Mare-Do-Well vs the Rainbow Menace Part 3

Commission for GrimWolf01
MareDoWell vs the Rainbow Menace Chapter 3
By Kendell2.
Idea and commission by GrimWolf01

Earlier that Day

Private Eye sat in a dark, drab office in Cloudsdale. It seemed like something out of an old detective serial, including the chosen colors and even the currently drawn blinds.

The Guard Detective rubbed a hoof into his forehead, looking down at one of several folders currently on his desk. A picture of Pinkie Pie stared back at him. “Rainbow Dash was obviously teleported, saw the flash. So that'd mean a unicorn. Princess Twilight Sparkle's known to be able to teleport...but that doesn't explain the stinkbomb. Rainbow herself known to be quite the prankster...but so's Miss Pie here. And that'd explain why it smelled like expired sweets...She's also known to have been friends with a Griffin named Gilda and another Pegasus named Lightning Dust who have similar personalities to her...but neither of them can teleport and records show she and Lightning parted on bad terms at the academy...”

The pegasus gave a sigh and got up, trotting over to a board with newspaper clippings on it. Most were from various crimes that he himself had solved, but some were from the Rough Diamond case. “I can't believe my prime suspects for who helped a perp are the saviors of Equestria...”

He slowly picked his fedora off a hat rack and took it in his teeth, throwing it up and onto his head. “Never said this job would be easy...Better send the guard to go check the suspects.”

---

Present

Rainbow Dash growled, glaring down at the suit in her hooves. She was currently hiding in a cloud near Cloudsdale (a thought which in and of itself put her in a sour mood on its own). “I can't believe I have to do this. As if this day wasn't rotten enough.”

The cyan pegasus just stopped herself from asking the dreaded words 'how could this day get any worse?' The day was already bad enough without her tempting fate and finding herself in a thunder cloud for some reason.

The mare gave an annoyed sigh. “Better get this over with...”

She began slipping on the superhero costume, one hoof after another...then stopped with a blink.

“Why am I doing this the boring way?”

True, she didn't like Mare-Do-Well...at all...but she was about to become a superhero, why not make the most of it? After all, it wasn't like she was going to have many opportunities to do this baring them somehow getting sucked into a comic book.

Rainbow Dash spun around, destroying her hiding place with a tornado that slowly turned from rainbow colored to purple and navy blue. As she came to a stop, she completed the transformation by placing her hat atop her head.

“Now that's how you change into your superhero costume!...Wow, Rarity was right, this suit is really comfortable...”

---

Mare-Do-Well stood atop a tall building in Cloudsdale, overlooking the rainbow painted area. Lightning flashed behind her...causing her to blink behind her visor because it was a clear, sunny day.

She looked back to see a familiar wall eyed pegasus jumping on a thundercloud for some reason.

Knowing Derpy Hooves, she decided not to question it.

“Alright, Mare-Do-Well was all dark and mysterious, kinda like Batmare...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself, taking her superheroic look very serious. “So I think I'll stick to the shadows...unless I see the chance to epically save the day...”

Zooming down into the alley way, the masked mare peaked out over the scene. The local pegasi were already beginning to try and clean away the liquid rainbow that had been thrown everywhere everywhere. “Okay, so that Guard Detective said whoever framed me snatched it from the Weather Factory after I left the Academy...so...”

Rainbow Dash was brash and often times a bit overconfident, but she wasn't stupid.  Especially when push came to shove.

“Did Miss. Fake see me at the Academy?”

She then ducked back into shadows as more guards passed. “Somepony there sent that fake letter...But who there would have it out for me? I'm awesome.”

---

“Alright, Fluttershy, keep an eye out for...well, yah know,” said Applejack, now trotting . Thankfully, Twilight had had time to cast the cloud walking spell on them before sending them off.

“O-Okay...” Fluttershy replied in her natural timid fashion.

“And Fluttershy, remember, if we need tah talk tah a guard, yer gonna need tah do it,” the orange Earth Pony reminded in a hushed tone. “Cause we both know Ah can't lie worth a lick.”

Fluttershy gulped. “O-Okay...”

The due trotted onward, Applejack looking over the vandalism. “Sweet Celestia, whoever did this definitely did a number on this place...” the farmer muttered.

