Myst

The sun was setting when AppleJack exited the forechamber. It was time to check out the large building, since her exploration had yet to yield a way back home. She walked back up the path to the building. In front of it was a courtyard, with eight thin pillars on either side in a symmetrical fashion, and a large birdhouse with a sunken model ship in the middle. The library was large, and somewhat intimidating to the farmer due to the sheer size of the place. AppleJack walked in slowly, only to find that the structure was just as deserted as the rest of the island. The room was octagonal, with reddish wooden floors and walls, and columns at the corners. The ceiling had a spiraling cloud pattern on it, and a simple black chandelier hanging from the middle. Straight across from the entrance was a bookshelf, with many of the books on it looking scorched. A few looked like they'd survived, but most of them had clearly not. To the left of the bookshelf was a picture of the wall that the bookshelf was in, but with a difference. Instead of a bookshelf, there was a short staircase leading to a crooked hallway. To the right was another picture, this one of the entrance, looking straight out at the birdbath in the middle of the courtyard. To the right of the picture of the entrance was a book that looked similar to the one that had brought her here in the first place, except with no text on the cover, and blue. A red book of the same kind was across from it, to the left of the picture of the hallway. To the left of the red book, a small map of the island, labelled "Tower Rotation," rested in its frame. A fireplace occupied the space to the right of the blue book.

By the time AppleJack had the chance to take it all in, night had enveloped the outside, accompanied by frigid winds. She'd just spent the better part of the day looking around this strange place. Finally, she approached the red book, noticed a red page right next to it, and opened it. It had the same kind of panel as the Myst book, but with one major difference; The panel in this book was like a television with no reception. Tinted pink, but with the little specks all over it. There was even a 'static' type of sound coming from it.

"What in tarnation..?" AppleJack muttered, before looking through the rest of the pages. Right at the back of the book, there was a torn edge at the spine. Six pages seemed to be missing. AppleJack yawned, noticing her exhaustion. "I can't really look for a way home if I can't think right," she reasoned, remembering the incidents during Applebuck Season last year. After a few moments of internal debate, she went to a corner of the room and curled up to go to sleep.

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AppleJack bolted upright, running to the exit. She nearly made it to the dock before she realized she wasn't at the farm. The memories of yesterday hit her. The book, the island, the switches. AppleJack sighed and turned back to the buildings. She walked to the door of the small one and pushed it open.

The room she found had a red-padded chair in the middle, with some kind of computer above it. "This would've been nice last night. . ." AppleJack deadpanned. She turned and left the room, going straight back into the library. She approached the blue book and looked inside. A similar snowscreen to that of the red book, but with a light blue tint instead of pink.

She finally noticed it. A page sitting on the stand right next to the blue book. She looked back at the red, and saw another page as well. "I wonder. . ." she turned the book to the back, finding the same kind of tear at the back as the red book. She brought the page to the inside of the book, trying to align the torn side with the tear in the book itself. A humming sound echoed as the page snapped itself in, merging as if it were never removed in the first place. AppleJack dropped the book in surprise.

She picked it back up and opened it to the panel. Static still dominated the image, but the face of a creature like the one who left a message in the forechamber flickered on repeatedly. This one was younger, and more heavyset.

The creature spoke, repeatedly interrupted by the static on the page, "Sirrus?. . . Is that you?. . . Who are you?. . . …see you… Achenar… help me. I’m… bring me… blue pages to… forever and ever… blue pages… I must have the blue pages… Bring them to me, please."

"Hello?" AppleJack said, "Can you hear me?"

There was no response from the thing inside the book. AppleJack closed it and picked her saddlebag up, reaching in for one of her water bottles. Her hoof brushed the notebook she'd dropped into the bag with them.

"Best not keep everything in my head," she said to herself. pulling the notebook out with the water bottle. She took a drink as she wrote.

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I found myself stuck on a strange island. The book I found took me here, and I don't know how to go home.

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AppleJack wrote descriptions of the various locations she'd found while searching, before she remembered the red book. She stood and approached it, repeated what she had done with the blue, and watched the panel.

Another creature, like the last one, but thinner, without the beard. He spoke in the same interrupted manner due to the static appearance of the panel.

"Who are you? …must help me… bring me a red page… I can’t… I can’t see you… need a red page, you must… please… bring… I beg of you to bring… page… help… I am Sirrus… given up long ago… There is one thing I need to be resolved… you must…"

AppleJack closed the book again, and looked at the pictures by the bookshelf. She approached the one on the left. The picture showed a hallway, with a small set of stairs leading into it. The stairs appeared to contain books. The farmer looked at the bookshelf, and back at the picture, comparing them mentally. Finally, she reached her hoof out and touched the picture.

The image swirled for a moment, before the clunking of machinery echoed through the library. A door closed at the entrance through which she came, and the bookshelf slid back and down, becoming the staircase and entrance depicted in the picture. AppleJack took note of the secret hallway in her notebook, and approached the other picture.

The picture depicted the basin outside the library in the daylight, framed by the exit of the library.

She tapped the picture, and the same swirl appeared in the image that formed in the other. accompanied with the whirring of machinery as the bookshelf returned to the original position, and the door opened.

AppleJack examined the map on the wall, before her stomach rumbled. "Ah, ponyfeathers," she muttered, and she trotted out of the library, looking for food. If all else failed, she could resort to the old method of eating the grass off of the ground.

In her search, she found a stone plaque in the ground with a name engraved. Another strange name: Ti'ana.

Atrus. Catherine. Sirrus. Achenar. Ti'ana. A strange naming convention for a strange new race of creatures. But a grave appears the same no matter where you go. Some may be more ornate than others, but this plaque with Ti'ana's name on it was unmistakeable. AppleJack walked away from the grave, respecting the dead as she'd always been taught to do.

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Finally, AppleJack had enough. She crouched down and started to eat the grass. It was bland, but it would have to be good enough.

After her meal, AppleJack returned to the library and examined the map. Touching pictures had done something each time. First, sending her to this island to begin with, then opening and closing the library's door and secret hallway. She stepped closer and outlined pictures appeared on the map. A gear at the location of the large stone gears, a boat where the sunken ship was docked, a spaceship where the spaceship rested, et cetera.

In the middle of the right side of the map was a circle, with a line extending from it all the way to the right side of the frame. She reached her hoof ahead and touched it. The symbol rotated a little bit, the line now pointing just a bit further down.

AppleJack touched it again and held her hoof there. The line turned red as it aligned with the gear. She pulled away, as the entire island rumbled. "The tower rotation," AppleJack said softly, before going and tapping the portrait to open the hidden passage. She walked down the hallway, slowly and carefully, to find an elevator at the other end.

She took the elevator up. It stopped and rotated at the halfway point, before reaching the upper floor and opening again.