//------------------------------// // Act 1 - Chapter 2 // Story: The Curious Case of Vanishing Unicorns // by Virydyan //------------------------------// It was now close to lunchtime, and Hitch Trailblazer had begun winding down his morning patrol after moving on from the main square of downtown to the neighbourhoods, he then started circling around past what had been the main path that lead to the Canterlogic factory on top of the hill, now abandoned and shut down. Occasionally during his patrols Hitch would sometimes stop in his tracks and look up at the building, what was once the pride and joy of Maretime Bay and Earth pony kind, now just a fallen symbol of their fears and superstition. No one who ever worked there knows why Phyllis decided to close down the factory and cease all of it's production months ago, but then again after what her son who was the former deputy had done, Hitch couldn't blame her for making that decision. Still, with Canterlogic now out of business, most of it's former workers have now gone on to new jobs elsewhere, some have even made the journey up to Zephyr Heights to help operate the factory's there, which made sense considering how big smartphones had become in Maretime Bay since the union of the tribes, and they likely needed the extra help to meet demand. "It all feels like a faint memory now, all the times I used to go there with Sprout and Sunny to see all of the latest trends in 'pony protection', even though many of them were pretty silly and didn't actually work, like Sunny's Pegasus gliding kit, I doubt if it was ever capable of flying at all." Hitch said to himself. Shaking his head, Hitch carried on with his morning patrol, the other side of the neighbourhood was the last area he had to go around before he made it back to the police station. However, he was still thinking about the situation from earlier in the morning when the Unicorn Plum had that outburst towards him. Hitch felt that he had handled it professionally and vowed to look into the matter as soon as he got back to the station. Even so, the whole thing was still bothering him in the back of his mind, and he kept on going back to the letter he saw earlier today from Bridlewood which was asking for his help, he wondered whether that letter was related to Plum's situation, and if the other letters were also the same as well. "Now i'm wondering if all the letters i've gotten from Bridlewood are all the same, calling me for help, this might turn to be a bigger case than I had expected." He said to himself. Hitch continued to think the whole thing over and over in his head, he was so lost in his current train of thoughts that he didn't see the fruit cart that was right in front of him. "Ooof!" Grunted Hitch as he bumped into said cart. "Aiiiieee!" Came a cry of fright from the pony who was pulling the cart ahead of him, "Oooh what's happened now!?". "Ohhh, sorry about that" Said Hitch, rubbing his forehead as he refocused his eyes on what was in front of him. He saw it was a fruit delivery cart that he had bumped into, belonging to one of the Pegasus delivery ponies. The pony in question turned around to look at him with concern on her face. "Oh it's no problem sheriff, are you okay?" Said the Pegasus pony, who Hitch saw was none other than Fifi, who operated her own flying fruit smoothie smooth fruit delivery service where every delivery was smooth, or so she says. "I'm fine thank you Fifi, I just wasn't looking where I was going." Said Hitch, chuckling to himself. "Oh really? That's normally not like you at all Sheriff, is there something wrong?" Said Fifi tilting her head to him in concern. "No no no no, nothing is wrong at all! As I just said I being a little careless." Said Hitch with a little sheepish grin. Fifi looked at him still all confused and unsure, but she smiled and saluted at him. "Well alrighty then, I should get back to work delivering fruits to my waiting clients, don't want to keep them waiting any longer" Said Fifi, who then galloped off down the street and took off into the sky above. Hitch breathed a sigh of relief, he felt silly having to have bumped into something while in a train of thought. He remembered Fifi back when she was training with other Pegasus ponies at Zipp Storms training camp, it was a lot of hard work but now she and other pegasi were now flying much better than before, of course Hitch had to take a hot bath after that day to wash off all the fruit stains on his coat, even if it was kinda funny looking back on it now. "Oh well, at least this time I didn't end up getting hit in the face with fruit for no reason." Said Hitch with a proud grin. No sooner had he said that, a mango fell onto his face from up above out of nowhere. "Oh for crying out loud!" Said Hitch in exasperation. "Oops sorry about that Sheriff!" Said a pony calling from upper floor of the nearby house, waving down at him. Hitch wasn't amused at all, letting off a loud groan he wiped the mess off of his face before getting back to his patrol at a faster pace, much to the aforementioned pony's confusion.  "What a strange day it has been so far today." Hitch said to himself as he continued on the final leg of his patrol before heading back to the station. Hitch planned to get started on his next task of the day as soon as he reached it, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something big going on under his nose and that he needed to get on it as soon as possible. "I wonder what the others are up to right now, I hope they are having more fun than me right now." He said to himself as he carried on down the street out of sight. Meanwhile, in a junkyard not far away, a certain uni-cycling Unicorn was busy digging through the mountains of trash and scrap, looking for anything interesting or curious that she could use in one of her projects. The pony's name was Izzy Moonbow, the first friend that Sunny Starscout had made who was from outside Maretime Bay. She had caused a huge ruckus when she first showed up due to Earth pony superstitions at the time, and often had Canterlogic Unicorn traps left around town to catch them in-case they showed up. Izzy had been prey to such devices twice in her time knowing Sunny, but she always took it all in stride, in fact it was very rare for Izzy to ever get angry at anything at all, she always saw the better side of ponies, even if they were being total jerks to her. "Wow oh wow, there are so many bits and bobs around here today, right Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. The inanimate Butterscotch simply nodded it's head, with assistance from Izzy's magic. "I know right? I mean just look at this old camera, might be all busted right now, but with a little bit of magic, cleaning and tinkering it'll be good as new. Oh and this worn out purse bag, just needs some sewing in the seams and patching up to be all brand new!" Said Izzy to her friend. Carrying the objects in her magic, she carried them over to a wagon that she had brought with her to take back to the Brighthouse once she was finished. To most ponies, trash was just trash, but to Izzy she saw it as potential, a blank canvas to make something brand new, in her own unique way. "I cannot wait to start putting all of this stuff to use when I get back home. Normally this would be enough for me for one Butterscotch, buuuuut today I'm feeling pretty lucky, that I'll find something really good around here, so I'm gonna keep on searching!" Said Izzy as she dived back into the trash to look around. Izzy continued to dive into the trash for more treasures, she began to hum a little tune to herself as she did so. "One pony's trash is another pony's treasure, one pony's treasure is everypony else's trash, but no matter if it's busted, torn, smashed or whatever, just a little bit of glitter and it'll be sparkly in a flash!" She continued to hum the tune in happiness as she continued to dig around for treasures. That was until she heard a noise not far from her that got her attention. The junkyard was normally a rather quiet place for her to hang around in, allowing her to indulge in her own thoughts and mannerisms, but today it seems that it wasn't as quiet as it was normally. Shifting her ears around to isolate where the noise came from, she heard it coming from the other side of the junkyard, behind a large pile of scrap. "Huh, I wonder what the noise was, usually this place is pretty quiet when i'm hanging around, what do you think it was, Señor Butterscotch?" Said Izzy to her inanimate friend. Butterscotch just shook it's head, courtesy of Izzy's magic. "I thought so, well let's go take a looksie and see what's going on then." Said Izzy as she trotted over to the nearby pile with her companion to see what was going on. Being as quiet as possible, which is impressive in Izzy's case, she leaned her head forward with her ears at attention to take in any other noises she could hear. Sure enough she picked up more of them going on, and this time Izzy was able to know exactly what was making those noises, and why, it seemed that there was somepony nearby that was talking to somepony or something else. "Looks like we're not alone in this junkyard Señor Butterscotch, we've got strangers intruding in on our peace." Said Izzy. Señor Butterscotch nodded his head in agreement. "Well then, let's hear what they are up to shall we?" Whispered Izzy to her inanimate friend, leaning her ear up to listen in to the conversation that was going on nearby. "This pile of junk right here looks salvageable, might make for a decent amount of spare parts, and if not then we can always just melt it down again." A series of distinct beeps went off in a pattern. "Yes that is true, even though I am more than capable of manufacturing as many parts as I want, at the same time it'd be troublesome if somepony got wise to our scheme, and the last thing I want is for anypony to catch onto us, not when we're to far ahead with the plans." More beeps went off, it seemed to be coming from some kind of machine, or maybe perhaps a drone. "Oooh that sounds pretty exciting and mysterious, doesn't it Butterscotch?" Said Izzy. Butterscotch just lay there all limp on the ground. "Well then, I think we should take a closer look and see who or what is down there." Said Izzy quietly. The Unicorn ducked down and slowly crept around the pile, gently peering down to the scene in front of her, what she saw was interesting to her immediately, there was indeed a pony down there, a male Earth pony it looked like, along with