Mane-Iac (Friendship is Magic)

The Mane-Iac, also known as Mane-Iac Mayhem, is a character in the Power Ponies franchise in the world of Equestria. She is also, apparently, a real individual in at least one alternate universe where the events depicted in the comic actually happen.

Origin and early schemes
Before becoming the foe of the Power Ponies, the Mane-Iac was the owner of a company that produced hair-care products in Maretropolis. However, during a visit to the Shampoo Factory, she fell from a broken walkway into a vat of some unknown chemical(s), which was also electrified by a severed power cable. The accident drastically altered the Mane-Iac's appearance, granted her strange new powers, and pushed her apparently already unstable personality over the brink into full on insanity. She quickly turned her ambitions to crime, assembling a force of minions and setting out to bring Maretropolis under her sway.

Mane-Iac's plans brought her into conflict with the Power Ponies, who sought to thwart her schemes. In response to their opposition, the Mane-Iac created (whether by herself or with her resources) the Hairspray Ray of Doom, a weapon that could neutralize the Power Ponies' abilities and immobilize them. Unfortunately, their sidekick Hum Drum ended up accidentally revealing to the Mane-Iac the nature of the Electro-Orb, a mysterious artifact perfect to act at the power source of her doomsday device. As such, the Mane-Iac broke into the Maretropolis Museum in order to obtain it.

At this point, a rather odd event occurred, due to 's purchase of an enchanted issue of the Power Ponies comic series from the House of Enchanted Comics in Canterlot, Equestria. The comic's magic drew Spike and his friends, the Mane Six, into the world of Maretropolis, where they took on the roles of the Power Ponies. They arrived in Maretropolis just as the Mane-Iac destroyed the front door to the museum, and emerged laughing into the street outside with the Electro-Orb in her grip. Not perceiving anything different about her foes, the Mane-Iac attacked them, and watched in amusement as the Mane Six ignorantly mishandled their newly gained superpowers.

The Mane-Iac took her leave of her inept foes, but Spike-in the role of Hum Drum-led the others to her lair in the Shampoo Factory, as the comic's enchantment required them to defeat her in order to return to their own world. The Mane-Iac's henchponies emerged to confront them, and Mane-Iac took advantage of their distraction to employ the Hairspray Ray. With the Mane Six defeated and captured, the Mane-Iac proceeded with her plans, not bothering to capture Spike/Hum Drum due to his lacking any superpowers. Completing work on her doomsday device, she explained the nature of her plans to her captured foes. The device, taking the form of a giant cannon resembling a hair dryer, would amplify the effects of her own animated mane, causing the manes of every pony in Maretropolis to go out of control.

When the Mane Six pointed out that the Mane-Iac had neglected to account for Spike, the Mane-Iac was amused, being only familiar with Hum Drum's typical inability to help out his teammates. Spike, inspired by his friends' assertions of confidence, engaged Mane-Iac's henchponies and prevented them from repeating the use of the Hairspray Ray. This allowed the Mane Six to unfreeze and engage the Mane-Iac's forces with their superpowers, swiftly achieving victory. Spotting, in the guise of Saddle Rager, slinking away, Mane-Iac prepared to use the weapon against her, only to have her aim spoiled by a firefly. She knocked the small creature aside, only to finally arouse Fluttershy's anger and thus give her access to Saddle Rager's superpowers.

The Mane-Iac fired on her, but Fluttershy's powered up form deflected the blast back at the Mane-Iac, who found herself unable to control her own mane. It quickly wrapped around her, leaving her helpless and immobilized, while Fluttershy destroyed the doomsday device. Their mission accomplished, the future Council of Friendship were returned to their own world, with the real Power Ponies presumably taking charge of the Mane-Iac in their place. The enchanted comic responsible subsequently disappeared, though there is some evidence that its magic affected other copies of the same issue in Equestria. Notably, patrons of Mina's Dragon Comics in Manehattan would mention an issue "where Hum Drum was a dragon".

