//------------------------------// // Shot In The Dark: Fool's Gambit // Story: The Dark Mare // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// The Dark Mare Shot in the Dark: Fool's Gambit by MagnetBolt Loop D'Loop groaned. Her maw was sore and all she could taste was ichor. She'd just woken up from something, and it felt like she was pulling herself out of one of the deepest, darkest pits in the hive. It took a little while to remember she wasn't in a hive, and hadn't been in years, ever since she'd been ordered out to scout for prey. She hadn't looked back even once since she'd started making real friends and found ways to support herself. Changelings were naturally greedy and selfish, and she didn't want to share them with anypony, not even her own people. She gasped as her recent memory suddenly snapped into place, waking her up with a shock that felt like being bucked in the head. Actually, she just felt like she'd been bucked in the head in general. She looked around. She'd been having more flying lessons with Jetstream, and then there had been wind shear... and the broken tree branches above her told the rest of the story by themselves. “Loopy!” Jetstream yelled, from above. Loopy D'Loop looked down at herself. She was in deep shadows from the tree, thankfully, as the shock had knocked her disguise right off. Loopy had been forced into her natural shape, a changeling, with the same appearance as every other changeling. They didn't use appearance to tell each other apart, which was good since otherwise things would get very confusing. Instead they felt each other's psychic impression. Not that it would matter if she got caught. One changeling was the same as any other to normal ponies, especially in Liveryburg where they'd just been attacked by changelings looking for a quick meal after the Canterlot disaster. Loopy had disguised herself and fought them off – barely – and gotten a taste of what it meant to be a hero. To her, it meant eating well on the love and adoration of ponies who looked up to her as Mare Do Well. For a changeling, that was more than enough motivation to save lives and put herself in danger. Loopy shook her head to clear it, then changed shape, her normal disguise as a beige pegasus with a purple mane reappearing around her. She cleared her throat, spitting out a glob of ichor, and yelled up to the silver-coated pegasus flying above her trying to find out if she was alive. “I'm fine, Jet!” Loopy yelled. “I just hit my head on the way down. A few times.” “That's not fine!” Jetstream flew down, the sound of Loopy's voice guiding her. “I'm so sorry! I forgot about the windshear at that altitude!” She ran over to Loopy and looked her over. “You're really lucky you weren't hurt worse. A fall like that could have killed you!” Loopy flinched a little. She was tougher than a real pony, thanks to her chitin, but she should have added a few bruises and cuts to her disguise for cosmetic reasons. It was a stupid mistake, and her own fault for not thinking clearly. “I'm probably going to be all black and blue on one side in the morning,” Loopy said. “But I think I'm-” she took a step and feigned pain. “-maybe not so fine!” “Okay, let's get you back to your treehouse,” Jet said, with a sigh, letting Loopy lean on her. “I still think you should move to a cloud house. You're a pegasus! Living on the ground is for squares.” “What's wrong with living on the ground?” Loopy frowned. “Express Delivery lives in the post office and no one makes fun of her for it.” “Of course not I- Loopy, I'm just trying to give you some reason to fly more. No offense, but you're still the weakest flier I know that isn't an earth pony. Besides, your treehouse is tiny. You don't even have a kitchen. I know being a mailmare pays better than that.” Loopy rolled her eyes. Of course she was a weak flier. A changeling wasn't nearly as good in the air as a real pegasus. Even in pegasus form she was pretty pathetic unless she was willing to spend an awful lot of stored love and energy. Part of her also kind of liked the flying lessons. It was nice having somepony's undivided attention, though Jetstream's heart only belonged to Mare Do Well. “I'm fine where I am, Jet,” Loopy said. She looked down. “You know I don't like to just... hang out with everypony in town. I like being alone.” Which was the truth. Loopy couldn't stay disguised all the time, and if she stayed in town eventually she'd be revealed as Mare Do Well or a changeling or both. “You could stay with me!” Jet said. “It'd get you out of that little place, and I could show you the ropes with cooking and cleaning-” “I live by myself already! Are you saying I'm a slob?!” Loopy frowned. “Well...” Jetstream hesitated. “...Yes. I am. Sorry. Last time I was at your place it looked like somepony had torn it apart.” “Last time you were at my place it was right after the changelings attacked,” Loopy said, glaring. “It looked like that because somepony HAD torn it apart!” “Okay, but- whoah!” Jet stopped, surprised and scared. Loopy followed her gaze. A scarred face was watching them from between two trees. A timberwolf, with half of its face burned and blackened. Loopy recognized it instantly. “Old Hickory,” she whispered. “She must have heard me crash.” Old