Rainbow Dash stepped back, shocked at what she'd seen. “How… this… this can’t be!”
The pegasus stared agape. The pony she’d started to… maybe sort of have feeling for was the mastermind who had been eluding her for nearly a year, and had been a changeling all along! A changeling she’d fought back in Cloudsdale when she’d stopped Gilda! Somehow, he'd survived and spent an entire year masterminding the schemes and costumed nuts she'd been fighting against the whole time! He'd been right under her muzzle posing as somepony she couldn't help but feel something for, somepony she even... maybe wouldn't have minded being with... if it was only a little or maybe more then that.
“Surprised, Rainbow Dash?” the changeling sneered, Rainbow took to the air and flew right at him, but he easily dodged her, causing her to crash into the floor. “I'll take that as a yes. I have to admit, it was so adorable, your little crush on Max Diamonds, but what can I say? I can be quite the charmer, wouldn't you agree?” He suddenly morphed into an pearl-colored unicorn mare on par with Fleur De Lis’ beauty, with a long, elegant flowing blue mane. “Or you could just ask Grand Cargo here, if he were able to answer you. You wouldn’t believe how easy he was to place under my power, and make into my personal puppet and public face for my plans,” Zerok explained in a sultry female voice, stroking one of Cargo's legs and brushing off one of the prosthetic scars the large earth pony wore as part of his Big Shot getup. Turning back towards the costumed pegasus, the changeling grinned as he morphed back into his true form. “I posed as a hired infiltration agent in front of Black Hex and others who worked for Big Shot, controlling Grand Cargo the entire time through whispers in his head, and recorded instructions I sent him as Max Diamonds, as well as delivering the messages to the other costumed criminals by using my abilities to sneak in and out of Alkatrot when I needed to. All to ensure nopony ever knew who was really running the show!” he explained, spewing a glob of green goo at the costumed pegasus as she tried to stand and sticking her to the wall.
“So… the True Love drug… it’s not for profit after all, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked with a bitter laugh. Changelings fed on love after all, it’d make sense that Big Shot… the real Big Shot… would create something that guaranteed him a way to make an instant pony love buffet. “I bet Queen Chrysalis must be so proud of you.”
“Who said I worked for the Queen?” Zerok asked with a sneer. “Well, I suppose that’s an overstatement. I serve her… yet I don’t serve her… at the moment at least. After our defeat at Cloudsdale, I was the sole survivor of my siblings there. I knew returning to the hive guaranteed my queen executing me for me and my siblings' failure!” he explained. “Trust me, ignoring the whispers to return… the commands hardwired into my brain since birth that compel me to return to it like a moth to light… it’s far from easy, but using the much-adored and so very loved businesspony Max Diamonds as a disguise, as well as feeding off Cargo from time to time have kept me strong enough to resist for now. With this, however, I can infect all of Manehattan and more, producing a display and gift we can use on other lands as well that’s certain to put me back in her good graces, and maybe even look at a promotion to lead infiltrator!”
“So… all this just to make momma proud? And you think I’m pathetic? You’re pretty brainy compared to most changelings I’ve met, so why waste it all just trying to get brownie points with her?” Rainbow Dash asked, laughing before the changeling, impossibly fast, flew right at her, punching her in the chest with one of his gnarled hooves before blasting her with a bolt of magic, dissolving the goo. Before Rainbow hit the floor, the changeling caught her with his forehooves and slammed her against the wall again, letting her fall to the floor this time.
“Watch your tongue, pony! Regardless of my caste… simple drone or cunning infiltrator… as a changeling my first instinct is to serve my queen! Loyalty, something I understand you’re familiar with as well!” he said. “But I also have my sense of self-preservation. I wish to serve her for a long, long time, even if it involves hiding from her until I can fully prove my efficiency again, and this… Rainbow Dash, should be all the proof she needs!” he declared with a laugh.
Rainbow grunted from the pain and stood herself up defiantly. “Well, hate to break it to you, but since you wasted this much time monologuing and waiting on me now I can stop you from releasing that stuff on the city!” she said.
