Foreword: Best left Buried
A young earth pony stallion stood at the base of the cave, his entire body covered in a black fabric designed to keep his body heat stable in even the coldest of weathers. Combined with his thick, black balaclava and red tinted anti-flash polarized goggles, everything about him would have screamed spec-ops to anypony who didn't know him. In truth, the whole outfit covering every inch of himself was simply to make sure he could survive the perpetually sub-zero temperatures of the dig site.
After all, Digging Deeper was not military, much less spec-ops. He despised the military- any military, really- and everything they stood for. War, chaos, and death were courted, while scientific aptitude and technological prowess were thrown down the drain. One could imagine, then, his shock and disgust when the Project's supervisor, Dr. Kassar, told the team that a representative from the Equestrian Naval Service's Department of Science and Technology was coming to retrieve this artifact they had worked so tirelessly to dig up. Their artifact. This thing was supposed to be helping! It was... How did the doctor put it? he asked himself. A warm light for all to share, his brain reminded him. What was the Navy going to do with that?
He knew, of course, exactly what they were going to do. They were going to use it to make a new Drive, which they used to power their ships, airships, and helicopters. Trivial stuff, unworthy of the artifact's true potential.
He dispelled those thoughts as best he could when he caught sight of a large chariot incoming towards the glacier, pulled by two Noctus Guards in their distinctive midnight blue armors. If anypony had been around, and if his mouth hadn't been covered, they would have seen his mouth hanging slightly ajar at the sight before he quickly slammed it closed and shook his head, chastising himself mentally. He half expected her to come by way of helicopter or Harmony-powered tilt-rotor (it was important, he believed, to follow the technological advancements of the military in hopes of adapting that technology to civilian life, despite his hatred for its origin), but of course she wouldn't have. Negative fifty degrees centigrade was far too cold to be running a Harmony II. An Embrace IV could have handled it, he supposed, but they were far too unreliable for transporting what might very well be something so precious as this chariot's quarry.
He started walking towards the now grounded chariot just as the mare he was supposed to be meeting stepped out. Admittedly, she could have chosen better attire for the occasion. Her white coverall was far too thin, evidenced by the distinctive shiver as she walked. She wore a balaclava over her face, like him, but had no goggles on, exposing her eyes to the cold. Plus, without the polarization, it was likely that the glare from the setting sun on the ice and snow had rendered her near blind. So much for military preparedness, he thought to himself. He knew he'd need to be more polite in conversation, but in his head, he could be as rude as he damn well wanted to be. It really was a shame these military types thought they were entitled to so much- it would have been fun to put her in her place out loud.
Alas, he reached the chariot, slowly dragging his boots through the snow. This was not a meeting he was looking forward to. "Are you Captain Lorem Ipsum?" Dr. Kassar had told him to be polite. Digging would have liked to think that his mentor would have been proud. In between shivers, the captain managed to nod her head. It was quite obvious that any longer than necessary and she would freeze to death. Regardless of her purpose here, regardless of his predisposition, the archeologist wasn't about to let her die. He stepped forward one last time, now standing next to the mare. He took her closest foreleg in his own hoof and wrapped it tightly around his own neck. He took her saddlebags in his mouth and spoke to the guards through the straps. "Come on, everypony. Let's get inside." He felt the shaking more than he heard it, but the stallion's brain was able to fill in the noise once he realized what it was. It wasn't more shivering. The poor mare was probably extremely hungry. "You guys like fish?" he questioned as he began walking back towards the cave.
The four ponies now sat around a small fire in a branch of the cave system that had been designated off as a hybrid living quarters/mess hall. Though the room was strangely empty, it was warm, both from the fire and the insulation enchantments that had been laid on the ice around them- something that Lorem was more than grateful for. In front of her sat a small metal dish which she was hesitant to name "plate". The circular piece of rusted iron didn't seem like it was supposed to be eaten off of. Across from here, the earth pony she'd met earlier held a frying pan in his mouth, masterfully cooking the fish placed atop it- swai, if she wasn't mistaken- to a perfect golden brown before sliding off of the pan and onto her dish. At least, he'd said that it was perfect, and having never tried any fish before, she had to take the archaeologist's word for it. It had been decided that she should be allowed to eat first, as she'd gotten rid of her lunch not four hours ago when a particularly brutal wind rocked her chariot en route.
Using her now stabilized magic, she reached into her saddlebags and grabbed a small fork. It wasn't that the team didn't have forks of their own, but if they were anything like the plate, they likely couldn't be trusted. She cautiously prodded the "food" before her before looking up at Digging Deeper (she'd only learned his name after she'd mistaken him for Dr. Kassar), still poised over the fire, now cooking up another slice of fish.
