Note: This story is the work of Darkryt Orbinautz.
A My Little Pony Fanfiction
Mind Over Mane-Iac
Issue 5 In A Seven-Issue Mini-series!
Rainbow Dash's Choice
A HOUSE DIVIDED! With Tresemme's secret blown wide open, what will Rainbow Dash do about the fact she's dating her nemesis? Or perhaps a more worrying question … what will the Power Ponies do about Rainbow Dash?
THE Fight began. Matter-horn swithced between firing heat rays and beams of frost, alternating the two temperatures, the idea being to induce a fatal thermal shock in her enemies. Long Face threw vial after vial of mysterious and unknown liquid, with Fili-Second using her super-speed to snatch the vials out of the air before they hit the ground. Radiance charged at Phetlocke, engaging him in a duel of staffs with a conjured halberd. Meanwhile, Shadowmane ninja-stepped to avoid getting lassoed by Mare-evelous, and Saddle Rager, angry enough to fight, but not so angry she triggered her transformation, tackled High Heel.
Rainbow Dash and Tresemme put their hooves on the windowsill, watching with a sense of pure and utter helplessness as the two teams began their clash.
"What do we do?" Rainbow Dash asked. "They're going to tear each other apart!"
"We should get out there." Tresemme said. "Explain to them what's going on." Tresemme galloped towards the door, waylaid by Dash grabbing onto her tail.
"Tresemme, wait." Dash pulled Tresemme back to her. "We can't go out there right now. I know we have a lot going on right now, and I know things are really confusing … for both of us. But now that you know my secret identity, can I trust you not to tell your other supervillain friends?"
"Mmm ..." Tresemme averted her eyes.
"Tresemme, please." Dash looked into Tresemme's eyes, her own eyes wavering. "Promise me. If you really love me … if any of this was real, you'll do this for me. Promise me you won't tell any other villain my secret identity."
"I ..." Tresemme tapped her hooves together. "Okay. I promise." Tresemme's eyes widened and she covered her mouth, surprising herself with how far she was willing to go for their relationship.
Dash smiled and hugged Tresemme. "Thanks." Dash examined her body. "I can't go out there like this. I need something to conceal my identity."
"I think I have a few sheets you can borrow." Tresemme said.
"Perfect. That should work."
While Rainbow Dash got to work wrapping and trying sheets up into a slapdash costume, Tresemme willed herself to morph from her civilian self to the Mane-iac.
Now dressed for the occasion, they charged out from Tresemme's house and into the crossfire of the fight, pleading with their side for a ceasefire.
"Everypony, stop!" Zapp yelled, clad in bedding tied around her face and body, making a cloak and bandana. "We want to talk."
"As much as it pains me to say this … Six!" Mane-iac yelled. "Stop fighting the Power Ponies at once!"
"Zapp!" Matter-horn said, either not hearing or pretending not to hear Zapp's request. "We're glad you're here. You can help us out. Here." At Matter-horn's command, Radiance levitated Zapp's weather-control amulet to its owner. "Since you weren't expecting to get caught up in super-heroics, I can see how you might have decided to leave that at our base."
Zapp took hold of the amulet. Zapp gazed her reflection inside the amulet's golden shine and sighed. Should she be doing what she was trying to? Should she be trying to get the fighting to stop, if only for a moment, or should she side with her companions and join the violence?
"Guys, I know you came all this way for me, but I don't want you to fight." Zapp said, lowering her amulet. "Things are complicated between the Mane-iac and I. We need some time to ourselves to figure everything out. Then, once we've done that, we'll come back and tell all of you what we decided. Okay?"
The Masked Matter-horn looked to her partners before turning back to Zapp. "I don't like it. It sounds like the Mane-iac has you under her spell, Zapp!"
"Under her spell – what?" Zapp balked.
"I mean, she's somehow affecting your mind." Matter-horn. "That, or you're so blinded by your love for her it's interfering with your good judgment!"
"Au contraire!" Pharoah Phetlocke said. "We believe a rainbow-maned pony is the one messing with our dear Mane-iac's head!"
"What?" Matter-horn and the other Power Ponies expressed their confusion of Phetlocke's claims. "That's ridiculous."
"Oh, is it?" Phetlocke retorted. "Is it any more ridiculous than a pair of six spandex-wearing ponies who fight crime? I mean, the idea is laughable!"
"It's not laughable!" Matter-horn said.
"It's not spandex." Radiance gritted her teeth, using her powers to project two giant swords, ready to cleave Phetlock's head off his shoulders for his comments.
"Mane-iac hasn't been herself lately." Phetlocke said. "And we suspect it has something to do with this mysterious pony, whom we know she's going out with!"
"How does that make any more sense than the idea the Mane-iac – the bad guy – is messing with Zapp's head?" Matter-horn asked.
"Ugh!" Zapp groaned, rubbing her hooves across her temples. "Fine. Forget it. It's obvious none of you are going to listen to me." Zapp descended to the ground, wrapping her hooves around the Mane-iac's chest. "Come on, Mane-iac. Let's take our business elsewhere." Without giving either side a chance to convince them to stay, Zapp rocketed up through the air with the Mane-iac as her cargo, leaving both teams wide-eyed and unsure of themselves.
The Matter-horn and Phetlocke locked eyes again.
"Well, I don't know about you, but seeing as both our primary objectives seem no longer feasible, I'm willing to call this round a draw." Phetlocke said.
"Agreed." Matter-horn walked away. "Come on, Power Ponies. Let's go see if we can track down Zapp. We'll start by looking around her regular hangouts."
The Power Ponies and the Sinful Six turned from each other and walked down the street, heading to their respective bases.
Zapp flew over the bustling city with her cargo, ignoring the ponies going about their lives on the street below. From this height, they appeared to be ants. As far as Zapp was concerned, they were ants. Skyscraper after skyscraper passed them by, the glimmering shine of industrial steel shingles little more than distractions to Zapp's eye.
