The Legend of Mare-Do-Well

by JD2K

Chapter 10

Angel Bunny was not a very happy rabbit. Despite being glad Fluttershy left the cottage to go socialize with her friends to some party in honor of the blue pony that barged into the bathroom earlier in the day while she was sleeping, she was unable to take Gummy with her to bring back to Pinkie Pie. Of all the pets the kind pegasus has taken care of, Gummy was the most difficult to deal with and Angel found keeping the gator standing still and not wandering off a troublesome chore. The bunny swore Fluttershy would owe him a huge favor in exchange for all his grief.

As Angel chased after the troublesome reptile, his ears suddenly picked up an unusual noise. He looked behind him and became frozen in shock.

Standing before him was an animal that most definitely wasn’t a pet and certainly wasn’t of Everfree. It looked like a wolf but was walking upright on its hind legs, was as tall as the cottage and its front paws seemed less like an animal’s with 5 fingers including thumbs and very sharp claws. Around its neck was a metal collar with some sort of black crystal placed in the center. A werewolf!

The monster laid its piercing amber eyes on Angel and growled. The rabbit however lost his fear and leaped at the werewolf clutching its leg. The lycanthrope merely looked down in annoyance at the pest and kicked him off its leg and sent him flying. Lucky for the bunny his fall was muffled by landing right on a bush nearby. Angel had the wind knocked out of him and began to lose consciousness. The last thing he saw was the werewolf picking up Gummy in its enormous hand, and he passed out.

*********************************

“…No! No! You are not giving up! You have to find him! You have to! You must! You should!” Pinkie Pie pleaded through her bloodshot eyes from crying so much as she stood on top of a desk and stared into the face of the police mare she was speaking to. It didn’t help matters her mane and tail were no longer their curly form but rather their non-cheerful straight style.

“Please, Miss Pie, we’re doing everything we can,” Lt. Buckler replied calmly. “We’ve been investigating all known leads, we’ve had several police officers searching the nearby areas, and we’ve found not a clue to your missing pet. As a pony of interest being one of the Elements of Harmony under protection of the Princesses, we will keep searching and the case shall remain open. We’re working on it.”

Pinkie sniffled as she got down from the desk and shambled away. She turned around to stare sadly at the lieutenant. “Gummy means the world to me. His cute little face brings a smile to me. You have to find him…” she said solemnly. Buckler merely nodded once and Pinkie walked away.

*******************************************

Ponyville was indeed a sad place since the disappearance of Gummy. Citizens who were used to Pinkie Pie’s spunky happy-go-lucky nature were quick to notice how much she meant to them since she stopped smiling, singing or even throwing parties.

In every empty wall, nothing but hoof-drawn crayon posters were placed everywhere, with each having a crayon-drawn image of the cute baby alligator with a caption reading:

MISSING.
IF FOUND CONTACT PINKIE PIE AT SUGARCUBE CORNER.
REWARD IS A PARTY FIT FOR THE PRINCESSES AND ETERNAL LAUGHTER.

“Lan’ sakes. Ah thought Ah’d never see Ponyville so down in the mouth in mah life. Sure is mighty upsettin’…” Applejack mused as she and the others sat together for their weekly luncheon.

“I never realized how much joy Pinkie brought to Ponyville until right now. Here I thought her actions were just because of her nature,” Twilight Sparkle added glumly.

“So, Rainbow Dash, how has the search for Gummy fared? Any signs of the little alligator?” Rarity asked the speedster.

“No dice, Rare. A few of the pegasi officers and yours truly have done nothing but fly-byes at Everfree for the past two weeks and we didn’t even find a trace of the Gumster. The Mayor has been pretty mad that I’ve neglected the weather managing duty while I left it to Cloudkicker and Dizzy,” Dash replied.

“No offense, sugar cube, but the Mayor’s always been on yer case since yer too busy sleepin’ all the time and givin’ yer duties to others,” the farm pony added as the others chuckled a bit except Fluttershy who looked even more miserable than the others, serving to dampen the mood once more.

“I…I...I wish I was there. When I arrived after the party, I saw poor Angel hurt and my back fence all broken. Then I saw those large prints on the mud and I got scared so I took Angel inside to nurse him back to health. I didn’t even think of looking for Gummy…” Fluttershy whispered as tears formed in her eyes. She finally buried her head between her forelegs and sobbed. “Pinkie must think I’m the worst friend in the entire world! I failed her!”

The others were ready to comfort her when they all suddenly gasped. A hoof was placed on Fluttershy’s foreleg and the yellow Pegasus looked up to see the straight-mane draped face of Pinkie Pie stare up at her. Her expression of her face was one of unusual calmness.

“Fluttershy, don’t blame yourself. Blame the rotten son-of-a-broodmare that stole him. Whoever he was, he will regret taking my Gummy…” she said in a low voice as she walked away. The others were scared. Pinkie was never one to swear at anypony and seeing her like that made things worse. They looked down at their half-eaten lunches and quickly lost their appetite. They immediately asked for take-out boxes, paid their bits and left.

***************************************

“Good afternoon, Angel,” Fluttershy said as she set foot in her cottage. She looked in direction of her comfy couch and saw Angel Bunny there, with bandages over his head, stomach and right hind leg, resting on a basket as he recovered from his ordeal.

She placed the restaurant’s take-out box on the ground and used her wings to remove her saddlebags from her back. She walked over to her recovering patient and saw him weakly open one of his eyes.

“How are you feeling today? Oh, I hope you get better soon. You have to tell me all about the bad meanies who took Gummy,” she sighed sadly as she went over to her kitchen to pick up a bowl with a rabbit’s face motif around the receptacle.

“Today’s your lucky day. I didn’t finish eating my vegetable stew at lunch today so I figured you can take it. I’m not really that hungry,” she said with a hint of cheer. Angel looked up at her, unable to frown or act finicky. Then again, he was at her mercy and he was glad she was taking care of him.

Their joy however was to take a turn for the worst.

As Fluttershy walked back near the entrance to pick up the take-out box and place the stew in the bowl for Angel to eat, a powerful force blew the door apart and sent the yellow pegasus flying across the room to land on her couch. She looked up and gasped in terror as she saw an enormous gray furry hand with large claws recede from where the door used to be only for something far more terrifying to take its place.

A fearsome face with amber eyes, dark gray fur, a long snout, rows of sharp fangs and a metal collar with a black gem on its neck.

Angel cringed as he saw the werewolf that injured him and took Gummy away return. Fluttershy looked at her rabbit companion and deduced from his look of terror that this was the same beast responsible for the actions that night.

Fluttershy was paralyzed by the sudden arrival of this newcomer as its amber eyes looked everywhere and set its sight on the trembling pegasus. The animal growled once as it lunged one of its hands forward, destroying the entire front façade of her cottage to grab the defenseless pony. She screamed out in fright as the werewolf took her in its paw and began to move its arm back outside. The fear soon overtook her completely and she fainted away.

As the werewolf walked away with slow thundering steps, it was unable to see a flash followed by a rainbow trail hit it square on its muzzle. The monster let out a howl of pain and bared his fangs in direction of the rainbow trail’s source to see the defiant form of Rainbow Dash hovering overhead.

“Yo, Dogface! Put down my friend and tell me where you took Gummy or I’m gonna wipe the floor with ya!” she shouted angrily. The creature replied with an earth-shattering howl as it dropped Fluttershy on the ground nearby and prepared itself to fight.

“Oh yeah! Time to take this mutt to obedience school!” she declared as she swooped down for another assault.

The creature may have had the advantage of size and strength at its disposal, but its opponent was much smaller and faster and that made it harder to strike as she dived right into its face and body, causing it harm. She had to be stopped.

