It was by now late afternoon in Maretime bay, the sun was beginning to set over the clear blue sea, the stores in the market and the shops downtown were starting to close up for the day, organizing their stocks and preparing for another working day tomorrow, ponies were hanging out around the downtown promenade either watching the sunset, or enjoying an evening stroll with friends and family before turning in for the coming night.

Yet... in amongst the serene mood that bathed the town, there was a strange and foreboding feeling that was starting to creep in, rumors had begun to spread about ponies disappearing without warning during the night, news that the Unicorns who had moved into town from Bridlewood were the main victims of this strange happening is making some wonder whether the ponies who didn't take kindly to them moving in were the ones responsible for it, which some have dismissed as nonsense, but others are more wary of such thoughts due to the old long held beliefs still existing in the back of their minds. Not helping matters is the efforts of Hitch Trailblazer and his animal friends having been busy most of the day going around town trying to find clues relating to the disappearances, not realizing the consequences of allowing such information to spread amongst the ponies who were worried about their safety.

At this time of day, Hitch and his animals friends had rendezvoused at the town fountain, tired and sweaty after a long days work. They had been busy up and down the town all day searching high and low for clues, hints and anything related to the case at hoof. Despite the extensive search, they have had been having no luck finding any such clues at all, instead during that time they had worked to completing most of the other tasks that Hitch made a note of in his notebook. The sheriff was beginning to think that he had either made a mistake, or that he had overlooked something important.

"I just don't get it at all pals, we've been up and down, right and left in this town all day, we even double checked the usual spots just to be sure we didn't miss anything, but we've found nothing, not a single thing at all." Said Hitch, sighing to himself.

McSnipps clicked his claws in dejection, while Kenneth and his deputy cooed in disappointment.

"I'm starting to wonder if this has been a wild goose chase from the start, but I really don't want to break the bad news to all of the ponies who are worried about their friends being missing, the last thing I want to do is let them down and break their poor little hearts." Said Hitch.

Hitch and his animal friends sat together at the fountain silently, thinking hard about their next move to try and split the case wide open as the sun began to set over the sea. At the same time, Sunny Starscout was busy walking back to her home at the Brighthouse, having finished her work for the say at the smoothie stand, humming a little tune to herself. However upon noticing Hitch and his animal friends sitting at the fountain looking all glum, she stopped and looked at them.

"I wonder what's got them all down I wonder." Sunny Said to herself as she trotted on over to them, "Hey there Hitch, that's where you got to!"

"What's up Sheriff? You're sounding pretty down, is there something up?" Said Sunny, tilting her head in question.

Hitch let out a sigh, he decided to bring Sunny up to speed on what was going on.

"Well you're probably already well aware of what's going on by now, but... As you know i've been investigating the case of disappearing ponies that I discovered to have been going on around here lately under my nose, with over nineteen ponies having disappeared in total so far. As a result me and my animal friends have been busy looking around the town all afternoon trying to find any clues that could help with solving the case at hoof, but... So far we haven't found anything that could help us solve this case, and we've checked all the usual spots too."

Sunny looked at Hitch with wide eyes at what he just said, she had no idea that this case was as serious as it was.

"W-what!? Seventeen ponies have disappeared!? That's crazy! Is that all just in Maretime Bay alone???" Shouted Sunny in disbelief.

"Actually, most of the disappearances have been happening in the Bridlewood Forest, but it's now starting to have an affect on Maretime Bay as well too." Hitch replied.

"That's awful! Is there some sort of widespread ponynapping going on in Equestria, whose behind all of this!?" Said Sunny in a panic.

"Calm down Sunny, I don't know for sure yet, but... I'm willing to bet my badge on it being the case from the way it's all pointing right now, just the feeling I'm getting. Said Hitch, tugging at his sheriffs badge.

"Hmm, you said that you haven't found any clues so far right? Have you been checking thoroughly for anything suspicious at all around town?" Said Sunny.

"We have been doing that Sunny, we've checked every bin, gutter, behind the boxes, and of course in the bushes too to see if we could find anything, but we haven't found a single lead, not even a crumb..." Said Hitch, sighing again.

