The Curious Case of Vanishing Unicorns

by Virydyan

Act 2 - Chapter 4

Not far away from the scene of the ongoing battle between the Mane Five and the robots, the Unicorn leader Alphabittle was racing through the trees of Bridlewood forest as fast as he could, hoping that he will be able to catch up to them and hopefully help them out. He believed that he was on the right track having seen the dense track of hooves on the dirt path ahead of him, not to mention the telltale signs of a fight that had been happening along the way. What with all the broken branches and twigs lying around, and the burn marks left behind on the tree barks, there was no doubt about it that their adversary was wielding weapons of such power at their disposal.

"I hope I can get there before it's too late, I fear that the ponies might be a little in over their heads if our foe has an army of these things at their disposal." Alphabittle said to himself as he carried on running.

As Alphabittle continued running faster and faster to try and catch up to the gang, he soon began to hear loud distinct noises not far away, along with screams and yells, almost like battle cries. Alphabittle stopped in his tracks and adjusted the ears on his head, trying to listen into the noises and locate where they were coming from.

"Hmm... It sounds like they are coming from, that way!" He shouted as he pointed the direction out with his hoof.

He then took off in a gallop towards the source of the noises up ahead, which he faintly remembered was in the direction of a large clearing in Bridlewood, where a large mystical tree stood tall above all others, one that brought back memories for Alphabittle, sad deep memories that were personal to him.

The old Unicorn shook his head, burying his feelings deep down while keeping focused the matter at hoof, galloping down the path, until at last he reached edge of the clearing, just as one of the flying drones crashed right in front of him.

"W-w-whoa, what the hay, what is this!?" Alphabittle half shouted out as he looked at the wreckage.

"Heads up everypony! There's more coming in from behind us!" Came a loud voice from nearby.

Alphabittle eyes went wide as he looked towards the direction of the voice, "This is it, they must be close by here."

Sure enough, there they were, Izzy and all her friends spread throughout the clearing, heavily engaged in a fight with all the robots that were around them. Izzy was busy levitating various boulders to protect herself from their attacks, while Pipp and Zipp, the latter having lost her visor which lay on the ground, were taking advantage of their wings to dodge their laser fire to take them down one by one with either rocks, or their own strength. As for Sunny, she was squaring off against the lone robot pony that was aiming straight at her with its blaster, she was able to dodge its attacks, but only barely, and she couldn't seem to be able to get close enough to attack it directly.

"Well now, looks like I'm late to this party, but they seem to have it under control at the moment." Alphabittle said to himself, then he noticed that somepony was missing from the action, "Hang on a minute, where's Hitch?"

Alphabittle looked over by the big tree near the middle of the clearing and saw Hitch laying there, he seemed to be in pain from an injury of some kind as he was clutching his left side with his hoof. He was also trying to apply some band-aid that he had taken out of his satchel, but he was so caught up in it that he didn't seem to notice that one of the drones nearby was quietly taking aim at him, to Alphabittle's alarm.

"He'll be blasted for sure if he doesn't move!" Alphabittle said as he suddenly galloped towards him.

"Augh, blasted graze, I hope this bandage will help out." Whined Hitch as he applied the band-aid to the cut on his left side.

Just as he had finished doing so, he heard the familiar whir of a laser cannon charging near him, he looked behind him just in time to see a drone about to fire at him directly.

"Nooo!" Shouted Hitch as he covered his face to brace himself.

He then heard the loud sound of what sounded like the drone being impaled on something, before it was sent flying to the ground, exploding to pieces. He slowly moved his hooves away from his face to see what was going on, and saw the familiar silhouette of Alphabittle, standing right in front of him.

"Hey there sheriff, how are you holding up?" Said Alphabittle, looking at him concerned.

Hitch, realizing he was safe for now, let out a deep sigh of relief, "Yeah... I've been better, just dealing with some injuries to my shoulder and side at the moment."

Alphabittle looked over at Hitch, he clearly had been run rough in his chase of the drone, and he wasn't in any shape at all to take part in the fight.

"They aren't serious injuries luckily, so I should be fine after a bit of a rest." Said Hitch.

"I understand sheriff, and I take it that you are in no condition to join in the fight against those robots?" Asked Alphabittle, gesturing his head to the ongoing battle.

Hitch just shook his head, "I hate to admit it, but I'm in no shape to fight right now, I'll just get hurt even more than I already am, and get in the way of everypony else too."

Alphabittle nodded his head, then turned to look at the battle going on, "You stay here and get some rest then, I'll take it over from here."

"Please be careful, Alphabittle, these bots mean business." Said Hitch with concern.

Alphabittle just laughed, "Hahaha, it's the robots who need to be careful, they've messed with the wrong ponies this time around!"

