Manes and Mayhemby EpicGamer10075ChaptersChapter 1: A Sight to BeholdChapter 2: Time and Time AgainChapter 3: Twisted in KnotsChapter 4: Causing ProblemsChapter 1: A Sight to BeholdIt had all begun on a rather normal day. Radiance, or rather, her other name she held under the mask, had been taking a well-deserved vacation from her busy life as a jeweler, having travelled miles away into the rural countryside to watch the stars at night. Typically, they remained in place, and even when one fell from the sky, she didn’t pay it much mind—well, beyond admiring the lovely show the Princess of the Night must’ve been putting on. However, soon enough, it became clear that one of those stars was becoming far too large in her sight, and it must’ve been headed right for her! She hid amongst the starlit woods until she felt the Earth shake under the impact of the star, and it took her some time to even step outside to try and see what had happened. Soon enough, she saw the crater and trotted over, but what she found inside was nothing like what she had ever seen before... The blue crystal that came from the heavens was beautiful, but it also held some strange properties that slowly sprung up spikes of solid magic around where it sat, and she quickly realized that her presence around the crystal made the spikes form, and their shape was due to the natural jagged shape of the crystal. With that in mind, she managed to carve the thing into a large core that was placed into an amulet worn on her breast as well as a pair of bracelets she held above her front forehooves. The former glowed with power, and the latter generated shapes of the solid magic at her very whim. With this power, she knew what she must do. You see, the city of Maretropolis was far from idyllic. The many grey rectangular buildings were an eyesore at best, the smoke coming from the city’s many factories blotted out the night sky and the stars within it, and the streets were often patrolled by gangs of drunkards, mafiosos, and police officers whose morality bent to every bribe. There was all too many opportunities for a Pony with some actual dignity to step up and make things right, and with the power of Radiance at her side, she decided to become a hero. ...But of course, no hero was complete without a lovely outfit to inspire hope in all the citizens she sought to save... and to hide her identity from anypony that may try to get rid of her after hours. And it seems she was not alone in that ideology—well, most of it, anyhow. A quintet of other superheros showed themselves around Maretropolis in due time, with their own... decidedly less lovely outfits. (Seriously, green and black on red!? Purple on green on a brown coat, as well as silver on burgundy with... goggles? And the mismatches silver, platinum, and fake gold, and don’t get her started on pink, white, green, and orange, ugh...) Regardless of these other would-be ‘heroes’, Radiance had been dealing with crimes of all sorts for some months before something truly heinous begun. A conspiracy of sorts, with many brands of shampoo becoming poisoned, and as a result, anypony who used those bottles found themselves with horribly unruly manes! A worse crime could never have been thought of by the lovely heroine, and she sought to put an end to as soon as possible! ...Provided such haste wouldn’t ruin all the effort she put into her own immaculate mane. If it did, then she would be forced to slow down so that her artistry would remain untouched. Regardless! Radiance had tracked down some shipments of the shampoo to what was supposed to be an abandoned factory in Maretropolis, but with all the activity about the building, it was clearly anything but abandoned. She made quick work of some of the ‘workers’ on the outside of the place (making sure not to ruin their quite dapper manes and outfits, of course) and headed inside, only to be met with... “You! What are you doing here?!” “What, me?!” Radiance called back in offense as she faced down the heroine known as ‘Masked Matter-Horn’, those ugly goggles already getting on her nerves again, and she shot back, “Why are you here?!” Leaning over just a bit, she caught sight of a small colt in a cape and mask cowering behind the mare, and she added, “And why did you bring a foal with you...?” “That’s none of your business! I’m only here because a bunch of shipments across companies are going missing.” Radiance quirked her head at that seeming slip up, and the colt behind Matter-Horn seemed confused as well, and he tried to interject with a timid voice, “Um, maybe don’t—” “And now that I am here,” Matter-Horn went on, completely ignoring the colt and stepping towards the other mare accusingly, “You are unnecessary, and can be on your way.” Radiance sniffed and turned up her nose in disgust for such horribly offensive words. “How rude. Do you really think so highly of yourself?” She asked with a pointed look down her snout at the other ‘hero’. “Yeah, she’s kinda got a stick up her bum, huh?” Another voice suddenly chimed in, high-pitched and eager, with the three Ponies looking up towards a window a ways across the room and saw another Pony there, standing atop some deactivated machinery. “I knew you were gonna be here, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that Masked Matter-Horn’s probably hog all the heroics to herself again.’ And then I thought, ‘Well, Fili-Second, you’re really fast, and you can get there in a few seconds, and you can have all the fun you want with all the wackiness going on in that factory!’ And then I thought—” “Hey!” Matter-Horn shouted back, stopping Fili-Second’s rambling, “Are you done? I have bigger problems to deal with than you!” “Um, are you actually gonna deal with those things or...” The colt piped up again, and while the mare that was supposedly his keeper didn’t even seem to register his voice, Fili-Second was different. A quick pink trail zipped its way down from the machinery to the colt, and suddenly, Fili-Second was right before him, leaning down to his face, and she cheered, “Oh hi, Humdrum! Didn’t see ya for a sec! Your big-headed sis couldn’t stop yapping again.” “H-hey, you’re not supposed to say that, with—” Matter-Horn sputtered, and pointed over to an amused Radiance, who was content to watch the drama play out for some time. ...However, she wouldn’t quite get that time, as suddenly the window Fili-Second came from got smashed, and another Pony fell through it, smacking into the floor and rolling across it for a second, then stopping a couple paces away from the others. “Ow,” She grunted, her voice slightly muffled by her muzzle being shoved into the floor. “Hi Zappy! Watcha doin’ here?” Fili-Second zipped up to the face-planted heroine, and watched as she pulled herself up and shook her head to try and clear it. “Mmn, jus’... heard about some dudes tryin’ something in this place, and wanted to beat the snot out of ‘em,” She muttered, still sounding a little out of it from the impact. “‘Course,” Yet another voice spat, her tone clearly disgusted, and the Ponies looked up to see Mistress Marevelous standing in the shattered window frame, where she glared down at Zapp and went on, “Yer only doin’ this for fun, ya arses. Ain’t ya supposed ta think of all the Ponies yer tryin’ to help out?” Radiance couldn’t help but gag slightly at the horrid outfit on that mare, and she forced herself to look away while Marevelous jumped down and landed with a harsh crack! on the concrete floor. “Not a single one of ya have actually seen the Ponies gettin’ sick ‘cuz of the darn poison in the shampoo?” “Well, I certainly have, dear—” Radiance spoke up, looking sideways at the serious heroine in an attempt to not look at her outfit head-on, but Marevelous cut her off. “An’ do ya care about them dyin’ or their manes gettin’ messed up, Radiance?” She asked with a loathing in her voice, clearly already knowing the answer. And with the way Radiance herself pursed her lips and didn’t immediately reply, Mistress Marevelous shook her head in frustration and moved across the room, past the other heroes. “Waaaaiiiiit!” Fili-Second abruptly squealed out, and pointed across the room into a corner, “You forgot one, Marevie!” With the other Ponies looking over to where she pointed, they could see the final hero in the room with them, one Saddle Rager. “Hi Saddie!” Fili-Second cheered excitedly, and waved a hoof very quickly to greet the mare. “Ah, I was just enjoying being here, Fili,” The pleasant voice of the Rager came out as she approached, seeming quite ironic if you didn’t know her deal, as it were, “But if we’re all sharing stories, I found myself rather worried about the dangerous smoke coming out of this factory, with some folks downstream getting sick off of that.” Mistress Marevelous sighed and looked the mare in the eyes, speaking with her usual curt tone, “An’ yet ya barely seem bothered about it, huh?” Rager shrugged. “You are all here as well, so I figured I wouldn’t be needed,” She spoke, rather nonplussed. “My methods are a tad... messy, anyhow, so it would be for the best.” Marevelous just scoffed and shook her head, and then continued on across the large factory room. “Y’all should just git,” She muttered in annoyance, “Ya numbskulls are just gonna get yourselves hurt.” “Oh please,” Masked Matter-Horn rolled her eyes and grabbed ahold of the other hero’s leg with her magic, effectively stopping her, “I’ve gotten this far; I’m not stopping now.” “Oh, same!” Fili-Second chimed in, zipping up and on top of Matter-Horn’s back, where she was promptly tossed off, but the Unicorn hero’s magic was also dispelled by a strong flick of Marevelous’s fetlock, but she remained in place, clearly seething despite facing away from the others. “We may not be part of a team, dear,” Radiance spoke, attempting to defuse the conflict between them all, “But I’m sure we’d all like you to not