As 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!