Celestia Trigger

by Thadius0

Chapter 21 - Making history

The five of us kept going, though Gregory was quickly supplanted by Zehan leading the charge. He always had a new direction to give us, or something new to avoid. I didn't question it, as I knew that he and the Fiendlord were probably fighting on some level already. Gregory, though, was eager to just search the entire bog for the mare.

"Why do you keep directing us, sir Zehan?" the griffon asked.

"Because the mare we are here to stop," Zehan said even as he adjusted his course, "Is strong in the ways of Zebra magic, and it is twisted and corrupted from what it should be. I can easily tell where her newest traps are, thanks to how her magic feels."

"In that case, lead on, Zehan," Gregory said as he fell back into silence. It didn't take us very long before Zehan stopped altogether.

"Something is wrong," the zebra muttered. "I felt several spikes of activity around us, but I see no new traps."

We got our answer soon enough, as corpses started to rise around us before closing in. "No rest for the wicked," I quipped as I pulled my blade and began running lightning through it. Copper nodded and switched her turret to flamethrower mode, Zehan readied his staff, and Justice opened up his panels. Gregory had been about ready to attack with his blade...

When the four of us just ripped into the shambling corpses of what used to be griffons with our magic and skill. Zehan froze them solid before shattering them, Copper set them on fire. Justice's lasers ripped through their rotting flesh, and I zapped several at once with my Lightning. In fact, it was only after I'd finished that I realized what I'd just done. Lightning 2, also known as an area of effect attack that I could do on my own.

I couldn't wait until I got Luminare. I could think of more than a few things that would be made easier by having the power to blow things up with lightning.

The foursome of empowered people that we made up sheathed our various weapons before turning to Gregory. The griffon had his beak hanging open as he stared at us. "Was that...magic?" he asked. "True, elemental magic? Done by you and not the things you wield?"

"Yup," I said as I lowered my hands as well.

"Few save some of the more...ambitious creations of the Fiendlord can use it," the gryphon mused.

"Hey, if you come with us after this whole thing is seen to, you might be able to learn as well," I said as I turned to Zehan. "Lead on."

The zebra nodded and kept leading us into the swamp. Several more times, we had to deal with either fiends or shambling corpses coming at us, but unlike the first time, Gregory did his best to contribute. Whenever we missed one, the gryphon did his best to pick up the slack and turn the monster into so many pieces.

It was a long, slow slog through the bog at this pace, but every time we stopped to catch our breath, more fiends would appear. I was starting to wonder if her supply was inexhaustible. They certainly didn't tire, unlike us. If she had an army of creatures and corpses at her disposal, then sooner or later, we would have to be overcome.

About when we found a tree to rest against, and heard the telltale signs of more fiends lurking in the distance, Zehan snorted, reared up on his hind legs, and came back down to earth with a flash of light. The light rapidly enveloped us before spreading outwards in a circular manner, beating back the oppressive atmosphere. To my astonishment, the fiends and corpses couldn't get past it.

"A skill I was taught, to purify corruption," Zehan said with a smug smile. "This should buy us the time we need to recover from her relentless assault."

"How long will it last for?" I asked my companion. Zehan hummed as he thought it over.

"Under normal circumstances, I would say for quite a while," he eventually said. "But thanks to the fiends and corpses trying to get in, I would say no more than a few hours."

"Still plenty of time for us to catch our breath," I said as I leaned up against the tree. The others agreed and joined me, and we made small talk as we recovered our strength. Eventually though, the talk turned to Gregory's reason for aiding us against the Fiendlord. Then he fell silent for a moment. Copper, having been the one to ask, began to apologize, but...

"I once was a knight, and a good one at that," Gregory said. "My friend and mentor, Cedric, was much greater than myself. The king even named him his champion. Then this business with the Fiendlord started, with knights and guards and soldiers going missing by the day. Cedric said he'd put a stop to that, and go on a quest. He'd reclaim the Hero Medal, and with that proof, claim the legendary sword, the Masamune, and with it, stop the Fiendlord."

Here we all looked at the sword on Gregory's back, and the half-bird nodded. "The same. I accompanied him to the forest I now live in, and he confronted the beasts there that had taken possession of the medal. That done, we ascended the mountain where the sword lay, and he proved himself worthy to wield it by sheer stubbornness alone. However, we didn't get ten feet out of the cave before...she found us."

