//------------------------------//
// S4 E6: Power Ponies (What If?) - Redo 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 17 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Spike opened his eyes very slowly. Something about his surroundings didn't seem right. But why that was, he couldn't tell. He stood up, quickly realizing that he was in some sort of costume. He now had a black mask across his eyes, and had blue gloves covering his claws. He had also had a long, flowing cape colored a bright shade of red. Why did that outfit feel so familiar to him?

The little dragon observed his surroundings. Instead of seeing any familiar outlines of Ponyville, or Canterlot, or any other place he remembered being, he instead saw a darkened sky over an unfamiliar city landscape. There were skyscrapers jutting high into the sky over a purple colored fog. Blimps flew by overhead. And just across a city street from Spike's point of view, there was an old building that looked like some sort of museum. "Wait...!" It dawned him on all of a sudden where he probably was. "Is this... Maretropolis?"

"Ah, there you are, Hum-Drum," An unfamiliar voice called out from the blue. "Now, what's this all about? Why did you ask us to meet you here?"

Spike turned around slowly, and what he saw when he did so made him gasp! Six ponies who vaguely resembled his friends were all standing on a rooftop with him. But these ponies were wearing costumes, albeit ones he realized were vaguely familiar to him.

From left to right the six ponies appeared as follows: First up was a unicorn mare who looked like Twilight but with a pink coat and a two shaded purple mane and tail. She was wearing a suit that stretched from her legs up to her chest, it was a majestic shade of magenta, except for the neck collar which was an icy blue in color. Her face was covered by a mask the same shade of magenta as her suit, with a pair of yellow colored goggles to match.

Next was an earth pony mare looking like Pinkie Pie, but with an almost alien looking green coat. She had pink eyes, and wore a suit that was white with pink streeks all throughout it.

Then there was a pegasus mare similar in appearance to Rainbow Dash, but with an icy white coat, cold blue eyes, and an icy blue mane and tail styled into a mohawk. She was wearing a black suit with a lightning bolt shaped pendant that hung on her neck. And her front hooves appeared to have gloves with lightning bolt symbols stitched onto them.

After that was a brilliant yellow coated unicorn mare similar in appearance to Rarity. She sported emerald green eyes, a sapphire blue mane and tail, and wore a costume that was a dark blue in color and covered in diamonds. Her mane and tail also had diamonds in them. She also had a dark blue mask that was not covered in diamonds, and a small yellow collar with a light purple diamond on it. On her front legs rested two purple diamond shaped charm bracelets.

There was also an earth pony mare who resembled Applejack, but had a pale white coat. This mare's eyes were yellow in color and looked full of anger. She had a dark blue mane and tail, and her costume was a  suit that was dark red in color, which matched nicely with her dark brown boots and mask, as well as her dark green harness that held a gold colored lasso. The back half of her mane and all of her tail were protected by a green tube of some kind.

And finally, there was a pegasus mare similar in stature to Fluttershy. But this mare's coat was bluish-green. She had yellow eyes, and a golden mane and tail. She was wearingforest green suit with flowers stitched onto the front legs. Her face was protected by a purple mask, which matched the purple collar she was wearing.

"Holy new personas, ponies!" Spike exclaimed in disbelief! This was too good to be true! "You're the... the Power Ponies! Masked Matter-Horn! Fili-Second! Zapp! Radiance! Mistress Mare-velous! Saddle Rager!"

Masked Matter-Horn firmly nodded. "Yes, that's us. We haven't forgotten," Then she asked (her tone of voice sounding nothing strangely like Twilight's but more heroic). "Are you okay, Hum-Drum? Did you hit your head or something?"

"What?! I'm... Hum-Drum?" Spike blinked in disbelief. Apparently, such a thought had never occurred to him until just now. Yet it would explain the outfit he was wearing. Hum-Drum was part of the Power Ponies, even if he tended to not do much.

But before the little dragon could process what was happening, there was a loud boom! Looking across the street from the roof he was on, Spike (along with the Power Ponies) saw a wall of the museum come crumbling down. From the wreckage emerged a purple coated earth pony mare with a green colored, tentacle like mane. She was wearing a dark purple suit, and her mane had grown so long she was able to use it to lift her body off the ground. In her hooves, she held an orb that seemed to be made of flowing electricity.

"Well well," The tentacle maned mare declared with a wicked cackle. "If it isn't the Power Ponies. What an unexpected surprise."

Spike gulped as he found himself suddenly about to be caught up in a battle between the Power Ponies and their arch nemesis. He was thinking to himself, wondering how he'd ended up in this situation and how he might get out. What he didn't suspect that there was a role he was to play in this unfolding story, a very important role at that.



Masked Matter-Horn was the first to identify the tentacled maned mare that had just emerged from the rubble. "The Mane-iac!" She turned to Spike. "Looks like you were right, Hum-Drum.  The Mane-iac is indeed after the Electro-Orb," Then she grinned. "But her luck ends here! I'll be the one to take her down!"

Mistress Mare-velous snarled and grit her teeth. "Oh yeah, hot shot?" Her voice sounded much more harsh and unfriendly than anything Applejack ever said. "And how are you gonna do that, oh fearless leader?" It was clear from her tone of voice that she was mocking the unicorn.

