WAREHOUSE, UNDISCLOSED AREA, CANTERLOT
LATE EVENING
"She's back. Look, I don't know how, I swear, but she's back." A stallion grunted, leaning forward in his chair. There were murmurs and grumbles from the assembled mares and stallions around the table. The air was stagnant and warm, despite the best efforts of the roof-mounted fan to keep the air circulating around the place. A hoof slammed down on the table, silencing all noise in the room bar the quiet buzzing of the electric lighting. A harsh, grating voice spoke out into the silent assembly.
"The hero is dead.. I was there." It spat coldly. A grim-looking unicorn on the other side of the table replied, floating a pile of photographs to the centre of the table. They landed with a light patter in the centre of the table for all to see.
"We have proof." He stated simply, motioning to the photographs with a hoof. The group began muttering again, until the harsh voice spoke out once more, killing all other conversation in an instant. The speaker moved toward the lit area of the table slowly.
"This mare cannot be the mare we knew." Her face emerged from the dark on the other end of the table, blue coat and silver mane looking ragged in the bad lighting. "I killed her." Trixie looked worse than ever before. Her face was further mangled from her fall out of the courthouse window. The panes of glass mixed with the impact on the floor had torn long, straight scars in her skin. Bones had healed over at somewhat unnatural angles, and so limbs appeared stiff and warped. Bruises covered her face, and damage to her vocal cords had been rudimentarily solved with the installation of an electronic mechanism fitted into her neck, keeping a fraction of her original voice, but now sounding more grating and eerily electronic. "Still.. Now, we must deal with this impostor. This successor, whoever they are. They must die." The mutterings and conversations began again. Amid the quiet coversing, an empty, detached-sounding voice rang out.
"How much are you willing to pay for Mare-Do-Well's corpse?" The assembly turned to look.
A scruffy-looking young earth pony mare sat motionless in her seat, hooves crossed over her chest. She had a grey coat and a mane of dirty, stringy white hair. Her eyes, although maddened-looking and dark, remained in an almost permanently half closed, depressed-looking state. The dark circles around them did little to help the fact. "I'm expecting a lot." Her mouth lifted into a twisted smirk. A stallion barked out angrily.
"What, do you think you're something special? Big deal.. I bet you couldn't hurt a fly."
"Oh.. I wouldn't underestimate.. I would not.." She spoke in a detached voice, standing up and slowly moving over to him. She leaned down, moving her face close to his and placing a hoof on his shoulder. "You know.. Putting your victim to ease before ending them is usually the easiest way to kill.. And if thinking that I'm harmless puts you to ease, I'm glad." She let out a bored sigh as she twisted his head with the other hoof casually, breaking his windpipe. He crumpled out of his chair and to the floor. The room fell into shocked silence.
"Ten-thousand bits." Trixie's voice called out to the silence.
"Make it twenty and we have a deal. My services don't come cheap." The mare spoke.
"Done" Came the reply as Trixie smirked. The mare nodded gracefully and produced a small, blank-looking business card, tossing it onto the table before calmly leaving through the door at the opposite end of the dimly-lit room. On it were the words;
THE PROFESSIONAL
'The job done right, for the right price.'
CMC CLUBHOUSE, PONYVILLE
LATE EVENING
Mare-Do-Well stumbled into the clubhouse, staggering toward the bathroom area at the rear as the door banged shut. The hat and mask were yanked off and tossed to the side, flapping onto the table. The bruised face of the young mare Scootaloo swam into view in the grimy mirror. She watched herself as she removed the suit, checking over her wounds.
"Celestia.. I look terrible.." She uttered, admiring the exent to which her face had darkened from bruising. Her head still throbbed with pain as she tended to a scratch on her forehead and then fumbled in the sink cabinets for something to mask the bruising from the eyes of her friends when morning came.
After tending to her wounds, finding and preparing makeup for the bruising and taking a shower, Scootaloo drew the curtains and locked the door to the clubhouse, settling down and curling up to sleep on the sofa which she used for a bed. Vivid dreams flashed through her mind, dark images of Mare-Do-Well mingling with the memories contained in the clubhouse - childhood fun, times that she had cherished so much since those days.
