Chapter 3: Taking Up The Mantle
*cough, cough* "Uh... there goes another one..."
Sunset pulled off her goggles, proceeding to shake the ashes off herself while Twilight did the same. In front of the two ponies was a half-melted cauldron containing a Daring Do novel that was burnt beyond recognition. Two victims of yet another explosion resulting from a failed experiment.
Twilight threw her hooves up in exasperation. "That's the sixth one today!"
Sunset looked at her mentor. "You sure you wanna keep doing this?" she asked. "I don't think a potion that lets you recite an entire book's contents from memory is worth a hundred more exploded cauldrons or books."
Sighing in defeat, Twilight nodded. "You're right. I'm just glad you advised against using the extremely rare books." She shuddered, not wanting to picture her one-of-a-kind "1001 Nights In Saddle Arabia" going up in flames.
Levitating a dustpan and broom, Sunset proceeded to start cleaning up the mess in the center of the lab while Twilight gathered up her notes.
"Hey, Sunset?" Twilight asked as she sorted the papers floating in front of her. "Can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
Twilight's horn lit up, and a book covered in wrapping paper appeared on her desk. Sunset walked up to her.
"This was supposed to be delivered to a friend of mine in Canterlot, a pegasus named Daisy Petal," Twilight explained. "It's a book that explains all you need to know about flowers and gardens."
Sunset raised her eyebrows. "Canterlot? How'd it end up here in Ponyville?"
Twilight looked at her with a cross-eyed expression.
"Oh, that explains it," Sunset replied.
"Normally, I'd send it back to the post office," said Twilight, "but it could take awhile, and Daisy's already flipping her lid over it."
"Let me guess: you want me to head over to Canterlot and deliver it to her?"
Twilight nodded. "Could you?"
Sunset raised her hoof to her chin. "Well, I don't have anything else planned for tomorrow," she said before nodding. "Sure, I'll deliver it."
Smiling, Twilight hugged her student. "Thanks Sunset," she told her.
"No problem, Twilight," Sunset replied, returning the embrace.
...
"Uh... we're still covered in ashes..."
The two mares looked at each other and started laughing.
Sunset glanced out the window as the train rolled past the Equestrian countryside, trees and hills whizzing by in a blur. Her saddlebags took up the seat next to her, Daisy's wrapped-up book among the contents inside.
Her forehoof brushed the pendant hanging around her neck. It was in the same shape as her cutie mark...
...and it also contained her Mare-Do-Well costume.
It had been three months since she first put the costume on. Sunset's mind wandered to the weeks following the Nightmare Night incident. True to their word, her friends helped her prepare to take up the mantle of Mare-Do-Well.
In the weeks that followed Nightmare Night...
Applejack worked her hard at Sweet Apple Acres, having Sunset help out with their harvesting. At first, Sunset struggled heavily. Despite kicking as hard as she could, she could only shake two or three apples loose at a time, and transporting them from the orchard to the farm was a tiring ordeal. Her body ached all over, and she wanted nothing more than to just lie down and rest.
"C'mon, sugarcube," Applejack told her while she lay on the ground, a heavy wagon behind her. "Don't give up now!"
Sunset struggled to her hooves, sweat pouring down her face. "How..." *pant* "...do you guys manage..." *pant* "...to do this?!" she sputtered between gasps.
"Well, we're all earth ponies, and you're a unicorn," Applejack pointed out. "It's safe to say that's part of why you're strugglin'. You're probably not used to this much physical activity."
"Gee, thanks for the helpful words," Sunset muttered.
"Hold on, Sunset," Applejack responded. "I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing. I'm sure you'll get stronger with time." Reaching up with her forehoof, she took off her Stetson and placed it on Sunset's head. "Would ya believe me if I told you that I also had a hard time gettin' used to all this hard work?"
Sunset looked at the farmpony with disbelief. "You're serious?"
Applejack nodded. "Yep. Had just as much trouble knockin' off apples and pullin' the wagons. But I kept at it, and look at me now." She gave a swift kick to the tree next to her, knocking all the apples into the basket below.
Sunset glanced at the basket, then back at Applejack. "No way."
"Eeyup." The two girls looked up and saw Big Macintosh walking by, pulling a double wagon behind him.