"At least try it, would you?" He was trying very hard to be polite, but the captain wasn't helping matters. He'd just saved her life, for the goddess' sake! The least- literally, the least- she could do was try his cooking.
The reaction to the question went much better than he'd expected, as Lorem shrugged slightly before taking a small bite with her fork and putting it in her mouth. The reaction to his cooking went much worse, however, as almost immediately afterwards spat out the barely chewed material straight into the fire. Adding insult to injury, she stuck her tongue out and, looking cross-eyed at it, started scraping it off with her fork. When she was done, the crimson-maned mare looked up to see the chef staring at her. And he was not happy. Still, nopony could really blame her- that stuff was disgusting! "Ponies actually eat that?" she blurted out without bothering to think about her words.
She shot a hoof to her mouth, as though that would somehow take those words back, but they obviously failed to do so. She glanced back up rather sheepishly, only to see her host with a half smile on his face. "It's a pegasus thing, really. Their semi-avian nature causes them to get some pretty strange cravings sometimes; fish are just one of them."
"But you're not a pegasus."
The captain had a point- Digging Deeper was not a pegasus. She was smarter than she looked. Which, considering the ENS patch and silver eagle embroidered on her jacket, wasn't saying much. "I guess it's just an acquired taste, then." He let out a small chuckle before walking to the other side of the room. He opened a small ice box and pulled out some apples and several bags of preserved flowers. He took them back and set them in front of the captain. "Give it to one of them, then," he said, pointing at each of the guards with a hoof. "But you still need to eat something."
The stallion finished cooking and the four ate their meals in relative silence, the only sounds being the constant chewing and the occasional much stranger noise. Every minute and a half or so, a low, muffled boom would shake the cavern. It reminded the captain of the Harmony-class destroyer she'd commanded not to long ago before her transfer. As such, it naturally frightened her (those guns aren't something she ever wanted to spend time around, and she hated being reminded of them). When she had finished the last of her apples, she couldn't take it anymore.
"What is that noise?" It wasn't quite a shout, but it was certainly loud enough to get her point across.
"First things first." Deeper stood up and walked around the fire. In his mouth, he took his guest's plate and walked them over to a makeshift washing pot and placed them in. He turned, came back, and repeated the process for the guard's plates. At least they had liked his cooking- they were just as spotless as they were before the meal. When everypony's plates were taken care of, if not cleaned, he said sternly, "Follow me, Captain."
The four walked slowly through the twisting and turning passages of the interior of the glacier. Like clockwork, the pulses continued, unnerving the sailor more and more with each step. The archeologist, however, only seemed to walk with more determination. It was a surprisingly long walk before the magical barrier cutting the artifact off from the rest of the impromptu compound came into sight.
"The file Dr. Kassar sent back to the university didn't contain too much information. Care to elaborate on anything?"
The break in the silence was unwelcome, especially from the mare who had come to steal Deeper's entire future career. Well, he couldn't prove that, but he had a feeling. This artifact was supposed to mean good things for him, not... whatever the Navy wanted with it. "That's because we had barely any information on the Core at the time." The tone was less than polite, but it couldn't be helped. Inside the confines of his subconscious, the stallion's mentor nagged him. It was taken out of our hooves, and we're not really in a position to be arguing with the military over this. It didn't matter anymore, though. He was done being polite.
"The Core?"
The earth pony had almost forgotten that this mare would have had no idea what he was talking about. "The Ascendant Core. That's what Dr. Kassar called it."
"And where is Dr. Kassar, anyways?"
The four ponies reached the barrier when the guide stopped in his tracks. He pointed a hoof off to his left, into a side chamber down a ways from the magical door. Lorem followed his hoof to be met with a rather startling sight.
Laying in the chamber were eleven very distinctive lumps, covered by a large, black tarp secured with what looked to be duct tape. A project team of eight, four guards... And only one survivor. "What happened?" The voice was sympathetic, almost. It showed a genuine mourning for the dead. The two Noctus walked into the chamber and started checking the bodies over, though she could no longer see them.
"He tried to touch it," the other deadpanned. "Don't make the same mistake."
Suddenly, there was a shadowy figure standing next to the pair. "Ma'am, we'd like to attend to our fallen. You may proceed without us." Lorem nodded in response, and the Noctus walked off.
The remaining stallion turned around and placed his hoof on the magical wall. The barrier dispelled, allowing the two ponies access to the central cavern.
