Twilight knows her friends pretty well... doesn't she? Twilight and friends must prove their innocence as a more meticulous force is at work. Will they succeed? One thing is guaranteed: Equestria will never look the same again.
Twilight wakes up to a quiet day in Equestria. It's the first one she's had in months since the coronation. The sun is shining, the breeze is refreshing, and is the start for any good day. Twilight recieves the newspaper and looks at the headlines in shocking confusion.
MARE-DO-WELL BLOWS UP BANK!
Twilight Sparkle investigates as more and more catastrophes happen, holding her friends as prime suspects. Her perspective of Equestria is changed as she becomes more determined to answer the one question on everyponies' mind...
Who is the Mare-Do-Well?
Feel free to leave a comment below on who you think the Mare-Do-Well is! On another note... This is my first fanfic! SO MUCH HYPE!
A street lamp shines down in an alleyway of downtown Manehattan. It was just the beginning of night.The moon's luminous glow was blocked by a thick cloudcover blanketing the sky. This turned the small town into a longing imatation of the night sky. Everypony had gone to bed that night dreaming a reality all their own. Well... almost everpony...
In the alleyway, a door opens and two stallions emerge.They both wear suit vests over white, button-up T-shirts, but one is obviously older than the other..
"Thank-you again for staying later than expected, Bill," the elder stallion says walking out first.
"Oh, no problem Mr. Haypenny," Bill answers politely shutting the door behind him.
"I know how arduos it is for those last minute withdrawl paperwork," Bill explains while shuffling in his pocket for his keys.
"Don't worry, Bill. I can lock up shop.I've been around the bank since the first foundation block was laid. After all, it's the least I can do for your help." Mr. Haypenny retrieves a set of keys that glitter in the light of the lamp.
"Alright," Bill yawns turning to go home. "See ya Monday," he says cantering down the alleyway.
"Yes, yes, goodbye." The elder stallion locks the door and walks in the other direction whistling a whistful tune. The sound echoes of the walls of the alley and into the dark. After a while, all is silent again. Manehatten resumes it's slumber.
A few hours pass into the dead of night. The street lamp buzzes inaudibly occaisionally flickering drenching everything in pitch black. From a rooftop, a figure as dark as the night appears looking down at the backdoor bathing in the light. It leaps from the ledge and drifts silently downward. The figure lands just outside the lamp's circle silently. It would be impossible to see if it weren't for two silvery blue disks reflecting the street light. The lamp flickers once more. The figure takes a step towards the the light as the lamp flickers and shuts off. The shadowy silhouette walks in silence as the door unlocks with a click and swings open. It shuts behind the figure as it enters. After a few seconds the lamp flicks back on.
The cloaked shape takes a few steps inside, the hoofsteps soft muffles against the wooden floor. The figure's head turning in long gradual sweeps for something. Suddenly, the figure froze. A small sound faintly echoed in a repetition. It was not the clocks, for all the clocks in the bank had a similar rhythm. It was the sound that cold water makes against a hot pan. The sound was continuous and barely audible over the clocks, taking more concentration to pinpoint it. The figure stood a moment, but then gasped taking a step back towards the door, but it was too late. The once peaceful night of downtown was interupted by a thunderous crack as smoke and fire billowed into the cloudy sky.
Out of the flaming wreckage flew a dark purple pony. The pony landed on the rooftop before and gazed at the burning bank. In the distance, there were sirens. The resting ponies awoke with alarm, gasping and shouting. Some were awestruck while others chatted as the police and fireponies arrived. No one seemed to notice the purple pony above them, watching with silver-blue disks reflecting the fire.
Twilight lay in her bed as Celestia's sun rose up over the rooftops of Ponyville. She would normally wake up, make breakfast, and wake Spike. After that, she would plan for today's schedule. Twilight would make back-up plans in case anything went wrong even though she would be unprepared for whatever mishap may occur that day. The plan would usually involve Twilight hanging out with her friends and helping the people of Ponyville who needed it. After that, she would usually end the day with a friendship lesson to her mentor. That was the normal schedule for her a few months ago.
Recently though, her life was mostly filled with running to the next interview, public event, royal get-together and many other things of that nature. In truth, Twilight didn't know what to expect after the coronation. The next day, Celestia warned her faithful student that everything might be uncomfortable. Twilight, plucky as ever, did not take this word to heart and as a result was completely unprepared for the next day. She was rushed out of her house to the grand opening of the New Horse City Library. She barely cut through the ribbon when the camera's started flashing. After that, Twilight suddenly found herself in a radio interview on the *Howie Tern Show. Throughout that day, Twilight was tossed from one place to the next. When her day of royal duties were over, she was the exact image of exhausted. That day was two weeks ago. The fact that she was sleeping in her own bed was a stroke of luck. The previuos day, she sat through a meeting with Mayor Mare about Ponyville trading and resources.
