> The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Griffon Gala
>  by ElvenAngel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Griffon Gala
A Pony Reimagining of Agatha Christie’s 
“The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan”


Part 1

Twilight Sparkle stared woefully at her list of things to be done. Lists of things to be done were her bread and butter, she loved lists; she loved making them, checking and rechecking them and loved completing them. They were always quite long but this one took a prize. Both for length and importance.

It was, after all, the list of things she was responsible for, while helping the Princesses organize the all-important Grand Griffon Gala.

Glancing at the Great Hall around her one last time, she took the list from Spike, lifted a quill with magic and crossed off one item (“Oversee Great Hall Banners”). 

“Ugh!”

Twilight flinched and reeled back when the quill made an ugly scratching noise against the parchment and ink sprayed around, leaving a sizable smudge on her list and spatters on her face.

“Twilight, are you ok?” Spike blurted.  

Frustrated, she glared at the battered quill a bit and then sighed, sheepishly tossing it in a nearby cleaning cart’s dustbin. 

“Yeah,” she grumbled and took the cloth that Spike gave her from a cleaning cart, to wipe the ink off her face. “I think I’m just tired.”
She pulled another quill from her saddlebags and handed the smudged list to Spike.  

“Twilight, you’re panicking again,” Rarity observed while perched on the top of a ladder, fastening a silk bunting arrangement to the chandelier. “You know what panic does to a pony’s coat and mane, darling.”

“I’m not! I’m fine. I’m fine,” the unicorn replied quickly, tucking her list away. 

“You don’t sound fine,” Rainbow Dash countered, lazily flying around the same chandelier after helping Rarity get the arrangement up there. 

“No, really,” Twilight insisted. “I got the memo from Codex Bright saying he managed to fix the stand and he’s bringing it to the Palace right now. So, everything is fine.”

“Aw c’mon Twilight! You’ve been jumping and twitching like a rabbit all week!” Dash snorted and hovered in midair, shaking an accusatory hoof at her friend, several meters down at the floor. “We get it! Princess Celestia asking you to head the organizing of the Grand Griffon Gala is a big deal, but it ain’t the end of the world!”

Twilight sighed a bit.

The Grand Griffon Gala… 


Two Weeks Ago


“Twilight Sparkle, thank you for coming. It’s been a while,” Princess Celestia said kindly, smiling at her favorite student.

The Canterlot Palace throne room always made Twilight feel like she was at home. Seeing Cadence with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna added even more to that comforting feeling. She was not awed or overwhelmed by this imposing and elegant place anymore. 

Twilight bowed to the sister princesses and then stood up eagerly. “Of course Princess. I came almost as soon as I got your letter. You said you needed my help for something. I’m always willing to help! What seems to be the problem, Princess?” Twilight blurted, almost expecting to hear that Discord was up to no good. 

“No, no, nothing like that,” Celestia said with a small chuckle. “I have need of your talents, Twilight. You see, in two weeks time, Canterlot Palace will host a special gala. The Grand Griffon Gala.” 

Twilight felt her ears perking forward with interest. 

“The Grand Griffon Gala?” she echoed before she could stop herself. “You mean, an event in the palace? What for?” 

“It is the eve of the 300-year-old Feather Barrow Treaty,” Luna explained. 

“Oh!” Twilight interjected. “The Feather Barrow Treaty, signed at the hamlet of the same name, in the eastern part of Equestria, between ponies and griffons for the formation of an alliance that could stand up to the dreaded dragon lich Mordremoth – an alliance that ultimately succeeded and resulted in 300 years of prosperity for both nations!” she said quickly with her now trademark grin of a true nerd. “Oh, this is so exciting! Is the gala to honor the treaty?”  

The three Princesses exchanged amused and somewhat awkward looks. Twilight never changed.

“Yes. Celestia and I will visit the Griffon Kingdom's capital, High Rock, for the first half of the festivities,” Luna explained patiently. “Then, emissaries from the Griffon Kingdom will be joining us on the journey back to Equestria where they will attend this gala. The gala will be the most important part of the festivities.”

“It will?” Twilight quipped, a little surprised that a party was given such importance. “How so?”

“You see,” Celestia said and shut her eyes briefly. “This anniversary coincides with a very important, recent find. The Griffon Sun Opal has been recovered.” 

Twilight felt her jaw making a valiant effort to reach the floor and her mane frizzle a bit in surprise. 

“The Griffon Sun Opal?!” she exclaimed. “Part of the Griffon Royal Family regalia, that’s been missing for almost 400 years!? Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh—but when was it found?! Where?! Why didn’t I hear about this?! It’s only one of the biggest mysteries of Equestrian and Griffon history! Is it even the real thing?! There have been dozens of fakes presented over the years!”

Cadence suppressed a chuckle, amused at how the prospect of answers to an academic mystery could send Twilight off in her attempts to maintain the proper decorum around the Princesses. She nodded. “Yes. It was rediscovered in the Crystal Empire, in fact, just a couple of months ago. We’ve kept it rather quiet because of the large number of fakes that have been passed off as the true Sun Opal.” 

“Of course,” Twilight said, shaking her head and regaining her composure. “The Griffon Sun Opal went missing during the succession war between Talos III and his brother Pelias over the throne after their father, King Talos II died unexpectedly—the civil war caused such chaos that the regalia were lost in all the conflicts. But how did it end up in the Crystal Empire, of all places?!”

“It was found along the mountains, during a border patrol,” Cadence explained. “One of the Queen’s ladies in waiting tried to smuggle it into Equestria for safety while seeking sanctuary. However, it appears that her caravan got hopelessly lost on the way and they all perished in the mountains of the Crystal Empire, trying to negotiate crossing into Equestria. The border patrol came upon a very old, abandoned watch post. We believe the caravan sought shelter in there but ultimately succumbed to the elements. The Sun Opal was discovered with her remains, in a locked and sealed box. Her journal was just barely preserved enough to make out the story. It took quite a considerable amount of magic and time to even open the box, and then identify the jewel as the real Griffon Sun Opal.”

“But that’s got to be one of the most important historical find of the century!” Twilight said, astonished. 

Celestia nodded. “Yes. And it gives us the wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our alliance and friendship with the Griffon Kingdom by returning the Sun Opal to the Kingdom in an official ceremony.”

“Of course,” Twilight said, still reeling back from the excitement of the news. “It would be wonderful for the Griffon Kingdom to reclaim such an important piece of its history. But, what do you need me to do, Princess?” 

Celestia smiled. “What you do best, Twilight Sparkle. I want you to head the organization of this gala. It’s a delicate affair and I feel I can trust you – and your friends – with it.”

Twilight swelled with pride at her words but it was deflated almost at the same time. Organize a party?! Her?! “I… uh…” she spluttered momentarily but straightened up and nodded solemnly. “You can count on us, Princess,” she said confidently. 


Now


And now she almost wished she’d kept her big mouth shut. Organizing a Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville was one thing. Organizing an all-important, formal gala at the Canterlot Palace was another beast entirely and had it not been for her friends, Twilight would’ve completely and utterly lost it.

The initial list of things that Twilight thought needed to be done was several meters long and dragged along the floor when she pulled it out in full. It almost mummified Spike when he tripped while carrying it. Fortunately for everypony, Cadence, who was staying in Canterlot as part of the long celebration to help, stepped in and helped Twilight pare down on unnecessary or extravagant things and then acted as a source of advice every step of the way. 

They’d gotten through the first week of preparation fairly smoothly. 

Pinkie Pie helped Twilight narrow down the bare bones of organizing a party, although it was a bit of a struggle to rein Pinkie Pie in enough to keep the gala from devolving into one of her trademark wild parties. Pinkie had to constantly be reminded that this was going to be a grander event; Twilight agreed it should be fun but she didn’t think party cannons were really appropriate. Fireworks and impressive balloon structures though, were perfect.  

Rarity was all too happy to take over making the elegant decorations for the gala, including banners bearing the Griffon Kingdom and Equestrian coats of arms, decorative buntings with the colors of both nations and other decorations. Rarity needed little overseeing; she had the appropriate taste and aesthetic that naturally resulted in a stunning collection of elegant decorations. Fluttershy and Dash were more than enough to help and keep her in check from going completely overboard. Rainbow Dash turned out to be a veritable font of knowledge concerning griffon tastes from her association with griffons and everypony consulted her about… everything.

Wanting to provide the griffon dignitaries with a wide variety of Equestrian delicacies, Twilight brought in Applejack and the Cakes to provide with some more provincial foods and sweets along the elegant Canterlot fare and the exotic griffon menu.

All in all, everything was going smoothly.

In fact, everything was going so smoothly that Twilight started to worry that it just couldn’t last. 

So when Rarity unpacked the decorative stand commissioned to showcase the Griffon Sun Opal to find that it had broken a little in transit, with some of the decorative wires and filigree in pieces or sticking out where they should not have, Twilight could cope with that little disaster much better than she would have if things had been going consistently wrong. Yes, she threw a bit of a panic fit for a moment until Spike suggested a lovely idea.

“What about Codex Bright? Doesn't he have a smelting workshop? You know, the one who comes all the time to the Library for reference books. He makes the tiny figures they use in some obscure board game or something.”

Of course! 

Codex Bright was a small, lanky unicorn stallion with a propensity for fire spells and a very slight tendency to be a worrywart. He did indeed operate a little smelter and foundry in his back room where he crafted figurines for games – he did, after all, work for one of the biggest table-top game developers in Equestria. At one time, Twilight used to hate his guts for reasons that were long and complicated and which she would dearly like to forget and pretend they didn’t exist because they had been horribly wrong. Point was that they now got along swimmingly.

He could certainly fix the stand without a problem.

She wrote a note to send to him, asking for help, just to have Spike point out that it sounded so panicky that Codex could reasonably assume the castle had come down around her. So, she wrote another, much more reasonable note and off she sent it, getting a favorable reply, much to her relief. The stand was sent over and Codex promised to bring it himself so another disaster could be averted. 

So that was that and Twilight felt she might’ve avoided losing a decade or two of her life from anxiety. 