Masked Matter-Horn simply rolled her eyes. "Just stand back and watch. This won't take long." Soon, she had lit up her horn, concentrating an enormous amount of power into the tip of it. A big ball of ice seemed to be forming, growing larger by the second.

Yet Fili-Second refused to stay in place. "This is no fun! I'm out of here!" And she took off in a blur, leaving a bright streak of light behind her as she rushed down to street level. Her voice sounded like Pinkie Pie's, except much faster and much higher pitched.

"Typical," Zapp rolled her eyes, sounding like Rainbow Dash but with a much deeper tone of voice. "Fili-Second never stand still for anything," She sighed. "I'll go fetch her. Then I'm coming back to take down The Mane-iac, or whatever's left of her." She flew away with a flap of her wings.

Radiance then saw fit to interrupt, her voice sounded like Rarity's but far less elegant and refined. "Do you always have to hog all the glory, Masked Matter-Horn? Why not let me do the honors for once? At least my powers don't take forever to charge up," She touched her charm bracelet, causing a purplish-pink glow that soon morphed into a pair of comically large scissors. "With my powers, I'll cut that overgrown mane of hers down to size!"

"Just let Masked Matter-Horn do her thing," Saddle Rager groaned, sounding like a far less gentle and forgiving Fluttershy. "At least I don't have to worry about using my powers. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Of course, as the Power Ponies all grumbled and argued among themselves, The Mane-iac was not just standing around. She swung towards a nearby light post, all the while taunting. "Come on, Power Ponies. At least try to make this entertaining. Otherwise, I'll have hired these henchponies for no reason at all." And several stallions wearing orange jumpsuits appeared at her side.

At last, Masked Matter-Horn felt she had built up enough power in her horn. She hurled the blast through the air, right towards where she was certain The Mane-iac would be!

Alas, the blast did not hit its intended target. Instead, a rather frustrated Filli-Second yelped out! "Hey! You're not supposed to hit me!"

Mistress Mare-velous rolled her eyes once again. "Leave it to a bunch of rank amateurs to mess up the obvious," She sighed. "I'll handle this. With my trusty golden lasso, evil-doers will cower before me!" She proceeded to unfurl said golden lasso, which began to shine brightly.

Radiance smiled, then in a somewhat condescending tone of voice she said to Masked Matter-horn. "A valiant effort. But you'd best leave this to the professionals. Some of us are just born lucky." And she trotted forward, still brandishing her magic scissors.

Even Saddle Rager seemed to have no sympathy for Masked Matter-horn. "What, you actually want me to fight all the bad guys? You know what happens when I get mad, don't you? Or are we trying to put The Mane-iac in the hospital, not jail?"

"Well if I had peace and quiet, I could easily pull off my spells perfectly!" Masked Matter-horn snapped back, and then grumbled. "But go ahead, all of you do your own thing. See if I care! You never wanna listen to me, not even when you know I'm right."

Meanwhile, up in the sky, Zapp removed the pendant from around her neck. "Just leave everything to me. I've got just the thing to blow these evil doers away!" She held it up to the sky! "It's time to rain down justice!" Storm clouds suddenly materialized overhead in an ominous fashion, lightning flashing and thunder rolling!

While all of this was going on, Spike had not so secretly slipped away from the bickering and arguing among the Power Ponies. He had made his way down to the streets of Maretropolis, and was trying to sneak up behind The Mane-iac and steal the Electro-Orb while she was distracted. All the while, he was trying to remember how he'd gotten into this situation. How he'd ended up in the world of the Power Ponies.





The last thing the little dragon could remember was a memory from not too long ago. It had been at night, late at night in fact. But although he had climbed into his little basket next to Twilight's bed, he had not gone to sleep. He was instead reading through the pages of a comic book, making use of a small lamp to provide illumination so that he could see the text on the pages.

Twilight had groaned, sitting up in her bed and opening her eyes due to the bright light breaking up the darkness in her room. "Spike, it's late! You should be going to sleep!" She had scolded him!

But Spike had protested. "Aw, just two more minutes, Mom. Please?" And he had then pleaded his case. "I'm just getting to the really good part! The Mane-iac is about to-"

At that the young alicorn had blinked her sleepy eyes in confusion. "Who's 'The Mane-iac'?"

Holding up the pages of his comic so that Twilight could see them more clearly, Spike had explained as best he could. "The Power Ponies' most evil arch nemesis!" Flipping through the pages, he showed off images of a pink coated earth pony falling off a railing and into a vat of chemicals as electrical wires surged ominously through it. When she emerged, her coat had been turned dark purple, her mane was now a sickly shade of green and had electricity flowing through it. Her eyes were now a blood red, and she had the most ominous looking smile on her face. "She was once the power-mad owner of a hair-care product company in Maretropolis. A tragic accident at her shampoo factory not only gave her mane strange new powers, but also caused her to go completely insane!"

"Sounds almost like some of the evils my friends and I have had to face," Twilight had replied, and had then added in a sweet tone of voice. "Believe me, Spike, if anypony understands what it's like to caught up in a really good book, it's me. But you really need to go to sleep. And so do I. I need to rest if I'm gonna help my friends fix up the Castle of the Two Sisters like we all agreed to do. We're hoping we can eventually turn it into a museum or something."

