As much as Flurry Heart enjoyed camping, she had to admit that sleeping on the top floor of the Crystal Brighthouse was a bit better than the prairie. She sat up in her sleeping bag and saw the Unity Crystals glisten in the rising sun and admired how stunning they looked. She was grateful to be able to see them in such clarity now, managing only to catch barely a glimpse of them against the raging blizzards and frigid winds that she had collapsed in ages ago.
She crawled out of the sleeping bag, and rolled it, the pillow, and the foam pad into a bundle, and stashed them in the corner where the wind wouldn't blow them off of the edge.
With a stretch, she stepped onto the lift, and the platform smoothly descended to the second floor. From up here, she could hear sizzling from down in the kitchen, and also caught a glimpse of herself in a full-length mirror that was leaning against the wall next to several shelving planks. Deciding a quick shower was in order before she presented herself, she stepped into the bathroom, shut the door, and started running the faucet, getting it up to lukewarm before stepping in and closing the curtain. She didn't dawdle, and got several more minutes of practice in with her levitation magic as she lathered her mane and coat up in shampoo, before magically grabbing the detachable shower head and rinsed herself off. She shook as much excess water off as she could, before drawing the curtain back and stepping out onto the rug, grabbing one of the folded towels from the recessed cubby shelves in the wall. After taking a few minutes to dry herself off and giving her mane a quick once-through with a comb, she was back out in the main room, and trotted down to the first floor, where she saw Sunny setting the table for breakfast.
"Good morning, Flurry. I'm glad you're up so early, so I can give you a private tour of the museum before it opens at 10," Sunny greeted as she set a pair of bowls on the table, filled with steaming strawberry oatmeal.
Flurry glanced at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was nearly 8 o'clock, so they certainly had some time. She sat down and began stirring the hot breakfast with the provided spoon, as it had just come off the stove and was a bit too hot to begin eating immediately.
"Have you thought about what you'd like to do today after our tour? I'm going to be at the museum until 4 o'clock this afternoon," Sunny asked as she took a seat.
"I definitely want to help your friends get this place furnished and livable," Flurry answered. "If this is the home of the Unity Crystals, I certainly want to do my part. I also might ask Pipp for basics on these phones everypony has."
Sunny wished she could keep trying to steer Flurry away from this line of thinking without appearing rude; she had already done her part by creating the Unity Crystals. But to be fair, if she were thrust forward hundreds of years or more herself, she would want to contribute in some way also.
"I'm sure they'll welcome any help. It'll likely be mostly Izzy and Zipp. Pipp has Mane Melody to run, and if any kind of mystery comes up, you can be certain that Zipp'll be on that faster than you can blink. But Izzy's the most creative one of our little group, and I know she'll turn this place from mostly empty to something truly amazing. Pipp can also give you the rundown on any phone you might like... Probably a bit more than a rundown, honestly. But if you want to get up to speed, she's the pony to talk to, absolutely."
After breakfast, Sunny quickly rinsed the dishes out, and made sure her braided mane was presentable before showing Flurry out of the front door, and they made their way down towards Maretime Bay.
"So what did you do before coming to work at the history museum?" Flurry asked as they made their way down the street.
"I ran a small smoothie stand. It was fairly popular. I've even got some requests to somehow incorporate that into my museum gig; maybe a stand out front, but at the same time, neither Cinnamon or I really want food or drink in the museum proper, so, still working on that. I know Maretime Bay loves my smoothies, but right now, I just think history is more important."
"I'd agree with you there, Sunny, and it's probably not fair to expect you to run your cart on your days off from the museum. Everypony needs some downtime."
"I mean, doing it like once a month would probably focus the excitement and demand into one day. I'd run the risk of selling out every time, but better that than having fruit left over to spoil."
"That sounds like the best of both worlds, honestly. Don't give it up entirely, but give ponies a periodic opportunity to come get what they love. Kind of like a fair, right? We held the Crystal Fair once a year, and not all the time, because then it wouldn't be special," Flurry told her.
