• Published 21st May 2012
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Mantles - Ponky



Studying in Canterlot, Apple Bloom dons a mask of her youth to counter the city's rising crime.

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13 - Leave It to Others

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LEAVE IT TO OTHERS

Apple Bloom writhed on the ground. Not since leaping from a train in Ponyville had she needed a hospital. Even with all the bruises, cuts, and aches she had sustained as Mare Do Well, home remedies had always been enough. But not this time.

“They can’t know,” she kept murmuring. Barely understandable, the words gurgled past pooling blood in her mouth. “Nopony can see me…”

“Dang it, Bloom, stay still!” Rainbow Dash yelled through clenched teeth, using them to rip off more of the dark blue wrap around Apple Bloom’s forehooves. “Holy goddess, you’re bleeding a lot. Quit squirming, nopony’s gonna see you if you let me get—this—off!”

She tore off the cape and pulled the mask off from Apple Bloom’s face. Blood in the mask painted streaks into her yellow fur. “Eugh, sorry Bloom…”

“Nopony can know… don’t tell Applejack…”

“Oh, shut up. Where’s your hat?” Rainbow Dash scrambled around the tombs and found the hat around a corner. Pressing it over her own head, her mind was suddenly assaulted with deep breaths and curses.

“Lyra!” Rainbow yelled. “Can you hear me through this thing?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Lyra asked. “Oh, thank everything good and shining! Where’s Apple Bloom?”

“Uhhh…” Rainbow looked down the narrow alley between tombs at a crumbled body. “She’s hurt.”

“Horseapple jam!” Lyra screamed. “Is she all right?”

Rainbow looked up and around the sky. “Whoa, can you see her? Where are you?”

“I’m in Ponyville, in my living room,” Lyra explained. “The hat lets me see through your eyes.”

Rainbow grimaced. “Ew, really? That’s creepy.”

“Get over there! Is she okay?”

“Well… not really.” Rainbow flapped once and landed by Apple Bloom’s shivering head. “I think she needs a hospital, but—”

“No, no!” moaned Apple Bloom. “Not the hospital… they’ll see me…”

“Sweet Celestia…” Lyra’s teeth chattered. “Did they unmask her?”

“No, I just did that right now,” Rainbow said. “I’m trying to get the costume off so I can take her to a hospital, but it’s wrapped so freaking tight! Is there some hidden zipper or something I’m not seeing?”

"Oh, jeez, I don't know! The only part of that thing I've touched is the hat! And the belt, I guess, but..." Lyra paused, then gasped. "Rainbow, do you have steady hooves?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, sorta."

"Take the red gem out of her belt and smack it against the ground," Lyra said. "It'll get pretty hot, but it shouldn't burn you."

Frantic, Rainbow searched the many pockets around Apple Bloom's waist. She took a flat, red stone with uneven facets between her hooves and slid it along the grass beneath them.

"No, it needs more force!" said Lyra. "Hit it against a wall!"

Rainbow smacked the stone against the nearest tomb under one hoof and held it there. It began to glow and heat up under the pressure of her hoof. "What is this thing!?"

"Use it to cut off the suit, carefully!" Lyra said. "Don't cut into her skin."

"Nyeeuughh..." Rainbow Dash grimaced as she held one half of the stone between her forehooves and bent over Apple Bloom. "Don't you dare start squirming again," she breathed.

The gem grew even hotter upon contact with the costume's fabric. Rainbow carefully dragged it from Apple Bloom's thigh toward her neck until she had made a hole large enough to reach through with her hooves and teeth. Pulling in opposite directions, enough of the costume finally ripped so that Rainbow could peel Apple Bloom out of the simmering rags. "Got her," Rainbow said to Lyra. "We're getting out of here."

"Leave the hat in one of the tombs for now, but come back for it when she's safe," said Lyra. "Promise you'll come back and give me some kind of update!"

"I will," said Rainbow. She pushed the hat through the bars of one tomb's gate and scooped Apple Bloom off the ground, totally unconscious. Without another word, she flew as fast as she could to a hospital far from the cemetery.

The emergency room was quiet until she burst in screaming for help. Soon Apple Bloom's open wounds were being cleaned by a team of nurses. Rainbow could do nothing more but wait in the lobby, noticing for the first time the bruises on her own body.

"Who was that guy?" she asked herself, prodding a tender spot on her neck.

(/\/\)

Apple Bloom found it easier than expected to register for classes, even from her bed in the hospital. The paperwork was fairly straightforward, especially since all she wanted was to copy the schedule of her first semester. At least that way she would have a head start on her classes; student by day and Mare Do Well by night was daunting, but familiar classes could alleviate some of the stress.

Assuming, of course, that she could ever take to the streets again.

