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.