> Lily Mare Do Well
>  by Hyper44
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Old dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  There it was hanging in the shadows. The purple and dark blue fabric blended into the dark. The eyes though, were clearly visible in the darkness and stared intently out at you. The broad hat hug suspended on a hook just above the head of the costume. If you looked at it just right it appeared to be resting on it.

That's just what Lily was doing, looking at the costume hanging the dark closet. With the light so low you couldn’t see the imperfections and cheap materials that made the Nightmare Night costume. She like every other foal in Ponyville had grown to admire the Mysterious Mare Do Well. Every foal just had to be her on the school costume party and for Nightmare Night.

When Lily moved to town she just had to have a costume too. The thing was that when she went out for her first Ponyville Nightmare Night she was the only pony who was dressed as her. The thing about Mare Do Well was that she disappeared as quickly as she had come. No pony knew why or where she went. It was simply assumed that she left to help others though some rumored that she left after a fight with Rainbow Dash.

The ponies can often have short memories and Mare Do Well quickly faded out of their imagination. It was even easier to let the memory fade with the six elements of harmony protecting the town. Especially with one of them a princess. When Lily and her family had moved to town the hero pony had was becoming old news. Never the less Lily still was enraptured by her. She had made many ponies tell and retell the stories of how she saved the ponies of Ponyville Her costume was just so cool! It was awesome! She was awesome and twenty percent cooler than any other superhero. She had saved ponies and then just vanished until she would return again. She could do it all! She was super-fast, super strong, super magic and could fly! She had to be alicorn but was way too small to be one of the sisters. Lily would almost suspect Twilight but not she was not a princess back then. Lily so wanted to see her in person one day but more than that she had so wanted to be a hero like her one day.

After Nightmare Night Lily had snuck off to where nopony would see her a few times while wearing the costume. Then she would play superhero and rescue imaginary ponies from imaginary monsters. After a while she had hug up the costume and left it recognizing it as just a game.

Now things where a little different. After a venture into the Everfree to save her pet hedgehog she now had super strength. She had encountered real monsters. She had snuck her way past them and left them confused and not knowing what had happened. She had outwitted a little dragon, saved him and survived a dangerous place. Oddly she hadn’t needed super strength to do any of it.


With the super strength though, the idea of being a superhero didn't seem like such a silly filly's dream anymore. She really had a superpower now. Maybe, just maybe she could try being a superhero. She had a custom and Mare Do Well probably wouldn’t mind. There was one problem though. Everypony from school knew about her strength. After the school election it wasn’t just hers and Prickles little secret anymore. She could have blamed Diamond Tiara for letting the cat out of the bag but then again she did lift up a building to retrieve her ball while other ponies were around. Somepony might have noticed anyway and not only had Diamond Tiara become nicer it would only hurt herself for Lily to stay mad at her either way.

The ponies of the school hadn’t told any of the adults so maybe...nah. She wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret forever. Even if none of her classmates told on purpose sooner or later one would slip. Oh well, it wasn’t like she was really considering it. It was just fun to pretend. So why not play superhero a few more times, Lily thought as she took her costume off the hangers.

After tucking the costume into her saddle bags Lily found her pet hedgehog Prickles who had crawled under the sofa and headed outside. Prickled poked the back of her neck and pointed to the house next door.

"Oh, Granny Crumpet," Lily said and hurried back inside. She came out with a milk bottle. "I always forget the milk," She muttered to herself.

Granny Crumpet was a little old pony that lived in the house next to them. She was already there when Lily's family had moved to Ponyville. Her husband had passed away almost a year ago and she lived by herself. She still got around fairly well but because of her age she still had some trouble. She was older than Granny smith after all. Lily's family hadn’t been in Ponyville very long before she noticed the older pony trying to clean up her yard. She seemed to have so much trouble bending over that Lily just had to run over to help her. From then on Lily had begun to regularly go next door to see if she needed help with anything. One of the things Lily did for her was picking up the milk delivery. The milk pony delivered during her nap so Lily kept in their fridge so that the elderly pony didn't have to get up early. Granny Crumpet was kind of a stubborn old pony who didn't like accepting help but she had eventually accepted that she need it. Some things she wouldn’t let Lily do for her because as she explained if she didn't keep moving she soon wouldn’t be moving at all.

Lily headed to the door and knocked. From beyond it she could hear shuffling and knew that it would be a minute or two. Granny Crumpet usually could get to where ever she wanted to go but that didn't mean she got there very fast. Lily hated it how some of the other foals would make fun of her sometimes. Didn't they know that one day they would get old and would reap what they've sown? Anyway Granny Crumpet was not boring. If they had taken the time to get to know her they would know that she had seen more places than most pegasus and been on as many adventures that the elements of harmony if not more!

The door creaked open revealing the aged mare. Her once blue hair was now completely silver. Even her jet black coat was streaked with the same silver color.

"Oh, Lily. You remembered the milk," She said adjusting her glasses. "Thank you darling." The aged pony took the milk bottle in her magic. "Would you like a cookie or anything?"

"No thanks," Lily replied. "Is there anything that you need me to do for you today?"

"No darling, run along and play. I can see the purple cape hanging out of your saddle bags. Mare Do Well is going to save Ponyville again?" Granny Crumpet chuckled as she spoke.

Lily blushed but smiled at the same time as she stuffed the end of the cape back inside. "Yes..maybe."

"Go on and have fun and don't be embarrassed," Granny Crumpet said. "Your only young once and don't I know it."

When Lily checked her bags again as she left making sure that everything was hidden. Granny Crumpet was right but she was still sure that her classmates might laugh at her. It was a little hard to completely conceal the entire custom in her saddle bags but thankfully the hat was made to fold up and the suit was just loose fabric.

Lily made her way through Ponyville with Prickles riding on her back. A few ponies waived to her but none asked where she was going. With the castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle looming over the houses the entire way Lily thought up new adventures for Mare Do Well. Her trip through the Everfree had supplied her with many ideas.

Lily had considered asking Twilight about the small magic dragon that she had encountered. She had checked every book in the school library and had even visited the Ponyville castle’s Library. Twilight, all too happy to see a young pony interested in books had let her look through them for as long as she wanted. It had been a fruitless search even though the princess had many old books. She could have just asked Twilight outright but if it was something hard to look up it was probably rare knowledge and Twilight might ask how she knew anything about them. Lily couldn’t claim that she read it in a book because the book loving Princess would want to know what book so that she could read it herself. If she claimed that somepony told her she might want to know who. Lily could not risk her mother and father finding out that she had gone into the Everfree so in the end she decided that it was better to be curious than make trouble for herself.

Lily soon reached the castle and was glad to see that nopony was around. The reason that she went to the castle was that most ponies didn’t walk up to it unless they had a reason and she had never seen anypony behind it. The perfect place to play Mare Do Well without being embarrassed.

"Well Prickles," Lily said pulling out her large purple hat and putting it on. "Let's get dangerous."

> Villains And Monsters Not So Imaginary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  In short order Lily was in full costume and running around the castle as she fought imaginary foes. There was so little activity near the side of the town that faced her chosen play area that she dared venture beside the castle and even run in front of it.

Prickles played with her for a while before he burrowed his way under a stump where he could munch on some tasty roots. Lily played on. Thinking that the castle was empty she chased her foe around the castle base in an arch that would lead her past the entrance. She was just about to cross the path when she heard the doors swing open. Lily skidded to a stop like a deer caught in headlights and turned to look. The six elements of harmony came walking out and chatting so excitedly that they didn't notice Lily at first. She didn't have time to escape though.

"Oh my goodness, Look!" It was Fluttershy who was pointing Liy out. 

"Awww, that is so cute," Twilight replied waiving to Lily who could think of nothing else to do but waive back.

"Looks like Mare Do Well has come back to save the day," Rainbow Dash commented nudging Pinkie Pie.

"I thought everypony had forgotten about that," Said Spike who was riding on Twilight's back.

"Sadly the pony who made the costumes for Nightmare Night never did quite do it justice," Rarity commented. "Don't worry darling, when we return you come see me and I'll fix up that costume for you," She told Lily. "What's your name dear?" Lily turned pale beneath the mask.

"That is mighty cute but come on ya'll. Our families are awaitn' on us and not ta mention the train," AppleJack interrupted. "We're late as it is."

"Oh, right."

"Great choice of costume though," Pinkie Pie said with a knowing grin that she shot at the others.

"You take care of Ponyville until we get back." Rainbow Dash called over her shoulder.

Lily waived back as they headed into Ponyville. She had forgotten that the six elements of harmony were leaving to attend a party in the Crystal Kingdom. Candace and her husband had arranged a party to celebrate their accomplishments and there were a lot. They are all bringing their families. Rainbow Dash was taking Scootaloo since she was an honorary sister and also so she wouldn’t be the only Cutie Mark Crusader left behind.

Lily had remembered her mother telling her about it and asking if she wanted to come along to see them off. Most of the town would be there. That would explain the lack of ponies on this side of Ponyville. She had planned to go but then she had forgotten when distracted by her Mare Do Well costume. She wasn’t surprised that they had liked her costume. According the pony who ran the hot air balloon service they were big fans. She claimed to see three of them wearing costumes once. It was the day that Ponyville had held a celebration in her honor. If they had bought costumes, they had to be fans.

Lily climbed up a tree to get a look. She could just see over the buildings enough to glimpse the crowd on the other side of the town. She could see the smoke stack of the train standing over the rooftops. It idled for a while and when she heard a cheer from the crowd carried across Ponyville the smoke stack began to move. Lily watched as it headed down the track until it was nearly lost from sight. Getting bored Lily made her way back down and continued her game. The valent Mare Do Well circled around the castle with new ideas to add to her game. Then Lily heard the distressed snuffling of Prickles who had gotten himself stuck beneath the stump. Lily raced over and pulled the stump out of the ground with the same ease she would use to pick a flower.

"A-Ha!" Lily held Prickles up in one hoof as she held the stump in the other. "Another helpless creature saved by Mare Do Well!"

Prickles looked down at her, shrugged then pulled a piece of root off his spine and began munching away.

Lily put Prickles on her back and dropped the stump to point at the empty space in front of her. "Now to save the helpless crystal mare from the evil King Sombra's trap!"

"AAAHHHH!"

The very real scream took Lily completely off guard. She froze and blinked at the empty patch of ground with her hoof still pointing. Then more screams echoed out of Ponyville followed by an explosion. Lily stared fear and disbelief at the buildings as the screaming continued. Then her mind was jolted into action as the image of her family flashed across her mind. Her legs were racing towards Ponyville before she realized what she was doing. The only thing that she could think about was her bother, her sister, her mom and dad. They were not at home but had been out for the sendoff. That would put them right in the middle of whatever was going on. Prickles reattached the root to his  spines and held on tight to her mane.

With her ears flattened back Lily raced with all she was worth towards those screams. Her cape flapped in the wind behind her as her blue clad hoofs pounded on the path. She quickly passed ponies who were running in the opposite direction. She never saw them spin around as after she passed to stare wide eyed at her.

"Mare Do Well," One breathed. "Mare Do Well is back! Though..is she smaller?"

Lily never heard him over the screams and as she rounded a turn she saw the reason for the crys. At the sight of it Lily's legs locked up and she skidded to a stop so sharply that she fell into a sitting position. It was some armless monstrosity that walked on two legs like a chicken but was in no way cute or funny. Each foot had claws longer than her legs. It’s face was nothing more than a huge mandible like beak. It consisted of one huge beak shaped upper jaw with three part mandibles underneath that acted as a lower jaw. All of them were sharp and so hard looking that it would not be a surprise if it could bite through a tree. It didn't help that it was large enough to fit her inside of its mouth. Its hide was like that of a dragons’ and it’s back was covered in spikes. Worst of all was that though it stared straight at her the thing seemed to have no eyes. 

The thing paused when it "spotted" Lily and began stalking her. Prickles squealed and ran up the back of her neck to hide beneath her hat. When it suddenly spat a burst of energy at her Lily snapped out of it. She jumped aside and it struck the building behind her. It spat another then another leaving Lily jumping left and right. It finally released an ear splitting shriek and charged at her. Lily spun around and bucked with all her might. The monster flew backwards and crashed through a wall.

Lily stood there staring after it wide eyed as her legs shook beneath her. Even with having super strength Lily had never truly been in a fight before. 

"It's Mare Do Well!"

"Mare Do Well has returned!...She's smaller than I remember. Does she look smaller to you?"

