The Tardis lurched to a stop and everypony, aside from The Doctor and Paradox, stumbled from the jolt. Paradox waved his hand towards the door as he strode towards it. The door opened to reveal the throne room and Blueblood once again speaking to the princesses. Celestia was stunned by the sudden appearance of the sexy blue box, while Luna could hardly contain her excitement. Blueblood was so absorbed in hearing himself talk he never noticed Paradox exit the box.
"That is why, my dear aunts, we the royal family should find new more… agreeable bearers for the Elements of Harmony," Blueblood was being his usual arrogant self even while reciting a prepared speech from note cards. 'Its almost like he has negative charisma,' Paradox scowled as his eyes took on their black appearance and his teeth grew into fangs.
"I thought I told you get an attitude adjustment before I saw you again!" Paradox's voice had turned demonic for added effect. Blueblood had just enough time to turn around with a terrified expression before he was punted out of the window. Paradox sighed a contented sigh as he turned to the princesses.
Paradox wasted no time and simply snatched the princesses from their thrones and moved them into the Tardis with his magic. He then conjured a piece of parchment and a quill. The note read "Borrowed the princesses be back soon, love Paradox" He sat the note on Celestia's throne and moved back into the Tardis.
The Tardis disappeared as the royal advisor, Ankh, walked into the throne room. Ankh looked at the broken window, Blueblood's note cards scattered on the floor, and a strange sheet of paper on Celestia's chair. Ankh read the note and sighed.
"I should have been a dentist…"
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Celestia was in surprised at the sight before her. Paradox caught on to her surprise and simply patted her on the back as he walked to the console. He and The Doctor started the Tardis. As the Tardis moved Paradox explained the situation to the princesses.
"So the evil in Luna was not destroyed when the elements saved her?" Celestia was befuddled by the story.
"Yep, now think of it this way. Energy cannot be destroyed so when the negative emotions Luna had were expunged they had to go somewhere. With no host the pure negative energy took on a meta-physical form and hid, most-likely to grew it's power until it could strike," Paradox explained while continuing with the navigations.
"Paradox, you need to be aware that the catacombs that you say the darkness escaped into are not empty. After Luna was banished a group of rebel ponies moved into the castle to practice dark magic. We never could guess what drew them there seeing as the elements were still in the vicinity. Now it is clear why they went there and where they fled to when we raided the ruins in search of them," Celestia pointed out the possible dangers the catacombs presented to everypony.
"So, Warlocks, necromancers, and shadow users in a dark and dank hole underneath a ruined castle with a great force of pure negative emotion and darkness. This is sounding more and more entertaining as we go." Paradox grinned wickedly as his clothes changed. His regular clothes were covered by a frayed black robe with a cut at the bottom for better leg movement.
The Tardis shuttered to a halt once more and Paradox stepped out into the ruined castle. The ponies stepped out after him and surveyed the area. Paradox stood by the elements pedestal tapping his foot. Celestia's horn started to glow as she opened the stairs to the catacombs below. The ponies moved forward only to be stopped by Paradox's aura. He stood in on the stairs wagging his finger back and forth as he closed the door behind him and sealed it. Twilight looked to her mentor with a look of surprise on her face.
"Will he be ok princess?" Twilight asked with her voice filled with concern.
"I would be more worried for the creatures below Twilight Sparkle," said Luna.
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Paradox turned back to the darkness that lay before him. He took his sonic and sent a small pulse into the depths. The data returned with no signs of life. Whatever was here was either dead or worse. Paradox felt around the wall until he found what he was looking for, a torch. He lit the torch with magic and started down the corridor.
Paradox moved into a large chamber that was lit by some strange glowing crystals that hung in the air all around the room. The room was a large burial chamber with coffins lining both walls all the way to another hallway at the other end. In the center sat what appeared to be a pony in a robe similar to the one Paradox was wearing. The pony turned to look at the intruder. Now Paradox could clearly see what it was and could feel a deep seeded hate bubbling to the surface.
The pony moved the hood to reveal it's face. The grey unicorn mare had only one pure white dead eye and the other was a dark pit with a glowing green flame where the iris should be. Her white tangled mane dangled before to the sides of her face and between her eyes. She wore a toothy smile as a worm poked its head out of a gap in her teeth. Paradox could feel only a mixture of hate and pity for this tortured soul.