"And here we are," Sunny announced as they came up the steps to the Maretime Bay Museum of History. The sign said closed, but Sunny slid her key into the lock, gave it a half-turn, and pulled the door open, before re-locking it, holding it open for Flurry to come inside. She followed Sunny around the admission desk into the museum's main hall, where the earth mare immediately headed to the left. She stopped in front of a plaque to the right of the large arched doorway.
"Welcome to the Guardians of Harmony Wing," Sunny told her, presenting the plaque.
Guardians of Harmony Wing
This wing of the Maretime Bay Museum of History is dedicated to
the memory of
ARGYLE STARSHINE
Who never stopped reaching a hoof out in friendship
when his surrounding society would not.
"Your dad?" Flurry asked, recognizing Twilight's cutie mark carved in the wooden pendant around the stallion's neck.
Sunny nodded.
"The studying and research he did set the foundation for what we've done to this place over the past several months."
Flurry stepped up to Sunny as she was led through the archway, and took a long glance at the displays all around her.
The alicorn's eyes were immediately drawn to the larger-than-life cutouts of Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. They were mounted on the walls above several glass display cases, each containing gems. Before approaching the displays, however, she made her way towards the center of the room, where three more exhibits awaited her. The center one was a very impressive scale model of Princess Twilight's castle. She looked down at the etched words on the plaque.
The Kingdom of Friendship
The Tree of Harmony bestowed this residence to Princess Twilight as a beacon of her rule, as she and the other Guardians spread the Magic of Friendship far and wide across the land of Equestria.
To the left of that, a trio of pegasi mannequins hung with Wonderbolt uniforms.
The Wonderbolts
At first formed as an aerial honor guard wing of the Royal E.U.P., the Wonderbolts were known across the nation as the pinnacle of flight acrobatics and demonstrations.
Flurry's gaze moved again, listing over to a large stone tablet over on the right side of the room. Walking over to it, she approached the informational kiosk in front of it.
Replica of Discord's Last Message
Discord was once an antagonistic demigod of chaos that was befriended by Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Guardians of Harmony. But when magic began to fade, so too did his grasp on his corporeal form in this realm. This is an exact replica of the last words he carved into the top tower of Princess Twilight's castle.
"I always thought myself fortunate that Discord never showed much interest in my citizens or my city," Flurry commented. "But I know he was a good friend, albeit in his own way."
With that, she stepped over to the cases of crystals and large hanging cut-outs of Twilight and the other Guardians of Harmony, smiling up solemnly at them, before turning to Sunny.
"You asked what I did in my spare time. I liked to paint. With the images in some of these crystals, I wouldn't have to worry about not remembering what they looked like so long ago."
Sunny's eyes widened, as did her smile.
"Wait right here, Flurry," Sunny said, before trotting back to her small office, coming back out with a coffee table book, and offered it to her.
"All of the pictures in these crystals were printed out to the best of our ability in here. Take it, compliments of the museum."
Flurry accepted the book, flipping through a few pages, before closing it and returning her attention to the earth mare.
"You're right to believe preserving history is more important than smoothies that your fellow ponies enjoy, Sunny. This is work you should be very proud of, and I know your dad would be proud of you. Even with my time suspended in limbo, I know nothing of what awaits us on the other side. But even so, I can't imagine a worse fate than to simply be forgotten."
"Thank you, Flurry. That means a lot."
"I'll certainly come back and take a closer look at everything, but for now I'll get out of your mane, and go find your friends to start to help with the lighthouse, and maybe talk to Pipp about smartphone basics," Flurry told her.
Sunny nodded with a smile, walking Flurry to the main entrance, and locking the door after she left, since the museum wouldn't be opening for another hour or so. As soon as Flurry was out of sight, Sunny got out her phone, and went through her contacts, before stopping at Izzy.
Sunny
Hey Izzy,I can't think of anypony better to ask. Flurry likes painting as a hobby. Could you get her some supplies to use up on the top floor? Keep it a surprise if you can. :)
The Museum sounds really nice, and I can't wait to see what Flurry paints!
