Investigation
While Canterlot had developed a (not unearned) reputation of a stuffy, upper class city inhabited solely by wealthy and arrogant nobles, that was far from all of what made up Equestria’s capital. The shining mountainside city was the centre of the nation’s civilization, and civilization did not run on lords and Princesses alone.
For that reason, every business and company in the country made getting a branch in Canterlot a top priority. Not only as a status symbol, but to provide easy access for aforementioned wealthy and arrogant nobles to spend more bits than most ponies would ever see on whatever it was they were selling.
It also gave Page an opportunity. All of Equestria’s major publishing houses had offices in Canterlot, and their addresses were public knowledge, easily pulled up from the Archive’s city maps. Which, in turn, made it easy for her to pay them a visit, and see if any of them knew anything about the mysterious book.
“I’m sorry, there’s nothing like that in our records.”
It wasn’t going well.
“That’s okay,” Page said, feigning a smile. “Thank you for your time.”
The mare on the other side of the desk, a secretary for Pelican Books, noticed Page’s strained expression, and frowned. “I’m sorry I can’t help you more. Have you tried checking at HooferColtins?”
Page nodded with a sigh. “Pelican was the last big publisher on my list. No luck.”
“Hmm…” The mare put a hoof to her chin in thought. “In that case… what about Blackquill Books?”
“Blackquill?” Page blinked. “I don’t think I’ve heard of them.”
“You wouldn’t have,” the secretary replied. “They went out of business decades ago. But this ‘mysterious book’ of yours is exactly the kind of thing they would have published. They were small, indie publisher. You know, the ‘if nopony else will print it, we will’ type.”
Well, the timeframe matches up, I guess… Page thought. “I’ll try them, then. Any way I can get in contact with them?”
“I think the former owner still lives somewhere in Canterlot?” The secretary shook her head. “Other than that…”
“Oh, no, you’ve been a great help, thank you so much!” Page smiled, genuinely this time. “I’ll… figure something out, I’m sure. Thanks again for your time.”
“Have a nice day!” The secretary called as Page left, Page waving a hoof behind her in farewell.
Once she was outside, Page sighed again, pulling out the book and staring into the eye-like pattern on the cover. It hadn’t gotten any less eerie; it vaguely reminded her of a skull, even though it didn’t much look like one. “I’m going to solve you, one way or another…” she muttered to herself, tucking it back into her saddlebag.
‘Figuring something out’ turned out to be a lot simpler than Page had feared. All it had taken was a simple search in the Archives; Blackquill Books’ business registry was right where it should have been, easily findable by someone with experience in the Archive’s organisation system. From there, all she needed to do was take the name of the owner (Blackquill, unsurprisingly), and look him up in the latest edition of the Canterlot Directory.
Any ponies say that none of those old records are good for anything… She thought smugly as she made her way towards Blackquill’s address. This is exactly why we keep these kinds of records in the first place!
The address was in a part of the city that was noticeably less ‘high-rise’ than where Page lived. It was a purely residential district, made up mostly of small, one or two story houses for single residents or small families. It seemed like the perfect place for an old city pony to retire to; which, Page assumed, was exactly why Blackquill chose to live there.
She found his house fairly easily; it wasn’t much different to the surrounding houses, but the cutie mark on the mailbox, an ebon quill writing into an open book, made it clear she was in the right place. She stepped up to the front door, reached out, and knocked on the door with her magic.
“Coming!” A voice called from somewhere within the residence. After a moment, the door creaked open, revealing a elderly, dark grey unicorn stallion. “Yes?”
“Uh, yes, hello, sir, my name is Page Turner, I’m from the Royal Archives,” Page said, reciting the half truth she had told the publishing houses. “We happened to find a book that doesn’t have a recorded publisher, and since we need that for our records, I’m looking for anypony who might know who published it.” This was, strictly speaking, untrue. ‘Unknown’ was a perfectly acceptable entry into that field, but none of the ponies Page had spoken to at the publishing houses had called her out on it. “You are Blackquill, formerly of Blackquill Books, correct?” For a second, an irrational flash of anxiety surged within Page, terrified she had somehow gotten the wrong address.
