Silver Wing and Theory were perhaps the most renowned officers in the Las Pegasus Police Department. They worked fabulously as a team, and had yet to fail a single mission. Their newest mission, however, was quite unique. And so, on this night, they were quietly prowling the streets in search of a specific, abandoned warehouse. Theory was a steel-blue unicorn with yellow eyes, and Silver Wing was, of course, a pegasus sporting a grey coat with unnaturally shiny wings. Theory's cutie mark was a book surrounded by yellow fire, and Silver Wings's was a silver wing. Theory tapped Silver Wing's shoulder as a signal for him to stop trotting around. With a small beam of light from Theory's horn, the map they were going off of was lit up. According to said map, Warehouse Twenty-Three should be just around the corner. Silver and Theory looked at each other with a grin. Either of them would be lying if they said they weren't excited.
Theory was the first to move, folding up the map and depositing it in his shirt pocket, just in case. Silver Wing trotted in place nervously before speaking excitedly.
"So, how is this gonna work?"
"The same way all of our information-gathering missions work, Silver. I'll do an X-Ray spell to gauge the situation, and we'll go back and tell the chief." Theory replied in a more calm tone. With that, he trotted around the corner, Silver following close behind. The warehouse stood in front of them, windows dark and doors shut tight. Theory's eyes widened a bit in surprise. This warehouse was much, much bigger than the rest of them, for some reason. A large 'Twenty-Three' was stamped across the old building in dark ink. The entire area smelled of oil and ashes.
Silver took a step back as Theory began to breathe deeply, preparing for his spell. After a few more deep breathes, Theory's horn flashed with a bright, yellow light. As the light from his horn dimmed, his eyes began to glow instead. The X-Ray spell took a lot of energy, so Theory immediately began looking around the warehouse, his eyes focused on things inside.
Theory's eyes widened with each passing moment. In the warehouse he saw slumped figures around all the walls of the building, except on the door's side. If he were to guess, he'd say there were about fifty of them. It was too dark to make out who they were, but they were almost definitely ponies. In the center of the warehouse, however, there was a dim light fixture positioned directly over an earth pony mare. The light blue mare was laying down, bound and gagged, covered in dirt, blood and bruises. Her form was barely moving, but it at least let Theory know she was still alive.
Theory had no idea what to make of it. They were here looking for a renegade Canterlot scientist, not fifty probable hostages, including a beaten up mare. The X-Ray spell finally wore off, and he took a few large steps away from the warehouse to clear his head. Silver put a hoof on his withers.
"Well? What is it?" Silver inquired, his curiosity blazing. Theory just shook his head.
"There was... There was a mare in there. In bad shape. And about fifty other ponies," Theory replied quietly. Silver just looked at him in awe. He knew that Golden Gear was a dangerous pony, but he never expected a prissy Canterlot scientist to be able to capture half-a-hundred ponies all on his own. Silver turned towards the warehouse.
"Let's go!" he whispered as loud as he could. "We gotta go help them!"
"No. Chief said to see what was going on, and tell him." Theory reminded him sternly.
"Are you kidding me right now? They could die at any moment! We can't just leave them until morning! You know Chief as well as I do, so you know he's not gonna take action tonight no matter what we tell him!"
Theory thought about it for a moment, then swallowed spit in his mouth before talking.
"I guess so," he replied slowly.
"Damn right," Silver muttered. They could demote him all they wanted, or even fire him. But Silver wasn't going to leave these ponies in a dangerous spot if he could help it.
With that said, they both approached the warehouse door. Theory undid the lock with a spell, then pushed the door open. They walked in side by side.
The warehouse was silent, smelling of oil and sawdust. It was still much too dark to make out much of anything besides the mare. Theory was about to cast a light spell, when he saw the mare shaking her head wildly at them.
"Hey, hey, don't worry," Silver whispered in an attempt to calm her down. "We're with the police department, alright? We're gonna get you out of this," he added.
The mare only continued shaking her head. Theory approached the mare and undid her gag and bonds with his magic, placing them off to the side. The mare struggled to get to her hooves, but still did not speak.
"Look, we can't help you if you don't talk to us," Theory commented quietly. The mare, in response, opened her mouth.
There was dried blood all over her teeth. Her gums were bleeding and scarred. But the worst part was her tongue. It was completely lopped off at the base and cauterized. The burn marks could be seen not only at the stub of what was once her tongue, but also all around the inside of her maw as a ring of blackened flesh. Silver and Theory both stared in complete astonishment.
Before either of them could speak, however, a silky voice drawled from the shadows.
"I had a feeling you goody-goody policeponies would be willing to walk right into a trap if a pretty mare was involved," it commented slyly. Theory and Silver both turned to see one of the slouched figures against the wall at the end stand up and trot towards them. As it began to enter the light, they recognized it as Golden Gear himself. He was a fairly built unicorn, with his fur a brilliant shade of yellow and his eyes as gold as Celestia's crown. His cutie mark was a golden gear with an eye inside. He donned a maroon suit, with a ruby amulet around his neck.
Immediately Theory took up a battle stance, and Silver Wing flapped his wings, hovering above the ground and growling.
"It's not just the mare, you scum. I wasn't going to stand by and let you keep this many ponies hostage if I could help it," Silver shot back in response.
Golden Gear broke down into laughter almost immediately. Theory and Silver Wing could only watch in confusion. As Golden Gear finally stopped, he gestured to the slouched figures around him.
"You thought that these were hostages? How cute," the scientist quipped before letting a small burst of golden energy out of his horn.
Every slouched figure suddenly grew a pair of glowing, robotic yellow eyes. They all stood up at exactly the same heartbeat, then began to slowly trot towards the group. And just as Theory and Silver Wing were distracted by the mechanical beasts around them, Golden Gear let off another burst of magic, this one striking Silver's wing as he was still hovering. Silver gave a cry of agony and fell to the floor, his wing starting to bleed already.
"So, best cops in Las Pegasus, eh?" Golden Gear mocked the two. Theory didn't respond, instead attempting to subdue Golden with a blast of his magic. Unfortunately, he barely had time to even charge up a spell before an automaton tackled him to the ground and began pummeling him mercilessly. Every blast fired off from Theory's horn simply slid off of the steel ponies. Silver Wing was already knocked out cold. Golden Gear watched with grim amusement before turning to the beaten mare. She was quivering on the floor, crying her eyes out at the sight of her only hope for freedom being destroyed before her very eyes.
"Oh, goodness. I'd have thought you'd ran out of tears already. Quite extraordinary. We might just be able to solve the drought in Saddle Arabia with you," he remarked.
The mechanical beasts finally relented on the two policeponies, leaving them in only a slightly better shape than the mare. Theory, who was still barely conscious, struggled to get to his hooves. His eyes finally met Golden Gear's.
"Don't feel too bad, chump. At least you still have your tongue," Golden noted. "For now."
Theory could do nothing but finally slip into unconsciousness.
