Looking Into the Abyss of Insanity
It started with the doors breaking down.
Mane-iac quietly sighed and used one of her mane tendrils to take a beaker of red liquid off of the shelf in front of her. She dipped a dropper into the beaker and sucked up three drops of the fluid and dripped it slowly into a small vial of green liquid. The addition of the red caused a small puff of smoke to emit from her concoction. Mane-iac heard Zapp yell something, and one of her henchponies cry out in pain, just like last time.
All according to schedule.
Zapp would use her storm powers to electrocute any perceived enemies she laid eyes on, or maybe to cut the power. Filli-Second would zip around and take away whatever crazy weapon she had designed this time, allowing Mistress Mare-velous, Radiance, and Masked Matter-Horn to capture and secure whoever remained standing. Hum Drum would knock over something that looked important but really wasn't, and Saddle Rager would wait in the background. Most times, she didn't even need to get angry.
And then they would come for her. Just like they always had, and just like they always would. The settings would vary, the schemes would differ, but there was never a question about the outcome. Even when it seemed all was lost and she had won, Mistress Mare-velous would take out a hidden hooferang and hit the self-destruct button on her latest invention with impeccable aim.
Or Masked Matter-Horn would fire a laser beam that cut it in half.
Or Radiance would think of an attack construct that crushed it into a ball.
Or Saddle Rager would get angry.
And in the end, nothing would be different. Nothing would change, but the ponies of Maretropolis would have their heroes.
She heard it now: the signal that the Power Ponies had won... again. Mane-iac subtly nodded and sniffed her brew. It smelled like daisies and fish oil. It smelled of perfection, just like the last countless times she had made it. In an odd way, it was her only invention that she could take real pride in. Not that the Power Ponies would ever figure out what it did, of course. She would not gloat about this creation.
Mane-iac leaned her head against her forehoof and ordered her mane tendrils to cap and store all of the supplies needed for the brew. The Power Ponies would be there any moment, and she wanted to be completely ready. She shut the last cabinet and screwed the cap onto the fragile glass vial just as the sound of a horn being fired up came from the other side of the door. The doors flew off of their hinges, one of them narrowly missing her where she sat. Mane-iac heard the Power Ponies rush into the room, and she didn't need to look to see that they had struck an epic pose of some sort.
"Mane-iac! We've come to put a stop to your evil schemes, once and for all!" The Masked Matter-Horn cried.
"Your nefarious scheme won't work this time!" Radiance growled. "You won't threaten the good citizens of Maretropolis anymore after tonight!"
And ponies thought her laughter to be cliché.
Mane-iac gently poked at the vial, but otherwise didn't move. Normally, by this point, she was laughing and loudly disagreeing with their assertions that they had any hope against her, but tonight...
She just couldn't care.
Silence continued to reign in the office for a good few minutes, and Mane-iac could feel the stares of the Power Ponies, waiting for her to make the first move, but still she sat. She didn't even bother to put on the usual show of making her mane writhe and wriggle, instead letting it lay limp around her.
"Uh..." Zapp glanced over at Filli-Second. "Did we already win or something?"
"Maybe she's playing possum and is waiting for us to lower our guard?" Filli-Second muttered.
Mane-iac let out a noise that was a cross between a laugh and a sob, and for the first time, she turned her chair to look at her foes. All of them stood behind her, regarding her with curious expressions. Filli-Second had cocked her head, and the uncertainty in her eyes seemed to Mane-iac to be almost foal-like. Mane-iac stared at them for a few moments, her shining eyes unblinking, before finally croaking out a paltry few words.
"Do you know how much I have sacrificed for this city?"
The words hung in the air, seemingly creating a sort of barrier between the two sides. The curious expressions of the Power Ponies morphed into full blown bafflement and incredulity. The Masked Matter-Horn broke the silence with a scoff.
"How much you've sacrificed for this city?" The Masked Matter-Horn's eyes narrowed and her wings flared. "All you do is set out to destroy it! You hurt innocent ponies! How is that sacrificing anything for anypony?"
Mane-iac blinked once, but otherwise continued her even stare at the Power Ponies. "I know it does not seem as such to you, but... I love Maretropolis. I daresay I love it more than anything. I couldn't have asked for a better place to grow up." Mane-iac turned her head and looked out of a small, dirty window that gave her a view of the streets below. "Such a happy filly, I was. So very happy."
