Interrogation
"Is this honestly worth it to you?" Sunny asked incredulously, motioning a hoof across the street and buildings adjacent to CanterLogic that had been peppered with the Splat-a-Pult's slime ball projectiles. "All this mess? For a single pony that hasn't even done anything?"
Hitch didn't answer as they walked in front of Toots, who was carefully wheeling the detached Entrapment Device down the coastal road towards the Maretime Bay Sheriff's Office.
Sunny didn't want to let this unicorn out of her sight, even though the only thing in sight currently was the tip of her horn. If she was honest with herself, it wasn't Hitch she was mainly worried about; it was his deputy and everypony else. But she knew Hitch could be counted on to be fair and just, even in the most extreme circumstances, even if 'extreme' was entirely based on a point of view.
Right now, she was counting on it.
"Um, Sheriff?" Toots began, keeping a hold on the pallet jack as they closed in on the double doors of the precinct. "I don't think this thing is going to fit through your doors."
Hitch did a double take, looking at the doors and the Entrapment Device. Toots was right, even placed directly on the ground and the pallet jack removed, there would be at least several centimeters that the top of the door frame wasn't going to let through.
"Do we keep her in there?" Toots asked.
"Have you thought about, oh, I don't know, asking nicely? It's not like she's resisted you or anything yet." Sunny told him.
Hitch tapped the side of the entrapment device three times before leaning in.
"Can you hear me in there?"
"Yes, sir, sheriff sir!" Came the muffled but enthusiastic reply from within the steel enclosure.
"If we let you out of there, are you going to behave? Go right through the doors and into the holding cell. No magic, no nothing, you understand?" Hitch told her.
"Yup!" The unicorn replied happily.
Hitch took a breath, then firmly pressed the glowing red button on the front of the Entrapment Device. The top and sides of the steel box lifted away and folded in on itself, sliding into the compartments built into the metallic floor, leaving the unicorn standing there on the metallic square.
"Just one question," Izzy began as Hitch opened the doors to the precinct. "What's a holding cell?"
Hitch wasn't sure what to make of this pony yet, but decided to take the question seriously, and merely pointed a hoof into the building to the back left corner, where the open jail cell was waiting. The unicorn merely nodded, then pranced into the building, straight back to the open barred door, and trotted inside. Hitch was right on her tail, and closed the cell, locking the unicorn inside, as Toots began to pull the Entrapment Device back to the front of the theater, while Sunny walked in.
She barely got inside before Sprout also came in, carrying a stacked trio of CanterLogic's Anti-Mind Reading caps. When he saw the unicorn already in the cell, he immediately took the top one and put it on, the red bulb on the top glowing. With the doors closed, Hitch pulled the shades on both windows down.
He offered one to Hitch, who grabbed one and put it on as he got out another stack of paperwork, then to Sunny, who gave him an incredulous look and reply of "No."
"Go finish our patrol, Deputy, I've got things under control here." Hitch told him.
Taking the first opportunity to get away from the mind-reader in the cell, Sprout set the two metallic caps down on his desk and headed back out into the late afternoon. With his papers held to a clipboard, Hitch pulled his chair over to the cell, and put himself in front of both Sunny, who was sitting in a chair against the wall flipping through her bound journal, and the unicorn, who was eyeing him curiously through the bars.
"Alright, first things first. Name?" Hitch asked, putting the pen to the first form to fill out.
"Izzy Moonbow," the unicorn answered.
As Hitch recorded the mare's name down, he saw that Sunny was doing the same, jotting down in her journal. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he continued on down to the next box.
"And you are from...?"
"Bridlewood."
Again, Hitch saw that Sunny was writing down the unicorn's answer.
"You going for court reporter or something?" He asked.
"No, I've got questions too, and those were on here."
Hitch resisted rolling his eyes and made his way down his list.
"And you are how old, Izzy?"
"Twenty."
So pretty close to Sunny, Sprout, and himself.
"Just how many questions do you have?" Hitch asked Sunny, who continued to write the unicorn's answers down.
"One-hundred forty-two." Came the reply.
"You're not getting through all of those," Hitch commented.
"Keep your badge on, I'm staying out of the way," Sunny retorted.
"Your what?" Izzy asked, figuring it was her turn to ask a question.
Keeping his composure in check, Hitch merely pointed a hoof at the silver badge on the strap he was wearing around his barrel.
"Shiny. What does it mean?"
"It means I'm the Sheriff."
"That's all you need? Talk about an unhealthy power dynamic," the unicorn commented.
Sunny could immediately tell that Hitch was getting visibly annoyed, and quickly figured how to diffuse the situation.
"I assure you, Izzy, it's more than that. It symbolizes that the ponies of Maretime Bay have entrusted Hitch here with keeping them and our city safe and clean. So if somepony needs help, they just need to look for a pony wearing it."
Hitch's frustration evaporated at those words, and Izzy immediately accepted the explanation.
"Well, that makes sense."
"So why did you come to Maretime Bay?" Hitch asked.
"I'm looking for friends!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Why would your friends be here?" The sheriff replied.
