//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: The Legend of Mare-Do-Well // by JD2K //------------------------------// The Legend of Mare-Do-Well Chapter 8: A Risky Rescue by JD2K “All right, children. Don’t stray too far,” Cheerilee called out from the back of the group of schoolponies she was herding along. “The Everfree Forest is much too dangerous for colts and fillies that aren’t together.” The field trip to Everfree had been in the plans for weeks. Most parents were concerned about their children going off into such a dangerous place with only Cheerilee as the sole adult. Those concerns were quickly removed, however, when the cerise-colored pony herself revealed that Zecora volunteered to help with the class both to act as chaperone and as a guide through the less dangerous areas in the forest. With that taken care of, the trip was given the all-clear for the day. “Come along, dear children, and you will see, all the wonders you can find here in Everfree,” the zebra stated as she led them in front. “Stay close and do not stray, or else you’ll be a predator’s prey.” At this remark, some of the little fillies and colts looked around in fear. “Mith Thecora, are we going to be okay?” Twist asked nervously. “We’d better be fine or else Daddy’s going to be hearing about this!” Diamond Tiara scoffed in contempt. “Aw, put a lid on it, DT. The last thing this trip needs is some whiny foal ruining things for us!” Scootaloo snapped back causing her target to sneer. “Don’t call her DT! You will address her by her full name: Miss Diamond Tiara Dir-” Silver Spoon’s mouth was clamped shut by the foreleg of her associate who gave her a loud shush. “Ix-nay on the Irty-day!” she whispered through her teeth which caused all the schoolponies to giggle and laugh. The rest of the trip was quite educational for the small group as they first saw a variety of strange plants, which Zecora helped explain in her traditional form of speech, and warned that some, despite their bright colors, are actually dangerous to consume and are used more as ingredients in some of her hutmade concoctions. Snips and Snails were unlucky enough to step on an errant Poison Joke flower which changed their respective sizes, made Snips’s front teeth three times their original size, and made Snails speak in a rough dialect Cheerilee was able to vaguely identify as from the cold region of Stalliongrad. Aside from causing a few fits of laughter from the students, Zecora was able to make a quick drinkable antidote and the two colts were back to normal, so to speak. Another point of interest throughout their journey was encountering a variety of non-threatning denizens of Everfree like owlbears, jackalopes, phoenixes, rodents of unusual sizes and golden hinds which Zecora helped the colts and fillies introduce to from afar as to not disturb them. The students were amazed at seeing all these creatures in their natural habitat and couldn’t believe they could live in Everfree. Unfortunately, with every time they found a spot to observe the animals, Featherweight, in the absence of his regular staffer and getting back to his origins, began snapping pictures at them all. The bright flashes alerted them to foreign presence and quickly scattered. It took the combined efforts of all the young colts to tackle and remove the camera from the small pegasus’s neck to prevent him from ruining their field trip any further. Finally, the small excursion was nearing its end as the schoolponies and their chaperones laid down in a small clearing in the forest to have a small lunch before returning back to Ponyville. It was during this time that a certain trio of young fillies decided to enter a cave found off the main path to see if cave exploring would earn them their cutie marks. Apple Bloom looked around the cold, dark cave with only a lantern hanging around her neck that she brought along for emergencies to light their way. “Scoot, don’cha think this is a mite bit outta our way? Zecora said to us not to stray far from the rest of the group. Besides, who knows what scary stuff we’ll find in here? A dragon? A den of Ursas? I don’ even wanna know!” “Well, well, well. Now who’s being the chicken?” The orange pegasus replied only to then call out in the same mocking tone she heard from the farm filly a year ago, “APPLE BLOOOOOM! AP-AP-APPLE BLOOOOOOM!!” “No fair! Ah thought we’d no longer do that to each other!” the farm filly snapped in return. “Then stop being a scaredy pony! I’m sure we can find something cool in here to both get a good grade on our Everfree essay and earn our cutie marks at the same time!” Sweetie Belle stayed quiet during the whole argument as her eyes looked on with worry. “I don’t know, girls, this seems awfully risky. Don’t you think we should have asked Miss Cheerilee or Miss Zecora about this? What if they end up looking for us? We’ll get detention!” “Detention Schmetention! Where’s your sense of adventure? Rainbow Dash never allowed anything such as rules get in the way of her thrills!” Scootaloo beamed proudly. “Ah heard mah sis say that’s how she got bucked outta flight school…” Apple Bloom casually whispered to Sweetie Belle causing the little unicorn to giggle for a few seconds. After walking a few more feet, they eventually reached the end of the cave. Nothing. The cave itself was empty. Only a few stalactites and stalagmites poking out of the roof and walls but nothing else. “WHAT?!” all three shouted simultaneously. “Ya dodo! Now we’re gonna get detention fer sure! Applejack will ground me by makin’ me chew Granny Smith’s vittles fer her!” Apple Bloom shouted as she turned to face her. “Don’t call me a dodo! How would you like it if I call you a chicken?” Scootaloo snapped back. “Dodo!” “Chicken!” “Dodo!” “Chicken!” “Dodo!” “Chicken!” “Dodo!” “Chicken!” The two irate fillies kept their name-calling match going and didn’t look to finish for a while. Sweetie Belle meanwhile could only sigh sadly as she approached one of the stalagmites near the dead-end and leaned against it as she tried to come up with what to tell her parents and Rarity. The stalagmite suddenly bent backward with a loud click and a small section of the wall slid out of the way to reveal a secret passage! The other two fillies stopped arguing as they stood there with mouths open just like Sweetie was. The stalagmite was obviously a cleverly disguised handle that would reveal the passage if pushed. The tiny unicorn moved away from the stalagmite-handle as it snapped back into position. On cue, the wall section slid back and left the passage hidden to the eye. “That was so awesome! I knew this cave had something!” Scootaloo said with glee as she pushed the stalagmite as hard as her little body could muster and the wall opened up again. She stood there holding the door open as she saw her friends just look at her in shock. “C’mon! Hurry up! This door won’t stay open forever! Go ahead. I’ll jump in after you.” “No way, Scoot. That there secret path just wasn’t built by nature, y’know. We could end up in serious trouble with whoever built it.” Apple Bloom reasoned. “She’s right, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle added, “We really should get back before…” Her explanation was cut short when she saw a shadowy-looking figure leap out of the passage and she immediately let out a shriek. The two other Cutie Mark Crusaders followed suit in shrieking as the figure loomed over them. Outside back in the