1. Forgotten Knowledge
Phase Shift trotted quickly through the wide doors of the hololab, grinning at the crystal-encrusted book floating ahead of her in the teal aura of her magic. “Do you understand what this means?” she asked, bringing the tome to the largest table. “Do you know how much time this could save us for the process?”
“I understand you’re excited, Phase,” said Comet Streak, following the unicorn into the lab. She flexed her midnight-blue wings, stretching them out full before folding them back to her sides. “I’m glad you think it will help, and that it’s worth all the trouble Nonpareil went through to get it. I just don’t know what an old copy of a book you already have is going to do for you.”
The book settled gently onto the lab table, Phase making sure it didn’t get the slightest bump before powering down her magic. “This is so much more than an old copy, Comet. It’s an original copy. One of only three thought to still exist. It’s millennia old.” She turned to the pegasus, pointing toward the door. “More importantly, unlike that copy in my library, this one hasn’t been interpreted, expanded, annotated, or amended over thousands of years. These are the authors’ thoughts and lessons exactly as they wrote them. It’s as close as we can get to their minds as we could ever hope.”
Comet smiled at last, feeling the enthusiasm radiating off Phase Shift. “Then I hope this means you’ll have this project finished fast, Phase. You know I’m with you for the project, and everything else, to the end. From a security standpoint, though, this being one of three in the world means that no matter how subtle and cautious Nonpareil was in getting it, a lot of eyes are now looking for it. You’d do best to get what you need and let me move it to some other location before those eyes turn toward us.”
Phase sighed, shaking her head. “I know you’re right. You usually are. Fine, let me get started and when we’ve gotten what we need from the book we’ll move it off-site.”
“That’s all I ask. I’ll go double-check our security systems and make sure no eyes are peeping at us already.” Comet walked toward the door, glancing back just before leaving the room. “Good luck, Phase. If anyone can crack this, you can.” She winked, then ducked out of the lab.
Phase Shift smiled at the compliment, trotting over to a locker by the far wall. While she used her magic to remove any foreign particles from her coat and hooves, she triggered the comm-crystal embedded in her jaw with a thought. “Spider! Are you online?” she asked, floating a clean suit from the locker and starting to put it on.
“Always for you, boss lady,” came the reply reverberating through her mastoid bone. “Leynet systems are ready.”
“I told you before, Spider, stop calling me ‘boss lady’ or I’ll start using your given name.”
“You never let me have any fun, Phase.”
“Another time,” she said, sealing up the suit and stepping back to the table and the crystal-encased book. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m going to put up a stasis field around the book, but we don’t know what condition it’s in. I need you ready to scan, image, and create a holo edition of each page as we go. Think you can keep up if the pages start to fall apart?”
She could almost hear his eyes rolling as the reply came back. “Please, Phase, don’t insult me. This is the simplest job you could give me. Of course I can keep up.” As he spoke, crystal devices rose up from the corners of the table, lenses turning and focusing on the sealed tome. “Scanners online and ready. Holo tools humming and waiting to weave my magic. Start whenever you’re ready.”
Phase Shift took a deep, steadying breath, then turned to the book. “Alright. Begin recording. Activating stasis field.” With a glow of teal magic, the table hummed and white light surrounded the book. “Removing the storage crystals now.” Teal flashed against the crystal coating, and it folded itself off the large book, facets closing against one another until a single crystal rested on the table.
She moved closer, eyes widening as she looked at the book’s deep-purple cover framed in a gold-leaf border. In the center a gold-leaf horseshoe filled most of the cover, and in the middle of the horseshoe was a single, six-pointed lavender star. “Oh, my,” Phase whispered. “The cover is pristine. If the pages are anywhere close to this condition we’re so lucky.”
“Do you want me to give you some private time with that book, Phase?”
She rolled her eyes at the innuendo. “Actually, I should have a few more eyes on this. We need to authenticate what we’re seeing.” She smiled. “And I think we owe them the pleasure of being part of the moment.”
“Are you sure, Phase?” Spider asked, taking an annoyed tone. “All they do is pester me with questions when they’re active.”
