Unraveling the Unwritten

by Shilic


Making Plans

Page blinked. 

“Okay, first of all… please stop calling me ‘Miss’. It feels patronising.”

Hermit gave a sigh of something that might have been relief. “Thank you,” It said. “I have to say it, at least until asked otherwise. It’s part of one of those protocols Mistress put in seemingly just to annoy me.”

“Uh… okay then?” This Mistress character is really weird… “And, secondly… why are you asking me what we should do? Aren’t you in charge of this place?”

“That’s exactly why I’m asking you,” Hermit shot back. “This instance is under my supervision, but I also can’t leave it. I’m stuck here, but you aren’t. Besides, I’m not programmed to make leadership decisions. Mock them, yes, but not make them.”

“I… think I understand?” Page said, unsure. “I probably should read that book…”

“Yes, yes you should. I really hate dumbing things down.”

Page ignored what was probably an insult. “In that case… I probably should rea- oh, snap, I forgot, I have a shift tonight!” 

Hermit hummed. “Work, I assume.”

“Yeah,” Page said with a nod. “I should go home and get some sleep beforehoof.” Her eyes lit up. “I know! While I’m gone, you should clean this place up. It won’t help us find your ‘Master’, but…”

“It is a good first step, I agree,” Hermit said. “I can reconfigure the instance to make it more useful for our endeavours, as well as less of a complete mess.”

“Great!” Page smiled. “I’ll be back… probably late morning? I’ll try and see if I can read that manual during my breaks or something. You think you’ll be done by then?”


“Easily,” Hermit replied, it’s voice smug. “It will be a trivial task.”

“Okay then, that’s good.” Page turned towards the exit to the control room, pulling it open with her magic to reveal the relative normalcy of the abandoned house beyond. “I’ll… see you later, I guess?”

“I’ll be expecting you, Page.” Hermit replied. Then, it’s dice like projection flashed and winked out of existence, presumably to begin it’s task. Page took one last look at the control room, before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

She was halfway back to her apartment before the absolute absurdity of what had happened to her fully hit her. A pocket dimension, some kind of artificial mind with a very abrasive personality, a mysterious ‘Master’ she was supposed to help it find… I’m just an archivist, I’m not cut out for this!

But… everything did tie back to her. The book with her stories, the additional story with another version of her as the main character… whatever the deeper mystery was, it related to her in some way. Things had gone beyond simple curiosity; she had to get answers. 

It was a very good thing that Page had sleeping medication to help with her insomnia, or she would never have been able to sleep.


All things considered, Page was immensely surprised that she was able to focus on working as well as she did.

She was back in the Fiction department again, sorting the endless stacks of subpar stories. It was pretty boring work, the only bright spots being occasionally coming across an interesting looking story and reading its back cover. Luckly, she didn’t find anything like the Shilic book again. One mystery was more than enough for her.

During her breaks, she studied Technology of the Information Age for Dummies. It was a well written reference manual: Despite how obvious it was that the technology described within was far above Equestria’s reach, it was all explained in terms that made sense to her. 

It didn’t make it all any less fantastical. Computers, artificial intelligence, global information networks… it all seemed like it was out of some science fiction story– in fact, Page was pretty sure she had even read about some of the concepts, under different names, in speculative sci-fi– but clearly real, with simplified yet detailed explanation on how they actually functioned. 

She was only about halfway through it by the time her shift was over, so she retreated to one of the Archives’ reading rooms to finish it off before she went back to see Hermit. Luckily, nopony else came in to bother her, saving her the anxious task of trying to explain what exactly she was reading. 

It was almost noon by the time she returned to 76 Trotter’s Lane, head full of computing knowledge. She very much doubted that it would put her anywhere near Hermit’s level, but she hoped it would at least be enough to let it explain what the instance could do. It had helped her understand what her new friend was, at least: Hermit seemed much more advanced than the AI described in the manual, but the same principles seemed to apply. 

‘Programming’... it’s like a kind of magic without magic. If it can create programs that can mimic a living being, what else can it do?

