Midday leapt, the spell enhancing her leap aiding her flight. Only once she was in midair did she start panicking about what could go wrong. She got closer and grabbed Cherry Berry, leaping free of the basket. Using a complicated series of spells she managed to land without injuring the terrified would-be aviator. She was vaguely aware of the sound of the balloon crashing into a tree, having dragged Rainbow Dash down with it.
"Thank you, stranger." Cherry Berry said, looking incredibly unsteady on her hooves. Midday made a small nod, and then leapt away. She rushed away towards the edge of Ponyville, before casting a slight invisibility spell. Then she started breathing again. It took a few moments for her to get her breath back.
*****
"Well, I thought that went quite well." Twilight Sparkle smiled. There was an inarticulate grunt from Midday.
"You saved somepony without stopping to show off or brag, you were calm-"
"I really was not."
"You made quite the impression. You've been named the 'Mysterious Mare Do Well'!" Trixie beamed.
"Woo" Midday said, idly nudging a ball of yarn about, earning her a death glare from Opal.
"How did Rainbow Dash take the arrival of Ponyville's newest hero?" Rarity asked, checking the costume for signs of damage. Twilight gritted her teeth.
"She didn't look too happy."
"She could have saved whatsername before I'd even got there. Heck, I even waited to see if she would." Midday said. This caused a few nervous glances.
"Do you know what she did? She held off to sign autographs. What the hay was that all about? Was she afraid they'd disappear if she turned her head or something? Poor Cherry Berry was about to get renamed Gooey Stain" She sighed. There was a slight hum from Rarity.
"Well, there's no damage to the costume. Excellent. It can handle gravity defying leaps."
"Where did you learn that spell anyway?" Twilight Sparkle asked. Midday waved a hoof, which was the one nudging the ball of yarn, allowing Opal to reclaim her property.
"I learnt it when I was young, figured being able to leap long distances would be useful if I ever ended up in a dark catacomb or had to cross a broken bridge. What with just being a unicorn, and not being able to teleport."
Rarity seized upon the lull in conversation.
"Alright, this costume is okay. Now I can fetch the ones for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack." And at that Rarity walked over to the supplies cupboard.
"Me?" Fluttershy said. Rarity stared at her.
"Yes." she said calmly.
Fluttershy shuffled slightly.
"What is it, Fluttershy?" Applejack said.
"I just... well, do we really need to do this? Rainbow Dash's feelings might be hurt. Couldn't we just talk to her about her behaviour?"
Everypony in the room stared at her. Midday sighed an almost polite sigh.
"Fluttershy, I have a question for you. When, in the entire time you've know Rainbow Dash, has she ever, ever been willing to listen to somepony else, aside from you?"
"Well..." Fluttershy tried to remember.
"It might work this time?" she said, weakly.
"Bearing in mind the last few times she saved anypony it was either a group effort or she was distracted by other things." Twilight Sparkle said, "This is different from those times. Ponies are praising her non-stop, and she feels the need to play herself up. We're doing this so that she doesn't cause a disaster by putting her ego first."
"I suppose.."
"Fluttershy, I think I see what your problem is, that Rainbow Dash might be offended by our not trusting her, but-"
There was a sudden flash, and everypony looked to see Midday, standing upright, her fur now white, save the tips of her hooves, and her mane and tail were ablaze.
"She does not have the right to be offended!" Midday spat. "She put signing a piece of paper over trying to save somepony! She is lazy and crass and arrogant and she needs a kick in the flank before somepony gets hurt, or even killed because of her behaviour!" She took a deep breath, the flames dying down and her hair returned to normal, save some slight fraying and singes. She sat down, looking somewhat smaller than she should have. She stared at Fluttershy.
"I get that Rainbow Dash is your friend Fluttershy, but she's being utterly stupid. We have to do this, if only to save her from creating her own disaster. As we've been saying repeatedly for the last while."
