> Ascendants
>  by TechieBrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: End of The Line
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


One                                                                                                                  




Prologue - End of the Line



By TechieBrony and Da kine








“CHIP, are Celestia and Luna okay?”

“Both of their ships have successfully left the planet and are moving out of visual range,” said a chipper voice in Twilight’s earpiece. Twilight sighed in relief. At least that had gone right. An explosion rocked her own ship, but Twilight hardly noticed now. 

“Prepare the ascendancy matrix for upload,” She said.

“Senior bridge officers will be notified of the activity. Do you still wish to proceed?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “Yes.”

The computer gave a series of beeps to indicate it was busy, and Twilight removed a blue glass orb that was hanging by a chain around her neck. She looked at it reverently, then quickly swung it down and let it shatter across the floor of the room.

The remaining piece attached to the pendant was Halway between lokking like a spider and the web that it would spin . The voices of her ponies, the voices of her mind. All clamored for attention that she could not give, for she was too busy dealing with the voices of outsiders. The pressing call of hoofsteps rang ever closer to her room, a not-so-subtle reminder of what was to come. The singular crack of a lone rifle rang out. Her security would undoubtedly lose, being outnumbered by the mutinous crew three to one. Would she save herself from them? 

No, I think I am done for now, she thought. That confounded rock better give me a moment of respite before my death. That’s the least I deserve.

"The Bridge Crew are at your doorstep right now - should I let them in?" The voice washed over her like a wave of pure blissful ignorance; ignorance of the situation, of the stakes at risk. She wished she could partake of such ignorance, that she might - for a single moment, forget about her responsibilities. But experience told her otherwise. She Had little time before events would play out exactly as she had foreseen them, And that was a small comfort. It would be nice to be right about something - even her own death, when she had, for so long, been wrong.

"Let them in when I am done. This work is important." 

The little voice chirped out its affirmative, and several additional locks engaged. Had she the time, she would've patted herself on the back for thinking to install a sense of tact into the little machine. It helped soothe her nerves in stressful situations. It hardly helped at the moment though, what with the end of life as all knew it looming overhead.

Twilight continued the only task that stood between her and death. She scooped up the remains of the pendant in her magic, The branching paths on it shimmering with irridescence. She knew how important it was. 

She wrapped her hoof around the small core, holding it to her chest as she brought it over to a blue-lit console. The middle of the pedestal housed a small indent, one that was purposefully shaped like the core in her grasp. She paused for a moment to hold it close to her. Like all magic, the core could feed off emotion, so it was critical she feel the importance of what she was doing. This Spidery core was the future of all life on Equus, and she had to feel it.

She felt the hesitation rise within her. If she proceeded, she could never go back. Her future would be cast in an impenetrable mould, as would that of all living creatures. 

The ship keened out from its very bowels, rocking in cadence with the artificial turbulence of missiles impacting its magical shielding. Her time was short; she made her decision. With the utmost gentleness that could be spared in such a situation, she inserted the core into its intended resting spot. I’m sorry, she thought. A soft clink was heard, along with a dim flash of blue before the core was encased in a small plate of metal; Like the lid of a coffin.

With that final act done, she steadied herself against the console and spoke. "The core is active. please find your way to the closest stasis pod for ascendancy." Her words would be received by the whole facility via the auditory centers contained in their earpieces. They would do with them what they willed.

"Ma'am, they're still at the door," Silence held a deafening chokehold on the air around her before her AI continued. "Do you wish to let them in now?"

She held her breath, "...Yes." NO NO NO

She didn't turn around when the mechanical door whirred open behind her, she didn't turn around when the sound of hooves surrounded her, and she didn't turn around when she felt the cold touch of steel on the back of her head.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby relieved of your duty as Princess of Equestria - you'll be handing the reins over to your next-in-command." the barrel was given a slight shove against her head as motivation. "Do you Acknowledge the transfer of power?"

She felt a familiar rumble in her bosom and before long, she let out the quietest chuckle. "You do realize that's you? You've always been my number-one assistant." 

Spike didn't bother responding, instead giving her head another shove. "Answer the question, Twilight."

"The question is irrelevant, we're all dead anyways."

"Just answer the question! I don't want to pull this trigger, but don't think I won't!" Click; The safety was off.
 
The air was cold, but the look Twilight gave Spike was still colder. She did what she had to do, and she didn’t regret a thing. “I tried to save you… I tried to save all of you!” Her voice rose from a whisper to a roar, then fell silent again. You didn’t hear what it said! my life, my ponies... you won’t take it away never never never.