Hickory was a timberwolf alpha female, the biggest monster in the forest. She'd been scarred by a lightning strike a few months ago that had left her partly blind on one side and in a lot of pain. Loopy had found her chasing Filly Scouts out of the forest and had used changeling mind tricks to calm her down. Tricks she couldn't use while she was in disguise as Loop D'Loop. “Okay, Loopy. You run and I'll try and draw her off. It'd be better if you could fly-” Loopy shot up into the air. “I'm not that badly hurt!” Loopy said. “I can handle a few bruises if it means not getting eaten today!” Jetstream took off after her, Old Hickory pouncing out into the clearing to growl at them. She didn't give chase, either because she was smart enough not to bother, or because she was just reminding them who really ran the forest. Loopy suspected the second. Old Hickory was a lot of things, including mean, but she wasn't the type to go after ponies when there was easier prey. Thankfully, Loopy's house wasn't far away, on the edge of the forest near the Henge family farm. She still felt like she'd been bucked in the maw after that landing. Maybe she was getting a little too into character. She and Jet stopped at the bottom of the tree, her home above them among the branches. “Let's get you inside and into bed,” Jet said. “I could get one of the Nurses out here. After all the times you've had a tumble I bet they'd love to have a look at you to make sure you haven't really hurt yourself.” “Ugh.” Loopy shuddered, not entirely on purpose. “I really don't want that. You know I don't like doctors.” She looked down. Part of that was that a decent doctor would know right away that something was wrong with her. She'd seen how some of the changelings that she'd taken out had been treated after the guards caught them. If she'd known how bad it would be she might have let them go. As much as she was protective of the town, they didn't deserve to be exiled, then locked in a dungeon in the place they were exiled to. “Yeah, yeah. But head injuries are no joke. You could have a concussion or something.” Loopy could feel how worried Jet was. She gave her friend a smirk. “I'll go around tomorrow after my rounds,” she lied. “And they'll probably just tell me I need to stop taking flying lessons and take up nice, safe jogging instead.” “Jogging?!” Jet gasped. “But you're a pegasus!” “I'd get fewer bruises.” “No way. It's completely unacceptable. You know I made a promise that I'd get you to be a top-tier flier before the end of the year. If they tell you to stop flying you tell them to eat fluff!” Jet stomped a foot, literally and figuratively putting her hoof down. “Weren't you the one just telling me I needed to follow medical advice?” “Well you know your body best! Just- you'd tell me if you were really hurt, right?” She frowned. “Like your hoof.” Oh right. She'd been pretending that her hoof was sprained. “It's okay. I just need to keep my weight off it for a while. It'll be fine. I bet by morning it'll just be stiff.” She made sure to feign a slight limp as she walked towards her treehouse. “Same time next week?” She asked, looking back at Jet. The silver pegasus sighed. “Yeah. But I'll make sure there's clear weather this time. You're gonna have to learn how to fly in rough wind if you're ever gonna be on the weather patrol with me.” “I like being a mailmare,” Loopy countered. “It has perks.” “If you say so,” Jet sighed. “I just want what's best for you.” “Thanks,” Loopy said, with a genuine smile. She could tell Jet meant it. It was a good feeling. *** Loopy waved as Jet left, then, once she was out of sight, zipped up to her treehouse with somewhat more grace than she'd displayed before. Changelings weren't strong in the air, but they were great at pinpoint maneuvers. It came with doing a lot of flying while underground. She unlocked the door and trotted in, dropping the fake limp. After double-checking that she was alone, she locked the door again and dropped back into her natural changeling form. Her place wasn't that messy, was it? Sure there was stuff lying around. A few pillows. And books. And papers. And some mail. But that was all natural. It was just that she didn't have a lot of places to store stuff. Loopy sighed and threw a spell at one wall. It dissolved, the changeling illusion magic disappearing and revealing the real wall behind it. It didn't take much energy to keep up a simple flat illusion like that, just a stationary image of a wall, a few inches out from where the wall really was. What it concealed was the result of all the studying she'd been doing, papers and letters pinned to corkboard. Loopy smirked as she looked it over. She'd been tracking things, hearing tidbits from the thugs she'd been beating up. It all pointed to something bigger lurking in the shadows, and tonight she was going to take her first step towards finding out just what that something bigger really was. She pulled down one of the pinned articles that she'd clipped out of the Daily Fleugelhorn. [BREAK IN AT THE MUSEUM The Canterlot Museum of Antiquities was struck by disaster last night as thieves broke into the building and ransacked one of the oldest and most valuable displays. Among other artifacts, the Incanter Disks, donated