But then came another little bombshell. 

“Have you thought about your speech?” Cadence said innocently while she sat with Twilight to tea-and-cake – a break she forced Twilight to take.

D’oh! She’d almost forgotten. “Of course! I… um… have something really good ready!” Twilight said with an attempt at a confident smile but the look Cadence gave her told her that she wasn’t drinking that FruitAid.

Twilight almost bonked her head against the table. “Uuuugh, I know!”she groaned. “I do have a speech written up but I just don’t know! It’s… it’s a bit off! I’ve never had a problem in Ponyville but this is a really big event! How do you and Princess Celestia do it!?”

Cadence chuckled a little and shook her head. “Well, if you really aren’t confident in it, you could always ask somepony to proof-read it for you.”

Twilight looked up from the table. “…I can?”

“Of course you can! Nopony will mind,” Cadence replied. “But choose somepony you trust.”

Twilight sighed and mentally run through her friends and acquaintances. Nopony really stuck out as knowing enough about speeches to help her – and most of her friends were already busy helping her prepare the gala. Cadence had enough on her plate, what with her and everypony else coming to her for directions while Celestia and Luna were absent. Who was left?

A guard tactfully hemmed at the door. “Beg your pardon, Princess Cadence,” he said gently. “A Codex Bright to see miss Twilight Sparkle at the gate.”

“Oh! He’s brought the stand—“ Twilight blurted, jumping up. “Please let him through, I’ll see him right away!” 

Then she turned to Cadence. “Thanks Cadence, I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve got to make sure we’re still on schedule!”

The Princess just smiled kindly at her. “You’re welcome Twilight. I know you’ve got a lot on your shoulders but please try to take it a little easy. We’re almost done.”

Twilight almost didn’t hear the latter half of Cadence speech, she was rushing down the hall from Cadence’s rooms and teleported herself to the lobby of the palace just as Codex Bright was coming through. 

That off-orange coat and ‘lawn’ of bright green hair was unmistakable. He was coming through the gates, pulling a small cart where the box containing the stand presumably was. 

And there was another familiar face with him: A chubby, deep purple pegasus mare with a triple-colored mane of hot pink, white and brown – which always forcefully reminded Twilight of a tub of triple-flavor ice cream. A pair of smart, teal-rimmed glasses was perched on her chunkier muzzle. Crazy Quills had moved to Ponyville with her coltfriend, the chef Majestic Sunrise and owner of the ‘Sunny Stop’ bistro. She was a writer that had come to some attention since the publication of her first book “The Raiders of the Storm”.

Twilight liked Quills a lot after she and the other girls had helped Quills deal with a horrid case of nerves when all the fame and attention that came with publishing a successful book drove the shy writer around the bend. She was a particularly kooky and sometimes spacey mare and there were times when Twilight couldn’t decide if she was a genius or just two straws short of a basket case.

An idea started forming in Twilight Sparkle’s head but getting the stand ready took precedence. 

Codex waved at Twilight a little too enthusiastically. “Hi Twilight! I brought the stand! It wasn’t as bad as you thought, all it took was a little soldering and fixing the filigree at the—“ Codex started, before Twilight almost fell on her face to stop galloping before she crashed into him. 

“It was?! Oh thank the stars!” she blurted. “Thank you, thank you so much Codex! You’re a life-saver. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The other unicorn blushed a bit and fidgeted his hooves awkwardly. “Aw, well… Don’t worry about it,” he said kindly. “Just let me know where you want it. Oh hey, I hope you don’t mind, but Quillsie and Sunny came over from Ponyville with me.”

“Hello Twilight! Sunny’s gone to lend Applejack and the Cakes a hoof with the catering and I came with Codey to see if there was anything I could do to pitch in,” said Crazy Quills, giving Twilight a happy grin. “And say, if we’ve got time left over, could I nip into the palace Library real quick and have a look at some books on ancient Trottikan? I need some material for—“ 

Suddenly the idea forming in Twilight’s head earlier snapped into clear manifestation.

“Crazy Quills!” Twilight gasped. “I need your help!”

Of course! It was so obvious! Crazy Quills was a writer! And a damned good one too, despite her occasional eccentricity. Surely she could look over her speech and help proofread it!

The chubby mare balked and reared backwards on her ample plot with her ears drooped and her face scrunched in worry when Twilight all but pushed her face into hers. 

“Weh?” was all she blurted. 

Twilight didn’t realize how frantic she was and just kept on going. “I really, really, really need you to look over something for me! I need help with this speech! I don’t know what to do!!”

Crazy Quills looked around awkwardly and then at the panicking unicorn in front of her. “Er… Twilight, you wanna slow down a bit?”

“What’s going on?” Codex asked, looking confused. “Take a deep breath.” 

Twilight did just that and shook her head to stop hyperventilating. “I’m supposed to deliver a speech at the opening of the Grand Griffon Gala on behalf of Equestria and I need somepony to look it over. I…I just don’t know if it’s good. I’ve never delivered such a formal speech before. Cadence suggested I have somepony look it over and Quills is a writer, so…”

“You want me to proof-read it?” Quills asked, straightening her glasses.

Twilight assumed such a puppy-like look that it was almost painful to watch. “Will you? Please?”

Crazy Quills smiled awkwardly. “Sure, sweetie, if it makes you feel better. I’m sure it’ll be fine anyway, but I’ll have a look at it. I’m kinda flattered, actually.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight said, relieved and grabbed Quills in a sudden hug that nearly knocked the pudgy pegasus’ glasses clean off her face.

“No problem,” Quills said, bemused.

Then a pinkish aura surrounded Quills and she was hoisted off the ground. “Hey?!”

Completely unperturbed, Twilight turned to Codex, still holding Quills off the ground with her magic. “I’m so glad you could fix the stand. I had a bit of a scare with it. Can you get it to Rarity so she can finish the presentation arrangement she’s working on? She’s in the Great Hall with Dash and Fluttershy. I have to get to the Library.”

“Uh… sure, no problem,” Codex blurted, staring at the spectacle of Quills hovering off the ground without using her wings. Her weight was affecting her balance and even before his eyes the purple pegasus was starting to tilt sideways. Any time now she was going to turn belly-up unintentionally.

“Twilight, you do know I can fly, right?!” she squeaked, flailing her legs and wings, trying to keep her balance.

“Thanks so much again Codex! I’ll see you in a bit! Bye!” Twilight said before she and Quills teleported away in a flash of light.

“…Right,” Codex said, staring at the evaporating fizzle of magic left behind from the teleporting mares. 

When they reappeared (almost scaring Spike to death) in the palace Library where Twilight had set up her ‘war room’, Crazy Quills was dizzy and disoriented and nearly fell flat on her face before she recovered, picked up her dignity, straightened her glasses and fluttered her wings to sort out bent feathers… right before Twilight shoved a stack of cue cards under her nose.

“Here it is!” she said earnestly. “I tried to keep it simple and formal because the occasion is so important and everypony will expect an account of the history of the treaty between griffons and ponies and the history of the Sun Opal and—“ 

“Hey, hey, slow down, motor mouth,” Quills said, fairly stuffing her hoof in Twilight’s mouth. “Let me look at this…”

“Huh? Crazy Quills, what are you doing in Canterlot?” Spike asked, picking up the sheaf of papers that he’d dropped.

“Nice to see you, Spike. Oh I just came over with Codex to see if I could lend a hoof,” the writer said casually. She took the pile of cards off Twilight and gave the first couple of them a cursory look. “This isn’t bad. I can see some room for refining and streamlining but it’s pretty good,” she said appreciatively. “It’s not my usual line of work, obviously, but I’ll do my best.”

“Oh good!” Twilight said happily. “That's only the introduction. I think that if we work methodically we should get through the whole thing by tomorrow.” She complimented the relieved sigh with a gesture to the table where another two sizable stacks of cards were tidily waiting. 

Crazy Quills froze, staring. She stared at Twilight Sparkle. She stared at the stacks. She stared at the shrugging dragon before conveying a weary sigh and a stern expression towards Twilight, glancing at the unicorn over her glasses. 

“Twilight,” she said patiently but with the kind of stern tone that mothers assume with foals. “Sweetie. I’m going to be brutally honest with you. This ain’t a speech; it’s a three-course university elective. I respect your eloquence and your enthusiasm and I bow to your knowledge about the background of this event but… you’re just going to bore everypony to death.”

Yep, this was another thing about Quills. Sometimes she would be heart-breakingly frank – usually with good reason.

“…You think so?” Twilight said, a little crestfallen with her ears drooped. 

“I’m sure. Nopony said your speech can’t be interesting, but keep it short, for everypony’s sake.” 

“I tried to tell you the same thing, Twilight,” Spike huffed. “But you were really gone while working.”

Twilight sighed and bowed her head. “You’re right, Spike. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” 

Quills marched to the desk, sweeping aside the stacks of cards with her wing. “No use muttering about spilled milk, my dears. We’ll start from scratch and write you the best speech ever, Twilight. Grab a quill and let’s get an outline down.”

> Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part 2


It was well into the evening, with the help of some strong coffee and cola (which Quills guzzled faster than should’ve been possible), after many interruptions from ponies who needed questions answered or things clarified, or arguments resolved, when Twilight Sparkle stepped back from her latest draft of the speech. Spike had dropped off asleep on the table halfway through the whole thing and Quills had been a most stern editor. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and mumbled.

“I haven’t worked so hard on a piece of writing since I was in school,” she said. 

Crazy Quills was already scanning the cue cards. “Well, give yourself a pat on the back, love,” she chuckled and put them down. “I think you’ve got yourself a splendid speech.”

Hearing that, Twilight perked up a little. “Really? Thank you. I think so too. I don’t think I could’ve made it without your help. You really know a lot about writing.”

Quills blushed a bit and waved her hoof dismissively. “Aw it was nothing. I write for a living, I was bound to pick up some things,” she said, trying to sound modest and failing. “If I’ve got it right, the preparations for the gala are almost done. There’s not much you’ve still got left to do, correct?”

