The Adventures of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!

“Sunset, please tell me you're okay!”

“Damnit Red, just shut the hell up and keep that phone on standby!” The destructive power of the rapid firing of bullets followed me as I sprinted across the warehouse, desperately trying to avoid getting hit by one.

“WHY DON’T YOU JUST FUCKING DIE!” The revulsion in Shills voice was so sharp that it was enough to add another layer of tension to the already dire predicament. The minigun on the robot's arm continued to fire at me, lighting up the dark warehouse like a damn Christmas tree. Trying to take cover from the bastard was as useful as a jack rabbit attempting to fight a cheetah, every time I jumped behind one of the few crates scattered across the place just to catch my breath, the freaking terminator here would decimate it like it was nothing more than paper. I was now taking cover behind the last remaining crate, still clutching the cannister of chemicals.

Damnit, I just need a moment to get near it

My thought process was interrupted by the wood of the crate combusting from behind me, and yet again I was back to running away. I tried running back to the stairs that led to the second floor, but the damn thing tore apart the stairs support beams, causing the entire pathway to almost collapse on top of me. But to the surprising little luck I have, the firing ceased just as the bullets were only a mere inches away from hitting me.

“DAMNIT, I’M OUT OF AMMO!” Shouted Shill. Wasting no time, I sprinted at him, planning to knock his ass out before he could press anything else, but my attempt was too late because he quickly pressed a random button, and the robots arm swung right at me, colliding with me at full speed. As my entire body flew across the warehouse, my back slammed across the dock gate. I wasn’t even back on my knees as the tin can flew right at me, fire ejecting from the bottom of its feet like some kind of jet engine. The robot's claw crashed into me, and punched right through the dock gate. I was now flying across the warehouses parking lot, my momentum coming to a halt as I crashed into one of the lots light poles. The ground beneath me began to shake as the robot emerged from out of the warehouse and into the night. As the world around me rumbled, I slowly got back to my feet, feeling the wet stains of blood seeping through my costume.

“I think some of my old stitches busted open,” I grunted, applying pressure to my stomach with one hand.

“WHAT? Sunset, what the hell is happening? Please tell me!” cried Red through the earpiece. I lifted my mask halfway up to spit out a glob of blood before pulling it back down.

“Mr. ED-209 from Robocop here just knocked the shit out of me through the front dock gates. We’re now outside in the parking lot.” I pushed my fedora down onto my head while I glared at the metal contraption walking towards me.

“Oh my God, Sunset, you need to figure something out or that thing is going to kill you.” I looked down to the cannister gripped around my fingers, then looked up at the robot, more specifically at the tubes and exhaust pipes that were protruding from its back. A grin slowly began to form across my face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it out right now. I just needed it to burn through those bullets.” Ignoring the burning pain across my torso, I kicked it into overdrive and began to run full speed at the robot. It raised both arms forward, opening its claws wide, and two holes opened in the center of them. Immediately, the heads of two missiles popped out of both of them, and the projectiles shot out of its arms like a canon, rocketing towards me. The whistling of the air as they sped at me grew louder and louder as they approached. The first one came right at me, and I quickly weaved around it, feeling the heat of its base as it flew past me and landed onto the pavement. Ignoring the blast that erupted from behind me, I ran towards the other missile. This one however shot down in front of me, erupting the concrete like a volcano. With no way of slowing down, I jumped through the blast, diving out from the other side with flames scattered across my cloak, before rolling back onto my feet across the pavement. Now within range of the robot, I leaped onto its arm, and began scaling the machine until I was now on top of its head. The robot began to flail its arms around, desperately trying to throw me off of it, but I held onto one of its exhaust pipes like a bull rider. With one arm wrapped tightly around the burning metal, I unscrewed the cap of the green cannister, raising it up the opening of the pipe where smoke was emanating out from.

“Bottoms up you stupid android son of a bitch.” I began to pour the entire bottle into the pipe as electricity began to shoot out of the robot. With one leg hanging down its back, I started to violently kick on the tubes and hoses, crudely dislodging them from their respective sockets. Feeling as the robot was now beginning to move around violently, I threw the rest of the chemicals into the exposed sockets on its back before jumping off the now crazed bot. Slowly, parts of the robot began to explode, and more electricity started to shoot out everywhere as the bot began to short circuit from the inside. Eventually, it stopped moving entirely, before the whole thing combusted into a large explosion, forcing me to shield myself with the cloak as parts of debris scattered across the field. After the intense moment, I peeked over my cloak to see nothing more than a large crater where the robot used to be. The static in my ear continued to echo until the voice of Red interrupted.

