Mare-Do-Well vs the Rainbow Menace

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1 Author's Note

Idea and commission by GrimWolf01

NOTE: This story takes place between seasons 3 and 4

Chapter 1

Ponyville was normally a peaceful, happy place...when an insane deity or other calamity wasn't happening. But other than those times, its inhabitants didn't have much to disturb them when Luna's moon was high in the sky. So Rainbow Dash angrily and bitterly flying out of her cloud house after receiving a letter delivered by Derpy attracted a bit more attention than the rainbow maned pony likely desired for it to. The wall-eye pegasus was concerned, but no self respecting mailmare would violate the sacred privacy of somepony's mail without permission. Besides, the working, single mother had a work day to end, muffins to eat, and a tiny filly waiting for her at home. Still, perhaps she'd tell one of Rainbow's friends about the recipient’s reaction for the rainbow maned ponies' sake.

But there were still other ponies disturbed by the rainbow maned pegasus' angry flight out of Ponyville. Including Mayor Mare who watched out her window before she went to bed for the night.

Mayor Mare didn't frequently get the chance to aid Ponyville in its major problems. It was an unfortunate side effect of being a normal everyday pony trying to protect a town from enemies that only mystical artifacts could defeat. But one thing no one could argue was that she was uncaring of the little town in the shadow of Canterlot or the citizens of it. Quite the opposite, it was the thing she'd devoted her life to and would stick by it as long as she lived despite the limitations of being a normal.

Her quiet solitude before bed was interrupted by a rainbow colored streak flying over, muttering “This can't be right...there's no way Spitfire would let...”

The goodhearted pony tried to call to the obviously distraught mare and find out what was wrong. However, she was still only an Earth Pony and Rainbow Dash was known as the fastest Pegasus in Equestria, so by the time Ponyville's mayor could open her mouth, the Pegasus was already out of ear shot.

Mare sighed. “I do hope everything is alright...” she muttered and chose to turn in for the night. “And hopefully doesn't result in another Equestria threatening conflict...”

“Oh come on!” several of the recruits heard coming from Wonderbolts Academy's main office, along with some angry, frantic knocking. Of course being late at night, the campus was mostly abandoned with the exception of the young recruits in the barracks.

“Spitfire?! I need to talk to you!”

Unfortunately for the source of the yelling, Spitfire was currently nowhere nearby. The Wonderbolts leader was the primary drill instructor at the Academy, the fiery pegasus was also a stunt flier after all, and had a life of her own outside of both positions.

Before anypony could reach the source of the disturbance, it was already heading away and long gone.

Despite its far larger size, Cloudsdale had maintained a surprisingly quieter existence than idealistic little, rural Ponyville. The big city, while not exactly quiet, few cities were, had suffered a far fewer calamities than the town on the edge of the Everfree had in recent memory. As a result, its citizens were just happy to go about their normal lives unmolested and let the little town where the Bearers dwelled deal with most of the world's problems..

This was why late at night, the only ponies stirring were those ponies who chose to keep Princess Luna company, working night shifts at the various businesses throughout the town.

Rainbowshine was one of those ponies, at least until Weather Factory management thought to assign her different once more. The wisteria colored Pegasus was doing as she always did: mixing up rainbows in the depths of the Weather Factory that were destined to be dispersed out all over Equestria. Other than little foals fearing being turned into spectra in the nonexistent Pegasus Device, it was a quiet job. Nothing but the clatter of hoof steps and the flowing of liquid rainbows all night long. In that respect, she preferred the night shift: it was quiet and calm. She wondered sometimes why ponies a thousand years ago disliked Luna's night so often.

CRASH!

Well, normally it was.

The rainbow maker was tempted to leave her post, but couldn't afford looking away from the mixture, even for a second or the whole batch could be ruined, a fact the mare normally took pride in. Besides, she wasn't exactly the only pony in the factory (though naturally there were fewer ponies than during the day) and the guards normally handled any problems.

“Put down that hose!”

But as she continued mixing her precious rainbows, the crashing continued, along with the sound of somepony getting nailed with a blast of high pressure water, and she heard the noise of guards shouting growing louder. It took all the pegasus' willpower to prevent herself from panicking and ruining an entire vat of liquid rainbows, something her personal pride in her talent wouldn't allow her to do. After all, professionalism was a cornerstone of any job, particularly one as vital as Equestria's weather industry.

“Look out! They have a fire extinguisher!”

Unfortunately, be it fate or bad luck, the crashing grew ever nearer and finally erupted through the doors not far from the pegasus. She jumped, barely able to catch the stirring rod before it could be lost in the pool of colors (no easy feat with hooves). Too proud to let her perfect record be tainted by a ruined batch, the wisteria mare kept stirring even as a rainbow blur darted around the factory chamber chased by two golden clad royal guards.

“Eep!” she yelled, ducking as they flew right over her head, giving her a clear view of the canister the rainbow blur was carrying. She recognized it as a storage unit for completed rainbows. Despite the idea that somepony was snatching some of the precious rainbow she'd spent hours of hard work getting just right making her blood boil (and the nearby sound of glass shattering making her jump a little bit), the determined worker kept mixing her rainbow.

“Ahh!” Rainbowshine flew up to dodge the fast paced chase happening around her while maintaining her grip on the large, metal stirring rod. She then heard somepony crash through a cloud pillar nearby.

“Oh come on!” The mare used the stirring rod as a wing assisted pole-vault over the pool and kept stirring despite the blur bucked the two, now rather battered and bruised, guards into where she was just standing, sending ripples through the clouds in all directions. She made the mistake of letting some of the liquid rainbow on the rod end up in her mouth. The burning, spicy taste made her mouth feel like it'd burst into flames and her eyes water, but determination and pride beat indescribable physical discomfort. Meanwhile, she still heard the sounds of crashing and wings beating all around her.

Finally, Rainbowshine saw the mixture become the perfect rainbow hue, at last complete.

The wisteria mare looked up, seeing the rainbow blur stop at the window, finally visible for a split second to both her and the recovering guards. Her coat was a shade of blue and she currently had a blue and yellow bandana around her mouth, hiding most of her face.

Then in a flash she was gone.

And Rainbowshine finally allowed herself to give a sigh of relief and fall flat on her back, breathing heavily.

“...I better get employee of the month for this...Ahh! Mouth still burning!”

Rainbow Dash laid on a lone cloud in the middle of the sky, lost in a deep slumber. And not a peaceful one. She tossed and turned on her soft, fluffy bed as if in the throws of a most unpleasant dream.

She rolled a little too far to one side and gave a cry of fright as she fell from her cloud, but gratefully managed to instinctively catch herself.

“Huh?! What?” the cyan Pegasus asked, eyes batting back and forth across the sky before her mind caught up with the fact that she was awake. Dash gave a groan and slammed her hooves into her face. “Great...now I'm getting spooked by waking up...come on Dash, there's nothing to worry about, it must have just been a big misunderstanding, right? Right.”

Puffing out her chest and acting tough, she prepared to resume her quest...then something hit her.

“Dang it! I need to feed Tank!”she groaned. Still, if there was one thing the Element of Loyalty wouldn't do was put somepony else behind herself...well, at least when her ego hadn't gotten to her head, like that stupid Mare-Do-Well incident.

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between the direction of her birth home and her adopted home before she gave a growl to herself and flew back towards Ponyville.

“At least this gives me a little more time to think about how to get out of this mess...” she muttered to herself. While the pegasus was more of the 'act first, think later' type, when it came to the Wonderbolts she wasn't taking any chances. Not that she had any doubts about it, she WAS a close friend with Spitfire after all, why wouldn't it?

Soaring across the skies until Ponyville was in her sights. Rainbow Dash always found it oddly refreshing coming back to little old Ponyville from Cloudsdale where she was born and raised. It wasn't that a big city like Cloudsdale intimidated her. Something intimidating Rainbow Dash? Perish the thought! It was more that she liked living in a town where everypony knew her without a doubt for reasons she'd brag about and reasons she wouldn't be caught dead saying out loud. That fact was comforting to almost anypony.

And of course it was also where her friends lived, nuff said.

Which also made the fact that as she flew over the town on this particular day, she found the odd looks ponies in town were shooting her unnerving. Particularly the fact that some seemed somewhat scared.

“Alright...I like having all eyes on me, but this is starting to creep me out a bit...” the rainbow maned pegasus, speeding up towards her house. “No time to worry about that now, I've got more important things to do.”

What she didn't notice was Carrot Top pulling her little sister Noi into the house and send a letter to the Royal Guard.

“Come on, come on, where's that turtle chow?” Rainbow Dash asked out loud, looking through her cupboards desperately.

The Pegasus instinctively ducked as her flying turtle...tortoise nearly hit her in the head. Something that experience had taught her bucking hurt. “Watch it Tank! You've almost hit my head like nine times! I thought we'd broke you of that...”

Tank frantically pointed towards a closet nearby. Unfortunately, being a tortoise meant frantically was still very, very slow. Too slow to get his fast paced owner's attention given her mind set at this particular moment.

“Ah! Here it is!”

Rainbow Dash produced a sizable sack of treats Fluttershy had kindly provided. Considering tortoises weren't exactly the most common pet in the world, having Fluttershy for a friend made getting her loyal pet's food far cheaper and far simpler than it would be for her to go buy it for herself. Not to mention that the kind pony had good knowledge of animal health, making the food exceptionally helpful (and tasty) for her little turtle.

The pet owner poured the food into a green bowl and slid it on the floor of her cloud castle...and once more ducked under Tank as he nearly smashed into her head for the 21st consecutive time.

“Geez Tank! You almost gave me a concussion!” Rainbow yelled.

Tank kept motioning to the closet.

“Sorry bud, I can't play right now, I need to go take care of something in Cloudsdale real quick, we can play later,” the rainbow maned Pegasus said, giving the pet a nuzzle before flying out the window now that her pet was fed.

The tortoise gave an annoyed sign and flew over to the closet, peaking inside.

The little animal startled at a knock at the door. Slowly blinking, he flew towards the source of the noise and waited as another knock came. After a third, the sound of the lock being picked attracted his attention.

The door swung open and a yellow coated pegasus with a short, black mane and tail trotted in with a sense of purpose. He tipped the white fedora on his head up, eyes scanning the premises and noting the open closet door. The stallion trotted over to the door and swung it open, finding an empty metal canister lying on the cloud floor. He dipped his hoof in the rainbow colored substance leaking from it and lifted it into his line of sight. The mystery stallion narrowed his eyes.