what looked like some kind of hovering drone. The pony in question had a pale absinthe green coloured coat with dulled platinum hair that was swept back like a Pegasus pony's mane, his eyes a dull crimson colour with noticeable bags underneath. He was wearing what looked like a dusty old lab coat with a pair of black boots on his forelegs, the left foreleg in particular had some kind of device on it, probably a watch or something, finally he had a goggle like visor on top of his head, not too different from the one Izzy had created for Zipp a while ago, Izzy had a suspicion that this pony was scientist of some kind, but she hadn't anypony like that ever since the Canterlogic factory was shut down. The drone that was with the pony was interesting to Izzy as well, it had a charcoal black stumpy cone like body with a visor that showed a single red glowing eye, it had a pair of steel coloured propeller like wings on the side to help it hover around and more. For some reason though, the drone seemed to have a subtle mean look to it that Izzy noticed, it certainly looked very different from the drones that Zipp loved to show off. Izzy continued to stare at the pair with curiosity for what seemed like minutes, however it was interrupted when suddenly, the drone started making loud noises like an alarm, and looked straight up towards Izzy, almost causing her to jump. "What's that? We have somepony spying on us, here of all places!?" Said the pony, he then looked straight up at Izzy's hiding spot with a glare, "Show yourself right now, you eavesdropper!" "Blaaahh! We've been caught red hoofed." Said Izzy to Butterscotch as they both slowly came out of their hiding place with their hooves held up. The pony and the drone both stared up at the two of them, "Well well well, what do we have here? A lonely Unicorn mare with an animate pile of garbage?" "Hey! He finds that term offensive mister!" Shouted Izzy who levitated Butterscotch upright, then moved him right in front of the pony. "He? This construct of trash has a name?" Said the pony, looking amused at it. "The name is Señor Butterscotch thank you very much, curandero!" Said Izzy in her acted Butterscotch voice. The Pony looked over at Izzy with a raised eyebrow, "What did this hunk of junk just call me?" "Ahhh nothing, nothing!" Said Izzy sheepishly, moving Butterscotch to the ground nearby out of the way. "Hmph, so was it you who made this thing, Unicorn?" Said the pony, the drone accompanying him still staring at Izzy. "That I did stranger! I was feeling pretty lonely one day since all of my friends were busy with other things, so I decided to make myself a new friend, using all the leftover bits and bobs from around the Brighthouse, and lo and behold, Señor Butterscotch was born!" Said Izzy excitedly. "Interesting... is this the only thing that you have made, or have you invented other things as well?" Asked the pony with intrigue. "Oh no no no, I've created other things too, like the rad-visor for my friend Zipp which allows her to see the world in different ways, I've also built a robot named Bot-y McBakertons, among other things!" Said Izzy, smiling brightly. The pony was now very curious about Izzy, after taking a glace up at her horn he decided to ask for her name. "Hm hm hmm, well now, it sounds like you are quite the inventor Unicorn, what is your name if you don't mind me asking?" "My name is Izzy Moonbow, Unicorn transplant from Bridlewood and expert uni-cycler at your service! Say, "Izzy huh, not a bad name at all Unicorn." Said the pony. Say, what is your name and occupation if you don't mind me asking, stranger?" Asked Izzy, tilting her head to the side curiously. Me? Well, my name is Wormwood, Doctor Wormwood that is." Said the pony, standing proudly. "Oooh a doctor!? I'm gonna guess that you are a doctor in some sciency stuff or something like it?" Said Izzy excitedly. "That is correct Unicorn, science is indeed my forte, specifically robotics, technology, chemistry, engineering, and physics." Said Wormwood. "Hehe, all of that sounds mighty interesting! I've never met many scientists or engineers from around Maretime Bay or even Bridelwood, most of them usually work elsewhere these days." Said Izzy. "Yes... ever since the Canterlogic factory shut down some months ago, most of the workers have left for other jobs, largely up in Zephyr Heights since they're always looking for new hires to work there, especially now that everypony and their filly wants to have a smartphone in order to keep up with the latest nonsense on the Canternet." Said Wormwood. "Huh, well If that's the case, why haven't you joined them in working up there as well?" Asked Izzy curiously. Wormwood chuckled in response, fiddling around with a piece of scrap on the ground. "As tempting as it was to go there and potentially work for them, it doesn't really suit me, my home is right here on the ground." "Ohhhh, well that's understandable, I mean keeping your hooves on the ground is one way to go about in one's life." Said Izzy with a smile. "Well then, what is your story Unicorn, what made you want to move and live in Maretime Bay, and why are you here in this junkyard of all places?" Asked Wormwood curiously. "Oooh, well it's kinda a long story actually, this might take