Lily turned just now noticing the ponies behind her. In her panic she had almost forgotten that she was wearing her costume.
A scream up ahead alerted her that this was not over. She raced towards it with the ponies cheering her on. If they could have seen the look on her face though they would know that she would have loved to have the luxury of running away now.

Lily raced to the new street to find an even stranger sight. Serval ponies were trapped inside magical bubbles and were pounding on it in vain. Other ponies were either running or standing next to a trapped pony too terrified to do anything but not able to leave their loved one. Two monsters stood in the street spitting the burst of energy at the ponies. When it hit on one it would turn into a bubble and trap them inside.

Lily had no idea how her super strength would affect magic but she couldn’t think of anything else to try. Lily raced up started punching them will all her might. They exploded with a loud pop and vanished. The freed ponies scrambled out of the way and the monstrous things turned their eyeless faces towards Lily. Just like the other they began spitting blast of magic at her Lily dodged most of them but when one did hit its mark a hard buck took care of it.

With a snarl they raced towards her. Lily grabbed the first one by the jaws and slung it into its companion. They collided with a meaty crash and were sent rolling across the street. Dazed one raised its head and spat a burst of energy at her. More out of curiosity Lily tried catching the wad of magic. To her surprise she was able to snag it out of the air. It was vibrating so hard that it felt like her bones would raddle. It felt like holding cold fire that had a semi-firm substance. It felt like it had an extreme temperature but she could not tell if it was hot or cold. Unable to hold it for more than a few seconds Lily threw it back at them. The two monsters were instantly encased in their own magic.

With growing confidence, she raced towards the main focal point of the commotion. She pulled up short when she saw a unicorn directing five more of the monsters towards the town square. Then he lit up his horn and sent a blast of magic to the already damaged town hall that was looming over the buildings.

"Hey!" Lily yelled as he prepared to send another. He spun around to look at her and his eyes made her cringe. Lily couldn’t quite name it but there was just something wrong with that unicorn. Seriously wrong. As was as if there was a cloud of darkness resonating off him. Lily quickly stood up on her hind legs and raised her fore hoofs into a fighting stance.

"Awww. Is the widdle foal gonna’ fight the big bad unicorn," He mocked as he walked casually towards her. "You 've even got your widdle costume on. Are you going to be a super hero and save your widdle town from the big bad ponies and their monsters?" He stopped in front of her and leered down at the filly. "I'll let you make the first move. Go ahead, give it your best shot."

Lily did. She grabbed him by the mane slung him around over her head like a sling and then let go. Whatever he tried to say quickly turned into screams as he hurtled over the buildings and out of Ponyville.

Lily paid little attention to him as he hurtled away and raced around the building to where she could see a pegasus taking to the air. Like the unicorn there was just something off about him. He stopped and hover above the damaged town hall. The roof was hanging lopsided and the broken off doors lay on the dirt path. 

In the street below the pegasus remaining five monsters had the mayor and other prominent members of Ponyville cornered. The ground was covered in trampled confetti and the huge banner that had been hug in front of the town hall was laying dirtied on the ground. The pegasus hovered above it all with an evil leer on his face.

"Finally! We waited for a while for your six little defenders to all leave," He announced. "Now we have our chance.”

"What do you want with us?" Mayor Mare called up to him. 

"I don't want anything to do with you," The pegasus laughed. "We've been hired to kidnap every member of Ponyville that we can. Someone wants to ensure that a certain six ponies do not get in their way when they make their move." The pegasus scratched his chin and looked over Ponyville. "Sadly for you they also want us to destroy this little town too." To his surprise his remark was met by cheering. "Did you not hear me ri-"He started to yell before he saw what was going on below. He stared down, stunned at the sight. His monsters were gone and a foal sized pony wearing a costume had a wriggling mass wrapped in the banner that he had torn down. She was spinning it above her head and quickly released it. The huge fabric banner hurtled out away from Ponyville where it split open above the Everfree and rained monsters down on the trees.

The pegasus stared slack jawed at the sight a moment before recovering. "You little-" A well-aimed door from the town hall collided into his stomach sending the pegasus hurtling away in the direction of his monsters.

Now Lily found herself alone with the mayor and other ponies who all had their eyes on her. For a moment silence hung over the town. Then they burst into cheers. Lily felt her face blushing at first but soon she felt she chest puff out. More ponies were coming out of hiding and quickly joined the cheering. Lily couldn’t believe it. She had actually saved Ponyville. She was living her dream. But…now what? What do you do when the bad guys are gone?

A loud creak and snapping of wood jolted her out of her thoughts. Lily looked up to see the supports for town hall’s roof giving away. With a groan the top of the building fell. Ponies ran while Lily raced over and caught it before it hit the ground. Ponies cheered even louder and Lily felt her chest puff out so much she thought that it would burst. Wanting to impress the crowd more she looked up at the top of town hall. Last time the hall was damaged like this they lifted the roof on top and reconnected it. That took so many pegasi but she could surly get it up there.

Judging the distance Lily bent her knees beneath her and leapt, throwing the roof upwards. The roof soared upwards right over the top of town hall and crashed to the ground on the other side where the intact roof splintered into pieces.

Now Lily’s face was as red as a beet under her mask. She quickly waived to the ponies who were just staring at her now and then ran away as fast as her legs would carry her.

“A-hem,” Mayor Mare started finally as the small figure faded into the distance, “I dub this hero Little Mare Do Well. Though so small she has done well by the citizens of Ponyville, not the town hall but I’ll let that go."

> Next Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The next day Ponyville was abuzz with talk and speculation of the new little Mare Do Well. Store venders were already announcing the coming of new Mare Do Well merchandise. Ponies in the streets chatted about what they had seen, told stories that grew as the day passed. There were theories about who she was, where she had come from. The prevailing idea was that she was Mare Do Well's daughter. One of the most debated facts was her costume. It looked like the Nightmare Night costumes sold in Ponyville and some believed that it was one. Others wouldn’t believe that their hero wore a cheap costume and debate over that as well as many aspects sparked unnecessary arguments and hard feelings.

There were three monsters still left in the town but none were a threat. Lily in her flight away from her embarrassing goof with the town hall roof had remembered that one of the monsters remaining in Ponyville was just unconscious and not trapped in a magic bubble like the others. It would wake up soon and it was not like she could not count on it leaving peacefully when it did. She found it just coming to. Tempting to spit a blast at her was easy enough and she trapped it like the others. She was sure that Twilight would know what to do with them once she returned. From there Lily had raced away to the castle to take off her costume and hide it in her saddle bags.

The three trapped monsters were now the biggest attraction in the town and ponies gathered around to stare at them. No matter how many times it failed the creatures would randomly shriek and lunge at them. It also seemed like the crowd would continue to jump back each time no matter how often they failed to break through. The monsters too became the subject of debate and by the end of the day they were Little Mare Do Well's arch nemesis.

The only ones who were not debating were the school foals. As Lily walked through the town with her mother every one that she passed winked or smiled at her. They knew. Hopefully they could all keep a secret. Hopefully but not likely.

Her mother, knowing Lily's love of the hero constantly remarked happy she must be to see the new Mare Do Well. "Though I guess your disappointed that you were off playing and didn't see anything."

"Oh,..uh...yeah." Lily replied as they walked to see the trapped monsters. The rest of her family was already there.

"But I'm kinda’ glad that you were away from the danger."

"That's true."

"I would not want you near anything like that incident!" 

"I know."

"Now remember dear that these things are really frightening. If you get too scared, it's alright for you to leave."

"Mommm!' Lily groaned.

"I know that you want to act tough but it's alright if you need to leave."

"Ok." Lily replied.

When they reached the street where two of the monsters were trapped in the same bubble her mother flinched at the sight. '"Aren't they just awful! Even trapped they make me want to cringe."

"They are ugly," Lily replied but she was not even looking at them. She was looking at a group of her classmates that were also gathered there. Silver Spoon, Featherweight and Dinky were among them. They of course were giving her smiling knowing smiles and winks.

"Can you imagine fighting one of those things?" Her mom commented.

Silver Spoon almost laughed. "Oh, I bet she could Mrs-"

"MMMM!" Lily cut off Silver Spoon quickly drawing a hoof across her mouth.

"Lily?" Her mon inquired.

Lily coughed. "Just a bug."

When her mon looked back up at the monsters Lily started trying to sign to her classmates how important it was that they keep quite.

"Lily what are you doing?"

Lily froze. "Uhhh, just practicing my sign language. We're learning it at school. I see dad up there. I'm going to go stand with him." With that Lily took off weaving through the crowd. She raced up beside him only to find herself also standing next to a few more classmates.

"Hey Lily did you just wear you Nightmare Night costume?" One asked, trying to whisper but a little too loud.

"Uh, yeah I wore it a few days ago. You caught me." Lily replied glancing up at her dad to see if he had heard.

"Can I get your autograph." One filly asked without thinking to whisper and her dad glanced over.

"No, I will not trade you my Mare Do Well autograph," Lily stated firmly. She looked up are her dad. "Now that she’s back everypony wants it."

"I didn't know that you had one," Her dad commented.

"Well...It's a secret. One that I need to keep," Lily replied in a very pointed way to remind her classmates. "Anyway, the monsters are creeping me out and I want to go home now." 

“Don’t worry, they can’t get to you. Don’t you want to see them?”

I’ve seen enough of them,” Lily replied and took off running. She didn't stop running until she got there. As she slammed the door behind her Prickles crawled out from under the couch and gave her a quizzical look.

"Has anypony come home yet?" She asked him. Prickles shook his head. "Good," Lily stated and walked to plop down on the couch. "My class mates can't seem to keep their mouth shut. They were pretty good about my super strength but the Mare Do Well thing has got them excited. Now I don’t just have cool super strength anymore. Now I’m a town sensation," She said as her hedgehog climbed up the couch. "You know something? I dreamed about being a superhero for a long time but now that I've done it I don't really want to do it again. It's scary. While everypony can run away you have to run to it. When I fought those monster things I was more scared than I was in the Everfree."

"Pfft," Said Prickles. He flexed his little muscles like a strongpony.

"I know I have super strength but that does not make me impenetrable. I'm just a penetrable as I ever was." Lily laid her head down on the cushions. "Oh well, I doubt that I ever will have to be a superhero again so as long as nopony in my class let's it slip I'll be safe once it blows over. Then all I'll have to do is be careful about when I use my super strength. Hey that it!" Lily exclaimed sitting up. "My Super strength will keep them from thinking that it’s me! I don't have to worry so much.” Prickles looked at her in confusion. “Don’t you see? Even if they let it slip that I’m the "Little Mare Do Well" adults won't believe it. Little Mare Do Well has super strength and I'm just the little filly that they’ve met around town. To my family I’m just the youngest daughter and just baby sister. Nopony would guess that I had super strength. Instead they would look at the super strength of Little Mare Do Well as proof that it was not me!" Lily hopped off the couch and put Prickles on her back. "There is no reason to worry. This will blow over soon and it's not like I'll have to be Mare Do Well again. The elements of harmony will be back soon and they'll take over. Now come on, let's bring Miss Crumpet her milk before I forget again."

*                   *                    *

Outside Ponyville were the now abandoned burrows of the Diamond Dogs. The ponies didn't notice their moving since they hadn’t known that they were there in the first place. Not until the kidnapping of Rarity. The huge network of tunnels and rooms had remained empty for some time. Now the tunnels were patrolled by scores of the same creatures that had attacked Ponyville. The walked or stood in the passages like drones, never growing tired or bored. Never loosing vigilance. The pitch black tunnels were no problem to the sightless beings.

In the deepest tunnel torches lit the walls. A black churning mass was kept contained in a sphere in the center of the room. Beside it stood a unicorn and a pegasus. Both seemed tainted by the black mass that almost seemed alive.

“I can’t believe that it’s just a foal, Malice,” The pegasus said nursing the bruises left from the impact of the door. “Maybe she just looked small.”

“Tar Flanks, I do not care if she is or not. She’s in the way. The only thing that I want to find out is how to get her out of the way,” The unicorn replied. “If she is their little hero then she will come running when trouble strikes. Let’s send a little disturbance and see what happens.”

> 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.

> The Wurm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As the Ponies fled in and behind buildings the massive beast turned to look at the trapped monsters. Shrinking back into the ground almost up to its head the beast, a tatzelwurm sprang out of the ground and into the air. It soured above the buildings and came back down curling into massive coils. It slammed its body down on the magical bubble popping it with ease. The impact of the tatzelwurm hitting the ground echoed across Ponyville. It was still echoing as it dove back into the ground and headed towards the third trapped beast.

