Paradox [NaPoWriMo]

by Yukito

Chapter 4

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

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

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

“Hey.”

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

“Trixie is thirsty.”

“…And?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Indeed. Have you never tried them?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“How so?” Applejack chimed in.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But-”

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Kissing you flank?” Rainbow Dash offered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But-”

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

The rest of the group turned around and listened closely.

“-uys!”

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

“You guys!”

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

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

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

“We…We have…”

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

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

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

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

Comments

[Tay the Chemist]

How has this only been voted up one time? You'd think more people would have seen it.