Then the little dragon had added his own sentiment. "Oh, I'd almost forgotten about that," With a sigh he had lamented. "It's too bad you won't let me help you. I know I can be a big help if you just let me."

"The castle is still very dangerous," Twilight had tried to explain to the little dragon. "And still full of those booby traps Celestia and Luna set up. It's going to be a while before we can dismantle them and ensure the castle isn't in danger of further collapse. I don't wanna risk anything happening to you. I'll be able to concentrate better knowing you're safe at home. Besides, you'll have the day off. You'll be able to do whatever you want."

Sensing that he wasn't going to change Twilight's mind, Spike had reluctantly relented. "Fine," Then he had pouted. "Can you at least let me see how this story ends? I really am getting to the good part," And he had explained while holding up more pages with illustrations. "The Mane-iac's planning to break into the Maretropolis Metropolitian Museum to steal the Electro-Orb. She's going to use it to power up a doomsday device! And if the Power Ponies don't stop her in time, Maretropolis will be doomed!" But then he had frowned. "Of course, The Mane-iac never would've even know about the Electro-Orb if Hum-Drum hadn't slipped up and told her all about it. He always does things like that."

"Who's Hum-Drum?" Twilight had wondered.

With another groan, Spike had pointed to a picture of a sea green coated earth pony colt with a greenish-yellow mane and tail all poofy. He was wearing the very attire Spike would find himself wearing a short time later. "That's Hum-Drum! The guy in the cape and the boots. He has no super powers at all. He did early on, but they took them away from him and made him into a completely useless sidekick. All he ever does is slip up and tell the bad guys everything. Then he just sits back and acts as the team's moral support while the Power Ponies do all the real work."

The young alicorn had then reluctantly agreed to Spike's earlier demand. "Fine, I guess you can stay up. But only for two more minutes, that's it. When those two minutes are up, it's bed time! Understand?"

"Yes!" Spike had happily agreed, and had spent the next two minutes reading as much of the story as he could. Yet he did not recall being able to finish it before going to bed. And that was the very last thing he remembered.





Spike was snapped back to his current reality by a sudden, auidble roar of the wind! Looking up, he was horrified to see a huge tornado bearing down on him! He was pretty sure he knew where it had come from. "Zapp! What are you doing?! We don't need a tornado!" He hollored, in order to be overheard amidst the roar of the wind. Only after he'd said that did he realize he'd unintentionally given away his position, right before he tripped over his cape.

The Mane-iac picked up the Electro-Orb with a hoof as she looked "Hum-Drum" deep in the eyes. She apparently didn't recognize that he was a dragon, not a pony. "Oh my, how very careless of me to leave this lying around," She cackled. "Thank you for calling my attention to it, Hum-Drum. I would've hated to leave this behind and look like a fool."

"What?! I... I can't be Hum-Drum!" Spike had stuttered in disbelief, even though deep down he realized that was probably who he was given his current attire.

The Mane-iac just grinned as she held onto the Electro-Orb, and used her mane to swing to another lamp post. "I know what you're trying to accomplish. Your little 'slip-up' was intentional. You want to use me to show those pathetic Power Ponies what they can do when they all work together. Well don't mind me, I'm flipping this script! The only role I am going to play is the role of this city's conquerer! But don't worry, I'll be sure to save you a front row seat to your own destruction," She then gave a whistle to her henchponies. "Come on, boys. We got what we need! Let's leave those rancid do-gooders to clean up their own mess."

"Yes, ma'am!" The henchponies saluted, and those that could fight against the strong winds followed after the villain as she swung out of sight.

Meanwhile, the tornado had reached the still frozen Fili-Second's position. Despite the ice binding her hooves to the ground, the tornado was able to lift her into its vortex with the greatest of ease. "Hey! This is not how I like to party!" Fili-Second complained as she was spun around every which way! "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Well if you would just hold still for five seconds instead of always running around, this wouldn't be a problem!" Zapp protested. "It's not my fault you're so impatient, Filli-Second."

Mistress Mare-velous, for her part, just threw her golden lasso at the tornado. "Don't mind me. I'll just hogtie this here twister. I knew you'd find a way to mess this up, Zapp. If you would just let me handle the villains, we'd be much more successful." Her lasso quickly took hold of the tornado, pulling it close and yanking it up into the clouds.

"Ooh! I like your thinking, Mistress Mare-velous!" Radiance chimed in as she clapped her hooves. "But we need to actually get rid of the tornado, not just take it off the streets," She smiled. "Fortunately, I know just the solution." Soon, her charm bracelet glowed again. In place of scissors, she was now holding aloft huge ice cubes.

But before the ice cubes could be dropped into the funnel, Masked Matter-Horn launched an icy cold blast from her horn straight at the tornado. That did the trick, the tornado dispersed at once.

Fili-Second was brought out of the sky on a magical carpet generated by Radiance. "Don't say I never did anything nice for you, Fili-Second. But now you owe me the next time we get into a fight."

"Whatever." Filli-Second rolled her eyes as she jumped off the cart and started prancing again.

Masked Matter-Horn could only sigh and shake her head from side to side. "Well, The Mane-iac got away, again. I'm starting to wonder why I ever put up with you girls. You're always making a mess of things."