*                    *                   *

"I never really even had to get used to having super strength," Lily told Granny Crumpet. "It never feels any different when I pick up small things that I always could and with huge objects I always have whatever amount of force I need and intend to use. Huge things just feel like they have little weight."


"Sounds like a pretty good spell," Mrs. Crumpet replied. "I have never heard of a mini dragon before. They must be-" Screams of a crowd coming from across Ponyville cut them off. It was quickly followed the sound of a massive impact that they both heard and felt through vibrations reverberating through the ground.

"Better go get your costume." Granny Crumpet said before taking another calm sip of her tea.

Lily leapt out of her seat so fast it flipped over. Prickles leapt onto her mane as she took off to her house. As Lily scrambled into her room she realized one of the biggest problems that superheroes faced. Getting one's costume on in time. Anything could happen in any second making every moment precious. Thankfully though, after getting tangled for a second Lily managed to get her costume on it record time. She threw her hat on over Prickles who was perched between her ears and raced out the front door. Granny Crumpet was standing in the street waiting for her.

"Don't forget this!" She called and lit up her horn. A ball of light shot from her horn and collided into Lily.

"Forget wha-woah!" Lily's voice came out strong and bold making her sound more like an adult mare. 

"Thank you!" Lily called over her shoulder in her new voice.

"It will last just over an hour," Granny Crumpet called after her but wasn’t sure if the filly had heard.

Lily hadn’t. She was too focused on her goal. She raced with all speed towards the commotion. She could hear panicked ponies screaming and running. Just like before she felt fear building up in her but she gritted her teeth and tried to run even faster. Soon ponies were passing her in their flight and spinning around to cheer as they spotted her. Lily took a deep breath and shouted out in her new voice.

"I am the terror that gallops in the night! I am the burr beanth your saddle! I am Mare Do Well."

A few rows of buildings away Ponies heard and cheered. The tatzelwurm heard and quietly sank back underground, collapsing the hole back over itself. 

As Lily raced closer she dearly wished that she wasn’t so short and could hop up on the buildings. No point in whishing though. Lily rounded the corner of the last building and onto the scene. She saw ponies hiding in buildings, scrambling behind carts and booths as well as a few climbing up the sides of buildings. The earth all over the street was badly disturbed for some reason and the three monsters were loose in the streets.

"How did you get out?" Lily asked aloud. There was no time to pounder though. The second the three beasts noticed her somehow despite their lack of eyes they shrieked and charged. Lily raced forward to meet them head on. The onlookers cheered as the monsters and hero charged into battle. At the last second Lily dropped to the ground skidding forward and suddenly lept upwards. She head-butted the first monster and sent it reeling back into the others. I flopped to the ground in a daze as the other two stumbled back. Then it did just what Lily hoped for. It spat a ball of energy. It would have shot over her head but Lily leapt up, struck it in midair and sent it hurling back at the monsters. All three were encased instantly. Lily swore that she saw the other two giving the first what had to be a dirty look for their species.

Cheers exploded from the crowd of ponies and Lily waived back. The cheers were suddenly cut short by a deep rumble. Ponies began to scramble again as Lily looked around in confusion. Lightning fast three black tentacles shot out of the ground and wrapped around her middle. In the next second Lily vanished beanth the ground. The crowd of ponies froze and gasped in horror. Then suddenly a hoof burst from under the earth. It slammed down on the ground as a second hoof burst up from below. In a little explosion of dirt Ponyville’s Little Mare Do Well's head popped up. The residents cheered as she yanked the rest of herself out of the ground along with the tatzelwurm’s head. Gritting her teeth Lily took strong purposeful steps, struggling against the soft ground as the worm fought to drag her back down. Foot by foot the tatzelwurm was drug above ground as the two titans pulled. The worm suddenly let go and lunged at her pulling the rest of its body above ground. Lily spun around and grabbed it by the tentacles as she dove aside. She drug the squirming monster with her as she ran. With a mighty heave she slung the massive beast over the buildings to fly back into the Everfree.

Panting Lily turned back towards the citizens of Ponyville. "I feel I as denied critical, need to know information." Lily stated indignantly. Staring at their red faces was short lived as a hissing scream sounded above Ponyville. Lily looked up to see the tatzelwurm twisting itself in the air in order to control its flight. Instead of landing in the Everfree forest it slammed down just outside Ponyville and burrowed beneath the earth. A growing rumble could be heard at increasing audibility as it hastily tunneled back towards Lily. 

"Get up on the roofs! Up on the roofs!" Lily yelled as she charged down the streets towards the approaching underground monster. Blue clad hoof pounded the ground as she raced towards the worm. She had to get this thing out of Ponyville before it destroyed buildings or hurt somepony but how? She had super strength but this thing was HUGE! One bite and she would be gone. Not only that she felt like she was near the limits of her strength when she had to play tug of war with it.

On the other side of the town buildings shook and dust billowed up around the foundations as the beast burrowed beanth them. It could hear her pounding hoofs echoing through the ground and aimed straight towards the sound.

Soon Lily could see the huge lump that was the burrowing monster coming right at her. "Oh, dear." Lily breathed but kept charging with her little heart pounding hard in her chest. Distance was closed fast and Lily leapt aside as it burst from the ground. It flew past her in a blur and Lily had to duck its trashing tail. It began to burrow right back into the ground the second it's head hit the dirt.

Rumbles echoed through Ponyville as it circled back around. Lily gritted her teeth knowing what was coming. A huge lump of dirt came chasing after her. She leapt aside again as the beast burst forth and this time it tried to twist its head towards the direction that she darted. It lunged a third time and Lily escaped by a hair.

Suddenly all was quite. An eerie dangerous quiet. Lily looked in every direction but she saw not moving hills of dirt flying at her nor puffs of dust. She could feel her own heart pounding, sounding so loud now and she could feel prickles clutching her mane under her hat. Slowly Lily began walking across the ground constantly looking in every direction. suddenly she felt a shift in the ground under her and leapt aside a second before the Tatzelwurm’s head burst out of the ground. Its jaws snapped shut on empty air. It glared at her then vanished beneath the ground to try again. Lily retreated and tried ducking down many alley ways to throw it off so she could take it by surprise. No matter what she did though it always knew where she was. 

Lily stayed ahead of it for a time but suddenly the ground opened up beneath her as the monster struck just ahead of her instead of aiming directly for her. She found herself bracing her hoofs against it's jaws as the beast struggled to close them. 

"Now what?" Lily thought as the Tatzelwurm swung its head around above the buildings as Lily kept its jaws open. Then she felt Prickles shift his position between her ears. Keeping one hoof braced firmly against a jaw Lily flipped off her hat and head butted the inside of the jaw above her with Prickles still clinging to her hair. Sharp spines hit the soft tissue and the beast let out a roar that made Lily's ears ring. It also dropped her to the ground. Lily took off running the second she hit the earth while the beast angrily swung its head around. She flipped her hair back over Prickles who was pointing at the beast and laughing.

The tatzelwurm glared at Lily with a snarl then dove back beanth the ground. Lily didn't have to look back. She heard the rumble as it gave chase. She wasn’t sure what to do but she had to get off the ground. She didn't know how for there was no way that it could see underground but it never lost track of her. 

Up ahead she spotted a stack of hay next to a building. Perfect! She leapt up the hay bales using them as steps to the roof. Just as she jumped off the last bale the stack exploded as the beast struck. Still in midair Lily was blasted with straw before she landed safely on the roof. For a moment all was silent. Then the building gave a mighty groan and shuttered as the tatzelwurm began to demolish the building from below.

Lily took off running across the building gaining every bit of momentum that she could. Nearing the ledge, she leapt onto the next building in the row. Seconds later the first building stopped shaking and the tatzelwurm started attacking the one she was on.

"How is it doing that?!" Lily growled and took off running again. She leapt to the third building and once again the monster attacked it. Lily looked at the remaining buildings in the row. There were only two left until she would be out of Ponyville and there was no way she could jump all the way across the street. Before the building collapsed she took another running leap onto the second to the last rooftop. The tatzelwurm followed her.

Lily paced on the roof as she tried to think of something. Just one more roof within leaping distance and she would be back on the ground. What to do? She heard a clatter and ran to the edge. A few boards had come loose and bounced off the side of the building before they hit the ground. The building suddenly stopped shaking and the tatzelwurm’s head burst from the ground and grabbed the wood. It quickly spat the wood out and rolled it's eyes up to look at Lily. Then it dove back underground and reattacked the building. It never knew that beneath the mask Lily smiled. She now knew how it always found her. She also knew how to take it by surprise. Lily backed up as the roof beanth her shook. It could hear her every step. This was how it had honed in on her after she had thrown it out. She was the only pony that would be running to meet it and it had tracked her hoof falls just as it was tracking her now. This was how it never lost track of her as she ran through the alleys. It could hear her every step. It could hear her jumping from roof to roof.

Lily took off running and leapt to the next roof top. She soared over the alley and landed with a thud on the building. Instantly the tatzelwurm left off attacking the building that she had left and went for the one she was on. Lily ran to the edge of the building. Just outside Ponyville were the trash carts right where the trash collectors left them. Not far but outside the town because of the smell. Lily ripped a chunk of the roof up and took aim.

Underground the tatzelwurm was tearing apart the foundations. Not as fast as it could but more in a manner of playing with its target. It suddenly heard a loud thud and then the sound of cart wheels creaking across the ground. It instantly left off the building and charged the slow moving cart. It burst from the ground crunching the cart in its jaws. It chewed a moment but then spat it out as it realized that it had no pony in it. The tatzelwurm started to turn around but too late. It never saw Lily wielding another cart until she broke it over its head.  While it was still reeling Lily threw another. It hit the beast dead on and the great tatzelwurm collapsed out cold on the ground.

Lily wasted no time. She raced over and pulled it the rest of the way out of the ground. She ran towards the nearest tree tied it around it, ripped the tree out of the ground and threw it into the Everfree hoping dearly that it would not ever come back Then she collapsed panting as a cheer echoed out from the center of Ponyville as the citizens saw the monster flying off. Thankfully most of them had been in and around the center of Ponyville keeping them safe from being harmed in the battle. This also meant that she could also give herself a rest before she took off and removed her costume.

"Wow," An unexpected voice spoke up. Lily turned to see a nerdy looking pony standing at the edge of Ponyville. He had orange hair and large glasses. "You sure put a whole new shine on the word overkill."
Lily narrowed her eyes though the expression was lost with the mask. "When you need it and don't have it, you sing a different tune."

"Oh, ok. Can I have your autograph?" He asked producing a paper and quill.

Lily sighed and quickly singed the paper having to catch herself before she wrote down 'Lily'. Then she nodded before taking off and heading for Granny Crumpet’s house. 

> Can you help yourselves?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "She could be a child, even with a voice like that," A stallion unicorn stated with emphases. “There have been fillies and foals with stronger and bolder voices than seemed possible. Any fool could see that it's possible."

"And you would know one wouldn’t you," His companion stated as he stirred his coffee with his magic. He adjusted his glasses and looked up. I'm very well educated, much more than you and I say that it was not filly. Seriously even if given magical powers no filly could not what she's done."

"Education does not necessarily make one intelligent." The first stallion muttered. "Especially if one refuses relearn something that he was taught when it might be incorrect in the first place."

His friend snorted. "Your just jealous. Little Mare Do Well is either just the original Mare Do Well turned younger by magic or a new one, perhaps her daughter and just small."

"Or her young daughter." 

"Don't be stupid. You’re the one who thinks that the first Mare Do Well was Princess Twilight and her friends. How could we see Rainbow Dash and Mare Do Well at the same time if that was true?"

"There are six of them! They can swap out and it also may not have been all of them playing the part."

"Pah! That was disproven by Book Smart's theory."

"No it wasn’t! You just want to be right!"

Lily sat a couple tables away sipping on a milk shake as she watched them. She wondered if she should say something. She eventually decided against it. What could she say? 'I'm Little Mare Do Well so I know.' She turned away and focused on her shake with the memories of yesterday’s fight running around in her head as well as the first. In three days the Princess of Friendship and her friends would be back. If anything else happened they could take over and the new Mare Do Well would disappear like the first. Part of her wanted them to hurry up and part of her wanted to keep being Little Mare Do Well. When she was there in the moment she was terrified and didn't want to be there at all. When it was over the reality of the fierce danger faded away to dreams of grandeur she wanted to do it again. She knew better and that she should keep a level head but she liked the grand dreams of being a hero better. 

*                         *                        *

A unicorn and a pegasus headed into Ponyville. They wore a disguised that changed their body and main colors but if one paid attention there was just something off about them.

