In the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle explained to her friends what she'd found when she got home from school. "Somepony gave Opalescence a dye job! Isn't that strange?"
Apple Bloom walked around the room, seeming to look for something. She went into the bathroom, her hoofteps echoing from the tile. After the "shoof shoof" of a pony moving a shower curtain, she came back out. "That's not the only thing that's strange," she said.
"What did you find?"
"It's not what I found. It's what I DIDN'T find. Aren't there a lot of things you should find if somepony dyed Opal's tail and the top of her head purple?"
Scootaloo said, "Maybe a dye bottle?"
Sweetie snorted. "And how about some dye stains. Trying to dye a cat who probably doesn't want to be dyed should make a huge mess. Fur everywhere, from both the cat and the pony. Maybe some bloodstains--"
Scootaloo squealed, "Blood? Do cats KILL ponies?"
Sweetie laughed. "Not usually. But if somepony tries to do something to Opal that she doesn't like, Opal might scratch them up pretty bad."
Sweetie went into the bathroom and checked the cabinets. "I don't think anypony's used a bunch of bandages. And our cleaning supplies aren't used up either."
Scootaloo said, "It's a mystery! Cutie Mark Mystery Solver Sleuths time!"
Sweetie looked all around for more clues, or rather, hoping to find the first clue that wasn't a total absence of clues. "I think this might be a tough one to solve."
"Ah wonder where Rarity is. Do you suppose maybe somepony ponynapped her?"
Scootaloo pondered. "And left a cat dyed like her, as some kind of decoy? The criminal mind...seems pretty goofy if you ask me."
"Sweetie Belle, Ah think you told us Rarity tried to be a detective once?"
"Yes, she did. The Wonderbolts thought Rainbow Dash had committed fraud and forgery, to get to perform in a Wonderbolts show. And my sister didn't just TRY, she found the culprit and PROVED Rainbow was innocent!"
"Well of course she was innocent!" Scootaloo insisted.
"WE know that. But Rarity had to prove it, so everypony would know." Sweetie Belle sighed. "If only my sister was here so she could solve the mystery of who ponynapped her."
"Ah reckon, if she was here to solve the mystery we wouldn't need her to solve the mystery."
Scootaloo laughed. "Does that even make sense?"
Sweetie said, "It makes too much sense. I'm afraid we might never find out what happened here."
From somewhere on the second floor, the fillies heard a banging noise. An unfamiliar voice shouted, "Is anypony out there? Please let me out!"
The fillies ran up the stairs, following the noise. Apple Bloom grabbed a lamp, Scootaloo looked very fierce, and Sweetie Belle opened a closed door.
Behind the door was a snowy-white, young teenage unicorn. "Oh, thank goodness! I was trapped in here for hours!"
Apple Bloom checked the room for criminal masterminds. Sweetie Belle just stared at the unicorn, and at the door. She used her unicorn magic to swing the door back and forth and fiddle with the doorknob. "Why couldn't you get out?"
"Because DOORKNOB!" the snowy unicorn said. "Celestia's missing tailfeathers! Haven't you ever seen a doorknob before? Don't you even know what they do?"
Apple Bloom laughed. "Ah reckon she must know SOMETHIN' about doorknobs, seein' as how she just let you out."
Scootaloo asked suspiciously, "Who ARE you, anyway?"
"I'm Opalescence."
"Pleased to meet you," Sweetie Belle said. "That's a nice name. We have a cat named Opalescence. But how did you get here, and why were you in there anyway?"
Opalescence explained, "Rarity left me locked in there."
"Rarity locked you in there?" Sweetie's eyes narrowed. "Maybe she had a good reason."
"I'm sure she thought she'd be able to let me out. But of course, that's no longer possible."
"WHY isn't it possible? What happened to my sister? Did YOU do it?"
"I am only an innocent bystander. But I did overhear something."
"Tell me! Tell me right now!" Sweetie glanced momentarily at her lamp-wielding friend. It wasn't exactly a direct threat, but it didn't have to be.
"I overheard Rarity say she felt tired and overworked. She said she'd like to change places with me, so she could take naps all day if she wanted to."
Apple Bloom glared at the snowy unicorn. "Are you...LAZY?"
Opalescence tried to assure Apple Bloom, "For somepony in my position, taking a daytime nap is not unseemly."
"Why? Are you some kind of WORTHLESS LAZY ARISTOCRAT? The kind who doesn't do anything USEFUL like the stuff Celestia and Luna and Twilight do?"
"Well..." Opalescence shrugged. "Let's not get into my original family background. You and I have already met."
"I'm sure I'd remember such a--"
"I'M USUALLY A CAT!" Opalescence shouted.
The fillies looked confused, each in her own way.
Sweetie was the first to speak. "OH. Your name is Opalescence because you ARE Opalescence. Our cat."
"Exactly." A white cat with a purple tail and some purple on its head and neck rubbed against Opalescence. "And maybe this adorable little creature is Rarity?"
The Raricat nodded and meowed. She pawed at Opalescence's leg.
Opalescence looked around at the fillies. "Does anypony here know how to use a can opener?"
***
Applejack said, "This farm has mice and rats somethin' awful this year. If I only knew some way I could fix that."
A moment later, she said, "Hay! Where's that music comin' from?"