Chapter Twenty One: Mysterious Mare Do Well
The past couple of days were pretty uneventful for the Saiyan, but not so much for his friend Rainbow Dash. She recently started feeling down about not having a pet like her friends, so she went to Fluttershy for help. Deciding which pet to pick was tough, so she set up a competition to see which pet was the best. It was a fierce contest and the winner ended up being a tortoise... something that surprised Vegito. He expected a falcon, or a hawk, maybe an eagle... but certainly not a slow moving turtle. Not surprisingly, Tank(the name given to the tortoise), had a propeller attached to it's head, using some sort of magic battery to enable it to fly. Tank had slowly become Rainbow's favorite thing in the world, although she would never admit that to her friends.
The ponies had also offered to help Vegito find a pet, but he refused. He already had to look out for all of Equestria, he didn't want to have to worry about another creature. Plus he was a little more concerned with taking care of himself and his friends.
After all of that pet business things returned to how they usually were. The fused Saiyan was currently training at five hundred times Equestria's gravity, which despite being more than normal wasn't much better. He was finishing up his daily amount of vertical push-ups. "Nine hundred ninety eight, nine hundred ninety nine... one thousand!" Once finished he leapt back into the air and swiftly landed on his feet. Wanting to take a small break he walked over and turned the gravity off, returning the shade of the room from blood red to normal.
With the gravity off Vegito headed over to the entrance and opened the door, getting a little fresh air instead of smelling his own sweat. Speaking of his sweat the Saiyan decided now was probably a good time to take a shower. Right as he was about to get that started the sounds of cheering assaulted his ears. Curious, he flew over to where the noise was coming from. Moments later he landed behind a huge crowd of ponies. By the looks of it they were cheering for Rainbow Dash, and some ponies were even taking pictures(which said pegasus seemed to enjoy). Wanting answers he walked over to his friends.
"There just aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe Rainbow Dash's awesomeness." Scootaloo stated.
Vegito was a little confused why the filly was wearing a rainbow wig but didn't bother thinking about it. That was the least of his concerns. "What did Rainbow Dash do now?" He asked, having a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Didn't you hear? Rainbow Dash is Ponyville's newest and greatest super hero!" The orange pegasus yelled.
'Yeah I'm pretty sure that's my job.'
"Well she certainly doesn't have a problem showin' off." Applejack noted with some resentment in her voice.
They watched as the pegasus in question flew up and made her cutie mark out of clouds, causing more cheers from the crowd. "Yes, but she is kinda awesome." Twilight said.
"I just hope all of this attention doesn't go to her head." Vegito said, making his friends nodded their heads in agreement.
The next day four elderly ponies were standing on top of a balcony, enjoying the lovely weather. Unfortunately for them the balcony started falling apart, causing the ponies below to look on in horror.
Luckily for them a hero would come and save them. "Never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!" She flew up and caught the falling balcony, making the four ponies descent to the ground safer.
As soon as the ponies were safe the crowd gathered around their hero, cheering even harder than before. "We'd be lost without you!" One pony said.
"You're our hero, Rainbow Dash!"
The entire gathering was now chanting her name. "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow then ascended into the air. "I can't hear you!"
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" Her audience cheered while she did some show off moves.
From down below some of her friends were watching, and they didn't really like what they were seeing. It wasn't the fact that Rainbow saved the lives of some ponies, no, it was how she was acting afterwords. "Call me silly, but I think this whole hero thing might be going to Rainbow Dash's head." The blue maned unicorn mused.
"You may be right...silly." Pinkie agreed.
Later on that day Rainbow Dash was in Sugarcube Corner, retelling her heroic events to her adoring fans. "And then I zoomed into the well. I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn't let that stop me. Danger's my middle name. Rainbow 'Danger' Dash." She said while lowering her shades over her eyes. "Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day."
Standing next to her was Spike. He was wearing a hat and trench coat, and he also appeared to be taking notes. "That day." He repeated while writing on his notepad.
Although the crowd was loving it her friends not so much, her usual arrogance was slowly becoming even greater than before. "Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since." Applejack noted.
Twilight and Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.
"I think she's taking this 'hero' thing a little too far." The fused Saiyan said with clear disappointment in his pupil.