Before any of the Power Ponies could react, Mane-iac shot to her hooves with such force that she left a small crack on the wood floor below her.
"But Maretropolis was not a paradise, was it? It was a wart on the face of our nation way back then. Some say that I make it so now, but they don't know what they're talking about."
"You're a villain; that's what they're talking about!" Zapp roared. "And it's our job to make sure that you don't cause harm to anypony ever again!"
For the first time, a wide smile split Mane-iac's face, yet it did not match the insane grin that the Power Ponies had found commonplace with their foe. Rather it was one of true elation.
"Yes! Yes, indeed; you are correct! That is your job, and you do it quite well, but therein lies the rub." Mane-iac slithered towards Zapp on her mane tendrils, stopping just short of being snout-to-snout with her. "You want to stop me, and I am in full support of the notion, but what would you do without me? In the first eighteen months of your, dare I say, reign over the city, you cleaned the streets of petty criminals, mob ponies, confidence mares, and the like. You made it so that the fair ponies of this city didn't even feel the need to lock their doors at night." Mane-iac tilted her head in an affirming nod towards Zapp. "And for that, I commend you."
Mane-iac smirked at Zapp's baffled expression, but slithered back to her chair. It would be time soon. Time to repeat the process all over again. For now, though, she could relish in her confession. Relish in the bewilderment of the ponies who had defeated her so many times.
"So... I'm confused." Mane-iac glanced over to Radiance, whose mouth had curved down slightly. "You are our enemy, but yet you have just said that you support the fact that we defeat you and make Maretropolis safe for everypony."
Mane-iac nodded. "Indeed I do." She chuckled quietly and motioned a hoof towards the window. "Have you ever observed them? I mean really observed them, particularly in the context of us? After you cleaned the streets, the city was peaceful for six months before I showed up, correct?"
"Er..." Radiance exchanged a look with Saddle Rager. "Yes, I suppose that is true. What's your point?"
"What did you do during that time period? What did you do that made you feel like you were worth something, that made you really feel like you were helping those ponies?"
"Er..." Radiance's head dipped and her ears flattened. "Well, I suppose we..."
"You did nothing!" Mane-iac screeched. "And in doing nothing you meant nothing to those ponies! At your best, you are all symbols of everything that they strive to be! You're strong, virtuous, intelligent, harmonious, and on the side of good." Mane-iac leaned back in her chair and crossed her forelegs. "Meanwhile, I am cunning, manipulative, insane, chaotic, all around evil, and remind those ponies of everything that they do not want to be, correct?"
The Power Ponies merely looked amongst each other, none of them quite sure how to respond. Mane-iac groaned and facehooved. "During that hiatus before I rose to 'power,' you became meaningless, and so too did the virtues you extolled in the minds of the ponies you protected. I knew what you meant to the ponies in your heyday, so I knew what had to be done." Mane-iac smiled and began stroking one of her mane tendrils. "I've always been quite the inventor. Did you know that? I'd imagine so. You stop my latest inventions on at least a bi-weekly basis. So, knowing how little you mattered, but also knowing how much you and what you represent could matter, I resolved to give you reason again. I knew that I couldn't do it in my current state, so I concocted a potion that would turn me the way that I am." Mane-iac gave a single giggle, one that for the first time held a hint of the insanity that the Power Ponies were used to hearing from her. She opened up a folder on her desk and took out a formula for her most closely guarded secret: the brew that had turned her into the twisted ruin they saw her as. "I didn't fall into anything. I jumped."
The Power Ponies' eyes widened in unison, and they all gasped. "You did this to yourself on purpose?" Saddle Rager cried. "Why would you do that?"
Mistress Mare-velous' eyes narrowed into a glare, and she pawed at the ground. "Because she's insane. She's a villain who needs to be stopped!"
"I agree on your second point, but I assure you that I am as sane and lucid now as I was on the day that I jumped in." Mane-iac turned her gaze to Saddle Rager. "As for why, haven't you been listening to me? I wanted to give you purpose and meaning, for if I gave you purpose and meaning, then you in turn could give the ponies of Maretropolis purpose and meaning. Every time we battle, it is plastered across the front page! Good triumphs over evil yet again! And every time ponies read that, they are given hope. Hope that the virtues that they work so hard to maintain can actually mean something. Hope that no matter how bleak things look, goodness and harmony will always win in the end."
