//------------------------------//
// Chapter 42 - It's all uphill from here 
// Story: Celestia Trigger 
// by Thadius0 
//------------------------------//

	The final battle with Lavos was, by definition, the hardest we would ever fight.  I knew better than to open with a Luminare right off the bat, as the bit we needed to kill would be shielded until the other two had fallen.

Copper was not so reserved.  "Burn!" she commanded as she let loose with a Flare.  Two-thirds of our targets did just that, the main body and the left pod-like creation suffering her wrath.  The right one, however, merely flashed as a protective sphere was made obvious.  Shields were just all the rage these days.

"Perhaps my magic will be more effective," Sombra said as the shadows began to...deepen.  "Gaze into the maw of oblivion!" he cried as he unleashed his strongest dark magic attack, lances of darkness being summoned from the shadow and attempting to pierce Lavos.  Once again, two of the targets were effected, but the third didn't register the attack at all.

"The target on the right has some sort of energy defense system and quite high energy reserves," Justice informed us.  "It will likely take considerable effort to break through the shielding system.  Recommend we leave it until last."

"I can agree with that," I said.  "Gregory, Scorpan, together!"

The three of us pulled off a move of considerable power, the two major sword-wielders and the one that could only really focus on physical combat combining forces to lay a massive hurting on the main portion of Lavos' true core.  Zehan froze Justice, adding a frosty coating to him so that he could put a serious dent into the creature's health with a ice-coated hoof propelling at rocket speeds into what would be a face on a pony.

The central bit let out a cry and fell to the ground, even as the bit on the left took aim and fired a barrage of lasers at us.  And let me say this, they hurt.  They tore through me, causing pain the likes of which I hadn't felt before.

I was forced to my knees as I waited for Gregory and Zehan to get together with Justice once more, and restore our health.  I got up and looked at the pair of pod-like devices before asking a question of Justice.  "Is the pod on the right still shielded?"

"Affirmative," he said.   "The pod on the left is completely vulnerable."

"Then let's take it out," I snarled as I drew my blade.  "I'm not eager to be blasted again."

"A sentiment I can agree with," Sombra said as he all but flung his scythe into the fray, using it to cleave at the pod.  The thing let out a cry, then another as Scorpan and I added to the physical punishment we were heaping onto it.  Then Copper stepped up and turned her turret to face it.

"Die," she commanded that bit of Lavos, before it was blasted with the full power of her laser.

And die it did, falling to the ground to join the main bit we had already knocked out.  Justice beeped as he looked at the right pod.

"Alert," he said.  "The pod has lowered its shields and is redirecting its energy to form some sort of spell.  I am already seeing traces of energy bridging the gap between it and the other two pieces we have taken out."

"...So that's what that's one for," I muttered.  "A failsafe to make sure that it never dies.  Except that now, we can attack it."

"Agreed," Gregory said as he and Zehan began freezing the right pod solid, before the both of them added their own physical punishment to the mix.

"I desire nothing more than to see Lavos dead," Sombra snarled.  "I don't care what back up plans it has!  I will destroy it!"

"Then let's finish this thing off together, before it revives the other portions!" I cried as I charged up the last Luminare I thought I could manage.  I felt more than saw the others add their magics to the mix, and once I knew it was ready, I passed our combined magic-bomb off to Scorpan.  He held the solidified attack in one mighty fist before rushing at the pod of Lavos and punching it so hard, the attack in his fist went off and blasted the thing.

Just a little too late, however.  Oh yes, he destroyed the pod.  But already, the portions we'd taken out were stirring again.  "No," I said.  "No no no.  Quickly, before they attack again!  Put them back down!  End this!  Stop him before he summons another healer pod!"

We all needed to catch our breath, though, after that massive attack.  And I could swear the main portion of Lavos knew it and was smirking at us.  One of his forelegs began to raise...

...before it was blasted off by the power of the sun.  All of us looked at Copper and her smoking turret.  "More where that came from," she said.  "And I have had it with you making this fight longer than it needs to be.  We've won.  Accept it."

