Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration

Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration
The cover art, as seen on deviantArt
Writer(s)	Mark Garg Von Herb
Date published	May 23, 2012
Words	348,326 (as of Chapter 35)
Status	Unfinished
Type/genre	Action Alternate universe
Featuring	Trixie Pinkie Pie Shining Armor
Part of	The Guardians Project
Based on	Batman Begins Watchmen My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Story link(s)
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Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration is a fan fiction novel written by Mark Garg Von Herb that is based on Mare-Do-Well from the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic television series. The story follows Trixie, Pinkie Pie, and Shining Armor in a dystopic future where Equestria has a technological boom but is falling apart from political and social degredation. 

Style

The story is written in present tense and focuses on Trixie, Pinkie Pie, and Shining Armor. It also relies on a series of dreams and flashbacks by the main characters to further their back-stories, and a majority of chapters give a small explanation of what is happening behind the scenes either through a quick, basic narrative explanation, news blurbs, or radio broadcasts by Vinyl Scratch.

Summary

0

The story starts off with a short introduction where a unicorn stallion named Eclipse dreams about someone breaking into his apartment to murder him. When he wakes up he lives out his final moments in misery knowing that someone is coming to kill him. Someone breaks in and the story cuts to a team of detectives -L. Roy Jerkins and Colt Kicker- and crime scene investigators going over his ransacked apartment. Eclipse was tossed out of his apartment window and Detective Jerkins believes it was a rival killing and wants to congratulate the person who killed Eclipse since he was the last of the Eclipse Mob. Detective Kicker, however, thinks there is more to the murder, even calling it "symbolic or something", and is worried that the one who killed Eclipse is just getting started.

Arc 1

Ten years after Eclipse's murder, Trixie finds herself in a town called Barnville, and was about to spend the night on the streets, but is taken in by a deformed pegasus stallion named Sunshine Cloud. He takes her to his place, which also serves a local restaurant, and she meets his sister, Scarlet Cloud. Trixie is quick to find out that Sunshine Cloud is not who he seems to be after being confronted by another stallion named Gray Muffin. Trixie tries to escape, but ultimately becomes a hostage when she is knocked unconscious from ingesting a type of fungus grown around the town called a "Healing Mushroom". She is almost raped by Sunshine but is saved by Gray Muffin. After Gray Muffin kills Sunshine he almost leaves Trixie behind, but she convinces him to let her come with him.

Gray Muffin tells Trixie that if she wants his help she'll have to find him, and after getting instructions on where to go, she quickly finds where Gray Muffin resides. Upon arrival, she is almost beaten to death by Gray Muffin's boss, Roar Shock, as a form of training, but Gray Muffin prevents that from happening. After being treated, she goes through a series of exercises, such as doing push-ups with tea kettles on her back or fighting blind folded. Her trainers are Gray Muffin, Roar Shock, and twin zebra brothers named Adanz and Wazza. Trixie becomes the victim of their often painful shenanigans.

Pinkie Pie's side of the story begins when she tries to sell Nurse Redheart a blender, but their conversation is cut short when one of Roar Shock's agents, a unicorn mare named Terra, visits. Terra tells Redheart that she needs to return to their base, known as the Citadel, to patch up Trixie. The whole time Pinkie Pie spies on them and finds out that Redheart is part of the League of Justice, which is a militant vigilante/terrorist organization that targets corrupt government officials and criminal empires. Using research she had gathered on the LoJ over the span of ten years, she figures out what the LoJ intends to assassinate the Mayor using Redheart, and she reluctantly lets Spike help her catch Redheart. When Redheart returns from healing Trixie, she is led to Pinkie Pie's ambush by Spike. Pinkie Pie is wearing the Mare-Do-Well costume when she ambushes the nurse. Redheart refuses to talk, vows that the League will kill the Mayor and then find and kill Mare-Do-Well, too. Redheart is handed over to the Local Guards for further questioning, but is killed in her cell by Terra soon after. 