He then spun around, putting a hoof out in time to stop Tank mid-charge before the turtle could defensively bean the stallion in the head. “Protecting your master’s place? Good boy,” he said with an accent one might see in Manehatten. He let go of the Tortoise and trotted over to the window. “Too bad yer master' ain't somepony I can let you protect.”

The pegasus narrowed his eyes at the rainbow colored streak in the distance.

Rainbow Dash knew that most Pegasi didn't have the endurance to fly all the way from Ponyville to Cloudsdale multiple times in one day. The fact she was hardly winded doing that made her quite proud of herself, in part because she knew it meant all that training for the Wonderbolts was paying off. A stunt flyer needed endurance to be able to perform all the high energy maneuvers that the job called for. Her mind wondered back to Wonderbolts' academy and how the training had left nearly every other recruit panting and gasping for breath while she'd barely been wind. She gave a sad look down at the ground as she thought about the letter she'd received.

“Nah, Spitfire woulda said something then if there was a problem.”

However, as she got closer and closer to the city, her confidence began to wain and her heart began to droop bit by bit as she got closer and closer to her goal. The Element of Loyalty was renowned for her ego, but even she could sometimes let her nerves get the better of her. Especially when it came to her future at stake. And that was definitely the case now.

Thankfully (or not) a new sight drew the Pegasus away from her impending hyperventilation.

The city was in an uproar, but that wasn't what drew her from her thoughts, at least not in and of itself. Cloudsdale was a bustling city, so a little uproar was to be expected, even in Equestria. What startled her was there being a few more rainbows than she remembered...

The central area of the city was COVERED in rainbows. It made her think that somepony had handed a foal a firehouse and told them to paint the town with the stuff. At least from a distance. As she got closer, she saw the streaks of rainbow had decidedly more purpose and intent. Particularly, the vandal had seemed to target anything Wonderbolts related. Their posters, their information center, the stadium, the gift shop!

Seeing both her home town and her idols disrespected such made the Pegasus' blood boil. “Who could have done this?!”' she growled under her breath. “Well whoever it was is just asking for a hoof sandwich!”

“There she is!”

“Where?!”

To Rainbow Dash's surprise, she'd found the guards rushing at HER. At first she naturally assumed they wanted her help...but then they pointed spears at her.

“Come quietly, Miss Rainbow Dash. You're under arrest for mass vandalism, theft, and assaulting an officer.”

“Wait, what?!” the multicolored pegasus asked, jaw dropping in shock. “You think I did this?!”

The guards simply nodded.

“How?!”

“I can answer that,”

Rainbow blinked, turning to see the same yellow stallion that, the canister in his hoof, the angle revealing his Cutie Mark to be a private eye stylized eyeball with a magnifying glass in front of it. “Who the Tartarus are you?”

“Name's Guard Detective Private Eye,” the stallion replied, tipping his fedora politely. “Sorry we meet like this, Dash. I respected your friends for helping arrest Rough Diamonds, tough case to crack.”

“Alright, wise guy, what's your 'proof?!” the rainbow maned Pegasus snapped.

“Hey, ya think I ain't upset about this?” Private Eye asked, looking hurt. “Let's get one thing straight here, I don't like stacking evidence against one of Equestria's heroes anymore than the next stallion, but if the horseshoe fits, you must convict.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, taken aback by the...sincerity of how he put it. “Fine...but I'm being bucking honest, I have no idea what's going on!”

The detective sighed. “Fine, then let me explain. At 6 pm last night, you were seen flying out of your house, looking real clopped off, like you'd gotten bad news. Someponies heard you talking about the Bolts. Is that true?”

“...Yeah...How'd you know?! Were you spying on me?!”

“Nah, I just did my hoofwork like any self respecting detective worth his salt,” the yellow pegasus stated, producing a note pad with an entire list of ponies' names. “Anyway, then you were heard by the recruits at the Wonderbolts Academy ranting and raving, trying to get Spitfire's attention. you still seemed pretty clopped off.”

Rainbow Dash looked somewhere between rage and depression at having those moments dredged back up. “So? I was clopped off at something I got in a letter! Why does that automatically mean that I bucking painted Cloudsdale rainbow colored?!”

Private Eye remained calm, looking at his notes. “I was getting to that. Not long after you were seen at Wonderbolts Academy, somepony, coat color blue, mane and tail rainbow color, broke into the Weather Factory and stole a big canister of liquid rainbows, assaulting two guards, they used it to do all this you see here. Now, can you tell me where you where during that time?”

Rainbow Dash smirked, crossing her hooves over her chest. “Easy, I was sleeping on a cloud so in the morning I could tell Spitfire...what I needed to tell her. Just...kinda forgot I needed to feed Tank in the morning.”

“Ah. And who saw ya?”

Rainbow Dash's face dropped. “Uh...well...no one...I kinda wanted to be alone because...well...I was having a bad day.”

“Uh huh. What I thought. Doesn't matter much,” Private Eye replied, showing the canister. “I found this in your house.”

“You went in my house?!”

The detective produced a paper with 'search warrant' written on it. “I got a warrant. Lot's of ponies saw you at the scene of the crime, I got to list.”

“...Okay look! I don't know how that got there, but I swear I didn't do it!”

“Now look, I ain't the bad guy here, and if you really aren't, your lawyer can have a chance to prove it in court. But all the evidence I have points to you being the guilty party. So just come quietly, okay?”

Many ponies would simply come quietly and get help afterward. Rainbow Dash, in her current mental state was not most ponies. “Uh...Look! Cloud Gremlins!”

When the guard looked, Rainbow ran for it. Unfortunately for her, Private Eye wasn't so easily fooled and began chase.

Rainbow did what Rainbow did best and sped through the city streets, evading buildings at every possible turn, but her pursuer remained in sight. “Oh man! Could this day get any worse?!”

As Rainbow sped around a corner, a rainbow colored streak rushed by her, sending her spinning. Private Eye didn't hesitate even if he didn't see the streak and tackled Rainbow out of the air, pinning her against a building with a hammerlock.

“Come on, you got more dignity than that,” the detective said, taking out hoofcuffs and putting them on the mare.

A shadowy figure smirked from the shadows before vanishing.

'This can't be happening...I can't go to jail...I wish something would come out of nowhere and save me...'

Without warning, a stink bomb manifested and went off, followed by a bright flash of light.

Private Eye coughed, putting a handkerchief over his nose. He flapped his wings and dispersed the foul smoke...only to find his pray gone. “Dang it, why can't this ever just be easy?”

Chapter 2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3

Earlier that Day

Private Eye sat in a dark, drab office in Cloudsdale. It seemed like something out of an old detective serial, including the chosen colors and even the currently drawn blinds.

The Guard Detective rubbed a hoof into his forehead, looking down at one of several folders currently on his desk. A picture of Pinkie Pie stared back at him. “Rainbow Dash was obviously teleported, saw the flash. So that'd mean a unicorn. Princess Twilight Sparkle's known to be able to teleport...but that doesn't explain the stinkbomb. Rainbow herself known to be quite the prankster...but so's Miss Pie here. And that'd explain why it smelled like expired sweets...She's also known to have been friends with a Griffin named Gilda and another Pegasus named Lightning Dust who have similar personalities to her...but neither of them can teleport and records show she and Lightning parted on bad terms at the academy...”

The pegasus gave a sigh and got up, trotting over to a board with newspaper clippings on it. Most were from various crimes that he himself had solved, but some were from the Rough Diamond case. “I can't believe my prime suspects for who helped a perp are the saviors of Equestria...”

He slowly picked his fedora off a hat rack and took it in his teeth, throwing it up and onto his head. “Never said this job would be easy...Better send the guard to go check the suspects.”

Present

Rainbow Dash growled, glaring down at the suit in her hooves. She was currently hiding in a cloud near Cloudsdale (a thought which in and of itself put her in a sour mood on its own). “I can't believe I have to do this. As if this day wasn't rotten enough.”

The cyan pegasus just stopped herself from asking the dreaded words 'how could this day get any worse?' The day was already bad enough without her tempting fate and finding herself in a thunder cloud for some reason.

The mare gave an annoyed sigh. “Better get this over with...”

She began slipping on the superhero costume, one hoof after another...then stopped with a blink.

“Why am I doing this the boring way?”

True, she didn't like Mare-Do-Well...at all...but she was about to become a superhero, why not make the most of it? After all, it wasn't like she was going to have many opportunities to do this baring them somehow getting sucked into a comic book.

Rainbow Dash spun around, destroying her hiding place with a tornado that slowly turned from rainbow colored to purple and navy blue. As she came to a stop, she completed the transformation by placing her hat atop her head.

“Now that's how you change into your superhero costume!...Wow, Rarity was right, this suit is really comfortable...”

Mare-Do-Well stood atop a tall building in Cloudsdale, overlooking the rainbow painted area. Lightning flashed behind her...causing her to blink behind her visor because it was a clear, sunny day.

She looked back to see a familiar wall eyed pegasus jumping on a thundercloud for some reason.

Knowing Derpy Hooves, she decided not to question it.

“Alright, Mare-Do-Well was all dark and mysterious, kinda like Batmare...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself, taking her superheroic look very serious. “So I think I'll stick to the shadows...unless I see the chance to epically save the day...”

Zooming down into the alley way, the masked mare peaked out over the scene. The local pegasi were already beginning to try and clean away the liquid rainbow that had been thrown everywhere everywhere. “Okay, so that Guard Detective said whoever framed me snatched it from the Weather Factory after I left the Academy...so...”

Rainbow Dash was brash and often times a bit overconfident, but she wasn't stupid. Especially when push came to shove.

“Did Miss. Fake see me at the Academy?”

She then ducked back into shadows as more guards passed. “Somepony there sent that fake letter...But who there would have it out for me? I'm awesome.”

“Alright, Fluttershy, keep an eye out for...well, yah know,” said Applejack, now trotting . Thankfully, Twilight had had time to cast the cloud walking spell on them before sending them off.

“O-Okay...” Fluttershy replied in her natural timid fashion.

“And Fluttershy, remember, if we need tah talk tah a guard, yer gonna need tah do it,” the orange Earth Pony reminded in a hushed tone. “Cause we both know Ah can't lie worth a lick.”

Fluttershy gulped. “O-Okay...”

The due trotted onward, Applejack looking over the vandalism. “Sweet Celestia, whoever did this definitely did a number on this place...” the farmer muttered.

Fluttershy nodded, giving a whimper at the sight of her hometown in such a state.

“Pst!”

The two jumped a little, looking into an alley next to them were two blue 'eyes' stared back.

Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief and the two carefully headed into the alley, keeping an eye out for watching eyes (something that by nature Fluttershy did on a regular basis).

“Boy am I glad to see you,” said the Mare-Do-Well in a gruff voice deep voice.

