Note: My story has reached 100 reviews! Yes! Let's celebrate with some Doxia stuff and some Wild time! Oh, by the way, I thank you all for being so helpful and encouraging, and I look forward to writing many more chapters! Keep that feedback rolling in!
Dimension: Star Wars
Planet: Tython
Specific Location: Western Temples
Time: 15 hours after the arrival of Doxia in the My Little Pony dimension, 21 years before the battle of Yavin
Fortunately, the shadow wall had bought enough time for both Daniel and Franklin to recover as well from the attack. The smoke eventually cleared and Franklin's sharp eyes quickly recognized the attacker: Matthew Tricost, a well-known dimensional traveler.
"Great, we get to fight a popular traveler, this will most certainly make us even more wanted than we already are," grumbled Franklin as he picked up his sniper rifle.
"We have a popular traveler on our team, remember?" said Wild, not taking his narrowed eyes off the approaching enemy.
Franklin rolled his eyes. "Great! Daniel, you hear that? You're popular! Go over then and… um… un-popularize Tricost!"
Daniel took a deep breath and bellowed at Matthew, "Tricost! What the hell are you doing?!"
"I'm bringing you in!" shouted Tricost. He then stopped, charged up his fists, and hurled another powerful blast of kinetic energy. Quickly Daniel slammed his claws on the ground, commanding the ground to rise up to form a barrier 100 meters thick. The kinetic blast struck the earthen wall and blasted it to smithereens. Tricost was now only 150 meters away. He stopped again and put up his fists.
As he did this, Daniel said, "What have we ever done to you? The warrant doesn't even tell you what we did wrong other than going against the Paradox!"
"I don't need to know what you did," snapped Tricost, "All I need to know is your disobedience… and the prize."
Franklin rolled his eyes. "Well then," he said, "Now that we know he is really just here for the prize, I suppose we can just take him out, since he's obviously not going to be reasonable."
Tricost levitated himself in the air as he hurled a wave of lethal light energy blasts. Quickly Wild countered the attack with an equally large wave of shadow bolts. Meanwhile, Franklin dove to one side, filling the air with bullets as Daniel took a deep breath, preparing to unleash a storm of pure fire.
Tricost quickly dove to the ground, dodging Wild's second shadow attack and engaging Franklin in hand-to-hand combat. Franklin threw his sniper rifle away and conjured up a sword as Tricost dove upon him, a sword of his own in his hand. The two quickly began to fight as Franklin said, "We're not the real enemies Matthew! The Paradox has been using us! He really is just going to kill us all in the end!"
"It doesn't matter!" snapped Tricost. He drove Franklin backwards with a vicious slash of his sword. He then twirled as he hurled a stream of explosive energy, knocking Wild backwards, who had been sneaking up on him. Daniel just stood to one side, holding back his attacks because of the close proximity of Franklin.
Franklin dove into the fight once more and quickly assaulted Tricost with a set of attacks. A quick jab, then a sweeping uppercut, then a left feint followed by a swift slash to the right. All of these Tricost blocked. He then locked blades with Franklin. Quickly Tricost kicked Franklin in the shins and shoved him backwards so that he could duck down, dodging a precision shadow attack from Wild. With Franklin on the ground, Tricost then accosted Wild. The two momentarily grappled with each other, but Tricost kicked Wild away. He then leapt backwards with a somersault. He followed up by throwing a fist forward, unleashing a stream of light energy. Wild retaliated with a stream of shadow energy. The two streams connected and the shockwave caused all standing trees in a kilometer radius to be blasted over. It also knocked Franklin, who was starting to recover, over again.
"I told you guys not to cross the streams," chuckled Franklin breathlessly as he tried to get up again.
Suddenly then Daniel unleashed the fire storm in a focused beam straight at Tricost, who swiftly threw up an energy shield. However, the force of the fire blast was so great that it sent him flying into a tree. He slammed against it and fell to the ground, winded. He recovered and leapt up, but as he raised his fists to call down a lightning strike, a shadow blast from Wild struck him upside the head, knocking him out cold. He tumbled to the ground.
"That… was interesting," sighed Franklin, getting to his feet, "nice moves their wolf boy."