"̨I͝ wil̡l̡ n̨o͡t҉!̵" the creature screamed.  "T͞h̸iś ͢world ́i͞s ̶m̛ine͜!"

"You really love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" she said before adjusting her aim only slightly and blasting him again, this time full-on.  When the beam subsided, the middle portion, the main portion, had been obliterated.  The small pod didn't seem to know what to do, and Gregory and I took advantage of that and performed an X-Strike on it.  It was quickly followed up with Sombra performing a dark spell and the shadows impaling the remaining animate bit of Lavos, causing it to fall still.

It had been done at last.  The great beast had been defeated.

There was a great wrenching sensation, as though something had grabbed ahold of my insides and pulled, and I found myself passing out as it felt like I was pulled somewhere...





When I woke up, we were in the clearing that would become Truceburg in Griffenheim.  I could tell by the lack of a village that we were in the year 600, and I looked around, wondering how we'd gotten here.  My allies were all knocked out around me, and I had a moment to wonder if we were victorious in the end, before that question was answered for me.

"You were successful," I heard from behind me, and I turned to see the Wings of Time, Hora leaning up against it as he smiled at us.  "You stopped Lavos three thousand years before he would have destroyed the entire world.  The shock of such a thing happening freed the timeline from the constraints he had it under.  Now, we are no longer doomed, and all of time is freed from his grasp.  Indeed, it is nearly like he never was at all, save for the destruction he has already wrought."

"So...now what?" I asked the sage of time.

"Now?  Now I settle down here in the land of griffins, and you all go your separate ways," he said.  "This place shall be peaceful enough for some time, and I still have the ability to look beyond the present.  Perhaps I shall even get the job of royal adviser."

"And the End of Time?" I asked.

"Dissolved under the onslaught of so much changing about the timeline at once," the guru said.  "Bellum survived, though.  She's upset you never took her up on her offer, but in her words, 'I'll fight him one day, and it will be so satisfying.'  I don't know when she ended up, but I saw her vanish in a way similar to a Gate.  She's probably waiting for you to find her."

"Yeah, well, when it's not a life or death situation, maybe I'll take her up on that," I quipped.  "You're sure you want to stop here?  We could take you anywhere, anywhen."

"Thank you, but no.  I would like to avoid the reminders of the past, and this era shall serve that purpose," the guru said.  "The three of us have been scattered to the winds of time itself, but at least now, we all survived our trials.  The future is far brighter for this world."

"A thought occurs," I said.  "While we may have destroyed the parasite infecting this planet, who's to say that one won't find its way here sometime in the future?"

"If one does show up in the future, then the world will be ready for it by then," the guru said as he looked in one direction, his eyes turning misty as he did.  "Yes, some may try to come here to take over where this one failed, but by then, thanks to being warned and having had time to develop it, the planet will fend them off before they get close."

"Well that's good," I sighed.  "It wouldn't do to remove one only to pave the way for another."

"Indeed not," the guru said.  "And if you'll excuse me, I shall be off for now.  I have a city to settle down in.  Take care, all of you...and thank you for all you've done, even if most won't know of the magnitude of it."

"I did what anyone would have done," I said.  "I couldn't just stand by and leave this world to die."

"Oh, but you could have," the guru said.  "The option was open to you to just...leave, not long after you helped defeat the Fiendlord.  Yet you chose to stay.  And for that, the world thanks you."  And with that, the crystal unicorn was off, walking towards the capitol city of the griffons on the horizon.

Just as he got out of sight, my companions started to stir.  One by one, my friends awoke from their shock-induced nap, finding themselves not where they had been and probably wondering about how this had come to pass.

"We did it," I said to them.  "We defeated Lavos and saved the world."

At this, they all let out a cheer, save for Sombra, who looked...pensive.  And Justice, who merely nodded once.

"So," I said once the celebrations had died down.  "I'm assuming most of you would like to return to your proper times?"

