The Adventures of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!

My nightmares seemed to evolve each time I allowed myself to enter them. They have gotten crueler; more savage over the past months. But they were always the same. I’d be bowing before Princess Celestia in her chambers, begging her to forgive me, only to be killed and humiliated by Twilight, her friends and everyone else I’ve ever wronged. It was the main reason I never slept anymore, because I would always be taken right back to that moment. Always. Now adays I only return to the land of sleep whenever I’m unconscious or blacked out, but when I do return, the nightmare would slowly morph into something new. You could say that it adapted to my current struggles. Now was no different. I found myself stripped naked; a collar was around my neck, with its chain leash anchored down into the ground. Handcuffs bind my wrist together; they were so tight that my skin would tear with each slight movement. I wasn’t in the castle anymore, but rather in a void of pitch-black darkness. It was so cold that the airs sharp stings on my bare skin were agonizing, but the state I was in and the change of scenery weren't the only alteration to my mind's dreamland however.

I don’t remember when, but at some point Celestia and Twilight had stopped appearing. Hell, everyone that used to be in my repeated nightmare stopped showing, but that didn’t mean my punishments were never served. Instead, the punishers were replaced. I raised my head up, looking straight ahead as far as the chain leash would let me. In the pitch blackness I could see the dimly lit faces of my new punishers. Multiple Changeling gang members, Diamond Dogs, Griffon bikers, Spoiled’s mob and the countless thugs I’ve taken down, all staring at me through the shadows. But High above them were the bigger fish. Spoiled Rich, Blueblood, Iron Will, Cercus and the red beaming eyes of Sombra. Just like the previous time I’ve had this specific nightmare; I screamed in pain as I slammed my head into the floor, trying desperately to cover my ears from their quiet whispers. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, my slowly growing rogues gallery, but the whispers felt like having a knife plunged into my ears. At some point during my screams, a mask was thrown from the crowd, landing right in front of me. It was the ghost’s mask, the Mare-Do-Well. Eventually the whispers stopped, and I looked up from the ground, seeing a new addition to the gallery.

Standing behind the shadowy silhouettes of my villains was the towering robot of the Flim Flam brothers. It’s dome however was yellowed and cracked, though I couldn’t see either of the brothers inside. The stares of all of them lingered on me, full of so much venom and wrath. These stares were different from the ones I’d get from Princess Celestia, Twilight or any of my classmates. Their stares were always full of anger yes... but not like these stares. These were the stares from people who were truly evil. They didn’t hate Sunset Shimmer, they hated it. They hated the ghost.

I could hear the robots' gears start to turn, and its engine revving up. After a minute of nothingness, the robots arm shot up in the air, aiming right at me before shooting its claw out like a canon directly towards me. With my eyes shut, I braced for it to collide with me, to splatter my corpse all over this void of nothingness. To finally kill me... and like all the times before with my other villains, it would.

SUNSETS APARTMENT

GAAASP

I was sitting on my bed back at my place, sweating my ass off and almost hyperventilating. My eyes raced all around my surroundings, and my body was shaking profusely.

“Wha... what the hell...” It was just a dream I reminded myself, and slowly my breathing and trembling slowed down once I began to realize that I was indeed in reality. Coming to my senses, the pain hit me like a freight train, and I laid back down on the drenched mattress. Everywhere hurt. Damn was it agonizing. I looked down to the rest of my body, clenching my teeth together at the sight. Even after all of the close encounters with death and the shit state I was always in, seeing everything covered in blood-stained bandages almost made me freak out. All I had on was a black bra and black underwear. Almost everywhere else was wrapped in white bandages, but especially my stomach. Speaking of which, my entire torso felt like a stick of dynamite blew a hole through it, damnit did it burn like hell. My breathing began to intensify again as the pain was becoming overwhelming, that’s when I heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Oh my God, you’re awake!” Red came rushing to my side with a shot in her hand. She kneeled down beside me, grabbing my arm and slowly inserted the needle into my forearm before wiping the blood away and wrapping the area with more bandages. Almost instantly my body felt at ease, and the pain began to fade away.

“What the hell was that,” I said with a shaky voice.

“Morphine. Some really strong morphine I might add. A friend of mine at the hospital gave me some yesterday. Don’t ask how. I knew I was going to need it because you were screaming like crazy when I was trying to work on you.” She was right, it was some pretty strong stuff, I felt totally relaxed. I’ll take her word though on refraining to ask how she was able to get some.

