12 - A Maze of Tombs
CHAPTER TWELVE
A MAZE OF TOMBS
“They’re all unconscious,” Rainbow Dash said, holding one mare’s head in her hooves.
“Freaking creepazoids,” Silver Medal growled, opening another barrel with the blades along his wings. He tipped it on its side and pulled another mare, probably a few years younger than himself, out of her tight prison. He laid out her limp body beside six others, all breathing slowly and with light bruises on their faces.
“This is messed up, Silver,” Rainbow said. He could only nod. Rainbow glanced around the long chamber stacked with barrels. “Where’s… uh… Mare Do Well?”
“She said she was gonna take care of all those ponies we beat up.” He glanced sideways at his sister. “Where did you take those three you grabbed, anyway?”
“Police station,” Rainbow said. “Took me forever to find it. But I felt awesome once I did, dropping three unconscious stallions on the steps. I wish I had some kinda note to put on ‘em.”
“That’s super cliche,” Silver said. “Come on, look for more barrels with holes in the tops.”
“I think we got ‘em all.” Rainbow gulped. “You think these other ones without holes… uh… really just have drugs in ‘em?”
Silver’s eyes widened. He grabbed the corner of the closest barrel with his hoof and shook it. It was heavy and something sloshed around inside. “Yeah. I hope so, anyway.”
“It’d be nice if one of us had X-ray vision right about now,” Rainbow mumbled.
“Yeah, especially when Mare Do Well shows up,” Silver said, grinning.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“We could figure out who she is!”
Rainbow coughed. “Does it even matter?”
“I guess not.” Silver sat on his haunches, clinking the armor of his hooves together a few times. “I’d at least like to know how old she is.”
“What? Why?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. No reason. Maybe she’s an old mare or something. I can’t tell by her voice.”
Rainbow laughed. “Oh my gosh, are you crushing on her?”
“No!” he shouted, jumping to his hooves.
“You totally are!”
“Am not! That’d be super weird… y’know, if she was an old mare or something.”
Rainbow cracked up, then realized it wasn’t the time or place and covered her mouth with both hooves, glancing at the unconscious mares lying between them. “She’s not an old mare, I can tell you that,” she added in a quiet voice.
Silver Medal’s eyes brightened. “What makes you say that?”
“Did you see her fight? I’m not that old, Silver, and the stuff she does would wear me out in a second.”
“What? No way. You’re in great shape.”
“Well, thank you,” Rainbow said, rubbing her hoof against her chest. “But seriously, she’s not old. I bet she’s your age, actually.”
Silver looked away. “Oh, come on, don’t get my hopes up.”
Rainbow smirked. Before she could say something else, a distinct whirring sound filled the whole chamber. Both ponies crouched and threw their eyes from end to end of the hall-like cargo hold. “What’s that?”
It stopped. The siblings looked at each other. “You get that end,” Rainbow said, pointing to her left, “and I’ll check over here.”
Silver Medal nodded. “Maybe it’s just Mare Do Well.”
“Was there anyone on the ship when you first flew up here?” Rainbow asked over her shoulder, galloping to her self-assigned post.
“Yeah, I knocked out four or five, I think,” he said. “How many are usually on a blimp?”
“I don’t know! Last time I rode a blimp was…” She chuckled. “Oh, man. Did I ever tell you about that time I found out Ditzy Doo had a sister?”
“Who?”
A door by Silver Medal swung open. Mare Do Well posed in the doorway, ready to strike.
“Hey, it’s okay!” he said, holding up his hooves. “It’s just us. We got all the ponies out.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, stalking quickly from one end of the room to the other, her face practically twitching with how fast she glanced from barrel to barrel.
“Uhhh… yeah, I think so.”
“For sure. I checked ‘em all,” Rainbow added, following Mare Do Well back to Silver.
“Good. Seven mares.” Mare Do Well shook her head. “Any idea where they’re coming from?”
“Cloudsdale, I’d say,” Silver Medal guessed. “They’re all pegasi.”
“I’ve actually seen her before,” Rainbow said, pointing at one of the mares on the end. “Pretty sure she works at the weather factory.”
“That should make returning them as easy as possible,” Mare Do Well said. “Any idea how to fly this thing?”
