After crashing headfirst into a window, you can't just get up. Your head swirls a bit; you wonder where you are; you wonder how much glass you got in you. If you were Rainbow Dash, you'd wonder how you got there. She remembered talking to Twilight, and leaving, and putting on a Mare-Do-Well costu---Dash shuddered.

She lifted her head, ignoring a small headache. Her head swiveled a bit, and she saw that she was in a dark room, with a rusting washing machine that wasn't attached to anything. The walls were various dark grays, and grime covered every concrete wall. There was a smothering darkness, but that may have been because the only light was the moonlight streaming in from the broken window.

Dash looked some more, still not rising. She took note of the muted red clothes-basket. In it was a large pile of dark blue fur. Why would there be fur in---? The thought left immediately when she remembered where she was.

Mare-Do-Well rose to her hooves, her bones popping under her weight. She shook, dislodging a bit of dust and a few shards of glass. Still though, the suit's undercarriage was grayed and greasy from lying on the floor. She stepped out of the last tentacles of light and paid no mind to the shards of glass she'd been laying on.

She pushed the door, and it swung out with a sickly creak. She stepped onto the hallway's tiled floor. It creaked under her, and so she remembered that she was a pegasus. With slightly more air displacement than she wanted, she rose a few feet off the ground. The ceiling was too low to go higher.

This place was wrong. On the outside, it was a full chateau, albeit a small one. To be inside it, one would assume that you were in a small house. Who would design a chateau like this?

To her right was a small bathroom. Moonlight streamed in, revealing it to be the cleanest bathroom in existence. To her left was a claustrophobic hallway with a half-dead, flickering light-bulb swinging from a thin golden chain that was too long. Down the hallway.

She got the first door. Gently pushing it in, the door opened to a small room. It was half-cleaned, more maintained than the hallway leading to it. The only thing in the room was a line of costumes, and one in particular that made Mare-Do-Well snarl. A purple suit. She backed away in disgust.

Further down the hall she went. She was careful to avoid the swinging light, which was about head-level to a walking pony. It was flickering as if it had been on for eternity, so it would definitely be hot. She came to the next door. Opening it carefully, she was disappointed that the hinges squeaked.

She recognized the room. There was a tripod in the center of the room, one leg held up by a stack of books. There was a closet to her left. The rafters had studio lights attached to them. There was burn marks where Flim exploded. There were colorful splatter stains from the unknowable tortures that had taken place.

There was a metal bed to the side of the room, a new addition. In the corner of the room was a blob of... something. Fat? What has happened here?

She backed away in rage at the thought of what had happened in this room. With the door closed, Mare-Do-Well turned, only to stare right into the eyes of a mare previously hidden by the door. Mare-Do-Well involuntarily jumped back, falling on her rear from trotting backwards.

Mare-Do-Well tensed for an attack, but one didn't come. Mare-Do-Well slowly got to her hooves, while also getting a good look at the pony who had sneaked up on her.

The pony had a wide smile, her huge blue eyes sparkling. She stood in place, breathing deeply and erratically. There was always a chuckle under her breath, but it could be mistaken for sobbing.

Mare-Do-Well recognized the mare as the one who had voiced the Joker's demand. But now, the mare didn't seem in good condition to talk. Her beautiful muted red coat was covered in splotches. She smelt like sweat and death, but she didn't care.

"Heh...Heheh...H-Help me..." the mare stuttered, as if she had to decide whether to chuckle or to talk. She was still whimpering under her breath, shaking as if cold, and yet she was standing as straight as she could.

Mare-Do-Well tensed her muscles, and felt a tinge of happiness at her own plan. Mare-Do-Well was going to tackle this criminal, when some rational part of her brain stopped her. This wasn't a criminal; this was a victim.

With a strange disappointment that Mare-Do-Well immediately ignored, she trotted slowly to the victim. The mare flinched as Dash wrapped a foreleg around her.

"What's your name?" a gentle tone.

The mare paused, thinking. That thinking process ended when the mare burst into laughter that made Dash jump back. The laughter sounded so much like the laughter Dash would hear in her nightmares. Dash backed away slowly as another set of laughter joined the mare's. This laughter was the laughter Dash would hear in her nightmares.

Into the hallway strutted in the Joker, wearing his full suit. The Joker must have had multiple suits, all identical. Mare-Do-Well snapped into the present and remembered why she was there. She sprung over to the Joker, tackling him at high speed. She felt every joint of herself buckle as she flew into the Joker.

"Oof..." he grunted, stunned temporarily. His breath smelt like peppermint. "I didn't even get to say hello!" complained the Joker, smiling as always.

"Shut up, you're going to jail." growled Mare-Do-Well, coolly. Her muscles tensed.

She relinquished one of her hooves from the task of holding the Joker down, and threw a punch right to his jaw. She punched again. And again. "Oooo..." He grunted each time, sometimes throwing in girlish shrieks in, sometimes calling for his mommy before a punch landed. Another punch. Another. Each of his cries of pain felt good to Mare-Do-Well.

The images of the atrocities the Joker had committed filled her mind each time. The sound of Cookie's screams echoed in her brain, and the unknown mare's disturbed chuckling added into that, each horrid sound giving more ammunition for Mare-Do-Well's assaults. After several punches, after some eye gouging, after slamming the Joker's head onto the ground, the Joker grunts took up the space in her mind where the sounds of torture were.