"Hmmm, it sounds like this case is not as obvious as it looks, like how did these ponies disappear, and why, and the lack of any clues that could lead to the answer." Said Sunny, giving off a sigh of her own.

"I hate to admit it Sunny, but I'm stumped and unsure what to do next." Said Hitch dejectedly.

The group sat there for a few minutes in silence thinking at a loss as to what to do next, Sunny however held a hoof up to her head in deep thought, until she came up with an idea.

"Wait, I got an idea! Why don't we all go back to the station and look over the case again together? Maybe we might find something new to go on that you've overlooked earlier?" Said Sunny.

"Hey now, that's not a bad idea, maybe we could ask the others for help too, especially Zipp, I know she'll be interested the instant we tell her about it." Said Hitch, getting up from his seating on the fountain.

"Oh yeah she will be, then we can all work together to solve this case, the more the better!" Said Sunny determinedly.

"Then it's settled, let's get moving back to the station right away! McSnipps you come with me, as for you Kenneth and co, keep an eye out tonight for anything suspicious, if you do spot anything, send a report to me in the morning." Said Hitch to the troops.

The animals gave Hitch the salute, McSnipps climbed up onto Hitch's back, while Kenneth, his deputy and other animal friends all went their separate ways, to keep a watch out for anything suspicious in the night.

"Excellent, let's get moving!" Said Hitch as he got a running head start towards the station.

"Hey, wait up!" Shouted Sunny as she ran after him, wishing she never left her roller skates at home.

It wasn't long before Hitch and co reached the station, Hitch hadn't been back here all day, and he just remembered the cup of coffee that he never finished before he left, he felt a little silly about wasting it, sometimes his hotblooded nature when it came to police work can lead him to forgetting things. However, just as Hitch reached to open the front door inside, he found something out of the place right away, the door was slightly opened ajar instead of being locked.

"That's odd, I'm pretty sure I closed this door shut before I left with my animal pals earlier today." Said Hitch suspiciously.

"You think somepony else has opened it recently, what if they're still inside?" Said Sunny curiously.

"Only one way to find out, back me up here in case they turn out to be dangerous Sunny." Said Hitch.

Taking a deep breath, Hitch gently pushed the door open to the station, taking a look inside. What he found surprised him, there standing right in front of his desk, gazing up at the notice board intensely, was not some random pony who had broken into his office, but actually a pony who was one of his closest friends. That pearl white coat, burgundy red mane and tail with a cyan stripe running through it, and those inquisitive blue eyes, yep there was only pony that could be, it was none other than Zipp Storm, the elder Pegasus Princess of Zephyr Heights herself. Seemingly hearing the door to the station open, Zipp shifted her glance towards them quick, greeting them warmly.

"Well well, it was about time you got back here Sheriff, looks like you've got quite the case on your hoofs right here, seventeen ponies going missing over the last month over all of Equestria, and most of them being Unicorns as well, that's a deep mystery that's just itching to be busted open, don't you agree?" Said Zipp excitedly.

"You always like to get involved in my investigations without warning don't you Zipp?" Said Hitch smirking.

"Hey now, it's cool stuff you know, I'm always fascinated by mysteries, especially good ones that keep you guessing until the end." Zipp replied.

Hitch chuckled as he walked on into the station, followed by Sunny and his animal pals.

"Sounds like you've been watching one too many murder mystery films on Canternet Zipp, you know how hokey some of that stuff can get right?" Said Sunny with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh please, you know I only watch the good ones that actually make sense and are more grounded and star a detective, plus not always having a happy ending." Said Zipp waving her hoof dismissively.

"Even though you like to watch the infamous "Stab" movie series where the teen ponies get lost in a remote location and somehow die in the most corny ways possible to an obvious culprit?" Said Sunny with a smirk.

"Anyway, so what brings you here to the station Zipp, I thought you and Pipp would be at the Brighthouse by now waiting for everypony else to come home?" Said Hitch.

