//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Scientific Methods // Story: Mare Do Better // by Cynical //------------------------------// Monday Three solemn thuds echoed through the thick wood of the library door. Rainbow looked up. It was early in the afternoon and the sky had been freshly cleared that morning, or to be more accurate, about a minute ago. She shifted from hoof to hoof on the doorstep, glancing back at the door every so often. She knocked again, louder this time. The library remained silent. “Rainbow Dash at a library? Who would have thought it?” Rainbow started, spinning around to see Twilight Sparkle standing a few paces away, smiling at Rainbow. Rainbow breathed out a small sigh and replied, “Morning,” returning the smile but still shifting from hoof to hoof slightly. Twilight’s smile dropped slightly, “Are you alright Rainbow?” Again, Rainbow fidgeted, “Um, do you mind if we talk in the library?” she asked, looking past Twilight at the almost-empty street. Twilight frown deepened slightly, but she nodded, gesturing for Rainbow to move while she unlocked the door and held it open, letting Rainbow inside before she shut it again. “Can I get you anything? Orange juice? Tea? Coffee?” Twilight asked, starting towards the kitchen. “No, it’s fine… listen, Twilight, have you seen the paper for today yet?” Twilight looked back from the doorway, “Can’t say I have… I don’t usually get the paper, more often than not it’s just about us which makes reading about it somewhat redundant,” she paused, looking directly at Rainbow again, “but I guess that’s what you’re here to talk about?” Rainbow nodded uncomfortably, reaching her head around and taking the Morning Times from the crook of her wing. A moment later she felt a slight tugging from the paper and let it go into Twilight’s spell. The paper drifted across the room, unfolding as it did so, towards Twilight who’d abandoned any attempt inside the kitchen. The front page had been split in two, across the top of the page there was a panorama of the street outside the police office, that much was discernible by the sign behind the main focus. The photo also revealed five ponies, all hogtied and knocked-out, right in front of the station. Twilight glanced at Rainbow momentarily before she looked down the page at the actual story. Mare Do Better Strikes Again This morning, Ponyville police found yet another criminal on their doorsteps, or rather a whole gang of them in this case, all of whom were in possession of a large amount of stolen jewellery and money. At approximately 3 AM this morning, the Sparkles and Shine Jewellery store on King Street, Ponyville, was broken into and ransacked of all items within. The criminals were presumed to have escaped down one of the many side streets within the town in order to evade law enforcement, only to meet their fates elsewhere on the back alleys. Two of the criminals suffered cracked ribs and broken bones and were taken for medical attention almost immediately, however the rest only suffered superficial injuries and were questioned upon arrival. Their answers matched those given by yesterday’s criminal, a pony dressed as the infamous Mare Do Well. The police also gave a statement in a press conference about the recent arrests as follows: No matter how helpful this Mare Do Better has been, and they have been helpful, we would like to reinstate the fact that this vigilante is not a member of law enforcement and that what they are doing is in fact against the law. Anypony who sees this masked vigilante is to report their sighting to the police so that we can rectify the situation ourselves. In a separate statement, Mr and Mrs Shine, the owners of Sparkles and Shine, said that they were grateful for what Mare Do Better had done for them, wishing them luck in their next fight against crime. We here at the Times support Mare Do Better in their endeavours within Ponyville and hope that this marks a new era in peace and prosperity. Quick Scoop 17th May 1001 Twilight read it twice over and looked up at Rainbow again quizzically, “Sorry, but what’s so bad about it? Aside from the fact that Sparkles and Shine is on Ring street rather than King street, there doesn’t seem to be anything inherently wrong with it,” she finished, folding up the paper and laying it on the table. Rainbow groaned in frustration, “I knew you wouldn’t get it.” “Then why did you come and ask me?” Twilight retorted, her own frustration growing. “Because I thought you’d be the best to help me catch her!” Rainbow exclaimed before sitting back and rubbing a hoof against her head. Twilight was shocked into silence as she processed that last