must the Great and Powerful Trixie be expected to wait here!? The Great and Powerful Trixie has a very busy schedule to stick to!”

Shining Armour sighed and held a hoof to his forehead. Today had been a very long day for him. He was supposed to be taking the day off with his wife, but he was suddenly called into duty on the grounds of a national emergency taking place, and naturally, he would have to be approached by this loud – very loud – mare who apparently had information about the criminal that they were chasing.

He wanted to just get whatever information she had and then send her on her way, but the Princess wanted to talk to her herself. And so, unfortunately, that meant that he had to stay with her in the tent set up outside of Trottingham until the Princess arrived.

“Hey.”

“What?” Shining Armour asked, removing his hoof from his face and forcing a smile.

“Trixie is thirsty.”

“…And?”

“You want Trixie to stay, right? Then the least you could do is fetch Trixie a beverage, don’t you think?”

Shining Armour sighed, and called in one of the guards outside. “I’m sorry, but could you fetch a drink for our guest here?”

“Trixie would like a hay smoothie. The ones made by Al at the edge of town are especially appealing to Trixie’s taste buds.”

Shining Armour nodded to the guard, who saluted and moved towards the town to fetch Trixie’s drink.

“Why can’t Trixie just tell you what she knows? Trixie just wants the reward money advertised in your posters.”

“Believe me, I’d love to just get this questioning over with, but the Princess wants to talk with you directly. Anyway, you should consider that an honour, you know?”

Trixie sighed and rested her head down on her forehooves. “It seems that Trixie is going to have to skip Detrot if she wants to make her performance in Apple Loosa.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” Shining Armour said, though he only half meant it, “But this is a national emergency, after all.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, before the guard from earlier returned with Trixie’s hay smoothie. She took it with her magic and sipped some of it through the straw, before a big smile crossed her face. “Aah, the hay smoothies from Trottingham are truly the best.”

“That good, huh?” Shining Armour asked, trying to kill the boredom with random conversation.

“Indeed. Have you never tried them?”

“Can’t say I have. I’ve only ever visited this place on business trips.” Shining Armour eyed the hay smoothie, admittedly a little curious as to how it tasted.

“Well you’re missing out. This is why Trixie likes the life of a travelling showmare so much. Trixie gets to experience so much, and she can choose her own days off.” Trixie smiled as she took another big sip of her drink.

“Well, that may work for you, but for me, serving the Princess and protecting the ponies of Equestria is what makes me happy.”

“And that’s why you’re one of my most loyal Captains, Shining Armour,” a voice called out from behind the two ponies. They both turned around to see Princess Celestia approaching them from the tent’s entrance.

“Princess Celestia!” Shining Armour greeted as he stood to attention and saluted.

“Please, at ease, Captain.” Shining Armour sat back down, and Celestia turned her attention towards the blue Unicorn clad in a purple cape and hat, with star-shaped patterns on them. “And you must be Miss Lulamoon, correct?”

“Trixie hates that name. Just ‘Trixie’ would be fine. Or the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’.”

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity all rolled their eyes at that comment, but Celestia simply laughed it off. “I see. Well then, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’, I would like to hear what you know about Paradox.”

“Who?” Trixie asked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, you must mean the pony in the wanted posters.” A nod from Celestia, and Trixie continued. “Well, Trixie would happily tell you everything, but first, Trixie was told she would be rewarded for any information she provides?”

“How dare you!” Twilight shouted, stomping a hoof to the ground. “You do realise that this is Princess Celestia, right? How dare you try to hold back information when she asks for it!”

Celestia placed a hoof on her pupil’s shoulder to calm her down, and then turned her attention back towards Trixie. “Rest assured, if the information is accurate, you will be well rewarded.”

Trixie smiled and finished off her hay smoothie, before setting the cup down and turning her attention towards her saddlebags, which were lying on the ground nearby. “Well, Trixie only caught a glimpse of the pony in the posters, but there’s no doubt that it’s him.” Trixie opened her bag with her magic, and levitated out a rolled up piece of paper, which she unrolled on the table in front of her, revealing a map.

“How can you be so sure?” Rarity asked.

“Trixie has a very photographic memory. Besides, there’s no mistaking that pony that Trixie saw. Something about him just seemed…Off…”

“How so?” Applejack chimed in.

“It’s hard to explain, but it was like there was some sort of barrier surrounding him, making it difficult to even notice him. Like illusionary magic, yet…”

Celestia walked closer to Trixie, and eyed the map on the table. “Was he wearing a black cloak?” Trixie nodded, and pointed to a forest on the map. “There?”

“Yes. It’s hard to explain, but Trixie can lead you to where Trixie encountered this ‘Paradox’ character.”

“What was he doin’?” Applejack asked, walking over and also examining the map. “An’ for that matter, what were you doin’?”

“Does it matter what Trixie was doing? Trixie’s not the wanted pony here!” Trixie held her head up, attempting to look strong in front of everypony. ‘Like hell I’ll tell you that’s where I bathe!’

“Alright, forget ah asked. But ah still think it’d be a good idea tah know exactly what yah saw out there.”

“Trixie was getting to that!” Trixie shouted, annoying Applejack. “Trixie saw him enter a cave, and then felt whatever little presence she could sense from him disappear. As if he placed a barrier at the cave’s entrance to hide himself.”

Celestia turned to face Shining Armour. “Captain, remain here and keep a tight watch over the town. If anypony else approaches with information, just do the same as you did with Trixie.” Shining Armour saluted, although in his mind he was hoping that he wouldn’t have to deal with another Trixie coming along. “Miss Lula- Miss Trixie, I would like you to show us where exactly this cave is that you saw Paradox enter.”

“But-”

“You’ll receive your payment after we confirm that your story is true.”

Trixie groaned, but accepted nonetheless. “Fine. Trixie will show you where the cave is…But Trixie had better be well rewarded for this!”

Celestia chuckled and began to leave the tent, the seven mares following close behind her. ‘Well, she’s certainly not short on energy or confidence. She reminds me of my 3rd daught- Wait, her name is Lulamoon?’

Celestia and the six Spirits of Harmony, accompanied by Trixie and two Royal Guards, made their way to the forest where Trixie had seen the pony resembling Paradox. It was known as the Paradise forest, but despite its name, it was a very dangerous place. There were a lot of wild creatures living within it, but as they were all nocturnal, it was relatively safe to enter the forest during the day.

“Well then, Miss Trixie,” Celestia said, turning to face the showmare, “Would you please lead the way?”

“Only if you stop referring to Trixie as ‘Miss’ Trixie,” Trixie said, “Coming from one as old as you, it makes Trixie feel ancient.”

Twilight gritted her teeth together, ready to scold Trixie for her blatant disrespect towards the Princess. However, said Princess laughing off Trixie’s comment stopped Twilight, and also confused her.

“Yes, I guess that would make anypony uncomfortable,” Celestia said. “So, just ‘Trixie’, then?”

Trixie held her head high and casually walked past Celestia, into the forest, with the rest of the group following. “That, or ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ would also be acceptable.”

“That’s sort of a mouthful,” Celestia said jokingly, “Is that what everypony else calls you?”

“Well, Trixie’s fans do, at least. Or sometimes they shorten it to ‘G and PT’.” Trixie stopped suddenly, along with the rest of the group behind her. Her horn lit up, and a blue wave shot out of her horn, surrounding the area. She turned back and addressed the other ponies, but her voice was lowered to a whisper. “Keep it down, we’re passing through a Basilisk nesting ground.”

Celestia, Twilight, and the Royal Guards all nodded, with serious looks on their faces. Twilight’s friends, however, didn’t really know what a Basilisk was, besides Fluttershy, but she had only heard bits and pieces about them.

“Can’t we just go around?” Twilight asked, trying to keep her voice low. Trixie didn’t answer, and she let out a silent groan, before turning to face the Princess beside her. “Princess, why do you put up with her rude comments towards you?”

Celestia turned to her pupil with a smile on her face. “Oh come now, Twilight. She’s just speaking her mind freely a little bit, and it’s not like words can hurt me.” Twilight was about to say something, but Celestia continued before she could. “And besides, it’s nice to have somepony not grovelling at my hooves, and acting all polite and formal, just to win my favour…What term is it you and your friends may use?”

“Kissing you flank?” Rainbow Dash offered.

Celestia nodded at the rainbow maned Pegasus floating above her, and then turned her attention back to Twilight. “It’s rare to find somepony who doesn’t let my identity as Princess Celestia take control of who they are. And truth be told, I’m happy that Trixie views me as just another pony.”

“Ah bet it gets mighty annoying when everypony treats you like you’d punish them for the slightest mistake,” Applejack said.

Celestia once again nodded in agreement. “Yes. Most ponies either harbour undying hatred to me, or ‘kiss my flank’, as Rainbow Dash put it, to earn my favour. All because of my title. There is hardly ever a middle ground.”

“Trixie could care less about titles,” Trixie chimed in, but still facing directly forward, “You’ve done nothing for Trixie, so Trixie has no reason to treat you with any more respect than she treats others.”

“What do you mean she’s done nothing!?” Twilight shouted, receiving a strict shush from Trixie, Celestia, and the two guards. Her face lit up bright red, and she cleared her throat to regain her composure. Lowering her voice back to a whisper, she continued. “A-Anyway, she’s the Princess of all of Equestria! She does her best for her subjects every day, and is the one who brings forth the day!”

“True. She works hard for her subjects…Not for Trixie directly. And Trixie has never really benefitted from her ‘hard work’.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Celestia said, surprising Trixie and Twilight. “Despite my best efforts, there are still ponies that suffer, and unfortunately, I can’t help everypony.”

Trixie narrowed her eyes at the Princess, shooting a cold glare at her. “Trixie does not need your pity. After all, she can’t sell it or anything.”

The group continued to walk in silence for the rest of the journey, and they eventually reached the spot where Trixie had sighted ‘Paradox’. It was a pleasant clearing in the forest, with a big lake at the base of a cliff, with a waterfall pouring into it. There were beautiful flowers across the ground, and butterflies fluttering about. Compared to the rest of the forest, it did indeed look like a paradise to the group of ponies.

Trixie motioned them over towards a nearby cave, and they quickly followed her over. “This is where Trixie saw him. He entered, and then his presence disappeared.”

Celestia walked closer to the cave’s entrance, and stopped just outside of the cave. She extended a hoof forward, and then immediately pulled it back upon receiving a slight shock. “This is definitely Alicorn magic. Paradox must be inside.”

Celestia concentrated magic into her horn, and fired it at the cave’s entrance. The barrier suddenly became visible to the group, and shattered after a few seconds. The group watched in stunned silence, and she turned to face them, a serious look on her face. “Let’s go,” she said, and everypony obeyed by following her immediately.

Paradox felt his spell breaking, and quickly rose from his sleeping bag. “They’re here already?” he asked himself, quickly limping over to his bags, which were lying on the ground nearby. “Darn it! I’m not ready yet!”

“AH!” Fluttershy yelped as she and her friends wandered into the cave. The rest of the group just stood in shock and awe at the sight before them, and partially in disgust. In front of them was a fully grown, brown dragon, lying on its stomach on top of a pile of treasure.

Twilight and her friends were happy that Spike hadn’t come along, because the dragon wasn’t sleeping, nor was it awake. It was dead. A large stalagmite made of rock was shooting up out of the ground, and had impaled the dragon’s head. Blood was pouring down from the wound, into a pool of dried blood underneath it.

Tears were running down Fluttershy’s face, and she was struggling to keep her lunch inside of her. Pinkie Pie and Rarity escorted Fluttershy out of the cave, and Celestia ordered one of her guards to follow them, to make sure that they were ok.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both found a tunnel that led further into the cave, and announced their discovery to the Princess. Celestia peered down the tunnel. “I can feel him,” she said, taking her place at the front of the group. “Everypony, stay close to me. As you can see, Paradox isn’t somepony to take lightly.”

“A-hem!” Trixie shouted. Everypony still inside the cave turned to her. “Trixie’s payment?” A silence passed by the group, and Trixie was growing annoyed. “Look, surely this proves that Trixie’s information was accurate, right? So, Trixie wants her payment now! Oh, and you can forget about Trixie following you down there. Trixie has no intention of playing ‘Scooby Doo’ with you by chasing after some deranged psycho or whatever.”

“Jinkies,” Applejack said, “Who would’ve thought that the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ would be scared of one lil’ pony?”

“Hmph! Trixie is not scared of anypony! She just simply has too much on her schedule to waste any time with the likes of you!”

Rainbow Dash was about to give Trixie a piece of her mind, but Celestia spoke up first. “I’m sorry, Trixie, but you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer before I can reward you. But if you don’t want to come with me, you’re more than welcome to wait outside with my guard. I promise that I’ll pay you after I’m done here.”

Trixie sighed, and began making her way towards the cave’s exit, leaving the Princess, 3 Spirits of Harmony, and one guard inside the cave. “Princess, shall I go on ahead to scout out the area?” the guard offered.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Celestia said, “You can’t detect Alicorn magic, so it would do no good. Only I can tell if there are traps up ahead or not.”

The guard nodded, but still insisted on staying close to the Princess at all times. The five ponies made their way through the tunnel, with magic in Twilight’s horn lighting the way, so that Celestia could concentrate more on finding Alicorn charms.

“You feeling better, Fluttershy?” Pinkie Pie asked, rubbing a wet hoofkerchief against her friend’s forehead.

“I’m fine,” Fluttershy said, holding a hoof to her mouth, “But, that poor dragon…How could somepony do something like that?”

“Well it seemed to Trixie that this ‘Paradox’ character used some kind of Earth-based magic,” Trixie answered, lying on the ground next to the two friends from Ponyville and resting the back of her head on her forehooves. “There didn’t seem to be a struggle, so he must have snuck up on the dragon whilst it was sleeping. Most likely using an illusion to conceal himself, since dragons are very sensitive to any beings approaching them with malicious intent, since they spend long periods of time sleeping.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Rarity said, narrowing her eyes at Trixie as she reached out to hold Fluttershy, who was once again feeling sick. “And I must agree with Fluttershy. This is such a horrible, unforgivable crime! How dare he do this to a poor, innocent creature!”

“We don’t know if that dragon was innocent,” Trixie pointed out, earning a glare from Rarity.

The guard assigned to stay with them had gone back into the cave for a moment to sketch the dead dragon. Apparently, he was quite the artist, and liked to draw rare sights in particular. And what was rarer than a dead dragon?

The guard returned after a few minutes, complaining that he couldn’t get it right. “It’s strange. For some reason, I just can’t seem to capture the subject just right. I usually only have trouble with moving targets, so why now?”

Trixie’s ears perked up, and she tilted her head to face the direction of the cave entrance. She then remembered what she had seen in the cave, and realised that something was off. She quickly rose to her hooves, and made her way towards the cave.

“Where are you going?” Rarity asked, following Trixie.

“Just want to confirm something,” Trixie replied, waving a hoof dismissively at Rarity. “You stay out here with your friends. Trixie will be right back.”

“I don’t think so,” Rarity said, “There is safety in numbers, after all. I’ll go with you to make sure you are ok.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Trixie insisted, “Besides, you didn’t offer our guard friend that same courtesy.”

“Well, he’s a Royal Guard! I was sure that he could handle himself!”

Trixie sighed, and decided to just let Rarity tag along. The other three ponies agreed to wait outside for them.

“If you hear screaming, do not come in,” Trixie warned, confusing the three ponies. Before they could answer, Trixie and Rarity were already back inside the cave.

“Ugh, such an unpleasant display,” Rarity said, almost gagging as she laid her eyes upon the dead dragon once more, “Especially the blood dripping from its mouth. It’s almost like a scene from one of Pinkie Pie’s horror movies.”

“…And it doesn’t strike you as odd?” Trixie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The blood on the floor is dry. All of it, even the part where blood is still dripping. And from the state of the blood, and the body, I would say this dragon’s been dead for at least a week now…”

“Makes sense. If I chose this place to be my hideout, I certainly wouldn’t want a dragon at the front door.”

“You’re missing the point,” Trixie said, narrowing her eyes at the dragon's wound. “It’s been dead for that long, and yet blood is still dripping from its mouth?” Trixie reached a hoof forward, and allowed a droplet of blood to fall onto her hoof, causing Rarity to wince and almost faint dramatically at the sight.

Trixie’s horn lit up, and a blue wave of magic shot out of her horn, surrounding the dead dragon for a few seconds. Rarity gasped as she saw the stalagmite impaling the dragon disappear, along with the blood on the floor, on Trixie’s hoof, and dripping from its mouth. The dragon’s position also changed slightly, and it started to breath steadily.

“It was an illusion,” Trixie said, trying to hide the fear in her throat, “This dragon was never dead…We were just meant to think that it was…”

“But why?” Rarity asked, taking a few, steady steps back.

Trixie looked above the dragon, and found some devices that were also hidden by the illusionary magic. “When you want to keep trespassers out, you get a guard dog.”

Rarity’s eyes widened as she looked down the tunnel that her friends had gone down. “This isn’t good…We have to warn them!”

Trixie quickly shushed Rarity, who put her hooves to her mouth to quiet herself down. “Trixie will go, you just make sure the others waiting outside get away from here.”

“What? Why? It would better if we go together.”

“Only one of us is needed for this. Trixie can follow their trail with her magic, since it should still be fresh, so she shouldn’t run into any traps. You seem like you would just slow Trixie down.”

“But-”

“And you do want your other friends to be safe, don’t you?”

Rarity and Trixie stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Rarity nodded, and slowly made her way towards the entrance of the cave. Trixie carefully, but quickly, made her way to the tunnel, to follow after the group that had gone after Paradox, picking up her pace as she got further away from the sleeping dragon.

Rainbow Dash groaned as she walked next to her companions through the tunnel. The ceiling was lower than it was earlier in the cave, and the pointy stalactites hanging down from it meant that she wasn’t able to fly through the cave. The idea of being grounded for so long annoyed her. She honestly didn’t know how Earth Ponies and Unicorns could put up with it.

“How much longer d’ya reckon?” Applejack asked, both in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence that they had endured for so long, and also because she was grow impatient herself with all the walking.

“We’re definitely drawing closer,” Celestia said, stopping momentarily to remove a few Alicorn charms attached to the walls in front of them. “But something’s not right here. He should have sensed us coming by now, and yet, he’s made no attempts to flee. Why not?”

“Maybe he’s got no way out?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “Or maybe he’s just willing to fight like a stallion!”

“I don’t think so. Even in his new state, he still seemed very afraid of my powers. He must be relying on these traps, but we’ve had no problem destroying them. Surely he should be panicking right now. Yet, it certainly doesn’t seem that way.”

The guard travelling with the group turned around upon hearing a strange noise coming from behind them. “Hey, did you guys hear something just now?”

The rest of the group turned around and listened closely.

“-uys!”

“Somepony’s coming!” Twilight shouted, and everypony each immediately assumed a defensive stance.

“You guys!”

Celestia lowered her guard when she recognised the voice as Trixie’s. The rest of the group also eased up when they saw Trixie running towards them.

“You guys…” Trixie stopped in front of the group, panting heavily. “Darn it! Trixie is…Not cut out…For all this running…”

Applejack smirked at Trixie, and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “So ya decided ta come along after all? Ah guess ye’re not as bad as ah thought!”

“We…We have…”

Applejack backed off a bit, looking confused. Twilight levitated a bottle of water from her bag, and offered it to Trixie, who immediately grabbed it into her own magical grasp and took a huge drink. Once she was done, she took a breath to calm down.

“We have a problem!” she shouted, startling the group with her sudden high volume.

“A problem?” Twilight asked, taking the bottle back and placing it back into her bag. “What kind of problem?”

A loud noise behind the group, followed by the unmistakable roar of a dragon, and the sudden shaking of the cave, answered Twilight’s question.

Chapter 5

“What do you meant the dragon’s still alive!?” Twilight shouted as the group ran down the tunnel. “It was dead! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“It was an illusion!” Trixie shouted back, using her magic to keep her legs from tiring out as she ran with the rest of the group. “There were also devices set up above the dragon, designed to wake and rile it up!”

“So it was a trap!?” Applejack asked, “Paradox set it up so that it’d come after us when we moved down this tunnel!?”

“That would seem to be the case, yes!” Celestia answered, using her magic to tear up Alicorn charms left and right as they moved quickly but cautiously through the tunnel. “Where are the others?”

“Trixie told Rarity to get them away from the cave, but Trixie doubts it would go after them anyway!”

“Why’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Dragons have a keen sense of smell,” Twilight answered, “And dragons, like any creature, would sooner chase other creatures currently inside its home than creatures that have already left!”

The group came to a sudden stop when they reached a huge cavern, with three tunnels on the other end of the room. Unfortunately, blocking their path was a rather big crevice. For Twilight, Celestia, and Rainbow Dash, this wasn’t much of a problem; Twilight could teleport to the opposite side, Rainbow Dash could fly over, and Celestia could do either of those.

However, Applejack was an Earth Pony, and even as athletic as she was, she couldn’t make such a huge jump. The guard and Trixie were both Unicorns, but the guard was only proficient in combat magic, and Trixie’s teleportation was limited enough as it was, so there was no way she could teleport across the huge gap while she was exhausted as she was.

Twilight could try to teleport multiple ponies with her, but that would decrease the chances of successfully making it safely to the other side. Celestia could have also teleported multiple ponies, but she was also tired out from constantly scanning for Alicorn Charms and removing them.

As for flying the others over, both Rainbow Dash and Celestia could only carry one pony each. Celestia was strong enough to carry more than one, sure, but she had to consider their sizes; there was no way she could fit two fully grown ponies on her back.

Noticing their predicament, the guard offered to stay behind whilst the others crossed over first. “It’s my duty, as a member of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard, to put the safety of the citizens of Equestria before my own.”

Applejack offered to stay in his stead, but he would have none of it, and had Rainbow Dash carry her forcibly to the other side. Trixie had no complaints, and climbed onto the Princess’ back.

Celestia stared the guard in the eyes. “I’ll be back for you soon,” she said, receiving a nod and a salute from her loyal guard. “By the way, I don’t believe I got your name.”

“Morning Star, ma’am.”

Celestia nodded, and lifted off the ground with Trixie on her back. She watched Twilight teleport over to the other side, and began to fly across to meet the three ponies waiting for them.

“Morning Star! What are you doing!?” Twilight shouted. Celestia turned her head to see what was going on, and saw Morning Star moving towards the passageway that they had come from.

“I’m gonna buy you all some time!” he shouted back, “That dragon’s nearly caught up to us, even I can tell that!” He drew his spear and shield with his magic, and with one last salute, sped off down the passageway.

“NO!” Celestia shouted, but before she could turn around to give chase, a flash of orange magic shot out from the passageway, and the entryway was blocked off by a sudden cave-in. The ponies still in the cavern watched in horror for a few moments, before the sounds of a ponies screaming from the other side of the cave-in brought Celestia back to reality. “Morning Star…You didn’t have to do that,” she said, before turning back to the other three ponies, and flying towards them. “But I’ll definitely see to it that you are remembered for your brave sacrifice.”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie poked their heads out of the bush that they were hiding behind, watching the cave’s entrance cautiously. “Hey, I just had a thought,” Pinkie Pie said, turning to face Rarity, “Couldn’t Fluttershy just use ‘The Stare’ if that dragon comes out?”

“Um…”

“Hm, good point,” Rarity said.

“Actually…”

“What’s ‘The Stare’?” the guard asked.

“It’s something that Fluttershy uses one out-of-control animals,” Rarity explained, “She once defeated a dragon with it, so theoretically, she should be able to do it again.”

“I didn’t defeat it,” Fluttershy said, finally gaining the group’s attention. “Um, ‘The Stare’ is what I use to help out-of-control animals see the error of their ways…It’s not something I can use on an animal acting on primal instincts, like trying to protect its home.”

“Well that sucks,” the guard said, pulling out a bottle and attempting taking a drink, before realising that the bottle was empty. “Oh, right…I drank it already,” he said with a sigh, as he tossed the empty bottle into the bushes behind him.

The group jumped when they heard a growl coming from said bushes, and immediately turned to face them. The bushes began to rustle, and before the group could say or do anything, a strange creature popped out. A strange, snake-like creature, with a big, bulky, scaly body, which stared at the group of ponies and began hissing furiously.

