CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LIFE FOR A LIFE FOR A LIFE...
Mare Do Well held out a hoof. “Calm down, Cossitee. Put down the knife.”
“Apple Bloom, get out of there!” Lyra whimpered. “He’s crazy!”
“I could have done all this without you, I’m sure you realize,” Cossitee continued, twirling the knife in a slow circle. Satin’s Cutie Mark dropped to the ground with a wet thump. “But I let you masquerade as one of my own, and I’ve led you here to witness my victory. Isn’t it wonderful? The Gonne are no more!”
“Put the knife down, Cossitee,” Mare Do Well said again. “You could hurt yourself.”
Lyra was yelling. “Apple Bloom, leave him now! This is way over our heads!”
“Hurt myself?” Cossitee repeated. “Oh, no, no, no, Apple Bloom, I’m not going to hurt myself. I’m quite good with a knife, actually. Who do you think redesigned all of my ponies’ Cutie Marks? All it takes is a little blade and a little magic to rewrite destiny. Did you know that?”
Mare Do Well was quiet. She took slow steps closer to Cossitee through the blood.
“It wasn’t my idea, of course. Ponies have been reshaping their Cutie Marks for eons. It’s the pinnacle of art, deciding who you are! Abandoning nature’s choices in favor of your own! Designing oneself is the most beautiful artwork in existence, don’t you agree?”
“Apple Bloom…” Lyra’s voice wavered.
“You know, I’ve told you a couple of lies, Apple Bloom, and I feel I ought to remedy that,” Cossitee said with a dramatic frown, “seeing that we’re such good friends now.”
“Go on, then,” Mare Do Well said. “Tell me the truth.”
“Well, when we first met, I told you I never got my Cutie Mark,” he said. “That I had gone my entire life without it. But that’s not true, you see. I had a beautiful Mark, with a paintbrush, just like yours!” He cackled. “Isn’t that amazing? It was a pair of spectacles and a paintbrush. I knew I was to study art! I wanted to fulfil my destiny!”
“And you did,” Mare Do Well said in a low, calm voice. She took another step. “You’re a professor of art history, Doctor Cossitee. One of the best in the country.”
“I know that!” Cossitee spat, his mismatched eyes suddenly aglow with malice. “But by the time I got to school, I no longer had a paintbrush on my flank to flash at my professors and expect perfect grades. I did it without the magical proof of my destiny! I did it alone!”
“I’m sorry, Cossitee,” Mare Do Well said. “I’m sorry your Cutie Mark vanished, but you clearly didn’t need it.”
His blue eye twitched. “Vanished? Oh, Apple Bloom… my Cutie Mark did not vanish.” He scooped up Satin’s disembodied Cutie Mark in his magic. Blood dripped from its ragged edges. “It was removed. Ripped from my flesh. It took years to learn the spells that eventually healed the scars.”
Mare Do Well stopped. “What… who did that to you?”
His crooked smile returned, wider than ever, and he pointed down at the lifeless mare beneath him. “I was kidnapped by the Gonne when I was just a foal.”
Mare Do Well tilted her head. “But… I thought the Gonne started after Princess Sparkle rose to the throne.”
Doctor Cossitee tossed back his head and laughed. “Oh no, dear Apple Bloom, the Gonne have been operating in Equestria for hundreds of years. Did you believe the entire country was as bright and happy as Ponyville? Did you think the almighty Princesses kept their glorious nation immaculately peaceful?” He snarled. “Princess Sparkle’s reign has given rise to surges in crime, yes, but Equestria had its dark corners even under the Princess of the Sun.”
Mare Do Well’s heartbeat quickened as Cossitee stared down at Satin.
“She did it herself,” Cossitee said. His voice was soft, almost loving. “She was so beautiful… she told me she had something for me. I had no idea.” Without changing the smile on his face, he kicked Satin’s body with a forehoof. “She sold me in a group of other foals to a griffon. He ate some of them in front of us. Hung others by their wings for weeks. I was the only one old enough to have a Cutie Mark, but that didn’t last long.” He kicked Satin in her eye. “I managed to escape, to study magic to heal my scars and change the colors of my mane and eyes, never to be recognized again. I came back to Canterlot to fulfil my destiny, and one day, while enjoying a meal in this very restaurant, I saw Satin!”
