The silence... of MARE-DO-WELL.
Featuring the Mysterious Mare-do-well.
Guest-starring the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Welcome back ponies who thirst for justice. Today's tale tells once again of the exciting exploits of the mysterious Mare-do-well, protector of the innocent. Only one pony knows the true identity of the mare behind the mask, or of how mostly mild mannered unicorn Bluebottle found an elegantly designed costume on one of the back racks of the Carousel Boutique. From the moment of discovery the owner Rarity, a Pinky Promised confidant, generously allows the boutique to be used as a base of operations. Let us see what perils befall her today.
*Another sunny day in Equestria. Celestia's sun warming my face. It is almost impossible to think that anything untoward could happen on a day like today, but the seeds of villainy grow as strong as such weeds tend to in light like this. Even out of uniform I must maintain constant vigil.* Engrossed in her dramatic and distracting thoughts the light blue mare was unaware of the danger she was in. A grey pegasus who was flying to the park bench with her muffin, just purchased from Sugarcube Corner somehow missed her mark when coming in for a landing, upsetting the bench that held both the unicorn and the parfait that she had been savoring.
"My bad. Are you OK?"
"Yes, I am. No harm done." Replied Bluebottle, standing up. "Now where is my..."
Noticing the fallen parfait glass a few hooves away knocked asunder by the tumble tears welled up in her eyes.
*Once again there are victims of my negligence. Goodbye sweet parfait, I will never forget you.*
Overcome with emotion Bluebottle galloped away, white mane and black tail flowing in the breeze. Inwardly vowing to remain alert so nothing like this would happen again, and once again failing to pay any attention to the world around her she ran headlong into a fencepost knocking her back stunned. After a few moments of woozy recovery, she was able to straighten out her spinning head enough to overhear two nearby unicorns conversing,
"Well brother of mine, we are in a right jam. Yes, a right jam indeed."
"Well said dear Flam, we need another plan. Yes we need another plan to succseeeed."
"I do believe I've got it, an idea from which we'll profit, and we may not need to even lift a hoof."
"So share away. I must say, I smell profits through the roof.
"I've heard rumors spread around, that underground there dwell a nasty lot.
"I see where this is going, so keep on showing. I think I'll like this plot.
" Toss them a few stones, they'll work themselves to bones, digging up the ingredients.
" Flim get the snake oil, bring it to a boil and toss in whatever is expedient."
Together they chorused "Flim Flam Brothers Miracle Mixer Elixir"
The two slick salesponies galloped off to prepare, leaving the still slightly dizzy Bluebottle behind. After shaking her head to clear out the last few circling birdies, Bluebottle recovered her wits. Going over what she had just heard she decided to head to the Boutique to discuss this with her sponsor and companion.
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Arriving at Mare-Do-Well's hidden base only moments later, due to it being just a few blocks away, Bluebottle found the distracted dressmaker amidst her garments working on a new project.
"Rarity, I think Flim and Flam are going to try something fiendish." Bluebottle said entering the boutique.
"Mhm." replied Rarity.
"I overheard them plotting, they want to sell some sort of cure all elixir but they are going to just throw in a few random things. Who knows what damage that could do." exclaimed Bluebottle.
Holding a polka-dotted swatch of fabric near a green striped one Rarity distractedly murmured, "Now that's a crime!" while inwardly thinking *against fashion.*
Bluebottle beamed, knowing her calling was, well, calling for her. "This looks like a job for...Mare-Do-Well!"
Still engrossed, Rarity spotted tickets to a fashion show she had received from Fancypants. "Simply must take Sweetie Bell."
The hurriedly dressing unicorn with the two locked hoofcuffs cutie mark was startled, but replied " Alright, if you're sure about it." Bounding out the door of her rather public secret headquarters, Mare-Do-Well galloped off to find the younger sister of her benefactor.
Rarity turned around finally and wondered why Bluebottle had come in and where she had gone before even saying hello.
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Sweetie Bell was deep in thought. Hanging out with her friends often brought mental workouts like this one. Scrunching her face into a look of concentration the filly announced her conclusion to the perplexing dilemma to her fellow crusaders. "Rarity probably wouldn't mind if we used her oven to make cookies. After all I'm pretty good at putting out the fires now!"
The young pegasus standing opposite her looked excited. "All right!!! Operation Cutie Mark Crusaders Cookie Bakers is a GO!"
Applebloom, the third filly of the group, perked up at the news. "That's awesome Scootaloo. Ahm gonna get some supplies from Applejack, Ah just know we'll get our cutie marks this time!"
Just as the three were about to set off to once again destroy property in the name of going through pony puberty, Mare-Do-Well arrived in the clearing.
As excitable as ever, Scootaloo rushed up to the masked heroine, wings buzzing away for extra propulsion. "Hey Mare-Do-Well, are you gonna take us on another adventure? Are you gonna beat up some bad guys? Are we gonna rescue one of the princesses? Rainbow Dash rescued the princesses and I want to try too! Maybe I can get a princess rescuing cutie mark!"
Applebloom was right on her tail (so to speak) also hounding the rather flustered costumed unicorn. Managing to stammer out that she was supposed to take Sweetie Bell along may have been a mistake because the three fillies began to rapidly argue a case for Cutie Mark Crusaders Super Hero Sidekicks. The girls' rapid fire attempts to convince her almost made her eyes spin. When the dreaded lil' pony eyes came out and the final K.O. was dealt to Mare-Do-Well's feeble protests of keeping them safely at home, the four mares set out to get to the bottom of the Flim Flam scam.