Home Body Clue chp12

It's time for another game of swapsies!

There were two thieves. One swiped the stole, and the other nicked the necklace. The stole thief was the only pony who ended up with their own bag. We don't particularly care about the necklace thief, although they probably weren't Scarlet, since she wanted it out of her hooves in the first place. And quite obviously Peacock didn't steal her own stole, so aside from her bag being part of the swapsies, she can be excluded.

Once again, it's all about order of operations. But something else we should keep in mind - the thief put the stole in their own bag on purpose. While they think they have their own, THEY WILL NOT WANT TO TRADE IT AWAY.

Obviously, everypony all starts with their own bags in the lounge.
GRN - GRN
MUS - MUS
PEA - PEA
PLU - PLU
SCA - SCA
WHI - WHI

After the musical chairs in the Ballroom, we have a total marked switch.
GRN - PEA
MUS - WHI
PEA - PLU
PLU - SCA
SCA - MUS
WHI - GRN

Green realizes that all the popcorn in Peacock's bag is gone, so he swaps it for Plum's, which was Scarlet's originally.
GRN - SCA
PLU - PEA

White then follows suit by drinking all of 'her' cider (actually Green's) and swapping it out for Peacock's (actually Plum's).
WHI - PLU
PEA - GRN

Plum goes off to the bathroom, and White goes to do the dishes. Scarlet then breaks her (Mustard's) paper fan, and swaps it for White's bag (Plum's).
SCA - PLU
WHI - MUS

Plum comes back from the bathroom oddly pleased with himself - did he do something else while he was out of the room? Mustard steals Plum's bag then (swapping White's for Peacock's) and Green swaps his (Scarlet's) for Peacock's (his own). He subsequently notices that this one is out of popcorn and swaps it for White's (Mustard's).
MUS - PEA
PLU - WHI
GRN - MUS
PEA - SCA
WHI - GRN

Then in the aftermath of the pinata explosion, Mustard takes Green's (his own), Green picks up Scarlet's (Plum's) and Scarlet takes Mustard's (Peacock's).
FINAL STATE:
GRN - PLU
MUS - MUS
PEA - SCA
PLU - WHI
SCA - PEA
WHI - GRN

Mustard is the only pony to have his own bag back. Therefore, MUSTARD STOLE THE STOLE.

Meanwhile, in the case of the necklace thief, it never ended up in Scarlet's bag, since it was the one that split open, and it obviously didn't end up in Mustard's either. At this point, it doesn't matter, but for the sake of the flavor text I'm going to suggest that this is what Plum was doing when he went to the bathroom; he stole the necklace, and put it in the bag he had at the time (which was Peacock's own). (OKAY, CANCEL THIS, but leaving it in - working it out from bag contents!)

That bag still has chocolate and popcorn, which means that it wasn't Green's bag, which was out of popcorn, nor Peacock's bag as speculated, which Green had and which was also out of popcorn. (Glutton.) Green's bag also has/had an empty bottle of cider in it.

So at this point, only two bags can contain the necklace: Plum's, at the end carried by Green, or White's, at the end carried by Plum. Where have those bags been, and what happened to the cider, the hat, and the fan? And when did the thief pick it up? They didn't do it while they were in the room at the beginning, since Mustard was there at the time.

Plum's bag was carried by Plum, then Peacock, White, Scarlet and finally Green. This is probably the best candidate; White relieved it of the cider, and Scarlet filched the paper fan when she broke her own (or Mustard's, it isn't clear if she kept hold of it). Plum could well be the thief too, swiping the necklace when he went out to the bathroom and then dropping it into the unattended bag in the dining room before Scarlet got to it. (He couldn't have reached it afterwards, since Scarlet swapped it for Mustard's bag, which had the stole in it.)

White's bag was carried by White, then Mustard, then Plum, the only exchanges being at the initial off and then when Mustard stole Plum's when he returned from the bathroom. White was away for awhile doing the dishes, but at that point her bag was the 'unattended' Plum's.

Okay. It doesn't particularly matter and there's not much evidence either way, so I'm going to say that Plum stole the necklace, dropped it in the bag White had at that point, Plum's own, and that Green got the hot potato.