//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Hiding Lies 
// Story: Mare Do Better 
// by Cynical 
//------------------------------//

Wednesday

Morning came early again for Rainbow Dash, not that she’d slept much last night. After finding the empty alleyway, she’d searched high and low for any clues as to where her quarry had escaped to.

Nothing.

It was like she’d just vanished into thin air.

She’d returned to the first alley after a while, but both ponies had gone too, the only evidence that there had been a fight there being the slightly darker patch of ground.

Finally admitting defeat, she’d flown back to the library at around midnight. Twilight was still away though, probably still patrolling for Mare Do Better. She’d briefly thought about Twilight’s safety, pacing anxiously in the front room. What if the worst came to the worst? What if Mare Do Better found Twilight? What then?

Not that she was worried about her, Twilight could take care of herself well enough, she was the most talented unicorn this side of Canterlot… no, she wasn’t worried about Twilight, she was just being covering all the possibilities, yeah, that was it.

But still, when Twilight’s voice had echoed in her head, ‘hello… magic,’ it’d felt as if a weight had been taken off her chest and she’d chuckled quietly.

If things had gotten too hectic, Twilight could just teleport out of there, safe and sound.

Something about that thought had stuck with her.

As far as she knew, Twilight was the only unicorn that could do that… just like she was the only pegasus that could perform a sonic rainboom...

The comparison had stuck with her, niggling away at her thoughts.

She had decided to sleep on it, pushing all her worries to the back of her mind and retreating to her previous bed upstairs, making sure to draw the curtains herself this time.

And she’d slept, and she was no closer to figuring it out.

Rainbow rolled out of bed with a groan. A quick glance through the curtains revealed that it was still too dark to even be considered morning. The sun had just started its ascent into the sky, the first fingers of dawn creeping over the horizon.

Drawing herself away from the window, she looked back and was surprised to see a lump in the other bed. Her ears reported a slight snoring that seemed to originate from the slight lump.

She checked outside again, the sun was still on par with the horizon, tinting the skies in shades of pink and blue, before she turned back into the room, unoccupied except for herself and the snoozing lump in the middle of the other bed.

It reminded her of yesterday morning and how she’d been woken up.

Her muzzle slowly split into a grin.

Payback would be sweet.

She crept over to the bed slowly and stealthily, trying to avoid the creaky floorboards as best as she could. Once she was close enough, she took the top corner of the duvet in her teeth, spreading her wings in preparation for the next step.

Once she was sure she had a firm grip on the cover, she took off quickly, stripping the sheets back from the snoring lump within and leaving the bed bare. Completely bare.

A moment later, she heard a loud thump from below her and looked down.

She saw Twilight, sprawled on the floor and groaning softly, for all of a few seconds before she dropped the blanket and dropped down onto the floor, immediately falling over sideways as peals of laughter echoed around the room.

Twilight grumbled something incoherent, clambering to her hooves and glaring at the raucous pegasus on her way downstairs. Once Rainbow had managed to stifle most of her giggles, she left the room too, heading down the stairs and joining Twilight in the kitchen, still smiling happily.

“So…” Rainbow started, staring at Twilight.
“So?” Twilight asked, meeting Rainbow’s gaze with a raised eyebrow.
“What happened to your muzzle?”
“My muzzle?” Twilight’s eyes zoned inwards, trying to look at the offending extremity.
“Yeah, there’s a scar on it now.”

Realisation dawned across Twilight’s face, “Oh that, I tripped and scraped my muzzle  against an alley last night,” she explained, already returning to the process of making breakfast.

“Mhmm, anyway… speaking of last night… guess who I found?” she asked, smirking proudly.
“Mare Do Better?” Twilight asked.
“Mar- Hey! How did you guess?”

Twilight chuckled, “Well considering that we went out to go and search for Mare Do Better, I find it hard to believe that you’d meet Fluttershy instead.”
Rainbow just huffed silently.
“Anyway, what do you want for breakfast?”

Rainbow’s stomach rumbled, saying all that she needed to.
Twilight just chuckled again, “I take it that means ‘lots’?”
Rainbow muttered something about waiting in the library and left Twilight to make their breakfast, immediately seeking out the sofa and flopping down on top of it.

