Chapters "I'm back!"
Spike gleefully walked back into the castle, the only sound heard was the echo of his declaration from his spot. The dragon held a small flimsy book in his claws, a book he had been waiting months for. He walked into Twilight's throne room, where said alicorn was focused on a small experiment of hers once again. "Hey, Twilight. Guess what I got?" he asked the distracted princess clearly holding his new book right in her face and started to wave it as well.
"Uh huh. That's great, Spike." Twilight muttered in a dull tone, clearly focused on something else, gazing at her notebook. Spike smirked, realizing that he could have fun with this once again. He enjoyed Twilight getting distracted in her work since it meant that he could do as he pleased without her knowing.
"So... I'm going to eat all of the ice cream that we have." Spike declared, pretending to walk out of the room.
"Sure." Twilight responded, still ignoring the dragon. A sinister smile formed on his face.
Spike pretended to have an unsure scared look on his face, "Hey, Twilight. I don't know if you heard, but Tirek's back and assembled an army from Tartarus. We need your help in stopping them before they destroy Equestria." he said.
"Uh huh." Twilight responded. Whatever it was, she was really into it and not letting up.
'Time to pull out the big guns.' the young drake thought. "Hey! I accidently burnt down the entire library section of the castle and last every single book that was inside it!" he shouted. In an instant, Twilight snapped her eyes open and ran into the library room within the castle. She sighed in relief once she saw that everything in the room was intact.
"Spike! Why'd you say that?" Twilight yelled.
"You were so distracted. And I remember you telling me that if you ever got too distracted like that than to make up a clever lie that would get you to immediately stop what you're doing." Spike even held up a small contract dictating everything he had just said in fine print with their signatures.
"Oh... Right. Well, what was so important that you had to distract me from my research?" she questioned in an annoyed tone.
Spike smirked, "The 300th issue of Power Ponies had just come out. It's so cool! Apparently, it's the final battle between the Power Ponies and their nemesis the Mane-iac! And somepony is supposed to die in this issue, changing the universe forever before leading into an epic year-long crossover event with sime other comics where the universe changes again!" he explained in a fast way that would make even Pinkie Pie jealous.
"Why do you still read those, Spike? After what happened when we got sucked in there, I want nothing to do with comic books, wearing a cape and tights, or superheroes." Twilight groaned, recalling her experience with her friends in the enchanted Power Ponies book that Spike had brought.
"I think superheroes are cool! They're a bunch of ponies that work together to save the world. Kinda like our life actually..." the dragon trailed off, "Anyway, the Power Ponies got cool costumes and work as a team and fight supervillains like every month. The adventures they have are amazing! It's just fun."
"Well, why don't you read the books I read?" Twilight wondered.
"And what? Get into in your juicy romance tales? There's a whole shelf dedicated to that. That's your thing. I got superheroes like the Power Ponies," upon being on the opposite end of Twilight's annoyed glare, Spike raised his arms in defense, "I'm kidding! Anyway, they don't interest me as much as comic books! I know for a fact you love reading them, and Rainbow Dash enjoys Daring Do, but comics are my thing."
"Heh. I would love to meet a superhero like the Power Ponies." Spike wished.
"Yeah, like that's going to happen again, Spike. The closest we'll get was when we got trapped in the book. I don't think there are any other superheroes like them besides the Power Ponies themselves and their villains." she realized.
Batman threw a batarang at the large machine right in front of him swiftly. He flipped into a handstand before landing back on his feet, avoiding the arrows ahot by the assassins standing ready above him in a line. The man he was fighting was Ra's Al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins. He raised his hand, signaling his army to stop. Batman held up his fists, ready for anything Ra's had that would put him at a disadvantage.
Following his night in Arkham City, Batman had believed Ra's Al Ghul to be dead, but the League of Assassins had managed to find a spare Lazarus Pit and resurrect their leader back from the dead once again. For the past few months, Batman had been on their trail, realizing that they were planning something big.
"What do you want with Hugo Strange's old technology, Ra's?" Batman asked. "This isn't your usual M.O." he noted.
"I am aware of Strange's... Failure to purify this world, but deep within the confines of Arkham City, where I found the Lazarus Pit was where Hugo found something of interest. A crystal capable of infinite power and even the ability to travel between different dimensions. I noticed that Strange had finished it, but never used it since he opened Arkham City. Within the remains of Wonder Tower I found it perfectly intact." Ra's Al Ghul explained.
Batman growled, "Other dimensions? That's quite unlike you, Ra's." he mocked.
"No... That part doesn't interest me. The thing about this crystal is that it will allow me to finish what I had started on Arkham City. To rid this world of its sins."
"But you'll kill millions of people."
Ra's frowned, "If that is the cost of such an action than let it be." he responded in a cold tone.
Batman gritted his teeth, "As if I'm letting you get away with this." he hissed.
The immortal assassin chuckled, "I'd knew you would come face me on your own, Detective. Though, you should know by now, even you should be overwhelmed by my League of Assassins. I'm giving you one more chance, replace me or let me live and continue with this." he raised his arms, awaiting Batman's choice. Ra's dropped his sword in the process and threw it in front of him, allowing the Dark Knight to grab it.
Batman stared at the sword, "You underestimate me, Ra's..." he paused briefly. The Dark Knight picked up the blade. "This time I'm not alone... NOW!"
Smoke covered the area in an instant, causing the league to put up their guards. One by one each of them vanished. The first to appear was a man wearing a red costume and a black hood with a 'R' stitched on the costume. He held up a staff and tripped one of the bow and arrow assassins, knocking them off their feet.
The second threw a blunt escrima stick at the other members, distracting them long enough for him to flip over one. An assassin tired to stab the young man, but he grabbed their arm spun their body and threw them on the ground and repeated the same action to the assassin next to him. He wore a black suit with a blue emblem shaped like a bird.
"So, Detective. I see you brought your partners for once. Clever, but my offer still stands. Kill me, and you can end this right now." Ra's announced to Batman, stretching his arms out and closing his eyes, awaiting Batman's response to his demand.
Batman glared at Ra's once more before facing the machine and crystal, "Robin. Nightwing. Watch over Gotham while I'm gone and tell Oracle what happened. Find Doctor Fate, and explain to him what's happened here. He'll help." he ordered his sidekicks.
"Uh, Bats? What're you doing?" Nightwing asked. More assassins appeared in the room. The older of the sidekicks held the assassin's blade in between his blades, holding it right across his face. "Nice trick, but too slow." he elbowed the ninja in front of him, stunning him. Another ninja moved behind him, trying to get an opportunity to kill. But Nightwing kicked the member's legs, making him kneel and stun him for a moment. This allowed Nightwing to connect his foot to the assassin's face, knocking him out.
"Alright. Robin, how are you faring?" Nightwing qustioned.
Meanwhile, Robin spun around, whacking his staff on their chests, hitting them hard. The Boy Wonder flipped kicking both assassins attacking him with ease. Spinning back right-side up, Robin noticed that another ninja was about to shoot an arrow at him. He held up a shield, created with his staff to block the projectile. "I'm fine!" he answered Nightwing in that moment. He moved up and hit the ninja square in the jaw, knocking him into unconsciousness.
Batman slowly walked to the machine that had the crystal placed inside. The Dark Knight stabbed his sword through it, destroying the strange device. "NO!" Ra's shouted, grabbing the crystal from its supposed location. Batman punched the immortal man in the jaw, but Ra's didn't give up, chopping Batman in the chest. "You are a fool, Detective! The energies of this crystal and machine creted a rift! The only way stop it is-" he pleaded to Batman before he was cut off by both Batman and a vortex opening up.
"Balance it. I know, but we're both going in there to make sure that's the case!" Batman tackled Ra's right into the portal where it closed behind them. Nightwing and Robin watched as their mentor vanished into an unknown dimension. Nightwing rubbed his head in confusion on what to do next.
"So, uh... Maybe we should find Doctor Fate."
Robin nodded, "You do that. In the meantime, Gotham's going to need a protector. If you need help let me know. Let's just hope Bruce is safe wherever he is."
Nightwing smirked, "It's Bruce we're talking about. Wherever he ends up, he'll be fine." he assured the younger man, knowing Batman, they know that he's at least alive.
Gaining feeling back into his body, Batman moved his arms. He pushed himself up from the ground, with him feeling grass beneath the armored gloves. Batman stood up, wondering where it is that he and Ra's had been sent to. 'Ra's...' he remembered. The Dark Knight turned his head, but the assassin was no where in sight. He looked down to see that his utility belt was still on his waist. 'He wants a fair fight... Good.' he deduced.
Batman started walking, wanting to stay in the shadows for the time. Night was his element after all, and with the moon still in the sky, that gave him an advantage to remain hidden. At least, until he figured out where he was at and if the people of this assumed different dimension were willing to have someone like Batman wandering around their world without any resistance.
'They're not going to have much choice. I have to stop Ra's no matter what.' Batman thought. He started to run, not stopping until he found a city or town, 'If there any. Ra's and I had to take a chance to jump anywhere in the multiverse. I can only hope that this is a civilized land and not a barren wasteland.'
Batman saw something in the distance, 'A city... Looks cleaner than Gotham at least. That's a start. From there I'll do recon and begin from there.' he thought, facing ahead and began sprinting. He peeked through the many trees, 'It's still night... From the looks of it, I only have a couple hours to do what I need to. Plenty of time.' he assured himself.
The vigilante found himself on the outskirts of the city, where at least no one could see him. Batman paced his way into the city, where he silently walked through the alleyways. 'Seems primitive here... I have to make sure that I'm not spotted.' he activated his Detective Vision on his cowl, giving him an x-ray view of his surroundings. 'Perfect. I can get an advantage from the rooftops.' he pulled out his grapnel gun and aimed it at the roof.
Batman pressed a button, activating the claw, which attached itself to the roof. With the rope pulling himself upward, Batman quietly landed on the rooftop. Kneeling down, the Dark Knight used the zoom feature of his cowl, getting a closer look at the city, 'Strange... The bone formations of the body are unlike a human's... Almost equine in nature...'
Zooming in, the Dark Knight spotted a castle within the city, 'So, the world is ruled by a monarchy. Quite uncommon in alternate dimensions.' Batman had been to plenty of different worlds while on missions with the Justice League before, so he had a source of reference in his hand, but unlike those missions he was alone.
"Oh man what a day..."
He deactivated his Detective Vision at the sound of a voice. Batman leaned forward, getting a closer look at the source of the voice. What he saw took him by surprise, 'Well, I was right...'
A horse walked nearby what appeared to be an apartment complex, he wore nothing but had a marking on its flank, 'So... This world seems to be populated by neon colored equines. That is... Peculiar. I also noticed a horn on this head... Meaning that it's a unicorn. Great... I ended up in some child's coloring book.'
Batman hopped to another roof, staying out of sight as much as he could. The Dark Knight saw another pony, this one without a horn, but with wings instead. 'A pegasus...' he noted, observing that unlike the unicorn he saw earlier, this one wore clothes, 'So in this world, clothes are an option for style as opposed to a necessity. And what do the marks on their flanks mean?' he asked himself.
Jumping to another building, Batman reactivated his Detective Vision on his cowl, spotting more equines. "Hmm..." he hummed, seeing that unlike the other ponies, these seemed to wear armor, 'Why would they need to wear armor?' zooming in, the detective got a closer look.
"Man... Who knew Canterlot can be quiet during Luna's night?" an armored pony asked, this one not having wings or a horn, meaning that it was a regular horse.
"I know... Makes you wonder why we're even out here patrolling." the other responded.
'Hopefully you'll never find out.' Batman thought. 'Now I know that the royalty here has an army protecting their world. That will prove to be a complication if I'm ever discovered.'
Batman hopped off the building and safely landed in a dark alleyway, where he could continue without being noticed. Luckily, none of the guard ponies saw him from the roof, so he could move and observe in peace.
A few hours passed and Batman got the information he needed, 'I'm in a city called Canterlot, where two princesses who could control the sun and moon live. Their guards patrol around Equestria, and the species are pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies. Alright, with this I have enough info to find Ra's without anymore surprises.' he recapped in his head.
The sun began to beam in the distance, ruining Batman's advantage. The Dark Knight ran back to an alleyway, where he hoped no one would walk to his location. Light overtook the darkness eventually, meaning that Batman had to be more careful not to draw too much attention on him until he left.
"Hey, what's that?"
'Oh no... Not what I wanted now...' he groaned in his head.
A guard walked up to him, "Excuse me whatever it is you are, but we've never seen anything like you before..." the pony said, trembling in his spot, but sounding brave at the same time. "And I was hoping to ask you a few questions."
Batman used his Detective Vision to see the pony's heartbeat, 'Rapidly rising... He's scared. Good. That gives me an advantage.' the Dark Knight walked closer to the stallion, who shook more the closer Batman got to him.
"U-Uh... Y-You're under arrest? For resistance?" the statement was more of a question than a demand.
"No... If you excuse me. I'll be on my way. I don't have time to deal with you." Batman walked away as he said this, remaining in the shadows while doing so.
Something hit Batman in the back, catching him off guard for just a moment. The Dark Knight stumbled in his spot, feeling his back ache slightly. Batman turned around, seeing the unicorn's horn glow slightly, 'They have magic. Of course...' he sighed inwardly.
"I've got backup coming. You're coming with me if you know what's good for you!" the scared unicorn threatened.
For a brief moment, a thin smirk appeared on Batman's face. "You think I'm afraid of you?" he asked the unicorn in a stern tone. "I'm not... You will regret doing that."
The unicorn trembled, his eyes widening at the sight of Batman towering over him, "Please don't hurt me!" he begged, kneeling down in fright. "I'm only doing my job!"
'I know that, but no one here can know about me yet. And you acted too quickly for your good. Sloppy on your part.' the detective thought, "Sorry, but you hit me with magic. So I'm afraid that I'm going to resort to self-defense." as Batman raised his fist, something held him back. 'Magic... Great.'
A small group of guards. The unicorn in front had his horn glowing, revealing that he was the one holding Batman back. Some earth ponies and pegasi grouped next to him, ready to arrest the vigilante in an instant once he was down.
'They only trapped the one arm...' his other hand reached into his utility belt. He grabbed one of his batarangs. Swiftly, Batman threw it next to the leading unicorn, scaring it enough so that he was too distracted to use his magic. "Good." he said. The guards realized that Batman was free and all ran toward him.
The guard that found him tried to tackle him, but Batman grabbed his forehoof and threw him over his shoulder, avoiding his sloppy attack with ease. The unicorn got back up and attempted to shoot Batman with magic once again, but this time the Dark Knight was prepared, flipping to the side to dodge.
'I can't use too much of my tools. I need as much as I can for when I fight Ra's, so I'm going to have to resort to close quarter combat for now until I take inventory.' he noted to himself, landing back on his feet.
Batman dived to the left, dodging another beam of magic by the guard. The vigilante knelt down, ready to dodge again should the unicorn make another move. Instead, the Dark Knight saw the guard pant in his spot and not shooting at him.
'So... He wore himself out.' he thought. Batman grabbed the guard and punched him in the jaw, the pony tried to kick him, but Batman saw it coming and countered by slamming his palm to his face, hurting him but enough to knock him unconscious.
The other gueards watched the fight in awe as Batman got up. They all got ready to take in the vigilante, but were unaware of what they got themselves into. Batman cracked his knuckles, prepared to fight again.
"So. Any of you willing to have a go?"
An earth pony guard was the first to run toward Batman. The Dark Knight hopped slightly over his kick delivered by his forehooves. Batman noticed that he was going to have to lower himself in order to incapacitate the guards. So, the vigilante knelt down a little and delivered a sweep kick to the stallion, tripping him in his spot, 'Don't want to hit them too hard. They're kind of fragile.' he reminded himself in his head, holding himself back.
The earth pony attempted to get up, but Batman stepped on the top of his barrel, holding him down on the ground. And in an instant, the Dark Knight slammed his fist down on the armor, the shock of it knocking him out of the fight.
A pegasus charged itself at Batman, hitting him in the face. A little blood was spat out of the vigilante's mouth. He wiped his mouth with his gauntlet, "You're going to regret that..." he warned, his fists in front of his face.
