The Enigmatic Mare Do Well

“So, you don’t like my music?” asked Sweetie Belle as she and Diamond Tiara sat in the office of record producer Hit Record.

Hit laughed. “You’ve got talent kid, I’ll give you that much. But, you suck. I only take those who can meet or beat Vinyl Scratch or the late, great, Sapphire Shores… so, come back when you’ve gotten better at your special talent… which should be in about fifty years,” sneered Hit.

Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara stood up and turned to leave Hit’s office. As Sweetie left, Diamond looked back at Hit, a look of the utmost loathing on her face.

~

“Well, that went well,” said Sweetie Belle as she and Diamond Tiara left the record studio.

“It doesn’t matter. One day, Hit will get what’s coming to him… I’m sure of it,” said Diamond.

Sweetie looked concerned. “You okay, DT? Ever since we’ve got here, you’ve been acting really weird. When you found out about Mare Do Well, you jumped for joy,” said Sweetie.

“So did you, Sweetie. Anyways, I’m fine… it’s you I’m worried about. Ever since your parents refused to take you in after the record company gave us the boot, you’ve been acting weird yourself… a bit more...aggressive,” said Diamond.

“So have you… more so than me, even. Besides, getting turned away by your own parents can do that to you. Come on, let’s get something to eat,” said Sweetie.

~

That night, Mare Do Well leaped from rooftop to rooftop, searching for her dark doppelganger.

According to Diamond Tiara, this imposter wears a black and gray version of my suit… shouldn’t be too hard to find, thought Mare Do Well.

Suddenly, an explosion from a flash-bang knocked Mare Do Well off of the building and sent her plummeting to the streets below.

Artificial wings, don’t fail me now, thought Mare Do Well as she activated her cape’s wings and flew right over the heads of some pony tourists. “Hello, pedestrians!” Mare Do Well yelled as she pulled up, only to be blasted by a burst of magic.

Mare Do Well saw who had fired the blast. It was a wiry turquoise unicorn armed with a bo-staff with  spikes at both ends. Next to him was a vaguely familiar blue minotaur and what looked like a stallion version of Applejack in a black hat.

“Iron Will, you’re up,” said Bad Apple.

“Got her, boss!” said Iron Will as he launched a grapple claw at Mare Do Well.

Mare Do Well growled as the claw grabbed her and pulled her in. Who are these guys? she thought.

Iron Will grabbed ahold of Mare Do Well. “Gotcha, little hero,” he said.

Mare Do Well almost gagged. “Hey, buddy, if you needed a breath mint, you only had to ask,” she said.

“It’s not about that, Miss Mare Do Well,” said Bad Apple. “What it’s about is that you’ve been mucking up the Big Boss’s plans. And that is a no-no by all accounts. Iron Will, time to squash the bug.”

As Iron Will squeezed Mare Do Well like a zit, something hit Iron Will in the back, before going off with a small explosion, sending him flying, thus forcing Iron Will to let go of Mare Do Well, whose outfit had been torn in a few places from the blast.

“I’d leave her alone if I were you… because now you’ve gotta deal with both The Enigmatic Mare Do Well… and me!” said a dark and raspy voice as what looked like a second Mare Do Well, only her suit was gray and black, appeared.

Mare Do Well looked up and her jaw dropped under her mask. It’s her! The lookalike! she thought to herself as she slowly got back to her hooves. “Took you long enough to get here, copycat.” She said as she faced one of the thugs.

“Aw, you wanted to meet me… I’m touched. How about this? Beat the big ugly minotaur in three minutes and I’ll tell you a little bit about me.” Negamare said with a smug attitude. Mare Do Well nodded and soon found herself facing Iron Will again.

“Hey there ugly! Did you miss me?” Mare Do Well asked nicely before dodging a fist that slammed into the concrete. “I guess not.” She said to herself quietly as she continued to dodge all of Iron Will’s slams and grapples but after about a minute it grew boring. “You really aren’t the brightest bulb of the bunch are you?” Mare Do Well asked before she leaped above a punch and kicked the minotaur square in the face sending him flying into a brick wall.

“Not bad Mary,” Negamare said as she finished her last thug by twisting his hoof in an awkward position and making it’s bone snap out of place.

“Arrgh!” yelled Slick, the unicorn.

“Now, then, where’s that Earth Pony?” said Negamare, looking around.

Mare Do Well looked around as well. The Earth Pony had indeed fled. “All righty, now… this is awesome, another pony inspired by the original Mare Do Well. So, who are you? The Dark Mare?”

Negamare laughed. “Not quite. I am Negamare,” she said.

“Well, that’s a nice handle. Say, since you and me are in the same line of work, do you think you and me can team up? I mean, you’re a superhero, I’m a superhero, together, we can put the crime lords in their place faster than you could say Winter Wrap Up” said Mare Do Well.

Negamare shook her head. “As tempting as it is to combine forces with one of my fillyhood heroes, especially an incarnation with talent, I’m gonna say no. I prefer to work alone. Besides, I feel that I can play the hero when I feel like it… and, tonight I feel like playing a hero,” said Negamare.

Mare Do Well seemed concerned. “Something tells me you don’t exactly like being a hero,” she said.

“To be honest… I don’t.  But, nevertheless, something must be done about this city’s… rodent problem. Laters,” Negamare said, before leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

Mare Do Well watched as her dark doppelganger made her getaway. Well, she certainly is an interesting one… but, there’s something familiar about her. Well, of course there’s something familiar about her, she has to be from Ponyville, nopony outside there knew about Mare Do Well… she thought as she began to use her artificial wings to continue her patrol.

~

Meanwhile, Negamare flew onto the balcony of an apartment and opened the sliding glass door. She made her way into her bedroom and shut the door. The sound of unzipping and of a trunk opening and closing were heard from the other side. Finally, a voice with a bit of a posh accent came from the door.

“Whew. This anti-hero business is hard work. But, still, I finally got to meet The Enigmatic Mare Do Well, and fight alongside her as an added bonus. Well, I better get some sleep. I’ve got a busy night of being a badass tomorrow… heh heh heh,” said Negamare from behind the door.