I will likely make a second entry today after we arrive at the castle and meet with my brother and sister-in-law, but I have a spare hour or two and some important things to remember. Rarity convinced us to check in for half a day at a local hotel (we have a big suite together) so we can shower and make ourselves presentable (I took mine first). Apparently, the Royals already know we're coming, because Rarity was excited and shipped some earrings in a letter to Princess Cadance by Pony Express. I guess Rarity didn't think we wanted our visit to be a surprise, but that's probably for the best as it would raise too many questions. Nobody was there to greet us at the station because Rarity intentionally left out the arrival time so we could fix ourselves up. I gotta hoof it to her, Rarity is one mare who really knows how to plan ahead.

I guess I should mention yet more probably-unimportant details just to be on the safe side, so here's how the ride back went: we were asleep. More accurately, Rarity and Fluttershy slept in two adjacent seats, which Pinkie Pie immediately dubbed "Rarishy", fortunately not within hearing range of Rarishy, er I mean... arrggggh fine. "Rarishy", even though they're not coltfriend and fillyfriend (I can't even see how that would make any rational sense, plus they're best friends for crying out loud!) and Pinkie Pie has to make neonyms of absolutely everything. They did lie down against each other, and er, this sounds wrong, but "cuddled" in some sense. Applejack seemed a lot less surprised/disturbed by this than Rainbow Dash and I. Spike just thought it was cute, but obviously he's still a little kid and doesn't know any better. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing some obvious social cues, yet again. I admit I don't understand much about relationships, but what's to understand? A mare dates a stallion, they get married, they make foals, and they live in a castle—easy as arithmetic. It's definitely not: a mare conspires with a princess, gropes several other mares to weird them out, another mare chops off her freaking horn, everypony acts crazy, and then you end up stranded (more later) in a city-state for several days. I never read that in a storybook. (This journal is not a storybook.)

I'm sorry, journal. I have to vent because none of this makes sense. Ugh.

Anyway, it was a good thing that Team Weirdo paired off (I named that one, and Pinkie Pie loved it). Applejack and Rainbow Dash slept adjacent, which worked out fine. Pinkie Pie slept on the floor because of her shoes. Rarity said she could just take them off, but Pinkie was out like a light shortly after she got comfortable. This doesn't surprise me, though. I'm pretty sure I've seen that mare sleep standing on her head at least once (this is not an exaggeration). Oh, and Rarity actually asked Spike if he wanted to sleep next to her and Fluttershy, and I shot her a look of WHAT? harsh enough for her to immediately back down on the offer. Poor Spike. Weird is weird, but this isn't right. I'm talking to Rarity about the Spike stuff tonight, pony-to-pony.

Okay, somehow we all arrived in one piece. After we disembarked I asked the herd to give me a moment, and went into the station to check the passenger manifests. Apparently, two of them have gone missing: Day 20 and Day 21. The officers here were stunned; they didn't know the manifests were missing until I requested them. I was far less surprised, but pleased whoever removed them didn't have the foresight to realize it didn't matter. Day 22 through Day 28 were available, and this plus what I've already deduced cinches the timeline nice and tight (I'll get there in a moment). Checking the entry log, Cadence had signed herself in to view the manifests, just as she'd reported, so that part of her story checks out. But here's the kicker: she signed in twice: once on Day 23, and then again on Day 24. I had to sign in today, but clearly I'm playing games with somepony who assumes I'm poking my muzzle around so I don't mind leaving this particular breadcrumb.

Let's get to the numbers. Fluttershy doesn't appear on any of the manifests (except for the day she left), so she must have arrived here on Day 21. This makes very little sense to me. I can reconcile Fluttershy being in Canterlot for only half a day (that's long enough to cause confusion with Spitfire), but it would also mean that Fluttershy was in the Crystal Kingdom city-state for three whole days before meeting with Cadance! This does open the possibility that my brother actually did put Fluttershy up in the castle, but forgot to tell the Princess, and Fluttershy's personal business with Cadance was something she waited three whole days to bring up (or even just say "hello"). Unfortunately, what remains is a checklist of three bizarre possibilities, none of which I like:

* Fluttershy was secretly in the Crystal Empire for three days, doing... what?

* Cadance and Fluttershy are both lying

* Shining Armor and Fluttershy are both lying

These aren't mutually exclusive: all of them could be true, but that seems implausibly complicated. Given Luna's warning, I must conclude that the most likely theory at this time is that Fluttershy and Cadance have been conspiring for some unknown reason, and my brother is probably unaware (and potentially in danger).

And there's yet another wrinkle. As I was leaving the station, ponies were placing signs up saying that all trains up through the next two days (possibly more) are cancelled due to incoming weather, except for the one that just left the station for Canterlot. The weather doesn't look that bad right now, but it's hard to tell up here (it can turn nasty in a hoofbeat). This couldn't be Cadance's doing, because she didn't know when we were due to arrive. Unless maybe she didn't want us to arrive at all? What purpose would be served by buying a few extra days? My bet's on coincidence this time. If I start to see conspiracy everywhere I'll lose track of the bigger picture. We'll know something's up if they're surprised to see us.

So now we're in the suite, waiting for everypony to get ready. It's kind of boring but at least I had time to write this. Oh, when Pinkie Pie took off her shoes to shower (which Rarity said was unnecessary, but who designs shoes for the shower?!), she literally pronked into the ceiling. She's fine (fortunately she only hit her head, ha-ha) but when she walks without the shoes now she has these weird, really high goosesteps that go straight up, like she's dancing or tiptoeing weirdly or has a full bladder or something. I'd guess that behavior will persist for least a few hours after the boots come off, based on what I know of muscle memory conditioning (both CNS via the cerebellum, and peripheral via the spinal cord and musculature, to be precise). Actually, I think I've seen this kind of thing before at a play in Manehattan when I was very young. Maybe Rarity designed them as training shoes for dance? That's a great idea. It's super-duper flouncy-looking when Pinkie walks, so I'm sure Applejack has already changed her mind about using them for part of a workout routine. Too bad, really. Rarity sounded so excited about sticking AJ in a quad.

I had a chance to catch up on things with Applejack and Rainbow Dash while everypony else was occupied. I didn't include Pinkie because she's kind of out of it at the moment, probably from the shoes. I guess it's best if she continues wearing them until we get back home, and then she can gad about in an extremely silly manner for a few hours or days or however long it lasts. (Ponyville is unlikely to notice.)

I told only Dash, AJ, and Spike about the manifest, but it's not critical right now. Applejack had nothing new to add, but Rainbow Dash is 98% certain (probably significantly less, as she exaggerates a lot) that Fluttershy is hiding something under her wings, so there's some new weirdness to add to the top of the pile. Fluttershy took extra long in the bath and locked the door so her wings were a little fluffy when she came out, but she never stretched them anywhere I could see them. From personal experience, wings are the hardest place on a pony to hide something, so I can't imagine why. Still, I think Rainbow Dash might be onto something. She wanted to press Fluttershy on the topic right now, but I told her to wait. It's far too early to go all-in when so many ponies are still actively hiding the truth.