With Applejack's encouragment, Sunset pressed on, pushing herself to the limit. Her strength slowly grew, making her tasks easier to perform. Soon enough, a solid kick from one of her hind hooves was enough to shake a ton of apples loose, and carrying the wagon became second nature.
Rainbow Dash became Sunset's sensei, teaching her the basics of hoof-to-hoof combat, and Sunset was learning the hard way. The fighting moves, she could pick up pretty quickly. But her sparring matches with Rainbow Dash often ended with her getting knocked onto her flank within five seconds. Rainbow blocked or dodged her attacks with ease, following up with a counter. Defense wasn't any better, with Rainbow breaking her guard and catching her as she tried to evade. Fluttershy had her hooves full cleaning up Sunset's many bruises.
"Sunset," Rainbow Dash told her, "you need to be patient and keep a level head. Don't panic, that's just asking to get your flank kicked. Watch your opponent carefully, try to anticipate their attacks, and make sure you make the right move."
Following her advice, Sunset found herself hitting the mat less frequently. She stayed in the fight longer, managing to land a couple blows on Rainbow Dash. At one point, one of her kicks sent Rainbow crashing into a nearby wagon. Fluttershy gasped loudly while a wide-eyed Sunset looked at the wreckage in shock.
"Oh my-! Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" she cried out.
Rainbow stuck her head out of the debris, looking at Sunset with a serious expression.
"Sorry?" she replied as she pulled her body free from the wreckage. A grin slowly formed on her face. "That was incredible!" She tried walking over to Sunset, only to stop as her body ached in pain. "Oh jeez, that hurts," she muttered. "Fluttershy?"
"On it!" Fluttershy flew up, carrying her medical supplies with her. As the animal caretaker wrapped bandages around the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash looked over at Sunset and grinned happily.
Sunset just scratched the back of her head, blushing.
Pinkie Pie's idea of helping Sunset improve her mobility was a race through an insane obstacle course full of hurdles, ledges to climb, and gaps to jump across. Pinkie bounded through with ease, while Sunset lagged behind, stumbling over the hurdles and missing her jumps. In an effort to help, Pinkie showed the unicorn how to effectively get past the obstacles, offering her own advice.
"Don't think, just move! If you think too much, you're only going to slow down! Make your mind as blank as you possibly can and just jump for it! Ooh, try closing your eyes!"
"Wait, you want me to close my eyes?!" Sunset shouted, an incredulous look on her face. "How am I supposed to see where I'm going?"
Pinkie's smile never wavering, she simply said, "Ever notice how I just happily bounce through with my eyes closed and I get through just perfectly fine?"
"I thought that was just you being Pinkie Pie," Sunset pointed out.
"Oh, you silly Sunny," Pinkie responded, patting the annoyed unicorn on her head. "You never know until you try!"
Sunset approached the gap in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she backed up, and closed her eyes. Here goes nothing, I guess. At a full sprint, she galloped forward. She was tempted to open her eyes just to see when she should jump, but she fought the urge. Instead, her instincts kicked in, telling her Jump now!!! Without pausing, she launched herself into the air as high as she could. As the gap passed beneath her, part of Sunset's head told her to look down. She refused, knowing that she'd screw up the jump... if she hadn't already done so yet.
Her hooves hit solid ground. Sunset's momentum carried her a couple feet before she came to a full stop. She heard Pinkie's excited voice behind her. Opening her eyes, she turned around and gasped. Between her and the pink party pony was the gap. A smile formed on her face. She made it.
"I knew you could do it, Sunny!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing high into the air as confetti rained down.
In the races that followed, Sunset found herself traversing through the obstacle course with ease, her stumbles and trip-ups becoming less of an occurrence. However, despite her vastly improved agility, she still couldn't keep up with Pinkie Pie. The party pony just had too much energy.
"What do you think of your new costume, darling?" Rarity asked.
Sunset glanced at her reflections in the mirrors surrounding her. The Mare-Do-Well costume looked the same as the one she wore on Nightmare Night, but it felt different.
"Hmm..." She moved around for a bit, getting the feel of the costume. "It's a bit easier to move around in this," she replied.
