Trixie considered herself a very skilled magician, but even she couldn't make a displeased crowd disappear. A kid in the audience had been mocking her throughout the entire duration of her magic show, and when she finally had enough and snapped at him, telling him to shut up, the young boy started to cry. He wasn't really crying, Trixie could easily see that he was faking it, but did his parents cared about it? Not at all! They were too busy shouting profanities at her. It was uncalled for!

Well, Trixie may or may not have called him 'fatso' after telling him to shut up, but it was still uncalled for. It didn't take long for the rest of the audience to start yelling and throwing trash at her; it was too much for the teenager to bear, so she left the stage in tears and ran straight to the backstage room, where she locked herself in and cried for hours. Literally hours, because the owner of the theatre came knocking on the door, telling her that they would be closing soon.

She had been saving money for months, working like a slave on that dirty emporium owned by those shady Flim Flam Brothers, and now all the money she spent renting the theatre for the night went to waste and her debut show was a complete failure, all because of a mean-spirited brat who couldn't appreciate true art!

But she wouldn't let that keep her down, no siree! She took off her magician hat and cape and stuffed them in her backpack. Since she had already payed the rent in advance, she just left the theatre through the backdoor. It was already past 11 PM and the back alley was dark, but Trixie could still see the two men talking to each other in front of the alley, blocking the path - if they were doing that intentionally or not, she couldn't know for sure, but she wasn't taking any chances either, so she just stood there, hoping that they would leave soon.

That wasn't the case, because one of the men noticed her. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she knew that it couldn't be something good when one of them pointed a finger at her and started walking toward the girl. She tried to go back inside the theatre, but the owner had already locked the door. She was about to give up and see what the man wanted, but decided to redouble her efforts when the man pulled a switchblade from his pocket. She was now trying to kick the door down, but it was too sturdy to be overpowered by a frail high school girl.

She tried climbing the metal fence that blocked the path that led to the other exit of the back alley, but the man had already reached her by that time and grabbed her ankle, pulling her back down. She knew that it was a bad idea, but by the time she realized that, she was already screaming for help. The man pulled her up by the hair and slammed her face against the metal fence. He turned her around and pressed his switchblade to her neck.

"Do that again and I'll cut out your fucking tongue!" he said in an angry and very threatening tone. Trixie closed her eyes, already accepting her fate. That was already the worst night of her life, why not end it in the worst way possible?

Sunset Shimmer finished wearing her Maiden Do Well costume, which was much more simpler back then: a plain black hoodie to hide her very conspicuous hair, gloves for her to not leave fingerprints behind, a purple cloth wrapped around the upper half of her face with two holes for her eyes, a green surgical mask to hide the lower half of her face, brown workout pants for better mobility and slip resistant sneakers. She also had a white badge with a black "M" on it pinned to her chest; a symbol for the criminals to fear - which wasn't working very well, since they were usually too busy laughing at her ridiculous outfit.

She jumped out of the window of her apartment and started her nightly patrol around town. Canterlot Town, even though it was the biggest city of that state, it only had a population of around 300,000 so it wasn't hard to patrol a large area of it in a single night, especially for someone like her, who was originally a pony from the magical land of Equestria, meaning that she was not only fast enough to give professional athletes a run for their money, but she also had a good stamina to keep her going for a while, as well as a better hearing, vision and sense of smell.

Her muscles were also a little more developed than an average person, but that was thanks to the constant working out sessions she went through since she arrived in this strange world filled with hairless apes she eventually grew fond of. At first, she did it to understand that new body of hers, learning what she could and could not do with it, until she noticed that she really liked doing that! She now went to the academy three times a week, never missing a single day. It wasn't long until she started taking self-defense classes as well.

Those perks sure came in handy when she decided to become the new heroine of Canterlot Town, dubbed The Mysterious Maiden Do Well by its citizens. She hadn't thought of a name when she started pummeling criminals, and the fact that her badge had an "M" on it was purely coincidental. That "M" originally stood for "mare", a reminder of her true nature, but "Maiden Do Well" sounded really nice and she went with it.

Sunset Shimmer did not planned on turning into some kind of local superhero, it was all one big accident. Her new life started the same night they beat the Dazzlings during the Battle of the Bands. She was walking alone back home, since all her friends lived closer to Canterlot High than her, when she heard sirens. A man was running straight toward her while being chased by police cars, and she could see that he had a gun in hands. Her first thought was to jump out of the way and let the police do their job, but she had read enough comic books to know that letting the criminal escape always ended in tragedy.

She hid herself behind a street post and waited for the criminal to get closer. The moment he was about to run past her she moved her foot and tripped him. Without wasting a second, she straddled him and twisted his arm behind his back, making him let go of the gun. The policemen arrested him and, after giving a speech about how dangerous what she just did was, they thanked her and left.

That felt good, though. Really good! There were only two times in her life when she felt that helpful, and both happened in the same night! She smiled for days, but never told anyone what she had done, trying to avoid another scolding. Weeks later, she did it again. But this time she was already wearing her "superhero uniform", ready to make her new home a safer place. The Mysterious Maiden Do Well was born!

A scream for help brought her back to reality. It was a short one, but was enough for her to know the direction it came from. The moment she saw a man cornering a girl and pressing a knife to her throat, she knew she had to act quickly! She climbed down a pipe and immediately immobilized the man from behind, disarming him afterwards. She applied a rear naked choke and the man lost consciousness.

Of course, Sunset Shimmer was still new to this "local superhero" thing, so she was much more careless back then. She didn't noticed the second man approaching her from behind until the girl yelled:

"BEHIND YOU!"

