The Bat

Shining leaned back in his chair, looking around his new office. Surprisingly it was in much better condition than the rest of the station, which was still littered and covered in muck. The greasy walls were nowhere to be found in this office, instead it appeared that this room was the only one that had been given any care when it came to cleaning. Shining looked closer to the wooden desk and he could see small scratch marks on it, along with a large stain.

“Well no room can be perfect.” He said, opening his suitcase and beginning to settle in. He took out a small frame with a picture inside of him and his family all together, his wife to his left in his arms, kissing his cheek, while his sister was to his right smiling widely to the camera. His parents each had soft smiles, looking like the most calm members of a crazy family. Which they probably were.

Shining put the photo on his desk facing him, and continued to unpack as he heard a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Shining said as he removed a mug saying, “world’s best big brother”.

A large pony then stepped inside, wearing a large, brown coat and a brown hat. His growing beard suggested that he hadn’t shaved in several days, and the smell he brought with him indicated he was a heavy drinker. His eyes lazily looked around the room, then focused back on Shining as he dug through his suitcase.

“Shining. Armor,” the stallion said, “I’ll admit I didn’t think they were telling the truth here. I told them ‘no way was Shining coming back to our little shit stain of a city. But here you are, back in hell with the rest of us, brought here by the princesses to eternal damnation.”

Shining wrinkled his nose at the stallion’s swears, and then looked up from his suitcase, seeing the stallion and instantly recognized him. “Hayve Bullhorns. Heh... Still as vulgar as ever, I see.”

“Some things never change. Unlike you, with your new royal bride, status and new shiny armor. But now look at you! Put back in Trotham City. Probably the princess’ attempt to ‘rid Trotham of its impurities’, am I right?”

Shining let out a sigh, “I came back Hayv, and I better not find out you’ve still been taking criminal’s money to keep your lips sealed.”

“Hey, hey! I’m innocent! You can practically see my golden halo floating above my head!” Hayve said, chuckling.

“Oh, you mean that ring above your head made of copper, rust and mold? Heh... You’re right. Some things never change.” Shining smirked.

“Ha! Well... It’s good to have you back, Shining. This place was getting bored without you. But then you took the case of that bank robber that nobody could catch and you cracked it wide open! You caught that son of a bitch as he was leaving the bank!” Hayve let out a laugh as he remembered the moment.

“Heh. Yeah, and I still remember the face you made when you saw him pull out a KITE to escape us!” Shining replied.

“And yet we still caught him, and now he sits in Blackgate Prison, wishing he had pulled out an umbrella instead!” Hayve continued laughing, remembering the days of the past he had as Shining’s partner. Shining joined in on the moment of laughter, but it slowly died down.

“Yeah... And then you were offered a higher rank over in Manehatten, and you accepted. Then you kept moving up until you got to be the captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. But then, it all came right back to dragging you back here.” Hayve said as his laughter went away.

Shining remained silent for a moment, “how’s Cobalt Mane been doing recently? I’ve heard that Mane Enterprises has been doing some incredible things recently.”

“Cobalt definitely took after his parents, I’ll tell you that. The guy’s been donating millions to charities all across the city, he recently made a program that’s going to clean the trash off the streets of the city that’s supposed to start at the end of the week, and much more. Shit, he’s even been spending money on having Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum cleaned up!” Hayve said.

“Well that’s good. I’m sure his parents would be proud of the man he’s turned out to be.” Shining replied.

“Ehh... He’s still a playstallion, Shining. And the man drinks heavily at the parties he throws.” Hayve said.

“Well I’m sure they would still be proud of all the good he’s doing.”

“Eh, I guess.” Hayve replied, “anyways, I just stopped by to welcome you back to Trotham. But I’ve gotta get going. I’m currently working on a case and I was just given a clue as to where I can find something that can help.”

“Oh, well alright Hayve. I’ll see you later then, good luck on the case.” Shining replied.

“Thanks. And see you later!” Hayve stood up and trotted towards the door, exiting the room and allowing Shining to continue setting up his new office.

A few minutes later another knock was heard on his door.

“Come in!” Shining said.

A young stallion walked inside then, trotting towards the door with a large box of donuts in his hoof.