“You too...but why yah talking like that?”

“To hide my voice, cool huh?”

“Uh...might wanna work on it...”

“Everypony's a critic...Where's Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity?”

“Twilight and Pinkie are bein' questioned by the guard, Rare's there cause she's a unicorn and apparently Discord's little tick convinced them one teleported you. They'll be along as soon as they can. Meh and Flutters weren't high on their list so we went. That and everypony knows Ah can't lie tah save mah life.”

“Darn it...Egghead find anything?”

“Y-Yes...” Fluttershy interjected, taking out a folder from her saddlebags. “She found out who forged the letter.”

The disguised Rainbow Dash took the folder. “...Do I want to know why she had this file?”

“She said all the Princesses have files on the entire guard, Bolts included,” Applejack explained. “Apparently somethin' about so all four of 'em can take charge if they needed tah.”

“Right...” the masked mare opened the file and looked through it. “Storm Raver, huh? I saw her a few times at the academy, I think she was an instructor.”

“Yeah, that's what Twi said. And well, she's the same shade of blue as you.”

“Huh, that's weird, only thing I ever do to her was give her a wave when I recognized her...Ah!”

“What?”

“That Guard Detective said that this happened after I left the Academy, so the girl would've heard me leaving! It's gotta be her!”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. So we investigatin' the Academy then?”

“Looks like it. Anything else?”

“That's about it. And will yah cut out that silly voice already?”

“...I'll work on it...”

“Um...” Fluttershy interjected. “How are we going to get there? Applejack...well...no offense...”

“It's at the top of a mountain and Ah don't have wings,” Applejack finished.

“Actually it's a plateau,” the masked mare pointed out. “And I can fly ya.”

“Uh, wouldn't that kinda defeat the purpose of yah wearin' a disguise in the first place?”

“...Why do you have to have good points?”

“Maybe we should wait here for the others and yah go on ahead?” the farmer suggested. “You're the one in the superhero outfit after all.”

“Alright, see ya then. Up, up, and away!”

“Wrong superhero...”

“I'm working on it!”

“Thank Celestia we weren't lying about not helping Rainbow...” Twilight muttered to herself as she, Rarity, and Pinkie trotted along the streets of Cloudsdale, cloud walking spell on ground-bound ponies. Sure, they had assisted to a degree by asking Discord about it, but they'd not told him to rescue Rainbow Dash from the Guard, and Twilight certainly didn't approve of it. In fact, if he'd actually suggested it instead of just done it, she'd probably have asked him if he was crazy...then again, knowing Discord, he'd have considered that a compliment.

Pinkie Pie nodded, bouncing along. “Yeah! That was lucky! Otherwise we'd have been kept out of the plot! And who wants that?”

“...Let's just find Ra...I mean Mare-Do-Well and see if we can investigate this mess better...” Rarity replied. “And hopefully put this dreadful situation behind us.”

“That reminds me, Twilight, I'm not sure Storm Raver is the villain,” Pinkie said in an oddly serious tone.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because she's the first suspect! In a mystery it's never the first guy!” the pink party pony reported like it was a completely legitimate fact.

“Right...but this is real life Pinkie Pie...”

The two trotted on down the road until they noticed everything around them become very rainbow colored. “Wow...” the fourth Princess of Equestria muttered, looking around. “They definitely did a number of this place...”

“Oh it's positively dreadful!” Rarity said with a gasp of horror. “Rainbows are beautiful, but this much of them? Without any thought of a design? It's just garish!”

Rarity fainted onto her couch.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You had your couch enchanted so it wouldn't fall through the clouds?”

“A lady is always prepared!”

“Well well, didn't expect to see ya here.”

The trio blinked, turning to see Private Eye standing nearby with a notebook held in his wings. He tipped his hat.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, trying not to look nervous.

“Guard Detective Private Eye, Your Majesty,” the Guard Detective explained, flashing his badge. “Wish we met under different circumstances. Now mind telling me what you're doing here?”

Twilight was tempted to say she didn't have to say anything, but she knew that'd simply arose suspicion. Her brother WAS a former Captain of the Guard, she understood how they worked to a degree and that Private Eye was entirely in his right to ask that.

“We're trying to prove Rainbow Dash's innocence. As a Princess of Equestria, I'm within my right to do so.”

“So ya don't think Rainbow Dash did it?” the Pegasus asked, giving an analytic look at the Alicorn. As if he was analyzing every bit of her. He noted the professionalism on her face, but not much else.

“No, we don't. We think she was framed.”

The detective's gaze fell on her eyes, her ears, and her mouth specifically. He nodded slowly, seeming satisfied. “Alright...I almost caught her earlier, but somepony helped her escape. I suppose ya already know who I think might be responsible, given the Guard had a chat with ya earlier.”

“We do, and you are wrong,” Rarity replied, keeping a serious expression. “We honestly had no idea she was in need of rescue so to speak.”

The detective kept his eyes on her the same as he had Twilight. He noticed a few things right as she mentioned him being wrong. While her mouth remained serious, her eyebrows narrowed slightly. In the last sentence, everything seemed natural, like it was a straight statement. “...I see...So I guess you don't know where she is now?”

“Of course we do not.”

Private Eye's gaze fell on several aspects of Rarity's face. Namely small features most would miss, like changes in her mouth's shape or a twitch of the ear. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed the look of disgust at being accused came a few seconds later than Rarity's words implied it should have. “I see...So any idea where I can find her?”

“Maybe you should try the stadium!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, somehow popping up between Rarity and the detective.

Private Eye noticed a small ear twitch. “Really? Why there?”

“Well, the Wonderbolts are there a lot, so if she wants to clear her name, which I know she does cause why would Dashie ever do something this mean? And if she was, it seems like a nice place to vandalize. Even if that's a naughty thing to do...okay, a friend of mine painted a castle green on her birthday one time but it was her birthday and the owner was okay with it!”

The detective blinked at Pinkie's 'tells' seemed to change randomly. One minute it was an ear twitch, the next it was a twitch of the eyebrow, then it was her emotion seeming a second short. Then there wasn't one at all. And so on. It made no sense. It was if he mare was so random, even a detective it was impossible to pick up a pattern in her. He didn't even know if they were tells or not! “Right...”

“Oh! And another time this friend of mine named Sparkleworks covered ALL of Ponyville in sparkles! Hehe! But that wasn't to be mean, and no pony really minded.”

The detective shook his head in a disorientated fashion.“...Well...I think I'm going to go investigate some more...thanks...”

The now perplexed Private Eye gave a polite bow to Twilight and trotted off, trying to figure out what the Tartarus had just happened.

Twilight raised a brow. “Pinkie...when did that happen?”

“Oh a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG time before we met!”

“Okay...”

Rarity shuddered. “I remember the sparkles. Sparkleworks actually had an eye for them, so it was rather pretty...but I spent WEEKS getting them out of my beautiful mane!...I managed to make the look work for me.”

Twilight cocked her head. “...I'll take your word for it...” She was reminded of her original sentiment that everypony in Ponyville was crazy. “...Now let's go, we've got to check out Storm Raver.”

Private Eye looked around a corner, listening in. “Storm Raver huh? So that's who they think did it...Better tail them.”

Rainbow Dash peaked her head up over the side of the plateau that the Wonderbolts Academy was on. She'd always wondered why a place most commonly frequented by Pegasi was built on solid ground.

The masked mare made sure to exploit her speed as she zipped from cover to cover towards the main building. She then ducked as several recruits trotted by her position. “Better be careful...”

Mare-Do-Well looked around and quickly sped from bush to bush, hiding behind equipment and finally stood against the wall of her target. “Who'd have thought sneaking into that hospital to read Daring Do would come in handy...”

She then jumped slightly when she heard hoofsteps coming and flew up the wall as several pegasi trotted by. “...Dang it! It's the middle of the day...” she muttered to herself. She slipped behind a cloud as several ponies flew by.

She leafed through the file Applejack had given her. “Okay, let's see...she's in room 102...That means she's on the bottom floor, right?”

She moved the cloud down and peaked through the windows. “Here's hoping first window I look through isn't the Stallion's Room...”

She slowly peaked out through a window, blinking when she looked in on Soarin' eating an entire stack of pies in his office. “Wow...he can eat almost as much pie as Pinkie Pie...almost.”

Next window. She recoiled as she saw a bat-like pony hanging upside down asleep. “Ah! Vampire! Oh, wait, some of Princess Luna's weird bat ponies joined the Bolts as a night branch...”

A few windows later, the Mare-Do-Well finally looked through a window to see a mare with the same color fur as herself sitting in his office. Her tail and mane were both yellow with blue streaks in them. Rainbow couldn't tell what her Cutie Mark was through her jacket, but she'd seen in her file it was a diagonal lightning bolt in front of a storm cloud.

Even Rainbow Dash knew that she couldn't just rush in and demand answers (okay, she'd had to learn about such things over time), so she simply watched and waited. She noted Storm Raver look at a pair of letters and snicker before slipping them back into her desk.

Eventually, the masked mare left and she carefully slipped in through the window (thankfully it'd been a hot day and she'd kept it open). “Alright, let's see what we have here...”

She naturally went straight for the letters. While it didn't cross her mind at the moment, wearing a full body suit had certain advantages, such as no hoof prints.

Rainbow Dash blinked when she looked at the letter. “A copy of my application to try out for the Wonderbolt Reserves? Why does she have it?”

She produced Storm Raver's profile. “Ah, she's one of the mare who handles applications to the Academy...”

Mare-Do-Well felt rage building up in her heart at the idea this was the one responsible for her miseries. A part of her wanted to tear the mare apart for this. She might have actually attacked Storm Raver had she entered the room at that moment.

The masked mare turned and looked around the room and her eyes fell on several awards on the wall. She noticed something. “Huh...These are all for Academy records...the Dizzatron, the cloud busting exercise...she's the one who held the records before me and Lightning Dust broke them.”

She took the other letter and looked at it. “This is an application from Lightning Dust to reapply to the Academy for another try...Dang, she seems desperate...”

The masked heroine smirked under her mask. “Oh yeah, got her red hoofed! She sent me a phony reject notice and framed me because she's jealous I broke her records!...Wait, then why didn't he frame Lighting Dust? Eh, probably cause I broke 'em harder than she did.”

She remembered Lightning Dust. The other Pegasus had been a good rival, she couldn't deny that much. If she just hadn't been so bucking selfish. How big of a self absorbed jerk do you have to be to not care about the people you almost hurt showing off?

She looked at Lightning Dust's letter. “Huh, she actually apologized...maybe she did learn something...Okay, now let's go tell Twilight about this and see what her big brain has to say about my awesome find.”