Fluttershy nodded, giving a whimper at the sight of her hometown in such a state.

“Pst!”

The two jumped a little, looking into an alley next to them were two blue 'eyes' stared back.

Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief and the two carefully headed into the alley, keeping an eye out for watching eyes (something that by nature Fluttershy did on a regular basis).

“Boy am I glad to see you,” said the Mare-Do-Well in a gruff voice deep voice.

“You too...but why yah talking like that?”

“To hide my voice, cool huh?”

“Uh...might wanna work on it...”

“Everypony's a critic...Where's Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity?”

“Twilight and Pinkie are bein' questioned by the guard, Rare's there cause she's a unicorn and apparently Discord's little tick convinced them one teleported you. They'll be along as soon as they can. Meh and Flutters weren't high on their list so we went. That and everypony knows Ah can't lie tah save mah life.”

“Darn it...Egghead find anything?”

“Y-Yes...” Fluttershy interjected, taking out a folder from her saddlebags. “She found out who forged the letter.”

The disguised Rainbow Dash took the folder. “...Do I want to know why she had this file?”

“She said all the Princesses have files on the entire guard, Bolts included,” Applejack explained. “Apparently somethin' about so all four of 'em can take charge if they needed tah.”

“Right...” the masked mare opened the file and looked through it. “Storm Raver, huh? I saw her a few times at the academy, I think she was an instructor.”

“Yeah, that's what Twi said. And well, she's the same shade of blue as you.”

“Huh, that's weird, only thing I ever do to her was give her a wave when I recognized her...Ah!”

“What?”

“That Guard Detective said that this happened after I left the Academy, so the girl would've heard me leaving! It's gotta be her!”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. So we investigatin' the Academy then?”

“Looks like it. Anything else?”

“That's about it. And will yah cut out that silly voice already?”

“...I'll work on it...”

“Um...” Fluttershy interjected. “How are we going to get there? Applejack...well...no offense...”

“It's at the top of a mountain and Ah don't have wings,” Applejack finished.

“Actually it's a plateau,” the masked mare pointed out. “And I can fly ya.”

“Uh, wouldn't that kinda defeat the purpose of yah wearin' a disguise in the first place?”

“...Why do you have to have good points?”

“Maybe we should wait here for the others and yah go on ahead?” the farmer suggested. “You're the one in the superhero outfit after all.”

“Alright, see ya then. Up, up, and away!”

“Wrong superhero...”

“I'm working on it!”

---

“Thank Celestia we weren't lying about not helping Rainbow...” Twilight muttered to herself as she, Rarity, and Pinkie trotted along the streets of Cloudsdale, cloud walking spell on ground-bound ponies. Sure, they had assisted to a degree by asking Discord about it, but they'd not told him to rescue Rainbow Dash from the Guard, and Twilight certainly didn't approve of it. In fact, if he'd actually suggested it instead of just done it, she'd probably have asked him if he was crazy...then again, knowing Discord, he'd have considered that a compliment.

Pinkie Pie nodded, bouncing along. “Yeah! That was lucky! Otherwise we'd have been kept out of the plot! And who wants that?”

“...Let's just find Ra...I mean Mare-Do-Well and see if we can investigate this mess better...” Rarity replied. “And hopefully put this dreadful situation behind us.”

“That reminds me, Twilight, I'm not sure Storm Raver is the villain,” Pinkie said in an oddly serious tone.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because she's the first suspect! In a mystery it's never the first guy!” the pink party pony reported like it was a completely legitimate fact.

“Right...but this is real life Pinkie Pie...”

The two trotted on down the road until they noticed everything around them become very rainbow colored. “Wow...” the fourth Princess of Equestria muttered, looking around. “They definitely did a number of this place...”

“Oh it's positively dreadful!” Rarity said with a gasp of horror. “Rainbows are beautiful, but this much of them? Without any thought of a design? It's just garish!”

Rarity fainted onto her couch.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You had your couch enchanted so it wouldn't fall through the clouds?”

“A lady is always prepared!”

“Well well, didn't expect to see ya here.”

The trio blinked, turning to see Private Eye standing nearby with a notebook held in his wings. He tipped his hat.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, trying not to look nervous.