"Okay, here are your costumes girls!" Said Rarity, emerging from the storage cupboard with several folded up piles (and four hats).
"Is something wrong?" She said upon seeing the conflicted looks on Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy's faces. She sniffed the air.
"Does someone smell anything burning?"
"That was fast." Pinkie Pie noted.
"Well, business has been slow lately, and if the original had been damaged we would've needed a replacement anyway. So I decided to make all four at once"
Pinkie started twitching.
"What is it, Pinkie?"
"I think..." Pinkie said as her tail started twitching back and forth like a metronome.
"Oh, runaway bus down a hill" She said. Everypony turned to Midday.
"No way." She said.
"What? Why not?" asked Twilight.
"Stopping a runaway bus is beyond me. I mean, I could use my magic to slow it, but if something went wrong?" She made a snapping noise, followed up with miming a bus falling down a cliff.
"I see."
"Sorry."
"I guess that means ah'm up." Applejack said.
"Wait" Said Midday, her horn flashed slighty, and a slight beam hit Applejack in the forehead.
"What in the-" Applejack said. Everypony else was staring at her. Her voice had changed significantly, though her usual drawl was still present.
"What did you do?" She demanded.
"It's a little voice alteration spell I had lying around. I mean, let's face it, Rainbow Dash would recognise your voice pretty quickly if you spoke. Just in case."
Twilight nodded at that.
"Wonder why I hadn't thought of that?" She mused.
"Do you have a voice-changing spell?" Pinkie asked.
"... no." Twilight said sheepishly.
*****
They were standing just out of sight from the hill. After a few minutes of waiting an out-of control bus careened past.
"There it goes, there it goes!" Pinkie yelped.
"'kay. Here goes." Applejack muttered.
"Remember, no showboating. Just stop the bus, then vanish." Midday said.
"Ah was listening."
"Good to know." Applejack turned to glower at her. Or at least it looked like she was glowering under the mask.
"What's that for?"
"Applejack, bus." Fluttershy whispered.
"Nothing." Midday said defensively.
"No, go on and tell me."
"Applejack..." Pinkie squeaked.
"You gonna stop that bus or what?"
Applejack's head turned to look at the bus, then back to Midday.
"We'll have words, later." She hissed. And she hurried off. The four mares watched as Applejack stuck her back legs out and stopped the bus before it hit the cliff.
"Shouldn't that hurt?" Midday winced.
"No, no, she can take it" Fluttershy said.
"Why isn't there a fence or something there? Or a barrier of some kind?"
"Good question." Twilight Sparkle said. They watched as Applejack leapt away.
"Actually" The purple unicorn said, "If we could find some building supplies we could make one right now."
"Well..." Midday said, all too aware that Pinkie and Fluttershy had already made themselves scarce.
"Maybe later? After we've stopped Rainbow Dash doing something foalish?"
"I suppose."
*****
They eventually found Pinkie Pie and Fluttersy back in the Carousel Boutique, with Applejack relaxing on a sofa talking to her back legs, although with the voice-altering spell still active she sounded more like she was doing a terrible impersonation of herself.
"Ponies seem a bit taken by Mare Do Well already." Fluttershy said.
"Really?" Twilight smiled.
"We saw a bunch of ponies wearing Mare Do Well shirts. I wanna Mare Do Well shirt. Oh, let's all get shirts." Pinkie bounced up and down. Twilight and Midday shared glances.
"Maybe later."
And then Pinkie's sense went off again.
"Collapsing construction site? uh-oh."
She looked around the room. Twilight shrugged.
"I guess that means me, then?" Pinkie quickly got into her own costume and disappeared out of the door.
"I think we need somewhere private to meet, just in case anypony wanders in on us." Twilight said.
"Why not use the library? Seems like as good a place as any to me" Midday said.
"And besides, everypony who lives there is in on this little collaboration. Except Spike."
"I suppose that makes sense." Twilight said.
