Twilight is informed of a cryogenically frozen pony, little does she know it's no ordinary pony, and might just be the key to saving one of the biggest tragedies Equestria will ever see.
Harmony, a cryogenically frozen forerunner of the pony race, is found deep within an ancient science lab on the western front of Equestria, Twilight is recruited to investigate the lab, and in doing so deactivates the pod found within, allowing for Harmony to live once more in an all-new world as she struggles to find her way around. Little does Twilight know, the pony she released may just end up being the key to saving one of the most tragic events Equestria will ever see.
Twilight found herself studying quietly in her room, nothing particularly of importance, just out of simple curiosity as she always did. A book written on the phases of the moon, something she had read nearly almost a thousand times already, but still somehow seemed to find interesting after so many reads. As she would start to turn the next page, a sudden knock would sound at her door, and in turn, she would reluctantly stand herself up, departing from her studies to asses the sudden visit.
Straightening her appearance, she would trot over to open the door. She would be greeted by one of the royal guards, which would inform her of some important news that had been sent from the western part of Equestria to her. She would quickly thank the guard for passing the message to her, taking the small envelope that he had possessed in his jaws, before returning to the comfort of her room. She would raise the note in front of her, before slicing the seem and removing the slip of paper from inside of it. She began to read for a moment, before staring oddly at the note as it lay before her. She was surprised to have gotten at the information she had just read, it was short yet it told everything it needed to.
It was far from what she was expecting.. and far seemed like an understatement to her at that moment. It was strange and yet intriguing all the same. She would hold the note there again for a moment, squinting at the page intently as it's context engulfed her mind. It told of a recent discovery, one of an ancient cryogenically frozen forerunner, hidden away on the western front in some... hidden laboratory? She could see now why they forwarded the information over to her, this was something completely unheard of and something only she might know how to evaluate properly.
It was nice to know that she had some time before she could make her way over, with the mention of guards being stationed at the site after the discovery for her when she arrives. She would set down the small piece of paper, before glancing out the window, watching from her room as the ponies of Canterlot would make their daily rounds, appearing to be but ants from where she sat. A pony.. found randomly in a secret underground station at a remote location, just frozen there in a pod? She almost wanted to laugh at how outrageous it sounded, but if the message was passed on to her, she knew it had to be true.
She would give a short sigh, before laying herself down gently. It would be quite the trip over to the west, nothing short of a challenge she knew, though she felt an anxious excitement for the trip all the same. Who knows what kind of knowledge this mysterious pony might hold, that is if they can successfully disengage her from her cryogenic sleep of course. Which she didn't even really know how to do, this was technology she had no record of anywhere. This was history she knew, something far before her time she would be playing with, so she had to asses it with the upmost care. After some careful consideration, she would eventually decide that she would leave the following morning, so she could make it there as soon as possible, as she wouldn't want anything happen to the site while she's not there.
With that, she would finally dress herself appropriately, so that she may attend to her duties for the day she had ahead of her, which as always somehow seemed to grow heavier on her. Twilight had swiftly came to realize with her newfound position that, while being a princess was the greatest honor she had ever received, it was definitely a stressful position to have sometimes. Though at least she had something to look forward to now, she knew. She couldn't help but feel excited with the idea of being able to possibly converse with some pony that predates the formation of many of the large cities within Equestria. She entertained the thought for a moment more before remembering that she was needed in the main hall of the castle.
Reluctantly she would temporarily cast aside her playful thoughts, and would gallop quickly through the long passage that led to the hallway in order to avoid being late. She would eventually reach it though, hopping upon her throne in one quick movement, as her work began to surround her.
After what seemed like an eternity, the day would finally conclude to her relief, and she was readying herself for bed in her room once more. "Reconstruction of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres.. the upcoming gala.." She would run through some of the reports she had collected through the day out loud to herself as to not forget, before pilling them back into a neat and orderly stack to deal with sometime later. She would give a long exhausted yawn, before getting up from where she sat and throwing herself in her bed. She hadn't had a second of the day, for as long and exhausting as it was for her, that she hadn't thought of her trip she would make the following morning, feeling ever so ready for the exciting field trip she had for herself when she awakes.