"I mean new friends!" Izzy clarified, reaching a hoof up behind her ear into her long cerulean mane, and came out with a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it, and showed it to the two earth ponies.
It was a foal's crayon drawing.
"Dear unicorns and pegasi, you have friends in Maretime Bay. Come visit us!" Izzy said, reciting the writing on the drawing.
Sunny's heart skipped a beat, and her mouth dropped into an open smile.
"It was you!"
Sunny nodded.
"I made it with my dad. We always promised each other that someday, we would prove that all ponies were meant to be friends."
Izzy gave the mare a smile, and handed her the drawing. Sunny stared at it thoughtfully for a moment, before folding it backup, and tucking it deeper into her journal.
Under 'Offense', Hitch merely wrote 'inciting a panic'.
The double doors of the precinct opened again, and in came Sprout.
"Uh, Hitch? We're starting to get a crowd out there. You might want to say something," the red stallion said, immediately going for one of the Anti Mind-Reading caps, placing it on his head.
"Hitch, let's get down to brass tacks. She hasn't really done anything wrong. Maretime Bay has no warning signs, she hasn't harmed anypony or property, and she hasn't even used any magic," Sunny told him, glancing over at Izzy. "Although I can't wait for you to show me, but farther away from the city where it won't freak anybody out."
"Well, you see, uh, I don't have any magic."
Sunny's heart dropped.
"No... No magic?"
Izzy gently shook her head, seeing the disappointment on the mare's face.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, we did have it. But that was many, many, many moons ago, and then one day it just, poof, disappeared. Everypony thinks the pesky pegasi had something to do with it."
Sunny's disappointment didn't go away as her gaze slowly fell to her journal, to the list of questions she had, and she put an 'X' next to 'Can you make something float?'
She heard sniffing noises come from her right, and turned to see Izzy's muzzle sticking out from between the bars.
"What are you doing?" Sunny asked.
"You don't smell," Izzy answered.
"Thanks. Wait what?"
"Well, I'd better say something to make sure things stay calm while we figure out what to do," Hitch said.
"What's there to figure out? She didn't do anything, Hitch," Sunny adamantly said. Her eyes widened, and she turned back to the mare in the cell.
"Izzy, do you want to go to Zephyr Heights?"
"The pegasus city?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah. We can try and find out what happened to your magic."
"Are... Are you sure? The pegasi are bad news."
"It's gotta be better than this, right?" Sunny replied, motioning to the bars she was behind.
"I'm not so sure about that," Izzy mused.
"What do you say, Sheriff? Izzy here came to Maretime Bay to make friends, well she's made one. I'll leave with her tomorrow. The unicorn and troublemaker are out of town and out of your mane in the morning," Sunny told Hitch as the sheriff made his way towards the doors.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but that might be for the best."
"What?" Sprout asked, incredulous. "You're just letting a unicorn go?"
"Deputy, we are beholden to the citizens of Maretime Bay. Do you want a worried crowd outside our doors every single day that we keep her in here? Or would you want her gone, Sunny gone, and both our jobs considerably easier?"
The proverbial bulb came on above the stallion's head, and Hitch turned back towards the doors and pushed them open, stepping out onto front walk, facing the dozens of ponies who were waiting on him, more than half of them wearing CanterLogic's anti-mind reader caps.
"What do we do, Sheriff?" Came the first question above the other panicked and concerned voices.
"Everypony, listen, now listen," Hitch began, his voice loud, clear, and firm. "Calm down. Panicking isn't going to do anypony any good, understand?"
These words began to calm the overall mood of the crowd.
"What's your plan, Sheriff?" A stallion asked.
"Now, everypony, listen. The unicorn didn't harm anypony or any property, and she didn't use any magic. Once we make it clear that this is not the best place for her kind, we're going to show her out of the city limits, send her on her way, and then everypony is safe and sound. Alright? Sound like a plan, everypony?"
The crowd quieted down, and they largely seemed to be satisfied with the sheriff's control of the situation.
"Alright, now with that settled, please return to your homes and businesses. Maretime Bay is safe tonight, I promise."
With that, Hitch made his way back inside, and when the doors shut, he found Sprout at his desk, eyeing Izzy cautiously, and Sunny was still sitting next to the cell writing in her journal.
"Alright, well, before I go get dinner taken care of, I'll show you both back to the lighthouse once the streets clear out tonight. Then I want both of you out of city limits by noon tomorrow. Is that clear?"
"Sunny, I can't stop you from coming back, you live here. But Izzy, it's probably best that you don't come back, what with the panic you caused today. I know it's not the welcome you were expecting, but it's for the best. Now, I'll go get us all something to eat, and then we can set this plan in motion. The usual pizza for you, Sprout?" Hitch asked, and Sprout immediately nodded.
With a nod in return, Hitch turned and headed back out onto the city streets.
"He's right, you know," Izzy quietly said to Sunny as she sat down next to the bars, taking a quiet breath as her gaze met Sunny's.
"This wasn't the welcome I was expecting. But at least I made a new friend."