The masked mare's thoughts (and ego stroking) by the sound of a large crash. She panicked and quickly put the letters back in their proper place and headed back out the window.

A few seconds later, she slammed her hoof into her face.

“...It didn't come from inside the place, did it?”

The masked mare sighed and flew towards the location of the disturbance.

One would think mass vandalism in the city would have completely canceled classes for the day at Wonderbolt Academy. Those people have never undergone Wonderbolts intense training. The primary change in the schedule was some of the trainees would now undergoing 'volunteer training' helping clean up the town once the guard had investigated to a satisfactory degree.

Due to being first day training, however, the Dizzatron and its surrounding equipment weren't currently being used...

A rainbow colored streak zoomed by it, the impact causing metal to rattle.

The blue pegasus with a rainbow mane bucked the delicate machinery at high speeds, knocking bolts loose. She currently wore a bandana around her muzzle and sunglasses over her eyes. Her Cutie Mark was identical to Rainbow's, but seemed slightly off center.

She gave a look around, making sure the noise had attracted some eyes, but none she needed to worry about before backing up and charging, doing a high speed buck with enough force to dent the machine's casing. Giving a growl, the vandal picked up a rock and used it to smash the lock on its wiring and open it. She reached in to try and hook the wires around her hoof and tug them out...when a blue and purple blur slammed into them full speed.

The imposter groaned, getting back to her hooves and snarling, looking up to see a masked mare in front of her.

“Looks like you won't be doing anymore damage today,” the Mare-Do-Well stated in a deep voice.

“I sounded so awesome there!” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself.

Despite patting herself on the back mentally, Dash snarled at the sight of her doppelganger...

The imposter gave a snarl and flew off.

“Oh no you don't!” her pursuer said, taking off like a bolt after them. Rainbow Dash noticed how fast the copycat seemed to be going. ''She's fast...but not as fast as me!” she said under her breath, speeding up.

The two flew across the Academy, Rainbow Dash slowly making ground on the faker.

With one last burst of speed, she managed to tackle her enemy head on, sending both tumbling into the ground.

Rainbow Dash rolled through and back to her hooves at the same time as her double. She charged and threw a punch. The double ducked the hoof and tried to leg sweep her. Mare-Do-Well jumped up to dodge and kicked out with her hind legs to try and catch her doppelganger off guard, but the faker flapped her wings and jumped back to avoid.

“Dang it, she's a tough one...” she muttered to herself before ducking under a spinning kick at her head and countered by planting her hind legs in her imposter's stomach and flipping her overhead. She had to plant her hooves on the mask when the fake hooked it with her hooves as she was thrown. She wrestled herself free after the fake Rainbow Dash hit the ground. As the masked mare got back to her hooves, the imposter started flying away, prompting the Mare-Do-Well to take chase.

Twilight and company walked slowly down the main road of the Academy.

“Hey remember last time we were here and almost died?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

Applejack shuddered. “Did yah have to bring that up?”

“Yeah! Continuity is important!”

“...Okay...”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Be that as it may, let us find Mare-Do-Well, she was supposed to be investigating around here.”

Private Eye watched from hiding nearby and tapped his chin. “...Mare-Do-Well...Oh yeah, she was some kinda superhero that showed up in Ponyville...” he whispered to himself, thinking back to the Guard reports. The true identity of the Mare-Do-Well was still unknown.

Suddenly, two streaks flew overhead, the first rainbow colored and the second purple and blue. “...Well...Ah think she found the imposter...” Applejack remarked, watching the high speed chase.

Private Eye spread his wings and instantly took off after the two blurs.

“Come on!” Twilight yelled to the others before they took off in pursuit.

Rainbow Dash flew straight up and came back down, tackling her mimic from behind and sending them both crashing through the window of the mess hall.

The two tumbled through a table, the Mare-Do-Well rose to her hooves and blinked, looking at the pony who's table she'd ended up going through. Then back to the faker. Then back to the pony.

“But you were...I thought...how is...”

Storm Raver stared in shock at the two ponies that had crashed through the table in front of her.

The imposter snarled and kicked Mare-Do-Well in the stomach, knocking her off. She then pounced on Storm Raver and blindsided her with a punch to the jaw.

Rainbow Dash groaned, rubbing her gut. She blinked, watching the dazzled old Wonderbolt getting pounded on by her fake, the imposter snarling in rage.

While it was clear that Storm Raver wasn't the imposter, Dash was still pretty sure she HAD sent her that mail. On one hoof, she could let her fake give the jerk her comeuppance, on the other...she was still currently a superhero and the guy couldn't defend himself.

The hero finally sighed. “Dang it...” she muttered.

The Mare-Do-Well flew forwards and tackled the fake Rainbow, knocking both clear of Storm Raver.

Dash jumped back to avoid a mule kick from her enemy, then countered with a jump kick of her own. The fake ducked under and tried counter with a punch, but this time Dash caught it and threw a punch, her hoof connecting to the imposter Rainbow Dash's face.

The doppelganger was knocked to the ground, sunglasses flying off her face.

She groaned and got up, revealing orange eyes.

Mare-Do-Well narrowed her eyes under her visor, looking at her imposter in the eyes before the evil twin gasped and put her sunglasses back on in a panic.

“Alright, put your hooves up!”

The two turned and saw Private Eye enter the room. Mare-Do-Well took a fighting stance towards the fake. His eyes fell on various aspects of her before the fake bolted out the window. Private Eye ran to the window, but found the double had already vanished. “Buck!”

Mare-Do-Well sighed. “Dang it...” she muttered under her breath. She then looked at her hoof, finding smudged blue make up or dye on it. “...Hmm...”

To be continued.

Chapter 4

Rainbow Dash watched closely as Private Eye give an annoyed sigh at their quarry's escape. She cursed to herself, hoping that this nightmare would have been over already.

The masked mare took a defensive stance as the detective came over. 'This again?'

“Relax,” the detective replied, holding up a hoof. “'Guard protocol: if on an case ya end up working with a superhero, pith helmet wearing adventurer, or so on treat 'em with respect if ya can confirm they're actually that and not hurtin' any pony for no reason.' You just helped save a gal from the gal I'm huntin', so we're on the same team.”

“That's...oddly specific...” Mare-Do-Well replied in the 'ominous superhero voice'.

“Princess Celestia wrote the guard manual, what can I say?”

“That explains a lot,” the masked mare added, unsure if such a rule was an example of Celestia's being crazy prepared or a troll. 'Well at least that explains why Mayor Mare took Mare-Do-Well so well...'

“Yeah, the Princess had a couple thousand years to think on the rule books I guess...Mare-Do-Well, right?”

Rainbow wasn't sure what to think about that one. “Uh...yeah. How do you...”

“Simple really, Guard keeps tabs on superhero sightings. Makes the whole 'is this pony on our side?' jazz easier. That whole 'fight between heroes' horseapples just gets in the way, least that's Princess Celestia's explanation for it.”

“...Huh...you are admittedly a lot more competent than you seem sometimes...”

“Hey, just cause we can't kick Nightmare moon's flank doesn't mean the Guard ain't competent! Who do ya think is responsible for Equestria's low crime rate?”

“Sorry...”

Private Eye gave a growl. “Anyway, point is we're after the same perp so why should I go after you? I'm after Rainbow Dash, not Mare-Do-Well.”

“...Good point.”

“Now, got any clues that I might be able to use?”

The masked pony rubbed her chin, remembered something. She raised a hoof, showing the blue on the bottom. “I think this came off her when I introduced her face to my hoof.”

Private Eye looked closely at her hoof. “Blue fur dye?...Hmm...”

“And I knocked her glasses off with that punch, her eyes are orange.”

The detective produced his note pad and scribbled it down. “I see...Thank ya...Something that might be helpful to ya is there's been robberies at stories around Cloudsdale by our rainbow menace. She stole a lot of paint, probably for more vandalism. She seemed to be looking for cloud adhering paint specifically, so we're guessin' her target will be in Cloudsdale unless she feels like flyin' tah Las Pegasus. And so far all the attacks seem to be targetin' Wonderbolts related stuff.”

“Huh...that might be useful.”

The masked Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at Storm Raver as she got up shakily. She was glad she was wearing a mask to cover her smirk.

“Also, she's not the one who did this, but...”

Mare-Do-Well produced the letter she'd received. “Rainbow Dash got this letter from the academy a few days ago, the signature is fake. I suggest talking to Princess Twilight Sparkle about it, she's already did the research...” she whispered. She looked back to Storm Raver. “And I suggest getting a search warrant of her room.”

Private Eye narrowed his eyes, taking the letter and looking at it. He then shot a subtle glare at Storm Raver. “...I see. Alright, will do. Thanks for the help.”

Mare-Do-Well did a salute and flew out the window without another word. “...Why do superhero types always do that?” Private Eye sighed. “...Oh well, got some more clues...And maybe caught a dirty cop.”

The detective put trotted over to Storm Raver and helped her up. “Ya okay?”

“Yeah, that rainbow maned menace gave me some licks, but this old mare's tough...” the Wonderbolt said, giving a smirk and trying to look tough.

Private Eye gave a quick look over the mare. Eyes falling on the wrinkles on her face. The gray hairs dotting her mane. “Ya sure?” he asked, keeping an analytical eye on her face and posture.

“Yeah, just a little sore,” Storm Raver replied, stretching her wings and back, several cracks sounding. She gave an irritated sigh.

Private Eye noticed her groan and rub her wings, rolling it with a crack. “...Did your wings get hit?”

“Oh! Yeah! That's right, I believe so...”

The Guard Detective noticed an eye twitch at his question. “...Alright then...need help to the infirmary?”

“No, I'll be fine.”

“Then mind if I follow ya to keep an eye on ya?”

Twilight looked up at Rainbow and waved her in. “What happened?!”

“I fought the fake, she got away but I figured a few things out,” she explained landing with a pride her friends were admittedly happy to see back on her after her breakdown at the cottage.

“Well?” Applejack questioned, cocking her head. “What is it?”

Mare-Do-Well showed the blue dye on her hoof. “Looks like Miss Fake isn't a natural cyan. And she doesn't have my epic rose colored eyes. They're orange.”

“Orange eyes?” asked Pinkie Pie with a gasp. “Is it Tic Tac Toe?”

“Who?”

“What about Parasol?”

“I...Don't know who that is...”

“Hula Hula?!”

“Pinkie Pi-”

“Derpy?!”

“Okay, her I know, but no...though she was looking at me weird yesterday...”

“What about-”

Applejack put a hoof to Pinkie's mouth but the pink pony just kept listing off names in a mumbling fashion. “Uh, Sugarcube, Derpy kinda looks at everypony weird...”

