My Little Chrono Triggers Are Magic

by Pav Feira

Endings and Beginnings

Post-Apocalypse

Carrij Dome — Basement

The air hung much thicker in Carrij Dome’s basement. For years, this section of the dome had remained largely unexplored by ponies. This fact was only partially apparent to the ponies; since the upper levels were barely maintained, these lower levels were only slightly dustier. Otherwise, the halls here looked identical to all of the other domes that the ponies had explored: brushed metal, debris, dim blue lighting, monotony.

“This era is just so fascinating!” crooned Twilight Sparkle cheerfully. A quill and notepad hovered slightly behind her, furiously scribbling notes about their travels. “Self-sufficient enclosed villages, instantaneous revitalization machines, advanced computing technology, and security robotics? Absolutely incredible.”

“Oh, right, I was gonna ask you about that,” Rainbow Dash asked as she turned back toward Twilight Sparkle. “What’s the deal with the guards down here? That old mare said that they were rowboats?”

Twilight Sparkle sighed impatiently at her childhood friend. “Robots, Dash. Please try to focus. They’re robots, like Gaito.”

“Gaito?”

“Ooo, I remember him!” Pinkie Pie cheered excitedly. “Remember, Dashie? We fought with him at the Millennial Summer Sun Celebration.”

“I fight lots of things. You’re going to have to be way more specific.”

“He even sang that catchy song before and after we fought. Remember?” Pinkie Pie coughed dramatically before imitating the battle robot’s song.

My name is Gaito.

I am a metal horse.

Try to fight me, and

You will lose, of course.

But if you’re real strong,

And if your hits are true,

I might give fifteen

Silver Points to you.

That was quite a show!

This battle’s at an end.

Here’s your Silver Points.

Go tell all your friends!

Twilight Sparkle smiled appreciatively. “Not bad, Pinkie! You’ve got quite a singing voice.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. “Hey, yeah, that does sorta sound familiar, now that you mention it.”

“Yes?” Twilight Sparkle leaned in attentively.

“Oh yeah! Isn’t that one of your inventions, Twi?”

“You remembered!” cheered Twilight Sparkle, genuinely impressed. “That’s right, Gaito was one of my more ambitious projects to date: an autonomous, combat-capable android with limited artificial intelligence.” She blushed slightly. “It had a few bugs, and I ended up cutting back a few features from the design spec, but for a first version, I was quite happy with it.”

“That’s neato, Twilight,” smiled Pinkie Pie. “So, do you think the robots down here will be like yours?”

“No no, I’m sure that...”

Without warning, the ponies were deafened as a klaxon sounded overhead. They cowered and covered their ears, trying to protect themselves from the noise, but to no avail. The shrill siren was piercing directly into their skulls.

“Come on!” shouted Rainbow Dash, drowned out by the noise. She shoved her friends, beckoning for them to follow. “Move, move!”

The ponies galloped at full speed down the corridor, trying to outrun the noise. The hallway eventually ended into a large chamber, where the sound reverberated even louder. They dashed toward the door at the far end of the room, desperate to find any place that was quieter.

Without warning, Pinkie Pie gasped and tackled her friends. The three-pony pileup slid to a halt in the center of the room. Before either tackle victim had a chance to object, the chamber was rocked by a massive steel monument crashing down from the ceiling. It landed just in front the ponies, blocking off the exit to the room. The klaxon mercifully shut itself off, perhaps in response to the falling device.

“Are you gals alright?” Pinkie Pie asked in a concerned voice. “I barely had time to react to my twitchy-twitcha-twitcha-twitch.”

Twilight Sparkle blinked. “Your what?”

“EXECUTING PROGRAM.” A booming synthesized voice filled the room, emanating from the fallen robotic device. The guardian robot dwarfed the ponies in size, towering six meters or so. The robot’s egg-shaped upper body bore a single glass eye in its center. It rested on a narrow pillar base that by any rights should have been precarious, yet the sheer weight of the upper body seemed to keep it firmly planted in place. Two rigid fins jutted from the sides of the torso, giving it a wide, intimidating presence in the room. From behind the security robot emerged two helper pods, gently wobbling through the air as they flanked the intruding ponies.

“Like I was saying,” deadpanned Twilight Sparkle, “I’m sure that the robots of this era will be much more formidable.”

“We’ve come too far to turn back now! Everypony in Carrij and Trott is counting on us.” Pinkie Pie armed her crossbow while she psyched up her friends.

