Celestia Trigger

by Thadius0

Chapter 5 - Hurry back now to the land of the living...

"Okay, it's like this," I said while Copper and I walked to Ville Dome's rail station. "Once, thirteen hundred years ago, there lived six mares. Six very special mares. Mares that were said to embody aspects of Harmony Itself. As such, they were chosen by the physical manifestation of this land's most potent magic, the Elements of Harmony, to Bear them."

"Okay," Copper said. "So...use them?"

I shook my head as we arrived at the station and noticed that there was, indeed, a train still in the station. "First of all, if you didn't notice, that...thing destroyed the Alicorns without much of a second thought. And while the Elements of Harmony are said to be able to set things right...who knows how Lavos would take it. If they would work at all."

Copper slowly nodded at the notion. "A fair point...but how do you intend to stand up to him?"

"It's called finding out how he got here, and then stopping it from happening. Time will be rewritten. Meaning...this future, this you, won't have happened..."

The mare snorted and shook her head at the notion. "Buck that," she said. "My parents got together even in the apocalypse. I'm pretty sure they'd manage to do so in whatever new future you intend to make as well."

I sighed and one hand through my hair while looking for a control terminal for the trains. "Yes, but it'll be a different version of you. One that won't remember me or any of the things we intend to do."

The notion slowly dawned on her that this could be very, very bad. "Okay. So I either help you and cause a massive..."

"Paradox," I supplied.

"Yeah, that," the budding inventor said. "Or...I sit around in 2300 waiting for everything to be rewritten. Well...yeah, no contest."

"I under-"

"I'm bucking helping, you clod."

I was stunned for a moment with my finger hovering over the button that would turn on the terminal I'd found. "Pardon?"

"I said I'm helping. It's not just about me. It's about all of them. All the ponies. The ones that died that day, and the ones that live on...if you can call it living."

I turned and got down on one knee in front of her before hugging the mare, making sure to take care around the controls for the flamethrower. "Thank you. I'll make sure nobody forgets you."

She coughed a few times before pushing me off. "Yeah, well, I'm not doing it for you, y'know. I'm doing it for them, so they better remember!"

I smirked at that and turned the train terminal on. A nearby screen flickered, and my fingers flew across the keyboard.

>Test: Available Routes.

TESTING...

There was a grinding sound from the rail yard, and lights flicked on to illuminate more platforms than the one we'd seen a train at. After a few more seconds, the screen printed more words again.

ROUTE FROM VILLE DOME TO CANTER DOME: ONLINE, WORKING. CAUTION: BLOCKAGE DETECTED AT CANTER STATION

ROUTE FROM VILLE DOME TO TROTT DOME: ONLINE, WORKING.

ROUTE FROM VILLE DOME TO MANE DOME: ONLINE, WORKING. CAUTION, BLOCKAGE DETECTED ON RAIL.

ROUTE FROM VILLE DOME TO AERIE DOME: ONLINE, WORKING.

ROUTE FROM VILLE DOME TO BALTI DOME: ONLINE, WORKING. CAUTION: MINOR BREAK DETECTED IN ONE RAIL. CONSULT WITH A SPECIALIST ABOUT USING THIS LINE.

OTHER ROUTES OFFLINE.

I smiled at that; it would appear we'd be able to use this system to get around easily. "Well," I said, "It would seem luck is on our side today. Let's just punch in this command..."

>Run: Route from Ville Dome to Aerie Dome.

USE AVAILABLE TRAIN?

>Yes.

BEGINNING SEQUENCE. T-30 SECONDS TO DEPARTURE.

My skin paled at that and I turned to Copper before pointing at the train. "MOVE!" I shouted. "That thing is about to go without us!"

To her credit, for a starved, post-apocalyptic mare, she could move when she wanted or needed to. I was right behind her, and we both managed to get on the train scant seconds before the doors closed. The entire thing gave off an almighty jerk, and we saw the scenery starting to shift past us. The both of us settled down into the closest available seats, and we looked at one another before laughing.

"Well," I said, "I've heard about trains taking their schedules seriously, but that was ridiculous."

Copper only laughed harder, and I pulled out a final joke. "Seriously, that was nearly off the rails, it was so crazy."

