Rainbow Flash and the Mysterious Mare Do Well

by HoovesMcCoy

Issue #1: The Pride of Ponyville

Rainbow Dash dropped lightly onto a branch overlooking the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse. An orange pegasus filly lay on the shady balcony with a brightly-colored comic book open in front of her, taking refuge from the summer heat.

"Hey Squirt, whatcha reading?"

"Oh hi Rainbow Dash! It’s just the most awesome thing ever. It’s about you! But they spelled your name wrong,” she frowned for a moment, “will you sign it for me?"

Rainbow Dash looked confused, "Wait, what? Since when am I in a comic? Let me see that.”

Scootaloo held up the comic book. The cover featured a suspiciously familiar sky-blue pegasus galloping down an alley beside a purple-cloaked pony wearing a fedora. "Rainbow Flash and the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well! It's this awesome new comic Spike gave me. He said—"

"Mare-Do-Well’s only been around for two weeks! The parade was yesterday! How the hay did they get this written so soon?"

"I think they just made stuff up. Rainbow Flash is super fast—just like you—but her real name is Berry Melon and she’s a Wonderbolt and she only ever flies at half-speed because she doesn’t want to reveal her secret identity but she’s still super fast.” She took a quick gasp of air, “And she and Mare-Do-Well used to be enemies but then they found out they’re both good and now they're teamed up against an evil gryphon named Gel-dar, Queen of the Parasprites! You’re gonna sign it for me right? Even though they got your name wrong?"

"Sure, kid. Can I borrow it first though?"

"You can keep it if you want Rainbow Dash. This is my third time reading it and I don't think Sweetie is gonna read her copy more than once. You could just sign hers when she's done and she'll probably let me have it."

"Nah, that's all right Squirt, I'll have it back to tomorrow, autographed and everything."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Rainbow Dash!"

But Scootaloo found herself addressing only the afterimage of a rainbow blur, arcing back toward Ponyville.

#

A flutter of wings cleared away the dust clouds billowing up from a not-so-mysterious crash landing in the library. It was the first cool breeze Twilight Sparkle had felt all day; she luxuriated in the all-to-brief wind in her mane. The dissipating dust revealed Rainbow Dash standing atop a mound of recently unshelved books. The angry muttering of a baby dragon could be heard somewhere beneath.

"Twilight!" Rainbow leapt down from the book pile, "Twilight have you seen this comic? This is so awesome!

Twilight brought a parchment and quill up to her face and scribbled something down. "Rainbow Dash." She chewed her lip for a moment. "So with Bon Bon, Derpy, Featherweight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Scootaloo, Snips, Spike, and Rainbow, plus one for the general circulation, that's 10 copies weekly. I'm glad somepony is finally taking advantage of the grant money we have budgeted for—"

"We're superheroes Twi!"

"What do you mean we? Are the girls all in that comic? Spike has been trying to get me to read it since he talked me into ordering the first issue, but we just got our order in yesterday and I admit I haven't gotten around to it yet. You see, I've been reading some classics of the modern comics industry, to give myself a better context in which to judge this one. Have you ever heard of "Discord City" by Flank Quiller? I can't say I've liked all of what I've read, but his have been some of the best."

"None of that stuff matters, Twi! Just read the comic so we can talk about it. You're practically my sidekick."

"Just me, or the other girls too? I wonder how the author figured out that we were behind the Mare Do Well?"

"I wouldn't say she figured it out, exactly."

"What is that supposed to mean? Is—" Twilight was interrupted by a pounding on the library door."

"Get that, would you Spike."

"In a minute! I'm almost done cleaning up Rainbow's mess."

The knocking continued. "Rainbow, get the door."

The sudden gust through the library sent a stack of loose paper spiraling up into the air, they fell back to the floor like a carpet of autumn leaves. Rainbow Dash opened the door, pulled a large box inside, and slammed it again. The knocking began anew. Dash opened the door again.

"What do you want Derpy?" Dash looked annoyed at the interruption but Twilight had always had a soft spot for the mailmare. She was one of the few ponies who Twilight felt she could really open up to about her desire for romance. Derpy could take her feelings seriously and not feel the need to "solve" the problem by immediately trying to set her up on some kind of blind date.

