//------------------------------//
// Donation, Part II 
// Story: Forgotten 
// by milesprower06 
//------------------------------//

"Well, this is certainly... Different," Alphabittle remarked as he fidgeted in the white multi-piece "clean room suit" that he had gotten into, honestly a bit surprised that they had had one in his size.

He and Sunny had returned the sealed book to it's cloth wrap and chest, and taken it straight to what was clearly the biggest employer in town, a large production factory named CanterLogic. They were each given visitor passes, and their chest was taken through security while they were taken to get changed. The suit consisted of white booties, body sleeve, and a hood that covered their mane and came up to their faces. A face mask covered their snouts, leaving the only part uncovered being their eyes.

"We don't know exactly how old this book is, or how long it's been sealed in that bag. The longer the better, if the seal has held. Worst case scenario is, we open that book, and the pages start coming apart with every turn. A better case would be if it's in good enough condition to get pages turned and get them photographed for copying. Best case scenario is it's in good enough condition to put on display in the museum. We're taking it to a clean room, with minimum contamination factor, so if it's in good enough condition to be photographed and lightly handled, it can stay that way for as long as possible."

"You're the expert," Alphabittle replied.

"I wish."

Once they were fully dressed, they went through a set of double doors, where they immediately felt the change in air pressure. The mat they stepped onto was sticky, and was likely meant to get any last contaminants off of their hooves. They crossed through another set of double doors, and suddenly the air seemed a bit lighter. A CanterLogic employee was waiting for them in the brightly lit hall.

"You were the two with the book? Right this way, ma'am, sir," the equally clad earth pony said, and led them past several doors with glass observation windows, and stopped at the fourth one.

"It's right in there, take as much time as you need,"he said, then proceeded down the hall. Sunny and Alphabittle looked into the room through the window, and saw that the book had been removed from the chest and cloth wrap, and sat on a simple, plain table, still sealed in the bag.

She opened the door, and the pair of them stepped in. A high resolution digital camera had also been set up, attached to a bracket that kept it suspended a foot and a half above the table, and also plugged into a screen that was on a separate stand next to the table. Next to the sealed book, was a set of tweezers, and a retractable precision blade, presumably to open the bag. They stepped up to the table, and looked at their donation. Taking a deep breath, Sunny extended the blade by just a quarter of an inch, got the handle in the notch in her right hoof, then ever so lightly glided the blade across the top of the bag, then making two more cuts long ways on both sides of the book, intending on peeling the top of the bag away with minimal movement of the book.

With the cuts complete, she retracted the blade and set it down on the far side of the table, taking the top of the bag and peeling the new flap towards her, exposing the book for the first time in unknown centuries. She got the top flap of the bag rolled up, and slowly and carefully pulled the bottom portion out from underneath, setting it aside.

The camera had already been turned on, so it was just a matter of getting it positioned, the camera took care of the focusing, and she promptly snapped a picture of the cover, which came up on the screen seconds later.

Taking another deep breath, she got the tip of her right hoof underneath the right corner of the front cover, and lifted it, rotating it on the binding, bringing it to rest on the table.

The inside cover had a signature on it, elegant and curvy enough that she couldn't make it out. 'T' something...

The first page was the title.


The Journal of Friendship
by
Princess Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie , Applejack,
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy
and
Spike the Dragon


Sunny stared longingly at the names below the title, almost forgetting to take a photo with the above camera.

"Their names..." She whispered. "I finally know their names..."

She took the tweezers in the notch of her hooves, got them perfectly under the first page, and turned it, to the Table of Contents and the Preface.

She quickly snapped a photo of the Table of Contents, then slid the camera over to the Preface, snapping away before actually taking the time to read it.




Preface

When Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville all those years ago to study friendship, I was tasked with writing her letters about what I had learned. But soon I was learning as much from my new friends as they were from each other, and we all began to write letters.

Inside these pages are the combined lessons that we have all learned during our time together, compiled so that anypony out there can learn the same lessons we did and understand the true magic of friendship.

Thank you for taking the time to apply these stories and life lessons to yourself and those around you.

Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle



"I don't believe it. This is amazing, this is amazing, I can probably use this as a cross reference for the gems!" She said excitedly, turning to the unicorn standing to the side. "Alphabittle, I won't keep you. This is going to take me hours."

"Don't worry about it. I was planning on spending a day or two here anyways, see the sights of the coast," the stallion replied.

"Well, I certainly hope you enjoy yourself, and when you do get back to Bridlewood, please, give Gloomy my gratitude, and tell her that if there's absolutely anything I can do for her, to not hesitate to ask, because there is no way I can repay her for the insights she has just revealed to us. I would love to have you both at the re-opening."

Alphabittle smiled down at the earth mare.

"I'll do that, and we'll try our best to be here for that. And when you're back in Bridlewood, I believe I'll take you up on that rematch."

With a final smile, he turned to leave the room, and Sunny immediately turned back to the open journal, carefully turning the page, and getting the camera lined up.




Chapter 1
Friendship is Magic