At that, she laughed a little more before peeking up and out a nearby window to ensure that we were still on the rails. "Ah. Was worried for a moment. So, how long do you think it'll take before we reach Aerie Dome, then?"

I shrugged and looked at one door leading out of the compartment we were in, then the other. "We can check in a minute."

After enough time to catch our breath, we moved to one door and pulled it open. Another compartment was revealed, but the door on the far side had the words ENGINEER'S COMPARTMENT written on it in big block letters, so I took it as a good sign. A bit of work saw us in a compartment that had so many levers, buttons, switches, and knobs, and all the labeling had worn off over the years. A screen in the middle was displaying a countdown, and once I read it properly, it sent a wave of fear through me.

PASSENGERS MUST NOW FASTEN THEIR SEATBELTS. MAGI-TECH BOOST ENGAGING IN T-15.

Copper and I shared a glance before bolting back into the previous compartment and finding seats with intact seatbelts. A quick click on both our parts saw us secured before the train carrying us jerked, hard, once.

Then again.

Then on the third jerk, there was this...sound. The sound of wind rushing past and rattling the windows. The pressure on my body was intense, as though I was being dragged both down by gravity and back into my seat. A green glow lit up the world outside the window.

And then I blacked out.

---

When I came to, Copper was in front of me, her front hooves on my lap, staring at my face. After blinking a few times, she backed up and returned to all fours. "Ah, good. You were out for a while. Was wondering if you were going to wake up."

I slowly started to move again, feeling dizzy still from what had happened. "Too much...too fast. If we take another train, I'm going to see about disabling that boosting option."

Copper actually sniggered at my discomfort and motioned towards the open door on the side of the compartment. "Well, we're here. Wanna go looking for your Gate?"

I nodded and staggered to my feet. After a moment of being quite disoriented, I finally managed to hold myself upright without the need of an aid. Walking out of the train revealed that the inside of this Aerie Dome, whatever that stood for, seemed to be radically different. It looked as though it had been built with pegasi in mind, at least, judging by the height of all the buildings. Then again, the doors and windows seemed to be wider as well...

"So I've been thinking," I said. "The first thing to do, really, is see if I can get any information, in any age, about Lavos. I'm hoping, hoping, that its situation is similar to mine. In that it was pulled from wherever it was and brought here by unknown forces."

"Because if you can find and destroy its entry point," Copper pointed out, "then a lot of things won't have happened. Including the end of the world."

I nodded as we made steady progress towards the edge of the Dome, where an open door awaited us. "It might take a lot of work. I doubt anyone in Equestria in the year 999 has any information on it."

"Why?"

I flinched a bit and thought of a reasonable response. "Because if they knew about Lavos coming, then Twilight wouldn't have sat on her flanks for so long before starting her work on Magi-tech. She'd have looked into defenses and finding new ponies to bear the Elements of Harmony in an attempt to deal with it."

The interior was devoid of life. Absolutely empty. Even once we walked downstairs, there was nothing to meet us. This was not only odd, this was downright eerie. Even our path to the maintenance hub was unimpeded save for the locked door. I smelled a trap, but walked over to the keypad anyways.

"Right, Aerie...A, 1, E, 2,...R, 6, I, 3, and E again, so 2 again. 12632."

The keypad flashed once and the door swung inwards a touch. Pushing the door open the rest of the way revealed that familiar terminal and screen setup. I put in my question, hoping this dome's computers would be able to answer my questions.

>Search: Location of chronosphere disturbance within Aerie Dome

SEARCHING...

The map twirled around before centering on some sort of government building, one that it quickly labeled as the courthouse. It flashed twice.

DISTURBANCE LOCATED WITHIN COURTHOUSE.

"Well that works," I said. "Now to just plot a route to the courthouse and get through that Gate, see where and when we end up."

Copper and I made our way back out of the Dome's maintenance levels and began walking to the building we'd been shown. Upon arriving on its steps, we were greeted with two things.

The first was the fact that the door to the inside of the courthouse was closed, with a massive gate of steel or some other metal barring the way inside. There was a keypad, but I wasn't all that focused on using it.

Because the second thing we saw was a robot.

It was just standing there, mid-trot, in the shelter that a few fallen pillars had provided. It looked remarkably like an Earth Pony, and unlike the other robots, had a new set of numbers and letters painted onto its exterior.

JD-24.

