The Dark Mare

by MagnetBolt

Balancing Act: The Princess

Princess Twilight,

Attached is the full report on our findings to date about the vigilante known as Mare Do Well. Unfortunately, at the time I write this, we have yet to capture her or the criminals we originally intended to rid this town of. The guards involved in the incident have submitted their own full reports which you can read in detail, but I take it upon myself to summarize things for you.

In short, we screwed up.

Mare Do Well interrupted our operation to get the Medals back and capture the thief, which we can now positively identify as Doctor Cabelleron. She no doubt intended to capture him herself, though I have no idea how she could have found out about the meeting. Unfortunately, the Doctor was not unprepared for an interruption and managed to get away before the other Guards could apprehend him.

Though it was perhaps poor judgment on my part, I used the bulk of my horsepower to try and apprehend Mare Do Well, as I thought she was trapped and would be easy prey. As per your instructions we were going to hold her until you could question her. However, she managed to make us all look like fools.

Three of the ponies under my command are in the hospital. Sergeant Pauldron and Lieutenant Hardback got into a fight for reasons neither can remember, and are both expected to make a full recovery. Flight Lieutenant Songbird's injuries are more severe and we are still waiting on a prognosis, though early indications are that she might be out of action for significantly longer.

I hope to have progress to report before our next meeting.

- Captain Brass Shield

Brass Shield looked at the parchment and sighed before rolling it up and putting it in his outbox. He didn't like reporting directly to the princess like this. He was used to working without any oversight at all. But after Shining Armor had left active duty, he – of all ponies – had been chosen to replace him. Brass Shield would rather be getting his hooves dirty finding information and bucking heads than stuck in an office, and he had been doing just that in his search for the mysterious organized crime syndicate known only as Labyrinth.

They'd chased rumors and traced crimes for months, and though they'd gotten a lot of the low-level thugs off the street, the really important members, the core group that made Labyrinth what it was, were all still at large.

The operation last night was supposed to change that and get part of the inner circle in their hooves, but because of Mare Do Well's interference the chance had slipped away. Brass sat back on his haunches. It was a rare moment of quiet in his new life, the responsibilities he had to juggle just a little farther away now. He closed his eyes and thought back to when he'd been stuck with this assignment.

Brass Shield paced back in forth in the hallway. He hated being stuck in Canterlot. Here at base, he was stuck waiting, filling out forms, making reports, doing all the things that didn't actually help get anything done. He and his men had been called back temporarily after their last mission, which had had them chasing after a dangerous rogue who had, unfortunately, escaped their grasp. The longer he waited here the colder the trail was going to get.

He had been hoping to get right back to work after explaining why they'd failed to apprehend the sorceress that was being called the White Windigo, but instead he'd had to pass through three exams to make sure he wasn't a changeling or worse, fill out enough paperwork that they must have clear-cut a forest just to get the forms ready. He hoped this wasn't standard procedure now. Otherwise they might as well not have a Guard at all for all the actual work they were getting done.

“Captain Brass Shield,” Somepony said, behind him. He turned and smiled as he saw Shining Armor walking towards him. He saluted, and Shining Armor laughed and waved for him to stop. “Come on, Brass. You don't need to salute me. I'm not the Princess, I'm just married to her.”

“Give me some credit, Armor. I haven't had to salute anypony since that changeling debacle.” Brass laughed. “If you hadn't been the one to ask me to take your place I would have refused even if they busted me down to peeling potatoes.”

“I needed somepony I could trust to take over for me,” Shining Armor said. “Come on. I know you like to walk while you talk.”

“And while I think. You never break all the habits you learn on patrol,” Brass said.

“I know. And you made sure I got used to being on my hooves all day when you took me under your wing.” They started walking down the corridor. “I heard about your assignment. And all the setbacks you've had.”

“Armor, if this is your way of trying to give me tips, I have to tell you dragging me here was a lousy way to do it. And if you're trying to tell me I'm getting old, I'll buck you right back to the Crystal Empire.” Brass smirked.

“No, no. It's nothing like that,” Shining Armor said, laughing. “I know you had plans to go to Liveryburg next.”

“You've been reading my reports,” Brass teased, with an accusing tone. “And here I thought you were really nobility. You should know from experience that reports are supposed to be filed away and forgotten about until it's too late to act on them.”

“Sorry, Brass. I'll try to avoid doing anything useful in the future. But the thing is, my sister heard about where you were going and asked if I could introduce you two.” He smiled nervously. “I think she wants to put more on your plate.”

