Princess Twilight and the Puzzling Curse

by Parchment_Scroll

Metagame: Game Destinations, Letter Fragments, and Granny Smith's Puzzle Shack

Author's Notes
This chapter is set aside instead of being in an author's notes section or comments because it will help keep travel smooth through the story. Feel free to check this chapter at any time to see what locations have been unlocked, which ones haven't been visited yet, and so on. Also, feel free to check back in locations that have already been visited. If there are no new puzzles there, I will mention it in the comments and ask for a second destination.

Also feel free to suggest other locations. The ones listed are the ones I currently have puzzles (or other plot-related plans) for, but I am planning new puzzles all the time, and will happily apply them to other destinations.

Key:
- Visited locations are marked in bold.
- Current destination (determined by last person to solve a puzzle) is italicised.
- Unavailable locations are struck out

Locations Available in Ponyville
Golden Oaks Library
Sugarcube Corner
Carousel Boutique
Rainbow Dash's Cloud House
Fluttershy's Cottage
Sweet Apple Acres: Farmhouse
Sweet Apple Acres: Barn
Sweet Apple Acres: Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse
Lyra Heartstrings' House
Vinyl Scratch and Octavia's House
Schoolhouse
Park
Town Hall
Market Square
Cafe
Bent Spine Bookstore
Time Turner's Clock Tower

Locations Available in the Everfree Forest
Zecora's Hut
Froggy Bottom Bog
Path to Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters: Trial of Honesty (cliff)
Path to Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters: Trial of Kindness (clearing)
Path to Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters: Trial of Laughter (dense woods)
Path to Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters: Trial of Generosity (river)
Path to Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters: Trial of Loyalty (bridge)
Castle of the Ancient Pony Sisters - MUST BE APPROACHED ALONG PATH

Granny Smith's Puzzle Shack
* Fair and Square Shares 2
* Rainy Days and Mondays.

Mysteries
Ponyville's Puzzle Plague: Something has Ponyville's ponies plagued with pernicious puzzles! I suspect some kind of spell has been cast on the whole town. As soon as I get the girls together, we're going to go looking for the culprit!
The Earth Pony's Spellbook: Davenport, the owner of Sofas and Quills, found a strange book that teaches Earth Ponies how to use Unicorn magic! I've never heard of this book before, and the author, one "Duplicitous S. Cored" is a mystery to me as well. [SOLVED] Clearly, Duplicitous S. Cored is a pen name for none other than Discord! How involved he is in this plague of puzzles is still a mystery, however.
Princess Celestia's Letter: Spike accidentally sneezed all over the reply I got from Princess Celestia. I don't blame him, but now we have to recover all of the missing pieces of her letter!
[SOLVED] Aha! Those splotches of sealing wax covering parts of the letter marked a hidden message from Princess Celestia suggesting further investigation in the Everfree Forest! (Everfree Forest locations unlocked!)

Letter Pieces:
ALL LETTER PIECES COLLECTED!

LETTER ASSEMBLED!

Author's Note:

This should always be the last chapter. If at any time it isn't, please comment or send me a message so I can re-order the chapters properly.

Comments

[Super_Big_Mac]

Oh, hey, you forgot Colgate's House/Dentistry, and Time Turner's Clock Tower. The clock would make for an awesome puzzle, I'm sure!

[Parchment_Scroll]

2278337
I will quite gladly come up with puzzles for them and add them to the "map" as soon as I do! Thanks for the suggestions!

[Super_Big_Mac]

2278345 No problemo, mi amigo~!

[rip4thwall]

Considering the site loading difficulties, I'll lay off answering until tomorrow morning, my time. The original version still has the one visual cue that I needed to find the solution; however, the original and updated versions have one other difference - the pattern help in the upper right.

[Parchment_Scroll]

2285168
Yeah, I thought that might be part of the problem: the original image's sketch was a general guide but not anywhere near an exact match.

[rip4thwall]

For some reason, the old version of my saved image showed up... I've had problems before when I saved an image on my iPad, made an edit, then saved again, and had the old version upload.

24.media.tumblr.com/f9bf2860309d99457c3aa286728db157/tumblr_mjx2weXRNQ1rlnrn2o1_400.jpg

[Parchment_Scroll]

2288153

i.imgur.com/cMOZTGH.gif

Solution:
i.imgur.com/TR2EQJ8.png
Seeeensational! Now that is what I call the Art of the Dress!

Ponyville Town Hall set for next destination...

[Parchment_Scroll]

2291418

I may have been prejudiced in thinking Rarity would have, in fact, used ALL of the cloth shown in her work.

