//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Paradox [NaPoWriMo] // by Yukito //------------------------------// “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.’