The Struggles of Running a Book Store

by arcanica_scripta

Revelations

There was a long silence at the Unicorn’s declaration. Twilight looked ready to explode, while the others were all trying to either rationalize the revelation, or in Rainbow’s Case, trying to care. “I can tell you have questions,” Page/Hoofcraft stated to the gathered mares. “So whatever it is, ask away.”

“Why A. T. Hoofcraft?” asked Rarity before Twilight could get any questions out. “Not to sound rude, but certainly there are better options for a nom de plume?”

She chuckled. “Actually, it’s a shortened version of my actual name. ‘Page Turner’ is a pseudonym I use in order to maintain a personal life while I publish under my real name.” She looked at Rarity with a smirk. “It’s short for Arcanica Transcriptia Hoofcraft. Obviously, that’s a little long for putting on the front of a book, so I decided to simply shorten it to ‘A. T. Hoofcraft’. Page Turner is what my parents were going to call me if I was a colt.”

Twilight opened her mouth to ask a question, only for Pinkie to cut her off by slamming her front hooves down on the table and getting right in Arcanica’s face. “Did you lie to us about when your birthday was? Cuz if I threw parties for your birthday on days that weren’t your birthday, I will be SO ANNOYED!” she yelled at the end, panting a little from the exertion.

The Unicorn author blinked a little after the volume of Pinkie’s question. “No, I actually kept that the same. Seemed a little stupid to have to celebrate my actual birthday by myself and a fake birthday with everypony else.” She shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like I’m the only pony in Equestria with my birthday, so it wasn’t as big a priority as my name.”

“Ooooohhhh. Okie dokie!” Satisfied, she plopped herself back down on her rump.

Before Twilight could even try asking anything this time, Applejack decided to get her own question in. “So, where the hay are you even from? I mean, if you were listening to us, ya probably heard us all knowing you gave those three different cities. So? Where exactly are you from?”

“It’s like Rarity said, I’m from Seaward Shoals.” Arcanica had a smile on her face as she thought back on her home. “It’s a nice little down on the Celestial Coast, right on the ocean and with a wonderful sense of community. I’ve just had to move all over Equestria in an effort to keep anypony from truly realizing who I am.”

“Ok, let me ask a question!” yelled Twilight, startling the ponies all sitting around the table as she slammed her hooves onto the table.

“Well, nopony is stopping you, Twilight,” the author said in a rather concerned tone. “Ask away.”

“Thank you.” She took in a deep breath before releasing it and looking at Arcanica with genuine curiosity. “Why all the secrecy? The moving, the fake name for regular life, the book store, all of it! Why go to such extreme measures to keep your identity a secret?”

Arcanica sighed rather heavily. “And there it is, the million bit question.” She fixed Twilight with a serious stare. “You really want to know why, Twilight? It’s because I wanted to distance myself from the fame. When somepony succeeds in literature or art, it eventually stops being about their work and more about them as a pony. I wanted my books to be separate from my personal life; for everypony to look at my books and say, ‘These are good books, I wonder when the next one will be coming out?’ not ‘Hey Hoofcraft why are you enjoying yourself and not writing?’ You know what I mean?”

“Not really,” replied Rainbow Dash. “I mean, yeah it would get annoying if everypony judged me based on my practice schedule and expect me to constantly be practicing my tricks, but why wouldn’t you want everypony to be a huge fan of you?”

Before Arcanica could reply to her, Rarity cut in for her. “Because, darling, it has to do with recognition. She wants ponies to buy her work because they enjoy her books, not just because her name is on them.” She flipped her hair as she ran a hoof through it. “I get it completely. It’s a rather common occurrence in the fashion community, for a pony’s work to be sold purely by name to flaunt rather than out of appreciation for the clothing itself.” She gave a gentle smile to the red Unicorn. “Is that about right, Pa- I mean, Arcanica?”