"Are you sure that this will be so easy," The pegasus, Tar Flanks asked. "She defeated a Tatzelwurm, Malice."

"Barely. She has magical super strength but that appears to be her only advantage. She's brave, obviously but also obviously young and naive as shown by how she fought. She's has strength that nopony has but she's still just a filly. Just lead her into the trap and it will be over."

*                       *                   *

Prickles had been tired so Lily had left him asleep on the couch. She probably should go back and move him soon since her mom and dad would be home in an hour or less. He loved to sleep on the couch but occasionally her parents would come home from work too tired to notice the spiky ball on the cushion and sit on him. It would suffice to say they were not too happy after that, especially if they heard him laugh. It wasn’t out of meanness. Prickles was such an innocent little creature that he had a hard time not laughing at such things. It didn't make her parents feel better though.

Finishing her shake Lily pushed it aside and let a bit as a tip. She trotted off as two more unicorns joined the conversation. They were led by the red haired pony who was showing off his Little Mare Do Well's autograph. Rounding the corner Lily almost ran into Granny Crumpet. 

"Oh, sorry. I didn't see you," Lily said.

"That's alright," Granny Crumpet replied. "I was coming to see how you were doing. Enjoying being the new Mare Do Well?"

"Well.....yes." Lily stated as they turned and started to walk away, in a slow pace because of the elderly pony.

"Most would but don't let it go to your head. It's a very dangerous job, especially for a filly. Getting cocky is about the most dangerous thing that one can do," Granny Crumpet advised.

"I'm not," Lily replied not entirely sure that that was true. "The Princess of Ponyville should be back soon with the other representatives of harmony. I don't plan to do anything after that. A lot of things happen here but surely that enough for one week. Then-"

"AAAAHHHHH!"

The screams of five stallions cut her off. Lily spun and raced back with Granny Crumpet following at her fastest pace.

"I don't have time to put my costume on!" Lily moaned as she rounded the corner. There was another one of those stupid eyeless beast slowly stalking the five stallions. They had upturned the table and were hiding behind it. She groaned and was about to charge in as Granny Crumpet walked up. Then Lily realized something. Four of them were unicorns who were known for having strong magic.

"Wait, anyone of them could capture that thing with their magic," Lily said "And there are four of them. They'll easily be able to hold him till Little Mare Do Well shows up. Stay hidden and I'll be right back," She told Granny Crumpet. She took off for home as fast as she could. Skidding in through the front door Lily didn't see Prickles and she didn't have time to look for him. She shot into her room and threw on her costume. Hearing her bother coming in the front door and call her name Lily jumped out of her window and raced back to the restaurant. Panting Lily skidded back beside Granny Crumpet in record time ready to take over the capture of the monster. She froze and stared in surprise. All of the stallions were trapped in bubbles where they still were cowering.

"What!" Lily exclaimed. "Any one of the unicorns would have had a good chance against the monster if they tried, let alone four of them and another pony to help!"

"I've seen this before," Granny Crumpet said with a sigh. "I am not surprised. For a long time not there has always been Twilight and her friends, and Mare Do Well for a short time to take care of everything. Even in the dream world where they actually did something those six were there to direct and save the day. They also knew that they could not be hurt in that world. In short they've had somepony saving the day for them for so long that now they just wait for some hero."

"But that's stupid and just because there is somepony around that seems more important that you it doesn’t take away your own abilities," Lily exclaimed but even as she did events of the monster attacks flashed through her mind. She hadn’t realized but what Granny Crumpet had said was very true. They hadn’t tried to fight back against the first monsters nor had they even thought to warn her of the tatzelwurm. Their tactics were to just hold on till Little Mare Do Well or somepony showed up and they would take care of everything. Maybe she could do something about that.

"Hit me with the hero voice'" Lily said quickly. Granny Crumpet lit up her horn giving her the voice again. "Remember what told you after your last fight. It lasts about an hour."

"I will," Lilly said. "This shouldn’t take long." Lily raced out into the open towards the monster that was just standing there for some unknown reason.

"I am the terror that gallops in the night! I am the chill that runs down your spine! I am Mare Do Well!" As the stallions cheered the monster glanced at her and then just ran away. 

"Drat! I wanted that thing to chase me!" Lily grumbled as she took off after it. As she passed the stallions she paused to strike the bubbles and set them free.

"See, she's not child with that voice," One of the unicorns stated after he hit the ground.

Lily chased after the monster as the citizens of Ponyville fled before them. Have the monsters become afraid of me, Lily wondered. She tried shouting at it but it just kept running. She slowed to almost a stop twice and each time the monster turned around as if to fight her but then it ran when she charged it. Lily tried just sitting down in the center of the street but it simply turned to go after another pony and Lily was forced to move. Finally, when passing a cart Lily picked it up and threw it. It hit dead one knocking the monster out. Lily sat down in the street and stared at it, wondering about it's odd behavior. 

Ponies were just coming out and starting to cheer when another monster stepped out of the alleyway. It stopped in the middle of the street and shrieked at her.

Lily struck a fighting pose. "Come and get me!" The monster stayed where it was.

Lily rolled her eyes and lunged. The monster ran. It acted just like the first monster. Lily's eyes narrowed as she ran along behind it at an easy pace. She wasn’t stupid. This was nothing more than somepony making her go right where they wanted her. Where ever that was it was not where she wanted to be. Lily banked to her left and darted behind a row of fruit stands. She didn't come out the other side. The monster turned around and stared at the stands. It began slowly stalking them and hissing as it watched carefully for when she would jump out.

It was in no danger of a surprise attack because Lily was not behind them at all. She was slinking down an alleyway until she found a ladder to the roofs. Keeping low Lily crept along the roof until she could peek down at the street. She spotted the monster still stalking the stands. It would reach them soon but Lily had her eyes on something else that she had spotted. Serval roofs away she saw the pegasus who had been trying to destroy Ponyville along with the unicorn in the first attack. He had changed his colors but she could see that it was him. Namely by the strange “off-ness” that he had about him. He was also using magic. Lily didn't know how but he was using magic. He stood on the roof dead focused on the monster. His wings were raised as if in flight and his body glowed. He was almost in a trance as he stared at the monster. He suddenly jerked his head and the beast lunged tearing at the stands with its powerful maw. When Lily was not to be found he jerked his head again and it stopped. He started looking around the streets and the monster did the same. He was controlling that beast! It was soon directed down the alley ways but Lily was already on the move.

Tar Flanks stood straining his eyes as he searched and directed the monster at the same time. This was the hardest part of using the monsters. You could give them a simple command like catch all the ponies or keep guard and they would carry it out until directed otherwise. Or you could directly control them. This took a lot of focus and Tar Flanks was obvious to most of his surroundings. He never noticed the figure behind him climbing up the wall nor sensed the costumed hoof reaching up over the roof. Not until he was seized by the tail and yanked down.

Tar Flanks lost all focus on the monster and landed hard on the ground. Before he had time to blink the stars away a metal bucket was slammed down over his head. He staggered back before collapsing where he lay dazed and trying to regain his senses.

Lily took off knowing that it would be a little bit before he came around. She had another fish to fry and a plan for Ponyville. From the second roof she had spotted the unicorn sitting on another building in the direction that the monsters had been leading her. The trap. He was crouched at the edge with his horn practically glowing already. Two more monsters stood in the streets, ready to be used if Lily took out the current one. Perfect. There were even Ponyville residents below cowering behind windows and doors. Double perfect. 

Like Tar Flanks, Malice was so focused on his opponent running into the street in front of him that he never saw the projectile coming from behind. A potted plant from a window struck him square in the back of the head. With a groan he fell from the roof and landed with a thud on the ground.

Lily raced out of the alley and into sight of the Ponyville residents and checked to see if the unicorn was unconscious. The ponies nearby gave a cheer when they saw her but Lily was not here to take a bow. They expected her to take care of the final monsters but she stayed where she was.

"Citizens of Ponyville come here," Lily called as loud as she could. They looked confused but crept out while keeping a wary eye on the monsters. They hissed but did nothing. Ponies also came from nearby streets including Mayor Mare. Not wanting to waste time and let the unicorn wake up Lily started. "Citizens of Ponyville, it is your turn to take action." Lily indicated the monsters with a hoof.

A collective "Wwwaahhhhttt!" was not a surprise.

"What are you waiting for! Take them out," A pony cried followed by more ponies agreeing.

"No," Lily stated simply. "For too long all you have done is wait for somepony to save you. It's your turn to stand up and take care of yourselves."

"What are you talking about?" Mayor Mare asked. "Why can't you just get them like you did before."

"Because if I keep doing it for you it will not do you any good," Lily replied.
"Of course it will. The monsters will be gone and we will be safe." A stallion responded.

Lily faced hoofed before replying, "And you well never grow any stronger or realize your potential that way. This is really the biggest favor that I can do for you."

"I have my cutie mark and my potential is growing berries." A mare replied.

"Yeah we could never help ourselves against those things," Another added with many heads nodding in agreement.

"Oh, Pig feathers you can't!" Lily was becoming irritated. "You," Lily pointed at a construction worker. "I've seen you lift huge beams with your magic so you could easily pick up serval of those monsters. You, Bulk Biceps. You could overpower one of those things or knock it silly with one kick. You, Thunderlane. You could fly circles around them or catch them in a whirlwind. Most of you pegasus could!"

"But, actually I tend to be bad at flying in circles," Cloud Chaser complained. 

"So what!? That is not all that there is! That is not all that there is to you! Everypony is more than one thing!" Lily turned to the crowd. "Seriously! Look at them!" Lily pointed at the monsters. "They’re just standing there right now with nopony to direct them! You have the perfect chance!"

The gathered ponies looked at the monsters and cringed when they hissed.

"Still we would rather if you did it." Mayor Mare said backing away. "Why can't you just do it?" 

Lily moaned. "I just went over that. All of you could take them out so easily right now. Why-"

Lily was interrupted by the sound of a pony teleporting and a flash of light. Malice had vanished from the ground to reappear on the roof top. Before Lily could find something to throw her hoofs were lifted off the ground in the grip of magic and she found herself dangling high above the street.

"Nice speech but it's wasted." Malice grunted as he rubbed his sore head with a hoof.

Lily twisted around and tried to attack him but with a sinking feeling she realized a major weakness in her super strength. It was powerless if she could not lay a hoof on something. 

"It was a simple plan, make trouble to draw you out and then lead you to an ambush," Malice rambled. "But who knew that it would fail and the ones to make you lose are your friends. Take a good look because you'll probably never see them again."

Lily cringed and looked down at the ponies below. "Do something!" She yelled. Pegasus began to fly for help and unicorns lit up their horns to send a message but instantly Malice shot a beam up into the air. A dome quickly covered Ponyville trapping everypony inside.

Lily never saw the rest. Her vision was blurred by a flash of light and in the next moment they were in the entrance of the underground cavern. The corridors behind them were filled with pitch black darkness. The room in front was lit by torches and almost empty except for a small chest in the corner and a sphere in the center. Looking upon the black mass wreathing inside it Lily would have far preferred the dark corridors than to be in the same room with that thing. It had the same presence that the unicorn had but much worse. Lily had been more afraid of the tatzelwurm than she was of that thing.

"Like it," Malice taunted walking closer to the thing with Lily floating in the air behind him. "It's amazing really. It can give you so much power. It can even give non-unicorns the ability to use magic. It's a lot better than anything that you call good in this world."

While trying to squirm away from it Lily was pretty sure that that was the biggest false statement ever made. The unicorn and pegasus made you uneasy and thins thing made her feel sick. Lily now understood more deeply a statement that her mom often made. ‘You can’t play with darkness or hang around it without being tainted.’

“There is only one real weapon that can be used against it if you know how,” Malice said as he nodded at the locked chest. “It can’t be destroyed but we’re keeping it out of anypony’s hoofs. Anyway, I’ll leave you here until we capture all of Ponyville and destroy it.” Keeping Lily out of reach of any object he levitated Lily across the room and a bubble formed around her.  This one was different than the others. It was almost completely opaque leaving one only able to see vague shadowy images through it. It also had magic inside that kept Lily hovering in the center where she could not reach the sides.

“I hope you enjoyed your last day as little hero.” The unicorn laughed and teleported away.