He reared up and dropped the weight of his upper body onto Satin’s head. Lyra gasped and Apple Bloom flinched.
“She was acting—” He stomped down on her skull. “—like a stupid—” Stomp. “—fussy—” Crack. “—food critic!” With a scream that seemed to rip up his vocal chords, Cossitee came down onto Satin’s angular skull and crushed it like a raw egg.
“Ooohh-huuueggh!” Lyra vomited, and the sound echoed in Mare Do Well’s own skull.
Breathing hard, Doctor Cossitee glared up at Mare Do Well. “I decided to follow suit, you see, and climb the ladders of the underworld while posing as a lowly art history teacher. I had to pretend that I didn’t know who she was, only that I was eager to work with the greatest criminal in Canterlot. And, well…” He smiled. “You know the rest.”
“Why did you bring me here, Cossitee?” Mare Do Well croaked. Her throat was suddenly very dry.
“Ah, yes,” he nodded, straightening up and cracking his neck. “That brings me to my second lie. You see, Aether does actually know where I live and who I really am. He’s been in on the whole plan. In fact, he’s the one that killed those poor ponies in the sink.”
Mare Do Well spun around just in time to stop Aether’s hoof from hitting the back of her head.
“The Gonne are gone, and the Mangled Marks will soon crumble,” Doctor Cossitee shouted theatrically. “All that remains to haunt this wicked city is the mysterious Mare Do Well, and I shall gladly exorcise her!”
Aether tried to hit her with a wing. Mare Do Well ducked, spun on one forehoof, and bucked as hard as she could. With a quick flap, Aether pulled away and avoided the kick. Mare Do Well sprinted at Cossitee and smacked the knife out of the air. She dove to tackle him, but his white aura of magic caught her in midair.
“Black stone, black stone!” Lyra shouted, coughing. “Use it!”
Mare Do Well struggled against the magic. Aether grabbed her by the hind hooves and threw her against a row of hanging pots. They crashed loudly against the bloody floor as Mare Do Well scrambled to reach the black gem in her utility belt.
Doctor Cossitee grabbed the long collar of her costume with magic and stuck it to the ceiling. Mare Do Well kicked and grabbed at her throat, choking. She fished the black gem out of its pouch and smacked it against the ceiling. It spewed smoke in all directions, filling the kitchen with thick, billowing vapors. Doctor Cossitee coughed as his spell broke; Mare Do Well fell from the ceiling and slipped on the blood. Half of her mask and cape soaked it in. The smell was sharp and dizzying.
“Get out of there, Apple Bloom!” Lyra screamed.
Mare Do Well stayed low and rushed through the kitchen. She could only see a few inches into the thickening smoke, but she managed to find the swinging doors of the kitchen and escape. As the entire pizzeria was filled with black smoke, Mare Do Well galloped to the front of the building and threw herself through the first window she saw.
Ponies along Restaurant Row gasped and stared in her direction. She turned around and faced the building, backing away from the jagged window and the column of smoke ejecting from it.
Aether emerged as if the smoke had created him. Nearby ponies screamed at the skeletal pegasus, flapping great black wings with measured ferocity. Mare Do Well crouched deeply, eyes locked on Aether’s intimidating form.
“Uhhh, Apple Bloom?” Lyra asked. “Isn’t that the pony that beat you to a mumbling pulp, like, two months ago!?”
“Yes,” Mare Do Well growled, “and I’m starting to think he’s the pony who killed your son.”
Lyra’s voice caught in her throat. Mare Do Well’s lips pursed. She could hear Lyra’s breath pick up in her mind.
When Lyra spoke, her voice was dry and heavy.
“Shatter him.”
(/\/\)
Razorwing did a few lazy backflips over the abandoned campus of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. He blew air through his lips to make a engine-like buzzing sound.
“Bbbbbbrrr-rrrrruurrr…” He stopped in mid-air and held up his silver-plated forelegs. “Moon above, is that Razorwing!?” he said in a high pitched voice.
He turned and stroked his chin, adopting a gruffer voice. “Hmmm, no, I think that’s just a weatherpony.”