"Mmm..." Twilight mumbled while turning her sleep. As if on cue, she rolled into sun's ray shining through the window next to her bed. Her eyes blinked open. She smiled at the fact that she felt well-rested. Sitting up in her bed, she stretched her hooves and wings out.
"Spike?" she called through a yawn. "We overslept. Time to-" Her eyes stopped on his empty bed.
"Twi? Is that you? Are you awake?" Twilight heard from downstairs. She got out of bed, walking to the stairwell.
"Spike, where are you?" She asked walking down the stairs looking at how clean the library was. Did he get up on his own and do this?
"I'm in the kitchen," Spike answered. The air was filled with deliscious smells. Twilight entered the kitchen and saw Spike on a stool at the stove in his Chef's Hat. "I'm making pancakes," he said flipping one in the air. Twilight stood motionless, her mouth agape in disbelief. An awkward moment past.
"You know," Spike began, turning his head to look at Twlight. "You're gonna start catching flies if you keep that up."
Twilight snapped out of her stupor and chuckled. She took a seat at the table. She noticed that the table was already set as Spike placed a plate of hot pancakes in the middle.
"Did you do this... all on your own?" Twilight asked looking around the stack of flapjacks.
"Yep!" Spike said pridefully taking a few from the top and placing it on his plate.
"I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful but..." Twilight said taking two for herself. "You should've woke me up."
"Well, I wanted you to sleep in," Spike said between mouthfulls. "You looked really tired."
Twilight smiled appreciatively at the the baby dragon. "Aww, thanks Spike."
"So, what's the plan for today?" Spike asked. Twilght stopped in mid-chew, her eyes wide open. She swallowed hard.
"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot!" Twilight bolted out of the kitchen thinking, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no. She opened the door and saw nothing except the newspaper. Panicked, she looked at the clock. 10:21 am.
"Oh no!" she exclaimed rushing back upstairs.
"What? What's wrong?" Spike asked dashing into the library searching around for Twilight.
"We're late!" Twilight cried from her room. She flew down from the stairway dressed in her princess gown.
"Late! Late for what?" Spike asked turning to her.
"I don't know, but the planner pony... what's her name? She said that a carriage would pick us up every morning at 6:10 sharp, which means-"
"Wait a minute Twilight!" Spike said trying to calm her down with no avail.
Twilight began searching through the bookshelves. "Where is it? Where is it?" she mumbled to herself.
"Twilight! Listen to me!" Spike shouted. Twilight paused and looked at him.
"No pony's been here. I should know because I've been up since 5:00 am," Spike explained.
"Did you check?" Twilight asked picking Spike up to her eye level.
"No... but-"
"Then there's no way to know, is there?!" She shouted dropping Spike to the floor. "Now can you please help me find my crown?"
"But, there has to be a reasonable explanation for this!" Spike shouted back. There was a long, awkward silence at this strange reversal of roles.
"Look, wouldn't they have knocked by no-BURP!" Spike belched as a scroll came forth. It landed in the middle of the two. It was suddenly engulfed in Twilight's hazy, purple glow as it levitated itself to her. She unwrapped it and read it aloud.
To my faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
I know that your recent agenda has been keeping you very busy and away from your friends. I must apologize for this because I know you were a little overwhelmed at the relentless tasks presented before you and how it gravely interfered with the time you normally spend with your friends, but I cannot say how proud I am of you not backing down from it. You have proven that everything I said about you was right. Thank you, and from here on out your unusual schedule no longer applies.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
"See? What did I tell you?" Spike said triumphantly. Twilight shifted her gaze to Spike and sighed in relief.
"I guess so," she admitted smiling. The letter was rolled up into a scroll and placed it on a bookshelf nearby.
"So...?" Spike said leaning toward Twilight with a claw held to the side of his head.
"Ugh,"Twilight grumbled. "You were right, I should've listened to you."
"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some pancakes to finish," the egotistical reptile stated before strutting to the kitchen. Twilight rolled her eyes and trotted upstairs to change out of her princess gown.
She then went to the door to retrieve the newspaper or herself. She opened the door using her magic and levitated it inside. Only after closing the door did the front page catch her eye. She stopped and after a moment called for Spike.
MARE-DO-WELL BLOWS UP BANK
The once great hero of Ponyville has been accused with the crime of terrorism. How did this all transpire? Simply put, in one night. At 12:00 am today, a supposed bombing took place at The First National Bank of Equestria in Manehatten. Two eyewittness who wish to to remain anonymous described it to me.