"Ugh!" The Mane-iac struggled and flailed in Zapp's grip, trying to push herself out before looking down and realizing pushing herself away from the flying pony while fifty in the air was maybe not the best idea. "Why did you take us away from the fight, Rainbow Dash?" The Mane-iac covered her mouth. "Sorry. It – it just slipped out."
Zapp shook her head, dismissing the Mane-iac's slip. "Our friends aren't going to listen to us. They have their own ideas about what's going on and they're sticking to it. I should know. I do it all the time. We need to find a place where we can talk by ourselves. No distractions. No interruptions. No … well-meaning teams trying to 'rescue' one of us from the other." Zapp took notice of a skyscraper with a spacious roof and set herself down there, letting the Mane-iac free.
Mane-iac shuffled nervously to the side while Zapp sat on her haunches and looked down, watching cars pass by.
"So ..." Zapp pulled her head up. "What do we do now?"
The Mane-iac sat down, her legs dangling over the side of the building. "I don't know."
Zapp breathed deep and sighed. "Of course you don't. I wish somepony did. Somepony who – who'd been in this situation and could tell us what to do."
The Mane-iac shifted slightly, moving over to rest on her side. She looked to Zapp with a reassuring smile, though she herself wasn't assured of anything. "You know what I think? I think times like this call for a test."
"A test? How can you be thinking of a test at a time like this? Honestly, you're just as bad as Matter-horn … "
"Oh, but this is a special test!" The Mane-iac said. "It's a test to see if you'll do the right thing."
This … piqued Zapp's interest. "Oh?"
The Mane-iac nodded. "Mm-hmm. I'm going to let you in on my latest scheme, and we'll see what you do. I'll trust you do the right thing. After all, that's what partners do, right?" The Mane-iac snuggled Zapp, pressing their heads together. "They trust each other?"
"Uh ..." Zapp bit her lip. "Yes. They do."
"Excellent!" The Mane-iac applauded her sinister hooves. "Now, listen, here's the deal … you know I've been breaking into shampoo factories?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been trying to get my newest invention into circulation." The Mane-iac explained. "My brilliant, if I do say so myself, brainwashing shampoo. Once it gets into stores and ponies begin using it, it will be a piece of cake to take over all Metropolis for my very own!" The Mane-iac let one of her sinister, airy cackles. "And you know the best part? No pony will ever see it coming."
"Uh, why's that?" Zapp asked.
"Because." The Mane-iac flashed a maniacal grin. "Do you remember the shampoo factory your team attacked me at? When you mercilessly beat me up?"
Zapp blushed.
"Well, I had my henchponies swap out their shampoo for my brainwashing shampoo." The Mane-iac said. "That way, all the ponies who normally use that shampoo will buy it, never suspecting anything's wrong with their favorite brand until it's TOO LATE and they're already my little brainwashed servants!" The Mane-iac chuckled and cackled, her eyes rolling around crazily in their sockets.
"Literal brainwashing." Zapp said. "Nicely done. You know, for an evil plan."
"Isn't it?" Mane-iac asked with a flirtatious tone, resting her head on Zapp's lap, leading the weather-controlling superhero to blush from the intimacy. "Mmm … and now that you know my evil plan, Zapp, what are you going to do about it?"
Zapp shrugged. "I don't know yet. But I'll tell you this much; I won't be the one to stop it, that's for sure."
The Mane-iac laughed, raising up and gifting Zapp with a peck on the lips. "That's my girl! Ha ha ha!"
"Yeah. Uh, listen, I need to use the little fillies' room, so could I have some space?"
"Of course." The Mane-iac got off from Zapp's lap, allowing Zap the freedom to fly up and over the building and descend to the ground where she could find a public restroom. Or so she let the Mane-iac believe. Zapp was honest when she told Mane-iac she had no intentions of being the one to stop it … but she never said anything about allowing others to put a halt to her nefarious plans. She still had enough of a sense of loyalty to inform her fellow Power Ponies.
I owe them that, at least. Zapp thought.
Finding a payphone, Zapp slipped a coin inside and dialed a number most familiar to her.
At the Power Pony mansion, an unmasked Twilight walked around the room, pacing in circles as the Power Ponies tried to put their heads together and think. To think of a plan to deal with their absent member. To think of what kind of repercussions she might face, if any. Or would they give her an exemption, pat her on the back, and say all was forgiven? This was just one of the many things they had trouble agreeing on.
"AAAGH!" Twilight reached her hooves up in the air and screamed. "Why is this so hard? We know Rainbow Dash, we know Tresemme is the Mane-iac, and we know – we think – the Mane-iac is controlling Dash somehow. So why can't ANY OF YOU come up with ANYTHING?"
"Well, darling ..." Rarity said. "Perhaps it's because we're not all sure the Mane-iac is controlling Rainbow Dash. Maybe … maybe Rainbow Dash is doing this of her own free will."
"No. Noooo." Twilight said. "You don't really believe that, do you, Rarity?"
"Love will make a pony do crazy things they might otherwise not do." Rarity said. "Crazy things they might not realize they're even capable of."
Before Twilight could offer Rarity a response, the phone rang, interrupting their debate before it became too tense and heated for any of them to make a reasonable argument.
"Hold the phone." Twilight said.
"Ha!" Spike laughed, picking up the phone so the caller would know they'd been heard. "Puns and wordplay! I love it."
Twilight Sparkle walked up to the table and took the phone from Spike. "Hello? Who is this?"
"It's Zapp." came through from the other end of the line, giving Twilight pause. In this second, hundreds and hundreds of electrical signals were traveling back and forth from one end of the cable to the other, sending echoes of speech between both lines near-instantaneously.
Allowing two ponies, severed by their circumstances, a brief moment of reunited connection.
"What do you want, Zapp?" Twilight tried to remain neutral and level in her tone, but her frustration with Dash and the situation in general showed through, making her voice come out rather passive-aggressive.
"Listen, you remember that shampoo factory we fought the Mane-iac a night or two ago?"
"Yes. What of it?"
