The Curious Case of Vanishing Unicornsby ViridianStarsChaptersAct 1 - Chapter 1Act 1 - Chapter 2Act 1 - Chapter 3Act 2 - Chapter 1Act 2 - Chapter 3Act 2 - Chapter 4Act 2 - Chapter 5Act 3 - Chapter 1Act 3 - Chapter 2Act 2 - Chapter 2Act 1 - Chapter 1"Case File 0526 - Opening Statement." "This case is one that I'll never forget anytime soon, not just for what had happened during it, but for what was going on underneath our noses all along, without us being aware of it until it was nearly too late. I should've known something was wrong as soon as I saw the number of ponies that had vanished, but at the time I was still stuck in my old by the book routine of following protocol, I believed I couldn't help those who had reached out to me since they were not under my jurisdiction... what a seriously stupid mistake of mine looking back on it now... Sunny must've known that it was going to be a bad move on my part in the end, and now here I am finding myself agreeing with her. I was so foolish to not jump onto this case while the trail was hot, and instead I nearly let it go cold, how could I call myself a sheriff if I can't even do my job correctly? This case that I am about to talk about here turned out to be much bigger than anypony had expected, one that nearly brought ruin to the town of Maretime Bay, and all the effort that me and the others had worked hard for almost thrown away... a case that ended up becaming known as..." THE CURIOUS CASE OF VANISHING UNICORNS It was a beautiful morning in the bayside town of Maretime Bay, the sun shown bright in the newborn sky, with not a cloud in sight. The ponies who lived in the town were all getting ready for another busy day downtown, whether it's taking a ride on the local pony drawn carriages, getting on the tram lines, paying a visit to the local vendors at the seafront, or even better, paying a visit to what is growing into the main attraction currently in the town, Mane Melody. Run by the Princess of Zephyr Heights Pipp Petals, the salons' reputation for fine hooficures, makeovers, hairstyles and more have proven to be a hit so far with the towns folk, business is going well for it, and most ponies have come away from it feeling fresh and new, even the notoriously high standard Phyllis Cloverleaf, former head of the now defunct Canterlogic corporation. Sure there may have been a few ponies that felt otherwise about the place, but it has done little to damage its reputation. Other than a few incidents of the different pony races arguing to each other or getting into fights, the town has largely been at peace internally. It was on this day that Hitch Trailblazer had started his work early at his post at the Maretime Bay Police Station. As the town's local sheriff, and currently it's only active authority after his former deputy was discharged and sentenced to community service for his role in the destruction of his good friend Sunny's lighthouse among other crimes a couple of months ago prior, he found his job growing harder and more stressful by the weeks. Despite repeated attempts by a few ponies and his friends to convince hiring a new deputy or start hiring officers, he's rejected them in favor of continuing to work as he is. Hitch has never shied away from any challenges, something he admired from his father the former sheriff of Maretime Bay, and is determined to not let the pressures that were now on piling up on him crush his resolve. "Every day is a brand new day yet there are more things to do, and fewer opportunities to relax and recline. But such is the life of a sheriff in this one horse town, being kept busy comes with the job, and honestly I'd take that over a boring day, any day." Hitch said to himself after organizing his desk for the day's work. He had already made a shortlist on what he planned to do today, most of it was pretty routine; do a morning patrol around the town twice over to check for any littering and suspicious activity, but especially littering, that was Hitch's pet peeve among all others. Next was organizing the complaints, reports and any other letters of interest received today in his mail onto his notice board, which is rarely empty if at all these days. it was always Hitch's least favorite part of his day job, and one that he always usually left to last since it took so long to get all done and organized. Then he would go on his afternoon patrol to again check everything twice over for the above mentioned activities, and the last thing he needed to do before the day was finished was to fill out a daily report on what he did today, any incidents or activities, and file it away in the usual weekly dossier in his filing cabinet, that job was usually the easiest one to do as such he left it for last. That was pretty much it for the shortlist today, rarely does anything else get added onto it at the last minute. Maretime Bay has been relatively peaceful for the last few weeks, as a result it's allowed Hitch to focus more on the tasks at hoof rather than getting distracted with irrelevant things on the side. "Right then, first things first, let's see how much post I got in the mail today." Said Hitch as he made his way to the letterbox built into the wall. Lifting a hoof up to the letterbox, he pulled down on the back hatch causing it open up, out of it came a whole bunch of letters, a pretty decent amount of them today compared to the last few days, making Hitch raise his eyebrow. "Well then, that is quite a large amount of post that came in today, I think I better skim through a few of these to see who sent what, and why." Said Hitch to himself as he scooped up as many letters as he could into his hoofs, then making his way back to his desk to dump the pile on top of it. He then sat down in his chair and started skimming through the letters one by one. He saw right away that a bunch of them belonged to Posey Bloom, a local citizen of Maretime Bay who had been very outspoken about the other pony tribes that have been moving into the town and all the problems it's been bringing her and the other Earth ponies. "She seems to have a new complaint to post almost every day, no surprise there." Said Hitch with a deadpan tone. Hitch decided to skip ahead and skim the rest of the post since they all seemed to either be more complaints, reports of various incidents and other such redundant matters. Hitch sighed in disappointment, it was just so routine for him now that if he was honest with himself for a moment, it was just boring. Deep down he kind of wished, just for once to have something different, something new and exciting that could lead to a case developing, a mystery that he could investigate as a detective. Little did he know that his wish for such a thing was about to come true. He came across a letter that caught his attention right away, the address on it was not from anywhere in Maretime Bay, but instead it seemed to have came from Bridlewood, the home of the Unicorns. It was easy to tell since they used a slightly different kind of writing than what was used in Maretime Bay, that and it was adorned with a strange symbol. Hitch stared at the letter for a few moments, puzzling over the strange symbol stamped on the front of it, this wasn't the first time that he had gotten a letter like this, in fact he had been getting them quite frequently in recent times. "Another one, seriously? That's like the third letter from Bridlewood I've gotten in the last week now." Said Hitch, rubbing his temple with his hoof, "I wonder why I keep getting these letters sent to me of all ponies, and what does this weird symbol on the front even mean?" Even though Hitch was a police sheriff and thus an established authority with the right to enforce, he technically had no legal authority over that area, that belonged solely to the unicorns leader Alphabittle, at least that was to Hitch's own assumption. To Hitch it felt a little odd that the ponies living there would be asking him for help instead of their own leader, and if Alphabittle did need his help, he would've let him know about it instantly, so the fact that he hadn't heard a thing from him was a little perplexing. "I wonder if there is some kind of trouble going on over there right now, I mean I would love to help them out, but unless Alphabittle says anything, I can't exactly do anything, not unless he gives me permission." Said Hitch, shaking his head as he put the letter on the side with another pile of similar letters. Whatever seemed to be going on with the Unicorns over in Bridlewood, it sure seemed to be intriguing, and if it lead to a case happening, he would certainly want to investigate it right away regardless. "I think I'll give this letter a read over later on along with the others when I get back, for now I better get on with my first patrol around the town, I don't want to be late." Said Hitch as he got up from his desk. He then gave whistled over to his animal pals who had followed him to the station from the Brighthouse, the crab called McSnipps-alot, a Pigeon with a can of sardines on his head named Kenneth, and his fellow deputy pigeon, they all immediately stood up for attention. "Hey there McSnipps, Kenneth and Deputy, I've got a job for you three to do while I'm out on patrol, I want you all to clean up my notice board of last week's letters, then once you've done that I want you to organize all of the mail i've got today into neat piles, that way I can easily sort them out when I get back from my patrol in around an hours time." McSnipps-alot and his fellows gave Hitch a salute, then they all went over to the notice board getting straight to work, ripping off the papers from the wall and sorting out the piles. Hitch was impressed by how quickly his animal pals were working, he admittedly was at first a little put off when months ago all of the animals started to gravitate towards him randomly for unexplained reasons, but now in the present he didn't mind it at all since he learned that he could understand them and even speak to him, strange as that sounds. In fact his new companions have proved useful in helping to organize his workplace, patrolling the town, and intelligence gathering whenever he needed it. Smiling, Hitch was now free to head out of the door and begin his first of two patrols of the day. He went on over to his clothes rack, grabbing his sheriffs belt with his freshly polished badge proudly on display, a whistle and his trusty log book, then he moved on over to the front door and opened it up, he was instantly greeted by the bright sun shining on his face, and the loud sounds coming from downtown not far away. "Sounds like it's already going to be another lively day over in downtown Maretime Bay. I'd better go check it out and see what's going on." Said Hitch as he put his sunshades on, then started making his way there down the lane. Hitch had little idea at the time of just how busy of a day it was going to be for him. Downtown Maretime Bay was as bustling and packed as ever, all of the ponies were going back and forth around the place. Whether it was to shop at the nearby stores, browsing the various vendors near the seafront, or hanging about with friends to have a catch up on matters along the promenade, there was plenty to do downtown. As Hitch arrived to start surveying the scene before him, he saw right away that there were long queue lines going towards two shops in particular. The first queue line was at the Mane Melody Saloon which was of no surprise to him since everypony loved to go there for a makeover or karaoke, and the other queue was at the nearby smoothie vendor, ran by his oldest friend, resident hero, and former troublemaker Sunny Starscout. Sunny was very busy working away, serving her customers and brewing up her signature smoothies using the fruitiest fruits she can get her hoofs on, or at least if her usual delivery mare can get there on time without incident. Hitch was impressed that she could serve customers as quickly as she could without issue, he decided to trot on over to the stand to check up on her and see what she was up to. "There we are little fillies, three Cheering up Cherry smoothies, that'll be 9 bucks in total." Said Sunny to the three fillies in front of her. "Thank you, Sunny!" Said the middle filly of the three who was an Earth Pony, handing Sunny the money. "You are welcome little ones! Say, i've been seeing you three around quite a bit recently, what are your names?" Sunny asked them. The filly on the left who was a Pegasus stepped up first, "My name is Glory, I just moved here from Zephyr Heights!" The one on the right who was a Unicorn who had floated the smoothies down to her friends spoke up next, "My name is Peach Fizz, I too have just moved here, from Bridlewood." "Really? That's cool! What about you in the middle there?" Said Sunny. "My name is Seashell, I grew up here in Maretime Bay, but my mama never let me outside much before because of her crazy superstitions and warnings of danger." Said Seashell, no doubt referring to how Earth ponies used to be afraid of the other pony races, at least until recently when they were unified again. "That's why I've probably never seen you around much, it was your mother I probably served the smoothies to beforehand." Said Sunny thoughtfully, then she leaned over the counter in curiosity, "So then are you three all good friends then?" "That's right! The three of us met each other after we found out we all followed the same pony on Clip Trot, we all bonded easily because of how much we love her." Said Glory. Sunny smiled, she seemed to have a pretty good idea about who they were talking about, so she decided to ask the obvious towards them, "And who is it that you three follow on Clip Trot, may I ask?" All three of the spoke in unison, "The one and only, Princess Pipp Petals!" "Huh, I never would've guessed." Said Sunny with a warm smile. "As her loyal Pippsqueaks, we three do our best to follow her latest clips, photos, trends, and anything else she streams daily! Furthermore we're also-" "Can you three fillies hurry up!? I'm getting thirsty over here!" Shouted one of the ponies in the queue making the trio jump in surprise. Sunny realized she still had a whole lot of customers still waiting to be served. "Ooof, sorry girls but I have to get back to work, but we can catch up later okay?" Said Sunny with a reassuring smile. "Sure, sorry about that Sunny." Said Seashell as she and her fellow Pippsqueaks walked off with their smoothies. No sooner did they walk off that the next pony in line walked on up to the stand, Sunny recognized the pony as Flare, another Pegasus pony. "About time, sheesh those three can be such a nuisance sometimes." Said Flare, flicking her hair to the side. "Aw come on they're harmless Flare, so do you want to have the usual?" Said Sunny with a smile. "The usual, with extra ice mixed in." She said, flashing a cocky grin. "Coming right up!" Said Sunny as she got to work. Hitch who had been watching everything unfold chuckled to himself, "Seems like Pipp has already started taking over the lives of everypony in Maretime Bay, including the little ones, but I can't say I didn't see that coming at all, Pipp has ways of getting everypony's attention." He said to himself as he walked over to the stand. "There we go Flare, the usual with extra ice!" Said Sunny as she gave her the smoothie. She began taking the next orders when she spotted Hitch standing next to her stand on the right, "Oh hey Hitch, didn't see you there!" "Good morning Sunny! I see you are being kept super busy as usual." Said Hitch, looking over the establishment and at the queue. "You know it sheriff, ever since the other pony tribes came together, I've been busier than ever, and raking in more profits too! I might be able to finally afford that new smoothie making machine at this rate, this one here is starting to show it's age a little bit." Said Sunny, as her machine continued to churn away at making smoothies for the customers with a noticeably hard grinding noise. Hitch let out a chuckle, "That makes two of us Sunny, I've been finding my workload getting heavier for the last few weeks now because of how much traffic we've been getting, I mean I know Maretime Bay always gets busier during the Summer time, but this is still much more than usual." Sunny looked at him thoughtfully, "Well, me and the girls have been asking you for the last little while if you would consider hiring a new deputy to help ease the workload on you, after what had happened to Sprout-" "It's fine Sunny don't worry about it. I welcome any challenge head on, just like my Dad did, and his Dad before him. Yes this might be stressful, and I'll admit it is very tiring for me, but I can do this, I have to as Maretime Bays sheriff!" Said Hitch, bringing a hoof up to his chest in pride. "Are you really sure about it Hitch?" She said to him with raised eyebrow, not sounding convinced. "Sure as sure can be, just leave it all to me!" He said with a huff. Sunny rolled her eyes at him, serving a smoothie to a customer, "Whatever you say sheriff, suit yourself." "Anyway!" Said Hitch, eager to move onto a new topic, "Have you seen the others around today? They were all gone by the time I got out of the bathroom for breakfast." "Oh Zipp and Pipp have flown off back to Zephyr Heights for a royal meeting with their mother the Queen, they got a phone call from her just before breakfast time, and judging from the look on their faces it sounds like it was something super important since they took off just before I made them food. As for Izzy, she said she was heading to the junkyard to find some 'thingies' for another one of her projects, knowing her she likely won't be back until dinnertime, with a whole lot of junk trailing behind her too." Said Sunny shaking her head. "I don't doubt that one bit, that Izzy can be so weird sometimes with her projects, yet I don't doubt how they turn out so functional." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "That's Izzy for you." Said Sunny as she started brewing more smoothies. "Say, do you know anything about what the meeting they're having is about?" Asked Hitch, now curious about the matter. "No idea at all, they said nothing about it when they left, but I assume they'll let us know about it when they get back." Said Sunny as she served out another smoothie to a waiting customer. Hitch was still curious to know what was going on with that meeting, but he knew he wouldn't know about it until later on today. As he looked up at the nearby clock hanging outside the local shop, he realized that he was running behind on his morning patrol and needed to get going. "Well I'll be sure to ask them all about it when they get back, but anyway I need to get back on my morning patrol, catch you later Sunny." Said Hitch with a salute, who turned around and stared to walk off. He didn't get very far when a voice rang out from the queue of ponies behind him, "W-w-wait, s-sheriff please!" Hitch heard it and turned around straight away, he saw a Unicorn mare coming up to him looking very stressed out. "Yes that's me, what seems to be the trouble miss?" Asked Hitch. "It's Plum Library sir, but just call me Plum. Listen, a few days ago I sent you a letter to report a pony missing from Maretime Bay, but I haven't heard any reply from you yet at all, you did get the letter, didn't you?" She said to him sternly. Hitch thought for a moment, he had been getting more letters than normal for the last week or so, perhaps that one got lost in the pile he still hasn't sorted out yet. Hitch shrugged, he can always go check it out when he gets back to the station. "I believe I have received your letter miss, don't you worry about it, I'll file the missing pony report as soon as I get back to my station." He said to her with a reassuring smile, but the Unicorn in question didn't seem to be impressed. "You mean you haven't read it yet at all? Sheriff, this is a serious matter! As the authority of Maretime Bay the safety of the ponies, and I do mean all ponies should be your number one priority!" She shouted at him, making him step back a little. Various ponies in the queue behind her started muttering behind her back. "What's got her so worked up? Typical Unicorns making trouble around here as usual. So rude, how dare she shout at the sheriff like that!" Hitch was taken aback by the outburst just how a little bit, but he soon regained his composure and looked at the Unicorn more seriously, "That is correct miss, the safety of everypony here in Maretime Bay, whether they are Pegasus, Unicorns, or Earth ponies, all of their well being and safety is my job, and my absolute number one priority above all overs. As I just said to you, I will look into the missing pony report, file it, and investigate it as soon as I get back to the station, you have my word on it." Plum signed to herself, she seemed close to tears, "Thanks sheriff, I'm sorry for shouting at you, but I'm really worried sick about them... that Unicorn was a friend of mine from back home, and she hasn't been around for the last few days now. I really hope nothing bad has happened to her, I wouldn't forgive myself if she's been hurt..." "I'm sure she's fine Miss Plum, say if you do know anything else that might prove helpful to the case, feel free to visit the station, I'll likely need more information about what's going on anyway." Hitch said to her reassuringly. "I will, thank you sheriff." Said Plum who seemed to feel a little better after the talk. "Good, well I'll be on my way now, see you later everypony." Said Hitch to the crowd as he took his leave to continue his rounds, the ponies all waved back to him, Plum included. Sunny however was deep in thought, she had overheard the conversation that just transpired in front of her, it seemed that a pony who was a good friend of Plum's was missing, and that Hitch hadn't gotten around to investigating it. That didn't seem like him at all, normally Hitch was all over a case like that instantly, she wondered if all the workload was slowly getting to him. She shook her head, regardless of what was going on with him, there was a pony missing from the town, and that was a serious matter. "I hope Hitch can find that missing pony, and hopefully they aren't in any trouble." Sunny said to herself. Plum herself sighed heavily, she was worried sick over her missing pony friend, she didn't mean to get mad at the sheriff like that at all, but her emotions boiled over and she had to let it out. On the plus side, she hoped now that the Sheriff will start looking into the matter seriously once he got back to the station, the sooner her friend was found, the better for her. "Excuse me miss." Came a voice from the nearby crowd of ponies. Plum peaked her ears up and looked to her side to see another pony next to her, she recognized him as Redwood Pine, a local Earth pony around Maretime Bay, he was never seen without his fancy looking straw hat on his head. "Yes? How can I help you Mr Pine?" Said Plum. "Pardon me for eavesdropping on the conversation you had just now with the sheriff, but if I heard it correctly, you said that a friend of yours was missing and you sent a letter about it to him?" Said Redwood. "Yes I did, she hasn't been seen for days now, i'm so worried about her... I hope she'll come back soon?." Plum replied. "Would your friend happen to also be a Unicorn?" Said Redwood curiously. "Huh? Well... yes, yes she was a Unicorn, why do you ask?" Said Plum cautiously. Redwoods expression became serious, with a hint of sadness underneath. "Well the funny thing is, I also had a friend who has also disappeared, and they were also a Unicorn." Said Redwood. Plum's eyes went wide, what were the chances of that happening. "W-what? You also have a missing friend, and they're a Unicorn too??? That's crazy!" Shouted Plum. "It's not crazy, and I'm afraid I'm not the only one who has lost a Unicorn friend." Said Redwood, turning his head to look behind him. Plum followed his lead and looked as well, she noticed a few ponies around the square asking about missing friends, and another pony putting up a poster that said 'missing' on it, with a picture of the pony in question also being a Unicorn. Plum felt overwhelmed from the sight of it. "How many ponies are missing from Maretime Bay!? Why just Unicorns??" She shouted out loud. "I don't know miss, but one thing is clear, something is going on, and I hope the sheriff will be able to find out and find out what happened to our friends." "I hope so Redwood, I really hope so..." Said Plum, sitting on her haunches. As the two ponies looked on silently, a certain yellow pony with pink hair and bow ties had been watching everything unfold in front of her, huffing in annoyance, she then proceeded to walk away from the drama. "Typical, so typical, it's always Unicorns causing problems around here, always." Something strange was definitely going on around Maretime Bay, but as everypony would soon find out, this was only just the beginning. Act 1 - Chapter 2Author's Note [AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter has been updated to correct some text errors and expand some of the dialogue in regard to the more recent chapters.] Act 1 - Chapter 2 It was now close to lunchtime, and Hitch Trailblazer had begun winding down his morning patrol after moving on from the main square of downtown to the neighbourhoods, he then started circling around past what had been the main path that lead to the Canterlogic factory on top of the hill, now abandoned and shut down. Occasionally during his patrols Hitch would sometimes stop in his tracks and look up at the building, what was once the pride and joy of Maretime Bay and Earth pony kind, now just a fallen symbol of their fears and superstition. No one who ever worked there knows why Phyllis decided to close down the factory and cease all of it's production months ago, but then again after what her son who was the former deputy had done, Hitch couldn't blame her for making that decision. Still, with Canterlogic now out of business, most of it's former workers have now gone on to new jobs elsewhere, some have even made the journey up to Zephyr Heights to help operate the factory's there, which made sense considering how big smartphones had become in Maretime Bay since the union of the tribes, and they likely needed the extra help to meet demand. "It all feels like a faint memory now, all the times I used to go there with Sprout and Sunny to see all of the latest trends in 'pony protection', even though many of them were pretty silly and didn't actually work, like Sunny's Pegasus gliding kit, I doubt if it was ever capable of flying at all." Hitch said to himself. Shaking his head, Hitch carried on with his morning patrol, the other side of the neighbourhood was the last area he had to go around before he made it back to the police station. However, he was still thinking about the situation from earlier in the morning when the Unicorn Plum had that outburst towards him. Hitch felt that he had handled it professionally and vowed to look into the matter as soon as he got back to the station. Even so, the whole thing was still bothering him in the back of his mind, and he kept on going back to the letter he saw earlier today from Bridlewood which was asking for his help, he wondered whether that letter was related to Plum's situation, and if the other letters were also the same as well. "Now i'm wondering if all the letters i've gotten from Bridlewood are all the same, calling me for help, this might turn to be a bigger case than I had expected." He said to himself. Hitch continued to think the whole thing over and over in his head, he was so lost in his current train of thoughts that he didn't see the fruit cart that was right in front of him. "Ooof!" Grunted Hitch as he bumped into said cart. "Aiiiieee!" Came a cry of fright from the pony who was pulling the cart ahead of him, "Oooh what's happened now!?". "Ohhh, sorry about that" Said Hitch, rubbing his forehead as he refocused his eyes on what was in front of him. He saw it was a fruit delivery cart that he had bumped into, belonging to one of the Pegasus delivery ponies. The pony in question turned around to look at him with concern on her face. "Oh it's no problem sheriff, are you okay?" Said the Pegasus pony, who Hitch saw was none other than Fifi, who operated her own flying fruit smoothie smooth fruit delivery service where every delivery was smooth, or so she says. "I'm fine thank you Fifi, I just wasn't looking where I was going." Said Hitch, chuckling to himself. "Oh really? That's normally not like you at all Sheriff, is there something wrong?" Said Fifi tilting her head to him in concern. "No no no no, nothing is wrong at all! As I just said I being a little careless." Said Hitch with a little sheepish grin. Fifi looked at him still all confused and unsure, but she smiled and saluted at him. "Well alrighty then, I should get back to work delivering fruits to my waiting clients, don't want to keep them waiting any longer" Said Fifi, who then galloped off down the street and took off into the sky above. Hitch breathed a sigh of relief, he felt silly having to have bumped into something while in a train of thought. He remembered Fifi back when she was training with other Pegasus ponies at Zipp Storms training camp, it was a lot of hard work but now she and other pegasi were now flying much better than before, of course Hitch had to take a hot bath after that day to wash off all the fruit stains on his coat, even if it was kinda funny looking back on it now. "Oh well, at least this time I didn't end up getting hit in the face with fruit for no reason." Said Hitch with a proud grin. No sooner had he said that, a mango fell onto his face from up above out of nowhere. "Oh for crying out loud!" Said Hitch in exasperation. "Oops sorry about that Sheriff!" Said a pony calling from upper floor of the nearby house, waving down at him. Hitch wasn't amused at all, letting off a loud groan he wiped the mess off of his face before getting back to his patrol at a faster pace, much to the aforementioned pony's confusion. "What a strange day it has been so far today." Hitch said to himself as he continued on the final leg of his patrol before heading back to the station. Hitch planned to get started on his next task of the day as soon as he reached it, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something big going on under his nose and that he needed to get on it as soon as possible. "I wonder what the others are up to right now, I hope they are having more fun than me right now." He said to himself as he carried on down the street out of sight. Meanwhile, in a junkyard not far away, a certain uni-cycling Unicorn was busy digging through the mountains of trash and scrap, looking for anything interesting or curious that she could use in one of her projects. The pony's name was Izzy Moonbow, the first friend that Sunny Starscout had made who was from outside Maretime Bay. She had caused a huge ruckus when she first showed up due to Earth pony superstitions at the time, and often had Canterlogic Unicorn traps left around town to catch them in-case they showed up. Izzy had been prey to such devices twice in her time knowing Sunny, but she always took it all in stride, in fact it was very rare for Izzy to ever get angry at anything at all, she always saw the better side of ponies, even if they were being total jerks to her. "Wow oh wow, there are so many bits and bobs around here today, right Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. The inanimate Butterscotch simply nodded it's head, with assistance from Izzy's magic. "I know right? I mean just look at this old camera, might be all busted right now, but with a little bit of magic, cleaning and tinkering it'll be good as new. Oh and this worn out purse bag, just needs some sewing in the seams and patching up to be all brand new!" Said Izzy to her friend. Carrying the objects in her magic, she carried them over to a wagon that she had brought with her to take back to the Brighthouse once she was finished. To most ponies, trash was just trash, but to Izzy she saw it as potential, a blank canvas to make something brand new, in her own unique way. "I cannot wait to start putting all of this stuff to use when I get back home. Normally this would be enough for me for one Butterscotch, buuuuut today I'm feeling pretty lucky, that I'll find something really good around here, so I'm gonna keep on searching!" Said Izzy as she dived back into the trash to look around. Izzy continued to dive into the trash for more treasures, she began to hum a little tune to herself as she did so. "One pony's trash is another pony's treasure, one pony's treasure is everypony else's trash, but no matter if it's busted, torn, smashed or whatever, just a little bit of glitter and it'll be sparkly in a flash!" She continued to hum the tune in happiness as she continued to dig around for treasures. That was until she heard a noise not far from her that got her attention. The junkyard was normally a rather quiet place for her to hang around in, allowing her to indulge in her own thoughts and mannerisms, but today it seems that it wasn't as quiet as it was normally. Shifting her ears around to isolate where the noise came from, she heard it coming from the other side of the junkyard, behind a large pile of scrap. "Huh, I wonder what the noise was, usually this place is pretty quiet when i'm hanging around, what do you think it was, Señor Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. Butterscotch just shook it's head, courtesy of Izzy's magic. "I thought so, well let's go take a looksie and see what's going on then." Said Izzy as she trotted over to the nearby pile with her companion to see what was going on. Being as quiet as possible, which is impressive in Izzy's case, she leaned her head forward with her ears at attention to take in any other noises she could hear. Sure enough she picked up more of them going on, and this time Izzy was able to know exactly what was making those noises, and why, it seemed that there was somepony nearby that was talking to somepony or something else. "Looks like we're not alone in this junkyard Señor Butterscotch, we've got strangers intruding in on our peace." Said Izzy. Señor Butterscotch nodded his head in agreement. "Well then, let's hear what they are up to shall we?" Whispered Izzy to her inanimate friend, leaning her ear up to listen in to the conversation that was going on nearby. "This pile of junk right here looks salvageable, might make for a decent amount of spare parts, and if not then we can always just melt it down again." A series of distinct beeps went off in a pattern. "Yes that is true, even though I am more than capable of manufacturing as many parts as I want, at the same time it'd be troublesome if somepony got wise to our scheme, and the last thing I want is for anypony to catch onto us, not when we're to far ahead with the plans." More beeps went off, it seemed to be coming from some kind of machine, or maybe perhaps a drone. "Oooh that sounds pretty exciting and mysterious, doesn't it Butterscotch?" Said Izzy. Butterscotch just lay there all limp on the ground, so Izzy used her magic to gently tilt it's head. "Well then, I think we should take a closer look and see who or what is down there." Said Izzy quietly. The Unicorn ducked down and slowly crept around the pile, gently peering down to the scene in front of her, what she saw was interesting to her immediately, there was indeed a pony down there, a Stallion Earth pony it looked like, along with what looked like some kind of drone hovering next to it. The pony in question had a pale absinthe green coloured coat with dulled platinum mane that was swept back like a Pegasus pony's mane along with a short tail of the same colour. His eyes a dull crimson colour with noticeable bags underneath. He was wearing what looked like a dusty old lab coat with a pair of black boots on his forelegs, the left foreleg in particular had some kind of device on it, probably a smart watch or something, and finally he had a visor like device on top of his head, not too different from the one Izzy had created for Zipp a while ago. Izzy had a suspicion that this pony was a scientist of some kind, maybe one that worked for the old Canterlogic company that had shut down a while ago back when she first moved into Maretime Bay, though if he was, she certainly hadn't seen him around before. Izzy continued to stare down in silence at the scientist pony, wondering what he was up to, however, the quiet was interrupted when suddenly the drone started making loud noises like an alarm, and looked straight up towards Izzy, almost causing her to jump up in fright, she immediately ducked down out of sight. "What's wrong with you now? Did you sense something nearby, here of all places?" Said the pony, looking around the place with confusion. The drone let out a few beeps, then aimed it's sights up at the hill that Izzy and Butterscotch were hiding at. "If there is anypony there, show yourself right now!" Shouted the pony. "Blaaahh! We've been caught red hoofed." Said Izzy to Butterscotch as they both slowly came out of their hiding place with their hooves held up. The pony and the drone stared up at the both of them, the pony in particular let out a laugh in amusement at the sight, "Well well well, what do we have here? A Unicorn pony snooping around a junkyard with an animate pile of scarp?" "Hey! He finds that term offensive mister!" Shouted Izzy who levitated Butterscotch upright, and then moved him right in front of the scientist. The scientist seemed bemused by the antic, "Wait a minute, this thing has a name, a name you gave to it?" "The name is Señor Butterscotch thank you very much, curandero!" Said Izzy in her acted Butterscotch voice. The Pony raised an eyebrow, then glared up at Izzy, "What did this hunk of junk just call me, Unicorn?" "Ah umm, nothing, nothing!" Said Izzy sheepishly, moving Butterscotch to the ground nearby out of the way. The scientist let out a snort, then eyed her up closely "Hmph, so let me guess, was it you who made this thing, Unicorn?" "Oh yes, that I did stranger! I was feeling pretty lonely one day since all of my friends were busy with other things, so I decided to make myself a new friend, using all the leftover bits and bobs from around the Brighthouse, and lo and behold, Señor Butterscotch was born!" Said Izzy excitedly. The pony stroked his chin with interest, "Interesting, very interesting, is this the only thing that you have made, or have you invented other things as well?" "Oh no no no, I've created other things too, like the rad-visor for my friend Zipp which allows her to see the world in different ways, I've also built a robot named Bot-y McBakertons, among other things!" Said Izzy, smiling brightly. "Well well well, it sounds like you are quite the inventor Unicorn, what is your name if you don't mind me asking?" He asked her. Izzy now feeling that the pony is not dangerous, eagerly leaped down to the ground next to him, "My name is Izzy Moonbow, Unicorn transplant from Bridlewood and expert uni-cycler at your service!" "Izzy huh, and you've just moved into Maretime Bay you say? How interesting." Said the pony, showing a small smile. Say, what is your name and occupation if you don't mind me asking, stranger?" Asked Izzy, tilting her head to the side curiously. "My name? Well if you must know, my name is Wormwood, Doctor Wormwood that is." Said the pony, standing proudly. "Oooh a doctor!? I'm gonna guess that you are a doctor in some sciency stuff or something like it?" Said Izzy excitedly. "That is correct Unicorn, science is indeed my forte, though specifically, robotics, technology, chemistry, engineering, and of course physics." Said Wormwood. "Hehe, all of that sounds mighty interesting! I've never met many scientists or engineers from around Maretime Bay or even Bridelwood, most of them usually work elsewhere these days." Said Izzy. "Yes quite, ever since the Canterlogic factory shut down some months ago, most of the workers have left for other jobs, largely up in Zephyr Heights since they're always looking for new hires to work there, especially now that everypony and their filly wants to have a smartphone in order to keep up with the latest nonsense on the Canternet." Said Wormwood, showing a slight sneer in his face. "Huh, well If that's the case, why haven't you joined them in working up there as well?" Asked Izzy curiously. Wormwood chuckled in response, fiddling around with a piece of scrap on the ground, "As tempting as it was to go and potentially work there, it doesn't really suit me, my home is right here on the ground." "Ohhhh, well that's understandable, I mean keeping your hooves on the ground is one way to go about in one's life." Said Izzy with a smile. "Heh, I suppose so, so then, what is your story Unicorn, what made you want to move and live in Maretime Bay, and why are you here in this junkyard of all places?" Asked Wormwood curiously. "Oooh, well it's kinda a long story actually, this might take a while." Said Izzy, rubbing her head with her hoof. "Is that so? Would that have anything to do with that incident that happened a while ago with the ex Deputy of the town?" Asked Wormwood. "Yeah actually it does, but how did you know that?" Said Izzy raising an eyebrow. "I was nearby the town when I saw it all happening, but you can tell me about it since you seemed to have first hoof experience of the whole thing." Said Wormwood. Izzy took a deep breath and then started to talk about how she one day found a balloon stuck to a tree in the Bridalwood forest, it had note attached to it telling her that there were friends in Maretime Bay waiting for her, so she decided to make the journey there to find them, and the experience of meeting new ponies there and the whole adventure that followed from it. As she finished by telling how she then moved to living at the Brighthouse with her new friends, Wormwood interrupted her with a question. "Wait wait hold on a minute there, the Brighthouse, as in the lighthouse?" Asked Wormwood. "Yes siree, the Brighthouse, it's the home of Sunny and all her other friends, including me." Said Izzy. "how curious, so that means you know Sunny Starscout?" Said Wormwood with a raised eyebrow. "Yes I do, she's only my bestest ever best friend out of all the ponies, not counting Zipp, Pipp and Hitch of course hehehe, do you know her too?" Asked Izzy. "Of course I know her, who in Maretime Bay doesn't know the resident troublemaker and goody two hooves who was always trying to promote unity between the different ponies and see the best in everypony, even if it got her into trouble and earned her ridicule, heh, she was no different from her late father honestly, like father like daughter as they say." Said Wormwood with a chuckle. "Hey come on, Sunny isn't that bad, but... She did tell me about how the Earth Ponies living here used to have that view regarding the other pony tribes, and how they prepared devices and gizmos to capture Unicorns and Pegasi in the event of them invading Maretime Bay, kinda spooky to think about." Said Izzy. "Isn't it just? But it was the way things were for the longest time around here, I should know since I was part of the club that reigned in this town." Said Wormwood, staring off into the distance. Izzy moved back a little from the revelation, seemingly hurt, "Oh no, don't tell me that you think Unicorns are evil too?" Wormwood let out a sigh, then looked at her seriously, "I did mean what I said that I was part of the club, but... Truth to be told Unicorn, I was actually always a little curious about the other pony tribes, especially the Unicorn tribe and their ability to cast magic using their horns, the old legends in the dusty old books and tomes that ponies like Argyle always used to keep around always talked about how important magic was in everyday life in ancient Equestria, and that without it, everyponies lives was not only harder, but also miserable and lonely." "Uh huh, it's true you know, Sunny said the same to me too." Said Izzy, brightening up a little. "I mean, just think about it, magic back in those times was about as common and easy to understand as brushing your teeth, or taking a stroll down the path, it's actually pretty stupendous thinking about it now." Said Wormwood, showing some excitement. "Oh yeah definitely, with a little magic anything can be done, lifting things up, combining them together, or even casting spells if you know how to do it." Said Izzy excitedly, using magic to lift up her inanimate friend as an example. Wormwood seemed impressed at Izzy's display of magic, in fact it seemed to trigger a gleam in his eyes. "It's so incredible to be able to see actual magic being used right here in front of me, it's fascinating to see it work before my very own eyes, and wondering how it all works." Said Wormwood, smiling warmly. "Hehehe, I guess so, but my main focus is on uni-cycling junk into something special and beautiful, to me magic is just another tool for me to use to make it happen." Said Izzy humbly. "Hmm, you've mentioned that term several times now, is that why you hang out around junkyards like this, just to find things to invent?" Asked Wormwood. "Yeah that's right, this place is like my haven for treasure, why, do you do the same thing as I do too?" Asked Izzy curiously. "heh, well I don't do any 'uni-cycling' per se, but I do certainly do some re-cycling when it comes to scrap to be used for my own purposes, such as inventing of course." Said Wormwood, picking up the scrap piece next to him on the ground. "Whoa really, what sort of things do you invent?" Said Izzy leaning her head forward. "Hahaha, I could waste most of the day telling you what I invent and much much more... But I think I've wasted enough time here today, I really need to get back to work." Said Wormwood as he looked at the device on his foreleg to check the time. "W-w-what, you're leaving already!? Blaaaaahhh! B-but we've only just met, and there is still sooooo much I need to ask you about!" Whined Izzy, pouting a little. "Sorry Izzy, but I have to go, I have very important jobs to do today and I don't want to be late." Said Wormwood sternly. "Ohhhhhh, fine..." Said Izzy, looking away sadly. "Hey now come on, I never said that this would be the last time we meet, Izzy." Said Wormwood reassuringly. Izzy gasped, hope returning to her face, "Do you mean!?" "That's right, let us exchange numbers so that I'll forward you a message when I am able to meet up with you again, keep an eye out for it." Said Wormwood with a smile. "Oooh of course, let's do that right now!" Said Izzy in excitement. The two of them then exchanged numbers on their phones, Izzy noted how Wormwoods phone seemed a little old and basic compared to hers, like he hadn't upgraded it in a long time. "Well that's that, i'll see you around Unicorn, let me know what you invent next." Said Wormwood, turning around and trotting off out of the junkyard. "Oh I will, see you later new friend!" Said Izzy as she waved to him. Wormwood nodded to her as he continued to set off on his way, while Izzy went back to digging around in the junkyard as she originally planned, still excited from meeting a brand-new friend. As he walked down the path to elsewhere, Wormwood consulted with his drone, which had been silently observing Izzy in the background. "She sure is an interesting pony isn't she? We should definitely look into recruiting her as soon as possible, she has a lot of potential, magical potential." Said Wormwood, grinning to himself. The drone beeped low in return, as it followed the doctor into the nearby woods and out of sight. Back in Maretime Bay, Hitch Trailblazer had just returned to the police station after completing his morning patrol. He had planned to take a bit of a break before beginning the next part of his daily job which he considered to be the least fun part, sorting out the notice board, filing letters and reports, and deciding which of the cases will be his priority or not, a process that could take anywhere from an hour to several. Hitch never looked forward to this at all, but he sighed, it has to be done no matter what. "I'll pour myself some coffee to start with, then I can get started on this... chore of a job right away." He said to himself, making his way to the coffee maker. He got started making his brew, it was nothing special just a double espresso with a dash of milk, he liked his coffee strong and dark, just like his complexion, or so he likes to believe. As he waited for it to be ready, he noticed his companion McSnipps standing nearby at the ready, over on the table was all the letters he had both from this morning and the whole week organized into four neat stacks. Hitch smiled, this will certainly make it much easier for him to sort out what needs to go on the notice board or not, and as soon as he heard the machine pinged that his coffee was ready, he poured it into his #1 Sheriff mug that Sunny got him for Winter Wishday years ago, then sat down at this desk. "Hey there Mcsnipps, looks like you've done a swell job organizing everything." Hitch said to the crab as he took a sip from his mug. McSnipps clicked his claws and leaned forward, no doubt nodding to him. "Right then, let's see what we've got here today." Said Hitch, setting his coffee mug to the side and getting started on the letters in front of him. Hitch started off with the small pile first since he believed it would get done pretty fast, and it turned out he was right. Most of the letters in this pile were from Posey, the aforementioned Earth pony who hasn't taken too kindly to the other pony tribes moving into the town, she even did little doodles on her letters just to show her expressions while writing them. Hitch signed, then moved them onto the side to put onto the notice board later in the lower priority section, then moved onto the next pile of letters. The letters in the second pile were fairly standard complaints, chief among them about litter being dropped on the streets, that got Hitch's blood boiling. If there was one thing he hated seeing more than anything, it was litter being dropped onto the ground instead of in the bin, ever since he was a colt he had been determined to keep Maretime Bay as clean and clear as the sea itself at all costs, just as his father the previous Sheriff had done before him. Hitch sorted them all out easily since they were largely short and straight to the point, marking them in varying importance. With that pile of letters done and dusted, and another sip of his brew, Hitch moved onto the third pile, it was bigger than the last one, but he liked a challenge, plus he was feeling fired up from the last pile. These letters seemed to largely be about missing items, missing pets, and missing ponies, the latter of which made him stop and have a look at closely, remembering the words Plum had said to him earlier during his patrol. "I said that I would look into these disappearances for Plum’s sake, and I intend to keep that promise, let's see what these missing pony letters say." Hitch said to himself. As he started reading them one by one, he soon noticed a theme right away, almost every single one of the missing ponies reported in the letters were Unicorns, with only one exception being an Earth Pony from Maretime Bay, not only that but most of them were addressed from Bridlewood, with the same strange stamp on them like the one he had received from this morning. "What the hay is going on here, how many pony disappearances could there be!?" Hitch shouted out loud. He immediately began counting all the related letters, including the ones from this week. Once he finished, the end result left him with wide eyes in disbelief, then he threw his forelegs up into the air in frustration. "...I don't believe this, seventeen ponies have disappeared in the last month, seventeen!? How could I have been so dumb as to not notice it before!? Why oh why did I decide not to do anything about this sooner, am I that big of an idiot!?" Hitch shouted at himself. The sheriff felt awful right now, a big case like this had been going on for weeks under his nose and he never noticed it happening, all because he believed that the Unicorns of Bridlewood could handle it on their own, but now seeing this many disappearances happening, and that it's starting to affect the ponies living in Maretime Bay too, it's clear that he had to do something now before it's too late. "Those poor ponies... what could cause them to just disappear like that... did some strange magic they discovered cause them to like turn invisible or something dumb?" Hitch thought to himself, taking a sip from the mug, that's when a thought crossed his mind that made him nearly spit it out, "Wait... was it possible they were... ponynapped!?" Hitch sat back up upon saying that, he never thought about it that way before, but this many ponies going missing looked very much like a telltale sign of ponynapping, one of the most heinous crimes anypony could commit in Equestria, and a case that Hitch himself hadn't tackled before as Sheriff, but now it seems he now has such a case in his hooves, and what a doozy it's turning out to be, looks like his wish from earlier has just come true. "It looks like this just became a very hot case indeed, one I intend to solve quick and fair, there is no time to lose!" He said to himself as he put the letters on the side to be made priority on the bulletin board. Hitch then turned his attention to the last pile, thankfully not as large as the last pile, so he believed it would be quick to sort out. As he started to read the letters, he noticed they all seemed to be addressed to him directly, that piqued his curiosity, so he had a closer look at them wondering what they were all about, were they love letters, death threats, spam? He got plenty of the former from various admirers around town, a few from criminals that he had put away in the past, and unfortunately a bunch of spam letters from who knows where, those he always puts through the shredder and chuck into the bin. However, as Hitch began to read through each of them, he suddenly realized that they weren't any of the aforementioned letters at all, with a frown forming on his face he realized that they were in fact his bills for the month. "What the hay McSnipps, why didn't you mention that I had bills to sort out today??" Said Hitch as he lifted his head up to look at him, frowning hard. The crab just shrugged its claws, seems like he didn't have any reason to mention it until now. "Huh, well fair enough." Said Hitch, moving the bills out of the way onto his side desk to sort out later, then he gently moved all the sorted letters next to the notice board, sighing while doing so. "Sigh, this is going to be a looooong job I just know it, it's a good thing I put this off before lunch time, hopefully this won't take too long to get through, then after that I can get started on the case at hand." Said Hitch. With that Hitch began to organize and sort out the notice board, placing all the letters and more up in order of priority, with the disappearing ponies being his top priority at this time. As Hitch had expected, the job took a long time to sort out, in fact when he checked the clock up on the wall when he had finished, it had already been over an hour. "Sweet Twilight, that took longer than I wanted..." Said Hitch, wiping the sweat off his brow. The board itself was now completely covered in letters, sticky notes and pins, even Hitch was surprised at how many jobs he now had to do, so much to do in just one day, but he kept to his vow from earlier today to get the jobs done his way, especially with this hot case he now had in his hooves, which he has dubbed "The curious case of disappearing Unicorns Case". "Right then first things first, I'm gonna get started on the suspected ponynapping case, and for this I'm gonna need to call in the troops, McSnips-a-lot if you please." Said Hitch, giving the crab the signal. Mcsnips gave a salute, then it crawled on over towards the open window, holding it's claws up high it gave out a distinct but loud clap using them. Almost immediately, two little birds who had heard the noise landed on the window sill giving a salute towards the sheriff, the one who had an open can of sardines on top was named Kenneth, another pet friend of Hitch who he often relied on as his ears and eyes around town, the other bird that was with him was his deputy. "Good to see you troops, now listen up, we've got a doozy of a case to get through today and I am itching to get it solved before nightfall." Said Hitch to the troops, before pointing his hoof to the notice board, "I'll explain everything about the case at hand as soon as we set off into the town, for now we need to get out there, start looking for clues, check anything suspicious, and if we have time do some of the other jobs we have to do today that I made a note of just in case." The animals all nodded towards Hitch in turn. "Now then, are we all ready to go out there and get to work solving this case?" Said Hitch. They all gave Hitch the salute to show that they were. "Excellent, let's go troops!" Shouted Hitch as he charged towards the door. Hitch and his animal pals all set off from the police station and out onto the streets to carry out their investigation of the case, hoping to find clues and information that could help them solve it as fast as possible. However, in his haste to carry out his plan in a hurry without pause, Hitch didn't notice that he and his animal pals were secretly being watched the whole time. Out of a bush located next to the station came a small hovering drone, making a few beeping noises, it flew up into the sky and out of sight of everypony that could've seen it. It was pretty clear that somepony or something was keeping a close eye on Hitch and his activities, but who, and why? Act 1 - Chapter 3Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Act 2 - Chapter 1"Dear diary, you won't believe what's been happening!" "It all started yesterday when I was at the local junkyard looking for anything interesting or odd to use in my uni-cycling, I happened to bump into a new pony friend I had never met before, he was some kind of science pony who had a talent for inventing, re-cycling scrap and other sciency stuff I assume. He did seem rather cold and bitter outwardly at first, but after I did some chatting with him, he gradually warmed up, and we soon hit off right away, sharing our enjoyment of inventing and thinking outside the box, or was it beyond the trees as they called it back home? I was sad when he had to go in order to get back to his job, but before he left, he told me that I would be receiving a message from him when he had time to meet me again, I was so excited about it that I didn't get to ask him how he would do so, but I assume I'll know about it soon enough!" "Now... I must talk about something more sad and depressing... Unicorns have been vanishing all over the place recently, and nopony knows what's causing it... My hometown of Bridlewood has been hit pretty hard by it. My friends Hitch and Zipp are both hard at work on the case, with Zipp suspecting that it might be a case of serial ponynapping going on, something that Hitch is slowly leaning towards himself... I haven't spoken my mind about it yet, but between you and me diary... I hope that it's not a case of ponynapping and just simply some magical mishap that's going on like we've seen before. Likewise, I know this might sound silly, but I just cannot picture anypony being nasty enough to do such a thing, even that Deputy who tried to destroy Sunny's lighthouse home a while back wasn't really that bad of a stallion deep down, just simply misguided in his beliefs. Today however is going to be a big deal for all of us, Sunny, Hitch, Zipp, Pipp and me are all going to be heading to the forest towards Bridlewood today to see if we can find some clues as to what's going on, I'm sure Alphabittle will be happy to lend us a hoof too, he's probably worried sick about his missing customers. To help everypony out, I've prepared a few gizmos from the uni-cycled scrap I gathered yesterday to make our search much easier, I like to call them 'glitter flares', these things work like fireworks, sending a tall shower of glitter upwards into the sky, that way if anypony is ever in trouble, we can all converge to help them out! Everypony else has their own ideas on how they'll help out too, Zipp will be using her own selection of gadgets, including her little search drone along with the Rad-visor that I made for her a while back to help search for as many clues as possible. Pipp plans on rallying the 'Pippsqueaks' on her social accounts, encouraging them to send in any rumours, information and more to her, she's also bringing a magnification glass with her to use to search for clues too. As for Sunny, she will be scouting up ahead of us on her roller-skates, that way if there is anything dangerous on the path towards the forest, she'll instantly let us know about it quickly with her whistle. Hitch meanwhile is actively communicating with his animal pals around the area, he aims to see if the animals hanging around the forest have been noticing anything off in recent times, hoping that they can point us in the right direction. What I find most curious however is that he's also bringing with him a pair of hoof-cuffs in his satchel, I'm guessing that if there really is somepony behind all this, he'll be ready to arrest them on the spot, but probably not before Alphabittle has had them tied up in the centre of town and subjected to the most terrifying punishment known to all Unicorn kind... The Mayonnaising A truly horrible fate to be bestowed upon, mwahahahaha!! Oopsie! I've looked at the time and just realized that we'll be setting out in a bit, and I don't wanna be late! Well anyway I can't wait to write you again tomorrow morning with hopefully some good news this time, see you later diary! Izzy Moonbow ACT 2 It was a cool crisp late morning on the outskirts of Maretime Bay, the grass was rich in moisture from the mists that formed overnight, and the air was fresh and clear to breathe in. In contrast to yesterday's bright clear sunny weather, today was a mix of grey clouds and a little overcast across the sky, even so, the sun was still shining high up through the layers of cloud, illuminating the lands with warmth and comfort. For the Mane Five however, there was little time to bask in the sights and the feel of nature, today was a serious matter for all of them. Yesterday Hitch Trailblazer, the Sheriff of Maretime Bay, had discovered a string of pony disappearances happening across Equestria, stretching from Bridlewood all the way to Maretime Bay. Even more disturbingly, almost all the pony's that had been vanishing were Unicorns, and most of them happened in Bridlewood. After a whole day of search turned up little to no clues, Hitch has now enlisted the help of his friends in the Mane five to help him crack open the case at hoof. The group has decided to divide itself into two groups in order to cover as much ground and air as possible, Hitch, Pipp and Izzy will be sticking to doing clue hunting on the ground largely, using their gadgets to assist in the search, while Zipp and Sunny carry out reconnaissance and information gathering on the ground and air respectfully. In the event of any danger or trouble anypony finds themselves in, each of them has been provided with one of Izzy's new "glitter flares" to use as a signal for help, they can also be used in the event of anypony finding an important piece of evidence related to the case, but since they only carry enough cartridges to use it twice before it runs out, they must be used only when necessary. After a hectic breakfast spent gathering everything they need for the day's long trip to Bridlewood, the Mane Five have now departed in full, their satchel bags full to the brim with items they've taken with them on the journey, in Izzy's and Pipps case, they packed a little too much stuff. "Seriously sis, why'd you have to bring your cosmetics with you as well? We're only going to be gone for a day at most." Said Zipp. "Oh please Zipp, you know that I need to look my best as much as possible, especially since my Pippsqueaks are going to be helping us out, the last thing I want is for me to look slightly less 'Pipp and Prim' to them when I do my streams and status updates. "Said Pipp, already gazing up into her phone. "Heh, why is that, are you afraid of them seeing you looking like you've been through a mud trial instead?" Said Zipp teasingly. "Wha- Y-yes! I don't want to end up becoming the laughingstock of the whole CanterNet, not with the standing I have!" Said Pipp, looking annoyed. "You mean like what happened to Silver Streak, the so-called 'shining silver stallion' when he was caught messily eating all those hay burgers at the local restaurant, his 'deluxe white coat' all greasy and messy?" Said Zipp, looking smug. "Yes exactly! The poor pony never recovered from that humiliation." Said Pipp dejectedly. "Hey come on, it was funny wasn't it?" Said Zipp reassuringly. "Well... I guess it is kind of funny now looking back on it, I'm just thankful that my Pippsqueaks haven't been exposed to such a thing from me yet, goodness knows the humiliation I'd get." Said Pipp, feeling more confident. "It wouldn't be the end of the world Pipp, sometimes you just gotta have a good laugh sometimes, even if it's at your own expense." Said Zipp. "Pffft, pur-lease Zipp, all you ever do is laugh at my expense at any opportunity you get, but you rarely let me have a chance to do it at all since you all you do is just brush it off like it was nothing, how can I ever work with that?" Said Pipp, pouting a little. "You do have a habit of being over-dramatic about such a thing, even the littlest thing like a stray hair becoming stuck out is enough to freak you out like you are about to have a heart attack." Said Zipp bluntly. Pipp gasped, then looked up at her sister, "W-what!? Why you-" "Alright alright, that's enough you two, we've got a job to do today." Called Hitch from the front. The two sisters looked on at him, then sheepishly laughed together before moving on from their little quarrel. "I don't know about you ponies, but I'm feeling super-duper excited to be going back home to Bridlewood today, I haven't been there ever since I moved out months ago, I hope my home is still in one piece, with all my uni-cycled tools and jars of glitter!" Said Izzy, bouncing along the path with joy. "Izzy, this is a serious matter! Unicorns have been vanishing all across Equestria, and Bridlewood has been hit hard by it most, we have to focus on finding them and bring them back home today!" Said Sunny. "I know that silly, but I'm also happy to be coming back home as well, I can't wait to see everypony again, especially Alphabittle, I hope he's still hanging in there despite all that's going on." Said Izzy. "The way things are going right now, there might not be anypony left to welcome you home Izz." Said Zipp. "Zipp!" Shouted Sunny, Hitch and Pipp together. "What? I'm not wrong about it, am I?" Said Zipp, looking a little sheepish. "No, but you could've worded that much better for Izzy's sake." Said Pipp sarcastically. "Heh, sorry about that Izzy." Said Zipp softly. "None taken at all Zippy." Said Izzy with a smile. "Z-z-zippy!?" Said Zipp wide eyed. The other ponies started chuckling, Pipp audibly louder than the rest. "Haha, Zippy? Isn't that the nickname our old caretaker used to call you back when we were fillies?" Said Pipp smugly. Zipp went on the defensive, trying to steer the conversation away that topic. "M-m-maybe, but you know I much rather be called Zipp, or even Zephyrina instead of that you know!" Said Zipp with a silly grin. "Really now? So that means you accept being the royal princess and heir to the throne after all?" Said Pipp smugly. "Yes, I m-mean NO! I mean... ughh!" Said Zipp in disgust. "Gotcha that time sis." Said Pipp with a wink, before trotting along triumphantly. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, lil Pippy." Said Zipp dismissively, but with a hidden smirk. Pipp looked back at her horrified at what she just said, but Zipp only chuckled, then took off into the air above them. Pipp quietly groaned about her old nickname, then carried on trotting in a huff. "Anyway! Moving on, how long do you think it's going to take for us to reach Bridlewood Izzy?" Asked Hitch. Izzy thought for a moment, then she opened up her satchel and took out a map she had brought with her, it was hoof drawn in her own signature art style, complete with doodles, glitter and other Unicorn-esque things. "Hmmm, well if my information is correct, and sometimes it's not, if we keep on moving along the path that we're on right now, we should be able to reach the forest by this afternoon." Said Izzy, examining the map closely. "If your information is correct? Wasn't it you who made this map up in the first place?" Said Hitch with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I did, I took into account all of the measurements and angles from where we would have to go, and the distance from here to there. And as a bonus I also drew us on here too, see Sunny here in Maretime Bay, me over here in Bridlewood, and Zipp and Pipp over here in Zephyr Heights!" Said Izzy, proud of her creation. "That's uh, adorable Izzy." Said Pipp, shrugging her shoulders with a smile. "Wait hold on now, who is this supposed to be next to Sunny?" Asked Hitch, pointing to the doodle in question with the tall looking stetson. "Oh uh, I think that one is meant to be you Hitch, dressed up as a cowpony with hat and all." Said Izzy innocently. The other ponies let out a laugh, Hitch however was bemused. "Ha ha ha, very funny Izzy, just because I'm wearing my detective hat today doesn't mean you can make fun of it." Said Hitch with a huff. "Aww come on Hitchy-poo, it's just a doodle, lighten up and look the brighter side of things." Said Izzy, rolling up her map and tucking it away in her bag. Hitch just huffed and carried on walking down the path. "So anyway, you said that if we stick to this path here, we should reach Bridlewood in no time at all?" Asked Sunny. "That's right! But we should all get a move on, they say some 'nasties' lurk out here in the wilderness." Said Izzy, picking up the pace. "Huh, what do you mean by 'nasties'?" Asked Pipp cautiously. "Weeeeell, Alphabittle told me once when I was a filly that outside of Bridelwood in the wilderness around what was once Ancient Equestria, some nasty looking monsters lived out there, with no-pony around to keep things in order they now roamed freely, looking for anything to munch their teeth into, ponies included!" Said Izzy, making loud biting sounds with her jaw. "Seriously? Are they actually real or not?" Said Pipp, looking worried. "I've never seen one myself, even during the first time that I left the forest, but as the saying goes, you never know when you'll be somepony else's lunch. That's another reason I made these glitter flares right here, in case one of us ends up in trouble, so we can send up a signal for help." Said Izzy, showing one of the flares off. "That's not exactly reassuring Izzy, especially if they end up not working." Said Hitch. "It's better than ending up as a monsters lunch sheriff." Said Zipp hovering next to him. "Whatever." Said Hitch dismissively. "Hey everypony, it looks like the road splits along here into two directions." Called Sunny. "Wait what? I don't remember there being a fork in the road the last time we went to Bridlewood." Said Zipp. "Oh that's because we took the longer and more rugged route to there from Zephyr Heights remember? This route along here is the fastest way to get to Bridlewood, but we have two choices of where we can go." Said Izzy, pulling her map out again. "So... Which path is the quickest then?" Asked Zipp. "Well according to my map, the left path here is the fastest way to get to my hometown, but it's also the most rugged and potentially dangerous since it goes by a nearby open gorge." Said Izzy, pointing with her hoof. "That sounds right up my alley." Said Zipp with a smile. "Now the right path here will take a little longer to get there since it goes through the thicket of the forest, but it's also the safer of the two paths." Said Izzy. "That sounds like the ideal one to take." Said Sunny thoughtfully. "Hmm, I don't know about you girls, but the sooner we can get to Bridlewood the better, I don't want the trail to go cold." Said Hitch, eying the left path. "Well I am in no mood to get my mane messed up today, so I think I'll take the leisurely walk to get there." Said Pipp, pointing to the right path. The Mane Five seemed split on which direction to take, but Izzy came up with an idea to solve it. "Hey I got an idea, why don't we all split up and take both paths to Bridlewood?" Said Izzy. "I'm all for that, we can cover way more ground that way." Said Zipp. "Hmm I don't know everypony, splitting up into different groups might be risky, especially since we have no idea what could be out there, much less if we run into whatever is behind the Unicorns vanishing." Said Sunny, looking a little worried. "It's no biggie Sunny, we're both going to be meeting up at the same place at the end anyway. That and as Zipp just said, we can cover more ground in our investigation that way too." Said Hitch. "Yeah, we might even be able to find double the clues that way too." Said Pipp, whipping out her phone to check her updates. "And if we do end up in trouble, we have the glitter flares that I made right here to signal for help." Said Izzy, folding up her map away. Sunny looked at her friends, taking in what they just said. Despite still having concerns about the idea, she ultimately decided to give it a try. "Alright I'm convinced, let's do this! Pipp, Izzy and I will take the right path to Bridlewood, Hitch, you and Zipp can take the left path to there, with all that ground to cover, we're bound to find something related to the case at hoof! Remember to keep your eyes peeled and ears up for anything suspicious you see, and together we will split this whole mystery wide open! "Hay yeah! Now that's the Sunny Starscout I know!" Said Hitch, giving her a hoof bump. "I'm gonna go scout out the left path ahead, catch you all later." Said Zipp who took off into the air and flew off. "We'd better get a move on too, I'm itching to get back to my home as soon as possible." Said Izzy, jumping with excitement. And with that, the Mane five had split up into two groups, with Sunny's group taking the right path towards Bridlewood, while Hitch's took the left one. Sunny and her group were soon on their merry way down the path, and as Izzy's map had said, it seemed to be the safer of the two paths, the views were more open and clear, very easy to spot any danger that might approach them. Sunny however still seemed to be distracted about something on her mind, she was paying little attention to what was in front of her, instead gazing off far into the distance, something which didn't go unnoticed by her friends. "Sunny hunny, are you okay?" Asked Pipp hovering nearby. "Huh? O-oh umm, y-yeah i'm okay, why?" Said Sunny, stuttering a little. "Well you've been staring off into space for the last few minutes, not that it's weird or anything since I do it all the time, but it's pretty unusual for you to be doing that." Said Izzy. "I guess I just got lost in my own thoughts for a little bit." Said Sunny, grinning sheepishly. Pipp didn't seemed convinced, she trotted up close to her and asked her more directly, "Tell me Sunny, are you worried about Izzy's safety?" "W-well umm..." Said Sunny. "Are you worried about me vanishing like all the other Unicorns?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny looked at the two of them, then signed heavily, "Yes, yes I am worried about her safety, with all these Unicorns going missing... i'd hate for something to happen to her too..." "Hey, don't over-worry yourself thin Sunny, we'll never let that happen ever, right Izzy?" Said Pipp. "Right as light, so long as we all stick together, ain't nothing bad going to happen to me, and even if it did, we'd all just vamoose away in safety." Said Izzy smiling at her friends. "You see Sunny? Our friendship will protect us from any danger that comes our way, isn't that what you always encourage towards us?" Said Pipp, hoof bumping Sunny's chest. Sunny stood there taking in what they just said, then smiled to herself, they were right, she couldn't let her fears and worries get the better of her now, not when there are ponies to rescue. "You're right girls, I need to keep my fears down and my focus up, now let's get moving and get to Bridlewood!" Said Sunny, clenching her hoof in confidence. "Now that's more like it, let's get going!" Said Pipp, taking off into the air. "Yeah let's get rolling everypony!" Said Izzy, now wearing her helmet and roller blades. "When did you put them on?" Asked Pipp with a raised eyebrow. "I've had these with me in my bag ever since we left the Brighthouse." Said Izzy sticking her tongue out, then looking over to Sunny, "Hey Sunny, how about we have a race to Bridlewood? First one to get there gets free tea from Alphabittle!" "Oh you are so on! Alphabittle makes the best brews of tea." Said Sunny, getting into position. "Ready, set, GO!" Shouted Izzy, racing down the path with Sunny just behind her. "Hey, wait up!" Called Pipp as she flew after them as fast as she could. The three ponies raced down the path towards the distant sea of trees in a race to see who would get there first. All three of them were nervous deep down about what awaited them in the forest, but they were determined to get there as soon as possible. However, they were unaware that the path they were on was being monitored at a distance by a lone drone hovering high above out of sight, and having detected their movements, it was now cautiously following them, tracking where they were going, and why. Meanwhile, deep inside the Bridlewood forest itself, everything was deathly quiet and still, an unusual sight to witness in the woods itself. The once serene, mysterious yet wondrous location now felt rather sinister and eerie to enter, as an aura of danger now hung in the air around it, the thin rays of sunshine streaming down from the branches above doing little to dispel it. In amongst the thicket, a pair of Unicorns remained in hiding inside a large hallowed out log that had fallen onto the ground, one of them was an adult stallion Unicorn with a blond mane and tail with white streaks running through each, paired along with his deep tan coat and yellow eyes. The other pony was a young filly with a pale yellow coat, deep blue mane and tail, with deep green eyes hiding behind her glasses. The older of the two had his head held high up, listening out intensely for any noises or disturbances nearby that might alert them to danger. "Cripes, I don't hear anything out there at the moment little one, it's too quiet." "I-is it safe now mister umm...?" "It's Starduster filly, I'll take a quick look around to check, but please stay hidden until I feel it's safe." Said the Unicorn, as he quietly peaked his head out to take a look around. The surroundings seemed still and quiet, with the distance sound of bird song from far away, and yet Starduster was not dumb, for he knew that looks can be deceiving, and whatever is behind the Unicorns disappearing might not be far away. For now though, it seemed the coast was clear, and they can move on closer towards Bridlewood. "It seems all clear for now, but we better get moving towards Bridlewood, we'll be safer there than out here." Said Starduster, looking back at the filly. "That's a good idea... " Said the filly. "Say what is your name by the way?" Asked Starduster. "It's Jasmine sir, and thank you." She said, doing a little bow. "Don't thank me yet Jasmine, not until we're out of this mess we've got ourselves into." Said Starduster seriously. Jasmine agreed, then the two of them started walking quietly but quickly through the thicket of the forest, keeping their heads down to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. The young filly was thankful to have been found by Starduster who came to help her when she got lost in the woods, looking up at him, she felt safer in his presence. However, she couldn't help but notice that his eyes were distracted, like something on his mind was bothering him. "Pardon me mister, but is something wrong?" Asked Jasmine. "Well umm... yes, actually there is something that is bothering me, and it's about you." Said Starduster, looking at her. The little filly stopped, looking at him in surprise, "W-what do you mean?" "It's simple, how on earth did you end up wondering way out here in the first place?" Said Starduster. "Oh umm... it's a little hard to explain but..." Said Jasmine uneasily. "You do know how dangerous it's become out here right? Alphabittle warned everypony to never go far from Bridlewood because of all the Unicorns disappearing in the woods, and yet you still went wondering around out here on your own without telling anypony!" Said Starduster severely. Jasmine gulped, she was trying to speak up but Starduster interrupted her. "It's pointlessly reckless to do such a thing on your own, especially at your age!" He said with a mild shout. "I-I know that... b-but... I had to come out here... I had to find him...!" Said Jasmine, trying to speak up. "Is that right? Was it a family member you were looking for, or somepony else?" Asked Starduster. Jasmine seemed to be on the edge about something, but she took a deep breath and started explaining. "...It's my dad, I wanted to find my dad. He didn't come home at all yesterday... After my mum passed away he's my only family I have left... I know we were all warned about wondering into the woods, but I wanted to find him..." She said sadly. Starduster signed, then he gently patted her head to comfort her. "That was a brave thing to do little one, but again also reckless too, you should never wonder off on your own, it can get you killed you know." He said. Jasmine nodded silently, Starduster looked into her eyes, he saw that she was struggling to keep herself from breaking down over something, and he had a hunch that he knew what it was too. "I can see it your eyes Jasmine, you already know the fate of your father, don't you?" Said Starduster slowly. Jasmine started choking up, tears starting to leak out of her eyes. "...Y-yes I do... The Metal Monster must've got him... A-and... And then it..." The poor filly couldn't hold back anymore, the emotion was getting too much, she burst out crying. "I want my father back...!" Sobbed Jasmine loudly. "There there little one, i'm sure your father is-" "The Metal Monster took him away! He's never coming back, he's probably dead by now or worse!" She shouted loudly. Starduster looked at the poor little pony crying her emotions out, he signed and gently comforted her in a hug. He had heard rumors from around Bridlewood about the so called "Metal Monster" that had been spotted in the forest recently, chasing after Unicorns and taking them away to who knows where, never to be seen again. Whether it was true or not, it's got everypony in Bridlewood on the edge, in fear that it might someday invade their home and attack them too. Poor little Jasmine just had her father taken away by it, and despite the danger, she still wanted to find him. Sniffing a little tear, he couldn't help but be proud of that courage, even if it was reckless of her to do so, he had to cheer her up and encourage her somehow. Showing a warm smile, he lifted her chin up at him. "Listen Jasmine, you will find your dad again, I know you will." Said Starduster reassuringly. Jasmine looked up at him, wiping away her tears, "H-huh? D-do you mean it mister?" Starduster smiled at her, nodding his head, "I do mean it, you can trust me." "T-thank you..." She sniffed, getting back to her hooves, showing a smile again. "But first, we need to get back to Bridlewood, it's not safe out here." Said Starduster. Jasmine nodded, and the two of them set off once again back towards Bridlewood in renewed spirits and determination. However, it wasn't long before Starduster began to think that there was something off about everything around them, he looked down upon the path they were on and noticed something alarming, stopping Jasmine in her tracks. "H-hey, what's going on mister?" Asked Jasmine. "Look down at the tracks on this path, notice anything different about them?" Said Starduster. Jasmine took a good look at the path, it was well travelled with all sorts of hoof prints left behind by ponies who walked along here on the path to Bridlewood. However, she did notice something different about one set of tracks, taking a closer look at them. "These sets of tracks are different from the other ones." She said, pointing them out with her hoof. "A sharp eye you got there little one, tell me, what's different about them?" Asked Starduster. "Hmmm... oh, they look bigger than a normal ponies, and there is no hoof mark in them... just one big flat print." Said Jasmine. "That's correct Jasmine, but... Do you realize what this means? Whatever or whoever left tracks like that, it's not from a normal pony." Said Starduster ominously. Jasmines eyes went wide, she started to look around wildly, her breathing becoming more panicked. "Oh no! N-no no no no! T-the Metal Monster has been though here!" She shouted out loud. "Shush! You don't want to attract it's attention do you-" He was cut off when there came a loud crack of split tree bark from not far away, causing him to look in the direction of where it came from, cold sweat beginning to form on his brow. "I think we better get galloping and fast, come on, hop onto my back quick!" Said Starduster, lowering himself down for her to jump on. Jasmine climbed onto his back and held onto him for dear life as Starduster started galloping down the path as fast as he could. After there was another loud crack of tree bark splitting, Jasmine took a gaze behind her against her better judgement, and to her horror, she saw it. There it was, chasing right after them, the so called "Metal Monster", it looked like a large dark silhouette with a single glowing red eye, it was hovering above the ground like an evil spirit, and there was a loud roaring sound, nothing like she had ever heard before that was coming from it, and it seemed to get louder the closer it got to them. "It's after us, it's after us!" Shouted Jasmine. "Just hold on tight, we'll try to get away from it!" Said Starduster Starduster tried to pick up the pace, but he soon found himself tiring out quickly, he was no athlete like an Earth Pony was, and if he ended up collapsing from exhaustion, then the Metal Monster chasing them would catch up to them and do who knows what to them, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen, especially to Jasmine, he couldn't stomach the thought of a little one being taken away by it. Luckily however, he spotted a large fallen tree that he could duck under to escape it's sight, he just had to time the dive just right to make it work. "Alright, I've got an idea, we're gonna lose that thing, hold on tight now." Said Starduster, making his way to the fallen tree. Jasmine held on for dear life as Starduster suddenly jolted down and ducked under the fallen tree, it was just low enough for the two of them to dash under it and out to the other side, where they found themselves in a clearing. After that, Starduster slowed his pace down, taking a look back to see that they seemed to have lost the monster. "Hahh hah... looks like we managed to lose it." He said, trying to catch his breath. Jasmine however wasn't so sure they had lost it, she could still hear that awful roaring noise coming from nearby, she feared they were not out of danger just yet. "Umm I don't think we're out of danger yet..." "Huh, what makes you say that?" Said Starduster in surprise. "...Look out!" She shouted, pointing a hoof at something aiming at them. Starduster looked at what she was pointing at, and reacted just a second too late, jumping out of the way as a blast went off right next to him, knocking him and Jasmine onto the ground, with Starduster clutching his side in pain. "Augh... dang that really hurts." He said, rubbing his side, making sure it wasn't cut. Both had little time to get themselves up when they heard loud stomps coming their way, both looked up and saw that they were surrounded by a number of pony like figures, staring at the two of them with their single glowing eyes. "W-what are t-these things, p-ponies!?" Asked Jasmine fearfully. Starduster however, could tell right away that they were not ponies, they may have had the same general shape, but it was obvious that they were something else entirely. "Those aren't ponies... and they're not friendly at all." He said, trying to sit up, but the injury on his side made it hard to do so. The pony like figures all took a step forward towards them, one of them aiming it's hoof at them, Starduster quickly saw that it wasn't a hoof at all, but some sort of weapon in place of one. Not only that, but taking a closer look as it stepped into the ray of sunshine showed that it had metal parts attached to it, and a metal like body with segmented limbs like a robot. That's when it finally sunk in for Starduster, these things weren't monsters at all, they were