Before Applejack could say anything the rainbow maned pegasus flew over to her. "Hey, Applejack. How'd you like to be immortalized as my friend?"
"Immorta-what?" She would never receive an answer as the fans began taking pictures of their hero with her friend.
While the photos were taken Spike continued writing, serving to confuse Twilight. "Are you taking notes?"
"Yup! I've been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself, to write her autobiography!" He exclaimed as the honest pony walked away from her friend.
"Umm, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about." The purple unicorn explained, catching Rainbow's attention.
"Maybe for your normal, run-of-the-mill ponies. But I'm far too busy saving lives to stop and write. That's why I hired Spike as my ghost writer."
The pink pony heard that and let out a scream. "Spike's a ghost!" She then bolted out of the room.
Vegito sighed. "Someone really needs to explain the concept of expressions to Pinkie."
"...Anyway. Spike here writes down everything I say. Don't you, Spike?" Rainbow asked, and he wrote down what she had just said. "This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform." It was a good thing she didn't see Vegito's face, otherwise she would have seen his angry scowl. "Yep, it takes guts. But it also takes brains. And sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I'm up to the challenge."
Her friends didn't have as much confidence in her as she did, and they certainly didn't like how she was acting. Well... they didn't like it before, but she was now being even more cocky than before. "I think I need to let off some steam, come find me if she does something stupid." The fused Saiyan flew out of the room, leaving his friends alone.
"I think we need to do something about Rainbow's bragging." Twilight suggested.
"Maybe we should talk to her." The shy pony said.
The honest pony shook her head in disapproval. "No offense Fluttershy, but ah don't think talkin' ta her will work. Her ego is too big for us ta crack."
That comment got them all thinking of a way to get the message to their hot headed friend, but if they couldn't talk to her than what could they do. Surprisingly it was Rarity who first received an idea. "I think I've got it, I know how we can get the message to Rainbow Dash." Her friends gathered around her. She then whispered the plan into their ears, just in case there was somepony around who could hear them.
What followed was a silence, and the ponies all exchanged glances. "That... could actually work." Twilight thought aloud.
Both Fluttershy and Applejack exchanged glances. "Worth a shot ah guess." The earth pony shrugged.
"Well, um... okay." Fluttershy would have much rather talk it out, but her friends did have a point. It would take a good amount of conversation in order to get through to their hot headed friend.
Later that day a huge line of ponies was gathered, all of them wanting an autograph from their favorite hero. A small filly was next in line, and she couldn't be happier at that moment. "There you go." Rainbow signed the picture for the little girl.
She put the picture into her saddlebag. "Someday, I wanna be just like you!"
"Aim high, kid, but don't aim for the impossible."
Suddenly a loud scream was heard, making everypony panic. High in the sky a hot air balloon was plummeting towards the ground, with somepony inside of it. "Help! Help!" She screamed.
Despite her cries for help Rainbow didn't pay her any mind.
Snips was nearby and saw something wrong with the current scenario. "Uh, don't you think you should go and help?" He asked as the pegasus continued signing pictures for fans.
"Yeah, yeah. I've got a good ten seconds to spare. Just a couple more." After that couple more she took off after the balloon, not showing any signs of caring.
From below Spike was watching the scene unfold. "The tension is unbearable. Will Rainbow Dash make it on time?" As he wrote he could see a shadow of somepony leaping from the rooftops.
A pony wearing a dark purple and blue outfit, including a mask, hat and cap, was standing heroically on top of a building. They continued leaping from rooftop to rooftop until they eventually saved the falling pony, mere seconds before the rainbow maned pegasus could reach her.
As Rainbow stood up from the balloon wreckage she saw ponies gather around the masked pony. And just as quickly as the pony showed up the pony left, leaving the crowd in awe.
"Holy turnips, that pony came outta nowhere!"
"I've never seen such bravery in all my life!"
Mayor Mare witnessed the display and was quite pleased. "That's right! Ponyville has a new hero. A mysterious mare that has done well by our fair city today. I dub this new masked hero 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well'!" That elicited a cheer from the townsponies.
The only one who wasn't enthusiastic about the mare was Rainbow Dash. "Mare Do Well, huh? Well that mare would do well to stay outta my way! Ponyville's only got room for one hero, and that hero is me!"