"Um, well, I was just kinda wondering if these were the new Flash and Mare Do Well comics? It's just, um, Dinky has been so excited since the last one. And I think Sparkler likes them too, even if she'll never admit it."

Twilight teleported over to the box. "Lets see, yeah this is from Mareville comics, it should be them, along with a few other things I ordered. I got you your own copy to keep this time Derpy, no need to share with Bon Bon."

"Thats so nice of you Twilight. It's so strange to get this comic from you. You're a celebrity now. Well, not that you weren't before with Nightmare Moon and Discord and all that, but it's so amazing to get the comic book from the hero herself. Dinky really admires you, you know."

"Hey, I thought I was the hero."

"You're kind of the hero too, Dash, but super speed isn't much of a power compared to magical strength and shadow-sense. And Mare Do Well is Equestria's greatest detective on top of all that."

"Really, so I'm Fetlock Holmes and Rainbow is my Dr. Trotson huh." Twilight looked Dash up and down. She could definitely pull off the traditional hat, although the mustache might look a bit odd.

"Well you two look like you have a lot to talk about. I'd b-better be going," the wall-eyed pegasus stammered. She flew out the door with surprising speed. The gust pulled the door closed behind her, and once again caused the stack of papers Spike had carefully collected to erupt into the air. The little dragon muttered to himself, but diligently returned to cleaning up the mess.

"Hey Twilight?"

"Yeah Dash?"

"Do you think I could borrow the new issue after you're done with it?"

Twilight was surprised to see her friend take an interest in any kind of reading and she surely wasn't going to discourage it. "Of course. But you haven't finished the first one either have you?"

"I just started it on the way over here."

"Well I haven't read it either, so how about you stay for dinner and we'll read the second one together." Seeing a panicked look in Rainbow's eyes, she added, "Spike's cooking, don't worry."

The two mares lay down beside each other on the floor. Twilight levitated the two copies of "Mysterious Mare-Do-Well #1" over and set one down in front of each of them. Their eyes met and Twilight gave a little smirk.

"Hey Rainbow, I challenge you to a race. Last one done has to help Spike with the dishes."

"No fair, you know you're a faster reader than I am."

"Yeah, but you've got a head start. You're not chicken are you? Rainbow?"

"Nopony calls me chicken."

Twilight tried to come up with a retort, but the pegasus already had her eyes back down on the page in front of her. She waved her hooves around but got no response. Smiling to herself, she turned to her own copy and began to read. Twilight hated dishes.

#

Spike prepared a daisy, dandelion, and apple salad; and a simple bowl of fresh sapphires for himself. Twilight had won the reading race, but Rainbow had finished just a few minutes later, much sooner than she'd expected. They discussed the story over dinner, repeatedly descending into argument over who was whose sidekick. The writers had changed a lot of minor details, but the heroine behind the purple fedora was uncannily similar to Twilight. There was no hint of the other ponies who had played the part.

Dash thought about this for a moment. "Pinkie probably blabbed the story to somepony but didn't want to take credit for some reason."

Twilight frowned and looked deep into Dash's eyes. Even when she looked sad like that, she had really pretty eyes. "The whole scheme was sort of my idea, you know. The girls just went along with me." Twilight looked like she was about to cry. "Spike left his notes out this morning—from when he was going to write your autobiography—and I just want to say I never meant to hurt you, Dash. Looking back today, I can see why you were so upset. I'm sorry. We got so caught up in teaching you a lesson, we didn't notice when it turned from giving you a little humility to just being mean. I want you to know the girls and I would never abandon you. We should have just talked to you instead of doing what we did."

"Well thanks Twi, but I'm over it. I was mad for a bit, but I got to thinking, the whole thing was kind of fun. I mean, I was everypony's greatest hero for a while! Then I had a nemesis, just like a real superhero! And you know, I'm kind of sad it's all over now. I heard AJ lassoed another runaway carriage going down that hill this morning, but she was just bein' Applejack. No costume, no catchphrase, nothing. She just did that thing where she lifts up her hat a bit without really taking it off and walked away. She walked away! She's got no style."