“Uh-oh…” the guard said meekly as he slowly stood up, drawing his spear with his magic, and moving over to stand in front of the three mares from Ponyville. “Girls, run towards the cave. Hurry.”

The three ponies began slowly backing away, but were unsure about the order they were just given. “The cave? But what about the dragon?”

“Better a dragon than a Basilisk,” he said, also backing away as a few more of these creatures emerged from behind the bushes in front of him. “The presence of the dragon there should scare them away. We’ll just have to hide and hope the dragon doesn’t notice us.”

Fluttershy whimpered as the Basilisks started to slowly approach the group, and yelped when she saw them charging at them. The guard swung his spear to intimidate them, causing them to momentarily back off.

“GO, NOW!” he shouted, and almost immediately, the three mares ran towards the cave. The Basilisks began to charge forward once more, but the guard was not going to let them pass. He erected a small barrier with magic, preventing them from chasing the mares. “Don’t think so! You want them, you gotta get past me, first!”

Celestia’s group, after taking a moment of silence for Morning Star’s sacrifice, continued to move through the cave quickly. The atmosphere between them was grim. Nopony besides Trixie dared to say anything to break the silence. Trixie tried to lift the mood by telling a few jokes and anecdotes, but it wasn’t going over so well with the rest of the group.

“And so of course Trixie had to show him what for. So Trixie used her magic to-”

“Trixie,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “Can you please just shut it for a few minutes? You’re annoying.”

Trixie glared at Rainbow Dash, and quickly noticed that the Pegasus was glaring right back at her. “Forgive Trixie for trying to lighten the mood here. If Trixie is forced to tag along with you ponies on this crusade, she’d rather not do it in such an uncomfortable manner.”

“And stop talking in third-pony, too! Seriously, it’s just so-”

“On guard, everypony,” Celestia said, interrupting the two before the argument could escalate any further. “Paradox is heading this way.”

Rainbow Dash and Trixie immediately stopped their arguing, and, along with Twilight and Applejack, braced themselves for the encounter. The group stopped suddenly, and just ahead of them, the figure of a pony could be seen approaching them.

“It’s him!” Twilight shouted, the light in her horn intensifying greatly.

Celestia furrowed her brow as Paradox’s came into view. “So, are you ready to talk now, Paradox?”

“Sorry, Celestia, but I really don’t have the time,” Paradox said, still nearing the group. “Got a busy, busy schedule. Destroying the world isn’t an easy task, y’know?”

Celestia wasn’t sure if Paradox was being serious, or just mocking her. “Destroying the world? Is that a metaphor, and exaggeration…” Celestia braced herself before she asked her next question, “Or does this have something to do Ancient Tomb?”

Paradox stopped dead in his tracks, his cocky smirk from earlier fading away. “How do you know about that?”

“The Alicorns sent me a report. They told me that various items had gone missing…Alicorn Charms, the Concealing Cloak, and the Key of the Ancient Tomb.” Celestia watched as Paradox pulled out the key from his cloak. “Paradox, you’ve really crossed the line, haven’t you? What in Equestria are you planning? And how did you even acquire those things?”

“There’s no need for me to explain that, Celestia,” Paradox said, before turning his attention towards the smaller mares behind her. “Now, which of these lovely young fillies was responsible for breaking my illusion?”

Trixie took a step forward, a proud grin on her face as she held her head up high. “That would be the Great and Powerful Trixie, of course. Who else in all of Equestria would be able to accomplish such a feat?”

Twilight facehooved, and quickly moved herself between Trixie and Paradox. “Idiot! Don’t antagonize him!”

“Trixie was simply answering his question.”

“We’re the ones who are supposed to be asking the questions here, not him!”

Paradox took a few more steps towards the group, his smile returning. “So, we now have two Unicorns with great magical power, huh? Interesting…” Paradox stopped when Celestia fired a warning shot from her horn, but his gaze remained on Trixie. “Trixie, how would you like to join me? I can pay you well. Whatever you desire, it shall be yours.”

Trixie scoffed, and her own horn lit up as she charged her magic into it. “Yeah, Trixie’s sure you can. But quite frankly, Trixie has no intention of going up against the most powerful being in all of Equestria. Trixie is no idiot, you know?”

“It’s not a lie, Trixie. When my plan comes to fruition, you only need to will it, and anything you desire shall be yours.”

“And what plan is that?” Celestia asked.

“I told you, I’m in a hurry,” Paradox answered, before turning back to Trixie. “Well? Yes, or no?”

Trixie lowered her head and fired a beam of magical energy at Paradox’s forehooves, which he easily dodged. “No,” Trixie answered flatly.

Paradox sighed, before taking out a few Alicorn charms from his cloak. “Alrighty, forget I asked. I’ll just have to find somepony else.”

“Wait!” Celestia shouted, charging towards Paradox. However, before she could reach him, the charms in his hooves lit up, and the ground beneath them started to shake. Paradox shot a beam from his horn at the cave’s ceiling between him and Celestia’s group, causing a cave-in to block their path. “Paradox, stop!”

But it was too late. Celestia could hear Paradox retreating further into the cave, and they could not go any further now.

“What do we do now?” Applejack asked, “We can’t go any further, and the way we came is blocked, too!”

“There were three tunnels in that large cavern earlier!” Trixie pointed out, before dodging a falling stalactite. “One of them may lead to a new way out!”

Celestia nodded. Even if it was only a small chance, it was really their only chance at this point. “Let’s go! Follow me, everypony!”

Celestia led the way as the other four mares followed her back the way they came. Once they reached the cavern the group had two possible paths to take, and not much time to make their decision, as the entire cave was starting to cave-in.

“Which way!?” Trixie shouted, combining her magic with Twilight’s to slow down the collapsing ceiling. “I can’t hold this for long!”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack both split up to examine each entrance. Unfortunately, both were just as dark as each other, and seemed to go deeper into the cave, so the decision wasn’t made any easier. That is, until a shriek from Rainbow Dash attracted the group’s attention.

The group saw a colony of bats flying out of the tunnel that she was examining. “That way!” Celestia shouted, running towards the tunnel, with Applejack and Trixie soon following. Twilight followed last, wanting to use her magic to buy as much time as possible.

“We’re goin’ in there?” Applejack asked, “But what about the bats?”

“That’s why we’re going in,” Celestia replied, “Bats usually stay close to cave entrances, so this tunnel is our best bet right now.”

Celestia’s horn lit up brightly, lighting the darkness in the tunnel ahead of the group. The five ponies quickly made their way through, ignoring the bats still lingering about, and relying on Twilight and Trixie’s combined magic efforts to shield them from falling stalactites.

Rarity dared to poke her head out from behind the rock that she and her friends were hiding behind. Lying before her very eyes was the dragon from earlier, sleeping peacefully, despite the spear stuck in its paw. The spear that Rarity had recognised as one of the Royal Guard’s spears.

She then turned her attention towards the cave’s entrance, and wondered how the other guard was doing. Her question was answered as said guard quickly limped into the cave, collapsing just as he entered. Rarity gasped, and quickly trotted over to him, slowing down as she remembered the dragon that was still present.

Rarity saw a group of Basilisks outside, starting into the cave, and she almost felt herself freeze up in fear. However, the Basilisks soon turned around, and ran off back into the forest. She breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued her quick but quiet trot towards the guard lying on the floor.

“Are you ok?” she whispered once she was close enough. She received no response, other than his heavy, irregular breathing, and so she moved closer to examine his body. She discovered a bite mark on his left hind leg, and decided it would be best to move him out of the way, in case the dragon suddenly woke up.

“Wait!” Fluttershy shouted behind her. Rarity would have shushed Fluttershy, but her shout was still only at the level of a whisper, so there wasn’t really a risk of her accidentally awakening the dragon. “We can’t move him. From what I’ve heard, Basilisk bites are venomous.”

Rarity turned her attention back towards the bite mark, and noticed the veins in the guard’s leg were starting to turn green. The guard started screaming in pain, and flailing about. Rarity quickly used her magic to hold him down, and Pinkie Pie, who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, quickly placed her right foreleg into the guard’s mouth, to muffle his screams.

The three mares turned to the dragon, and saw that it still wasn’t awake. They each took a sigh out of relief, before Pinkie Pie felt a sharp pain in her arm, and Rarity had to jam her own hoof into Pinkie’s mouth to stop her from screaming out. Pinkie looked down, tears running down her face, and saw the guard biting into Pinkie’s leg, his expression showing that he was in great pain.

“Fluttershy, what do you think we should do?” Rarity asked, wincing as she tried to drown out the guard’s muffled screaming by flattening her ears against her head. “How bad do you think the poison is?”

“Very bad,” Fluttershy answered, lowering her head to examine the guard’s leg, “But so far, it’s only really concentrated in his leg. It’ll take some time before it spreads throughout his whole body. We have to get the poison out before then.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Well, um…” Fluttershy hung her head low, allowing her mane to conceal her face, unable to come up with an answer. “I don’t know…”

Rarity felt something sharp poking her flank, and turned her attention to whatever it was. It was a spear, and attached the other end of that spear, was the guard’s right forehoof. He was still squirming and screaming, but he seemed to calmed down a little bit, and was now trying to tell Rarity something.

Rarity nodded to Pinkie Pie to tell her to remove her leg, which Pinkie was more than happy to do. Once the guard was able to speak properly again, he said: “T-Take…Leg…Take my…Leg…”

Rarity saw him lose his grip on his spear, and her eyes widened as she realised what he was asking of her. “Darling…You can’t mean that…”

Another loud scream from the guard caused Pinkie to immediately replace her hoof, and much to Rarity’s surprise, the dragon still hadn’t woken up. Rarity looked at the guard, who was in agonising pain, and then to the spear on ground next to him. She picked it up with her magic, and then turned to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, go wait behind those rocks over there,” Rarity said, forcing a smile as she addressed her friend. “And while you’re there, I need you to retrieve our medical supplies. But whatever you do, don’t come out until I call you over.”

Fluttershy looked at Rarity in horror, knowing exactly what Rarity was planning. She wanted to argue, to insist on staying by her side, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to help even if she did stay, and she certainly didn’t want to witness what she knew was coming.

With a reluctant nod, Fluttershy quietly crept over to the rocks where she and her friends were hiding earlier.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie shared a quick glance. Pinkie Pie’s appearance suddenly changed, her mane and tail deflating, and her expression becoming completely serious, and she shut her eyes and replaced the foreleg currently in the guard’s mouth with her other one. She braced herself, knowing that this was going to hurt.

Rarity levitated the spear to the guard’s leg, just a little above where the greenness of the veins ended, and with a slow nod from the guard, she swallowed hard, and lowered the tip of the spear down.

Rarity felt Pinkie biting into her hoof, attempting to cancel out the pain from the guard biting and screaming into her leg. Soon, Pinkie’s own muffled screams joined the guard’s, and Rarity was only just able to stop herself from screaming, too. She had her ears pressed firmly against the sides of her head, but it wasn’t enough. It also didn’t help that she was unable to draw her attention away from the guard’s limb being cut off, since she was the one doing it. She had to concentrate, to avoid cutting somewhere else by mistake.

Rarity had to intensify her magic to keep the guard from moving around too much, and eventually, she found that she wouldn’t be able to hold him down completely, so she simply concentrated on his leg, instead, making sure that, at the very least, she could amputate without accidently cutting the wrong place.

Finally, the guard's leg was off, and Rarity was able to throw the spear away and call over to Fluttershy, almost throwing up as she finally diverted her attention from the guard.

Fluttershy, who had been curled up behind the rocks, poked her head out, and saw Rarity motioning her over. She quickly stepped out of her hiding, carrying a bag in her mouth, and made her way to the group and quickly, but as quietly, as she could.

“Here, Rari- Oh, my…” Fluttershy had to quickly turn her head away as she finally reached the group. The guard’s leg had been completely cut off, and he had bitten into Pinkie Pie’s leg so hard that it was now bleeding.

Rarity removed her hoof from Pinkie’s mouth, and reached over towards the bag. After opening it, Rarity levitated out the medical supplies inside. She wasn’t highly knowledgeable in the field of first aid, but she at least knew that they had to stop the bleeding quickly. And so, she levitated out the bandages, and began wrapping it around the guard’s wound. Fluttershy wanted to help, but the sight was too much for her, so she instead sat back and let Rarity take care of it.

“Whoa!” a voice shouted from the cave’s entrance, “What happened here!?”

The three mares turned to see Rainbow Dash walking into the cave, and immediately shushed her. Rainbow Dash noticed the dragon, and was quick to lower her voice to a whisper. “Guys, what’s going on? What happened to all of you?”

Rarity finished wrapping the bandage around the guard’s leg, and walked over to Rainbow Dash. “A long story. Are the others with you?”

“Yeah, they’re outside, looking for you guys.”

“We have to hurry! He needs proper treatment right away!”

Rainbow Dash nodded, and ran outside with Rarity to alert the others. A few moments later, Princess Celestia re-entered the cave, and gently lifted the guard onto her back. “Well, at least one survived…” she mumbled as she slowly began to leave the cave, together with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

“Trixie had better be very, very well rewarded for this!” Trixie shouted as soon as the group was out of the forest. “Trixie agreed to be your guide, not to almost die in some cave!”

“Simmer down, Trixie,” Applejack said, turning and narrowing her eyes at Trixie, “We all almost died there…And one pony did die. Show a lil’ respect, y’hear?”

“Hmph, Trixie doesn’t allow herself to cry over what’s happened,” Trixie said, earning a cold glare from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Crying won’t bring him back. Trixie would just rather get her life back on track.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were trying their very best not to yell at Trixie for her cold behaviour, and Twilight was only being stopped by the Princess. Rarity increased her speed so that she was walking next to Trixie. “Did you learn that the hard way, then?” she asked, causing Trixie’s eyes to widen. “I thought so. It’s actually easy to read you, you know?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Whenever you talk about yourself, you’re either making stuff up, or, at the very least, exaggerating, or you’re speaking from personal experience. In either case, the way you talk is…Slightly different.”

Celestia nodded her head, and turned to face the two Unicorns walking together. “It’s subtle, but definitely there. Trixie, it seems you’re no stranger to ponies dying. You remind me of myself, over 600 years ago.” The group fell silent as they listened to Celestia’s story. “I had seen so many deaths, that eventually, I was tired of crying over them. I was tired of being sad, and seeing others be sad, and so…Whenever another death happened, I shrugged it off, as if it never happened…”

Trixie simply let out a small chuckle. “A fascinating story, Princess. But Trixie’s afraid that you’re wrong.” Twilight’s eye twitched when she heard Trixie say that Celestia was ‘wrong’. “Trixie’s psyche is simply on a higher plain than other ponies. That’s why she is unfazed by death. It has nothing to do with Trixie fighting back her tears.”

“…Is that so?” Celestia asked, turning her head back to face in front of her. “Very well, if that’s what you say…” Another uncomfortable silence passed, but was soon broken by Celestia. “Trixie, I know that this is probably the last thing you want to hear…But I want to place you into the Witness Protection Programme.”

“…What?”

Chapter 6

“No way! Not a chance!” Trixie protested, stopping dead in her tracks. The rest of the group also stopped, and turned to face her. “Trixie is not doing that! That would mean giving up her life as the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Trixie,” Celestia said sternly, looking into Trixie’s eyes with a serious look on her face, “For whatever reason, Paradox asked you to join him. He also asked Twilight, and even went so far as to take an entire town hostage when he asked her.”

“Seriously?” Trixie asked, her eyes widening in amazement. “Wow, that guy means business, huh?”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed. And he only asked you quickly, because he was in a rush. He didn’t take the time to explain anything to you. There’s a chance that he may target you once again. If not to recruit you, then maybe even to kill you, since your illusionary magic was strong enough to beat his.”

Trixie remained silent, and Celestia continued. “The Witness Protection Programme will ensure that you remain safe. You will be given a new name, a new look, and even a new background. We’ll even post a Captain to watch over you, given what kind of criminal we’re dealing with at the moment.”

“But that’s exactly why Trixie doesn’t want to do this! Trixie is happy being Trixie! She doesn’t want to be somepony else! That would be horrible! It would be a fate worse than death!”

“Come on, Trixie,” Applejack said, “You can’t honestly be so egotistical that ya’d rather risk bein’ killed than accept the Princess’ protection.”

“Would you be willing to abandon your entire life – everything and everyone you know – if you were in Trixie’s shoes?” Applejack didn’t answer, and Trixie turned to face everypony else. “Well? Any of you? Would any of you be willing to leave behind everything, and start a new, fake life!?”

“…”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Celestia said as she turned back around and continued walking. “Please at least think about it, Trixie.”

Upon returning to Canterlot Castle, Celestia immediately had the guards deliver a message to Luna, and had the injured guard taken to the infirmary immediately. She also made a note in her schedule to honour Morning Star’s sacrifice once all of this was over. But for now, she and the six Spirits of Harmony needed their rest. Trixie had already stormed off to her prepared bedroom, skipping the nice dinner that was waiting for them upon their return.

Once everypony had settled down in their rooms, Luna emerged from her own room to perform her duties, the first of which involved raising the moon. Once she was done, she intended to move on to the Night Court. However, a message that was brought to her by one of her sister’s Royal Guards stopped her.

Luna,

You may have received a letter earlier from the Alicorn Elders about the stolen Alicorn artefacts. I have confirmed today that the thief is Paradox. After my encounters with him today, it has become apparent that Paradox is indeed a high-level threat to Equestria, and I have no idea what exactly it is that he is planning.

Tonight, I have cancelled the Night Court, and instead request that you look into the Ancient Tomb. Bring me whatever information you can find. We must stop Paradox at once.

Celestia

Luna rolled the letter up and put it away, and then dismissed the guard that had delivered it. ‘The Ancient Tomb? I’ll have to look in the Royal Archives to find any information about it…’

Underneath the quarry just outside of Ponyville, Rover, Fido, and Spot, were finishing up with sorting out the day’s bounty of gemstones. They had struck a few gemstone veins whilst digging, and had completely lost track of time trying to mine out as much as they could.

They realised how late it had gotten when Fido let out a loud yawn, prompting Rover to stop and check outside. Deciding that they could just continue tomorrow, the three Diamond Dogs decided to simply turn in for the night.

However, once they had returned to the main mineshaft, they found their guards lying on the floor, all either unconscious or dead, depending on how badly the blows to their heads against the cave walls were.

“Interesting,” a voice called out in front of them, “Who would have thought that there’d be such a large, complex tunnel system, right underneath Ponyville? This would certainly make for a good hideout.”

“Who are you!?” Rover demanded, pointing a finger at the intruder. The intruder turned around and stepped forward, revealing himself to be a cloaked Unicorn pony. “Did pony do this? What do you want!?”

Paradox chuckled as his horn lit up, and within seconds, magical tendrils shot forth from around his body, aimed at the three Diamond Dogs. They tried to dodge, but the sudden attack caught them completely by surprise, and they were all captured with ease. They could feel the tendrils pressing against their throats, suspending them in the air, threatening to crush their windpipes at any second.

“I’m in need of a new hideout, and also, some servants to help me carry out my plans,” Paradox said, looking up at the three Diamond Dogs, who were struggling against their magical bonds. He tightened his grip on them, causing them to slow down to an eventual stop. “Here’s my offer: you can work for me, and be generously rewarded with all the gems you could ever want, or you could die, right here and now. I’ll give you a minute to think it over, before I choose for you.”

The three dogs were sweating nervously, and their bodies were shaking as they stared into this pony’s eyes. The fact that they knew he could them any second now didn’t help them, either. They looked at their fallen comrades, and then back at the pony.

“Oh, them,” Paradox started, realising that they were angry about him taking out their guards, “I offered them a similar choice. They chose poorly.” He grinned as his grip on the dogs’ throats tightened. “Well? What will it be?”

“AH! O-Ok, we’ll work with pony! Just…Let go! Please!” Rover shouted, with Fido and Spot agreeing quickly enough.

Paradox laughed as he released his magic, allowing the three dogs to fall to the floor. “Very good. I assure you, you will not be disappointed. Now, I suggest you treat whatever dogs are still alive, and convince them join me too…Next time, I won’t be so merciful.” The three dogs picked themselves up, and growled at Paradox, but were silenced by a cold glare from him. “And then I want you to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, and I need you all to be in top condition.”

Rover was the first to stand up, but as soon as he did, he fell back down again as he and his two companions felt something pushing their bodies. Rover stood back up again, and faced Paradox, who was now walking away. “What was that?” he asked, fear evident in his voice.

“Just a little insurance,” Paradox replied, “This way, I know you won’t betray me. Because if you do, I’ll kill you, immediately.” The last three words sent cold chills down the dogs’ spines, and it wasn’t until Paradox was out of sight that they were able to move and breathe once again.

Once Paradox was sure that no one was eavesdropping, he approached the desk in the room that he had commandeered from the Diamond Dogs, and levitated a map out of his bag. “Alright, so now Twilight is under the Princess’ personal protection, and that other one…Trixie, I think her name was…She’ll probably be entered into the Witness Protection Programme, meaning it’ll be difficult to acquire either one of them.

“I need a Unicorn with lots of raw magic. Two, if they’re uncooperative. So far, I’ve found three candidates…But I can’t get close to them with Celestia protecting them. The trouble is that most Unicorns with high levels of magic are usually found by Celestia fairly quickly. If I’m going to get a hold of any of these Unicorns, I’ll need to find Celestia’s weakness and take advantage of it…”

“What about her family?”

“Her family?” Paradox put a hoof to his chin. “Hm…Would that work? Is she really the type to hesitate when her family is in danger?”

“There is one. One who Celestia cannot bear to lose again.”

“…Luna?” Paradox thought for a moment, before grinning to himself. “Yes, that could work…That could work very well! But I’ll need a good location…Somewhere that would be hard to pull off a hostage rescue, yet easy to make a quick escape once I have my Unicorns…”

“How about the frozen wastelands to the north?”

“I’m not good with cold places.”

“But you are good at manipulating the terrain around you to your advantage.”

Paradox sighed, and reluctantly picked up a marker pen from his bag, marking the area on the map with a big circle. “I’ll consider it. And I’ll think up the rest tomorrow, but for now,” Paradox said, before letting out a loud yawn, “I’m exhausted, and need to get some sleep.”

The following morning, Celestia woke up extra early, so that she could talk to Luna before meeting with everypony. She hastily fixed up her mane and tail, and donned her Royal attire, before leaving her room and making her way towards her sister’s. When she got there, and discovered that it was locked with magic, Celestia decided to check the Royal Archives.

She arrived to find her sister staring sleepily at a book resting on a table, mumbling something quietly to herself. Celestia let out a sigh, and approached her sister. “Good morning,” she called out.

Luna jumped and turned around quickly. “S-Sister? Oh no! Is it morning already!? Oh, we stayed up far too late!” Luna began to panic, and Celestia, whilst giggling, put a hoof on her sister’s shoulder, to calm her down.

“Relax, Luna. I simply got up early so that I could talk to you for a bit.” Luna let out a sigh of relief, and then scolded her sister for scaring her. “Sorry about that,” Celestia apologized, before looking over Luna’s shoulder to see all of the books scattered around the place. “So, did you find anything?”

“Not much,” Luna admitted, turning back and resuming her reading. “We’ve discovered the exact location of the tomb, and also that the key that was stolen is the only means of entering. But we could not uncover its purpose, or how one uses the key to gain entry.”

Celestia raised a brow as she looked at her sister with a confused look on her face. “It’s a key. Keys generally unlock things all on their own.”

“Yes, but as it turns out, there is a certain method to using the key. A spell, we think, that ensures that no ordinary pony can ever get inside, even with the key.”

Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “Is that why he wanted Twilight and Trixie? Did he think they could pull off this spell?”

Luna shrugged. “Quite possibly, but we can’t be sure yet. Anyway, one name has come up fairly often during my research: Moondancer.”

““Moondancer”?” Celestia asked, with a look of surprise.

“Indeed. Apparently, Moondancer was a pony who had researched the Ancient Tomb quite thoroughly.” Luna levitated a book from a nearby pile over to her sister. “This one in particular references her a lot. But all they ever do is reference her, with the occasional quote or experiment that came directly from Moondancer. Apparently, she travelled with a human companion, so we guess that this must have been a very long time ago.”

