"I will not give them the means to repeat their actions, with merely the greater ease in doing so." The empress announced her intentions in grand fashion, standing from her chair, hooves upon the table.
This meeting was taking place in the empress's dining hall. The dining table having been cleared of its usual serving ware, it was now seated with ponies from across the empire.
At the head of the table, the empress was in rare form; Leaving little room for misconceptions of her stance on bringing the ancients technologically up to speed.
"With time we have developed, for example; The ability to deploy environments to barren worlds, and the same ability can be used to remove the same. In contrast, with comparatively meager abilities at their disposal... past deeds stand as testament to their applications." She finished softly, sitting into her chair.
This stance, had a knock-on effect which would be costly for the empire, in the areas of; planning and time.
"Should they envision and desire such abilities, I put it to them to devise such, and not be hooved it. That through the toil, wisdom of application can be attained and held this time, with more success than previous. I attest that there would be little recurring consideration, for an ability; so lightly bartered" The empress finished her opening declaration.
"But your highness, these're developments made from their works and ideas, at least in some small way? Shouldn't they be given something??" Cliff Edge; Organizer of Terraforming Operations, pleaded.
"They will, however it will be but a fraction of what I had preserved." Moon responded.
"So little? Why?" Sandy Beaches; Ocean Formation Planner, added to his argument.
"What comparatively little I had salvaged, would have otherwise been eradicated by their own devices. It is my position, that due to those self-imposed actions, everything that we possess from that time; no longer exists to them. Had I not intervened, it would not exist, nor would there be anypony or other to wake them. Nor anyplace habitable for their kind, should they have revived successfully, at any point in time" The dark alicorn rambled on.
"Well... still.." Cliff Edge maintained.
"Provided that I duplicated my library in it's entirety, by the time their population grew sizable enough to utilize it; it would have crumbled beyond repair. Eventually coming to the tomes to learn of their contents, only to have the pages
crumble at their hoof tips. The paper, having been weakened by centuries of exposure to the natural environment."
"Only through meticulous exact reprinting, of contents not fully understood...could they maintain the advanced knowledge. To a time where it could even be used, provided it not having been lost through corruption, or even disregard" Moon finished.
"Maybe, that's why we found nothing stored alongside them, where they slumbered?" Stone Arch proposed.
"Oh? But you did, Arch, in a fashion" Moon corrected him.
"Huh? What do you mean, your highness? The data storage units were all blank?" He asked.
Nodding in agreement, the empress explained;
"Those storage units had something on them at one time. However, the contents fade into nothingness as they slowly discharge, reverting to their inert natural state, over time. Akin to words fading from a page, they became blank."
Flashing a knowing look, the empress added;
"There was a reason why I exhaustively enchanted every book and item in my libraries, along with the infrastructure of my city, with degradation wards. Every single device, would have eventually suffered irreversible amnesia. Becoming pointless inert objects, had I not"
"Wouldn't at least, their mechanical equipment have eventually outlasted the effects?" Swaying Tree; Atmospheric Establishment Designer, asked her highness.
Shaking her head, Moon said dejectedly;
"No it would not have. In a mere thousand years, a drop in a glass, it was already failing them. I presume they trusted to fate, whether there would be any revival, as they entered preservation. Such fate, has its cost; Knowledge lost, is one of those desperate trades. They themselves, have pushed them into a more primitive means of living"
"Life is going to be harder for them, for a long time... There won't be any machines, beasts of burden, or even mining experience, I expect" Green Fields; Flatlands Designer, remarked.
"It will indeed be more laborious than they are accustomed to. Those refugees, are of a living time capsule. Sealed at the zenith and decline of their time, their minds and culture adjusted to that era... One which I am familiar with its advantages and shortcomings"
Looking up to the ceiling, the empress mused openly;
"Perhaps they will come to know themselves and each other, once again?" she said cryptically.
"What do mean, your highness? They didn't know who they were?" Wooden Beam; Historical Architecture Consultant, asked.
Shaking her head, she dismissed his question;
"I...will not elaborate further. Merely maintain hope for their prosperity, as it is all we can offer to them in perpetuity. Hope that they will abandon the ways which forced them into those containers.. to await a bleak landscape, nothing in hoof, should they have revived on their own..."
"Why the directive to transport them to another world? The isolation?" Pointed Pick; Head of Resources Mining and Geolocation, asked.
Thinking it over for a moment, she put her thoughts into words;
"Given time, I am quite certain that they would come to see us as oppressive... Living here, yet denied our advancements and means, would turn their envy, into anger"
"How could that happen? Lots of ponies have access to things, and still farm or do things without them?" Paper Pulp; Head of Physical Publications Production asked the empress, not comprehending a connection between the two.
"Oh? Ah. The wonderful thing about the ancients, was there desire to do something more effectively. It drove them to craft, and devise crafts. That same desire, would drive them to apply existing means into their labors. Should they see a more effective means, yet be denied access to it... Their impatience would turn their perspectives, often quite darkly"
As he thought on it, the empress summarized her point;
"Showing them what they could not have, would be cruelty in their eyes. Which is one of the ways I empathize with them. And thus, I will not tease them with things beyond their reach"
"So that's why... far away, out of sight?" Paper Pulp confirmed.
Nodding in response, Moon told her;
"Only a hint of what is out there and exists. To inspire their imaginations, their sense of wonder. I hope?"
"How will you hint? How can you hint without giving too much away?" Vector Graph; Manager of Materials Transportation wondered.
Smiling a little, she told her;
"I believe a plaque will do."
"A plaque?" Brass Ring; Their Consultant of Metallurgy's ears having perked at that, asked.
Nodding "Yes, a message. One that tells of what happened. Of an intelligence that revived them, made a world habitable for them as their old world would no longer sustain them. One that hopes to meet them again amongst the stars one day. That we will be waiting, with memory of their past deeds where they were found. Trusting that they would prove that our efforts were not wasted..."
"Hm. Sounds...parental, I guess?" Canopy Shade; Director of Terra-forming Forestry Implementation remarked.
"I, it does. Like grown foals having left home, wishing them our best..." the empress became a little misty eyed.
"I suppose, they are like adopted foals to me. Though ones I had not raised since their births, and yet I care for their well being, more than I dare admit to myself" She sniffed.
Wiping her eye, she added;
"And like any other foals, they were at times... quite trying of my patience" she finished with a laugh.
Thinking about it for a few moments, she made a prediction;
"With what they already know and remember, combined with what they are about to find out? I doubt we will have to wait long before we see them again.."
The conversation turning to the dry logistical planning phase, ponies around the table traded ideas back and forth of the hows, wheres and whens.
The hundreds of ancients having been recovered and stabilized in their own stasis methods, it was now time to work out the practical part of where they were going to have their first village and settlement.
As she listened to her ponies, the empress thought;
"I am going to have to talk to them...at least to know which tongue to print their books in? However, memory suppression spells do not work very well...and my linguistics in their tongues is rusty. How can I avoid exposing myself, whom we are, and what we are up to? The last thing I need is to portray pony-kind as deep seeded enemies of the ancients..."