"Since when did you turn into Rarity?"

"Oh, heh. Yeah that is the kind of thing she'd say, isn't it?"

Twilight stuck her muzzle into the air like some Canterlot snob. "If one is going to become a hero, one simply must make oneself presentable. Saving ponies without a catch phrase is practically a crime in itself." She fell out of her chair giggling at herself. After a moment, Dash joined her.

When they both finally calmed down—after a several false starts ruined by one of the two laughing, which inevitably started the cycle over again—Twilight rolled onto her side and said, "You don't have to do the dishes if you don't want to, Rainbow. I don't really care about the race... I just wanted somepony else around and it seemed like the best way to get you to stay. Spike always goes to sleep right after dinner."

Sure enough, the dragon was curled up into an oblivious ball of scales on his chair, snoring. Rainbow was no fan of doing dishes, but she knew Twilight hated it even more. It was sweet of her to volunteer. Dash pulled herself to her feet and headed resolutely for the sink.

"Nope. I lost. I'm trying to be better about that, so I'm gonna wash the dishes like we said. You can make it up to me if you want to though."

"Oh really?" Twilight raised and eyebrow, "and how would I do that?"

"You could read the next one to me." Dash blushed. "Out loud, I mean."

"Okay Rainbow. I didn't know you liked that sort of thing."

"Yeah, I sometimes come by and listen outside your window on Wednesdays. When you read stories to the Crusaders."

"You can come inside and listen if you want, Dash." Twilight seemed far too enthusiastic about this idea.

"I'd feel weird. But thanks." Dash liked the idea of spending more time in the library—more time with a certain librarian anyway—without having to do anything as uncool as reading. Somehow being read to seemed preferable. But she'd rather not let her little fan club know that.

"Twilight?"

"Yes, Rainbow?"

"Can you do the voices?"

Twilight giggled, but nodded. "I wouldn't read it any other way."

#

An hour later, the two mares lay side by side in front of the library fireplace with Spike curled up between them. Twilight felt so content she couldn't even get depressed at the thought that this is what was missing from her life. She loved reading of course, but there was something special about reading to someone. She wished she could have somepony like Dash around all the time.

"I can't believe they ended the issue there. We really have to wait until the next one to find out who the Fuchsia Foalnapper really is? If Rainbow Flash were really like me, she'd have ripped that mask off right away instead of drawing it out like that. The Foalnapper is nuts! It's not like she's ever gonna change, what's the point of lecturing her on being a good citizen?"

"I think they want the comic to have a good message for kids, Rainbow."

"I guess so." Dash scrunched up her brow, adorably serious. "You don't think there really is a Fuchsia Foalnapper do you?"

"Of course there isn't."

"But they got all the other details right: the hot air balloon, the construction site, the dam. That hill leading up to her secret lair looked just like the one all those wagons and strollers are have been falling down lately."

"They were just reusing the hill they already drew for the runaway carriage scene. It'd be familiar to readers, and theres a good chance the author has never been to Ponyville."

"You don't think it's just a little bit weird that so many details were right?"

Rainbow might have a point, Twilight thought to herself. But it wouldn't do to jump to conclusions. "Well it is a little weird. But there were all those reporters around, interviewing everypony about the Mare Do Well and everything. They even tried to interview me! And what about Applejack? She wouldn't just blurt out our secret, but I can't imagine she would have lied to anypony either. Or if she did, they'd see right through it."

"You're right, it's probably nothing." Dash was grinning again and Twilight found it hard to keep her worried train of thought on track. There was something about Dash that made her cheerfulness especially contagious tonight. "This was really fun Twilight."

"I had fun too Rainbow."

The pegasus pawed bashfully at the ground. "Do you think... I don't want to steal the fillies' story time, but do you think I could come over and have my own story time? I'd help out around the library if you want."

