//------------------------------// // Bad Mane-tenance // Story: Power Ponies: The Storm Unleashed // by Darksonickiller //------------------------------// Power Ponies: The Storm Unleashed Chapter 4: Bad Mane-tenance By Darksonickiller and Izangi Night hung high above Maretropolis as a lone delivery truck made its way down a seldom-used road on the edges of the city’s harbor and industrial district, carrying a diverse collection of goods to its destination at a private pier owned and operated by the large conglomerate Sol Corporation and its hair-care product subsidiary, Parasol Inc. The truck itself seemed inconspicuous enough, bearing the SolCorp logo of a smiling sun on its back trailer as it pulled up to the gatehouse of the pier.   Having lazily put down his newspaper and coffee mug, the rent-a-cop earth pony put on a friendly smile as he emerged from the small gatehouse and approached the truck’s driver side window. A unicorn wearing a polo hat and sunglasses smiled back at him. “Evening,” the guard greeted, frowning a bit in perplexion at the driver’s choice of eyewear at this time of day. The way things were looking so far though, it was going to be a long night for the stallion, and he had hardly the energy to continue caring about that insignificant detail. “You uh, need directions, or do you already know where you’re going?” “Nope, I’ve delivered to this place before,” Golden Badge answered back, looking briefly at the guard’s SolCorp lapel pin. “Thanks.” The guard nodded cheerfully and opened the gates. “Right you are, go ahead in. Somepony should be around further in to help unload.” Golden Badge nodded with a light smile, before proceeding through the gates and into the expansive grounds of the dockside industrial park. Like much of the rest of the city’s harbor, this place was abuzz with activity in some parts, and completely devoid of activity in others. Forklifts and workers went back and forth, and one of the pier’s three massive cranes was currently busy loading cargo onto a weighting freight ship moored to the dock, which had a cheerfully grinning stylized sun emblazoned on its hull, accompanied by the slogan, “We sell everything under the sun!” Scanning the area like a hawk, Golden Badge tilted his head against a hoof to speak into a concealed earpiece. “We’re almost in position. Approaching the factory now.” “Copy that, Commissioner,” a police lieutenant replied. “We’ve got three choppers on hot approach about three minutes out, and our ground teams are already at the perimeter waiting for the Power Ponies’ signal to move in to assist. September and the rest of the Feds haven’t joined us yet, looks like they’ll be late to the party.” Golden Badge pulled into the section of the pier operated by the Parasol company. The activity here was much less bustling then in the rest of the industrial park. “More work for us, then.” He turned to the wall behind him and slid open a little slot that allowed him to peer into the trailer. “Are the Power Ponies getting ready, Masked Matter-Horn?” “As we speak,” the mare replied, her goggled face appearing near the opening of the slot with a determined expression. “Saddle Rager has reached the roof of the factory, and Radiance and Fili-Second are infiltrating the structure from the tunnels below. “Good, because the inside of this place is going to be swarming with Mane-iac’s goons and hired mercs. Alright, showtime.” Golden Badge closed the slot and got the truck moving again, now approaching the loading docks for the shampoo factory. “Commissioner Golden Badge?” a flat-sounding, almost monotone voice stated inside the unicorn’s earpiece. “Yes?”   “This is Special Agent September, Federal Intelligence Agency. We will be arriving via the main entrance once the operation is fully underway. In light of the failure to ascertain Zapp’s whereabouts, I’m obligated to inform you that should Mane-iac fail to be apprehended, the Government will be forced to employ the assistance of H.O.R.N. in all further peacekeeping efforts. The MPD, as well as the Power Ponies themselves, will fall under their jurisdiction. To avoid all that paperwork, let’s prevent that, shall we?” “No worries, Agent September. We’ll have Mane-iac thrown in Balkham under maximum security before sunrise.” The Police Commissioner assured him. “She’s not getting away on our watch again,” the