Were this an actual real-world situation, as opposed to a puzzle, not only would she have used the entire fabric, the solution would have involved a number of nearly-rectangular pieces that would later be sewn together.

For an example of the style of puzzle this was, in true Professor Layton style, observe what the Professor himself did when told by the bouncer at a restaurant that in order to go inside, he would have to "hand over that hat." (The puzzle is halfway down the page, after a couple of Tea Time instructions.)

[Parchment_Scroll]

2320102
What's more important, having money to support yourself or ponies?

Wait, don't answer that.
2320113

[okar2008]

2320014

Woot!

I'd say getting an apple tree from Sweet Apple Acres without an Apple vote is more unbelieveable; you do know how protective they are of their trees, right? *cough*Bloomberg*cough*

......that was the tree's name, right?

[Parchment_Scroll]

2401988
Thanks! I've been crazy busy lately, but I'm glad to be writing again.

[Parchment_Scroll]

2458574
10-4!

[tyrant6]

2458574 oops completly forgot about that part so sure sweet apple acres

[okar2008]

2489370

Huh. That's different. Oh well...

My first thought had been CMC HQ, but I figured the barn would fit better. So, CMC Puzzle Solvers, YAY!

To the treehouse after? Who knows what those three have been up to? Although it probably involves tree sap.......

[Parchment_Scroll]

2489386
10-4! Barn followed by CMC Clubhouse ahoy!

[Parchment_Scroll]

2491491
Don't worry, letter fragments are going to be coming hot and fast as we go. As for Whitetail Woods, there will be locations outside of Ponyville opening up shortly. (How shortly? We'll soon see.)

[Super_Big_Mac]

2563967 Something with her animals, though feeding them would be inane, as we've already done the lunch machine, and the sorting thing.

[Parchment_Scroll]

2563929
House rules are best rules. Also, the floor is lava.

2563967
Eeeyup. I've been eagerly awaiting the unveiling of Granny Smith as Granny Riddleton.

2563987
Crap! Must rewrite puzzle to have nothing to do with animals oh who am I kidding, I've been sitting on this one for too long to change it now.

[Super_Big_Mac]

2564186 It's obvious that it's with her animals. She is Fluttershy, after all.

[okar2008]

And now I want to take a crack at the letter fragments....

Looks like we have most of the header: "...st Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle"

.......arg. We're missing middle pieces. LOTS of middle pieces. Suffice to say, Ponyville isn't the only Equestrian Enigma Event in sight.

Great, who gave me the alliteration bug?

[Parchment_Scroll]

2640646
Puzzles? Pah! Ponyville's practically perfect!

[blastdragon]

Will the puzzles get harder cause now the are doable, while a lot of Layton-puzzles are a lot harder. I know we are still at the beginning of the story/game but even then there are harder puzzles. But this is a nice story, I can remember a crossover with Layton wherin Layton and Luke travel to Equestria and solve puzzles. It also had puzzle's and riddles in the storyline and I always hoped to see a similar story...

EDIT: I took all the pieces and made the letter with the pieces we have now. I could hold it for myself so it would help me later on, but what would be the fun of that?

i58.photobucket.com/albums/g273/blastdragon/Letter_zpsae14d41c.jpg

My Most Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle
I am(?) glad to hear from you about this bizarre turn
of events. For everyone's sake, (shouldn't this be everypony?) I think it would be
wise(?) if you continued to investigate in and around
Ponyville.

Please let me know if I can be of any assistence.
(And now it's mostly guessing) Clear this mess ? ????? let the guard know
????????????????????????????????????????????????

Your Friends
Princess CelAbout this 'a' I'm not certain. There is a lot of space between the visible 'Ce' and the 'a'. Celestia is the most obvious but Luna could also fit)a could also fit)

[Parchment_Scroll]

2665547

It's "Princess Celestiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".

[Parchment_Scroll]

2673022
Now that makes me happy: You actually put the landmarks on the map image!

Why don't you guys bask in your victory by giving me a destination?
Note: As Pinkie Pie is indeed in the park, she will be joining the rest of the Mane Six next chapter regardless of destination.

[rip4thwall]

Well, hopefully this will also let the rest of the gang be rounded up, not to mention the letter scraps. Thing is, Twilight really probably will want to send another letter, considering her usual behaviors. Perhaps the schoolhouse would hold supplies she needs?

[Parchment_Scroll]

2673043
Schoolhouse it is.

Confession: The schoolhouse puzzle is not original. I simply ponified it. However, it is one of the sneakier logic problems I've had the pleasure of tearing my mane out over.