Shining Armor's arc starts when he arrives at Ponyville the next day, tasked with protecting it from any attacks. Everything starts out okay as Twilight Sparkle helps set everything up for peak efficiency. Shining Armor, Twilight, and Spike have a short catch-up moment during their break. Pinkie Pie dons her Mare-Do-Well costume and alerts Shining Armor of her presence by using a slingshot to shoot a sticky ball with a note attached to it at his head. When Terra attacks, she uses an advanced weapon that fires electric bolts that could have it's strength and rate of fire modified. Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Shining Armor chase her down to a warehouse where she attempts to escape with some air support, but her support is shot down and she is forced to fight the three. She is believed to have died in the brawl, but kills Spike and cripples Shining Armor in the process. The event breaks Pinkie Pie's friendship with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity.

Trixie starts to hallucinate Sunshine and is tasked by Gray Muffin to kill Pinkie Pie after Roar Shock discovers who Mare-Do-Well is by interrogating Fluttershy and threatening to kill Big Mac if she didn't cooperate. Roar Shock blackmails Pinkie Pie into agreeing to a duel to the death with Trixie at a construction site. When Twilight finds out, she tries to get Pinkie Pie to reconsider and tries to fix their friendship, but Pinkie Pie forces Twilight to hide instead. When Roar Shock arrives with Trixie, Gray Muffin, Adanz and Wazza, Gray Muffin goes his own way and Trixie reluctantly agrees to fight Pinkie Pie. During the fight, Gray Muffin kills the Mayor and burns down the Town Hall. At the construction site, Trixie kicks Pinkie Pie off of the ledge, prompting Twilight to go into her super form to avenge her. Twilight turns into a fiery pony and Trixie, upon seeing Twilight, also goes into her super form, consisting of a storm cloud barrier, and the two fight each other with such ferocity that it levels half of Ponyville and leaves Trixie nearly dead.

Arc 2

When Trixie wakes up, she finds herself a prisoner of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau (EIB) at a prison called Singsong. She brought to the EIB Director, Brisk Wind, and Shining Armor. When Trixie refuses to give information about the League of Justice, Brisk Wind has her tortured with poisons created from the healing mushrooms, despite Shining Armor's objections. Trixie is kept in Singsong for over three weeks, and gets into numerous prison fights that result in her being locked up in solitary and forced to take powerful prescription drugs to combat her hallucinations and to keep her calm. She is taken out of prison and put in a rehabilitation program under the personal supervision of a mare named Minty Sprinkles, who claims to be Princess Celestia's "Candy Associate". Trixie is taken to Canterlot, briefly meets Lyra, and overhears a conversation where Bon Bon's life is threatened by a pair of griffins, named Winny and Grim, who work for Gilda.

Trixie and Minty spend the rest of the day visiting Celestia and getting Trixie an entry level position at Fancypants' company, Fancy Entertainment. But the visit with Celestia doesn't go well for Trixie, and Minty turns out to be Pinkie Pie in disguise and got permission from Celestia to train Trixie so she can stop the LoJ's next attack. During Trixie's imprisonment, the Royal Guards destroy the League of Justice's headquarters, but Shining Armor and Brisk Wind realize that Roar Shock is alive and agree to help each other to capture him. However, Shining Armor used that cooperation tactic as a ploy to get closer to information that would help him in his investigation into the EIB. Later on, Pinkie Pie retrieves a package she mailed to Octavia before she faked her death while retaining her disguise.

When Trixie finally gets the chance to do so, she leaves Pinkie Pie behind in their apartment, dressed in cheap sheets, and tries to save Bon Bon. However, despite her best efforts, she was too late. Pinkie Pie had also trailed Trixie and after confronting her in Bon Bon's store, she drags her back to the apartment, furious about her carelessness. There Trixie has another encounter with Sunshine and starts on her road to her addiction.