She would let her mind wonder again, imagining who the pony might be, maybe a leader of the old world. Well.. she doubted that, but the possibility was there. It could just be a normal civilian, though how did they get frozen like that to begin with..? Was it on purpose? Was it an accident? Or maybe it was a revenge plot, and someone put them in there! If so captain Twilight would save them! Well.. maybe. She would giggle for a moment, giving a long, soft yawn, before laying her head gently on her pillow as her breathing slowed, drifting gently asleep to dream of the day ahead of her.
Twilight would awake with a jolt, today she was to venture to the western end of Equestria to assess the situation at hand, the frozen pony. She had been awoken by one of the royal guards who had knocked at her door to wake her on time, had they not she would have certainly slept in. She would eagerly hop out of bed and dress herself quickly, the train would be arriving soon for her to make her journey, and as always she wanted to be early. Excitedly, she would nose her way out of her room, only to be greeted by some of the royal guards who had been ready to escort her when she was ready. With that, they began to make their way down the hall to reach the exit, and as they approached it, the doors would swing open abruptly to reveal an excited Pinkie who would circle them bouncing.
Twilight would give a giggle before speaking, “Pinkie, what are you doing here? And so early? I really don’t have time right now, I must catch the train in time before it leaves.” Pinkie would stop bouncing for a moment and would land in front of her. “The train? Where are you going? Is it somewhere fun?” She would giggle, looking up at Twilight. In turn Twilight would begin to walk forward again, “I really don’t have time to explain, I’m sorry. I’m scheduled to be there at a certain time, and I want to be there as soon as I can, you understand right..?” Pinkie would quickly jump in front of her again. “Can I tag along? I want to go! Do.. uh whatever it is you're doing.” Twilight would laugh again for a minute, before taking a moment to think. She didn’t want to make Pinkie sad, but she also didn’t want to risk her messing anything up while she was on this venture. “You know what? I suppose I wouldn't mind having a friend come with me as long as you listen to me.. though I mean it Pinkie! This is a very last-minute decision I’ve made here!”
She had thought of bringing along some of her friends but had decided that Ponyville and Canterlot would need them more today, as she could do this mission alone. Though she figured Pinkie would be a good moral support to have anyway, so the exception was made. “All right now, follow me..” Twilight would finally make her way out of the castle, now with a friend to tag along with. Pinkie was definitely excited, funny as Pinkie didn’t even know where she was going, Twilight guessed it must just be exciting to be with her.
They would eventually make it to the train station, and in perfect time too, not as early as she would have liked, but early enough. The train would pull into the station with a loud screech, before stopping fully as the conductor would open the passenger cars. Both Pinkie and Twilight would make their way into one of the cars, guards accompanying them. Pinkie would bounce in her seat as they all got seated, and the train could be heard starting up again after a short while.
“Sooo.. where are we going again?” Pinkie would ask, looking as excited as ever, a smile beaming on her face. Twilight would speak, “The western part of Equestria, I have been notified of a very important discovery, and I have been asked to oversee the research of it. It’s an ancient science laboratory, not sure how it was found, as it wasn’t mentioned to me, but it’s supposed to be extremely old. It contains a very old cry-” Pinkie would quickly interrupt her in classic Pinkie fashion, “Oooh! A dusty old lab! That sounds like lots of fun if you think it’s fun! I bet you they have dust monsters in there, lots of them..” Twilight would roll her eyes and give a smirk. “Pinkie, what are you talking about? Dust monsters don’t exist silly.” Pinkie would look at her with an over-exaggeratedly shocked expression. “Twilight! How could you say that? Dust monsters are very real! I knew some that lived in my basement..” Twilight would roll her eyes again once more as she allowed Pinkie to trail on.