[Baby Boo]

This is delightful! I've often seen stories here described as being 'like an episode'; this one is just perfect as an official tie-in book, or video game. Glad I found out about it before it was entirely over, can't wait to see the next puzzle!

[Parchment_Scroll]

2673584
I intend to include as many ponies as I can. A lot of the sillier parts of the Professor Layton games came from interacting with all of the people you meet, and I'm trying to capture that feel while keeping it pony.
2757053
Hah! It would be incredible to turn this into an actual game. I'm not saying it won't happen, but I'm definitely not saying it will. To truly capture the Layton experience, I would need voice acting and fully-animated cutscenes, for one thing. For another, I would need upwards of 150 puzzles. Right now, I have about 30 and need to write more.

[Baby Boo]

2758151
That would be amazing. But even as it is, this is a fun and charming puzzle-book you've got here already.

P.S, Also, Busman's Holiday is a load of fun! Dark Hoof is a splendidly amusing character.

[Parchment_Scroll]

2798298
2798327
i.imgur.com/cMOZTGH.gif
Man, I was hoping this would take longer. Glad I took the time to make the solution image before posting this chapter!

Solution:
i.imgur.com/PPehEOE.png
Scootaloo couldn't tell what type of beanie she was wearing, which meant that either Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, or both had propeller beanies.
Sweetie Belle could only see Apple Bloom's beanie. If Apple Bloom had been wearing a normal beanie, then Sweetie would have known her own was a propeller beanie. Since she didn't know, Apple Bloom had to have been wearing a propeller beanie.

Clock Tower is next destination!

[okar2008]

Ah-HA! Got the letter!

2665547 <------He got it mostly right; here's what I have for the complete letter:

To my Most Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle,

I'm very glad to hear from you about this bizarre turn
of events. For everyone's sake, I think it would be
best if you continued to investigate in and around
Ponyville.

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance in
sorting this mess out. I will let the guards know to
give you all due assistance, although it couldn't hurt
to keep this letter handy to show them.

Your Friend,
Princess Celestia of Equestria

(I don't really have proper pic-editing software, so I can't show the pieces put together) Whew! All that.....and it's a "free guard help" pass.....?

There isn't anything wrong in Canterlot, or greater Equestria just yet?

........something's fishy.

Where is our resident guru of Chaos, anyway? I want to know what he thinks about this.....

[Parchment_Scroll]

2798571
i.imgur.com/sbPzPAy.png

[Parchment_Scroll]

2798927
That joke is based on this puzzle and I am laughing on the inside.

[nemryn]

D'oh, of course there's a secret puzzle hidden in the letter. The letters that are covered by the ink splotches spell out 'Everfree Forest'.

Two secret puzzles, even; I'm pretty sure that the other ink splotches, and the dots next to the splotches, also mean something, but I can't figure out what, yet.

[okar2008]

2801741

I totally missed that! Nice catch there! I think we have our first big plot area! ( get your minds out of the gutters, this is an E-rated game!)

That said.......could the Everfree be left for last so we can solve the remaining puzzles?

.....or not, that's fine too.

Still......I'm doubting that the other splotches are another puzzle.....unless there's an invisible hidden message in this letter? (invisible ink?)

[Parchment_Scroll]

2801741
[SOLVED]
i.imgur.com/ixNbWqG.png

2803102
I'll be honest with you guys: Okar's right. The purpose of the other splotches was to make the actual puzzle less obvious. They are not themselves a puzzle.

[nemryn]

2673038
See, I thought about just trying to describe the locations, but then I figured, why mess around with A3, B5, etc when I could harness The Multimedia Power Of The Internet! And then making that image took me long enough that I got in second, so yeah.

2803816
Curse my overly-active puzzle-detecting instincts!

[Parchment_Scroll]

2807785
I'd actually envisioned the puzzle being solved exactly the way you did it. If it were an actual Layton game, it would be solved by dragging landmarks into place with the stylus.

[Parchment_Scroll]

2991446
Sometimes, Twilight loses track of time.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, and it totally isn't because I wrote the chapter without doublechecking the image.

2991383
Zecora's Hut confirmed for next location!

[Kitcat36]

Reading this story was lots of fun! I'm a big fan of the Professor Layton games <3 Is it ever going to be continued?

[zsewqthewolf]

I say lets go to the music home dude DJ and her frd YA!

[Prawo Jazdy]

9044622
And repeating my own sentiment here.

[ProfessorVenturer]

How am I supposed to solve puzzles if I can't see the pictures?!

[Windy0]

2991480
Are you ever going to update this fic?