Rainbow Dash vaguely heard herself yelling, as if she was in another room of the chateau listening in on the beat-down. Her yelling was only somewhat coherently. She heard what loosely sounded like "I hate you". She heard general accusations of evil, and slurred insults that lost their meaning by the third word.

She would have kept on beating him, but she heard a slurred word come out of her own mouth. The utterance was completely incoherent (the word was "P-fll-ngih"), but Rainbow Dash knew what it meant. It meant "Pinkie". Did I make this personal? She looked down at the mass under her. The Joker was moaning under his breath, his muzzle was broken, his eye already becoming purple.

Mare-Do-Well slowly crawled off of the Joker. Her body ached from her practice, from flying down a mountain, from slamming through windows, from tackling a pony. Her legs hurt, and her front left hoof hurt to stand on. She'd sprained it from punching. She stood beside the Joker drowsily. "You're under arrest." she gasped, only now noticing she was out of breath. But as a thought intruded upon her, she shut her eyes tightly. She felt shame scathing her body. Her inner monologue said the beat-down was justice, but she refused to deceive her self right now. It was vengeance.

"I th-think..." a joyfull, but rasped voice said. Mare-Do-Well flung her eyes open. He can't--- "you enj-joyed that-t". It was the Joker, somehow still conscious. Even after the assault she'd just made. He's still conscious. He's still conscious. He's still conscious. Using the wall for support, he slicked his rustled-up mane back a bit. He winced as he touched his forehead. "I think you enjoyed that too much." He chuckled, and moaned.

Mare-Do-Well stepped back despite herself. She was too shocked to start a new attack. The Joker got steady, standing a few feet away from Mare-Do-Well. "Ah, look! You've messed up my suit!" He gestured to his now greasy purple suit, frowning in a false-pout. He nearly fell forward, due to his drowsiness. "I stole that from a rich orphan guy. Do you know how hard it is to find an rich orphan guy with a suit this awesome?!"

"I-I hit you... So many times..." was all Mare-Do-Well could say. The Joker chuckled.

"I'd certainly hope so! I'd hate to find out that I imagined all that!"

"H-how... How are you----" Mare-Do-Well started, but she was interrupted by the Joker.

"I'm doing fine, thanks." he chuckled. Though he was swaying slightly as he stood, and despite the weakness in his voice and the squint in his eye, he seemed to care very little that he had gotten a variable beating.

Mare-Do-Well started to get more lucid. Noticing her change in posture and breathing pattern, he started a new monologue. "Well, now. I think it's time to get this start----" he interrupted himself. He moved his head to the side to look behind Mare-Do-Well. "Are you all right, dear?"

Slowly, cautiously, Mare-Do-Well turned to look behind herself. The mare from before was standing there. She wasn't moving towards or away from Mare-Do-Well. She just stared, not even blinking. She was staring in fear.

Mare-Do-Well was stunned by mare's stare. It was a terrible stare. One that a child would give when they caught its parents in a murder. Guilt immediately overtook Mare-Do-Well as she became focused on the mare. She doesn't trust that I won't hurt her! "Don't worry!" Mare-Do-Well said, trying to sound calm. The mare whimpered, and backed away slowly. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. "I'm not gonna----" Mare-Do-Well was interrupted by something hard hitting her spine.

The attack repeated itself, and now Mare-Do-Well found it too painful to stand. She tried anyway. After a third strike, she lost the will to try. A kick in the ribs caused her to roll over with a yelp. Her spine, her ribs, they all hurt. Do I have a broken back? She wanted to cry at that thought.

The Joker stood over her, a large piece of wood balanced in his hooves. He was using the nearby wall for balance as he stood on his hind legs. "It's a good thing to keep this kind of thing in your pants!" He looked to the weapon. "It's kind of hard to walk normally in public, though!" he chuckled.

Mare-Do-Well was in aching pain, and all that ran through her mind was I am going to die. Despite all that, Mare-Do-Well heard the bad joke, and so she chuckled. It could be her last chuckle, after all. The chuckle evolved into a laugh, and lost its orderliness. It started sounding deranged, and it sounded familiar.

The Joker paused, a big smile on his face. "Your laughing... Do you see what I do?! Do you see the invisible flamingo that alwa----" the Joker stopped talking, because Mare-Do-Well stopped laughing. Slowly at first, then more as she gained resolved.

"I'm not like you..." she moaned in gasped through her giggles. "I'm not insane." She steeled herself, and she stopped laughing. She would have gotten up, but that would have hurt far too much, and so she laid there on her back.

The Joker almost frowned. Almost. "Well, since you found me, it's only a matter of time before the police arrive. I better get out of here. See ya soon?"

"I'll always stop people like you." Mare-Do-Well gasped through clenched teeth. She tried to roll over to get up, but her back protested. It felt like her back was aflame. She was almost on her side, but it only took 35 seconds.

"Oh, let me help!" the Joker said smiling, and he pushed her onto he stomach in one kick to the back. Mare-Do-Well screamed as the pain became too much, and she lost consciousness.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. School really drains it all from you.