Masked Matter-Horn agreed, joining the radio chatter. “We’re securing all potential points of escape this time around.” “See to it that you do, Power Ponies. Mane-iac’s recently uncovered plan to flood the market with the mind-altering shampoo ‘Mane-tenance’ constitutes a threat to national security. Agent September, out.” In the back of the delivery truck behind neatly stacked pallets and boxes of random goods, the Masked Matter-Horn and Mistress Mare-velous readied themselves. For backup against mooks, they had brought along five MPD SWAT officers with them in the truck, three stallions and two mares. “My Little Donkey? Oh hey, my daughter watches this,” One of the stallions commented, the sound of his voice muffled a bit by his blue full-faced helmet. He had his rifle curled in one foreleg, and was inspecting the colorful package of a movie from one of the boxes. “Not a bad show,” one of his partners agreed, slamming a full magazine into her gun with a hoof. “We watched it at police academy a lot.” The police mare swung her head around to look at the superheroes beside them, her scarlet eyes focused and alert. You ready to come out swinging, Power Ponies?” Mistress Mare-velous clipped her lasso firmly to her belt. “Let’s do this!” The police pony closest to the exit kicked the doors open, and all five SWAT officers filed out uniformly, aiming down the sights of their guns. They were quickly joined by Mistress Mare-velous, the Masked Matter-Horn, and Commissioner Golden Badge, who had stripped off his impromptu disguise, revealing a ballistics vest. He levitated a pistol out from its holster in the crook of his left foreleg and held it ready. Matter-Horn observed the loading docks quickly and carefully. They were presently occupied by at least half a dozen stallions smoking or milling about. They would appear to be dockworkers on break, were it not for their conspicuous lack of hardhats, and their elaborately styled manes. In addition, a mare in paramilitary gear was patrolling an otherwise nondescript gantry that adjoined the loading bay area. The squad looked to Golden Badge and the Power Ponies expectantly as they hung low behind the cover of a stand of barrels, weapons at the ready. Golden Badge held up his hoof to tell them to wait, as the three of them kept their eyes glued on the mare. Pausing in her patrol, the mare adopted a bizarre look and sat on her haunches. She brought her rifle about to scan for potential intruders. It was the last thing she did before a pegasus practically materialized behind her and socked her in the back of the head. The mercenary promptly tumbled onto the ground of the catwalk like a sack of potatoes, and Saddle Rager took her place, crumpling the barrel of the rifle like paper and rendering it useless. Saddle Rager signaled to them from on high with a quick wave, and Matter-Horn returned the signal, prompting Golden Badge to wave the team forward. Rager then made her way quietly into the factory via the catwalk. The SWAT officers formed an arc pattern as they stormed up to the loading bay doors. “MPD, on the ground, now!” one of them ordered sharply. The stallions turned to look at them instantly, many of them wide-eyed in surprise as their cigarettes fell comically from their mouths in unison. As the officers slowly neared them, most of them dropped like planks with their forelegs over their heads, but at least a few were feeling somewhat bold. One with a purple faux hawk was slowly reaching for something in his grey wool designer jacket, and another thug had produced, of all things, a loaded crossbow. “Drop it, dirtbags!” Golden Badge shouted. The stallions didn’t comply, and the team leaped into action. “He’s packing!” In the time it took for one of the officers to put a suppressed round in the gun-drawing henchpony’s leg to incapacitate him per standard procedure, Mare-velous had closed the gap between herself and the crossbow-wielding one, knocking the wind out of him with a hoof strike and crushing the bow with another. “You’re in the wrong century, evildoer.” Mare-velous then put a lasso around the downed stallion, and flung him into the air, sending him crashing into another mook that was charging at her with a crowbar in his mouth, knocking them both out cold. Just as Mistress Mare-velous paused for a moment to observe the police ponies hoof-cuffing the