“Ah! Yeah, that hurts,” Apple Bloom said, nodding to the nurse. “Yeah, right there, that hurts bad.”

“What in Equestria happened to you?” he asked, writing something on a clipboard with a pencil in his magic. “Broken back, shattered ankle, burn marks in your coat, cuts and bruises all over your face… Did you get into a fight with a flamboyant professional wrestler and then fall off a building?”

“That’s pretty close, actually,” Apple Bloom said. She tried to smile, but cuts around her lips and gums were too tender.

“Well, the good news is you’re alive,” the nurse said, setting his pencil down. “I can’t say you would have died if somepony hadn’t brought you in, but we were definitely able to help stop the bleeding and at least get you stable.” He stepped closer and looked into her eyes. “The other news is, you might not be able to walk for several weeks.”

“Weeks?” Apple Bloom croaked.

“And I would recommend not fighting any professionals for at least two months,” he said with a wink, but Apple Bloom’s heart sunk deeper.

“Ain’t there somethin’ you can do to make me heal faster? Magic-wise?” She made sad eyes at his horn. “Please?”

“Healing magic is very advanced. In amateur hooves, it could do much more damage than good.”

“Then bring in a professional!” Apple Bloom yelled. “Er… no offense.”

The nurse smiled. “Modern medicine overtook magic decades ago. Even if we found somepony well versed in it, the procedures would cost a fortune.”

Her eyes widened. “Cost? Uh… how much is all this gonna cost?”

“You won’t have to worry about that,” the nurse said. “The pony that brought you in insisted on paying your expenses. As soon as we think you’re ready to go, you can trot out of here bill-free. I have a few other patients to check on; somepony will be with you shortly for another pain assessment.”

As he left the room, Apple Bloom dropped her head onto the pillow and sighed. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” she said under her breath.

Compared to Ponyville’s, Canterlot General was a cutting edge palace of a hospital. The lighting was cooler, the machinery quieter, and the staff more numerous. Some of these luxuries afforded Apple Bloom a level of comfort, and perhaps she would have been happy in her bandaged situation were it not for the lingering mysteries. What had gone wrong?

Brow furrowed and shoulders tight, Apple Bloom tried to pinpoint details in her rattled memory. This was often interrupted by bouts of anxiety as she realized the consequences of her injuries: Mare Do Well would vanish from Canterlot for weeks, maybe months. At the heels of a such a devastating defeat, who knew what sort of grasp the Mangled Marks could reacquire? Was all her work for nothing?

To fail is only to give up. Apple Bloom forced her worries aside and picked up her class registration packet. Getting back to school and establishing an alibi was more crucial than ever.

Sweetie Belle came by that afternoon. Questions and concerns hid behind her smiling face and pushed on the back of her eyes. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Sore,” answered Apple Bloom. “But safe, I guess. Could have been worse. How are you?”

“Um… fine…” Sweetie glanced over her shoulder and cleared her throat. “I was just wondering, uh… how that party of yours went the other night.” She smiled too hard. “And if you would care to share the details with me in terms of if and how things went terribly wrong.”

“I’m tryin’ to piece it together myself,” Apple Bloom admitted. “What can you tell me from your end of things?”

“I…” Sweetie leaned closer, whispering. “I stayed on the roof of that short tomb, like you said, and pulled the hooded stallion into the shadows. That black pegasus was right behind him, but I—eek!” She flinched and pressed a hoof to her horn. “Ohh… I think I might have strained something…”

“You got him hid?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yes, yes, I got him away from the pegasus before I pulled him up to me.” Again, she glanced over her shoulder. “Then I hit him really hard with that stone you gave me and he passed out. Then I locked him in the tomb—I was so quiet, I’m sure nopony heard me—and ran off with the decoy as soon as I saw Rainbow Dash go first. Oh, I was so nervous they would catch me!”

“But they didn’t getcha, right?”

“No.” Sweetie shook her head, but winced and touched her horn again. “No, nopony caught me. I had a good head start. As soon as I found a good hiding place I stopped my magic and stayed as quiet as I could. Then I went home, just like you said, but… I was so worried!”

“I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. “I couldn’t risk you comin’ back. I didn’t know what would happen. How did you know I was here?”

“Rainbow Dash found me,” she said. “But wouldn’t tell me anything except you where you were. She looked really sad.” She set a hoof on Apple Bloom. “What happened?”

“Rainbow came back to help me. I’m glad for it, too. That pegasus mighta killed me if she hadn’t flown in.”

“Oh my!” Sweetie covered her mouth.

“I just… gah, I was a fool,” Apple Bloom said, turning her face away. “I thought everypony he brought along with him would chase after the dummies. Turns out that black pegasus was onto us. Seems to be his top bodyguard. I kept telling him I didn’t know where his boss was, but he didn’t leave. Didn’t say a word, neither. Maybe he didn’t believe me or… maybe he was just there to kill me.”