Another spin, another voice. “It is! It’s Razorwing! Gah, I can’t believe it! He’s so handsome!”
He cheered quietly, mimicking an adoring crowd, then smirked and brushed the imaginary cheers aside with a wave of his hoof. “Please, please, good citizens of Equestria,” he said with a toothy grin. “There’s no need for all this. Cheer in your hearts, if you must, but I’m just here to…”
His goofy expression fell as the the world around him darkened. Looking for the Moon, he spotted a giant column of smoke rising from a lower sector of Canterlot. “What the…” He pumped his wings and zipped several yards closer. “Restaurant Row?” His eyes bugged. “Oh gosh, a fire! This looks like a job for Razorwing!”
He pointed his snout at the smoke and pumped with bladed wings. The chain-link sheath around his tail rattled from the speed. Within moments he stopped above Restaurant Row, hovering for long enough to survey the chaos. A small crowd of ponies galloped as fast as they could to the far edges of the Row, but the smoke was clearly the least of their worries.
“Mare Do Well!” Razorwing shouted.
Below, the violet vigilante blocked punch after lightning fast punch from a tall, black pegasus Razorwing recognized. The monstrous stallion used its enormous wings to bat at Mare Do Well’s sides, distracting her enough to land a devastating punch on the bridge of her snout. She stumbled back, hat askew.
“Not this time, bucker!” Razorwing shrieked. He dove into the street and swung all four legs in front of him, slamming into the pegasus’ side with the flats of his hooves and kicking out with all his might.
The impact may as well have been from a comet. Aether’s body smacked the ground and skidded over cobblestone. He tried to steady himself with his wings, but opening them flipped his body into a wild tumble.
“Mare Do Well, are you okay?” Razorwing asked, rushing to her side. He gasped at her blood-soaked mask. “Dear Luna, did he break your snout? You’re bleeding a ton!”
Mare Do Well pressed a hoof between her eyes. “Ain’t my blood…” she said in a southern accent.
Razorwing raised an eyebrow. “Mare Do Well?”
She shook away the pain in her head and grunted. “It’s not my blood, Razorwing,” she said in a Trottingham accent, and pointed at the shattered window spilling smoke. “Doctor Cossitee killed a mare in there.”
“Doctor Who?” Razorwing asked.
“The leader of the Mangled Marks,” Mare Do Well said, jabbing her hoof at the window. “Get in there! Make sure he doesn’t escape! Cut his legs off if you have to!”
Razorwing gulped and stretched out his wings. “What does he look like?”
Before Mare Do Well could answer, they heard Aether galloping toward them. One of his wings stuck out from his body at an unnatural angle.
Mare Do Well dove backward and rolled out of Aether’s path. Razorwing leapt into the air and avoided collision with a few easy flaps.
“Ooooh, sorry about your wing, big guy,” Razorwing said, breathing in through his teeth. “My sister broke her wing once. Didn’t seem fun.”
Aether jumped and tried to grab Razorwing around the hind legs, but the graham-colored stallion was too fast. He darted left and right above Aether like a ball of yarn swinging above a cat. “Come on, grab the shiny!” Razorwing taunted. “You like my shiny suit? Come on, you can reach it!”
Aether stopped jumping and glared up at Razorwing with burning hatred in his monochromatic eyes.
Razorwing winced. “Eugh… that is one creepy stare, dude.”
Mare Do Well jumped high and kicked Aether in the back of his head. The stallion hissed and turned around, crouched and ready to pounce on her.
“Do I get to cut off his legs, too?” Razorwing asked, pointing at Aether.
“Go get Cossitee!” Apple Bloom yelled.
Aether dove and landed a fast hoof on Mare Do Well’s shoulder. Her whole leg went limp; she caught herself with a crossed foreleg, but a smack from Aether’s good wing knocked her onto her back. Aether pressed a hoof down on the middle of her chest and lifted the other to crush her bloody mask.
Razorwing grabbed Aether’s lifted elbow and flapped as hard as he could. “Holy wow, you’re heavier than you look!” he wheezed as Aether rose barely a foot off of Mare Do Well.
She spun onto her hooves and punched Aether’s exposed belly as many times as she could before he kicked her away. He reached up and beat a black wing against Razorwing’s hooves.