Timing its reflexes just right, the werewolf managed to strike Rainbow Dash and sent her careening into a tree nearby. The pegasus winced a bit in pain but quickly recovered when she saw the lumbering form of the monster pounce at her.

She quickly rolled away from the strike, allowing her wings to be facing upward once more, and took off. “You’re more trouble than I thought. Guess I’ll use my new move on you after all. Prepare to feel the rainboom!” she said as she flew upward like a bullet.

Stopping when she was at an appropriate altitude, she looked down and set her eyes on the werewolf that stared up at her, waiting for her to make the next move. Grinning fearlessly, she tucked her forelegs forward and began her descent. Faster and faster, she began to feel the crackles of electricity near the front of her forelegs. She gritted her teeth as her cheek skin began to flap against the limits of acceleration she was pushing. That’s when she saw the arrow appear in front of her, becoming sharper and sharper with each second.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

She exploded forward in a burst of power as she broke the sound barrier with a loud explosion and a rainbow-colored wave was expelled from the point of impact: The Sonic Rainboom was achieved once more.

Using the power of the rainboom behind her, she locked her sights on the werewolf, who became fascinated by the colorful display it witnessed, and charged it head-on. With the same strength she received back in the Young Flyers’ Competition, she managed to push and lift the werewolf up into the air with the creature whimpering unsure of what was about to happen.

Rainbow Dash grinned as she immediately curved her rainboom-fueled flight showing a beautiful rainbow arch made of multicolored fire and began her descent once more with the werewolf whining in fear of its life as they approached a grassy field a few miles from the cottage. Rainbow Dash increased her speed as another limit of acceleration was about to be broken, only this time having an unwilling extra guest along for the ride.

The silence of the countryside was quickly shattered by an explosion of titanic proportions as a rainbow-hued mushroom cloud formed over the sky followed by another Sonic Rainboom shockwave shaking the ground as it arched away from the main point it struck. At “Ground Zero”, a large crater was formed from the impact of the monster on the ground at beyond-supersonic speed. Rainbow Dash groggily managed to get up and took long deep breaths as her cyan coat was dirty with soot and dirt, her colorful mane and tail were singed and standing upright.

Below her was what remained of the werewolf. The creature had no chance to survive the tremendous force of Rainbow Dash’s deadly attack and only a burnt, smoking carcass remained while the metal collar was now a pile of slag and the crystal had disintegrated to dust. Rainbow Dash sat down near the edge of the crater and took a deep sigh.

“Great. I should’ve kept it alive for it to tell me where Gummy got taken. Smooth move, Dash…” she muttered to herself.

She looked down to the center of the crater where the dead werewolf laid and suddenly noticed a shadow looming over it. Rainbow Dash was too tired to notice a large scaly tail appearing behind her until it was too late. She turned around and screamed as the long dark green and black speckled tail wrapped itself around her body and started to crush her.

As she struggled to free herself, she took a good look at the new assailant. Scaly was the defining word she was looking for. Nothing but scales in hues of dark green and black specks adorned the body of this animal. Its lower body was definitely the tail that was currently putting the squeeze on her but its upper body was less animal and more like the werewolf with a strong muscled chest, two arms with hands ending in sharp claws and its head was squat and reptilian with dark green eyes with slit pupils and large frilled ears. Just like the werewolf, it too wore a collar with a black crystal on its neck. The monster then opened its mouth in a loud hiss revealing its sharp fangs and a large flap of skin that extended from its neck and head reminiscent of a hood. A naga.

Rainbow Dash felt nothing but agonizing pain and cried out as the naga’s tail kept squeezing her with increasing force. She tried to pound the tail with her hooves without any success as the grip became tighter.

CRACK

Just like that, Rainbow Dash lost the feeling on her back legs and tail. She stopped right where she was as her entire front body trembled. One single last tear fell from her eye and she lost consciousness right there.

The naga flicked its slit tongue as it tasted the top of its victim’s head. It then opened its mouth with a loud hiss ready to swallow its pony meal whole when a sharp flying kick hit it square in the jaw and it released Rainbow Dash. The naga shook off its attack and focused its eyes on its attacker. Mare-Do-Well stood there looking up with a sharp gaze of fury.

She had heard the first Sonic Rainboom and then saw the colorful mushroom cloud a few seconds later. No doubt the rest of the Ponyville Police force would be on its way, so she wanted first dibs on whoever it was that Dash was desperate enough to use one of her strongest attacks on and there she stood face to face with a naga.

However, according to Twilight’s books about known Everfree denizens, nagas were known to reach a size of at least 2 full grown stallions. This naga was at least twice that amount and made the vigilante look like the size of a mouse compared to the creature. Something was not right. This naga was not natural and she had to find out why. First, however, she had to avoid its offensive before she became its lunch.

The naga went all out on Mare-Do-Well as it swiped down with its sharp clawed hands, lunged forward with its head in attempts to bite her and even swinging its tail out in hopes she would end up trapped in its coils just like Rainbow Dash was. The vigilante was able to read the creature’s attacks thanks to her alternate self’s sense and moved accordingly to avoid getting slashed, bit or ensnared.

She waited for a moment the scaly monster lunged down with its head to jump up in the air and land on top of its head. Once there, she grabbed the flaps of skin making up the naga’s cobra-like hood as best as her hooves managed and held on tight. The naga became furious and hissed angrily as it was unable to tell just where on top of its head Mare-Do-Well was. The masked pony jerked hard on the hood skin and the snake beast hissed in pain at being grabbed in such a tender location.

The monster became more furious and did its best to dislodge the bothersome pony from its head. It started to wriggle its body, swing its head, leap into the air and other sudden quick movements in hopes the vigilante would get thrown out. She managed to stay on with the tenacity to make any rodeo pony proud.

The ride ended however when the naga flipped on its back and Mare-Do-Well quickly jumped off before she would be crushed between the beast’s head and the ground below. That split second miscalculation was more than enough to give the naga a second wind and managed to catch Mare-Do-Well in its scaly hand. The creature managed to laugh in a whispery tone as it held its meal in its paw. The vigilante thrashed about to free herself from its clutch but the monster was ready. Looking right at her, its eyes began to cast a hypnotic gaze on her. Mare-Do-Well was unable to resist as she looked right into the psychedelic eyes of the naga and soon stopped her struggle. The monster then opened up his hand and as expected, Mare-Do-Well was entranced and unable to run away. She was a sitting duck.

Just before the monster would lunge forward and make her its meal, it suddenly dropped her on the ground. The naga then started to hiss in agony and used both its hands to hold the sides of its head as though it received a nasty headache while the crystal on its collar began to shimmer in an eerie light. The monster then looked to the side to see another naga just like it and with the same collar coming in direction of the cottage as it held a small yellow figure in its hand. The first naga eyed the still-dazed Mare-Do-Well and scowled angrily as it retreated. It soon joined up with its partner and both slithered into Everfree.

Finally, the hypnotic spell dissipated and Mare-Do-Well regained her senses. All she could remember was looking at the naga only to hypnotize her and now it was gone. She didn’t know how exactly she managed to stay alive but she swore her mistake would never be repeated again. She then saw several police pegasi flying overhead with the rest of the force galloping straight towards the crater where Rainbow Dash and the dead werewolf’s body were located. That cued her exit. Somehow, that werewolf and that naga were related to the disappearance of Gummy and she swore she’d find the truth.