Sunny and the robot pony were still engaged in combat, she had managed to tank a hit from it's blaster with her helmet, and then charged forward to headbutt it as hard as she could under it's chin. The attack managed to daze the robot for a bit, making it back away, but at the cost of making Sunny's helmet crack as some bits fell off.

"How's that, you tin pot!?" Shouted Sunny, showing a rare level of aggression.

The robot pony jumped back and fired at her again, Sunny managed to dodge the attack, but she caught her hoof onto a stray branch laying on the ground, causing her to lose her balance, she fell to the ground and landing on her jaw with a hard thud.

"Owww, ooof that's gonna smart." Sunny grunted in pain.

But before she had time to recover, the robot had closed the distance to her, and was just about to blast her at point-blank range, when a thundering of hooves came from behind it.

"Hooves off that young mare, you metal headed bully!" Shouted Alphabittle.

"W-w-what in the hay!?" Shouted Sunny in surprise, as she tried to look up.

Before the robot could see what was going on, Alphabittle lowered his head, and using his sheer strength, smashed right into it's side, sending it crashing a few feet away, landing in disarray. Alphabittle let out a huff, then turned to look at Sunny on the ground.

"Sorry I'm late Sunny, are you okay?" Asked Alphabittle, who helped her up.

"Thank you Alphabittle, and i'm alright, but there seems to be no end of all these drones coming out from the thicket, and this robot pony has proved to be stronger than it looks." Said Sunny, rubbing her jaw with her hoof.

"Then it looks like I got here just in time, now we can deal with them full force." Said Alphabittle.

The two ponies then looked on at the robot pony, which was getting back to its hooves, showing minor dents on its metal body, and a noticeable crack on its glowing core. The pony looked over to them, and with a bright glow of it's single eye, once again aimed it's weapon at them.

"We need to take this thing down quick before it harms anypony else!" Shouted Sunny, getting ready to charge again.

"Leave this one to me, I'll take it down, you go help everypony else!" Said Alphabittle, staring down at the robot pony.

The robot pony then opened fire, shooting a rapid blast of three laser shots at the two ponies.

"Look out!" Shouted Sunny as moved to dodge the attacks.

Alphabittle however ignored the attack and began charging straight towards the robot pony, which kept on firing at him, but none of it's attacks hit him. Just as it was about to step back to potentially retreat Alphabittle lowered his head and rammed his horn straight into the robot's glowing core, causing it to cease attacking.

"Haha, take that!" Yelled Alphabittle, hoisting it up into the air and throwing it to the ground, "You're scrap metal now!"

The robot sparked up more before blowing itself up in an explosion, leaving debris all over the place, but luckily nopony was near it. Dusting off his coat, Alphabittle looked on at the other ponies who were still engaged in fighting off the other drones, despite being outnumbered by a large margin, they were getting the upper hoof in the fight.

"Hey Pipp, heads up!" Shouted Zipp as she launched a rock she had picked up straight at the drone chasing after Pipp, smashing it to pieces.

"Nice shot Zipp, but there are still more coming at us!" Pipp shouted back.

Another drone was about to take a shot at her, when Alphabittle leaped up and stabbed it with his horn.

"Yeaarrgghhh!" He shouted, as he throw the drone into a nearby tree, destroying it.

"Whoa, Alphabittle! I didn't know you showed up." Said Zipp in surprise.

"Hahaha, i'd never miss this, not when my fellow Unicorns are in danger!" Said Alphabittle.

"Aww hay yeah, now we can finish these tin cans off in style!" Said Pipp.

"Yeah, these meany drones keep on shooting at me, they aren't playing nice at all." Said Izzy, still levitating rocks to protect herself.

"Let's all work together to finish them off, then we can start getting to the bottom of this whole case." Said Zipp, charging at another group of drones.

"I agree, let's do it!" Said Alphabittle, following her.

The fight continued on, with Sunny now joining in with her friends and Alphabittle in fending off the drones, the drones seemed to have been getting desperate as they were now actively trying to dodge their attacks.

"Keep it up everypony, we've got them on the ropes now!" Shouted Sunny.

"I so need to post a story about this on my social media." Said Pipp, pulling out a spare phone she had on her to do just that.

Zipp was unamused by the display, "Seriously Pipp? There's no time to be making Clip Trots about this fight-"

"Look out Pipp!" Shouted Izzy in a panic.

Pipp looked around just in time to see a drone shoot a large branch above her head, making it smack into her as she was flying under it, causing her to crash into a heap onto the ground under a pile of debris.

"Pipp!" Panicked Zipp, diving down to the ground to see if her sister was okay.

Before she could do anything, the same drone that fired at the tree branch fired another blast straight at her, Zipp just barely managed to dodge it, the laser blast grazing across her cheek, leaving a small cut across it, zipp, now enraged, glared over at the culprit.

