Flurry Heart and Sunlight Dawn ran into the Castle of Friendship, determined to crack the case. They dashed down the hall and into Sunlight's room, shutting and locking the door as they went. Flurry took the piece of string they found in the tree at Applejack's farm and set it on Sunlight's desk. Then she had a horrifying realization. "Sunlight!" She said suddenly, "we don't have anything to compare this to! We don't even know if it came from a cloak!"

"But we don't know that it didn't come from a cloak, either," Sunlight pointed out. Flurry took a look at the string. Sunlight had a good point. It could be from a cloak, but then again, it could be from some other type of outerwear or it could simply be a stray string that had bent to the will of the wind and ended up in the tree.

Flurry sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, though, we need something to compare this with."

Sunlight suddenly lit up. "My Mom keeps a book on cloaks in her library! It has pictures in it! Maybe we can use it to find some answers!"

Flurry grinned at her cousin and Sunlight quickly teleported them from her room to the castle library. She always loved to come here and read. The room had recently been outfitted with several noise cancellation devices. It helped the concentration of the reader tremendously. Sunlight had been working her way through Ponyville's History, and she had been absorbing information at an astonishing pace. The newer, quieter library made it much easier for her to do so.

She also knew the library inside and out and she quickly ran up to one of the shelves. They were organized alphabetically, and she was looking for a work titled "Cloaks and You." So she scanned through the "C" section of the library. Her small eyes darted back and forth, seeking out the tome for which they had come.

Suddenly, she saw it. "Yes!" She said out loud as she used her magic to float the book down and open it. "This could be the key to busting this case wide open!" Flurry said, "come on!"

They took the book and quickly teleported back to Sunlight's room. Flurry opened it to a section featuring full color photographs of cloaks and their strings. Flurry turned to Sunlight and gave her a puzzled look. "Sunlight…why does your mother have a book about cloaks?"

"Because she's my Mommy," Sunlight said, "she has books on every subject there is. Why do you ask?" Suddenly, Sunlight gasped. "You're implicating her in the cloak caper, aren't you?! Admit it!"

"I'm not implicating anypony," Flurry said defensively, "it was a simple question."

"Of all the rotten, lowdown things," Sunlight said, "trying to put my mother in as the perp on this case!"

"Will you shut up?!" Flurry asked angrily, "I'm trying to read!"

"Oh, sure. You're 'trying to read.' How would you like it if I implicated YOUR mother?!"

"First of all, my Mom is back in The Crystal Empire. She's miles from here. Secondly, I did NOT implicate Auntie Twily! She has no motive, no means, no nothing! I just asked why she had a book on cloaks. Not everypony has a book on cloaks in their personal collection! It's just kind of odd!"

Sunlight realized that her cousin was right. Flurry would never put Twilight in as a suspect in this case. Twilight was the Princess of Friendship and she loved her friends more than life itself. She had never been seriously hurt by any of them, and Aunt Starlight had once said that Twilight couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with her magic blast.

"I'm sorry I accused you, Flurry," Sunlight said, "I'm just so fidgety right now!"

"It's OK, Sunlight," Flurry said, "it just hurts to have you jump to those kinds of conclusions."

Sunlight stepped over and embraced Flurry. The two fillies stayed with each other for a few seconds before breaking apart. "We'll always be friends, right?" Sunlight asked honestly. Flurry nodded. "Definitely," she said as she smiled, "now, let's find out where this string came from."

They scanned through the book on cloaks until they came to a certain model. It was grey, with a string count of 5,000. It looked light enough to wear comfortably on a hot, summer day, yet heavy enough to brave the colder winter nights. "The perfect cloak…" Sunlight said softly. Flurry nodded. "Yeah, but is it the right one? Get me the string."

So Sunlight used her magic to bring the string to them. She set it down beside the book and Flurry took a long, hard look at it. "Wait a minute!" Sunlight suddenly squeaked, "I just learned a spell that can magnify things that are tiny. I can use it to blow up this string just a little bit."

"Alright," Flurry said, "do it."

So Sunlight fired a small blast at the string and made it as big as the book. "Good job, Sunlight!" Flurry said, "but we still have a problem."

"What's that?"

"The individual strings on this are tiny."

"No problem," Sunlight said, "I know another spell." She used her magic to blast the picture and, suddenly, an exact copy of that cloak was sitting in the room with them. Flurry's mouth fell open and she looked at Sunlight. "Three-Dimensional Reimaging Spell," was all Sunlight said.

Flurry smiled and gave Sunlight a hug. "Have I ever told you how incredible you are?" She asked. Sunlight smiled back and said, "a few times." Then the two of them stepped forward and Flurry put a hoof on the cloak. "I can't believe it," she said, "but it's completely exact! It matches the description in the book to a T! Now, let's compare the string."

So Sunlight tossed the bigger string to Flurry, who held it up to the cloak. It was difficult to tell, but she thought they might have a match. "Sunlight, I think we've struck gold with this one! Come and see what you think."

Sunlight walked over and studied the string and the cloak with great care. "Yeah…I think you're right!" She said, "they do look remarkably similar. They're both grey, and the string length looks to be completely exact. But who in town do we know that sells these kinds of cloaks?" They both though for a moment before yelling in unison, "RARITY!"

"Come on!" Flurry said, "we've gotta get to Rarity's shop before she closes for the day."

"We'll have to hurry," Sunlight said, pointing to the clock in her room, "it's 7:25 and she closes at 7:30."

"Well, then, come on! Grab onto me! I'll teleport us there!"

So Sunlight did so and Flurry blasted them into Rarity's shop. They walked up to the counter and saw the surprised unicorn. They noticed that she was dressed in black from head to hoof. "Uh, hi, Rarity," Sunlight said, "what's with the black?" Then she noticed that there were two framed photos of Pinkie and Applejack sitting there. Both had black ribbons on them.

"This is my mourning outfit," Rarity said. Both fillies could tell she had been crying extensively. Her eyes were red and puffy and they noticed that her coat was matted where tears had made their way down. "But, you needn't worry about my sadness," she said, "what can I do for you?"

"Rarity," Flurry said, "we're sorry to barge in this close to closing time, but we need your help identifying who might have purchased a certain cloak."

"A cloak? Darling, cloaks are out of season right now. It's summer!"

"We know, but this particular cloak is one that can be worn in both summer and winter."

"Wait…is the cloak grey?"

"Yeah…how'd you know?"

"Because I've sold one cloak in the past five months. The pony who purchased it had a mysterious air about her. She didn't speak hardly at all, and she paid for the cloak in straight bits. She didn't use any other method of payment. No credit, no check, no anything. Just bits!"

"You sound surprised?"

"Well that's because I am surprised, darling! That cloak was 750 bits! Those models don't come cheap."

"Don't you normally sell your own merchandise here? Why were you carrying another brand?"

"Well…the cloaks I made didn't really sell that well, so I had to outsource that particular section to somepony else. It's just business, darling."

"Do you remember what this particular pony looked like?"

"Well…she looked like…well, like that pony there."

Rarity pointed with her hoof to a cloaked figure at the edge of the store, who was wearing the same cloak Sunlight and Flurry had seen in the book. They walked over to her and sat down. "Excuse me, ma'am," Sunlight said respectfully, "I'm Princess Sunlight Dawn and this is Princess Flurry Heart of The Crystal Empire. We'd like to ask you a couple of questions."

Suddenly, the cloaked figure dumped a pile of nearby measuring tape on them and darted from the store. "Oh, it's on!" Sunlight squeaked defiantly. She and Flurry dashed from the boutique and down the street, in hot pursuit of the cloaked pony.