The Mysterious Mare Do Well
The dreamscape…
"It's been a while, Blue Diary! So, how are things in your world?"
Chronicle was conversing with his younger brother, whom he had only last seen since what would be called the "Owlman Incident" on Blue's end and the "Batman Incident" on Chronicle's, both of which took place after the former's cross-world incident. Thankfully, neither the Owlman nor the Batman both encountered were Primes. After Owlman-302 somehow exploited the Elements of Harmony belonging to Trixie Lulamoon and company to power up a teleporter to return to his world, he crossed it only to end up on Equestria Prime where Chronicle and his friends were confronting Batman-203. The Story Crew came in after that, administering "Memory Locks" on all who were involved and the Interlopers were returned to their respective worlds.
Right now, they weren't practice-dueling, just standing in front of each other.
"Well, instead of fighting Discord, we went to the island of Tambelon, tasked in testing more on just what the Elements of Harmony can do. Also, it was because of…"
"The Demon Ram Grogar?" Chronicle knew of Grogar because their mother had encountered one instance of him in her early days as a Field Op in the world Dream Valley.
"Yeah. He was a tough opponent, although it only got hectic when Corona's forces entered the scene, though it just consisted of a dragon and Zecora (I'm sure she has more that she isn't using, probably those salamanders). He even managed to go toe-to-toe with both her and Luna (and me for a while) and might've won were it not for the Elements of Harmony. But I'm getting ahead of myself there. Anyway, lots of things happened, and we even had to undergo an ad-hoc alliance with the Tyrant Sun herself." Blue did not mention that he also encountered a Book Troop Field Op (their sworn enemy) siding with Corona, who was 'thankfully' KIA by Grogar. "We learned two very important lessons in the end of all that."
"What?"
"One, we need to work hard to even be half as badass as you and your friends. I really got the short end here. You have a mighty magus, a super strong farmer with lariat skills on the side, a lightning bruiser of an athlete, a pony with Toon traits, a stronger-than-she-looks pony with a unique…ocular skill (your marefriend), and a unicorn who knows martial arts and is physically tougher than you.
"I, on the other hoof, have a illusionist more suited to stealth, a pegasus with strength greater than an average earth pony's, a teacher with an interesting past and is no less a skilled fighter, a spellcaster-musician with flexibility on the side, a farmer with extensive knowledge on flora and is fairly strong herself, and a protective mother with an excellent memory of things she sees. And compared to you, with your expanding arsenal of spells, all I have are my swords, my skills in flight, and a little trinket that absorbs magic and helps me duplicate them.
"Cheerilee and I are making an effort to get everypony in shape, but I fear my friend might be taking it a little too far. Anyway, the second thing we learned after Tambelon is about Corona; she's become saner, but much more dangerous than before."
Chronicle could not understand. "What? Can there be anybody more dangerous than a delusional madmare with goddess-like powers?"
Blue kept his voice level. "Personally, I think so. And my answer would be 'A delusional protective mother whose 'child' is all of Equestria'. That is what Corona, the Tyrant Sun, has become."
"Oh, dear Ce—" he cut himself off, not knowing the appropriate word when his brother's version of the Princess of the Sun was a bad guy.
"Yeah. This makes it far more difficult for us to make her, pardon the pun. 'see the light', since she now thinks of us as misguided foals. And you know how stubborn those kinds of mothers can be."
"I can imagine." The white pegasus decided to change the subject. "So, what's happened since we last talked like this?"
Chronicle thought for a moment. "Well, aside from the 'Batman Incident' that coincided with your 'Owlman Incident', and the 'Missing Rainbows Incident', not much, really. Just the occasional lessons, and the confidence boost sessions."
Blue knew what exactly these confidence boost sessions were. "Heh. You're a real softie inside, you know that? As in, more than me or your sis."
The blue unicorn rubbed the back of his head in admission. "Yeah."
"Well, I best be ready to get up soon. Wouldn't want her trumpeting again outside my house. Yes, I now have a house of my own. Maybe I'll show it to you some other time." With a flick of his wings, blue Diary vanished from Chronicle's dreamscape.
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Daybreak, at Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy…
The lights had been dimmed in the academy, making for an ominous atmosphere that put the students on edge as Mystic Shield was about to begin the lesson. A magical clone of Chronicle stood by, the real one off on some other business. Something about 'heroism'.
"Now, here's a new spell we'll be learning. Or rather, it's a variation from a basic spell," he began. (He picked up the technique from his co-teacher.) "Tell me, does everypony here know how to perform an illumination spell, make your horn glow?" He was hoping everypony did, but as expected he found some who can't; all the fillies in attendance. Once again, Twilight Sparkle was absent, but his schedule wasn't rigid for everypony anyway. Snails and Written Script were absent too, since they were members of the new Rainbow Dash Fan Club. In spite of similar heroics, Chronicle doesn't have one either. As far as Mystic knew, anyway. Ponet, Lemon Hearts, and Dinky were also absent, but for different reasons. "Okay, somepony teach them it later. For now, those who can't do the spell step back and try to practice by example."
The other fillies moved to the side while the rest began to cast their illumination spells, which simply involves flaring their horns with magic and making it brighter. Mystic made sure they did not make theirs too bright; that was important for what he intended to teach.
"Now, sometimes you're in a situation where you're being followed, or somebody is stalking you, or you find yourself cornered in an alleyway. One method of instant escape is teleportation, but not all of us have the raw power to do that. Another method is the smoke ball, but real effective ones aren't widely available. There's also the distraction, but you'll have to know your 'opponent' for it to work. The method I'll be teaching you is also situational, best used in the dark like now."
"Are you gonna teach us to use the illumination spell to blind others?" asked Firecracker Burst with a trace of excitement.
"…Not how I would say it, but that's exactly what I intend. Making the transition from 'bright enough' to 'way too bright' within a second can be tricky, and making the transition back to 'bright enough' instead of just outright cancelling the spell is trickier still. This application of the spell requires you to be fast, and I just realized that this technique isn't exactly the type you can teach to a class and more suited to private tutoring."
The fillies on the side giggled at this and so did a few mares.
"Nonetheless, it is a useful ability to practice, and I'll show you just how useful it is. Pay attention, everypony, and dim your horns." Mystic's horn began to glow, and then stayed at an optimal brightness for a couple of seconds. Then, when it was least expected, the glow began to flash a brilliant white, disorienting most of the class (though a few managed to avert thir gaze in time), before it faded and his horn was glowing in its previous brightness as before.
Mystic resumed. "As with all the spells I have taught you, you alone are held responsible with what you do with them. Blame cannot be pinned on me for any wrongdoings you do with those spells. I have done my best to make sure I'm not teaching you stuff that can only or most of the time be used for bad things, or anything that can be dangerous to teach a civilian. Need I remind you, I'm teaching you self-defense, not combat."
"Is that why you're not teaching us that spell Master Chronicle often uses?" asked Pokey Pierce.
"Yes. You'll have to ask him. Personally." That meant asking the clone nearby is out of the question. "He has his reasons fo not sharing it though, what with the Magic Sickness getting in the way of performing it like he does. Only a few unicorns possess immunity."
"There's also the fact that you also need to train your body to use the spell efficiently," the clone finally spoke. "And I'm betting there are earth pony martial arts you can learn more easily instead. Besides, it's a spell for offense purposes, its defensive uses are for parrying other weapons at best, and there are other spells that can do that better." Seeing that he was diverting from the subject, he got the class back on track. "Anyway, let's get practicing. Form a line, and we'll test your ability one at a time." He then turned to the other fillies. "As for you, try and practice the illumination spell. It's also useful in other situations."