Twilight lifted her list from the edge of the table with magic and stared at it. Indeed, most items were crossed off. “Well… yeah. But I’m still responsible for things. They’re going smoothly, of course, but—“ 

“Then why are you fretting?” Quills chuckled and finished off a bottle of cola. 

Twilight’s ears drooped and she cringed. “Ugh, why is everypony telling me that I’m fretting?”

Quills pushed the floating list downwards and stared at Twilight over it. “Because you are, dear. I’m not saying you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill. But you can relax a little bit if things are going well. Stress is the enemy of the mind, you told me something of that nature when I first moved to Ponyville.”

Twilight sighed and rolled up the list. “Uugh… everypony’s been saying that. Maybe… maybe you’re right.” Then she perked up a little bit. “On the flipside… we are almost done. The Gala is in three days. My speech is ready and I just have to oversee the last few details. Anything that was going to go wrong has already done that and I’ve solved it. I guess I can afford to relax a little bit. Everyone’s doing their job and besides the stand and my speech, we really haven’t had any major problems.”

“Exactly,” Quills beamed at her. “Since we’re done, let’s go find Codex. I’m sure Rarity will have enlisted his aid in the Great Hall.”

“Absolutely!” Twilight giggled. “Come on, we’ll go have a look. And, I’d be happy of you and Codex and Sunny came to the Gala as my guests. You really saved the day for me. You can browse the Library for the Trottikan texts later.”

The chubby mare smiled contently and blushed. “Aw shucks, Twilight, you know I’m happy to help. Let’s go, I wonder if Rarity is having Codex balance on a ladder to do the ceiling trims, heehee,” she chuckled.

They decided to leave Spike sleep for a bit more and left the Library with a light step.

Most of the palace was now fully decorated, except the Great Hall, where Rarity was working. Bunting ribbons hung along hallways and the chandeliers were decorated with more ribbons and wafer-thin magical tinsel that glittered.

“So it’s true then, the real Griffon Sun Opal has been discovered?” Quills asked her.

“Oh you heard? Drat. We were hoping to keep it from getting out too much,” Twilight sighed.

Quills grinned consciously. “Sorry. I heard something of that rumor from a griffon friend of mine, and I just assumed it must be true from the amount of guards and the security.”

“You… noticed?” Twilight said with a bit of amazement. Cadence had asked the guards to tactfully increase their presence. There was no need to alarm other ponies, after all. “Oh, I hope nothing goes wrong. I know how things tend to go so I insisted the guards step it up for the duration of the celebrations just in case…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Twilight,” Quills said quickly, seeing alarm starting to rise in the unicorn’s look. “I was just asking. You know I quite like history and folklore.” 

“Of course,” Twilight said but there was a little worrisome twitch in the corner of her eye.

The Great Hall was resplendently decorated. Floral arrangements elegantly twirled around pillars, magically maintained fresh by the florist ponies brought in by Rarity to create those decorations. Tapestries with the heraldic seals of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, in gorgeous colors and threaded with sparkling gold and silver accents hung on the walls. Rarity had personally picked them out and arranged them on the walls. Ribbons in the two nations’ colors hung elegantly over the large arched windows of the hall. The last few touches left were the ribbons and decorations on the chandeliers.

And true to prediction, Codex was balancing rather precariously on the top of a very tall ladder, looking quite nervous, but still diligently affixing ribbons to a chandelier with Fluttershy’s help, while Rarity busied herself at the bottom of the stairs, arranging the ribbon combinations to go up next, while correcting Codex constantly on the position of the ribbon.

“No, no, more to the right! Your other right, Codex!! That’s why I sent you up the ladder, so you can see what you’re doing!”

“Ugh!” Codex groaned from the top of the ladder.

“I’m sorry, Codex, but these chandeliers are so delicate I was afraid to do it myself,” Fluttershy said timidly.

“…Codex, darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked politely. 

Codex glared down at her, gritting his teeth. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?!” 

Rarity seemed nonplussed. “You seem a trifle irritated.”

Codex groaned. “Oh, really? I wonder why!”

Fortunately for the decorations’ progress, Twilight and Quills arrived. “How are the decorations coming along, Rarity?” Twilight asked. 

“Things are running along smooth as silk, darling,” Rarity said happily. “I’ve got Codex Bright here helping me and he’s doing a lovely job of putting up ribbons.”

Quills eyed her friend at the top of the ladder. “All right, Codex?” 

“I’m fine!” he squeaked from the top.

“You’re doing great,” Fluttershy murmured encouragingly. “Don’t look down!”

Twilight looked around. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“I’ve run out of gold thread so I sent her to buy some more. I hope she follows my instructions on what to buy. You only just missed her—“ Rarity said, turning around and floating yet another ribbon up to Codex. “This one is for the left arm of the chandelier—no, no, the one next to that, Mr. Bright!”

Quills looked around the hall, towards the top end where the royal thrones were. “Ah, that’s the stand Codex was fixing, isn’t it?”
Twilight perked up again. “Oh right! I needed to inspect it!” she blurted and trotted off towards it.

It was set up beside the royal thrones in a special display spot surrounded by two very elegant floral arrangements, between banners of the two kingdoms. The stand itself was an elegant piece of griffon metalwork in beautiful curves and flourishes, supporting a velvet cushion where the jewel would rest. Rarity had done an excellent job decorating it with simple ribbons, placing them in such a way that they cleverly disguised the spots where the stand had broken. 

“Codex did a great job. I can’t even tell there was any damage,” Quills said admiringly. 

“It looks perfect! Thanks again Codex!” Twilight said happily.

“Y-y-you’re welcome!” Codex called back from the top of the ladder.

“Twilight, dear, do you think we could get to see the Griffon Sun Opal?” Rarity said suddenly, sidling up to Twilight. “I really want to have a look at the stand with the jewel on it to make sure I’ve got the right color ribbons. If they don’t match I’ll need at least a day to prepare some new ones!”

Twilight hesitated. Quills looked over eagerly and so did Codex and Fluttershy from the chandelier. Everypony had no doubt heard about the nearly mythical jewel. So much for secrecy. To tell the truth, Twilight herself wanted to have a proper look at the Opal. She’d only seen it once when Cadence showed it to her to sate her curiosity. Getting it out of safekeeping for a little while should be alright.

“Alright,” she said with a smile. “I’ll go to speak to Princess Cadence about it. She’s responsible for it. Why don’t you all wait here, I’ll be right back.”

She trotted off and Quills took the opportunity to join Codex up high, flapping her wings to get to the chandelier’s height and help him and Fluttershy secure the last pieces of decoration to it. The minutes rolled on and they just worked away, attaching ribbons and fixing glass baubles filled with tinsel, hanging from silver ribbons, to the chandelier’s arms. They managed to complete the large, central chandelier that dominated the Great Hall’s ceiling.

“That’s strange,” Rarity remarked at length. “I wonder what’s taking Twilight so long. Do you think she can’t find Princess Cadence?”

“I do hope nothing happened to her…” Fluttershy said with alarm, in the middle of helping Codex get down from the ridiculously tall ladder. 

She actually stopped paying attention and brought her hooves to her mouth, leaving Codex to wobble backwards dangerously until Quills put out a hoof and pushed him against the ladder again. 

She said thoughtfully: “I don’t think she’ll come back right now.” 

Everypony stared at the chubby mare. 

“Why not?” Rarity said, blinking.

“I don’t like being the herald of bad omens but I believe something has happened,” Quills replied and landed, then straightened her glasses.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy gasped, even though Quills had not been in any way dramatic. 

Codex got to the bottom of the ladder and finally parted with it, looking grateful to touch terra firma again. “What sort of thing? And how do you know?”

Quills looked around the grand hall. “A few minutes ago one of the officers came by rather hurriedly and headed for the stairway to the upper floors. He looked very agitated.”

“I think I saw him too,” Codex admitted. “But I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Also, two of the palace guards that have been tasked with patrolling the hallway just beyond the doors,” Quills added, pointing to the large, double doors of the great hall with her hoof, “are having a very quiet but apparently very serious discussion. They must be quite distressed if they actually left their specific posts. And thirdly… Rainbow Dash hasn’t returned.”

Rarity shook her head vigorously and looked around in disbelief. “Why… you’re right! I wonder what’s taking her so long. I wrote down my instructions for the sewing supplies we needed so she shouldn’t have trouble ordering exactly what I want.”

Quills tilted her head thoughtfully. “You said we only just missed her when Twilight and I came in. Knowing Dash’s speed, she would have gotten back a few minutes ago.”

“Do you think something happened to her?” Fluttershy said with alarm.

“That can’t be what’s got the guards worried,” Codex said thoughtfully. 

“Oh no, I don’t think so,” Quills said, shaking her head. “I believe the palace is in lockdown. She can’t get in.”

“WHAT!?” everypony blurted.

“Why would the palace be in lockdown?!” Codex said.

“I did just say something’s happened, didn’t I?” Quills replied a little dryly.

“But why put the palace in lockdown? Assuming it really is in lockdown,” Rarity said hotly and then gasped. “Do you think the palace is under attack?!” 

“No, no, nothing as serious as that,” Quills said. “The guards would’ve rounded us up if that was the case. Instead, I think barely anypony’s noticed. They're being discreet.”

“You’re awfully calm about all this – and how the hay do you know all this?” Codex said, irritated.

“I pay attention, dear,” Quills said patiently.

“Well, this is awful! We should go find Twilight right now, she may need help,” Rarity said and stamped her hoof delicately.

Fluttershy nodded nervously. Quills and Codex looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah, we’ll come too. Everypony else must be stuck outside, right? Applejack and Pinkie Pie were at the caterers, helping with cooking preparations, I think.”

“And Dash is stuck outside,” Quills added.

They left the Great Hall and trotted briskly down the hallway and up the staircase leading upstairs. Guards were dashing about, looking very agitated indeed. Nopony stopped them until they got close to Cadence’s room, where they were halted by a guard, a big, strapping white pegasus in armor.

“Halt here, please. Nopony is allowed beyond this point for the time being,” he said sternly.   