***************************************

Fluttershy woke up with a shriek. She then saw she was not in her cottage or any place familiar to her for that matter. It looked like a simple bedroom devoid of most luxuries. The walls were made of hoof-carved stone and the ground seemed made of solid cement. The only furniture in this room was the bed she was sleeping on and a small chest of drawers nearby. A door was located at the far end of the room and the Pegasus decided to get out of this strange place, wherever or whatever it was.

She grabbed the door handle with her teeth and found the door locked. Panic overtook her as she pounded her door and even gave it a few kicks hoping she could break it down. However, she wasn’t known for her physical ability and the kick felt more like a tiptoe against the solid wood of the door.

“Miss Fluttershy, I presume.”

The Pegasus froze in her tracks as she darted her head everywhere, wondering where the voice came from.

“Wh-wh-wh-who are you? Why am I here? Please let me go. Please…” she whimpered softly.

“I regret to inform you that your departure is not part of the itinerary,” the soft voice said, still unknown to where it came from. “Consider yourself a guest at my expense, my dear filly. I shall have my servant summon you to me for the nightly repast. Until then, please rest. Ta-ta.”

“Please…sir? Are you a ‘sir’? Just let me go…” Fluttershy pleaded again. No answer.

The filly began to shake as she had no idea what was going to happen to her. Maybe meeting the voice in person would be for the best and perhaps then she can convince whoever it was that talked to her to let her go. There was no other way. Walking back to the bed, she laid down on it, curled up in a ball and tried to sleep.

***************************************

“How is she, Doctor?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she and her friends stood in front of the operating room.

The unicorn doctor lowered his facemask and sighed, “It looked very bad when she was brought to us. Worse than a broken wing last time, I’m afraid. 8 of her ribs were broken, along with heavy damage to her vertebrae, specially the lumbar ones.”

Everypony in the room became morose. The doctor then gave them a smile as he continued.

“However, she was lucky whatever force broke her back didn’t sever her spinal cord or else she would never fly or walk again. Luck continued to smile as we had a couple of respected surgeons from Manehattan and Baltimare visiting the hospital today and they both agreed to help knowing full well it was an Element of Harmony being operated on. I’m happy to say she is definitely going to pull through.” That made all the ponies breathe a sigh of relief except for the still straight-haired Pinkie Pie who was staring outside the window.

It was after the police sent Rainbow Dash to the hospital and the strange werewolf carcass to Canterlot for analysis that everypony received the terrible news that Fluttershy was missing. Pinkie knew immediately that the same perpetrators who were behind Gummy’s disappearance were also the ones responsible for both foalnapping the yellow pegasus and sending those monsters. Now even more she wanted to find them and make them pay. Trouble was she had no leads. The police had their hooves tied and the Everfree Forest was mostly uncharted. She was desperate, but she wasn’t stupid enough to charge in without a course of action. All she could do was stew in anger at the current events.

The doctor placed his mask over his face and went back to the operating room. Rarity resumed reading a magazine while Applejack merely paced around the waiting room floor impatiently. Twilight Sparkle walked up to Pinkie at the window to keep her company.

“Pinkie, don’t beat yourself up about this. You did what you could,” the purple unicorn explained.

“No, Twilight. I didn’t,” the sullen pink pony replied. “Gummy is still missing and now they got Fluttershy too. I will not be calm until they are both safe and sound back in Ponyville. I only wish I knew where to go in Everfree, but when I do, not even Celestia herself would stop me from bringing them back!”

Twilight gulped. She really felt uneasy during Pinkie’s rare bouts of pure seriousness and wished she would return to her cheerful smiling personality soon.

Suddenly, the door to the waiting room opened up and Spike ran inside. “Twilight! Twilight! I got-” Spike yelled out only to be silenced by the nurse on duty. She then pointed at a sign with an image of a pony with its mouth open and a large red X over it. Spike nodded in understanding.

“Twilight, I got news from Canterlot,” the dragon whispered softly enough for the unicorn and her pink companion to hear. “Princess Celestia sent me a letter a few minutes ago and told me she was going to send a letter directly to you so I had to hurry over here and-”

Spike didn’t finish what he was saying as he belched out a plume of green flame followed by a sealed scroll with Celestia’s seal on it.

The young drake unfurled the scroll as Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack huddled close to hear what the Princess had to say.

My Dear Twilight,

I have some rather unsettling news to inform you. The royal scholars finished analyzing the werewolf body that was delivered a few hours ago and they all came to the same conclusion:

This beast was experimented on.

Normal werewolves are just a few feet taller than myself but this one was nearly twice the normal size. Further analysis showed the muscle mass, while burnt beyond proper investigation, was greatly increased as well as sharper claws.

All points lead to believe somepony is experimenting with Everfree creatures without proper jurisdiction. We would have analyzed this body much further, but unfortunately our foremost expert on Biology from the Royal Academy, despite having been banished for his unsound theories and inhumane experiments, has gone missing and any such attempts to contact him have led us to dead ends.

We are worried he could be responsible for this. If he is, then all of Equestria is in grave danger. It is up to the Elements of Harmony to find him as quickly as possible. That is not a royal decree but rather a favor from a teacher to her student.

Princess Celestia

“Twilight, who’s this ‘expert’ the Princess is talkin’ ‘bout?” Applejack asked her.

The pupil sighed sadly. “Dr. Caballus.”

“Caballus? That name doesn’t quite sound so fancy, darling. Do tell us more about him,” said Rarity.

Twilight began her explanation. “Dr. Caballus was my teacher for only one term. He was one of the most acclaimed surgeons in Canterlot history and his name was even engraved in the Royal Hospital’s Hall of Fame. He then took a teaching job at the Academy where he taught Biology and was considered one of the most brilliant minds in the field. He was respected. He was admired. He was highly venerated by even Princess Celestia.”

“I don’t like the sound of this Caballus guy being talked about in past tense…” muttered the dragon assistant. Twilight sighed and resumed.

“During his last term in the Academy, he began to break the syllabus that the scholars demanded to be taught and began to lecture the students on his biological theories. He was convinced that all ponies had the capacity to go beyond the environment that they lived in and that we should not be divided into the system of earth pony/unicorn/pegasus when they are all created equally. In fact, he would prove to the world that ponies had the ability to go beyond the limits and be able to benefit from all the powers each pony type has: The strength of the earth ponies, the magic of the unicorns and the flight capabilities of the pegasi.

Needless to say, some students informed him that the only one who had that ability was the Princess and that ponies couldn’t be forced to evolve. Caballus declared straight out that everypony in the world had the ability to evolve to a higher state of existence beyond that of the Princess. This outburst sent him to the Academy’s disciplinary committee and they immediately stripped him from teaching duty.

Things went from bad to worse after that. Despite being unable to teach, he was still allowed to work in the laboratories. He began to gather subjects and volunteers to help him in his research. His ‘research’, however, was one straight out of the pits of Tartarus itself. Several ‘voluntary specimens’ who were irreversibly traumatized told stories of Caballus actually trying to force pony evolution by any means possible… I-I-I can’t go on. Some of those things mentioned are too horrifying to speak of…” Everypony, however, was listening to her every word and Twilight gulped as she had no choice.

She began to relate accounts of these broken ponies and how their lives were ruined by Caballus’s insane experiments, especially those involving "horn and wing transplants" from very unwilling donors. Applejack could look on in stunned silence unable to believe her ears. Rarity shook her head softly as she tried keeping a mantra of sanity that such a monster didn’t exist. Spike, however, took it the worst as he began to get queasy and immediately went straight to the restroom as he kept his hands over his bulging mouth.