"Hello my brother… it is good to see another one of us… the others are all gone now. I was so alone when they started to struggle for power and destroyed each other." The mare spoke in a raspy voice.
"I… I am not your brother. You're sick, with a sickness you brought onto yourself." Paradox glared from behind his hood as he clenched his fist.
"But… you are my brother no matter how much your deny it… We are the same, brother." The mare smiled once again and began to walk towards Paradox.
Paradox roared at the mare and threw a black fireball at her. She blocked the shot with black wall of energy. When the shield fell she wore a face of sadness and blood trickled from the corner of her dead eye. The air took on a horrible chill as coffin lids burst open and the bodies of the long dead rose into an unnatural life. The pony corpses stood shakily for a moment and then all at once they screeched and rushed at Paradox.
The first body to reach Paradox was met by his heel. He stomped it into the ground and reduced it to dust as he threw his torch at an oncoming corpse burning it and extinguishing his flame. The next to reach him met a similar fate as Paradox slipped into a rage induced stupor and tore it from head to hind legs. Paradox had lost all reason and started swinging wildly into the fray of corpses being slung at him. The necromancer stared at the mad man destroying her only friends. She continued to cry and let out a wail to rival the banshees at Paradox. The blast of sound hit Paradox and brought him to his knees almost instantly. The ear-splitting sound literally did that and burst his eardrums effectively destroying his equilibrium.
The undead piled onto his body and started to gnaw on him. The necromancer started to turn away when something caught her eye. Beneath the pile of bodies a golden light began to radiate. The intensity grew until it burst out burning all the undead into ash. A beam of the light struck the necromancer, she clutched her chest and fled the room down the hallway. Paradox fell to the ground panting for breath, even with all the positive training he had gotten here his reserves were still much smaller than that of his negative energy. Paradox felt his injuries begin to repair and he shakily stood. Paradox quickly surveyed the damage but a shriek from the hallway caught his attention and he took off towards the sound.
The necromancer had been knocked on her back by the force she had known as he master. A great stone basin filled with black liquid had come to life at her presence. "I can feel your weakness…" It had said before it struck her to the ground with a great whip of darkness. The beast bore down on here with intent to absorb her essence only to be stopped by a red forcefield. Paradox held out a hand as his eyes seethed red energy. Paradox approached the frail necromancer before him while keeping up the magic. He pulled her close and held her feeling what little life she had left slipping away.
"You know -cough- I was called Beautiful Dream long ago… and the only reason I came here… -cough- was to prolong my life. I was so scared… I was scared to die…" She was slowly slipping away the least Paradox could do was keep her safe while she passed. "Tell me brother… what is it like on the other side? -cough-"
"I wish I could tell you… all I've ever seen is darkness… but I'm sure it's brilliant and wonderful."
Dream smiled and closed her dead eye as the light in her other flickered out. Paradox set her down and she turned to dust on contact with the ground. Paradox stood and lowered his shield. The mass of darkness began to ooze around him as if studying him. Paradox simply scowled at the entity.
"You are not like the others… you are stronger, but… you are filled with doubt and hate. That power will never defeat me." The darkness spoke in a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"I know that, and thats why I have a backup plan."
"And what is this backup plan?" The ooze's tone became condescending as if it believed he could do nothing to combat it.
"Improvise." Paradox reached out with his basic magic and gripped one of the floating crystal lights. He yanked it out of the air and smashed it on the ground causing a bright flash to fill the room. The nightmare hid within it's basin to escape the bright light and once it emerged it only caught a glimpse of Paradox as he disappeared down the nearest corridor. The nightmare chuckled and began the chase.
Paradox ran at a full sprint through the maze of the catacombs. He muttered something to himself along the lines of "Buck me sideways," repeatedly. Paradox kept going bounding over obstacles and through thin layers of debris. The nightmare was right on his tail as he moved. As Paradox went he began to realize there was a strange smell in the air, something an average man or pony would have payed no attention to other than it being suffocating. The smell was gas from the decaying bodies and horrible experiments that had been going on here. It had been filling these catacombs for years with no escape and that gave Paradox an idea. It was a stupid one, but it would work nonetheless.