“Wait, so different fur color and different eye color? So it's not Storm Raver?” Twilight asked, the lavender Alicorn lifting an eyebrow. After all, Storm Raver was the same color as Rainbow...

“No, the faker attacked Storm Raver,” Rainbow Dash snarled. “But she was the one that screwed me over with the letter. And it looks like she screwed Lightning Dust over too.”

“Lightning Dust?” Rarity asked. “That brute that nearly killed us all?”

“Uh, Rainbow kinda made the tornado with her,” Applejack politely added.

“...Thanks for reminding me about that, AJ,” Rainbow snarked, giving a deadpan look beneath her mask.

“...Are you being serious or not, Dashie? It's kinda hard to tell with that mask on,” Pinkie asked, hopping over and looking over the featureless face mask intently.

“...Can we get back to the whole 'I'm framed thing?'” the Mare-Do-Well asked flatly.

“Still can't tell.”

“UGH!” the circle of friends were treated to the rare sight of a superhero facehoofing.

“Oh! Now I get it!”

Twilight put a contemplative hoof to her chin. “So...the impostor Rainbow Dash isn't naturally cyan furred and has orange eyes...”

“If nothing else this confirms who the imposter isn't,” Rarity pointed out. “The question now is how we go about ending this dreadful mess?”

“Well I chatted with that Guard Detective, he said Miss Fake snatched some paint that you use on clouds, so her next target has to be in Cloudsdale, and her targets are all Wonderbolts stuff,” Rainbow explained. “So I say we figure out where she'll strike next and set an ambush for that phony!”

Twilight blinked as she found everypony's eyes on her. “What?”

“You're Twilight, we need a plan...” Rainbow replied simply.

“...Valid point.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, then noticed something. “Oh! And I also kinda told him to talk to you about Storm Raver.”

“Okay, that makes sense...Wait, what?!”

“Here he comes! I'll take a look around!” Mare-Do-Well replied, practically throwing her the folder with Storm Raver's profile and taking off.

Twilight groaned, facehoofing. “Why didn't she think to actually ask me first?!”

“Because she's Rainbow Dash?” Applejack remarked.

“...I guess we'll just roll with it...”

Private Eye tipped his fedora as he trotted over with a couple pegasus guards flanking him now. “Princess, glad to see ya again. A bit better terms this time I hope.”

“Hello...Detective Private Eye, was it?”

“That's me,” the detective replied, showing the letter that Mare-Do-Well had shown him. “The Mare-Do-Well handed me this and said you already did the leg work. Mind telling me what ya figured out?”

Twilight calmed herself. “Yes,” she replied, showing the folder. “She showed me the letter earlier as well and I cross referenced the signature,” she compared the sample of Storm Raver's signature to that on the letter. “Look here, it's not Spitfire's writing.”

Private Eye analyzed the two, looking back and forth. “Yeah, it is. The t, r, and e are almost identical to Storm Raver's.”

“Yeah...how did you notice so quick?”

The guard detective pointed to his Cutie Mark. “Special talent. I'm good at pickin' up little details.”

Twilight nodded carefully, though felt a little nervous. 'Like tells...' she thought, admittedly nervous about that.

“Well, if nothin' else this'll get Storm Raver on a count of forgery and impersonating a higher ranked officer,” Private Eye remarked, putting the evidence in his pocket. He snorted hot air out his nose. “I hate ponies who abuse their authority. Give the rest of us a bad name.”

“My brother isn't too fond of them either,” the Princess replied. “Prince Shining Armor, heard of him?”

“Ah yeah, lucky stallion. Princess Cadence is quite the catch,” the detective gave a smirk. “Anyway, now Mare-Do-Well also told me to go search Storm Raver's room for evidence, but I need a search warrant for that...now if only there was a Princess conveniently nearby to give me one here and now instead of me needin' to go find a judge...”

Rarity blinked. “Twilight can do that?”

“...Yes, I can, so long as I have enough proof to justify it,” said Twilight, teleporting in a paper and filling it out before passing it to Private Eye. “You have my full permission to search her office, Guard Detective Private Eye.”

“Welcome Princess,” the detective replied. “Now...technically speakin', this doesn't absolve Rainbow Dash. If anything, it gives her a motive. And unfortunately what evidence I do have supporting her bein' framed is second hoof from somepony I can't contact easily.”

“...Ah thought that was bein' too easily,” Applejack sighed in annoyance.

“But that don't mean I gotta hold you five prisoner, or stop ya from investigatin' on your own. Keep up the good work and have a good day,” Private Eye replied, tipping his hat.

Pinkie Pie blinked in confusion. “Wait, you're actually being reasonable?!”

The detective titled his head in confusion. “Uh...yeah...”

“But you're the investigator in a mystery story involving framing! That's not how it works!”

He simply stared for a few moments before shaking his head. For some reason this pony tended to make his brain want to crash trying to figure her out. “Uh...I think ya may have read too many mystery novels...though given I like to dress up like Bit Tracy, I'm probably the pot callin' the kettle black...Anyway, see ya later.”

Pinkie watched the detective and the guards leave. She took out a book called 'List of Mystery Cliches.' “But it says right here 'any non-protagonist investigator on the case the protagonist is the prime suspect for must be unreasonable and a hindrance to the protagonist's attempts to clear their name!'”

The pink party pony blinked, having attracted a lot of stares. “What, it's in the rulebook!”

“...Where did yah even get a book like that?”

“Oh...well...that's a surprise...” Pinkie Pie put the book back in wrapping paper that she'd seemingly ripped it out of, put a 'Happy Hearth's Warming Twilight' tag back on it, and somehow made it vanish behind her back.

“Right...Moving on...” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. “We need to find out a way to catch the impostor or at least get enough proof to show it is a fake...Even if I have a good idea who the impostor is now-”

“Oh! Is it Ditzy Do?!”

“...Pinkie, that's just Derpy's other name.”

“Oh...right...”

“Did somepony call me?” asked the gray colored pegasus, standing on a cloud nearby....upside down for some reason.

“Um...nothing Derpy...” Twilight replied.

“Okay Princess Twilight!” the wall eyed pegasus replied, flying off.

“As I was sayi-” Twilight continued, but was interrupted by a crash nearby.

“I'm okay!” Derpy's voice called.

“...Did yah ever notice how Derpy seems to be everywhere we go?” Applejack asked, rubbing her head. “Just kinda...there? It's kinda weird...”

Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. “...As I was saying, even if I have a decent idea who the fake Rainbow Dash is now, we need a plan to catch her.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “...The targets have so far have been Cloudsdale itself, then the Wonderbolts Academy itself, and according to the Detective, targeting the Wonderbolts in particular...The question is why...”

“...This is Rainbow's hometown,” Fluttershy volunteered. “Um...is that helpful?”

“Perhaps...Fluttershy, was that main street Cloudsdale where the first vandalism happened?”

“Um...yes...”

“...So major landmarks of Cloudsdale...And Rainbow Dash did say that they were all Wonderbolts related targets so that elminates any non-Wonderbolt related ones...But where will they hit next?”

Pinkie tapped her chin. “Hmm...if I were a meanie pants vandal, where would I go next?”

The purple Alicorn blinked, gears turning in her head. “...Wait...Pinkie that's it!”

“Thank you!...What'd I do?”

“You already gave the answer earlier!” Twilight replied. “Come on, I need to go talk to Spitfire.”

Private Eye searched through the desks in Storm Raver's office, his guards still with him. “What's this?” he asked, picking up the letters Rainbow had seen before from there. “...Well that seals it...”

His eyes scanned the room and fell on the awards on the wall.

“What the Tartarus?” asked a voice.

Private Eye turned to see Storm Raver glaring at him, bandaged up from the attack she'd received. “Hello, Storm Raver. Guard Detective Private Eye,” he replied, tipping his hat. “Remember me?”

“Yes, now what are you doing in my office?” the Bolt demanded, giving a glare.

“I think the better question Miss, is what are these is doin' in your office,” the guard detective smirked, holding up the letters.

Storm Raver's eyes widened and she took a step back. “Well...it's my department.”

“True, but,” Private Eye held up the letter Rainbow had received. “If this letter from Spitfire was already sent, that means ya shoulda sent 'em on to her by now.”

Storm Raver started to sweat. “Uh...well...those are...copies...”

“Really? Then how about we trot down to Spitfire's office and ask her face to face?”

Storm Raver's ears pinned. “I...uh...Well...I...You see...”

“...You were the previous holder those records those two broke, weren't ya? And those wings of yours, they didn't get roughed up in that fight, am I right? That's old age doin' a number on your joints. When your records got broken, you got bitter. You got jealous. You couldn't take the new girls throwing you out of your spot. So you decided to get a little payback...”

The pegasus sweated much more heavily before she finally spread her wings to run for it, but the Guards with Private Eye caught her by the tail and pulled her into a restraining hold.

“Storm Raver, you're under arrest for forgery and impersonatin' a higher ranked officer than yourself,” the Guard Detective replied, pulling out hoof cuffs.

“Uh, sir, was the dramatic summation thing necessary?” one of the guards questioned. "All you had to do was tell her why she's being arrested..."

“...Probably not...but it's fun.”

“Those records were mine! What was I supposed to do? Let some stupid brats have them? No way!” Storm Raver asked as they trotted through the building to the front entrance.

“Sorry, Raver, I work in the shadows so that ain't mah thing. The judge might understand ya better,” Private Eye retorted. “All I know is you gave a couple rookies a rough deal they didn't deserve, so I'm taking you in.”

“...You don't know what old age is like...you wouldn't understand...”

“...No, I guess I wouldn't...but I know these young kids probably looked up to ya. Keyword is LOOKED. Ya still had their respect, now ya lost it...and any I mighta had for ya as another member of Equestria's defense forces.”

Storm Raver actually looked down at that.

Mare-Do-Well chuckled, watching from a nearby cloud as Storm Raver was lead out of the place. True, she wasn't the fake Rainbow Dash...but she'd still tried to screw Rainbow over and try to ruin her dreams after all.

She noticed Storm Raver's gaze happen to land on her. Rainbow Dash gave it a little thought and a sly thought formed in her mind.

Mare-Do-Well thought back to the last time she'd seen Storm Waver before today, took the best approximation of the pose she'd had that day and did a simple, quick wave with one hoof.

Storm Raver seemed confused for a moment...before her eyes widened in recognition.