The stallion gave a soft smile. “Yes, that’s me. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.” Blackquill opened the door wider. “Would you like to come in?”
“If it’s not any trouble…” Page said, slightly sheepish.
“No, no trouble,” Blackquill chuckled. “I don’t get many visitors these days. Come in, come in. Would you like some tea?”
Page quickly shook her head as she stepped inside. “Oh, no thanks, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I just brewed some.”
“No, really, I’m good, thanks.” Page said. “I’m not the biggest fan of tea.”
“Really?” Blackquill asked. “I’ve never been able to get through the day without at least three cups.” He led Page to a cosy sitting room.Bookshelves covered almost all of the walls, except for the currently lit fireplace. Blackquill sat down in a comfortable looking chair, picking up the teacup in his silver magical aura and taking a sip. “Sit down, sit down!”
Page took a seat on the sofa opposite him, and opened her saddlebag. “This is the book I’m investigating,” she said, pulling it out and hovering it in front of Blackquill. “Do you recognize it?”
The instant Blackquill’s steel-grey eyes fell on the book’s cover, they widened. “Oh my!” He exclaimed. “I haven’t seen a copy of that particular tome in years…”
“So you do know it?” Page asked, excitement creeping into her voice.
Blackquill nodded. “Yes, yes indeed.” He put down his teacup and reached out his aura towards the book. “May I?” he asked.
“Of course.” Page replied, letting Blackquill’s aura take over holding up the book.
Blackquill pulled the tome towards him, inspecting the cover, before turning it to look at the spine. ”Shilic… Yep, this is it, alright.” He looked up at Page. “I remember this particular book well.” He grinned sheepishly. “Well, not the actual contents, I must admit. But it is one of the books that I published.”
“That’s great!” Page said enthusiastically. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me a little more? Anything about the author, or…”
“For your records?”
“Yes… aaand a little bit of personal curiosity…” Page admitted sheepishly.
Blackquill laughed again. “I can certainly understand that. But, honestly, I’m afraid I don’t really know much myself. The whole affair was rather peculiar. It was about… fifty-five years ago, I think. A mare showed up at our offices with the manuscript, very specific specifications, and about five times as many bits as she’d normally need, all paid in advance. She only wanted two hundred copies, all of them without any publishing or copyright information or anything, and for them to be delivered to her personally instead of being distributed.”
Blackquill paused. “In hindsight, it was a sketchy deal. But, I was young, cocky, and willing to do what the other publishers wouldn’t, for the right price.” He opened the book to the front cover and glanced at the blank interior cover. “I thought it was some kind of marketing stunt; get ponies talking, wondering about who the author was, and then do a more traditional print… but I never saw her again, and I never saw any other copies. I lost my prototype copy years ago.”
“She didn’t leave a name, or anything?” Page asked, pressing a little further in her eagerness. “What did she look like?”
“No, no name,” Blackquill shook his head. “Well, apart from what we put on the spine. ‘Shilic’. It could have been her pen name, or the title of the book, or both. She just requested it be put on the spine. And as for what she looked like…” He trailed off. “It’s been a very long time. I’m afraid I don’t remember. She was a unicorn, I’m pretty sure, but apart from that…” He shook his head again.
“Oh…” Page’s face fell, disappointment clear in her voice. I thought I was getting closer… but it’s just another dead end.
Blackquill gave an apologetic smile. “I wish I knew more, I really do.” He flipped through the book with his magic, skimming the pages. “If I recall, I was pretty impressed with these stories. They probably would have sold really well.” As he reached the back of the book, he slowed down, furrowing his brow. “Hang on… ‘Page Turner’...” He looked up at Page. “You-”
“Yeah.” Page cut him off in a hurry, cheeks burning with embarrassment. “It’s, uh, part of why I’m curious.” I hope he doesn’t notice just how close the similarities are…
“I can imagine. Finding your own name in a book like this?” Blackquill thought for a moment, and then stood up, floating the book back over to Page. “There’s one last thing I think I can do for you. Wait here for a moment.” With that, he ducked into a corridor and out of sight.
