ASCENSION ARC a.k.a. Sacrifices and Redemption
 
[NOTE: I do not really work with fixed events happening in the story unless something immediatley strikes me as noteworthy and amazing enough to keep. The way I do things usually assumes a lot of characters have motivations that keep the story flowing naturally, and factions/sides start to grow out of that on its own. So, here you have outlines what the most notable character’s intentions are during the crisis and how things were supposed to turn out for them. Think of Arcade/Ladder Mode storylines in fighting games, and you are right on track.]
[NOTE 2:I cut away the things that have already been done, for the sake of brevity.]
 
 
BLUE
 
“...”
 
- true origin questionable; may be born from Faust’s essence, may be a sliver of Chaos, may just be a freak accident of primodial magic
- sentience questionable; originally born with the goal to ‘usher the souls of the living into safety’ the day Harmony’s scales are either tipped harshly towards Chaos or Order, and wait until Momma Faust herself descends from above to fix it; hence why Faustmom left it slumbering
- intellect variable; on its own, it’s like an automaton, only driven to fulfill its purpose. There IS, however, a small part of emotion in it, and that is Love. Love for all living beings, love for Mama Faust, and love for what it is meant to do; it only began to grasp emotion, thought and was able to plan the moment it actually ABSORBED the souls around it
- first awoken by AUJ’s appearance, who is a perfect counter-part to Discord: Order Absolute, and thus an enemy of Harmony
- the thing trapped below Hoofington is its real self; the thing above ground is NOT; it is merely a manifestation of what little of its powers actually escape
- thus, the trapped ‘God’ is vulnerable and confused. Blind, deaf and as mature as a child.
- the thing above ground is intangible. It has no body, no mass. It is raw, divine power, hence why it had so averse affects on living beings
- part of the dreams, hopes, pains, emotions and whatever else those who have joined it will affect Blue and likewise; Luna, being the first alicorn it came into touch with, knew this (more on this later)
- sadly, most of those it had absorbed merely felt fear, anger and confusion on their last moments, so its starting to make Blue act irrational as well
- ABOVE GROUND: It’s honestly a very one-sided, desperate battle without any chance of winning. An all-out duking it out with other powers, magic, machines and maybe even summoned avatars of other Gods. Blue will reel from all the hate directed at it, propably leading those present into a false sense of security. Once it recovers, it will be completely mad from sadness and just reap everything around it without looking twice.
- BELOW GROUND: Blue is sitting in its cage, awaiting for Starlight to understand how to completely free it so it can better fulfill its purpose. The heroes will find it in this state. Still. Silent. Beautiful. And utterly passive to whatever is done to it.
 
- THE FINAL CONUNDRUM: those who seek out Blue have differing goals, but it all comes down to these four options:
 - Destroy it: the likely goal of Chrysalis, Celestia, Shining Armor and anyone who has lost someone or is simply the more aggressive type
 - Seal it: the goal of Susnet Shimmer, Twilight, Pennydrop and anyone who has a mind for science or wants to study/use its might
 - Release it: the final goal of Starlight Glimmer, Blue itself and anyone who is FUCKING OUT OF THEIR MIND, because let’s be honest: things aren’t great in the world right now, but the apocalypse, it is not
 - Return it home: the final option. The best option. Let it find peace back with its creator, Faust. This one won’t even be considered or revealed until Applejack brings it up, stating that Blue is just another thing left unfinished in this world, and be it done by God or Princess, its her job to set it right.
 
- Once the real Blue is gone, the being above ground will warble out one final, beautiful note and fall to the ground as if struck dead, evaporating into motes of light that disappear in the sky to return the stars, while those who have been ‘reaped’ are flung out from where it was into all directions (harmlessly, of course. Good chance for some cartoon-physics comedy)
 
 
LUNA
 
“My subjects suffered terribly because of me. It is only fair that I suffer in their stead, this time.”
 
- intrinsically understood her ‘sibling’ from the moment their minds touched
- also understood that it would be impossible to stop without a great sacrifice
- in part with her finding whatever remained of Discord inside of it, realizing that those souls inside of it are just DREAMING in a realm separate from the meatrial one, she came to the conclusion that it could only be halted from within instead of without
- Luna resolved to be taken by BLUE, in order to help the slumbering souls awaken and rebel against it so it was either stopped or at least, slowed down as Discord did
- she and Discord will be seen, eventually stopping the above-ground being from just going on a rampage that takes all souls at once
- neither Luna nor Discord knew it they would be back from this, but they were resolved to atone for they themselves had done
- but Luna wasn’t ready to just... die. She was afraid.
- the fight with AUJ was intentionally provoked, because she knew the otherworldly mare would be the only one capable of doing what had to be done. Her corruption and giving herself to Blue was mostly staged to make her go all out
- will be returned without harm
 
 
AUJ
 
“I am just doing what all of you know needs to be done. If you want to hate me for it, so be it.”
 