After a few deep breaths, Sweetie Belle closed her eyes. “Part of me thinks this is getting too dangerous,” she said. “And that you should just stop.”

“Yeah, well… I’m gonna have to stop for a while,” Apple Bloom said, looking at her bandaged body.

“I know, but… there’s another part of me,” Sweetie continue, opening her eyes, “that knows you have to get back out there as soon as you can. Mare Do Well is changing things, Apple Bloom. Ponies believe in something again. They’re trying.” She smiled and touched one of Apple Bloom’s hooves. “And you’re still alive, after all. You didn’t try to do this on your own, so you’re alive.”

Apple Bloom smiled for just a moment. Then her eyes widened. “Oh, shoot! What did Rainbow do with my hat? Lyra must be worried sick!”

“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash is smarter than most of us think,” Sweetie said with a smile. “I’m sure the hat is safe and Lyra will be okay. I’ll get in touch with her and learn everything I can.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom said, nodding. “Thanks, Sweetie Belle. You’re such a good friend.”

“We’ve been through a lot together.” Sweetie stroked Apple Bloom’s hoof. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

(/\/\)

“Hi-yah! Take that, and that!” Silver Medal punched his closet door, spun around and kicked, then slashed at it one wing at a time. He grinned at the crayon drawing of a large griffon taped there, hoof-pocked and peeling off the wall.

“It’s perfect, Rainbow Dash!” he said, cracking his neck and rotating his wings at their joints. “Wow, this suit is phenomenal! It must have cost a fortune.”

“Just one of my many fortunes,” Rainbow said, looking at her reflection in the window to push around a clump of her mane. “No biggie.”

“Gah, still, I… I can’t thank you enough.” Silver Medal shook his head wildly, but the mane-concealing helmet didn’t budge. “It’s perfect.”

“You do realize that you’re basically just complimenting yourself, right?” Rainbow asked. “You designed the dang thing. I just paid for it.”

“Well, I’m just not used to this kind of quality coming from… anypony who’s not me,” he said, shrugging. “I’m just grateful you got this done right. I’ll be much safer now.”

“And much less recognizable, which might even be more important at this point,” Rainbow said. “After what happened in the cemetery, bad guys are gonna be taking you and Mare Do Well way more seriously.”

“Yeah, what did happen, anyway?” Silver Medal asked. “Have you talked with Mare Do Well since then? I haven’t heard anything from her and I’m getting kind of worried.”

“Uh…” Rainbow looked at the ceiling. “Yeah, actually, I did see her the other night.”

Silver Medal’s wings carried him across the length of his room. “You did? Oh, thank goodness. What did she say? Did she ask about me?”

“She’s actually, uh… she’s gonna take a break.”

Silver Medal blinked. “What? Why?”

“The plan didn’t really work,” Rainbow Dash said. “She got hurt pretty bad. I mean, she’s fine, she just… I dunno, she’s just gonna take a break.”

“Oh, shoot!” Silver Medal stomped one hoof. “What went wrong?”

“The guy in the hood got away,” Rainbow said. “That’s really all I know.”

“Well…” Silver Medal’s hooves started to patter and he looked all around the room. “We’ve gotta go find her! We have to make sure everything’s all right, we’ve gotta help her and—”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on his shoulder. “Look, you can go help Mare Do Well as much as you want, but me? I’m done, bro.” She sat on the edge of his bed. “I dunno, I’m getting old or something. It just doesn’t… like… feel like the right thing to do.”

“What? No, no, you’re just tired. You said you’d help take down the Mangled Marks, and if the plan didn’t work we’re just gonna have to try again, no sweat.”

Rainbow sighed. “Nah, I… I can’t be involved anymore. Especially if…” She swallowed. “Mare Do Well’s after the whole system, not just the Mangled Marks. Eventually she’ll make her way up to the top, and…”

“Oh,” Silver Medal said quietly. He unlatched his helmet from the base of his neck and slid it off, looking his sister in the eyes. “Twilight?”

Rainbow just grunted. “I can’t… I mean, if it ever got to the point that I’d have to…”

“I get it,” Silver Medal said, raising a hoof. “That’s fine, Rainbow. You don’t need to keep at this. I think we can handle it.” He looked out the window. “I’m going back to Canterlot tonight to see if I can find Mare Do Well. We’ll get these Mangled Marks, then we’ll find Falcon, and one dirty group at a time we’ll clean up this country.” He turned back to Rainbow. “And if the day ever comes that Mare Do Well wants to face the Princess… we’ll be ready.”