Page sat still, ignoring the slowly growing anxiety of being left alone in a stranger’s house. After what was only a few minutes but felt like hours, Blackquill returned, a yellowed piece of paper in his aura. “Here it is!” He called, pleased with himself. “I still have all the old records from the old days, you see. And the mystery mare, whoever she was, gave us an address to deliver to.” He smiled proudly. “And they said I’d have no use for those old documents…”
Page smiled in return. “They’re kept for a reason. I couldn’t have tracked you down without the Archive’s records.
“Ha! A mare after my own heart.” Blackquill passed Page the document. “It’s good to see there are young ponies these days who understand how useful record keeping is.”
Page nodded, taking the paper in her magic. Sure enough, there was an address listed, one in Canterlot. Page quickly took a notebook and pencil out of her saddlebag and scribbled down the address, then gave the document back to Blackquill. “Thank you so much!”
“Think nothing of it.” Blackquill replied, waving a hoof dismissively. “If you ever need anything else, don’t hesitate to visit again. There are probably other oddities I published that the Archives may need information on.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Page said, stuffing her things back into her bag and standing up to leave. She turned to leave, and nearly left the room before stopping and turning back to Blackquill. “Uh, have a nice day?” She said awkwardly, unsure of what to say as farewell.
“You too.” Blackquill replied with a nod. Page smiled briefly, and then ducked out of the room, rushing out the front door a little faster than she probably should have and shut the door behind her. She’d been so focused on getting the information she was after, she hadn’t really thought through what she was supposed to say after she got it.
Still, that could have been a lot worse. It’s a good thing Mr. Blackquill was so accommodating…
She pulled out the address she had scribbled down. She had expected that she would need to go to the Archives again for directions, but, to her mild surprise, she actually knew the street by name. She looked up into the sky to roughly check the time. It’s still pretty early afternoon… I can go check it out.
“70… 72…” Page muttered to herself counting off the house numbers as she walked down the street. 74… 76!” She looked up at the house in question. “Huh.”
Trotter’s Lane wasn’t exactly the ritziest of Canterlot locations, but it was hardly some kind of downtrodden slum. (Canterlot didn’t actually have slums anymore; An elaborate series of makeshift platforms below the city had held a slum district a few hundred years ago, but they had long since been integrated into the city as part of an expansion project ordered by Princess Celestia to provide a better standard of living for Canterlot’s underclass.) Which is why it was such a surprise to see that 76 Trotter’s Lane looked like nobody had stepped hoof on the premises in decades.
The house itself probably used to be fairly fancy, but those days had long since passed. Nearly all the windows were broken and boarded up, the paint had almost completely faded, and there was even a hole in the roof. The house’s lawn was wildly overgrown in some places, and completely dead in others. A rusted gate separated the property from the rest of the world, but it may as well have been a portal to another dimension for how stark a contrast it was to the surrounding city.
How come nobody noticed this? She thought. I thought the city went out of its way to make sure this exact kind of thing never happens? Canterlot was, after all, known for taking its appearance very seriously. A building like this sitting abandoned for what must have been a long time… Yet another mystery…
Page took a tentative step toward the gate, pushing a hoof against it. She had expected it to be locked, but instead, the gate swung open with a grating, high pitched noise. Page took a quick step back, and looked up and down the street. She was alone.
With a gulp, but before her brain could talk her out of it, she darted forward, dashing through the gate and up to the house’s front door. She reached out with her magic and pushed, finding that it too was unlocked, and quickly slipped inside.
It was dark inside the house, with the only natural light coming through the holes in the boarded up windows. Page lit her horn with a light spell, illuminating the entry hall in a greenish glow, and looked around. Despite the clear damage and lack of upkeep, it seemed pretty normal. A staircase in the middle, some doorways leading off to different rooms… in other words, exactly what an abandoned house in Canterlot would look like.