“Ma’am, the shield’s fai—” Twilight flicked her earpiece off with a twitch of her hooves, the motion/thought controlled device responding instantly, shutting out the AI’s voice. 

She straightened her posture and turned directly into the face of death, the barrel now pressed firmly between her eyes. She crossed her hooves tightly and breathed deeply. You can’t take my ponies awa— "But you didn't come for control of the ship. You wanted me to step down, and that's exactly what you'll get.” 

She cleared her throat, her eyes scanning the small assemblage around her. She recognized each and every one of them. The communications mare, Millie, the guard, Bronze Star, and her adoptive brother, the wayfinder, Spike. All of them held hatred and betrayal in their eyes. But what glared out of those eyes the most was fear. Fear for their own lives and the thousands of lives they were tasked to protect. 

“I hereby resign as ruling Princess of Equestria and give authority to govern this country and the ponies therein to my second-in-command.” 

A whisper. “What happened to the loving, caring, amazing sister that I used to know, Twilight? What happened to her?”

“She died, Spike. And she’s going to die again, along with all of you. But maybe, just maybe, the ponies that I saved will live to build again. To live again, to serve again, to love again.” She didn’t continue. There was nothing more to be said.

“Maybe.”

Now it was a race to see what killed her first: The gun pointed between her eyes or the tungsten barrage from the veritable armada outside. 

Her question was answered as the wall nearest her was ripped to pieces by an explosion, sending her sprawling out and engulfed in the encroaching tide, desperately clawing at all around her as the cruel might of element’s power tore the life from her body. 

The same fate met all the remaining members of the Ascendancy Crew and the burning wreck of the ship was sent spiraling downwards as the end of the world tore through it with cold resolve.





I’m sorry, said a voice in my head. I knew it wasn’t mine the moment I thought it; The voice was tired and soft and sad. My own thoughts felt coarse by comparison. What? I thought back. Wait, is mind reading a thing? Can a creature be telepathic? It might be possible if… 

wait, where am I? Oh, crap... WHO am I? 
> Chapter 1: Nice To Meet Me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Two



Chapter One - Nice to Meet Me


Darkness. 

The body was sending all the typical signals of being cold: Numb hooves and ears, icy tendrils creeping through the back of the skull, heavier than normal breathing. All of these things were trademark survival instincts, crafted and honed by ponies of generations past, who had to survive in the wild using only intellect, wit, and a bit of running. But they were of no use if they weren’t acted upon. 

One hundred billion neurons sputtered to life almost simultaneously, deploying several simple messages to the frontal lobe:


Dark, tight, and cold.

But nothing happened; the kickstart hadn’t worked. The brain wasn’t on yet - at least, not enough to make the decisions that needed to be made. So the sympathetic nervous system did it’s job, flooding the body with various hormones in an attempt to facilitate action. 

Another message flashed it’s way through the halls of the mind: Out.

My eyes snapped open to darkness: the bane of the claustrophobe. My hooves lanced out instinctively, desperately questing for a way - any way, out of my prison. I began to hyperventilate. Experience was failing me at the moment, but I did know several things: Darkness was bad, and so were tight spaces. My hooves clumsily tripped over one another, striking a few tender spots in my legs, but I kept searching. After a desperate few moments of scrambling about, I found a latch and pushed it open with all my might, not caring what happened as long as I was out.

Sweet, brilliant light blinded me as the pod door swung open. I shot my hooves outwards and flung myself out of the darkness and into the dim light of the outside. My face kissed the grated floor harshly, and a groan of pain escaped my throat. In a way, the pain was calming; Pain meant I was alive, and I could still feel. I closed my eyes and let myself bask in it like a lizard warming itself on a rock.  Slowly, it subsided, and I let myself roll onto my side. Before I could calm completely, however, a question posed itself to me.

Where am I?

My eyes flickered open once more, staring into the dull grey floor, composed of many interconnected grates. These were the only things keeping me from falling into the dark unknown beneath them. I hesitantly craned my kinked neck upwards and took in the metallic ceiling, which curved like the inside of a tube. There was a cantaloupe-sized hole torn in it that allowed sunlight in. The walls were lined with metal pods on both sides of me.

I need to get up, I thought. I positioned my legs underneath me with haste so I could orient myself.

Well, that was the plan anyhow. What really happened was me transporting my face from one part of the grating to another, glancing my horn off a pod, whilst also managing to smash my legs against everything within leg-smashing distance. I wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. My legs just seemed to… move differently than I expected. 