get hurt either.” A scoff came from the ever-so-snarky Zapp, who seemed to have recovered a bit, and she cut in, “I kinda do, maybe it’d help get that stick out of your—” BANG! The Pegasus was cut off when a loud sound snapped all of the Ponies’ attention across the room to a massive door, which had just gotten smashed in and propelled towards the heroines. Mistress Marevelous, being the closest to it, sharply brought up her forehooves just before the door slammed into her, managing to stop it in its tracks, and then she simply tossed it to the side, landing elsewhere with a loud, echoing thwam. With the door out of the way, the heroines were free to see many well-dressed Ponies skitter into the room and surround them, all in uniform under some more powerful Pony... who could have only been the Pony that strode into the room next... “Ehehehehe... So these are the Ponies who seek to stop me?” The mare’s voice rang out, sounding slightly raspy and broken, with a deranged confidence underneath. “You little fillies are nothing.. beneath my mane-levolence.” Gasps of shock could be heard from all the heroes as the villain came into full view, with each mare having their own outcry: A slightly disgusted ‘What the heck...’ from Marevelous, A somewhat awed, ‘Oh, woah,’ from Fili-Second, A bewildered, ‘What in the..?’ from Zapp, A scared, ‘Oh, dear...’ from the Rager, A irritated and deadpan, ‘That’s a horrible pun,’ from Matter-Horn, A blank and simply shocked, ‘Oh...’ from the little Humdrum, And a gaped, awed, and disbelieving, ‘My... word...’ from Radiance. But Radiance’s expression was not laced with any disgust—no, rather, it was from how beautiful she found the mare that stood before them. For, instead of simply standing on four legs like every other Pony in the room, this mare was held aloft in the air, with her mane and tail doing the work for her. The striking green hairs bound themselves into tendrils that sprung away from her body, covered in a tasteful, yet clearly malicious outfit, where some of them moved down to the floor and squished into it, spreading across the floor in a small area to attain balance, with the half-dozen tendrils that struck the floor keeping their master multiple meters above it. The mare looked quite mad with her wide, split-open grin, and her eyes were quite unique, with concentric irises of green and red, and her coat was a cold, yet soft purple, but her mane and tail stole the show. The tendrils were far longer than any mane should ever be, and they beheld a control as if they were limbs, able to hold the mare up and... likely also throw that door, as there was nothing else it sight that could’ve done that. The hairs themselves were spun together like a rope to form those tendrils, but many hairs were split off of them, wobbling in the air with a mind of their own. Radiance always loved a good mane, and took much time out of her day to maintain her own elegant style, but this... this... maniac’s mane was unruly, split and contorted, and used for evil. By all rights, it should have been disgusting to her, but the mane was also controlled, if only just barely, and very powerful, so perhaps it was inevitable that she’d see it as beautiful regardless. However, as all those aspects were bound together within that maelstrom of a mane, Radiance couldn’t help but start to see the madness itself as beautiful too... Perhaps... it was just the craze of a new, unique idea that was striking her, as any crazy idea would strike the runway and be the talk of all the papers for a time, but it would always fade back into a simple niche. But perhaps... it was something deeper than that, something that spoke to the mare under the mask, something... that her mind, mad in its own way, could only adore. Chapter 2: Time and Time AgainIt had been some time since that fateful meeting, with the group of superheroines forming the now famous Power Ponies team, and the Mane-iac they fought quickly becoming their arch-rival. They had dealt with the villain several times, and thwarted her mane-brained schemes to… do whatever she was trying to do—the heroes did have their guesses, but with how the story seemed to change every time they met, they could never be certain. It was becoming somewhat rote at this point; notice suspicious behaviour and/or crimes relating to shampoo, investigate the problems back to their source, and finally fight through the waves of henchponies and defeat whatever mad and brilliant creation that the Mane-iac had cooked up that day. Each of the Power Ponies had their own opinion on the matter, and while Zapp and Fili-Second were simply content with the fighting and taunting the supervillain, the other heroes were different. Saddle Rager always preferred peace, and simply wanted the villain to behave herself so that Maretropolis could be more peaceful, though she wasn’t particularly engaged with fighting the mare herself—unless her alter ego came out to play, that was. Little Humdrum was really just afraid of all the chaos around the villain, wanting her to stop in one way or another so that things could return to normal, and Mistress Marevelous had expressed her annoyance at the Pony that caused so much trouble, and wanted to lock her away... But none of them compared to the rage beheld by Masked Matter-Horn. The Unicorn was a perfectionist and had some... unaddressed issues, but even knowing that didn’t prepare her teammates for how much of a seething rage she fell into when dealing with the supervillain. The crazy way Mane-iac sought to prank the team all across Maretropolis, for no reason other that just seeming to find it funny, was in direct opposition to the incredibly obsessive Matter-Horn, and she was horrible at withstanding the taunting the villainess often threw her way. She was easily driven to fight recklessly, and that was often the thing keeping her from actually stopping the villain herself, but she was still very keen on locking that mare away in Balkham Asylum for as long as physically possible. But as for where Radiance stood in all of this? Well, she enjoying the encounters just like Zapp and Fili, but her enjoyment was deeper than the simple pleasures of sparring with some well-dressed stallions. Instead, Radiance found herself so very attracted to the Mane-iac herself... Radiance was a mare of equal parts order and spontaneity, with her many schedules and plans, but easily falling into a craze about whatever the jewelry and fashion industry was into at the time. The Mane-iac was clearly much the same, as for all her insanities and the many ways they manifested, all of the technology she built, the chemicals she synthesized, and the operations she oversaw, they beheld a serious intellect and level of planning that no level of madness could account for. They were like two sides of a coin, with parts of them directly opposed, yet sharing quite a lot. But perhaps the greatest thing they shared was a mutual interest of theirs; manestyling. Radiance obviously put meticulous care into maintaining her immaculate mane and tail, careful to keep in clean while doing her heroics. Meanwhile, the Mane-iac often threw things around and smashed through walls with the tendrils of her mane, but she too made sure to keep her hairs cleaned after everything was said and done, which had first been discovered during a talk with the mare herself. And now, Radiance was seeing the process for herself. “Did I ever tell you how much I love your mane?” “Only every single time we meet, Radiance.” “Yes, well...” The heroine mumbled, her voice only heard by the one other Pony in the room with her; the dreaded Mane-iac herself, who was just... brushing her mane. “It’s a lovely mane.” The smile on the Mane-iac’s face widened a bit further at the comment, and she looked the other mare in the face, speaking in a more subdued tone than her usual mane-iacal one, but still sounding slightly scratchy and out of it, “You have to be the only mare in this whole city who cares about manes as much as I.” “That’s a high bar...” Radiance said in return, watching each stroke of the villain’s brush going through the lengthy strands of her mane. It was mesmerizing in a sense, and she had often found her endless brushing of her own mane to fade into the background of her morning routine while she busied herself with other aspects of it. Even with all that time spent taming, styling, and beautifying her mane... “Though I suppose nopony else could compare to all the machines you make related to them, and schemes you perform about them.” “Good, I would hate to be outclassed on my specialty,” The Mane-iac spoke back, sneering somewhat with a layer of anger on her face. “So many ponies wish they could have a mane like mine, but... they’d never treat it right. It’d just be... a h-hassle to them...” Her voice broke for a second, her eyes gaze turning distant, but just for a moment before she refocused and growled out, “A dumb tool they could never take care of, and never use properly. Just for petty stuff, not anything important, not anything it deserves.” The other mare stood silent for a moment, her eyes still watching the continuous loop of brushing through those endless green hairs, but her mind was a bit taken by the villain’s words. “Is that why you do this, dear...?” She mumbled thoughtfully, but loudly enough for the villain herself to hear, “Is this all just because ponies don’t care for their manes?” A loud bark of a laugh escaped the Mane-iac, “HA! You really think it’s so simple, little filly!?” She shouted with her mad grin splitting open her face, her crazed eyes boring into the other Pony, “You think you can understand me?!” A slow, chilling laugh bubbled its way out of her throat, and she moved forward towards Radiance, her much taller form bearing down over her, fear seeping into the smaller mare’s wide eyes. “I am.. the Mane-iac... I am madness and evil... I wreak havoc across this city for reasons beyond your punitive mind’s comprehension. They are everything and nothing at the same time, all the fools that fill this place must be taught and punished... and they will tremble before my power as I take control of this entire city! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Radiance stood beneath the mare, and tried to keep herself calm; for all the peaceful talking she had with the Pony, said Pony was still a supervillain, and had been able to take out the entire group of all six Power Ponies with barely an effort multiple times. She was dangerous, but... Radiance still knew that she wasn’t pure evil, and had a heart underneath it all. And, well... with how much taller the mare was, standing over the hero with her mane going wild, blocking out what little moonlight seeped into the building they stood within, her entire being seeming as a force of nature, untamable and beyond understanding... Radiance’s heart was beating faster for more reasons that just fear. ...clack! The sharp sound of something striking the floor suddenly snapped both mares’ attention away from the Mane-iac’s mane-iacal laughter, and down to the manebrush that had slipped out of the villain’s tendril that held it. They both stood silent for a time, the moment utterly broken by the intrusion, but Radiance’s mind was quickly filled with the idea of grabbing the brush and using it on the other Pony’s mane... Doing it with her own mane could be rather soothing, after all, so what about another Pony’s, much longer and more magical mane? Radiance’s legs started moving before her brain could even catch up, taking her a couple paces over to right beside the Mane-iac, and she picked the brush up off the floor. Looking up and over at the villainess, who was looking back down at her with an unreadable expression, the smaller mare raised the brush towards the Mane-iac’s namesake and timidly asked of her, “Ah... May I..?” After another moment of that unreadable stare, the villain then squinted in suspicion at the hero, but did soon enough nod in consent. Giving a small smile in return, Radiance rose the brush further and pressed it into the other mare’s mane, its many bristles sinking between the innumerable green strands, and when the Unicorn pulled the brush downward, those bristles pulled through the strands, straightening them out and removing and detritus that had been left stuck inside. And, when the brush got stuck every now and then, she pulled a bit harder to break the small knots that had formed in the villain’s wild mane. Radiance slowly sat down while she continued to work through the mane, continuously stroking through the lengthy tendrils on loop, and evidently, the actions were soothing to the owner of that mane as well, who let out a soft sigh and sat down too. “You...” The Mane-iac mumbled, her tone distant and thoughtful, as if she was simply talking to herself, “You might have a place the other Ponies don’t... You’d do better as a servant for me than a lowly peon...” Smiling a little brighter, the heroine couldn’t help but find the speech endearing, with the soft side of the mane-iacal supervillain coming out from simply brushing through her mane. But, a slight dusting of pink came across Radiance’s yellow cheeks as she imagined the situation, where the villain only seemed to want her to help clean her mane, and thus the hero was left in a maid dress within a bathroom alongside the villain, dunking her mane in a tub of shampoo and rigorously washing through its incredible length... Radiance sighed, slightly mournful that those events would never come to be; she had come to this building with her team, after all, and they were to deal with the villain before her. And they would manage, as they always have, but... the heroine couldn’t help but savour these small moments where she could see beyond the veil of simple madness on the Mane-iac, and she truly wished she could dive deeper into a relationship with her... Chapter 3: Twisted in KnotsMore months went by, and more times Radiance met with the Mane-iac. The encounters barely changed, with the notable exception of the villain intentionally separating out the Power Ponies more often, just to get some more alone time with the only one of them that she respected. Every meeting between them warmed Radiance up to the other mare even more, and from how tender those green tendrils stroked across her face, it was obvious the Mane-iac felt the same. However, they were not the only two Ponies affected by their moments together, as the rest of the Power Ponies definitely took notice of all that time the two spent alone. It started as mere suspicion that the villain wanted something out of Radiance, but when the hero repeatedly came out unscathed and happy, of all emotions, the team began to think there was something more at play. The team met a few times, omitting the heroine they were skeptical of, and came to the conclusion that Radiance was flirting with the dreaded Mane-iac! It was only the respectful and gossipy nature of Saddle Rager that Radiance even knew of what was happening behind her very back, and she swiftly took offense towards being left out like that, especially when they could have simply asked her what she was doing with the Mane-iac. Multiple times, she attempted to speak to the other members of her team about them talking behind her back, but each time, they brushed her off and seemed to grow somewhat more bitter towards her. Well, only some of the team actually seemed to be particularly bitter about it. Zapp often shrugged Radiance off with whatever excuse she could pull out of her plot, not really liking spending time with someone so different, and Fili-Second seemed rather guilty about having to hide stuff from her, but still didn’t help settle anything. Humdrum was always slippery and good at avoiding stuff, but Mistress Marevelous simply gave Radiance a judgemental look whenever the idea was brought up. Masked Matter-Horn though... looked horribly offended and talked down the other mare, speaking as if she was violating some sacrosanct commandment by ‘getting close with the enemy’. Needless to say, Radiance was quite annoyed by it all, and was going to bring an end to it. Thankfully, all that took was a little more gossip from her friend Rager, and she was in. “If you wished to talk about a lady’s love life, you should ask first, you know!” She shouted into the main room of the Power Ponies HQ as she stormed in, all the rest of the team—bar Rager, who was expecting it, and Humdrum, who wasn’t even there—looking shocked at the sudden interruption. That shock quickly turned into anger for Masked Matter-Horn, and she shouted back in offense, “So you are flirting with her!” “Yes I am,” Radiance replied, somewhat exasperated by the accusation, “But I can’t say I understand why you are so... passionate about the matter.” “Wha—” Matter-Horn sputtered, then a growl escaped her before she yelled, “WHY WOULDN’T I BE!?” The rest of the Power Ponies left a gap within their huddle-up circle for Radiance to trot into, but not simply to let the two mares argue. “I mean, it’s not that big a deal, right?” Zapp muttered dubiously, looking between her arguing teammates, “We always get rid of the dang Mane-iac in the end, so no harm done, yeah?” “So far, Zapp,” Matter-Horn seethed back, glaring out behind those goggles that Radiance still could never take seriously, “We’ve only managed to stop her so far, and I’d much rather have my whole team fighting against that villain!” “Aw, come on, Masky!” Fili-Second chimed with a roll of her eyes, zipping over to the Unicorn and patting her head, “Rady and Mane-y just want have some fun! And,” She added when the angry mare swatted the hoof off her head and opened her mouth to shout back, “Rady is keeping the ‘big, nasty, Mane-iac’—” She spoke with an exaggerated pout, “—Busy, so that’s gotta be a good thing!” Matter-Horn kept glaring back at Fili, and pushed her away before shooting back to the whole group, “And yet, we always have to defeat her anyway, even if to just get our supposed teammate back.” “Oh, don’t be so rude, please,” Saddle Rager spoke up, her tone quiet and rather disappointed, “I don’t know why the Mane-iac gets you so aggravated, but take it from me, you really ought to calm down a bit, dear.” “Why wouldn’t I be...” Masked Matter-Horn repeated, her tone blank this time, and her face fell. “Why am I.. the only one taking this seriously.” Glancing up, her eyes flitted between the rest of the team; the carefree Zapp, the jolly Fili, the taciturn Rager... and the oddly silent Marevelous. “Miss Marevelous,” She begun, pointedly speaking to the mare in question, “You’re a lawyer, and you actually take stuff seriously. Tell me you see an actual problem here.” Mistress Marevelous looked back with a raised eyebrow, giving a slightly judgemental look for the way she was being talked to. “‘Problem’?” She repeated quizzically, then closed her eyes and sighed. “There’s a lotta problems right now. That danged Mane-iac’s always got a million goons ta spring on us, and who knows what crazy thingamajig she’ll have cooked up in a week. Got some other dimwits knockin’ stuff down every now an’ then, and that ‘Maximum Security’ prison never keeps ‘em for long. And all y’all...” She threw a look across the entire rest of the team, “Are more worried ‘bout Radiance gettin’ kissy with Mane-iac.” The other Power Ponies looked between themselves for a moment, seeming uncertain of what to make of that speech, but Matter-Horn settled on it not being enough. “I’m worried about her being too distracted to actually help the rest of us out, Marevelous,” She spoke irately, glaring at the other mare, “And against a monster that keeps terrorizing this city for Faust knows why, that’s kind of a problem.” “‘Terrorizin’?” Marevelous asked, quirking