Lily was left alone, suspended in the center of the bubble by magic that emanated from it. She could even sit down as if on solid ground but when she tried to strike the "ground" it had no more effect than punching the air. Lily kicked. She squirmed and thrashed. She bucked and tried to stomp. She struggled until she was utterly exhausted. She regained her second wind and fought to exhaustion again. Finally, Lily gave up and sat down on the false ground. She pulled off the Mare Do Well mask and stared out through the nearly opaque bubble. All she could make out of the light from the torches and the blackness that was that thing. At least the bubble kept her from feeling the effects of it. All she could hear was the echoes of the hideous monsters walking about on their patrol and randomly letting out creepy growls. The way the corridors carried noise made everything sound haunting and it made Lily's skin crawl. The worst of all was having to sit and wait for your fate to come. Lily's ears drooped low. She really wished that she had Prickles to hold right now.

> The Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Lily didn't know how much time had passed but it seemed like a life time had gone by. Her hero voice had long since faded so she knew when an hour had gone by. That was a long while ago. Just how long she didn't know because she had no other way of marking time. All she knew was that it had been quite a while. The creepy, haunting sounds of the monsters never ceased. All she had to do was sit and think and the biggest things on her mind was not what Lily wanted to think about at all. It was feeling quite cold in the underground cavern but she was pretty sure that it had nothing to do with the temperature. 

Lily's ears perked up as she finally she heard something that was not the usual footfalls of the beasts and their growls. If was faint but growing louder. She sighed and wanted to cry. That had to be those ponies celebrating their finished job. Lily's ears fell. She would not cry though. She would not cry! Lily took a deep breath as the sounds grew louder. 

It was quite a commotion, though and a lot of voices and pounding feet. Not only that but soon she made out shrikes and squeals from the beasts. That was no celebration! That was a battle going on out there and storming her way! Lily jumped up. The Elements of Harmony must have returned!

"Hurry! She has to be down here!"

Lily's ears stood up as she made out the words. The voice was familiar but not one of the six.

"Get out of my way you wrenched beast!" A female voice roared followed by a monster’s squeal.

Wait, that was the mare who sold tomatoes in the market place.

"You dirty excuse for a creature! You will not stop me!"

That was the voice of the chef who ran the only fancy restaurant in Ponyville. Lily strained her hears harder trying to make out more voices.

"Hungry? Eat this!"

That was Berryshine!

"First class delivery!"

Mrs. Hooves?

"HOW DARE YOU KIDNAP A FOAL YOU HEAPS OF WALKING VOMIT!!! YOU WILL FOREVER RUE THIS DAY!!!" An incensed voice roared.

Miss. Cheerilee?!!!

"The horror, the horror...that's going to come down on YOU!!!!!"

"YEAHHHH!!" Loud crashing a squeals of the monsters rang out in mass down the corridors.

"You’re going down! I mean you’re going downnnnn!"

Was that that Sassaflash, the dainty, always friendly to everyone pegasus?

"You ugly monsters! You don't stand a chance!"

That was Coco Crusoe.

"Out of my way or I've got the perfect flowers to use at your funeral!"

Daisy? Who knew that she could be so dark?

"Meet my lucky hoofs!"

Mr. Caramel?

"I'm here to take out the trash and I'm sorry but that happens to be you."

That was Ponyville's trash collector!

Lily's ears stood ramrod straight as she identified more and more voices. It sounded like all of Ponyville was storming the tunnels and wow were they storming it! Lily started hopping excitedly on the false ground as the noise closed in becoming a virtual thunder of pounding hoofs and voices. Through the hindered view of the bubble Lily saw what looked like a wave spilling through the entrance. Outside ponies filled the room pressing against the walls and standing shoulder to shoulder. 

“Don’t worry we’ll get you out of there Miss Mare Do Well,” Filthy Rich called out. He turned to serval unicorns lead by Lemon Hearts. “You know what to do.” In union they lit up their horns and fired at the bubble. Under the magic the bubble shuddered and expanded but stayed intact. Soon every unicorn in the room, in which there were plenty joined in. The bubble gave one last shudder and popped. As it vanished Lily fell in to the hoofs of Miss Cheerilee. She found herself staring at the faces of all of Ponyville’s resident adults and teens. All the ones who weren’t blocked by the mass of ponies in the front of the tightly packed crowd anyways. They were all staring at her as well.

“Lily?” Gasped Miss Cheerilee and many others. It was then that Lily remembered that she had taken off her mask. She just smiled and blushed.

“Lily! What do you mean Lily?!” The little mare shrank lower as the voice of her mother called out. “Lily Valley is back here near me! She’s too tall to be Little Mare Do Well anyway!”

“It’s…not Lily Valley. It’s your Lily.” Filthy Rich called back.

"What that can't be my Lily! How could she be Little Mare Do Well?"

"You better just come and see." Lemon Hearts called back to her but it was needless. The mare was already shoving her way through the crowd followed by her husband. The face of her mom and father came into view as the wriggled to the front of the crowd. They both stared slack jawed.

“Lily! You can’t be Little Mare Do Well,” Her mom finally stated. “She has super strength!”

“Yes, that’s me,” Lily replied slipping out of Cheerilee’s hoofs. She then lifted her teacher over her head.

“But…you…How…What…” her mom stammered.

“That’s my girl,” Her dad said.

Before Lily could try to explain a muffled snarl echoed from the tunnels. A monster stumbled past with a mail bag covering its head. The cross-eyed mailpony of Ponyville flew into view.

“We’d better get out of here. The tunnels are getting a bit shaky and stuff after all the commotion,” she announced.   “Yeah, get explanations later and get away from this black thing.” Holly Dash called from the middle of the room. “It’s freaking me out!”

“You’re not the only one!” Lucky Clover replied and ponies began to hurriedly file out of the room.

“You can tell us all about it later,” Lily’s father said putting her on his back and following.

“And it will need a lot of explaining.” Her mom added. bewilderment was still heavily evident on her face.

“Wait! Somepony grab that chest.” Lily called. “I don’t know what it is but that unicorn said that it could defeat that thing in the sphere. We can give it to Princess Twilight and maybe she can figure it out.”

Two ponies picked it up by the handles and carried behind Lily and her family. Soon everypony was out of the room. The black mass was swirling faster inside the sphere. It was practically thrashing and a slow crack began creeping up the side of sphere. 

> Back to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Like a mighty army the residents of Ponyville strode down the corridors with steady purpose. If the tunnels were unstable a mass rush would not be a good idea. Sometimes the corridors were fairly spacious allowing them to move in a thick line and in other places they were so tight that they had to file though two by two. Unicorns were spaced throughout the crowd and each one had their horn lit up so that no matter the tunnel space all of them always had light. Near the outskirts of the crowd were earth ponies ready to react to any attack. This wasn’t often since the monsters were starting to filter out of the vast tunnel system on their own.

The earth ponies were also the most at ease underground so they acted as pathfinders. Pegasus hovered above the group when the ceiling would allow. Whenever the Ponyville army passed through vast corridors they flew upwards so that they could keep an eye out for anything lurking around in the wall shadows. They were also very useful when the Ponyville army had to go straight up a tunnel. Many pegasus carried coils of ropes and would fly up the vertical tunnels to let the ropes down.

Lily was near the back of the crowd and watched all this teamwork with interest. She was still sitting on her father's back with her mother close beside her. Up ahead she could see her brother and sister glancing back at her from time to time. Both of them still looked amused.

Behind her two stout looking stallions carried the chest with its unnamed contents. Nearby was Mayor Mare and Filthy Rich with Spoiled Rich right behind lily’s dad.

"And then I told that beast, 'that is not the face of a winner but then there's a reason for that isn’t there," She said. "I never knew that rescuing somepony would be so much fun even though you get your hoofs dirty."

Filthy Rich smiled. "Yes there is more to life than money and status."

"Something on your mind?" Mayor Mare asked Lily who was watching everypony with a pensive expression. Nothing had tried to attack for a while so there was some time for conversation.

"Well, yes," Lily stated. "About a comment that that unicorn made about the black thing. He said that it could let non-unicorns use magic and that made it better than...well the ways things are I guess. I think that he has it wrong though, especially looking at Ponyville working together. I think that ponies are born with talents and lack of certain talents so that we will always need each other. Back when the tribes hated one another they still needed each other. I think that that was the only reason one tribe didn't end up being the only survivor but it's not just the three types of ponies either. If everypony could have every talent, then we would not need each other and nopony would have something to make them special.

"We did need different talents to defeat those two evil ponies and those monsters," Mayor Mare said.

"How did you?" Lily asked.

"It was guilt namely that drove us to act," She replied. "After all you had done for us we were responsible for you getting captured. What we did was very simple, we tried with all our might. We used whatever talents we had and talents we didn't know we had. To our amazement we found out that there was something that we could do to help ourselves instead of just waiting for help. After all a pony is more than one thing." Mayor Mare winked with the last sentence. 

"It didn't take long for use to realize that, while there were a lot of the monsters we outnumbered them," Her father added. "Mayor Mare rounded up a few ponies to gather all the foals and hide them away in Filthy Riches store while we contended with the monsters."

"If we had been among them we would have known that you were missing," Her mom snorted. "How could they have not noticed that a filly was missing?!"

"It was a little chaotic dear," Her father said before continuing. "Lemon Hearts and a few others learned to undo the magic capture spells and taught the rest of the unicorns in Ponyville. That's when we really gained the upper hand. We made the unicorn use so much magic that he finally passed out and Nurse Redheart gave him enough sleeping medicine took keep him dreaming for quite a while. Bolt Biceps and Sunny Days finally captured the pegasus, he's named Tar Flanks by the way. Sunny Days took him by surprise and knocked him out of the sky. Before he could recover Bolt Biceps sat on him." Lily couldn’t help but laugh along with her dad. "We made Tar Flanks listen to Rose Luck and her friends screaming about the horror until he finally told us where you were at."

"So all of Ponyville is down here, minus my classmates?" Lily asked standing up between her father's shoulder to look for Granny crumpet. She was young at heart but too old to keep up.

"Well, not all. Those too old to move fast are keeping watch above ground. Your friend Granny crumpet will send us messages if anything changes up there." Her father replied as if reading her mind. "Other than that we all came for you," He said sweeping her off his back and hugging her. "Because your more than worth it. We're no expert commandos but we made it and your classmates are safe back in Ponyville waiting for you."

*                           *                            *

Barnyard Bargains stood among the buildings of the now quite Ponyville while evening drew near. It had seemed the perfect place. It was in the middle of town so every foal could run to it quickly. It was big enough to accommodate all of them with food for snacks and had doors that locked. Among the aisles that ranged from produce to tools to toys foals roamed. The ponies who had gathered the foals didn't do a good head count leaving them not to notice one missing filly. The foals did but they knew why. 

"Do you think that Lily will be alright?" Buttons whispered as he tried on different hats.

"Well, all the adults and teens in Ponyville went after her and if they can take defend the town then they can probably handle the layer," Silver Spoon replied.

"Probably," Buttons intoned. "I don't like probably."

"I'm sure our patents can handle it," Diamond Tiara called in a loud whisper from the front desk. 

"Everypony down!" Pip hissed from his position at one of the windows as he ducked below it. Everypony laid flat making sure that they were out of sight of the windows as a monster walked past. Before the foals could relax deep rumble sounded beneath the ground and barely anypony dared to breath as the large beast tunneled beneath the building. The vibrations soon faded but everypony still remained motionless. Finally Dinky peaked out the window watching the dust trail puff up above the buildings. "I think that it's heading back into the Everfree and away from town," She said and everypony breathed a sigh of relief.

"I wish that they would hurry," Rumble was the first to whisper after the all clear. "Why did more monsters have to show up after the adults left?"

"Who knows? They're a species that nopony has never seen before." Twist commented.

"Where do they come from?" Snails asked.

"Yeah, you’re the smart one so aren't you supposed to have a theory or something?" Snips added.

"These creatures are absolutely unprecedented," Twist replied. 

"Yeah, but where do they come from?" Snips asked again. Twist just groaned and rubbed her forehead.

"It doesn’t matter where they come from," Pip stated. "What matters is what are we going to do about it. There's no guarantee that those things won't discover us before the adults get back."

"But what do we do?" Silver Spoon asked.

"I'll tell you what we do," Buttons stated as he switched to a baseball cap, picked up a shovel and stood in a military stance. "We arm ourselves, we set perimeters, we stand guard. If any of those things try to come in here, then we give them something to chew on. We stand and fight just like Lily would!"

"This isn’t one your games," Twist pointed out. "This is real life and real danger."

As if to punctuate her point a large face that was little more than a huge mouth rose up above the window sill. It announced its presence with an ear splitting screech!

