The Adventures of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!

DOWNTOWN CANTERLOT: THE PROJECTS

I’ve never given much thought about law enforcement. I mean why would I? I actively break the law on a daily basis, even before I started wearing this jackass costume. The only time I ever bothered to learn about the inner workings of the Canterlot Police Department prior to my nightly adventures was when I first arrived to this world. In my little twisted fucked up mind, I had it in my head that in order to achieve greatness here, I was going to eventually be faced with the opposition of both military powers and law enforcement. So, I took up to studying its entire structure, especially here in Canterlot. I wanted to learn who every officer was, their positions, locations, the innerworkings of each precinct, corruption scandals, I mean everything. Of course, this knowledge has helped tremendously with my job as the Mare-Do-Well, which in return has made my partnership with Commander Easyglider extremely beneficial, as well as giving me a new profound respect for our boys and girls in blue.... but at first, I learned all of this with the expectations of.... well... killing them.

My original plan involved using the crown to take over the school. Afterwards I expected law enforcement to strike, most likely Lieutenant Fleetfoot along with the entire Canterlot High precinct would arrive first. From there I would have annihilated them. One officer in particular that I thought was going to be a problem was Detective Soarin. At the time he was just a patrol officer, but even then, he was one of CPD’s best cops. I’ve only met him once, the night at the Diamond Dog fighting ring, and Easyglider always tells me how great of an officer he is.... my point is, I will never treat the lives of people, especially law enforcement, lightly like that again. That hasn’t been truer till tonight.

I was standing on top of a building, staring down at the northside apartment complex where Soarin lived, which was across the street from me. Appearances be damned, he made enough money to actually live in the suburbs like most cops did, but he’s always been insistent on staying in the area he grew up in. The Canterlot projects. Easyglider tells me that he prefers to be closer to the real action. To the filth and degeneracy that the Canterlot projects produced.... the day I run out of money, I might move here.

“Do you see anything Sunset,” asked Red through the earpiece. I scanned the empty streets like a hawk eyeing for a rat, only to be rewarded with jack shit.

“No.... but it’s still a quarter till one. Spoiled’s guys work with exact times, especially scum like Donathan and Travis.” I knew who the hit men were of course. They killed a few back-alley pushers a couple of weeks ago, and later I found out through Max, the thug that attacked Lyra and Bon Bon, that they were on standby to kill the girls if Cercus and the Changelings failed in capturing them. Donathan used to run a chop shop down in California, but he had a more acquired taste for murder. From what I can gather, he came into contact with Travis, who was already and established hitman for Spoiled. It’s unknown how he met him, but the two hit it off almost instantly on account of their one common trait. They were two psychotic sons of bitches.

Seriously, when examining the crime scene photos of their victims, it’s not pretty. They’re more commonly known as Donny the Hyena and Eye-stealing Travis. I’m pretty sure it’s obvious why they have the nicknames.

“Has Spoiled Rich been known to kill cops,” asked Red. I hunched over a bit more, blending in with the row of gargoyle statues beside me. There was a certain art in standing completely still, and I don’t mean just holding your breath and hoping to God no one sees you. I mean actually being so still in the shadows that you really are invisible. I never realized how sensitive the human ears were until my first couple of nights. I’m light as a feather, and even tiptoeing causes shit to creak or rumble. It’s insane to me how people that are so high on crack can still hear you in the shadows.

“Many people don’t know this, but back in the 90s, when she was eighteen, she used to do hits for her father. Some of the people she killed were cops.” Even without hearing it, I could tell by Reds voice that she had a gasp trapped in her throat.

“Wha- you serious? The Queen of Canterlot has actually killed people with her bare hands?” It was a little bit of an eye opener for Red to learn about the true nature of the Rich empire. Much like every Canterlotian, she always viewed aristocrats like her and Prince Blueblood as typical rich celebrities who were successful entrepreneurs, not even suspecting that they operated criminal empires. Of course, people had theories about this shit, but to actually have it confirmed to her was a huge shock. I gave her every file I had on not only Spoiled, but Blueblood and the rest of the gangs. She took them home one day and stayed up all night reading them. Needless to say, she was speechless the next time I saw her. Spoiled’s past though was something I still hadn’t put into my case files since most of it was based mainly off of rumors rather than absolute proof.