Rainbow’s gaze swept around the library, “So what do you actually do for fun around here?” she asked.
“Read for the most part, you should try it once, you might actually like it,” Twilight’s reply floated across from the kitchen.

“But that’s an eggheads thing to do,” Rainbow whined.
“Not all people who read are eggheads.”
“Alright… I’ll make you a deal. If I’m grounded in one room for more than a week, then I might read something, ok?”

Twilight chuckled, reappearing from the kitchen with two plates held aloft in her magic, “Whatever you say Rainbow. Anyway, breakfast is here,” she laid the two plates, both piled high with pancakes and drizzled with syrup, onto the table and sat down, joined by Rainbow a few moments later.

“Thanks Twilight,” Rainbow said before starting to tuck into her food.

The silence reigned for a while as they ate, reminding Rainbow about the resolution she’d made yesterday.

“So listen…” Rainbow started, causing Twilight to pause, “I’ve been thinking that I don’t hang out with you as much as I really should.”
Twilight raised her eyebrows, staying silent as she let Rainbow finish.
“And… well… I’d like to fix that, so d’ya want to hang out today?” she blurted out.

Twilight just frowned slightly, “So what’ve the past few days been if not hanging out?” she asked quizzically.
Rainbow scratched her head, “Well… it’s not really been hanging out has it? I mean… we’ve just been hunting Mare Do Better together. I meant like… I don’t know… hanging out, going pranking together, having a competition, just… hanging out…” she finished lamely.

“So you mean performing an activity together that we both enjoy where we can socialise and be around one another?” Twilight asked, regurgitating the definition she’d memorised long ago.

“Yeah, that,” Rainbow nodded earnestly.
“Well, what did you have in mind?”
“We could go pranking?”

Twilight snorted loudly, “I thought I said something that we both enjoy.”
“Oh, right…” Rainbow muttered before perking up a moment later, “How about a race?”
Twilight sighed, “I’m not Pinkie or Applejack, Rainbow. How about we just go for a walk?”

Rainbow mulled it over for a moment before shrugging, “Sure… why not, hanging out is hanging out. Did you want to walk to anywhere in particular?”
“We could go to Ponyville Lake,” Twilight replied, “It’s about a three hour walk from here and it’s a brilliant picnic spot for lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Rainbow nodded before concentrating on her breakfast again.

“What brought this on though?” Twilight asked curiously.
Rainbow shrugged, “I guess because I realised I really don’t know you that well.”
“Oh is that all?” Twilight asked before continuing, “Well I was born in Canterlot and-”

“No, no, no,” Rainbow interrupted, “I meant like… I don’t know, just not like that.”
Twilight furrowed her brows at Rainbow again, “Well that was my backstory, I can’t exactly change it can I?”
Rainbow groaned loudly, “How about we just go on that walk and see what we talk about from there?” 

She went back to eating her breakfast in silence.





The door swung shut behind Rainbow and Twilight put up a closed sign upon the library. She’d donned some saddlebags before coming out and at Rainbow’s inquisitive eyebrow she answered, “Some food for lunch.”

Without further ado, they set off northwards from the library, Twilight walking while Rainbow hovered a bit above her, keeping to the unicorn's infuriatingly slow pace.

Nevertheless, after a few minutes they were out of Ponyville and on their way to the lake. The roads had been strangely quiet, only a few early starters had been up and moving around the town.

“Twilight?”
“Hmm?”
Rainbow put on a quick burst of speed, drawing in front of her friend and turning around in mid-air, now flying backwards, “How about I meet you at the lake, I can make sure that we get a good spot or whatever.”

Twilight sighed as she kept walking, “So much for walking then Dash?”
Rainbow rubbed her head again, “Well… when you said three hours… three hours is a long time to be just walking isn’t it.”
“And if you flew there I’d still have to walk there and you’d be sat there waiting for the rest of the three hours…”

Rainbow just grinned, “But you could teleport there and the journey would be over, boom, done.”
“We wouldn’t really be socialising much would we?” Twilight pointed out.
Rainbow groaned loudly.