Silver beamed. “I can figure it out!”
“Good. When we’re done here, make sure they get home safely.”
Silver Medal nodded, grinning from ear to ear.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, let’s finally talk about the Mangy Marks and then get these poor girls out of here.”
Holding up a hoof, Silver Medal said, “Hold on, first, can we talk about how you got up here?”
“No.” Mare Do Well turned to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve already set the plan in motion. The leader of the Mangled Marks should come to the Canterlot Cemetery on the night of the full Moon. We’ll be there waiting for him.”
“You sure he’s gonna come?” asked Rainbow.
“No. But he’ll send somepony he trusts, and that’s good enough.”
“What do you need us to do?” Silver Medal asked.
Mare Do Well smiled, but nopony would have known. “Fly. Fast.”
(/\/\)
“Woohoo! I see Cloudsdale!” Silver pointed through the front window of the cockpit. “This is easy!”
“And slooooowwwww,” Rainbow Dash drawled. “I’m gonna go check on the mares again.”
“I don’t think they’ve woken up in the last thirty seconds, Rainy Day.” Silver laughed. “Come on, just enjoy it! Isn’t it peaceful? Here, I’ll even let you drive if you want to.”
“You’re not doing anything. All we have to do is stop this thing before it runs into the city. We’re headed straight for it.”
“You’re leaving out the wind factor!” Silver pretended to turn the steering wheel dramatically, moving only his body. “Gaaahh! It’s too strong… I don’t think we’ll make it!”
“You sure like all this hero business, don’t you?” Rainbow asked.
He sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I really do. I feel great!”
“I can tell.” She moved closer to the window and looked down at Equestria. “I used to be that way, too. Makes me miss… the old days, I guess.”
Silver frowned. “What, are you not having fun?”
“Not really.” Rainbow cracked her neck and kept staring down. “I guess I’m kinda past my prime. Seeing how into this you are makes me realize how much I’m… not.” She looked at him and smiled sadly. “Don’t think I’m quitting. I’ll help Mare Do Well with her big plan. But I just… I don’t think I’m gonna keep at it once this is over.”
A corner of Silver’s mouth twitched downward. “Oh. Well, I get that. You’ve had plenty of adventures, I guess. Being a vigilante can’t even compare to all the stuff you did back in the day.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Rainbow squinted at Cloudsdale growing in the distance. “I think I’ll fly over there now, actually. I can get somepony’s attention. I don’t wanna be… y’know… with my reputation and everything, maybe it’s not good for me to be seen in a hijacked blimp filled with drugs and—”
“I get it, Rainbow. Good idea.” He adjusted the steering wheel a little. “Once I see somepony coming, I’ll get out of here, too. My armor isn’t exactly hiding my identity.”
Rainbow flapped. “Ha! Told ya!”
“Yeah. Modifications are necessary.”
“I’ll be happy to see what you come up with,” Rainbow said. “Really, I mean it. You’re gonna be great at this. I think you can really help out here.”
A bashful smile made Silver Medal look away. “Thanks, Rainbow. Just trying to live up to family standards, I guess.”
“Oh, please.” Rainbow winked. “Let’s not be unrealistic here.”
(/\/\)
“Then I cross-analyzed the data with samples from six different families of moraceae—”
“Lyra.”
“—deciphered the composition with three separate catalysts—”
“Lyra!” Apple Bloom blew air through pursed lips. “I am an artist and a street fighter and I just woke up. I don’t understand a dang word yer sayin’.”
Lyra laughed. “Well, neither did I until I started on this project, honestly. I’ve had to learn all this stuff on the go. It’s been pretty amazing.”
“That’s great. What’s it all mean? Where’s the sap comin’ from?”
“A mulberry tree,” Lyra said. She opened her eyes for a moment and tapped the map laid out over her desk. “There are only a few recorded clusters at the edge of the Everfree forest.”
“Any near Ponyville?”
“Uh, no. Not even close. But there are lots along the ground under Cloudsdale’s normal migration patterns. I’m willing to bet they harvest the sap on the ground, smuggle it through Cloudsdale in those blimps, and process it into those pills somewhere in Canterlot.”
“So if we find out where they’re processin’ it we can stop it?”