clearing, Zecora’s ear began to flick and stopped from eating her meal as she turned her head around. Cheerilee looked at her curiously. “Miss Zecora, are you… all right?” “My auditory sense picked up a yell…” the zebra began as her eyes scoured the students before her. She then gasped seeing one picnic blanket was lying there with some leftovers still placed on top. “Where is Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?!” All the other students stopped to realize the Cutie Mark Crusaders were nowhere to be seen. “Oh no! This is very bad! Where could they be?” Cheerilee lamented as she ran around the area calling out their names. “Serves those three right! They’re always making trouble,” Diamond Tiara scorned with a raise of her snout. “I mean, we all knew they were the ones who released that icky Discord from that statue by fighting in front of it!” “That’th not true! Thothe are jutht nathty rumorth thomepony thaid!” Twist answered back which immediately caused all the students to debate both sides of the issue whether the Cutie Mark Crusaders were troublemakers or not. The arguments ceased when a slight tremor was felt by everyone. They all looked down on the floor and felt yet another tremor followed by many more. They looked up as a large figure stood up before them causing all the schoolponies to scream in terror and began to run around in a panic as Cheerilee and Zecora could just stare up at this new threat without a clue of what to do. The silence of the forest was broken by the foals’ screams, followed by loud roars of unknown origins. Eventually, the screams began to die down and the eerie calm of the forest returned with no witness as to what took place. ********************************** “Confound it! Why haven’ ya gone out an’ search fer those missin’ foals? Mah Granny Smith is worryin’ herself into an early grave if’n you don’ find ‘em!” Applejack shouted. “Madam, I demand that you stop all this nonsense posthaste, or I shall venture into that uncharted forest all by myself to find my dear sister!” Rarity added with a hint of both anger and worry as her father tried to console his mate. “Lieutenant, understand this. I am a businesspony but also a concerned father. You all better find my little Diamond Tiara or I shall be forced to call higher authorities!” Filthy Rich demanded as he slammed a hoof on the desk. Buckler could only telekinetically rub her temples with her light red aura. She has been listening all night to the parade of ponies who stormed in demanding to know why the school field trip was taking so long in getting back. At first they sent a couple of officers, along with Twilight Sparkle as she was one of the few to navigate Everfree, and find answers at Zecora’s domicile. Upon finding the hut empty, things began to turn grim. “Please, citizens, settle down!” she finally ordered as she got up. The crowd of worried parents and families went quiet as Lt. Buckler began to explain. “We have already sent out a ground search party with Miss Sparkle taking the lead while an aerial team is flying across the area with Ponyville Weather Manager Rainbow Dash to see if they could be spotted from the sky. We will have answers very soon. In the meantime, you can feel free to stay in the vestibule or any nearby areas until either team returns with new developments.” As she gently pushed the crowd away from her office, she closed the door and inhaled deeply. She really disliked facing worried families. However, her hooves were tied and there was nothing she could do unless she was a few years younger when she was at the prime of her life. All she could do was the same as the families themselves: Wait. She turned around to return to her desk when she forcefully expelled the breath of air she just took in and coughed loudly soon after. There at the side of her desk was Mare-Do-Well standing at attention. “You know, my dear pony, you are likely to give this old mare a heart attack one of these days,” she softly reprimanded like a mother to her foal. A few weeks ago, after the debacle involving a pair of shady businessponies who challenged the Apple Family to a cider-making contest, Lt. Buckler began seeing the young crime fighter more and more as the paths of both her and the PVPD crossed even more. Unlike Captain Halberd who ordered most officers to apprehend Mare-Do-Well should she interfere with police procedures, most of the department appreciated her help and Buckler herself decided to form a type of truce with her in which she was always welcomed into her office to visit and help the police out whenever they could. The only thing Mare-Do-Well had to watch out for when visiting her police ally aside from Halberd were his subordinates, Lock Up and Lock Down. Aside from being from somewhere far away, they were known as irredeemable sycophants who catered to Halberd’s every whim. Nopony in the police department was safe from them as they reported any such violation of the captain’s strict rules to Halberd himself which made all the officers see them in contempt and disgust. Lucky for her, the two lackeys were not around so she could speak to Buckler without interference. “I’m sure you have heard of the missing group from the school, child,” Buckler began as she sat near her desk and used her magic to move some papers on top until she found the report on the missing ponies. “15 young foals, 8 fillies and 7 colts, the schoolteacher Miss Cheerilee, and their guide Miss Zecora. For all of them to vanish just like that is very unusual, more so with the zebra knowing everything about the Forest. Maybe you should check it out and see what things you can find…” She turned around to face her but all she saw was her open window and the blinds hitting against the edge of the sill as though somepony recently moved it. Shaking her head, she muttered, “That filly has the attention span of a parasprite…” While Mare-Do-Well do enjoyed hearing Buckler’s police tales both when in her office and when she came by to Sugarcube Corner as her alternate self served her, she had no time to lose. Her “sense” could tell something was not right with this missing ponies report. This was something far more alarming and dangerous. Something very bad was happening in Everfree and it was up to her to find out what that was. The vigilante made headway into the unnatural forest and noticed several tracks on the forest floor. She studied each print carefully and eliminating any that wasn’t a pony hoof. One particular trail was made of very tiny hoofprints and that was the lead she needed. Following the path of tiny hoofprints which stopped at several areas including a patch of different plants, an owlbear cave, a jackalope burrow and a grove with a phoenix nest on a tree, she finally arrived at a small clearing. She wasn’t alone when she arrived to the spot as Twilight Sparkle and five PVPD officers were investigating the area. The purple unicorn looked up to see her come through as did a few of the other officers. “Mare-Do-Well, why are you here? Did you come here to help with the disappearance?”, Twilight asked as she walked up to her. “We could always use a spare set of hooves and eyes to help us search,” added Officer Gold Whistle. “We’ve been searching this area for hours and we’ve found nothing!” “Keep searching, pony! They couldn’t just walk up and leave all their gear behind like this!” Officer Booker commented loudly. Mare-Do-Well looked beyond Twilight’s gaze and saw he