"That's correct, we both arrived back there around mid afternoon when we finished our meeting at Zephyr Heights, but then we got bored waiting for you, Sunny and Izzy to come home, so Pipp decided to start doing a stream to pass the time with her 'Pippsqueaks', blabbering on about fashion this and trendy that, so much that I couldn't bear to hear it any longer. So I decided instead to go down and visit the station to see if you had gotten back yet from your last patrol of the day, that's when I saw the notice board over there that was overflowing with letters and reports. I got curious and decided to check it out to see what was going on, and I'm glad I did so." Said Zipp.

"This case you've been investigating, it sounds like a really big one sheriff, so much that it actually excites me from how there is so much going on, and yet so little to go on." Said Zipp, flashing a smile.

Hitch looked down at the floor glumly, "It's as I said 'little to go on', me and my animal pals have been up and down in this town all afternoon trying to find clues, but we haven't found anything, nothing that could relate to the case at hoof."

"Is that right, that doesn't sound like you sheriff, normally you'd be all over it like the detective you are, are you sure you've found nothing to go on?" Said Zipp, taking a step closer.

"He's right, I saw him and his animal pals multiple times today while working, he even stopped at my stand for a smoothie twice just to keep going." Said Sunny.

"Well I can believe that, but it still doesn't help the fact that we have no clues to go on." Said Zipp thoughtfully.

"That's why we've come back here, we're planning to go over the reports again to see if anything has been overlooked, or stands out from the first time I read them." Said Hitch.

"Sounds like a plan, I'd be happy to help out too, I love a good mystery to solve." Said Zipp with a determined look.

"I had a feeling that you would say that Zipp, alright everypony, let's get to work!" Said Hitch in excitement.

The three ponies then made their way to the notice board and got to work going over it once more to see if they had missed anything related to the case as they had suspected.

"Easy, there are over seventeen missing in total, most of them being Unicorns, with only one being an Earth Pony." Said Hitch.

"Right, now is there anything they have anything in common at all, other than them being Unicorns?" Asked Zipp to Hitch.

"Well... only two of the Unicorns in the reports come from Maretime Bay, they're names are Swirly Whirl and Primrose in order of disappearance, and there is a noticeable gap between the two of them vanishing, I can't see any connection between the two of them other than them both being Unicorns from Bridlewood. As for the Earth Pony, his name is Sawduster, a hard working stallion who used to work for Canterlogic as a builder before it shut down, now he usually does odd jobs around the town." Said Hitch.

"How long was the gap in time between them disappearing?" Said Zipp inquisitively.

"I see, clever, very clever, the perpetrator spaced out the ponynappings to avoid leaving a trail so easily." Zipp said thoughtfully.

"Hmm... wait, you said the two of them lived in Maretime Bay? What about the rest of the missing Unicorns?" Said Sunny to Hitch.

"The others are all from Bridlewood, most of them i've not met before, but a few of them I have seen before, including Leaf, Onyx, Jasper and Twinkle. Unlike in Maretime Bay, they all seemed to have been disappearing every other day during the last four weeks, all over the Bridlewood forest if I had to guess." Hitch replied.

"I hate to imagine the situation over there right now, with so many ponies having vanished in a space of a few weeks, they must be very on edge... it's no wonder they've been calling for your help, right sheriff?" Said Zipp, looking at him sternly.

"Yes I know... why are you looking at me like that?" Said Hitch with a raised eyebrow.

"What I want to know is, why didn't you jump onto this case right away Hitch? I noticed that you've been getting all of these missing letters from them for the last three weeks, why the hay did you wait until today to get started on it?" Said Zipp, stepping closer to him.

Hitch gulped, he had a sinking feeling since lunch time that this was going to come up sooner or later, and he knew that Zipp would notice it dead away and not let it slide at all. Feeling her stare piercing into him hard, he decided to come clean about it here and there.

"Well... the truth is that I... at the time I was getting these I treated them as low priority since they didn't take place in the Maretime Bay area, after all my legal authority doesn't extend out to the Bridelwood area itself, instead I believed that the leader of the Unicorns, Alphabittle would look into it instead since they are his responsibility, or at least that is what I had believed at the time, but-

He was interrupted by the loud angry stomp of Sunny's hooves right beside of him.

