//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Striped Sorceress (Night 2) 
// Story: Adventures of the Mysterious Mare Do Well 
// by Doctoroctagonapus21 
//------------------------------//

Vinyl returned to her secret lair, quickly putting her costume back in its case and walking up to the computer. She quickly gained access to the city's files and started a search for Scootaloo. Within a few moments, Rarity came down to greet her.

"Hello, Miss Scratch. You might want to check the news." Rarity said.

Vinyl quickly brought up the news stream while the computer was gathering information on Scootaloo.

The Headline read, "Mare Do Well did poorly"

On screen, Spike was at the joke shop along with the police. "I'm here now at Trixter's Joke Shop which had been broken into just a few hours ago. As you can see, the explosion that took place was small, but caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage. Here with me is Commissioner Whooves. Commissioner, can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Well, it seems that the only thing taken was a batch of plants called Poison Joke which we understand was being used to create some kind of joke powder."

"Can you tell those at home exactly what Poison Joke is?"

"It's a strange type of plant that has unpredictable effects on anypony that comes into contact with it." the Commissioner explained.

"Is there any sign that Mare Do Well even attempted to stop the robbery?"

"If she did try, then she left no traces."

"Thank you, Commissioner." Spike said, turning back to the camera. "There you have it, folks-"

Vinyl quickly turned off the video stream. "Grr, I still can't believe I let that zebra get away..."

"What information are you looking up?" Rarity asked.

"I'm trying to find a certain pony."

Rarity walked up to the computer and watched the screen. "What's so special about this Scootaloo?"

"I ran across her in an alleyway digging through garbage."

"Oh my."

"Says here she ran away from the St. Faust orphanage two years ago." Vinyl reported. "Sounds about right."

"Why are you so interested in this one filly?"

"Apparently you forget, I was in her situation once."

"Well, what do you plan to do if you find her?"

Vinyl walked over to the elevator. "Take her in and give her a good home."

As the elevator rose, Rarity thought to herself, "I think the lack of sleep is starting to affect her mind."





The next night...

Mare Do Well wasted no time in scouring the city trying to find Scootaloo. She carefully scanned the ground as she went from building to building. "Where are you?" she thought to herself.

By midnight, she had surveyed half the city but still no sign of the young pegasus. All of a sudden, an alarm went off. Mare Do Well quickly dropped her search and went off to find the crime. The alarm lead her to the greenhouse which had been broken into. She carefully stepped inside hoping to catch the perpatrator in the act. The effort was in vain, however, as a blinding burst of smoke filled the room, then disappeared just as quickly as it had come. On the ground several yards away were pieces of shattered glass. Mare Do Well used her magic to store a piece safely in her hat and then took off before the police arrived.

She spent the rest of the night scouring the other half of the city but no sign of the perp or Scootaloo...