her head as nonplussed as ever, “‘Monster’?” She shook her head, and leveled a look at the angry Unicorn, and spoke candidly, “I ain’t a fan of that mare either, but she ain’t pure evil. Those goons of hers are doin’ just fine, not starvin’ or sleep-deprived, even. Sure, she wrecks a lotta stuff in our fights, but we ain’t much better,” She gave a pointed look at Zapp, Rager, and Matter-Horn; the former looked away guiltily, the second morosely lowered her head, but the final only pursed her lips for a second. “I’ll say it again; I ain’t a fan of that mare,” The Earth Pony spoke, keeping control as best she could while the other heroes listened, “But ya gotta admit, she’s a lot better a nemesis than anything we coulda got. Madame Mystery keeps foalnappin’ Ponies fer her dumb riddles, Pharoah with all his mummies that freak everypony out... ya get the point. Mane-iac’s nuts, but the most she does is destroy a shipment or muss up some Ponies’ manes.” An annoyed sigh came from Matter-Horn, and she retorted, “I get that, but she’s not exactly helping matters any. And nor is you—” She threw a sharp look at Radiance, “—Constantly trying to get in her suit.” A scandalous, slightly ashamed giggle bubbled out of Radiance herself, and she muttered back, “I’m not going that far, dear. I-it’s just—” “Gal, hush,” Mistress Marevelous snipped, cutting the other Pony off with a deadpan gaze, then turning it back to Matter-Horn (while pointedly ignoring the muffled laughter of the other heroines). “One thing I’ve learned from bein’ around for a while is that crime is gonna happen, no matter whatcha do. Supervillains or nah, Ponies are gonna get up to stuff, and we oughtta be thankful the biggest chunk of crime is coming out of somepony so harmless. And...” She added with a sigh, looking silently over at Radiance for a second, “Well, ya might be owing that harmlessness to somepony keepin’ her happy.” A wide smile and mild blush grew on that Unicorn’s face, but it wasn’t allowed to get too far before Marevelous cut in, “But! That’s only if ya ain’t doing other stuff with her, like givin’ her vital information.” Her deadpan stare was becoming scathing, and her subdued tone scary as she spoke, “If we catch wind of you actually helping the mare cause problems, then... we gonna have issues, ya hear?” “O-of course,” Radiance stuttered back, for she too, was intent on keeping the relationship strictly personal and not causing problems. Chapter 4: Causing ProblemsAlarms blared throughout the building, echoing through its many expansive halls. They were an ugly noise, with no respect for the ears as they screamed ‘DANGER’ to anypony within. The sounds rung through the Power Ponies’ heads as they stormed inside, having been pinged about what happened just a short while ago, and hurried over as fast as they could go. The Balkham Asylum was experiencing a massive breakout, with the dozens of supervillains locked away in what effectively was a maximum security prison smashing their way out of their cells and beating down any guards that tried to contain them. Each one may not have been a major threat on their own, but with a groups of them forming, the Power Ponies were going to need to have all hooves on deck, spread out across the entire building to have a chance of managing things. Fili-Second was eager to take on the many villains that used supplementary tools to their advantage, and were generally useless on their own. Mistress Marevelous and Saddle Rager were forced to tag-team the sized-up few that roamed around, the former tying them up with her lasso and the latter just beating them unconscious. Zapp had her work cut out for her on the base-level villains, with all their abilities putting the simple control of weather to the test. Masked Matter-Horn wanted to bee-line it for the bottom of the complex, taking on the worst villains the team had ever faced, but she was beaten to the punch by Radiance, instead leaving the other Unicorn to deal with the tricksters, which may not have been the best idea, given her temperament... And, all things considered, it wasn’t looking like the best idea for Radiance to go after those dastardly supervillains, either. She certainly had her own reasons for going down there, and was thankful her teammates were too preoccupied to question her judgement—especially considering how unsurprised she seemed by the breakout—but it was looking like a horrible idea after all, with how exhausted and pained she now was, a full quartet of the worst beings she had even seen: Black Hook, a pirate with an affinity for grappling and slingshotting via his magic, Crystal King, a corrupted noble capable of sprouting massive crystals on a whim, Nega-Second, a antithetical parody of one of the Power Ponies wielding the same powers, And the One-Eyed-Wonder, who used every spell and tool in the book to deceive and manipulate his way into fame. However, not one of them would get a chance to lay their hooves on her, for not one of them were more dangerous than the reason Radiance ventured down there in the first place... A pair of hooks was nothing to endless green tendrils that trapped them, Walls of crystals were never seamless, and could be gripped and shattered with enough strength, Lightning speed could get tripped up in a see of threads given enough time, And tricks were useless against someone so utterly unpredictable. Those four villains were slammed back into their cages and left knocked out, a trembling, beaten Radiance quivering in the cold, isolated hallway, with her mind only able to perk up out of terror when a soft something stroked against her face. Looking up, a shuddering sob wracked through her from sheer relief as the Mane-iac stood before her, a small frown on her face, clearly attempting to work through her emotions in spite of her mental instability. The villainess stook to silence as the tendrils of her mane wrapped around the shivering heroine, and carefully picked her up in their hold. “What have you gotten yourself into this time, my.. partner in crime..?” She spoke, her tone soft despite the typical crackling of her voice. She held the other mare close within her mane where she herself stood on her bare hooves, bereft of her usual supervillain outfit, exposing all her purple, dry fur for the other mare to see. “I thought you were controlled, my Radiance.” Loud, shaky breaths came from Radiance herself as she tried to get her breathing under control, but it was broken up by a short laugh, where she then replied weakly, “I am... n-not the best with technology, I’m afraid, dear... beloved.” The Mane-iac’s mouth upturned into a smile, which quickly grew back into her face-splitting grin. “I could teach you a thing or two, you know. If we were around each other more, we could have as much time as we wanted...” She trailed suggestively, and slid the tip of one of her mane-tendrils down the Unicorn’s face, brushing through the cleaner mare’s softer coat. “Oh, how I wish...” Radiance returned, losing herself for a moment as she locked eyes with those of her manic amore... But she did manage to clear her rough throat and continue, “There are a... great m-many villains that always need to be c-cleaned up. Even you, a little,” She ended with a little teasing smile. “Besides...” She further went on, her smile turning slightly regretful, but no less honest, “The Power Ponies are.. my friends. I cannot sooner abandon them for you than you for them.” A rough noise escaped the Mane-iac, a mix of a scoff and short laugh, sounding slightly bitter but still humoured, “You heroes and your altruism... Would it kill you to let yourselves go for once?” A slow, light laugh left the other mare, and she answered, “Love, I’ve been letting myself go every moment I spend with you.” That statement rewarded her with a pleasant blush on the dark cheeks of the Mane-iac and her unable to reply for a few lovely seconds, but it did soon end when the villain pulled her gaze away in embarrassment. “The only time we get together is...” She mumbled, sounding a tad down and uncertain, “Well, when we’re supposed to be fighting. I would love to be able to smack around those friends of yours a little more, but I never really get the chance, now do I!?” She turned back and leveled the accusation at the other Pony, but even she couldn’t help the limited seriousness in her tone. Radiance sighed, a little dreamily and a little exasperated. “Well,” She murmured, looking around and shifting herself in her love’s grasp, grimacing a bit from the lingering pain, “I suppose our plan may still succeed, and we’ll have a while to ourselves then, hmm?” “Hmph, knowing them, a ‘while’ would be barely a week...” The Mane-iac scoffed and retorted with annoyance, and while the other mare frowned and slowly reached a hoof towards the villainess’s face to try and comfort her, the Mane-iac snorted and spoke, “No matter. I’ll take care of them soon enough. With them out of my way, every Pony in this city will bow to my will—including any other pesky heroes and villains!” Her manic grin split her face face, and her body trembled under a wracking laughter that was beginning to bubble out of her, “Hehehe... “But I can’t forget about you...” She went on, her expression softening only a little as she looked down at the mare in her grasp, “No; when this world bows under me, you will be by my side, my Radiance... Hahahaha...” Her laughter bubbled up again, and this time it took full force within her, forcing her head to lean back as she cackled her notorious and mane-iacal laughter to the heavens, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Radiance sighed in that mix of sweet and sour again, watching her star-crossed love laugh her mind away... She knew she may never get the mare to care for the hero’s own friends as much as the hero did, but just because there was no perfection on the horizon didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the time they had together.