Celestia sighed, placing the book down on the table. “So it won’t be easy tracking down her descendents. And even if we do, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have anything that can help us.”

“Let’s not give up hope just yet, sister,” Luna said, flashing her older sister a smile, “For there is one place worth checking.”

“Where?”

“Well, Moondancer had a human companion, right? Think back to when humans still walked this world. At that time, the pony race was still very small. There were only three places where ponies lived: Flutter Valley, bodies of water, if they were Sea Ponies, and Paradise Estate.”

Celestia realised where was going. “You think there might be something at Paradise Estate?” Celestia asked, receiving a nod from Luna. “But that place is a protected historical landmark.”

“If Equestria’s in danger, I don’t think the High Council will have many objections,” Luna said, “And if they do, we can always request help from the Alico-”

“No!” Celestia shouted. Luna turned to her sister with wide eyes. “I don’t want to bring them into this! I want to find Paradox before they do! Please understand, Luna…It’s my fault that Paradox has become what he is, and I want to save him if I can.”

“But sister…” Luna wanted to object, but then she remembered her time as Nightmare Moon. How she herself was wanted by the Alicorn Elders, but was protected by Celestia, and saved by Twilight Sparkle and her friends. ‘I had fallen into darkness too…So I guess I’m the last pony to be saying “no second chances”.’

“Luna?” Celestia looked at her sister with growing concern. “Are you ok? You must be exhausted after reading all night. Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll take things over from here.”

Luna slowly nodded to her sister, and then rose to her hooves. As she left the room, she took a moment to turn back to her sister. She opened her mouth to say something, but remained silent instead.

Twilight Sparkle entered the dining room, and saw her friends waiting for her. “Good morning, everypony,” she said as she moved towards one of the empty seats, next to Rarity. “Did you all sleep well last night?”

“Ah coulda slept better,” Applejack said, “Ah ain’t used tah sleeping in such fancy conditions. And those beds are way too soft for mah tastes.”

“I prefer clouds,” Rainbow Dash said, “But I guess a real bed every now and then isn’t so bad.”

The group’s attention was drawn to the doors as they opened. They saw Princess Celestia entering the room, flanked by two Royal Guards. She made her way to her seat at the far of the table, and looked over the group. “Where’s Trixie? Is she not up yet?”

The group of ponies exchanged looks, and then each of them shrugged in unison.

Celestia turned to one of the guards by her side. “Would you mind bringing Trixie to us? I would like to speak with her before we leave.”

The guard saluted, and went off to complete his task. “Princess, when you say we’re leaving, does that mean we already know Paradox’s next location?” Twilight asked.

“No, we do not,” Celestia said with a sigh. “But we do have an idea on where we can find out about what he’s planning. Twilight, have you ever heard of Paradise Estate?”

Twilight thought for a second, and then nodded. “Yes, but only bits and pieces. What about it?”

“It’s where ponies used to live, long, long ago, before even the three pony tribes were formed.”

“Before then?” Rarity asked incredulously. “My, that was a long time ago. And you think it has something to do with whatever it is that Paradox is planning?”

Celestia shook her head, confusing the other ponies. “Not directly, but I believe that there may be something there that we can use. A pony named Moondancer may have left a document there about the Ancient Tomb.”

“The Ancient Tomb?” Pinkie Pie asked. “What’s that?”

Twilight scratched her chin with her hoof as she searched her brain, but couldn’t recall ever hearing of such a thing. “I’ll admit, even I have no knowledge of this ‘Ancient Tomb’.”

“And that doesn’t surprise me, Twilight,” Celestia said flatly, “After all, it is one of the greatest Alicorn secrets ever. It is classified, on a need to know only basis.”

“An’ yah think that’s what Paradox is after?” Applejack guessed.

Celestia nodded, but before she could explain, she was interrupted by two maids brining the group their breakfast. “Let’s talk further after we eat. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I certainly can’t think straight on an empty stomach,” she said with a little chuckle.

“Yeah, I hear that!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Looks a lil’ fancy, but hey, who’m ah tah complain 'bout free food?”

Celestia couldn’t help but notice that Trixie had still not arrived, but before she could ask her other guard to find out what was going on, the first guard returned and ran up to the Princess’ side, sweating heavily and panicking. He saluted and tried to regain his composure, before reporting to the Princess.

“P-Princess. Our guest, Miss Trixie, is gone,” he said, trying to remain calm.

“What do you mean, “gone”?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at the guard, which caused him to flinch.

“Um, well…I checked her room, but she wasn’t there, and all of her things had been packed. All that was left was this note…”

Celestia took the note from the guard.

I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided that a life as anypony except Trixie will simply not do. Despite all of the hardships, I did not come this far to throw everything away. I am Trixie, and I will not let you change that.

I still expect payment. I will be waiting in the Beat Box in Manehatten in three days time, at noon. Here is a map to help you find it. I want my payment there and then, and nothing more.

Below the writing was what Celestia assumed to be a map, though it was completely indecipherable to her.

Celestia furrowed her brow and let out a frustrated sigh. “She left? That’s not good…How did she even get past the guards assigned to protect her, anyway?”

“Uh, Princess?” Applejack said, “There’s something else on the back.”

Celestia flipped the paper to reveal more writing.

P.S. I may have incapacitated some of your guards and tied them up in the closet in my room. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. I think.

Celestia told the guard that had found the note to search the room for the two guards, a task he reluctantly obeyed, having already been tired out from running back from the room not too long ago.

“That fool…Why would she do that? That just makes things harder for us,” Celestia said, putting a hoof to her forehead as she thought about what to do next.

“Actually,” Applejack spoke up, but was slightly nervous about what she had to say. “Ah kinda understand what she’s sayin’.”

“You do?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, sure. Ah mean, I stayed up last night thinkin’ ‘bout it, an’ ah thought, “what if ah was forced tah leave Sweet Apple Acres an’ live mah life as ‘Sunbeam’ or ‘Cherry Pie’ or somethin’?”. Well, Sweet Apple Acres is mah home. It’s where mah friends are, and mah family, an’ the thought of never seein’ any of ‘em again is just…Scary.”

“But does Trixie even have any friends that she would miss?” Rainbow Dash asked as she placed a forkful of pancakes into her mouth.

“Even if she doesn’t, she still has her special talent, and her travelling show is how she expresses it. If it were me, ah could probably still buck trees for a livin’, but with Trixie, she’d be forced to quit all forms of show business, since they would just draw attention to her.”

“So it would be like if Rainbow Dash was forced to give up flying,” Rarity said, “Or if I were forced to give up dressmaking.”

“Or if I was forced to give up partying!” Pinkie Pie chimed in happily, before a frown formed on her face. “Oh wow, that does sound bad.”

Twilight looked down at her Cutie Mark with a look of sympathy. “Giving up who you…Your very reason for living…Just so you can be safe…As crazy as it sounds, I think I agree with Trixie. I would never be able to give up my magic, even if continuing to use it could one day cost me my life.”

As the group of friends continued their discussion, Celestia looked down at her plate of food, staring at it, but not really noticing it. She was in her own little world, thoughts racing through her head. ‘Is it really worth it though? Risking your life, just to pursue a dream? The only dream I’ve ever had is to live a long, happy life with my sister. But when Luna became Nightmare Moon, I didn’t hesitate to seal her away in order to protect myself…Is that because I’m weak? Is it wrong to want to keep living, no matter what the cost? Is it wrong…To be so afraid of death?’

“Anyway, even if ah agree with her, ah still think we should find her,” Applejack said, breaking Celestia from her thoughts. “She’s in danger, so we should do what we can for her.”

“Well, she did help us out with that whole dragon thing…And escaping from the collapsing cave…” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“Um, I think we should help her, too,” Fluttershy added.

“Yes, we should definitely assign somepony to watch over her,” Celestia said, joining back into the conversation. “But we need to assign somepony who can watch her in secret, so that she doesn’t try to move around so much. Somepony strong, who has an excellent grasp of magic.”

“You don’t mean-”

“I do, Twilight,” Celestia said, before writing a letter and handing it to her guard. “Deliver this to Captain Shining Armour, with all haste.”

“Yes, ma’am!” the guard said as he saluted, before running out of the room with the letter in his mouth.

“The rest of us shall leave for Paradise Estate right after breakfast. The sooner we can end this, the better.” The group of friends nodded, and resumed their eating. ‘And we need to end this soon, before the Alicorns do.’

Shining Armour’s eye twitched as he read over the note that he had just received for the 10th time, trying desperately to find some key bit of information that he had missed.

Captain Shining Armour,

I’m sure that you remember Trixie Lulamoon, the charming young mare that you watched over yesterday. Well, good news! I’m assigning you to watch over her. She left the castle earlier today, and although her exact location is unknown at the present, we know that she will be at the Beat Box in Manehatten in three days. Chances are that she will return to Trottingham for her trailer. If she does, let her go, but keep a close eye on her. From a distance. We have reason to believe that Paradox may target her, and so, we need a strong, reliable stallion such as yourself to keep her safe.

This means that you will have to watch any shows that she puts on. In order to not blow your cover, please do not hesitate to ask for bits to cover any ticket fees, instead of using your status to gain free entry. If Paradox is targeting Trixie, he will undoubtedly be looking for Royal Guards nearby. Therefore, you are to perform this mission undercover, as a regular citizen of Equestria.

Have fun!

Princess Celestia of Equestria

Shining Armour let out a rather loud groan, followed by taking a big sip of his morning coffee. “You gotta be kidding me…I was supposed to go to the movies with Cadance today,” he said as he lowered his head down onto the table in front of him. “And instead I get a date with the pony who gave me a migraine yesterday…Great.”

Chapter 7

It had been four hours since Twilight and her friends had departed from the castle with Princess Celestia. It was a long trip to Paradise Estate, which wasn’t even in Equestria, but the group of friends weren’t bored. They were making the most of their time by playing games such as ‘I spy’, and by looking down at the amazing scenery beneath them after they left the Equestrian border.

“Wow! I’ve never been outside of Equestria before!” Fluttershy said excitedly, “I wonder what kind of animals there are out here.”

“I’ve only been up to the border myself,” Twilight said, “But according to my books, there are many exotic species that don’t exist in Equestria.”

“Wonder if there’re any apple orchards out here?” Applejack said. Rarity raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Honestly, Applejack, your first time in a whole new land, and your first thoughts are on apples?”

“Yeah, so? Ah bet your first thoughts are on gems or fashion or somethin’.”

Rarity blushed and turned her head away. “O-Of course not! Unlike you, I don’t have a one-track mind. I was actually thinking about the culture out here.”

“Culture?” Applejack asked, “You mean there’re ponies livin’ out here?”

“Not ponies,” Twilight corrected, “But I think the zebra settlements should be somewhere around this area.”

“I wonder if they’re like Zecora?” Pinkie Pie said, “OOH! We should totally land and go visit some of them! Then we can have a pony-and-zebra-friendship party, and learn all about the zebras, and then surprise Zecora with our new knowledge when we get home!”

“We’re in too much of a hurry,” Celestia said, causing Pinkie’s ears to drop. “We must hurry, before Paradox makes his next move.”

Applejack put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder, and tried to cheer her up. “C’mon now, we can have a party after we beat Paradox, right?”

Pinkie’s face immediately lit up, and her big, cheerful smile returned. “Eeyup!”

After another three hours, the group had finally reached the location of Paradise Estate. The area was protected by a powerful barrier, with a small group of Royal Guards standing guard and patrolling the area.

The chariot carrying the group passed through the barrier, and landed on the ground. Two guards rushed up to greet the Princess and her company. “Princess Celestia! We’ve received your letter, and have vacated the premises for you and your…Friends.”

Celestia jumped off of the chariot, and faced the guard addressing her. “Thank you. Do you think you could prepare some food for us? The trip was a lot longer than I had calculated.”

“Of course, ma’am! We’ll have it ready for you immediately!”

Celestia nodded, and waited until the guards were a good distance away from her before turning to Twilight and her friends. “We’ll eat, and then begin the search. But first, I should probably warn you, I haven’t actually received permission from the High Council to do this.”

“Sooo…What’s that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It means that what we’re about to do here is illegal.” The group gasped in unison, but remained silent whilst Celestia continued. “That means that if any of you want out now, I’ll fully understand.”

The group shared a few glances with each other, before stepping forward and smiling at the Princess. “Well, we came this far, so we might as well go all the way!” Rainbow Dash said enthusiastically.

“Yeah! Sometimes it’s fun to bend the rules a little!” Pinkie said, receiving a worried look from some of her friends.

“As a lady, I should be opposed to this,” Rarity said, and then sighed, “But as a friend, I can’t sit back and let you do this all by yourself.”

“We’ll help ya, Princess! Ye’re our friend, after all!”

Fluttershy smiled and nodded silently, and Twilight thanked all of her friends. “Hey, Princess? Do you think I should include this in my next report?”

Celestia laughed, and then shook her head. “No, that’s quite alright, Twilight.”

The group shared a quick laugh, before being called over by the guards. They made their way to one of the tents to have a quick meal before beginning their search.

Rapier and Sabre were both Royal Guards with a very important duty: standing at the entrance to Canterlot Castle, staring off into the distance, and being very, very bored, all day. The two had to stand in one spot, watching all of the ponies passing by them, and making sure that anypony who doesn’t have permission to enter the castle is turned away.

And in a city like Canterlot, where the Royal Guard is everywhere, nothing exciting really ever happens, so there’s nothing on the streets to keep them entertained. All they really have to keep each other entertained is small talk, and that was hard when one of them was grumpy, and only ever spoke in one word sentences.

“Man, nothing ever happens around here! Why can’t I be sent off to somewhere like Detrot? Or Ponyville? That close to the Everfree forest, there’s gotta be something fun going on there every now and then.”

Sabre simply grunted in response, and Rapier sighed, another attempt at a conversation ruined. He was about to give up and just play with the rocks on the ground, until Sabre spoke up.

“Hey.” Rapier’s ears twitched, and he turned to face Sabre with a look of surprise on his face. Sabre was actually speaking? And not just that, but initiating a conversation!

“Yeah?”

“Hand me that picture of Paradox.”

Rapier’s face dropped, and he sighed. ‘Should’ve known it would be something work related.’ Rapier walked over to the nearby workstation that they had set up, and rummaged through all of the paperwork for the picture that was handed to them yesterday. “What d’ya want it for?”

Sabre didn’t answer, instead staring directly forward, narrowing his eyes at something in the distance. Rapier finally found the photo, and gave it to Sabre, who took it without a single word. “You’re welcome, partner,” Rapier said sarcastically, before turning to see what Sabre was staring so intently at. His jaw dropped, and he was at a complete loss for words.

“Halt!” Sabre shouted out, charging towards a pony in the crowd in front of him.

“Wait!” Rapier shouted out, grabbing a spear with his wing and following his partner.

Sabre and Rapier pushed through a small crowd of ponies, stopping just in front of a cloaked Unicorn, who was smiling at the two guards. Rapier urged the crowds to back away, but that only made them more eager to see what was about to happen.

“Paradox, you’re under arrest!” Sabre shouted, using his magic to draw his spear and pointing it directly at Paradox. “Come quietly, or we’ll take you by force!”

Paradox shrugged and raised both of his forehooves into the air. Sabre cautiously approached Paradox, paying careful attention to his horn, ready to act the moment he saw any magic passing through it.

Paradox grinned as he saw his followers – the Diamond Dogs – sneaking into the castle whilst everypony’s attention was drawn to him, and allowed his hooves to be shackled, and his horn to be bound by an anti-magic ring.

Sabre and Rapier looked at each other sceptically, but decided not to question it. They figured he must have seen that he couldn’t beat Celestia, and had come to surrender, before he made his crimes worse.

“Let’s go. Princess Celestia’s out of town right now, but you can wait in the dungeon until she returns,” Rapier said, glaring at Paradox. The three started moving, with Sabre in front, Paradox in the middle, and Rapier behind. Sabre asked a couple of guards patrolling the streets to cover for them whilst they escorted their prisoner to the dungeon, and the three ponies made their way towards the castle.

‘Celestia’s out of town?’ Paradox thought to himself, ‘Well, that certainly does make things easier for me. It means I won’t have to worry about distracting her for long enough. But it does make me wonder…Where could she have possibly gone?’

The three ponies walked through the castle in absolute silence. The servants and guards that they passed along the way stopped to stare at the prisoner for a moment, before returning to their duties.

Finally, the silence was once again too much for Rapier to take, and since Sabre was most likely unwilling to speak, he decided to try talking to Paradox. ‘Might as well get an early start on the questioning,’ he thought to himself. “So,” Rapier began, “What gives? You came to Canterlot simply to give up? What happened? Did you realise that the Princess is no pushover?”

Paradox laughed for a few seconds, and then turned his head to look at Rapier, and also, to see down the corridor behind them. ‘No ponies in front or behind. This is as good a place as any,’ he thought to himself as he turned his head back to face in front of him. He puckered his lips, and whistled at a frequency that ponies couldn’t hear. Ponies couldn’t, but dogs could.

“Nah, I haven’t given up yet,” Paradox said, turning back to face Rapier. “Y’see, I’m here to kidnap Luna, so that Celestia won’t able to touch me.”

Sabre scoffed, and Rapier shot Paradox a rage filled glare. “Y’know, treason attempts are usually more successful when you don’t turn yourself in to the enemy.”

Paradox shrugged, and once more turned to face in front of him. After a few more seconds of walking, the group was suddenly ambushed by three creatures that shout out from a nearby janitor’s closet. Sabre raised his spear to defend himself, but whilst he was busy focusing on one of these creatures, the other two ran past and made their way towards Paradox.

Rapier watched as one of the two creatures produced a key. Rapier recognised it as the key that Sabre was holding earlier. The one that could unlock Paradox’s magical restraint. The two creatures reached Paradox, and took off the ring around his horn. “Crap!” Rapier shouted as he charged forwards, but was quickly knocked back by Paradox’s magic. Rapier felt his head bang against the wall behind him, and struggled to stay conscious as he watched Sabre charge at Paradox, raising his spear, ready to kill the criminal pony.

“Too slow,” Paradox said as he nimbly dodged Sabre’s attack, and then, using his magic, drew the sword that one of the three creatures was carrying for him, and used it to cut Sabre’s head clean off. “Now, let’s go visit Luna,” Paradox said, before turning to face his companions. “There’s been a slight change of plans. You no longer need to distract Celestia. But I would like you to look something up for me.”

Rapier tried to stand up, but his head was hurting too much, and it was all he could do to just stay awake and watch the scene before him unfold. Paradox relayed some orders to his accomplices, but he couldn’t hear them, and before he could get up to try to stop them, the entire world went black as he finally lost consciousness.

“Wow, this…Isn’t what I was expecting,” Twilight said as she entered the Paradise Estate. “It’s pretty big…Where should we start?”

“We’ll divide our efforts,” Celestia responded, “I’ll check upstairs with Fluttershy and Rarity. The rest of you search downstairs.” Celestia turned her attention to Rainbow Dash. “Make sure to check absolutely everything. Including the high-up areas.”

Rainbow Dash saluted. “Leave it to me!” Once Celestia’s group had left for the upstairs area, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Twilight. “So, where should we check first?”

Twilight shrugged, and moved down the hallway towards one of the doors. “Well, if there’s a library or a study of some kind, that’d be a good place to start looking.”

“What’re we lookin’ for again?” Applejack asked, checking a door on the side of the hallway opposite Twilight.

“Anything about the Ancient Tomb, or anything written by Moondancer,” Twilight answered, opening another door and seeing what appeared to be a study inside. “Ok! This looks like a good place to start! I’ll go through the books in here. You guys let me know if you find anything elsewhere.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie answered, hoping cheerfully down the hallway.

Celestia placed another book back onto the shelf, after quickly scanning through it with her magic. She was looking for specific keywords in any of the books upstairs, but so far, had found nothing. “I suppose such an important document might be hidden somewhere…But it’s not like I can just start tearing apart a historic monument. That would definitely be crossing the line.”

Celestia heard a scream from another upstairs room, and quickly dropped the book that she was carrying to find out what had happened. She rushed over to the room where she had heard the screaming coming from, and saw Rarity standing on her hind legs, her back leaning against the wall behind her, as she breathed in and out very heavily. “What happened?” Celestia asked, looking charging magic into her horn.

“THAT!” Rarity shouted pointing a hoof towards the opposite end of the room.

Celestia turned to look at what Rarity was pointing at, and saw a small group of spiders in a cobwebbed area in the corner of the room. “That’s it?” Celestia, chuckling slightly at Rarity’s overly dramatic reaction. “How about you search somewhere else? I’ll search this room instead.”

Rarity was more than happy to take the Princess up on that offer, and sped off to another room with a quick “thank you”.

Celestia turned to cobwebs, and let out another soft chuckle. “Honestly, she’s just like Blueblood. Can’t stand the sight of spiders one…Bit?” Celestia noticed something strange about the webbed area, but couldn’t put her hoof on it. She approached it, and the strange feeling became even clearer. “This is an illusion,” she said to herself, her horn lighting up as she tried to seek out the source of the illusion.

She turned her attention towards the mirror on the wall next to her. “There?” she asked herself, walking closer to the mirror. She reached out with her hooves and took down the mirror, revealing a magic circle on the other side. “This circle…It’s creating an illusion. This may be just what I was looking for.”

Celestia unleashed a small beam of magic at the circle, erasing it from the wall. As she did so, she felt the illusion in the room disappear. She turned to the cobwebbed wall, and her eyes widened as she saw the wall moving back, slowly revealing a trapdoor on the floor.

Celestia wandered over to the trapdoor, and opened it with her magic. Underneath was a ladder that seemed to lead pretty far down. “Yes, this certainly seems suspicious.”

Celestia and Twilight reached the bottom of the ladder, leaving the others at the top until they could confirm that it was safe. The two ponies found a huge, dusty study at the bottom of the ladder. There was a desk in the centre, which was worn down and falling apart, and two bookcases completely filled with books.

“Twilight, you go back up and let the others know that it’s safe,” Celestia said, and Twilight nodded as she began to climb back up the ladder. Celestia moved over to the desk, and pulled open a few drawers. Inside, she found quills, inkpots, blank pieces of parchment, and a few pages with writing on them. They seemed to be research notes of some kind, but they were in a completely random order, making it hard to read them properly.

“Whoa!” Celestia turned around to see Rainbow Dash landing at the bottom of the ladder, apparently having flown down instead of climbing. “This is just like something out of Daring Do! Awesome!”

Celestia chuckled, and had to agree with Rainbow Dash. Once the rest of the group had climbed down the ladder, Celestia handed the pages that she had discovered to Twilight. “Could I ask you six to try to piece this together in the right order for me?” she asked, before turning her attention to the bookcases behind her. “I’ll look through those books to see what I can find.”

Twilight and her friends nodded, though Applejack and Rainbow Dash were a little more reluctant, and scattered the pages on the floor, gathering around them to try and piece them together. A task that would prove very annoying, considering the pages had writing on both sides.

Meanwhile, Celestia walked over to the bookcases, and once again began to use her magic to scan through the books one by one. Whilst the first two yielded no result, the third one seemed to contain information on the Ancient Tomb. Although, and quick read-through revealed nothing that Luna hadn’t already uncovered.

The fourth book contained information on Moondancer’s favourite foods, her hobbies, and other information that was useless to the Princess, and it wasn’t until the seventeenth book that Celestia had another hit. This time, there was actually something there that she could use.

Celestia read through a particular passage in the book, and came across something new. Something that she had never heard of before. “Pandora’s Box?” she asked herself out loud.

From my research into the Ancient Tomb, I have concluded that the tomb itself was not built by any creatures, but instead, has always been there, ever since the world began. Maybe even before then, though I suppose that doesn’t really make much sense. The tomb itself has always been, but the doorway that lies inside was built by an advanced civilization, and sealed away with powerful magic.

I believe this civilization to be those legendary creatures that my uncle spent his entire life searching for. The ‘Alicorns’ – Ponies with control over magic, the skies, and the land.

Celestia skimmed over a few pages, and then another passage caught her eye.