“You said it!” rooted Rainbow Dash, as she and Twilight Sparkle drew their weapons in turn. “This hunka junk messed with the wrong ponies!” She took to the air, charging directly at the guard robot. She slashed repeatedly against the thick shell of the guardian, shooting sparks as the katana glanced harmlessly off.

In swift retaliation, the guardbot shot out a laser beam from its central lens. Rainbow Dash was able to dodge the laser in midair, but she failed to realize that she was not the primary target. The beam connected squarely with one of the floating bits, who immediately redirected the beam to its partner. The second bit redirected the laser in turn, aiming it back to the main guardian. As the circuit completed, the field between the three machines radiated with high-charged energy. The ponies shrieked in pain as the laser counterattack raked across their bodies.

Twilight Sparkle winced as the lasers seared her fur, rocking spasms of pain into her muscles. She wobbled on her hooves, trying to regain her focus. “The bits!” she yelled, taking aim with her dart gun. “Take out those flying bits! We can’t take more laser blasts like that!” Following her own advice, she opened fire on one of the pods, chasing after it with a unsteady limp.

Rainbow Dash had fallen to the ground during the laser blast. Shaking her head, she leapt back up into the air. “On it!” she replied, charging at the same bit that Twilight Sparkle had weakened. The bit proved to be made of much softer metal than the main guardian, as her nosedive slashed the bit directly in half.

“Rainbow! Over here, over here,” called out Pinkie Pie, drawing her friend’s attention. “Spin a Cyclone around me. Right here!”

“Wha? But, the other pod...”

“Trust me, this’ll be great! Please please please?”

“O-okay, if you say so...”

Rainbow Dash spun in a tight spiral around her friend. Currents of air whirled faster and faster until a stable vortex encircled the pink earth pony. Grinning, Pinkie Pie burst into a short, upbeat tune.

Hey gals, don’t give up hope right now.

Smile wide! Here, lemme show ya how!

Laughter makes ev’rything worthwhile.

Don’t pout, mope, or be sad; just smile!

True to her song, Pinkie Pie flashed a big grin at her friends, asking, “How’s that?”

Rainbow Dash, noticing that the song had apparently ended, stopped spinning her Cyclone. She threw Pinkie Pie a confused look, unsure of what exactly they had just accomplished.

“Well, it’s catchy and all, but now is really not...” Twilight Sparkle dropped her train of thought as the second bit fired at her. She quickly dove out of the way of the incoming laser bolt. She turned to return fire, but paused suddenly, a confused look on her face. She tentatively bobbed up and down, testing her legs. “What? My muscles had felt all out-of-sorts from that big laser attack. But now my legs feel completely better!”

Rainbow Dash blinked, adding, “Hey, yeah, my wings feel a lot stronger too. Pinkie Pie, did you do that?”

“Haha! No, silly, I didn’t do it. We did it, Dashie! I sang a song to boost everypony’s spirits, and your whirlwind carried my voice even further than normal. Whoa!” She bounced into the air, barely clearing a laser attack from the roaming pod. “It was like a... ooo, it was like an Aria Whirl! That’s what we’ll call that move.”

Twilight Sparkle stared at the pink pony incredulously. “And what, your singing mended our wounds, just like that?!”

“Oh c’mon, Twilight. It’s not like I’m able to cast magical healing spells, or anything like that,” she replied with a giggle. “You just gotta keep a positive attitude, y’know? Now, c’mon everypony!” She took aim with her hoof-mounted crossbow. “Let’s finish this thing!”

A salvo of fire from the earth pony and the unicorn, followed by a Wind Slash from the pegasus, quickly ended the remaining bit. Only the guardian robot remained. The ponies turned their attacks toward this massive robot, but as Rainbow Dash had discovered earlier, the guardian’s thick steel body was proving to be impervious to their attacks.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash noticed movement. She gave a panicked gasp as a third hovering pod emerged from behind the guardian. “Another pod! Stop shooting!”

The warning came too late, as Pinkie Pie fired another ineffectual round of bolts at the robot. Retaliating, the floating bit fired its laser into the guardian’s glass lens. The latter robot amplified the attack, emitting a wide blast that connected squarely on Pinkie Pie’s muzzle. With a squeaky “yow”, she flew backwards, landing on her back.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“Dash, there’s another one!” Twilight Sparkle drew attention to the emergence of yet another new pod. The two pods resumed their behavior of dodging and firing lasers upon the ponies.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. They hadn’t managed to put a dent in the guardian yet, the supply of helper pods could potentially be limitless, and worst of all, Pinkie Pie had been knocked out of the fight. Things were certainly looking bleak, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t ready to give up the race just yet. “Twi! Line it up.”

