MareDoWell

I prepare for the party, choosing to dawn a light blue gown. I put the finishing touches on my outfit when I hear a knock at the door, I open it to see Fluttershy in her gala dress looking quite distraught.

"Trixie, why are you still home? It past six an hour ago!" she says, slightly frustrated

"Then…why did it just hit six on my clock?"

Fluttershy looks behind me and lets out a frustrated groan.

"Oh Trixie, I've told you to get that clock fixed twice now. Come on, we're already late." And with that she rushed me out the door by the hoof.

We were almost there when a question came to mind.

"What should I say to them?" I ask, cautiously.

Shys' voice became stern; almost mother-like. "Look, just because they don't like you doesn't mean they can't act civil. Just don't try to argue with them or be to friendly and you'll be fine, and if they cause you trouble, I can always stare them down."

I look over in disbelief.

"You would stare down your friends just for me?!"

Fluttershy looks over at me with a soft reassuring smile. "Trixie you have grown so much in these past two years. You've become so different compared two your old self, that cold, selfish, evil thing you used to be. So yes, I would stare them down for you. Because frankly, you deserve better than to be treated like trash."

I was nearly brought to tears by such beautiful words coming from such a good friend; I gave a soft smile,

"Thank you Fluttershy, I... thank you." I reply, knowing that if anything in this world would harm me, she would be there to literally stare it down to nothing.

We arrive at the party after a few minutes of walking, it was wonderfully set up, waiters and waitresses strutting through the crowd, everypony dressed to impress, laughing and sharing stories.

"Trixie darling, you're finally here!" I hear a voice call out from my right. I look over to see Fleur de Lis and her husband Fancy Pants walking up to me

"It's so good to see you." Fleur says. "When are you planning to do another show, by the way. Fancy and I absolutely adored the last one. What was it called again? The Redemption?"

"Lost Souls Redemption darling. I swear that's the twelfth time you've forgotten one of the names of Trixie's shows." Fancy Pants piped in.

She looks over to him, pouting. "Well excuse me for not having a memory as good as yours. But Trixie, darling the emotion, the concept, they were all executed perfectly… exactly how much did you make from that show again?"

I tap my chin, trying to think of the number. "I believe it was six figures, if I'm not mistaken, and of course part of it went towards the fight against the recent spike in organized crime. You've seen the news right?"

They both almost instantly look to the floor, their smiles fading.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

Fancy looks up at me, a distressed look on his face. "Trixie, we didn't just see the news. We experienced it." At first I was confused, then Fancy explained.

"About a week ago, some mob hired thug broke into our house and tried to... assault, my dear Fleur."

I was shocked to say the least, and wracked with worry.

"Oh my Celestia! Fleur, are you alright?!"

"Of course I'm alright! He came and tried to have his way with me!" she starts to rub against Fancy in a tender, loving manner.

"But my big, strong stallion was there to stop him, weren't you baby?"

"Of course I was!" Fancy shouts with a grin of absolute confidence. "I wasn't going to let that ruffian do a single disgusting thing to you, so I threw him around like a rag-doll!" He looked down at Fleur with a wide grin.

"And when we got back from the police station that day, I believe I threw you around the bedroom a bit… did I not?"

Fleur blushes deeply. "Oh… hush you." Fancies grin widens at his wife's sheepishness. Fleur rolls her eyes and looks over at me.

"I personally think we should have another Everfree Empress. Someone who is able to go after these thugs directly without going through all this justice system bull... "

"Now honey," Fancy cuts her off "there's no need for that type of language, and I happen to disagree. I think it's wrong that the princesses allow a masked vigilante to go around and take the law into her own hooves. It makes the entire EPD look foolish."

"Well, I think she was magnificent, especially how she took down The King." she replies with a huff.

"Excuse me, but who are you talking about?" They both look at me as if they had seen a ghost.

"Trixie, I'm surprised you haven't heard of her. She was this masked hero that was believed to come from somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She could also use magic but most unicorns said it looked a little too off to be unicorn magic." Fleur explaines.

"And her greatest enemy was a the leader of a major crime syndicate, only known by the name 'The King'." Fancy adds. "As I heard, he was a very powerful unicorn that the the Empress had several major battles with. Before his gang was dismantled by the Empress, he had one final major bout with her and was finally defeated, then sentenced to death for treason."

I listened on in amazement, learning that the Empress had disappeared a year after the King's defeat, we talked for another hour or so before parting ways.

I was touring the party, looking for Fluttershy who had slipped away during my conversation with Fleur and Fancy, and when I found her, who else should be there except the five mares I was trying to avoid.

'Oh no,' was my first thought. I could already see them eying me, especially Pinkie who would always get those strange "twitches" around me. Rainbow was about to walk off before getting stared by Fluttershy. But what hit me hardest was Twilight, the mare I had feelings for, giving me a glare of absolute loathing and hatred.

Before I could even start talking, Twilight interrupted, speaking with an almost tired, yet annoyed tone. "We understand that Fluttershy has accepted you, but that doesn't mean we have to. Just enjoy the party, stay clear of us, and don't touch anything, okay?"

I nod in response, but as they walk away, I couldn't help but ask the question lingering inside me.

"What do I have to do?" I ask with a fury filled whisper.

"Excuse me?" asks Twilight.

"What do I have to do to prove to you that I've changed, that I'm not some show pony who's always plotting to humiliate everypony? Tell me what I have to do!" I yell.

Twilight looks over at me with an ice cold glare of contempt, and speaks.

"Leave Ponyville, and don't ever come back." she says through clenched teeth before walking away with her friends.

There it was again, that feeling of inner pain. That one big regret caused from my actions in the past. I wanted so badly for them to forgive me, to believe in the new me and forget the old, so that I could finally have closure! But it never happens. And in the end, all it leaves behind is an empty feeling. The fact that what I want the most in this world, I can never have.

I was walking through a display section in Twilight's house, holding a bottle of dandelion wine looking for somewhere to get drunk and cry, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Like many of the things here it was a lit up display, but something about it drew me closer and closer. It was a medium sized costume colored in all sorts of shades of purple and bit of dark pink. With what looked to be a modified flight mask, a flowing cape, and a dark purple hat with a pink stripe. I narrowed my eyes on the chest area.

"M?"

"It means MareDoWell." a voice calls out from behind me. I swing around, startled, to see Twilight's assistant, Spike.

"Rainbow Dash got a little too big headed one time, so Twi and the others dressed up in this costume and started committing acts of heroism, but with um, oh what did Twi call it… oh yeah, humility."

Spike kept on sweeping the display area, but my eyes were locked on the costume, and as I looked into the glass and saw my face reflected over the mask, one thought ran through my head, What if I did something like that, but they didn't know it was me.

Little did I know that this single thought... would come to define me.