The pegasus soldier started to fly head first once again. Batman ducked underneath his flight path, making him miss. The soldier notced this and tried to correct himself. Meanwhile, another soldier tried to catch Batman off guard, but the Dark Knight was ready for such an act and uppercutted the pony from his position.
Hovering where he was at, the pegasus once more charged at Batman. This time, the Dark Knight hopped to the right from where he was kneeling to dodge the attack. Seeing that he missed again, the pony growled, "Just stay still!" he ordered.
'He's losing his temper. That should give me an opportunity to take him out.' Batman thought. The flying pony for the third time flew toward Batman, but now the vigilante flung his cape, stunning the pegasus instantly. He delivered a flurry of punches to his body, finishing off his combo by uppercutting him. 'The armor should've absorbed the trauma of most of the attacks. Lucky him. Three more guards to go before I can get out here.'
Another earth pony made an attempt to hit Batman with his backhooves, and managed to land a kick to the Dark Knight's chest. Luckily for Batman, his armor protected him from the force of the kick, "You should've hit me harder." he mocked the soldier.
The guard stumbled, allowing Batman an opportunity to strike him in the chest. The pony retaliated by punching Batman with both of his forehooves, which like before did not faze or harm him thanks to his kevlar armor. In response, the Dark Knight delivered a right hook to the pony's jaw, a cracking sound was heard revealing that he was incapacitated in one punch, 'Two more. They should've stayed home.' he mocked.
The two remaining guards decided to take on Batman together. The one on the left ran toward the vigilante in a fit of rage, "You're coming with us!" he demanded. Batman stood back on his feet, doing his best to stay in the alleyway to avoid being spotted by the early morning commute that's passing by. The vigilante noticed a trash can in front of him. Leaping, Batman moved himself next to the can and kicked it down. The two guards ran toward him, but Batman moved the cylinder trash can with his foot, causing it to roll in their way.
The two soldiers stumbled and tripped, not able to avoid it in time. On the floor, the two tired stallions made an effort to get up. Batman walked to them and lowered his fist on the top of their bodies, knockong out the last of his resistance. "Don't get in my way again if you know what's good for you." the Dark Knight warned the unconscious guards, walking away for them to get picked up.
Pulling out his grapnel gun, Batman decided to head back to the forest, where he knew it was safe to roam around until he came up with another plan. He swung upward back onto the tallest building he could find and perched himself there. Using his Detective Vision, Batman noticed that for the most part, the city was quiet at this time. 'Okay. Scans say that there are very few civilains outside right now. I should be able to stay on the rooftops until I find my way out of the city to continue searching for Ra's from there.'
Batman ran out of the city before being spotted. 'A forest... Alright... From there, I should find more cities like this. Maybe getting a map of this world will help give a clue as to where Ra's Al Ghul will hide.'
Ra's Al Ghul walked through the forest, using his sword to slice down any trees that stood in his path. He held the crystal in his hand, unsure of how to use its power to its full potential. Despite this setback, he continued to trek through this uncharted territory.
"Without my army, I need a new way to face the Detective," Ra's said to himself, never stopping. He held up his sword and chopped down some twigs in his way. "And I have no way of figuring this out without the machine back in my dimension." he referred to the artifact crystal currently in his possession.
The immortal assassin found something peculiar not too far away from his spot. "A hive kingdom? That's odd. Perhaps I'm not in a world of humans after all. Though, maybe they can help me with using this artifact." he said, looking at the crystal.
Ra's Al Ghul decided to investigate the hive kingdom to learn more of this world. Once there, he decided to view his surroundings from afar in the shadows, learning more about what he was facing.
A small black buglike creature with holes throughout its body walked around the village, 'What is that?' the assassin wondered inwardly. Despite being caught offguard by the creature's offputting appearance, he continued to examine the village he was in.
More creatures similar to the first one walked around, each of them going into the slimey coccoon houses. They buzzed around and much to Ra's surprise, spoke. From a distance, the man spotted a female creature in a castle of sorts, he assumed it was the leader of this kingdom. Maybe he could manipulate her to his advantage.
Walking to where he seeked, Ra's drew his sword back into his sheathe. The assassin walked toward one of the creatures and introduced himself. "Hello, there... I wish to meet your ruler. Can you take me there?" he wondered.
The creature knelt down, ready to fight Ra's Al Ghul in confusion about what he was and if he was a threat. "Easy there, bug. I'm not here to harm you. In fact from the looks of it, you all could use some help." he noticed as he looked around the dirty hive kingdom.
"At ease, subject." a female voice ordered. The creature did as it told and calmed down. The larger bug that the assassin saw earlier was pacing her way toward him. "Thank you. Now... What are you?"
"Sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Ra's Al Ghul." he greeted with a bow, "To put things simply, I'm from another world and it's thanks to this." he revealed to her the crystal. "Now, may I have your assistance, miss...?"
"Chrysalis. Queen Chrysalis. And you're in the changeling kingdom. But as you can see, it is not in the best shape." she gestured to the village she ruled.
Ra's nodded, "I see... May I ask how this came to be?"
Chrysalis growled and gritted her teeth, "Those ponies keep getting in our way. Our species feed off of love, but the only way we can get to eat is if we take it by force. And since Princess Celestia and her annoying subjects have prevented our chance to feed time and again, we are starving." she explained.
"Hm... I will aid you. If you help me use this crystal, I can perhaps find a way to give you the necessary food for you and the kingdom without the so-called ponies ever getting in the way again." Ra's offered.
"Thank you, Ra's. I see that you have your hands on a Warp Crystal. They're rare within and around Equestria. I shall help you by performing a spell home."
"I do not wish to go home until I give what I promised you. No, you see I have an enemy here as well. And he may ally himself with the ponies. I want to test him using the Warp Crystal's power." the immortal man revealed to the changeline queen.
"Very well, Ra's Al Ghul. With the spell I should be able to open a rift to wherever it us you came from based on your energy. What do you plan to do?"
Ra's responded, "My enemy has made many opponents. And they all wish to have a chance to face off against him one more time before we strike. He shall prove that he can overcome these trials, all the while we create the perfect plan to overtake the ponies' world for the benefit of your kingdom."
Batman remained on the ground in the forest, trying his best not to draw even more attention than necessary on himself after that brief scuffle back in that city he was in. He found himself completely surrounded by trees and moss, 'Now no one should be able to find me unless I decide to show myself.' he mused.
The Dark Knight knelt down, barely looking upon his reflection through the dirty water, "It's too dirty here. I have to go further before I refresh myself." he looked away from the body of water and stood back up, continuing his walk.
Seemingly, hours passed for the Dark Knight and he had made no discernible progress as to knowing his current location. He hopped to the top of a tree, holding onto the highest branch with his fings and flipping himself to the top, perching on the branch itself. He activated his night-vision feature on the cowl to give himself a better view once the night finally rose.
'I see more buildings in the distance. But unlike the other one. These seem to be a lot smaller... Maybe a small town?' he wondered in his mind. Batman hopped from the tree and tried to find a fast route to reach the town in a shorter time. But he noticed that despite being able to see it, he would take days to reach it.
"Hopefully there are no guards, but I should be able to make it in time create a map of what I found in order to find a coordinate of Ra's location compared to where I'm at..." Batman pondered to himself, sprinting to the town.
"HELP!"
A voice knocked Batman out of his trance. "What was that?" he asked, turning his head. Another cry was heard, forcing Batman to stop what he was doing and run to where the sound came from. 'As much as I want to, someone needs my help.' he thought, willing to compromise himself to save someone's life.
Batman activated his Detective Vision to help him roam the forest faster and find the source of the voice. His cowl detected two figures nearby from his location, 'Good. Now to find out what it is that has the pony frightened.'
He zoomed his cowl's lenses further ahead, still running while doing so. 'The creature is a lot larger than the pony it seems to be attacking. Its heartbeat suggests that it is angry. Possibly because it can't get its food to stay still. Though the pony seems to a pegasus, but they seem to barely be able to fly.'
Batman deactived the cowl's feature once he found himself nearing the source of the battle. The Dark Knight hopped onto the top of a tree to get a better look for himself. The creature looked like a lion, but had an appearance based on an old fable, 'A manticore... So there are more creatures than ponies.'
The pony in question was a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and was crosseyed, she constantly tried to avoid the monster's grasp while losing track of herself in the process and holding a box. 'She's going to get herself killed like this.' Batman thought. 'Just another minute... I have to time this just right...'
The manticore raised its arm once again, but before it could move down to strike the pony, he felt something wrap around its clawed palm. The pegasus saw a rope suddenly fling itself onto the monster, wondering who would do that.
Suddenly, a shadow leaped toward the manticore, surprising the pony greatly. He raised his fist and punched the monster in the chest. The manticore slashed at Batman, but the Dark Knight barely managed to avoid the attack, the emblem on his costume getting scratch marks on it instead.
Batman watched as the manticore roared in anger, keeping an eye on the pegasus he had just saved in the while. The vigilante kicked the manticore in the chest stopping it in its tracks. The manticore heaved, grabbing Batman by his throat. The monster roared once again in his face.
"Got you." he taunted, kicking his legs to the monster's side. Batman pushed himself out of the creature's hands.
The manticore growled in pain upon feeling Batman's attack, but the Dark Knight remained unfazed. He threw something small at it, one of his batarangs. The flying projectile distracted the manticore long enough for Batman to deliver the finishing blow.
The manticore fell loudly upon feeling the force of Batman's punch. The vigilante rubbed his aching hands and cracked his knuckles with his fists, feeling satisfied. He turned to the scared pony staring at him now, "Are you all right?" he asked.
The pony nodded, "Yeah... I'm fine... Thank you..." she said, looking at him. She felt calm once she realized that he saved her.
"What's your name?" Batman questioned.
"My name is Ditzy Doo, but my friends call me Derpy." the pegasus, Derpy, answered. Batman knelt down to talk with her.
"Well, Ditzy. You're safe. What is that town over there and how did you get here?"
"Oh, that's Ponyville! That's where I live! And... I'm a mailpony, but I was staying in Canterlot. I was on my way home, but I accidentally flew all the way out here and crashed into the monster not too long ago. He didn't look happy to see me."
Batman nodded, "Listen... Get back home. Nothing will hurt you here as long as I'm around..."
"Oh thank you strange person!" she cheered, grabbing the cardboard box and flying off, bumping into more trees in the process.
'What did I just do? I compromised myself just to save a pony's life...' Batman realized, 'No... Don't think like that, Batman. I can still focus to getting to Ponyville for more answers. The ponies will not get involved with Ra's Al Ghul, that I can assure.'
Batman looked ahead once more, seeing that Ponyville was closer to his sight than before, 'At least I don't have to walk as far... Good. The sooner I learn about this place, the easier it will be to track Ra's and get back home.'
The Dark Knight could still see Derpy flying from his spot in the forest. He activated his Detective Vision again, searching for any potential threats she could run into while flying home. 'Nothing. So far anyway... Let's just hope it stays that way. She's going to be getting home at a late time anyhow.'
'Now... How do I get there faster?'
A whistling sound was heard in the direction Derpy was flying, 'Hm... Maybe she was on to something...' he mused, finally realizing the reason why she would come all this way to begin with. Batman quietly trailed her, seeing where she would go. The Dark Knight assumed that Dery knew where she was going, and so far, everything was working out in his favor.
Turned out, there was a train station nearby from his location. Derpy safely managed to fly back to the station to wait for a train back to her home in Ponyville. Unfortunately, while she wouldn't draw any attention, someone like Batman would, especially since he had a scuffle with some royal guards. So Batman did what he best at a time like this. He stood right at the edge of the forest, perched on a tree
He waited.
Quite a while passed for Batman, but on the bright side, he learned more about his destination. Using the zoom feature on his cowl, the detective learned that Ponyville was just four stops from where he was currently at, which is just passed Canterlot, the name of the city Derpy gave to him earlier.
So, Batman heard the familiar sound of something moving on the tracks and made his move. He waited for everypony to get into the train, where he was out of sight. Once he was sure no one was around to spot him, Batman hopped onto the train and slid into the luggage cart all the way in the back, where none of the ponies would go to.
Ra'a Al Ghul and Chrysalis stood on the cliffside, "What is this place?" the assassin asked.
"This is Fillydelphia... Hm.. Perfect." her mouth began to drool slightly. The police of the city were seen, since it was not a big a place like Canterlot.
"Yes... I see. You seek food for your subjects. Of course, I did promise you that much. I assume you wish to know if I would keep my word?" asked Ra's.
"Yes. I just want to see if you're worth keeping and not be used for our food. After all, I too am interested in using the Warp Crystal." Chrysalis answered.
Ra's raised a hand, "I am a man of my word. As long you fulfill your end of our bargain, then I shall do mine. Now, you wish to steal their love? Then I shall rid you of any resistance." he said, drawing his sword out the sheathe.
"Should I bring my changeling army?"
The assassin smirked, "Do not worry. I have faced worse than a bunch of ponies in armor. You shall have food from your subjects thanks to my help, I promise you that."
"Thank you for coming to me with this information, Nightwing." Doctor Fate said. The sorceror was a man wearing a yellow armored helmet that covered his entire head and a blue robe. Following Batman's instructions, Nightwing tracked down the man for help.
"What are you going to do?" Nightwing asked.
Doctor Fate levitated from his spot, pulling out a scroll. "What Batman and Ra's supposedly got teleported with is an ancient artifact. Something I haven't seen in years. They are called Warp Crystals. A single once can hold infinite power and can even travel through different dimensions." he explained, showing the blue costumed man a picture of what it looked like.
"Batman must've overloaded the machine Ra's was using and created a temporal imbalance. The crystal could have sent them anywhere across the vast dimensions and universes." Fate added, pulling out another scroll to elaborate.
"Alright. Makes sense, but how are you going to find him?" Nightwing wondered.
"Simple. Through all my years of using my powers, I've seen many dimensions and artifacts. I have a record of every known dimension across the multiverse. I can search for Batman within each of these worlds until I find him." he explained, pulling out a book the size of an encyclopedia and placed it on a table.
"Thank you, Doctor Fate."
"In the meantime, head back to Gotham. I will tell you once I find him through a psychic link." Fate said, opening the giant book right in front of him.
Nightwing nodded and walked out of the tower. 'Hopefully you're fine, Bruce. We can't cover for you for too long without something going wrong.'
A guard pony walked into Princess Celestia's chamber where she was speaking with Princess Luna. "PRINCESSES!" he shouted to get their attention.
Celestia stopped her speaking to face the pony, "You may speak, officer." she ordered.
The guard sighed, "We were out on patrol yesterday... When suddenly a strange batlike creature attacked us! We tried be civil but he left us no choice but to take measures! The other officers are still recovering from what he did."
"What did the figure look like?" Luna asked.
"It was... Bipedal. Clad in black. Almost batlike in appearance. It was so terrifying." the guard panted.
Celestia and Luna nodded, "You may leave now, officer." with a salute, the guard walked out of the throne room to allow the princesses to discuss the situation.
"What shall we do, sister?" Luna asked, "Surely, this bat creature couldn't have gotten far."
"I should send a letter to Twilight and her friends to warn them of this creature and see if they can help. Once I do that, I'm putting a bounty on him to make sure he doesn't hurt our subjects." Celestia explained to her sister.
"Very well. If this bat is as strong as they say he is, Thou will be attending to my night guards to prepare them in case they ever run into this... Bat pony,
Celestia used her horn to write on a scroll, "And I will make sure my guards are up to the task of stopping him." once she finished writing, the scroll vanished, now sent to Twilight.
Batman remained crouching inside the car, 'No one should be able to find me in here with all of the luggage. It's too crowded in here to move, but in about two stops is where I get off so I should free myself a little.' he shuffled in his spot slowly to not make too much noise in case someone were to hear him.
'Once I get off, I have to continue finding Ra's no matter what.' he thought. He had been in this train for a while, patiently awaiting to arrive at his destination nearby Ponyville. 'But I can't get off when the train stops. I'm going to have to leave a little sooner.'
The Dark Knight felt the train pause, 'One more to go...' he counted. His brain keeping track of his location. 'Once I find one, I'm downloading a map of this place into my cowl for further research. That would give me something over Ra's.'