"Y-you, you utter hunk of horse apples!" Zipp shouted out.

Before the drone could fire again, in a blink of an eye, Zipp quickly jumped up and with a might flap of her wings, zoomed straight towards it, smashing it into two halves with her sheer strength alone.

"Hah, not so tough now are you, are you!?" Said Zipp, feeling satisfaction over that display.

With that taken care off, Zipp then turned her attention to helping out her sister from under the heap of debris, but before she could even take a step forward, there was a deep growl of anger that slowly rang throughout the clearing, and with a might heave, Pipp got straight up from under the heap, shaking away all the dirt and debris from her mane and coat, she then let out deep angry huffs, her eyes burning with pure princess rage as she held up her now broken spare phone.

"Uhhh, Pipp, are you okay?" Asked Zipp with a raised eyebrow.

"NO, I, AM, NOT, OKAY!!! I have had it up to here with these haying annoying drones messing up my mane, my phones, and my friends too!" Shouted Pipp, steam venting out of her nostrils.

Zipp could only watch in surprise as Pipp let out what could only be described as a primal Pegasus scream, then she rushed to pick up a nearby boulder and began flying around at fast speeds, chasing after all of the drones around the clearing, smashing them up one after the other, over and over again, much to her friends amazement.
At last, only one was left, which seemed to have realized the danger it was in and was trying to flee, but Pipp was not having it, she chased it down relentlessly, giving it no chance to escape into the thicket of the woods around them, then as soon as she saw an opening appear, she proceeded to throw the boulder with all her strength and momentum, and managed to score a direct hit, causing the drone to explode into bits and pieces. Having accomplished her vengeance against the robots, Pipp landed on the ground nearby, she was short of breath, and her legs and wings hurt from all the strain she had put them under, but she was so full of bravado from her actions that she barely felt it.

"Hah, hah, haha, HA HAHAHAHA!!! Oh yeah, how do you like them feathers!? Nopony or robot ever, and I meant ever messes with me, and gets away with it! Aww yeah, who's the top mare around here? Uh huh, oh yeah, you go pony, go go, uh huh!" Boasted Pipp, celebrating in the air with some dances.

"Haha, i'll say, i've never seen you that angry before sis, nor have I ever seen you move that fast either, you really showed those drones whose the boss." Said Zipp, flying over to check on her.

"Heh heh, well, I can sometimes push it to the limit if such a situation calls for it, even if i'm not as fast as you are Zipp." Said Pipp, posing proudly.

"I mean, you could be as fast as me sis, if you know you stopped lounging around and eating junk most of the time." Said Zipp pointedly.

Upon hearing that, Pipp felt insulted and got right up in her sisters face, "Hey! Are you calling me what I think you've calling me, Zipp!?"

"No Pipp, I haven't said that bad word." Said Zipp with a smirk.

"Bad word!? Zipp, don't go around saying naughty stuff like that!" Said a voice from behind her.

"Augh ffff- Izzy! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Shouted Zipp in suprise, nearly letting out one such bad word.

"Hehehe, sorry about that, but are you girls okay?." Asked Izzy, who was joined by Sunny, Alphabittle and Hitch not far behind.

"Yeah we're totally okay, that was some battle though." Said Pipp, wiping the sweat off her brow.

The ponies looked all around them, the clearing was a mess of broken down drones and debris, they had indeed managed to win this fight, one that proved more thrilling, and more dangerous than they had expected, and not without some injuries too, with Sunny putting a bandage under her jaw which still hurt from her fall earlier, Hitch still rubbing his hurt shoulder and injured side, Zipp dealing with the laser cut on her cheek that she reluctantly plastered up, and Pipp starting to feel the effects of her actions just now with her joints aching. To make matters more pressing, the weather had started to change during the right, and now it was starting to rain, the small droplets falling from the now darkened cloudy sky hitting the ground firmly.

"Phew, I have to say that battle was a little too close for my liking." Said Sunny, taking off her helmet to inspect the damage.

"I'll say, if I hadn't got here on time, you ponies would've been in a world of hurt." Said Alphabittle.

"Yeah, and you totally smashed those mean old robots to pieces Alphabittle, they never stood a chance against you." Said Izzy smiling.

"Hahaha, well you know, nopony ever messes with the Unicorns under my watch, and i'm not letting whoever is behind these robots get away with this, not anymore." Said Alphabittle proudly.

As the rest of the ponies cheered on Alphabittle, Zipp suddenly remembered something that she and the rest of the gang discussed back at the Crystal Tea House, they needed to recover one of the drones so that they could study it.