“Wonderful. I really needed to worry about more than just Labyrinth,” Brass sighed. “Lead the way, Armor.”

Princess Twilight was not the picture of royalty that Brass Shield had expected. When they got to the library she was looking over reports and newspapers so intently that she didn't notice them until Shining Armor tapped her on the shoulder, making her drop the half-dozen bundles of paper that she'd been holding in the air with her magic.

“Don't sneak up on me like that!” She said, trying to sort the piles. “I was trying to figure out the mystery!”

“I brought Captain Brass Shield like you asked,” Shining Armor said. The Captain was frozen in a salute, a little stiffer than the one he'd given her brother. Twilight smiled sheepishly.

“Right. Sorry. Captain, I wanted to know if I could ask you a little favor.” Twilight put the papers down and walked towards him.

“I've sworn to obey all orders from the Princesses, Ma'am,” Brass Shield replied.

“I-it's not an order!” Twilight stammered. “It's just a request. I was having dinner with Cadence and my brother and we were talking about things, and he mentioned your report and I thought I could help because I'm good at solving mysteries, and then I got some of the local papers and older reports and-”

“Twily, slow down, take a deep breath...” Shining Armor patted her on the head like she was a foal. She stopped and took that deep breath before starting again.

“Okay, so, I was reading your report and I ended up doing research on Liveryburg. I was looking at the recent news and I saw this!” She grabbed a newspaper and held it in front of Brass Shield. The headline read 'Mare Do Well Saves Foal From Runaway Orphanage'.

“Yes, Ma'am. I did my research as well.”

“Good. Then you won't mind catching her for me.” Twilight smiled.

“...Ma'am?” Brass Shield dropped the salute and looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“I know you're doing important work, but if you're going to be in town anyway, I want you to try and convince her to come talk to me.” Twilight hesitated. “If she doesn't cooperate, arrest her. But don't hurt her or anything. I just need to make sure that she isn't... that she's the right pony for the job.” Twilight sighed.

“She seems to be doing a good job,” Brass Shield pointed out.

“Yeah but... she's also got an awful lot of publicity. I need to be sure that she isn't just using the name for some kind of personal gain. And that she isn't some foal who's going to get hurt because of me.” Twilight sighed.

“Because of you?” Brass Shield frowned.

“I and my friends were the original Mare Do Well. We sort of made up a masked identity so we could teach our friend a lesson. Though maybe it would have been better to just talk to her about it- anyway, the point is, it's my responsibility to make sure no one gets hurt. I just want to talk to her. If she's doing it for the wrong reasons I'll ask her to stop. If she isn't, then... well, we'll see what happens if it comes to that.”

“Yes Ma'am. As you command.”

“No, it's not an order! It's just a request. A favor.” Twilight smiled nervously.

“Twily, you're going to have to get used to giving orders. You're a princess.” Shining Armor smiled at her. “Don't worry. I'm sure Captain Brass Shield will do just fine.”

And now, despite all the faith the young stallion had put in him, and the trust the Princess had implied by asking him for a favor, Brass Shield had failed to get even one thing done. He put his head down on the desk and sighed. Before he could gather himself, there was a knock on the door. Brass Shield sat up and shuffled some papers before answering.

“Come in,” He said, finally. Private Kicker saluted as he stepped in.

“Sir, you asked to be notified when Flight Lieutenant Songbird woke up.”

“Good. Maybe we'll actually get something useful. Come on, Kicker. I bet she's going to want to tell us all about how Mare Do Well got the drop on her.”

“I told you, I don't know anything,” Songbird said, groaning. “The last thing I remember, I bucked her in the face and I was about to take her down and then something hit me like a runaway buffalo.” The pegasus was lying in a hospital bed, her armor replaced with a hospital gown. Bandages covered her right eye.

“Did she say anything to you?” Brass asked. “Anything at all?”

“Nothing that mattered. The same crap that perps always say about not wanting any trouble and how she just wanted to walk away. You know how it is.” Songbird sighed and rubbed her bandaged eye.

Brass Shield nodded. He'd heard it all before. “Sorry for having to come here while you're still recovering. I wanted to talk to you while your mind was still fresh.”

“My brain feels like it's been twisted inside out,” Songbird complained. “The whole time I was knocked out I had awful nightmares. I don't know what that little freak hit me with but it really knocked me for a loop. She didn't even seem that strong.”