Chapter 1: A Sight to BeholdIt had all begun on a rather normal day. Radiance, or rather, her other name she held under the mask, had been taking a well-deserved vacation from her busy life as a jeweler, having travelled miles away into the rural countryside to watch the stars at night. Typically, they remained in place, and even when one fell from the sky, she didn’t pay it much mind—well, beyond admiring the lovely show the Princess of the Night must’ve been putting on. However, soon enough, it became clear that one of those stars was becoming far too large in her sight, and it must’ve been headed right for her! She hid amongst the starlit woods until she felt the Earth shake under the impact of the star, and it took her some time to even step outside to try and see what had happened. Soon enough, she saw the crater and trotted over, but what she found inside was nothing like what she had ever seen before... The blue crystal that came from the heavens was beautiful, but it also held some strange properties that slowly sprung up spikes of solid magic around where it sat, and she quickly realized that her presence around the crystal made the spikes form, and their shape was due to the natural jagged shape of the crystal. With that in mind, she managed to carve the thing into a large core that was placed into an amulet worn on her breast as well as a pair of bracelets she held above her front forehooves. The former glowed with power, and the latter generated shapes of the solid magic at her very whim. With this power, she knew what she must do. You see, the city of Maretropolis was far from idyllic. The many grey rectangular buildings were an eyesore at best, the smoke coming from the city’s many factories blotted out the night sky and the stars within it, and the streets were often patrolled by gangs of drunkards, mafiosos, and police officers whose morality bent to every bribe. There was all too many opportunities for a Pony with some actual dignity to step up and make things right, and with the power of Radiance at her side, she decided to become a hero. ...But of course, no hero was complete without a lovely outfit to inspire hope in all the citizens she sought to save... and to hide her identity from anypony that may try to get rid of her after hours. And it seems she was not alone in that ideology—well, most of it, anyhow. A quintet of other superheros showed themselves around Maretropolis in due time, with their own... decidedly less lovely outfits. (Seriously, green and black on red!? Purple on green on a brown coat, as well as silver on burgundy with... goggles? And the mismatches silver, platinum, and fake gold, and don’t get her started on pink, white, green, and orange, ugh...) Regardless of these other would-be ‘heroes’, Radiance had been dealing with crimes of all sorts for some months before something truly heinous begun. A conspiracy of sorts, with many brands of shampoo becoming poisoned, and as a result, anypony who used those bottles found themselves with horribly unruly manes! A worse crime could never have been thought of by the lovely heroine, and she sought to put an end to as soon as possible! ...Provided such haste wouldn’t ruin all the effort she put into her own immaculate mane. If it did, then she would be forced to slow down so that her artistry would remain untouched. Regardless! Radiance had tracked down some shipments of the shampoo to what was supposed to be an abandoned factory in Maretropolis, but with all the activity about the building, it was clearly anything but abandoned. She made quick work of some of the ‘workers’ on the outside of the place (making sure not to ruin their quite dapper manes and outfits, of course) and headed inside, only to be met with... “You! What are you doing here?!” “What, me?!” Radiance called back in offense as she faced down the heroine known as ‘Masked Matter-Horn’, those ugly goggles already getting on her nerves again, and she shot back, “Why are you here?!” Leaning over just a bit, she caught sight of a small colt in a cape and mask cowering behind the mare, and she added, “And why did you bring a foal with you...?” “That’s none of your business! I’m only here because a bunch of shipments across companies are going missing.” Radiance quirked her head at that seeming slip up, and the colt behind Matter-Horn seemed confused as well, and he tried to interject with a timid voice, “Um, maybe don’t—” “And now that I am here,” Matter-Horn went on, completely ignoring the colt and stepping towards the other mare accusingly, “You are unnecessary, and can be on your way.” Radiance sniffed and turned up her nose in disgust for such horribly offensive words. “How rude. Do you really think so highly of yourself?” She asked with a pointed look down her snout at the other ‘hero’. “Yeah, she’s kinda got a stick up her bum, huh?” Another voice suddenly chimed in, high-pitched and eager, with the three Ponies looking up towards a window a ways across the room and saw another Pony there, standing atop some deactivated machinery. “I knew you were gonna be here, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that Masked Matter-Horn’s probably hog all the heroics to herself again.’ And then I thought, ‘Well, Fili-Second, you’re really fast, and you can get there in a few seconds, and you can have all the fun you want with all the wackiness going on in that factory!’ And then I thought—” “Hey!” Matter-Horn shouted back, stopping Fili-Second’s rambling, “Are you done? I have bigger problems to deal with than you!” “Um, are you actually gonna deal with those things or...” The colt piped up again, and while the mare that was supposedly his keeper didn’t even seem to register his voice, Fili-Second was different. A quick pink trail zipped its way down from the machinery to the colt, and suddenly, Fili-Second was right before him, leaning down to his face, and she cheered, “Oh hi, Humdrum! Didn’t see ya for a sec! Your big-headed sis couldn’t stop yapping again.” “H-hey, you’re not supposed to say that, with—” Matter-Horn sputtered, and pointed over to an amused Radiance, who was content to watch the drama play out for some time. ...However, she wouldn’t quite get that time, as suddenly the window Fili-Second came from got smashed, and another Pony fell through it, smacking into the floor and rolling across it for a second, then stopping a couple paces away from the others. “Ow,” She grunted, her voice slightly muffled by her muzzle being shoved into the floor. “Hi Zappy! Watcha doin’ here?” Fili-Second zipped up to the face-planted heroine, and watched as she pulled herself up and shook her head to try and clear it. “Mmn, jus’... heard about some dudes tryin’ something in this place, and wanted to beat the snot out of ‘em,” She muttered, still sounding a little out of it from the impact. “‘Course,” Yet another voice spat, her tone clearly disgusted, and the Ponies looked up to see Mistress Marevelous standing in the shattered window frame, where she glared down at Zapp and went on, “Yer only doin’ this for fun, ya arses. Ain’t ya supposed ta think of all the Ponies yer tryin’ to help out?” Radiance couldn’t help but gag slightly at the horrid outfit on that mare, and she forced herself to look away while Marevelous jumped down and landed with a harsh crack! on the concrete floor. “Not a single one of ya have actually seen the Ponies gettin’ sick ‘cuz of the darn poison in the shampoo?” “Well, I certainly have, dear—” Radiance spoke up, looking sideways at the serious heroine in an attempt to not look at her outfit head-on, but Marevelous cut her off. “An’ do ya care about them dyin’ or their manes gettin’ messed up, Radiance?” She asked with a loathing in her voice, clearly already knowing the answer. And with the way Radiance herself pursed her lips and didn’t immediately reply, Mistress Marevelous shook her head in frustration and moved across the room, past the other heroes. “Waaaaiiiiit!” Fili-Second abruptly squealed out, and pointed across the room into a corner, “You forgot one, Marevie!” With the other Ponies looking over to where she pointed, they could see the final hero in the room with them, one Saddle Rager. “Hi Saddie!” Fili-Second cheered excitedly, and waved a hoof very quickly to greet the mare. “Ah, I was just enjoying being here, Fili,” The pleasant voice of the Rager came out as she approached, seeming quite ironic if you didn’t know her deal, as it were, “But if we’re all sharing stories, I found myself rather worried about the dangerous smoke coming out of this factory, with some folks downstream getting sick off of that.” Mistress Marevelous sighed and looked the mare in the eyes, speaking with her usual curt tone, “An’ yet ya barely seem bothered about it, huh?” Rager shrugged. “You are all here as well, so I figured I wouldn’t be needed,” She spoke, rather nonplussed. “My methods are a tad... messy, anyhow, so it would be for the best.” Marevelous just scoffed and shook her head, and then continued on across the large factory room. “Y’all should just git,” She muttered in annoyance, “Ya numbskulls are just gonna get yourselves hurt.” “Oh please,” Masked Matter-Horn rolled her eyes and grabbed ahold of the other hero’s leg with her magic, effectively stopping her, “I’ve gotten this far; I’m not stopping now.” “Oh, same!” Fili-Second chimed in, zipping up and on top of Matter-Horn’s back, where she was promptly tossed off, but the Unicorn hero’s magic was also dispelled by a strong flick of Marevelous’s fetlock, but she remained in place, clearly seething despite facing away from the others. “We may not be part of a team, dear,” Radiance spoke, attempting to defuse the conflict between them all, “But I’m sure we’d all like you to not get hurt either.” A scoff came from the ever-so-snarky Zapp, who seemed to