//------------------------------// // Peculiar Clues // Story: Pony Tales 1- Anonymous Letter // by ChrisText //------------------------------// ------Peculiar Clues------ None of them knew what to make of this mysterious letter, Applejack was the most confused because she demanded to know why it was on her farm of all places. ''They expect us to inspect every tree in the acre just to find some stupid directions?'', shouted Dash. ''I don't trust these crazy wild goose chases, it's already weird enough that this anonymous person wants to meet Twilight in private!'' ''Darling, please relax, I'm sure we'll find that message in no time!'', said Rarity. Fluttershy slowly backed away, she obviously didn't want to search for a mysterious pony. ''Um, guys, I think I'll stay in Ponyville and watch over Twilight's house.'', Shy said while grinning nervously. ''This stranger might leave another letter, or worse, she could do something evil!'' Before any of them had a chance to respond, she flew off into the clouds, she can fly pretty fast when she's in a pinch. ''Aw, I was going to surprise her too!'', said Pinkie Pie in a depressed manner. Twilight said to the others, ''I really hope you all can forgive me, Spike tried to talk me out of it as well.'' ''I had assumed that this anonymous character was going to resort to something drastic, and I didn't want to tell Rainbow Dash the truth about the Daring Do secret. ''You'll have to do something for me once this is all over if you expect me to forgive you for that.'', said Rainbow Dash. ''I was going crazy about the next chapter too, I was about to crack under pressure from waiting so long!'' ''It's those lazy book writers who did this to me, made me, Rainbow Dash of all ponies, have to wait for another installment of the AMAZING DARING DO SERIES!'' Pinkie Pie couldn't contain herself and laughed in Dashie's face. She was like Spike, they didn't exactly know when to laugh and when not to laugh, especially when the problem was serious to somepony. ''Don't laugh at her Pinkie.'', said Twilight with a disappointed look on her face. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ''Oh well'', said Applejack, ''Ah guess we'll just have to find this hidden message by ourselves.'' They each spread out in search of the letter. Rainbow searched the north side of the field, Pinkie hopped along the west field, and Rarity stood there watching the others disperse. ''Uh, Rarity, could ya' quit standin' there and help us?, Applejack tried to reach Rarity, although she was preoccupied with another matter. ''I'm not going to get my hooves muddy again, I already did that last week when you asked me to help buck the trees!'' ''Oh come on Rarity, haven't we been through this already?'', she was referencing Twilight's first sleepover and Rarity knew it. ''Trust me on this one, you'll get less dirtier here than you did cleaning up her room!'', Applejack argued with Rarity and it went back and forth.'' Twilight had to tell the both of them to forget the muddy hooves argument and just get to searching. ''The both of you do realize how long this search is going to take if you two aren't helping right?'', Twilight said, ''Applejack, I need you to search the south field, and Rarity can search the East field.'' ''But the east field is the section of the farm with the most gnats!'', Rarity complained with a passion in her eyes. Rarity trotted off to the east side of the field, ''I simply cannot imagine why Rainbow Dash doesn't get the east field, she's the only Pegasus in this group!'', she protested. ''You know how Rainbow hates gnats in her mane, they drive her crazy!'', Twilight responded. ''She never thought of bugs the same way ever since those parasprites followed her.'' Rarity finally agreed to search the east field, and the sun would begin to set in the west. Twilight then noticed something in the letter, she decided to read it in search for clues. The letter read in large black ink, but had green highlights, she thought this could lead to clues. ''Is anypony following you?'' ''This meeting is still private and I need you to perform this task in secrecy.'' ''The note is in either of the north, south, east, and West fields, I have to hide the note that you need so nopony else finds this.'' ''Depending on your problem solving capabilities, you'll be able to solve this puzzle without wasting a whole day.'' ''You also have a deadline that I'd like to mention as well, the time limit is 1 day from now, which should be October 11th.'' ''Should it be day or night, I'm waiting at a cliff where the sun sets in the West.'' ''Now why does she have west capitalized twice?'', Twilight thought to herself. ''Is she trying to say that the note is also in the west?'' ''I need your attention everypony, I want you all to search the west field of the farm!'', Twilight shouted loud enough for each of her friends to hear her. ''Oh, thank Celestia, I thought I'd never get a break from these gnats...'', said a white unicorn. They each searched the entire west field and no luck came to them in the end. ''That's crazy, I was sure that there was some sort of clue in this letter!'', said a confused Twilight. ''Am I the only pony who thinks Twilight has finally lost it?'', scoffed Rainbow, ''Actually I think she lost it along time ago, ever since she enchanted Smarty Pants.'' ''Does anypony else think we should just drop this whole search thing, if this anonymous character tries any funny stuff, I'll teach him...or her...a lesson or two!''