Twilight was flabbergasted. She'd been plotting ways to get Rainbow to read for months. She didn't expect her to just fall into her hooves like this. "You don't have to do anything Rainbow. I rather like reading to ponies, actually." She clapped her hooves together excitedly. "It means I get to pick out books and you don't have any choice but to listen to them! Watch out or I'll go mad with power." She grinned manically.

"I trust you Twi. And you know, if you ever want to go dress up as heroes and save somepony, I'm always up for it."

Twilight's horn glowed for a moment and the purple fedora appeared on her head with an audible pop.

Dash put on a serious face. "Until we meet again, Mare Do Well." She winked, and was gone so quickly Twilight found herself wondering if Dash's comic alter-ego was really all that exagerated.

#

Dash curled up in her cloud bed and tried to sleep. She imagined what it would be like to be a hero again. There had been a certain thrill to saving ponies and having a catchphrase and all that, it wasn't just about all the praise she got from everypony. Getting caught up in that had been part of the problem.

It would be so much more fun if her friends decided to be heroes too—if they could work together as a team like in the comics instead of having to one-up each other. Twilight really was the perfect partner for that kind of thing, whatever pony had written the comic had made a good choice.

AJ would take things too seriously, Pinkie wouldn't take them seriously enough. Applejack was a hero, but a really boring one. Pinkie's freakish ability to predict the future had probably been crucial in the Mare Do Well always being in the right place at the right time. Pinkie was a good pony, but without a leader like Twilight she'd never have stepped up to the plate as a hero.

No, if one pony had to get credit for being the real Mare Do Well it was Twilight. She was the brains behind the idea, but she was so much more than that too. She was the leader, the planner, but she was also the most powerful. AJ or Pinkie could save a runaway stroller or an imperiled construction worker almost as well as Rainbow Dash herself, but Twilight was the only pony Dash knew who could single-handedly plug up a burst dam or fight off an Ursa Minor.

Dash rolled over again. Her brain was still going way too fast to sleep. Even if Twilight made the best hero, she wished she could prove she was a hero too. Twilight had her blind spots. That mare was never as confident in her own abilities as she should be and she couldn't think straight if she started to panic about some little thing. Twilight needed a partner. Somepony self-assured and confident to balance her out. Somepony like Rainbow Dash.

And Twilight over-thought everything, but a real hero sometimes had to trust her gut. Maybe it was just some weird kind of wishful thinking but Dash's gut told her that the Fuchsia Foalnapper was real. So many weird things had been happening lately, and then a comic book comes out that just happens to get so many of the details correct? Something was going on here. Maybe there was no rational reason to assume there would be trouble on that hill, but wouldn't it be worse to find out there had been and she had just been laying here tossing and turning?

Before she had any more time to talk herself out of it, Rainbow Dash was out the door and flying back toward Ponyville.

#

Twilight was creeping from building to building, her dark purple costume providing slightly better nighttime camouflage than her lavender coat. She felt silly coming out here at midnight, but Dash was right. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there were a lot of details in that comic that were a bit too accurate. She saw something move in the corner of her eye and paused. It looked like it was fiddling with the door of the little house behind the well.

Twilight ducked behind a corner, hopefully out of sight of whoever had been sneaking around. She closed her eyes and pictured the little house across the square in her mind. She wondered if she should have gone to get Rainbow Dash first; it was stupid to be out here alone. But Dash was probably asleep by now, curled up under her Wonderbolts blanket with that cute little look—no, she had to focus.

Twilight cleared her mind and aimed for the roof of the little cabin. The universe faded out of existence and faded back in. She felt the wind around her again, but nothing under her hooves. Twilight swore, legs flailing wildly in the air. She had missed her target. Again.

#

Rainbow Dash was gliding silently over Ponyville, spiraling up along a thermal from the swamp just outside of town when she spotted a furtive figure sneaking into the yellow-roofed house near the top of the hill. She tucked her wings almost completely against her sides and dove like a falcon. At the last possible moment, she snapped her wings out to kill her speed and dropped silently onto the roof.

She was proud of how stealthy she'd been, and took a moment to pat herself on the back. A muffled scream erupted from within the house. It sounded like a filly. There was another voice, older, but Dash couldn't make out what it said. As she tried to figure out what to do, there was a popping sound overhead. Dash looked up as something dark and purple loomed over her.