Lyra hummed. “I don’t think so. If it’s coming through Cloudsdale I’m willing to bet they could find other places to pill this stuff. No, if we want to take this whole thing out fast, we’ve gotta go for the trees.”
Apple Bloom sat up on her bed. “The mulberry trees?”
“Yep. All it would take is a spell of some kind and we could crush ‘em at their roots.”
“Whoa, Lyra! We can’t just go killin’ trees!”
Lyra laughed. “What? Why not?”
“That’s immoral! The trees ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”
“Apple Bloom, please, they’re just trees.”
“Just trees?” Apple Bloom took off the hat for a moment and gawked at the ceiling. Pulling it back over her head, she shouted, “Come on, Lyra! Trees are like family to me. There’s gotta be another way.”
“Oh, gosh. You’re kidding me.”
Apple Bloom heard the front door of the apartment unlock and open. She hurriedly whispered, “Not the trees. I’ll contact you later,” and tucked the hat under her bed. Three voices entered the house and Apple Bloom curled up by her pillow, pretending to rest. Sweetie Belle opened the door to their room and, spying Apple Bloom, shushed the others.
“Oh, shh! Quiet, Apple Bloom’s sleeping!” Sweetie whispered. “Thanks for lunch!”
Blitz and Lilac smiled and nodded before scurrying into their room and shutting the door behind them. Sweetie came in and closed her own door, hurrying to Apple Bloom’s side.
“Bloom! Apple Bloom, are you really asleep?”
Without opening her eyes, Apple Bloom smiled. “I wish.”
Sweetie’s face caught somewhere in between delighted and concerned. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“No more than usual,” she answered, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. “What’s up?”
A repressed squeal carried Sweetie’s voice up an octave. “Was it you, Apple Bloom? Did you save those girls in Cloudsdale?”
“What?” Apple Bloom yawned. “Did they get home okay?”
“Oh my gosh, Apple Bloom, you’re a hero!” Sweetie wrapped her hooves around her friend. “Everyone at school is talking about it, probably everyone in the whole city! This morning we got news from Cloudsdale that a bunch of girls who were kidnapped last week from the weather factory showed up safe in an empty blimp above the police station. At first everyone was freaking out, thought it was some kind of attack, but then they found the girls and… oh, Apple Bloom! Everyone knows it was Mare Do Well. Ponies were in tears talking about it!”
“Why didn’t we hear about the kidnappin’ earlier?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Maybe it was big news in Cloudsdale, I don’t know,” Sweetie said. “But they’re home and safe and with their friends and families, thanks to you!”
The small room boasted no window, but Apple Bloom imagined one on her wall. She watched relieved reunions through it: tearful ponies embracing, cheerful families together again. She breathed in deeply and sighed through her snout. “They’re home thanks to Mare Do Well. And everypony who helps her.” She smiled at Sweetie Belle. “Which is a growin’ list, lemme tell ya.”
“Oh, that reminds me!” Sweetie looked over her shoulder at the closed door, then leaned in closer to Apple Bloom. “That, uh, commission you asked for… it’s proving a bit more expensive than I expected.”
“Oh, jee, really?” Apple Bloom winced. “I’m sorry, Sweetie. I don’t have nothin’ to give ya and I certainly don’t want ya emptyin’ your pockets for all this.”
“Oh, no, no, no, it’s fine!” Sweetie laughed. “That’s not what I meant at all. I have the bits, believe me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m giving it my all, I’m not cutting any corners. If I can help make this city a better place… a safer place…” Her smiled faltered. She cleared her throat. “I’m all in, Apple Bloom. You won’t be disappointed.”
“You’re amazin’, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. “Don’t go doin’ anything stupid, but I do appreciate you helpin’ out.”
“How many do you think you’ll need?” Sweetie asked, whispering again.
“Two, at least.” Her eyes raised to Sweetie’s horn. “Maybe three.”
(/\/\)
Canterlot’s streets were buzzing with the news. Trotting into the heart of the city, Apple Bloom could feel the difference. The sky felt brighter, the air less heavy, and voices dared to breathe positivity into their conversations. It wasn’t the Canterlot of her youth, and it certainly was no Ponyville, but Apple Bloom could tell something had changed. Something had caught.