Page suddenly felt really silly darting inside. What was I even expecting? Some kind of grand secret? It was pretty weird that the house was still standing in such a state, but it was probably just some kind of bureaucratic error. Nothing sinister about that, except the presence of bureaucracy.
Still, Page felt an urge to explore, at least a little. She decided to stick to the ground floor, reasoning that the upper floors might not be fully stable. She picked a doorway and began to poke around, looking for anything interesting, but, to her partial disappointment, she didn’t seem to find much. There were no decorations or personal belongings of any kind anywhere; the house had clearly been moved out of, not simply abandoned.
Just as she was about to give up, though, she noticed a door that was slightly out of place with the others. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but it somehow seemed… different, the faded purple paint standing from the whites and yellows of the other doors she had seen so far. She pulled it open and stepped inside, looking around for anything interesting, and then gasped in surprise.
The room was a hexagonal chamber, just as degraded as the rest of the house. A chain that presumably used to hold a chandelier hung empty from the high ceiling, rendering the room devoid of any light but what came from Page’s horn. The walls on either side of Page were painted pure black, and unlike the house’s other surfaces, this paint didn’t seem to have faded.
But it was what was on the wall directly in front of her that shocked Page. It too was painted black, but it had something else on it as well: The symbol that was on the cover of the book, the mysterious purple ‘eye’, but much larger, reaching from the top of the chamber to the bottom, easily more than twice Page’s height. What the…
Page moved up to it, bathing the symbol even more in her aura’s glow. What’s even the point of this? It’s a room with a symbol in it? Was this some kind of meeting hall, or…
Almost without thinking, she reached out with her magic, touching the symbol.
Without warning, the symbol flared to life, lighting up with a bright purple glow. Page yelped, pulling her magic back and scrambling away from the wall, but it continued to glow and pulse. It… reacts to magic? Her heart beating in her ears, Page took a deep breath, trying to force herself to calm down.
With one last surge of light, the symbol flashed, the entire segment of the wall it was displayed on lighting up. As Page watched, the wall vanished, dissipating in the same way a magical aura might.
The back wall now gone, Page was free to see what lay hidden beyond.
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It seems as though Page Turner has entered a TARDIS-like space, seperate from the rest of the world judging by the lack of decay. A sub-dimension crafted for some unknown purpose... I propose that Page Turner Finds a space that couldn't possibly fit physically inside the house; such as a meadow, jungle, or massive library that reaches into the heavens. She also ought to meet a new friend there; this story doesn't have enough entertaining characters yet. hmm... some sort of magical construct?
Welp, nowhere to go but forward. Any number of shenanigans could be at work: Time travel, prophecy, alternate realities, metafiction...
Whatever the case, Page will likely find something beyond her expectations. And there's always the question of whether the way back will still be there when she turns around. Even if it is, I doubt this room will show up if she tries to show it to somepony else. But that doesn't mean the next room is abandoned. Indeed, someone may be expecting her...
Good chapter. I'm reminded of the stable time loop situation in the Doctor Who episode "Listen" (EDIT: "Blink"), with the woman in that episode following clues she ultimately left for herself.
As for what the sigil could have revealed, it really depends on how long you want this to go on. For a shorter story, it being the past could work, but for a longer story, something less explosive like a simple hidden room with usual documents would be more appropriate at this point.
11129291
I'm gonna be honest, it's really bugging me, I don't remember that from Listen at all. Are you sure you're not thinking of another episode? It's kind of reminiscent to Heaven Sent but I don't think that's what you're talking about...
11129379
I meant "Blink"
11129480
Okay, yeah, that makes much more sense.
And behind the wall was... Princess Celestia's corpse!
Okay, that's probably too dark. Hmm...
How about the hooded figure, perhaps standing inside some sort of ritual circle?
Hmm... what if the mysterious room is a portal to different universes? Beyond the wall, maybe Page will find a world where her characters are real? That's the magic of the book, you can travel to any of the worlds written in it... just a thought! Looking forward to seeing what happens next