Blank till thought (Private, Aestella ~Closed~)

[dragoonofdeath]

There was a knock on Aestella's door early in the morning in Hoofington, a dark unicorn glancing about as he sat the small brown box at the doorstep. The box was labeled "To Aestella, maybe you'lll find this useful. ~ a friend" The pony then ran off down the road, teleporting out of hoofington. The package sat there on the doorstep awaiting it's new owner.

[zasknu]

Aside from the ticking of the many clocks situated inside the front room of the house that served as a store, all was still and quiet within the large Hoofington dwelling, with the exception of a young unicorn mare walking slowly and quietly towards the front door. Upon reaching her destination, she hesitated, staring at the door in confusion. She knew internally how early it was in the morning and double checking not only with her own ankle watch but with all of the other clock she had created affirmed that it was indeed, very early morning. Nervously, she reached out with a hoof and slowly opened the door; "G-good morning, may I help y-"

Aestella stopped her greeting after she finished opening the door and finding that there was nopony there. Normally, somepony might get scared that there was nopony on the other side of the door and that it might have been a ghost. Or if they were not scared, said pony might be annoyed that somepony else was playing a prank on them. Aestella, however, felt neither instead choosing to feel horrible and sad. "Oh no... Look what you've done, Aestella... you were too slow and scared and now they ran off because you took so long to get here" she thought to herself, turning her gaze to the front porch, her ears dropping sadly.

It was then that she spotted the box, one that was small and brown and very harmless looking. The unhappy unicorn picked up the box with her magic and turned it over several times in the air in front of her, trying to make out what it was. "I might find this useful?" She thought, staring at the label under the light of the clock she had set up above the door, "From a friend?" Looking up from the box, she scanned the darkness looking for any signs that anypony was here, waiting to step forward. Seeing nopony, and unwilling to call out lest she wake her neighbors, she took the box back inside and closed the door behind her.

"Who could this be from?" Aestella wondered, placing the box on her back and walking through various rooms in the house until she made it to her workshop. "It can't be from Quillson... he would have brought this to me at a time he could have made sure we could talk about it. Or at least be around to see my reaction..." Aestella set the box down on the desk and closed the door to the workshop, just in case whatever was in the box was loud, or bright, or smelt badly. "It's DEFINATELY not from Diamond..." Her thoughts continued as she slowly began to open the box, being careful not to damage the packaging too much, in case somepony wanted the box to remain intact. "If it were from her it would be wrapped in bright colors... or be thrown through a window... or be in my food... or play music... or all of the above." She smiled slightly at the thought of Diamond sneaking some kind of oversized box into the house and hiding it, none to subtly, in the refrigerator as she opened the box and looked inside.

[dragoonofdeath]

Upon opening the box, Aestella sees nothing more then a small book with very few pages, a quill, a jar of ink and a small note. The note read:

"Good, you opened it. Now to use it. Write your name on the inside of the cover of the book, and the book should react. I know for a fact this will be of great use to you, and I hope you do not prove me wrong."
~A friend

Upon pulling the book from the box, you realize that what few pages are in it are blank, and it seems that a large number had been torn out. The cover itself is blank save for a small circle with a triangle inside it, and on the inside of the cover there is a line for a name.

[zasknu]

Aestella blinked at the contents of the box. This certainly wasn't something she expected, not that she knew what to expect originally. A book, a Quill, and a small jar of ink; nothing sinister, nothing dangerous, just... stationary. "What an odd thing to send someone in the morning..." she thought as she pulled the book from the box and looked it over. The cover did not provide any information, other than the book seemed to be quite old. The strange design on the cover didn't remind Aestella of anything important, so she moved on, opened the book to examine the contents. "Blank?" She stared at the pages, the few pages that were there. "How strange..." She set down the book on her desk and looked at the note, seeing that it wanted her to write her name on the line.

Now curious, though terrified beyond reason, Aestella stared at the inside front cover of the book. Taking out the quill and ink, she placed those to the side of the book and got ready to write her name on the line. "What's going to happen?" She wondered, dipping the quill into the ink a few times, "Is some kind of horrible monster going to pop out of the book? Will the book try to eat me? Why were the pages torn out?" She shuddered, unsure of what to think about the strange book that was sent to her by apparently a friend she had never met but enjoys writing very odd notes and leaving them in odd places.

"The Friend said that this would be of great use to me... but what use do I have for a book that has pages torn out?" She asked herself in her mind, as she brought the quill to the cover and signed her name on the line, in the same professional manner that she signs orders for parts, or letters to customers.