The dirty bolt had been rescued by the Mare-Do-Well and saw the impostor at the same exact time, with lots of witnesses. It didn't take Twilight Sparkle to figure out that meant she couldn't reveal Mare-Do-Well was Rainbow Dash without absolving the rainbow mared pegasus of being the vandal. If she told, then Rainbow was absolved, if she didn't, Rainbow got a last laugh on the mare who tried to hurt her. And since when had Rainbow not been one to brag when she thought she could get away with it?

With that, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off to go rendezvous with Twilight.

Cloudsdale Stadium was most well known for being the place that held the Best Young Flyer's Competition every year with the Wonderbolts themselves overseeing it. But it was also a frequent spot for Wonderbolt performances. One had been a show planned for later this week, which was set to go on even with the vandalism and mutterings it'd be canceled. But the Wonderbolts weren't known for being quitters and announced they'd carry on.

A rainbow colored blur flew by overhead late at night, giving a growl as she stared down at the stadium. She looked back to her saddle bags, opening them to reveal several cans of paint.

In a flash, the blur flew down to the stadium itself, looking around carefully. No guards. No anything. Just the birds roosting here and there. It was utterly silent.

The fake Rainbow Dash sped down to the floor below, pulling out one of the paint cans and throwing it on the stadium wall leaving a line of red as she flew past it. She pulled out the other colors of the rainbow from her bag and got ready to continue.

Suddenly, a spotlight-like beam fell on her, forcing her to turn. “What?!”

Twilight stood in the stands, a spotlight spell emitting from her horn. “Caught you red hoofed.”

The impostor looked around, seeing Applejack standing nearby with a lasso in hoof. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity stood nearby. While Rarity projected a spotlight from her own horn, Pinkie snapped a few pictures with a pink camera...that for some reason was modeled after prank novelty glasses.

“Now the Guard can see your Rainbow Dash costume! Isn't that cool!” Pinkie announced, looking closely and making note of the differences herself. Photographic memories came in handy. “Wow, that Cutie Mark is sloppy!”

Rarity blinked. “Where did you get a camera again?”

“I keep them stashed in case of camera emergencies!”

“...In Cloudsdale?”

“Yep!”

A purple and blue blur sped down and landed on one of the pillars in the middle of the stadium, using a hoof to curl her cape in front of her. “Alright, impostor! We've got you now! Give up!” she warned in a deep threatening voice.

Applejack facehoofed. “That voice of hers still sounds dumb...”

The fake seemed to shake with rage. “...You...you...Give me that camera!” she screamed, dashing straight at Pinkie Pie.

Mare-Do-Well intercepted and hit her with a flying kick, knocking her away. “Uh uh, this is between me and you, you faker!”

The imposter snarled in fury. “Get out of my way!”

Twilight used her horn to project a copy of her brother's shield spell around the stadium. “Hurry up! I might be an Alicorn but I'm not my BBBFF!” she exclaimed, cringing. Her brother was Celestia's go to stallion whenever she needed a barrier put up against world threatening calamities.

“Gotcha!” the masked mare replied, doing a backflip and kicking the impostor over her in midair.

The fake Rainbow did a u-turn and slammed into her back, knocking her down until she caught herself with her wings.

“Why are you even doing this?!” Twilight called. “It's over! We caught you in the act!”

“It's all I have!” the imposter yelled, sending a bolt of lightning at Twilight, who managed to shield herself.

Rarity looked to her. “Why don't you just use a spell on her?”

“I'd have to split my magic between the shield and that spell. And Rainbow's fake wouldn't be very good at pretending to be her if she wasn't fast; with them so close I might miss and hit the wrong pony,” Twilight replied. "'Mare-Do-Well' is the only one here fast enough to keep up with her fake.”

Mare-Do-Well cracked her neck. “Fine, if I have to give you a few lumps before you'll cut it out, that's fine by me.”

The two charged one another at breakneck speed. Like two deranged pinballs, they dashed through the sizable stadium, crossing paths again and again at lightning speed. Each pass, one tried to hit the other with a punch, kick, or headbutt, and was either blocked or dodged by their opponent.

Finally, Mare-Do-Well managed to catch her opponent with a punch to the jaw, then a kick to the ribs, but received a knee to the stomach and an overhead blow to the back knocking her down.

She looked up to see the impostor diving down at her with a stomp down on her back and rolled out of the way, industrial clouds stretching from impact but holding.

The masked mare flew up and did a spinning buck, but the other mare ducked it and retaliated with a headbutt she just barely dodged.

The two took off again, flying side by side and trying to punch and kick the other. Rainbow noticed her imposter seemed to not be so much skilled as berserk. 'So she's not a martial artist, doesn't mean she can't hurt me.'

The two veered upwards along the wall, continuing their brawl, both taking punches and kicks from the other. Rainbow's were more well placed, given she had more skill, but her rival seemed to be throwing her's more furiously and rapidly, and with more force.

As the raced along the top of Twilight's shield dome, the two finally connected with the punch to the other's jaw. The fake's glasses went flying to reveal her orange eyes and Rainbow was fairly certain she got a black eye under a cracked visor.

“Just leave me alone!” the fake yelled, flying around Mare-Do-Well and generating lightning clouds in her wake. The masked hero had to rapidly dodge the bolts, no easy feat, and was thankful the suit was durable when a few gave her a nasty shock. “They deserve it! She deserves it!”

The masked mare countered by diving straight down, her opponent following her. 'Okay, she's definitely not playing nice, time for some good old fashion tricks,' Rainbow Dash thought.

She suddenly did a loop, planting her hind legs into the poster's back and knocking her into the wall of the arena.

The impostor countered by snatching some clouds used in stunts and charging them with lightning, giving her superhero opponent a few bad burns. Thankfully Twilight was able to spare some magic and force her to abandon them with a magic beam thanks to the two having some space between them.

The fake dove back down, tackling Mare-Do-Well into the balcony where the Princess would normally sit. “I just want some payback, is that too much to ask?!” she screamed, trying to punch Rainbow's face in.

After a punch put a few more cracks in her visor. The masked hero countered by kicking her in the back and sending her face first into Celestia's throne. “You have serious issues!”

The two took off again, trading blows as they darted through the sky.

“Wow! It's like watching fire flies!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed cheerfully, the two moving so fast all the ponies saw were two colored blurs. Finally both combatants' punches collided and the two jumped backwards again.

The fake snarled and began flying around in a circle, generating a sizable tornado and sending it flying towards the stands.

“Oh not again!” Applejack yelled, using a rope to tie herself and her friends down, but given the building was MADE of clouds, she wasn't sure how well that'd work.

“Girls!” Mare-Do-Well yelled, diving down in front of them. “Here's hoping this works!”

She did her own circular motion and sent a tornado heading the opposite direction, the two colliding.

“Twilight! Hold me in one place!”

Twilight raised a brow but nodded, using her telekinesis to hold Rainbow in place. Rainbow flew forwards against Twilight's telekinesis, flapping her wings faster and faster until it built up completely. “Now!”

Twilight let go and Mare-Do-Well launched forwards at high speed, generating a small Rainboom. The masked mare went straight through the dissipating tornadoes and slammed into her surprised double full speed. The two left an impression in the wall on the other side.

“Ugh...momma I don't want to go to school today...” Rainbow Dash muttered dizzily, seeing stars from the impact as managed to hang on, her now unconscious double falling out of the pony shaped hole in the wall of the building.

“Got her!” Applejack called, using a lasso to catch the defeated impostor and leave her hanging like a caught fish. “And that's why Ah always bring lots of rope.”

Rarity got several banners in her telekinesis to further restrain the impostor, Pinkie Pie using streamers for the same purpose.

Fluttershy flew down and stared intently at the defeated villain's eyes for when they open...and also started treating her wounds.

Rainbow Dash sighed, hanging from the wall of the stadium. “Looks like she crashed and burned!” she snarked...and then collapsed in the stands. “And I am bucking tired...”

Chapter 5

The stadium was a bustle of commotion, as to be expected when a rather loud super sonic brawl had occurred in a populated area, followed by the Royal Guard being called in. Twilight even had to contend with some small foals who'd come despite, or perhaps because, it being far past their bed time, getting excited about her Princess status, which Pinkie insisted on calling a 'call forward' for some reason.

The 'mare of the hour' was currently still restrained, both by the mane six's methods and by the Guard. The Mare-Do-Well stood nearby, trying to stand strong and heroic at her victory...despite having a black eye and a good number of other injuries beneath her suit. Fluttershy had done her best to patch her up, but time had been of the essence and she was a vet, not a nurse. Rainbow Dash was grateful for all those crashes building up a high tolerance for pain or she'd probably not be able to move right now at all.

Naturally, Rainbow Dash, being Rainbow Dash, only agreed to stay back (revealing her before they cleared everything up with the guard could easily cause more harm than it would good) because standing mysteriously off the side made her MORE of the center of attention. After all, what pony wasn't interested in a mysterious superhero standing victorious? Especially the foals who wanted to talk to her.

Thankfully the damage from the 'superhero fight' (as Pinkie Pie had been calling it) to the stadium had been minimal. Mostly contained to the stands and the royal balcony. Despite a bout of momentary panic from Equestria's newest Princess, Princess Celestia's response to being informed of this by dragon mail was 'that's fine, I wanted to get the old thing redone anyway.'

Regardless, the Wonderbolts show would still go on as scheduled and with no serious problems. (much to Dash's relief), just with some damaged chairs.

“Alright,” said Guard Detective Private Eye, trotting up to the group. “I see ya managed to catch our little baddie here huh?”

The Detective looked closely at the bound pegasus. “Definitely ain't the real Rainbow Dash,” he said, noticing the unaligned Cutie Mark, orange eyes, and now very smudged fur dye. “Question is who is it?”

Pinkie Pie blinked. “You haven't figured it out yet?”

“Uh, no, do you have any idea how much paperwork arresting Storm Raver came with? I've got some suspicions, but I was busy,”

The pink party pony gave an annoyed look. “Did the author even read the rules of this kind of a detective story?!” she asked, earning her a number of confused looks. “What? If he's not an incompetent detective, then he's a competent one! The competent detective is supposed to make a big summation of how they figured out the bad guy was the bad guy! It's in the rules!”

“Uh, the Detective already did that with Storm Raver...” said one of the guards that had been with him earlier.

The pink party pony blinked, then tapped her chin. “Oh...Okay! So he was the main character in a side story solving a different but connected mystery! Now it all makes sense!”

“...Is she always like this, Princess?” Private Eye asked Twilight.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. You should have seen her the last time we had to solve a mystery...”