It was an almost perfectly semi-spherical room, only a few tiny stalactites made of sparkling ice penetrating the otherwise flawlessly smooth surface. And there, in the center of that room, was the artifact. Though, looking at it now, Lorem supposed "artifact" wasn't really a proper word for it. Artifact would imply it was pony-made, and this thing was far too flawlessly crafted for that to have been true. In and of itself, it was a simple, metallic grey, but that certainly wasn't what made it beautiful. Circling the sphere would be the occasional streak of bent light, colored in all the forms of the rainbow, switching so fast it seemed as though it occupied the whole spectrum at once. Then, just as quickly, it would be gone a few seconds later, replaces by beams of pure shadow and bright green- dark magic, she realized. While the colors arced around it, just barely not touching, the black shadowy streaks more resembled lightning bolts, flying around the air and devouring any light it encountered, only to be gone just as fast as any natural lightning.
In the end, though, there were really no words to describe it. Beautiful and flawless never even came close. In the end, the Ascendant Core simply was.
"What can you tell me about it?" the captain finally spoke up.
The stallion never took his eyes off of it. "Well, you felt the pulses. That's how we detected it in the first place. Field tests of the ambient magics in this room conclude that it's been giving them off for about three hundred thousand years." Even without turning around, Deeper could see his guest's jaw drop. "Analysis of what little material we could get from it without frying ourselves dates it at approximately the same age. The magical radiation is harmless, as far as we can tell, and it doesn't like to be touched." He paused for a moment, considering. "And know you know everything we did."
As the captain walked around the room, inspecting the Core, the stallion found himself with probable cause for questioning his mental sanity. He heard something, a voice in his head. A voice he didn't recognize. Suddenly, he found he couldn't take his eyes off the artifact before him. She wants to take us away... The strange voice echoed in his head. She wants to take us from you...
In that moment, any question he had vanished out of his mind, replaced by resolve. The Core didn't want to leave here, obviously. So it was decided. He wouldn't let it.
Slowly, he reached back onto his belt and felt what he was looking for- a small leather strap that fit around his hoof perfectly. Attached to that strap was a small knife he kept around in case of emergency.
"One more thing," he began, causing the intruder to turn around. "You can't have it."
With that, he lunged forward, quickly closing the distance between himself and his quarry. The mare brought up her hooves to brace for the impact, knowing full well she wouldn't survive the blade. She readied herself, knowing she wasn't ready for death. Her life flashed before her eyes, and she could honestly say she was disappointed with the show.
Her self-loathing was cut off, however, when she realized that death never came for her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and peeked out from in between her forelegs. She almost immediately regretted that action. There in front of her, she say an intense knife battle unfolding between her "host" and the stallion of her guard. The archaeologist was obviously injured, as though he'd just been slammed into (which she figured he was, given the sudden arrival of her guard).
The Noctus was standing on his hind legs, using his wings to prop himself up like the mythological bipeds of old. The other was doing the same thing with a frightening proficiency. Their hooves moved like lightning, far too fast for the captain to try to analyze the situation. She grabbed her own knife from her belt using her magic, and slipped it onto her hoof. She stumbled to a standing position and was met with a horrifying sight.
One wrong move, and her guard showed a weak spot which was instantly exploited by his sparring partner. Blocking the bat-pony's thrust, Digging Deeper swiftly stepped into his dead side and brought his own blade hoof quickly up from the base of the Noctus' wing, immediately separating it from his body. But the archaeologist-turned-combat-specialist didn't stop there. With the more experienced of the two disabled, he brought up his knife again, and used his other hoof to push the airpony to the ground. With a swift motion, he took the blade across the throat of his captive, permanently taking him out of the fight.
He would have regretted that action, if he had had enough time to do so. No such luxury was granted to him, though, as Lorem ran her own blade through the base of her enemy's spine, severing his brain's connection to everything. He fell limp on top of the other body as the knife was withdrawn.
Lorem took a few steps back, her body still trembling from the brief moment of the fight she'd participated in. She'd gotten her commission specifically so she'd never need to kill anypony, and now here she was, gazing at her first kill- a civilian, nevertheless. She was snapped from her thoughts, however, when she heard the shouting coming from the now resurrected barrier: her other guard.
She made her way over there slowly, then used her magic to dispel the barrier. Before the Noctus could say anything, though, she quickly and preemptively interrupted her. "I'm done with this place." She pushed the other out of the way and kept walking, intent on making it back to her chariot.
There was no response from the other mare, however. Taking a moment to listen, there was no sound at all. Except one. Still standing in the doorway, Lorem turned around to see her surviving escort crouched over her fallen comrade, forehooves pressed together as she wept upon his body. "Well, shit," she mumbled to herself. Slowly, she turned around and began to walk back to the scene of the fight, unsure of how to proceed.
