//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Mare Do Well: Fallout // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// Chapter 1 “But…don’t you all want me to be a hero?” Rainbow Dash sat in the back alleyway as she looked at her friends dressed in their costumes, all standing there grinning as if they had pulled off some big practical joke. But…it hardly felt like one. There wasn’t some basic mess to clean up, or a little water on somepony’s dress that any unicorn worth two bits could get out with a glow of magic. What the girls had done...it...hurt. She still felt the pain of being forgotten by everypony in town over the last few days and her friends…having them just laugh at her was bad enough but knowing that they were behind everything…that they had meant to laugh at her inside Sugarcube corner when she had come needing cheering up… Even Fluttershy…Fluttershy looked happy about how she had tricked her best friend, the pony who had stood up for her in flight camp, the pony who had moved to Ponyville to help keep her settled instead of taking a job in Manehattan or Fillydelphia where the weatherpony pay was so much better and ended up staying year after year just because she became all teary at the mention of Rainbow leaving for greener pastures… Twilight said…something…drawing Rainbow out of her thoughts, and then… “And a real hero doesn’t brag.” Applejack’s statement made Rainbow Dash frown, her earlier confusion from the reveal about the town hero’s secret identity quickly fading as the anger in her gut began to rise. “Excuse me?” “We were teaching out a lesson about modesty Rainbow Dash,” Twilight explained with a smile. “You were just bragging so much, and a real hero is modest and humble. Understand?” The pegasus turned her glare towards Twilight. “Yeah, I understand just fine,” she said in a voice that was practically a growl. A little put off by the hostility, the unicorn backed away from the pegasus. Then the orange earth pony in the purple costume stepped forward. “Hey! Don’t you be talking like that to her!” Applejack exclaimed as she approached the pegasus. “Twilight was right, you and your stupid bragging was  getting on our nerves, and you needed to be taught a lesson!” “So you decided to sabotage and outstage me?” Rainbow demanded as she took the air to glare at the earth pony muzzle to muzzle instead of backing down. “You decided to laugh in my FACE? Oh, gee, thanks for the lesson Apple-smack! I guess seeing a pony who’s a real success must be too much for you huh? Not only can you not be happy for her, you have to lie and cheat to just to keep up! But I guess that’s the best we can expect from a pony who can’t even keep her own farm going, huh?” “EXCUSE ME?” said apple farmer shouted. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled in something between surprise and outrage. Rainbow whirled on Twilight and sneered. “A real hero doesn’t brag? Is that what Princess Celestia’s been teaching you all these years Twilight? Or are you just angry that I was getting pats on the back from everypony and she won’t even give you the time of day!” The unicorn’s temper flared and she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Rainbow Dash whirled to point at Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. “And you three, thanks for stabbing me in the back! I guess that’s what I get for standing up for you all those years, huh Fluttershy? You know, since I’m not a real hero you’d better not fall out of some clouds anytime soon Rarity! And Pinkie, you can forget about me playing pranks with you anymore, because if this is your idea of a prank, then it’s the stupidest one I’ve ever seen!” Spike flinched at the last word, and Twilight frowned at the temperamental pony and stepped forward. “Rainbow Dash! What in Equestria had gotten into you?” she demanded. “What’s gotten into me? ME? You’re asking me that after what you did you-you…GAAAAAH!” she shouted after flying up in the air. “If you actually have to ask me that, then BUCK YOU Twilight! Buck all of you to Tartarus you bunch of whiney, ungrateful pathetic bunch of LOSERS!” The last line of Rainbow’s rant made Twilight blink, the shock sent her out of the paralysis she had found herself in while Rainbow Dash had been shouting at the sky, and apparently attracting the attention of several of the towns ponies. “W-What? Rainbow Dash, what’re you talking about?” she asked, confused over the unexpected turn of events. “Heeeeeey,” Pinkie Pie whined. “You’re not supposed to talk that way to your friends Dashie!” The words made the coat of the pegasus bristle as her look of anger turned to a sneer, shocking Twilight. “Oh really? Then guess what Pinkie? We-” “Ooooo! Love guessing games is it-” Before the pink pony could say another word, she was cut off when Rainbow Dash zoomed down to within inches of her muzzle. “WE’RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!” The declaration left Twilight stunned. This was not how things should been going. According to her plan, Rainbow Dash should have seen the right of things agreed with them! After all, they had shown her how she had been acting when she came into Sugarcube Corner, they had shown that a real hero didn’t sit around to sign autographs and all the other things she did. So why is she doing this? She