//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Paradox [NaPoWriMo] // by Yukito //------------------------------// 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.