The Adventures of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!

CANTERLOT ANIMAL SHELTER

Of all the places I’d never even dream of setting foot in, the animal shelter was pretty high up on that list. For a number of reasons of course. My terrible track record with animals and the fact that Fluttershy was always here being the two major ones. Yet, here I was, rubbing the belly of a big ass Rottweiler while Fluttershy knelt beside me, smile as wide as I had ever seen it before. Even the smile on my face was bigger than it's been in a very, very long time. The innocent creature that was lying on its back squirming around excitedly as I scratched his stomach was surprisingly a sight that made me feel nothing but joy. I think when you’re so used to the cruelty of it all, and the violent nature of life, you sometimes forget just how precious it really is. Celestia only knows I do.

“You know, for someone who claims that animals dislike her, these dogs seem to like you a lot,” said Fluttershy. As if on cue another dog, a small corgi, came up beside me and began brushing her head against my thigh. I kept one hand scratching the Rottweilers stomach and placed the other on top of the Corgis head, gently patting it as the dog drew closer to me. This was honestly not what I had expected today. Suddenly the tickle that ran across the light bite scar on my arm had faded away, and the warm feelings of... dare I say happiness... were filling up in my jumbled-up stomach.

“Oh, trust me Shy, this is all a shocker to me as well. Honestly, I don’t think I would be able to do this if you weren’t here. I would fu.... mess something up.” I don’t know why, but swearing in front of her just felt... wrong. I don’t even like swearing in front of Applejack to be honest. With Red it’s different.... I don’t know how, but it just is. Fluttershy’s smile dropped a bit, and she looked back down at the happy animal lying in front of her. It seemed something was on her mind, or more specifically choked up in her throat. She let her hair dangle a bit in front of her face, gently petting the dogs head as I continued to scratch its belly. I guess the touch of an animal is enough for her to gain her confidence, because that’s when she finally spoke up.

“Sunset....uhm.... may I ask you something?”

“By all means, ask away.”

“It’s kind of.... well.... it’s kind of personal,” she said those last couple of words a little too quietly for my comfort. My scratching slowed down a bit, but the dog didn’t seem to mind.

“Uhm.... yeah sure, what’s up?” That took a bit more hesitancy to say then I had wanted it too.

“Do you like us?”

....... I stopped scratching the dog's stomach for a moment, staring at Fluttershy with a puzzled expression before taking a deep sigh, and returning to give my new animal friend some more belly rubs. It took everything I had to not react aggravatedly to that question. I had to remind myself who I was talking to, and I’m not just referring to her timid personality. If anyone deserved to ask such a thing, it was her.

“Why.... what makes you ask that?” Fluttershy averted her attention away from me, instead looking down at her fingers as they traced the folds on her skirt.

“I don’t know.... sometimes I just get the feeling that...... you rather be anywhere else but here.... in our world I mean,” she said, her voice growing quieter as the words trailed out until it was nothing more than an inaudible squeak. But I knew what she said, or at least what she met.

“No, Fluttershy, don’t ever think that. I.... look.... I have a lot of things to sort out here, but right now you girls are the best things that’s going on in my life right now, and I mean that.” Probably the first time I actually admitted that out loud. She looked up to me, blushing a bit as more strands of her hair began to fall in front of her face.

“Really? You really mean that?”

“Yeah, I do. I know I haven’t been doing a good job showing y'all it as of late.... I guess I just don’t feel like I deserve it.” Fluttershy tilted her head a bit in confusion at this.

“Why would you say that?”

“It’s just that.... look.... I.... I’m just....” I couldn’t get the words out. The exact words I needed to say to her. The words I’ve already told Red and AJ. I don’t know why I couldn’t say it as it seemed Fluttershy had already moved on, or was at least trying to. The fact that she even let me come to this, to her fortress of solitude, her one place of absolute peace where she can be herself, showed me that she’s moved past the years of torment I’ve delt out to her, but I just couldn’t do the same. Amidst my struggles to dish out that one sentence, I felt her soft, warm hand touch mines, and her smile told me that everything was okay.

“Sunset.... look, whatever it is you need to say, don’t force it out. When the time comes, I’m sure you’ll be able to say the things you want to say. But in the meantime, I wanted you to come with me today because I too feel like I haven’t been doing a good job welcoming you as a friend.” I felt a nerve get pinched by this, the joy I had felt moments ago felt as though it had dissipated.

“Fluttershy no, don’t say that. You don’t need to do anything like that, it’s me who needs to earn that from you,” I cried out. But she just smiled and shook her head.

