The Conversion Bureau: Preservation

by Westphalian_Musketeer

The Sum Total of Everything

So we have another three thousand transcripts coming in today, have you decided on how to organize them all? Don't forget that you have that poster to put out for volunteers of the music department. Flux wrote back, he says that there are transmuting spells to produce magnets. One of the diamond dog tunnels broke into Ghastly Gorge. Pinkie's holding a party to welcome some of the first newfoals ever to come to Equestria. Twilight? Twilight? TWILIGHT!

My head snapped up and into a mage light as I gasped.

"OW!" I cried as I tumbled over onto my side, clutching my head as nausea washed over every inch of my being. Oh Celestia! I was--

"Bleagh!" I emptied my breakfast--or was it supper?--onto the grey stone floor. The stench assaulted my nose, making another tide of vomit float up my throat. I rolled away from the pile, swallowing the back down, and gasped for air.

As the nausea in my stomach settled, I dared to open my eyes. The lids cracked apart to the dim light of my personal lab and study. Modeled after a lecture hall, it had been one of the first things constructed after there was a backlog of room for the documents.

I lay there for a few minutes, breathing through my mouth, waiting to see if I got sick again. I finally decided to glance at the clock I had back on my desk. Twisting my neck to get a view, I fought back the urge to remain inert. The little dials on the clock told me that I had been asleep for two hours, give or take a few minutes to account for my infirm condition. It was the most sleep I'd had in days.

Shuffling my hooves underneath my body, I pushed myself to a sitting position. Standing up was easier than waking had, but my hooves still dragged along the ground, scuffing my hooves from the smooth stone. I reached the door an shoved it open with a fore hoof. No magic. I stopped short of the edge and rested by head on the balcony, looking at the black expanse before me.

The plans for archive housing had been approved by myself, so I knew what was beyond what little glow emanated from the open door, and along the shelves below me. The mage lights that were to be placed on the ceiling and light up the entirety of the room were still being crafted back in Canterlot. I had told them to just send over each as they came, but the shipping manager hadn't been certain if that was within company policy when I had ordered such a large quantity.

I looked at the ground to see dozens of crates, hundreds, and each of them held dozens of documents, hundreds. Science texts, historical accounts, political treatises, children's fables, science texts and political treatises and... Argh! Was I losing my mind?

I felt moisture at the corners of my eyes. There was so little help in terms of ponies who had the academic acumen to make this system work. It seemed like everything was going wrong. There was no way to transfer the documents to Equestria electronically, so paper and ink from Equestria had to be sent to earth, and then the documents printed out. I could only be thankful the humans still had methods of mass printing devices that could be restored and re-purposed to print using Equestrian stationery.

I felt a tear slide down my muzzle into the black abyss directly below my balcony.

"Spike?" I croaked into the darkness.

"Spike?" Nothing.

"S-Spike?" My throat caught on the words as once more I was met by no response.

"Sp-i-i-ike!" I sobbed, giving into the emotional baggage that had plagued me. I let it all out. When snot began clogging the back of my throat, I broke into a final jag before snorting loudly. I stepped over to the stairs that led down, and managed to get down them without tripping up.

It turned to my left and began the arduous task of hauling myself up the stairs to Ponyville's Library. As I continued, my hooves began to strike the edge of each step, sending a little shock of pain through my legs, pushing me further into a false consciousness. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, my barrel was rubbing along the ground. I was left to lie, panting on the familiar oak floor of my home.

My tongue hanged out as I lay breathed. My ears twitched as voices registered with me. The twitching grew to a shiver as I tried focusing on the words, instead of my bodily ills.

"I was just looking for a new book for Dinky that she could take with her while she visits her Auntie Derpy. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Well, Twilight told me about the books from when she was Dinky's age, are you okay with her reading Daring Do?"

"Oh I loved those books when I was younger! Do you have a few of them around here? I think Dinky might enjoy the Desert Adventure one. I--OH MY GOODNESS!" Carrot Top rounded the corner. It was funny. As beleaguered as my mind was, I still remembered that.

"Twilight?" Spike walked towards me on all fours.

"Twilight?"

"Twilight!"

***

I walked, but didn't move. I opened my eyes, but I saw nothing. I breathed, but I felt no relief in my heart.

Humanity was at risk of dying out, and here I was, failing to do so much as sift through all they had to offer us. Their memories, ideas, achievements, they might all disappear if I didn't figure out a way to make sense of it all. And then I'd still be here, sleeping.