stallions that had surrendered, she heard a chiming of magical energy as a beam shot past her, freezing a thug in his tracks that had been attempting to sneak up on her. “Nice shot, Matter-Horn!” The Masked Matter-Horn was already in full gallop towards the loading bay doors. “C’mon!” she answered back. “Golden Badge can handle these guys on the outside, we need to go reinforce Radiance and Fili-Second’s team as they enter the factory from the basement.” Mare-velous paid one final glance at the Police Commissioner, who finished hoof-cuffing crossbow guy. He nodded to her. “Good luck, Power Ponies. We’ll hold here and neutralize any stragglers until Agent September arrives with reinforcements. Just give the signal if you need our guys on perimeter watch to back you up.” The earth pony nodded at him with a small smile, then darted after Matter-Horn. Golden Badge then turned to see a small group of newcomers. Regular security guards, from the look of their uniforms. The ponies had their pistols, tasers, and nightsticks out. “Security! What’s going on here?” One of the guards shouted, evidently failing to register the insignias on the SWAT officers. The tactical team had their rifles raised in warning, and the security guards just gawked at them. Golden Badge scoffed. “Seriously, guys?” After a few awkward seconds, the guards finally dropped their weapons as they realized what was going on. Matter-Horn stood in front of the large loading door with her horn glowing, as Mare-velous took up position beside the frame of the door. “Power Ponies, come in!” a voice said urgently in Matter-Horn’s earpiece. The unicorn paused her spell. “Hum Drum, good to hear from you. What do you have for me?” “According to the police ponies doing overwatch on the perimeter, there’s going to be quite a few of Mane-iac’s private army milling about in the main room just behind that door. I suggest you and Mare-velous wait until Saddle Rager is in position and the others have breached the factory, which should be just about any seco-” “Radiance reporting, we’re in. I say again, we’re in!” “This is Saddle Rager, ready whenever you are,” the pegasus’ voice was angry; she was clearly entering into her berserk state. “Acknowledged, breaching the loading bay now,” the Masked Matter-Horn replied to all, narrowing her eyes at the door and charging her horn again. “Right, good luck girls. Hum Drum over and out,” Hum Drum paused without closing his channel. “Oh...yeah. You’re right. I mean, Hum Drum, out!” With that, the young sidekick’s channel closed again. Mistress Mare-velous allowed herself to chuckle briefly at that. Without further fanfare, Matter-Horn began cutting a large circular opening into the metal door. Upon completion, Mistress Mare-velous bucked the freed metal down with her hind legs, and Matter-Horn followed up by levitating two flashbang grenades from her teammate’s utility belt, lobbing them through the opening. Immediately after the mean little devices erupted in a loud pop of light and smoke, both superheroes charged in, Matter-Horn forming a field of vision for them through the smoke with a ray from her horn. Roughly twenty guards and thugs greeted them, the majority of which had easily been dazed by the grenades. Before the henchponies had any time to fully respond, Saddle Rager appeared from the catwalks above and leapt down, forming a small crater in the concrete floor and pummeling down any pony foolish or unfortunate enough to be near her. Their bullets bounced harmlessly against her skin as if they were made of styrofoam as more henchponies poured in from side doors to investigate the disturbance. Taking advantage of the distraction their enraged comrade provided, Matter-Horn and Mistress Mare-velous made short work of all the mooks on their side of the loading bay room. By now however, the entire factory was on alert; a freight elevator that lead to one of the factories’ upper floors was reaching ground level, carrying a whole load of additional henchman to back up their fiendish friends. As Saddle Rager continued to make short work of the guards and equipment in her vicinity, the heavy elevator doors opened in front of Matter-Horn and Mare-velous, revealing a smirking orange-maned unicorn in a grey costume, perching herself carelessly on the barrel of a rather colourful cannon. She was flanked by several henchponies on either side, the mercenaries forming a demented rainbow in their differently-coloured paramilitary gear and ostentatious mane styles. “So, you’re the ones who have been making a ruckus in the boss’ factory,” the unicorn mare greeted. “You may call me Phantom, Power Ponies, for I will be the one killing you today.”   