Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios

New York, Brooklyn.

Henry Stain, an elderly retired animator, stood outside an old, dilapidated building. This was no ordinary building, it was Joey Drew Studios, in its heyday a mostly successful animation studio. Now, the building lay abandoned, forgotten.

Henry looked down at the letter he had received the day before.

It read, 'Dear Henry, it seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoon together. 30 years really slips away doesn't it? If you're in town, come by the old workshop there's something I need to show you. your best pal, Joey Drew.'

Now, here Henry was, outside the building, the very building he and his once good friend Joey Drew had founded together.

Without hesitation, Henry entered the building, the door closing behind him.

Once inside, Henry was surprised, the inside of the building was remarkably still intact.

"Alright, Joey, I'm here," Henry breathed, "let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see."

The next morning, Canterlot City, Twilight's house.

Twilight Sparkle, along with her sister, Midnight Sparkle had woken up and were having breakfast and watching tv.

"Our top story," the news anchor said, "police are still searching for Henry Stain, former animator and co-founder of the short lived animation studio Joey Drew Studios, who has been missing for the past few days. His wife reported his disappearance to the police when her husband failed to return home, after conducting an investigation, the police found no trace of Mr. Stain. While the case is still open, with no new evidence or leads, the police is asking for any help they can get and now we go to Steve Lombard with the weather."

"Weird," Midnight said, while the weather was being announced, "with the amount of geniuses in the superhero community you'd think someone would have found something by now."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "It reminders me of a similar case I heard about, when I was at Crystal Prep, something about a bunch of unexplained disappearances, they were all people who were connected to or worked at Joey Drew Studios, but that case was closed years ago, because of a lack of evidence."

"You think it's related to this case with Henry Stain?" Midnight asked.

"Maybe," Twilight replied, "but I don't think that we can jump to conclusions, we don't know all the details."

"Yeah," Midnight conceded, "I guess you're right."

The two continued on with their day, all the while, the mysterious of Henry Stain's disappearance was on Twilight's mind.

They met up with their friends, they too, had seen the news report and were likewise intrigued and concerned about it.

Applejack mentioned, that Granny Smith used to watch the cartoons that were made by Joey Drew Studios when she was a teenager.

When asked about the studio, Granny Smith said that once Henry Stain left the company, the studio began to decline and then eventually was closed down and abandoned.

As they searched the studio on the internet, there were thousands of theories and rumours surrounding it, an episodic horror video game and even an upcoming movie.

The internet wasn't shy about making unsolved mysteries into horror games.

Eventually they checked out some of the old cartoons, the cartoons had since been digitised and preserved by dedicated fans.

"These are funny," Pinkie said, as they watched one of cartoons featuring their most iconic character and basically the face of the studio, a mischievous devil named Bendy.

When the cartoon was over, Twilight scanned the credits of the cartoon, looking through every name.

"Something wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know," Twilight replied, "but something about these names that looks for familiar."

"Yeah," Midnight said, "this morning you said, there was a bunch of unexplained disappearances a few years back, they were connected to Joey Drew Studios."

"Right," Twilight nodded, pointing to the credits list, "these are some of the names of the people who disappeared."

"I don't see what this has to do with this Henry Stain guy," Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"It has everything to do with it," Twilight answered, "the people who worked or were connected to the studio are being targeted."

"But why?" Fluttershy asked, "and why Mr. Stain?"

"Maybe because he was the co-founder," Sunset suggested, "Granny Smith did say that after Henry left, the studio began its downward spiral."

"Maybe it's someone with grudge?" Rarity added, "revenge for the studio's collapse."

"That's horrible," Pinkie said, "cartoons are supposed to make you smile."

"Maybe so," Twilight stated, "but it's clear, something is happening and Joey Drew Studios is at the centre of it."

"So, where do we start?" Applejack asked.

Twilight looked back at the names on the cartoon credits, looking for any name she hadn't seen before.

After some searching, she zeroed in on one name in particular, Riley Wells.

"Riley Wells," Sunset repeated, "it's a good place as any to start."