“Sunset, are you there? I just called the cops.” Poor woman must’ve been clenching her chest tightly during the whole ordeal.

“Yeah, I’m here. I took the thing out. I’m going in after Shill.” I began to sprint towards the building, intending to capture Shill until the police arrived. But an audible click coming from behind the exposed hole through the gate ceased my pursuit. Not even a second later, flames shot out of the warehouse's windows, splattering fragments of glass all across the parking lot and field like confetti from hell, followed by a total ignition of the entire building, before the whole thing completely detonated. I was propelled across the parking lot, kicking up a trail of white smoke as the blast had me sliding across the pavement. Multiple fragments of metal pelted me as they flew in every direction, all while the ringing in my ears was deafening. I had to rip out the earpiece just to ease the pain as I grabbed my head. Eventually, when the ringing began to subside, I peered up at what use to be the warehouse, now similar to the robot, it was nothing more than a ball of flames reduced to ash.

“Those bastards,” I found myself muttering as my relaxed hands clenched into fist of rage. “THOSE GOD DAMN BASTARDS!” I started to pound on the floor like a toddler having a tantrum, fury reaching my head as the underlying truth of what just happened began to set in. The Flim Flam Brothers just destroyed an entire warehouse of evidence, including documentation of what they had on their victims. My act of paroxysm was invaded by the impending sounds of police sirens approaching, signifying the end of my own crybaby time. But if one good thing could have come out of this entire outcome, it was the sudden intrusion of an object rolling into my knee. Looking down, I couldn’t help but smile to myself like some kind of lunatic as I stared at the blue cannister of chemicals that was on the floor. The chemicals used to eradicate the Imazapyr the two assholes had been injecting into AJ’s farm. Satisfied with this, I grabbed the can and the ear piece off of the floor before exiting the area, taking one last look around to see if Shill had run off somewhere. I hope he did.

SUNSETS APARTMENT: THE NEXT DAY

I’ve always been a more hands on kind of girl, preferring to get out into the field to conduct research rather than be couped up in a library reading books. Of course, that’s not to say that I’m illiterate, I’ve read probably thousands books back in Equestria and here, I just always opted to get my hands dirty when learning new things. With that being said, I felt like a clueless buffoon at the moment. I paced back and forth in the living room space of my loft, looking over the multitude of books on chemical reactions and plant life I could find. My hair was disheveled, and I could feel the weight of the bags under my eyes as if my skin were carrying dumbbells. The scene looked as if a tornado had ravaged through a library, note sheets and opened books were flooded everywhere on the floor and countertops. With twitching fingers, I put out the cigarette bud I had been smoking on a nearby ash tray, exhaling the misty cloud of cancerous vapor from my nostrils before taking a sigh of annoyance while putting my safety goggles back on and buttoning up my lab coat. The makeshift laboratory of beakers and test tubes on my kitchen counter would have given any credible expert in the field of science a damn heart attack. If the police had busted in here, they would have surely mistaken my experimentations on deducting a formula of chemicals for some kind of meth operation. But of course, my dumbass would do just about anything to achieve some stupid goal, even if it did mean exposing myself to unknown chemicals or dangerously operating without the proper environment.

With protected gloves over my hands, I picked up one of the test tubes on a rack with the blue chemicals I had drained out of the cannister from back at the warehouse. With my other hand, I grabbed some tongs and carefully removed the flask I had over a Bunson burner, the steam eradiating from the bubbles collectively piling on top of the white liquid flew through my kitchen like a fog. Again, I should have my head examined for this. I poured a bit of the blue liquid from the test tube into the flask, watching as the chemical process caused the liquid to turn fizzy before converting into a shade of purple.

“Interesting, but what the hell is it? Damnit I can’t figure it out,” I thought before placing the beaker back over the burner and lowering the flame down a bit. Amidst my frustration, I heard the jangling of keys behind my front door, followed by the locks unlocking and the door swinging open. Red emerged from the townhome's hallway, impressively carrying two bags of groceries with one arm, and closing the door with her other. She was still wearing her nurse uniform, as she had just got off of work. Behind her back was a large black backpack that she often took with her to work. Upon entering, she tilted her head, staring at the damn death trap set up in front of me with perplexity.