“On the contrary, pony… I had the machine preparing for dispersing True Love about ten minutes before you got here. The weather maker I invested in the production of as Max Diamonds, as well as the inventions I had Black Hex steal, now True Love has been processed into vapor, so the weather machine should be churning it out…” The building suddenly began to rumble as something above roared to life. “Right… about now!” he said with a laugh. Rainbow’s eyes widened as a thick, purple cloud burst from above the roof, breaking into a thick mist that rapidly drifted upwards and turned the other clouds a similar color on contact, and in seconds, an odd purple snow started to fall on the city. The changeling leaned forward, a smug sneer on his face. “Don’t you see, Mare Do Well? I’ve already won!” he declared.
“Not yet!” Rainbow said, pulling her mask back down and grabbing up her hat, then flying straight at Zerok, slamming her forehoof into his face. The changeling’s head jerked to the side and he grinned at her, rearing his head back to spit another gob of green slime at her. Mare Do Well blocked it with her cape, then locked her hooves around his neck and spun in the air, flinging him out the window and flew after him immediately, spinning around him multiple times and causing a small tornado that dazed him for a second, before swooping down with a kick to knock him back through the window and into the office again. The changeling tumbled across the floor, nursing his head. Landing near him, Mare Do Well flew over to Twilight’s side.
“Twi? Twi! Wake up!” She pleaded. The unicorn stirred a little.
“R..Rainbow? What…?” Twilight asked. “Ow, get the name of that carriage, would you?”
“Twi, I’m gonna need your help!” The pegasus put her forelegs around her and, making sure the unicorn’s saddlebag was still safely on, flew her outside and towards the roof, where the weather maker machine was now very much active and releasing a purple mist.
“Max was Big Shot all along, and he was a changeling! He’s gonna release this stuff so he and rest of his kind can feed off a buncha lovesick ponies! We gotta find a way to get this machine off, or something!” Mare Do Well explained. “Can you use any magic?”
“Y-yeah… just hurt a lot,” Twilight said, flinching in pain from where the desk had hit her.
“Well do a heal spell or something, we’re both gonna need it,” she said, setting Twilight down on the roof.
“Right…” Twilight focused as hard as she could and some of the bruises she and Rainbow had suffered faded. “Sorry… that’s the best I can do right now.”
“It’ll have to do. Now let’s—“ Suddenly Zerok burst through the roof, grabbing Mare Do Well and knocking Twilight backwards.
“Forget somepony?” Zerok asked, green magical energy cracking around him. “I can feel it already! Uncontrollable love energy from everypony in this city surging through me!” he declared with a laugh. Mare Do Well swung her hoof at his face but he barely even flinched this time. “Changelings grow stronger the more love energy they feed off of. I’m practically invincible now!” he stated, laughing again as he spun in the air, and with enough momentum, flung Mare Do Well into a building.
Wow… that hurt… Mare Do Well thought to herself as she emerged from the window of the building she’d just crashed through. The best she could do now was try and keep Zerok busy while Twilight figured out a way to get the cure into the machine and undo the True Love’s effects, which in turn would hopefully weaken him as well. Adrenaline pumped in her system as she thought about Luna’s, Twilight’s, Scootaloo’s, and Spitfire’s support.
“Fight hard, and you will win this.”
“Mare Do Well isn’t what makes you a worthwhile hero. It’s you that makes Mare Do Well a worthwhile hero.”
“You’re like, the coolest Mare Do Well ever!”
“You have the makings of a great Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash, but your heart and spirit are what made Mare Do Well the kind of hero I hope won’t go away any time soon.”
Her friends, all around encouraging her to get back on her hooves and fight again after Razorbeak had overpowered her in Cloudsdale.
Her dad, telling her how proud of her he was, and knowing her mom would have been just as proud.
Celestia’s words of praise and encouragement in the letters she got back that had motivated her to resume the title of Mare Do Well and save Vinyl Scratch from Shockwave back in Van Hoover.
“Zerok… this isn’t over!” Spreading her wings, Mare Do Well shot forward with an incredible burst of speed, flying straight back to InfiniGem tower.
~
Twilight teleported herself away from another chunk of sticky green slime that Zerok spat at her, showing more and more sign of fatigue.