“Here you go sir, a little welcome back present from everypony here.”

Shining smiled and opened the box, seeing two donuts inside, one of them with a big chunk taken out of it.

“Oh... Uh... Thanks? I’ll... Just put this somewhere to eat it later.” Shining said, pushing the box to the side of his desk.

“You’re welcome, sir. Is there anything else you need?”

Shining was about to reply ‘no’ to the young stallion, but then stopped and asked something else. “Can you tell me where Hayve went for his case he’s working on? I think I’m going to go out and help him. Just for old time’s sake.”

“C-Case, sir?” The stallion replied, confused.

“Yes, what’s his case?”

“Hayve isn’t working on a case. He hasn’t worked on a case in at least 4 weeks.” The stallion replied.

Shining’s eyes grew wide, and he then grit his teeth. “Hayve you little... Hey, I’ll be back! I’m going out!”

Shining grabbed his coat and ran out the doors of the precinct, sprinting towards a guard cruiser and jumping inside, starting it, and driving off. “You better not be at the docks... You better not be at the docks!”

Hayve stopped his cruiser at the docks, in the usual spot in front of three large warehouses, overlooking the Trotham bay. He turned the cruiser off and waited, eating a donut as he got out his DragonFireDroid, reading a text.

Meet me and my guys at the docks. No guns. Just business.

Half an hour later two black cars showed up, and Hayve stepped out of his car as the doors on them opened. Several large stallions in black stepped out, including a mare with glasses, long brown hair and a stern look directed towards Hayve.

Then behind her, a stallion stepped out dressed in a white suit, black shoes, and an black skull mask over his face.

“Ahh! Hayve! How are you doing today, my friend?” The stallion said.

“I’m doing fine, Mr. Stallionis. And I assume you found out the news at the party celebrating Twilight Sparkle’s return?”

“Yes, yes, yes. I have. Shining Armor has returned to Trotham. Well, I think it’s time to enlist your services again, Mr Bullhorns.”

A couple of Stallionis’ men let out a soft chuckle as he said Hayve’s name.

“As in... Kill Shining?” Hayve said.

“No, no! Well... Maybe. I like you Hayve. And I want to give this a chance. So I want to meet Shining. He and I met at the party, but we didn’t really get the chance to talk business. So now that he’s here, we can finally try to see if there can be an agreement between us.” Stallionis said.

“It won’t be easy, Stallionis. You know how hard it was for any criminal back then to pay him off.” Hayve said.

“Well if he doesn’t see the benefits of cooperating with us... Then you know what to do with him.” Stallionis said.

Just then, a loud screech was heard behind Hayve, and they turned to find what had made the noise, seeing another guard cruiser pulling up.

Shining armor swung the door open and jumped out, a look of anger on his face. “Hayve! What the heck are you doing here?!”

“Shining?! What-What are YOU doing here?!”

“Ah! Speak of Tirek and he shall appear!” Stallionis said, “we were just talking about you, Shining Armor.”

“Oh yeah? What about me?” He said, trotting to Hayve, his look of anger unwavering.

“We were just discussing the possibility of a mutual partnership. We know things have been rocky in the past, but we’re willing to set aside our differences to work together for the pure benefit of Trotham City.”

“So I was right,” Shining said, seemingly ignoring Stallionis’ offer, “you’re still taking criminal’s money! Hayve, what’s wrong with you??”

“Come on Shining, don’t be dense! Sometimes we need to do something bad to do something good! We can’t-”

One of Stallionis’ men cleared his throat loudly, everypony then turning their attention to him. As everypony watched him, he simply nodded out towards the bay.

Everypony turned to see the red and orange of the sunset on the water and the sky. It was a beautiful sight that Stallionis would have stayed around to enjoy, but as he saw the sun setting his heart sunk.

“Hayve. Shining. We’ll continue this conversation at a later date. But for now, I have another business deal I need to settle with the old Commissioner of the Guard here in Trotham that Shining replaced.” He said, his men and assistant turning to enter the car.

“Wait, what?? You’re not going anywhere! You’re coming with me for bribing an officer!” Shining said.

“Oh really? And what’s your proof?” He replied, smirking as he entered the car.