"I'm technically a pony," responded Wild dryly. The wolf/pony then turned to Daniel and said, "What are we going to do with this guy?"
Daniel pocked the unconscious form of Tricost as he mused. Then he said, "We're going to drop him in the negative zone."
Franklin pulled a face. The negative zone was a dimension void of literally everything, including physics. One would simply float there, not able to experience anything or die, until someone pulled them out.
"Are you sure? Won't he just escape?" said Wild skeptically.
"Of course he will," said Daniel, "But by the time he does, we will be long gone. Now we know that we must be more careful when covering out tracks. We need to find Funsch, and this won't stop us."
"How do we know that Funsch himself won't just attack us when we find him?" asked Franklin cynically.
Daniel shook his head. "We don't. However, I believe he won't. After all, he was the first to suspect the Paradox and live, so he might understand. Either way, we need to keep moving."
Wild nodded. "Acknowledged," he said, "Funsch should be on Coruscant, the capitol of the republic that rules this specific galaxy. Follow me."
Wild then opened another portal to that specific planet and stepped through. Daniel quickly opened a portal of his own to the negative zone. He tossed the unconscious Tricost through the interdimensional opening and closed it. He then opened another to Coruscant, and he and Franklin moved through.
Dimension: My Little Pony
Planet: Equestria Earth
Specific Location: The Crystal Empire
Time: 15 hours after the arrival of Doxia
"Grrreeaaattttt… It's the throne room. I am so happy that your royal behind is comfortable here," snorted Doxia as Cadence led him into grand crystal hallway of the kings and queens of the Crystal Empire.
"There is a hidden trapdoor right beneath us," replied Cadence, "All I need to do is… now…"
Cadence closed her eyes and strained. Dark magic began to gather around her horn, and a terrible crackling and hissing noise filled the air. Sweat began to trickle for Cadence's brow as she continued to strive to control the dark magic. However, then Doxia gently placed an armored hand over her horn, snuffing out the magic. Cadence looked curiously at Doxia, who said, kindly, "I'll do it. Do not try any further attempts to cast dark magic; it is one of the most hated things in the multiverse."
Doxia raised a hand, and a aura of power surrounded his appendage. Beams of a strange color began to wreath around it and rips in time, dimensions, and space began form around his fist. Suddenly Doxia clenched his fist and cut off the power. He then simply snapped a finger and the trapdoor slid open.
"What… what happened?" asked Shining Armor after a pause.
Doxia chuckled. "Oh, I was exaggerating. Sorry about that." He then proceeded to peer down the new opening.
"Wow. I totally think Sombra's cutie mark WAS a stairwell," commented Doxia as he gazed down the winding stairs that led from the trapdoor opening down into the inky darkness.
"I could teleport us down…" said Cadence slowly.
Doxia just abruptly grabbed Cadence and Shining Armor and leapt into the darkness yelling, "GGGGEEEERRRROOOONNNIIIMMOOOOOO! "
Cadence screamed at the top of her lungs the whole way down, but just before they hit the ground, they decelerated rapidly and the three lightly landed on the floor.
Shining glared at Doxia as he snapped, "Don't do that again!"
Doxia shook his head as he looked around. "Some ponies don't enjoy the spice of life," he muttered to himself. Almost immediately they noticed a door. Cadence trotted up to open it, but it suddenly slid around the circular chamber to the opposite side. Cadence blinked, and trotted up to it again. Once again the door moved away from her swiftly.
"Dark magic, most probably," said Doxia heavily. He hated the black arts with a passion. Raising a hand, he snapped a finger. The door suddenly began to glow an eerie green, with black lighting running the length of its frame. Then it shot open and a bright light began to shine from it. Immediately Cadence and Shining were placed in a trance, as Sombra's dark magic defenses began to mentally show them their greatest fears: They were shown again the day when Abbadon was destroying the Crystal Empire; however, this time no help ever came. Dead ponies and shards of crystal filled the streets, and buildings were being demolished every other second. The air was choking with ash, dust, and soot, and the entire land was filled with the sounds of terror and mourning…
The magic hit Doxia too, but bounced harmlessly off. He had nothing to fear, so it did not affect him. He quickly strode up to the door and slammed it shut, cutting off the magic source. Cadence and Shining Armor shook their heads in bewilderment and relief as they realized what was going on.