"The Mane-iac had her henchman swap out the shampoo from the factory for her own special shampoo she made. It's a brainwashing shampoo which will brainwash anyone who uses it. You have to find a way to keep it from getting into stores."
"Understood." Zapp couldn't see her, but Twilight saluted. "Zapp?"
"Yeah?"
"When are you coming home?"
"I don't know, Twilight. Maybe not ever."
Twilight's vocal cords stretched out to scream, to say something, to tell Rainbow Dash her answer was unacceptable and she better rush home right now or she would be grounded from her video games for a month, or maybe to convince she had nothing fear from coming back. But it was too late. The line went dead, buzzing a dial tone.
Twilight simply … sat there, in silence.
"Twilight? Are you all right, darling?"
Twilight didn't answer. She put the phone back, dialed a number, and put it to her ear. "Hello, Mayor? This is the Masked Matter-horn. I need you to put out a recall for a certain product. No, nothing major. Just a shampoo brand. Yes, a shampoo brand. What brand? Uhh ... I'm not sure, I didn't ... catch the name. But I know it's been compromised. I just need you to sign the order to recall it - what? What do you mean you have more important things to do? This shampoo is a threat to public safety! Yes, I'm serious! Listen, I'm not in a good mood right now, so I would love the excuse to come over to your office and burn it to the ground. Okay? Okay. Have a nice day. " Twilight slammed the phone down, breathing heavy.
"Er, Twi?" Applejack asked. "You okay? Y'all don't normally make threats like that."
Twilight shook her head, tears rolling down her eyes. "No … No, I'm not." Twilight sniffed. "Rainbow Dash called … she says … she says she's not sure when - or even if - she's coming back home ... "
"Aww." Pinkie Pie said. "I'm sure she's just being silly. Like, not 'ha-ha' silly, but silly in that she'll come to her senses and realize she's being ridiculous. Come here." Pinkie spread her legs out wide. "Give Auntie Pinkie a hug." Pinkie zoomed over, embracing Twilight.
Twilight rested her head on Pinkie's shoulder, wiping a tear from her eye. "T-thank you, Pinkie Pie ..."
Zapp hung up the phone, her hoof lingering on it. She thought about calling Twilight back. About telling she'd changed her mind and was going to come home right away.
A shadow fell over her. Zapp turned around and was startled by the presence of the Mane-iac. "Ah! Mane-iac. What a … surprise to see you here."
"Cut the act. I heard the whole thing." The Mane-iac said, her hooves crossed. The passing cars on the street, to Zapp's internal thanks, didn't seem to notice there was a wanted supervillain on the sidewalk. Zapp had enough to deal with already without a concerned passer-by calling the proper authorities.
Zapp looked up at the skyscraper they were sitting on. "How did you get down from all the way up there?"
"I climbed." The Mane-iac answered. "You know, with my tentacles? So … needed to use the fillies' room, huh?" The Mane-iac carried herself on her tentacles closer to Zapp, invading Zapp's personal space. "Just couldn't resist, could you?"
"Well ... yeah." Zapp said. "I'm a superhero, Mane-iac! I had to do something ... what was I supposed to do, just sit by and let you get away with your evil plan? What kind of Power Pony would I be if l let that happen?"
"Of course. I should have known ..." Mane-iac sighed. "You know, Zapp, when I said I was trusting you to do the right thing, I meant the right thing for me."
"But ... Tresemme " Zapp looked at the concrete ground. "I don't know what's right for anypony anymore ..."
At the mansion, the other ponies had joined in on giving Twilight a hug, thus graduating it to a group hug. Twilight slowly untangled and unwound herself from the collection of affectionate legs.
"Feeling better?" Applejack asked.
"Yes." Even so, Twilight dabbed at her moist eye. "A little bit. Rainbow Dash must have been brainwashed by the Mane-iac somehow. Why else would she not want to come home?"
Everypony averted their gaze from Twilight's. Applejack made one of those faux-innocent whistles while Rarity made uncertain noises. There were two possibilities; either the Mane-iac brainwashed Rainbow Dash … or Rainbow Dash really had fallen in love with her. Which would make sense, as they knew the Mane-iac was Tresemme, and Dash had been head-over-heels for Tresemme …
They each had an odd mixture of denial and wishful thinking. They'd hoped the Mane-iac had brainwashed Rainbow Dash. It wouldn't be easy to deal with, but it would be simpler. All they would have to do is beat up the Mane-iac and make her undo her brainwashing.
But if Rainbow Dash's love was true? As true as for the Mane-iac as it was for Tresemme? If one of their teammates was genuinely, madly in love with a supervillain, well … they didn't know what they would do.
Twilight saw, through the window, the sun setting over their beloved city of Maretropolis.
"Come on." Twilight said. "It's going to be dark soon. We should go out and search for Rainbow Dash while we still have some light left." Twilight Sparkle's brain birthed an idea. "We should let the public know something's wrong with the Power Ponies. Put out a bulletin. Set up a number so anypony who sees anything that might be related to Zapp can call us."
"Right!" The rest of the ponies saluted.
Twilight, out of force of habit, made a commanding gesture towards the door. "Power Ponies, move out!"
The girls put on their costumes and masks. They called the news stations and instructed them on the bulletin. Spreading out the word they were down a pony, they set off into the big city, even while the sun fell further in the darkening sky. Despite a close connection to Princess Celestia and a skepticism in certain fields of magic such as fortune-telling, Twilight felt the sun was rather ominous. As if they couldn't find Rainbow Dash in what few remaining hours of sunlight they had, she would be lost forever. Twilight refused to be distracted by this feeling and resolved to search every corner of the city.
"Okay ..." Matter-horn said. "We know Zapp and Mane-iac were last seen around Tresemme's apartment, so we should start our search from there, using a radius."
"But Matter-horn!" Radiance cried. "It's been hours! Zapp could be anywhere in the city by now – perhaps even out from the city."
Matter-horn shook her head. "No. Zapp's been shaken up. She might fly away to avoid us, but she's going to stick to places she knows are familiar."