“This wasn’t in Canterlot. Not even in the United States. This dates back to her home country of Italy.”

“You mean, Spoiled Rich is Italian? Diamond Tiara is half Italian?”

“Sicilian more specifically, but yes. However, Diamond doesn’t know that. Nobody here does, including Filthy. She’s gone through great lengths to hide her past. She was a member of the Sicilian mafia by association of her father, who was a capo for the Cosca in Palermo. What I’m about to say is more hearsay than absolute certitude, but its allegations backed by some pretty solid evidence. Although she was born in Enna, her family moved to Palermo when she was sixteen. That’s when she first became a full-fledged member of the family. Rumors say she still has the tattoo on her back, but I haven’t confirmed this. It's unknown why, or how, but it’s believed she used to collect protection money from businesses, and somewhere between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, she became a hitman. Killing business owners, journalist and even cops.”

“Oh my God.... and her family just allowed all this? How.... how did she end up over here meeting Filthy?” I shifted a bit, furrowing my brow as I continued to stare down the road where the dim presence of two headlights emerged from the darkness of a nearby alley.

“I don’t know. I have no information on any of her family. No names, no addresses, nothing. I don’t even know who her father is. It’s like that entire period of her life doesn’t exist. I know everything about her time here in the US. But I know virtually next to nothing about her time in Italy, or about what happened between her time over there and over here.” I stood up, unholstering my grappling gun as I watched the truck pull up in front of the complex. Two large men wearing trench coats and fedoras stepped out of the vehicle, collars up and hands in their pockets. They took a quick glance at their surroundings before entering the building.

“From her files it doesn’t seem like her organization has any dealings with the Italian or Sicilian mafias. Or with southern Europe in general. How can you confirm any of this?”

“Well, I can’t 100% confirm her early dealings in organized crime, but I know for a fact that she’s from there. Her great grandpa was a high ranking official under Mussolini's regime during the second world war, and her grandpa was a scholar at the Vatican City. I’m not sure how her parents moved to Sicily or how her grandpa even achieved such a position in the Vatican country though.” Even from across the street, I could hear the banging on Soarins door as the two hitmen violently attempted to kick it down. Soarins silhouette ran past the window, and the accompanying sounds of shouting soon followed.

“Sunset.... how do you know all of this? You’ve clearly had this information prior to you becoming the Mare-Do-Well,” asked Red. The loud burst of gunshots echoed from the building, and the small window that led to Soarins apartment lit up like a rave. I aimed my grappling gun at the rooftop directly above it, and took a deep breath.

“Trust me Red, you don’t want to know how I spent my spare time in this world for the past three years.... looks like a firefight has broken out, I’m going in,” I said before firing the gun, launching the hook like a missile towards the building. Once it connected, I reeled it in lightly until the rope was tight.

“I... Sunset.... just be careful, okay?” The concern in her voice made the corners of my mouth purse up.

“Always.” Without delaying any further, I jumped off the roof while letting go of the trigger. The steam from the gas tank within the chamber blew out like the whistle of a locomotive, and I was reeling towards the building at break neck speeds. Once I was a good yard away from the window, I shot my body forward, raising my knees up and coiling my legs in like a spring. Bracing for impact, I yanked the gun violently, dislodging the hook from the building before crashing through the window feet first, wrapping my cloak around me to protect myself from the explosion of glass.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” I heard Travis yell as I rolled across the floor. I immediately took cover behind a door frame that led to a bedroom as I got back to my feet. Quickly surveying the room, I saw Detective Soarin across the one-bedroom apartment taking cover in the door frame of his small bathroom, looking at me in shock as he clutched his Taurus .38 special. The rest of the apartment was a standard sized living room, with a small kitchen that connected to it, and a now broken-down door at the entrance where both Travis and Donathan were hiding behind, firing their Walther P5s. Spoiled always had a taste for the German variety of weapons.