> The foals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The second that the scream went off two things happened. The heads of the four other monsters in Ponyville were raised up to call back and all the fillies and colts scrambled. As the eerie cries cut through the air and filled the vacant city every foal dove under piles of merchandise and behind shelves. Every foal except Buttons who stood on a bucket with a slingshot in one hoof and a bag of marbles at his feet. The beast busted the glass with one easy strike of its huge maw. Buttons did not run. As It prepared to spit he snatched up a toy from the floor. He slung it just as the monster released a magic burst. The toy intercepted the magic before it reached Buttons and it was encased in the bubble. Before the monster could spit another burst Buttons fired a shooter marble back. The monster screeched and stumbled back after it pinged off the fleshly part of its head.

"See," Buttons said turning to his hiding classmates, "We just have to-"

"Look out!"

Buttons turned back just in time to see another blast coming straight for him. Just before it hit Silver Spoon tackled him and they both crashed to the floor while the blast sailed over them.

"This is not one of your games!" Silver Spoon yelled in his ear. Diamond Tiara and Pip reached out from behind a wall of shelves and drug them out of sight as the monster tried to climb its awkward bulk up through the window.

"Well we have to do something!" Buttons replied.

"Everypony! Over here! Rumble called out from across the store. He had flown up on top of the shelves that ran against the far wall where he could open a dropdown hatch that led to the roof. No foal argued. They bolted across the store to clamber up the shelves.

Outside the other monsters had arrived. All of them were screeching at a fever pitch. Instead of trying to get through the window they began charging the wall making it shudder and groan under each impact. All this spurred the foals to move faster than they would have ever thought possible. Unfortunately, with the size of the roof hatch they could only go through one or two at a time. Fillies and colts soon crowded the top of the shelves eager to be the next one out. Some didn't even wait to near the last rows before climbing the shelves. They just clambered up the nearest one and began leaping the gaps. Dinky and Featherweight who were carrying the Cake twins were ushered quickly to the exit.

Diamond Tiara and Pip had taken charge. The filly was directing the escape out of the hatch so they didn't get jammed and fall while the little colt checking to see that every foal made it.

"Everypony is here except three!" He called to Diamond. "Buttons! Snips! Snails!" His voice echoed out over the crashing sound of monster hitting the wall and cracks of timber.

"Ere!" The muffled voice of Buttons called out as he crawled up beside Diamond Tiara with the two other colts. All of them had slingshots and bags of marbles crowding their mouths. "Er' gon' ite ‘dem 'ings." He tried to say around the load.

"Oh, get up there!" Diamond Tiara snapped and literally shoved him through the hatch. Nearly all the foals were on the roof and out of reach of the monsters.
"Hurry Twist! Hurry!" Pip called to the straggling filly who was having trouble leaping over the aisle gaps. "The spaces are getting wider!" Twist cried. In the nest second the monsters burst through the wall. With shrieks they began crashing into rows of shelves. Like rows of dominos they began to fall into each other creating a wave of falling shelves.

"Jump for it!" Diamond Tiara and Pip screamed at Twist who had one more leap to go. The final foal took a flying leap just as the shelf she was on was hit. It crashed to the side as the pair caught her hoofs. They scrambled through the hatch dragging Twist behind them.

Pip quickly slammed the hatch shut a split second before a burst of magic struck it. The ponies sat shaking from adrenaline as they listened to the monsters crashing around in the building beanth their hoofs.

"Boy is Dad going to be upset about his store," Diamond Tiara moaned slumping down on the roof.
"I think that he will just be very happy that his daughter is alright," Silver Spoon replied putting a hoof around her shoulders. 

"Is everypony here?" Pip asked surveying the crowd. Everypony was present from Twist to Dinky and Featherweight who were still holding Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. Obvious to the danger the twins were starting to yawn after the long day in the store. 

"We're all here," Buttons replied pressing his ear to the roof. "They stopped smashing around in there." Everypony pressed their ear to the roof to listen except for the twins who were starting to doze off. Through the roof tiles the foals could hear the heavy footsteps of the monsters as they walked around treading on items that were scattered all over the place. After a couple of minutes, the foot falls faded from inside and could be heard back out in the streets. Buttons ventured to peek over the rim of the room only to instantly have to duck a burst of energy. He popped back up firing a marble back before ducking back while a rewarding squeal sounded from one of the beasts. 

Diamond Tiara crawled over to the edge and raised her head just enough to peek over before quickly ducking back. "They’re just hanging around and staring up at the roof," She said.

"We should be ok until the adults get back," Silver Spoon commented. "They obviously can't climb up the sides and with the raised rim running around the roof we have something to duck behind. As long as we stay low we'll be fine." Her classmates breathed a sigh of relief. The store was large so there was plenty of room up there and the rim created a little wall giving them something to hide behind if they went near the edge.

Buttons peeked over the edge again when heard a strange thump. He grimaced, fired a marble and ducked back.

"What are you doing?!" Diamond Tiara hissed. "There's no need. We're safe up here!"

"No we're not," Buttons replied indicating that she look back over the edge. Diamond Tiara glanced over and saw one of the monster who had appeared to have fallen shaking itself off. Next to it were two others who were oddly standing side by side. The first monster hopped onto their backs standing with one foot on either companion. A third monster climbed up the stack of beast to stand on his back bringing it so much close to the roof with the other monster following close behind.

"EEPP!" Diamond Tiara yelped snatching the slingshot from Buttons. She fired a marble at one of the bottom monsters before the last beast could climb up. The monster yelped yanking a foot up causing the stack to collapse. They simply shook themselves off and started again. 

"Their stacking up like a bunch of stupid bricks! If the last one climbs up he'll be able to jump up here!" Diamond Tiara told the others. They gasped. 

"Then we just keep knocking them down!" Buttons yelled taking another slingshot from Snips and firing a marble at the beasts.

"These marbles won't last forever!" Diamond Tiara cried as she looked down at their inadequate stash of ammo. "We have to get out of here!"

"But how?!" Snails wined. "We're trapped!"

"The hot air balloon!" Rumble called from the other side of the roof as Buttons knocked over the stack of monsters again. Everypony looked to where he was pointing. A block away was the hot air balloon service post. The basket was still tied to the platform with the balloon completely collapsed. "Me and Featherweight could fly over there and fire it up. "We've never flown a balloon before but we could figure out how to get it over here and pick you up. Then all we would have to do is float up into the clouds. They could never reach us then!"

"Go for it and hurry!" Pip directed before rushing over to join Diamond Tiara and Buttons. Featherweight quickly handed Pound cake to another foal and darted after Rumble who was already headed for the balloon. While the two pegasus took off Pip, Diamond Tiara and Buttons kept firing marbles every time the monsters tried form a living ladder. Silver Spoon and other classmates kept watch on the progress of the two pegasus.

"Just one marble at a time," Diamond instructed. "We have to make this last."

"And don't aim at the beaks, if those are beaks," Buttons added. "They’re too thick for the monsters to even feel it."

" They’ve got it untied!" Silver Spoon announced, "Their having trouble figuring out how to fire it up though! Oh come on....Yes!"

With a roar the flame beanth the balloon flared. The balloon began to inflate but painfully slow. Everypony on the roof cheered at the sight and the heads of five monsters turned. All in unison they threw back their heads and shrieked waking up the twins and making everypony clap their hoofs over their ears. In a frenzied scramble the beasts raced toward the source of the flame.

"Featherweight! Rumble Look out!" Silver Spoon yelled at the top of her lungs. Her voice was soon joined by her classmates all yelling together to alert the pegasus. There was a loud crash as the monsters charged straight into the balloon as the two pegasus came zipping back as fast as their little wings could carry them. They collapsed panting on the roof while their classmates watched in dismay as the hot air balloon was lost. The monsters crashed into the basket, shot magic at the flame engine and trampled the balloon with their foot claws tearing the thick fabric.

"Their stopping us from leaving! I didn't think that those monsters could be that smart!" Buttons declared. 

"Maybe they’re not that smart," Replied Twist tapping her chin while she watched a monster run headlong into the basket. "I've been trying to figure out just how they see us with no eyes for a while. Rumble would you fly over to a house near them, don't get seen but make as much noise as possible."

Rumble shrugged and flew to a house that stood near the balloon platform. He landed on the slop of the roof opposite of the side that faced the monsters. Once there he stomped and yelled at the top of his lungs. The monsters never looked up no matter how much noise he made. At Twist instructions he flew down beside the house and shoved a one pony cart so that it rolled out into the street right past the monsters who never looked up. The gradually gave up on the hot air balloon and started heading back towards the store.

Twist tried yelling as they drew near but the monsters never looked up. Finally she and a few others popped up above the rim. Instantly the monsters let out a shriek and ran the rest of the way back.

“That’s it!” Twist said as Diamond and the two colts took position to shoot at any monsters that tried to form a stack again.

“What is it!” Featherweight asked.

“They don’t really see us and they appear to be deaf too,” Twist explained. “Either that or they do not understand sound.”

“But then how do they find us if their blind and deaf?” Buttons asked as he shot a marble at the feet of a monster as they tried the same trick again.

“Remember when Miss Cheerilee taught us about snakes who could sense heat?” Twist said. “Well they see heat. Our body heat is like beacon to them. They went for the balloon because it became the hottest thing around. Any understanding that they have of their surroundings probably comes from the different tempters like say of the buildings compared to the ground. Anything that is hot enough they perceive to be a living thing.”

“But what do we do about it?” Asked Buttons.

“Um, I do have an idea,” Twist ventured, “But it seems kinda’ stupid.”

“If it’s stupid but it works it isn't stupid.” Buttons replied. “What is it?”

“Well I’ll need any pony with wings to gather us some stuff and one of us has to be brave to try it first,” Twist replied. 

“I’ll do it.” Diamond Tiara replied quickly.

“You’re not going without me!” Silver spoon stated firmly stepping up beside her. “What do we have to do?” 

*                                         *                                          *


Some distance from Ponyville the older ponies who stood outside the tunnels turned their heads as they thought that they heard sounds echoing over the hills. It was gone quickly though and they turned their attention back to the surrounding area. Monsters had come out of the tunnels and gathered in the field across from the elderly ponies but made no move towards them. They hissed and shrieked while stomping their feet as if trying to guard something but stayed where they were. They seemed very confused as if still set on guarding the corridors below but not understanding what to do once forced out. So they guarded nothing. Granny Crumpet sent details of this development to the ponies underground via magic.

Underground the militia of equine were getting close to the surface. Lily found herself having to answer all kinds of question from curious ponies until her dad shooed them off. They were nearly to the surface but moved at no hurried pace completely unaware of what was going on in Ponyville. In the cavern far below thick glass shattered and a black wreathing mass filtered out.

Many corridors above Lily’s ears pricked up. She glanced back at the chest that the two stallions were carrying. She could have sworn that she had heard some sound, like something shuttering come from inside it. The two stallions seemed to notice anything though so it was probably just her imagination. 

> The Great Escapes, One good, One Bad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One the roof of Rich's Barnyard Bargains foals crowded along the edge. They nervously peered over the edge, anxiously shifting on the feet and chewing on hoofs. The monsters below kept watch on them in turn and frequently trying to stack up again in order to reach the roof. Buttons and Pip stayed at the edge every ready fire marbles and send them crashing down again. Their ammo supply was getting dangerously low.

Everypony tensed at the faint sound of something scraping near the door below. 

"Here we go," Twist whispered anxiously. Buttons and Pip stretched back the cords of their slingshots, making ready to fire in case something went wrong.

All eyes watched as an object scooted out from the storefront below. It was a large, open cardboard box that was flipped upside down. A toy spyglass had been stabbed into the front. Inside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked cautiously forward, pushing the box along with them.

"This does seem really stupid," Silver Spoon commented.

"But it seems to be working," Diamond Tiara replied squinting through the spyglass. "They’re not even looking at us." 

The foals on the roof watched nervously until the box scooted past the monsters into the center of the road. They let out a cheer which was lost on the beasts.

"Their alright. It worked," Featherweight told Twist patting her on the back. Twist uncovered her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright everypony," Pip called out, "Single file to the hatch. You remember what to do. Only a few at a time. We don't want to risk somepony alerting the monsters. Me, Buttons and a few others will keep the monsters distracted until you leave."

Fillies and colts began slipping down the hatch. Instinctively they moved silently, momentarily forgetting that the creatures could not hear them. Just under the hatch, between the broken shelves were various items that the pegasus foals had collected either from the store or around town. 