"WHAT!? How can you say that Hitch!? Those are friends that we've met together, Unicorn friends! Why the hay did you consider them being missing to not be an urgent matter at all!?"

"Outside your authority huh? So you would rather let them handle their troubles on their own without even responding to their help? Even though it's plain as sunshine that they have been doing so?" Said Zipp bluntly.

"That's right... I cannot officially investigate the case happening there without Alphabittle's permission, as much as I want to, I need to respect his authority" Said Hitch defensively.

"That didn't stop you from chasing me all the way there in the first place when you put out a warrant for my arrest." Said Sunny sarcastically.

"That was a different matter! When we weren't all together in harmony and still in fear of each other!" Hitch shouted back.

"That maybe, but tell me something, are you still stuck on that point of view now, or do you plan on actually doing something about it?" Snapped Zipp.

"I was getting to that!" Said Hitch exasperating, "After I realized what was going on earlier today, I decided that I needed to head to Bridlewood tomorrow to speak with Alphabittle about it, not just to apologize for not realizing how serious the situation too late, but to also help in finding the missing Unicorns."

"Well... that is much more like it sheriff, I'm glad you've turned a new leaf on this." Said Zipp, showing a slight smile.

"Apology accepted Hitch, but now we need to think up a new plan of action to try and understand the reason behind the Unicorns disappearance." Said Sunny.

"Actually, that's something I've been curious about, did the letters from Bridlewood mention anything at all?" Said Zipp, shifting her attention back towards the notice board.

"Not exactly no, they all just requested my help, but... There is one thing they all have in common, a strange symbol that I've never seen before." Said Hitch, pointing the symbol out in question.

The ponies all took a look at the strange symbol, it was certainly Unicornish in design, it depicted their trademark horn, along with what looked liked water drops around it, what could it mean?

"Sunny, you know a lot about Unicorns, what do you think this could mean?" Asked Hitch.

"Hmmm... well, I'll be honest Hitch, I have zero clue on what this symbol means." Said Sunny with a shrug.

"I'm serious! I may know a lot about Unicorns, but this is a new one on me I'm afraid." Said Sunny shaking her head.

Hitch let out a sigh, "I guess this means we'll need to call in an 'expert' on Unicorns then in order to solve this mystery."

"That's right, but not just any expert in Unicorns, but a Unicorn who is an expert on them." Said Zipp.

"Yeah, a Unicorn who we know very well, the one who can explain it all." Said Hitch in a realization.

"Better yet, we already know who to turn to for this problem." Said Sunny, joining in.

A voice rang out that made the group jump in surprise, "Did somepony call for me?"

The three ponies turned around to look at the now open doorway, and lo and behold was the very pony they were waiting for, none other than Izzy Moonbow, smiling bright as always.

"Well that's the funny thing Izzy, we were actually just thinking about you when we needed you most, and you just happened to show up at the right time." Said Sunny with a smile.

"Aww you guys, I just love being with my friends, and well I like to be there for you when you need it most!" Said Izzy excitedly as she group hugged her friends, who responded in kind.

"Of course Izzy, and we feel the same way, we'll never leave anypony behind." Said Sunny smiling.

After an extended hugging session Izzy stood back, tilting her head in curiosity.

"Well it's this case that Hitch is currently involved in, it's turned out to be quite a doozy." Said Sunny in response.

"Oooh, what kind of doozy are we talking about? Oh is it another conspicuous litterer who keeps dropping litter around the town, or is it another case of pony magic going crazy again randomly? Ooh ooh, what if that graffiti artist is on the loose again?" Izzy asked innocently.

The other ponies shifted eyes at each other in silence, until Hitch cleared his throat and spoke up, "Actually Izzy, it's more serious than that."

"Ohhh, that kind of doozy I see, well spit it out then, how serious is it?" Izzy asked, still smiling.

"Well you see... basically it goes like this, ponies have been disappearing around Equestria, most of them Unicorns, and we don't have any clue as to why they've disappeared, and what's behind it." Said Hitch.

"That's why we need your help Izzy, if there is anypony who can tells us about Unicorns, it's you." Said Sunny.