"I'm still not really sure about this." Fluttershy muttered.
"And why do I have to wear a costume anyway?" She added.
More nervous glances were exchanged.
"Well, by now ponies have seen that Mare Do Well is strong and agile, and at some point the hat is probably gonna fall off and ponies will go 'Ah-hah, she is a unicorn'. But if it turns out Mare Do Well has wings, then ponies won't know what to think" Twilight said. A slight grin spread across her face.
"After all, only a princess has a horn and wings and strength, and they wouldn't be anywhere near regular pony size."
"Indeed. Most true. That is completely accurate and there is currently no chance of it being wrong." Midday said. There was a brief pause.
"I suppose that makes sense." Fluttershy said.
"You don't have to do any of the heroics yourself, Fluttershy." Midday said. She coughed before adding.
"Probably should've brought that up earlier, huh?"
"That would have been an idea" Twilight said into her hoof.
*****
A short time later, and Twilight and Midday were staring at the Ponyville dam, Fluttershy was sitting a short distance away, not looking at it..
"So, Pinkie's Pinkie Sense told her the dam was going to collapse?" Midday said. Twilight nodded.
"Doesn't make any sense to me. It looked perfectly fine."
"Rainbow Dash obviously disagrees" Twilight said, her voice altered by the magic spell.
"Oh my." Fluttershy said, as the multi-colored pegasus swooped down and leaned against the dam.
"What is she doing?" Twilight said. Midday bit her lip.
"Well, if Pinkie said the dam was about to collapse, and Rainbow Dash is leaning against it, then..." realisation kicked in.
"Oh, my." Twilight said, as the dam dramatically collapsed right before their eyes. Midday acted quickly, holding the water in. Twilight quickly pulled the cowl up and leapt down into the valley. Midday watched as Twilight gathered together all the fallen pieces of masonry and stone and brought them back together, somehow completely ignoring the face that they broke. Despite her own feelings on Twilight, despite knowing how powerful she was and would become, this still made her jaw drop.
"... wow" she said.
"I know" said Fluttershy, utterly killing the moment for her. She honestly couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen her m-... her Twilight do anything near that level of insanely complicated magic. To gather together all those objects, carry them, merge them all at the same time would require unbelievable levels of skill. Despite herself, she felt the very faintest trace of pride deep inside herself.
Midday noticed Rainbow Dash struggling out of the river far down below. She also noticed she was right by the edge of a massive drop, and took a step back. Twilight reappeared, and nudged Fluttershy.
"Your turn" She said, sounding barely winded. Fluttershy stared straight ahead.
"Pardon?" She looked at Twilight.
"Oh, yes. I forgot. Sorry." And after a few more rushed apologies she took off into the air.
"That was easier than I thought it was going to be." Twilight said, removing her cowl. Midday blinked.
"I mean, if I'd had to contain all that water, I'd probably have taken longer" She considered this, then pulled a small notebook and quill out of her hat and started writing away.
"Hmm. A few seconds difference." She muttered. Then she turned to Midday and smiled.
"That was some impressive barrier magic by the way."
"Yeah, well I had a good teacher" Midday shrugged.
"No... I mean I've only seen one pony with magic as impressive as that"
Midday desperately looked for something to distract Twilight with. Fluttershy provided the perfect excuse.
"Did you see how fast Fluttershy was flying? I though she was supposed to be slow?"
"Well, she's not always a slow flier. During the incident with Discord she was able to fly as fast as Rainbow Dash, whilst dragging a hot air balloon and two ponies behind her."
Midday was sure she hadn't heard that. Both in the sense that she'd never heard that part of the tale before, and that Twilight hadn't just said that.
"What?" Unfortunately if Twilight did actually explain how such an unusual event could make sense she didn't hear it, being far too distracted with trying to get her head around the concept in the first place. She remained in a confused state all the way back into town, and for several hours after.