“Ready for what?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Ready to… to make the right choice,” Silver Medal said, nodding at nothing. “It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow. She stood up. “We’ll see. Hey, when you find her, will you give her something for me?”

Silver Medal smirked. “A big kiss on the lips? Sure, I’ll see what I can do.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and trotted out of the room. “No, dummy. I need you to return—” She re-entered the room with something large and purple on her hoof. “—her hat.”

Gaping, Silver Medal froze in place. “Rainbow Dash… what the hay happened that night?”

She tossed the hat onto the bed and turned around. “Just… get that back to her.” And she left.

That night in Canterlot, Razorwing zig-zagged through the night sky on agile, armored wings, scanning the alleys and darkness below for signs of wrongdoing. If it weren’t for the lights in some apartment windows, the city might as well have been abandoned, even by its caped crusader.

“Where is she?” Razorwing asked under his breath, propelling through the air into another district. A bad feeling settled in his chest and he slowed down with a few silent flaps, landing on the roof of a tall building to listen to the night. Leaping from roof to roof, he peered down into alleyways until he found a pair of large ponies talking to a twitchy mare with a sack of bits at her side.

“Ooohh, yes,” Razorwing whispered. “Thank you, gut. You are amazing.”

Using his wings for balance, he ran down the side of the building, hoofs slapping against its bricks. All three ponies looked up, startled. He called down, “Hey, fellas!” before smashing his metallic hooves down onto one of their heads. The stallion fell over, but his partner was fast. He swung at Razorwing and hit him on the helmet. Its matte, silver appearance didn’t even scratch. A dull ring bothered Razorwing’s ear for a moment, but the stallion’s hoof definitely came away with the most damage.

“Ayeee!” he yelled, cradling his hoof as he bounced on his hind legs.

“Yeesh, quiet down!” Razorwing said. “You’re gonna give us away!”

His tail, wrapped in a chainlink sheath, swung into the stallion’s knees and sent him toppling backward. He hit his head against the ground and moaned. Razorwing smacked him in the side of the head, then turned to where the quaking mare had stood.

She was gone. He quickly searched the two stallions, finding several bottles of pilled sap that he tucked into an elastic pocket on the chest of his armor. Flying out of the alley, he saw the mare galloping as fast as she could down the street. A few strong flaps later, he was gliding by her side.

“Boy, can you believe what they’re charging for that stuff these nights?” he asked. “Outrageous! It’s probably because they’re demanding to be paid more. I hear their job is becoming more and more of a hazard, thanks to Mare Do Well and friends.”

“Get away from me!” the mare croaked. “I didn’t do nothing wrong!” She made a sharp turn and tried to run faster.

Razorwing floated above her. “Oh, I know, I know. I’m just wondering if you could take a breather and answer a few questions for me? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Go buck yourself!” she shouted, stopping quickly and running in the other direction.

“My, my!” Silverwing sung. “That was very rude, madame!” He feigned a sigh and cracked his neck. “I suppose we shall have to do this the hard way. Do excuse me for any inconvenience you may experience during the course this flight.”

“Huh? WhhuuoooaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!” The mare screamed as Razorwing scooped her up and carried her above the city.

“Oh, man, this is too easy!” he said with a smile. “For living in a city precariously perched on the side of a mountain, you Canterlotians are unreasonably afraid of heights.”

“Let me go!” she shrieked, beating her hooves against his armor.

“Right now?” Razorwing looked down over his own shoulder. “Eh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m trying to be the good guy here.”

“Please, I didn’t do nothing!” she continued to yell. “Let me down! Let me go!”

“All right, all right, I will! I’ll even take you home and give you a good-night hug, if you want. But first just tell me a little about the conversation you were just having with those rather large gentlecolts.”

“Nothing, we wasn’t talking,” she said quieter, shivering in his hold. “They just asked me a question and, and…”

“I’m not going to arrest you or hurt you or anything,” Razorwing said in an exasperated tone. “I just want to know more about their little operation. Do you always buy from them in the same place or do they move around?”

She gulped.

He bounced her a bit. “Hey, you don’t have much of a choice here, lady. Get talking!”

“Eeek! Th-they haven’t been here for a while,” she stammered. “There used to be just one little guy, but he didn’t show up for weeks. Just last night those two guys started showing up, I ain’t never seen them before!”

“Okay, that’s very interesting,” Razorwing said, pushing his lips together in thought. “So, what, they think they can face Mare Do Well now?”

“Mare Do Well?” the mare squeaked. “Mare Do Well ain’t done nothing! Haven’t you birds heard about it? They killed her!”

A sudden rush of blood blurred Razorwing’s vision. “I highly doubt that.”