Gregory's claws dug deep furrows in the earth at the memories he was reliving. "She taunted him. Goaded him into attacking her. Said that if his heart was pure and his blade was true, then she should easily fall before his skill. Cedric made to strike her down, and put an end to her evil once and for all...but she caught his blade with a hoof. And the other one came up and broke the blade in twain."

So that was how it went down, I thought but didn't say. I always did wonder. It had to have been because Cedric wasn't the true master of the blade that she was able to break it, much less deflect it. I decided to wait before voicing my question to the griffon.

He continued with his story. "Then she used her powers to kill my dearest friend, right in front of me. The last thing he said to me was to run and protect the queen, but I was too scared to move from the spot. The mare taunted me and decided to let me go, but with a terrible curse attached. The spell took root, and then she brushed me aside, along with the Hero Medal. The blade...I kept ahold of the hilt, but the blade itself remained behind. I tried my best to overcome our failings, but the fiends just grew more numerous and powerful as the days went by. They grew so bold as to abduct my charge, the queen..."

"Gregory," I decided to ask him. "When Cedric grasped the blade...did anything like what happened back at the wall of mist, happen then?"

The griffon shook his head. "No. Why?"

"I have a feeling that you were always meant to be the true master of the blade," I said to him. "In a more perfect world, you two would have had time to come to terms with that. But we don't live in the best of all possible worlds."

"Nay," the griffon said with a shake of his head. "We must forge a more perfect world out of what we are given. And the path before us would have us destroy the Fiendlord to help the world."

"Then who are we, to disappoint the world?"

---

A few hours later, the shield fell, and the five of us were fighting for our lives against the monsters that had massed. Between our magical powers and skill in combat, the fiends stood no chance. And then, when we started moving again, Zehan reported something different.

"I don't sense her power going to anything anymore," he informed us. "I think...I think we've run her out of monsters."

"Unlikely," I said as we progressed further into the bog once more. "If I were her, I would keep at least one monster back to protect me from would-be heroes..."

No sooner had I spoken than we came across a massive flower in our path, sitting in our way. Instinctively not trusting it, I asked Zehan to lead us around it.

That was when the vines came out and lashed at us. It wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been thorns. It ripped and tore at my flesh, before withdrawing for another strike. One that Copper didn't give it.

With all the fury of a mare possessed, she held out her hoof and streams of fire leaped from her to the plant, causing it to writhe about in agony before the thing collapsed in a heap.

"Y'know," Copper said conversationally. "I'm not growing too fond of plants when they're used against us."

"I can hardly blame you," I replied as we kept moving forward, eventually coming across another tree. One that Zehan informed us had the touch of the Fiendlord's magic on it. I carefully pried the door set into it open before looking through the small house. All sorts of gruesome knick-knacks and what I could only assume could be ingredients for some of her darker rituals lay around the place, but none of them were indicative of where she was. Because she certainly wasn't here.

"Well," I said as I walked out. "She's not here. Zehan, any clues?"

The zebra closed his eyes and hummed a bit before nodding and pointing further in. The five of us picked up the walk and continued to search for the master of all the trouble the Griffons had been facing.

Not too much longer into our trek, we found a massive flat stone, with a zebra mare making some sort of markings around it. We stepped up to face her, and she looked up to us before grinning. "And done," she said, tossing her chalk away. "Once I invoke this, I shall call the mightiest of fiends to myself to deal with you meddling heroes. Then I shall conquer the Griffon Kingdom, then all of Equestria!"

"Over our dead bodies," I said as I drew my blade, running electricity down it.

"That was sort of the plan," the mare said before her eyes fell on Gregory. "Aww, is the little chicken back to try his luck again?"

"I am not a chicken," Gregory growled. "I am a mighty griffon warrior, here to avenge the death of my dear friend at your hooves!"

"Come then, chicken," the mare taunted again. "Let us see if you have succeeded where your friend failed! He was not the true master of the sword, and fell before me!"

"True words, but for all those that have fallen by your hooves, for my queen and country and dear friend, I will prove you wrong!" the griffon yelled back, and the blade glowed again. The mare's eyes widened at that and called up some sort of barrier of mist to shield herself, but Gregory dispelled it with a clean slash, causing her to cry out and fall back.

"How...the power of that blade...it cut through my barrier!" the Fiendlord said in shock. "Who...who are you?!"

"We're the ones out to save the world," I said before holding one hand out to face her. "By any means necessary."