In an almost – nay, utterly – unbelievable stroke of luck, a mare walked up to them. "Power Ponies!"
The Power Ponies cleared their throats and held their chins up high. "What can we do for you, fair citizen?"
"I heard about your bulletin about Zapp going AWOL, and, well … I think I may have seen her!" The mare exclaimed. "There was this really fast blur which could have been her. She was heading for a construction site."
"What do you think, girls?" Matter-horn asked. "A good lead, or a false positive?"
"I have my doubts." Radiance said.
"Also, there was this big mess of green and purple hanging off her side." The mare said. "I'm not sure what's up with that."
"That's her!" Matter-horn exclaimed, realizing the green and purple was the Mane-iac as Zapp's passenger. "Come on, team! We know where to find Zapp!"
"Here we go." Zapp flew in and rested the Mane-iac on a steel i-beam. "City ordinance prevents construction from going on at night, so we should be safe here. For a while, anyway." Zapp sat down on the i-beam next to Mane-iac. "Now, what do you want to talk about first? Our relationship? Whose side we're on? Where we're going to live?"
"Um, well … hmm." The Mane-iac said, posturing and making idle gestures.
"Tresemme, quit stalling."
The Mane-iac sighed. She opened her mouth to speak, interrupted by the sound of a small clinking. In truth, she was thankful for the distraction. "Did you hear that?"
Zapp rolled her eyes, smacking a hoof into her face. "Tresemme, I said quit -"
"No!" Mane-iac said. "Listen, I'm a supervillain. I know random, small clinking sounds means superheroes are trying to sneak up on you!"
"Well, I suppose since she knows we're here, there's not any point in hiding." Matter-horn emerged from the shadows, followed by the rest of the Power Ponies. "Zapp? Would you come down here so we can talk?"
"I won't come down there ..." Zapp said, leaning over the edge of the i-beam. "But I will talk. What do you want?"
Matter-horn shook her head and sighed. "Zapp, please. Come back to the base with us."
Zapp looked at the Power Ponies, at her friends, and looked to the Mane-iac. The Mane-iac shook her head.
"Guys?" Zapp said. "Would you let the Mane-iac and I talk for a bit longer? We still haven't worked out all the … kinks in our relationship."
Matter-horn facehooved. "And you won't! It'll never work between you, Zapp. You're a hero. She's a villain! You care about other ponies … even if you're not always the best at showing it. But the Mane-iac – the Mane-iac doesn't care about anypony other than herself and maybe the rest of the Sinful Six. Every minute you spend with her is another minute she can manipulate you into thinking her way of life is right, when you and I both know it's wrong."
"We beseech you!" Fili-Second ran in front of Matter-horn, talking in a dramatic, theatrical voice. "Abandon this folly crusade, fellow knight!"
This gave Fili-Second some well-deserved looks from everypony present.
"What?" Fili-Second said. "I had to take a theater in class to graduate in rock-farming college."
"Rock-farming college?" Matter-horn shook her head. "Never mind. I don't want to know."
"Well … sorry, guys, but it looks like you'll be going home without me." Zapp rolled and laid her head on the i-beam. "I'm not going anywhere until the Mane-iac and I can talk about a few things … which, granted, would be going easier if she would quit avoiding the subject!" Zapp shot Mane-iac a glare, who responded with a shrug and sheepish grin.
Matter-horn closed her eyes, sighing. "Well, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but I see now I have no choice."
Zapp was taken aback when a beam of pure heat narrowly missed scorching her belly and singing the i-beam she was on. "Whoa! What-?" Zapp rolled over to see the rest of the Power Ponies – of her teammates, of her friends, rearing up to fight to bring her back.
Zapp flew off the i-beam and landed in front of Matter-horn. "Whoa! Guys, what do you think you're doing?" Zapp watched and could do nothing as Fili-Second ran up the unfinished construction, and with expert skill Zapp didn't think Fili-Second possessed, came up behind Mane-iac and wrapped her hooves around the Mane-iac, restraining her for the fight to come.
"We're sorry, Zapp." Matter-horn said. "But your refusal to come home lends weight to our belief that the Mane-iac has brainwashed you."
"I'm not brainwashed!" Zapp jumped to the side to avoid a weak icy beam from Matter-horn. It was obvious to Zapp their intent was to capture, not inure her. "The Mane-iac hasn't brainwashed me. Isn't that right, Mane-iac?"
The Mane-iac let out a sheepish chuckle. "Okay, well … technically, that's not completely true."
"What?" Zapp stopped dead in her trackes. "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, it's nothing, really." The Mane-iac said.
"Tresemme, what did you do?" Zapp dodged an attempt by Mare-velous to tie her up.
"Okay, well … I may have brainwashed you a little bit while using you as a test subject for my brainwashing shampoo."
"You did WHAT?" Zapp yelled, flying up to avoid the immaterial claws Radiance summoned, using them to try to catch Zapp and imprison her. "What else did you do to me?"
"Nothing!" The Mane-iac insisted, like a child denying they had gotten into the cookie jar … while chocolate crumbs were tumbling down their cheeks. "I didn't even know you were a Power Pony at the time! If I had, well, things might have gone a bit differently!"
Zapp gave the Mane-iac a glare. "Would you excuse me?" Zapp asked as she barrel-rolled out of the way from yet another beam fired from Matter-horn. "I think my girlfriend and I need to talk about how brainwashing your partner is not okay." Disregarding the anguished look of rage on Matter-horn's face, Zapp flew up to rescue the Mane-iac from Fili-Second's clutches.
"Forget it, Zapp!" Fili-Second pulled the Mane-iac and held off her to one side. "I'm not letting the Mane-iac go!"
"Well ..." The Mane-iac chuckled. "I've been compliant since I can see you needed to talk with your friends, Zapp, but if this is the part where we make our daring escape ..." The Mane-iac raised up hair tentacles, lashing Fili-Second on the back.
"Yowch!" Fili-Second let go to rub her stinging back. "That's gonna leave a mark!"