“Oof! Like a scarecrow full of gold!” Razorwing grunted.
Aether shook himself loose and grabbed the metal sheath around Razorwing’s tail in his teeth. Dropping his head to the ground, Aether pulled Razorwing out of the air and tried to pin him down.
“This is a really bad idea, big guy!” Razorwing said, wriggling away. “I’m warning you right now you don’t want what this path leads to!”
Aether grabbed both sides of Razorwing’s helmet and squeezed. The metal started to creak.
“I am currently afraid for my life!” Razorwing shouted. “I cannot be held responsible for what I’m about to do, okay?”
Glaring into Razorwing’s wide blue eyes, Aether snorted wet steam from his nostrils.
“I’ll take that as compliance.” Lying on his back, Razorwing crossed both forelegs over his chest and dragged his bladed wings along Aether’s sides.
Aether gasped and leapt back directly into Razorwing’s lifted blades. The edges stuck into the flesh below the joints of Aether’s shoulders. The monstrous’ pegasus’ eyes widened and filled with tears.
“Oooohhh, this is gross, I don’t enjoy this, I promise,” Razorwing rambled as blood dribbled down the silver armor along his wings. “I freaking hate you, and I’m still super sorry about this, here we go, okay, sorry…”
He flapped, sliding away from Aether on his hindquarters before taking flights. The giant pegasus’ forelegs shook uncontrollably as he tried to support himself, but soon gave out. His jaw smacked against the pavement and his eyes drifted out of focus.
“Aether!” Doctor Cossitee called from the broken window of the pizzeria. Mare Do Well and Razorwing both looked at him.
The smoke was finally clearing. Cossitee was still inside the restaurant, watching the fight from the tabletop of a booth. He slumped off the table and stood on the booth’s bench with his head poking through the large hole outlined by shattered glass.
“You’ve killed him!” Cossitee moaned.
“I did not!” Razorwing shouted back. He hovered near the black pegasus and poked its limp skull. “Uhhh… he’ll be fine.”
“Fool! You’ve strapped razors to your wings and don’t know basic equine anatomy? You may as well have cut open his neck! He’s dead!” Cossitee screamed hysterically, drool and tears falling onto the shards of glass under his head. “My friend! My dear friend is dead!”
Mare Do Well’s eye twitched under her mask. “You are out of your mind, Cossitee,” she said through clenched teeth.
Razorwing stepped backward from Aether’s body as a pool of blood formed around his bony head and neck. “I… I-I…” Razorwing stuttered. “I didn’t mean to… I’ve always been careful, I mean, I haven’t…”
Cossitee suddenly stopped crying. His eyes were dim, his brow creased. “Yes, well… I suppose everypony makes mistakes.” With that, he closed his eyes and allowed his head to fall through the spikes of broken window.
Razorwing yelped and took flight. He looked back and forth between the bodies of Dr. Cossitee and Aether, then stared at Mare Do Well. “What… what did we do?” he asked in a crackly voice.
Mare Do Well couldn’t move. She listened to Lyra weep in her brain and tried to ignore the blood drying into the fur of her face.
“Mare Do Well?” Razorwing asked.
She shook her head. “It’s over, Razorwing,” she said. “Go home. I’ll find you.”
Razorwing trembled in midair. “I… I didn’t mean to—”
Mare Do Well held up a wrapped hoof. “You did what you had to, Razorwing. I’ll find you. We’ll talk. I promise.” She shuddered. “Go home, quickly.”
He nodded. In a flash of silver and gold, he was gone.
Mare Do Well crumpled to her knees and closed her eyes.
“Apple Bloom, I have to go,” Lyra whispered.
Mare Do Well nodded. She took off the hat and tossed it aside. Though her heart raced, her breaths were slow and long. Tearstains joined the blood in the fabric of her mask.
From the stillness of the somber night, a strange sound echoed in Restaurant Row. Mare Do Well’s ears perked up, intrigued by the strange familiarity of it. Within seconds it was joined by another, like a symphony blooming from the void instrument by instrument.