The next morning, the still-aching Scootaloo made her way into the centre of Ponyville, ducking through crowds of ponies. She settled down at Sugarcube Corner, ordering up a cupcake and slouching down to sit at a table at the back. Pinkie Pie bounced over soon after, grinning madly and hopping incessantly as usual.
"Hey Scootaloo!" She squealed, leaning over the table and placing down the cupcake. "How ya doin'?" Scootaloo offered a weak smile, scooping up the confectionery in a hoof.
"Thanks, Pinkie.. I'm okay, just a bit.. Tired." She sighed. Pinkie listened attentively.
"Awww.. That's too bad! I hope the cupcake makes you feel better!" Pinkie nodded Scootaloo began munching down the treat. "Oh! Did you know that Mare-Do-Well saved Sugarcube Corner? It happened last night!" Scootaloo's mouth curled into a little smile and she let her hair fall over hair face a little.
"She.. She did? That's great!" Scootaloo beamed, finishing off the cupcake.
"Mmhm! Ooh, I'll have to go, Scootaloo.. Customers are piling up, and I can't stop off and talk to you forever, or I'd never get to serve them! And if I never get to serve them, then who wi-" Scootaloo sighed and shook her head, standing up and holding a hoof over Pinkie's rapidly-moving mouth to silence her.
"Off you go, Pinkie." She smirked, trotting off and out through the shop door.
An hour or so later, Scootaloo lay on a grassy hill overlooking a high cliff, relaxing for a while. The constant rush of the waterfall that tumbled down the cliff ahead was calming, and the mare found herself staring into the cool waters for a long time, the sparkling droplets reflecting the glittering sun. She moved closer, slowly testing the waters with a hoof. Cold, but not icy. After a moment's deliberation, she stepped under and let the water wash over her, feeling clean and refreshed in the natural shower.
"Huh?.." She uttered, her voice echoing a little . Beyond the waterfall was a dark tunnel leading inside the stone cliff-face. Scootaloo proceeded inward. Wind whistled through the natural tunnel, and the sound of dripping water echoed all around at random intervals. Scootaloo's slow hoofsteps thudded along the tunnel walls. she took note of the fact that, although currently-unlit, a string of lightbulbs were installed into the uneven rock ceiling of the tunnel, thick cables snaking along the roof between them. The young mare continued onward, and suddenly came to a halt after ascending a set of metal steps, built on an iron frame set into the sloping cavern and bound to it with steel cables. Stepping forward, the sudden activation of lighting in the tunnel behind her and the room beyond took Scootaloo by surpise. She squinted in the bright glare of white light.
As her vision adjusted, she could now clearly see a huge cavern, brightly lit by floodlights perched high on metal framework suspended from the ceiling. The sight of a large, futuristic-looking computer booting up and displaying the Mare-Do-Well symbol confirmed her suspicions, and she stepped forward to sit at the high-backed leather chair. Pressing a hoof to the scanner on the keypad, she found that the computer would not open up to her command. After a flash of inspiration and a trip back to the clubhouse, Scootaloo returned to the cavern. Donning the costume of Mare-Do-Well, she once again pressed her hoof to the computer panel. Recognising the pattern of the fabric and armour shape of the boot, The computer extended a small device and scanned the masked Scootaloo with a thin, laser-like ray of electric blue light. Accepting the facial scan, the screen flared to life, displaying the message,
"WELCOME BACK, MARE-DO-WELL." Under the mask, Scootaloo positively beamed. Tapping at the keypad with her hooves, she accessed the main menu. A myriad of options and applications appeared on-screen. There was access to criminal records, commands to open other areas in the Lair such as living quaters and a workshop, reconfiguration systems for the suit Scootaloo now wore, and even a storage area filled with Mare-Do-Well's signature equipment. The realisation that this entire arsenal was now at her hooves made Scootaloo grin. She couldn't help it, she was overtaken with emotion. Now her transition from the unprepared almost-hero was complete. Sure, she still had skills to learn. Sure, she still wasn't as strong as she would eventually be. But at least now she knew what she was. She was a warrior for good, and that was what she would be until her dying day.