was right. Littered throughout the clearing were the remains of what looked like a picnic with some half-eaten fruit and some snacks along with some tiny saddlebags which were now all placed in a neat pile. Mare-Do-Well’s brain began to turn. This was no mere disappearance, indeed. Something must have happened to the foals and the adults to have caused them to drop their meals before finishing and leave saddlebags behind. The question was what the cause could have been exactly. She started to investigate. As she was walking through the area, she spotted a cave on the side of a mountain, she stopped to stare at it for a few seconds. The purple unicorn immediately sensed her curiosity and approached her. “That cave? We already searched it half an hour ago. Nothing there and it leads to a dead-end.” She then sighed with annoyance as she called out to the officers. “This entire area is a dead-end! We have to search elsewhere. Hopefully we can find other tracks or clues as to where those foals, Cheerilee and Zecora went. Let’s move out!” The other officers nodded and advanced towards her to lead them to another part of the forest. “Wish you the best of luck. Let me know if you find something!” the purple unicorn whispered as she finally left with the police ponies. Mare-Do-Well was all alone once again. She was ready to head out back into the forest when she started getting a feeling in her stomach when she thought about the cave. Twilight mentioned there was nothing in there but it couldn’t hurt to have a look in herself just to remove her doubts. She quickly turned back and trotted off towards the cave. Setting foot inside the dark hollow, Mare-Do-Well realized she was a bit hasty in coming in without anything to light her path. The moonlight provided plenty of illumination, but only for outside the cave; inside, she was as blind as a bat. Hanging her head low and about ready to go back and go look for an empty lantern to fill with fireflies, she started to get another combo. Ear flop…Eye flutter…Knee twitch… She was puzzled by this sudden manifestation of her unique gift. There were absolutely no doors nearby for her to watch out for, so why did she have the combo warning her about that? Her answer came soon enough as the sound of rock sliding away was heard and Mare-Do-Well saw to her unbelieving eyes part of the wall moving away revealing a hole illuminated with soft torch light. Her other self’s sense has not failed her yet again She then heard a few hoofbeats walking forward following by an incoming light source with a couple of shadows projecting against the wall nearby. Hiding behind a large stalagmite, she peeked to the side to see what was coming her way. “Now remember, take this notice directly to our local contact. I need help in moving all these prisoners out without attracting attention of the police and I don’t want any screw-ups!” said a deep-bellowing male voice. “Leave it to me, Bigtime. All I have to do is avoid that speedy pegasus they got in their weather control and I’ll deliver this no problem,” said a shifty female voice along with a flap of what obviously were wings. “Perfect. We got some grade-A ponies right here. The youngest little twerp of that Apple Family, the brat of that multi-rich stallion who founded Barnyard Bargains and even the son of the most important doctor of Ponyville! They’d all pay a dragon’s hoard for them all!” “What about the rest of the little imps? And what of that broodmare of a teacher and that weird zebra?” “I hear there is a market for young little ponies and these would make us all a bundle when we sell them to the highest bidders! About that old mare, I’ll leave her to Mr. P. He needs a new toy to play with. And as for the zebra…” He chuckled with cruelty. “Let’s say it’s been a while since ‘Littletime’ had a taste of zebra... Heh, heh, heh…” “You’re a class act, Big T! You have fun then. I’ll be back soon!” Mare-Do-Well couldn’t believe her ears. Ransoming and selling off the foals, hurting Miss Cheerilee and doing the “unspeakable” to Zecora?! She wanted right then and there to jump out and beat those monsters into unconsciousness but she had to know first who exactly she was up against. She then saw the outline of a pegasus filly with a saddlebag over her coming out of the light. Just by looking at her, Mare-Do-Well knew she was rotten to the core. She quickly trotted up to the cave entrance, spread her wings and flew off into the night sky. The vigilante turned her gaze back at the open entrance and saw the torch light and the shadow quickly recede. The wall was also closing up again. She didn’t even think twice as she swiftly and silently jumped out of her hiding place and entered the passage before the wall crushed her as it moved back into place. She was now in a small dimly-lit passage with torches lined up against the cave walls. Up ahead, she saw the light and hoofbeats of “Bigtime”, as the pegasus called him, was quickly fading into the distance. She was thankful he didn’t hear her slip in. She quickly took slow steady steps as she followed him through the passageway and towards a far large illuminated exit. She went through this new opening without hesitation. Words failed Mare-Do-Well as she tried to make sense of what was before her eyes. An entire underground facility was built right in the middle of the hollowed-out mountain spread as far as she could see. Luckily, she was far enough away to not arouse the attention of the ponies wearing surgical masks who were busy walking around, carrying heavy loads within their bags or hard at work cultivated some sort of shiny blue mushrooms that were growing deep underground and gave off a kind of eerie luminescence to their surroundings. Upon closer inspection, she scrunched up her nose in disgust. Those were no ordinary mushrooms and the ponies had good reason to wear masks. Glowcaps. Her father once told her about these foul fungi and Twilight helped with more details when she requested more info on botagens. Originally from underground caves deep in zebra and camel territories far from Equestria, shamans of these two tribes used the glowcap as an ingredient to communicate with a plane of existence they claim is where all creation comes from and where all end up going. Pony explorers who visited these lands found these mushrooms and the effect they witnessed on the minds of those who consumed it, looking as they were now in a different world other than that of reality. These explorers brought glowcaps for Equestrian scholars to experiment with. The effects however, were not good with pony anatomy. A test subject who consumed an entire mushroom immediately entered a state of dementia where various sensory hallucinations were recorded ending with the subject becoming belligerent and needed to be subdued by some nearby guards. The pony was immediately locked up as he was a threat to Equestria should he be ever freed. Soon, other ponies began to smuggle in glowcaps with the hopes they can “communicate with the Ancients” and all ended up insane and in fits of psychotic violence. Even breathing in the spores of a glowcap was dangerous so nopony could approach them without adequate protection like a surgical mask. Still, there were some enterprising alchemists who decided to keep spores and try and find ways to make the glowcaps less dangerous and ended up with strains that provided quick “trips” to these strange sensations of the mind but left the subject