robots. Now realizing how serious the danger they were in and more, Starduster began making a plan, looking over at Jasmine. "Jasmine, I want you to listen to me very carefully." He said to her. Jasmine looked up at him, listening intensely. "When I give the signal, I want you to jump off my back and run as fast as you can towards Bridlewood, you must warn them of what's really going on out here, this might be our only chance." Said Starduster, lifting her up onto his back." "B-but what about you mister? How will you escape?" Jasmine asked with concern. "I won't, I'll hold them off so they'll have to take me away, but it'll buy you enough time for you to escape." He said, looking serious. "Huh!? B-but I don't want to lose y-you... like I lost my dad... what if they kill you!?" Said Jasmine, tears forming in her eyes again. Starduster did seem to have a second of doubt in his mind, but his resolve was decided. "I know, I didn't want it to be this way either... but we have no choice, your safety is more important right now, just trust me." He said. Jasmine sobbed more, she was still against it, but she could see in his eyes that he was serious about doing this. Gulping hard and wiping her tears away, she nodded in agreement, then she got ready for the plan. "Ready? Let's do it! Hey you tin pots, take this!" Shouted Starduster, as he levitated a nearby log and tossed it straight towards them. The robot ponies didn't seemed to have expected him to do that as only a few of them jumped out of the way, the others ended up being smacked down by the log. "Now Jasmine, GO!" Shouted Starduster, launching her off his back as he ran towards robots to keep them occupied. Jasmine screamed as she landed behind the bushes, luckily catching her fall just in time, and then proceeding to run as fast as she could away from the clearing. She then heard the sounds of laser blasts and loud shouts behind her, she could only imagine what was going on behind her. Jasmine really wanted to stop and look back to see if Starduster was okay, but she knew that would just make it easier for the robots to catch up and capture her too. Tears flowed out of her eyes and flew behind her as she kept on moving forward faster and faster into the depths of the forest and out of danger. It seemed like ages since she started running, but eventually she started to see the familiar glow of crystals up ahead, that meant Bridlewood was so close now. Her little hooves were aching and she was short of breath, but she had to make it, she had to warn the rest of the Unicorns living in the village of what was going on. "A-almost... Hah... T-there... Haahh..." Jasmine panted, as she finally entered the settlement proper. She immediately spotted a few Unicorns gathered in a group nearby talking about something, one of them having put up a missing Unicorn poster, one of many that had been posted around the whole of Bridlewood. Despite being tired and out of breath, she mustered up whatever strength she could to try and reach them. "H-hey! E-everypony... Help me...!" She shouted breathlessly as she slowly made her way to them. One of the unicorns heard her and turned to look at her, "Huh? Jasmine! W-where have you been???" "I-I tried to help him... b-but... t-they got him...t-they took him away... S-starduster..." She panted out. "Starduster!? W-who got him, tell us please!" But poor Jasmine had no breath left to say more, she collapsed onto the ground exhausted and worn out from all the running. The group of Unicorns all panicked upon seeing it and raced over to check on her straight away. "Oh no! The poor thing has collapsed!" "What do you think she was trying to say about Starduster? I thought he left earlier today to go find some help at Maretime Bay." "D-d you think that t-t-the metal monster got him too!?" "It sounds like it from what she said... but i'm curious about who 'they' are, might they be in league with the Metal Monster?" "One of them is bad enough, a whole group of them I can do without thank you!" "Either way we need to get the poor filly to Alphabittle asap, he'll know what to do." The group all agreed, one of them picking up the fainted filly up onto their back, then carrying her over towards the Crystal Tea House where Alphabittle lived and served customers. They proceeded to knock on the door only to see it open up on it's own like it hadn't even been closed properly. Curious, the group peered inside, and there he was, Alphabittle, the leader of the Unicorns of Bridlewood, sitting around at a table all alone, looking down at the floor in dismay. "Welcome... please take a seat somewhere and my waiter will be with you... someday." He said dejectedly. The group looked at each other with concern, but they had to press the issue at hoof, clearing their throat, one of them spoke up. "Alphabittle sir, we have a situation here!" "Tell me about it... Unicorns disappearing all the time, a metal monster haunting about our neck of the woods, and now i'm losing customers because of this whole mess... i'm facing ruin..." Said Alphabittle sadly. "Yes I know sir, but we have a new one on our hooves, it's about Jasmine..." Alphabittle immediately perked up upon hearing that name, he looked over at the group wide eyed. "W-what happened to her? Oh no, don't tell me the metal monster got her too!" He shouted in shock. "Oh n-n-no sir, she's here safe and sound... but she fainted from exhaustion, we think that it was chasing her, but she managed to lose it." Alphabittle got up right away all fired up, knocking the table over in a hurry, "Bring her here over to the guest room right away, i'll look after her until she comes to." The Unicorns gave a nod, then followed Alphabittle into one of the guest rooms inside the Crystal Tea House, then very gently he took Jasmine into his hooves very carefully, then he proceeded to tuck her into the provided bed. He examined her forehead and her chest, and smiling a sign of relief, places a nearby cold wet cloth on top of her head. "Is she going to be okay sir?" "She'll be just fine, she just needs some rest for now, the poor filly must've ran too hard and worn herself out, she should come to after a few hours." Said Alphabittle. "I'm glad to hear that, she's the first Unicorn to have escaped from the metal monster." "Hmm, do you think she has information about it and what it looks like?" "I'm sure we all have many questions to ask her, but for now we should just leave her be to recover. Until then, we should all return back to our homes and be on guard, who knows if that monster is still lurking around nearby." Said Alphabittle seriously. The Unicorn group agreed to it, they all left the Crystal Tea house and went back to their homes, looking around to make sure that the coast was clear, leaving Alphabittle alone with Jasmine. He signed deeply, looking up at the small window high up shining sunlight down at him. "What kind of evil out there has decided to do this to us, what do they want with my fellow Unicorns, and why hasn't anyone in Maretime Bay responded to our letters calling for help? We've even sent a few of our own out there to try to get to the town, but each and every time, the metal monster gets to them before they even leave the woods... it's like we're trapped in here like mice in a cage..." He murmured to himself, frustrated at the situation deep down. Alphabittle looked over at Jasmine resting in bed one last time, then he quietly left the room, closing the door behind him. Then he began making his way back to the main room of the Crystal Tea House, slumping over at his usual spot in deep thought about the whole thing. He wouldn't have long to himself though, in less than an hour, the door once again burst wide open in surprise. "Welcome... please take a seat anywhere, and my waiter will be with you... eventually" He said dejectedly. "Jeez Alphabittle, I haven't seen you this down like ever, your sparkles are looking so dull right now." Said a familiar voice. Alphabittle knew that voice anywhere, he looked up and in his surprise, there she was, Izzy Moonbow in the flesh. "Izzy! You finally came back!" Shouted Alphabittle in surprise as he raced over to her. "Yeah well once we got word of what was going on around here, we all raced to get here as soon as we could." Said Izzy, giving off a big smile. Alphabittle looked over and saw that she had brought her friends with her too, but he noticed that they all looked a little ragged, like they had just been in a chase, Zipp and Hitch in particular were covered in leaves, twigs and other debris, while Sunny and Pipp had mud caked onto their hair and coats. "Uggghhh this is just the worst! I can't believe my Pippsqueaks saw all of that... look at them, they're all laughing at me!" Whined Pipp, trying her best to filter out all the laugh emojis her fans were spamming her chat with. "At least we all managed to escape to safety..." Said Sunny thoughtfully. "Tell me about it, I don't think i've ever run that fast in my life... how do you do it Zipp?" Said Hitch, still catching his breath. "Ehh, years of athletics and dare-deviling." Said Zipp with a shrug. "Umm, what on earth happened to you ponies, did you get lost or something?" Said Alphabittle curiously. "Ah heh heh heh... it's a bit of a long story actually..." Said Izzy, clapping her hoofs together sheepishly. "I think you should come in and get cleaned up, then tell me what happened." Said Alphabittle as he lead them all inside. "Thank Twilight, I need a bath right now!" Shouted Pipp as she eagerly dashed inside in a hurry. Everypony else in the Mane five just signed before making their way inside as well, closing the door behind them. Little did they know though that their movements have been monitored all along by the same hovering drone from earlier, and having captured enough footage of their location, flew off deep into the woods, disappearing out of sight. Who does the drone belong to, what happened to Sunny and her friends that left them so dishevelled, and just what is the mysterious metal monster that seems to be the culprit behind the Unicorns disappearances? The mystery at hoof is only getting stranger, and more dangerous. Author's Note Hey everyone, sorry for taking longer than normal in getting this done, but after a hacking situation occurred a week after I released the first Act of the story, my motivation took a major hit as I tried to get everything secured and organized. I had gone through multiple treatments of this part to see what worked and what didn't, but I ended up liking this one with focus on the Unicorns in Bridlewood dealing with the situation that was going on and how they were adapting to it. I aim to start working on the next part of the story as soon as possible, hopefully it won't take anywhere near as long to finish as this one did. Act 2 - Chapter 3It was now early evening in the Bridlewood forest, the fading sun's rays shown through the thick branches high above onto the village below, the crystals that grew around started to glow brighter, illuminating the surroundings in their light. The scenery was tranquil, yet the shadows in the background hid the danger that was lurking within, as the distant sounds of heavy still hooves clank about. It was at this time that in the Crystal Tea House in the middle of the village, a meeting had been taking place between the Mane Five, Alphabittle and a young Unicorn named Jasmine, and Queen Haven with her royal guards. They had been talking about everything that had been going on in recent times with her, including the missing Unicorns, the ambush in the forest from drones, and information about the mysterious "Metal Monster" that they suspected to be behind the Unicorns vanishing without a trace. Queen Haven leaned back on the chair, slowly taking in all the information they had told her, rubbing her hoof under her chin, while the guards provided a cloth to cool her forehead down. "So, let me get this straight my dears, the Unicorns have been vanishing from Bridlewood for unexplained reasons, but most likely ponynapping, and after you received letters calling for help, you've come here to help Alphabittle in finding them, but on the way you were attacked by a swarm of drones that chased you all the way here, and now after speaking to the little filly over here, you've learned that there is some sort of 'Metal Monster' lurking out in the forest. Am I correct so far?" Said Haven slowly. The Mane Five and Alphabittle all nodded their heads in agreement. "But from what she tells me, there are also robot ponies moving around as well, and you suspect that they might be linked to the Metal Monster?" Said Haven to the group. "It's only speculation at this point, but with all the testimony so far, I wouldn't rule it out." Said Hitch. "But most importantly, you suspect that somepony is behind all of this, and that it could be a former high ranking official of the Canterlogic company too." Said Haven, who seemed concerned about something. "That's right, we ruled out Zephyr Heights since we know that by law such drones are forbidden to be manufactured." Said Sunny. "That is correct my dear, still, it does concern me with how all of this has been going on under our noses, that and one other matter we've had to deal with." Said Haven. "You mean the private meeting that you had with your daughters?" Said Alphabittle. "So they told you, did they? The matters of the meeting are strictly royal business only, they were not to mention any details of it!" Said Haven, looking at Zipp and Pipp with disappointment. "B-b-but mother, we didn't say anything about it at all, only that we had a meeting and that was it!" Said Zipp in protest. "Say I just thought of something, what if what happened at the meeting is also related to the case going on right now?" Said Hitch to Haven. "Hmm, well from what you have told me so far, I can only say that there is a small amount of overlap with what was discussed in the meeting, but unless you can provide solid evidence to me that will help prove a connection, I'm afraid I cannot tell you any of the details until then." Said Haven with a serious look. "Huh? But how will we know what evidence to find? So far we haven't found any solid clues to the case at all, not even hoof tracks, photographs, or even a sample of the drones that attacked us..." Said Hitch dejectedly. Sunny however, thought about the last thing Hitch had mentioned, as good as photographs might be, a sample of one of the drones or even the robot ponies would be much more valuable a clue to provide, especially if it could lead them to who the culprit is. "Wait a minute Hitch, that's it! We should try finding a sample of one of the drones and bring it back here for study and examination." Said Sunny excitedly. "Hey that's not a bad idea Sunny, especially if we can find out where they came from, and who made them, it could be what we need to split this whole mess wide open." Said Hitch, extending a hoof for her to bump, which she did in kind. "Wait hang on one moment, you two do realize the implications of what you have to do to get a sample right?" Said Pipp worryingly. "Yes we know, it would mean tracking them down and fighting them, and even though there is a risk of us getting hurt or even captured, it's our only chance to get a clue from them." Hitch said to Pipp. "Does that mean we will have to smash, bash and crash them just to get a sample?" Said Izzy curiously. "Ah well, the thing is Izzy, as good as it would be to study their remains and parts, it would be much more valuable if we could capture one of the drones intact." Said Zipp. "Capture one, but how will we go about doing that? We saw how armed those things are with their laser cannons and fast movement, it'll be tricky to get close to one and take it down, enabling us to capture it." Said Sunny. "Well, if it helps I could always try using my magic to hold one in place if that will help out." Said Izzy with a smile. The other ponies seemed to be shaking their heads from the suggestion, Sunny herself understood what they were thinking, she knew that she would have to break the news to Izzy later on before nightfall. "Still, it's our best bet in getting a lead on the case, we have no choice but to take the fight to the robots." Said Hitch, who was now feeling fired up. "Sounds like a plan, I'm in." Said Zipp. The others in the Mane Five all agreed to it too, including Izzy, though the others again seemed to be thinking of something else regarding her. "Excellent, we'll start planning after dinner." Said Hitch. "Oh goodness, speak of the devil, I had almost forgotten all about it, Alphie, is the dinner still on dear?" Said Haven to Alphabittle. "It sure is, but we'll likely need more plates for the guests, they are likely hungry after all they've been through today." Said Alphabittle, who went into the kitchen to get started. "Hmm, sheriff, there is one thing that I am curious about that you mentioned in our conversation." Said Haven, turning to him. "Yes, what would that be your highness?" Said Hitch. "You mentioned that you had a few suspects in mind from the case, can you tell who they are, per chance?" Said Haven. "Umm, I did say that yes." Said Hitch, who pulled out his notebook and flipped to the page, "The two suspects we have right now are Phyllis Cloverleaf, former head of Canterlogic, and the other a former scientist and chief of R&D at Canterlogic, Dr Altair Wormwood." Queen Haven raised an eyebrow at the mention of the names, but Hitch couldn't gauge if he had said something important to her, or something else. "Phyllis and Wormwood huh, the former I know from the incident months ago, but the latter is new to me." "Well he used to work for Canterlogic, until he was let go for supposedly harbouring a like for Unicorns, but no pony knows for sure what really happened." Said Sunny. "Is that so? Hmm, and do we know what he's been up to recently?" Said Haven. "Oh oh oh, I saw him yesterday down at the local junkyard, we bumped into each other while there, talked about some things, then he went off on his way to the woods not far from there, and I haven't seen him since then, but he said he would send me a message when he was available again." Said Izzy. "Hmm, curious, very curious." Said Haven, who then monitored for her daughters to come to her. "What is it mother?" Asked Pipp. The Queen leaned forward and whispered to them, "Meet me upstairs in five minutes, we'll do a reconvening about the meeting there, and remember, no pony must know about what we're looking into, not until we have proof of a connection between it and the case the sheriff is investigating." "Understood." Said Zipp and Pipp. Queen Haven smiled, then trotted her way upstairs, but not before giving a wink to Alphabittle, who smiled back, to the sister's confusion. "So what's the next move then everypony?" Said Izzy eagerly. "Well, we're gonna start planning our next move after dinner, then I plan to start a stake out later in the night to see if the robots make a move on the village while the others sleep." Said Hitch. "A stake out, on your own? That's dangerous sheriff, are you sure you know what to do?" Said Zipp, looking worried. "Sure as pie, but I'll need to find a place to hide out in, not too obvious, but offers good enough views of the whole area." Said Hitch. "Hmm, the only place in Bridlewood that offers that is the home next to the Crystal Tea House, it has an open upper level balcony for the views." Said Alphabittle, who had been listening in from the kitchen. "Huh? B-but... that's my home..." Said Jasmine in surprise. "Ohhh yeah, that's right, you don't mind if Hitchio uses your home for his staking out, right Jasmine?" Izzy said to Jasmine. Jasmine seemed unsure about it, her father always warned her about welcoming strangers into their house, and with him now gone she was even stricter about it. Still though, as she looked on at Hitch, who was a police officer, and a respected member of the Mane Five, she felt safe with him, just like she did with Izzy. The sheriff held out his hoof to the little Unicorn, gesturing for a hoof shake. "What do you say little filly, will you help me in setting up my stake out later tonight?" Said Hitch. Jasmine thought for a few moments, then walked forward and shook the sheriffs hoof. "Yes, yes I will help you, but you will protect me from the monsters out there, won't you?" Said Jasmine. "Of course little one, as an officer and a gentlecolt, it's my duty to serve and protect anypony, no matter who they are or what they look like." Said Hitch, clapping a hoof to his chest in bravado. "Gentlecolt? That's rich." Said a voice behind him, along with some giggles, but Hitch rolled his eyes and ignored it. "Do you want to come to the house right now to take a look around? It's a bit of a mess, but I'm sure you need it ready for whatever you have planned." Said Jasmine thoughtfully. "That's a good idea, it sounds like dinner will be ready soon though, so we'd better hurry and make it back on time." Said Hitch. The two of them then took their leave of the Crystal Tea House to Jasmines home nearby. At the same time, Pipp and Zipp had followed their mother upstairs to have a meeting privately between them, locking the door behind them, leaving Izzy and Sunny on their own for the time being. After a little bit, Izzy hummed a tune to herself as she tried to think of something to pass the time, when she noticed Sunny looking away into the distance, it seemed that something was on her mind again. "Hey Sunny, what's wrong? You troubled by something on your mind again?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny however let out a deep sign, then slowly turned to look at Izzy, she had a sad yet serious look on her face, almost as if she had made a decision in her head just now. "Izzy listen, can we have a serious talk for a few minutes, just me and you?" Said Sunny. "Umm, sure, what's the matter?" Said Izzy, unsure what is on Sunny's mind. She no idea that the conversation they were about to have was going to test their friendship like never before. Upstairs in the Crystal Tea House, inside what was assumed to be Alphabittle's private lounge, the three members of Pegasus royalty were discussing amongst themselves their own little investigation into an incident that had occurred in Zephyr Heights. Up until now, the details of it had remained top secret to everypony else except the royal family, largely to keep details from leaking out. Now however, with mounting suspicion that the incident in Zephyr Heights and the case in Bridlewood could be related to each other, the three Pegasi were divulging the details openly to each other. "Huh, so we still have no clue as to what caused the break in at the royal archives to happen in the first place?" Said Zipp to her mother. The Queen shook her head, "Unfortunately no, the investigation on our end back at home has not produced any decisive results so far." "But there must be something we must've overlooked, I mean, how could they have just slipped in undetected, hacked our system database, and then fled with little traces remaining?" Said Pipp in disbelief. "That's the big problem we're facing sis, security camera footage of the scene was tampered with while the crime was taking place, for three whole minutes there was nothing but static on the monitor, and the audio was muted too. As a result, we have no idea who or what was there when the hacking happened." Said Zipp bluntly. "Whomever it was, they were very clever and crafty, and likely knowledgeable about how security systems operate too." Said Haven thoughtfully. "Do we at least know what the hacker did while they were there, what were they after?" Pipp asked her mother. "Well, from what we've found in the history files, it seems to largely be information regarding the geography of the land of Equestria today, maps of known towns and cities that we've found since the reunification happened, as well as details of roads and paths to suspected ruins and places of interest, but... There is else something more troubling that we've found out today." Said Haven, showing a rare sign of concern. "What is it mother, what has been found?" Said Zipp, not liking the sound of her tone. "The hacker.... has also downloaded blueprints related to our airships, including a prototype that is currently under development at the royal factory on the industrial plateau below Zephyr Heights." Said Haven slowly. "Wait what? You mean the ZHSS Cirrus? But that's not due to be completed for another two years yet, due to the new jet engines being developed for it that'll give it much greater speed, and allow it to fly at higher altitudes in the skies." Said Zipp out loud. "And how did you know about all that, Zipp?" Said Pipp inquisitively. "Hey, you know me sis, I love to learn about new tech all the time, especially if it's to do with going faster." Said Zipp proudly. "Anyway dears, this is what worries me the most, if the hacker has the blueprints to our airships, including that prototype, there is no telling what they could do with it." Said Haven. "What do you mean by that mother? I mean, they're just airships after all, even if they were leaked online on the ponynet, I think it's unlikely anypony could but us could build them, they likely won't have the resources to do so, much less get them flying in the first place." Said Pipp, taking a moment to use her phone. "That is true dear, if they were planning to use them commercially, but... There is also the other side of the coin that we have to worry about too." Said Haven ominously. Pipp seemed confused by what she was implying, but Zipp quickly figured it out, leaving her wide eyed and in near disbelief. "W-Wait! Are you saying that they could use our airships as weapons!?" Shouted Zipp. "Shush Zephyrina, not so loud." Said Haven severely, "But to answer your question, yes, that is my biggest worry about all this, the blueprints they stole could be used for ill in the wrong hoofs." The room fell silent as the two sisters slowly let the revelation sink into their heads, they couldn't believe that anypony could use their own technology against them, something that they have long taken advantage of, now suddenly a threat to them. However, it wasn't long before the two began to slowly connect the pieces in their heads about what their mother was getting at, and together the two sisters reached a conclusion. "Ohhh, I get it now, that's why you were interested in the case that Hitch and we were investigating, you suspected that there might be a connection between the hacking incident in Zephyr Heights, and the Unicorns disappearing in Bridlewood." Said Pipp, reared up on the table in excitement. "That is correct Pipp, but as I have already said, until we have hard evidence that the two cases are connected, it's only speculation at this point." Said Haven firmly. "Hmm, that is true." Said Pipp as she got down from the table. Queen Haven then leans forward to her daughters with a serious expression. "That being said, I am however concerned about the situation here in Bridlewood, and who might be behind the Unicorns vanishing, if they are using drones and robots as part of their plan as the little filly and you have told us, then it's safe to assume that there could be a link right there." Said Haven, showing worry on her face. "Ah I see, you suspect that the hacker had used a drone of some kind to disrupt our security systems, allowing them to hack our databases without alerting the security." Said Pipp, who was now realizing what it could mean. "Exactly, now you see why capturing one of the drones is actually much more important now then it was beforehoof." Said Haven seriously. "Yes mother, if drones were behind the hack, then if we capture one of them that's hiding out in the forest, we just might find the link we need to tie the two together. " Said Zipp who was now brimming with enthusiasm. "Exactly sis, this could be just what we need to split the whole thing wide open." Said Pipp, hoofbumping her sis. "Very good girls, furthermore, we should consider researching into the suspects of the Bridlewood incident, we might also find another link right there." Said Haven. "Oh yeah, I have been meaning to ask, Zipp, do you think that Phyllis could be behind this whole thing?" Said Pipp seriously. "Honestly Pipp, I am unsure if she is or not. Even though she held much animosity towards us Pegasi and Unicorns, even making devices designed to capture us, she does seemed to have changed for the better, and with Canterlogic itself no longer in operation, it paints her as unlikely to be the culprit." Said Zipp, browsing through her notes. "That is true, but don't forget that she willingly allowed her son to carry out that harebrained scheme to destroy us, even helping to build that war machine of his that caused a lot of trouble for us." Said Pipp, who hadn't forgotten the carnage it had wrought. "Again very good point, still though, even if she did have such resources at her disposal, I'm unsure if she would have the knowledge to carry out such a crime like this, she never really struck me as a mastermind who could orchestrate such events like this." Said Zipp thoughtfully. "Hmm, I'm afraid I would have to agree with Zephyrina my dear, from my brief meeting with her and observing her latent attitude, I don't think she is that ill disposed to us any more." Said Haven. "That and we can also rule out her son too, Sprout is currently serving sentence and doing community service around town from his recent antics, and I highly doubt that he is capable of such a plan like this, even if he is actually quite cunning and devious." Said Zipp, remembering his attempts to disrupt the upcoming holiday for Maretime Bay. "But if that's all true, then that leaves us just one suspect, one whom we haven't even seen yet..." Said Pipp knowingly. "Dr Wormwood, I know." Said Zipp bluntly. "From what I can understand, this pony is a scientific genius who worked under Phyllis as her chief of R&D at Canterlogic, and was the brains behind the Unicorn capture devices among others, but around a year ago he was dismissed for supposedly harbouring a like for Unicorns, and has been out of the public eye ever since." Said Haven. "That's right, as far as me and Pipp know, we've never seen him once in town since the reunification, so we have no idea what he looks like, apart from these older photos of him from newspaper clippings." Said Zipp, who showed them to her mother, depicting a younger looking Wormwood with Phyllis outside Canterlogic. "Hmm, but if that's the case, then it also doesn't paint him as a likely suspect either if he's been out of the public eye, and has been secretly wanting to be friends with the Unicorns all this time." Said Haven to Zipp. "That's what I've been thinking, he did meet up with Izzy yesterday at the junkyard, and it sounds like the two of them have hit it off really well, they might end up being best friends over their shared interest in inventing." Said Pipp. Zipp seemed to be a little deflated over her sister and mother dismissing Wormwood as a possible suspect, but she cleared her throat and kept her cool. "Hm I guess so, but still... I can't shake off this odd feeling I have about him, and the way he was dismissed from Canterlogic is suspicious as well, I can't help but think that there must be more to that story than meets the eye." Said Zipp. Pipp seemed to just shrug her shoulders, while Haven didn't seemed that convinced about it. "Hmm I'm afraid that until then, I still don't see this Wormwood character as the prime suspect Zephyrina, you will need to do more digging around and find proper evidence that he is behind this, if he is at all." Said Haven, dismissing Zipp's claims. Zipp felt as if she had just wasted her time trying to convince her sister and the queen that Wormwood was a suspect, she was about to speak up when a loud bell rang out from downstairs. "Oh dear, that must be Alphabittle ringing that, sounds like dinner is ready at last." Said Haven, making her way to the door. "Yeah I could go for something to eat, after all this running, talking and debating, I need me some good food to fill me up, hay maybe I'll even do a story about it, I'd love for my Pippsqueaks to see what Unicorn food is all about." Said Pipp, also making her way to the door. Zipp however let out a sigh, then followed after them slowly. She began thinking over in her head if she had been off the mark in suspecting Wormwood as being the one behind the Unicorns disappearing. Despite the evidence to the contrary, she couldn't shake off this gut feeling she had about him, and the rather mysterious circumstances of his firing from Canterlogic as well, it feels like there is something missing here, like a missing piece of the puzzle. Her belly rumbling however knocked her out of her thoughts, realizing that she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast earlier that day. "Heh heh, maybe some grub will be just what I need to get back on track, can't work on an empty stomach after all." Said Zipp as she trotted off after them down the steps. She had little idea at the time that she would be back on track sooner than she was expecting, for the shadows that lurked in the background of the forest would soon make their presence known. A short time later, the ponies were all sat around the big table in the Crystal Tea House, enjoying the food that Alphabittle had made for them, and from the eager sounds of munching, it sounds like it was worth waiting for. "Hey, this food is pretty good Alphabittle, what is this salad?" Asked Sunny with a mouthful of food. "It's a little old recipe handed down to me from my father's father through his fathers father, nothing too fancy or over the top, but it does help fill up the bellies of ponies." Said Alphabittle, tucking into his own meal." "Ohhh, it's still as good as I remember it!" Said Izzy, eagerly digging into the salad. "I must say I agree to that Alphie, this salad you made is rather good, very rich yet tender." Said Haven. "Yeah, exactly what ingredients did you use to make this?" Said Pipp out of curiosity. "Well, if you are curious to know if you wanted to make it yourself, I basically used some ripened mushrooms that grow in the forest, along with some chopped cucumbers, some special wild roots for an earthy taste, mixed in with a homemade vinaigrette that I made myself, topped with some filly tomatoes, and voila." Said Alphabittle, smiling proudly over his creation. "Ah I see, no wonder it has such a unique taste." Said Zipp, who didn't seem too keen on the roots. "That's right, it's flavour is to die for!" Said Izzy. "Heh, you sure liked that didn't you Izzy? You always liked this meal I made for you, ever since you were a young filly." Said Alphabittle with a smile. "Hehehe, well duh, you always make it so well, I could eat this three times a day every week, and still enjoy it!" Said Izzy, returning the smile. Zipp looked on, impressed by the mulberry Unicorns appetite, "That Izzy sure does have an impressive appetite, doesn't she sis?" "She sure does Zipp, but I doubt she could compete with Hitch in terms of appetite, that stallion could put anypony else to shame when it comes to eating I swear." Said Pipp, who didn't seem to be a fan of the dinner as she had barely eaten much. "That is true, he's won plenty of pie-eating contests, and the annual Maretime Bay Chug-it-Down Showdown we host every year, I could never compete with him over that, even with the fasting method that I tried one time." Said Sunny humbly. "Sounds like he has quite the hearty appetite, my kind of customer." Said Alphabittle with a chuckle. The group continued to eat their fill of food whilst chatting amongst themselves, however, Zipp being the most alert and attentive of the group noticed something that was off, she noticed that Izzy and Sunny were sitting noticeably apart from each other, looking away and not even interacting together. Zipp found that very unusual since the two of them have been almost inseparable since they first met each other in Maretime Bay a few months ago just before the reunification. Zipp knew something was going on, but before she could start speaking up about it, somepony else suddenly spoke up loudly instead. "Hey wait a minute everypony, where is Hitch?" Said Pipp suddenly. The ponies looked around the room, and sure enough Pipp was right, Hitch wasn't at the table, and neither was Jasmine, they saw that he wasn't anywhere in the Crystal Tea House at all. "Hitch is never late for food, something must be wrong." Said Sunny, who got up from her seat. "Let's go check out the house that they went into, and see if everything is okay." Said Zipp, who followed after her. The two of them went up to the front door out of the Crystal Tea House, but just before they had a chance to open it, the door swung up all on it's own, to their surprise, and there in the door way, looking scared and sweating with fear, was the Unicorn filly Jasmine, looking as if she had just seen a ghost. "Jasmine! We were about to come looking for you and Hitch, is everything okay?" Asked Sunny with concern. "E-everypony... H-hitch... h-h-he..." Said Jasmine, who struggled to get the words out. "What? Is Hitch okay? Is he in trouble?" Asked Zipp. Jasmine again tried to speak up, but again she only babbled her words. Alphabittle could see it, and came to her to try and calm her down. "Hey now, take deep breaths and calm down Jasmine, then tell us what's going on." Said Alphabittle warmly. Jasmine shut her eyes and took some deep breaths, after a few moments, she opened up her eyes again. "E-everypony... H-hitch found it... one of the drones, he found one!" Jasmine half shouted. "What!? One of the drones is here, right now in the village!?" Said Alphabittle in surprise.. "Oh no! Did they follow us all the way here!?" Said Pipp concernedly. Zipp went close to Jasmine, nearly nosebooping her, "Where is it Jasmine, where is that drone!?" "H-hitch is chasing after it right now, he j-j-jumped off the balcony and ran after it as soon as he spotted it hovering near the Crystal Tea House upper windows!" Said Jasmine, trying to keep calm. "Wait, the upper windows!?" Said Haven." Before Jasmine could say anymore, there came loud sounds not far away of what sounded like an explosion, and the telltale sounds of laser blasts. Sunny, Zipp, Pipp and Izzy knew those sounds all too well, Hitch might be in trouble, and there was no time to lose. "Come on everypony, Hitch might be trouble, let's go find him!" Shouted Sunny who ran out of the door in a hurry. With that, most of the ponies at the table dashed out of the door in pursuit of Hitch, Zipp making sure to grab the Rad-visor before she left knowing it'd be helpful in scanning for the drone, leaving Haven, her royal guards, and Alphabittle behind with Jasmine. who sought comfort in his hooves. "Well then, I guess that just leaves the two of us then, right Alphie." Said Haven with a bit of a purr. However while her guards let out a silent groan to themselves, Haven noticed that Alphabittle was looking outside of the open door in the direction that Sunny and her friends went, it seemed that he was thinking of joining them in the pursuit, but he was also hesitant about it, knowing he still had a duty to protect the remaining Unicorns in the village. "Haven... I feel that I need to go with them, to help them out." Said Alphabittle, turning his head slowly to her. Haven's eyes went wide, "What!? But what if it turns out to be dangerous Alphie, what if you end up getting injured, or worse captured!? I don't know what I'd do if-" "Listen to me please, I have to do this." Interrupted Alphabittle, who looked at Haven with a serious expression, "As the leader of the Unicorns in Bridlewood it's my duty to look after them, and keep them safe. I've sat by idly moping about the whole situation and doing nothing about it long enough, and believe me when I say, that I am NOT losing another Unicorn to those things out there in the forest!" Haven stared at Alphabittle silently with her mouth agape, she knew that she didn't want him to get himself hurt out there facing the threats that lurk in the shadows, but at the same time, after seeing the fires lit in his eyes, she knew that he had to do this, as the leader of the Unicorns in Bridlewood. She let out a sign, then looked at him deeply, "Very well Alphie, do what you need to do, just make sure you don't do anything too reckless, I'll stay here with the guards to protect the town, you go out there and take them down dear." Alphabittle smiled, then stood up on his legs, "Thank you Haven, I promise that I won't do anything reckless, or get myself into trouble." "W-wait, do you want me to come along too?" Asked Jasmine curiously. "No little one, I think it's better if you stay here with me, last thing we want is for you to get hurt out there." Said Haven, who came over to comfort her. "Yes that would be a wise idea, besides you've already had enough adventure for one day Jasmine." Said Alphabittle, who gently nudged her to Haven's direction, then he took a deep breath, and looked out the open door, "Now then, onto business!" The rest of the ponies watched as Alphabittle charged out of the door and into the distance, until he was soon out of sight. There were more sounds of a battle going on in the distance, Jasmine gulped her throat in fear of what was going on, but Haven wrapped a wing around her to try and keep her calm. "Now now little one, we have to keep strong, for their sake." Said the Queen reassuringly. "B-but your majesty... are you sure will they be okay?" Said Jasmine, who was very worried them. "Don't you worry Jasmine, they might be heading into danger, but they are brave ponies, they'll make it back, and hopefully with a clue as to what's going on too." Said Haven, who smiled reassuringly. Jasmine smiled back to the queen, but she was still worried about the ponies as she looked back at the open door, for she knew there were much worse things than simple drones out there in the forest waiting for them, she hoped deep down that they won't run into them in the pursuit. "Please be safe friends..." She said to herself silently. Meanwhile, Hitch was in hot pursuit of the target, he thought to himself how lucky he was to have caught sight of it as it was hovering near the upper windows of the Crystal Tea House, likely spying on the conversation going on between Queen Haven and her daughters. He had taken a mighty leap from the balcony of Jasmine's house to try and grab it in mid air, but unfortunately the drone seemed to have detected him at the last moment and moved just before his hooves could connect to it. Luckily he was able to grab onto a nearby overhang on the building, before jumping down to race after the drone itself before it could escape. "I ain't letting you escape this time, come back here!" Shouted Hitch. The drone that was ahead of him turned it's camera like eye back at him, letting off what looked like a glare before suddenly turning left and fleeing in another direction, but Hitch wasn't going to be deterred that easily, he made a sharp turn and kept on the drones tail. "Hah! That's not going to work you dumb drone, once I have my target set, I ain't stopping until I catch it!" Hitch declared as he began to catch up to it. The drone kept on making sharp turns to try to escape Hitch, but it was no use, Hitch was on it like a predator chasing after it's next meal. Still though, Hitch felt himself beginning to tire out from all the running and turning, for he hadn't fully recovered from the marathon he had done escaping from another group of drones earlier that day, and it seemed like the drone he was after now wasn't slowing down at all. "Hah hah... I gotta keep on going, but- hah... I can feel my breath getting shorter and my legs tiring out... Dang it!" Said Hitch in frustration. The drone took another sharp bend behind a tree, and Hitch was just about to make the same turn when he heard a loud shout from nearby. "There it is everypony! Catch it, don't let it get away!" Hitch stopped, he knew that voice anywhere, "Sunny, is that you??" Sure enough, he saw that Sunny was indeed present, along with the royal Pegasus sisters. "Hey there Hitch, we're here to help out!" Called Sunny with a wave. "Whoa heads up!" Called Pipp as she dived into Sunny, knocking her down. The drone had taken the chance at the distraction to open fire at the group of ponies, it narrowly missed hitting sunny, instead the laser blast hit the tree behind her, leaving a big burn hole inside of it. "Phew, that was way too close, we don't want ya getting toast do we Sunny?" Said Pipp who helped her back up. "No indeed, thank you for that Pipp-" "Sunny, Pipp, come on, it's getting away!" Shouted Zipp as she flew after the fleeing drone. "Shoot, we better get moving before it escapes." Said Sunny as she galloped after Zipp, followed behind by Pipp and Hitch. The drone was on the run again, flying away as fast as it could, but Zipp was clearly the faster of the two, and was easily catching up to it. The drone's eye looked behind it again to see that Zipp was within grabbing distance of it, letting off another glare, it suddenly aim it's laser cannon upwards and fired at some overhanging branches up ahead of it. "Whoa, look out!" Shouted Zipp as she dodged the falling debris, still keeping on target. The other ponies did their best to dodge too, but a large branch fell down on top of Hitch, stopping him in his tracks with a loud thud. "Ooof! Oww! Ooh that's gonna smart tomorrow." Hitch whined as he tried to get up. Sunny and Pipp saw what had happened, and turned around to try and move the branch off of him and help him up, Zipp had also stopped to see what had happened. "Hitch! Are you okay!?" Shouted Zipp, who was worried if he had been injured. "I'll be fine Zipp, don't worry about me! Just go, don't let that drone get away!" Hitch shouted at her. Zipp was conflicted by his order, but she grudgingly nodded at him in agreement, then with a burst of speed she dashed back after the drone in hot pursuit. She was right away back on track to capture the drone, who having noticed her chasing it once again, fired off more laser blasts at the branches above to try and lose her, but Zipp powered through the debris, determined to take the drone down before it could escape. After what seemed like long minutes of cat and mouse chasing, the drone turned sharply right and entered into a large clearing of the forest, a very familiar clearing at that. Zipp wasn't far behind as she flew into the same area, but as she lunged straight at the drone to try and grab it, it suddenly ducked right under her, nearly making her crash into a nearby big tree in the middle of the clearing. "W-whoa what the hay!?" She shouted as she just managed to land on the tree bark. Zipp looked behind her, but her face turned to horror as she saw that the drone was now aiming directly at her with it's laser cannon, luckily she managed to react quickly and dodged the initial blast as it scorched the tree's bark, but she had no time to rest as the drone now actively opened fire at her at every position she dashed to, determined to shoot her down. "Darn it, I had it in my sights, it was within my hooves, and now it's shooting at me!" Shouted Zipp as she continued to dodge the blasts. Zipp tried to find an opening to strike back, but the drone continued to open fire at her at every chance, leaving no chance for her to even think about it. However, the drone was so focused on trying to shoot down Zipp that both didn't notice that in the nearby in the shadows, another pony was taking aim with a large rock in it's magic. "Steady, steady, aim... Fire!" Came a loud shout from the shadows. The drone had detected the loud noise, but it was going too fast for it to stop in time to dodge a large rock that collided with it, sending it flying into a nearby tree trunk, crashing with a loud smack, leaving it a battered smoking heap. Zipp heard the commotion behind her, and stopped to see what was going on, and immediately spotted the broken down drone laying on the ground in front of the big tree it impacted, along with the rock nearby. "Whoa, the drone's been totally smashed up, but who did that?" Said Zipp looking around. "It was me!" Said a voice form the shadows nearby who then trotted forward into the light, it was none other than Izzy Moonbow. "Izzy! Was that you who shot down that drone using that rock over there!?" Asked Zipp. "Yup, that was me, I ran off ahead when I saw you and everypony else chasing after it, then I wound up getting lost and soon wondered into the clearing, that's when I spotted it trying to shoot you down, so I took that rock in my magic, waited until it was in my sights, and then let it fly like a slingshot, and I scored a bullseye!" Said Izzy, hopping in place excitedly. "That was so sick Izz, you took that drone down in one shot, and none too soon, it was doing some serious damage around here." Said Zipp, noticing all the damage it had done to the trees. "Oh yeah for sure, the last thing we want is a forest fire starting around here, they can be very nasty and dangerous, and to us Unicorns in Bridlewood, it's seen as a bad omen." Said Izzy ominously. "Wait really? That's news to me." Said Zipp who landed next to her. "Yeah, but luckily it hasn't happened for about two hundred years now according to Elder Flower, so we should be in the clear of any omens happening anytime soon." Said Izzy with a reassuring smile. Zipp smiled back, then turned around to examine the drone wreckage behind her. She had nearly forgotten about her Rad-Visor on top of her head that she brought with her after they learned that Hitch was chasing after one of the drones. After inspecting the visor in case it got damaged from the chasing and debris, she now she pulled it down over her eyes and got ready to examine the wreckage in detail. "Now let's see what makes this robot tick." Said Zipp with a smirk as she activated the visor and got to work. Izzy meanwhile spotted the rest of the gang looking around for them in the forest, she gave out a whistle and waved to them to signal to come here However as they approached, she became concerned when she noticed Sunny and Pipp carrying Hitch with them together with an improvised bandage on his upper shoulder, that meant he had been injured which made her concerned. "Oh my gosh, Hitch! Are you okay!?" Exclaimed Izzy who galloped over to him. "Hey Izz... ughh I'll be okay, that drone took a good shot and made a large branch fall on top of me, luckily nothing is broken, but it looks like I'll be bruising for a few days." Said Hitch as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "It's lucky that Hitch here is built like a brick, otherwise he might've been in a much worse state than he is currently." Said Sunny, helping him to sit down on a nearby stump. "I can't believe how much hassle it's been dealing with all these drones, even just one on it's own is a significant threat with all the damage that it has doing to the forest, and my mane... UGGHH, all these leaves and debris just won't leave me alone today!" Whined Pipp, looking at herself in the phone mirror. "Well, I'm glad that you are all safe, and you don't need to worry about the drone anymore, I shot it down with a bullseye, and Zipp is examining it right now." Said Izzy, nudging her head at the scene behind her. The group all looked at her wide eyed, then looked at Zipp who was busying using her visor to examine the drone wreckage. They then made their way over to her to see what she had discovered, Hitch being the most eager as he half galloped over, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder, to see what she had found. "So this is the drone that was spying on us, it's certainly a lot different from others I've seen at Zephyr Heights." Said Pipp, using her phone to take pictures of it. "Indeed sis, this drone is not only bigger than the others, it's also armour plated in solid steel, not hard plastic." Said Zipp, who hit her hoof against the wreckage, making a distant clanging sound. "Whoa, and there is this thing it's been using to attack us, I'm right in guessing that this is a weapon that shoots lasers?" Said Sunny, gently nudging the cannon laying on the ground. "Oh yeah, this is the real deal Sunny, I mean we saw what kind of damage it could do earlier when we were chased by a whole swarm of these things, and this lone one." Said Zipp, who gently picked it up to scan it. "Hmm, but who could've made this, and where did they get such weapons from in the first place?" Said Pipp openly. "I don't know, but I think it's so cool how it can shoot such deadly rays of light that can ZIPP, and BLAM, just like that!" Said Izzy who had snatched the weapon away to examine it, much to Zipp's bemusement. "Hmm, what do you think Hitch, do you have any ideas?" Asked Sunny. Hitch had been busy looking over the wreckage very carefully, there wasn't anything on the drone that seemed to identify a manufacturer or whoever made it like a label or indented name, in fact the only thing that did stood out was a logo on the body top, it looked like a cog with a lightning bolt running through it horizontally, Hitch had never seen a logo like that before, he wondered what that could mean. "Hmm, I wonder what this logo here could mean- But, before he could finish, there came a loud bang from behind the group, before they had a chance to turn around to see what it was, there was an explosion right where the wreckage was, sending them all reeling away in fright. "AAAIIIIEEEEE!" Shouted Sunny, Pipp and Izzy. Luckily Zipp managed to recover quickly and moved to check if the others were okay. "Is everypony okay!?" Shouted Zipp in concern. Sunny and Pipp seemed to be okay, but both of their coats were covered in dirt, and Pipp's phone had been broken by the blast, much to her exasperation. Izzy was laying on the ground with her head down in the ground, but she seemed to be fine with no visible injuries. However, Hitch seemed to have taken the full hit of the explosion, his coat and face was covered in soot, and he struggled to get back up on his hooves. "Hitch, are you okay?" Said Zipp, looking worried at him. Hitch groaned as he tried to stand back up, but his shoulder still hurt, making it difficult for him to do so. "Ugghh, I'll live don't worry Zipp, but what happened?" Asked Hitch, still dazed from the explosion. "There was an explosion just now, and the drone you took down is now pretty much wrecked beyond recognition, there's nothing we can learn from it now." Said Zipp, dusting the dirt off her body. "Darn it, I thought we'd finally had a lead for this case, now what do we do..." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Umm pony's... I think we've got company!" Said Sunny in fright. The group all looked in Sunny's direction, and right there was the unmistakable silhouette of a pony in the shadow of the trees, only with a single glowing red eye on it's head, and it's hoof like weapon aimed straight at them. "Look out, it's gonna attack!" Shouted Sunny. The pony like figure opened fire, shooting a large laser blast straight at the group, but luckily they all managed to dodge out of the way just in time, as the blast hit the tree behind them, blowing it to pieces. "What in the hay, what is the meaning of this!? Show yourself you villain!" Shouted Pipp. The pony like figure soon started to trot towards them, making loud metal stomping noises as it did so. As it stepped out into the fading evening light of the sun, the pony's all looked on in shock, there right there, with it's unmistakable robotic appearance, was one of the robot ponies that Jasmine had spoken of to them. The robot pony was easily as big as Alphabittle himself, it's steel body largely coloured carbon black, though some parts of it like it's re-breather like muzzle and limbs were coloured in a dull silver instead, it had no tail other than a stump like part on it's rear, and on top of it's head, was another logo just like on the drone, a cog with a lightning bolt through the middle horizontally. "So, this is one of the robot ponies that Jasmine warned us about, huh, it's a little bigger than I was expecting." Said Zipp, who had hunched herself into a fighting pose. "I don't know if we are lucky to have found one, or unlucky to have run into it." Said Sunny wearily. "I think that it looks pretty awesome to me, you know, if it wasn't trying to kill us." Said Izzy innocently. "W-what do we do now? Should we try to escape or something!?" Said Pipp, who was trying to get her busted phone working, to no avail. The robot pony then aimed it's weapon and opened fire again, nearly hitting Hitch who just barely jumped out of the way. "I don't think it's gonna give us a chance to leave, not without a fight." Said Hitch, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. The sheriff was about to get into a fighting pose, when he was stopped by a flick of a wing from Zipp. "You're right Hitch, but I think your better off hanging back this time, you're injured after all, and the last thing we want is for you to get captured, or worse." Said Zipp, lowering her visor over her face. "Huh!? But what about you girls!? What if you can't beat it-" "I agree, you need to rest Hitch, leave this robot pony to us." Said Sunny, putting on her roller blading helmet. "Zipp is right Hitch, you need to hang back this time, we'll take care of this bucket of bolts no problem." Said Pipp, who looked at the robot, smacking her front hooves together, "Plus, no dumb robot breaks my phone, and gets away with it!" "Good thing I always come prepared for a battle." Said Izzy who had also put on her helmet, along with painting camo marks along her cheeks, to Hitch's confusion. "Ready everypony? Attack!" Yelled Sunny as she galloped forward. Hitch looked on as the rest of the Mane Five charged straight at the robot, who responded by firing off more laser blasts towards them in rapid succession. However, little did the ponies know was that the robot pony was not alone in the forest, for other robots had detected the commotion that was going on, and were now closing in on their position fast. This battle would soon turn into a big fight for their lives. Author's Note [EDIT: This chapter has received a bit of a rewrite, I felt the last part of this story with the explosion ended up being a little too violent for the current rating, so i've toned it down and edited it out and replaced it with a new scene. I hope that it still helps sell the danger that I was conveying with the robot pony.] Here we are folks, I said last time that we are starting to get into the meat of the story now, and now we have our first big fight happening! This is something I've been itching to get into ever since I first started planning out the story late last year, from now on expect more excitement as revelations get revealed, bodies get bruised, and the plot moving faster, as we start to head towards the climax of Act 2, trust me when I say that things are only going to get bigger and more dramatic from here on out! Act 2 - Chapter 4Not far away from the scene of the ongoing battle between the Mane Five and the robots, the Unicorn leader Alphabittle was racing through the trees of Bridlewood forest as fast as he could, hoping that he will be able to catch up to them and hopefully help them out. He believed that he was on the right track having seen the dense track of hooves on the dirt path ahead of him, not to mention the telltale signs of a fight that had been happening along the way. What with all the broken branches and twigs lying around, and the burn marks left behind on the tree barks, there was no doubt about it that their adversary was wielding weapons of such power at their disposal. "I hope I can get there before it's too late, I fear that the ponies might be a little in over their heads if our foe has an army of these things at their disposal." Alphabittle said to himself as he carried on running. As Alphabittle continued running faster and faster to try and catch up to the gang, he soon began to hear loud distinct noises not far away, along with screams and yells, almost like battle cries. Alphabittle stopped in his tracks and adjusted the ears on his head, trying to listen into the noises and locate where they were coming from. "Hmm... It sounds like they are coming from, that way!" He shouted as he pointed the direction out with his hoof. He then took off in a gallop towards the source of the noises up ahead, which he faintly remembered was in the direction of a large clearing in Bridlewood, where a large mystical tree stood tall above all others, one that brought back memories for Alphabittle, sad deep memories that were personal to him. The old Unicorn shook his head, burying his feelings deep down while keeping focused the matter at hoof, galloping down the path, until at last he reached edge of the clearing, just as one of the flying drones crashed right in front of him. "W-w-whoa, what the hay, what is this!?" Alphabittle half shouted out as he looked at the wreckage. "Heads up everypony! There's more coming in from behind us!" Came a loud voice from nearby. Alphabittle eyes went wide as he looked towards the direction of the voice, "This is it, they must be close by here." Sure enough, there they were, Izzy and all her friends spread throughout the clearing, heavily engaged in a fight with all the robots that were around them. Izzy was busy levitating various boulders to protect herself from their attacks, while Pipp and Zipp, the latter having lost her visor which lay on the ground, were taking advantage of their wings to dodge their laser fire to take them down one by one with either rocks, or their own strength. As for Sunny, she was squaring off against the lone robot pony that was aiming straight at her with its blaster, she was able to dodge its attacks, but only barely, and she couldn't seem to be able to get close enough to attack it directly. "Well now, looks like I'm late to this party, but they seem to have it under control at the moment." Alphabittle said to himself, then he noticed that somepony was missing from the action, "Hang on a minute, where's Hitch?" Alphabittle looked over by the big tree near the middle of the clearing and saw Hitch laying there, he seemed to be in pain from an injury of some kind as he was clutching his left side with his hoof. He was also trying to apply some band-aid that he had taken out of his satchel, but he was so caught up in it that he didn't seem to notice that one of the drones nearby was quietly taking aim at him, to Alphabittle's alarm. "He'll be blasted for sure if he doesn't move!" Alphabittle said as he suddenly galloped towards him. "Augh, blasted graze, I hope this bandage will help out." Whined Hitch as he applied the band-aid to the cut on his left side. Just as he had finished doing so, he heard the familiar whir of a laser cannon charging near him, he looked behind him just in time to see a drone about to fire at him directly. "Nooo!" Shouted Hitch as he covered his face to brace himself. He then heard the loud sound of what sounded like the drone being impaled on something, before it was sent flying to the ground, exploding to pieces. He slowly moved his hooves away from his face to see what was going on, and saw the familiar silhouette of Alphabittle, standing right in front of him. "Hey there sheriff, how are you holding up?" Said Alphabittle, looking at him concerned. Hitch, realizing he was safe for now, let out a deep sigh of relief, "Yeah... I've been better, just dealing with some injuries to my shoulder and side at the moment." Alphabittle looked over at Hitch, he clearly had been run rough in his chase of the drone, and he wasn't in any shape at all to take part in the fight. "They aren't serious injuries luckily, so I should be fine after a bit of a rest." Said Hitch. "I understand sheriff, and I take it that you are in no condition to join in the fight against those robots?" Asked Alphabittle, gesturing his head to the ongoing battle. Hitch just shook his head, "I hate to admit it, but I'm in no shape to fight right now, I'll just get hurt even more than I already am, and get in the way of everypony else too." Alphabittle nodded his head, then turned to look at the battle going on, "You stay here and get some rest then, I'll take it over from here." "Please be careful, Alphabittle, these bots mean business." Said Hitch with concern. Alphabittle just laughed, "Hahaha, it's the robots who need to be careful, they've messed with the wrong ponies this time around!" Sunny and the robot pony were still engaged in combat, she had managed to tank a hit from it's blaster with her helmet, and then charged forward to headbutt it as hard as she could under it's chin. The attack managed to daze the robot for a bit, making it back away, but at the cost of making Sunny's helmet crack as some bits fell off. "How's that, you tin pot!?" Shouted Sunny, showing a rare level of aggression. The robot pony jumped back and fired at her again, Sunny managed to dodge the attack, but she caught her hoof onto a stray branch laying on the ground, causing her to lose her balance, she fell to the ground and landing on her jaw with a hard thud. "Owww, ooof that's gonna smart." Sunny grunted in pain. But before she had time to recover, the robot had closed the distance to her, and was just about to blast her at point-blank range, when a thundering of hooves came from behind it. "Hooves off that young mare, you metal headed bully!" Shouted Alphabittle. "W-w-what in the hay!?" Shouted Sunny in surprise, as she tried to look up. Before the robot could see what was going on, Alphabittle lowered his head, and using his sheer strength, smashed right into it's side, sending it crashing a few feet away, landing in disarray. Alphabittle let out a huff, then turned to look at Sunny on the ground. "Sorry I'm late Sunny, are you okay?" Asked Alphabittle, who helped her up. "Thank you Alphabittle, and i'm alright, but there seems to be no end of all these drones coming out from the thicket, and this robot pony has proved to be stronger than it looks." Said Sunny, rubbing her jaw with her hoof. "Then it looks like I got here just in time, now we can deal with them full force." Said Alphabittle. The two ponies then looked on at the robot pony, which was getting back to its hooves, showing minor dents on its metal body, and a noticeable crack on its glowing core. The pony looked over to them, and with a bright glow of it's single eye, once again aimed it's weapon at them. "We need to take this thing down quick before it harms anypony else!" Shouted Sunny, getting ready to charge again. "Leave this one to me, I'll take it down, you go help everypony else!" Said Alphabittle, staring down at the robot pony. The robot pony then opened fire, shooting a rapid blast of three laser shots at the two ponies. "Look out!" Shouted Sunny as moved to dodge the attacks. Alphabittle however ignored the attack and began charging straight towards the robot pony, which kept on firing at him, but none of it's attacks hit him. Just as it was about to step back to potentially retreat Alphabittle lowered his head and rammed his horn straight into the robot's glowing core, causing it to cease attacking. "Haha, take that!" Yelled Alphabittle, hoisting it up into the air and throwing it to the ground, "You're scrap metal now!" The robot sparked up more before blowing itself up in an explosion, leaving debris all over the place, but luckily nopony was near it. Dusting off his coat, Alphabittle looked on at the other ponies who were still engaged in fighting off the other drones, despite being outnumbered by a large margin, they were getting the upper hoof in the fight. "Hey Pipp, heads up!" Shouted Zipp as she launched a rock she had picked up straight at the drone chasing after Pipp, smashing it to pieces. "Nice shot Zipp, but there are still more coming at us!" Pipp shouted back. Another drone was about to take a shot at her, when Alphabittle leaped up and stabbed it with his horn. "Yeaarrgghhh!" He shouted, as he throw the drone into a nearby tree, destroying it. "Whoa, Alphabittle! I didn't know you showed up." Said Zipp in surprise. "Hahaha, i'd never miss this, not when my fellow Unicorns are in danger!" Said Alphabittle. "Aww hay yeah, now we can finish these tin cans off in style!" Said Pipp. "Yeah, these meany drones keep on shooting at me, they aren't playing nice at all." Said Izzy, still levitating rocks to protect herself. "Let's all work together to finish them off, then we can start getting to the bottom of this whole case." Said Zipp, charging at another group of drones. "I agree, let's do it!" Said Alphabittle, following her. The fight continued on, with Sunny now joining in with her friends and Alphabittle in fending off the drones, the drones seemed to have been getting desperate as they were now actively trying to dodge their attacks. "Keep it up everypony, we've got them on the ropes now!" Shouted Sunny. "I so need to post a story about this on my social media." Said Pipp, pulling out a spare phone she had on her to do just that. Zipp was unamused by the display, "Seriously Pipp? There's no time to be making Clip Trots about this fight-" "Look out Pipp!" Shouted Izzy in a panic. Pipp looked around just in time to see a drone shoot a large branch above her head, making it smack into her as she was flying under it, causing her to crash into a heap onto the ground under a pile of debris. "Pipp!" Panicked Zipp, diving down to the ground to see if her sister was okay. Before she could do anything, the same drone that fired at the tree branch fired another blast straight at her, Zipp just barely managed to dodge it, the laser blast grazing across her cheek, leaving a small cut across it, zipp, now enraged, glared over at the culprit. "Y-you, you utter hunk of horse apples!" Zipp shouted out. Before the drone could fire again, in a blink of an eye, Zipp quickly jumped up and with a might flap of her wings, zoomed straight towards it, smashing it into two halves with her sheer strength alone. "Hah, not so tough now are you, are you!?" Said Zipp, feeling satisfaction over that display. With that taken care off, Zipp then turned her attention to helping out her sister from under the heap of debris, but before she could even take a step forward, there was a deep growl of anger that slowly rang throughout the clearing, and with a might heave, Pipp got straight up from under the heap, shaking away all the dirt and debris from her mane and coat, she then let out deep angry huffs, her eyes burning with pure princess rage as she held up her now broken spare phone. "Uhhh, Pipp, are you okay?" Asked Zipp with a raised eyebrow. "NO, I, AM, NOT, OKAY!!! I have had it up to here with these haying annoying drones messing up my mane, my phones, and my friends too!" Shouted Pipp, steam venting out of her nostrils. Zipp could only watch in surprise as Pipp let out what could only be described as a primal Pegasus scream, then she rushed to pick up a nearby boulder and began flying around at fast speeds, chasing after all of the drones around the clearing, smashing them up one after the other, over and over again, much to her friends amazement. At last, only one was left, which seemed to have realized the danger it was in and was trying to flee, but Pipp was not having it, she chased it down relentlessly, giving it no chance to escape into the thicket of the woods around them, then as soon as she saw an opening appear, she proceeded to throw the boulder with all her strength and momentum, and managed to score a direct hit, causing the drone to explode into bits and pieces. Having accomplished her vengeance against the robots, Pipp landed on the ground nearby, she was short of breath, and her legs and wings hurt from all the strain she had put them under, but she was so full of bravado from her actions that she barely felt it. "Hah, hah, haha, HA HAHAHAHA!!! Oh yeah, how do you like them feathers!? Nopony or robot ever, and I meant ever messes with me, and gets away with it! Aww yeah, who's the top mare around here? Uh huh, oh yeah, you go pony, go go, uh huh!" Boasted Pipp, celebrating in the air with some dances. "Haha, i'll say, i've never seen you that angry before sis, nor have I ever seen you move that fast either, you really showed those drones whose the boss." Said Zipp, flying over to check on her. "Heh heh, well, I can sometimes push it to the limit if such a situation calls for it, even if i'm not as fast as you are Zipp." Said Pipp, posing proudly. "I mean, you could be as fast as me sis, if you know you stopped lounging around and eating junk most of the time." Said Zipp pointedly. Upon hearing that, Pipp felt insulted and got right up in her sisters face, "Hey! Are you calling me what I think you've calling me, Zipp!?" "No Pipp, I haven't said that bad word." Said Zipp with a smirk. "Bad word!? Zipp, don't go around saying naughty stuff like that!" Said a voice from behind her. "Augh ffff- Izzy! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Shouted Zipp in suprise, nearly letting out one such bad word. "Hehehe, sorry about that, but are you girls okay?." Asked Izzy, who was joined by Sunny, Alphabittle and Hitch not far behind. "Yeah we're totally okay, that was some battle though." Said Pipp, wiping the sweat off her brow. The ponies looked all around them, the clearing was a mess of broken down drones and debris, they had indeed managed to win this fight, one that proved more thrilling, and more dangerous than they had expected, and not without some injuries too, with Sunny putting a bandage under her jaw which still hurt from her fall earlier, Hitch still rubbing his hurt shoulder and injured side, Zipp dealing with the laser cut on her cheek that she reluctantly plastered up, and Pipp starting to feel the effects of her actions just now with her joints aching. To make matters more pressing, the weather had started to change during the right, and now it was starting to rain, the small droplets falling from the now darkened cloudy sky hitting the ground firmly. "Phew, I have to say that battle was a little too close for my liking." Said Sunny, taking off her helmet to inspect the damage. "I'll say, if I hadn't got here on time, you ponies would've been in a world of hurt." Said Alphabittle. "Yeah, and you totally smashed those mean old robots to pieces Alphabittle, they never stood a chance against you." Said Izzy smiling. "Hahaha, well you know, nopony ever messes with the Unicorns under my watch, and i'm not letting whoever is behind these robots get away with this, not anymore." Said Alphabittle proudly. As the rest of the ponies cheered on Alphabittle, Zipp suddenly remembered something that she and the rest of the gang discussed back at the Crystal Tea House, they needed to recover one of the drones so that they could study it. "Ah shoot I completely forgot, we should look around to see if we can find one of the drones still intact, then hopefully we can get a clue as to who's been sending them after us, and from there find a lead to where the missing Unicorns are hiding." Said Zipp, looking around the clearing. "No need to worry about that Zipp, I found one already." Said Hitch from behind them, dragging one of the busted drones from the fight, which was still largely intact, only missing one of it's hover units and some dents. "Oh nice going there Hitch, how are you feeling anyway?" Asked Sunny. "Honestly, i'm feeling rough and worn down, but I should be better after i've had a good nights rest." Said Hitch, rubbing his shoulder again. "Haha, you chased that drone down like a tiger hunting it's prey sheriff, but I think next time you should be more careful and vigilant about what you get yourself into, less you get hurt again." Said Zipp, trotting over to check the drone. "Heh, well you know how headstrong I can get, especially when it comes to protecting my friends and residents in a town." Said Hitch with a chuckle. "Ah I know, we should have Elder Flower take a look at you Hitch, she knows a lot of treatments to help ponies feel better, she should be able to help you out when we get back to Bridlewood village." Said Alphabittle. "Elder Flower? I don't think we've met her before." Said Sunny. "Oh Elder Flower is our resident knowledge keeper, she knows a lot about old Unicorn history, remedies to help us feel better, every path in the Bridlewood Forest, and just about anything else Unicorn related. If there is anything you need to know about Unicorn history, Elder Flower's the one who'll likely know it." Said Izzy glowingly. Sunny's eyes were full of stars, she no doubt was very much in fangirl mode for learning about it, for her, the chance to learn more about Unicorn history was far too tempting to pass up. "Ohhh that is so cool! I'd love to meet her and learn more about Unicorns from her!" Said Sunny, squeeing hard. "Hahaha, I had a feeling you would be interested in that Sunny, well then, what are we waiting around here for? We should head back to the village, it's starting to rain." Said Alphabittle, turning to begin making his way back to Bridlewood. "Wait a minute ponies, what about this robot over here?" Called Zipp. The ponies looked over to where she was, she was next to the robot pony that Alphabittle had defeated, despite exploding earlier and the damage inflicted upon it, there was still enough of it left for to be studied. "Oh that's right, the robot pony, we'll definitely need to give this thing a good look over, I mean just look at it, we certainly don't have anything like this over at Zephyr Heights." Said Pipp. "I can carry this hunk of junk on my back, but we better make a move on now, no telling if there are more of those things out there in the woods." Said Alphabittle, picking up the wrecked robot pony, then placing it onto his back. "Not to mention the Metal Monster that eats Unicorns lurking out there! Ohhh i'd hate to run into it!" Said Izzy, looking around wildly in a panic. "Alright alright, everypony, let's move on out of here, the rains starting to get heavy." Said Sunny, leading head of the group back towards Bridlewood. The rest of the group followed on behind her, leaving behind all of the destruction that they had wrought onto the robots that had ambushed them, left to rust in the drizzle of the rainfall. However, watching them not far away were a group of robots, they seemed to have been waiting to join in the battle, but they had chosen not to do so. Soon a nearby drone hovered near them, issuing them new orders from their leader. "Let them go for now, this turn of events is unfortunate, retreat back to base until further notice." The robots obeyed the orders, then retreated into the darkness of the forest out of sight, it would seem that the Mane Five have scored their first victory against their unknown enemy, and now seemed to be on the right track to learning about who they are, and what they are after. Still, the battle may be over, but the case wasn't over yet, not until they finally find out where the missing Unicorns were and rescue them, and bring the criminal behind all of this to justice. However, little did they know is that they were not the only ones fighting the robots at this very moment. Meanwhile, far away from Bridlewood, back in the town of Maretime Bay, the residents had began to settle down for the night, the stalls along the promenade were all locked up and ready for tomorrow, the local shops were closed, restocked and ready for another busy day tomorrow. The rain from earlier had began to fall heavier now, some ponies were running around trying to get home before they got too wet, others though seemed to enjoy the weather, finding it more relaxing and peaceful, from splashing about in the puddles to walking along the promenade with their raincoats on, the sound of the raindrops providing a sense of bliss for them. It was at this moment that two ponies in particular were out and about in the wet, hurrying around the streets and looking around franticly, as if they were looking for somepony, or something, their raincoat and umbrella becoming soaked with raindrops. "Have you had any luck yet, Rocky?" "No luck I'm afraid Jazzy, they weren't at the Brighthouse as you thought, it doesn't look like they've come home since they left this morning. How about you, have you had any better luck than me?" "I've checked out all the other places they could've been at, the theatre, the promenade, even the old street corner, but there's not a hint of them anywhere." "I'm starting to get worried, I hope nothing bad has happened to them..." It was Rocky Riff and Jazz Hooves, Pipp Petals fellow co-workers at the Mane Melody saloon, they had been working hard all day due to Pipp's absence in joining the rest of the Mane Five on the journey towards Bridlewood, but now, after having not heard anything from her or her friends all day through social media or calls, and with no sign of them coming home at all, they had both grown very worried about them. "This is turning into a right load of horse apples, where the hay could they be!?" Jazz said in frustration. "Easy on the language there Jazzy, I'm sure they're okay, they are tough group of ponies." Said Rocky, trying to calm her down. Jazz took a deep huff, then calmly shook her head, "Sorry about that Rocky, but I haven't gotten any texts back from Pipp for hours now, and she won't answer my calls either, the last thing I heard about her was that post she made on her social account this morning, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all this." "I'm feeling the same way, I mean, you have been hearing about the talk going around town and on social media today haven't you?" Asked Rocky. "You mean of all the Unicorns that have been disappearing? Well, now that you mention it, i've heard on my social channels today that apparently it's also been happening over at Bridlewood as well, but on a bigger scale, they say that over fifteen of them have gone missing over there, and nopony knows why." Said Jazz, flipping her phone out to check for any new messages. "W-w-what, over fifteen Unicorns you say!? But that's insane, why would that many Unicorns simply vanish, it doesn't make any sense..." Said Rocky, thinking to himself. The two of them stood around for a minute or two trying to figure out what was going on, until a distant rumbling of thunder in the skies above spooked the two of them out of their thoughts. "I think it'd be wise if we both get out of the wet, is there anywhere we haven't checked yet?" Asked Rocky. "Hmm... oh I know, how about the police station? If there is one thing I do know, is that Hitch always leaves a note behind if he is to be out of town for a day." Said Jazz. "Sounds good to me, let's gallop over there right away." Said Rocky. The two ponies then galloped over to the police station along the downtown area, but by the time they got there, they found that the police station was closed, and it didn't seem to have been opened all day. "Ah shoot, I should've known that Hitch would lock the place up before leaving with the group, now there is no way we could get in there, not without setting off the alarms." Said Jazz, looking down in disappointment. "Yeah... and the last thing I want to do is to break one of his many bylaws trying to get in, that pony can sometimes be a right pain in the flank about it." Rocky deadpanned. "Hmm... I guess we'll have to keep looking elsewhere, it's starting to get late, and I really don't want to be out in this rain any longer than necessary." Said Jazz, turning around and walking off. Rocky was just about to join her when his ears picked up a noise from not far away, he looked behind him and noticed a moving light in one of the station windows. He crept over to get a close look, but the light seemed to have vanished, though the noise was still happening, quiet as it was. "Something wrong Rocky?" Asked Jazz, looking behind her. Rocky looked back at her, "No nothings wrong, I just thought I heard a noise just now, it came from inside the station, and I also saw what looked like a weird light of some kind." "Really? Hmm it might've been one of the animals that like to follow Hitch around, perhaps one of them is on guard duty and knocked something over by mistake." Said Jazz. "True, but what about the weird light I just saw?" He asked. "That could've been one of the alarm lights flickering, or maybe one of the computer screens turning on briefly, at a glance any of them could be weird to see." Jazz answered. Rocky was thinking of agreeing with her, until there was another noise from inside the station, this time Jazz heard it too. "There it is again, another noise, and that didn't sound like an animal to me." Said Rocky. "I heard that too, I think we should check out the station and see if anything is going on." Said Jazz, moving to the door and checking it. "But how will we get in there without setting off the alarms?" Asked Rocky. He didn't have to wait for an answer to that, as soon as Jazz poked the door with her hoof, it creaked open by itself. "Huh? That's weird, Hitch always keeps this place locked up tight while he's away, so why is the front door unlocked?" Said Jazz, suspicious about the circumstances. Rocky however noticed the burn marks around the door lock, then saw that the lock itself had been cut through cleanly, and pretty recently too. "Hey check that out, the door lock, it's been cut clean through." Said Rocky, pointing it out. Jazz looked at the broken lock beside her, "Oh your right, but what could've done that-" Jazz was interrupted when another noise came about from inside the station, it sounded like something heavy fell onto the floor, Rocky then gestured for the two of them to walk inside quietly so as to not disturb whatever it was making that noise to which she agreed with silently. The two of them stepped inside and looked around quietly, the lights were switched off, and there didn't seemed to be any sigh of any other pony in the place at all, until Jazz caught sight of something lurking on Hitch's desk staring up at his computer, it looked to be another drone of some kind, but it was insect like in appearance with it's six metal legs and a single glowing eye on it's front. Jazz was quietly trying to get closer to it so that she could see what it was up to, when Rocky called out from across the room. "I'm gonna get the lights quick, it's too dark in here." Said Rocky across the room, flicking the light switch on. Jazz went wide eyed and turned to stop him, "No no no wait DON-" It was too late, the sudden light up of the room spooked the drone badly, it jumped from the table and scuttled off past the two ponies, and out into the rainy night. "W-whoa, what the hay was that thing that just scuttled on past by!?" Said Rocky in surprise. "Ugh, now you've done it, that thing was some kind of drone, it was looking up something on the sheriffs computer, and you just had to scare it off by turning on the lights!" Jazz said crossly. "Oh shoot, sorry about that Jazzy... I was being super careless right there." Said Rocky, rubbing the back of his head. Jazz rolled her eyes, but she couldn't be too cross with him for long, "No worries Rocky, now come on, that drone was up to something on the sheriffs computer, let's check it out." The two ponies trotted on over to the desk and looked at the computer screen, they saw that various files had been left open, most of them were related to the now defunct Canterlogic company, including numerous ponies living in Maretime Bay who had worked for the company in the past. "Hey, I recognize a few of the ponies in those files." Said Rocky, looking at the pictures. "So do I, there's Toots and his partner in crime Sweets, Sparkle Chaser, and of course Phyllis Cloverleaf, the founder and former head of Canterlogic herself, and her son Sprout the former deputy." Said Jazz. "Hmmm, but why would that drone be looking through these files, what could it want with them?" Asked Rocky. "I don't know, your guess is as good as mine." Said Jazz. The two of them looked over the open files again, until one file in particular catches Jazz's attention, she moved the mouse cursor over and clicked on it, bringing up a picture of an older, familiar looking Earth Pony with an absinthe green coat and platinum hair, along with all the information known about him. "Huh, so this is the scientist who got fired from Canterlogic around a year ago, Dr Wormwood." Said Jazz. "I've never heard of him before, who is he, and how did he get fired?" Asked Rocky. "Well, from what I know of from the news, and the word of mouth going around at the time, he was fired by Phyllis for harboring sympathy towards Unicorns, at a time when us Earth Ponies still held them in suspicion and fear. It was a pretty big deal at the time because he was the pony in charge of R&D at Canterlogic, and one of their founders as well if you can believe it." Jazz explained to Rocky. "I can believe that, still though that's crazy, how could they have fired him over that, especially now with the Pony tribes starting to hang out each other again." Said Rocky. "I wouldn't know honestly, after that happened security became much stricter over at Canterlogic, and any questions asked about what was going on were pretty much brushed aside or outright ignored. As for Wormwood himself, he pretty much disappeared from the limelight, he very rarely made any appearances if at all around Maretime Bay again, I mean hay, even with the recent reunification of the Pony tribes, there still hasn't been any hint or hair of him anywhere at all." Jazz explained. "Hmm, I find that kinda strange to me, first with Canterlogic being oddly secretive about him being fired other than what was said publicly, and then this Dr Wormwood character being absent from the unification, you'd think he'd be all over that given his supposed 'sympathy' towards Unicorns." Said Rocky, pondering to himself. "Yeah it is rather perplexing I have to admit, although... Well, I did know of another rumor that was also going around too, but that one died pretty fast since most ponies didn't even believe it." Said Jazz. "Really, what kind of rumor was it?" Asked Rocky. Jazz looked around her, then gestured for Rocky to come closer, to which he did so, then she lifted a hoof up to her face and spoke up. "The other rumor I heard about on the street was that Wormwood had been working on some kind of machine that was powered by magic itself, the belief he had was that if magic did return to Equestria someday, it could be used as an energy source to power all everyday life, we wouldn't have to rely on mundane fuel sources to power our needs anymore, magic could do all of that for us without any waste at all." Jazz whispered to him. "Wow really, that sounds kinda cool to me, and it makes sense as well, I mean with magic anything can be possible, even haircuts, make up and beauty treatments." Said Rocky, thinking it over in his head. However, as he thought about it more, he suddenly started to connect some of the dots in his head, then turned to Jazz wide eyed, "Wait a minute, are you saying that..." Jazz nodded her head, "Mhm, apparently Phyllis saw the machine and it's purpose as either too expensive for her company to manufacture, or perhaps, that it was too dangerous to be used at all, since for all we know, magic can be useful and helpful, but... it can also be powerful, and destructive in the wrong hooves, as the old stories from Equestria's past tell us." "If that is true, then what became of that machine, if it was real to begin with?" Asked Rocky, now very curious. Jazz just shock her head, "I'm afraid that's where the rumor ends, nopony knows the full story about it, nopony except Phyllis and Wormwood, and I highly doubt the both of them will want to talk about it to everypony else, even with Canterlogic now shut down." Rocky let out a sigh, but he was also rather deep in thought about the whole revelation, but he couldn't figure out how it was all connected. "Ugghh, I'm trying to think how all of this fits together, but it just isn't working out in my head." Rocky grunted in frustration. "What isn't working out, what are you talking about?" Asked Jazz with a raised eyebrow. "All that we've just talked about Jazzy, the mysterious scientist who was fired from Canterlogic for unclear reasons, the conspiracy surrounding the machine he may have invented, and the drone we saw a few minutes ago looking up all the ponies that worked for the company, but the problem is how does it all fit together?" Rocky explained. "Hmm, that is true, none of those things you mentioned seem to click at all, unless... Unless we're missing something here." Said Jazz. The two ponies sat on their haunches, thinking about all the information they've just talked about, trying to put all the pieces together, doing so may help them understand the bigger picture that was going on behind the scenes. Minutes seemed to pass, until all of a sudden, Jazz leaped up onto her hooves, it looked like she had just had a stroke of genius. "Oh my gosh, that's it! That's gotta be it! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier!" She shouted out loud. "Whoa whoa Jazz, have you thought of something?" Asked Rocky sitting up. "Rocky, what if we were to consider the events that have been going on around here as well, you know, the Unicorns that have been vanishing around Maretime Bay and Bridlewood, along with that drone we just saw hacking the computer systems, suddenly everything is starting to make sense to me!" Said Jazz excitedly. "Huh, umm you might want to explain it clearer to me Jazz, what do you mean?" Said Rocky, trying to process it all in his head. Jazz went up close to him and spoke slower, "I mean it like this Rocky, the missing Unicorns, Canterlogic, the drones, the mystery surrounding Phyllis and the scientist she fired, and the rumoured machine said scientist was working on to harness the power of magic, if you add all of them together like they were all linked... Do you see what I am getting at?" Rocky seemed to catch on to what she was talking about, suddenly everything was starting to fall into place, but... It was also leading them both down a dark path, and the questions found along there were rather terrifying to think about, including one that both of them were thinking about out loud. "Well Rocky, are you thinking what i'm thinking?" Asked Jazz. "Jazz, you are not suggesting that... That the Unicorns are vanishing not because of a random ponynapping case going on, but because they are... um I mean, they are being used for-" They were interrupted by a loud noise coming from nearby, the two of them turned around and saw the same insect like drone from before in the doorway. "Look, it's that drone again, let's grab it!" Shouted Jazz. The two ponies made their way to the door, only to stop when a pair of sharp metal legs stabbed through the door and ripped it clean off. The drone had not come back alone, it was now accompanied by a pair of large quadruped walking drones with sharp looking spider-like legs with a menacing looking turret with laser cannons on top of their bodies, and they were aiming straight at the two of them. "W-w-what in the hay is that!" Said Jazz wide eyed. "Look out!" Shouted Rocky, as he leaped at Jazz to knock her away, just as the two drones opened fire at them. The blasts missed, but their blasts destroyed the computer screen, and damaged the sheriffs desk too. "T-t-they're attacking us! Why are they attacking us!?" Said Jazz, panicking a little. "We must know too much... We've gotta get out of here now!" Said Rocky, helping her up. There was another loud noise behind them, they saw another of the quad drones breaking through the air vent on the ceiling, it crawled out and opened fire at them with a rapid burst of lasers. "Shoot, they're trying to surround us!" Rocky shouted, dodging their blasts. "We have to find a way out of here, we've gotta warn the sheriff and the others about what we've learned!" Said Jazz. The two ponies kept up the pace of dodging the drones fire, but they were running out of room fast, the quad drones were slowly cornering them, not paying any mind to the damage they were causing to the station around them. "Ponyfeathers, we're trapped, they'll blast us for sure!" Said Jazz, narrowly dodging another attack. Rocky however wasn't planning on giving up, he had thought up an idea, a risky one, but one that had the best chance of them escaping. "Listen up Jazz, I have an idea, it's risky but... It's our one way out of here." Said Rocky, standing his ground. "I'll take any idea you have over getting blasted to bits here, come on spit it out, what is your idea?" Said Jazz, turning to him. Rocky looked at her with a serious expression, "I want you to climb onto my back, then on a count of three, i'm gonna run up and jump over the drones, and fly out through the doorway over there as fast as possible." Jazz looked at him wide eyed, as if he just said a death wish, "W-w-what!? That's crazy Rocky, what if you get hurt!? They'll blast you for sure!" "I'm aware of the risks, but we've got no other options, it's either we get blasted, get captured, or worse, you'll have to trust me Jazz." Rocky explained, looking determined. Jazz was still worried about the idea, but she could tell in his eyes that his mind was made up, nothing was going to change it. Giving him a nod of approval, she climbed onto his back, holding on tight as Rocky unfolded his wings, just as the drones began to take aim at them again. "Hold on tight!" Rocky shouted out, as he charged towards the drones. The drones seemed to have been taken by surprise as they stepped back a little, then were left dumbfounded as Rocky took to the air, leaping over them and flew straight towards the doorway. It looked like Rocky's idea had worked and that the two of them will escape to safety, that is, until the last second when one of the drones behind them managed to lock onto him fired a shot, hitting Rocky's left wing directly, causing him to yell out in pain and lose control of his flight path. "Look out!" Jazz shouted out. But it was no use, Rocky careened out of control and ended up crash landing into one of the market stalls outside in the streets, the stand was smashed to pieces by the impact, sending splinters and debris all over the place, leaving the two ponies in a crumpled heap. Jazz was the first pony to get up to her hooves, dusting off the mess on her coat, and feeling the throbbing pain on her head. "Oww, oof, that's gonna leave a bump in the morning..." Jazz grunted, rubbing her forehead. She looked over to Rocky, who was laying under the ruined stall sheet, clutching his left wing in pain. "Rocky! Speak to me, are you okay!?" Said Jazz as she ran over to check on him. "Ugh, yeah i'll live, but I think my wing is busted, I took a bad hit from that blast...! Said Rocky, wincing in pain as he furled his wings back up. Jazz helped him back up onto his hooves, "You dummy! Risking yourself like that, knowing that you would end up getting hurt, just to keep me safe..." Said Jazz, starting into him. "I knew the risks Jazz, but it was the only out of that mess, and I saved you as well, didn't I?" Said Rocky, staring back at her. Jazz didn't say anything, on one hoof she was still cross at him for taking such a risk like that and getting injured, but on the other, he was right in that they had escaped the drones to safety, even if Rocky had gotten himself injured in the process. She let out a sigh, then after letting out a small smile, she gave him a quick hug, much to his surprise. "Thank you Rocky, now let's take a look at that injury." Said Jazz, moving to take a look at his injured wing. "Umm, yeah, how bad is it?" He asked. "That blast did leave a burn on it, we'll have to get this checked out for sure, but how did you learn to do an aerial move like that Rocky?" Asked Jazz, ripping up some of the table cloth used for the stand to use as a makeshift band aid. "Eh, i'll live, being a former trainee in the royal guard of Zephyr Heights, we learn to live through injuries like this on daily basis." Said Rocky with a shrug. "Really? That's the first time i've heard of this Rocky, you should tell me more about it sometime." Said Jazz, finishing bandaging up the injured wing. "Oh I will, but I think we've got bigger problems to deal with at present." Said Rocky, gesturing to the drones coming out of the station. The drones spotted them quickly, then began to train their weapons at them again. "Can you still run on those four legs of yours?" Said Jazz, running in place. "You betcha, now let's get a move on!" Said Rocky. The two ponies then proceeded to gallop off as fast as they could, down the path that led out of town, and the way towards the Bridlewood Forest. The drones tried to catch up to them, firing off blasts into the distance, but they had gotten a head start and were soon out of sight. By now, the noise and the action outside had gotten the attention of several of the townspony who were at home resting for the night, they had opened their doors and windows to get a good look to see what was going on. They all shrieked when they saw the drones outside opening fire in the distance, retreating back into their houses in safety, apart from one curious pony who decided to take a closer look at the action braving the elements to get a good shot with their camera phone. As for Rocky and Jazz, they now had only one way to go, to the Bridlewood forest where they hoped to find and warn the Mane Five about what they had discovered, for it may be the clue they need to split the whole case wide open. But it will be dangerous ground to cover, whoever is behind all of this, is almost certainly by now aware of the threat the two of them could pose to their plans, and could already be making plans to ensnare them before they could cause more trouble, as well as deal with the Mane Five who were themselves also closing in bit by bit on the root of the whole mystery. Tomorrow promised to be a day that nopony would forget anytime soon. Author's Note Heya folks, it's been far too long since I last posted a chapter, but it's finally here. This chapter has been very time-consuming to write for, and has gone through a couple of rewrites along the way, but now I am happy with how it's turned out, and I aim to get started on the next chapter right away! Act 2 - Chapter 5As a new day dawned over the Bridlewood Forest, thin rays of sunshine seeped forth from the stormy, cloudy sky, the rain that had fallen overnight had lifted, leaving the air fresh, and the ground sodden and moist. In the village of Bridlewood itself, home to the beleaguered Unicorns who have in recent times been subject to ponynapping by an unknown villain for reasons yet to become common, the Mane Five had been up until the midnight hour studying the case at hoof, going over all the evidence they had found, in particular two rather important pieces that have come up, the first being one of the drones that had attacked them yesterday on the way to Bridlewood, and the other an actual robot pony, something that intrigued them much more with it’s design. Still, they couldn’t shake off the lure of sleep forever, most of the group ended up turning in for the night, Alphabittle allowed them to sleep in the guest bedroom, apart from Hitch who had to stay over at Elder Flowers home for the night while she treated him of his injuries, and Queen Haven and her guards, who had to return home to Zephyr Heights to continue their own investigation. As the morning rays crept into the guest bedroom, the ponies began to stir from their heavy sleep. “Ugghh, what a night, I don’t think I’ve slept that deep in a long time.” Said Pipp, yawning softly. That seemed to have got the others attention as they all began to stir as well. “Ahhh, good morning everypony, did we all sleep okay?” Asked Sunny. “I slept like a log in the woods.” Said Izzy, sitting up and stretching her hoofs. Sunny looked around the room sleepily, letting out a soft yawn as she stretched to shake off the sleepies, it was then that she noticed that somepony wasn’t there sleeping with them. “Hey wait, where did Zipp go? I know she joined us here late in the night.” Said Sunny puzzled. "Huh, oh no, you don’t think she sneaked out while we were all asleep to continue working on the case did she?” Said Pipp with a groan. “I have a good hunch that she did, Zipp does like her mysteries after all.” Said Sunny, hoping out of bed towards the door. The rest of the ponies joined her as she opened up the door gently, taking a peek outside. She found Zipp sleeping at the table, with the junk remains of the robots in front of her, with her phone out in front of her, it seems like she had been up all night researching them, she was letting out soft snores as she slept in her hooves. “No surprise, she did sneak out at night to study them on her own, stubborn mare.” Said Pipp in a deadpan. “Awww, her snores are so adorable, I wish I could snore softly like that.” Said Izzy innocently. “Yeah, because you totally don’t snore like an elephant, Izzy.” Said Pipp sarcastically. “Hahaha, of course not silly, I’d need to have a much longer snoot to generate that level of snore.” Izzy replied, mimicking an elephant's trunk with her leg and making a mock roar. Pipp just facehoofed with a groan, while Sunny just shook her head, but silently giggling to herself. “Anyway, we should wake her up and see if she has uncovered anything interesting." Said Sunny, as she made her way over to Zipp, gently tapping her on the shoulder. “Ummhhh… just five more minutes mum, I’ll solve this mystery yet…” Mumbled Zipp in her sleep. “You won’t if you keep sleeping on the job, Zipp.” Pipp said, imitating Hitch. Zipp sat up, yawning at her sisters face, to her dismay. “Oh, morning sis, and I see everypony is awake as well.” Said Zipp sleepily. “You look like you were up all night Zipp, did you discover anything?” Asked Sunny, concerned for her friends health. Zipp let out another deep yawn, rubbing the sand out of her eyes, “Well, I did discover a few things actually, but not what you expect.” “Oooh exciting! What did you find out?” Asked Izzy excitedly. Zipp stretched her back and hooves out, then grabbed her phone and flipped it open, browsing a few things she had screenshot. “Well, the first thing I found out is about this robot pony here, apparently a few years ago, the Canterlogic company actually test marketed these things out for the public to use in Maretime Bay, they were to acts as security outside buildings, and protectors for foals while in school. However, less than three weeks after being introduced, they were suddenly all recalled by the company, and the whole scheme was scrapped afterwords, the official word was that residents found the robots unnerving and creepy, and also that they didn't trust robots to be reliable.” Explained Zipp. That bit of information surprised the ponies, but for Sunny it seemed to trigger something in the back of her mind, a distant memory that had been locked away until now. "Second, and this is the interesting part, the robots were actually designed and marketed by, Dr Wormwood, and Phyllis Cloverleaf." Said Zipp seriously. "W-what? No way!" Said Sunny in shock. “Furthermore, they weren't designed with weapons in mind either, just simply to alert ponies and authorities to deal with trouble, I suspect our unseen villain is the one behind the addition of them having this blaster here.” Said Zipp, lifting up the weapon in question. In just a split second, Izzy was all over it, taking it into her hooves and examining it in detail, measuring it out in her mind, while Sunny went over to examine the robot herself. “This blaster is so cool, you know, when it’s not aimed at us ha ha, but, I wonder who went to the trouble of inventing this, and why such a dangerous weapon?” Asked Izzy, still examining it. Zipp just shook her head, “Your guess is as good as mine Izz, but I have a good hunch on who it could be.” “Well I hope whoever is behind it has a good lawyer to represent them, they’re gonna pay up for breaking not just one, but two of my phones, and for trying to harm the royal family of Zephyr Heights to boot!” Said Pipp, still salty over yesterday. “But that’s the problem we have here Zipp, we don't know who built these robots. We’ve found plenty of clues so far, but none of them seem to explain anything conclusively.” Said Sunny doubtfully. “All except for one thing, the one thing which has come up time and time again as we’ve delved deeper into this.” Said Zipp seriously. The other ponies seemed a little confused, but Sunny seemed to understand where Zipp was driving at. “W-wait, you don’t mean-” “The Canterlogic company.” Came a voice from the tea house entrance. Sunny and the others looked, it was Hitch, looking all refreshed, and bandaged up. “Hitch! How are you feeling, much better?” Asked Sunny, trotting over to check up on her old friend. “Much better than I was last night I can tell you, Elder Flowers remedies have worked wonders on me, it's like all the pain I had since yesterday has just melted away. Still, i gotta take it easy for a little while with my shoulder and all as they're still bruised, but I can at least walk properly again.” Said Hitch with a smile. “That’s good to hear Hitch, it’s amazing to to think Unicorns knew such treatments, I have got to write all of this down when I get a chance.” Said Sunny. “Heh, there will be time for that later on, right now I feel that the issue at hoof is deciding what our next move is.” Said Hitch, moving over to the table, "Well me girls, have you found anything out since last night?" "Well yes and no Hitch, while we know that these robot ponies like this one were in fact made by Canterlogic in the past, what we don't know is why they are being made now, and by whom, there is no evidence as to who did." Said Pipp with a sigh. “Hmm, I think in light of what we’ve talked about last night and summarized up till now, there is one thing we can do, I say that we head back to Maretime Bay and visit the Canterlogic building, I feel that somewhere in that buildings computer files we'll find the answer to the questions we've been having since yesterday.” Said Zipp. The others seemed to have agreed to it, but Sunny seemed to know what the next question was and spoke up. “Tell me Zipp, do you still suspect either Phyllis and Wormwood as being the culprits?” She asked. “Of course I do Sunny, they’re the two most likely suspects due to their former positions in the company.” Said Zipp in response. Izzy didn’t seem to like the sound of that, she spoke up in a hurt tone, “B-b-but Zipp, we also know that Wormwood harboured sympathy towards the Unicorns, so to me, he’d be the least likely to be behind all of this." "I have to agree with Izzy on that, if anything, he would more likely hold a grudge against Canterlogic for firing him for such views in the first place." Said Sunny, standing by her friend. "Hmm that is true, but with Canterlogic now shut down, I doubt he has any reason to hold any grudges anymore." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Also, let's not forget that Phyllis may have accepted the reunification of the pony races outwardly, but there's no telling that she respects it on the inside, since I've hardly seen her interacting with the others, even if she did give my business a good review." Said Pipp pointedly. Zipp could see where they were coming from, it seemed on the surface that Phyllis would be the main suspect over this Wormwood, but, there was one thing that she was perplexed about that kept her suspicions towards the secretive scientist intact, as she told them. "Those are good points fellow ponies, but there is one thing that still bothers me, if Dr Wormwood did care for the safety of the Unicorns and would stick up for them, then why hasn't he tried to help them out in regards to the ponynapping going on? It's highly unlikely that he wouldn't be aware of it going on r since it's been spreading all over the Canternet since yesterday." Said Zipp. Izzy tried to think of a reply, but in a way Zipp was right, his care for Unicorns would've made him more than likely to help them out, but the fact he hasn't at all is a little suspicious in of itself, even if she didn't want to admit it herself. "I have to say that does make sense, Zipp, but either way, it still leaves us with two suspects to this case, with good reasons for and against them." Said Hitch, sitting on his haunches. Sunny was in deep thought, she didn't like having to take sides, especially among her friends, but it seems that if they were going to get anywhere with the case, there was only one thing left to do. "Hmm, maybe it's time we not just journey towards the Canterlogic building, but also to confront the two suspects to see if they know anything about what's going-" Izzy then interrupted Sunny with a sudden idea, "Ohh ohh that's it, that's it!" "What is it Izzy?" Asked Hitch. "Why don't I go and find Wormwood myself and ask him to help us? Since we've exchanged numbers with each other, I should be able to contact him and see if he will agree to it." Said Izzy. That seemed to wake up Zipp fully, she nearly leapt up from her chair, "Wait wait, you've had his number on your phone all along and never mentioned it???" "Umm... It kinda slipped my mind?" Said Izzy innocently. "Also don't forget Zipp, all of our phones had run out of power last night, so there is no way Izzy would've even brought it up even if she could." Said Pipp. Zipp turned around and gave Pipp a sleepy grin, then showed off a device she had next to her phone, "All except mine, I had this power bank right here that I keep on me when I need to keep my phone charged up, if there is any emergencies." "Ohhh, right I forgot about that, you and your gadgets Zipp." Said Pipp, groaning for the third time today. "Oh and I also took the liberty of using it to charge up all of your phones as well while you were asleep, I figured we'd be needing them for today to keep in touch." Said Zipp, pointing it out. "Wow, that's thoughtful of you Zipp, good thinking right there." Said Hitch, going to pick up his phone. "Wait a minute, if that's the case, then how much sleep did you get last night?" Asked Sunny inquisitively. Zipp, who was still half asleep, tried her best to calculate it in her head, , "Well, let's see, umm... If it takes about an hour to charge up the phones to at least halfway, plus the time that I sneaked away to continue studying these robots, add in the fact it's gone past eight in the morning... I'd say about four hours of sleep?" Pipp let out a sigh, then went up to Zipps face, "I knew it, listen Zipp, you don't have to push yourself so hard every night, you do need your beauty sleep too, if you do it one time too many, it'll catch up to you and hit you hard, like it did for me that one time." Zipp stared at her sister, then brushed it off, "Hey now, don't worry about it Pipp, I'll be careful." Pipp wasn't fully convinced, but let it slide as she went over to check her phones, one of which was clearly broken beyond repair, and the other, although working, had a nasty looking crack running through the screen, which she was still salty about. Izzy, Sunny and Hitch also went over to collect their phones too, powering them up and seeing if there were any messages or reports from last night. "Did you perchance checked out our phones at all Zipp?" Asked Hitch. Zipp shook her head, "Nah, I don't invade our ponies privacies by looking through their phones without reason, I just left them there to charge quietly, although... now that I think about it, I do think Izzy's phone vibrated overnight randomly, but I was half asleep at the time so I didn't check it." Hitch raised an eyebrow, "Huh, is that right? I wonder what made it vibrate-" "Ohh ohh ohh, he sent me a message, he sent me a message!" Interrupted Izzy. "Whoa whoa, slow down Izzy, who sent you a message?" Asked Sunny. "My new friend did, Wormwood did, he sent it to me around Nine o Clock last night!" Izzy said excitedly. Zipp went wide eyed and turned to look at her "Wait what, he actually sent you a message!?" "Yeah he did! But my phone had no power at the time so I must've missed it." Said Izzy. "Well it's a good thing Zipp charged it for you, what does the message say?" Asked Hitch. "Yeah, what does it say?" Said Pipp curiously. Izzy held up her phone, then selected the message and brought it up on screen, it read the following; Hello Izzy Moonbow I'm sorry that I took so long to send a message to you, but I have been very busy working hard on my projects, and haven't had the time to respond until now. Listen, I've been thinking about how much you enjoy unicycling trash into something new, and I believe it isn't a coincidence that we both share a love for inventing in common, so much so that I think it's only natural that the two of us should work together, I believe that there is plenty of potential for making extraordinary inventions and devices, which may even prove useful for all of pony kind. Take your time in responding to this message, and we can arrange a meeting place to discuss this offer of mine in full, I know that you may still not trust me fully, and I don't blame you considering the recent unification of the tribes is still an ongoing issue, and not everypony is still on board with it, so you are free to bring a friend with you as well. I look forward to meeting you again friend. Doctor Wormwood. "That's what it says, I'm happy that he sent me a message back, even if it took a little longer than I thought." Said Izzy. "Huh, that's convenient for him to ask you to meet him, but who should go with Izzy to see this pony?" Asked Pipp. "I think I should go with her, i've known Wormwood since I was young as I had told you, so I should be able to discern what his intentions are, if he has any." Said Sunny. "Smart idea, the rest of us can then head back to Maretime Bay to check out the Canterlogic building and hopefully find the next lead to the case." Said Zipp. "Sounds like a plan, but first, I think we should have some breakfast, we haven't had much to eat since lunch yesterday." Said Hitch, rubbing his growling gut. "And we need to shower as well, I'm starting to smell like the forest around here, and wash off all the sweat too, ugghh." Said Pipp, taking a whiff of her shoulder in disgust. "You girls can go ahead, Elder Flower let me use her bathroom before I got here so I'm good, now let's have some breakfast shall we?" Said Hitch. The other ponies all agreed to that, and it was good timing that Alphabittle came into the room all ready to serve them with fresh food, they soon all sat around and started eating their fill of food, quietly discussing their plans for today among other things. Once breakfast was finished, the ponies all took turns washing up in the bathroom, with Pipp taking the longest out of them, insisting on making herself look beautiful, much to the others chagrin. After they had all been washed, Izzy and Sunny both gathered up their things and after reassuring their friends that they will both be careful out there and keep in touch regularly, they set out to meet up with Dr Wormwood at a location of Izzy's own choosing. A little bit later, the rest of the Mane Five were ready to head out on their own towards Maretime Bay and the Canterlogic Factory, when they heard a thunderous knocking and shouting at the main door. "What the hay, did the two of them run back here already?" Asked Zipp. "Wait a tick... I know that voice, it's Jazz! But what is she doing here?" Said Pipp in surprise. "We'd better find out." Said Hitch, going to the door and opening it up. The ponies were surprised to see that it was indeed Jazz, but she wasn't alone, Rocky was also with her, and both looked tired and worn out, like they had been running about all night, covered in leaves, mud and other debris. "Whoa girl, you look worse for wear than I did last night." Said Pipp amusingly. "Thanks Pipp, nice to hear that, we've both had it rough last night, running about trying to find this place." Said Jazz, in a snarky but tired voice. "I can see that, but tell me, what happened to you both, and why did you make your way here?" Asked Hitch. "It's a long story sheriff, a very long story." Said Rocky wearily. "I think you both should come in, wash up and then tell us what's happened, I suspect there is a lot you want to tell us." Said Zipp, her interest piqued. "That'd be nice thank you." Said Jazz, as she and Rocky walked in and headed to the bathroom. "Hmm, I wonder what their story is." Said Hitch curiously. "I got a feeling it must be something big if they've come all this way to find us." Said Zipp thoughtfully. Pipp then let out a gasp and rushed to the two of them, holding up her damaged phone, "Oh my gosh, Hitch, Zipp! Look at this news report from Maretime Bay that just came out!" The two of them then looked at it, and both were shocked at the news report, it reported an attack at the Maretime Bay precinct last night by robot looking ponies, and that two other ponies were seen fleeing from the scene at that time. "What the... What in the tartarus is going on!?" Said Hitch in anger. "I don't know sheriff, but it seems that things are more serious now than they were before." Said Pipp. The three ponies had little idea just how serious things were about to become for all of them. Meanwhile, Sunny and Izzy had made good time in heading towards the meeting point that Izzy had arranged for her new friend, the two of them were approaching the edge of the Bridlewood forest, where the thicket of the trees gives way to the open plains of Equestria. Sunny however was curious as to where they were going, and decided to quiz Izzy about it. "So Izzy, tell me, where is the place that you wanted us to meet up with your friend?" Asked Sunny. "Oh that's easy Sunny, we'll be going to the junkyard where I first met him, it was an easy choice to make." Said Izzy, skipping along the road excitedly. "I hope he'll show up, there is so much we need to ask him about." Said Sunny. "Yeah, if there is anypony who can help us in solving this mystery and clearing everything up, it'll be him." Said Izzy. Izzy continued on the path in high spirits, but Sunny was in deep thought, Hitch. Zipp and maybe even Pipp were all very much suspecting that the former scientist of Canterlogic could be behind the whole ponynapping case, and the robots that attacked them yesterday. Izzy was the only one of the five that didn't seem to believe that, and so did Sunny herself, but, now even she was starting to have second thoughts about it, after all, even though Phyllis was a big time member of the 'club' that was against Unicorns and Pegasus Ponies, Sunny couldn't help but remember the moment when Phyllis willingly gave her the Earth Pony Crystal, which allowed the Unity Crystals to come together, and allow magic to return to all of Equestria. That and the fact she had given Mane Melody a glowing review, and didn't seem to be bothered by the different pony tribes living in the town at all, it didn't exactly paint her as a suspect in the case. Her own son Sprout was of course under house arrest and doing sentenced community service, so he'd be even less likely to be behind all of this. That of course left only one suspect, one that has the most suspicion about him, the one that nearly fits the bill of being the villain behind this mess, and that pony was of course, Izzy's new friend, Dr Wormwood. "Hey, Equestria to Sunny, are you okay?" Asked Izzy suddenly. Sunny was so deep in her thoughts that she was spooked by the sudden voice. "Sunny, are you okay?" Said Izzy with concern. "Y-y-yes, yes I'm okay Izzy, I was just thinking about this whole case from top to bottom, and how much of a mess it has turned out to be..." Said Sunny, looking down sadly. "Ohhh, well yeah, it is quite a mess isn't it? I can't really think too much about it before it gives me a headache, and heartache from the thought of my poor Unicorn friends who have been ponynapped and being held somewhere." Said Izzy, letting off a sigh. Sunny walked over and comforted her friend, "Don't you worry Izzy, we'll find them, and the villain who did this to them, and we'll bring them all back home." Izzy wiped away a rare tear from her eye, then looked at Sunny, "Your right, I just hope that my new friend will be able to help us, because... I'm starting to get this bad feeling in my gut." "A bad feeling, what do you mean?" Asked Sunny, suddenly feeling uneasy. "...I have this belief that we're running out of time." Said Izzy somberly. "Running out of time?" Said Sunny. "Yes... That if we don't rescue the Unicorns soon, something really bad is gonna happen." Said Izzy, looking down sadly. Sunny comforted her friend more, "We won't let that happen Izzy, not so long as we continue to work hard to find them, and we will find them, no matter the odds." That seemed to reassure Izzy, who smiled back at Sunny, "Of course, now let's go meet up with the doctor at the junkyard, if I am right, we should be reaching the outskirts of the forest by now." Sure enough, it wasn't long before they had reached the edge of Bridlewood forest, and now they were entering the wild plains that surrounded it all. By Izzy's estimation, both her and Sunny should reach the junkyard before lunchtime, so the two of them picked up the pace and began roller blading down the pathway towards the destination. Along the way, Izzy hummed a cheerful tune to herself, clearly eager to meet her new friend and hope that he would provide help to her and her friends in splitting this case wide open, Sunny was feeling the same way, but at the same time, she couldn't shake the feeling growing in the back of her head that something wasn't right, she couldn't put her hoof on it, but she suspected that something bad was going to happen soon, and that she and her friends could be in grave danger. Sunny was so deep in thought about it, that she was spooked when Izzy suddenly announced that they had arrived at the junkyard. "Oh look, there is the junkyard up ahead, we've made it!" Said Izzy excitedly, grinding herself to a halt on top of a hill. Sunny looked out over the distance, and lo and behold, there was the junkyard in all of it's junky glory. "Nice going Izzy, we made good time." Said Sunny, wiping the sweat off her brow. "Come on Sunny, let's go see if he is here already, I'm so excited I could explode!" Shouted Izzy, racing down the hill "Hey wait up Izzy, slow down!" Called Sunny, racing after her. The two ponies then glided down the hill into the entrance to the junkyard itself. Izzy was still in high spirits over meeting her new friend here, but, as the two ponies stood outside waiting for any sign of his arrival, they soon became curious, was he running late? "Hey Izzy, you said that Dr Wormwood agreed to meet you here right?" Asked Sunny. "Yeah he did, I even sent him a message about it, and he plain as day agreed to it," Said Izzy, showing said message on her phone. "Hmm, I wonder if he's been delayed, or maybe... Nah he can't have forgotten about it." Sunny thought aloud. "No! He wouldn't forget, he seems much too smart and observant to forget anything, perhaps he is here, but hiding somewhere... Ohh ohh that's it, junk and seek! I always love playing that game!" Said Izzy excitedly. "Junk and seek? What sort of game is that might I ask?" Said Sunny, rasing an eyebrow. "Oh it's simple, me and somepony else think up an item, or somepony in this case, in the junkyard, then we go find it, and whoever finds it first wins the game!" Explained Izzy. "Huh, just like hide and seek, but with buried treasure." Said Sunny. "Exactly! Come on, let's go find him." Said Izzy, hopping along towards the junk piles. Sunny let out a sigh, shaking her head she followed Izzy into the junkyard to search for her friend, but it wasn't long before the two of them got separated from each other, exploring in different directions. It seemed like half an hour passed before Izzy heard a voice calling from behind her. "Ah there you are Izzy, sorry to have kept you waiting." Izzy stood up right away and looked behind her, and there he was, the friend she had been waiting for, Dr Wormwood, in the flesh. "Aaaaah, hi again new friend!" Said Izzy excitedly, jumping over to him. "Good to see you too, how have you been Unicorn, keeping well?" He asked her. "Oh you know, the usual, unicycling junk and helping my friends out." Said Izzy. "Heh, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, now then, I believe you had something you wanted to ask of me." Said the doctor. Izzy nodded to him, then took a deep breath and started to explain the whole story going on at Bridlewood, with the Unicorns all vanishing, the robots that had been attacking them, and most alarmingly, that her friends Hitch and Zipp believe either Dr Wormwood, or his old boss Phyllis Cloverleaf are the culprits behind this whole thing, which she didn't want to believe at all, even if it did make sense in that context. The pony scientist himself silently listened as she explained it, showing curious amusement whenever Izzy talked about the Unicorns and their plight, but he also seemed to show a little anger on his face whenever Phyllis or Canterlogic was mentioned, which did not go unnoticed by Izzy. "Hey uhhh doc, about when you got fired from Canterlogic, can you umm... Can you explain what happened between you and your old boss, pretty please?" Asked Izzy with a plead. Wormwood let out a heavy sigh, then looked at her seriously, "I take it that you know about the story she put out there Izzy, that she had me fired because I harboured symphony towards Unicorns correct?" "Yes I do, Sunny and Hitch explained it to us yesterday, tell me doc, is that really true, or is it false?" She asked him, looking serious. Wormwood just shook his head, "I'm afraid to tell you this, but, that was all a lie Izzy, that was just a cover she put out there to make sure nopony knew the truth about what was really going on behind the scenes." Izzy jumped up unexpectedly in excitement, "Aha, I knew it! I knew that no goody good pony Phyllis was hiding something all along, just to make you look like a bad pony to everypony else!" "So you do suspect Phyllis of being the culprit I see, well then, does that mean that you believe me to be innocent Izzy?" Said Wormwood out of curiosity. "Of course I do doc, I mean... Yes there are plenty of clues pointing towards you being the culprit too, but... I think it's all just a big coincidence, since well, Phyllis is also a suspect, and she's well known to have been against us Unicorns, especially in the past." Said Izzy, thinking hard. Wormwood seemed to be taken back at bit by Izzy's loyalty to him, she really did see him as a true friend, which he seemed to appreciate, showing a warm smile to her. "I'm glad to hear that Izzy, but now onto more serious business, I suppose you wish to learn the truth about what was going on in Canterlogic back then, correct?" Asked Wormwood. "Yes, yes I do want to know! It might be the vital clue we need to finally solve this whole case." Said Izzy, her excitement overflowing. "Very well then, I will tell you everything that I know about it, but... I fear it's not safe out here for us at the moment, no, I fear that we could be watched from the shadows." Said Wormwood, shifting his eyes to the side. "What!? Oh no, have those mean old robots been following us!?" Said Izzy in a panic, looking all around. "I suspect so, but... I have an ace up my sleeve, for you see I know a place where we can discuss all of this without prying eyes lurking around, you could call it my 'hideout', so to speak." Said Wormwood, looking at his smart watch. "Oooh that sounds cool, but wait a moment, is the hideout safe? Are you sure nopony will find us there?" Asked Izzy curiously. "Haha, don't you worry yourself Unicorn, the location is quite remote, so I doubt anypony will find us there." Said Wormwood confidently. Izzy seemed to be happy to hear that, but she still seemed to be indecisive about her decision. "Plus, i'm pretty sure you'd love to see all the tools and machines that I use in my everyday workings, that I use for inventing and tinkering, wouldn't you?" Said Wormwood, leaning his head forward in a tilt? That seemed to get Izzy's attention, she hopped up and held his head in her hooves close to her. "Are you kidding me? I'd love to see them, oooh just imagine what I could get up to if I got my hooves on them! Eeeeeee, I'm already sparkling with ideas!" Said Izzy, her horn letting off said sparks. "Heh heh heh, excellent to hear Izzy, well then, shall we get going?" Said Wormwood, pulling out a device from his pocket. Izzy let out a gasp, "Wait wait wait, do this mean... Does this mean you'll help me with this case and find the missing Unicorns!?" Wormwood simply smiled at her, nodding his head to say yes. Izzy hopped all about in excitement, "Yes yes yes yes, yes yes yes! Thank you so much! But wait! Umm... How are we going to get to your hideout anyway, are we just gonna gallop there?" "Gallop? Hah, not never. There'll be no need that, for I have a much easier method of transportation at hoof." Said Wormwood, holding the device in his hoof and pressing the button on it. There was a low humming noise from nearby, and in a moment, a large vehicle appeared from around the back of a mound of junk, it had four huge wheels on it's side, two large exhaust stacks on the rear, a large sleek looking bonnet on the front, and some sort of big engine at the back, the vehicle seemed to open up by the use of doors located either side that opened up along the side. Izzy was in awe at the sight of it, her own personal unicyled motor scooter paled in comparison to this beast. "Holy molly and dolly, this thing is huge! Where did you get this from, did it cost you a fortune!?" Shouted Izzy, examining the vehicle top to bottom. "Hahaha, I didn't get this from anywhere Izzy, for I built this all by myself, I mean, when you have the skills and resources to build your own transport, why settle for anything less?" Said Wormwood, as he went up to it, pressing a button on the side. Izzy watched in excitement as the door to the vehicle popped open, and then slid down the side out of the way, showing off comfortable looking seats, and the main controls themselves. "Oooh, look at all these cool looking lights and shiny buttons, I wonder what they all do?" Said Izzy, barely able to contain her squeeing. The controls all looks so high tech and complicated, Izzy had no idea where to start, but she felt her hoof moving towards one button in temptation, before Wormwood stepped in to stop her. "Ah ah ah, I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there friend, some of these buttons here are not for normal use, we wouldn't want to cause any accidents and such around here, you know what I mean?" Said Wormwood sternly. "Ohhh, yeah I get it, explosions and such are bad for business around here, I should know, I got told off by the junkyard manager here one time for doing just that." Said Izzy sheepishly. "Really now? You should tell me all about it on the way back to the hideout." Said Wormwood, stepping into the vehicle and into the pilot seat, turning to face the Unicorn, "Are you coming Izzy?" Izzy took a step forward, but then froze up when all the thoughts regarding her friends and everything to do with the case flashed in her mind. Taking a quick glance behind her, and seeing nopony in sight, not even Sunny, she turned back around, and after closing her eyes and letting out a rare sigh, Izzy looked at Wormwood with determination, and gave him a firm nod in agreement, to which he returned a somewhat devious grin. "Excellent, now let's go!" Said Wormwood. With that, Izzy jumped into the passenger seat, and as the door closed up, a roar of the engines shook the junk piles around them, as the vehicle drove off in a hurry, out of the junkyard and into the wilderness beyond. The loud noises hadn't gone unnoticed, as Sunny who had been looking for Izzy throughout the junkyard came to check out where they were coming from. "Izzy! Izzy, where the hay are you!?" Shouted Sunny, looking around frantically, "What in the hay is making that loud noise-" It was at that moment she turned and saw the dust clouds in the distance, and then after scrambling up to the top of the nearest junk mound, she saw the very vehicle driving off away into the wilderness, and Sunny knew that could only mean one thing, either Izzy and Dr Wormwood have both left together in that vehicle, or worse, that she had been captured and was being taken away. "Oh no, no no no no! Why did I have to wonder off like that and not stop her in time... I've got a bad feeling about this." Said Sunny, worried for her friends safety. Taking out her phone, she began to send texts to Zipp and the others back in Bridlewood, and was about to send a message to Izzy, when she heard distinct humming noises from behind her, very familiar humming noises. "Wait... I know those noises." She said, wide eyed she looked behind her to see a whole group of armed drones aiming at her. Some of the drones opened fire at her, but she managed to dodge it, and hid behind cover under one of the junk piles in a panic. "I should've known, this whole thing was a trap from the start! But wait, does that mean Izzy is in-" She was interrupted when the drones circled round the junk pile and fired at her again, giving her no time to think. She ran from cover to cover, trying to avoid getting blasted at, but it was proving difficult with so many drones swarming around her like angry bees. At a crucial moment, Sunny accidentally dropped her phone to the ground nearby, panicking, she made a dash to try and grab it, but before she could reach it, a lucky shot from one of the drones struck her phone, blasting it to pieces, and it was no more. Sunny's eyes went wide in disbelief, then overcome with emotion, tears streamed down her face, before giving way to pent up anger and rage at the machines responsible. "NOOOOOOOOOO! My friend Pipp got me that phone... Y-y-you... You ruthless monsters!" Shouted Sunny, glaring harshly up at the drones. The drones all surrounded her like a swarm of bees, and were preparing to fire again at her, but, at that moment, Sunny's innate Alicorn powers, which had remained dormant since the reunification, was finally unleashed from within, manifesting her bright glowing wings and horn. "I've had enough of you vile robots, BEGONE!!!" Roared Sunny, flying up into the air and glowing brightly. With a mighty flash of light, the drones surrounding her all short circuited, then individually exploded into pieces around her, leaving nothing behind. Landing back down onto the ground with a stomp, Sunny took some deep breaths to clam her mind, then turned to focus on the direction that Izzy had gone with the scientist, giving a determined look. "I've got to follow them, if Izzy really is in danger, then I must catch up to them as fast possible, and maybe... Maybe we'll finally learn the truth behind what's going on, I just hope the gang back in Bridlewood got my texts in time. With that, Sunny galloped forward and took off into the sky, her Alicorn powers granting her the power of flight, and was soon in hot pursuit of Izzy and her scientist friend as they all entered into the mysterious wilderness beyond. The case had certainly taken the turn for the worse for everypony involved, first was the attack from the robots in the Bridlewood Forest, followed by the great battle against them in the clearing, then after that was the long discussion the Mane Five held together about the case, where did the robots came from, and who could be behind it? From their investigation so far, two suspects have emerged, one being Phyllis Cloverleaf, the former leader of the Canterlogic company, and the other, the former chief of R&D at Canterlogic, Dr Altair Wormwood. Then there was the other matter regarding the mysterious break in at Zephyr Heights. in which classified information regarding a new prototype airship was stolen, could there be a connection between that incident and this case? There were many questions to ask and very little answers to them, but the Mane Five are determined not to give up, not until they save the missing Unicorns and expose the villain behind the rampant ponynapping. In Izzy's case, she has decided to enlist the help of Wormwood himself, believing that with this insider knowledge of Canterlogic and talent for inventing, they'll be able to finally progress forward with the case, but is Izzy right in her judgement that the scientist will help her, or is she being led into danger that she cannot see coming? One thing is for certain, the situation is growing more serious by the day, and the stakes are increasing all the time, and the Mane Five will soon find themselves on a collision course with the mastermind behind the whole mess, and the terrible threat that they pose to all of Equestria, will soon be laid bare. END OF ACT 2 Author's Note Whew, and that's Act 2 finally wrapped up! It's hard to believe that it's been over a year now since I first submitted this story here, and it's taken this long to get here, but now we're about to enter the end game, for Act 3 is where everything starts happening fast, and all the lingering questions will be answered, stay tuned, it's going to be a blast! Act 3 - Chapter 1"Dear Customers and patrons of Mane Melody!" "It is unfortunate that we must break the news that our store will be closed for the next three days, this is due to staff absences and unforeseen inconveniences coming up that have forced us to close temporarily." "But don't you worry fans, we will soon be open again for business and appointments as soon as possible, for the Mane Melody is the one place you can have the finest mane styling, most beautiful hoof polishing, and the catchiest karaoke anywhere in Equestria!" "Hope to see you soon fellow Mane Melodians!" Jazz Hooves ❤ This note had been posted on the door to the Mane Melody building, and a familiar pony with a pale yellow coat, pink hair with green ribbons had been reading it, before walking off in a huff, mumbling under her breath something regarding Pegasi being bad, it seems somepony had still not come around to the idea of Pegasi living with Earth Ponies, but that's a story for another time. ACT 3 It was a mild and grim morning in the Bridlewood Forest, a constant sea of thick grey clouds hung across the sky like a blanket of incoming sorrow, in a moment they might all start weeping rain, first a drizzle, then a downpour, almost like the collective sadness of Unicorns grieving all at once at their current misfortune. It was on this dire day that the other group of the Mane Five, including Hitch, Pipp and Zipp had been about to journey out back to Maretime Bay to look for more clues regarding the case when they were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Jazz and Rocky, who had fled the town in the night to avoid the robots that had attacked them. After waiting for the duo to wash up and refresh themselves, with help from Pipp, they sat down at a table with fresh tea prepared for them by Alphabittle, and then began to explain everything that had happened to them since last night, the details of which shocked the ponies in the room. “W-w-what!? Are you serious about this Jazz!?” Said Pipp in disbelief. "Absolutely girl, the place had been totally broken into, that's when we discovered that little robot inside interacting with Hitch’s computer. When we stepped inside to investigate, it ran off and returned with a group of robots that attacked us, tearing up the place, we were lucky to escape from there without a scratch." Said Jazz. “Well, almost without a scratch.” Said Rocky, showing off his injured wing to them. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you both went through all of that… if only we had known about it before hoof.” Said Pipp, comforting her co-workers. "Well we did try to message you and the others several times, but our messages didn't get any responses at all, we were so worried about you Pipp." Said Jazz, comforting back. "It's been a nightmare up here in Bridlewood, you weren't the only ones who had trouble with those robots, not only did they chase us through the forest, but we also got into a battle with them too, and both times they broke or damaged my phones!" Said Pipp with a growl. "Not only that, but reception up here has been very weak, almost as if somepony has been sabotaging the Canternet connection routers that had been set up not too long ago." Said Zipp. "No way! What sort of monster are we dealing with that's behind these robot attacks, and are they related to all the Unicorns going missing!?" Said Jazz anxiously. Zipp and Pipp simply nodded their heads silently, Jazz let out a sad sigh, sipping more of her tea. "So where does this leave us?" Asked Rocky. "I think we should go through what you and Jazz had just told us regarding what happened back in Maretime Bay." Said Pipp. Both Rocky and Jazz agreed to that, so Zipp opened up her notebook and began jotting down notes. “So let's start from the beginning, the robots attacked you at the precinct, and they were up to something on the sheriff's computer, is that correct?” “That’s right, we later saw that it was accessing files that were related to the former Canterlogic employees, for what reason we don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had managed to download all of it.” Said Rocky. “Interesting, say, out of curiosity which former employees was that robot looking up?” Said Zipp curiously. “I had a feeling you’d be asking that.” Said Pipp, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, it was all the well known former employees, including Toots and Sweets, Phyllis as well, but there was one that stood out from the rest, the former chief of R&D, Dr Wormwood.” Said Jazz. That made Zipp peak her ears up, “Whoa, really? What a coincidence, we’ve been investigating about that scientist as part of the case at hoof.” Said Zipp. “Huh, you mean he’s like a suspect or something?” Said Rocky, raising an eyebrow. “You could say that, now let me ask you a question, are you both are aware of the recent events that have been going on around Maretime Bay?” Asked Zipp inquisitively. "You mean about the disappearing Unicorns? Yeah, it's been making the rounds around town, and on social media as well." Said Jazz. “It’s not just in Maretime Bay I'm afraid, over a dozen have gone missing from around here in Bridlewood too, that’s why this place is like a ghost town.” Said Alphabittle at his desk, letting out a sad sigh. Hearing that made Jazz go wide-eyed in shock, "W-w-w-what!? So that rumour was true after all… But why have they vanished, and for what reason, who could be behind this!?" “That’s what we’ve been investigating ourselves around here, but… We ended up getting much more than what we bargained for.” Said Pipp, looking at the injuries she and Zipp had accumulated. “Have you found out any leads that could help us get to the bottom of this mystery?” Asked Jazz. “I feel that we are getting close to solving it, but the main problem we have is which suspect to chase down Wormwood, or Phyllis, they are our two main suspects with reasons to be involved, but unless we find definitive proof of either of them being the culprit, we’re stuck right where we are.” Said Zipp with a sigh. “Well, there is one thing that me and Jazz have discussed that might help solve that problem.” Asked Rocky. “That's right, it’s about another rumour regarding Dr Wormwood.” Said Jazz. Zipp’s head shot up upon hearing that, “There’s another rumour about him that we haven’t heard about?” “That’s right, and I think the sheriff might know about this too, right Hitch?” Asked Jazz. The sheriff in question had been rather quiet, having just heard from the two ponies about how the precinct, his workplace and home, had not only been broken into by the robots, but that they also attacked and torn up by them too, along with looking up information on his computer, all of that done while he was away helping the Unicorns in Bridlewood. There was not a single word in all of ponydom to describe the amount of anger that he felt from that, but he could think of a few coarse words that he'd rather not say out loud. “Umm Hitch, hello, Equestria to Hitch, are you there, hello?” Said Jazz, waving her hoof in front of his face. Then somepony pinched him, waking him up from his stupor. “Augh, what the f... Oh umm, sorry about that, I zoned out there, what were y'all saying?” Said Hitch sheepishly, making Zipp shake her head. Jazz looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “I said, did you know about the other rumour regarding Wormwood that was going round a year ago, you know which one I mean right?” Hitch thought for a moment, then seemed to remember what she was talking about. “Are you talking about that one rumour regarding the 'machine' that he was said to have invented?” Asked Hitch. Jazz nodded her head, "That's right, the machine that was said to be able to generate power from magic." The other ponies in the room all looked up from hearing that, Zipp especially so. "A machine that can generate power from magic? That sounds pretty farfetched to me." Said Pipp, scratching her chin, "I mean hay, as advanced and sophisticated that our home city Zephyr Heights is, we're nowhere near close to doing anything like that." "We also shouldn't forget that magic has only returned recently to Equestria, so that means it's highly unlikely that anypony could think up anything like that so soon." Said Zipp. "That and it is just a rumour Jazz, there was never any evidence that the doc even built the machine at all, in all the times that i've been to Canterlogic." Said Hitch dismissively. The ponies seemed to be in agreement that such a thing was highly unlikely to be real, but Jazz wasn't so sure, which Zipp noticed and became curious about. "But, you seem to suspect otherwise, don't you?" Said Zipp inquisitively. Jazz nodded her head, then gestured to Rocky who walked forward. "We believe that the machine is real, and also, the method for how it can generate power from magic." Said Rocky. The other ponies listened, but Alphabittle seemed to be getting a bad feeling from the tone. "What do you mean by that, the method for how it can get power from magic?" Asked Zipp, eager to know where Rocky was going with this. "Well, think about it, how can a machine generate power from magic, where does the magic come from? We all know from ancient history that you cannot make magic happen from nowhere, there has to be a focus point for is, so then how, how can this machine in question use magic as a power source?" Asked Rocky. The other ponies seemed to be racking their brains trying to answer that question. "Well, us Pegasus ponies are able to fly and manipulate clouds since magic has returned to us." Said Pipp absently. "And Unicorns are able to generate magic through the use of their horns, even able to cast spells and manipulate objects around the-" Zipp stopped before she could finish, her eyes going wide from what she just said. She wasn't alone, the other ponies in the room suddenly seemed to be understanding what Rocky's question was, and the answer was not good at all. "Wait a moment, Rocky, a-are you saying what I think you are s-saying?" Said Pipp, her voice shaking with anxiety. Rocky simply bowed his head, then came a loud crash that spooked the lot of them, they turned to see Alphabittle had dropped his teacup on the floor in shock. "The Unicorns... My fellow Unicorns, they are being used as a power source for this machine!?" Alphabittle shouted in panic. "I suspect it to be the case Alphabittle, it explains everything that's been going on, the Unicorns vanishing, the robots chasing after me and everypony else, it all makes sense." He said. "B-b-but that's... That's terrible! It's bad enough for our villain to go around on a ponynapping spree, but to use those poor ponies as experiments in generating power from magic!? That's going too far!" Shouted Hitch. "This is bad, if our perpetrator does have this machine, and has been using it for the purpose that Rocky just described, then we can logically draw another conclusion, that they've already started weaponising it for their ends." Said Zipp, showing a rare sign of panic. "Oh no Zipp, you don't think that the robot pony we fought yesterday was..." Asked Pipp nervously. "Correct Pipp, it was likely powered by magic that had been stolen from the Unicorns, using it against us." Said Zipp. "Oh my gosh, I hate to think what this villain is doing to the poor Unicorns right now." Said Jazz sorrowfully. Everypony in the room was beside themselves in shock and anger from this revelation, Alphabittle especially, now he felt more determined than ever to rescue his fellow Unicorns, and to give the villain behind all of this some well deserved desserts. "Alright, that tears it, i'm gonna go out there and find the missing Unicorns before it's too late." Said Alphabittle with determination. "What? Are you crazy!? We don't know what we're up against here, you saw all of those robots yesterday right? Who knows how many that are still out there in the woods." Said Pipp concerningly. "I don't care, I won't sit here while this mad villain abuses my Unicorns for their own ends, I must find them, it's my duty." Said Alphabittle. "I understand where you are coming from Alphabittle, but we need a plan, we cannot just charge in blindly." Said Zipp. Alphabittle however was all fired up and ready to go, he was about to start arguing with them, when the creek of a door disturbed them. "Umm... I've overheard what you were talking about mister Alphabittle, is it true what they are saying?" Alphabittle turned around and saw Jasmine looking at him from the doorway, he had been looking after the little filly after she had escaped the clutches of the robots from yesterday, and now seemed to have recovered from the ordeal, and was now curious about what was going on. "Tell me mister, is it true that those robots are the bad guys, and that they are what's behind my daddy and others vanishing?" She asked him. The other ponies looked at one another, waiting to see who would be the one to break it to her, then Hitch spoke up and stepped forward. "Yes little miss, these robots are the bad guys who are behind all of this, and we believe that a villain who created them is keeping them captive somewhere out there, including your father." Said Hitch. Jasmine went wide eyed from hearing it, and seemed to be on the verge of tears again, but she fought against it. "I-I thought so, not just my daddy, but also Starduster too... He saved my life by giving himself up to the robots... I feel that I owe him for that." Said Jasmine, wiping away her tears. "What do you mean by that?" Asked Alphabittle. "I mean that I want to come with you, if you are going after the Robots, then I want to help out too!" She said, standing upright. Alphabittle was taken aback by what she said, "W-w-what!? But that's crazy, think of all the danger out there, you could get injured or worse!" "I-I know that, but... I want to help, I maybe small and a child, but I want to be brave, just like Starduster was when he faced them, i've made up my mind." Said Jasmine, looking determined. Alphabittle was about to speak up, but he could see that her mind was made up, and nothing was gonna deter her from that, he let out a sigh, and accepted her proposition. "Alright Jasmine, but you must promise me to be careful and stick with me at all times, understood?" He said sternly. Jasmine agreed, "I understand mister." "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get moving and find those missing Unicorns before more of them vanish." Said Alphabittle all fired up. The other ponies agreed, but before they could get moving, there comes a loud sound from Hitches satchel, it sounded like he had received a message on his phone. "Hey Hitch, was that your phone going off just now?" Asked Zipp. "Yes it was, hang on let me see what it says." He said, taking it out and reading what the message said, that was when his face fell, and silence filled the room. "Hitch? Are you okay, what's going on?" Asked Pipp, concerned about what he just read. Hitch began speaking slowly, "It's from Sunny, she... She said that she had arrived at the Junkyard with Izzy, but then they got separated while waiting for Izzy's friend, and then..." "And then what, did something happen?" Asked Jazz. "...She lost sight of her, then she spotted a vehicle of some kind leaving the junkyard, suspecting that it belongs to her friend, she's going to follow it north into the wilderness after them. It looked like she was going to say something else, but it's been cut off." Hitch read out. "Wait hold on, who is this friend of Izzy's that she went to see with Sunny?" Asked Rocky. The other ponies shared looks with each other, then Alphabittle spoke up. "Izzy's friend is none other than Dr Wormwood himself, she met him the day before at that same junkyard, now she went out with Sunny to meet up with him to ask for his help regarding the case, but... Now that this message has come up, i'm starting to believe that it might've been a trap, and that he has actually taken her prisoner!" He said, his anger barely contained. "If that is the case then that can only mean one thing, that he really is behind all of this, and that he is planning on doing the same thing to Izzy that he did to the other Unicorns!" Said Jazz in a panic. "Then there is only one thing to do now, we must go after them and track down where they went, before the trail goes cold." Said Hitch, putting on his hat. "What should we do Rocky, shall we go with them, or head back to Maretime Bay?" Jazz asked. "I have a hunch we should return to Maretime Bay, I'm worried that the robots might try to attack again, and the last thing I'd want is for more ponies to get caught up in this mess." Said Rocky. "That's a smart idea, but are you sure you'll be okay with dealing with them over there?" Said Zipp, pointing out Rocky's bandaged up wing. "Hah, don't you worry Zipp, as a former guard trainee I can handle it, we'll make it back there before dusk." Said Rocky. "Very well, we're counting on you two to keep the town safe, we'll keep in contact if anything comes up." Said Pipp. "Alright enough horsing around, let's going everypony!" Shouted Hitch, opening the door and heading outside. Everypony else followed Hitch out the door, Alphabittle meanwhile turned to Jasmine, giving her a hoof up and onto his back, he then headed towards the open door, but also looked back at her, still worried her safety. "Let me ask you again, are you sure about this Jasmine? There is no turning back once we go outside this door." He asked her. Jasmine bowed her head in determination, she was set in wanting to go with them. Alphabittle gave a smile back, then galloped out through the door, following Zipp, Pipp and Hitch on their way north, while Jazz and Rocky galloped off in another direction back toward Maretime Bay. This was to of course cover as much ground as possible in case the robots were to attack again at both locations, but now with a possible lead on where they were coming from, they had the opportunity to finally put a stop to their attacks, and perhaps save the Unicorns too. They were in fact on the right track to finally solving the case, but the revelations from it, would prove to be much more serious then they had predicted. Meanwhile, in the north east area of the Equestria wilderness, a weary but determined Sunny Starscout continued to fly ahead, but she felt her Alicorn powers fading fast. She had tried to keep up the chase with the suspected vehicle that Izzy and Wormwood had travelled in, but she has lost sight of it, and now had no choice but to follow the tire tracks left behind, moving further and further north into the wilderness that was Equestria. Along the way she had spotted a few things of interest to her, worn out pathways, rusted disused train tracks, old homes long since abandoned and falling apart, all signs of Equestria's past, something she'd love to look into, but her task at hoof demanded her full attention. At last, her Alicorn powers faded away, forcing her to land on the ground with a thud, but despite the loss of her powers temporarily, she felt that she was on the right path, as she galloped onwards following the tire tracks up towards the top of a hill. "Hah hah, they must be close by now, these tracks look pretty fresh." Panted Sunny. Soon enough Sunny had reached the top of the hill, and now had a clear view of the area all around her. From this point she could see in the distance a dense forest that stretched for miles, along with more ruins, including what looked like an abandoned village, a crumbling old watchtower, and more rusted railway lines that seemed to travel into the dense forest and beyond. But what intrigued Sunny the most was an old factory complex not too far away from her, surrounded by worn but stable brick walls, what looked to be barbed wire along the tops, and noticeably, it's tall smokestacks that were giving out wispy amounts of smoke. "Huh, that's strange, if these are all ruins, why is that factory over there giving out smoke? Unless... It's not abandoned at all, and somepony is using it right now." Sunny thought to herself. If that was the case then that could only mean one thing, she galloped down the hill towards the factory, and soon her suspicions were confirmed, the tire tracks that she had been following were heading straight towards the factory gates. "I knew it, Izzy and her friend Wormwood must've travled to this factory, that means they must be inside it." Said Sunny in realization. As she continued her approach to the factory, she noticed right away that there were more signs of activity going on, including the drones that had been harassing her and her friends from before, now flying around and patrolling the area around the building, no doubt to keep out anypony from snooping about the place. "So the drones are here then, everything is starting to add up now." Sunny thought to herself, as she ducked behind a nearby piece of debris to observe the situation. The main way into the factory was sealed by a big heavy looking iron door, and with the tops of the walls surrounded by barbed wire, there seemed to be no easy way to get into the factory at all. "Hmm, there must be a way to get inside there, but how?" Sunny said to herself, thinking deeply, "What would Izzy do in a situation like this." She had a look around for anything that could give her an idea as to get inside there, that's when she spotted some junk laying around that looked like it could be used to make a seesaw, including a rock for a pivot, a long worn wooden beam, and a boulder big enough to help launch her over the walls and into the factory grounds. "I got it, this should all work!" Said Sunny, as she set to work on assembling the seesaw. Before long, Sunny had everything ready, she made sure that the seesaw was facing in the right direction towards the factory building, then she pushed the boulder onto one end of it, the weight of it was heavy, but, being an Earth Pony by birth, Sunny was blessed with great strength in her bod. "Phew, there we are, now then, I just need to climb up on top of that ridge there, then jump down onto the seesaw, and presto, I'll be inside the factory in no time!" Said Sunny, a look of determination on her face. She proceeded to dash up on top of the ridge, then looked in the distance at the factory, she had to make sure that there was enough of a gap between the patrolling drones so that when she launches herself in, she won't be spotted by them when she landed, lest she ends up alerting anypony inside to her presence. Focusing her eyesight hard, she soon saw her chance, and got ready to jump. "Steady... steady... Now!" She shouted out, jumping back, and then running and jumping off the ridge as fast as she could. She landed on one end of the seesaw with such force that the boulder launched straight up into the air, and then crashed down hard, launching Sunny off the seesaw and into the air. "Weee! Don't worry Izzy I'm coming!" Sunny shouted in excitement. But, she then realized too late that her aim was a little bit off, and that instead of landing right in the factory grounds, she was heading straight for one of the windows. "Oh shoot, No no no NOOO-" There was a loud smash, as Sunny crashed through the window, rolled along the floor and ended up landing into a pile of rusted old junk. Dazed, dizzy and shook up a little, she soon regained her senses and got up, rubbing her foreleg. "Owww, wow... That was some crash, it wasn't how I planned it, but at least I am inside-" She was interrupted when she heard a familiar noise outside the broken window, one of the drones, perhaps alerted by the noise of the window smashing, had arrived to see what was going on, Sunny had to hide under the nearby junk to avoid being detected. After a few moments, the drone had moved on, Sunny breathed a sign of relief. "Phew, that was way too close, the last thing I want is to get caught now." Said Sunny, standing up, then inspecting herself of injuries. After being certain that she had no cuts or worse from the landing, Sunny had a look around the room, it seemed to be an old storeroom, long since abandoned and gathering dust and rust, filled with trash and junk that perhaps was important here long ago, along with old posters on the walls that seemed to be advertisements of some kind, all trademarked by the so called "Flim&Flam" Corporation, perhaps an old company from ancient Equestria long ago. Curious about the posters, Sunny then spotted an open door next to them, moving towards it, she took a peek outside into the corridor to see if anypony was around. "Hmm, no pony in sight, perfect." She thoguht to herself, as she sneaked out and began to trot carefully around the corridor. She began to hear distant noises echoing from a distance, the sound of machinery actively working and chugging away, along with the distant beeping sound of drones out on patrol. "It sounds like this whole place is under guard, I better be careful and snoop around quietly." Sunny whispered to herself, keeping low and moving along the corridor. She moved down the corridor towards a doorway, she took a peak outside into another corridor, on her left there were some stairs that led down to a lower floor of the factory, and on her right there was another door, but it was all sealed up with old wooden planks, there was no way she was going to get past that without making a noise. Shaking her head, Sunny instead chose to go down the stairs, she proceeded to do so, and found herself in yet another dusty corridor, with a glowing light at the end of it. "Gosh this place is so dusty, it's enough to make you wanna sneeze non stop." Sunny remarked, trying not to do just that. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, peering past the doorway, Sunny saw that a large room lay ahead of her in a rough L shape with an upper level, and it was clear that this room had seen some work done to it, as large power cables flowed all along the floor and overhead to places beyond. Sunny then spotted robot ponies standing guard near a doorway on the upper level, the doorway in question was blocked by laser beams coming from machines built around it, most likely to block anypony from sneaking in. The sight of that alone made Sunny very curious about what they were guarding, but, the problem facing her was how to get past it all, she knew that there was no way she could take on both robot ponies alone, one alone was bad enough to fight. "Great, now how in the hay am I going to get past that?" She mumbled to herself, thinking about her options. Taking a careful look around, Sunny noticed that the lower level she was on didn't seem to be guarded at all, and that on the right side there was a way into another room up ahead, she decided to creep up there and see if there was a way forward. "Let's have a looksie around there." Said Sunny, quietly sneaking from cover to cover, and eveing up the path ahead. It looked like some sort of old store room full of rusty old barrels and worn wooden boxes, but it also appeared to connect to the upper level of the adjacent room, which Sunny realized she could use to her advantage. Without wasting any time, she ducked into the room, and began to plot a path up, quickly hopping onto stacks of barrels and crates, taking care not to cause a ruckus while doing so. Before long she gripped the edge of the balcony and pulled herself up onto the upper level, she saw right away that she was now on the other side of the laser barrier, and the robot ponies none the wiser. "Hehe, silly robots have no idea I just slipped past." Sunny chuckled to herself, as she trotted on away to the next room. She then froze when she spotted what looked like a camera up ahead scanning the area ahead, forcing her to dart behind some boxes in cover to avoid it's gaze. "Bother, i'm gonna have to move quick and fast in order to get past this." Said Sunny, waiting until the camera turned away before dashing to new cover. She would repeat this multiple times, until she finally reached the far wall under the camera, then she moved off down another corridor, and she noticed bright lights up ahead, with the distant noise of machinary getting louder and more clear. "I must be getting close to the heart of the factory, I hope Izzy is okay..." Sunny sighed, as she kept up the pace. It wasn't long before she found herself on a hanging walkway above the ground, and she took a good look below her to see what was going on, and that's where she made a shocking discovery. "W-what!? What is all this, what on earth..." Sunny said in shock. There was rows upon rows of conveyer belts busily moving along components and equipment around, including what looked like parts to build more robots, but what alarmed Sunny the most was what looked like missiles being made, the warheads being put together by machines, and then carried down to parts elsewhere. "M-m-m-missiles!? W-what... What the buck is going on here?" Said Sunny, surprised at herself for cursing. That wasn't all though, she also spotted what looked like bombs being made as well, along with more laser cannons, it was crystal clear now that whoever was in control of this factory had ill intent in mind, and Sunny guessed that they aimed to attack all of Equestria with these weapons. "This is bad, I need to find Izzy now and warn the others back home, Maretime Bay, no, all of new Equestria is in danger!" She said to herself, before moving on down the walkway past the machinery. She reached the end of the walkway and found another flight of stairs that led down to an area that was dark without lighting. Luckily, Sunny always carried around a flashlight for these sort of situations, she took it out of her satchel and switched it on as she slowly descended down the steps into the darkness. "Hmm... From the look of things, these lights were turned off deliberately, there must be something pretty important down here that nopony wanted to see." She said to herself. Soon Sunny found herself on the ground again, and proceeded down the dark path ahead of her, the noises from the factory growing fainter as she went on. As she kept an ear and an eye out for anything suspicious, she began to hear noises that stood out from the rest, they were low, but they didn't sound too far away. "Huh, they sound like ponies to me, but why would other ponies be in a place like this?" Sunny wondered, moving in the direction of the noises in the darkness. As the noises grew louder and more distinct, Sunny began to wonder if the pony noises were what she suspected them to be, and this made her eyes open in horror. "If those pony like noises are what I think they are... Oh no, I better hurry!" She said, and soon galloped on down the hallway in a hurry. She spotted more cameras up ahead scanning the area, but using the same trick as before, Sunny was able to get past them, and she soon found herself in front of another doorway blocked by laser beams, Sunny knew better then to try and get past them without getting cut to pieces. "Okay, now how do we get past this, hmm, maybe a power source nearby?" She thought aloud. She then eyed a power cable on the floor, and then followed it up the wall to a nearby plug socket that it was connected to. Sunny knew right away what she had to do, she gripped the cable tightly in her hooves, and with a mighty pull, she pulled it out, there was a low humming noise, and the laser barrier turned off, clearing the path ahead of her. "Right, now let's see what's inside here." Sunny Said, as she dashed through the doorway. She soon found herself inside a large room, it was brightly lit with floodlights which momentarily blinded her after having gotten used to the darkness in the corridors, as well as what looked like a holding cell like structure in the middle of it, and what looked like a Unicorn pony laying down in the middle of it. Sunny immediately got a bad feeling about this, she took a step forward to see about checking the pony in question, when a voice rang out. "H-hey, is somepony there, hello!?" Came a tired voice from nearby. Sunny's ears reacted to the voice, she then slowly turned her head to the right, and was greeted with a shocking sight that nearly made her shriek loudly, for there, trapped in row upon row of high tech looking cages, looking tired and thoroughly drained, were all the missing Unicorns. One by one, they all looked up at Sunny, some seemed to have hope returned to their eyes, but others simply stared at her with blank expressions. "H-hey, it's an Earth Pony!" Said another voice. "I don't believe it, somepony has found us, at last!" Said yet another voice. Sunny was too stunned to respond, her worse fears had been confirmed, the Unicorns had been taken here, and that could only mean one thing. "Wait a m-moment, is that you... Sunny Starscout!" Came a familiar voice. Sunny shook her head to focus, and saw amongst the Unicorns none other than Primrose, a Unicorn who had recently gone out on a date with the Sheriff, Hitch, but she had not seen her around since that time. "Primrose, it's you! But... How did you end up here, how did you all end up here!?" Sunny asked Primrose, looking up at all the captured Unicorns. Primrose sat up and started to talk, "W-well... It all started when I was heading back home from Maretime Bay after my recent date with Hitch... I heard this loud noise from behind me, and that's when I saw this big dark thing chasing after me... I tried to run away, b-but it caught up to me, a-and then-" Then another Unicorn interrupted her, "The metal monster captured us! It captured us and brought us all here... and then those mean robot ponies took us away to the... the...-" "The? The what? What did those robot ponies do to you!?" Said Sunny anxiously. That's when a voice called out from behind her, "The machine... they took us to the machine... and then... the machine proceeds to drain us of our power..." Sunny looked behind her, the Unicorn in the cell was now sitting up, but was in a bad way, he had clearly been injured from the bruises on his body, like he had been in a fight recently. "That's terrible... who did this to you mister umm..." Asked Sunny. "Starduster, that's my name... Tell me Sunny, Jasmine, is she safe?" Asked Starduster. "Jasmine? Yeah she's safe with my friends, and we were able to fight against the robots and chase them away from Bridlewood." Said Sunny. Starduster breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad to hear that... But now how will you get us out of here?" Sunny looked around the place, the cages looked to be sealed with some sort of electrical lock, it's unlikely she could pry them open even with her Earth Pony strength, there had to be another way to get them open. "Hey umm, I once saw one of the robot ponies over there, messing with some kind of control panel, perhaps there is something there that could help." Said one of the Unicorns, pointing it out with their hoof. Sunny looked in the direction they were pointing, and then headed on over to the control panel, it was full of buttons and switches, including the ones that unlocked all the cages in the room, which she proceeded to press and flick to trigger them opening, the Unicorns who had all been watching looked on in disbelief, until one of them shouted. "Look everypony, the cages are open, we're free!" Shouted Dreamy, one of the captured Unicorns. "About time we were unlocked, now let us leave before we get clocked." Said another, which a lot sounded like Onyx. All of the Unicorns then rushed out of their cages, dancing around in euphoria at their freedom, a few of them then tried to use their horns to cast magic, only for small sparks to come out instead. Sunny then went into the holding cell whose door had also opened up to help Starduster to his hoofs. "Thank you for your help Sunny..." He said slowly, grunting as he tried to move. "Hey you should take it easy Starduster, you're pretty banged up." Said Sunny, helping him move forward out of the holding cell. Some of the other Unicorns also helped him out, and starting to help bandage up his injuries. "Did you really fought all of those robots all by yourself Starduster?" Asked Primrose. "Heh... Yeah I did miss, but I think I bit off more than I could chew, but... It was all to allow my daughter to escape back to the village." Said Starduster. "Wow... I always thought you were just a fussy, tea loving, stick in the mud, but... You truly are brave pony Starduster!" Said Dreamy, one of the Unicorns that had been captured. "Hey now, I act fussy because of the antics you ponies get up to... But still I couldn't allow those robots to hurt a foal, that's just not right." Said Starduster. "Well, either way mister, you're a brave Unicorn, and now that we're out of here, let's get the hay out of here!" Shouted Jasper, who made a beeline towards the doorway. Sunny however went wide eyed, realizing that something could hear them, "W-wait, Jasper don't go-" It was too late, Jasper had been caught by a security camera in it's sights, after which the klaxon started going off around the factory. "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY, INTRUDERS HAVE BEEN DETECTED, ALL UNITS MOVE ON INTERCEPT COURSE." Shouted a voice over the intercom. "Great... Now we're really gonna get it..." Said Primrose, sitting down with her head in her hooves. "Jasper, you ding dong, next time look where you're going!" Shouted Dapple, Onyx's music partner. "Uh heh heh, umm opps?" Said Jasper sheepishly. The other Unicorns groaned, but they were now spooked by the approaching sounds of machinery. "T-they're coming...!" Shouted Primrose. "What do we do now!? Without our magic we cannot defend ourselves!