Memories of a Future's Past

“Ugh. Why does Twilight have sooo many books?” Rainbow Dash complained as she pulled a wagon piled high with all kinds of books in different shapes and colors. Next to her Fluttershy was having a hard time pulling her own wagon and stopped to take a breather as Rainbow Dash stopped and rolled her eyes at her friend.

“I don't know why she keeps all of them.” Fluttershy said breathlessly as she looked at her impatient friend. “I'm sorry Rainbow. I'm just not used to this much work.” she added hanging her head a bit low.

“It's alright.” she shrugged as they began to pull their wagons along the big corridor towards the room at the end. “The sooner we get rid of all these books the sooner we could get something to snack on and take a break.” Rainbow smiled.

Trotting around a corner Apple Jack almost bumbed into the two pegasi as they all came to a stop looking at each other. She was wearing her saddle bags as she sat down on the cool floor for it was a hot day out today. Taking off her hat and wiping her forhead she replaced her hat before speaking to her two good friends.

“Have ya'll seen Twilight?”

“I think she was in the map room looking over a few books.” Fluttershy mentioned as Rainbow rolled her eyes once more and looked at the two overly full wagons.

“Thanks.” Apple Jack said as she got back on all hooves and started to trot her way towards the map room. After turning a corner she was out of view as the two pegasi started making their way down the hall once more.

“I wonder what that was all about...” Fluttershy said aloud.

“Who knows. Let's just get this over with.” Dash complained once more.

“Let's see...” Twilight said to herself before shaking her head. “Arrggg. These notes just don't make any sense.” Sighing to herself she shut the book she was studying when Apple Jack came walking in. Smiling at her friend Twilight got off her throne and made her way over to the earth pony.

“Hello Apple Jack.”

“Hiya Twi.” she replied as she stopped in front of the princess. “How's the studying coming along?” she asked as she sat down on the floor.

“Don't get me started.” she threw a hoof up in the air. “I just can't make heads or tails of all this gibberish.” Twilight then noticed Apple Jack had her saddle bags on and asked, “Heading off to somewhere? I thought you and Big Mac were going to work on the southern fields since we haven't had any friendship problems come up recently.”

“Well that there's a funny story, Twilight.” Apple Jack started as she scratched the back of her head making her hat tilt forward a bit. Sitting down next to her friend Twilight listened to her explain what had transpired earlier that day.

“You see while me and Big Mac where tiling the southern fields getting them ready for the new apple trees that were coming in his plow got stuck and he couldn't move it any further. I thought maybe he chipped the blade, again, and I unhooked myself and wandered over to him.”

“Well that wasn't the case.” she stopped for a moment before continuing. “Well we were both puzzled as to what could make my brother stop in his tracks and thought it might ave been a big rock or something and moved the plow back to get a closer look. Well....it wasn't a rock for sure. I don't know what it is actually. Never seen anything like it before really.”

Reaching back she pulled out a small metal square that was attached to a metal band that almost looked like it could fit around somepony's hoof. Laying it on the ground in front of Twilight she just watched the alicorn pick it up with her magic to get a closer look at it.

“I mean we all know how strong my brother is and this little thing stopped him completely in his tracks.” she added as she saw Rainbow and Fluttershy walk in and waved to them.

“What's that?” Dash asked as they headed over to their friends.

“I don't know...” Twilight said as she turned it over and over with her magic. “Apple Jack found it in the ground where they were working this morning.”

“On the south part of the farm?” Rainbow asked as Twilight just nodded. Taking a seat in her chair she smiled as Fluttershy brought her a drink and then hopped into her own chair.

“It's pretty.” she chimed in as Apple Jack just chuckled then turned her attention back to Twilight.

“What ya think, Twi?”

“Well,” she started and then turned to her friend, “I have no idea. I've never seen this kind of metal before and to think it could stop some pony as strong and Big Mac so easily there must be something special about it.”

“Special about what, dear?” Rarity asked as she just entered hearing the last part of her conversation. Spike was close on her hooves, like usual, as she gracefully trotted over to her chair and took a seat. Seeing the item that Twilight was hovering close she smiled and asked, “Oh is that a new accessory from Canterlot?”

“It's some piece of junk that AJ found in the dirt.” Dash commented aloud not really interested in it.