Years of friendship allowed Twilight Sparkle to understand exactly what Rainbow Dash was planning, even from such a vague command. “Got it!” she barked in reply. Telekinetically, she restrained one of the bits, turning it upward so that its lasers would not present a threat. Struggling against the bit’s whirling propulsion, she slowly dragged it across the room, holding it still in front of the guardian’s eye.

In kind, Rainbow Dash snuck up on the other bit and clumsily grappled it from behind with a full-body tackle. The bit spun and shook, trying to free itself, and her hooves slipped on the bit’s smooth metal surface. However, the bit was impeded enough that it could not escape from the pegasus’s grapple hold.

Wasting no time, Rainbow Dash flew straight toward the guardian with her bit in tow. She stopped suddenly in midair, releasing her bit. It flew through the air by its own momentum, before violently colliding with the bit that Twilight Sparkle was magically holding in place. The resulting explosion shook the room, tearing off a large chunk of the guardian’s metal carapace.

“Ha, what now?!” Rainbow Dash cheered triumphantly.

“STRUCTURAL FAILURE. SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIVE... ”

“Oh, son of a...!” Rainbow Dash dove into the guardian’s gaping wound. She flailed wildly within the robot, slashing wires and bucking control circuits. She knew that the fate of her and her friends would be decided in a matter of seconds, and she’d be damned if she was going to die without giving it her all. She destroyed as much componentry inside the guardian as possible, hoping against all hope that she’d make it in time.

“FOUR... THREE... TWOOOooo...”

The bodiless electronic voice faded. The hum and buzz of the electronic circuits fell quiet. The room, which had just served host to a full-forced brawl, was once again invaded by silence.

Spent, Rainbow Dash fell limp, landing uncomfortably upon the robotic internals that she had just shredded. Right now, she didn’t care about comfort; she was intent on taking a well-deserved power nap. “We won,” she sighed contently, closing her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle helped Pinkie Pie back up onto her hooves. “You okay, Pinkie?”

She wiggled her jaw from side to side, trying to shake away the numbness induced by the laser hit. “Yowie! That big bad ‘bot wasn’t bothering to be benevolent, huh?” Returning quickly to high spirits, she bounced into the air, asking “You okay in there, Dashie?”

“Mmm hmm,” came a drowsy, echoing reply from within the metallic shell.

Inquisitively, Twilight Sparkle trotted around the guardian, examining the door behind it. She found it odd that the sirens had started sounding as soon as the ponies had neared this room. Moreover, this robot appeared to have been guarding this room, preventing the ponies from getting past. Stranger still, the door was thick and latched shut. Possibly to preserve specific conditions within? She vocalized her assumptions, musing, “Hey girls, we might’ve just found the food store.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes snapped open. She considered herself to be a straight-forward pony. She knew what she wanted, and when she wanted it. While activities like napping or showponyship frequently made the list, right now her list was dominated by one directive: “Food!” A rainbow-striped blur streaked out of the guardian’s body as Rainbow Dash began madly tugging on the door’s latches with her mouth. “Gimme gimme gimme!”

After fiddling with the seals, the door slid open with a soft hiss. Rainbow Dash rushed into the food storeroom with a look of glee on her face, but her face slowly fell as she assessed the room. The air was warm and stagnant, infested with a foul odor. A few fans in the ceiling strained and slid on their gears, failing to circulate the room’s air. The room was lined with rows of storage containers, most of which were damaged and spilling out their contents.

Twilight Sparkle slowly approached the storage bins, confirming Rainbow Dash’s fears. “These roses are wilted... the oats are covered in mold... yuck, this bin of corn has maggots...” She slowly lowered her head. “I don’t think any of this is edible.”

“Nothing?” asked Pinkie Pie from outside, crestfallen. “But... but everypony was counting on us. Everypony...” She started to enter the room behind her friends.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes dilated in panic. She turned sharply and started pushing Pinkie Pie out of the doorway. “Yep, total bummer. C’mon, Pinkie Pie, we better look for food someplace else.”

“Wait, what’s... Hey, look in the corner! There’s somepony in there!” She bounced past her friend and approached the pony at the far end of the room, huddled under some cloth scraps.