Saddle Rager then questioned. "Uh, not to interrupt, but has anypony seen Hum-Drum? He's been acting awfully weird since we started battling The Mane-iac," She put a hoof to her chin. "You don't think he's secretly working for her in the hopes she'll give him super powers or something, right?"

Masked Matter-Horn immediately snapped in a bitter tone of voice! "Don't you dare question his loyalty! You know he's been our biggest supporter since day one. Without him, we wouldn't even still be a team," She stomped a hoof down. "Come on, let's go find him and make sure he's okay. You know he doesn't like it when we fight."





Spike was now glumly starring down at the ground, holding up his gloved claws and lamenting to himself. "Why? Hum-Drum's always useless. He doesn't have super powers."

Masked Matter-Horn trotted over to Spike, also not appearing to notice who he was. "You know we've talked about this," She said in a sympathetic tone. "Super powers or not, you'll always have a place on our team. We wouldn't be who we are without you. I'm sure you're telling The Mane-iac about the Electro-Orb was an honest slip up. It happens to the best of us."

Mistress Mare-velous was not so convinced. "You give him way too much credit, Matter-Horn. Some of us think we could do just fine without him around."

Masked Matter-Horn stepped in front of Spike, blocking him from the other Power Ponies as they started to gather around. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me! Hum-Drum is not our enemy. You know that!"

Storm snorted. "Yeah? Well just because he's not our enemy doesn't mean he doesn't know a thing or two that could be useful to us."

Fili-Second then impatiently demanded. "What do you know about The Mane-iac?! Where's she taking that Electro-Orb?! What's she planning to do with it?! Tell us now!"

"We'll make it worth your while," Radiance insisted with a wink. "Surely, you've longed for a vacation to somewhere far away. That can be arranged. We can manage without you if you help us out this one time."

And Saddle Rager insisted with a smile that was anything but pleasant. "You might as well confess. It'd be a shame to find out our biggest supporter isn't being truthful with us when we need it most."

Spike gulped as beads of sweat started to form on his face and trickle down. "P-please, don't hurt me!" He whimpered! "I... I think I know what The Mane-iac's going to do!"

"You do?!" The Power Ponies all gasped in unison.

Spike nodded, recalling his knowledge from reading the comic book. At least he still had that on him. "Yes," He shut his eyes, trying to remember. "I... I think she's gonna take it to her top-secret headquarters! That's where she's building her doomsday device."

Mistress Mare-velous smiled and looked across to Masked Matter-Horn. "Doesn't take much to get him to do what we want," Then she boasted. "Taking down that doomsday device will be a piece of cake! Then we'll put The Mane-iac in her place."

"Well, you'd better be quick about it," The little dragon nervously replied. "The Electro-Orb is like a super battery. It's an unlimited energy source, it'll never run out of power."

"Great! Lead the way, Hum-Drum!" Mistress Mare-velous insisted.

And Zapp then boasted. "Then leave the rest to us superheroes."

Sighing, Spike reluctantly set off down the empty streets of Maretropolis, and the Power Ponies followed not far behind him.





Building after building and street after street passed by as Spike led the Power Ponies along. It seemed like it was only the blink of an eye before they had reached their destination. Rounding a corner of one drab and empty building, Spike brought up a claw and motioned for all of the Power Ponies to be silent.

An inconspicuous looking factory with a worn out neon sign and a door that could quickly be rolled up if activated stood just across the street. Yet from the windows, it was possible to notice a strange glow on the inside.

"A shampoo factory... why am I not surprised?" The Masked Matter-Horn snorted and appeared to chuckle.

Mistress Mare-velous just snarled coldly in reply. "I could've told you a place like this would be where we'd find The Mane-iac. She's never been one for subtlety."

Fili-Second began grinning from ear to ear. "So just say the word, Matter-Horn. I'm itching for action!"

But Masked Matter-Horn shook her head from side to side and protested. "No. Let's be smart about this. We're gonna sneak inside and steal back the Electro-Orb. Then we'll take care of The Mane-iac. Got it?" She then gave a whistle. "Zapp! Go fly around and see if you can find some kind of back entrance. The rest of you just stay close."

"Yes sir, boss." Zapp appeared to taunt, before flying away to do as instructed.

Spike just sighed. "Well, guess there's nothing more for me to do but hang back here and let you all do your thing. I'll just... stand over to the side, cheering you all on."

"Yes, go do that," Fili-Second firmly insisted. "The Mane-iac won't know what hit her! We'll take care of this, just like we always have, Hum-Drum. Nice to see you can take a hint."

"Just make sure no one gets in my way if I get angry!" Saddle Rager warned. "Because we all remember what happened last time. It wasn't pretty."

Radiance sighed and rolled her eyes. "Must you always insist on bringing that up, Saddle Rager? It seems like you're always trying to hold back your anger. If you'd just let it out from time to time, we'd be in much better shape. We can't all be like me and have functioning accessories."

"Or be like me and have a golden lasso you're telepathically connected to," Mistress Mare-velous boasted. "Compare that to Little Miss. Fussy Britches over," She pointed at Masked Matter-Horn. "She can barely get her horn to do what she wants it to do."

"I heard that!" Masked Matter-Horn snapped. "If you all think you can do better when we're up against threats like The Mane-iac, I'd like to see you try! Really, I would."

Just then, there came the loud blaring of a security alarm. And a rather startled looking Zapp came flying back to the other Power Ponies.