Glaring at her pegasus friend Rarity turned and asked, “May I see it?” Twilight nodded and waited for Rarity to take it with her magic. After a moment or two she looked a bit puzzled at her unicorn friend.

“I thought you wanted to see it.”

“I do but for some reason I can not get my magic around it.” she said. Twilight blinked and then set it down on the big round table in front of her.

“Try now.” After a few more moments Rarity just shook her head and looked a bit worried that maybe her magic had stopped worried. She turned to Rainbow Dash and used her magic to move the straw out of the way when she tried to take a drink and it went strait up her nose.

“Ack! Rarity!”

The other ponies just laughed as Rarity said, “Well my magic is just fine. But I am curious on how come I can not wrap it around this little thing.”

“Is it really heavy or something?” Spike asked as he walked over and picked it up with ease before setting it back down on the table. “Guess not.” He shrugged as he then wandered off.

“Very curious indeed.” Twilight echoed as she wrapped her magic around it once again and levitated it off the table. At that moment there was a loud crackle and a hiss which startled everypony and it got their full attention. Even Rainbow Dash sat up in her chair as she was laying on her back across it.

“What was that?” Apple Jack asked as they all stared at it waiting for somepony to answer. Twilight was about to open her mouth and say something when it beeped a few times and a large glowing screen projected out of it above the round table as everypony's eyes followed along looking up into a pale green square. There was a flashing dot which seemed to last forever in the silence that followed before it started to move on it's own followed by words and numbers.

Initializing....

Alpha command loading V1.34....

Command loaded.

Processing the Zenith Information Network (Z.I.N.)...

Unable to connect.

Loading recording interface...

Error. Unstable interface.

Loading playback interface...

Playback complete.

Do you wish to start playback?

All six of the ponies just looked at each other with speechless faces as not a single one of them knew what to do let alone say. AJ moved closer to Twilight and whispered, “What now Twilight? Should we see what this thing is or...?” Her friend just shook her head slightly as she replied.

“I am very curious to see what this thing is. I am sure it's not going to do us any harm. Plus don't you want to see what is on here? It looks like it could be some kind of information keeping...thing.” Twilight had no other word for it.

“Okay but I'ma leave it all to you. It's yours so you can do what ever you want with it.” Twilight nodded to her friend before looking back up to the pale green screen while it silently waited for an answer.

“Here goes nothing...” she said as she took a quick look around the room and saw all her friends watching the screen wondering what's going to happen next. “Start playback?” Twilight was not sure what the right answer was so she just went with that. The pale green screen cleared itself before replacing it with more information.

Please select file:

File: 0001

File: 0002

File: 0003

File: 0004

File: 0005

File: 0006....

The list seemed to go on forever as Twilight watch it list file after file before she shook her head and called out, “Play file: 0001.”

File: 0001 loading...

Loaded. Starting playback...

The screen went black for a few moments before it then showed what looked like somepony's house or something for the screen seemed to be very shaky. It settled after a few moments before a young unicorn's face appeared and she seemed to be looking directly at all of them. Fluttershy eeked and hid under her wings and Rainbow tilted her head as she watched the screen almost confused about the whole thing.

"Ohhhhh!!! I'm soooo happy." the filly said as she smiled brightly. "I can't believe daddy was picked to take one of these home with him." she closed her eyes as she beemed with joy which made those that were watching smile along with her.

"Prism come back to the party!" Called another voice from another room.

"Looks like I gotta go for now. Hey there's my family and friends." The screen seemed to move from her face to the ponies in the kitchen as they were about to set out the cake. "Say hi everypony!" she called out as they smiled and waved to her before the screen moved and it was her off white face again. "Talk to you later!" she smiled once more before the screen went black and then returned to that pale green color they first saw and the files started to show once more.

"Well I say that was unexpected." said Rarity as she looked around at her friends.

"She looks like you." Dash called out as she turned towards her.

"Maybe in looks but I do not know who that pony was. Does anypony recognize her?" They all looked at each other for no one had the answer to that question.

"The question is who is she and where did this come from." Twilight said as she started to think. "Maybe if we take a look at the next file we can get some more information on her and perhaps this thing that once belonged to her?" she questioned as her friends nodded in agreement. "Okay. Let's see what the next one is then." Twilight loaded up the second file and as the screen went black, as like before, Spike came walking back in and jumped up into his seat next to Twilight.