“How long have I been out?” Red looked at me in disbelief, before shaking her head and checking on my bandages. Only a week and she’s already used to my bullshit.

“Two days. Applejack brought you back home Tuesday night. You’ve been knocked out all Wednesday and Thursday. It's Friday today, eleven in the morning to be exact.”

Shit...shit shit shit shit shit. Applejack....SHIT

“Shit...Applejack?” Red didn’t respond for a minute, making my stomach turn to knots.

“She’s out buying groceries right now. She’ll be back in a bit. It’s been a wild two days for her,” she finally said. Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was asking. But before I dig any further into that however...

“The Flim Flam brothers?”

“They’re at the CPD headquarters right now. They’ll be taken to Canterlot Penitentiary to await they’re trials. That’s all I know.” Well, at least there’s one good thing. I take a sigh of relief, happy to know those wack jobs are behind bars. Looks like the police were able to recover evidence...or Applejack spoke to them. Since I’m not behind bars right now, I’m guessing either she didn’t tell them about my involvement, or did but left out a few key details.

“That’s good to hear...but...seriously Red... Applejack.” Red took a deep sigh, finishing the process of checking on my bandages before standing up.

“She’s... I don’t know Sunset. I don’t think she’s told anyone. But she’s pretty pissed.” Great

“What the hell? You don’t think she’s told anyone? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I don’t know,” Red snapped back. “Look, she brought you back here the night you took down the brothers. She was in complete shock... I think when she saw me open the door, her mind kind of froze. We didn’t say anything to each other the entire night, we’ve just been focusing on treating you, which, it’s a miracle you’re even alive.” She glares at me after those last words. “Anyways, after we stabilized you, we both kind of sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. She asked me how I knew, to which I retold the story about that night you saved me. She didn’t ask me anything else that night. Instead, she told me she was going to go down to the police station, but didn’t answer me when I asked whether or not she’d spill the beans about your secret. She didn’t come back until the next day. When she came back, she told me she didn’t tell anybody, not even her family. But she did confess to everything else that happened though, and gave a full statement on the events of the night. Even about the Mare-Do-Well saving her life. Evidence at the scene pretty much criminalized the brothers after the statement. When they asked her why she wasn’t there when they arrived, she just told them she was scared and ran. Principal Celestia gave her and her brother and sister the rest of the week off of school, and Granny Smith, Big Mac and Applebloom as of now are spending the week at their Grandpa Pears place. Just until police can make sure they’re 100% safe. They’re doing the same thing with the rest of the brothers' victims. Applejack said she’d stay and watch the farm, insisting to Commander Easy Glider that she didn’t need police officers watching her.... but she’s been spending all that time here...waiting for you to wake up.”

I stared at the ceiling as Red finished up her recap of the day's events, digesting every detail as if I were re-reading a book for a major project at school. After taking a moment to fully grasp the situation, I took a deep breath and asked the next question that was eating through my brain.

“What about Silver Shill? They found him yet?” Red sighed and shook her head.

“No... they’ve arrested numerous known criminals associated with the brothers, including Titan... but no word on Silver Shill. It’s like he disappeared off of the face of the earth,” said Red. Damnit...I’ll have to talk to Easy Glider later today. But first I needed to deal with the bigger issue. I threw my bandaged hands over my face, screaming into them with built up frustration. Red just kept silent, letting me release my anger. After my little hissy fit, I took another deep breath and decided to ask the question that should have been my main concern right now.

“What’s the damage Red?” She just looked to the ground with a smile, shaking her head in disbelief as if I had seriously asked what 2+2 was.

“Well, like I said, it’s a miracle you’re even alive. You should be deader than dead right now Sunset. First, the burns. The right side of your face was burnt pretty bad, I had to bring a lot of tools from the hospital to fix that by the way. It's a miracle you didn’t lose your eyeball. We’ll have to wait and see if your vision comes back though, without the proper equipment and eye doctors, it’s hard to tell the extent of the damage in your right eye.” That’s when I noticed that I had a large medical cloth taped down covering the area around my eye. It felt like I had a huge eyepatch on. I also felt some bandages wrapped around my head, covering my right ear entirely.

“I think it was the bombs,” I muttered

“Bombs?”

“Yeah, they had these mini pellet bombs that blew up in my face,” I explained. Red had to blink a couple of times to really acknowledge what I just said, before pointing a finger towards my ear.

“Well, okay... what happened to your ear then? The whole canal was pretty much burnt inside out.”