Slowly, Mare Do Well turned her head. All down the street, pressed in pockets around entrances to restaurants and apartment buildings, groups of onlooking Canterlotians broke one by one into applause. They stomped their hooves in fervent appreciation. As the noise grew, some ponies whooped, whistled, and cheered at Mare Do Well.
She rose to her hooves and rotated in place to survey the ponies on balconies and rooftops joining in on the applause.
“Woooo! Thank you, Mare Do Well!” somepony shouted from a window down the street.
“Mare Do Well, you’re a hero!” called out a stallion.
“We love you!”
“Thank you!”
“Thank you, Mare Do Well!”
The cheering erupted all at once into a deafening cacophony of stomps and gleeful hollering. Something above caught Mare Do Well’s attention; Razorwing floated above, agape at the praise exploding from Canterlot’s desperate citizens.
“What’s your name?” a young colt shouted at him from a rooftop.
He cleared his throat. “Razorwing,” he said.
Shouts of “Razorwing!” and “Thank you, Razorwing!” harmonized with the chorus sounding for Mare Do Well. He looked down to her with a timid expression. She beckoned, and Razorwing flew to Mare Do Well’s side, holding his hooves close to his chest.
The wind from his wings billowed under Mare Do Well’s cape. It tremored and whipped in the breeze as she stood tall, listening to the steady roar of approval from the city she had striven so much to protect.
She scooped up her hat and slid it over her ears. “Unsung,” she said over the cheers, “are you still there?”
Lyra sniffled. “What is that?” she asked.
“See for yourself.” As dawn broke over the city, Mare Do Well looked fondly, proudly, at the ponies celebrating their victory over Canterlot’s hated underworld.
“Sweet Celestia,” Lyra breathed. “Is this… normal for you now?”
Mare Do Well coughed out an exhausted laugh. “No. I had no idea. They… they just saw two ponies die. What are they cheering for?”
In her Ponyvillean living room, Lyra brushed a tear from her face and smiled. “They believe in you,” Lyra said. “They missed you. So did I, Apple Bloom.”
“But I…” Mare Do Well hazarded a glance at Cossitee’s body in the window. “I didn’t want to…”
“They know,” Lyra said, nodding. “They believe you’re doing everything you can to save their city. They have hope.”
Engulfed in their ceaseless cheering, Mare Do Well and Razorwing looked at each other.
“I think we should go,” she said.
Razorwing nodded. He waved once to the crowd and rocketed higher into the sky with a few swift flaps. Mare Do Well galloped into a nearby alley. Behind her, the roar of waking ponies surged to new volumes as they chanted in unison, “Mare Do Well! Mare Do Well!”
“What in Tartarus just happened, Lyra?” Apple Bloom asked as she climbed the side of a building, jumping from ledge to ledge on trembling hooves.
“I don’t really know,” Lyra said, “but I think—all things considered—it was good.”
(/\/\)
Through tears of pain, Princess Sparkle watched the smoke in the sky fizzle out of existence.
“Magic,” she said under her breath. A shock went through her horn and she had to close her eyes, growling deep in her throat. “Come on…”
The last of the Sun broke past the horizon. Twilight dropped her head and let the sweat drip from her face. She watched it splash on the marble tile of her balcony.
As her headache subsided, Twilight heard a distant chant rise from the city below. At first it was just a rhythmic noise to her, but the words became clear when the ringing in her ears subsided.
“Mare Do Well! Mare Do Well!”
Twilight’s eye began to twitch. Her lips pulled into a toothy scowl.
“You came back,” she hissed. “Oh, Applejack… what is your game here?”
She whipped around and stalked the length of her cold, empty room. Her magic opened the middle drawer in a tall, black desk against the far wall, and dozens of sheets of paper with notes, testimonials, and question marks organized themselves in neat piles.
“First you… what, you come to Canterlot? Why?” She flicked her head, tossing a stack of papers on the ground. “To see me? Why didn’t you come to the castle? Then you try to sneak back to Ponyville and jump off the train…” She flung another pile into the air. “And return months later in your old Mare Do Well costume. Was that your plan all along? Did you come to Canterlot to scope it out? To see how badly I’ve screwed up!?”
She swept her long forehooves across the desk and dropped her forehead on its surface. “Gaaaaaah! Why would you do this, Applejack? I don’t understand.” She shifted, resting her cheek on the back of a hoof and staring at her unmade bed.
