Lily Mare Do Well

by Hyper44

A ferocious arrival

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Lily tapped on the door Granny's Crumpet’s house. She had Prickles sitting between her ears and a jar of milk by her hoofs. To Lily's surprise Granny Crumpet opened the door rather quickly.

"Hello Lily, I saw you coming," She said.

"I got your milk," Lily stated holding up the jar, "Is there anything else that I can do for you?" She felt a little awkward as she asked her usual question for it seemed like Granny Crumpet was scrutinizing her with thoughtful eyes.

"Could you pull some weeds out of my garden for me?"

"Sure," Lily replied. She put the milk away for her and followed the elderly pony out back to her flower garden. There really wasn’t that many weeds but Lily set to work. Prickles climbed down and began hunting for any insects that had infested the flower plot.

"You heard about the new Mare Do Well?" Granny Crumpet asked randomly.

"Everypony has," Lily replied before taking another weed between her teeth and pulling it out.

"They say that she's small like a school filly," Granny Crumpet added.

"Yep," Lily replied still searching for more weeds. "It's kinda' cool."

"There's a funny thing though, about that day," Granny Crumpet continued.

"What's that," Lily asked.

"Well, yesterday afternoon after all that commotion everypony is talking about this new Mare Do Well. She's small, just like a school filly and wears apparel that looks like a Nightmare Night costume instead of the original. That same day a little filly left my house with a Nightmare Night Mare Do Well costume shortly before the new Mare Do Well showed up."

Lily froze and stared at the garden as if she was looking for more weeds. "That...it couldn’t be me Granny Crumpet. That filly had super strength."

Granny Crumpet looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Listen her dear. I have been around Equestria more than a few times. I know that little surprises are hiding everywhere and that there is plenty of magic that can be tossed around."

"Yeah...but..." Lily turned around as she tried to come up with an answer but then she looked at the elderly pony. Yes, most ponies would not never believe that it was her because of the super strength. It would be the stumbling block for them but this was Granny Crumpet. Lily sat down. "You guessed that it was me from just those things?"

"That and the fact that you, being a head over hooves fan of that masked pony suddenly being so calm and quite about it," Granny Crumpet replied. "So how did you end up being the new Mare Do Well?

"I didn't plan to be the new Mare Do Well. I really did take off just to play but after the sendoff in town I hear all this screaming and commotion. All I could think about was my family and before I knew it my hoofs were taking me there. I saw the first monster and they almost took me in the opposite direction. After I took it out ponies are cheering and yelling Mare Do Well. I figured that since I had super strength and could stop the monsters from hurting anypony I sorta’ had an obligation to. Not only that but I still didn’t know where my family was. So I ran deeper in and things escalated from there. I had to fight more monsters and some really strange ponies. Then the top of the town hall fell and I had to catch it....then I tried to throw it back up and completely destroyed it," Lily finished with blushing cheeks.

Granny Crumpet nodded. "You got cocky and decided to show off."

Lily nodded. "Though I wanted to I couldn’t exactly apologize since if I spoke somepony could recognize my voice. The real Mare Do Well didn't speak anyway."

"Probably for the same reason," Granny Crumpet replied, "But Lily if you’re going to be a superhero, or in anything really you have to remember that nothing sets you up for failure more than showing off. It will be a much bigger fall too. Just do what you have to do and it will speak for itself. Anyway, let's go inside and you can tell me more about it. I've got some sweet tea and a batch of crumpets in the kitchen."

Lily picked up Prickles followed the elderly pony inside. She sat down at the table while Granny Crumpet brought out a platter of well-made crumpets. "I could probably help you with the voice issue using a spell.” She said.

"Thank you but I doubt that I'd need it. I had dreamed about being a superhero but I never thought that it would actually happen," Lily stated as Granny Crumpet poured some tea. "A chance like that probably won't ever happen again but at least I'll know that I got to be a hero and do something important once in my life," Lily stated as she broke a crumpet in two and gave one half to Prickles. "I mean my cutie mark is handling pokey things like Prickles. I'm obviously not meant to be a Mare Do Well."

