From the her bedroom window, Twilight gazed outside at the sunset and how beautiful Canterlot looked bathed in its light. It was like a finely cut and polished piece of rose quartz. (Except without the distinctive geometric pattern, of course, she found herself thinking.) Sadly, that would be coming to an end soon. The Equestrian Empire would tear itself to pieces and she couldn't do anything about it. She was an old mare with almost no authority, no friends, no life. Just her magic and her science. Twilight enviously thought of Celestia's near immortality and eternal youth, but with that came too many melancholy memories. She left that train of thought and boarded another.

How bad would the end of Equestria really be? She had her predictions, but they might not be accurate; magic had a tendency to make statistics almost impossible. Everything she knew would be destroyed, in its place, a new, broken system would rise, ruled by fools. The current Prince was a bit of a fool, but he was a good-natured fool, one who would even listen to her occasionally. Even if he did just dismiss most of her ideas, it was nice to be listened to and not treated at best as crazy and at worst as a prisoner.

Twilight could still remember the days when she had been the glorious Princess of Friendship with her Crystal Castle and her valiant friends by her side. They had been the perfect friends. They hadn't been perfect ponies, but they had been just the friends Twilight had needed. If only she could have prevented that ending as well. She still remembered their last words...

...but that wasn't important to this. Or was it? Twilight thought about her problems. How could she prevent the end of Equestria... or at least make it more bearable. Her only ideas involved being more than just an effective exile in the ruined city of Canterlot. Ponyville was the new capital. Except it wasn't called that anymore. Twilight could never remember the new name. Twilight thought harder, hoping for a solution that she knew didn't exist. Even though she couldn't prevent the end of her society, she could at least prevent the end of her culture and the end of science. How? By establishing a sort of foundation. A repository of knowledge, so that nothing would be forgotten. She started planning immediately, her eyes gleaming. She knew exactly what she would need, what connections she would have to use, and even where to place it. Right here, in the ancient city of scholars. Her faded purple coat seemed as if it had regained some of its lost shine. She had a purpose again.