furrowed her brow in thought. With things spiraling so out of control, she would need to take drastic measures for Rainbow Dash to admit her mistake. On top of which, Twilight would need to make her apologize to her friends for being such a jerk! Fluttershy flew up to the air and met Rainbow Dash as she went higher into the air. “R-Rainbow Dash, we were just trying to help you.” “HELP ME?” she shouted in Fluttershy’s face making the butter-yellow pegasus retreat before the other flying pony lowered her voice. “If that’s what you call help, then I don’t ever want your help again!” “R-Rainbow,” Fluttershy stuttered before a cry from behind her made the pegasus look around in startlement and check to make sure she wasn’t wearing her costume. “Oh my gosh! It’s Mare Do Well!” The voice of the orange filly running through the crowd made the rest of the girls turn and look back at the assembled ponies that had been gathering since Rainbow Dash had flown above the roof of the houses and yelling. As Scootaloo ran past the older ponies, it seemed to open up the floodgates and everypony else swarmed the friends that had taken off their masks. Twilight and the others quickly found themselves jostled by a crowd of ponies as they were beset by dozens of questions, thanks, and several requests for autographs, and they all looked around wildly while trying to fend off the attention. “Applejack, You’re Mare Do Well?” The farmer stood up a little straighter and puffed out her chest. “Ah sure as shooin’ am!” she said before noticing the purple unicorn looking her way and bent down a bit. “Well, it was a team effort. Uh, need me to sign that fer ya huh? Okay, just a second.” Twilight frowned at the display of Applejack standing around while a group of ponies started to gather around her personally, then felt somepony tugging on her cape. “Oh, yes?” A second later, a filly jumped into Twilight’s forelegs, and she held the foal up while another pony who looked like the girl’s mother snapped a picture. The flash made Twilight stumble back, and she blinked several times while trying to clear her eyes. “I got a picture with the unicorn Mare Do Well Mommy!” “Oh thank you Twilight Sparkle!” “Wha? Now, hold on everypony, there’s no need to-” “Twilight!” a stallion said from within the crowd. “Is was you that fixed the dam right?” The unicorn blushed at the attention and smiled at it. “Well, yes. It was me,” she said before looking back up at Rainbow Dash. Her smile of accomplishment turned to a worried frown when she caught sight of the pegasus’s scowl. “That was an amazing spell Twilight!” a squeaky voice said from down on the ground. It took a second for the unicorn to look and see that Sweetie Bell was standing next to her. “You must be the most amazing unicorn ever! Can you teach me magic?” Twilight smiled at the compliment, but it was the request that caught her attention. “Oh, well I’d be happy to help you learn how to use your horn Sweetie Bell…if it’s okay with your parents that is.” Twilight looked back up to the sky, and found Rainbow Dash had disappeared. Then she turned her attention back to the others. “Uh girls, shouldn’t we do something about Rainbow Dash?” Applejack let out a huff. “Why? You heard how she insulted me like that Twilight? Let the stupid little foal throw her tantrum. Not mah fault she can’t handle the truth!” she said before signing another autograph and taking a picture with Scootaloo. “That’s right everypony, come and get yer picture with the greatest hero in Equestria, right here!” Thanks to the fact she wasn’t wearing a costume, the white unicorn of the group was able to avoid being swarmed and made her way over to the pink Mare Do Well. Apparently, the sad demeanor of the third costumed pony was keeping all the others away. “Pinkie?” Rarity spoke up as she walked over to the party pony. “Are you alright?” “She…she said…Rarity…why aren’t Dashie and me friends anymore?” Pinkie asked the unicorn with tears in her eyes. Unable to come up with the answer herself on the spot, Rarity looked around for support, but found Applejack continuing to sign autographs. As for Twilight, she too caught up in talking to a bunch of other unicorns that were asking her for magic lessons on how to repair everything around town. “Oh well, the spell is kind of complicated, so it’s not something just anypony can do. I guess if you look at it that way, I am pretty amazing… Okay, okay, really amazing,” Twilight said to the group of unicorns standing around her that were mostly foals. Then she looked over to Applejack. “That’s right little sister, yer big sister’s a bone-E-fied here-row!” the farm pony said as another crowd of foals gathered around her to listen to how she stopped the cart. “It was a tough job, but Ah am the strongest, fastest, and best athlete in Equestria. Remember how Ah bring home all them blue ribbons every rodeo?” Seeing as she wasn’t going to get any help, Rarity looked back to her friend and sighed. “Um, well…I’m sure she’s just…a little out of sorts. Perhaps she’s sick or something, Celestia knows I can be a real terror if I get a migraine.” “R-Really?” The unicorn nodded and tried to sound more sure of herself than she had before. “Really!” Almost immediately, Pinkie perked up and practically exploded back into a joyful grin. “Oh good! I