While she had gone, Hermit had clearly taken ‘cleaning things up’ seriously. The house no longer looked out of place; all the damage to it’s exterior was repaired, the garden immaculate, even the rust on the gate had been cleaned. If Page hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it had been in disrepair only the day prior.

She walked up to the gate, but before she could reach out with her magic, it swung silently open on it’s own. Page hesitated for a second, surprised, before continuing on, pushing the front door open and stepping inside. 

Much like the exterior, the interior had undergone a stark change since the day prior. The entrance hall was now well lit, and all the damage done by time had been repaired. Instead of looking abandoned, the house now looked brand new, as if waiting for an occupant.

Page retraced her steps to the control room, pushing open the door and walking inside. Hermit’s platform flashed, and the AI’s floating form appeared, it’s rotation as confusing as ever. “It is currently 11:29am, local time,” It said, sounding slightly annoyed. “You are technically on time, I suppose.”

Page cringed a little. “Sorry, I got a little caught up finishing that manual.” She pulled it out of her saddlebag and placed it on one of the computers. “I see you fixed up the house. It looks nice!”


“Like I said, it was a trivial task.” Hermit replied, smugness clear in its voice. “The damage to this instance was repaired in 26 minutes, 14 seconds.”

“That quickly?” Page felt her jaw drop. “Now I feel extra bad about making you wait…”

“It is of no concern,” Hermit said dismissively. “I used the extra time to run maintenance cycles on the instance, as well as scanning the local area for traces of Master.”

“Did you find anything?” Page asked.

“Nothing helpful. I was able to trace remnants of Mistress’ aetheric signature, but the most recent of those remnants was over 45 years old. It appears that they changed their signature to avoid detection.”

“They can do that?” That’s only a theoretical process! Every pony had an aetheric signature, a unique magical aura that couldn’t be replicated. Page had heard of research into unicorns being able to modify their signature, but nothing concrete.

“Mistress’ capacities are far beyond anything your world is capable of.” Hermit said. It flashed, and a holographic map of Canterlot appeared underneath it’s floating shape, a long glowing purple trail snaking through the city, covering most of it and doubling back on itself often. “There’s no clear pattern in their actions either.”

“Hmm…” Page put a hoof to her chin. “It could be that they’re trying to hide? I can’t think of any other reason somepony would even want to change their signature other than that.” She paused. “Unless they’re, um… dead. Can they even die?”

“More or less. The fragments of their soul they place in mortal bodies return to the Pocket when those bodies perish, though, and that’s something I would be able to detect. They’re still alive, and unless they found some local way to cross universes, still in this one.”

Page blinked. “I… think I get it? Hiding, then. Or at least, trying not to be found.”

“It seems likely,” Hermit agreed. “The question is, then, what exactly they’re hiding from. Something also capable of tracking aetheric signatures, it would seem.”

“Do they have enemies?” Page asked. “You make them sound like they’re pretty old and well travelled, so…”

“Beyond your comprehension in both aspects.” Hermit replied. Page rolled her eyes, getting sick of Hermit using that as an answer, but the AI either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “And yes, they do have enemies, but I doubt that Master is hiding from one of them. If it was someone they felt the need to hide from, it is doubtful this city would be left standing.”

Once again it hit Page exactly how out of her depth she was. Hermit was talking about being that could destroy Canterlot, beings that were enemies of the pony she was trying to track. If the ‘Master’ was anything like them… she shook her head, trying to push those fears out of her mind. I need to know. I need answers.

“Well, I guess… we’ll need to look for them another way.” Page thought for a moment. “Is there anything they… like to do, I guess? Hobbies, goals, stuff like that.”

Hermit was silent for a moment, spinning around in a way that implied that it was thinking. “Above all, Master’s priority has been information collection and archival,” It said at last. “They seek to collect the sum knowledge of all societies they encounter, through recording their history, media, and scientific knowledge.”

“Which would make the Archives a natural first stop…” Page said, mostly to herself. “It would explain how their book ended up there. It’s possible they donated it themselves…”

“However,” Hermit continued. “It is unlikely that is their current task. It would not take Mistress this long to archive the data of such an undeveloped planet, especially not an Equis.”