“Dead spots all over the city are being opened up again,” the mare said. “I ain’t heard of no trouble til…”

“Til me! Haha!” Razorwing dove with the mare in a tight grasp. She screamed again until he set her on the sidewalk. “Well, isn’t that convenient? How about you tell everyone you know that Mare Do Well is not dead, that she’s been busy making new friends, and that Razorwing—“ He let the sharp metal along the joints of his wings glisten for a moment in the Moonlight. “—is bringing back the dead spots. Maybe literally.” He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

And with that, he took off into the night, leaving the mare to scramble away. The farther he got from her, the deeper his expression sunk into a worried frown. “Where are you, Mare Do Well?” he asked again. “I’ll take care of things around here while you’re gone, but… please come back soon.”

He spotted another shady group of ponies on a street corner and swallowed as he tilted his wings. “Really soon.”

(/\/\)

They say Manehattan never sleeps. One would think that crime might be more difficult to commit there, but when enough of the sleepless souls in its streets have bad intentions, crime is all too common.

That night, for example, a group of six masked ponies broke into a small corner bank, already closed for the night. The heist was their ninth together. They felt determined, excited, and most of all confident, considering the bright colors of their disguises: each was dressed as a member of the once great Elements of Harmony. The homemade costumes hung loosely from their bodies, and the masks over their faces were grotesquely large and malformed.

The thief dressed like Twilight Sparkle cast a spell on the biggest window. Its glass vanished. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy leapt through the temporary hole. While Fluttershy disabled the alarms, Pinkie picked the front door’s lock and let the others in. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, holding a large drill between them, rammed into the safe and carved a hole in its center.

Rarity squeezed through the hole and began to shovel hooffulls of bits to her cohorts. They caught the bits in large fabric sacks, tying up one after another as they filled to the brim.

When she heard the spill of coins on the floor outside the safe, Rarity stopped. She bent over and listened, careful not to say a word. She couldn’t hear her companions; not a breath, not a step. She whistled… and a striped hoof shot through the hole, cracking and dislocating Rarity’s jaw.

“Gahhhhh!” Rarity, who was actually a stallion, shrieked in a low voice. By the time he looked up, a slender zebra had joined him in the safe. Her mane was long and braided tightly, draped over her neck and a colorful mask. The mask was bright blue and mouthless; the material over her eyes was shiny, blood red, and protruded like an insect’s.

The stallion’s eyes rose to something much more remarkable than a buggish mask. From the zebra’s striped back sprouted four translucent wings, huge ovals structured like leaves with silvery branching veins.

“What the…” he croaked.

The zebra’s wings buzzed, pulling her body into a spin. She twisted forward and brought a hind hoof down on top of Rarity’s head. The imposter crumpled as though the costume was filled with hay. The zebra squeezed back through the hole and hovered above the rest of the thieves, struggling to stand.

“What happened?” asked Fluttershy in a low, raspy voice.

“I got hit in the back of the head,” said Twilight.

“Me, too,” Rainbow Dash said in a far more feminine voice than the others.

“Oh, one of you really is a girl,” the zebra said from above. “I was starting to wonder.”

The robbers swung their masked faces up to look at her.

“How did she get in here?” Twilight asked. “Weren’t you two watching the entrance?”

“Of course we were,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Never looked away,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Then what happened?” Twilight spat.

“I hit you all at the same time,” the zebra explained.

Twilight snorted. “Impossible!”

“How?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll show you.” The zebra curled in on herself, like a dead spider buzzing in midair.

“What’s she…”

“Get out of here!” Rainbow yelled, diving for the exit.

The zebra threw her limbs out. Three more winged zebra in identical masks materialized in the bank, lunging at whatever Element of Harmony was nearest them. The robbers screamed and scrambled to escape, but the zebras punched and kicked and threw them until the screaming and movement had stopped.

The attacking zebras crumbled to dust, leaving only the first one hovering above. Exhausted, she fluttered to the ground as her wings wave out, taking a seat on her haunches. She wiped sweat from her brow and stretched.

“Three at once,” she said to herself, grinning. “Personal best.”

She pressed an emergency button behind one of the teller stations and waited by the front doors until she heard sirens. As soon as the police carriages got close, she galloped out of the corner bank and rose into the night on humming wings.

}{S}{M}{

Manehattan had the largest population of zebras in all of Equestria. While early immigrants had kept the customs of their ancestors, Abawe knew very few of her kind that insisted on rhyming everything they said. It made sense in their native language—almost every word rhymed with at least a hundred others—but in Equestrian, the effort was just too much. Earlier than some others, Abawe’s family had fully adopted Equestrian culture many generations before her birth.

The exception, of course, was her baba.

“Make your old grandfather smile,” he said as she trotted into the apartment. “Why not shed and stay a while?”