Moving up to his feet, Batman forced the window open, 'Alright. Let's go.' and he hopped out of the window and landed on the grass beyond the tracks and watched the train pass by. The Dark Knight used his night vision cowl to keep track of his surroundings.
'Almost to Ponyville. I have to be careful... They're probably after me for what I did in Canterlot.' Batman thought, starting his walk into the new forest.
The vigilante noticed that unlike that unlike the other area near Canterlot, this felt a little more... Wild. He decided to keep a mental note on that in case more creatures like the manticore would try to eat or kill him, 'Try to anyway...' he mused. A thin smile on his face at the thought in his head.
Kneeling down, Batman placed a hand in the water and cupped the water in his hand, 'Finally. Some clean water...' he wiped his mouth dry. 'If I'm going to be stuck here, then I need a place of refuge in case the weather changes.'
Finishing his cleaning, Batman continued on, searching for a temporary new home until he got back to Gotham. He made his way deeper into the forest and zoomed his lenses to get a closer look at what he was seeing.
"A cave..." he muttered.
The Dark Knight used his Detective Vision to search for any life in there, 'Hm... I can see some signs of life in there, but I'm not getting any sort of heartbeat or vitals... I should be careful for this one.' he pulled out his utility belt and knelt down. 'But first let's see what I have left with me in this dimension.'
'Let's see... I have plenty of batarangs to spare. My grapnel gun... The batclaw... My cryptographic sequencer which I could use as a makeshift batcomputer for analysis... Smoke pellets.... Remote controlled batarang... Remote Electrical Charger.... Explosivd Gel... And that's it. That should be enough for me to survive.'
Batman stood back up and strapped the utility belt back around his waist and started his walk toward the occupied cave to see what was inside of it.
"Uh, Twilight?" Spike said and got the alicorn's attention easily this time without any games.
Twilight stopped her reading, and stood up, using her magic to close the book, "Yes, Spike?" she wondered.
The young drake held out a scroll, "Princess Celestia sent me a letter. I think you should read it." after saying that, the lavender pony used her horn to grab the scroll and opened it. Her eyes reading the letter from top to bottom.
"Spike. We gotta get the girls."
"Why?"
"A strange creature was seen in Canterlot."
After getting everypony together, Twilight's friends all gathered around in her throne room and sat on their chairs. "So, what's the big deal about this bat dude?" Rainbow Dash questioned, not at all worried about his appearance.
"He's dangerous! He attacked Celestia's guards for no reason!" Rarity chided the rainbow-maned pegasus.
"H-He sounds... Really creepy... What do we do if we find him?" Fluttershy quietly said, getting her opinion on the situation.
"Well, I say we rough 'em up a bit and tell him what happens if he were to threaten another pony again." Applejack answered, slamming her hoof on her chair.
"Yeah! That meanie is... well very mean!" Pinkie Pie shouted, not having the right words to say on the subject.
"Girls! Calm down!" Twilight scolded, "I say we go look for him tomorrow night. If he showed up here yesterday, then that would give him time to make his way over here. Once we catch him, then we let the Princesses figure out what to do."
Rainbow Dash sighed, "Oh, alright. But I get to be the one that smacks him first, right?" she asked, smashing her hooves together.
Her friends rolled their eyes at the comment, "Sure..." Applejack slowly answered with a smile.
Batman rolled on the ground, avoiding being eaten, 'Well that answers my earlier question...' he had discovered that the cave was occupied by a strange wolf made of wood, 'No wonder I didn't detect any vitals or a heartbeat in there despite seeing a living creature. They're made of wood. Now to only figure out how they're alive and able to think.'
The timberwolf howled, angered at not getting Batman. The Dark Knight growled at him. "You wanna take a bite out of me? Go on!" he threatened it. As the timberwolf charged at him, Batman revealed his explosive gel and laid some of it on the ground. Once the timberwolf was close enough, Batman pressed a button on the spray, causing the creature to explode at an instant.
'As much as I hated doing that... You were trying to eat me. Hopefully you can regenerate.' he assured the broken creature, which reassembled on the spot, catching the vigilante off guard. 'Of course he did...' he sighed inwardly.
Instead of the timberwolf chasing him again, it ran off leaving the cave empty. "Stay out!" he yelled, walking into the cavern quietly, as the monster ran off into the distance.
Upon entering the cave, Batman activated a light, allowing him to see through the darkness within, 'I should set up a torch on the wall once I get firewood. First thing tomorrow, I'm looking for Ra's... But I need to find food first...'
Placing his light in a crevice on the wall, the Dark Knight knelt down, removing his cowl and wiped the sweat off of his head. 'You know that this is pointless, don't you?' a strange voice asked. Immediately, Batman placed his cowl over his head and jumped up once he heard the voice speak to him.
"Who are you!? How did you find me!?"
Batman looked down to see a radiant pony with a hood over their head, face him, 'Do not worry, I am not an enemy. But I must say, you are doing a good job at making the ponies of this world hate you.' she mocked his efforts.
"They are in my way. I need to find Ra's as soon as I can without any distractions!" Batman snapped.
The hooded pony sighed, 'Have you ever thought to ask these ponies for your help without starting a fight? I have seen them work with the greatest of heroes.'
"Greatest of heroes? Who are you, exactly? You have three seconds before I break every bone in your body." threatened the Dark Knight, not in a mood for conversation. The hooded pony chuckled lightly at his empty threat.
'You may try, but you will not succeed. My name is Solar. I have been travelling across different worlds to find heroes for... A mission. My journey led me here to you, Batman. Now can you finally answer my question?'
"You got the wrong guy... I'm not here to join your team."
'Ah yes... That's what the Turtle Son told me as well when he first saw me. But you have something lost within this world, Batman.' Solar explained to him.
"Yeah? What?" he spat.
'I cannot say right now. But you learn what it is in due time. I will check on you again soon enough, as I must turn my attention to another hero. Hopefully you will heed my words and consider these ponies as allies and not distractions.' once she said that, Solar vanished, leaving Batman to think alone.
The Dark Knight grunted, 'The last thing this world needs is to get involved in my business. They're better off staying away from all of this while I handle it.' he thought. For now, he wanted to get firewood for the night. He got up from his spot and left his cave to find the pond and get the necessary wood to start a fire. 'I'll get that first, then worry about the water.'
"Wh-Why are we here, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind Pinkie Pie, who bounced without a care in the world in front of her while they followed their friends.
"Because this would be where the bat creature would likely hide, but the problem is finding out where he is." the alicorn answered the frightened pegasus. Fluttershy's eyes widened at thought of going against the creature in person.
"How do we even know this bat guy is even here?! For all we know, he could still be in Canterlot!" Rainbow Dash questioned, crossing her hooves while flying above the others.
Twilight answered, "From the way Celestia explained it from the story thr guard told her, the creature looked to be in a hurry and ran off. He thinks that he's safe just because he got away, but he will answer for what he did to those guards."
"I agree Twilight," Rarity began, "But where does one even begin to look for a bat creature around the end of Ponyville?" the unicorn wondered about such a topic. They had been out in the forest for what felt like hours and the smell was really starting to get to her, and she gagged slightly, holding her nose with her hoof.
A scared timberwolf then zoomed by them, whimpering and ignoring the ponies as it passed. Applejack was the first to comment at the sight they had just witnessed, "Uh... What the hay was that?" the farmpony asked, pointing at the fleeing timberwolf.
"Oh the poor thing looked so scared..." Fluttershy whimpered, putting her hooves over her mouth.
"Yeah! Who can scare something as scary as a timberwolf? Unless a bigger timberwolf said a mean thing to him, and then after that it ran away! Or maybe the bat creature fought it off himself in order to continue running away!" Pinkie shouted as she did her best to explain the timberwolf situation.
"Hmm... You may be on to something there, Pinkie." Twilight complimented her pink friend.
Dash chuckled, "What? A bigger timberwolf said a mean comment to it and cried like a baby?" she laughed.
The alicorn shook her head, "No. About the bat pony. Maybe he showed up here and fought it off one it tried to attack him." she deduced, realizing that it would make sense.
"But how did he manage to fight off something as wild and powerful as a timberwolf?" Rarity pondered, seeing said creature howl once it stopped in its tracks in pain. "He must be really strong to do so." she added. The unicorn stepped over a muddy puddle.
"Wait a minute... Fluttershy, don't timberwolves usually live in caves?" Twilight realized. The shy pegasus nodded to her question, earning a smile. Her knowledge of animals really gave them an advantage they needed right now.
"So, we just follow the opposite of where he went?" Applejack deduced her friend's plan, "But how do we even know that a timberwolf like that would even live in a cave? Hay, one of 'em just attacked me outta the blue for no reason." she reminded Twilight.
Twilight sighed, "I know, Applejack, but this is the best lead we got to finding the bat," she said, "It he's not there, then we'll check one more time tomorrow night."
And so, the six ponies followed the trail of the timberwolf's footsteps. It led them to the entrance of a cavern in the middle of the forest. Twilight was the first to step inside. All of them exclet Fluttershy followed, "Oh, um... You girls can go ahead... I-I'll stay o-out here to... Make sure that nothing attacks!" she quickly and poorly lied, afraid to see what was inside of the cavern.
"Okay! Have fun, Fluttershy!" Pinkie cheered.
Her friends saw through her ruse quickly, and Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, "C'mon, Fluttershy! We'll be together on this! Nothing will hurt us in there! Heh, they gotta make sure they can catch me if they want to hurt you or the others."
Fluttershy perked upon hearing Rainbow's comment, "Okay... I'll come along." she finally stepped inside with her friends and the six continued their search for the bat.
"There's a fire in here..." Twilight noticed. The fire looked to just have been recently lit judging by how bright the flame was. "He's definitely here." she figured out, using her hoof to search for any new leads to help find him.
"Uh, Twi?" Applejack got the purple pony's attention. On the wall was a small bat insigna, and a small light shaped like a bat inside of a hole in the wall. "He's been in here. Now the question is, where the hay is he right now?"
Suddenly, something nearly hit the ponies and slammed into the wall. The six turned their heads to see it. It was a black bat-shaped projectile stuck to the wall. Their eyes went wide, realizing that they had been found and not the other way around. The six turned their heads back and faced the entrance.
A shadow figure with a bat on his chest growled, "Get the hell out of here. Now." he ordered.
"What are you?!"
Batman ignored that question and snarled, walking forward to the bunch of ponies that had discovered his hideout. He glared daggers at them, his cowl giving him a frightening appearance. Fluttershy and Twilight shuddered at his sight.
"I told you. Get. Out. Of. Here." Batman warned once again, emphasizing his point.
Rainbow Dash scowled, "Who do you think you are!? Ya think you can order us to get out of here?! Listen, pal, I ain't afraid of you so I'm not moving." she boasted.
"You say that now. But you'll regret saying that." threatened the Dark Knight, not budging from his spot.
Dash huffed, flying away from the Dark Knight. She moved herself toward Batman and lunged at him. Batman had seen this attack before, but decided to stay still. Rainbow managed to land a hit on his face, causing him to groan.
While he was stunned, Applejack tied him up with her lasso. Batman felt his arms tighten around the rope, "That oughta keep ya still." she chuckled at his predicament, tieing together the ends of the rope to tie him in the center.
"Good work, Applejack," Twilight complimented, "Now, let's ask you some questions." she trotted directly in front of the Dark Knight, who didn't change emotions at all. He remained still, a little too still for his liking, but he decided to play along and when the timing is right, gain the upper hand.
"Now... Who are you?"
Batman growled, "I'm Batman."
"Well... That was simple." Pinkie replied.
Twilight groaned, "Okay then. Why are you here and why did you attack those guards a few days ago?" she hoped to get a better answer put of him this time.
"They threatened me for no reason. I was only defending myself. As to answer why I'm here, that is none of your business." answered the Dark Knight in a stern tone. Twilight knew that he wasn't going to budge to her questions, but didn't show it. "Now... Can you let me go? I have more important matters to attend to."
"Sorry, but we were told to send you to Canterlot by orders of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Rarity told him and scolded, "So I think it would be best if you would answer Twilight's questions. Batman scowled, not wanting any more distractions.
"I don't have time for your questions or to meet your princesses." replied Batman. 'There are two? I should've looked more into the monarchy of this dimension.'
"You're not going anywhere like that, Batman!" Dash bragged, "AJ's rope should keep you stuck until we say you can go! Which won't be for quite a while!"
Batman growled, "Listen. You have three seconds to let me go. Otherwise, I am acting in self defense. One..." he began slowly, giving them a chance.
"You aren't going anywhere, Batman! Not until you explain youself in greater detail." Twilight responded, not changing her mind anytime soon for Batman.
"Uh, Twilight... Are you sure we should keep him like that?" Fluttershy wondered.
"Two." he ignored the conversation.
"Ya darn right we're keepin' him like that, Fluttershy. Ya hear his threat to us? He hurt Celestia's royal guards for no reason! He needs to be put away or put on trial!" she answered for Twilight, not believing Batman's threat made to them.
"Three."
In an instant, Batman removed the rope from his body and stood back up to stare down the ponies. All six of them were surprised to see him back on his feet, "How did you manage to escape Applejack's bind?" Rarity asked.
"Hm. You should have done a better job," Batman taunted, cracking his knuckles. "I'm giving you one last chance. Get out of here. Or I will make you do so myself." he held his fists up, knowing that they weren't going to leave him be.
Rainbow Dash was the first to attack. She flapped her wings and flew out of the cave. A rainbow blur shot itself toward Batman, the man rolling out of the way in time to avoid it. The pegasus stopped herself before she could hit a wall, "You got lucky that time, Batman!" she insisted to him with a groan. "You should've stayed where you were at, because you can't catch me!"
Batman activated his Detective Vision, "You may think that, but I've dealt with speedsters on my Earth. Compared to them you're as slow as a slug." he mocked, causing Rainbow to huff in anger, 'Annoy her. Catch when she least expects it.' the Dark Knight told himself, planning a way out in his head.
Rainbow Dash aimed herself at Batman, not wanting to miss. Before she could even collide with him, the Dark Knight ducked underneath her flight path and uppercutted her once she passed his head, hitting her in the stomach and make her collide with the stone wall instead. "I warned you." he said, looking at her unconscious body, "Now... Who else wants a shot?"
Pinkie growled, "Nopony hurts Dashie like that! You're a meanie!" she bounced at Batman and pulled out her party cannon. Cakes started to fly out of it, 'Where did she get that!?' he wondered turning off his Detective Vision and rolling out of the way of the flying pastries aimed at him. He pulled out his Batclaw and grabbed the cannon, pulling it away from Pinkie's hooves.
The pink pony pouted, "Aw, you're no fun!" she huffed. Batman grabbed Applejack's rope and tied her up with it, making sure that she doesn't anything else during the fight.
Applejack ran toward the Dark Knight and spun around, bucking him in the chest. The farmpony's eyes widened once she saw that her kick didn't faze him, "Do you think that would work on me?" he asked her in a taunting manner, 'My kevlar armor's built to take more than your weak kicks.'
He watched her attempt to kick again, but Batman grabbed her hooves and spun Applejack over his shoulder, throwing her to the hard rock ground below. He could hear the painful moans of her trying to stay conscious from hitting the floor, "You'll get better. Later." he assured her and the others.
Before Batman could reach Twilight, something hit him in the back of the head, 'What was that? Wait...' he saw a small rock on the ground, 'Magic... The white unicorn did that.' the Dark Knight turned around to face Rarity.
"You're going to regret doing that..." he said in a cold tone.
He held out a batarang and threw it, 'It's just a warning toss. Not like they have to know about that fact.' he mocked inwardly to them. The projectile missed Rarity's flesh, but it did manage to make contact with and cut off once it reached.
Her mane.
"Oh no... My..." she never finished her sentence and due to her mane getting cut off, Rarity fainted from worry about not looking fashionable until it grows back. Even Batman was stunned at the dramatic display seen before his eyes.
Now, Batman faced Twilight. The alicorn shot him with a beam of magic, making him hit the wall of the cave, "You think you can get away with hurting my friends? You're going with us whether you like it or not!" she shouted.
Recovering from the blast, Batman got to his feet and grunted, 'My suit wasn't designed to take on magic to this extent. I have to be careful when facing her... She has wings and a horn so she could be as annoying as that rainbow pegasus. I just need a way to catch her off guard long enough to incapacitate her.'