“The earpiece short circuited and blew up, I didn’t even notice it to be honest.” Clearly not wanting to know any more of the details concerning the fight, she moved onto the next bits of her diagnosis.

“I guess what happened to your stomach is why it short circuited. It’s the worst injury so far. Your entire midriff was charred. I mean Sunset, there was a line of melted skin above your belly button, and your entire stomach in general was black. I did my best to take off all the damaged skin and treat the rest of the area, but it’s not pretty. God only knows what your insides look like right now... but I... I’m really shocked your even alive.” Well, that’s better than I could have expected. I don’t feel dead, and my insides feel...I guess normal. That's all that matters right now. But I’m sure it’ll be a bitch when the morphine wears off. “The rest of your body is the usual. Some previous stitches burst open, had to stitch new cuts, mainly on your back, and of course you have an entire plethora of new bruises and are going to have a lot more scars now... but you’re alive.”

“Good, I need to get up. I have to head over to the CPD, talk to Easy Glider.” I was starting to get out of bed before I felt Red's hand push me back down.

“Now wait just a minute, you are in no shape to be going out right now, you need to -”

“Red... don’t start,” I interrupted. We glared intensely at each other for a few seconds, before Red sighed and looked away, losing our stare off. She knew better at this point.

“Damn you, Sunset.” Yeah, many have and many will. She grabbed a bag and my fedora from underneath my bed, handing it to me with a sour expression. “Here, Applejack managed to find your hat surprisingly.” The hat was still in one piece, but it's definitely seen better days. Tears and scuffs were littered across the brim and crown, but it was still wearable. Inside the hat was the mask. Stitch trails ran through it like train tracks, and a new eye was sewn into it. “It took a while, but I managed to fix it,” Red said. I put the mask back into the hat before throwing it on my nightstand, then I began to dig through the bag. Inside was a brand new full purple body suit, and a new cloak to. I peered up at Red with a raised eyebrow. “Your costume was beyond any form of repair. Seriously it’s like you were wearing rags. I had to get you a new one... much to my inner objection.” I threw the bag down onto the floor and sighed before sitting all the way up. Even on morphine I still winced from the sharp pain in my stomach.

“Thank you.” With a bit of difficulty, I managed to get out of bed, stretching my arms into the air as every joint in my body popped. Now that I was up, it did feel like my insides were mangled together like a cup of noodles. Ignoring it, I began to put on the uniform. But as I was doing so, both me and Red froze as we heard the front door open below.

“Welp, there she is,” Red said, before going back down the stairs. I slid the costume on all the way, zipping the back up before grabbing the mask and fedora and following behind her. Bracing myself for the unpleasant conversation I knew I was going to have, I took my last step off of the stairs, coming into view of Applejack who was putting the bags of groceries onto the counter. We both froze in place as we made eye contact, and everything went so quiet that even the passing cars outside sounded nonexistent. AJ eyed me up and down, her brow furrowing with each passing second. Eventually she was the one who broke the moment of silence.

“Why are you wearing that?” She turned to Red with a pissed off look. “Did you seriously get her a new one?” Red raised her hands innocently and backed away.

“I’m going to... well I’ll just let you two handle this. My lunch breaks almost over and I have to get back to the school. I’ll see you later tonight.” Me and AJ didn’t say anything as Red exited the door. No doubt a thousand thoughts were racing through her head, but for mine, I didn’t really know what to say. A blank state was what my brain could be described as at this moment. The entire time though, she didn’t let up her glare for one bit. This time I was the one who broke the silence.

“You okay?” Her eyes softened, body relaxed and she allowed herself to breathe. Coming out of her defensive stance, she sighed and leaned against the countertop, arms folded as she stared at me with sympathetic eyes.

“I’m okay, it’s me who should be asking you that question.” I chuckled quietly to myself, leaning against the back of my sofa with my arms also crossed.

“Well, I’ll let you know how I'm doing when the morphine wears off.” AJ gave a light smile, but the moment was short, and her mouth uncurled itself. I decided to continue when she didn’t add anything else. “I’m going to the CPD headquarters. I have to talk to the police about the other night.”

“So, you have the police involved in your night owl activities now too?”

“No, not really. Just the Commander.” That clarification clearly didn’t help much because AJ still didn’t look pleased at all. Deciding not to beat around the bushes with this, I came out with the hard-hitting question. “Have you told anybody else? The girls or your family?” AJ stared at me for a moment with a blank look, before shaking her head and sighing.

