Looking Into the Abyss of Insanity
It started with the doors breaking down.
Mane-iac quietly sighed and used one of her mane tendrils to take a beaker of red liquid off of the shelf in front of her. She dipped a dropper into the beaker and sucked up three drops of the fluid and dripped it slowly into a small vial of green liquid. The addition of the red caused a small puff of smoke to emit from her concoction. Mane-iac heard Zapp yell something, and one of her henchponies cry out in pain, just like last time.
All according to schedule.
Zapp would use her storm powers to electrocute any perceived enemies she laid eyes on, or maybe to cut the power. Filli-Second would zip around and take away whatever crazy weapon she had designed this time, allowing Mistress Mare-velous, Radiance, and Masked Matter-Horn to capture and secure whoever remained standing. Hum Drum would knock over something that looked important but really wasn't, and Saddle Rager would wait in the background. Most times, she didn't even need to get angry.
And then they would come for her. Just like they always had, and just like they always would. The settings would vary, the schemes would differ, but there was never a question about the outcome. Even when it seemed all was lost and she had won, Mistress Mare-velous would take out a hidden hooferang and hit the self-destruct button on her latest invention with impeccable aim.
Or Masked Matter-Horn would fire a laser beam that cut it in half.
Or Radiance would think of an attack construct that crushed it into a ball.
Or Saddle Rager would get angry.
And in the end, nothing would be different. Nothing would change, but the ponies of Maretropolis would have their heroes.
She heard it now: the signal that the Power Ponies had won... again. Mane-iac subtly nodded and sniffed her brew. It smelled like daisies and fish oil. It smelled of perfection, just like the last countless times she had made it. In an odd way, it was her only invention that she could take real pride in. Not that the Power Ponies would ever figure out what it did, of course. She would not gloat about this creation.
Mane-iac leaned her head against her forehoof and ordered her mane tendrils to cap and store all of the supplies needed for the brew. The Power Ponies would be there any moment, and she wanted to be completely ready. She shut the last cabinet and screwed the cap onto the fragile glass vial just as the sound of a horn being fired up came from the other side of the door. The doors flew off of their hinges, one of them narrowly missing her where she sat. Mane-iac heard the Power Ponies rush into the room, and she didn't need to look to see that they had struck an epic pose of some sort.
"Mane-iac! We've come to put a stop to your evil schemes, once and for all!" The Masked Matter-Horn cried.
"Your nefarious scheme won't work this time!" Radiance growled. "You won't threaten the good citizens of Maretropolis anymore after tonight!"
And ponies thought her laughter to be cliché.
Mane-iac gently poked at the vial, but otherwise didn't move. Normally, by this point, she was laughing and loudly disagreeing with their assertions that they had any hope against her, but tonight...
She just couldn't care.
Silence continued to reign in the office for a good few minutes, and Mane-iac could feel the stares of the Power Ponies, waiting for her to make the first move, but still she sat. She didn't even bother to put on the usual show of making her mane writhe and wriggle, instead letting it lay limp around her.
"Uh..." Zapp glanced over at Filli-Second. "Did we already win or something?"
"Maybe she's playing possum and is waiting for us to lower our guard?" Filli-Second muttered.
Mane-iac let out a noise that was a cross between a laugh and a sob, and for the first time, she turned her chair to look at her foes. All of them stood behind her, regarding her with curious expressions. Filli-Second had cocked her head, and the uncertainty in her eyes seemed to Mane-iac to be almost foal-like. Mane-iac stared at them for a few moments, her shining eyes unblinking, before finally croaking out a paltry few words.
"Do you know how much I have sacrificed for this city?"
The words hung in the air, seemingly creating a sort of barrier between the two sides. The curious expressions of the Power Ponies morphed into full blown bafflement and incredulity. The Masked Matter-Horn broke the silence with a scoff.
"How much you've sacrificed for this city?" The Masked Matter-Horn's eyes narrowed and her wings flared. "All you do is set out to destroy it! You hurt innocent ponies! How is that sacrificing anything for anypony?"
Mane-iac blinked once, but otherwise continued her even stare at the Power Ponies. "I know it does not seem as such to you, but... I love Maretropolis. I daresay I love it more than anything. I couldn't have asked for a better place to grow up." Mane-iac turned her head and looked out of a small, dirty window that gave her a view of the streets below. "Such a happy filly, I was. So very happy."