When she distanced about two meters from the Air Force sergeant, she was able to hear her whispering to herself. "Luna dilectissime, custodi animam ejus, qui non diligunt mundum, ad oram maris, a quo factum est, ad portas, et quod in ultimo, ut possit ab domo Cerberus Elysium oculos." A prayer to Luna, then, the officer thought. Why the Noctus still spoke in Eldish she would never understand, but when used in that kind of context, it was beautiful in it's own right. Even if she couldn't translate. The older mare was snapped from her thoughts by the slight sound of clinking metal, only just audible over the sound of crying. Lorem looked down at the scene to see that the noise had been the sergeant taking off the fallen airpony's dog tags.
As the younger mare stared at the two shiny pieces of metal in her hoof, she became vaguely aware of another's hoof wrapping gently around her neck. She instinctively flinched away from it, not yet ready to face the world outside of what was just her and her brother. The hoof made another attempt, and the bat pony soon found herself weeping into another mare's shoulder. As she wept, she repeated to herself, "I'm so sorry, brother," over and over again.
The captain gently brushed some of her crimson mane out of the crying pony's face, all the while observing her carefully. She seemed to be greatly comforted by having a shoulder to cry on, which Lorem figured was would be the origin of the saying. She said nothing, however, resorting instead to gently brushing the surprisingly soft fur she found pressed against her in an effort to comfort the Noctus. I really should just learn her name, she thought.
After about a minute or so in that position, the saddened pony closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again, surprising the captain with the absence of tears. She removed her head from the shoulder next to her and put the dog tags into a pocket on her armor. Then she stood and simply said, "Are you still ready to go, Captain?"
Lorem figured it was really best not to question whatever just happened. She glanced at the Ascendant Core, noting how asking questions could have dire consequences. "What do we do about this thing? There's no way you can carry it to Canterlot alone."
"You're right," the other replied. She brought a hoof to her chin, the universal symbol of thought. "I could make it to Tykis, though."
Outpost Tykis, along the border of the Crystal Empire, was not somewhere Lorem ever wanted to return to. It was way too cold, the food wasn't nearly good enough, and the soldiers stationed there had no proper respect for authority, rank, or the chain of command. However, she reminded herself, it didn't seem like she had a choice. The mission had to come first. "Then that's what we'll do," she replied. She cast a safe spell, then secured the Core for transport. She caught the Noctus bringing her comrade onto her back, intent on bringing him home. "We'll send for the rest of them later." She stole one last look at the deceased archeologist on the ground.
"This had all better be worth it," she said, more to herself than anyone else.
Author's Note
For the reason I call them Noctus, refer here. Welcome to Ascendant. Comments are open, tell me what you think. I'd once again like to thank iisaw and CogWing for the pre-reading. This wouldn't be possible without them. Also, I'm apparently obligated to thank my sister for editing this. At least, I think she edited it. She said she did, but I know how she is. If you find some typos, please tell me!
If you'd be interested in prereading or editing for this story, you can sign up here.
I must say, I do believe I'm going to have a great deal of fun writing this.
Two weeks later:
White. Celestia hated white. It was strange, she admitted, but true nevertheless. As she'd once told an escort, all one had to do to hate the color white was go for a walk in Canterlot. There would be white houses, white cafes, white cobblestone streets, and of course, one big white castle in which she resided. At first, it was almost flattering, having ponies build a city of her colors in honor of her defeat of her sister- no, of Nightmare Moon. That thing was not my sister, she reminded herself. Those ponies did help ease the pain. But after a hundred years or so, when the architects and builders of the city's infrastructure were no longer around to see it progress, Celestia still stood tall. And she was very, very bored.
She'd once tried to change it, ordering some of the palace's spired to be painted in shades of purple with golden trim. Well, she'd actually wanted to paint the whole thing, but the company doing it said that it would've looked horrible. Different, yes, but horrible. She'd let them go ahead with their plan for the new aesthetics simply out of respect for their audacity. However, a few months later, she decided she shouldn't have let them do that. Looking down on her city, she'd noticed that almost all of the rooftops she could see had been painted in the same way- purple roofs with golden trim. It had annoyed her greatly, as she knew they were only doing it to "honor" her. For a brief spell, she'd hated the color purple, too, until she'd met Twilight Sparkle. It would have been so hard to continue hating such a color worn by her most faithful student.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe she shouldn't hate all white. After all, literally every hospital was white, so there was either some kind of unspoken agreement between them, or a logical reason for doing it that way. Research labs were the same way, with pure white hallways and pure white laboratories. She made a mental note to ask Twilight why that was- if anypony would know, it would be her.