“She had a lot of tricks,” Brass said. “Kicker and his partner were strung up like caught rabbits, Pauldron and Hardback are up on report for fighting with each other. Though I think she must have done something to those two. I'm not sure what yet. From what we found it seems like she was using smoke bombs, flares, rope, the kind of things anypony could buy.”

“Great,” Songbird growled. “But in a small town like this there can't be that many buyers...”

“Except it was all Flim Flam junk. You know those two hucksters. They haven't kept an honest book in their lives, if they keep books at all.” Brass snorted. “There's still a warrant out on them for tax evasion.”

“I thought you dropped the charges after they turned stool pigeon on that Labyrinth bookie,” Songbird said, confused.

“Only for the fraud charges. The Royal Revenue Service wouldn't drop the tax evasion charges even if Celestia ordered them to. You know how they are. How does the RRS motto go...” Brass rubbed his chin.

“Nothing is more important than your health, except for your money,” Songbird quoted, snorting. “A bunch of horned weasels. They'd foreclose on a bird's nest if they could get away with claiming it didn't pay property tax.”

“Trust me, I know,” Brass Shield said, smiling. “So, what did the doctor say?” He'd had a small chat with a nurse, but he wanted to know what Songbird had heard from the experts, and how she was doing mentally.

“He said the attack had given me severe neural shock,” Songbird said, frowning. “I don't know what that really means, but I can tell you it feels pretty awful. Apparently none of the painkillers they have can help with it. And...” She touched her bandaged eye. “...I guess you already know.”

“Songbird...” He sighed.

“They say I'll probably never see out of this eye again. And even if I do the neural shock is just going to make it so painful that trying to look at something with it will feel like somepony's clawing my eye out.” She shivered. “I- they want to take me for surgery and have it removed to control the pain.” She sniffled, holding back tears.

“I'm sorry, Songbird. I'll put in the paperwork to get you transferred back to Canterlot. They might be able to get you a better second opinion there. If you do need surgery, I'll make sure the Guard covers it. We take care of our own.”

“Brass, you don't get it! No one wants a pegasus with no depth perception!” Songbird sat up, her eye red. “If they- I'll have to leave the Guard!”

Brass frowned. “I've seen plenty of ponies worse off than that in the Guard. Like Lefty. He's missing two legs, an eye, and an ear, and he still bucks harder than just about anypony I know.”

“Lefty isn't part of the flight division!” Songbird snapped. “It's different for pegasai!” She rolled over, facing away from Brass Shield. He sighed. The pegasai had their own rank structure and chain of command ever since the Griffon Wars had made it a necessity. Brass knew they were strict about their requirements. It was entirely possible an injury like that would be an automatic honorable discharge, regardless of what Songbird wanted.

“Let's handle this one thing at a time. You just need to focus on getting better. Tropical Storm can take over for you here.”

“No, I need to focus on getting Mare Do Well!” Songbird yelled. “She did this to me and she's not going to get away with-” she stopped and grimaced, touching the side of her head. Her pain was obvious, and there was nothing that could be done to help it. “I'm going to catch her with my own two hooves. If I can do that, at least I'll have revenge on her for this.”

“Songbird, don't make me order you to rest,” Brass Shield said, with a frown. Songbird glared at him and got out of bed.

“Do you want to make this official? You want to make sure I can't even get an honorable discharge?!” Songbird yelled, strapping on her armor. She looked at the helmet, holding it in front of her face for a moment, then slamming it on over the bandages, wincing at the pain.

“You're making this more difficult than it has to be. Mare Do Well isn't even a priority. We're here for Labyrinth.”

“Not even a priority?! She assaulted officers of the Guard!” Songbird stepped up to Brass Shield and prodded his chest aggressively with a hoof. “You're just going to let her get away with it!”

“You're putting words in my mouth,” Brass Shield frowned.

“I'm going to bring her in,” Songbird said, walking past him. “If you want to go after Labyrinth that's fine. But Mare Do Well made this personal when she did this to me and I'm not going to let her escape just because you don't have what it takes to catch her.”

“Songbird-” Brass cautioned, just before she took off, flying out into the hallway at high speed, clumsily knocking over an IV stand and scattering papers from the nurse's station as she over-corrected.

Brass Shield sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Doctor Caballeron watched his trap intently. Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not care to go hunting for his prey. He allowed it to come to him, and he always researched his target to make sure he had the right prey.

Sometimes, that meant befriending some primitive locals and allowing them to distract what they saw as an interloper in their sacred burial sites while he made off with the prize that interloper had been after all along.

Sometimes it meant placing clues for the Guard so they would be too busy protecting a shipment of bits so his colleagues could break into a museum and take something extremely valuable from a display case while the Guard was on the other side of the city.