Lightning bridged the gap between us, and she gasped again, before returning fire with pure orbs of darkness. I did my best to dodge around them, and succeeded in evading her attack. Copper tried setting the mare on fire, but she'd already called up her barrier again. Thus prompting Gregory to slash away once more when he saw that. Zehan coated his pole in a thick layer of ice and hammered into the mare with all the force he could muster, catching her in the side and causing her to tumble a fair distance. Justice even got a shot in while she was down, causing her to cry out again.

For a third time the barrier came up, and for a third time the barrier was broken by Gregory. This time, Copper did get her shot to set her on fire, and I followed it up with a quick slash of my lightning sword. This time, though, the barrier didn't come back, but a sphere of darkness appeared over her head...and began to grow.

"Quickly!" I said to the others. "Bring her down before she finishes that spell!"

Zehan and Copper combined their powers again, causing the mare to freeze, then burn. Justice did his best with his lasers once more, and I followed it up with the best Lightning I could bring to bear. Gregory, on the other hand...did something different.

He let out a war cry and swung the blade down through the sphere of darkness before smiting the mare as well, causing it to burst and release all its stored magic over her. With another, final cry, the mare fell before us. Gregory moved to kill her, and I grabbed his claws and held him back.

"Crono," he growled. "Let me avenge those that have fallen."

"And what good will that do?" I asked him. "Will it bring them back? Will it turn back the clock to when Cedric was still alive? You can't change the past." Once I was certain he wasn't going to kill the mare, I let him go. "You can only learn from it, and punish the wicked. We can bring her back to the King and Queen, and let them decide how she is to be handled."

While I didn't want her blood on my hands...This turned out to be a mistake.

With a cough, the mare extended one hoof towards us...and then spoke a simple word. "Conjuro."

The diagram on the stone flared into life, and a dark hole began to appear over it. I immediately began to sense a massive, evil power on the other side of that hole, and the mare laughed.

"Fools that you are for sparing me!" she said. "Now the greatest fiend of all time shall come and do away with you-"

That was about as far as she got before she was pulled into the hole, screaming all the way. History, it seemed, would not be denied. I was still worried though, and it turned out to be for a good reason.

Because after her, we were next. The five of us were pulled in one by one. Copper and Justice, then Zehan, and then Gregory. I was the last to be pulled in...

And after that, everything went black.

Comments

[Emtu]

Welp, better hope they can go back and get a Crono doll.

[Norwegian boy]

Wow.

[Patch Job]

So, I might have missed something, but what is Gregory's curse? In the game, he became Frog, But here, I don't know, did I miss something? I was running on the assumption that he wasn't cursed until this chapter.

[Thadius0]

6556897
Oh no, it'll come into play.

Let's just say there's a reason he walks everywhere.

[Lycanthromancer]

*Facepalm*

It's always a mistake to spare enemies like that.

[Lycanthromancer]

6556897 It's an old zebra curse. It turns its victim into a horrible chimera between avian and feline.

Poor Gregory, to be turned into a...uh...

Well, I guess that flopped.

[Patch Job]

6556904 ....Did he become Rainbow Crash?
i.imgur.com/oZDZI.jpg

[SilentMech]

Huh. So, they are now in the Zebra lands and dealing with politics. The greatest evil around. Any way, lightning 2! I think the main reason he has that already is because he actually sends it through his sword most of the time. Zehan might get ice 2 next if he keeps wrapping his staff with ice. Justice and Copper get the magical short end though due to the nature of their normal weapons.

[Emperor]

Back to the Prehistoric we go.

Damnit Crono, you've played the game! You know what happens next!

Also, it's worth noting that in the actual game, after you recruit Frog, there are a few lines that hint at taking him back to Spekkio to get him equipped with magic.

[thatraptor]

6557244 the word chicken is a big hint

[Patch Job]

6558151
That just means he probably can't fly. Doesn't say if his wings are clipped, or actually gone and the ones he has are fakes. Maybe his wings are upside down, or maybe the underside is neon pink now, and he will never fly again to hide his unfashionable shame!

Then again, the in story comment of chicken, I thought, was just a reference in how he basically ran away, a big source of the guilt Frog dealt with in the game, he lived by not attacking, and his friend died in front of him. You can see my confusion, ya?

[thatraptor]

6558191 yes I can see where some confusion can from but it is the most likely of curses to put on a griffin yes he was scared but he ran after she put the curse on key word ran

[Greatazuredragon]

... He really wasn't much of a gamer before was he?
You never leave a summoner alive near a summoning ritual, it's asking for trouble....