Batman reached into his belt and grabbed a smoke pellet. He threw it on the ground, covering the surrounding area in smoke. Suddenly, Twilight felt something grab her. Once the smoke cleared, the purple alicorn saw that Batman had managed to tackle her. She was pinned down in a way that she couldn't use her magic on him.
"I'm giving you one more warning. Leave me be and I won't hurt you or your friends anymore." Batman warned, looking at Twilight then Fluttershy who trembled in her place.
"You're not going to kill us?" asked Twilight in disbelief.
"No. I'll never take another life. I'm not here to hurt any of you or get involved. I'm here on a mission and I wish for you to stay out of my way. Got it?" he explained.
"Okay!" shouted Twilight, "We'll leave you alone!" she said, looking at her incapacitated friends. Batman released the grip he had on the princess and grunted.
"Now go." warned Batman.
Twilight nodded and used a teleporting spell to warp her and her five friends out of the cave. Batman sighed in relief, 'Finally. Now I can get back to the task at hand.'
Ra's looked at the crystal prepped on the table, "Are you sure this spell would work?" he asked.
"Yes. I have read about it before. It was used by Starswirl the Bearded himself. All I have to is focus and I can call for anypony you wish over here."
Chrysalis used her horn on the Warp Crystal, lighting it in a greenaura. "Heh. Now, you have fed my people. It is only fair that I return the favor." she said.
"Very well... I shall test the Dark Knight for the moment we strike. And I know the first person he should fight." Ra's chuckled, telling the changeling queen who to summon to Equestria.
"I just don't get it."
Twilight paced back and forth in her room. Her friends had finally woken up after the beating Batman gave them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack lied in their seats, with a icepack held in their hooves covering their aching heads. Spike watched the scene, but decided to read his new issue of Power Ponies instead.
"What's there to get Twilight? That creep got lucky! Next time we see him we'll kick his butt into next week!" Rainbow Dash boasted, groaning in pain from moving.
"That's what worries me, Rainbow! That Batman guy just shows up and somehow overpowers all of us! It just makes no sense!" Twilight shouted in annoyance over Batman's sheer power.
"Um... Twilight... Why do you think he never..." Fluttershy gulped at what she was about to say, "...Why do you think he never took advantage and... Ended us." she questioned. Twilight paused in thought, asking herself that same question.
"He mentioned that he would never take another's life."
Spike looked up from his book and overheard the discussion, "This Batman dude sounds like one of the characters in my comic books." he revealed.
"We don't have to talk about comic books, Spikey. This is serious business. That ruffian ruined my perfect mane!" Rarity whined, holding the cut piece of hair in her hood. She sighed, recalling that it won't grow back in a while.
"I am serious!" Spike protested, the young drake holding the book up in the air, "In my book, not everypony is a pure hero. Some of them operate a little... grim... They're not out to make friends, but yet they're on our side despite... Acting a little mean while doing so." he explained to his friends for them to get a better understanding.
"Yeah! He was a real meanie! He took away my party cannon!" she pulled out said weapon, "But luckily I got it back before Twilight teleported us out of there!"
"Ya may be onto somethin' there, Spike." Applejack complimented.
Twilight shook her head, "He may be right. Batman mentioned that he'll stay out of our way if possible. He seemed to have no interest in killing us or kidnapping us. He also mentioned that he was on a mission. We're just not sure what that is..."
"What!? That guy is supposed to be a hero or somethin'? Well, this is one way of showing it!" Dash yelled, showing her friends her bruised and aching hoof.
"No... We kind of threatened him to come with us. He was acting only in self-defense," Twilight defended Batman's reason for attacking the six of them. "Should we run into him again, we'll make sure that we avoid another fight like earlier."
"I don't know, Twi. Batman doesn't seem like a reasonable pony," Applejack trailed off. "If anything, he'd probably start another scuffle to avoid public contact. Well... Anymore than now. He's kinda become a fugitive."
"Do you think we should find him and apologize?" Fluttershy asked. "We were kind of harsh on him..."
"No way, Fluttershy! He beat us up! It's gonna take me kickin' his butt to forgive him!" Dash bragged, feeling the urge to give Batman a rematch for humiliating her.
"No, we shouldn't apologize..." Twilight replied, "But we should at least better explain ourselves." she answered the shy pegasus' question properly. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
"So, how shall we find Batman again?" Rarity wondered.
Pinkie Pie decided to speak, "How about we lead him into a trap and then bam! Surprise party for him, but wait... He was totally mean to us, so we should pretend like it's a surprise party, but then Rainbow Dash would do a Sonic Rainboom on him and then he will have no choice but to come with us!" she plotted in one breath.
"That's a little too complex, Pinkie. Besides, Batman would probably figure it out." Applejack commented on the party pony's convoluted plan to capture the Dark Knight.
Suddenly, loud sounds were heard outside. The six ponies got immediately curious as to what it was. "Uh... Did ya'll hear that noise?" the farmpony asked everypony in the room. Another loud crash was heard, answering her question for the others, "Well then... Nevermind then." she sighed.
"If you girls are up for it, we should go see what it is!" Twilight yelled, her friends getting up instantly and followed her outside of the castle. They saw that Ponyville was getting wrecked by something. Something they've never seen before. The seven looked around and got a better look at the figure charging around.
"Uh, what in the name of Celestia is that!?" Spike shouted in pure confusion.
The figure wore a mask over his face, in the shape of a skull covering his head. He appeared to be the same species as Batman, but he wore only a thin sleeveless shirt and cargo pants. A huge tank with tubes connected from his back to his neck and unlike Batman, he appeared to be all muscle.
"Ah! More ponies for me to break." he said in an accent.
"Wh-What do you want with us!?" Fluttershy squeaked.
The monster laughed, "What do I want? I want to know where it is I can find the Batman! He and mi have unfinished business to settle from long ago. And I was promised that if I were to come here myself!" the man laughed. "Now... I will ask again. Where is that Batman?" he questioned slower this time.
Batman dipped his hands in the pond, pouring the water from his palms into his mouths, 'At least I don't have to worry about those ponies coming near me again.' he thought, savoring the taste of the fresh water and wiping his mouth dry. 'Now to get more wood for the night and find some food.'
'You know there is an easier way to do this.'
Batman scowled under his cowl upon hearing that voice echo to him, "What is it this time, Solar?" he asked the hooded pony in an annoyed tone.
'Batman... You scared off the ponies. Why?'
"Why? Because they were in my way and threatened me. That's why. I shouldn't have to explain myself to you everything I do." the Dark Knight grunted to the mare. Solar sighed at his answer, seeing how stubborn he can be.
'The ponies here can help you, Batman. All you have to do is give them a chance. The six that came to you only wanted answers and yet you fought them. That was completely unnecessary on your part, now your only chance of stopping Ra's is probably gone.' Solar said in a disapproving tone toward Batman.
"Like I said before. I don't need to explain myself. The ponies of this world are in danger and it is up to me. Alone. To stop Ra's before he does anything that can hurt them in any way. This is my battle, they have no reason to get involved." Batman spat at the hooded pony, tired of her mind games.
Before Solar could repond, the sound of screaming was heard from a distance at Ponyville, 'What are you going to do, Dark Knight? Are you going to help the ponies you so wish to avoid?' she asked in a testing tone, almost in way that she sounded like she was taunting Batman for his decisions.
Scowling, Batman started a sprint to Ponyville to end the situation going on there, 'Let's just hope that it's Ra's and I can get home sooner rather than later.'
"I must say, Ra's. This man is quite unique. I am glad you allowed me to summon him to Ponyville first to see what he is capable of." Chrysalis complimented, watching the fight through a rift window spell, allowing them to view and enter Ponyville without the rift being being seen by anypony there.
Ra's Al Ghul bowed, "Why thank you, Queen Chrysalis. You did a commendable effort in sending him to this Ponyville. Why did you want to send him there first?" he asked, genuinely curious by the changeling queen's choice of location.
"That's where those accursed heroes live. Twilight Sparkle and her friends live in Ponyville. With them out of the way, we can focus our attention on ending Batman. Once he's gone then I shall feed my entire kingdom through them forcefully." Chrysalis chuckled, watching the man continuee to break through the town.
"Batman's first challenge awaits him. Should he participate. If not, then he will have to suffer that idea that he let the ponies of this world perish wthout his intervention." Ra's chuckled, sitting back and readying to watch the big fight for Batman.
Bane of His Existence
After a lengthy sprint, Batman had finally arrived a Ponyville. 'It's a lot smaller than Manehattan...' he noticed. The Dark Knight noticed the destroyed buildings and injured ponies. Upon seeing the sight of a still one, he immediately ran to it, and pressed his fingers on their necks, checking for vitals.
'Good. He's alive...' he stood back up, 'Now to see whoever was behind this. There is no possible way Ra's could do this much damage in a short amount of time.' with that he began running again, activating his Detective Vision.
Batman noticed a large figure breaking through the town andd grabbing ponies. He noticed that they were harming them, but seemed to avoid killing them. He saw another pony get tossed through a wall as the figure seemed to laugh.
'The figure is has I predicted,' his vision revealed to hima small piece of trivia that immediately reveal who it was, 'Wait... I'm getting signs of the Venom chemical in his body... There's only one person who has enough Venom to give off that kind of signature.'
Batman found himself behind the figure, using the element of surprise, the Dark Knight hopped on the giant's back, freeing the pony from the man's crushing grasp. The man laughed once he figured out who saved the pony, "Well well... I am surprised to have finally found you, Batman." he said.
"And I'm surprised to see you here as well, Bane," Batman replied in a cold tone. "I was hoping to find Ra's Al Ghul here, but you will have to do in the meantime."
Bane laughed, "Finally. Now to finish what we had started so long ago." he said. Batman threw a batarang aimed for the tank on Bane's back, but it missed.
"Nice try, Batman. But I shall break you and you stand no chance this time!" he yelled, flailing his hand, making it collide with Batman and sending him flying through a building. The Dark Knight picked himself up and grunted.
'I need to find a way to get to the tank, but if I hide, then Bane could harm more ponies. No... I need a distraction. Something to hold him off until I can get through the tube.' he thought. He walked out of the wreckage he made.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I may have to find the ponies I fought earlier.' he sighed. Bane was looking for the Dark Knight, but he wasn't able to see him in the shadows. 'It would be better if I stay out of his sight for now.'
"C'mon! He couldn't have gotten far!" Rainbow Dash hurried her friends to chase after Bane.
Applejack huffed, "What do ya think we can possibly do against 'em, Twi? He looks mighty powerful and hard to budge." she asked the genius alicorn.
"I-I'm not sure... He's capable of destroying buildings and grabbing ponies with ease... So we might have to play things safe until we can devise a plan to stop him." Twilight answered, facing the farmpony to answer her question.
"H-He said that he was after Batman..." Fluttershy reminded her friends, "Do you think that we should tell him where he's at?" the pegasus wondered aloud.
"No. As much of a rude pony he was, nopony deserves to be placed under that creature's wrath." Rarity answered, defending Batman in this case.
"You don't have to worry about that."
The familiar voice made the girls and Spike stop dead cold in their tracks, "Is that who you mentioned?" Spike asked. The six mares nodded in response. "Let's see what the big deal is, shall we?" the young drake muttered.
Batman stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to the ponies once again, "Bane is someone that isn't easy to take down. Believe me, I've done it before. I..." he paused, "Need your help in stopping him and send him back to my world."
"Oh! So now you come to us!" Dash spat.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded, "And as for you! You are on your own! You hurt all of us and ruined my beatiful mane!" she yelled at the Dark Knight. Batman remained still as she budged him, not saying a word back to her for the time being.
"I may have to agree with them on this one. Ya beat us up then think that we'll just help ya? Sorry, but yer on your own." Applejack added to Batman. Not wanting anything to do with the Dark Knign as well, following their incident.
Batman scowled, "Fine." he said before walking away, 'I may have to defeat Bane on my own. Good. I gave Solar's idea a shot and they turned it down as expected. I've found a way to weaken him before and I can do it again.' he pulled out his grapnel gun and pulled himself to a rooftop to get a better vantage point to fight.
Once Batman was out of sight, the girls decided to converse amongst each other, "Good riddance." Rainbow Dash and Rarity huffed at the same time.
"That was Batman!? That guy was so cool!" Spike gushed at finally seeing a hero like the Power Ponies.
"Cool? He was really mean and took away my party cannon for a bit! And he hurt my bestest friends ever!" Pinkie retored. The pink pony gestured to the five to prove her point.
"I'm not sure we made the right choice, girls..." Twilight finally said.
"Uh, Twi? I'm pretty sure we did. He made us look like idiots when we met and now he thinks that he can just ask us to help him when he wants it?" Dash crossed her hooves in disapproval.
"I know that, Dash. But still, from what he said, Batman fought this Bane person before. We could've used his knowledge and had a way of stopping him before more ponies were hurt." the alicorn responded in a stern yet still worried tone.
"I agree with Twilight..." Fluttershy muttered, "I-It's only fair that we give him a chance. We did sort of walk into his hideaway uninvited... He had every reason to be mad at us... Even though what he did was uncalled for..."
"They have a point," Spike interjected. "He came to us for help. You never once thought to do that. Doesn't that say something about him to do a thing like that?"
"Well, sure, but still..." Rainbow Dash paused, not having anything to counter the argument with, "Oh alright. But just this once, then he's going to answer to everything!"
"Very well... If we must in order to stop that Bane monster, then I shall join him." Rarity sighed.
Applejack nodded, "What about you, Pinkie? You willin' to help us and Batman?"
"Okay!" cheered Pinkie.
"Then it's settled. We'll help Batman this once in order to save Ponyville from Bane."
"Ah... I see you came back again, Batman."
Bane chuckled once he felt the Dark Knigh tackle him on his back. The large man reached his right hand onto his back to grab Batman and throw him off to the ground. Batman staggered his way back to his feet, spitting blood in the process, "You'll never hurt a pony here again, Bane." he declared.
"Oh, really? You think that the ponies are safe with you? Ha! You never could stop me easily, Batman. Now I shall break you and then the asesino!" delcared Bane, charging after Batman. The vigilante readied himself for the attack.
Batman flipped to his right, throwing another batarang in Bane's way, but the luchador swiped the projectile out of his way, allowing him continue his charge. He turned, catching Batman off guard and ran over him, making him lose his breath, 'No... Not now... Gotta get back up...' he struggled to think, holding his chest.
'My armor wasn't designed in mind for Bane... I should work on that upgrade once I get to the Batcave...' he thought, gasping for air. Once he got the proper oxygen intake, Batman got back to his feet, a lot slower this time due to exhaustion.
Bane snickered, "Now... Dark Knight..." he smacked Batman once again, the tired hero feeling the force of the hit. The detective fell to one knee as he looked up. "It is time to finish what I had wanted to do when we first fought."
Batman tried to punch Bane, but his fist did nothing to hurt him. Bane smirked and kicked the Dark Knight in the chest. He got back up again and spin-kicked his torso, but the villain felt nothing from the counterattack. Bane slammed his fists down on Batman and he tried to hold himself up.
Laughing, Bane pushed his hands further, pushing the vigilante beyond his capable limits. Eventually, Batman collapsed on the floor, his arms aching from being held up to push something as heavy as a truck.
The Venom enhanced luchador grabbed Batman and lifted him over his head, his hands grabbing his back. "Any last words, Dark Knight?" he asked. His response was silence from Batman. Bane was ready to throw him upon his knee, but he felt something hit him in the back, stopping him and shoving him.
Batman felt the grasp Bane had on him weaken and pushed himself free. Once he fell to the floor, he noticed that Twilight had shot Bane with a beam of magic, "You..." he panted.
"Less talking! More stopping him!" Dash interrupted, flying toward the luchador. Bane attempted to grab the speedy pegasus, but his hands continued to miss. Once the opportunity was seen, Applejack tied his hands together with a lasso.
"What the hell is this?"
Rarity held the rope together with her magic while Pinkie distracted him with confetti. Fluttershy remained out of the battle, frightened by Bane's larger than a norrmal pony's appearance. Twilight looked at the Dark Knight, "You offered for help. But we're only doing this one to save Ponyville."