In this case, it meant finding out the favorite prey of a timberwolf. He'd used a sophisticated poison derived from a rare tropical flower to paralyze a rabbit, and strung it up over a pit. The rabbit was finally awake and starting to struggle. It was too bad that the poison wouldn't work on the wolf, or else he would have had an easier time capturing the beast for his plan. His current employer was counting on him to do something about the Guard situation, and Caballeron had just the thing.

“Loopy you gotta believe me, it's the coolest thing ever!” Jetstream pranced around her, wings stretched wide with excitement. “I was flying around last night coming home from weather patrol, we had that special night session because we're working to get rainclouds together to take care of this drought, remember?”

“...No, not really,” Loop D'Loop said, shrugging. “I don't go to weather patrol meetings, remember?” They had met to shop for food, or at least for Loopy to keep Jet company while the real pegasus shopped for food, but soon after she'd gotten to town the silver pegasus had dragged her away to a corner of the town square that was out of the beaten path. The only company they had was an earth pony playing a harp nearby.

“Oh right. Because of your flying... thing.” Jetstream bit her lip. Loopy rolled her eyes. Jetstream considered it a sensitive topic, even if Loopy didn't care much. To a real pegasus, the total inability to do any weather control, fly against even a moderate headwind, or outspeed the average bird would have made her a cripple. Loopy, being a disguised changeling, didn't care much. She knew she was rubbish at flying, and clouds were as solid to her as they would have been to an earth pony.

“Yeah, something like that.” Loopy sighed. “Anyway, I don't see how cool a weather patrol meeting could be. What, did you get some foreign weather again, like that time somepony brought in a sandstorm all the way from Saddle Arabia?”

“Look, you have to admit that was awesome. A couple of us thought we could really strut our stuff and get this place on the map by bringing in exotic weather once a week or something. We could have even had a festival!”

Loopy snorted. “It didn't occur to you that no one wants to hang out outside and enjoy the sandstorm? Kudzu and her folks were cleaning sand from the fields for weeks!”

“It was a little miscalculation,” Jetstream admitted. “But anyway, this isn't about that. You know the Mayor made us give that up after we cleaned up the sand. I found something really, incredibly, awesome.” She started rummaging around in her saddlebags.

Loopy's eyes went wide as Jetstream pulled out a purple hat, a little worn around the edges, with a cut in the brim. It was a hat Loopy was very familiar with, since she'd thrown it in a trash can herself. She swallowed. How had Jet found it? Did she know her secret? She looked into the pegasus' eyes and saw only what she felt from her emotions, an almost overwhelming excitement.

“It's Mare Do Well's hat! Not just some copy for a costume, the real thing!” She put it on, adjusting it. “Isn't this amazing? And it was just in the trash!”

“I-it's probably just a replica,” Loopy said, waving a hoof dismissively. “Half the ponies in town have Mare Do Well costumes ever since she started showing up.”

“Oh yeah, you've got one too,” Jet considered. “Well, unlike yours, this is the real thing. You see, I'm very observant.”

Loopy held back a rude comment about that.

“You see, the real Mare Do Well has been using the same costume since she first appeared. She made some repairs to it and replaced the cape twice-” Loopy had ordered fabric from Manehattan just to make sure no one in town noticed she bought a bunch of fabric every time her cape tore on something. “-But the hat has always been the same. Like this cut in it, and these holes. They match up perfectly!”

“So... anypony who has studied Mare Do Well as much as you have could have made this,” Loopy pointed out.

“Except there isn't anypony who's done that. I'm her number one fan!” Jet smiled. “I'm still going to figure out who she is some day and marry her.”

“You know, Jet, if she threw that hat away... maybe she decided to quit,” Loopy said, nervously. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to hurt Jetstream's feelings. Maybe it was just because she was always good for a quick meal. Loopy couldn't deny that she did consider the pony her friend, though. “I mean, you heard about that whole mess last night.”

“Of course I did. The Royal Guard tried to arrest Mare Do Well. I bet they're just all corrupt and working for the bad guys.” Jet always had a nebulous view of the criminal element of the town, just lumping them all together as 'bad guys'.

“Stop right there!” somepony shouted. Loopy and Jet turned to see somepony walking towards them. Loopy recognized her, that annoying pegasus that she'd had to knock for a loop. The bandage over her eye implied she'd hurt her more than intended, though.

“Y-yes, officer?” Loopy asked, quietly.