I slowly approached it with my katana drawn and poked the robot with the point of my sword. When I failed to get a reaction, I poked it a bit more insistently, and then made to cut its head off, only stopping at the last second because it failed to move yet again.

I then turned to Copper and sheathed my sword. "It's inactive," I said. "Likely has been for a while." I then turned to the door to the courthouse and began punching in the string. The keypad flashed red, twice, angrily, and I read the message that scrolled past.

"Biologicals no longer permitted within courthouse...huh..."

I then turned around and looked at both the robot, then at Copper, then at the robot again. She must have caught on to what I was about to say, because she shook her head. "Uh-uh. No way, no how."

"At the moment," I said, "It's our only option. Would it make you feel better if I stood nearby, ready to deal with it if it got out of control?"

Copper sighed once and pulled a wrench out of her harness. "Fine. But if I die, I'm haunting you."

---

The first thing Copper noticed was that several internal systems were hit by the destruction that had visited the world. However, thanks to her recently-awakened pack-rat tenancies, she had more than enough parts to fix the robot. It took her a good bit of time to do so, but eventually she felt confident enough to stand back and nod at me.

"Right," I said. "Show me the on switch, and stand back."

Copper snorted and pulled out a small, green, glowing cube, then pointed at a square hole right between the robot's ears.

"Just give him a fresh cube," she stated. "Should fix him right up. And for the record, I think this is a stupid idea."

I took the cube and noticed the slight warmth it gave off before carefully placing it over the hole in the top of the robot's head. I then gingerly pushed it in with one finger before grabbing a hold of my katana again. The robot gave off several whirring noises, followed by a few beeps, clunks, and the sound of a screen turning on.

"Loading," it suddenly said. Copper and I readied ourselves.

"Loading..."

"Loading complete. Begin sequence."

The tension mounted as the robot's eyes turned on, green against the gunmetal grey of its coat. The mane and tail were black and stiff, seeming to exist merely to make it more pony-like. It 'blinked' a few times, taking in the sight of both me and Copper before looking around. "What...what happened here?"

I eased up a little bit but didn't let go of the handle of my katana. "Hello?"

The robot's gaze snapped to me and looked me up and down before nodding curtly at me. "Greetings. Do you possess knowledge of what transpired here?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah...long story short, there's this thing called Lavos, it's a world-destroyer. It killed nearly everything in 1999."

The robot blinked once at that news. "I see. And the current date?"

I waved a hand in a so-so fashion. "Eh, 2299 or thereabouts."

The robot fell silent while it contemplated the news. "Is this Lavos immortal?"

I blinked while considering the question. "Uh, unless killed, yes. Why?"

"Because there is no statute of limitations on crimes committed by an immortal." Electricity arced across the robot's frame. "I am a Punishment Drone. My line was the twenty-fourth one in production. I was sent to the griffons to work in their Departments of Justice. All the crimes and punishments of the world are imprinted into my circuits. But there is not one for killing an entire world. That is a hole in my database I seek to rectify."

I smirked at that and tisked while waving a finger back and forth. "Naughty drone, jumping to the front of the line like that. Copper and I already called dibs."

The drone ceased making electricity arc around his body before looking at both me and Copper. "Fascinating. She appears to be a survivor of the end of the world, whereas you are something completely different. How did this happen?"

I tapped the Gate Key, still snug in my belt, and the eyes of the robot followed the motion. "Time traveler. It's mostly useless, except for now. Now, there's a inactive Gate in the courthouse. However, for some reason, fleshy beings aren't allowed in."

The robot turned to the door and did his best to narrow his eyes and frown. "One moment."

His green eyes turned blue, and he seemed to be muttering to himself. "Who would do something like this?...that permission is all wrong...well without any supervisors, I AM the ranking officer...yes...yes...no, it better not happen again...yes, that works...and there we go."

The keypad flashed once before the door slid open, the gate barring the way retracting into the ceiling, and Copper and I inched towards the opened entrance. We gave the interior the once over before we slowly slipped through and started walking into the lobby itself. We'd gotten five feet when an alarm started to blare.

ALERT! BIOLOGICAL UNITS WITHIN THE COURTHOUSE! ALERT! BIOLOGICAL UNITS WITHIN THE COURTHOUSE!

After that, another, more gruff voice came on.