- the original reason for BLUE’s awakening, making it believe the time of reckoning had arrived, with the presence of twisted versions of some alicorn powers making it act
- mostly KKA’s brainchild; he’s got PLANS
- will be the one to push Celestia into fully giving into her righteous fury
- was the one to push Luna into sacrificing herself
- may be Applejack at heart, but the sooner everyone realizes she’s on the far spectrum of trying to enforce Absoltue Order in her world, the better
 
 
CELESTIA
 
“...burn... burn... burnburnburnburnBURNBURN BURN IT ALL TO THE GROUND, TURN IT INTO ASH!”
 
- driven mad by the loss of her only family, the one she had shared an eternity with, Celestia will begin to say, do and commit things the ancient, patient princess would never have even thought of before that day
- will be the driving force behind the plan to destroy Blue
- will be either completely or partially separated from the group
- deciding story will be when she is faced by one of the ‘corrupted’ ponies down below, and has to either destroy them or safe them
- post-story, resolves to no longer budge from her little sister’s side and match her schedule accordingly, leaving the Day Court and al daily proceedings as well as official appearances to the other princesses fully, giving new opportunities for funny stories and headaches for out Mane 6
- personally, she knows she went completely unhinged during the crisis and wants to take a break to maybe reassert her priorities first
 
 
STARLIGHT
 
“If everyone is together, forever, I will never be left behind again...”
 
- more of a victim than an actual antagonist, in this reality
- her free reign over the Town allowed her to grow and adapt, making it possible for the townees to exchange and combine cutiemarks for great effect
- things would’ve gone the same as the original story, if it hadn’t been for 88’s arc and Lavan’s valley
- the properties of the fungus make it especially apt to store magic, and after it attached itself to the cutie mark vault, the town residents were able to harvest them
- the results from eating it were rather unpredictable though, creating ponies that were highly-empowered by the talents, powers and magic of the cutiemarks it was attuned to, but also make them susceptible to their weaknesses and shortcomings
- everything changed when Blue released a blast of its power, trying to reach out for anything susceptible nearby... and finding the vault
- Starlight and the Townees were soon filled with a powerful yearning for something they couldn’t describe, until Starlight went to Hoofington and found the source of it
- the closer she got to Blue, the worse her mental dependence got
- by the point Above Ground Blue emerges, she little more than a vessel for its own desires
- will be the last obstacle between the heroes and the Trapped Blue, unleashing a variety of powers from countless cutiemarks she has taken into herself... just like the thing she is now praying
- once defeated, she will willingly step close to the tear in the containment egg and sacrifice herself to it
- Post-crisis Starlight will probably feel like she had been moments away from the ultimate fulfillment of her fate, only for it to be torn away from her... along with everyone she had been working with, leaving her alone, stranded... and very, VERY upset.
 
 
FLASH SENTRY
 
“You did this to me. And nothing you can ever say or do will make it right again.”
 
- knows his time is up, and that Twilight is probably the only one who might be able to repurpose Sunset’s experiment
- as a final act of defiance to his ‘creator’, Twilight, he will try to isolate her and eliminate her
- will be using the facility defense mechanisms, teleport blockers and whatever else his body can still do on its own
- final goal is for Twilight to best him, and FINALLY right the wrong she has committed by taking him back and giving him back his body
- post-crisis, he might be able to shed VERY important insights on Sunset and her group, which will then lead to their eventual redemption (or so, I hope)
 
 
SUNSET
 
“I fucking hate you for making me do this, you know that?”
 
- brief appearance, in which she tries to do the right thing
- her involvement will be completely unseen
- at best, it’ll involve her making use of her knowledge of the facility and Blue
- at worst, she will tap into her dormant Demon powers, now that 13 is backing her up, and blast Above Ground Blue hard enough to make it reel
- mostly used, in combination with the rest of her group, to clarify up that they aren’t villains... or at least, didn’t try to destroy the world
- also, friendshipping with Thirteen
 
 
CHITANIA
 
“Groooaaah...?”
 
- “Hey, toss her in the underground facility, why not?”, KKA said
- Sure, once I figure out how to make her not bump into anyone!
 
 
RAINBOW AND PINKIE
 
“Pinkie, why does this keep happening to us?”
“Because we are minor characters with no meaningful story arcs or super powers, left behind in the rising stakes?”
“...*sob*”
 
- may or may not use them as victims to BLUE staring to rampage
- it’s a shoot-the-scrappy tactic, sure, but you know things are bad when the comedy relief is gone
- USE her damn Pinkie Sense, dammit!