She nodded with a grateful smile. “Exactly. Of course, wanting some privacy is also part of why I went to such extremes. I was never good with everypony putting high expectations on me when I was a filly, so when I realized my talent was writing such interesting narratives and that everypony loved what I wrote, I came to a realization that if I started publishing when I got older, I would have everypony harassing me to keep writing when they want me to.” She wasn’t lying. When her cutie mark, an open book with three differently colored sparkles on the right page, appeared on her flank after her first novella received praise from her teachers, she had a feeling her writing would become a new bar for everypony to hold her to.

“So then why all the lies and secrets?” Applejack’s tone, while slightly disappointed in her for lying so much, was still genuinely curious.

“Again, I was hoping to get some privacy in my life despite the rising popularity of my books.” She shook her head with a sigh. “When I started the habit, it seemed like a good idea.”

Fluttershy rested a hoof on Arcanica’s shoulder. “And now?”

She heaved her shoulders with a much heavier sigh and shook her head. “Honestly? It’s starting to become a burden more than anything. In all honesty, I think my next move will be to go back to Seaward Shoals and hope for the best."

“Wait, you’re already moving?!” Twilight was visibly shaken at the revelation.

“Most likely. I was so concerned over finding this book that I practically tore up Ponyville in my efforts to try and figure out where it went.” She shot an unamused look at Twilight for taking her book. To her credit, the purple Unicorn had the decency to be embarrassed over causing the author to panic. “Considering how much of a foal I made of myself trying to find it, it probably won’t be long until somepony else puts two and two together and figures out I’m A. T. Hoofcraft.”

“Well, is that so bad?” asked Fluttershy with a hopeful smile. “After all, I’m sure that if anypony found out who you were or where you lived, they’d respect your desire for privacy.”

“Tell that to the filly who tried mailing herself to me.”

“Ah’m sorry, what?!” Applejack looked visibly mortified at the thought of somepony mailing themselves.

Rainbow laughed at the thought. “Why the heck did they do that?! Not even I would try something that stupid, even if it was to meet the Wonderbolts!” She kept laughing and leaned on the table as laughter racked her body.

Ignoring the laughing Pegasus, Arcanica continued on with her tale. “A young filly was obsessed with my work and because she thought I was a stallion like everypony else did, she decided to mail herself to me as an offering out of her devotion.” She sighed and shook her head. “Fortunately, she didn’t see what I looked like, but she did hear me scream and yelling for the guards. In fact, it’s because of her that everypony first found out I was a mare.”

“You mean, some filly quite literally sent herself to your home in a box… just to meet you?” Rarity seemed a little perturbed by the fact that something like that happened in somepony’s life.

“She wanted to do more than meet me, if her yelling and how she was begging were any indication.” They all shuddered at the implications being made by the author. Who could blame them? Twilight’s plan to track her down at least had the motivation to return her book and maybe meet her. But going that far out of obsession was just… too much.

“So because of that… you’re going to move just because we found out?” Twilight was confused in trying to work out the logic behind Arcanica’s habit, to the point where she wanted to both yell and bang her head on the table. “Look, just because we figured it out, you don’t have to run away from Ponyville. Heck, we could even help you manage all of the crazy fans for you!”

“Yeah!” cheered Dash. “And if they cause problems, I’ll give ‘em the old one-two for good measure!” she proudly declared while shadow boxing in the air.

“Nopony deserves harassment like that, an’ Ah’ll be damned if Ah let somepony Ah know deal with somethin’ like that!” assured Applejack. As the other three joined in on agreeing to help her, Arcanica felt something… off. She couldn’t put her hoof on it.

“Why, though?” she asked. “Why would you all even try helping me? I barely know most of you! At the most, I’m only really friends with two of you!” She didn’t get it. What were they after by trying to help?

“Because it doesn’t matter to us how few of us you were already friends with, just that you are friends with some of us!” explained Pinkie Pie. “Because you’re friends with some of us, that means you’re practically already friends with all of us!”