"Fine."
Batman then started to run, leaping into the air. He landed on Bane's back and held onto the tank. He yanked the tube off of it, making him lose connection to the Venom streaming in his blood. The luchador fainted from the loss and collapsed on the floor.
The Dark Knight flipped back onto his position, watching the luchador vanish before his eyes. "Did you do that?" he asked Twilight, who shook her head.
"No!"
Closing his eyes, Batman grunted, "Ra's."
"Ya mean it was that man you were after?" asked Applejack.
Nodding, Batman spoke, "Yes. He brought Bane here. I'm sure of it. He'll probably repeat what he did. I have to hurry before he does this again."
Sitting within Twilight's castle, Batman sighed, 'Why did I bother coming here? I'll only be wasting time by just sitting while Ra's could be doing who knows what...' he thought, waiting for the lavender alicorn to begin speaking. "If you have any questions you better hurry up and ask them before I decided to leave myself." he said.
Twilight groaned as her friends gave the Dark Knight a spiteful glare, except for Spike who remained silent all the while "Alright then, Batman. We won't send you to Princess Celestia if you answer us. Once you do then we'll let you do whatever it was you were doing here. Does that sound fair?"
"Fine."
"First question. Who are you? Really?" Twilight added the last question to get a better answer.
"I told you. I'm Batman. And that is all you are getting from me." he answered in his usual stoic demeanor.
"Alright then," moaned Twilight in annoyance, "Why did you save us even though you knew that we had no business with us like you mentioned earlier?"
"Because you needed help..." he admitted, "I'm not going to turn away when that happens. You were dealing with something beyond your world and something from mine. You would've stood no chance against Bane on your own."
"That's another thing, Batman." Rarity added, "Why are you here exactly?"
Batman remained silent for a moment, 'They have no business knowing my reasons for being here. They already got too involved once Bane revealed himself... Then again, Ra's could be repeating what he's doing now again, and then I won't be here to stop it.'
Dash pointed to the Dark Knight, "Hey! Are you going to answer her, Batman?!"
"I'm here by accident." he finally answered. "I was stopping an old foe of mine, Ra's Al Ghul from destroying the world. He had a crystal capable of doing so. By destroying the machine, I created a rift to this world by accident. Ever since, I have been searching for him." he explained, "Now... Answer my questions."
"Um... Okay..." muttered Twilight, "But we're not the ones being investigated Batman, you still have to answer why you harmed Celestia's guards."
"They were being rash." replied Batman, "They saw me and attacked me without any reason." he explained, "I chose to defend myself since I was wasting time at the point. There. Are you satisfied?" he added, finally shutting them up. 'That should keep them satisfied long enough for me to learn about this world.'
"Now. As I said earlier, you have sime exolaining to do for me." muttered Batman.
"Why the hay should we speak to you?" Applejack questioned the Dark Knight.
"Because if you don't then I'll leave you to whatever Ra's plans on sending next." threatened Batman.
"Girls. Let's just listen." Twilight insisted, "He helped us defeat that Bane
"Okay. Why did you want to find me so bad? I was hiding out for a reason and how did you find me?"
"We were told to go search for you by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. We found a runaway timberwolf heading in the opposite direction of your cave. We figured that you would have a hoof in doing something so crazy." answered Twilight.
"Have any of you faced any threats in this world? I fear that Ra's would fina a way to manipulate them to his cause." Batman wondered to the ponies.
"Ha! We took 'em all down easily. Ya got Chrysalis and she hasn't been seen in forever, Sombra's gone, Tirek's back in Tartarus, and Starlight Glimmer won't be showing herself anytime soon!" Rainbow Dash boasted aloud.
"You're all in danger should Ra's find someone capable of messing with you. It's very likely that he would ally himself with 'Chrysalis' or this Starlight Glimmer pony you were talking about. You got lucky that it was only Bane that came here and not someone more dangerous from my world."
"More dangerous?" wondered Fluttershy.
"Bane was already wrecking the town! Who else could do that much damage or even more?" shouted Twilight.
"...Let's hope you never find out." answered Batman grimly.
All of them gulped. There were other creatures more dangerous than what they faced, Ra's Al Ghul, or Bane? Now that worried the ponies sitting around Batman greatly. They all came to a decision on an important matter minutes later.
"Okay... Batman. If you help us clean Ponyville, we'll tell Celestia to remove the bounty and let you go your way, deal?" Twilight offered the Dark Knight.
Batman stood up from his spot, "Alright. Just this once."
Batman helped pick up a piece of a building off the ground, placing it in a bag, 'This is humiliating... Being stuck cleaning for a town full of neon equines. Then again, if I do this then it would make my search for Ra's easier with them off my backs.'
'Did you follow my advice?'
Solar appeared next to the Dark Knight. The Batman looking at the cloaked pony, "Yes. It almost didn't work. It was a smart and dumb move on their part, I say. Luckily, Bane is gone but Ra's is still on the loose in this world. There is not much time ledt to waste."
'I warned you about this. You must put aside your ego. Your alliance with the ponies shall bring you closer to what you seek than you would alone.' the hooded pony hinted.
"No. This is my job. Ra's is my responsibility to find. And something I must do alone. The ponies are not safe around me," responded Batman with a gruff in his voice. "That is why I must do this alone. Nopony should've even found me to begin with. A sloppy error on my part." he added in annoyance.
"Uh, Batman? Who are you talking to?" asked Twilight in confusion.
Solar nodded, 'Until we meet again, Batman.' she said before fading away from his sight.
'So. Solar can only appear to the people she wishes to see. Clever. That means no one else can join in our... Debates as it were.' thought the Dark Knight. "I was just thinking out loud." he lied. Twilight smiled, not seeing through his lie.
"Thank you for helping, Batman. I'll keep my word and speak to Celestia about it. She would never know that you were here to begin with." she assured.
Before Batman could continue, he felt something hit him in the back. Then, the Dark Knight lost consciousness and fell to the ground loudly. Twilight and the other ponies saw a figure standing behind him. Princess Luna shot a spell powerful enough to knock him out, "Do not worry, citizens. The Bat creature has been dealt with."
"Oh man, he's not going to be happy and smiling when he wakes up!" wailed Pinkie Pie.
"Oh no... Princess Luna? Why are you here?"
"I sensed something wrong within Ponyville and came to investigate. Thou are glad to see that it was the bad that was behind it. I took care of it before he could do anymore damage." Luna explained, feeling proud at that moment, much to the other ponies' dismay.
"Batman is not the enemy, Princess Luna! There is something bigger happening! He saved us!" shouted Twilight. Luna was confused by her comment.
"Saved you? What has thy missed?"
The six ponies and Spike explained to Luna what had happened before she arrived, "I... I am sorry..." she apologized, "I shall take him to a hospital to recover properly." she lifted Batman up with her magic and led his body to Ponyville hospital in order to heal properly. The former Elements followed her.
"How hard did ya hit him?" Dash asked.
"Hard enough. Though we shall only hope that this Ra's doesn't send anymore evil ponies in Ponyville while he recovers." Luna quietly prayed for her friends, placing the unconscious body of Batman on a bed, keeping him still while he recovered from the blast of powerful magic she dealt him with.
Batman awoke to find himself in a white void, "Am... Am I dead?"' he asked. "Not now. Whoever did that... What happened? I was... Cleaning up the mess in order to get the ponies off my back then next thing..." he paused, trying to piece together what had happened to him, but he could not recall anything after that.
"Of course. They used me. They only said that in order to make me meet Celestia by force." he told himself, thinking that he had the answer, "But now I have to figure out where I am."
'That would be because of me.'
The Dark Knight turned around, unsurprised to see that it was Solar once again, "Are you here to finish the discussion we were having earlier?" he asked the hooded pony. Solar nodded, knowing she had brought Batman to a void beyond dimensions in order to discuss an important matter that nopony else could hear.
"Why do you keep coming to me? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?" asked Batman, annoyed by the strange pony's constant appearances when he least expected it.
'That's why I brought you here, Batman... There is a powerful evil coming to destroy all worlds. The only way to save reality itself is to restore a magic lost within all Equestrias.' she revealed, giving Batman more questions than answers.
"What do you mean by that? And of all the people, why me? Why not another pony?"
'Because none of the ponies have the potential to do this as you do. And what I mean is that you have something within you. An ideal that you cannot admit. Think about it, Batman. Think about why you are still here to help the ponies despite your insistence on going your own way.' budged the strange cloaked pony.
"I only intervened because they needed my help. Even if I don't want to, I cannot turn away from someone needing help when I am around." replied the Dark Knight in a stern tone. "Does that answer your question?" he asked.
'Yes... But I must allow you to wake up in order to continue your battles. I can only hope you follow what I said and bring about the idea lost within you. Only then can you stop Ra's Al Ghul.'
Batman's eyes snapped open to see that the sun was up. He was relieved to see that his mask was still on despite being unconscious. He saw that the ponies were keeping an eye on him, "You used me..." he said bitterly, removing thr covers from his body, "You thought you can gain the upper hand and force me to your princess." the ponies and dragon gasped at his harsh accusation on their part.
"That's not what happened."
A new voice brought Batman's attention to the door. A dark blue mare with a flowing mane unfamiliar to the vigilante stepped into the hospital room, "I must apologize, Batman. I had heard stories of the batcreature and when I saw you in the ruins of Ponyville, thou had assumed the worst and hit you with a beam of magic powerful enough to incapacitate you." she explained.
"Who are you?" asked the Caped Crusader.
"My name is Princess Luna. I had sensed powerful magic within the town and came to investigate and as I said mistook you as the threat. And for that, I am sorry." Luna shook her head, feeling guilty after learning what had happened.
"If what you are saying is true, then the ponies explained everything." said Batman, "If you are a princess, then you must be Princess Celestia's sister, am I correct in that assumption?"
"Yes."
"Good to know. Then you can tell Celestia herself to back off and let me be. Once I finish cleaning Ponyville, I'm going on my own so you won't have to bug me again." said Batman, getting his point across to the alicorn. Luna raised a brow at this.
"That's it? You wish to leave?" Luna asked.
"I have no business being here, but your subjects decided to follow me. Now they put themelves into the crosshairs of Ra's Al Ghul should we join forces."
Batman got up from the bed, "Now. If I may. I am leaving now. Don't look for me again." with that, the Dark Knight left the hospital to finish cleaning up and heading back to the forest to hide where he shall continue searching for the immortal assassin that brought him to this dimension to begin with.
Once he was done, Batman made his way back to the cavern that he inhabitited. 'Finally. I can get back to tracking down Ra's without worrying about the annoying ponies of this world getting in my way.' he thought, looking at his Cryptographic Sequencer before putting it back into his utility belt, 'I should have found a way to track magic anamolies through this. Maybe when I get back home, I will ask Zatanna about that.'
Batman left his cave to take another drink from the pond that he had discovered. 'Maybe I'll head back there when no one is awake to find some food. If not then I will ask that annoying pink pony for a treat, but that is it.' he thought, realizing that sonner or later he would need to find solid food to eat or otherwise he would starve, water couldn'f satisfy him forever if stranded in another dimension.
"Good riddance..." grumbled Rainbow Dash, seeing that Ponyville has been cleaned up following Bane's brief rampage. "We never needed him anyway!"
Night had fallen onto Ponyville once again. Luna had returned to Canterlot to speak with Celestia about leaving Batman on his own, with the prospect that he wouldn't become a permanent person within Equestria itself and that he would return home once he finds and stops Ra's Al Ghul from whatever his plan was.
"I don't know about, Rainbow." Rarity said, "Despite his... less than pleasurable appearance, he did help us stop that Bane person when we needed it. Without him, there wouldn't be a Ponyville left to clean up." she used her magic to life a dust pan to clean off the dirt that lied in the middle of the road.
"I have to agree with Rainbow on this one," interrupted Applejack, "That Batman fella was not good company, I can say that much. We're better off with him goin' his own way."
Pinkie Pie walked next to her friends, "He's not going to get a party. Batman did save us, but he was a huge jerk to us!" she shouted, standing her place on the subject.
"I don't think he would show up anyway, Pinkie..." said Flutterhy, "He wanted to leave as soon as he could. Batman really wanted to find Ra's Al Ghul..."
"Yeah, but hopefully he won't send anypony else back here." Twilight replied to the shy pegasus's comment. A loud moaning sound was heard nearby. The six turned around to find the source of the voice, and were surprised to see what it was.
The figure was as large as Bane, but his skin was a very pale blue. He wore a ripped dress suit. His moans echoed acorss the town, scaring the ponies greatly. Chains were wrapped around his wrists and he said something. His mumbles were loud enough to hear.
"What is that!?" Twilight shouted.
"He doesn't look friendly either!" replied Pinkie, "Why do they keep coming here first?!"
"Solomon Grundy... Born on a Monday..." his fist nearly hit the ponies, but the six moved back before he could hit them.
"...Christened on Tuesday..."
Rarity shuddered, "Wh-What does it mean!?"
Twilight turned to Solomon Grundy as he called himself and gulped, "I-I don't know... But I don't think we can stop him without Batman!"
"We don't need Batman!" Rainbow Dash declared. The pegasus smacked her hooves together and waited to fight Grundy. She punched the man, but he remained still, as though he was numb to the pain. She tried again, still no reaction.
"Um... That's not right." Dash pointed out.
The rainbow-maned mare gulped, "Uh. I think you might be right on that one, Twi."
Batman had walked out of his cave, deciding that he had to find a way to get some food. 'The last thing I wanted to do was go back to Ponyville... But I can't live off water forever. I can only hope that they have edible food for me in this dimension.' thought the Dark Knight, wondering how he was going to get said food, 'I can't just break in... Ugh. I may have to speak to that annoying pink pony if I'm to get something aren't I?' he groaned inwardly, recalling Pinkie offering treats that he had refused before he left back to his cavern.
Screams were heard once again. Batman faced the direction of Ponyville and scowled, "Again? They're better off with having Clark there at this point." he muttered. The vigilante started to sprint back to Ponyville, where he at least hoped Ra's revealed himself if he somehow figured out the Dark Knight's location. Batman assumed at this point the assassin knew his whereabouts and tried to draw him out for the right time.
Once he got there, Batman saw the broken Ponyville once again, 'They just cleaned up. It's like seeing Metropolis all over again.' he mused, wondering what it is this time. He turned a corner, seeing the six ponies that he had met run away from something. "Where are you going? What's happening!?" he asked as fast as he could.
"Batman! We're glad to see you! This... Monster just randomly showed up here and began to rampage across Ponyville!" Twilight revealed to Batman. The six were on their way back to the forest, hoping that he was still there to help them fight whatever caused all of this to begin with.
"Yes! And unlike Bane, this one cannot be reasoned with!" Rarity added.
"Did you get a look at him?" asked Batman.
"Yeah! He looked like a zompony or something! It was kinda weird. And when I tried to stop him, he never felt anything hit him!" Rainbow Dash ahouted, recalling her brief bout with the monster before retreating to find Batman.
"H-He mentioned Solomon Grundy a-and started to rhyme!" said a frightened Fluttershy.
'Not him... What have you done Ra's?' thought Batman grimly, "Listen to me. That is no living creature. That monster is Solomon Grundy. He is a zombie that cannot be reasoned with in his current state and will probably never will at this rate. We have to stop him before he destroys the entire population here!"
"How strong is he?" wondered Applejack.
"Very much. He nearly got the better of me last time we fought." Batman noted.
"R-Really?"
Batman looked at Fluttershy, "Yes. But if you all follow my lead. Then you won't have to worry about him for long. We can't sit here so until I come up with a plan, I'll just face him head on." he said, beginning to walk. The six looked at him with worried eyes, thinking that he was crazy for having such an idea to begin with.
"Are you crazy?! You'll get killed!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
"I'll be fine. I didn't know you all would be so worried about me." Batman teased, a thin smile on his face.
"W-Was that a joke?" Pinkie Pie asked in disbelief.
Batman continued to walk, the six ponies following behind him. He crouched behind the corner of a building right behind Solomon Grundy. "I want all of you to get the ponies to safety. I'll try my best to lure him out far enough so that nopony here gets hurt." he ordered all of them. Despite not wanting to take orders from him, the ponies nodded, wanting to save Ponyville from yet another monster attack. They all parted ways, leaving the Dark Knight alone to attend to the giant zombie rampaging Ponyville.
