In the bustling city of Manehatten, atop the tallest skyscraper, stood a lone figure. A savior for the helpless, a pony that stands for truth, justice and the equestrian way. No it's not Supermare. It's everypony a favorite superhero: The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well! As our hero looked out over the city, she noticed that... Nothing was wrong. With a groan she turned around and started to make her way back to the staircase when, she heard a cry for help. Leaping to the edge of the building, her cape catching the wind, she looked back over the city again trying to find where the plea for help had come from. She spied a mugger in an alley way that had just stolen a mares purse and was making a break for it. This is just what Mare-Do-Well needed, a mugging to keep her entertained. Leaping off the building, she spread her cape like a set of wings and glided down to the alley way. Yes, she had wings of her own, but the cape required less effort. When she touched down in the alley way she moved to block the exit so the purse-snatcher couldn't get away.
"You do realise that this is a dead end and I'm blocking the exit, so just make this easy on yourself and give me that mares purse back!" she called out to the crook.
"Well well well lookie what we have here, a mare who thinks she can play hero!" The crook replied in a deep threatening voice, he was obviously a stallion from the sound of his voice.
"Listen, I'm not here to exchange witty comments. Just give me the purse or I'm going to put you into the hospital, or the cemetary, your choice."
"Yeah sure. Why don't you come over here and-" he didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Mare-Do-Well punched him square in the jaw, sending him reeling and making him drop the stolen purse. She pulled out a set of hoof cuffs from a hidden pocket in her suit and attempted to lock the downed crook to a near by pipe, but the crook regained his wits and pulled out a pocket knife and swung it at Mare-Do-Well. She dodged by a few inches as the blade almost cut into her face, she retaliated by giving him a swift right hook to the face and used the momentum from her swing to turn around and buck him in the chest. The crook was sent back a few feet before he tripped over his hooves and fell on his back. Before he had a chance to get up Mare-Do-Well had pulled out her hoof-cuffs and locked him to a drainpipe. As the crook attepted to slip out of the cuffs, Mare-Do-Well went back to the stolen purse to find the mare the purse belonged to already going to retreive it. Seeing that her job was done, Mare-Do-Well pulled out her grapple-gun and ascended to the top of the building to her right. Again, she could have used her wings, but the grapple gun was easier, and tonight, she just felt to tired to bother with her wings. After one quick last look over the city, she turned and headed back to her home to get some well deserved rest.
~
When she finally got to her apartment building she climbed up the fire escape to her floor, she wasn't going to go into the lobby after all, ponies would recognise her, she pushed open her window and slid in. As she pulled of her hat and mask, we get our first glance at our heros real face and identity. The mare behind the mask had a turquoise coat and a mane of amber with a yellow streak, that right folks, our hero is the one and only: Lightning Dust. As Lightning sat down on her black leather couch, she reminisced on why she had taken up the life of a hero.
As Lightning Dust went and checked the mailbox of her cloud house. She was anxious to get a particular letter that would change her life forever. She got to her mailbox just in time to see the grey coated mail mare flying into the distance. 'That can only mean one thing' she thought excitedly. As she opened her mail box the reached in and found two things, one a random magazine from ponyville. 'Why do I still get this?' She wondered 'I un subscribed ages ago'. The second item in her mailbox was an envelope with a golden winged lightning bolt stamp on it. 'buck yeah! This is it, a letter from the Wonderbolts!'. She ripped open the envelope and pulled out a folded letter. The letter read: 'Lightning Dust, congratulations you have been successfully enrolled in the Wonderbolt Academy'.
Lightning was more then exited about this, she was over the moon. So ecstatic that she didn't even look at the magazine from ponyville, she just put it on the edge of her glass coffee table, a little to close to the edge as it slipped off and slid under her coach.
A few months later and lightning dust has just gotten home from being kicked out of the Wonderbolt academy by that wussy bitch, Rainbow Dash. Just because she couldn't keep up with Lightnings competitiveness didn't mean she had to go tattling to Spitfire. She was so angry that she flipped her couch out of anger. Under where her coach used to be was a magazine she remembered from when she got her enrolment letter. She had nothing better to do, so she picked up the magazine, flipped the coach back to its correct position and sat down to read the old magazine. On the cover was a pony in a purple costume with a mask, fedora and a cape. The head line was 'New superhero for in Ponyville, more details on page two'. This sparked Lightnings interest, as a filly she was a fan of comics and superheros, though if any pony asked she'd deny it. She flipped to page two and read the article: 'Ponyville newest superhero: Mare-Do-Well, has recently saved Ponyville from a flood caused by a damaged dam. Using her unicorn magic, Mare-Do-Well repaired the dam before much water could get through, saving the entire town and out shining ponyvilles other resident hero, Rainbow Dash, who not only didn't help with the issue, but possibly even made it worse'. Now Lightning was really wishing she'd read this earlier. A plan was starting to form in her head, she would make her own Mare-Do-Well costume and beat the living shit out of Dash. That'd show her that revenge is a dish best served with a side of a pain.