“Guard Detective Private Eye, Your Majesty,” the Guard Detective explained, flashing his badge. “Wish we met under different circumstances. Now mind telling me what you're doing here?”

Twilight was tempted to say she didn't have to say anything, but she knew that'd simply arose suspicion. Her brother WAS a former Captain of the Guard, she understood how they worked to a degree and that Private Eye was entirely in his right to ask that.

“We're trying to prove Rainbow Dash's innocence. As a Princess of Equestria, I'm within my right to do so.”

“So ya don't think Rainbow Dash did it?” the Pegasus asked, giving an analytic look at the Alicorn. As if he was analyzing every bit of her. He noted the professionalism on her face, but not much else.

“No, we don't. We think she was framed.”

The detective's gaze fell on her eyes, her ears, and her mouth specifically. He nodded slowly, seeming satisfied. “Alright...I almost caught her earlier, but somepony helped her escape. I suppose ya already know who I think might be responsible, given the Guard had a chat with ya earlier.”

“We do, and you are wrong,” Rarity replied, keeping a serious expression. “We honestly had no idea she was in need of rescue so to speak.”

The detective kept his eyes on her the same as he had Twilight. He noticed a few things right as she mentioned him being wrong. While her mouth remained serious, her eyebrows narrowed slightly. In the last sentence, everything seemed natural, like it was a straight statement.  “...I see...So I guess you don't know where she is now?”

“Of course we do not.”

Private Eye's gaze fell on several aspects of Rarity's face. Namely small features most would miss, like changes in her mouth's shape or a twitch of the ear. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed the look of disgust at being accused came a few seconds later than Rarity's words implied it should have. “I see...So any idea where I can find her?”

“Maybe you should try the stadium!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, somehow popping up between Rarity and the detective.

Private Eye noticed a small ear twitch. “Really? Why there?”

“Well, the Wonderbolts are there a lot, so if she wants to clear her name, which I know she does cause why would Dashie ever do something this mean? And if she was, it seems like a nice place to vandalize. Even if that's a naughty thing to do...okay, a friend of mine painted a castle green on her birthday one time but it was her birthday and the owner was okay with it!”

The detective blinked at Pinkie's 'tells' seemed to change randomly. One minute it was an ear twitch, the next it was a twitch of the eyebrow, then it was her emotion seeming a second short. Then there wasn't one at all. And so on. It made no sense. It was if he mare was so random, even a detective it was impossible to pick up a pattern in her. He didn't even know if they were tells or not! “Right...”

“Oh! And another time this friend of mine named Sparkleworks covered ALL of Ponyville in sparkles! Hehe! But that wasn't to be mean, and no pony really minded.”

The detective shook his head in a disorientated fashion.“...Well...I think I'm going to go investigate some more...thanks...”

The now perplexed Private Eye gave a polite bow to Twilight and trotted off, trying to figure out what the Tartarus had just happened.

Twilight raised a brow. “Pinkie...when did that happen?”

“Oh a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG time before we met!”

“Okay...”

Rarity shuddered. “I remember the sparkles. Sparkleworks actually had an eye for them, so it was rather pretty...but I spent WEEKS getting them out of my beautiful mane!...I managed to make the look work for me.”

Twilight cocked her head. “...I'll take your word for it...” She was reminded of her original sentiment that everypony in Ponyville was crazy. “...Now let's go, we've got to check out Storm Raver.”

---

Private Eye looked around a corner, listening in. “Storm Raver huh? So that's who they think did it...Better tail them.”

---

Rainbow Dash peaked her head up over the side of the plateau that the Wonderbolts Academy was on. She'd always wondered why a place most commonly frequented by Pegasi was built on solid ground.

The masked mare made sure to exploit her speed as she zipped from cover to cover towards the main building. She then ducked as several recruits trotted by her position. “Better be careful...”

Mare-Do-Well looked around and quickly sped from bush to bush, hiding behind equipment and finally stood against the wall of her target. “Who'd have thought sneaking into that hospital to  read Daring Do would come in handy...”

She then jumped slightly when she heard hoofsteps coming and flew up the wall as several pegasi trotted by. “...Dang it! It's the middle of the day...” she muttered to herself. She slipped behind a cloud as several ponies flew by.

She leafed through the file Applejack had given her. “Okay, let's see...she's in room 102...That means she's on the bottom floor, right?”