Masked Matter-Horn groaned and put a hoof to her forehead. "What did you do this time, Zapp?! Can't you do anything right?!"

"It's not my fault,I swear!" Zapp roared in response. "How was I supposed to know The Mane-iac had every door and window wired to a security system? Is she that paranoid?!"

Mistress Mare-velous just grit her teeth and stomped her hooves down. "Whatever. Looks like we're in for a fight!" She put her front hooves together. "I've been waiting a long time to say this: Time to Power Pony up!"

"Ooh! Nice catchphrase!" Fili-Second giddly proclaimed. "I'm gonna totally start saying that now!"

Meanwhile, the rolling front door of the shampoo factory rose up. And out came The Mane-iac's henchponies, ready to do battle. "Let's take 'em down, boys!" One henchpony yelled. "Don't let 'em get inside the factory!"

And just like that, a battle unfolded right outside The Mane-iac's secret headquarters. And all Spike could do was watch the superheroes that somewhat resembled his friends as they began to make short work of The Mane-iac's henchponies.





"Alright, time to rain down swift justice!" Zapp shouted, as she unholstered her lightning bolt pendant. Storm clouds began to gather in the sky as electricity surged out from the pendant!

Meanwhile, Twilight was busy focusing on taking down whatever henchpony was foolish enough to approach her. "Freeze ray!" She shouted out as she fired off a freezing blast. Unfortunately, she didn't pay attention to where she was aiming it, and ended up missing it mark once again. In fact, it hit Zapp by mistake.

Zapp groaned, the icy blast was enough to interrupt her concentration and make the storm clouds vanish. "What the hay, Matter-Horn?!" She growled at the unicorn! "Why did you freeze my wings?! Whose side are you on?!"

"I'm on your side, Zapp!" Masked Matter-Horn protested "That was a mistake! Besides, you're the one who got in my way!"

"You got in my way, you mean!" Zapp coldly hissed. "What have I told you about staying out of my way?!"

"I think you'd better remember who wields the power to freeze, burn, or magically strike whoever she wants!" Masked Matter-Horn warned. "Next time, I might do more than just freeze your wings for a moment."

"You couldn't hit straight if your life depended on it!" Zapp taunted. "You couldn't even hit the broadside of a barn!"

Arguing also began to break out between Radiance and Fili-Second. Radiance was fast growing annoyed with Fili-Second, who seemed much more intent on using her super speed to trip up the henchponies or just tap them lightly and then hit them with gags she pulled from out of nowhere. Meanwhile, Radiance was struggling to think of what accessories would be good to use for this battle. "Ooh. Choices, choices," She muttered to herself. "I really can do anything in this little number!" Then to Fili-Second she shouted! "Fili-Second, are you ever actually going to fight? Or do you want me to do all the dirty work for you?"

"Hey, I'm just getting warmed up," Fili-Second replied in between bouts of running one way and then the other. "I could clear out these goons in the blink of an eye, but that wouldn't be any fun. If you had my super speed, you'd understand."

"Speed isn't everything!" Radiance coldly taunted.

That comment seemed to touch off a nerve within Fili-Second, who snarled and hissed! "Shows what you know, that's what slow ponies say!"

"Sounds to me like the only thing that runs faster than you is your mouth!" Radiance complained while conjuring up a large bouncing ball to knock the henchponies down. "Why don't you put your money where that big mouth of yours is and make yourself uself for once?!"

"Fine, if it'll make you happy, I'll take out all five of these guys at once!" Fili-Second shouted "And I won't even break a sweat doing it," Then she jeered. "On the other hoof, you're just going to waste your time using your powers to play with these no gooders! Bring something useful to the fight and make things more interesting, maybe give yourself a nice bow and a few arrows to go with it."

"You'll be lucky if I don't turn you into a pin cushion with one!" Radiance hissed, even as she summoned up the aforementioned bow and arrows.

Even Saddle Rager and Mistress Mare-velous seemed to spend as much time arguing with each other as they did fighting the henchponies.

Saddle Rager was busy battling the underlings who thought she would be too easy, all the while fighting to keep her anger in check. "I need to save the anger for when it's really necessary. If I get mad now, everypony's in big trouble!" She thought to herself, applying only light blows.

But to Mistress Mare-velous, it seemed as if Saddle Rager was going out of her way not to fight. The pegasus was only using defensive moves whenever she was attacked, only occasionally tossing in an offensive attack or two. This made Mistress Mare-velous quite furious, for she'd found herself having to protect her fellow Power Pony far more than she would've liked. "Seriously? You aren't even just a little angry right now?" She questioned Saddle Rager. "You've always gotten mad before. Why should this be any different?"

"Oh, I'm getting mad alright," Saddle Rager insisted, her brows narrowing as she spoke. "I've been trying to keep my temper under control, though. I'm pretty sure nopony wants to deal with a raging monster worse than The Mane-iac right now."

"So you're holding back?! I can't believe you" Mistress Mare-velous groaned, deflecting an attack from an underling that had tried to sneak up on her "What? Do you want me to finish this fight for you or somethin'?!"

"You don't need to protect me, I was doing just fine on my own!" Saddle Rager protested. "I don't need anypony's help to take down these amatuers."

