Ascension To Beyond

Twilight tripped, her hoof catching on a small root. She landed on the ground just as a light passed over where she had been standing a second earlier.

“Are you sure they went over here?”

“Of course I’m sure, I watched them.”

“So why didn’t you shoot them?”

“Orders are that they’re taken alive. They couldn’t get Twilight to tell us what happened before they broke out  and the rest are too valuable to risk injuring.”

“Twilight, what are they talking about?” Applejack asked, crouched as she snuck up to Twilight. She helped her to her hooves, giving the other girls time to catch up.

“We don’t have time for it right now, we need to get out of this magic cancellation bubble.” She replied, already looking ahead for their next path. They could risk running through the buildings, which would take them out of the camp quickly but could also end up with them running into a dead end and getting caught, or stay along the outside of the camp and hope to find a gate.

“Make time. We’re in the middle of the Zebrican desert, after being kidnapped in the middle of the night.”

“Look, I’ll tell you everything once we get back to Canterlot. I promise.” Twilight said, moving ahead through the sparse brush.

“Pinkie Promise.”

“What?” Twilight asked, turning to look at Pinkie.

“I said, make a Pinkie Promise. You’ve spent a lot of years hiding stuff from us, and it’s put you into danger countless times. Heck, it’s starting to put us into danger.” She said, her mane going straight as it did whenever she was serious about something.

“Pinkie, we need to move n-”

“Make the Pinkie Promise. I’m not taking another step until you do.”

Twilight sighed, before going through the motions. “Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Okie dokie, let’s get out of here.” She said, her hair poofing back up with her mood.

“Someone check the perimeter. They might be heading for the gate.”

“We need to move now girls. Where’s Dash?” Twilight said, opting to head through the buildings.

“Right here. The camp is surrounded everywhere by rune lines, and there’re only two ways in and out unless you want to try the front gate.” Rainbow said, landing silently ahead of them. “They’re swarming towards the front and western gates as well as starting to circle the lines. We have maybe a five minute window.”

“How far to the third gate?” Twilight asked, walking down the alley between the buildings. This town looked like it used to be quite lively before these ponies came in and took over.

“We can get there in two minutes. The problem being that we’d have to avoid the patrols of the ponies throughout the town. Me and Flutters can do it quickly, since they don’t have any pegasi here, but the rest of you would be stuck going through the maze of buildings because we can’t carry you all.” Rainbow said, following after her.

“And if we could?” Twilight asked.

“This would be a cakewalk. We could just go right over their heads. There doesn’t seem to be a ceiling to this area, just walls around the perimeter.”

“Uhm.” Fluttershy started.

“Unfortunately, you can’t just grow wings.” Rainbow said, sighing as that plan went out the window.

“Actually, we can.” Fluttershy said.

A dead silence was her only response, accompanied by deadpan stares.

“What I mean is, Twilight asked me to help her study pegasus anatomy and magic in the hopes that someday we could fix any pegasi that lost their wings in an accident or just didn’t naturally develop their magic. After figuring it out, we started testing to see if we could have the spells work on ponies other than pegasi.”

“So why is it that none of the rest of us have heard about this?” Rainbow asked, glaring at Twilight.

“The project was scrapped. It was too dangerous a spell, since it infused the target not only with the magic to grow wings but with natural pegasus magic in order to facilitate the use of said wings. Almost all of the tests showed a corrupted mixing of their natural magic and the foreign pegasus magic. There was a ninety-eight percent mortality rate.” Twilight said, plans running through her head. If they moved now, they could get to the gate and out where she could teleport them away.

“Ninety-eight? So somepony survived it. Who?” Rainbow said, her voice changing from rage to surprise.

“Uhm...Twilight.” Fluttershy mumbled into her mane, hiding behind it from Rainbow.

“Who?” Rainbow asked again, moving closer to Fluttershy.

“Twilight.” Fluttershy mumbled even quieter.

“Speak up Shy.” Rarity said, stepping closer to hear as well.

“It was me, okay. I’m the only one that survived the tests.” Twilight said, exasperation evident in her voice. A faint glow of purple came from her back, as she dropped the illusion spell she had been holding. Two large wings extended outwards, stretching across the entire alley.

“Whoa.”

“Yes, very pretty. Now, can we get on with escaping from this place?”

“Twi, why would you go and do something like that to yerself?” Applejack asked, her hand reaching out and touching the feathers to test their realness. The wing twitched away in response, folding against Twilight’s back.

“If I wasn’t willing to do the test to myself, how could I ever release the project for the public to use.”

“But you could have died.”

“But I didn’t. Now is not the best time to argue over my method of scientific discovery. We’re still in the middle of trying to escape. You can lecture me on how dangerous it is to test spells on myself when we get out of here.” Twilight said, walking over and wrapping her hands around Rarity.

Rainbow and Fluttershy grabbed a hold of Pinkie and Applejack, and all three took to the sky. From up here, they could see the ponies moving around below like ants.

“Bank right, the gate is just to the east.” Rainbow said, cutting across their field of vision and directing the group eastward. All the ponies below were moving towards the western area, since they had escaped from that side of town. They would have been caught running around on the ground, by sheer numbers.

“Why are there so many of them?”