"A fabric that's stretchy and tear-resistant, but also with soft padding to protect yourself from harm," Rarity told her. "With Twilight's help, I've also provided some enchantments to improve its durability. It's fireproof and magic resistant, and the hat won't be blown off easily. The cape also glides if you need to chase any ruffians in the air!"
Sunset shook her cape, noticing how it fluttered around a bit. "Huh," she said to herself. Sunset looked over herself some more before taking the mask in her hooves and pulling it on. Once the lenses were over her eyes, she noticed that she could see a lot more clearly, and the mask offered a wider peripheral vision than the old one. "Whoa," she muttered, looking around. "You and Twilight really outdid yourselves."
"Oh, you flatter me," Rarity giggled. "If you need anything else, be sure to let me know!"
"Will do," Sunset replied. She raised her hoof, about to pull the mask off.
"Wait a minute, darling!" Rarity stopped Sunset. "Here's something Twilight and I cooked up that I'm sure you'll love." She pointed at the brooch on her cape. "Tap that twice with your hoof."
Sunset paused, glancing at Rarity for a moment. She looked down at the brooch, raising her hoof and tapping it twice. She gasped as it glowed brightly, enveloping her entire body. "Uh... Rarity...?"
"Just give it a moment, dearie!" Rarity replied. Sunset closed her eyes as the glowing intensified. In a moment, it vanished. "You can open your eyes now, Sunset."
As Sunset opened her eyes, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Instead of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, however, she saw Sunset Shimmer, Princess Twilight's protege. "Wait, where's the costume?" she asked.
"Why, it's in the pendant you're wearing," Rarity replied, gesturing to Sunset's neck. She looked down and noticed that she was now wearing a pendant shaped like her cutie mark. "If you need to change into Mare-Do-Well in a hurry, just tap that pendant with your hoof twice, and poof! You'll be all suited up, ready to take on any ruffians unfortunate enough to stand in your way!"
Sunset looked over the pendant. "And if I want the costume off, I just tap the brooch twice, right?" Rarity nodded. Sunset smiled as she hopped off the stage. "Thanks a lot, Rarity. Really liking the cutie mark, it's a nice touch."
"My pleasure, Sunset," Rarity replied, clapping her hooves together in delight.
Sunset hopped across the rooftops of Ponyville, keeping an eye out for trouble. This was her first night out as Mare-Do-Well, and so far, things had been calm. It was common knowledge across Equestria that Ponyville was prone to disaster: just last week, one of Twilight's experiments backfired and caused all the flowers within a mile to go on a rampage across town. But tonight, nothing was happening. No fires, no collapsing buildings, no army of flowers attempting a takeover. To add to that, crime in Ponyville was an extremely rare occurrence. Nothing noteworthy had happened since Sunset foiled the foalnapping on Nightmare Night last month.
As she took another leap, Sunset's mind began to wander. This is just pure irony, she thought to herself. Ponyville gets hit with a ton of disasters while Twilight and her friends were Mare-Do-Well. Here I am in the costume two years later, and nothing's even happening. Other than a few gasps and cheers from bystanders that looked up as she passed, it was a pretty quiet and uneventful night.
After patrolling for another half-hour to no avail, she sighed. Guess I'll just head back to the castle now and try again tomorrow-
"Hey! Gimme back my bag, you punk!"
Sunset was snapped out of her thoughts. Following her ears, she dashed across the rooftops until she found the source of the shouting. She saw Amethyst "Sparkler" Star chasing another mare through an alleyway, a bag hanging from her teeth.
"Get back here, you thief!" Amethyst shouted, using her magic to fling whatever was within reach at the mare with no success. The thief turned a corner and vanished. Amethyst stomped her hoof in frustration. "Oh, for the love of-!"
Sunset teleported onto a nearby rooftop and waited as the mare closed in. Opening her cape, she dropped down into the alleyway, landing in front of the thief, who stopped with a surprised expression on her face.
"Whoa, nice entrance and costume," the mare remarked. "Really love the hat. But wasn't Nightmare Night a month ago?"
"Thanks," Mare-Do-Well replied. "But doesn't that sack you're carrying in your mouth belong to somepony else?"
The mare glanced at the bag and chuckled. "So what?"
"You want to give that back to the mare you stole that from, or should I make you?"