"HELP!"
Any form of stealth Batman had planned was almost gone as he fled to a rooftop to get to a better vantage point. He looked to see a small purple unicorn filly with a blonde mane about to get crushed by Grundy's giant fist. In the spur of the moment, Batman jumped and grabbed the filly, rolling on the ground away from Solomon Grundy's slam. He held her close to his chest to make sure that while they tumbled, she remained unharmed. "Are you hurt?" he asked her.
The unicorn filly slowly shook her head, trembling. Batman held her, "I'll take you to your parents. Just hold on." he grabbed the filly once again, running past Grundy in the process. The zombie moaned, trying to reach after the Dark Knight, but was too slow for the sprinting hero.
"Dinky!"
Batman turned his head to see a familiar pony run toward him. Batman released the filly and allowed her to run to her mother, "Mommy!" she cried, hugging her mother, the gray pegasus happy to see that her child was safe and unharmed. Batman recognized her once he saw her eyes.
"Oh! Hello, Batman! Thank you so much for saving my precious daughter!" she cheered.
"You're welcome, Derpy. Now go!" he ordered. Derpy nodded and held onto Dinky as she started to run away. 'It's moments like that where I remember why I wear the cowl in the first place. To prevent other children to suffer the way I did. The ponies need protection from Ra's... And I'm the only one here capable of doing so.'
Batman turned around, staring down Solomon Grundy who had followed him. "You want me, Grundy?" he held his fists up, "Then let's see you try." he taunted the undead man, causing him to roar in anger.
"Grundy smash you!" the zombie threw his fist at Batman, but the Dark Knight swerved his body to the left, dodging it. Grundy tried to punch Batman once again, this time the hero held up the giant hand aimed at his face. Batman threw the arm down and punched Solomon Grundy's chest repeatedly. Grundy managed to catch Batman with both of his hands, crushing him in his grip. The vigilante moved around, trying to squeeze himself free, 'C'mon. There has to be a way... My feet wouldn't be able to do much damae from where I'm at...' he thought, squirming in his place.
"Grundy. Kill. Bat!"
Something hit Grundy in the face, making him release the Batman, who gasped for air, "It's about time..." he said, holding his throat and chest while on one knee. Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves in annoyance. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy trotted qucickly to the pegasus's location.
"What? No thanks?"
"Are the ponies safe?"
"Yep! The seven of us are the only ones left outside to fight!"
Batman punched Grundy in the chest again, jamming his hand into it, disgusting the ponies able to see, "Do you have any form of electricity?" he asked. He pulled out his Remot Electrical Charge to hit Grundy, but the projectile failed to penetrate the zombie's skin this time.
"Yeah, actually. I can get you a thundercloud real fast!" confirmed Rainbow Dash, who flew up and went searching for one.
"Twilight. Use your magic to hit the exposed area in his chest. It is the only spot I noticed that he is weak to." Batman ordered, pointing to the brown area in the ripped area of his shirt. The alicorn gulped.
Twilight lit up her horn and a lavender beam of magic shot out of it. The beam hit Solomon Grundy's chest, making him stagger moreso than usual. Batman ran up the zombie and punched him in the chest again, pushing his gloved hand deep further before removing it once again. He saw Rainbow Dash push a gray cloud above Grundy's head. "Release the lightning now!" ordered the Dark Knight hopping off of the undead man's body. Rainbow Dash pushed her hooves onto the cloud, releasing lightning strong enough to stun Solomon Grundy.
Batman clenched his fists, and ran to the now kneeling Grundy. He repeatedly punched the dazed monster's face before finishing off with a backflip kick to the jaw and sending him flying onto his back. Batman stood atop of Grundy and jammed his hands into the exposed chest area once more, disgusting the ponies watching. Before he could do anything else, Solomon Grundy vanished from his spot leaving Batman to stand on thin air.
"Where did he go?" asked Rarity.
Batman scowled, "Ra's was behind this. He used that crystal he had to warp him away. But how did he know how to use it do that?" he mumbled.
"Well, Ah'm just glad to see that Grundy is gone." Applejack sighed in relief, wiping sweat off her head.
"Are you leaving again, Batman?" Twilight wondered.
"No."
"Wait what!?" shouted Pinkie in surprise.
"Ponyville was attacked twice now. Something bigger is going on. Until I figure out what that is, I'm staying here to make sure that nothing else Ra's sends can harm the ponies." Batman revealed, getting gasps from the ponies that had helped him.
"Are you sure?" Rarity questioned.
"It's for your own good." Batman assured.
Trying to comprehend what she just heard, Twilight cleared her throat, "U-Uh... I guess we'll find you a place to stay until you find this Ra's Al Ghul."
"You have a castle?"
Nodding to Batman's question, Twilight answered, "Yes. It's large enough and has plenty of rooms that I can spare for you. It's the least I can do for helping us save Ponyville. Twice." she explained, opening the giant doors to her castle. Batman looked at the seemingly endless hallway ahead of them.
'I have to keep track of this place.' he noted, observing every door to the best of his ability, 'It is too big for its own good. That should mean I'll have space to perform an investigation should that be necessary.'
Twilight guided the entranced Batman to his room. The Dark Knight noted how spaced out it was. There was a bed in the corner, not tall enough for him, 'Like I need a bed anyhow...' he mocked. There was a desk on the other corner, looking big enough for him to place any gadgets he has there and perform any tasks needed with his Cryptographic Sequencer should he find any clues. And a window, allowing him to tell the time of day, 'If I figure out how time flows in this dimension, I can use that to my advantage.'
Batman knelt down next to the desk, "Thank you..."
"You're welcome, Batman." said Twilight as she left him on his own.
"Wait..." he said.
"Do you have a map? If I'm going to help you, then I need to figure out what lies beyond the two towns I've been to." Batman questioned. The alicorn stepped out of the room for a moment. Eventually she came back with a rolled up piece of paper floating in a purple aura made with her horn. She levitated it toward Batman, who snatched it out of the air. Without saying another word to her, he opened it up and began to analyze the map himself, hoping to memorize it by morning. "Hm..." he hummed, his eyes scanning the paper.
"You're welcome." mumbled Twilight sarcastically.
Twilight walked out of the room, leaving Batman to do as he wished. The Dark Knight opened up his Cryptographic Sequencer, 'I can use this as a temporary Batcomputer until I get back home.' standing up, Batman placed the map on the desk, holding up his handheld device above it.
"Scan the map." he ordered.
The Cryptographic Sequencer's AI did as it was told and took a picture of the map, downloading any data into the handheld. A holographic version of the map popped up on the handheld and the detective placed it down, trying to memorize the locations of all the towns and cities. 'It's going to be a longer night than I thought...'
Twilight knocked on the door to Batman's room, "Batman. It's morning you can come out now..." when she got no answer, she waited. Eventually, she got confused by the silence and opened the door, seeing Batman observing the map that he had downloaded, trying to figure out the location of each landmark and city that lied around Equestria. "Uh... What is that you're using?" the alicorn wondered, having not seen technology of the caliber before.
Batman finally noticed the alicorn standing in the room and put away his handheld, "Nothing important for you to know. I had to learn the location of every city around the map and figured it all out. Now, what's so important that you had to barge into my room for?" he asked Twilight.
"I thought you could use some breakfast."
Not responding, Batman stepped out of his room with Twilight rolling her eyes at his permanent attitude. The princess led Batman to the crystal throne room, where plates filled with what looked like food sat on the center. Spike was already underway with eating his own plate and took a bite out of the pancake looking food, "What is that?" the vigilante asked.
"Haycakes." answered Twilight and Spike at the same time.
'It'll have to do." thought Batman.
The Dark Knight crouched down next to Spike and looked at the haymade food, 'It appears that the ponies here are mainly herbivores if their pancakes aren't made of hay instead of our own ingredients.' despite its strange appearance, Batman took a bite of it, feeling like this was going to be the best food he can get while stuck in Equestria. He swallowed the food and picked up the fork and knife cutting it into easier to bite pieces.
"So are you a superhero?" Spike blurted out, astonished by Batman. The Caped Crusader raised a brow at the kid dragon's sudden question, since he had no actual answer. But chose to play along with the young dragon, feeling that he should be innocent as long as he could.
"You could say that." he replied, taking another bite.
"Do you have any cool powers?"
Shaking his head, Batman answered, "No."
"Aw... But that's still cool." Batman managed a thin smile at the compliment, "Are there any other heroes like you where you're from?" the dragon asked, genuinely curious.
"Yes. Plenty of them have powers and are too strong for their own good. But there are villains that like to challenge us all the time." answered Batman.
"This sounds like the Power Ponies! I told you Twilight?' Spike taunted, getting an amused eye roll from said mare. He held out a comic book in his hand, the new one that he got just a few days ago.p, "These are the Power Ponies. They help protect Maretropolis from the forces of evil!"
'Maretropolis. Clark would find that amusing.' mused Batman, looking at the book. "Hm... Seems pretty accurate." he lied, Spike smiling like a fanboy at Batman. Once he finished eating, Batman got up and walked out of the room, 'I should see how Ponyville's faring since I began to study.' he said.
"Oh, Batman. If you're leaving go to Sugarcube Corner," said Twilight lifting up the empty plates, "Pinkie mentioned that she wanted to see you."
The Dark Knight stepped out of the castle into the bright, sunny day. He covered his eyes once he noticed that the sun was directly in front of him. He made his way around Ponyville, ignoring the confused stares that were aimed at him. He looked up to see a cloud covering his entire being in shadow. And with that a snicker was heard from above. "Rainbow Dash..." he growled, seeing the pegasus laughing on the cloud above him. Batman was tempted to pull out his Batclaw to pull her down, but opted not to, deciding to ignore her instead.
"Aw, man. I'm sorry, but it totally fit your mood!" laughed the cyan pegasus, wiping a tear from her face.
Batman rolled his eyes at the laughing pegasus, "You can leave me alone now."
"What? You can't take a joke? Aw, lighten up, Bats."
Hearing that phrase brought back dark memories of an old foe to the Dark Knight, but he chose to ignore those thoughts, "Besides the discussion of you're annoying and stupid practical jokes, that pink pony friend of yours wanted to see me. Where is Sugarcube Corner... I can only hope that it's nothing too annoying."
"Right down there! Ya can't miss it!"
Batman nodded and walked in the direction Rainbow Dash was pointing, ignoring her prank all the while. 'I'm really starting to regret staying here. Should've used the Batclaw when I had the chance, wipe that smirk off her face.' he grumbled in his head, seeing the cloud still above him as he moved.
He also noticed that despite being the target of two supervillain attacks two days in a row, the town was faring pretty well. It was for the most part completely fixed and back to normal.
"Princess Celestia! We just got reports of another town being attacked by what they believed to be a changeling army!" a messanger revealed to the princess.
"That's the second town this week..." pondered Celestia.
"What shall we do, sister. We know that this was not Batman's doing." Luna asked. "Perhaps thou shall ask him for help sister?"
"We shall investigate on our own. We'll not put this on somepony we cannot even fully trust. But from what Twilight told me and you, he's staying in Ponyville so he should prove to not be another problem for us to worry about. We'll observe these towns and see how much damae is done, and once we return we shall prep ourselves for the inevitable changeling invasion should these rumors be true." Celestia said, opening her balcony with Luna behind her.
"Should we reveal ourselves and attack?" Chrysalis asked.
Ra's nodded, "No. Your army must be completely ready for the ambush when the time comes. There cannot be any error once we do. In the meantime, there is another town that could be used as food. We'll distract Batman once again while we head out."
"Who do you have in mind?"
"I can make a bargain with a certain man. His heart is as cold as his suit. And even he will have no choice but to agree to my offer, as it is one he cannot refuse."
'Why am I not surprised?'
Batman looked upward to see a literal gingerbread house, 'I found it... Of course the pink one would bother to live in a place like this. Then again, it was called Sugarcube Corner, so what else was I expecting?' he mused. Ignoring this Batman looked around, seeing that the town was a lot more empty than usual, 'Strange. From what could tell, this place looked a lot more busy, even earlier it did. I'll see what this is about once I see what Pinkie wanted to see me for. It'd better be worth my time for her sake.'
The Dark Knight walked into the door, only to be met with darkness, 'This can't be good... Did Ra's get here first without me knowing? That's not possible... Unless that's what he anticipated... Might as well surprise them myself.' Batman used his Detective Vision to see a group of ponies standing around, 'Hm... They look fine.' he looked up to see a banner of sorts, but couldn't tell what it read, 'Oh no... This better not be what I think it is..." he groaned in his head. Despite this, he turned off his Detective Vision, turning on the lights after finding the switch.
"SURPRISE!"
Batman remained unfazed at the sight, 'Of course it is...' he sighed, seeing the large happy group of ponies, even the six mares and dragon that he met and allied himself with. Pinkie Pie looked at Batman with a huge smile on her face, "Hi, Batman! At first I thought you were a huge meanie after you hurt my friends, but then you saved Ponyville twice from Bane and that creepy Grundy zompony, and then I talked to the girls and then they said that I should throw you a party!" she inhaled after saying all of that in one breath, surprising even Batman, "Well, do you like it?!"
"Sure."
"Oh! I knew you would!" said the pink pony. Incapable of seeing that the Caped Crusader had not changed emotion at all despite having a surprise party thrown for him.
Batman felt smething nudge at his cape, looking down he saw three fillies staring up at him. "Yes?" he asked in the calmest tone he could muster at a time like this.
"You're Batman! You look so cool, but not as cool as Rainbow Dash!" said the orange pony.
"Ah don't know, Scootaloo, he might be even cooler than her." said the yellow filly.
"Don't try her, Applebloom." warned the white unicorn.
"Sweetie Belle's right! Nopony can be cooler than her!" declared Scootaloo.
"Can I help you?" Batman asked, interrupting the annoying debate.
"Yeah! You're friends with our sisters!" Sweetie Belle revealed.
"Pardon me?" Batman asked, crossing his arms while kneeling down to face them.
"Yeah! Applejack's mah sister and Rarity is Sweetie Belle's! Rainbow Dash is watching over Scootaloo though!" Applebloom revealed to the Dark Knight.
"Why are you telling me this?" Batman questioned the three fillies.
"Because we wanted to thank ya for helpin' Ponyville and our sisters. Twice. When we heard Pinkie was throwin' another party we thought it was the only time to do that!" said Applebloom. Batman was a little shocked to hear this. It wasn't everyday he was thanked for helpong others, especially those he tried to fight off a few days ago. Even then, he had no idea those ponies he met had siblings of their own.
"You're welcome." was all he said to them.
The three fillies left with smiles on their faces to do whatever it was they were doing before speaking to him. Batman stood back up, seeing the giant cake standing on the table, 'That wasn't there a minute ago. Pinkie can give the Flash a run for his money.' he mused in his head. The cake was chocolate and had a bat symbol on top of the frosting, which he found a little humorous. Only a little, but he kept his composure.
Turning his head, he saw Twilight use her magic to cut off a piece of it with a knife she got. The alicorn started to place the pieces on plates and handed them to everypony who attended. She lifted one last plate after placing her own on a table next to her, "You want one, Batman? Pinkie spent a whole day on making it for you. It's chocolate." she levitated the piece of cake over Batman's face but he didn't respond to her offer.
'Do I really? Then again it'll be better than eating hay.' with a groan, he held the plate of cake and held the fork. He bit into the cake and started to eat it.
"What do you think, Bats? Pretty sweet cake, right?" wondered Rainbow Dash, having her own.
"I agree. Pinkie really outdid herself on this one." Rarity agreed.
"It's good."
The ponies around him paused, "D-Did he just compliment ya?" Applejack studdered to say, "Woah! We should give ya cake more often. Yer actually a lot nicer."
"I speak what I think." Batman said honestly with a small smirk on his face.
"Can you explain what happened here?"
Celestia and Luna left to go investiage the Fillydelphia attack that occurred a few days ago,. The reason why it took so long was becuase of the whole Batman ordeal that occurred until Luna assured the sun princess that Twilight and her friends were keeping an eye on him while he stayed in Ponyville.