The lid of the pot clacked down a little too hard. "Lily, my cutie mark is a crumpet. The special talent that marks me is making crumpets. Not adventure, not traveling through harsh landscapes, not dealing with dangerous animals, not resquing a queen, not binding up the wounds of soldiers on a battle field, not dealing with strange magic or outwitting changelings but yet I have done all those things. We all have talents that can symbolize a lot in life but it does not mean that that is all we are going to do, all that we can do. Ponies are more than one thing. Think of...Applejack. Her talent is growing apples yet she is a member of the Elements of Harmony and what does growing apples have to do with it? She even worked on a cherry farm once from what I've heard and still she does a lot more than grow apples. Your cutie mark does not limit you to one thing. Cutie mark or no cutie mark we choose our lot in life and who we are."

"I never thought about it before," Lily said imagining a young Mrs. Crumpet with her crumpet cutie mark doing the things that she had described. How often has she listened to her stories and never thought about that?

"Don't let your cutie mark limit you to one thing," Granny Crumpet said sipping tea. "The saddest things that I have ever seen is ponies who limit themselves to one thing or had to give up that one thing and assumed that their life was over in terms of meaning or enjoyment. Even ones who's cutie marks were not really a good thing or just didn't like it. They thought they were condemned to it because they couldn't understand that they were more than one thing."

Lily thought this over for a moment for it was a little deep for her. "I'll try the voice spell now."

Granny Crumpet laughed. "First let me ask the burning question in the back of my mind. How does a little filly get to be as strong as a full grown dragon?"

"Funny that you should say dragon," Lily replied. "It starts on a day where Prickles wondered off into the Everfree...."

* * *

As Lily finished up her story across Ponyville the residents including the mayor were still gathered to look at the trapped beasts. They grew braver ones had started posing next to either the single beast or pair to have their picture taken. Many vendors had moved their carts to one of the two locations and it was turning into almost an impromptu festival. Mayor Mare was even putting together an impromptu speech. Because of the crowd, distractions and the noise the ponies didn't notice the vibrations at first. Some shifted their hooves in absentminded reaction but never thought about it. Then it grew louder. Chatter trailed off and ponies began looking around with ears turning in every direction to locate the source.

"Everypony stay calm. This can't be an earthquake," Mayor Mare said just before a cloud of dust puffed up from the earth around her. She sneezed and rubbed dust out of her eyes as she heard the crowd gasp. She looked to see what appeared to be a lump caused by something traveling under the dirt at trotting speed and heading straight towards the two trapped monsters. Ponies scrambled out of its way and just stared in amazement.

The lump stopped just short of the trapped monsters and stayed still for a second. Then suddenly the earth exploded. A huge purple serpentine body rose up out of the ground. It opened its huge pink mandibles and let out a hissing roar as earth showered on the ponies around it.

"Everypony RUN!" Mayor Mare screamed though the ponies needed no prompting.

Author's Note:

I have pondered cutie marks quite a bit if you haven't noticed. One was what if something happened and a pony could not preform that talent anymore.
Another is like in Bloom and Gloom or with Trouble Shoes. What if a pony got a mark that they didn't like or actually symbolized something bad, like dark magic? I used think that Diamond Tiara's mark meant that she was a spoiled rich brat as in Daddy's rich little princess. (It may have originally meant that until the writers decided to redeem her.) Does that mean that they have no choice and can never change? I don't think so.
One thing that I think was demonstrated well in the show is that ponies are not limited to their cutie marks. Just like people their more than one thing. After all what does apples have to do with honesty or flying fast have to do with loyalty? (I probably reap into it too much but most of us do.)
Anyway the Tatzlwurm seemed a good choice because it was likely based off Graboids rather than it's namesake.

Comments

[Fluttercheer]

The Tatzlwurm! This is going to be epic!
I see that you venture into more dark territories. I like that.

How's your search for a pre-reader going?

[Hyper44]

6723470 It'll more of a superhero smackdown rather than dark but this story will have a darker moment than the last one. That will be later.
Still haven't found one but will keep looking.

[Fluttercheer]

6723779

Don't give up! Eventually, somepony's going to say yes!

[Hyper44]

6724836 I won't.

[redmar]

Granny Crumpet understands the lesson that the original Mare Do-Well was meant to teach Rainbow Dash.