Mane-iac's smirk returned and she motioned over to one of her failed battle plans. "Why do you think that some of your battles against me are seemingly so close? Because I allow them to be so. You tell the press that you looked down for a moment and all hope seemed lost, but then you rallied, and truth and honor and harmony beat out evil and badness, and the ponies of Maretropolis are given more hope. Why in the world would I put self destruct buttons on my inventions otherwise?"
"But..." The Masked Matter-Horn took a tentative step towards Mane-iac. "If you're still lucid and sane like you say, why hurt ponies? Why not join the side of good?"
Mane-iac rolled her eyes. "And how many times have I actually hurt ponies? Can you recall the last time you, or any pony really, received more than a few scratches from me?"
"But you destroy buildings in the city!"
"And an anonymous donor helps fund their repairs, right?"
Radiance quietly gasped and put a hoof up to her mouth. "You? The anonymous donor that keeps funding city repairs is... you?"
"Indeed it is." Mane-iac chuckled and motioned to the building around them. "Despite my more... unethical activities, I still do own some of the most successful businesses in Maretropolis. Under different names, of course, but it allows me to have enough bits to repair whatever meager damage I do during our battles."
Silence once again fell over the office as the Power Ponies and Hum Drum processed the confession of their nemesis. Mane-iac could only give a small smile at them. She had begun to reach them--she knew that she had--but soon it would start all over again, just as it always did.
Mistress Mare-velous broke the silence. "One thing I don't get, Mane-iac: why are you telling us all this?"
Mane-iac chuckled and resumed stroking one of her mane tendrils. "Because I need vindication. I need a moment, just a single moment, where I'm told that what I'm doing is not so bad. All you have to do is think back to our last battle to see the truth in what I'm saying." Mane-iac looked over to Zapp. "You had defeated me yet again and tied me up with my own mane, and when you dragged me out thrashing and giggling to jail, a jubilant crowd of ponies flocked over to you. One in particular, a filly, of no more than eight, I'd imagine, asked for your autograph with such foal-like joy that I couldn't help but smile. To her, you meant the world. To that little filly you were a living, breathing representation of everything that is right.
"We're gladiators, you see, symbolizing the duality of morality. We duke it out while the ponies of our fair city watch. We give each other and the ponies of the city a purpose. Without each, there would be no other." Mane-iac's smile slowly fell, and she picked up the fragile glass vial. "And I wonder how much more I can take. How many more fights I can endure, even with these vindicating confessions. After every fight, a small part of my brain tells me to try to win next time, and after every defeat, it grows louder."
"Wait, did you say confessions?" Filli-Second frowned and cocked her head. "Like, plural?"
"Yes." Mane-iac took a deep breath and plucked the vial out of her mane strand. "I admire you all. I want you to know that. I admire what you do, why, and what you mean for this city." Mane-iac glanced down at Hum Drum and her small smile returned. "I even admire you, Hum Drum. You may not think you do much, but you have a certain tenacity and drive that I think is inspiring."
And before the Power Ponies could say anything else, Mane-iac threw the vial at them. It landed dead in the middle of the group and shattered, creating a large cloud of green smoke that completely engulfed her foes. One by one, she heard them silently fall to the floor. Within a minute, the cloud completely dissipated, revealing the unconscious Power Ponies sprawled out before her.
Just like last time.
Mane-iac sighed and stood up. She cracked her neck, twisted her mouth into a wide, insane smile and began giggling her trademark giggle just as the Power Ponies began stirring. Each of them slowly got to their hooves and looked dazed for a few moments, but their confident, determined smiles soon returned, and they struck their trademark epic pose.
"Mane-iac! We've come to put a stop to your evil schemes, once and for all!" The Masked Matter-Horn cried.
"Your nefarious scheme won't work this time!" Radiance growled. "You won't threaten the good citizens of Maretropolis anymore after tonight!"
Mane-iac giggled loudly and thrashed her mane tendrils about. "Oh Power Ponies, you're all so predictable, such goody two horseshoes! You can never defeat the likes of me!"
And so the battle began again. The gladiatorial match for the hope and morale of the city. Mane-iac knew that she would lose, of course, as she always did, but that's the way it was supposed to be.
That's the way it had to be.
That's the way it would always be.
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Well, that was an interesting take on this sort of situation, and a good one at that. I'd ask for more, but it doesn't really need more.