"Ah shoot I completely forgot, we should look around to see if we can find one of the drones still intact, then hopefully we can get a clue as to who's been sending them after us, and from there find a lead to where the missing Unicorns are hiding." Said Zipp, looking around the clearing.

"No need to worry about that Zipp, I found one already." Said Hitch from behind them, dragging one of the busted drones from the fight, which was still largely intact, only missing one of it's hover units and some dents.

"Oh nice going there Hitch, how are you feeling anyway?" Asked Sunny.

"Honestly, i'm feeling rough and worn down, but I should be better after i've had a good nights rest." Said Hitch, rubbing his shoulder again.

"Haha, you chased that drone down like a tiger hunting it's prey sheriff, but I think next time you should be more careful and vigilant about what you get yourself into, less you get hurt again." Said Zipp, trotting over to check the drone.

"Heh, well you know how headstrong I can get, especially when it comes to protecting my friends and residents in a town." Said Hitch with a chuckle.

"Ah I know, we should have Elder Flower take a look at you Hitch, she knows a lot of treatments to help ponies feel better, she should be able to help you out when we get back to Bridlewood village." Said Alphabittle.

"Elder Flower? I don't think we've met her before." Said Sunny.

"Oh Elder Flower is our resident knowledge keeper, she knows a lot about old Unicorn history, remedies to help us feel better, every path in the Bridlewood Forest, and just about anything else Unicorn related. If there is anything you need to know about Unicorn history, Elder Flower's the one who'll likely know it." Said Izzy glowingly.

Sunny's eyes were full of stars, she no doubt was very much in fangirl mode for learning about it, for her, the chance to learn more about Unicorn history was far too tempting to pass up.

"Ohhh that is so cool! I'd love to meet her and learn more about Unicorns from her!" Said Sunny, squeeing hard.

"Hahaha, I had a feeling you would be interested in that Sunny, well then, what are we waiting around here for? We should head back to the village, it's starting to rain." Said Alphabittle, turning to begin making his way back to Bridlewood.

"Wait a minute ponies, what about this robot over here?" Called Zipp.

The ponies looked over to where she was, she was next to the robot pony that Alphabittle had defeated, despite exploding earlier and the damage inflicted upon it, there was still enough of it left for to be studied.

"Oh that's right, the robot pony, we'll definitely need to give this thing a good look over, I mean just look at it, we certainly don't have anything like this over at Zephyr Heights." Said Pipp.

"I can carry this hunk of junk on my back, but we better make a move on now, no telling if there are more of those things out there in the woods." Said Alphabittle, picking up the wrecked robot pony, then placing it onto his back.

"Not to mention the Metal Monster that eats Unicorns lurking out there! Ohhh i'd hate to run into it!" Said Izzy, looking around wildly in a panic.

"Alright alright, everypony, let's move on out of here, the rains starting to get heavy." Said Sunny, leading head of the group back towards Bridlewood.

The rest of the group followed on behind her, leaving behind all of the destruction that they had wrought onto the robots that had ambushed them, left to rust in the drizzle of the rainfall. However, watching them not far away were a group of robots, they seemed to have been waiting to join in the battle, but they had chosen not to do so. Soon a nearby drone hovered near them, issuing them new orders from their leader.

"Let them go for now, this turn of events is unfortunate, retreat back to base until further notice."

The robots obeyed the orders, then retreated into the darkness of the forest out of sight, it would seem that the Mane Five have scored their first victory against their unknown enemy, and now seemed to be on the right track to learning about who they are, and what they are after. Still, the battle may be over, but the case wasn't over yet, not until they finally find out where the missing Unicorns were and rescue them, and bring the criminal behind all of this to justice.

However, little did they know is that they were not the only ones fighting the robots at this very moment.

---

Meanwhile, far away from Bridlewood, back in the town of Maretime Bay, the residents had began to settle down for the night, the stalls along the promenade were all locked up and ready for tomorrow, the local shops were closed, restocked and ready for another busy day tomorrow. The rain from earlier had began to fall heavier now, some ponies were running around trying to get home before they got too wet, others though seemed to enjoy the weather, finding it more relaxing and peaceful, from splashing about in the puddles to walking along the promenade with their raincoats on, the sound of the raindrops providing a sense of bliss for them.

It was at this moment that two ponies in particular were out and about in the wet, hurrying around the streets and looking around franticly, as if they were looking for somepony, or something, their raincoat and umbrella becoming soaked with raindrops.

"Have you had any luck yet, Rocky?"

"No luck I'm afraid Jazzy, they weren't at the Brighthouse as you thought, it doesn't look like they've come home since they left this morning. How about you, have you had any better luck than me?"

"I've checked out all the other places they could've been at, the theatre, the promenade, even the old street corner, but there's not a hint of them anywhere."