The foals began slipping out of the store in whatever numbers their mobile hiding place would allow. A plastic mini playhouse with the shutters covered slipped out with four foals inside. It was followed by an industrial sized bucket with a single filly crouching inside. Next was another box with two foals scooting it along. Thus, one by one the strange little procession paraded its way between the beasts. Some of the foals, such as those in the bucket had to follow the rest by sound. One of them even bumped into one of the monsters. The colt and the onlookers had frozen in fear for a moment. The monster though, simply snorted, stared in confusion at cold object then walked away. Everypony breathed a sigh of relief and the escape continued. They followed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who had scooted their box behind a building across the street. Many of the foals now couldn’t help shouting insults at the monsters who were still focused on the store roof as they passed by.

Pip and Buttons along with the volunteers, Snips and Snails watched and waited until the rest of their classmates had made it out of the store. Buttons and the class president remained in full view of the monsters the entire time, ever ready with their slingshots. The two other colts lay crouched below the rim of the roof. They had volunteered more out of being scared of creeping past the monsters than wanting to be brave.

Featherweight and Dinky had taken charge of the Cake twins who were wide awake now. Not understanding the situation, they were interested in play. The pair had to keep shushing them and pretending that it was a game of keeping quiet.

"Alright, it's our turn," Pip said walking over to the hatch.

"Can't we just stay here?" Snips asked.

"Yeah. If we stay down, they won’t know that we're here." Snails added.

"They already think that the whole class is up here," Pip replied. "It won’t matter if you stay down or not. They will keep trying to get up here and sooner or later they will succeeded."

"Well maybe if we stay real quiet they will think no pony is up here and go away," Said Snips.

"Yeah," Snails agreed.

"Their deaf!" Buttons yelled and started pushing the reluctant pair towards the hatch. Once they had guided/pushed the two colts into the store Pip and Buttons followed after them. They directed Snips and Snails towards the remaining items that the pegasus had gathered. Pip chose a bucket and flipped it over his head and Buttons hid under a cardboard box. Carful to keep the tops of the items to the ground they crept out confident that the two other colts were right behind them.

Nearly across the street Dinky and Featherweight were still distracting the Cake twins who were getting more and more lively.

"Shhh. It's a hiding game," They kept whispering as they tried to hurry their cardboard box out of sight. Before anypony could stop her Pumpkin Cake seized the cardboard box in her magic and threw it off while yelling our "Peek-a-boo!"

Every foal still making their way across the street and those had made their way behind the buildings froze in horror. The heads of every monster snapped in their direction and let out a shriek. Just as the lead monster started to charge a light grey bolt shot down in front of it and without slowing it slammed into the monster’s legs. It tripped over Rumble and fell face first into the dust. The young colt found himself now staring down the beaks of the other monsters but that heroic act triggered something inside the other foals. With yells ranging from enraged to terrified the foals slung off their cover and charged. The stunned monsters shrieked in confusion as the colorful wave of young ponies flooded over them. 

The streets became filled with pandemonium. Monsters would constantly sling off fillies and colts only to tackled by more. Pound Cake zipped out above the chaos laughing and pointing. Pumpkin Cake sat on the sidelines waiving at her brother and the ponies in the fray. A wide shot from a monster hit its mark and trapped her inside of a bubble. Pumpkin just looked up at the bubble, laughed while waiving to Pound Cake again, lit up her and walked right through the bubble.

Without Malice of Tar Flanks to give them commands and their targets now attacking them head on the monsters could not work out what to do. They began to scatter in the street with crowds of foals after them.

Diamond Tiara was hot pursuit of one monster who was still trying to run after Pound Cake despite having Silver Spoon and Pip hanging on to a leg each and Buttons hanging on to its beak. Hearing whimpers coming out of an alley way she quickly darted down it expecting to find some foal hurt. Instead she found Snips and Snails cowering against a wall.

Diamond Tiara groaned. "What are you two doing down here? Are you just going to hide here while everypony else fights?" She stated stomping her hoof.

"Y-yeessss!" Snails cried.

"It's not like we can do anything anyway." Snips added. "We're noting but screw-ups."


The young mare snorted back. "Do you know what got Lily captured?" She asked. "Ponies acting just like you. Ponies who wanted to sit back and hope she took care of everything and who more than proved themselves when they actually tried. Don't you remember what Lily said?" They shook their heads. "A pony is always more than one thing but if you want to just accept just being screw-ups that fine but I'm got work to do." With that she turned around and started to walk back into the street.

Behind her the two colts looked at one another, swallowed hard, hoof bumped and then charged screaming past Diamond Tiara. They shot out into the street and into the fray. Their horns lit up at the same time and a monster was swept off its feet. Not knowing what to do next the pair just kept running and screaming down the street taking the monster with them as it kicked uselessly at the sky.

The remaining monsters were starting to recover from the shock of the foal attack and shook off their assailants to regroup. Before they could go back to spitting magic blasts at the foals Dinky suddenly yelled, "I have an idea!" Her horn lit up at the same time and a flash of light bathed the entire area monetarily blinding everypony. When they blinked the spots out of their eyes they saw that the monsters had stopped too. They stood frozen for a few moments and then started stumbling about and bumping into things as the foals scattred out of the way of their feet.

"What did you do?" Pip asked.

Dinky shrugged. "Twist said that they see heat and cold and stuff so I made everything the same temperature. Now they can't see anything."

"How did you do that?" Another unicorn asked.

Dinky just shrugged again. "I just thought about doing it and did it."

Rumble who was hovering above building level laughed but it was quickly cut short as he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a huge mound of dirt traveling from the Everfree towards Ponyville. He swallowed hard. That could only be one thing. Before he could announce the bad news though something else happened. A huge rumble shook the ground and even the tatzelwurm stopped to raise its head and look around. Over the hills to where the adults had gone a huge black mass that was darker than midnight began to rise into the air.

*                          *                           *

For Lily it was like a dream. One that started out pleasant but then suddenly turned dark. She was riding on her father's back as he stepped into sunlight, the warmth brought even more joy to add to that of her rescue. She spotted Granny Crumpet standing with the elders across the hole dotted field that had once belonged to the diamond dogs. Lily waived to her and it was instantly returned as the ponies of Ponyville gave a joyous shout to celebrate their job well done.

Then an intense rumble sounded from below. The ground shook so hard that even surefooted ponies stumbled. A crack appeared in the middle of the field sending ponies scrambling away while desperately trying to keep their balance. With a sound of rock splitting open the black mass poured out from earth. It had grown to huge proportions and seemed to flow endlessly from the widening gap in the earth. Ponies cried out as they scrambled to keep it from touching them. The Longsock parents scrambled to protect their children. Lily forgot her super strength as she stared at that hideous thing and felt it's waves of sickness tenfold. The black mass swirled upwards to hover above them and continued to grow larger as it cast a shadow over the crowd below.

Lily staggered back and fell against the chest that the stallions had dropped. She lay there and stared helplessly up at the thing. The only defense that her mind could give was to demand that this really was not happening. Then, from somewhere Lily heard a whisper. A whisper so faint that she hardly noticed it over the black swirling mass.

> Dark Skies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Ponies screamed and collapsed on the ground with despair. After such a triumph of not only an enemy but of themselves it was unthinkable to lose to this horrible monster in whatever dreadful thing that it had planned. The hissing blackness that somehow seemed to be laughing above them was blotting out the sunlight and would soon reach Ponyville. It’s swirling mass was making the wind stir into an increasingly fast vortex. It's sickening radiance was overbearing. More and more ponies slumped to the ground as if crushed by its weight. 

Lily too lay on the ground unable to get up. Then her ears turned towards the sound that she had been ignoring. So far she had been unable to hear it above the storm that was that blackness. In turning her focus, she felt a little bit stronger. 

“The box!” Lily called to the stallions who had carried the chest. “Open it! It has whatever will stop this thing! Are you listening?!” The stallions nor anypony paid her any mind. Their eyes stayed on the expanding black mass.

“Hey! Listen we-! Why am I asking somepony to open this box for me?!” lily demanded herself. She stood up and smashed the chest open with one blow.  A simple looking red jewel rolled out onto the ground. For all appearances it seemed to be no different than any other jewel that ponies use for trade. Yet she knew that this was no more a mere jewel no more than that black mass was just a shadow.

“Everypony! Look!” lily shouted at the top of her lungs as she held the jewel high. Slowly but surely the jewel began to glow just a bit.

“What is that?” Her father yelled over the now howling wind that swirled around them. 

“It appears to be something like one of the elements of harmony or the crystal heart… maybe?” A mare stated before Lily could venture to guess.

“What does it matter?!” Another mare cried. We can’t use the Elements of Harmony or anything like it!”

“How would you know?” Granny Crumpet retorted. “Have you ever tried and it is not even the Elements of Harmony! This is something else but it doesn’t matter anyway? Can’t any of you remember that a certain five ponies were just members of Ponyville? I’m an old mare with a crumpet on my flank yet I’ve-”

“Stop it you old pony!” The mare snapped back.  “Not all of us spent a life of adventures, deeds and fortune! Some of us have lived our whole lives in Ponyville.” 

Granny Crumpet eyed at her with a cool gaze. “I only achieve what I did because I dared go out and do it.”

“We don’t need to hear your bragging!”  A stallion joined in.

“It’s not bragging! It’s a point meant to encourage you!”

“What does it even matter!” A mare screamed over them. “This is not just some dumb monsters this time! We do NOT have the Elements of Harmony inside of us! We’re not princes and princesses! New gem or the old ones we can’t work them!”

“Says who?”

“Do you really think that highly of yourself?!”

“Do you think that little of yourself?!”

Painfully Lily watched as everypony fell to arguing among themselves while the massive threat was ever growing bigger. Soon the entire skyline would be blotted out. 

“If I were to be honest I would think that that we’re going to be swallowed up while their ranting all the way,” Lily father stated walking up beside her. 

Lily almost jumped as a realization hit her. Just normal ponies being honest.  

“How can you not realize that the elements of harmony ARE in you too?” Lily screamed above the wind. “I'm not talking about the stones but the Elements as in the actual actions of honesty, kindness, generosity and the others. They do not just belong to six ponies! Even if you don't feel that those things come naturally to you like the six you can still choose it! Anypony who choses to live by those concepts holds a society together! It is us, not just a few ponies that makes Ponyville! It is all of us.  What I am saying is that you are important whoever you are and you do not have to be "special" or a standout to do something great. You have it in you! You just have to get up and do it! The only thing that keeps one from accomplishing is to not try! Did any of you know that you could succeed in saving me and Ponyville before you tried?! Yet here we are! Please! Let us try again! This stone is not one of The Elements of Harmony that the six had! This one is for us!""

Mares and stallions including her own family stared at her as they tried to comprehend what she had just said. Then a normally quiet mare named Banana Fluff raced forward. “Heck, a long shot compared to no chance! I am taking the long shot!” She reached out to the red jewel with her magic. The eyes of everypony grew wider as the gem glowed just a little brighter just before the blackness had reached all horizons and the it quickly became their only light under the expanding blanket of darkness. Unicorns began hurrying closer while lighting up their horns. The jewel grew many times brighter but still nothing happened.

“What are you waiting for? Mayor Mare called to the rest of the residents as she hurried to join them. “I know four ponies who proved that you don't have to be unicorns to use magic!” Every pegasus and earth pony, every stallion and mare hurried after her to stand with the group huddled around Lily who was still holding the jewel. The jewel then swelled into blinding brightness and the swirling black mass above them loosed a grinding roar. It swirled wildly above them and stinging winds lashed the little group of ponies. If they had not been standing so tightly together they would have been scattered like leaves in a hurricane. The ponies huddled tighter and tighter against the gale that soon felt as if it was crushing them. Ponies fell to their bellies and knees with their heads bent down against the terrible force. Lily’s father and mother clung tightly to her lest the little foal be swept away. They could see the bright light from the jewel through clinched eyelids but hear nothing but the awful roar in their ears and feel almost nothing but the terrible sickening presence pressing down around them. That and the winds beating at their huddled forms. Though they hoped and believed it seemed like they would soon meet an awful end. Still they held on. Then suddenly after one last wail it was over. Ponies slowly and cautiously raised their heads. The horrid black mass was gone. The skies above were so clear and their surroundings were so peaceful that it almost seemed unreal after standing under that black mass and pounding storm. 

At the edge of Ponyville foals who had stood watching the expanding darkness turn into a black whirlwind over the distant hills now sat gaping at the blue skies. The monsters who were in Ponyville and those who had been scattered by the wind over the Diamond Dog fields now stood quietly glancing around with their heat seekers. Then calmly they began picking their way back towards the tunnels that would take them home into the depths of the earth.

