//------------------------------// // 6 // Story: Twilights Mane Passion // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Twilight really liked this vacation from everything normal. This world had little to no concept of money and she was glad for it. Sure the world had businesses, but she didn’t have to pay for anything as a hero. She happily sipped her honeyed cider as she sat at a table next to Humdrum at the honey festival. The spa had been a wonderful retreat from all of Twilights real world troubles. She had gotten a facial, went into a mud bath, the hoof curing felt good and she even got the chance to do her own mane. Her mane was in the same style as always but slightly more pronounced and she even got to do Filli-second’s and Mare-velous’s manes. Filli-second had horrible hood mane which Twilight couldn’t fix with a spell and instead enjoyed working with it using her super powers, but Mare-velous had a marvelous well cared for mane that Twilight almost wished she didn’t have to stop touching. Despite all the good memories this would create for Twilight and especially the time from the spa which even the four male Power Ponies enjoyed, she felt sad. So this is what it was like to have friends, Twilight thought idly. It really didn’t feel all too real to Twilight. She hadn’t earned the friendships by her own merits, earned their undying trust and there was the fact that she was automatically respected just because she was part of the team. There was also the knowledge that she couldn’t enjoy free five star foods, the luxury hotel she slept in last night and going to that wondrously nice spa forever. Twilight had a life to get back to with her daughter and this world may have been a lot of good things, but it just wasn’t home. She was a responsible fourteen year old almost adult single mother mare and she just couldn’t leave her daughter alone. Especially alone with Smart for more than a day or else the house would be a disaster zone by the time she got back. It was time for Twilight to seek out an ending to the dream she found herself in and wake up. “Humdrum, do you know where the not so abandoned shampoo factory is? I’m ready to get things over with now.” Twilight received a confused look from Humdrum because she knew she had a resolute look on her face. Barbs gift was a wonderful present and Twilight knew what would happen when she finally achieved the end goal of defeating Mane-iac. She would automatically be thrown from the comic and then it would disappear, it was the enchanted comics weird safety feature once you finished the story. Mane-iac was a bit miffed; she had been angrily going over the entire battle with the Power Ponies again and again in her mind. Why had Radiance let her go without a fight? She was so angry at the pony for ignoring her and not only that, she was angry because Radiance didn’t put up a fight or even seemed interested in one. It wasn’t just that Radiance ignored Mane-iac either, it was the fact that she and the other Power Ponies were taking their dear sweet time to get to her hideout. Where were they, even Humdrum could have figured out where her hideout was by this point! She did set up a giant neon sign advertising her location after all. The super villains’ green mane was whipping wildly around the wide open office space she occupied, she grumbled about Radiance with her obnoxiously cute fringe not wanting to fight her. In fact, why did Mane-iac even want to fight her so badly? Mane-iac’s mane stopped thrashing slightly and settled down; some of it flowed in front of her right eye as she lay down on her belly. She just stared at the floor with her left eye as her thick long hair shifted to warmly blanket her body. Why was she getting so upset over it? Why! Her tail slid back and forth agitatedly across the floor as she pondered why she was feeling like this, wasn’t she crazy or attention drawing enough for her? Mane-iac flicked the mass of her tail at a nearby wall punching a hole in it out of frustration. “Ma’am the Power Ponies are finally making a move on us. Also the one you wanted to know about appears to be wearing fake bee antenna and has a shirt that proclaims ‘hug bees’ on it. From what the reports say, she’s even holding a mug with one of her constructions and is slowly following the other Power Ponies while drinking from it. She appears to have saddle bags loaded with four gallons worth of unopened honeyed cider.” The stallion then quickly ducked out of the room to avoid getting whipped by the green mane that never came, after a moment he poked his head back in and saw the blank look on Mane-iac’s face. “She thought me so unimportant that she went to the all weekend honey festival!” Mane-iac was now livid like the color of her coat and she stormed out while taking a moment to grab the electro orb with a small portion of her mane. Not once did her thoughts go to the other Power Ponies also taking time off to enjoy the festival. “Minions prepare the hair spray of doom! The rest of you with me, we’re going to hold them off.” Twilight stood at the street corner sipping away at the honeyed cider while she watched the Power Ponies pummel precariously positioned pawns perfectly in their paths. She had very recently acquired an addiction to honeyed cider that might actually match her slowly increasing passion for playing with manes, tails and coats, also she had to get out this place soon or she might acquire an attentively active alliteration addiction too. Soon Twilights mind started to imagine all the stuff she could do with Mane-iac’s mane, the thought of braiding, brushing, combing or do anything with that much beautiful bountiful bushy hair caused her to blush. One of these days Twilight would need to look up multiple medical books as to why she kept reacting this way to mares with what she thought were exceptionally attractive manes. She often wondered why she wasn’t as attracted to the bodies of other mares which could be as equally beautiful. After finishing her current mug of honeyed cider, the last of which she walked out of the festival with, Twilight felt her bladder pulse from all the cider she has been drinking. She quickly excused herself from the battle. The Power Ponies didn’t need her assistance with all this fighting anyway. She decided to enter a wonder toilet station on the nearby street corner, they were rather meticulously cleaned and even had a small sink installed for washing your hooves if you