"Princess Celestia?" The large alicorn was snapped from her thoughts by the sound of a stallion's voice in front of her. Cautiously, she looked downward to find that voice belonged to her guard, who was supposed to be escorting her down the hallway that had provoked her most recent line of thought. "Are you feeling alright?"
Celestia shook her head in an almost violent manner, finding it hard to perform such an action while maintaining any level of civility. Noticing that she had yet to continue walking like she was supposed to be doing, she took a step forward quickly, a sign to her escort to continue. "I am indeed, Lieutenant," she replied. "Though, I suppose I have been looking for a distraction lately."
The guard nodded in understanding. "Is it anything you'd like to talk about?"
This was the less well known part of the Honor Guard's job. Everypony knew that while the Royal Guards enlisted members patrolled the streets, fighting crime and whatnot, officers had a chance of making Honor Guard, who personally escorted the nation's princesses everywhere they went. While Luna's was all-Noctus and Cadence's was all-crystal pony, they all adhered to the title of "Honor Guard", and commanded respect of entire cities with just their presence. What many ponies did not know, however, was the other half of the job of protecting the princess: protecting the princesses' mental and psychological safety. An angry princess could drive a nation to war; a depressed princess could ignore court with disastrous consequences.
And so, the Guard had taken it upon themselves to attend to their every need. They would be there to vent frustration, or to be a shoulder to cry on. More often than not, though, with Princess Celestia, it was simply being somepony to talk to. The elite half-percent of guards who made the position were very good listeners.
Of course, there would always be times where they wouldn't need that skill. "I'm fine, Lieutenant," the alicorn stated calmly, doing her best to act the part. Then, silently, she sighed to herself and added, "Though, I suppose I have been looking for a distraction."
"Why is that?"
Celestia thought for a second before answering. "It's Luna. She's... we've been arguing."
"Is it my place to know, ma'am?"
The loyalty of her guards never ceased to surprise Celestia. They all knew exactly what they were signing up for, and as an all volunteer sect of the Legion, she had no doubt that each and every one of them would not only willingly, but happily die in the name of Equestria- in her name. That, however, was to be expected. What really shocked her was how willing they all were to listen to her problems. A princess, yes, but only one pony nevertheless. What were her problems compared to those of a nation? "I think," She hesitated. No, he didn't need to know. It wasn't important, at least not until her dear sister was back in her company. "Not today, no."
"Understood, ma'am," the guard replied before turning around and proceeding with his walk. Celestia followed close behind, no longer lagging from whatever thoughts were in her mind minutes ago, something for which he was grateful- slow princesses made for frustrating jobs.
The walk lasted not a minute longer, the pair soon arriving at a glass door, cutting off the facility beyond from the outside world. The guard nodded to somepony behind the glass, and it slid open for them, its characteristic hiss filling the hallways behind them and echoing throughout the labs. Before they walked through, however, that pony stepped out of a cubicle like control center and into the hall, turning and bowing to the princess.
"Princess," the mare half-whispered. "It is an honor to have you here."
The pony was small, especially for Celestia's standards. That was uncommon, as she was an earth pony, who were known for their characteristically big legs. The princess was sure that if she hadn't seen the lack of a horn, she'd have thought she was a unicorn. Though her charcoal coat was unsurprisingly neutral to her appearance, the long, flowing blonde mane and tail did little to help her image. As such, the first word to pass through the alicorn's mind upon meeting her was "fragile". That thought, however, was banished almost instantly after she looked up.
Although one of them was hidden behind her mane, the mare's eyes spoke volumes, their deep crimson irises burning with something Celestia didn't recognize at first. More than desire, or pride. More than honor. Conviction, that was it. Despite only having been there a few seconds, her little pony seemed to possess a delightful passion for what she did, and was intent on making sure Celestia was well accommodated.
With that thought, the princess smiled. "It is my honor to be here." That did the trick- the lab attendant shot up with a smile on her face, something that brought a immeasurable amount of joy to her heart. Still got it, the alicorn thought.
"Please, ma'am, if you would come with me, I'll show you to the lab."
The guard took his post outside of the door, it having been pre-arranged that he would remain outside without the necessary security clearance to see what she was here for. Meanwhile, the two mares walked off into the facility, their voices quickly dying off in his ears.