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny however, was not concerned, instead she began reaching into her saddle back, and then pulled out her helmet she used for roller blading, dented and worn from the last battle, but still in one piece. "Umm Sunny, what are you doing?" Asked Starduster. "Well what else? I'm getting ready to fight those robots and help us to escape." Sunny replied, placing the helmet upon her head. "Huh? B-b-but that's crazy Sunny, what if there is too many of them!? They'll blast you to bits!" Said Primrose in disbelief. "Maybe, but i've faced off against these bucket of bolts before even while outnumbered, and me and my friends came out of that victorious. Yes we may have had some cuts and bruises, but it's better than getting blasted to a crisp, or worse." Said Sunny, tying up her helmet, then flexing her hooves. "Sunny... You mean to fight all of them, by yourself?" Asked the tall Unicorn Leaf, normally a pony of few words. Sunny let out a huff, then turned round to face the Unicorns, showing a look of determination, "No, we are all gonna fight them together. If we pool in all of our strength, we can break out of here and put a stop to whoever is behind all of this, but only if we work together." The other Unicorns looked at each other, exchanging mixed glances and feelings, then Starduster spoke up. "Sunny's right everypony, we've let those robots push us around long enough, I say it's time we take the fight to them...." He said, standing upright on his own. Jasper looked at him wide eyed, "B-but Starduster, we don't have our magic anymore! How are we supposed to fight them without it-" "Use your brain dummy, you still got your own hooves haven't you?" Said Dreamy "Ohhh, well I did take some Unicorn fighting lessons recently, they could finally come in handy." "I don't know about you ponies, but I got a bolt to pick with these bots." Said Dapple, cracking his neck side to side. "On a normal day, I am clam like a summer breeze, but on this day, I am a storm that blows down the trees, let's total them." Said Onyx with a smirk. At that moment a group of robot ponies burst into the room, along with a group of flying drones, all of them packing laser weaponry, they soon had all of the ponies surrounded on all sides. "HALT, THE PRISONERS ARE LOOSE, THEY MUST NOT ESCAPE!" Shouted one of the robots. The ponies however were not concerned, with renewed vigor in their bodies, they all took battle positions as the robots aimed their weapons at them, waiting for the signal. "This is it everypony, are we ready? GO!" Shouted Sunny, as she charged forward. The rest of the ponies all gave out a battle cry as they followed her in charging towards the robots, who retaliated by opening fire, and soon a big battle began to take place, with explosions and blasts of light echoing throughout the corridors and rooms, for now, the battle for the Unicorns freedom was now underway. Meanwhile in another part of the factory, Doctor Wormwood was busy showing to his new friend Izzy Moonbow some of the inventions that he had been working on, all the while remaining unaware of what was going on not far away. "As you can see here Izzy, in this workshop i've been doing all sorts of inventing, such as this thruster back pack right here, and this handy grabber that allows us ponies to have greater dexterity." Said Wormwood, showing them off. "Woooooow, all this stuff looks so high tech and so cool and so.... oooh i'd love to try them all." Said Izzy, squeeing in delight. "Hahaha, that's the spirit Unicorn, i'd sure love to see what you could come up with all this equipment at your disposal." Said Wormwood. Izzy gasped, wondering if he is implying what she thinks he is implying. "Wait, are you saying...?" She asked him. Wormwood showed a smile, "Yes Izzy, i'm asking if you would like to work for me, i'm offering you a job." Izzy put her hoofs to her face, barely able to contain her excitement. "Ohhhhh my gosh! I didn't think that when I moved here from Bridlewood that i'd get to have a new job for inventing!" She said excitedly. "Oh trust me Izzy, there will be plenty of inventing going on with us working together." Said Wormwood, moving over to another of his inventions in admiration. "Oh i'm so excited I could just build something right now, maybe a toaster that creates instant jammed toast, or maybe a pair of walking trousers so that ponies can walk upright and not have to be on all fours all the time, oh oh, or I could build a cannon that shoots glitter everywhere, oh wait, I already invented that one." Said Izzy sheepishly. Wormwood raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her, "You invented a cannon that shoots glitter?" "Yeah I did, I haven't used it yet though, i'm still waiting for the right opportunity." Said Izzy smiling. Wormwood seemed amused, but also showed a rather dark look in his eyes. "Why have you also invented a cannon too Doc?" Asked Izzy. "You could say that, although it doesn't shoot glitter or anything pretty like that." Said Wormwood. "Oh really? What does it shoot then? Is it fireworks or something just as explody?" Izzy asked excitedly. Wormwood chuckled, then flashed a smug smirk, "Heh heh heh, oh it is quite explody Unicorn, just wait until the show starts, then you'll see it in action." Izzy tilted her head in curiosity, "Huh? What show? Is something coming on soon that we need to watch?" Wormwood nodded, "Something like that, you don't want to miss it when it happens, it'll be quite the experience-" Their conversation was interrupted when the distant klaxon went off, and the alarms began to ring out all over the place, along with the factory shaking a little as a distinct explosion was heard. Izzy was spooked and confused on what was going on, but Wormwood seemed calm, although a look of irritation grew on his face, he then pulled out a small tablet and began browsing something on it, his look growing more and more darker. "W-what's going on? Are we in trouble or something Doctor!?" Asked Izzy in an unsure tone. Wormwood just huffed, putting his tablet away, then began making his way to the nearby blast door. "We need to get going Izzy, there is trouble brewing not far away, and we need to get to safety, please follow me." He said to her. He pressed the button and stepped through the open door, gesturing to Izzy for her to follow him. Izzy got the message and trotted after him, leaving the room behind, as the klaxon continued to ring out, and the sound of distant explosions rock the factory. However, in Izzy's rush to escape from the room with Wormwood, she didn't noticed that one of the inventions from the room had mysteriously disappeared, an item labled "prototype energy blaster", almost certainly a weapon of some kind. Was Izzy walking into a trap, and is her 'friend' more then what he seemed to be? The stage was now set for the upcoming battle, and the stakes were about to get much more serious than anypony realized. Author's Note Whoa, this chapter took longer to do then I had expected, but i'm glad to have it out finally, as we now begin to enter the meat of the matter with this story, the next chapter is going to be a doozy as everything finally gets revealed full force, i've been itching to get to this part ever since I started writing this over 2 years ago now. If everything goes to plan, I could have the story wrapped up before Christmas this year but we'll have to see since this time of year tends to get really busy! Act 3 - Chapter 2The sounds of explosions and fighting echoed throughout the old factory corridors, as the escaped Unicorn's led by Sunny Starscout, fought their way through the dozens of robots that stood in their way out of the place, taking advantage of their numbers to smash a path through them. The robots had retaliated by stepping up their attacks against them, shooting lasers towards them rapidly, or even aiming up at the crumbling ceilings and pillars to bring down debris to slow them down, but despite the onslaught of attacks, the ponies continued to fight back, their momentum not slowing down at all. "Take this you bully!" Shouted Daring Flare, another Unicorn who was kicking debris at the robots, smashing them up. "Wooo, I haven't had this much fun since the last Friday Night Food Fight!" Said Dapple, joining in the fight. "Keep it up everypony! We're gonna bust out of here in no time!" Said Sunny, before headbutting another drone hard, making it crash. On and on the battle went, the Unicorns headbutting and skewing every drone they can reach, taking advantage of their horns being sharp and hard enough to do it, while also keeping on their hooves to avoid getting blasted. However, it wasn't long before the damage from the fight was beginning to take its toll on the surrounding environment, as the ceilings and walls started to crack and rumble about around them, the robots remaining oblivious to it. "W-whoa, what's happening now!?" Said Primrose in a panic. Sunny looked all around her, and knew right away what was about to happen, she dashed to the nearby doorway, then whistled back to the rest of the ponies. "Everypony this way! The place is starting to collapse, and we need to get moving, now!" She called out. The Unicorns all understood, and made a dash towards the doorway to follow after her, escaping just in time before the ceiling caved in behind them, crashing the few robots left that tried to follow after them from behind. However, they weren't out of the woods just yet, as the factory continued to shake and fall apart around them, with the corridors they were in starting to cave in too, forcing the ponies to keep on galloping ahead, dodging debris falling in front of them. "I forgot that this factory is like super ancient, all that action we did back there must've weakened the foundations, and now it has caused some of it to start collapsing." Said Sunny, running as fast as she could. "Yes, but at least we lost those robots back there." Said Primrose in relief. "Yeah, but if we don't get to safety, we're all going to get crushed under this rubble!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny thought how to get them out of this mess, until she spotted what looked like a way out up ahead of her, a large door that looked old but heavy, it looked like it could be pushed open with enough force, with a plan in mind, Sunny turned around and spoke to the ponies. "Alright listen up Unicorns, we're gonna have to push this door open in order to get out of here, but we'll need to do it all at once, are we game?" Sunny asked them. "Anything to get out of this mess!" Shouted Dapple, as he made a beeline to the door and started pushing. "Count me in too, I'll push it until I turn blue." Said Onyx, joining her partner. The Unicorns all then joined in with Sunny in trying to push the door open, it was tough, but gradually it began to creak open, all the while the sounds of the place collapsing around them grew louder and more violent. "Come on, push!" Shouted Jasper, desperate to get out of the area. With one final push, the ponies managed to push open the door, and without a moment to waste, they all started to dash into whatever room that door led to just before another collapse happened behind them. "Phew... That was way too close." Said Jasper, wiping his brow. "We did it! I can't believe it worked, we managed to beat the robots!" Said Dreamy, pumping her hooves in the air. "Does that mean we've escaped?" Asked Primrose. "Umm, I don't think we're out of this mess just yet ponies." Said Sunny ominously, looking at something. Primrose looked at her wide-eyed, "Huh!? What do you mean by..." She stopped talking as soon as she saw what Sunny was looking at. Somehow, the ponies had ended up in the large hall that Sunny passed by on the upper walkways earlier, one that was filled with conveyer belts and manufacturing machines, all of them working building weapons, lots of them. "A-are those... m-missiles being made!?" Said one of the Unicorns. "And more robots! What is this place!?" Said Jasper in a panic. "Sunny... Is somepony here planning on making war happen in Equestria?" Asked Leaf grimly. The other Unicorns panicked upon hearing that, clearly unnerved by the sight of weapons around them. "I... I don't know, but I know one thing." Said Sunny, gathering the courage to turn around and face them, "We need to shut this all down, before anypony else gets hurt, then we find whoever is behind all of this and bring him down!" The other Unicorns looked at each other, some were still uneasy about the whole thing, some were panicking and looking around for a way out, others seemed deep in thought. "I agree with Sunny, this madness has gone on for too long, we need to stop it now." Said Starduster, standing up strong despite his injuries. The other Unicorns looked at him, then each other, then back at him. "Whoever is behind this clearly has greater goals than just harvesting our magic for their own purposes, they clearly aim to start a war against all of ponykind... This mad Pony must be stopped, before more ponies end up hurt." He said, clutching his injured side. The Unicorns all murmured to each other, Sunny stepped forward to speak more. "Starduster is right, we cannot allow this villain to get away with what they've done, we've all come this far working together, so let's go further beyond and put a stop to this for good!" She said determinedly. The Unicorns looked at each other again, then they all started to nod in agreement, then turned to Sunny with renewed confidence in their eyes. "You're right Sunny, we ain't letting anypony get away with this, let's take em down!" Said Jasper. "And maybe by doing so, we can get our magic back as well, whatever it takes." Said Primrose bravely. "That's the spirit, alright, everypony, let's get to work and shut this place down!" Shouted Sunny, the rest of the Unicorns joining with her. Then there was a loud noise from nearby that spooked the ponies, the other large door on the other side of the room was opening up, somepony was coming, Sunny and the Unicorns all ducked out of sight, just as a familiar pony entered the room. "Whoa... This place is full of machinery, and gears, and stuff!" Said Izzy. Sunny was in shock, she knew Izzy had to have come here based on the trail she was following, but to see her there, and in one piece too, like nothing had happened to her, she didn't know how to react. She was knocked out of her stupor when she felt a hoof poking her at her shoulder. "Psst, Sunny, is that Izzy Moonbow over there? What is she doing in a place like this???" One of the Unicorns whispered to her. "I don't know, but let's watch and see what's going on." Sunny whispered back. "Wait... What's with all those pointy looking things on those conveyor belts, why do they look dangerous? And what are those robot... robot looking things being built by the machines... wait a moment." Said Izzy, starting to connect the dots in her head. Sunny realized Izzy was starting to figure out the truth, she was about to call out to her when a voice rang out from nearby. "Izzy, where did you go!? It's dangerous, and we need to get moving!" "Huh? That voice, it sounds familiar..." Sunny thought to herself. Izzy turned around and called out to her friend, "Oh I'm right here, in this big huge room with all these machines and such going on." Sunny poked her head up to get a better look, then got a shock when she saw who Izzy was talking too, for standing right there, with his pale green coat and platinum hair, wearing a white lab coat, black hoof gloves, and visor on top of his head, was none other than Dr Wormwood himself, the former chief of Canterlogic R&D, and one of the suspects in the case. Sunny could feel her blood boiling inside of her, she was almost certain that he was behind all of this, and that he was clearly lying to Izzy about being her friend. "Izzy, this room is off limits to everypony! I wasn't planning on showing you this place, at least not yet." Said Wormwood, subtlety hiding his anger. "Ohhh, well then why is that friend, was this area meant to be a secret?" Izzy asked him. Wormwood just rolled his eyes, "Well duh, that's why I asked you to follow me out of here Unicorn, but now that you've seen it all, I guess you want an explanation don't you?" Izzy seemed a little taken back by Wormwood's tone of voice, "Umm, yes, yes I do want to know, you aren't hiding something bad from me, are you?" Sunny decided she must intervene at this moment,"Yes he is Izzy, he's been hiding something bad this whole time." Both Izzy and Wormwood jumped, then looked back to look at Sunny. "S-s-sunny! What are you doing here?" Asked Izzy in surprise. "Isn't that obvious Izzy? I followed you to this place after I lost sight of you in the junkyard, I'm relieved that you aren't hurt or worse." Said Sunny, smiling at her friend. "Well yeah, of course I'm okay, i've been fine this whole time, why do you ask?" Izzy asked Sunny. "I was afraid that your 'friend' had drained your magic for his malicious plans, isn't that right, Dr Wormwood!?" Sunny said, glaring at him. Izzy went wide eyed and stood back from Sunny's outburst, "W-w-what!? What are you talking about-" Sunny wasn't finished, she angrily stomped over to the Pony scientist watching her, "Admit it Doctor, you've been using your robot creations to hunt down the poor Unicorns in Bridlewood, then bringing them all here to be drained of their magic using the very machine you planned on having built at Canterlogic, all for your secret plan to launch an attack on Equestria, Am I right!?" "S-s-sunny wait, you are going too far!" Said Izzy, trying to reason with her, to no avail. "That's right Wormwood, it was all you! The mastermind behind the missing Unicorns across Bridlewood and Maretime Bay, as well all the drone attacks we've had to deal with, it's you Doctor Wormwood!" Sunny said, baring her teeth. Wormwood just stood there, his face unmoving, but his eyes showing flashes of anger, and joy as well. Izzy then huffed and grabbed Sunny's head and made her turn towards her, looking at her intently. "That's enough Sunny, you're going to far! I knew it, I knew you would end up choosing to side with Zipp, Hitch and Pipp against me and my friend... The Doc is not the one we're looking for Sunny, in fact, he wants to help us!" Izzy shouted in protest. Sunny looked at Izzy, confused by her reaction, "Izzy, listen to me it's-" "NO, you listen to me Sunny Starscout!! I refuse to allow you or anypony else to break the friendship that me and the Doc have only just started, everything you've just said and pointed out, it's all just one massive coincidence, it has to be! Yes he might have the smarts and more to build these robots and drones, but if he really was behind all of this, then he would've done something to me as well, wouldn't he!?" Shouted Izzy, showing a rare flash of anger in her eyes. Sunny was stunned by what Izzy said to her, leaving her unsure what to say back. Izzy let out a sigh, then looked at Sunny pleadingly "Listen to me please Sunny, he wants to help us out, he said he wants to help us find the missing Unicorns, and I think I know where they are being kept now, they have to be at the Canterlogic building, probably in some super secret underground basement, kept under lock and key to prevent anypony from snooping around to find all the abandoned prototypes they didn't want ponies to know about-" "Oh for Unicorns sake, Izzy, we're all over here you dunce!" Shouted Jasper from the Unicorns hiding place. The other Unicorns all looked at Jasper, bemused at his outburst just now. "Great going there Jasper, you just had to open your big mouth." Said Starduster. Jasper realized what he just did, and hid away sheepishly. Izzy however, turned her head to look in their direction, and was shocked to see all of her fellow Unicorns appearing one after the other. "H-h-h... HUH!? Y-y-y-you, h-h-how did you-" "We were all captured Izzy, just as Sunny told you, captured by those vile robots and locked away inside those awful cages, and that Pony over there is the one responsible for all of this!" Said Dreamy, pointing out Wormwood. Izzy, still wide eyed from the sight, looked back at Wormwood, then back at the Unicorns, looking in disbelief. "It's the truth Izzy, we've also all been drained of our magic... We can't do anything with our horns anymore, not even simple lifting." Said Primrose, trying to levitate a nearby bucket using her magic, to no avail, her horn gave off weak sparks instead. "I bet my lucky horseshoe that this Pony Doc is also the one who created the Metal Monster that haunted the woods too!" Said Dapple, pointing at Wormwood. The other Unicorns all seemed to be in agreement, Izzy however was still speechless, processing what she had just seen and heard, it was then that she saw amongst the Unicorns the one pony whom she had been looking for, Starduster, who had saved the little filly Jasmine from being captured, she immediately galloped up to him. "S-Starduster, is that you!?" Izzy asked. Starduster smiled, "It is me Izzy, I heard that Jasmine got to safety, i'm glad for that." Izzy looked over Starduster, noticing the bruises across his body, "W-what did this to you... Wait, don't tell me." "Yes Izzy, it was the robots that did this to me... They would've done the same thing to poor little Jasmine too if they got to her..." He said, letting out a sigh, but also seeming to be in deep thought. Izzy went over and gently cuddled the brave stallion, taking care to not agitate his injuries, "You are brave Unicorn for doing something like that, Jasmine will be so happy to see you again once you get back." Starduster however, didn't hear it, instead he shivered as he looked at Izzy, then at Sunny. "You know, I just remembered something just now, I was able to remain conscious enough to see where the robots had taken me, and who it was that was with them." Starduster said, sitting upright. Izzy and Sunny both looked at him as if he had just grown a new head. "H-huh, what do you mean?" Asked Izzy. "The robots did take me to this factory after I was defeated, they dragged me here like I was log cut down from a tree... But, most of all, I saw who it was that was commanding them!" Starduster said with growing confidence. Izzy seemed to hesitate what to ask him next, so Sunny stepped in to ask him instead. "Who did you see Starduster, who is the one commanding the robots?" Starduster glared over at Dr Wormwood, pointing him out with his hoof. "It was him, he was the one commanding the robots to take me away! But that's not all, I saw him clutching something that glowed in a way that it seemed like it was magical, I'm willing to bet my horn that is how he's been using our stolen magi-AAAUUGGHHH!" Starduster screamed out, having been blasted by something, or somepony. Sunny, Izzy and the Unicorns all jumped back in shock, and began looking around seeing where it came from, until Izzy noticed Leaf staring straight ahead, wide eyed and in fear. "L-leaf? W-what are you looking... At... N-n-no, you don't mean...!" "That blabbering Unicorn he should've kept his big mouth shut, but now, you've all learned far too much." Izzy, wide eyed and scared, slowly turned her head around, and then went pale with fear, for there, before her very eyes, was her so called friend Doctor Wormwood, clutching in his hoof something shaped like a hair drier, but it was clearly a weapon, one that had a glowing capsule on top too, and it had clearly just been used to blast Starduster. "D-d-d-d... D-doctor... W-w-what are you-" "YOU MONSTER! How could you do such a thing!? I will not let you get away with this!" Shouted Sunny, baring her teeth and seething with anger. "Starduster was defenceless... He was already injured, and you had to go and hurt him again! This has gone too far!" Said Primrose, showing a rare shade of anger as she turned to face the scientist. "You've done it now scumbag, now you'll find out what it means to bring the wroth of Unicorns down on ya!" Said Dapple, eager to leap at him. "I originally didn't want to have to resort to the hurts, but now, we must give this mad pony his just desserts!" Rhymed Onyx, clicking her neck side to side, ready to attack. Wormwood however, was unmoved by the scene, showing no remorse for his actions, huffing instead, he turned around and prepared to leave. "Hmph, you insolent little ponies, just try and stop me now!" "Get him!" Roared Sunny, rearing up and charging after him. Wormwood then proceeded to aim his weapon up high and blasted the walkway above him, causing it to collapse. "Look out!" Called Primrose, moving fast to dodge the falling debris. Sunny had no trouble keeping up with the mad scientist as he continued his escape, with the Unicorns right behind her, eager for retribution against him for all he had done to them. Izzy meanwhile, was left alone in the room, still in shock from what she had seen and witnessed before her, slowly understanding the truth as it had been revealed to her, in the most heartbreaking fashion. She had trusted in Wormwood, despite all the evidence and clues pointing to him, she didn't think he was the villain behind the missing Unicorns from Equestria, she was ready to stand up for him even if the world turned against her. But to have what just happened all take place before her, she didn't know what to do, but she could feel tears starting to roll down her face, and a gradual chattering of her teeth, as her emotions inside started to become too much for her to hold in. "I-I-I... W-w-why... Why... W-w-w-w... WORMWOOD!" Izzy let out a cry of sadness and shock, letting out her emotions in one scream that seemed to echo all through the hall, she sat down on her haunches, sobbing quietly to herself. But it wasn't long before she was interrupted by a noise from behind her, the sound of movement from somepony. Taking a deep breath and wiping away her tears, she turned her head to look, and saw one of the Unicorns that had not followed after the others tending to Starduster near some crates, the Unicorn in question was an older looking one with greying cerulean hair and tail, and a familiar pale yellow coat. As Starduster tried to sit up again, the Unicorn gently eased him back down. "Now now my friend, you need to lay still, you've taken a bad hit, and you need to rest or you'll hurt yourself more." Said the Unicorn. "Augh, b-but... I have to stop him... For Jasmines sake..." Said Starduster, still feeling the effects from the blast he took. "Don't worry about that friend, he will be stopped, but for now, your well being comes first, it's a miracle that blast didn't do much worse to you, you are certainly tougher than you look Starduster." He said. Starduster gave a weak smile, "Heh... They always told me that back home, even Alphabittle said that I was the toughest Unicorn in Bridlewood, after him that is." The Unicorn chuckled, "Heh heh heh, I can believe that, especially if it allowed you to save my daughter." Starduster's eyes widened, then he turned to look at the Unicorn in surprise, "Wait, are you saying that-" "Yes indeed, you saved Jasmines life my friend, she is my daughter, and I cannot thank you enough for it." Said the Unicorn, smiling warmly. Upon hearing this, Izzy trotted on over to join them, "Oh so you are Jasmines father, I should've known from the resemblance outwardly." "That is correct, allow me to introduce myself, I am Cobalt Shine, and I think you both for looking after my daughter, she must be worried sick about me." Said the Unicorn. "Oh she's fine, she's waiting for you back at Bridlewood, she's actually been really helpful to us, if it weren't for her we wouldn't have gotten the important clues for this case." Said Izzy, smiling warmly. "I'm happy to hear that Izzy, but... What will you do now?" He asked her. Izzy closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh, "To be honest, I don't know what to do, after what I just witnessed, I feel confused and lost... And hurt, and sad, and angry too." "That is to be expected, the friend that you trusted turned out to have been a villain, and unless you stop him, he'll only continue to hurt more ponies out there." Said Cobalt. "I know that, but... I trusted him, we shared the same love for inventing... I even made this friendship bracelet that I was going to present to him at some point today, to show how much having a friend like that mean to me..." Said Izzy glumly, showing the bracelet off. "I understand Izzy, but remember, it's not the end of the world if one of your friends turns out to be a bad guy, for your true friends will stuck by you no matter what." Said Cobalt. "He's right Izzy... Sunny and your friends in Maretime Bay have stuck by your side ever since you first met, and they will continue to do so... A bond like that can only come from true friendship..." Said Starduster, gently sitting up. Izzy closed her eyes, letting off a deep sigh, she knew what they said was true, but still, she felt hurt by her former friend Wormwood's actions just now, for not only did he carry out the kidnapping of all the Unicorns from Bridlewood, but now he had gone and hurt a defenceless pony right in front of her who had gone out of his way to save a friend from being captured. Feeling that her friendship with him was all for nothing, and that he had likely been using her all along for protection, or worse, that he planned on capturing her too for his own nefarious purposes, she clutched her newly made friendship bracelet and let out a groan of anger, then opened up her eyes, looking at Starduster and Cobalt with new determination. "Alright, I think I know what to do now, I need to go catch up with Sunny and the rest of the Ponies, and stop that mad doctor before anypony else gets hurt. Both Cobalt and Starduster looked at each other, then smiled back at Izzy. "Very well, don't worry about us Izzy, we'll try to find a way out of here to safety." Said Cobalt, helping Starduster up. "Take care of... Augh, yourself Izzy, and make that mad doctor pay for this...!" Said Starduster, clutching his leg as he tried to stand up. "Good, we'll meet up back in Bridlewood, and without further ado, charge!" Izzy shouted, turning around and running to catch up with the other ponies. "Do you think she'll be okay Cobalt?" Starduster asked. "She will, so long as she has Sunny and the others with her, she'll be fine." Said Cobalt. Starduster agreed, and without wasting anymore time, the two ponies made their way out in the opposite direction, hoping to find a way out of the factory and escape to safety, little knowing that some of the robots nearby were secretly following them. At about the same time, Sunny and the rest of the Unicorns, who had been chasing after Wormwood had reached a large empty looking hall, just like the one they were in before. They were sure that the scientist had been running this way, they were hot on his hooves, despite him trying to slow them down by causing distractions and obstacles. Furiously looking around the darkened room, Sunny called out for the mad doctor, determined to stop him. "Wormwood, show yourself! You've got nowhere to run now, why don't you just give up and return the magic back to the Unicorns!" Shouted Sunny. It was then that a deep mad laughter echoed throughout the room, followed by Wormwood talking from the shadows. "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Sunny Starscout, that power is far too important to my plans." Said Wormwood. "Too important!? You monster, you think you can just take our magic away and treat us like garbage afterwards!?" Shouted Primrose. "You monster, using the Unicorns magic for your own ends, what do you hope to achieve with it, to conquer Equestria with your army of robots and drones!?" Sunny called out. There was a low noise from nearby, followed by the sound hooves stomping along the upper walkways. "Foolish little ponies, don't you realize that magic is the greatest power in the whole world, a power that I have now managed to harness for use for all of ponykind! Imagine all of the possibilities that could be achieved by utilizing this power for everyday life, every household appliance, every light, lamp or beacon, every machine, computer or smart phone, everything, all powered by the miracle that is magic!" Wormwood echoed out. "That may be true doc, but your methods of using magic will be harmful to the ponies whom you have taken from! There are better ways of using magic to help everypony else than just treating it as a weapon to be used for conflict!" Sunny called out. "A weapon you say? Heh, I guess that is one way of looking at it, in it's use as a weapon, it could be used to defend our lands from many kinds of threats, such as the other pony tribes who might not see our way. Or even better, what if the other pony tribes were interested in using it against us? What if all my discovered ended up in the wrong hooves, the whole of Equestria plunged into a war unlike any other!" Sunny gasped at the horrifying implication that Wormwood just presented to her, then stomped her hoof in anger. "How could you think that way Wormwood!? The other pony tribes would never use magic against each other, not after i've shown them that we can all live in harmony and work together without fighting one another anymore! The Unity Crystals alone are proof of that ideal! I won't allow the return to magic to be abused for anypony's selfish use, including you as well doc!" Then a shot rang out from above her, but Sunny managed to dodge the energy blast after jumping away, then she and the Unicorns scanned above them, trying to find out where it came from. "Hahahaha, oh that is just rich, do you really think that everypony is willing to go along with that ideal, do you really believe that you alone can stop me from achieving my ambitions?" Wormwood called out. "She's not alone, she has us Unicorns to back her up, and her other friends as well!" Shouted Primrose, standing up for Sunny. "Hah, how foolish, then let me ask you something Sunny, do you really believe that the pony tribes today wish to see the return of Equestria as it was centuries ago?" He asked her from the darkness. "Huh, what do you mean by that?" Asked Sunny, unsure where he was going with it. "Hmph, I thought not, you have no idea just what potential is being wasted by trying to return us to the ideals of Old Equestria, ideals that are no longer relevant today, don't you see, society has moved on Sunny, what may have been the case centuries ago is no longer the case anymore. No, what this world needs is something new, something radical, something powerful and all conquering, to bring everypony together under a new banner!" Said Wormwood from nearby above. "You aren't saying..." Sunny said. "I am saying it Sunny, I propose that all of the pony tribes be united under a new order, led by one pony with the ambiton, will, and technology to bring Equestria to a new age of dominance and power! A ruler who will rule all with an steel hoof, and will not hesitate to crush any opposition that dares to challenge their rule!" Wormwood said passionately. Sunny and the Unicorns couldn't believe what they are hearing. "Yes, that is what must be done, it is what I must do, for I alone am that one who will make it happen, me, your new ruler, your new master!" Wormwood declared. It was then that the lights turned on, and Sunny and the Unicorns all saw Wormwood on top of a platform above them, standing in front of a massive machine of unknown purpose. He gloated to the ponies below him, fully revealing his true nature to them all. "For on this day forward, I shall be known as, Lord Wormwood!" Said Wormwood, as he let out a loud mad laugh that echoed throughout the room. The other ponies all looked on in fright at the display, especially the machine behind the mad pony scientist. "Hahahaha, behold little ponies, the culmination of my genius and research into the power of magic, a weapon of my own creation to bring about my domination of all Equestria! It is none other than, The Prototype Energy Tri-focused Annihilation Laser, or PETAL if you wish. With this invention, all of Equestria will bow down to me and allow me to rule, or else, they will risk their destruction!" Wormwood declared, as he pressed a button on the console. The PETAL machine stirred, then moved upwards and began to unfold it's 'petal' like panels, revealing a large laser cannon inside of it, along with large clear containers of some kind, full of glowing energy, which Sunny knew very well could only be one thing. "That must be... It has to be the magic that mad pony has stolen from the Unicorns, that's what must be powering it!" Sunny said out loud. "This is horrible... What is he going to do with all of that?" Said Primrose, clearly unnerved by the sight. "Haha, and now, as a treat for all of you in attendance tonight, I'll be happy to give you a little demonstration of the kind of power this beauty is capable of unleashing, now pay close attention, and watch in awe at it's display of power!" Wormwood said, as he pressed a button on the console. The machine began to rev loudly, then of the PETAL Machines flower panels all aligned up, and each shot out a beam of light towards the main cannon in the centre, charging it with energy, a bright yet evil glow of energy bleaching out the room. Sunny and the ponies looked on in horror and silence as the PETAL Machine got ready to fire. "And now, FIRE!" Wormwood shouted out. The PETAL machine let out a loud booming noise, and at that moment, a large powerful beam of energy shot out from it's cannon, shooting straight up towards the roof of the factory, and in an instant, the whole roof was obliterated a huge massive explosion, causing debris and rusty old girders to begin falling all around, it was like the whole factory was beginning to collapse. Sunny and the ponies only just managed to knock themselves out of their stupor just in time to avoid the carnage happening, the noise from it all was deafening, and the terror of it all, unthinkable. "Heh heh heh heh, heh heh hahahahaha! Oh it works, it works so beautifully, my ultimate weapon is perfect!" Wormwood said in awe of the display. Sunny managed to get back to her hooves, but she was left in shock at the destruction all around her, including the now gaping hole up in what was once the factory roof. "H-h-holy cruddy runny ambrosia pudding...!" Said one of the Unicorns in surprise. "T-the roof... it's c-completely gone...!" Said Leaf in disbelief. Wormwood looked down at the ponies, flashing an evil grin on his face. "Heh heh heh, this is the just a taste of the power that the PETAL Machine is capable of, imagine the chaos and destruction I could unleash if this was aimed at a major town or city, the destruction it could cause would be unthinkable." Said Wormwood, gloating in his apparent victory. That causes Sunny to jump up in shock, barely holding in her building anger. "You wouldn't dare you scum bag! This madness is getting out of hand, I won't allow it to continue anymore!" Sunny shouted out. Wormwood looked at her, raising an eyebrow in mild curiosity. "So, you still intend to stand against me Starscout? Pah, you are no different from your old man, that fool, if only he knew how right he was about magic and the past history of Equestria, i'm sure he'd be proud of you for what you've done." Said Wormwood. "My father... My father would be proud of me, as I'm sure he is right now... But he'd be so disappointed in you for what you've done, especially after everything you both did together growing up." Said Sunny. "Yes, that would be true, he would feel let down at my actions... Except that I still wouldn't care, he should've known that I was only using him for my own agenda all along." Said Wormwood with a chuckle. Sunny looked at him wide eyed, "W-w-what!? What do you mean!?" "I mean what I just said, he was nothing but a fool for me to make believe in just so I could learn all I can from him, after all, it was thanks to him that I found this factory in the first place, and it was thanks to him that I learned all about the power of magic in the first place, oh and how can I forget, it was also thanks to him that you had the idea to unify all the pony tribes together and restore magic to Equestria through the Unity Crystals, yes, all of that done at the advantage of myself." Said Wormwood. Sunny felt as if her poor heart was breaking, she now began to realize how Wormwood was never a friend to her father at all, it was all just a lie. "Aww what's the matter Sunny, you're now starting to realize it? You and your father were just a means to an end for me, and now that we are here at this point, I have no more use for you, or your pathetic Unicorn friends! All that matters to me now, is my ambition to bring all of Equestria under my iron hoofed rule, and nopony, nopony will dare stand in my way!" Said Wormwood, laughing madly. Sunny seethed in anger, she was hurt by the reveal of Wormwood only using her father for his own plans rather than being a true friend, she couldn't hold back anymore, this mad pony had to be stopped now. Reeling her head back and letting out a yell of anger, she was determined to bring the doctor down. "RRAAAAUUGGGHHH!! I swear on the spirit of Twilight Sparkle herself that I will stop you Wormwood, and destroy your awful machine and end your terrible plans, right here right now!" Said Sunny, slamming her hoof down and bearing her teeth in anger. Wormwood looked down at her, showing slight annoyance that she wouldn't give up. "If that's how you want to play Starscout, then fine, your hometown of Maretime Bay will be the first target for my magnificent creation to destroy, say goodbye to your home and friends Sunny!" Said Wormwood, reaching for the console and activating the machine. "I won't let you, everypony, GET HIM!" Shouted Sunny, as she and the rest of the Unicorns charged towards Wormwood. Wormwood however let out a huff, then pulled a nearby lever, which started to make the place rumble, making Sunny and the Unicorns stop in their tracks. They then watched as the machine started to rise up, elevating to it's full height, out through the ruins of the factory roof, and up into the sky above. "H-hey, that's cheating, no fair!" Shouted Dapple. A nearby monitor turned on, with Wormwood laughing at them. "Hahahaha! Surprised? The PETAL Machine has plenty more tricks to it than just being a doomsday device, it's also capable of self defence, and can fire it's weapon from up to a hundred and fifty meters into the air, you should see the view from up here, it's fantastic, I can almost see Maretime Bay from up here." Said Wormwood on the screen. "If you think hiding up there is gonna stop us from climbing up to you, think again Wormwood!" Said Sunny. "Hm, i'd like to see you try Sunny, all drones and robots in the vicinity, attack now, finish off these miserable ponies!" Wormwood shouted out. Sunny then heard noises all around her, and saw a whole army of drones and robots smashing their way into the ruined room, their weapons aimed at them. "Holy moly, there is too many of them, we'll be overwhelmed!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny however was quick to notice one of the walkways had fallen down to make a makeshift stairway to the upper levels, she knew there was no time to lose, they had to get up to the factory roof and put a stop to the mad doctor, at any cost. "Everypony, this way hurry!" Sunny called out, galloping over to the nearby walkway. "Follow Sunny everypony, there's no time to doubt, for we must hurry." Rhymed Onyx, as she and the rest of the Unicorns followed after her up the walkway. The robots all opened fire at them, missing and then giving chase after them, all the while, Dr Wormwood at the top of the PETAL Machine began inputting the coordinates to aim the weapon at Maretime Bay, then with a flick of the lever, the weapon began to charge up, he intended on using the full power of the weapon to reduce Maretime Bay to a smoking hole in the ground, no caring who gets caught in the devastation. "Finally, after all these years my ambitions will be achieved, all of Equestria will bow down to me, or risk destruction! Heh heh heh, hahahahaha!" Said Wormwood, letting out another mad laugh. The situation was most grim indeed, will Sunny and the Unicorns make it to the top of the PETAL Machine in time before it fires, or will Maretime Bay be destroyed? The clock is ticking, and Sunny will need every help she can get to reach the mad scientist before disaster happens, if only her friends Izzy and the others can reach her in time. The stage has been set, and the final battle is about to commence. Author's Note This chapter took a little longer to do than I was hoping, it's been a rough couple of weeks due to mental health taking a hit, and work becoming a real tiring chore for me, but either way, i'm happy with how this chapter has turned out, i've been itching to get to this part since last year, and now we can finally move onto what might be the penultimate chapter, if I decide to make the one after that the epilogue. Act 2 - Chapter 2Far away from the trees of Bridlewood forest, in the depths of the Equestrian wilderness, inside a hidden facility, there was a dark-secluded room lit up only by rows and rows of computer screens and the sounds of distant machinery at work in the background, and within that same dark-secluded room, a shadowy figure of a pony lurked within. They were sitting back on their chair watching over footage of a familiar group of ponies seemingly running away from something that was chasing after them, growing amused over their shouts and screams as they were blasted at by unseen enemies. They were however disappointed when one of the ponies, a familiar Pegasus princess, started to fight back against their attackers, pulling back a big thick branch along with the sheriff, letting it go, smacking into the attackers, sending them reeling back, and in one case, causing one of them to break down in smoke. As the group escaped into the trees towards Bridlewood, the figure turned away deep in thought, pondering their next move. "So... the sheriff and his merry mares have all managed to escape my robot's have they? Hah, I was hoping that the robots would rough them up a little more before they escaped to the village. There is no doubt now that they will warn the remaining Unicorns about what's going on in the forest, that, and having seen my robots in action against them, they will likely be wary of further attacks against them." The shadowy pony leaned back on the chair, in deep thought about the circumstances at hoof, silently considering their options and what to do next. "I could just send in my whole army of robots straight into Bridlewood, they would almost certainly overwhelm them with sheer numbers alone, and lead to the capture of everypony that is there, but... Such a move is too reckless for my liking, and I don't want to play all of my cards so soon, especially since I still need to finish up my master plan." The shadowy pony turned their chair towards another screen, a big one that showed the progress of some sort of secret project they were working on, a sinister grin growing on their face as the progress was reaching the final stage. "I only need just a few more days to put the final touches onto it, and then once I have done so, no pony will be able to stand in my way as I achieve my long held ambitions at last!" Leaning back on the chair to let out a deep hearty laugh, the shadowy pony was then interrupted by an alert that went off on the screen to their right. Swinging around to check it out, they saw that a group of robot ponies were approaching a secret location, bringing along with them a Unicorn that had been captured in a net, a familiar looking Unicorn. Tenting their hooves together in delight, the figure turned around to view another screen to see the Unicorn being taken away to some sort of entrance into a facility built underground. "Excellent, another Unicorn has been captured, that makes seventeen that have been taken so far. If I can just capture one or two more, that should be more than enough to complete the master plan." The shadowy pony shifted their chair over to yet another screen, one that showed security footage of every single Unicorn that had been captured by them so far, more than half of them were familiar faces, including the music duo of Onyx and Dapple, Leaf, Dreamy, and even poor Primrose. "Let's see who we've got this time." Imputing some commands, the screen changed to footage of the newly captive Unicorn being taken to some sort of holding cell in a secret location. The lead robot with a red spiky mane inputted on a nearby control panel, causing the cell to unlock and open up. The robot ponies then unlocked the net that the Unicorn had been trapped in, and with a heave ho, they threw their captured prey into the cell, closing the door behind him. The Unicorn was none other than Starduster from before, he had sacrificed himself to the robots in order to give Jasmine time to escape back to Bridlewood safely. Starduster had tried to fight back against them, but he was outnumbered and outmatched by their sheer robotic strength and weapons, leading to his capture. "What a foolish Unicorn, trying to fight off my creations all by himself, the poor fool deserved his injuries if I say so myself. He can just stay lying there for now until I have need of him, heh heh heh." The figure then leaned forward to shout out orders to the robots on the intercom. "Leave the Unicorn inside the holding cell for now, do a check to make sure the location is secure, then report back to your posts for further orders!" The robots obeyed the orders, and carried out as their leader had asked. Leaving Starduster inside the holding cell alone, they scouted around to check for any breaches or slips in security, scanning around twice over. Satisfied, the robot pony with the red spiky mane, seemingly their commander, motioned to them to leave the facility through the main door, one by one they left, the big heavy steel doors closing behind them, soon silence fell onto the room, as Starduster lay on the floor in the holding cell, still unconscious from his battle. After a few minutes, some voices began to speak up, it was from none other than the Unicorns from Bridlewood that had also been captured by the robots, all locked up inside cages piled up in a corner of the room. "Is that Starduster over there? They've captured him too!?" "It looks like him, I recognize that mane of his anywhere..." "Oh no... No no no no, I can't take this anymore! Just how many more Unicorns does that monster and his minions have to capture before they're satisfied!?" "Calm down Primrose, we'll think of something..." "Think of what!? None of us stood a chance against those things on our own, what if that fiend has got a whole army of them and worse waiting for us if we tried to make an escape? We'd all be crushed into mush instantly!" "But we have to think of something, I can't take being stuck in this stupid cage anymore!" "It's hopeless everypony, I tell you, it's hopeless!" The Unicorns were growing restless, they seemed to have been prisoners for a while now, with little food and water provided to them, now they were slowly going mad from being locked up for so long. The shouting and arguing carried on until they were silenced by a soft yet loud voice nearby, it was coming from a Unicorn in a lonely cage in the other corner of the room. She leaned forward, showing her wavy mane with blue and teal highlights. "Settle down everypony, please! There's nothing we can do right now... we're trapped in here with no way to escape, not without our magic... the only thing we can do is hope for the best right now..." The other Unicorns were silent for a moment, then as the reality sunk in for them, they quietened down. "I'm sorry about the uproar, but... I just want to go home..." "I'm sorry too everypony... I'm just worried about my daughter... I fear for her safety... all alone without anypony to hang out with..." "I'm sure she'll be fine mister, after all, our leader always looks after the little ones with dedication and care, especially in the absence of parents." The older Unicorn sighed deeply, then slunk into a corner of his cage, thinking about his daughter back in Bridlewood. "I hope so... just please be safe, my little Jasmine... Daddy will find a way out of this... somehow." The shadowy pony had been listening in silently on their conversation through the security cameras, they seemed amused at their suffering. "Poor useless Unicorns, they must be so desperate to be let out of their cages, so sad that they all want to go back home again, I bet they'd do anything for it, perhaps even working for me, hahaha! Such melodrama and emotion, it's worthy of a theatre play in of itself." Satisfied with his new captured prisoner, the pony then turned their attention back to the big screen, with the Mane Five in its view. "Still, I cannot just let the sheriff and his band run around and interfere with my plans, that could be a serious problem. Hmmm, as tempting as it is to just launch an attack on Bridlewood itself, I'd rather just wait for them to make the first move instead, and expose themselves out from the villages safety, that way I can deal with them in force and be rid of their meddling hides for good! After inputting some more commands into the computer, the shadowy pony then stood up and began gloating more openly. "Then once they're out of the way, I can finally focus on my dream, my ambition, to conquer all of known Equestria! To subject everypony and everything to my superior will and power! All will bow down to me, their future leader, and no pony will stand in my way!" The pony then gazed sinisterly upon something in the room, a tall glowing cylinder-lantern like device sitting on a desk, pulsing with a familiar rainbow-coloured light, like a prism. "And it all starts with this, the greatest source of power in the world!" The pony then let out a loud maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the place as the glowing cylinder pulsed more in the corner, all the while not far away, inside what looked like an old factory, there were scenes of conveyor belts pulling along parts of machinery, lasers cutting sheets of metal to pieces, and assembly lines putting them all together into a new robot for the pony's army. There were also sights of weapons being tested out, missiles, laser cannons and more, all being aimed at crude cut-outs of various ponies as targets. But, most troubling of all, was the sight of something huge and ominous being worked on in the centre of the whole place, covered in tarps, cables and scaffold, it was hard to describe what it could be, but the size of it leaned into the fear of it being some sort of giant weapon, among many others that were planned to be unleashed upon the whole of Equestria when the time came, which was drawing nearer with each passing hour. There was no doubt about it, the mysterious villain was planning to conquer all of Equestria using these weapons, the ponies at large had no idea of the danger that was building in the shadows, nor who was behind all of it, and just what is this mysterious "greatest source of power" they speak of, and where did it come from? The Unicorns that have been captured may hold the answers, if the Mane Five can find them before it's too late. Elsewhere, back in the Bridlewood settlement, the young Unicorn Jasmine began to stir in the bed, having been asleep for the last little while after running away from the danger in the forest. She gave out a long deep yawn, then opened up her eyes to take a look around. She noticed that she wasn't wearing her glasses, but was able to discern that she was inside a room of some kind, and that she was in a bed. "Am I safe now?" She said to herself. Looking around the room again, she then breathed a sigh of relief, next she looked over to the table on her right, she spotted her glasses laying there, along side a cup of water. "Ah, my lucky glasses, I hope they aren't damaged." Said Jasmine, as she took them into her hooves and gently put them on. Luckily she saw that they were intact, though they did need a cleaning from all the dust around the edges. However that was the least of her attention right now, she scanned around the room, and realized right away where she was. "I must be in one of the Crystal Tea House guest rooms. but that must mean..." After letting the thought sink in for a moment, she held her head in her hooves, shedding a few tears, but also smiling in relief. "Ohhh thank Twilight... I made it. But still... Poor Starduster, he gave himself up to save me... I fear what those things have done to him... especially the Metal Monster." She said to herself, reaching over to drink from the nearby cup. The poor filly had a lot on her mind right now, enough that it was giving her a headache just thinking about it all. She wanted to go find Starduster and save him, but she knew that would be dangerous, and foolish after seeing how powerful those "metal looking ponies" looked, she wouldn't stand a chance on her own. She also wanted to warn the Unicorns in Bridlewood about what's really going on in the forest so that they can all be better prepared to deal with the danger that surrounds them. She was still deep in thought when she began to hear voices coming from beyond the door, it sounded like a meeting of some kind was going on in the main hall of the Crystal Tea House. Curious, Jasmine hopped out of bed to hear what was going on, leaning her head onto the door to listen in. "Wait what? You were all attacked and chased into the forest?" "That's right, me and everypony else had split up into two groups to cover more ground, but before long we were ambushed and chased about by these drone looking things, we were lucky to escape into the trees and reach Bridlewood safely." "I'm sorry, but drones? What exactly are those things?" "They're a kind of remote controlled flying machine with a computer program built in, like a robot if you will, they're mostly used for entertainment purposes around Zephyr Heights, but I also have a few that I use for detective work, as you can see right here." "Interesting, but if that's the case, how can these 'drones' pose a threat to you ponies?" "They normally don't, but these ones were all souped up, with armor plating, laser cannons and the works. "Yeah, the way they all zipped around like 'ZOOM', and then blasting away at us like 'PEW PEW PEW', 'BAM BAM BAM', it was so cool, but also scary, it was scary cool!" "Izzy! We could've been injured or worse from those attacks!" "I know that, it's a good thing my glitter flares were able to get us out of that mess right?" "Yeah they did, I figured they would be just for show, but they really came through for us Izz." "I know right? I'm amazed that they worked so well too!" Jasmine studied the voices, she recognized one of them all to well. "Is that Izzy Moonbow? She's finally back in Bridlewood!" She said, trotting on the spot in excitement. Lifting up a hoof, the young filly gently turned the door knob, and slowly opened the door to peek outside. She saw that Izzy was here alright, but so were her friends, including Sunny, Pipp, Hitch and Zipp. They had just cleaned themselves of the debris and mud from their escape, and were now sitting at a table with Alphabittle. "Anyway, onto business as they say, Alphabittle, can you tell us what exactly has been going on round here?" Said Sunny seriously. Alphabittle however, seemed to be rather cross about something, and instead stood up straight. "Well hold on, I have my own questions first, what took you all so long to come to our help?" Said Alphabittle sternly. Hitch was about to say something but he was cut off by Zipp speaking up. "We're sorry that we didn't come soon enough, but we're here now to help you out- Alphabittle however lashed out before she could finish. "Excuse me, sorry!? We've been sending out calls for help to Maretime Bay for the last two weeks now! Letters, e-mails, comments, even some of our own braving the forest to reach there, only to end up vanishing with little trace. I was about to give up hope, and only now you decide to show up here to help us out!? Do you have any idea how bad our situation is right now!?" Shouted Alphabittle. Zipp was taken aback by the statement, but Sunny tried to defuse the situation. "I know how upset you are Alphabittle, we've had ponies in Maretime Bay tell us yesterday about the missing Unicorns, we aim to help you find the missing Unicorns by working together- "Is that supposed to make me feel better!? Foundless optimism and hope isn't going to bring my fellow Unicorns back Sunny! Working together, hah! If we were all working together as you like to champion, none of this would be happening! For somepony who actively promotes friendship, harmony and such ideals, you sure have failed to live up to that standard you set yourself, Sunny Starscout!" Said Alphabittle harshly. Sunny wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words to say. Alphabittle was angry yes, but he did have a point in what he said, and it cut her deep like a knife. An unsettling silence filled the room, until Hitch finally cleared his throat and spoke up. "It's my fault Alphabittle, I'm the one responsible for this whole mess happening... it's all on me and my failure to take it seriously." "What? You sheriff?" Said Alphabittle, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, i've been receiving the letters for help from Bridlewood as you said, but my lack of knowledge of Unicorn customs, along with the fact that I assumed to have had no permission to assert authority in Bridlewood lead to me pushing them onto the side while I focused on other matters in the town... It wasn't until yesterday when a citizen came up to me and told me about what was going on, and only then did I stumble upon the case that was going on under my snoot all along... I was a fool for nearly letting this case go cold!" Said Hitch, bucking a nearby chair to the ground. Alphabittle looked on at him, focused on his words. "I'm sorry for letting this happen Alphabittle, I should've known better, but I listened to my misplaced judgement, and now that I look at this mess I ended up in... maybe it's better if you just turn me away and let me return back to Maretime Bay in disgrace..." Said Hitch, slowly turning away in sadness. "Hitch, wait you can't-" Said Sunny, before Zipp stopped her, shaking her head at her. "I let you, and all the Unicorns down... I'm sorry..." Hitch was prepared to leave, but he felt a hoof stop him, he glanced back to see that it wasn't his friends doing it, but Alphabittle, who still had an angry look on his face, but deeper in his eyes, there was a sign of understanding in them. "Sheriff, I'll be honest, I am disappointed in you and your friends for not responding to my fellow Unicorns requests for help sooner, that's why I had that outburst just now, it's been hard for the rest of us here in Bridlewood." Said Alphabittle, who then softened his look and started to talk more calmly, "However, that doesn't mean I will reject your offer to help us outright." Hitch's face brightened as he heard that, turning around to look at Alphabittle fully. "But tell me, why on earth did you ever think that you'd need my permission to operate here in Bridlewood? Sheriff, I don't think you've ever noticed it, but we don't have an active police force active here." Said Alphabittle bluntly. "H-huh!? You mean that..." Said Hitch stutteringly. "That's right, you can operate here as a member of authority under my say so, since you are a trusted and respectful officer Hitch." Said Alphabittle. Hitch rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sheepish sign, "Well, I feel really stupid now don't I?" Alphabittle smiled and let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah, but don't sweat on it too much, right now we've got bigger things to discuss." Sunny smiled, knowing they can finally discuss the case at hoof, "Yes, now back to what we were saying earlier about what was going on." For the last half hour, Alphabittle and the Mane Five proceeded to talk about the whole situation in detail, Alphabittle explaining about all the Unicorns disappearing around Bridlewood and the mysterious "Metal Monster" that has been sighted in the forest, while Sunny and her friends explained what they know about the case, and the "drone" attack that happened to them on the way to Bridlewood and how they escaped. "Huh, so they came from the trees and ambushed you is that it?" Said Alphabittle. "Yeah they did, it was scary, Pipp screamed really loud like 'AHHHHHHH' and then flew off straight ahead like a comet, i've never seen her go that fast before, we struggled to keep up using our roller blades on the rough path." Said Izzy. "I think I went a little too fast honestly, I ended up smacking into a tree and landing in a mud puddle, all the while doing a brief story for my Ponygram too! Augh, they were laughing at my misery!" Whined Pipp, still looking at her phone to filter out the comments. "Hmm, then how did you end up covered in mud then?" Alphabittle asked Sunny. "Oh I was trying to help Pipp out of the mud puddle, but Izzy didn't slow down in time and we both ended up covered in it." Said Sunny, both looking at Izzy unamused. "Hey I couldn't help it, I like to go fast in the woods!" Said Izzy, missing the point entirely. "Right, now how about you two?" Asked Alphabittle to Zipp and Hitch. "We had the same situation in our group too, but when they tried to surround us, we busted our way through using a big tree branch to send them flying, and then we ran as fast as we could, so much that we didn't notice that we had left them behind." Said Hitch. "What I'm concerned about is why did those drones attack us in the first place, how did they know where we were going?" Said Zipp, deep in thought. "Yeah, I mean you and me Zipp have been used to drones since we were fillies, but I've never seen ones like them before, especially since drones aren't allowed to be armed with weapons in Zephyr Heights by law." Said Pipp. "Really? Aww, I would've loved to arm a drone with one of my Glitter Flares." Said Izzy, examining one in her hoof. Pipp facehoofed at the thought of it. "Moving on, that means we can rule out Zephyr Heights, but now comes a new question, where did these drones come from, who made them, and why?" Said Zipp, typing down on her phone. "I don't know, but I'm getting a feeling that it might be related to the Unicorn disappearances." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Hmm, we'll need more information in order to know for sure what we're up against." Said Sunny, trotting around deep in thought. The group were left thinking for a little while before a voice spoke up that spooked them. "Oh umm, excuse me." The ponies looked over at Jasmine who had been listening to them by the open door to the guest room, and almost right away, Izzy rushed over to her, knocking over a table in the process. "AHHH! Hello there Jasmine! How have you been little one? Asked Izzy excitedly, gently patting her head. "Oh u-umm... I've been better?" Said Jasmine with an awkward grin. "Oh what's wrong? Did something happen to you?" Izzy asked her, concern on her face. "Umm... well I was-" "She was attacked by the Metal Monster in the forest." Alphabittle interrupted, adjusting the table back in place. All the ponies looked at Alphabittle, then back at Jasmine, Izzy then reacted in horror and looked closely at Jasmine. "What, a Metal Monster nearly got you!? That's terrible! Can you tell me what happened?" Said Izzy, showing a rare show of seriousness. "Jasmine, please take a seat and tell us what happened out there." Said Alphabittle, providing said seat for her. Jasmine agreed, she walked over and sat down on the chair, taking in deep breaths, after a few moments she looked up, with a serious expression. "Okay, I'll tell you all what happened in the forest." Jasmine then went into detail about how she went into the forest early in the morning to look for her father who had disappeared trying to get to Maretime Bay, she instead ran across Starduster who had also left for Maretime Bay that same day, she was forced to accompany him on the path back to Bridlewood since she wasn't allowed to be out on her own, when they were chased by the Metal Monster and forced to flee. They thought they had escaped it by entering a secluded groove, when they were surrounded by strange metal ponies armed with weapons in their hooves. They then attacked, but Starduster sacrificed himself to allow her to escape to safety, she ran for her life as fast as she could, not looking back, and managed to reach Bridlewood before long. However, she had collapsed from exhaustion after all that running, and had been asleep until now when she woke up and heard the commotion outside her room. "That's all I can remember..." Said Jasmine, trying to hold back tears from Starduster's sacrifice. The Mane Five and Alphabittle had been silently listening to her story, and now were taking in what they just heard. Zipp, Hitch and Sunny seemed to be deep in thought, while Pipp and Alphabittle had blank expressions on their faces, then suddenly, Izzy spoke out loudly. "WHAT!? Strange metal ponies!? They must be aliens who have come to steal our crops! AHHHHHH!!!" Screamed Izzy. Zipp donked her on the back of the head, "Knock it off Izzy, this is a serious situation!" "Ow, and aliens stealing our crops isn't?" Said Izzy to Zipp, rubbing the back of her head. "They aren't aliens Izz, but still, strange metal ponies is a new one on me, if I didn't know better, I'd say that what she saw was perhaps more drones, that were looked like ponies." Said Zipp, typing all of it down. "Hmm, they sound too big to be normal drones sis, I think that they are in fact legitimate robots, real robot ponies!" Said Pipp somewhat excitedly. "Real robot ponies? I don't think i've ever seen such a thing." Said Hitch, who looked at Sunny who shook her head. "It's been on my personal wish-list for like, ages now, but whenever I bring it up to mother, she always says, 'We shouldn't rob our servants and citizens of their jobs by building robot ponies who could replace them'." Said Pipp, imitating her mother's voice, to Zipp's amusement. "Hmm...if that is the case, then we're not just dealing with drones, but also robot ponies that are armed just like they are. But if that's correct, then where could they have come from? Zephyr Heights has already been ruled out since they are forbidden by law, but if so, where else could they have been built?" Said Sunny, thinking deeply. "...Unless, but couldn't it be." Said Hitch, connecting the dots in his head. "If you are thinking what I think your thinking sheriff, then it has to be it." Said Zipp, realizing it too. "Oh my gosh, of course, how could I have forgotten all about it!" Said Pipp. Then the four ponies came together and all shouted, "Canterlogic!" "Canterlogic!? But I thought Phyllis had shut the company down months ago." Said Alphabittle. "That she did Alphabittle, but... even though it sits abandoned and all, it still has plenty of equipment, machinery and materials for manufacturing things, perhaps even these 'robot ponies'." Said Hitch, taking these notes down into his book. "Do you think somepony has started it back up again? If so, why would they make such awful things, and if they are behind the Unicorns vanishing, what could they want with them?" Asked Sunny to Hitch. "I don't know, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all of this." Said Hitch, looking worried. "Then there is the matter of the Metal Monster that's lurking out in the forest, if that thing too is responsible for the Unicorns vanishing, then I think we need to track it down and stop it before it strikes again." Said Zipp. "Whaaaat! Are you crazy Zipp!? The Metal Monster sounds scary, it might eat you!" Said Izzy in a panic. "Actually that reminds me, tell me little filly, what did this so called 'Metal Monster' look like?" Asked Hitch to Jasmine. "Well... from what I could remember, it looked like a big floating... trash can like thing, with a strange looking head and a single glowing red eye, and what looked like big long arms on its sides. I also remember it making this real scary noise as it was approaching, like a strange howling sound behind it." Jasmine described. "Hmm... sounds like a very strange looking 'monster' to me." Said Hitch, not sounding convinced. "I wonder... what if it isn't a monster at all, but actually just another robot as well?" Said Zipp thoughtfully. "That is a possibility, but we won't know until we see it for ourselves." Said Sunny. "That's right, and I propose that we do a stake out tonight, to track it down before it strikes again." Said Hitch boldly. Alphabittle overheard what he just said, and shocked turned to look at him, "Wait, you aren't seriously going to try finding that thing are you??" "We have to Alphabittle, if we don't do something about it, then it'll attack again and more Unicorns will vanish, we need to nip this whole problem in the bud right here and now." Said Zipp, looking determined. "But that thing is dangerous! What if it attacks you instead?" Said Alphabittle, concerned for them. "It's a risk that we will have to take, it's the only way that we'll get a lead on what's happened to the missing Unicorns." Said Sunny, standing next to Hitch. "Yeah, and if Canterlogic is involved in this, then we'll need to see if these robots were made by them, and if they do then we can hopefully trace it back to whomever did so, then we can arrest the scoundrel and have them face justice for their crimes!" Said Pipp, standing next to Sunny. Alphabittle looked at the group, they all looked determined to do their part to help out in stopping the Metal Monster, even if it was likely going to be dangerous, especially since it sounded like there was indeed somepony behind all of this, and that the danger is greater than he had imagined. Finally, after letting out a heavy sign, Alphabittle decided to relent. "Very well then, if you are determined to confront the Metal Monster and save the Unicorns, then i'm coming to help out too, they are not just my friends, they're almost my brothers and sisters too." Said Alphabittle, standing tall. The group cheered at the response, now all they needed to do was how to organize the stake out, and how to track down the Metal Monster in the forest. However, while Hitch, Zipp and Alphabittle discussed the plan, Sunny by now noticed that Izzy was being unusually quiet, normally she'd be involved and jumping in by now, but instead she was just sitting there deep in thought about something. Curious about her strange behavior, she went over to check on her, gently tapping her. "Umm Izzy, are you okay?" Said Sunny, tapping on her friend. This seemed to have caught her off guard as she jumped from the unexpected touch. "AHHH! Oh umm, sorry about that Sunny, I was just busy thinking about something in my head after overhearing everypony talking about Canterlogic and robots, something about it rang a bell in my head just now" Said Izzy. "Really? What sort of bell did it ring?" Asked Sunny. "Well, remember yesterday when I was talking about making a new friend down at the junkyard? I just remembered what he mentioned to me when we were talking, my new friend used to work for Canterlogic too" Said Izzy. Upon hearing that, the rest of the Mane Five and Alphabittle turned their attention to Izzy, eyes open wide, Zipp in particular leapt on over to her, nosebooping her intensely. "What!? Izzy that's huge information! Did this friend say anything else to you?" Said Zipp in a serious tone. "Umm... well he also said that he does a lot of inventing, and that he had a little robot drone with them by his side, and that he was looking to see how to use magic for the benefit of all ponykind." Said Izzy, recalling as much as she could. "Uh huh, tell me more Izz, I want to know more about this pony!" Said Zipp, bearing down on Izzy hard. "Sis! Your scaring her!" Shouted Pipp, showing concern for Izzy. Zipp however just shot a harsh glare over to her sister that shut her up fast, before turning back toward Izzy who by now was looking nervous. "Tell me Izzy, who is the pony, and what else did he say?" Shouted Zipp, in full interrogation mode. "Umm... well... the only other things he said to me was his name, that he was part of the 'club' around Maretime Bay before the reunification of all ponies." Said Izzy, who was not used to Zipp being so forceful to her. "Uh huh, interesting... Wait a minute, is this pony the so called 'Dr Wormwood' you mentioned yesterday?" Said Zipp with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah that's the one." Said Izzy with a nervous grin. "Interesting, very interesting." Zipp said to herself, deep in thought. Sunny and Hitch were also now in deep thought, it seemed that the name 'Dr Wormwood' was familiar to them, especially that he was part of the 'club' around Maretime Bay so to speak, but where did they hear about it? Suddenly, Sunny hopped up in shock, it seemed she had finally connected the dots in her head. "Ah hah! Of course, how could I have forgotten all about him! I know exactly who this Dr Wormwood is!" Sunny exclaimed to Hitch. "Ooooh of course, the former chief of R&D at Canterlogic, but he hasn't been seen around town for over a year now." Said Hitch, realizing who they were talking about. Zipp turned to look at them in suprise, "Wait what, you two know who he is?" "Duh, of course we do, in fact, everypony who has ever lived in Maretime Bay knows who he is." Said Hitch. "Well now, this changes a few things, right sis?" Said Pipp. "Right, I think it's best if you both tell us more about this Dr Wormwood, and why he is such a big deal in Maretime Bay." Said Zipp, flipping open her notebook to take notes. "Well sure Zipp, but... It is a doozy of a story, I think Sunny will explain it better than I can." Said Hitch, gesturing to her. Sunny gestured back, then turned and took a seat at a nearby table, taking a deep breath as she began to recall all the memories she had about the former scientist at Canterlogic. "Well, from what I can remember, his full name is Dr Altair Wormwood, he used to work for Canterlogic as it's Chief of R&D, in fact he was there when the company was first founded many moons ago. He was friends with my father Argyle and Phyllis way back in their school days, they used to hang out together in and out of class, especially during my fathers tales about old Equestria. Phyllis and the other ponies always never believed what he was saying, Wormwood however, was always interested in listening to his stories, especially about magic and the wonders it can do, my father said to me that out of everypony else, he was the only one who ever believed him. I mean hay, they even went out on journeys together into the wilderness beyond town, exploring the old ruins and abandoned towns in the land, they were like the best of friends." "Whoa! That's really interesting Sunny, I never knew about that." Said Hitch, sitting there and listening intensely. Sunny took a sip of some tea that Alphabittle provided to her, then continued with her story. "Well I never really told anypony else about it since it hasn't come up until now, but yes, the two of them where good friends. But... As they got older and older, they started to drift apart from each other and it wasn't long before they both went their own seperate ways, my father continuing his studies of old Equestria on his own, while Wormwood would join Phyliss in founding the Canterlogic company. Even so, when I was a young filly they would sometimes meet each other again to catch up on matters, but even back then I could tell that things were never quite the same between them, especially since he was now part of the 'club' of Maretime Bay, shunning the other ponies outside of Maretime Bay." "Hmmm, that's been said out loud a few times now, but what exactly is this 'club'?" Asked Pipp. "It's less of a 'club', and more what the older ponies in our town referred to as their agreed stance against Unicorns and Pegasus ponies, based on their then superstitions regarding them at the time. Of course, now such things aren't really important anymore with the recent unification of Equestria, but still, there are a few ponies around here that are still partial to that 'club'." Hitch explained. "Yeah... But anyways, it was after my fathers passing that I started to hear more about what Dr Wormwood was up to at Canterlogic, he was busy inventing all sorts of inventions, including automated home security cameras, propulsion packs for limited flight, drones for everyday use such as cleaning, but, what really put him on the map was his unveiling of the original prototype of what would come to be known as... 'The Unicorn Traps'." Said Sunny, looking down. "Wait wait wait... Hold on now, you're saying that my new friend was the one who came up with those wacky traps in the first place?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny let out a deep sigh, then looked at Izzy sadly, "Yes Izzy, it was Dr Wormwood who invented them, and after the success of the prototype, Canterlogic began to mass produce them in no time at all, they were to be placed all over town in order to snare up any Unicorns who dared to invade... I tried to protest their use many many times, arguing that innocent ponies could be put in harms way, and that Unicorns were not dangerous to us, but my words always fell on deaf ears..." "Ohhh, well, if it makes you feel better, I didn't think they were that bad honestly, after all we did make the most of when I was trapped in one not so long ago, right Hitch?" Said Izzy, recalling the time when she was trapped in a Unicorn Trap. "Don't remind me." Said Hitch with a groan. Everypony else seemed to feel the same way, so Zipp cleared her throat to get back on topic. "Anyway, moving on, so this Dr Wormwood wasn't just a former Canterlogic employee, he was also something of a celebrity as well, and a genius to boot?" Zipp asked Sunny. "That's right, he was said to have had over a hundred patents at Canterlogic alone at one point, and not just in Engineering, but he also dabbled in Astrophysics, Theoretical Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, you name it, he's likely dabbled in every science known to ponykind, it's no wonder he scored an IQ of 257 at one point." Said Sunny. "Whoa really? You mean he's like some sort of super genius??? No pony at Zephyr Heights even comes close to that IQ number, not even the royal engineers and science team come anywhere near that level." Said Pipp, who was now actively browsing for information on Wormwood on social media using her phone. "That's right, and there is nopony in Maretime Bay who hasn't heard of him, and the 'rumours' around him as well." Said Hitch slowly. That mention pipped Zipp's curiosity right away, "Rumours you say?" "Wait wait, hold on a moment, is this Dr Wormwood still employed at Canterlogic, even though the company was shut down not too long ago?" Interrupted Alphabittle. Sunny let out another sigh, then spoke in a more somber tone, "Well, no, not anymore... Less than a year before the unification happened, he was dismissed from the Canterlogic company by Phyllis herself, for supposedly harboring symphony towards Unicorns whom the 'club' was opposed to." "Whoa what, he was fired by the very company he founded!?" Said Pipp in surprise. "Uh huh, that was the official statement that the company put out there when it happened, but, to tell you the truth, some ponies were suspicious about it, after all why would the famed scientist be sacked after doing so much to protect the town. That's when the rumours started to go round, and they still go around to this day." Said Sunny, sipping more of her tea. "Hm, fired him over liking Unicorns even though he invented the Unicorn traps? That is very suspicious to me, that sounds like another mystery to solve right there." Said Zipp, taking all the notes down. "Yeah, I mean why would mean old Phyllis sack him for liking Unicorns? I mean yeah at the time they were all 'Unicorns are evil, Pegasi suck, blah blah blah', but still, it sounds rather mysterious, it's almost like Canterlogic was hiding something that they didn't want anypony to know about." Said Pipp. "Hmmm, it is mysterious alright, but now comes the big question, where do we go from here now?" Said Hitch, looking over his notes again. "Hmm, I wonder if Wormwood or Phyllis might know anything about those robots that attacked us, and the Metal Monster lurking out there in the forest. As they're both former Canterlogic big wigs, they might know something about their creation, and that could give us a big lead towards finding the missing Unicorns." Said Zipp openly. The other ponies turned towards Zipp in surprise, Izzy in particular jumped forward and right up to her face. "Blahhh!" Zipp! Are you suggesting that my new friend is a suspect in this case!?" Said Izzy, showing a rare sign of anger. Zipp however kept a cool head and explained, "Izzy, I hate to say it, but right now there is a possibility that he could be a suspect, not enough to say he is guilty of course, but also not enough to find him innocent either." "What makes you suspect Wormwood of being behind all this Zipp? I mean, yeah he is likely smart enough to be capable of building robots and drones that we've encountered, and he was the one who came up with the Unicorn Capture Devices, but still, he's been out of the public eye for a year now, and if he was dismissed for showing a liking for Unicorns, it doesn't exactly depict him as a suspect to me." Said Sunny, who stood by Izzy. Pipp came up next beside her sister, "That is a good point Sunny, however, as you said, he is the one who came up with the Unicorn Capture Devices, and from what i've just browsed about him on social media, it seems like he wasn't forced into creating them at all, but instead did it willingly, that and all the talk of 'rumours' surrounding him doesn't exactly paint him as an honest horse in my eyes. That and our own private investigation we've been conducting regarding a-" "PIPP! That's strictly confidential to us and the Queen!" Shouted Zipp. "Wait what? What private investigation, and what about the Queen?" Said Alphabittle. The two Pegasus sisters looked on, they had both been sworn not to talk about the details of their meeting with their mother back in Zephyr Heights, leaving the situation awkward and the tension high between the ponies. It was then at that moment that there came a knock on the main door which suprised everypony in the room, and a very familiar voice that rang out from behind it. "Alphie dear, are you home? The Unicorns seemed to be scared of coming outside today, is everything okay?" Everypony in the room looked towards the main door wide eyed as it opened up, and there, in all her regal glory, was the Royal Highness of Zephyr Heights herself, Queen Haven. Behind her were the two Royal Guards, Thunder and Zoom who both came into the room ahead of her to welcome her in. "Oh, girls, I didn't expect you and your friends to be here too, am I interrupting anything?" Said Haven. All the ponies were too surprised to say anything, Zipp and Pipp most of them all. Eventually, Alphabittle cleared his throat and went over to greet her. "Well actually Haven, yes you have, but don't worry, we'll tell you all about it, since it is something that's become very personal to me, and it's likely that this could be a bigger problem than we thought." Said Alphabittle. "Oh no, that's not good at all, what is going on Alphie? Why are you all here, and where are all of the Unicorns, they don't seem to want to come outside on this lovely day, what is going on here?" Said Haven, who was now very curious about what was going on. "Yeah I mean usually we'd see them hoping about with their dances and magic, but today they just seem all shut up in their homes, no hello or howdy at all." Said Thunder, blurting it out loud. The ponies looked all around the room awkwardly, but Hitch then stepped forward with Alphabittle to the Queen. "Well... it's a loooooong story your Highness, I think it's better if you take a seat while we explain what's going on." Said Hitch. "Oh well I don't mind at all, I got plenty of time on my hooves, Alphie dear would you mind proving tea for all of us? The usual best please." Said Haven, as she took her seat on a nearby large table. "Coming right up dear." Said Alphabittle, looking happier than he had been all day as he walked to his counter. Pipp and Zipp seemed confused about the exchange, but brushed it off and went over to join their mother. "Right then, tell me what's going on, and why do I get the feeling that involves the Unicorns?" Said Haven to Hitch. The ponies all took their seats around the table, Hitch helped Jasmine up onto a nearby stool, then turned to face the Queen, taking a deep breath. "Well, let me start from the beginning..." Author's Note [EDIT] This chapter has been updated to make it more consistent, and to clear up some inconsistencies. Hey all, I was hoping to get this chapter out sooner, but real life has been kicking my ass again, and having to deal with the flu on top of that really sucked away any time I could've dedicated to finishing up this part. I didn't want this part to go on too long, so I decided to save some of what I had come up with for the next part of Act 2 instead, so as to not drag this part out for too long. I aim to get started on Act 2 Part 3 ASAP, since now we're starting to head towards the first of two big climaxes of the story, trust me when I say that we're starting to get into the meat of the plot now.