The next day, Trixie begins her new job and faces a lot of hostility from her supervisor, and the pony they were helping,a zebra-unicorn named Monte Fountain; but he calls himself "The Magnificent Monte Fountain", thus leading Trixie to believe he ripped off her stage name and look. Monte tries to convince Trixie that she should work for him. He fails miserably and throws a tantrum because of it. Later, Monte is asked by Octavia to relay a message to Gilda, offering to pay her to bring her Minty and Trixie so she can kill them herself for killing Pinkie Pie. It is then revealed that Gilda is being blackmailed into working as the EIB muscle when Brisk Wind's top agent, Lock N. Key, orders Gilda to scare witnesses against the EIB into not testifying, and in return he will take care of "the Vigilante". Pinkie Pie also meets up with an ibex named Ink Well, an associate of Iron Will, and they talk about a business deal regarding an advanced Mare-Do-Well suit. Pinkie Pie tells him that she can easily get the money to build the suit. After she ends the conversation she runs into Rainbow Dash, but leaves before they can have a conversation, but Rainbow Dash recognizes Pinkie Pie. As for Shining Armor, after a hard day at work he gets a surprise visit from Twilight and she explains to him that the EIB is building a hub in Ponyville, as well as a hub for its sister agency, the Civilian Defense Agency (CDA). He also finds out that Applejack started a massive wave of protests against the Equestrian government when they seized control of her farm, and that there was almost a clash between the Royal Guards and locals in Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie gains more information about Gilda and why she killed Bon Bon by interrogating a captured griffin. Trixie goes out on another patrol and confronts a gang of mares harassing Pipsqueak. Trixie beats them and leaves them for the Night Guards, but was horribly injured in the process and is force fed a healing mushroom, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. During her rest it is revealed through a dream by a reoccurring character named Custos that Roar Shock murdered her father. The dream terrifies her, and when she wakes up screaming, Pinkie Pie comes to her aide and Trixie condemns her for using the mushrooms. She also has an anxiety attack, enforcing her addiction to the pills, and after she takes her pills, she experiences pure happiness, discovers an armored costume made by Pinkie Pie that looks a lot like the Mare-Do-Well costume, and challenges Pinkie Pie to a wrestle match to test the armor. The wrestle prompts Pinkie Pie to remember a conversation she had with Applejack about Mare-Do-Well many years ago and starts to doubt that Mare-Do-Well can be used as a symbol of heroism.

At the Pre-Gala, Shining Armor is subjected to a stressful interview with a reporter named Quill Pen and confronts Brisk Wind about her giving him ruined files. Rarity is also at the party with Twilight, Cadence and Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow Dash leaves after having an argument with her friends about Pinkie Pie. Shining Armor gets drunk and cusses out Brisk Wind.

A couple of days later, Trixie finds out from Lock that the League of Justice is dead when he interrogates her about her vigilantism. Trixie has a mental breakdown as she was overwhelmed with grief, and Sunshine makes another appearance to Trixie, almost causing her to attempt overdose on her pills. Pinkie Pie is able to prevent that from happening and manages to calm Trixie down. Rainbow Dash is interviewed by Shining Armor for a secret government project called the "Chrysaor Program", and when she leaves his office, she confronts Pinkie Pie, but it ends in tears as Pinkie Pie denies everything, from her name to knowing Rainbow Dash. Trixie agrees to be Shining Armor's witness and to testify against the EIB. Pinkie Pie is summoned by Celestia and she forces Pinkie Pie to tell her friends of her survival within two days, lest she wants to see Trixie imprisoned. Brisk Wind and Lock also find Ink Well and kill him when he calls Brisk Wind a terrorist during a crude interrogation about the Mare-Do-Well suit.