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Elsewhere in Ponyville…
"Somepony help! I've been robbed!"
"I'm on it, Parasol!"
While Rainbow Dash was accepting praise from her rescue of a baby filly from a well (turns out), Chronicle was chasing a robber who took Parasol's saddlebag. the culprit was a dirt brown unicorn stallion with messy hair of a darker shade, and an abstract cutie mark that was supposed to depict a swift swiping motion.
The freelance bodyguard wasted no time in casting the tether spell, which formed on his horn. He then 'hurled' it at the thief, snagging him. Next, he pulled back, rendering the 'tether' taut and pulling the thief with it. With the culprit down on the ground, Chronicle followed up with a magic circle (and dispelled his tether spell), then went next to him and 'unsheathed' his signature spell, the magic horn blade, at his neck. "You've nowhere to run!" He then 'moved' the blade closer to dissuade any sudden escape tricks like teleportation.
A police officer arrived shortly and cuffed the criminal, also adding a special ring on his horn for good measure. Chronicle (correctly) assumed it was to prevent a unicorn who has it on from using magic. The officer, who was a bulky earth pony (only an inch shorter than Big Macintosh) with a navy blue coat, a dark gray buzz-cut mane under his police hat, a stubby tail, a bushy mustache, fire red eyes, and a cutie mark depicting a raging bull. The officer, who goes by the name Hot Pursuit, claims it represents his talent on maintaining a chase.
"Second time this week," Pursuit commented as he and Chronicle made their way to the police station, the criminal in tow. Parasol's saddlebag has since been returned. "We thank you again, Chronicle, for your services."
"Just doing what any law-abiding pony would do, sir," the unicorn replied.
Pursuit let out a short chuckle as they reached the entrance. "We sure could use somepony like you in the force. Too bad you're under a contract from the Princess herself."
"Eh, I wouldn't accept it anyway even if I wasn't. There's something about working freelance that's appealing to me. I can do what I want how I want it. To be a police officer would mean being a servant of the law, as far as I'm concerned. Rules to uphold, protocols to follow, and it's easy to use the rules to escape justice. My brother, who lives far from here, hated that and took it to himself to take out the corrupt politicians in his city from the shadows."
Pursuit wasn't an idiot and managed to get what Chronicle was saying. "He became an assassin?"
"Yes."
"He hasn't been caught yet?"
"Well…"
"Guys, could you please take me inside already?" interrupted the thief still in Pursuit's clutches in a snarky manner. "If I'm gonna do my time, I'd rather it start now."
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Some time later…
Chronicle was somewhere at a part of town he thought needed a serious visit from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (assuming such an Administration even exists in Equestria) when he heard a blood-curdling scream. Coming his way was a baby carriage that rocketed over the top of a steep ridge and was barreling along a footpath that paralleled an uncomfortably high cliff. He could hear the carriage’s occupant bawling in terror, surprising a few other ponies in the town proper…and bringing Rainbow out of the cloud in which she had been resting.
As the pegasus sped to avert the befalling disaster, Chronicle had already snagged the carriage with his tether spell, but was then dragged along when he underestimated its speed. He already had his hooves dug into the ground, but at the rate they were going, he and the carriage would fall off the cliff edge waiting at the end.
A kick of speed put Rainbow close enough to clamp her teeth around the carriage’s push-bar, 'pushing' the 'tether' to the side in the process. She then dug in her rear hooves, slowing the rig so that it stopped with inches to spare before the cliff. As she backed it up a bit, Chronicle dismissing his spell as he stood a ways behind, a crowd below—which included the rest of their friends—broke into cheers.
What the? Were they waiting for us? "Whoa. What’s with the crowd?" he remarked out loud. While he was actually no stranger to ponies cheering him for heroic deeds, he preferred to let those deeds speak for themselves.
As for his fellow 'hero', she gave the crowd a big smile and took a bow. After a few seconds of basking though, she gasped in shock and looked into the carriage. "Oh, no! There’s something wrong with the baby!"
There came a collective gasp from the group. Chronicle however was worried. Oh no! It must be the trauma from the high speed!
As she continued, she smiled and lifted the diaper-clad newborn into full view. "She’s not cheering for everypony’s favorite hero, Rainbow Dash!"
There were more cheers as she carried the filly back to its mother. Cameras clicked and flashes popped during the hand-off from three photographers as they snapped away from just below the top of the ridge. The baby was tossed back to the mother, who caught the diaper in her teeth and walked off with a slightly dirty look as Rainbow posed for the cameras.
The rest of their friends then came over, bewilderment settling in on their faces; Scootaloo got in closer, admiration written all over hers.
"There just aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe Rainbow Dash’s awesomeness!" said the pegasus filly as her idol struck a few poses. Chronicle had his share of the cameras as well, but while he didn't hog in the glory, he didn't shy away either, standing just like a dignified citizen.
Twilight leaned over to Applejack and said, "I can think of a few new words."
"And I bet 'modest' is not one of ’em," replied the farmpony. "Not for Dash, anyways."
On the end of this, the heroic pegasus rose clear of the crowd and blew a few kisses before zipping up a bit higher. Cheers rose after her as she traced out a lightning bolt with cloud contrails and cruised past.
"No, but she is kinda awesome," decided Twilight as his charge gently shoved off any more photographs and teleported away.
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Later, elsewhere…
Three elderly ponies were gathered at a balcony, two conversing mares and a stallion. Just as a second stallion emerged onto the balcony, a cracking noise from below stopped him short.
"Wha—?"
It turns out that the entire platform was splitting across its width just behind him. Confused mumblings turned into cries of panic as the whole thing shook and worried onlookers gathered below. The timbers gave way partially, leaving the four ponies listing at a precarious angle.
"Never fear…" called out a certain pegasus. "…your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!" And she was on the move.
A certain unicorn didn't bother with entry phrases and was already on the move. The beams broke apart completely and the balcony plunged away, but both a barrier and a pegasus slowed it down enough for it to land gently in the street. There was jubilation from the spectators that were suddenly there. Cheers were doled out on the two.
"We’d be lost without you!…You’re our hero, Rainbow Dash!"
"Chronicle is the greatest!"
The latter made a mental note to inquire on the integrity of the balcony, while the former lifted off while the group broke into chanting both of their names, then cupped a hoof to her ear. "I can’t hear you!"
This prompted them to add a decibel or twelve. Meanwhile, she did a few celebratory moves in midair, enjoying every second of the adulation. The mare-faced stallion however already broke away from the crowd, wanting to ensure that this disaster won't happen again. He happened to approach the rest of his friends, who were talking with one another.
"Call me silly, but I think this whole hero thing might be going to Rainbow Dash’s head," Twilight said.
"You may be right…silly," agreed Pinkie.
The violet unicorn grimaced at her friend’s ability to miss the glaringly obvious. She then noticed her bodyguard come over and said, "I hope this won't go to your head either."
"Eh, I've done my share of hero work in the past," assured Chronicle. "And I've seen my share of glory hogs like her. Don't worry, I won't let it get into my head."