“Pinkie Pie, wait!”

“Hiya, my name’s Pinkie Pie!” she said, introducing herself with a wide smile. “These are my friends, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle! You must be Big Macintosh. We met your grandmother upstairs; she’s such a sweet old lady. She was super-duper worried about you, so she sent us down here to look for you.”

The huddled stallion didn’t move to acknowledge Pinkie Pie’s introduction.

“Looks like there’s no food in here after all, huh? That’s a huuuge bummer, I know... But don’t give up! It’s like Dashie just said, we’ll find food somewhere! Enough for you, and your Granny Smith, and all your friends, and that silly sea serpent, and everypony over in Trott Dome. Nopony will have to be hungry, and they won’t have to be so sad anymore!”

The huddled stallion didn’t reply.

Pinkie Pie’s smile started to tremble. “So c’mon... we gotta get you back to your family, so... get up...”

Rainbow Dash slowly walked up to her friend, biting her lip. “Pinkie Pie...”

“Get up...”

Rainbow Dash put her hoof around her friend’s back and gently tugged, trying to lead her away from the sight before her, but she wouldn’t budge. Pinkie Pie’s eyes were transfixed on the motionless stallion before her. She stared, not blinking, not crying, not knowing how to react.

Twilight Sparkle approached slowly, partially attempting to change the topic, partially to satisfy her own curiosity. “Hey, what’s he holding between his hooves there? Folded-up fabric?” She delicately tugged the cloth from the stallion’s hooves, lifting it up for inspection. She unfolded the cloth, staring curiously at the contents. “Are these apple seeds?” She cast a sideways glance at the opened containers in the room. “I wonder if he was able to salvage some good seeds out of all this bad fruit.”

“Dunno... I sure hope so,” Rainbow Dash replied softly. “C’mon. We ought to go back upstairs and tell everypony the news.”

“Not just yet,” frowned Twilight Sparkle, who promptly turned and left the storeroom. “There’s something else I want to investigate.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Post-Apocalypse

Carrij Dome — Information Center

“Granny Smith mentioned that this dome also served as an information center,” Twilight Sparkle explained as she walked down another hallway in the basement. She pushed open a side door and poked her head inside. “That means that one of the rooms down here is bound to contain a library of some kind.”

“Yeah, I dunno about that, Twi,” replied Rainbow Dash as she emerged from another side room she had just explored. “The only stuff in these rooms is trash and dust.”

Pinkie Pie was following a few paces behind her friends. She had not spoken a word since leaving the storeroom.

“Hmm, I think I just found our library.” Twilight Sparkle entered one of the side rooms. It was a small room that contained only two objects, but both seemed noteworthy. The first was an electronic console, similar to the one that the sea serpent on the other continent had been using. This console was covered with buttons, each slightly larger than the size of a hoof. Hanging on the wall above the console was a darkened screen.

Rainbow Dash entered the room, looking about quizzically. “Uh, Twilight, this isn’t a library. Libraries are places that have lots of books.”

She smiled patiently. “Yes Rainbow, but remember, we’re surrounded by advanced technology. No doubt they’ve replaced all of their paper-based records with a more technologically-advanced medium. And I’d wager that this console is exactly what we’re looking for.”

Tentatively, Twilight Sparkle reared up on her hind legs, gently bracing herself against the room’s console, and tentatively pressed a few buttons with her hooves. Responding to her inputs, the screen on the wall burst into grey static before finally stabilizing into a backlit display. Before long, some words appeared at the top of the screen.

> Please enter a command.

$

Frowning in concentration, she carefully stepped on a few specific buttons. To her delight, the screen updated in kind.

> Please enter a command.

$ date

> Today’s date in June 18th, 2300

> Please enter a command.

$

“2300?!” yelped Rainbow Dash as her eyes bugged out. “We travelled over a thousand years into the future? I mean sure, we’ve already travelled four hundred years into the past before, and sure, this future has all these kooky domes and robots and stuff, but still...”

“This is extraordinary!” Twilight Sparkle grinned widely, her eyes glistening in amazement. “It’s some type of advanced information-fetching device! Why, with something like this, I could replace all of the technical manuals in my library back home!”

“Yeah, you could definitely get rid of your Almanac of What Day Is Today,” Rainbow Dash retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Hush. I’m sure it knows way more than that. Here, I’ll prove it.” She eagerly mashed on the console’s buttons with her hooves.

