Forgotten

by milesprower06


Remembering

Sunny's eyes opened up and saw her ceiling as her 7 AM alarm blared out like clockwork. She reached over and shut the alarm off, and sat up, stretching as she swung her hind legs over the edge of the bed. Tying her hair in her signature braid, she went over to her closet and pulled out the black cloth vest that served as her uniform for museum curator. Her name tag had been polished last night, and the small buttons featuring the cutie marks of the six Guardians had been transferred over from her saddlebag to all four sides of her name tag.

She thought about throwing it on and heading out right away, but the museum didn't open until 10 AM, and she didn't need to be there for final checks until 9, so she had a bit of time to play with. Putting a hoof to her chin, she took the vest off of the hanger and took it downstairs, laying it over the back of the couch while she went to the kitchen, and preheated the oven while she started to go through her baking supplies...


Sunny was nearly overflowing with excitement as she stood in the middle of the Guardians of Harmony wing, refurbished, refilled, and ready for the opening in five minutes. Upon stepping into the wing proper, the first thing to grab your attention was the amazing miniature-scale crystal replica of Princess Twilight's castle. Izzy took her arts and crafts very seriously, and took every available reference image in the memory gems to carve and chisel a near-perfect replica of how the castle looked back in its prime. The unicorn was fully prepped for the day with notes and facts about it and the surrounding town of Ponyville for curious patrons.

"It looks amazing, Izzy. The best unicycling I've ever seen," Sunny told the unicorn, who stood proudly next to her exhibit.

"Eh, I'd say it's more uni-chiseling than unicycling this time around. But I'm glad you like it! I hope everypony else does too!" Izzy replied.

To the left of the central castle exhibit, was the Wonderbolts display, containing three pegasus mannequins. One had the Academy recruit uniform, which was quite simple, covering the barrel and neck of the left mannequin.

Next to that was the formal dress uniform, which consisted of a white dress shirt, black neck tie, and a dark navy blue coat, with all manner of ribbons and insignia adorning the chest. Finishing off the mannequin was a pair of aviator shades.

Finally, hanging from the ceiling above both of them was the 'in-flight' pegasus mannequin, fully clad in the Wonderbolts flight suit. This covered the entire body, legs, hooves, and only had openings for the ears, wings, tail, and muzzle. Completing the uniform was the opaque flight goggles tightly wrapped around the head.

Standing next to the exhibit was Zipp, clothed in a second dress uniform.

"Looking sharp, Captain Storm," Sunny told her.

Zipp gave her a smirk.

"Gotta say, I could get used to hearing that," the pegasus replied.

Sunny walked over to the right of the castle model, where an oak and glass display case sat in the open, containing the Journal of Friendship. A gold plaque was mounted on the front of the display, titling the item inside, thanking the town of Bridlewood, as well as Gloomy Sonnet specifically, for donating it to the museum.

In the back corner, a replica of the crystal wall with Discord's final inscription was lit up on display. She and Mystic had debated for a few days on whether they should complete Discord's signature on the wall, before ultimately deciding against it, as Sunny believed patrons should realize that he had written this message with the very last bit of his energy, not lasting long enough to finish his name.

Pipp was currently in the center wing, livestreaming with her phone before the doors opened for everypony else, and Hitch was outside on crowd control. Apparently, word had gotten around, and this museum re-opening was the biggest event in town, and Mystic Cinnamon was currently figuring out the best way to make sure they didn't bypass the building's occupancy limit.

The castle model, Wonderbolt exhibit, and Journal display took up the center of the wing, and CanterLogic's new gem projector displays took up the outer walls.

The wood and glass display cases were not needed, as CanterLogic's solution included their own. Each case held fourteen crystals safely underneath a macro lens, which positioned itself perfectly above a gem that museum patrons could select with a simple button panel, mirroring the layout of the gems in the case. Once a button was pressed, the lens moved into place, and the image was sent to a monitor built into the top of the case. A smaller display below the buttons displayed any info that had been gathered about the memory contained in the gem.