Fluttershy, Rarity, and (under her mask) Rainbow Dash all winced at that mention. The Cakes hadn't taken that very well and they'd ended up 'working' at Sugar Cube Corner for some time to pay them back. It had not been the most pleasant of experiences, but they had harmed a friend and all agreed their kindness, loyalty, and generosity had been lacking a bit that day.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Pinkie stated, pulling out a Sherlock Holmes style hat and bubble pipe and handing it to Twilight with an expectant look.

The Princess gave a sigh. “...Fine...”

Twilight Sparkle floated the hat onto her head and took the pipe. She noticed Private Eye raise an eyebrow. “It's a long story...”

“Eh, I'm dressed like Bit Tracy, so who am I to judge?” the Guard Detective asked with a shrug.

The lavender Princess composed herself. “You see, originally we believed Storm Raver was the culprit, as she seemed to have a vendetta against Rainbow Dash, as well as having been the previous holder of the academy records, and thus was one of the few pegasi that could potentially be fast enough to match Rainbow Dash's speed well enough to impersonate her. But after the Mare-Do-Well's fight with the impostor at the Academy, we learned several important clues. First; the fake wasn't a natural cyan and was using fur dye to disguise herself. That meant it couldn't be Storm Raver who wouldn't need the dye. Second, we learned that their natural eye color was orange. With Storm Raver no longer a suspect, that meant the only other ponies it could be were other athletes who could rival Rainbow Dash's speed. And more importantly, whoever did it must have ha a pre-existing grudge on Rainbow.”

Twilight looked to Private Eye. “However, the biggest question was why Storm Raver's actions coincided with the impostor's attack, if there was a reason. That question was answered by a letter found in Storm Raver's desk. Only one other pony was both close to Rainbow Dash's speed, had a matching description to what we knew, had a grudge on Rainbow Dash, AND had a reason to strike NOW.”

Twilight nodded to Pinkie Pie, who poured a bucket of water on the fake...and then when that wasn't enough to get the dye all the way out, went into a full on washing montage.

When the Pink Pony was finally finished, the culprit stood revealed in her true colors as lightning flashed dramatically in the background.

“Derpy!”

“Sorry...” the pegasus was jumping on another lightning cloud nearby. “The Guard said they needed some help clearing the lightning from the clouds...”

Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “As I was saying. The true culprit is...”

The Princess used her telekinesis to rip the fake's Cutie Mark off to reveal a lightning bolt striking three stars. “Lightning Dust!”

The light blue pegasus with an orange mane snarled in rage. “Yeah, it's me, Princess...”

Pinkie Pie looked at the unmasked supervillain expectantly.

“...What?”

“You're not going to say it?”

“Say what?”

“'I would've gotten away with if it weren't for that meddling superhero' or something like that! That's what the bad guy is always supposed to say when they're unmasked!”

Twilight grabbed Pinkie Pie with her telekinesis and pulled her back as Lightning Dust glared daggers at her. “Pinkie, not now!”

“But when else am I going to have the chance to hear somepony say that?!” the Pink Pony said in disappointment. “We don't get a mystery episode in season four!”

“Can't I even get beaten without somepony stealing the moment from me?!” Lightning Dust asked in a...surprisingly sad tone. She looked down at her hooves. “It's all I bucking have left!”

The group looked at one another in surprise. Mare-Do-Well flew down, giving a groan from the pain. “...Lightning Dust...why did you do this?”

The mare gave an almost broken sigh. “...After I got booted from the Wonderbolts' Academy...I didn't know what to do...the only thing I'd ever wanted was to be a Bolt, it was my dream...and then it was over! Not with me getting hurt doing some big stunt that'd at least leave something for ponies to remember! Not retiring in glory...but getting my badge ripped off and sent home for some stupid mistake!”

Rainbow Dash gasped under her mask. The story sounded...strangely familiar, up until that last bit. Rainbow has the same ambition more or less. The Bolts were the thing she'd aspired for since she was a little foal. It was all she'd ever wanted in her entire life. The idea of it just being gone was the thing that'd scared her the most throughout this entire thing. That some random twist of fate she had no control over had robbed her of everything.

“...I...I tried to do better, I really did...” Lightning Dust actually started crying. And it was every bit as wrong feeling as Rainbow Dash breaking down crying had been. “I know I screwed up. I know that I let my ego get the better of me...I thought if I just tried, maybe I'd be able to convince them to give me another chance...I'm sorry, I...I really AM sorry. I never meant for anypony to get hurt...But then...”

The blue pegasus gave a furious snarl, managing to slam her hoof into the floor of the stadium in rage and sorrow despite how heavily she was restrained. “...It didn't bucking work! Nothing I did changed anything! They still rejected me! I...I lost my dream...I...I was so angry...I...I decided to make them pay for robbing me...for taking away my dream and refusing to give it back!...So I started trying to ruin all the Wonderbolts stuff I could find! I felt like payback was all I had left!”

Rainbow Dash felt sympathy for her doppelganger. After all, how cheated and robbed had she felt when Storm Raver's bogus letter came in the mail for her? Who wouldn't feel cheated when they tried that hard and got rejected? Especially when you realized you were a bad pony and had actually tried to change for the better? Heck, even Discord got a second chance when he turned good, and while Rainbow questioned how wise it was to trust him, it still seemed...wrong for somepony who wanted to change for the better get shut down after that. Then there was Trixie. Yeah, Rainbow questioned just how much the girl had changed, but Trixie hadn't tried to screw her over once that time she'd had to help her escape that Diamond Dog kingdom, and then it turned out Trixie had taken up helping police set up stings for diamond thieves.

While Rainbow would be the first to mistrust somepony that'd gone from bad to good, there was just a sense of...wrongness at the idea of somepony wanting to change not being allowed to. It just wasn't the pony way.

Twilight gave a sympathetic look. “I can understand why that would make you so angry, in fact it'd be more surprising if you weren't...but why did you frame Rainbow Dash? I can understand hurting the Bolts, but why her?”

“...Because she was the one that turned me into the Bolts! She stayed at the Academy while I got the boot! I was angry, payback was all I had left! Put two and two together brainiac!”

“...You hated all the Bolts, not one of them...so your hatred needed a face to take it out on...”

Private Eye gave a sigh. “Look kid, I hate to break it to ya, but Rainbow Dash got screwed over just as bad before you did a thing.”

Lightning Dust's eyes went wide. “W-What?”

“Same pony that sent ya that letter did the exact same thing to Rainbow Dash,” Private Eye repeated. “Sent her a letter saying she'd never be a Bolt. I saw it with my own eyes.”

The defeated pony's expression was one of absolute shock. “B-But...t-that...w-why...That's not fair!”

“...Not fair to her, or not fair to yah?” Applejack asked. “Is it not fair that Rainbow Dash got hurt too or is it not fair because yah can't be jealous of her anymore since she got the raw end of the deal just like ya?”

Lightning Dust looked down at her hooves in shock. “I...I...I don't know...”

Applejack noted some surprise of the others. “...Element of Honesty, remember? Somepony had tah ask. Now is anypony gonna tell her the whole truth or should I?”

“What?”

Private Eye sighed. “Look kid. I know ya didn't have the best opinion of Storm Raver, considerin' ya attacked her.”

“...She was a Wonderbolt, she was there...”

“...Storm Raver faked those letters to yah both. Spitfire never saw 'em.”

Lightning Dust's face fell like the moon had just fallen on her head. “W-What?”

“...Storm Raver was jealous of ya both for breaking her old academy records,” the detective explained. “I talked to Spitfire after I arrested the old snake, she said she'd have never sent either of those letters. That includes the one to you.”

Lightning Dust seemed to just shut down. Like that one paragraph had broken her. “...But...that...that means I...all this...it was...”

“Not only that, if Storm Raver hadn't been the one who wronged you, you'd have attacked a completely innocent Wonderbolt,” Twilight pointed out, then looked sympathetic. “...Believe me, I know how THAT situation feels...”

“I...I didn't...That...that's right...but I...” Lightning Dust didn't even seem to know what sentences she COULD say in response to that.

Mare-Do-Well looked at the broken mare. Yes, she'd tried to ruin her life...but if Storm Raver had never screwed them both over and made her snap...

“...I think we need to tell Spitfire about all this in equus,” the masked mare stated.

Shortly there after, the arrested Storm Raver stood in the Wonderbolts' main office, Spitfire listening to everything that had been said with the utmost, calm attention. Private Eye and the Bearers were also all present, with the Mare-Do-Well watching covertly through the window (Rainbow Dash knew everypony present knew the Mare-Do-Well was there, but Batmare-like superheroines were Batmare-like superheroines). “So...what you're telling me is the entire reason for all this damage is because of Storm Raver's little fit of jealousy?” she asked, her tone calm and collected, her face emotionless.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, Spitfire. Lightning Dust's rampage was because Storm Raver's actions convinced her revenge was all she had left...It by no means excuse anything she did, but she really did try to change and given the circumstances, it's my opinion the extenuating circumstances make this a...unique situation.”

Private Eye put a folder on the table. “Had some research done. Lightning Dust has been doing community service and other stuff, trying to change. She really was on the right track until Storm Raver's little tantrum sent her backsliding. Classic case of 'reformed but rejected.'”

Spitfire looked to the bound Lightning Dust. “...Is this true?”

The mare was barely responsive, but nodded.

Spitfire trotted over to Storm Raver, giving her a glare that nearly made the old mare's heart stop. She grabbed the mare firmly and walked her over to look Lightning Dust right in the eyes. Storm Raver tried to look away from the broken mare she'd hurt. “What's a matter, Storm Raver? I thought this was what you wanted isn't it? Lightning Dust ruined! Take a good long look at her! Maybe take a picture and put it on your prison cell wall!” the Wonderbolts' commander barked with all the harshness and authority of a Drill Sergeant.

Storm Raver looked, seeing the broken eyes of a mare who'd lost everything...all because of her. “I...I...”

“What's wrong? Can't look your handiwork in the eyes now that it actually has a face instead of being just words in a letter?!” Spitfire forced Storm Raver to look her in the eyes. “She might have made an inferno, but you're the one who intentionally started it! You've betrayed EVERYTHING the Wonderbolts stand for! You make me sick!”

“I just didn't want to be forgotten!” Storm Raver finally snapped, now she was the one crying.

“Forgotten?! Reality check, you still were a former holder of the Academy records! You'd have gone down in the history books! You'd have retired with honor and never been forgotten! We'd have remembered you and them!...Well guess what, you still won't be forgotten,” Spitfire stated, the captain finally letting Storm Raver go. She then ripped the Wonderbolts insignia off of her flight suit and threw it to the ground. “Just not how you planned. Now get her out of my sight!”

Storm Raver lowered her head in shame as the guards lead her out. She looked back to Lightning Dust. “...Sorry kid...I guess I know what it's like to let your emotions screw you up...”