The Mane-iac smirked, looping a tentacle around Fili-Second's mid-section. Mane-iac lifted Fili-Second up and tossed her to the ground, where the other Power Ponies gathered around to catch her and cushion her fall.
The Mane-iac, still smirking, spread her front legs out wide as she awaited rescue by Zapp, her prince in shining armor. Zapp grumbled about her girlfriend's massive ego, failing to realize the hypocrisy inherent in such a thought, but nevertheless scooped the Mane-iac up and flew away, headed for another destination.
"Zapp?" Taking a second to ensure Fili-Second was safe and sound, Matter-horn got out from the pile and chased after Zapp. "Zapp, come back here! We're not finished with you! Zapp? Zapp!" Matter-horn ground her teeth, her temper about to reach a boiling point.
"RAINBOW DASH!" Matter-horn screamed. Her rage boiled over and reached a breaking point, allowing for an explosive pillar of LAVA and VOLCANIC ROCK to BURST OUT from her horn! "YOU GET BACK HERE!" The volcanic beam sprayed about, some of the lava coming to rest on the ground. Some of it hit the construction and melted through the vulnerable, exposed metal.
She may have been a superhero, but the city government was going to tax Matter-horn for the damage when it found out.
The Mane-iac raised an eyebrow as Zapp moved left and right to avoid the smoldering rocks Matter-horn sent after them. "It's a good thing I already know your secret identity, or her little slip-up there would have been quite the bad thing. Did you know she could shoot out beams of lava? Not just heat, but actual lava?"
"I don't think she knew she could shoot out beams of lava until just now." Zapp replied, forging ahead with her flight path while Matter-horn fumed and the other Power Ponies shot various glares, ranging from anger, to disapproval, to sadness.
"I know of a hotel near here." The Mane-iac said. "We can crash there for the night."
"A hotel? Really? How are we going to get in?"
"Oh, trust me. I know how to get us in."
"It's not anything illegal, is it?"
"No!"
Begrudgingly, Zapp flew to the hotel under the Mane-iac's direction, flying slow to avoid drawing attention to them. At Mane-iac's behest, Zapp flew into the trimmed hedges lining the front of the hotel so they could hide.
"Let me handle this." The Mane-iac said. In seconds, she changed, shrinking back to Tresemme's relative petite form, her hair reducing in length and shifting to its blue color. She grunted during the transformation, leading Zapp to wonder if it was painful for Tresemme to change forms. Perhaps she had to force the change?
Tresemme beckoned for Zapp to follow her inside the hotel. Inside, the couple walked up to the desk, Tresemme leading.
"Hello!" Tresemme said, drawing the attention of the bellhop. Zapp's heart came close to melting at the sound. Oh, Zapp didn't realize how she longed to hear Tresemme's soft, calm voice. She much preferred it over the Mane-iac's unhinged cackles.
The bellhop, with disinterest painted over his face, put down the magazine he was reading. "What do you want?"
"We would like to rent a room." Tresemme said. "Just for the night." Tresemme produced a handful of bits and placed them on the desk.
The bellhop reached to take them, halting before he accepted his payment. "Pardon me, but I can't help but notice your friend is dressed funny ..."
Zapp's eyes widened in panic, and she reached for her amulet.
Tresemme bumped a hoof into Zapp's shoulder, attempting to discourage Zapp from whatever rash action she was about to undertake. "Yes, well, you see … we're on our way to a convention. She decided to dress up. I didn't."
"Uh huh." The bellhop appeared satisfied with their explanation, moving to rake the bits in once more.
Finally. Zapp thought. To the internal frustration of Zapp, the bellboy stopped again.
"Hey. Even if you are just going to rest for the night, shouldn't you have some luggage?"
Oh, come on. Zapp thought, on the verge of whipping out her amulet and giving the bellboy a hundred-megawatt lightning bolt to the face as the answer to all of his current questions and any future questions he might have.
He's perceptive! Tresemme admitted in her thoughts.
"It's in the car." Tresemme told him.
The bellboy's muted expression suggested he was less satisfied with this explanation than he was with the first one they gave him, but he didn't care enough to turn this into an impromptu interrogation session, much as Zapp suspected he was. "All right." He swept the bits off the desk, put them in the register, and handed them a key. "Your room key. Your number is the one printed on the side."
"Thank you, sir." Tresemme flipped another bit onto the table as a tip, which brought a smile to the bellboy's dour face. Showing a much improved attitude, he waved at them as they entered the elevator and headed for the second floor.
The pair entered their room.
"Finally, I can quit wearing this stupid outfit." Zapp remarked the second Tresemme closed the door behind them. Rainbow Dash undid the knots on the sheets and tossed them to the floor. The unfortunate bedding made an excellent target for Dash's peaking frustration, accumulated from all the various sources of various problems going on in her life right now. She made the sheets her own personal stomping ground.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash." Tresemme whined. "We could have used those sheets for extra bedding."
Rainbow Dash quit stomping and sighed. "I'm sorry, Tresemme. I'm just so … mad!" Dash proved this by stomping on the sheets again, even though at this point, there was no need for proving anything. "Everything I've tried to do today has gone wrong. I feel so … so weak and helpless. I hate feeling weak and helpless!"
"Ooh." Tresemme cooed, her quite voice having a soothing effect on Rainbow Dash's torn heart, something Dash welcomed with open hooves. "My poor darling." Tresemme snuggled up against Rainbow Dash, resting her muzzle on Dash's chest.
Rainbow Dash chuckled, enjoying Tresemme's comforting touch. "Heh. Thanks." Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, taking a moment to reveal in the silence, in the warmth and comfort of this precious time they had together with no one to bother them. No vigilantes, no villains, nothing but the two of them … quiet and together, as a loving couple should be.
"Mmm ..." Tresemme smiled, snuggling further into Dash's chest. "It's so nice to have some peace and quiet … I wish this moment could last forever."
"Yeah. Me too." Rainbow Dash hooked a leg around Tresemme's back. "But it can't." Rainbow Dash pushed Tresemme, leaving Tresemme to pout. "We need to talk about the fact you may have brainwashed me." Tresemme's eyes opened wide. "When did you do it, how did you do it, and what did you do to me, specifically?"