They walked in absolute silence, neither quite knowing how to approach the other, the only sounds penetrating the air being the sound of their hooves against the cold floor, and the occasional intercom announcement made to the entire facility. After about a minute, the two arrived at a frosted glass door, a blank slate before them save for a single marking- a black and green colored dagger flanked by a rainbow-colored wreath. Celestia knew this symbol, as over the past few weeks she'd became quite accustomed to it. Indeed, since its founding, the Ascendant Project had taken up much of her time. "Well," the lab assistant began. "Here we--"
"Attention, all Apex volunteers- report to your assigned stations. Say again: all Apex volunteers report to your assigned stations." The intercom was very loud. In the following seconds, Celestia observed several ponies walking past her wearing desert-style jackets. She recognized them as Marine enlisted uniforms, though wondered what such low-ranking soldiers were doing down here. Then, it all came back to her. The Apex Project was some kind of testing and experimenting to improve basic pony physiology. The princess smiled at that, astonished that there was no shortage of volunteers for that kind of duty. Mares and stallions alike who were willing to risk what could very well be torture without death for the sake of bettering their fellow soldiers.
"Princess?" She didn't know why such a small voice had brought her out of her thoughts, but nevertheless turned her head down to see a small, very worried-looking earth pony looking back at her. "Are you alright? I mean, you just sort of blanked out there for a minute and I tried to get your attention but you didn't answer me so I got worried and--"
"Be calm, my little pony." The words did have their intended effect. Though it was rather impolite and very unprincess-like, the smaller mare was indeed calmed by the interruption. She was no longer playing around with her hooves, instead waiting quietly for her princess to continue. "I am fine, I assure you," Celestia asserted. "Shall we go in?"
"Oh, I was just supposed to escort you here. I don't actually have clearance for Ascendant." The alicorn shot her a confused look. "Sorry, probably should have mentioned that earlier. I'm sure somepony will let..." She was cut off by the door in front of them hissing open. "Well that takes care of that." The mare quickly bowed to her goddess, adding, "Send for me when you're ready to leave."
Celestia simply nodded back before walking into the lab. Though she was almost certain she'd be able to find her own way back easily, she'd decided she enjoyed that mare's company greatly, and escorting her off the premises would be a logical excuse to see her again. Maybe in another lifetime, the two could even be friends. Despite her quiet, nervous nature, she'd seemed as though she at least wanted to speak with Celestia during their walk, though didn't. It wasn't out of blind fear or obedience, like so many of her subjects; nor did it seem that she saw herself on the same level as her princess, as the nobles did. She just needed to learn how to open up a bit, was all.
Those were issues for the future, however. After briefly shaking her head to clear herself of those thoughts, the princess looked out into the room before her. First and foremost was the realization that the lab was almost empty. It was just as big as a lab should have been, but there were only a few desks and tables lining the left and right walls and only just enough ponies to sit at them all. Excluding the guards and several Navy DST representatives, the number of scientists numbered only one or two more than those desks. Even considering that, those same ponies barely had a presence there. The room still seemed empty.
The second thing Celestia took into consideration was the ambiance. Though she couldn't quite place it, the air felt... wrong. As much as she would have like to add any flavor to that word, there was simply nothing else capable of describing it. It was just wrong. For a moment or two, everything would feel better than perfect, a natural harmony seeping into the environment that told her everything was going to be OK. The next, it seemed like the walls were closing in on her, the air crushing her lungs. Chaos filled her mind, threatening to destroy everything she loved. Admittedly, those fears were completely irrational, but that knowledge did nothing to assuage them.
There was something in the room that seemed right, though. Standing some five meters away from the door was a grey-coated unicorn mare with a deep, crimson mane. She wore a white dress jacket with silver eagles adorning either collar and an Equestrian flag on the right shoulder, her cover neatly stowed away along her barrel. She was busy talking with one of the scientists, but finished mere seconds after Celestia had noticed her. When she looked up, she smiled at her new guest. "Princess Celestia," she began with a bow. "How nice of you to finally join us."
The royal let out a chuckle at that. Standing before her was one of the few ponies she truly considered a friend, and one of the only two whom she allowed to yell at her. What of Equus would have possibly convinced her she needed to bow? "Lorem, please. You need not call me that."
"Oh, I know," the sailor replied. "I just call you that because I know you hate it."
Celestia's smile almost faltered. She knew the captain was just messing with her, but that was the point, wasn't it? Her dear friend knew just how to push her buttons. Nevertheless, she wasn't about to let that spoil the mood. "We need to find some time together. Just the two of us sometime."
If the other ponies in the room were at all surprised to see their ruler behaving in such a casual manner, they did not show it. Come to think of it, they didn't really show anything. Every single one of them just droned about doing their work, never even stopping to apologize if they bumped into somepony else. "Indeed we do. For now, though..." Lorem gestured into the lab with a hoof. "Shall we?"