Act 1 - Chapter 1"Case File 0526 - Opening Statement." "This case is one that I'll never forget anytime soon, not just for what had happened during it, but for what was going on underneath our noses all along, without us being aware of it until it was nearly too late. I should've known something was wrong as soon as I saw the number of ponies that had vanished, but at the time I was still stuck in my old by the book routine of following protocol, I believed I couldn't help those who had reached out to me since they were not under my jurisdiction... what a seriously stupid mistake of mine looking back on it now... Sunny must've known that it was going to be a bad move on my part in the end, and now here I am finding myself agreeing with her. I was so foolish to not jump onto this case while the trail was hot, and instead I nearly let it go cold, how could I call myself a sheriff if I can't even do my job correctly? This case that I am about to talk about here turned out to be much bigger than anypony had expected, one that nearly brought ruin to the town of Maretime Bay, and all the effort that me and the others had worked hard for almost thrown away... a case that ended up becaming known as..." THE CURIOUS CASE OF VANISHING UNICORNS It was a beautiful morning in the bayside town of Maretime Bay, the sun shown bright in the newborn sky, with not a cloud in sight. The ponies who lived in the town were all getting ready for another busy day downtown, whether it's taking a ride on the local pony drawn carriages, getting on the tram lines, paying a visit to the local vendors at the seafront, or even better, paying a visit to what is growing into the main attraction currently in the town, Mane Melody. Run by the Princess of Zephyr Heights Pipp Petals, the salons' reputation for fine hooficures, makeovers, hairstyles and more have proven to be a hit so far with the towns folk, business is going well for it, and most ponies have come away from it feeling fresh and new, even the notoriously high standard Phyllis Cloverleaf, former head of the now defunct Canterlogic corporation. Sure there may have been a few ponies that felt otherwise about the place, but it has done little to damage its reputation. Other than a few incidents of the different pony races arguing to each other or getting into fights, the town has largely been at peace internally. It was on this day that Hitch Trailblazer had started his work early at his post at the Maretime Bay Police Station. As the town's local sheriff, and currently it's only active authority after his former deputy was discharged and sentenced to community service for his role in the destruction of his good friend Sunny's lighthouse among other crimes a couple of months ago prior, he found his job growing harder and more stressful by the weeks. Despite repeated attempts by a few ponies and his friends to convince hiring a new deputy or start hiring officers, he's rejected them in favor of continuing to work as he is. Hitch has never shied away from any challenges, something he admired from his father the former sheriff of Maretime Bay, and is determined to not let the pressures that were now on piling up on him crush his resolve. "Every day is a brand new day yet there are more things to do, and fewer opportunities to relax and recline. But such is the life of a sheriff in this one horse town, being kept busy comes with the job, and honestly I'd take that over a boring day, any day." Hitch said to himself after organizing his desk for the day's work. He had already made a shortlist on what he planned to do today, most of it was pretty routine; do a morning patrol around the town twice over to check for any littering and suspicious activity, but especially littering, that was Hitch's pet peeve among all others. Next was organizing the complaints, reports and any other letters of interest received today in his mail onto his notice board, which is rarely empty if at all these days. it was always Hitch's least favorite part of his day job, and one that he always usually left to last since it took so long to get all done and organized. Then he would go on his afternoon patrol to again check everything twice over for the above mentioned activities, and the last thing he needed to do before the day was finished was to fill out a daily report on what he did today, any incidents or activities, and file it away in the usual weekly dossier in his filing cabinet, that job was usually the easiest one to do as such he left it for last. That was pretty much it for the shortlist today, rarely does anything else get added onto it at the last minute. Maretime Bay has been relatively peaceful for the last few weeks, as a result it's allowed Hitch to focus more on the tasks at hoof rather than getting distracted with irrelevant things on the side. "Right then, first things first, let's see how much post I got in the mail today." Said Hitch as he made his way to the letterbox built into the wall. Lifting a hoof up to the letterbox, he pulled down on the back hatch causing it open up, out of it came a whole bunch of letters, a pretty decent amount of them today compared to the last few days, making Hitch raise his eyebrow. "Well then, that is quite a large amount of post that came in today, I think I better skim through a few of these to see who sent what, and why." Said Hitch to himself as he scooped up as many letters as he could into his hoofs, then making his way back to his desk to dump the pile on top of it. He then sat down in his chair and started skimming through the letters one by one. He saw right away that a bunch of them belonged to Posey Bloom, a local citizen of Maretime Bay who had been very outspoken about the other pony tribes that have been moving into the town and all the problems it's been bringing her and the other Earth ponies. "She seems to have a new complaint to post almost every day, no surprise there." Said Hitch with a deadpan tone. Hitch decided to skip ahead and skim the rest of the post since they all seemed to either be more complaints, reports of various incidents and other such redundant matters. Hitch sighed in disappointment, it was just so routine for him now that if he was honest with himself for a moment, it was just boring. Deep down he kind of wished, just for once to have something different, something new and exciting that could lead to a case developing, a mystery that he could investigate as a detective. Little did he know that his wish for such a thing was about to come true. He came across a letter that caught his attention right away, the address on it was not from anywhere in Maretime Bay, but instead it seemed to have came from Bridlewood, the home of the Unicorns. It was easy to tell since they used a slightly different kind of writing than what was used in Maretime Bay, that and it was adorned with a strange symbol. Hitch stared at the letter for a few moments, puzzling over the strange symbol stamped on the front of it, this wasn't the first time that he had gotten a letter like this, in fact he had been getting them quite frequently in recent times. "Another one, seriously? That's like the third letter from Bridlewood I've gotten in the last week now." Said Hitch, rubbing his temple with his hoof, "I wonder why I keep getting these letters sent to me of all ponies, and what does this weird symbol on the front even mean?" Even though Hitch was a police sheriff and thus an established authority with the right to enforce, he technically had no legal authority over that area, that belonged solely to the unicorns leader Alphabittle, at least that was to Hitch's own assumption. To Hitch it felt a little odd that the ponies living there would be asking him for help instead of their own leader, and if Alphabittle did need his help, he would've let him know about it instantly, so the fact that he hadn't heard a thing from him was a little perplexing. "I wonder if there is some kind of trouble going on over there right now, I mean I would love to help them out, but unless Alphabittle says anything, I can't exactly do anything, not unless he gives me permission." Said Hitch, shaking his head as he put the letter on the side with another pile of similar letters. Whatever seemed to be going on with the Unicorns over in Bridlewood, it sure seemed to be intriguing, and if it lead to a case happening, he would certainly want to investigate it right away regardless. "I think I'll give this letter a read over later on along with the others when I get back, for now I better get on with my first patrol around the town, I don't want to be late." Said Hitch as he got up from his desk. He then gave whistled over to his animal pals who had followed him to the station from the Brighthouse, the crab called McSnipps-alot, a Pigeon with a can of sardines on his head named Kenneth, and his fellow deputy pigeon, they all immediately stood up for attention. "Hey there McSnipps, Kenneth and Deputy, I've got a job for you three to do while I'm out on patrol, I want you all to clean up my notice board of last week's letters, then once you've done that I want you to organize all of the mail i've got today into neat piles, that way I can easily sort them out when I get back from my patrol in around an hours time." McSnipps-alot and his fellows gave Hitch a salute, then they all went over to the notice board getting straight to work, ripping off the papers from the wall and sorting out the piles. Hitch was impressed by how quickly his animal pals were working, he admittedly was at first a little put off when months ago all of the animals started to gravitate towards him randomly for unexplained reasons, but now in the present he didn't mind it at all since he learned that he could understand them and even speak to him, strange as that sounds. In fact his new companions have proved useful in helping to organize his workplace, patrolling the town, and intelligence gathering whenever he needed it. Smiling, Hitch was now free to head out of the door and begin his first of two patrols of the day. He went on over to his clothes rack, grabbing his sheriffs belt with his freshly polished badge proudly on display, a whistle and his trusty log book, then he moved on over to the front door and opened it up, he was instantly greeted by the bright sun shining on his face, and the loud sounds coming from downtown not far away. "Sounds like it's already going to be another lively day over in downtown Maretime Bay. I'd better go check it out and see what's going on." Said Hitch as he put his sunshades on, then started making his way there down the lane. Hitch had little idea at the time of just how busy of a day it was going to be for him. Downtown Maretime Bay was as bustling and packed as ever, all of the ponies were going back and forth around the place. Whether it was to shop at the nearby stores, browsing the various vendors near the seafront, or hanging about with friends to have a catch up on matters along the promenade, there was plenty to do downtown. As Hitch arrived to start surveying the scene before him, he saw right away that there were long queue lines going towards two shops in particular. The first queue line was at the Mane Melody Saloon which was of no surprise to him since everypony loved to go there for a makeover or karaoke, and the other queue was at the nearby smoothie vendor, ran by his oldest friend, resident hero, and former troublemaker Sunny Starscout. Sunny was very busy working away, serving her customers and brewing up her signature smoothies using the fruitiest fruits she can get her hoofs on, or at least if her usual delivery mare can get there on time without incident. Hitch was impressed that she could serve customers as quickly as she could without issue, he decided to trot on over to the stand to check up on her and see what she was up to. "There we are little fillies, three Cheering up Cherry smoothies, that'll be 9 bucks in total." Said Sunny to the three fillies in front of her. "Thank you, Sunny!" Said the middle filly of the three who was an Earth Pony, handing Sunny the money. "You are welcome little ones! Say, i've been seeing you three around quite a bit recently, what are your names?" Sunny asked them. The filly on the left who was a Pegasus stepped up first, "My name is Glory, I just moved here from Zephyr Heights!" The one on the right who was a Unicorn who had floated the smoothies down to her friends spoke up next, "My name is Peach Fizz, I too have just moved here, from Bridlewood." "Really? That's cool! What about you in the middle there?" Said Sunny. "My name is Seashell, I grew up here in Maretime Bay, but my mama never let me outside much before because of her crazy superstitions and warnings of danger." Said Seashell, no doubt referring to how Earth ponies used to be afraid of the other pony races, at least until recently when they were unified again. "That's why I've probably never seen you around much, it was your mother I probably served the smoothies to beforehand." Said Sunny thoughtfully, then she leaned over the counter in curiosity, "So then are you three all good friends then?" "That's right! The three of us met each other after we found out we all followed the same pony on Clip Trot, we all bonded easily because of how much we love her." Said Glory. Sunny smiled, she seemed to have a pretty good idea about who they were talking about, so she decided to ask the obvious towards them, "And who is it that you three follow on Clip Trot, may I ask?" All three of the spoke in unison, "The one and only, Princess Pipp Petals!" "Huh, I never would've guessed." Said Sunny with a warm smile. "As her loyal Pippsqueaks, we three do our best to follow her latest clips, photos, trends, and anything else she streams daily! Furthermore we're also-" "Can you three fillies hurry up!? I'm getting thirsty over here!" Shouted one of the ponies in the queue making the trio jump in surprise. Sunny realized she still had a whole lot of customers still waiting to be served. "Ooof, sorry girls but I have to get back to work, but we can catch up later okay?" Said Sunny with a reassuring smile. "Sure, sorry about that Sunny." Said Seashell as she and her fellow Pippsqueaks walked off with their smoothies. No sooner did they walk off that the next pony in line walked on up to the stand, Sunny recognized the pony as Flare, another Pegasus pony. "About time, sheesh those three can be such a nuisance sometimes." Said Flare, flicking her hair to the side. "Aw come on they're harmless Flare, so do you want to have the usual?" Said Sunny with a smile. "The usual, with extra ice mixed in." She said, flashing a cocky grin. "Coming right up!" Said Sunny as she got to work. Hitch who had been watching everything unfold chuckled to himself, "Seems like Pipp has already started taking over the lives of everypony in Maretime Bay, including the little ones, but I can't say I didn't see that coming at all, Pipp has ways of getting everypony's attention." He said to himself as he walked over to the stand. "There we go Flare, the usual with extra ice!" Said Sunny as she gave her the smoothie. She began taking the next orders when she spotted Hitch standing next to her stand on the right, "Oh hey Hitch, didn't see you there!" "Good morning Sunny! I see you are being kept super busy as usual." Said Hitch, looking over the establishment and at the queue. "You know it sheriff, ever since the other pony tribes came together, I've been busier than ever, and raking in more profits too! I might be able to finally afford that new smoothie making machine at this rate, this one here is starting to show it's age a little bit." Said Sunny, as her machine continued to churn away at making smoothies for the customers with a noticeably hard grinding noise. Hitch let out a chuckle, "That makes two of us Sunny, I've been finding my workload getting heavier for the last few weeks now because of how much traffic we've been getting, I mean I know Maretime Bay always gets busier during the Summer time, but this is still much more than usual." Sunny looked at him thoughtfully, "Well, me and the girls have been asking you for the last little while if you would consider hiring a new deputy to help ease the workload on you, after what had happened to Sprout-" "It's fine Sunny don't worry about it. I welcome any challenge head on, just like my Dad did, and his Dad before him. Yes this might be stressful, and I'll admit it is very tiring for me, but I can do this, I have to as Maretime Bays sheriff!" Said Hitch, bringing a hoof up to his chest in pride. "Are you really sure about it Hitch?" She said to him with raised eyebrow, not sounding convinced. "Sure as sure can be, just leave it all to me!" He said with a huff. Sunny rolled her eyes at him, serving a smoothie to a customer, "Whatever you say sheriff, suit yourself." "Anyway!" Said Hitch, eager to move onto a new topic, "Have you seen the others around today? They were all gone by the time I got out of the bathroom for breakfast." "Oh Zipp and Pipp have flown off back to Zephyr Heights for a royal meeting with their mother the Queen, they got a phone call from her just before breakfast time, and judging from the look on their faces it sounds like it was something super important since they took off just before I made them food. As for Izzy, she said she was heading to the junkyard to find some 'thingies' for another one of her projects, knowing her she likely won't be back until dinnertime, with a whole lot of junk trailing behind her too." Said Sunny shaking her head. "I don't doubt that one bit, that Izzy can be so weird sometimes with her projects, yet I don't doubt how they turn out so functional." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "That's Izzy for you." Said Sunny as she started brewing more smoothies. "Say, do you know anything about what the meeting they're having is about?" Asked Hitch, now curious about the matter. "No idea at all, they said nothing about it when they left, but I assume they'll let us know about it when they get back." Said Sunny as she served out another smoothie to a waiting customer. Hitch was still curious to know what was going on with that meeting, but he knew he wouldn't know about it until later on today. As he looked up at the nearby clock hanging outside the local shop, he realized that he was running behind on his morning patrol and needed to get going. "Well I'll be sure to ask them all about it when they get back, but anyway I need to get back on my morning patrol, catch you later Sunny." Said Hitch with a salute, who turned around and stared to walk off. He didn't get very far when a voice rang out from the queue of ponies behind him, "W-w-wait, s-sheriff please!" Hitch heard it and turned around straight away, he saw a Unicorn mare coming up to him looking very stressed out. "Yes that's me, what seems to be the trouble miss?" Asked Hitch. "It's Plum Library sir, but just call me Plum. Listen, a few days ago I sent you a letter to report a pony missing from Maretime Bay, but I haven't heard any reply from you yet at all, you did get the letter, didn't you?" She said to him sternly. Hitch thought for a moment, he had been getting more letters than normal for the last week or so, perhaps that one got lost in the pile he still hasn't sorted out yet. Hitch shrugged, he can always go check it out when he gets back to the station. "I believe I have received your letter miss, don't you worry about it, I'll file the missing pony report as soon as I get back to my station." He said to her with a reassuring smile, but the Unicorn in question didn't seem to be impressed. "You mean you haven't read it yet at all? Sheriff, this is a serious matter! As the authority of Maretime Bay the safety of the ponies, and I do mean all ponies should be your number one priority!" She shouted at him, making him step back a little. Various ponies in the queue behind her started muttering behind her back. "What's got her so worked up? Typical Unicorns making trouble around here as usual. So rude, how dare she shout at the sheriff like that!" Hitch was taken aback by the outburst just how a little bit, but he soon regained his composure and looked at the Unicorn more seriously, "That is correct miss, the safety of everypony here in Maretime Bay, whether they are Pegasus, Unicorns, or Earth ponies, all of their well being and safety is my job, and my absolute number one priority above all overs. As I just said to you, I will look into the missing pony report, file it, and investigate it as soon as I get back to the station, you have my word on it." Plum signed to herself, she seemed close to tears, "Thanks sheriff, I'm sorry for shouting at you, but I'm really worried sick about them... that Unicorn was a friend of mine from back home, and she hasn't been around for the last few days now. I really hope nothing bad has happened to her, I wouldn't forgive myself if she's been hurt..." "I'm sure she's fine Miss Plum, say if you do know anything else that might prove helpful to the case, feel free to visit the station, I'll likely need more information about what's going on anyway." Hitch said to her reassuringly. "I will, thank you sheriff." Said Plum who seemed to feel a little better after the talk. "Good, well I'll be on my way now, see you later everypony." Said Hitch to the crowd as he took his leave to continue his rounds, the ponies all waved back to him, Plum included. Sunny however was deep in thought, she had overheard the conversation that just transpired in front of her, it seemed that a pony who was a good friend of Plum's was missing, and that Hitch hadn't gotten around to investigating it. That didn't seem like him at all, normally Hitch was all over a case like that instantly, she wondered if all the workload was slowly getting to him. She shook her head, regardless of what was going on with him, there was a pony missing from the town, and that was a serious matter. "I hope Hitch can find that missing pony, and hopefully they aren't in any trouble." Sunny said to herself. Plum herself sighed heavily, she was worried sick over her missing pony friend, she didn't mean to get mad at the sheriff like that at all, but her emotions boiled over and she had to let it out. On the plus side, she hoped now that the Sheriff will start looking into the matter seriously once he got back to the station, the sooner her friend was found, the better for her. "Excuse me miss." Came a voice from the nearby crowd of ponies. Plum peaked her ears up and looked to her side to see another pony next to her, she recognized him as Redwood Pine, a local Earth pony around Maretime Bay, he was never seen without his fancy looking straw hat on his head. "Yes? How can I help you Mr Pine?" Said Plum. "Pardon me for eavesdropping on the conversation you had just now with the sheriff, but if I heard it correctly, you said that a friend of yours was missing and you sent a letter about it to him?" Said Redwood. "Yes I did, she hasn't been seen for days now, i'm so worried about her... I hope she'll come back soon?." Plum replied. "Would your friend happen to also be a Unicorn?" Said Redwood curiously. "Huh? Well... yes, yes she was a Unicorn, why do you ask?" Said Plum cautiously. Redwoods expression became serious, with a hint of sadness underneath. "Well the funny thing is, I also had a friend who has also disappeared, and they were also a Unicorn." Said Redwood. Plum's eyes went wide, what were the chances of that happening. "W-what? You also have a missing friend, and they're a Unicorn too??? That's crazy!" Shouted Plum. "It's not crazy, and I'm afraid I'm not the only one who has lost a Unicorn friend." Said Redwood, turning his head to look behind him. Plum followed his lead and looked as well, she noticed a few ponies around the square asking about missing friends, and another pony putting up a poster that said 'missing' on it, with a picture of the pony in question also being a Unicorn. Plum felt overwhelmed from the sight of it. "How many ponies are missing from Maretime Bay!? Why just Unicorns??" She shouted out loud. "I don't know miss, but one thing is clear, something is going on, and I hope the sheriff will be able to find out and find out what happened to our friends." "I hope so Redwood, I really hope so..." Said Plum, sitting on her haunches. As the two ponies looked on silently, a certain yellow pony with pink hair and bow ties had been watching everything unfold in front of her, huffing in annoyance, she then proceeded to walk away from the drama. "Typical, so typical, it's always Unicorns causing problems around here, always." Something strange was definitely going on around Maretime Bay, but as everypony would soon find out, this was only just the beginning.
Act 1 - Chapter 2Author's Note [AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter has been updated to correct some text errors and expand some of the dialogue in regard to the more recent chapters.] Act 1 - Chapter 2 It was now close to lunchtime, and Hitch Trailblazer had begun winding down his morning patrol after moving on from the main square of downtown to the neighbourhoods, he then started circling around past what had been the main path that lead to the Canterlogic factory on top of the hill, now abandoned and shut down. Occasionally during his patrols Hitch would sometimes stop in his tracks and look up at the building, what was once the pride and joy of Maretime Bay and Earth pony kind, now just a fallen symbol of their fears and superstition. No one who ever worked there knows why Phyllis decided to close down the factory and cease all of it's production months ago, but then again after what her son who was the former deputy had done, Hitch couldn't blame her for making that decision. Still, with Canterlogic now out of business, most of it's former workers have now gone on to new jobs elsewhere, some have even made the journey up to Zephyr Heights to help operate the factory's there, which made sense considering how big smartphones had become in Maretime Bay since the union of the tribes, and they likely needed the extra help to meet demand. "It all feels like a faint memory now, all the times I used to go there with Sprout and Sunny to see all of the latest trends in 'pony protection', even though many of them were pretty silly and didn't actually work, like Sunny's Pegasus gliding kit, I doubt if it was ever capable of flying at all." Hitch said to himself. Shaking his head, Hitch carried on with his morning patrol, the other side of the neighbourhood was the last area he had to go around before he made it back to the police station. However, he was still thinking about the situation from earlier in the morning when the Unicorn Plum had that outburst towards him. Hitch felt that he had handled it professionally and vowed to look into the matter as soon as he got back to the station. Even so, the whole thing was still bothering him in the back of his mind, and he kept on going back to the letter he saw earlier today from Bridlewood which was asking for his help, he wondered whether that letter was related to Plum's situation, and if the other letters were also the same as well. "Now i'm wondering if all the letters i've gotten from Bridlewood are all the same, calling me for help, this might turn to be a bigger case than I had expected." He said to himself. Hitch continued to think the whole thing over and over in his head, he was so lost in his current train of thoughts that he didn't see the fruit cart that was right in front of him. "Ooof!" Grunted Hitch as he bumped into said cart. "Aiiiieee!" Came a cry of fright from the pony who was pulling the cart ahead of him, "Oooh what's happened now!?". "Ohhh, sorry about that" Said Hitch, rubbing his forehead as he refocused his eyes on what was in front of him. He saw it was a fruit delivery cart that he had bumped into, belonging to one of the Pegasus delivery ponies. The pony in question turned around to look at him with concern on her face. "Oh it's no problem sheriff, are you okay?" Said the Pegasus pony, who Hitch saw was none other than Fifi, who operated her own flying fruit smoothie smooth fruit delivery service where every delivery was smooth, or so she says. "I'm fine thank you Fifi, I just wasn't looking where I was going." Said Hitch, chuckling to himself. "Oh really? That's normally not like you at all Sheriff, is there something wrong?" Said Fifi tilting her head to him in concern. "No no no no, nothing is wrong at all! As I just said I being a little careless." Said Hitch with a little sheepish grin. Fifi looked at him still all confused and unsure, but she smiled and saluted at him. "Well alrighty then, I should get back to work delivering fruits to my waiting clients, don't want to keep them waiting any longer" Said Fifi, who then galloped off down the street and took off into the sky above. Hitch breathed a sigh of relief, he felt silly having to have bumped into something while in a train of thought. He remembered Fifi back when she was training with other Pegasus ponies at Zipp Storms training camp, it was a lot of hard work but now she and other pegasi were now flying much better than before, of course Hitch had to take a hot bath after that day to wash off all the fruit stains on his coat, even if it was kinda funny looking back on it now. "Oh well, at least this time I didn't end up getting hit in the face with fruit for no reason." Said Hitch with a proud grin. No sooner had he said that, a mango fell onto his face from up above out of nowhere. "Oh for crying out loud!" Said Hitch in exasperation. "Oops sorry about that Sheriff!" Said a pony calling from upper floor of the nearby house, waving down at him. Hitch wasn't amused at all, letting off a loud groan he wiped the mess off of his face before getting back to his patrol at a faster pace, much to the aforementioned pony's confusion. "What a strange day it has been so far today." Hitch said to himself as he continued on the final leg of his patrol before heading back to the station. Hitch planned to get started on his next task of the day as soon as he reached it, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something big going on under his nose and that he needed to get on it as soon as possible. "I wonder what the others are up to right now, I hope they are having more fun than me right now." He said to himself as he carried on down the street out of sight. Meanwhile, in a junkyard not far away, a certain uni-cycling Unicorn was busy digging through the mountains of trash and scrap, looking for anything interesting or curious that she could use in one of her projects. The pony's name was Izzy Moonbow, the first friend that Sunny Starscout had made who was from outside Maretime Bay. She had caused a huge ruckus when she first showed up due to Earth pony superstitions at the time, and often had Canterlogic Unicorn traps left around town to catch them in-case they showed up. Izzy had been prey to such devices twice in her time knowing Sunny, but she always took it all in stride, in fact it was very rare for Izzy to ever get angry at anything at all, she always saw the better side of ponies, even if they were being total jerks to her. "Wow oh wow, there are so many bits and bobs around here today, right Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. The inanimate Butterscotch simply nodded it's head, with assistance from Izzy's magic. "I know right? I mean just look at this old camera, might be all busted right now, but with a little bit of magic, cleaning and tinkering it'll be good as new. Oh and this worn out purse bag, just needs some sewing in the seams and patching up to be all brand new!" Said Izzy to her friend. Carrying the objects in her magic, she carried them over to a wagon that she had brought with her to take back to the Brighthouse once she was finished. To most ponies, trash was just trash, but to Izzy she saw it as potential, a blank canvas to make something brand new, in her own unique way. "I cannot wait to start putting all of this stuff to use when I get back home. Normally this would be enough for me for one Butterscotch, buuuuut today I'm feeling pretty lucky, that I'll find something really good around here, so I'm gonna keep on searching!" Said Izzy as she dived back into the trash to look around. Izzy continued to dive into the trash for more treasures, she began to hum a little tune to herself as she did so. "One pony's trash is another pony's treasure, one pony's treasure is everypony else's trash, but no matter if it's busted, torn, smashed or whatever, just a little bit of glitter and it'll be sparkly in a flash!" She continued to hum the tune in happiness as she continued to dig around for treasures. That was until she heard a noise not far from her that got her attention. The junkyard was normally a rather quiet place for her to hang around in, allowing her to indulge in her own thoughts and mannerisms, but today it seems that it wasn't as quiet as it was normally. Shifting her ears around to isolate where the noise came from, she heard it coming from the other side of the junkyard, behind a large pile of scrap. "Huh, I wonder what the noise was, usually this place is pretty quiet when i'm hanging around, what do you think it was, Señor Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. Butterscotch just shook it's head, courtesy of Izzy's magic. "I thought so, well let's go take a looksie and see what's going on then." Said Izzy as she trotted over to the nearby pile with her companion to see what was going on. Being as quiet as possible, which is impressive in Izzy's case, she leaned her head forward with her ears at attention to take in any other noises she could hear. Sure enough she picked up more of them going on, and this time Izzy was able to know exactly what was making those noises, and why, it seemed that there was somepony nearby that was talking to somepony or something else. "Looks like we're not alone in this junkyard Señor Butterscotch, we've got strangers intruding in on our peace." Said Izzy. Señor Butterscotch nodded his head in agreement. "Well then, let's hear what they are up to shall we?" Whispered Izzy to her inanimate friend, leaning her ear up to listen in to the conversation that was going on nearby. "This pile of junk right here looks salvageable, might make for a decent amount of spare parts, and if not then we can always just melt it down again." A series of distinct beeps went off in a pattern. "Yes that is true, even though I am more than capable of manufacturing as many parts as I want, at the same time it'd be troublesome if somepony got wise to our scheme, and the last thing I want is for anypony to catch onto us, not when we're to far ahead with the plans." More beeps went off, it seemed to be coming from some kind of machine, or maybe perhaps a drone. "Oooh that sounds pretty exciting and mysterious, doesn't it Butterscotch?" Said Izzy. Butterscotch just lay there all limp on the ground, so Izzy used her magic to gently tilt it's head. "Well then, I think we should take a closer look and see who or what is down there." Said Izzy quietly. The Unicorn ducked down and slowly crept around the pile, gently peering down to the scene in front of her, what she saw was interesting to her immediately, there was indeed a pony down there, a Stallion Earth pony it looked like, along with what looked like some kind of drone hovering next to it. The pony in question had a pale absinthe green coloured coat with dulled platinum mane that was swept back like a Pegasus pony's mane along with a short tail of the same colour. His eyes a dull crimson colour with noticeable bags underneath. He was wearing what looked like a dusty old lab coat with a pair of black boots on his forelegs, the left foreleg in particular had some kind of device on it, probably a smart watch or something, and finally he had a visor like device on top of his head, not too different from the one Izzy had created for Zipp a while ago. Izzy had a suspicion that this pony was a scientist of some kind, maybe one that worked for the old Canterlogic company that had shut down a while ago back when she first moved into Maretime Bay, though if he was, she certainly hadn't seen him around before. Izzy continued to stare down in silence at the scientist pony, wondering what he was up to, however, the quiet was interrupted when suddenly the drone started making loud noises like an alarm, and looked straight up towards Izzy, almost causing her to jump up in fright, she immediately ducked down out of sight. "What's wrong with you now? Did you sense something nearby, here of all places?" Said the pony, looking around the place with confusion. The drone let out a few beeps, then aimed it's sights up at the hill that Izzy and Butterscotch were hiding at. "If there is anypony there, show yourself right now!" Shouted the pony. "Blaaahh! We've been caught red hoofed." Said Izzy to Butterscotch as they both slowly came out of their hiding place with their hooves held up. The pony and the drone stared up at the both of them, the pony in particular let out a laugh in amusement at the sight, "Well well well, what do we have here? A Unicorn pony snooping around a junkyard with an animate pile of scarp?" "Hey! He finds that term offensive mister!" Shouted Izzy who levitated Butterscotch upright, and then moved him right in front of the scientist. The scientist seemed bemused by the antic, "Wait a minute, this thing has a name, a name you gave to it?" "The name is Señor Butterscotch thank you very much, curandero!" Said Izzy in her acted Butterscotch voice. The Pony raised an eyebrow, then glared up at Izzy, "What did this hunk of junk just call me, Unicorn?" "Ah umm, nothing, nothing!" Said Izzy sheepishly, moving Butterscotch to the ground nearby out of the way. The scientist let out a snort, then eyed her up closely "Hmph, so let me guess, was it you who made this thing, Unicorn?" "Oh yes, that I did stranger! I was feeling pretty lonely one day since all of my friends were busy with other things, so I decided to make myself a new friend, using all the leftover bits and bobs from around the Brighthouse, and lo and behold, Señor Butterscotch was born!" Said Izzy excitedly. The pony stroked his chin with interest, "Interesting, very interesting, is this the only thing that you have made, or have you invented other things as well?" "Oh no no no, I've created other things too, like the rad-visor for my friend Zipp which allows her to see the world in different ways, I've also built a robot named Bot-y McBakertons, among other things!" Said Izzy, smiling brightly. "Well well well, it sounds like you are quite the inventor Unicorn, what is your name if you don't mind me asking?" He asked her. Izzy now feeling that the pony is not dangerous, eagerly leaped down to the ground next to him, "My name is Izzy Moonbow, Unicorn transplant from Bridlewood and expert uni-cycler at your service!" "Izzy huh, and you've just moved into Maretime Bay you say? How interesting." Said the pony, showing a small smile. Say, what is your name and occupation if you don't mind me asking, stranger?" Asked Izzy, tilting her head to the side curiously. "My name? Well if you must know, my name is Wormwood, Doctor Wormwood that is." Said the pony, standing proudly. "Oooh a doctor!? I'm gonna guess that you are a doctor in some sciency stuff or something like it?" Said Izzy excitedly. "That is correct Unicorn, science is indeed my forte, though specifically, robotics, technology, chemistry, engineering, and of course physics." Said Wormwood. "Hehe, all of that sounds mighty interesting! I've never met many scientists or engineers from around Maretime Bay or even Bridelwood, most of them usually work elsewhere these days." Said Izzy. "Yes quite, ever since the Canterlogic factory shut down some months ago, most of the workers have left for other jobs, largely up in Zephyr Heights since they're always looking for new hires to work there, especially now that everypony and their filly wants to have a smartphone in order to keep up with the latest nonsense on the Canternet." Said Wormwood, showing a slight sneer in his face. "Huh, well If that's the case, why haven't you joined them in working up there as well?" Asked Izzy curiously. Wormwood chuckled in response, fiddling around with a piece of scrap on the ground, "As tempting as it was to go and potentially work there, it doesn't really suit me, my home is right here on the ground." "Ohhhh, well that's understandable, I mean keeping your hooves on the ground is one way to go about in one's life." Said Izzy with a smile. "Heh, I suppose so, so then, what is your story Unicorn, what made you want to move and live in Maretime Bay, and why are you here in this junkyard of all places?" Asked Wormwood curiously. "Oooh, well it's kinda a long story actually, this might take a while." Said Izzy, rubbing her head with her hoof. "Is that so? Would that have anything to do with that incident that happened a while ago with the ex Deputy of the town?" Asked Wormwood. "Yeah actually it does, but how did you know that?" Said Izzy raising an eyebrow. "I was nearby the town when I saw it all happening, but you can tell me about it since you seemed to have first hoof experience of the whole thing." Said Wormwood. Izzy took a deep breath and then started to talk about how she one day found a balloon stuck to a tree in the Bridalwood forest, it had note attached to it telling her that there were friends in Maretime Bay waiting for her, so she decided to make the journey there to find them, and the experience of meeting new ponies there and the whole adventure that followed from it. As she finished by telling how she then moved to living at the Brighthouse with her new friends, Wormwood interrupted her with a question. "Wait wait hold on a minute there, the Brighthouse, as in the lighthouse?" Asked Wormwood. "Yes siree, the Brighthouse, it's the home of Sunny and all her other friends, including me." Said Izzy. "how curious, so that means you know Sunny Starscout?" Said Wormwood with a raised eyebrow. "Yes I do, she's only my bestest ever best friend out of all the ponies, not counting Zipp, Pipp and Hitch of course hehehe, do you know her too?" Asked Izzy. "Of course I know her, who in Maretime Bay doesn't know the resident troublemaker and goody two hooves who was always trying to promote unity between the different ponies and see the best in everypony, even if it got her into trouble and earned her ridicule, heh, she was no different from her late father honestly, like father like daughter as they say." Said Wormwood with a chuckle. "Hey come on, Sunny isn't that bad, but... She did tell me about how the Earth Ponies living here used to have that view regarding the other pony tribes, and how they prepared devices and gizmos to capture Unicorns and Pegasi in the event of them invading Maretime Bay, kinda spooky to think about." Said Izzy. "Isn't it just? But it was the way things were for the longest time around here, I should know since I was part of the club that reigned in this town." Said Wormwood, staring off into the distance. Izzy moved back a little from the revelation, seemingly hurt, "Oh no, don't tell me that you think Unicorns are evil too?" Wormwood let out a sigh, then looked at her seriously, "I did mean what I said that I was part of the club, but... Truth to be told Unicorn, I was actually always a little curious about the other pony tribes, especially the Unicorn tribe and their ability to cast magic using their horns, the old legends in the dusty old books and tomes that ponies like Argyle always used to keep around always talked about how important magic was in everyday life in ancient Equestria, and that without it, everyponies lives was not only harder, but also miserable and lonely." "Uh huh, it's true you know, Sunny said the same to me too." Said Izzy, brightening up a little. "I mean, just think about it, magic back in those times was about as common and easy to understand as brushing your teeth, or taking a stroll down the path, it's actually pretty stupendous thinking about it now." Said Wormwood, showing some excitement. "Oh yeah definitely, with a little magic anything can be done, lifting things up, combining them together, or even casting spells if you know how to do it." Said Izzy excitedly, using magic to lift up her inanimate friend as an example. Wormwood seemed impressed at Izzy's display of magic, in fact it seemed to trigger a gleam in his eyes. "It's so incredible to be able to see actual magic being used right here in front of me, it's fascinating to see it work before my very own eyes, and wondering how it all works." Said Wormwood, smiling warmly. "Hehehe, I guess so, but my main focus is on uni-cycling junk into something special and beautiful, to me magic is just another tool for me to use to make it happen." Said Izzy humbly. "Hmm, you've mentioned that term several times now, is that why you hang out around junkyards like this, just to find things to invent?" Asked Wormwood. "Yeah that's right, this place is like my haven for treasure, why, do you do the same thing as I do too?" Asked Izzy curiously. "heh, well I don't do any 'uni-cycling' per se, but I do certainly do some re-cycling when it comes to scrap to be used for my own purposes, such as inventing of course." Said Wormwood, picking up the scrap piece next to him on the ground. "Whoa really, what sort of things do you invent?" Said Izzy leaning her head forward. "Hahaha, I could waste most of the day telling you what I invent and much much more... But I think I've wasted enough time here today, I really need to get back to work." Said Wormwood as he looked at the device on his foreleg to check the time. "W-w-what, you're leaving already!? Blaaaaahhh! B-but we've only just met, and there is still sooooo much I need to ask you about!" Whined Izzy, pouting a little. "Sorry Izzy, but I have to go, I have very important jobs to do today and I don't want to be late." Said Wormwood sternly. "Ohhhhhh, fine..." Said Izzy, looking away sadly. "Hey now come on, I never said that this would be the last time we meet, Izzy." Said Wormwood reassuringly. Izzy gasped, hope returning to her face, "Do you mean!?" "That's right, let us exchange numbers so that I'll forward you a message when I am able to meet up with you again, keep an eye out for it." Said Wormwood with a smile. "Oooh of course, let's do that right now!" Said Izzy in excitement. The two of them then exchanged numbers on their phones, Izzy noted how Wormwoods phone seemed a little old and basic compared to hers, like he hadn't upgraded it in a long time. "Well that's that, i'll see you around Unicorn, let me know what you invent next." Said Wormwood, turning around and trotting off out of the junkyard. "Oh I will, see you later new friend!" Said Izzy as she waved to him. Wormwood nodded to her as he continued to set off on his way, while Izzy went back to digging around in the junkyard as she originally planned, still excited from meeting a brand-new friend. As he walked down the path to elsewhere, Wormwood consulted with his drone, which had been silently observing Izzy in the background. "She sure is an interesting pony isn't she? We should definitely look into recruiting her as soon as possible, she has a lot of potential, magical potential." Said Wormwood, grinning to himself. The drone beeped low in return, as it followed the doctor into the nearby woods and out of sight. Back in Maretime Bay, Hitch Trailblazer had just returned to the police station after completing his morning patrol. He had planned to take a bit of a break before beginning the next part of his daily job which he considered to be the least fun part, sorting out the notice board, filing letters and reports, and deciding which of the cases will be his priority or not, a process that could take anywhere from an hour to several. Hitch never looked forward to this at all, but he sighed, it has to be done no matter what. "I'll pour myself some coffee to start with, then I can get started on this... chore of a job right away." He said to himself, making his way to the coffee maker. He got started making his brew, it was nothing special just a double espresso with a dash of milk, he liked his coffee strong and dark, just like his complexion, or so he likes to believe. As he waited for it to be ready, he noticed his companion McSnipps standing nearby at the ready, over on the table was all the letters he had both from this morning and the whole week organized into four neat stacks. Hitch smiled, this will certainly make it much easier for him to sort out what needs to go on the notice board or not, and as soon as he heard the machine pinged that his coffee was ready, he poured it into his #1 Sheriff mug that Sunny got him for Winter Wishday years ago, then sat down at this desk. "Hey there Mcsnipps, looks like you've done a swell job organizing everything." Hitch said to the crab as he took a sip from his mug. McSnipps clicked his claws and leaned forward, no doubt nodding to him. "Right then, let's see what we've got here today." Said Hitch, setting his coffee mug to the side and getting started on the letters in front of him. Hitch started off with the small pile first since he believed it would get done pretty fast, and it turned out he was right. Most of the letters in this pile were from Posey, the aforementioned Earth pony who hasn't taken too kindly to the other pony tribes moving into the town, she even did little doodles on her letters just to show her expressions while writing them. Hitch signed, then moved them onto the side to put onto the notice board later in the lower priority section, then moved onto the next pile of letters. The letters in the second pile were fairly standard complaints, chief among them about litter being dropped on the streets, that got Hitch's blood boiling. If there was one thing he hated seeing more than anything, it was litter being dropped onto the ground instead of in the bin, ever since he was a colt he had been determined to keep Maretime Bay as clean and clear as the sea itself at all costs, just as his father the previous Sheriff had done before him. Hitch sorted them all out easily since they were largely short and straight to the point, marking them in varying importance. With that pile of letters done and dusted, and another sip of his brew, Hitch moved onto the third pile, it was bigger than the last one, but he liked a challenge, plus he was feeling fired up from the last pile. These letters seemed to largely be about missing items, missing pets, and missing ponies, the latter of which made him stop and have a look at closely, remembering the words Plum had said to him earlier during his patrol. "I said that I would look into these disappearances for Plum’s sake, and I intend to keep that promise, let's see what these missing pony letters say." Hitch said to himself. As he started reading them one by one, he soon noticed a theme right away, almost every single one of the missing ponies reported in the letters were Unicorns, with only one exception being an Earth Pony from Maretime Bay, not only that but most of them were addressed from Bridlewood, with the same strange stamp on them like the one he had received from this morning. "What the hay is going on here, how many pony disappearances could there be!?" Hitch shouted out loud. He immediately began counting all the related letters, including the ones from this week. Once he finished, the end result left him with wide eyes in disbelief, then he threw his forelegs up into the air in frustration. "...I don't believe this, seventeen ponies have disappeared in the last month, seventeen!? How could I have been so dumb as to not notice it before!? Why oh why did I decide not to do anything about this sooner, am I that big of an idiot!?" Hitch shouted at himself. The sheriff felt awful right now, a big case like this had been going on for weeks under his nose and he never noticed it happening, all because he believed that the Unicorns of Bridlewood could handle it on their own, but now seeing this many disappearances happening, and that it's starting to affect the ponies living in Maretime Bay too, it's clear that he had to do something now before it's too late. "Those poor ponies... what could cause them to just disappear like that... did some strange magic they discovered cause them to like turn invisible or something dumb?" Hitch thought to himself, taking a sip from the mug, that's when a thought crossed his mind that made him nearly spit it out, "Wait... was it possible they were... ponynapped!?" Hitch sat back up upon saying that, he never thought about it that way before, but this many ponies going missing looked very much like a telltale sign of ponynapping, one of the most heinous crimes anypony could commit in Equestria, and a case that Hitch himself hadn't tackled before as Sheriff, but now it seems he now has such a case in his hooves, and what a doozy it's turning out to be, looks like his wish from earlier has just come true. "It looks like this just became a very hot case indeed, one I intend to solve quick and fair, there is no time to lose!" He said to himself as he put the letters on the side to be made priority on the bulletin board. Hitch then turned his attention to the last pile, thankfully not as large as the last pile, so he believed it would be quick to sort out. As he started to read the letters, he noticed they all seemed to be addressed to him directly, that piqued his curiosity, so he had a closer look at them wondering what they were all about, were they love letters, death threats, spam? He got plenty of the former from various admirers around town, a few from criminals that he had put away in the past, and unfortunately a bunch of spam letters from who knows where, those he always puts through the shredder and chuck into the bin. However, as Hitch began to read through each of them, he suddenly realized that they weren't any of the aforementioned letters at all, with a frown forming on his face he realized that they were in fact his bills for the month. "What the hay McSnipps, why didn't you mention that I had bills to sort out today??" Said Hitch as he lifted his head up to look at him, frowning hard. The crab just shrugged its claws, seems like he didn't have any reason to mention it until now. "Huh, well fair enough." Said Hitch, moving the bills out of the way onto his side desk to sort out later, then he gently moved all the sorted letters next to the notice board, sighing while doing so. "Sigh, this is going to be a looooong job I just know it, it's a good thing I put this off before lunch time, hopefully this won't take too long to get through, then after that I can get started on the case at hand." Said Hitch. With that Hitch began to organize and sort out the notice board, placing all the letters and more up in order of priority, with the disappearing ponies being his top priority at this time. As Hitch had expected, the job took a long time to sort out, in fact when he checked the clock up on the wall when he had finished, it had already been over an hour. "Sweet Twilight, that took longer than I wanted..." Said Hitch, wiping the sweat off his brow. The board itself was now completely covered in letters, sticky notes and pins, even Hitch was surprised at how many jobs he now had to do, so much to do in just one day, but he kept to his vow from earlier today to get the jobs done his way, especially with this hot case he now had in his hooves, which he has dubbed "The curious case of disappearing Unicorns Case". "Right then first things first, I'm gonna get started on the suspected ponynapping case, and for this I'm gonna need to call in the troops, McSnips-a-lot if you please." Said Hitch, giving the crab the signal. Mcsnips gave a salute, then it crawled on over towards the open window, holding it's claws up high it gave out a distinct but loud clap using them. Almost immediately, two little birds who had heard the noise landed on the window sill giving a salute towards the sheriff, the one who had an open can of sardines on top was named Kenneth, another pet friend of Hitch who he often relied on as his ears and eyes around town, the other bird that was with him was his deputy. "Good to see you troops, now listen up, we've got a doozy of a case to get through today and I am itching to get it solved before nightfall." Said Hitch to the troops, before pointing his hoof to the notice board, "I'll explain everything about the case at hand as soon as we set off into the town, for now we need to get out there, start looking for clues, check anything suspicious, and if we have time do some of the other jobs we have to do today that I made a note of just in case." The animals all nodded towards Hitch in turn. "Now then, are we all ready to go out there and get to work solving this case?" Said Hitch. They all gave Hitch the salute to show that they were. "Excellent, let's go troops!" Shouted Hitch as he charged towards the door. Hitch and his animal pals all set off from the police station and out onto the streets to carry out their investigation of the case, hoping to find clues and information that could help them solve it as fast as possible. However, in his haste to carry out his plan in a hurry without pause, Hitch didn't notice that he and his animal pals were secretly being watched the whole time. Out of a bush located next to the station came a small hovering drone, making a few beeping noises, it flew up into the sky and out of sight of everypony that could've seen it. It was pretty clear that somepony or something was keeping a close eye on Hitch and his activities, but who, and why?
Act 2 - Chapter 1"Dear diary, you won't believe what's been happening!" "It all started yesterday when I was at the local junkyard looking for anything interesting or odd to use in my uni-cycling, I happened to bump into a new pony friend I had never met before, he was some kind of science pony who had a talent for inventing, re-cycling scrap and other sciency stuff I assume. He did seem rather cold and bitter outwardly at first, but after I did some chatting with him, he gradually warmed up, and we soon hit off right away, sharing our enjoyment of inventing and thinking outside the box, or was it beyond the trees as they called it back home? I was sad when he had to go in order to get back to his job, but before he left, he told me that I would be receiving a message from him when he had time to meet me again, I was so excited about it that I didn't get to ask him how he would do so, but I assume I'll know about it soon enough!" "Now... I must talk about something more sad and depressing... Unicorns have been vanishing all over the place recently, and nopony knows what's causing it... My hometown of Bridlewood has been hit pretty hard by it. My friends Hitch and Zipp are both hard at work on the case, with Zipp suspecting that it might be a case of serial ponynapping going on, something that Hitch is slowly leaning towards himself... I haven't spoken my mind about it yet, but between you and me diary... I hope that it's not a case of ponynapping and just simply some magical mishap that's going on like we've seen before. Likewise, I know this might sound silly, but I just cannot picture anypony being nasty enough to do such a thing, even that Deputy who tried to destroy Sunny's lighthouse home a while back wasn't really that bad of a stallion deep down, just simply misguided in his beliefs. Today however is going to be a big deal for all of us, Sunny, Hitch, Zipp, Pipp and me are all going to be heading to the forest towards Bridlewood today to see if we can find some clues as to what's going on, I'm sure Alphabittle will be happy to lend us a hoof too, he's probably worried sick about his missing customers. To help everypony out, I've prepared a few gizmos from the uni-cycled scrap I gathered yesterday to make our search much easier, I like to call them 'glitter flares', these things work like fireworks, sending a tall shower of glitter upwards into the sky, that way if anypony is ever in trouble, we can all converge to help them out! Everypony else has their own ideas on how they'll help out too, Zipp will be using her own selection of gadgets, including her little search drone along with the Rad-visor that I made for her a while back to help search for as many clues as possible. Pipp plans on rallying the 'Pippsqueaks' on her social accounts, encouraging them to send in any rumours, information and more to her, she's also bringing a magnification glass with her to use to search for clues too. As for Sunny, she will be scouting up ahead of us on her roller-skates, that way if there is anything dangerous on the path towards the forest, she'll instantly let us know about it quickly with her whistle. Hitch meanwhile is actively communicating with his animal pals around the area, he aims to see if the animals hanging around the forest have been noticing anything off in recent times, hoping that they can point us in the right direction. What I find most curious however is that he's also bringing with him a pair of hoof-cuffs in his satchel, I'm guessing that if there really is somepony behind all this, he'll be ready to arrest them on the spot, but probably not before Alphabittle has had them tied up in the centre of town and subjected to the most terrifying punishment known to all Unicorn kind... The Mayonnaising A truly horrible fate to be bestowed upon, mwahahahaha!! Oopsie! I've looked at the time and just realized that we'll be setting out in a bit, and I don't wanna be late! Well anyway I can't wait to write you again tomorrow morning with hopefully some good news this time, see you later diary! Izzy Moonbow ACT 2 It was a cool crisp late morning on the outskirts of Maretime Bay, the grass was rich in moisture from the mists that formed overnight, and the air was fresh and clear to breathe in. In contrast to yesterday's bright clear sunny weather, today was a mix of grey clouds and a little overcast across the sky, even so, the sun was still shining high up through the layers of cloud, illuminating the lands with warmth and comfort. For the Mane Five however, there was little time to bask in the sights and the feel of nature, today was a serious matter for all of them. Yesterday Hitch Trailblazer, the Sheriff of Maretime Bay, had discovered a string of pony disappearances happening across Equestria, stretching from Bridlewood all the way to Maretime Bay. Even more disturbingly, almost all the pony's that had been vanishing were Unicorns, and most of them happened in Bridlewood. After a whole day of search turned up little to no clues, Hitch has now enlisted the help of his friends in the Mane five to help him crack open the case at hoof. The group has decided to divide itself into two groups in order to cover as much ground and air as possible, Hitch, Pipp and Izzy will be sticking to doing clue hunting on the ground largely, using their gadgets to assist in the search, while Zipp and Sunny carry out reconnaissance and information gathering on the ground and air respectfully. In the event of any danger or trouble anypony finds themselves in, each of them has been provided with one of Izzy's new "glitter flares" to use as a signal for help, they can also be used in the event of anypony finding an important piece of evidence related to the case, but since they only carry enough cartridges to use it twice before it runs out, they must be used only when necessary. After a hectic breakfast spent gathering everything they need for the day's long trip to Bridlewood, the Mane Five have now departed in full, their satchel bags full to the brim with items they've taken with them on the journey, in Izzy's and Pipps case, they packed a little too much stuff. "Seriously sis, why'd you have to bring your cosmetics with you as well? We're only going to be gone for a day at most." Said Zipp. "Oh please Zipp, you know that I need to look my best as much as possible, especially since my Pippsqueaks are going to be helping us out, the last thing I want is for me to look slightly less 'Pipp and Prim' to them when I do my streams and status updates. "Said Pipp, already gazing up into her phone. "Heh, why is that, are you afraid of them seeing you looking like you've been through a mud trial instead?" Said Zipp teasingly. "Wha- Y-yes! I don't want to end up becoming the laughingstock of the whole CanterNet, not with the standing I have!" Said Pipp, looking annoyed. "You mean like what happened to Silver Streak, the so-called 'shining silver stallion' when he was caught messily eating all those hay burgers at the local restaurant, his 'deluxe white coat' all greasy and messy?" Said Zipp, looking smug. "Yes exactly! The poor pony never recovered from that humiliation." Said Pipp dejectedly. "Hey come on, it was funny wasn't it?" Said Zipp reassuringly. "Well... I guess it is kind of funny now looking back on it, I'm just thankful that my Pippsqueaks haven't been exposed to such a thing from me yet, goodness knows the humiliation I'd get." Said Pipp, feeling more confident. "It wouldn't be the end of the world Pipp, sometimes you just gotta have a good laugh sometimes, even if it's at your own expense." Said Zipp. "Pffft, pur-lease Zipp, all you ever do is laugh at my expense at any opportunity you get, but you rarely let me have a chance to do it at all since you all you do is just brush it off like it was nothing, how can I ever work with that?" Said Pipp, pouting a little. "You do have a habit of being over-dramatic about such a thing, even the littlest thing like a stray hair becoming stuck out is enough to freak you out like you are about to have a heart attack." Said Zipp bluntly. Pipp gasped, then looked up at her sister, "W-what!? Why you-" "Alright alright, that's enough you two, we've got a job to do today." Called Hitch from the front. The two sisters looked on at him, then sheepishly laughed together before moving on from their little quarrel. "I don't know about you ponies, but I'm feeling super-duper excited to be going back home to Bridlewood today, I haven't been there ever since I moved out months ago, I hope my home is still in one piece, with all my uni-cycled tools and jars of glitter!" Said Izzy, bouncing along the path with joy. "Izzy, this is a serious matter! Unicorns have been vanishing all across Equestria, and Bridlewood has been hit hard by it most, we have to focus on finding them and bring them back home today!" Said Sunny. "I know that silly, but I'm also happy to be coming back home as well, I can't wait to see everypony again, especially Alphabittle, I hope he's still hanging in there despite all that's going on." Said Izzy. "The way things are going right now, there might not be anypony left to welcome you home Izz." Said Zipp. "Zipp!" Shouted Sunny, Hitch and Pipp together. "What? I'm not wrong about it, am I?" Said Zipp, looking a little sheepish. "No, but you could've worded that much better for Izzy's sake." Said Pipp sarcastically. "Heh, sorry about that Izzy." Said Zipp softly. "None taken at all Zippy." Said Izzy with a smile. "Z-z-zippy!?" Said Zipp wide eyed. The other ponies started chuckling, Pipp audibly louder than the rest. "Haha, Zippy? Isn't that the nickname our old caretaker used to call you back when we were fillies?" Said Pipp smugly. Zipp went on the defensive, trying to steer the conversation away that topic. "M-m-maybe, but you know I much rather be called Zipp, or even Zephyrina instead of that you know!" Said Zipp with a silly grin. "Really now? So that means you accept being the royal princess and heir to the throne after all?" Said Pipp smugly. "Yes, I m-mean NO! I mean... ughh!" Said Zipp in disgust. "Gotcha that time sis." Said Pipp with a wink, before trotting along triumphantly. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, lil Pippy." Said Zipp dismissively, but with a hidden smirk. Pipp looked back at her horrified at what she just said, but Zipp only chuckled, then took off into the air above them. Pipp quietly groaned about her old nickname, then carried on trotting in a huff. "Anyway! Moving on, how long do you think it's going to take for us to reach Bridlewood Izzy?" Asked Hitch. Izzy thought for a moment, then she opened up her satchel and took out a map she had brought with her, it was hoof drawn in her own signature art style, complete with doodles, glitter and other Unicorn-esque things. "Hmmm, well if my information is correct, and sometimes it's not, if we keep on moving along the path that we're on right now, we should be able to reach the forest by this afternoon." Said Izzy, examining the map closely. "If your information is correct? Wasn't it you who made this map up in the first place?" Said Hitch with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I did, I took into account all of the measurements and angles from where we would have to go, and the distance from here to there. And as a bonus I also drew us on here too, see Sunny here in Maretime Bay, me over here in Bridlewood, and Zipp and Pipp over here in Zephyr Heights!" Said Izzy, proud of her creation. "That's uh, adorable Izzy." Said Pipp, shrugging her shoulders with a smile. "Wait hold on now, who is this supposed to be next to Sunny?" Asked Hitch, pointing to the doodle in question with the tall looking stetson. "Oh uh, I think that one is meant to be you Hitch, dressed up as a cowpony with hat and all." Said Izzy innocently. The other ponies let out a laugh, Hitch however was bemused. "Ha ha ha, very funny Izzy, just because I'm wearing my detective hat today doesn't mean you can make fun of it." Said Hitch with a huff. "Aww come on Hitchy-poo, it's just a doodle, lighten up and look the brighter side of things." Said Izzy, rolling up her map and tucking it away in her bag. Hitch just huffed and carried on walking down the path. "So anyway, you said that if we stick to this path here, we should reach Bridlewood in no time at all?" Asked Sunny. "That's right! But we should all get a move on, they say some 'nasties' lurk out here in the wilderness." Said Izzy, picking up the pace. "Huh, what do you mean by 'nasties'?" Asked Pipp cautiously. "Weeeeell, Alphabittle told me once when I was a filly that outside of Bridelwood in the wilderness around what was once Ancient Equestria, some nasty looking monsters lived out there, with no-pony around to keep things in order they now roamed freely, looking for anything to munch their teeth into, ponies included!" Said Izzy, making loud biting sounds with her jaw. "Seriously? Are they actually real or not?" Said Pipp, looking worried. "I've never seen one myself, even during the first time that I left the forest, but as the saying goes, you never know when you'll be somepony else's lunch. That's another reason I made these glitter flares right here, in case one of us ends up in trouble, so we can send up a signal for help." Said Izzy, showing one of the flares off. "That's not exactly reassuring Izzy, especially if they end up not working." Said Hitch. "It's better than ending up as a monsters lunch sheriff." Said Zipp hovering next to him. "Whatever." Said Hitch dismissively. "Hey everypony, it looks like the road splits along here into two directions." Called Sunny. "Wait what? I don't remember there being a fork in the road the last time we went to Bridlewood." Said Zipp. "Oh that's because we took the longer and more rugged route to there from Zephyr Heights remember? This route along here is the fastest way to get to Bridlewood, but we have two choices of where we can go." Said Izzy, pulling her map out again. "So... Which path is the quickest then?" Asked Zipp. "Well according to my map, the left path here is the fastest way to get to my hometown, but it's also the most rugged and potentially dangerous since it goes by a nearby open gorge." Said Izzy, pointing with her hoof. "That sounds right up my alley." Said Zipp with a smile. "Now the right path here will take a little longer to get there since it goes through the thicket of the forest, but it's also the safer of the two paths." Said Izzy. "That sounds like the ideal one to take." Said Sunny thoughtfully. "Hmm, I don't know about you girls, but the sooner we can get to Bridlewood the better, I don't want the trail to go cold." Said Hitch, eying the left path. "Well I am in no mood to get my mane messed up today, so I think I'll take the leisurely walk to get there." Said Pipp, pointing to the right path. The Mane Five seemed split on which direction to take, but Izzy came up with an idea to solve it. "Hey I got an idea, why don't we all split up and take both paths to Bridlewood?" Said Izzy. "I'm all for that, we can cover way more ground that way." Said Zipp. "Hmm I don't know everypony, splitting up into different groups might be risky, especially since we have no idea what could be out there, much less if we run into whatever is behind the Unicorns vanishing." Said Sunny, looking a little worried. "It's no biggie Sunny, we're both going to be meeting up at the same place at the end anyway. That and as Zipp just said, we can cover more ground in our investigation that way too." Said Hitch. "Yeah, we might even be able to find double the clues that way too." Said Pipp, whipping out her phone to check her updates. "And if we do end up in trouble, we have the glitter flares that I made right here to signal for help." Said Izzy, folding up her map away. Sunny looked at her friends, taking in what they just said. Despite still having concerns about the idea, she ultimately decided to give it a try. "Alright I'm convinced, let's do this! Pipp, Izzy and I will take the right path to Bridlewood, Hitch, you and Zipp can take the left path to there, with all that ground to cover, we're bound to find something related to the case at hoof! Remember to keep your eyes peeled and ears up for anything suspicious you see, and together we will split this whole mystery wide open! "Hay yeah! Now that's the Sunny Starscout I know!" Said Hitch, giving her a hoof bump. "I'm gonna go scout out the left path ahead, catch you all later." Said Zipp who took off into the air and flew off. "We'd better get a move on too, I'm itching to get back to my home as soon as possible." Said Izzy, jumping with excitement. And with that, the Mane five had split up into two groups, with Sunny's group taking the right path towards Bridlewood, while Hitch's took the left one. Sunny and her group were soon on their merry way down the path, and as Izzy's map had said, it seemed to be the safer of the two paths, the views were more open and clear, very easy to spot any danger that might approach them. Sunny however still seemed to be distracted about something on her mind, she was paying little attention to what was in front of her, instead gazing off far into the distance, something which didn't go unnoticed by her friends. "Sunny hunny, are you okay?" Asked Pipp hovering nearby. "Huh? O-oh umm, y-yeah i'm okay, why?" Said Sunny, stuttering a little. "Well you've been staring off into space for the last few minutes, not that it's weird or anything since I do it all the time, but it's pretty unusual for you to be doing that." Said Izzy. "I guess I just got lost in my own thoughts for a little bit." Said Sunny, grinning sheepishly. Pipp didn't seemed convinced, she trotted up close to her and asked her more directly, "Tell me Sunny, are you worried about Izzy's safety?" "W-well umm..." Said Sunny. "Are you worried about me vanishing like all the other Unicorns?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny looked at the two of them, then signed heavily, "Yes, yes I am worried about her safety, with all these Unicorns going missing... i'd hate for something to happen to her too..." "Hey, don't over-worry yourself thin Sunny, we'll never let that happen ever, right Izzy?" Said Pipp. "Right as light, so long as we all stick together, ain't nothing bad going to happen to me, and even if it did, we'd all just vamoose away in safety." Said Izzy smiling at her friends. "You see Sunny? Our friendship will protect us from any danger that comes our way, isn't that what you always encourage towards us?" Said Pipp, hoof bumping Sunny's chest. Sunny stood there taking in what they just said, then smiled to herself, they were right, she couldn't let her fears and worries get the better of her now, not when there are ponies to rescue. "You're right girls, I need to keep my fears down and my focus up, now let's get moving and get to Bridlewood!" Said Sunny, clenching her hoof in confidence. "Now that's more like it, let's get going!" Said Pipp, taking off into the air. "Yeah let's get rolling everypony!" Said Izzy, now wearing her helmet and roller blades. "When did you put them on?" Asked Pipp with a raised eyebrow. "I've had these with me in my bag ever since we left the Brighthouse." Said Izzy sticking her tongue out, then looking over to Sunny, "Hey Sunny, how about we have a race to Bridlewood? First one to get there gets free tea from Alphabittle!" "Oh you are so on! Alphabittle makes the best brews of tea." Said Sunny, getting into position. "Ready, set, GO!" Shouted Izzy, racing down the path with Sunny just behind her. "Hey, wait up!" Called Pipp as she flew after them as fast as she could. The three ponies raced down the path towards the distant sea of trees in a race to see who would get there first. All three of them were nervous deep down about what awaited them in the forest, but they were determined to get there as soon as possible. However, they were unaware that the path they were on was being monitored at a distance by a lone drone hovering high above out of sight, and having detected their movements, it was now cautiously following them, tracking where they were going, and why. Meanwhile, deep inside the Bridlewood forest itself, everything was deathly quiet and still, an unusual sight to witness in the woods itself. The once serene, mysterious yet wondrous location now felt rather sinister and eerie to enter, as an aura of danger now hung in the air around it, the thin rays of sunshine streaming down from the branches above doing little to dispel it. In amongst the thicket, a pair of Unicorns remained in hiding inside a large hallowed out log that had fallen onto the ground, one of them was an adult stallion Unicorn with a blond mane and tail with white streaks running through each, paired along with his deep tan coat and yellow eyes. The other pony was a young filly with a pale yellow coat, deep blue mane and tail, with deep green eyes hiding behind her glasses. The older of the two had his head held high up, listening out intensely for any noises or disturbances nearby that might alert them to danger. "Cripes, I don't hear anything out there at the moment little one, it's too quiet." "I-is it safe now mister umm...?" "It's Starduster filly, I'll take a quick look around to check, but please stay hidden until I feel it's safe." Said the Unicorn, as he quietly peaked his head out to take a look around. The surroundings seemed still and quiet, with the distance sound of bird song from far away, and yet Starduster was not dumb, for he knew that looks can be deceiving, and whatever is behind the Unicorns disappearing might not be far away. For now though, it seemed the coast was clear, and they can move on closer towards Bridlewood. "It seems all clear for now, but we better get moving towards Bridlewood, we'll be safer there than out here." Said Starduster, looking back at the filly. "That's a good idea... " Said the filly. "Say what is your name by the way?" Asked Starduster. "It's Jasmine sir, and thank you." She said, doing a little bow. "Don't thank me yet Jasmine, not until we're out of this mess we've got ourselves into." Said Starduster seriously. Jasmine agreed, then the two of them started walking quietly but quickly through the thicket of the forest, keeping their heads down to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. The young filly was thankful to have been found by Starduster who came to help her when she got lost in the woods, looking up at him, she felt safer in his presence. However, she couldn't help but notice that his eyes were distracted, like something on his mind was bothering him. "Pardon me mister, but is something wrong?" Asked Jasmine. "Well umm... yes, actually there is something that is bothering me, and it's about you." Said Starduster, looking at her. The little filly stopped, looking at him in surprise, "W-what do you mean?" "It's simple, how on earth did you end up wondering way out here in the first place?" Said Starduster. "Oh umm... it's a little hard to explain but..." Said Jasmine uneasily. "You do know how dangerous it's become out here right? Alphabittle warned everypony to never go far from Bridlewood because of all the Unicorns disappearing in the woods, and yet you still went wondering around out here on your own without telling anypony!" Said Starduster severely. Jasmine gulped, she was trying to speak up but Starduster interrupted her. "It's pointlessly reckless to do such a thing on your own, especially at your age!" He said with a mild shout. "I-I know that... b-but... I had to come out here... I had to find him...!" Said Jasmine, trying to speak up. "Is that right? Was it a family member you were looking for, or somepony else?" Asked Starduster. Jasmine seemed to be on the edge about something, but she took a deep breath and started explaining. "...It's my dad, I wanted to find my dad. He didn't come home at all yesterday... After my mum passed away he's my only family I have left... I know we were all warned about wondering into the woods, but I wanted to find him..." She said sadly. Starduster signed, then he gently patted her head to comfort her. "That was a brave thing to do little one, but again also reckless too, you should never wonder off on your own, it can get you killed you know." He said. Jasmine nodded silently, Starduster looked into her eyes, he saw that she was struggling to keep herself from breaking down over something, and he had a hunch that he knew what it was too. "I can see it your eyes Jasmine, you already know the fate of your father, don't you?" Said Starduster slowly. Jasmine started choking up, tears starting to leak out of her eyes. "...Y-yes I do... The Metal Monster must've got him... A-and... And then it..." The poor filly couldn't hold back anymore, the emotion was getting too much, she burst out crying. "I want my father back...!" Sobbed Jasmine loudly. "There there little one, i'm sure your father is-" "The Metal Monster took him away! He's never coming back, he's probably dead by now or worse!" She shouted loudly. Starduster looked at the poor little pony crying her emotions out, he signed and gently comforted her in a hug. He had heard rumors from around Bridlewood about the so called "Metal Monster" that had been spotted in the forest recently, chasing after Unicorns and taking them away to who knows where, never to be seen again. Whether it was true or not, it's got everypony in Bridlewood on the edge, in fear that it might someday invade their home and attack them too. Poor little Jasmine just had her father taken away by it, and despite the danger, she still wanted to find him. Sniffing a little tear, he couldn't help but be proud of that courage, even if it was reckless of her to do so, he had to cheer her up and encourage her somehow. Showing a warm smile, he lifted her chin up at him. "Listen Jasmine, you will find your dad again, I know you will." Said Starduster reassuringly. Jasmine looked up at him, wiping away her tears, "H-huh? D-do you mean it mister?" Starduster smiled at her, nodding his head, "I do mean it, you can trust me." "T-thank you..." She sniffed, getting back to her hooves, showing a smile again. "But first, we need to get back to Bridlewood, it's not safe out here." Said Starduster. Jasmine nodded, and the two of them set off once again back towards Bridlewood in renewed spirits and determination. However, it wasn't long before Starduster began to think that there was something off about everything around them, he looked down upon the path they were on and noticed something alarming, stopping Jasmine in her tracks. "H-hey, what's going on mister?" Asked Jasmine. "Look down at the tracks on this path, notice anything different about them?" Said Starduster. Jasmine took a good look at the path, it was well travelled with all sorts of hoof prints left behind by ponies who walked along here on the path to Bridlewood. However, she did notice something different about one set of tracks, taking a closer look at them. "These sets of tracks are different from the other ones." She said, pointing them out with her hoof. "A sharp eye you got there little one, tell me, what's different about them?" Asked Starduster. "Hmmm... oh, they look bigger than a normal ponies, and there is no hoof mark in them... just one big flat print." Said Jasmine. "That's correct Jasmine, but... Do you realize what this means? Whatever or whoever left tracks like that, it's not from a normal pony." Said Starduster ominously. Jasmines eyes went wide, she started to look around wildly, her breathing becoming more panicked. "Oh no! N-no no no no! T-the Metal Monster has been though here!" She shouted out loud. "Shush! You don't want to attract it's attention do you-" He was cut off when there came a loud crack of split tree bark from not far away, causing him to look in the direction of where it came from, cold sweat beginning to form on his brow. "I think we better get galloping and fast, come on, hop onto my back quick!" Said Starduster, lowering himself down for her to jump on. Jasmine climbed onto his back and held onto him for dear life as Starduster started galloping down the path as fast as he could. After there was another loud crack of tree bark splitting, Jasmine took a gaze behind her against her better judgement, and to her horror, she saw it. There it was, chasing right after them, the so called "Metal Monster", it looked like a large dark silhouette with a single glowing red eye, it was hovering above the ground like an evil spirit, and there was a loud roaring sound, nothing like she had ever heard before that was coming from it, and it seemed to get louder the closer it got to them. "It's after us, it's after us!" Shouted Jasmine. "Just hold on tight, we'll try to get away from it!" Said Starduster Starduster tried to pick up the pace, but he soon found himself tiring out quickly, he was no athlete like an Earth Pony was, and if he ended up collapsing from exhaustion, then the Metal Monster chasing them would catch up to them and do who knows what to them, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen, especially to Jasmine, he couldn't stomach the thought of a little one being taken away by it. Luckily however, he spotted a large fallen tree that he could duck under to escape it's sight, he just had to time the dive just right to make it work. "Alright, I've got an idea, we're gonna lose that thing, hold on tight now." Said Starduster, making his way to the fallen tree. Jasmine held on for dear life as Starduster suddenly jolted down and ducked under the fallen tree, it was just low enough for the two of them to dash under it and out to the other side, where they found themselves in a clearing. After that, Starduster slowed his pace down, taking a look back to see that they seemed to have lost the monster. "Hahh hah... looks like we managed to lose it." He said, trying to catch his breath. Jasmine however wasn't so sure they had lost it, she could still hear that awful roaring noise coming from nearby, she feared they were not out of danger just yet. "Umm I don't think we're out of danger yet..." "Huh, what makes you say that?" Said Starduster in surprise. "...Look out!" She shouted, pointing a hoof at something aiming at them. Starduster looked at what she was pointing at, and reacted just a second too late, jumping out of the way as a blast went off right next to him, knocking him and Jasmine onto the ground, with Starduster clutching his side in pain. "Augh... dang that really hurts." He said, rubbing his side, making sure it wasn't cut. Both had little time to get themselves up when they heard loud stomps coming their way, both looked up and saw that they were surrounded by a number of pony like figures, staring at the two of them with their single glowing eyes. "W-what are t-these things, p-ponies!?" Asked Jasmine fearfully. Starduster however, could tell right away that they were not ponies, they may have had the same general shape, but it was obvious that they were something else entirely. "Those aren't ponies... and they're not friendly at all." He said, trying to sit up, but the injury on his side made it hard to do so. The pony like figures all took a step forward towards them, one of them aiming it's hoof at them, Starduster quickly saw that it wasn't a hoof at all, but some sort of weapon in place of one. Not only that, but taking a closer look as it stepped into the ray of sunshine showed that it had metal parts attached to it, and a metal like body with segmented limbs like a robot. That's when it finally sunk in for Starduster, these things weren't monsters at all, they were robots. Now realizing how serious the danger they were in and more, Starduster began making a plan, looking over at Jasmine. "Jasmine, I want you to listen to me very carefully." He said to her. Jasmine looked up at him, listening intensely. "When I give the signal, I want you to jump off my back and run as fast as you can towards Bridlewood, you must warn them of what's really going on out here, this might be our only chance." Said Starduster, lifting her up onto his back." "B-but what about you mister? How will you escape?" Jasmine asked with concern. "I won't, I'll hold them off so they'll have to take me away, but it'll buy you enough time for you to escape." He said, looking serious. "Huh!? B-but I don't want to lose y-you... like I lost my dad... what if they kill you!?" Said Jasmine, tears forming in her eyes again. Starduster did seem to have a second of doubt in his mind, but his resolve was decided. "I know, I didn't want it to be this way either... but we have no choice, your safety is more important right now, just trust me." He said. Jasmine sobbed more, she was still against it, but she could see in his eyes that he was serious about doing this. Gulping hard and wiping her tears away, she nodded in agreement, then she got ready for the plan. "Ready? Let's do it! Hey you tin pots, take this!" Shouted Starduster, as he levitated a nearby log and tossed it straight towards them. The robot ponies didn't seemed to have expected him to do that as only a few of them jumped out of the way, the others ended up being smacked down by the log. "Now Jasmine, GO!" Shouted Starduster, launching her off his back as he ran towards robots to keep them occupied. Jasmine screamed as she landed behind the bushes, luckily catching her fall just in time, and then proceeding to run as fast as she could away from the clearing. She then heard the sounds of laser blasts and loud shouts behind her, she could only imagine what was going on behind her. Jasmine really wanted to stop and look back to see if Starduster was okay, but she knew that would just make it easier for the robots to catch up and capture her too. Tears flowed out of her eyes and flew behind her as she kept on moving forward faster and faster into the depths of the forest and out of danger. It seemed like ages since she started running, but eventually she started to see the familiar glow of crystals up ahead, that meant Bridlewood was so close now. Her little hooves were aching and she was short of breath, but she had to make it, she had to warn the rest of the Unicorns living in the village of what was going on. "A-almost... Hah... T-there... Haahh..." Jasmine panted, as she finally entered the settlement proper. She immediately spotted a few Unicorns gathered in a group nearby talking about something, one of them having put up a missing Unicorn poster, one of many that had been posted around the whole of Bridlewood. Despite being tired and out of breath, she mustered up whatever strength she could to try and reach them. "H-hey! E-everypony... Help me...!" She shouted breathlessly as she slowly made her way to them. One of the unicorns heard her and turned to look at her, "Huh? Jasmine! W-where have you been???" "I-I tried to help him... b-but... t-they got him...t-they took him away... S-starduster..." She panted out. "Starduster!? W-who got him, tell us please!" But poor Jasmine had no breath left to say more, she collapsed onto the ground exhausted and worn out from all the running. The group of Unicorns all panicked upon seeing it and raced over to check on her straight away. "Oh no! The poor thing has collapsed!" "What do you think she was trying to say about Starduster? I thought he left earlier today to go find some help at Maretime Bay." "D-d you think that t-t-the metal monster got him too!?" "It sounds like it from what she said... but i'm curious about who 'they' are, might they be in league with the Metal Monster?" "One of them is bad enough, a whole group of them I can do without thank you!" "Either way we need to get the poor filly to Alphabittle asap, he'll know what to do." The group all agreed, one of them picking up the fainted filly up onto their back, then carrying her over towards the Crystal Tea House where Alphabittle lived and served customers. They proceeded to knock on the door only to see it open up on it's own like it hadn't even been closed properly. Curious, the group peered inside, and there he was, Alphabittle, the leader of the Unicorns of Bridlewood, sitting around at a table all alone, looking down at the floor in dismay. "Welcome... please take a seat somewhere and my waiter will be with you... someday." He said dejectedly. The group looked at each other with concern, but they had to press the issue at hoof, clearing their throat, one of them spoke up. "Alphabittle sir, we have a situation here!" "Tell me about it... Unicorns disappearing all the time, a metal monster haunting about our neck of the woods, and now i'm losing customers because of this whole mess... i'm facing ruin..." Said Alphabittle sadly. "Yes I know sir, but we have a new one on our hooves, it's about Jasmine..." Alphabittle immediately perked up upon hearing that name, he looked over at the group wide eyed. "W-what happened to her? Oh no, don't tell me the metal monster got her too!" He shouted in shock. "Oh n-n-no sir, she's here safe and sound... but she fainted from exhaustion, we think that it was chasing her, but she managed to lose it." Alphabittle got up right away all fired up, knocking the table over in a hurry, "Bring her here over to the guest room right away, i'll look after her until she comes to." The Unicorns gave a nod, then followed Alphabittle into one of the guest rooms inside the Crystal Tea House, then very gently he took Jasmine into his hooves very carefully, then he proceeded to tuck her into the provided bed. He examined her forehead and her chest, and smiling a sign of relief, places a nearby cold wet cloth on top of her head. "Is she going to be okay sir?" "She'll be just fine, she just needs some rest for now, the poor filly must've ran too hard and worn herself out, she should come to after a few hours." Said Alphabittle. "I'm glad to hear that, she's the first Unicorn to have escaped from the metal monster." "Hmm, do you think she has information about it and what it looks like?" "I'm sure we all have many questions to ask her, but for now we should just leave her be to recover. Until then, we should all return back to our homes and be on guard, who knows if that monster is still lurking around nearby." Said Alphabittle seriously. The Unicorn group agreed to it, they all left the Crystal Tea house and went back to their homes, looking around to make sure that the coast was clear, leaving Alphabittle alone with Jasmine. He signed deeply, looking up at the small window high up shining sunlight down at him. "What kind of evil out there has decided to do this to us, what do they want with my fellow Unicorns, and why hasn't anyone in Maretime Bay responded to our letters calling for help? We've even sent a few of our own out there to try to get to the town, but each and every time, the metal monster gets to them before they even leave the woods... it's like we're trapped in here like mice in a cage..." He murmured to himself, frustrated at the situation deep down. Alphabittle looked over at Jasmine resting in bed one last time, then he quietly left the room, closing the door behind him. Then he began making his way back to the main room of the Crystal Tea House, slumping over at his usual spot in deep thought about the whole thing. He wouldn't have long to himself though, in less than an hour, the door once again burst wide open in surprise. "Welcome... please take a seat anywhere, and my waiter will be with you... eventually" He said dejectedly. "Jeez Alphabittle, I haven't seen you this down like ever, your sparkles are looking so dull right now." Said a familiar voice. Alphabittle knew that voice anywhere, he looked up and in his surprise, there she was, Izzy Moonbow in the flesh. "Izzy! You finally came back!" Shouted Alphabittle in surprise as he raced over to her. "Yeah well once we got word of what was going on around here, we all raced to get here as soon as we could." Said Izzy, giving off a big smile. Alphabittle looked over and saw that she had brought her friends with her too, but he noticed that they all looked a little ragged, like they had just been in a chase, Zipp and Hitch in particular were covered in leaves, twigs and other debris, while Sunny and Pipp had mud caked onto their hair and coats. "Uggghhh this is just the worst! I can't believe my Pippsqueaks saw all of that... look at them, they're all laughing at me!" Whined Pipp, trying her best to filter out all the laugh emojis her fans were spamming her chat with. "At least we all managed to escape to safety..." Said Sunny thoughtfully. "Tell me about it, I don't think i've ever run that fast in my life... how do you do it Zipp?" Said Hitch, still catching his breath. "Ehh, years of athletics and dare-deviling." Said Zipp with a shrug. "Umm, what on earth happened to you ponies, did you get lost or something?" Said Alphabittle curiously. "Ah heh heh heh... it's a bit of a long story actually..." Said Izzy, clapping her hoofs together sheepishly. "I think you should come in and get cleaned up, then tell me what happened." Said Alphabittle as he lead them all inside. "Thank Twilight, I need a bath right now!" Shouted Pipp as she eagerly dashed inside in a hurry. Everypony else in the Mane five just signed before making their way inside as well, closing the door behind them. Little did they know though that their movements have been monitored all along by the same hovering drone from earlier, and having captured enough footage of their location, flew off deep into the woods, disappearing out of sight. Who does the drone belong to, what happened to Sunny and her friends that left them so dishevelled, and just what is the mysterious metal monster that seems to be the culprit behind the Unicorns disappearances? The mystery at hoof is only getting stranger, and more dangerous. Author's Note Hey everyone, sorry for taking longer than normal in getting this done, but after a hacking situation occurred a week after I released the first Act of the story, my motivation took a major hit as I tried to get everything secured and organized. I had gone through multiple treatments of this part to see what worked and what didn't, but I ended up liking this one with focus on the Unicorns in Bridlewood dealing with the situation that was going on and how they were adapting to it. I aim to start working on the next part of the story as soon as possible, hopefully it won't take anywhere near as long to finish as this one did.