*****
The next day, everypony met up in Sugarcube Corner, save Pinkie Pie who was working. In the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner. Curiously enough, Mr and Mrs Cake were absent completely.
"Gotta give credit to the girl" Applejack smiled, "That Mare Do Well sure can pull off some pretty heroic feats." Rainbow Dash was hovering around nearby, and her reaction spoke volumes.
"I must say" Twilight said from the table she and Fluttershy were sitting at, "I was impressed that she was able to hold all that water in place while fixing a dam at the same time. Something like that would take a lot of magical prowess." There was a low growl from Rainbow Dash.
"She really cares about everypony's safety." Fluttershy commented.
"And did you see her costume? It's to die for!" Rarity sighed, "If you ask me, she's a hero of fashion"
"Gag unto us with a spoon." Midday said, making sure nopony could hear her.
"An' she's modest and humble. She lets her actions speak for herself. Gotta admire that."
"Or maybe she's just letting everypony speak for her." Midday said, a bit louder than she'd meant. Rainbow Dash, reclining on one of the counters, had been about to say something. Instead she raised an eyebrow. In fact, she raised two.
"Are you alright, Midday?" asked Rarity. She shuffled. Was she really going to have to do this? Criticize her own actions?
"Well" She said, hesitantly, "You guys are going on about how brilliant she is. You're treating her like she's the second coming of Star-Swirl (the bearded) or something, even though she's only been around for all of one day."
"Thank you" said Rainbow Dash.
"I mean, yes, she does let her actions speak louder than her words, but..." She paused, "Why does she wear a mask? What's she got to hide?" Fluttershy and Twilight exchanged glances.
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash said in agreement.
"To protect whoever-she-is and her friends from being bothered by the media or anything?"
Midday snorted derisively.
"What, like Spike?" She said, nodding towards the small dragon, who was standing there wearing a rather out-of-place hat and trenchcoat and carrying a notepad. Fluttershy jumped slightly.
"Sorry, Spike. I didn't know you were there" she said, blushing profusely.
"It's okay." The dragon said.
"Yeah, why is everypony saying she's a hero? What's she done that's so great?" Rainbow Dash said, hopping over to Midday.
"Other than save several construction workers." Midday said, just barely containing a grin.
Rainbow Dash's ears twitched, "Yeah"
"And fixed that dam."
"Okay." Rainbow Dash was frowning.
"And stopped that bus from falling off a cliff. (Somepony should really put a barrier up there.)"
"And that."
"And saved Cherry Berry from being squished."
"Whose side are you on?" Rainbow Dash yelled.
Midday just smirked at her. "Side? Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'm not entirely on anyone's side."
The rainbow coloured pegasus groaned.
"Anyway, I don't think think she's that great."
Spike was scribbling furiously.
"'She's... great...'" He repeated.
"I didn't say that!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Sounds like somepony's jealous." Twilight Sparkle smirked.
"Who, me? Rainbow Dash scoffed.
"Rainbow Dash is jealous..." Spike transcribed. Midday briefly considered confiscating Spike's writing implements.
"Don't write that, Spike!" The others laughed at her, seemingly oblivious to Rainbow Dash's rising irritation and discomfort. Midday quickly slunk to the back of the room.
"Fine!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "Laugh all you want, but I'll be the one laughing when I prove to you that I'm just as good- No, that I'm a better hero than Mare Do Well!" And with that, Rainbow Dash flew out the window.
There was a moment of silence. Fluttershy was the only one who looked concerned.
"I think, and baring in mind this is just an opinion, we overdid it." Midday sighed. Everypony turned to look at her.
"What are you talkin' about? You were needlin' her the same as the rest of us." Applejack said. Midday swivelled on the spot and glared at her.
"Yeah, okay. I wasn't laughing at a longtime friend who's in obvious discomfort. (Not that I'd expect you to understand squat about that, Applejack.) And I wasn't doing it for the sake of it. You guys were bragging."
"We were not bragging" Fluttershy said. Midday paused.