have recovered a bit, and she cut in, “I kinda do, maybe it’d help get that stick out of your—” BANG! The Pegasus was cut off when a loud sound snapped all of the Ponies’ attention across the room to a massive door, which had just gotten smashed in and propelled towards the heroines. Mistress Marevelous, being the closest to it, sharply brought up her forehooves just before the door slammed into her, managing to stop it in its tracks, and then she simply tossed it to the side, landing elsewhere with a loud, echoing thwam. With the door out of the way, the heroines were free to see many well-dressed Ponies skitter into the room and surround them, all in uniform under some more powerful Pony... who could have only been the Pony that strode into the room next... “Ehehehehe... So these are the Ponies who seek to stop me?” The mare’s voice rang out, sounding slightly raspy and broken, with a deranged confidence underneath. “You little fillies are nothing.. beneath my mane-levolence.” Gasps of shock could be heard from all the heroes as the villain came into full view, with each mare having their own outcry: A slightly disgusted ‘What the heck...’ from Marevelous, A somewhat awed, ‘Oh, woah,’ from Fili-Second, A bewildered, ‘What in the..?’ from Zapp, A scared, ‘Oh, dear...’ from the Rager, A irritated and deadpan, ‘That’s a horrible pun,’ from Matter-Horn, A blank and simply shocked, ‘Oh...’ from the little Humdrum, And a gaped, awed, and disbelieving, ‘My... word...’ from Radiance. But Radiance’s expression was not laced with any disgust—no, rather, it was from how beautiful she found the mare that stood before them. For, instead of simply standing on four legs like every other Pony in the room, this mare was held aloft in the air, with her mane and tail doing the work for her. The striking green hairs bound themselves into tendrils that sprung away from her body, covered in a tasteful, yet clearly malicious outfit, where some of them moved down to the floor and squished into it, spreading across the floor in a small area to attain balance, with the half-dozen tendrils that struck the floor keeping their master multiple meters above it. The mare looked quite mad with her wide, split-open grin, and her eyes were quite unique, with concentric irises of green and red, and her coat was a cold, yet soft purple, but her mane and tail stole the show. The tendrils were far longer than any mane should ever be, and they beheld a control as if they were limbs, able to hold the mare up and... likely also throw that door, as there was nothing else it sight that could’ve done that. The hairs themselves were spun together like a rope to form those tendrils, but many hairs were split off of them, wobbling in the air with a mind of their own. Radiance always loved a good mane, and took much time out of her day to maintain her own elegant style, but this... this... maniac’s mane was unruly, split and contorted, and used for evil. By all rights, it should have been disgusting to her, but the mane was also controlled, if only just barely, and very powerful, so perhaps it was inevitable that she’d see it as beautiful regardless. However, as all those aspects were bound together within that maelstrom of a mane, Radiance couldn’t help but start to see the madness itself as beautiful too... Perhaps... it was just the craze of a new, unique idea that was striking her, as any crazy idea would strike the runway and be the talk of all the papers for a time, but it would always fade back into a simple niche. But perhaps... it was something deeper than that, something that spoke to the mare under the mask, something... that her mind, mad in its own way, could only adore.
Chapter 2: Time and Time AgainIt had been some time since that fateful meeting, with the group of superheroines forming the now famous Power Ponies team, and the Mane-iac they fought quickly becoming their arch-rival. They had dealt with the villain several times, and thwarted her mane-brained schemes to… do whatever she was trying to do—the heroes did have their guesses, but with how the story seemed to change every time they met, they could never be certain. It was becoming somewhat rote at this point; notice suspicious behaviour and/or crimes relating to shampoo, investigate the problems back to their source, and finally fight through the waves of henchponies and defeat whatever mad and brilliant creation that the Mane-iac had cooked up that day. Each of the Power Ponies had their own opinion on the matter, and while Zapp and Fili-Second were simply content with the fighting and taunting the supervillain, the other heroes were different. Saddle Rager always preferred peace, and simply wanted the villain to behave herself so that Maretropolis could be more peaceful, though she wasn’t particularly engaged with fighting the mare herself—unless her alter ego came out to play, that was. Little Humdrum was really just afraid of all the chaos around the villain, wanting her to stop in one way or another so that things could return to normal, and Mistress Marevelous had expressed her annoyance at the Pony that caused so much trouble, and wanted to lock her away... But none of them compared to the rage beheld by Masked Matter-Horn. The Unicorn was a perfectionist and had some... unaddressed issues, but even knowing that didn’t prepare her teammates for how much of a seething rage she fell into when dealing with the supervillain. The crazy way Mane-iac sought to prank the team all across Maretropolis, for no reason other that just seeming to find it funny, was in direct opposition to the incredibly obsessive Matter-Horn, and she was horrible at withstanding the taunting the villainess often threw her way. She was easily driven to fight recklessly, and that was often the thing keeping her from actually stopping the villain herself, but she was still very keen on locking that mare away in Balkham Asylum for as long as physically possible. But as for where Radiance stood in all of this? Well, she enjoying the encounters just like Zapp and Fili, but her enjoyment was deeper than the simple pleasures of sparring with some well-dressed stallions. Instead, Radiance found herself so very attracted to the Mane-iac herself... Radiance was a mare of equal parts order and spontaneity, with her many schedules and plans, but easily falling into a craze about whatever the jewelry and fashion industry was into at the time. The Mane-iac was clearly much the same, as for all her insanities and the many ways they manifested, all of the technology she built, the chemicals she synthesized, and the operations she oversaw, they beheld a serious intellect and level of planning that no level of madness could account for. They were like two sides of a coin, with parts of them directly opposed, yet sharing quite a lot. But perhaps the greatest thing they shared was a mutual interest of theirs; manestyling. Radiance obviously put meticulous care into maintaining her immaculate mane and tail, careful to keep in clean while doing her heroics. Meanwhile, the Mane-iac often threw things around and smashed through walls with the tendrils of her mane, but she too made sure to keep her hairs cleaned after everything was said and done, which had first been discovered during a talk with the mare herself. And now, Radiance was seeing the process for herself. “Did I ever tell you how much I love your mane?” “Only every single time we meet, Radiance.” “Yes, well...” The heroine mumbled, her voice only heard by the one other Pony in the room with her; the dreaded Mane-iac herself, who was just... brushing her mane. “It’s a lovely mane.” The smile on the Mane-iac’s face widened a bit further at the comment, and she looked the other mare in the face, speaking in a more subdued tone than her usual mane-iacal one, but still sounding slightly scratchy and out of it, “You have to be the only mare in this whole city who cares about manes as much as I.” “That’s a high bar...” Radiance said in return, watching each stroke of the villain’s brush going through the lengthy strands of her mane. It was mesmerizing in a sense, and she had often found her endless brushing of her own mane to fade into the background of her morning routine while she busied herself with other aspects of it. Even with all that time spent taming, styling, and beautifying her mane... “Though I suppose nopony else could compare to all the machines you make related to them, and schemes you perform about them.” “Good, I would hate to be outclassed on my specialty,” The Mane-iac spoke back, sneering somewhat with a layer of anger on her face. “So many ponies wish they could have a mane like mine, but... they’d never treat it right. It’d just be... a h-hassle to them...” Her voice broke for a second, her eyes gaze turning distant, but just for a moment before she refocused and growled out, “A dumb tool they could never take care of, and never use properly. Just for petty stuff, not anything important, not anything it deserves.” The other mare stood silent for a moment, her eyes still watching the continuous loop of brushing through those endless green hairs, but her mind was a bit taken by the villain’s words. “Is that why you do this, dear...?” She mumbled thoughtfully, but loudly enough for the villain herself to hear, “Is this all just because ponies don’t care for their manes?” A loud bark of a laugh escaped the Mane-iac, “HA! You really think it’s so simple, little filly!?” She shouted with her mad grin splitting open her face, her crazed eyes boring into the other Pony, “You think you can understand me?!” A slow, chilling laugh bubbled its way out of her throat, and she moved forward towards Radiance, her much taller form bearing down over her, fear seeping into the smaller mare’s wide eyes. “I am.. the Mane-iac... I am madness and evil... I wreak havoc across this city for reasons beyond your punitive mind’s comprehension. They are everything and nothing at the same time, all the fools that fill this place must be taught and punished... and they will tremble before my power as I take control of this entire city! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Radiance stood beneath the mare, and tried to keep herself calm; for all the peaceful talking she had with the Pony, said Pony was still a supervillain, and had been able to take out the entire group of all six Power Ponies with barely an effort multiple times. She was dangerous, but... Radiance still knew that she wasn’t pure evil, and had a heart underneath it all. And, well... with how much taller the mare was, standing over the hero with her mane going wild, blocking out what little moonlight seeped into the building they stood within, her entire being seeming as a force of nature, untamable and beyond understanding... Radiance’s heart was beating faster for more reasons that just fear. ...clack! The sharp sound of something striking the floor suddenly snapped both mares’ attention away from the Mane-iac’s mane-iacal laughter, and down to the manebrush that had slipped out of the villain’s tendril that held it. They both stood silent for a time, the moment utterly broken by the intrusion, but Radiance’s mind was quickly filled with the idea of grabbing the brush and using it on the other Pony’s mane... Doing it with her own mane could be rather soothing, after all, so what about another Pony’s, much longer and more magical mane? Radiance’s legs started moving before her brain could even catch up, taking her a couple paces over to right beside the Mane-iac, and she picked the brush up off the floor. Looking up and over at the villainess, who was looking back down at her with an unreadable expression, the smaller mare raised the brush towards the Mane-iac’s namesake and timidly asked of her, “Ah... May I..?” After another moment of that unreadable stare, the villain then squinted in suspicion at the hero, but did soon enough nod in consent. Giving a small smile in return, Radiance rose the brush further and pressed it into the other mare’s mane, its many bristles sinking between the innumerable green strands, and when the Unicorn pulled the brush downward, those bristles pulled through the strands, straightening them out and removing and detritus that had been left stuck inside. And, when the brush got stuck every now and then, she pulled a bit harder to break the small knots that had formed in the villain’s wild mane. Radiance slowly sat down while she continued to work through the mane, continuously stroking through the lengthy tendrils on loop, and evidently, the actions were soothing to the owner of that mane as well, who let out a soft sigh and sat down too. “You...” The Mane-iac mumbled, her tone distant and thoughtful, as if she was simply talking to herself, “You might have a place the other Ponies don’t... You’d do better as a servant for me than a lowly peon...” Smiling a little brighter, the heroine couldn’t help but find the speech endearing, with the soft side of the mane-iacal supervillain coming out from simply brushing through her mane. But, a slight dusting of pink came across Radiance’s yellow cheeks as she imagined the situation, where the villain only seemed to want her to help clean her mane, and thus the hero was left in a maid dress within a bathroom alongside the villain, dunking her mane in a tub of shampoo and rigorously washing through its incredible length... Radiance sighed, slightly mournful that those events would never come to be; she had come to this building with her team, after all, and they were to deal with the villain before her. And they would manage, as they always have, but... the heroine couldn’t help but savour these small moments where she could see beyond the veil of simple madness on the Mane-iac, and she truly wished she could dive deeper into a relationship with her...
Chapter 3: Twisted in KnotsMore months went by, and more times Radiance met with the Mane-iac. The encounters barely changed, with the notable exception of the villain intentionally separating out the Power Ponies more often, just to get some more alone time with the only one of them that she respected. Every meeting between them warmed Radiance up to the other mare even more, and from how tender those green tendrils stroked across her face, it was obvious the Mane-iac felt the same. However, they were not the only two Ponies affected by their moments together, as the rest of the Power Ponies definitely took notice of all that time the two spent alone. It started as mere suspicion that the villain wanted something out of Radiance, but when the hero repeatedly came out unscathed and happy, of all emotions, the team began to think there was something more at play. The team met a few times, omitting the heroine they were skeptical of, and came to the conclusion that Radiance was flirting with the dreaded Mane-iac! It was only the respectful and gossipy nature of Saddle Rager that Radiance even knew of what was happening behind her very back, and she swiftly took offense towards being left out like that, especially when they could have simply asked her what she was doing with the Mane-iac. Multiple times, she attempted to speak to the other members of her team about them talking behind her back, but each time, they brushed her off and seemed to grow somewhat more bitter towards her. Well, only some of the team actually seemed to be particularly bitter about it. Zapp often shrugged Radiance off with whatever excuse she could pull out of her plot, not really liking spending time with someone so different, and Fili-Second seemed rather guilty about having to hide stuff from her, but still didn’t help settle anything. Humdrum was always slippery and good at avoiding stuff, but Mistress Marevelous simply gave Radiance a judgemental look whenever the idea was brought up. Masked Matter-Horn though... looked horribly offended and talked down the other mare, speaking as if she was violating some sacrosanct commandment by ‘getting close with the enemy’. Needless to say, Radiance was quite annoyed by it all, and was going to bring an end to it. Thankfully, all that took was a little more gossip from her friend Rager, and she was in. “If you wished to talk about a lady’s love life, you should ask first, you know!” She shouted into the main room of the Power Ponies HQ as she stormed in, all the rest of the team—bar Rager, who was expecting it, and Humdrum, who wasn’t even there—looking shocked at the sudden interruption. That shock quickly turned into anger for Masked Matter-Horn, and she shouted back in offense, “So you are flirting with her!” “Yes I am,” Radiance replied, somewhat exasperated by the accusation, “But I can’t say I understand why you are so... passionate about the matter.” “Wha—” Matter-Horn sputtered, then a growl escaped her before she yelled, “WHY WOULDN’T I BE!?” The rest of the Power Ponies left a gap within their huddle-up circle for Radiance to trot into, but not simply to let the two mares argue. “I mean, it’s not that big a deal, right?” Zapp muttered dubiously, looking between her arguing teammates, “We always get rid of the dang Mane-iac in the end, so no harm done, yeah?” “So far, Zapp,” Matter-Horn seethed back, glaring out behind those goggles that Radiance still could never take seriously, “We’ve only managed to stop her so far, and I’d much rather have my whole team fighting against that villain!” “Aw, come on, Masky!” Fili-Second chimed with a roll of her eyes, zipping over to the Unicorn and patting her head, “Rady and Mane-y just want have some fun! And,” She added when the angry mare swatted the hoof off her head and opened her mouth to shout back, “Rady is keeping the ‘big, nasty, Mane-iac’—” She spoke with an exaggerated pout, “—Busy, so that’s gotta be a good thing!” Matter-Horn kept glaring back at Fili, and pushed her away before shooting back to the whole group, “And yet, we always have to defeat her anyway, even if to just get our supposed teammate back.” “Oh, don’t be so rude, please,” Saddle Rager spoke up, her tone quiet and rather disappointed, “I don’t know why the Mane-iac gets you so aggravated, but take it from me, you really ought to calm down a bit, dear.” “Why wouldn’t I be...” Masked Matter-Horn repeated, her tone blank this time, and her face fell. “Why am I.. the only one taking this seriously.” Glancing up, her eyes flitted between the rest of the team; the carefree Zapp, the jolly Fili, the taciturn Rager... and the oddly silent Marevelous. “Miss Marevelous,” She begun, pointedly speaking to the mare in question, “You’re a lawyer, and you actually take stuff seriously. Tell me you see an actual problem here.” Mistress Marevelous looked back with a raised eyebrow, giving a slightly judgemental look for the way she was being talked to. “‘Problem’?” She repeated quizzically, then closed her eyes and sighed. “There’s a lotta problems right now. That danged Mane-iac’s always got a million goons ta spring on us, and who knows what crazy thingamajig she’ll have cooked up in a week. Got some other dimwits knockin’ stuff down every now an’ then, and that ‘Maximum Security’ prison never keeps ‘em for long. And all y’all...” She threw a look across the entire rest of the team, “Are more worried ‘bout Radiance gettin’ kissy with Mane-iac.” The other Power Ponies looked between themselves for a moment, seeming uncertain of what to make of that speech, but Matter-Horn settled on it not being enough. “I’m worried about her being too distracted to actually help the rest of us out, Marevelous,” She spoke irately, glaring at the other mare, “And against a monster that keeps terrorizing this city for Faust knows why, that’s kind of a problem.” “‘Terrorizin’?” Marevelous asked, quirking her head as nonplussed as ever, “‘Monster’?” She shook her head, and