“Finding an original copy was their idea, Spider. Fire up the projectors, bring them both online with full interactivity.”
“Fine. Projectors online… activating constructs… assembling images… There you go.”
As Spider spoke magic shimmered from the walls of the lab, channeling down through crystal circuits. Light swirled and swelled not far from the table, quickly coalescing into the shapes of two unicorns, a mare and a stallion. Details filled in as Phase watched: light purple and orange coats, a long dark-purple and aquamarine mane on the mare, a vermillion mane and beard on the stallion with a blue star-covered cloak over his back. In an instant, the two stood before her and opened their eyes.
Phase smiled at the sight of them. “Starlight, Sunburst, I’m so glad you’re back online. You have to see what we brought in.”
Starlight chuckled, stepping forward. “What took you so long, Phase?” she asked with a wink.
Phase Shift paused, nodding. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. It took us so long to even confirm it existed, then longer to find and retrieve it.”
Sunburst lifted his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he spoke. “Ah, she was joking, Phase Shift,” he interrupted. “When we’re offline we experience zero time lapse. It literally seems like you just said goodbye a second ago.”
Starlight laughed softly, nodding. “Yeah, just my sense of humor. Sorry. Now, what did you find while we were out?”
Phase chuckled, shaking her head. “You got me. I’m just too excited about this. Come see!” They all stepped to the main table, with Starlight's smile getting even wider.
“That cover is a promising start,” she said, peering at it through the stasis field. “That’s the design Twilight and I came up with when she decided to copy the journal for all her friends, and for publication.”
“So it’s authentic?”
Sunburst shook his head, stepping around for another view. “There’s no way we could tell from the cover alone. We’ll have to read it to see if the lessons match what we remember. Right, Starlight?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. If the current edition you showed me is any indication, we should be able to tell very quickly.” She gestured toward the book. “Phase Shift, why don’t you do the honors? After all, it’s your program… and you’re the one with a physical body that can channel magic.”
Phase Shift grinned, nodding. “I’d let you do it if you could. I promise, once the main project is done, if you want them, I’ll get right to work on something more physical for you.” She turned back to the book, taking a deep breath. “Spider, keep the scanners running constantly. Opening the cover now.”
The glow of her magic encased the book, and the cover raised, slowly and gently, until the book lay open. The binding pushed back against the change, leaving the cover raised a few degrees off the table once it was fully opened.
Starlight gasped, eyes growing wide. “I don’t believe it,” she muttered.
Phase stopped, taking a step back from the table. “What? Are you seeing something going wrong?”
Starlight laughed, shaking her head, and pointed at the inside of the cover. Along the lower third of the cover were a few words of Ponish written in ink with a careful script, with a larger and more flourished signature beneath: Princess Twilight Sparkle. “When Twilight first published the journal there were a lot of ponies who, let’s say, missed the point of the lessons. Several of them travelled to Ponyville from all over Equestria to get Twilight to sign books they’d never read just so they could seal them up in bags and store them as keepsakes.”
“Do you think this is one of those copies?” Phase Shift stared at the signature with awe.
Sunburst chimed in. “It’s certainly possible, and that’s a strong factor in authenticating the contents, but we really should read more before we leap to any conclusions. As with all the other changes made over the centuries, somepony could easily have added a fake signature to make their version look legitimate.”
Phase nodded. “You’re right, of course. Alright, let’s get to work.”
Hours later, they closed the back cover of the journal.
“So, you’re both in agreement?” Phase asked the pair of holograms. “It’s an authentic original copy of Princess Twilight’s Friendship Journal?”
Sunburst and Starlight both nodded, sharing in Phase’s giddy expression. “Absolutely. It’s exactly as it appeared when I first copied the original for Twilight and her friends, minus the rotten apple.” Phase raised an eyebrow, and Starlight continued on. “Long story. I’ll tell you later.”
Sunburst added, “I read the journal several times while I worked at the School of Friendship. This copy is exactly as I remember it.”
Phase nodded and let out a sigh. “Finally, something actually goes our way on this project. Spider, how are those scans looking?”