“You just said it, and I have Hayve as a witness!”

“And are you really sure that everypony else will believe your story?” Stallionis said, turning to Shining, smirking still, and then entering the car.

The cars started and drove off, leaving Hayve and Shining alone at the docks.

“... Hayve, I can’t believe you’re STILL-”

“Hey, you can be mad all you want, but be mad at the precinct, okay? Because I don’t want to be out at night any more than Stallionis and his men don’t.”

“Why?? What’s so bad about the night?!” Shining asked, his anger still visible.

“Because night in Trotham is the time when The Bat rules the streets. So unless you want to have your bones broken, then I suggest you come with me back, okay?”

Shining had heard of The Bat, of course. Everypony has. Even in Canterlot and Ponyville, rumors of a flying monster dressed in black, standing on it’s hind legs at 8 or 9 feet tall, and with pure white eyes that stare directly into your being and burn your soul. This creature had been attacking ponies since it showed up, and terrorizing the city. So Shining knew what his first act as the commissioner of the Trotham Guard will be.

“No. We’re going to stay out. And I’m going to send more Guard out onto the streets. We’re going to catch this creature, and stop its reign of terror on this city.”

“S-Shining?? Did you not hear me?? The Bat won’t hesitate to attack you, okay?? I don’t know if you’ve heard of it before in Canterlot, but I suggest you come back with me and stay in the precinct while the night is going on!” Hayve said.

“No! We’re staying out, I’m sending more guards, and we’re going to capture this creature! And that’s the end of that!” Shining snapped, turning back to his cruiser and driving away back to the precinct to send out more Guards.

Cobalt leaned back in his chair, the chair creaking softly as he does, and the bats above him on the roof of the cave squeaking softly.

Some light shone from his right side as the elevator opened, and an elderly pony trotted out, who Cobalt knew was Duke. “Ready for your nightly rounds, Master Mane?”

Cobalt pressed a few keys on his keyboard, and all the files on his computer closed, being put into a folder where Duke can access them easily if needed and the stallion stands up, his suit tightening as he stands on his hind legs, picking up his helmet from a nearby table and putting it on.

Cobalt walked to the large aircraft vehicle, jumping inside and starting it, slowly lifting it up off the ground.

“Shall I make a sandwich for you, sir?” Duke said.

Cobalt didn’t respond, but merely drove the aircraft forward, flying through the tunnels of the cave before finally emerging outside.

“Duke, give me a full rundown of what’s happened.” Cobalt said through his altered voice his helmet gives him.

“Romanos Stallionis has paid a visit to Blackgate Prison earlier today, just before the night. And he brought the old commissioner of the Trotham City guard with him. Apparently Stallionis has plans for him.” Duke replied through the communication device, looking through the files on the BatComputer back at the cave.

“Hmm... I’m nearing Blackgate now. I’ll get in and put a stop to whatever Romanos has planned.” Cobalt pushed the eject button on the console in the jet and he was sent flying into the air upwards, only to fall downward.

He allowed himself to fall before he opened his cape, lifting himself up and allowing him to slowly glide through the cold, night air. The snow had begun going down harder now, clouding his view, but he could still see the spotlights assaulting the night sky as they went back and forth, searching the sky.

Cobalt continued to glide down, before he flipped his body to land onto the snowy ground, inside one of the small prison yards in Blackgate, the entrance wide open, with the sound of gunshots and screaming inside.

He quickly got up and ran inside, running through the halls of the prison, the sound of gunshots getting louder, but the sound of somepony being beaten was even closer. He turned the corner and could see the hall entered to a room, where a group of ponies wearing black masks and white or black suits were beating somepony.

Cobalt tensed himself and grit his teeth, slowly walking to the room, and his shadow slowly grew. His shadow reached the room and was covering the ponies, who turned to see what was blocking the light, only to see Cobalt standing there, his white eyes the only thing they could see on his dark silhouette.

“AH! W-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??” One of them yelled.

“Don’t matter! Shoot it! Shoot it!” Another said, all of them readying their firearms.

Cobalt threw two batarangs, each stabbing into two of the ponies’ hooves, stopping them from firing, and he threw a small, circular device at the gun of another, causing his weapon to jam. He sprinted towards the group at full speed, jumping up as his cape spread out, then covering the body of one of them.