“Babaaaa,” Abawe groaned. She smoothed out her hoodie and frowned. “I’ve told you, I feel cold in here. I like keeping my jacket on.”

“Staying warm is well and good, but home is no place for a hood.”

“Leave her alone, Baba,” her father said. “She never puts her hood up indoors. Why not just settle for a nice hello when she gets home?”

She smiled at her father. They hugged tightly. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Welcome home, Abby. How was school?” her father asked.

“Why did you give her a powerful name, only to shorten it out of such shame?” asked Baba from his spot on the couch.

“I’m not…” Her father cut himself off, sighing through his nostrils and shooting Abawe a strained look.

She smiled. “Let’s eat something. We’ll feel better.”

Her father nodded. They trotted into the kitchen where a pot was already boiling on the stove next to a bag of flour.

Abawe beamed. “Fufu?” she asked.

“Fufu! With dark carrot stew.” He poured more flour in the boiling water and stirred it with a wooden spoon between his teeth.

“Yessss.” Abawe celebrated with a hoof pump. “It’s been a while.”

As her father cooked, Abawe pulled at the waist of her hoodie. He sent several concerned glances her way before he spoke.

“Abby… are you all right?”

“Hm?”

“You know… we could tell him,” he said.

Abawe shook her head. “No way. I’d rather hide in this hoodie and make excuses for a hundred years than tell Baba what happened to me.”

“He might be able to help, you know.” He took the pot off the stove and scooped the mass of dough onto a plate. “I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just saying: he will still love you, like I do. And honestly, he might know a cure.”

She shook her head. “It would freak him out to know his granddaughter grew wings. And if we’re being honest… I don’t know if I want to find a cure.”

Her father grinned, placing the plate in the middle of the table and pouring three bowls of dark carrot stew. “Have you been sneaking out at night?”

She hid her face. “Just for a while. Just to… fly around.”

He nodded. “I would do the same, I’m sure. Please, don’t do anything that could get you hurt. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Go insane?” Abawe guessed. “Slowly lose your mind until Baba mysteriously goes missing?”

“Ha! I’m afraid of how true that might be.”

He set one of the bowls in front of Abawe. She took a glob of fufu in her hoof, soaked it in the carrot stew, and scraped it into her mouth against her bottom lip, swallowing the chunk whole. “Mmmmm… this is delicious, Dad.”

“It better be. Stirring fufu isn’t easy.” He yelled into the hallway, “Baba! Fufu’s ready!”

Baba shuffled into the kitchen with a newspaper in his mouth. He spit it onto the kitchen counter, tapped on the front page, and said, “Canterlot has fallen in a dangerous spell under the charms of the Mare Do Well.”

Abawe’s father swallowed a bit of fufu and nodded. “For the first time in a while, I have to agree with you. Putting your faith in a mare in a mask can only lead to trouble.”

“Your rhymes are losing their touch, Baba,” Abawe said. “The meter’s not as good as it was when I was a kid.”

“Meter matters less than rhyme almost every single time,” he grumbled. “What do you think of the mare making problems over there?”

Abawe shrugged. “Uh… I think it’s pretty cool, actually. I’d have to meet her before I made a decision, I think. Maybe she’s really trying to make a difference.”

“Who she is or who she’s not will never slow the city’s rot.”

“Maybe Abby has a point, Baba,” said her father. “Perhaps whoever’s behind that mask is a good pony.”

“Hidden faces only provide a reason to question the equine inside,” Baba said, taking a seat at the table.

“Haven’t zebras used masks to send messages for thousands of years?” Abawe asked. She scooped a small pile of fufu out of the central plate and dropped it into Baba’s stew. “Maybe her mask means hope to the people of Canterlot.”

Her father smiled. Baba blew air through his snout.

“I do hope you’re not planning anything similar for Manehattan, Abby,” her father said after a few quiet moments of eating. He gave her a meaningful glance.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m no Mare Do Well.”

}{S}{M}{

“I’m Spritemare.”

She struck a pose… then sighed and cracked her neck, resetting in front of the mirror. “Come on, come on… cooler, smoother.”

Abawe adjusted her mask and brushed several long braids out of her eyes. “Okay, okay, okay, okay…”

She folded in her wings, jumped as high as she could, and spread all four majestically, hovering in place while she stared herself down in the glass.

I’m Spritemare.”

She landed, satisfied, and pulled off her mask. A wide smile replaced its light blue fabric. “I wonder how Mare Do Well says it,” she whispered to herself.

Abawe closed her eyes and crouched, concentrating on all four corners of her bedroom. She imagined herself with as much detail as possible. A tingle of energy started in her stomach and climbed up her spine to her mind. Straightening up sharply, she allowed the energy to pulse outward from her skull. In two corners of her room, perfect doppelgangers appeared out of thin air.

