Prologue - Goodnight, Sweet Princess
"That ought to do it." The purple aura vanished as she released her grip on the pen. "I never thought it would come to this, but... well, I guess there're a lot of things I never thought would happen."
Plush, burgundy carpet tickled her hooves as she trekked to the door. She stopped just outside the door, and took one final moment to ensure the office was in order. Her mahogany desk was immaculate. Gone were the mountains of paperwork that tended to accumulate there. She'd finally gotten around to taking some time out of her schedule to sort them, and file them away. The only things that marred the desk's surface now was her carefully-written note, and the aloe vera plant she'd gotten for her birthday last year.
Beside that was another, more utilitarian desk of stainless steel. On it was a monolithic monstrosity that had, until recently, been an impossibility. Computers weren't exactly a novel concept. The first had been made about ten years ago in Baltimare, by a stallion named Tech Savvy. What was on her second desk was a more compact version of Tech Savvy's pioneer voyage into technology. It had been cutting-edge only a few months ago, but apparently the engineering potential of computers was astronomical, and it had gotten dated very rapidly. "Old reliable", she called it; something of a misnomer, especially since it only worked three-forths of the time.
"How much time did I spend in here?" The clock above her desk stopped working a few weeks ago. She'd been meaning to replace the batteries, but had never quite gotten around to it. A tiny part of her wondered if it would find a new, more considerate owner.
"Hours upon hours, probably. Building up to what, I'll never know. Uggh," she groaned. A tiny, black square sat forlornly in front of her desk. "Stupid thing." Using her magic, she lifted the placard off the floor, and slammed it down on the desk. It was still crooked. "Never could sit still. At least you'll be somepony else's problem in a few days."
She gave the room another once-over, and was pleased to find everything in its place. White light faded to darkness, and the door creaked shut with a sense of finality. That was another chapter of her life gone. Now to figure out where the epilogue was going to carry her.
Minutes ticked by, but the building still wasn't empty. The halls reverberated with the sound of hooves on steel. She didn't really have a destination in mind, but that was fine with her. Her mind had left her, gone off to visit more pleasant times. Growing up with her parents, her first day in magic kindergarten, the day she earned her cutie-mark. Her first day in Ponyville, and all the adventures that have happened since.
"How did it come to this?" She'd ended up on a balcony overlooking her first project. Gears turned, pipes hissed, and the gentle hum of magic filled the air, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember what it did. Her chuckle fogged in the chilly air.
"This is some kind of joke isn't it? This...is what- Celestia, it's bucking cold in here!" This is what had started it all. Her meeting with Discord hadn't left her completely unscathed. Everypony else seemed to have recovered, but she had been gifted with what he called a "spark". Her mind had been opened, and the possibilities were endless.
It was there, in the rain and the smoke that followed so many of her battles, that she'd made her choice. The Elements were important, but so was the rest of Equestria. There was so much they didn't know, yet. Technologies of old, remnants of a time before time. Ways to harness the combined power of mare, magic, and machine that would make the work of Flim and Flam look like tinkerers' toys.
That is what brought her to this moment. A roller-coaster, fifteen years in the making, and she was nearing the end of the ride. That machine was about the size of a pony, built like some metal coffin, but streaked with lines of phantasmal energy. It had been her first big idea, and its success was what sold her on the idea of being Equestria's greatest inventor-scientist. Its purple-tinged exterior was frigid to the touch. Then, a great whirring sound, like a small tornado. The thing belched steam from every facet and, slowly, the hatch slid away.
"Looks comfy," she deadpanned. Doubts bombarded her mind as she climbed inside. Was this what she really wanted? Was what she did really so far-fallen from grace that this was the only option left? How responsible was she? What would this machine do to her, once she was inside? Would she ever see her friends again? Quick bursts of thought scurried around her head, crowding it beyond the point of insanity.
