Isn't it always strange when the thing you've been looking for turns out to be in the opposite direction than from where you look?

And that it always is right there in front of you when you turn around?

Like spending fifteen minutes looking for your glasses to find them already on your head, or three hours looking for your Pokemon Platinum cartridge only to find it's still on your shelf.

Well. Aurora had been looking for years, growing more interested but more desperate with each passing month.

And all it took was to simply think about it in the opposite way than how she normally did.

Nevermind convenience of story arcs, a complete reversion of her carefully trained mindset is no easy feat. It took her hours to enter a state of fluid thought.

But when she did, the answer to her years of searching smacked her upside the head and shoved a late returns note directly into her cerebellum.

So simple. Something you would never have thought of normally, but just like any good moment of fridge logic, so obvious once you finally notice it. The Waldo is never lost once he is found.

The loophole to the answer opened wide in front of her.

She had it--in theory, anyway. All she needed was a few ponies as good at magic as her.

She had a letter to write.

And although its reputation was a little dim, she knew what she had to do. It was a matter of urgency.

She had to send it by Derpy's 15 Minute Delivery Service.

--<>-------Ah...that explains it.-------<>--/

"Coolio," said Clear Sight. "Everyone's here."

Looking about the room at the Bearers, he scratched the back of his head. "Great...so while Res and Illes are going off to stop a Nastasia clone, I came up with a new mission," he grinned in anticipation. "We're going to raid the post office."

Confused glances came from around the room.

"Let me explain," he continued, "The Control Fragment's Controller, Evening Aurora, sent a letter here, perhaps before the Memory Week started. However, the more likely and more interesting option is that she sent it today, using a faster delivery service."

He pointed at various ponies in the room. "So, Flash Magnus, and...Meadowbrook, you two search the post offices. We're looking for a letter addressed to either Resolve Spirit, Res, ALPHA Head Offices, anything such, with a return address of..." he glanced at a piece of paper in his hand. "133 Banker Street, Canterlot EQ, 20006. Got it?"

"Yes..." replied Meadowbrook, "but I am always impressed by how advanced society has become. Now everyone's home has a number...convenient, but very impersonal."

Clear Sight continued. "Rockhoof, Meadowbrook, and Mistmane. You three get to check DDS." He handed them each a piece of paper. "This is the address of Derpy's Delivery Service, which includes same-day, two-hour, one-hour, and fifteen minute delivery of mail. My guess is that if the letter is lost, it's lost in there. We're looking for the same address as Meadowbrook. Got it?"

"Yes..." replied Mistmane, "but fifteen minutes? Back in our time, we couldn't even write letters, we had to walk two days to the next town. How efficient society has become."

"All right..." Clear Sight clapped his hooves. "Last but not least, Stygian and Star Swirl. You're with me. I've got to check something and I think your perspective on the matter will help me. What'd you say?"

"Of course, sure thing." Stygian replied. "What is it?"

"Well...we need some other ponies before we can start anyway." He turned to the others. "Let's get moving, this letter could mean the salvation of the universe."

The five mail investigation crew left, nodding.

"Cool...now." Clear Sight picked up a land line phone from the wall. "Doc, Clear Thought. Meet me in the Applied Literature wing Room 3 in ten minutes."

Hanging up the phone, he sighed. "Star Swirl, I've got my eye on you. Let's go."

They set off down the hallway.

--<>-------oh boy, now what's up over here?-------<>--/

"Alright, so judging by her previous reaction, the letter contained some critical information as to the meeting," noted Illesio.

Res nodded. "Yes...if we can't find the letter by then, we're just going to have to wing it and tell her we don't know what's going on."

Scratching out a reminder on the whiteboard, he continued. "Somehow, we're going to have to explain it to her that we know when the meeting was without the letter the meeting was planned in. You got any ideas?"

"Well...my hope is she's a sensible mare," answered Illesio, "and won't blow this out of proportion. Although she did seem rather stressed last we saw her."

Res snorted. "That's putting it lightly. She's acting weird, I've never known her to be this out of it before, she usually just gets quiet when she's angry, quiet and dangerous like a snake about to strike. This mental breakdown she got into yesterday? Somehow, it seems out of character for her."

"I see what you mean..." Illesio frowned. "If only we could see what she's thinking..."

Res started. "Hold up," he said. "That's a great idea. I've got something just like that, wait here."

He sprinted from the room, leaving Illesio confused and startled that mind reading actually existed.

With nothing better to do, she started reviewing the notes on the whiteboard.

Res, of course, was sprinting towards the Applied Literature wing of the building, the previously unexplored and mysterious narrative location. Specifically, to his office, where he kept his most secretive and dangerous work.

Narrowly avoiding tripping over his desk, he found the safe. Only he knew the spell to get inside.

He thought outside the box. Then he thought inside the box.

Presto. He looked around the small room, scanning the shelves for the proper spell. On one of the lower shelves, he paused, picked up one of the pages, and read it carefully. "Perfect," he muttered.

He thought outside the box again and sprinted back through the hallways with the paper clutched in his magic.

After a while, he got back to the room. "Illesio. This one."

Illesio looked down from her budding abstract art piece and read the paper. "What is this?"

"It's a spell...specifically a kind of loophole magic," replied Res. "This allows one to read the minds of others."

Illesio recoiled. "So, everyone else, or just the one the spell is directed at?"

"Well it used to be just everyone, but that's a little mentally deafening, so I refined it to just one at a time. Don't worry, I'm not going to read yours."

He raised his eyebrows. "Unless you want me to," and chuckled at Illesio's expression.

After a moment, Illesio frowned. "Still, using a mind reading spell on her without her knowing seems a little disingenuous, don't you think?"

"Well, I think we don't have enough time left to argue about morals. We'll just use the spell to find out her motives are and then figure out what comes later."

"Alright...but I still have second thoughts about this..."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, no, just kidding," he said to a very angry Illesio, "I promise."

--<>-------subtle-------<>--/

Author's Note

Boy howdy these two weeks have been busy
and they're just going to get worse

Cheers,
Betless