In the other two corners…

“Oh, gross…” Abawe held her hooves up to her snout and gagged. She shut her eyes and centered her focus within her own body; the meaty, deformed versions of herself, along with the fully formed ones by the window, crumbled into nothing.

She shuddered. “Three is good enough, I guess.”

There was a knock at her bedroom door. “Abby?” her father whispered.

Abawe tore off her mask and threw it under the bed. She tucked her wings as close to her sides as she could. “Yes, Dad?”

He opened the door and stepped quietly in. “Is everything okay? You should be asleep, sweetheart.”

“I know, sorry,” she said. “Did I wake you up?”

“No, I’ve been reading.” He yawned. “What’s all the ruckus in here?”

“I’m just…” She lifted her wings a big. “It’s hard to get comfortable with these. I… got frustrated.”

Her father’s expression fell. “Oh, Abby… I’m so sorry.”

He drew nearer and held out a tentative hoof. “May I?”

Abawe nodded.

He touched one of her thin wings gingerly. “Do they hurt?”

“No,” she said. “They’re actually pretty strong.”

“I can tell.” He put down his hoof and sighed. “Abby, are you sure you told me everything? I’m proud of you for confiding in me, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep any secrets.”

She shook her head. “I’ve told you everything, Dad. The parasprite was glowing, it bit me on the shoulder, and the next morning I woke up with these.”

“Have you been able to sleep at all?” he asked. “You’ve looked so tired all week.”

She rubbed an eye. “Not much. But I don’t mind, really. I don’t feel very tired.”

“I still think we should go to a doctor,” he said. “Or at least tell Baba. He was alive during the parasprite epidemic in the Zebrahara. Surely he might know something about them that can help.”

“It doesn’t feel like something I need to get fixed, Dad.” She flapped and rose some feet into the air. “Flying feels so natural. I don’t want to get rid of this.”

He gazed at her, breathless. “It is truly amazing,” he said, “but… Abby, it’s not natural. I don’t want some hidden side effect to end up hurting you. And I certainly don’t want you getting any ideas from that Mare Do Well character.”

“Don’t worry, Dad, I won’t do anything stupid,” she said, landing on her bed and rubbing her front hooves together.

“Good, because—”

Abawe waited for him to continue. “Because you don’t want to lose me?”

There was no answer.

“I get it, Dad. I don’t remember Mom very well, but… I wish I did.”

Silence.

Abawe looked at him. “Dad?”

Her father’s eyes were wide and dark. His mouth hung slightly open.

Abawe blinked. “Dad? Are you okay?” She reached out for him.

He spun around. With a strange gait—moving his legs a full gallop, but inching forward very slowly—her father left the room and started tripping down the hall.

“Dad?” Abawe watched him warily. “Do you need something?”

Baba emerged from his bedroom, performing a similar bouncy trot. The two zebras made their way single file out of Abawe’s sight toward the front door.

She frowned and grabbed the mask under her bed before following. “Baba, can you hear me? Dad?”

Her father opened the front door and, without closing it behind them, both he and Baba hurried out of the apartment and down to the street. Abawe stuck her head outside and gasped. Hundreds of ponies, zebras, and donkeys, all with a similar glaze over their eyes, marched through the streets at a bizarre pace. She watched more of them leave their homes to join the strange parade. The Moon shone bright overhead and the Manehattan air was chilly, but none of the prancing ponies seemed to mind. All of them were headed east, joining an even larger crowd at the nearest intersection.

“What the…” Abawe shut her door and slid on her mask. She hurried to her window, threw it open, and leapt into the night. She flew as high as she dared and looked down at the scene. The entire district seemed affected, its streets flooded with the dazed, many of whom she recognized. East was their only clear goal, so Abawe followed the mass to its front.

A single pony walked several yards ahead of the crowd’s front lines. His trot was normal, if unusually full of purpose. He stuck out his chest and sauntered to an inner rhythm. Around his face was a red bandana. Some metal discs attached behind his hooves clinked with every step.

And he was laughing.

“Hyeh hyeh hyeh! Come one, come all!” His accent was thickly southern. “Join us on this lovely evening of decisive protest! Cast aside yer holy leader and come follow me! Princess Sparkle ain’t done nothin’ for y’all. I shall lead you to greener pastures than this foul city can offer. Let me into your hearts and minds! Let my light spur you on! Youch!”

His mobile sermon was interrupted by a swift kick in the bandana. He tumbled to the ground but hopped quickly to his hooves, searching for his attacker. “Who’s there?” He looked up toward the Moon and saw a masked zebra hovering overhead. “What in Tartarus? Who are you?”

Abawe smiled. “I’m Spritemare,” she said.