“Not bad, but you don’t look like you’ll last much longer, pony! I meanwhile… can keep this up all night!” the changeling gloated, an aura now surrounding him from the love energy he’d absorbed as he charged up a magic blast to fire upon the tired unicorn.
“Don’t be so sure!” Mare Do Well declared, slamming into Zerok and sending them both flying, striking him multiple times in the face. “Twi, hurry up!” she shouted, dodging a blast of magic from Zerok. The unicorn nodded and looked to her saddlebag, levitating the vial containing the cure out and looked over the machine, trying to find where the input device was. Noticing a pipe that fed into another device attached to the machine on the roof, where the tanks of what she figured were True Love drug sat nearby with tubes attaching into it. This had to be it!
“All my carefully laid-out plans! It took a year to make this all happen!” Zerok said, firing blasts of magic as Mare Do Well nimbly dodged them in the air. “Recruiting all those costumed idiots to keep you distracted, pretending to leave then sticking around at the New Years celebration in another form or two to make sure Black Hex didn’t mess up, even with that lunatic pegasus that showed up!” He swooped in and back-hoofed Mare Do Well, sending her flying, then flew straight at her, catching her. “Just imagine when I’ve enslaved places beyond Manehattan, and turn you over for my queen, how she’ll reward me!” the changeling said with a wide, fanged grin.
“Too bad you’ll just have to keep imagining it!” Mare Do Well said, swinging her hoof up and striking him in the chin, then spinning in the air to kick him. Zerok spun backwards before righting himself, and let out an angry shriek as he absorbed more energy, and flew straight at Mare Do Well, now just as fast as she was. The two traded blows, with hoof strikes and kicks, Mare Do Well’s own attacks were more easily blocked now as the powered-up changeling grinned, morphing into Max Diamonds though still with his insect-like wings present.
“Know what the best part was?” the disguised changeling asked. “Seeing that look on your face when you learned the truth! Does it hurt, Mare Do Well, or do you prefer Rainbow Dash?” Mare Do Well growled furiously and swung her hoof as hard as she could, decking the changeling and sending him flying backward, then flew straight up and dive-bombed him into the side of a building, striking him multiple times as the form shed off and revealed Zerok again. “The mighty Mare Do Well, a victim of her own confused heart!” the changeling gloated, raising his hoof to block the next attack and kicking out his back legs to buck her off of him, knocking Mare Do Well away from him and sending her onto a nearby rooftop, but she recovered far more quickly then he’d expected and was back in the air. Growling, Zerok flew straight at her, only to meet Mare Do Well’s hoof in his face, sending him somersaulting backward in the air. Turning, the changeling fired stronger blasts and spat more globs of slime at her. The pegasus dodged the goo and magical blasts, and headed straight at him.
Almost there… you’re not winning, Big Shot… she thought to herself, about to strike him even if his enhanced state only made it that she’d daze him again.
The hit never connected, she found herself frozen in the air surrounded by a green aura, Zerok grinning at her as his horn glowed, crackling magic connecting between his horn and the aura the pegasus was surrounded in.
“Sorry, hero. But all good things must come to an end,” the changeling said with a laugh as he flew her upward and back towards InfiniGem tower.
~
“Alright, think, Twilight, think!” the anxious unicorn muttered as she floated several pieces of the vaporizer and the True Love tanks away, being careful not to inhale the fumes or be near and keeping a blanket from her saddlebag over herself to protect from the tainted snow. Looking about, she cast aside the empty tanks that once stored True Love and reconnected the hose to a remaining one. Focusing, she made the top unscrew off with a little effort, covering her muzzle to protect from the small puff of purple smoke that emerged from it. Levitating the vial containing the cure, she made the cork pop off and poured it into the mix and watched as it suddenly turned from purple to blue.
“Perfect!” she said with a smile. "Now to get this stuff released!" Looking over, she levitated the hose towards the last tank to connect it and walked over to the lever to reactivate the machine. “And last step…” Before she could switch it on, however, Mare Do Well crashed to the roof alongside her, bound in changeling goo.
“And what do you think you’re doing?!” Zerok asked, descending.
“Helping stop you!” Twilight said, pressing down the lever with her hoof.
