[Contest] Friendship is Brave and Bold

[Vetkin]

So, hier mein Beitrag.

I had the notion of writing my memoirs for quite some time and so here I put some notes on paper. Although I can't publish them anytime soon, the world should know the deeds I did in the shadows. This world isn't as nice as everypony thinks it is, as there are more layers than you can see at first. Even I had to learn this quite the hard way. Looking back I don't regret that it happend this way, because who else beside the great me could do this job, fighting as a nameless pony for justice.

My double life began shortly after I started my life on the road as the greatest and most powerful street performer in all of Equestria, the Great and Powerful Trixie. My father was rather disappointed that I chose this occupation and didn't follow his hoofsteps as an inventor and technican. He didn't unterstand that I don't want to be bound to only one city, even a big one, although I like tinkering around with mechanical stuff. At that point I wanted to use what he taught me to improve my performances and become known all over Equestria. At least that was the plan. These country bumpkins just can't appreciate a good show when they see one. So Trixie went to Manehatten to get a real audience. The city itself doesn't have any laws against setting up your stage as long as you aren't in the way of traffic and not harassing the rich ponies and so I searched for a nice plaza and set up my stage. But soon after the show some rough looking ponies approached Trixie and wanted her to pay taxes for 'public entertainment' as they called it. Of course Trixie refused since it was clear that these guys didn't work for the city government. They went away and I was quite proud to have defied them. But soon after I realized that even Trixie shouldn't have been so full of herself. Later, after I went shopping that evening, I found that some fire brigade ponies were following their trade where my wagon should be. As I stared at the blackend remains somepony told me that it seemed like some candles were left burning and were the cause for the fire. But till this day Trixie is sure that wasn't the real cause. I was devastated. I couldn't believe someone did this to me. To ME, the Great and Powerful Trixie! First I was dejected but soon I became furious. Trixie wanted to get back at them und prevent others from suffering like her. The plan was simple, I just had to find the mobsters, corner them and have them arrested. As I painfully experienced it is not so easy to corner such ruthless ponies with just words and threats and nothing to back that up. They called my bluff and started to beat me up until I was lucky enough to be able to flee.

Trixie realized just how powerless she was. But she had to be great and powerful again and went home for some time to learn how to defend herself and others with her bare hooves. At the same time I started tinkering around with some tools to help with that task, as my magic isn't the strongest since my talent is being a showmare and not some studious magican. It wasn't about the revenge anymore. It was about helping others and not feeling so powerless anymore. I can't stand it if someone beats me in anything and so I had to show these hoodlums and others like them not to mess with honest ponies just because they don't get caught by the police or make such excuses that they can't be convicted. It took some time but Trixie got stronger and got some magic supported gadgets to help her. I also finished my costume, a dark overcoat where I can hide most of my tools of trade, boots that allow for good mobility and fixtures to attach some of the gadgets, a full body suite and mask to hide my indentity and last but not least a great brimmed hat. Fitting to that Trixie chose the great and humble name Masked Mare for her nightly activities.

These gadgets include a magic powered grapnel launcher that really is much easier and quicker to use than levitating the grapnel around, normally fixed to my left frontleg and an device fixed to my right frontleg that allows me throw a boomerang, a sport instrument from Afarawayland or some other far away land, with great force to knock a fleeing criminal out. Another equipment, that luckily I rarely have to use, is an apparatus that allows me to fire wooden bolts that can cause injuries on the attacked but in doing so can stop all but the most resilient creatures. This I carry under my coat and can shoot it straight in front of me or levitate it to be more flexible with it, though that makes it harder to aim. There are some more like a jumping strengthener and others but it is tedious to dwell on that.

Equipped like that Trixie made her way to Manehatten once more and put all of the mobsters that harassed her before behind bars. She saved up for a new wagon where she could store her gimmicks and began her wanderings anew. And so I traveled through Equestria, amazing people by day and protecting them by night. Most of the injustice Masked Mare fights are theft and intimidation. Actual violence is still rare in Equestria, but when it happens I do my best to punish those who hurt others.
But some time ago i found something disturbing. The corpse of a pony that was drained of all its blood. After investigating into that I found that there were already some other such cases und the police didn't make it public to prevent a panic but besides the leftovers they didn't find anything. This had to be the work of a really insane pony or a monster. Not only did this thing kill ponies, it mutilated their corpses by draining their blood. But that was one of the few hints I had. There wasn't any blood around the bodies and even if they were killed somewhere else there had to be some traces of it. A long time of hunting that beast followed until I finally found it. It looked like a monster from Tartarus in form of a pony. A dark figure with red eyes and a mane like blood. Of course he wouldn't just come with me to be punished for his crimes and so a fight broke out. During this I learned just why there weren't any traces of blood near the dead bodies. He could somehow levitate blood around although he was just an earthpony. He called himself Dr. Red Hoof which is a kinda bad choice of his because he neither looks like a doctor nor does he have red hoofs. But what can you expect from a sick psychopath? Trixie still regrets that he slipped through her hooves at that time for so many crimes could have been prevented. I began chasing him through all of Equestria to stop him once and for all. I found him some times and got some of his laboratories, as he calls them, but he is as slippery as an eel in a river of oil. I am just glad that he never found out who the Masked Mare really is, because something as ruthless as him wouldn't think twice about attacking me anytime and letting it be known to all the other criminals who I am. I would never again have a quiet minute.