"What's going on?" Twilight just hushed him and told him to watch as the screen flickered a few times before coming into focus before going out of focus once more.

"Ohhh work you stupid thing." said the same young voice from the first file. Coming back into focus once again she sighed as a feint crimson glow surrounding a few tools floated by and off screen. "Finally got the settings right on this thing." It moved around a bit and they seemed to be close to the ground moving up and down untill the pony stood infront of a full size mirror.

Prism looked at her own reflection in the mirror and held up her right front leg and moved it back and forth while looking into the mirror. The ponies that were watching would see it go from the mirror, to her face and back to the mirror a few times as she turned it around as if looking at the device itself.

"It's been only three days since I got the Z.I.N. Such a silly name for it but that's okay." She squeaked slightly and that bright smile returned to her face. "I still can't believe daddy got it for my birthday." She turned it towards her now and was looking directly at it once again.

"So this will be my first real entry so here goes." She cleared her throat briefly before she got started. "Hello! I am Prism Nyte and this is my Z.I.N." she giggled at herself before continuing. "Anyways all my other friends from school are going to be sooooo jealous that I have one of these. I think my dad was saying that they only made like 3 or 4 prototypes of them and he was lucky enough to be called in the raffle to take one home for a few months to try it out."

She went on for a bit about her family and how school was going for her and about this earth pony that she has liked for a while but was to shy to go talk to him. Rainbow just snickered as Rarity and Fluttershy both "awww'ed". She was a pretty little filly, an off white color with a beautiful mane of light blue and dark crimson in it. Her tail was styled just like her mane and matched perfectly.

"I have got to try that look sometime." Rarity said to herself but was loud enough for everypony else to hear. Twilight just smiled and shook her head as her eyes went back up to the screen as Prism seemed to be ending her entry.

"Well tomorrow's a big day. It's the last week of school before summer starts and we're supposed to head into the city and go see the new animal park they just built. See you next time!" she signed off with a smile and the screen returned back to the file menu.

"So I am going to go out on a limb and say this is some kind of diary?" Rarity turned and asked Twilight.

"I'm not sure but it looks like it could be something like that. Still though," she took a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing, "I've never seen or heard of anything that could do something like this and you just found it in the dirt on your farm?" she turned towards AJ.

"Ayep." she nodded mimicking her older brother. Twilight still seemed to be lost in thought before being pulled back to reality by Rainbow Dash.

"You going to play the next one or what?"

"Oh yes, sorry." she sheepishly smiled and then composed herself. "Please play file : 0003." she called out to the screen.

Loading....file corrupt.

"What does that mean?" Fluttershy asked. All Twilight could do was shrug and try the next one.

Loading....file corrupt.

It wasn't until the sixth file that they got something going. As the screen came on it looked like Prism was pacing back and forth in what must be her room making heavy hoof steps.

"Great. Just great." she said annoyed. "We WERE supposed to go see the animals today but nooooo they just HAD to call daddy into work today." She huffed angrily and sat down so her reflection could be seen in the mirror for the Z.I.N. was facing it. The ponies almost had to tilt their heads to see correctly for it seemed the screen was sideways.

"He's always doing this..." she sniffled as she brought up the hoof with the device on it and looked into it. She had tears in those bright crimson eyes of hers. A small sniffle could be heard from Fluttershy as Prism wiped her eyes and jumped onto her bed and layed down with the Z.I.N. facing her so she can look into it.

"I really wished he didn't work so hard...sure every once in a while something really good happens but most of the time he is gone at work." Prism closed her eyes and gave a soft sigh. "Maybe one day he will stop working so hard and spend some time with us."

With that she just turned off the device and the screen went black. All the friends remained silent for a few moments each feeling a bit touched by this last recording. Apple Jack was the first to say something to break the silence as her friends turned towards her.

"I wonder what her dad did for work? I mean he must've been a smart pony if he worked where they made that thing." she said as she pointed a hoof at the Z.I.N. that laid on the table with the pale green light proceeding out of it.

"Shall we continue?" Rarity asked Twilight as she just nodded and asked to play the next file.

File: 0007 loading....

As the black screen came to life with colors they could tell it was immediately a better mood for there was giggling and squees of delight which seemed to be coming from a few ponies.