"Okay, you were all bragging except for Fluttershy."
"I was paying you a compliment." Twilight said, upset.
"I didn't ask you to." Spike, suddenly being the most sensible being in the room, slowly edged out of the door.
"I hope Rainbow Dash doesn't do anything foolish." Fluttershy said, hoping to change the topic of conversation.
"Nah, most of the disasters have dried up now." Said Pinkie, bouncing into the room from the kitchen. "My Pinkie Sense has been utterly quiet since the dam burst." She frowned, and paused.
"Except for somepony having a problem with a jar lid."
"Your Pinkie Sense warns you about jammed lids?"
"Yuh-huh."
"What a truly versatile thing it is." There was a sudden interuption of none other than Trixie bursting into the room.
"You won't believe it!" she exclaimed, "The mayor has agreed to throw a thank-you parade for Mare Do Well!" She seemed abnormally cheery.
"You like parades then?" Fluttershy said from under the table (Certainly not having hid there in the asumption that Trixie was in fact a soul-eater in a Trixie costume, or from shock, but simply because she liked being under tables).
"Trixie is from Neigh Orleans. I like parades because I can mock how inferior they are to the ones back home." She smiled a slight grin.
"Yer jokin', right?"
"A bit." Trixie said.
"Ah'd go back t' being a magician if I were you." Trixie and Applejack glowered at each other.
"Well, if some two birth defects hadn't brought an ursa minor right to my doorstep..." Trixie hissed. Midday meanwhile slipped out to get some fresh air.
She rushed to a small corner and sighed. Showing Rainbow Dash the error of her ways she could deal with, helping to humiliate her, not so much. The fact that Rainbow Dash would probably be rather indiscriminate in her revenge wasn't comforting. She decided to walk it off, and talk to Rainbow Dash the first chance she got. She sighed again. Once again, her near-inability to form grudges had striked.
She found a group of ponies setting up banners and streamers and balloons. She saw Lyra talking with Bon-Bon a short distance away, a small harp hovering near the mint-green unicorn.
"Hey" Midday cried. The two turned to look.
"Oh, hello again." Lyra smiled.
"Hey" was all Bon-Bon said.
"What's up with the little stand here?"
"Oh, this? Ponyville's throwing a parade in appreciation of Mare Do Well." Lyra smiled.
"But it's only been all of one day"
"It is a bit weird, isn't it? But she is quite impressive." Bon-Bon said. Midday had a vague recollection of seeing Bon-Bon wearing one of those silly rainbow wigs the other day, though she decided not to comment on it.
"And I've been hired to do some music for it. I've never had to write a composition for a super-hero before. I keep wondering what mindset I should have."
"I keep wondering why she's doing all this." Bon-Bon mused, "I think maybe her beloved uncle was killed by a burgler she could have stopped."
Midday glanced about.
"I... really don't think so."
"Or perhaps her parents were murdered by a mugger on leaving the theatre, on Heart's Warming Eve no less!"
"Incredibly unlikely. Bordering on outright impossible."
Bon-Bon frowned.
"I've got to admit, that doesn't make sense, sweetie." Lyra said, "I mean, wouldn't we have heard if something like that had happened?
Bon-Bon mused on this.
"I guess... Alright..." she pondered options for a second.
"Mother killed in mysterious circumstances, making her vow to try fight crime to spare others the pain of losing their loved ones?"
Midday frowned. "Why would she need some angsty backstory to want to help people? Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, she's doing the whole heroics thing because it's the right thing to do?"
Bon-Bon looked at Midday as if she'd suggested replacing Celestia with a giant weasel dressed up to look like a turtle.
"That's just weird." The earth pony said. There was a slight thrum from Lyra's harp.
"Ooh, I think I've got an idea, sweetie." She beamed.
"Let's hear it, then." Bon-Bon said, instantly forgetting Midday, who simply walked on. She continued walking and due to the design of Ponyville streets found herself back in front of Sugarcube Corner.
