Manes and Mayhem

Alarms 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.