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// Rendezvous 
// Story: The Clandestine Clydesdale Case Files: The Heist of Harmony 
// by The Glass 
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	I was first to arrive on the platform, at 7:46 AM. I was able to catch snatches of idle chatter that passed between two luggage loader ponies, a spindly unicorn and a bulky earth pony. I identified the latter of these as Freightmaster Bur Lapsack. Most of the gossip they spouted as they unloaded sacks of barley was useless, but my vigilance paid off as I heard the unicorn make a remark along the lines of “…they say Luna went Nightmare…” before he re-entered the boxcar with the Freightmaster. As I pondered this, the first of the Six arrived on the platform. It was Applejack, a farmer with an orange coat, yellow mane, and a tri-apple cutie mark. She was also the Bearer of Honesty. Bouncing along behind her was the friendly pink busybody Pinkamena Diane Pie, Pinkie for short, the Bearer of Laughter, part-time baker at the Sugarcube Corner, and my cousin. Applejack was wearing a pair of tan saddlebags, and Pinkie appeared not to be carrying anything, though I knew better than to assume she had nothing simply because there was nothing visible, As usual, Pinkie was doing most of the talking in the friendly chat.
“Maybe the Princess is announcing a new festival! Or maybe we have an adventure to go on! Ooh, ooh, I know, maybe we have to-” Pinkie Pie spouted a mile a minute in her, as I have labeled it, Mechanical Siren Monologue voice. As she was speculating on the reason for the Princesses summons, I now knew that Celestia had not informed the Bearers in their obviously separate letter that the relics were missing.
Pinkie greeted my first. “Hiya cos! Twilight said you were coming! Isn’t this great, all of us going on an adventure, or-”
I interrupted her speculation, “Good morning Pinkie, you seem chipper as ever. Morning to you too Applejack. I trust the harvest has all been gathered in?”
“Yep, the last bushel’s stored away for the winter, so ah’ve got plenty o’ time for adventuring.”
“Good to hear, nothing spoils an adventure like a looming deadline.” I said ‘adventure’ in order to avoid revealing too soon that I knew the reason we were all summoned.
“Speaking of deadlines, here comes Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing even higher and waving before landing back in a sitting position.
“And Spike, Fluttershy, an’ Rarity,” added Applejack, turning around.
The four were walking up the side of the platform; Twilight, the purple unicorn with the cutie mark of a star, in the lead. Rarity, a white unicorn with a purple mane and cutie mark of three diamonds who was the Element of Generosity and local fashionista, trotted to her left and slightly behind. Spike, whom I described earlier, trailed behind Rarity in a slight trance, lugging a large trunk that appeared to belong to Rarity. Fluttershy brought up the rear, the yellow pegasus with a pink mane and a cutie mark of three butterflies flying slowly about two inches off the ground. She was the Bearer of Kindness, as well as a sort of veterinarian for the town. Twilight and Fluttershy each carried a pair of white saddlebags. It was 7:57 AM.
“Hello Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike.” I nodded to each in turn. Each greeted me in their usual fashion; Twilight gave the proper ‘good morning inspector,’ Rarity giving her ‘Hello darling, I’m so glad you chose the navy saddlebags over the green ones,’ Spike grunted something indistinct that sounded like ‘Hello,’ and Fluttershy giving a ‘good morning’ in her softer-than-dove-down voice. As the Six chatted amongst themselves and I assisted Spike in preparing the luggage for loading, I observed the rest of the platform with half an ear to the Six’s conversation, which consisted of speculation about the mission and anecdotes about their pets. I noticed the stationmaster hurrying over to the switch box from which I deduced that the train would be arriving shortly. The platform remained largely empty, with only a few travelers besides the Six and me waiting for the train to arrive. At 8:06 AM, just ahead of the train, the last member of our party crashed on to the platform. Rainbow Dash, a blue pegasus with a spectrum mane and cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, was a local weather pegasus, aspiring Wonderbolt and the Bearer of Loyalty. Unfortunately, her elemental fidelity did not often extend to schedules.
“Heh, sorry I’m late guys, my, uh, alarm clock broke,” Rainbow Dash said apologetically as she picked herself up off the platform.
“That’s okay Rainbow, it could happen to anyone,” Twilight replied.
“Yes, that’s why I set the rendezvous earlier rather than later.” I agreed, not pointing out that she had used that excuse before.
“Wait a minute; hasn’t Dashie already used that one?” Pinkie objected, though no one else heard her over the screeching, clanging, and whooshing of the incoming train, which just then pulled into the station. We boarded the train as soon as the few inbound passengers had disembarked, we being the Six and I, as Spike was staying behind to tend the library. I hoisted our luggage onto the luggage rack, and then furtively checked to be sure the car was secure and soundproof (no use being careless).
Once the conductor had punched our tickets and left the car, we were alone. We made ourselves comfortable on the well-upholstered blue seats and the Six resumed their chat from on the platform. The train lurched out of the station just as the Six were giggling over the time Tank, Rainbow’s Tortoise, fell in the Hail Loading Chute and was shipped out to Appeloosa. Long story short, he fell in Applejack’s cousin Braeburn’s nearly empty apple silo and turned the apples into apple sauce. As they finished laughing, Rarity drew me into the conversation.
“Oh my, we seem to have been very rude, excluding the Investigator from our banter,” She began.