Megan came back from the Ancient Tomb with only Surprise today. When I asked her what had happened, they told me that the group was attacked by three large pony-like creatures in black cloaks. They descended from the sky, and then used magic to ambush them, and stole the Rainbow of Light.

“The Rainbow of Light?” Celestia asked herself. She turned back to make sure that the others hadn’t heard her, and then turned her attention towards the book. ‘The Rainbow of Light was the precursor form of the Elements of Harmony. The Elders told me and Luna that the Rainbow of Light was taken from the ponies because they misused it…’

Celestia flicked through the pages, but found nothing more of particular interest. The next book of interest was the twenty-eighth one. Celestia opened it, took a look inside, and then, after a few minutes of reading, gasped rather audibly, dropping the book the ground.

Twilight heard this, and turned away from her current project to see if her mentor was alright. “Princess? What’s wrong?” The rest of the group also turned to face Celestia, but it wasn’t until a few minutes had passed that Celestia had actually started to move again.

“Twilight, pack up the pages in whatever order you have them in right now,” Celestia said, walking over to the desk as quickly as she could. She produced a piece of parchment from the desk, and opened one of the inkpots, using her magic to make whatever ink was still left useable once more. “We need to return to Canterlot immediately. Shining Armour is in danger.”

Twilight and her friends gasped, and quickly began gathering the pages together, taking care not to mess up what progress they had currently made so far. “What do you mean? Why would my brother be in danger? He’s a Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Paradox is after Unicorns with lots of raw magic. Which means he’ll be specifically going after ponies like you and Shining Armour.” Celestia finished writing her letter, and sent it off with her magic. “I have faith in Shining Armour’s abilities, but if Paradox specifically targets him, things could turn out very bad.”

Once the pages were packed up, and Celestia had gathered all of the books that she hadn’t yet checked, the group began to ascend the ladder back up to the top.

Luna awoke to the sounds of shouting and screaming outside her room. She lazily stretched her limbs, let out a loud yawn, and then turned her head to face her clock. It was not yet time for her to get up and raise the moon. She covered her head with her pillow, and tried to go back to sleep, when the realisation that ponies were shouting and screaming in the castle hit her.

“…Wait. We should probably go and check that out,” Luna said, before yawning loudly once more, and then rising to her hooves. She rubbed her eyes, and slowly made her way to her bedroom door, completely forgetting to fix up her mane and tail, like her sister had always told her to do whenever she woke up.

She began to open the door slowly, but stopped when she felt a sinister presence on the other side. Suddenly, something was thrown into her room, and before she could react, a powerful, blinding light caused her to close her eyes tight.

Paradox took this chance to slam the door open, knocking Luna down onto the floor as it smacked her face hard, and then quickly pinned Luna to the ground with his magic. Luna tried to force him off with her own magic, but Paradox had already prepared some Alicorn charms that would suppress her magic, and stuck them to her horn before she could do anything to stop him.

“So this is Princess Luna, eh? I must say, you really do remind me a lot of myself, back when I was a colt.” Paradox wanted to laugh, but his voice was bitter, and he could only scowl at the helpless Alicorn struggling on the floor beneath him. “How pathetic. To think that you’re related to Celestia…And her sister, no less.”

“Villain! What is thine purpose here!? Hath thou cometh to assassinate us and our sister!?”

Paradox raised an eyebrow at the Princess’ strange way of speaking, but decided not to question it. “Don’t worry, Luna. You won’t be killed yet.” Paradox knelt down slowly, and applied another Alicorn charm to Luna’s forehead. “After all, a dead hostage doesn’t work as well as a living one.”

“You…Scoundrel…” Luna said slowly, weakening as she slowly drifted off into sleep. Paradox removed the charm from her forehead, and then levitated the sleeping Princess onto his back.

“Oof! She’s heavier than she looks,” he said to himself.

“Oof! Wow, Paradox, you’re heavier than you look! It must be all that junk food. Maybe you should go on a diet.”

“But I don’t eat that much, mom! Besides, you’re the one who sneaks cake from the kitchen every night!”

“…You saw that? Um…How about we keep that our little secret, ok?”

“Ok!”

Paradox allowed a small smile to cross his lips, before shaking it off completely, and then turning his head to look at Luna. “You know…Your sister used to sneak cake from the kitchen, every single night.” He grinned as he began to carry Luna outside of her room. “I wonder if she still does that?”

A flash of light escaped Luna’s horn, and a scroll shot forth, landing in front of Paradox. He lifted it up, read over it, and began to laugh maniacally. “Oh, Celestia. You’re making this so easy for me.” He burned the scroll with a simple fire spell, and then made his way through the castle, fighting off Royal Guards as he made his escape. ‘Next stop will be Manehatten then.’

Chapter 8

“Thank you! Thank you! You have been a wonderful audience, but unfortunately, Trixie’s performance must come to an end! If you wish to see more, you will have to come back at the same time tomorrow!”

Trixie bowed for her audience, took a moment to wave at her adoring fans, and then unleashed a smokescreen, allowing her to exit the stage unseen.

Once Trixie was back in her trailer, she started the least favourite part of her performances: packing up her stage. She had to use her magic to fold it back up, and because of the lack of space in her trailer, putting away her props and gadgets and such was quite a challenge.

Once everything was packed up, she counted the money that she had received from her performance, and was quite pleased with the total. “Well, it looks like the Great and Powerful Trixie will be eating and bathing tonight. If Trixie had known Manehattens were so willing to throw their bits away, she would have performed here much sooner.”

Trixie split the money that she had earned into three piles. One for tonight’s meal, one for a trip to the local bathhouse, and one for replenishing her stage supplies, such as fireworks. She placed each pile into its own pouch, and prepared to leave her trailer.

When she neared the door, she opened it slightly to peer outside. She could tell that she was being followed, but she wasn’t sure who it was. ‘The shops aren’t too far. If I stay on the streets amongst the crowds, I should be fine.’

Trixie exited her trailer, and locked it with her magic. She was immediately ambushed by a group of foals and, presumably, their carers. The foals wanted Trixie’s autograph, and to hear more of Trixie’s stories.

Trixie wanted to hurry up and get her shopping done, but with this many fans asking for her autograph, she couldn’t simply turn them down. It would look bad. She began signing the autographs, but told the foals that she didn’t have enough time to tell anymore stories tonight.

Once she was done, and the crowd had died down, Trixie began moving down the street, heading towards the bathhouse first. ‘They’re right behind me…Surely they wouldn’t attack me out in public, would they?’

“Princess, please calm down!” one of the Royal Guards begged as Celestia stormed into Luna’s room, an angry look on her face.

“Luna!? Where are you!? Answer me!” Celestia lit up Luna’s room, and searched practically every single spot. But in the end, she was unable to find any trace of her sister. “Paradox…How could you do this?”

“Princess.” Celestia turned to see a guard approaching her, holding a scroll in her magic. “This message was left by the attacker.”

Celestia grabbed the scroll into her own magic and unrolled it.

Dear Celestia,

Don’t worry about your sister. I’m simply borrowing her for a bit. I need some company, after all.

If you would like her back, I would be willing to make a trade. Your sister, for Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour. Naturally I want them bound, and their magic suppressed. If you agree to this, then meet me at the Frozen Wastelands, in the old watchtower, tomorrow at 16:45. And no funny business. Your sister’s life is in my hooves, after all.

Paradox

Celestia stared at the letter in shock, horror, and disbelief. She fell down onto her haunches, and simply stared into space for a few minutes.

“Princess?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she entered the room, he friends standing outside. “Are you ok? Is there anything I can do?”

“…Please…Just leave me be, Twilight,” Celestia answered.

“But I-”

“LEAVE! NOW!” Celestia shouted, startling everypony in and just outside of the room. Celestia brought a hoof to her face, and let out a deep sigh. “I want to be alone for awhile.”

Twilight stared at her teacher for a moment, before nodding and turning to leave. The guards inside the room followed suit, and once the Princess was the only one left in the room, she slammed the door shut with her magic.

“Is she gonna be ok?” Applejack asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Of course she will be,” Twilight said confidently, although that confidence dropped fairly quickly. “At least, I hope so. I’ve never seen her like that.”

“I’m sure she’ll be just fine, Twilight,” Rarity assured, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder and shooting her a comforting gaze. “It’s understandable that she’s upset, with her sister taken by that dangerous Unicorn, but she is Princess Celestia, after all. I’m sure she’ll be just fine after a moment to herself.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Twilight pulled Rarity into a hug as she thanked her, with Pinkie Pie joining in, and pulling the others in with her, forming a big group hug.

A moment later, Luna’s door swung open quickly, and everypony outside immediately turned their attention to the regal white Alicorn that emerged from inside. She looked down at the group of friends with a serious look on her face, her expression a mixture of anger and determination.

“Twilight Sparkle, your friends will stay here. I want you to come with me.” Celestia immediately began moving down the hallway, only stopping to tell Twilight to follow her.

“Wait! What’s going on? Where are we going? And why-”

“I will answer your questions later. But we have to act now. We only have one chance to stop Paradox, and we need to reach Manehatten before he does.”

Twilight turned to face her friends, and saw that they all shared the same look of uncertainty. “…You heard her, girls. I’ll be going on this trip alone.”

“But Twilight-”

“No buts,” Twilight interrupted, “I trust the Princess’ judgement, and I know that everything will be just fine if she says so.”

Applejack stepped forward and extended a forehoof towards Twilight. “Well, it seems we ain’t got much choice. Just promise you’ll be alright, ‘kay?”

Twilight smiled at her friend, and extended her own hoof to meet Applejack’s. “Of course.”

Celestia remained silent as she watched Twilight say her goodbyes to her friends, a grim look on her face as she was forced to turn away from the scene. ‘I hope this works…I’m out of options. This is my last choice if I don’t want to bring in them.’

“That’ll be 55 bits, ma’am,” the store clerk said as she finished placing Trixie’s items into a paper bag. Trixie levitated the small pouch of bits onto the counter, and handed the store clerk her 55 bits. “Thank you ma’am.”

Trixie exited the surprisingly varied-items store with a bag full of various props and tools that she could use in her shows.

“Well, that’s about it for Trixie’s shopping today. Now Trixie can go home and get her beauty…” Trixie stopped and turned around to look behind her. “…Sleep.”

Trixie continued walking down the street, slowly increasing her pace as she moved down the street. After a while, she turned to move down one of the alleyways, and broke into a gallop. ‘They’re really persistent! Well, Trixie knows some street tricks she can use.’

Trixie navigated through the alleyway, using her magic to create illusions designed to slow her stalker down. Once she was far enough in, she spotted a group of ponies sitting around a fire, looking up at Trixie with disgruntled looks. Trixie placed a few bits near them with her magic, and quickly passed by them. “See to it that Trixie is not followed, and this money is yours,” Trixie said, before resuming into a full gallop.

The three ponies happily took the money, and when a second pony appeared before, they were happy to pick up some nearby lead pipes and stand in his way. “Alright boys, you heard the fine lady. She doesn’t wanna be followed.”

Shining Armour sighed, and took out a small knife concealed in his shirt. “Why does she have to make this so hard for me?”

Trixie continued running as fast as she could through the alleyways, until she eventually came out into the Manehatten shipyard. She walked out towards a crowd gathering around some kind of event, panting heavily from running so hard.

‘Well, I seem to have lost them for now. I’d better hurry up and return to my trailer before they do. I’ll set up a few diversions here, to keep my pursuer busy.’

Trixie horn lit up, and unleashed a bright flash of light, startling nearby ponies. When the light died down, Trixie galloped off down the shipyard, leaving a fake Trixie sitting on a nearby bench, panting heavily as if it were worn out.

Trixie continued to set up these fake Trixies all throughout Manehatten as she moved closer to her trailer, until she was getting too tired to carry it on any longer. ‘Well, looks like my next show won’t be having that performance.’

When Trixie had finally made it back to her trailer, she was completely tired out. She was not only panting heavily, but she felt like her horn was going to fall off. Her entire body was covered in sweat, making the bath that she had earlier that day a complete waste.

She attempted to unlock her trailer, but discovered that it was already unlocked. She backed away from her trailer, eyeing it suspiciously. However, before she could assess the situation, she saw something coming towards her out of the corner of her eye. She quickly ducked, causing the incoming assailant to fly over her, and crash into a mailbox on the side of the street.

Trixie turned to face her assailant, and saw some strange dog-like creature trying to remove its head from a mailbox. “Who are you?” she demanded, glaring at the creature in front of her. Two more dogs came and helped out their friend out. “Answer Trixie!”

“Silence, pony!” Rover said once his head was free, after shaking off a slight headache. “You will come with us, right now!”

“Is that right? Sorry, but Trixie is busy right now. If you want Trixie’s autograph, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

“NO!” Rover shouted, charging at Trixie once again. Trixie dodged the incoming attack and retaliated with a spin kick to Rover’s back, knocking him down. She saw the other two coming at her from both sides, and quickly jumped back to distance herself from them. “Get her!”

“On it!” Fido shouted, running up to Trixie with his claws extended. Trixie dodged to her left, batted Fido’s arm away, and knocked Fido back by kicking his stomach.

Spot attempted to take Trixie by surprise by sneaking up on her from behind, but Trixie was able to notice him, and bucked Spot with her hind legs, sending him flying across the street and landing on painfully on his back.

Rover tried to get up, but his back was in too much pain. “H-Hurry! Get the pony! GET HER, HURRY!”

Trixie raised an eyebrow at what she assumed to be the leader of this pack of dogs. ‘Why is he so freaked out? Did I do something to him at some point? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before…’

Trixie decided to make her way to her trailer and leave, but as soon as she turned her head to face her trailer, she felt a painful shock throughout her body, and before she could process what had just happened, her body fell completely limp, and she passed out in the middle of the empty street.

“Good work,” she heard a voice say in her last moments of consciousness, “You guys made wonderful diversion tools. I assure you that you’ll be well rewarded for this.”

Shining Armour made his way out of the alleyway as quickly as he could. Fending off those three ruffians without seriously harming them proved to be a difficult task, even for a Captain of the Royal Guard.

“Alright, now where is she?” he asked himself, before noticing a familiar blue Unicorn resting on a nearby bench. “…Seriously? She puts me through all that, and then makes it so easy to catch her?” Shining Armour sighed and rubbed a hoof against his forehead. “Well, whatever, let’s just get this over with. I’ll try not to get spotted this time.”

Shining Armour walked over to a nearby restaurant, and took a seat at one of the tables outside, keeping his eyes fixed on Trixie.

“Sir? Your order?”

“At ease,” Shining Armour responded on reflexively, but then immediately realised what he said and quickly corrected himself. “I-I mean, I’ll just have a glass of water please!” The waiter raised his eyebrow, but Shining Armour simply smiled back.

“Just water, sir?”

“Yep!” Shining Armour’s smile grew wider, and he began sweating nervously.

“…Very well then.” The waiter moved away from the seemingly crazy pony to fetch his order.

Shining Armour breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned back to face Trixie…Who was now lying on her side, her right cheek in a pile of ice-cream on the floor, and her left cheek being pecked at by pigeons.

Shining Armour raised an eyebrow, and slowly walked over to the bench, taking care not to be noticed by Trixie. When he got close enough to properly see her body, his eyes widened, and he had to do his very best not to curse out loud right there and then. “OH COME ON!” he shouted, before taking off down the shipyard, not caring about the odd looks that he was getting from everypony.

‘This mare is unbelievable! A dummy to throw me off!? REALLY!?´Shining Armour’s thought process stopped as he saw the blue Unicorn he was chasing at a store’s window, staring at the jewellery inside. ‘Forget doing this secretly! I’m just gonna explain why I’m here! It’ll definitely make this easier.’

Shining Armour approached Trixie with that thought in mind, but as soon as he was close enough to talk to her, once again, he realised that it was a dummy, and almost lost his temper yet again.

“TRIXIIIIIIIE!” he shouted out loud, before once again taking off down the shipyard.

This same routine happened a few more times. Shining Armour would see Trixie, approach her, and then find out that it was just a dummy. And each time, it wouldn’t be any better. Of course, he couldn’t just ignore any of the Trixies that he had passed. There was a chance that she was disguising herself as one of these dummies further along the line, thinking that Shining Armour would just pass by her after encountering so many dummies.

Eventually, after running past enough Trixies, he realised that they were actually leading towards where Trixie’s trailer was. Shining Armour considered his options, and realised that Trixie would either return to her trailer later, or has already returned. So really, skipping the dummies and just going there now would be the best option for him.

If she’s already left, then he’ll need to know sooner, so that he can organise a search party. Whereas if she’s going to return there later, then he’ll be ready for when she goes back.

Shining Armour cut through a nearby alleyway, and began galloping as fast as he could to where he remembered Trixie’s trailer was parked.

“Pandora’s Box?” Twilight asked. Celestia and Twilight were on their way to Manehatten, and Celestia decided to take this time to explain things to Twilight. “What’s that?”

Celestia simply shook her head at her pupil. “I’m afraid that even I do not know, Twilight. All I know is that that is what resides within the Ancient Tomb.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin, trying to recall if she had ever come across the term before. “And it’s what Paradox is after?”

“I have no doubts. And to accomplish this, he stole the Key of the Ancient Tomb from the Alicorn kingdom.”

Twilight looked up at her mentor. “But he needs me and Shining Armour, right? Why?”

“In order to release the seal placed on the tomb, Paradox needs two things: knowledge of the spell needed to release the seal, and a Unicorn with a lot of raw magic power, who can offer their energy for him. Two, if they’re not co-operative, since forcing their energy out only yields about half of their energy.”

Twilight nodded her head in understanding. “I see…So that’s why he wanted me and Trixie…And why he’s also after Shining Armour.”

“That’s right,” Celestia confirmed, “And now, he’s taken Luna, and is using her as a bargaining tool to get what he wants.” A tear fell down Celestia’s cheek. “He’s…No longer the son I once knew. The Paradox I once knew would never do something like this.” Twilight moved over to Celestia and rubbed her head against her neck comfortingly. Twilight heard Celestia mumble: “It’s like Nightmare Moon all over again…”

A heavy silence passed between the two, with Twilight holding her mentor in an attempt to comfort her, and Celestia trying to hold back her tears. “Why couldn’t I have just accepted his love? Why did I have to try and keep him at a distance?”

“You thought you were doing what was right, Princess…And I think you were right.”

“…I sacrifice so much for my kingdom. To keep my subjects alive and happy, I give up so much of my life, and devote my entire being to being Equestria’s ruler. So why? Why can I not choose to keep a hold of one thing without it causing a disaster? If I had just paid no attention to my own heart…If I just put his needs before my own…None of this would have ever happened.”

“…But that’s just wrong, Princess.” Celestia looked down at Twilight, who was staring up into her mentor’s eyes. “You’re an Alicorn, but you’re still just an ordinary, mortal pony. It’s perfectly fine for you to feel love, and fear, and pain, and all sorts of things. And it’s understandable that you’d want to act on those feelings.

“Personally, I think it’s unreasonable to ask anypony to sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of others. And if Paradox loved you…Really loved you, then he should have seen that you couldn’t accept his love because it was too hard for you. And he should have tried to make it easier for you, not…Do all this.”

Another silence passed for a few minutes, and then Celestia spoke up once more. “Twilight. Paradox has gone way too far, hasn’t he?”

“…Yeah…”

“He has endangered innocent lives, attacked Royal Guards, committed murder, foalnapped my sister, and, he is threatening all of Equestria.” Another silence, and then Celestia, after finding her resolve, continued. “He must be stopped. At any cost.”

“…”

“Twilight, I’m not going to force you to do anything, but-”

“I’ll do it,” she answered, before Celestia could finish. “But you’ll have to discuss this with the others, too. After all, if we use the Elements on him, then he’ll…”

“He’ll die,” Celestia said, wrapping her wings around Twilight, who flinched at her words. “I know. I’ll make sure to discuss this with each one of them. But, this will still only be a last resort. I still want to believe that Paradox can be reasoned with…But I won’t be blinded by faith anymore. He gets one more chance, and just one.”

The rest of the trip was spent in complete silence, and after another 30 minutes, the chariot finally landed just outside of Manehatten. Celestia was surprised to see Shining Armour waiting for them on the ground, panting heavily as he saluted his Princess. “Princess! It’s, uh, pleasant to see you again! I happened to see your chariot approaching, and came to greet you!”

Celestia exited the chariot, leaving Twilight inside. She approached Shining Armour, and looked around, before fixing her gaze on the white Unicorn. “And what about your mission? Where is Trixie?”

Shining Armour looked down at the ground dejectedly, before raising his head back up and swallowing hard. “I-I lost her, Princess.” He closed his eyes and waited for a scolding from the Princess, but when he received nothing, he opened his eyes again, and saw the Princess standing in front of him with her eyes closed. She seemed to be deep in thought. “Um…Princess?”

Celestia opened her eyes, and then turned back to face the chariot. “I see…She was taken by the enemy?”

“I-I don’t know. She tried to shake me off, and…Did…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed by Trixie’s ability to shake off a Captain of the Royal Guard. “Well, that’s unsettling…But there’s not much we can do about it now. Let’s just hope she escaped on her own.”

Celestia boarded the chariot, and then turned back to Shining Armour. “Captain, I came here to give you new orders. You are to return to the castle with us right now.”

“But…Trixie…”

“If Trixie is in danger, then there is nothing that we can do for her right now,” Celestia said, a hint of impatience in her voice. “Tomorrow, we are going to end this whole thing. And you, Captain, will play the most vital role in our plan.”

“Which is?”

Celestia narrowed her eyes at Shining Armour, and levitated him onto the chariot. “I will explain that when we are back in Canterlot.” And with that, the chariot took off into the sky, heading back towards Canterlot Castle.

Trixie awoke in a dark room, her legs chain against a rocky wall, and her magic bound in some way. “Ugh…Where am I?” she asked nopony in particular.

“Good. You’re awake.” Trixie turned her face up to see the cloaked pony that she recognised as Paradox. “I hope you’re happy. Thanks to you, I was unable to capture both of my targets!”

Trixie tried to remember what happened.

“Hey, what is pony doing?”

Paradox turned to face Trixie, who was now standing on her hooves, though she looked like a puppet dangling from its strings. “She’s moving unconsciously? This reminds me of Twilight’s performance back then…Survival instincts kicking in?”

Trixie’s head lifted so that she was facing Paradox, and she propelled herself forward with her magic. The speed was surprising to Paradox, and he was only just able to avoid it, although Trixie did manage to knock off his cloak.

Paradox let out a loud yelp, and unleashed a powerful attack at Trixie, throwing her across the street and into a building. He quickly picked up his cloak with his magic, and put it back on. “PICK HER UP AND PUT HER IN THE TRAILER!” he shouted to the Diamond Dogs, more out of fear than anger. “HURRY!”

The Diamond Dogs quickly nodded, and rushed over to Trixie, who was surprisingly still alive, although she was bleeding very badly.

Paradox wanted nothing more than to grab Trixie’s mane and slam her head into the wall behind her. But he still had plans for her, and so, he held off on his desire for revenge for now. Instead, he leaned down to talk to Trixie at eyelevel, who stared back at him with venom in her eyes.

“Trixie, let’s have a talk. Last time, you never really got to hear me out.”

“Trixie’s not joining you,” Trixie said, spitting into Paradox’s face.

Paradox once again had to suppress his anger, and took a deep, calming breath. “Trixie…Aren’t you tired of your whole life being a lie?” Trixie didn’t answer. “I can make you great and powerful, for real.”

“HA! Trixie is already great and powerful! It’s literally her name! You’re wasting your time, Trixie is not-”

“How would you like to have the power to actually be able to defeat an Ursa Major?”

Chapter 9

Twilight glanced over at the clock to her right nervously. There were still another 25 minutes left until the strategy meeting started. Before discussing her battle plan with everypony, Celestia wanted some time to finish her research, and to confirm something.

Twilight asked the Princess to let her talk to her friends about the possibility of using the Elements of Harmony against Paradox, a request that Celestia was reluctant to accept, but after some convincing from Twilight, allowed it.

Twilight told her friends what using the Elements would entail, and what they would have to live with if they used them. She then moved into a separate room to allow her friends to discuss it with each other. About 5 minutes later, Twilight was surprised to see Rainbow Dash join her.