a while." Said Izzy, rubbing her head with her hoof. "Well then go right ahead, I'm listening." Said Wormwood. Izzy took a deep breath and then started to talk about how she one day found a balloon stuck to a tree in the Bridalwood forest, it had note attached to it telling her that there were friends in Maretime Bay waiting for her, so she decided to make the journey there to find them, and the experience of meeting new ponies there and the whole adventure that followed from it. As she finished by telling how she then moved to living at the Brighthouse with her new friends, Wormwood interrupted her. "Wait wait hold on a minute there, the Brighthouse?" He said. "Yes siree, the Brighthouse, it's the home of Sunny and all her other friends, including me." Said Izzy. "Interesting, so that means you know Sunny Starscout?" Said Wormwood with a raised eyebrow. "Yes I do, she's only my bestest friend out of all the ponies, not counting Zipp, Pipp and Hitch hehehe, do you know her too?" Asked Izzy. "Of course I know her, I've seen her a number of times as she was growing up here in Maretime Bay, always cheerful and bright, trying to bring the best out of everypony and promote friendship with the other pony races. Heh heh, it used to get her into so much trouble with the law, she was no different from her late father honestly, they were both looked down upon and mocked by the citizens for their beliefs and ideals, it's a wonder she was able to start up her own business in the first place, instead of finding work at the Canterlogic factory like so many in her class did." Said Wormwood. "Yeah... Sunny did mention some of that news to me some time ago, not gonna lie I still find it hard to wrap my noggin around the fact that such beliefs were held by all of the pony tribes for so long... tell me, were you the same as all the other ponies here in Maretime Bay beforehoof?" Asked Izzy cautiously. "Me? Well I was part of the club unfortunately, I had to be as part of my position as one of Maretime Bays leading citizens at Canterlogic back in the day... but truth to be told Unicorn, I was actually always a little curious about the other pony tribes, especially the Unicorn tribe and their ability to cast magic using their horns, the old legends in the dusty old books and tomes that ponies like Argyle always used to keep around them always talked about how important magic was to everypony in ancient Equestria, and that without it, everypony's lives was not only harder, but also miserable and isolated. I mean just think about it, magic to them was as easy as brushing your teeth or taking a walk down the path, it's stupendous thinking about it now." Said Wormwood passionately. "It is true you know, with a little magic anything can be done, lifting things, combining them, or even casting spells if you know how to do it." Said Izzy excitedly, using magic to lift up her inanimate friend as an example. Wormwood seemed impressed at Izzy's display of magic, in fact it seemed to trigger a gleam in his eyes.  "It's so incredible to be able to see actual magic being used right here in front of me, it's fascinating to see it work before my very own eyes." Said Wormwood, smiling. "Hehehe, I guess so, but my focus is on uni-cycling junk into something special, magic is just another tool for me to use it with." Said Izzy humbly. "You've mentioned that several times now, is that why you hang out around junkyards like this, just to find things to invent?" Asked Wormwood. "Yeah that's right, this place is like my haven for treasure, why do you do the same thing as I do too?" Asked Izzy curiously. "Ho ho, well I don't do any 'uni-cycling' per se, but I do certainly do some re-cycling when it comes to scrap to be used for my own purposes, such as inventing." Said Wormwood, picking up the scrap piece next to him on the ground. "Whoa really, what sort of things do you invent?" Said Izzy leaning her head forward. "Hahaha, I could waste most of the day telling you what I invent and much more... but I think I've wasted enough time here today, I really need to get back to work." Said Wormwood as he looked at the device on his foreleg, which Izzy saw was some sort of PDA, or maybe a smartwatch. "What, you're leaving already!? Blaaaaahhh! B-but we've only just met, and there is still sooooo much I need to ask you about!" Whined Izzy, pouting a little. "Sorry filly, but I have to go, I have very important jobs to do today." Said Wormwood sternly. "Ohhhhhh, fine..." Said Izzy, looking away sadly. "Hey now come on, I never said that this would be the last time we meet, Izzy." Said Wormwood reassuringly. Izzy gasped, hope returning to her face, "Do you mean!?" "That's right, I'll forward you a message when I am able to meet up with you again, keep an eye out for it." Said Wormwood with a smile, as he turned to walk off. "Oh I will, see you later new friend!" Said Izzy as she waved to him. Wormwood nodded to her as he continued to set off on his way, while Izzy went back to digging around in the junkyard, still excited from meeting a brand-new friend, in her favourite place too. As he walked down the path to elsewhere, Wormwood consulted with his drone, which had been silently observing Izzy in the background. "She sure is an interesting pony