//------------------------------// // It’s a note! // Story: It’s a Mystery // by Rose Quill //------------------------------// A note dropped out of my locker when I opened it at the end of the day. I picked it up, grinning. I loved getting notes, usually thank-you letters for the parties I had thrown or for cheering up a friend. OH! And the one from Vice-Principal Luna for setting up the surprise party for Principal Celestia was very nice, though I don’t think Principal Celestia liked it very much. I don’t know why. Maybe I had made too much cake? But as I unfolded the note, I found it wasn’t a thank you, it was something even more fun! Pinkie, I’ve been trying to work my way up to this, and trust me, it wasn’t very easy. I’ve never completely sure how to move forward with things like this and instead of beating around the bush, I’m just going to flat out say it and then hide for a few weeks until my blush goes away. I really like you. I’ll write you again later. Your Secret Admirer I scanned the letter, my smile growing wider. A secret admirer? That was the super duper best thing in the world! And they hadn’t signed with a name, so that meant one thing. I had a mystery to solve! Which was my fourth favorite thing ever. First was making people smile. Second was the PSSSD events I threw every year. Third was baking. But I loved mysteries! They were super fun and also kind of tough, almost like when you over-kneed bread dough. It gets really dense and dry and the crust is super hard. But those are great for bread bowls for soup or pasta and if you let it just sit for a while with the broth it’ll soften up and be oh so delicious. What was I saying again? Right! I looked at the letter again, looking for clues as to the identity of the sender. The penmanship was a very fine, closely written hand, very neat and orderly. I didn’t recognize it immediately, and I knew all my friend’s handwriting. We had studied together plenty of times and though it looked a little like Rarity’s, it could have just as easily been Fluttershy. And there was that mention of hiding, very much how Flutters might have reacted. Very suspicious. I sniffed the letter, but there was nothing but the smell of a regular piece of paper. That ruled out Rarity. Anything that had been in close contact with her for more than five minutes always had a faint whiff of her perfume. Though it’s possible she had written it hurriedly, not giving the paper time to absorb her aroma. Tasting it also ruled out a friend. It was, again, just plain paper. Any paper form Twilight tended to have a bit of tangy taste, almost like she had left it a little too close to one of those electric doohickeys she had in her garage. Those things are fun. I never knew my hair could be that straight and floaty, but brushing it later was no fun at all. Don’t you just hate having to take everything out of your hair just to brush it and put it all back in? I frowned and re-read the letter, tapping my chin. As much as I hated to admit it, I may have to wait until the next letter to figure out who it was. I started skipping down the hall to the music room for rehearsal when my left leg twiched, my ear itched, and I felt a tingle in my spine. My Pinkie Sense telling me I was being watched. I turned, but with so many students in the hall, I couldn’t pick anyone out. Was my admirer in the crowd somewhere? Or was it the Hall Monitor making sure I didn’t have any paint cans with me. I don’t know why he worries, Principal Celestia issues a memo whenever I let her know about possible painting situations. And I had cleaned up the last mess! The door to the music room was open, and I heard a pair of guitars tuning up. I hopped in and waved at Rainbow and Sunset and pulled my sticks from my bag before hugging them. “Hey,” Sunset said after catching her breath. “You’re in a happier mood than usual. What’s up?” “How can you tell?” Rainbow asked. “Oh, she probably got a flash from her magic necklace, silly dilly!” I said, tapping Sunset’s Geode. “Though I’m not sure why she doesn’t always like seeing my thoughts and memories.” “It’s not that I don’t,” Sunset said slowly. “It’s just…” “Yeeeeeeees?” I smiled. “Well, everyone makes me recover differently,” she said. “And Pinkie, trips in your head just wear me out worse than that day in gym we did a 5k.” “You thought that was hard?” Rainbow laughed. “I didn’t do a lot of running as a filly,” she said, turning a little red. “And sometimes I still feel uncomfortable in this body. Give me a break.” The rest of my friends filtered in, including a newer friend in the form of Juniper Montage. The home-schooled girl had gotten permission to take musical studies here and she was a really great piano player. We had used her in a couple of tracks for the demo we were recording to do a piece Rarity had written that was for two pianos. But she was carrying a camera today, smiling like someone had given her a cake of puppies. No, silly. Not baked puppies, shaped like them. Weirdo. “So, I got permission from Uncle Canter,” she said before anyone could speak up. “And he gave us permission to use one of the small stages to film a music video! All we have to do is make sure we’re only there a few hours so we don’t interrupt filming or construction.” “So why do you have a camera with you now?” Applejack asked. “Oh, I just got done doing some test shooting,” she said, toying nervously with one of her pigtails. She did that a lot, and I couldn’t understand why sometimes. We’d forgiven her for the whole evil sucking us into a magic mirror and almost dooming us to an uncertain but probably horrible fate. What did she have to be nervous about? “Test shooting?” Sunset asked. “Uncle Canter gave us permission based on if I were able to do a satisfactory job filming it,” she said. “But before he allowed us in, I had to show him some shots of the band practicing, and some landscape scenes.” “So we get a soundstage to do some of the video,” Rainbow said. “But only after we shoot the video?” “Nonese, Rainbow,” Rarity drawled. “It simply means that we will do some of the shooting outside. And there is nothing saying we have to use the footage. After all, just look at the amount of cut sections from the contest video we had.” “That was fun, though,” Fluttershy whispered. “So,” Juniper spoke up quietly. “You guys want to try? If we do well enough I can use it in my portfolio for when I apply to film school.” “Of course,” I beamed. “It’s going to be a load of fun!” I stomped on the pedal to the bass drum, causing a shower of confetti to billow out. Twilight shook some of it from her hair before smiling. “You’re in a rare mood,” she obseved. “What happened?” I smiled, tucking the letter a little further into my bag. “Oh, nothing,” I said. “Just had a really good day.”