My Little Chrono Triggers Are Magic

by Pav Feira

Loss of Mind, Loss of Hope

Post-Apocalypse

Wastelands

“Thank the Sun,” moaned Twilight Sparkle as the ponies emerged from the sewer access hatch. “That was not what I signed up for.”

“Phew!” panted Pinkie Pie. “Plenty of perilous platforms, multitudes of malevolent mutants, loads of locked latches...”

“...and it reeked like shit,” deadpanned Rainbow Dash.

“Language,” came Twilight Sparkle’s stern reprimand.

“What? It did! Freakin’ sewer was practically flooded with sh... with uh, rivers of poopie.” She frowned, muttering, “Seriously, that just sounds grosser than the S-word... Anyway, I hope we don’t need to pass through there again anytime soon.”

Twilight Sparkle bit her lip. “I do worry that nopony was down there working the controls. We’ve been in this era for almost an entire day, and we’ve only seen a few ponies back in Trott Dome.”

“I hope everypony is alright,” worried Pinkie Pie, staring at the ground.

Rainbow Dash stared blankly ahead. “The good news is, I lost my appetite.”

The three ponies trotted down another concrete road leading toward the sky-piercing mountain. Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, who were seeing this sight for the first time, were sufficiently awe-struck. Rainbow Dash had seen it from the skies just a few hours ago, but even she was impressed with how grand the mountain appeared at ground-level. The largest comparable mountains she could think of were the Puripony Mountains, just north of Pommel back in her own era. While the Puripony Mountains might be broader, the mountain before her towered well above the peaks in that mountain range.

The concrete road led south to the base of the peak. Just across the road stood the large dome that Rainbow Dash had spotted. It was as if the dome had been placed as close to the mountain as possible, but whether out of reverence or fear, it had been built across the roadway instead.

“Great, that must be Carrij Dome!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “Let’s get moving, girls. The sooner we find some food, the sooner we can help everypony.”

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Post-Apocalypse

Not Carrij Dome

“Shh! Get down!” Rainbow Dash shoved her companions behind a terminal inside the dome’s entrance. “I see another mutant.”

“Oh heavens. Oh goodness,” lamented the creature in the room ahead of them. “Still so much to do, ooo hoo hoo.”

Twilight Sparkle squinted into the darkness. “No, that’s not a mutant. Looks like it’s a... sea serpent?”

As the ponies slowly entered the room, they confirmed that the creature was in fact a large purple sea serpent, towering several meters tall. Royal blue robes were draped along his slender snaking form. A matching pointed hat rested gently atop his orange mane. He was also sporting a meticulously groomed, orange mustache. The sea serpent was scampering frantically about his room, making some kind of preparations.

“Um... hello, sir. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Could we have a moment of your time?”

“Visitors! Oh my, oh my,” exclaimed the sea serpent without fully turning from his work. “It’s most rare to see guests. Yes indeed, hoo hoo. You must forgive me, but time is of the essence, and I have much work to do. Oh, what a world...”

“Then we’ll get to the point,” said Rainbow Dash. “Can we...”

“Oh, but in the meantime, you simply must see the Ocean Palace,” the sea serpent gasped, “and the Phoenix too. Just a few of my fantastic inventions. You could certainly say that I have the spark of genius. Ooo hoo hoo!”

Rainbow Dash shared a look with Twilight Sparkle. “Twi?” she whispered. “Uh, does this fella seem a bit, I don’t know... odd to you?”

“Well, I don’t see anypony else in this dome,” replied the unicorn. “If he’s been living in a dismal place like this by himself, that’s enough to drive anypony a little batty.”

“Oh, he’s not alone,” laughed Pinkie Pie. “See? He’s got a little pet there!”

She pointed to a small animal near the sea serpent’s feet, illuminated by the blue light of the room’s sealed door. It was a tiny green alligator with large purple eyes. The gator staring straight at Rainbow Dash, motionless and unblinking. “Jeez, that thing is creepin’ me out!” shuddered Rainbow Dash.

“What?!” protested Pinkie Pie. “No way, I think he’s cute!”

“I know, I know!” chimed in the sea serpent. “These Gummies are so fabulous. This Gummy, in particular, is the apple of my eye. I’m programming him for a mission, you see. Ooo, a most important mission.”

Twilight Sparkle arched an eyebrow suspiciously. “You’re programming... an alligator?”

“A creepy alligator,” added Rainbow Dash as she occupied herself by staring down the Gummy. The creature had not yet blinked, and Rainbow Dash was not one to lose a staring contest so easily.

The sea serpent turned to a console, apparently oblivious to the ponies’ comments. He quietly murmured to himself, “Alas, my dear Princess of Zeal. So graceful, so shy. How I’ve missed you so...”

