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.