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Oh, Izzy. Why are you so precious?
Oh izzy despite the circumstances you are in you always find a way to stay positive just like Pinkie Pie
Okay so it looks like Izzy was taken to the Sheriff's Office to be interrogated why she was here even though she did not resist sunny wanted to ask some question as well and once they got to the police station hitch as some few questions to Izzy and so far things are going smoothly and she even told them that they couldn't do magic witch that disappoint sunny but she might think there might be another way to get the Magic back and they think Zephyr Heights might have the answer so basically they were going to leave tomorrow and hopefully the town would be coming down I wonder how this will work out since this is a different direction guess we'll find out next time
At least Hitch can be counted on to be sensible.
I find it funny that from the first trailers featuring Hitch, he went from expected worst pony to best pony for most after the film came.
Hitch is a reasonable law enforcement officer.
He is a TERRIBLE military strategist by Phyllis's (and, less importantly, real world) standards. If Izzy was actually a manipulator on the level of, say Cozy Glow, and had some locks picks in her hair and telekinesis (or teleportation abilities) explaining why she would WANT to see the inside of the facilities of their defenders, he would have been sending back not only a skilled spy, but the one Pony easiest to pump for more information.
In short, if you want to stretch this story out, you could easily have Sprout tell Phyllis what the plan is (over dinner if nothing else). Phyllis, who probably believes at least some of the propaganda she spouts, would then do... something?
Possibilities include:
-Loudly confront Hitch?
-Decide Hitch can't be trusted with the authority he has. Cue "Angry Mob", but with both Phyllis and Sprout leading it, either as a revolution against a present Hitch, or after Hitch escorts them off, at least to the border of what they consider Maritime Bay territory... Actually, if you need him gone longer he could be pulling a cart with camping gear and 200 "No Unicorns allowed! No Pegasi allowed!" signs (a super rush job at the town print shop) he intends to put up as a first pass at a radius of two miles.
-Provide a tracking bracelet for Hitch to put on Izzy so "we will know if she violates the terms of the agreement", then give Sprout a detector to find the location of the Pegasus and/or Unicorn settlements. She might not know about the map Sunny has, or might consider everything in the lighthouse "ancient propaganda and misinformation that only a fool would trust". Speaking of trust... "trust but verify" is a principle I could see Hitch following. He might ASK Phyllis for the tracking bracelet (or already have one). Note that the splatapults and unicorn traps were at least minimally useful in their functionality, unlike the balloon pack, anti-pegasus goggles, and probably the anti-mind-reading devices.
This is off the cuff and may have errors, but it might be enough to get your thinking started. Feel free to ask questions or point out flaws or whatever to improve my contributions if you need to.
11252531
The way things are going, it sounded like the four of them were going to have dinner at the precinct. Plus, I don't think Sprout's smart enough to suspect a spy job, so who knows, maybe (reluctantly) sharing a meal with a unicorn will cause him to rethink what he was raised to believe.
As for Phyllis, I get the feeling that the pony races' views of each other predate any of these characters, so she probably believes the propaganda. In fact, she was stunned to learn that the other tribes didn't have any magic in the movie. That said, I can imagine Phyllis' and Sprout's roles being reversed from the movie, assuming Phyllis doesn't bring Sprout down that rabbit hole with her.
11252662
Dinner at the precinct - Good point... if going the route I described might need to have Phyllis walk/barge/knock and ask (or demand) entrance in and ask for an update on the situation. Hitch might or might not find this reasonable, but, in either case would seek to defuse the situation by explain at least as much as "the Unicorn will be gone as soon as feasible" or something like that.
Sprout and Phyllis switching roles could be plausible if done well, and might (or might not) help keep things fresh and less of a rehash of the movie (which it has been successful at avoiding thus-far I think).
Interesting idea! I once wondered what could've happened if Hitch managed to arrest Izzy. Liked seeing the interrogation scene, Sprout watching everything from afar was funny lol everything mostly in peace, wonder where a a conflict could appear
I did find it a bit odd that Hitch accepted Sunny leaving to Zephyr Heights just like that. I know they had a small argument less than an hour ago but I'd imagine Hitch would worry and try to reason with Sunny to not 'risk her life like that', she's his friend. That's just how I see at least. Besides of that everything else was pretty good
11254382
The more feedback I get like this, the more I can hone future chapters.
I'm on the cusp of attempting an entire alternate version of the movie.
Thank you!
On re-read, any of the crowd who were outside the station could probably give Phyllis the information we were discussing.
11255670
At which point she marches over to the precinct and demands an explanation from Hitch?
11257284
Pretty much.
Yep, that's Hitch alright.
Your not gonna get your mind read Sprout, unicorns can't even do that!!!
Like letting Izzy go for starters.
Yeah, she's innocent.
Like I said, Izzy is innocent and it's a sign Hitch is accepting this. It's a start but he's not there yet.
Take those off you idiots!
Yeah, since only Sunny knows how special the magic of friendship can me compared to the rest of the town.
Well, you handled this very well. Honestly, the story in the movie wouldn`t change much if you added this.