She didn’t get that logic, but as the others gave some manner of agreement, she felt that strange feeling in her chest. “I… I have to think…” Grabbing her book, she got up from the table while ignoring all of their concerned looks. “Thanks for finding my book and all. I hope you can all keep my identity secret,” she said over her shoulder as she walked out the door. Closing it behind herself, she left the six friends to their own devices.

The walk back to her store was quiet. Nopony tried getting in her way, and she ignored the ones who did try to talk to her as she kept walking. She wasn’t in any rush to get home, so her journey was at a more leisurely pace than she would usually have. Her mind was currently in turmoil as she thought over the events of the day.

Why would they want to help me so badly? With the exception of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, I only talk to them in extremely situational circumstances.

When she arrived back at her shop, she quickly made her way to the second floor. Setting her book down, she sank onto the couch in her sitting room. She honestly had no idea what to think about this whole dilemma. Her gut instinct was to pack up and leave that night with the rent for her building left at the town hall. Of course, that instinct only existed after all the times she had to move in the past.

After her talk with Twilight and her friends, though, she was tempted to not run and instead stay behind and risk it. She wasn’t sure why, but the thought of those six helping her like that left a sort of… warm feeling in her chest. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the last time she felt something like it was the last time she saw her parents when they had wished her luck on her career. Is this… what having close friends is like?

She shook her head to clear that thought. They weren’t friends! The closest ones out of them she could even call her friends were Rarity and Pinkie, and Pinkie had it in her head that EVERYPONY was her friend. But if they weren’t friends… why would they all so quickly agree to help her out? “Uggh… I can’t deal with all this right now!” she yelled as she threw her hooves in the air before flopping onto her side on the couch. “I need a nap. Maybe if I do, I can make a decision about this mess…”

It wasn’t until the sun was starting to descend in the sky that she woke to a knocking on her door. Giving a heavy sigh, she climbed off the couch and descended to her empty store. Half-heartedly opening the door, she found nopony waiting for her on the other side. Instead, there was a medium-sized white box sitting on her stoop. There was a small card stuck to the top with Page Turner written on the top, so she quickly pulled it off and opened it up.

Arcanica,

I’m sorry we invaded your privacy the way that we did. I hope you can find a way to accept our apology.

-Twilight

Her interest intrigued, she picked up the box and brought it inside so that she could see just what the Princess’s star pupil had in mind to apologize to her. Setting it down on the store’s countertop, she cautiously opened the box up. Rather than anything she had in mind, there was a large three-layer cake with a delicious looking white frosting and rose-red decorative icing; obviously the work of Pinkie Pie. What caught her attention was how the top was decorated. The top layer was decorated with her Cutie Mark. The edge of the cake was decorated with the other six mares’ Cutie Marks separating the words of the simple sentence ‘We’re sorry for possibly ruining your life!’

“Why are they so insistent?” she muttered. She carefully scooped a bit of the frosting with her hoof as she tried thinking over why they would apologize so much. As the creamy topping touched her tongue, her eyes widened at the fact that it was coconut flavored. “Coconut…” she muttered. “My favorite… But how did she even remember that?”

“Everypony is my friend! And a good friend knows what their friends like!” she vaguely remembered. If she recalled correctly, Pinkie Pie had once said that in regards to how detail oriented she had been when planning a birthday party for Rarity down to the exact amount of punch to have at the party.

Arcanica had to have mentioned her favorite flavor of frosting once or twice in the entire time she had known Pinkie Pie. Did she really remember it after all this time? Given the fact that Pinkie had gotten the frosting flavor, it wasn’t a stretch to assume it was chocolate cake as well. Does she really think of me as a friend? She thought back on the girls and her talk with them. They all seemed pretty supportive of her if she revealed her real name to the public, and it would make things easier on her stress-wise. More importantly, even after they figured out who she was and why she was lying, they didn’t seem to treat her any differently. Would it really change anything if I drop the façade of Page Turner?