The barrage of bullets sent dust and debris flying into the air as they crashed into the walls adjacent of where me and Soarin were hiding behind. The detective kept looking over to me, still stunned by my sudden entrance. But the eruption of a bullet blasting the floor next to him snapped him back to the situation, and he continued to return fire. But after three more shots, the clicking of his revolver made his face go white, and after frantically searching his pockets, the realization that he was out of bullets dawned on him. That’s when I knew it was my time to act.

The opposing gunfire ceased for a moment, the sounds of pistol mags hitting the floor told me that Tweedle dum and Tweedle dee were starting to reload. Quickly, I pulled out three smoke pellets from my utility belt and hurled them out of the door frame and into the living room. No sooner than about four seconds did the entire place fill with the black smoke, and that’s when I hopped out of the room and began charging towards the entrance where the two would-be assassins were. But unfortunately, what I thought would be a swift take down wouldn’t be so easy.

To my utter shock, Travis shot out from the smoke in front of me, head lowered and arms reached out as his entire body trucked me like a damn tackle dummy. With my stomach slammed against his broad shoulder, I was lifted into the air and tackled across the room, before being thrown into the wall.

“AGH,” I yelped as my back busted a large hole into the wall, pieces of drywall following me to the ground as I landed on my side. Trying to get onto my hands and knees, a fiery pain erupted in my stomach as Travis swung his foot into my abdomen, kicking me a few times before stomping my head into the floor.

“You’ve been nothin’ but a pain the ass ya God damn freak. I’m ‘bout to get me a big ol’ fuckin’ paycheck once I kill ya bitch,” snarled Travis. Everything was blurry for me at that moment, and I didn’t even feel his large hands grab me by the throat and lift me off of the ground. It wasn’t until he slammed me up against the wall, both hands gripped tightly around my neck, that the wind came back into me. Trying to regain my senses, I grabbed his hands, attempting to pry my fingers into his tight grip just to loosen the strangle hold he had me in. From the corner of my eye, I could see Soarin trying to wrestle a knife out of Donathan's hand. A part of me was happy that he was taking on Donny, the short scrawny fuck. But the trade off was that I had to deal with Travis, who was built like a damn linebacker. My vision was starting to get blurry as I felt the blood rush to my head. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pry his hands away.

“Heh, I can’t believe Iron Will and those fuckin’ Changelings had such a hard time doing this, even with their stupid powers,” said Travis. Without even thinking, I swung my foot into the large man's groin, the audible crack of his testicles rang out, and immediately, he dropped me onto the floor as he grabbed his crotch in pain. “AGH, YA MOTHERFUCKER,” He began screaming out. While on the floor, I was trying to just breathe again, my gasp for air sounding more like wheezes. Once I felt my windpipes open back up, a fury overtook me, and like a lion ready to strike its prey, I pounced on Travis and began throwing punch after punch at him. Although he was no Iron Will or Cercus, punching his face still felt like hitting a concrete wall.

But my relentless attack didn’t last long, because in a blind state of rage, Travis held onto me, and the crazy son of a bitch sprinted towards the window, using me as a shield as he leaped through the glass. Within the blink of the eye, me and the brute were hurling from the four-story building with shards of glass accompanying us during our fall. I didn’t let this interfere though, because even in mid-air, I was still swinging at the bastard. But when we passed the second story floor, Travis caught my fist, crushing it in his giant hand while his other grabbed my neck. He pushed my head forward, and before I could even think about doing anything, the world turned red for me as the two of us crashed on top of a parked SUV, denting it inward as glass from the windows and headlights exploded around us, and the cars alarm began to sound out.

“Ugh.... shit,” I muttered as I rolled off the cars smoking roof, grunting as I collapsed onto the pavement.