Act 2 - Chapter 3It was now early evening in the Bridlewood forest, the fading sun's rays shown through the thick branches high above onto the village below, the crystals that grew around started to glow brighter, illuminating the surroundings in their light. The scenery was tranquil, yet the shadows in the background hid the danger that was lurking within, as the distant sounds of heavy still hooves clank about. It was at this time that in the Crystal Tea House in the middle of the village, a meeting had been taking place between the Mane Five, Alphabittle and a young Unicorn named Jasmine, and Queen Haven with her royal guards. They had been talking about everything that had been going on in recent times with her, including the missing Unicorns, the ambush in the forest from drones, and information about the mysterious "Metal Monster" that they suspected to be behind the Unicorns vanishing without a trace. Queen Haven leaned back on the chair, slowly taking in all the information they had told her, rubbing her hoof under her chin, while the guards provided a cloth to cool her forehead down. "So, let me get this straight my dears, the Unicorns have been vanishing from Bridlewood for unexplained reasons, but most likely ponynapping, and after you received letters calling for help, you've come here to help Alphabittle in finding them, but on the way you were attacked by a swarm of drones that chased you all the way here, and now after speaking to the little filly over here, you've learned that there is some sort of 'Metal Monster' lurking out in the forest. Am I correct so far?" Said Haven slowly. The Mane Five and Alphabittle all nodded their heads in agreement. "But from what she tells me, there are also robot ponies moving around as well, and you suspect that they might be linked to the Metal Monster?" Said Haven to the group. "It's only speculation at this point, but with all the testimony so far, I wouldn't rule it out." Said Hitch. "But most importantly, you suspect that somepony is behind all of this, and that it could be a former high ranking official of the Canterlogic company too." Said Haven, who seemed concerned about something. "That's right, we ruled out Zephyr Heights since we know that by law such drones are forbidden to be manufactured." Said Sunny. "That is correct my dear, still, it does concern me with how all of this has been going on under our noses, that and one other matter we've had to deal with." Said Haven. "You mean the private meeting that you had with your daughters?" Said Alphabittle. "So they told you, did they? The matters of the meeting are strictly royal business only, they were not to mention any details of it!" Said Haven, looking at Zipp and Pipp with disappointment. "B-b-but mother, we didn't say anything about it at all, only that we had a meeting and that was it!" Said Zipp in protest. "Say I just thought of something, what if what happened at the meeting is also related to the case going on right now?" Said Hitch to Haven. "Hmm, well from what you have told me so far, I can only say that there is a small amount of overlap with what was discussed in the meeting, but unless you can provide solid evidence to me that will help prove a connection, I'm afraid I cannot tell you any of the details until then." Said Haven with a serious look. "Huh? But how will we know what evidence to find? So far we haven't found any solid clues to the case at all, not even hoof tracks, photographs, or even a sample of the drones that attacked us..." Said Hitch dejectedly. Sunny however, thought about the last thing Hitch had mentioned, as good as photographs might be, a sample of one of the drones or even the robot ponies would be much more valuable a clue to provide, especially if it could lead them to who the culprit is. "Wait a minute Hitch, that's it! We should try finding a sample of one of the drones and bring it back here for study and examination." Said Sunny excitedly. "Hey that's not a bad idea Sunny, especially if we can find out where they came from, and who made them, it could be what we need to split this whole mess wide open." Said Hitch, extending a hoof for her to bump, which she did in kind. "Wait hang on one moment, you two do realize the implications of what you have to do to get a sample right?" Said Pipp worryingly. "Yes we know, it would mean tracking them down and fighting them, and even though there is a risk of us getting hurt or even captured, it's our only chance to get a clue from them." Hitch said to Pipp. "Does that mean we will have to smash, bash and crash them just to get a sample?" Said Izzy curiously. "Ah well, the thing is Izzy, as good as it would be to study their remains and parts, it would be much more valuable if we could capture one of the drones intact." Said Zipp. "Capture one, but how will we go about doing that? We saw how armed those things are with their laser cannons and fast movement, it'll be tricky to get close to one and take it down, enabling us to capture it." Said Sunny. "Well, if it helps I could always try using my magic to hold one in place if that will help out." Said Izzy with a smile. The other ponies seemed to be shaking their heads from the suggestion, Sunny herself understood what they were thinking, she knew that she would have to break the news to Izzy later on before nightfall. "Still, it's our best bet in getting a lead on the case, we have no choice but to take the fight to the robots." Said Hitch, who was now feeling fired up. "Sounds like a plan, I'm in." Said Zipp. The others in the Mane Five all agreed to it too, including Izzy, though the others again seemed to be thinking of something else regarding her. "Excellent, we'll start planning after dinner." Said Hitch. "Oh goodness, speak of the devil, I had almost forgotten all about it, Alphie, is the dinner still on dear?" Said Haven to Alphabittle. "It sure is, but we'll likely need more plates for the guests, they are likely hungry after all they've been through today." Said Alphabittle, who went into the kitchen to get started. "Hmm, sheriff, there is one thing that I am curious about that you mentioned in our conversation." Said Haven, turning to him. "Yes, what would that be your highness?" Said Hitch. "You mentioned that you had a few suspects in mind from the case, can you tell who they are, per chance?" Said Haven. "Umm, I did say that yes." Said Hitch, who pulled out his notebook and flipped to the page, "The two suspects we have right now are Phyllis Cloverleaf, former head of Canterlogic, and the other a former scientist and chief of R&D at Canterlogic, Dr Altair Wormwood." Queen Haven raised an eyebrow at the mention of the names, but Hitch couldn't gauge if he had said something important to her, or something else. "Phyllis and Wormwood huh, the former I know from the incident months ago, but the latter is new to me." "Well he used to work for Canterlogic, until he was let go for supposedly harbouring a like for Unicorns, but no pony knows for sure what really happened." Said Sunny. "Is that so? Hmm, and do we know what he's been up to recently?" Said Haven. "Oh oh oh, I saw him yesterday down at the local junkyard, we bumped into each other while there, talked about some things, then he went off on his way to the woods not far from there, and I haven't seen him since then, but he said he would send me a message when he was available again." Said Izzy. "Hmm, curious, very curious." Said Haven, who then monitored for her daughters to come to her. "What is it mother?" Asked Pipp. The Queen leaned forward and whispered to them, "Meet me upstairs in five minutes, we'll do a reconvening about the meeting there, and remember, no pony must know about what we're looking into, not until we have proof of a connection between it and the case the sheriff is investigating." "Understood." Said Zipp and Pipp. Queen Haven smiled, then trotted her way upstairs, but not before giving a wink to Alphabittle, who smiled back, to the sister's confusion. "So what's the next move then everypony?" Said Izzy eagerly. "Well, we're gonna start planning our next move after dinner, then I plan to start a stake out later in the night to see if the robots make a move on the village while the others sleep." Said Hitch. "A stake out, on your own? That's dangerous sheriff, are you sure you know what to do?" Said Zipp, looking worried. "Sure as pie, but I'll need to find a place to hide out in, not too obvious, but offers good enough views of the whole area." Said Hitch. "Hmm, the only place in Bridlewood that offers that is the home next to the Crystal Tea House, it has an open upper level balcony for the views." Said Alphabittle, who had been listening in from the kitchen. "Huh? B-but... that's my home..." Said Jasmine in surprise. "Ohhh yeah, that's right, you don't mind if Hitchio uses your home for his staking out, right Jasmine?" Izzy said to Jasmine. Jasmine seemed unsure about it, her father always warned her about welcoming strangers into their house, and with him now gone she was even stricter about it. Still though, as she looked on at Hitch, who was a police officer, and a respected member of the Mane Five, she felt safe with him, just like she did with Izzy. The sheriff held out his hoof to the little Unicorn, gesturing for a hoof shake. "What do you say little filly, will you help me in setting up my stake out later tonight?" Said Hitch. Jasmine thought for a few moments, then walked forward and shook the sheriffs hoof. "Yes, yes I will help you, but you will protect me from the monsters out there, won't you?" Said Jasmine. "Of course little one, as an officer and a gentlecolt, it's my duty to serve and protect anypony, no matter who they are or what they look like." Said Hitch, clapping a hoof to his chest in bravado. "Gentlecolt? That's rich." Said a voice behind him, along with some giggles, but Hitch rolled his eyes and ignored it. "Do you want to come to the house right now to take a look around? It's a bit of a mess, but I'm sure you need it ready for whatever you have planned." Said Jasmine thoughtfully. "That's a good idea, it sounds like dinner will be ready soon though, so we'd better hurry and make it back on time." Said Hitch. The two of them then took their leave of the Crystal Tea House to Jasmines home nearby. At the same time, Pipp and Zipp had followed their mother upstairs to have a meeting privately between them, locking the door behind them, leaving Izzy and Sunny on their own for the time being. After a little bit, Izzy hummed a tune to herself as she tried to think of something to pass the time, when she noticed Sunny looking away into the distance, it seemed that something was on her mind again. "Hey Sunny, what's wrong? You troubled by something on your mind again?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny however let out a deep sign, then slowly turned to look at Izzy, she had a sad yet serious look on her face, almost as if she had made a decision in her head just now. "Izzy listen, can we have a serious talk for a few minutes, just me and you?" Said Sunny. "Umm, sure, what's the matter?" Said Izzy, unsure what is on Sunny's mind. She no idea that the conversation they were about to have was going to test their friendship like never before. Upstairs in the Crystal Tea House, inside what was assumed to be Alphabittle's private lounge, the three members of Pegasus royalty were discussing amongst themselves their own little investigation into an incident that had occurred in Zephyr Heights. Up until now, the details of it had remained top secret to everypony else except the royal family, largely to keep details from leaking out. Now however, with mounting suspicion that the incident in Zephyr Heights and the case in Bridlewood could be related to each other, the three Pegasi were divulging the details openly to each other. "Huh, so we still have no clue as to what caused the break in at the royal archives to happen in the first place?" Said Zipp to her mother. The Queen shook her head, "Unfortunately no, the investigation on our end back at home has not produced any decisive results so far." "But there must be something we must've overlooked, I mean, how could they have just slipped in undetected, hacked our system database, and then fled with little traces remaining?" Said Pipp in disbelief. "That's the big problem we're facing sis, security camera footage of the scene was tampered with while the crime was taking place, for three whole minutes there was nothing but static on the monitor, and the audio was muted too. As a result, we have no idea who or what was there when the hacking happened." Said Zipp bluntly. "Whomever it was, they were very clever and crafty, and likely knowledgeable about how security systems operate too." Said Haven thoughtfully. "Do we at least know what the hacker did while they were there, what were they after?" Pipp asked her mother. "Well, from what we've found in the history files, it seems to largely be information regarding the geography of the land of Equestria today, maps of known towns and cities that we've found since the reunification happened, as well as details of roads and paths to suspected ruins and places of interest, but... There is else something more troubling that we've found out today." Said Haven, showing a rare sign of concern. "What is it mother, what has been found?" Said Zipp, not liking the sound of her tone. "The hacker.... has also downloaded blueprints related to our airships, including a prototype that is currently under development at the royal factory on the industrial plateau below Zephyr Heights." Said Haven slowly. "Wait what? You mean the ZHSS Cirrus? But that's not due to be completed for another two years yet, due to the new jet engines being developed for it that'll give it much greater speed, and allow it to fly at higher altitudes in the skies." Said Zipp out loud. "And how did you know about all that, Zipp?" Said Pipp inquisitively. "Hey, you know me sis, I love to learn about new tech all the time, especially if it's to do with going faster." Said Zipp proudly. "Anyway dears, this is what worries me the most, if the hacker has the blueprints to our airships, including that prototype, there is no telling what they could do with it." Said Haven. "What do you mean by that mother? I mean, they're just airships after all, even if they were leaked online on the ponynet, I think it's unlikely anypony could but us could build them, they likely won't have the resources to do so, much less get them flying in the first place." Said Pipp, taking a moment to use her phone. "That is true dear, if they were planning to use them commercially, but... There is also the other side of the coin that we have to worry about too." Said Haven ominously. Pipp seemed confused by what she was implying, but Zipp quickly figured it out, leaving her wide eyed and in near disbelief. "W-Wait! Are you saying that they could use our airships as weapons!?" Shouted Zipp. "Shush Zephyrina, not so loud." Said Haven severely, "But to answer your question, yes, that is my biggest worry about all this, the blueprints they stole could be used for ill in the wrong hoofs." The room fell silent as the two sisters slowly let the revelation sink into their heads, they couldn't believe that anypony could use their own technology against them, something that they have long taken advantage of, now suddenly a threat to them. However, it wasn't long before the two began to slowly connect the pieces in their heads about what their mother was getting at, and together the two sisters reached a conclusion. "Ohhh, I get it now, that's why you were interested in the case that Hitch and we were investigating, you suspected that there might be a connection between the hacking incident in Zephyr Heights, and the Unicorns disappearing in Bridlewood." Said Pipp, reared up on the table in excitement. "That is correct Pipp, but as I have already said, until we have hard evidence that the two cases are connected, it's only speculation at this point." Said Haven firmly. "Hmm, that is true." Said Pipp as she got down from the table. Queen Haven then leans forward to her daughters with a serious expression. "That being said, I am however concerned about the situation here in Bridlewood, and who might be behind the Unicorns vanishing, if they are using drones and robots as part of their plan as the little filly and you have told us, then it's safe to assume that there could be a link right there." Said Haven, showing worry on her face. "Ah I see, you suspect that the hacker had used a drone of some kind to disrupt our security systems, allowing them to hack our databases without alerting the security." Said Pipp, who was now realizing what it could mean. "Exactly, now you see why capturing one of the drones is actually much more important now then it was beforehoof." Said Haven seriously. "Yes mother, if drones were behind the hack, then if we capture one of them that's hiding out in the forest, we just might find the link we need to tie the two together. " Said Zipp who was now brimming with enthusiasm. "Exactly sis, this could be just what we need to split the whole thing wide open." Said Pipp, hoofbumping her sis. "Very good girls, furthermore, we should consider researching into the suspects of the Bridlewood incident, we might also find another link right there." Said Haven. "Oh yeah, I have been meaning to ask, Zipp, do you think that Phyllis could be behind this whole thing?" Said Pipp seriously. "Honestly Pipp, I am unsure if she is or not. Even though she held much animosity towards us Pegasi and Unicorns, even making devices designed to capture us, she does seemed to have changed for the better, and with Canterlogic itself no longer in operation, it paints her as unlikely to be the culprit." Said Zipp, browsing through her notes. "That is true, but don't forget that she willingly allowed her son to carry out that harebrained scheme to destroy us, even helping to build that war machine of his that caused a lot of trouble for us." Said Pipp, who hadn't forgotten the carnage it had wrought. "Again very good point, still though, even if she did have such resources at her disposal, I'm unsure if she would have the knowledge to carry out such a crime like this, she never really struck me as a mastermind who could orchestrate such events like this." Said Zipp thoughtfully. "Hmm, I'm afraid I would have to agree with Zephyrina my dear, from my brief meeting with her and observing her latent attitude, I don't think she is that ill disposed to us any more." Said Haven. "That and we can also rule out her son too, Sprout is currently serving sentence and doing community service around town from his recent antics, and I highly doubt that he is capable of such a plan like this, even if he is actually quite cunning and devious." Said Zipp, remembering his attempts to disrupt the upcoming holiday for Maretime Bay. "But if that's all true, then that leaves us just one suspect, one whom we haven't even seen yet..." Said Pipp knowingly. "Dr Wormwood, I know." Said Zipp bluntly. "From what I can understand, this pony is a scientific genius who worked under Phyllis as her chief of R&D at Canterlogic, and was the brains behind the Unicorn capture devices among others, but around a year ago he was dismissed for supposedly harbouring a like for Unicorns, and has been out of the public eye ever since." Said Haven. "That's right, as far as me and Pipp know, we've never seen him once in town since the reunification, so we have no idea what he looks like, apart from these older photos of him from newspaper clippings." Said Zipp, who showed them to her mother, depicting a younger looking Wormwood with Phyllis outside Canterlogic. "Hmm, but if that's the case, then it also doesn't paint him as a likely suspect either if he's been out of the public eye, and has been secretly wanting to be friends with the Unicorns all this time." Said Haven to Zipp. "That's what I've been thinking, he did meet up with Izzy yesterday at the junkyard, and it sounds like the two of them have hit it off really well, they might end up being best friends over their shared interest in inventing." Said Pipp. Zipp seemed to be a little deflated over her sister and mother dismissing Wormwood as a possible suspect, but she cleared her throat and kept her cool. "Hm I guess so, but still... I can't shake off this odd feeling I have about him, and the way he was dismissed from Canterlogic is suspicious as well, I can't help but think that there must be more to that story than meets the eye." Said Zipp. Pipp seemed to just shrug her shoulders, while Haven didn't seemed that convinced about it. "Hmm I'm afraid that until then, I still don't see this Wormwood character as the prime suspect Zephyrina, you will need to do more digging around and find proper evidence that he is behind this, if he is at all." Said Haven, dismissing Zipp's claims. Zipp felt as if she had just wasted her time trying to convince her sister and the queen that Wormwood was a suspect, she was about to speak up when a loud bell rang out from downstairs. "Oh dear, that must be Alphabittle ringing that, sounds like dinner is ready at last." Said Haven, making her way to the door. "Yeah I could go for something to eat, after all this running, talking and debating, I need me some good food to fill me up, hay maybe I'll even do a story about it, I'd love for my Pippsqueaks to see what Unicorn food is all about." Said Pipp, also making her way to the door. Zipp however let out a sigh, then followed after them slowly. She began thinking over in her head if she had been off the mark in suspecting Wormwood as being the one behind the Unicorns disappearing. Despite the evidence to the contrary, she couldn't shake off this gut feeling she had about him, and the rather mysterious circumstances of his firing from Canterlogic as well, it feels like there is something missing here, like a missing piece of the puzzle. Her belly rumbling however knocked her out of her thoughts, realizing that she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast earlier that day. "Heh heh, maybe some grub will be just what I need to get back on track, can't work on an empty stomach after all." Said Zipp as she trotted off after them down the steps. She had little idea at the time that she would be back on track sooner than she was expecting, for the shadows that lurked in the background of the forest would soon make their presence known. A short time later, the ponies were all sat around the big table in the Crystal Tea House, enjoying the food that Alphabittle had made for them, and from the eager sounds of munching, it sounds like it was worth waiting for. "Hey, this food is pretty good Alphabittle, what is this salad?" Asked Sunny with a mouthful of food. "It's a little old recipe handed down to me from my father's father through his fathers father, nothing too fancy or over the top, but it does help fill up the bellies of ponies." Said Alphabittle, tucking into his own meal." "Ohhh, it's still as good as I remember it!" Said Izzy, eagerly digging into the salad. "I must say I agree to that Alphie, this salad you made is rather good, very rich yet tender." Said Haven. "Yeah, exactly what ingredients did you use to make this?" Said Pipp out of curiosity. "Well, if you are curious to know if you wanted to make it yourself, I basically used some ripened mushrooms that grow in the forest, along with some chopped cucumbers, some special wild roots for an earthy taste, mixed in with a homemade vinaigrette that I made myself, topped with some filly tomatoes, and voila." Said Alphabittle, smiling proudly over his creation. "Ah I see, no wonder it has such a unique taste." Said Zipp, who didn't seem too keen on the roots. "That's right, it's flavour is to die for!" Said Izzy. "Heh, you sure liked that didn't you Izzy? You always liked this meal I made for you, ever since you were a young filly." Said Alphabittle with a smile. "Hehehe, well duh, you always make it so well, I could eat this three times a day every week, and still enjoy it!" Said Izzy, returning the smile. Zipp looked on, impressed by the mulberry Unicorns appetite, "That Izzy sure does have an impressive appetite, doesn't she sis?" "She sure does Zipp, but I doubt she could compete with Hitch in terms of appetite, that stallion could put anypony else to shame when it comes to eating I swear." Said Pipp, who didn't seem to be a fan of the dinner as she had barely eaten much. "That is true, he's won plenty of pie-eating contests, and the annual Maretime Bay Chug-it-Down Showdown we host every year, I could never compete with him over that, even with the fasting method that I tried one time." Said Sunny humbly. "Sounds like he has quite the hearty appetite, my kind of customer." Said Alphabittle with a chuckle. The group continued to eat their fill of food whilst chatting amongst themselves, however, Zipp being the most alert and attentive of the group noticed something that was off, she noticed that Izzy and Sunny were sitting noticeably apart from each other, looking away and not even interacting together. Zipp found that very unusual since the two of them have been almost inseparable since they first met each other in Maretime Bay a few months ago just before the reunification. Zipp knew something was going on, but before she could start speaking up about it, somepony else suddenly spoke up loudly instead. "Hey wait a minute everypony, where is Hitch?" Said Pipp suddenly. The ponies looked around the room, and sure enough Pipp was right, Hitch wasn't at the table, and neither was Jasmine, they saw that he wasn't anywhere in the Crystal Tea House at all. "Hitch is never late for food, something must be wrong." Said Sunny, who got up from her seat. "Let's go check out the house that they went into, and see if everything is okay." Said Zipp, who followed after her. The two of them went up to the front door out of the Crystal Tea House, but just before they had a chance to open it, the door swung up all on it's own, to their surprise, and there in the door way, looking scared and sweating with fear, was the Unicorn filly Jasmine, looking as if she had just seen a ghost. "Jasmine! We were about to come looking for you and Hitch, is everything okay?" Asked Sunny with concern. "E-everypony... H-hitch... h-h-he..." Said Jasmine, who struggled to get the words out. "What? Is Hitch okay? Is he in trouble?" Asked Zipp. Jasmine again tried to speak up, but again she only babbled her words. Alphabittle could see it, and came to her to try and calm her down. "Hey now, take deep breaths and calm down Jasmine, then tell us what's going on." Said Alphabittle warmly. Jasmine shut her eyes and took some deep breaths, after a few moments, she opened up her eyes again. "E-everypony... H-hitch found it... one of the drones, he found one!" Jasmine half shouted. "What!? One of the drones is here, right now in the village!?" Said Alphabittle in surprise.. "Oh no! Did they follow us all the way here!?" Said Pipp concernedly. Zipp went close to Jasmine, nearly nosebooping her, "Where is it Jasmine, where is that drone!?" "H-hitch is chasing after it right now, he j-j-jumped off the balcony and ran after it as soon as he spotted it hovering near the Crystal Tea House upper windows!" Said Jasmine, trying to keep calm. "Wait, the upper windows!?" Said Haven." Before Jasmine could say anymore, there came loud sounds not far away of what sounded like an explosion, and the telltale sounds of laser blasts. Sunny, Zipp, Pipp and Izzy knew those sounds all too well, Hitch might be in trouble, and there was no time to lose. "Come on everypony, Hitch might be trouble, let's go find him!" Shouted Sunny who ran out of the door in a hurry. With that, most of the ponies at the table dashed out of the door in pursuit of Hitch, Zipp making sure to grab the Rad-visor before she left knowing it'd be helpful in scanning for the drone, leaving Haven, her royal guards, and Alphabittle behind with Jasmine. who sought comfort in his hooves. "Well then, I guess that just leaves the two of us then, right Alphie." Said Haven with a bit of a purr. However while her guards let out a silent groan to themselves, Haven noticed that Alphabittle was looking outside of the open door in the direction that Sunny and her friends went, it seemed that he was thinking of joining them in the pursuit, but he was also hesitant about it, knowing he still had a duty to protect the remaining Unicorns in the village. "Haven... I feel that I need to go with them, to help them out." Said Alphabittle, turning his head slowly to her. Haven's eyes went wide, "What!? But what if it turns out to be dangerous Alphie, what if you end up getting injured, or worse captured!? I don't know what I'd do if-" "Listen to me please, I have to do this." Interrupted Alphabittle, who looked at Haven with a serious expression, "As the leader of the Unicorns in Bridlewood it's my duty to look after them, and keep them safe. I've sat by idly moping about the whole situation and doing nothing about it long enough, and believe me when I say, that I am NOT losing another Unicorn to those things out there in the forest!" Haven stared at Alphabittle silently with her mouth agape, she knew that she didn't want him to get himself hurt out there facing the threats that lurk in the shadows, but at the same time, after seeing the fires lit in his eyes, she knew that he had to do this, as the leader of the Unicorns in Bridlewood. She let out a sign, then looked at him deeply, "Very well Alphie, do what you need to do, just make sure you don't do anything too reckless, I'll stay here with the guards to protect the town, you go out there and take them down dear." Alphabittle smiled, then stood up on his legs, "Thank you Haven, I promise that I won't do anything reckless, or get myself into trouble." "W-wait, do you want me to come along too?" Asked Jasmine curiously. "No little one, I think it's better if you stay here with me, last thing we want is for you to get hurt out there." Said Haven, who came over to comfort her. "Yes that would be a wise idea, besides you've already had enough adventure for one day Jasmine." Said Alphabittle, who gently nudged her to Haven's direction, then he took a deep breath, and looked out the open door, "Now then, onto business!" The rest of the ponies watched as Alphabittle charged out of the door and into the distance, until he was soon out of sight. There were more sounds of a battle going on in the distance, Jasmine gulped her throat in fear of what was going on, but Haven wrapped a wing around her to try and keep her calm. "Now now little one, we have to keep strong, for their sake." Said the Queen reassuringly. "B-but your majesty... are you sure will they be okay?" Said Jasmine, who was very worried them. "Don't you worry Jasmine, they might be heading into danger, but they are brave ponies, they'll make it back, and hopefully with a clue as to what's going on too." Said Haven, who smiled reassuringly. Jasmine smiled back to the queen, but she was still worried about the ponies as she looked back at the open door, for she knew there were much worse things than simple drones out there in the forest waiting for them, she hoped deep down that they won't run into them in the pursuit. "Please be safe friends..." She said to herself silently. Meanwhile, Hitch was in hot pursuit of the target, he thought to himself how lucky he was to have caught sight of it as it was hovering near the upper windows of the Crystal Tea House, likely spying on the conversation going on between Queen Haven and her daughters. He had taken a mighty leap from the balcony of Jasmine's house to try and grab it in mid air, but unfortunately the drone seemed to have detected him at the last moment and moved just before his hooves could connect to it. Luckily he was able to grab onto a nearby overhang on the building, before jumping down to race after the drone itself before it could escape. "I ain't letting you escape this time, come back here!" Shouted Hitch. The drone that was ahead of him turned it's camera like eye back at him, letting off what looked like a glare before suddenly turning left and fleeing in another direction, but Hitch wasn't going to be deterred that easily, he made a sharp turn and kept on the drones tail. "Hah! That's not going to work you dumb drone, once I have my target set, I ain't stopping until I catch it!" Hitch declared as he began to catch up to it. The drone kept on making sharp turns to try to escape Hitch, but it was no use, Hitch was on it like a predator chasing after it's next meal. Still though, Hitch felt himself beginning to tire out from all the running and turning, for he hadn't fully recovered from the marathon he had done escaping from another group of drones earlier that day, and it seemed like the drone he was after now wasn't slowing down at all. "Hah hah... I gotta keep on going, but- hah... I can feel my breath getting shorter and my legs tiring out... Dang it!" Said Hitch in frustration. The drone took another sharp bend behind a tree, and Hitch was just about to make the same turn when he heard a loud shout from nearby. "There it is everypony! Catch it, don't let it get away!" Hitch stopped, he knew that voice anywhere, "Sunny, is that you??" Sure enough, he saw that Sunny was indeed present, along with the royal Pegasus sisters. "Hey there Hitch, we're here to help out!" Called Sunny with a wave. "Whoa heads up!" Called Pipp as she dived into Sunny, knocking her down. The drone had taken the chance at the distraction to open fire at the group of ponies, it narrowly missed hitting sunny, instead the laser blast hit the tree behind her, leaving a big burn hole inside of it. "Phew, that was way too close, we don't want ya getting toast do we Sunny?" Said Pipp who helped her back up. "No indeed, thank you for that Pipp-" "Sunny, Pipp, come on, it's getting away!" Shouted Zipp as she flew after the fleeing drone. "Shoot, we better get moving before it escapes." Said Sunny as she galloped after Zipp, followed behind by Pipp and Hitch. The drone was on the run again, flying away as fast as it could, but Zipp was clearly the faster of the two, and was easily catching up to it. The drone's eye looked behind it again to see that Zipp was within grabbing distance of it, letting off another glare, it suddenly aim it's laser cannon upwards and fired at some overhanging branches up ahead of it. "Whoa, look out!" Shouted Zipp as she dodged the falling debris, still keeping on target. The other ponies did their best to dodge too, but a large branch fell down on top of Hitch, stopping him in his tracks with a loud thud. "Ooof! Oww! Ooh that's gonna smart tomorrow." Hitch whined as he tried to get up. Sunny and Pipp saw what had happened, and turned around to try and move the branch off of him and help him up, Zipp had also stopped to see what had happened. "Hitch! Are you okay!?" Shouted Zipp, who was worried if he had been injured. "I'll be fine Zipp, don't worry about me! Just go, don't let that drone get away!" Hitch shouted at her. Zipp was conflicted by his order, but she grudgingly nodded at him in agreement, then with a burst of speed she dashed back after the drone in hot pursuit. She was right away back on track to capture the drone, who having noticed her chasing it once again, fired off more laser blasts at the branches above to try and lose her, but Zipp powered through the debris, determined to take the drone down before it could escape. After what seemed like long minutes of cat and mouse chasing, the drone turned sharply right and entered into a large clearing of the forest, a very familiar clearing at that. Zipp wasn't far behind as she flew into the same area, but as she lunged straight at the drone to try and grab it, it suddenly ducked right under her, nearly making her crash into a nearby big tree in the middle of the clearing. "W-whoa what the hay!?" She shouted as she just managed to land on the tree bark. Zipp looked behind her, but her face turned to horror as she saw that the drone was now aiming directly at her with it's laser cannon, luckily she managed to react quickly and dodged the initial blast as it scorched the tree's bark, but she had no time to rest as the drone now actively opened fire at her at every position she dashed to, determined to shoot her down. "Darn it, I had it in my sights, it was within my hooves, and now it's shooting at me!" Shouted Zipp as she continued to dodge the blasts. Zipp tried to find an opening to strike back, but the drone continued to open fire at her at every chance, leaving no chance for her to even think about it. However, the drone was so focused on trying to shoot down Zipp that both didn't notice that in the nearby in the shadows, another pony was taking aim with a large rock in it's magic. "Steady, steady, aim... Fire!" Came a loud shout from the shadows. The drone had detected the loud noise, but it was going too fast for it to stop in time to dodge a large rock that collided with it, sending it flying into a nearby tree trunk, crashing with a loud smack, leaving it a battered smoking heap. Zipp heard the commotion behind her, and stopped to see what was going on, and immediately spotted the broken down drone laying on the ground in front of the big tree it impacted, along with the rock nearby. "Whoa, the drone's been totally smashed up, but who did that?" Said Zipp looking around. "It was me!" Said a voice form the shadows nearby who then trotted forward into the light, it was none other than Izzy Moonbow. "Izzy! Was that you who shot down that drone using that rock over there!?" Asked Zipp. "Yup, that was me, I ran off ahead when I saw you and everypony else chasing after it, then I wound up getting lost and soon wondered into the clearing, that's when I spotted it trying to shoot you down, so I took that rock in my magic, waited until it was in my sights, and then let it fly like a slingshot, and I scored a bullseye!" Said Izzy, hopping in place excitedly. "That was so sick Izz, you took that drone down in one shot, and none too soon, it was doing some serious damage around here." Said Zipp, noticing all the damage it had done to the trees. "Oh yeah for sure, the last thing we want is a forest fire starting around here, they can be very nasty and dangerous, and to us Unicorns in Bridlewood, it's seen as a bad omen." Said Izzy ominously. "Wait really? That's news to me." Said Zipp who landed next to her. "Yeah, but luckily it hasn't happened for about two hundred years now according to Elder Flower, so we should be in the clear of any omens happening anytime soon." Said Izzy with a reassuring smile. Zipp smiled back, then turned around to examine the drone wreckage behind her. She had nearly forgotten about her Rad-Visor on top of her head that she brought with her after they learned that Hitch was chasing after one of the drones. After inspecting the visor in case it got damaged from the chasing and debris, she now she pulled it down over her eyes and got ready to examine the wreckage in detail. "Now let's see what makes this robot tick." Said Zipp with a smirk as she activated the visor and got to work. Izzy meanwhile spotted the rest of the gang looking around for them in the forest, she gave out a whistle and waved to them to signal to come here However as they approached, she became concerned when she noticed Sunny and Pipp carrying Hitch with them together with an improvised bandage on his upper shoulder, that meant he had been injured which made her concerned. "Oh my gosh, Hitch! Are you okay!?" Exclaimed Izzy who galloped over to him. "Hey Izz... ughh I'll be okay, that drone took a good shot and made a large branch fall on top of me, luckily nothing is broken, but it looks like I'll be bruising for a few days." Said Hitch as he rubbed his injured shoulder. "It's lucky that Hitch here is built like a brick, otherwise he might've been in a much worse state than he is currently." Said Sunny, helping him to sit down on a nearby stump. "I can't believe how much hassle it's been dealing with all these drones, even just one on it's own is a significant threat with all the damage that it has doing to the forest, and my mane... UGGHH, all these leaves and debris just won't leave me alone today!" Whined Pipp, looking at herself in the phone mirror. "Well, I'm glad that you are all safe, and you don't need to worry about the drone anymore, I shot it down with a bullseye, and Zipp is examining it right now." Said Izzy, nudging her head at the scene behind her. The group all looked at her wide eyed, then looked at Zipp who was busying using her visor to examine the drone wreckage. They then made their way over to her to see what she had discovered, Hitch being the most eager as he half galloped over, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder, to see what she had found. "So this is the drone that was spying on us, it's certainly a lot different from others I've seen at Zephyr Heights." Said Pipp, using her phone to take pictures of it. "Indeed sis, this drone is not only bigger than the others, it's also armour plated in solid steel, not hard plastic." Said Zipp, who hit her hoof against the wreckage, making a distant clanging sound. "Whoa, and there is this thing it's been using to attack us, I'm right in guessing that this is a weapon that shoots lasers?" Said Sunny, gently nudging the cannon laying on the ground. "Oh yeah, this is the real deal Sunny, I mean we saw what kind of damage it could do earlier when we were chased by a whole swarm of these things, and this lone one." Said Zipp, who gently picked it up to scan it. "Hmm, but who could've made this, and where did they get such weapons from in the first place?" Said Pipp openly. "I don't know, but I think it's so cool how it can shoot such deadly rays of light that can ZIPP, and BLAM, just like that!" Said Izzy who had snatched the weapon away to examine it, much to Zipp's bemusement. "Hmm, what do you think Hitch, do you have any ideas?" Asked Sunny. Hitch had been busy looking over the wreckage very carefully, there wasn't anything on the drone that seemed to identify a manufacturer or whoever made it like a label or indented name, in fact the only thing that did stood out was a logo on the body top, it looked like a cog with a lightning bolt running through it horizontally, Hitch had never seen a logo like that before, he wondered what that could mean. "Hmm, I wonder what this logo here could mean- But, before he could finish, there came a loud bang from behind the group, before they had a chance to turn around to see what it was, there was an explosion right where the wreckage was, sending them all reeling away in fright. "AAAIIIIEEEEE!" Shouted Sunny, Pipp and Izzy. Luckily Zipp managed to recover quickly and moved to check if the others were okay. "Is everypony okay!?" Shouted Zipp in concern. Sunny and Pipp seemed to be okay, but both of their coats were covered in dirt, and Pipp's phone had been broken by the blast, much to her exasperation. Izzy was laying on the ground with her head down in the ground, but she seemed to be fine with no visible injuries. However, Hitch seemed to have taken the full hit of the explosion, his coat and face was covered in soot, and he struggled to get back up on his hooves. "Hitch, are you okay?" Said Zipp, looking worried at him. Hitch groaned as he tried to stand back up, but his shoulder still hurt, making it difficult for him to do so. "Ugghh, I'll live don't worry Zipp, but what happened?" Asked Hitch, still dazed from the explosion. "There was an explosion just now, and the drone you took down is now pretty much wrecked beyond recognition, there's nothing we can learn from it now." Said Zipp, dusting the dirt off her body. "Darn it, I thought we'd finally had a lead for this case, now what do we do..." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Umm pony's... I think we've got company!" Said Sunny in fright. The group all looked in Sunny's direction, and right there was the unmistakable silhouette of a pony in the shadow of the trees, only with a single glowing red eye on it's head, and it's hoof like weapon aimed straight at them. "Look out, it's gonna attack!" Shouted Sunny. The pony like figure opened fire, shooting a large laser blast straight at the group, but luckily they all managed to dodge out of the way just in time, as the blast hit the tree behind them, blowing it to pieces. "What in the hay, what is the meaning of this!? Show yourself you villain!" Shouted Pipp. The pony like figure soon started to trot towards them, making loud metal stomping noises as it did so. As it stepped out into the fading evening light of the sun, the pony's all looked on in shock, there right there, with it's unmistakable robotic appearance, was one of the robot ponies that Jasmine had spoken of to them. The robot pony was easily as big as Alphabittle himself, it's steel body largely coloured carbon black, though some parts of it like it's re-breather like muzzle and limbs were coloured in a dull silver instead, it had no tail other than a stump like part on it's rear, and on top of it's head, was another logo just like on the drone, a cog with a lightning bolt through the middle horizontally. "So, this is one of the robot ponies that Jasmine warned us about, huh, it's a little bigger than I was expecting." Said Zipp, who had hunched herself into a fighting pose. "I don't know if we are lucky to have found one, or unlucky to have run into it." Said Sunny wearily. "I think that it looks pretty awesome to me, you know, if it wasn't trying to kill us." Said Izzy innocently. "W-what do we do now? Should we try to escape or something!?" Said Pipp, who was trying to get her busted phone working, to no avail. The robot pony then aimed it's weapon and opened fire again, nearly hitting Hitch who just barely jumped out of the way. "I don't think it's gonna give us a chance to leave, not without a fight." Said Hitch, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. The sheriff was about to get into a fighting pose, when he was stopped by a flick of a wing from Zipp. "You're right Hitch, but I think your better off hanging back this time, you're injured after all, and the last thing we want is for you to get captured, or worse." Said Zipp, lowering her visor over her face. "Huh!? But what about you girls!? What if you can't beat it-" "I agree, you need to rest Hitch, leave this robot pony to us." Said Sunny, putting on her roller blading helmet. "Zipp is right Hitch, you need to hang back this time, we'll take care of this bucket of bolts no problem." Said Pipp, who looked at the robot, smacking her front hooves together, "Plus, no dumb robot breaks my phone, and gets away with it!" "Good thing I always come prepared for a battle." Said Izzy who had also put on her helmet, along with painting camo marks along her cheeks, to Hitch's confusion. "Ready everypony? Attack!" Yelled Sunny as she galloped forward. Hitch looked on as the rest of the Mane Five charged straight at the robot, who responded by firing off more laser blasts towards them in rapid succession. However, little did the ponies know was that the robot pony was not alone in the forest, for other robots had detected the commotion that was going on, and were now closing in on their position fast. This battle would soon turn into a big fight for their lives. Author's Note [EDIT: This chapter has received a bit of a rewrite, I felt the last part of this story with the explosion ended up being a little too violent for the current rating, so i've toned it down and edited it out and replaced it with a new scene. I hope that it still helps sell the danger that I was conveying with the robot pony.] Here we are folks, I said last time that we are starting to get into the meat of the story now, and now we have our first big fight happening! This is something I've been itching to get into ever since I first started planning out the story late last year, from now on expect more excitement as revelations get revealed, bodies get bruised, and the plot moving faster, as we start to head towards the climax of Act 2, trust me when I say that things are only going to get bigger and more dramatic from here on out!
Act 2 - Chapter 4Not far away from the scene of the ongoing battle between the Mane Five and the robots, the Unicorn leader Alphabittle was racing through the trees of Bridlewood forest as fast as he could, hoping that he will be able to catch up to them and hopefully help them out. He believed that he was on the right track having seen the dense track of hooves on the dirt path ahead of him, not to mention the telltale signs of a fight that had been happening along the way. What with all the broken branches and twigs lying around, and the burn marks left behind on the tree barks, there was no doubt about it that their adversary was wielding weapons of such power at their disposal. "I hope I can get there before it's too late, I fear that the ponies might be a little in over their heads if our foe has an army of these things at their disposal." Alphabittle said to himself as he carried on running. As Alphabittle continued running faster and faster to try and catch up to the gang, he soon began to hear loud distinct noises not far away, along with screams and yells, almost like battle cries. Alphabittle stopped in his tracks and adjusted the ears on his head, trying to listen into the noises and locate where they were coming from. "Hmm... It sounds like they are coming from, that way!" He shouted as he pointed the direction out with his hoof. He then took off in a gallop towards the source of the noises up ahead, which he faintly remembered was in the direction of a large clearing in Bridlewood, where a large mystical tree stood tall above all others, one that brought back memories for Alphabittle, sad deep memories that were personal to him. The old Unicorn shook his head, burying his feelings deep down while keeping focused the matter at hoof, galloping down the path, until at last he reached edge of the clearing, just as one of the flying drones crashed right in front of him. "W-w-whoa, what the hay, what is this!?" Alphabittle half shouted out as he looked at the wreckage. "Heads up everypony! There's more coming in from behind us!" Came a loud voice from nearby. Alphabittle eyes went wide as he looked towards the direction of the voice, "This is it, they must be close by here." Sure enough, there they were, Izzy and all her friends spread throughout the clearing, heavily engaged in a fight with all the robots that were around them. Izzy was busy levitating various boulders to protect herself from their attacks, while Pipp and Zipp, the latter having lost her visor which lay on the ground, were taking advantage of their wings to dodge their laser fire to take them down one by one with either rocks, or their own strength. As for Sunny, she was squaring off against the lone robot pony that was aiming straight at her with its blaster, she was able to dodge its attacks, but only barely, and she couldn't seem to be able to get close enough to attack it directly. "Well now, looks like I'm late to this party, but they seem to have it under control at the moment." Alphabittle said to himself, then he noticed that somepony was missing from the action, "Hang on a minute, where's Hitch?" Alphabittle looked over by the big tree near the middle of the clearing and saw Hitch laying there, he seemed to be in pain from an injury of some kind as he was clutching his left side with his hoof. He was also trying to apply some band-aid that he had taken out of his satchel, but he was so caught up in it that he didn't seem to notice that one of the drones nearby was quietly taking aim at him, to Alphabittle's alarm. "He'll be blasted for sure if he doesn't move!" Alphabittle said as he suddenly galloped towards him. "Augh, blasted graze, I hope this bandage will help out." Whined Hitch as he applied the band-aid to the cut on his left side. Just as he had finished doing so, he heard the familiar whir of a laser cannon charging near him, he looked behind him just in time to see a drone about to fire at him directly. "Nooo!" Shouted Hitch as he covered his face to brace himself. He then heard the loud sound of what sounded like the drone being impaled on something, before it was sent flying to the ground, exploding to pieces. He slowly moved his hooves away from his face to see what was going on, and saw the familiar silhouette of Alphabittle, standing right in front of him. "Hey there sheriff, how are you holding up?" Said Alphabittle, looking at him concerned. Hitch, realizing he was safe for now, let out a deep sigh of relief, "Yeah... I've been better, just dealing with some injuries to my shoulder and side at the moment." Alphabittle looked over at Hitch, he clearly had been run rough in his chase of the drone, and he wasn't in any shape at all to take part in the fight. "They aren't serious injuries luckily, so I should be fine after a bit of a rest." Said Hitch. "I understand sheriff, and I take it that you are in no condition to join in the fight against those robots?" Asked Alphabittle, gesturing his head to the ongoing battle. Hitch just shook his head, "I hate to admit it, but I'm in no shape to fight right now, I'll just get hurt even more than I already am, and get in the way of everypony else too." Alphabittle nodded his head, then turned to look at the battle going on, "You stay here and get some rest then, I'll take it over from here." "Please be careful, Alphabittle, these bots mean business." Said Hitch with concern. Alphabittle just laughed, "Hahaha, it's the robots who need to be careful, they've messed with the wrong ponies this time around!" Sunny and the robot pony were still engaged in combat, she had managed to tank a hit from it's blaster with her helmet, and then charged forward to headbutt it as hard as she could under it's chin. The attack managed to daze the robot for a bit, making it back away, but at the cost of making Sunny's helmet crack as some bits fell off. "How's that, you tin pot!?" Shouted Sunny, showing a rare level of aggression. The robot pony jumped back and fired at her again, Sunny managed to dodge the attack, but she caught her hoof onto a stray branch laying on the ground, causing her to lose her balance, she fell to the ground and landing on her jaw with a hard thud. "Owww, ooof that's gonna smart." Sunny grunted in pain. But before she had time to recover, the robot had closed the distance to her, and was just about to blast her at point-blank range, when a thundering of hooves came from behind it. "Hooves off that young mare, you metal headed bully!" Shouted Alphabittle. "W-w-what in the hay!?" Shouted Sunny in surprise, as she tried to look up. Before the robot could see what was going on, Alphabittle lowered his head, and using his sheer strength, smashed right into it's side, sending it crashing a few feet away, landing in disarray. Alphabittle let out a huff, then turned to look at Sunny on the ground. "Sorry I'm late Sunny, are you okay?" Asked Alphabittle, who helped her up. "Thank you Alphabittle, and i'm alright, but there seems to be no end of all these drones coming out from the thicket, and this robot pony has proved to be stronger than it looks." Said Sunny, rubbing her jaw with her hoof. "Then it looks like I got here just in time, now we can deal with them full force." Said Alphabittle. The two ponies then looked on at the robot pony, which was getting back to its hooves, showing minor dents on its metal body, and a noticeable crack on its glowing core. The pony looked over to them, and with a bright glow of it's single eye, once again aimed it's weapon at them. "We need to take this thing down quick before it harms anypony else!" Shouted Sunny, getting ready to charge again. "Leave this one to me, I'll take it down, you go help everypony else!" Said Alphabittle, staring down at the robot pony. The robot pony then opened fire, shooting a rapid blast of three laser shots at the two ponies. "Look out!" Shouted Sunny as moved to dodge the attacks. Alphabittle however ignored the attack and began charging straight towards the robot pony, which kept on firing at him, but none of it's attacks hit him. Just as it was about to step back to potentially retreat Alphabittle lowered his head and rammed his horn straight into the robot's glowing core, causing it to cease attacking. "Haha, take that!" Yelled Alphabittle, hoisting it up into the air and throwing it to the ground, "You're scrap metal now!" The robot sparked up more before blowing itself up in an explosion, leaving debris all over the place, but luckily nopony was near it. Dusting off his coat, Alphabittle looked on at the other ponies who were still engaged in fighting off the other drones, despite being outnumbered by a large margin, they were getting the upper hoof in the fight. "Hey Pipp, heads up!" Shouted Zipp as she launched a rock she had picked up straight at the drone chasing after Pipp, smashing it to pieces. "Nice shot Zipp, but there are still more coming at us!" Pipp shouted back. Another drone was about to take a shot at her, when Alphabittle leaped up and stabbed it with his horn. "Yeaarrgghhh!" He shouted, as he throw the drone into a nearby tree, destroying it. "Whoa, Alphabittle! I didn't know you showed up." Said Zipp in surprise. "Hahaha, i'd never miss this, not when my fellow Unicorns are in danger!" Said Alphabittle. "Aww hay yeah, now we can finish these tin cans off in style!" Said Pipp. "Yeah, these meany drones keep on shooting at me, they aren't playing nice at all." Said Izzy, still levitating rocks to protect herself. "Let's all work together to finish them off, then we can start getting to the bottom of this whole case." Said Zipp, charging at another group of drones. "I agree, let's do it!" Said Alphabittle, following her. The fight continued on, with Sunny now joining in with her friends and Alphabittle in fending off the drones, the drones seemed to have been getting desperate as they were now actively trying to dodge their attacks. "Keep it up everypony, we've got them on the ropes now!" Shouted Sunny. "I so need to post a story about this on my social media." Said Pipp, pulling out a spare phone she had on her to do just that. Zipp was unamused by the display, "Seriously Pipp? There's no time to be making Clip Trots about this fight-" "Look out Pipp!" Shouted Izzy in a panic. Pipp looked around just in time to see a drone shoot a large branch above her head, making it smack into her as she was flying under it, causing her to crash into a heap onto the ground under a pile of debris. "Pipp!" Panicked Zipp, diving down to the ground to see if her sister was okay. Before she could do anything, the same drone that fired at the tree branch fired another blast straight at her, Zipp just barely managed to dodge it, the laser blast grazing across her cheek, leaving a small cut across it, zipp, now enraged, glared over at the culprit. "Y-you, you utter hunk of horse apples!" Zipp shouted out. Before the drone could fire again, in a blink of an eye, Zipp quickly jumped up and with a might flap of her wings, zoomed straight towards it, smashing it into two halves with her sheer strength alone. "Hah, not so tough now are you, are you!?" Said Zipp, feeling satisfaction over that display. With that taken care off, Zipp then turned her attention to helping out her sister from under the heap of debris, but before she could even take a step forward, there was a deep growl of anger that slowly rang throughout the clearing, and with a might heave, Pipp got straight up from under the heap, shaking away all the dirt and debris from her mane and coat, she then let out deep angry huffs, her eyes burning with pure princess rage as she held up her now broken spare phone. "Uhhh, Pipp, are you okay?" Asked Zipp with a raised eyebrow. "NO, I, AM, NOT, OKAY!!! I have had it up to here with these haying annoying drones messing up my mane, my phones, and my friends too!" Shouted Pipp, steam venting out of her nostrils. Zipp could only watch in surprise as Pipp let out what could only be described as a primal Pegasus scream, then she rushed to pick up a nearby boulder and began flying around at fast speeds, chasing after all of the drones around the clearing, smashing them up one after the other, over and over again, much to her friends amazement. At last, only one was left, which seemed to have realized the danger it was in and was trying to flee, but Pipp was not having it, she chased it down relentlessly, giving it no chance to escape into the thicket of the woods around them, then as soon as she saw an opening appear, she proceeded to throw the boulder with all her strength and momentum, and managed to score a direct hit, causing the drone to explode into bits and pieces. Having accomplished her vengeance against the robots, Pipp landed on the ground nearby, she was short of breath, and her legs and wings hurt from all the strain she had put them under, but she was so full of bravado from her actions that she barely felt it. "Hah, hah, haha, HA HAHAHAHA!!! Oh yeah, how do you like them feathers!? Nopony or robot ever, and I meant ever messes with me, and gets away with it! Aww yeah, who's the top mare around here? Uh huh, oh yeah, you go pony, go go, uh huh!" Boasted Pipp, celebrating in the air with some dances. "Haha, i'll say, i've never seen you that angry before sis, nor have I ever seen you move that fast either, you really showed those drones whose the boss." Said Zipp, flying over to check on her. "Heh heh, well, I can sometimes push it to the limit if such a situation calls for it, even if i'm not as fast as you are Zipp." Said Pipp, posing proudly. "I mean, you could be as fast as me sis, if you know you stopped lounging around and eating junk most of the time." Said Zipp pointedly. Upon hearing that, Pipp felt insulted and got right up in her sisters face, "Hey! Are you calling me what I think you've calling me, Zipp!?" "No Pipp, I haven't said that bad word." Said Zipp with a smirk. "Bad word!? Zipp, don't go around saying naughty stuff like that!" Said a voice from behind her. "Augh ffff- Izzy! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Shouted Zipp in suprise, nearly letting out one such bad word. "Hehehe, sorry about that, but are you girls okay?." Asked Izzy, who was joined by Sunny, Alphabittle and Hitch not far behind. "Yeah we're totally okay, that was some battle though." Said Pipp, wiping the sweat off her brow. The ponies looked all around them, the clearing was a mess of broken down drones and debris, they had indeed managed to win this fight, one that proved more thrilling, and more dangerous than they had expected, and not without some injuries too, with Sunny putting a bandage under her jaw which still hurt from her fall earlier, Hitch still rubbing his hurt shoulder and injured side, Zipp dealing with the laser cut on her cheek that she reluctantly plastered up, and Pipp starting to feel the effects of her actions just now with her joints aching. To make matters more pressing, the weather had started to change during the right, and now it was starting to rain, the small droplets falling from the now darkened cloudy sky hitting the ground firmly. "Phew, I have to say that battle was a little too close for my liking." Said Sunny, taking off her helmet to inspect the damage. "I'll say, if I hadn't got here on time, you ponies would've been in a world of hurt." Said Alphabittle. "Yeah, and you totally smashed those mean old robots to pieces Alphabittle, they never stood a chance against you." Said Izzy smiling. "Hahaha, well you know, nopony ever messes with the Unicorns under my watch, and i'm not letting whoever is behind these robots get away with this, not anymore." Said Alphabittle proudly. As the rest of the ponies cheered on Alphabittle, Zipp suddenly remembered something that she and the rest of the gang discussed back at the Crystal Tea House, they needed to recover one of the drones so that they could study it. "Ah shoot I completely forgot, we should look around to see if we can find one of the drones still intact, then hopefully we can get a clue as to who's been sending them after us, and from there find a lead to where the missing Unicorns are hiding." Said Zipp, looking around the clearing. "No need to worry about that Zipp, I found one already." Said Hitch from behind them, dragging one of the busted drones from the fight, which was still largely intact, only missing one of it's hover units and some dents. "Oh nice going there Hitch, how are you feeling anyway?" Asked Sunny. "Honestly, i'm feeling rough and worn down, but I should be better after i've had a good nights rest." Said Hitch, rubbing his shoulder again. "Haha, you chased that drone down like a tiger hunting it's prey sheriff, but I think next time you should be more careful and vigilant about what you get yourself into, less you get hurt again." Said Zipp, trotting over to check the drone. "Heh, well you know how headstrong I can get, especially when it comes to protecting my friends and residents in a town." Said Hitch with a chuckle. "Ah I know, we should have Elder Flower take a look at you Hitch, she knows a lot of treatments to help ponies feel better, she should be able to help you out when we get back to Bridlewood village." Said Alphabittle. "Elder Flower? I don't think we've met her before." Said Sunny. "Oh Elder Flower is our resident knowledge keeper, she knows a lot about old Unicorn history, remedies to help us feel better, every path in the Bridlewood Forest, and just about anything else Unicorn related. If there is anything you need to know about Unicorn history, Elder Flower's the one who'll likely know it." Said Izzy glowingly. Sunny's eyes were full of stars, she no doubt was very much in fangirl mode for learning about it, for her, the chance to learn more about Unicorn history was far too tempting to pass up. "Ohhh that is so cool! I'd love to meet her and learn more about Unicorns from her!" Said Sunny, squeeing hard. "Hahaha, I had a feeling you would be interested in that Sunny, well then, what are we waiting around here for? We should head back to the village, it's starting to rain." Said Alphabittle, turning to begin making his way back to Bridlewood. "Wait a minute ponies, what about this robot over here?" Called Zipp. The ponies looked over to where she was, she was next to the robot pony that Alphabittle had defeated, despite exploding earlier and the damage inflicted upon it, there was still enough of it left for to be studied. "Oh that's right, the robot pony, we'll definitely need to give this thing a good look over, I mean just look at it, we certainly don't have anything like this over at Zephyr Heights." Said Pipp. "I can carry this hunk of junk on my back, but we better make a move on now, no telling if there are more of those things out there in the woods." Said Alphabittle, picking up the wrecked robot pony, then placing it onto his back. "Not to mention the Metal Monster that eats Unicorns lurking out there! Ohhh i'd hate to run into it!" Said Izzy, looking around wildly in a panic. "Alright alright, everypony, let's move on out of here, the rains starting to get heavy." Said Sunny, leading head of the group back towards Bridlewood. The rest of the group followed on behind her, leaving behind all of the destruction that they had wrought onto the robots that had ambushed them, left to rust in the drizzle of the rainfall. However, watching them not far away were a group of robots, they seemed to have been waiting to join in the battle, but they had chosen not to do so. Soon a nearby drone hovered near them, issuing them new orders from their leader. "Let them go for now, this turn of events is unfortunate, retreat back to base until further notice." The robots obeyed the orders, then retreated into the darkness of the forest out of sight, it would seem that the Mane Five have scored their first victory against their unknown enemy, and now seemed to be on the right track to learning about who they are, and what they are after. Still, the battle may be over, but the case wasn't over yet, not until they finally find out where the missing Unicorns were and rescue them, and bring the criminal behind all of this to justice. However, little did they know is that they were not the only ones fighting the robots at this very moment. Meanwhile, far away from Bridlewood, back in the town of Maretime Bay, the residents had began to settle down for the night, the stalls along the promenade were all locked up and ready for tomorrow, the local shops were closed, restocked and ready for another busy day tomorrow. The rain from earlier had began to fall heavier now, some ponies were running around trying to get home before they got too wet, others though seemed to enjoy the weather, finding it more relaxing and peaceful, from splashing about in the puddles to walking along the promenade with their raincoats on, the sound of the raindrops providing a sense of bliss for them. It was at this moment that two ponies in particular were out and about in the wet, hurrying around the streets and looking around franticly, as if they were looking for somepony, or something, their raincoat and umbrella becoming soaked with raindrops. "Have you had any luck yet, Rocky?" "No luck I'm afraid Jazzy, they weren't at the Brighthouse as you thought, it doesn't look like they've come home since they left this morning. How about you, have you had any better luck than me?" "I've checked out all the other places they could've been at, the theatre, the promenade, even the old street corner, but there's not a hint of them anywhere." "I'm starting to get worried, I hope nothing bad has happened to them..." It was Rocky Riff and Jazz Hooves, Pipp Petals fellow co-workers at the Mane Melody saloon, they had been working hard all day due to Pipp's absence in joining the rest of the Mane Five on the journey towards Bridlewood, but now, after having not heard anything from her or her friends all day through social media or calls, and with no sign of them coming home at all, they had both grown very worried about them. "This is turning into a right load of horse apples, where the hay could they be!?" Jazz said in frustration. "Easy on the language there Jazzy, I'm sure they're okay, they are tough group of ponies." Said Rocky, trying to calm her down. Jazz took a deep huff, then calmly shook her head, "Sorry about that Rocky, but I haven't gotten any texts back from Pipp for hours now, and she won't answer my calls either, the last thing I heard about her was that post she made on her social account this morning, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all this." "I'm feeling the same way, I mean, you have been hearing about the talk going around town and on social media today haven't you?" Asked Rocky. "You mean of all the Unicorns that have been disappearing? Well, now that you mention it, i've heard on my social channels today that apparently it's also been happening over at Bridlewood as well, but on a bigger scale, they say that over fifteen of them have gone missing over there, and nopony knows why." Said Jazz, flipping her phone out to check for any new messages. "W-w-what, over fifteen Unicorns you say!? But that's insane, why would that many Unicorns simply vanish, it doesn't make any sense..." Said Rocky, thinking to himself. The two of them stood around for a minute or two trying to figure out what was going on, until a distant rumbling of thunder in the skies above spooked the two of them out of their thoughts. "I think it'd be wise if we both get out of the wet, is there anywhere we haven't checked yet?" Asked Rocky. "Hmm... oh I know, how about the police station? If there is one thing I do know, is that Hitch always leaves a note behind if he is to be out of town for a day." Said Jazz. "Sounds good to me, let's gallop over there right away." Said Rocky. The two ponies then galloped over to the police station along the downtown area, but by the time they got there, they found that the police station was closed, and it didn't seem to have been opened all day. "Ah shoot, I should've known that Hitch would lock the place up before leaving with the group, now there is no way we could get in there, not without setting off the alarms." Said Jazz, looking down in disappointment. "Yeah... and the last thing I want to do is to break one of his many bylaws trying to get in, that pony can sometimes be a right pain in the flank about it." Rocky deadpanned. "Hmm... I guess we'll have to keep looking elsewhere, it's starting to get late, and I really don't want to be out in this rain any longer than necessary." Said Jazz, turning around and walking off. Rocky was just about to join her when his ears picked up a noise from not far away, he looked behind him and noticed a moving light in one of the station windows. He crept over to get a close look, but the light seemed to have vanished, though the noise was still happening, quiet as it was. "Something wrong Rocky?" Asked Jazz, looking behind her. Rocky looked back at her, "No nothings wrong, I just thought I heard a noise just now, it came from inside the station, and I also saw what looked like a weird light of some kind." "Really? Hmm it might've been one of the animals that like to follow Hitch around, perhaps one of them is on guard duty and knocked something over by mistake." Said Jazz. "True, but what about the weird light I just saw?" He asked. "That could've been one of the alarm lights flickering, or maybe one of the computer screens turning on briefly, at a glance any of them could be weird to see." Jazz answered. Rocky was thinking of agreeing with her, until there was another noise from inside the station, this time Jazz heard it too. "There it is again, another noise, and that didn't sound like an animal to me." Said Rocky. "I heard that too, I think we should check out the station and see if anything is going on." Said Jazz, moving to the door and checking it. "But how will we get in there without setting off the alarms?" Asked Rocky. He didn't have to wait for an answer to that, as soon as Jazz poked the door with her hoof, it creaked open by itself. "Huh? That's weird, Hitch always keeps this place locked up tight while he's away, so why is the front door unlocked?" Said Jazz, suspicious about the circumstances. Rocky however noticed the burn marks around the door lock, then saw that the lock itself had been cut through cleanly, and pretty recently too. "Hey check that out, the door lock, it's been cut clean through." Said Rocky, pointing it out. Jazz looked at the broken lock beside her, "Oh your right, but what could've done that-" Jazz was interrupted when another noise came about from inside the station, it sounded like something heavy fell onto the floor, Rocky then gestured for the two of them to walk inside quietly so as to not disturb whatever it was making that noise to which she agreed with silently. The two of them stepped inside and looked around quietly, the lights were switched off, and there didn't seemed to be any sigh of any other pony in the place at all, until Jazz caught sight of something lurking on Hitch's desk staring up at his computer, it looked to be another drone of some kind, but it was insect like in appearance with it's six metal legs and a single glowing eye on it's front. Jazz was quietly trying to get closer to it so that she could see what it was up to, when Rocky called out from across the room. "I'm gonna get the lights quick, it's too dark in here." Said Rocky across the room, flicking the light switch on. Jazz went wide eyed and turned to stop him, "No no no wait DON-" It was too late, the sudden light up of the room spooked the drone badly, it jumped from the table and scuttled off past the two ponies, and out into the rainy night. "W-whoa, what the hay was that thing that just scuttled on past by!?" Said Rocky in surprise. "Ugh, now you've done it, that thing was some kind of drone, it was looking up something on the sheriffs computer, and you just had to scare it off by turning on the lights!" Jazz said crossly. "Oh shoot, sorry about that Jazzy... I was being super careless right there." Said Rocky, rubbing the back of his head. Jazz rolled her eyes, but she couldn't be too cross with him for long, "No worries Rocky, now come on, that drone was up to something on the sheriffs computer, let's check it out." The two ponies trotted on over to the desk and looked at the computer screen, they saw that various files had been left open, most of them were related to the now defunct Canterlogic company, including numerous ponies living in Maretime Bay who had worked for the company in the past. "Hey, I recognize a few of the ponies in those files." Said Rocky, looking at the pictures. "So do I, there's Toots and his partner in crime Sweets, Sparkle Chaser, and of course Phyllis Cloverleaf, the founder and former head of Canterlogic herself, and her son Sprout the former deputy." Said Jazz. "Hmmm, but why would that drone be looking through these files, what could it want with them?" Asked Rocky. "I don't know, your guess is as good as mine." Said Jazz. The two of them looked over the open files again, until one file in particular catches Jazz's attention, she moved the mouse cursor over and clicked on it, bringing up a picture of an older, familiar looking Earth Pony with an absinthe green coat and platinum hair, along with all the information known about him. "Huh, so this is the scientist who got fired from Canterlogic around a year ago, Dr Wormwood." Said Jazz. "I've never heard of him before, who is he, and how did he get fired?" Asked Rocky. "Well, from what I know of from the news, and the word of mouth going around at the time, he was fired by Phyllis for harboring sympathy towards Unicorns, at a time when us Earth Ponies still held them in suspicion and fear. It was a pretty big deal at the time because he was the pony in charge of R&D at Canterlogic, and one of their founders as well if you can believe it." Jazz explained to Rocky. "I can believe that, still though that's crazy, how could they have fired him over that, especially now with the Pony tribes starting to hang out each other again." Said Rocky. "I wouldn't know honestly, after that happened security became much stricter over at Canterlogic, and any questions asked about what was going on were pretty much brushed aside or outright ignored. As for Wormwood himself, he pretty much disappeared from the limelight, he very rarely made any appearances if at all around Maretime Bay again, I mean hay, even with the recent reunification of the Pony tribes, there still hasn't been any hint or hair of him anywhere at all." Jazz explained. "Hmm, I find that kinda strange to me, first with Canterlogic being oddly secretive about him being fired other than what was said publicly, and then this Dr Wormwood character being absent from the unification, you'd think he'd be all over that given his supposed 'sympathy' towards Unicorns." Said Rocky, pondering to himself. "Yeah it is rather perplexing I have to admit, although... Well, I did know of another rumor that was also going around too, but that one died pretty fast since most ponies didn't even believe it." Said Jazz. "Really, what kind of rumor was it?" Asked Rocky. Jazz looked around her, then gestured for Rocky to come closer, to which he did so, then she lifted a hoof up to her face and spoke up. "The other rumor I heard about on the street was that Wormwood had been working on some kind of machine that was powered by magic itself, the belief he had was that if magic did return to Equestria someday, it could be used as an energy source to power all everyday life, we wouldn't have to rely on mundane fuel sources to power our needs anymore, magic could do all of that for us without any waste at all." Jazz whispered to him. "Wow really, that sounds kinda cool to me, and it makes sense as well, I mean with magic anything can be possible, even haircuts, make up and beauty treatments." Said Rocky, thinking it over in his head. However, as he thought about it more, he suddenly started to connect some of the dots in his head, then turned to Jazz wide eyed, "Wait a minute, are you saying that..." Jazz nodded her head, "Mhm, apparently Phyllis saw the machine and it's purpose as either too expensive for her company to manufacture, or perhaps, that it was too dangerous to be used at all, since for all we know, magic can be useful and helpful, but... it can also be powerful, and destructive in the wrong hooves, as the old stories from Equestria's past tell us." "If that is true, then what became of that machine, if it was real to begin with?" Asked Rocky, now very curious. Jazz just shock her head, "I'm afraid that's where the rumor ends, nopony knows the full story about it, nopony except Phyllis and Wormwood, and I highly doubt the both of them will want to talk about it to everypony else, even with Canterlogic now shut down." Rocky let out a sigh, but he was also rather deep in thought about the whole revelation, but he couldn't figure out how it was all connected. "Ugghh, I'm trying to think how all of this fits together, but it just isn't working out in my head." Rocky grunted in frustration. "What isn't working out, what are you talking about?" Asked Jazz with a raised eyebrow. "All that we've just talked about Jazzy, the mysterious scientist who was fired from Canterlogic for unclear reasons, the conspiracy surrounding the machine he may have invented, and the drone we saw a few minutes ago looking up all the ponies that worked for the company, but the problem is how does it all fit together?" Rocky explained. "Hmm, that is true, none of those things you mentioned seem to click at all, unless... Unless we're missing something here." Said Jazz. The two ponies sat on their haunches, thinking about all the information they've just talked about, trying to put all the pieces together, doing so may help them understand the bigger picture that was going on behind the scenes. Minutes seemed to pass, until all of a sudden, Jazz leaped up onto her hooves, it looked like she had just had a stroke of genius. "Oh my gosh, that's it! That's gotta be it! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier!" She shouted out loud. "Whoa whoa Jazz, have you thought of something?" Asked Rocky sitting up. "Rocky, what if we were to consider the events that have been going on around here as well, you know, the Unicorns that have been vanishing around Maretime Bay and Bridlewood, along with that drone we just saw hacking the computer systems, suddenly everything is starting to make sense to me!" Said Jazz excitedly. "Huh, umm you might want to explain it clearer to me Jazz, what do you mean?" Said Rocky, trying to process it all in his head. Jazz went up close to him and spoke slower, "I mean it like this Rocky, the missing Unicorns, Canterlogic, the drones, the mystery surrounding Phyllis and the scientist she fired, and the rumoured machine said scientist was working on to harness the power of magic, if you add all of them together like they were all linked... Do you see what I am getting at?" Rocky seemed to catch on to what she was talking about, suddenly everything was starting to fall into place, but... It was also leading them both down a dark path, and the questions found along there were rather terrifying to think about, including one that both of them were thinking about out loud. "Well Rocky, are you thinking what i'm thinking?" Asked Jazz. "Jazz, you are not suggesting that... That the Unicorns are vanishing not because of a random ponynapping case going on, but because they are... um I mean, they are being used for-" They were interrupted by a loud noise coming from nearby, the two of them turned around and saw the same insect like drone from before in the doorway. "Look, it's that drone again, let's grab it!" Shouted Jazz. The two ponies made their way to the door, only to stop when a pair of sharp metal legs stabbed through the door and ripped it clean off. The drone had not come back alone, it was now accompanied by a pair of large quadruped walking drones with sharp looking spider-like legs with a menacing looking turret with laser cannons on top of their bodies, and they were aiming straight at the two of them. "W-w-what in the hay is that!" Said Jazz wide eyed. "Look out!" Shouted Rocky, as he leaped at Jazz to knock her away, just as the two drones opened fire at them. The blasts missed, but their blasts destroyed the computer screen, and damaged the sheriffs desk too. "T-t-they're attacking us! Why are they attacking us!?" Said Jazz, panicking a little. "We must know too much... We've gotta get out of here now!" Said Rocky, helping her up. There was another loud noise behind them, they saw another of the quad drones breaking through the air vent on the ceiling, it crawled out and opened fire at them with a rapid burst of lasers. "Shoot, they're trying to surround us!" Rocky shouted, dodging their blasts. "We have to find a way out of here, we've gotta warn the sheriff and the others about what we've learned!" Said Jazz. The two ponies kept up the pace of dodging the drones fire, but they were running out of room fast, the quad drones were slowly cornering them, not paying any mind to the damage they were causing to the station around them. "Ponyfeathers, we're trapped, they'll blast us for sure!" Said Jazz, narrowly dodging another attack. Rocky however wasn't planning on giving up, he had thought up an idea, a risky one, but one that had the best chance of them escaping. "Listen up Jazz, I have an idea, it's risky but... It's our one way out of here." Said Rocky, standing his ground. "I'll take any idea you have over getting blasted to bits here, come on spit it out, what is your idea?" Said Jazz, turning to him. Rocky looked at her with a serious expression, "I want you to climb onto my back, then on a count of three, i'm gonna run up and jump over the drones, and fly out through the doorway over there as fast as possible." Jazz looked at him wide eyed, as if he just said a death wish, "W-w-what!? That's crazy Rocky, what if you get hurt!? They'll blast you for sure!" "I'm aware of the risks, but we've got no other options, it's either we get blasted, get captured, or worse, you'll have to trust me Jazz." Rocky explained, looking determined. Jazz was still worried about the idea, but she could tell in his eyes that his mind was made up, nothing was going to change it. Giving him a nod of approval, she climbed onto his back, holding on tight as Rocky unfolded his wings, just as the drones began to take aim at them again. "Hold on tight!" Rocky shouted out, as he charged towards the drones. The drones seemed to have been taken by surprise as they stepped back a little, then were left dumbfounded as Rocky took to the air, leaping over them and flew straight towards the doorway. It looked like Rocky's idea had worked and that the two of them will escape to safety, that is, until the last second when one of the drones behind them managed to lock onto him fired a shot, hitting Rocky's left wing directly, causing him to yell out in pain and lose control of his flight path. "Look out!" Jazz shouted out. But it was no use, Rocky careened out of control and ended up crash landing into one of the market stalls outside in the streets, the stand was smashed to pieces by the impact, sending splinters and debris all over the place, leaving the two ponies in a crumpled heap. Jazz was the first pony to get up to her hooves, dusting off the mess on her coat, and feeling the throbbing pain on her head. "Oww, oof, that's gonna leave a bump in the morning..." Jazz grunted, rubbing her forehead. She looked over to Rocky, who was laying under the ruined stall sheet, clutching his left wing in pain. "Rocky! Speak to me, are you okay!?" Said Jazz as she ran over to check on him. "Ugh, yeah i'll live, but I think my wing is busted, I took a bad hit from that blast...! Said Rocky, wincing in pain as he furled his wings back up. Jazz helped him back up onto his hooves, "You dummy! Risking yourself like that, knowing that you would end up getting hurt, just to keep me safe..." Said Jazz, starting into him. "I knew the risks Jazz, but it was the only out of that mess, and I saved you as well, didn't I?" Said Rocky, staring back at her. Jazz didn't say anything, on one hoof she was still cross at him for taking such a risk like that and getting injured, but on the other, he was right in that they had escaped the drones to safety, even if Rocky had gotten himself injured in the process. She let out a sigh, then after letting out a small smile, she gave him a quick hug, much to his surprise. "Thank you Rocky, now let's take a look at that injury." Said Jazz, moving to take a look at his injured wing. "Umm, yeah, how bad is it?" He asked. "That blast did leave a burn on it, we'll have to get this checked out for sure, but how did you learn to do an aerial move like that Rocky?" Asked Jazz, ripping up some of the table cloth used for the stand to use as a makeshift band aid. "Eh, i'll live, being a former trainee in the royal guard of Zephyr Heights, we learn to live through injuries like this on daily basis." Said Rocky with a shrug. "Really? That's the first time i've heard of this Rocky, you should tell me more about it sometime." Said Jazz, finishing bandaging up the injured wing. "Oh I will, but I think we've got bigger problems to deal with at present." Said Rocky, gesturing to the drones coming out of the station. The drones spotted them quickly, then began to train their weapons at them again. "Can you still run on those four legs of yours?" Said Jazz, running in place. "You betcha, now let's get a move on!" Said Rocky. The two ponies then proceeded to gallop off as fast as they could, down the path that led out of town, and the way towards the Bridlewood Forest. The drones tried to catch up to them, firing off blasts into the distance, but they had gotten a head start and were soon out of sight. By now, the noise and the action outside had gotten the attention of several of the townspony who were at home resting for the night, they had opened their doors and windows to get a good look to see what was going on. They all shrieked when they saw the drones outside opening fire in the distance, retreating back into their houses in safety, apart from one curious pony who decided to take a closer look at the action braving the elements to get a good shot with their camera phone. As for Rocky and Jazz, they now had only one way to go, to the Bridlewood forest where they hoped to find and warn the Mane Five about what they had discovered, for it may be the clue they need to split the whole case wide open. But it will be dangerous ground to cover, whoever is behind all of this, is almost certainly by now aware of the threat the two of them could pose to their plans, and could already be making plans to ensnare them before they could cause more trouble, as well as deal with the Mane Five who were themselves also closing in bit by bit on the root of the whole mystery. Tomorrow promised to be a day that nopony would forget anytime soon. Author's Note Heya folks, it's been far too long since I last posted a chapter, but it's finally here. This chapter has been very time-consuming to write for, and has gone through a couple of rewrites along the way, but now I am happy with how it's turned out, and I aim to get started on the next chapter right away!