“No... trust me, I was really debating it, especially since it seemed like you were about to die in my truck. But, well, I decided against it. At least for now. I wanna hear what you have to say first.” That was a relief, for now.

“What do you wanna know?”

“Oh, for the love of, why are you doing this? I can put two and two together Sunset, you’re a vigilante. But why?”

“I don’t know, really -”

“Don’t give me that,” AJ snapped, her voice carried that authoritative tone she’d use when Applebloom screwed up. “Just, don’t. You know I’ve had my suspicions since after that night with the Changelings. My God it all clicked. You’ve been growing more distant and distant. The injuries too, and your voice. I’m stupid for not saying anything during the whole Gabby Gums fiasco. So no, you don’t just say ‘I don’t know’ to something like this. That’s not -”

“I JUST NEED TO, OKAY!” AJ stopped yapping once she saw the tears flow from my eyes. “I just...I just need to do this Applejack.” I held myself tightly, my body felt cold as I sobbed. I don’t know why I was crying to be honest; it was the same feeling back at Red’s apartment when I snapped at her. Perhaps it was a moment of truth for myself, and Celestia only knows how well I do with those revelations. AJ calmed herself down and walked over to me, placing her hand on my face to wipe away some tears. Her voice switched, becoming more caring and quieter than before.

“But why? What’s forcing you to go out there in this suit, fighting bad guys and getting yourself killed?”

“Applejack... do you know how much I hate myself?” Just like that, I said it out loud. She retracted her hand away from me as if I said something offensive. I could only imagine the look of shock on her face since I wasn’t looking at her directly, instead staring at the floor. “I can’t stand looking in the mirror. I can’t stand hearing my voice. I can’t stand being alive. I’ve done nothing but hurt people and ponies all my life. I just... I need to do right by my sins. I know how evil can destroy lives. Good, innocent lives.” I looked up to her, the sorrow was plain on her face. “I know that because I hurt people like you. When Applebloom told me just how much I’ve damaged you, when Sweetie Belle told me the same with Rarity, or when Rainbow told me just how precious of a relationship you girls have, and how I destroyed that without care... the pain I’ve caused to Fluttershy, how I used kids like Snips and Snails, or toyed with people's emotions like Flash Sentry. Even back at home I’ve done nothing but put ponies down. At first this was just a way to hurt myself. To punish myself for all the wrong I’ve done... but...” I looked down to the fedora clutched tightly in my hands, taking the mask out to stare into its blue eyes. “Seeing your family the other day warmed my heart, and I can’t remember the last time that ever happened, and when you told me about your mother, that's a story I’ll always hold dear to me. But what really broke me was how you let that wall of yours collapse. How you showed me your weakness... your fear... your desperation because of the brothers. It really hurt me to see you like that. Because now I know what it’s like to hurt good people like you, for evil to absolutely destroy the love and happiness that good people like you bring... Applejack this costume isn’t just my tomb for punishment. It's to make sure that people like me don’t ever hurt people like you. That’s why I need to do this.”

At this moment I solidified what the Mare-Do-Well was. This wasn’t just me explaining my purpose to her, but also to myself. I have a lot of issues I need to work out, if I ever do. But as far as the Mare-Do-Well, it’s clear to me now what its purpose is, and I need her to understand that. The perplexed look on her face tells me that she’s fighting with herself, wondering what’s the right thing she can do in this shitty situation. Unfortunately, there isn’t any appealing options. I feel awful for even putting her into such an iniquitous situation. She looks away from me, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth.

“Damnit... I... I wanna stop you Sunset. I wanna tell you how wrong you are about all of this... but you saved my life. You saved my family’s life, twice. I can’t ever repay you for that. You know Applebloom constantly talks about you. About how you saved her life from a monster. I... I don’t know where I’d be if you didn’t come crashing into that warehouse with the changelings, or crashing through that window at the factory. I woulda loss my family if it wasn’t for you. How can I stop you or get in your way after that?”

“Applejack, all I ask is you don’t tell anybody.” This hurt me the hardest more than anything. Applejack was the element of honesty. Lying went against her values, and I was asking her to break them. But there weren’t any options. She stared at me, fighting back the tears that she had locked behind those green eyes. But eventually they broke through, and she hung her head low in defeat.

“Alright Sunset... I won’t say anything.” Despite that being exactly what I wanted to hear, it shattered my heart. I sighed and walked away, grabbing my boots and gloves that were resting beside the front door. As I was putting them on, Applejack spoke up again. “Sunset?”

“Yes Applejack?”