After the disgraced Wonderbolt was escorted out of the room, Spitfire turned to Lightning Dust. “...Look, kid. Don't you dare think that I'm just going to say 'she screwed you over so everything you did was right,' because it's NOT. You messed up royally.”

“...I know...” Lightning Dust said in a whisper, having had time for the full weight of everything to hit home.

The Wonderbolt Captain looked to Private Eye. “Detective, do you have that letter Lightning Dust sent in?”

“Got it right here,” Private Eye produced it and hoofed it to her. “It was evidence after all.”

Spitfire took the letter out and read over it. “'Hello, my name is Lightning Dust. I attended the Wonderbolts Academy earlier this year, but was expelled for actions unbecoming of a Wonderbolt, including treating my teammates in ways no Wonderbolt ever should have. I know that now. I still want to be a Wonderbolt and it means the world to me. What I did was wrong and I admit it. I'm sorry. I've sincerely been trying my best to change and become a better pony than the one that got kicked out of the Academy. I've been doing community service, included is a list of places I've gone to. I've been working more with other ponies and trying harder to be a team player. Please give me a second chance to become a Bolt, I'm willing to do anything you ask of me to earn it. Sincerely, Lightning Dust.'”

The Wonderbolt Captain looked to Lightning Dust. “...So, you meant every word of this?”

Lightning Dust gave a silent nod, looking down at her hooves.

“...Princess Twilight, were you and your friends the ones that got caught in Dust and Dash's tornado?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, that was a long time ago,” the Princess replied. “We were on our way here to deliver a care package to Rainbow and give her support when it happened.”

“...And had Dash not rescued you?”

“...We might not have survived...”

Spitfire trotted up to Lightning Dust and looked her in the eyes. “I think you owe them the apology, not just the Bolts.”

Lightning Dust looked up at Spitfire. She then slowly looked over to the group. Yeah, they'd stopped her from taking her revenge...but now she knew that her 'revenge' had done nothing but hurt her right back. She'd only happened to hurt the one that'd actually wronged her by pure accident.

“...If you're really sorry, why should it matter if you got what you wanted?”

“...I'm sorry...I let my ego get the better of me...I wasn't acting like a Wonderbolt, I was only looking out for me...I'm sorry...”

“And are you sorry you framed Rainbow Dash?”

“...Yeah...she didn't deserve this...”

Fluttershy trotted over and put a hoof on Lightning Dust's shoulder. “I forgive you...”

Lightning Dust looked at her in disbelief. “But...but...I...Rainbow Dash...”

“And that was very bad, you should have known better, young lady,” Fluttershy stated in a stern voice, like a mother chastising a child. Her face then softened completely. “But I forgave Discord, he's one of my friends. Why would I hold a grudge on you?”

Applejack trotted up. “We're ponies, and trust us, we know you got the raw end of a deal, Sugarcube. Are we mad yah framed are friend? Tartarus yes! And Ah ain't sayin' yah don't deserve to go to jail. Yah do.”

“Applejack!”

“Sorry, Flutters, but Ah ain't 'Element of Sugarcoatin'.' But as Ah was sayin', we're still ponies, we don't hold grudges easy. Heck, one of our Princesses was Nightmare Moon!”

Lightning Dust looked like she was at a loss for words. “...I...I...”

Spitfire cleared her throat to get everypony's attention. “While Lightning Dust IS going to jail, Storm Raver's actions WERE way out of line and Dust was a victim too...Given the extenuating circumstances surrounding her actions, I believe some measure of mercy is in order. So, after she serves her time, she might get another shot at the Academy.”

The defeated pegasus' eyes went wide. “What? But...I...”

“BUT,” the Wonderbolts captain stated seriously. “If she causes any trouble at all while serving her time, she's out of horseapples out of luck. And her community service WILL be fixing all the damage she's caused. No if, ands, or buts about it. You'll fix the damage to the campus, you're going to be repaying what you owe the Weather Factory, you're going to repay your debt to Cloudsdale, and you're going to do all of that BEFORE you get your second chance. Are we clear?!”

Lightning Dust's eyes misted up. “I...I...thank you...”

“Don't thank me yet, kid, you're going to have to EARN it. But if you really want it that bad, then you won't have any problem,” Spitfire stated, giving a smirk. She then turned to the group. “And also, somepony find Rainbow Dash and tell her her name is bucking cleared already!” she barked, unaware said mare was presently watching through the window in a superhero outfit the entire time.

“Yes ma'am!” replied everypony with a salute.

Not long after, Lightning Dust set in her cell at Cloudsdale's (very underused) prison, thinking over what had happened. The second chance she'd been given. Her mind was in a whirl of confusion and guilt.

She blinked as somepony opened her cell.

“Got a visitor, Dust,” the guard stated.

The mare was lead to the visitor room and gasped at who waited for her. A rainbow colored pegasus with a black eye. “R-Rainbow Dash?”

“Hey Dust...mind if we talk a bit?”

Soon, the two were sitting at a table, Lightning Dust not even looking at Dash, seemingly finding the floor much more interesting.

“So...uh...how are you doing?”

There was no answer. It became apparent rather quickly where this was going.

“Silent treatment, huh?”

Still silence.

“Ugh...Look...ugh...this isn't easy for me to say but...” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her head.

“...That I deserve this? I know that's what you want to say so just say it!...You're right...”

“No...that I know how you feel...”

Lightning Dust blinked, looking up. “What?”

Rainbow Dash looked down, mentally acknowledging the irony of situation. “...Well, not to be locked up...but how you felt back at the Academy...your head gets so big you forgot the world doesn't revolve around you until it finally gets popped...then the world comes crashing down and you realize 'I could've really hurt somepony...' I've been there...”

Lightning Dust looked like a computer hit with a logic bomb. “What...when...how...”

“Long story short, I saved some ponies and my ego just kept getting bigger and bigger. I thought I was a superhero.”

“...You aren't?”

“Oh, I AM, but...that's the thing, I thought I was. I was so drunk on the crowds cheering my name that I forgot that being a hero isn't about ME, it's about the ponies that the hero is protecting...and until my ego got popped like a balloon, I made mistakes and it nearly got ponies hurt or worse...So yeah, I've been there...” the rainbow maned pegasus said with a sigh. “...You shouldn't have gotten the short end of the stick. I'm sorry you did...and I hope to fly with you someday...”

“I...I...I don't know what to say...”

“...How about 'see you in the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash said, giving a confident smirk. “After all, we never got to really see who's the best back at the Academy, and there's no way I'm letting that slide.”

“...Hehe...me neither...thanks...I...I'm sorry Rainbow.”

“Apology accepted, we can all be jerks sometimes,” the rainbow maned pegasus replied. “...Drop me a letter when you get out, we can have a race, deal?”

“...Deal...”

Storm Raver blinked, finding herself staring at a cream colored pegasus across the visitor's room table from her. “...Why did you come here?”

Fluttershy smiled. “...Because I don't believe there are bad creatures, just ones that made bad decisions...if I didn't come, who would?”

“...But your friend...After what I did...”

“You were a very naughty pony...but you felt bad for what you did...that means you can still become a good pony...”

“...That's...quite kind of you...”

“...I wouldn't be me if I wasn't...and someequs taught me that sometimes all a bad creature needs to change is a friend...”

Rainbow Dash finally laid in her bed at home, resting. Even to the athletic pegasus, the events she'd gone through had been rough. She still had a black eye and a lot of bruises. But at least that nightmare was finally over.

And Lightning Dust was on the road to getting her own progress in becoming a Bolt in. Rainbow had to admit, the idea of working with Lightning Dust one day actually didn't annoy her as much as it would have otherwise. She chuckled, thinking back to the Wonderbolts Academy and imagining the same situation with a NICE Lightning Dust.

Fluttershy was also trying to get through to Storm Raver. Rainbow Dash hadn't forgiven that mare completely yet, but if anypony could redeem a baddie, it was the gal that'd reformed Discord himself.

The pony groaned as there was a crash outside (as hard as one can make hitting a cloud house). She forced her battered body off the bed and trotted over to the door, opening it to reveal a certain lavender Alicorn...who from the looks of things had crash landed almost into her door. “I really need to give you more flying lessons.”

“Not why I'm here!” Twilight replied, getting up and shaking herself off. “...I just came to check on how you're doing...”

Rainbow Dash stretched a bit. “Yeah, it feels good not to be on the run from the law, even if it was kind of fun being a superhero.”

Equestria's fourth Princess gave a small chuckle. “I thought you didn't want to be the Mare-Do-Well...”

The Rainbow maned Pegasus gave a flat look. “No, I didn't like being Mare-Do-Well, I liked being a superhero. There's a difference.”

Twilight gave a nod. “I get it...I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

“Yeah...and thanks for...you know, helping me clear my name and all...”

“No problem, Rainbow, that's what friends are for, right?” Twilight replied, giving a smile. “You'd do the same for us.”

“Duh! I'm not the Element of Loyalty for nothing,” the mare replied with smirk.

Twilight replied by rolling her eyes, but giving a smile. “Glad you have your life back to normal, Rainbow.”

The two ponies hugged. “You and me both Twi.”

After Twilight left, Rainbow Dash trotted back into her house and lead back down to go back to relaxing...when there was a knock on her door. “UGH!”

She trotted over to the door and opened it to reveal Derpy with a mailmare uniform on. “Hey Derpy.”

“Hey Rainbow Dash! Mail for you!” said the mare, hoofing it over and flying off.

“...She still looked at me weird...” Rainbow Dash stated.

She looked at the letter. “Wonderbolts?”

Equestria's fasted Pegasus hesitated for a second. Remembering the LAST letter she got from there and the heartache that ensued. That hesitation lasted for two seconds. Since when did Rainbow Dash let things get to her?!

She opened it and read through it...and her smile grew larger with every word.

“YES! I'm testing to get into the Wonderbolts Reserves! All right!”

Rainbow Dash read it again just to ensure she wasn't hallucinating. “I've got to go tell the girls!”

Her excitement was stifled by a yawn. “...Maybe after a nap...”

Rainbow headed back to her bed and laid down, now having good dreams to fill her slumber. After all, she'd defeated, and redeemed her doppelganger, saved Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts from a mass vandal, got to be a superhero, and, best of all, was now one step closer to her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt.

Could anyone argue she didn't deserve it?

As she was about to go to sleep, she noticed the Mare-Do-Well suit she'd thrown in her closet. Would she ever wear it again? Sure, she wasn't a fan of the memories that suit held, but she HAD enjoyed being a masked superhero and wouldn't mind doing that again...A mare could dream, couldn't they?

The End