He quickly jumped to the right, sending his right hoof directly towards the jaw of another, then quickly spinning and sending his back hoof flying towards one of their leg, shattering it and leaving them on the ground in pain.

Another yelled as they charged at him from behind, but Cobalt quickly jumped out of the way behind them. He got out his grapnel gun and fired towards a bench behind him, then he pushed a button on his grapnel gun and sent the bench flying past him, slamming into the pony.

The pony that was being beat looked up from their fetal position, his cheeks stained as he cried. He saw the ponies around him, each groaning in pain, one of them passed out, and then they turned to see Cobalt’s shadowy frame.

“Are you okay?” The Bat asked.

“Y-Yeah... O-Oh dear Faust... Please don’t hurt me!” He said, holding up an arm to cover himself.

“Relax. I’m not here to hurt you. I want to know what happened here. How did this all start?” Batman asked.

“I... It happened so fast. First... First Romanos Stallionis showed up with the former commissioner, and... And then all of a sudden he shot one of the guards here! Then his men began pouring in through every entrance! Hell, even some of the guards here revealed themselves to be working with him!” The stallion replied.

“Do you know where Stallionis went?” Batman asked.

“O-Of course! He went through that door,” the stallion pointed to a large double door, “it leads to the west wing. Where we have a big theater room. We usually use it for big announcements to the staff here. I don’t know what Stallionis would want to do there though.”

“He’s going to send a message.” Batman said, turning and walking to the double doors, opening them, and continuing to run through the halls.

Batman ran through the halls, finding no short supply of Stallionis’ workers attacking guard members, and sometimes even prisoners. He took them all down.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is. The rat that nearly fucked this up for us.” One member of Stallionis’ gang said.

“I-I-I’m sorry!” The guard said.

“No, no, no. You don’t GET to be sorry! ... At least... Not yet anyways. You see... My boss likes to get his revenge when he’s betrayed. But right now, he’s left that to me, because he’s got much more important things going on. So until then, you’re stuck with me.” The gang member said, “and oooohhh, do I have some fun things planned.”

Batman was above the stallion, then he dropped down, knocking him onto the ground hard, immediately knocking him out.

“T-T-The Bat??? W-What are you doing here?!” The guard asked.

“Stopping Stallionis.” He simply replied.

“I-It’ll be tough, man! He-He’s got something up his sleeve!”

“So do I.” Batman said, walking away.

He continued walking down the long hall, finding a large set of double doors. Leaning against the door helped him hear a large group of people talking inside.

Stallionis must be in there. He thought, looking up to see a vent above. And that looks big enough to fit me... Good. I can use the advantage.

He got out his grapnel gun and fired at the vent, grabbing on, and he tugged down hard, knocking the grate off the wall, allowing him to use his grapnel gun again to climb inside.

He crawled through the tight, small vent, the noise of chatter getting louder as it was shown below him. He then found another grate and looked through it, seeing he was in the theater room, high up above the crowd. He gently pushed on the grate, grabbing it before it fell, and putting it on top of the ventilation pipe, then climbing on top.

He looked around, seeing nearly every single pony in the room had been armed well, so a head on attack was out of the question. He turned to the stage and saw Stallionis walking out, the former commissioner behind him, being dragged by Stallionis himself.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Stallionis’ voice boomed through the room, commanding silence from everypony there as they all turned their gazes towards the stage. “isn’t this just truly the most wonderful time of the year??”

The crowd gave an approving cheer, Stallionis raising his hand up to make the room silent again.

“Thanks to me you are all free to leave! Free to make this city yours! Free to do whatever it is you please!” The crowd cheered again, but Stallionis simply let the moment pass, allowing them their fun, “and now, we have the former commissioner right here! Ready to face for his crimes against you!”

“W-Why are you doing this, Stallionis??” The former commissioner asked, “haven’t I always helped you?!”

“Oh yes... You have. But unfortunately for you the world is changing. Trotham... Is changing. And you’re just not set in this new world.” Stallionis said.

“W-What?? Why not??”