There was a unified sense of agreement, and I swept my hand around to indicate where and when we were.  "Well then Gregory, you're already home, so...thank you for fighting with us, my friend.  And if I may make a suggestion, I do believe that Equestria in the future would be a fine place for the Masamune to find itself.  I can think of two alicorns that would look after such a fine blade."

"Aye, if only for the spirits within, and the form they can take when they truly join," the griffon agreed.  "Perhaps the ladies would enjoy having a stallion around?"

"That they very well might," I said with a chuckle.  "Still, take care of yourself.  No rush to see to it that it happens right away."

"No rush at all," Gregory agreed.  "And...thank you all for helping me avenge my mentor.  I would likely never have done it alone."

With that, the half-lion, half-eagle took wing and actually flew off into the distance, towards the city.

"As for you, Zehan," I said, before holding up the Key and motioning towards the inactive Gate.  "I likely could set you back near to where we found you in an instant."

"That you could," the zebra agreed.  "In fact, that sounds like a fine choice.  I would be most grateful if you did so."

I walked towards the Gate and tapped it with my Key, before backing up as it hung there in its activated state, ready to whisk the next thing to touch it to the year 1000.  I heard Zehan say something to the others before he walked up close to me and sighed.  "Thank you, Crono, for saving my life back then.  If it hadn't been for you interfering, I likely would have wound up dead.  Because of you, so many things have changed in Griffenheim.  I'll be able to have an actual life there now."

I turned to the zebra and smiled.  "All in the name of a more peaceful world," I told him.  "Take care of yourself where you're going."

"And you as well," he rejoined before stepping through the Gate.  I walked back to the rest of my allies and smiled.

"I guess we have a few more stops to make?" I asked them.

"Indeed," Scorpan rumbled.  "I wish to spread the message of friendship and harmony among my people back in my age."

"And I desire to return to the Crystal Empire," Sombra said.  "If I arrived there, then it is most likely that Lumina, if she survived at all, will arrive there as well.  And if not, then I can always do worse than living in a city where I try to make amends for what I did."

"One transport to the era of Discord, coming right up," I said as I held up the Gate Key and pointed at the Wings of Time.  "Let's get this over with."





It hadn't been hard, dropping Scorpan and Sombra off in that era.  What was hard was what I was doing now.

I stood in the glen I'd arrived in, Copper on one side, Justice on the other.  They'd turned down the offer of being set down in the future.  Said it wasn't their future anymore.  I could agree to that.

But now...I had a choice to make.  The red sphere hung in the air, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.  I'd already been gone a year.  Assuming time between here and home flowed at a 1:1 ratio, at least.  And if it did, then I would be lucky to not be declared legally dead.

Was there even a point to returning home?  I'd changed so much around here, and I had magic here as well.  I hadn't had much to my name either.  Earth...I would miss it, and if anyone missed me...

Well, I hadn't come unprepared.  I held a hand out, and Justice put the scroll I'd written beforehand into it.  I gave it a once over, nodding at the end, before I rolled it back up.  Then I held out my hand again, and a diamond the size of an egg was put in my hand this time.

I'd literally tripped over it coming here, and it was going to be my insurance that my message was spotted.  I stuck the gemstone into the middle of the scroll and tied it tightly, making sure it didn't shift at all, before I moved the set-up to my right hand.

My left carefully reached out with the Key and I quickly tapped the Gate, before I backed up as it opened up.  Not wanting to get sucked into the one-use device, I nodded as it reached the maximum size, before it slowly started shrinking.

Before it closed up entirely, I threw the scroll with the gem in it through the portal, and it snapped shut afterwards, the sphere not reappearing.

It was done.

I'd shut myself away from Earth, forever.  Though not without a parting word to anyone that might still have cared enough to have been looking for me.

I looked to the robot and mare next to me before smiling.  "So, I hear there's a town just beyond the border of the forest that is welcoming and kind to all newcomers..."