"Celestia damned field curvature!" the purple splotch muttered. It dropped onto the small of Dash's back and sent her tumbling off her perch on the edge of the roof. Dash let out a sharp yelp but cut herself off. The impact didn't seem to be coming. She was hovering a few inches above the ground.

The tangled mess of limbs touched gently to the ground, surrounded in a pale purple glow. Dash heard a voice whisper in her ear.

"Rainbow, what are you doing here?"

"Twi? Oh sweet Luna, I thought someone was attacking me."

"I saw somepony sneaking around, it was you wasn't it?"

"I just got here Twi. I saw something too. I think there's somepony in the house. And Twi—"

Twilight looked at her expectantly.

"Twi, I think I heard a filly yelling for help inside."

"We've got to go in! You're sure that's what you heard?"

"Well I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure."

"Okay, well if you're wrong, we'll just apologize, but we can't risk letting a filly get hurt. The door's unlatched." Twilight had her hoof on the door handle and had cracked it open slightly. Her horn was glowing faintly.

Rainbow stretched her neck up, looking over Twilight's shoulder when a beam of light exploded from the unicorn's horn just as the opening door slammed her back against Rainbow's chest. The beam arced into the sky, briefly illuminating the terrified eyes of a periwinkle unicorn filly slung over the back of the blue pony already racing down the hill.

Dash took to the air as Twilight scrambled to her feet. The blue pony was half-sliding/half-running down the hill and and at the rate she was going she'd be at the bottom in ten seconds flat. She didn't look like she had any intention of stopping.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could, harder than she'd flapped at practice in weeks. The wind was blowing against her but it didn't take long to gain enough altitude with how fast the hill dropped away beneath them. Pulling her wings back against her, Rainbow tucked into a dive. She had almost reached the midnight blue lunatic when she saw a tiny blonde and periwinkle form fly out over the cliff.

Adjusting her course with a swish of her rainbow tail, Dash dropped past the blue mare so closely she could almost feel the hot crazed breath against her wings. Tucked into a perfect dive, she fell faster by just enough to catch a blonde tail in her mouth moments before they would have hit the swamp. Dash opened her wings and with a sharp jerk she and her tiny charge transfered their downward momentum to horizontal, skimming just above the surface of the water. Dash flapped hard to gain altitude, all the while keeping her eyes open for alligators or any other predator that might be active. It was hard to see anything by the light of the crescent moon, but there was a rotten deathly smell in the air and the swamp seemed almost too quiet. Dash breathed a sigh of relief when they finally attained enough height to see the lights of Ponyville.

The sky glowed purple, a bright violet ball hung over the top of the hill like a miniature sun. It wasn't bright enough to wake anypony from sleep, but it must be visible for miles. There was already a crowd gathering around the house.

Rainbow Dash touched down in the center of the crowd, and had barely released the filly from her mouth when a grey pegasus came flying at her.

"Oh Dinky, Dinky, my little muffin. You're alright! When you didn't come home for dinner I looked everywhere but nopony had seen you. Oh I'm so glad you're alright." Raising her misaligned eyes from her daughter, Derpy managed to focus them both, for a moment, on Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know how I can ever repay you Dash, but anything you need, just name it. And if you ever find out who that Mare Do Well is, you thank her too."

"Wait, you don't know who she is?"

"Of course not. She vanished just like always, right after tying up that madmare over there. It's a good thing Twilight heard the fight and came out. She sent up that flare to summon the Guard from Canterlot. Twilight says they'll be here in an hour or two and we just have to wait around until then. She's such a smart pony."

Rainbow blushed and ran a hoof through her mane. "Yeah, she's pretty great isn't she."

Derpy grinned at her. "She's almost as great as you. You two would be really cute together." The grey pegasus did something with her eyebrow that might have been an attempt at a wink. "She likes mares too, you know."

There was so much red in Dash's face at this point that her blue fur looked Mare-Do-Well purple. Before she could muster a response, the mailmare had taken off with her daughter on her back, swerving crazily back toward their home downtown.