Other villains and other worlds
Mane-Iac's mane eventually returned to normal-or normal for her transformed state, at any rate-and she was incarcerated at Balkham Asylum. There she approached several other inmates-the Phony Pharaoh, High Heel, Smudge, and Long-Face-who had likewise been defeated and sent to the facility by the actions of the Power Ponies. Recognizing that they had each failed to defeat the Power Ponies, whether by themselves or with the aid of minions, she proposed that they form an alliance against their heroic adversaries. The four readily agreed, and the new team was aided in its escape by Shadowmane, whom the Mane-Iac had already enlisted to her cause.

The newly established League of Villainy-though that name hadn't been settled upon-broke into Sparkle Labs, and enaged the Power Ponies when they arrived to stop them. Due to their teamwork and the Power Ponies' lack thereof, the villains quickly subdued the heroes, whom they placed into a machine that transferred their powers into the Mane-Iac and her teammates. The Mane-Iac gained the Masked Matterhorn's powers and a horn to go along with them. No longer intimidated by their powerless foes, the Mane-Iac and her allies left them to slink off in defeat while they set about dominating Maretropolis.

With Hum Drum's guidance in the ways of friendship-learned from his favorite television program, My Little Donkey-the powerless Power Ponies attempted to defeat the Mane-Iac and her allies but were captured and imprisoned. Realizing that the villains' friendship had to be disrupted in order to achieve victory, the heroes broke out. The Mane-Iac and her allies were in the midst of attempting to finalize their team name, with the Mane-Iac determining that the name Alliance of Villainy had already been taken by a group of criminals in Trotham. Hearing the noise of their foes' escape, Phony Pharaoh left to investigate, followed by Shadowmane and High Heel, whose prolonged absence began to worry the Mane-Iac, Smudge, and Long-Face.

Saddle Rager and Zapp, from concealment, began whispering that the Mane-Iac's allies intended to betray her, and the paranoid villain quickly turned on her teammates. She pursued Smudge and Long-Face, only for all three of them to end up in range of the very device they had used to steal their newly acquired powers. The device soon extracted these and returned them to their rightful owners, with Matterhorn then confronting a very much cowed Mane-Iac. Once the other villains were defeated and their stolen powers extracted, all six were turned over to the Maretropolis Police. As they were driven away, the Mane-Iac swore that she and her teammates would return, though they were still arguing about the official name of their team.

To be written

In a reversal of her encounter with the Mane Six, the Mane-Iac was brought out of her world and into Equestria by Shadow Lock, where she terrorized Ponyville Schoolhouse. Fortunately, and her students were apparently rescued by the prompt actions of Fluttershy and, and the Mane-Iac was returned to her own world. Later, she-joined by High Heel, Phony Pharaoh, and Smudge, if none of their other teammates-was seen among the patrons of the Chaos Roadhouse in the Mirror-Universe.

My Little Pony: Magic Princess
The Mane-Iac appears as not one, but two characters in the mobile game; the first is based on her in-show appearance, while a second was included with artwork based on her comics depiction. Both of these variants live at the Shampoo Factory in Ponyville. She is also involved in several events. According to Nightmare Night at the Museum, Power Ponies #97 featured the Mane-Iac facing off with Mare Do Well in a crossover story, with one scene featuring Mane-Iac gloating over Mare Do Well's imminent loss. This scene was later brought to life when Shadow Lock's magic interacted with that of Starlight Glimmer, the latter of whom was forced to contend with the two comic book characters.

In The Power Ponies Spike,, and , while asleep, were later drawn into an altered version of these events by the enchanted comic, and were forced to contend with the Mane-Iac and her minions to rescue the Power Ponies. In The League of Evil, Starlight and Shadow Lock's magic interacted with the enchanted comic to bring several beings from literature out of their source material and into the world of Equestria. The Mane-Iac was among them, and once again faced off with Starlight, though she was left quite intimidated when the Headless Horse, Mirror-Universe Pony of Shadows, and Ornately Armored Changeling appeared to back Starlight up.

Appearances

 * My Little Pony Annual 2014
 * My Little Pony: Nightmare Knights
 * Nightmare Knights
 * Nightmare Knights
 * My Little Pony: Magic Princess
 * Nightmare Knights
 * My Little Pony: Magic Princess