The Maiden turned her head and saw a six feet tall man sneaking up on her - he had a gun and was pointing it at her. She tried to dodge, but while she was fast enough to not be fatally injured, she was still shot in the right shoulder. He was about to finish her off when the gun was knocked out of his hand by a flying backpack. Right after that, Trixie hit him in the face with a wooden board she found in a pile of trash nearby - probably leftovers from a play staged in that theatre. She kept hitting him until she was sure he wouldn't be getting up for a long time.

"Two is too much, but The Great and Powerful Trixie can handle one pile of walking trash." she said, then dropped the board on top of him.

Sunset Shimmer woke up the next morning. She expected to be in lots of pain, but she it didn't felt as bad as she expected. Once she was fully awake, she noticed three things: her shoulder was bandaged, that wasn't her bedroom and she wasn't wearing her Maiden Do Well outfit. She tried to get up and leave, but groaned in pain whe she did so - her shoulder was better, but not fully healed. A girl then appeared on the doorway; her skin was blue, her hair was white and her glare was intimidating.

"Don't you try to slip away after Trixie stayed up all night tending to your wound." she said.

"Tr-Trixie? What are you doing here? Ow..."

"Trixie couldn't just leave you there after you saved Trixie's life." she said.

"It was you last night? Sorry, I didn't even notice."

"Anyway, don't get up. You need to rest! You're lucky the bullet went all the way through, otherwise Trixie would have to take you to the hospital and your secret identity would be exposed."

"You... You didn't tell anyone?"

"Of course not! If the police finds out you're the Mysterious Maiden Do Well, do you think they would let you keep patrolling the city? Trixie can't let that happened! Because, if it wasn't for you, Trixie would..."

"I..." Sunset smiled. "Thank you, Trixie."

"D-Don't thank Trixie. She was just doing what she thought was best!" she crossed her arms, looked away and puffed her cheeks while blushing lightly.

Sunset giggled then looked at her tended wound. "You did a great job, Trixie! When did you learn to do that?"

"Trixie's mother is a nurse and Trixie's father is a doctor. They taught her many things!"

"Wow, Trixie, I had no idea you were from a family of medics."

"Trixie is not really into it, though. Trixie would choose the stage over a surgery room any day of the week!"

Sunset looked at the window. "By the way, what time is it?"

Trixie looked at her watch. "A quarter past ten."

She gasped. "School! We're super late, we have to--"

Sunset Shimmer tried to get up, but Trixie grabbed her good shoulder and forced her to lie down again.

"Stop! Moving! If your wound open, you will be sorry. You're injured, Trixie is sure they won't mind if you miss classes for a week or two."

"But I--"

"No buts! You're not leaving until Trixie is sure you're good enough to leave, understood?"

"What about your parents? What will they say if they see a wounded girl resting on your bed?"

"Trixie's parents aren't here. They travel a lot, visiting many countries in need of help."

"And what about the Maiden?"

Trixie didn't answered that question immediately. She closed her eyes, pondering for a second.

"Trixie will do it!"

"WHAT?!"

"Trixie isn't much of a fighter, but she has many tricks up her sleeves. Trixie will be fine!"

Sunset looked deep into Trixie's eyes. She had a look of determination. She sighed.

"If you come back injured, even if it's just a tiny scratch, I'm tying you up to the bedpost and going out there myself, understood?"

Trixie smiled and nodded.

In the next two weeks, Trixie busied herself with five tasks: going to school, taking care of Sunset Shimmer, teaching Sunset Shimmer what she had missed in school, patrolling Canterlot Town at night while wearing the Maiden Do Well outfit - she sure was glad she and Sunset had very similar measures - and one secret task she wouldn't reveal to Sunset Shimmer until she finished it.

"Are your eyes closed?" Trixie asked from the hallway.

"Yes, my eyes are closed." Sunset said while covering her eyes with her left arm. Her right shoulder was already better, but she still tried not to use it very often.

"Okay, you can look now." she said, her voice now coming from inside the bedroom.

Sunset moved her arm out of the way and gasped. "Tr-Trixie, that's--"

"Yes, Trixie knows. Trixie is ready for your compliments."

Trixie was wearing what would be later known as The Maiden's official outfit; everything was there, the boots, the gloves, the mask, the cape, the hat, the utility belt and even the customized buckle.

"How did you do that?"

She removed the hat and the mask. "What, did you thought Trixie bought her magician outfit in some old clothes store?"

"So, you're a magician, a healer, a capable Maiden Do Well placeholder and a seamstress? I am officially impressed!"

"Trixie is a girl of many talents! And, about that 'placeholder' part..." Trixie opened a drawer and pulled a second Maiden Do Well outfit, an exact copy of the one she was wearing.

"Two? Why do you need--"

"Trixie wants to help you!" she interrupted Sunset.

"You what?"

"You live a very dangerous life, Sunset Shimmer. A life that you can't live by yourself. You need someone backing you up, watching out for you! So, can Trix-- I mean, can I be that person?"

Sunset Shimmer looked at her eyes again. The look of determination hadn't diminished over those two weeks.

"Come here." she said.

Trixie approached her and sat on the bed. Sunset Shimmer grabbed the purple hat Trixie was still holding and placed it on Trixie's head.

"Welcome aboard, partner!"

Author's Notes:

15 upvotes in one day was what I needed to write the next chapter so soon. So much that this chapter is twice as long as I had planned.
Thank you so much for liking it, I'll do my best to make this the greatest MLP fanfic I ever wrote! In the distant future, my grandchildren will ask "Grandpa, what was your greatest accomplishment in life?" and my answer will be "I will never forget the day I shot down that alien spaceship in 2025! They had abducted dozens of earthlings, but I managed to save them all; one of them was a woman that several decades later you would start calling 'grandma'!"
...
Oh, but if they asked me "What was the greatest fanfiction you ever wrote?" I would totally send them a link to The Mysterious Maiden Do Well!