The thief snorted. "Good one," she replied, pushing her way past the masked mare. She only walked about ten feet before she heard a pop and nearly bumped into somepony in front of her.
Mare-Do-Well leaned into her face. "You think I'm kidding, huh? I got some news for you: I'm not."
The mare looked unamused, her smile fading from her face. "Okay, this stopped being cute ten seconds ago." She gestured to the bag in her mouth. "You know what's in this bag? Diamonds. Lots and lots of diamonds. And I heard it hurts a lot when a face gets struck with them." The thief leaned into Mare-Do-Well's masked face. "Unless you want me to test that theory out on you, get out of my way."
Mare-Do-Well just stood still, refusing to take her glaring eyes off the diamond thief in front of her. "Go ahead and try," she said coldly.
The mare shrugged. "Fine, have it your way." She raised her head back and swung the bag at Mare-Do-Well, who simply ducked the attack. She performed a sweeping kick with her hind leg, knocking the mare onto her back. Mare-Do-Well lowered herself into a battle stance as her opponent struggled to her hooves. She charged forward, attempting a few jabs at the heroine. Mare-Do-Well blocked her attacks before countering with a hoof to the side. Lifting a nearby trash can with her magic, she slammed it into the pony, who hit the wall with a thud and fell unconscious.
Relaxing for a moment, Mare-Do-Well picked up the bag with her magic and made her way back to Amethyst Star. Rounding the corner, she nearly bumped into the unicorn.
"Oof! There you are, you little-!" Amethyst raised her hoof, about to strike, but she stopped herself upon seeing the masked mare. "Mare-Do-Well!" she exclaimed. "Somepony stole my-!"
"Already took care of it," Mare-Do-Well replied, levitating the bag towards Amethyst.
Amethyst took it with her magic and smiled. "Thanks for the help." Pausing for a moment, she added, "Uh, you're not going to just up and disappear like you did two years ago, are you?"
Mare-Do-Well turned her back to Amethyst. "No," she replied, facing the unicorn and tipping her hat, a smirk hidden behind her mask. "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well's here to stay." With that, she launched herself into the air, jumping between the two walls before disappearing over the rooftop.
In the two months that followed, Sunset let Ponyville know that Mare-Do-Well was back, stopping crimes and preventing disasters. But she didn't stop with Ponyville. After Twilight told her about the chaos going on in nearby cities, Sunset expanded her operations, teleporting to Manehattan, Las Pegasus, and Fillydelphia to help out the citizens there. All over Equestria, as citizens stomped their hooves and cheered her on, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well was making a name for herself.
Present day...
"We'll be arriving in Canterlot in five minutes. Prepare to disembark, and please check to make sure you have your belongings with you. Keep your children with you at all times."
The train's loudspeaker brought Sunset back to the present. Blinking for a few moments, she stood up and levitated her saddlebags onto her back as the train pulled into Canterlot. Following the crowd, she made her way off the train and onto the platform.
"Okay, Twilight said that Daisy lives near the botanical gardens," she muttered to herself, checking the nearby map. "Let's see... here's the station... and... aha, there it is." She pointed at the dot marked "Canterlot Botanical Gardens," located near the gates to Princess Celestia's castle. Sunset made her way onto the bustling streets of Canterlot, heading towards the castle as ponies in the crowd passed by, minding their own business.
Suddenly, Sunset stopped in her tracks, narrowing her eyes. Wait a minute... She turned around and peered up at the rooftops behind her. She thought she saw something unusual, but everything looked normal. Huh, I could've sworn somepony was there... she thought to herself. Shrugging, Sunset turned around and continued walking.
Behind her, a fluttering black cloak disappeared over a rooftop.
And that's it for Chapter 3! With the help of her friends, Sunset undergoes her transformation into the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well! Sunset is now in Canterlot, helping Twilight deliver a book that was mistakenly delivered to the wrong address. She doesn't know it yet, but something's about to go down, and she'll have to step in to protect the citizens of Canterlot.
I always planned on Sunset having flashbacks during her train ride, but it was originally going to just be a series of short ones, with her Canterlot visit taking up the rest of the chapter. However, as the flashbacks became longer, I decided instead to expand on them and make the Canterlot visit into a separate chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapter, Sunset's about have her first encounter with a dangerous enemy! 