"Ahh, I get it now, well why didn't you say so in the first place?" Said Izzy, who hopped over to the notice board in interest, "I see that they sent letters asking for your help Hitchio, so what is it about them that you need my help with?"

"It's to do with this symbol they stuck on the letters here." Said Hitch who pointed out one such example.

"Oooh, that's one of the stamps that we Unicorns use when sending letters to each other for different events or situations, i've got a bunch of them in my bag right here." Said Izzy, reaching for her handbag.

"Really? Show us what they are, I'm interested to know about them." Said Sunny, her eyes sparkling with interest.

Izzy proceeded to place her handbag on the table, she then took out various different stamps that had different symbols on them, laying them out neatly in front of her friends. She went into explaining what each of them meant, and what they were used for.

"So this first one here with the balloons on it, this is used when a Unicorn is sending out invites for a party, the second one however with the bundle and stick is used when a Unicorn is leaving Bridlewood... I know I had to use this when I moved out to the Brighthouse, though oddly I didn't get very many letters like these in return. Ah well, now this third one here with the smiley face is my favorite of the bunch, it's used when a Unicorn has met new friends!" Said Izzy, explaining a mouthful.

"Well that would explain all of the random smiley faces we saw stamped on the walls back when you first moved in." Said Sunny.

"Hehe sorry about that, I sometimes get a little too carried when I get super excited! Anyway, this next one here is used whenever a Unicorn is in danger or trouble, it's usually used to call for help from fellow Unicorns or other ponies they know about, and this last one I have is used when somepony has 'kicked the flower' so to speak... I'm always sad when it happens." Said Izzy, showing the skull pattern the stamp had, before putting it down gently.

"That's so interesting! Ohhh to learn something new about Unicorns is so cool!" Said Sunny excitedly, her eyes shimmering.

"Whoa hold on, rewind back one moment, what did you say about the second to last stamp?" Said Hitch attentively.

"Oh this? I said this one is used when a Unicorn is in danger or trouble." She said, lifting it up to show them again.

Hitch and Zipp's eyes shot wide open, the symbol on the stamp was an exact match to the ones on the letters.

"That's it Izzy! That's the stamp that the Unicorns used on the letters! It was a call for help from them, all the way from Bridlewood!" Exclaimed Zipp.

"Oh it's nothing guys, I'm glad to have helped out!" Said Izzy smiling brightly.

But then just as quickly, her smile left her face when she realized what was going on, then she leaped forward to the notice board, knocking the table over in the process, spilling all of it's contents, including the cup of coffee from earlier all over the floor.

"BLAAAHHH!! How come I didn't pick up on this earlier!? Unicorns missing from Bridlewood?? That's terrible! Why are they missing, what has happened to them!?" Shouted Izzy, shaking Sunny.

"*GASP* What if... have they been ponynapped!?" Izzy shouted, interrupting Sunny.

"Calm down Izzy, clam down, we are all doing our best to find out what happened to them, and we will find them!" Said Hitch reassuringly.

"Yes that's right, we aim to find those missing ponies and bring them back home safe and sound!" Said Sunny bravely.

"Absolutely, and if anypony is behind this, we aim to bring them to justice, you have my word on it, as a friend, and a princess." Said Zipp, standing proud.

Izzy grew a soft smile, then hugged each of her friends in turn, "Thank you, thank you so much!"

"Don't thank us yet Izz, we still need to find a lead on where they could've gone." Said Zipp.

"Hmm, I think in light of the new information about these stamps among other things, we should look into investigating the missing Unicorns in the Bridelwood Forest next, I suspect we'll have better luck finding a lead there, and perhaps the Unicorns living there can tells us more too." Said Sunny thoughtfully.

"Yes we should! Alphabittle would likely help us out too, he must be worried sick about them..." Said Izzy dejectedly.

"I agree, but we'll have to do it tomorrow since it's getting late outside, it'll take too long to get to the Bridlewood Forest before nightfall, and I really don't want to find out what crawls around in the outskirts of Equestria at nighttime." Said Zipp, looking out of the window.

"We should also let Pipp know about this case too, I'm sure she'll lend us a hoof to help out as well" Said Sunny.