“But, we have somepony who challenges your freedom! Who challenges ME!” Stallionis said, ignoring the former commissioner, “and he goes by the name of BATMAN!”

The crowd immediately started to get tense as Stallionis said his name.

“And we are ALL going to show this “Batman” just what happens when you mess with Romanos Stallionis!”

The crowd cheered and Romanos turned, nodding to somebody back-stage, and the curtains behind him began parting.

The crowd immediately went quiet as they saw what was there, and Batman could barely believe his own eyes.

“This, everyone... Is somepony who has been harmed by Trotham’s poison! Somepony who is very valuable, but treated like garbage! THIS... Is somepony I like to call... KILLER CROC!”

The green giant roared as his name was sounded, everypony remaining quiet as he stepped out of the shadows. He had to have been 9 or 10 feet tall. He was a giant. He had no fur, or skin, just green crocodile scales, with spikes along his spine. He had appendages on his hands much like a dragon or Minotaur. He wore long, black and torn clothes on his bottom half, and he had a stench of swamp and fish.

“Say hello to Killer Croc, everypony!” Stallionis said, the entire crowd nervously saying ‘hello Killer Croc’.

Stallionis pointed to the former commissioner and continued, “this man has harmed Killer Croc’s home! And I am glad to announce that Killer Croc has agreed to work with us! As long as we let him have his revenge. So everypony with a weak stomach, I will give you a moment to leave the room. Because this is going to get pretty nasty!” Stallionis said with a chuckle.

Stallionis waited a full minute before turning to Killer Croc, “go at him.”

Killer Croc smiled and roared, grabbing the former commissioner and lifted him up, grabbing onto his other half with his other hand, and pulling hard. The entire crowd let out a gasp, a large portion of them throwing up as a loud ripping sound was heard, with the sound of blood splashing against the floor, with munching sounds coming from Killer Croc.

This went on for five whole minutes before it stopped, and the former commissioner was completely gone, Killer Croc completely covered in his blood.

“Enjoy the meal, Croc?” Stallionis said.

Croc just growled in reply, which seemed good enough to Romanos.

“Now, I hope you’re all as happy as I am to have such a beast with us, helping our organization out and such. Because if you’re not... Then I guess you’ll get to see what it’s like to not be Croc’s friend.” Stallionis said.

The crowd went completely silent after that, and Stallionis chuckled. “But I’m glad we can all be on the same page! Because there are big things coming up! And I’m sure that Batman would absolutely love to meet Croc! It’d be a meeting... To die for.” Stallionis chuckled darkly as he turned and walked away, Croc following him as one of Stallionis’ men gave him a large pile of towels.

Batman watched as the group slowly left the room, and he turned on his communicator. “Duke. Send an tip to the TCPD telling them to hurry over to Blackgate. And tell them to bring a lot of men.”

“An anonymous tip, then. Very well, sir. I’ll see to it at once.” Duke replied.

Batman jumped down as the last of the large crowd was gone, using his cape to slowly glide down to safety. He turned and ran to the stage, past the large pool of blood, and continued to where Stallionis and Croc had gone.

He burst through large doors, and could hear Croc’s growling from up above, at the top of the staircase. Batman quickly sprinted up as fast as he could up the stairs, following the stench of fish and blood, it growing stronger as he gets higher.

Romanos stepped onto the helicopter, turning to Croc, who was stopped, sniffing the air in the giant room they were in. There were stone walls on all sides, with one having a giant door that leads inside. Another side had a door that led to the outside world. The roof was gone, allowing the snow to fall in.

“Come on! We gotta get back!” He said.

“No! You go on ahead... I’ve got something...” Croc said, waving off the helicopters.

“Ugh... Fine! Kill one last cop and hurry back! Call when you’re done with your meal!” Stallionis said.

Stallionis’ guard closed the helicopter door, and it flew away, the second helicopter flying after it. Croc stayed where he was and sniffed the air still, looking around like a dog that had caught a scent.

Batman landed behind him quietly, but Croc simply said, “thought I caught your scent.”

“And I caught yours.” Batman replied.

Croc roared and turned around, swiping at Batman, who jumped back to avoid the attack. He threw three batarangs at the monstrous beast, each of them just bouncing off his scaly skin.