She moved the cloud down and peaked through the windows. “Here's hoping first window I look through isn't the Stallion's Room...”

She slowly peaked out through a window, blinking when she looked in on Soarin' eating an entire stack of pies in his office. “Wow...he can eat almost as much pie as Pinkie Pie...almost.”

Next window. She recoiled as she saw a bat-like pony hanging upside down asleep. “Ah! Vampire! Oh, wait, some of Princess Luna's weird bat ponies joined the Bolts as a night branch...”

A few windows later, the Mare-Do-Well finally looked through a window to see a mare with the same color fur as herself sitting in his office. Her tail and mane were both yellow with blue streaks in them. Rainbow couldn't tell what her Cutie Mark was through her jacket, but she'd seen in her file it was a diagonal lightning bolt in front of a storm cloud.

Even Rainbow Dash knew that she couldn't just rush in and demand answers (okay, she'd had to learn about such things over time), so she simply watched and waited. She noted Storm Raver look at a pair of letters and snicker before slipping them back into her desk.

Eventually, the masked mare left and she carefully slipped in through the window (thankfully it'd been a hot day and she'd kept it open). “Alright, let's see what we have here...”

She naturally went straight for the letters. While it didn't cross her mind at the moment, wearing a full body suit had certain advantages, such as no hoof prints.

Rainbow Dash blinked when she looked at the letter. “A copy of my application to try out for the Wonderbolt Reserves? Why does she have it?”

She produced Storm Raver's profile. “Ah, she's one of the mare who handles applications to the Academy...”

Mare-Do-Well felt rage building up in her heart at the idea this was the one responsible for her miseries. A part of her wanted to tear the mare apart for this. She might have actually attacked Storm Raver had she entered the room at that moment.

The masked mare turned and looked around the room and her eyes fell on several awards on the wall. She noticed something. “Huh...These are all for Academy records...the Dizzatron, the cloud busting exercise...she's the one who held the records before me and Lightning Dust broke them.”

She took the other letter and looked at it. “This is an application from Lightning Dust to reapply to the Academy for another try...Dang, she seems desperate...”

The masked heroine smirked under her mask. “Oh yeah, got her red hoofed! She sent me a phony reject notice and framed me because she's jealous I broke her records!...Wait, then why didn't he frame Lighting Dust? Eh, probably cause I broke 'em harder than she did.”

She remembered Lightning Dust. The other Pegasus had been a good rival, she couldn't deny that much. If she just hadn't been so bucking selfish. How big of a self absorbed jerk do you have to be to not care about the people you almost hurt showing off?

She looked at Lightning Dust's letter. “Huh, she actually apologized...maybe she did learn something...Okay, now let's go tell Twilight about this and see what her big brain has to say about my awesome find.”

The masked mare's thoughts (and ego stroking) by the sound of a large crash. She panicked and quickly put the letters back in it's proper place and headed back out the window.

A few seconds later, she slammed her hoof into her face.

“...It didn't come from inside the place, did it?”

The masked mare sighed and flew towards the location of the disturbance.

---

One would think mass vandalism in the city would have completely canceled classes for the day at Wonderbolt Academy. Those people have never undergone Wonderbolts intense training. The primary change in the schedule was some of the trainees would now undergoing 'volunteer training' helping clean up the town once the guard had investigated to a satisfactory degree.

Due to being first day training, however, the Dizzatron and its surrounding equipment weren't currently being used...

A rainbow colored streak zoomed by it, the impact causing metal to rattle.

The blue pegasus with a rainbow mane bucked the delicate machinery at high speeds, knocking bolts loose. She currently wore a bandana around her muzzle and sunglasses over her eyes. Her Cutie Mark was identical to Rainbow's, but seemed slightly off center.

She gave a look around, making sure the noise had attracted some eyes, but none she needed to worry about before backing up and charging, doing a high speed buck with enough force to dent the machine's casing. Giving a growl, the vandal picked up a rock and used it to smash the lock on it's wiring and open it. She reached in to try and hook the wires around her hoof and tug them out...when a blue and purple blur slammed into them full speed.

The imposter groaned, getting back to her hooves and snarling, looking up to see a masked mare in front of her.

“Looks like you won't be doing anymore damage today,” the Mare-Do-Well stated in a deep voice.