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Sugarcube Corner…
Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie were all slightly bemused at the sight of a large gathering of enthusiastic fans. Rainbow strutted into view, her favorite black sunglasses propped on her forehead, and Spike—dressed in a trench coat and fedora, with a press card sticking out of its band—taking notes. Chronicle was with his friends, using an invisibility spell he picked up from Luna Equestria's Trixie Lulamoon during the Antithesis Incident. He was hiding from any fangirls and fanboys he might have. He was also gently siphoning magic off of Twilight (with her permission) to maintain his spell without using too much of his own, which he might need in a crisis.
"And then, I zoomed into the well," Rainbow narrated one of her first heroics (that did not pertain to the Elements of Harmony or the Wonderbolts). "I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn’t let that stop me. Danger’s my middle name! Rainbow Danger Dash!" She then lowered the shades.
Wasn't it Miriam? Then again, that's actually kind of embarrassing. I could easily be wrong about the 'Miriam' part.
Spike meanwhile had his pencil flying across his notebook pages as he continued writing.
"Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day."
“…that…day,” Spike wrote.
"Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since," Applejack remarked.
The others with her murmured their agreement.
Pinkie was eating a cupcake, but had no time to offer a bite before Rainbow lay a foreleg across the workhorse’s shoulder, who found herself yanked up onto her hind legs; Rainbow had taken off her sunglasses.
"Hey, Applejack. How would you like to be immortalized as my friend?"
Applejack got all four hooves down. "Immorta-what?"
Too late.
One of the photos from the baby rescue crashed the party and began taking shots of the pair. As Spike continued his note-taking, a skeptical Twilight leaned down to him. "Are you taking notes?"
"Yep. I’ve been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself, to write her autobiography!" Across the floor, Applejack decided she's had enough of this and walked off. Rainbow kept posing for the camera as Scootaloo watched.
"Um, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about!"
"Maybe for your normal run-of-the-mill ponies," replied Rainbow. But I’m far too busy saving lives to stop and write." She walked up to Spike, patting his head. "That’s why I hired Spike as my ghostwriter."
This last word spooked Pinkie away from the cake she had been chomping and brought a shriek. "Spike’s a ghost!" And she bailed out, allowing for some brief silence.
Rainbow then began to pace the floor and continued. "Anyway, Spike here writes down everything I say—don’t you, Spike?"
"'Don’t…you…Spike?' Got it!"
"This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform." She posed in front of a camera as a filly ran up and hugged her. "Yeah, it takes guts." As she spoke, after each flash, a different filly would zip up to pose with her. "But it also takes brains."
Of which I'm certainly better at. Chronicle thought, still invisible. Their friends were unimpressed with her attitude, but she seemed ignorant.
"And sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I’m up to the challenge."
Twilight and Applejack cut their eyes toward each other for a brief instant, as if either getting the same idea or wordlessly asking each other to throw something at the pegasus with the swelled head.
"Of course, I appreciate Chronicle's aid, as he's certainly an awesome pony as well, but he doesn't have as much time for hero work as I do. As Ponyville's weather manager, I'm able to go to the rescue on a moment's notice. Being a speedy pegasus helps a lot in that regard."
Ouch, she's got a point. Hmm…maybe I should try the hero business. But Mystic's too busy with his academy, so I'll have to ask somepony else to help me. Ooh, I know who to ask.
Suddenly, a filly—Liza Doolots, who was identical to Tootsie Flute in appearance, but had a horseshoe cutie mark whereas Tootsie was a blank-flank—bumped into him, and then cried out, "I found him!"
Some of the Rainbow Dash fans immediately turned to where Chronicle had been hiding and one of them—a unicorn stallion not attending the Academy—cast a spell that cancelled the invisibility spell. The fanclub target wasted no time in teleporting away, and the fanclub instantly left the bakery, (correctly) assuming that he would be somewhere outside.
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Later, in somepony's house…
Two certain ponies faced each other in the living room as they had a drink. Nothing alcoholic, of course, or even tea.
"You want my assistance?"
"Yeah, Skyla. I think Rainbow Dash is being too full of herself. I need to try and bring her back down to earth, if you know what I mean."
"I do. If this continues, the Wonderbolts won't accept her. I certainly can't."
"So will you help me?"
"…Sure. I'm free for the next week. Will we need costumes?"
"My reputation speaks for itself, and as long as you don't perform any difficult Wonderbolt tricks, you won't be suspected as one of them. No. No costumes."
"Okay."
(A/N: I thought of trying to hide it until the 'end', but I figured you'd figure that aside from Moonbow Peek, there's only one friend outside of the EOH circle that Chronicle would be approaching right now.)
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The next day…
A line of Rainbow Dash fans have gathered. At its head, an earth pony filly with a sheet in her teeth walked up to Rainbow, who has a pencil in hers. The document was really to be a grayscale picture of the self-proclaimed hero, who scribbled across it as an autograph before backing away for a bit.
"There you go!"
After the filly tucked it in her saddlebags, she said, "Someday I want to be just like you."
"Aim high, kid, but don’t aim for the impossible."
A mare’s distant scream surprised the entire group and caused the fans to gasp. There was a punctured hot-air balloon coming down fast, and on it was Cherry Berry, who was wearing a leather aviator’s helmet and goggles.
"HEEELLLP! HEEELLLP!" she was screaming.
"Uh, don’t you think you should go and help?" Snips asked his idol, who was still signing autographs.
"Yeah, yeah. I’ve got a good ten seconds to spare. Just a couple more."
"Better hurry, 'cause Chronicle and his new sidekick are on the case."
Indeed, he and Skyla were already moving, the former preparing a teleportation spell…for the balloon to flip its orientation and momentum, and the latter already closing in on the balloon, being closer.
Once she has finished scribbling on the latest photo, Rainbow took off with great speed. In the air, however, she was coasting upward on her back, not with any particular sense of urgency. Only after covering a few hundred yards did she flip over to approach the terrified balloonist, whose balloon basket was already caught by Skyla, who was already struggling to slow its fall. The balloon was still too far for Chronicle to cast. To make matters worse, his fans decided now of all times to swarm him with requests for signed autographs, one of them cancelling his spell.
"Not now!" he tried to wave them off, but these were insistent.
“The tension is unbearable!” Spike, still serving as Rainbow's 'ghostwriter', wrote at top speed “Will Rainbow Dash make it on time? Will the other heroes be enough?”
The passage of a shadow cast by something overhead stopped his No. 2 cold on the page. Its source landed on a rooftop: a pony clad in a purple outfit that covered every square inch of fur, including eyes, mane, and tail. A long, darker purple cape billowed behind the newcomer, which was of the same shade as the hood that covered the head and the ribbon of the broad-brimmed fedora atop this. Wrappings over each hoof had this color as well. The hat itself and the collar of the cape were a match for the bodysuit. Nothing can be seen of the eyes except for two lavender panels that matched the hue of the large M on the brooch securing the cape. When the figure stood upright, enough of the general facial contour became discernible to mark it as a mare.
She leaped from one rooftop to the next, as sure-footed as a mountain goat, and dove across open space to pull Cherry out of the balloon. The moment the earth pony was safe, Skyla bailed. When Rainbow charged in, she got nothing but a faceful of canvas and dropped out of sight. A thud and a scatter of leaves marked her ungraceful touchdown. The remains of the balloon were now tangled in and around a tree. Rainbow lifted one deflated fold and saw the unknown mare shook hooves with the balloonist in front of a cheering crowd before sprinting away.
"Holy turnips! That pony came outta nowhere!" said Skyla.
"I’ve never seen such bravery in all my life!"