"It was as if Celestia's sun had been there..."
"It was loud enough to wake me, and I was 100 blocks away." Thankfully, nopony was injured and fire damage was kept to a minimum. When asking the police investigators about this, most of their responses were, "No comment." I did however managed to get the police chief to give a statement.
"...we do have reason to believe that this was the work of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well..." -Police Chief of Investigations
For those of you who do not know of this Mare-Do-Well, it was the accepted hero of the small town of Ponyville. The feats of this enigma are far from small however. Many ponies have claimed impossible feats of greatness, ranging from superstrength to great amounts of magic that is on par with the raising and setting of the sun and moon. Going back to the statement, I was at first confused. Why would a hero suddenly resort to crime?
Apparently, the police have been tracking this alleged hero for at least half a year and are still uncertain for the motives of it. The crimes of this villainous vigilante begin with prohibited vigilante justice, continuing to assualt, resisting arrest, and finally adding terrorism to the list. Whatever the reason may be, it certainly N'er-do-well us any good. -Paton Pendeng
The newspaper article rested where the stack of pancakes were. For the first few moments, Twilight nor Spike said anything unsure of how to accept this. Twilight's eyes just kept re-reading the headline, hoping that she misinterpereted it somehow.
"Well," Spike said looking away and scratching the back of his head. "What if-"
"No!" Twilight shouted angrily athim. She knew what he was going to say, but she didn't want to hear it. Her mind was abuzz with thoughts. Eventually, she came to one conclusion.
"We're going to Manehattan," she said with authority, striding out of the room.
"Aww, come on Twilight!" Spike protested with great complacency. "Can't we just let this one go?"
"No, Spike." Twilght's saddlebags floated down, which then were loaded with books, papers, and quills. "We have to. What if one of our friends is falsely accused?"
"The police can figure it out!" Spike was now grabbing books from Twilight's stream of magic in an attempt to impede her. "Please? We just got home!"
"I know," Twilight responded as the books were torn from the reptilian claws. "If we don't though, the consequences might be disasterous. What would you do if Rarity went to prison?"
"B-but where do start? We don't know anything, Twilight!" Spike pleaded in a desperate attempt.
"We know that the bank was destroyed, so that's a good place as any." Twilight started toward the door. She did feel a sense of duty and a need to protect her friends, but she also felt excited for the challenge.
"Fine," Spike sighed in defeat leaping onto the lavander mare's back.
"C'mon spike. I've read dozens and dozens of mystery novels," She said walking through the door. "What's the worst that can happen?"
"Twilight, I thought you said we were going to Manehattan?" asked Spike bewildered.
"We are, but first I need to check on something," Twilight responded trying to concentrate on her mental To-do list.
"At Rarity's boutique?" Spike asked looking at it. "What does Rarity's boutique have to do with anything?"
"A lot, Spike," Twilight sighed loosing her train of thought. "Look, I really need you to trust me on this."
"Alright," Spike said in an unreassuring tone. The drake yawned.
Twilight focused on her thoughts. As she approached the boutique, she began wondering if she should tell Raritiy about this? What if she did? What if she was the Mare-Do-Well? Would Rarity admit to being a criminal if Twilight told her that she was a suspect? What if she wasn't? Rarity doesn't take bad news very well. She probably would be heartbroken and maybe might just ruin thier friendship! Twilight then began contemplating what would happen if she told the others. She shook her head. There was no other way around it.
"Spike, when we get to Rarity's don't tell her anything about what we're doing," Twilight instructed climbing the stairs.
"Gotcha," he said obediently. He then asked, "Umm, what are doing again?"
"Exactly," Twilight answered knocking on the door.
"Twilght!" Rairty said in a surprised gasp.
"Hey, Rari-"
"Oh, darling! Where have you been? We recieved the letter from Canterlot explaining how you would be gone for a few days-- oh, where are my manners. Please come in! You simply must tell me about all your travels!" Rarity said, with an excited eloquence. Twilight smiled and stepped inside. Rarity led her friend into her kitchen. Twilight took a seat at the table accepting her friend's offer for some tea. Spike sat to the side, puzzling out what the lavender alicorn had said and how not to screw it up.
After several cups of tea, Twilight had explained where she went, what she did, and answered all of Rarity's questions about the fashion of the other nations at the World Summit. Halfway through Twilight's description, inspirartion struck Rarity much like a bolt of lightning strikes a tree: quickly, and all at once. She had hastily moved Twilight and the now sleeping dragon to her boutique where she was in the process of creating a shiny yellow dress with lightly crimson colored sleeves.