"I'm starting to get worried, I hope nothing bad has happened to them..."

It was Rocky Riff and Jazz Hooves, Pipp Petals fellow co-workers at the Mane Melody saloon, they had been working hard all day due to Pipp's absence in joining the rest of the Mane Five on the journey towards Bridlewood, but now, after having not heard anything from her or her friends all day through social media or calls, and with no sign of them coming home at all, they had both grown very worried about them.

"This is turning into a right load of horse apples, where the hay could they be!?" Jazz said in frustration.

"Easy on the language there Jazzy, I'm sure they're okay, they are tough group of ponies." Said Rocky, trying to calm her down.

Jazz took a deep huff, then calmly shook her head, "Sorry about that Rocky, but I haven't gotten any texts back from Pipp for hours now, and she won't answer my calls either, the last thing I heard about her was that post she made on her social account this morning, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all this."

"I'm feeling the same way, I mean, you have been hearing about the talk going around town and on social media today haven't you?" Asked Rocky.

"You mean of all the Unicorns that have been disappearing? Well, now that you mention it, i've heard on my social channels today that apparently it's also been happening over at Bridlewood as well, but on a bigger scale, they say that over fifteen of them have gone missing over there, and nopony knows why." Said Jazz, flipping her phone out to check for any new messages.

"W-w-what, over fifteen Unicorns you say!? But that's insane, why would that many Unicorns simply vanish, it doesn't make any sense..." Said Rocky, thinking to himself.

The two of them stood around for a minute or two trying to figure out what was going on, until a distant rumbling of thunder in the skies above spooked the two of them out of their thoughts.

"I think it'd be wise if we both get out of the wet, is there anywhere we haven't checked yet?" Asked Rocky.

"Hmm... oh I know, how about the police station? If there is one thing I do know, is that Hitch always leaves a note behind if he is to be out of town for a day." Said Jazz.

"Sounds good to me, let's gallop over there right away." Said Rocky.

The two ponies then galloped over to the police station along the downtown area, but by the time they got there, they found that the police station was closed, and it didn't seem to have been opened all day.

"Ah shoot, I should've known that Hitch would lock the place up before leaving with the group, now there is no way we could get in there, not without setting off the alarms." Said Jazz, looking down in disappointment.

"Yeah... and the last thing I want to do is to break one of his many bylaws trying to get in, that pony can sometimes be a right pain in the flank about it." Rocky deadpanned.

"Hmm... I guess we'll have to keep looking elsewhere, it's starting to get late, and I really don't want to be out in this rain any longer than necessary." Said Jazz, turning around and walking off.

Rocky was just about to join her when his ears picked up a noise from not far away, he looked behind him and noticed a moving light in one of the station windows. He crept over to get a close look, but the light seemed to have vanished, though the noise was still happening, quiet as it was.

"Something wrong Rocky?" Asked Jazz, looking behind her.

Rocky looked back at her, "No nothings wrong, I just thought I heard a noise just now, it came from inside the station, and I also saw what looked like a weird light of some kind."

"Really? Hmm it might've been one of the animals that like to follow Hitch around, perhaps one of them is on guard duty and knocked something over by mistake." Said Jazz.

"True, but what about the weird light I just saw?" He asked.

"That could've been one of the alarm lights flickering, or maybe one of the computer screens turning on briefly, at a glance any of them could be weird to see." Jazz answered.

Rocky was thinking of agreeing with her, until there was another noise from inside the station, this time Jazz heard it too.

"There it is again, another noise, and that didn't sound like an animal to me." Said Rocky.

"I heard that too, I think we should check out the station and see if anything is going on." Said Jazz, moving to the door and checking it.

"But how will we get in there without setting off the alarms?" Asked Rocky.

He didn't have to wait for an answer to that, as soon as Jazz poked the door with her hoof, it creaked open by itself.

"Huh? That's weird, Hitch always keeps this place locked up tight while he's away, so why is the front door unlocked?" Said Jazz, suspicious about the circumstances.

Rocky however noticed the burn marks around the door lock, then saw that the lock itself had been cut through cleanly, and pretty recently too.

"Hey check that out, the door lock, it's been cut clean through." Said Rocky, pointing it out.

Jazz looked at the broken lock beside her, "Oh your right, but what could've done that-"

Jazz was interrupted when another noise came about from inside the station, it sounded like something heavy fell onto the floor, Rocky then gestured for the two of them to walk inside quietly so as to not disturb whatever it was making that noise to which she agreed with silently. The two of them stepped inside and looked around quietly, the lights were switched off, and there didn't seemed to be any sigh of any other pony in the place at all, until Jazz caught sight of something lurking on Hitch's desk staring up at his computer, it looked to be another drone of some kind, but it was insect like in appearance with it's six metal legs and a single glowing eye on it's front. Jazz was quietly trying to get closer to it so that she could see what it was up to, when Rocky called out from across the room.

