Spike sighed as he tapped his claws repeatedly on the counter of the comic store’s desk. His impatience was rewarded as a scrawny stallion with a pink coat and black mane came out of the back room, a comic hovering in his magic.
“Latest series from Marevel comics, as ordered.” The stallion said as he set it down on the counter. The baby drake snatched the comic up with a gleeful smile. “Early as always.”
“Thanks Back Cover! You’re the best!” Spike said. He read the title before becoming confused. “Why’s it called-?”
“Shh, just read it.” Back Cover cut into Spike’s monologue. The purple dragon huffed before opening the comic and reading it in his head...
Written by Broadly Paranoid
“Mwuahahahaha! You may have won this time, Silverlight, but next time shall be different!” A unicorn mare cackled as she stood on a metal beam on an under construction skyscraper. She had a metal “tentacle” on her back, almost as large as her body, yet twice as long. It moved like a snake on her back, connected to it like a lifeline. She had a grey coat, black mane, red eyes, and wore a black fur-tight suit that covered her entire body in an odd way, almost like she wasn’t meant to wear it.
“No, it won’t, Menace.” A pale earth pony stallion who stood on a lower beam replied from below her, his silver eyes glaring and yellow mane blowing in the wind of the unfinished structure. He pointed a hoof at the mare, and a sphere of pure light grew in his hoof, before he chucked it into the Menace’s chest. The mare’s eyes widened in shock as she felt her insides boil and melt away. She wanted to scream, to cry out for mercy or even to surrender, but her lungs had vaporized.
It was over in an instant. She barely felt the coldness of the air seem into her burning chest. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed motionlessly.
“The Menace has been terminated. Simulation shutting down.” A feminine, metallic voice said, and the construction zone dissipated around the stallion and the corpse of the Menace.
“Wonderful! That was quick and efficient! You’re going to be the greatest hero the world has ever seen!” A bright yellow stallion wearing a business suit said as he trotted out with a hearty grin. “You’ll retire every other hero! You are my Masterpiece after all…”
Silverlight smiled at the earth pony stallion. “All thanks to you, father.”
“Yes, yes, but now’s the biggest challenge you have to face. In a month's time, you’ll be fighting out in the real world against the last Menace clone. We don’t even know what’ll happen!” The stallion said in a joyful manner. “And after you vanquish her, you’ll be revealed to the public.”
“I’m excited to be rid of her, father.” Silverlight replied. The two of them left the room together, leaving the Menace’s corpse in the training room.
It was a beautiful, peaceful, cloudless day in Maneway City. Until The Menace attacked...! If it could even be called that.
“Blasphemy! I demand to speak to your manager and have to executed for your insolence!” The Menace cried out in a pure, uncontrollable rage. “The price of this is far beyond it’s worth!”
“It’s one bit…” A filly behind a lemonade stand outside of a motel said innocently. Her bright blue coat contrasting against The Menace’s grey coat.
“It’s value is clearly five in this hot summer's day! You shall raise the price of this delectable liquid this instant!”
One transaction of nine bits later, and The Menace was through with her attack on Maneway for the day. Causing that foal to overprice her drink, ensuring she’d never get a customer was a masterful plan for the brown trench coat and fedora wearing incognito villainess was the worst thing she’d done in weeks, and it made her mouth moisten at the mere thought. Or she was craving pasta. Probably the latter.
In her hunger induced trance, The Menace found her way to a building made out of metal. It was a four story building colored different shades of purple, with the darkest purple at the bottom. At the front door was a rug that read ‘Entrance To Secret Lair’ in small writing under a crossed out ‘Welcome Home’. The Menace looked to the side of the door and noticed a lever, and pulled it, which made a secret doorway under the rug, leading to a slide. The Menace fell down, shouting in joy as she slid.
At the bottom of the slide was a large open room with a giant computer to the far wall, where a table was set up, all of her minions sitting at it while playing with cards.
“Got any two’s, Hench Pony?” Asked one of the three minions, a mare who wore an almost black purple zip up hooded jacket that went all the way up to her hood, which was fully closed. Two holes were cut into two sides of the hood, allowing a pair of dark red goggles to peep out. Her rear was hidden by a fur tight leather pants that hid her cutie mark.
“You just asked me that five minutes ago, I still don’t have any twos. Go fish, Shockshell.” A stallion unicorn replied, not even noticing Menace’s presence in the room. He wore the same clothes as Shockshell, but didn’t zip his jacket up all the way. Instead, his face was hidden behind a black gas mask. The Menace could clearly tell that he was a brown stallion with a green mohawk-like mane.
The last pony wasn’t wearing anything to cover up his emotionless face. He only wore the bottom half of his costume as it was the only thing that fit him. He was larger than the other ponies, and had numerous tattoos all over his body. This stallion was clearly an earth pony that made anypony that didn’t know him shake in fear.