Celestia merely nodded in response. Upon seeing her do so, the captain began walking towards the back of the back of the room, completely oblivious to the utter confusion of her commandant. She simply kept her pace, expecting Celestia to follow close behind. When she finally reached the back wall, she stopped in place. Placing a hoof to the wall, she revealed a small outline there, roughly twice its size. When she pushed in, Celestia's questions were put away as the wall itself slid open to reveal what lay beyond.
Another lab, about half the size of the original, lay beyond, with not a single pony inside. There, in the center of the room, floated a large, grey orb. Green-black lightning bolts arced around it, adding at least a flash of color to the otherwise dull object. In a flash, however, those bolts vanished, replaced just as suddenly with bright, chromatic streaks of midnight blue, cyan, violet, maroon, orange, and pink. The captain had mentioned them in her report, calling them "unknown, polychromatic magics". Celestia, on the other hoof, knew exactly what it was. Somehow, this artifact contained both Chaos and Harmony magics, yet hadn't ended up destroying itself.
On the ground next to it lay various bits of scientific and arcane equipment, computers and whatnots that Celestia didn't recognize. Of course, she imagined that she could probably figure it out, had she been paying attention to it. For some reason, however, the alicorn couldn't bring herself to look away. There was something entrancing about the combination of magics that--
"-- called it the Ascendant Core, reason unknown." How much of that had Celestia missed? She knew not. Whatever the captain had to say seemed to be of little importance. She tried to fight it, tried to pay attention to her friend, but simply couldn't pull away. She was having trouble focusing on anything now, the Core seeming to just slip in and out of reality before her. "-- let me pick it up, but almost fried one of the engineers at Tykis. We figure it doesn't liked to be touched, be it physically or magically."
Feel us, Celestia. The sailor's words had given her an idea. Cautiously, yet without thinking, she reached out with her magics, grabbing hold of the artifact tightly. Let us show you why.
Celestia's world was gone. No longer did she stand in a whitewashed underground lab, surrounded by scientists and guards. Instead, she stood upon scorched earth and burnt grass. She could hear screaming coming from... somewhere. It was impossible to pinpoint it's source. In the background, there was an enormous city, its skyline reaching out and touching the clouds- bigger than Manehatten, by far. Apart from that, there was almost nothing. The burning ground beneath her feet, a few stumps of what used to be trees scattered across the landscape, but still nothing.
There was an explosion behind her. She quickly turned around and attempted to ready her magic, only to find that there was nothing she could do. Now in front of her stood six ponies, six alicorns. In front of each of them floated a single, colored gem, easily recognizable even amidst this sea of unfamiliarity.
"Ready your Elements, my brothers!" the lead pony called out. It was true, then. "Today, Harmony herself passes judgment against our enemies!" The Elements of Harmony really were here, then. There was a horrible shrieking noise coming from nowhere. She felt like she should run away from it, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she--
Celestia hit the ground hard, only vaguely aware of the pair of hooves wrapped tightly around her. "Princess?" The word came slowly, despite having been shouted within centimeters of her. "Princess, are you alright?"
Reality flooded back to the goddess. When she opened her eyes, she found a very worried looking Captain Lorem standing over her, screaming frantically. When the mare had gotten off of her, she got to her hooves and faced what was presumably the source of the vision. "Are you alright, Princess?" The question once again went unanswered. "I saw you touch it, and almost thought the worst until I realized you weren't dead. I yelled and yelled at you, but you didn't answer, and I thought it was the Core acting up and I needed to push you out of its way, so I did, and--"
"Destroy this thing." Celestia hadn't listened to a single word her friend had said. Instead, she had tried to gather her thoughts and come to a rational conclusion about the day's events. That conclusion was that this artifact needed to be destroyed. Chaos and Harmony, strange visions about the Elements... It couldn't be allowed to exist. It would do more harm than good. "Immediately."
There was something frightening about the princess's voice that made Lorem wary of vocally answering her. Instead, she simply nodded her head and gave a small squeak of understanding. It would be done.
It was unclear if it had been the order, or maybe the approval, or maybe even just time that was the catalyst for what happened next. There was a deep boom that filled the facility, followed by a pressure wave powerful enough to take everypony in the Ascendant lab off their hooves. The bolts and streaks around the Core began to happen at the same time, crossing over each other several times before someone, or something, spoke. It has begun.
The princess quickly got up and readied her extensive knowledge of combat magics- an instinctive reaction to situations she had no control over. The Core was vibrating violently, looking as though it might have simply exploded at any moment. Several unicorns around the lab burst in, their horns already alight. Celestia was confident that she could have easily destroyed it alone, but the support of others was something she was grateful for.
