Art Class

That night, there was a rainstorm, the result of a last-minute scheduling by the Weather Squad. The water poured down, assailing the rooftops of Ponyville, while a cold wind blew. The combination of these two factors meant that nopony went outside.

Nopony except a single pegasus, who struggled through the foul weather. He mustn't fail in his mission: he knew that he would be punished if he failed to deliver his package.

But he hadn't expected this rain and wind. He was used to flying at night, using the stars and other landmarks to navigate. But the dark clouds and freezing water being blown into his face made it nearly impossible for him to see. He had to rely solely on his sense of direction. He knew where the drop-off point was: he just had to get there. Without freezing to death.

Of course, knowing his bosses, that would probably be preferable to failing his mission.

There! Down by that oak tree! He swooped out of the sky and landed, walking around to the hidden bolthole underneath the tangled roots. Finally! He reached into his saddlebag for the package.

All he felt, however, was a hole in the bag. His eyes widened as his hoof thrashed within the saddlebag, searching desperately. He couldn't have lost it! He knew he had it when he left Cloudsdale! It must have fallen out!

He took a breath. Okay. No need to panic. They'd planned for this. He just needed to send out the emergency signal. Fortunately, he still had the stick of waterproof chalk. He quickly flew to the city square, spotting the billboard that he was looking for in front of the school. Normally, local announcements were posted on it. Now, it was for a different message. He took out the chalk and drew a symbol on the board: two diagonal slashes going from bottom left to top right, then a square shape beneath them with a dot in it.

There. Now that that was done, it was time for him to get his tail out of there and lay low. Even if he'd followed the protocol, his bosses weren't going to be happy.

The next morning, the five CMC headed towards the schoolhouse, discussing ideas for cutie marks.

"Hey, I just had an idea!" Apple Bloom declared. "What about detective skills? We could have Phillip help us out with that!"

This idea was met with approval with the other Crusaders, but Sweetie Belle pointed out the rather obvious.

"But where are we gonna find a mystery to solve?"

That question stumped all of the group. "Every detective needs a mystery," Sweetie Belle said.

"Where would we find one?" Scootaloo asked.

"Maybe we could ask Phillip," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Or maybe one will find us," Dinky Do said. "Like in those mystery books!"

"Those are just fiction," Sweetie Belle pointed out, turning to face Dinky as she walked. "There's got to be a mystery we can solve. We just have to keep our eyes open."

No sooner had those words come out of her mouth that she walked into a billboard. The other fillies stifled their laughing as Sweetie shook her head, regaining her balance.

When she looked up, she saw something on the board. A mark of strange graffiti was displayed on it in chalk. "Girls, look at that," she said, pointing.

"That's definitely mysterious," Tootsie Flute said.

"It's just some graffiti," Scootaloo said. "What's so mysterious about that? We need to think big! Something like a stolen painting or a kidnapping or..."

"Can't we start small for once?" Dinky Do said wearily.

"Oh, you're such a worrywart," Scootaloo said.

"I just want to keep us safe," Dinky Do said.

"Girls, please," Tootsie Flute said.

"Scootaloo's got a point," Apple Bloom said. "If we want to get our cutie marks, we gotta think big. We--hey, what's that?" Her attention was diverted to a bush. She pushed aside the leaves with her hoof and reached inside, pulling out a small package wrapped in brown paper. "It's not marked."

"What are you girls up to?" said the familiar voice of Cheerilee, trotting up towards them.

"We found this in the bush," Apple Bloom said, handing the package to their teacher.

"And somepony graffitied on the bulletin board," Sweetie Belle said, pointing.

"Oh, not again!" Cheerilee said with a groan. "I'll have to call city services to get that cleaned. Now then, what's this?" She examined the package, then slowly opened it. Her eyes widened in shock.

Inside the package was a small piece of cloud, just big enough to hold in hoof, intricately crafted to resemble a forest landscape with a cloudy sky.

"Cloud art," Cheerilee said. "And it's probably stolen."

There was a quiet cough. "Somepony call for a detective?"

Phillip stepped forward and briefly glanced at the cloud art sculpture. "That should go to the city vault for safekeeping." He turned his attention to the package and it's wrapping, putting on his loupe and adjusting the magnification as he examined the paper.

"A professional delivery pony. Looks like it was dropped from the sky, meaning a pegasus. From Cloudsdale would be my guess. Left-hooved, dark blue mane and currently dating."

"How can you tell all that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"The paper itself is sky paper, made of a leftover cloud strands. Then there's the creases in the paper. The angle tells me that he was left-hooved and the pattern says he's a professional at wrapping. There's a dark blue hair in there, looks like stubble. And there's the faint smell of cologne on the paper. What's this?" He took a pair of tweezers from his vest and plucked a small piece of sky blue canvas from the paper. "Probably from a delivery saddlebag. Pattern suggests severe wear. Further suggests that our delivery pony is absent-minded."

"Amazing!" Cheerilee said, gawping.

"Part of the job," Phillip said, collecting the evidence. "I'll put this in the city safe at town hall. And while I'm there, I'll talk to city services about that graffiti."

"Thank you, Mr. Finder," Cheerilee said, returning to her normal, cheery self. "Now, come on, girls. We're late for class."

Phillip headed for town square with a touch of his trilby brim. Cheerilee guided the CMC back into the schoolhouse.

"A stolen piece of cloud art and a strange graffiti pop up at the same time?" Apple Bloom whispered to her friends. "Coincidence? I think not."

"I agree," Tootsie Flute said. "Should we investigate?"

The five fillies grinned at each other. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Detectives!" they cheered in a whisper.