Lightning dust went to sleep that night with a smile on her face. She remembered the look on Dash's face when she had first attacked her, she looked like she had just been betrayed by one of her best friends. While this confused Lightning at the time she didn't really care, she was getting what she rightfully deserved, revenge.
~
Meanwhile on the other side of the city,
A group of five stallions entered a seemingly abandoned warehouse, inside was a stallion sitting at a round wooden table with a suitcase on it. The stallion wore a dark hooded robe that covered almost all of his features. The five stallions took the remaining five seats around the table and waited for the robed stallion to speak.
"I assume you all know why I've gathered you all here." The stallion finally said after a few minutes of silence. He sounded like his voice was blocked by a mask.
"Cus yer payin' us?" Replied one of the stallions.
"Quite correct my friend, but also because I have a plan."
"What's the plan boss?" Inquired another stallion.
"We're going to kill the Mare-Do-Well!" Shouted the cloaked stallion.
"Uh... Boss?" Said a fourth stallion.
"What?!" Snarled led the cloaked stallion.
"I heard that Mare-Do-Well can take a bullet to the face and shrug it off like nothing" answered the fourth stallion "And fought off a fifty henchponies with two hooves behind her back."
"I heard it was a hundred" said the third stallion.
"Look it doesn't matter how many ponies she can beat," explained the hooded stallion " what does matter is what's in this suitcase." The stallion produced a silver suitcase from under the table and placed it on the table. The other stallions were amazed, but not by the suitcase, but the metal claw that held onto the handle. As the claw retracted and let go of the suitcase, it fell open revealing a small explosive detonator. "This, my friends, is a detonator. When triggered it will blow up the Manehatten power plant, sending the city into a blackout, making them unable to power the Manehatten nuclear reactor, which in turn will cause a nuclear meltdown. When Mare-Do-Well goes to stop this, we will seal her in the reactor and she will be blown to smithereens!" elaborated the stallion.
"Great plan boss!" Cheered the fifth stallion.
"Oh yes, I need to give you a better name to call me rather than just 'boss'." The hooded stallion the threw off his cloak, revealing himself to his cohorts. He was a grey pegasus stallion with a black mane, he had a cutie mark of a silhouette of a griffin. His two forhooves were replaced by two steel griffin claws and he wore a similar steel griffin-shaped mask. "I..." He said with a dramatic pause. "Am Doctor Ignatius Griffinclaw!" He shouted and threw his arms out wide, letting the other five stallions stare in awe at his robotic limbs. "And the death of Mare-Do-Well!"
Another night, another lot of criminals to put in jail. Lightning Dust flew over Manehatten in her Mare-Do-Well costume, scanning the city for any crimes about to go down. With the wind under her wings and clear skies, she was actually enjoying herself. 'I need a sidekick,' she thought 'someone to tell me where a crime is instead of me flying all over the city for nothing.' Suddenly, she heard an explosion down at the financial district. Springing into action she retracted her wings like a bird of prey and dived at extreme speed down toward the city. If her hat wasn't attached to her mask it would have flown away at the sped she was going. About 20 meters above the ground, she sprung her wings out, pulling upward sharply and skimming just above the cars on the street. She flew toward the building were the explosion had gone off and landed on the sidewalk outside the building. The building in question was the Manehatten federal reserve. 'A bank robbery? Do they really think they can actually pull this off!?' She thought, obviously befuddled by their stupidity. 'Going through the front door is going to get me shot and take away the element of surprise,' she thought, trying to form a plan. 'I'm going to need to find another way in.' She took off and flew to the top of the four storey building and noted possible entrances. 'Door to the stair well: would be just like the front door. Ventilation unit: bingo!' She trotted up the vent and, with some force, pried off the grate. Lightning looked down the vent to check for fans, running into one of those wouldn't be fun. Satisfied that the vent was safe, she slipped into the vent head first and made her slow decent down to the first floor.
Snooping around the vent she overheard three stallions and a mare, via a grating in the vent, convieniently conversing plans. 'This is just too easy!' she thought. The stallions' features were covered by belaclavas and full body jumpsuits, the mare however wasn't wearing anything that could conceal her identity. She was a unicorn with a deep, dark blue mane and a sky blue coat.
"Ok here's the plan," the mare said. "One and Two, go and make sure the hostages don't try anything funny." She told the two stallions to her left. "And you, Three," she gestured to the remaining stallion, unlike the other stallions he was a pegasus. "You crack the safe open and get the loot." The stallion headed in the direction of the banks safes, leaving the mare alone. The mare pulled out a pistol and cocked it. "I'll wait for the target" the mare said to herself in a threatening tone.
Lightning thought this was as good a time as any to make her move, she smashed a grate onto the floor below the ventilation shaft and flipped out to engage the mare.
"Oh crap! Already?!" The mare shouted.
"What's wrong?" Lightning asked, a strong hint of sarcasm in her voice. "You were looking for 'the target'. And now that she's here you go all chicken."
"You weren't supposed to get here this early!" The mare said in a panicked, shaking voice.
"I was in the neighbourhood." Mare-Do-Well said nonchalantly. "Now, I'm going to stop this robbery whether you give up or not, the latter will result in a lot more broken bones. So, you gonna give up or are you going to make it fun for me?"