> Please enter a command.

$ tem,porasl diswtortioms

> Invalid command. Did you mean “temporal distortions”?

$ yes

> Searching for nearby temporal distortions...

> Match: Distortion found inside Barngor Dome. Continuing search...

> Match: Distortion found inside Magno Dome. Continuing search...

Twilight Sparkle cast a perplexed look at the screen’s output. “Barngor was where we arrived, when traveling from 1000 AD. What’s this Magno Dome, I wonder...” She pressed on the console, digging for more answers. The screen sated her curiosity by switching itself to a map display. The display first outlined Carrij Dome on the map before scrolling gently to the east, highlighting a second dome. “I see... So if we head east, through what looks like another set of ruins, then down the east coast of this continent, that should lead us to another dome, and another Gate!”

“Okay okay, you win this one,” Rainbow Dash muttered, scratching the back of her neck, embarrassed. “Nice job finding a new Gate, Twi.”

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and grinned. “Thanks! I’m starting to think you could find out anything with this machine!”

“Why?”

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash silently turned to their friend. This was the first that Pinkie Pie had spoken since the storeroom incident.

“Why is everything destroyed?” Pinkie Pie quietly asked. “Why are there so few ponies left in the future? Why doesn’t everypony have food to eat? Why is everypony suffering?” She looked pleadingly at her friends. “What happened?”

“I... I don’t know, Pinkie,” stammered Twilight Sparkle. With a determined nod, she added, “But we’re going to find out.” She dropped down to all fours, and continued to type on the console using her telekinesis.

> Please enter a command.

$ major historical events, sorted descending by date

> Available audiovisual recordings:

> 1) Day of Lavos [recording damaged] — July 2nd, 1999

> 2) Carrij Dome Directorial Inauguration — June 29th, 1999

> 3) Summer Sun Celebration — June 21st, 1999

> 4) More...

> 5) Exit

> Please enter a sub-command.

$

“1999 AD?” Twilight Sparkle scratched her head. “That’s over three hundred years ago (relative to now, that is). Don’t they have anything more recent?”

“Why is their Summer Sun Celebration so late?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I thought it was supposed to happen on the longest day of the year. Wasn’t that a couple of days ago?”

“Ah! You see, Rainbow, our planet’s orbit takes slightly longer than 365 days to complete a revolution. Due to rounding errors introduced by the calendar system...”

“Already bored.”

“Day of Lavos...” Pinkie Pie slowly walked forward, eyes transfixed by the display. “Just what is that?”

“I have no idea,” shrugged Twilight Sparkle. “We should probably just look at this record and find out.” She pressed on the console.

The screen flared to live with a fresh green landscape set against a crystal blue summer sky. A few brightly-colored tents were set up, honoring the recent festivities of the summer. A trio of pegasi playfully flitted about the sky, laughing and enjoying the warm afternoon. A large domed village, quite similar to the ones that the three friends had been exploring in 2300 AD, could be seen along the horizon.

Without warning, the recording’s video began to shake vigorously. A stampede of ponies rushed out of the tent, screaming in terror. Sirens sounded in the distance as everypony reacted to the rocking of the ground. The three pegasi made a beeline for the safety of the dome in the distance as the sky turned pitch black.

The ground in front of the viewport violently tore apart, hurling chunks of earth into the air and exposing molten layers of the planet below. The chasm slowly enlarged, as more and more of the grass-covered plains were launched skyward. The glowing-red hole stabilized itself at around twenty meters wide, though the earthquake continued to shake the ground and the camera that was recording these events.

From within the depths of the earth, a mighty spiked dome emerged, filling the twenty-meter hole as suddenly as it had appeared. Unlike the ponymade, inhabitable domes of the era, this was a living monster — an eldritch terror of unspeakable horror. It opened a tiny trisected beak at its base, uttering a terrifying screech that resonated at multiple frequencies. Even though the friends were merely watching a recording from hundreds of years ago, the monster’s scream froze their blood and twisted their stomachs into knots.

“What... what the hell is that thing?” asked an aghast Rainbow Dash, her wings drooping in shock. “Is that Lavos?”

From its spiny shell, a myriad of energy bolts launched out into the sky, flying out in all directions. As they fell back to the ground, they burst into fiery explosions that tore apart domes, cratered the earth, and maimed those ponies unfortunate enough to be outside. The feed died into static, as the camera itself was caught in an explosion. The recording switched to a map view of the world, pinpointing the site of Lavos’s emergence, and marking the locations where destruction had rained down from the heavens.