"Sombra's magical defenses," explained Doxia briskly. He then sized up the door. Extending a hand, bands of pure light began to ripple around his fist. Suddenly a blast of pure power burst forth and struck the door, annihilating it and its dark magic and blasting a hole through the wall.
Doxia, Cadence, and Shining Armor strode through the opening and found themselves facing yet another stairwell, but this time leading skywards.
"I bet you a whole globule of Revetahw that Sombra's cutie mark was a stairwell," laughed Doxia as Cadence sat down and buried her head in her hooves.
Doxia then glanced at Cadence and Shining Armor expectantly.
Shining sighed deep and long and then smiled a little. "Okay," he said, "Let's get this over with."
Doxia seized Shining and Cadence and rocketed upwards at supersonic speeds, with Cadence screaming the whole way. In literally no time they were at the top. All they found was an empty round terrace that overlooked the whole of the Crystal Empire. This was where the crystal heart of the Crystal Empire had originally been hidden.
Doxia cocked his head to one side as he strolled around the plateau of crystal and marble. Then he began to scan the timeline with his powers, searching for a hint of where Sombra had hidden the mysterious vials. There Doxia stood, for a good hour, just scanning the timeline. Eventually he cut the outflow of power and gave up looking at the temporal continuum.
"Huh, wherever Sombra hid it, he most certainly didn't hide it here," said Doxia slowly. He looked out over the Crystal Empire. He stopped for a moment and then said, "It looks like Princess Celestia is sending her backup. Interesting."
Cadence sat up from where she had been laying on the ground next to Shining. She pricked up her ears and said, "What? What backup?"
Doxia nodded towards the Crystal Empire train station, a mere speck in the distance. "I see smoke billowing on the horizon, and I can recognize the beings riding the train. There is Pinkie Pie, element of laughter; Rarity, element of generosity; and Discord, dimensional traveler."
Cadence peered off in the direction that Doxia was looking, but her eyesight was nowhere near as good as his. She blinked, "I can't see anything."
"That's because you don't have Dimensional Lord eyesight. No problem. We can remedy that."
He snapped a finger and suddenly the three had been teleported from the terrace to the train station. Cadence, who was totally unready for transfer, fell hard on her rump, and Shining landed on his jaw. The two staggered up and shook their heads vigorously to clear them. Doxia waved enthusiastically at the train as it pulled into the station. The train literally stopped early so it could avoid pulling up directly next to him. The ponies getting off the train immediately exited and moved as far away as possible from the Dimensional Lord, who pretty much was terrifying.
Doxia shook his head and crossed his arms, chuckling, "I really guess I should shape shift into a pony sometime… nah. Screw that."
Pinkie Pie then bounced off the train. She noticed Doxia, Cadence, and Shining Armor and immediately dashed over there.
"Heya Cadence!" she exclaimed enthusiastically as she gave her, and Shining, a hug. Then she glanced up at Doxia and said, "Oooooooohhhh… Hello!"
Doxia grabbed one of her front hoofs and shook it vigorously. "Hey Pinkie!" he exclaimed dramatically, "I am Doxia! I am soooooooo pleased to meet you!"
Pinkie's smile expanded to twice its regular parameters. "And I am sooooooooo pleased to meet you!"
Doxia got down on one knee so that his masked face was only a couple meters above her head.
"Why don't we grab some Crystal Empire ice cream?!" said Doxia enthusiastically, "Then we could totally go off and find that one pony your supposed to cheer up!"
Not questioning anything, Pinkie nodded her head vigorously and bounced up and down. "Yeah! Let's do that! See ya' guys! I'm going to get ice cream with one of my bestest friends!"
Doxia and Pinkie Pie strolled off into the distance, leaving Discord and Rarity in the dust, staring disbelievingly after them.
"Well… that most certainly was NOT the Paradox," mused Discord, "I wonder where a being that looks so much like that psychopathic monster got such a good sense of humor…"
"He was most certainly jocund, I must say," murmured Rarity, a little too shocked to even act shocked.