At least, she was grateful for it until they were all pushed out of the room one again. She tried to turn to face them, but found her body locked in place by an unknown force. When she looked forward again, she decided that her previous ignorance was greatly preferred to the current predicament. Standing in front of her was a creature the likes of which she'd never seen. When had it gotten there? It stood on two legs, yet with no tail between them, it was already obvious enough that whatever was in front of her was not of Equus. As she tried to take it in, the realized the creature looked more and more like something straight out of ancient mythologies- an actual humanoid. But that couldn't have been possible. Covering its torso were what seemed to be charcoal-black plates of some kind, likely a natural armor. It held forward a hand, with to clawed fingers and a longer thumb opened to her. A midnight blue magic surrounded its body, the same magic holding Celestia in place. She was about to scream for help when she noticed something else.
On top of its head, behind its elongated ears, was something along the lines of a mane, not unlike Celestia's. It blew constantly in an ethereal breeze, with small white dots occasionally flickering to pierce the midnight background. As she thought about it, she started to realize that it looked a lot like Luna's.
The goddess of the sun could have easily broken away from the efforts of a single enemy, however magically inclined they may have been. Something about that realization stopped her- the night sky on its head, the fangs in it's mouth, the blackened body all served as a powerful reminder of Nightmare Moon, all those years ago. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to do anything about it.
Celestia fell to the ground, finding her energy completely drained from her. Just as she did, she caught something in her peripheral vision- a crimson-maned unicorn mare wearing a stark white jacket lunged towards the monster, quickly taking it to the ground despite being half its size. They rolled once on the ground, Lorem ending up on top. She threw several punches at the beast's face, each connecting with either a temple or cheekbone, drawing nigh-imperceptible grunts of pain from her target. When it had stopped struggling, the unicorn turned and faced her princess. "Run!"
Celestia tried to run, but found she simply couldn't turn away. She simply sat there, entranced by whatever it was that was attacking the lab. Was this some kind of sick joke? A plot by the enemies of Equestria to distract her from protecting her little ponies? If so, it was working. Memories of that night, all those years ago, came flooding back to her. Mixed in with them were more recent visions; she'd been arguing with her sister. It was happening all over again, wasn't it? Why couldn't she run away?
The beast was back on its feet, holding Lorem tightly in the air. It spun around once, taking the small pony with it. When it had made its full turn, it released her, sending her flying back out into the main lab from where she came. With the attempted assailant taken care of, the monster turned its attention back to the artifact in the center of the room. With arms extended to the side, it began to hover a few centimeters off the ground. Rainbow colored magic began pouring out of it, feeding the Core with additional power that was not its own. Celestia finally snapped out of her thoughts, finally realized what was happening. She took the opportunity while her opponent was distracted to start a rather lethargic walk towards the sliding wall leading into the lab. There, the sailor who had fought so bravely to defend her was trying to get back up onto her hooves.
"Tell Luna I'm sorry," she commanded weakly, all her remaining energy now expended. Ignoring the questioning looks from her attempted hero, the princess continued. "Exodus protocol. Authorize: Alpha, November, kilo, niner..."
Exodus protocol? Lorem listened carefully as the commandant cited her authorization. Exodus wasn't ever meant to be used. Were they even sure it would work? She could hear the hooves of marines shuffling outside. "This is crazy," she whispered to herself. Just as she finished, the hostile reappeared behind Celestia, quickly taking her up in its magic and throwing her back towards the Core. She never even landed there; when she got close, the artifact seemed to teleport her away to... somewhere. "Well then," Lorem spoke to the creature. "I guess that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for interpretation."
The thing let out a horrible, piercing shriek into the air, filling the hallways and forcing Lorem to cover her ears. Just as it finished, though, the wall closed in front of it, sealing off the containment unit from the rest of the lab. The mare looked over to the control panel to see a earth pony Marine sergeant standing there. "Captain!" he yelled. "By the looks of it, this won't hold that thing for long. What are our orders?"
Sure enough, as the sailor looked back towards the exit, she found a small squad of Marines standing there, all waiting for orders. She turned back to the sergeant and did her best to gather her thoughts before speaking. The one disadvantage of outranking everypony was that everypony looked to her for advice. Still, her years at the Naval Academy hadn't been for nothing. She turned briefly towards the back wall, which was now glowing in a combination of black and green. She willed herself not to start sweating in front of her troops, then spoke calmly.
"Find Princess Twilight and Princess Luna. Exodus is in play."
Author's Note
Two chapters in, and already I may have fucked everything up. Surprisingly, it didn't take me that long to write this one. Especially since I've gotten nothing else really productive done since ever. If you find those typos iisaw was talking about, tell me where they are and I'll fix them immediately.
As always, I could certainly use additional editing and prereading staff. If you'd be interested, you can sign up here.. Let's make this one memorable.