“Back in my truck, you said you were sorry for everything you’ve ever done to me.... I forgive you,” she said with a light smile. I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore; they broke through and began to flow down my face as if the baggage of years was being partially uplifted from my soul.

“Thank you,” was all I could weep out, but AJ just shook her head, still smiling.

“No, thank you for saving me,” she retorted. But I shook my head at this too, wiping my eyes with my sleeve before taking a deep breath.

“No, don’t ever thank me. You’ll never have to thank the Mare-Do-Well.” I met it too. But it wasn’t in the self-sacrificing manner that Sunset Shimmer preferred. It was the Mare-Do-Well's duty speaking on that front. Nobody would ever need to thank me. Applejack wiped her own tears, nodding her head as she calmed herself down.

“I hope you know that this means I’m gonna be a part of this. You’re crazy if you think I’m just gonna sit on the sidelines and let you risk your life.” I nodded before putting the mask on. I knew she was going to say that, and I knew there was nothing I could say that would stop her just as much as there was nothing she could say that would stop me. I of course didn’t like it at all, having Red involved in my private affairs was already too dangerous. But I’d have to make this work somehow. As I grabbed the doorknob, fully dressed, I looked back at AJ.

“Go home and get some rest... I’ll be okay for the rest of the day.”

CPD HEADQUARTERS: DOWNTOWN CANTERLOT

“I’m telling you Chief, Mayor Mare has been up my God damn ass all fucking morning over this Flim Flam bullshit, I..... yes ma'am I’m aware of that but....... I already have officers stretched thin with.......yes ma’am......I understand that but......Understood.” Commander Easy Glider slammed the phone onto his desk, cursing up a storm as he sat down on his chair and lit up a cigarette. The entire time I was in the corner of his office, hiding in the shadows.

“I take it Chief Firefly isn’t too happy with how you handled the brothers arrest,” I whispered. Not even looking at my direction, Easy Glider blew out a cloud of smoke, resting his head onto his hand with his elbow planted on top of his desk.

“Fucking Mayor Mare. She doesn’t understand that I need officers watching the victims of those two shit heads down in lock up. The amount of blackmail and information on all of them is insane. But the Mayor is insistent that I move officers away from the victims and keep this whole investigation private. Some bullshit about not wanting to stain the city's image with the rise of these so-called super villains. Fucking shit stain.” He took another drag of his cigarette, turning around on his chair to face me as smoke exited his nostrils. “Problem is, you know Tenderhoof? Lead writer and reporter for the Canterlot paper?” It was hard for me not to know who he was; Rarity never shuts up about him. He’s always trying to find the juiciest stories to elevate his career, exposing gossip, starting trends and riling up politicians with his unfiltered work. “Well, he got word from lock up about what happened at the factory, and he’s already posting stories about you, the brothers and the whole fucking thing. He’s already been writing about the Changeling incident with those girls at CHS, and now the fucking mayor is getting pissed about not only your existence, but these powered up fuckers as well. I am too actually; it’s going to fuck up our investigation with Sombra.” I figured it was only a matter of time before this shit got more publicized.

“Any leads on Silver Shill,” I asked, trying to put this conversation back onto the right path. The commander took a deep breath, calming himself down while taking another long drag off his cigarette.

“Unfortunately not. It’s like he just disappeared from Canterlot after the warehouse incident, which by the way, fuck you for that. Whole place was wiped off of the fucking map when we got there.”

“I told you, the warehouse self-”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I heard you the first time.” He stopped himself from saying anything further, taking another deep breath before speaking again. “Okay, let’s look at this on the positive side. We have the restaurant arsonist in lock up with enough evidence to send them away for a long time. Win for us, I guess. Oh, by the way here.” He shuffled around his desk before retrieving two tickets from a stack of papers, handing them to me. They were solid black, with the words embedded with what looked like diamonds. Upon reading the words, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.

“The Grand Galloping Gala,” I said out loud.

“Yep. This town and its fucking horse names I swear. Anyways, as promised there’s the tickets to the event. Should get you closer to Spoiled Rich and Blueblood. I don’t wanna know how or what you have planned of course. As far as I’m concerned someone stole those tickets,” Easy Glider said. Smiling underneath my mask, I pulled my hand back inside my cloak and began walking towards the window to take my leave, but Easy Glider spoke up, stopping me before I could exit out the window. “Hey... thank you for helping out with this case.” With one leg already out into the night air, I glanced over my shoulder to him.

“Don’t worry about it. Just trying to help.”