"How does she know I like mares," Rainbow muttered to herself as she pushed through the crowd toward the front of the house. She could see a purple glow emanating from within and figured she should find her friend before saying anything to the crowd, since Twilight was still keeping the Mare Do Well identity as a secret for some reason.

Nurse Redheart was supervising a few other nurses who were holding the blue madmare down while trying to undo the ropes around her legs. She'd been "hog-tied" as Applejack called it, although Rainbow had never seen AJ tie up a pig—only timber wolves caught lurking around the farm. Rainbow could see that the madmare had a screw cutie mark. She had no idea what her special talent might be, but it seemed unlikely to have anything to do with kidnapping little fillies. Some kind of construction probably.

Mayor Mare was inside, watching as Twilight moved slowly around the room, looking carefully at things and shadowed by Pinkie for some reason. Pinkie was wearing a large hunting cap and blowing one of Derpy's hoof-made bubble pipes.

It didn't seem like Twilight was trying to adopt an air of superiority, but she came off like someone's arrogant professor all the same. "Now, if you look closely, Mayor, you'll see that the books on the floor are not purely random, as you might expect from such a disorganized mind. In fact, most of these books were checked out from the Ponyville library within the past month or so and never returned. We could categorize these books into two categories: the History of Ponyville and earlier settlements in this region, and mythology and pre-Celestian religious history. Not subjects widely read by the common foalnapper."

"So she was an egghead foalnapper?" Dash blurted.

"Oh, thank you for coming in Rainbow Dash, I heard you had a hand in helping the Mysterious Mare Do Well discover this madness." Dash caught Twi winking at her behind the Mayor and decided to leave it at that.

"Um, yeah. Me and her heard a kid crying inside the house, and tried to stop her, but she threw the poor filly off the cliff. Hey, do you think this has anything to do with all those carriages and wagons that have been falling down this hill lately?"

Twilight beamed at her. "I think it has everything to do with it. Loosey was coming to the library a lot, starting about a month ago. At first she was shy, but fairly talkative once you got her going. But each time she came in, she looked more and more frazzled. Like she hadn't been sleeping. Right before you saved that first stroller from falling down the hill, she stopped coming in. I think Loosey has been trying to throw somepony off that cliff since that time, if not earlier. But you and Mare Do Well kept foiling her and eventually she had to resort to foalnapping."

Mayor Mare scrunched up her brow, "But why would anypony want to do something like that. The doctors say she is insane, but most insane ponies just run around thinking they are dogs or trees or something."

"Well, that's where the books come in. I'll have to read them more closely, but she seems to be obsessed with old stories from the Pre-Celestian era. When there was a bad harvest or something, the Earth Pony tribes in this area used to sacrifice one or more of their foals, hoping to appease the gods. Old Earth Pony religions are really quite fascinating—"

"So she was going to feed poor Dinky to some big spooky god-thing?" Pinkie looked like she was genuinely paying attention for the first time since Dash arrived. "That's horrible. Good thing you and Dashie got here in time. And the Mare Do Well, whoever she is." Her face was such a picture of innocence, Dash would have believed she really didn't know if she hadn't ripped the Mare Do Well mask of Pinkie just yesterday. Maybe she'd forgotten somehow.

"Well yes, I suppose it was lucky. I wonder what she was hoping to achieve though. Applejack tells me summers as unusually hot as this one are traditionally very bountiful in Ponyville. Perhaps it's some new interpretation of the old religions. I'll have to study these books before I can say for certain."

"I'm quite certain you're up to the challenge, Ms. Sparkle. You are the closest thing to a representative of the Royal Government we have, and for a matter of this importance, I'd rather not have it be a purely local affair. But truth be told I'd rather have a Ponyville resident investigating this. You're more likely to be invested in the outcome. If she had accomplices we need to know, but I don't just want the Royal Guard interrogating ponies. Do ask them to let you handle it?"

Pinkie jumped up and down in front of the mayor. "Twilight is Equestria's greatest detective! You can count on her, Mayor Mare." Dash wondered if Pinkie knew she was quoting the opening of the comic book.