The Mayor then spoke up. "That’s right. Ponyville has a new hero." Everypony turned to look at the caped figure, seen in silhouette atop a mountain and backed by the sun before running down the far side. A mysterious mare that has done well by our fair city today. I dub this new masked hero…”The Mysterious Mare Do Well”!" There were cheers from all.
Except from Rainbow, who disgustingly said to herself, "Mare Do Well, huh? Well, that mare would do well to stay out of my way! Ponyville’s only got room for one hero, and that hero is me!" She tried to take a step forward, but ended up on her face due to a rigging line snagged around one foreleg. Instead, she propped her head on that leg and sat there sulking.
"Give it a rest, Rainbow," Chronicle said as he successfully escaped his fans and went over to her. "What matters is that the pony is safe. That's what being a hero is about."
"And what do you know about being a hero?" she angrily retorted.
"I know for a fact that you're more concerned with fame than doing the right thing. You're not a hero, you're a glory hound."
"What's that even supposed to mean?!" She waved him off before he could reply. "You know what? Forget it!" She then left him in the dust, leaving him irritated.
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Eyecatch (picture-type) - Three-way split. The top panel shows Mare Do Well. The right panel shows an indignant Rainbow Dash. The left panel shows Chronicle and Skyla. The show's logo is seen on the center.
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The next day…
A six-seater carriage filled with screaming tourist ponies was hurtling down a slope at high speed. Judging from the front end having two snapped-off shafts and a total lack of any pulling team…
"Not again!" swore Chronicle as he and Skyla saw it go down. "I swear I'm gonna file a complaint to the OSHA."
"OSHA?" asked Skyla.
"Occupational Safety and— let's save these ponies first! How do we go about doing this?" They were positioned between the carriage and the impending cliff. And it was headed in their direction.
"You use your tether spell, I'll pull you from the back with the lasso."
"Okay, let's go!"
In a jiffy, Chronicle 'snagged' the carriage, just like last time, and was expectedly pulled along when he attempted to pull taut. Thankfully for him, he 'put' his end of the tether around his barrel, so there was no severe horn trauma. Skyla already had the lasso coiled around his barrel and was attempting to pull the opposite way. The carriage was slowing down, but it wasn't enough.
Then, Rainbow Dash arrived at the scene and flashed in to pull even with the rear end. "Never fear. Your friendly neighborhood Rainbow—"
"Excuse me!" interrupted one of the tourists. "Uh, do you think you could skip your catchphrase and just hurry up and save us?"
On these last five words, the blue speedster rolled her eyes and groaned at having her intro ruined so in such a thoughtless manner. "Fine." She then somersaulted to the front end. "Picky, picky." Seizing the broken shafts, she dug in her rear hooves.
"Rainbow!" Chronicle yelled. "Get these ponies out of here! The three of us can't stop this much longer!"
"I told you I got— Whoa!"
She found that she cannot get enough traction to stop the carriage on the steep downgrade. She trailed off into a panicked yell as it broke loose again and tossed her aside, plowing Skyla aside in the process, and she can do no more than stare while the rig barreled toward the cliff at the end of this road, with Chronicle doing his darnedest to save the ponies. Skyla was already on the move to get back into the action. However, Mare Do Well leaped into view, planted herself to face over the edge, and lifted her rear legs so that she was standing on her front hooves.
The front end of the carriage made contact, plowing her ahead, and sending Chronicle slamming into the back of the carriage, no longer being the force trying to slow it down. Mare Do Well dug in against the ground, keeping her rear legs tensed, and gradually brought everything to a stop and Chronicle slowly pulled himself away. Her front hooves ended up so close to the edge that a few clods of dirt kicked up by them clattered over it. There came cheers from the passengers, one of whom jumped out to kiss the ground.
"Oh, thank you, Mare Do…" He trailed off in surprise as Mare Do Well was already bounding away across the mountaintops.
Rainbow, now upright, watched from the spot where she wiped out quite a way back. "I can’t believe it! Mare Do Well is stronger than me? Well, a hero is more than just muscle—" She began to walk away, much to Skyla's worry. "—and she’s gonna learn that the hard way."
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A new building was under construction, six floors planned. Heavy equipment was in use and the crew was hard at work. The crane snagged a beam to hoist it up. The operator tried to move one of the levers but found it jammed; when he tried to force it, he was rewarded with sparks and smoke from the overloaded mechanism. Out of control, the arm swung wildly in a circle as Ponyville's three civilian heroes caught sight of the disaster.
One of them bothered with her catchphrase while the other two already made for the to-be-disaster area as the rope holding the beam to the crane’s hook began to snap. The one who went and dallied (obviously Rainbow Dash) had to dodge the beam…which smashed into the lowest section of the framework, shaking other pieces loose. Amidst the mayhem, the three civilian heroes got to work, Chronicle working in tandem with Skyla. He hasn't quite mastered yet the art of teleporting others from a distance farther from himself. Besides, all the falling debris made it much more complicated and that much harder to concentrate.
One worker stallion pointed upward. "LOOK!!"
Standing on the crane's pulley was the Mysterious Mare Do Well. As she jumped down, the crane operator pumped a hoof and cheered for her.
The masked rescuer nimbly dodged falling junk, balanced on a trio of rolling barrels, and jumped clear to run a slalom across the site. One upstaged pegasus glared daggers at her from above, but another worker was very grateful to be lifted onto the purple back and carried to safety as Rainbow’s jaw dropped. The latter’s rancor turned to shock when she noticed a pallet loaded with bricks toppling off the highest level of the framework. Seeing Mare Do Well busy, Skyla having just rescued another worker, and Chronicle weathering the debris as he shielded himself and yet another worker (but instead of a dome, he had a panel that tilted to behind himself), the blue pegasus dove in toward a stallion who had found himself in the load’s growing shadow and plowed him away, an instant before it crashed to the ground.
While she ran for all she was worth, the sole definite unicorn in the area decided to use another spell picked up from Blue Diary's Trixie; the "magic sight" spell. With this, aside from the obvious, he can at least discern a pony's race. But he would be rendered blind for a day if he looked at an alicorn with this spell on. At least if they used too much power in front of him.
I hope that's not either of the Princesses in undercover.
This thought process only took a single second and once the spell was cast, his eyes took on a blue tint. Unlike the pony he learned this spell from, he saw distinct colors as well as little boxes indicating what magic he is looking at. Glancing at Mare Do Well, as well as glimpsing the onlooking ponies, he saw that the masked savior was an earth pony, judging by the forest green aura. Pegasi emitted a sky blue aura, and unicorns emitted a violet aura. He held up his own hoof and saw that his aura was…yellow. Huh, must be because I'm not born a unicorn. The little box even said "█████-█████ ████████".
"Um, could we please get out of here now?" asked the worker he was with.
This broke him out of his reverie. "Right, got it." Drawing a line between their location and where he wanted to go, he teleported himself and his rescuee out of the pile of debris, and next to where the rest of the other rescued workers were put at a safe patch of grass.
From he saw, there were four workers near Mare Do Well, three near Skyla, and one on the far side, the one rescued by Rainbow Dash. Behind them, the framework of the building proceeded to come down with a deafening roar, a great belch of dust, and a moderate tremor. The stallion Rainbow just rescued moaned weakly and went over in a dead faint.
The blue pegasus flew over to them and said, "Well, Mare Do Well—or should I call you Mare Do Slow? You’re gonna have to pick up the pace if you want to compete with me, ’cause I move like lightning!"
