Zipp Storm Investigates!-The Mystery of the Missing Butter

Zipp crashed her way out of the front door of the Mareiott and charged out into the open night. "Come on, Pipp! We have to speed up!"

"What exactly is your plan again?" Pipp asked, who was dashing behind her as fast as she could.

"I saw something weird during the stakeout last night! The two have to be connected!" Zipp replied, going as quickly as she felt she could. "But first we have to try and find Sunny and figure out what's going on!"

As she dashed into Maretime Bay proper, she suddenly spotted the moon shining high in the sky. Her eyes looked up, and then down to the ground. "Wait a second. The moon's been out for the last few nights. And Sunny said there were three robberies before I arrived! What if the moon is playing a part in this?"

As she arrived at the waterfront, there was a scene of pandemonium at the police station. Hitch was faced with an angry mob.

"We saw the monster with our own eyes!" one of the ponies shouted. "You have to do something, Sheriff Hitch!"

"I'm already posting officers to critical locations," Hitch replied. "We can't solve this if we all panic, so I'm going to have to ask all of you to stay calm."

"HOW CAN WE STAY CALM WHEN THERE'S A MONSTER ON THE LOOSE?!" shouted a pony.

This caused the others to all start running about, slamming into street furniture and each other.

Hitch shook his head. "However did we get anything done?" He turned to one of his fellow police ponies. "Officer Whitehead! I need you to head to the report of the last disturbance. Collect any information you can!"

"Right-o!" said the police pony, and he trotted off. "There'll be time for tea and crumpets when we're done. I do like a bit of gorgonzola, after all!"

Hitch sighed, then saw Zipp. "Any news, Zipp?"

"I can't find Sunny anywhere!" Zipp said. "I looked in her room and about town, and she seems to have vanished!"

Hitch looked over to another pony. "Put out a missing pony report, ASAPP."

"Yes sir!" said the police pony, who went inside to the machine that issued missing pony reports.

"Keep looking, Zipp! With you on the-"

Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise echoed from the skies, and they all looked up to see a golden thing streak through the air before vanishing.

"What the sweet tap-dancing Thorax was that?" Pipp asked.

"I'm going to go investigate!" Zipp replied, who blasted into the air and gave chase.

Zipp closed in behind the creature rapidly, and realised it was the same one she had seen in the store the previous night. Clearly this was somehow tied to the moon, and Zipp was determined to figure it out.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Can we talk?"

There was no reply.

Suddenly, the creature dived towards the street, so Zipp followed, landing a short way behind it. The creature had touched down in front of another store which sold food, and Zipp moved around the side to try and get a better view of it.

The creature was seemingly unaware of her. It slowly walked forward to the store, and in a brief moment Zipp got a decent view of it.

The fur was orange, and green eyes sat in its head that Zipp knew very well. And the purple mane with the rainbow streaks meant there was no denying who this was.

Zipp was shocked. "Sunny..."

The creature still ignored her and smashed open the door with an energy blast before going inside. Zipp stopped a safe distance away and watched as Sunny got to work. She grabbed a jar off the shelf and tore off the lid, before then tipping the container to her mouth and starting to suck it down. She even had some water which she periodically tipped down her throat to aid with digestion.

It reminded Zipp of a cement mixer at a building site, and this was both fascinating and revolting to watch at the same time.

It was in that moment Zipp realised all of the things fitted together. Sunny and this thing were one and the same, and this thing had been eating a lot of peanut butter. At least that settled one mystery.

"Well, no wonder Sunny's been putting on so much weight," Zipp noted to herself. She retreated back into the shadows, knowing this would have to be addressed in the morning.

It would not be a pretty sight.

The next morning, Zipp returned to the hotel and went to her room to grab some things, before returning to outside Sunny's room. She then knocked.

There was a delay of a few moments, then the door opened. Sunny was on the other side, looking slightly dishevelled but otherwise with a smile on her face. "Morning, Zipp!" she said. At least she seemed to be pretty chipper about things.

"Can we talk?" Zipp asked, stepping into the room.

"Of course!" Sunny said, with a smile. "Just let me finish moving some cushions."

Zipp looked across the room, and spotted the bedside table had a plate on it- with a part eaten peanut butter sandwich. This was not looking good. "Sunny, were you snacking last night?"

Sunny looked over to Zipp. "Oh! You mean the sandwich! Must have made that last night and forgot to finish it." She went back to the cushions. "Now is it big on top of small or small on top of big?"

Zipp shook her head and went to look through the room, looking at the sandwich. She noticed that a jar of peanut butter was sitting next to it, and it still had the barcode on it. Zipp quickly ran the barcode through her detective app, and spotted something. It was the store that she'd seen Sunny at last night.

"Sunny, I think I know who the thief is!" Zipp said.

"Oh? Who?"

Zipp turned to face her. "Sunny, this is gonna sound crazy... but based on evidence I've been collecting, I think you're changing into some sort of monster at night and stealing peanut butter."

Sunny looked aghast. "Me? Stealing butter? No! I've not been out at night in a few days!"

"What did you do after you went off to use the bathroom?" Zipp asked.

Sunny thought to herself. "Erm, after I went there, I, erm..." Sunny's face scrunched up as she tried to recall what had happened. "Well, I think I might... no, I can't remember at all!"

"Somehow, I think you can't remember what happened when that thing is in control," Zipp said. "And here's the key evidence, which explains why we haven't been able to find any traces of the peanut butter jars in waste bins or other places."

Zipp trotted round Sunny's side of the bed, and pulled back the bedding and blanket to reveal the vast mountain of peanut butter jars that sat below it. The pile had grown in size since last night, with even more empty and part eaten jars sitting there.

"It's all been under your bed the entire time."

Sunny recoiled in fright and backed up towards the wall. "No, no no! There's no way! This isn't happening! This has to be some sort of nightmare!"

Zipp looked on as Sunny was clearly in a state of denial about what was happening. "Sunny, calm dow-"

"DO NOT tell me to calm down!" Sunny said. "I'm not a criminal! This has to be some sort of setup!" Suddenly, she began bashing her head against a wall. "Come on, Sunny, wake up! WAKE UP!"

Zipp pulled her back, and put her face right in Sunny's. "SUNNY STARSCOUT, LISTEN TO ME!"

Sunny abruptly stopped her actions, and looked in Zipp's face with a worried look in her eyes.

"We're going to fix this and find a way to get you back to normal. But you have to trust me, and that means informing me of any clues that could help solve this. Do you understand?"

Sunny nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Now then, let's get to work on seeing how much evidence there is."

Suddenly, before Zipp could stop her, Sunny lunged for one of the jars of peanut butter, tore off the lid, and started eating the contents. It took her a few moments to realise what she was doing, and throw the jar down to the floor.

Sunny looked at her hooves in horror, before backing up.

Zipp had seen the creature act in the same way last night. "Sunny, are you sure you can't recall a thing? Because the creature acted like that last night."

Sunny looked at Zipp. "Zipp, what's happening to me?" she whimpered.

Zipp didn't know what to say. It was clear that Sunny was scared out of her mind, but at the same time there was nothing she could say to reassure her other than meaningless platitudes.

Now was a time of action, not of words. And Zipp knew where to start.