"With what? Hosting a livestream about ponies disappearing just so she can get more followers for her socials?" Said Zipp sarcastically.

"Well no, rather she can use her followers and their connections to help us find out if anypony around Equestria knows what happened to them, and if they saw anything." Retorted Sunny.

"Huh, well that's not the worst idea ever, it would certainly give us a larger search range." Said Zipp as she took out her phone to send her sister a quick message.

Hitch suddenly remembered something from this morning that he nearly forgot about.

"You know that reminds me Zipp, how did that meeting you had this morning with Pipp and the Queen go?" Asked Hitch.

Zipp visibly grimaced as soon as she heard that, she then put her phone away and looked at him seriously.

"It's... officially royal business, so I'm strictly not allowed to speak about it outside of my sister, and the Queen."

"What!? How bad can it be, can't you tell us, I mean we are your friends after all." Said Sunny in surprise.

"Sorry Sunny, but the Queen told us strictly not to mention it until further notice, it's to prevent any leaks from happening." Said Zipp sternly.

"Aww, that's lame, but you promise to tell us about it soon won't you Zipp, won't you?" Said Izzy, giving Zipp the puppy dog eyes.

While Izzy seemed to be content with it, Sunny was suspicious, It wasn't like Zipp at all to keep information from them regarding royal business, especially since they were all on good terms with the Queen since the unification of the pony tribes, something was wrong, she was sure of it.

"Anyway, we have a plan for tomorrow, we'll head to the forest to start investigating there for clues about the missing ponies." Said Zipp.

"Is there anything else that we should look into before we head back home Hitch?" Said Sunny to Hitch.

"Nope, that's all of our bases covered for now." Said Hitch, picking up his coffee mug off the floor and putting it in the sink.

"Good, well then, let's head back home everypony, we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Said Zipp as she headed for the door.

"How can I not be? A deep mystery like this doesn't come around often, I plan on splitting this case wide open!" Said Zipp with a confident smile.

"And if some no-good ponynapper is behind this, he'll be getting a nice long holiday, behind bars." Said Hitch.

"Not before I sock it to them with a hoof sandwich, straight from royalty!" Said Zipp shaking her hoof up in the air.

"But that doesn't sound like a good holiday being in jail, and having to eat sandwiches like that." Said Izzy innocently.

The four ponies made their way outside of the station, Hitch making sure to lock the door behind them securely, he then signaled to his animal friend McSnipps to start the night watch while he went home, the crab replied in kind and got to work inside. However as Hitch turned around, he saw something that made him realize that the walk back home wasn't going to be such a stroll in the park.

"It's all the junk that I collected today from the junkyards, isn't it magnificent?" Said Izzy.

The three friends looked up at the heavy wagon, brimming with trash and junk, almost certainly heavy in load, and at the top lay Senor Butterscotch.

"I umm... hehe, think I'm going to need some help getting this back home." Said Izzy sheepishly.

As the sun continued to set and the it's fading rays glazed across the coastline, the three pony friends got to work helping Izzy bring her wagon back home to the Brighthouse on top of the cliff. It was a hard job due to the weight of the cargo the wagon was carrying.

"Why thank you Sunny, it's a little bit more than I normally get, today though was just a goldmine of trash for me to find and unicycle for better use." Said Izzy, pulling the wagon along the front.

"You know sometimes I wonder how on Earth you can find anything appealing about junk." Said Zipp with a sign.

"It's not about how it looks on the outside Zipp, it's about how it is on the inside, and making every piece fit together like a jigsaw puzzle." Said Izzy.

"Hah... Sweet Twilight this is heavy...!" Said Hitch, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Hey no need to over strain yourselves guys, i've pulled heavier loads than this back home." Said Izzy, looking back at them.

"Well then in that case I'll have to push harder and harder, the sooner this is done the better." Said Hitch, putting more power behind the wagon.

"Take your time guys, we'll soon be there." Said Izzy, returning to focusing on pulling the wagon forward.

Sunny and Hitch continued to push hard to get the Wagon up the steep climb towards the Brighthouse, at one point the wagon nearly tipped over and threatened to fall on top of them, but Zipp luckily zipped down to help keep it stable for them, then she lent a hoof in pushing it there.

