I think I need to tell some pony my story.
I mean, I have to, right? What’s the point of all this living if we’re not going to leave a legacy? But, it’s not so easy. I don’t know where to start, I’m not even sure where it’s going to end up. Funny, isn’t it? Thinking about my life story while I’m still in my prime.
At least, I hope I’m in my prime.
I guess that’s as good as any of a place to start.
Babs Seed, a little earth pony in her prime, staring over the skyline of her city. Manehattan, the ever-awake city of lights, nothing stops here. Not the shops, not my homework, and definitely not the poor ponies down on the street.
I sat on the edge of the rooftop. Wasn’t supposed to be there, but hey, long as I don’t get caught, who’s going to stop me? I had a police radio that I, um, borrowed, sitting next to me on the roof. Chatter echoed on that rooftop for maybe an hour. I did my homework, finished an essay that I asked an extension for, and ate a roasted carrot-dog with relish.
All units, fire reported on the corner of Apple Street and Bridle Street. The fire department has been alerted, they need assistance on site.
“There’s my cue.”
I grabbed my disguise from my backpack and slipped the dark mask over my face. Yeah, this was a good place to start. Ponies might know me as Babs, but when the night comes, this is when I get to show another side of me.
I think I need to tell some pony that I’ve become the Mysterious Mare Do Well.
I picked up the name from my cousin’s club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They said a few ponies in Ponyville called themselves the Mysterious Mare Do Well to teach their friend a lesson. Not sure what lesson it was, but saving and helping ponies seemed pretty cool.
Yeah, I won’t lie. I started this whole thing because it sounded cool. I mean, who doesn’t want to be a hero, right? But when I started, the question was: how am I going to do it? It’s not like I have powers or magic.
Or, at least, I didn’t.
My cousin Applebloom was great at making potions and stuff, and she knew the Headmare of the Friendship School through tutoring work. So, I got a train ticket and hit up her and Headmare Starlight for a favour.
They made me crystal lenses that detected magic, horseshoes enchanted with speed and strength, and Applebloom even taught me how to make a few basic potions. It wasn’t easy getting those things from them without telling them what I was planning to do. I didn’t exactly lie to them. I just kept my explanations vague and unspecific, you know?
Flash forward a few weeks and I’m Manehattan’s one and only Mystery Mare. Heroes in comics, like the Power Ponies or Fantastic Fliers, they always had villains and archenemies to fight. But, the real Manehattan was a little tamer than that.
Okay, maybe tamer wasn’t the right word.
It was the biggest fire I had ever seen.
Two whole floors of an apartment building were covered from corner to corner in fire. The firefighters were doing their best, but they couldn’t search the whole place instantly. The lenses in my suit could detect magic, including the magic inside creatures, which meant I could see through the flames and find the ponies trapped inside.
The whole scene played out below me. From my spot on the rooftop across the street, cops pulled in to keep ponies back and establish a safe perimeter. No way of getting in on hoof unless I got their attention. The bandolier on my suit held the potions that Applebloom showed me, including something she called the “Sparkle Bomb.” It was a mix of flash paper and magnesium, triggered by an igniting fluid that reacted to the air. One vial of the stuff could light up a street like a firework, though the blast range was too small to do any actual damage.
I jumped and landed, my horseshoes taking the impact, tossed a couple of sparklers on the ground to turn some heads away from me.
“What the--hey, you can’t go in there!”
I was through the door just as they spotted me. They could run after me all they wanted, but in seconds I was up the stairs and reaching the first floor.
“Any pony in here?” I shouted through the roar of the fire. Even with the lenses, it was hard to pinpoint exactly where every pony was. The lenses could only do so much, in the end, I had to be able to see through the fire.
A firefighter pulled his way out of an apartment with a filly on his back. “Who are you?”
“No time,” I stepped out of the way so he could go down the stairway. “I can help.”
He put the filly down and told her to run down to the fire trucks outside. “Her parents are still in there, the ceiling came down on them. Help me get them out.”
“No problem.”
We shot through the door, and inside the living room, I was finally close enough to get a clear signal on them. I moved in front of the firefighter and headed for the bedroom where the parents were trapped. Sure enough, the floor above had collapsed and two stallions were trapped underneath some pony else’s bedroom.
“If we lift up our side we can get them out.” The firefighter lowered himself and tried to jack up the collapsed floor on his back. But, I had a better idea.
“Lift on three!” he shouted. “One, two--Woah.”
My horseshoes did the heavy lifting, opening up our side of the rubble. The firefighter grabbed both stallions by the hooves and dragged them out.
“I don’t know who you are,” he said as he helped them on their hooves, “but we have more ponies trapped upstairs! Get them to me and I’ll lead them out.” I’m pretty sure he knew I wasn’t supposed to be helping, but in the heat of the moment, it didn’t really matter.
Not the time for fire puns, Babs.
I made a mental note to thank Rarity for making the suit for me. We bonded a little bit one time when she came to Manehattan for some fashion business. It didn’t feel right keeping the truth from her, but I wasn’t lying when I said I needed a damage-resistant suit. I never expected to be fighting fires, of course, but she was so good at what she did that the fire-proofing just came with the design.
There was no way I could make it through the night without that kind of protection. By the time we got the last pony out, even the firefighters were drenched in sweat. I mean, I was feeling hot too, but not as bad as they were.
I made another mental note that Rarity really needed to expand her business to firefighters.
“Last ones!” One of the firefighters on the second burning floor passed me two unconscious bodies. They were two teens. Older than me by a few years, they didn’t look like they were siblings. Housemates, maybe. I heard this neighbourhood was notorious for having rowdy college kids.
I scanned around with my lenses. I couldn’t pinpoint details, but I could definitely tell if some pony was still around.
“I can take them, you clear the way, I’ll be right behind you.” I hoisted both ponies on my back. The firefighter nodded and charged ahead of me, propping up splitting beams and collapsed walls.
We were out on the street in no time. The other ponies we saved were in all sorts of conditions. Some were being taken to the hospital, while others were just sitting the paramedics with oxygen masks to help their lungs recover.
I turned to the last firefighter and passed the two unconscious ponies to him. “And that’s my cue to go. Cops won’t be too happy to see me around.”
“It was risky coming in here,” he agreed, “but whoever you are, you look like you know what you’re doing. Ever think of just joining us?”
“Maybe one day,” I shrugged. “Right now I’m a bit swamped with homework. Here’s hoping we won’t have to meet like this again, yeah?”
He nodded, and I skipped out before the cops were done making sure every pony was safe. All in a night’s work for the Mystery Mare. And I couldn’t even list on my volunteering sheet.
There’s just one problem about fires, though. They don’t start on their own. I wasn’t thinking about it that night, but somewhere out there in my city, there was a spark. And that spark wasn’t ready to stop.