A group of ponies were riding in a vehicle that was currently out of control, and it appeared to be on a crash course. Luckily for them one of their heroes had come to save them. "Never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow–"
"Excuse me, uh, do you think you could skip your catchphrase and just hurry up and save us?!"
"Ugh, fine! Picky, picky." She moved to the front of the vehicle but was having trouble stopping it, to the point where she rolled underneath it. "Whoaaaa! Aah!"
Right before it could fly off a cliff Mare Do Well showed up, and she used her hind legs to stop the vehicle. The ponies cheered and one of them even started kissing the ground. "Oh, thank you, Mare Do We– e..."
Much like before Mare Do Well left as quickly as she came.
Also like before the loyal pegasus wasn't as thrilled, in fact she was starting to feel slightly jealous. Somepony shows up out of nowhere and steals her spot light. "I can't believe it. Mare Do Well is stronger than me?" No, she wasn't going to let this new mare get to her. "Well, a hero is more than just muscle, and she's gonna learn that the hard way."
At a construction sight several ponies were working on a building. One pony was manning a crane, but one of the levers was a little sticky. Moments later the controls broke down, causing the crane to go haywire. The piece of lumber that was being carried started to become loosened.
Sitting on top of a nearby cloud Rainbow saw what was happening, and she smiled brightly. This was her chance to be a hero again. "Huh? Never fear, your friendly neighbor–" She barely had enough time to avoid being hit by a flying piece of lumber. "Whoa!"
The piece of wood hit the building they were working on and caused it to collapse. The construction ponies scattered as the loyal pegasus went in for the rescue. "Never fear–" Although it was made harder due to the falling debris. "Uh! I'm coming! Hold on! Whoa!"
When all hope seemed lost the masked hero of Ponyville arrived. Mare Do Well leapt from the crane and began navigating the dangerous construction sight with ease. She had already managed to save a few ponies, much to Rainbow's shock.
Rainbow Dash soon snapped out of her shock and flew over to the remaining construction pony, saving him from being crushed by debris.
"Look out for the– Watch out for falling– On your left! Agh! Your other left!" The ride was a little perilous, but they both survived.
"Here ya go, safe and sound." Just then the building finally gave out and collapsed, making the worker she saved faint. After that she flew over to the masked pony. "Well, Mare Do Well, or should I call you Mare Do Slow? You're gonna have to pick up the pace if you wanna compete with me, 'cause I move like lightning."
"Actually, she saved all of us! We owe her our lives!" One pony said.
Hearing that made the loyal mare drop to the ground. She then growled. "Okay. She's strong, fast, and somehow knows what's gonna happen ahead of time. I've gotta step up my game."
A crack began to appear in the dam that was above Ponyville, and the rainbow maned pony was flying by and noticed it. "If the dam breaks, the whole town will be flooded! Looks like Ponyville needs a hero!" She flew over and put her hoof over the crack. "Easy peasy." Rainbow stated. "My game is officially back on. If only somepony were here to pat me on the back. Eh, guess I'll have do it myself–"
She removed her hoof and that caused the dam to burst. "Help! Help!" Luckily she was able to grab onto a nearby log, the bad part was that it was her enemy who presented it to her. "You?! I suppose you want me to thank–"
Mare Do Well cut her off by using her magic to grab some rocks to fill up the hole.
"You gotta be kidding me..."
Once finished several ponies once again cheered for their masked hero, and as expected Rainbow didn't take it very well. "Lemme get this straight. She's strong, she's agile, and she's magic? Ughhh! How do I compete with that?" After a few seconds she realized how she was better than the masked mare. "Wait a minute. I do have a leg up on her. And that leg is... wings!" She demonstrated by flying through the air at high speeds. "Hah! Take that, Mare Do Well!"
Unfortunately the masked mare proved the loyal pony wrong, which was evident once she flew past Rainbow Dash. This made the rainbow maned pony grumble. "Oh, for the love of Pete." Just then something went off in her head, because there was something odd at work. 'Wait a minute, how can Mare Do Well have both wings and a horn? There's no way she can be alicorn, and she's too small to be either Celestia or Luna.'