The Masked Matter-Horn glared at her with loathing, as did Mistress Mare-velous. “Whoa, look out girls, that’s Mane-iac’s lieutenant, the Phantom. She ‘s an assassin, can turn herself invisible!” Hum Drum warned them over the radio. “Uh, Hum Drum?” Mistress Mare-velous said uncertainly. “How on Earth can you see her? You’re all the way over at Police HQ, right?” “The police overwatch have military-grade penetrating cameras on hoof, we can see almost everything in the factory. In fact, we’ve just located Mane-iac...” “‘See her’, you say?” Phantom chuckled sadistically. “Not for long! Get them!” Without any further warning, the mare lit the fuse on the cannon, and Phantom’s cadre of mercenaries charged out of the spacious elevator car, scowling and firing their submachine guns from the hip. “You’re trespassing on Parasol Corporation private property!” one of them snarled. Mistress Mare-velous grunted and lassoed the armed mare forcefully onto the ground, using her as a battering ram against several of her compatriots. “Heh-heh, that maneuver never gets old. Bad news for you, mook, to say that we have a search warrant would be one heck of an understatement!” The party cannon finally fired, easily missing the Masked Matter-Horn and Mistress Mare-velous as they dodged out of the way, and instead finding the hulking form of Saddle Rager in its line of fire. The cannon ball slammed into the pegasus with great force, sending her backwards into the nearest wall. “Umm, Hum Drum? What was it you were saying about locating Mane-iac?” Mare-velous inquired, now in cover with the Masked Matter-Horn as they tried to avoid the gunfire. “We’ve spotted her, she’s holed up in her office on the top floor, above the shampoo mixing vats.” Matter-Horn’s eyes almost seemed to ignite upon hearing the intel. “Those vats of toxic Mane-tenance shampoo must be disposed of, but Mane-iac comes first!” “Baby steps, Matter-Horn,” Mistress Mare-velous replied. “There’s still the matter of these goons in our way.” Saddle Rager was quick to recover from the cannon attack, as the light artillery had barely even winded her, only adding fuel to her rage instead. She roared, and Matter-Horn arched her brow at Mare-velous. “Solution acquired.” “SADDLE RAGER SMASH!” Saddle Rager ripped one of the large loading bay doors right off its frame, tossing it towards Phantom and her cannon. Phantom turned invisible as she dodged the attack. The cannon was crushed under the impact, and anyone still near it was quickly knocked onto their backs by the shock wave. It was around that time that Fili-Second and Radiance burst into the room from a staircase, quickly followed by at least a dozen well armed and armored police. Additionally, if the sudden sound of helicopter engines and addition of searchlights were any indication, the police and FIA had finally arrived in full force. The five superheroes quickly assembled together with the new influx of police officers, who were pouring in from every exterior entrance now and were keeping the mooks thoroughly busy. Mane-iac’s lieutenant was lurking about in the chaos with a hoof blade drawn, now attempting to get the drop on Fili-Second. “Now you see me....now you do-ah!” Phantom’s whispered declaration was cut off abruptly as she mistakenly blundered face-first into a door as it was swung open by an advancing police officer. The policemare looked down with surprise at the knocked out unicorn assassin, now fully visible again. “Oh hey, looks like I just floored Mane-iac’s lieutenant somehow. Nice job, me!”   “Well done, let’s cuff her and move on,” another officer behind her said. “Capital!” Mistress Mare-velous exclaimed as she joined up with her comrades. “Fili-Second, Radiance, good to see you! How was the way in?” the Masked Matterhorn greeted. Radiance rubbed a patch of dust off of her blue suit. “Quiet...but messy.” “We would have gotten here earlier, were it not for Radiance here slowing us down by insisting on making as little racket as possible,” “Those guards needed to be taken out properly, or else we would have brought the whole facility down around our ears,” Radiance retorted. “Suppose so,” Fili-Second muttered. “OUR BACKUP IS HERE! THE TIME TO CRUSH IS NOW!’ For emphasis, Saddle Rager rapped a hoof against the metal strut of an overhead catwalk. The entire structure crumpled in on itself, spilling a bunch of henchponies onto the ground level, groaning and covered in dust. “Wow, Saddle Rager,” Fili-Second said with a whistle. “You probably hear this a lot, but you are a beast in the muscles department!” Saddle Rager looked down at her with her teeth barred. “IT WAS NOT ME THIS TIME! THAT WAS SIMPLY POOR MAINTENANCE PRACTICES ON THE PART OF THE OWNERS!” “Well uh, shall we get to it, girls?” Mistress Mare-velous inquired. “Power Ponies, attack!” Matter-Horn shouted. Once again, the heroines sprung into action. In no time at all, the MPD combined with the Power Ponies were making a mockery of Mane-iac’s private army. In two short minutes, the entire ground floor of the factory was now full of unconscious or downed henchponies, moaning with pain as they clutched at their bleeding legs or bruised coats. Wasting no time, the Power Ponies took to the factory’s stairs as they made their way up to their primary target, pausing only briefly to take in the sight of the mixing vats for shampoo, which were full of a bubbling green gunk, and to deal with any henchponies dumb enough to still put up a fight. With Matter-Horn leading the charge, the five superheroes stormed into Mane-iac’s luxurious office, and stared down the madmare herself. The whole room was set up almost like a hair salon; in addition to the typical office fixtures, the place was complete with hair dryers, curling irons, potted plants, and a veritable mountain of beauty products. Mane-iac glared at them with wild eyes as she peered up from a bubble-filled claw-footed tub in the corner, gasping. “Power Ponies, barging in on a bathing mare, unannounced? Why am I not surprised? Golden Badge would never have the gall to challenge me or my company on his own.” The mare had been in the middle of styling her mane while bathing, running the golden Pharaoh’s Comb through her prehensile green locks. “You’re going down, Mane-iac!” Fili-Second declared, “And that horrid shampoo of yours is never going to endanger the public!” Mistress Mare-velous added. “Not if I have a say in it!” Mane-iac scoffed at them, and prepared to exit the bathtub as she broke out into a laughing fit. “So sure of yourselves, Power Ponies, as always. That shampoo would have created the perfect army of brainless twits, ready to obey my every command! It’s high time I got you Power Ponies out of my hair, once and for all!” Too late did she noticed the Masked Matter-Horn charging a particular spell on her horn that had seen much usage that night. “Oh no…” In the blink of an eye, Matter-Horn unleashed a freeze ray at Mane-iac’s tub with a roar of anger. The effect was instantaneous; Mane-iac’s entire body up to the base of her neck was now stuck in place inside the tub, leaving only her head and mane free to move. “Curse you, Power Ponies!” Her mane prepared itself to attack as Mane-iac herself struggled to break herself free of the frozen bathwater, cackling all the while. “Uh, wait, shouldn’t there six of you, not counting the little runt? Hmm...one of you is missing…oh wait, now I remember.” Mane-iac’s insane laughter returned as recollection overtook her puzzlement. “It must be Zapp, the one who went missing somehow when I made my escape. Ooh, and you even named a park after her.” “Don’t play dumb,” Saddle Rager growled. “We all saw what you did to Zapp, we know you killed her and your mysterious accomplice.” Mane-iac gritted her teeth in displeasure. “Kill? Accomplice? Bah! I simply left your precious teammate for dead; the Museum shtick was simply the work of yours truly and her handsome henchponies. Besides, Power Ponies aren’t worth the effort to kill, especially when it’s much more satisfying driving you mad instead! Have you any idea how much work it takes to clean superhero blood out of one’s mane? Ha-hah-ha, Zapp’s took at least five attempts!” “That’s enough of your nonsense, you’re finished, Mane-iac!” The Masked Matter-Horn spat, igniting her horn. “Zapp sends her regards.” The others adopted a ready stance. The hairs of Mane-iac’s mane formed into readied