Pinkie Pie stood firm and serious throughout it all. An ever-present feeling in her mind told her this mad doctor was responsible for what happened. The feeling was suddenly replaced by an aura of dread and her face showed worry for the first time since Gummy’s disappearance. If this Dr. Caballus wanted to advance pony biology…

“Twilight, Ah’m sure glad you didn’ tell us of this here Caballus vermin when we were sleepin’ over at yer house last year. Ah don’ think Ah’d be able to sleep in the dark knowin’ a monster like that existed!” Applejack finally managed to say.

“Darling, my heart goes out to all the poor souls that this uncivil madstallion has harmed! I only hope all his former accolades were expunged due to his disgraceful acts!” Rarity added with a huff.

“They were. His name has been the only one in the Hall of Fame to be forcefully burned beyond recognition and his contributions to Biology were purged from the Canterlot Archives. As far as Equestria is concerned, he is nothing more than an outcast,” Twilight replied.

“Ugh…” Spike uttered as he returned to the group of ponies after using the restroom. “So where do you suppose we’ll find him? The Princess said his current whereabouts are unknown!”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “I know, Spike, but every second we waste, Fluttershy could be in danger. Rainbow Dash will get better soon so it’s up to all of us to investigate and find out where Caballus is now. Right, Pink-”

All the fillies looked to the window and saw the pink pony had vanished.

***************************************

Fluttershy awoke to hear the door unlock and open up. She looked up in fear and squeaked as she saw another werewolf with a metal collar on its neck stand there by the door. This one, however, was more normal-sized compared to the monstrosity that wrecked her cottage, but it was still a sight to be feared. Fluttershy didn’t try to make any sudden moves for she thought the creature would attack. Strangely, it didn’t move. It just stood there gazing at her with a cross look.

The meek pegasus didn’t feel like moving at all in fear she would get attacked, until the werewolf gave her a low growl and pointed with its snout to the passage outside the door. Fluttershy nodded her head with a slight tremble and jumped off the bed. She trembled and took slow steps which caused the lycanthrope to give her a sharp bark. She squeaked in surprised and shot off like a rocket out the door.

“Ah, wonderful. You have chosen to come out.”

It was the same voice as before. Fluttershy was too scared by her surroundings to question how it was communicating at her.

“Just follow the light ahead of you and you’ll reach the dining hall. I have been expecting you.”

Fluttershy gulped as she paced forward towards the shiny light at the end of the hallway as the voice commanded. Getting closer and closer, her eyes closed ever so slightly due to the bright lights ahead until she set foot in a new area.

This room was some sort of dining area, if the term could be applied. There was a long table for ponies to eat there, that was for certain, but the rest of the area was just as empty as the room she was sleeping in. Cold stone walls with torches providing illumination, cement floor below her hooves, and no adornments or furniture of any kind there whatsoever. This place started to feel more like a dungeon and Fluttershy was unnerved by all this.

“Miss Fluttershy, so good of you to join me,” said the familiar voice in direction of the far end of the table. She approached for a closer look and she stopped in her tracks with a gasp once she saw the voice’s owner.

A tall unicorn stallion lay before her eyes, with a coat colored cobalt blue and dark grayish-green eyes. His mane was a dark russet hue and combed in an old fashioned gentlecolt’s dandy style with a part made down the right side of his head. A thick handlebar mustache also colored dark russet was styled and waxed with utmost care and gave this stallion a dapper appearance that was further accentuated by a monocle worn on the left eye. He was dressed rather casually in a lab coat with a slightly dirty white dress shirt underneath and topped with a black tie.

The cutie mark displayed prominently on his flank was a symbol Fluttershy had never seen before in her life. It looked like some kind of ladder that was constantly twisted and spiraled in place. Its vertical supports were a bright hue of orange while the rungs of this strange “ladder” appeared to have one half of each step a shade of dark blue and the other half a dark red. Upon looking at this stallion closer, he reminded her somewhat of that salt bar owner she saw briefly during her stay in Appleloosa. Despite his eyes looking at her seriously, the unicorn smiled at her and this made her very nervous.

“Don’t be bashful, my dear. Please sit down beside me. Our repast shall arrive post haste,” he spoke in a genteel accent and he clopped his forehooves together twice.

“Um, uh, t-t-thank you, Sir. But I really would like to go home now, please, s-s-so if you don’t mind, can I please leave?” she replied weakly.

“Leave? Perish the thought, my dear!” he answered with a snort. “Besides, I require you for something very important!”

“B-b-but, Sir, I really don’t mean to…”

“Doctor.”

Fluttershy’s mane fluttered in confusion. “Uh, excuse me?”

The monocle stallion nodded once. “I’m a doctor, not a sir. I am Dr. Caballus, renowned scholar of biology and anatomy looking to unlock the mysteries of life. That is who I am. Ah, here comes our sustenance!”

Fluttershy turned around, promptly screamed and dove under the table. Appearing from another hallway, a regular-sized naga wearing a cook’s hat, apron and the same metallic collar as all the others on its neck slithered in holding two platters in its scaly hand. Without a sound, it placed the two platters in front of the stallion and the frightened little pony.

“Good. Now, go back and wait for my command,” Dr. Caballus ordered and the naga nodded once before slithering away. Fluttershy slowly peeked out from her hiding place and breathed a sigh of relief as the creature was gone.

“Um, who…who was that? I-I-I never seen a naga so up close a-a-and live to actually see one…” she whimpered.

The monocled doctor merely waved a hoof and laughed. “Ah, yes, the chef may be quite taciturn, lass, but he certainly has a way around the kitchen,” He then placed his hooves together and gave a stern look towards the hallway the naga chef just slithered away into. “…or so I hope after the conditioning he has undergone.”

Fluttershy gulped once. “Con-conditioning?”

Dr. Caballus turned back to face his guest as a smile lit his face again. “Oh, but that is of no concern. Our sustenance is here. Let us partake of it, shall we?”

He then activated his horn with an eerie dark blue glow as he lifted the lids and revealed two elaborately-made salads. The pegasus’s wings flared up in surprise.

“Oh my! Monsieur Marcel Le Magnifique’s Fantastique Salade Royale! I read about this when trying to make salads for Angel Bunny but I couldn’t make it because most of the ingredients are so rare and expensive! This was declared the most delicious and rarest salad in all of Equestria! The only known serving of this dish was for the Princess’s Millennial Celebration!”

The unicorn chuckled as he used his magic to lift the monocle out of his eye to clean it. “It’s of no consequence for a stallion of my standing.” He quickly placed the monocle back in his eye. “Now go ahead, tuck in!”

Fluttershy leaned in close and marveled at the sight before her. She took a bite of a leaf of golden lettuce for the first time in her life and her eyes glazed over in joy as she began to eat heartily. This was her first time eating these rarest of lettuce only grown in the most obscure gardens and the standard fare for extremely rich ponies. She then began to nibble on the other ingredients in the salad like heart-shaped tomato slices, rare white escarole endive and very special carrots from Saddle Arabia known to give the stallions and ponies of the hot arid climate there the strength and stamina for their daily lives. The pegasus enjoyed every single last bite of this salad of the gods.

Pretty soon, the platters were empty, Dr. Caballus lifted a napkin with his magic to clean his lips and Fluttershy stood there looking down at her empty plate unsure how to thank this kind stranger for this rare delicacy.

She finally eyed him timidly and spoke. “Um…I don’t know what to say… Th-th-thank you, D-d-d-doc…”

“Now then, you’re wondering why my servants brought you to me.” Caballus interrupted to Fluttershy’s amazement. “Simply put, I need your help with some tests I’m conducting.”

She looked at him with curiosity. “T-tests?”

The cobalt-blue unicorn nodded. “Quite. I have heard a lot about your unique abilities when it comes to animals.”