“No trouble at all, I quite enjoyed your stories” I assured them.
“Why don’t you tell us a bit more about yourself, Mr. Clear?” queried Twilight, ever curious.
“Yeah, Pinkie said you’re her cousin? Why did you not tell us that at the party?” asked Applejack.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen Pinkie throw a shorter or more vaguely named party,” added Rainbow.
“Well cos! Are you going to tell them?” urged Pinkie.
“If you don’t mind, that is,” qualified Fluttershy.
I cleared my throat, and began, “Well, the reason the party was so vague and short, was that I wanted to avoid drawing attention to myself.  I have made a few enemies in my line of work after all. Yes I am Pinkie’s cousin, knew her from a young age.”
“Really?” said Twilight. “I would have expected a relative of Pinkie to be more, uh…”
“Bubbly? Random?” I supplied helpfully.
“I was going to say ‘lively,’ but those work” she said only slightly sheepishly.
“Yes, well, Pinkie wasn’t so ‘lively’ herself until she got her cutie mark. We called her the Pink Grouch back then, she was so uptight. Even after she got it, all that had changed was her outlook; she wasn’t so skeptical or gloomy anymore. Quite a shock to the rest of us when she cheered up. But even then she didn’t start bending physics or have her Pinkie Sense.”
“Really? When did she start?” Twilight asked eagerly, having not actually given up on understanding the irrational Sense.
Before I could answer, Pinkie drew out a tray of crisp-rice and marshmallow treats, which she called ‘Crunchy Clouds.’ That gave me pause enough to consider whether to tell the story yet, or save it for another time.  As there was still plenty of time left in transit to tell the story and tell the Six why we were called to Canterlot, I went ahead with the story as soon as I had finished the treat Pinkie had offered.
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“I was staying at the Mud Pie Rock Farm for a month so my parents could attend a series of business conferences in Manehatten. This was about six months after Pinkie got her cutie mark. We played explorers in the dark recesses of the Cultivating Caves between morning chores and supper, Mrs. Pie always equipping us with rather nice picnic lunch. On one of these ‘expeditions,’ Pinkie smuggled a lantern and a good bit of oil into the cave, and we went deeper than ever before. I, being the older and steadier one, held the lantern, while Pinkie raced around examining the strange wild rock formations. We saw basalt Dragon’s Maws, granite Oak Flows, and other rare shapes. After we had used about half our oil, we found passages that appeared to have been carved. The further we went the more it seemed we had entered some long forgotten ruin that, though once inhabited, was now only rows of square corridors with piles of dust. We were about to turn back, bored with the featureless dead ends that branched off the main hall, when we came to a door. It was a dark obsidian thing, carved all over with menacing symbols, and with a faint green light pulsing behind each line of the carvings. Of course, we were both scared, and naturally, as foals do, dared each other to open and go through it. Thus indefeasibly committed, we together and with tremendous effort pushed open the door.
“It opened to reveal a plain circular room with a flagstone floor, the only defining characteristic being a small, emerald-encrusted vase pulsing slowly with light on a pedestal in the center of the room and a lack of dust. Pinkie approached it slowly but curiously, entranced by the glistening thing, while I followed close behind. As Pinkie reached out to touch the vase, I tripped on a loose stone and bumped into her, sending her crashing right onto the vase. It fell in what seemed to be slow motion, and with an echoing crash, shattered. A blast of energy flew out of it as it shattered and hit Pinkie, who had dove to catch it, full in the face, though she didn’t seem to feel it and neither of us took notice at the time. As we stared in horror at our already broken ‘trophy,’ the room started to shake and crumble. Pinkie and I hightailed it out of that place as fast as we could, with not a few close calls. When we finally came out, panting and sweating, we were scared out of spelunking for the rest of my visit.”

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“Wow, that's just like a Daring Do adventure!” exclaimed Rainbow.
“Yes, simply terrifying,” agreed Rarity, shivering slightly.
“When did ya figure out about the Pinkie Sense ‘n’ stuff?” Applejack asked.
“Over the following weeks we noticed something weird with Pinkie, but it wasn’t until after I left and there was an early-season avalanche that Pinkie really started realizing her Pinkie Sense,” I answered. And in order to stave off the flood of questions I knew Twilight was preparing, I said, “I think it is time for me to tell you why we have been summoned to Canterlot.”
The ponies sat with mouths agape in astonishment for a second, then Twilight gathered her thoughts first and said: “You mean you knew the whole time!”
“Yes,” I replied.
“How?” asked Rarity.
“And, uh, why did you wait to tell us?” asked Fluttershy.
“The Princess’s letter to me gave the general reason and left it to my discretion when to tell you. I waited till now so that the news might not escape into Ponyville.”
“Do you mean to say, then, that you don’t trust us?” Rainbow accused.
“Not at all. However, somepony could have overheard on the platform. By the way, has anyone seen Pinkie since she passed out her treats?”
The five started to shake their heads, when Pinkie burst into the car from the direction of the locomotive.
“Hi guys! Sorry I left like that, but I remembered it was the engineer’s half-birthday and I had to wish him a happy one and I didn’t want to interrupt the story and-“
“Yes, Pinkie, it’s quite alright. Anyway, now that we are all present, I can reveal the reason.” This had the six friends almost on the edge of their seats in anticipation. “The jeweled Elements of Harmony have disappeared.”