And my horn, I thought with a grimace. Ow.

Not eager to hurt my horn again, I decided to try a different approach. Alright, hind legs first, then roll a bit, now up on a foreleg. Now the other… c’mon, up, up, up! My forelegs finished what my hind legs had started, hoisting me onto four wobbly noodles. Each of them shook under the strain of keeping my stance stable, persisting in their quakiness for several seconds after my ascension from the metal grate, which now seemed farther away then it had any right to be. So caught up was I in my newly found stature, that I smacked my horn on something, sending another jolt of pain down my spine. 

Ow, that hurts! A foreleg traveled upwards to massage the aching appendage, but I only ended up socking myself in the forehead. The surprise combined with the use of only three legs for balance caused me to fall over once more. By the stars, I thought, feeling around my head frantically, where’s my horn?

Soon enough, the answer presented itself to my eyes. The base of the pod door reflected a pitiful sight back towards me. Messy purple and turquoise locks hung limply over my forehead, desperately trying and failing to stay in the orderly lanes in which they grew, splaying every which way in wiry tangles unhindered by a horn. In fact, There was no indication that there had ever been anything on my forehead. My eyes were crusted around the edges with who knows what, and my nose already harbored signs of bruising, it being discolored around my nostrils. 

Come to think of it, I didn’t remember having a snout that long either. Nor one that was so angular, almost akin to that of a stallion. I turned my head slightly to be sure it was my face; the look of fear and confusion coming from the mare’s face sure felt like mine, but to be extra sure I pressed a hoof against the metal. The corresponding hoof on the reflection moved to touch mine. It was my hoof; It was my face.

Then why didn’t I remember it?

I shoved the reflection away and turned my head. Predictably, that just brought my attention to all the other reflections of me lying down in the other pod doors. They all stared back, almost eerie in their unfamiliarity. I gulped nervously, regarding myself with apprehension. 

“Hello?” I croaked, prying my eyes from the pods. My voice felt unused, and sounded almost as unfamiliar as the rest of me. A silly part of me thought the reflections might answer, but there was only deafening silence. “Hello!” I shouted, a little louder this time. A strange, dissonant echo came back, like my voice had shaken the metal around me. Either nopony could hear me or they didn’t care. I felt myself begin to panic a bit, feeling utterly alone. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. It looked like I was going to have to look after myself for now, and crying wasn’t going to help one bit. 

I repeated the process of getting to my hooves, a little shakier than before. There wasn’t much to use for support, so I let myself lean against a pod. I carefully lifted a hoof and slid it forward, then another, and another. Carefully, I shifted my weight away from the first pod, stumbling forward onto the second. 

As I moved forward and my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw that the end of the hall was blocked by a heavy-looking steel door. If I had a horn, opening it would have been easier done than said. As it was, I had to use my teeth to turn a metal handle; I certainly couldn’t spare a hoof to do it. I pulled with my neck and the door slid to the side. Keeping my grip on the handle for a minute, I repositioned my hooves to make sure they would all stay under me.

The next hallway was perpendicular to the last, with walls of plated metal disappearing into darkness in both directions. I need a light, I thought. My not-horn started tingling in a not-quite-painful way. A horn would have made things so much easier, assuming I actually knew how to cast a light spell; Given how hard I found it to walk, and that I thought - or felt - that I had a horn even though I didn’t, I decided I’d better not take light spells for granted, either. I needed to do things earth-pony style.

There was a switch on the wall next to the door, half-hidden by darkness. I tried flipping it with my nose, but nothing happened. Just to be sure, I flipped it a couple more times. No dice; I’d have to improvise.

I turned around and looked for anything in the pod room I might be able to use. The pods themselves had cables running into their sides from the walls. Whatever they were originally meant to do, I wasn’t going to be using that awful pod again, and I needed something to work with. 

The cables sparked as they came loose. Power! I thought. Everything about the structure had seemed derelict; no lights, a hole in the ceiling...  But if there was a working source of power, and if I could find it, I might at least be able to turn on some lights. I tugged on the cable again, and a panel fell off the wall, revealing that the wire ran upwards into the ceiling.

Drat. There was no following the wire that way, but maybe I could still get some use out of it. I used my teeth to pry another panel off the wall and started digging through the circuitry with a hoof.