During my travels Trixie experienced other setbacks beside the failure to capture Dr. Red Hoof. One happend while I was in a tiny rural village and some country bumpkins lured an ursa minor into the village that trampled my precious cart und the equipment that was in it. As the great showmare that she is Trixie did a dramatic retreat to never go back there again. I had to buy a new wagon and build new gadgets and had to earn money to do so. Although it is a tough job I worked at a rock farm as that is the only place to quickly get a lot of money that is always in need for more workers. After I got on the road again I found some mystical old amulet in an antiques shop to boost magical power. Because of some savings from the rockfarm Trixie could aquire said amulet. What followed was one of the most humiliating episodes of my entire life for even the Great and Powerful Trixie got possesed by the curse of the amulet and was driven to seek revenge at the village where she lost her wagon. I won't go into further detail about that. But after the situation was over and Trixie was herself again, she could finally get back to both of her occupations and resume hunting down that bloodsucking monster. Since the Equestria Games are coming up I will head to the Crystal Empire. By day I will make a fortune with my show, but such grand festivities invite all kinds of trouble and I will do my best by night to fight for the undisturbed happiness of this event. It is even possible that Trixie will find Dr. Red Hoof again since he seems to like such occasions to perform his inequine deeds. So now I will finish my preperations for the next step of my journey.

Dear reader, again I feel like writing about some of the stuff I am currently thinking about. I will just note down my thoughts since there will be most likely never another reader besides me, at least not as long as I am alive. So let the story begin.

I will just skip the part about that boring stuff in the first few years and start with the beginning of my new life. It was a nice and sunny day when I ventured into the Everfree Forest looking for adventure. I was still a young earthpony colt, although already an adult if you just look at the age, and walked straight into this unmapped area. After getting horribly lost I wandered for two days until I met a really strange creature. It wore a mantle so that its body couldn't be seen but had the genereal body shape of a pony. It asked what I was looking for and when I said it was adventure and knowledge that no one else has it gave me a present. The creature called it a curse but such minute details don't matter. Some way or other I was able to leave the forest.

It took some time for me to notice just what was different. Because of an accident some blood of another pony got into my mouth and I swallowed it. It was the most interessting sensation I ever had. On one hoof I felt flooded with power and on the other the taste was horrible beyond belief. Of course I got interested just how in Tartarus this gift or curse or whatever works. So I started testing and found out some entertaining facts about it.

First: To be able to use it, I need to ingest some blood of another pony. Dear reader, you can't imagine what a drawback that is, on the other hoof since the only one reading this will be most likely yours truly I guess you can. I can't understand just how carnivores were able to survive this long through the evolution if they have to taste that every time they eat. I must confess that after some time even that taste became bearable by habit, though it is still awful. I'm just glad I don't have to live on that stuff.

Second: After drinking a bit of the blood of a pony I get the ability to control the blood of said pony. To be precise only that blood that isn't inside the living pony anymore. I can control the liquid as if by telekinesis, like an unicorn. But the more I control and when I control more seperate portions it gets harder. Generally it is easier to controll one big amount than many small with the same combined mass. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that I can also use my own lifeblood like this and controling that is far easier than that of others.

Third: Furthermore I can do some more tricks with the blood depending on what type of pony it is from. I can use the blood of an earthpony to heal all my external wounds when I apply it to them or to cure illnesses and heal internal injuries when I drink it. Besides testing that I didnt ever use that and hope that I never have to. Again the problem with the taste and drinking too much of the stuff is really bad for the stomach. I really like pegasus blood. Ok, that sounds wrong. I like the abilities that come from using their blood. Using their red liquid to form wings I am able to fly like them. But doing so slowly dissipates the liquor of life. Also while using the blood of a pony or of some ponies as wings I can use their special talents to some degree, like controlling the clouds or some special flying ability. In that regard the unicorn blood is quite similar. Using that to form a horn, magic becomes available to me. On one hoof I can use the standard unicorn telekinesis, the strength depending on whose blood I use, and on the other the magic relating to the cutie mark, again the power of the spells is relative to the blood "donor". As with the wings using the horn also slowly uses up the blood used for creating it.

