//------------------------------// // Silver Blade Confrontation // Story: The Return of Mare Do Well // by L_Wolf //------------------------------// Chapter 46 With everything that has happened the night before, Starbloom found herself sleeping pretty late. Sweetie had woken her up for dinner and when she checked the time she noticed it was just after seven in the evening. She rubbed her head softly yawning. She rolled off the bed and to her hooves making her way down the stairs to the kitchen. She didn't see Twist around, she wondered if she might be out. She stretched herself out going to the counter and taking a seat. "Where is Twist?" She asked Sweetie still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "She is staying at Sugar Cube Corner for the night, Pinkie was pretty excited to have a sleep over." Sweetie said putting a salad on the counter with a bowl of soup and some bread. "I think she's been lonely since Pumpkin Cake moved to Canterlot and Pound Cake moved to Cloudsdale." Starbloom nibbled on a piece of bread nodding quietly. "I can see that, I am surprised those two moved though. I would have thought they would take over the bakery." She said before eating some of her soup. "Mmm what kind of soup is this?" "Sweet Potato Minestrone, old favorite I use to get for lunch back in Manehatten." She said smiling at Starbloom before joining her at the counter passing Starbloom her tea. "As for the Cake Twins, well Pound Cake wanted to become a weather pony so he went to Cloudsdale for training, Pumpkin Cake wanted to learn more about the business side of Sugar Cube Corner so she went to Canterlot to study." "Oh... well it's very good." She said smiling taking a drink of her tea. "I'm glad to hear the twins have plans. Hope everything works out for them." "So do I, I know the Cakes are happy, even if the twins did leave Ponyville. Cloudsdale isn't that far and Pumpkin should be back after her training." Sweetie Belle said smiling. Starbloom nodded as she went back to eating. "Yea that's true, I'm sure Pound Cake will come and visit them when he has time." "I'm sure he will, he always was a good colt." Sweetie said as she ate her own dinner. "I told Diamond Tiara about Cinnamon Apple as well, she was very excited and happy to hear about it. She said she would go and visit her as soon as she had a chance." Starbloom sipped her tea quietly after finishing her dinner. "That's good, did anyone let Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash know?" She asked looking up at Sweetie Belle. "Yea, I wrote them a letter and sent it express. They should know by tomorrow, I'm just not sure if they'll get a chance to come and visit until the performance season is over." Sweetie said finishing her own dinner. "Regardless I'm sure they'll be happy to hear the news." Starbloom said getting up from the counter and putting her dishes away. "I'm going to go get ready." Sweetie nodded and following Starbloom upstairs to the top floor turning out the lights as she went. She watched as Starbloom got changed into her Mare Do Well suit. She leaned in and kissed Starbloom, "Be safe out there." Sweetie said smiling at her turning out the lights upstairs. "I will Sweetie, have a good night." Starbloom said kissing her back before slipping out the window once the lights went out. She made her way across the rooftops quietly starting on her patrol route. The patrol went pretty quiet for the first few hours, so there wasn't too much for her to do as she searched the town for crimes to take care of. She landed on the roof of a small building to rest when heard a whistle then felt something pierce her side. She turned quickly and spotted Silver Blade standing on the roof across from her. She glanced back and saw a blade sticking out of her hip, the armor of her suit slowed it down enough to keep it from going too deep but the pain was still intense. She took a deep breath glancing back at Silver Blade staring at her with hate filled eyes. "Silver, please you need to stop this." Mare Do Well said gritting her teeth as she pulled the blade free tossing it aside. "I'll stop when you and all your stuck up friends are dead," Silver said pulling free another one of her blades. She fired the blade at Mare Do Well, who took her own blade out and deflected it. "I don't want to hurt you Silver, please just stop!" Mare Do Well yelled gritting her teeth in frustration and pain. "Nightshade is poisoning your mind if you just think about it rationally you'll see that." "I see everything perfectly fine!" Silver said pulling out her sister's muzzle blade and holding it her muzzle before charging forward twisting in a wide arc to cut across Mare Do Well's chest. Mare Do Well bring her blade around to block the muzzle blade leaping back letting out a sharp hiss at the pain in her hip. She knew she couldn't handle a drawn out fight, her crystals flashed and she knocked Silver back with a blast of kinetic energy. "No you don't! Nightshade is abusing you, she doesn't care about you!" Silver rolled back to her hooves from the blast and narrowed her eyes tightening her grip on the muzzle blade charging forward again leaping up she twisted herself around to bring the blade down in a deadly arc towards Mare Do Well's back. Just before the blade hit Mare Do Well a bolt of purple magic flashed across