“How about you try walking with me instead of flying?” Twilight suggested.
After an explosive sigh, Rainbow grudgingly said, “Fine…” and alighted next to Twilight, matching the slow pace. “Happy?”
Twilight smiled, “A bit more so, yes.”

They kept walking, albeit with Rainbow’s muttered curses hanging around her ears.

“So Rainbow, since you were the one who came up with this idea, what did you want to talk about?”
Rainbow looked over at Twilight before shrugging, “I dunno, that was just the general idea… umm, what was Canterlot like, growing up?” she offered, more out of something to fill the silence than actual interest.

Twilight blinked before she started talking, “Well… big… I guess. It’s hard to describe… Canterlot never had the… life that Ponyville does, it’s a big stone city and that’s about the end of it. As for actually living there… there’s really not that much to do either. All of the shops are either for the nobles or the rich and wealthy as opposed to foals and their parents.”

“Huh, that’s definitely different from Cloudsdale,” Rainbow commented.
“Oh?” Twilight asked, tilting her head at Rainbow, “Go on then, what was Cloudsdale like?”

Rainbow blinked, then replied, “Probably more lively for one thing, you don’t get many nobles hanging around Cloudsdale or Ponyville for that matter, so everything was much, much more friendly. Also it’s a city in the sky, how could you not like to live in a city in the sky?” 

They continued chatting, Twilight about life in Canterlot while Rainbow talked about her own experiences in Cloudsdale. Rainbow hadn’t even noticed they’d arrived at the lake until Twilight pointed it out.

The lake was quiet, just as Twilight had predicted, and everything was peaceful. If Rainbow was being truthful, it actually looked like quite a nice spot for relaxing and getting some peace and quiet.

“See, you didn’t even have to come and reserve a space.”
“Alright, alright…” Rainbow groaned, “Can you stop rubbing it in yet?”
She could practically see Twilight smirk as she answered, “Maybe.”

Rainbow glanced up; the sun was already high above them, signalling that it had taken them half a day to get there. She could have sworn it was less time.

“Were you planning on gazing up into the sky for the rest of the day?” a voice called across the landscape, breaking Rainbow out of her trance and causing her to look around. While she’d been looking skywards, Twilight had already unpacked her saddlebags and taken a red-and-white checkered picnic blanket out, laying it under a large oak tree along with a multitude of sandwiches, fruits, and still more items that were coming out of the saddlebags.

“How much stuff did you bring?” Rainbow asked in an awed whisper as the food just kept on appearing.
“Just enough for lunch…” Twilight murmured quietly, concentrating on levitating the last few items from the saddlebags: A large array of chocolate bars and a few bottles of water.

“More like a small army…” Rainbow mumbled before joining Twilight under the large oak, lying down opposite Twilight and searching for her first course.
“So Rainbow…” Rainbow broke her gaze from the food, “What were you going to say about finding Mare Do Better earlier?”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow temporarily forgot about the banquet in front of her, “I saw her beating up some stallion last night, she looked pretty brutal actually.”
“In what way?”

“Umm…” Rainbow paused, “Well, she was like… fighting someone about twice her size, street-fighting too, and she knocked him for six.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow with disbelief, “I doubt she actually knocked him out that badly, even if he was asking for it.”

Rainbow just shrugged, “I guess you had to be there,” there was that niggling in the back of her head again… she ignored it.





The walk back was calm. They’d stayed there for a good hour after having lunch, just chatting to one another again, like they’d done on the walk up, except there was no awkwardness this time, Rainbow had just walked alongside Twilight as they’d talked.

When they drew nearer to Ponyville, Twilight asked, “So Rainbow, did you enjoy hanging out with an egghead?”
“Yeah, I guess I did… sorry by the way.”
Twilight chuckled softly, “I don’t mind, I know you’re not insulting me at the very least.”
Rainbow shook her head vehemently, “Nope, never.”

They walked into town as the sun started on its way below the horizon once more.

“Have we really been out at the lake all day?” Rainbow asked, almost amazed, the walk seemed to have flown by once again.
“Looks like it,” Twilight replied, “I’ll give you that, today has certainly gone quickly. Just give me a moment and I’ll get the camera again, maybe I’ll manage to see Mare Do Better this time.”