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The ponies stood by the now sealed entrance to the catacombs. Twilight and Luna had worked themselves into a tizzy because Paradox had not returned yet. Suddenly The Doctor perked up and pulled out a small pad of paper and called the others over to him. They gathered around and watched as words appeared on the pad before their eyes.
GET IN THE TARDIS NOW AND FLY WAY ABOVE THE CASTLE! AND I MEAN NOW!
They looked at each other and all made for the Tardis. The Doctor started the engines and moved the Tardis far above the ruins. Ditzy went to the doors and opened them wide. Someponies gathered around the door and the others around the screen that was focused on the same sight.
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Paradox continued to run while looking for the right passage. Finally he found it, a passage running straight east. Paradox thanked the void for his internal compass. Paradox took off down the corridor. After a minute or two of running he hit a dead end. The tunnel had long since collapsed baring Paradox from going further. The nightmare slowly crept up on it's prey as Paradox turned to face it. Paradox smiled at the black cloud and held right hand out towards the nightmare. Right as the nightmare rushed at him Paradox turned his palm up and created a ball of gold fire.
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The ponies eyes opened wide. The entire mountainside exploded in a huge gout of golden flame. Two figures rode the blast wave out. One was a great black ooze clearly injured by Paradox's patented holy fire and the other was a very charred body flying through the air at an alarming rate. The Doctor quickly moved the Tardis quickly but there was no way he would be able to catch Paradox.
Paradox regained consciousness as his body repaired itself. He looked down and saw the countryside flying by rapidly. Paradox knew if he hit the ground he wouldn't be able to catch the nightmare. He concentrated on his shapeshifting trying to imitate what the changelings had done. His effort paid off as he felt the wind underneath his new wings. The great golden tipped black wings felt almost natural to Paradox and thanks to his knowledge of birds Paradox took to the sky quite easily.
Paradox saw the nightmare moving towards a far off village, most likely intent on devouring the population to regenerate itself. Paradox could feel energy coursing through his new appendages and he began to formulate another brilliantly terrible idea. Paradox sped over to the open Tardis.
"Dash! I need your help!" Paradox called into the Tardis.
Dash rushed towards and the two of them flew out to catch the nightmare. Paradox used his telepathy to tell Dash the plan while they positioned themselves. Dash took up position high in the sky off to the left of the nightmare and Paradox took the opposite side. Once there the two rocketed towards a nexus in their paths. Dash's natural talent allowed her to reach the intended speed like she had so many times before. Paradox, however, relied on his magic to help propel him faster to match Dash's speed. At once two massive booms echoed over the countryside as a great rainbow streak met a black and gold one. The two connected and turned towards the nightmare combining their momentum and their colored streaks. The black and gold outlined rainbow collided with the great black cloud. The cloud mostly dispersed on contact and the remainder crashed into the ground below.
Paradox pushed off Dash, who was still wrapped up in the shear awesome. Paradox landed with all the grace of a penguin being shot out of a cannon. Paradox quickly righted himself and rushed down the crater to where the nightmare lay. It had taken on a form to look like a black smoke version of Paradox with glowing red eyes.
"I watched you for 1000 years you know. I watched you try and save Luna from herself. You couldn't manage to make one little girl feel good about herself. What do you think you can do for this world? Just remember Paradox, Chronos is coming and you are to weak to stop him." The nightmare cackled as it burst into black smoke and snaked its way into Paradox's mouth.
The ponies rushed out of the Tardis. They only caught the end of the conversation but it was enough to strike fear into the princesses and The Doctor. They rushed up to Paradox as he started to cough and wheeze uncontrollably. Paradox continued to cough as he clutched the left side of his face and chest. Paradox removed his hands and the ponies gasped. The left side of Paradox's face had decayed, his cheek had partially split open to reveal his back fangs and the skin around his eye had cracked up to his hairline. The cracks faintly pulsed a red light but Paradox had something more important on his mind.
"Doctor, why am I afraid of that name? Why am afraid of Chronos?"
A/N: Getting heavy at the end of this act. Also I could use an editor seeing as I'm trying to put things out as fast as possible between other stuff. So if anypony is up for that shoot me a message etc… Still up for OCs and all that.