"Congratulations, Power Ponies. You will have the honor of seeing my grand plan come to fruition!" the Mane-iac cackled as one of her tendrils loaded the Electro-orb into her machine, climbing up into the seat atop it, "Once my weapon is finished charging, this city will have no choice but to give in to my demands, and with you girls captured, there is nopony who will stop me!" the villain cackled her evil laugh and-
"Um, excuse me," Her attention was brought to the immobile Saddle Rager, "I hate to interrupt, but aren't you forgetting somepony?"
The Mane-iac broke into a fit of giggles, oh, if only these little 'heroes' knew...Well, why not, "You mean Hum-Drum? Little fellow? Cute? Trust me, there's no way in Tartarus he's getting you out of this."
"That's wha-" Matter-Horn was cut off for a moment by a din and the hiss of her hairspray. Coughing, the masked mare glared at the villain, "Buh-But Spi-er, Hum--Drum always comes through for us. Always!" She growled, her friends cheered their agreement.
Oh, this was just too much, Mane-iac could barely restrain herself, "Oh, really? I suppose he does, doesn't he? isn't it odd?" She asked rhetorically, "Every time you go against some other villain, he bungles and flails, but he helps you to victory, somehow, someway, but every time you girls face off against me, his bungling always ends in my favor, doesn't it?"
"Wha-What are you talking about?"
Oh, this was just so funny, "Honestly, Matter-horn, or would you prefer Professor String Theory, Physics lecturer of the Maretropolis Institute?" She took the confused look on the masked mare's face with great satisfaction, "Yes, I know all of your secret identities, the jeweler, the archeologist, the confectioner, the former athlete, even the timid little public gardens groundskeeper. But you, Matter-horn? I would have thought a smart cookie like you would have pieced something together a long time ago, that-"
"Ow-ooph-uh!" A rattling from the vents pulled all eyes to the ceiling, until a surprised looking Hum-Drum fell though a grate-
-And right into the lap of the Mane-iac. Spike looked wide eyed up at the villainous mare, close enough to smell the many flowery-fruity scents of her shampoos when she had a reaction he had absolutely no way of predicting.
The Mane-iac, one of the most dangerous and insane villains in Maretropolis, squealed, "Draky-poo!" like a high-school filly.
That gave Spike all of two seconds to remember Hum-Drum's secret identity (James 'Jimmy' Drake, who worked at the same sporting goods store that was owned by the retired hoofball star that would become Mistress Marevelous) before the Mane-iac's forelegs, and a couple of hair-tentacles, pulled him close into a kiss. If Spike thought the insane mare smelled fruity, the taste was something else. almost sweet to the point even Pinkie Pie would have a conniption.
Pulling back, leaving her beloved Hum-Drum with a dopey little smile, the villainous mare cooed, cradling him in her hair, "Oh, isn't he just so cute?" she looked into the shocked eyes of the Power Ponies, "Is it starting to come together girls? Hum-Drum has been secretly helping me."
The side of the roof opened, showing the well lit, bustling city of Maretropolis against the backdrop of the night sky, "Every legal recourse we took, every rally for change. every candidate we supported, every legal path we took on our righteous mission was foiled by the corrupt and bigoted upper class of this cursed city." The Mane-iac growled, raising her and her still kinda out of it beloved, "But now? Now they will have to listen to us! They will have to heed our demands!"
Her henchponies cheered as she continued her monologue, "These fools will be forced to abolish their species-ist marriage laws! They will be forced to see that love between two sentient beings is just as natural and beautiful as it is between two ponies, whether that pony wants to love a dragon-"
"Or a griffin!" A hench-pony cheered.
"Or a diamond dog," Another added.
"Or a minotaur!"
"Or a draconequus!" The cheering stopped as the apparently not so villainous villains looked in surprise towards Saddle Rager, who had been caught up in the moment and now would have bolted and hid at the sudden attention focused on her if she could move.
"Well, well," the Mane-iac chuckled, "It seems even heroes have their hidden sides."