Batman jumped to the giant and kicked his jaw, sending him flying back, but not before he grabbed onto Batman’s leg, slamming him down onto the ground. He then lifted him up, and brought him to his agape mouth.

Batman grabbed onto both jaws and pushed away as hard as he could, but he was slowly inching closer. He punched the creature hard, but it only seemed to make he angrier, and he growled louder, gnashing his teeth.

Batman let out another punch to his face, knocking him back, allowing Batman to let out a hard kick to his gut, followed by many more. He kept up his assault on the creature, which just threw him back as retaliation.

Batman landed on his hind feet, looking up to the creature as he ran towards him, roaring loudly. He removed his grapnel gun and fired upwards, attaching to a gargoyle up above them. He flew up high, Croc not being able to stop himself before he smashed into the wall ahead of him.

Batman landed behind him, and turned, throwing another batarang at Croc. This one stuck in him, then releasing volts of electricity into him. The monster roared in pain from the shocks, and reached back to try and tear the batarang out, but was unable to reach it.

Batman took this opportunity to run forward, jumping up and kicking the monster hard into the wall, then punching him in the kidneys.

The creature growled softly as it fell slowly, and Batman panted softly. He then grabbed the creature’s head and slammed it into the wall.

“Why did Stallionis murder the former guard commissioner??” He roared.

Croc merely laughed Batman’s comment aside.

“You’ll have more important things to worry about than that when Black Mask’s through with you! Because he won’t stand for you anymore!” Croc simply said.

“You want teeth, I WANT ANSWERS!” Batman screamed, slamming the creature’s face against the wall a few more times.

Croc merely laughed softly before he slowly passed out.

“Dammit... Batman said, letting go of Croc and letting him slowly fall. “Just what exactly happened to this guy to make him like this”

That’s when he heart footsteps from behind him, and turned to see members of the guard pouring inside the small area, all of them focused on Batman and Croc’s unconscious body. And at the front of them, he saw the new commissioner, Shining Armor.

“Halt right there! You! Monster! You’re under arrest for breaking and entering and assault! Now put your hands in the air and come quietly!” Shining said, using his magical grasp to aim his handgun at Batman.

Batman simply looked around and analyzed each officer, checking the area for any way to escape, and he found none. “Duke,” he whispered softly.

“Sir? Why are you whispering?” Duke replied, “has something happened??”

“Bring the car to me. Batman simply replied with.

“Right away sir! It’s going off right now!” Duke answered.

Batman then continued his gaze towards the guards as several of them broke apart from the main group to check inside the prison by Shining’s orders.

“So,” Shining eventually said, breaking the silence, “you gonna put your hands in the air?”

“Are you going to lower the gun?” Batman replied.

“You know, I’m kind of wondering just what has to happen to somepony to inspire them to dress up as a BAT of all things, and run around the streets, beating everypony up.” Shining said.

Batman’s eyes narrowed, and the loud sound of an engine was heard from a distance, causing a slight smirk to appear on his face.

The car made a loud screech as it stopped in front of the doors to enter the area that Batman and the guards were, the area that led to Blackgate. Batman reached back slowly, pulling out his grapnel gun, aiming up and firing it.

The grapnel attached itself to the top of the wall, and it pulled him up quick, the guard immediately opening fire on him as he went away.

“No! Cease fire, cease fire!” Shining yelled, activating his trottie-talkie, “we’ve got The Bat here! I repeat, we have The Bat! He’s escaping Blackgate right now! Get any available unit sent down here right now!”

Batman flew by the top of the wall and fell down, using his cape to slow down his descent to a safe speed as soon as he was directly above it. He sat down in the car and the doors closed. The engine roared to life as it started, and he backed it up. He then shifted the gear and the car drove off quickly down the winding road away from Blackgate.

As Batman drove away, he could look up in the sky and see a small dot in the sky. Two dots. And he knew that one of them was Romanos Stallionis.

Shining sighed as he lowered his gun, putting it back into its holster. He then turned to look at the green, scaly monstrosity leaning against the monster. “... Oh my Faust. What... What is it??”

Hayve turned to look at Croc, but merely shrugged. “Welcome back to Trotham City, Shining Armor.” He replied.