"I'm gonna get the lights quick, it's too dark in here." Said Rocky across the room, flicking the light switch on.

Jazz went wide eyed and turned to stop him, "No no no wait DON-"

It was too late, the sudden light up of the room spooked the drone badly, it jumped from the table and scuttled off past the two ponies, and out into the rainy night.

"W-whoa, what the hay was that thing that just scuttled on past by!?" Said Rocky in surprise.

"Ugh, now you've done it, that thing was some kind of drone, it was looking up something on the sheriffs computer, and you just had to scare it off by turning on the lights!" Jazz said crossly.

"Oh shoot, sorry about that Jazzy... I was being super careless right there." Said Rocky, rubbing the back of his head.

Jazz rolled her eyes, but she couldn't be too cross with him for long, "No worries Rocky, now come on, that drone was up to something on the sheriffs computer, let's check it out."

The two ponies trotted on over to the desk and looked at the computer screen, they saw that various files had been left open, most of them were related to the now defunct Canterlogic company, including numerous ponies living in Maretime Bay who had worked for the company in the past.

"Hey, I recognize a few of the ponies in those files." Said Rocky, looking at the pictures.

"So do I, there's Toots and his partner in crime Sweets, Sparkle Chaser, and of course Phyllis Cloverleaf, the founder and former head of Canterlogic herself, and her son Sprout the former deputy." Said Jazz.

"Hmmm, but why would that drone be looking through these files, what could it want with them?" Asked Rocky.

"I don't know, your guess is as good as mine." Said Jazz.

The two of them looked over the open files again, until one file in particular catches Jazz's attention, she moved the mouse cursor over and clicked on it, bringing up a picture of an older, familiar looking Earth Pony with an absinthe green coat and platinum hair, along with all the information known about him.

"Huh, so this is the scientist who got fired from Canterlogic around a year ago, Dr Wormwood." Said Jazz.

"I've never heard of him before, who is he, and how did he get fired?" Asked Rocky.

"Well, from what I know of from the news, and the word of mouth going around at the time, he was fired by Phyllis for harboring sympathy towards Unicorns, at a time when us Earth Ponies still held them in suspicion and fear. It was a pretty big deal at the time because he was the pony in charge of R&D at Canterlogic, and one of their founders as well if you can believe it." Jazz explained to Rocky.

"I can believe that, still though that's crazy, how could they have fired him over that, especially now with the Pony tribes starting to hang out each other again." Said Rocky.

"I wouldn't know honestly, after that happened security became much stricter over at Canterlogic, and any questions asked about what was going on were pretty much brushed aside or outright ignored. As for Wormwood himself, he pretty much disappeared from the limelight, he very rarely made any appearances if at all around Maretime Bay again, I mean hay, even with the recent reunification of the Pony tribes, there still hasn't been any hint or hair of him anywhere at all." Jazz explained.

"Hmm, I find that kinda strange to me, first with Canterlogic being oddly secretive about him being fired other than what was said publicly, and then this Dr Wormwood character being absent from the unification, you'd think he'd be all over that given his supposed 'sympathy' towards Unicorns." Said Rocky, pondering to himself.

"Yeah it is rather perplexing I have to admit, although... Well, I did know of another rumor that was also going around too, but that one died pretty fast since most ponies didn't even believe it." Said Jazz.

"Really, what kind of rumor was it?" Asked Rocky.

Jazz looked around her, then gestured for Rocky to come closer, to which he did so, then she lifted a hoof up to her face and spoke up.

"The other rumor I heard about on the street was that Wormwood had been working on some kind of machine that was powered by magic itself, the belief he had was that if magic did return to Equestria someday, it could be used as an energy source to power all everyday life, we wouldn't have to rely on mundane fuel sources to power our needs anymore, magic could do all of that for us without any waste at all." Jazz whispered to him.

"Wow really, that sounds kinda cool to me, and it makes sense as well, I mean with magic anything can be possible, even haircuts, make up and beauty treatments." Said Rocky, thinking it over in his head.

However, as he thought about it more, he suddenly started to connect some of the dots in his head, then turned to Jazz wide eyed, "Wait a minute, are you saying that..."

Jazz nodded her head, "Mhm, apparently Phyllis saw the machine and it's purpose as either too expensive for her company to manufacture, or perhaps, that it was too dangerous to be used at all, since for all we know, magic can be useful and helpful, but... it can also be powerful, and destructive in the wrong hooves, as the old stories from Equestria's past tell us."

"If that is true, then what became of that machine, if it was real to begin with?" Asked Rocky, now very curious.