After a while, she sighed. “You think this is easy, Applejack? You think you could rule the world knowing what I know? You think you can swoop in and save Equestria by yourself where the Princess of Friendship failed?” The muscles in her snout tightened and her eyes burned in their sockets. “Go ahead and try, Applejack. Do your very best, I implore you. Maybe you’ll see how horrible it all really is, how pointless and pretend.”
Twilight stood and shook out her mane. “Go right ahead, Applejack. I wish you the best of luck. In the meantime, I’ll be here, ensuring there’s a tomorrow to save.”
(/\/\)
Lyra rubbed her right eye and yawned. “So he was your teacher?” she asked.
Apple Bloom’s voice sounded in her mind. “Hardly. I attended less than ten of his lectures, I think. Maybe a bit more.”
“Was he good?”
“He was fantastic,” Apple Bloom said. Lyra watched her unwrap the purple cloth from her last hoof. “Maybe all the best professors are nuts, one way or another.”
“I can’t believe he just… I mean, that glass went straight through his head, he must have pushed pretty hard.”
“Lyra, not now,” Apple Bloom said. “I hafta get some sleep and sort this out.”
“I’ve never, uh…” Lyra swallowed. “I’ve never seen anypony die before. Have you?”
Apple Bloom was silent. “I gotta sleep, Lyra,” she finally said. “We’ll talk later.”
“Sorry, I’m just… Oh, hold on! How many enchanted gems do you have left?”
Lyra watched as Apple Bloom unclipped her utility belt and sifted through the pockets on her bed. “Not many,” Apple Bloom said. “How am I gonna get more?”
“Uhhhh,” Lyra furrowed her brow. “Eh, I don’t know. I could try to sneak some by train or something. Just get some sleep, I’ll think about it.”
“Thanks, Lyra,” Apple Bloom said. She reached in front of her eyes and grabbed the hat. “I’m glad you were here tonight. Sorry you had to see all that.”
“No, I’m… I’m glad I was here, too,” Lyra said. “Good night.”
Apple Bloom glanced at the Sunlit window of her apartment and chuckled. “Good night, Unsung.”
She pulled off the hat, and Lyra’s vision went black. She breathed deeply and blinked several times. The trance wore off and her living room, lit by the same morning Sun that shone in Canterlot, came into view.
The glow of Lyra’s horn faded like a dying candle. She rose from her couch and stretched. “Whew… adrenaline sucks,” she grumbled, shaking out a twitch in her hind leg.
She fixed her mane in a hallway mirror and left her house. Despite the Sunshine, Ponyville looked grey and dry. A few ponies trotted through its narrow streets with their heads down. Lyra sighed quietly, locked the door behind her, and headed for market.
She bought breakfast from Carrot Top and crunched it down on her way to Carousel Boutique. A cart full of apples was parked near the front door.
Rarity greeted Lyra as she walked in. “Ah, Miss Heartstrings! It’s wonderful to see you.” She trotted to her and offered a tender smile. “Tell me, how are you getting along?”
Lyra tried to smile back. “Well… not my best, really. But maybe you can help me with that.”
“Surely! What is it you need, darling?”
Lyra noticed Applejack braiding her mane in the back. “Hi, Applejack!” she said, waving.
Rarity turned around and nodded at Applejack with wide eyes.
Applejack’s face was flat. “Hey, Lyra.”
Lyra cleared her throat. “Uh… have you heard anything from Apple Bloom lately?” she asked.
Green eyes narrowed, Applejack glared at Lyra. “No,” she said.
“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” Lyra said. “I’m… I’m sure she’s doing all right.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.
Lyra turned back to Rarity. “Right, uh… you still sell gems, right? Like, just gems, not embroidered or in jewelry or anything.”
“Ah, yes, I remember you bought a number of them some time ago!” Rarity trotted through the boutique. “I do have quite a collection for you to browse in the back, if you’ll follow me. It may take me just a moment to find them, I’ll admit I’ve put off organizing for a while.”
“That’s fine,” Lyra said. “I’ll, uh… I’ll follow you in just a minute, okay? I’d like to look around.”