"Hah... Honestly Izzy, I don't get how you are able to bring back so much of this junk so often, how do you do it?" Said Hitch, sweating beads.

"I don't know Hitch, it just comes to me randomly and out of nowhere sometimes, like inspiration and dreams, hunger, thirst and of course when I need to go to the lavatory to take a du-."

"Oops sorry." Said Izzy sheepishly, "But yes, I sometimes I just have so much inspiration that I have to get just as much junk together to make it happen."

"I guess so, but this much in one day? This seems a little excessive even for you Izzy." Said Hitch.

Izzy slowed a little as she grew a warm smile on her face, thinking of a happy thought from earlier today.

"Weeeell I guess it is a little much this time, but that's only because today I met a brand new friend while I was down at the junkyard." Said Izzy.

Both Hitch and Sunny stopped pushing the wagon and looked at Izzy, this was the first that they had both heard of it.

"Wait what, you made a new friend down at the junkyard today?" Said Sunny with confusion.

"Yeah I did, he was down there on his own with just a little flying robot for company, me and Senor Butterscotch saw him when we were working and decided to introduce ourselves to him, I came up to him in my usual manner and said 'Hi new friend' to him. We then both started talking, I won't lie that he was acting a little cold and distant at first, but he soon warmed up to me, we talked about several things, including how we both use scrap to make something new, how I use it for uni-cycling, and how he uses it for inventing and building things!" Explained Izzy.

"That's pretty cool honestly, being able to make a new friend like that, especially one that shares the same hobbies as you do Izzy." Said Sunny smiling.

"Dr Wormwood huh, is he like a scientist or something?" Said Zipp with intrigue.

"Yeah he is, he told me he enjoys inventing new machines and devices, and just like me he likes to uni-cycle, or 'recycle' as he calls it old junk to make them into something new. Oh and guess what? When I asked him how he felt about magic coming back to the land, he told me that he was happy about it and all of the opportunities it will bring, he even told me that he was looking into making use of it to benefit all of ponykind in some way." Said Izzy excitedly.

"That sounds mighty interesting to me, I wonder how he plans to go about doing it." Said Zipp thoughtfully.

"Beats me Zipp, but it's sounds super exciting to me, I be he'll tell me all about it the next time we meet up." Said Izzy.

"Nope, but he said he would send me a message when he wants to meet up again, however he plans on doing that." Said Izzy with a smile.

Zipp smiled back, then looked on at Sunny and Hitch who had been quiet for the last few moments, they were both deep in thought about something,

"Wormwood... I swear i've heard of that name somewhere..." Said Sunny in thought.

"Hey do you guys want me to sing the song that I made up while I was down in the junkyard?" Said Izzy, breaking them out of their thoughts.

Hitch started shaking his head frantically, "No no no it's fine Izzy we really should get moving-"

"It's no use Hitch, as soon as Izzy starts going into song, there is no stopping her." Said Zipp who was hovering nearby.

"If you go down into the dumps today, you might be in for a big surprise. You never know what you'll find, a broken toaster, or an umbrella in disguise. For there is much buried treasure to be found, like a horseshoe, or shower curtain, because down in the dumps anything is for certain!"

Izzy would continue to sing the song all the way up to the Brighthouse without so much of a pause. By the time they got to the top of the hill where they lived, Sunny and Hitch were glad that it was over with.

The four ponies then moved the wagon onto the side out of the building, out of the way, joining the rest of Izzy's ever growing pile of scrap, at this rate it could become yet another junkyard.

"Filly, it feels like ages since i've been back home, I'll be glad to have a rest for tonight."

"I'm relived, after all that running and pushing i've done today, I'm gonna need a good warm shower to wash all this off." Said Hitch, sweating all over.

"Not unless Pipp hogs the shower first, she likes to take her time getting all 'prim and unique' for her fans, bleh." Said Zipp with a slight disgust.

"Hey you are almost as bad Zipp, what with all that flying around every day." said Hitch with a smirk.