highly addictive to them. Because of the threat of addiction and deaths associated with it, Celestia deemed this mushroom a class-A botagen that nopony except licensed camel and zebra shamans should even touch. To think if the field trip group wasn’t ponynapped, this glowcap-growing facility would remain undiscovered and their damage to Equestria would not be stopped. Mare-Do-Well didn’t care what happened to her now. Both her missions were clear. Not only was she going to rescue the captured ponies, but she’d put a stop to this harvest of disaster once and for all! But first things first, she had to find out where these fungi growers were keeping the foals, Cheerilee and Zecora. Carefully and using what little shadows there were between supply crates, cave crevasses and even a few loading carts, she reached the far end of the glowcap harvest area where there were less ponies working around. Here, a large structure was hewn from the mountain’s rocky wall that must house their living quarters was located. The only way into this area appeared to be one single entrance. That entrance, however, was guarded by two burly looking stallions that were both nearly as tall and strong as Big MacIntosh standing guard at the sides. She first had to get rid of these two before she could gain access inside. “So what do you think of those rugrats the boss got locked up in the stockade?” one of the guards asked his companion. “Knowing him, he’s got big plans for ‘em. He ain’t called ‘Bigtime’ for nothing!” the other guard responded with a chuckle. “It’s so damn boring standing here doing nothing. I wish we could have gone to the nearby town and get loaded on salt and cider! Fly-By got lucky being the boss’s errand filly.” the first guard mused. “Yeah right, and when we come back, we’d be sent to ‘play with Mr. P’ as punishment!” sniped his partner. “Don’t even joke about that, dude! I never want to be near that freak!” the other snorted as he resumed his watch. “Ow! What the heck was that for?” the second guard shouted as he rubbed his ear which now carried a large red bruise. “What did I do, huh?” the first answered in confusion. “You hit me in the ear, that’s what! Stop horsing around!” the other reprimanded. The guard just shrugged wondering if the pressure of being here doing nothing but stand and looking ahead was getting to his fellow sentry. His thoughts were quickly rattled by a sharp stinging pain that came from his ear as though something was flicked with force against it. “Hey dude, this isn’t funny anymore! Just stop it!” he shouted to the other guard who just looked at him oddly. “What’s the matter? Glowcaps starting to mess with your brain, already?” the other guard scoffed only to yell in pain again. “Alright, playtime is over, Mr. Comedian! Time I show you how we really do things back home!” With a loud whinny, the second guard turned back and gave the first a hard kick against his head. He responded with an angry snort blasting hot air everywhere. “You started it, now I will end you!” he shouted as he charged into the other guard. Both guards started to fight with one another, butting heads, bucking kicks, rearing up to hit with their forelegs and full-body tackles. One particular simultaneous tackle from both stallions ended up hitting their heads against one another with a resounding crack and the two immediately landed on the floor unconscious. Mare-Do-Well looked out from behind the large stalagmite she was hiding behind as a couple of pebbles were being tossed away with one of her hooves. She was lucky the guards were no Neighsteins or else she’d never get through. Once the way was clear, she ventured inside. The living area was more complex than she realized as there were many hallways with doors lined up everywhere and not to mention several unfriendly ponies and fillies wandering about. Reaching a secluded alcove, she allowed herself to lie down on her haunches and started to meditate. Fluttershy taught her that deep meditation was done by pony monks located in the far eastern areas of Equestria in order to heighten their senses and at this point she needed all her senses on high alert to locate the ones she was searching for. As she meditated, she could feel her nose catching more strange scents and her ears flicked around as they heard everything. She could smell the disgusting aroma of smoked locoweed, the mossy and damp scent of the structure walls, and even the smell of fresh apple baked goods. However, she paid more attention to her ears. She started to hear a variety of noises. Music from phonographs, unintelligible conversations coming from the walls of the rooms around her, and even the sounds of the “unspeakable” that should only be done by a colt and filly to create foals and not just for amusement. However, she then heard the most important sound of all. Crying. She was hearing the crying of foals who missed their families and loved ones. The one sound her alter self would do anything in her power to stop. Needless to say, there was no flour around to stop this crying so she had to take a more hooves-on approach. She got out of the alcove and followed her ears towards the sound of the sobs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what was obviously a stockade built with high wooden boards but strewn with barbed wire everywhere to prevent anyone from breaking in or out of it. Trapped inside, all huddled close to one another, were the fifteen fillies and colts she was looking for. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Cheerilee or Zecora inside and Mare-Do-Well feared that they were in trouble according to the conversation she eavesdropped earlier, particularly the one dealing with this “Mr. P”. She approached the stockade and was thankful nopony was guarding them. As soon as she was in view, a unicorn filly called out. “Look! It’s Mare-Do-Well! Mare-Do-Well is here!” That immediately got the attention of the rest of the children as they all got close enough to the holes between the small logs of the side of the stockade wall without touching the pointy edges of the wire in front of them. “Please, Miss Mare-Do-Well, you have got to save us!” Snips cried out. “Yes, you must! My daddy will give you a huge reward if you get me out here!” Diamond Tiara wailed with bloodshot eyes from all her wailing she must have done. “Stop thinking of yourself, DT! She came here to rescue all of us, not just you!” Scootaloo snapped at her. “Don’t call her DT! She’s… ...nevermind…” Silver Spoon started only to sigh sadly and slump down on her rump. “Um, shouldn’t Mare-Do-Well go look for Miss Cheerilee and Miss Zecora first? I mean, they’re the adults here, eh?” muttered Snails and everyone for once agreed with what he said. Mare-Do-Well cursed herself from being unable to talk but her determined gaze was more than enough to let the foals knew what she was thinking. “You want to know where they took Miss Cheerilee and Miss Zecora, Miss Mare-Do-Well?” Sweetie Belle deduced. The vigilante closed her eyes and nodded thankfully for one of the young unicorn’s rare flashes of brilliance. “Well, I heard them thay that Mith Cheerilee wath to, um, ‘go play with Mithter P’ if thhe wathn’t going to tathte glowcapth”, Twist commented with fear. “Ah sure don’t like the sound of them words too much… An’ Ah heard that fat stallion with the huge bit coin bag fer a cutie mark say he was gonna give Zecora ‘the time of her life’…” Apple Bloom said with