I wonder if this is how other villains feel
;_; beautiful
3960586 Glad you think so.
3960589
I like that it makes her something of a hero without trying to make her sympathetic--even she genuinely knows that she's doing wrong, but feels that she has to do it. And the story isn't skewed in a way that attempts to justify that. It's all morally ambiguous.
Oh come on! I was going to use the Mane-iac!
Nice story, though.
You are a very talented author, you know that? My feels has been broken
Wow, that's depressing...
Think what would happen though if there was a sequel and they got immunity to the gas?
Really wish there could be a good ending, but still good story.
This was really well done. Heroes mean nothing without villains, after all.
You did a terrific job of making the Mane-iac into a likeable, respectable character, without being cliche about it.
Wow.
Just wow. That was really good.
STOP WRITING SUCH SAD STORIES!!!
I can't say anything in this story tugged at my heartstrings, but it was a good read.
This could be the perfect setup to the Power Ponies and the Mane-iac wroking together to fight off some bigger threat. That sort of thing happens in comic books all the time, right? So why not?
"Nemeses" is the plural of "nemesis".
I'm pretty sure this story is about as deep as the Marianas Trench. It makes it even more enjoyable. It makes you think how many times people have done 'bad' things to a person or small group for the overall betterment of mankind. If more than one like could be given I'd probably be here for hours. A favorite and like will have to do.
Typo - Mane-iac: what are you telling us all this? (also mane-ia at the very start)
Very good. And depressing. She's so sane it hurts, and the "heroes" are utterly blind to this.
Almost feared she would off herself in front of them. The heroes really don't realize Mane is doing a huge service to the city, she doesnt just give them hope, she also make sure criminal elements are off the streets and set to jail/rehab (once captured) too. She create jobs for repair work and all the supplies that she buys and burns through, plus all the other things she have going..
Ain't gonna be pretty when she decide she's had enough.
Nemeses*
Dang. Just... Dang. This makes a scary amount of sense.
This is some deep sh*t.
Damn, we need a sequel now.
3961359 Why? The story flat out says that this is not the first time Mane-iac and the Power Ponies have had this conversation. Not even close. A sequel would just be the same thing as this one, but Mane-iac would be that much more fractured.
Why is it that the greatest stories, or the simplest, always make me tear up?
This was brilliantly written and the concept... amazing. I'd just love to see a multi-chapter story using said idea, but... Perhaps its best to leave it as is.
I loved the story but hated the ending. I mean the was great but I just wish that Mane-iac would just, well, help them and make ita happy ending. Yo should write an alternate ending to this story.
3961378
I suppose it's just that people would like to see what would happen if she didn't use the potion.
I do understand, however, that the story you've created here does not require such. It is excellent by itself.
3962024 I agree. Lovely ending, but I need a happier one.
I wonder what being defeated by the Mane-iac would be like. What is she going to do, give you a bad hair day?
That was pretty much her plan for Maretropolis from what I gather.
wasnt a huge fan of the ending but the idea is an interesting one that i have not seen before.
3962024
I agree. I don't think a sequel would be fitting, but I would certainly like to see an alternate ending. Maybe just one where the Power Ponies somehow (note to themselves, recorder) realize what's going on after the mind-wipe.
3960656 Or at least started to build up a resistance to it and slowly over time see all the Pieces fall into place and the truth is revealed.
3962458
Yeah, I'd find it really interesting to see what would happen.
This reminds me of Doctor Mobius's plan in the Old world Blues Fallout New Vegas DLC. Be evil for the sake of the Greater good.
3962024
3962079
3962330 What? I'm not sure if you get the point. The point isn't a happy ending. At least not for Mane-iac. The point is a happy ending for everybody else. She's sacrificing her happy ending so that everybody else can get theirs. You can't have super-heroes without villains to match, and when there was no villain, Mane-iac knew that everything the Power Ponies symbolized was fading away. That's why she fights them and lets them win. When the Power Ponies win, Maretropolis is happy and they feel hope. If Mane-iac switched sides there would be nothing for the Power Ponies to do. No big battles to fight. They cleaned the streets after 18 months.
So in short, I ended it as happily as possible. Mane-iac is unhappy, and it's implied that she's slowly mentally fracturing, but millions of other ponies are because of what she's doing.
