Celestia Trigger

by Thadius0

Chapter 39 - Repairing relations

The ponies of the Crystal Empire had been curious about us all, at first. Then they noticed Sombra walking with us, and fled inside their homes. Apparently, he was infamous around here for what he'd nearly done. And actually done. Understandable, really, but this wasn't going to get done without both parties.

"I told you this would happen," the unicorn sighed. "My moment was too strong, too powerful. They remember and fear me."

"We just have to meet with the right pony," I said to him as we neared the palace. "Who's the ruler here?"

"That would be me," we heard as a unicorn made itself known between us and the Crystal Heart. Her eyes were a shade of gold, while her coat was creamy in color. Her long and flowing mane and tail started pink, but turned sky-blue towards the ends. She was wearing a set of regalia that was blue in color, with golden hearts embedded within it here and there.

"Princess Amore," Sombra said, dipping his head.

"Sombra," she returned, not doing the same. "I told you that you could change at any point in time. Yet still you pressed on your path of darkness."

"I know," the stallion sighed. "Had you heard my story, you might have understood why I did what I did...yet now I know, it was a futile path. No matter how strong I got on my own, there was nothing I could have done to avenge my home, my sister..." He then looked at all of us and I swore he smiled for a moment. "At least, not alone."

"Nothing could balance out what you almost did to this city," the princess retorted. "You cast dark magic on us all. You corrupted this entire place of safety and security in the frozen north, for you own-"

"He's not from this time," I interrupted the mare. "He's from about a thousand years before you."

She fell silent, her mouth agape, and I plowed on. "He was from the civilization of Vis, the ponies that created this city of yours in the first place. Until they tangled with a dark entity and ended up destroying themselves."

"What few survivors there are," Sombra said, "Have been scattered to the winds of time itself. No one survivor is likely to meet another on their own. I have had the good fortune to meet three, thanks to my association with Crono here, and I have come to learn that friendship and teamwork are more powerful than my own means."

At this, the mare finally regained her voice and looked at Sombra. "Have you come to apologize then? Make amends?"

"Yes," the stallion said, bowing his head to her. "I will do whatever it takes. I even know of a simple spell my sister taught me to purge oneself of darkness. You could use it to clean up what I did to the city."

At the mention of his sister, Amore fell silent again. "Is she one of the survivors of what happened to your home?" she softly asked.

"No," Sombra returned. "She...was too close to the center of what transpired to have survived."

At this, she looked to me. "And you trust him?" she questioned me.

"At the beginning, no, I did not," I said. "But I can understand his motives. Being ripped away from his home when he was young, cast through time itself, wanting nothing more than to avenge his home, his family. That would have set him down a very dark path, one where all he desired was the ability to face the fiend that did it to him." I looked at the palace as I said my next few lines. "Where I'm from, men have killed for less. A quest of revenge is not unheard of to my people. I can comprehend his motives. I can't agree with his methods, but I can understand why he did it."

"As can I, now," Amore sighed. "Losing everything you hold dear...I'm surprised you did not go mad."

"I think, right there when I nearly had everything, and had it all ripped away, I might have," Sombra admitted. "Still, it would have been far worse if I had succeeded on my own, to reach the same conclusions that I already have. That creature is...relentless and merciless. It would have slain me if I had faced it alone."

"Yup," Copper agreed. "We know that much already."

The princess of the empire sighed and looked around. "If you teach me the spell you know," she said, looking directly at Sombra. "Then I will use it to clean up any remnants of what remains of your dark magic in this city. Then I will confer with the council, telling them everything you told me. We will decide then on the terms of your return."

Sombra nodded and walked forward to the mare, upon which they crossed horns, briefly causing them to glow. "That is how it's done," he said once they uncrossed. "May you use it well."

"And hopefully, I will only need it the once," the mare said. "I would offer you lodgings, but..."

"I understand," I told her. "We'll be fine."

With that, the seven of us returned to a more comfortable era for the night.

