Equestria Superhero Girls: Trouble at Joey Drew Studios

Twilight had managed to find Riley's address, with a little help from more tech cavy heroes, Barbara Gordon formerly Oracle now Batgirl and Richie Foley a.k.a. Gear

Twilight and company arrived at the home of Riley Wells, an artist who had worked at Joey Drew Studios in its heyday.

Without any hesitation, Twilight knocked at the door to the house. After a few minutes, an elderly man opened the door.

"Mr. Riley Wells?" Twilight inquired.

"Yes," the man answered, with a warn smile

"We were wondering if we could ask you some questions," Twilight continued, "about your time at Joey Drew Studios."

The moment the studio's name was said, Riley's demeanour changed, he immediately slammed the door in Twilight's face.

Not one to be easily deterred, Twilight knocked on the door again.

The door opened ajar, "Please," Riley said, "just go away."

"But we're investigating the disappearance of Henry Stain," Sunset insisted, "please."

"If you know whats good for you," Riley replied, "you'll stay away from that place, trust me for your own good don't go anywhere near that studio."

With that, Riley slammed and refused to open the door when Twilight knocked on it a third time.

"Well," Rainbow Dash said, "that went well."

"He seemed to be afraid of something," Midnight noted.

"Now what do we do?" Fluttershy asked.

"We keep looking," Twilight replied.

Hours Later.

Twilight and her friends were exhausted, they had been to practically everyone who had worked at Joey Drew Studios, every one had seemed friendly, until the studio was mentioned, they all acted terrified and afraid.

"I don't know about you," Applejack said, "but something fishy is going on."

"Agreed," Twilight nodded, "we need to keep going, we can't give up."

"But we've asked everyone we were able to find," Rainbow Dash interjected, "there's no one else."

"There is one more," Twilight replied, "While I was looking for people connected to Joey Drew Studios, I managed to find someone else who worked there, Wally Franks, he wasn't in the animation department but he did work at the studio."

"I suppose it's worth a try," Rarity sighed, "we've tried everyone else."

With that, the girl moved on to their final stop, the home of Wally Franks, the Janitor and maintenance man for Joey Drew Studios.

Another few hours later.

"This is it," Twilight stated, "our last chance to get some information."

The others nodded, they understood.

Without another word, Twilight knocked at the door, no answer. She knocked again.

"If this is the police or the Capes and Tights crew," a voice from the other side of the door replied, "I already gave my statement."

"Mr. Franks," Twilight said, "we're investigating the disappearance of Henry Stain, we were wondering if you could help us."

"I already told the police everything," Wally answered, "I don't have anything else to share."

"Please," Sunset urged, "we're not with the police or the big hero teams, we really need to your help to solve this."

For a moment, there was silence, then the front door opened, Wally Franks offering the girls to come in.

"Thank you, Mr. Franks," Midnight said.

"Don't worry about it," Wally replied, "and none of that Mr. stuff, call me Wally."

Twilight and the others entered the house and followed Wally to his living room.

"So," Wally stated, "you really think you can find Henry?"

"We can't promise anything," Twilight answered.

"But we sure as heck are going to try," Applejack added.

"If you can provide any information about Joey Drew Studios or Joey Drew himself," Sunset said, "we would greatly appreciate it."

"Are you sure?" Wally pressed, "if you're planning on going to the studio, you might not like what you find."

"What you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Wally explained that, after Henry Stain left the company for greener pastures and to be with his family, Joey Drew took over the company and began making questionable decisions and purchases. Employees were practically run ragged and overworked and would be replaced and asking for sick day was next to impossible. Joey wanted his employees to always be working.
He also invested in the studio, expanding and growing the business. Along with hiring new workers, Joey also introduced voice acting into the cartoons. Joey had also wanted the characters he and Henry had created to be able to walk around, for people to shake them by the hand. So he had invested a large amount of money in order to make his dream into reality, hence the creation of what Joey Drew called the Ink Machine.
The machine was meant to simply mold life-size figures, but Joey just kept pushing, wanting the characters to truly be alive. After one particular meeting, the Ink Machine began to teeter on the edge of magic more than engineering.

"Joey seemed convinced that magic and science were the same thing," Joey said, "then employees started disappearing, of course, I didn't question Mr. Drew, after all he wrote my cheques."

"How did you see all this?" Twilight asked, "surely, someone must have noticed you."

Wally smiled, mischievously, "thats one of the advantages of being maintenance man," he answered, "you're the man who blends in, the man who's name nobody can quite remember, the man who is always in the background, to everyone else I simply invisible, call it my superpower."

"Well, you've been a great help to us," Twilight said, "you've given us enough information for now."

"We should get going," Sunset nodded, "we still have a lot of ground to cover."

"You really should stay away from that studio," Wally insisted, "I repeat you won't like what you find."

"Maybe so," Rarity replied, "but we cannot stand by while someone is in danger."

The rest of the girls nodded in agreement, they got up and began to leave.

"You seem pretty dead-set on going," Wally said, getting up from his chair and reaching into a nearby drawer, "so you should take these."

He retrieved a pair of keys, they were rusted with disuse and had clearly seen better days.

"These are keys should open most doors in the studio," Wally explained, "they're pretty old so be careful."

"Thank you, Mr. Franks," Twilight said, "for everything."

"You don't need to worry about us," Rainbow Dash nodded, "we're the Champions, we can handle anything."

"I sure hope so," Wally murmured, as the girls exited his house, "hopefully you can end Joey's curse."

He closed the door and the girls began their journey to where Joey Drew Studios was located.