The mare answered by firing off two quick shots at Mare-Do-Well... Both missed. Not wanting to find out if the third time is lucky, Mare-Do-Well charged at the mare and tackled her to the ground. The mare tried to shoot her again, but lightning knocked the hoof holding the gun away resulting in the wall next to them recieving three bullets. The mare head butted her, and lightning head butted her right back with twice the force, knocking the mare out cold. Picking herself up, Mare-Do-Well went in the direction of the two stallions who were holding the hostages. 'Get them out of danger, then stop the safe-cracker.' She thought. About halfway to the lobby where the hostages were, she had a thought 'if they see me then they're gonna shoot the hostages, can't let that happen.' She trotted back to the unconscious mare and picked up her gun. "I'm gonna need this more than you." She told the unconscious mare. She stopped just outside the lobby and fired the gun into the roof, "I got her!" She called, trying her best to imitate the mare.
"Keep an eye on the hostages, I'm going to go see the corpse of Mare-Do-Well." One of the stallions told his partner. The stallion exited the lobby and turned the corner into the hallway. "Hey! Where are you?!" He called.
"Here." The stallion looked up to see Mare-Do-Well suspended from the ceiling. She dropped and both were sent to the floor. To stop him from making noise, she slammed his head against the floor to knock him out. Luckily, it worked and the stallion went limp. Lightning took his gun and headed back to the lobby.
She opened the door to the lobby and before the second stallion could react, Lightning used the other stallions pistol to shoot the gun out of the stallions hooves. The stallion rushed for the front door and burst through it in order to escape from Mare-Do-Well, he had forgotten however, about the royal guards who had set up in front of the bank.
Mare-Do-Well was heading toward the safes when she passed the place she had fought the mare she had encountered before. She was gone. "Buck!" She exclaimed rage. She started to canter towards the safes, in fear that the mare had warned the safe-cracker and escaped. She got to the safes and saw that all of them had been picked clean, but she also noticed that the back door was open. 'They must've gone this way!' She thought. She galloped out the back door of the bank and spotted the stallion and mare turn out the alley they were in and into the street. She sped after them and took to the skies to try and catch up. They were almost in Mare-Do-Well's reach when they turned a sharp corner and got a little further ahead. When she had re-gained her tragectory, she continued to chase them.
The mare and her partner entered a subway just as a train stopped to pick up passengers, hopping on the train just as the door was shutting. Mare-Do-Well Didn't give up however, she pulled out her grappel gun and shot it at the end of the train, getting yanked behind it when the grappel guns wire went taught. She was dragged on the tracks behind the train until she spread her wings and was lifted off the tracks. She retracted the wire on the grappel gun and was winched inch by inch towards the back of the train. When she reached the back of the train she balanced on the small step outside the door and pulled a small disk out of a hidden pocket in her suit, the disk was shaped like a hockey puck, only it was metallic with a red button in the center of it. She pressed the disk against the rear door of the train and it held in place, she pressed the big red button and it started to blink. She climbed around the side of train and waited. After hearing the quite loud boom, Mare-Do-Well climbed back to the rear of the train and climbed through the door shaped hole in the back of the train.
Mare-Do-Well scanned the inside of the train for the two criminals, finding nothing, she moved to the next car. This process continued for quite a while, Mare-Do-Well had gone through the entire train except the very front of the train, where the driver normally was. The criminals couldn't be anywhere else, so Mare-Do-Well casually knocked on the door to the control room. There was no answer. She pulled out one of the criminals' guns and aimed it at the handle of the door. Firing of two shots, the passengers took cover under their seats thinking Mare-Do-Well was going to shoot them, the door handle fell off and she kicked the door open to find the two escapees driving the train and the real train driver unconscious on the floor. She imediatly pulled out the other confiscated pistol and, now standing on her hind legs, aimed them at the criminals.
"Give up." She said in her best threatening voice. The criminals put up their forehooves as a sign of surrender. "Good," she said, "now, you," she gestured to the stallion, "Three, Was it?" The stallion nodded. "Stop the train." With that, Three turned around and activated the trains brakes and after a few seconds the train had come to a complete stop. Mare-Do-Well Prompted for Three and the mare, which she had dubbed 'Four', to exit the train, they were walking down the tunnel with Three and Four ahead of Mare-Do-Well, so she could make sure they didn't do anything funny. After a few minutes, they had reached the nearest station along the tracks where the royal guards were waiting for them.
"Apprehend them," comanded a white coated unicorn stallion, he had a blue mane with a slightly lighter blue streak down the middle. "All of them." The guards apprehended Three, but as they advanced on Four, her horn lit up in the same shade of blue as her mane and in an instant, she had vanished. The guards then focused their attentions on Mare-Do-Well, she tucked her confiscated guns into her belt and pulled out a tiny pellet, throwing it on the ground, a massive cloud of smoke quickly spread and filled the tunnel, leaving the guards and their captain coughing and stumbling around blind. Mare-Do-Well had swiftly exited the subway and flown off into the night.
