//------------------------------// // To Protect and Serve // Story: Unicorn Attack! // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Hitch Trailblazer pushed the double doors of the Maretime Bay Police Department, going straight to his desk and fell into his chair with a heavy sigh. Sprout was at his desk across the room, reclining with his legs propped up on the desk, snacking on the chocolate bar. "So what'll it be this time? Another warning?" Sprout asked, seeing the sheriff lean down to the bottom drawer and come up with a short stack of papers. "Not gonna get this done before our afternoon rounds, but might as well get this started now," Hitch mused, grabbing a pen and began to fill out the disturbance report, starting with his name, the reporting officer, followed by the name of the offender, a name that he had become all to used to putting down on these reports. Sunny Starscout As he went down to the next line, Phyllis Cloverleaf's words as he escorted his foalhood friend from the stage continued to echo in his head. 'I know she's a friend of yours, Sheriff, but I need to make myself perfectly clear; keep her out, or I'll press charges next time.' He didn't need to wonder why Sunny was so stubborn and steadfast in her activism, because he had become very familiar with the source growing up; her father, Argyle Starshine. Back when he was alive, he was an archaeologist who devoted his life to learning as much as he possibly could about Ancient Equestria; half the exhibits in the Maretime Bay Museum of History were there because of him, and their house, or rather, lighthouse, was absolutely packed with pegasi- and unicorn-related trinkets that the curators simply weren't interested in. He really hoped that Sunny would start to come around. She was a good pony, but she was a little mixed up, and if other townsponies got as fed up as Phyllis, she would eventually be facing real trouble, and he wouldn't be able to shield her from the consequences forever. Putting the address as 1 CanterLogic Lane, he figured he would at least get through the first page before his attention would be needed elsewhere. But his ears picked up a muffled commotion coming from outside, so much of one that even Sprout had his attention pulled away from his magazine. Both stallions got up from their desks, walking around to the center of the room towards the door. Hitch pushed the right-side door open with his hoof and leaned out to take a peak. The ponies of Maretime Bay were in an absolute panic. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked, stepping outside, Sprout also pushed the left-side door open and stepped out beside him. Hitch surveyed the scene from right to left, and looked south down the street. There stood Sunny, completely bewildered by a rather tall pony standing in front of her. And then he saw it. The horn. He gave out a gasp as he drew in a sharp breath. "UNICORN ATTACK!" He shouted, reaching up and nearly punching the alarm button, breaking the thin sheet of glass shielding it. Shrill ringing poured out from the alarm as he continued going by the book to bring things to order. Sprout, not realizing the door had closed behind him, slammed face first into the precinct door as he tried retreating back into the building. "This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!" He announced, before breaking into a full gallop. He lost sight of Sprout as the deputy broke off in the opposite direction. Among the panicking citizens, he saw a young colt, sitting nearly stationary on the sidewalk in front of one of the pegasi warning posters. "A vulnerable young pony!" He said to himself. Indeed, if the colt stayed where he was, he stood a pretty good chance of getting knocked over or trampled. With his most direct path blocked by a trio of fruit-filled barrels, he leapt over them, not breaking his stride once, and caught the youngster in a hugging tackle, rolling once across the walk back to his hooves, and swiftly deposited the pony into the hooves of the mare waiting a dozen feet away. "Your son is safe now, ma'am." With that, he continued on his way, giving a quick "you're welcome!" to what he could only assume was an expression of gratitude from the mare. Skidding to a halt at the corner, he raised a hoof to the first CanterLogic employee he saw. "Man the Splat-a-pults, activate the Unicorn Traps, pick up that litter!" The sheriff's orders were quickly followed, but it didn't do a whole lot to quell the panic. He saw from a distance the unicorn slowly walking towards the coast, directly towards one of the waiting Entrapment Devices. As luck would have it, though, Sunny was there to shove her out of the way just as her front hooves grazed the pressure plate, activating the trap without an occupant. The two ponies darted further down the street and into a side alley. He kept a careful eye on both the south and east streets, waiting to see where they'd come out. He also saw Toots and Sweets push the two prototype Splat-a-Pults out to the front gates of CanterLogic, and begin to rotate the levers on them, as the launching mechanisms began to spin. There they were. He spotted Sunny and the unicorn invader come out of the side alley on the east side of the block, and immediately start dodging the balls of goop that a lot of the other street's occupants were not. Hitch wasn't sure who to prioritize, but quickly saw that it likely wasn't going to be a problem as Sunny darted around the corner, but the unicorn's attention was captured by the front marquee of the theater. "Ooh, I haven't seen this one yet!" Gotcha. All four hooves stepped onto the closest Unicorn Entrapment Device, and the walls and roof quickly and seamlessly came down with a swift clank, the red warning siren flashing. Much of the surrounding populace saw this take place, and finally, an air of calm began to settle on the theater block of the town. "Alright, citizens, calm down. The threat has been neutralized, the unicorn has been captured. You may now cheer," the sheriff announced. And cheer they did. All except for one pony, who timidly stepped towards the closed Entrapment Device. "Sunny!" Hitch snapped, and the mare stopped in her tracks. "Don't even think about it," the sheriff commanded, galloping forward to the front of the steel box, coming between Sunny Starscout and the release button. "We're going to find out who she is and what she's doing here." "Fine. I'll come with you, because I want to know that exact information as well," the mare replied. "You've caused enough trouble for one day. Go home, Sunny." Hitch countered. "No." Hitch felt a twinge of frustration, and heard Sprout come up next to him. "Do you want him to arrest you?" the red stallion asked incredulously. "If it gets me in the same place as her, yes," Sunny replied immediately, motioning to the box. "I've been waiting my entire life to meet a pony like her, and you know better than anypony what I think of what passes as 'the law' around here. So what is it going to be, Sheriff?" Hitch took a quiet, deep breath, and let his cooler side prevail. He would get to the bottom of why this unicorn showed up, and if Sunny wanted to wait in a chair against the wall, so be it. At least one of Maretime Bay's biggest troublemakers would be within sight. "Fine." "What?" Sprout asked, his eyes widening. "Hitch, you have got to be kidd—" "Deputy," Hitch snapped, turning to Sprout. "I've made my decision. Go get Toots and Sweets, they need to show us how to detach this thing and move it towards the precinct so we can move the unicorn to a secure location." Hitch's orders brought a temporary end to Sprout's mild insolence, as he headed towards the gates of CanterLogic to get the factory employees that the sheriff requested. There was another metallic clank further down the street as another Entrapment Device was activated by a citizen who wasn't watching where they were going. "And get them to shut the rest of these off!" He called back to Sprout as he continued towards the CanterLogic factory. "Satisfied?" Hitch asked, turning back to the mare standing in front of him, seeing the red siren reflected in her glaring, determined eyes. "For now, Hitch. For now."