//------------------------------//
// Loyalty 
// Story: Tales from the Conversion Bureau: The Last Bastion 
// by Sachiel 
//------------------------------//

Smithsonian Consolidated Museum, Washington, State of Colombia, United States of America, years ago

Marcia Coffin checked herself in the mirror hanging in her locker, suit nice and neat, or as much as it could be after a day's work, name tag stashed away, hair looking good in its topknot

“It's worth it, it's always worth it” her mantra said and done she took a deep breath, closed her locker and headed off, her shoes clacking on the marble as she made her way back out to the museum floor


In the wake of the barriers advance into the continental United States (Alaska and Hawaii were long gone sadly) things had to be reassessed, not as many people could make the time to visit museums anymore. The Smithsonian made the decision to reduce its size again, and again and again, over the centuries it had gone from seventeen museums to thirteen, then to ten, then eight, then five, then three and now, finally, to one. The Consolidated Museum showcased the very best of the vast collection, the absolute cream of the crop which had only grown as more and more nations either fell, lost communications or gave up, dissolved themselves and entered the Conversion Bureaus. It was as much a museum to the vanished nations as it was a museum to actual exhibits

The Consolidated Museum wasn't one building but a group of several clustered tightly together surrounding a big courtyard. The museum docent headed there, it was where they met groups who booked guided tours of the greatest museum left in the world (for all they knew), finding a comfy bench in the afternoon sun she sat down

Marcia was off the clock but it had been a long day, most guests didn't realize how far the docents walked giving tours and she was glad to have the time to rest her feet and get some of her strength back before heading to her volunteer job. She also liked to people watch, she saw people from all walks of life here, inner city, suburbs, rural areas, a few looked like they'd just stepped off the plane or the greyhound. All of them here to soak in the history, to learn, to see the past glories of humanity and the planet that had produced it, a final flicker before the light was snuffed out by a blazing wall of magic


“Hey, when's the next tour?” a voice called out, Marcia looked around trying to see who'd asked her the question

“Down here” she craned her head down, there standing in front of her was a pegasus, her coat a dull blue, a few crows feet snaking out from the corners of her dark pink eyes and a few great hairs of varying hue in her rainbow mane. She was wearing an old school bomber jacket with an aviator scarf, her jacket had a patch on it with six purple, yellow, blue, red, green and pink gems arrayed around a six-pointed magenta star on a dark background

Pony immigrants (equine-americans if you wanted to be technical) weren't common to start with, the US had gotten the most and since the Schism of Harmony they'd only gotten fewer, even in the nations capital Marcia could count the times she'd talked to one on both hands, both inside and outside of work. They didn't mix much, some didn't like them, trotting, talking reminders of their eventual fate

Marcia was trained to be able to talk to the Smithsonian's guests, regardless of race, gender, creed or species, she didn't hesitate

“Hello ma'am”
“Hey, so when's the next tour?” Marcia glanced around, she was the only docent in the courtyard, she checked her watch

“Next one's in half an hour”
“Can't you go now?”
“Sorry I'm off the clock”
“Just got off and you're taking it easy before heading home?” Marica smiled nervously
“Something like that”

“Man I've been there” the pegasi said understandingly, the two sharing a fleeting moment of camaraderie “I won't keep ya, thanks for the heads up” and turned to go
“Wait” the pegasi stopped “I've got some time before my volunteer work, I could show you around if you want so you're not waiting here”
“You sure?”
“It's fine, I was just going to mess around on my phone anyway”

“Thanks...uh...”
“Marcia”
“Rainbow Dash”
“Nice to meet you Rainbow” she rose to her feet, finding fresh energy from somewhere “now come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover” Rainbow suppressed a chuckle as she followed the egghead into the first building


Two hours later they exited the final door back into the courtyard

“And that's everything, the Smithsonian hopes you enjoyed this pro bono tour, feel free to visit the gift shop” Marcia finished
“That was awesome, can't believe I live here but I never came here before”

“Whereabouts do you live?” Rainbow Dash pointed out over the horizon to the far side of the Potomac
“I've got a little place over Arlington, I fly over this place when I commute in to my job”
“What do you do?”
“Got an advisor gig to the government, it's classified, sorry” the two stood in silence, unsure what to say as the sun crept lower on the horizon

“Umm listen, I've got to get to my volunteer job” Marcia said, breaking the silence
“That's okay, thanks for giving me the tour, it was really nice of you” the pegasi bent her knees, preparing for takeoff

“No my volunteer job is here” Rainbow cocked her head
“You volunteer at the same job?”
“Not on the floor, it's in the archive” she rubbed the back of her head “I'm not sure why I'm saying this but do you wanna come with me? Get a look at the behind the scenes work?”
“Sure I got no place to be, lead on kid”