"Y-Yeah! It was so strange... Changelings showed up and attacked our quiet town... Luckily there were no casualties in the rampage..." the stallion they spoke to suddered in his words, trying to find the right things to say, "They managed to feed off us, but those creatures weren't alone?"
"You mean Chrysalis attacked with them?" Luna asked.
"Yes, she was with them. But she was not who I was referring to." the pony said, "H-He was a bipedal creature. He wore these ancient looking clothes over his body and wielded a sword. H-He didn't hurt anypony thankfully, but he gave us a warning about what's to come for Equestria..."
"What did this creature say?"
"He said be ready for war... That this war shall bring the end to Equestria's injustice!"
Celestia looked to Luna, "Do you think this involves Batman?" the white alicorn asked her sister.
"Perhaps. He fits the description of this creature, but it was not him directly. Twilight and her friends told me that he was incapable of this kind of destruction. Thy say we return to Canterlot and preapre out troops for a war that this creature has waged against us."
"Thank you for your time. We will send you guards to help with the repairs." Celestia said before her and Luna flew off back to Canterlot to ready themselves.
Batman and the ponies stepped out of Sugarcube with the party done, "Thanks for coming, Batman!" yelled Pinkie.
"Anything to make you be quiet."
"Heh. Maybe we should give you more cake! You're a lot nicer!" Rainbow Dash held back laughter. Then again, it was kind of hard to do with the image of someone like Batman sitting down and eating cake, all with the same stoic expression all the while. She snickered once more resisting the urge,
Rarity shivered, "Is it me or did it get colder while were inside?"
"It does feel a little colder now that you mention it." Fluttershy agreed, holding herself with her hooves to keep herself as warm as she possibly can.
Snow started to fall from the sky was they walked, "Oh come on! We just finished Winter Wrap-Up last month!" Dash groaned, looking at the flakes fall around them.
"You control the weather?" Batman wondered,
"Yes. The pegasi control the clouds around Ponyville. They schedule whether we have rain, a cloudy day or clear skies. We also have a set period for winter where it snows for the entire season. But Rainbow Dash is right, we just did Winter Wrap-Up and shouldn't have anow again for at least another year." Twilight explained, trying to figure out where the snow was coming from.
'If they can control the weather, then that obviously means that an outside source is causing this... But who can cause this kind of weather pattern?' he paused. Batman's eyes went wide as he figured something out. "Oh no... Not him." he groaned in annoyance upon figuring it out,
"What do you mean?" asked Rarity.
"Take cover!" shouted Batman wile diving, holding the ponies while he did so. A strange blue beam narrowly missed them, hitting the wall behind them and turning it into ice. The ponies looked up in amazement at the sight and turned their heads upwards to find the source of that strange beam.
It was a human like Batman. But he had features that made him vastly different from Bane and even Grundy. His face was pure blue and wore goggles. He wore armor that looked like an astronaut suit and a dome that covered his entire face, it fogging up with each breath he took. He wielded a gun in his right hand, his left hand pointing at the Dark Knight, "Batman. You know why I'm here... He'll kill Nora if I don't do this." he declared, holding up his weapon.
"Uh, Bats? Who is that?" Dash wondered.
Batman stood up to face the blue man. The ponies watched in awe at the staredown. This strange figure could freeze him at any second, but instead they continued to stare, even the cold weather wasn't making them shiver as much as them watching at the scene going on in front of them.
"It doesn't have to end this way, Mister Freeze."
Batman awoke, still in the same spot he was when he fell asleep. He was crouched on a wall in his room, not wanting to use the bed for rest. 'I should be more wary next time. The last thing I need is to be exhausted when I have to fight Ra's whenever it is I find him.' he thought, putting a hand on one knee and another on the ground to push himself up. 'Though, I should have the map memorized in my head. So, that night wasn't all for nothing I suppose.'
He opened the door and closed it once he exited his room, 'Luckily that won't be a permanent term.' he mused, finding his way around the castle easily thanks to figuring out where everything was at while wandering on his own time last night.
The Dark Knight made it to the crystal throne room where Twilight and Spike were once again eating haycakes for breakfast. He noticed that there was an extra plate sat next to them, presumably for him. Batman walked to them and crouched down, holding the plate in his hands in silence. "Good morning, Batman." greeted Twilight. Batman responded with a nod while taking a bite of the breakfast with a small fork, which he managed to grip despite his huge body and hands compared to the ponies of this world.
Spike and Twilight ignored his attitude, having gotten used to it have being near him for only a few days, 'I think they finally figured it out. Pure silence.'
The young dragon cleared his throat, "So, Twilight. What was with all the snow outside?"
"T-That was because of another villain coming to Equestria." the purple alicorn explained.
"Woah! He can control the weather?"
Batman paused, "Kind of. That was Victor Fries, goes by the alias Mister Freeze. He's the only person I've ever conflicted with that I can reason with. He didn't harm anypony and only attacked in confusion. We managed to convince him to leave without me having to damage him too much. Like I told the girls, I've only ever truly fought him twice since I put on the cowl."
"Why do you call yourself Batman anyway?" wondered Twilight. "What makes you this dark hero?"
"I do it in order to make sure no one suffers the way I did. I want to strike fear into the criminals that prowl in the night."
Twilight was confused, "What do you mean by that?"
Batman ignored her question, and continued to eat. 'It's better that she doesn't know. The last thing I need is pity by ponies. Clark and Hal will never let me hear the end of this.'
"Nevermind then..." sighed Twilight, realizing that Batman was not going to upon up his emotions.
The three continued to eat breakfast in silence until Batman put down his plate. "Thank you for the food." he muttered. The vigilante got up from his spot and began the walk out the door to the outdoors. Before he reached the door, though, something popped up within his head and he held it.
'Hello, Batman.' said a voice in Batman's head that wasn't his own.
"Doctor Fate? I take it Nightwing came to you like I told him."
Spike and Twilight wandered out of the room to hear the conversation going on. "Who is he talking to?" Spike whispered. The alicorn shook her head.
"I think he lost his mind."
'Yes he has. Now that we know you're in that dimension, I shall send Nightwing or Robin to retrieve you.' Fate revealed.
Batman cut him off, taking his hand off the side of his head, "Not yet. I still have to find Ra's Al Ghul before he uses that strange crystal to destroy this world and ours and Gotham needs protectors while I'm gone."
'Ah. Nightwing came to me about that. That is a Warp Crystal, an artifact I have not seen in years. It is capable of many things, including interdimensional travel. It is a good thing you delayed Ra's when you did. In fact, I managed to track you as fast as I did was because I detected a huge surge of otherworldy magic in this dimension. That must've been from the crystal.' explained Doctor Fate.
Batman sighed, "Of course. He must've somehow managed to learn how to use the crystal in order to send my enemies here. That would explain the energy surge you mentioned."
'Perhaps. But in the meantime, you seem to be busy over there in Equestria. Nightwing and Robin are watching over Gotham as we speak and I've promised that I would speak to them once I found you. I shall speak to you another day should you not come back soon. Let me know once you wish to return with the crystal and I can do that.'
"Thank you."
The innder conversation ended and Batman remained still, "I know you two heard everything. You don't have to hide from me." he said to Twilight and Spike, having figured out the two of them were watching him seemingly talk to himself.
"Who or what were you talking to, Batman?"
"Doctor Fate. A psychic from my world. He found me and spoke to me in my head. I figured out that Ra's has been using that crystal I mentioned to bring my enemies here to mess with me. Or to test my abilities for when he wants me to succeed him as the leader of his organization. Something I refuse to do."
"Why is that?" asked Spike.
"I will never take another person's life. Like someone did to me years ago."
Batman decided the conversation was over once he stepped out of the door of the castle. Twilight and Spike looked at eachother wondering what he meant. The two hoped to see him again later and get him to explain what he was talking about, ans perhaps get something off his chest.
Batman returned to the forest to give himself some silence. He sat down and meditated, but somethinf caught his attention. 'Don't bother hiding from me, Solar.' he said. The cloaked pony chuckled lightly at his comment, knowing that she couldn't hide from a hero like him.
'Yes. We meet again, Batman. I see that you ended up following my advice after all.' she noticed, finding that he was still in Ponyville since last time they spoke.
"They needed help, and Ra's Al Ghul could send someone there while I'm gone to divert me. It is better that I stay there until either I figure out where he's at or he comes to me. Whichever comes first." Batman explained to the invisible pony. Solar hung her head, looking up at him despite covering her eyes,
'I came to you for one reason. This may be the last time we meet for a while. You have yet to figure out what it is you lack in this world. That magic shall be what saves you once the end comes.'
Batman raised an eyebrow, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Solar sighed, 'It means that your final battle draws closer. A battle which I will not be around to observe. I have to meet speak to a blue hero in another version of Equestria, and that will take my attention away from this. My team could use you, Batman. I just hope you figure things out.' the pony vanished, her words fading and echoing in Batman's head once she left. He stood up and wandered his way back to Ponyville.
"I see you have returned with the next opponent for Batman." Chrysalis observed with a smirk, "He... Kind of looks like him in a way. Does this explain the strange teleportstion compared to the others?"
Ra's nodded, "Yes. This man is not from my universe, but from a different one," he gestured to the costumed man in front of him, "I merely explained that he will get another chance to stop Batman and he was happy to oblige."
"Ah, yes. My reverse. He and the ponies shall be my prey."
"Shall I send him to Ponyville?" asked the changeling queen.
The assassin shook his head, "Not this time. I was thinking of bringing him to one of the towns we have yet to reach and stall for more time to ready for battle while they're gone."
The assailant smirked, "Very well."
Batman came back to Ponyville, seeing Pinkie Pie bounce around the town with balloons strapped to her. "Hiya, Batman!" she greeted,
"No."
The Dark Knight continued to walk, but a strange noise got his attention, he turned to Pinkie and saw that her cutie mark was glowing. The pink pony gasped and vanished. Batman followed the trail of smoke that she left, 'Barry would be jealous of this speed.' he managed to quip, running after Pinkie as fast as he could.
The trail led Batman back to the castle and into the crystal throne room, seeing the six mares have the same glowing problem as Pinkie with Spike standing next to the table, "Is it another friendship problem?" he asked. Batman was confused by that, seeing the situation going on.
'A freindship problem? They're glowing because of friendship? This world's more sunshines and rainbows than I took it for.' mused the Dark Knight.
"Maybe, Spike. It looks like we're being called to Baltimare. What's strange is that we're only being called at once even though that's only happened one time before." Twilight pondered.
"What is going on?"
The seven gasped, surprised to see Batman in the room without them noticing. "Jeez, Bats!" panted Rainbow Dash, "I-I mean I totally saw ya there!" she corrected herself, pretending to not have been surprised.
"Anyway, this is the Crystal Map. Ever since I got the castle, it calls us whenever there is trouble only we can solve. Mostly it is a problem related to friendship, but we're not sure that's always the case." explained Twilight.
"It's calling us to another town called Fillydelphia." added Rarity.
'Of course. More horse pun names.' thought an unamused Batman.
"Then let's go. It could be Ra's causing trouble for all we know."
"Alright." said Twilight.
"To the train station!" shouted Spike.
"Oh my..."
The mares, dragon and Batman arrived during the night in Baltimare to see it all in ruins. Buildings were on fire, or in the process of being repaired and the ponies of the city were all wandering about, afraid for their lives. The gang made their way into the city, 'Ra's... He did this. I was so focused on planning that I forgot about what he could already do.' thought Batman, feeling sorrow for the lives lost in this brutal attack suddenly brought upon them.
"What happened?" asked Batman.
A stallion gulped at the intimidating sight of the Dark Knight, "W-We're not sure. Someone that looked like you attacked us. He managed to destroy almost the entire town."
"Was this that Ra's person you were talking about, Batman?" Rarity questioned.
Batman paused, observing how everything was destroyed, "No. This is another enemy of mine he sent to distract me. Unlike the others he must've sent him here first to make me lose focus on tracking him. But, whoever did this by themselves is dangerous and I won't let another town suffer like this one did." declared the Dark Knight in a stern tone. He activated his Detective Vision, scanning for any clues or leads that can pinpoint the culprit.
"I found something. A trail. It's sloppy, it's as though he wants to be found by us." deduced Batman, scanning a trail of feathers lying around on the ground. The other seven looked down where he was staring at to see the same thing.
"Then let's get 'em before they outrun us!" Applejack suggested.
The eight sprinted, following the trail of the feathers. The path led them to a forest, where it continued on. Batman led the ponies and dragon through the forest, making sure that nothing will surprise them. 'Detective Vision says everything is clear... You can never be too sure in a time like this.' he thought.
"Where is this guy? How can he run so darn fast?" Spike wondered, getting tired. Twilight lifted him up and placed him on her back, carrying him. He panted, "Thanks, Twilight."
"Do you know who could be behind this, Batman?" Rarity inquired.
"I have an idea, but there is a slim chance that Ra's Al Ghul could find a way to find him let alone convince him to come here." Batman replied, slowing down to get a closer look at his surroundings, 'Slim chance... He always was tricky. Maybe Ra's didn't need to try to convince him if it meant a shot at ending me himself.'
Batman picked up a feather, the last one in the trail. He scanned it, 'No... The analysis shows that it has similarities to HIS costume. Of course...' the others looked at him, despite used to his silence, they were concerned by what he just found.
"You found something..." Applejack noticed.
Batman scowled, turning around to see Explosive Gel on the floor surrounding the ponies. Batman never said a word as he tackled all of them out of the way right as the gel exploded underneath them. He got to one knee and looked at them, "Are all of you okay?" he asked them. The mares and dragon nodded, "Good. Because I found who destroyed Baltimare." he pointed upwards, gesturing the ponies to the look.
The man in question held a similar appearance to Batman, but he used the motifs of an owl. His eyes staring right into their very souls. He wore thick armor with feather designs wrapped around hin and an owl insignia on his chest. On the tip of his fingers, with his gauntlets, was metal designed to be talons. The Dark Knight had encountered him a few amount of times, since they were from other worlds entirely.
"Owlman."
Laughing, Owlman leaned on the tree branch he was on, crouching down and placing his clawed hands on the branch, "Hello, Batman... I see that Ra's was right. You have allied yourself with the population of this world. You are pathetic... Joining the weak equines that make up this world."
"I see you haven't changed, Owlman. Why are not back on Earth-3 where you belong?" questioned Batman. "Ra's must've really gotten to you, huh?"
"Oh, he didn't need to convince me... After all I'm the predator and you're the prey. We're destined to do this. Of course, you and I are the same person." revealed Owlman, earning a gasp from the ponies, "Everytime you look at me, you think about what you would've become. What you could've been, I am your reflection after all."
"Did you take a dive in a Mirror Pool while we weren't looking Batman?" asked Pinkie.
Batman scowled, "Owlman is a version of me in a world where everyone has the opposite morality. Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. Owlman just happens to be my doppelganger." he explained, "I'm not too sure why he's even bothered to come here to face me without his Crime Syndicate."
"I do not need them to end you." Owlman insisted, "You think the ponies can help you?"
"Hey! We're tougher than we look!" Dash boasted.
"Stay out of this fight. Owlman is like me, except he won't hold back. And we know what happened when you fought me while I was holding myself back more than I usually do." Batman ordered the seven. They took a step backwards, allowing Batman more room to fight his doppelganger. They couldn't believe that somewhere in another world where the Dark Knight himself isn't they hero the ponies never figured he'd be without knowing him. "I'll tell you if you can step in to help me." he added.
Owlman laughed, "Ah. Here we are again, Batman. The owl catches the bat, and now the bat wishes to fight a hopeless nattle for survival." he boasted, clencing his talons. The doppelganger hopped down, glaring Batman while he stood up, "Think about it, Bruce. I am the very thing you fear to become." he taunted. The Dark Knight clenched his fists at his pretender's words, having enough of his mockings and taunts.
Batman was the first to attack with a right hook, but Owlman blocked it with his armored elbow, countering with a jab to the vigilante's chest. "Let me restablish it for you and the ponies. Every choice you made led you to become Batman... The choices I made led to me becoming the genius you see before you." the owl explained, grabbing Batman's arm and flipping him over his shoulder, throwing him onto the ground.