A day later, Applejack goes missing and Pinkie Pie and Trixie have an argument where Trixie accuses Pinkie Pie of manipulating her for her own amusement. Then the griffins and EIB do a joint strike on the apartment that is led by Lock. When Trixie and Pinkie Pie try to fight their way out, Pinkie Pie snaps and her alter ego, Pinkamena, surfaces and she brutally beats down an entire hallway of EIB agents and griffins. It is at that time that Trixie realizes that Minty Sprinkles is actually Pinkie Pie, and when she tries to talk some sense into her, Lock interferes. Pinkie Pie confronts Lock, giving Trixie some time to flee, but Pinkie Pie is knocked out by Lock and he catches up to Trixie. A short, brutal fight ensues and Trixie barely escapes with her life and flees to Vinyl Scratch's radio station/home for safety.

Pinkie Pie wakes up in a warehouse, surrounded by griffins and hanging from a ceiling, wrapped in a chain cocoon. She finds out that Octavia mistook her for being one of those responsible for Pinkie Pie's death. Pinkie Pie tries to explain that she is not Minty but Pinkie, but Octavia doesn't listen and nearly beats her to death with a metal bar. She is only stopped because of Winny and Lock's interference. Winny is disgusted by Octavia's brutality and Lock wants Pinkie Pie alive long enough to figure out who she is, also not realizing that Minty is Pinkie. When Lock finds out, using a mind reading spell, he tries to stop the execution, but Rainbow Dash attacks before he can do anything. While Rainbow Dash fights the griffins and agents, Pinkie Pie breaks free as Pinkamena, cripples Winny, and kills Lock. She is then shot by Octavia. When Octavia realizes that she shot Pinkie, she tries to stop the bleeding but is beaten to death by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash escapes with Pinkie Pie and Pinkie Pie blacks out from blood loss. When Winny wakes up, she tries to warn Gilda about what happened, but is confronted by Lyra and other League of Justice ponies. Lyra executes Winny and the other LoJ ponies make sure there are no survivors in the warehouse. Lyra is congratulated by one of the zebra twins and is told that Roar Shock would be proud of her.

News of the warehouse incident reaches Brisk Wind, and she convinces herself that it is all Rainbow Dash's fault. Gilda contacts Brisk Wind to tell her that their "partnership" is over, and the two declare war on one another. Pinkie Pie is visited in the hospital by both, Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash. Shining Armor is told that Pinkie Pie is in a coma and that if she does not recover within a set amount of time, they will have no choice but to pull the plug on her. Shining Armor visits the room of a soldier stationed near Ponyville at Fort Macintosh, which had been acting as a warehouse for the region's emergency supplies. The soldier retells the event of when the fort was attack by a bullet-proof foe with a sword for a tail. Inventory taken after the battle reveals that all of the healing mushrooms were taken from the fort. Shining Armor tries to warn Princess Celestia about what had happened, however, she secluded herself in the throne room and refused to see anyone. Shining Armor takes his report to Princess Luna instead, and she tells him that the mushrooms were of her own creation, and that if they expire they act as a deadly poison. Shining Armor also realizes the situation is worse than he initially thought when Luna tells him that the amount of mushrooms stolen is enough to poison all of Canterlot twice, and that somepony can easily do so by grinding them into the water supply. After that, Luna begins to mope about how Shining should just accept that Equestria will fall.

Trixie wakes up in Vinyl's radio station/apartment. Vinyl had tended her wounds for nothing in return. Trixie explains what had happened at the apartment and that Minty was actually Pinkie Pie. Trixie then vows to take down Lock and the griffins, possibly Brisk Wind as well. She decides to leave immediately, fueled only by pain-killers, and plans to attack the griffin mobsters first.

Pinkie Pie, still in her coma, walks through a dreamscape that takes her to her childhood home. There she finds Spike waiting for her, and they have a small conversation about how the other Mane Six are doing. Spike tries to convince Pinkie Pie that she shouldn't blame herself for his actions, but realizes that Pinkie Pie's depression is more severe than he originally thought and that she believes that the deaths of her mother, Spike, and Octavia are all her fault. She then begs for forgiveness, in which Spike tells her that she already has been forgiven.