worry in her tone. “Miss Mare-Do-Well, you can’t open the door unless you got the key and that fat stallion must have it. Please bring back Miss Cheerilee and Miss Zecora and then open the door. Please!” Featherweight finally piped up. The rest of the foals and the heroine were shocked to hear the normally-taciturn colt speak. While the inner child in her alter self wanted to free them first and help them escape, she knew the kids would not abandon their teacher and their new zebra friend. She made a silent Pinkie promise to them with the motions and they all understood it. She quickly left without a moment to lose. As a she made her way through the twisting hallways and avoided the unfriendly locals, Mare-Do-Well rounded yet another corner and immediately dove back before she was spotted. An earth pony stood there peeking through a small slit in a door in the hallway she was just about to head into. Normally, she’d take a different route and go around this obstacle but she immediately heard a familiar voice. “No! I don’t care how much you hurt me! I am never setting a bad example for my little ponies and take those awful mushrooms! Do your worst! I have my dignity to uphold!” The colt at the door merely chuckled as the sound of leather smacking flesh was heard following by a wail of pain from Cheerilee. The crime fighter was outraged at how the faithful and kind schoolteacher was being tortured to take that dangerous fungus. It was time Mare-Do-Well got her hooves dirty. She softly crept up to the door from an angle the peeping colt was not seeing her. Once she got close enough, she immediately grabbed him and covered his mouth as she placed him in a choke hold. Struggling was useless for the voyeur as he quickly lost consciousness and landed softly on the floor. With her first foe incapacitated, Mare-Do-Well quickly pushed him into the shadows so nopony could find him and alert the boss. Now it was her turn to peek inside. What she saw in front of her chilled her bones. Cheerilee was tied to an upturned table of sorts with leather belts holding her by the forehead and all four of her legs. Her entire moderate cerise body had large bloody bruises and welts, and both her mane and tail were ragged and stained with dirt. Her eyes were bloodshot red from all the tears and cries she must have endured ever since her capture. She was indeed a role model for the youth of Ponyville and Mare-Do-Well feared she would rather die first than take a botagen and ruin her life and body to the dangers of addiction and glowcap madness. That’s when she then laid eyes on the other occupant of the room obviously called “Mr. P” and her eyebrow arched in confusion. Standing there was a strange lanky stallion wearing some kind of full-body outfit made of black leather and covered entirely in tubes. Not to mention it was very baggy and loose on his skin which made him trip with every step he took. On his head he wore an unusual mask that covered his face and mane but with holes for his purple eyes and green snout. The only part of his body visible was his grungy-cut tail which was a dirty shade of green. Just looking at this stranger made the vigilante’s flesh crawl, but why did the schoolfoals and even those guards fear him? In his exposed mouth, the stallion held a leather handle attached to a cat-o’-nine tails whip which he used just recently on the hapless schoolteacher. “Mr. P ask again. You take glowcap now?” the skinny stallion said with a low, almost-simple-minded voice. Cheerilee simply turned her head sideway in revulsion. “Goody-goody! If pony no take glowcap, Mr. P play with pony!” he derped out as he dropped the whip on the floor and walked to a table close by. A variety of leather implements and sharp objects were kept there and the crime fighter didn’t want to imagine what they would do to pony flesh. The childlike stallion lifted what looked like a scalpel with a rusty jagged blade in his teeth and approached Cheerilee whose expression now showed pure terror. He then used a hoof to move a wheel handle nearby and lowered the table to place the teacher on her back. Mr. P moved up to the panic-stricken pony as he slowly lowered his scalpel towards one of her eyes. “Mr P. play doctor now! First Mr. P remove eye and give new eye to pony!” he guffawed as he leaned closer which made her scream for intervention from the Princesses. Mare-Do-Well was done waiting. She had to act now. Slipping in undetected, she made her way up to the slow-witted Mr. P’s blind side and made her move. With one lower strike, she tripped the stallion and he dropped the scalpel to the floor, which caused Cheerilee to scream out of shock. Not giving him time to recover as he laid down on the floor, she then connected with a massive smash of her rump over his head to silence him for good. The vigilante quickly released Cheerilee’s restraints and the first thing the teacher did upon being set free was hug her savior. “Mare-Do-Well… thank you!” she finally cried out as tears ran down her eyes. She then gasped as she looked at the vigilante with her bloodshot eyes. “My students! Are they…?” A single nod from the vigilante and she took a deep breath of relief. “Oh thank Celestia they are all right…” She gasped once again. “Zecora! Oh no! That brute! The leader of this whole gang of evil ponies has her! Who knows what vile things he has planned for her! Please you must save her! His room is located at the far end of the hallway. You can’t miss it! Make haste!” Mare-Do-Well didn’t need to be told twice and quickly walked off, only to stop. She just couldn’t leave her here with that strange stallion even if he was passed out cold. She looked at her with worry in her eyes. Cheerilee merely shook her head. “I’ll be alright. Please hurry! Once you find Zecora, come look for me here and I’ll join you in escape. Go!” Taking the directions the teacher gave her, she finally found the door she was looking as she peeked out from a shadowy spot near the side. She frowned seeing that unlike the other doors in the area, this one was flanked by two more guards who stood at attention at both sides of the doorways. There was no way her pebble trick from before would work on these two. She had to use a “different” kind of pebble on them and she was lucky to have one in her utility bags. Reaching in, she found a sleeping gas pellet. She frowned as she saw she only brought one. She still had plenty of smoke bombs left but the sleeping one was all she needed. She then got into position and tossed the small ball at them. The two stallions saw the incoming pellet but the small sphere quickly released its payload before they could sound the alarm. After coughing for a few seconds, they quickly fell down and began to snore loudly. Her ears then picked up a loud thud as though something hit against the door from the inside. What happened in there? Luckily, her mask was made with a magic filtering device over the snout that would prevent anything except oxygen from entering her nostrils so she walked right through the cloud of sleeping gas without feeling the slightest of drowsiness. Rarity was indeed a genius. Mare-Do-Well placed her hoof on the door and pushed to open it only to feel something large and heavy leaning up against it. She then turned around and gave the door a good solid buck that would make even Applejack proud and the door flew open as did whatever was holding the door closed. She ventured inside. The first thing