“Had to keep you away from her somehow!” Mare Do Well said with a smirk. The machine roared to life and in seconds, a thick blue mist burst from it.
“NO!” Zerok cried out as he watched helplessly while the mist ascended into the tainted clouds, turning their color, and glowing blue rain began to fall all around them. In seconds, he began to feel his power waning.
“Like that was hard,” Twilight said with a chuckle, dissolving the goo with her magic then sharing a hoofbump with Mare Do Well when she stood up. “You alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” the costumed pegasus replied.
“No, you WON’T!" Zerok shouted furiously, charging straight at Mare Do Well and sending them both plummeting off the edge of the roof, striking her rapidly in blind rage as they fell.
“You ruined it all! My big plans! My revenge! EVERYTHING!” the changeling snarled, his blue eyes glowing as he raised his hoof to swing it down at her again, but this time, Mare Do Well parried it, flapping her wings as she turned herself and began to regain altitude.
“Careful, Zerok! You’re wasting a lot of that energy you have left!” Mare Do Well replied, striking him and sending him away from her. The changeling ignored it, gritting his teeth as he spun at tremendous speed in the air firing blasts of magic in random directions, grazing Mare Do Well, then blasting her full-on and sending her toppling onto another rooftop.
“Oh don’t worry, so long as you die I'm confident that it’s a worthwhile sacrifice!” Zerok yelled, flying straight at her and pinning her under his hoof.
“Don’t be so sure, Zerok,” Mare Do Well said, wrapping her forelegs around his and flipping him over her onto the rooftop, then landing back on her hooves, she rushed over and began striking him rapidly. This time, however, with the changeling having lost his stolen power, he was showing more and more signs of injury and fatigue. “This may not be the path I was originally planning in my life, but it's the one I'm sticking to, and that's why punks like you will never beat me! It doesn’t matter how strong you get, or how carefully you think you’ve set this all up. Mare Do Well always beats the bad guys! Always!” the costumed pegasus declared proudly, raising her hoof back once more and slamming it into the changeling’s face as hard as she could, sending him tumbling and sprawled across the roof.
Zerok twitched and coughed, pain wracking his body. Rolling over, he staggered as he stood up, his horn glowing as he attempted to fight again, but he felt the last of his power abandon him. Almost instantly after, he felt a humming go off in his head.
“No… NO! Not now!” he cried out, putting his hoof to his ear as he tried to block it out. “I can’t....” A glazed look came over his eyes as a dazed feeling overcame him. “...Return… to the hive...!” he muttered. His wings, as if acting on their own, began beating and he hovered off the rooftop. “No! No!” He shook his head, with the beating he’d suffered and the loss of the stolen energy he’d acquired, he no longer had the strength to resist his most basic of his species’ instincts.
Mare Do Well galloped towards him, spreading her wings and preparing to pursue, but then paused as she saw the stupefied look on the changeling’s face, he looked as if he were in some kind of trance that he was trying in vain to fight against.
“I… can’t… NO! ….Must… return…!” the changeling mumbled, the glazed look in his blue eyes returning as he fluttered away without another word. Mare Do Well once again considered giving chase, but stayed where she was, smirking to herself as she recalled all Zerok had said earlier and instead flew back to InfiniGem.
~
“Rainbow, you’re alright!” Twilight said with a smile, barely able to stand as the costumed pegasus landed on the rooftop with her rather roughly.
“Yeah,” Mare Do Well said, removing her mask and hat. Rainbow looked like she’d seen better days, but managed a smile. Her dyed mane was a mess and showing a few of its original colors, a black eye was now beginning to show, and she looked plenty roughed up. “Don’t… worry… just need a rest.”
“What about Big Shot? Where is he?” Twilight asked, looking about and seeing no sign of him.
“He got away,” Rainbow answered, though oddly undaunted.
“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted, then groaned in pain from the abuse she’d already endured. “He got AWAY?!”
“Don’t sweat it, Twi. Yeah I’m not exactly in any shape to chase him down, but… well, stuff he said, I kinda have a feeling he’s gonna wish he didn’t,” Rainbow said.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Trust me… I'd say he’s got a good reason to be scared of failure,” Rainbow answered with a small smirk.