thought it was because we betrayed her trust and undermined her whole self-image by making her feel completely useless and unappreciated by the entire town and her friends before we laughed in her face when she came to us looking for a confidence boost!” she exclaimed, making Rarity stumble back in both shock and confusion. “But it’s just because she had a headache! That makes sooooooo much more sense, thanks Rarity!” For her part, Rarity simply stared at the pink pony for a moment, trying to make sense of the rush of words that ran through her ears. “W-What?” “What are we all just standing around for? We’ve got a parade to get to!” Pinkie shouted as she turned to the crowd. “It’s like a moving party, come on everypony!” As the crowd picked up a delighted Applejack, a somewhat less delighted Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie on their shoulders and took off, Rarity noticed Fluttershy was still just standing…or flying in the air with a broken hearted look on her face. “Rarity, she said…she told me…what she said…it…it was so mean!” the pegasus exclaimed before looking over at the unicorn with tearful eyes. Seeing Fluttershy’s pain filled face, the unicorn felt the last bit of her control snap. She frowned, but not at Fluttershy. She frowned up at the space where Rainbow Dash had occupied a second before. “Yes it was, wasn’t it?” she grunted. Then, she forced herself to brighten up. “Come on, this parade is for you too remember?” The yellow pegasus froze and trembled for a moment. “W-What?” Oh Rarity no, I…please don’t tell anypony I’m Mare Do Well too! I-I don’t want ponies looking at me like that!” Rarity gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry dear, I wont.” Although, she more she thought about it…having everypony in town know about Fluttershy’s role as Mare Do Well would help the pegasus get over her crippling shyness. “But wait...I know I saw a pegasus Mare Do Well too!” Scootaloo spoke up before she looked around for a minute, “and if it wasn’t Rainbow Dash then it had to be...Fluttershy!” “W-WHAT?” the mare in question shrieked before a mob of pegasi descended on her. “Oh my gosh that’s right, those girls do everything together! She had to be the pegasus!” “Yeah! Come on guy, we can’t let our hero have the spotlight stolen from her,” another one of the flying ponies proclaimed before the yellow pegasus was hoisted up into the air. For a moment Rarity wondered how she had been left in the alleyway if ‘all’ the girls were supposed to do everything together, but she sighed and let the other mares have their fame. She had gotten enough from all the custom costumes that every foal in town was ordering. Thanks to Mare Do Well, her off season was looking to be a bit more profitable than usual this year. And if the idea became more popular… If I trademark the design of the costume and the character...oh my, this might turn out to be quite the win for me after all. Rainbow Dash landed at her cloud home with a scowl on her face, feeling tears in her eyes threatening to form. How the buck could they do that to me? The pegasus mentally shouted. Not a real hero? HER? The fastest flyer in Equestria? “Well what the buck do they know?” she shouted. Twilight had to have been the one behind it all, Rainbow could see the bucking unicorn setting everything up so that the pegasus would have failed! I mean come on, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, I can buy all the stuff that happened in town, but the dam, the bucking dam that was miles away from Ponyville and she just happens to show up after it breaks from me touching it? Did Twilight think she was an idiot or something? I nearly drowned because of that stupid unicorn! Applejack? How many times had she come to all of the others asking for help hauling apples, or just harvesting her own crops? The stupid earth pony couldn’t even run her own farm! And she’s calling me a fake? At least I can do what my cutie mark says I can! Pinkie Pie going along with their scheme was…well, Rainbow Dash supposed she really didn’t know Pinkie all that well after all. The time she had seen the whacko playing with her rocks and that bag of flour made the pegasus shiver. Apparently, there was a backstabbing side to the mare along with her crazy and nutso one. Rarity? Well, Rainbow Dash had seen her true colors the day she tried to steal the spotlight from the pegasus during the Young Fliers Competition. Rainbow knew Rarity was a snake…she just didn’t think the unicorn would have kept up with it after the pegasus had saved her life! Fluttershy was…the idea that Fluttershy had helped them spit in her face made Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. All the others she could understand, accept, and toss aside like dirty laundry, but when Fluttershy had revealed that she had been in on it too…the pain in Rainbow Dash’s gut more than doubled. And to top it off, there was what Fluttershy had said about Mare Do Well. “She really cares about other ponies.” “And I don’t?” Rainbow grumbled. “Well you know what? Fine! Be that way! You’re right! I don’t care, I’ll never care about any of you girls again! Buck you girls, and buck this whole bucking town! And when they’re all going, ‘Oh save us Mare Do Well’ and you all buck up, I’M GOING TO BE THERE TO LAUGH IN YOUR STUPID FACES!”