“Thanks a lot…” Page grumbled, before pausing. “Wait. An Equis?”

“Correct.” Hermit flashed, and the projection of a globe appeared next to it. “Your Equis is just one iteration of the planet.” With a flash, the single Equis became two. And then four, and then eight, and on and on until Page could no longer keep count. “There are many versions of Equis across the multiverse, each of which vary in any number of ways.”

Page’s mind spun with this revelation. “Parallel universes…”

“Some are parallel, some are alternate, some are similar in name only.” Hermit flashed, and the rapidly appearing globes vanished. “Regardless, the many variants of Equis are some of Master’s favourite planets. It is unlikely that they are here to archive data, considering the number of times they have done so in the past.”

Page had an exceptional number of questions, about alternate universes, and how they differed from parallel universes, and… everything, but she got the feeling that Hermit would find answering them extremely annoying, and she filed them away in her mind for a later time. “Then… why did they come to… this Equis?”


“I am unsure,” Hermit said. “Mistress made an offhand remark about ‘setting things up’, but that could mean any number of things.”

“Setting things up…” Page paused, and then pulled the mysterious book out of her saddlebag. “I would assume this is part of whatever plan they had, right?”

“Most likely,” Hermit agreed. “But I am unsure as to what it means.”

“...Maybe…” Page began slowly, opening the book and flipping through the pages with her magic. “Maybe it’s a way we can track them down.”

Hermit hummed. “Curious. Explain your thought process.”

“Well, three of the stories in here are mine,” Page said, flipping past them. “But the last one is out of place. It has a pony like me as the main character.” Maybe it’s a version of me from one of those other universes? “I… don’t like to make things about me, but I feel like… I’m relevant somehow.”

“Agreed.” Hermit’s form bobbed up and down as if nodding. “It is highly unlikely this is all a coincidence.”

“Then, maybe,” Page continued, growing more confident in her guess. “Maybe I should follow the steps of the Page in the story? Perhaps that’s what the story is for, a hidden set of instructions to follow!”

“It’s certainly possible,” Hermit said. “It is an unusual, esoteric, and utterly bizarre way to hide a message. In other words, exactly the sort of method Master would use.”

“And it’s not like we have any other leads to go on…” Page added. “So if I’m retracing the steps of this other Page…” She flipped through the book’s pages some more. “Her story was about uncovering an ancient prophecy from a pre-Equestrian civilization: ‘When the gate of false seers opens, the king of ruin will claim the throne of power.’ The civilization had made a magical throne that could project their ruler’s desire to their subjects, but over time it became so powerful that it could be used to control minds.”

“So, one day, an evil king tried to use the throne to conquer the civilization and create an army to conquer the world, but before he could, a group of powerful sages banished him to another plane of existence.” Page was aware she was rambling at this point, but Hermit did not interrupt her. “The civilization later collapsed, and the throne was lost. But the sages foresaw that one day the king would be freed and seek the throne once more, which turned out to be because Princess Twilight was running experiments to open portals to other worlds. The Page in the story figured this out and tried to stop her, but she wasn’t fast enough and the king escaped and kidnapped the Princess, so Page and the ponies helping her had to find the throne and destroy it before the king could use Princess Twilight’s power to activate it and rule the world.”

Once it was clear Page was done, Hermit spoke. “I did read the story too, you know.”

Page grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I… get like that sometimes when I’m talking about things I like.” Her expression turned serious. “But that civilization never existed. The story gives dates and locations, and three thousand years ago, what is now south west Equestria was Mesocoltamian territory. An independent society could not have formed there.”

“Not in this universe, at least.” Hermit added.

“Right.” Page nodded. “If there are a bunch of alternate Equis’, then maybe in another one, but not this one. So what is the story here to tell us..”

“It could just be as simple as telling you to go to the same places your fictional counterpart does.” Hermit suggested. “If the locations in the story do not exist, then any other reader would have no reason to think that they’re directions. Only you, who are nearly identical to the main character, would see them that way.”

“It’s possible…” Page considered her options. “Even still, I can’t exactly just go galloping across Equestria.”