“I-I-I don’t know what to say. Nopony has really asked me for tests involving my abilities…”

“My dear, satisfy my whims and I will make it worth it,” Caballus stated. “My research requires studies of ponies with unusual abilities beyond what nature itself asked. Ask yourself this. ‘Why do I have the ability to talk with the animals, both of the sky and of the land, if I am a pegasus pony?’ Have you not wondered why you have such a blessing that would be more in tune with magical unicorns or land-hooved earth ponies?”

Fluttershy furrowed her brow as she looked to the side. He was right. Why was her special talent communicating at a deep emotional level with other animals? Curiosity got the best of her.

“Very well, doctor, please test me. I wish to know why I have my talent.”

“Splendid! If you can, let us begin the experiments now,” Dr. Caballus said with a smile as he got up from his side of the table and walked out another hallway. Fluttershy stayed put where she was, unsure of what these ‘experiments’ would entail.

Before she could further fathom this, Caballus’s voice spoke up in the same disembodied form like it did earlier. “Come along! We have experiments to do! Don’t delay!”

The yellow winged pony eeped once and scurried off after him.

***************************************

Mare-Do-Well didn’t waste any time leaving Ponyville and went straight to Zecora’s hut. If anyone knew the Everfree Forest’s hidden secrets, she would. She was lucky she got the lead earlier on when she did…

***************************************

“Hiya there Mr. P!” Pinkie Pie said with her mane and tail mysteriously back to their curly frizzled form as she set foot in the Hospital’s special patients’ rec room.

The brightly-painted room was specially built by the Board of Directors so that ponies with “special needs” be given the proper recreational facilities without awkward interaction with the rest of the hospital’s patients. It was observed round-the-clock by a cadre of nurses who acted kindly towards these special patients but also made sure their various afflictions didn’t cause trouble for the others. It was here that Pinkie went to once she heard everything she did about Caballus from Twilight Sparkle. If anyone knew where the mad doctor would be hiding, a former “test subject” like the mentally-regressed pony would know.

“Pinkie Pinkie!” the green-coated earth pony exclaimed, now without his leather outfit or tubes feeding whatever chemicals made him grow to monstrous proportions, as he got up from the table he was sharing with a strange blue-coated filly with an unkempt gray mane who panted with her tongue out and wagged her tail. “Mr. P happy to see Pinkie Pinkie again! Pinkie Pinkie bring new games or toys for ponies and Mr. P to play?”

“Oh no, you silly!” she giggled in response. “I just wanna know some things. I really need your help.”

“Pinkie Pinkie ask Mr. P help? What Mr. P do help Pinkie Pinkie?” the pony replied with a curious look.

“I heard from Mare-Do-Well that some big meanie doctor was the one who did bad stuff to you,” Pinkie explained solemnly.

Mr. P immediately got down on his hooves and trembled with fear. “Doctor…Doctor bad! Doctor punish Mr. P with room of spiders! Mr. P hate spiders! Mr. P hate them! Hate spiders! Hate spiders!”

He started to shout a mantra of “hate spiders” with ever increasing decibels which at the same time caused the rest of the patients to get out of control. The nurses quickly trotted in and tried to restore order. One of them looked at the pink pony in the eye. “You got some nerve traumatizing this poor stallion! You’d better go if you don’t want to be forbidden from entering here again!”

Pinkie Pie pleaded with her, “No, Ma’am! Please! I just need to know something and I’ll leave him alone! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” She ended with all the motions of her Promise. The nurse looked at her, then to the visibly-shaken Mr. P, and finally back to her with a stern gaze.

“Very well. You further harass him and out you go!” she warned as she moved aside to allow Pinkie to again talk with Mr. P.

“Please, Mr. P. This is very important! Do you remember anything about where that nasty doctor lives? Anything?” she said with a pleading look in her eyes.

The mentally-regressed stallion’s purple eyes darted around in fear, but spoke, “Cold. Dark. Scary. Torches everywhere. Rocks everywhere. Floor hard. Tubes. Electricity. Funny liquids. Mr. P no like Doctor place…”

The pink pony bit her lip. This was getting her nowhere. “How about outside? Do you know anything of the places outside where the doctor lives?”

Mr. P didn’t look up once in fear of remembering what little he had in his mind. “Houses. Many outside Doctor place. No ponies inside. Lonely. Many trees no green. Trees sharp. All ground black. Plants no there. Fountain. Fountain no water. Fountain Doctor touch and place open…”

Pinkie Pie took note of all this. She only had one last question. “Wow, Mr. P. And was all this in Everfree Forest?”

The green stallion merely nodded his head. That’s all Pinkie needed. She gave him a hug and a nuzzle on his cheek. “Thankies, Mr. P! Pinkie Pinkie promises she’ll bring you some goodies to eat from Sugarcube Corner for all you did!”

With that, Mr. P’s face lit up as he stood up. “Yay! Pinkie Pinkie bring cookies and snacks! Mr. P happy! Mr. P wait! Thank you, Pinkie Pinkie!” He then began to dance with a happy hum as the nurse tried to calm him down. Pinkie happily skipped out the door where Twilight and the rest of the Elements were just waiting outside.

“Pinkie Pie, what did you do in there? Why did you run off?” the purple unicorn asked her with worry.

As soon as the special patient rec room door was shut and nopony could see her, her smile faded and her mane and tail went straight once more. She looked at her with a serious glare. “I have a lead to where he’s hiding. I have to go.”

“Now, jes hold on a darn pickin’ minute, sugar cube,” Applejack said as she stood in front of the door leading out of the special patients’ ward. “Ya ain’ goin’ in there like some maverick buckin’ hooves plum crazy-like! We are yer friends, remember? Ah’m not moving an inch from this here door ‘til you come to yer senses an' allow us t’ help ya!”

“She’s right, Darling,” Rarity added as she stared her down as best as she could. “Whenever there was a threat, we always faced it together. Would we have trounced Nightmare Moon, the diamond dogs, and Discord if we went our separate routes? Not hardly, darling! We are the Elements of Harmony and we shall be united.”

Pinkie Pie snorted once with disdain. “One of us is hospitalized and another is in the clutches of that maniac! The time for action is now! If you don’t get out of my way and keep me from finding my Gummy and rescuing Fluttershy, then you’ll all be sorry!” she screeched as she pawed the ground and charged head on.

Applejack and Rarity merely stood their ground and placed their heads down in preparation for the impact. Suddenly, a magenta-colored field of magic enveloped the two ponies and they were magically teleported to the side of the room as Pinkie Pie charged ahead and burst through the doors and out of the hospital. Twilight must have teleported them away and for good reason. In her current mindset, Pinkie would have charged right through them like a stampede and they would be injured.

She had no time to lose. She had to get her outfit and then head straight for Everfree and to the one she could ask for directions to the area where Caballus was hiding at.

***************************************

Mare-Do-Well threw the hut’s door open with a bang, making Zecora jump a few feet up in the air from fright.

“You! If I was any madder, you would be cursed! But I’m not, so please if you come in, knock first!” the zebra snapped in annoyance.

Mare-Do-Well took off her hat and mask to reveal the stern straight-maned face of Pinkie Pie. Zecora instantly knew this was no time for any subtleties.

“I need your help, Zecora. You’ve lived here for a long time and I’m sure you’ve explored every inch of this place better than anypony I know,” Pinkie explained with her stone face showing fiercely. “Is there an area here that has abandoned houses, dead trees and ground, and most importantly of all, a fountain?”

Zecora’s eyes looked at her sternly, devoid of formalities as she turned around and went to her sleeping quarters. She then began to search for something through her belongings there as she spoke aloud.