"Then maybe you could start goin' on the attack more often, and stop leavin' me to have to guard your sorry behind!" Mistress Mare-velous insisted. "It would make things a whole lot easier for the both of us. If you don't, I'll tie you up and take care of the rest of these goons by myself!"

Spike could hear the arguments between the various Power Ponies as they fought off The Mane-iac's various henchponies. And the little dragon couldn't help but grow worried. Frantically, he tried to holler above the ruckus! "Stop it, Power Ponies! You're supposed to be fighting the bad guys, not yourselves! You've gotta work together!" But he received no acknowledgement. It was as if he was shouting into a void.





At last, the battle was over. It seemed that almost all of the henchponies working for The Mane-iac had been defeated. Dare the Power Ponies say it, it was all too easy.

"I ain't even broken a sweat yet!" Fili-Second boasted as she continued to prance in place.

Masked Matter-Horn seemed to agree. "Indeed, it's been child's play so far. Now that all remains is to defeat The Mane-iac once and for all."

Just then, seemingly from out of nowhere, The Mane-iac appeared and growled in an omionus tone of voice! "I don't think so! I've waited a long, long time to give this stinkin' cesspit of a city the makeover it deserves! And I'm not about to let you Power Ponies stop me. Not this time!" She proceeded to pull out a large canister that resembled a mane spray.

"The Hairspray of Doom!" Spike shrieked in horror! "One blast and you're completely powerless! Run, Power Ponies! Don't let her spray you!"

This time it seemed like "Hum-Drum" had been heard, for the Power Ponies all scattered in different directions before The Mane-iac could come anywhere near them.

The little dragon breathed a small sigh of relief. "That was a close one." He said to himself, and began thinking that maybe he could try his luck again when it came to swiping the Electro-Orb. It seemed like The Mane-iac had chosen to leave it unguarded again.

But then, suddenly, The Mane-iac's octopus like mane swung through the air! It grabbed hold of Spike and pulled him close, preventing him from escaping even as he dug into the mane with his claws! "This can't be happening!" He thought to himself!

"Oh Power Ponies!" The Mane-iac called, drawing their attention. "I know you can hear me. Come out of hiding and surrender to me. 'Cause if you don't," She moved a hoof towards "Hum-Drum" as she pulled him closer to him. "You'll never see your little friend again. I'll put his lights out for good!"

"Don't listen to her, Power Ponies!" Spike called as he squirmed all about, even bitting into The Mane-iac's mane in the hopes it would get her to release him! "I'll be fine! I can handle this! You've gotta stop her, no matter what it takes!"

But the Mane-iac just growled, swinging her prisoner around and bringing him down hard on the ground before picking him back up! "I've had enough of you and your big mouth!" She snapped! "You are nothing but trouble, Hum-Drum!" Then to the Power Ponies she insisted. "I'm warning you: I will do it. What's it gonna be, Power Ponies? Maretropolis, or little old Hum-Drum here? Better pick quickly, or else!"

Much to the dismay of the little dragon, he saw the Power Ponies emerge from behind buildings, walls, and other places they'd been using to hide. They all took one look at "Hum-Drum", and it seemed like any will they had to fight back had left them.

Masked Matter-Horn trotted up to The Mane-iac, growling and gritting her teeth. "If you hurt him in any way, Mane-iac, I swear I'll..."

The super villain just cackled with fiendish glee. "You're in no position to be making threats, Masked Matter-Horn. I assume you and the others are here to surrender?"

"Only if you let Hum-Drum go first!" Mistress Mare-velous spat at the ground. "Otherwise, we aren't doing anything for you!"

The tentacled maned earth pony groaned, but seemed to obey. "You and I both know he has no powers. There's nothing he can do to save you. If he was smart, which he's not, he would've fled this pathetic city long ago and abandoned it to its fate. Still, at least I know he won't be causing me anymore trouble," She slammed him onto the ground as hard as she could! "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll survive that," Then she brought forth the canister for the Hairspray of Doom. "I'll let him live long enough to see what horrible fate befalls you all." One spray was enough to immobolize all of the Power Ponies.

"You won't get away with this, Mane-iac!" Masked Matter-Horn insisted even as she found it was all she could do just to be able to speak.

"Bold words from the Powerless Ponies!" The Mane-iac cackled as she dragged them all away with her mane, doing so with the greatest of ease. "Don't worry, Hum-Drum," She called out to the little dragon. "You'll see your friends again soon. Or whatever's left of them." And with a wicked laugh, she dragged the Power Ponies into her top secret headquarters, the roll-up door slamming shut behind her after she had done so.

Spike didn't know what came over him as he lay there on the empty city streets. But after thinking it over for a moment, he could only think of one course of action. Even if they weren't his friends, they looked a lot like them. And Spike knew he could never live with himself if he didn't try to help his friends when they needed him most. "I have to save them, somehow!" He thought to himself. Then he pondered as he looked down at his gloved claws."But what can I do?"





"I must be crazy!" Spike thought to himself a short time later, as he worked his way into The Mane-iac's factory the only way he knew how: By crawling in through the open air vents "Here I am, crawling through the air vents, in an attempt to rescue my friends from a crazy super villan! What exactly am I supposed to do? I'm Hum Drum, I'm the useless sidekick who's only there for moral support. My friends are the ones with superpowers. They've probably already figured out how to escape. In fact, I'll bet they've already defeated The Mane-iac."