Shining Armor gets drunk at his home, believing that he had been abandoned by Celestia and Luna to fight the threats of Equestria alone. When Cadence tries to make him feel better, they get into a small argument and Shining Armor confesses his role in Trixie's torture. The news hits Cadence hard and she locks herself in their room, leaving Shining Armor alone in the living room.

Meanwhile, Brisk Wind amasses a large task force of EIB agents, heavily armed and armored, and leads them to the griffin enclave with a zeppelin. Gilda, Monte, and the other griffins prepare for the EIB assault, and Gilda calls a personal vendetta against Brisk Wind and labels the other agents as "fair game". During the fight, Trixie fights griffins and EIB agents, and nearly dies when Gilda destroys the zeppelin, which crashes through the wall where Trixie was. Trixie then meets Lyra, and she treats her of all of her injuries. Lyra informs Trixie that Adanz will provide aid to her since both of them are after Gilda. However, when they are heading towards the loft, Trixie has another encounter with Sunshine, and he warns her that Adanz will try to kill her. When Lyra and Trixie reach Gilda's loft, they find Monte messing with Gilda's safe, and when Trixie tries interrogating him, Adanz walks in. At first Trixie is excited to see Adanz, but when she finds out that he already knew who she was and that he was there to kill her, it becomes a fight for survival. Trixie is able to hold off Adanz with the help of Monte, but then Adanz brainwashes Monte into turning against Trixie. Trixie tries to reason with Adanz, but he doesn't listen and forces both, her and Monte, over the edge of the balcony. While they fall to their supposed death, Trixie's costume's cape turns out to be a memory fabric cape that Pinkie Pie installed, and she is able to save Monte before being knocked out from a crash landing.

During the whole fight between Trixie and Adanz, Gilda and Brisk Wind have a confrontation of their own. Despite her injuries, Gilda is still able to severely injure Brisk Wind, and Brisk Wind is saved when her second in command, Andromeda, leads a team of EIB agents that gun down Gilda. After getting the bare minimum treatment, Brisk Wind leaves for Gilda's loft and find out that all of the files have been replaced by a single note written by Monte that mocks her for being slow.

Rainbow Dash has also been imprisoned, faces court martial, and Soarin breaks up with her because her actions threatened everything he built his life around.

Arc 3

Pinkie Pie is still in her dreamscape, and tells Spike that she had used Trixie to carry out her fight, and that she is loosing control of Pinkamena. She also tells Spike that last time her family tried to stop Pinkamena it cost them a fortune and her mother hung herself so her life insurance can pay for the procedure. Pinkie Pie later has a vision inside her dream of Canterlot in flames, and the Royal Palace crumbling. Around her, she sees the Elements of Harmony broken and Celestia's armor damaged and Mare-Do-Well's cape tattered. The robot pony that attacked Fort MacIntosh makes an appearance and aims his charging cannon Pinkie Pie.

It cuts to Trixie waking up in Fancypants' place. At first she doesn't know where she is, but she does find out after finding Monte and being stopped from injuring him by Fancypants. Fancypants informs Trixie that Monte carried her to his place, and he destroyed her costume in an attempt to protect her. She locks herself in the bathroom and  realizes that the League of Justice had always known about her activities and that they had carefully planned the hit on her and Gilda. She has a small conversation with Sunshine, and he tells her about making a hit list, and she also steals some of Fancypants' pain pills. Trixie tries to leave, but is stopped by Fancypants and he tries to figure out why Trixie tried to play hero. Fancypants begs Trixie to retire for her own sake, but she refuses, which prompts Fancypants to leave out of aggravation and for Monte to tell her about what happened when she was knocked out. However, she does find out that Pinkie Pie survived and wants to visit her so she can "beat the crap out of her for lying". Monte then informs Trixie that Gilda has a lot of dirt on Brisk Wind, locked safely away in a bank in a country called Bernese. He also tells her that he'll need her help since Brisk Wind found out about it via the joke-note he left in the safe, which was written on a receipt from the place. Monte offers that they pose as a married couple, and Trixie reacts violently. Fancypants finds out about Monte's plan and when Trixie tries to leave, he grounds her. 