the sky sending Silver flying off the room and into a building bouncing off the wall and hitting the ground hard. Mare Do Well glanced at where the bolt came from and saw her mother hovering in the air her wings gently flapping to keep her in place, her eyes glowing white with energy. Twilight's eyes slowly returned to normal, she flew over head and down towards the area Silver Blade had hit the ground. Mare Do Well trotted over gingerly careful of her hip. She jumped off the roof and made sure to land on her uninjured legs to keep from hurting herself more. "M... mother what are you doing out here?" Mare Do Well said looking down at Silver Blade, the impact with the ground had knocked her out and broken her hind legs but she was otherwise unhurt. Twilight's magic wrapped around Silver Blade and lifted her off the ground. "I had a feeling something was going to happen tonight. I felt a strong urge to come out and check on things." Twilight said lifting Starbloom up and placing her across her back before starting to trot to the hospital. "It seems my feelings were justified." Mare Do Well tried to protest getting lifted up like and placed on her mothers back but it was useless and the pain was getting to be too much for her. "Yeah.... I guess so, I'm glad you came when you did." She said softly relaxing as Twilight trotted to the hospital, "Mom... I can't go in there if I want to keep my identity a secret" "Don't worry dear, just focus on getting well." Twilight said as she went inside and to the reception. "Nurse Redheart, please send for security, and a doctor." She said putting Silver Blade on the ground, "This girl is a criminal." Nurse Redheart was unsure at first but nodded sending one of the nurses to the police station and another to fetch the doctor. "What about her?" Nurse Redheart asked nodding to Mare Do Well, "She looks injured as well." Mare Do Well shifted a bit on Twilight's back unsure what to say when she heard a familiar voice coming from her blind spot. "I'll take care of it Nurse Redheart, thank you." Twilight turned and Mare Do Well see Dr. Westluck blinking a few times. "Alright doctor, room 3 is free." Nurse Redheart said and Twilight helped Mare Do Well off her back careful of her leg. She followed Dr. Westluck to the room and went inside taking a seat on the examination bed. Once inside the door Dr. Westluck closed and locked the door to make sure no one would come inside. Starbloom removed the hood of her suit looking over at him. "I thought you retired Doctor, what are you doing here?" She asked peeling off the rest of her suit flinching when she got to her injured him. "I did retire from the big city, but I decided to stay on as a doctor just in case." He said going over and checking on the stab wound on her flank. "More private practice so I can pick and choose my patients." Starbloom nodded quietly flinching when he started to clean out the wound sighing softly. "How bad does it look doctor?" She asked after a few moments. "Looks fine, not too deep and hit mostly muscle it should heal up fine if you don't stress it." He said getting out a needle and surgical thread before starting to close up the wound. "I must say it was a good shot, right in the eye of your cutie mark." Starbloom rolled her eyes and glanced back at him as he worked. "Yea, I'm sure it was amazing. Hurts pretty bad though." "I'm sure it does, but you'll be back up before you know it." He said finishing his stitch work before giving her an injection for the pain and infection. "I know it's a lot to ask, but try to stay off it for at least two days alright?" Starbloom nodded and pulled the suit back on once he was finished, "Thank you doctor. I'll do my best, by the way you will be coming to the wedding right?" "Of course, I wouldn't miss it." He said smiling as he gave her some antibiotics and let her out of the room. "Don't worry about the paper work on this alright? I'll take care of it." Mare Do Well nodded at Dr. Westluck before leaving and heading back to the waiting room making her way outside. Her mother was waiting outside and walked her home, it was dark out and Mare Do Well made sure no one followed them before they went inside. "What happen to Silver Blade while I was in with Dr. Westluck?" Starbloom asked as she removed the suit once they were safely inside. "Dr. Goodhealth is taking care of her, with three officers from the Ponyville police station. Once she is well enough she will be transferred to Canterlot's high security facility to await trial." Twilight said sitting on the couch. Starbloom nodded softly and sighed taking a seat across from her mother. "I feel bad for her, so blinded by hatred and thoughts of revenge. She couldn't see Nightshade was using her." "I know, but she made her choices and now she has to live with them." Twilight said shaking her head sadly. "Such a waste, hopefully she can be rehabilitated." Starbloom nodded softly, but she was starting to feel drowsy from the shot the doctor had given her. She curled up on the couch. "I hope so, she isn't a bad pony just misguided." She said yawning softly nuzzling her head against the cushion softly. Twilight smiled softly watching using her magic to cover Starbloom with a blanket. "I know dear, I know." She said softly watching Starbloom fall asleep before she left to return to her library.