several years ago by Daring Do, were protected by state-of-the-art security spells, which were all found circumvented or disabled. Princess Twilight Sparkle has been called to Canterlot to head the magical forensics unit investigating the incident, further emphasizing the skill and danger these criminals present. While she was not available to make an official statement to the press, officials state that she expects to have the crime solved shortly and that the security spells at the museum will be upgraded to ensure this never occurs again. This is only the third break-in in Canterlot Museum's history, the first occurring since the return of Princess Luna...] The article ended abruptly where the scrap was torn. It was pinned up alongside notes and shipping manifests and letters that Loopy had, well, stolen. Being a mailmare did have its advantages, and being able to snoop on people's sensitive mail was definitely one of them. The centerpiece of her corkboard display was a letter she'd intercepted. [I am glad you are interested in my offer to do business with you. I will have the goods ready for inspection as you have requested. If interested we will require the discussed payment in hard bits. Bank transfers are not in the best interest of my client due to the rarity and quality of the offered goods. We can meet one week from the date this letter was posted, in the Seapony Storage building on the docks. -C] Between that letter and the number of new faces in town, she was sure something big was up. A changeling had to develop a good eye for faces. Getting the eyes wrong in a disguise was a surefire way to get caught if you were careless, and all but the most careless ponies would notice even a small change in appearance. It was one reason only the most skilled or desperate changelings would try to duplicate or replace another pony. She'd seen no less than a dozen faces she didn't recognize in town. Most of them looked tough, with the kind of unconscious stride and gaze that said they knew their way around a fight. If they were somepony's thugs, they were serious thugs with some kind of training. It would be a task trying to take them out, but Loopy had enough stored love to stand toe-to-toe with an earth pony and win a punching contest if that's what it came down to. Loop D'Loop had kept an eye on them in a few different shapes to get an idea of what they were doing, and it was pretty obvious. They all hung around the docks, and were keeping an eye on everypony that went by. They were either guarding the place or casing it or both, and it was suspicious as Tartarus. They were always in pairs, so Loopy hadn't managed to find a good time to replace one of them to infiltrate the others. But with the letter she'd found, she had a shortcut to the good part. Put that together with the news in the paper about the break-in, and even a foal could have figured out that there was something going on. It was amazing the guard hadn't found anything out about the deal going down. Mare Do Well was going to catch another evildoer and make a name for herself that might even reach all the way to Canterlot! She wondered if she'd be able to feel love from that kind of distance if it was being directed towards her. The timeline all worked out. Loopy could feel it in her gut that the stolen pieces from the museum were being fenced in town, tonight. And she was going to stop them. It would be the most high-profile crime she'd ever stopped, and would keep the townsponies talking about Mare Do Well for weeks on end! It was perfect, a way to make herself national news. It was a dangerous thing to do, but exciting as well. High risk and high reward. She was going to go for it. Loopy smiled and moved a loose board, revealing her Mare Do Well costume, carefully bundled away and waiting for her. She reached out with a chitinous hoof and touched the hat. There was a notch in the brim. Hardly the only scar on the costume, and she had a few on her chitin to match the worst of those, but the one on her hat was special. Every time she looked at it, it reminded her of the first time she'd taken down a criminal pony. It seemed like a long time ago, but it was only a few months. *** Liveryburg was quiet. At least for now. Towns tended to attract trouble out of the most unlikely places. Loopy sat on a roof, far back enough in the shadows that ponies on the ground wouldn't be able to see her. The guards had only just left after taking the other changelings into custody. She wasn't even sure why she was doing this. It was dangerous. The guards hadn't asked a lot of questions last time, but if she kept at it, they'd want to know about her. It was dangerous and stupid, but she couldn't get the rush out of her head, and the love that she'd collected had almost dried up already. She hadn't been careful enough with it, and it had just been so good. So here she was, in that stupid outfit again, hoping to get another fix. What was she going to do, just hope monsters showed up out of nowhere? It wasn't like Liveryburg was perched on the edge of the Everfree forest. Sure, there were monsters in the woods, but they mostly left people alone. And ocean monsters weren't really likely to show up in town either. She sighed and stood up, ready to go back and give it up as a stupid idea. Then Loopy felt the terror, like a spike of ice. A scream followed. This was her chance! She started running towards the danger. She didn't know what it was, but the addiction of the love, the withdrawal from running out, it was enough to motivate Loopy to go charging at it at full speed, no matter what was at the end. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, somewhere between running and flying so she seemed to glide through the air. A mare was standing in an alleyway, a stallion with a knife standing in front of her. She was pressed against a wall, shivering with terror. Loopy stopped at the edge of the roof, looking down on the scene. The stallion growled at her. “Drop the saddlebags!” He yelled. She whimpered and slowly started to comply, and he closed on her with the knife. Loopy smiled. It was time to have some fun. She walked up to the very edge of the roof and loomed over them before using just a little changeling magic, sending a chill down the stallion mugger's spine. He stopped what he was doing and looked around. Loopy used her wings to billow her cape out, and he caught the movement at the edge of his vision, looking up to see her at the top of the roof. After giving him a moment to start to feel fear, she dropped down, slowing her descent just a little, cape flaring out like a shadow encroaching towards him. Most changelings were focused on positive emotions. Love, happiness, friendship, the things they could feed on. Negative emotions were just something to be avoided, because once people started feeling terror, it probably meant your cover was blown and it was time to leave town. Because of this, changelings largely don't know how a pony in the grips of a powerful negative emotion will act. For example, ponies feel a surge of adrenaline when they experience something terrifying, like a caped crusader leaping down towards them. This provokes a fight or flight response (literally flight, in the case of pegasai). The vast majority of ponies would choose to flee, and the denizens of Equestria are uniquely skilled at running away from danger, or at least in circles while screaming. However, some outliers tend more towards the fight end of the response. Some go into the Royal Guard where their skills and temperament can be put to good use. Others go into more dangerous lines of work. The mugger represented a fine example of somepony who, when confronted with something they were afraid of, would lash out with lethal intent before thinking. As Loopy landed safely, he struck, lashing out with the drawn knife. She jerked back at the last moment, senses sharp from hunger but response time and strength dulled. Unfortunately, the mare she was saving was still too surprised and confused to offer much in the way of a meal. The knife missed her masked face but caught the wide brim of her hat, the sharp blade slicing through the cheap costume fabric easily. She danced back, using her cape and wings to make her movement unpredictable. She was too hungry to be at the top of her form and feel which way he was going to strike, but her rapid serpentine movement was enough to get her some distance before he could cut her again. “You made a big mistake,” the stallion growled, afraid but holding his ground. Loopy narrowed her eyes. “This here was a private transaction and I don't like you interfering.” “Drop the knife, punk,” Loopy growled. If nothing else, her natural changeling voice, deeper and with an echo her normal voice didn't possess, was very good for threatening people. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The stallion charged at her with the knife. Hard way it was. She was focused this time, though, using her long cape to blind him for a moment as she moved in a tight circle around him. She wasn't as strong as an earth pony, so she had to handle this carefully. She grabbed the lid of a trash can and held it under her cape. When he came at her again, she stood her ground and used the lid to deflect the blow with a screech of metal on metal. Loopy punched him in the snout to establish dominance and he stepped back. It wasn't much of a blow. She'd meant to actually hurt him, and if he had been a prissy unicorn maybe it would have worked. As it was, it just made him angry. “You little-” He charged again, and Loopy side-stepped it, letting him go past and slamming the trash can lid into the back of his skull as hard as she could, the edge of the lid crumpling with the force. It felt like a pretty solid hit. He took a few steps forward, rubbed the back of his head, and just when Loopy was sure he was going to shake it off, he dropped the knife and hit the ground right after it did. “Guess he was just too stupid to notice I'd knocked him out,” she muttered. “You saved me!” Exclaimed the mare. Loopy had almost forgotten about her in the scuffle. She turned to her and nodded. “Be more careful in these alleys,” Loopy said, not really sure what a hero was supposed to say in this kind of situation. She wasn't even sure what to do with the mugger she'd knocked out. It dawned on her just how little she'd thought ahead. And the gash in her hat reminded her of just how close she'd come to getting badly hurt within seconds of trying this