“Nonsense!” Rarity said, drawing herself up imperiously. “We are Twilight Sparkle’s friends and obviously something deeply unpleasant has happened! She must need our support!”

But the guard was as unmoved as a stone statue. “I’m sorry, m’am, but I have my orders.”

“But she must be in considerable distress!”

“Rarity!!” Twilight called from behind the guard. 

The purple unicorn peeked her head out of the door that must have been Cadence’s room. She trotted out to meet them, assuring the guard that everything was fine. Her face was the very picture of distress. Her brows were knitted together in worry, her mane looked frazzled and she was almost gnashing her teeth in agony. 

“I’m so glad you guys are here, I need help!” she said. “The Griffon Sun Opal’s been stolen!”

“WHAT!?” everypony except Quills blurted.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy gasped.

“Stolen!?” Rarity screamed. “No!! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” she shouted, back-stepping at each punctuation, until her horn lit up with magic and a fainting couch slid in out of nowhere (which Quills casually dodged by moving her ample plot several centimeters to the left and bumping Codex out of the way too) and she threw herself on it. 

“How the hay did the couch make it all the way here from Ponyville and past all the security?!” Codex blurted. “Wait, wait, nevermind… I don’t want to know… But that does explain things. I suppose everypony’s a suspect now?”

“Us four certainly can’t be, we were in the great hall all this time,” Quills said coolly.

“Yes, that’s true,” Twilight said. “But the point is that the Jewel’s disappeared and the Gala is only three days away! This will be a diplomatic disaster unless we find it!”

“We’ll do whatever we can to help you,” Fluttershy said and tried to smile encouragingly. “Just tell us what you need from us.” 

“Of course we’ll help, dear!” Rarity said, pushing past them. “Stealing the Opal is a crime against elegance!” she declared, her early melodrama forgotten.

“Come with me, then, I’m about to question the suspects,” Twilight said.

They followed her into Cadence’s room, a very elegant, large room with luxurious furniture and fluffy carpets underhoof. A strange scene waited for them. Princess Cadence sat in the middle of the room, looking very distraught and a far cry from her usual cheerful self. Her expression was marred by the same mask of worry that sat on Twilight’s face. Two guards stood at one side, one of them with a notebook hovering in front of him, a tall, dark grey unicorn in gold armor with almost black tail.

A palace chambermaid, a peach-orange unicorn with yellow mane and tail and wearing a cap with the Equestria symbol and looking frightened to death, stood by the fireplace. On the other side of the room, a deep mauve, crystal unicorn with pearly white mane - most likely Cadence’s personal maid - was weeping into her hooves with an intensity of grief that was heartbreaking. 

To this small pandemonium Twilight trotted back in, followed by the others, and had a quick word with the grey unicorn guard, who nodded briskly after surveying Rarity, Fluttershy, Codex Bright and Crazy Quills. Cadence stood up and approached Twilight.

“It’s no use, Twilight, we searched the whole room. The Opal isn’t here,” she said nervously. “We need to accept the fact that it’s actually been stolen!” 

“Calm down Cadence,” Twilight said and patted Cadence’s hoof with her own. “We’ll find it – and who did it. I promise,” she said. 

But she probably would do better to listen to her own advice because her expression betrayed her anxiety. Cadence though, nodded and took a deep breath. The gray unicorn guard finally approached Twilight and Cadence, perhaps judging that spirits were sufficiently calm for him to work. 

“Do you mind if Twilight Sparkle takes part in the investigation, Captain Grey Mist? I’ll feel better if she is,” Cadence told him. “I trust her explicitly.”

“None at all, Your Highness,” he replied civilly but his tone betrayed indifference. “Can we start by having the facts?”

Cadence nodded and sat down, looking at the floor to recollect her thoughts. “I was in the vestibule directing the staff on etiquette for the griffon dignitaries when Twilight Sparkle came from the great hall. She told me that the stand which was intended to showcase the Opal during the Gala had been set up and that she and Rarity would like to inspect the decorations with the actual Opal in place. She asked me to bring it down to the grand hall for a few minutes. So we came upstairs to fetch it. The palace maid and Midnight Velvet were both in the room as usual—“ 

“Excuse me, Your Majesty,” Captain Mist interrupted politely. “But can you clarify what you mean by ‘as usual’?” 

Cadence explained. “I decided that for security’s sake while I had the Opal stored here, nopony should come into the room unless Velvet, my maid, or I am present. The maid does the room in the morning while Velvet is here and comes in after dinner to turn down the bed under the same conditions. Otherwise I asked her to never enter the room.” 

“I see,” said Captain Mist and wrote down some quick notes. “Please continue.”

Cadence nodded. “When I came upstairs, I went to the drawer here” –she indicated the bottom right hoof drawer of the dressing table—“took out the Opal’s jewel case and unlocked it. It seemed completely normal. But the Opal was gone!”

The captain was again busy with his notebook and Twilight looked antsy. 

“That’s exactly how it happened,” she said, then turned to Cadence. “When did you last see it, Cadence?”

Cadence hesitated. “Well, I was busy helping you prepare the Gala and I didn’t think I’d have to check it all the time. I did come upstairs to wash up after directing some work in the gardens. I’m certain that the Opal was in the box when I went to dinner.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite sure. You see, I keep my crown in a box similar to the Opal’s and I was a bit distracted. I picked up the Opal’s box by accident instead of my jewel case. I opened it on a whim and the Opal was still there.”

Twilight appeared to be thinking. “You locked the box yourself, right?”

“Absolutely. I keep the key on me all the time till the Gala,” Cadence said. 

She levitated the key out from behind her necklace and Twilight inspected it carefully. “It doesn’t look like it’s been compromised.”

Captain Mist inspected it over Twilight’s shoulder and shrugged a bit. “The thief may have had a duplicate. It’s not a difficult matter to achieve, the lock on the box is not exactly complicated I’m afraid.”

He levitated the box in question to Twilight and she inspected that too, from all angles but she failed to find any signs of the box being tampered with. She put it down, looking puzzled and a little dispirited. “You didn’t lock the drawer?” she asked Cadence. 

“No, I never do. Velvet is always the room until I come upstairs, so there really wasn’t any need.” 

Twilight’s face grew paler. “So… the Opal was in the box when you went down to dinner, and that since then your maid hasn’t left the room?”

Suddenly, as though the horror of her own situation dawned upon her for the first time, the maid Midnight Velvet uttered a piercing shriek that sent Codex almost to the ceiling and Fluttershy nearly into a senseless heap on the floor. Rarity was so surprised that she shrieked as well. The mauve unicorn threw herself at Cadence’s hooves and poured forth a torrent of nearly incoherent babbling.

The suggestion was preposterous! How dare they suspect her of robbing the Princess!! The guards were obviously stupid! The Princess’ friend was mistaken! But the Princess—

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to sound like I suspected you!” Twilight interjected but the maid was so distraught she barely paid attention.

The Princess would surely not stand by and watch her loyal subject stand accused while the palace chambermaid was allowed to go free. She always rummaged around the room suspiciously and Velvet had never trusted her, boldly interfering with the Princess’ things – surely a thief in the making! Velvet always kept a sharp watch on her when the maid came to tidy the room. Surely she must be searched and see if they don’t find the Opal on her!

Despite the maid’s distress affecting her speech, interrupting it with sobs and hiccups, the peach unicorn understood very well what the other one was implying and stamped her hoof angrily.

“If that crystal nag’s saying I took the jewel, it’s a lie!” she declared hotly. “I haven’t even laid eyes on the blasted thing!”

She had a somewhat rustic accent that reminded Twilight of Applejack and left her wondering what her other friends were doing, stuck outside the castle and with no way to contact them.

“Search her!” screamed Velvet. “You’ll see I’m right! She must have it!”

“You’re a liar! You hear me!?” said the chambermaid, advancing upon the crystal pony. “You stole it yourself, didn’t you? An’ you want to pin it on me! Why, I was only in the room for about three minutes before the Princess came up! And then you were sitting there the whole time, like you always do, like a cat watching mice!”

“Enough!” barked Captain Mist and he got between the two mares.

“Yes—quiet down, the both of you!” Twilight scolded them. “Nopony wants to blame anyone but we must follow the evidence.” She turned to Velvet. “Is that true? You didn’t leave the room at all?”

Midnight Velvet wiped her face with her hoof. “I didn’t actually leave her alone,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I did go into my own room through the door here twice,” she said, indicating it behind her. “Once to fetch a reel of cotton thread and once for my scissors. I was sewing, you see. She must’ve done it then!”

“Ha! You wasn’t gone a minute!” snapped the chambermaid angrily. “Just popped out and right in again. I don’t mind one bit if the guards do search me! I’ve got nothing to be afraid of!”

Twilight stared between the two mares and cringed. “Alright. That’s exactly what we’ll do. Rarity, I need to ask you to take one of the guards and search the maid—I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Peach Melba, m’am. Call me Peach,” said the young mare defiantly. 

Twilight smiled encouragingly at her. “Thank you. Rarity, could you please—“

“You can count on me, darling,” Rarity said with a toss of her mane. She seemed very serious and stern as she escorted Peach out of the room, followed by a guard.  

It looked like Rarity had taken the loss of the Opal quite hard.

Velvet had sunk, sobbing, into a pillow again. Cadence looked like she wanted to go over and comfort her but Twilight shook her head. While the two maids were suspects, they had to keep an objective approach to both of them. Twilight then made a closer inspection of the room. The room was large, with big windows. The canopied bed dominated much of the space, in the middle of the room against the wall, with the dressing table that played part in the drama standing right across it. There was a wardrobe and another chest of drawers against the other walls of the room, and a large standing mirror. There was also a small table and two cushioned chairs, by the window, near the dressing table. 

There was a door on the far wall that led into the adjoining maid’s room next door. Twilight trotted over to the dressing table and started closely examining it. 

“What are you doing, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked her. 

Twilight stood over the dressing table and her horn lit up with magic, then she proceeded to create a kind of beam that she ran all over the piece of furniture. 