"Why are you here anyway Pinkie?" Dash asked.

"Twilight seemed like she needed a sidekick. You can't be a hero without a sidekick. Unless you want to be her sidekick, Dashie! Oh, oh, you should be her sidekick and then you can be partners and fight crime and spend so much time with each other that you're bestest friends forever."

Rainbow Dash blushed and scratched her ear with her hoof. "Um, sure I can help out, but I think Twi's got this on her own. What do you think, Twi?"

Twilight looked blankly up at them from one of the books. "Hmm? Oh you can both help look for clues if you want, but try not to disturb anything until the Royal Guard gets here. Look around, but don't take anything."

"Hey Twilight?" Pinkie was jumping even higher into the air on each bounce now, like a very pink dog about to go for a walk.

"Yes Pinkie?"

"Why is there a book on frogs?"

"What?"

Pinkie held up a yellow book with a friendly picture of a toad on the cover. She took a deep breath and released it as a long stream of surprisingly sensible words. "You said there were only two kinds of books but then I found a third kind so maybe it's a clue! It's a book about frogs and toads!"

Twilight was surprisingly interested. "Let me see that Pinkie." She grabbed the book in her magic before Pinkie had time to let go, dragging the excitable mare a few feet toward her. Pinkie seemed to enjoy the ride.

"Come on Mayor Mare. We better let these two egg-heads work. Why don't you come by Sugarcube corner for some hotchocolate on the house? Except not really on the house, more in the house. But free. With marshmallows in it!"

"Very well Pinkamena. The guards won't be here until morning I'm sure. Those of us who can sleep should do so. You're sure you'll be comfortable here by yourself Miss Sparkle?"

"Hmm? Oh yes I'll be fine. I've got Rainbow here to protect me after all." Twilight actually looked up from the book to smile at Dash at this point, "I don't think either of us could sleep anyway after all this."

"Speak for yourself Egg-head!" While studying didn't sound very fun, the prospect of staying up all night with Twilight had a certain appeal. "But umm, I'll stay here too, I guess. To keep Twi company."

"Very well. Keep that beacon going Ms. Sparkle. I'll be back around sunrise."

Pinkie bounced out of the room behind the Mayor, winking at Dash for some reason. Then she looked up at the lavender orb in the sky and started making faces at it.

Twilight settled into her book with barely a glance at the door. Rainbow paced back and forth, keeping guard. After a few hours, her legs grew tired, so she lay down on the floor beside Twilight. The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake by something rough and scaly.

"Wake up Rainbow Dash."

Dash snuggled into something warm beside her and squeezed her eyes tighter. But the warm thing stood up and her head leaned into empty space, yanking her out of the warm comfortable haze and toward the cold floor.

"Oh, sorry Rainbow Dash," said the warm purple thing. "We have to get up now. Spike says the Royal Guard are almost here."

"And I made tea!" added the baby dragon, "Earl Neigh with milk and sugar, just the way Rarity likes it."

"Is there any chance I could sleep in?" Rainbow asked through a yawn.

"Well not here, but I can talk to the guards while you go home and nap. A lot of this stuff lines up suspiciously closely with the Fuchsia Foalnapper and her Earth Pony cult. I looked into the author of the comic and it's just a house name Mareville Comics uses for all their superhero stories. But whoever is really doing the writing might know something about all this. I think we should write to Mareville and see if they can tell us who the author is."

"We could do that—or we could just go ask them in person. It'd be way faster and if they don't want to talk you could throw your weight around. With the Princess I mean! You're in really good shape for a bookworm. Not that nerds are in bad shape. Not that you're a nerd—" Dash was practically hyperventilating at this point.

"It's okay Rainbow, I know what you meant. And you're absolutely right!"

"I am?"

"Yes. If we go in person, we can leave on the train around noon, get to Manehattan by evening, and visit the Mareville comics office in the morning. We can be back with all our questions answered by tomorrow! And I'm sure they won't say 'no' to our faces. Particularly when I could have them shut down for character defamation."

"But Twilightttt," whined Spike "I thought you liked being in a comic book."