Jazz just shock her head, "I'm afraid that's where the rumor ends, nopony knows the full story about it, nopony except Phyllis and Wormwood, and I highly doubt the both of them will want to talk about it to everypony else, even with Canterlogic now shut down."

Rocky let out a sigh, but he was also rather deep in thought about the whole revelation, but he couldn't figure out how it was all connected.

"Ugghh, I'm trying to think how all of this fits together, but it just isn't working out in my head." Rocky grunted in frustration.

"What isn't working out, what are you talking about?" Asked Jazz with a raised eyebrow.

"All that we've just talked about Jazzy, the mysterious scientist who was fired from Canterlogic for unclear reasons, the conspiracy surrounding the machine he may have invented, and the drone we saw a few minutes ago looking up all the ponies that worked for the company, but the problem is how does it all fit together?" Rocky explained.

"Hmm, that is true, none of those things you mentioned seem to click at all, unless... Unless we're missing something here." Said Jazz.

The two ponies sat on their haunches, thinking about all the information they've just talked about, trying to put all the pieces together, doing so may help them understand the bigger picture that was going on behind the scenes. Minutes seemed to pass, until all of a sudden, Jazz leaped up onto her hooves, it looked like she had just had a stroke of genius.

"Oh my gosh, that's it! That's gotta be it! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier!" She shouted out loud.

"Whoa whoa Jazz, have you thought of something?" Asked Rocky sitting up.

"Rocky, what if we were to consider the events that have been going on around here as well, you know, the Unicorns that have been vanishing around Maretime Bay and Bridlewood, along with that drone we just saw hacking the computer systems, suddenly everything is starting to make sense to me!" Said Jazz excitedly.

"Huh, umm you might want to explain it clearer to me Jazz, what do you mean?" Said Rocky, trying to process it all in his head.

Jazz went up close to him and spoke slower, "I mean it like this Rocky, the missing Unicorns, Canterlogic, the drones, the mystery surrounding Phyllis and the scientist she fired, and the rumoured machine said scientist was working on to harness the power of magic, if you add all of them together like they were all linked... Do you see what I am getting at?"

Rocky seemed to catch on to what she was talking about, suddenly everything was starting to fall into place, but... It was also leading them both down a dark path, and the questions found along there were rather terrifying to think about, including one that both of them were thinking about out loud.

"Well Rocky, are you thinking what i'm thinking?" Asked Jazz.

"Jazz, you are not suggesting that... That the Unicorns are vanishing not because of a random ponynapping case going on, but because they are... um I mean, they are being used for-"

They were interrupted by a loud noise coming from nearby, the two of them turned around and saw the same insect like drone from before in the doorway.

"Look, it's that drone again, let's grab it!" Shouted Jazz.

The two ponies made their way to the door, only to stop when a pair of sharp metal legs stabbed through the door and ripped it clean off. The drone had not come back alone, it was now accompanied by a pair of large quadruped walking drones with sharp looking spider-like legs with a menacing looking turret with laser cannons on top of their bodies, and they were aiming straight at the two of them.

"W-w-what in the hay is that!" Said Jazz wide eyed.

"Look out!" Shouted Rocky, as he leaped at Jazz to knock her away, just as the two drones opened fire at them.

The blasts missed, but their blasts destroyed the computer screen, and damaged the sheriffs desk too.

"T-t-they're attacking us! Why are they attacking us!?" Said Jazz, panicking a little.

"We must know too much... We've gotta get out of here now!" Said Rocky, helping her up.

There was another loud noise behind them, they saw another of the quad drones breaking through the air vent on the ceiling, it crawled out and opened fire at them with a rapid burst of lasers.

"Shoot, they're trying to surround us!" Rocky shouted, dodging their blasts.

"We have to find a way out of here, we've gotta warn the sheriff and the others about what we've learned!" Said Jazz.

The two ponies kept up the pace of dodging the drones fire, but they were running out of room fast, the quad drones were slowly cornering them, not paying any mind to the damage they were causing to the station around them.

"Ponyfeathers, we're trapped, they'll blast us for sure!" Said Jazz, narrowly dodging another attack.

Rocky however wasn't planning on giving up, he had thought up an idea, a risky one, but one that had the best chance of them escaping.

"Listen up Jazz, I have an idea, it's risky but... It's our one way out of here." Said Rocky, standing his ground.

"I'll take any idea you have over getting blasted to bits here, come on spit it out, what is your idea?" Said Jazz, turning to him.

Rocky looked at her with a serious expression, "I want you to climb onto my back, then on a count of three, i'm gonna run up and jump over the drones, and fly out through the doorway over there as fast as possible."

Jazz looked at him wide eyed, as if he just said a death wish, "W-w-what!? That's crazy Rocky, what if you get hurt!? They'll blast you for sure!"