These thoughts hurt her brain, and she wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Desperate for somepony to help her she headed towards the one pony who could help figure this out.
Sitting in a meditative position, Vegito did his best to clear his troubled mind. Although Goku and Vegeta were never really ones to meditate(it was mostly Piccolo who meditated) Vegito thought it was helpful. It was an excellent way to get rid of any negative thoughts, or any kind of anxiety. Another reason he was doing it was because of Rainbow's boasting earlier. Now she was normally cocky, but she kind of crossed the line earlier. Saying that nopony else was brave enough to be a hero was very insulting, it was as if she called him a coward. Plus it wasn't like Rainbow defeated any kind of powerful opponents, she merely saved a few ponies using little effort. While he couldn't blame her for getting a little too carried away he didn't like all of her 'hero' talk.
His peaceful meditation was interrupted by a loud banging on the space ship door. Even if he couldn't sense energy there was no mistaking that knock. With a sigh he stood up and opened the door, revealing a stressed Rainbow Dash. "What do you want?" He asked harshly.
"I need your help."
He narrowed his eyes. "My help? But I don't have the guts to preform any acts of bravery, especially not with the amazingly awesome Rainbow Dash."
That was yet another emotional blow she endured today. She chuckled nervously. "Oh yeah... sorry about that, I kind of sort of got a little carried away." The intense look didn't leave his face. She didn't know what was worse, his stare or Fluttershy's... she went with his only because he had could do a lot more than just stare. "Fine, maybe I did let the fame and attention get to me, but it was just so nice being in the spotlight and having ponies really care about me."
"Rainbow do you want to know what makes someone like me a real hero?" He received a nod. "It's because I will put my life on the line defending my home and the people I care about. Of course, now there's not much chance I won't win a fight, but I do have to make sure no one gets in the crossfire. Another important factor is that I don't fight for fame or glory, but because it's the right thing to do... and to test the limits of my power!" A grin appeared on his face during that last part.
"And I only sought attention." Rainbow admitted sadly.
Vegito noticed her sad expression and let out a sigh. "Look, I know it's hard for you to not take pride in your talents, believe me I'm the same way. You just need to learn some humility and being humble... which is something I will incorporate into your normal training." He stated sternly.
She looked up at him and although he didn't talk she could get all the information she needed just by looking at his serious face. "Yeah sure whatever... now can you please help me with my problem?"
"What is it?"
"There's this masked pony named the mysterious Mare Do Well, and she's took over my place as hero." Rainbow noticed the still semi intense look on his face, he probably thought she was jealous. While she was jealous her talk with Vegito had put some things into a new light. "The weird part is that she has both wings and a horn."
The Saiyan raised an eyebrow. "So they're an alicorn?" It sounded pretty strange, the only alicorns he knew were Celestia and Luna.
"I'm not sure, Mare Do Well is too small to be either of the princesses. Plus why would they go around and pretend to be a super hero?"
Vegito put a hand to his chin. "Perhaps there are a group of ponies acting as Mare Do Well." He couldn't figure out why though, and he mentally questioned his theory... but it was the only thing he could think of.
"But why, and who?"
"I'm not sure, maybe if we ask around Ponyville we can figure something out."
She nodded and the two left the gravity chamber.
The duo walked through the streets of Ponyville but there was a lack of ponies. Neither of them knew what was going on, but they got their answer once they saw a huge crowd of ponies gathered in front of a stage. On the stage was a big banner of their hero.
Speaking into a microphone was Mayor Mare. "Welcome to Ponyville's first, but surely not last, thank you parade, in honor of our city's greatest hero," Moments later Mare Do Well jumped through the banner. "the mysterious Mare Do Well!" The mayor smiled at all the cheering, but once she saw the look on Vegito's face she gulped. "But we shouldn't forget our other greatest hero Vegito!"
The ponies all exchanged confused looks before erupting in cheers.
Although nopony could see the masked mare's face she was starting to feel a little nervous.
Vegito smirked as he turned towards the rainbow maned pony. "I figured it out, I know who Mare Do Well is."
Rainbow's eyes lit up. "Really?! Who is it?"
"Just wait and see." Before he could elaborate further he flew onto the stage. As soon as he landed the crowd went silent. "So you're the Mare Do Well I've heard so much about. To bad you aren't that mysterious, because I know who you really are."