"Okay okay hold on. I gotta record this real quick then I'll tell you." Prism said to another filly. "Well hurry up. I wanna know what he said!" That pretty off white unicorn's face filled the screen again and she was trying her best to remain calm.

“It's been about, hold on, almost two weeks since my last log but today is such a great day that I just had to tell you.”

“Who, me?” Spike said and was hushed by everypony there.

“Hurry up!” said the other filly.

“Okay hold on I'm almost done. Anyways so that pony I was talking about before, Quickstar, well I finally got the nerve to go talk to him today.”

“Aaaaaannndddd?” said the other pony who tried to push her way into the view of the Z.I.N. She was a rose colored pegasus with a bright yellow mane.

“Will you let me finish please?” Prism pushed her back and out of view. “So I asked him if he would like to go out next weekend and he said yes.” Smiling brightly Prism was tackled by her friend which shook the screen as they both fell over and the last thing the ponies heard before the screen went back was a “Told you so.” from her friend and some more giggling.

Before anypony could say anything the screen stayed black for a few moments before it coming back on and Prism was looking at it once more. She looked a little worried and sounded a little unsure of herself.

“Just a side note but there has been some slight itching around my hoof where the Z.I.N. is. It's a bit red too so daddy is going to take me to see the doctor tomorrow to get it looked at. What's stranger than that is that it doesn't seem to want to come off. It doesn't hurt me but whenever I try to take it off it just feels like it's glued on or something. Anyways I'll know more when we go see the doctor tomorrow.”

As the menu reappears Fluttershy turns to AJ and says worriedly, “Oh I do hope she's okay and that it's not stuck on her.”

“Yeah that could be really bad.” agreed Apple Jack as the other ponies put in their own thoughts. “Go ahead and play the next one, Twi. I wanna know what the doctor says.” Rainbow and Rarity both insisted that they would like to know as well. Twilight nodded and asked to play the next file.

File: 0008 loading....

Coming onto the screen was a picture of a very worried filly unicorn. “Hi again. Umm...daddy says we can't go see the doctor today. I asked him why not but he wouldn't give me an answer and told me to just stay upstairs in my room for now. I don't know what's going on today but he seemed really nervous about something. He didn't even go into work today....”

She looked up from the screen and moved off her bed and over towards the window placing her hooves on the sill so that the Z.I.N. was facing towards her. “Somepony's here. There are three of them. I wonder what they want. They kind of look like they work at the same place daddy does.”

Prism cocked her ear so she could listen a bit closer at what they were talking about right outside their front door. The ponies watching could not hear anything safe for the soft breathing of the filly.

“Oh no. Why is daddy shouting at them? It looks like they want to come in but he's not letting them. Why not? What's going on?” she asked herself and now the six could hear muffled sounds of ponies yelling at each other. The next thing they heard was a sizzling popping sound and the sudden gasp of Prism before she fell flat on the floor.

“Nonononono...” She started to repeat over and over as she began to shake slightly. “They just killed daddy....what's going on?” she whispered as she then quickly made her way into her closet and behind a few boxes trying to hide herself as the screen went black.

It continued to stay black and all they could hear is the sound of Prism's breathing before she stopped and whispered to herself. “They are coming upstairs....what should I do....?” The voices could be heard better now as the ponies made their way down the hall.

“Where the hell is she?”

“She's gotta be here somewhere. We know that she's still in the house.”

“Well stop talking and start looking before I fry your brain too.”

Hoof steps could be heard coming into her room and she tried her best to hold her breath and to not make a sound. Things were tossed around and loud crashed could be heard here and there. The closet door opened and some light came in and the six could partially see the frightened look upon her soft face as she held her eyes shut praying that he wouldn't find her.

Some of the clothes got tossed around and a couple of the boxes fell upon her but Prism made no sound nor did she move. A grunt of disgust was heard followed by some vile language.

“Fuck this...” said the pony as he moved away. “She's not here boss!” he called as his voice started to dim little by little.

“Well you two better get out there and find her then. I don't care who you need to “talk” to. Just do it and while you're at it burn this place to the ground.” That was the last thing Prism heard before only moments later she started to feel the heat from the ground floor start to rise as the fire began it's hungry apatite consuming anything and everything.