"I love it. But they don't know that. And they do know who Princess Celestia's favorite student is." Twilight's grin had taken on a ferocious—and somehow cute—aspect.

"I never knew you were so sneaky Twi." The thought that Twilight had such a devious streak was intriguing. Dash tried not to sound overexcited as she answered. "Okay, I'll meet you at the train station at noon. Good luck with the guards."

She turned her back and flapped away, immediately breaking out into a smile. She'd get to spend her whole day with Twilight. And the next day too. She'd been feeling weirdly bubbly around the librarian lately and this was going to be a great chance to test the atmosphere. Maybe this crush could actually go somewhere. And after her daring rescue last night, no one could tell she wasn't a hero. Things were looking up.

When Dash got back to her cloud home, she found a basket full of muffins hanging from her mailbox with a crayon drawn portrait of her carefully tucked in the side. She couldn't help yelling out into the empty dawn sky, "Best. Day. Ever."

Comments

[scorpclawFF]

Already done with Chapter 1, and this story's at a good start. ^^ Good job!

[BenRG]

Okay, I'm thinking that this is the work of someone like the guy in Heroes who could draw the future!

That said... well, Mare-do-Well and the Rainbow Flash have solved their first case and sent Screwloose to Dr Happy Pill's Secure Rest Home for Morally Challenged Ponies (aka Arkham Asylum). With this small beginnings was the Justice Herd Equestria born!

[lunacat07]

TwiDash to the rescue! Great job with the pacing on this one I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm Lovingthe talent and comic book feel here

[lunacat07]

2577747 I loveyour JHE idea. I hope your writing some FIM-fic too. You have some good 'word - idge' going for ya

[Sable Tails]

I'm not an expert author, and I have little experience with shipfics. Still, I said that I'd give my thoughts, and here they are.
The writing for this first chapter is pretty solid. There were a number of typos, but since you're an editor, I imagine you already know that. I think that you did a reasonably good job at portraying the characters true to the show; still, I would have liked for things to go a little bit slower, and show Twilight's and Rainbow's thoughts in more detail. You don't really get inside their heads as much as I like...but that may just be my personal preference.
As far as the shipping goes, I thought it interesting that our heroines apparently curse, and that homosexuality seems to be freely accepted in Equestria. I would have thought that there would be some shock in Rainbow Dash's mind when she realizes that she has the hots for one of her best friends, who is also a nerd, who is also a mare. I suppose that if she already recognizes herself as a lesbian, that deals with the third objection...but falling for your best friend still seems like something that would cause one to step back and reflect, even for somepony as instinctive as RD. Of course, RD mentions having a crush at the end of the chapter...this confuses me. Did she know that she has a crush on Twilight the whole time? It seemed to me like she was just realizing her feelings. Of course, this all goes for Twilight too; she especially seems like the kind of pony to freak out and super-analyze any feelings she might have for her friend. But maybe I'm taking the shipping aspect too seriously? Again, I have little experience with this genre; perhaps I'm just not aware of the conventions.
As for the actual plot, it sounds interesting. I hope that there's a satisfactory conclusion. A pony that could see the future and write a comic about it would be cool, although this fic may be too short to flesh out such an idea properly. Anyway...hope that this is helpful.
(Also, not a big deal...but couldn't Twilight just send a letter to the Princess asking for help? The whole second-sun thing seemed kind of overkill.)

[Admiral Hoofsome]

"Yeah, I sometimes come by and listen outside your window on Wednesdays.

A completely normal and not at all creepy pastime!

[articunos bitch]

This is going to be good. I enjoy Mare-Do-Well done right, and this is it. Plus:

[Crazy the Clone]

You're kind of the hero too, Dash, but super speed isn't much of a power compared to magical strength and shadow-sense.

Tell that to the Flash. His super speed has given him access to a large amount of abilities...Now that I think of it, "Dashpoint Paradox" sounds like a good name for a fanfic...Hm.

[Ughlee]

Finally, someone who realizes that Twilight over-thinks things and that Dash rushes in, and that it balances each other out. Together they make the best team! I'm super late to this story XD.