“No... No!” wailed Twilight Sparkle, tears streaming down her face as she watched the apocalypse unfold on the screen before her. The few symbols of damage on the map began to multiply, hitting a dome, then a farm, then a forest, then two more domes, then a mountain range. In a matter of seconds, entire continents were covered in Lavos’s devastation. “This is how the world ends?” As the video ended and cut away to static, she hung her head low, meekly whispering. “It can’t end like this... It just can’t.”

Rainbow Dash was too overwhelmed to reply. She numbly walked toward her friend, contemplating what to say or do. However, her own mind was not in a good place either, after what they had just witnessed; she wasn’t in much of a position to help. But before Rainbow Dash could speak, the room filled with boisterous laughter. Turning in alarm, she saw her other friend cranking her neck back, howling in delight at the ceiling. “Pinkie Pie?” she addressed her friend in disbelief.

Pinkie Pie calmed herself enough to address her friends. “Oh girls, don’t you see? This is amazing! Lavos will destroy the world in the year 1999!”

The blood quickly drained from Rainbow Dash’s face, as she beheld her friend in horror. “Oh shit... Pinkie snapped.”

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie recoiled in confusion. “No no no, I mean, we know that the world ends in 1999 AD!” She was still met with incredulous looks. To drive the point home, she reared up on her hind legs, waving her hooves about wildly. “Hellooo? We’re time travellers!”

A light went off in Rainbow Dash’s head. “When Pinkie Pie travelled back to 600 AD, she messed up Queen Diane’s rescue...”

“And I disappeared!” Pinkie Pie chimed in excitedly. “But then you and Twilight and Froggy saved the queen...”

“And we changed history again! If we go back in time, before 1999 AD...”

“And if we find a way to stop this big bad meanie turtle...”

“We could save everypony!” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie concluded in unison. They excitedly turned to Twilight Sparkle for approval.

The unicorn stared dumbfounded at her friends. “I... This... You... But... Huh? The two of you want to warp through countless Gates, travel to who-knows-when, risk corrupting history as we know it, just so that we can come face-to-face with an unknown demon that nopony has ever seen before, who has the power to obliterate the planet and all living things on it,” she gasped for breath before finishing incredulously, “and you think you can stop it?!”

“Basically!” Pinkie Pie chirped with a smile.

“That’s right!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

Twilight Sparkle paused silently, contemplating her own words, and what she had just seen on the video. After a moment, she met their eyes and smirked, answering, “Well, heck. Count me in!”

Her friends cheered in delight, giddy over their new-found mission of saving ponykind.

“It was a remarkable stroke of luck that we found this recording. None of it would have transpired without that accident at the Telepod. But Dash is right; we have got to do something about it. The three of us have the power to travel through time and change history, and we mustn’t waste that gift. We must put a stop to Lavos!”

“And save everypony!” cheered Pinkie Pie.

“And save the world!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

Thus decided, the three friends raced out of the room. Using the magic of the Gates, they would travel through time and find a way to prevent this ruined future from occurring. While the details of their plan were still up in the air, they were determined to stop the Day of Lavos, no matter the cost.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

2300 AD

Carrij Dome — Living Quarters

“Good gracious, yer back!” gasped Granny Smith. “What did you find?”

The three friends awkwardly glanced at each other. They had been rocked by their discovery of the Day of Lavos, and energized by their resolve to stop it. In the midst of this, they had momentarily forgotten their reason for entering the basement in the first place, and the heartbreaking news that they needed to deliver.

“Uh, Mrs. Smith...” Rainbow Dash stepped forward apprehensively, addressing the elder mare. “We found your grandson in the basement. He... he was...” She lowered her gaze to the floor, unable to meet Granny Smith’s eyes.

Granny Smith sighed gently. “I see. I was afraid of that. When he didn’t come back after a few days, well... he’s not the first pony to go down in the basement and not come back.”

“I’m sorry...”

A stallion approached from the back of the room. “Never mind that. What about the food?”

Twilight Sparkle meekly pulled out the bundle of seeds. “I’m sorry, everypony. All we were able to save were these apple seeds.”

“Apple seeds?” spat the stallion. “Those’ll take decades to grow. Assuming they’re any good, or that growing trees is even possible anymore. What’s the use?” he sighed. “The food is gone. There’s no point anymore...”