“Just finishing up my magic touch on the image design, and… voila!” With a swirl of light, an exact duplicate of the book appeared on the table beside the original, just outside the stasis field. “That copy should be exact down to the grain of the paper. I have the image files and text stored to your personal datastore as well as the protected research silo.”
“Excellent work, Spider. Having a copy to reference in-simulation will help a lot. Take a break, then we’ll get started on the real work right away.” Phase Shift looked longingly at the ancient book for a moment, then used her magic to float the storage crystal back to the base of the book’s spine. The crystal started growing, unfolding itself along the book’s surface, until the entire thing was once again encased. “Deactivating stasis field,” she recorded, letting the open air touch the sealed crystal once more.
Phase switched comm frequencies with a thought, opening a new channel. “Comet? We have what we need. Whenever you’re ready, so is the package.”
“Confirmed,” replied Comet Streak. “I’ll be up in five minutes.” The line disconnected.
“Are you sure you don’t want to keep the original around?” said Starlight. “The copy looks perfect, but there’s nothing like a solid book in your hooves.”
“Sadly, no, there’s a very real security concern keeping it around. Besides, if I want a real book we can print one in a matter of moments. More importantly, now the real work can begin.”
Sunburst and Starlight glanced at one another, and Starlight nodded. “Are you really sure you want to go through with this, Phase?”
Phase Shift stopped, turning back to look over the two of them. “Of course! That’s why we sought out the book in the first place. It’s the whole reason this facility even exists.”
“I know,” said Sunburst, adjusting his glasses. “I admire the amount of research you’ve done to get this far, and Starlight and I really enjoy having been brought back, even in this limited form. It’s just, is it wise to go ahead with the rest? Is it something that should be done?”
Phase frowned. “Absolutely it is. You’ve seen the data feeds and the views outside this very complex. Equestria is a hair’s breadth away from total ruin. If we’re successful, it will mean a renaissance of prosperity and culture like history has never seen.”
“Yes, that is important,” Starlight said. “We want you to consider if this is really the right means to that end. Back in our time, we started a school to pass along what we’d learned to everycreature. Do you think setting up a savior figure is a better choice?”
Phase paced slowly, shaking her head. “That’s not what we’re doing. We’re helping prophecy along, and they are part of it. You know all the details and did before you suggested we find the book. Why are you objecting now?”
Sunburst answered first. “We know what it’s like to rush forward into the unknown chasing our idols. In spite of Starlight’s warnings, Twilight and I devised a way to free the Pillars from Limbo, and all Equestria was almost doomed to eternal darkness because of it. We learned that rushing in isn’t always the way to go.”
Starlight nodded, stepping beside him. “And we only escaped that fate when Twilight took the time to listen to me and rethink the battle before us. This time you don’t have the Pillars, the Elements of Harmony, or even the Tree of Harmony to back you up. Sunburst and I like being here well enough, but are you sure bringing them into this time will really help?”
Phase sighed. “Starlight, Sunburst, I appreciate your perspectives. You’ve been invaluable to this project, and I feel we’ve become friends ourselves. Don’t you agree?” They nodded. “Then believe me when I tell you I asked myself those very questions before I even started along this path. With all that’s happening in the world, I’m convinced the Defenders of Equestria are needed now more than ever before. Will you help me to make that happen?”
Sunburst and Starlight exchanged another look, and another nod. “We’ll help you,” said Starlight, with Sunburst stepping to her side. “But we’ll never stop asking hard questions while we do.”
“It’s what friends do,” Sunburst added.
Phase Shift laughed softly as the lab door opened and Comet Streak entered, nodding to the holograms. “I would expect no less, of any of my friends,” Phase said. “Comet, please get this book someplace safe. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we’re going to resurrect Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”
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ah, the joys of finding the autograph! or the first edition, in this case
it's a very interesting situation to be in, to have a mind emulation complete with memories of a document on tap, but then needing a physical copy of said documents. lots of questions about how memory is stored and transmitted here!
a very intriguing possibility here, though it is quashed right after.
an intriguing start! nice to see canon hooks in recalling the PIllars and the trouble that came of publishing the Journal of Friendship. and Starlight and Sunburst being around in digital form in this future, helping to resurrect their friends, is a very nice idea