needed to. Apparently they were made in part for Filli-second given her sometimes hyperactive metabolism, they were also used by every other hero who needed to use them and they were fortified can shaped bunkers. The moment Twilight exited the battle Mane-iac immediately joined the fray with her minions looking forward to proving herself to Radiance. She slapped Zapp the weather powered pegasus to the ground, tripped up Filli-second using her mane and took Matter by his horn to slam him into a building. She was doing fine without the spray until Saddle Rager entered the battle. Miss Mare-velous was busy dealing with the minions. Mane-iac knew the Saddle Rager was a tough opponent when he sufficiently got bulked up after getting angry; the problem was despite increasing his strength exponentially his speed suffers incredibly because he became heavier from all his extra muscles. So he wasn’t capable of landing a solid blow on Mane-iac who hung by her mane a good ten to twenty feet off the streets to avoid getting mare handled by the brutish beast until she can sap his powers and paralyze him. One would think the Mane-iac would order her minions to be a distraction to Saddle Rager; the thing is she actually ordered them to stay away from him for their own safety. This was something a truly insane mare would not even care about. Would an insane mare still be paying her minions so well along with getting them great health and dental plan benefits, especially for their families, if they were willing to put up with having the ever loving tar beaten out of them? “Mane-iac the spray is ready!” The minion that spoke had a neck brace, a full body cast and both his front two legs in slings. Even still this minion didn’t stop doing his best to please the mistress that had ownership of half the salons in the city of Maretropolis, none of them being anywhere near illegal. The shampoo that warped Mane-iac to what she now was was just a prototype and an accident, one she saw fit to make sure wasn’t repeated. “Let’s see how strong you are when I sap you of your power Saddle Rager!” Mane-iac moved to clinging onto the side of the shampoo factory and quickly sent a tentacle to open the large garage doors; she quickly arranged her hair differently as soon as she got the hair spray of doom out. Saddle Rager charged and was quickly sprayed by the hair spray and he shrunk down to his average size before he stopped moving entirely except for the fact that he was still breathing. What followed was the other Power Ponies, with the exception of Twilight, charging blindly in and getting caught by the spray as well. One would have at least assumed Filli-second would have been able to avoid the spray at the speeds she could move. Mane-iac was soon looming over Humdrum smiling wickedly holding the hair spray of doom in her mane possibly prepared to spray him down. “Wait, please don’t spray me.” Humdrum cowered only to have a hair tentacle gently lift his head up to meet her green and red wild eyes. “Why would I do that Humdrum? The spray would be a waste on you, now that I have succeeded in capturing all of the Power Ponies…” Mane-iac started out only for one of her minions to interrupt her. “Actually I think we’re missing one ma’am.” The minion suddenly had two glaring eyes in his face. “Which one did we miss?” Mane-iac’s tone was sharp and to the point. “I believe it’s Radiance…” The minion said shuddering under the shadow of the mare being held aloft by her mane. “Did any of you see Radiance during the fight?” The way Mane-iac said it as she turned about and rose up higher on her mane with a frown marring her face; it sounded like she was hurt on some emotional level that Radiance had the gall to not even hurt her minions. “Where is she, you reported they were all coming here!” Twilight exited the toilet to the sight of moaning meandering mangled minions and a pack of paralyzed Power Ponies. She sighed; did they just all rush Mane-iac while she was wielding the hair spray of doom? This might have been another reason why she didn’t consider the Power Ponies real friends; they were a bit dim on tactics and strategy, much less actually working in tandem with each other. “Um… are you alright?” Twilight asked as she walked up to stand behind Mane-iac, the villain turned to stare down at her. “No I am not alright, why won’t Radiance fight me? She didn’t even come to the attack on my lair and she didn’t even harm any of my minions. I bet she doesn’t even see me as a viable threat.” Mane-iac slumped to the point that her hooves actually touched the ground and her mane became completely limp. “Is there something wrong with me; is there something about me that she doesn’t like?” Twilight just stood with a bland look on her face wondering just exactly when she would be noticed. Even the salon working minions were just standing there staring at the actions going on between the two. The purple pony just gave them all a sheepish grin as they were all staring at her. They all turned to look at the depressed Mane-iac as she slowly made her way into the factory with her hair dragging on the ground. Some of the minions even voiced that she might have even been crying as she dragged the other Power Ponies inside. “Um… do you think you could help out the boss? She seems upset that you won’t take her or the situation seriously. I mean didn’t she just capture all your friends, doesn’t that make you want to rush in and fight her to free them or something.” The minions were all looking at Radiance hopefully. “You can hit me if you want to… I can take it! I can even tell Mane-iac that you broke some of my bones even if you don’t actually do it.” One of the minions added in the hopes that Radiance would beat him to a bloody pulp to make his boss happy. “I’m not going to fight her or you guys. I’ll just go talk to her and hopefully she’ll stop being crazy long enough to realize I was here. Humdrum could you set the other Power Ponies free and start an action packed battle with the minions while I deal with Mane-iac personally?” All the minions cheered up immediately and couldn’t push a confused Humdrum into the factory fast enough, Twilight sighed at their actions. The things she did to please some ponies, she was just going to talk with Mane-iac. They were acting like she just agreed to a pitched battle that would mess up that mares’ magnificent magical meticulously maintained mane. “I swear you guys are all a bunch of loony’s.”