"Sorry to have to do this to you Twilight," Rarity apologized stitching a a shallow teal ribbon around the waist of the dress. "
"No worries," Twilight said with a smile.
"Please do continue."
"Well, the Sea Pony ambassador was wear--"
"No, I meant what happened after that," Rarity said rolling her eyes under her glasses.
"Oh, well..." Twilight thought back to the World Summit. "After the summit, I think I came back to Ponyville for the meeting with Mayor Mare. We disussed resources and town income, after which I can honestly say," Twilight paused for dramtic effect. Rarity turned her attention to her. "It was more fun at the Grand Galloping Gala."
The two chuckled for a bit. "Well, at least your home for good," Rarity said still giggling.
"Yeah," Twilight said looking at reflection in the cup.
What do I do? Should I just ask her? No, that'd be too obvious, she thought to herself. Her eyes slid from the reflection to her friend. Ask what she was doing last night, but don't make it sound like we're investigating.
"So, Rarity," Twilight said in a nonchalant way. "What time did you go to bed last night?" Twilight's face contorted after the last sylable, and she hastily brought the tea to her lips. Oh drat!
Rarity craned her head Twilight in a perplexed gaze. "Why... do you ask?" Twilight's mind raced. she had bought herself more time by drinking the tea, but she could only do it for so long before it became suspiscious. Think, Twilight, think!Then it came to her. she relaxed and placed the tea on a nearby table.
"I'm only asking because Spike and I arrived home at about midnight," she answered.
"Oh, I see," Rarity turned her attention back to the dress. "If you must know, I go to bed every night at nine-o'clock, sharp."
"Oh," Twilight answered. Okay, she has an alibi. That's good, but were there any wittnesses? "Did anyone go with you?"
"Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed turning around hastily. She raised a questioning brow to her friend. "Isn't that question a little personal?" Twilight blushed realizing what she asked.
"I-I'm sorry Rari--"
"And besides..." she continued. "A lady kisses and never tells." She smiled wickedly and rolled her eyes.
"Well, er... What I meant was... uh," Twilight stammered. "D-Do you send Sweetie Belle to bed at the same time as you, because that's what I tend to do with Spike," Twilight quickly justified while wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"Yes, I do send Sweetie Belle to bed around the same time I do, but..." Rarity sighed. "I don't know whether she gets all that energy from her youth, or if it's from the caffine she drinks. I know she drinks coffee because I can never find it in the morning but, Celestia help me, I can never catch that filly in the act of doing it. Why just last night..."
Twilight took Rarity's idle rambling for an opportunity to gather her thoughts. Right now, her mind was like a tornado of new and lingering questions. She attempted to answer a few questions to obtain some mild organized chaos.Hehe, `organized chaos' she mused. The first thing that came to mind was the image of Discord folding laundry. As quickly as it came, she shook her head. Focus! Then, the first question came:
Is Rarity the Mare-Do-Well?
Okay, bad first question. What's next?
Can I cross her out as a suspect?
Well, not really. I have her alibi, but no witnesses to confirm it.
Does she still have the suits?
Twilight stopped at that question, wavering. How was she going to ask that question? She had been putting it off until now. She groaned and rested her head on her hoof. Rarity snapped her out of her stupor. "... and after screaming like a banshee, she tries to convince me there's a monster out- Twilight? Are you alright?"
"Huh, oh! Yeah," she said sheepishly. She rubbed her hoof against her forehead. "Just a... little headache is all." after a moment of concern, Rarity asked, "Is there something on your mind?"
Great... now she's suspicsious. Wait! Maybe I can use this to my advantage! Twilight beamed. "Yes," She began, raising her head. "Do you have-" No! Don't ask directly! "Our old Nightmare Night costumes?" she quickly changed.
"I suppose, but isn't it a little early to be thinking like that? I mean it's only just transitioned to Autumn," Rarity questioned.
"I like to be ahead of the game," Twilight answered. "Do you still have them from last year?"
"If I recall correctly, you and Spike took your costumes home with you." Twilight's ears folded down involuntarily.
"Actually," Twilight lied. "I was wondering if I could go as the Mare-Do-Well," Twilight felt her stomach churn a bit. "Do you still have my costume?"
Rarity paused in thought. "I probably do somewhere around here," she said, blissfully ignorant to Twilight's near slip up. "In fact, I probably still have all four of them."
Excellent. "Could I see them?"
"Of course. Just let me..." Rarity's voice faded as she placed a few pins in the dress and turned to Twilight levitating her glasses to a desk on the other side of the room. "This way."