Act 2 - Chapter 5As a new day dawned over the Bridlewood Forest, thin rays of sunshine seeped forth from the stormy, cloudy sky, the rain that had fallen overnight had lifted, leaving the air fresh, and the ground sodden and moist. In the village of Bridlewood itself, home to the beleaguered Unicorns who have in recent times been subject to ponynapping by an unknown villain for reasons yet to become common, the Mane Five had been up until the midnight hour studying the case at hoof, going over all the evidence they had found, in particular two rather important pieces that have come up, the first being one of the drones that had attacked them yesterday on the way to Bridlewood, and the other an actual robot pony, something that intrigued them much more with it’s design. Still, they couldn’t shake off the lure of sleep forever, most of the group ended up turning in for the night, Alphabittle allowed them to sleep in the guest bedroom, apart from Hitch who had to stay over at Elder Flowers home for the night while she treated him of his injuries, and Queen Haven and her guards, who had to return home to Zephyr Heights to continue their own investigation. As the morning rays crept into the guest bedroom, the ponies began to stir from their heavy sleep. “Ugghh, what a night, I don’t think I’ve slept that deep in a long time.” Said Pipp, yawning softly. That seemed to have got the others attention as they all began to stir as well. “Ahhh, good morning everypony, did we all sleep okay?” Asked Sunny. “I slept like a log in the woods.” Said Izzy, sitting up and stretching her hoofs. Sunny looked around the room sleepily, letting out a soft yawn as she stretched to shake off the sleepies, it was then that she noticed that somepony wasn’t there sleeping with them. “Hey wait, where did Zipp go? I know she joined us here late in the night.” Said Sunny puzzled. "Huh, oh no, you don’t think she sneaked out while we were all asleep to continue working on the case did she?” Said Pipp with a groan. “I have a good hunch that she did, Zipp does like her mysteries after all.” Said Sunny, hoping out of bed towards the door. The rest of the ponies joined her as she opened up the door gently, taking a peek outside. She found Zipp sleeping at the table, with the junk remains of the robots in front of her, with her phone out in front of her, it seems like she had been up all night researching them, she was letting out soft snores as she slept in her hooves. “No surprise, she did sneak out at night to study them on her own, stubborn mare.” Said Pipp in a deadpan. “Awww, her snores are so adorable, I wish I could snore softly like that.” Said Izzy innocently. “Yeah, because you totally don’t snore like an elephant, Izzy.” Said Pipp sarcastically. “Hahaha, of course not silly, I’d need to have a much longer snoot to generate that level of snore.” Izzy replied, mimicking an elephant's trunk with her leg and making a mock roar. Pipp just facehoofed with a groan, while Sunny just shook her head, but silently giggling to herself. “Anyway, we should wake her up and see if she has uncovered anything interesting." Said Sunny, as she made her way over to Zipp, gently tapping her on the shoulder. “Ummhhh… just five more minutes mum, I’ll solve this mystery yet…” Mumbled Zipp in her sleep. “You won’t if you keep sleeping on the job, Zipp.” Pipp said, imitating Hitch. Zipp sat up, yawning at her sisters face, to her dismay. “Oh, morning sis, and I see everypony is awake as well.” Said Zipp sleepily. “You look like you were up all night Zipp, did you discover anything?” Asked Sunny, concerned for her friends health. Zipp let out another deep yawn, rubbing the sand out of her eyes, “Well, I did discover a few things actually, but not what you expect.” “Oooh exciting! What did you find out?” Asked Izzy excitedly. Zipp stretched her back and hooves out, then grabbed her phone and flipped it open, browsing a few things she had screenshot. “Well, the first thing I found out is about this robot pony here, apparently a few years ago, the Canterlogic company actually test marketed these things out for the public to use in Maretime Bay, they were to acts as security outside buildings, and protectors for foals while in school. However, less than three weeks after being introduced, they were suddenly all recalled by the company, and the whole scheme was scrapped afterwords, the official word was that residents found the robots unnerving and creepy, and also that they didn't trust robots to be reliable.” Explained Zipp. That bit of information surprised the ponies, but for Sunny it seemed to trigger something in the back of her mind, a distant memory that had been locked away until now. "Second, and this is the interesting part, the robots were actually designed and marketed by, Dr Wormwood, and Phyllis Cloverleaf." Said Zipp seriously. "W-what? No way!" Said Sunny in shock. “Furthermore, they weren't designed with weapons in mind either, just simply to alert ponies and authorities to deal with trouble, I suspect our unseen villain is the one behind the addition of them having this blaster here.” Said Zipp, lifting up the weapon in question. In just a split second, Izzy was all over it, taking it into her hooves and examining it in detail, measuring it out in her mind, while Sunny went over to examine the robot herself. “This blaster is so cool, you know, when it’s not aimed at us ha ha, but, I wonder who went to the trouble of inventing this, and why such a dangerous weapon?” Asked Izzy, still examining it. Zipp just shook her head, “Your guess is as good as mine Izz, but I have a good hunch on who it could be.” “Well I hope whoever is behind it has a good lawyer to represent them, they’re gonna pay up for breaking not just one, but two of my phones, and for trying to harm the royal family of Zephyr Heights to boot!” Said Pipp, still salty over yesterday. “But that’s the problem we have here Zipp, we don't know who built these robots. We’ve found plenty of clues so far, but none of them seem to explain anything conclusively.” Said Sunny doubtfully. “All except for one thing, the one thing which has come up time and time again as we’ve delved deeper into this.” Said Zipp seriously. The other ponies seemed a little confused, but Sunny seemed to understand where Zipp was driving at. “W-wait, you don’t mean-” “The Canterlogic company.” Came a voice from the tea house entrance. Sunny and the others looked, it was Hitch, looking all refreshed, and bandaged up. “Hitch! How are you feeling, much better?” Asked Sunny, trotting over to check up on her old friend. “Much better than I was last night I can tell you, Elder Flowers remedies have worked wonders on me, it's like all the pain I had since yesterday has just melted away. Still, i gotta take it easy for a little while with my shoulder and all as they're still bruised, but I can at least walk properly again.” Said Hitch with a smile. “That’s good to hear Hitch, it’s amazing to to think Unicorns knew such treatments, I have got to write all of this down when I get a chance.” Said Sunny. “Heh, there will be time for that later on, right now I feel that the issue at hoof is deciding what our next move is.” Said Hitch, moving over to the table, "Well me girls, have you found anything out since last night?" "Well yes and no Hitch, while we know that these robot ponies like this one were in fact made by Canterlogic in the past, what we don't know is why they are being made now, and by whom, there is no evidence as to who did." Said Pipp with a sigh. “Hmm, I think in light of what we’ve talked about last night and summarized up till now, there is one thing we can do, I say that we head back to Maretime Bay and visit the Canterlogic building, I feel that somewhere in that buildings computer files we'll find the answer to the questions we've been having since yesterday.” Said Zipp. The others seemed to have agreed to it, but Sunny seemed to know what the next question was and spoke up. “Tell me Zipp, do you still suspect either Phyllis and Wormwood as being the culprits?” She asked. “Of course I do Sunny, they’re the two most likely suspects due to their former positions in the company.” Said Zipp in response. Izzy didn’t seem to like the sound of that, she spoke up in a hurt tone, “B-b-but Zipp, we also know that Wormwood harboured sympathy towards the Unicorns, so to me, he’d be the least likely to be behind all of this." "I have to agree with Izzy on that, if anything, he would more likely hold a grudge against Canterlogic for firing him for such views in the first place." Said Sunny, standing by her friend. "Hmm that is true, but with Canterlogic now shut down, I doubt he has any reason to hold any grudges anymore." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Also, let's not forget that Phyllis may have accepted the reunification of the pony races outwardly, but there's no telling that she respects it on the inside, since I've hardly seen her interacting with the others, even if she did give my business a good review." Said Pipp pointedly. Zipp could see where they were coming from, it seemed on the surface that Phyllis would be the main suspect over this Wormwood, but, there was one thing that she was perplexed about that kept her suspicions towards the secretive scientist intact, as she told them. "Those are good points fellow ponies, but there is one thing that still bothers me, if Dr Wormwood did care for the safety of the Unicorns and would stick up for them, then why hasn't he tried to help them out in regards to the ponynapping going on? It's highly unlikely that he wouldn't be aware of it going on r since it's been spreading all over the Canternet since yesterday." Said Zipp. Izzy tried to think of a reply, but in a way Zipp was right, his care for Unicorns would've made him more than likely to help them out, but the fact he hasn't at all is a little suspicious in of itself, even if she didn't want to admit it herself. "I have to say that does make sense, Zipp, but either way, it still leaves us with two suspects to this case, with good reasons for and against them." Said Hitch, sitting on his haunches. Sunny was in deep thought, she didn't like having to take sides, especially among her friends, but it seems that if they were going to get anywhere with the case, there was only one thing left to do. "Hmm, maybe it's time we not just journey towards the Canterlogic building, but also to confront the two suspects to see if they know anything about what's going-" Izzy then interrupted Sunny with a sudden idea, "Ohh ohh that's it, that's it!" "What is it Izzy?" Asked Hitch. "Why don't I go and find Wormwood myself and ask him to help us? Since we've exchanged numbers with each other, I should be able to contact him and see if he will agree to it." Said Izzy. That seemed to wake up Zipp fully, she nearly leapt up from her chair, "Wait wait, you've had his number on your phone all along and never mentioned it???" "Umm... It kinda slipped my mind?" Said Izzy innocently. "Also don't forget Zipp, all of our phones had run out of power last night, so there is no way Izzy would've even brought it up even if she could." Said Pipp. Zipp turned around and gave Pipp a sleepy grin, then showed off a device she had next to her phone, "All except mine, I had this power bank right here that I keep on me when I need to keep my phone charged up, if there is any emergencies." "Ohhh, right I forgot about that, you and your gadgets Zipp." Said Pipp, groaning for the third time today. "Oh and I also took the liberty of using it to charge up all of your phones as well while you were asleep, I figured we'd be needing them for today to keep in touch." Said Zipp, pointing it out. "Wow, that's thoughtful of you Zipp, good thinking right there." Said Hitch, going to pick up his phone. "Wait a minute, if that's the case, then how much sleep did you get last night?" Asked Sunny inquisitively. Zipp, who was still half asleep, tried her best to calculate it in her head, , "Well, let's see, umm... If it takes about an hour to charge up the phones to at least halfway, plus the time that I sneaked away to continue studying these robots, add in the fact it's gone past eight in the morning... I'd say about four hours of sleep?" Pipp let out a sigh, then went up to Zipps face, "I knew it, listen Zipp, you don't have to push yourself so hard every night, you do need your beauty sleep too, if you do it one time too many, it'll catch up to you and hit you hard, like it did for me that one time." Zipp stared at her sister, then brushed it off, "Hey now, don't worry about it Pipp, I'll be careful." Pipp wasn't fully convinced, but let it slide as she went over to check her phones, one of which was clearly broken beyond repair, and the other, although working, had a nasty looking crack running through the screen, which she was still salty about. Izzy, Sunny and Hitch also went over to collect their phones too, powering them up and seeing if there were any messages or reports from last night. "Did you perchance checked out our phones at all Zipp?" Asked Hitch. Zipp shook her head, "Nah, I don't invade our ponies privacies by looking through their phones without reason, I just left them there to charge quietly, although... now that I think about it, I do think Izzy's phone vibrated overnight randomly, but I was half asleep at the time so I didn't check it." Hitch raised an eyebrow, "Huh, is that right? I wonder what made it vibrate-" "Ohh ohh ohh, he sent me a message, he sent me a message!" Interrupted Izzy. "Whoa whoa, slow down Izzy, who sent you a message?" Asked Sunny. "My new friend did, Wormwood did, he sent it to me around Nine o Clock last night!" Izzy said excitedly. Zipp went wide eyed and turned to look at her "Wait what, he actually sent you a message!?" "Yeah he did! But my phone had no power at the time so I must've missed it." Said Izzy. "Well it's a good thing Zipp charged it for you, what does the message say?" Asked Hitch. "Yeah, what does it say?" Said Pipp curiously. Izzy held up her phone, then selected the message and brought it up on screen, it read the following; Hello Izzy Moonbow I'm sorry that I took so long to send a message to you, but I have been very busy working hard on my projects, and haven't had the time to respond until now. Listen, I've been thinking about how much you enjoy unicycling trash into something new, and I believe it isn't a coincidence that we both share a love for inventing in common, so much so that I think it's only natural that the two of us should work together, I believe that there is plenty of potential for making extraordinary inventions and devices, which may even prove useful for all of pony kind. Take your time in responding to this message, and we can arrange a meeting place to discuss this offer of mine in full, I know that you may still not trust me fully, and I don't blame you considering the recent unification of the tribes is still an ongoing issue, and not everypony is still on board with it, so you are free to bring a friend with you as well. I look forward to meeting you again friend. Doctor Wormwood. "That's what it says, I'm happy that he sent me a message back, even if it took a little longer than I thought." Said Izzy. "Huh, that's convenient for him to ask you to meet him, but who should go with Izzy to see this pony?" Asked Pipp. "I think I should go with her, i've known Wormwood since I was young as I had told you, so I should be able to discern what his intentions are, if he has any." Said Sunny. "Smart idea, the rest of us can then head back to Maretime Bay to check out the Canterlogic building and hopefully find the next lead to the case." Said Zipp. "Sounds like a plan, but first, I think we should have some breakfast, we haven't had much to eat since lunch yesterday." Said Hitch, rubbing his growling gut. "And we need to shower as well, I'm starting to smell like the forest around here, and wash off all the sweat too, ugghh." Said Pipp, taking a whiff of her shoulder in disgust. "You girls can go ahead, Elder Flower let me use her bathroom before I got here so I'm good, now let's have some breakfast shall we?" Said Hitch. The other ponies all agreed to that, and it was good timing that Alphabittle came into the room all ready to serve them with fresh food, they soon all sat around and started eating their fill of food, quietly discussing their plans for today among other things. Once breakfast was finished, the ponies all took turns washing up in the bathroom, with Pipp taking the longest out of them, insisting on making herself look beautiful, much to the others chagrin. After they had all been washed, Izzy and Sunny both gathered up their things and after reassuring their friends that they will both be careful out there and keep in touch regularly, they set out to meet up with Dr Wormwood at a location of Izzy's own choosing. A little bit later, the rest of the Mane Five were ready to head out on their own towards Maretime Bay and the Canterlogic Factory, when they heard a thunderous knocking and shouting at the main door. "What the hay, did the two of them run back here already?" Asked Zipp. "Wait a tick... I know that voice, it's Jazz! But what is she doing here?" Said Pipp in surprise. "We'd better find out." Said Hitch, going to the door and opening it up. The ponies were surprised to see that it was indeed Jazz, but she wasn't alone, Rocky was also with her, and both looked tired and worn out, like they had been running about all night, covered in leaves, mud and other debris. "Whoa girl, you look worse for wear than I did last night." Said Pipp amusingly. "Thanks Pipp, nice to hear that, we've both had it rough last night, running about trying to find this place." Said Jazz, in a snarky but tired voice. "I can see that, but tell me, what happened to you both, and why did you make your way here?" Asked Hitch. "It's a long story sheriff, a very long story." Said Rocky wearily. "I think you both should come in, wash up and then tell us what's happened, I suspect there is a lot you want to tell us." Said Zipp, her interest piqued. "That'd be nice thank you." Said Jazz, as she and Rocky walked in and headed to the bathroom. "Hmm, I wonder what their story is." Said Hitch curiously. "I got a feeling it must be something big if they've come all this way to find us." Said Zipp thoughtfully. Pipp then let out a gasp and rushed to the two of them, holding up her damaged phone, "Oh my gosh, Hitch, Zipp! Look at this news report from Maretime Bay that just came out!" The two of them then looked at it, and both were shocked at the news report, it reported an attack at the Maretime Bay precinct last night by robot looking ponies, and that two other ponies were seen fleeing from the scene at that time. "What the... What in the tartarus is going on!?" Said Hitch in anger. "I don't know sheriff, but it seems that things are more serious now than they were before." Said Pipp. The three ponies had little idea just how serious things were about to become for all of them. Meanwhile, Sunny and Izzy had made good time in heading towards the meeting point that Izzy had arranged for her new friend, the two of them were approaching the edge of the Bridlewood forest, where the thicket of the trees gives way to the open plains of Equestria. Sunny however was curious as to where they were going, and decided to quiz Izzy about it. "So Izzy, tell me, where is the place that you wanted us to meet up with your friend?" Asked Sunny. "Oh that's easy Sunny, we'll be going to the junkyard where I first met him, it was an easy choice to make." Said Izzy, skipping along the road excitedly. "I hope he'll show up, there is so much we need to ask him about." Said Sunny. "Yeah, if there is anypony who can help us in solving this mystery and clearing everything up, it'll be him." Said Izzy. Izzy continued on the path in high spirits, but Sunny was in deep thought, Hitch. Zipp and maybe even Pipp were all very much suspecting that the former scientist of Canterlogic could be behind the whole ponynapping case, and the robots that attacked them yesterday. Izzy was the only one of the five that didn't seem to believe that, and so did Sunny herself, but, now even she was starting to have second thoughts about it, after all, even though Phyllis was a big time member of the 'club' that was against Unicorns and Pegasus Ponies, Sunny couldn't help but remember the moment when Phyllis willingly gave her the Earth Pony Crystal, which allowed the Unity Crystals to come together, and allow magic to return to all of Equestria. That and the fact she had given Mane Melody a glowing review, and didn't seem to be bothered by the different pony tribes living in the town at all, it didn't exactly paint her as a suspect in the case. Her own son Sprout was of course under house arrest and doing sentenced community service, so he'd be even less likely to be behind all of this. That of course left only one suspect, one that has the most suspicion about him, the one that nearly fits the bill of being the villain behind this mess, and that pony was of course, Izzy's new friend, Dr Wormwood. "Hey, Equestria to Sunny, are you okay?" Asked Izzy suddenly. Sunny was so deep in her thoughts that she was spooked by the sudden voice. "Sunny, are you okay?" Said Izzy with concern. "Y-y-yes, yes I'm okay Izzy, I was just thinking about this whole case from top to bottom, and how much of a mess it has turned out to be..." Said Sunny, looking down sadly. "Ohhh, well yeah, it is quite a mess isn't it? I can't really think too much about it before it gives me a headache, and heartache from the thought of my poor Unicorn friends who have been ponynapped and being held somewhere." Said Izzy, letting off a sigh. Sunny walked over and comforted her friend, "Don't you worry Izzy, we'll find them, and the villain who did this to them, and we'll bring them all back home." Izzy wiped away a rare tear from her eye, then looked at Sunny, "Your right, I just hope that my new friend will be able to help us, because... I'm starting to get this bad feeling in my gut." "A bad feeling, what do you mean?" Asked Sunny, suddenly feeling uneasy. "...I have this belief that we're running out of time." Said Izzy somberly. "Running out of time?" Said Sunny. "Yes... That if we don't rescue the Unicorns soon, something really bad is gonna happen." Said Izzy, looking down sadly. Sunny comforted her friend more, "We won't let that happen Izzy, not so long as we continue to work hard to find them, and we will find them, no matter the odds." That seemed to reassure Izzy, who smiled back at Sunny, "Of course, now let's go meet up with the doctor at the junkyard, if I am right, we should be reaching the outskirts of the forest by now." Sure enough, it wasn't long before they had reached the edge of Bridlewood forest, and now they were entering the wild plains that surrounded it all. By Izzy's estimation, both her and Sunny should reach the junkyard before lunchtime, so the two of them picked up the pace and began roller blading down the pathway towards the destination. Along the way, Izzy hummed a cheerful tune to herself, clearly eager to meet her new friend and hope that he would provide help to her and her friends in splitting this case wide open, Sunny was feeling the same way, but at the same time, she couldn't shake the feeling growing in the back of her head that something wasn't right, she couldn't put her hoof on it, but she suspected that something bad was going to happen soon, and that she and her friends could be in grave danger. Sunny was so deep in thought about it, that she was spooked when Izzy suddenly announced that they had arrived at the junkyard. "Oh look, there is the junkyard up ahead, we've made it!" Said Izzy excitedly, grinding herself to a halt on top of a hill. Sunny looked out over the distance, and lo and behold, there was the junkyard in all of it's junky glory. "Nice going Izzy, we made good time." Said Sunny, wiping the sweat off her brow. "Come on Sunny, let's go see if he is here already, I'm so excited I could explode!" Shouted Izzy, racing down the hill "Hey wait up Izzy, slow down!" Called Sunny, racing after her. The two ponies then glided down the hill into the entrance to the junkyard itself. Izzy was still in high spirits over meeting her new friend here, but, as the two ponies stood outside waiting for any sign of his arrival, they soon became curious, was he running late? "Hey Izzy, you said that Dr Wormwood agreed to meet you here right?" Asked Sunny. "Yeah he did, I even sent him a message about it, and he plain as day agreed to it," Said Izzy, showing said message on her phone. "Hmm, I wonder if he's been delayed, or maybe... Nah he can't have forgotten about it." Sunny thought aloud. "No! He wouldn't forget, he seems much too smart and observant to forget anything, perhaps he is here, but hiding somewhere... Ohh ohh that's it, junk and seek! I always love playing that game!" Said Izzy excitedly. "Junk and seek? What sort of game is that might I ask?" Said Sunny, rasing an eyebrow. "Oh it's simple, me and somepony else think up an item, or somepony in this case, in the junkyard, then we go find it, and whoever finds it first wins the game!" Explained Izzy. "Huh, just like hide and seek, but with buried treasure." Said Sunny. "Exactly! Come on, let's go find him." Said Izzy, hopping along towards the junk piles. Sunny let out a sigh, shaking her head she followed Izzy into the junkyard to search for her friend, but it wasn't long before the two of them got separated from each other, exploring in different directions. It seemed like half an hour passed before Izzy heard a voice calling from behind her. "Ah there you are Izzy, sorry to have kept you waiting." Izzy stood up right away and looked behind her, and there he was, the friend she had been waiting for, Dr Wormwood, in the flesh. "Aaaaah, hi again new friend!" Said Izzy excitedly, jumping over to him. "Good to see you too, how have you been Unicorn, keeping well?" He asked her. "Oh you know, the usual, unicycling junk and helping my friends out." Said Izzy. "Heh, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, now then, I believe you had something you wanted to ask of me." Said the doctor. Izzy nodded to him, then took a deep breath and started to explain the whole story going on at Bridlewood, with the Unicorns all vanishing, the robots that had been attacking them, and most alarmingly, that her friends Hitch and Zipp believe either Dr Wormwood, or his old boss Phyllis Cloverleaf are the culprits behind this whole thing, which she didn't want to believe at all, even if it did make sense in that context. The pony scientist himself silently listened as she explained it, showing curious amusement whenever Izzy talked about the Unicorns and their plight, but he also seemed to show a little anger on his face whenever Phyllis or Canterlogic was mentioned, which did not go unnoticed by Izzy. "Hey uhhh doc, about when you got fired from Canterlogic, can you umm... Can you explain what happened between you and your old boss, pretty please?" Asked Izzy with a plead. Wormwood let out a heavy sigh, then looked at her seriously, "I take it that you know about the story she put out there Izzy, that she had me fired because I harboured symphony towards Unicorns correct?" "Yes I do, Sunny and Hitch explained it to us yesterday, tell me doc, is that really true, or is it false?" She asked him, looking serious. Wormwood just shook his head, "I'm afraid to tell you this, but, that was all a lie Izzy, that was just a cover she put out there to make sure nopony knew the truth about what was really going on behind the scenes." Izzy jumped up unexpectedly in excitement, "Aha, I knew it! I knew that no goody good pony Phyllis was hiding something all along, just to make you look like a bad pony to everypony else!" "So you do suspect Phyllis of being the culprit I see, well then, does that mean that you believe me to be innocent Izzy?" Said Wormwood out of curiosity. "Of course I do doc, I mean... Yes there are plenty of clues pointing towards you being the culprit too, but... I think it's all just a big coincidence, since well, Phyllis is also a suspect, and she's well known to have been against us Unicorns, especially in the past." Said Izzy, thinking hard. Wormwood seemed to be taken back at bit by Izzy's loyalty to him, she really did see him as a true friend, which he seemed to appreciate, showing a warm smile to her. "I'm glad to hear that Izzy, but now onto more serious business, I suppose you wish to learn the truth about what was going on in Canterlogic back then, correct?" Asked Wormwood. "Yes, yes I do want to know! It might be the vital clue we need to finally solve this whole case." Said Izzy, her excitement overflowing. "Very well then, I will tell you everything that I know about it, but... I fear it's not safe out here for us at the moment, no, I fear that we could be watched from the shadows." Said Wormwood, shifting his eyes to the side. "What!? Oh no, have those mean old robots been following us!?" Said Izzy in a panic, looking all around. "I suspect so, but... I have an ace up my sleeve, for you see I know a place where we can discuss all of this without prying eyes lurking around, you could call it my 'hideout', so to speak." Said Wormwood, looking at his smart watch. "Oooh that sounds cool, but wait a moment, is the hideout safe? Are you sure nopony will find us there?" Asked Izzy curiously. "Haha, don't you worry yourself Unicorn, the location is quite remote, so I doubt anypony will find us there." Said Wormwood confidently. Izzy seemed to be happy to hear that, but she still seemed to be indecisive about her decision. "Plus, i'm pretty sure you'd love to see all the tools and machines that I use in my everyday workings, that I use for inventing and tinkering, wouldn't you?" Said Wormwood, leaning his head forward in a tilt? That seemed to get Izzy's attention, she hopped up and held his head in her hooves close to her. "Are you kidding me? I'd love to see them, oooh just imagine what I could get up to if I got my hooves on them! Eeeeeee, I'm already sparkling with ideas!" Said Izzy, her horn letting off said sparks. "Heh heh heh, excellent to hear Izzy, well then, shall we get going?" Said Wormwood, pulling out a device from his pocket. Izzy let out a gasp, "Wait wait wait, do this mean... Does this mean you'll help me with this case and find the missing Unicorns!?" Wormwood simply smiled at her, nodding his head to say yes. Izzy hopped all about in excitement, "Yes yes yes yes, yes yes yes! Thank you so much! But wait! Umm... How are we going to get to your hideout anyway, are we just gonna gallop there?" "Gallop? Hah, not never. There'll be no need that, for I have a much easier method of transportation at hoof." Said Wormwood, holding the device in his hoof and pressing the button on it. There was a low humming noise from nearby, and in a moment, a large vehicle appeared from around the back of a mound of junk, it had four huge wheels on it's side, two large exhaust stacks on the rear, a large sleek looking bonnet on the front, and some sort of big engine at the back, the vehicle seemed to open up by the use of doors located either side that opened up along the side. Izzy was in awe at the sight of it, her own personal unicyled motor scooter paled in comparison to this beast. "Holy molly and dolly, this thing is huge! Where did you get this from, did it cost you a fortune!?" Shouted Izzy, examining the vehicle top to bottom. "Hahaha, I didn't get this from anywhere Izzy, for I built this all by myself, I mean, when you have the skills and resources to build your own transport, why settle for anything less?" Said Wormwood, as he went up to it, pressing a button on the side. Izzy watched in excitement as the door to the vehicle popped open, and then slid down the side out of the way, showing off comfortable looking seats, and the main controls themselves. "Oooh, look at all these cool looking lights and shiny buttons, I wonder what they all do?" Said Izzy, barely able to contain her squeeing. The controls all looks so high tech and complicated, Izzy had no idea where to start, but she felt her hoof moving towards one button in temptation, before Wormwood stepped in to stop her. "Ah ah ah, I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there friend, some of these buttons here are not for normal use, we wouldn't want to cause any accidents and such around here, you know what I mean?" Said Wormwood sternly. "Ohhh, yeah I get it, explosions and such are bad for business around here, I should know, I got told off by the junkyard manager here one time for doing just that." Said Izzy sheepishly. "Really now? You should tell me all about it on the way back to the hideout." Said Wormwood, stepping into the vehicle and into the pilot seat, turning to face the Unicorn, "Are you coming Izzy?" Izzy took a step forward, but then froze up when all the thoughts regarding her friends and everything to do with the case flashed in her mind. Taking a quick glance behind her, and seeing nopony in sight, not even Sunny, she turned back around, and after closing her eyes and letting out a rare sigh, Izzy looked at Wormwood with determination, and gave him a firm nod in agreement, to which he returned a somewhat devious grin. "Excellent, now let's go!" Said Wormwood. With that, Izzy jumped into the passenger seat, and as the door closed up, a roar of the engines shook the junk piles around them, as the vehicle drove off in a hurry, out of the junkyard and into the wilderness beyond. The loud noises hadn't gone unnoticed, as Sunny who had been looking for Izzy throughout the junkyard came to check out where they were coming from. "Izzy! Izzy, where the hay are you!?" Shouted Sunny, looking around frantically, "What in the hay is making that loud noise-" It was at that moment she turned and saw the dust clouds in the distance, and then after scrambling up to the top of the nearest junk mound, she saw the very vehicle driving off away into the wilderness, and Sunny knew that could only mean one thing, either Izzy and Dr Wormwood have both left together in that vehicle, or worse, that she had been captured and was being taken away. "Oh no, no no no no! Why did I have to wonder off like that and not stop her in time... I've got a bad feeling about this." Said Sunny, worried for her friends safety. Taking out her phone, she began to send texts to Zipp and the others back in Bridlewood, and was about to send a message to Izzy, when she heard distinct humming noises from behind her, very familiar humming noises. "Wait... I know those noises." She said, wide eyed she looked behind her to see a whole group of armed drones aiming at her. Some of the drones opened fire at her, but she managed to dodge it, and hid behind cover under one of the junk piles in a panic. "I should've known, this whole thing was a trap from the start! But wait, does that mean Izzy is in-" She was interrupted when the drones circled round the junk pile and fired at her again, giving her no time to think. She ran from cover to cover, trying to avoid getting blasted at, but it was proving difficult with so many drones swarming around her like angry bees. At a crucial moment, Sunny accidentally dropped her phone to the ground nearby, panicking, she made a dash to try and grab it, but before she could reach it, a lucky shot from one of the drones struck her phone, blasting it to pieces, and it was no more. Sunny's eyes went wide in disbelief, then overcome with emotion, tears streamed down her face, before giving way to pent up anger and rage at the machines responsible. "NOOOOOOOOOO! My friend Pipp got me that phone... Y-y-you... You ruthless monsters!" Shouted Sunny, glaring harshly up at the drones. The drones all surrounded her like a swarm of bees, and were preparing to fire again at her, but, at that moment, Sunny's innate Alicorn powers, which had remained dormant since the reunification, was finally unleashed from within, manifesting her bright glowing wings and horn. "I've had enough of you vile robots, BEGONE!!!" Roared Sunny, flying up into the air and glowing brightly. With a mighty flash of light, the drones surrounding her all short circuited, then individually exploded into pieces around her, leaving nothing behind. Landing back down onto the ground with a stomp, Sunny took some deep breaths to clam her mind, then turned to focus on the direction that Izzy had gone with the scientist, giving a determined look. "I've got to follow them, if Izzy really is in danger, then I must catch up to them as fast possible, and maybe... Maybe we'll finally learn the truth behind what's going on, I just hope the gang back in Bridlewood got my texts in time. With that, Sunny galloped forward and took off into the sky, her Alicorn powers granting her the power of flight, and was soon in hot pursuit of Izzy and her scientist friend as they all entered into the mysterious wilderness beyond. The case had certainly taken the turn for the worse for everypony involved, first was the attack from the robots in the Bridlewood Forest, followed by the great battle against them in the clearing, then after that was the long discussion the Mane Five held together about the case, where did the robots came from, and who could be behind it? From their investigation so far, two suspects have emerged, one being Phyllis Cloverleaf, the former leader of the Canterlogic company, and the other, the former chief of R&D at Canterlogic, Dr Altair Wormwood. Then there was the other matter regarding the mysterious break in at Zephyr Heights. in which classified information regarding a new prototype airship was stolen, could there be a connection between that incident and this case? There were many questions to ask and very little answers to them, but the Mane Five are determined not to give up, not until they save the missing Unicorns and expose the villain behind the rampant ponynapping. In Izzy's case, she has decided to enlist the help of Wormwood himself, believing that with this insider knowledge of Canterlogic and talent for inventing, they'll be able to finally progress forward with the case, but is Izzy right in her judgement that the scientist will help her, or is she being led into danger that she cannot see coming? One thing is for certain, the situation is growing more serious by the day, and the stakes are increasing all the time, and the Mane Five will soon find themselves on a collision course with the mastermind behind the whole mess, and the terrible threat that they pose to all of Equestria, will soon be laid bare. END OF ACT 2 Author's Note Whew, and that's Act 2 finally wrapped up! It's hard to believe that it's been over a year now since I first submitted this story here, and it's taken this long to get here, but now we're about to enter the end game, for Act 3 is where everything starts happening fast, and all the lingering questions will be answered, stay tuned, it's going to be a blast!
Act 3 - Chapter 1"Dear Customers and patrons of Mane Melody!" "It is unfortunate that we must break the news that our store will be closed for the next three days, this is due to staff absences and unforeseen inconveniences coming up that have forced us to close temporarily." "But don't you worry fans, we will soon be open again for business and appointments as soon as possible, for the Mane Melody is the one place you can have the finest mane styling, most beautiful hoof polishing, and the catchiest karaoke anywhere in Equestria!" "Hope to see you soon fellow Mane Melodians!" Jazz Hooves ❤ This note had been posted on the door to the Mane Melody building, and a familiar pony with a pale yellow coat, pink hair with green ribbons had been reading it, before walking off in a huff, mumbling under her breath something regarding Pegasi being bad, it seems somepony had still not come around to the idea of Pegasi living with Earth Ponies, but that's a story for another time. ACT 3 It was a mild and grim morning in the Bridlewood Forest, a constant sea of thick grey clouds hung across the sky like a blanket of incoming sorrow, in a moment they might all start weeping rain, first a drizzle, then a downpour, almost like the collective sadness of Unicorns grieving all at once at their current misfortune. It was on this dire day that the other group of the Mane Five, including Hitch, Pipp and Zipp had been about to journey out back to Maretime Bay to look for more clues regarding the case when they were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Jazz and Rocky, who had fled the town in the night to avoid the robots that had attacked them. After waiting for the duo to wash up and refresh themselves, with help from Pipp, they sat down at a table with fresh tea prepared for them by Alphabittle, and then began to explain everything that had happened to them since last night, the details of which shocked the ponies in the room. “W-w-what!? Are you serious about this Jazz!?” Said Pipp in disbelief. "Absolutely girl, the place had been totally broken into, that's when we discovered that little robot inside interacting with Hitch’s computer. When we stepped inside to investigate, it ran off and returned with a group of robots that attacked us, tearing up the place, we were lucky to escape from there without a scratch." Said Jazz. “Well, almost without a scratch.” Said Rocky, showing off his injured wing to them. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you both went through all of that… if only we had known about it before hoof.” Said Pipp, comforting her co-workers. "Well we did try to message you and the others several times, but our messages didn't get any responses at all, we were so worried about you Pipp." Said Jazz, comforting back. "It's been a nightmare up here in Bridlewood, you weren't the only ones who had trouble with those robots, not only did they chase us through the forest, but we also got into a battle with them too, and both times they broke or damaged my phones!" Said Pipp with a growl. "Not only that, but reception up here has been very weak, almost as if somepony has been sabotaging the Canternet connection routers that had been set up not too long ago." Said Zipp. "No way! What sort of monster are we dealing with that's behind these robot attacks, and are they related to all the Unicorns going missing!?" Said Jazz anxiously. Zipp and Pipp simply nodded their heads silently, Jazz let out a sad sigh, sipping more of her tea. "So where does this leave us?" Asked Rocky. "I think we should go through what you and Jazz had just told us regarding what happened back in Maretime Bay." Said Pipp. Both Rocky and Jazz agreed to that, so Zipp opened up her notebook and began jotting down notes. “So let's start from the beginning, the robots attacked you at the precinct, and they were up to something on the sheriff's computer, is that correct?” “That’s right, we later saw that it was accessing files that were related to the former Canterlogic employees, for what reason we don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had managed to download all of it.” Said Rocky. “Interesting, say, out of curiosity which former employees was that robot looking up?” Said Zipp curiously. “I had a feeling you’d be asking that.” Said Pipp, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, it was all the well known former employees, including Toots and Sweets, Phyllis as well, but there was one that stood out from the rest, the former chief of R&D, Dr Wormwood.” Said Jazz. That made Zipp peak her ears up, “Whoa, really? What a coincidence, we’ve been investigating about that scientist as part of the case at hoof.” Said Zipp. “Huh, you mean he’s like a suspect or something?” Said Rocky, raising an eyebrow. “You could say that, now let me ask you a question, are you both are aware of the recent events that have been going on around Maretime Bay?” Asked Zipp inquisitively. "You mean about the disappearing Unicorns? Yeah, it's been making the rounds around town, and on social media as well." Said Jazz. “It’s not just in Maretime Bay I'm afraid, over a dozen have gone missing from around here in Bridlewood too, that’s why this place is like a ghost town.” Said Alphabittle at his desk, letting out a sad sigh. Hearing that made Jazz go wide-eyed in shock, "W-w-w-what!? So that rumour was true after all… But why have they vanished, and for what reason, who could be behind this!?" “That’s what we’ve been investigating ourselves around here, but… We ended up getting much more than what we bargained for.” Said Pipp, looking at the injuries she and Zipp had accumulated. “Have you found out any leads that could help us get to the bottom of this mystery?” Asked Jazz. “I feel that we are getting close to solving it, but the main problem we have is which suspect to chase down Wormwood, or Phyllis, they are our two main suspects with reasons to be involved, but unless we find definitive proof of either of them being the culprit, we’re stuck right where we are.” Said Zipp with a sigh. “Well, there is one thing that me and Jazz have discussed that might help solve that problem.” Asked Rocky. “That's right, it’s about another rumour regarding Dr Wormwood.” Said Jazz. Zipp’s head shot up upon hearing that, “There’s another rumour about him that we haven’t heard about?” “That’s right, and I think the sheriff might know about this too, right Hitch?” Asked Jazz. The sheriff in question had been rather quiet, having just heard from the two ponies about how the precinct, his workplace and home, had not only been broken into by the robots, but that they also attacked and torn up by them too, along with looking up information on his computer, all of that done while he was away helping the Unicorns in Bridlewood. There was not a single word in all of ponydom to describe the amount of anger that he felt from that, but he could think of a few coarse words that he'd rather not say out loud. “Umm Hitch, hello, Equestria to Hitch, are you there, hello?” Said Jazz, waving her hoof in front of his face. Then somepony pinched him, waking him up from his stupor. “Augh, what the f... Oh umm, sorry about that, I zoned out there, what were y'all saying?” Said Hitch sheepishly, making Zipp shake her head. Jazz looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “I said, did you know about the other rumour regarding Wormwood that was going round a year ago, you know which one I mean right?” Hitch thought for a moment, then seemed to remember what she was talking about. “Are you talking about that one rumour regarding the 'machine' that he was said to have invented?” Asked Hitch. Jazz nodded her head, "That's right, the machine that was said to be able to generate power from magic." The other ponies in the room all looked up from hearing that, Zipp especially so. "A machine that can generate power from magic? That sounds pretty farfetched to me." Said Pipp, scratching her chin, "I mean hay, as advanced and sophisticated that our home city Zephyr Heights is, we're nowhere near close to doing anything like that." "We also shouldn't forget that magic has only returned recently to Equestria, so that means it's highly unlikely that anypony could think up anything like that so soon." Said Zipp. "That and it is just a rumour Jazz, there was never any evidence that the doc even built the machine at all, in all the times that i've been to Canterlogic." Said Hitch dismissively. The ponies seemed to be in agreement that such a thing was highly unlikely to be real, but Jazz wasn't so sure, which Zipp noticed and became curious about. "But, you seem to suspect otherwise, don't you?" Said Zipp inquisitively. Jazz nodded her head, then gestured to Rocky who walked forward. "We believe that the machine is real, and also, the method for how it can generate power from magic." Said Rocky. The other ponies listened, but Alphabittle seemed to be getting a bad feeling from the tone. "What do you mean by that, the method for how it can get power from magic?" Asked Zipp, eager to know where Rocky was going with this. "Well, think about it, how can a machine generate power from magic, where does the magic come from? We all know from ancient history that you cannot make magic happen from nowhere, there has to be a focus point for is, so then how, how can this machine in question use magic as a power source?" Asked Rocky. The other ponies seemed to be racking their brains trying to answer that question. "Well, us Pegasus ponies are able to fly and manipulate clouds since magic has returned to us." Said Pipp absently. "And Unicorns are able to generate magic through the use of their horns, even able to cast spells and manipulate objects around the-" Zipp stopped before she could finish, her eyes going wide from what she just said. She wasn't alone, the other ponies in the room suddenly seemed to be understanding what Rocky's question was, and the answer was not good at all. "Wait a moment, Rocky, a-are you saying what I think you are s-saying?" Said Pipp, her voice shaking with anxiety. Rocky simply bowed his head, then came a loud crash that spooked the lot of them, they turned to see Alphabittle had dropped his teacup on the floor in shock. "The Unicorns... My fellow Unicorns, they are being used as a power source for this machine!?" Alphabittle shouted in panic. "I suspect it to be the case Alphabittle, it explains everything that's been going on, the Unicorns vanishing, the robots chasing after me and everypony else, it all makes sense." He said. "B-b-but that's... That's terrible! It's bad enough for our villain to go around on a ponynapping spree, but to use those poor ponies as experiments in generating power from magic!? That's going too far!" Shouted Hitch. "This is bad, if our perpetrator does have this machine, and has been using it for the purpose that Rocky just described, then we can logically draw another conclusion, that they've already started weaponising it for their ends." Said Zipp, showing a rare sign of panic. "Oh no Zipp, you don't think that the robot pony we fought yesterday was..." Asked Pipp nervously. "Correct Pipp, it was likely powered by magic that had been stolen from the Unicorns, using it against us." Said Zipp. "Oh my gosh, I hate to think what this villain is doing to the poor Unicorns right now." Said Jazz sorrowfully. Everypony in the room was beside themselves in shock and anger from this revelation, Alphabittle especially, now he felt more determined than ever to rescue his fellow Unicorns, and to give the villain behind all of this some well deserved desserts. "Alright, that tears it, i'm gonna go out there and find the missing Unicorns before it's too late." Said Alphabittle with determination. "What? Are you crazy!? We don't know what we're up against here, you saw all of those robots yesterday right? Who knows how many that are still out there in the woods." Said Pipp concerningly. "I don't care, I won't sit here while this mad villain abuses my Unicorns for their own ends, I must find them, it's my duty." Said Alphabittle. "I understand where you are coming from Alphabittle, but we need a plan, we cannot just charge in blindly." Said Zipp. Alphabittle however was all fired up and ready to go, he was about to start arguing with them, when the creek of a door disturbed them. "Umm... I've overheard what you were talking about mister Alphabittle, is it true what they are saying?" Alphabittle turned around and saw Jasmine looking at him from the doorway, he had been looking after the little filly after she had escaped the clutches of the robots from yesterday, and now seemed to have recovered from the ordeal, and was now curious about what was going on. "Tell me mister, is it true that those robots are the bad guys, and that they are what's behind my daddy and others vanishing?" She asked him. The other ponies looked at one another, waiting to see who would be the one to break it to her, then Hitch spoke up and stepped forward. "Yes little miss, these robots are the bad guys who are behind all of this, and we believe that a villain who created them is keeping them captive somewhere out there, including your father." Said Hitch. Jasmine went wide eyed from hearing it, and seemed to be on the verge of tears again, but she fought against it. "I-I thought so, not just my daddy, but also Starduster too... He saved my life by giving himself up to the robots... I feel that I owe him for that." Said Jasmine, wiping away her tears. "What do you mean by that?" Asked Alphabittle. "I mean that I want to come with you, if you are going after the Robots, then I want to help out too!" She said, standing upright. Alphabittle was taken aback by what she said, "W-w-what!? But that's crazy, think of all the danger out there, you could get injured or worse!" "I-I know that, but... I want to help, I maybe small and a child, but I want to be brave, just like Starduster was when he faced them, i've made up my mind." Said Jasmine, looking determined. Alphabittle was about to speak up, but he could see that her mind was made up, and nothing was gonna deter her from that, he let out a sigh, and accepted her proposition. "Alright Jasmine, but you must promise me to be careful and stick with me at all times, understood?" He said sternly. Jasmine agreed, "I understand mister." "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get moving and find those missing Unicorns before more of them vanish." Said Alphabittle all fired up. The other ponies agreed, but before they could get moving, there comes a loud sound from Hitches satchel, it sounded like he had received a message on his phone. "Hey Hitch, was that your phone going off just now?" Asked Zipp. "Yes it was, hang on let me see what it says." He said, taking it out and reading what the message said, that was when his face fell, and silence filled the room. "Hitch? Are you okay, what's going on?" Asked Pipp, concerned about what he just read. Hitch began speaking slowly, "It's from Sunny, she... She said that she had arrived at the Junkyard with Izzy, but then they got separated while waiting for Izzy's friend, and then..." "And then what, did something happen?" Asked Jazz. "...She lost sight of her, then she spotted a vehicle of some kind leaving the junkyard, suspecting that it belongs to her friend, she's going to follow it north into the wilderness after them. It looked like she was going to say something else, but it's been cut off." Hitch read out. "Wait hold on, who is this friend of Izzy's that she went to see with Sunny?" Asked Rocky. The other ponies shared looks with each other, then Alphabittle spoke up. "Izzy's friend is none other than Dr Wormwood himself, she met him the day before at that same junkyard, now she went out with Sunny to meet up with him to ask for his help regarding the case, but... Now that this message has come up, i'm starting to believe that it might've been a trap, and that he has actually taken her prisoner!" He said, his anger barely contained. "If that is the case then that can only mean one thing, that he really is behind all of this, and that he is planning on doing the same thing to Izzy that he did to the other Unicorns!" Said Jazz in a panic. "Then there is only one thing to do now, we must go after them and track down where they went, before the trail goes cold." Said Hitch, putting on his hat. "What should we do Rocky, shall we go with them, or head back to Maretime Bay?" Jazz asked. "I have a hunch we should return to Maretime Bay, I'm worried that the robots might try to attack again, and the last thing I'd want is for more ponies to get caught up in this mess." Said Rocky. "That's a smart idea, but are you sure you'll be okay with dealing with them over there?" Said Zipp, pointing out Rocky's bandaged up wing. "Hah, don't you worry Zipp, as a former guard trainee I can handle it, we'll make it back there before dusk." Said Rocky. "Very well, we're counting on you two to keep the town safe, we'll keep in contact if anything comes up." Said Pipp. "Alright enough horsing around, let's going everypony!" Shouted Hitch, opening the door and heading outside. Everypony else followed Hitch out the door, Alphabittle meanwhile turned to Jasmine, giving her a hoof up and onto his back, he then headed towards the open door, but also looked back at her, still worried her safety. "Let me ask you again, are you sure about this Jasmine? There is no turning back once we go outside this door." He asked her. Jasmine bowed her head in determination, she was set in wanting to go with them. Alphabittle gave a smile back, then galloped out through the door, following Zipp, Pipp and Hitch on their way north, while Jazz and Rocky galloped off in another direction back toward Maretime Bay. This was to of course cover as much ground as possible in case the robots were to attack again at both locations, but now with a possible lead on where they were coming from, they had the opportunity to finally put a stop to their attacks, and perhaps save the Unicorns too. They were in fact on the right track to finally solving the case, but the revelations from it, would prove to be much more serious then they had predicted. Meanwhile, in the north east area of the Equestria wilderness, a weary but determined Sunny Starscout continued to fly ahead, but she felt her Alicorn powers fading fast. She had tried to keep up the chase with the suspected vehicle that Izzy and Wormwood had travelled in, but she has lost sight of it, and now had no choice but to follow the tire tracks left behind, moving further and further north into the wilderness that was Equestria. Along the way she had spotted a few things of interest to her, worn out pathways, rusted disused train tracks, old homes long since abandoned and falling apart, all signs of Equestria's past, something she'd love to look into, but her task at hoof demanded her full attention. At last, her Alicorn powers faded away, forcing her to land on the ground with a thud, but despite the loss of her powers temporarily, she felt that she was on the right path, as she galloped onwards following the tire tracks up towards the top of a hill. "Hah hah, they must be close by now, these tracks look pretty fresh." Panted Sunny. Soon enough Sunny had reached the top of the hill, and now had a clear view of the area all around her. From this point she could see in the distance a dense forest that stretched for miles, along with more ruins, including what looked like an abandoned village, a crumbling old watchtower, and more rusted railway lines that seemed to travel into the dense forest and beyond. But what intrigued Sunny the most was an old factory complex not too far away from her, surrounded by worn but stable brick walls, what looked to be barbed wire along the tops, and noticeably, it's tall smokestacks that were giving out wispy amounts of smoke. "Huh, that's strange, if these are all ruins, why is that factory over there giving out smoke? Unless... It's not abandoned at all, and somepony is using it right now." Sunny thought to herself. If that was the case then that could only mean one thing, she galloped down the hill towards the factory, and soon her suspicions were confirmed, the tire tracks that she had been following were heading straight towards the factory gates. "I knew it, Izzy and her friend Wormwood must've travled to this factory, that means they must be inside it." Said Sunny in realization. As she continued her approach to the factory, she noticed right away that there were more signs of activity going on, including the drones that had been harassing her and her friends from before, now flying around and patrolling the area around the building, no doubt to keep out anypony from snooping about the place. "So the drones are here then, everything is starting to add up now." Sunny thought to herself, as she ducked behind a nearby piece of debris to observe the situation. The main way into the factory was sealed by a big heavy looking iron door, and with the tops of the walls surrounded by barbed wire, there seemed to be no easy way to get into the factory at all. "Hmm, there must be a way to get inside there, but how?" Sunny said to herself, thinking deeply, "What would Izzy do in a situation like this." She had a look around for anything that could give her an idea as to get inside there, that's when she spotted some junk laying around that looked like it could be used to make a seesaw, including a rock for a pivot, a long worn wooden beam, and a boulder big enough to help launch her over the walls and into the factory grounds. "I got it, this should all work!" Said Sunny, as she set to work on assembling the seesaw. Before long, Sunny had everything ready, she made sure that the seesaw was facing in the right direction towards the factory building, then she pushed the boulder onto one end of it, the weight of it was heavy, but, being an Earth Pony by birth, Sunny was blessed with great strength in her bod. "Phew, there we are, now then, I just need to climb up on top of that ridge there, then jump down onto the seesaw, and presto, I'll be inside the factory in no time!" Said Sunny, a look of determination on her face. She proceeded to dash up on top of the ridge, then looked in the distance at the factory, she had to make sure that there was enough of a gap between the patrolling drones so that when she launches herself in, she won't be spotted by them when she landed, lest she ends up alerting anypony inside to her presence. Focusing her eyesight hard, she soon saw her chance, and got ready to jump. "Steady... steady... Now!" She shouted out, jumping back, and then running and jumping off the ridge as fast as she could. She landed on one end of the seesaw with such force that the boulder launched straight up into the air, and then crashed down hard, launching Sunny off the seesaw and into the air. "Weee! Don't worry Izzy I'm coming!" Sunny shouted in excitement. But, she then realized too late that her aim was a little bit off, and that instead of landing right in the factory grounds, she was heading straight for one of the windows. "Oh shoot, No no no NOOO-" There was a loud smash, as Sunny crashed through the window, rolled along the floor and ended up landing into a pile of rusted old junk. Dazed, dizzy and shook up a little, she soon regained her senses and got up, rubbing her foreleg. "Owww, wow... That was some crash, it wasn't how I planned it, but at least I am inside-" She was interrupted when she heard a familiar noise outside the broken window, one of the drones, perhaps alerted by the noise of the window smashing, had arrived to see what was going on, Sunny had to hide under the nearby junk to avoid being detected. After a few moments, the drone had moved on, Sunny breathed a sign of relief. "Phew, that was way too close, the last thing I want is to get caught now." Said Sunny, standing up, then inspecting herself of injuries. After being certain that she had no cuts or worse from the landing, Sunny had a look around the room, it seemed to be an old storeroom, long since abandoned and gathering dust and rust, filled with trash and junk that perhaps was important here long ago, along with old posters on the walls that seemed to be advertisements of some kind, all trademarked by the so called "Flim&Flam" Corporation, perhaps an old company from ancient Equestria long ago. Curious about the posters, Sunny then spotted an open door next to them, moving towards it, she took a peek outside into the corridor to see if anypony was around. "Hmm, no pony in sight, perfect." She thoguht to herself, as she sneaked out and began to trot carefully around the corridor. She began to hear distant noises echoing from a distance, the sound of machinery actively working and chugging away, along with the distant beeping sound of drones out on patrol. "It sounds like this whole place is under guard, I better be careful and snoop around quietly." Sunny whispered to herself, keeping low and moving along the corridor. She moved down the corridor towards a doorway, she took a peak outside into another corridor, on her left there were some stairs that led down to a lower floor of the factory, and on her right there was another door, but it was all sealed up with old wooden planks, there was no way she was going to get past that without making a noise. Shaking her head, Sunny instead chose to go down the stairs, she proceeded to do so, and found herself in yet another dusty corridor, with a glowing light at the end of it. "Gosh this place is so dusty, it's enough to make you wanna sneeze non stop." Sunny remarked, trying not to do just that. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, peering past the doorway, Sunny saw that a large room lay ahead of her in a rough L shape with an upper level, and it was clear that this room had seen some work done to it, as large power cables flowed all along the floor and overhead to places beyond. Sunny then spotted robot ponies standing guard near a doorway on the upper level, the doorway in question was blocked by laser beams coming from machines built around it, most likely to block anypony from sneaking in. The sight of that alone made Sunny very curious about what they were guarding, but, the problem facing her was how to get past it all, she knew that there was no way she could take on both robot ponies alone, one alone was bad enough to fight. "Great, now how in the hay am I going to get past that?" She mumbled to herself, thinking about her options. Taking a careful look around, Sunny noticed that the lower level she was on didn't seem to be guarded at all, and that on the right side there was a way into another room up ahead, she decided to creep up there and see if there was a way forward. "Let's have a looksie around there." Said Sunny, quietly sneaking from cover to cover, and eveing up the path ahead. It looked like some sort of old store room full of rusty old barrels and worn wooden boxes, but it also appeared to connect to the upper level of the adjacent room, which Sunny realized she could use to her advantage. Without wasting any time, she ducked into the room, and began to plot a path up, quickly hopping onto stacks of barrels and crates, taking care not to cause a ruckus while doing so. Before long she gripped the edge of the balcony and pulled herself up onto the upper level, she saw right away that she was now on the other side of the laser barrier, and the robot ponies none the wiser. "Hehe, silly robots have no idea I just slipped past." Sunny chuckled to herself, as she trotted on away to the next room. She then froze when she spotted what looked like a camera up ahead scanning the area ahead, forcing her to dart behind some boxes in cover to avoid it's gaze. "Bother, i'm gonna have to move quick and fast in order to get past this." Said Sunny, waiting until the camera turned away before dashing to new cover. She would repeat this multiple times, until she finally reached the far wall under the camera, then she moved off down another corridor, and she noticed bright lights up ahead, with the distant noise of machinary getting louder and more clear. "I must be getting close to the heart of the factory, I hope Izzy is okay..." Sunny sighed, as she kept up the pace. It wasn't long before she found herself on a hanging walkway above the ground, and she took a good look below her to see what was going on, and that's where she made a shocking discovery. "W-what!? What is all this, what on earth..." Sunny said in shock. There was rows upon rows of conveyer belts busily moving along components and equipment around, including what looked like parts to build more robots, but what alarmed Sunny the most was what looked like missiles being made, the warheads being put together by machines, and then carried down to parts elsewhere. "M-m-m-missiles!? W-what... What the buck is going on here?" Said Sunny, surprised at herself for cursing. That wasn't all though, she also spotted what looked like bombs being made as well, along with more laser cannons, it was crystal clear now that whoever was in control of this factory had ill intent in mind, and Sunny guessed that they aimed to attack all of Equestria with these weapons. "This is bad, I need to find Izzy now and warn the others back home, Maretime Bay, no, all of new Equestria is in danger!" She said to herself, before moving on down the walkway past the machinery. She reached the end of the walkway and found another flight of stairs that led down to an area that was dark without lighting. Luckily, Sunny always carried around a flashlight for these sort of situations, she took it out of her satchel and switched it on as she slowly descended down the steps into the darkness. "Hmm... From the look of things, these lights were turned off deliberately, there must be something pretty important down here that nopony wanted to see." She said to herself. Soon Sunny found herself on the ground again, and proceeded down the dark path ahead of her, the noises from the factory growing fainter as she went on. As she kept an ear and an eye out for anything suspicious, she began to hear noises that stood out from the rest, they were low, but they didn't sound too far away. "Huh, they sound like ponies to me, but why would other ponies be in a place like this?" Sunny wondered, moving in the direction of the noises in the darkness. As the noises grew louder and more distinct, Sunny began to wonder if the pony noises were what she suspected them to be, and this made her eyes open in horror. "If those pony like noises are what I think they are... Oh no, I better hurry!" She said, and soon galloped on down the hallway in a hurry. She spotted more cameras up ahead scanning the area, but using the same trick as before, Sunny was able to get past them, and she soon found herself in front of another doorway blocked by laser beams, Sunny knew better then to try and get past them without getting cut to pieces. "Okay, now how do we get past this, hmm, maybe a power source nearby?" She thought aloud. She then eyed a power cable on the floor, and then followed it up the wall to a nearby plug socket that it was connected to. Sunny knew right away what she had to do, she gripped the cable tightly in her hooves, and with a mighty pull, she pulled it out, there was a low humming noise, and the laser barrier turned off, clearing the path ahead of her. "Right, now let's see what's inside here." Sunny Said, as she dashed through the doorway. She soon found herself inside a large room, it was brightly lit with floodlights which momentarily blinded her after having gotten used to the darkness in the corridors, as well as what looked like a holding cell like structure in the middle of it, and what looked like a Unicorn pony laying down in the middle of it. Sunny immediately got a bad feeling about this, she took a step forward to see about checking the pony in question, when a voice rang out. "H-hey, is somepony there, hello!?" Came a tired voice from nearby. Sunny's ears reacted to the voice, she then slowly turned her head to the right, and was greeted with a shocking sight that nearly made her shriek loudly, for there, trapped in row upon row of high tech looking cages, looking tired and thoroughly drained, were all the missing Unicorns. One by one, they all looked up at Sunny, some seemed to have hope returned to their eyes, but others simply stared at her with blank expressions. "H-hey, it's an Earth Pony!" Said another voice. "I don't believe it, somepony has found us, at last!" Said yet another voice. Sunny was too stunned to respond, her worse fears had been confirmed, the Unicorns had been taken here, and that could only mean one thing. "Wait a m-moment, is that you... Sunny Starscout!" Came a familiar voice. Sunny shook her head to focus, and saw amongst the Unicorns none other than Primrose, a Unicorn who had recently gone out on a date with the Sheriff, Hitch, but she had not seen her around since that time. "Primrose, it's you! But... How did you end up here, how did you all end up here!?" Sunny asked Primrose, looking up at all the captured Unicorns. Primrose sat up and started to talk, "W-well... It all started when I was heading back home from Maretime Bay after my recent date with Hitch... I heard this loud noise from behind me, and that's when I saw this big dark thing chasing after me... I tried to run away, b-but it caught up to me, a-and then-" Then another Unicorn interrupted her, "The metal monster captured us! It captured us and brought us all here... and then those mean robot ponies took us away to the... the...-" "The? The what? What did those robot ponies do to you!?" Said Sunny anxiously. That's when a voice called out from behind her, "The machine... they took us to the machine... and then... the machine proceeds to drain us of our power..." Sunny looked behind her, the Unicorn in the cell was now sitting up, but was in a bad way, he had clearly been injured from the bruises on his body, like he had been in a fight recently. "That's terrible... who did this to you mister umm..." Asked Sunny. "Starduster, that's my name... Tell me Sunny, Jasmine, is she safe?" Asked Starduster. "Jasmine? Yeah she's safe with my friends, and we were able to fight against the robots and chase them away from Bridlewood." Said Sunny. Starduster breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad to hear that... But now how will you get us out of here?" Sunny looked around the place, the cages looked to be sealed with some sort of electrical lock, it's unlikely she could pry them open even with her Earth Pony strength, there had to be another way to get them open. "Hey umm, I once saw one of the robot ponies over there, messing with some kind of control panel, perhaps there is something there that could help." Said one of the Unicorns, pointing it out with their hoof. Sunny looked in the direction they were pointing, and then headed on over to the control panel, it was full of buttons and switches, including the ones that unlocked all the cages in the room, which she proceeded to press and flick to trigger them opening, the Unicorns who had all been watching looked on in disbelief, until one of them shouted. "Look everypony, the cages are open, we're free!" Shouted Dreamy, one of the captured Unicorns. "About time we were unlocked, now let us leave before we get clocked." Said another, which a lot sounded like Onyx. All of the Unicorns then rushed out of their cages, dancing around in euphoria at their freedom, a few of them then tried to use their horns to cast magic, only for small sparks to come out instead. Sunny then went into the holding cell whose door had also opened up to help Starduster to his hoofs. "Thank you for your help Sunny..." He said slowly, grunting as he tried to move. "Hey you should take it easy Starduster, you're pretty banged up." Said Sunny, helping him move forward out of the holding cell. Some of the other Unicorns also helped him out, and starting to help bandage up his injuries. "Did you really fought all of those robots all by yourself Starduster?" Asked Primrose. "Heh... Yeah I did miss, but I think I bit off more than I could chew, but... It was all to allow my daughter to escape back to the village." Said Starduster. "Wow... I always thought you were just a fussy, tea loving, stick in the mud, but... You truly are brave pony Starduster!" Said Dreamy, one of the Unicorns that had been captured. "Hey now, I act fussy because of the antics you ponies get up to... But still I couldn't allow those robots to hurt a foal, that's just not right." Said Starduster. "Well, either way mister, you're a brave Unicorn, and now that we're out of here, let's get the hay out of here!" Shouted Jasper, who made a beeline towards the doorway. Sunny however went wide eyed, realizing that something could hear them, "W-wait, Jasper don't go-" It was too late, Jasper had been caught by a security camera in it's sights, after which the klaxon started going off around the factory. "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY, INTRUDERS HAVE BEEN DETECTED, ALL UNITS MOVE ON INTERCEPT COURSE." Shouted a voice over the intercom. "Great... Now we're really gonna get it..." Said Primrose, sitting down with her head in her hooves. "Jasper, you ding dong, next time look where you're going!" Shouted Dapple, Onyx's music partner. "Uh heh heh, umm opps?" Said Jasper sheepishly. The other Unicorns groaned, but they were now spooked by the approaching sounds of machinery. "T-they're coming...!" Shouted Primrose. "What do we do now!? Without our magic we cannot defend ourselves!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny however, was not concerned, instead she began reaching into her saddle back, and then pulled out her helmet she used for roller blading, dented and worn from the last battle, but still in one piece. "Umm Sunny, what are you doing?" Asked Starduster. "Well what else? I'm getting ready to fight those robots and help us to escape." Sunny replied, placing the helmet upon her head. "Huh? B-b-but that's crazy Sunny, what if there is too many of them!? They'll blast you to bits!" Said Primrose in disbelief. "Maybe, but i've faced off against these bucket of bolts before even while outnumbered, and me and my friends came out of that victorious. Yes we may have had some cuts and bruises, but it's better than getting blasted to a crisp, or worse." Said Sunny, tying up her helmet, then flexing her hooves. "Sunny... You mean to fight all of them, by yourself?" Asked the tall Unicorn Leaf, normally a pony of few words. Sunny let out a huff, then turned round to face the Unicorns, showing a look of determination, "No, we are all gonna fight them together. If we pool in all of our strength, we can break out of here and put a stop to whoever is behind all of this, but only if we work together." The other Unicorns looked at each other, exchanging mixed glances and feelings, then Starduster spoke up. "Sunny's right everypony, we've let those robots push us around long enough, I say it's time we take the fight to them...." He said, standing upright on his own. Jasper looked at him wide eyed, "B-but Starduster, we don't have our magic anymore! How are we supposed to fight them without it-" "Use your brain dummy, you still got your own hooves haven't you?" Said Dreamy "Ohhh, well I did take some Unicorn fighting lessons recently, they could finally come in handy." "I don't know about you ponies, but I got a bolt to pick with these bots." Said Dapple, cracking his neck side to side. "On a normal day, I am clam like a summer breeze, but on this day, I am a storm that blows down the trees, let's total them." Said Onyx with a smirk. At that moment a group of robot ponies burst into the room, along with a group of flying drones, all of them packing laser weaponry, they soon had all of the ponies surrounded on all sides. "HALT, THE PRISONERS ARE LOOSE, THEY MUST NOT ESCAPE!" Shouted one of the robots. The ponies however were not concerned, with renewed vigor in their bodies, they all took battle positions as the robots aimed their weapons at them, waiting for the signal. "This is it everypony, are we ready? GO!" Shouted Sunny, as she charged forward. The rest of the ponies all gave out a battle cry as they followed her in charging towards the robots, who retaliated by opening fire, and soon a big battle began to take place, with explosions and blasts of light echoing throughout the corridors and rooms, for now, the battle for the Unicorns freedom was now underway. Meanwhile in another part of the factory, Doctor Wormwood was busy showing to his new friend Izzy Moonbow some of the inventions that he had been working on, all the while remaining unaware of what was going on not far away. "As you can see here Izzy, in this workshop i've been doing all sorts of inventing, such as this thruster back pack right here, and this handy grabber that allows us ponies to have greater dexterity." Said Wormwood, showing them off. "Woooooow, all this stuff looks so high tech and so cool and so.... oooh i'd love to try them all." Said Izzy, squeeing in delight. "Hahaha, that's the spirit Unicorn, i'd sure love to see what you could come up with all this equipment at your disposal." Said Wormwood. Izzy gasped, wondering if he is implying what she thinks he is implying. "Wait, are you saying...?" She asked him. Wormwood showed a smile, "Yes Izzy, i'm asking if you would like to work for me, i'm offering you a job." Izzy put her hoofs to her face, barely able to contain her excitement. "Ohhhhh my gosh! I didn't think that when I moved here from Bridlewood that i'd get to have a new job for inventing!" She said excitedly. "Oh trust me Izzy, there will be plenty of inventing going on with us working together." Said Wormwood, moving over to another of his inventions in admiration. "Oh i'm so excited I could just build something right now, maybe a toaster that creates instant jammed toast, or maybe a pair of walking trousers so that ponies can walk upright and not have to be on all fours all the time, oh oh, or I could build a cannon that shoots glitter everywhere, oh wait, I already invented that one." Said Izzy sheepishly. Wormwood raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her, "You invented a cannon that shoots glitter?" "Yeah I did, I haven't used it yet though, i'm still waiting for the right opportunity." Said Izzy smiling. Wormwood seemed amused, but also showed a rather dark look in his eyes. "Why have you also invented a cannon too Doc?" Asked Izzy. "You could say that, although it doesn't shoot glitter or anything pretty like that." Said Wormwood. "Oh really? What does it shoot then? Is it fireworks or something just as explody?" Izzy asked excitedly. Wormwood chuckled, then flashed a smug smirk, "Heh heh heh, oh it is quite explody Unicorn, just wait until the show starts, then you'll see it in action." Izzy tilted her head in curiosity, "Huh? What show? Is something coming on soon that we need to watch?" Wormwood nodded, "Something like that, you don't want to miss it when it happens, it'll be quite the experience-" Their conversation was interrupted when the distant klaxon went off, and the alarms began to ring out all over the place, along with the factory shaking a little as a distinct explosion was heard. Izzy was spooked and confused on what was going on, but Wormwood seemed calm, although a look of irritation grew on his face, he then pulled out a small tablet and began browsing something on it, his look growing more and more darker. "W-what's going on? Are we in trouble or something Doctor!?" Asked Izzy in an unsure tone. Wormwood just huffed, putting his tablet away, then began making his way to the nearby blast door. "We need to get going Izzy, there is trouble brewing not far away, and we need to get to safety, please follow me." He said to her. He pressed the button and stepped through the open door, gesturing to Izzy for her to follow him. Izzy got the message and trotted after him, leaving the room behind, as the klaxon continued to ring out, and the sound of distant explosions rock the factory. However, in Izzy's rush to escape from the room with Wormwood, she didn't noticed that one of the inventions from the room had mysteriously disappeared, an item labled "prototype energy blaster", almost certainly a weapon of some kind. Was Izzy walking into a trap, and is her 'friend' more then what he seemed to be? The stage was now set for the upcoming battle, and the stakes were about to get much more serious than anypony realized. Author's Note Whoa, this chapter took longer to do then I had expected, but i'm glad to have it out finally, as we now begin to enter the meat of the matter with this story, the next chapter is going to be a doozy as everything finally gets revealed full force, i've been itching to get to this part ever since I started writing this over 2 years ago now. If everything goes to plan, I could have the story wrapped up before Christmas this year but we'll have to see since this time of year tends to get really busy!
