We just switched trains at Canterlot and are headed to the Crystal Kingdom. There's nothing quite so annoying as being awoken during travel, but taking the redeye was the right choice: adventure never sleeps. Currently I'm the only one still awake, because I need to write down a tiny but essential clue revealed just now by happenstance.

It happened during the switchover. We were unceremoniously awoken by the conductor, groggily grabbed our bags, and disembarked. There wasn't a lot of conversation apart from Rainbow Dash saying that Princess Celestia should ban trains at night or something. (Aside: Pinkie Pie can go from sleeping like a log to hyper-alert and back again in a flash. I need to do a sleep experiment with her someday.)

Anyway, while we were transferring between trains, a lot of people started staring at us. When Pinkie Pie walks in those shoes it sounds like a herd of metal monsters falling down several flights of stairs (CLANG CLANG-CLANG CLANG-CLANG). It's pretty hard not to laugh the first time you hear it. I'm can't imagine what Rarity was thinking on this one, but Pinkie Pie (or Applejack)'s hooves are the only way to carry the weights there and back at this point so they might as well be on her feet. Anyway, we drew a lot of odd looks, and then someone familiar trotted over to our herd. It was Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash tried her best to wake up and look cool, and we stopped to talk very briefly.

"Well hay, if it isn't Princess Twilight Sparkle's entourage!" (I blushed.)

"A-hem," said Rainbow Dash. "I think you mean Rainbow Dash's taunter, um, ontro, kodge, something. Sorry. I'm asleep. I'm sleeping now."

"It's always nice to see you, Spitfire," I said, proud to have actually remembered her name this time. "Unfortunately we're switching trains at the moment, so we don't have much time to catch up."

"Oh, that's cool. Makes sense, though. I didn't expect to see Fluttershy back in Canterlot so soon, so I guess it's not your final destination this time around. I'll see you ponies later," said Spitfire, and wing-waved. Fluttershy waved back, and then nervously started pushing us toward the next train, so we all picked up the pace. (Fortunately, Fluttershy looks and smells normal again, and Spike informed me her house is almost fixed up inside.)

Immediately something clicked. Let's walk through the math. Between our Winter holiday and this trip, Fluttershy only traveled outside of the Ponyville area a single time: when she went to visit Princess Cadance. Spitfire implied she thought Fluttershy was in Canterlot recently, which means it must have occurred when she came through Canterlot on the way to the Crystal Kingdom. Fluttershy sent several postcards to us from the Crystal Kingdom, but the first one arrived three or four days after she had supposedly arrived. Princess Cadance thought Fluttershy hadn't arrived for the first two days or so. That means at least one of the following possibilities from this checklist must be true:

* Spitfire thinks last Winter is "so soon" for a trip to Canterlot

* Spitfire mistook Canterlot for Fluttershy's final destination

* Fluttershy is lying about her trip: she spent the first two days in Canterlot

* There are multiple Fluttershies (Fluttershys? Fluttershy's?)

I'm going to eliminate option four because if things are that complicated I have no hope of figuring them out at the present time. I find the first option very unlikely, as Spitfire travels with jet setters. The second option doesn't make sense because Fluttershy's travel itinerary had no layover (just like today) and she never mentioned Canterlot when discussing her trip. I'm afraid we're looking at possibility three, but that raises an even more disturbing checklist of possibilities, at least one of which must also be true:

* Cadance lied to cover up for Fluttershy, after Fluttershy finally arrived

* Shining Armor lied to his wife to cover up for Fluttershy

* Shining Armor lied to his wife to save face for being out of the loop, or something

* Cadance exaggerated Fluttershy's stay (unlikely; she's a stickler for details)

* Shining Armor thought Fluttershy was staying at the castle when she wasn't

* Fluttershy forged Cadance's handwriting, royal seal, and signature (okay this is ridiculous)

I cannot imagine my brother lying to Cadance at all, nor can I think of a reason why he might have believed there was a guest in the castle when there wasn't. So I'm fairly certain Cadance lied to me about Fluttershy being at the castle the whole time. But the weird thing? Cadance switched stories within a very narrow window. Based on what I know of travel times for mail postmarked from the Crystal Kingdom, Cadance must have changed her mind within the space of a single day, maybe twenty hours at most. But she wouldn't send something Pony Express unless she knew it had a good chance to get here in time, so let's say, fourteen hours as a soft upper bound.

Something else is nagging at me, but I'm too tired to bring it into focus. I'll need to look through the passenger manifests once we arrive.