"Darn." She sighed. Coincidentally enough, Twilight Sparkle emerged from the doors.
"Oh, never mind." She said, beckoning Midday to enter.
"Well, look who came back." Trixie smirked.
"Midday, there's something we'd like to ask you." Twilight said.
"You want me to attend the parade for Mare Do Well" she said.
"We want you to-... Yes, actually." Twilight glanced to the others, then to Midday, "How did you know?"
"Because I was being a jerk, you figured this would be the best way to get at me. Besides, it's my turn."
Twilight looked about.
"And you're thinking of luring Rainbow Dash to somewhere isolated and spilling the beans." Twilight looked almost dumbfounded.
"How did you know?"
Midday shrugged.
"Seems the sort of thing you'd do. You're the forgiving type, so I figured you'd want to bury the hatchet with Rainbow Dash."
"Did you get banished to this town for being too smart for your own good?" Trixie said from the corner.
"Sort of. But not really."
*****
So Midday found herself waiting near the parade (which was oddly not moving) waiting for her cue to appear. She listened to Lyra's rather... catchy fanfare, and had to fight down the urge to jump on top of someone. She looked at the crowd.
Was that Scootaloo? What was Scootaloo doing at the parade? And then she saw Rainbow Dash, not actually lurking at all in the crowd. The mayor started speaking, and that was her cue...
The crowd cheered. It was actually somewhat weird to think ponies were cheering because of her. Nopony had ever cheered because of her before. She smiled. And then Rainbow Dash leapt into the air. What was she saying?
"The Mysterious Mare Do Well, huh?"
"Afternoon" she said. Unfortunately it sounded a lot deeper and gravelly than it should have. She coughed.
"Sorry, throat bug, let me try that again. Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash." She said, in that strange jovial voice. The pegasus was having none of it.
"So what're you hiding? Let's see how mysterious you are without that mask!" She reached forward. Midday just sighed.
"If only it were that easy, but you see, Rainbow Dash... I'm not here" And with that her magical energy duplicated shimmered and vanished. Rainbow Dash waved a hoof through the air.
"Where'd she go?" Someone in the crowd said.
Scootaloo suddenly yelled out, "Look, over there, on the roof."
Midday froze, and saw Rainbow Dash glaring straight at her.
"Thanks for that, Scootaloo." She muttered to herself. She tried to start moving again, but something solid and rainbow-y slammed into her, knocking her off the rooftops and clean into the air. She didn't land easy, though she did notice a rather suspiciously placed pile of hay right next to where she landed. Rainbow Dash slammed into the ground in front of her.
"Alright, I've got you now!"
"I don't suppose there's a chance we could talk this out like civilised mares, could we?" Midday asked, trying to get to her hooves.
"No."
Midday sighed. "I really don't want to fight you." She hoped Rainbow Dash would accept that.
"Don't care." Rainbow Dash said, reaching for her cowl. There was a slight jolt as the protective charms kicked in, sending Rainbow jumping back. Midday took a careful step back. Rainbow stepped forward, and then...
then the second layer of the charms kicked in, zapping Rainbow Dash again. She collapsed to the ground.
"Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I probably should've warned you about that." Then something alarming happened. Rainbow Dash got unsteadily to her feet. And she looked furious. Midday began to regret the defensive charms. Especially after being tackled by a furious mare capable of going at ludicrous speeds.
"Who are you?" Rainbow Dash yelled as they rocketed into the sky. Down below Midday could see several ponies rushing about, some of whom were wearing Mare Do Well costumes.
"Why are you trying to ruin my life?" Midday, if she had been on the ground, would have done a double-take.
"Ruin your life? What in Equestria are you on about?" Rainbow Dash started going faster.
"You keep making me look bad, keep stealing my saves from me, and now everypony likes you more than me and they forgot me completely!" She yelled. Midday felt pity for the pegasus, right up until the word 'stealing'.