statement, Rainbow just sighed and stood up after another moment, “Well… thanks anyway,” she offered, taking the paper and turning towards the door. “Wait, Rainbow!” Twilight blurted out, stopping Rainbow just as she reached the door, “Why do you want to catch her?” “I want to know who it is, that’s all,” Rainbow’s voice carried back, she sounded morose, even to her own ears. “Why me though?” Twilight pressed, “I mean, Fluttershy’s a better tracker than me for starters.” Rainbow shrugged, turning around before she replied, “Well… Fluttershy’s not exactly a vigila-whatsimacallit hunter for one thing.” “And Applejack?” Twilight prompted, “I mean, she’s much more suited to catching ponies than me. And then there’s Pinkie, she could probably track anypony she wanted to, and then ther-” “Twilight!” Rainbow’s shout penetrated Twilight’s waffling, breaking her off mid-sentence and causing her to blush, “look, you remember your first run in with Pinkie Sense and that whole fiasco?” Twilight nodded, frowning slightly, “How do you-“ “-Know about that?” Rainbow finished, “Pinkie told me.” “Oh…” “Alright… well from what Pinkie told me, you seemed to be doing a pretty good job of tracking her down.” “But she knew I was there the whole time!” Twilight groaned in exasperation. “This was Pinkie, I doubt anypony could actually sneak up on her.” “Then why not get Pinkie to help you?” Rainbow just deadpanned at Twilight, “Pinkie? As a tracker? You do know that I don’t want to be seen, right?” Twilight smiled weakly, “I suppose Pinkie’s not the sort of pony you’d expect to be a sleuth now that I think about it.” “Which is why I’m asking you Twi,” Rainbow said with exaggerated patience, “now are you going to stop trying to wriggle out of this or help me?” Twilight shifted uncomfortably for a moment before nodding, “Alright… I suppose I could help you track her down…” Rainbow gave a whoop of celebration before she shot next to Twilight, yanking on her leg and practically dragging her protesting friend out of the door. Twilight’s frown was back again. It wasn’t because Rainbow had dragged her out of the library and all the way across town. It wasn’t because the first crime scene was deep down an alley which was dim even in sunlight. No, it was because this didn’t make any sense. After Twilight had managed to stop Rainbow and direct her to the scene of the first crime, they’d arrived and set about looking for clues, looking for anything to bring them one step closer to catching the enigmatic Mare Do Better. “Something would definitely be nice…” Twilight muttered to herself. They’d decided to start at opposite ends of the alley, Twilight starting at the north exit while Rainbow looked at the south. If either of them saw anything, they’d agreed to shout the other over. As it had turned out though, there was absolutely nothing. There had been a small amount of blood at the centre of the alley which they’d both agreed belonged to the first criminal, Sharp Deal. Rainbow let out a groan of disappointment, “Bang goes that idea.” Twilight looked across at her, “Oh come on, there’s still the other alley to check.” Rainbow just sighed, “What’s the bet that we’ll find nothing there either?” “We’ll never know if we don’t look,” Twilight offered by way of reassurance, already working out the path to Ring Street in her head. Muttering something about a waste of time, Rainbow nodded reluctantly and started towards the end of the alley, Twilight following closely behind her. They emerged onto the street together and turned left, Twilight’s weary frown matched by Rainbow’s apathetic expression. They kept walking in silence for a while until Rainbow finally coughed, breaking the silence and starting to talk, “So, uh… how’ve you been?” Twilight looked at Rainbow, one eyebrow raised, “Is this your idea of making polite conversation or are you actually interested?” she asked sceptically. Rainbow shook her head, “No, I’m interested, honest,” she lied earnestly. Twilight snorted, rolling her eyes, “Sure you are…” she muttered under her breath before speaking louder a moment later, “I’m fine thanks, I’ve started working on a few new momentum spells, they all affect how hard a pony-” Rainbow stopped listening. It was strangely comforting. It was closer to the evening now and the streets were much quieter, Twilight and Rainbow being the only two ponies walking down the road. The air grew quiet almost instantaneously and Rainbow looked around, shocked by the sudden silence, to find Twilight glaring at her. “Were you even listening?” she asked before Rainbow could put up an excuse. Rainbow nodded, not trusting her voice. “Then what did I just