"Actually, she saved all of us. We owe her our lives," said one of the worker stallions with the masked heroine.
The cocky blue face went slack with shock as the red-violet eyes constricted to points, and she dropped to the ground alongside the one she saved on her own.
"We all took part in saving everypony," Skyla told her 'scouting target'. "We would never have forgiven ourselves if the one you rescued didn't make it."
"This is not a competition, Rainbow Dash," warned Chronicle. "The sooner you realize that, the better it will be for Ponyville. True heroes don't seek fame, but do what is right because it is so."
With that, Mare Do Well led the rest of the cheering crew in a stampede away from the area, and the one the self-proclaimed hero rescued walked after them to leave a poleaxed Rainbow on the dirt. In due time, the face rearranged itself into a furious growl as soon as Skyla and Chronicle were out of earshot.
"Okay. She’s strong, fast, and somehow knows what’s gonna happen ahead of time." She stood up and flew off. "I gotta step up my game."
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Chronicle was en route to Ponyville's dam after Skyla voiced her concern with its integrity. He passed by a high, broad waterfall on a nearby cliff. He could see the river ahead was held back by the large dam, but once he was close enough, he could see a fresh crack with water dripping through it. He also saw Rainbow cruise past…and double back with a gasp, having noticed the fracture as well.
"If the dam breaks, the whole town’ll be flooded! Looks like Ponyville needs a hero!" said the pegasus as she plunked her hoof over it, beaming the whole time. "Easy-peasy. My game is officially back on. If only somepony were here to pat me on the back."
As she said this, the break grew a bit without her noticing. She then removed her hoof from it to give herself the pat. "Heh. Guess I’ll have to do it myself."
Chronicle groaned at this. He was too far from the crack to try and close it via telekinesis. He could use Surveillance and do it a roundabout way by looking through his friend's camera, but he can't risk it being seen by others. Calling for her to put her hoof back seemed a moot point given her attitude.
And then the dam seemed to choose this moment to give out, releasing a torrent that washed her away and turned whatever she was going to say into a series of waterlogged yelps and cries. She ended up floating down the waterway toward the falls and screaming at top volume. "HEEELLLP!!"
"Why was there nopony here to patrol the dam?!" Chronicle cursed himself, summoning a clone to do what he can to help his boastful friend while he checked what he could do about the dam…and scold any neglectful watchers.
The clone ran downstream, finding a way to get Rainbow out of the river, only to see that Mare Do Well was already on the case, having placed a log for her to grab, which she bumped into. The pegasus's mouth was open in wordless disbelief after catching it. She got over it quickly, though, and wasn't exactly thankful. "You?!? Huh. I suppose you want me to thank—"
A toss of the purple head sent the fedora gliding away. Underneath it was a unicorn’s glowing horn, covered by the material of the hood. Rainbow gaped as the shattered pieces of the dam were levitated back toward it and fitted neatly into place. There were two similar gapes from Chronicle and his clone.
What?! Did I read my magic sight spell incorrectly or is Mare Do Well…oh, I think I got it now! It finally dawned on the stallion.
"You gotta be kidding me!" gasped Rainbow as she climbed onto the log.
Mare Do Well is many ponies! Chronicle realized as he saw Mare Do Well vanish from his view, then re-appear on a high perch, floating her hat back on. He cast his magic sight spell and saw that this Mare Do Well was a unicorn, and a powerful one to boot, judging by the bright violet aura. He could also see trace magic that indicated a teleport. And that can mean one of two things. One, Twilight Sparkle is a Mare Do Well, for there is no other mare who can pull off a teleportation spell that easily. Two, it could easily be another mare I don't know who is just as powerful, but has not used it in my presence. I'll need more proof though.
The show of magic had apparently attracted the attention of several ponies, for they now cheered cheer her from the riverbank as then gave an acknowledging wave before darting away.
The soaked polychromatic-maned pegasus, meanwhile, had made it back to the bank and was shaking herself dry. "Let me get this straight. She’s strong, she’s agile, and she’s magic?" Letting go with a loud, frustrated groan, she flopped backward onto the grass. "How do I compete with that?" A second later, an idea began to form under the vivid mane as she stood up. "Wait a minute. I do have a leg up on her. And that leg is…" She took off, leaving a rainbow contrail. "…wings!" She darted here and there for a second, then went straight ahead. "Hah! Take that, Mare Do Well!"
Instead, she was the one who had to take it in the form of a purple blur that flashed past to stop her cold and leave her spinning. When she glared after the interloper, it showed that Mare Do Well had wings, previously covered by the folds of the cape. She soared over the whooping crowd by the dam and was gone before Rainbow can make it back to the site.
"Oh, for the love of Pete."
At around the same time, Skyla finally reached Chronicle's location, which was on top of the dam. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come!" she profusely apologized. "I had to save two cats who got stuck up a tree by a dog. And I did my best not to get too many scratches."
"I don't blame you," assured Chronicle as he deactivated his magic sight spell. "But I discovered something ground-breaking about the Mysterious Mare Do Well."
"I saw it too. Mare Do Well has a horn and wings, meaning she's an alicorn! Could it be that one of our princesses is disguising herself as the vigilante? My bets are on Princess Luna."
"Or, Mare Do Well is actually multiple ponies. I just saw her fix the dam with magic alone. Yet she just dodged about during the construction site incident. If Mare Do Well was one pony, she wouldn't have challenged herself like that."
"But what does this change?"
"Nothing. But why was it only now of all times that the hero-hailing got to Rainbow's head? I mean, she saved the day a couple of times prior and there wasn't such pigheadedness out of her then." Unless residual memories of the time she was missing from Equestria has some involvement…
"I don't know either. As for two of three cases I know, that glory was shared with the rest of her friends and you, not that you're not her friend of course. …I'm hungry for some candy. Let's buy some at Bon Bon's."
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Later…
The civilian hero duo left Bon Bon's Sweet Treats, Skyla having a saddlebag that now held cheese-flavored candies.
"So, any thoughts on who these Mare Do Wells might be?" she asked Chronicle.
"Hmm…" He sorted out the data he had at the moment. "From what I figured out so far, one Mare Do Well had exceptional strength to stop a downhill-speeding tourist carriage, one Mare Do Well possessed some degree of clairvoyance to dodge all those debris with ease if it wasn't just keen eyes, one Mare Do Well is a powerful spellcaster, and one Mare Do Well is a pegasus."
Skyla tried and summed things up as she took a cheese-flavored gumball and slipped it into her mouth. "Hmm, normally I would sat that that super strong Mare Do well would have to be an earth pony, but after seeing that other-world Raindrops and how earth pony-strong she was, I'll have to re-evaluate that.
"As for the clairvoyant Mare Do Well, there is one pony I could think of at the top of my head, but I've seen other ponies who can perceive the future if only a few seconds ahead. For the unicorn Mare Do Well, one pony is also at the top of my head, but it could easily be some other unicorn who just doesn't reveal that she's a powerful magician like Twilight. And the pegasus Mare Do Well could obviously be any pegasus. I hate to say this, but I have a very sneaky suspicion that those four Mare Do Wells are—"
Chronicle knew where this is going, and didn't want to hear it from her. "As you implied earlier, there are plenty of other ponies who can fit the description. But I will ask them just in case." He summoned some magical clones, gave them directives, and once they were out of sight, he diverted to a different subject. "Say, why the heck does Ponyville even need a steep downhill road leading to a sheer cliff, anyway?"