“Deep within Everfree, where even the bravest fear to tread...
There is a forsaken settlement. A place where all life is dead.
The ground is black and the trees are bare,
also many houses devoid of life were there.
I found the area many moons ago,
on a night where ill winds began to blow.
Despite the town abandoned and being all alone,
the area gave me chills I felt down to the bone.
I did recall with my eyes,
a beautiful fountain to my surprise.
It was truly a marvel of engineering work,
but I sensed great evil below it lurk.
I departed the place without a moment to lose...”

She then gasped. “Ah, here it is! Something you may peruse.”

The zebra returned holding a scroll in her mouth and placed it on the table, unfurled it and beckoned Pinkie close to her. The pink pony looked at the scroll and saw a crudely-made sketch, most likely made by Zecora herself. The sketch showed what looked to be the ruins of a town with broken houses, dead trees and no plants on the ground. What caught her eye though was the depiction of some kind of statue of three ponies, an earth pony, unicorn and pegasus to be precise, rearing up with their front legs up in the air.

“When I returned from that dismal place,
I picked up a brush and began to trace.
A depiction of the landscape I bore witness,
a place of decay as though it had sickness.
I would warn you to stay away,
but your mind is set,
so I shall tell you the way
to this place with deep regret…”

She then sighed sadly as she closed her eyes.
“Go beyond the remains of the castle within the forest deep,
through a thick field of plants, and then a den where Ursas sleep.
Take a left, then a right, then a couple lefts in the grove with eerie haze,
then go straight down the final path. You shall find where the forsaken village lays.”

With determination, the pony pulled her mask back on and placed her hat on her head. Mare-Do-Well turned around and walked to the door. Before she could leave, the zebra called out, “I warn you, hero, be of calm mind! Your soul is filled with anger and you must leave that behind! Fail to heed these words so true…”

Mare-Do-Well had enough of the zebra’s cryptic rhymes and just rushed out as she slammed the door behind her. Zecora looked down at the sketch of the ruins on her table and sighed.

“…or there will be catastrophe waiting for you…”

***************************************

“Go ahead, Miss Fluttershy,” Dr. Caballus’s voice said. “Interact with the specimen if you please.”

Fluttershy gulped as she padded closer to the werewolf. The beast was sitting down on the floor, too preoccupied licking its left hand to notice the pony approach it. She really didn’t know why she was shut in within this chamber with Caballus standing safely in another room where he was able to see everything occur in this one through a sheet of glass.

Ever since she followed him earlier, she was subjected to plenty of regular-looking procedures more familiar to check-ups she received at the Ponyville clinic or the main Hospital on the town’s outskirts. Then the tests became stranger as he used a variety of spells and strange instruments to, according to him, analyze her brain patterns and gauge her inner “magic” meter. These tests were strange even to her and it scared her. Caballus said he had one more test to conduct and here she was locked in a room with a werewolf that could tear her apart if it was so inclined.

She felt a large lump in her throat as she slowly made her way towards the creature who was still too distracted licking its paw to see her. With a flick on one of its ears, however, it turned its gaze towards the intruder and began to growl fiercely at her.

The yellow pony froze in her tracks as sweat began to form on her forehead. Was it going to strike? No, its hind legs were still firmly placed on the ground and not in a position for a pounce. More than likely this was a warning growl to stay away rather than preparing to attack. She took a few steps back and the werewolf went back to licking its hand. Her brow furred as she realizes it was far more interested in its hand than a possible meal. She once again took a step forward and the lycanthrope turned to face her and growl again. She then gave it a warm smile.

“There, there, Mr. Werewolf, I couldn’t help but notice you were licking your paw. Now why is that?” she said calmly as she began to get closer. The werewolf frowned as it turned its back on her and kept licking his hand while growling softly.

“You know, that’s not really nice,” she scolded softly. “Be a good werewolf and tell me what is wrong with your hand. Pretty please?”

The werewolf pouted as it kept its hand hidden but Fluttershy’s tender gaze and doe-like eyes looked up at him with nurturing warmth. The beast’s cheeks softly began to redden despite still scowling. It hung its head down and moved its hand to where the yellow pegasus could see. She then gasped and cupped her hooves over her mouth in response to what appeared to be some very nasty cuts along the back of his hand which bleed profusely.

“Oh my! Those are some very nasty cuts you have there!” she commented with alarm. She then looked to the glass pane and called out. “What happened? Why haven’t you healed its wounds if you’re supposed to be a doctor?” Caballus kept a stern face as he said not a word and resumed writing on the clipboard.

The pony bit her lip. The werewolf was clearly suffering and she had to make it feel better. She spotted out of the corner of her eye a white blanket lying in a corner of the sealed room. It was a bit dirty and she hoped it was clean enough as she took it up in her teeth, applied pressure with her hoof and managed to tear off a strip of cloth from the sheet.

Bringing the strip back to the werewolf, she managed to tie it around the wolf’s hand, despite his yelps and growls of pain, as best as her teeth and forehooves could muster. Soon, the bandage was tied neatly around the werewolf’s hand and the creature finally relaxed.

“There. I hope that helps it heal faster. You really should be more careful where you put your hands, you know,” the yellow pony beamed with tenderness.

The werewolf then did something that neither equine expected. It lowered its head down and playfully licked Fluttershy as she giggled in glee. “Aw, you’re just a big silly puppy! Such a cuddly wuddly puppy!” she cooed as the werewolf kept licking her out of thanks.

The moment was cut short when the unicorn doctor’s voice began to talk inside the chamber. “Very well. I witnessed all I need. You can come out now, Fluttershy.” The door at the far end of the room then opened just as he commanded. The pony looked back to her new friend and gave him a warm smile as she walked outside.

Dr. Caballus also left the room he was in and looked at Fluttershy sternly. “Most interesting. Simply astounding. I have never seen such a capacity of communication like this in action…” he mused as he started to walk down the dark hallway. She gulped and wondered just what he was going to do next.

He then turned around and his expression became cold and distant. This was not the same unicorn she met earlier who graced her palate with the rarest salad in the world and Fluttershy was scared.

“Your talent is deeply ingrained in your body. I have tried to isolate it, find its source and even tested your body stats as you healed my servant. And yet, I could not gauge it! To think I sullied my magic by using a shard to cut him brought nothing!”

Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide. “Wait! You hurt your own servant on purpose?! Why…? Why did you do such a thing?”

His eye lowered a bit and his monocle started to shine with an unnatural sheen. “For science, my dear filly. To advance pony evolution!” He then stomped his front leg hard which unnerved the pony even further.

“Inequality! Discrimination! Disparity! Who dictates what pony type a newborn foal should be born as? How can a pegasus couple have an earth pony foal? How can earth pony parents conceive unicorns and pegasi? Why do only supposed… ‘chosen ones’ like those distasteful philistine royals have the gift of all three types?! Nature! Nature is a cruel jokester! It is nothing more than a comedian who laughs in the face of ponies! I spit in the face of nature! Ponies have more than the capacity to be mere unicorns or pegasi or even earth types! Those broodmares up in Canterlot are proof enough and they dominate us as we are incapable of flight, magic and stamina like they do! It is a travesty!”

Fluttershy couldn’t believe her ears over how this maverick cursed not only the Princesses but nature as well. She would have spoken up and told him to stop but she was too afraid to do so. At this point, his well-coiffed hair began to get messy, his moustache became disarrayed and spiky, and blasts of pure hot air burst forth from his nostrils as he clenched his teeth in hatred.