“You know Sunset, when you asked me to steal all of that from the school's lab, for some reason I thought you would conduct experiments in a more...well, I guess controlled environment, not where your food is made,” said Red as she placed the bags on my coffee table in the living room. With tired red eyes, I glared at her before turning back to face my work while speaking through a tone of agitation.

“Yes, and when I gave you spare keys to my place, I didn’t expect you to barge in here every day after school, yet here we are. Seriously Red, you haven’t been home in two days.”

“Well, I just got back from home. Had to bring some clothes and personal care items.” Red removed the back pack from her shoulders, placing it on the ground before unzipping it. She pulled out some shirts, pants and flip flops, along with some personal hygiene products. Annoyed at what this met, I rolled my eyes and turned back to my work again, scribbling some formulas on a sheet of paper with gritted teeth.

“Well make yourself at home why don’t you. I don’t recall ever saying you could stay here. You passed out on my computer chair last night and I had to wake your ass up for work. I thought you said I’d come to you if I ever needed medical attention. That was it. That was the most your involvement in this was supposed to be.”

“Oh, don’t you even start with me missy. I said that before knowing just how severe this was. You didn’t come back home until four in the morning, and I had to tend to the broken ribs you had.” I grimaced while touching my side, feeling the bandages wrapped around my torso from under my shirt and lab coat. “Also, do you know how much blood you were losing? I had to re-stitch ten different cuts; all of this medical equipment is both mine and the school's property by the way. Then after you fell asleep on the couch, I re-stitched that awful costume of yours the best I could, washed it and passed out two hours before work. I’m exhausted right now.”

“Then why don’t you piss off back home,” I quietly mumbled, but Red heard it very clearly, agitation building in her voice as well. I really didn’t want to argue with her, I’ve just had a stick up my ass today.

“Because, I know you’ll do something stupid, I know you won’t take care of yourself, and I know you won’t feed yourself. As your medical professional on standby and legally one of your guardians as I’m one of your school's faculty members I might add, I’ll be staying here for a while. So, get used to it.”

“That guardian shit only applies when I’m actually at school.”

“Don’t even start Sunset.” I rolled my eyes again and continued to write.

“Whatever, just wash my sheets if you sleep on my bed.” Truthfully, under my own anger and arrogance, I really didn’t mind this. I was barely ever home to begin with. “Anyways, sorry for raising my voice, this shit is just pissing me off.” I looked at her and swung my head to the countertop, signaling where the source of my attitude was coming from. She took a deep breath, relaxing her shoulders a bit before walking towards the lab.

“I see...I was wondering what you were mad about this time. I guess I’ll add science to the list of things that makes Sunset ticked. What exactly am I looking at here Albert Einstein?” What surprises me the most about Red was her sarcasm. I would have never expected such a side to her. Ironic of me I know.

“I’m trying to decode what chemicals were used to create this solution. I wish I could have gotten my hands on another cannister of the Imazapyr, I would have loved to study it since they must have put something else in it to make the chemical reaction in it react so fast. Imazapyr is not a fast-acting herbicide since it's not readily metabolized in plants. I’ve been trying to break this shit down to see how they created a compound capable of reversing the effects of this super Imazapyr so quickly. It could give me some clues on where the hell they’re operating.” Red leaned against the counter; arms crossed as she raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“So... any luck identifying the chemicals?" I tsked, lowering my head with a light grin on my face, shaking my head in dejection. Red sighed and smiled, as if she already knew the answer based on my attitude.

“Nope. Just some theories. But I can’t freaking decode this shit, not with the shit I have.” my eyelids half lowered, and I found myself cupping my face with both of my hands. “Damn all mighty, I’m such a dumbass. I bet Twilight could figure this shit out.” For some reason, what I had just said took me by surprise. I feel like lately, I’ve been comparing myself to her in every aspect of how I operate. But I’ve never said it out loud. I guess the obvious truth to me was, I was far inferior to her in every possible way. I was starting to second guess myself, questioning why on earth I even had the thought I was smart enough to solve this formula. I’m no genius, I’m a failure. I can’t even catch two knuckle heads extorting good innocent people. Extorting my frie.....a girl who I already hurt enough. Who's already gone through so much. As I took a long, exacerbated sigh, I felt Reds warm hand gently plant itself on my shoulder.