“I can’t say I’m thrilled about the idea of…Y’know…But if it’s to protect my friends, and all of Equestria, then I’ll do it.”

“Rainbow Dash…Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure! I’m not gonna let you and the Princess go into this all alone!”

Twilight was happy that Rainbow Dash had agreed to fight alongside her, but still couldn’t help but feel extremely guilty, and also couldn’t help but hope that they wouldn’t have to use the Elements.

Twilight looked over at the clock again. 15 minutes left.

“Let’s go,” Rainbow Dash said, rising to her hooves and walking over to the door. “You coming?”

Twilight stared blankly at Rainbow Dash for a second, before nodding and following her to the door. “Yeah.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked together in silence through the castle, making their way to the throne room. On the way, they came across their other four friends, who had been waiting for them.

“Twilight, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity began, “I’m sorry, but…We’ve all discussed it, and we can’t approve of using the Elements of Harmony in that way.”

Rainbow Dash’s wings extended, and she jumped up into the sky, hovering towards Rarity. “But what about Luna!? She’s in danger, y’know!?”

Applejack walked between Rainbow Dash and Rarity, looking up at the blue Pegasus. “Now hold on there, Rainbow Dash! We never said we were gonna abandon the Princess, but we can’t approve of killing somepony, no matter who they are!”

Rarity nodded. “If it were just me taking on such a burden, it would be a different story. But there’s simply no way I could ever push that burden onto my friends.” Rarity looked over at Fluttershy, who was doing her best to hide her face behind her mane.

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie shouted, hopping toward Rainbow Dash, “There’s no excuse for ending somepony’s life, and I won’t have my friends being a part of that!”

“But he’s killed innocent ponies! He needs to be stopped!” Rainbow Dash argued.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right!” Applejack shouted back.

“If you stoop to his level, you will be no better than he is,” Rarity said, pulling back Applejack with her magic whilst Twilight’s magic pulled back Rainbow Dash.

“But this is different!” Twilight insisted, “We’ll be protecting everypony in Equestria! If there’s no other way to stop him, then-”

“There’s always another way,” a voice called out from behind Twilight. “You should always seek that alternate way.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned around to see Shining Armour approaching. “B-Big brother?”

“Twiley, I understand you want to help the Princess, and protect your friends, but…I can’t let you go through with taking another pony’s life.”

Twilight released Rainbow Dash and ran over to her brother. “But…You said there’s always another way, but what if I can’t find that other way!? What then!?”

“And besides,” Rainbow Dash started, “Aren’t you a Captain of the Royal Guard? Aren’t you supposed to be prepared for stuff like…That?”

Shining Armour stared into his sister’s eyes for a few seconds, before raising a hoof and patting her head, roughing up her mane a little bit, and then walking past her. He stopped in front of Rainbow Dash, and looked up at the hovering Pegasus. “That’s right. I’m prepared to deal with the consequences of murder…But even if Twiley is, I don’t ever want her to go through such a thing.” Shining Armour continued to walk past the group of friends, and mumbled: “It’s not a pleasant feeling.”

The six mares slowly followed Shining Armour towards the throne room. Once they were there, they entered to find Celestia waiting for them inside, sitting down on her throne at the opposite end of the room. The group approached her, and there was a silence between them for a moment whilst Celestia searched for the right words to begin the meeting with.

“Everypony,” she began, “Tomorrow, we will put an end to all of this. Before we begin, Twilight, I take it you have spoken with your friends?”

Twilight nodded, and Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all stepped forward. “Princess,” Rarity said, “I’m sorry, but we can’t do this. We can’t use the Elements of Harmony to take another’s life.”

Celestia closed her eyes, and let out a quiet sigh. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised at all…This will make things more difficult, but in a way, I am kind of glad.”

Shining Armour stepped forward and saluted his Princess. “Princess! I will not have my sister taking on such a burden, even for the sake of Equestria. If need be, please allow me to carry out this unfavourable task.”

Celestia stared at Shining Armour for a few seconds, and then turned her head to look down at the floor for a moment, but bringing it back up to face the group of ponies once more. “Yes. That is what I was hoping for…There’s only one way that we can stop Paradox, besides using the Elements.” ‘Although the chances are low, and if we fail…I don’t think I can abandon my sister. Not again.’

“Then, you want me to-”

“Yes,” Celestia cut him off, and then turned to face Twilight. “Since you won’t be able to use the Elements of Harmony against Paradox, I want your friends to stay here. However, I want you to come with me, Twilight.”

“What for? Last time I fought Paradox, I was unable to do anything.”

“Not to fight,” Celestia said, “But as a trick. He wants me to exchange you and your brother for Luna’s safety. If I encounter him without you two, then his guard will be raised.”

“But if I’m with you, I won’t be able to take him out,” Shining Armour said.

Celestia nodded, and motioned with her hoof for somepony to come closer. The group turned around to see a white Unicorn stallion approaching. Twilight’s eyes widened. With the exception of this new pony’s green hair and his flaming arrow Cutie Mark, he was a dead ringer for her brother.

“This is Trailer Blazer. He will play the role of Shining Armour, whilst the real one will be waiting at a certain point, three hours before the meeting is scheduled to take place.” Celestia levitated a large scroll from next to her throne, and the group backed away as she unrolled it, laying a rather large map on the floor, and pointing at a particular part near the top.

“Here is where Shining Armour will be positioned. When the transaction starts, I will attempt to distract Paradox by talking to him. Captain, you will get one chance. Once you see the signal.” Celestia’s horn lit up ever so slightly, and her entire body began to glow gold for a fraction of a second. “That’s when you take the shot.”

Fluttershy let out a loud gasp, Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail deflated and she looked at the Princess in horror, and Rarity was almost at a complete loss for words.

“Y-You mean,” Applejack started, but couldn’t finish. She looked over at Shining Armour, who had a determined look on his face. “…You’re really gonna go through with it, Princess?”

“If he refuses to listen to reason, then yes,” Celestia said, rolling the map back up and placing it to the side. “Too many disasters have happened because of my soft heart, and because I give those I love too many chances. Discord, Escalus, and now, Paradox. I am going to give him one more chance, and that is all.”

Rarity gulped as she saw the Princess’ resolute look, mixed with fury and sadness, but with the smallest ray of hope still within. “Um, Princess, out of curiosity, what will happen to Paradox if he does give in?”

“If that were to happen, he would still have to pay for his crimes. But I will ensure that his punishment is not too soft, nor too hard. And once his time has been served…I will ask the six of you to throw him a ‘welcome back, Paradox’ party.” She said the last part with a warm smile, which quickly spread to the other six ponies, though only for a few moments, as the realisation that things might not go that way dawned on them once more.

“Well then, if there are no questions.” Celestia paused as she waited for anypony in the room to ask her something, but when she was met with silence, she continued. “Then the meeting is adjourned.”

Everypony began making their way towards the throne room’s doors, mumbling amongst themselves about this whole mess that they were in, with the exception of Twilight and Shining Armour, who stayed near the Princess as the others left.

Once the room was empty, Twilight spoke up. “Princess, have you found out what this ‘Pandora’s Box’ thing is?”

Celestia shook her head, and then Shining Armour voiced his question next. “Princess, if my shot is to fail, what would happen then?”

“If that were to happen, then I would have no choice. I would have to risk Luna’s life to take down Paradox.” The two siblings gasped simultaneously, but Celestia silenced them by raising her hoof before they could make a fuss about it. “I know, and trust me when I say that it is the last thing that I would want to do. But me and Luna…We have an understanding. That one day, one of us may have to lay down our lives for the sake of Equestria…And if things were the other way around, I would expect Luna to make this same decision.

“I realise this must make you think badly of me, but understand that it is completely unavoidable…Which is why, Captain, I am placing all my hope into you.”

‘Yikes, talk about pressure,’ Shining Armour thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head nervously. “But won’t Paradox be prepared for something like that?”

Celestia shook her head. “I doubt it. The reason he took Luna is because he is so sure that I would be unable to life a hoof against him if he has her as a shield. Paradox tends to overlook things, and get too overconfident in his plans, so I don’t think he’ll suspect that I’ll actually endanger my sister’s life to stop him.”

Shining Armour nodded in understanding, and then, when both he and Twilight had nothing more to ask, they left the throne room together. Once they did, they walked together back towards their rooms. On the way, once there were no guard nearby, Shining Armour turned to face his sister. “Did the Princess just…”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, not turning to face him back, “She lied to us.”

Paradox pushed through the thick jungle leaves and carefully marched forward through the dense jungle. Trixie followed right behind him, along with Rover and Spot of the Diamond Dogs. “We’re almost there,” he said. Trixie let out a frustrated moan.

“Why can’t we just cut through all of these leaves?” she asked, using her magic to push aside some leaves carefully without damaging them, as per Paradox’s request.

“The charms around here only serve to make it harder to find the Ancient Tomb, not impossible. We don’t want to leave a trail for them to follow.”

“Who’s “them”?” Rover asked, before receiving a glare from Paradox. “Uh, never mind! I don’t need to know!”

“Well Trixie does,” Trixie said, walking up closer to Paradox. “And Trixie would also like to know what exactly it is that Trixie needs t do to open this ‘Pandora’s Box’.”

“Patience, Trixie,” Paradox said, before stopping and checking the area ahead cautiously. “Ok, this way,” he said, quickly galloping through a clearing in the jungle, and into another group of trees. Trixie sighed, and then reluctantly followed Paradox further into the jungle. However, what she saw on the other side of the trees was not at all what she was expecting. Before her stood a tall stone tower, about half as tall as the trees, but still very tall nonetheless. It was covered in moss, vines, and other plant life, and was worn down in many places.

“Is this…The Ancient Tomb?”

“It is,” Paradox answered, walking towards the entrance and moving inside. “Follow.”

Trixie swallowed, and then followed Paradox, along with the two Diamond Dogs behind her. ‘I’ll just open this ‘Pandora’s Box' thing, and then get the hell out of here. It’s not like I have a choice…’ Trixie shuddered as she remembered the events of last night.

“The power to defeat an Ursa Major? Please, Unicorns can’t do something like that. Trixie would have to be an Alicorn to-”

“You can be,” Paradox interrupted, receiving a sceptical look from Trixie. “You can have gold, gems, power, stallions, or mares, if that’s the way you bend. You can have family, and friends, if something in your life has ever gone wrong, you can rewrite that part of history. Everything you could ever desire can be yours, by merely willing it. That is the power of Pandora’s Box.”

Trixie considered what Paradox was saying for a few minutes, running various scenarios through her mind. Past experiences in her life that could have gone better. Images of her parents that she only recognised from photographs. Images of ponies who she had wanted to befriend, but was never able to for one reason or another.

Finally, she scoffed, and turned her head away from Paradox. “While that does all sound very tempting, Trixie did not earn the title of ‘Great and Powerful’ by taking shortcuts in life. Trixie has worked her entire way to where she is now, and while it certainly isn’t the most comfortable life, it is still Trixie’s life. And she will not trade it all away for some promises of glory form some madpony.”

“…You won’t, no matter what I offer you?”

“That’s correct.”

Paradox sighed, and then unleashed a magical attack against Trixie, which pushed her back against the wall. “Well then, it looks like I’ll have to resort to this.” Trixie felt her body become limp for a moment, before it fell down the floor. “Now, this time, I’ll offer you a different proposal.”

Trixie gritted her teeth, and glared daggers at Paradox. “Trixie told you: she won’t-”

“Trixie will join me,” he interrupted, looming over the blue Unicorn, “Or she will die.” Trixie’s eyes widened with horror, and a satisfied grin crossed Paradox’s face. ‘Checkmate, Celestia.’

“Just remember your end of the deal, Paradox!” Trixie shouted as the group stopped inside a large chamber.

“Yeah, yeah. You help me, I remove the magical seal placed within your body.” Paradox pointed to a fading circle on the floor. “Now, first of all, this circle needs to be redrawn. We need blood. Any kind will do.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow, backing away slightly. “I-It looks like it needs a lot of blood…Um, T-Trixie heard somewhere that Unicorns shouldn’t cast magic after giving blood, so-”

“Relax. I’m not talking about your blood.” Trixie breathed a sigh of relief, and Paradox turned to face Rover and Spot. “That’s why we brought them.”

Trixie flinched, and turned to face the two Diamond Dogs, who were shaking in absolute fear. “W-Wait! Y-You said that we would l-live if we followed you! Y-You promised!”

“You won’t die,” Paradox said, approaching the two dogs with a maniacal grin on his face. “But you may be out cold for a while.”

Before Trixie or the dogs could react, four spires of rock shot forth from the ground, piercing the two dogs’ stomachs. The dogs let out loud yelps as they were struck, and Trixie fell down to her haunches in shock and terror. Blood was dipping from the wounds of the two dogs, which Paradox quickly collected in some empty tins that he had brought along.

Trixie had to turn away from the sight, trying her best not to gag at what she had just seen. “Ok, Trixie, get to work.” Paradox said. When Trixie didn’t respond, his horn lit up, and Trixie felt a sharp pain rising up from inside of her. “I have to prepare the ritual. I want you to redraw the circle. Understand?”

Trixie clutched her stomach tightly, screaming from the intense pain. Paradox stopped the pain for a moment, to allow Trixie to answer. “O-Ok…I’ll do it…” Trixie slowly got up, and approached the tins that were collecting the blood from the Diamond Dogs. Said dogs were both struggling for air, breathing heavily and begging Trixie to save them.

“Here,” Paradox said, handing Trixie a book that was opened at a certain page. “This is what the circle should look like when you’re done. And as for you two…” Paradox’s horn lit up, and the two Diamond Dogs let out loud shrieks as they felt something passing through their bodies.

“H-Huh?” Rover’s breathing had slowed down, and he could no longer feel any pain. “What happened? Why do I…Feel fine now?”

Spot nodded his head in agreement, and Paradox answered him. “I cast a spell on you. I told you that you wouldn’t die if you listened to me, didn’t I?” Paradox smiled at the two dogs, though it wasn’t a comforting smile. It was more like he was reminding them that, as long as they could prove useful, their lives were his to control.

Trixie wasted no time, not wanting to feel the same pain from earlier, or worse. She levitated a paintbrush, and dipped it into the blood in one of the tins, before walking over to the fading circle. ‘This circle…It looks familiar…I’ve researched ritual magic before, but this is supposed to ancient ritual magic. Maybe it’s not too different?’

Trixie shrugged off the strange feeling that she was getting, and began work on the circle.

Paradox finished setting up the last crystal around the circle, and looked over his work to make sure that nothing had been missed. Satisfied with his work, he walked over to the two Diamond Dogs, and decided that he had collected more than enough blood from them. He shattered his spires, allowing the two dogs to drop to the ground, and quickly applied some Alicorn charms to their wounded areas. The charms were designed to slow down the bleeding long enough for him to wrap bandages around their wounds.

“PARADOX! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?” Trixie shouted, her voice filled with rage as she huffed at Paradox. Paradox turned around to see a very angry Trixie behind him. “I know this circle, Paradox! Or at least, I know what it does!”

‘Damnit. So she’s familiar with ritual magic, huh?’

“You told me that if I helped you cast this spell, I would live! But this spell kills the one who donates magic! I would die no matter what I did!”

Paradox rose to his hooves, sighing heavily inside his mind. ‘Well, I guess I’ll just have to salvage this somehow…Back to plan A, I guess.’ Paradox cleared his throat, and approached Trixie, not at all fazed by her horn charging up with powerful looking magic. “Trixie, I think you may have misunderstood me.”

“Oh, really? Then would you care to explain yourself, Paradox?”

Paradox nodded. “Trixie, what I meant was that you would help me set things up. The circle, the incantations, and…The sacrifice. Well, two sacrifices.” Trixie’s anger did not fade, but at the very least, her magic had died down a little bit. “Of course, if you’d prefer it, I could end your life right now.”

Trixie flinched, and took a few steps back. Her anger was slowly being replaced with fear, but she still tried her best to keep her rage directed at Paradox. “N-No! T-That’s quite alright! Really!”

Paradox grinned, and then turned to face the tomb’s entrance. “Well, I guess we should get going then,” he said, pulling out two charms from his cloak. He turned back to face Trixie, and gave one of the charms to her. “We’ll be going to collect our sacrifices. Your job is make sure they have set no traps around me, and if they have, to take care of them, in whatever manner you see fit.”

Trixie looked at the charm for a second, and then took it. Paradox turned to the Diamond Dogs. “You two stay here and rest. We’ll be back soon.” The dogs nodded quickly, more than happy to spend any amount of time away from this dangerous creature. Paradox turned back to Trixie, and prepared to teleport them to the place where they would be meeting with Celestia. As the charms lit up, Paradox leaned over and whispered into Trixie’s ear: “Remember, I can see and hear everything going on around you. You try anything, and it’ll be the end for you.”

Trixie wanted to nod, but fear had taken over her whole body, and she was completely frozen. A bright light filled the room, and then the next moment, both Unicorns were gone.

Chapter 10

Shining Armour sighed as he checked his pocket watch, seeing that it was 15:32. Over an hour until the meeting was set to take place. Celestia would be here with Twilight and Trail Blazer at 16:00. Shining Armour unscrewed the top of his thermos and took a sip of the coffee inside. “Celestia help me…” Shining Armour picked up the crossbow that he would soon be pointing at another pony, loaded with the bolt that may well end that pony’s life.

Shining Armour heard a loud noise behind him, and turned around to see a blinding flash of light at the meeting place. Once it dissipated, and Shining Armour opened his eyes again, he saw three ponies. One was Paradox, and beneath him, was Princess Luna, shackled to the ground with a powerful binding spell. Shining Armour noticed the collar around her neck, and knew that with it, Paradox could end her life in an instant by casting the right spell. Taking him by surprise really was the only way to defeat him without endangering Luna at this point.

The third pony took Shining Armour by surprise. It was Trixie. And she wasn’t bound in any way. She was standing next to Paradox, perfectly free to move as she wanted. ‘Is Trixie working for Paradox? Well, it shouldn’t make things any more complicated. If I can take care of Paradox, Celestia should be able to take care of Trix- Wait, where is she going?’

Shining Armour watched as Trixie left the meeting area and started to scale the hill behind Paradox. She reached the top of the hill, looked around for a bit with her horn glowing, and then wandered off into the distance. ‘She’s checking the area? Damnit, just don’t come this way…’

Celestia took a moment to brace herself as she and her group neared the watchtower where they would be meeting Paradox. To Celestia’s right, Twilight was hoofcuffed, and her magic was bound. A simple trick wouldn’t be enough for Paradox, so they had to actually restrain her. This made Twilight much more on edge than she would have originally been.

And to Celestia’s left, Trail Blazer, with his hair dyed and styled like Shining Armour’s, and his Cutie Mark obscured with special armour designed for the cold conditions that they were currently in. He was also hoofcuffed, with his magic bound.

“Are you two ready?” Celestia asked as she faced directly forward.

“Ready when you are, Princess,” Trail Blazer said, smiling up at the Princess.

Twilight instead remained silent, which worried Celestia. Celestia knelt down and nuzzled her student. “Are you ok Twilight? If you don’t want to do this, please tell me now.”

Twilight shook her head, and smiled at her mentor. “I’m fine. Just a little nervous, that’s all.”

“Understandable,” Trail Blazer said, “Since we’re risking our very lives.”

Celestia rose up, let out a deep sigh, and then took another moment to ready herself. “Well then, let’s go. It’s time to end this.”

Twilight and Trail Blazer nodded, and followed their Princess to where they would be meeting Paradox.

“So glad you could make it, Celestia,” Paradox said as Celestia, Twilight, and Trail Blazer approached. “And you actually brought those two along? To save your sister? I guess you’re not completely heartless, then.”

“You should know, Paradox,” Celestia retorted, “After all, you fell in love with me. I don’t think you would have if I had no heart.”

Paradox grinded his teeth together and stomped a hoof next to Luna’s head. Luna, who was now fully conscious, flinched at nearly having her skull smashed by the madpony above her. “Shut it! That’s in the past! I would never give my heart to somepony like you!”

“Paradox, before we go through with this transaction, I want you to answer some questions for me.”

“And why should I?” Paradox asked, his grin returning to his face. “No, I suppose I should. Unlike you, I’m not a heartless monster. I’ll at least satisfy your curiosity…Before I erase you from this world.”

Celestia furrowed her brow. “…And how do you plan to do that? With Pandora’s Box?”

Paradox let out a whistle, genuinely impressed at his former mentor. “Wow, you’ve done your research. Find that out yesterday, when you weren’t in Canterlot?”

“What is Pandora’s Box? What does it do? And why did the Alicorns go so far to protect it?”

Paradox raised an eyebrow at the Princess, looking at her with a confused look on his face. “They did?”

Celestia nodded. “According to a document that I found, the Alicorns made use of illusions and traps to keep creatures away from the Ancient Tomb. When the Alicorn-Human war occurred, the Alicorns simply placed a powerful seal on the tomb, making sure that, even with the key, nobody could enter. And when a group of ponies and humans attempted to break the seal, using the Rainbow of Light, they were attacked and wiped out, and the Rainbow of Light was taken by the Alicorns.”

Paradox put a hoof to his chin, and mumbled something to himself. “It seems you didn’t know that, Paradox.”

Paradox shook his head, looking down at the ground. “No. She never told me that…”

Celestia’s eyes widened, and she took a step closer to Paradox. ““She”?”

“Well, regardless, I’m aware that the Alicorns are so protective of that place. But naturally, I’ve already made arrangements to keep them from protecting it.”

“The Alicorn charms?” Celestia asked, receiving a nod and a proud smile from Paradox. “But why? You still haven’t told me what your ultimate goal is in all of this.”

Paradox chuckled as he took a few steps towards Celestia, all the while making sure to remind her that he could finish Luna off in an instant by charging magic into his horn. “Pandora’s Box will be the thing that saves this world. It will save it from you, Celestia.”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but Paradox continued before she could. “Pandora’s Box is the origin of everything. Everything that ever was, is, and will be, comes from Pandora’s Box. Think of it as the DNA of existence itself.”

“I don’t understand,” Celestia said, narrowing her eyes at Paradox.

“Basically, “he who holds Pandora’s Box, holds the very coding of the world. At that point, that stallion shall realise the lifelong dream of all ponies: he shall become god”. That’s what it means.”

“You’re insane,” Luna spat, glaring at the back of Paradox’s head.

“Sticks and stones,” Paradox responded.

“I taught you that,” Celestia said, receiving a confused look from both Paradox and Luna. “When you were being bullied at school, I would comfort you, and recite the poem: “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you”.” Celestia chuckled softly. “I guess you still can’t let go of the past, despite your claims, huh?”

Paradox fumed at Celestia’s mocking, and at Luna’s laughter behind him, but quickly managed to calm down again. “It doesn’t matter. Once I have access to Pandora’s Box, I shall be able to literally erase that memory. It will have never happened, and I will have no memory of it. And of course, that will only be the start.”

“Paradox, please, you don’t have to do this,” Celestia pleaded, taking a few more steps towards Paradox. “I love you, Paradox. You are…A very special pony to me. I’m not sure if I think of you as a son, or a student, or something else entirely…” Celestia stopped just short of Paradox, who was now shaking nervously, and had created a visible thread of magic connecting himself to Luna’s neck, as a visible reminder that he held Luna’s life in his hooves.

“Liar,” he said, glaring at Celestia.

Celestia shook her head, and leaned her head down. “Ready my mind,” she said, shocking everypony there, and receiving a collection of audible gasps. “I’ll allow you to do so, if you don’t have the right charms. Go ahead, the truth cannot be concealed that way. You’ll see how I truly feel…And hopefully, you’ll understand the pain I caused to myself, as well as to you.”

Paradox remained motionless as he stared at Celestia, who was now looking down at the ground with her head hung low, as if she were bowing down to him.

Paradox wanted to take this opportunity to punch her in the face, and then just get the transaction over with. However…

“What are you waiting for? Get this over with!”

“But…We have time, and I always did wonder what it was like reading an Alicorn’s mind.” Paradox charged some magic into his horn, and leaned down to perform the mindreading spell.