Vinyl Scratch informs the public that the Royal Government is doing massive crackdowns on anti-government protests, and is even specifically targeting members of a group called the Lunar Society.

Shining Armor gets a college yearbook from a mysterious pony named Adagio D. Minor. The yearbook reveals that Brisk Wind, Lock, Major Fuller, and Quill Pen are all college friends from the same graduating class. He uses the expertise of a mare named Case Study to figure out who Adagio D. Minor is, and he asks L. Roy to pick up Quill Pen. Shining Armor also recruits Rainbow Dash to spy on Major Fuller so he can get as much inside information as possible before he is replaced by Twilight Sparkle as head of Research and Development.

Trixie dreams of the time she was at a soup kitchen, and rejected help from the local church and a priestess whom she had a history with, named Glory. Glory tries to convince Trixie to let her help, but Trixie turns her down, claiming to be her own salvation and she leaves Glory behind. Trixie is then confronted by Custos, and he takes her to a diner, where he buys her a warm, more filling meal. Custos tries to tell her that she needs friends if she wants to survive the trails ahead of her, but she tries to rebuke him every step of the way. Custos tells Trixie that she needs to learn to forgive others, and that in failing to do so could cost her dearly.When she wakes up, Monte had already planned a trip to Bernese with her, and she agrees to go. Fancypants tries to stop Trixie from going, but is knocked out by Monte. 

After checking out a reserved hotel room in Bernese, Monte takes Trixie to the bank where Gilda's safety deposit box is located. Monte forgets the password and a confrontation with the banker and guards leads to them being expelled into an alley. Trixie and Monte separate after having a heated argument about the situation and when Trixie returns to the hotel room, she is drunk and taking pills. The effects lead to her becoming hyper and Monte tries to calm her down, but she only stops after having to puke in the bathroom. Monte teases her for herself induced misfortune and she tackles him to the ground. The next day she finds out that she and Monte had sex and he tries to explain that she started it, but that only leads to him getting kicked out of the room. Trixie has an episode with Sunshine and when the guards investigate, she finds out that they were paid off by the EIB and that Monte was kidnapped by Andromeda. She fights her way out of the hotel and confronts Andromeda in the bank parking lot, where Scarlet arrives and invokes a shootout. Trixie narrowly survives and gives chase on a motorcycle and goes into her super form to catch up and destroy the convoy. However, she is gravely injured when her motorcycle is destroyed and saved by Shining Armor when he makes Scarlet crach. Scarlet bleeds to death from her injuries and Shining Armor tries to escape the city with Trixie, Colt and L. Roy. After a brutal chase, their vehicle is destroyed and they are captured.

A team of guards also respond to an attack on Iron Will's house and find Terra dead from a throat injury and Pinkie Pie huddled in a corner talking to herself.

Shining Armor is interrogated by a hardened Inspector Shekel Gruber, and he explains how he and his friends got to Bernese. Shekel also interrogates Trixie and she explains why she became a vigilante and when he interrogates Pinkie Pie at the request of his boss, she tells him how she got to Bernese and after provoking an episode he is forced to leave by the doctors. 

Later on, Trixie is met by Gray Muffin and he explains how he pities her and blames himself for her state, and after he leaves, Sunshine arrives and congratulates her and tries to rape her again. She wakes up, still in the hospital, and when the doctor checks up on her, she attacks him and the guards and escapes the hospital before Shekel returns. She disguises herself as a Saddle Arabian and steals a basket full of pain killers and mint gum, and escapes into an abandoned building. There, she pulls off her horncuff and passes out.