she saw in the foul-stench reeking room was the unconscious form of Bigtime, a very fat earth pony with a dirty brown coat with a badly-styled light-brown mane and tail with tan highlights and a bag of bit coins for his mark. The overweight stallion was leaning at a very unnatural angle on the floor from where he landed after Mare-Do-Well kicked the door open. On his dirty, grimy bed was the thankful image of Zecora who had shackles placed on her four hooves to prevent her from moving. She immediately let out a content sigh. “I thank you, my friend, you came just in time. This foul glutton was about to do an unspeakable crime. The nerve of this hog to use me as a broodmare, but you used the sleep gas and now he lies there.” Mare-Do-Well nodded once and tipped her hat forward. “Now there’s not a moment to spare. If he should wake, a foul fate we’ll all share. The keys to release my binds are behind you. They will certainly open the jail where the foals are kept, too!” Just like she said, Mare-Do-Well found a keyring with several keys placed on a table next to the door. Seeing as she was with an ally who knew her identity, she softly raised her mask a few inches to reveal the pink snout and lips of Pinkie Pie. With her mouth exposed, she picked up the keyring and promptly spat it back out. “Yuck…this tastes horrible…” she said softly. She then shook her head again. “No no, silly Pinkie. You must remember! Do this for your friends!” The costumed pink pony retook the keyring with her mouth and made her way to the bed. After eliminating a few of them, she found the one that unlocked the shackles and the zebra was able to jump out of the bed and stretch her legs. “At long last, I’m finally free. You are truly a friend to me. Now, let’s go to round up Cheerilee and the others. We must return them all to their fathers and mothers.” Pinkie gave her a nod of agreement and then looked at her as she scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “Um, can you take the keys now? I don’t want them to… you know…” The zebra chuckled once. “Yes, don’t fear. Give them here.” Nodding with relief, Pinkie Pie spat the keyring out and Zecora catched it in mid-air. She quickly placed the mask fully back on and Mare-Do-Well was back in form. The two equines made their way out of the room and through the halls again. As they retraced their steps, they were lucky to find no more meandering ponies around which made the return to the locked room where Cheerilee was currently entrenched in all the more smoother. Mare-Do-Well tapped the door softly but loud enough for the occupant to hear, followed by Zecora whispering, “Cheerilee, it is us! We have no time to waste! The evil ones will find us soon, so we must make haste!” “Oh thank goodness!” the teacher finally whispered back in joy as she opened the door. Mare-Do-Well peeked in momentarily as she left and saw Mr. P still unconscious but now tied up like a steer at a rodeo. How Cheerilee managed that, she just didn’t want to know. They all had more important things to worry about anyway. The trio of females then made their way back to the stockade. Upon entering the area, Cheerilee called out softly. “My dear students, are you all right?” All the fifteen foals then peeked out from the areas between the logs and gasped with joy. Very soon, the door was unlocked and the fifteen schoolponies were finally free and they quickly hugged their teacher. “Miss Cheerilee! You’re safe!“ Sweetie Belle called out in glee. “Ah told y’all Mare-Do-Well would never let us down!” beamed Apple Bloom. “Miss Cheerilee, are you ok? You don’t look so good…” Snails added. “All I will say, little ponies, is to always resist the urges of evil ponies who will want you to use botagens. Let this be a lesson. Just say no!” she stated and everypony present nodded in agreement. Diamond Tiara then grew impatient. “Can we just leave this place now? I want to go home and snuggle in my bed and forget this ever happened!” “For once, and I’m scared, I totally agree with you!” Scootaloo remarked with shock. “But, ithn’t there a lot of those nathty ponieth thtill out there? How will we leave thith plathe?” Twist suddenly said which immediately weighted heavily on everypony present. She was right. The ponies working on the glowcap harvest fields were still out there. How could 15 foals manage to escape under their noses? This was quite a predicament and the foals got scared again. Mare-Do-Well finally broke the silence with a loud stomp of her back hoof. She then started to tap her forehoof against the floor continuously. Everypony present was confused for a second until Cheerilee finally realized what she was doing. “Oh my! Horse Code! I haven’t heard a message like that since I was a little filly!” she stated as she closed her eyes to translate the taps. “‘Do…not…fear…stop…I…will…create…diversion…stop…Escape…and…summon...’ what? Pvpd? Oh… the police! Go on. ‘Bring….them…quickly…stop’.” Cheerilee grew worried as did the rest of the students and even Zecora. What was Mare-Do-Well missing from this equation that has everyone now all scared? “My dear, are you sure that is a good plan? You have no idea what this gang has hidden in the shadows. They have… a monster!” the teacher commented which caused all the foals to cower in fear. “When we entered the cave an’ found the secret way in here, that giant monster they got jumped out an’ captured me an’ the Crusaders!” Apple Bloom explained as she and her friends held each other close. “And then while we were all eating, it came out of the cave and captures us as well! It’s so scary! Hold me, DT!” Silver Spoon replied meekly as she grabbed Diamond Tiara only for the snooty filly to shove her away giving her space. The vigilante shook her head. Nothing mattered to her at that moment but the safety of the innocents. She began to tap out in Horse Code again. “Do…not…worry…stop…Monster…or…no…monster…I…will…help…you…escape…stop…I…am…a…hero…stop” “Yeah! She’s a hero! She has to save us! That monster doesn’t have a chance against Mare-Do-Well!” Snips cheered as did everyone else. Cheerilee and Zecora merely looked at her in faith and nodded. Mare-Do-Well nodded in response as she felt the fuzzy feeling once more. With that, the entire group slowly made their way back to the front of the living complex. Upon exiting, they were all relieved the two guards were still out cold, but before they could count their blessings, a loud horn was heard coming from the top of the living quarters. “THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING! ALL PONIES PRESENT, FIND THEM AND CAPTURE THEM! I ORDER YOU!!” an irate Bigtime shouted from a megaphone whose announcement was heard throughout the facility. The jig was finally up and the schoolponies started to panic and sob. Mare-Do-Well quickly stood in front of them and looked down at them with a pleading gaze. This show of compassion was more than enough to stop them from their panic and they could act with levelheadedness now. Cheerilee quickly instructed, “Everypony, hide behind the large stalagmites over there. While Mare-Do-Well is out attracting their attention, we will escape and alert the authorities immediately. Are we all clear?” “YES MA’AM!” they all replied wholeheartedly and scampered off to the rocks. Pleased with the results, Cheerilee turned to face Mare-Do-Well and Zecora. “Please, stay alive, my dear. You mean so much to the foals now. Don’t let them down…” the teacher