The attitude of the room collectively deflated. Even Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were at a loss. How were they supposed to save the world from being destroyed, when they couldn’t even help the ponies of this one villiage?

Pinkie Pie bounded up in front of the gathered ponies, beaming. “C’mon, everypony, don’t be all mopey-dopey. We should be celebrating!”

“Celebrating?” he asked flatly. “What’s there to celebrate?”

“You’ve got the seeds now! Sure, they’ll need time and care and love to grow, but then you’ll finally have food.” She looked emphatically around the crowd. “You can’t give up now! Big Macintosh wouldn’t want everypony acting this way. So even if everything isn’t perfect, we should still celebrate the good things in life, right?”

Granny Smith blinked slowly. “Who are y’all? Yer so different from us...”

“We’re not!” Pinkie Pie grinned. “We’re all the same, you and us. We just haven’t given up hope. And neither should you!”

“Hope? Hope...” Granny Smith quietly contemplated the three friends. “Ya don’t say... Alright then, we’ll try planting those seeds. And if you think that a celebration will help, well, we can try that too.”

With a cheer, Pinkie Pie and her friends set about throwing a party for the ponies of Carrij Dome. There were no cakes or decorations, but nevertheless the three friends sang and laughed and spread good cheer as best they could. While the whole process of a party was strange and foreign to the ponies of Carrij Dome, they felt something special that day. They felt that perhaps they shouldn’t throw in the towel just yet. They felt that these three strange ponies might just be able to help make their desolate world into a better place. They felt that salvation might be found, even in something as small and innocuous as a seed.

They felt hope.

Comments

[Salnax]

Oh Pinkie, you would laugh at the annihilation of civilization.

Good story. The writing is fluid, the plot is deep and intriguing (Though I've no idea if you ripped it off Chrono Trigger or not, considering I don't know what it is. xD)
The characters are as in character as they can be in this situation, and the relationships between them are well thought out.
I have one complaint, and there shall be nopony to stop me from complaining it!
Y U HAVE BIG MAC AND NO APPLEJACK? ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
There. I said it.
Update soon!

[Pav Feira]

Thanks for all the positive feedback, everypony!

128884 I'd definitely encourage everypony to play this game, as it was one of the best JRPGs of the SNES era. It was rereleased for the Nintendo DS a few years ago.

While I'm definitely following the original plot fairly closely, I'm adding a heavy FIM spin via the characterizations, relationships, and a few surprises down the line. Straddling the line between adding FIM elements without angering the many many die-hard CT fans is tricky

Oh and rest assured that AJ will definitely be joining in on the fun. Just... not for several chapters, unfortunately

[Chengar Qordath]

I'm going to swing a wild guess that AJ will be taking Ayla's place. She does kind of fit the whole physically strong but non-magical role. I guess that means Fluttershy's going to be Robo.

Seeing as Chrono Trigger was probably my favorite RPG for tor the SNES and my favorite JRPG ever, I'll be following this. So far I think you've done a good job of fusing the two settings; the ponies have recognizable qualities from the show and the game. Rarity as Frog really caught me off guard, but you made it work. Kind of curious about how you came up with that idea though. Have to admit, Rainbow makes for a fun main character compared to Crono the blank slate Silent Protagonist.

My only real complaint is that one or two of Pinkie's Fourth Wall gags were a touch too heavy-handed, and that's a pretty minor issue. Well, I could also complain about the fact that I want more and there isn't any yet, but that's not really a complaint.

[RTStephens]

Gee, saving the world against a galactic, over-grown porcupine?

Easy Peasy!

I really thought you'd go all Discord with Lavos, but I have a feeling he's being saved for later.

Apparently, even super advanced civilizations can't get past the command prompt.

Nice imagery here! It really hammers home the scope that these characters are facing.

[Silverstein]

I think it's the next chapter where I hit my old mark! Time to find out!

Now they have their mission to stop Lavos...this outta be interesting.

"As long as there is life, there is hope."

-Captain Brenner

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Silver out!

[Seeking Dusk]

I should not have played Lavos' Theme will reading this... It already gave me chills on it's own without your descriptions...

For the benefit of future readers:

[avidreader07]

Damn, Big Mac just doesn’t fare too well in these SNES RPG crossovers. At least in FF IV, he survived. At this rate, I’m expecting him to turn out to be Leo in the FF VI crossover, which I’ll be reading next.