Zipp Storm Investigates!-The Mystery of the Missing Butter

Zipp dashed through the streets as fast as her hooves could carry her, weaving around fellow pedestrians as quickly as she could to ensure she could cover the ground quickly. After all, somepony was clearly in trouble, and needed help, and who better to help than her?

As she continued, she soon realised she had run into a rather serious problem- she had absolutely no idea where she was going.

As she ground to a halt, she saw Sunny catch up to her, puffing and panting. "Why are we running?" she asked.

"What if somepony's in trouble?" Zipp asked. "We need to be there quickly, and-"

"Know where you're going?" Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow. "Zipp, I know you want to help, but perhaps it's best I lead. I do know these streets like the back of my hoof." She took a quick look at one of her hooves. "Hmmm. That wasn't there yesterday..."

Zipp nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. "You're right, Sunny. Perhaps you should lead, given you live here."

Sunny smiled. "Then follow me!"

Of the pair went once more, trotting through the streets at a somewhat more sedate pace. As they went along, they knew they were drawing closer to the situation based on some of the sounds they could hear from a nearby street. Finally, they rounded a bend and were confronted with a scene of chaos.

"Another one?" Sunny asked. "That's the third one this week!"

Before them was a large grocery store, but it wasn't open for business. Instead, vast quantities of black and yellow crime scene tape was festooned over the front, and ponies dressed in uniforms were sweeping over the scene.

Hitch was directing the efforts. "Right, keep it up you guys! These crimes won't solve themselves!"

"Hey Hitch!" Sunny said, addressing her foalhood friend. "What seems to be the problem?"

Hitch turned to her. "Fancy seeing you here, Sunny. I've kinda got a case to solve, so if you could let me concentrate that'd be-"

"I may be able to help," Zipp said, stepping forward so Hitch could properly see her. "I've got something of a background in solving stuff."

"Didn't know you were a detective," Hitch said, looking back to his work.

"Well, I've listened to plenty of crime podcasts," Zipp replied. "And I do have a forensics kit back at home, so I can certainly try and help."

"If our adventure a little while back was anything to go by you've got a keen eye for this stuff," Hitch nodded, starting to see the sense in this idea. "As part of the powers granted to me under the Office of Sheriff of Maretime Bay, I hereby deputise Zipp Storm for this case. You too, Sunny."

Sunny was a little surprised. "Erm, OK. Why me, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You're better at persuasion than me," Hitch smiled. "That and you know an awful lot of ponies. That will probably make talking to them a lot easier."

Sunny nodded. "I guess there's sense in that."

The process now complete, the group dipped under the investigation tape and into the crime scene proper. The scene before them seemed to be that of a typical grocery store one would find in any town or city in Equestria. Only with one critical distance.

"Somepony made an incredible mess in here," Zipp said. "I know that's stating the obvious, but it sure is messy in here."

And she was right. All over the floor were the remains of produce. Smashed jars and broken bottles littered the floor, with vast amounts of various sources all over the floor, ruining the once pristine floor tiles kept clean through hard work. In short, it was an absolute mess in there.

Sunny was similarly shocked as Zipp. "Who would do something like this?" she asked. "Especially given this is the third one this week!"

"That's what the MBPD is trying to figure out," Hitch replied. "But there are many aspects of this crime which don't seem to make any sense."

"Such as?" Zipp asked. She frowned when she saw Hitch's confused look. "Hitch, if I'm your deputy on this case, I need to know the details of the crime. You know, the tea?"

"It's not finished brewing!" shouted a voice from outside.

Hitch nodded, and stopped them in an intersection near the front of the store, roughly where the bread and fish aisles diverged from one another. "We've been getting a series of odd calls recently reporting break-ins to grocery stores late at night. This is the third one this week, and whomever is doing this shows no sign of stopping." He sighed. "I fear a potential crime wave, which is the very last thing we need this close to the Maretime Bay Food Festival. But this must be one of the strangest crimes I have ever worked on."

"How so?" Zipp asked.

"Nopony has been able to get a decent visual on the thief, and when CCTV footage is played back there's always loads of interference," Hitch explained. "Almost as if the thief is messing with the systems. On top of that, although lots of things are always smashed or broken when we arrive at the crime scene, very little is actually taken."

Zipp pointed at the floor. "That's quick the tomato slick."

Hitch nodded. "Potential clue there. I'm going to put some barriers down."

Moments later, Hitch produced two barriers from nowhere and placed them on the ground both in front of and behind the slick of tomato sauce. The barriers read CRIME SCENE- KEEP AWAY.

Hitch looked at it. "And will you look at that. The sample has a hoofprint in it. This could be the breakthrough we've been looking for! I'll get the forensics specialist to take a look and retrieve a sample."

As Hitch called up the forensics officer on his radio, Zipp looked to Sunny. "Wasn't planning on an adventure this soon after I got here."

Sunny nodded. "This is such a weird crime, though. What was the thief after?"

Zipp trotted round the tomato slick, going the long way via the bread aisle, and soon found herself on the opposite side of the slick. As she stopped and looked at the shelves, she noticed something odd. In a lot of the other aisles, the shelves either had produce broken or knocked into odd lines, as if somepony was hunting through them erratically.

But that wasn't the case here. This section of shelves was completely empty, and had nothing it it.

Nothing at all whatsoever.

Zipp looked over to her friends. "Guys, there's a completely empty shelf here!"

Sunny was first to trot over, and Hitch followed a few moments later. "That's weird. That suggests the thief took whatever was on them. But what was there?"

Zipp leaned down, and took notice of all the lables. "Menton's, Berrow's, Hector's Finest... if I'm reading this correctly, these are all brands of peanut butter."

Hitch took a close look too. "That is weird. Nothing but the peanut butter is missing. Zipp, go check the warehouse out back and see if anything else is missing from there."

"Roger that!"

"My name's Hitch, not Roger."

"Oops, my bad!"

Zipp vanished off on her own towards a set of large double doors next to the freezers aisle, and kicked the door open with her back hooves. "That trick always works. Hoofprint recognition would do this place wonders."

Zipp slipped into the space and looked around her, noting it looked like the usual sort of stock area you would see when looking about in such a space. And it seemed to have been knocked about as well.

Damaged goods and tipped boxes littered the area, and they had made such a mess it made navigating somewhat difficult to do. Zipp slowly trotted forwards, being careful not to contaminate the area as she looked about.

But, at last, she found something critical. Sitting in one stack was a pallet which seemed to have been opened, based on the number of items on the floor next to it. Zipp trotted over, and looked inside, taking her phone out and switching on the torch to enable her to see better what was inside.

Inside were huge numbers of empty cardboard packing containers, and all of them were missing jars based on how they were tilted at odd angles. Zipp leaned in closer to try and read the packaging.

"Hector's Finest Peanut Butter," Zipp read slowly.

"Any updates, Zipp?" asked a voice. Zipp turned around to see Sunny standing there.

Zipp indicated inside the packing containers. "All the things that have been taken from them are peanut butter jars," she explained. "Whomever is doing the stealing is only taking peanut butter for some reason."

Sunny looked concerned. "Well, that's weird," she said. "But who would be stealing peanut butter from our stores? And more importantly, why?"

Zipp nodded. "I guess that's a mystery we'll just have to figure out. But we need to collect some evidence first."