Paradox watched as Celestia paced around her room, mumbling something to herself. It was too quiet for him to hear, but since it was Celestia’s memory, he simply had to delve deeper for her mumbling to become audible to him.

“Paradox is unhappy…It’s my fault, isn’t it? Maybe I shouldn’t be so cold towards him. But if I don’t do this, he’ll never break this unhealthy dependence towards me. It’s the only way to make him gain some friends…I have to keep him at a distance…”

Paradox scoffed and was about to leave, when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Mom?” He turned around to see a younger version of himself (he despised the very sight) entering the room, holding a book in his magic. “Mom…I have to read this book as part of my homework…Could you…Read it with me?”

Paradox remembered this event. He knew exactly where it was going. And just as he expected, Celestia narrowed her eyes at Paradox, and said: “No. I don’t have the time right now. If you don’t want to read alone, ask one of my maids.”

The young Paradox let out a quiet whimper, before bowing and excusing himself, closing the door behind him as he left Celestia’s room. Paradox glared at the image of Celestia before him, and, even though she couldn’t hear him, unleashed a series of curses towards her. He stopped, however, when he heard sobbing coming from the Princess, and saw tears flowing down her face.

“I’m sorry, Paradox…I’m so sorry…Please forgive me, but…I just can’t let you shut yourself out of the world anymore. And…I can’t accept your feelings. Please forgive me.”

Paradox’s anger died down a little bit, but now he was feeling something else. He wasn’t sure what though. He walked closer to the image of Celestia, and wanted to hold her, until he stopped himself. “Yeah right. Like you were ever sorry of anything you ever did. Except maybe finding me in the first place.”

“Exactly. That’s how Celestia is. She’s a demon, who masquerades an angel. You need to do the world a favour, and strip her of all of her power.”

Paradox was now standing in the castle’s throne room, a room that he had been in many times. As the Princess’ pupil, he was often asked to accompany her during the Night Courts. However, right now, there were no appointments, or strategy meetings, or anything like that. There was just Celestia, pacing back and forth in a way similar to the previous memory.

A pony clad in armour entered the throne room. Paradox recognised the armour, and could tell that the pony was a Captain of the Royal Guard. “Knight Sparkle? He’s the one who saved my life that one time, I believe.” A pang of guilt passed through him as he thought about what he was planning to do with his saviour’s children.

“Idiot. It’s not like you asked to be saved, so you have no reason to feel like you owe him anything, right?”

Paradox hesitated for a moment, but then regained his composure, and nodded. “That’s right. I have no reason to feel guilty. That was then, and this is now. Besides, his childrens’ sacrifices will play a huge part in saving Equestria, so he should be happy about it, really.”

“Princess!” Knight addressed, saluting as he stopped just in front of her. “We’ve found him. Paradox was sighted just outside of Canterlot’s walls 10 minutes ago by a travelling Pegasus. Based on the direction he was heading, we anticipate he is currently around the Canterlot Falls area. We have sent a team there to pick him up.”

Paradox realised what day this was now. It was the day that Knight had saved his life. The day that Paradox had finally had enough of Celestia’s abandonment, and had run away from Canterlot to live in the wilderness. He was attacked by a wild bear, and almost fell to his death, but was saved by Knight.

“Wait, the Princess sent out a search party to fine me?” Paradox asked, turning to face the Princess. “But why?”

“Captain, please lead the way,” Celestia said. Knight nodded, and led the Princess out of the throne room. “Paradox, I’m so sorry. Please don’t do anything rash. I just…Hope you’re ok.”

Paradox’s eyes widened as he watched the Princess leave the throne room, and slam the door shut behind her. “She…Cared about me?”

“I did,” a soft voice called out behind him. “And I still do.”

“…”

Paradox followed the Royal Guard as they raced down the road, and then went off to the side, knowing where their final destination would be and deciding to get there early. He arrived at the edge of the cliff next to Canterlot Falls. On the ground was the young Paradox, on his haunches, a look of terror spread across his face. And looming above him was the bear that almost killed him all those years ago.

It was a strange feeling that was passing through Paradox right now. He felt angered and disgusted by the weak colt that he used to be. But he also felt somewhat nostalgic, and part of him was eagerly awaiting the next scene. The scene where the Royal Guard would come up and fend off the wild bear.

“PLEASE! PLEASE HELP ME, MOTHER!”

Paradox’s eyes widened. Did he actually say that? He was sure that he didn’t scream for help, much less from her. He scowled at the trembling colt on the floor, resisting the urge to walk over to him and kick him off the cliff’s edge. Not that he could, of course, but the very image of his past self being so weak and helpless was simply too much for him.

Paradox turned his head to where he knew Knight would be arriving from any second now. Any second now…

“What?” Paradox watched as a white blur sped towards them, a golden aura glowing around it. It sped right through Paradox, and tackled the bear to the ground. Paradox turned around to see who it was, and saw Celestia pinning the bear to the ground, using her magic to restrain its movements.

The young Paradox let out a loud scream, and Paradox immediately turned to see what had happened. For a moment, he had forgotten that his younger self after the bear was tackled. He had stumbled backwards a bit, and fell off the cliff’s edge. Paradox just now realised that he never found out how exactly he was saved from the fall. He just assumed that one of the Pegasus guards had saved him. He certainly didn’t expect Princess Celestia to jump off and gather the falling colt into her forelegs.

Celestia flew back up, and lay the now unconscious young Paradox on the ground. Paradox looked at the scene in surprise, and was even more surprised when he saw Celestia panicking over his younger self.

“Oh god! Please be alright, Paradox! Please don’t go! I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I’m so, so sorry! Please, just don’t leave me…”

Tears were flowing down the regal pony’s face as she begged for Paradox to wake up. The Royal Guard arrived moments later, but Celestia didn’t even seem to notice. After a few minutes, Celestia had calmed down somewhat, and Paradox was beginning to wake up.

“Celestia?”

Both Paradox and Celestia winced. Paradox remembered how he had started referring to Celestia by her name, instead of as “mom” or “mother”. ‘Wait, why am I bothered by that? Big deal, she saved me. Maybe she just thought I would be a useful magic tool or something…’

“Do you really believe that I would do something like that?” a soft voice called out from behind Paradox.

Paradox remained silent, and watched as Celestia wandered off to the side with Knight to talk to him in private. Paradox followed, curious as to what they were talking about.

“He seems to think that you saved him, Captain,” Celestia informed Knight.

“I see…And you didn’t correct him?”

Celestia shook her head. “I don’t want to keep him at a distance any longer. He almost died because of it. I’m going to start treating him with more care, like I did when he was just a little foal.” Celestia let out a deep sigh. “But I can’t be too easy on him. I need to find some kind of middle ground.”

“…”

“He thinks that you saved his life, Captain. This may be just what we needs to help him reach out to other ponies. Do you think-”

Knight nodded, and saluted to his Princess. “I’ll do what I can, Princess.”

Celestia smiled and thanked her loyal soldier, and then walked over to the doctor who had examined Paradox’s wounds.

Paradox stared at Knight for a few moments, mixed feelings rushing through his mind. Knight hadn’t saved him all those years ago? And Knight was going to and befriend him? Was that just because of Celestia’s orders, or did he genuinely care for Paradox?

Paradox had thought for the longest time that Knight was the only one who had ever actually cared for him, but now, he wasn’t sure what to think. Knight may not have felt anything for Paradox, and may have just accepted Celestia’s orders as simply another mission.

“Well, I’ll never know, since he died the following week,” Paradox said, turning to look at Celestia, another pang of guilt passing through him.

“Paradox…”

Paradox stood in a huge, empty room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all white. There were no doors, nor any windows. The only thing in the room besides him was Celestia. Or rather, an image of Celestia.

“Hello,” Celestia said, bowing to Paradox. “I can’t see you, but I know you’re there. It seems you’re seeking some kind of knowledge that only I hold.”

“…That’s right,” Paradox said, approaching Celestia. “I want to know why you…Why Celestia kept Paradox at such a distance. Why couldn’t she accept my- his love? Why did she save him if she was only going to abandon him again!?”

The image of Celestia closed its eyes, deep in thought for a few minutes, and then opened its eyes again. “I will explain. Please wait one moment.” Paradox watched as the room around him began to collapse, and in its place, various rocks rose from the ground, and grass began to grow beneath him. The area took on the shape of a graveyard, and Paradox recognised many of the names of the tombstones.

“What is this?” Paradox asked.

“This is a collection of my memories. In particular, ponies who are family…And are now dead.” Paradox recognised a few of the names as Celestia’s nieces and nephews, and some as her children and grandchildren. He even recognised the occasional spouse here and there, and spat at them, though of course the spit passed right through, since the graves were only images.

“I guess I have no place here, right?” Paradox asked, facing Celestia. “After all, I’m not family, am I!?”

The image of Celestia took a few steps closer, and pointed to a grave that was open. An empty grave…For somepony who was still alive. Paradox stepped closer and read the inscription.

Paradox

Paradox furrowed his brow and glared at the image of Celestia. “What is this!? Is this some kind of joke!? I’m not your real son! I tried to kill your student, and your sister, and even now, I want nothing more than to cause you eternal pain!”

“You will always be my son,” Celestia answered, startling Paradox, “No matter what you’ve done, I will always consider you my family. And when family passes away, it is hard…It is even harder when a lover passes away.”

Paradox remained silent, but still glared at the image of Celestia as she moved closer to him. “Paradox, think back to how you felt about me all of those years ago. Back when you still loved me. And then think, what would you have felt if at any point, I had died, and left you all alone?”

Paradox was surprised to find himself actually thinking about it, and even more surprised to find how easy it was to remember those feelings of love that he used to carry for Celestia.

Used to carry? No, these feelings…They’re definitely different from back then. They’re feelings of love, but they’ve changed over the past 23 years. Does that mean he still loved the Princess? How could he, after what she had done to him? After everything that she had put him through?

“Well? How would it feel?”

Paradox opened his mouth to answer, but no words came. He had to admit that if Celestia had died back then, he wouldn’t know how to handle it…No, there would only be one thing that the younger Paradox would do. Celestia was his whole life. His whole reason for living. Without her, he might as well have just…

“You can only imagine this feeling, but I’ve had to live through it, many, many times. And I never wanted to go through it again. Even if it meant rejecting those feelings that you held so strongly for me.” The image of Celestia leaned forward and stroked her cheek against Paradox’s. Or at least, near it, since she would just fall through if she had actually tried to do so. “I’m so sorry.”

Paradox moved his head back, his magic fading from his horn, and closed his eyes as he collected the information from his little journey through Celestia’s mind together. Celestia stood upright, and looked down at Paradox. She saw tears flowing down his face, and he turned his head away to hide them.

“You were…Only trying to protect your own feelings,” he said.

Celestia sighed, and nodded her head slowly. “Yes…That’s right…Despite what you may think of me, even I fall victim to my own feelings, Paradox…I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, but…I just couldn’t put myself through that again.”

Paradox nodded, surprising Celestia, and sending a wave a hope through her body. Was he nodding in understanding? Was he actually agreeing with Celestia? Maybe…Maybe he really can come back!

“Just like me,” Paradox said, turning back to face the Princess, “Just like how I’m acting right now. I couldn’t accept the heartbreak that you put me through, so I…I wanted to make both of us suffer, together.” Paradox let out a weak little laugh, though it was directed more at himself than anything. “I wanted to earn your disapproval, rather than feel I was rejected simply because I wasn’t good enough…And yet, despite all that I’ve done…You still came after me. To try and…Save me.”

“…That’s because I love you, my son.”

The tears down Paradox’s face sped up, and his entire body began trembling. Twilight, Trail Blazer, and Luna all watched in anticipation, not even daring to breath. Paradox leapt forward towards Celestia. Twilight wanted to run towards her mentor to help, but she was still shackled, so she was unable to move.

Trail Blazer smiled at the sight before him, and even Luna’s expression began to soften. Twilight realised that Paradox wasn’t attacking, and calmed down again, smiling as she saw Paradox wrapping his forehooves around Celestia’s neck, crying into her shoulder, and Celestia gentle patted Paradox’s head, taking care not remove his cloak, and wrapping her wings around him.

“I love you too, mother,” he said, sniffling and chocking back a few sobs. “I tried to stop. I really did. I knew that loving you was only going to cause me pain, and I knew it was the reason you were distancing yourself from me. But…I just couldn’t help it. No matter what I tried, no matter how hard I fought back, those feelings would always remain…I’m so sorry.”

Celestia shushed her pupil, and tilted his head up so that he was looking her in the eyes. “There’s no need to apologise for that, Paradox. Love is…A beautiful thing sometimes, but at other times, it is a most ugly presence. You can’t help who you fall in love with, and sometimes, it causes you such pain and misery.”

A silence passed between the two for a few minutes, before Paradox asked: “You…You’re never going to forgive me, are you?”

Celestia sighed, and nuzzled Paradox gently. “I can’t forgive you for the crimes that you have committed.” Paradox felt his tears returning, and Celestia continued. “But you will always be my son, and there will always be a place for you to return to once you have paid for your crimes.”

Paradox looked up at Celestia in surprise. “R-Really? You…Are willing to take me back?”

Celestia nodded, a warm smile on her face. “Of course. I love you, and I always will.”

Paradox felt a smile of his own coming along, and despite the consequences that he knew lay ahead, he couldn’t help but feel a nice, pleasant warmth spreading throughout his body…Only for it to soon be taken by a familiar, chilling sensation.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! C’mon, Paradox! You’re smarter than that!”

“…Shut up,” he said, surprising Celestia.

“She’s lying! You know that she is! She doesn’t love you at all! She’s just using you as a weapon! Or maybe lulling you into a false sense of security, so that that assassin up there will have an easy shot!”

“SHUT UP!” he shouted, backing away from Celestia. “She’s not lying! You are! You’ve been lying to me since the day I met you!”

“Paradox, what are you saying?” Celestia asked, panic spreading through her body once more.

“SHE LOVES ME! EVEN IF WE CAN NEVER BE MORE THAN MOTHER AND SON, I WANT TO BE WITH HER!”

“What if you can be more than mother and son?”

Paradox gasped, and backed away even more, a look of horror spread across his face.

“Pandora’s Box, remember? You can rewrite this world however you want. You can even create a world where Celestia accepts your feelings. You can make yourself an Alicorn, so that the two of you can live long, happy lives together.”

“No…I…I don’t.”

“C’mon, it’s what you want, more than anything, right? And it’s not like it’ll be a bad thing. She said it herself. The only reason she doesn’t wanna return your feelings of love is because she doesn’t wanna see you die and leave her all alone. This way, there’ll be no problem. She lives, continues to rule Equestria, and you can stay by her side as her loyal husband. Everypony wins, right?”

Paradox stared off into the distance, remaining silent as he ran the scenario through his head countless times. Indeed, it did seem to be an ideal world. Heck, everything would be the same except for that one aspect. He could even bring back those he killed, right? It would be a win-win situation! There’s no reason not to go through with it!

“Paradox?” Celestia asked, taking a step closer, a look of concern growing on her face.

“…Give me Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour,” he said. Everypony remained silent, their eyes wide as they fixated on Paradox. “Pandora’s Box will be opened. And their blood will be the price.”

“Paradox…You…”

“We’ve wasted enough time, mother,” Paradox said, raising his head and narrowing his eyes at Celestia. “Now, hand them over, or Luna dies. You have one minute.”

Celestia stared into Paradox’s eyes, and tears started to form in her own. What had happened? He was back! The old, gentle Paradox had finally returned, and he was willing to face up to his crimes and return to the castle with her when his time had been paid. So why? Why had he suddenly reverted back to this?

Celestia didn’t have time to run through all of the possibilities, since Paradox was already counting down from 60 seconds. Celestia sighed. This was it. There was no other choice. She had given Paradox his one, final chance, and now, there was no more room for talk. Swallowing hard, Celestia worked up her magic, and for a single second, her entire body glowed a bright golden colour.

…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Paradox hadn't stopped counting down, and was now grinning from ear to ear at the Princess. “49…48…47…”

Celestia looked to her side, and saw that the shot hadn’t even been fired. What had happened? Why wasn’t Shining Armour shooting?

“…Oh no…”

Shining Armour watched from a distance as Paradox leaned down and cast some sort of spell on Celestia. It was such an easy shot like this…But he hadn’t received the signal, so he stayed on standby for now.

“…Crap!” Shining Armour shouted as he quickly spun around, just in time to see a beam of magic being shot his way. He deflected it by quickly setting up a barrier, and then watched the one responsible step forward. “Trixie…So you really are working for Paradox.”

“…” Trixie charged forward, and threw a spinning kick at Shining Armour, who blocked it and responded by levitating out a knife, and attempted to ram the handle into her stomach. However, Trixie managed to use magic to propel herself backwards, landing a good distance away from Shining Armour.

Shining Armour was about to charge towards Trixie, but noticed something on the ground. There was something written in the snow.

Don’t draw attention to the fact that you’re reading this.

Shining Armour immediately returned his gaze to Trixie, and kept his face directed at her, while his eyes rolled down slightly to continue reading the message.

Can’t talk right now. Just follow my lead.

Shining Armour charged forward, trampling the message, and attacked Trixie by lunging his knife forward. It was a slow, simple attack, that he had little doubt that Trixie could dodge.

Trixie did indeed dodge the attack with ease, and then fired a magical blast at Shining Armour, sending him flying. He landed a good few feet away from her, and on the ground in front of him, he saw another message. There was no doubt that these were being created by her illusionary magic.

Play along, and don’t die. When I give the signal (you’ll know it when you see it), fire a shot at Paradox. I’ll conceal the shot with an illusion.

Shining Armour rose to his hooves, shook his head to clear his mind, and then glared at Trixie, who simply stared blankly right back at Shining Armour. ‘Trixie…What’s going on? Are you in some kind of danger?’

The two continued their pretend fight for a little while longer. As time drew on, Trixie’s blows were starting to pack a little more punch behind them. She knew that Paradox wouldn’t buy her act forever, and she knew that if she didn’t end this soon, he would find out what she was doing. But whenever she presented a chance for Shining Armour to shoot Paradox, and gave the signal (in the form of a neon sign on her hat reading “fire!”), Shining Armour would refuse to take the shot.

‘There’s no way he can be that dense. He must be waiting for a different signal of some kind…Damnit, just take the stupid shot already!’

Eventually, the two saw the gold glow coming from the Princess, and when Shining Armour suddenly started moving with a lot more desperation, she realised that that must have been the signal that he was waiting for.

‘Ok, let’s try this one more time,’ she thought to herself as she and Shining Armour casually moved over to a good sniping position, whilst continuing their hooffight. Trixie got herself into position, and used her magic to mask Shining Armour’s presence from all those in the surrounding area, including herself. She also used her magic to create an illusion of Shining Armour for her to fight, which, again, even she was affected by. She had to be, since Paradox could see whatever she saw.

Shining Armour aimed his crossbow down at Paradox, and took the shot.

“37…36…35…”

“Ok!” Celestia shouted, before turning around and using her magic to allow the two ponies behind her to move on their own. She signalled for them to come over, and they obeyed. ‘This is it…My last chance…I’ll have to hand them over, and once Luna is safe, I can try out this new charm. If all goes well, I should be able to stop Paradox before he manages to complete the ritual…But if not…Twilight, please forgive me.'

Twilight and Trail Blazer exchanged nervous glances with each other. They weren’t sure what the Princess was planning, but there were both hoping it was some brilliantly thought out plan to catch Paradox off guard…That was the hope, and although Trail Blazer was confident that his Princess was never going to simply hand them over, Twilight’s own doubts towards her mentor surprised her.

‘She admitted it herself,’ Twilight thought as she walked over towards the Princess, ‘Even she can fall victim to her feelings. And her strongest feelings…Are towards the only member of her family that won’t die of old age long before she does. After Luna returned, Celestia spent the whole week with her sister, despite the High Council’s complaints. I saw her begging Luna for forgiveness…If Luna is in danger again, I wonder what Celestia would prioritise more?’

The thoughts running through Twilight’s head disturbed her, and she wanted to dismiss them, but when she saw the grim look on Celestia’s face, she was certain that things weren’t going to end well.

“Hey, Paradox.”

Paradox sighed in annoyance. “What?”

“That sniper’s about to take the shot. Dodge to your left in 3…2…1…NOW!”

Paradox turned around and quickly rolled to the left. However, due to the strong winds in the area, the shot was still able to hit the right side of Paradox’s face, leaving a nasty wound that dripped blood, and causing Paradox to fall to the floor in pain, screaming and cursing like Celestia had never seen him do before.

Celestia takes his opportunity to fire her magic towards Luna, breaking the binding spell placed on her, and Paradox’s control over her life.

“Oh no you don’t!” Paradox shouted, using his magic to detonate the anti-magic ring on Luna’s horn, sending intense levels of pain throughout Luna’s body, and creating a smokescreen that temporarily blinded the two Princesses.

“AH!” Celestia heard Twilight scream. “PRINCESS! HELP!”

When the smoke had cleared, Celestia found Paradox holding Twilight in his magical grasp, applying an Alicorn charm to her horn, and glaring menacingly at Celestia. “Stay back!” he demanded.

“Paradox, let her go,” Celestia ordered, a stern look on her face, “Right now.”

“Sorry, mother, but the final act is just about to begin…And the actors can’t be late.” Paradox’s horn lit up, and before Celestia could react, the Alicorn charm on Twilight’s horn did too.

Shining Armour watched as a bright light shined on Trixie’s back. Trixie tried to look over her shoulders but was having little success. “What the? What did he place on me!?” she demanded, and before she could receive an answered, a blinding light filled the area.

Shining Armour opened his eyes to find Trixie gone. “W-What happened?” He looked towards where the Princesses were, and his eyes widened he couldn’t see either Paradox or Twilight. “TWILEY!” he shouted as he raced towards the scene.

One he was there, he found Celestia standing perfectly still, her eyes closed as a golden glow took over her whole body.

“Princess, what happened!? Where’s Twilight!?” he demanded, almost in a threatening tone.

“Captain!” Luna shouted, gaining Shining Armour’s attention. He saw Luna sitting down on her haunches, panting heavily. Her horn was cracked in various places, and had smoke coming out of it. “Thou shalt show more respect when thou addresses thine Princess of the Day!”

“Where’s Twilght!?” he repeated, this time asking the Princess of the Night.

“She is gone,” Luna said flatly, “Paradox hath abducted her. She is now likely in the Ancient Tomb.”

“I’ve got it!” Celestia shouted. The three ponies still present turned their gazes to her, and she levitated out two Alicorn charms from bag. “They work, Luna! With these, we can copy the residual magic left by Paradox’s charms that still lingers in the air, and follow him to the Ancient Tomb!”

Shining Armour felt hope running through his body once more. “Well, what are we waiting for!? Let’s go!”

Celestia shook her head. “Unfortunately, only I can go. These charms are weaker versions of the kind that Paradox uses, and only an Alicorn can use them.” Celestia turned to Luna, who was attempting to stand up, but couldn’t quite manage it. “Luna, you stay here. I’ll go alone.”

“No,” Luna said, once again trying to stand up, and this time succeeding. “We shalt be just fine, sister.”

“You’re injured. You can’t fight in your state.”

“We must do our part, sister,” Luna insisted, walking up to Celestia. “After all, it is our fault that we are all in this mess right now. We must make amends.”

“…You’re going to follow me even if I say no, aren’t you?” Luna nodded, and Celestia let out a deep sigh. She didn’t have time to argue about this, so she just decided to let Luna have her way for now. “Very well. But don’t do anything rash, alright?”

Luna nodded, smiling up at her sister. “We’ll just be ready to back you up, sister.”

Celestia nodded, and handed one of the Alicorn charms to Luna. The two activated their charms, and, just like Paradox and Twilight moments earlier, vanished into a bright, blinding flash of light.

Chapter 11

Mercury gazed off into the distance, at the large city just down the road. A city completely illuminated with bright lights, with lots of ponies entering and exiting constantly. The sounds of the crowds could be heard even as far away as Mercury was. “These ponies live such carefree lives. Little do they know is that a dangerous criminal walks among them.”