“What are you foals doing!?” The Menace shouted in anger. “Where’s my doomsday device!?”
Hench Pony and Shockshell stood at attention as the third pony did.
“Advice? Why not blow everything up!?” Shockshell cackled as her wings spread.
Hench Pony sighed. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but Mr. Whiskers ran into the vents.”
“How’d he get out...?” The Menace growled, glaring at her minions.
“Daisy let him out of his cage.” Hench Pony said, looking at the muscular stallion. Daisy looked down, ashamed.
“I spent month working on that cat! Blast!” The Menace cursed her luck as she sauntered over to her master computer. “He was supposed to spread disease and misery throughout the world!” She cried as if she were a child throwing a tantrum.
“She does know that fleas aren’t that bad, right?” Asked Daisy, finally speaking in an oddly average male voice.
“No, I don’t think so.” Hench Pony replied.
“Aww, I wanted him to be our mascot and PR guy~!” Shockshell whined, slamming her face into the table.
“No matter! We’ll have to replace Mr. Hairless Mittens with another doomsday weapon! Bwuahahahahaaa!” The Menace cackled, rubbing her forehooves together.
“We’re out of cash…” Hench Pony said with a sigh. “We used it all for Daisy’s fur cream.”
“Seventy bits, and it was worth every cent.” Daisy smiled in content.
“What’s a cent?” Shockshell asked.
“Silence!” The Menace bellowed. “We’ll have to rob a bank… But which one…?”
“Uh… Won’t we need a car for that?”
“Matter of fact, wouldn’t we need… well… more minions for a bank job? Like other than us?” Hench Pony added on to what Daisy first said. “Because we don’t have enough ponies to pull off a heist on the Maneway City bank.”
“Don’t be a moron, Hench Pony! Our glorious mistress will come up with a plan that’ll make use of each of our skills!” Shockshell said.
“Kiss flan-” Hench Pony began before being cut off by The Menace.
“Indeed! For I have a plan!” The Menace shouted. She then began to explain her plan.
“First, Daisy will get a job at the counter,” Daisy was wearing a business suit that barely fit, as he shook hooves with a small mare wearing a suit too big for her. She had lime green coat, gold eyes and a brown mane, her cutie mark being a mask around a large bit.
“When he’s at the desk, he’ll watch for any potential red button clickers.”
“It’s the alarm buttons under the desk...”
“Thank you, Hench Pony. As I was saying, while Daisy’s at the desk, Shockshell will cause an explosion at the back of the bank as a diversion for the guards.” Shockshell set up five pounds of dynamite at the back of the alley and primed the detonator.
“Ready to boom!” Shockshell shouted into her earpiece.
“I’ll enter from the front all cloaked and awesome looking, and head up to the front desk. There I’ll say the code word: ‘Blow It Up’, and then Shockshell will blow it up.” The Menace trotted into the bank wearing a long brown trench coat and grey fedora, along with her black mask that covered everything but her eyes and mouth. She was in a ginormous room of white and gold with decorative black markings on the floor. The room was crowded with ponies that The Menace pushed through until she found herself at the desk, where the lime green mare sat, smiling.
“Wait, what about me?”
“What about you Henchie?”
“What am I going to do?”
“You’re the getaway driver. Take the Menace-mobile out front and wait for my arrival.” The Menacemobile was a black van with a purple scorpions tail painted on the side.
“My plan is foolproof! There’s nothing that’ll surprise me!”
The Menace leaned on the counter, smiling from ear to ear. “Blow it up.”
“What!? I can’t hear you over the static!” Shockshell yelled, causing The Menace to wince.
The mare behind the counter asked with a high pitched filly voice. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I said blow it up…” Menace growled, gritting her teeth.
“It’s not lighting!”
“Blow up that darned dynamite!” She shouted, which echoed through the room as everypony went silent. All of their eyes staring at her like horrified moths to the flame. “Plan B, just rob ‘em!”
The Menace shed her disguise, a robotic tendril with a three fingered claw at the end connected to her back, a red light glowing from the middle of the claw. Her eyes sparkled with a childlike glee.
However, her glee was replaced by annoyance as a light blinded her and everypony else in the room. When the light finally vanished, a short lime green mare with a brown mane, wearing a fur tight black and green suit as well as a mask that covered her eyes.
The Menace grit her teeth in anger. “Mini-Mare...”
Spike stared in disbelief. “A comic about a clone of the Menace...? And why’s Silverlight a bad guy!?”
“Shh, dude, some ponies might want to buy the comic and be surprised…” Back Cover replied. “Mini-Mare was a surprise though. Haven’t seen her for two decades.”
Spike nodded. “Well, I better get back to Twilight. Something about a the map calling someone.” Spike said.
“Later dude.” Back Cover said as the drake ran off.
Author's Note
Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? I'm open to them. Also, I'll try to make the next one bigger.
Please comment! Thank you. 