There seemed to be more ponies out on the streets. Perhaps it was due to the time of day with the Sun directly overhead, or maybe Apple Bloom had gotten too used to the emptiness of nighttime. Either way, she liked the bustle. This was what she dreamed of when she was first accepted to the School of Art.
It didn’t take long to find the hair salon. Ponies with wild hairstyles, some with expressions of general contempt, entered and exited the wide double doors of Chamomile Cuts at a nearly constant rate. Before following a group of giggling fillies inside, Apple Bloom took a long look at herself in a reflective window nearby. She looked tired, and in large part that was due to her unruly, bright red mane.
“See ya someday,” she said to it. “Maybe I’ll put a bow back in ya next time we meet. You’d like that, wouldn’tcha?”
She trotted into Chamomile Cuts and asked the thin pony at the front desk for Creamsicle. “I’ll wait as long as I need to,” she added. “Just sign me up for whenever she can see me next.”
“Honey, that’s not until next week,” the young mare said in a nasally voice, lowering her tall glasses to eye Apple Bloom with a tilted brow.
“Oh. Uhhh…” Apple Bloom looked into the rest of the salon. It was easy to spot Creamsicle’s short green mane. She was just finishing with another customer, it seemed, and happened to meet Apple Bloom’s stare. She beamed and waved a manicured hoof.
Apple Bloom grinned and waved back.
“Do you want me to schedule you in for next Thursday at nine?” the mare behind the desk asked.
“Uhhh—”
“Apple Bloom!” Creamsicle’s peppy voice shouted as she approached. “You made it for your appointment!”
“You have an appointment?” the desk mare asked.
“Uhhh… yeah!” Apple Bloom said.
“Well, why didn’t you say so? Go on back.” The mare replaced her glasses and began filing one of her hooves.
“Okay.” Apple Bloom hurried around the desk and approached Creamsicle. “You’re sure I’m not interruptin’ anything?”
“I was just about to go on break,” Creamsicle said. “Are you here for a mane cut?”
“Well, I was hopin’ to schedule somethin’ with ya, but if you ain’t got time I can—”
“Let’s do it!” Creamsicle took Apple Bloom by the front leg and dragged her to a corner covered in mirrors. “Believe me, it’s the least I can do for your help the other night. Besides, I said I wanted to help!”
“Right. Thanks.” She smiled weakly. “So, uh… I’ve never really done this before. I always just had my big brother cut my hair.”
“That’s no problem at all!” Creamsicle sat on her haunches behind Apple Bloom and took a specially designed pair of scissors from a short drawer. “I’ve been thinking about how to tame these tangles since the minute we met.”
“Oh… really?”
Creamsicle went to work. Apple Bloom watched a few clumps drop to the ground and then shut her eyes, breathing deeply.
“You okay, sweetie?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll be fine.”
“Attached to your style?” Creamsicle asked. “I’ve seen it before. I promise you’ll like what I do to it.”
“No, I’m really not all too attached,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s just new and different, that’s all.”
“Ah, of course. New and different can be very uncomfortable.” She snipped away, taking a brush in her teeth for a moment to move some of Apple Bloom’s mane away from her ears, then dropping it on top of the drawer. She leaned closer and said softly, “But that doesn’t stop some ponies from trying to change the world.”
Apple Bloom laughed a little, keeping her eyes closed. “I reckon you heard about what happened?”
“Honey, the whole town is talking about it. You just went from being a myth to a legend.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, believe me when I tell you, because I heard it around here all the time, that ponies have had a lot to say about Mare Do Well over the last month.” She turned Apple Bloom’s head a bit between her hooves and glanced around. “Some thought she was a hero, thought she was so brave to stand up to everything that’s been going on. Others thought she was just adding to the problem, going about it the wrong way. And others thought she’d be dead before she could make any real changes.”
“Huh.” Apple Bloom sighed. “Guess there’re no surprises there.”
“But now,” Creamsicle continued, “ho ho! Now, you should hear what they’ve been saying today alone. That she’s the embodiment of all the good that’s left in ponykind, that she’s a savior sent from the old Princesses or, or that one of the Elements of Harmony has come back to right Princess Twilight’s wrongs!” She made an elated sound, like a muffled cheer.