Half an hour later Marica was leading Rainbow Dash deeper and deeper into the labyrinth that was the archives, set back in a series of large warehouses next to the museum site. The security guards weren't convinced by her vouching for the pegasus but after Rainbow pulled out an ID card their eyes went wide and they sheepishly let her pass. She'd shut it before Marcia could get a good look but she could make out the White House seal on the front of the card holder

Along the way she pointed out bits and pieces of the vast collection, wall paintings from the Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Teddy Roosevelt's spectacles, the death mask of Sitting Bull (Rainbow muttered something about wanting a strong heart to see it), Ashley's Sack, George Washington's sword and the hat used by Harrison Ford in the first Indiana Jones movie (which Rainbow promptly declared awesome), finally they arrived at her workplace. It was nestled in-between two large rows of storage stacks, little more than a wide table and a few chairs

“So what do you actually...do?” Rainbow asked, looking around, in front of her was the wide table with a big heavy metal arm hanging above it, on it a line of tiny brushes and scrapers, a tiny well of what looked like very, very old ink and taking up the centre was a large piece of parchment. It was old and tattered and most of it was a solid block of writing in an old fashioned style, below it she could make out signatures. Fifty six of them in total

“At the moment I'm working to restore this” she moved to pick up one of the fine bushes
“What...is it?” the pegasi asked curiously
“It's a first edition copy of the Declaration of Independence, one of the very first lot of copies made from the original, it turned up in the stuff brought by the British government-in-exile. I've got to check the wording, repair the fraying if I can, strengthen the parchment and clean the dust off it” Marcia moved the metal arm so Rainbow could look through the lens on it. She realized it was a microscope, trained on the Declaration she could see one name: William Whipple, the letters were faded but she could still make them out with the extra help the microscope provided

“Why? She asked her voice suddenly a lot heavier
“Well we need to clean it up and get it ready for viewing”
“No, why are you doing it?” now it had a tinge of anger to it
“It's one of the most important documents in our nations history, why wouldn't I do it?” Marcia replied, her dark eyes wide and weary, she'd already guessed what was coming next

“No, why are you doing this? All of this” she swept her wing around, gesturing to the entire archive “isn't going to matter”
“What do you mean?”
“The barrier's going to wash over this place and what's left will be gone”
“There's still time, we could find a way to stop it, the government's top people are work-” Rainbow slammed her hooves down on the table, rattling the ink bottle, Marica jumped back, clutching the brush

“They're not! They don't know how to stop it, I've been there, I've seen what they know, what they're tried, nothing's worked! At this rate it's going to finish off the midwest in three years, it'll be at the eastern divide in five and then it'll either drive you into the Conversion bureaus or into the sea. That's it, no more United States! You'll either be brainwashed ponies or you'll be gone and no-pony but no-pony is going to care about these old bits of junk or some old piece of paper!”

Marcia looked like she was about to cry, she felt her lip trembling, it was worth it, it was worth it, wasn't it?

Yes

Yes, it was

She took a step forward, clutching the brush like it was a protective talisman


“It's worth it”
“Why?” Rainbow's voice changed, like she was pleading, desperate to know
“Because when I finish it it will be preserved, it will last for decades, centuries, no matter what, even if some pony stumbles across it in some dusty archive in Canterlot or Ponyville or wherever it ends up two hundred years form now they'll see it. They'll see a sign of rebellion from tyranny, the strive for freedom, the desire to make something new, something better than what came before. They'll see its words and know what they mean” she took another step forwards

“It's going to remain” she waved a hand around “all of this is going to remain, the barrier won't change it, that's why we're doing it, why we're preserving it. There are plans, they're going to hide this stuff all around the country before the barrier covers it. So that years from now ponies will find it, they'll remember what humanity was all about, what we did, good and bad. Even if there are no humans to see it it will still be here, here to tell our story and until the barrier comes I'll spend every day I can here, making sure our legacy survives”

The pegasi looked at her, unsure of what to say, she didn't need to say anything, both of them knew what passed between them in the silence, finally Rainbow spoke

“I should get going, thanks for this, not gonna forget it for a long time” Marcia smiled warmly
“No problem, come on I'll walk you out”


Outside the warehouse Rainbow paused

“Look, I'm sorry I said that stuff, it's just...”
“It's worth it, we just need to remember that sometimes” the young woman shivered in the evening air, Rainbow reached up and pulled the scarf from around her neck, neither of them noticed a rainbow coloured glow that flashed in both their eyes

“Here”
“It's pretty cold up there”
“I'm used to it kid, here, take it, consider it a donation” Marcia took the scarf and wrapped it round her neck
“You could always come back, there's a lot in the archives still to see”
“I'd like that, you guys sure left a lot of awesome stuff to see and I wanna see as much as I can, thanks Marcia, I'll see you around”


With that the Element of Loyalty bent her creaky knees, flapped her wings and sprang from the ground, soaring higher and higher into the gold and red streaked sky and disappearing into the white clouds above. As she climbed she was painfully aware of how much more work it was, how tired she was getting, how much time had passed since that day all those years ago when she'd left her home behind for this brave new world