Thirty Minute Pony Stories
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alexanderkrizak I Was A Dragon Once... -
babysealburritos Conversations with Kaitlyn -
bombasticbookman The Bombastic Bookman -
donnys-boy Pony Shipping with Donny's Boy -
kyronea Kyronea's Randomness -
norsepony NorsePony's Mead Hall -
obselescence Planned Obselescence -
professorpiggy A Study in Nonsense -
rwlart RWL's Daily Art -
theobscurereference Weird crushes on Pokemon: the blog
The prompt: Whatever happened to the Mare Do Well costume(s)?
Sorry to get this up so late, all my fault. But here we go. Submissions are listed in the order in which they were received. Enjoy some Mare Do Well shenanigans.
“The New Mare In Town” by Ask-a-typical-oc-pony
“Mare Do Well To Modern Mare” by Versulia
“You Are My Hero” by Stagmanpony
“Mare Do Well Fights Again” by Under—Cover
“Heroes and Villains” by Babysealburritos
Sundays at Sugar Cube Corner often dragged along as slow as molasses or a pony coming down from a coffee high. Business never swelled over ten customers at the little bakery and at least half of these ten were Pinkie Pie’s friends — who were supplied with free treats by the baker herself—as opposed to actual paying customers.
This particular Sunday was no different to the three bakers who called Sugar Cube Corner home. The shop was all but empty but the Cakes still bustled around upstairs, doing household duties that had been piling up since Hearth Warming. Pinkie manned the cash register and was still “working”, as long as one considers chatting with Rainbow Dash “working”.
“…and then Twilight said ‘What do you mean, broken?!’ and I said, ‘It doesn’t work right, duh!’ and then Twilight’s eye starting twitching and Rarity sorta dragged me away ‘cause Twilight looked ready to blow up or something and…”
In the dead of the night, the fourth was added to the pile.
It was interesting to see all four of them together. When they were seen side by side, it was easy to see how different each was, no matter how much the flashy cape and hat drew one’s attention to how they were similar instead. One was designed for a slim, petite figure, a tiny bookworm with not much meat on her bones, while another was let out at the waist for a larger, rounder pony, one who couldn’t keep her hooves off of the treats.
It just made her angrier that she hadn’t noticed this earlier.
If she moved fast enough, she could create her own flames, but that carried too much risk of being seen. Of being caught. She’d taken too many measures to gather these four outfits in secret to mess up now. Matches were difficult to use, but after her third attempt, she managed to light the tinder. Stepping back, she watched the flames spread quickly through the wood that she had gathered, the firelight reflecting off of magenta eyes as it licked at the purple costumes.
Sweetie Belle could hear Applejack and Rarity shouting as she approached the front door Carousel Boutique. This was not unusual.
“Rare, we promised Dash we’d get rid o’ these stupid things! Ya know I don’ break no promises!”
“Stupid things?! I’ll have you know I slaved away for days on these! They’re beautiful and I love them as much as any of my creations! You may as well ask a mother to throw out her own foal!”
Above all the dimming lights of a Ponyville about to succumb to the siren song of slumber, there stood a beacon of hope, a guardian against the darkness, a defender of the innocent. The night cloaked her well, and the barest breezes blew her billowing cape out behind her. She kept watch over the city, night after night, never resting and never allowing herself to be seen. She was a secret hero, an unknown presence, a masked vigilante.
Little did the denezins of Ponyville know that after they tucked in for the night their town became a wretched hive of villainy! Little did they know what evil lurked in the shadows that she must battle when the moon rose high in the sky and the sun was hidden from view! Villains of the most diabolical sort: three legged stallions out for revenge, magician mares gone mad with power, griffons with grudges, crime rings, drug syndicates, etc!
She was the hero that never slept. She was the night. She was the one thing keeping Ponyville from succumbing to the dark forces!
Featherweight walked slowly through Ponyville, his photographer’s eye scanning for anything newsworthy. He photographed Daisy nibbling on one of her own flowers—a scandal of the highest order, that—then a flicker of motion in the corner of his eye drew his attention. On the roof of a nearby building, a cape disappeared from view.
“No way that’s . . . I mean, it couldn’t be, right? Nopony’s seen her for months. She retired, or left town, or something, didn’t she?” He shook himself and ran down the street in the direction the cape had been traveling. If it was her, it’d be the scoop of the century! Well, alright, the scoop of the year. The month, definitely.