“Wow, really?” Apple Bloom’s eyes squeezed shut tighter. “What changed?”
“Saving young mares from their dastardly captors? That’s straight from a fairy tale, Apple Bloom. Ponies love a good story, and you just proved yourself a defender of good against the wickedest of crimes. How did you find those girls, anyway?”
“Honestly? It was an accident. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
“Hmm.” Creamsicle made a loud, decisive cut and stopped. “Maybe there is something to the idea that you’re not alone out there. Maybe somepony really did send you.”
“I dunno about that,” Apple Bloom said, “but I’m definitely not alone. Here you are helpin’ me out right now.”
“Actually, I’m done!” Creamsicle said. “You can open your eyes now.”
Apple Bloom drew in a short breath, then popped her eyes open and looked in the mirror. Her mane looked short—very short. In fact, her bangs were still long and round, covering most of her left eye. The back curled in several directions, running smoothly into her bangs, tightly around her ears, and softly down her neck.
“Wow!” she breathed out.
“Feminine, edgy, and perfect for hiding under that mask,” Creamsicle bragged. “I told you, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”
“Oh my gosh… I love it.” Apple Bloom pushed at her bangs and ran her hoof through the thick, short locks on the back of her head. “I love it! Thank you, Creamsicle! Wowee, I’m gonna send everypony I know to you now!”
“Ha ha! I certainly wouldn’t complain.”
“How much do I owe you?”
“All the contents of my purse,” she said, “which you delivered in advance. No charge today, little friend.”
“Oh, Creamsicle, I couldn’t…”
“If you want to offer a couple of bits as a tip, I wouldn’t oppose.” She smiled sweetly.
Apple Bloom nodded and put three bits by the brush. “Deal. Thanks again, Creamsicle.”
“Anytime, really!” As Apple Bloom trotted out, Creamsicle said, “Come back when it starts to grow in. That’s when I can really make it yours!”
(/\/\)
Apple Bloom watched the full Moon break the horizon from a low rooftop. With great precision, she tightened the cape around her neck and the belt around her waist, slid her mask fluidly over her scowling face, and placed the purple, wide brim hat atop her head.
“Is everything ready?” Lyra asked from Ponyville.
“Yes,” said Mare Do Well.
“You’re sure? You’ve double, triple, quadruple checked?”
“Do you doubt me?”
“I love this plan. I don’t doubt the plan for a second,” Lyra said, “but we don’t communicate as much as I would like to during the off season, so to speak.”
“Off season?”
“You know, when the Sun’s up!” Lyra snorted. “Look, I’m not mad and I’m not doubting you, I just want to know that everything is in place.”
“Everything is in place.” Mare Do Well eyed the glowing night sky. “By the time the Moon sets, we’ll be ten steps ahead of the Mangled Marks.”
“Yes, whoo! Let’s do this.” Lyra massaged her temples and wiggled her rump on the rug by her fireplace. “Go.”
Mare Do Well leapt from the building. She scurried along an adjacent wall and leapt from its corner into the air, gliding into a dark alley. The enchanted hat put a bright blur at the very edges of her vision, assuring her that Lyra was watching through her eyes.
“Tell me if you see anypony,” Mare Do Well said, glancing to and fro at intersecting alleyways. “I know you can’t watch my back, but four eyes are better than two.”
“If you say so,” Lyra muttered. “Sometimes this gives me a headache.”
Approaching the wall of the cemetery, Mare Do Well tightened her hind legs and pushed high, leaping nearly to its top. Pressing her forehooves into the brick, she managed to scramble up and over the wall, landing among gravestones on the other side.
“Well, this is the creepiest place I’ve ever seen,” Lyra remarked.
A very low mist crept through the cemetery. Mare Do Well stood among small, mostly flat gravestones that bore little more than a last name and a pair of years long gone. In the distant center of the grand plot, certainly more than an acre in size, much larger and more elaborate tombstones marked the graves of important, wealthy, and deceased ponies.
“Are you having second thoughts?” Lyra asked. “Or is that just me projecting?”
“No turning back,” Mare Do Well growled, galloping over the wilting grass to the center. Moonlight cast shadows that darkened as she ran.
“Okay, you’re getting close,” said Lyra. “Quiet down.”
