Chapter 2: Mysterious Mare in the Shadows
“Okay girls, this is what we know so far about this ‘heroine’,” Twilight pulled down a poster of the Mare Do Well in the middle along with other ponies as suspects.
“We know that this mare or stallion has been protecting Ponyville at night time. She knows she is at a disadvantage if we were to catch her in the day time. She also had access to all of our Mare Do Well costumes. It is currently unknown what kind of pony this mare is?” Twilight said inspecting the poster and then back to her friends, who were all yawning and restless at the time.
“Look Twili, I think whoever this mare is has to be very clever and crafty” Applejack told her.
“She also had to be very sneaky in stealing Rarity’s costumes without her knowing it, UNLESS SHE IS THE MARE DO WELL” Pinkie shouted while pointing her hoof at Rarity.
“Pinkie, Rarity isn’t what you call ‘tough’,” Rainbow Dash told Pinkie and then looked at Rarity “No offense.”
“None taken, darling. I mean this mare has to care about something or somepony” Rarity asked “What do you think Fluttershy?”
The five friends noticed Fluttershy was asleep. Her head lies comfortably on Twilight’s table. Her snores were quiet as a mouse. Twilight looked at the other seeing how restless they were as it was near the morning time and they were up all night long.
“Okay, why don’t we get some sleep and later on we try our efforts of wondering who this mare is?” Twilight said before waving goodbye to her friends.
However Applejack had stepped on a bag that made her react quickly to the pain “OW, what in tarnation?”
Applejack opened the bag to see a lot of gems. This immediately woke up the fashionista as she moved Applejack out of the way. Much like a kid at a candy store, Rarity was eyeing the gems seeing how much potential they had with her clothing lines. So many ideas and yet she knew this had to be Spike’s.
“Oh sorry Applejack that’s Spike’s food.” Twilight used her magic to move the bag to the table. Her friends went to say goodbye for the last time before Twilight yawned “He got them from some mysterious mare that really likes him.”
As the five friends disappear and Twilight moving to the upstairs. The words Twilight spoke suddenly clicked. The six knew this was no coincidence of who gave Spike the gems. Twilight and her friends all met back to where they were as they all shouted.
“The MARE DO WELL HAS A THING FOR SPIKE!”
A couple of hours later, the Mane Six were fully awake and had all read the note that Spike had gotten from the Mare.
“Now, this doesn’t mean that this Mare-Do-Well is the same mare that likes Spike.” Applejack spoke first passing the note to Rainbow Dash, who was quite puzzled with the note.
“This mare is just a big chicken not to reveal who she is to Spike.” Rainbow Dash passed it to Pinkie Pie, who grinned at the note.
“Well, it looks like she wrote everything with some type of special quill.” Pinkie passes it to Rarity who was studying the handwriting on it.
“I must say this mare does have great skills in writing this masterpiece, yet this doesn’t excuse her for her attempts to woo Spike.” Rarity moves the note down to Fluttershy, who was shaking
“Well……this mare does seem to…..umm umm… has an interesting motive behind her heroics.” Fluttershy puts the note on the table.
“It would seem this mare has feelings for Spike. So, our subject list is not changed. We just need to find out this mare in Ponyville that either interacts with Spike or follows him.” Twilight glared
“Twilight, that’s almost every mare in Ponyville or Canterlot.” Pinkie Pie said “So, we would have to interview all of them or spy on Spike to determine who this mare is.”
Twilight sighed “I know Pinkie, but we just need to follow Spike in order to determine whoever the Mare Do Well is.”
“Well, that does sound like a great plan, but what about Spike? Won’t he hate that we are just using him just to draw in the Mare-Do-Well?” Twilight feared
“I know Twilight it seems wrong, but we are doing it to bring this mare to justice” Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder
“Okay, tonight will be operation bring this mare to justice” Pinkie cried out.
Spike sighed as he couldn’t believe his friends were using him just to draw in the Mysterious Mare that was harboring a crush on him. His mind was on another thing. Who was this mare? Spike knew many mares in Ponyville. His conversation with one of them must have brought forward some feelings toward him. Spike wasn’t sure who this mare was, but he felt somewhat flattered for her feelings. He ,however, had some doubts though about it. Did she like him just because he was a dragon or was there more to this mare’s crush? Maybe she was just saying that to cheer his spirits up, but she did kiss him. He just needed to figure out who was the mare that kissed him.