She felt it before she saw it. A warmth that seared brightly on her flank for a moment before cooling. After all these years, it had finally come to her. Years of waiting and trying to be what she could not had led her here. Pulling off the costume, Scootaloo inspected herself. As she had guessed, a cutie-mark now adorned her flank. A bold image of a winged sword was now emblazoned on her skin. Still smiling, she trotted over to the computer, opened the living quaters and retired to sleep for a few hours in the cool, clean bedroom before her working hours.
THE LAIR, MIDNIGHT
The bodysuit was slipped on, the boots slid into, the cape attached and the hat pulled down over Scootaloo's head. Standing in front of a set of polished metal tables in the armoury, her full power as the famous hero could now be excersised. A utility belt lay there, filled with smoke bombs, poision antidotes, a small medical kit, a coiled length of metal cable to tie up criminals and even a tracer tag that could be fired from any of the weapons in the arsenal, sticking to the target and tracing their movements on the Lair's computer. Scootaloo coiled the belt around her waist, clipping it on, and moved to the next piece of equipment. A hoof-mounted multipurpose cannon was quickly installed on one of her forehoof boots, able to fire electric stun darts, a grappling claw (which was attached to a motorised spool on the utility belt by a strong metal cable) and any other number of projectile weapons and gadgets stored in her inventory. The final piece of equipment that Scootaloo picked up and strapped to her back, under her cape, was a small back-mounted flying device. She guessed that this was comissioned in case an Earth Pony or Unicorn were to take up the mantle of the hero and, as such, would need an easy method of travel alike to a Pegasus' wings. Obviously the last Mare-Do-Well hadn't needed it, being a Pegasus herself. But Scootaloo found that this device could help her fly much higher and faster than she could otherwise, and so she decided to take it, with the intention of using it to boost her efficiency far beyond what she herself could naturally achieve. Re-entering the main cave and exiting through the waterfall, Mare-Do-Well activated the flying device.
A large set of curved wings, comprised of purple fabric stretched over metal frames, folded out gracefully from the device under the cape. The high-powered flying engine fired up slowly, a bright blue glow emitting from the grille on the underside of the backpack section. The specially-designed jet managed to stay quiet while lifting the hero off the ground, and she hovered gently upward before speeding off over the rooftops of Ponyville.
Seeing that all was well in her hometown, Mare-Do-Well decided to soar upward, speeding across the sky toward the royal city of Canterlot. Thundering past a shocked-looking Princess Luna on the tower of Canterlot Castle, Mare-Do-Well came to a halt. She hovered gracefully down toward the floor before dropping down with a thud, the mechanical wings folding away as the jetpack cut out with a clunk, the humming engine ceasing its noise. The sound of a commotion down the nearest alleyway caught her attention, and she dashed quietly into the dim passage, padded boots making a minimum of noise.
"Please.." Came the strangled cry of the skinny, weak colt as he was lifted magically into the air by the brutish Unicorn stallion mercilessly attacking him.
"Look.. You don't pay the toll to get through this alley, you don't make it outta here alive." The stallion grunted, a tone of clear malice and sadism in his voice. Just as the suffocating colt realised this could be his end, the magical grip on his neck was released. An electically-charged stun dart smacked into the attacker, shocking him and causing him to collapse for a moment before collecting himself. The cowering colt hid in the darkness and observed as the dark, wraith-like caped figure of Mare-Do-Well dropped down from the nearest lamppost, the cape enshrouding the stallion and pulling him back up into the dark above the post. After a moment, the tightly bound attacker swung down, tied up and hanging from the lamppost by a length of thick metal cable. The sight of the cocoon-looking bound criminal made the colt laugh and emerge from the shadows. Mare-Do-Well stood crouched atop the post, giving a silent nod to the colt before unfolding her mechanical wings and hovering upward into the sky before flying off speedily.