3962652 Actually, thanks for clearing the story up. I didn't get it at first.
3962652 yeah I get it. Just because I said I wasnt a huge fan of it dose not nesicarily mean I did not like it. Look at your other works: You have rarity become a serial killer and get executed. Just because I don't like how it ends dose not mean I dont actually like it, if that makes sense.
I guess the best way I can put it into words is that I appreciate it for what it is and I understand the point that is being made but I still wish it could have ended differently even though we all know that this is the way things are supposed to be. I hope that makes sense.
My gods this is awesome stuff! So deep and well deep. Fave and like from me!
I love this story!
3962956 I guess, but I guess what I'm saying is that all of the different endings that I could have realistically put would have been worse.
Clean, well written and strangely melancholy, I hope to read any of your future fics in the future.
Crazy thing though I could see Discord doing the same thing. You know allow princess turn him to stone for balance and then the second time they somehow find out about him doing it and you know the rest.
3960585
This reminds me so much of Batman and The Joker... "You Complete Me" could be an alternate title.
Makes one feel kind of sad, almost pity, for Maneiac. Then again, didn't we all go through this with Chrysalis?
...and thus begins the wait for a Maneiac group here.
Because she's the hero Maretropolis deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt her. Because she can take it. Because she's not our hero. She's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight.
Oh wow. This was.
Aaaaaa. I loved it. So sad and hopeless and infinitely messed up. And honestly, it makes more sense than the typical insane, meaningless villain she was prior. Amazing job.
The most dangerous villeins are the ones who know they are the hero
But how can she remember?!
She just re-sets every time somepony new reads the comic book!
Maybe it's like that time loop thing the Doctor and Romana got stuck in when that super alien cactus (the idea for which re-appeared in one episode of "Outlaw Star") created a chronic histeresis and they could only remember they were stuck in it during the short span of the loop where time was returning to the beginning of the loop.
>>>"During that hiatus before I rose to 'power,' you were meaningless, and so too were the virtues you extolled in the minds of the ponies you protected. I knew what you meant to the ponies in your heyday, so I knew what had to be done." >>>
"Well, ta be honest, " The hero that was Applejack whose name I don't really care about responded. "We alll just hung out in the Stable of Justice and played ping-pong. It was a nice peaceful time. In fact, the only really useless one of us is Aqua Mare..."
*cut to Aqua Mare* "I can talk to fish! And Sea Ponies! That... that's a useful power!!... Right?"
>>>Mane-Iac rolled her eyes. "And how many times have I actually hurt ponies? When was the last time you, or any pony really, received more than a few scratches from me?">>>
"Last time, a filly died from asthma when she got caught in a cloud of your hairspray." said Masked Matterhorn.
"By the way, what exactly would have happened if we 'lost' during one of these battles. You do realize we barely escaped what were clear death traps quite a few times.. or was that face-melting gel that dissolved half a wall just an illusion?" frowned Radiance.
"Frankly, sounds ta me like yer just making up some kinda weird psychological Xanatos Gambit that we'd have ta be as stupid as all them other comic book characters to fall for," Zapp noted, hocking a tobacco-stained loogy into a conveniently-placed spitoon.
"Er..." nervously muttered Maniac, hair tugging upon her collar. "Oh look! A distraction!"
The Power Ponies were distracted a few vital seconds during which Maniac escaped.
3964442 Well, it doesn't actually work for those who care to think, or who've actually dealt with people as deluded as the Maniac, who think they're doing good by being serial killers of hookers.
*smirks* Kinda shines a new light on it, eh?
It's by sheer good fortune no one is killed by Maniac's schemes. She can't possibly control all the variables of what she unleashes.
She's a delusional fool, and a dangerous one at that.
The REAL clever 'good' supervillains are the ones who hire others to do their dirty work and then play the hero cleaning up after it... and who can tarnish even the most spotless of heroes with their clever schemes: Lex Luthor.
3963000 When one has never delved further down than the roots of a lawn before, I suppose a pothole seems like a bottomless pit.
We has looked deep beneath the roots of the mountainses, we has! Yes, Precious!
A demonstration of the false dichotomy. Good and evil are not balanced opposites, and good does NOT need evil to exist--- no more than the sun in the sky needs the existence of your shadow. She IS insane, if she thinks that her city "needs" a villain.
Your new story was awesome, as they all are.
Kind of reminded me of Watchmen.
3964762
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This reminds me of the Joker's 'killing joke' monologue... except more benevolent, I s'pose.