Rainbow nodded and stayed outside as Twilight unlocked the library and entered, leaving Rainbow alone.

That niggling in the back of her mind prodded her again… something to do with Twilight and…

Oh.

It all made sense… why Twilight had that scar on her muzzle, why Mare Do Better had been able to teleport… and now that she thought about it, a few other things were coming together too. How Twilight had known about the other stallion’s taunts last night. How Twilight had known the back alleys so well a few days ago.

Rainbow almost facehooved as the sheer obviousness of the situation came crashing down on her. She was reminded of Pinkie’s words, not even a week ago, ‘It’ll be someone you never expect,’ and that certainly seemed to have been the case.

She sighed. She was going to need further proof even though she was almost sure of it… something that she could show to Twilight to prove beyond doubt that she was the infamous Mare Do Better.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Twilight asked from the doorway, saddlebags firmly in place again.
“I thought we could split up again, it’s more likely that at least one of us will find something that way,” Rainbow answered, trying not to think about what she was doing.
“Wait… is this… planning from Rainbow Dash?” Twilight snarked, her expression that of shock-horror.
“So what if it is?” Rainbow replied defensively, “You’re the one who keeps telling me to plan ahead.”

Twilight just shook her head, smiling, “Alright, I’ll take the west side of Ponyville and you can take the east side, how does that sound?”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, that sounds good, may as well get started then.”

Twilight nodded, closing and locking the door behind her.
“I’ll see you later then,” Rainbow said, spreading her wings and stretching them.
“See you in the morning I guess,” Twilight replied before lighting her horn and winking out of existence.

Rainbow stayed still for another moment, then took off, flying far over the east side of Ponyville.





The window eased itself open with barely a creak, admitting the black-clad intruder into the library before it shut again.

The intruder looked around at the darkened room, its ears trained for the slightest of sounds in the quiet library.

Satisfied that no-one was around, the pony reached up and pulled off the hood that she’d been wearing, letting her rainbow mane hang loose.

After another furtive look around Twilight’s bedroom, she got to the task of ransacking every likely hiding place that she could think of.

She peeked under the bed, into the wardrobe and through the dresser to no avail.

Every nook and cranny was found and searched unsuccessfully and the walls were carefully inspected for obvious weak points.

There were none.

Rainbow groaned. If her evidence wasn’t in Twilight’s bedroom then it could have been somewhere in the main library or the basement, two more places that would have to be meticulously searched.

Think, if she was Twilight, where would she hide something…

It’d be somewhere secure, somewhere no-one was going to find by accident, somewhere easily accessible and inconspicuous…

Her eyes roved the bookshelves and the worktops around the room, trying to think of whatever would fit that description.

Then she looked over the bookcase again and paused, pressing a hoof into her face and groaning a sigh of disbelief.

This was Twilight; of course she’d hide something in a book… that just sounded so… so… eggheady.

Now all she had to do was find the one book out of the whole bookcase.

She groaned internally again.

But maybe the books could be narrowed down somewhat?

It’d have to be a pretty big book to hide all of that stuff…

She glanced at the bookcase, eying the tomes on there with distrust.

They were all big books.

So much for that idea.

It would have had to be something that no-pony would ever ask for, something which would stay in the library forever.

Another glance at the bookcase.

Every title spoke of gobbledegook to her.

Bang goes that theory.

She sighed to herself, resigned to her fate as she took the largest book she could find and carefully manoeuvred it from the bookcase.

Once it was free, she gasped loudly, trying to balance the massive book in her forehooves before overbalancing and resorting to just slamming it on the floor next to the bookcase.

“And Spike lugs these around?” she wondered out loud.

Skimming the cover revealed that it was ‘The History of Equestria: 250 – 500 AN’.

Rainbow wasn’t riveted.

The cover was flicked open and Rainbow smiled.

Instead of there being a large amount of very small writing, the book itself was just a box, the box which held what Rainbow had been looking for all along.

A line of hoods, navy-blue with sky-blue eyepieces.

“Gotcha.”