---

Upon our return to the Crystal Empire that existed during the Era of Discord the next morning, we found Princess Amore waiting for us near the border of the barrier. We all slipped inside and were thankful for the shield. She let us get acclimated to the climate shift before she spoke to us.

"Sombra, after conferring with the Council, it has been decided. You may not return..." she left it there for a moment, and the stallion seemed to accept her words as he turned around.

"Until."

The gray unicorn turned back to her with a raised eyebrow. He probably thought along the same lines I did. The word 'until' could change things. "Until?" he questioned.

"Until your quest for revenge has been completed. There must be no chance that the city will ever be subjected to that level of dark magic ever again."

Sombra nodded at her. "I hadn't been planning to return for some time after we were done anyways. I want to slay the thing that took everything from me, then search for Lumina. She's strong, she might have pulled through."

"Then once that is done," the cream-colored mare said. "You may return. Until that time, they have voted to restrict you from coming back to this place." Her horn glowed, and several things were floating in the air behind her. "They also voted to return your effects to you, in case you had need of them."

"My..." Sombra's horn glowed as he took the cape and helmet from her grasp, gently putting them on himself. "My armor. I made it myself over many moons. And..." He held up a scythe in his crimson aura, giving it a few test swings. "My scythe. I had nearly forgotten I had made these. Once I learned that magic that would lead to the city being in my grasp, I studied it relentlessly..."

"How strong are they?" I questioned him.

"I made them with Lavos in mind," the stallion returned. "They are as strong as I could make them."

"So pretty darn, then," I quipped. "Thank you for returning his things, your highness."

"Not at all," the mare said, bowing towards us. "Just take care that you do not fall on this mission of yours. I...would very much like to talk to Sombra again, when he is not as driven towards darker desires as he is now."

"We'll do our best," Gregory said with a bow. Taking his cue, the rest of us also bowed towards the current ruler of the Empire, before turning to board our ship once again.

We'd put it off for long enough. It was time to return to the distant past, and see if there was any way to access Lavos left back then.

---

Once we arrived back in the era of what used to be Vis, we could see that something was not right. Something had distinctly happened in the mountain range on the horizon. Flying the ship closer revealed what it was.

One of the peaks had been...replaced. That was the only word I could come up with. Instead of a simple mountain, it now looked metallic and intimidating. Artificial. It was only when I saw the landing dock at the top that I realized what this was.

Instead of the Black Omen, we had a fake mountain. I landed the Wings of Time on the strip provided, and the seven of us disembarked. There were no howling winds at the peak of this construct, but there was a form that I'd hoped never to see again.

The Mad Queen of Vis. She saw us and laughed.

"Fools!" she said. "In a mere three thousand years, Lavos will awaken and claim the surface for his own! You who seek to defy your fates shall perish here!"

Her form faded out as an alarming beeping came from the wall behind her, where the door deeper into this thing was situated. Round bumps on the wall whirred and clicked, revealing turrets to deter us from continuing.

I merely lit up my hands with lightning as we prepared to enter this device, ready to reach the bottom and put an end to Lavos, once and for all. I could hear my allies getting ready as well.

Everything had been leading up to this moment. I wasn't about to stop now.

Comments

[Trithtale]

Great job mate. Give yourself a pat on the back an happy whatever it is that you celebrate.

[Emperor]

Instead of returning to the Crystal Empire, Sombra could just got to modern-day Canterlot and troll Celestia while setting up shop there

[Nealend86]

So are we going to have a sequel based off of Chrono Cross?

... I have an awful feeling that if we did it'd probably be better then the game itself. Or at least would have better character development.

[Greatazuredragon]

"How strong are they?" I questioned him.
"I made them with Lavos in mind," the stallion returned. "They are as strong as I could make them."
"So pretty darn, then,"

Indeed...

[erictheblue]

i still remember how disappointed i was that no one in 600 AD recognized Magus when i visited the castle with him in my party.

[Skulljack17]

7570547
I mean, Magus was the head of his army. He was the general, the leader. The only one that ever saw him and lived as the leader of Fiends was Glenn, or Frog, before Crono and the gang rolled into their time period. Makes it hard to recognize someone otherwise.