***

There was a clock, ticking. I felt my ear twitch with each and every little sound. Wincing, I halted its motion as I grunted. I blinked a few times and looked around. Hospital room? I struggled against the sheets that were holding me in places as I cried out.

"Hello?"

It wasn't log before the door opened to reveal Nurse Redheart, Rarity, and a second nurse. The second nurse was a unicorn. Chocolate brown with a white face.

The unicorn nurse walked to my left and tutted, she started talking with a thick accent and language I couldn't identify. "Guten tag, frau. Are you feeling better?"

"I should hope so!" Rarity declared as she stepped up to the foot of the hospital bed. "Twilight, while I do advocate a good night's beauty rest, it's something that really shouldn't be all done over the course of two day."

"She looks like she's largely recovered," Nurse Redheart said as she tugged at my right hoof. "Brigitte, would you care to do some detection spells to make sure?"

"Ja," the unicorn replied as her horn glowed. I felt a spell sweep through me, briefly making my eyes water. "No other injuries, and her blood sugar is back to normal."

I looked over at Rarity, only just recognizing what she had said. "Two days?" I asked. "Oh no! There was supposed to be another delivery yesterday! I need to start--"

The dark brown unicorn's hoof pressed into my barrel and pushed me back into be. "Ah ah ah, frau. You need der schlaf. Just relax. You need to rest a bit more before we can clear you to leave."

"But my work! I--"

"Twilight, it's okay," Rarity said, stepping up beside the mystery nurse. "The shipment is being handled as we speak, among other things."

I looked at Rarity with a look I hoped expressed how important it was to me. "Rarity, what happened? The last thing I remember was somepony calling my name."

Rarity took a few steps closer, prompting the brown unicorn to move back and let my friend near my face.

Taking a deep breath, Rarity began. "Spike and Carrot Top found you collapsed at the entrance to the archives. Carrot carried you to the hospital while Spike... my goodness, he actually flew in order to get us."

"WHAT!" I yelled, sitting up in my bed. "He flew and I wasn't there?" I felt the sensation of a worm burrowing in my gut. I had missed one of the most important moments of Spike's life, and it had been done to help me. I leaned back. "Oh hoho..." I whined.

"It's alright dear," Rarity put a hoof on my sheets and smiled. "Spike explained to us how you had been working yourself to the bone, trying all at the same time to coordinate the diamond dogs, communications with Earth, studying their texts on everything you could in order to anthologize it and help spread it throughout Equestria, and goodness knows what else!" She withdrew her hoof, stood up, and shook her head. "Well when I heard that you had been waiting on a shipment of mage lights, a newfoal and I marched right over there and demanded they prioritize you as a client. Why, he was like a firestorm, saying that he'd scour every legal precedent to get them to do their jobs properly. And Carrot Top, when she heard about how you were having trouble organizing everything, she insisted on getting help. Her husband has been spent all last day drafting a way of organizing the archives. Pinkie Pie is making sure that everypony knows that all are welcome to offer assistance to the archive, no matter their skill. I mean whether it's music or agriculture, there's something in there that has to do with it, right?"

I sat there with my mouth hanging open for a few moments before shaking my head, clearing my thoughts. "I..." I felt a lot closer to Applejack during her Applebuck season than ever before. "Thanks." I lay back in my bed. "But... Every document I read seems to reference something else that I don't have, then I have to make a specific requisition. Then there are other books that cover information I already know, or stuff that doesn't really seem pertinent to what I'm doing." I threw my fore hooves in front of me in an uncoordinated heap. "Then I wonder if I'm having some unfair bias because of how different I am from humans!" I shut my eyes in frustration.

"Twilight..." Rarity said. I cracked open my lids to see her biting her lip. "You've never been to Earth, have you?"

"No, I've been too busy organizing things here... Why are you biting your lip?"

She looked to the side. "Well I hate to make a suggestion, but if I ever find myself having difficulty with a certain fashion, it helps if I... travel."

"Travel? What would I need to travel for? I have..." The gears in my brain clicked into place. Earth had all the documents I was going to manage, and they could all be accessed easily. I could... I could go there and get a full grasp of what I was trying to do, how they organized their stuff, how they decided what was important to themselves. I looked over at Rarity. "Looks like I'm going back to school."

Comments

[Dead Turtle]

Holy shit, Spike flied? Heck yeah!