Before any of the Power Ponies could react, Mane-iac shot to her hooves with such force that she left a small crack on the wood floor below her.
"But Maretropolis was not a paradise, was it? It was a wart on the face of our nation way back then. Some say that I make it so now, but they don't know what they're talking about."
"You're a villain; that's what they're talking about!" Zapp roared. "And it's our job to make sure that you don't cause harm to anypony ever again!"
For the first time, a wide smile split Mane-iac's face, yet it did not match the insane grin that the Power Ponies had found commonplace with their foe. Rather it was one of true elation.
"Yes! Yes, indeed; you are correct! That is your job, and you do it quite well, but therein lies the rub." Mane-iac slithered towards Zapp on her mane tendrils, stopping just short of being snout-to-snout with her. "You want to stop me, and I am in full support of the notion, but what would you do without me? In the first eighteen months of your, dare I say, reign over the city, you cleaned the streets of petty criminals, mob ponies, confidence mares, and the like. You made it so that the fair ponies of this city didn't even feel the need to lock their doors at night." Mane-iac tilted her head in an affirming nod towards Zapp. "And for that, I commend you."
Mane-iac smirked at Zapp's baffled expression, but slithered back to her chair. It would be time soon. Time to repeat the process all over again. For now, though, she could relish in her confession. Relish in the bewilderment of the ponies who had defeated her so many times.
"So... I'm confused." Mane-iac glanced over to Radiance, whose mouth had curved down slightly. "You are our enemy, but yet you have just said that you support the fact that we defeat you and make Maretropolis safe for everypony."
Mane-iac nodded. "Indeed I do." She chuckled quietly and motioned a hoof towards the window. "Have you ever observed them? I mean really observed them, particularly in the context of us? After you cleaned the streets, the city was peaceful for six months before I showed up, correct?"
"Er..." Radiance exchanged a look with Saddle Rager. "Yes, I suppose that is true. What's your point?"
"What did you do during that time period? What did you do that made you feel like you were worth something, that made you really feel like you were helping those ponies?"
"Er..." Radiance's head dipped and her ears flattened. "Well, I suppose we..."
"You did nothing!" Mane-iac screeched. "And in doing nothing you meant nothing to those ponies! At your best, you are all symbols of everything that they strive to be! You're strong, virtuous, intelligent, harmonious, and on the side of good." Mane-iac leaned back in her chair and crossed her forelegs. "Meanwhile, I am cunning, manipulative, insane, chaotic, all around evil, and remind those ponies of everything that they do not want to be, correct?"
The Power Ponies merely looked amongst each other, none of them quite sure how to respond. Mane-iac groaned and facehooved. "During that hiatus before I rose to 'power,' you became meaningless, and so too did the virtues you extolled in the minds of the ponies you protected. I knew what you meant to the ponies in your heyday, so I knew what had to be done." Mane-iac smiled and began stroking one of her mane tendrils. "I've always been quite the inventor. Did you know that? I'd imagine so. You stop my latest inventions on at least a bi-weekly basis. So, knowing how little you mattered, but also knowing how much you and what you represent could matter, I resolved to give you reason again. I knew that I couldn't do it in my current state, so I concocted a potion that would turn me the way that I am." Mane-iac gave a single giggle, one that for the first time held a hint of the insanity that the Power Ponies were used to hearing from her. She opened up a folder on her desk and took out a formula for her most closely guarded secret: the brew that had turned her into the twisted ruin they saw her as. "I didn't fall into anything. I jumped."
The Power Ponies' eyes widened in unison, and they all gasped. "You did this to yourself on purpose?" Saddle Rager cried. "Why would you do that?"
Mistress Mare-velous' eyes narrowed into a glare, and she pawed at the ground. "Because she's insane. She's a villain who needs to be stopped!"
"I agree on your second point, but I assure you that I am as sane and lucid now as I was on the day that I jumped in." Mane-iac turned her gaze to Saddle Rager. "As for why, haven't you been listening to me? I wanted to give you purpose and meaning, for if I gave you purpose and meaning, then you in turn could give the ponies of Maretropolis purpose and meaning. Every time we battle, it is plastered across the front page! Good triumphs over evil yet again! And every time ponies read that, they are given hope. Hope that the virtues that they work so hard to maintain can actually mean something. Hope that no matter how bleak things look, goodness and harmony will always win in the end."