insane idea again. “I will!” She smiled. *** Loopy sighed as she looked at the cut in the hat. She'd left it there ever since, just to remind her to be careful and do a little planning once in a while. She'd ended up just leaving after that. Thankfully, the mare had a few friends and they took the stallion to town hall, where somepony was able to actually deal with him. Ever since then, Loopy had started carrying some things that could come in handy. Especially rope. She never knew being a hero meant you'd have to use so much rope! She'd had to start coming up with some awful excuses in town for what she used it for, though at this point she was half-sure everypony just assumed she was some kind of pervert. Since she liked to dress up in a costume and beat people, that was probably about half right. Loopy looked out the window. The sun was starting to go down. It was time to get to her second job, the one that actually kept her fed. She pulled on the mask, grinning under it. *** The warehouse was dark, poorly lit, and full of mostly unmarked crates. A single magical lantern sat on a wooden table, illuminating the scene within. “I'm telling you, this is the real deal. Pure Incanter gold, from the tomb of the king himself!” The speaking pony, a scruffy looking earth pony with an odd accent and dirty brown coat, his mane black with silver streaks through it. He lifted a small crate onto the table and slid the top open. Inside, nestled among straw, were three golden disks, each one studded with a different color of gems. “Would you care to examine it?” “I brought along an expert,” the other stallion said. He was a unicorn with a coat hovering somewhere between yellow and gray, with a distinct tuft of darker hair on his chin. He nodded to the bored looking pegasus standing next to him, who fluttered her banded wings and suppressed a yawn. “Please,” the earth pony said, waving dramatically. “I would not expect a man of your stature to have done any less. It was of course wise, though I guarantee that this find is genuine.” The pegasus shrugged and walked over, picking up one of the disks carefully and examining the markings. She rapidly became more excited, her eyes losing the haze of boredom as they went over the detailed carvings. “It's genuine,” she confirmed, after running a hoof along a few of the markings. The unicorn nodded, then looked at the disks' current owner. Or at least the pony who possessed them. “How did you come by such a prize? I heard some nasty rumors that a collection of Incanter artifacts went missing a few weeks ago after a museum in Canterlot was broken into.” “Such an unfortunate rumor,” the dealer sighed. “I was told that you were looking for something specific from that collection. Something I happen to have.” The stallion raised an eyebrow. “If you are not willing to make an offer, I have many other buyers. I simply came to you first as I had heard of your desire for the Medals of Ohmizet. As you have heard from your own expert, these are genuine. If that alone is not enough to interest you in acquiring them, then I fear you will perhaps never be pleased.” “No, no. You heard correctly.” The other stallion replied. “Dear, if you could please leave us to discuss the details of this arrangement. I thank you for your time.” “Of course, sir,” the small mare said, stepping out of the room and shutting the door behind her. “Now, Mister C, I believe we had an arrangement at ten thousand bits...” The unicorn placed a large bag of bits between them. “That's Doctor., not Mister And I think you'd agree the price is fair for a unique find.” Above them, watching through a skylight and unseen in the dark, was a masked figure. Loopy examined the scene carefully. She needed to make a big, impressive entrance. There didn't seem to be any thugs hanging around, so her best bet was to drop in from above, surprise the two, and take them both out in the confusion. She had grabbed a few things the last time the Flim Flam brothers were in town that would do just the trick. Reaching into a pocket sewn into her costume, she took out a smoke bomb and crushed the fuse, rolling it through the small gap she had been listening through. It landed with a quiet metallic sound like a bit falling. The unicorn and scruffy-looking earth looked around, their discussion halting. “What was that?” The earth pony asked, concerned. “Probably nothing,” the unicorn shrugged. “Maybe they have rats.” Loopy felt an odd mixture of feelings between the two. The earth pony was on edge from the sound, but the unicorn was more worried about the other pony, not about whatever was in the dark. The smoke bomb hissed into action as the pressure-activated fuse caught, clouds of smoke billowing out. The two ponies started coughing. Loopy stood up. It was time to get to work. The skylight shattered as she stomped on it, catching herself with her wings to keep her fall nice and slow, her cape making her appear as an almost amorphous shape in the smokey light. She adjusted her fall to land right on the table between them, scattering the bag of bits on the ground. “What?!” the earth pony yelled, reaching for a weapon. “Mare Do Well?!” Loopy smirked, standing up to her full height and rearing back. It was time to get some work done.