The A/N picture is adorable too, I bet Flurry really misses Whammy now, he was probably left behind in the Empire
Awww. Yet another well done chapter. Definitely liked Sunny and Flurry's dialogue as well as the future chapter set-up. Definitely liked Flurry's museum tour as well as Flurry giving Sunny the idea of making the smoothie stand deal kind of a "special event" type deal as a good compromise. Also liked Sunny getting the idea to talk to Izzy about Flurry's painting hobby. And, yeah, I could see where Flurry might be missing her old snail. Though, perhaps she might be happy to find out about the Pegasnails (even if she might be curious as how certain animals gained either unicorn or Pegasus traits).
Anyway, definitely looking forward to more of this.
Bro, I hope Whammy shows up. Flurry would be so happy! also… maybe Flurry could become a painter or run the museum for Sunny so she won’t worry about her other job?
Btw I love that artwork of Adult Flurry with Whammy
11390381
I could totally see she taking a flying snail as a pet
Well it looks like flurry heart really made herself at home no it's the fact that she'll probably be living here and it looks like sunny took flurry heart to check out the museum and somehow bringing some old memories from her past and how much they really want to keep the memories of the main six and everybody who helped to bring back friendship to everybody even making a tribute to Sunny's father but it looks like Izzy and sunny are making a surprise for Flurry i wonder what could it be guess we'll find out next time
11390393
same
great chapter
Not sure if anyone has noticed, but in mym Sunny's hair isn't braided anymore, it's now curled. I don't have a problem with it, just didn't notice it myself til I watched chapter 2 when it came out 2 weeks ago.
drinks*
Doing it once a month sounds about a good idea if you ask me.
Agree entirely, no history or story deserves to be forgotten.
It's hard avoiding feeling useless when you've been thrust (literally) out of your depth.
this story is amazing.
Good job on your new chapter, I like it!
*sees end of story artwork*
SNAIL!
"But even so, I can't imagine a worse fate than to simply be forgotten."
This hits hard on multiple levels, because I know at least two other MLP G4 characters who would agree with that statement.
Hey, Izzy,
I can't think of anypony better to ask. Flurry likes painting as a hobby. Could you get her some supplies to use up on the top floor? Keep it a surprise if you can. :)
"That sounds like the best of both worlds, honestly. Don't give it up entirely but give ponies a periodic opportunity to come to get what they love. Kind of like a fair, right? We held the Crystal Fair once a year, and not all the time, because then it wouldn't be special," Flurry told her.
"I ran a small smoothie stand. It was fairly popular. I've even got some requests to somehow incorporate that into my museum gig; maybe a standout front, but at the same time, neither Cinnamon nor I really want food or drink in the museum proper, so, still working on that. I know Maretime Bay loves my smoothies, but right now, I just think history is more important."
"So, what did you do before coming to work at the history museum?" Flurry asked as they made their way down the street.
With a stretch, she stepped onto the lift, and the platform smoothly descended to the second floor. From up here, she could hear sizzling from down in the kitchen, and also caught a glimpse of herself in a full-length mirror that was leaning against the wall next to several shelving planks. Deciding a quick shower was in order before she presented herself, she stepped into the bathroom, shut the door, and started running the faucet, getting it up to lukewarm before stepping in and closing the curtain. She didn't dawdle and got several more minutes of practice in with her levitation magic as she lathered her mane and coat up in shampoo, before magically grabbing the detachable shower head and rinsed herself off. She shook as much excess water off as she could, before drawing the curtain back and stepping out onto the rug, grabbing one of the folded towels from the recessed cubby shelves in the wall. After taking a few minutes to dry herself off and giving her mane a quick once-through with a comb, she was back out in the main room and trotted down to the first floor, where she saw Sunny setting the table for breakfast.
11414423
You've incorrectly labeled "standout". "Stand out" was correct, because it's a smoothie "stand", "out" in front!