“Oh, of course, darling! I’ve got a new line of yellows over there,” she said, pointing. “A scarf would look dashing with your eye color.”
She disappeared into the back. Lyra watched Applejack finish a braid, undo it, and start again in the same place. Biting her lip, Lyra took a few steps closer.
“Uh… Applejack?” she asked.
“What is it, Lyra?” Applejack’s voice was lower than usual.
“Uh…” She stood a little taller. “I meant what I said. I’m sure Apple Bloom is all right.”
Applejack gave her a wary look. “And how exactly do ya know that, hm?”
Lyra pursed her lips together. “Uh… well, she’s back in Canterlot and seems to be doing really well.”
Applejack snorted. “Last letter from Sweetie Belle said she was in the hospital up there.” She looked away. “Believe me, if you knew the half of it, you wouldn’t be so sure she’s fine.”
Lyra tried to suppress a smile. “Right. Sorry, I… I’m sure you know more than me on the matter.”
“Miss Heartstrings! I found them!” Rarity called from the back.
With a small nod toward Applejack, Lyra said, “She’s out of the hospital now. She’s, uh… doing well.” She winked when Applejack’s head spun around.
As Lyra trotted to find Rarity, Applejack stood up. “Hey!”
Lyra stopped. Applejack’s shout put a lump in her throat. “Yeah?”
“Do you think yer bein’ funny?” Applejack asked.
“What? No!” Lyra shook her head. “I’m… I just wanted you to know that—”
“How’dja find out?” Applejack asked harshly, trotting closer to Lyra. “Have you told anypony else?”
“What?” Lyra stepped back. “No, I’m just… I’m just here to get…” She pointed in Rarity’s direction.
“Oh, so yer stupid pun was just a coincidence, huh?” Applejack stopped inches from Lyra’s face and glared into her eyes. “Yer sure she’s doin’ well? What, d’ya think we’re livin’ in a fillies’ book? How didja know it’s her?”
“Uhhhhh…” Lyra’s eyes widened.
“It’s all over Ponyville now,” Applejack said, turning from Lyra to pace in front of her. “Mare Do Well’s back, they say. I bet it’s Rainbow Dash, they say. But I know who’s behind that mask, and apparently so do you.” She frowned at Lyra. “So? How’d you find out?”
“Lyra, dear?” Rarity popped her head around the corner. “Oh my goodness! Applejack, what’s gotten into you?” She trotted between them. “Honestly, I understand it’s upsetting, but there’s no need to go shouting and terrifying my customers!”
“Do you know, too?” Lyra asked Rarity. “About Apple Bloom?”
Rarity’s irises shrunk. “Oh, um… how do you mean?” She smiled and blinked innocently.
Lyra smiled. “You do! You both know!” She giggled, then said to herself, “Oh, I hope Apple Bloom doesn’t mind. I just hate to see you like this.”
Applejack’s frown lessened. “Doesn’t mind what? Have you talked to her?”
Lyra laughed. “Oh yeah, I’ve talked to her. This morning, in fact.”
Rarity raised her eyebrows. “What, did she send you a letter?”
“Uh, no.” Lyra smiled sheepishly. “Not exactly.”
(/\/\)
Mare Do Well and Razorwing stood side by side in silence, looking over Canterlot from a rooftop near the docks.
“Jeez, it’s been two days,” Razorwing said. “And nothing. We really scared ‘em, didn’t we?”
“We scared ourselves, too,” Mare Do Well said. She took off her hat and sat on her haunches. “Are you all right, Razorwing?”
The stallion grinned with one side of his mouth. “Took you long enough to ask.”
Mare Do Well shook her head. “Sorry. I haven’t found a way to…”
“It’s okay, Mare Do Well. Really.” He shook out his wings and sat close beside her. “I get it. There are a lot of… different ways to look at it, I guess.”
“Right.” Mare Do Well stared ahead. “I’m glad it’s over. And part of me knew somepony had to die. I just… I didn’t plan any of that. I didn’t mean for anypony to…” Her words caught in her throat, but she pushed through it. “To bleed out in the middle of the street.”
