“Hello everypony, and thank you for reading Everdale! You see, I’ve put a lot of effort into making this a truly solvable mystery, and—”

        “Hey, stop hogging the spotlight, we’re the main characters here!”

        “Rainbow, cut it out! He’s the author, don’t hit him like that!”

        “Ow, I think you broke something....”

        “Cut him some slack, would ya?”

        “Really? I think he deserves this. That horrible script makes makes Rainbow and I look awfully suspicious. And hey, why is my text this horrid green? It reminds me of Preston's drab coat, and I cannot say I'm too fond of it.”

        “I, um, don't think there was an option for white text, and Twilight already had purple. But I think he did okay....”

"Fluttershy, would you be a darling and speak up? You're hard enough to understand normally, but it's even harder when your text is such a blindingly bright yellow! It makes it a nightmare to read on a white background!

        “Girls! Do you even remember why we’re here?”

        “Oh yeah, weren’t we supposed to just do a little review session or something?”

        “Absolutely! We gotta make sure that all the rules are clear before Twilight makes her big reveal! I mean, come on, there’s only 3 endings of a mystery anyways.”

        “Uh, beg your pardon?”

        “Well, there’s the ending where the reader is like ‘Wow, I was right! Yes! Woohoo!’, and then there’s the ending where the reader goes all ‘Oh man, I was soooooo close, but I totally could have gotten that’, but there’s also the one with the reader’s all like ‘Oh no you didn’t, sister! That ending came out of left field, there’s nooooo way I coulda solved something like that!’. And c’mon, which one do you think is the best one?”

        “Um, the first one...?”

        “No, you silly filly! What fun would it be if everypony got it right every time? I’m talking about the second, duh.”

        “But wasn’t this supposed to be solvable?”

        “Uh huh!”

        “Um, actually, I really was hoping for the first—”

        “Don’t be silly, you don’t want to make it too easy, but you still want it to be a fair challenge. If the average reader gets it wrong, but still sees how they could have solved it, you found a good balance of difficulty, not to mention getting them hooked for more!”

        “Well, I guess that makes sense. But still, we’re here to go go over the rules, right? I mean, I’ve already got my lines memorized for the next part, so I guess we can’t really discuss theories.”

        “Speak for yourself, dear. I’ve been left in the dark about this next bit.”

        “You too, Rarity?”

        “I haven’t been told anything either, but that’s okay with—”

        “Wait, you got scripts? I’ve just been improvising!”

        “Ugh, whatever. Can we get to solving this then? I’m sick of always getting those stupidly emotional scenes.”

        “Okay, okay! Fine, so I’ll lay out the rules. Let me get my checklist together.”

        “Oh great, more checklists. Like that whole barrier and shapes thing wasn’t enough to give me a headache.”

        “Ahem! Rainbow, pay attention. Got my quill and ink, check! Checklist? Check!”

        “Would ya hurry it up?”

        “Okay, here we go! So, first rule: the method for how each crime was committed has been mentioned in one way or another. So, there are no spells that haven’t already been used, no changelings, and no strange mechanisms.”

        “Strange mechanisms? What, like Pinkie’s cannon?”

        “No, not like that. I mean like some sort of trap. For instance, I couldn’t claim that somepony had set up something to fall on your head and knock you out back in the lobby, since there hasn’t been mention of any such mechanism yet.”

        “Thank you ever so much for bringing that up again, Twilight. Hmph.”

        “You’re welcome, Rarity! Now, onto rule number 2. For this mystery specifically, I have solved it without the knowing involvement of any of us here. Even though Shining and Cadance aren’t here, I can solve it without involving them either.”

        “What about me? I’m still here!”

        “You don’t exist.”

        “Wait, wh—”

        “So rule number 2 means that my future deductions can be reached without involving the 6 of us in any way. Now, this only counts for the mysteries up to this point. So, for example, I can’t claim that one of you is a knowing accomplice. Now, some of our actions may have unwittingly aided our culprit, but that does not count.”

        “Go ahead, Twilight, twist the knife a little deeper.”

        “Wait, there haven’t been any knives in this case, have there? I didn’t think so. Either way, on to rule number 3! This applies to the number of mysteries. There are 4 in total, which are as follows. Who is responsible for the previous disappearances? Who put the note on the fountain? How was Page foalnapped? And lastly, how did the 17 ponies in the lobby vanish? Rule number 3 states that the first mystery, regarding the previous disappearances, is not solvable right now, but the others are.”

        “So you’re tellin’ me we shouldn’t worry about the disappearances before this?”

        “Yep. There’s not enough evidence yet, so it will be addressed later. Now, lastly, rule number 4! This is more of a clarification, but it still needs to be said. The motive for these disappearances remains unknown, as well as what happened to the nine ponies that were found in the Everfree Forest, meaning that it is not possible to solve this mystery with motive alone. That doesn’t mean that common sense is out of the picture, though.”

        “Wait, common sense?”

        “Absolutely! If somepony is guilty, their actions have to be consistent. It wouldn’t make sense if the culprit had an easier way to do things, but deliberately made things more difficult for themselves in some way without a good reason.”

        “Thank you for not using the lobby as an example again.”