say?” Twilight asked. There was a tense moment of silence as Rainbow wracked her brain, trying to remember just what had gone in through one ear and out the other immediately after. “Umm…” Rainbow began as Twilight raised an eyebrow expectantly, “something about new spells…?” her voice tailed off and Twilight sighed in response. “You know what? It doesn’t matter… come on, we’re here anyway.” Rainbow winced, it was impossible to miss the note of disappointment in Twilight’s voice. Nevertheless, they had arrived and stood in front of the alley directly opposite a boarded-up shop front with the words Sparkle and Shine written above the boards. “So did the paper say which alley it happened in?” Twilight shook her head, “Sorry, it didn’t look like it… how about this, if you start here, I can start from all the way over from the High Street and we’ll meet in the middle and swap streets, sounds good?” Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, alright. I’ll see you in the middle.” Twilight offered Rainbow a brief smile before her horn lit up for a moment and Twilight disappeared, teleporting elsewhere. And just like that, the streets were silent. Rainbow sighed and started down the alley, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground and looking for anything that didn’t quite fit. When Rainbow arrived at the intersection, Twilight wasn’t there. Rainbow frowned and started down the path towards the High street, expecting to meet Twilight coming the other way any second. It was almost impossible to tell what time it was from the dusky alleys, but it looked like the sun had dropped further, the night drawing in around them. Rainbow shivered slightly as a cool breeze made its way down the alleys. She turned another corner and saw Twilight, standing in the middle of the alley and looking at something on the wall. “Twi?” Twilight didn’t respond, her gaze still fixed on the same patch of wall. Rainbow frowned and headed towards her, trying to angle her head at the wall as she did so. When she drew level, her stomach did a quick flip as she saw the large blotch of dark red which had stained the wall. “I think we found the general area…” Rainbow said, her voice echoing oddly in her ears as she looked at one part of the wall which seemed to have dented somewhat. Twilight nodded, gulped, and spoke up, “Same story though… I couldn’t find anything, no hairs, no scraps of cloth… nothing.” They both looked away from the splatter in unison, gulping down lungfuls of air before Rainbow spoke again, “So another waste of time right?” Twilight nodded again. “Is there anything else we could check?” Rainbow asked, her voice becoming steadier by the moment. There was a pause, then Twilight spoke again, “Well we could stay up and just look out for her? My house is pretty much in the centre of Ponyville and we’d be able to see for miles.” Ordinarily, Rainbow would have made an effort to convince Twilight to patrol the streets herself, but she could tell that wasn’t going to be an option when she looked at Twilight’s pale face, “Alright,” she said hesitantly, “In which case could I use your sofa or something? I doubt I’ll be going home tonight.” Twilight smiled, her colour returning slightly, “Don’t be silly, I have a spare bed you can use if you need it.” Rainbow nodded gratefully and started walking towards the end of the alley, followed closely by Twilight as they both tried to put any thoughts of a blood-splattered wall from their minds. The moon was high above Ponyville, lighting the world in a silvery glow. Twilight sat on the balcony, a blanket over her as she looked around the library, her ears trained for any abnormal sounds. A light snoring drew her eyes to the right and she smiled slightly. Rainbow Dash had tried to stay awake and alert, but it seemed that boredom had finally gotten the better of her. Twilight chuckled to herself; she’d offered to find Rainbow a book to read, multiple times, but she’d been refused every single time. Rainbow had refused to do anything ‘uncool’, even as she nodded off to sleep. Twilight kept smiling and wrapped her friend in a magenta glow, levitating Rainbow with pinpoint precision before she sent her into the tree and towards the guest bed. Thankfully she’d predicted that something like this would happen and had taken the precaution of folding back the bed sheets in preparation. Inside, Rainbow was deposited onto the bed and the sheets unfolded, tucking themselves silently around Rainbow. Satisfied that Rainbow had been tucked in, the glow faded into the air. The night turned silent once again and Twilight focussed on the panorama in front of her, waiting for a disturbance.