There were sixteen identical cases ringing the outer walls of the wing, and Sunny had decided to sort them by the guardian they focused on, providing large cutout art mounted on the walls above the cases to inform patrons what the cases focused on. From left to right, stills of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all looked proudly into the distance.

"And that concludes our pre-show of the Maretime Bay Museum of History Re-Opening!" exclaimed Pipp, coming back into the Guardians wing with her phone still live. "Again, sorry if you couldn't be here, as things are looking to be quite lively and crowded today. Check back later, Pippsqueaks, because I'll be doing interviews with donors and museum curators throughout the day. Later!"

Pipp tapped the record button to stop the feed, then pocketed her phone and turned her attention to Sunny.

"Alright, pre-show is done. You ready for this crowd?" She asked the earth pony.

"I sure hope so. That crowd is more than twice what I was expecting, wow!" Sunny said, glancing out past the front desk to see Hitch patrolling down the line, making sure everypony was staying orderly.

"Alright," came the voice of Mystic Cinnamon as he came out of his back office. "I've done the numbers. We can have thirty patrons to a wing at a time, thirty standing by in Admissions, and no more than one hundred twenty in the building at any given time. Think we can keep things moving?"

Sunny glanced to the exit, where a second semi-circle desk had been added to keep track of the patron count, as well as double as a gift shop. Two stacks of identical books, containing four dozen new copies of the Journal of Friendship waited to be bought for five bits each on the way out, with all proceeds going to the upkeep of the museum.

"I think we are, yeah. This is so exciting!" Sunny said, glancing down at her vest, making sure it was even, and making sure her name tag was level.

"Alright, then I guess we'll say a few words, and we'll start letting them in," Cinnamon said, walking out to the front area, taking one last look at the clock on the wall, watching the second hand tick over to 10 AM. With that, he walked out to the front steps, as Sunny and Pipp waited in the lobby.

"Ponies of Maretime Bay and beyond, welcome to the re-opening of our Museum of Equestrian History. Please let me take a moment now and thank the museums in Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights for participating in an exchange of artifacts that has lasted the past few months, and the couriers, several of whom are here today, for getting everything here safely, as we strive to correct our histories and learn more about ourselves and each other as Equestria continues to reunite."

Cinnamon paused to allow for cheering and stomping from the crowd.

"Me and my staff will admit, today's turnout is well above expectations, so it will take time to get all of you through our exhibits. We will give groups enough time to take everything in, and rest assured, we will get all of you in here to look at what we have managed to gather. Thank you again, and please enjoy your visit."

With that, he stood aside and Hitch began to let them file in. Mystic greeted each of them as they passed through the doors, as did Sunny, shaking hooves until she saw a familiar unicorn walk in. She had a light gray coat, a black mane concealing her right eye, a red scarf around her neck, and a scarlet beret around her horn and covering her left ear.

"You must be Gloomy Sonnet. It's so nice to finally meet you." Sunny said, coming up and hugging the unicorn mare.

"I'm glad so many others can see that heirloom now, instead of it collecting dust in an attic," Gloomy replied.

"It's on display in the Guardians wing. You have no idea how helpful it was to my research. It was in such good condition that we were able to republish it. In fact..." Sunny paused, quickly going over to the stack of books, and taking the top one, coming back over to the unicorn, and offered the book to her.

"Compliments of the museum, and with my enormous gratitude. Thank you so much."

Gloomy gave her a smile, accepted the book, and nodded respectfully before putting the book in her saddlebag and continued on into the central wing, letting the line behind her to continue filing in.

Sunny greeted a dozen more ponies as they filed in and began exploring the central wing, and then she paused again when she saw Sprout Cloverleaf come in, and his gaze immediately met hers, and he smiled as he stepped up to her with a smile.

"Good morning, Sunny," Sprout greeted, shaking his friend's hoof.

Sunny smiled back.

"I was hoping I'd see you here today, Sprout. I prepared a little something before coming here today." Sunny told him, before stepping back to the main desk, and returning to him with a platter that got his memory jogging. With a smile, she offered him the platter.

"Unicorn cupcake? Freshly baked."