He knew Twilight was just a mother figure to him, so she was the first suspect eliminated. Then there is Rarity, the mare that broke his heart. Why would she suddenly realize her feelings for him? Then there was Rainbow Dash. She isn’t the type of mare to suddenly have romantic feelings for somepony out of the blue. Pinkie Pie was up next as her outgoing and confusing nature would seem like she likes everypony. Fluttershy was also the least likely as she is scared of her own shadow, so being in love was unlikely. The last was Applejack. Much like Rainbow Dash, Applejack was more interested in her farm than being interested in any stallion.
He turned back seeing a trash can, a bush, a wagon, a poster of a restaurant advertisement, and a tree moving from place to place. Spike shook his head thinking who would buy into their conspicuous disguises? Yet, was it really one of them that likes him more than a friend or is there a pony he missed out on?
The dragon did his daily routine and walks into Bon-Bon’s store. He knew the six were waiting outside seeing if another mare would walk in. He suddenly saw that the store was packed. He turns around seeing Lyra was playing on the harp. Such a relaxing tone that Lyra was playing.
“Hi Spike” Bon-Bon smiled as she was waving at the counter.
As soon as Spike had entered, most of the customers were making a mad dash out of the store. Spike sighed at the sight of an empty store.
“Well if they didn’t like my music, they could just say so.” Lyra pouted
“It’s not you Lyra, I am sorry Bon-Bon. Maybe i should just leave.” Spike felt guilty about clearing her store.
“It’s not your fault Spike; I was hoping they would clear out. I am working up a storm.” Bon-Bon giggled “Plus Lyra can take a break for a few minutes.”
Spike looked at both mares seeing Bon-Bon was intensly staring at Lyra for a few seconds. Spike knew Bon-Bon had a crush on Lyra, yet her fear of rejection and how the ponies would see them made Bon-Bon scared of telling the truth. As soon as Lyra went to the music store, Bon-Bon sighed in relief.
“You know, Lyra is going to be with some stallion or mare if you don’t reveal how you feel.” Spike offered his two cents on the subject.
“But what if Lyra hates me or what if she prefers to be with stallions only or what if...” Bon-Bon was freaking out at the situation.
“Bon-Bon calm down,” Spike went over the counter to calm the crying mare, “Look, you two are best friends. I am sure Lyra will be shocked at first, but I am sure she will understand when it comes that time. You can’t base life on what ifs. You have to take a little risk. Sure you might feel sad at the end, but at least it’s better than doing nothing.”
Bon-Bon wiped a tear “You really think so?”
“I know so. Besides Lyra is your best friend. She might just like you more than a best friend, but don’t get your hopes up okay?” Spike smiled and put his claw on Bon-Bon
“Ya, thanks Spike. Here are the gumballs Pinkie Pie wanted for that party.” Bon-Bon said passing over the gumballs.
Spike went out through the front door and suddenly saw that a thieving Pegasus wearing a cap, a mask a striped shirt was running away from Lyra.
“You give me back my strings, I need them.” Lyra growls as she tries to use her magic to knock the thief off his hooves.
Spike freaks seeing that he had to help Lyra. Maybe this would help him understand how she felt about Bon-Bon.
The six noticed the thief and sprang into action. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy scanned the air knowing that he would not be able to fly out of there without them noticing. Applejack and Pinkie Pie both were helping Lyra chase the thief. Twilight and Rarity were both using their magic to block the thief’s path.
Spike was closer to the thief than any pony. He saw the thief use a shortcut that only Spike noticed. He quickly chases the thief to an alleyway. He noticed that the thief was caught in a rope. Spike knew who had captured him.
“Hi Spike,” The Mare Do Well noticed the dragon was in front of the alleyway. “I knew only you would be able to see the thief.”
“Wait,” Spike called as he saw a hook coming from the side of the Mare Do Well’s body seeing the hook stuck to a rooftop and the Mare Do Well was slowly making her way up to escape from the alley.