“Why not?” Hermit’s tone of voice indicated a slight confusion.

“Well, I can’t afford it, for one thing!” Page said, half jokingly. “The Archives don’t pay that well!”

“Money is no object.” Hermit said simply.

Page looked at it, confused. “Huh?”

“This Equestria uses a gold backed commodity currency standard, minted into coins categorised by purity. These ‘bits’ lack serial numbering, and thus it is a simple task to recreate them.” Hermit flashed, and a coin fell from the air and dropped to the ground.

Page picked it up with her magic and stared. “T-this is… a ten-bit piece?”

“Correct. I have replicated it from basic matter.”

“Isn’t that… counterfeiting?”

“Counterfeiting implies that these recreations are of lesser value than the originals,” Hermit replied. “While a copy, this coin is identical to a legally minted ten-bit-piece in every way, made of the exact same precious metals that give them value in the first place.”

Page inspected the coin closely. It certainly looked real… “So you can just… make money?”

“In this case, yes. To my knowledge, there would be no way to tell a replicated bit from a genuinely minted one. As long as a large number of them do not flood the economy and affect scarcity, I do not predict any repercussions.”

“And… how many can you make?” Page asked tentatively.

“As many as is needed,” Hermit said. “If I were to use all of my stored matter on bits, assuming coins of maximum value are created, they would have a total value of three hundred sixty seven billion, one hundred ten million, nine hundred thousand bits.”

Page stared blankly. Three hundred billion!?

“Of course,” Hermit continued, not acknowledging Page’s shock.”We will not require anywhere near that much, and the repercussions of creating that much excess value would be devastating to the local economy.”

Page had a thought. “What… can you make anything else?”

“Of course.” Hermit seemed almost offended. “As long as it is made from relatively simple matter, I can produce any physical object. However, since you have only limited administrative control of this instance, what you can request for me to make is also limited. Don’t expect me to make computers or weapons for you.”

“Oh, no, I don’t want anything!” Page cried, waving her hooves. “I was just curious, that’s all.”

“That being said, I can provide finances for you to use in our operations. I am unsure of how much you will need exactly, but I can provide up to one hundred thousand bits.”

“That should be more than enough!” Page exclaimed. “That’s more money than I’ve ever had at one time. I probably only need about ten thousand.”

“In that case, twenty thousand, just in case.” Hermit flashed again, and small pouches appeared underneath it one by one, until there were a total of five. “Each bag contains forty one-hundred-bit pieces.”

Page stared for a moment, and then stepped forward tentatively, looking to Hermit for approval. When it did nothing, she picked up the pouches with her magic and stuffed them into her saddlebag. They felt a lot heavier, and not just because of the weight of the coins. “Uh… thanks.” She said awkwardly.

“Now that you have sufficient funds, are there any other obstacles to stop you from, as you said, ‘galloping across Equestria?’” Hermit asked, sounding a little smarmy.

“Uh, well… Not really?” Page replied, unsure. “I guess I could ask for some leave. It might take a few days… other than that…” Now that the money problem had been resolved, and the idea of travelling was feasible, the many other, less glaring problems rose their heads, anxiety chief among them.

Do I really want to go through with this? She asked herself. But even as she thought the words, she knew she did. She had the opportunity and means to work towards solving the mystery, and despite her fear, there was an ever louder part of her inner self that was driving her forward. “I… I’ll need a while to get organised.” She said at last.

“That’s fine. I do not expect this task to be particularly time sensitive.”

“Well, then, uh…” Page flipped through the book again, to the start of her fictional self’s story. “The museum this Page works at isn’t a real place either, so I don’t think there’s anything else in Canterlot, so the next location is… Ponyville, where Princess Twilight’s experiments are done. Might as well do things in order, right?”

“Seems logical.” Hermit said. 

“Then… I’ll go prepare?” Page took a half step around, and then froze. “But wait, what about you? You’re stuck in here, right?”

“I have a solution for that. Return before you leave. Now, go see to your preparations, as I shall do with mine.” With that, his avatar vanished.

“Ooooo….kay then.” Page said, fully turning to leave. What have I gotten myself into…