Outside the town the tatzelwurm was blinking in the sunlight looking as if it had just woken up from a dream. It looked around in confusion for a moment then slowly slid back under the earth. A low lump of soil moved across the surface as it burrowed its way back to its home at the edge of Equestria.    


> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As the sun rose the following morning it found the residents of Ponyville cleaning up the aftermath of the night before. Despite the damage all of them were in pretty high spirits. They had faced destruction in their little town more than once before and the damage this time around was far from the worst. It was different this time though, this time it was them who had saved the day. 

Local construction workers made their rounds, creating a list of all damaged buildings. Stout stallions pulled carts loaded with debris to and fro while others gathered up the next load. Nurses took turns monitoring the two unconscious villains who would be turned over to Canterlot authorities as soon as Princess Twilight returned. Ponies who were too elderly to manage any heavy duties worked to help coordinate, or managed refreshments for the workers. Even the foals did their part, sweeping up scattered twigs and smaller bits of debris. 

All the while both the adults and the foals couldn’t help but chatter about their exploits against the monsters. Fillies and colts acted out their ventures (with some extra grandeur) for many of the adults, while others begged for their parents to tell them about their part in rescuing Lily over and over.  Derpy, a very proud parent, flew up and down the streets with Dinky riding her back as she told anypony and everypony that she was going to apply her daughter to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. For some ponies it took some insisting from the foals that the little filly, known for her inhibition in magic had conjured up such a spell. When asked Dinky just replied with a shrug.  Derpy was not the only proud parent. Both Diamond Tiara's and Pips’ parents strode about with their offspring unable to keep from swelling with pride on how they took charge to make sure every foal was safe.     

Lily Longsocks found herself much in demand during the cleanup. With her gifted super strength, she was asked to hold up sections of wall so that they could be fixed or remove things such as a full grown tree that the tatzelwurm had burrowed under. She also walked alongside construction crews easily carrying boxes that often took two stallions to move. The other half of her time was taken up by signing autographs. Instead of Little Mare Do Well they now wanted Lily Mare Do Well. Mrs. Cheerilee, her dad, her mother (after scolding her for doing such dangerous things) as well as many other ponies would not stop praising her. This made Lily blush to no end. It wasn’t too hard to be the hero when behind a mask but now, with everypony knowing who she was, her little pink cheeks were bright red as she kept trying excuses to hide. Prickles was no help at all. He stood on her head constantly striking muscle flexing poses everything she lifted something. Mayor Mare finally came to her rescue and shooed everypony off.

“Why don’t you take a rest and hang out with Mrs. Crumpet for a while,” The mayor said as she escorted Lily towards one of the refreshment tables.

“Phew,” said Lily. 

Granny Crumpet was sitting near Town Hall watching a group of ponies rebuilding the shape of the roof that would soon be lifted to the top of the building by pegasus. Lily trotted over and sat beside her elderly friend in front of the table. 

“Hello Great Lily Mare Do Well,” Granny Crumpet said with a smile.

“Not you too!” Lily groaned making Granny Crumpet laugh.  

“I’m just teasing but never forget Lily, you did well and deserve a little recognition,” Granny Crumpet put a hoof around her shoulders. “Didn’t you enjoy being the hero?”

Lily shrugged. “It was certainly awesome as an idea but once there it was scary. I quickly found out how dangerous it was and wished that I didn’t have to be a hero.”

“Would you do it again if you had to?” Granny Crumpet asked.

Lilt blushed and shifted her hooves before replying. “Yeah.” 

Granny crumpet laughed and ruffled her mane. “You are a little hero.”

*                   *                            *

Across town Mayor Mare trotted through the streets checking up on every project. She had stopped to check the list of all damages that had been collected when Shoeshine tapped her on the shoulder.

“Do you hear that?”

Mayor Mare and the other ponies tipped back their heads and listened. A distant sound echoed faintly from the sky. It sounded so much like rolling thunder that some ponies started home to fetch an umbrella. Then they realized that it was too constant to be thunder. Soon the whole town noticed it as the sound grew steadily louder. 

“There is no storm scheduled this week,” Blossomforth stated before flying into the air with serval other pegasi.

“What do you see?” Mayor Mare called up to them.

“It’s an army!... An army from The Crystal Empire led by Princess Twilight!” Sassaflash called down.

“Huh, I guess one of our messages got through after all,” A unicorn stated. As he did the army of crystal guards closed in on Ponyville with their wings pounding furiously. Nearly every Pegasi was part of a team pulling a chariot. All of them were packed with crystal earth ponies and unicorns. In the lead was their Crystal Princess and Twilight surrounded by her friends. Soon the massive cacophony of pounding wings turned into that of hooves and churning wheels as the army landed in and around Ponyville. Those that couldn’t land in the streets landed on top of buildings where the guards leapt out of the chariots and stood ready. The Ponyville residents simply stood staring in aw at the crystal army. 

Twilight bolted out of her chariot the moment that it landed and dashed towards Mayor Mare. Her five friends quickly followed. Twilight skidded to a stop in front of the Mayor with her friends barley avoiding crashing into her. 

“We got your message!” The princess stated. “It was weak but it came through!”

“Yeah, it was just two words,” Pinkie pie added. “All it said was HELP!!!! PONYVILLE!!!! But we knew what you meant.”

“Don’t worry,” Twilight said. “You're safe now. We’ll stop whatever did this to Ponyville!”

The ponies simply stared back a moment, then they collapsed with laughter.

Twilight along with pretty much the entire Crystal Empire Army blinked back in profound bewilderment.

“Hey!” Twilight called, “What… What is going on and what happened here!”

Mayor Mare managed to compose herself and replied. “Well Princess Twilight, it is quite a story but first do you think that we could send a letter to Princess Celestia like you used to?”

“What?” Was all Twilight could say.

Applejack trotted up beside her. “I think what she tryin’ to say Twilight, is that we’re a might late.”


*                      *                   *

  Dear Princess Celestia,

We, the citizens of Ponyville have learned some very important lessons. We now know to remember that we are always more than one thing and capable of more than we realized. Whatever the circumstances the biggest thing that holds us back is ourselves. With this we also realized that we should never neglect learning how to take care of ourselves. This doesn’t mean to never accept help but that you can’t simply depend on somepony else to step in and fix everything that goes wrong. It is a terribly self-destructive thing to always want somepony else to fix your troubles. If you wont help yourself then nopony can. No matter how awesome they may be they will never be able to do everything for you nor able to always be there. 

Besides, sooner or later somepony that you care about may need your help one day.


*                       *                     *


Away from the village the Everfree Forest stood silent and as mysterious as it always had. Its thick trees created a dense canopy blocking off view of the forest floor from any creature that might fly above. Under the shade of those thick branches four clawed feet padded lightly on the damp earth. A dark red tail swayed behind the creature and delicate looking wings rested on his back. The creature, a small dragon stopped at the base of a particularly tall tree. He stood up on his hind legs, which made him about as tall as a regular sized stallion and looked up at the branches. He spread his thin leathery wings and with a few flaps his deceptively light frame was lifted into the air. Reaching the branches, he climbed upwards until he was above the tops of the surrounding trees. 

Once up as high as he could go the dragon sat down on a limb and looked out across the forest at the little town beyond. His keen eyes could make out the damaged buildings and the teeny-tiny figures that were ponies. It looked like there was quite a crowd in the streets today. 

The dragon sat there a while watching, wondering a little what had happened but mostly pondering about something else. There was no doubt about it, he needed help. While he couldn’t say why, he just knew that the only one who could help him was a little filly of whom he did not even know her name. He wishe he had asked now but when he met her she was just a pony and why should he want to know one? Now she was the only pony in the world that he wouldn’t mind being around but its wasn’t like he could count on her coming into the Everfree Forest again. His only hope of contacting her again was to fly into the village and look for her. He gaged at the thought. Would HE, a mini dragon, really go into a village full of PONIES? Well that is another story. 

> Bonus Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     It did not take long for Ponyville to be fully repaired, especially with all the extra hooves from The Crystal Empire. In a few days the little town was looking like its old self save for the obviously new paint jobs and building restorations. it did, in fact, look a little better than it had before. The residents had been sad to see the crystal ponies go but some were making plans to visit the empire and their new friends. Ponyville soon settled back to seeming like the usual place that it had always been. However, the change in the ponies could be felt in the general atmosphere of the town. 

For Lily Longsocks things went back to the usual but not so usual. Things fell closer normality in the fact that she could just be a kid again and not worry about having to fight monsters or villains. Things were not the same however, in the fact that she was no longer just one of the local foals. Now everypony knew her name and it was no longer so easy to pass through the streets without ponies calling a greeting or stopping her. She was pretty sure that it was going to be a long time before she stopped hearing about Lily Mare Do Well and was no longer asked for autographs. At least it as mostly just the adults. Among her school friends things were pretty close to how it had been before the first day that she had saved the town. Sure, she was still famous to them for her super strength and being Lily Mare Do they still treated her like much more like Lily Longsocks and not Lily Mare Do Well. They often wanted her to put on her costume but only to play. Today would be a good day to sneak off and just be a pretend hero fighting pretend villains. 

Lily opened up her closet and looked at her costume hanging in the shadows. Its dark colors blended into the dim light with the eyes staring out at you and the hat suspended just above the head. 

“Ready to go surprise everypony and ‘save the day’ Prickles?” She asked her little pet. The hedgehog saluted with the most serious expression on his little face. Lily laughed and took her costume out. She put it on and stowed Prickles under her hat. Calling bye to her mom Lily headed for the back door. Once out she headed straight for the alleyway between the nearest buildings hoping that not many adults, if any, would see her. Thankfully nopony seemed to be around. Lily looked left then right and then hurried down the alley to where it crossed with another. Before she reached it the original, full sized Mare Do Well stepped out from around the corner and stood there with her cape flowing in the wind. Lily skidded to a stop so hard that she almost fell face first into the dirt. Blinking Lily pulled off her mask and rubbed her eyes to make sure that what she was seeing was real. Yes, Mare Do Well was still there. Lily sat down and stared at the sight with her jaw hanging open. During the chaos of the past days Lily had all but forgotten about the original Mare Do Well. 

Prickles slipped out from under Lily’s hat and looked at the figure before them. 

“Curr?” He said to Lily. When she didn’t respond he leaned down, put a paw under her chin and closed her mouth.

Then the silence was broken by Mare Do Well. Peals of familiar laughter echoed through the alleyway. Mare do Well pulled off her mask revealing none other than Ponyville’s party pony, Pinkie Pie. Before Lily’s mind could process this a second Mare Do Well walked around the corner. Lily’s mouth dropped open again. This Mare Do Well pulled off her mask as well and revealing the face of Princess Twilight Sparkle. 

Hearing the sounds of trotting hooves Lily turned to see yet a third Mare Do Well. Pulling off her mask Applejack smiled back at her. “Hi, Youngin’,” she called while waiving a hoof cheerfully. 

Lily looked from one mare to the other in amazement. Again, before Lily could think of something to say a soft giggle came from overhead. Fluttershy, wearing her own Mare Do Well costume minus the mask landed beside her.

“Dear, you simply must let me fix that costume into looking….less cheap. I can’t stand to see you running around in such a poorly put together suit.” Lily looked back to see Rarity and Rainbow Dash walking up beside Twilight and Pinkie Pie. 

Lily blinked at them a moment longer and then smiled. “Oh, I always thought that you were fans of Mare Do well too.”

All six mares burst out laughing. 

“You could say that,” Pinkie Pie replied between giggles.

“Why don’t you come with us back to the castle,” Twilight said when she had recovered. “There’s a little story that we want to tell you. The true story of Mare Do Well.” 

*                         *                       *

Around that time Lily’s mother walked out of her front door and headed to their neighbor, Mrs. Crumpet. The mare trotted up onto the porch and knocked lightly.

“I’m a-commin’.” The voice of the venerable mare echoed through the door. Mrs. Longsocks could hear the hoof beats of the elderly pony as she made her way across the house. A short time later the door swung open revealing Mrs. Crumpet. “Well hello, Mrs. Longsocks.  Good morning. What can I do for you?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Mrs. Longsocks replied, “I just wanted to ask a question.” 

“Ask away.”

“Well,” Mrs. Longsocks started, “It’s just... WHAT were you thinking when you encouraged my little filly fight against monsters and villains all on her own?!” 

Mrs. Crumpet grinned nervously. “Uh, sorry, can’t hear you. These old ears aren’t as good as they used to be. It’s... uh, my nap time and boy am I tired!” She said while quickly shutting the door.