"I, uh ..." Tresemme scratched her chin, looking around the room for something to distract Rainbow Dash with. She didn't want to talk about this. In truth, Rainbow Dash didn't, either, but Rainbow Dash realized they needed to talk and they needed to make some changes if this relationship was going to last. Tresemme … was not quite yet willing to take the same step.
Remembering they were in a hotel, Tresemme kept an eye for the door to the restroom. She found it and smirked.
"Tresemme." Rainbow Dash warned. "I'm waiting."
"Tell you what." Tresemme put her hooves on Rainbow Dash's cheeks. "Why don't I show you what I did to you? In the shower?"
"The shower?" Rainbow Dash asked, becoming annoyed with Tresemme even as she felt her body heat flare up. "Tresemme, this is no time for-"
"Don't you want to take a shower with me?" Tresemme asked, activating Rainbow Dash's trigger word.
Rainbow Dash shuddered and closed her eyes, experiencing an unpleasant, striking contrast between two different aspects of herself. Her body felt warm, while her mind was going cold and empty, as though someone placed an Arctic bunker with the door open inside of her head, blowing out icy winds to freeze over her brain, giving her what some might call the greatest brain freeze ever known.
When Dash opened her eyes again, they were blank and glassy. "I would … love to take a shower with you, Tresemme."
Chuckling, Tresemme dragged Rainbow Dash into the shower, shifting into the Mane-iac on the way in. Once inside the tub, the Mane-iac used her tentacle to turn the shower on, aiming it at Rainbow Dash. The Mane-iac's coiled two tentacles around Dash's front legs, lifting them up and binding Dash as if she was tied to a dungeon wall – and the Mane-iac served as the wall.
With the shower going, the blistering water built up heat and steam. When the steam and mist rose to the point their lower bodies were hidden from view, the Mane-iac went ahead and plunged a tentacle into Dash's eager, receptive entrance, pleasuring Dash the same way the Mane-iac did the first time they were in a shower together.
With Rainbow Dash moaning, the Mane-iac began to talk over Rainbow Dash's enthralled screams of pleasure. "This is what I did to you, Rainbow Dash." The Mane-iac. "I made it so whenever Tresemme asked you to take a shower, you would say yes … and so you would be aroused by the idea of having my tendrils wrapped around you, hmmhmm." The Mane-iac chuckled, though her amusement didn't last.
She cast a somber gaze to the bathroom tiling.
"I'm … sorry about avoiding the issue." The Mane-iac said. "Things kept getting in the way, like when you made that phone call. Or those pesky Power Brats getting in our way." The Mane-iac snarled, her expression fading quickly into one more apologetic. "I'm sorry … I know I shouldn't talk about your friends that way. Or even when I ... actively avoided the topic. I'm sorry. I realize I shouldn't have avoided it so much. I know that. I guess I just … wasn't ready to talk yet. I'd rather keep things simple, and this ..."
The Mane-iac shook her head. "Is not simple. I thought if I kept avoiding talking about it, we could make it simple, but … I should have been mature enough to know that was never going to work." She hung her head. "Give me some time to collect my thoughts, and when we're done here, we'll talk about it. Really. I promise."
The Mane-iac chortled. "You know, when you're a supervillain, you get used to things going your way, without any consideration for anypony else." She let out a sigh. "The truth is, Rainbow Dash, I don't know what we're going to do … but if I had my way, you would defect to my side. There are plenty of benefits! You could hang out with me, meet my friends, and we have a great dental plan!" The Mane-iac laughed airily. "All right, maybe not that last one, but still ..."
"You know ..." The Mane-iac ran a hoof through Rainbow Dash's mane. "If I wanted to, I could just brainwash you into defecting."
"So – so why don't you?" Rainbow Dash asked, regaining a small amount of motor control, enough to question the oddity of why the Mane-iac wouldn't take the easy way out of the situation.
"Because." The Mane-iac said. "I want you to have some say in the matter. If I just brainwash you outright, the other Power Ponies are going to give you this speech about this isn't who you really are and how I'm just using you. Blah blah blah, FRIENDSHIP, blah blah blah, MAGIC and everything goes back to the way it was."
The Mane-iac chuckled while she stroked Rainbow Dash's mane a little more. "But if you were to choose to side with me … if you were to choose to be evil … if you were to choose to let my brainwash you, well … that's another story." The Mane-iac looked up at the shower head, noticing the water beginning to turn cold and fridges. The hotel must have set a limit on how much hot water each individual room could use to keep costs down. "All right, well, I think we're done here. Just a little bit of this and ..."
"OOOOOOH!" Rainbow Dash's glassy eyes rolled backwards into her skull, the Mane-iac's tentacle wriggling and writing inside, rubbing her insides in ways which felt so good to her. Rainbow Dash suffered through a wonderful, intense orgasm, which had the side-effect of releasing her from her trance.
"Mane-iac?" Rainbow Dash asked. "What-what happened?" She rubbed her head, trying to remember the details of their conversation … and how they ended up in the shower together.
"Oh." The Mane-iac chuckled. "Funny story. See, you asked me to explain to what I did to brainwash you, and I got nervous, so I … tried to show you instead." The Mane-iac flashed a big, compensating grin. "It … didn't work, did it?"
Rainbow Dash let her displeasure with this explanation be known with a big frown.
The Mane-iac rubbed her forehead. "Okay. Here's what I did. The first time we took a shower together, I conditioned you to always say 'yes' when I – or rather, Tresemme, asked you for a shower, and for you to always get aroused when at the mention of tentacles."
Per her condition, Rainbow Dash blushed as the word 'tentacles' let to an influx of internal body heat.
"It seemed much less problematic when I didn't know you were a Power Pony!" The Mane-iac quickly said. "Speaking of which, you really should wear more than just a helmet. I mean, seriously. Even Matter-horn wears a visor, at the least. Or me, for example! I don't just wear a mask, I physically alter my body!"