commented hopefully as she went to hid with her students. Now it was Zecora’s turn to hide as well. Before she went in, she looked at the mare and said, “My friend, it is up to you. We will escape when we see your cue. You are strong and your heart is wide. Know that justice is always on your side.” With that, she was alone again. She wouldn’t be that way for long as several ponies began to converge on her position from both out in the harvest area and inside the living complex. About a mob of twenty ponies stared down at her and prevented her escape. Luckily, none of them saw Cheerilee, Zecora and the 15 schoolponies slip out as they were all far too busy staring at the vigilante. That was a sign of relief for her. All she had to do was holdout until the police arrive. The question was how far Twilight and the initial search party were since seeing them earlier in the night. Either way, live or die, she had no regrets. The gang members suddenly became silent as two figures emerged from the living quarters and they moved aside to let these newcomers pass. One was the furious Bigtime, the other was Mr. P. “So you’re Mare-Do-Well. You think you’re some hero, don’t you little filly? Ha! Don’t make me laugh!” the bloated equine spat out. “You think you can stop me? You got no idea how far my influence is, you worthless excuse of a broodmare! So the prisoners escaped? Big deal! I may have lost my chance at both earning lots more bits on the side and having my way with that zebra, but I got my eye on a bigger prize.” He then chuckled maliciously as did everypony else surrounding her. “You see, you’re more worth to me than anypony else since word throughout the crime circuits is that whoever manages to kill you is automatically given a position of high respect in many places. Heck, your head on a pike is the perfect gift to bring to the Boss of the Griffon Syndicate, and my initiation will be guaranteed! I will become the biggest glowcap producer in all Equestria!” Mare-Do-Well could only stare with ferocious intensity at the gang leader. “Now, it is time you have some playtime with Mr. P,” he said with a smirk as he and all the gang members suddenly moved away from the area leaving her alone with the lanky, dimwitted, leather-clad stallion. “You give Mr. P owie! Mr. P mad! Mr. P crush you!” he proclaimed in his weak voice. Mare-Do-Well merely shook her head. This pony had been beaten before without a sweat and she could do it again. That was her first mistake. Mr. P then gritted his teeth and growled as the tubes began to glow. She could spot some kind of bright purple liquid flow through the tubes and enter the lanky figure as he began glowing a dark purple color. Bigtime talked during this display. “Mr. P is what you call… a gift.” His eyes began to change color from purple to a dark red. “A kind stallion offered me a generous deal in exchange for a batch of glowcaps he needed for some sort of experiment…” His legs and body suddenly began to expand as pure muscle began to form and grow out of his bones. “I thought that monocled prissy sissy was a few baskets short of a full glowcap harvest…” His new muscled body soon filled out the formerly baggy outfit and it was a miracle of fashion it managed to stay on despite all the muscle bulging out even further. He was now basically a good ten feet tall and a force to be reckoned with. “But after showing me some of his results, I knew that stallion was up to something and I wanted in on it!” To her surprise, he soon began to grow even more in height as he became taller and taller with each second. “Instead of a generous portion, I gave one whole season’s harvest and in return he gave me his prototype, Mr. P!” Mare-Do-Well could simply stare upwards as she sat down on her haunches. She was no longer looking at a pony. She was now looking at a behemoth about the size of Ponyville Town Hall with a heavily muscled frame and all four legs to match, the head however remained small and tiny but his eyes were now a deep red color and he growled like a wild beast. She finally realized his first form was what the formerly-captured foals and adults saw earlier. Now she was standing in front of his fully powered-up form. To the enormous mutated pony, Mare-Do-Well and everypony were like bugs, and one particularly bothersome one was about to get squashed. “Remember, Mr. P, do what you will to Mare-Do-Well but leave her head intact! It’s my proof to get into the Griffon Syndicate,” Bigtime sneered as all his subordinates ran further away from the incoming carnage. “Time to play!” “MR. P CRUSH PUNY PONY!!!!” he bellowed in a deep booming voice several octaves lowered in sound. He reared up with a loud roar and slammed his hooves down on the floor which shook the entire mountain and making a few giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling fall and miss some of the gang members by a few inches. Mare-Do-Well did what anypony meeting a monster bent on ending her life would do. She ran. She nimbly jumped over the wall of gang ponies and weaved through the few pegasi there that prevented her from escaping. The ruffians now were in the path of an unstoppable force who had nothing but crushing Mare-Do-Well on its mind. Those ponies with enough common sense beat a hasty retreat with their hooves or their wings while others were knocked off their feet and sent flying everywhere. As she ran towards the exit, a thought then entered her mind. If that monster was still around when the police ponies arrived, it would be a catastrophe. She had to get rid of him before they came but how? Fighting him was useless as he was far too big to attack on her own, and it was far too dangerous to stay in the cavern. If Mr. P went berserk in this form, there would be a cave in and everypony would perish. A cave-in… Mare-Do-Well knew what she had to do. She hated ending somepony’s life but the monster had to be vanquished one way or another. Picking up speed, she ran headfirst into the glowcap field. “NO!” Bigtime yelled in anger as Mr. P squashed and crushed the glowcap crop in his mindless pursuit of Mare-Do-Well as all the spores exploded up into the air, covering the area in a glowing blue mist. He then shouted to all the ponies present, “All of you! Get in there and save the harvest before that peanut brain destroys it all!” Everypony present merely looked at each other and began to slowly back away as their ears and tails fell. “I command you! Save the harvest or you’ll all be playing with Mr. P next!” the obese stallion roared. “Buck you and the harvest! If you think we’re going out there and risk getting turned into pony pancakes or going crazy from inhaling all those spores flying around there, then you don’t need those damn glowcaps to prove you’re insane!” shouted one of the unicorns as he and the rest of the gang members stampeded through the exit out of the grotto. Bigtime just stood there shaking his head as his brain froze and tried to say a word, only for none to come out. The unicorns were right about one thing. Glowcap spores were about as deadly as consuming one entire mushroom and nopony had their protective surgical masks on hoof as they were all now contaminated from being soaked in the spore mist out in the fields. Mare-Do-Well was thankful for Rarity once again for the magic filter that prevented the spores from entering her body as she kept running around the deadly mist. Mr. P however was not as fortunate. Every second he