Because of the second and third point I always carry some bottled blood with me when I am active during the night. I don't have that with me during the day because that would be just too obvious. After all I look just like any other respected citizien of Equestria when I'm not at work.

Fourth: Sometimes quite convenient, sometimes just as inconvenient is the fact that my appearance changes when I use my blood controlling powers and take some time to return to normal. My mane and irides become crimson and my coat a dark grey. Black would be even more stylish, a bit stereotypical perhaps, but sadly I can't choose that. Also my cutie mark changes to look like a few drops of blood which I find quite fitting. This is really useful, because the cutie mark is the best identifier for ponies and so far nopony managed to find out who I really am. At this point I would describe what I really look like but just because there is still the very small chance that somepony beside me could read this and that would be just annoying.

Something else I discovered while conducting the experiments is that I have pretty much no scruples to do whatever I want. Someponies might think that as a disadvantage but for someone like me who likes to try out his possibilities and whatever else he wants to know it is just liberating to be rid of that hindrance. I don't know if this is because of the gift or if I was just screwed up to begin with, but now it doesn't matter anymore.

Of course I also tested what I can do with the blood of other species. The general result was: Nothing. It just tastes as horrible as that of a pony but I can't do anything with it. I tested a cat, a dog, a sheep and a cow and it was the same for all of them. So I took a long and expensive journey to Afarawayland to conduct experiments with zebras (I really wish there were some of them in Equestria). These were actually a success. At least I can use thier blood as described further above in "second". It feels similar to that of an earthpony, but I can't heal my wounds with it. From this I guess that I can only use species that are similar to my own, a pony. I would really like to try an alicorn or one of these changelings that were in Canterlot some time ago. Heck, I would love to try that draconequus that was seen around there and in some rural village, but I guess that could prove difficult. Well, I have enough time since I don't seem to age anymore. Oups, nearly forgot to mention that.

After finding out the stuff about the zebras I got an interest that I still follow: Finding species close to ponies and trying what I can do with their blood. The ones mentioned above are quite difficult parts of that. Now and then I try to find the way to the Tartarus to look around there for a bit but that information is really hard to come by. Well, since the Crystal Empire appeared some time ago I think I will go there next. But there I will have to be really careful not to get discovered as there are not many normal ponies. Perhaps there will be an opportunity during the Equestria Games.

Because of that obsession I had to do some criminal stuff like robbing banks to finance my studies. With the current technology, as it is used in hospitals, it is possible to conserve bloodsamples for a really long time and so now I have rented some dwellings in the big cities to use as bases for my operations and store the source of my power.
But all these activities like robbing and killing called forth some problems of their own. I must be careful not to use my powers in public because every policepony knows how my alter ego looks. Another is that Masked Mare (what a boring name) that appeared some time ago and hunts criminals. She must have really has taken a liking to me the way she chases me so persistently.

But it is really fun playing around with her like that. She trying to bring me down by arresting or killing me and me trying to kill her. Well I'm not so serious about killing her. I think it is good form to let her have a chance to escape the dangerous situations at least. Also it would be really boring if she just dies as there is no other that came anywhere near capturing me up until now. But I would really love to tell her just one thing: STOP BEING SUCH AN ATTENTION WHORE! It took me just one visit to a small city to figure out just who this Masked Mare is and one more to be definitly sure about it. I mean the costume isn't so bad, at least you can't see who she really is, but unmasked she is hungering so much for attention that it is really hard to not notice her around. First I was tempted to attack her by day while she didn't have all of her gimmicks around, but I realized that would be just plain boring. Without a playmate the game called life would be not so much fun. We had quite a number of memorable encounters. Sometimes I was forced to flee and destroy my work or leave my money or things like that and sometimes she was forced to retreat so that my stashes were kept secret and I could vanish into the night.

Well, I hope we will see each other at the Equestria Games to have some more fun. I already am very nervous about the Crystal Empire because of all that could happen there. There will be crystal ponies, most likely Masked Mare and even an alicorn. If it happens as I want it I will be able to get two rare samples on my visit.

So, ich will stop here now and continue my preparations. Till another time
Dr. Red Hoof.

Edit: Ok, Batman gibts bei mir nicht. Aber immerhin ähnelt die Protagonistin dem Herrn. (Was mir erst aufgefallen ist nachdem ich das Konzept so im Kopf hatte.)