“Whether that’s true or not Sunset, I want to be your friend. I’m ashamed to admit that I was scared of you after the Fall Formal.... forgive me for saying this.... but I was really nervous with you being with us. But lately it seems like you’ve been incredibly distant, as if everything was weighing down on you.... after you took the fall for the Gabby Gums incident, which admittedly I too have my issues with what you did, I felt at that moment that you did change”. She took my hand into hers and stared deeply into my eyes. “My point is.... I can tell that things are eating you up, and I don’t want to keep avoiding you or letting you feel as if you need to face your issues alone. I want us to heal, and move on from the past.... I don’t want to see you hurt, or sad anymore, which as of late it seems like we’ve been seeing you that way more and more. You have more injuries then usual.... and I won’t ask you about them because I don’t want you to be upset with me. I just want us to be friends and trust each other.” I guess the element of kindness really is no joke.

“I.... I.....” A thousand thoughts raced through my head. I didn’t want her saying any of this, but at the same time, it really did feel like a light was opening at the end of the tunnel. The time to say what I needed to say was right now. I’ve been avoiding this for too long with her, I needed to apologize to her for everything. For the horrible things I’ve called her, for all the trips in the hallway and locker shoves. I had already accepted trying to move on with AJ, and as shit as an attempt as it is, I’m trying to move on with the rest of the school. But I needed to start with her. With the kindest girl I’ve ever met. But as I was stuttering to get jumbled words out of my mouth, the sudden interruption of my phone blaring in my jackets pocket stopped my attempts.

Me and Shy both stared at each other for a moment, both of us a little taken aback by the loud noise intruding on our little episode here. After regaining my thoughts, I pulled out my phone and read the ID. It was from Red. Realizing that this was probably important, I took a deep sigh and smiled sheepishly at Shy, who just smiled back and nodded her head while rubbing her arm awkwardly. I then stood up and walked out of the kennel and into the shelter's hallway, answering the phone with a sigh of relief.

“What’s up?”

“Hey, you should probably come home right now. You remember your burner phone that you had? The one you asked Tiara to send the Spoiled video to,” asked Red. I stopped walking and stood dead in my tracks, remembering the night that Diamond Tiara called out for me and told me everything about Gabby Gums. About how the whole fiasco escalated when Applebloom and Sweetie Belle recorded a video of Spoiled Rich discussing nefarious acts. I had asked Tiara to send me that video to a spare burner phone I had, don’t ask why I had it. It’s a damn shame Easyglider couldn’t use it in a court of law, but at least I got names from it.

“Yeah, why? What happened?” The panic in my voice sounded clear even to me.

“She just messaged it.”

CANTERLOT PARK: MIDNIGHT

I hated walking out on Fluttershy like that, but she told me she understood and that we could talk later. I promised her I'll tell her what I needed to tell her tomorrow after school. But now I was needed elsewhere.

Although the entire suburban district of Canterlot was safe all things considered, I still wouldn’t want my thirteen-year-old daughter walking around here at the dead end of night. I mean for the love of Celestia, it was approaching one in the morning, and here was this little girl walking around an empty park wearing a damn Luis Vuitton jacket, fucking Filthy Rich. Diamond Tiara slowly traversed down the path that led deeper into the parks small forest, nervously looking around with one hand in the pocket of her expensive yellow leather jacket, and another clutching her smart phone. The blue light illuminated off her face, and as she walked away from the main park's center, away from the street lights, the phones screen was becoming the only source of light around her.

The sound of her leather boots clicking on the pavement walkway sounded louder than the chirping of crickets accompanying it, which seemed to cause the girl to be more nervous. Underneath her jacket was a grey zip up hoodie, with the hood up covering her head. Situated under it was a white baseball cap, its brim lowered down concealing her eyes. My guess was that this was her way of trying to be inconspicuous.... but ignoring the fact that she’s a little girl walking around in the middle of the night, she still had on her bright expensive clothes, and the brightness of her jewelry was still noticeable. Yeah.... real fucking inconspicuous alright.

I would have met her at her house like last time, but her message was pretty adamant about meeting me in the forest at the park. I can only imagine she didn’t want to take a risk in telling me whatever it is she needed to tell me. After walking further into the forest, she stepped off the main pathway and entered the cluster of dark trees, shaking profusely as she was no doubt terrified of entering the forest. Her walking came to a slower speed, and pretty soon she came to a complete stop, surveying the darkness that surrounded her. Every chirp of a cricket, hoot of an owl or scattering of a critter set her on edge. The rustling of some nearby bushes caused her to squeak in fear, and slowly she backed away from the sound, body facing the opposite direction of where she was going. That’s when she bumped into me.

“HOLY SHIT,” she yelled, screaming as she spun around in fear while falling onto the dirt floor.

“Relax Miss Tiara, it’s just me,” I said, emerging from the darkness, letting my cloak conceal my entire body and the brim of my fedora hide half my face.