stayed there, he breathed in more and more spores, and with a body as big and thick as his was now, it needed a large amount of the spores to affect him. At long last, she then heard him let out a deep booming whinny consumed with fear. “NO! SPIDERS! MR. P HATE SPIDERS! SPIDERS EVIL! HELP MR. P! MR. P IS GOOD COLT! MR. P IS GOOD COLT!!!!!” he shouted at the top of his voice as his eyes began to show a deep glowing blue swirl that looped continuously in them. The first sign of glowcap madness. Just what Mare-Do-Well was waiting for. The monstruous pony then began to lift his legs up and stomped continuously on the cave floor, shaking the very foundations of the underground hollow as the ceiling began to crack. Stalactites began to shake loose from above and began to destroy everything in the chamber. The living quarters were smashed to rubble, several crates containing tools, provisions and glowcaps for export were also crushed by the debris, and even the ceiling began to show more visible fissures. It would not stay up for long. That was Mare-Do-Well’s cue to exit the cave as she ran down the passageway leading to the outside. Bigtime finally snapped out of his stupor as he saw his life’s work being destroyed before his eyes. Insane with grief by the trauma, he ran up to the crazed Mr. P and shouted up at him. “You stupid nag! You’re destroying everything! I should have left you with that quack of a doctor when I had the chance! You’re nothing but a big overgrown LOSER!” he thundered as he stomped the ground, shaking his molds of fat like jelly. Mr. P couldn’t hear the tiny squeaks of Bigtime even if he wasn’t under the effects of glowcap madness. When he looked down with his glowing, swirling eyes and saw the fat brown pony, however, his eyes began to form a different shape in his glowcap-addled mind. One with enormous eight legs, six eyes and fangs looking up at him. Mr. P shrieked to the best of his new voice and lifted his leg up in the air. “MR. P HATE SPIDER!!! SPIDER GO SQUISH!!!” he bellowed. Bigtime’s last sight was seeing the behemoth's enormous leather clad hoof heading right for him. Mare-Do-Well made it all the way outside as the mountain and ground nearby continued to shake. To her surprise, she saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Zecora, as well over a couple dozen PVPD officers all assembled outside. Twilight must have found the foals and adults in Everfree some time ago, and while the Ponyvillians headed home, Zecora stayed with them as more back-up arrived. These officers were currently lined up in a circle as the gang members who escaped earlier were fenced in by this formation and were kept from running away. “Mare-Do-Well, are you all right? What is going on in there?!” the purple unicorn asked exasperated as they all tried to keep their balance on the shaking ground. “Look there!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the air as she pointed towards the mountain. Everypony present saw the top of the mountain start to sink below followed by the rest of the upper areas of the peak as they all feel inside with a loud boom. A heavy dust cloud blew out from the new “volcano” and the earthquakes finally stopped. The vigilante closed her eyes and lowered her head. She hated to end somepony’s life like that, but Mr. P was far too dangerous and an unwilling victim of whoever Bigtime mentioned was the one he got him from. Whoever that “monocle prissy sissy”, as the obese gang leader referred to him, was, she was going to personally stop him from his beastly experiments. All she had to do was wait. ********************************** “So how are the foals doing? I bet they’re all so sad with Cheerilee in the hospital,” Pinkie Pie mused as she played with the Cake twins in the nursery at Sugarcube Corner as Twilight stood nearby. “You were lucky you got her out when you did, Pinkie. If this Mr. P was as bad as you and she claim, she could’ve lost an eye or worse so the doctor is merely healing all the superficial wounds she received,” her unicorn friend explained. “In the meantime, I found it quite enjoyable to be her substitute teacher until she gets better.” “Hee hee hee hee And I bet they’re already wishing she would be back since you probably are making them read whole books for homework!” Pinkie Pie chortled which caused Pound and Pumpkin to giggle on cue. “Hey, I read five whole books each day as a little filly! They’re fun! I-I-I mean…” she then blushed which caused the pink pony and her baby accomplices to laugh again. However, Pinkie’s laughter soon turned to a sad sigh which made the babies frown with worry. “I just think back over that poor Mr. P and that Bigtime. Sure they were a bunch of ultra-bad meanypants, but they were still ponies! I mean, I caused a cave-in that killed them… I feel so ashamed of myself! I broke Rule #2…” “Actually, Pinkie Pie, a few days ago while the police and some guards on loan from Canterlot were digging through the mountain crime scene for any other evidence, they found the leader the other gang members identified as Bigtime hiding under some of the rocky debris. Funny thing, too, he was mumbling incoherently about not wanting to squish any bugs as long as he lived.” Pinkie’s eyes light up as she stared at her friend. “And what about-?” On cue, Twilight replied, “Then as they dug deeper, they found a strange green pony with purple eyes and a torn leather mask around his face. The poor stallion was so mentally deficient that it was impossible to file charges on him so we transferred him to the hospital’s psychiatric ward. Hopefully, they would help him adjust to life there.” “He’s alive! He’s alive!” Pinkie shouted with glee and the Twins clapped happily as she hopped around in circles. Twilight was confused by this turn of events. Why would Pinkie be happy for a criminal that nearly killed Cheerilee and turned into a monster that would’ve killed them all? She didn’t want to know and just chalked it up for Pinkie just being glad she didn’t kill anypony. “I gotta go now, Twilight! I have to prepare a party at the hospital! Hopefully you-know-who won’t be needed for a while! Catch you later!” the pink earth filly said as she zipped out of the room and down the stairs. Her unicorn friend merely rolled her eyes and gave her a warm smile. She had done so much for Ponyville this time and Mare-Do-Well deserved a bit of a break now and then. ********************************** Analysis Report Number: 422. Title: The Fall of Prototype. Saddened to hear the Prototype was put out of commission, but it was inevitable as improvements were made to the formula strain soon after his imbuement with the original faulty strain. Aforementioned strain-Alpha greatly increased the subject's size and muscle tissue, but caused rapid deceleration in brain intelligence, leaving him with the mental state of a yearling. Giving him to the corpulent glowcap grower was merely a way to be rid of such an inferior subject. Subsequent analysis of current news inform the Prototype was defeated by a crime fighter known by the code name “Mare-Do-Well” by the authorities of the town of Ponyville not far away. Subject is of interest due to her current accolades in stopping criminals but a minor threat to the experiments currently conducted, therefore the rating shall be a simple Class-A-. Experimentations with Formula strain-Gamma shall resume as more adequate subjects can be found. The Legend of Mare-Do-Well trots along.