As she looked at the cake and the note that had come with it, she hardened her features. “That does it. My mind’s made up.” When the girls came by the following morning to see if Arcanica had accepted their apology, they found a closed-up store with a simple sign on the door:

We are closed until further notice.

---

Twilight let out a heavy sigh as she closed her copy of Village. It was only the second time she had read it in almost a week, but what could she do? She had driven somepony away from their home and had failed to apologize to them. This feels worse than the few times I failed an assignment… she thought sadly to herself.

“Aw, come on, Twilight. You can’t beat yourself up over this forever.” Spike had been trying unsuccessfully to get her to cheer up, but she hadn’t been in the mood. She had been beating herself up over what happened with Arcanica and couldn’t shake the guilt over it.

“Spike, I forced somepony to move away from Ponyville because I couldn’t respect their privacy.” She slumped on top of the table as she let out a depressed sigh. “I’m a terrible friend.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say you were friends with Page, or rather, Arcanica. So it’s not like you hurt somepony you were really close to,” he said in an optimistic tone, hoping to convince her to not be so torn up over it.

“But that’s what makes it worse!” she yelled as she buried her face in her fetlocks. “Somepony I barely knew who just wanted to live peacefully here in Ponyville was forced to abandon everything because I just had to read a book!”

“Alright, that settles it!” he declared. Going up to the Unicorn, he pulled her to her hooves and started guiding her to the door. “You need to get outside and talk to everypony! You can’t stay inside forever, Twilight. Let’s go see the others!”

She sighed as she let herself be led outside her library. As much as she wanted to argue with Spike, Twilight knew that he was right to an extent. So, she decided to humor him. Who knows? Maybe her friends would be able to cheer her right up after all. As the two walked through town, she noticed something rather out of place.

“Hey Spike? What happened to the book store?”

“Oh, yeah, they repainted it while you shut yourself up in the library,” he explained.

Of course, they had done a lot more than that. What was once a reasonably large, two-story building with the same cream walls and thatch roofing as most of the buildings in town had been completely renovated. The roof was now stylized to look like an open book placed page-down on top of the entire building, with the walls now being a modest navy blue. The windows were now sporting iron framework and ornamentation. A new sign hung in front of the building, reading Untold Tales with an open book underneath the words. Attached to the sign was a small red sign that read “Grand Opening”

“Apparently, some rich pony bought it and has been paying for a team of unicorns to completely renovate the place. No idea why they’d move here to Ponyville,” he explained with a nonchalant shrug.

“Well, I imagine rent here in Ponyville is much cheaper than in other cities or towns, so it would make sense to open here instead of Canterlot or Manhatten,” she said as she took in the new look. “I suppose we might as well check it out, see how different it is compared to how she used to run things.” Now morose once more, she started towards the door, not acknowledging the groups of excited ponies leaving the store with excited looks on their faces. She did stop when she saw a familiar pink Earth Pony skipping out of the store. “Oh, hey Pinkie Pie. Planning a party for our newest resident?”

The pink mare giggled before answering. “Nnnope!” she sang, making sure to pop the ‘p’. “There’s no need to throw them a party!”

“And why’s that?” Twilight was now more confused than sad. “You throw everypony a party when they move here.”

“You’ll see~!” she sang as she started bouncing away.

The two friends shared a look before resuming their walk into the store, their interest now thoroughly piqued. As they entered the store, Twilight gasped as she saw the mare behind the counter. “PAGE?!”

The red Unicorn looked at the resident librarian. “Sorry, I think you have me mixed up with somepony else,” she said matter-of-factly as she happily bagged up a customer’s purchases before handing it off to them. “My name isn’t Page. It’s Hoofcraft. Arcanica T. Hoofcraft.” Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized what was just said. “I recently purchased this lovely book store after I decided to settle down for a change of pace.” She quickly turned her attention to a black Pegasus who came up to the counter with a couple of books.