Act 3 - Chapter 2The sounds of explosions and fighting echoed throughout the old factory corridors, as the escaped Unicorn's led by Sunny Starscout, fought their way through the dozens of robots that stood in their way out of the place, taking advantage of their numbers to smash a path through them. The robots had retaliated by stepping up their attacks against them, shooting lasers towards them rapidly, or even aiming up at the crumbling ceilings and pillars to bring down debris to slow them down, but despite the onslaught of attacks, the ponies continued to fight back, their momentum not slowing down at all. "Take this you bully!" Shouted Daring Flare, another Unicorn who was kicking debris at the robots, smashing them up. "Wooo, I haven't had this much fun since the last Friday Night Food Fight!" Said Dapple, joining in the fight. "Keep it up everypony! We're gonna bust out of here in no time!" Said Sunny, before headbutting another drone hard, making it crash. On and on the battle went, the Unicorns headbutting and skewing every drone they can reach, taking advantage of their horns being sharp and hard enough to do it, while also keeping on their hooves to avoid getting blasted. However, it wasn't long before the damage from the fight was beginning to take its toll on the surrounding environment, as the ceilings and walls started to crack and rumble about around them, the robots remaining oblivious to it. "W-whoa, what's happening now!?" Said Primrose in a panic. Sunny looked all around her, and knew right away what was about to happen, she dashed to the nearby doorway, then whistled back to the rest of the ponies. "Everypony this way! The place is starting to collapse, and we need to get moving, now!" She called out. The Unicorns all understood, and made a dash towards the doorway to follow after her, escaping just in time before the ceiling caved in behind them, crashing the few robots left that tried to follow after them from behind. However, they weren't out of the woods just yet, as the factory continued to shake and fall apart around them, with the corridors they were in starting to cave in too, forcing the ponies to keep on galloping ahead, dodging debris falling in front of them. "I forgot that this factory is like super ancient, all that action we did back there must've weakened the foundations, and now it has caused some of it to start collapsing." Said Sunny, running as fast as she could. "Yes, but at least we lost those robots back there." Said Primrose in relief. "Yeah, but if we don't get to safety, we're all going to get crushed under this rubble!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny thought how to get them out of this mess, until she spotted what looked like a way out up ahead of her, a large door that looked old but heavy, it looked like it could be pushed open with enough force, with a plan in mind, Sunny turned around and spoke to the ponies. "Alright listen up Unicorns, we're gonna have to push this door open in order to get out of here, but we'll need to do it all at once, are we game?" Sunny asked them. "Anything to get out of this mess!" Shouted Dapple, as he made a beeline to the door and started pushing. "Count me in too, I'll push it until I turn blue." Said Onyx, joining her partner. The Unicorns all then joined in with Sunny in trying to push the door open, it was tough, but gradually it began to creak open, all the while the sounds of the place collapsing around them grew louder and more violent. "Come on, push!" Shouted Jasper, desperate to get out of the area. With one final push, the ponies managed to push open the door, and without a moment to waste, they all started to dash into whatever room that door led to just before another collapse happened behind them. "Phew... That was way too close." Said Jasper, wiping his brow. "We did it! I can't believe it worked, we managed to beat the robots!" Said Dreamy, pumping her hooves in the air. "Does that mean we've escaped?" Asked Primrose. "Umm, I don't think we're out of this mess just yet ponies." Said Sunny ominously, looking at something. Primrose looked at her wide-eyed, "Huh!? What do you mean by..." She stopped talking as soon as she saw what Sunny was looking at. Somehow, the ponies had ended up in the large hall that Sunny passed by on the upper walkways earlier, one that was filled with conveyer belts and manufacturing machines, all of them working building weapons, lots of them. "A-are those... m-missiles being made!?" Said one of the Unicorns. "And more robots! What is this place!?" Said Jasper in a panic. "Sunny... Is somepony here planning on making war happen in Equestria?" Asked Leaf grimly. The other Unicorns panicked upon hearing that, clearly unnerved by the sight of weapons around them. "I... I don't know, but I know one thing." Said Sunny, gathering the courage to turn around and face them, "We need to shut this all down, before anypony else gets hurt, then we find whoever is behind all of this and bring him down!" The other Unicorns looked at each other, some were still uneasy about the whole thing, some were panicking and looking around for a way out, others seemed deep in thought. "I agree with Sunny, this madness has gone on for too long, we need to stop it now." Said Starduster, standing up strong despite his injuries. The other Unicorns looked at him, then each other, then back at him. "Whoever is behind this clearly has greater goals than just harvesting our magic for their own purposes, they clearly aim to start a war against all of ponykind... This mad Pony must be stopped, before more ponies end up hurt." He said, clutching his injured side. The Unicorns all murmured to each other, Sunny stepped forward to speak more. "Starduster is right, we cannot allow this villain to get away with what they've done, we've all come this far working together, so let's go further beyond and put a stop to this for good!" She said determinedly. The Unicorns looked at each other again, then they all started to nod in agreement, then turned to Sunny with renewed confidence in their eyes. "You're right Sunny, we ain't letting anypony get away with this, let's take em down!" Said Jasper. "And maybe by doing so, we can get our magic back as well, whatever it takes." Said Primrose bravely. "That's the spirit, alright, everypony, let's get to work and shut this place down!" Shouted Sunny, the rest of the Unicorns joining with her. Then there was a loud noise from nearby that spooked the ponies, the other large door on the other side of the room was opening up, somepony was coming, Sunny and the Unicorns all ducked out of sight, just as a familiar pony entered the room. "Whoa... This place is full of machinery, and gears, and stuff!" Said Izzy. Sunny was in shock, she knew Izzy had to have come here based on the trail she was following, but to see her there, and in one piece too, like nothing had happened to her, she didn't know how to react. She was knocked out of her stupor when she felt a hoof poking her at her shoulder. "Psst, Sunny, is that Izzy Moonbow over there? What is she doing in a place like this???" One of the Unicorns whispered to her. "I don't know, but let's watch and see what's going on." Sunny whispered back. "Wait... What's with all those pointy looking things on those conveyor belts, why do they look dangerous? And what are those robot... robot looking things being built by the machines... wait a moment." Said Izzy, starting to connect the dots in her head. Sunny realized Izzy was starting to figure out the truth, she was about to call out to her when a voice rang out from nearby. "Izzy, where did you go!? It's dangerous, and we need to get moving!" "Huh? That voice, it sounds familiar..." Sunny thought to herself. Izzy turned around and called out to her friend, "Oh I'm right here, in this big huge room with all these machines and such going on." Sunny poked her head up to get a better look, then got a shock when she saw who Izzy was talking too, for standing right there, with his pale green coat and platinum hair, wearing a white lab coat, black hoof gloves, and visor on top of his head, was none other than Dr Wormwood himself, the former chief of Canterlogic R&D, and one of the suspects in the case. Sunny could feel her blood boiling inside of her, she was almost certain that he was behind all of this, and that he was clearly lying to Izzy about being her friend. "Izzy, this room is off limits to everypony! I wasn't planning on showing you this place, at least not yet." Said Wormwood, subtlety hiding his anger. "Ohhh, well then why is that friend, was this area meant to be a secret?" Izzy asked him. Wormwood just rolled his eyes, "Well duh, that's why I asked you to follow me out of here Unicorn, but now that you've seen it all, I guess you want an explanation don't you?" Izzy seemed a little taken back by Wormwood's tone of voice, "Umm, yes, yes I do want to know, you aren't hiding something bad from me, are you?" Sunny decided she must intervene at this moment,"Yes he is Izzy, he's been hiding something bad this whole time." Both Izzy and Wormwood jumped, then looked back to look at Sunny. "S-s-sunny! What are you doing here?" Asked Izzy in surprise. "Isn't that obvious Izzy? I followed you to this place after I lost sight of you in the junkyard, I'm relieved that you aren't hurt or worse." Said Sunny, smiling at her friend. "Well yeah, of course I'm okay, i've been fine this whole time, why do you ask?" Izzy asked Sunny. "I was afraid that your 'friend' had drained your magic for his malicious plans, isn't that right, Dr Wormwood!?" Sunny said, glaring at him. Izzy went wide eyed and stood back from Sunny's outburst, "W-w-what!? What are you talking about-" Sunny wasn't finished, she angrily stomped over to the Pony scientist watching her, "Admit it Doctor, you've been using your robot creations to hunt down the poor Unicorns in Bridlewood, then bringing them all here to be drained of their magic using the very machine you planned on having built at Canterlogic, all for your secret plan to launch an attack on Equestria, Am I right!?" "S-s-sunny wait, you are going too far!" Said Izzy, trying to reason with her, to no avail. "That's right Wormwood, it was all you! The mastermind behind the missing Unicorns across Bridlewood and Maretime Bay, as well all the drone attacks we've had to deal with, it's you Doctor Wormwood!" Sunny said, baring her teeth. Wormwood just stood there, his face unmoving, but his eyes showing flashes of anger, and joy as well. Izzy then huffed and grabbed Sunny's head and made her turn towards her, looking at her intently. "That's enough Sunny, you're going to far! I knew it, I knew you would end up choosing to side with Zipp, Hitch and Pipp against me and my friend... The Doc is not the one we're looking for Sunny, in fact, he wants to help us!" Izzy shouted in protest. Sunny looked at Izzy, confused by her reaction, "Izzy, listen to me it's-" "NO, you listen to me Sunny Starscout!! I refuse to allow you or anypony else to break the friendship that me and the Doc have only just started, everything you've just said and pointed out, it's all just one massive coincidence, it has to be! Yes he might have the smarts and more to build these robots and drones, but if he really was behind all of this, then he would've done something to me as well, wouldn't he!?" Shouted Izzy, showing a rare flash of anger in her eyes. Sunny was stunned by what Izzy said to her, leaving her unsure what to say back. Izzy let out a sigh, then looked at Sunny pleadingly "Listen to me please Sunny, he wants to help us out, he said he wants to help us find the missing Unicorns, and I think I know where they are being kept now, they have to be at the Canterlogic building, probably in some super secret underground basement, kept under lock and key to prevent anypony from snooping around to find all the abandoned prototypes they didn't want ponies to know about-" "Oh for Unicorns sake, Izzy, we're all over here you dunce!" Shouted Jasper from the Unicorns hiding place. The other Unicorns all looked at Jasper, bemused at his outburst just now. "Great going there Jasper, you just had to open your big mouth." Said Starduster. Jasper realized what he just did, and hid away sheepishly. Izzy however, turned her head to look in their direction, and was shocked to see all of her fellow Unicorns appearing one after the other. "H-h-h... HUH!? Y-y-y-you, h-h-how did you-" "We were all captured Izzy, just as Sunny told you, captured by those vile robots and locked away inside those awful cages, and that Pony over there is the one responsible for all of this!" Said Dreamy, pointing out Wormwood. Izzy, still wide eyed from the sight, looked back at Wormwood, then back at the Unicorns, looking in disbelief. "It's the truth Izzy, we've also all been drained of our magic... We can't do anything with our horns anymore, not even simple lifting." Said Primrose, trying to levitate a nearby bucket using her magic, to no avail, her horn gave off weak sparks instead. "I bet my lucky horseshoe that this Pony Doc is also the one who created the Metal Monster that haunted the woods too!" Said Dapple, pointing at Wormwood. The other Unicorns all seemed to be in agreement, Izzy however was still speechless, processing what she had just seen and heard, it was then that she saw amongst the Unicorns the one pony whom she had been looking for, Starduster, who had saved the little filly Jasmine from being captured, she immediately galloped up to him. "S-Starduster, is that you!?" Izzy asked. Starduster smiled, "It is me Izzy, I heard that Jasmine got to safety, i'm glad for that." Izzy looked over Starduster, noticing the bruises across his body, "W-what did this to you... Wait, don't tell me." "Yes Izzy, it was the robots that did this to me... They would've done the same thing to poor little Jasmine too if they got to her..." He said, letting out a sigh, but also seeming to be in deep thought. Izzy went over and gently cuddled the brave stallion, taking care to not agitate his injuries, "You are brave Unicorn for doing something like that, Jasmine will be so happy to see you again once you get back." Starduster however, didn't hear it, instead he shivered as he looked at Izzy, then at Sunny. "You know, I just remembered something just now, I was able to remain conscious enough to see where the robots had taken me, and who it was that was with them." Starduster said, sitting upright. Izzy and Sunny both looked at him as if he had just grown a new head. "H-huh, what do you mean?" Asked Izzy. "The robots did take me to this factory after I was defeated, they dragged me here like I was log cut down from a tree... But, most of all, I saw who it was that was commanding them!" Starduster said with growing confidence. Izzy seemed to hesitate what to ask him next, so Sunny stepped in to ask him instead. "Who did you see Starduster, who is the one commanding the robots?" Starduster glared over at Dr Wormwood, pointing him out with his hoof. "It was him, he was the one commanding the robots to take me away! But that's not all, I saw him clutching something that glowed in a way that it seemed like it was magical, I'm willing to bet my horn that is how he's been using our stolen magi-AAAUUGGHHH!" Starduster screamed out, having been blasted by something, or somepony. Sunny, Izzy and the Unicorns all jumped back in shock, and began looking around seeing where it came from, until Izzy noticed Leaf staring straight ahead, wide eyed and in fear. "L-leaf? W-what are you looking... At... N-n-no, you don't mean...!" "That blabbering Unicorn he should've kept his big mouth shut, but now, you've all learned far too much." Izzy, wide eyed and scared, slowly turned her head around, and then went pale with fear, for there, before her very eyes, was her so called friend Doctor Wormwood, clutching in his hoof something shaped like a hair drier, but it was clearly a weapon, one that had a glowing capsule on top too, and it had clearly just been used to blast Starduster. "D-d-d-d... D-doctor... W-w-what are you-" "YOU MONSTER! How could you do such a thing!? I will not let you get away with this!" Shouted Sunny, baring her teeth and seething with anger. "Starduster was defenceless... He was already injured, and you had to go and hurt him again! This has gone too far!" Said Primrose, showing a rare shade of anger as she turned to face the scientist. "You've done it now scumbag, now you'll find out what it means to bring the wroth of Unicorns down on ya!" Said Dapple, eager to leap at him. "I originally didn't want to have to resort to the hurts, but now, we must give this mad pony his just desserts!" Rhymed Onyx, clicking her neck side to side, ready to attack. Wormwood however, was unmoved by the scene, showing no remorse for his actions, huffing instead, he turned around and prepared to leave. "Hmph, you insolent little ponies, just try and stop me now!" "Get him!" Roared Sunny, rearing up and charging after him. Wormwood then proceeded to aim his weapon up high and blasted the walkway above him, causing it to collapse. "Look out!" Called Primrose, moving fast to dodge the falling debris. Sunny had no trouble keeping up with the mad scientist as he continued his escape, with the Unicorns right behind her, eager for retribution against him for all he had done to them. Izzy meanwhile, was left alone in the room, still in shock from what she had seen and witnessed before her, slowly understanding the truth as it had been revealed to her, in the most heartbreaking fashion. She had trusted in Wormwood, despite all the evidence and clues pointing to him, she didn't think he was the villain behind the missing Unicorns from Equestria, she was ready to stand up for him even if the world turned against her. But to have what just happened all take place before her, she didn't know what to do, but she could feel tears starting to roll down her face, and a gradual chattering of her teeth, as her emotions inside started to become too much for her to hold in. "I-I-I... W-w-why... Why... W-w-w-w... WORMWOOD!" Izzy let out a cry of sadness and shock, letting out her emotions in one scream that seemed to echo all through the hall, she sat down on her haunches, sobbing quietly to herself. But it wasn't long before she was interrupted by a noise from behind her, the sound of movement from somepony. Taking a deep breath and wiping away her tears, she turned her head to look, and saw one of the Unicorns that had not followed after the others tending to Starduster near some crates, the Unicorn in question was an older looking one with greying cerulean hair and tail, and a familiar pale yellow coat. As Starduster tried to sit up again, the Unicorn gently eased him back down. "Now now my friend, you need to lay still, you've taken a bad hit, and you need to rest or you'll hurt yourself more." Said the Unicorn. "Augh, b-but... I have to stop him... For Jasmines sake..." Said Starduster, still feeling the effects from the blast he took. "Don't worry about that friend, he will be stopped, but for now, your well being comes first, it's a miracle that blast didn't do much worse to you, you are certainly tougher than you look Starduster." He said. Starduster gave a weak smile, "Heh... They always told me that back home, even Alphabittle said that I was the toughest Unicorn in Bridlewood, after him that is." The Unicorn chuckled, "Heh heh heh, I can believe that, especially if it allowed you to save my daughter." Starduster's eyes widened, then he turned to look at the Unicorn in surprise, "Wait, are you saying that-" "Yes indeed, you saved Jasmines life my friend, she is my daughter, and I cannot thank you enough for it." Said the Unicorn, smiling warmly. Upon hearing this, Izzy trotted on over to join them, "Oh so you are Jasmines father, I should've known from the resemblance outwardly." "That is correct, allow me to introduce myself, I am Cobalt Shine, and I think you both for looking after my daughter, she must be worried sick about me." Said the Unicorn. "Oh she's fine, she's waiting for you back at Bridlewood, she's actually been really helpful to us, if it weren't for her we wouldn't have gotten the important clues for this case." Said Izzy, smiling warmly. "I'm happy to hear that Izzy, but... What will you do now?" He asked her. Izzy closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh, "To be honest, I don't know what to do, after what I just witnessed, I feel confused and lost... And hurt, and sad, and angry too." "That is to be expected, the friend that you trusted turned out to have been a villain, and unless you stop him, he'll only continue to hurt more ponies out there." Said Cobalt. "I know that, but... I trusted him, we shared the same love for inventing... I even made this friendship bracelet that I was going to present to him at some point today, to show how much having a friend like that mean to me..." Said Izzy glumly, showing the bracelet off. "I understand Izzy, but remember, it's not the end of the world if one of your friends turns out to be a bad guy, for your true friends will stuck by you no matter what." Said Cobalt. "He's right Izzy... Sunny and your friends in Maretime Bay have stuck by your side ever since you first met, and they will continue to do so... A bond like that can only come from true friendship..." Said Starduster, gently sitting up. Izzy closed her eyes, letting off a deep sigh, she knew what they said was true, but still, she felt hurt by her former friend Wormwood's actions just now, for not only did he carry out the kidnapping of all the Unicorns from Bridlewood, but now he had gone and hurt a defenceless pony right in front of her who had gone out of his way to save a friend from being captured. Feeling that her friendship with him was all for nothing, and that he had likely been using her all along for protection, or worse, that he planned on capturing her too for his own nefarious purposes, she clutched her newly made friendship bracelet and let out a groan of anger, then opened up her eyes, looking at Starduster and Cobalt with new determination. "Alright, I think I know what to do now, I need to go catch up with Sunny and the rest of the Ponies, and stop that mad doctor before anypony else gets hurt. Both Cobalt and Starduster looked at each other, then smiled back at Izzy. "Very well, don't worry about us Izzy, we'll try to find a way out of here to safety." Said Cobalt, helping Starduster up. "Take care of... Augh, yourself Izzy, and make that mad doctor pay for this...!" Said Starduster, clutching his leg as he tried to stand up. "Good, we'll meet up back in Bridlewood, and without further ado, charge!" Izzy shouted, turning around and running to catch up with the other ponies. "Do you think she'll be okay Cobalt?" Starduster asked. "She will, so long as she has Sunny and the others with her, she'll be fine." Said Cobalt. Starduster agreed, and without wasting anymore time, the two ponies made their way out in the opposite direction, hoping to find a way out of the factory and escape to safety, little knowing that some of the robots nearby were secretly following them. At about the same time, Sunny and the rest of the Unicorns, who had been chasing after Wormwood had reached a large empty looking hall, just like the one they were in before. They were sure that the scientist had been running this way, they were hot on his hooves, despite him trying to slow them down by causing distractions and obstacles. Furiously looking around the darkened room, Sunny called out for the mad doctor, determined to stop him. "Wormwood, show yourself! You've got nowhere to run now, why don't you just give up and return the magic back to the Unicorns!" Shouted Sunny. It was then that a deep mad laughter echoed throughout the room, followed by Wormwood talking from the shadows. "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Sunny Starscout, that power is far too important to my plans." Said Wormwood. "Too important!? You monster, you think you can just take our magic away and treat us like garbage afterwards!?" Shouted Primrose. "You monster, using the Unicorns magic for your own ends, what do you hope to achieve with it, to conquer Equestria with your army of robots and drones!?" Sunny called out. There was a low noise from nearby, followed by the sound hooves stomping along the upper walkways. "Foolish little ponies, don't you realize that magic is the greatest power in the whole world, a power that I have now managed to harness for use for all of ponykind! Imagine all of the possibilities that could be achieved by utilizing this power for everyday life, every household appliance, every light, lamp or beacon, every machine, computer or smart phone, everything, all powered by the miracle that is magic!" Wormwood echoed out. "That may be true doc, but your methods of using magic will be harmful to the ponies whom you have taken from! There are better ways of using magic to help everypony else than just treating it as a weapon to be used for conflict!" Sunny called out. "A weapon you say? Heh, I guess that is one way of looking at it, in it's use as a weapon, it could be used to defend our lands from many kinds of threats, such as the other pony tribes who might not see our way. Or even better, what if the other pony tribes were interested in using it against us? What if all my discovered ended up in the wrong hooves, the whole of Equestria plunged into a war unlike any other!" Sunny gasped at the horrifying implication that Wormwood just presented to her, then stomped her hoof in anger. "How could you think that way Wormwood!? The other pony tribes would never use magic against each other, not after i've shown them that we can all live in harmony and work together without fighting one another anymore! The Unity Crystals alone are proof of that ideal! I won't allow the return to magic to be abused for anypony's selfish use, including you as well doc!" Then a shot rang out from above her, but Sunny managed to dodge the energy blast after jumping away, then she and the Unicorns scanned above them, trying to find out where it came from. "Hahahaha, oh that is just rich, do you really think that everypony is willing to go along with that ideal, do you really believe that you alone can stop me from achieving my ambitions?" Wormwood called out. "She's not alone, she has us Unicorns to back her up, and her other friends as well!" Shouted Primrose, standing up for Sunny. "Hah, how foolish, then let me ask you something Sunny, do you really believe that the pony tribes today wish to see the return of Equestria as it was centuries ago?" He asked her from the darkness. "Huh, what do you mean by that?" Asked Sunny, unsure where he was going with it. "Hmph, I thought not, you have no idea just what potential is being wasted by trying to return us to the ideals of Old Equestria, ideals that are no longer relevant today, don't you see, society has moved on Sunny, what may have been the case centuries ago is no longer the case anymore. No, what this world needs is something new, something radical, something powerful and all conquering, to bring everypony together under a new banner!" Said Wormwood from nearby above. "You aren't saying..." Sunny said. "I am saying it Sunny, I propose that all of the pony tribes be united under a new order, led by one pony with the ambiton, will, and technology to bring Equestria to a new age of dominance and power! A ruler who will rule all with an steel hoof, and will not hesitate to crush any opposition that dares to challenge their rule!" Wormwood said passionately. Sunny and the Unicorns couldn't believe what they are hearing. "Yes, that is what must be done, it is what I must do, for I alone am that one who will make it happen, me, your new ruler, your new master!" Wormwood declared. It was then that the lights turned on, and Sunny and the Unicorns all saw Wormwood on top of a platform above them, standing in front of a massive machine of unknown purpose. He gloated to the ponies below him, fully revealing his true nature to them all. "For on this day forward, I shall be known as, Lord Wormwood!" Said Wormwood, as he let out a loud mad laugh that echoed throughout the room. The other ponies all looked on in fright at the display, especially the machine behind the mad pony scientist. "Hahahaha, behold little ponies, the culmination of my genius and research into the power of magic, a weapon of my own creation to bring about my domination of all Equestria! It is none other than, The Prototype Energy Tri-focused Annihilation Laser, or PETAL if you wish. With this invention, all of Equestria will bow down to me and allow me to rule, or else, they will risk their destruction!" Wormwood declared, as he pressed a button on the console. The PETAL machine stirred, then moved upwards and began to unfold it's 'petal' like panels, revealing a large laser cannon inside of it, along with large clear containers of some kind, full of glowing energy, which Sunny knew very well could only be one thing. "That must be... It has to be the magic that mad pony has stolen from the Unicorns, that's what must be powering it!" Sunny said out loud. "This is horrible... What is he going to do with all of that?" Said Primrose, clearly unnerved by the sight. "Haha, and now, as a treat for all of you in attendance tonight, I'll be happy to give you a little demonstration of the kind of power this beauty is capable of unleashing, now pay close attention, and watch in awe at it's display of power!" Wormwood said, as he pressed a button on the console. The machine began to rev loudly, then of the PETAL Machines flower panels all aligned up, and each shot out a beam of light towards the main cannon in the centre, charging it with energy, a bright yet evil glow of energy bleaching out the room. Sunny and the ponies looked on in horror and silence as the PETAL Machine got ready to fire. "And now, FIRE!" Wormwood shouted out. The PETAL machine let out a loud booming noise, and at that moment, a large powerful beam of energy shot out from it's cannon, shooting straight up towards the roof of the factory, and in an instant, the whole roof was obliterated a huge massive explosion, causing debris and rusty old girders to begin falling all around, it was like the whole factory was beginning to collapse. Sunny and the ponies only just managed to knock themselves out of their stupor just in time to avoid the carnage happening, the noise from it all was deafening, and the terror of it all, unthinkable. "Heh heh heh heh, heh heh hahahahaha! Oh it works, it works so beautifully, my ultimate weapon is perfect!" Wormwood said in awe of the display. Sunny managed to get back to her hooves, but she was left in shock at the destruction all around her, including the now gaping hole up in what was once the factory roof. "H-h-holy cruddy runny ambrosia pudding...!" Said one of the Unicorns in surprise. "T-the roof... it's c-completely gone...!" Said Leaf in disbelief. Wormwood looked down at the ponies, flashing an evil grin on his face. "Heh heh heh, this is the just a taste of the power that the PETAL Machine is capable of, imagine the chaos and destruction I could unleash if this was aimed at a major town or city, the destruction it could cause would be unthinkable." Said Wormwood, gloating in his apparent victory. That causes Sunny to jump up in shock, barely holding in her building anger. "You wouldn't dare you scum bag! This madness is getting out of hand, I won't allow it to continue anymore!" Sunny shouted out. Wormwood looked at her, raising an eyebrow in mild curiosity. "So, you still intend to stand against me Starscout? Pah, you are no different from your old man, that fool, if only he knew how right he was about magic and the past history of Equestria, i'm sure he'd be proud of you for what you've done." Said Wormwood. "My father... My father would be proud of me, as I'm sure he is right now... But he'd be so disappointed in you for what you've done, especially after everything you both did together growing up." Said Sunny. "Yes, that would be true, he would feel let down at my actions... Except that I still wouldn't care, he should've known that I was only using him for my own agenda all along." Said Wormwood with a chuckle. Sunny looked at him wide eyed, "W-w-what!? What do you mean!?" "I mean what I just said, he was nothing but a fool for me to make believe in just so I could learn all I can from him, after all, it was thanks to him that I found this factory in the first place, and it was thanks to him that I learned all about the power of magic in the first place, oh and how can I forget, it was also thanks to him that you had the idea to unify all the pony tribes together and restore magic to Equestria through the Unity Crystals, yes, all of that done at the advantage of myself." Said Wormwood. Sunny felt as if her poor heart was breaking, she now began to realize how Wormwood was never a friend to her father at all, it was all just a lie. "Aww what's the matter Sunny, you're now starting to realize it? You and your father were just a means to an end for me, and now that we are here at this point, I have no more use for you, or your pathetic Unicorn friends! All that matters to me now, is my ambition to bring all of Equestria under my iron hoofed rule, and nopony, nopony will dare stand in my way!" Said Wormwood, laughing madly. Sunny seethed in anger, she was hurt by the reveal of Wormwood only using her father for his own plans rather than being a true friend, she couldn't hold back anymore, this mad pony had to be stopped now. Reeling her head back and letting out a yell of anger, she was determined to bring the doctor down. "RRAAAAUUGGGHHH!! I swear on the spirit of Twilight Sparkle herself that I will stop you Wormwood, and destroy your awful machine and end your terrible plans, right here right now!" Said Sunny, slamming her hoof down and bearing her teeth in anger. Wormwood looked down at her, showing slight annoyance that she wouldn't give up. "If that's how you want to play Starscout, then fine, your hometown of Maretime Bay will be the first target for my magnificent creation to destroy, say goodbye to your home and friends Sunny!" Said Wormwood, reaching for the console and activating the machine. "I won't let you, everypony, GET HIM!" Shouted Sunny, as she and the rest of the Unicorns charged towards Wormwood. Wormwood however let out a huff, then pulled a nearby lever, which started to make the place rumble, making Sunny and the Unicorns stop in their tracks. They then watched as the machine started to rise up, elevating to it's full height, out through the ruins of the factory roof, and up into the sky above. "H-hey, that's cheating, no fair!" Shouted Dapple. A nearby monitor turned on, with Wormwood laughing at them. "Hahahaha! Surprised? The PETAL Machine has plenty more tricks to it than just being a doomsday device, it's also capable of self defence, and can fire it's weapon from up to a hundred and fifty meters into the air, you should see the view from up here, it's fantastic, I can almost see Maretime Bay from up here." Said Wormwood on the screen. "If you think hiding up there is gonna stop us from climbing up to you, think again Wormwood!" Said Sunny. "Hm, i'd like to see you try Sunny, all drones and robots in the vicinity, attack now, finish off these miserable ponies!" Wormwood shouted out. Sunny then heard noises all around her, and saw a whole army of drones and robots smashing their way into the ruined room, their weapons aimed at them. "Holy moly, there is too many of them, we'll be overwhelmed!" Shouted Dreamy. Sunny however was quick to notice one of the walkways had fallen down to make a makeshift stairway to the upper levels, she knew there was no time to lose, they had to get up to the factory roof and put a stop to the mad doctor, at any cost. "Everypony, this way hurry!" Sunny called out, galloping over to the nearby walkway. "Follow Sunny everypony, there's no time to doubt, for we must hurry." Rhymed Onyx, as she and the rest of the Unicorns followed after her up the walkway. The robots all opened fire at them, missing and then giving chase after them, all the while, Dr Wormwood at the top of the PETAL Machine began inputting the coordinates to aim the weapon at Maretime Bay, then with a flick of the lever, the weapon began to charge up, he intended on using the full power of the weapon to reduce Maretime Bay to a smoking hole in the ground, no caring who gets caught in the devastation. "Finally, after all these years my ambitions will be achieved, all of Equestria will bow down to me, or risk destruction! Heh heh heh, hahahahaha!" Said Wormwood, letting out another mad laugh. The situation was most grim indeed, will Sunny and the Unicorns make it to the top of the PETAL Machine in time before it fires, or will Maretime Bay be destroyed? The clock is ticking, and Sunny will need every help she can get to reach the mad scientist before disaster happens, if only her friends Izzy and the others can reach her in time. The stage has been set, and the final battle is about to commence. Author's Note This chapter took a little longer to do than I was hoping, it's been a rough couple of weeks due to mental health taking a hit, and work becoming a real tiring chore for me, but either way, i'm happy with how this chapter has turned out, i've been itching to get to this part since last year, and now we can finally move onto what might be the penultimate chapter, if I decide to make the one after that the epilogue.
Act 2 - Chapter 2Far away from the trees of Bridlewood forest, in the depths of the Equestrian wilderness, inside a hidden facility, there was a dark-secluded room lit up only by rows and rows of computer screens and the sounds of distant machinery at work in the background, and within that same dark-secluded room, a shadowy figure of a pony lurked within. They were sitting back on their chair watching over footage of a familiar group of ponies seemingly running away from something that was chasing after them, growing amused over their shouts and screams as they were blasted at by unseen enemies. They were however disappointed when one of the ponies, a familiar Pegasus princess, started to fight back against their attackers, pulling back a big thick branch along with the sheriff, letting it go, smacking into the attackers, sending them reeling back, and in one case, causing one of them to break down in smoke. As the group escaped into the trees towards Bridlewood, the figure turned away deep in thought, pondering their next move. "So... the sheriff and his merry mares have all managed to escape my robot's have they? Hah, I was hoping that the robots would rough them up a little more before they escaped to the village. There is no doubt now that they will warn the remaining Unicorns about what's going on in the forest, that, and having seen my robots in action against them, they will likely be wary of further attacks against them." The shadowy pony leaned back on the chair, in deep thought about the circumstances at hoof, silently considering their options and what to do next. "I could just send in my whole army of robots straight into Bridlewood, they would almost certainly overwhelm them with sheer numbers alone, and lead to the capture of everypony that is there, but... Such a move is too reckless for my liking, and I don't want to play all of my cards so soon, especially since I still need to finish up my master plan." The shadowy pony turned their chair towards another screen, a big one that showed the progress of some sort of secret project they were working on, a sinister grin growing on their face as the progress was reaching the final stage. "I only need just a few more days to put the final touches onto it, and then once I have done so, no pony will be able to stand in my way as I achieve my long held ambitions at last!" Leaning back on the chair to let out a deep hearty laugh, the shadowy pony was then interrupted by an alert that went off on the screen to their right. Swinging around to check it out, they saw that a group of robot ponies were approaching a secret location, bringing along with them a Unicorn that had been captured in a net, a familiar looking Unicorn. Tenting their hooves together in delight, the figure turned around to view another screen to see the Unicorn being taken away to some sort of entrance into a facility built underground. "Excellent, another Unicorn has been captured, that makes seventeen that have been taken so far. If I can just capture one or two more, that should be more than enough to complete the master plan." The shadowy pony shifted their chair over to yet another screen, one that showed security footage of every single Unicorn that had been captured by them so far, more than half of them were familiar faces, including the music duo of Onyx and Dapple, Leaf, Dreamy, and even poor Primrose. "Let's see who we've got this time." Imputing some commands, the screen changed to footage of the newly captive Unicorn being taken to some sort of holding cell in a secret location. The lead robot with a red spiky mane inputted on a nearby control panel, causing the cell to unlock and open up. The robot ponies then unlocked the net that the Unicorn had been trapped in, and with a heave ho, they threw their captured prey into the cell, closing the door behind him. The Unicorn was none other than Starduster from before, he had sacrificed himself to the robots in order to give Jasmine time to escape back to Bridlewood safely. Starduster had tried to fight back against them, but he was outnumbered and outmatched by their sheer robotic strength and weapons, leading to his capture. "What a foolish Unicorn, trying to fight off my creations all by himself, the poor fool deserved his injuries if I say so myself. He can just stay lying there for now until I have need of him, heh heh heh." The figure then leaned forward to shout out orders to the robots on the intercom. "Leave the Unicorn inside the holding cell for now, do a check to make sure the location is secure, then report back to your posts for further orders!" The robots obeyed the orders, and carried out as their leader had asked. Leaving Starduster inside the holding cell alone, they scouted around to check for any breaches or slips in security, scanning around twice over. Satisfied, the robot pony with the red spiky mane, seemingly their commander, motioned to them to leave the facility through the main door, one by one they left, the big heavy steel doors closing behind them, soon silence fell onto the room, as Starduster lay on the floor in the holding cell, still unconscious from his battle. After a few minutes, some voices began to speak up, it was from none other than the Unicorns from Bridlewood that had also been captured by the robots, all locked up inside cages piled up in a corner of the room. "Is that Starduster over there? They've captured him too!?" "It looks like him, I recognize that mane of his anywhere..." "Oh no... No no no no, I can't take this anymore! Just how many more Unicorns does that monster and his minions have to capture before they're satisfied!?" "Calm down Primrose, we'll think of something..." "Think of what!? None of us stood a chance against those things on our own, what if that fiend has got a whole army of them and worse waiting for us if we tried to make an escape? We'd all be crushed into mush instantly!" "But we have to think of something, I can't take being stuck in this stupid cage anymore!" "It's hopeless everypony, I tell you, it's hopeless!" The Unicorns were growing restless, they seemed to have been prisoners for a while now, with little food and water provided to them, now they were slowly going mad from being locked up for so long. The shouting and arguing carried on until they were silenced by a soft yet loud voice nearby, it was coming from a Unicorn in a lonely cage in the other corner of the room. She leaned forward, showing her wavy mane with blue and teal highlights. "Settle down everypony, please! There's nothing we can do right now... we're trapped in here with no way to escape, not without our magic... the only thing we can do is hope for the best right now..." The other Unicorns were silent for a moment, then as the reality sunk in for them, they quietened down. "I'm sorry about the uproar, but... I just want to go home..." "I'm sorry too everypony... I'm just worried about my daughter... I fear for her safety... all alone without anypony to hang out with..." "I'm sure she'll be fine mister, after all, our leader always looks after the little ones with dedication and care, especially in the absence of parents." The older Unicorn sighed deeply, then slunk into a corner of his cage, thinking about his daughter back in Bridlewood. "I hope so... just please be safe, my little Jasmine... Daddy will find a way out of this... somehow." The shadowy pony had been listening in silently on their conversation through the security cameras, they seemed amused at their suffering. "Poor useless Unicorns, they must be so desperate to be let out of their cages, so sad that they all want to go back home again, I bet they'd do anything for it, perhaps even working for me, hahaha! Such melodrama and emotion, it's worthy of a theatre play in of itself." Satisfied with his new captured prisoner, the pony then turned their attention back to the big screen, with the Mane Five in its view. "Still, I cannot just let the sheriff and his band run around and interfere with my plans, that could be a serious problem. Hmmm, as tempting as it is to just launch an attack on Bridlewood itself, I'd rather just wait for them to make the first move instead, and expose themselves out from the villages safety, that way I can deal with them in force and be rid of their meddling hides for good! After inputting some more commands into the computer, the shadowy pony then stood up and began gloating more openly. "Then once they're out of the way, I can finally focus on my dream, my ambition, to conquer all of known Equestria! To subject everypony and everything to my superior will and power! All will bow down to me, their future leader, and no pony will stand in my way!" The pony then gazed sinisterly upon something in the room, a tall glowing cylinder-lantern like device sitting on a desk, pulsing with a familiar rainbow-coloured light, like a prism. "And it all starts with this, the greatest source of power in the world!" The pony then let out a loud maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the place as the glowing cylinder pulsed more in the corner, all the while not far away, inside what looked like an old factory, there were scenes of conveyor belts pulling along parts of machinery, lasers cutting sheets of metal to pieces, and assembly lines putting them all together into a new robot for the pony's army. There were also sights of weapons being tested out, missiles, laser cannons and more, all being aimed at crude cut-outs of various ponies as targets. But, most troubling of all, was the sight of something huge and ominous being worked on in the centre of the whole place, covered in tarps, cables and scaffold, it was hard to describe what it could be, but the size of it leaned into the fear of it being some sort of giant weapon, among many others that were planned to be unleashed upon the whole of Equestria when the time came, which was drawing nearer with each passing hour. There was no doubt about it, the mysterious villain was planning to conquer all of Equestria using these weapons, the ponies at large had no idea of the danger that was building in the shadows, nor who was behind all of it, and just what is this mysterious "greatest source of power" they speak of, and where did it come from? The Unicorns that have been captured may hold the answers, if the Mane Five can find them before it's too late. Elsewhere, back in the Bridlewood settlement, the young Unicorn Jasmine began to stir in the bed, having been asleep for the last little while after running away from the danger in the forest. She gave out a long deep yawn, then opened up her eyes to take a look around. She noticed that she wasn't wearing her glasses, but was able to discern that she was inside a room of some kind, and that she was in a bed. "Am I safe now?" She said to herself. Looking around the room again, she then breathed a sigh of relief, next she looked over to the table on her right, she spotted her glasses laying there, along side a cup of water. "Ah, my lucky glasses, I hope they aren't damaged." Said Jasmine, as she took them into her hooves and gently put them on. Luckily she saw that they were intact, though they did need a cleaning from all the dust around the edges. However that was the least of her attention right now, she scanned around the room, and realized right away where she was. "I must be in one of the Crystal Tea House guest rooms. but that must mean..." After letting the thought sink in for a moment, she held her head in her hooves, shedding a few tears, but also smiling in relief. "Ohhh thank Twilight... I made it. But still... Poor Starduster, he gave himself up to save me... I fear what those things have done to him... especially the Metal Monster." She said to herself, reaching over to drink from the nearby cup. The poor filly had a lot on her mind right now, enough that it was giving her a headache just thinking about it all. She wanted to go find Starduster and save him, but she knew that would be dangerous, and foolish after seeing how powerful those "metal looking ponies" looked, she wouldn't stand a chance on her own. She also wanted to warn the Unicorns in Bridlewood about what's really going on in the forest so that they can all be better prepared to deal with the danger that surrounds them. She was still deep in thought when she began to hear voices coming from beyond the door, it sounded like a meeting of some kind was going on in the main hall of the Crystal Tea House. Curious, Jasmine hopped out of bed to hear what was going on, leaning her head onto the door to listen in. "Wait what? You were all attacked and chased into the forest?" "That's right, me and everypony else had split up into two groups to cover more ground, but before long we were ambushed and chased about by these drone looking things, we were lucky to escape into the trees and reach Bridlewood safely." "I'm sorry, but drones? What exactly are those things?" "They're a kind of remote controlled flying machine with a computer program built in, like a robot if you will, they're mostly used for entertainment purposes around Zephyr Heights, but I also have a few that I use for detective work, as you can see right here." "Interesting, but if that's the case, how can these 'drones' pose a threat to you ponies?" "They normally don't, but these ones were all souped up, with armor plating, laser cannons and the works. "Yeah, the way they all zipped around like 'ZOOM', and then blasting away at us like 'PEW PEW PEW', 'BAM BAM BAM', it was so cool, but also scary, it was scary cool!" "Izzy! We could've been injured or worse from those attacks!" "I know that, it's a good thing my glitter flares were able to get us out of that mess right?" "Yeah they did, I figured they would be just for show, but they really came through for us Izz." "I know right? I'm amazed that they worked so well too!" Jasmine studied the voices, she recognized one of them all to well. "Is that Izzy Moonbow? She's finally back in Bridlewood!" She said, trotting on the spot in excitement. Lifting up a hoof, the young filly gently turned the door knob, and slowly opened the door to peek outside. She saw that Izzy was here alright, but so were her friends, including Sunny, Pipp, Hitch and Zipp. They had just cleaned themselves of the debris and mud from their escape, and were now sitting at a table with Alphabittle. "Anyway, onto business as they say, Alphabittle, can you tell us what exactly has been going on round here?" Said Sunny seriously. Alphabittle however, seemed to be rather cross about something, and instead stood up straight. "Well hold on, I have my own questions first, what took you all so long to come to our help?" Said Alphabittle sternly. Hitch was about to say something but he was cut off by Zipp speaking up. "We're sorry that we didn't come soon enough, but we're here now to help you out- Alphabittle however lashed out before she could finish. "Excuse me, sorry!? We've been sending out calls for help to Maretime Bay for the last two weeks now! Letters, e-mails, comments, even some of our own braving the forest to reach there, only to end up vanishing with little trace. I was about to give up hope, and only now you decide to show up here to help us out!? Do you have any idea how bad our situation is right now!?" Shouted Alphabittle. Zipp was taken aback by the statement, but Sunny tried to defuse the situation. "I know how upset you are Alphabittle, we've had ponies in Maretime Bay tell us yesterday about the missing Unicorns, we aim to help you find the missing Unicorns by working together- "Is that supposed to make me feel better!? Foundless optimism and hope isn't going to bring my fellow Unicorns back Sunny! Working together, hah! If we were all working together as you like to champion, none of this would be happening! For somepony who actively promotes friendship, harmony and such ideals, you sure have failed to live up to that standard you set yourself, Sunny Starscout!" Said Alphabittle harshly. Sunny wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words to say. Alphabittle was angry yes, but he did have a point in what he said, and it cut her deep like a knife. An unsettling silence filled the room, until Hitch finally cleared his throat and spoke up. "It's my fault Alphabittle, I'm the one responsible for this whole mess happening... it's all on me and my failure to take it seriously." "What? You sheriff?" Said Alphabittle, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, i've been receiving the letters for help from Bridlewood as you said, but my lack of knowledge of Unicorn customs, along with the fact that I assumed to have had no permission to assert authority in Bridlewood lead to me pushing them onto the side while I focused on other matters in the town... It wasn't until yesterday when a citizen came up to me and told me about what was going on, and only then did I stumble upon the case that was going on under my snoot all along... I was a fool for nearly letting this case go cold!" Said Hitch, bucking a nearby chair to the ground. Alphabittle looked on at him, focused on his words. "I'm sorry for letting this happen Alphabittle, I should've known better, but I listened to my misplaced judgement, and now that I look at this mess I ended up in... maybe it's better if you just turn me away and let me return back to Maretime Bay in disgrace..." Said Hitch, slowly turning away in sadness. "Hitch, wait you can't-" Said Sunny, before Zipp stopped her, shaking her head at her. "I let you, and all the Unicorns down... I'm sorry..." Hitch was prepared to leave, but he felt a hoof stop him, he glanced back to see that it wasn't his friends doing it, but Alphabittle, who still had an angry look on his face, but deeper in his eyes, there was a sign of understanding in them. "Sheriff, I'll be honest, I am disappointed in you and your friends for not responding to my fellow Unicorns requests for help sooner, that's why I had that outburst just now, it's been hard for the rest of us here in Bridlewood." Said Alphabittle, who then softened his look and started to talk more calmly, "However, that doesn't mean I will reject your offer to help us outright." Hitch's face brightened as he heard that, turning around to look at Alphabittle fully. "But tell me, why on earth did you ever think that you'd need my permission to operate here in Bridlewood? Sheriff, I don't think you've ever noticed it, but we don't have an active police force active here." Said Alphabittle bluntly. "H-huh!? You mean that..." Said Hitch stutteringly. "That's right, you can operate here as a member of authority under my say so, since you are a trusted and respectful officer Hitch." Said Alphabittle. Hitch rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sheepish sign, "Well, I feel really stupid now don't I?" Alphabittle smiled and let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah, but don't sweat on it too much, right now we've got bigger things to discuss." Sunny smiled, knowing they can finally discuss the case at hoof, "Yes, now back to what we were saying earlier about what was going on." For the last half hour, Alphabittle and the Mane Five proceeded to talk about the whole situation in detail, Alphabittle explaining about all the Unicorns disappearing around Bridlewood and the mysterious "Metal Monster" that has been sighted in the forest, while Sunny and her friends explained what they know about the case, and the "drone" attack that happened to them on the way to Bridlewood and how they escaped. "Huh, so they came from the trees and ambushed you is that it?" Said Alphabittle. "Yeah they did, it was scary, Pipp screamed really loud like 'AHHHHHHH' and then flew off straight ahead like a comet, i've never seen her go that fast before, we struggled to keep up using our roller blades on the rough path." Said Izzy. "I think I went a little too fast honestly, I ended up smacking into a tree and landing in a mud puddle, all the while doing a brief story for my Ponygram too! Augh, they were laughing at my misery!" Whined Pipp, still looking at her phone to filter out the comments. "Hmm, then how did you end up covered in mud then?" Alphabittle asked Sunny. "Oh I was trying to help Pipp out of the mud puddle, but Izzy didn't slow down in time and we both ended up covered in it." Said Sunny, both looking at Izzy unamused. "Hey I couldn't help it, I like to go fast in the woods!" Said Izzy, missing the point entirely. "Right, now how about you two?" Asked Alphabittle to Zipp and Hitch. "We had the same situation in our group too, but when they tried to surround us, we busted our way through using a big tree branch to send them flying, and then we ran as fast as we could, so much that we didn't notice that we had left them behind." Said Hitch. "What I'm concerned about is why did those drones attack us in the first place, how did they know where we were going?" Said Zipp, deep in thought. "Yeah, I mean you and me Zipp have been used to drones since we were fillies, but I've never seen ones like them before, especially since drones aren't allowed to be armed with weapons in Zephyr Heights by law." Said Pipp. "Really? Aww, I would've loved to arm a drone with one of my Glitter Flares." Said Izzy, examining one in her hoof. Pipp facehoofed at the thought of it. "Moving on, that means we can rule out Zephyr Heights, but now comes a new question, where did these drones come from, who made them, and why?" Said Zipp, typing down on her phone. "I don't know, but I'm getting a feeling that it might be related to the Unicorn disappearances." Said Hitch thoughtfully. "Hmm, we'll need more information in order to know for sure what we're up against." Said Sunny, trotting around deep in thought. The group were left thinking for a little while before a voice spoke up that spooked them. "Oh umm, excuse me." The ponies looked over at Jasmine who had been listening to them by the open door to the guest room, and almost right away, Izzy rushed over to her, knocking over a table in the process. "AHHH! Hello there Jasmine! How have you been little one? Asked Izzy excitedly, gently patting her head. "Oh u-umm... I've been better?" Said Jasmine with an awkward grin. "Oh what's wrong? Did something happen to you?" Izzy asked her, concern on her face. "Umm... well I was-" "She was attacked by the Metal Monster in the forest." Alphabittle interrupted, adjusting the table back in place. All the ponies looked at Alphabittle, then back at Jasmine, Izzy then reacted in horror and looked closely at Jasmine. "What, a Metal Monster nearly got you!? That's terrible! Can you tell me what happened?" Said Izzy, showing a rare show of seriousness. "Jasmine, please take a seat and tell us what happened out there." Said Alphabittle, providing said seat for her. Jasmine agreed, she walked over and sat down on the chair, taking in deep breaths, after a few moments she looked up, with a serious expression. "Okay, I'll tell you all what happened in the forest." Jasmine then went into detail about how she went into the forest early in the morning to look for her father who had disappeared trying to get to Maretime Bay, she instead ran across Starduster who had also left for Maretime Bay that same day, she was forced to accompany him on the path back to Bridlewood since she wasn't allowed to be out on her own, when they were chased by the Metal Monster and forced to flee. They thought they had escaped it by entering a secluded groove, when they were surrounded by strange metal ponies armed with weapons in their hooves. They then attacked, but Starduster sacrificed himself to allow her to escape to safety, she ran for her life as fast as she could, not looking back, and managed to reach Bridlewood before long. However, she had collapsed from exhaustion after all that running, and had been asleep until now when she woke up and heard the commotion outside her room. "That's all I can remember..." Said Jasmine, trying to hold back tears from Starduster's sacrifice. The Mane Five and Alphabittle had been silently listening to her story, and now were taking in what they just heard. Zipp, Hitch and Sunny seemed to be deep in thought, while Pipp and Alphabittle had blank expressions on their faces, then suddenly, Izzy spoke out loudly. "WHAT!? Strange metal ponies!? They must be aliens who have come to steal our crops! AHHHHHH!!!" Screamed Izzy. Zipp donked her on the back of the head, "Knock it off Izzy, this is a serious situation!" "Ow, and aliens stealing our crops isn't?" Said Izzy to Zipp, rubbing the back of her head. "They aren't aliens Izz, but still, strange metal ponies is a new one on me, if I didn't know better, I'd say that what she saw was perhaps more drones, that were looked like ponies." Said Zipp, typing all of it down. "Hmm, they sound too big to be normal drones sis, I think that they are in fact legitimate robots, real robot ponies!" Said Pipp somewhat excitedly. "Real robot ponies? I don't think i've ever seen such a thing." Said Hitch, who looked at Sunny who shook her head. "It's been on my personal wish-list for like, ages now, but whenever I bring it up to mother, she always says, 'We shouldn't rob our servants and citizens of their jobs by building robot ponies who could replace them'." Said Pipp, imitating her mother's voice, to Zipp's amusement. "Hmm...if that is the case, then we're not just dealing with drones, but also robot ponies that are armed just like they are. But if that's correct, then where could they have come from? Zephyr Heights has already been ruled out since they are forbidden by law, but if so, where else could they have been built?" Said Sunny, thinking deeply. "...Unless, but couldn't it be." Said Hitch, connecting the dots in his head. "If you are thinking what I think your thinking sheriff, then it has to be it." Said Zipp, realizing it too. "Oh my gosh, of course, how could I have forgotten all about it!" Said Pipp. Then the four ponies came together and all shouted, "Canterlogic!" "Canterlogic!? But I thought Phyllis had shut the company down months ago." Said Alphabittle. "That she did Alphabittle, but... even though it sits abandoned and all, it still has plenty of equipment, machinery and materials for manufacturing things, perhaps even these 'robot ponies'." Said Hitch, taking these notes down into his book. "Do you think somepony has started it back up again? If so, why would they make such awful things, and if they are behind the Unicorns vanishing, what could they want with them?" Asked Sunny to Hitch. "I don't know, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all of this." Said Hitch, looking worried. "Then there is the matter of the Metal Monster that's lurking out in the forest, if that thing too is responsible for the Unicorns vanishing, then I think we need to track it down and stop it before it strikes again." Said Zipp. "Whaaaat! Are you crazy Zipp!? The Metal Monster sounds scary, it might eat you!" Said Izzy in a panic. "Actually that reminds me, tell me little filly, what did this so called 'Metal Monster' look like?" Asked Hitch to Jasmine. "Well... from what I could remember, it looked like a big floating... trash can like thing, with a strange looking head and a single glowing red eye, and what looked like big long arms on its sides. I also remember it making this real scary noise as it was approaching, like a strange howling sound behind it." Jasmine described. "Hmm... sounds like a very strange looking 'monster' to me." Said Hitch, not sounding convinced. "I wonder... what if it isn't a monster at all, but actually just another robot as well?" Said Zipp thoughtfully. "That is a possibility, but we won't know until we see it for ourselves." Said Sunny. "That's right, and I propose that we do a stake out tonight, to track it down before it strikes again." Said Hitch boldly. Alphabittle overheard what he just said, and shocked turned to look at him, "Wait, you aren't seriously going to try finding that thing are you??" "We have to Alphabittle, if we don't do something about it, then it'll attack again and more Unicorns will vanish, we need to nip this whole problem in the bud right here and now." Said Zipp, looking determined. "But that thing is dangerous! What if it attacks you instead?" Said Alphabittle, concerned for them. "It's a risk that we will have to take, it's the only way that we'll get a lead on what's happened to the missing Unicorns." Said Sunny, standing next to Hitch. "Yeah, and if Canterlogic is involved in this, then we'll need to see if these robots were made by them, and if they do then we can hopefully trace it back to whomever did so, then we can arrest the scoundrel and have them face justice for their crimes!" Said Pipp, standing next to Sunny. Alphabittle looked at the group, they all looked determined to do their part to help out in stopping the Metal Monster, even if it was likely going to be dangerous, especially since it sounded like there was indeed somepony behind all of this, and that the danger is greater than he had imagined. Finally, after letting out a heavy sign, Alphabittle decided to relent. "Very well then, if you are determined to confront the Metal Monster and save the Unicorns, then i'm coming to help out too, they are not just my friends, they're almost my brothers and sisters too." Said Alphabittle, standing tall. The group cheered at the response, now all they needed to do was how to organize the stake out, and how to track down the Metal Monster in the forest. However, while Hitch, Zipp and Alphabittle discussed the plan, Sunny by now noticed that Izzy was being unusually quiet, normally she'd be involved and jumping in by now, but instead she was just sitting there deep in thought about something. Curious about her strange behavior, she went over to check on her, gently tapping her. "Umm Izzy, are you okay?" Said Sunny, tapping on her friend. This seemed to have caught her off guard as she jumped from the unexpected touch. "AHHH! Oh umm, sorry about that Sunny, I was just busy thinking about something in my head after overhearing everypony talking about Canterlogic and robots, something about it rang a bell in my head just now" Said Izzy. "Really? What sort of bell did it ring?" Asked Sunny. "Well, remember yesterday when I was talking about making a new friend down at the junkyard? I just remembered what he mentioned to me when we were talking, my new friend used to work for Canterlogic too" Said Izzy. Upon hearing that, the rest of the Mane Five and Alphabittle turned their attention to Izzy, eyes open wide, Zipp in particular leapt on over to her, nosebooping her intensely. "What!? Izzy that's huge information! Did this friend say anything else to you?" Said Zipp in a serious tone. "Umm... well he also said that he does a lot of inventing, and that he had a little robot drone with them by his side, and that he was looking to see how to use magic for the benefit of all ponykind." Said Izzy, recalling as much as she could. "Uh huh, tell me more Izz, I want to know more about this pony!" Said Zipp, bearing down on Izzy hard. "Sis! Your scaring her!" Shouted Pipp, showing concern for Izzy. Zipp however just shot a harsh glare over to her sister that shut her up fast, before turning back toward Izzy who by now was looking nervous. "Tell me Izzy, who is the pony, and what else did he say?" Shouted Zipp, in full interrogation mode. "Umm... well... the only other things he said to me was his name, that he was part of the 'club' around Maretime Bay before the reunification of all ponies." Said Izzy, who was not used to Zipp being so forceful to her. "Uh huh, interesting... Wait a minute, is this pony the so called 'Dr Wormwood' you mentioned yesterday?" Said Zipp with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah that's the one." Said Izzy with a nervous grin. "Interesting, very interesting." Zipp said to herself, deep in thought. Sunny and Hitch were also now in deep thought, it seemed that the name 'Dr Wormwood' was familiar to them, especially that he was part of the 'club' around Maretime Bay so to speak, but where did they hear about it? Suddenly, Sunny hopped up in shock, it seemed she had finally connected the dots in her head. "Ah hah! Of course, how could I have forgotten all about him! I know exactly who this Dr Wormwood is!" Sunny exclaimed to Hitch. "Ooooh of course, the former chief of R&D at Canterlogic, but he hasn't been seen around town for over a year now." Said Hitch, realizing who they were talking about. Zipp turned to look at them in suprise, "Wait what, you two know who he is?" "Duh, of course we do, in fact, everypony who has ever lived in Maretime Bay knows who he is." Said Hitch. "Well now, this changes a few things, right sis?" Said Pipp. "Right, I think it's best if you both tell us more about this Dr Wormwood, and why he is such a big deal in Maretime Bay." Said Zipp, flipping open her notebook to take notes. "Well sure Zipp, but... It is a doozy of a story, I think Sunny will explain it better than I can." Said Hitch, gesturing to her. Sunny gestured back, then turned and took a seat at a nearby table, taking a deep breath as she began to recall all the memories she had about the former scientist at Canterlogic. "Well, from what I can remember, his full name is Dr Altair Wormwood, he used to work for Canterlogic as it's Chief of R&D, in fact he was there when the company was first founded many moons ago. He was friends with my father Argyle and Phyllis way back in their school days, they used to hang out together in and out of class, especially during my fathers tales about old Equestria. Phyllis and the other ponies always never believed what he was saying, Wormwood however, was always interested in listening to his stories, especially about magic and the wonders it can do, my father said to me that out of everypony else, he was the only one who ever believed him. I mean hay, they even went out on journeys together into the wilderness beyond town, exploring the old ruins and abandoned towns in the land, they were like the best of friends." "Whoa! That's really interesting Sunny, I never knew about that." Said Hitch, sitting there and listening intensely. Sunny took a sip of some tea that Alphabittle provided to her, then continued with her story. "Well I never really told anypony else about it since it hasn't come up until now, but yes, the two of them where good friends. But... As they got older and older, they started to drift apart from each other and it wasn't long before they both went their own seperate ways, my father continuing his studies of old Equestria on his own, while Wormwood would join Phyliss in founding the Canterlogic company. Even so, when I was a young filly they would sometimes meet each other again to catch up on matters, but even back then I could tell that things were never quite the same between them, especially since he was now part of the 'club' of Maretime Bay, shunning the other ponies outside of Maretime Bay." "Hmmm, that's been said out loud a few times now, but what exactly is this 'club'?" Asked Pipp. "It's less of a 'club', and more what the older ponies in our town referred to as their agreed stance against Unicorns and Pegasus ponies, based on their then superstitions regarding them at the time. Of course, now such things aren't really important anymore with the recent unification of Equestria, but still, there are a few ponies around here that are still partial to that 'club'." Hitch explained. "Yeah... But anyways, it was after my fathers passing that I started to hear more about what Dr Wormwood was up to at Canterlogic, he was busy inventing all sorts of inventions, including automated home security cameras, propulsion packs for limited flight, drones for everyday use such as cleaning, but, what really put him on the map was his unveiling of the original prototype of what would come to be known as... 'The Unicorn Traps'." Said Sunny, looking down. "Wait wait wait... Hold on now, you're saying that my new friend was the one who came up with those wacky traps in the first place?" Said Izzy curiously. Sunny let out a deep sigh, then looked at Izzy sadly, "Yes Izzy, it was Dr Wormwood who invented them, and after the success of the prototype, Canterlogic began to mass produce them in no time at all, they were to be placed all over town in order to snare up any Unicorns who dared to invade... I tried to protest their use many many times, arguing that innocent ponies could be put in harms way, and that Unicorns were not dangerous to us, but my words always fell on deaf ears..." "Ohhh, well, if it makes you feel better, I didn't think they were that bad honestly, after all we did make the most of when I was trapped in one not so long ago, right Hitch?" Said Izzy, recalling the time when she was trapped in a Unicorn Trap. "Don't remind me." Said Hitch with a groan. Everypony else seemed to feel the same way, so Zipp cleared her throat to get back on topic. "Anyway, moving on, so this Dr Wormwood wasn't just a former Canterlogic employee, he was also something of a celebrity as well, and a genius to boot?" Zipp asked Sunny. "That's right, he was said to have had over a hundred patents at Canterlogic alone at one point, and not just in Engineering, but he also dabbled in Astrophysics, Theoretical Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, you name it, he's likely dabbled in every science known to ponykind, it's no wonder he scored an IQ of 257 at one point." Said Sunny. "Whoa really? You mean he's like some sort of super genius??? No pony at Zephyr Heights even comes close to that IQ number, not even the royal engineers and science team come anywhere near that level." Said Pipp, who was now actively browsing for information on Wormwood on social media using her phone. "That's right, and there is nopony in Maretime Bay who hasn't heard of him, and the 'rumours' around him as well." Said Hitch slowly. That mention pipped Zipp's curiosity right away, "Rumours you say?" "Wait wait, hold on a moment, is this Dr Wormwood still employed at Canterlogic, even though the company was shut down not too long ago?" Interrupted Alphabittle. Sunny let out another sigh, then spoke in a more somber tone, "Well, no, not anymore... Less than a year before the unification happened, he was dismissed from the Canterlogic company by Phyllis herself, for supposedly harboring symphony towards Unicorns whom the 'club' was opposed to." "Whoa what, he was fired by the very company he founded!?" Said Pipp in surprise. "Uh huh, that was the official statement that the company put out there when it happened, but, to tell you the truth, some ponies were suspicious about it, after all why would the famed scientist be sacked after doing so much to protect the town. That's when the rumours started to go round, and they still go around to this day." Said Sunny, sipping more of her tea. "Hm, fired him over liking Unicorns even though he invented the Unicorn traps? That is very suspicious to me, that sounds like another mystery to solve right there." Said Zipp, taking all the notes down. "Yeah, I mean why would mean old Phyllis sack him for liking Unicorns? I mean yeah at the time they were all 'Unicorns are evil, Pegasi suck, blah blah blah', but still, it sounds rather mysterious, it's almost like Canterlogic was hiding something that they didn't want anypony to know about." Said Pipp. "Hmmm, it is mysterious alright, but now comes the big question, where do we go from here now?" Said Hitch, looking over his notes again. "Hmm, I wonder if Wormwood or Phyllis might know anything about those robots that attacked us, and the Metal Monster lurking out there in the forest. As they're both former Canterlogic big wigs, they might know something about their creation, and that could give us a big lead towards finding the missing Unicorns." Said Zipp openly. The other ponies turned towards Zipp in surprise, Izzy in particular jumped forward and right up to her face. "Blahhh!" Zipp! Are you suggesting that my new friend is a suspect in this case!?" Said Izzy, showing a rare sign of anger. Zipp however kept a cool head and explained, "Izzy, I hate to say it, but right now there is a possibility that he could be a suspect, not enough to say he is guilty of course, but also not enough to find him innocent either." "What makes you suspect Wormwood of being behind all this Zipp? I mean, yeah he is likely smart enough to be capable of building robots and drones that we've encountered, and he was the one who came up with the Unicorn Capture Devices, but still, he's been out of the public eye for a year now, and if he was dismissed for showing a liking for Unicorns, it doesn't exactly depict him as a suspect to me." Said Sunny, who stood by Izzy. Pipp came up next beside her sister, "That is a good point Sunny, however, as you said, he is the one who came up with the Unicorn Capture Devices, and from what i've just browsed about him on social media, it seems like he wasn't forced into creating them at all, but instead did it willingly, that and all the talk of 'rumours' surrounding him doesn't exactly paint him as an honest horse in my eyes. That and our own private investigation we've been conducting regarding a-" "PIPP! That's strictly confidential to us and the Queen!" Shouted Zipp. "Wait what? What private investigation, and what about the Queen?" Said Alphabittle. The two Pegasus sisters looked on, they had both been sworn not to talk about the details of their meeting with their mother back in Zephyr Heights, leaving the situation awkward and the tension high between the ponies. It was then at that moment that there came a knock on the main door which suprised everypony in the room, and a very familiar voice that rang out from behind it. "Alphie dear, are you home? The Unicorns seemed to be scared of coming outside today, is everything okay?" Everypony in the room looked towards the main door wide eyed as it opened up, and there, in all her regal glory, was the Royal Highness of Zephyr Heights herself, Queen Haven. Behind her were the two Royal Guards, Thunder and Zoom who both came into the room ahead of her to welcome her in. "Oh, girls, I didn't expect you and your friends to be here too, am I interrupting anything?" Said Haven. All the ponies were too surprised to say anything, Zipp and Pipp most of them all. Eventually, Alphabittle cleared his throat and went over to greet her. "Well actually Haven, yes you have, but don't worry, we'll tell you all about it, since it is something that's become very personal to me, and it's likely that this could be a bigger problem than we thought." Said Alphabittle. "Oh no, that's not good at all, what is going on Alphie? Why are you all here, and where are all of the Unicorns, they don't seem to want to come outside on this lovely day, what is going on here?" Said Haven, who was now very curious about what was going on. "Yeah I mean usually we'd see them hoping about with their dances and magic, but today they just seem all shut up in their homes, no hello or howdy at all." Said Thunder, blurting it out loud. The ponies looked all around the room awkwardly, but Hitch then stepped forward with Alphabittle to the Queen. "Well... it's a loooooong story your Highness, I think it's better if you take a seat while we explain what's going on." Said Hitch. "Oh well I don't mind at all, I got plenty of time on my hooves, Alphie dear would you mind proving tea for all of us? The usual best please." Said Haven, as she took her seat on a nearby large table. "Coming right up dear." Said Alphabittle, looking happier than he had been all day as he walked to his counter. Pipp and Zipp seemed confused about the exchange, but brushed it off and went over to join their mother. "Right then, tell me what's going on, and why do I get the feeling that involves the Unicorns?" Said Haven to Hitch. The ponies all took their seats around the table, Hitch helped Jasmine up onto a nearby stool, then turned to face the Queen, taking a deep breath. "Well, let me start from the beginning..." Author's Note [EDIT] This chapter has been updated to make it more consistent, and to clear up some inconsistencies. Hey all, I was hoping to get this chapter out sooner, but real life has been kicking my ass again, and having to deal with the flu on top of that really sucked away any time I could've dedicated to finishing up this part. I didn't want this part to go on too long, so I decided to save some of what I had come up with for the next part of Act 2 instead, so as to not drag this part out for too long. I aim to get started on Act 2 Part 3 ASAP, since now we're starting to head towards the first of two big climaxes of the story, trust me when I say that we're starting to get into the meat of the plot now.