wips. “I may have ran your precious friend through with my mane, but I never would have harmed a single hair on that pretty violet mane of hers,” Mane-iac stated with a wild and hostile sneer. “Now, we fight!” The battle was quick but intense. In her current restrained state, Mane-iac was quickly defeated despite her best efforts, but not before hitting Radiance and Matter-Horn sharply on their sides with a few well-aimed swings of her hair. Just as she was able to free her body completely, Matter-Horn froze her still damp mane, which Saddle Rager promptly shattered before reverting back to her normal form. As Mane-iac began howling like a banshee at the loss of her mane, the golden comb fell from her and into Fili-Second’s grasp, and Mistress Mare-velous was quick to secure Mane-iac with an especially tight lasso. “You’re nicked!” Radiance said, snatching the Pharaoh’s Comb from Fili-Second and containing it in a jar-shaped energy construct. “My mane...my majestic, beautiful mane!” Mane-iac hollered. “Mark me, Power Ponies! When it grows back, you will have wished you disappeared like your friend did, for I will have my vengeance! Mark me!” The Masked Matter-Horn stared her down angrily as the others prepared to leave. “You’re going straight to Balkham Asylum, and you will answer for whatever it was that happened to Zapp. Regardless of where she ended up that night, as of now, we hold you as the sole pony responsible. Let’s go girls, Golden Badge will be beyond relieved to see this whackjob in our custody.” Early in the morning on the next day, Golden Badge proudly upheld his promise to Agent September and the Federal Intelligence Agency. Mane-iac was now confined under maximum security in special quarters kept under constant surveillance. Guards were posted to have complete control over what got out, and got in. Meanwhile, he and the Power Ponies were currently in a conference room inside Balkham, holding a meeting with the Special Agent himself, who sipped a mug of coffee in a stiff, almost mechanical way. “Well done, Power Ponies, Commissioner. Already, Parasol’s stocks have fallen rock bottom and Sol Corporation has officially disavowed the company and its practices; Mane-iac’s empire is finished and all her assets are being frozen.” September was steel-gray coated stallion who, oddly enough, possessed no tail or visible mane. He wore a gray business suit, and donned a matching grey fedora on his back that both somehow complimented his cutie mark, which was a pair of binoculars. “We couldn’t have done it without you heroes,” Commissioner Golden Badge added, sighing with relief as he finished his own coffee, looking out the window as rain began to patter against the glass. “Just doing our jobs, gentlecolts,” Radiance replied. “I don’t know if we'll ever truly find out what happened to Zapp, but at least Maretropolis can rest a bit easier knowing that another major villain is behind bars,” the Masked Matter-Horn stated, flipping through the after-action reports the police filed for the raid. “Thanks for letting me help with the radios,” Hum Drum said to the Police Commissioner. Golden Badge smiled and patted him on the head. “Don’t mention it, Hum Drum. You’ll make a great crimefighter in the not so distant future.” The unicorn was going to add ‘maybe even fill Zapp’s shoes,’ but he felt it not fitting enough, with the given timeframe they were currently in. He cleared his throat. “So, what’s next for the Power Ponies, girls?” Agent September looked to the six ponies as well, his eyes studious. “Based on last night’s operation, I would like to inform you all that I will be reopening Zapp’s case personally. While you have pronounced her deceased, I will still coordinate with my counterparts at H.O.R.N. to begin a proper global search. Your teammate is not the only metapony in recent years to have vanished under inexplicable circumstances.” That seemed to catch all the Power Ponies off guard, who gasped with surprise. “I-I...thats...thank you, Special Agent September,” the Masked Matter-Horn stammered. She quickly collected herself. As she did so, the veil of clouds gave way just a bit to let in some dawn sunshine, which filtered in through the tall, robust windows. “And to answer your question, Mr. Commissioner, we’ll keep doing what we always do: keeping Maretropolis safe from whatever threat we can.”