Mane-iac's smirk returned and she motioned over to one of her failed battle plans. "Why do you think that some of your battles against me are seemingly so close? Because I allow them to be so. You tell the press that you looked down for a moment and all hope seemed lost, but then you rallied, and truth and honor and harmony beat out evil and badness, and the ponies of Maretropolis are given more hope. Why in the world would I put self destruct buttons on my inventions otherwise?"
"But..." The Masked Matter-Horn took a tentative step towards Mane-iac. "If you're still lucid and sane like you say, why hurt ponies? Why not join the side of good?"
Mane-iac rolled her eyes. "And how many times have I actually hurt ponies? Can you recall the last time you, or any pony really, received more than a few scratches from me?"
"But you destroy buildings in the city!"
"And an anonymous donor helps fund their repairs, right?"
Radiance quietly gasped and put a hoof up to her mouth. "You? The anonymous donor that keeps funding city repairs is... you?"
"Indeed it is." Mane-iac chuckled and motioned to the building around them. "Despite my more... unethical activities, I still do own some of the most successful businesses in Maretropolis. Under different names, of course, but it allows me to have enough bits to repair whatever meager damage I do during our battles."
Silence once again fell over the office as the Power Ponies and Hum Drum processed the confession of their nemesis. Mane-iac could only give a small smile at them. She had begun to reach them--she knew that she had--but soon it would start all over again, just as it always did.
Mistress Mare-velous broke the silence. "One thing I don't get, Mane-iac: why are you telling us all this?"
Mane-iac chuckled and resumed stroking one of her mane tendrils. "Because I need vindication. I need a moment, just a single moment, where I'm told that what I'm doing is not so bad. All you have to do is think back to our last battle to see the truth in what I'm saying." Mane-iac looked over to Zapp. "You had defeated me yet again and tied me up with my own mane, and when you dragged me out thrashing and giggling to jail, a jubilant crowd of ponies flocked over to you. One in particular, a filly, of no more than eight, I'd imagine, asked for your autograph with such foal-like joy that I couldn't help but smile. To her, you meant the world. To that little filly you were a living, breathing representation of everything that is right.
"We're gladiators, you see, symbolizing the duality of morality. We duke it out while the ponies of our fair city watch. We give each other and the ponies of the city a purpose. Without each, there would be no other." Mane-iac's smile slowly fell, and she picked up the fragile glass vial. "And I wonder how much more I can take. How many more fights I can endure, even with these vindicating confessions. After every fight, a small part of my brain tells me to try to win next time, and after every defeat, it grows louder."
"Wait, did you say confessions?" Filli-Second frowned and cocked her head. "Like, plural?"
"Yes." Mane-iac took a deep breath and plucked the vial out of her mane strand. "I admire you all. I want you to know that. I admire what you do, why, and what you mean for this city." Mane-iac glanced down at Hum Drum and her small smile returned. "I even admire you, Hum Drum. You may not think you do much, but you have a certain tenacity and drive that I think is inspiring."
And before the Power Ponies could say anything else, Mane-iac threw the vial at them. It landed dead in the middle of the group and shattered, creating a large cloud of green smoke that completely engulfed her foes. One by one, she heard them silently fall to the floor. Within a minute, the cloud completely dissipated, revealing the unconscious Power Ponies sprawled out before her.
Just like last time.
Mane-iac sighed and stood up. She cracked her neck, twisted her mouth into a wide, insane smile and began giggling her trademark giggle just as the Power Ponies began stirring. Each of them slowly got to their hooves and looked dazed for a few moments, but their confident, determined smiles soon returned, and they struck their trademark epic pose.
"Mane-iac! We've come to put a stop to your evil schemes, once and for all!" The Masked Matter-Horn cried.
"Your nefarious scheme won't work this time!" Radiance growled. "You won't threaten the good citizens of Maretropolis anymore after tonight!"
Mane-iac giggled loudly and thrashed her mane tendrils about. "Oh Power Ponies, you're all so predictable, such goody two horseshoes! You can never defeat the likes of me!"
And so the battle began again. The gladiatorial match for the hope and morale of the city. Mane-iac knew that she would lose, of course, as she always did, but that's the way it was supposed to be.
That's the way it had to be.
That's the way it would always be.
Author's Note
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