"What? What what? Someone in Aerie Dome? Someone alive? We took care of the Griffons, I'm sure of it! Send a squad to investigate! Who or whatever it is, I'll have their guts for garters!"

The both of us looked back at the robot on the steps, who, if it can be said, was acting sheepish. "Apologies. I did not check the security very thoroughly. Merely the set stopping you from entering the courthouse. Although, that being said, I feel it prudent to advise you to run. And I wish to query you about something."

I looked up to where the sounds of the alarm were coming from before looking back to the robot. "Better hurry!"

"Would you take me with you?"

Copper and I froze at that, Copper actually turned to look at the robot with a dropped jaw. "What?" she questioned right back.

"Please. Take me with you. Punishing Lavos for what it did is the first, true purpose I think I have had in three hundred years. While I may have been inactive for them, the feeling of not fulfilling my job, and not being able to now..." It let out a sigh, or as best as it could imitate one. "I might as well deactivate myself if I cannot."

Copper and I looked at one another and nodded. He shared our goal, so we could trust him. Probably. I turned back and waved a hand at him. "C'mon Justice. We've got a ways to go, then."

He blinked twice at that before nodding. "I...I am Justice, now. It is...fitting. And I shall aid you in looking for the disturbance." He walked forward and his eyes bathed my Gate Key in a green glow. "Calibrating...calibration complete. The disturbance this Key is linked with is located within the main courtroom. Follow me."

A few short minutes worth of a walk, another quick burst of work on Justice's part, and the main court's doors opened enough to display the courtroom. Prosecution, defense, audience, jury, witness stand, judge, court stenographer, all those had their spots.

What wasn't normal was the Gate sitting in the middle of the courtroom. At least, it didn't look like it. I pulled out my Gate Key and looked at Copper and Justice. "Last chance. You accompany me on this crazy trip, I can't promise you'll ever be able to come back. We will literally be rewriting this future, including your places in it. Hell, I don't even know what's going to happen to me. I only set foot here, but if we rewrite it, I never will have. A paradox to the nth degree!"

"Like I said," Copper stated while checking her gear. "Buck this future."

"Indeed," Justice stated. "This is a future that I desire to have never had happen."

I shrugged and tapped the Gate with the Key, causing the rift in time and space to open. Justice and Copper walked into the hole in reality with me, and while I expected to pop back out in the same space, but a different time...

...That wasn't what I got.

Comments

[aidenmc3]

Yay more stories! I cant wait to see what happens next! We now have our robot , and soon we shall have the ultimate party, with nothing in the world to stop us! i want to break out chrono trigger now and play it for the first time in forever.

[recentteen14]

5125751 Better hurry, I beat you to the punch on starting a replay there. Gotta love that ole SNES cart.

I'm going to guess prison sequence next, considering where they are and that they're changing times.

[Purple Lightning]

I guess now they reach the end of time, but is it gonna have the gate that sends you directly to lavos? That would be kinda cheaty in my opinion. I'm definitely looking forward to the prehistoric arc, assuming you will be doing one. Got Luca and Robo, now you just need Marle, Glenn, Ayla and Magus to finish this marry band of time hoppers.

[ArtichokeLust]

while I expected to pop back out in the same space, but a different time... ...That wasn't what I got.

Wait, I'm confused. Did they reappear in the sky? Did the portal not work? Did they move to the end of time? Did they teleport in front of lavos in their current time? Was the other end of the portal in somepony's bathroom?

Your cliffhanger is a bit too vague.

[Zappa12]

Is it "The End Of Time" because if it is, that must mean someone/pony/ling/thing that can become invisible was following him to make the group of 4 time travelers needed to get there.
However if it was a red gate like the one Lucca used to save her mother it must be something important to one of the group.

We need more chapters this is as good as your Headless Not Heartless series in my opinion (and possibly the other people who follow you as well).

[TSLsmokey]

5126077 He is really good at leaving these sorts of cliffhangers. Check his other stories for proof on that. It's one of the reasons that multiple readers, including myself, get drawn back when he updates.

[Neo Shadow]

Im listining to the theme of the dead sea from chrono cross while reading this.

[Mr Good Guy]

"Like I said," Copper stated while checking her gear. "Buck this future."

when did she say that before? I think you edited that part out...