“Sunset, what happened,” asked Red. Slowly, I got up to one knee, fighting to keep myself from blacking out. With a sharp pain running down my neck, I stared up at the building, seeing the light escape the destroyed window on the fourth story floor that we had just flown out of.

“I... I just got tackled through a window. Fell a couple stories into a car,” I managed to spew out.

“WHAT!” I had to grab my throbbing head, Red’s sudden shout hurt a lot more then it should have.

“Yeah, I think I’m okay tho- WHACK," I was cut off by something grabbing my head, and slamming it against the shattered car door next to me, blowing my fedora away in the process. The giant hand that clutched my skull like a baseball pulled me out of the wreckage, and turned me around to face its owner. With blood pouring down his face, staining the light stubble around his iron-like chin, Travis scowled at me with wide, furious red eyes. He was panting heavily, saliva and blood dripping from his mouth like an erupted volcano.

“Now I’m fuckin’ pissed.” The pure venom in his words sounded repulsive, like the devil himself were whispering in your ear. He turned me back around to face the car door, his hand still gripped around my head while I was on my knees. Ferociously, he swung the broken car door open, throwing my head into the vehicle, and slamming the door right into my throat.

“ACK!” I felt my windpipe being violently crushed as the behemoth put all his weight into the car door. Bastard was trying to snap my neck, and with each second, the popping inside my throat told me he was only a few more grams of pressure away from achieving this goal. With the new wave of adrenaline coursing through me, I despairingly felt around the ground for anything that could help me in the few precious seconds of life that I had left. That’s when I grabbed a large shard of glass. Ignoring the pain from the sharp edges, I clutched it tightly and rammed it straight into Travis’ leg.

Just like that, the pressure alleviated off my throat, and I was able to breathe again. But my moment of relief wasn’t granted to me for long. Travis pulled me out of the car by my cape while yanking the glass shard from out of his leg, slamming me onto the pavement with one arm. Giving me no second to react, he raised the glass shard up and swung it down at me with a motion he had all but perfected through experience. With instinct taking over, I raised both my hands, catching his arm and stopping the ferocious stab midway through.

My panting increased as I desperately tried to push his arm away, but he was slamming his hand down with his other arm, making the shard grow closer inch by inch. Eventually his overwhelming strength conquered me, and the jagged edge of the glass shard rammed into my shoulder.

“AGH,” was all I could yell as the shard dug deeper and deeper into my flesh, the sadistic grin on his face growing wider and crazed as my screams of pain no doubt sounded like music to his ear.

“Ya wanna act like some kinda fuckin’ ghost so bad cunt? Well why don’t I help ya become a real ghost you fuckin’ costumed bitch!” I had to retreat one of my hands away from his arm, making the glass shard go a couple more centimeters into my flesh. But with my new free hand, I clutched the grip of my grappling gun that was holstered in my belt. With great struggle, I managed to aim it at a full aluminum trashcan across the street from us.

Well... *pant*... why don’t I help you get a concussion.... motherfucker.” I squeezed the trigger, and the hook shot through the bottom of my holster, speeding towards the trashcan. Once it pierced through the aluminum, I let go of the trigger completely, and the large shiny bin full wasteful shit flew towards our direction, speeding across the street as piles of garbage flew out from the top. Before Travis could even notice what was going on, the trashcan bashed across the back of his head, garbage flying out as the impact dented the aluminum. The hit was so hard that my hook yanked right out of the can, small trails of dreg blowing out with it.

“ARGH!” Blood and saliva spewed out of Travis’ mouth, and with his eyes rolling back, his now unconscious body collapsed on top of me as the trashcan landed beside us.

“Sunset? You there? Say something,” repeated Red. I laid there on the pavement for a moment, trying to catch my breath, before throwing the giant man off of me. Slowly, I sat up, wincing from the sharp pain that ran down my back. I was already having some major back problems, but now I was practically shitting myself thinking about how painful it’s going to be to get out of bed later. But the main source of my pain was in my shoulders. Slowly, I gripped the glass shard that was sticking out. Taking a deep breath, I counted to three before yanking the piece out, groaning a bit from the sharp pain.