[dragoonofdeath]

As Aestella wrote her name on the cover, writing began to appear on the first page. The writing seemed plain, and if it was to be read in any voice, it would be in a bored deadpan. The writing finally stopped to read:

"Ah, another owner. Do be a dear Aestella and try not to tear out any more of my pages, for I am very close to being a one page guidebook. I am the eternal guidebook, any questions you may have, I can quite possibly answer."

[zasknu]

Aestella dropped the quill onto the desk in panic and covered her mouth with her hooves so that her inevitable scream wouldn't be a disturbance for anypony. With her hooves secured, she proceeded to scream, quietly, for a good 10 seconds straight. "It's talking to me! It's alive! Well... it's .... writing at me, but it's still alive!" Aestella thought in a panic, looking around the room to make sure she was still in her workshop and not inside some kind of horrible nightmare world. Everything looked normal, but that wasn't good enough. As she began to poke herself repeatedly, making sure she was really awake, she looked back over the words that had appeared on the page.

"Tare out any more pages? Am I the reason there are only three pages? I'm sorry..." She thought, continuing down the page. Though the book didn't actually speak, when the unicorn read the words in her head, her mind spoke out in a sort of sophisticated, patient voice. The sort of voice one might hear from the butler of an extremely wealthy stallion who might have been some kind of nocturnal vigilante super hero.

"The Eternal Guidebook? You can answer any question I have?" Aestella asked in her mind, mostly to herself in an attempt to grasp what was going on. She picked up the quill once more and brought it closer to the page, unsure of what to do next. "How do I ask a question to this book... do I speak it? Do I write it down? Am I just suposed to think, 'Excuse me, Mr. Guidebook. Do you have a name?' in my mind and wait for a response? Do I have to be holding onto the book itself?" Just in case, Aestella rested her left hoof on the inside cover of the book as she reached over with the quill to dip it into the inkwell.

[dragoonofdeath]

The original writing vanished and quickly began to replace itself.

"It is not your fault that I have so few pages, but that of my previous owner. He felt that I was something that should be destroyed, but I was removed from his possession. In order to utilize me, you must simply state your question. Thinking it is fine, if you don't want ponies thinking you are insane talking to a book, though it is easier for me to hear you when you speak. As for a name, I do not have one, but if you wish you may name me."

it was apparent that the book was now connected with Aestella, as it was able to answer her questions that she had thought instead of said.

[zasknu]

The young inventor watched in amazement as the words seemed to just soak back into the page as if they were never there, only to be replaced by more words that answered her thoughts. She was relieved that she was not the cause of the damage that had been done to the guidebook, but was not happy to hear that somepony out there wanted the book to be destroyed. She would have to ask about that later, she supposed. Instead, she turned her attention to the guidebooks instructions on how to use him, since she decided that the guidebook was a 'he' because calling the guidebook and 'it' was just plain rude.

"Oh, so I can just talk to you. That will make things easier, I suppose..." Aestella whispered, still worried about being too loud. "And if you are content with me giving you a name..." Aestella paused, uncertain of how to continue. She had never really thought of naming anypony or anything before, with the exception of Tick and Tock, but she named them when she was little, and it was easy to name them after the sounds they make. She couldn't very well name the guidebook after whatever sounds it made, because... well it didn't make sounds.

"Well... while I think about that, I still have questions. This is all so strange to me, so I hope you don't mind if I ask them." Aestella stated sheepishly, not wanting to offend the guidebook that had so far been so pleasant to her. "For example... what sorts of questions can you answer? What are the limits of your powers?" She had a question in her heart that she knew she wanted to ask, but she needed to know if the guidebook would be able to answer it. In addition, it was clear that the book came from somewhere far away, so maybe a name that sounded a little foreign? "Oh, and for a name... would you mind if I called you Encio Pediatore de Eterno?"

[dragoonofdeath]

The words vanished once more from the page, being replaced once more with more words.

"My powers are limited only by what you can think of asking, and the number of pages I contain. Of course, there are things even I do not know, so if I cannot answer it you will know. I can answer just about any question, but I cannot answer questions about personal matters such as love, others thoughts, etcetera. I am a book of knowledge, not a mind reader."

The book seemed to pause for a few moments, as if thinking. More text appeared under the old at the bottom of the page.

"As you wish madam. Encio Pediatore de Eterno, at your service."

[zasknu]

Aestella smiled at Encio, "I'm glad you like it." She wasn't sure whether or not Encio could tell she was smiling or not, but she was happy to assume that he could. "So, no questions about personal matters, love, or what others are thinking. Sounds simple enough..." The question she wanted to ask wasn't a question about reading minds after all, so she wasn't too concerned. Her question was just about location, but first, more pressing questions came to mind to ask her new friend.