"Shut up!" The only response she got was an echo of an echo, followed by stifling silence. "It should never have gotten to this point. Maybe I'm not to blame. But what's done is done, and as far as I'm concerned, I might as well have pulled the trigger myself." Her breath came in ragged gasps, and she could feel the icicles forming on her cheeks. "This wasn't supposed to hurt anypony. I had the capacity from the word 'go'. I could've wiped Equestria off the map, if I so desired. At times, I wanted to. It's so...unfair. Why is it easier to hurt than it is to heal?"
"I only ever wanted to help ponies. That's the only truth I know." A maniacal cackle escaped her lips. "Oh, I helped them alright! Everything that's happened was because of me and my stupid inventions. What's worse is that we won! I won. Celestia-damnit, why do I always have to be right? If we lost, I wouldn't have to do this now. The griffins would have kindly killed me for me. But nooo, it didn't work that way. I won - we won - and it's all because I gave them all they needed." The pod was sealed now. Cold air washed in like a torrent, but she kept babbling. The world outside started growing foggy, just like her mind. Pretty soon, the only things that were real anymore was the tingling in her legs, and the cushy seat of the pod.
"The greatest irony, though, is that all this wasn't worth it," she blubbered, "My friends... Why didn't you stop me? Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie - you could've done it. Before that day, I would've done anything, sacrificed anything, to keep you. Something changed in me. I don't know if it was because of Discord's weird psychedelic finger-touch thing, or if I came to some startling revelation after the fact, but it was all for naught. This is the road frequently traveled; I've heard the story many times before, and now I'm just another chapter in that miles-long epic. Ambitions over acquaintences, and before too long, you're a crazed loony because nopony was there to hold your sanity in check. Starswirl did it, and now I'm in here too."
"And it wasn't just ponies, either. I learned about a time before time, when giants walked the earth, and the world was its own keeper. Half of what I accomplished was pioneered by them. You could say I stood on the shoulders of giants, huh. I guess this is an all-too familiar tale to them. Good intentions gone bad. You make the first fire to keep warm, and to cook food; centuries later, it's used to burn down buildings and to torture ponies."
Her mouth hung open, ready to spew another flood of angry monologue. Something had happened, something strange. For the first time in her life, she'd run out of things to say. She gingerly wiped a hoof across the foggy pane, but to no avail. Her eyes couldn't see past the second layer of frost. Time flew by with all the speed of a sprinting snail.
"Wish I'd brought a sweater." The embedded thermometer said it was less than ten degrees in here. She started thinking about coffins, and being buried alive. Suddenly, the thought of being a monster sounded very appealing. Her hoof hammered at the big, red "abort" button in a panic. When nothing happened, she pressed it again. And again. And again.
"C'mon, c'mon," she pleaded, "work, you hunk of junk. Work!" Fog started to spread over the place she wiped off earlier. Then, it came for her eyes. It started in the corners of her vision, slowly working its way inward, bit by bit, until she could barely see. Her hoof ached, but she'd stopped feeling anything a couple minutes ago. Even the cold wasn't cold anymore.
"D-damn y-you. St-st-stupid but-t-ton." She hugged her lower hooves, trying desperately to keep what little warmth there was tucked away. It wouldn't last. Thermodynamics says that energy can only be lost, and that's all body heat is; energy to be lost, not conserved. Her eyelids slammed shut of their own volition. Suddenly, the world was gone, save for the fleeting moments of perception she had in her legs and lips.
"I d-didn-n-n't w-want to d-d-die h-here," she whispered. The Cryo-pod was supposed to be a long-term preservement chamber. It would tranquilize you gently by analyzing your weight, and calculating your body mass from there. After that, sub-zero temperatures and occasional wisps of magic would ensure a thousand years of blissful sleep, leaving your brain to do whatever it does when it's knocked unconscious.
Except, it was never finished. She had always planned on implementing the more advanced features later. This was just a prototype, and it lacked a lot of the functionality that the finished product was supposed to have. At least she would, eventually, wake up. Twilight would have cried, if she'd had any tears left.
"Forgive me, ev-everypony."
