The Mysterious Mare Do Well

For the fictional character, see Mare Do Well.

The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Season №:	2
Season episode №:	8
Overall episode №:	34
Original airdate:	November 26, 2011
Written by:	Merriwether Williams
Storyboard:	Sabrina Alberghetti & Nicole Wang
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
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The Mysterious Mare Do Well is the eighth episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the thirty-fourth episode overall. In this episode, Rainbow Dash takes on a heroic persona when her acts of bravery garner positive attention, though she becomes jealous when a second hero appears and starts stealing the spotlight. "Mare Do Well" is a play on the term "ne'er-do-well," a person who is completely lacking in merit.

Production and airing

Rainbow Dash's old concept cutie mark appears on some hats and stickers worn by her fans and on Rainbow Dash herself at one point in the construction scene.

The Verizon FiOS synopsis for this episode refers to Rainbow Dash using masculine pronouns.^{​[​citation needed​]​}

Summary

Rainbow Dash saves the day

As if fawning over Trixie hadn't been enough for Snips and Snails.

At the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse, Scootaloo opens a meeting of the Rainbow Dash fan club by proposing that Rainbow be declared the most awesome pony in Ponyville. After a back-and-forth with Snips on an adequately ennobling adjective, they both agree to "super-ultra-extreme-awesomazing" as suggested anonymously by an eavesdropping Rainbow Dash.

Sometime later, while relaxing in the clouds, Rainbow Dash hears a cry for help coming from an old well and dives in to rescue a filly trapped at the bottom. She returns to the surface to find a crowd of cheering townsfolk, though she insists it was no big deal. Later, Rainbow overhears a baby crying from a runaway stroller careening towards a cliff and grabs it just in time, causing nearby ponies to break out in applause. The rest of the Mane Six look on as Rainbow poses for news cameras and draws her cutie mark lightning bolt in the sky above the admiring crowd.

"Call me silly, but I think this whole hero thing might be going to Rainbow Dash's head."

Rainbow gains the spotlight once more when she rescues a group of elderly ponies falling from a collapsed balcony. She revels in the attention of the cheering onlookers and encourages them when they start chanting her name. Later on at Sugarcube Corner, the rest of the Mane Six watch as Rainbow presents a self-aggrandizing reflection on her recent deeds to a crowd of fans and press ponies.

A new hero appears

"Please. I could have done that in ten seconds flat."

While signing autographs outside one day, Rainbow hears a cry for help and sees Cherry Berry plummeting to the ground in a ruptured hot air balloon. She takes off nonchalantly to save her, though before she reaches the balloon, a masked pony clad in a purple costume leaps from a nearby rooftop and pulls Cherry from the falling basket moments before it crashes. Caught in the now grounded balloon, Rainbow looks on as Mayor Mare names the new pony "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" and declares her the new hero of Ponyville to a gathering of impressed bystanders.

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!Rainbow Dash

Mare Do Well using her magic to repair the Ponyville Dam

A series of incidents follows wherein Mare Do Well outperforms Rainbow's rescue efforts thanks to a number of apparent abilities, including superior physical strength, prescience, unicorn magic, and flight. During a get-together at Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow becomes upset when her friends express admiration for the new hero and heads outside, vowing to demonstrate her superiority. When she fails to find any disasters to prevent, she begins injecting herself into mundane tasks around town, which only frustrates the townsfolk.

Feeling dejected, Rainbow retreats to a thundercloud and broods over the lack of attention. Scootaloo calls to her from the ground and invites her to a thank-you parade honoring Mare Do Well. Rainbow initially rejects the idea, but after a moment of realization, she flies off toward the parade.

Unmasking the Mysterious Mare Do Well

Mayor Mare welcomes a cheering crowd to the thank-you parade, but when Mare Do Well appears on stage, Rainbow flies up and tries to take off her mask. A chase ensues through the streets of Ponyville wherein Mare Do Well seems to appear and disappear around each corner, though Rainbow eventually catches her off-guard and pins her to the ground. She removes the mask and is shocked to see Pinkie Pie, though moments later, two more Mare Do Wells appear and reveal themselves to be Twilight Sparkle and Applejack.

Rainbow Dash writing her friendship report.

The rest of the Mane Six show up, and together they reveal how they coordinated to be Mare Do Well at different times. Rarity takes credit for the costumes, while Fluttershy explains she flew in disguise during one of the rescue incidents. When Rainbow asks why they did it, they explain that they wanted to show how a real hero doesn't rub her accomplishments in everyone's face. Rainbow acknowledges her earlier arrogant behavior and reflects how it's great to be really good at something, but it's important to act with grace and humility, including when others outshine you.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Snips: Rainbow Dash deserves better! I motion that we declare her the most stupendous pony!

Scootaloo: 'Stupendous'? Is that the best you've got? I motion that we declare her... wonderiffic!

Snips: Astonishing!

Scootaloo: Breathtaking!

Snips: Astounding!

Scootaloo: Bedazzling!

Rainbow Dash: What about super-ultra-extreme-awesomazing?

[ponies agreeing]

Rainbow Dash: [gasps] Oh no! There's something wrong with the baby! She's not cheering for everypony's favorite hero, Rainbow Dash!

Twilight Sparkle: Call me silly, but this whole hero thing might be going to Rainbow Dash's head.

Pinkie Pie: You may be right... silly.

Twilight Sparkle: Autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about.

Rainbow Dash: 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.

Pinkie Pie: [yelps] Spike's a ghost!

Pony: Holy turnips, that pony came outta nowhere!

Daisy: I've never seen such bravery in all my life!

Mayor Mare: 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'!

Rainbow Dash: Never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow–

Globe Trotter: Excuse me, do you think you could skip your catchphrase and just hurry up and save us?

Rainbow Dash: Ugh, fine.

Twilight Sparkle: Sounds like somepony's jealous.

Rainbow Dash: Who, me?

Spike: Rainbow Dash is jealous.

Rainbow Dash: Don't write that, Spike!

Spike: Correction: Rainbow Dash is very jealous.

Gallery

The Mysterious Mare Do Well image gallery

References

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Make Your Mark
Episode 1 Izzy Does It	Episode 2 Growing Pains	Episode 3 Portrait of a Princess	Episode 4 Ali-Conned
Episode 5 The Cutie Mark Mix-Up	Episode 6 The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over	Episode 7 Hoof Done It?	Episode 8 Have You Seen This Dragon?
Episode 9 Top Remodel	Episode 10 The Jinxie Games	Episode 11 Sunny Side Up	Episode 12 The Manesquerade Ball
Episode 13 A Little Horse	Episode 14 Missing the Mark	Episode 15 Cutie Blossom Bash	Episode 16 Family Trees Pt. 1
Episode 17 Family Trees Pt. 2	Episode 18 Father of the Bridlewood	Episode 19 Mane Smelody	Episode 20 Nightmare on Mane Street
Episode 21 The Isle of Scaly‎‎	Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1‎	Episode 23 Roots of All Evil Pt. 2