A moment, suspended in time.
Unchanging.
Unmoving.
Forevermore.
In a single moment, I learn that I have become a villain.
In a single moment, I learn that I have fallen.
In that moment, my life replays itself before my eyes. And I yearn, more than anything, to know.
To know where I have gone wrong.
I was young once. Young and idealistic. Born into a family of nobility, I was well off by our standards, though they were by no means high. Over the course of centuries, the Changeling Empire had fallen into ruin, and so had the power of those who led it.
I longed for change. I wished for the glory and wonder of days past to be restored to us. I wanted to undo hundreds of years of decay.
But I was alone.
My family was apathetic. My parents were content with what little they had, and my siblings - an older brother and sister - believed that they could achieve no more. That what they had was all that ever would be.
They lacked ambition. I did not.
I knew that, one day, it would fall to me to lead our nation out of the darkness. To return to them the right to hold their heads high with pride.
I decided that I would be their chosen one.
I decided to show them the light.
The idealism had been purged.
I was disillusioned.
For ten years, our Queen had brought nothing but despair upon us. Starvation and famine ran rampant. The lifeless husks of changelings lined the streets.
She had chosen to take our hope away. She had chosen to bar almost all contact with Equestria - and with it, the love that gives us sustenance.
I wanted- no, needed to fix this.
I had to.
And there was a way.
Perhaps, with the proper advice from the nobles, the Queen would learn of the error of her judgement. She might bring back that which she had destroyed.
But my family was indifferent.
They hoarded the lion's share of the remaining love. And with their influence and high standing came a sort of immunity from the law.
They did not act.
So I did.
I decided to become a noble.
I decided to do what they refused to.
But great change demands great sacrifice. For to be a noble, I had to be the eldest among my siblings, and I was not.
I had to make myself the eldest.
And I did what had to be done.
I regretted every second of it. For days, I hid myself away in the corner of my room and wept. I couldn't sleep. I certainly didn't have the strength to bid them a final farewell at their funeral.
But I was the hero of my story, and sometimes, heroes suffer before they can make things right.
It was for the good of the nation.
I could not turn back.
There was no hope.
The day I gained entrance into the Queen's court was the day I realised, at last, her true intentions.
It had all begun with a message from Princess Celestia of Equestria.
After a thousand years of infiltration, illusions, stealth, and deception, the web of lies had been torn open.
We had been discovered.
The message was curt. An ultimatum had been issued: Withdraw or be evicted.
A choice was made. A retreat was ordered. And we had clung weakly to the few remaining threads of love we could reach ever since.
That was all there had been to it.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
There was no bad decision. Only a necessary one.
But that couldn't be, could it? After all I had given, after all I had sacrificed, I couldn't just give up here.
I could not turn back.
There had to be another choice.
There had to be.
There was.
A plan formed.
A plot was hatched.
However, there was only one person who could bring it all to fruition. And when I brought my idea to her private chambers, she refused.
There was only one path left for me.
I decided to usurp the throne.
I decided to become the Queen.
I snuck into her bedchamber at night, armed with a knife. I did what I had to do.
It was not without regret. But it had to be done, after all. For the good of the country, and the good of the people.
It was a necessary evil.
Royalty. I was now royalty.
I had the power.
I ordered an invasion.
I have always done what had to be done, because somepony had to do the dirty work, and I was the only one who would. For there to be great change, there has to be great sacrifice. To lead a people into the light, one first has to tread deep into the darkness.
It was unavoidable. There had simply been no other way.
I have lived a life of regret and necessary evil. And every last second of it has led up to this moment.
My moment of triumph.
At my feet lies the broken, trembling body of Princess Celestia's niece. Stretched out on the cold, hard ground of the Canterlot caves, she looks up at me with dull eyes - the eyes of one who has lost hope. Those very eyes, crushed as they were, offer me a final silent plea for mercy.
I will not yield. It has to be done. For justice's sake. Thousands of us have starved for love to the point of death. It seems only right that she should do the same.
...
When I killed my siblings, there was heartache.
When I killed the Queen, there was bitterness.
This time, I await a moral outcry. None comes.
My conscience is clear.
And now, standing over the resigned alicorn, I realise where I have gone wrong.
I am no longer the mare I once was.
I have lost that idealism.
The day I first moved to do what had to be done, I condemned myself to my fate. The path of evil.
But someone had to do it. And I am glad that I have saved another from my downfall.
What makes a villain?
Evil acts? Not quite. As they say, the road to Tartarus is paved with good intentions. And how can good intentions make a villain?
Evil intentions, then? But there is always redemption. So long as it is sought after, forgiveness and absolution can be earned.
Therefore, what makes a villain...
... is the decision to never turn back.
A moment, suspended in time. Unchanging. Unmoving. Forevermore.
In that moment, I learn that I have ceased to be the hero of my own story.
In that moment, I learn that I have become the villain.
And in that moment, I realise that I have no regrets.
From somewhere above, a bell chimes. The moment of triumph passes with its fading sound, lost forever to the sea of history.
I look up. The bell chimes again, and this time it is accompanied by the angelic tones of a wedding choir.
I cast a final glance at Cadance, who stares back emptily. Without a word, I set off, back to the surface.
I will do what must be done.
I cannot turn back.