His little hooves clattered on cobblestones as he galloped down the street, neck craned to peer at the roofs on either side. A few moments later, he saw a masked figure leap from building to building just ahead of him. He skidded into a turn, only just staying upright, and shot down an alley like a bat out of Tartarus. “I knew it!” he panted, “Mare-Do-Well!”
“My hero!” Rarity gasped, as the mysterious masked pony carried her into her bedroom at Carousel Boutique.
“It was all in a day’s work, Ma’am.” The heroic mare answered politely, allowing Rarity to climb off her back and swoon dramatically across the bed. “I could never allow so fine a lady to be sullied by a pack of diamond dogs. Them- those scoundrels will think twice before they bother an innocent maiden again!”
“Oh, but how can I reward you?” Rarity asked, fluttering her eyelashes at the superhero.
“A reward ain’t- isn’t necessary, Ma’am. I was glad to help.” Rarity frowned.
“No no, I want to reward you. That’s rather the point, remember? Now get over here, darling.”
The masked mare walked to the bed and, somewhat hesitantly, placed her forehooves atop the covers, then paused, looking at the unicorn.
Twilight rocked back and forth in the rocker that she had purchased some years ago, for she thought it would be fitting to her age. She was glad that she had made the choice to stay here in Ponyville along with her five best friends, for it had been prophecized by many that they would split up. She smiled at the irony. Instead of splitting up they had just come closer. A lot closer.
“Twilight?” called a familiar voice. Twilight looked up from her book. She had read it before, she had read all of them before.
“In here honey,” she called back. Rainbow poked her head around the door.
“Ah, I should’a known,” she said with a nod at Twilight’s favorite rocking chair. Twilight smiled. Yes, she thought to all the mental questions she had made up. We did marry like many rumors foretold.
“Where are the kids?” she asked Rainbow. Her cyan friend threw up her hooves dramatically.
Prompter’s thoughts
Dawww, I loved this. Just so touching. And after the events of season 2, I could see Applejack relishing the cheers, the appreciation, especially after the Last Roundup. Once upon a time she was the town hero, the most reliable pony. But then she let everypony down. You really captured that here. Big Mac was incredibly sweet, and my heart melted at the titular line. Fantastic work.
“What am I to do with you?” Rarity asked the costume as she put it on a mannequin. She carefully scanned the costume with her expert, meticulous eyes for any sign of damage.
“I simply cannot wear this childish costume outside, even it was made by my own hooves. I would look like some sort of hussy.” She grumbled while she lifted the cape and collar for any snags. She had taken a liking to the costume’s fabric. Allowing it to collect dust in her closet would be a waste. Rarity had to salvage some of the fabric, even if she would make a simple undershirt with the material.
“Perhaps I could make a pair of leggings for mother. Or I could make tights for a dancer. Oh! Why not a slim-fitting sweater? Would you like that?” She asked the costume.
“I saved the construction workers with my Pinkie Sense!”
Flames licked and crackled, the smoke acrid in the air.
“It’s important to act with grace and humility.”
Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof into a nearby tree as she recalled Twilight’s words. “Yeah, grace and humility,” she snorted. “From the mare who was bragging over her own spell to fix the dam!” Oh, Dash had acted all accepting and humbled when her “friends” had confronted her, but as soon as the opportunity arose, she absconded with the Mare do Well costumes. She had to have something to focus her anger on, after all.
“I made the costumes! Fabulous if I do say so myself!”
The second costume vanished into the fire. “Hope you spent hundreds of bits on them too!” Rainbow Dash spat.
“Come on, Spike!” Twilight said in that lilty, somewhat-motherly-yet-at-the-same-time-respectful tone that she would often speak to Spike in. “Only one more box to sort!” The two had been spending the day cleaning out Twi’s basement, as it had grown quite cluttered. The space was supposed to be used for her occasional delves into the world of mad science, and a clean mad scientist was a happy mad scientist. Although that was probably an oxymoron.
“What do you want me to do with this?” Spike asked, pulling a costume out of one box. Twilight looked at the purple and blue costume and chuckled a bit.
“I can’t believe I forgot to throw this out!” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash would probably be annoyed if she knew I still had it.” She floated the Mare-Do-Well costume over, inspecting it. It was still in pristine condition, just the way she left it (save for a few creases from being folded in a box for so long). She had no need for it, though, and Dash’s reaction to seeing it was not one that she particularly wanted to witness.
“Should we throw it out?” Spike asked. A nod from Twilight sealed the deal.
Hmm. Where is that most bombastic of bookmen?
I guess I’ll close his prompt for him.
Submissions will be posted, uh, when he shows up, I guess.