The crowd behind the bandana-clad pony had stopped moving, but continued to gallop and flail in place. Their sea of wobbling eyes glittered in the Moonlight.

The lucid stallion bowed deeply. “Well, a pleasure to meet you, flying zebra. Ain’t never seen one o’ yer kind before. I am the Spur, and you may call me thusly.”

“Where are you taking them?” Spritemare asked, darting closer.

The Spur flinched, but held his ground. “Why, far away, of course! I have a number of boats prepared at the docks of Manehattan. Just as their ancestors sailed to this land in search of freedom, I shall take them away from the clutches of their evil dictator.”

“They’re hypnotized,” said Spritemare. “You’re taking them to freedom against their will?”

He chuckled. “I see how that might be confusing to one unenlightened such as yourself,” the Spur shouted over the sound of the stomping ponies behind him, “but fear not, child. I have the power to illuminate your mind and open your eyes… through your ears!”

He stomped on the ground in a similar fashion to the mindless horde in tow. The metal circles strapped to his hooves rattled and rang as he bucked. Hundreds of ponies in the crowd reacted to the sound, moaning and hollering into the night.

Spritemare was unfazed. “Nice dance,” she said.

His eyebrows strained. “What? How did you… Ain’tchu a horse?” He looked behind him and scanned the masses. “Zebras are horses, right?”

“Zebras are, yes.” She landed and crouched menacingly. “But I’m Spritemare.”

The Spur didn’t hesitate. He lashed out at her with one of his hooves. She leapt away from the metal circle’s sharp, serrated edges.

“You’re a quick’n,” he said.

She jumped, vaulting above him at breakneck speed, and punched him on top of the skull. He groaned and stumbled forward.

“You’re not,” she teased.

The Spur kicked and swung at her. She dodged every swipe, delivering a few quick punches to his ribcage and neck. He stopped, cringing, panting for breath.

“Let them go,” Spritemare said.

The bandana had fallen around his neck. He looked up at Spritemare with a crooked smile. “These are my ponies now,” he said. He pressed his teeth into his bottom lip and, with a jangle of one hoof, whistled a piercing tone.

All at once, the silly, bouncing ponies became an army. They ran and leapt at Spritemare, screaming and throwing their limp limbs around in an effort to ground her. With three wrapped around her middle and limbs, she buzzed her wings at a manic speed and rose above the group. After shaking off the attackers, Spritemare found the grinning Spur among the crowd below. She dove and tried to grab him.

A dozen ponies picked up some of their companions and threw them at Spritemare. She couldn’t avoid all of them; they pulled her to the ground and flipped her on her back. More ponies than she could count surrounded her, pushing down her legs and wings with all their weight. She yelled in pain and struggled to break free.

The Spur approached and stood near her tail.

“Get them off me!” she shouted.

Ever smiling, the Spur nodded at a group of ponies who pulled her tail taut. She watched in horror as the Spur crossed two metal circles over the base of her tail.

“No, stop!” she shrieked.

He yanked his hooves apart, slicing off her tail. The shock gave her a bout of strength. She shook one leg loose and kicked the Spur’s snout. He fell into the crowd, bowling over ponies in a chain reaction that upset everyone holding her down. Spritemare kicked and squirmed until she rolled over and took off like a firework.

Her wings were sore and crumpled. She struggled to gain altitude, ignoring the sting in her tail, and crashed on the roof of a nearby apartment building.

She only had a moment to rest. “After her!” the Spur cried below. A group of pegasi flew clumsily to the roof. She curled into a ball and concentrated. The pegasi wobbled closer…

Three tailless doppelgangers materialized around her in a circle. They easily fended off the pegasi, then dove over the edge of the building. Spritemare stood and limped to where she could see the action below.

The Spur screamed as the doppelgangers dove together again and again, staving off the jumping ponies and kicking him wherever they could. He tried to run, but one of the winged zebras smashed a hoof into the back of his head. The Spur fell face first onto the pavement, and his spell was immediately lifted.

As she focused, Spritemare’s doppelgangers disappeared just before the ponies came to their senses. From their screams and apologies to each other, it was clear they remembered everything. Spritemare dropped to her belly and breathed, massaging her pulsing temples.

“Hey, there he is!” she heard somepony shout. “He’s getting away!”

“Stop him!”

She heard a commotion and summoned all her strength to peer over the edge. The Spur stumbled into a dark alley, chased by several ponies. Moments later, they emerged dumbfounded.

“He’s gone!” one said.

“Vanished!”

A worried murmur spread through the crowd. Spritemare backed away from the edge and tried to sit on her haunches, only to jump from a sharp pain. Nervously, she looked at the bloody stub behind her and shivered.

“Shoot… Dad’s gonna kill me.”