Eventually, the train would stop, to Twilight’s relief, she had heard a good couple of hours of Pinkie’s ramblings of her supposed encounters with ‘Dust Monsters’ for what felt like way too long now. They would all get up and step out onto the station platform after exiting the train. Twilight had never been to the Western half of Equestria, at least not where they were at. She would take a breath of fresh air, and Pinkie would skip around again impatiently. Twilight would scan the area for a moment, she was supposed to be escorted again by some more of the guards and the lead researcher that had taken charge until her arrival. She would spot them on the far end of the station, and before making her way over, would wave to the pair that had escorted her already as they re-boarded the train and were sent back off to Canterlot.
“You must be the lead researcher for this discovery at the moment correct?” Twilight would say as she approached the group, and the mare in question would step forward. "Correct, I just want to thank you for taking the time to come see this.. it's... interesting to say the least. We have found a few things too you might be interested in looking at that we have placed out for you when we get to the site. They began to walk, and Twilight would speak again, "How do you know that this pony is as old as you say it is.." she would ask, and the mare would respond appropriately. "Papers left behind with written dates, it's amazing how pristine and clear the writing was for how long it's been down there. The English appears a little harsh but other than that we were able to understand the writings and documents pretty easily." Twilight would look over with deep intrigue as the researcher continued, "The pony's name.. Harmony. That's all we know, a full name was never mentioned. We don't really know who she was, but we do know that she must have been of the utmost importance based on the notes I mentioned.."
Twilight would think for a moment, taking in the information carefully. "What about the technology in there, have you any idea how it works yet?" The mare would shake her head slowly, "It's almost alien, we haven't a clue of how it functions, but it all appears to still be in proper working order from what we can gather. We decided not to try to activate or touch anything until we knew you were here.." Twilight would give a short nod, "Well thank you, wouldn't want anything sudden to happen before we really have a chance to dig into it."
Pinkie would bounce forward, "Is that it that right over there? That big ol' tapped place?" The researcher would give a nod, nosing in the direction of a small hill, with an opening in the side that had a fitted metal door in place. As they would approach it finally, the researcher would guide them over to the door, before swinging it open carefully. Twilight would step inside, and both Pinkie's and her jaw would drop at the sight shown before them...
Twilight would take a step inside the room, it was enormous, something she wasn’t expecting considering the way it looked from the outside. It was larger than any science laboratory she had ever seen, and to think it had just been hidden here.. left in pristine shape for all these years, decades, centuries? Completely untouched, as if the ponies who worked in it just left one day. The room had a stale smell to it, almost like the walls, though made of concrete, had begun to mold. The air was thick with an overwhelming amount of dust, which was visible in the air itself with any disturbance it received. Not to mention not only along with the air, but it had also coated what seemed like every surface of the room in a dense film of itself, caked in every crevice. The room was cold, with an unignorable, sharp chill. In the middle, a large, test-tube-looking vat stood. Wires and tubes ran in every direction from both the top and bottom ends of it. A glow would emanate from its center, with the silhouette of a pony, presumably, Harmony could be seen inside through the blurred and frosted-over glass.
She would use her horn to create a light, as it appeared as if the lighting system that once worked within it, had failed at some point, and no longer functioned. She would study the room further as Pinkie would make her way in after she had entered. Many desks were stationed about the room, with papers strewn across some, and others neat and orderly. What appeared to be control panels were also present, some sitting alongside the desks, while others were placed in their own specific spots for whatever purpose they served. Twilight would notice only one door stood in the room, near the far back, what it led to? She was to find out, walking forwards over to it. Though before she could touch it, a loud bang could be heard, and Twilight would turn around with a startled expression.
“Oh.. haha, sorry.. that’s my bad.” Pinkie would laugh nervously, a mug from one of the tables had fallen, shattering on the ground in front of her. She would quickly use her hoof to try and sweep the pieces into a small pile, before quickly making her way over to Twilight.