Mare Do Well slowed her pace, carrying herself into a maze of tall tombs on wrapped, silent hooves. She wove between tombs of varying architecture and material, some black iron, others smooth marble. The sheer number was daunting and reminded her of how long Canterlot had buried its dead within these walls. What would its historical elite, famed for their honor and harmonious government, think of its current state? And what judgement would they pass upon her actions to restore it?
“Here,” Lyra said, and Mare Do Well stopped on a bit, pressing herself into the wall of a weathered, reddish tomb. “Listen now. Don’t move until you hear them pass.”
So Mare Do Well waited. Each breath reinforced her focus, each blink encouraged her resolve. If heartbeats could win battles, the Mangled Marks would not survive the night.
“You ready, Bloom?” Lyra asked quietly.
“I am.” She clenched her teeth. “This one’s for Harper.”
(/\/\)
Nopony saw how the cloaked stallion entered the cemetery. He walked on steady hooves to the edge of the central area of tombs, the only place to hide among the dead.
As always, he was accompanied by an abnormally tall and slender pegasus of the blackest black. Only the whites of the pony’s narrow eyes differed from his overwhelming darkness, and the long wings bent at his sides hid whatever was left of his altered Cutie Mark.
Others, too, followed at a short distance in groups of twos and threes. These were clearly professionals, chosen from among the ranks of Mangled Marks for their brawn, intelligence, and fearlessness. In a spread out formation of tactical design visible only to those who sought it, the elite faction of Mangled Marks assigned to protect their leader moved forward in a tightly unison, though altogether natural looking, speed.
“I know you are here already, Mare Do Well,” the hooded pony at the front called out. “We watched you enter at the gate hours ago. Do you think us frightened? I am no more intimidated by you than I am by the bodies beneath our hooves.”
No sound arose from the deep shadows between the tombs.
“I am willing to converse with you,” the shady stallion continued. “Eager, even. We have much to discuss. You are upsetting a system I have dedicated much time and energy to. I’m sure you are pleased to hear this, but we must come to some agreement, for our mutual benefit.”
He nodded over his shoulder. The black pegasus stepped forward and planted himself directly at the stallion’s side. The others approached as well, tightening the half circle protecting their boss from behind.
“Perhaps you see this squadron I’ve brought with me,” said the stallion in an even louder tone, “and assume I have assembled it out of fear. Perhaps you are surprised that I’ve come at all. Whatever your thoughts and intentions, Miss Mare Do Well, I assure you there is more at stake here than you realize. There is more to the Mangled Marks than selling hallucinogenic pills, and there is far more to me than—”
A film of green magic surrounded the hooded pony and yanked him into the maze of mausoleums. He disappeared into the shadows. The black pegasus reacted instantly, diving into the darkness after his boss without a sound. The others, startled, assumed defensive stances and cast their eyes in all directions, ears tuned to follow any order.
Suddenly, galloping faster than any of them expected, Mare Do Well burst from one side of the tombs.
“After her!” one of the gruff ponies cried.
“But she’s alone!” said another.
There was a short silence, a pause that all of them felt was too long.
“You three, go after her!” shouted the first voice. “We’ll go in and find him.”
Three of the stallions took off, chasing Mare Do Well to the gates. Those who stayed watched her leap over the wall in a single bound. Her pursuers rammed into the locked gate, breaking it open and following her into the city.
Three others rushed into the congregation of central tombs, only to be pushed back by waves of green magic. Some unicorns among them fired bright blasts of their own into the darkness. The green magic nudged their companions into the lines of fire, each receiving several balls of energy to the face and falling unconscious to the ground.
And then, shocking every stallion left standing, Mare Do Well once again sprinted out of the shadows, this time with a hooded pony draped over her back.
“What the—!”
“Go, go, get her!”
But as the group began to chase this second Mare Do Well, a third caped pony in a sharp purple hat ran from the far end of the tombs, carrying another cloaked pony in an aura of green magic.
“No way!”
“What is this!?”
One stallion’s angry shout set them all into motion: “Gaah! Get them, catch them both!”
The remaining stallions split into two groups and followed the Mare Do Wells. Within two minutes, the enormous graveyard was empty again, housing only its reverent dead and a thickening blanket of fog.