As the author continued helping her customers, Twilight was left in shock. What is going on here?!

“Twilight, if you’re not going to buy anything, I’d like to ask that you move out of my door way,” she said as she sent the black Pegasus on his way. “You’re going to cause a blockage for ponies trying to enter and exit my store.”

She quickly shook her head before quickly moving closer to the counter while being out of the way for the flow of traffic. “Um… Arcanica? Could you maybe explain WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON?!”

The red Unicorn took a moment to rub her ear while wincing and giving an apologetic smile to the mare she was in the process of helping. “First of all, Twilight,” she said as she leveled an annoyed look at the purple mare, “you’re disturbing my customers. I’d rather not the have my grand opening marred by you upsetting my customers.”

“But, you already ran this store before-”

“Second, if you want to know what’s going on with me, you can simply wait for when I go on break at noon.” As she sent off the mare she had just finished helping, she turned to the Unicorn who was now glaring at her. “Look, I have another hour Twilight. But if you want to really know what happened, I took you girls’ advice.”

She waved a hoof at the store. “There aren’t any customers right now! Can you just explain what’s going on?”

Arcanica sighed while rubbing her eyes. “Alright, Twilight. If you must know, I thought back on how you were all reassuring me about letting everything come out. I realized that all I was really doing was just running from my problems, especially when I realized something pretty big.”

“What’s that?”

She smiled at the purple mare, a small spark in her eyes. “I never had real friends until I moved here to Ponyville. I spent so much time trying to hide my identity and keep myself hidden in plain sight, that I just turned into a shut-in. But you six? I realized you girls are the first real friends I’ve had since I was a filly.”

While that was heart-warming, that still left one question unanswered for Twilight. “And… using your real name?”

Arcanica rolled her eyes as she walked around the counter to fix one of her bookshelves. “Like I said. I was getting sick of always having to lie and use fake names. So, I went and finally replied to the Manehatten Times’ constant requests for me to do an interview with them. And, since I decided I was done hiding, I tapped into my personal savings to renovate my store and actually make it more… me.” She shot a playful smile to the purple Unicorn. “Naturally, I avoided specifically giving away my location, and my agent is having a field day with the fact that I’m done actively hiding.”

Done with reorganizing the shelf, she gave Twilight a very short, and extremely awkward hug. “But I have to thank you, Twilight. You girls really helped me out.” Twilight smiled as new customers entered the store and Arcanica quickly resumed working.

Yeah… we really did.

---

Princess Celestia looked up in interest as a familiar scroll popped into existence before her. Smiling, she set her copy of the Manehatten Times to seize the letter from her prized student. Breaking the seal and unrolling the scroll, she read over Twilight's newest lesson in friendship.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that even if somepony doesn't quite consider you their friend, the bonds of friendship you have with them can make all the difference in facing their fears. Recently, I learned that a resident here in Ponyville has been lying about her identity out of concern for her own privacy as her literary works gained popularity. When the other Elements of Harmony and I talked to her about it, I became convinced that my actions had completely destroyed the life she made here in Ponyville and was going to move out of fear. When I saw her today, however, she explained to me how my offers of friendship and our kindness to her had touched her enough that she decided to come clean to all of Equestria about her life. I look forward to what this new friendship can bring me, and am excited to have been able to make a new friend this way.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

Celestia smiled as she finished her student's letter, knowing her student was certainly improving if she was able to make a new friend outside of the Elements. "And to think I was so worried about her."

Author's Note:

It's finally finished! This chapter was harder to write for some reason, and it evades me as to why. I'm sorry if the Friendship Report seems clunky, but I did the best I could.
I wanted to rush this to get it done sooner, but I realized that if I had, I would've probably had more problems in it than I usually feel are in my chapters.
Also, where I am, it's currently Christmas Eve, so if you read this today or tomorrow...
MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HEARTH'S WARMING, EVERYPONY!