“I’m using a spell I learned that detects magic. I’m trying to see if the desk was tampered in any way,” Twilight explained. “But there seems to be nothing untoward here. Just the typical levitation spells every unicorn uses. In fact, there’s so much of that one spell that it’s confusing. It’s just too common. Unfortunately the spell doesn’t let me know who cast what.”

“Well yeah, we always manipulate stuff with magic, don’t we?” Codex said awkwardly. 

“Excuse me, but where does that door lead?” Crazy Quills asked suddenly, nodding her head towards the door right across the room from the one that led to the maid’s room, near the window.

“Into the next apartment, I believe,” said the captain. “It’s bolted, anyway, from this side.”

“Oh, that’s right. Sometimes rooms are connected when occupied by a couple and they need more space.” Twilight walked across to it, tried it and found it bolted indeed. Then she drew back the bolt and tried it again.

“It’s bolted on the other side too,” she remarked. “That seems to rule out that.”

“Hmm…” Quills mused quietly. 

“What?” Codex asked her.

“Nothing, nothing…” 

Twilight was trying the windows in the meantime, examining each of them in turn.

“Again, nothing. There’s not even a balcony outside,” she sighed.

“Even if there were,” said Captain Mist a little impatiently. “I don’t see how it would help us, m’am, if the maid never left the room.”

“Evidently,” said Twilight. “As Velvet is adamant that she never left the room…” 

They were interrupted by the return of the chambermaid and Rarity.

“Nothing,” said the latter. “She doesn’t have the Opal, but she does have a very nicely-maintained mane.”

“Thank you,” said Peach but then suddenly seemed to remember she ought to be serious. “And I should hope not!” she added virtuously. “That nag ought be ashamed of herself, takin’ away an honest girl’s character like that.”

“That’s that, then,” the Captain Mist said briskly. “You can go along now and get back to your work, but you are not to attempt to leave the palace while the lockdown holds.”

Peach inched towards the door a little unwillingly. “Going to search her?” she demanded, glaring at Midnight Velvet.

“Yes, we are,” the captain said impatiently and shut the door on her.

Velvet, still sobbing, accompanied Rarity and the guard to her room for a search. A few minutes later she returned, nothing having been found on her.

Twilight’s face grew paler. Captain Mist was very grave as well. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you to come with me all the same, miss Velvet,” he said dryly.

He turned to Princess Cadence. “I’m very sorry, Your Highness, but all the evidence points that way. If she doesn’t have the jewel on her, it may be hidden somewhere around her room.”

Velvet uttered a piercing shriek and fell down in front of Cadence, crying desperately. Cadence, looking terribly distressed, bent down and patted her head in a strangely motherly way.

“I’m sorry Velvet,” she said sadly. “It’s better if you don’t resist, alright?”

“P-Princess…” Velvet sobbed.

“Twilight,” Crazy Quills said suddenly and sidled up to Twilight. She practically stuck her muzzle into Twilight’s ear and whispered something.

Twilight’s ears perked and she looked at the chubby pegasus in amazement. “You think so?”

Quills nodded. “Better safe than sorry.” 

Twilight approached Captain Mist. “Captain, please hold on a moment. There’s a small experiment I’d like to conduct, it won’t take very long, I promise. I just want to be sure of something.”

“It depends on what that is, m’am,” he said noncommittally.

Twilight addressed Velvet again, who had stood up, but looked terribly shaky. “Velvet, you said that you went into your room to fetch some thread. Where was the thread?”

“O-on top of my drawer chest,” she hiccupped. “In my sewing basket.”

“And the scissors?” 

“Same place.”

“Velvet, could you please repeat those two actions? Where exactly were you sitting, over here?” Twilight said, pointing to the round table in front of the window, where a half-finished dress was lying.

Velvet nodded and going over, sat down in the chair and picked up the thread and needle with a simple levitation spell. Then, at a sign from Twilight, she stood up, passed into the adjoining room at a calm pace, rummaged through her sewing basket, picked up an object from it and returned. Twilight divided her attention between her movements and a large pocket watch that she borrowed from Codex.

“One more time, Velvet, the scissors now,” she said.

At the conclusion of the second half of the experiment, Twilight looked puzzled and returned the watch to Codex, then looked at the numbers she had written down on Captain Mist’s notebook.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight said, staring at the leaf of paper, looking confused.

“Please excuse me, m’am. I’ve got work to do,” he said, looking rather satisfied at the pointlessness of the experiment. He nodded to the second guard and Velvet departed in a flood of tears accompanied by the guard.

Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy watched her leave with somewhat pained expressions, but they understood what came next. With the Captain’s help and Codex and Quills’ more reluctant assistance, they ransacked the maid’s room. They pulled out drawers, opened cupboards, completely unmade the bed and tapped at the floor for loose boards. Quills looked on rather skeptically.

“Do you really think you’ll find it here?” Cadence asked them.

“Yes, Your Highness. It only stands to reason,” replied Captain Mist. “She didn’t have time to take the Jewel out of the room. Your discovering the robbery so soon upset her plans, no doubt. I wager my helmet that they’re right here. It had to be one of the two maids, and it’s very unlikely for the chambermaid to have done it.”

“More like impossible,” said Quills muttered.

“Pardon me?” Captain Mist stared.

“No, she’s right,” Twilight said suddenly.

Quills stopped fumbling with a pillow and looked back at him. “I think a demonstration is in order. Codex, let me borrow your watch – thank you. Now, Twilight, you timed Velvet’s movements when she went to fetch her things.”

“Yes. Her first absence from the room was twelve seconds. The second was fifteen,” Twilight replied. “I see where you’re going with this.”

“Good, would you oblige me, then?” Quills said with a small smile. “Princess Cadence, would you mind giving Twilight the key to the box? Thank you. Remember, Twilight, you’re committing a robbery, move as fast as you can and only use levitation.”

All of them besides the two guards moved back to Cadence’s room. Twilight stood in the side of the room near the dressing table, pretending to be Peach Melba.

“Go,” Quills said.

With incredible swiftness, Twilight ran to the dressing table, wrenched open the drawer, took out the Opal’s case, fitted the key in the lock, opened the case, picked the cushion out of it, shut and locked the case and returned it to the drawer, which she pushed in again, everything done with effective multiple uses of levitation and telekinesis.

“Well?” she demanded of Quills.

“Forty-six seconds,” she replied in a final kind of way. “You see?” she added, looking around. “There was no time for Peach to even take the Opal out, much less hide it.”

“Then that settles it on Midnight Velvet,” Princess Cadence said sadly and lowered her head.

Captain Mist clenched his jaw with a frown and just returned to the maid’s room to resume his search. 

“I’m very sorry, Cadence,” Twilight said to the Princess, bending her head and nuzzling up to her. “I followed the evidence as I saw it. I don’t like where it brought me but this seems to be the truth.”

Cadence smiled sadly at her. “I know, Twilight and I’m grateful. I just still can’t believe it.”

Crazy Quills seemed thoughtful still. “I wonder…” she muttered. 

Codex peered at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“Twilight, were there any threats at all, about the Opal? You know, notorious thieves or villains or the like? Discord, even,” Quills asked.

“No, no, nothing of the kind,” Cadence answered instead. “The Opal hasn’t got any magical powers; it’s just a symbol of the Griffin Kingdom that means a lot to them sentimentally. Nopony had any reason to want to steal it.”

“Well… it is one of the biggest precious opals to ever be discovered and polished. It’s extremely valuable, both historically and from a monetary perspective…” Rarity said reluctantly.

“Still, it’s historical value means it can’t be sold,” Codex said, trying to sound optimistic. “It’s far too recognizable.”

“It could still be cut into pieces,” Quills said flatly, making Rarity groan and look like she was about to faint. 

“They can’t cut a beauty like that!!” she bawled.

“Nevertheless—“ Twilight began. 

She was interrupted by a shout of triumph by Captain Mist. He came in from Velvet’s room with something glittering in front of him, levitated by a field of white-ish magic.

Twilight and Cadence both jumped up and towards him. “The Opal!” they said together.

The Griffon Sun Opal was a big jewel, easily the size of a teacup, sparkling white with reflective ‘fire’ that shimmered in all the colors of the spectrum. The jewel sat in a silver setting shamed like a pair of elegant griffon claws holding the jewel and surrounded by stylized wings that crossed over the back of the jewel.

“It’s beautiful,” Rarity said almost tearfully, her eyes almost sparkling with admiration.

The beauty of the jewel brought smiles to everypony, indeed.

“Where was it?” Twilight asked at last.

“Maid’s bed,” Captain Mist said sternly. “Hidden among the springs of the wire mattress. She must have stolen it and hidden it there before the chambermaid arrived on the scene.”

“Can I have a closer look?” Quills said gently. 

Codex stared at her, curiously. She had been examining the dressing table, opening and closing the drawer where the jewel case had been. She had a very puzzling look on her face. 

She squeezed between Rarity and Fluttershy and adjusting her glasses, examined the jewel closely. “It’s lovely. I’ve wanted to have a look at ancient griffon metal-work for my next book and this is a stunning example,” she said and sat back down.

“I’m afraid, Your Majesty, that I’ll have to take it to the barracks. We must follow protocol for these situations. And we’ll need it for the charge. We will return it well before the Gala begins. It shouldn’t take very long,” Captain Mist said politely.

Cadence frowned a bit. “Is it really necessary?” she said.

“I’m afraid so. It’s just a formality,” he said kindly. “I served with your husband, Your Highness, and we always did everything by the book.”

Cadence uttered a small sigh. With her in Canterlot for the Gala, Shining Armor had to stay in the Crystal Empire to oversee reconstruction efforts and run the day-to-day administrative duties. She missed his calm strength at moments like these.

“Don’t worry about it, Cadence,” Twilight said comfortingly. “I think we’ll all feel safer if he did. If somepony tried to steal it, it’ll be better if it’s stored in the guardhouse for now.”

