((Spoilers ahead. If you haven't read the prequel, you may want to do so before coming to this one. However, the other two sequels (Archmage: Beyond the Crystal Mirror and Archmage: Square One) are not required reading before stepping into this one. Enjoy!))

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The Archmage is the authority on all things magic. For them, each school is their mastery, their calling, their domain. But how does one pony become so powerful that they can be called the absolute grandmaster of any given school of magic? We know that Twilight Sparkle has become the most powerful and influential Archmage in a long line of illustrious careers. But how did she get there? What developments caused her to be so strong, so powerful, that even the Princesses deferred to her judgement?

Archmage: Ascendancy explores the years of Twilight's life between her realization as the Archmage and her Ascendance to near-godhood. Before she joined Luna and Celestia and became the Princess of Magic, the Archmage incarnate, many things had to go right that went wrong, many spells had to be cast.

The unspoken years of Twilight's life may not have been as terrible as her upbringing, but they certainly weren't ideal either.

This is the story of Twilight Sparkle's ascendancy.

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Archmage: Ascendancy is an exploration of Twilight's lifestyle while she was Archmage, but before she ascended to being a Princess. There was about 170 years of life that was skipped over, and left plenty of possibilities dead and gone. This is my attempt at writing Twilight as a regular unicorn, fighting and overcoming obstacles without her admittedly over-powered magical capability in other subsequent stories.