Twilight Sparkle frowned in frustration. “Please, sir, we came here hoping you had some food to spare.”

The sea serpent did not turn from his work, but at least this time he appeared to acknowledge the ponies’ comments. “Oh, but you must be looking for Carrij Dome. Yes, that would make more sense, at this time, hoo hoo.”

The ponies were crestfallen. “This isn’t Carrij?” lamented Pinkie Pie.

“It’s not much farther now, my little ponies. Just a quick dash through a nearby sewer access. Easy as pie!”

“Urgh!” yelled Twilight Sparkle as she buried her face in her hoof. “We just came from the sewers. Carrij Dome is seriously back on the other side?”

“Well, maybe someplace else has food?” tried Pinkie Pie. “Maybe we could look around in this dome? Oh, or there was that mountain nearby, maybe...”

“No! You mustn’t climb Death Peak!” yelled the sea serpent frantically, causing all three of the ponies to jump, and causing Rainbow Dash to lose her staring contest. The sea serpent quickly regained his jovial, eccentric demeanor. “Or I suppose, you can’t, can you? Ooo hoo hoo, no, not yet. Attempting a climb now would be quite the nightmare. Someday, they might show you the way.”

“Pfft, whatever then,” muttered Rainbow Dash. “C’mon, we’re leaving.”

“Ah yes,” agreed the sea serpent, turning back to his Gummy as the ponies quietly exited the dome. “You have much to do. As do I. What a world, what a world...”

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Post-Apocalypse

Wastelands

“Ugh, what a waste of time,” moaned Rainbow Dash as they reemerged into the storm. “We wasted hours traveling to a completely different continent, just to meet a couple of goofy lizards. And the only thing we learn is that we gotta head right back the way we came.”

“Aww, chin up, Rainbow Dash,” comforted Pinkie Pie. “This wasn’t a waste of time! It was foreshadowing. I’m sure this little side-trip will pay off at some point in the future.” She solemnly nodded. “I’d say about thirty-two chapters.”

“I’m just wondering how somepony convinced herself that Carrij Dome was on a completely different continent,” teased Twilight Sparkle, ribbing her friend. “From the sound of it, that pony must’ve flown right over Carrij Dome.”

Rainbow Dash scowled. “Hey, I didn’t hear you volunteer earlier. Next time you can freeze your wings off.”

Twilight Sparkle sighed. They had reached the sewer access hatch again, leading back to the mainland. “Well, back into the sewers we go, I guess.”

“Screw that noise,” scoffed Rainbow Dash as she took to the air. “You can take the sewers. I will be flying over the water.”

“Rainbow! Hey, get back here!”

Pinkie Pie rested her hoof on Twilight Sparkle’s shoulder, getting her attention. She grinned and winked. “Aww, but Dashie,” she whined, “there’s probably gonna be more mutants down there. I was hoping you’d take them out again with more of your awesome moves!”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked. She looped around, hovering back in front of her friends. “Oh! Heh, yeah, I suppose I did pull a sweet maneuver or three on our way here. I guess that’s bound to happen, given all the training I’ve undergone,” she boasted, swelling with pride.

Against her better judgment, Twilight Sparkle chimed in too. “Oh, umm... yes, absolutely! I’ve never seen swordsplay that, umm... splendiferous before.” She grinned toothily.

“Show us more! Please, Dashie?”

Rainbow Dash landed with a self-righteous grin on her face. She opened the access hatch and entered, boasting, “Well, I suppose I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve. Y’know, without wasting any of the really amazing stuff on these small fries.”

Pinkie Pie turned toward Twilight Sparkle, grinning. “See? I knew we could convince her to come with us.”

Twilight Sparkle buried her face in her hooves. “Oh, what were we thinking, stroking her ego like that... You do realize she’s not going to shut up about this for days now, right?”

“Aww, but it’s worth it, though! It’s much more fun to travel together, don’t you think?”

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Post-Apocalypse

The Real Carrij Dome

“And when that mutant seapony popped out of the water, I was like... Yah! Swoosh! Take that!” Rainbow Dash pantomimed her swordplay from the recent encounters of the sewer as the trio entered a dome that was hopefully the real Carrij Dome.

“We know. We were there.” The veins in Twilight Sparkle’s forehead had started twitching around fifteen minutes ago, and she was starting to feel an oncoming headache. Rainbow Dash was a dear childhood friend, but she could only tolerate so much of her friend’s bravado. “Hello?” she called out. “Anypony in here?”

“Eep!” A shocked cry came from the corner as a very young filly dived out of view.

“Wait, don’t run away!” pleaded Pinkie Pie. “We’re not here to hurt anypony. We just wanted to talk...”