Cadence nodded reluctantly. “I still can’t believe Velvet is responsible. She’s such a good girl…”

“Sometimes the best of ‘em can deceive you, Your Highness,” Captain Mist said mildly, his expression softer. “We’ll hold her until the Princesses Celestia and Luna return.”

He took the Opal and with his two guards bowed deeply before departing. Twilight took charge. She put her hoof out and patted Cadence’s.

“It’ll be alright Cadence. I’m sure we’ll be able to speak to Velvet later and hear her side of the story,” she said kindly. “We still have the Gala to prepare, and only two days left now. Listen, please take it easy and rest. I’ll handle what’s left of the preparations.”

“No, it’s alright, Twilight,” the Princess said patiently. “Celestia and Luna are relying on us. I’ll be fine. I just need some fresh air. I’ll go to the gardens to inspect them.” 

Cadence looked very crestfallen despite her calm appearance. She had taken Velvet’s implication in the theft quite badly. Twilight seemed loath to leave her alone, but she still had a job to do. She ushered the others out of the room and closed the door gently behind her.

“Alright everypony. We need to get back to work,” she said but she lacked the enthusiasm she had before this had all happened. She pulled her list out of her saddlebags once more. “Rarity, take Fluttershy and go finish the Great Hall decorations. Dash should be able to come back in with your supplies now. I’m going to go finish directing the serving staff.”

“Alright dear,” Rarity said. 

“Twilight, are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked her, overflowing with concern. “That was so awful. I feel so sorry for poor Velvet.”

Twilight smiled weakly. “I think I’ll be okay. I still can’t believe this happened but we have to press on. We lost a lot of time over this and it’s almost nighttime. We have to get back on schedule somehow.”

Fluttershy sighed. “Alright, if you say so…”

Fluttershy and Rarity departed for the Great Hall and Codex was about to follow, but he realized Quills wasn’t following. He turned and saw her gently stop Twilight from walking away. 

“Twilight, wait a moment,” she said. “I hate to put a bee in your bonnet, but are you sure you’re completely satisfied with this resolution?”

Twilight, the list still hovering in front of her, stopped staring at it and slowly turned her gaze to the pegasus. “What do you mean, Quills?”

“Twilight, I’m just saying that this… is a bit too easy a solution,” she said reluctantly. “I’m not entirely convinced.”

Twilight frowned. “But we all saw the evidence. Peach Melba wouldn’t have had any time to steal the Opal. We found the Opal hidden in Midnight Velvet’s room. That’s where the evidence led us, as much as I dislike it,” she said helplessly.

“I know, dear,” Quills said patiently. “But are you satisfied with this?” she asked again.

Twilight stared, her jaw slack as if she wanted to answer but instead she sighed and drooped her ears. “…No, I’m not,” she admitted. “I don’t understand why Velvet would do such a thing. But what else can I do? I only have two days until Princess Celestia returns with the delegation.”

“Quills, what’s the matter?” Codex asked her. “Are you saying that the investigation was flawed?”

The bespectacled pegasus tilted her head to the side a little. “To be perfectly honest, I am. But it’s not anypony’s fault. Twilight, come with me to the Library for just a sec. Then you can decide what you want to do. Codex, you too.”

The two unicorns stared at each other for a moment then followed her all the way to the Library. Codex couldn’t help himself and stared at Quills almost accusingly. 

“Quills, are you sure it was the right thing to rattle Twilight up like this?” he said a little sharply. “You sound like you knew this was going to happen!”

Quills shook her head. “No, Codey, I wasn’t. Twilight, don’t get me wrong. I just worry that somepony is taking advantage of the general excitement to cause mischief. If I heard a rumor that the jewel was found, so have others. The Sun Opal is one of the most coveted and legendary treasures in history. A treasure like that doesn't just sit around quietly. That somepony stole it is hardly surprising.”

Twilight and Codex groaned together. “You’re talking like this is a story…” Codex griped.

Quills looked at him sternly. “Codex, I am a writer. Everything is a story to me. Besides, my daddy always told me that only fools are satisfied with the first answer given to them and he didn’t raise a foolish pony.” 

Codex blinked at his friend. She sounded… mad. “... I feel like I’m getting involved with a mystery,” he uttered.

“Then brace yourself, because we are,” Quills said.

> Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part 3


The Library was quiet when they went in and they found Spike awake again, tidying up Twilight’s workspace.

“Hi Twilight! Sorry I fell asleep earlier. I read your speech, it looks great—“ the little dragon started, but then saw the grave expressions of the ponies. “Whoa, what’s going on, did something happen?”

“The Sun Opal was stolen—“ Twilight started.

Spike wheeled around, holding scrolls. “What!?”

“But we recovered it, it’s fine,” she assured him. “Look, I’ll tell you about it later. Now—“

Quills interrupted her in turn. “Do you have a copy of Valeriana’s Historia Trottika in the Library?”

Twilight blinked at her. “Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? I know you wanted to look at some—“

“No, no, this has nothing to do with my research,” Quills said patiently. “It’s just that Valeriana, besides being a somewhat overlooked author of Trottikan pony history, is also one of the few solidly reliable sources of information about ancient griffon history because she traveled to their lands. And she happens to have actually seen the Griffon Sun Opal before its disappearance, and wrote about it in her Historia Trottika.”

Twilight blinked at her again but then a light-bulb seemed to go off in her head. “I…I think I see what you mean. Give me a moment.” 

Twilight dashed off among the shelves and then returned with a thick tome. She thudded it down on the table and started to flick through it. “Let’s see, her Historia is split into books – which one is the one about the Griffon Kingdom again…”

“Book IV,” Quills interjected.

“Oooh, right!” Twilight blurted. “You know this book pretty well, Quills.”

“Well, I am from Trottika,” she sighed. “Most foals will read this brick in school.”

“Oh, I have it!” Twilight blurted and read aloud from the book. “This is what Valeriana writes about the Sun Opal: ‘At length, my guide led me past a troop of griffon guards. These were the biggest, fiercest soldiers I had beheld; tall in stature, with steely eyes and talons that put the best pony steel to shame. These fearsome guardians serve the King and – as my guide explained – stand guard over the King’s treasury. I was conducted inside where I had the honor to behold the griffons’ most prized treasure, the emblem of the sovereign rulers. The Griffon Sun Opal is the most beauteous gem the world has seen; its shine defeats any jewel worn by pony or griffon. Its body is pale like the face of the moon and light flashes upon it, igniting fires of color on its surface. Every hue can be seen upon its face, but the red and yellow glow of the sun, which give this jewel its name, reign supreme upon its polished eye—'“ Twilight stopped with a gasp and her jaw dropped with a pained expression on her face.

“What?!” Codex blurted.

Quills just stared at them calmly. “You see what I’m worried about, now?”

Twilight nodded, the horrified expression fixed on her face. “The jewel we saw, the jewel found in Velvet’s bed – it’s a fake!!” she shrieked.

“A fake!?” Codex and Spike blurted together.

Quills stamped on Twilight’s tail, handily stopping her from bolting to the door. “Hold it,” she said.

Twilight slumped on the floor with a look of agony. “Why didn’t I notice!? The opal we looked at reflected all the colors equally; red and yellow weren’t dominating the spectrum! How could I be so blind!?”

“So it’s not the real Sun Opal!” Codex said, stunned. Then he bumped his head with his hoof. “Of course! There have been a dozen fake Opals over the years!”

Quills smiled patiently. “The captain is an excellent soldier who follows the book, I’m sure. Twilight here is a veritable genius, but neither of them, I’m afraid, knows all that much about jewels. And Rarity, for all her expertise on them, hasn’t read the Historia. Nopony is at fault. I consult the Historia Trottika on a frequent basis for inspiration for my books, so I’ve memorized a good deal of it – except dates, obviously, you know how horrid I am with numbers.”

Twilight jumped up. “Come on! We must tell Cadence and Captain Mist at once!”

“I think not,” Quills said placidly, still sitting on Twilight’s tail.

“But that poor maid—and Cadence!”

“Exactly. Twilight, you can’t afford to bumrush into this. The fate of a pony and the diplomatic peace of two nations hang in the balance,” Quills said with unusual calm. “Princess Cadence will have a better night believing all is well, and we can assure Midnight Velvet’s innocence by finding the real thief before the Gala. Alerting everything to the falsehood of the jewel may cause the thief to do something worse.”

“But won’t the thieves escape with the jewel in the meantime?!” Spike interjected.

“Think about it,” Quills carried on. “How do we know that the Opal that Cadence locked up carefully before going to dinner was the real one? How do we know that the true robbery hadn’t already taken place? No, the robbery is now known and the guards will be on high alert. If somepony tries to leave the palace as things are they’ll raise too many red flags.”

“Oh!” Twilight said, bewildered.

“Exactly,” Quills concluded. “We must start again. In fact, Twilight, I will insist that you get back to your work. I know you’re terribly worried about this, but it is imperative that the thieves think they’re safe.”

“But then who’ll investigate!?” Twilight said, getting up.

“I’ll do it,” Quills said calmly. “With Codex.”

“Huh!?” he blurted.

“Are you sure?” Twilight said dubiously.

“I am. I know this is a long shot, Twilight, but I really believe I have an inkling about what’s happened. If I can’t find the Opal before the Gala, I’ll take full responsibility,” she replied.

“Crazy Quills…” Twilight said hesitantly.

Codex squirmed a little and, blushing, looked at Twilight. “I-I think you should listen to her, Twilight,” he stammered.

Twilight looked at him curiously, then at her hooves and then shut her eyes and nodded sharply. “Alright. Do what you think is best, Quills. I’m going to try and keep this from coming down around our heads.”

“Just keep calm and get back to work as normal,” Quills advised. “Oh, and write me some permit or something that’ll let me go around the palace so the guards don’t have a hard time.”

“I can do that,” she said and grabbed a quill. “I’ll just write down that you’re on business from me with the preparation of the Gala.”

She scribbled down that note and handed it to Quills. “Well… good luck. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. Go and remember to keep. calm. Don’t breathe a word about the fake opal to anypony,” Quills warned. “I know you don’t like it, but it’s really for the best. The calmer we keep everypony the easier this will go.”