Cadence smiled at Rarity and pulled out a letter from Celestia. "Princess Celestia told me you were coming," she explained, "I have rooms all ready for you. Discord, I even have one for you."
As Rarity audibly sighed in appreciation and wistfulness, Discord winked at her. "You have a room for little old me? Well, that IS touching, isn't it? I do appreciate it."
Shining beckoned to them. "Come. We'll show you the way. After you two get settled in, we can find Pinkie Pie. Then you three can proceed with the… um… cheering up of Sapphire Anemone."
"Is that her name? Sapphire Anemone? She was the sister of king Sombra, was she not?" asked Rarity, keeping pace with Cadence as they trotted from the train station to the Crystal Empire's castle-spire.
Shining nodded his head as he replied, "Yes. She is probably the only pony not to have regained her luster when the crystal heart was returned. She spends all her time now locked away in her house, refusing to speak with anyone. Why do you guys want to cheer her up again? Celestia never told us that part."
Rarity shook her head. "Oh dear, I am sorry, but she really didn't tell us either. However, if there is a pony in need of being cheered up, than Pinkie Pie is most certainly the pony for the job. As for me… well… I couldn't pass up a chance of meeting you two again."
"I'm just here for a vacation from my vacation," interjected Discord dryly, "You remember Rarity, that wonderful vacation in Bray?"
Rarity shot him a look, but didn't say anything. Discord just grinned.
"Well, in any case, I am glad you could come along, Rarity," said Cadence cheerfully. They then bumped into Doxia and Pinkie Pie, who both had massive ice cream cones.
Pinkie Pie was giving her ice cream huge licks. Doxia, on the other hoof, was staring intently at his ice cream. Then he turned it upside-down and stuck the whole thing on the top of his helmet. Despite the fact that he was now wearing melting ice cream for a hat, he still looked terrifying and intimidating.
Rarity blinked. "Um, excuse me, kind sir," she said timidly to Doxia, "But… um… Who are you?"
"His name is Doxia! He's my bestest friend!" exclaimed Pinkie happily.
Doxia dipped his head in Rarity's direction, causing his ice cream hat to fall of. However, it dissolved into thin air a split-second before it struck the ground. "I am pleased to meet you, Rarity. You are the element of generosity, a powerful virtue."
Rarity grinned in a rather unladylike fashion, still a tad bit cowed by Doxia's presence. "Well, why thank you Mr. Doxia," she said, still a bit flustered.
Doxia nodded to her and turned his head to look at Discord, who was observing him from a distance with an amused air.
"Discord! It's nice to meet you finally! I have heard so many wonderful complaints about your attitude. I mean, some ponies just can't understand how it feels to be so old and powerful, right?"
Discord, who had originally been reserved, broke into a grin. "Oh, of course! It's a tragedy and no mistake! Ponies just don't appreciate a little fun at the hooves of a prank now and then!"
Doxia nodded sagely, "It's a dying art."
"Um, excuse me?" said Cadence, who was warming up to having Doxia nearby, "We really should be going. Pinkie Pie? Could you come along? You, Rarity, and Discord need to settle in so you can all go about cheering up Sapphire Anemone."
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Okie dokie lokie!" she exclaimed, "Bye Doxia! I gotta skedaddle! See you later!"
"She said Loki," chuckled Doxia, "If only she knew."
Then he got up and said, "I probably should be going as well. Shining Armor? Do you mind if I take a stroll about the Crystal Empire spire for a bit? I want to keep searching."
Shining dipped his head slightly, "You may."
Doxia then teleported away, leaving Cadence, Shining, Discord, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie behind.
"He is soooooo awesome!" shouted Pinkie with a bounce.
"Doxia is certainly an interesting character. I rather like him," murmured Rarity, continuing to make her way to the crystal castle.
"Oh, I'm sure EVERYONE likes him," chortled Discord as he floated alongside her; Cadence nodded her head in agreement.
Shining Armor just chuckled, and the group trotted away.
Note: Here is a good question! Who is your favorite character in this story (in general), and why?