isn't she? We should definitely look into recruiting her into our plans as soon as possible, she has a lot of potential, magical potential." Said Wormwood, grinning to himself. The drone beeped low in return, as it followed the doctor into the nearby woods and out of sight. Back in Maretime Bay, Hitch Trailblazer had just returned to the police station after completing his morning patrol. He had planned to take a bit of a break before beginning the next part of his daily job which he considered to be the least fun part, sorting out the notice board, filing letters and reports, and deciding which of the cases will be his priority or not, a process that could take anywhere from an hour to several. Hitch never looked forward to this at all, but he sighed, it has to be done no matter what. "I'll pour myself some coffee to start with, then I can get started on this... chore of a job right away." He said to himself, making his way to the coffee maker. He got started making his brew, it was nothing special just a double espresso with a dash of milk, he liked his coffee strong and dark, just like his complexion, or so he likes to believe. As he waited for it to be ready, he noticed his companion McSnipps standing nearby at the ready, over on the table was all the letters he had both from this morning and the whole week organized into four neat stacks. Hitch smiled, this will certainly make it much easier for him to sort out what needs to go on the notice board or not, and as soon as he heard the machine pinged that his coffee was ready, he poured it into his #1 Sheriff mug that Sunny got him for Winter Wishday years ago, then sat down at this desk. "Hey there Mcsnipps, looks like you've done a swell job organizing everything." Hitch said to the crab as he took a sip from his mug. McSnipps clicked his claws and leaned forward, no doubt nodding to him. "Right then, let's see what we've got here today." Said Hitch, setting his coffee mug to the side and getting started on the letters in front of him. Hitch started off with the small pile first since he believed it would get done pretty fast, and it turned out he was right. Most of the letters in this pile were from Posey, the aforementioned Earth pony who hasn't taken too kindly to the other pony tribes moving into the town, she even did little doodles on her letters just to show her expressions while writing them. Hitch signed, then moved them onto the side to put onto the notice board later in the lower priority section, then moved onto the next pile of letters. The letters in the second pile were fairly standard complaints, chief among them about litter being dropped on the streets, that got Hitch's blood boiling. If there was one thing he hated seeing more than anything, it was litter being dropped onto the ground instead of in the bin, ever since he was a colt he had been determined to keep Maretime Bay as clean and clear as the sea itself at all costs, just as his father the previous Sheriff had done before him. Hitch sorted them all out easily since they were largely short and straight to the point, marking them in varying importance. With that pile of letters done and dusted, and another sip of his brew, Hitch moved onto the third pile, it was bigger than the last one, but he liked a challenge, plus he was feeling fired up from the last pile. These letters seemed to largely be about missing items, missing pets, and missing ponies, the latter of which made him stop and have a look at closely, remembering the words Plum had said to him earlier during his patrol. "I said that I would look into these disappearances for Plum’s sake, and I intend to keep that promise, let's see what these missing pony letters say." Hitch said to himself. As he started reading them one by one, he soon noticed a theme right away, almost every single one of the missing ponies reported in the letters were Unicorns, with only one exception being an Earth Pony from Maretime Bay, not only that but most of them were addressed from Bridlewood, with the same strange stamp on them like the one he had received from this morning. "What the hay is going on here, how many pony disappearances could there be!?" Hitch shouted out loud. He immediately began counting all the related letters, including the ones from this week. Once he finished, the end result left him with wide eyes in disbelief, then he threw his forelegs up into the air in frustration. "...I don't believe this, seventeen ponies have disappeared in the last month, seventeen!? How could I have been so dumb as to not notice it before!? Why oh why did I decide not to do anything about this sooner, am I that big of an idiot!?" Hitch shouted at himself. The sheriff felt awful right now, a big case like this had been going on for weeks under his nose and he never noticed it happening, all because he believed that the Unicorns of Bridlewood could handle it on their own, but now seeing this many disappearances happening, and that it's starting to affect the ponies living in Maretime Bay too, it's clear that he had to do something now before it's too late. "Those poor ponies... what could cause them to just disappear like that... did some strange magic they discovered cause them to like turn invisible or something dumb?" Hitch thought