"I'm aware of the risks, but we've got no other options, it's either we get blasted, get captured, or worse, you'll have to trust me Jazz." Rocky explained, looking determined.

Jazz was still worried about the idea, but she could tell in his eyes that his mind was made up, nothing was going to change it. Giving him a nod of approval, she climbed onto his back, holding on tight as Rocky unfolded his wings, just as the drones began to take aim at them again.

"Hold on tight!" Rocky shouted out, as he charged towards the drones.

The drones seemed to have been taken by surprise as they stepped back a little, then were left dumbfounded as Rocky took to the air, leaping over them and flew straight towards the doorway. It looked like Rocky's idea had worked and that the two of them will escape to safety, that is, until the last second when one of the drones behind them managed to lock onto him fired a shot, hitting Rocky's left wing directly, causing him to yell out in pain and lose control of his flight path.

"Look out!" Jazz shouted out.

But it was no use, Rocky careened out of control and ended up crash landing into one of the market stalls outside in the streets, the stand was smashed to pieces by the impact, sending splinters and debris all over the place, leaving the two ponies in a crumpled heap. Jazz was the first pony to get up to her hooves, dusting off the mess on her coat, and feeling the throbbing pain on her head.

"Oww, oof, that's gonna leave a bump in the morning..." Jazz grunted, rubbing her forehead.

She looked over to Rocky, who was laying under the ruined stall sheet, clutching his left wing in pain.

"Rocky! Speak to me, are you okay!?" Said Jazz as she ran over to check on him.

"Ugh, yeah i'll live, but I think my wing is busted, I took a bad hit from that blast...! Said Rocky, wincing in pain as he furled his wings back up.

Jazz helped him back up onto his hooves,

"You dummy! Risking yourself like that, knowing that you would end up getting hurt, just to keep me safe..." Said Jazz, starting into him.

"I knew the risks Jazz, but it was the only out of that mess, and I saved you as well, didn't I?" Said Rocky, staring back at her.

Jazz didn't say anything, on one hoof she was still cross at him for taking such a risk like that and getting injured, but on the other, he was right in that they had escaped the drones to safety, even if Rocky had gotten himself injured in the process. She let out a sigh, then after letting out a small smile, she gave him a quick hug, much to his surprise.

"Thank you Rocky, now let's take a look at that injury." Said Jazz, moving to take a look at his injured wing.

"Umm, yeah, how bad is it?" He asked.

"That blast did leave a burn on it, we'll have to get this checked out for sure, but how did you learn to do an aerial move like that Rocky?" Asked Jazz, ripping up some of the table cloth used for the stand to use as a makeshift band aid.

"Eh, i'll live, being a former trainee in the royal guard of Zephyr Heights, we learn to live through injuries like this on daily basis." Said Rocky with a shrug.

"Really? That's the first time i've heard of this Rocky, you should tell me more about it sometime." Said Jazz, finishing bandaging up the injured wing.

"Oh I will, but I think we've got bigger problems to deal with at present." Said Rocky, gesturing to the drones coming out of the station.

The drones spotted them quickly, then began to train their weapons at them again.

"Can you still run on those four legs of yours?" Said Jazz, running in place.

"You betcha, now let's get a move on!" Said Rocky.

The two ponies then proceeded to gallop off as fast as they could, down the path that led out of town, and the way towards the Bridlewood Forest. The drones tried to catch up to them, firing off blasts into the distance, but they had gotten a head start and were soon out of sight. By now, the noise and the action outside had gotten the attention of several of the townspony who were at home resting for the night, they had opened their doors and windows to get a good look to see what was going on. They all shrieked when they saw the drones outside opening fire in the distance, retreating back into their houses in safety, apart from one curious pony who decided to take a closer look at the action braving the elements to get a good shot with their camera phone.

As for Rocky and Jazz, they now had only one way to go, to the Bridlewood forest where they hoped to find and warn the Mane Five about what they had discovered, for it may be the clue they need to split the whole case wide open. But it will be dangerous ground to cover, whoever is behind all of this, is almost certainly by now aware of the threat the two of them could pose to their plans, and could already be making plans to ensnare them before they could cause more trouble, as well as deal with the Mane Five who were themselves also closing in bit by bit on the root of the whole mystery.

Tomorrow promised to be a day that nopony would forget anytime soon.

Author's Note:

Heya folks, it's been far too long since I last posted a chapter, but it's finally here. This chapter has been very time-consuming to write for, and has gone through a couple of rewrites along the way, but now I am happy with how it's turned out, and I aim to get started on the next chapter right away!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Didn’t this story used to have a Moondancer tag?

[Virydyan]

11886363
No, Moondancer wasn't part of the story.