“Real smooth,” I heard Red sarcastically whisper in my ear. Admittedly, I didn’t mean to scare the shit out of the poor kid, but I didn’t see any other real viable way to show myself given the environment that we were in. Tiara’s breathing came to a steady pace, and she quickly regained her composure, standing up and dusting herself off from the dirt.

“Jesus Christ, don’t do that! You scared the heck out of me, made me get my clothes all dirty,” she complained.

“Word of advice Miss Tiara, I wouldn’t wear things so expensive or so colorful out at this time of night,” I said.

“Well what else am I supposed to wear? Anyways, don’t worry, I’m fine. Nothing bad happens on this side of town anyways.”

“Does your father know you’re here?” She rolled her eyes and gagged.

“As if. Daddy’s probably out with some girls or something, and the house butler and maid are asleep. Even if they were a wake, I doubt they’d even do anything.” Great, she’s got a psychotic mother who beats her and a neglectful father who ignores her and gives her money.... speaking of which. I extended my arm out of the cloak, placing my finger underneath her chin and gently raised her face to look up at me.... she didn’t try to stop me.

“What happened,” I asked. She had a large bruise around her left eye. Grimacing, she shook her head away from me and stepped back a bit, lowering her hat a bit more before placing her hands in her pockets.

“Don’t worry about it.... mother just got a little mad that’s all....” her voice croaked, and I could see her eyes begin to water for a moment. But she turned away from me before a single tear could escape her eye. I retreated my arm back into my cloak and just watched her like a statue.... I wanted to do something. Hug her or something. But that’s not what the Mare-Do-Well would do. She called me here for a reason.

“Your message, why did you ask to orchestrate this meeting? I already told you that it’s incredibly dangerous to be in contact with me. Besides, you shouldn’t be trusting of me at all,” I said coldly. Tiara wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket before turning around to face me.

“I know, I heard you the first time. Anyways, I trust you a hundred percent now after that night. You saved those idiot classmates of mine.... and for that...... God I don’t say this often, but for that I thank you. If you ever need anything in return from me just let me know,” she said. As incredible as it was to hear Diamond Tiara of all people utter words of thankfulness, I still had to set some boundaries.

“What I need from you is to be safe. Doing things like this doesn’t ensure that Miss Tiara. I’m at war with your mother, and the last thing I desire is for her to find out that you’ve been talking to me.... I don’t want to see you anymore hurt,” I said. She gave me a little smile as she kicked up some dirt with the tip of her boot.

“I.... thanks...... you know you’re the only person that’s ever said anything like that to me. Look, I didn’t call you over here just to say thanks or talk about my crappy life. I needed to tell you something. Mother’s gonna have a police officer killed later tonight. I couldn't tell you this at home. I think mother has the place wired or something since those two idiots recorded her.” The mood of this entire meeting suddenly shifted. Despite the general consensus others have about her, Tiara was a good kid. It’s become clear to me that she only calls me when someone’s life is on the line.

“You could have just sent me this information in a text,” I said, but she just smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

“Yeah but, don’t like, people track that shit or something?” I’ll give her an A for using her head at least.

“No one will track those messages. Anyways, who’s being targeted, when and where?” She shifted around her pocket for a moment before pulling out a small piece of paper, reading to me out loud what was written on it.

“It’s um.... a detective. Detective Soarin? She’s sending Travis and Donathan.... uhm, they’re two guys who work for her, to his apartment in downtown Canterlot in an hour. I uh, I don’t know where the Hell he lives, sorry. From what I heard he found out something about a tunnel underneath her penthouse. I’m not sure what that means, but it must be big if she’s going to kill the guy.... I just don’t want anyone else to die that’s all.”

“It’s alright, I know where he lives, thank you. Go home now, I’ll take care of it.... you just saved a man’s life Miss Tiara, be proud of that,” I said before turning around and walking towards the trees. But I stopped when Tiara asked me a question.

“Hey wait. Why do you do this?” For once, her tone didn’t sound snobbish or grossed out. It sounded genuine, soft and a little compassionate. Without turning around, I answered her.

“To make sure good people like you are safe.” With that, I disappeared into the darkness of the forest. I could faintly see a small smile shine across her face as a single tear rolled from her eye. She rubbed her arm for a moment before exiting the area. I wish I could do more for her, I really did.

“Don’t you think you should have been more comforting towards her? Maybe tell her that you’ll stop her abusive mother or something,” Red said in my ear. I walked towards the edge of the forest, watching Diamond Tiara walk out of the park from the tree line. Once she was completely out and heading towards the direction of her mansion, I reentered the forest, heading towards the other sides entrance that was in the city's direction.

“That’s not my area of expertise Red. Besides, I can’t make promises like that. The only way to save that little girl is to bring her mother to justice, and it’s going to take me a while to do that. For now, Detective Soarin seems to know something important, and I intend to know just what that is.”