She led Twilight to a door in her boutique. It opened to reveal a long narrow dimly lit corridor with a large shelf reaching to the ceiling on one side. Stacked on the shelf were small identical boxes with labels on them. The only covered a portion of the shelf leaving some of it empty. To the side of the door were empty boxes waiting to be used. Twilight looked at the wall, with a confused expression. "This Twilight Sparkle," Rarity began gestuirnfg with a hoof to the shelf. "Is my wall of fashion gems." Twilight just looked at the boxes as Rarity continued to explain. "This is where all the dresses that my clients request are put away, rather having them looking at it with their own eyes than having it shipped. But also, it is the storage for all the dresses, suits, hats, anything really, that I wear."
Twilight shot a glance to her friend. "You couldn't have possibly worn all of these," Twilight stated while shaking her head.
"I know, and you are halfway right. I haven't worn all of these yet, but I plan to do so anyway." Rarity continued her explanation. "It also serves as a storage space for the clothing we wear for special occasions. By 'we' I mean our circle of friends. Remember when we did the Hearth's Warming play? This is where I keep the costumes so that they do not get into harms way." Twilight nodded in understanding. "Now let's see if we can find those suits," she finished while closing her eyes. Rarity's horn began glowing a blue aura. Twilight saw ahshe was casting some sort of spell, but couldn't recognize it. As the blue light faded, a box near the top labeld "MDM" displaced itself and gently drifted down to the two unicorns. The lid opened and revealed some very neatly folded apparel. Twilight stood in shock for a moment.
"H-how did you...?" she said with wide eyes.
"Oh, right. The spell. I learned it while moving into the boutique back in my early years of fashion design," Rarity reflected.
Twilight soon was over her shock. "Really? I never knew how talented you were in magic." In Twilight's mind it made sense. She knew Rarity had the ability to do spells, but never really considered it until now.
"Why, thank-you Twilight," she said regally. "I know I'm not as adept as you when it comes to the subject, but I've learned a spell or two in my life."
Twilight inspected the box. "Are all four costumes in here?"
"They should be," Rarity said as she began levitating one costume out. Twilight looked inside, and sure enough, there was another right underneath it.
"Well, now that that's settled-" Rarity cut herself off as she suddenly realised something.
"What is it Rarity?" Twilight asked as Rarity replaced the suit in the box as neatly as it was before.
"I just remembered that you're an alicorn now. If you planned on wearing this for Nightmare Night, I'm going to have to make adjustments to it." She sighed as the box put itself away. "I hope you weren't expecting to take it home with you today. It's just that I had work I planned on doing-"
"It's alright, Rarity. I wasn't expecting to take it home immediately either," Twilight said placing her forleg on Rarity's shoulder. "That's why I wanted to get this sorted now, so that it doesn't have to be hectic in the future. You can just take your time with it."
Rarity sighed and spoke with determination, "Thank-you Twilight. I'll get it to you as soon as I can."
The two mares left the storage area. Twilight grabbed Spike in her magic and her saddlebags. "I'll just leave you to your work then."
Rarity pouted and sighed as the the dragon awoke. "Well thank you for stopping by, Twilight," she said opening the door to her shop. "If all of those little 'royal escapades' are anything like what you made them sound like," Rarity said as Twilight took a step outside. "I'd just stay at home and relax for the rest of the day."
Twilight answered, "Thanks Rarity. I'll see you later."
"See ya, Rarity," Spike waved stiffling a yawn.
"Twilight, just know that if you need me for anything, I'll be right here." With that, Rarity closed her door and went back to her dress-making. Twilight, however, nearly stumbled on her own hooves as a feeling of disgust writhed about in her stomach.
Twilight knew this feeling. It was her conscience shouting at her. That last statement Rarity made had been enough to bring up her guilt. Twilight had just blatantly lied to her, and her friend was being as kind to her as ever. She felt horrible.
I can't stop now though, I have to protect my friends.
She pushed those thoughts away to the back of her mind. Now was not the time for moping. She needed to figure this out before things get worse.
"Twilight, when are we going to Manehatten?" Spike asked a little annoyed.
"We'll be leaving soon, but I still need to check on a few more things."
"Well, could you tell me about them so that I can help?" Spike was reaching his limit. he was getting tired after getting up so early.
"Okay Spike," Twilight lifted the baby dragon off her back. "I need you to go back home and start packing the nessesary things we need.
"Got it," Spike saluted before taking off down the streets.
Twilight sighed. She had sent her assistant and friend on a wild goose chase. She didn't want him apart of this if her friends find out. Moving into a more rythmic canter, her mind began preparing itself, in vain, for the next mare she was going to.