By now, Spike had recovered enough brainpower the piece together his thoughts. This...kinda made sense, Spike had thought Hum-drum had been a bungling moron, somehow topping out with an IQ lower than a pair of Unicorn Colts back home, but that it was all an act? The fact that he messed up everything but still managed to help somehow?
Okay, he could think on this later, when he got out of the dang comic. So he had to play the part of Hum-Drum until the end? He could do that. It took him a second, but he remembered what he needed to.
"Iara," Spike spoke, getting the Mane-iac's, formerly Iara Undine, attention, "Let them out."
"Wuh, but Draky-poo."
"They'll help us," Spike assured her, "Now that they know, they'll help us out here," he looked at his friend with a pleading expression, "Right?"
Radiance 'humph'ed, "Of course, darling. Such a daring tale of forbidden love and fighting against the odds," If she could move, the melodramatic mare would have probably swooned and conjured a fainting couch, "Oh, it's all so romantic."
"I-it sounds nice," the still atomically blushing Saddle Rager added.
"As long as you get me the heck out of this stuff," Zap growled.
"As long as yer takin' care of the little feller, I suppose it's alright."
Matter-horn looked between her friend and supposed enemy before sighing, "I suppose this is a good cause."
That only left Fili-second, who had a strangely serious expression on her face, "I only have one condition, and one condition only for you, Mane-iac."
The madmare, somewhat disturbed by the look in the speedster's eyes, backed away slightly, "What?"
After a few moments, Fili-Second spoke, "I am catering your wedding."
Blinking for a moment, looking at Hum-Drum, who shrugged, the Mane-iac looked back, "Okay?"
In a pink blur, she and Hum-Drum were scooped up by the pink speedster into a tight hug, "Yaayy!"
"Wha?" The surprised and confused Mane-iac sputtered, "But, the hairspray-"
"Just go with it, Iara," Spike sighed, "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie."
(((((((((())))))))))
In the private library of the Castle of the Two Sisters, a comic book that had been laying still suddenly sputtered and spit out a screaming group of ponies plus one dragon.
"Well," Spike groaned, "That was a heck of a twist ending."
"But it was a lovely wedding, darling," Rarity smiled, "And you looked so dashing in your groom's tuxedo."
"And the reception was great!" Pinkie cheered, drooling a little, "Cakes and sweets as far as the eye could see."
"Eh, the bachelor party was better," Dash shrugged, playfully elbowing the groom, "I didn't even know you could bite into a keg, little guy."
"A keg!" Twilight gasped, "Spike, you said there wasn't any alcohol!"
"Um, excuse me," a timid voice whispered
"She told me it was root beer, Twilight." Spike defended, "And I didn't know the other drinks had alcohol until the next day."
"Um, girls?"
"Ease up, sugarcube, he don't look any worse for the wear."
"Yeah, egghead, I don't even think Big Mac handle booze as well as Spike."
"GIRLS!" Fluttershy finally got their attention, "We, uh, we have a problem." The group looked at the seventh pony in the room, scooched into a corner in confusion.
"Wha-what just happened? Where are we? Who are you?" The Mane-iac looked frantic, her hair ready to defend at a moment's notice.
Of one though, one mind and one word, the Equestria natives sighed, "Aw, crap."
Author's Note
Just a little one-shot I wrote to go with an idea I had in another forum-
"The Mane-iac isn't as crazy as folks think she is...Kinda...
She didn't just want to take over Maretropolis for the heck of it, she did it for a singular reason, to abolish the species-ist marriage laws that keep her from her beloved Humdrum! Her hench-ponies are in it just because they're all serious romantics at heart."
For the Mane-Iac's name, Iara (Or Yara) is a character from Brazillian mythology with green hair and is known for being beautiful.
I have no idea how to continue this, so I'll just leave it open ended, though if anyone wants to continue it, just PM me. Heck, I'd possibly even be up to a collaboration.
What do you think?
Edit: Wow, I got on the featured thing on the front page with this? Sweet.