At last the little dragon found a place where the light was strongest. With a loud clang, he broke off the grate over the vent and dropped down. He was now inside The Mane-iac's headquarters, her hastily converted shampoo factory that was still full of vats of colorful chemicals. As such, it was very brightly lit, easy to see in. Then, suddenly, he saw a large cage resting off to one side! He nearly gasped when he saw that inside said cage were the Power Ponies themselves. It didn't look like they had been able to escape yet.

Spike watched as a henchpony reacted to the dinging of a timer and replied the effects of The Hairspray of Doom. The Mane-iac clearly wasn't taking any chances, she was absolutely determined to ensure the superheroes couldn't escape.

Down on the factory floor, The Mane-iac approached her captive enemies whilst still holding onto the Electro-Orb with one hoof. "Congratulations, Power Ponies!" She taunted them, clearly enjoying the fact that she had them at her mercy.  "You shall live just long enough to see me fire," She then yanked the cover off of a large object, revealing it to be a massive cannon in the form of a hair dryer "The instrument of your destruction! Once the Electro-Orb has powered it up completely, this cannon will amplify the power of my mane one million times over!"

None of the Power Ponies said a word as the orb was inserted into the cannon, and it omionusly began to hum and glow.

Undeterred, The Mane-iac kept on prattling. "Bet you're wondering what that will do. Well, you'll soon find out," She lowered the cannon towards the cage and in an omionus tone of voice declared. "Because you will be my ray's first victims. So go ahead, make peace with your untimely ends," She boasted as she sat in the cannon's cockpit, ready to fire once it was fully charged. "There is nopony coming to save you! You're history!"

To the surprise of many, it was Saddle Rager who broke the silence, coughing into a hoof. "Aren't you forgetting about somepony, Mane-iac? Somepony very important?"

The Mane-iac glared at Saddle Rager. "Oh, you're talking about Hum-Drum? Little guy? About this big?" She brought a hoof down towards the ground and then lifted it back up. "No super powers whatsoever? Don't make me laugh! He's utterly useless! If I know him, he's probably already turned tail and run away like the coward he is," She paused as a timer dinged again, and the Power Ponies were once more sprayed to render them unable to move. "Puh-lease!" She taunted her captives. "Everypony knows you just keep him around because you feel sorry for him, like a little baby. Wah. Wah. Wah." Her  voice took on a condescending tone as she spoke those lines.

Masked Matter-Horn, however, protested in a confident tone of voice. "Maybe in your world, Mane-iac. But in our world, Hum-Drum always comes through for us when we need him most," She sighed and looked down at the ground in shame. "He believed in us as a team, even when all we ever did was fight amongst ourselves. If we'd listened to him, we wouldn't be in this mess."

But The Mane-iac only snorted and then taunted. "It's a little late to be having regrets, Masked Matter-Horn. And I see that dementia must be a side effect of prolonged exposure to my Hairspray of Doom! Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery soon enough! Now if only this blasted Electro-Orb would finish powering up my cannon already! You'd think an unlimited energy source wouldn't take so long to charge!"

Spike, meanwhile, had heard what Matter-Horn had said. It touched something deep inside of him, reminding him of all the times in the past when his friends had counted on him and he had come through for him. All the times when he'd had to be brave no matter how much he might not have wanted to. "I'm not like Hum-Drum!" He thought aloud, and knew at once what he had to do. "I'm not useless! It's up to me save the Power Ponies! I won't let them down!"

The Mane-iac, unaware of Hum-Drum's presence, just impatiently sat in the cockpit of her cannon as it was slowly being charged to full power. The seconds seemed to be ticking by agonizingly slow. "Come on! Come on!" She pounded on the control pannel. "What is taking so long?!"

Just then, an assertive, heroic voice proclaimed! "Sorry, Mane-iac! Your evil plans are about to go up in smoke!" All eyes suddenly turned towards where the had voice had come from. And in the blink of an eye, Spike appeared, swinging on a large chain! He swung right into The Mane-iac, knocking her off the cockpit as all eyes fell upon him.

"Hum-Drum!" The Mane-iac gasped! "What are you trying to accomplish? We both know you don't have any powers. You're no match for me! This is not a game, child. You should run home before you get hurt," Then she pondered. "Or perhaps, you've come crawling here to work for me?"

Spike growled and grit his teeth! "Never! I'd rather die than serve the likes of you! I came here to stop you, and that's just what I'm gonna do! There won't be a need for the Power Ponies to get involved, I'll defeat you myself!" Then he proclaimed. "You think I don't have any powers, Mane-iac? Well then, what do you think of this?!" He proceeded to unleash a burst of flame from his mouth!

The flame breath took the super villain by complete surprise! She had jump out of the way before her mane could catch on fire! "How is this possible?!" She exclaimed in disbelief! "You have no powers! None! I saw you lose them! I took them away!"

"Shows what you know, Mane-iac!" The little dragon insisted as he rushed forward, taking off his gloves to reveal his sharp claws. "One way or another, this all ends tonight! Evil never wins in the end. Never!"

The Mane-iac jumped back, striking a fighting pose. "You are a bothersome little pest," She snarled with a sneer. "An overgrown bug that I need to squash!" And soon, she began tussling with Spike, still thinking him to be the powerless Hum-Drum. Everypony in the factory watched the battle unfold, even the henchpony that had been tasked with reapplying the Hairspray of Doom as needed.