Hearing that made the crowd gasp, including the mayor and the masked mare.
Mare Do Well slowly took a few steps backwards, hoping to make a quick getaway. Unfortunately she would never be able to escape the fused Saiyan. As she backed away Vegito moved closer to her.
"What's wrong, do I frighten you?" His answer came in the form of the masked mare running away from the stage.
Vegito chuckled as he watched the hero flee. He would give her a head start before chasing her. After several seconds the Saiyan jumped into the air and pursued after the masked pony.
Rainbow Dash saw the chase and decided to join in. "Hey wait for me!"
He ended up cutting off her path while she was in a nearby alley way. "I caught you Mare Do Well, or should I say... Pinkie Pie!" In a split second the fused warrior ripped off the mask, revealing that it was indeed Pinkie.
Just then Rainbow came flying into the alleyway. As soon as she saw who the masked mare was she became shocked. "P-p-p-p- Pinkie?! Whudda- hud-d-duh- hud-d-duh- huh?!"
"Oh and it wasn't just her." His glanced around the surrounding area. "You can all come out now."
On cue two more Mare Do Wells came out of hiding, and taking off their masks revealed it was Twilight and Applejack.
"So you were each Mare Do Well?"
"Yup, we all played Mare Do Well at different times." Twilight explained.
"I stopped the carriage bus with these babies, Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee."
"I saved the construction workers with my Pinkie Sense." The pink maned pony explained as her whole body began twitching. Seconds later a potted plant fell from the sky, but Pinkie was able to push Rainbow out of the way in time.
Twilight smiled. "And I used my magic to fix the dam."
Fluttershy ran over to her unicorn friend. "Ooh, ooh! And I did the flyby afterwards."
"I made the costumes. Fabulous if I do say so myself!" Rarity stated.
"So all of you together made your own super hero, one that could put Rainbow in her place." The fused Saiyan noted, showing pride in the other ponies. "Your plan might have worked better if you didn't reveal that you had both wings and a horn."
Rainbow Dash sighed before taking a few steps forwards. "I don't understand. Why? Don't you want me to be a hero?"
"Of course we want you to be a hero."
"But a real hero doesn't brag." Applejack winked.
"Yeah we've been over this already." Vegito explained, making his friends turn towards him. "I already explained to her what it means to be a real hero, and I told her that we would work on her humility."
Everypony besides Rainbow all exchanged confused glances. "And it actually worked?" The honest pony questioned.
"I can be pretty convincing." He stated with a smirk.
They all exchanged a few more looks before something came into Rainbow's mind. "Hey wait a minute, how come you girls never tried to teach Vegito about being humble?"
"It's because I'm the strongest warrior in the universe, with no equal in power or skill." Vegito stated with a grin.
"Yeah somethin' like that." Applejack confirmed with an eye roll.
The fused Saiyan chuckled lightly. "And because I only show off to my opponents." He received a few glares. "Okay... maybe I do brag a few times around you guys... but come on, I can't help it."
Everypony started laughing lightly, finding his joke kind of funny. It wasn't technically a joke, but they still chuckled anyway. Twilight then cleared her throat. "Sounds like you've got a letter to write to Princess Celestia." She smiled.
From out of nowhere Spike walked up to his friends. "Already got it covered. As your ghost writer, I've already penned a letter to the Princess."
"That's nice of you, Spike, but I really wanna write this letter myself."
"Aww, come on, I wrote the whole thing already!" He opened up the scroll and revealed he had indeed written it already.
"Okay, let's hear it." Right as he was about to read the letter Rainbow pointed forward. "Look out! It's a real ghost!"
Both Spike and Pinkie Pie ran away screaming, making their friends laugh. Twilight then used her magic to give the cyan pegasus a quill and parchment, so that she could write her own letter.
That's a rap everyone! I actually enjoyed writing this chapter more than I thought I would. In case you were curious Vegito wasn't very angry with what Rainbow said. I just thought he wouldn't take it lightly that she basically called him a coward. And he would also take it upon himself to teach Rainbow some lessons in humility. The next chapter will be secret of my excess. Stay tuned for more and R and R!
FutureShock