“Okay,” Twilight said and with a last, dubious look she left the Library.

“Are you sure about this?” Spike asked Quills, with a tone of disbelief.

“I am,” Quills said solemnly.

“What are we going to do first?” Codex asked.

Quills thought for a moment and then remarked: “I want to see the room next to Princess Cadence’s.”

Puzzled, Codex followed her out of the Library, leaving Spike to his chore of tidying Twilight’s workspace, and they headed back upstairs to the living quarters. The guards gave them no trouble and the door wasn’t locked. They entered the room, which was a large room similar to Cadence’s and unoccupied. Dust lay about rather noticeably. Codex, with a sensitive nose, immediately started to sneeze and shook his head with a cringe. He ran his hoof along one of the drawer chests and cringed at the layer of dust on them.

Quills mirrored his sentiment with a cringe, wandering straight to the door connecting the two rooms and inspected a rectangular mark in the dust on a table near the window. “My mom would have a fit to see this room,” she joked. “The service does leave a lot to be desired, which is surprising for the palace.”

She fell to staring out of the window and seemed to have fallen into one of her usual brainstorming sessions, when she could be gone from the world.

“Well?” Codex demanded a little impatiently. “What did you want to see in here?”

She turned around. “Sorry, I just had a thought. Tell me, how long do you think this room’s gone without a dusting?”

Codex sneezed again and rubbed his nose with his hoof. “Judging by the musty smell, maybe a week or two. Nopony’s bothered to open the windows much and refresh it, either. Why?”

“I’m just wondering,” she said vaguely and tested the bolt on the door connecting the room to Cadence’s. “Locked and bolted indeed. But I wonder…”

She paused thoughtfully again and suddenly turned and rummaged around in her saddlebag, which she always wore. Then she led the way out of the room. “Come with me,” she said quickly. “But let me do any talking.”

“I don’t understand, where are we going?” Codex said, puzzled.

She led the way out of the room, and then walked down to the end of the corridor, stopping outside of a small service room, where the chambermaids and some guards of the floor went for their breaks. Peach Melba appeared to be holding a small court there, relating her experience to an appreciative audience.

Finally she caught Quills standing at the door and stopped in the middle of a sentence. Quills smiled disarmingly at everypony.

“Hi. I’m sorry to bother you, Peach, but would it be possible for you to unlock Princess Cadence’s room for me? I seem to have dropped something in there,” she said innocently.

“Yeah, not a problem,” said the mare and got up willingly enough.

She accompanied Codex and Quills to Princess Cadence’s room and unlocked it with her passkey, from a ring of multiple keys, probably for rooms on different floors she was responsible for. As she was about to leave, Quills suddenly tripped over a fold in the room’s carpet and went tumbling onto the floor with a thud. Her saddlebag, not properly buttoned, spilled papers and writing implements everywhere. 

“Oof!”

Codex cringed. “Quills! Are you okay?”

The mare wobbled to her feet and immediately inspected her glasses. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that, I seem to have my head in the clouds today,” she said meekly and looked at the scattered papers. “Oh dear, I left my saddlebag open again. I’m so sorry for the mess.” 

All three started to pick up the various papers, parchments and pens.

“It’s alright, miss. Are you sure you’re alright? That was quite a thud you took,” Peach said kindly and levitated a piece of paper that she stepped on.

“Yup, don’t worry about me. I’m a bit on the clumsy side when I’m thinking about writing. Now let’s see, where’d I drop my lucky pen? Did I really drop it here?”she said, looking around after arranging her papers in her bag.

The three of them had a close look around the floor of Cadence’s room but could find nothing.

“Ah, darn it. It must have fallen out somewhere else,” Quills said with a whine. “Thank you anyway, Peach, that was awfully kind of you after what happened earlier.”

Peach Melba locked the door after they got out. “Ah don’t mention it, miss. Say, I’m quite a fan, d’you mind if I bring you a book to sign for me?”

Quills smiled at her. “Certainly. I’m kind of busy helping Twilight Sparkle with the Gala right now. When it's all done, I’ll be happy to sign your book. Where can I find the guards who patrol this hallway? I want to ask them to keep an eye out for my pen; I’m rather hoping I lost it somewhere here.”

“Oh down the hall miss, there’s their post. They take turns patrolling the hallway every hour.”

“Thank you. Come on, Codex,” Quills said and they watched the peach mare trot off.

Codex was peering at Quills curiously while they started down the hallway to the guards’ normal post by the stairs. “You tripped on purpose,” he said accusingly.

Quills laughed. “The upside of falling over all the time in my foalhood is that I know exactly how to flop when I have to,” she cackled. “Yes, I did. And I’ll do it again so act surprised.” 

He looked at her irritably. “Is there a point to this?”

“There is, but I’ll explain in a moment. Let me enjoy the acting for now.”

Just as they approached the post where the two white pegasi stood guard by the stairs, Quills called out to them and moved forward.

“Excuse me, sirs, I was wondering—gah!!” 

True to her warning, Quills seemed to trip over her hooves and slammed flat on the floor, again spilling the contents of her saddlebag everywhere in the hallway. Codex did his best to act surprised and with the guards joined in helping her get up and pick up her papers and writing materials again.

“Is this part of your next book, m’am?” one of them asked, staring at a page of notes.

“Hey, focus,” the other one scolded, gesturing him aside, in order to pick up a piece of paper from under his hoof.

“Ahaha, I’m sorry boys, but I can’t say. I can’t have spoilers getting out so soon,” Quills chuckled. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you to keep an eye out for a pink pen, could you? I may have dropped it in this hallway but I haven’t got time to search. Would that be alright?”

“It’s not a bother, m’am,” one of them said, a tall, dashing colt with blue eyes.

“Great, thank you very much,” Quills beamed at them. “Say, that was an awful little business with the Opal, wasn’t it? Good thing it got resolved quickly.”

“Certainly, m’am,” one of them commented. “Captain Grey Mist had the situation under control.”

“Indeed. Well, I’ve kept you long enough. Thanks again, gents. Come on Codex! To the Library, we’ve got work to do!”

Quills herded Codex downstairs and eventually into the Library. Hurriedly, she grabbed a piece of paper and a quill and frantically wrote on it.

“Okay, what the hay just happened?” Codex asked, sharing a puzzled look with Spike.

“Did you find anything?” the little dragon asked.

“Yes. And in fact, I have a job for you, Spike,” Quills said with a grin and carefully pulled three sheets of paper from her saddlebag, rolled them together with the paper she’d written on and tied them off with a ribbon she pulled from her saddlebag. “I want you to take this to Sunny. He’s helping Applejack and Pinkie Pie with the catering. He’ll know what to do. Don’t wait, just come straight back. Understood?”

“Uh, yeah,” Spike said hesitantly. “But what is it?”

“Let’s just say it’ll either solve this case or bury us all,” Quills said bluntly. “Spike, trust me, I need you to be quick with this. Twilight’s depending on it. Now get going. I’ll explain later,” she added and gave him a little push with her head. 

Spike hurried out of the library as fast as his small legs could carry him.

“Please explain to me what just happened,” Codex groaned.

Quills threw herself on a sitting pillow and chuckled. “Oh Codex, I will, but you’ll start grumbling that I made you look silly. I want to hear your thoughts on this, first.”

Codex squinted at her. “You’re making me feel silly right now,” he said with a surly frown. “I get the feeling you’ve somehow already solved this and that’s pretty irritating.”

“Only because you’ve been carried along the excitement and haven’t thought it through,” Quills said. “You saw everything I did but you haven’t put together the pieces. I’m still waiting for the last piece of this puzzle but I think my theory will bear results.”

Codex plopped down on a cushion himself and frowned with thought. “I don’t think I can see what you’re driving at.”

Quills scratched her front leg with her other hoof and suddenly showed him her front leg. “Here, another piece for you – see this white powder on my coat? You noticed me inspecting Princess Cadence’s dressing table earlier, right?”

Codex stared at the smudge of white powder on Quills’ dark purple coat. “I saw you hovering over it, what did you actually do?”

“I opened the drawer where the Opal’s case was. Codex, really; you’re a very smart colt but you sometimes just don’t use your eyeballs,” she sighed. “I opened the drawer with my hooves and checked out the underside. I got the powder on me then.”

“But what is it?” Codex asked and bent closer to sniff it. “Huh, it smells almost sweet. I think it’s talcum.”

“Because it is. It’s also called chalk of Prance by cabinet-makers. It makes drawers run smoothly.”

“That’s all? I thought you were driving up to something exciting,” Codex said and sulked.

“You and your sense of drama,” Quills chuckled. “I’ll give you one more hint. Remember what I said about the dust in the room and the table next to the connecting door.”

“You said something about your mother – your mum’s a neat-freak, isn’t she?”

“That’s putting it very lightly,” she laughed. “If my mom saw a dust void like that in my room she’d know I’d been lazy with the cleaning and chase me down with a broom.”

“Dust void…” Codex repeated and cocked his head. 

Quills laughed and stood up. “Well then, I think I’m going to let you stew over it. Seriously, think about it. You’ll get what I mean. I’m going to go beg Twilight to let us crash at the Palace tonight because I want to see the resolution to this. You wait here for Spike, I’m sure he’ll want to hear about the whole thing.”

Quills trotted out of the Library, leaving Codex on his cushion with a sour look and he frowned in thought. Sometimes Quills was truly very irritating and he never felt that more than right then as he mulled over what he’d seen and heard today, comparing it to what Quills had done and then suddenly, he had a light-bulb moment. He started, sat straight and his jaw dropped.

“Oh!! Of course!!” he blurted and then laughed, half with derision and half with affection. “Oh, I am silly! I see how it happened!”

> Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part 4


In the end, the Grand Griffon Gala went off without a hitch. The griffon delegation was delighted with the celebration and festivities. Everypony agreed that Twilight’s speech was both informative and charming (and fortunately, to the point). The gleaming Griffon Sun Opal lived up to its reputation and enchanted every one who set eyes on it. It was officially returned to the Griffon Kingdom in a small but solemn ceremony towards the end of the Gala, just before the closing dinner party was served.