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A very cute and enjoyable chapter, almost like a training montage.
So whose the new villain? This'll be cool to see when we get a better look at them I imagine. Part of the fun I had with my trilogy was coming up with the various villains' designs
5528947 I just imagined all of our villains hanging out in a pub, downing drinks.
"What happened to you?"
"Mare do Well."
"... You too?! That mare is everywhere."
"Tell me about it."
5528947 Glad you enjoyed it! I'm still ironing out the details for the villain, but I think I've got a name for her.
5529156 Then Rainbow Dash, Snow Storm, and Sunset Shimmer enter, and there's an awkward silence as the two groups of ponies stare at each other...
5529481
Neat! Lately I've been doing sketches of a pony version of the Big Hero 6 villain(oddly have not seen any so I decided to do some myself)
That'd happen in a Crisis-style crossover
5529481 Let's not forget Loop D'Loop and El Toro, MagnetBolt's MDW and villain. There'd be a bar fight in no time.
5529952 The Element of Loyalty, a rogue changeling, a mute earth pony, and an ex-student of Princess Celestia, in a bar fight against a couple of Equestria's nastiest villains...
Those villains are SO screwed.
5530106 What makes it even better is lately I've been amusing myself with thoughts of Snow dressing up as Sub-Zero. Loop would be Ermac, Dash could only be Johnny Cage, so would Sunset be Scorpion?
5530288 I don't play Mortal Kombat, so I wouldn't really know.
I'm Batman... Uh, I mean, Mare-Do-Well.
Something's going on...
I can tell.
Mare Do Well, the second generation. The Elements of Harmony have seen fit to pass the torch on to a hero better suited to the job.
Oh? Looks like MDW isn't the only costumed adventurer in this town!
I've always liked the scene in Spider-Man where the Green Goblin tries to turn Spidey to his side. Gobby had some good lines. Willem Defoe was a good choice for the role. Bird-of-Prey is the equivalent of Green Goblin, and is actually Gilda. Inspired by images on Derpibooru.
Bird-of-Prey: [lands in front of MDW on a rooftop] Wake up little spider, wake up. No, you're not dead... yet... Just paralyzed... temporarily. You're an amazing creature, Mare-Do-Well. You and I are not so different.
Mare-Do-Well: I'm not like you. You're a murderer.
Bird-of-Prey: Well, to each her own. I chose my path, you chose the way of the hero. And they found you amusing for a while, the ponies of this city. But the one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you. Why bother?
Mare-Do-Well: Because it's right.
Bird-of-Prey: [slaps Mare-Do-Well on the head] Here's the real truth. There are three-hundred-million ponies in Equestria. And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional individuals onto their shoulders. You, me? We're exceptional.
[leans in and grabs Mare-Do-Well's neck]
Bird-of-Prey: I could squash you like a parasprite right now, but I'm offering you a choice. Join me! Imagine what we could accomplish together... what we could create. Or we could destroy! Cause the deaths of countless innocents in selfish battle again and again and again until we're both dead! Is that what you want?
[hovers into the air using her suit's wing-jets, having no need for a glider]
Bird-of-Prey: Think about it, hero!
The whole part about Sunset's training was pretty vague and bland. Frankly, you could probably have written three separate chapters. I get that you wanted to make it short and sweet, but it comes as very shallow. Not only that, but it seems awful cliche to use more than one or maybe two of the mane six there. I mean, I get that they're nearby and potentially have some experience, but they aren't really ideal ponies for physical training on the -don't get myself killed- scale. That and Sunset is hardly an adept user of magic (she's presumably university educated and sort of a prodigy, but that doesn't necessarily imply practical knowledge. Also, it kind of implies that Sunset breezed through which suggests one of the following: fairly limited training, not particularly difficult test, Mary Sue Shimmer, iffy writing. I think that said preparation step really deserves at least half a chapter.
TL;DR Shallow way to address a serious concern about engaging in super-hero activities. Giving it a more substantial part in the story would be an improvement. Sunset should logically have suffered at least a few potentially serious setbacks in training, given that she is implied to be unused to hard labor ( like muscle sprains, broken bones, magical burnout etc).