“And what did they want?”

“My secrets. One’s a fifty year old secret that could destroy everything we’ve worked to build, and the other is a thirty year old one that would change everything.” Twilight said.

“Does it have anything to do with the reason you and Fluttershy don’t seem to age?” Pinkie asked.

“That is a part of it. I believe it is time that I reveal the entirety of Project Alicorn to the rest of you girls.”

“Project Alicorn? Sounds like you’re trying to become immortal.” Applejack said, as they started floating downwards to land.

“Not trying. We succeeded. Twice.” Twilight said, setting Rarity on the ground then landing beside her. “Both Fluttershy and myself are now immortal. We were working on a way to give this gift to the rest of you girls as well.”

“Fluttershy, why didn’t you tell me? We’ve shared everything for decades, and this is what you keep from me?” Rarity turned, a look of anger and sadness on her face.

“Twilight made me Pinkie Promise not to tell any of you girls. When she bound the Element of Kindness to my soul, it nearly broke me. I wasn’t used to having so much power, and she was afraid for the rest of you. She’s been spending the last thirty years trying to figure out a way to guarantee you would survive.”

“Whoa, wait. Bound the Elements? What exactly did you do Twilight?” Applejack asked, glaring at the pegacorn.

“Like I said, I’ll tell you everything when we get back to Canterlot.” Twilight said, stepping up to the gate. She wrapped her hands in the glow of her magic, and pushed upon the weak point in the spell. After a few seconds of struggling, a quiet pop sounded as she moved straight through. “There we go, now let’s get out of here.” The rest of the girls quickly followed her out, forming a circle as she started charging the teleportation spell.

“They just went through the East gate. Get over there and get them.”

“Twilight, they’re coming.” Fluttershy said, looking behind them. Several dozen of the ponies had stormed out of nowhere, running towards them.

“I know. Give me a second.” Twilight said, as a circle of purple light surrounded them. A loud pop was heard, as they disappeared to wherever Twilight was taking them.

“DAMMIT!” The ponies shouted, slowing down as they came up to the spot that had been filled seconds earlier. They all grumbled and milled about, only a mild silence around the area before a burst of blue magic blinded many of them.

“Congratulations everypony. Mission accomplished.” Luna said, dropping the illusion spell around the area. It returned to the small mining town it was. “Everyone get some sleep, we have to return tomorrow on the dawn.”

The ponies all saluted, their own illusion spells dropping to reveal the Magister Forces.

“Let us hope this does not end up for naught.” Luna said, turning to face towards Canterlot.

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The girls landed in Twilight’s room below the Magisters Tower, everyone but Twilight falling to the ground.

“Twi, just how far did you take us?” Rarity asked, climbing to her hooves. She had teleported before, but had never been this dizzy.

“Three hundred miles, and into my office below Magister’s Tower.”

“Snazzy. Why haven’t you ever invited us down here?” Rainbow asked, looking around at the decorations.Various inventions decorated the bookshelves and tables.

“We’ll agree to disagree on the decorations, but three hundred miles? The longest range recorded before was twenty.” Rarity said, amazed.

“Yeah, part of the binding. The elements hold nearly an infinite amount of magic, and binding them let’s us control however much we need.” Twilight said, walking over to a blank wall. Purple patterns lit up as she approached, the bricks folding back to show a hall leading off into darkness.

“This brings back memories.” Fluttershy said, smiling as she walked past them down the hall.

“Yeah, memories.” Twilight said, walking after her. The other girls shared a look of concern before following them.

“Did you figure out how to resolve the problems you had with me?” Fluttershy asked, looking back over her shoulder towards Twilight.

“Most of them. The only thing we have to worry about is whether or not the pony wants to bind themselves to the Element.” Twilight replied, the light growing brighter as they walked down.

“Just what are you implyin’ Twi?” Applejack asked.

“How willing are you to join with your elements? Yes, you will outlive everypony you have ever known and ever will again. But we will watch over Equestria, making sure everything ends up alright.” Twilight asked, as the tunnel suddenly opened into a room that could only be described as massive. Machinery covered every wall, and in the center of the room was a giant cylinder filled with green goo. Wiring covered the entirety of the ceiling, running up the walls from the machines and focusing on the vat of goo in the middle.

“Whoa.”

“Reminds me of the stories of Flankenstein’s laboratory.”

“Did everything have to be grey?”

“Ok girls. The choice is now or never.” Twilight said, as she walked over to a panel on the large cylinder. She pressed a few buttons, and four lightly padded steel tables descended from the ceiling.

“Are you willing to become immortal, to guarantee the future of Equestria and her children?” Twilight asked, turning around to them. Fluttershy walked over to stand beside Twilight.

“Please, join us girls. We can work to make sure there isn’t anymore pain ever again.” She said, smiling.

A look passed between the remaining four, indecisive and contemplative.

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Hermes Drone #11357

Sending high density info-burst

Priority Channel: Omega 0 0

Third Report

Count: 50 years

Deception.

Lies.

Conversion.

Recalculating Odds: 20%

Re-Initializing Hibernation Protocols.

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Oh Twilight, I warned you. Now, let's see just how far you must fall in order to see your wrongdoing.