Saturn, Mercury’s companion, levitated a pair of binoculars to his eyes. “Well, most likely, he’s already moved on, or he’s expecting us, after removing that cloak.” Saturn lowered the binoculars from his face and began to move forward, followed by Mercury. Both were wearing Concealing Cloaks, to hide both their presences, and their wings. “We had better proceed with caution. He managed to steal those items in the first place, so he’s no ordinary Unicorn.”

The two Alicorns were close to the entrance of Manehatten, when a sudden flash of light from Mercury’s horn stopped them. Mercury unrolled the scroll that appeared and read over it, before burning it with magical flames. “Never mind, Saturn. Paradox isn’t here.”

“What d’you mean? Have they caught him?”

“Not yet. But Pandora’s Box is opening. All Elders have been ordered to return to the Jungle of the Ancient Tomb, before Paradox’s plan can be completed.”

Saturn reached into his cloak and pulled out a couple of Alicorn charms. “I see. It’s a shame. I was looking forward to picking up some hot Manehatten mare.”

Mercury took one of the charms and poured some magic into it. “Focus, moron. The fate of the entire world is at stake here.”

Celestia and Luna glared at Paradox as magic shot forth from him horn, firing energy at the back of room. Next to him, in the centre of a huge circle made out of blood, were two Unicorns, chained to the ground via a powerful binding spell. Energy was also shooting out of their horns, and was connecting with Paradox’s beam of energy.

“How did you two follow me?” Paradox asked. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. You’re too late now. Pretty soon, I’ll have access to Pandora’s Box, and the entire world will be mine to mould however I wish.”

Twilight and Trixie were both resisting as hard they could, but they could feeling every ounce of their magic being forcibly drawn out of them, and pain overtook their entire bodies The only reason they were still conscious was because the pain coursing through them wouldn’t stop for even a second.

“We’ll see about that,” Luna said, stepping forward.

“Yes, we shall,” Paradox said, “Rover, Fido, Spot, go ahead and keep the Moon Princess busy. She’s injured, so you should be fine.”

Luna turned around, and saw three dogs approaching. Two were limping, with bandages covering their stomachs, suggesting that they were injured, while the third seemed perfectly fine. All three seemed reluctant, nearly afraid, to attack Luna, but at the same time, they seemed too afraid not to.

“Sister, we shalt handle these ruffians.”

Celestia nodded, happy that her sister would be fighting the weaker of the two enemies. “Alright. And I’ll take care of Paradox.” Celestia turned to Paradox, who had stopped the spell and turned his attention to Celestia. Twilight and Trixie were still being drained, so Celestia had no time to waste.

Paradox erected a barrier around the two Unicorns, preventing Celestia from reaching them. ‘I can’t beat her, but if I can just draw this out long enough, I’ll have enough energy to open Pandora’s Box.’

Celestia’s horn lit up, and she stomped a hoof on the ground, lowering her head as she prepared to charge at Paradox. “Paradox, why are you doing this? Did we not reconcile earlier? Or was that nothing more than a lie?” Paradox didn’t answer. “You still called me ‘mother’ afterwards. I don’t understand. What is running through that head of yours?”

Paradox took a step back, and lowered into a defensive stance, ready to counter anything that Celestia threw at him. “I would be happy with us simply being mother and son…If that were the only option available to me.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes, and fired a beam of golden energy at Paradox, who countered by firing his own beam of green energy back at Celestia. The two beams met in midair, and started to do battle with one another. “So you’re going to open Pandora’s Box, and force us into a relationship? That’s despicable! Not to mention a false reality! You could never truly be happy with such a result!”

“It will not be false, nor will it be forced!” Paradox released his spell, and dodge the incoming attack by rolling to his left. He summoned up a series of spires from the ground to strike at Celestia, who managed to dodge them with her quick hoofwork. “It will be real! You will love me for real! And we will live happily ever after!”

“No, Paradox,” Celestia said, using her magic to cancel out Paradox’s spell, “Pandora’s Box isn’t the answer, or even an answer! It is a dangerous affront to all living things, and the Alicorns did the right thing by sealing it away!” Celestia’s horn lit up, and she extended her wings and flew straight forwards, towards Paradox. “If you insist on using such a thing to bend the world to your liking, then I will stop you!”

Rover struggled and flailed about as he was lifted magically into the air, his body surrounded by a dark blue aura. “Let me go! Let me go!” he ordered, although inside he was relieved that he wouldn’t actually have to fight. In his injured state, he just wanted to go back to their mines and take a nice, long rest.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the struggling dog, before her attention was drawn to Fido, was charging at her from the left. She wouldn’t be able to hold him as well as Rover, with her horn damaged the way it was. “Insolent whelp! Thou shalt rue thine decision to side with that rogue!”

Fido narrowly avoided a kick delivered by Luna aimed at his face, and attempted to tackle her to the ground. Luna extended her wings and flapped them, pushing herself into the air and distancing herself away from the dog. However, in doing so, she allowed the third Diamond Dog, Spot, to get an easy shot at her from behind.

Spot readied a rock into his slingshot, pulled back the elastic, and fired it directly at the back of Luna’s head. Luna was still in midflight, so the best she could do was flap her wings again to shoot straight up. Doing so allowed her to avoid taking a rock to the back of the head, but she was instead struck in the back, causing her wings to stop, and her body to fall to the ground.

Luna turned around and glared at Spot, who was preparing another shot. She quickly ducked to her left when the shot was fired, and heard a loud yelp coming from behind her. She turned to see Rover covering his left eye with his paw, shouting a series of colourful words at his companion.

“Sorry!” Spot shouted, throwing his slingshot away and scratching the back of his head nervously. Luna saw this as her chance, and was about to charge at him, when a sudden feeling caused her to turn just in time to see Fido about to dig his claws into her side. She swung her hoof to catch his paws, and winced as she felt Fido’s claws digging into her right foreleg.

Spot took this chance to attack Luna whilst she was busy trying to push Fido away with her free foreleg. Luna threw a powerful kick at Fido’s stomach, causing him to let go of Luna’s leg, but not in time for Luna to dodge Spot’s attack. She fell to the ground as she felt a sharp, burning pain down the left side of her face, followed by a familiar metallic scent in the air.

The magic holding Rover dissipated, and he fell down to the ground. After picking himself up, he quickly moved over to where his two companions were fighting the dark blue Alicorn. She was lying on the floor, blood pouring from the wound on her face, coughing fiercely and panting heavily for breath. Her eyes were shut tight, and her legs were twitching.

“Paradox! We got blue pony!” Rover shouted over to Paradox, who was standing off against Celestia. “We can go now!?”

Paradox didn’t answer, nor did he even hear them. He was too busy concentrating on the white Alicorn before him to pay the three dogs any mind. Rover groaned and turned back to the blue Alicorn on the ground. “We’ll just have to wait. He only said to keep pony busy, nothing more.”

Spot let out a loud bark, drawing the attention of the other two dogs, who jumped when they saw a tall, dark shadow looming over behind Spot. They quickly realised that the shadow was Luna, and that she had just delivered a pretty powerful kick to the side of Spot’s head, knocking him out.

“What!? HOW!?” Fido shouted, turning to the body of Luna that was on the ground. The body quickly started to disappear, evaporating into mist before the two dogs’ eyes. They turned their attention back to Luna, who was glaring down at the two dogs, panting as she charged magic into her horn.

Paradox summoned a few spires to shield himself from Celestia’s attack. He glanced over at Twilight and Trixie, who were still being drained of all of their magic. ‘What’s taking so long!? Sure they’re resisting, but that shouldn’t slow it down this much!’

“Paradox, you still remember everything that I taught you very well,” Celestia said, before teleporting right behind Paradox. Paradox spun around and raised a forehoof to block Celestia’s chop. “But you’re using those lessons for all of the wrong reasons! I taught you how to fight so that you could protect everypony, not doom them!”

“I won’t doom them!” Paradox shouted, jumping back a few paces, “I won’t! I’m just gonna fix the world up a little bit! One little change won’t hurt anypony!”

““One little change”!? You’re talking about changing my very being! Turning me into somepony completely different, just so that I’ll be to your liking! And no matter what changes you make, you’ll still be toying around with powers that nopony should ever be allowed to possess!”

Paradox unleashed a smokescreen to conceal his movements, and manifested a spear made out of magical energy. Celestia saw the spear approaching just in time to dodge it, but wasn’t prepared for Paradox charging forward and attacking her with a leaping spin kick to the face.

Celestia fell to the floor, and Paradox attempted to pin her hooves down. However, Celestia managed to roll to her side to avoid Paradox’s attempts at pinning her down, and summoned a bolt of lightning behind Paradox to strike him down.

Paradox quickly conjured up a teleportation spell the moment his attempts at pinning Celestia down to the ground failed, knowing that she would counterattack in some way, and managed to teleport just in time to avoid a lightning bolt to his back. He appeared a good distance away from Celestia, upside down and slightly disorientated.

“Need some help?”

Paradox rose to his hooves and shook off his disorientation. Princess Celestia summoned some magic into her horn, and the ground beneath Paradox began shaking immediately afterwards. He used his own magic to cancel out the Princess’, and the two stood perfectly still for a few minutes, staring each other in the eyes.

“You’re not doing so well, huh?”

“Shut it,” Paradox said, raising a hoof to wipe away the sweat running down his forehead. “I can handle this. There’s no way I’m letting you take over.”

“Hmph…We’ll see…”

Paradox charged up magic into his horn, mumbling an incantation to himself. Celestia gasped and tried to stop him. “Paradox! Don’t use that spell! That spell is only meant to be used to protect those dear to you, not for evil!”

“Good and evil don’t exist! And I am doing this for the one dear to me!” Paradox’s horn cracked, and his eyes suddenly shone a bright white. “I am doing this for us!” Celestia saw Paradox’s injuries fade away, along with his look of anger. Paradox’s body lifted off the ground, and floated not too high above it. “I’ll do whatever it takes to bring us together. To make us happy.”

Celestia closed her eyes and focused magic throughout her entire body, bracing herself for what she knew was coming. “Paradox, I would have been perfectly happy if you had just turned yourself in. But now, we can never go back to what we once were. And if you use Pandora’s Box to force us into being happy, it would never be the same. It wouldn’t be real, and small part of both of us would know that.”

“Paradox, don’t do anything rash. I still need your body a little while longer.”

Paradox ignored the voice running through his mind. Right now, his thoughts were only on one thing: keeping Celestia busy whilst his ritual drained Twilight and Trixie. He leaned forward, and soared through the air towards Celestia. ‘This spell will only last for 2 minutes. The ritual should be completed by then.’

Paradox spun around just before reaching Celestia, and delivered a kick with his back leg. Celestia caught it with her magic, shocking Paradox, who then fired a powerful blast of magic at the Alicorn’s face. Celestia received a direct hit, causing her to release Paradox, who retreated slightly.

Celestia quickly recovered, and attempted to trap Paradox in a magic sphere, but Paradox was quick enough to be able to fly out. She didn’t stop there, though; her next move was summoning six golden tendrils made out of magical energy, which shot forth from the ground and chased Paradox as he ascended upwards.

Paradox nimbly dodged the first two, but the third one grabbed at his back left leg, and threw him down towards the ground. Paradox quickly recovered, his dizziness fading away as quickly as it had arrived, and created a shield to deflect the incoming barrage of rocks flying his way. He noticed that the tendrils were flying around the shield, and were going him from both sides. He had to act quickly…He needed to protect himself…

Paradox’s horn lit up, and two bright flashes of light appeared at each of his sides. The tendrils stopped as Celestia examined the scene, and she gasped as she saw two injured Diamond Dogs being suspended in the air by magic, acting as shields for any incoming attacks.

“Spot! Fido!” Rover shouted, grinding his teeth and charging towards the scene. A glare from Paradox stopped him. “Let them go! You said we would live if we followed you!”

“Yeah, well plans have changed! And if you do anything foolish, you’ll die, too!”

“I don’t think so,” Luna said, walking next to Rover’s side, narrowing her eyes at Paradox, “I’ve already removed your seal from their bodies, Paradox.” Paradox’s eyes widened, and he attempted to kill Spot to confirm whether this was true or not. Nothing happened. He tried Fido. Still nothing. At this point, he didn’t even need to try Rover to know that there would be no effect. “Now, release those two dogs. Your ritual has already been ended.”

Paradox looked over at where Twilight and Trixie were the last time he had checked, and noticed that, not only had the circle been defaced, but the two Unicorns were also nowhere to be found. He felt a cold glare from his side, and turned to see Twilight and Trixie standing by Celestia’s side. It was over. His ritual was interrupted, he had enemies on all sides, and his magic was starting to fade, now. All he had left was…

“Rover, protect me!” he demanded, drawing a confused look from the enraged Diamond Dog. “If you want your two friends to live, you’ll do as I say! Protect me whilst I make my escape!”

“Oh my god. I can’t even stand to watch this anymore.”

“You want your friends to live, don’t you!?”

“Don’t listen to lying pony!” Fido shouted, “He has no intention of letting us live! We’d rather die as Diamond Dogs than as pony’s shield!”

Spot nodded in agreement, and Rover charged forward towards Paradox.

Paradox glared at Rover for a second, before throwing the two dogs at him, knocking him down and buying him enough time to teleport a short distance away. He panted heavily, and raised a hoof to see his body starting to turn pale. The spell was beginning to take its toll, and it wouldn’t be long now until he was defeated by the group of ponies and Diamond Dogs in front of him.

“That’s it. I’m taking over.”

Paradox’s eyes widened, and his horn shot out a silver beam of energy, shocking the advancing Princesses and causing them to take a few steps back as they examined this new beam of energy. Luna couldn’t quite place her hoof on it, but something about it seemed very familiar.

Celestia recognised it quickly enough, and her face took on a horrified expression as she watched the strange beam of energy start to take shape into something else. First, a body formed. A silver body, that matched the colour of the energy shooting from Paradox’s horn. Next came four legs, followed by a neck, and finally, a head.

Soon, standing before everybody in the room, was a tall, silver pony, about Celestia’s height, with a long metallic-grey mane, which flowed in a similar way to Celestia’s. She had a horn on her head, and a pair of wings on her body. Her flank was quite noticeably blank. A peculiar sight for fully grown ponies, but certainly not impossible.

The new arrival laughed and stretched her hooves a bit, cracked her neck a few times, and then breathed in the fresh air all around her. “Man, how good it is to finally be outside once again.”

Celestia took a step forward, eyeing the suspicious Alicorn cautiously, and asked: “Who are you?”

The Alicorn looked at Celestia, smiling at the regal Princess and bowing politely. “I don’t have a name, so you may call me what you will. Paradox likes to call me the “the Devil”.” The mysterious Alicorn, “Devil”, smirked as she looked at all of occupants of the room that she was in. “My, my…It’s certainly quite crowded in here, isn’t it?”

Everyone in the room watched the Alicorn approach the centre, where the now ruined circle was drawn on the floor. Devil turned to face Paradox, who was just starting to recover from the events that had just happened. “Thank you for hiding me inside your body for a while, Paradox. But I’m done with you now. I think I can handle the rest on my own.”

Paradox looked up at the Alicorn, glaring daggers into her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Basically, enough energy has been collected for me to break the seal on Pandora’s Box.” A collection of gasps rang throughout the room. “As a superior life form, Paradox, I am able to break the seal much easier than you. This energy that’s already been collected is more than enough for me to break the seal with.”

“But…We had a deal! You said that-”

“I say a lot of things,” Devil said, firing a quick blast of energy at Paradox, knocking him down. “And now, I shall finally have what I need to make this world bow to my knees! I shall become a god, and nopony will be able to stand in my way! HAHAHAHA!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Celestia challenged, taking a few steps towards Devil.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Devil responded, “You won’t.”

Celestia didn’t allow Devil enough time to act on her threat, immediately using her magic to teleport herself close to the new Alicorn and bucking her, with magic running through her hind legs to strengthen them.

Devil summoned a barrier to deflect Celestia’s kick, and manifested her magic into a trident. “I’m in a hurry. I’d rather get here before they do.” Devil thrust the trident towards Celestia, who used her magic to block the attack. Devil grinned as she ran some magic through her mane, sharpening the tip and extending it towards Celestia’s neck.

“Stop!” Paradox shouted. Devil felt a powerful burst of energy heading her way, and turned around to see a white Unicorn with a flaming mane and tail floating in the air. Her eyes were burning with rage, and her horn was sparking with overflowing magical energy. “It’s like before…Twilight’s hidden power is being drawn out.”

Trixie backed away from Twilight, a look of amazement and fear on her face. She could feel the overwhelming energy coming from Twilight, and knew better than to stand too close to it whilst her own body was still weak from being drained earlier.

Luna gaped at the burning Unicorn before her, and urged the three Diamond Dogs to stand well back, a suggestion they didn’t really need, since they were already cowering behind the Moon Princess. “Did my sister teach her that spell? No…This is like that spell, but unrefined.” Luna narrowed her eyes at Twilight Sparkle, who was preparing to cast a spell at Devil. “Much of her hidden potential is simply spewing out of her, being completely wasted. This is much weaker than the spell that Paradox used.” ‘But certainly much safer.’

Twilight’s eyes glowed white for a second, and then an intense beam of bright purple shot forth from her horn, aimed at Devil. It struck Devil’s mane just in time to stop it from piercing Celestia’s neck, and forced it back to its previously softened state. Twilight’s next spell caused her to teleport behind Devil and, before anyone could process what had just happened, she bit down Devil’s back.

Devil’s eyes widened, and she lost her concentration, causing the magical trident that she had created earlier to disappear. “OW! You little-” Devil turned her head to glare at Twilight, who was still biting down on the silver Alicorn. Devil fired a beam of silver energy at Twilight, forcing the Unicorn off of her and sending her flying across the room.

Twilight quickly righted herself in midair, and once she was on the ground again, began to charge towards Devil, electricity shooting out of her horn and singing the ground around her.

“Twilight, don’t!” Celestia shouted, though her words didn’t seem to reach her at this point. Twilight continued to charge forward, completely oblivious to Devil’s magic gathering in her horn. “I won’t let you harm my pupil!” Celestia’s horn glowed, and vines shot out of the ground, wrapping around the Alicorn’s legs.

Devil reflexively turned to Celestia, and shot the magic gathered in her horn at her, knocking the Princess down to her haunches, and breaking the vine spell on her. “Mother!” Paradox shouted, rising to his hooves and running over to Celestia as quickly as he could.

Twilight fired a bolt of lightning from her horn towards Devil, who teleported away to avoid it. Everyone looked around the room, trying to find where Devil had disappeared to. Paradox reached Celestia, and helped her up to her hooves. “Are you ok, mother?”

“I’m fine,” Celestia said, rubbing her head with a forehoof. “How is Twilight? Is she still…”

Paradox and Celestia turned their attention to Twilight, who was looking around the room furiously. “There!” Everyone turned their attention to Luna, and then to where she was pointing up in the air, where they saw the silver Alicorn firing a beam of energy towards Twilight.

Twilight didn’t have enough time to dodge the attack, and was flattened against the ground with great force. When the attack was over, Celestia and Luna looked in horror as Twilight, now back to her regular colours and calmer state of mind, tried to pick herself up, but failed.

Devil didn’t give her enemies any time to rest; she immediately dropped down to the ground and summoned a bunch of sharp rocks from the ground, and threw them at Celestia.

Celestia was ready to defend herself, but Paradox had already thrown himself between the two Alicorns, and had taken the full force of the attack before it could hit Celestia.

Paradox fell to the ground, and he slowly raised his head up so that he could glare at Devil. Whilst Celestia was distracted by Paradox’s injuries, Devil teleported behind the Princess and struck her horn directly with a powerful numbing spell. Celestia fell to her stomach next to Paradox, unable to move or summon any magic.

“Well then, now that the distractions have been taken care of, let’s not waste any more time.” Devil approached Paradox, who was struggling to rise to his hooves, and cast a wicked grin at the defeated Unicorn. “Sorry, boy, but I had no intention of sharing my bounty with you.”

Paradox gritted his teeth together, cursing the Alicorn in his mind over and over again, and the more he tried to rise to his hooves, the more it felt like his legs would fall off. “Damn…You…”

Paradox ran as fast as he could through the streets of Canterlot. All in all, he could say that his plans hadn’t gone as smoothly as he had hoped. Celestia’s Royal Guard had thwarted his hastily thrown together assassination attempt, and were now chasing him down for treason.

Paradox had to use his magic to explode the street’s lights, and make use of the city's alleyways, in order to throw off the pursuing guards. After what felt like hours of running, Paradox had finally made it to the entrance and exit of Canterlot. Of course, the guards posted there were already on the lookout for him, and wouldn’t just allow him to stroll out of his own accord. Which meant he had to be a little creative…He had to be a little sneaky…

And by sneaky, he of course meant blasting a huge blast of magic into one of the stores, distracting the guards long enough for him to run out before they could stop him.

“Halt, villain!”

“Stop him!”

“All troops, stop that stallion!”

Paradox groaned, and cursed himself for looking back. There must have been a dozen guards, at least, on his tail. And of course, Canterlot was in a mountainous area. Meaning that, if one didn’t watch they were going, they would wind up on a cliff’s edge, just like Paradox wound up doing that night.

“It’s over, Paradox,” a voice called out from behind the worn-out Unicorn. Paradox turned around to see Silver Spark, a Captain of the Royal Guard, approaching Paradox, with a small legion of troops behind him, ready to attack the moment the order was given. “There’s nowhere for you to run. Attacking the Princess like that…Your punishment shall be death. Now, make this easy for us, and just turn yourself in.”

“Never!” Paradox shouted, taking a step back in desperation. His hoof landed on an unstable part of the cliff’s edge, which crumbled away upon being stepped on, causing Paradox to fall back and off the cliff’s edge. “WAAAAAAAH!”

Paradox woke up with a splitting headache. The loud sound of crashing water didn’t help any, and he groaned as the sunlight hit his eyes. He tried to raise himself up, but found it to be no easy task. “Oh, you’re awake?” Paradox turned to see an orange pony approaching. He figured his eyes must have been playing tricks on him, because this pony had both a horn, and wings. “You’ve been out for five years. Mistress will be happy to hear you’ve regained consciousness.”

“…Five years? Mistress?” Paradox rubbed his temples with his forehooves, trying to recall what had happened. He remembered his failed assassination attempt, followed by him being chased by the Royal Guard, and then…“How am I alive, after a fall like that?”

The orange Alicorn giggled, and levitated a bowl of soup up to Paradox’s face. “Are you strong enough, or do I still need to feed you myself?”

Paradox glared at the Alicorn, and tried to focus his magic to levitate the bowl. After hurting his head a number of times, and realising that magic was out of the question in his current state, he simply reached out and held the bowl in his hooves.

The Alicorn smiled, and watched him as he ate. “I don’t know how you survived, and Mistress doesn’t quite understand either. But she certainly wasn’t happy. You messed up her ritual, and she had to start all over again.”

“…Who is this “Mistress” you keep referring to?”

“She doesn’t have a name,” the Alicorn said, “So she allows ponies to call her whatever they want to. I call her Mistress, because I owe her my life. Without her, I wouldn’t even be alive today! I would have died when I just a little filly.”

“But you still haven’t told me who it i-” Paradox stopped, deciding it wasn’t really important who this “Mistress” was, just what they intended to do with him. “And why did Mistress save me?”

The Alicorn put a hoof to her chin as she thought. “Mistress said that you might be useful. She said you possessed a lot of magic, and Unicorn of your calibre is a valuable tool to have.”

Paradox gaped at the orange Alicorn, unsure if he had just heard her right. Did she just call him a “tool”? And so casually? As if it something that was obvious to anypony? “And what do you mean by “tool”?”

The Alicorn shrugged, and a voice behind them answered the question that she couldn’t. “It means that, in exchange for saving your life, I want to make use of your abilities.” The two ponies turned to see the silver Alicorn that had called out to them. “Or, I could just hand you over to the Royal Guard, Paradox.”

Paradox fell flat on his stomach upon returning to the clearing the forest where he and the Alicorn he had started to call ‘Devil’ were currently staying. “You’ve returned already?” Devil asked, approaching Paradox and levitating the dead pony on his back. “Well, it seems you got the job done…And where is Loyalty?”