“Hey, stop that Sunset,” she said. For the first time since that night she uncovered my identity, she spoke to me in that soft, comforting voice. A voice I’m sure she’d use for hundreds of scared children in her care. “Why are you calling yourself dumb? Sunset, you’re one of the smartest kids at the school. If not the smartest.” I stared at her blankly, my mouth hanging open just a bit as I processed what she had just said. After several seconds, the disbelief vanished, and I found myself chuckling while shaking my head, refusing any form of adulation.

“Yeah, real genius I am. Look where my big brains have gotten me.” I brushed her shoulder off and began to unbutton the lab coat before turning off the burner. “The intelligent Sunset Shimmer, the prime example of a genius, right?” Red's face was showing clear dismay, and she crossed her arms while standing up off of the counter.

“Sunset that’s not fair to yourself,” she said. But I could only laugh at this statement, throwing the lab coat onto the floor while walking into the living room, grabbing my leather jacket off the sofa. I reached into one of the pockets to retrieve the carton of Marlboro reds, taking one of the sticks out and placing it in between my lips.

“Screw fairness to me. You should already know that word doesn’t exist when it comes to someone like me,” I muttered through partially closed lips. I took my silver flip lighter out of the same pocket, lighting it and raising the flame up to the sticks end, letting the flame dance around it before flicking the lighter close while blowing out a cloud of smoke from behind the cigarette. Red stared at me, but not with anger or annoyance, but with sorrow. She didn’t say anything or object to the action...good. I threw on my jacket and squatted down onto the floor, beginning to put my boots on. “I’ll be back, I’m going over to AJ’s place. I’m going to see if she can tell me where she signed those documents. Hopefully it’s not at the damn warehouse that those two shit heads just blew the hell up.” Red just stood there, avoiding eye contact with me with half closed eye lids and a small frown.

“I’ll make dinner when you come back...,” she quietly said. I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

“Whatever,” I said before exiting.

SWEET APPLE ACRES

Yet again I find myself returning to places I wish I didn’t need to. Unlike before however, my mood wasn’t that of nervousness, but rather repressed rage. Rage from my failure of last night, and of my continuous failure into the day. Rage with how I'm treating Red, especially after begging to be forgiven by her because of my past actions, and failing to realize how lucky I am to even have her by my side. But what else is new honestly? I guess my real power is just turning everything into a shit fest. As I waited at the front door of AJ’s home, my finger was twirling a stray lock of hair that ran down my shoulder, while I impatiently kept hitting the boards of the porch with the tip of my boot. My patience was soon rewarded by the front door opening, which like last time, took me by surprise.

“Oh my goodness, Sunset?” You have got to be shitting me. It’s been feeling like I’ve been taking it up the ass as of late, and right now just made the cruelty of it all ram up there even harder. Of all the people that had to answer the damn door.

“Hey... what’s up Rarity?” The tone in my voice made the statement sound more forced than I would’ve liked it to. All of a sudden that built up anger just tore down, and a skyscraper of fear shot its way up in its place. No longer was I standing up straight with an irritated look. Now I was wearing a sheepish smile while rubbing the leather of my jacket sleeve with my hand, tracing the folds and creases through each finger. But that’s when Rarity did something that took all of it away. Taking me by complete bewilderment, the young fashionista wrapped her arms around my neck, embracing me in a tight hug. I can’t remember the last time someone hugged me. I mean really hugged me. Sure, Applebloom embraced me back after the fight with Cercus, but that was more for the Mare-Do-Well. It’s been years since someone hugged Sunset Shimmer for anything. It felt...nice.

As if they had a mind of their own, I found one of my hands gently patting her back. That was all I was allowing though; I mean I knew I couldn’t completely embrace her back. Or at least, I knew I wasn’t allowed to. She deserved better. Eventually I felt that it was just too much comfort for me, so I gently pushed her off. But such a kind person didn’t take the gesture with offense, but rather understanding.

“I’m so sorry darling, I didn’t mean to invade your private space... you’ve just been on my mind as of late. I haven’t seen you or heard from you in what feels like forever. If we’re being truthful, I was worried about you.” Damn I hate myself so much.