If the wiring was advanced as it looked, there ought to be some sort of capacitor somewhere… something that could hold a charge. Ah! Perfect: a crystal. I wrapped my hoof around it and yanked it out. It sparked angrily and a few stray wires came with it. That would work nicely.

Now, all I need is something to power… there! A strip of foggy glass was embedded in the ceiling; there would be lightbulbs behind that. I used levitation to… Right, I was an earth pony. The lighting fixture was too high for me to reach with my mouth, and I didn’t like the idea of trying to balance on two hooves, so I looked for something I could use.

The only thing of note lying around was the panels I had removed from the wall: long rectangles of some reinforced insulating material. I decided that would have to do. Grabbing one end in my teeth, I turned the other end upwards and leaped, bashing the glass and revealing a row of gemlike light-bulbs. The shock of the impact made me fall again, but luckily I wasn’t hurt. I quickly got up again and used the panel to nudge and turn the light bulb. It was awkward, but it worked.

The bulb wobbled, and I wobbled to grab it before it shattered. Once again, I fell down, but the bulb landed safely in the tangle of my legs. Slowly, I extracted my limbs from the tangle and gingerly picked up the bulb. It was cone-shaped, tapering into the spiral that I had just unscrewed from the ceiling.

I sat down with the items I had acquired in front of me: a gem, some wires, and a lightbulb. Setting the lightbulb on top of the gem, I used some wires to tie the two together. Then, I carefully inserted two other wires into the bulb socket. The bulb lit dimly, but not quite enough to light my way; I needed more power. Bracing my forehooves against the wall and holding my improvised flashlight in my teeth, I touched it to the end of the cable still hanging from the ceiling. Sparks flew, and my light started glowing brighter.

Despite myself, I had to take a moment to admire my work. It looked shabby, but I had managed to make my own little 'light spell' from spare parts. I cantered back to the dark hallway.
> Chapter 2: Not Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My improvised lantern shone brightly, but even with it I felt apprehensive about entering the darkness. What if I ran out of power? would I be able to find another live wire in the dark without hurting myself? I shook my head, tossing the hair away from my eyes and stepping forward. There was no other place to go.

My light revealed the corridor, roots springing from holes in the ceiling and walls. The walls themselves were warped and cracked, making the corridor feel eerily off-kilter. Maybe the floor was also a bit unlevel, or maybe I was still unsteady on my hooves. 

The halls were labyrinthine, many of them caved in and filled with more dirt and roots. I simply avoided those areas: there were plenty of other paths to choose from. Sometimes I found myself in wider rooms with chairs and tables. The tables were all attached to the floor, and the chairs attached to the tables. anything not similarly attached looked like it hade been caught in a tornado. A rack of what I could only assume were test tubes had been thrown against the wall, the frame mangled and the tubes shattered. In another room there appeared to be some sort of machine shop with the remnants of welding torches and fine-toothed power saws. I dug through the scraps for a minute, but decided I'd better move on before my light ran out.

At the edge of my hearing was a steady, rhythmic beating. I wasn't sure when it had started, but I could hear it clearly now.

Thump, thump, thump, thump...

It came from above, passing over me and fading a little as it got farther. Could it be another pony? It sounded a little loud for that, but maybe they were on the heavy side. I hurried to follow as best as I could, stumbling a little as I trotted to catch up with the noise. Passing through an open door, I found myself in a stairwell. The thumping stopped. I looked up the stairs: the next landing up had a sliding door, but it seemed to be sealed shut.

A panel next to the door lit up and made a chirping sound. I pressed the glowing button and a speaker came to life.

"Please don't open that door," said a bland, mechanical voice. I blinked a few times.

"Hello?" I asked. "Who is this?" The door shuddered as something on the other side hit it.

"I'm here to help, and right now, that door is the only thing between you and a painful death." In contrast to the evocative words, the voice was still in a perfect monotone. I looked at the door. It was creaking and swelling under some new strain.

"What is-"

A metallic hoof burst through the door, letting a crimson light through and almost hitting me square in the muzzle. Instinctively, I decided it was time to leave, and found myself rolling down the stairs. I scrambled to my feet a the bottom of the flight and started running. I heard sounds of tearing metal behind me: Whatever it was had started opening up the stairwell door like a tin can, and I didn't want to be the beans inside.

Several more panels with speakers lit up as I ran past, but I Ignored them: now was not the time for a chat. I ran until I found a room that seemed out of the way and paused to catch my breath. Another panel chirped, this one above a kitchen counter. After a few seconds of letting it beep, I decided I'd better push the button. The same monotone voice greeted me.