"You mean solving disasters you couldn't?"
"I would have. I could have caught that balloon with seconds to spare." Midday blinked. She'd actually forgotten about that, and the autographs.
"Thank you." She said, her voice deathly cold (though the fact that it was mid-winter and they were almost two miles in the air helped.
"For what?!" Said Rainbow Dash.
"I was having trouble finding motivation to fight you." Midday hissed. She headbutted Rainbow Dash, who let go of her. She started plummeting to the ground.
"Not your greatest plan ever" She said to herself. Fortunately Rainbow Dash slammed into her again. The two mares tussled in the skies over Ponyville.
"I'm the only hero Ponyville needs! You're just trying to hog all the attention!"
Midday kicked wildly.
"What? That's the most idiotic thing I've heard you say!" She felt her leg connect with part of Rainbow.
"You're supposed to be the Element of Loyalty, and you throw childish tantrums when somepony does a job you wouldn't?"
"I was getting around to them!"
"Before or after Cherry Berry went 'splat'?"
"I had time to spare!"
"You could have done it in the first place! What's next, are you going to try and kick the crap out of me because ponies appreciated someone cleaning up the mess you made of the dam?"
Rainbow Dash stopped. Unfortunately this meant Midday slipped over her head.
"That... that wasn't my fault." She said hesitantly.
"Oh? It looked like you leaned on a crack when you could have just reported it. And what would you have done next? Stopped the flood? Rebuilt the dam? Do you even know how to mix cement?"
"I'd... have figured something out."
"And the constant stopping to yell your catchphrase?"
"It was to let ponies know who saved them."
"Because there are so many blue-coated, rainbow-maned pegasi around?"
She walked up to Rainbow Dash.
"None of this was an attempt to make you feel bad, it was just to stop your ego going overboard. You see-"
"FOUND THEM!" Came a familiar cry. It was Pinkie Pie, followed by the others. Pinkie, Applejack and Twilight were all wearing their costumes.
"What?" Rainbow Dash said, before turning to look at Midday.
"Which means you must be..."
Midday sighed, dispelled the voice-altering spell and removed her cowl.
"Ta-dah." She said, dryly. Rainbow Dash looked confused, and hurt.
"You were all in on this?"
"It was a team effort, actually" Midday said.
"Yeah. We all played Mare Do Well at different times." Twilight smiled.
"I stopped that bus with these babies" Applejack smiled, nodding at her back legs, "Bucks McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee"
"You named your legs?" Midday said to herself.
"And I saved those construction workers with my Pinkie Sense!" Pinkie smiled.
"Midday and I used our magic to fix the dam." Twilight said.
"Well, Twilight did the fixing. I just stopped most of the water getting out."
"Oh, and I did the flyby afterwards" said Fluttershy.
"I made the costumes of course" Rarity said, "Fabulous, if I do say so myself." There was a cough. Rarity's smile didn't alter.
"With some design imput from Trixie, of course. And Fluttershy helped a bit with the intial design."
"But... why?"
"I can explain that!" Midday said. She frowned. "Actually, there is too much. Let me sum up."
And she did.
"Well" Rainbow Dash said once everything had been summed-up, "I guess I was bragging a little."
Everypony stared at her.
"A lot?" she tried. Applejack nodded.
"That's more like it."
"But you could've just said something to me."
"Well, we thought you might not listen." Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash considered this. "Yeah, I probably wouldn't have. But you could've tried. You're my friends, right? I'd have listened. Eventually."
"But talking to you wouldn't have gotten us a parade." Pinkie smiled. Something clicked. Midday bit her lip.
"Shouldn't we, uh, you know, be getting back to that?"
"We probably should. They spent so much time setting it up" said Rarity.
"I helped." Pinkie beamed.
The group walked back to Ponyville.
"We could celebrate Rainbow Dash and Mare Do Well, Ponyville's twin heroes!" Pinkie said.