. ''No Rainbow, we don't even know who this letter is from, but it can't be from the Princess, the tone of voice used in this letter persuades me to think it's somepony else.'', said Twilight. ''Well if it isn't from the princess who cares?'', said Rainbow, ''If the sender isn't anyone important then we should just pretend you never got the letter in the first place!'' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ''That's the thing Rainbow Dash, we don't know who this is from, we can't just shove it aside like we never saw it!'', said Twilight. ''There has to be some kind of clue in this letter.'' Pinkie Pie was getting thoughts in her head at this point. Everypony knows however, that whenever Pinkie comes up with something it doesn't make any sense. Even when shes in a plain conversation, her rushed pattern of speaking and energetic movement leave most ponies confused. ''Hey Twilight, there's some words scribbled on the back of that note you're holding!'', said Pinkie. Twilight quickly flipped over the note to see what was written on the back. ''It has the directions north and east written on it, but some of the words in them are capitalized, I wonder what that could mean.'', pondered Twilight. The note said norTh, which shouldn't be capitalized, then it has eaSt, which also shouldn't be capitalized. ''Hey, isn't T.S the abbreviation for your name Twilight?'', asked Applejack. ''You're right Applejack, and since this letter was sent to me, that T should stand for Twilight.'' ''If I'm correct, Twilight also means midnight, which could be a clue, and the S should stand for Sparkle.'' ''Oh my gosh, Twilight and Sparkle, by Jove, I think I figured it out!'' ''We have to wait until it gets darker, if the S stands for Sparkle, then we should be able to find it pretty easily.'' The others were very much confused by now, considering they did none of the work there, except for Pinkie Pie who noticed the words on the back of the note. ''So, what you're trying to say, is that we should wait till dusk?'', asked Applejack. ''That's the dumbest idea that I've ever heard!'', scoffed Rainbow. ''If this person whoever he or she is, expects you to meet her alone before tomorrow then why should we have to wait?'' ''Maybe we don't have to wait for night to come.'', said Twilight in a suspicious tone of voice. She prepared her horn to cast a spell, but what spell she was going to cast was a mystery to the others. It turns out she wasn't casting any spells, she was using her magic to collect enough clouds in one spot to produce shade and limit sunlight. She had asked Rainbow to push the lump of clouds along the west field and see if anything seemed strange or stood out. Rainbow Dash pushed the cloud along and found something to her surprise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ''I think I found something down here Twilight!'', said Rainbow optimistically. ''It's so bright, I think this is the note that you're trying to find!'' Rainbow Dash flew down and picked up the note and brought it back over to Twilight to examine. ''This is wonderful, maybe now we can actually get somewhere with this investigation.'' ''Yeah, yeah, just make sure we get this done before night-time, I've got some training to do for a race.'' ''I'm having a race against Spitfire and there's no way in Equestria that I'm losing, I've got to impress her!'' ''She may even let me become one of the Wonderbolts!'' Applejack snatched the note from Twilight, she wanted to make sure that there wasn't another note on her farm, or anything else suspicious. AJ doesn't play around with her farm as far as safety goes, she's not losing all her hard work either. ''Oh'', said Applejack, ''This person just wants to meet you at the edge of a cliff, the distance should be about an hour if you pace yourself.'' ''I hate to be one to leave you like this, but the letter says shes an old friend of yours.'', said Rarity. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack decided to leave Twilight alone to handle her personal business. Rarity had a favor to ask of Twilight before she and the others left. Rainbow Dash left because that race meant almost everything to her at that moment, and though she was loyal, she didn't want to interfere with things like these. Pinkie Pie remembered that if the toilet that Twilight unclogged was used again, the chances of it overflowing are very high, considering Twilight did a poor job of unclogging it. Applejack really had to get back to bucking apples, there was an order of 10 sacks of golden delicious apples to be delivered to Dodge Junction, the order was made by Jubilee. She's a cherry farm owner, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy a few apples every now and then. ''CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TREASURE HUNTERS ARE GO!'', the three little fillies shouted at the top of their lungs. ''We aren't hunting for treasure, we're looking for an anonymous pony!'', shouted Twilight.