"Listen, Mane-iac ..." Rainbow Dash got up from the tub. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable knowing you brainwashed me. Can't you, like, undo the brainwashing? Or brainwash me into … not being brainwashed?"
"Oh, don't even suggest that." The Mane-iac held her head, her eyes rolling. "I'm getting dizzy just trying to think about how that would work."
Rainbow Dash looked around the room. The tub was still hot, and she could tell the curtains were disturbed from their natural position. "You know? Looking around this room, I have a sneaking suspicion you used the triggers you put in me to avoid talking about our problems … again!"
The Mane-iac chuckled. "Well, that's … half-true. I did talk about it. Sort of."
Rainbow Dash shook her with disapproval. "Mane-iac, you can't keep using sex to avoid talking about our issues. I know, as a supervillain, talking about issues – even having issues is a foreign idea to you, but -"
"Excuse me?" The Mane-iac interrupted. "You think just because I'm a supervillain, I don't have issues? What about BEING a supervillain? Is that an issue enough for you? Do you know what it's like to be a villain the way I am? I can't stop to smell the roses. I can't sit down and enjoy the growth of a relationship and let it blossom naturally. When I'm Tresemme, I have to rush to enjoy everything today, because I know the Mane-iac could wipe it all out tomorrow. Do you realize how hard it is to file your taxes when there's another side of that's going, 'you know, if I managed to take over the city, I wouldn't have to do this'? So DON'T tell me that I don't know about issues." The Mane-iac snarled and hissed, baring her teeth at Rainbow Dash.
With a shocked expression, Rainbow Dash backed away, holding one leg up for defense. "Gosh, Tresemme … I'm sorry. I didn't know."
The Mane-iac took in a deep breath. "It's all right. I shouldn't be mad at you. You just … struck a nerve."
Rainbow Dash scraped a hoof. "You know … you're still avoiding our major problem, though."
The Mane-iac nodded. "Yes, yes, I know. If you'll come to the bed and give me a moment to collect my thoughts … I'll be ready to talk." The Mane-iac stepped out of the bathtub and gestured Rainbow Dash to the door. The Mane-iac moved to let Rainbow Dash pass through and followed behind her. The sad, quiet click of the bathroom door seemed a nice reflection of their mood.
Meanwhile, at the Power Ponies' base … hidden inside a secret compartment, as superheroes are wont to use, a room with a large, round table was used to bear hosts to meetings between the Power Ponies to make all of their major decisions. As the table did now, serving its purposes. The decisions made here not to be taken lightly. Decisions with lasting repercussions, the consequences of which could prove to be beneficial ... or catastrophic for years to come, for which future generations would blame the Power Ponies for their state of ruin.
More than a few times, they had to explain to Radiance the kind of dress she wanted to force Mare-velous into was not one of these decisions.
Even Spike, dressed up as their bumbling side-kick Hum-Drum, had been invited.
"I'm sure I don't need to tell you why I've called you all here today." Matter-horn rested her hooves on the table. "But just in case anypony needs a reminder, I'll say it. We are here today to discuss what should be done about our rogue member, Zapp, last seen in the company of the Mane-iac. Specifically, we are here to discuss where Zapp is … recoverable, just confused and in need of somepony to light her way or … if we should consider her gone forever, as the Mane-iac's thrall. It has been witnessed that the Mane-iac, and I quote, 'brainwashed her a little bit.'"
The Power Ponies shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Radiance made a grimace, ignoring Hum-Drum's futile efforts to flirt with her. Fili-Second scratched her head.
"Given the nature of the problem," Matter-horn went on to say, "I took the liberty of calling in help, should we prove too close to this case. I've called the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well and briefed her. She should be here any second now … yup." Matter-horn gave a uneasy look to the empty chairs set out Mare-Do-Well and her sidekick. "Any second now. Any ..."
Matter-horn's repetitive mantra proved unnecessary for further repetition. A cloud of dark-blue smoke exploded from the air, covering the chairs and causing the Power Ponies to cough and swipe the air. When it cleared, Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do were in their chairs.
"Goodness, darling!" Radiance said. "Couldn't you use a better-smelling chemical for your smoke bombs?"
"They're not designed to brighten the room. They are, in fact, designed to do the exact opposite of that. They are designed to make a room very, very dark." Daring Do said.
"My apologies for my tardiness." Mare-Do-Well said. "Normally, I pride myself on my punctuality, but traffic was terrible."
"Traffic?" Matter-horn raised an eyebrow. "You travel by using smoke bombs to disappear and reappear. How can you have traffic? How many superheroes are there who get to places by throwing smoke bombs and disappearing? Never mind, that's not important right now." Matter-horn slammed a hoof on the table. "What is important is that we figure out what to do about Zapp."
"Zapp." Daring Do raked her brain for details. "Oh, Zapp! Wasn't she the one who kept you from apprehending the Mane-iac, Mare-Do-Well?"
"I'm sure she had her reasons, Daring Do." Mare-Do-Well said. "I don't understand any of them, but I'm sure she had them."
"Well … she may have been brainwashed." Radiance turned her head, wincing as she feared what Mare-Do-Well and Daring's response was going to be.
"What?" Daring Do slammed her hooves on the table. "Why didn't you tell us that earlier? We could have captured her for you!"
"Darlings, we didn't know ourselves until earlier today!" Radiance said.
"Besides." Mare-velous said. "She was only brainwashed 'a little bit.' I'm not sure what that means or what difference it makes, but Ah feel it's sumthin we should take into consideration."
Matter-horn nodded. "Agreed. Now, does anypony have any ideas?"
"Oh! Oh! I know!" Fili-Second raised a hoof … and raised and raised up, somehow using her innate Pinkie-ness to defy gravity, lifting up in the air. In line with the laws of cartoon physics, she didn't start falling until she looked down and realized she was no longer supported by solid ground, whereupon she fell over onto the table with a CLANK, stiff as a board. "We could browse through the archives and see if the Originals ever faced a problem like the one we're having now, and what they did about it!"