"Good instincts. You will need some distance between you if you want to survive, but the sentry will eventually be able to track you here."

"What is it?" I could hear my own fear in the question.

"It's a construct. It's trying to kill you."

"no kidding. What do I do about it?" A brief pause.

"You'll need to keep moving. I'll direct you to a functional earpiece so we can maintain contact." There was a series of beeps that seemed to indicate a computer was busy. "Use the other doorway. Left, right, left, left. No stairs."

I ran to the doorway opposite the one I entered and veered left into a corridor. As I turned right, I saw a red light illuminate the corridor behind me. I scrambled to get out of sight, stumbling but quickly catching myself. Now was not the time to be clumsy.

The directions led me through what seemed to be a command center, My hoof bumped against something hollow. I looked down and screamed involuntarily.

A pony skull.

I put a hoof in my own mouth, willing myself to keep quiet and stay upright on my wobbly legs. Looking around, there were several skeletons scattered around the room, some strapped into chairs, others looking like they'd been tossed against the walls. Most were ponies, but there was also what looked like a dragon and griffon among them. I decided to keep moving, taking a door in the back.

The room dead-ended in a pile of skeletons of various species, half-buried in a mass of dirt and roots. a blue light within the pile flickered on and chirped. Bracing myself, I shoved aside a large dragon skeleton to reveal the remains of an earpiece on The side of a unicorn skull.

correction: Alicorn. The horn was longer than a unicorn's, and I could just barely see wing bones popping up from beneath the dirt. I grabbed the earpeice and put it on.

"Hello?"

"Good. Now keep moving. It's almost to you." The mild tone of voice belied the dire news. I suppressed a shudder as I ran back through the command center, taking a new way out. The voice called out new directions as I reached intersections, and I ran as fast as my legs would allow. 

"...left, right, right, left, stop." I skidded to a stop in a room not unlike the one I'd woken up in, lined with pods. 

"Here? why?" I really hoped she wasn't going to ask me to get in one of these.

"There's life signs in a pod to your left. if we leave them, the sentry will find them." I turned to look. one of the pods had a red light blinking near the top.

"Is there time?"

"If we hurry, yes."

I hesitated. I really didn't like those pods, but if there was a life to save, I had little choice. I hooked a hoof on the latch and pulled it open, and a vaguely equine figure fell onto me. coat rubbed against Chitin.

"Er... wha?-" The changeling said, His compound eyes blinking to adjust to my light.

"We don't have a lot of time. can you walk?"

"err, Yeah, of course-" He pushed himself off her, only to land on his face.

"Nevermind." I ducked under him, getting him distributed across my back for easy carry. "where to now?" The changeling shifted his weight.

"Why are you asking-"

"not you. Earpeice." I held a hoof to my ear as the voice began to speak.

"Back into the corridor."

I continued following the voice's directions, a lot slower now that I had a passenger. I could hear the thumping footsteps getting closer, but my legs could only do so much.

"Whoever you are, please tell me you have a plan," I said into the earpiece.

"we're nearly there."

I turned a corner and was blinded by sunlight pouring from a hatch in the ceiling onto a narrow spiral staircase.

"Up the stairs," said the earpeice. I could see a red light behind us.

Climbing the stairs was confoundedly awkward with a changeling across my back. He tried his best to help, but his movements mostly just made his position more precarious. I had a good view as the thing that had been pursuing us stepped into the room.

It's eyes were what bathed the room in red, shining from inside a metal pony-shaped shell with a jagged horn. Rust covered it from head to hoof, and on it's back, the rust seemed to form two skeletal wings. It's mouth opened and revealed rusty fangs, but no sound came out. Instead, The horn on it's head started glowing the same color as it's eyes.

I yelped and ducked as a beam of crimson light shot over my head, The changeling fell onto the stairs behind me. I shouted.

"Run!"

We both scrambled up the stairs, The changeling moving suprisingly fast. Another Beam flashed by, and we struggled to keep going as the whole spiral shuddered. Another beam.

I pulled myself out of the hatch and turned to help the changeling. He took my hoof just as the stairs beneath him collapsed, his full weight now in my grasp. I couldn't pull him up.

"Fly!" I said to the changeling, seeing the sentry in the corner of my eye. The changeling looked at me like I was insane, and the sentry fired.

Adrenaline surged through me and I pulled with all my might. This was not how this was going to end. The changeling was thrown clear over me, and the hatch closed as a beam cut through where he'd been a millisecond before.