leveled a look at the angry Unicorn, and spoke candidly, “I ain’t a fan of that mare either, but she ain’t pure evil. Those goons of hers are doin’ just fine, not starvin’ or sleep-deprived, even. Sure, she wrecks a lotta stuff in our fights, but we ain’t much better,” She gave a pointed look at Zapp, Rager, and Matter-Horn; the former looked away guiltily, the second morosely lowered her head, but the final only pursed her lips for a second. “I’ll say it again; I ain’t a fan of that mare,” The Earth Pony spoke, keeping control as best she could while the other heroes listened, “But ya gotta admit, she’s a lot better a nemesis than anything we coulda got. Madame Mystery keeps foalnappin’ Ponies fer her dumb riddles, Pharoah with all his mummies that freak everypony out... ya get the point. Mane-iac’s nuts, but the most she does is destroy a shipment or muss up some Ponies’ manes.” An annoyed sigh came from Matter-Horn, and she retorted, “I get that, but she’s not exactly helping matters any. And nor is you—” She threw a sharp look at Radiance, “—Constantly trying to get in her suit.” A scandalous, slightly ashamed giggle bubbled out of Radiance herself, and she muttered back, “I’m not going that far, dear. I-it’s just—” “Gal, hush,” Mistress Marevelous snipped, cutting the other Pony off with a deadpan gaze, then turning it back to Matter-Horn (while pointedly ignoring the muffled laughter of the other heroines). “One thing I’ve learned from bein’ around for a while is that crime is gonna happen, no matter whatcha do. Supervillains or nah, Ponies are gonna get up to stuff, and we oughtta be thankful the biggest chunk of crime is coming out of somepony so harmless. And...” She added with a sigh, looking silently over at Radiance for a second, “Well, ya might be owing that harmlessness to somepony keepin’ her happy.” A wide smile and mild blush grew on that Unicorn’s face, but it wasn’t allowed to get too far before Marevelous cut in, “But! That’s only if ya ain’t doing other stuff with her, like givin’ her vital information.” Her deadpan stare was becoming scathing, and her subdued tone scary as she spoke, “If we catch wind of you actually helping the mare cause problems, then... we gonna have issues, ya hear?” “O-of course,” Radiance stuttered back, for she too, was intent on keeping the relationship strictly personal and not causing problems.
Chapter 4: Causing ProblemsAlarms blared throughout the building, echoing through its many expansive halls. They were an ugly noise, with no respect for the ears as they screamed ‘DANGER’ to anypony within. The sounds rung through the Power Ponies’ heads as they stormed inside, having been pinged about what happened just a short while ago, and hurried over as fast as they could go. The Balkham Asylum was experiencing a massive breakout, with the dozens of supervillains locked away in what effectively was a maximum security prison smashing their way out of their cells and beating down any guards that tried to contain them. Each one may not have been a major threat on their own, but with a groups of them forming, the Power Ponies were going to need to have all hooves on deck, spread out across the entire building to have a chance of managing things. Fili-Second was eager to take on the many villains that used supplementary tools to their advantage, and were generally useless on their own. Mistress Marevelous and Saddle Rager were forced to tag-team the sized-up few that roamed around, the former tying them up with her lasso and the latter just beating them unconscious. Zapp had her work cut out for her on the base-level villains, with all their abilities putting the simple control of weather to the test. Masked Matter-Horn wanted to bee-line it for the bottom of the complex, taking on the worst villains the team had ever faced, but she was beaten to the punch by Radiance, instead leaving the other Unicorn to deal with the tricksters, which may not have been the best idea, given her temperament... And, all things considered, it wasn’t looking like the best idea for Radiance to go after those dastardly supervillains, either. She certainly had her own reasons for going down there, and was thankful her teammates were too preoccupied to question her judgement—especially considering how unsurprised she seemed by the breakout—but it was looking like a horrible idea after all, with how exhausted and pained she now was, a full quartet of the worst beings she had even seen: Black Hook, a pirate with an affinity for grappling and slingshotting via his magic, Crystal King, a corrupted noble capable of sprouting massive crystals on a whim, Nega-Second, a antithetical parody of one of the Power Ponies wielding the same powers, And the One-Eyed-Wonder, who used every spell and tool in the book to deceive and manipulate his way into fame. However, not one of them would get a chance to lay their hooves on her, for not one of them were more dangerous than the reason Radiance ventured down there in the first place... A pair of hooks was nothing to endless green tendrils that trapped them, Walls of crystals were never seamless, and could be gripped and shattered with enough strength, Lightning speed could get tripped up in a see of threads given enough time, And tricks were useless against someone so utterly unpredictable. Those four villains were slammed back into their cages and left knocked out, a trembling, beaten Radiance quivering in the cold, isolated hallway, with her mind only able to perk up out of terror when a soft something stroked against her face. Looking up, a shuddering sob wracked through her from sheer relief as the Mane-iac stood before her, a small frown on her face, clearly attempting to work through her emotions in spite of her mental instability. The villainess stook to silence as the tendrils of her mane wrapped around the shivering heroine, and carefully picked her up in their hold. “What have you gotten yourself into this time, my.. partner in crime..?” She spoke, her tone soft despite the typical crackling of her voice. She held the other mare close within her mane where she herself stood on her bare hooves, bereft of her usual supervillain outfit, exposing all her purple, dry fur for the other mare to see. “I thought you were controlled, my Radiance.” Loud, shaky breaths came from Radiance herself as she tried to get her breathing under control, but it was broken up by a short laugh, where she then replied weakly, “I am... n-not the best with technology, I’m afraid, dear... beloved.” The Mane-iac’s mouth upturned into a smile, which quickly grew back into her face-splitting grin. “I could teach you a thing or two, you know. If we were around each other more, we could have as much time as we wanted...” She trailed suggestively, and slid the tip of one of her mane-tendrils down the Unicorn’s face, brushing through the cleaner mare’s softer coat. “Oh, how I wish...” Radiance returned, losing herself for a moment as she locked eyes with those of her manic amore... But she did manage to clear her rough throat and continue, “There are a... great m-many villains that always need to be c-cleaned up. Even you, a little,” She ended with a little teasing smile. “Besides...” She further went on, her smile turning slightly regretful, but no less honest, “The Power Ponies are.. my friends. I cannot sooner abandon them for you than you for them.” A rough noise escaped the Mane-iac, a mix of a scoff and short laugh, sounding slightly bitter but still humoured, “You heroes and your altruism... Would it kill you to let yourselves go for once?” A slow, light laugh left the other mare, and she answered, “Love, I’ve been letting myself go every moment I spend with you.” That statement rewarded her with a pleasant blush on the dark cheeks of the Mane-iac and her unable to reply for a few lovely seconds, but it did soon end when the villain pulled her gaze away in embarrassment. “The only time we get together is...” She mumbled, sounding a tad down and uncertain, “Well, when we’re supposed to be fighting. I would love to be able to smack around those friends of yours a little more, but I never really get the chance, now do I!?” She turned back and leveled the accusation at the other Pony, but even she couldn’t help the limited seriousness in her tone. Radiance sighed, a little dreamily and a little exasperated. “Well,” She murmured, looking around and shifting herself in her love’s grasp, grimacing a bit from the lingering pain, “I suppose our plan may still succeed, and we’ll have a while to ourselves then, hmm?” “Hmph, knowing them, a ‘while’ would be barely a week...” The Mane-iac scoffed and retorted with annoyance, and while the other mare frowned and slowly reached a hoof towards the villainess’s face to try and comfort her, the Mane-iac snorted and spoke, “No matter. I’ll take care of them soon enough. With them out of my way, every Pony in this city will bow to my will—including any other pesky heroes and villains!” Her manic grin split her face face, and her body trembled under a wracking laughter that was beginning to bubble out of her, “Hehehe... “But I can’t forget about you...” She went on, her expression softening only a little as she looked down at the mare in her grasp, “No; when this world bows under me, you will be by my side, my Radiance... Hahahaha...” Her laughter bubbled up again, and this time it took full force within her, forcing her head to lean back as she cackled her notorious and mane-iacal laughter to the heavens, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Radiance sighed in that mix of sweet and sour again, watching her star-crossed love laugh her mind away... She knew she may never get the mare to care for the hero’s own friends as much as the hero did, but just because there was no perfection on the horizon didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the time they had together.
