Ascension

BOOM!!

In a bright flash of light and a sound like an adult dragon's belch, Cerulean's head was blown off her shoulders. She couldn't come back from that, even with her regeneration suit. Before we could see her body hit the ground we heard a blood curdling scream, as Amaranth, in a fit of pure rage, destroyed every single cyborg in the room, and left to go find more.

"SHIT!!" Was all I could say at this.

I started pacing, trying to figure out what to do. Until I felt a rumble through the floor.

What now...? I thought, feeling defeated.

"Grrrrrrr!" Exclaimed Otis, "Doc, I know this sucks and that we lost two of our people but we still need to complete the mission."

"I agree with Otis," said Ember, "although I think that you should make the time machine here and now, based on what just killed Amaranth."

"What!? What just killed Amaranth!?" I yelled, my voice cracking.

"Lets just say that you don't want to know, and that you should start now to avoid the same fate."

"Alright," I said, sucking up my feelings, "I will take it to the workbench in the back room, you two guard me."

They knew what they should do before I even gave the order. I walked through the vault that held the I.T.P and a bunch of other artifacts that I would normally be awed by. However, due to the recent changes in my social circle, the part of my brain that produced feelings shut down in order to prevent a wave of depression from sweeping over me.

I found the I.T.P and walked to the back, through a doorway to the tool room. I found it strange that everything that I needed was right here, but I didn't let my curiosity get the better of me, I went to work. Behind me I heard a creaking sound, I brushed it off thinking that it was just Otis watching me. I heard the lock on the door behind me engage and I heard Ember put a magical enchant on it. It was then that I realized what I had just done. I had sentenced my team to death because of my stupidity.

"NONONONO!! LET ME OUT!! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, while simultaneously banging on the door. I was hoping that these attempts would make them see reason.

"No doc," I was wrong, "and if you complete the time machine and do whatever it is that we were supposed to do, this whole thing won't happen anyways, and we will still be alive when you come back. Right?"

The theory seemed sound, but it was only a theory, "But what if I come back and you are all dead anyways?"

"Then it was meant to be that wa- oh shit!" said Otis.

"What? What's happening in there?" I said over the sound of struggling behind the door.

"Doc!" Otis grunted. "Shut up and fix up that portal doo-hikie so we can live to see tomorrow!"

"O-okay..." I said.

Okay so only a few more steps, hmmm... put this here and that there, and put in a splash of this and rewire that to that aaaaaaaannnnnnnnnddddddddd done! I thought to myself.

"Okay guys I'm done! Now I just need to-" I was interrupted by two screams, the sound of cracking bone and tearing flesh.

I promptly laid my already eaten lunch on the ground for all to see.

THOSE BASTARDS!! I WILL KILL THEM!! I thought.

After a considerable amount of banging from both sides of the door, I realized that it would not budge, no matter how long the attacker and I hit it. I decided that there was no going back at this point and I regretfully took my teammates' advice.

I opened the portal and I thought, How do I even get through here without being destroyed atom by atom?

Just let time flow through you.

I turned around to seek the origin of the voice I had just heard, but no one was there. I felt my heart race to my throat, and the butterflies in my stomach turned into bucking pegasi. Little did I know that I was subconsciously backing into the portal. I felt my stomach join my heart at the top of my throat, had I not emptied it earlier, I certainly would have now. I was free falling, and once my fear from earlier subsided, I felt myself fall, not fast like normal, but like a feather.

Huh thats weird, I thought, I thought that time would be represented as a tunnel with the images of your life on the walls, not this.

It didn't really matter to me, it was beautiful all in the same, and it made me forget, about...about what? Something... something sad, depressing... something that filled me with hatred towards... someone... hmm, normally I would be frustrated about something like this, not remembering something important, but the calming effect of the space-time continuum was far greater than any worry that I previously had.

I must have floated there for a long time because I forgot everything, who I was what I was doing here. It was so peaceful, except for the same word that kept bouncing around in my head, Echo.

Hmm... that is probably my name seeing that that is what has stayed with me during this journey to-

My thoughts were interrupted by screaming, something that I haven't heard in a long time. It brought me flashes, very painful flashes. Gruesome and gory images that brought unwelcome feelings to me. These images seemed slightly familiar, but I ignored that to see where the screaming was coming from. I turned my head and saw on the... was it a wall? It doesn't matter, I saw a moving picture of a crowd looking at the sky to see something blue come careening at them.

What are they doing? They are going to get killed! This thought brought another series of painful flashes.

I flew into the picture, intent on saving the crowd from the falling object. Once I had entered I felt time slow.

Probably time lag from the time I spent in the space-time continuum. I thought. How the hell did I know that?

I flew next to the falling object only to realize that it was a blue pegasus, this brought yet another set of images that racked my body in pain. Once again ignoring the pain, I grabbed the injured mare and flew down gently to the ground. Once she was safe, time slowly reverted back to normal, and I got to watch the crowd's confused looks towards the sky, as the spectacle was removed, I couldn't help but laugh. Just then the crowd looked at me in even more confusion, which caused me to double over, unable to surpress my feelings of pure joy.

Once I had recovered from my fit of laughter, I stood up and removed my helmet.

How the hell did I just remove my helmet? And how do I know that it is a helmet? Grrr! So many questions!

One of the ponies, a lavender unicorn, stepped up.

"Uhh, hello," She said, and I had to hold back a fit of laughter at her uncertainty, "thanks for saving my friend, but we need to get her to the hospital right now!"

"Ok." I replied and I picked up the unconscious mare and took her to the hospital.

Ok this is weird, how do I know where the hospital is? Why do I keep having these images pop into my head and why-

My thoughts were interrupted by the mare in my arms stirring.

"A-are you an angel?" She asked in a daze.

"Hehe nope, your still alive, you just had a little accident is all. I flew in just in time to save you." I replied.

"Save? Me? I'm the best flier in all of Equestria I don't need saving!" She said as she struggled to get free of my grasp, only to get dizzy and stop.

"Wow you sure are a stubborn mare aren't you?" I said.

And a very pretty one at that. I continued in my head as we reached the hospital.