Amidst the tall tombs, however, sliding through the shadows as if part of them all, the black pegasus stalked his leader’s captor. He could smell her, a sweet and natural scent that matched nothing else about her, hiding somewhere in the maze. He flapped his great wings, leaping over two tombs at a time. Stark white eyes scanned every corner, criticizing how cramped the area had become over hundreds of years of rich families honoring their worthless dead.
Mare Do Well suddenly appeared, stepping out from behind an old red tomb much shorter than its neighbors.
The pegasus dove for her. She rolled away from his attack, swiping at his haunches. He batted her hoof away with the tip of a wing, swung his whole body, and slapped her across the face with the bones of his other wing.
“Oof!” She fell against the rusty gate of a narrow brick tomb, jumping to her feet and avoiding a sharp jab from the black pegasus’ hoof.
“It’s pointless to fight me here,” she growled. “Your boss has already been taken. Not even I know which truly had him.”
The stallion pivoted, flapped his wings hard enough to knock Mare Do Well’s hat back, and whipped her in the muzzle with his long black tail. She reached over the top of her head for her hat as he lifted his hind legs and bucked her in the chest. She launched backward, colliding with the edge of a tomb and flipping hard onto her back. Her hat lay by the rusty door and she tried to scramble for it, but the black pegasus ducked his head under her neck and thrust her up into the nearest wall. Her cheek smacked against the stone of it and she slid to the ground while the stallion hit her twice on the top of her head. He picked her up in both forelegs and threw her aching body even farther from the hat.
“Stop!” she coughed, suddenly realizing that she couldn’t breathe. “I don’t have him!”
Stomping closer, the stallion hit Mare Do Well under the jaw then hard in the throat, used a wing to leap upward into a spinning kick, and delivered a crushing blow to the side of her head.
Apple Bloom’s ear rang painfully as she tried to stand up and run, but the stallion was too fast. Again and again he hit her in the shoulder, the hip, the back of the neck. He pushed her to the ground and punched several bruises into her ribcage, then used his narrow tail to whip her face again and again.
“Stop it!” she yelled. “Stop, I’m done! I’m done!”
With strength disproportionate to his slender frame, the stallion wrapped his forehooves around Apple Bloom and used his mighty wings to carry them up above the graves. He lifted her body in front of him like a limp doll and threw her across the pointed roof of a very tall tomb. She cried out in pain and flopped off the miniature house, crumpling motionless at its base.
The black pegasus hovered above her, glaring from above the roofs of many dead. Malice burned in his eyes and he poised to dive for a final strike—when a Mare Do Well with a hooded figure strapped to her back flew in at breakneck speeds and barreled into him from the side.
Rainbow Dash and the black pegasus sprawled through the air and landed on modest graves quite distant from the central tombs. The stuffed dummy on her back slid off and landed on a bench-like gravestone as the stallion stood and stared at her.
“You wanna piece of this?” she asked. “Quit beating up on that filly. I’m the real Mare Do Well!”
The stallion snorted and charged, tackling both pegasi to the greying grass and ensuing a blurry brawl. Each punch from both fighters was quicker than the last. They used their wings to dodge and vault over and around each other, each trying to get the upper hoof. Rainbow’s mask ripped and she began to bleed from a well-timed jab; the black stallion’s knees were weakened by her ferocious kicks.
A great surge of light exploded from among the tombs. Both pegasi paused to look at the spotlight that burned a hole into the roof of an unassuming tomb and disappeared.
“Oh, no!” Rainbow said as the cloaked pony struggled to climb out of the hole.
“Aether!” he shouted. “Now!”
In a dark flash, the black pegasus flew to his leader’s aid. He took the cloaked stallion in his hooves and pumped his wings, carrying both away and into the night.
“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow yelled, bolting after them.
“Turn!” the cloaked pony shouted. They swiveled around in midair just before Rainbow reached them. An enormous column of magic rushed from inside his hood and pushed Rainbow Dash into the ground with a searing pulse of energy.
“Aahh! Oohhh, dang it!” Rainbow moaned, pounding her hoof into the grass between graves as she tried to take to the air. Her wings were too wounded and her feathers too singed; she soon collapsed and watched helplessly as the leader of the Mangled Marks was carried away by the thin, wordless pegasus who did his every bidding.