When she wakes up, she is in the care of Fluttershy, Fancy Pants and Iron Will. Fancy Pants confesses that he had a history with her father and was tasked with watching over when. He gives Trixie an apology letter written by her father and after he leaves, Trixie tries to speak with Custos but fails. She later finds out that Pinkie Pie has been moved to a high security guard station and uses the sheets from her bed to make a costume using a beginner's guide to sewing instruction book. She leaves without anyone knowing, but when Fancy Pants find out he gives chase with the help of Iron Will and Fluttershy.

The League of Justice attack the guard station with an airship when Trixie arrives. She narrowly survives the airship after beating a group of League of Justice ponies, and the airship is destroyed by Shekel. Shekel turns out to be a telekinetic and was trying to keep his gift a secret, but had no choice but to use it against the ship. He is nearly killed by Adanz soon after. Adanz goes after Trixie and the two have a short, but brutal fight that ends with Shekel gunning down Adanz and leaving him to bleed to death. Shekel tries to arrest Trixie, too, but collapses from his injuries. He is reluctant to let her go when she treats him using a syringe of healing medicine. When Trixie is about to leave, Roar Shock arrives. Driven by rage, Trixie beats him down quickly, but after a small argument with Shekel, they find out that Roar Shock was only toying with them. He attacks Trixie and Shekel quickly and ferociously and leaves Shekel crippled and Trixie literally at his mercy. He is only stopped when Pinkie Pie arrives as Pinkamena and challenges him to a fight. During the fight, Pinkie Pie is stuck in her dreamscape and Spike finds out that Pinkie Pie's antics and desires to have been friends have been caused by a rejection due to her illness. Pinkie Pie believes that Pinkamena had finally won and has complete control of her. Meanwhile, Trixie musters the strength to assist Pinkamena in attacking Roar Shock, during which Pinkamena had been taunting the terrorist leader about how much fun she had killing his daughter. The fight leads them to falling out the window and dropping in a river. Pinkie Pie nearly drowns, but is saved by Fluttershy, and Trixie and Roar Shock almost drown as well. They are able to get to shore where Trixie nearly beats him to death with Sunshine watching, but when she is stopped by Fancy Pants and breaks down in tears, begging Fancy Pants to not let her become like Roar Shock, Sunshine leaves, disappointed that she didn't finish the job. 

During the attack at the base, the Robot Pony attacks the prison where Shining Armor is kept at and unleashes all the prisoners. There is a prison riot led by prisoners waving cheap flags with gold stars painted on them and the guards, desperate to regain control, start gunning down the prisoners. Specifically the ones with the gold stars. The Robot Pony attacks Shining Armor, L. Roy and Colt, but lets L. Roy and Colt go and tries to kill Shining Armor. He is saved by Lyra and she convinces the machine to let him live. The Robot Pony leaves with Lyra in its hooves and Shining Armor tries to catch up with his friends, however, he is shot in the leg and beaten unconscious. 

Due to the recent events surrounding Shining Armor and with advice from Fuller, Princess Celestia makes Soarin the new Captain of the Royal Guard, and Twilight and Fuller appear to have formed a bond. Rainbow Dash warns Spitfire that Soarin can't handle the responsibility, and her worries become more justified when Soarin gives a fiery speech and vows to restore Equestria to her former glory by whatever means necessary. After the speech, Rainbow Dash tries to warn Twilight that Fuller is dangerous, but she doesn't listen and Rainbow Dash leaves angry. Thunderlane tries comforting her later, but is interrupted by Soarin, who is already letting the power get to his head, and invites Rainbow Dash to his celebration party. She declines and tells him that she is going on a date with Thunderlane, making Soarin leave in frustration. Rainbow Dash later goes to Monte's Casino in search of Fuller and he traps her in a bathroom after she is caught by Soarin and brought to tears with another argument. 