“I sounded so awesome there!” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself.

Despite patting herself on the back mentally, Dash snarled at the sight of her doppelganger...

The imposter gave a snarl and flew off.

“Oh no you don't!” her pursuer said, taking off like a bolt after them. Rainbow Dash noticed how fast the copycat seemed to be going. ''She's fast...but not as fast as me!” she said under her breath, speeding up.

The two flew across the Academy, Rainbow Dash slowly making ground on the faker.

With one last burst of speed, she managed to tackle her enemy head on, sending both tumbling into the ground.

Rainbow Dash rolled through and back to her hooves at the same time as her double. She charged and threw a punch. The double ducked the hoof and tried to leg sweep her. Mare-Do-Well jumped up to dodge and kicked out with her hind legs to try and catch her doppelganger off guard, but the faker flapped her wings and jumped back to avoid.

“Dang it, she's a tough one...” she muttered to herself before ducking under a spinning kick at her head and countered by planting her hind legs in her imposter's stomach and flipping her overhead. She had to plant her hooves on the mask when the fake hooked it with her hooves as she was thrown. She wrestled herself free after the fake Rainbow Dash hit the ground. As the masked mare got back to her hooves, the imposter started flying away, prompting the Mare-Do-Well to take chase.

---

Twilight and company walked slowly down the main road of the Academy.

“Hey remember last time we were here and almost died?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

Applejack shuddered. “Did yah have to bring that up?”

“Yeah! Continuity is important!”

“...Okay...”

Rarity cleared her throat. “Be that as it may, let us find Mare-Do-Well, she was supposed to be investigating around here.”

Private Eye watched from hiding nearby and tapped his chin. “...Mare-Do-Well...Oh yeah, she was some kinda superhero that showed up in Ponyville...” he whispered to himself, thinking back to the Guard reports. The true identity of the Mare-Do-Well was still unknown.

Suddenly, two streaks flew overhead, the first rainbow colored and the second purple and blue. “...Well...Ah think she found the imposter...” Applejack remarked, watching the high speed chase.

Private Eye spread his wings and instantly took off after the two blurs.

“Come on!” Twilight yelled to the others before they took off in pursuit.

---

Rainbow Dash flew straight up and came back down, tackling her mimic from behind and sending them both crashing through the window of the mess hall.

The two tumbled through a table, the Mare-Do-Well rose to her hooves and blinked, looking at the pony who's table she'd ended up going through. Then back to the faker. Then back to the pony.

“But you were...I thought...how is...”

Storm Raver stared in shock at the two ponies that had crashed through the table in front of her.

The imposter snarled and kicked Mare-Do-Well in the stomach, knocking her off. She then pounced on Storm Raver and blindsided her with a punch to the jaw.

Rainbow Dash groaned, rubbing her gut. She blinked, watching the dazzled old Wonderbolt getting pounded on by her fake, the imposter snarling in rage.

While it was clear that Storm Raver wasn't the imposter, Dash was still pretty sure she HAD sent her that mail. On one hoof, she could let her fake give the jerk her comeuppance, on the other...she was still currently a superhero and the guy couldn't defend himself.

The hero finally sighed. “Dang it...” she muttered.

The Mare-Do-Well flew forwards and tackled the fake Rainbow, knocking both clear of Storm Raver.

Dash jumped back to avoid a mule kick from her enemy, then countered with a jump kick of her own. The fake ducked under and tried counter with a punch, but this time Dash caught it and threw a punch, her hoof connecting to the imposter Rainbow Dash's face.

The doppelganger was knocked to the ground, sunglasses flying off her face.

She groaned and got up, revealing orange eyes.

Mare-Do-Well narrowed her eyes under her visor, looking at her imposter in the eyes before the evil twin gasped and put her sunglasses back on in a panic.

“Alright, put your hooves up!”

The two turned and saw Private Eye enter the room. Mare-Do-Well took a fighting stance towards the fake. His eyes fell on various aspects of her before the fake bolted out the window. Private Eye ran to the window, but found the double had already vanished. “Buck!”

Mare-Do-Well sighed. “Dang it...” she muttered under her breath. She then looked at her hoof, finding smudged blue make up or dye on it. “...Hmm...”

To be continued.