“Pinkie, I thought you knew to be careful!” Twilight would sigh, scolding Pinkie for a moment, before looking back up at her. “Stay with me from now on, and try not to touch anything please.” She would say, before swinging the door in front of her open. Within the second room, what looked like large generators had been lined up and stacked neatly on top of each other, stretching far down the room, though oddly the noise they produced was more of a deep hum than that of a normal generator. “Ah! This is how this place still has power... Amazing it’s held up this long unless it’s somehow self-sustaining..” Twilight would study them for a moment, attempting to figure out how they worked, but would quickly turn back to continue looking at the main room. Though when she turned back Pinkie had disappeared from her sight.
“Pinkie, I thought I told you to stay with-” Twilight would watch as Pinkie was bouncing about, pressing almost every button she saw in sight. Quickly, Twilight would rush over, shoving her away in an attempt to stop her. “What do you think you’re doing?! I told you not to touch anything, and yet you disobeyed me anyway!” She would exclaim angrily, watching as some of the lights and buttons she had touched started to blink in patterns different than what she observed originally.
Pinkie would look down at her hooves, “..but they were all so tempting.. I didn’t think it would do all that much..” she would sulk for a moment, sensing Twilight's anger and disappointment, quickly retreating over to a corner of the room to sit quietly out of her way.
"Yeah.. just.. just stay over there for now okay?" Frustrated, Twilight would stare at one of the control panels trying to figure out how to fix the mess Pinkie had created, but she had no idea how any of it worked in the first place. She started to walk over to Pinkie to talk to her again, only to step on the shattered cup that she had broken earlier, jumping up in pain, her back slamming against one of the larger control panels, before falling forward, pressing more buttons in the process.
Suddenly the vat that contained Harmony would give off a cloud of cold vapor, slowly beginning to slide upward as a crackling sound could be heard coming from it. Twilight, still in pain, would feel her hoof for a moment before looking up, watching as the glass tube retracted, and the frost started to quickly melt and fall apart.
“No! Not yet!” Twilight would only be able to stare as Harmony, easily visible now without the frosted-over tube that had just moments before contained her, could be seen disengaging slowly from the frame that held her within the vat. She would rush over, as Harmony would fall from the frame, slamming against the floor with a loud thud before Twilight had the time to catch her. The researchers who had been stationed outside of the entrance had now rushed inside after all the commotion and stared wide-eyed as Harmony lay unconscious, hopefully, on the ground.
“What did you do?!” The lead researcher whom she had spoken with before had rushed over to her. “I didn’t think you were going to.. b-but how did you.. so early..” She was lost for words, and quite frankly so was Twilight at that moment.
“I promise I didn’t mean to do this, it was by complete mistake... I-I.. someone bring a blanket over here! Please!” Shortly after Twilight's call, one of the researchers would bring over one of the sheets they used to cover some of the equipment, which was better than nothing at that moment, as anything they could use was vital. She would wrap a still, hopefully only unconscious Harmony quickly in it, in an attempt to warm her up.
After a few minutes, she would finally be able to feel a pulse, a thin and long, drawn-out one. Though a pulse nonetheless. A large sigh of relief would come from her, and the rest of the research team. Pinkie would come forward cautiously, stepping toward her.
“Twilight... I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any of this..” Twilight would watch as tears would well up in Pinkie’s eyes, before giving a long sigh. “Pinkie Pie, I know you didn’t... but you knew not to, and yet you still did anyway. I’m still frustrated with you for that.. very much so... You not only just put history at stake, but more importantly the life of a pony. Though you know I always forgive you. For now though, please just stay over there, I don’t want you to mess anything up more than you have already..”
Pinky would nod, still with a sad look plastered across her face, before retreating back to her spot. Twilight would stare down at the pony she held in her arms. Harmony was nothing like her mind led her to believe, she looked like any other pony you could always see wandering Ponyville. Colored white, with purple hair, and a large horn, nothing particularly special. Though her cutie mark... That was something else. Instead of a mark, it was.. a crystal? It was pentagon-shaped, with a center jewel that was silver. She would run her hoof across it only for a second, and in that second a loud grunt could be heard through the room.