Characters

Trixie Lulamoon

One of the main characters of the story. She takes on the role of Mare-Do-Well to fight crime and corruption, but has to deal with intense psychological problems and her addiction to prescription drugs.

Pinkie Pie

Another main character of the story. She befriends Trixie after renouncing her role as Mare-Do-Well; although she does do some investigation, she lets Trixie do most of the work.

Shining Armor

Another main character of Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration. He tries to bring down the EIB for their heinous acts against their prisoners and ponies in general.

Roar Shock

A pegasus stallion that leads a terrorist organization called the League of Justice; he has a very warped opinion on justice, believing that it must be taken to an absolute level. 

Gray Muffin

An earth pony stallion, Roar Shock's lieutenant and trainer of League of Justice recruits; like his boss, he has a cynical view of society, but unlike his boss, his deeds weigh heavy on him.

Brisk Wind

A pegasus mare leading the Equestrian Investigation Bureau and is being investigated by Shining Armor. She believes herself to be a guardian of Harmony and is working to establish what she calls "Perfect Harmony".

Lock N. Key

Brisk Wind's go-to pony. He is a unicorn stallion that is quick to carry out Brisk Wind's orders that has mind reading abilities that he rarely uses, preferring to read body language instead.

Vinyl Scratch/DJ-Pon3

Canterlot's most famous disc jockey. Her radio station plays the best music and keeps the public informed of what's happening in Equestria better than the major news networks.

Sunshine Cloud

A red eyed, black specter in the form of a disfigured pegasus stallion that makes his presence known to Trixie every chance he gets. He frequently encourages Trixie to kill others in the name of self preservation and compares her to a murderer for her actions.

Custos

A faceless, shadowy unicorn stallion that appears in Trixie's dreams to show her pieces of her past. He acts as a benevolent guide, although his lack of features does annoy Trixie.

Monte Fountain

A unicorn-zebra stallion magician that works for Gilda. He takes Trixie to Bernese to be his bodyguard when he goes to retrieve a safety deposit box that has very damaging evidence against Brisk Wind.

Gilda Grizelda

One of Equestria's major crime lords, and an unwilling servant of the EIB. She acted as the EIB's muscle until she was betrayed.

The Painter

A mysterious stallion wearing a full body painter suit. He framed Shining Armor for the murder of Quill Pen and gave up Brisk Wind to Gilda. He is very quiet, calculating and ruthless in keeping his plans uncompromised. 

Gallery

The picture that inspired Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration

The Director of the Equestrian Investigation Bureau

The Equestrian Investigation Bureau is always watching. Always.

Symbols do not die.

Reception

Mare-Do-Well: Regeneration has received praise for its darker interpretation of the Mare-Do-Well concept, and how it boldly takes on subjects not normally seen within fan fiction. As of September 22, 2012, the FIMFiction.net rating system has given it a 90% approval rating with 200 comments and it has been featured in four groups (The Sci-Fi Ponies, The Writer's Group , Dark and Struggling Authors). It currently holds #17 as most popular Mare-Do-Well story on FIMFiction.net. The reception it received by readers has been overwhelmingly positive. FIMFiction.net users Darkbladex96 and Hashmark111 praised it for its "Good, solid dark hero writing" and its "interesting take on the Mare-Do-Well concept". Another FIMFiction.net user by the name of Crimson Dawn has applauded the story for its blend of character growth and brutality while Bronyman1995 has found it hard to describe how much he liked the story, so he uses gif bombs to proclaim his love for it.

However, despite the praise it is receiving from audiences on FIMFiction, it was not well received by the Equestria Daily pre-readers. It had been accused by the EQD pre-readers for being unimaginative and lifting names of famous characters and quotes (most notably Roar Shock and modified Batman Begins quote seen in the beginning). They also criticized it for its present tense format, in which the author provided a response to the said accusations.

External link

• The fic's statistics