~
“Insubordination… TWO failures! Being AWOL for an entire year! Explain yourself, lowly infiltrator!” the furious voice of the changeling queen snarled from the shadows of the new hive, her reptilian eyes narrowed down at the lone changeling that stood before her with his head bowed in shame.
“My queen, I had only the best of intentions in mind!” Zerok pleaded, fear very evident in his eyes.
“Best intentions for whom, yourself?” Chrysalis asked with a mocking laugh as she paced about and glared back down at him. The chattering of countless changelings was heard, their eyes all gleaming in the shadows at Zerok from all around the cavern, sending a shudder down the infiltrator’s back.
“N-no! Of course not just for myself! I intended to create a new weaponized love poison, one which I intended to disperse across Manehattan as a test to improve our feeding methods, a tribute for you to earn back my place!” Zerok insisted.
“A cunning scheme, yes,” the queen said with a smirk, approaching him. “A cunning scheme that ended in complete failure, which from what your tiny mind has shown me… was not devoid of a means to counter it!” she hissed, causing Zerok to flinch. “In the end, infiltrator, you sought only to earn my forgiveness, but succeeded in only giving me less reason to bestow it to you!” she stated, striking him with her hoof and sending him tumbling across the blackened floor. “Your arrogance cost you in the end, and by the wider scope, cost all of us!”
“No! My queen! I can still be of use! Am I not clever, am I not competent? Even with this setback? Am I not capable of still providing you with something as consolation, your highness?” Zerok pleaded. The changeling Queen cocked her head, and looked at the two helmeted changelings that stood at either side of her, smirking, and let out a small chuckle.
“I suppose, my little infiltrator. Perhaps I can still make use of you,” her eyes narrowed as her smile grew far more sinister to the changeling before her. “I am still quite upset at how things turned out, and could use some… entertainment to ease that for me,” she explained and her horn began to glow. “Take twenty paces to your left, and do not stop for any reason!” she said in a low, dangerous tone.
Zerok froze, knowing what this meant. He had to flee… had to escape… get far away from here where the queen could not find him! He had to... he….
Must obey… His eyes briefly turned green, his own horn glowing in response to his queen’s. Without a word, he got up and began to approach the pool of boiling green ooze that lay only fifteen paces from where he’d started. He struggled, trying to fight off the queen’s control but his body wouldn’t listen… wouldn’t stop, he couldn’t even speak other then helpless whimpers as he tried in vain to plead for mercy again.
“N-no!” he stammered, but it was all he could manage as the glassy look came over him again. “I…”
Must... obey…
Must... obey...
His loyalty to his queen controlled his actions in ways he could not fight...
Must... obey...
His final thoughts as he felt the boiling, sludgy substance burn into his body and dissolve him away. He screamed in agony in the dark corners of his locked mind, but the queen didn’t afford him the chance to do so out loud...
~
Two days later, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash emerged from the Ponyville hospital together, pleased to see the new day rise up. The others were waiting outside.
“Well, good ta see y’all better again!” Applejack said.
“We brought ya a care package! Lots of tasty treats from Sweet Apple Acres AND Sugarcube corner!” Pinkie Pie said, pulling a box out from behind, though none of them recalled it having been there before.
“I got the costume repaired for you, Rainbow Dash. I dropped it off at the library whenever you wish to pick it up,” Rarity said. “I’m… sorry things went as they did…”
“It’s no sweat, Rarity. I’m over it now,” Rainbow said with a smile. “…Mostly, anyway.” It still hurt a little, but feeling back in good health and in top shape again, as well as having managed to save everypony had been more then a good help in getting over… certain things.
“Well… I know who’s happy to know you’re safe,” Fluttershy said quietly with a smile, and Tank promptly flew over and into Rainbow Dash’s waiting hooves.
“Tank! I missed ya, buddy!” Rainbow said with a grin, hugging her tortoise.
“Big Shot’s beaten, things can get back to normal. Any stragglers in his crime ring will disband now that their leader’s gone, I sent a letter to Celestia while I was in the hospital to get some guards down to try and round them up,” Twilight said, letting out a sigh of relief. “In the meantime, it’ll be nice to get back to regular life again.”