“Unlike other foolish unicorns, I was blessed with my eyes opening to the truth. I am not deceived by those horned winged freaks that sit on those thrones! I know all ponykind has the capacity to reach the same level as them! Even go above it! Over it! Beyond it! We are a gifted race and yet everypony acts more like mindless sheep that follow the flow and course cruel nature dictates instead of the noble dignified equines we are made to be! Not I! I will bring about the next step in pony evolution! I shall usher in an era where all ponies shall be one and only equal!”

“…but…”

He looked down with an evil glare at Fluttershy who finally raised her head up, lips quivering as she tried to speak.

“But… what does that have to do with me? You said you wanted to test my abilities…”

His hateful gaze soon turned into a cruel smile that spread across his entire face. “Indeed I did. Your ability to communicate with animals shall prove invaluable once I isolate the genes responsible for it and add it to my next formula strain…”

He then lowered his head at her which caused her to break in cold sweat seeing his nightmarish façade. “And because I could not isolate it by simple diagnostics, I’m afraid I will have to use far more interactive measures. Yes… I can’t wait to study your brain…”

Fluttershy gulped again. “My…brain? B-b-b-but how could you study it as long as…” She then gasped as her pupils shrank to near pinpricks as the realization hit her and she slowly shook her head in absolute terror. “No! You wouldn’t! You couldn’t!”

Dr. Caballus slowly chuckled to himself as he clapped his forehooves together. A werewolf and naga appeared behind him on command. “Servants, take Miss Fluttershy to the operation room. Make sure all my cutting implements are sterilized. I don’t want to risk any foreign bacteria contaminating her organs and flesh until I have found the genetic material I am searching for…”

Fluttershy’s eyes swelled up with tears and shook her head. “Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!” she screamed as the two beasts pounced on her and held her tight as they took her down the hall. Her screaming pleads of help fell on deaf ears as they slowly began to die down and disappear altogether.

Dr. Caballus took a deep breath and chuckled.

“So many experiments. So little time.”

***************************************

Desolation.

That was the only word Mare-Do-Well could think of as she finished walking along the route Zecora told her about and saw the barren landscape before her. The change from fearsome-looking-but-alive trees to completely dead gnarled ones and the unusual grassy fields to infertile black cracked soil was instantaneous. And right there in the middle of it all, the ruins of what must have been a fruitful and happy town. Houses once lovingly built were now abandoned husks with roofs collapsed or walls crumbled in a heap of stone and thatch. Mare-Do-Well didn’t have time to dwell on this. She had to find her other self’s missing pet and friend before things get worse.

Upon reaching the town ruins, she felt a bit unnerved by the lack of noise. Only the wind constantly blew through the derelict village in such a manner that it sounded more like ghostly wails of its former inhabitants. The vigilante, and her alternate self beneath her mask, felt a bit unnerved at all this. She had to find this fountain and figure out how it would help her find Caballus’s hideout and fast.

As she galloped around the town, she came across a strange sight. On one of the walls of the dilapidated houses, she saw a strange message written in a panicked scrawl. It must have been very old as most of the message was worn out and hard to see. She squinted hard to try and make sense of what it said.

N- --pe
-eg-n fa---d
-a-n--w o- l---t --il--
-m-o--e co---g
-y --m-ly m- -r--nd-
-ll --ns--m-d
Don’t want to die… don’t want to die… don’t want to die… don’t wa

This was more than likely a message by one of the former townsfolk. The last words made her very uncomfortable. What could have caused the writer so much panic to not want to die? What happened to the town? Anyway, she had more important things to worry about such as finding the fountain. She pushed on.

She eventually reached what most likely was the central square of the deserted town. A large fountain served as the main point of interest to what was once a glorious sight. In its heyday, Mare-Do-Well envisioned the fountain with beautiful, cool clear water gushing out of the mouth spouts of its three giant marble statues of an earth pony, unicorn and pegasus all rearing up in majestic splendor. She saw foals and young fillies and colts swimming around the inner basin of the fountain while their parents looked on happy and smiling.

Nature, or whatever it was that caused the town to be forsaken, needless to say, was not kind to the once-beautiful monument. The marble craftwork was faded in several areas with several visible cracks. Dirt, grime and mold grew all over it as dead ivy wrapped around it as though it was keeping the pony statues held back against their will. Several parts of each statue had broken off through some of the bigger cracks such as the earth pony’s tail, the tip of the unicorn’s horn, and the pegasus’s left wing. Looking down at the empty basin of the fountain, she saw the broken remains of these statue pieces now shattered beyond repair. It was truly a depressing sight.

Nevertheless, Mr. P said the fountain was the key to open the entrance to Dr. Caballus’s hideout. She just had to figure out how. She began to tap all around the outer part of the basin, inspected the interior and looked carefully at each statue. Nothing. She had absolutely no idea where the way inside could be.

She growled mentally as she stared at the pony statues, their cheerful faces and smiles staring down at her. Deep in her mind however, she sensed they were mocking her, insulting her abilities as a crimefighter and she hated that as she stared at them with a cold hard gaze.

That’s when she finally noticed it. The unicorn’s horn. Despite the dirt, grime and mold the rest of the statue was covered in as were the other two, the horn itself looked spotless for a statue that was supposedly not cleaned for a very long time. She climbed up the back of the unicorn statue and examined the horn. Some sort of crack, invisible from faraway, was around the base of the horn where it would connect to the unicorn’s head. Mare-Do-Well placed her hoof on the unicorn horn and pushed down. The horn leaned down with a rusty squeak and a loud click. To her surprise, the entire fountain began to slide to the side and she wrapped her hooves around the marble unicorn to hang on. Seconds later, the fountain stopped moving and she jumped back down to ground level to see what happened.

Bingo! There was a hole with a very old staircase carved out of rock that spiraled down below the ground and the fountain was cleverly placed above it to hide it from view. Now she was getting somewhere! However, the fountain began to slowly slide back into place and the masked pony knew she had no time to waste. She trotted straight to the staircase and quickly began to descend the first few steps as the fountain closed overhead and was enveloped in darkness.

Mare-Do-Well’s eyes slowly accustomed themselves to the pitch-black surroundings and caught a glimpse of a very dim light source several feet below her current location. With slow steady steps, she made her way down the spiraling steps only to crush something underneath her hoof. Something very brittle. She lowered her eyes to focus on what little light there was at the bottom to see what she crushed, only to jump back in shock. A skull!

She then looked at the steps above and below her and saw several equine skeletons! Most were of earth ponies, including the skull she just crushed, but there were a few unicorn and pegasus remains judging by the horns on the skulls and pieces of the wing bones on their backs. She bit her lip seeing some of these bones were obviously of fillies and very young foals. This must have once been a shelter of some kind which the former inhabitants of the town must have built, with the fountain as its door, to hide from dangers and disasters. However, judging from the amount of skeletons, they must have all perished here with no hope of salvation.

Normally her inner self would have been traumatized to tears by the sight of all the unfortunate ponies, but she was on a mission. She had to find Gummy and Fluttershy!

She finally reached the end of the stairs and had to blink twice to see if her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. The light source came from a large hole in the wall that led to a wide hallway with a few torches placed in holes hewn into the wall that led to another enormous opening at the far end. She looked at the floor of this passage and noted this was covered in hard cement unlike the dirt and hay covered flooring of the rest of the staircase. This was obviously not part of the original shelter and definitely the work of somepony who took over the area and modified it. She had no idea what to expect, considering how large and wide the opening and the hallway beyond it were, but as always she was to find out what.