"It's for the pegasi carriages to land on and take off, of course. Just lifting off won't make the magic work for such heavy loads."
"Oh."
Just then, the two ponies saw Mystic Shield headed their direction and both stopped before they could bump into one another.
"Chronicle, Skyla," he greeted the two.
"Mystic Shield," the two greeted in return.
"Nice day, isn't it? No need to undergo heroics for the time being?"
"Fortunately for us," said Chronicle. They then heard Rainbow Dash fly by. The three then decided to have a walk together, en route to "Probably not for her, though. I'm getting worried. I don't know if Mare Do Well really is as heroic as the town sees her as, not that I have doubts of that, but ever since she entered the scene, Rainbow seems to be getting worse with her ego. I fear she might start causing trouble so she can keep 'playing the hero', and I'll have to put a stop to her if that happens before Mare Do Well decides to go and fix it herself."
"You think she might really go that far?" Skyla asked in worry.
"I plan on making sure she doesn't. I can't let my friends fall to this level. Not again. Not after what Discord did."
Mystic was quick to lift his spirits. "Now, now, don't be like that, lest we end up having to face two problems; the hero with an acquired situational narcissism, and the well-intentioned extremist."
"You sound like you quoted those terms from somewhere," said the pegasus as she raised an eyebrow at Mystic.
"Did I?"
"Thanks, Mystic. I needed that." Chronicle. "I was wondering why disasters started happening frequently this month."
"Yeah. That necromancer who claimed himself to be a Discord cultist three days after you finally found Rainbow proved to be a real pain." The ascot-wearing unicorn shuddered a bit. "I learned that I also need to teach my students to be brave, and that wetting myself like a baby is terrible for my reputation."
Skyla made a face. "Ugh! I did not need to hear that!"
"Just where did they get those 'classical' elemental powers, anyway, Chronicle?"
The mare-faced unicorn took a moment to think. "All I can tell you is that they cost a fortune, but it was worth every bit."
"I see. …Anyway, when will you be available again in pony to help me teach?"
"I'm still worried about Rainbow, and I can't risk just having a clone there to help her out. Maybe after she's learned her lesson."
"I think Mare Do Well is attempting to teach her humility," the pegasus guessed.
"If she is, then she isn't doing a very good job at reaching out to her. If only I can just find Mare Do Well and negotiate, but given that she's multiple ponies, I don't know who I can trust."
"Not even your friends?" queried Mystic.
"From what Skyla almost told me before I silenced her, there's a good chance that my friends are involved, especially if teaching humility to Rainbow Dash is the reason. But without sufficient evidence, I can't point hooves at them, and that would make me look bad. Even if I may be correct, it would be wrong to accuse them rightly for incorrect reasons.
"Also, if I tell one Mare Do Well about this outright without knowing it's her, I could risk her telling the other Mare Do Wells to avoid me to maintain the masquerade."
"Why would they do that?" asked Mystic. "Don't they know you can be trusted to keep a secret?"
"Only my friends know that. And there's still the possibility that these Mare Do Wells aren't even Ponyvillians and thus wouldn't know much about me. Building up a reputation isn't exactly my top priority."
Mystic raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying you can only trust stallions because they can't be Mare Do Wells?"
Chronicle scoffed at the idea. "That would be sexist, and while faces like mine—" He gestured to his mare-face. "—are a rarity, no pun intended, those who have them can potentially be a Mare Do Well. And those who aren't can still be confidants/secret-keepers." Another thought came to him as the three stopped walking. They were now at the path leading to Carousel Boutique. "Now that I think about it, how do I know that neither of you are—"
His thought process was cut off as he saw a certain creature that was registered as a threat whose level is potentially equal to Discord's. Nopony else was able to see it though.
His abrupt pause caught the attention of his non-EOH friends. "Is something wrong, Chronicle?" Skyla asked.
He quickly calmed himself, secretly summoned a clone, and had it follow that creature. "Nothing. It's just that I realize I would look paranoid with my suspecting of you two as a Mare Do Well or confidant of hers. But just to ease my mind, could you two Pinkie Promise me?"
"Here we go," groaned Mystic. Neither he nor Skyla knew exactly how severe the consequences of breaking a Pinkie Promise were that Chronicle would treat it as a binding contract. While the former did experience the consequences of breaking one, he had managed to waylay her by citing the exact terms of the promise and pointing out the loophole.
"Do you Pinkie Promise that neither of you know anything at all pertaining to the secret identities of the Mysterious Mare Do Well?"
His two friends turned to face each other, then back to him and said, "We Pinkie Promise that neither of us know anything at all pertaining to the secret identities of the Mysterious Mare Do Well?" The three then did the motions, having made Pinkie Promises before. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
"And we know what happens if we break a Pinkie Promise, Pinkie Pie!" shouted Mystic. "No need to remind us!"
Pinkie Pie then suddenly popped out from a nearby cloud. "Okie-dokie-lokie!" She then popped back in and when Skyla checked it, there was no evidence of the earth pony ever being there, except for some confetti.
"So, should we start searching?" asked Mystic.
"I don't even know where to start or how," Chronicle replied, then gave a wan smile. "But with you guys by my side, I think I can do it."
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Eyecatch (picture-type) - Chronicle with a "deerstalker" hat, Mystic Shield with a bowler hat, and Skyla with her Wonderbolt goggles around her neck. The three are looking at Mare Do Well's dropped brooch, which dissolves and turns into the show's logo.
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The Chronicle clone continued to follow the creature his original spotted earlier through the park.
The creature was a small white feline, 61 centimeters long from head to tail. It had four ears; two resembling a cat's, and two akin to long tassel-like appendages that split into three sections at its tip, which faded from white to pink and had three red dots horizontally before the splits. It also bore a pair of floating golden rings. On its back was an egg-shaped red oval. The Story Crew's designation for it was "A-E Incubator", and was regarded as a top level threat.
Before long, the creature realize it was being followed as it turned to face the clone, showing that its face consisted of two beady pink eyes with dark maroon irises and a tiny, sigma-shaped "cat mouth". By that time, Chronicle already had his Story Crew-issued Detainer deployed, which turned into an inescapable bubble that encased the creature.
"You're not making any contracts with anybody here. Incubator," he sneered at it.
How do you know of me? it asked him through telepathy.
"My organization has been tasked in, among many things, finding your kind." While he said this, he took out his Sender and placed it under the Incubator, not wanting to hear any of its ████. "Codeword: Ghorofa." In a few seconds, the Incubator was gone, and he returned his Sender back to hammerspace; he'll have another Detainer soon. "Okay, that takes care of that."
Normally, it would. This made him frown. But we've been learning how to elude the Story Crew's methods of preventing us from completing our mission. Chronicle turned around to see another Incubator. This world is completely saturated with magical energy, and there are quite a lot of inhabitants in this world that show potential to become a Puella Magi. I do not understand why your organization would do anything to stand in our way.
"If memory serves, I distinctly remember a Spiral Energy Generator that should solve your problem back in Hadithi."
True, but after the discovery of multiple universes, we find that this generator of yours can only reverse entropy for only a few of them. Our system is more efficient.
"Actually, our scientists have been discussing the population dynamics behind that, and have deemed your system either inevitably doomed to failure or incredibly fragile and volatile." He knew of this because of a visit from those scientists during his school life prior to his family's 'assignment' to the Equestria Cluster. He didn't remembered all the particular maths behind it, though.
Really. The Incubator was skeptical.