Rainbow Dash started walking towards town. She turned to Midday.
"What's your stake in all this, anyway? You barely know me."
Midday gave this some thought.
"You remind me of somepony. Somepony who I used to know. You have so much potential and you waste it. You could be brilliant, but you seem content to lounge about. You could be so much better than you are now." She said.
"What does that mean?" Rainbow laughed. Midday just shook her head.
"Hey, with all that throwing about you did, be glad I can make any sense at all. Now are you coming to this parade or not?"
"Race ya!" Rainbow Dash said, zooming off into the distance. Midday shook her head, and followed after.
*****
As it turned out, the ponies of Ponyville had no problem celebrating for two ponies (the fine details about Mare Do Well were carefully brushed aside). And with the strange string of disasters in Ponyville seemingly gone, life returned to a semblance of normality.
As normal as Ponyville got, anyway.
*****
Many hours later
Rarity was aware of a strange tapping noise. She slowly lifted the sleeping mask from her face, and was greeted with darkness. Somepony had woken her in the middle of the night, and clearly wished to be removed from existance, and she felt happy to oblige them. She gently walked over to the window, avoiding cat toys on the way and opened it. She prepared to yell bloody murder at whoever was out there...
only to see Rainbow Dash, looking quite beaten up and miserable. Instantly Rarity rushed down to her front door and unlocked it.
"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" She said.
There was some inarticulate slurring from Rainbow Dash. Rarity sniffed, and immediately regretted it. Rainbow Dash was positively marinated.
"You're drunk." She said.
"On'ly a lttle..." Rainbow slurred.
"I c'n't fly like this, can't get wings to work. Don' drink and fly." She smiled, though naturally the effect was incredibly unnerving.
"So I came here..."
"Why have you been drinking?" Rarity said, wondering if the pegasus could even remember.
"Ev'ryone hates me. Even Scoota... Scootal hates me."
"That's not true." Rarity said gently.
"Feels like it. All cuz of that..." Rainbow muttered something distinctly unladylike.
"Don' trust her. She humilated me... 'll get her back. Need your help."
"Of course" Rarity said.
"Nopony likes me." The pegasus muttered again.
"Now, Rainbow, don't talk like that. You just lie down, and we'll talk this over in the morning."
"C'nt trust Fluzzershy evr..." The rainbow-maned mare said, her eyes drooping shut. Rarity quickly summoned her so-called 'fainting sofa' and gently moved Rainbow Dash towards it. She fell asleep and began snoring a rather adorable snore immediately. Rarity quickly placed a cushion under Rainbow's head and placed a blanket over her. In the morning, she told herself, she'd have a talk with Rainbow Dash. Then she yawned. Nothing bad could happen until then.
*****
Fluttershy slowly walked up the stairs to her bedroom. All her animal friends were asleep, and after a long and bizarre day she was quite content to go to sleep. Nice, restful sleep.
She crawled into bed, carefully pausing before she turned the light off to make sure she'd not forgotten everything.
All was quiet. She turned the light off and lay down, ready to sleep.
Then the noise started. A strange, pained groaning noise from outside. After a few seconds it stopped. Then there was a loud crash, and the sound of breaking wood.
Quickly, Fluttershy rushed out of her room, down the stairs and out the back door of her cottage, to find...
A rather strange blue box lying sideways where her shed had been. Through her drooping eyelids she could see a door open on one side.
"Sorry!" Came an odd voice. An earth pony stallion stuck his head out of it. He had a fantastic chin.
"Had a bit of bother trying to land the old thing. Lot of temporal feedback. Not sure what's going on with that. Looked like a really nasty paradox, or a set of paradoxes... paradoxes, paradices, either way it's all bad timey-things."
Fluttershy wasn't sure what to make of this.
"Anyway, hello slightly sleeping looking pony" He smiled. Then his face turned deadly serious.
"I'm here to prevent the end of your world."