Some ponyfolk rustled about in the inner chamber. “Who’s there?” a stallion called out. “Don’t recognize the lot of you. Where are you from?”

“Please, everypony back in Trott Dome is starving. Do you have any...” The rest of Pinkie Pie’s request was drowned out as several lethargic ponies were roused from their stupor, and began talking at once.

“Impossible! Nopony can survive that journey.”

“How under the Sun did they get past those mutants?”

“Those mares came from Trott Dome?”

“Actually,” corrected Rainbow Dash, “we’re not originally from Trott Dome. We time travelled here from 1000 AD.”

“Rainbow!” yelped an exasperated Twilight Sparkle. “We’ve been over this! You can’t be telling everypony that...”

Luckily for Rainbow Dash, nopony appeared to have heard her amongst the outcry. Carrij Dome had been without visitors since before several of its residents were born, so the arrival of three strange ponies from across the perilous ruins sent the entire dome into an uproar. As the onlookers drew near, an elderly pony shakily made her way to the front of the pack. She bore a wrinkled, sickly green coat, topped with a white mane that was done up into a bun. Her joints shook and creaked as she edged closer to the three friends.

“Now, now, what in tarnation y’all going on about?” she squeaked.

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Post-Apocalypse

Carrij Dome – Living Chamber

“Oof,” sighed Twilight Sparkle contently as she emerged from the Enertron. “I feel much more relaxed.”

Rainbow Dash’s head was hanging low. “I feel much more hungry. I’d kill to get my hooves on some apple turnovers... guhhh...”

“Rainbow’s right! Please, can’t you help us?” Pinkie Pie asked the elder mare. “You see, we’re trying to help the ponies in Trott Dome...”

“Issat so? Trott Dome...” mused the elder mare. “Why, we haven’t heard a peep from them since the mutants overran the ruins, decades ago. Course, my granpappy would tell me, even before the mutants came, it was far too dangerous outside. A filly would catch her death out in them storms, he said. Not without the pegasi tending...”

“Erm, I’m sorry, Miss,” interrupted Twilight Sparkle. “I don’t mean to interrupt your story, but...”

“Oh sweetie, you kin call me Granny Smith,” she said with an earnest smile. “Least, that’s what all the ponyfolk here call me. My family was descended from the director of this here information center, y’see, so everypony treats me ‘n my grandson like we’re still in charge of the place. But we don’t like everypony acting that way, no ma’am. In fact I was just telling everypony a few days ago...”

Granny Smith was interrupted by Rainbow Dash’s gurgling stomach, then by the pegasus herself. “C’mon, c’mon! Do you gals have food, or not?”

“Rainbow, don’t be rude,” chided Twilight Sparkle.

“Wha? Food, y’say? Well, golly, how to say it... Y’see, we do have a foodstore in our basement, along with them confangled supercomputers.”

“You do?” asked the three ponies in unison.

She shook her head solemnly. “But the basement hasn’t been safe since the guard robots went on the fritz. My grandson, Big Macintosh, went down there a few days back. Said he’d try to fight his way to the storeroom, but... we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him.” She looked worryingly at the ground. “Oh, I’m mighty worried for him.”

“Don’t worry, Granny Smith!” said Pinkie Pie with a smile. “We’re not scared of some spooky old basement. We’ll find your grandson, and we’ll find the food too! Then everypony here and at Trott Dome will be happy again!”

Granny Smith went wide-eyed. “Oh, no dearie, you mustn’t go down there. It’s far too dangerous.”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “No way! We’re not turning back now, just because some dumb guards are in the way. We’re goin’ down there, like Pinkie Pie said.”

Granny Smith looked hesitantly at the three strange ponies. While she certainly wanted to protect them from the dangers below, there was something different about these ponies. It was passion, and bravery, and sincerity. Granny Smith could tell that these ponies were something special, the likes of which she had not seen in her lifetime. She wasn’t about to stand in their way, especially in her time of need.

“The ladder to the basement is this way. Do be careful, dears. Come back safe, y’hear?”

“Don’t you worry!” cheered Rainbow Dash as the friends descended to the basement. “We’ll be back in a flash!”

Comments

[Salnax]

Poor Mac...

[RTStephens]

Steve as Belthasar. Weird. Gummie as the Nu was a nice touch though.

Ew, this is not looking good for Big Macintosh. I'm now wondering if you'll change up the encounter here.

I should take Pinkie's suggestion and attempt a Initial Equip at some point. The game is pretty easy as it is.

Ever onward!

[Silverstein]

Yay! I'm approaching my old stop-point! Just a mere few chapters away!

Silver out!

[Thought Prism]

I would have used Dr. Whooves as Belthasar here. Unless you're saving him for Gaspar later. He works for either, really.