to himself, taking a sip from the mug, that's when a thought crossed his mind that made him nearly spit it out, "Wait... was it possible they were... ponynapped!?" Hitch sat back up upon saying that, he never thought about it that way before, but this many ponies going missing looked very much like a telltale sign of ponynapping, one of the most heinous crimes anypony could commit in Equestria, and a case that Hitch himself hadn't tackled before as Sheriff, but now it seems he now has such a case in his hooves, and what a doozy it's turning out to be, looks like his wish from earlier has just come true. "It looks like this just became a very hot case indeed, one I intend to solve quick and fair, there is no time to lose!" He said to himself as he put the letters on the side to be made priority on the bulletin board. Hitch then turned his attention to the last pile, thankfully not as large as the last pile, so he believed it would be quick to sort out. As he started to read the letters, he noticed they all seemed to be addressed to him directly, that piqued his curiosity, so he had a closer look at them wondering what they were all about, were they love letters, death threats, spam? He got plenty of the former from various admirers around town, a few from criminals that he had put away in the past, and unfortunately a bunch of spam letters from who knows where, those he always puts through the shredder and chuck into the bin. However, as Hitch began to read through each of them, he suddenly realized that they weren't any of the aforementioned letters at all, with a frown forming on his face he realized that they were in fact his bills for the month. "What the hay McSnipps, why didn't you mention that I had bills to sort out today??" Said Hitch as he lifted his head up to look at him, frowning hard. The crab just shrugged its claws, seems like he didn't have any reason to mention it until now. "Huh, well fair enough." Said Hitch, moving the bills out of the way onto his side desk to sort out later, then he gently moved all the sorted letters next to the notice board, sighing while doing so. "Sigh, this is going to be a looooong job I just know it, it's a good thing I put this off before lunch time, hopefully this won't take too long to get through, then after that I can get started on the case at hand." Said Hitch. With that Hitch began to organize and sort out the notice board, placing all the letters and more up in order of priority, with the disappearing ponies being his top priority at this time. As Hitch had expected, the job took a long time to sort out, in fact when he checked the clock up on the wall when he had finished, it had already been over an hour. "Sweet Twilight, that took longer than I wanted..." Said Hitch, wiping the sweat off his brow. The board itself was now completely covered in letters, sticky notes and pins, even Hitch was surprised at how many jobs he now had to do, so much to do in just one day, but he kept to his vow from earlier today to get the jobs done his way, especially with this hot case he now had in his hooves, which he has dubbed "The curious case of disappearing Unicorns Case". "Right then first things first, I'm gonna get started on the suspected ponynapping case, and for this I'm gonna need to call in the troops, McSnips-a-lot if you please." Said Hitch, giving the crab the signal. Mcsnips gave a salute, then it crawled on over towards the open window, holding it's claws up high it gave out a distinct but loud clap using them. Almost immediately, two little birds who had heard the noise landed on the window sill giving a salute towards the sheriff, the one who had an open can of sardines on top was named Kenneth, another pet friend of Hitch who he often relied on as his ears and eyes around town, the other bird that was with him was his deputy. "Good to see you troops, now listen up, we've got a doozy of a case to get through today and I am itching to get it solved before nightfall." Said Hitch to the troops, before pointing his hoof to the notice board, "I'll explain everything about the case at hand as soon as we set off into the town, for now we need to get out there, start looking for clues, check anything suspicious, and if we have time do some of the other jobs we have to do today that I made a note of just in case." The animals all nodded towards Hitch in turn. "Now then, are we all ready to go out there and get to work solving this case?" Said Hitch. They all gave Hitch the salute to show that they were. "Excellent, let's go troops!" Shouted Hitch as he charged towards the door. Hitch and his animal pals all set off from the police station and out onto the streets to carry out their investigation of the case, hoping to find clues and information that could help them solve it as fast as possible. However, in his haste to carry out his plan in a hurry without pause, Hitch didn't notice that he and his animal pals were secretly being watched the whole time. Out of a bush located next to the station came a small hovering drone, making a few beeping noises, it flew up into the sky and out of sight of everypony that could've seen it. It was pretty clear that somepony or something was keeping a close eye on Hitch and his activities, but who, and why?