The hallway, aside from being large and dimly lit, appeared to travel downward going far below the surface of the earth. Once she reached the end of the doorway at the opposite side and leaned her head out to have a good look around, she realized why it descended. The room the hallway led to was outrageously large, more than the openings and hallway preceding it. Judging by the placement of the cavernous ceiling above, it was more than some 30 feet tall and far below the surface. The room itself was somewhat square-shaped with hard stone walls making up the sides with holes hewn into it to place more torches giving the area some illumination, and the blank featureless cement floor strewn below. She noticed something odd about the ceiling though, as she made out what appeared to be holes all carved into the rock. More than likely these were made as a way for air from outside to filter down below and bring a breathable atmosphere to the areas below.

What caught her attention though was a much-smaller opening on the far end of the tall chamber with two gigantic nagas guarding the door at opposite ends. Putting two and two together, Mare-Do-Well deduced these nagas, as well as the giant werewolf Rainbow Dash beat, were more than likely the guards to Caballus’s hideout. The area beyond the smaller opening led to his lair while this chamber and hallway before it was built to accommodate their tremendous size but not enough to enter the facilities themselves. That at least was some welcome relief that she wasn’t going to find any more giant monsters inside.

She carefully studied her two opponents before her. Despite both looking alike, one of the nagas had some of its neck skin used to create its hood stretched out. That one was certainly the naga she used as a rodeo bronco which later hypnotized her into a trance earlier in the day. Now, the danger has been doubled.

Mare-Do-Well faced a dilemma. Sneaking past them was out of the question since there was nowhere for her to hide and these two didn't look like the types to move away from their post. Her sleeping gas and smoke balls were far too small for them to be thrown up and connect to be of any use. Fighting them out in the open was sure to attract the attention of guards inside. There was only one option left and she loathed it.

First, she had to become bait.

The left naga’s eyes gazed momentarily at his partner with its hood skin outstretched and saw it rub its belly with a displeased look on its face. The former merely shook its head until its ears began to vibrate. Both serpentines looked down with the right one especially having its eyes wide open in surprise.

Mare-Do-Well looked up at them, turned herself around and wiggled her rump at the two bewildered creatures in defiance. She then turned back and pulled her mask just a few inches up to reveal Pinkie Pie’s snout as she blew them a loud raspberry. The right naga was incensed at the meal that got away taunting him and charged forward to catch her. The vigilante slipped the mask back down and trotted away as fast as her hooves could take her. The remaining guard flicked its tongue out and quickly chased after its partner before it could eat what it declared now to be its rightful snack.

She felt an enormous lump in her throat as she heard the loud slithering behind her. Why did she do it? She could never hope to outrun two fully-grown and genetically enhanced nagas but she had to put the effort. If she could led both nagas back to the original town shelter room below the fountain, she could easily lose them in the obscurity of the area and slip inside before anyone or anypony would find her. She only hoped it would be as simple as she planned it.

She smiled beneath her mask as she approached the end of the hallway and returned to the darkness. Quickly she made her way up the staircase and stopped a few feet in the middle as the nagas appeared. The duo swung their heads around trying to locate her in the pitch-black room much to their anger and hunger. They then faced one another and nodded in unison. Mare-Do-Well raised an eyebrow wondering what they were up to.

One of the nagas lay down near the bottom step and eyed the other one in readiness. The second naga immediately extended its coils up until its head nearly hit the ceiling and placed its head near the first step. Once they were in position, the serpentine creatures slowly flicked their tongues out to feel around the step despite the dark surroundings they were in. Sensing no prey, they went to the next step above and below them respectively and repeat the process again. Mare-Do-Well had to hand it to them. They were clever than she thought, but she wasn’t done yet.

As soon as the bottom naga stopped flicking its tongue around the step just below her own, Mare-Do-Well waited for the exact moment the snake monster lifted its head, she again leaped into the air and landed on its head, tugging hard at the neck skin flaps she loosened before. Its hisses of anguish were enough to alert its comrade and it too went on the offensive. Mare-Do-Well saw the gaping maw of the other naga close in on her. Just a few seconds more.

Her alter self’s sense activated just in time and she quickly leaped up in the air to see the attacking naga sink its fangs on the other one, making it hiss loudly in pain. The latter, angered at being bitten, used one of its massive arms to grab the neck of the former, and smashed its head against the floor. The other countered with a massive swipe of its tail that smacked its partner right in the face. Both didn’t care anymore for the pony but the thoughts of proving their superiority over the other in combat.

Mare-Do-Well left the two proud yet dumb creatures to continue beating themselves up and quickly raced back down the passage, through the large antechamber and entered the doorway they were once guarding.

The entrance led to yet another hallway, albeit smaller, with a few doors along the way. She kept walking forward and could hear both heavy footsteps and the shuffling drag of a legless body against the cement floor all around her. The place was crawling with werewolves and nagas and she sure didn’t want to face any, even if they weren’t as big as the ones she faced before.

Feeling the presence of no threat nearby, she quickly secluded herself in a spot that the torches were not illuminating and began to meditate again. She thought meditation would again help her accentuate her senses just like before but she couldn’t focus her concentration whatsoever. She was far too angry and her mind was too preoccupied with worry and anguish over both Gummy and Fluttershy. Failing to do so, she decided to wing it. She resumed her search hoping she could find those two on her own.

After finding a dining room, a kitchen with a strange naga dressed as a cook who was too busy cutting some vegetables to notice her peek inside, several patrolling lycanthropes and snake beasts she evaded by hiding in the dark spots which torches didn’t light up, and looking inside what seemed to be the servant’s barracks, she eventually found a door guarded by both a regular-sized werewolf and naga standing at the opposite sides. Before she could comprehend what they were guarding, she heard it.

A muffled scream of a very familiar voice.

The terrified tones of a kindly yellow pegasus when she felt in danger.

She was in there.

The mere thought Fluttershy was about to undergo one of the procedures Twilight told her alter self about back at the hospital was enough to make Mare-Do-Well throw caution to the wind. She was done being formal. It was time to kick flank! She broke off into a furious gallop as she approached the door and the two guards were alerted to her presence. The beasts rushed forward to attack the interloper.

Mare-Do-Well slammed her forelegs on the ground, allowing her to flip forward and launch her entire body with both hind legs joined together in a drill kick that connected with the naga and took it down in one strike. The werewolf was a far trickier opponent as it swung forward with its muscular arms. The vigilante hopped around avoiding the claw swipes and that made the werewolf angrier, changing strategy to now add forward lunges with its head to bite her along with swings its claws around. Predicting the feral foe’s strategy, she jumped into the air just as it lunged forward, leapfrogged over the werewolf’s head and slammed her hat over its head, covering its eyes completely.

The blinded beast snarled as it couldn’t see its opponent with the hat over its head and just swung its arms and hands trying to find her. The smug pony crouched low as it approached and quickly ran circles around her enemy, making sure to wrap her dark-blue cape over its legs as it ran. The werewolf yelped as it lost balance with its legs wrapped by the cape and it fell forward on its face. Mare-Do-Well quickly unwrapped her cape from its legs, took a tremendous leap into the air, tucked her body in, and cannonballed right on the werewolf’s head with a resounding crack. Picking up her hat from the now unconscious lycanthrope’s head, she returned to the door and kicked it open with one good buck of her hind legs.

She was immediately greeted by a powerful blast of dark blue magic that sent her flying into a wall nearby and knocked her out cold. Dr. Caballus walked through the door, horn crackling with magic sparks, and lowered his eyes at the comatose figure beneath him. He turned back to see Fluttershy strapped to his table, shaking in fear and eyes filled with tears. He then turned back to the now unconscious vigilante and guards.

Time for his executioner to feed.

The Legend of Mare-Do-Well will resume…