"Yes, really. There are certain worlds where we cannot stop you from doing what you need to do, but this world is not one of them. And now that my organization knows you're trying to target this world for harvesting, they will stand in your way, so I suggest you leave now before you waste energy from respawns."
The Incubator betrayed no emotion, if only because they are incapable of expressing such. I will take what you have said in consideration. It made to leave. But we will continue on our mission to save the universes, and you and the Story Crew cannot stop us. It then inexplicably vanished.
(A/N: Sorry for doing a plot line that was ultimately completely irrelevant to "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", reasons on the notes below.)
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Elsewhere at the park…
"Stick to the plan, guys," Chronicle said.
"We got it, we got it," grumbled Mystic.
"No need to remind us," sighed Skyla.
They (and a lot of townsponies, including Applejack and Twilight) were facing a stage that had been set up, liberally festooned with balloons, purple flags, and banners showing Mare Do Well’s symbol and likeness. The Mayor, standing at a lectern, tapped a gavel to bring the crowd to order.
"Welcome to Ponyville’s first, but surely not last, thank-you parade in honor of our city’s greatest hero, the Mysterious Mare Do Well!" she announced.
In time with the name, the disguised savior burst through the banner that served as the stage’s backdrop, prompting cheers from the sign- and banner-waving spectators.
"Okay, let's g—"
Chronicle's plan immediately went awry when Rainbow Dash flew up to get in the masked vigilante's face. "The Mysterious Mare Do Well, huh?" There was a round of gasps from the audience. "So what are you hiding? Let’s see how mysterious you are without that mask!" She lunges in with a snap of her teeth, intending to rip it off, but Mare Do Well backed out of reach, leaped off the stage, and broke into a gallop as Rainbow chased from the air, Chronicle and his 'team' right behind.
"Dammit!" the mare-faced unicorn swore as they followed. "I should've counted on Rainbow doing something like this." He began to pound himself with his paddle. "That was stupid, stupid, stupid of me!" he 'put it back' shortly after.
The pursuit moved into the back alleys of Ponyville, with Mare Do Well racing ahead and Rainbow taking a side path to cut her off while Chronicle's team continued the straight way. It was no good; the caped pony slipped by in a parallel track before her pursuers correct course. As they did that, Rainbow asked, "What are you three doing?"
"We were about to just go with what you just did back at the stage, but not in a hostile manner," Chronicle replied.
"Whose side are you on, anyway?!"
"We're all on the same side! Get it through your he— whoa, whoa, whoa!"
The four over-corrected and bypassed the street on which Mare Do Well had broken into the open, and quickly reversed to pick up the trail. Two sharp turns took the incognito pony out of their sight—but as Rainbow darted toward the last known location, Mare Do Well apparently circled the building in less than one second.
The properly vexed pegasus started to double back after her, mixing her sprint across the far end of the alley.
"Remember what I said about Mare Do Well," Chronicle told his companions. "Split up!" Mystic and Skyla nodded as they took off to where the last two instances.
As Rainbow started back down the way after her, Mare Do Well passed Chronicle, using wings rather than hooves this time. Rainbow’s flight after her was interrupted by a sharp whistle from somewhere behind her, and Mare Do Well again galloped across the far end of the block. "What the hay?"
She flew back down the alley—Chronicle following—and found herself facing a dead end formed by high stone walls. They soon found out that Mare Do Well was standing atop these for a moment before she dove out of view. Rainbow snarled to herself as she continued the chase and Chronicle did the same (minus the snarl) and summoned a couple of magical clones to split up to try and corner the Mare Do Wells.
They followed the purple-clad enigma down a flight of steps that led down from street level and into a tunnel, and emerged in a new alley. Another whistle diverted Rainbow’s attention to the end behind her, but Chronicle kept his eyes on their target—and saw her unfurl her wings and fly over the wall. While he teleported after that Mare Do Well, he summoned another clone to stick with Rainbow, who went back the way when she had seen Mare Do Well there after a growl of frustration.
A fresh burst of wing-power puts her back in the chase, but she skidded to a stop and eyed a ladder on the side of a building she had just passed. The clone saw this too and was already ascending it. An instant later, they were up on the rooftop and eying Mare Do Well, who was proceeding cautiously along a street.
"I got you now!" The pegasus then dove, plowing into Mare Do Well from behind, and both tumbled for a while before crashing into a wall. As the clone teleported himself down, Rainbow now had Mare Do Well pinned on her back. "All right, Miss Mysterious! Mystery…" She ducked down and came up with the mask in her teeth, tossing it aside. "…solved!"
Gloating turned to slack-jawed shock in a tick, and Rainbow let off an inarticulate cry of surprise as the unmasked heroine smiled sheepishly, and had lost her hat. The sight of this particular face threw Rainbow into a stuttering fit, and the Chronicle clone into a hissy fit.
"Pinkie?! Huh?!"
"I got another one!" another voice came.
Rainbow looked up to see another Mare Do Well, with Mystic Shield behind her. After a gruff movement of his head, she conceded and pushed her own mask up to expose herself as…
"Twilight?!"
"The charade's over," yet another voice came. "Time for you to confess." If anypony were paying attention, they'd also hear, "I always wanted to say that."
The pegasus turned to see Skyla with a third Mare Do Well emerging from a side path, the latter unmasking herself as well.
"Applejack?!" The two 'extra' Mare Do Wells approached her slowly, ushered by their 'captors'. "There were three of you?"
"Yep," confirmed the unicorn mare. "We all played Mare Do Well at different times."
"I stopped the carriage bus with these babies…" Applejack glanced toward her own rump, or more precisely her rear legs and lifted them one at a time. "…Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee."
Pinkie got up and said, "I saved the construction workers with my Pinkie Sense." She barely finished the sentence before her tail began to twitch uncontrollably, and she quickly pushed Rainbow aside just in time to avoid a flowerpot that crashed to the ground where they were standing. Both look up to see a contrite Cherry Berry at an upper-story window.
"Sorry!" she called.
"It’s all right," replied Pinkie.
Twilight levitated her hat off as she said, "And I used my magic to fix the dam."
Fluttershy skidded in. "Ooh, ooh! And I did the fly-by afterwards."
Rarity arrived as well, a cross (real) Chronicle walking behind her, who had a winged Mare Do Well suit on his back, having removed it from his marefriend. "I made the costumes. Fabulous, if I do say so myself."
The string of revelation prompted Rainbow to pace the alley uncertainly while Chronicle dismissed the clone near him, his temper slowly simmering.
"For all the town's claims of you being a humble hero, you sure tooted your own horns," he grumbled, but was ignored.
"I don’t understand." Rainbow then turned to her friends. "Why? Don’t you want me to be a hero?"
"Of course we want you to be a hero," Twilight replied.
Applejack gave a wink. "But a real hero doesn’t brag."
"Chronicle had been trying to tell you that ever since it gone to your head," Skyla pointed out.
"Uh…I guess I did start to brag a little," Rainbow confessed.
"A LITTLE?!" everypony else cried out. Except Chronicle, who just rolled his eyes. The combined force of their retort threw her back so that she ended up sitting on her haunches.
"Okay, a lot."
Twilight walked over to her. "Celebrating your accomplishments is natural, but…"
Applejack zipped up to Rainbow. "…rubbin’ them in everypony’s face is not."
"Yeah," agreed Pinkie. "The only thing that should be rubbed in anypony’s face is chocolate cake."