“Dang it,” Rainbow said again, and dropped her head onto a flat gravestone so old that its name was long eroded and forgotten.
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
720 users online
846,169 hits today, 2,151,698 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
*Screeches* *Hyperventilates* No. Way. It's BACK!! I never did end up posting a comment on this story, and that I truly regret, but I hoped that my tracking it would let ya know that at least one person out there had faith in a glorious return. I'm so excited. This story reads like it's straight out of a Batman comic, and although it has a really looong buildup to the Mare Do Well appearance, the wait. Was. Worth it. Every single aspect rocks, from the "tech sidekick" Lyra to the ponies being FRIKKEN INSPIRED BY AB IN OTHER CITIES to the brief Bulk Biceps appearance in the gym. Seriously, though, Lyra is an amazing mentor figure, and the fact that she helped sort out the motives and then stayed to help with eypic *typo intended* magic and a friggin utility belt doubled her standing in my eyes. I am super interested to hear everything from Twilight's perspective and her motives and such, and am loving Silver Medal's entire personality and fighting style. The banter is perfect. Ahhh, good times, good times.
Heh heh, I don't even know what this comment is supposed to be- it's too haphazard to be any sort of review. Gimme a break- it's some crazy hour in the morning. I'm just excited to see this is alive. And shocked at the lack of comments, so I slammed my brain on the keybord. 
Sooo yup. Have some kudos!
In case it's not obvious, it's been ages since I read the entire story itself (gotta go re-read it now) and I'm just blurting out random things I vaguely remember liking about the story.
Mkay, thoughts.
!!! Oh Apple Bloom.
Ahh, makes sense! Cuz, y'know, no dimes. Also, either the leader is a unicorn, or has some crazy amulet type deal-io to do spotlight-blasts. AB's rocks could be seen by some as magic, so I'm hesitant to label him as Uni. Paranoia ftw. Also, speaking of paranoia, I don't trust Creamsicle. Not at all. She just casually ambles in and figures stuff out? Hah! We have nopony to vouch for where she stands other than herself. And she doesn't necessarily have to work for the crime rings, (pro'lly doesn't, or they'd know her identity), Twi's still an antagonist too, or there could be an unknown third party we've only seen foreshadowing for. Point is, I've got my eye on her. She's plotting something, I just don't know what.
Wow, it's being continued! Thank you!
I have a single mulberry tree that is working awfully hard to produce offspring, so I can believe somepony wanting to cut them off at the, um, knees.
Damn, it's sobering to see Apple Bloom be so unceremoniously defeated like that. She must've lost her lucky haircut.
capitalization
Seriously? She could have at least had a chat first, preferably from the shadows. So many lost opportunities. Also, Rainbow Dash is an idiot, she should have just knocked the leader upside the head and stashed him somewhere.
Why have you changed the cover art? I think the old one was much better. It looked more epic, had the title of the story in it and everything. So why change it?
Ahh! I've reached the end?? Oh no! There's so little of it! So many unanswered questions! Ponky, you have to keep writing. I will come cook for you if you write while I do. Tbh, I'm not even kidding, really. If you and Ash are down I'll totally come do it some time.
I think it's safe to say I like this story even more than the Sisters Doo. Maybe not Looking Glass, but it's definitely up there. I guess that means I should assign it a shelf, huh?
I look forward to the next update. You'd better be there.
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooly swiss cheese.
That was intense.
And a tad confusing at the end but maybe that's just me being hella tired.
But I so missed this. Thanks for bringing this back.
Thanks Ky for continuing this story. Loved this chapter and I really hope that you'll write on it all the way to the conclusion.
. The public probably doesn't even know of his existence yet.
When I re-read the earlier chaprets to get up to speed I noticed a fiew continuity errors such as Sweetie Belles magic being described as white in one of the earlier chapters and Bulk Biceps being refered to as Snowflake at one point in the chapter in which he appears. Thought you maybe wanted to know about those so you could fix them. Anyways I really like this story and I can't thank you enough for deciding to finish it.
Also, poor Razorwing didn't even get a mention in the papers
Did Apple Bloom just get Baned?!
Huh. Why do I feel like things didn't go as poorly as it seems?