Paradox kept his face facing the ground, hiding his trembling face from Devil’s view. “She…Didn’t make it…”

Devil shrugged and levitated a bowl of food to Paradox. “Oh well. It’s a shame, but I was going to kill her myself someday anyway.” Paradox’s eyes widened, and he backed away from Devil. “Relax. It’s only because I hate Alicorns with a passion. You’ll be safe, as long as you stay on my good side…And remain useful to me.”

Paradox grinded his teeth together, glaring at the back of the silver Alicorn’s head. ‘What the hell!? Loyalty loved you, you cold bitch! She did anything you asked her to without a second thought! She gave her life for you, and you…You’re just like her…You’re just like that mare, Celestia…’

“Is there something you want to say to me?” Devil asked, facing Paradox. “If so, then say it.”

“…I hate you,” Paradox said, “I hate you so much…Because you remind me of her. I despise you, and have no intention of laying down my life for you.”

Devil turned away and walked back over to her meal. “I don’t care,” she said, “We both have the same desire: to save this world by erasing the evil that exists within it. And so, we work together for Pandora’s Box…That is all.”

“…”

Devil took the key from under Paradox’s cloak, and made her way towards the centre of the room, where the defaced circle was currently being repaired by her magic. “Thank you for setting things up for me, Paradox. But I have no intention of sharing the power of Pandora’s Box with you.”

Paradox crawled a few steps towards Devil, before his forelegs completely gave in, and he was no longer able to continue moving. “You…You treacherous…”

“Indeed,” Devil said, stopping in the centre of the circle, “How do you think I’ve survived for this long against the Alicorn kingdom? I betray others to prolong my own life. And you…receive the honour of being my final sacrifice. Thanks to your death, justice will reign over this entire kingdom.” Devil turned her head and grinned at Paradox. “Maybe I’ll bring you back once you’re dead. Though I can’t guarantee you’ll be the same pony. Nopony is, after they’re affected by Pandora’s Box.”

Paradox gasped as the words reached his ears. ‘Nopony’s the same…Mother said that…If I changed her, it wouldn’t be the same…She would be somepony different? But she would still be mother, right? She would still be the same Celestia that I know and love…She’ll be…’ Paradox looked over at Celestia, who was glaring at Devil with a look of fury and helplessness. ‘Oh god, what have I done? I was going to…I wasn’t going to change mother, I was going to kill her, and settle for somepony else altogether!’

“And now, the time to has come to end the tyranny of the Alicorn race!” Devil shouted, holding the key high into the air with her magic. She shot a beam of silver energy at it, and the key started to glow with all of the colours of the rainbow.

“Shouldn’t we do something!?” Trixie shouted to Luna. She wanted to rush forward and fight, but her legs were refusing to move even an inch. “She’s gonna do something bad, isn’t she!? Why are you just standing there!?”

“There is nothing that we can do,” Luna admitted, sighing in defeat as she pointed at her horn, “Our horn is too badly damaged, and we are exhausted. There is nothing that can be done…Unless…”

“Unless what?” Trixie asked.

“Unless we put our remaining magic into you…We might have a shot, but the strain will undoubtedly kill you.”

Trixie flinched, and her eyes shifted between Luna and Devil. ‘K-Kill me? Now hold on. I’m not so noble that I’d sacrifice myself for Equestria! Risk my life, maybe, but not give it away.’

“Don’t be a fool, Trixie!” Devil shouted, gaining Trixie’s attention. “I have no ill will against you! Do nothing, and you can continue life exactly as you have done up to this point!” Trixie turned her attention to the floor, not sure what to do.

“That’s right,” Paradox said, rising to his hooves. Everyone in the room turned to face Paradox, surprise clear on their faces. “There’s no need to sacrifice yourself…‘Cause Pandora’s Box will not be opened today!”

Paradox reached a hoof to the clasp on his cloak, and undid it. His cloak fell off of his back, revealing his entire body, which was covered in injuries and burn marks. Devil, Celestia, and Luna all gasped and stared at Paradox with wide eyes. In particular, Celestia and Devil stared at him with looks of horror.

“What’s going on?” Trixie asked Luna as she saw Devil drop the key that she was holding to the ground. Devil gathered magic into her horn, and Trixie recognised the spell as long-range teleportation. “Oh no you don’t!” she shouted, firing a beam at Devil. Devil was forced to abandon her spell in order to dodge the beam, and then glared at Trixie when she landed back on the ground again.

“PARADOX! PUT YOUR CLOAK BACK ON!” Celestia shouted, raising her head up as much as she could in her current condition. “HURRY! BEFORE THEY-” Celestia sentence was cut short by the sudden arrival of three silhouettes at the entrance of the room.

“That was fast,” Luna commented, “They must have been patrolling the area outside, just waiting for something that would show them where the Ancient Tomb is.”

“That is correct, Princess Luna of Equestria,” one of the figures said. He stepped forward, and pulled down his hood. He was a tall, brown coated Alicorn, with a spiky red mane and crimson eyes. He glared at Paradox, who was staring right back at him, trembling on the floor. “Paradox, you are under arrest for crimes against the Alicorn kingdom.” He turned his attention towards the other point of interest inside the room: the silver Alicorn, holding the Key of the Ancient Tomb in her magic. “And you…I don’t know who you are, but if you do not relinquish that key to us right now, you will also be placed under arrest.”

“She attacked my sister,” Luna said, “And we have reason to believe that she conspired with Paradox in order to steal the artefacts that he stole.”

The Alicorn nodded his head in understanding. “I see…Forget my words then.” The Alicorn, along with the two behind him, approached the silver Alicorn. “You are under arrest. Surrender now and make it easier for all of us.”

Devil scoffed, and backed away from the incoming Alicorns. “You fools…You think I’ll be defeated so easily? Your arrogance knows no end! That’s why I hate Alicorns!” Devil unleashed a wall of flames to separate herself from the three Alicorns, but it was quickly doused out by a high-level water spell by one of the cloaked Alicorns.

“Good work, Pluto,” the middle Alicorn said, looking at the Alicorn to his left.

“Mercury,” the Alicorn to the middle one’s right said, “I’m going to prevent her from teleporting. Be careful not to use space-time magic.”

Mercury nodded. “Got it. Just don’t overdo it like you always do, Saturn…I hate fighting against gravity like that.”

Saturn nodded, and his horn lit up. He sat down on his haunches and closed his eyes, concentrating on the spell that he was casting.

Suddenly, everyone in the room felt like there was something heavy pushing down on them, and it took everything they had to avoid being flattened against the ground. Devil, Mercury, Pluto, and Saturn were the only four able to put up much resistance against this sudden phenomenon, but even they were struggling to stay up properly.

“W-What’s going on!?” Trixie asked, using what little magic she could summon to erect a barrier that surrounded herself, Luna, and the three Diamond Dogs. The barrier was designed to stay up for about an hour after a single cast, so it wasn’t too much of a strain on her magic, and it kept other magical influences out. “What kind of spell is that?” Trixie asked, taking a few deep breaths as she shook off whatever it was that had just happened to her.

“Anti-teleportation…Extremely advanced magic, that only an Alicorn Elder would know,” Luna answered, “And it has the nasty side effect of intensifying the gravity in the surrounding area…As you just felt for yourself.”

“Other ponies not look so good,” Rover said, pointing a finger in the direction of Twilight, Celestia, and Paradox.

Luna turned to face Trixie. “Trixie, do you think you can extend this barrier to reach them, too?”

Trixie shook her head quickly. “No way! That would be way too much of a strain on Trixie’s body! Trixie’s had quite enough of her horn bleeding, thank you very much!”

Luna sighed, although she could understand what Trixie was saying. For Unicorns and Alicorn, overusing your magic was not only painful, but dangerous. Even life threatening. And there was no reason why Trixie should risk her life to save three other ponies…Outside of moral reasons, of course, but personal views hardly provided a sound argument for…Well, anything, really.

“But if you can provide Trixie with some – some – of your magic, then Trixie might be able to shield herself long enough to go out and bring them over here.” Trixie made sure to put great emphasis on only needing some of Luna’s magic, since too much would overwhelm her, and maybe even, as Luna said earlier, kill her.

Luna closed her eyes and focused. She felt magic flowing into her horn, and pain shot through her body. “We shall try not to overdo it…But it shall be difficult…” Luna lowered her head and touched the tip of her horn against Trixie’s. Both Luna and Trixie jumped at the sudden contact, and then braced themselves for the magical transfer from Luna’s horn to Trixie’s.

“Yes…This should be enough,” Trixie said, backing away from Luna, who fell to her haunches after letting her magic die down. “Trixie shall have to make this two separate trips. She can only carry one at a time.”

“Get Paradox, too,” Luna said.

“Why should Trixie do that? Paradox tried to kill Trixie.”

“I know,” Luna sighed, “Just…Please, Miss Trixie, for my sister.”

Trixie shook her head, and let out a deep sigh. “Trixie must be insane for doing this…Fine then, if Trixie has enough energy for a third trip, then she will attempt to save Paradox. But only if she has enough energy left.”

Luna nodded, seeing that that was the best she could hope for from Trixie. “Thank you.”

Trixie braced herself, charged up her magic, and prepared to cast her spell, before leaving the barrier.

Mercury and Pluto attacked Devil from both sides, charging magic into their horns as they prepared to take her down. Devil saw that she could not escape via teleportation, and decided that her only chance of survival was to defeat Saturn. Unfortunately, Saturn was a good distance away, and attacking him would leave her completely open.

“I’ll have to create an opening,” Devil told herself as she summoned up a shield to cut off Pluto’s advancement, allowing her to focus her efforts on Mercury. She conjured up a wind spell to try and push Mercury away from her. To her shock, it didn’t work; Mercury was still advancing, as if the wind wasn’t even there.

“Idiot, you don’t even research your enemies!?” Mercury’s horn was glowing, and his entire body was covered in a red light. “Wind magic won’t affect me! That’s my territory!” Mercury fired his own wind spell back at Devil, completely overwhelming her spell and sending her flying into her own barrier behind her.

“Ouch!” Devil rose to her hooves slowly and shook off the dizziness from being thrown through the air. She didn’t have long to recover, as Mercury was already preparing his next spell. “If wind won’t work, then…” Devil pointed her horn at Mercury, and charged up a water spell to fire at him.

“And you’ve lost,” Devil turned her head to her side instantly, and saw Pluto looming over her, his hood removed to reveal his aqua blue coat and dark blue mane. “Water is what I specialise in. Fire that, and you’re dead.”

Devil turned to see Mercury still holding his spell, ready to fire it at any second. “Here are you choices,” Mercury said, “One, give up and come quietly, or two, fight and die, right here and now.”

Devil looked between the two Alicorns, weighing her options and desperately looking for a way out. ‘Who do you think you’re fooling? If I go with you, I’ll be executed for sure! I’ll die no matter what I do…’ Devil stuck her gaze on Pluto, who was still standing right next to her. ‘Might as well take at least one of you down with me!’

Devil lowered her head and unleashed her magic at Pluto, though rather than the water spell that she was intending to use earlier, she instead fired the raw magic, creating an explosion when Pluto tried to shield it with his own water spell.

Mercury couldn’t see anything within the cloud of smoke that rose out, and didn’t want to risk harming Pluto with his wind spell by firing it blindly. “Damn, where is she?”

“MERCURY! WATCH SATURN!” Pluto yelled out, coughing from the smoke.

Mercury turned to Saturn quickly, to see Devil approaching her with electricity sparking out of her horn. She fired a stream of lightning out towards Saturn, and Mercury quickly unleashed his wind spell at her, sending her flying towards the far end of the room.

Saturn noticed the lightning heading his way, but was unable to dodge without breaking his anti-teleportation spell, and received the full force of the furious attack. With a loud scream of pain, Saturn fell to the ground, and the sudden decrease in the intensity of the gravity in the room confirmed that his spell had been cancelled.

Devil grinned as she felt it easier to rise, though she still felt her entire body aching all over from being thrown into a wall with great force. Devil’s horn lit up and, despite the pain rushing through her body, and the blood dripping from the base of her horn, she conjured up a long-range teleportation spell. This time, nopony would stop her.

Mercury and Pluto were too far away and, by the time they had managed to gather up energy into their horn, Devil was gone. She was taken away by a bright flash of light, and her presence had completely disappeared from the room.

Epilogue

“Pluto, you treat Saturn’s wounds! I’ll tend to Princess Celestia.” Pluto nodded and rushed over to Saturn, casting a quick analyse spell over him to check the severity of his wounds. Mercury walked over to Celestia, eyeing every non-Alicorn in the room suspiciously, and then cast the same spell over the Princess’ body. “Are there ponies and dogs with you?”

Luna stepped forward to answer. “The purple mare is my sister’s personal student, and is the step-sibling of Royalty. The blue mare and the three dogs are unfortunate victims who were caught up in this whole mess.”

“I see…” Mercury rose to his hooves and approached Luna, and cast the same analyse spell on her. “Well, they don’t seem very dangerous…We’ll leave them to you and your sister if you want, but you’ll have to be prepared to face the consequences if they-”

“Don’t worry. They’ll be just fine,” Luna assured, allowing the taller Alicorn to check her body for injuries. “More importantly…About Paradox…”

Luna’s question was interrupted by the sudden arrival of three Alicorns, all dressed in black robes and hoods that completely hid their identities. “You know what will happen to him,” Mercury said, backing away from Luna and preparing a healing spell for her. “Hold still. I’m going to fix up your horn a bit.”

Celestia and Luna stared at the three new Alicorns in horror, and didn’t move until the middle one unleashed a binding spell, which levitated Paradox into the air, and wrapped a series of chains around him, completely restricting his movements, obscuring his vision, and preventing him from speaking. “Wait!” Celestia shouted, but was stopped from moving by Luna.

“Don’t, sister,” Luna pleaded, looking at the ground as she held her sister down. “Just…Let it go.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw Luna’s body trembling, and heard the uneasiness in her voice. Celestia ordered Luna to let go of her, and was about to throw her off and chase after Paradox, when a sudden kick to her stomach from the younger sibling caused her to pass out. “Princess! What are you-”

“A wise move,” Mercury said, firing a red beam of energy at Luna’s horn. “It’s not wise to mess with the Execution Squad.”

Luna nodded her head, closing her eyes as the healing beam fixed up some of the damage on her horn. “I’m sorry, sister…But there’s nothing that we can do for him now. Paradox has dug his own grave. And we can’t lift a hoof to help him. Not against them.”

Once the three cloaked Alicorns had left the room with Paradox in tow, another group of five Alicorns, this time dressed in white robes, entered the room. Each one was assigned to treat one of the non-Alicorn creatures in the room.

“Luna,” Mercury said, kneeling down and beginning to work on Celestia’s injuries, “You and your sister will be called in as witnesses for Paradox’s trial. For your sister’s sake, I hope she calms down before then…And remembers her place.” The last part sounded more like a threat than advice, and Luna could only nod as she headed his warning.

Luna slowly approached her sister, who was standing in front of the statue of Discord in the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Celestia was deep in thought, and needed some time to herself to think. During Luna’s 1000 year absence, the Sun Princess found that spending time near Discord, the only being besides Luna who she’s known since fillyhood, helped her to calm her mind, and think clearly.

But now, Luna was here, and she wanted to help her sister if she could. She readied herself, and approached her sister with a warm smile. “Sister, it will be time for us to leave soon.” Celestia only acknowledged Luna with a silent nod. “…Do you not wish to go? Only one of us needs to be present, really. We can tell the Elders that there was important business for you to attend to-”

“I’m fine,” Celestia said, “I knew that this would happen if he removed that cloak…He committed crimes against the Alicorn kingdom, and there was no way that they would let him off lightly.”

“…”

“I’ll go, Luna. I want to at least say goodbye to my son…It won’t be easy, but it’s my fault that this all happened, so I-”

“No, sister,” Luna interrupted, running up to her sister and nuzzling her. “This was not your fault. One can only be held accountable for actions they undertake, not for the actions of others. It’s why we don’t hate you for our 1000 years imprisonment. It was you who banished us…But it was us who chose the path of darkness, and so it was a necessary action.”

Celestia sighed and nuzzled her sister back. “But…What if it happens again? What if I’m forced to fight against another who I love?”

“It is unavoidable,” Luna said, “As Alicorns, we naturally attract enemies all around us. All we can do…Is be prepared for when that time comes.”

“…Speaking of which, that mysterious Alicorn…”

Luna shook her head. “They haven’t found her. And if they have any information on her, they’re not sharing it with us. But we can be sure that she will strike again…Alicorn Soldiers have been posted throughout Equestria, as well as many other nations, to track down and fine her.”

“I see…”

The two stayed together in silence for a about 30 minutes, just staring up into the sky, watching the clouds pass them by. Finally, Celestia moved away from Luna. “I’m going to see Twilight,” she said, “I want to apologize to her for all the trouble I have put her through.”

“We understand. We shall wait for you in our room, until you are ready to leave.”

“Come on! Open it, open it!” Twilight opened her present from Pinkie Pie cautiously, and well away from her face. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a confetti cannon, or a plastic snake cannon, or a bunch of helium balloons. She looked inside the box to see 5 cupcakes, each one a different colour, and with a different pattern, which Twilight quickly realised were the Cutie Marks of her friends. “We all made them ourselves! What d’ya think?”

“They…Look great! Thanks, you guys,” Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, pulling her into a tight hug, and causing Twilight to cry out in pain. Pinkie Pie loosened her grip and pulled away quickly, laughing nervously and apologizing. “It’s fine…Just…Let’s save any hugging for a later date, ok?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie shouted, before pulling out another present from seemingly out of nowhere, and offering it to the bed next to her. “Here! This is for you, Trixie!”

Trixie looked at the present offered to her, and then to Pinkie Pie with an annoyed look on her face. “Trixie cannot open it,” she said, motioning with her eyes to her forelegs that were wrapped in bandages.

Trixie entered the barrier with Princess Celestia in her magical grip, panting heavily as she dragged the Alicorn in. “My goodness…How much…Does she weigh!?” Trixie fell to her stomach as she released her magical grip over Celestia, panting heavily and thankful that it was over…Except that it wasn’t.

“You still need to bring Paradox over here,” Luna said, looking over and seeing that Paradox had pretty much given up trying to resist the intense gravity.

“You…Can’t be…Serious…”

“We are,” Luna said sternly.

Trixie wanted to just leave Paradox behind. She did say that she would if she didn’t have enough energy left. And yet…“Damn it…You’d better reward Trixie handsomely for this!”

‘And then he was just taken away anyway! There was no point in me rescuing him at all!’

“That’s ok!” Pinkie Pie shouted, opening the present for Trixie. Trixie looked inside the box, and saw a dozen pink cupcakes inside, all decorated with frosting of various colours.

“Trixie can’t eat them like this,” Trixie said, turning her head to face the ceiling above her.

“Already got ya covered!” Rainbow Dash said, pressing the button on Trixie’s bed to raise it up. Trixie was about to ask what she was doing, when Pinkie Pie shoved a cupcake into her mouth.

Trixie threw an annoyed glare at the pink pony, but had to admit that the cupcake tasted good…Very good. ‘Oh my…I should ask her for this recipe, when I get better!’

“So? What d’ya think?” Pinkie Pie asked, hopping up and down excitedly.

Trixie finished swallowing the last of the cupcake, cleared her throat, and turned her head to her side, facing away from the pink pony. “Acceptable.”

She was expecting Pinkie Pie to be disappointed, but instead the hyperactive Earth Pony cheered so loudly that Trixie would have covered her ears if she could move her forelegs. “ALLLLLRIIIIIIGHT!”

“Oh my. I though hospitals were supposed to be quiet,” a voice called out from behind Pinkie Pie. Everypony in the room turned to see Princess Celestia entering, and all, except for Trixie, bowed immediately, only for Celestia to ask them to be at ease. “Trixie, how are you doing?”

Trixie huffed at the Princess. “How do you think?”

Celestia smiled at Trixie’s response. “So good, then,” she said, laughing as Trixie turned her head away. “We’ve prepared your reward for helping us. I think you’ll find it quite reasonable.”

“It had better be, after what Trixie’s been through.”

Celestia nodded, and then turned to Twilight. “I would like to speak with Twilight, alone.” She then turned to the other ponies in the room. “Would you mind?”

“Of course not, Yer Majesty!” Applejack responded, leading everypony except for Rainbow Dash and Rarity out of the room.

Rainbow Dash lifted Trixie out of her bed, and Trixie immediately began flailing her hind legs as she was lifted through the air and towards a nearby wheelchair, demanding to be released at once. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not require your assistance! She is quite capable of making herself scarce!”

“U-huh, of course you are,” Rainbow Dash said, gently placing Trixie onto the wheelchair. “There we go. We’ll get out of your hair now, Princess.”

Rarity approached behind the wheelchair and began to push it out of the room with her magic, with Rainbow Dash following closely behind, and closing the door on her way out.

Celestia waited for about a minute, before she approached Twilight’s bed, and tried to find the right words to say to her. “Twilight…I…”

“I’m glad you came, Princess,” Twilight said, surprising Celestia, “I wanted to give you my friendship report before you left. I think you’ll really like this one.”

Twilight tried to reach over to her bedside table to pick up her report, but her aches and pains started up again, and she had to stop. Celestia picked up the report herself, and quickly glanced over it. “Twilight…Are you…Aren’t you angry at me?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and looked at her mentor with a confused look on her face. “What for?” she asked.

“Well…For putting you through this terrible ordeal…If it wasn’t for me, Paradox never would have approached you and your friends, and you never would have been endangered the way you were…Not to mention I almost…”

Twilight placed her hoof on top of Celestia’s, and looked into her mentor’s eyes. “Princess, none of this is your fault at all. You were simply following what your heart told you. You were doing your job, not as a Princess, but as a caring mother, who loved her son very much. You just didn’t want either of you to be hurt, and he…He responded to it poorly. That’s all.”

“NO!” Celestia shouted, startling Twilight. “No…Why does everypony keep trying to tell me that? If it wasn’t for me…If I had just approached the problem in a different way, then…”

“Princess,” Twilight started, “If I may be so bold?” Celestia nodded, and Twilight took a deep breath. “For somepony who’s lived thousands of years, you can be pretty stupid in some regards.” Celestia looked at Twilight with wide eyes, and Twilight was already regretting her decision, but decided she might as well keep going, now that she had said what she said. “The past is the past…There’s no point dwelling on it anymore. You may have been wrong to do what you did, and you may not have been. That’s for each pony individually to decide.

“What I do know, is that wallowing in self-pity over what’s passed won’t accomplish anything. If you regret your actions, then…Try to atone by doing something really good. And, you can use this past experience to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes in the future, you know?” Twilight scratched the back of her head nervously, wondering if she was making any sense at all. “What I’m basically saying is…Don’t forget about the past, but don’t let it be your present. Move on, and don’t dwell on it too much. I think…That’s what Paradox would want you to do, anyway.”

Celestia’s eyes shot wide open, and she thought about Twilight’s words. “And,” Twilight continued, “About offering me up for Luna’s safety? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t annoyed at that.” Celestia turned to face the ground. “But like I said, it’s in the past, and I know you’re a good pony, and that you were just acting out of what you thought were the best intentions. That’s why, I’ll forgive you, Princess.”

Twilight leaned forward to nuzzle her mentor, but was having trouble reaching. Celestia smiled, and leaned forward to help her reach. “You mean it, Twilight?”

“Of course,” Twilight said, “Why turn a spill into a disaster? Just…The next time something like that happens, have a little more faith in those around you, and don’t hesitate to ask for help.” Twilight pulled back and smiled at the Princess. “That’s what friends are for, after all.”

Celestia smiled back, and nodded her head. “That’s right…It’s been so long, I must have forgotten many of the wonderful joys of friendship.”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for, Princess,” Twilight said with pride.

Celestia rose to her hooves and made her way to the door. “Thank you, my faithful student. I think…I can send Paradox off with a smile now.”

Twilight nodded, still smiling despite the Princess not being able to see her. “And when you come back, if you want somepony to talk to, I’ll be here for you.”

Celestia left the room, a small tear running down her face, and started to walk through the hospital hallway. ‘Family and friends don’t last forever…But when they are there, they have a way of making even the darkest of times bearable…You reminded me of that. Thank you, Twilight.’