What happens if Rainbow Dash didn't try to stop Mare-Do-Well? What happens is a long journey to find her, with lots of twists and turns. Starts off like in the episode, but takes a quick turn. Written in the context after the fall of Chrysalis and during the Mare-Do-Well episode.

Twilight Sparkle realizes that Rainbow Dash has been keeping a secret from her ever since the Mare Do Well incident. When she goes to confront her about it, she finds out more than she bargained for. And then Twilight reveals that she's been keeping something from her friends ever since the Royal Wedding. Now everything is out there; harsh words have been spoken and a once strong friendship hangs in the balance.

When Rainbow Dash steals the Mare Do Well costumes, her friends catch up to her and catch her in the act and realize how badly they may have damaged their friend's psyche.

"I'm a hero! Not that Mysterious Mare Do Well!" She screamed at her bathroom mirror. "I am Rainbow Miriam Dash! The best young flier and fastest pony in Equestria! She is nothing! I'm everything Ponyville needs in a hero!" She continued screaming before tugging at her mane and shouting obscenities.
"Ponyville doesn't want me as a hero?" She asked no pony in particular as she pulled some dyes out of her cupboard. "Fine. Let's see their precious Mare Do Well handle a villain." Rainbow eyed her Nightmare Night costume and began to cackle madly.

Rating and tags may be subject to change as the story progresses

It has just been revealed who the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is; Rainbow Dash's friends. All of them, in on this entire ordeal. From plotting to execution, without so much as a pause to consider how Rainbow would feel, or just how far they can go with the Element of Loyalty. Well now they will learn.

After a short while of really difficult thinking, questioning, and consideration, Rainbow Dash will be brought to ask a single question. Can they work it out?

Princess Celestia somehow finds out about the mysterious Mare Do Well and discovers her secret identity, leaving her furious. As a result, she revokes holding back an old punishment she had for Twilight Sparkle and places the blame on Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie as well. While serving their time doing community service for the stuck-up sophisticated ponies of Canterlot, their track records are all smashed to pieces and Ponyville steadily falls into disarray. As Rainbow Dash mourns over being lonely, she remembers a promise she made to a friend - to become like a big sister somepony always wanted. Having someone to confide in makes all the difference.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NKaggjEtg-A/USwMGvnpgvI/AAAAAAAAXkg/7c_czYjbNvM/s1600/AnnoyedPrincessCelestia.png[/img]

The end of every story is always a happy one. Whatever trouble has befallen the mane six is cleared up. Their friendship is only strengthened by their conflicts, and by the roll of the credits, there are no hard feelings. But sometimes that isn't true. Sometimes nothing is resolved, nothing is learned.

Following the events of The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Rainbow Dash finds her own masked feelings stopping her from learning her lesson. Her actions in the past week carry consequences, and soon she finds herself fleeing Ponyville to get away from her troubles. She seeks the counsel of Celestia and Luna themselves, the co-rulers of Equestria, to help ease her pain.

Not long afterwards, Ponyville is attacked by a mysterious new villain. Armed with a powerful trinket granting her the abilities of a unicorn, the white-haired pegasus known only as "Ultramare" has made it her goal to personally see the town in flames.

You all saw how the episode ended: Rainbow Dash unmasks Pinkie-Do-Well, the others show up, she learns her lesson, a letter is written, and everything ends up hunky-dory. Well, if I know Dash (and my fellow bronies), I'd bet a group of us thought that this was not at all characteristic of our favorite speed-demon. I have my own interpretation of that day's events, respectfully submitted below for your reading pleasure.

Having lost her one greatest fan to the usurper, Rainbow Dash is brought to a new low. How did she lose it all? Even her five greatest friends seemed to have abandoned her for Mare-Do-Well. And then Scootaloo... No. She would not let this happen. She would not lose everypony she cared about to some mask-wearing intruder. Even if she had to go beyond the limits of legality, morality, or even sanity, she would bring Mare-Do-Well down.

Loyalty is a two-way street.

The entire Mare Do Well event has left Rainbow Dash more emotionally scarred than her friends would have thought. With Twilight's help Rainbow begins to move down the path to recovery, but when her trust in her friends is called into question, will she be able to let go of what happened and move on? Or, will Rainbow lose who is quickly becoming the most important pony in her life?

My entry for the TwiDash group's first ever fanfiction contest! The rules can be found here.

Editing done by The Abyss & DarqFox
Pre-read by Nuukor
Cover art by bats

A real hero doesn't brag?

Just because she likes to talk about how awesome she is means Rainbow isn't a hero?

After her friends revealed themselves to her, Rainbow Dash reacts to Applejack's words in a completely different way than what's expected, and things only go downhill from there. Tears will be shed, friendships will be broken, and knives will be twisted as everything that can go wrong WILL.