The mention of the Originals summoned a chilled air into the room, bringing up saddened thoughts of the past and inhibiting the ability of the Power Ponies to make positive thoughts for the future.
Daring Do scoffed. "You guys … don't you get it? Zapp may be gone already, and you need to start preparing for the possibility she's never coming back."
"Daring!" Mare-Do-Well told Daring off. "While you know that preparation is a quality I admire, we must remain optimistic and keep our minds - and our hearts - open to the idea Zapp can still be saved."
Daring Do scoffed again. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Daring pushed her chair out and climbed out from it. "I'm done here." She walked three-quarters of the way towards the normal entrance before pulling out a smoke bomb. She chucked it to the ground, releasing the sphere's polluting contents, and the smoke overtook her body, obscuring it from view. When the smoke cleared, it was as if Daring Do had simply faded into nothingness!
"Please forgive my sidekick." Mare-Do-Well said. "I imagine she's still carrying some resentment towards Zapp for interfering with my attempted arrest of the Mane-iac, as well as some … other things." Mare-Do-Well turned to the entrance where Daring Do was before she triggered the smoke bomb. "I hope she doesn't go out and do something stupid … "
"Aww." Saddle Rager said. "Don't say 'stupid,' Mare-Do-Well. That's not a nice word to use for your sidekick."
"You're right, Saddle Rager. My apologies. I should say I hope Daring doesn't do anything … ill-advised."
By all appearances, Rainbow Dash consented to sit in front of the Mane-iac and let her brush her mane with a hairbrush given by the hotel staff. Appearances were deceiving, though, as it was less consenting and more relenting after enduring an endless series of desperate pleas from the Mane-iac to let her play with Rainbow Dash's "beautiful hair."
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Rainbow Dash swatted at the Mane-iac's tentacle, batting it aside. Rainbow Dash pushed herself up, throwing herself over the side of the bed, and paced back and forth. The weight of her uncertainty about her future – about their future – pressed down on her athletic shoulders like a crushing plate from a scrapyard, sinking down to crush accumulated detritus into compact, easily-disposed cubes.
"What are we gonna do?" Rainbow Dash asked. She paced for a few scant moments more, coming to a dead stop in front of the window. She exchanged glances with her reflection before moving up to observe the moon. "I guess ... I guess we're just gonna have to strike out on our own."
"Strike out on our own?" The Mane-iac asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean strike out and form our own faction." Rainbow Dash zipped over to the Mane-iac's side, embracing her in a tight hug. "Without any of those other ponies. Think about it. No more Power Ponies and no more Sinful Six bothering us! Just you and me against the world!" Dash swept a hoof through the air.
The Mane-iac chuckled. "That's not a bad idea … well, it's not the worst idea we've come up with today. But I have another idea. One that might make things easier on both of us." The Mane-iac wriggled one of her tentacles around her body and produced a shampoo bottle from her person.
Rainbow Dash failed to recognize the bottle for what it was. "What's … this?"
"Do you remember what I said earlier about it being a different story if you were to choose to let me brainwash you?" The Mane-iac asked, chuckling as she handed the bottle to Rainbow Dash. "No, I suppose not, since you were under my control at the time."
Dash realized what the bottle was. "This is ..."
"My brainwashing shampoo, yes." The Mane-iac confirmed. "Like I said earlier, I want you to have a say in the matter. Rainbow Dash, I want you to make a CHOICE."
"Either you can either defect to my side of your own volition." The Mane-iac said. "You can attempt to arrest me and bring me in chains to your fellow Power Ponies as an apology present … OR – and this my personal favorite of the options – you can let me use the shampoo to brainwash you further, making you into my slave and under my control … freeing you from that pesky burden of responsibility for your decisions." The Mane-iac crossed her legs and sat back, smirking. "The choice is yours."
Rainbow Dash held the shampoo bottle in her hooves, weighing the pros and cons of the idea. On one hoof, it would be nice and easy to submit and let the Mane-iac brainwash into a mindless slave, leaving her mind blank and free of the tenuous stress of having to make a decision for herself.
On the other hoof, if she decided to go this route, was she not complicit? If she let the Mane-iac, if she allowed the Mane-iac to manipulate her mind and control her thoughts, was she not accessory to the crime? Was she not culpable in her own right for the fact she refused her responsibility as an adult and let somepony else make her decisions for her? Would she not be guilty of some grand crime against her own autonomy? What would her friends think if they found out she choose to her mind wiped clean, rather than face the consequences of her actions she made while her mind was still her own?
Rainbow Dash put the bottle down on the floor. To the Mane-iac's wide-grinned delight and excitement, Rainbow Dash flipped the lid open. Rainbow Dash held her shaky hoof over the bottle, still at war with herself if she should go through it.
She closed the lid. Which, in turn, made the Mane-iac pout.
Rainbow Dash sighed, placing a hoof to her head. She removed the hoof and locked eyes with the Mane-iac. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head, moved by the Mane-iac's gaze, crying out for her to take the shampoo.
Rainbow Dash opened the bottle again … before closing it again.
Wracked with indecision, Rainbow Dash repeated this motion for several hours.
Until ...
Author's Notes for "Rainbow Dash's Choices"
When writing Mare-Do-Well's dialogue, I sort of imagined her as sounding like the Adam West Batman … even though Adam West is a male while Mare-Do-Well is a female.
I wanted to portray as the Mane-iac is trying to make the relationship work in her own, special little way when she 'tests' Rainbow Dash and offers up the choice at the end of the chapter, but I think in the end result, she just comes across as demanding. What do you think?
Also, is there enough comic-book narration in this chapter? I know I can't write it ALL DRAMATIC ALL THE TIME, but still.
I've also begun to feel like I've taken this story ... off-track? It doesn't quite seem like the story DarknessRising had in mind when he came up with it. I imagine he was thinking more along the lines of brainwashed, mind control hijinks, but this has taken a turn for the dramatic. Which, granted, can still be done humorously, but I didn't think to try writing it that way. Oh well.