“Yeah... I’m good, I just took down Travis,” I responded. With some difficulty, I stood up off of the ground, popping my back out with a deep stretch. Once I felt... well for lack of a better word fine, I looked down to the knocked-out man lying beside my feet. “Note to self, don’t underestimate Spoiled’s guys.” After handcuffing him with one of my custom steel cuffs, I pulled out a small medical kit from one of my belt's pouches.

“You sound pretty winded, though that’s no shock considering you just plummeted on top of a car. Are you okay?” I took out a compress pad and a role of medical tape, carefully pulling my tops neck line down to reveal my bleeding shoulder.

“Yeah, but I got my throat caved in by a car door and got stabbed pretty deep with a shard of glass. I’m happy I listened to you about adding a medical kit to the belt,” I said while applying the pad, pressing onto the wound deeply.

“Oh my.... please try not to damage it too much. Did you take the shard out? I don’t know why I’m asking, of course you did. Violently no doubt. Just try to keep pressure on it until I see you again. For God sakes Sunset, you get so sloppy with stab wounds.” Red’s adorable when she gets frantic like this. Ignoring her ramblings, I finished taping the pad onto the wound, and stared up at the building where Soarins window was.

“Yeah yeah. I’m going after Donathan next. Hopefully he’s not a pain in the ass.” But as I was about to leave the scene, I stopped in my tracks by the sound of a gun being cocked.

“Don’t you fucking move,” the voice of a sniveling weasel ordered. I turned around to see Donathan, holding Detective Soarin at gunpoint. Soarin was slouched a bit and panting heavily while holding his bleeding arm, he clearly had been shot. I would have been surprised that Donathan got the better of him, but after the Hell I just went through with his partner, I wasn’t. These two were clearly professionals at what they did.

“Don’t listen to him Mare-Do-Well. I’ll - AGH!” Donathan wacked Soarin across his back with the handle of his pistol, sending the young detective down onto his knees.

“Shut the fuck up pig. Oink again and I’ll put fucking holes in your brain,” he said, pressing the barrel against his neck.

“You’re making a big mistake Donny. Drop the gun and I promise I’ll only fracture your jaw,” I warned, trying my best to stand up straight and make it look like I didn’t just get my ass handed to me.

“Oh piss off freak. This ain’t no concern of yours. I don’t know how you knew about this hit, but I bet someone told you, and I promise I’ll cut their fucking head off when I find out who they are.” I thought of Diamond, and my fist began to clench. The rage and energy that had been knocked out of me was quickly pumping through my blood.

“I promise you Donny, you’ll never see the outside of a cage if you pull that trigger.”

“Oh really? Well, how about...... I..... I..... what the fuck is that?” Donny began to trail off mid sentence, squinting his eyes a bit as he stared off into the distance past me...... or more specifically, he was looking into the sky. Even Soarin looked a little puzzled. That’s when I heard something strange. The loud flapping of...... wings?

“Are you flying? What’s that sound?” asked Red. The collective signs that something was indeed behind me told me to take my eyes off of Donny and turn around. When I did, my heart almost dropped.

“Wha.... what is that,” I mumbled to myself. Emerging from the dark clouds was a large animal with wings. Each flap sounded like the winds from a tornado soaring through fields. I couldn’t make out the details, but it looked like.... a large bat. The wingspan of the creature must have been at least twenty feet across, and as it got closer, that number only seemed to grow.
Its eyes were red, glowing a bit even amongst the dark sky. But as it got closer, I was able to make out a few more details. When I did, my blood ran cold. The creature was in fact, some kind of giant bat. Its nose was perked up like a vampire bats, its fangs looked larger then the tusk of a walrus, and its big hairy ears looked like those of a northern long-eared bat. But what was most peculiar about the creature was it’s color. Its fur looked yellow, and it had a long streak of hair flowing to one side. The hair however looked.... pink.

“Is that.... Fluttershy?”