Forgotten

by milesprower06


Donation, Part I

Two Weeks Later...

With another trio of sprays from the bottle of window cleaner, Sunny began to gently wipe the cleaning solution across the top glass panel of the still-empty Guardian wing's fourth oak and glass display case. It streaked at first, but after about thirty seconds of rubbing it in, it looked absolutely crystal clear. With that done, she set the cleaner aside, and grabbed the wood polish, dousing a fresh rag with it, and slowly made her way around the wooden beams and supports.

There was nothing in here except for the lighting and empty cases so far, and to be honest, they weren't entirely sure how or even if they were going to use these so far. CanterLogic hadn't gotten back to them yet about a projection method for the castle gems, and for all she knew, they could be utilizing their own display cases to speed up development.

She knew she would have to find places to put all of her dad's collection, most of which thankfully survived Sprout's assault on the lighthouse. But she knew she wanted the gems to be the centerpiece of this wing, so she'd have to figure out how they would be getting displayed first. So for now, and every day for the past two weeks, she was happy to go over every inch of this empty wing and clean to her heart's content, so when the time came to begin sorting and organizing, she would be absolutely ready.

"Miss Starscout!" She heard Mystic Cinnamon call as he came in from the center hall. "Ah, there you are. You have a visitor waiting at the front desk. Sheesh, you're going to put my custodian out of work."

Bundling up the rag and tossing it on the floor next to the bottle of polish, Sunny got to her hooves and sauntered out into the center hall, where a bit more progress was being made with donations and relics from more recent years, or just as old, but not directly related to the Guardians of Harmony.

She came to the front of the building, out of the center wing and saw the front admissions desk, where a familiar face was standing and waiting patiently.

"Alphabittle! How have you been?" She enthusiastically greeted the Bridlewood tavern owner. The stout unicorn stallion likewise gave her a warm smile.

"As well as I can be. It's great to see you, Sunny. I've been spreading the word about your museum, specifically the wing you've been put in charge of, and I've got a donation for you. I considered it important enough to not trust with ordinary mail."

Sunny nodded in understanding. Nationwide courier service was still in the very early stages, and delays and mis-handlings were common. It was mostly the reason deliveries to the museum were taking as long as it was, as museum curators were relying instead on independent couriers, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"That's amazing! What do you have?" She asked.

Alphabittle ducked behind his side of the desk, and it sounded like he was unlatching a chest. He came back up with a rectangular item that was wrapped in several pieces of cloth, and set it gently on the desk.

"Who do we have in Bridlewood to thank for this?" She asked, as she slowly began to unwrap the pieces of cloth.

"Gloomy Sonnet. She was the poet in my tavern that called out our dance rounds during our little competition. She credits her great grandfather, who was very adamant about keeping his family collectibles in mint condition." The stallion replied.

Sunny smirked up at him.

"I'm totally down for a rematch one of these days." She said. He returned the smirk.

Her eyes widened as the final piece of cloth was pulled away, and she stared down at the semi-transparent vacuum-sealed bag, looking positively ancient all on its own, never mind the dark purple hardcover-bound book contained inside it.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the six-pointed amethyst star on the front, surrounded by a horseshoe patterned with five other gems.

She slowly raised her head to look up at Alphabittle, her mouth having dropped open in absolute shock.

"I'm assuming that you have a little bit more of an idea of what we've got here." Alphabittle replied, taking in her expression.

With hooves moving like lightning, Sunny dug into her saddlebag and came out with her smartphone, swiping through the lock screen and hitting the speed dial, putting the phone to her ear.

"Hello, Phyllis? It's Sunny. No, no I'm not calling about the projectors, I know these things take time. We need a clean room and a high-resolution camera as soon as absolutely possible. Can you make that happen?"

The unicorn stallion noticed the earth mare was nearly quivering as she listened in to the other side of the line.

"Really? Amazing. We'll be right there."

Sunny tapped the end call button and dropped her phone back into her saddlebag.

"Mystic! I'm headed out! Don't expect me back today!" She yelled back into the center wing, before turning back to Alphabittle.

"Come on, wrap that thing back up and let's go."