Spike needed to keep talking to her. Her voice was somewhat familiar. He could tell she was altering her voice,so he wouldn’t recognize her. The dragon tried to think of a way so she would stay to talk to him. “I LOVE YOU, TOO”
Suddenly, Spike saw the rope lowering down. The mysterious mare heard his words and he could tell from her mask that she felt both confused and flattered by his words. “What did you say?”
“You told me last night that you loved me.” Spike felt really nervous. He felt awful that he was lying, but yet his words held some truth to it as well. “So, I love you as well.”
The Mare Do Well walked an inch towards him. She didn’t know whether to trust his words at first but felt really excited and hugged him. “I am so glad you really like me, I am really glad that I was able to tell you how I feel. I thought I would die from embarrassment.”
“If you keep hugging me like this I might just die,” Spike said trying to breath
“I am so sorry.” The mare let go of the dragon who was coughing from a lack of air.
“It’s okay. I just didn’t expect a mare like you to like me like that. Ummm you are a mare under there?” Spike asked trying to reach his claw to her.
“ummmm yes,” Mare Do Well backed off a little bit. She was still protecting her identity despite her interest in the dragon. Her heartbeat was rapidly increasing.
“I see,” Spike backed up a little as he sensed the Mare's distancing herself from him. "Still don't trust me?"
“I am sorry Spike. I just don’t feel comfortable revealing who I am yet. I do love you, but i want to keep you safe.” Mare Do Well said fixing the mask. “But, one day I hope to reveal to you who I am. No more lies, and no more hiding the truth from you.”
“Spike?” Twilight called suddenly.
Spike and the Mare Do Well heard Twilight and her friends calling to Spike. Spike saw the Mare using her rope to lift her off the ground.
“What now? Where do we go from here?” Spike called out as he wanted to know how the two could hang out. He wanted to get to know the mare a bit more.
“Maybe we can spend some time together tomorrow evening.” Mare Do Well told him.
“I would really like that.” Spike looked up.
As soon as the Mare Do Well was on the roof, Twilight and Lyra both appeared before Spike. Twilight used a beacon to summon her five friends seeing the thief was caught. Twilight quickly confronted her assistant on the matter at hoof.
“Spike, are you alright?” Twilight said in fear
“Yea, I am fine. The Mare Do Well saved my scales. I mean you should have seen her. Well I didn’t see her in action this time, but I bet it was a real show.” Spike cheered
“Spike, this mare could be dangerous.” Twilight screamed. She scanned him fearing that the mare must have done something to him. "Did she hurt you? Did she put you under a spell?"
“Twilight, stop it. I am fine." Spike ordered as he backed away from Twilight. "Why are you treating her life a criminal? The only crime she has ever committed was liking me.”
Twilight was about to say something but saw Applejack and the others rushing into the alley.
“We came as fast as we could,” Rainbow Dash flew to Twilight and Spike.
“It seems like the Mare Do Well got away.” Twilight scorned as she passed by Spike as if everything was his fault.
“Wait a minute,” Applejack rushes over to the spot of the thief. She quickly rubs the rope with her hooves. She was quickly shocked.
“What’s wrong, Applejack?” Pinkie said with great concern.
“This is my rope she used!” Applejack gasped as she looked over the rope.
“AJ, there’s like a million ropes in Ponyville. How do you know that's your rope?” Rainbow Dash snickered thinking that Applejack was going crazy.
“Yea, but the Apple Family uses a special type of rope that is really strong. I am telling you all that this is the same rope my family uses.” Applejack shouted. She took the thief out of the barrel as she examined the rope a bit more.
“How in Equestria would this mare be getting your rope?” Rarity asked. “It also would seem that she is good at binding things. I mean look at the complicated knot she used.”
The others were examining the rope that was used to tie up the thief. Spike walked away from the alley and sighed as he was still remembering the Mare Do Well. She does like him. Her nervous posture when she was with him. Her words were overlapping to the point that she was clumsy. This mare did like him, but did Spike like her back. He needed to figure this out. Maybe tomorrow he would learn more.
Suddenly he was lifted on the back by Twilight. “You, me, Library, NOW!”
The others looked over seeing that Spike was taken home by Twilight. Spike could tell that the unicorn wanted to question him intensely.
"Oh no," Spike sighed as he wasn't prepared for what was going to be said.