Zipp gave him a light kick to he side while rolling her eyes, but she smiled showing that it was in good humor. The four ponies then went to the front door into the Brighthouse, all prepared to rest after a long day. But, just as Sunny opened the door, they were greeted by loud music playing from the living room, along with what sounds like lyrics to a song being sung out, it seems as though Pipp had decided to host a karaoke night with her friends from Mane Melody, and it sounds like she was streaming it all too.

"Hay yeah! Come on everypony! Whoever messes up the lyrics of the next song has to dye their mane with a shade of white for a day!" Shouted Pipp.

"Well that ain't gonna be me sister, I got straight As on my singing, and you'll be the one wearing white tomorrow!" Said a voice that sounded just like Jazz Hooves.

"Oooh why didn't anypony say there was going to be karaoke tonight? Wait for me Pipp, I wanna join in!" Shouted Izzy excitedly as she barged in through the door, almost knocking it off hit's hinges.

"Looks like my sister has had other ideas, this might go on into the night." Said Zipp with a deadpan.

"Ah well, at least we'll have a feast to prepare for the big job tomorrow." Said Sunny as she walked on in.

"I guess so, but it sounds like the shower might have to wait, don't want to be taking it when anypony needs to go bad." Said Hitch, giving a loud sigh.

"No worries, i'll let them know so they won't disturb you when you need to use it." Said Zipp.

"Thank you Zipp, still, I hope this doesn't keep me up all night tonight. "Said Hitch as he walked on inside to join in the party, very reluctantly.

Zipp however didn't join him, instead she remained outside the Brighthouse, she turned to stare out over the sea, now dyed a deep orange from the fading sunset. She began to think about everything that had happened today, from the royal meeting with the Queen that she is not allowed to share with anypony else, not even her friends, to the Missing Unicorns case that Hitch was investigating. Then there was the recent revelation about Izzy having a new friend, a scientist named Wormwood who apparently had a drone with him, and had a vested interest in magic, Zipp found this to be very intriguing, perhaps more so than she was letting on.

"Hmmm, Dr Wormwood huh, seems a little strange for a 'scientist' to be hanging out in a junkyard, and if I overheard right from Izzy, it sounds like he had a drone with him, and his interest in using magic to benefit all ponykind... I wonder..." Zipp pondered to himself.

"I think I'm gonna need to do a little more digging into things tomorrow, for the case that Hitch is on, and for this mysterious Dr Wormwood that Izzy met, I don't know why... but I can't shake this strange feeling I'm getting from all this."

She continued to stare out towards the town in thought, when she was interrupted by a call from inside the Brighthouse.

"Huh? Yeah I'll be right there." Said Zipp back as she made her way to the door, taking one last look over the sea before shutting the door behind her.

While the party continued to rave on inside the Brighthouse, there was an awful lot to reflect on today for the Mane five. The mystery of the Unicorns vanishing was a deep and troubling one, what could be behind it happening, and if they were being ponynapped as Hitch and Zipp suspect, who is the perpetrator, and why are they doing it?

Then there is Izzy's new friend from the junkyard, while it may seem the two of them might be hitting it off in terms of friendship, at the same time the new friend had told Izzy virtually nothing about who he was nor what he did as a living, not to mention he appears to harbor some hard feelings towards Canterlogic, could he have been one of it's workers from back in the day, and if so, what happened to him? Zipp appears to have some suspicions about him too, for what reason, is currently unclear.

Finally, there was the meeting that Zipp and Pipp had with their mother the Queen of Zephyr Heights, what exactly transpired in that meeting, did something happen to the city while they were away, and why are the sisters keeping quiet about it from even their own close friends in the Mane five? Three mysteries to solve, one bigger than the others, and with very little to go on. Tomorrow promised to be a busy and certainly eventful day for Sunny and her friends, together she and her friends vow to solve the mystery of the Unicorns vanishing before it is too late.

Little did they know however, is that their activities and detective work hasn't gone completely unnoticed by everypony, and whatever is responsible for the case at hand, might be closer than they think.

The Curious Case of Vanishing Unicorns

by Virydyan

Act 1 - Chapter 3

END OF ACT 1