Alas, even with his dragon fire and claws, Spike wasn't able to keep The Mane-iac from gaining the upper hoof in their battle. Eventually, he was brought to his knees as the wicked earth pony mare stood triumphantly over him. "You were a fool to think you could beat me, Hum-Drum!" She bragged to her defeated foe.

Yet it was then that Spike began to laugh as a knowing smirk formed across his face. "If you think I was just trying to beat you, Mane-iac, then you're the fool! I was just doing what I needed to do to stall for time. I knew you couldn't resist a challenge."

"What do you mea-" The Mane-iac began, only to gasp when she heard the sound of magic blasts, and hooves making contact with face. She spun around in time to see the now liberated Power Ponies effortlessly rounding up all of her henchponies and defeating them. The effects of the Hairspray of Doom had worn off, and "Hum-Drum"'s distraction had prevented it from being reapplied.

Once the last of the henchponies were defeated, Masked Matter-Horn smiled as she led the other Power Ponies towards Hum-Drum's location. "Sorry we didn't listen to you sooner, Hum-Drum," She sincerely apologized. "You were right all along. When we work together instead of fighting amongst ourselves, there's nothing we can't accomplish!" Then to The Mane-iac she warned. "It's over for you, Mane-iac! This is gonna end with you in jail. So, are you gonna come quietly? Or do we have to do this the hard way?"

Gritting her teeth and smirking with pleasure, Mistress Mare-velous declared in a low tone of voice. "I hope you wanna do it the hard way, for my sake."

The Mane-iac, naturally, was not one to just give up when cornered. She instead desperately and hastily climbed back up into the cockpit of her cannon before anyone could stop her! A few taps on the control pannel revealed what she'd hoped to see! "On the contrary, Power Ponies, it's you who are over!" She shouted! "But first, I'm gonna get a little payback!" She aimed the cannon at Spike! "Say goodbye to your precious Hum-Drum!" And she pressed a button, causing the cannon to fire!

A blast from the cannon hit Spike square in the chest, knocking him back as all the Power Ponies gasped! He was more startled than hurt, but even so he was slow to get up.

Seeing that display was enough to cause something deep inside Saddle Rager to snap! "You just made the worst mistake of your life, Mane-iac!" She bellowed as the veins in her neck began to throb, and her body started to buldge outwards. "You know what happens when I get angry! Say your prayers, you big bully! I'm taking you down!" Soon, she had transformed into a hulking monster, and let out a gutteral roar as she banged on her chest!

The Mane-iac gulped as she saw the transformed Saddle Rager looking straight at her. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Oh yes, you're in a lot more trouble than you realize," Fili-Second chuckled. "Go ahead, Saddle Rager. Finish her off!"

Saddle Rager leaped forward, deflecting a desperate last-minute blast from the cannon. Said blast struck The Mane-iac, knocking her off the cannon's cockpit and hurling her to the floor! Saddle Rager, meanwhile, went straight to work demolishing the doomsday device completely. When she had finished, she reverted back to her original state.

The blast from the cannon caused The Mane-iac's mane to grow, and grow, and grow some more. It grew to the point where it became not unlike a straight jacket, binding the earth pony mare tightly within in it as she began to flop around on the floor in helplessness. Occasionally, bits of electricity would surge out from it. "My mane! My mane!" She cried again and again.

"And so, once again the day is saved by-" Masked Matter-Horn began.

Then all the Power Ponies joined in unison (and Spike joined in too for good measure). "The Power Ponies!"

A second or so after that phrase was uttered, everything went dark for Spike.





"Spike? Spike! Wake up, Spike!" The familiar voice of Twilight called, stirring the little dragon out of slumber land.

Spike opened his eyes very slowly. It took a moment for him to realize where he was. "Huh? What? Where am I? I'm... not in Maretropolis."

Twilight giggled. "Of course not, Spike. I told you not to stay up late reading that comic of yours. You've been sleeping for almost half the day now," In a more serious tone of voice she added. "I was starting to get worried. I thought I'd have to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters without you."

At that the little dragon blinked. "Wait, I thought you said you didn't need me there."

The young alicorn smiled. "Nonsense, Spike. I realized that I was being overprotective. Just as long as you promise not to wander away from me, you can come along and help the girls and I out. We won't be there all day."

But Spike protested as he sat up in his basket. "Actually, Twilight, you can go ahead and go alone. I'll be just fine here. I've had plenty of exciting adventures with you and the girls. I could use a rest."

"Are you sure, Spike?" Twilight questioned him. "Just last night you were upset that I didn't want to bring you along."

"Yeah, but I've had time to sleep on it," Spike insisted with a yawn. "A day off sounds nice. I haven't had one in such a long time. Besides, I wanna finish up reading that comic," Yet as he looke down into his basket, he found that he couldn't find the comic anywhere. "Wait, where is it?!"

"Your comic?" The young alicorn blinked in surprise. "I don't know, Spike. You were the last one to have it."

The little dragon looked all around in his basket and his immediate surroundings. But it was as if the comic had vanished into thin air. Now he was starting to think to himself. "Was it all just a dream? Or was it something else?"