Twilight was the probably the most pleased pony that evening, happily sandwiched between her friends at a big round table with Quills, Codex and Sunny, who looked very pleased with himself as everyone wolfed down the menu he helped prepare.

“Sweetie, the mustard-honey sauce is divine,” Quills squeaked between mouthfulls of salad. “I want a third helping!”

Sunny, a very large and dapper, blue unicorn stallion with yellow and brown mane and tail nodded sagely. “See, that’s why I told you to double up on the extra portions,” he grinned to Applejack.

“Hold it, hold it,” Applejack said with a confused expression. “Quills, ah still don’t quite git it. How in tarnation didja figure out it was that palace maid an’ the guard? Run that bah me again, will’ya?”

“I wanna hear it again too!” Pinkie squealed and waved around the little Griffon Kingdom flag she had stuck to her tail. “I can’t believe I missed all that excitement! It’s almost as great as the party!!”

“I missed everything too!!” Rainbow Dash complained. “I was stuck shopping for thread, drowning in lint and cotton dust!”

“But you must admit that the Great Hall looks beautiful and it’s all thanks to you,” Fluttershy said to her sweetly.

“…It does,” Dash admitted.

“What did happen to those two scoundrels after all?” Rarity asked, elegantly lifting a canapé of spiced avocado mousse. 

Quills, with her mouth too full to speak, looked at Codex a little helplessly and yelped something.

Codex blushed. “Oh, okay. I guess I’ll tell it again.”

He cleared his throat a little bit. “The chambermaid and the guard were arrested by the royal guard and Captain Grey Mist, as soon as Sunny arrived with his friend, Cloud Runner, and evidence—“

“What evidence?” Applejack insisted.

“Hoofprint results that proved that Peach Melba and the guard, Lone Banner, weren’t who they claimed they were,” Twilight grinned over her glass of Sweet Apple cider. 

“I’ll get to that,” Codex said awkwardly. “I feel kind of stupid that I didn’t pick up on it sooner myself, what with Quills’ hint about the drawer and the dust void.”

Quills giggled over her plate and then started coughing because she choked on her food, prompting Sunny to lift a big hoof and pat her on the back until she could breathe.

“What ‘bout the drawer an’ the dust thingamajig?” Applejack insisted.

“Someone had tampered with Cadence’s dressing table drawer,” Twilight jumped in before Codex could explain. “They applied chalk of Prance to the drawer to make it slide in and out without any noise.”

“Oh! An’ the only pony who could’a done that was the chambermaid, right?” Applejack said, realization hitting her.

“Exactly,” Codex said sagely. “The plan was very clever. It didn’t ‘leap to the eye’ immediately – 

Pinkie giggled. “Ooh, but it did!! It leaped to Quills’ eye!! Even though her glasses! She’s so smart!”

Quills, who had again attacked her food with relish, just smiled happily, chewing. 

Codex, irritated at the interruptions, sulked. “Aw come on, let me tell it! See, this is how it was done. In the two weeks leading up to the Gala, the maid, Peach Melba and the guard, Lone Banner, heard about the discovery of the Griffon Sun Opal and the plan to present it at the Grand Griffon Gala. Taking advantage of their positions, they hatched a plan. Banner was waiting in the empty room next door, using his hourly patrol of the hallway to slip in it unnoticed. The moment Midnight Velvet leaves the room, quick as a flash Peach whips open the drawer and takes out the jewel case. She slips back the bolt of the connecting door and passes the jewel case through the door. The action is concluded before Velvet got back to her sewing and is none the wiser. At his leisure, Banner opens it with the duplicate key—“ 

“Oh one moment,” Rarity interrupted. “I apologize for interrupting, but do remind me, where did he get the duplicate key?”

“Yeah! I was wondering about that myself!” Dash said irritably. “I mean, I thought the Opal was supposed to be secure, right?! Princess Cadence had the only key!” 

Quills swallowed quite audibly. “Oh that was the easiest bit of the process,” she explained. “The royal guard provided Cadence with the secure box. So, naturally, Banner duplicated the key before the box and key were delivered. Duplicating keys is very easy if you know how and as it turns out, Banner and Peach had more than enough experience.”

Codex nodded. “Yep. So he just took the Opal out at his leisure and just waited. Velvet left the room a second time for her scissors and wham! Like a flash the box is again passed through the connecting door and replaced in the drawer. Banner then bolts his side of the door and leaves the room to resume his patrol. When the robbery is uncovered, nopony even thinks that the Opal might be on a guard – and the entire time the hullabaloo is happening, Lone Banner is standing at his post, steadfast and collected as every royal guard ought to be.”

“So Peach Melba’s indignation and demand to be searched?” Rarity asked. “That was a charade, right?”

“Absolutely,” Twilight said and frowned. “And a very good one, too. She made a big deal out of it to sell her part and she almost got away with it. She left the room without a spot of suspicion hanging over her. And she had already hidden the imitation jewel in poor Velvet’s bed – she probably hid it there the very morning Velvet came to the Palace. As a maid, she had passkeys to all the rooms on that floor. They were going to implicate her from the start. It was ingenious but awful!” she snorted, full of derision.

Her sentiment was shared by everypony at the table – even Fluttershy bristled gently with indignation and frowned but the result was more adorable than righteously angry. 

“Such a wretched idea! Poor Midnight Velvet!” she murmured. “Princess Cadence was so relieved that she really was innocent after all.”

“Yeah!” Dash said and tapped the table with her hoof. “They were going to send Velvet to jail or worse over a stupid jewel!”

“Dash, you can’t call the jewel stupid, it’s not like it was the jewel’s fault…” 

“You know what I mean, Twilight!”

“So what exactly was in the roll of papers you had me run to Sunny?” Spike asked, finally polishing off a small mound of jewel pastries.

“Haha, those were my secret weapon,” Quills giggled and sipped her rum cola. “Poor Codex was so confused when I flopped on the floor twice within a few minutes—ahahaha—sorry—ahahaha—scattering papers everywhere—hahahaha!! Oh I’m so sorry, I just know I looked like a right dork, pancaked on the floor like that!”

“To be fair, you did look very ridiculous, tripping over nothing,” Codex said with a wry smile. “I worried about your sanity for a moment there.”

Quills just laughed harder.

“But it was really clever of you,” Codex admitted. “You purposefully dropped all those papers and when Peach and Banner both helped pick the papers up, you slipped paper under their hooves and got their hoofprints without them knowing.”

“Oooh, I get it!” Spike said happily. “You wrote that note telling Sunny what the papers were and sent me to take them to him so the thieves wouldn’t suspect anything if you left. I see!”

Quills nodded and then leaned against Sunny. “Exactly. And you did a great job. Sunny here has got a friend in the Royal Guard, Cloud Runner, who’s a terribly smart fellow and who I think really should get a promotion to the Special Investigative Unit—“

“Don’t go off topic!” Dash reminded her.

“Yes, yes, sorry,” Quills apologized. 

“The note asked me to take the hoofprint papers to Runner and get him to run them against the hoofprint database that Canterlot Royal Guard keeps of known scoundrels,” Sunny said merrily. “Just like Quills thought, the hoofprints matched those of two known jewel-thieves. They’ve been wanted for quite some time.”

Quills nodded. “Mm-hmm. Captain Mist will no doubt grill them thoroughly and find out just when they entered service in the Palace and what they were after.”

“Clever pair,” Sunny said and sipped some cider. “But I guess they went after too big a fish this time.”

“What drives me crazy is that they could’ve gotten away with it!” Twilight said indignantly. “If Quills hadn’t prompted me to re-read that Historia Trottika paragraph about the Opal, the thieves would’ve gotten away, Velvet would’ve been wrongfully accused and the griffons would’ve found out that their opal was fake and it would’ve caused a diplomatic incident between the Griffon Kingdom and Equestria!”

Fluttershy put her hoof out and gently squeezed Twilight’s side. “Calm down Twilight, you’re starting to shout.”

Twilight realized she was indeed almost shouting and shrank down with an awkward smile. “Sorry.”

“Oh but you’re absolutely right,” Quills said with a nod. “They were absolutely wicked, those two; I hope Princess Celestia fires them into the sun or something.”

“Oh, oh, OH! I have a question!!” Pinkie shouted, holding up her hoof. “When did you think it was the two of them?”

“I had a sneaking feeling that the chambermaid might’ve been involved,” Quills explained, “because she was just in too good a position to get things done. I knew for sure when I went into the other room. It was very clever of them to take up positions as a guard and maid, but she evidently shirked her work. The empty room was tidy but she hadn’t bothered to dust – as Codex’s poor nose found out, judging from all that sneezing.” 

“It was awful,” Codex groaned. “But it was that dust void that set you on the right path, wasn’t it? That’s where Banner put down the jewel case to unlock it, on the table next to the connecting door, right? It left a mark in the dust.”

“Precisely. That’s exactly when I knew. I fixed on the guard because who else would have the freedom to walk around halls that should be empty and not rouse suspicion? And who else could get a duplicate key so easily?” Quills shrugged. “I just ran through the options and alighted on the most logical ones. Then I just had to confirm my suspicions.”

“But why did you let Twilight take all the credit?” Rarity asked. “I think it was rather unfair for you, Quills, darling.”

“Yeah, I feel rather bad to take credit for your work, Quills,” Twilight said with a small smile. 

Quills waved her hoof. “Don’t fret on it, please. I have enough to deal with, being an author. My book fans exhaust me, bless them. I don’t need any more attention than I can manage!” she said with a stiff smile. “Besides, Cadence asked you to investigate. You collected the important clues, I just filled in the gaps. It’s not like I’ll have to play investigator again, after all. I’m just happy with the endless cola refills I get tonight—Oh, waiter! One more rum cola, please!”

Twilight beamed at her and raised her glass. “Well, I for one want to toast you, Quills and Codex and Sunny. You saved the day for me.”

Everypony raised their glasses and toasted together. “CHEERS!”