“Yeah, a break wouldn’t hurt, really,” Rainbow said, taking to the sky and flying in a loop, Tank wrapped securely in her forelegs.
“A break? What do ya mean by that, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“I’m not quitting as Mare Do Well, girls. Not now, not ever. I know who I am, and I’m gonna stick with it as long as I can,” Rainbow responded, landing softly on the ground. “Ponies need Mare Do Well to protect them, and fillies and colts need Mare Do Well to look up and all!” she said with a laugh, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.
“Speaking of fillies, ah think Scootaloo was wantin’ to see ya once ya got outta the hospital, Dash,” Applejack said.
“Well, I better not keep her waiting then!” the pegasus said, looking over at Tank. “Be back soon, buddy. I’ll seeya when I get home!” With that, she flew off to go find her admirer and surrogate sister.
~
“Sup, squirt?” Scootaloo turned her head and saw her favorite blue pegasus hovering above her.
“Rainbow Dash! You’re finally back!” the orange filly shouted gleefully, her wings beating as hard as she could and she managed to fly into the mare’s waiting hooves. “You gotta tell me everything that happened! I bet it was so cool!” she said.
“Eh, kinda sorta yeah,” Rainbow said with a laugh. “Partially because I was there, of course!”
“So what’re you gonna do now, Rainbow?” the filly asked, cocking her head.
“A little break for now, but I think there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing Mare Do Well again soon enough,” the pegasus replied. “I see your flying’s improved too.”
“Yeah, it has! I got a new goal, now! Whenever you wanna… you know, retire from being Mare Do Well I wanna be the next one to be her!” Scootaloo said with a grin.
Rainbow sighed a little but managed a smile. “It’s a lotta work, kiddo. A lot of danger, way more responsibility then a pony like me ever expected, but once I started I guess I just couldn’t stop. Plus, you gotta be real cool and stuff to pull it off with the style I got.” She said, giving the filly a playful nudge. “But hey, who knows, right?”
“You’re my hero, Rainbow Dash. Whether you’re you or Mare Do Well, you’re the coolest, best big sister I could ask for!” the filly said, putting her forelegs around Rainbow’s neck and hugging her. Blushing sheepishly, Rainbow returned the hug and turned about in the air.
“Thanks, squirt. Now how about a fly-around?” she asked, Scootaloo replying with an excited nod. Rainbow smiling as she held the filly up in the air with her and they spent the rest of the day together.
~
Hours later, night had fallen, and the Solar Guard switched out with the Lunar Guard, who had taken to seeking out remnants of Big Shot's crime ring. Some had been apprehended, and questioned about how far in they were, others still remained unaccounted for.
Moving through the alleys, eluding the patrolling guards as best he could, a unicorn thug managed to slip into the back door of an underground bar he’d been ordered to go to. Entering, he found the place to be a mini-warzone.
“Well, with Big Shot gone, it’s only a matter of time before the Princess’s guards find us!” a large earth pony said.
“Solar guard, lunar guard! We can barely move about topside!” another unicorn grumbled, levitating his drink and gulping it down.
A pegasus thug flew in seconds later, and seemed just as put off as the unicorn who’d entered before him did by the arguments that arose.
“Would you all pipe down! I’m tryin’ to concentrate here!” another unicorn said, aiming his billiard cue and managing to knock away three balls on the table.
“You’re playin’ games at a time like this! It won’t be long at all till we’re all in Canterlot’s dungeon!” the pegasus thug said, more then a little irritated.
“Well, I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas,” the unicorn at the billiard table said. “What do you propose we do?”
“I say you jump up, make a sound, stomp your hooves, turn around,” a female voice announced in a sing-song manner as her presence alerted the ponies present, causing them to turn all at once to the newcomer, and there stood Shadowbolt, a fanged grin present on her face as purple lightning crackled around her. “…And say hello to your NEW MANAGEMENT!” she declared as she raised her hoof, purple lightning crackling around it as a shadowbomb formed over it and flung it at the billiard table, destroying it in a fiery explosion and causing everypony there to cower immediately as the costumed pegasus villain let out a long, terrifying laugh. “Questions? Comments? Concerns? Speak now and forever be in pieces because we got work to do!”