        “You’re welcome, Rarity! Let me summarize very quickly. So, my deduction does not implicate the six of us as culprits. It also uses simple logic and does not involve an unknown spell or changelings, neither of which have been directly mentioned as being involved. The mystery of the earlier disappearances does not have enough evidence to be conclusively solved, so I am only answering the question of the disappearances that have occurred since we arrived. And lastly, the motive cannot be concretely deduced at this point, but the culprit’s actions must be consistent.”

        “That’s pretty specific, Twi. I think you’re making it too easy on them.”

        “Well, these should be common sense for a mystery, Rainbow. The main thing that might not be common sense is stating that I have arrived at a plausible answer that does not implicate any of you.“

        “Good... because I still think it’s pretty lame that Caesura tried to pin it on me without explaining anything. Seriously, talk about crazy.”

        “Well, Rainbow, if you’re so sure that she’s wrong, who do you think is the most suspicious?”

        “I think it’s all 5 of them! Page was probably just faking it and trying not to laugh as she totally duped us!”

        “Um... I’d like to think that this is just a big misunderstanding. It’d be nice if nopony was guilty.”

        “That ain’t how things work around here, sugarcube. I’ve got my suspicions.”

        “And I suppose you won’t tell us? Honestly, I think it is better that way, so I will remain silent as well.”

        “Oh, I know too! I got it right after everypony started doing their really dramatic testimonies.”

        “Wait, you all figured it out? That’s not fair!”

        “Actually... not really. I’ve got the first two all figured out, but I just can’t wrap my mind around what happened in the lobby.”

        “Me neither! Sure, solving the mystery of the note was easy, and Page’s disappearance really had me thinking in circles... but I have absolutely no leads about the lobby!”

        “I do, but let’s leave it there, shall we? I think it’s time we get back to the action. I’m pretty sure that saying anymore would make this a bit too easy.”

        “Ugh... fine. This little review session was a waste of time anyway.”

        “Alright girls, let’s do this!”

        “Hey, what about me? Hey, don’t ignore me! I wrote the script! Hey, come back! I didn't even get to explain the difficulty levels!”

        “....”

“Okay, fine. Here you go. The mystery of the note is easy, the mystery of room 201 is medium, and the mystery of the lobby is hard. Fine. Guess that’s it for the intermission. I’ll just leave a few things here. Thanks again for reading Everdale, I hope that this has been a good—”

        “Huzzah, your Actress of the Night has arrived! Let us partake in this ‘inner mission’!”

        “....”

        “Did I miss anything?”

Characters

(Note: This isn’t an exhaustive list of everything you need to know, it’s just a summary. Some details may be omitted, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important!)

        Red

        Species: pegasus

        Occupation: Mayor

        Cutie Mark: Three sharpened pencils in a row

Coat: Burnt orange

        Testimony: On the night of Page’s disappearance, she informed the nightwatch about the Elements of Harmony being banished and went and taped up houses. Preston, Nightowl, and his friends arrived to help, but Red sent them away. Nightowl stayed a minute after before going inside. She saw Caesura and the late group arrive a little bit after. Red, upon going in, saw Page in the window, apparently arguing with somepony. She goes in and stays in the lobby. Rarity turns out the lights, Red starts counting and gets somewhere around ten before she is knocked out.

        Preston Paper

        Species: pegasus

        Occupation: Red’s secretary, used to run a newspaper

        Cutie Mark: A newspaper

        Coat: Olive green

        Testimony: Got the invitation and went to pick up his friends. He saw Nightowl leaving the guardhouse with Page on his back, asked him to help gather up his friends. They did, then ran into Red and helped her tape up houses. Preston and his friends left for the hotel and asked Nightowl to follow, but he insisted on staying and helping for a minute. Once inside, he stayed downstairs. When Rarity turned out the lights, he counted to 20 before getting knocked out.

        Caesura

        Species: Unicorn

        Occupation: Ex-traveling musician

        Cutie Mark: Inverted treble clef and normal bass clef, makes a heart.

        Coat: Dirty white, almost gray

        Testimony: Got the invitation late, went to gather up everypony. Didn’t see Preston or Nightowl, but saw Red from a distance before going inside. She said she saw the lights come on in Page’s room, but didn’t really look. She arrived, went to the third floor with Pinkie, and came down.

        Nightowl

        Species: Earth pony

        Occupation: Nightwatch

        Cutie Mark: Constellation of an eye

        Coat: Dull gray

        Testimony: Red came and told them about the Elements of Harmony being banished. Pinkie gave him the invitation at the guardhouse and he convinced Page to take the night off. Page talked him into carrying her there. He saw Preston when he left and helped him gather his friends before running into Red and helping her as well. He stayed a minute after Preston and his friends left to help Red, but eventually went inside. He and Rarity took Page to room 201 to rest, where Rarity mentioned the inner barrier to him. They lit the candles, dropped Page off, and left. After coming back down, he ran back up with Twilight to the second floor. He burst through the front, then she came through the side. They searched the room and found nothing, then left. Twilight then pushed him out of the way and ran down the stairs, he followed after AJ and Fluttershy ran down.

        Page Inkwell

        Species: Pegasus

        Occupation: Nightwatch

        Cutie Mark: Quill and parchment

        Coat: Sky blue

        Testimony: None.