"So, Encio... What can you tell me about yourself? Where are you from, who used to own you? Oh... if you don't want to tell me anything about yourself that is fine too, but I thought I would ask in case you were feeling talkative." Aestella was happy that somepony had given Encio to her, even if the situation was a little mysterious. "Oh, right. Also, do you have any idea who gave you to me? I would really like to thank them someday." Aestella truly hoped that she would be able to find out who this mystery pony was, they deserved at least a 'thank you' if not more as payment for such a wonderful treasure.

"Oh! And would it be possible to fix you somehow? Add more pages between your covers? Would it make you feel better? Oh I'm such a bad friend I should have asked about this first... it must have been just awful to have your pages ripped out like that..." Quickly, she turned from the book and looked around the workshop. She had several blank scrolls in terms of parchment, but nothing in terms of sheets that could be used as pages of a book. Maybe somewhere, she had left some without realizing it. Even though she knew this wasn't the case, she began to look for the extra pages that didn't exist.

[dragoonofdeath]

the page went blank, more text slowly appearing once more.

"Whilst I would prefer not to speak of myself, I can tell you that I am very ancient. I have only had two previous owners, the one that created me, and the one before you. As for who gave you to me, I was in a state of rest, not attached to an owner. I have no clue how long ago I was damaged, or how long I have been without a purpose."

The bottom of the page had a small arrow on it, as if marking to turn the page. On the second of the three pages was written, in an almost sad tone, "Alas, there is no means of repairing me as far as I can tell, as the original pages were utterly destroyed. Losing my pages is the equivalent of a pony losing a limb, it is irreplaceable."

[zasknu]

Aestella gave up on her search for extra pages and turned back to Encio, to see if he had responded to her questions. "Oh... I see..." Aestella frowned in disappointment. She wasn't too concerned that Encio didn't want to talk about his previous owners, that was something she could understand. But the idea that his pages were irreplaceable was a terrible one. "Surely there is some solution out there, we'd just need to find it. Perhaps something may have been discovered in the time that you were asleep. Maybe somepony in Canterlot would know more about it..."

Aestella thought about the idea of travelling to Canterlot for about a minute before sighing, "But that will have to come later... I'm not sure if now would be the best time to go for a journey like that." She shook her mane and looked back to the book. She couldn't think of any other questions except for the first one she wanted to ask. As much as she hoped that Encio could answer it, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was setting herself up to be disappointed.

"I have one last question... for now... if you didn't mind." Aestella swallowed nervously, trying to muster up the courage to ask. "Encio... if I were to ask you if you knew where to find somepony... would you be able to answer?" Her voice was strained and sad as she forced the words to come out. "D-do you think, you could locate my parents?" She looked away from the book, not wanting to read what came next until the answer was completely there.

[dragoonofdeath]

The text vanished and the books pages flipped back to the first page on its own, obviously enchanted to some point.

"I apologize, but that is one of the many things outside of my knowledge. You have my condolences for your missing parents, but currently there is nothing I can do to assist you in locating them."

[zasknu]

Aestella risked a glance back at the book when she heard Encio's page turn on its own. It didn't take long for her to read what he had said, and she wasn't surprised by his answer. It was a little disheartening, but at least it wasn't a message saying her parents were gone forever. "T-thank you, Encio, for being honest with me." She offered the book a sad smile and rested a hoof on the page for comfort.

Despite not getting the answer she desperately wanted, she was glad Encio had appeared in her life. Another friend that wouldn't disappear randomly, and she was sure that he would be able to do her a world of good later on, but for now, she had work to get back to. "Thank you for everything, Encio. If it is alright with you, I need to get back to work. But I'll be sure to speak with you some more later."

Closing the cover, she placed Encio on the far side of the desk, standing the book up against the wall so she could see the front cover in its entirety. "Just in case he can see through that symbol on the cover," She thought to herself, "he can watch me work and maybe find some enjoyment in that." Turning back to her current project, she found to her dismay that she couldn't get her mind back on the machine in hoof. Standing up from her stool, she walked over to the window in her workshop and uncovered it, staring out into the darkness at the forest beyond.

[dragoonofdeath]

As the book was closed, the text vanished again, the pages returning to the old blank state. To anyone looking, it was just a wierd torn book on a shelf, but to Aestella, she had a new and, quite possibly, powerful ally.

((OOC: As requested, I will continue voicing as the guidebook, along with any future 'talking' trinkets)