“I’m fine Rarity. It's you I should be concerned with. How are you feeling?” Thankfully she wasn’t using crutches anymore, and the bruises around her face were healing up. But the still visible black eye made me tense. I wish I could have pounded that Changeling bastard even harder for ever laying a finger on her. Still, only Rarity could look magnificent under such circumstances. However, her light smile soon vanished, being swiped and replaced with a look of concern I've seen all too many times at this point. I was really starting to hate that look.

“Oh my...Sunset what on earth has happened to you? You look simply dreadful, I mean more dreadful than before,” said Rarity. I crossed my arms and leaned against the porch’s column, trying my best to remain, or at least appear, as cool as Fonzie. But in reality, I probably just looked like some guilty kid trying to act normal after doing something really screwed up.

“Just stupid stuff. Don’t worry about it. I didn’t expect to see you here, is Applejack home?” I tried brushing this off, I really did. I already wasn’t too thrilled to question Applejack on such a sensitive and private matter, nor was I too thrilled about even coming back here in general after the last shit show of a conversation we had. I should have just come at night as the Mare-Do-Well, but I’m sure as shit that she would have started questioning my ass. I’m not stupid; I know she has her suspicions on what I do. I wasn’t exactly concealing my voice that night I saved them, mainly because my insides felt all jumbled up. Besides, I was at a point where I just couldn’t keep explaining the injuries, and AJ is a smart girl, she’ll put two and two together. I think the nail in the coffin was the stupid shit I pulled at school with her sister. I mean it should have been so obvious at that moment. Honestly, I just couldn’t face her as the ghost. No matter how tough and heartless I like to think I am, all she has to do is mutter my name gently while I’m wearing the damn thing and I’ll probably crack... probably. But it wasn’t a test I was willing to go through.

“Sunset... no,” said Rarity, almost laughing a bit in disbelief, as if what I said was the stupidest shit she had ever heard. “No, don’t give me such an answer of mediocrity, please.” She eyed my face down like a detective questioning a murderer, I swear to Celestia, the girl can stare you down. “You’re missing a tooth.... you were jumped again, weren't you? Oh my god, Sunset, is someone hurting you?” Well, I guess she’s halfway right.

“What? No don’t worry Rarity, it was just some stupid accident.”

“You’re lying to me Sunset. The injuries you have aren’t from an accident, they never were. This has got to stop. Sunset, you’re a missing a tooth for heaven's sake. What’s going on?” My tongue ran through the gap in between two of my front teeth, feeling the empty socket where a tooth should’ve been. I still don’t remember how I lost it; it was either the baseball bat, crowbar or brass knuckles. I don’t know, I was too out of it in the sewers.

“Well, honestly, it’s none of your business Rarity.” I could see her teeth gritting. I suppose that was a phrase she’s just as tired of hearing as I was with their concern.

“Don’t even start with that again. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect after the day you got suspended, and I know, we all know you’re hiding something,” she said while getting closer to me. “I don’t deny that your private life is yours, and I don’t ever want to interfere with that. But when my friend is in danger, then I feel obligated to step in.”

“Oh, for the love of, I’m not your frie-”

“You are my friend, and I want you to stop saying otherwise,” she interrupted. The authoritative tone in her voice was honestly enough to shut me up. She never broke eye contact with me, as her face was now only a couple inches away from my face. As we stood there in silence eyeing each other down, the moment had been broken by Applebloom yet again coming to my rescue, walking right up to the door from behind Rarity.

“Hey Rarity, my sister wanted to know who you were talking t-” she stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she saw me leaned up against the column. The smile that widened across her face suddenly brought my nerves back up.

“Hey...what’s up Sunset! I didn’t expect you to be back here so soon, well come on in! Granny Smith just baked two Apple pies,” she said. But before I could object, she already turned around and walked back in, as if I was some valued member of her family like her and AJs friends were...damnit. Rarity looked over to me and sighed, before giving me a light smile.

“Not our friends huh? I’m glad she’s forgiven you,” she said with a light smile, moving a bit to the side to allow some space between her and the door so that I could go in first. “I was here just to pick up Sweetie, but I can stay a bit longer if you plan on staying. Or perhaps you’d like to speak with AJ another time,” she said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Taking a sigh of defeat, I lowered my head and proceeded to head in, realizing that this day was not going to turn out like I had intended it to. Whether that was good or bad, I guess I’ll see.