“I bet you thought you'd get away with it, didn't you? Like I wouldn't recognize you without your mask on?!” She stalked closer, glaring. “You're not nearly as clever as you think you are, Mare Do Well!”

“W-what?” Loopy asked, backing away. “I'm not-”

“Not you, idiot! Her!” She pointed at Jet. “I know that's Mare Do Well's hat. The real one. There's no way you can talk yourself out of this one!” She grabbed Jetstream's wing with her hoof and dragged her, the hold obviously painful.

“Wait, this is a misunderstanding!” Jet yelled.

“I'd recognize that hat anywhere!” the Guard yelled. “You're going to confess to everything you've done!” Loopy backed away as the guard took Jet away, her expression sinking as she saw Jetstream's expression of panic. On the one hoof she hadn't been caught. On the other hoof, her friend was about to be thrown in prison for crimes she didn't commit. A sane changeling would let her take the fall. A friend would do something to stop it.

Loopy sat down, not sure what to do.

Old Hickory, the alpha timberwolf female, sniffed at the ground. One of her pups had gone missing, and she was trying to find it. She prowled silently through the woods, the trees making her almost invisible, until she picked up the scent, a fresh trail from the young wolf.

She followed it to a clearing, where a rabbit was hanging from a rope, still struggling to get free. She growled and looked around. Under the rabbit was a yawning pit. As the timberwolf slowly circled it, she could smell her pup's trail, how he'd waited here before pouncing out after what seemed like easy prey.

Old Hickory slowly approached the pit. She sniffed at the edge and smelled fear and panic. He'd fallen in, and probably hurt himself, the air carrying a trace of sap. And then...

She walked around the pit, and found the trail again. Her keen hunter's instincts, along with the marks in the dirt, told her he didn't just walk out. He'd been dragged out, still afraid. And there was another scent. Pony. She growled and followed the trail as it led towards town.

Private Kicker adjusted his armor. His partner was off getting chow, so it was his job to keep an eye on everything that was going on around town hall. After the trap he'd fallen into in the warehouse he knew he couldn't afford to screw up again. He had to take his job seriously or else... or else they'd find a way to bust him down even lower than he already was. He wasn't sure what was lower than a private but Flight Lieutenant Songbird had threatened that she'd make a new rank just for him if she had to. He swallowed and tried to remain still.

“Well hello there,” said a seductive voice. The guard turned to look. A gray mare with red hair was leaning against the wall and looking at him with half-lidded eyes. “It's nice having all you big, strong stallions out here to protect us.”

“Shucks, Ma'am. Just doing my job.” He blushed. The mare took a step closer, tracing the lines of his armor with a hoof. Kicker couldn't remember the last time a mare had spoken to him that didn't involve yelling.

“How long are you going to be out here?” She asked, batting her eyes.

“Donno. Guess until we finish our job. The Captain has had us goin' from town to town.”

“What's your name?” Her eyes seemed to sparkle. The guard hoped she couldn't tell how much he was blushing. He'd gotten into the guard because his friends said mares were impressed by a stallion in armor, and it looked like they were right.

“Ass Kicker,” He said, proudly.

“That's... an unusual name,” the mare said, raising an eyebrow.

“It's 'cause my ma is a donkey. I donno if you know Cloud Kicker, but I'm her cousin, um, twice removed. Or was it three times...” He stopped to try and remember, then stopped and looked at the mare, realizing he was being rude. “Um, what's your name?”

“Matches,” she said. “Matches Merrily. I'm sort of the... town matchmaker. You know how it gets with these small towns. Not a lot of fish in the sea, so my work's a little... boring sometimes. I don't even have time to look for myself when I'm helping my friends. But with you all here, well, it makes things a lot more interesting, wouldn't you say?” She batted her eyes.

“Um, yeah!” Kicker agreed. Matches smiled at him.

“How about you help me with a little something?” Her eye twinkled. Kicker felt like he was ready to do just about anything she asked. She tilted her head towards an alleyway and walked down into the darkness. Ass Kicker looked around, then followed. His partner would be gone for a while, and the Captain did say that they should help everypony out when they needed a hoof.

“Ma'am?” He asked, not seeing her in the darkness. He walked further into the alleyway. Then a hoof swooped down from above and crashed into the head, and Ass Kicker followed suit and crashed into the ground.

“Sorry, I just need to borrow this,” said a rough voice, from what seemed like far away. Private Kicker felt his armor being removed.

The last thing he thought before passing out was that this wasn't what his friends had implied being undressed by a mare would be like at all.