“Or stab themselves through the head.” Razorwing nodded. “I get it. I think we all get it.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Equestria used to feel like such a safe place, but it doesn’t anymore. We all heard about the violent protests in Canterlot and things just changed. We changed, maybe. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, you know? Why they cheered for us. And if I try to put myself in their horseshoes, I totally get it.”
Mare Do Well finally looked over at him.
His eyebrows tilted. “They’re scared, Mare Do Well. You started to change things in ways they’d never really seen, and then you just disappeared. But for them to see you—actually see you in action, not just read about it and hear rumors—gosh, that must have been so exciting, you know?” He reached over and shook her by the shoulder. “You’re real! Even I’m amazed by it. You’re standing up to this crummy world somepony dropped on us, and you’re winning. It’s a miracle.”
“It doesn’t feel like I’m winning,” Mare Do Well said.
Razorwing nodded. “Yeah. I know.” He scooted a bit closer. Their hips were touching. “But you’re a hero. A real hero. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Mare Do Well stood up and stepped away from him.
Razorwing’s face flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“What’s that?” Mare Do Well asked. She pointed to the sky.
Razorwing hopped to his hooves and looked. “What the…” He jumped off the edge of the rooftop and flew closer to the clouds. “Whoa!”
“What is it?” Mare Do Well called up to him.
He swooped down and tapped the M-shaped emblem on her chest. “It’s that.”
Mare Do Well’s eyes focused as the dark clouds rolled. She followed the beam of light shining an enormous, curved M into the sky.
“Looks like it’s coming from the train station,” Razorwing said. “Or close to it, anyway.”
“Could be a trap,” Mare Do Well said.
Razorwing flashed a sly smile. “Dear Luna, I hope so.”
(/\/\)
Mare Do Well landed hard on the roof of the Canterlot station. Razorwing hovered above her, silver armor glimmering in the Moonlight.
Next to a wide spotlight stood an older stallion with a greying blue moustache and a dapper black suit coat. His light blue eyes widened at Mare Do Well’s arrival.
“I hope I’m not spoiling your night,” the stallion said. “I couldn’t think of any other surefire way to get your attention.”
“Fancy Pants,” said Mare Do Well.
The stallion cocked his head. “Oh, you know me?”
“What do you need, bro?” Razorwing asked. “You got a hot tip for us? Mangled Marks hitting the streets? Gonne stragglers making trouble?”
Fancy Pants grinned. “No, I’m fairly certain you’ve scared them out of their wits for now. The city has been remarkably quiet. I must thank you for that.”
“Then what’s with the signal?” Razorwing asked. “And where’s my insignia in the sky, eh?”
“What do you know, Fancy Pants?” Mare Do Well asked.
“I’ve received word from Manehattan,” he said. “Not directly, mind you, but through the grapevine, as it were. There’s a… well, a unique individual there is in great need of your service.”
“Manehatten?” Mare Do Well asked.
“Field trip!” Razorwing shouted. “Yeah!”
“She goes by the name of Spritemare,” Fancy Pants continued. “She’s much like you, from what I’ve gathered. I believe she is primarily responsible for the diffusion of that hypnosis debacle everypony’s talking about.”
“Do you know how we’d find her, if we go?” Mare Do Well asked.
Fancy Pants pointed to the spotlight. “I’m sure you’ll find a way. She’s a winged zebra, if the stories are true. Can’t imagine she’d be very hard to find.”
“Winged zebra?” Razorwing glanced at his own wings. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“Nor have I,” Fancy Pants said, “but I also never heard of a pony strapping deadly swords to the joints of his wings.”
Razorwing’s demeanor shrunk. “Uhh… deadly wasn’t exactly what I was going for when I made them…”
Fancy Pants put up a hoof. “I’m not here to criticize. I am grateful to you both, more than you could know. I’ve delivered the message, and you’re free to do with it what you will. I do hope, however, that if you choose to help this Spritemare in Manehattan, you will return promptly. I maintain many connections, even in this new world of ours. I shall likely call on you again.”
Mare Do Well bowed. “And we’ll answer.”
She spun around with a flair of her cloak and jumped off the station’s roof. Razorwing grinned with a shrug and dove after her. By the time Fancy Pants switched off the spotlight and surveyed the streets below, Canterlot’s dynamic duo had vanished.