AN: Maybe there's a moral here, maybe I just really wanted to write this. Either way, this is what I wrote and I'm sticking to it.
The Mystery of the Mare Do Well
It was a normal day in Ponyville. The sun was shining; the birds were chirping and everypony was at peace. And, as is destine to happen on days like this, something went horribly wrong. It started with a few too many passengers signing up for a hot air balloon ride. Noticing that the extra weight was causing the balloon to sink a little low, the conductor went to increase the fire. On his way to do so, he tripped over a hoof, stumbled, and knocked the engine clean of the balloon. Now the engine was falling towards a building and the balloon towards a crowd of ponies. Had princess Twilight and her friends not been occupied by royal matters, they would have been on the scene and had the problem fixed before any onlookers even knew there was a problem. But this was not the case, and they didn't arrive nearly in time to rescue anypony. Luckily, when they did arrive, the problem had already been fixed.
"What happened?" Twilight asked. "It was incredible!" Mayor Mare explained the accident that had taken place on the balloon. "Oh my!" Twilight and her friends' eyes went wide with shock.
"But then, just before travesty, she appeared!" Mayor said. "Who?" Twilight asked. "The Mysterious Mare Do Well! She's returned!" The over excited mayor shouted. All eyes went wide. "Hmmm…" Rainbow Dash looked suspiciously at her friends. "What is it?" Applejack asked.
"The last time the Mare Do Well appeared, she was actually you all in disguise. Hearing that she's back just makes me a bit suspicious." Rainbow Dash said. "But we were all together when it happened." Pinkie pointed out. "Then what's going on?" Rainbow Dash questioned, confused. "I'm not sure, but I don't think there's anything we can do at the moment; especially considering that there isn't any problem right now." Twilight said. She too wanted to know what was going on, but she knew she'd have to wait.
They only ended up having to wait a week. There was a bank robbery and the thieves tried to flee into the Everfree forest. They never made it to the forest, before they could even reach the edge of town, the Mare Do Well descended from the sky from the sky. She landed with a stomp of her hooves that knocked the thieves to the ground. The thieves tried to escape, but the Mare Do Well had the robbers trapped within her magic. The whole thing was rather conveniently caught on camera by a nearby photographer.
"I can't believe it!" Rarity exclaimed, "Somepony has adopted the persona of the Mare Do Well for themselves!" "I can't believe that their doing a better job than we did." Twilight said, browsing the list of Mare Do Well's other feats the newspaper had put in next to the article.
"Hey! Nopony's better than us!" Rainbow Dash said defensively, "This new Mare Do Well is just a vigilante wannabe." "I must say I agree, to some extent," Rarity said, "Whoever this is, they're going to get themselves or possibly somepony else hurt."
"But so far the Mare Do Well hasn't failed or messed anything up." Pinkie said. "Not yet," Twilight said, "But they could, and I think we should have a talk with them."
The mane six all did their own searching, trying to find something about where the new Mare Do Well had come from or where her hide out was. The most they got were goofy little comic book-esc origin stories, "She was given her power from a magic comet!" "She can see into the future!" "She lives inside a hollowed out mountain that she had to slay a thousand year old dragon to get!" They got about a dozen different interpretations, but nothing concrete. Then Rainbow Dash found out something… troubling.
"I was checking around for news about the new Mare Do Well, and building caught on fire! I went to help anypony who might be stuck inside, but before I could, the Mare Do Well rushed in. She kicked through the walls to get to the ponies, flew them out and used magic to stop the fire. I was watching her the whole time, there wasn't any swap. This time, the Mare Do Well really is an alicorn." Rainbow Dash explained.
"But that isn't possible, is it?" Applejack wondered. "Well, we already know it's possible for a normal pony to become an alicorn, but anytime one transforms, the princesses are always alerted." Twilight said. "Maybe the Mare Do Well didn't want anypony to about her?" Pinkie offered. "But why wouldn't she? A new alicorn is no small matter." Rarity said.
"Duh, if she told everyone that she was an alicorn, then the bad guys would know what to expect." Pinkie explained. "What bad guys?" Fluttershy asked. "There are always bad guys." Pinkie said, unknowingly making a point about the world, humanity (AN: Ponyanity?), and life as a whole.
"Well whatever the reason, she's an alicorn." Rainbow Dash stated. Twilight nodded, "It seems this is more urgent than we thought."
On some level, the Mare Do Well probably knew that the mare with her saddle bag being stolen was probably a trap, but she had to act anyway, just in case. Her suspicions were confirmed when, after she'd landed behind the faux thief, four more ponies stepped out. One of them was even the princess Twilight Sparkle. Mare Do Well sighed, she'd known this would come eventually.
"I tell you what," She spoke disarmingly, "I tell you what you want to know if you can catch me." Mare Do Well picked up a small stone, "Just to make things interesting, no one makes a move until this stone hit the ground, agreed?" The six ponies all exchanged looks, then nodded, thinking it best to indulge Mare Do Well's game. She threw the stone into the air; all the ponies watched it soar. Before it even started falling back down, Mare Do Well let out an aura of magic energy. Twilight could easily have blocked it, if she'd known it was coming. The mane six were all thrown back; in the few seconds it took them to get back up, the Mare Do Well was flying away.
"Not this time." Rainbow Dash soared after her, the rest of the mane six following on hoof. Mare Do Well tried her hardest to escape. But Rainbow Dash matched her speed; Twilight's magic countered any cloaking spells she tried, and anytime she tried to get them lost, the one with the pink mane led them back. To her credit though, the mane six were having an equally difficult time trying to catch her. Then Pinkie got an idea. She whispered something to Applejack, who grinned wickedly, and jumped. Pinkie actually managed a back flip before her back hooves met Applejack's, who'd put more than the average force of an apple buck into it. Pinkie shot into the air and crashed into the Mare Do Well. With her distracted, Rainbow Dash was able to catch up with her and tackle her to the ground. Mare Do Well was strong, but with Rainbow Dash pinning her, Pinkie on standby, and Twilight and Rarity's magic holding her, she was caught.
"That magic wave you made before, it was crystal pony magic. Weaponized crystal pony magic, but crystal pony magic nonetheless." Twilight said. The Mare Do Well remained silent. "You said you'd talk if we caught you." Pinkie said. The Mare Do Well sighed again.
"Very well. Yes, it was crystal pony magic. I don't know why I have it, but I do." "Why did you take on the role of the Mare Do Well?" Twilight asked.
"Because the ponies need it. You all are heroes; I won't even try to deny that. But, as I have proven, you can't always make it in time; especially now that you all have royal this and that to deal with. It may sound shocking to you all, but I'm not doing anything wrong. As to why I chose the Mare Do Well, she was already well known and loved by the public. I was trying to avoid, well, this situation right here." Twilight opened her mouth to speak. To tell her what she was doing was wrong. To give a speech about how she didn't need to do this. But she didn't. she'd learned a few new things recently, and it seemed that they just kept proving themselves to be true. Rainbow Dash saw the look on Twilight's face and understood what she was thinking. She unpinned the Mare Do Well and Twilight let her magical hold go. The Mare Do Well didn't ask questions, she just ran.
"Why'd you let her go?" Pinkie asked. "Because Pinkie, she may not be what you think when you hear the word, but she'd a hero. The hero they'll need when we can't help. She lives in the shadows. Is she a dreams? Truth? Fiction? Oppression? Salvation? She is all of these things and none of them. She is… the Mare Do Well.
AN: I lost track of how many references I made (Or tried to make). Also, does anyone think I could make a story about just the Mare Do Well?