She proceeded to lick one front hoof and her face with great enthusiasm, as if they were smeared with this very dessert, and paid no heed to the seven bewildered ponies looking on (Chronicle was still "simmering").
"Unless you're allergic to chocolate," said the white pegasus as Rainbow stood up.
"Nobody's allergic to chocolate, Skyla. That's ridiculous!"
"Well, I am."
Before they could get into an argument, Applejack cut them off. "I think we’re gettin’ off topic here."
"What we’re trying to say is, it’s great to be really good at something, but it’s important to act with grace and humility," Twilight explained.
"And yet as Chronicle said, you just tooted your own horns by telling your own heroics," snarked Mystic.
And the message does not seem to really sink in until Applejack lay a foreleg warmly across Rainbow’s shoulders as she finally got it. Ohhhh! That makes loads more sense!" She flew up and hovered at roof level. "Yeah. You’re right. And I guess I should also act with grace and humility when others outshine me, like Mare Do Well."
Twilight winked at her. "Sounds like you’ve got a letter to write to Princess Celestia."
She and Applejack glanced to one side as Spike made himself heard, having just arrived in the alley. "Already got it covered." He pulled a scroll from inside his trenchcoat and addressed Rainbow. "As your ghostwriter, I’ve already penned a letter to the Princess."
"That’s nice of you, Spike, but I really want to write this letter myself," the lesson-learner said as she landed next to him.
"Aw, come on!" He held the open parchment into view. "I wrote the whole thing already!"
"Okay, let’s hear it."
Spike cleared his throat, reading, “Dear Princess Ce—”
"Look out!" Rainbow suddenly pointed urgently. "It’s a real ghost!"
Spike and Pinkie each looked in that direction with a cry of fear and bailed out while the others sans a still simmering Chronicle have a good laugh at the joke. A quill and fresh scroll were levitated up to Rainbow, and Twilight aimed an expectant smile upward as the laughter died down. Catching on, the blue pegasus took the quill in her teeth and apparently tipped a wink to her Surveillance camera.
It was at that time that Chronicle's anger finally erupted, also exuding his aura in a burst, just like during the Diamond Dogs incident. "Girls, form a line right now!"
This brought his friends' laughter to an immediate halt. Twilight and the others have seen Chronicle angry before, but not at this level and directed at them. Before they could even begin to do so, in his fit of fury, he had enough power to drag his five EOH friends around, intentionally ignoring Rainbow, and brought them in front of himself, arranged in a line.
"I can see another lesson here," he said in a low voice, creeping them out. "A team does better than a loner. However…" He then took out his paddle and smacked everypony in the face with it twice, except Fluttershy whom he smacked only once. After which he started shouting, "What. The ████. Were you thinking, girls?! Have you not even considered plain reasoning with Rainbow? Sure, that's what I've been trying and failing to do, but I could've done better with your help. Have you not considered how ruined she might be?! Or what would've happened if she did not take this well?! And worst of all, you left me out in your plans! What's your excuse this time? And why didn't you try and let me in on this at any point?!"
None of them answered, the terrible implications of their deeds dawning on them judging by their expressions of confusion and horror.
Rainbow attempted to calm him down. "Hey, it's all righ—"
But he wasn't having any of it. "Shut up! It doesn't matter that you did take it well, what matters is that their actions apparently didn't take that into consideration! Yes, you took things out of proportion and the town might've eventually turned against you were it not for Mare Do Well's debut, but I won't blame you for that." He let out a grunt. "I'm so ashamed to see that my friends would do something like this, but I like you girls so much I don't want to just give up on you. Keeping the Elements together for Equestria's safety is the second reason for doing this."
Mystic and Skyla were amazed with and terrified by their friend's long tirade. Chronicle really did care for his friends, and was ready to chew them out on any stupid decisions they made. Even if they were (unintentionally inconsiderate) jerks sometimes, instead of straight up leaving them, he guided them to what was logically and socially right, be it gently or forcibly. By this point, his aura was no longer bursting.
Twilight gave a long sigh as she finally said, "You're absolutely correct, Chronicle. I guess we got carried away with being heroes ourselves without being boastful that we lost sight of our original objective; to show Rainbow Dash how a hero should act, which you had been attempting to do. We should've helped you there."
"If we had known how she was seein' all this, we'd have done somethin' about it." Applejack.
"Yeah, like change the plan, or come clean earlier, and we definitely should've told you!" Pinkie.
"Why, I'd buck myself in tha face sooner than pull that sort of dirty trick on a friend!"
"Besides, if humiliating her was part of the plan, I would've pulled Rainbow out of the river by magic instead of using the log so she could do it herself." Twilight again.
"We would never mean to try to make her and you think what you both thought," Fluttershy confessed, on the verge of tears. "We never cut her off or kept her from helping, only when she wouldn't, couldn't, or when there was more than enough trouble to go around."
This made Chronicle 'falter'. Great, now I'm making her cry. And after I throttled the Cutie Mark Crusaders for doing the same. Now that he was sure they wouldn't do this again, he brought up another subject. "All right, all right. I'm calm now. But…there is one other issue I'd like to ask."
"Shoot," said Applejack.
"What about all the fans? What would they think if they find out that Mare Do Well was actually more than one pony? And who will continue the mantle of Mare Do Well, now that she has served her purpose?"
The farmpony and all the others who performed the Mare Do Well masquerade turned to look at one another. apparently, they didn't think things that far.
"What about somepony else continues being the Mare Do Wells?" another voice came. Everypony turned to see somepony reveal herself. It was Mjölna's sister Tasty Snack. She looked embarrassed to be here, but soldiered on. "I mean, I know I don't have the Applejack's strength or Pinkie Pie's clairvoyance, but I'll do what I can."
Skyla was inspired by this. "Hey, being the next Mare Do Well does sound like a nice idea. I want in too."
"We'll need to plan this quick, though," Mystic put in, noticing all too well that his muzzle made him illegible to try and be her, and that Chronicle could take up the mantle if he so chose. "We did kind of just ran after the parade. They're probably still waiting."
This elicited more 'crap!' expressions from most of the ponies.
C—TS—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—TS—S—MDW
(A/N: I was experiencing ending fatigue, so I apologize for the brevity of this segment.)
In the end, everypony decided to reveal the following. Chronicle stood on stage and revealed himself to be a (recent) confidant of Mare Do Well. He then explained (with the help of Twilight and the two 'new' confidants dressing up and 'revealing' themselves) that Mare Do Well is actually a team of do-gooder ponies of different races who share the same costume and sense of justice. He also said he would personally take down any 'impostors' who would put Mare Do Well's name to shame.
What isn't told is that Chronicle would also be taking up the mantle of Mare Do Well, his mare-face allowing him to do so seamlessly. He will 'give up' the mantle later though, after Mystic Shield finds a mare in his class who has what it takes (by using a secret test) and the time to dedicate herself to it.
It would be a couple more months before Sunny Skies (read: Princess Celestia) came for a visit, found out about how Mare Do Well and offered (Twilight and friends, of course) to "arrange" a fake villain attack that would allow the hero to ‘heroically disappear’ and retire. Princess Luna would then play the role of Mare Do Well in Canterlot for a while, but that's a different story.
Two friendship reports were also sent. One that explained a lesson that took a while to reach the learner. And one explained a lesson that surfaced after a chew-out on how the first one was taught.
This is the second one.
P.S. Chronicle helped us realize this in his own special way. We owe it to him.
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