//------------------------------//
// Old dream 
// Story: Lily Mare Do Well 
// by Hyper44 
//------------------------------//

  There it was hanging in the shadows. The purple and dark blue fabric blended into the dark. The eyes though, were clearly visible in the darkness and stared intently out at you. The broad hat hug suspended on a hook just above the head of the costume. If you looked at it just right it appeared to be resting on it.

That's just what Lily was doing, looking at the costume hanging the dark closet. With the light so low you couldn’t see the imperfections and cheap materials that made the Nightmare Night costume. She like every other foal in Ponyville had grown to admire the Mysterious Mare Do Well. Every foal just had to be her on the school costume party and for Nightmare Night.

When Lily moved to town she just had to have a costume too. The thing was that when she went out for her first Ponyville Nightmare Night she was the only pony who was dressed as her. The thing about Mare Do Well was that she disappeared as quickly as she had come. No pony knew why or where she went. It was simply assumed that she left to help others though some rumored that she left after a fight with Rainbow Dash.

The ponies can often have short memories and Mare Do Well quickly faded out of their imagination. It was even easier to let the memory fade with the six elements of harmony protecting the town. Especially with one of them a princess. When Lily and her family had moved to town the hero pony had was becoming old news. Never the less Lily still was enraptured by her. She had made many ponies tell and retell the stories of how she saved the ponies of Ponyville Her costume was just so cool! It was awesome! She was awesome and twenty percent cooler than any other superhero. She had saved ponies and then just vanished until she would return again. She could do it all! She was super-fast, super strong, super magic and could fly! She had to be alicorn but was way too small to be one of the sisters. Lily would almost suspect Twilight but not she was not a princess back then. Lily so wanted to see her in person one day but more than that she had so wanted to be a hero like her one day.

After Nightmare Night Lily had snuck off to where nopony would see her a few times while wearing the costume. Then she would play superhero and rescue imaginary ponies from imaginary monsters. After a while she had hug up the costume and left it recognizing it as just a game.

Now things where a little different. After a venture into the Everfree to save her pet hedgehog she now had super strength. She had encountered real monsters. She had snuck her way past them and left them confused and not knowing what had happened. She had outwitted a little dragon, saved him and survived a dangerous place. Oddly she hadn’t needed super strength to do any of it.


With the super strength though, the idea of being a superhero didn't seem like such a silly filly's dream anymore. She really had a superpower now. Maybe, just maybe she could try being a superhero. She had a custom and Mare Do Well probably wouldn’t mind. There was one problem though. Everypony from school knew about her strength. After the school election it wasn’t just hers and Prickles little secret anymore. She could have blamed Diamond Tiara for letting the cat out of the bag but then again she did lift up a building to retrieve her ball while other ponies were around. Somepony might have noticed anyway and not only had Diamond Tiara become nicer it would only hurt herself for Lily to stay mad at her either way.

The ponies of the school hadn’t told any of the adults so maybe...nah. She wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret forever. Even if none of her classmates told on purpose sooner or later one would slip. Oh well, it wasn’t like she was really considering it. It was just fun to pretend. So why not play superhero a few more times, Lily thought as she took her costume off the hangers.

After tucking the costume into her saddle bags Lily found her pet hedgehog Prickles who had crawled under the sofa and headed outside. Prickled poked the back of her neck and pointed to the house next door.

"Oh, Granny Crumpet," Lily said and hurried back inside. She came out with a milk bottle. "I always forget the milk," She muttered to herself.

Granny Crumpet was a little old pony that lived in the house next to them. She was already there when Lily's family had moved to Ponyville. Her husband had passed away almost a year ago and she lived by herself. She still got around fairly well but because of her age she still had some trouble. She was older than Granny smith after all. Lily's family hadn’t been in Ponyville very long before she noticed the older pony trying to clean up her yard. She seemed to have so much trouble bending over that Lily just had to run over to help her. From then on Lily had begun to regularly go next door to see if she needed help with anything. One of the things Lily did for her was picking up the milk delivery. The milk pony delivered during her nap so Lily kept in their fridge so that the elderly pony didn't have to get up early. Granny Crumpet was kind of a stubborn old pony who didn't like accepting help but she had eventually accepted that she need it. Some things she wouldn’t let Lily do for her because as she explained if she didn't keep moving she soon wouldn’t be moving at all.

Lily headed to the door and knocked. From beyond it she could hear shuffling and knew that it would be a minute or two. Granny Crumpet usually could get to where ever she wanted to go but that didn't mean she got there very fast. Lily hated it how some of the other foals would make fun of her sometimes. Didn't they know that one day they would get old and would reap what they've sown? Anyway Granny Crumpet was not boring. If they had taken the time to get to know her they would know that she had seen more places than most pegasus and been on as many adventures that the elements of harmony if not more!

The door creaked open revealing the aged mare. Her once blue hair was now completely silver. Even her jet black coat was streaked with the same silver color.

"Oh, Lily. You remembered the milk," She said adjusting her glasses. "Thank you darling." The aged pony took the milk bottle in her magic. "Would you like a cookie or anything?"

"No thanks," Lily replied. "Is there anything that you need me to do for you today?"

"No darling, run along and play. I can see the purple cape hanging out of your saddle bags. Mare Do Well is going to save Ponyville again?" Granny Crumpet chuckled as she spoke.

Lily blushed but smiled at the same time as she stuffed the end of the cape back inside. "Yes..maybe."

"Go on and have fun and don't be embarrassed," Granny Crumpet said. "Your only young once and don't I know it."

When Lily checked her bags again as she left making sure that everything was hidden. Granny Crumpet was right but she was still sure that her classmates might laugh at her. It was a little hard to completely conceal the entire custom in her saddle bags but thankfully the hat was made to fold up and the suit was just loose fabric.

Lily made her way through Ponyville with Prickles riding on her back. A few ponies waived to her but none asked where she was going. With the castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle looming over the houses the entire way Lily thought up new adventures for Mare Do Well. Her trip through the Everfree had supplied her with many ideas.

Lily had considered asking Twilight about the small magic dragon that she had encountered. She had checked every book in the school library and had even visited the Ponyville castle’s Library. Twilight, all too happy to see a young pony interested in books had let her look through them for as long as she wanted. It had been a fruitless search even though the princess had many old books. She could have just asked Twilight outright but if it was something hard to look up it was probably rare knowledge and Twilight might ask how she knew anything about them. Lily couldn’t claim that she read it in a book because the book loving Princess would want to know what book so that she could read it herself. If she claimed that somepony told her she might want to know who. Lily could not risk her mother and father finding out that she had gone into the Everfree so in the end she decided that it was better to be curious than make trouble for herself.

Lily soon reached the castle and was glad to see that nopony was around. The reason that she went to the castle was that most ponies didn’t walk up to it unless they had a reason and she had never seen anypony behind it. The perfect place to play Mare Do Well without being embarrassed.

"Well Prickles," Lily said pulling out her large purple hat and putting it on. "Let's get dangerous."