Owlman smirked, "I know everything you're going to do. Every tactic. Every thought. All of them have been in my head, but unlike you, I use them for a purpose. To save myself." he mocked, Batman getting back up and kicking Owlman in the gut. The Dark Knight jabbed him in then stomach, causing him to hold his stomach in pain. The vigilante punched him in the face, sending him spinning in his spot before Owlman caught his bearings.
"I know that by now. You're starting to bore me."
"Ah, but the ponies that you have befriended don't know yet." Owlman corrected. "Every choice we make don't matter... We make the opposite in another world, altering the very timeline and universe we live in for better or worse. One day, I will find a way to ensure that nothing will matter in the end. That our choices will be the definite one."
Owlman tossed a projectile at Batman, the Dark Knight throwing a batarang and making it explode upon collision. The owl grunted, seeing that he needed to step things up. He scratched Batman, tearing his kevlar suit. The vigilante grabbed his arm and slapped it away, using his cape to stun his doppelganger. Owlman hissed, uppercutting the hero in the jaw. The ponies cringed in pain once they saw the attack. Batman held where the tears were, feeling a stinging sensation and blood slowly dripping from a would he's unable to see due to the thickness of his costume.
The seven watching gagged at the sight of the red fluid dripping Batman. 'I'll have to get this patched up once this is over.' he thought, watching Owlman jump after him. He ducked underneath his doppelganger, watching him fly past him. Owlman got back to his feet, turning to face his doppelganger.
The Dark Knight grunted quietly in pain from the wound, pulling out his Batclaw and grabbing Owlman's hands. He pulled his doppelganger toward him, but the owl villain grabbed the claw. Batman put the gadget back in his belt. The detective covered his fist with his cape and swiped at Owlman, who countered with the same tactic, "We truly are alike, Batman. For everything you plan, I can counter it on my own."
Meanwhile the ponies watched the battle, "This guy is nuts!" whispered Rainbow.
"None of what he's saying makes sense! Every choice we make doesn't matter to him? That's wrong!" Twilight agreed.
"H-He's not like Batman at all... They're not the same person." Fluttershy said.
Seeing an opening, Batman punched Owlman again, the criminal feeling the force of the fist, "Heh. Not bad. You actually got me that time." he kicked Batman then grabbed him by the throat, lifting him in the air, "Now... How shall I end your life in this universe before I move on to another?"
"There is a difference between you and I... We stared into the abyss, but what makes me better than you is..." he gasped, pausing to headbutt Owlman and make him release the grasp his talons had on him. While he was down, Batman held him in place, keeping him from moving and hurting the ponies, "...You blinked."
"Fluttershy! Now!" said pegasus looked at him in confusion with wide eyes.
Owlman laughed, "Ha! The yellow one? She looks like she couldn't hurt a fly!" after mocking the pegasus, Batman finished off Owlman wih one fell suplex. The Dark Knight looked at his doppelganger's unconscious body before it vanished like everyone else he had faced here.
"Fooled you."
"Batman? What the heck was he going on about?" Spike asked, him and the ponies walking up to Batman.
"Owlman is a nihilist. He believes that nothing he does matters since there is another timeline, another universe where he made the opposite. I stopped him from destroying everything in existence before while on a mission with my team, but they were busy wih his allies. He's right in that in a way he is kind of the Batman of his world, but we're norhing alike other than our real names." explained Batman in a cold tone.
"I-I had no idea..." Rarity muttered.
"Let's not worry about all of this. Let's just head back to Ponyville after Twilight tells the princesses of what happened here in Baltimare." Batman suggested, walking away from the group.
Ra's and Chrysalis watched the battle through their rift, the assassin satisfied with the outcome. "I knew that Owlman would fail me like the others, but while he fought Batman, I may have thought of something..."
"What is it?"
"There is one more foe Batman has encountered. Though, with the crystal I should be able to track his whereabouts. I may be gone longer than usual to do this. The object I seek is called Fear Toxin, which will force Batman and his pony friends to live their worst nightmares as though they were reality. This will be the final trial for them until their greatest battle against us." Ra's revealed to the changeling queen.
"I see..."
"Send a few changelings down to each of the six and Batman and inject them with it while asleep once I return. They will be too busy in their own minds and by the time they wake up, we shall already have our army unleashed upon Equestria. We will attack in a few days time." he declared.
Batman sat down on his bed, still feeling the sting of the wound Owlman gave him during their fight. He noticed the red tint n his gauntlet once he removed his hands from the spot, 'I need something to wrap this with. Then again, I have suffered worse before.' he stood up, looking over his desk to see if anything could be of use, 'Nothing. Perfect. I need to get this covered before I get infected.'
Walking out of the door, Batman saw Twilight and decided to speak, "I need something to cover my wound." he said bluntly, getting the mare's attention.
Twilight gave him a questioning glance, "Um... Okay..." she said, unsure of how to respond. She left the hallway for a moment, leaving the Dark Knight alone to wait. She came back with a roll of bandages lifted with her magic. "Here." she said, allowing Batman to grab the roll. He held it in his hand and walked back into the room, closing the door behind him.
The vigilante removed his cowl for a brief moment, easing the process of removing the torso of his costume. He placed his hands on the area, seeing the dry remains of blood still on his gauntlet. 'This should do the trick.' he said. Batman pulled out a small amount of bandage, wrapping it around his body and covering the area Owlman scratched. 'That should allow the wound to heal faster.' he thought, putting down the roll on his desk.
He put back on his cowl, looking over the costume, which had five large tears of equal size and shape, able to expose his body on his costume. Sighing, he he held up the torso and once he looked back at his desk, the vigilante realized that he had no materials around him to repair the kevlar suit.
With a groan, he stood back up, costume in hand. He took one last glance at the tears. 'Alfred would usually be able to do this when I wasn't available... Now, I have nothing to use to fix it. My enemies could see that I'm wounded and find the spot. I can't have that right now.' he thought, walking out of his room again.
Batman immediately noticed Spike heading in the same direction as he was, a noticable bounce in each step, "And where are you going?" he asked the dragon.
Spike shrugged, "To help Rarity. She said something about needing a helper in making some more clothes. I'm just happy to help her in anyway I can." he sighed happily. The drake noticed the rips in Batman's suit, "Uh, y'know, she can probably patch that up if possible." he suggested to the Dark Knight.
"Good. Hand it to her."
Raising a brow, Spike replied, "Uh, I don't think I'll be able to carry something like that over to her. She'd probably gush or talk about how it looks. You should come along."
"Fine." was all Batman said.
"Thank you for bringing this to me!" beamed Rarity, using her magic to lift the costume over a table, flattening it to see the tears, "Oh, the rips that Owlman had made are larger than I had thought. It should take no time at all to fix this."
Meanwhile, Batman hunched down on a chair, annoyed that he got stuck going with Spike to begin with. He noticed said dragon following every single command that was given to him almost immediately. Spike walked up to the focused white unicorn to hand her a needle and pin. She levitated a piece of string in front of her and stitched together the rips within Batman's costume. It was a tedious process, and to the Dark Knight, it felt like an eternity. "So, how are you, Batman?" she asked, trying to start a conversation, which was unnecessary for him.
"I'm okay." he forced himself to say.
"I noticed all of these rips, holes and tears on your suit... And on your body..." she muttered, "How often does something like this happen to you?"
Batman sighed, "Every night."
"Every night?" repeated Spike, "You go out in a bat costume and fight crime every day!?"
"Is there a problem?" questioned the Dark Knight.
Gulping, Rarity answered, "It's not that we have a problem with that... It's just... How?"
"How and why I do this is of no concern to you." the vigilante retorted. Once they saw that Batman was not in the mood for talking, Rarity and Spike quietly went back to fixing the suit. A little more time passed and the unicorn appeared to be finished, a satisfied smile was on her face.
"Done!" she cheered, using her magic to give Batman his suit. The Dark Knight nodded, acknowledging her effort. "It looks brand new!" she said. All of the rips and tears on his costume from his days in Equestria appeared to have been gone. "And can I add something?" she asked.
"Sure."
"That suit is pretty unique. Do you mind if I make you a new suit?"
"Whatever works." he replied.
Batman was making his way back to Twilight's castle, hoping to formulate a plan to find Ra's sooner rather than later. A rainbow trail sped past him, making him pause upon knowing it who it was, "What's up, Bats?" asked Rainbow Dash, flying next to the Dark Knight. When he didn't answer, she instead continued to speak, "So... What'cha doin'? Gotta say, the suit rocks! Can I become your partner in crime so I can get a sick costume like that?"
"I already have enough partners as it is." replied the Dark Knight.
Groaning, Dash flew forward, "Aw... But I can totally fight crime the way you do!"
"Probably. But I won't let you be my partner."
"But why not? Heck, I'll even take the sidekick name!"
"Maybe when I'm gone from this world... I'll let Pinkie take over." he taunted. The cyan pegasus noticed the thinnest of smiles on his face after saying that.
"Aw, come on!"
"Hi, Batman!'
The Dark Knight remained unfazed by Pinkie's sudden appearance in front of his face, 'This was not how I wanted to start my day... I was better off in the woods fighting those monsters.' he thought. 'First I had to speak to the unicorn, then Dash begged to be my sidekick... Why do I have to put up with them?'
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Because I still don't see a smile on your face."
"Why are you here, Pinkie?" asked Batman.
"I just wanted to say hi to the darkest, broodingest hero of all time!" cheered Pinkie.
"You did. Now can I go?" he asked.
Putting a hoof up, Pinkie answered, "Not yet! First I have to give you this!" she gave him a random piece of paper, which the Dark Knight held. Once the pink pony was out of sight he opened it. 'Meet me at Sweet Apple Acres!' was all it read. With a groan, Batman threw the paper and walked, hoping that this was worth his time.
A look of regret was seen on the Dark Knight's face. 'I hate this... She seems to throw a party for every little thing she can find an exuse for.' he moaned in his mind. Turned out, that Pinkie threw him yet another 'Thank you for saving Ponyville' party for stopping Mr. Freeze, this time with more motives for him to show emotion. It also seemed to be an apology party for Freeze. 'Strange. Not every day that Victor gets acknowledged for what good he does.'
He had a small hat worn on his cowl, thanks to Pinkie. Everypony was here it seemed. Her friends, and nearly the ponies that resided in Ponyville, 'How do they not get bored of this?' he thought.
"Is this fun, Batman?" asked Pinkie, who noticed the vigilante sitting down all alone.
"Whatever you say." he muttered sarcastically.
"You don't look like your having fun." replied Pinkie.
Rolling his eyes, Batman responded, "What gave you that idea?" he forcefully asked, wanting the pink pony out of his sights for the time being until he can figure out a way to leave unnoticed, 'It shouldn't be too hard. The ponies seem to be focused on one another and don't want anything to do with me. Smart.' he thought to himself.
"Howdy there, Bats."
Said vigilante turned his head to see Applejack, "And what do you want?" he asked.
"Can't ah just greet an aquaitance?" she asked.
Batman gave her a thin smile, "So I'm not a friend, huh?" he asked, "That's a first."
"Well, I don't usually meet my friends by fightin' them." retorted Applejack. "So, Pinkie really wanted ya to be here." she added. Batman rolled his eyes once more.
"I figured that out already."
"You'll get used to her, Bats. Her antics will rub off on ya eventually." assured the farmpony.
Crossing his arms, the Dark Knight spoke one more, "I seriously doubt that."
Applejack chuckled at his comment and walked off, leaving Batman to his own thoughts once more, 'Now... Where would Ra's be hiding anyway?. I have plenty of time to kill to figure this out. Supposedly he too is aware of the different towns, meaning that he had to have gotten a helping hand, but I won't be able to figure out who being here. Unless Ra's also learned of this world's locations on his own time, but that still doesn't explain how he managed to use the crystal to send my foes here...' he thought, trying to deduce everything in his mind as much as he could.
"Well, you look like you're having fun."
A voice snapped Batman out of his thoughts, "Twilight. What is it?" he said to the purple alicorn. She was holding a piece of cake on a plate, eating it all the while.
"You could just go you know." suggested Twilight, noticing his displeasure.
Without saying another word, Batman stood up and walked out of the door without any interruption, leaving Twilight alone where he once sat. Pinkie bounced to where she found him earlier only to see him gone, "Where's Batman?" she asked her alicorn friend. Twilight shrugged, taking another bite of her cake.
"He left?" she blurted out.
"I guess..." she said, actually unsure of where he left to.
Meanwhile, Batman made his way back to the castle, throwing the party hat on the floor. 'Hopefully she can cover for me. Last thing I need today is to deal with Pinkie.' he thought, entering the castle.
"Welcome back, Ra's."
Chrysalis spotted the assassin stepped out of the portal. Ra's had a smirk on his face as he walked, the vortex closing behind him once he arrived. "It was a success. The formula was given, but luckily for him, his whereabouts shall remain unknown for his own battle another time."
"So you got it?"
Seven syrinages were seen in Ra's hand. "Enhanced fear toxin. It will prove to be a viable distraction while we finish our planning. Of course, they'll be able to overcome this injection, but by the time they do it will be too late for them to plan a counterattack against our army." he revealed.
"I will bring changelings to their residence immediately." said Chrysalis, opening another portal to Ponyville with the Warp Crystal spell, a rift forming as she did. A small group of changelings appeared, overhearing the plan. The queen repeated what she had said to ensure that the plan was a success. The group nodded and changed their forms to cover themselves from being noticed and they stepped into the rift.
"Very good. By afternoon tomorrow, we shall be ready. The kingdom of Equestria shall belong to your army. And Batman will regret ever letting me continue my plan."
Batman opened his eyes, 'Another night come and gone... Now to get back where I left off.' he thought, standing up from his crouched position. He noticed that he was no longer in his room, but now instead he appeared to be in a castle of sorts. His footsteps echoed every second he walked, 'How did I get here? I was in Twilight's castle, but then... Everything went blank after studying the books she gave me before she left. But there is no way that it can already be morning, and I'm definitely not in Ponyville.'
"...A major disappointment!"
The sound of sobbing and yelling got Batman's attention, he turned to find the source of the voices. He opened a door to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna glaring daggers at Twilight, who had tears running down her face. She tried to keep her composure, but the alicorn failed to do so, broken by whatever was said before Batman awoke.
"Indeed. You are a disgrace of a princess! Thou has done nothing worthwhile, makes my wonder why Celestia prepared you to become an alicorn." Luna added.
"I couldn't agree more sister. Such a gift wasted on this miserable excuse of my student."
"P-Please... I-I'll do better..." pleaded the purple alicorn.
Batman frowned, "Hey!" he tried to get their attention, but the the two princesses continued to insult Twilight, as though he wasn't even in the room. "Don't make me go over there myself!" he warned, when he found out that he was being ifnored, Batman tried to tackle the princesses, but he fell through them, "What the hell? That's unusual. But it all adds up. I must be in a-"
"A nightmare."
Another voice got the Dark Knight's attention, this one able to hear him. Princess Luna revealed herself to Batman, "You have a lot to answer for, Luna." he threatened.
"I am here, Batman. The real one, we're in the nightmare of Princess Twilight. I had sensed something awry within the mindscape of you seven, but for some reason you are partially immune to it. I can sense dread in you, but it has yet to overtake you. In the meantime, I shall explain briefly. The seven of you are suffering nightmares of a unique caliber. You and I must make sure that the ponies overcome these fears."
"Alright. But we can't manipulate things. I just tried."
Luna nodded, "Do not worry, I have placed a spell on the two of us that will allow us to plant the seeds of doubt on this being the reality. We will be able to indirectly change things for the better."
"Twilight!"
The alicorn stopped her sobbing briefly to see the Dark Knight standing there, "Don't you dare ignore us, Twilight! We are trying to teach you a lesson!" scolded Celestia, "I'm taking away those wings and finding another student. One who will this gift for a better use than you ever could."
"None of this is real! Fight the doubts in your mind!"
Twilight sniffled, holding back her tears, "Just stop!"
"Escuse us?" gasped Luna.
Twilight frowned as she stood up, "You're not the real Celestia and Luna! You two have told me beforehand that my time will come! I have dine good in Equestria! This is all a nightmare!" upon saying that, the fake princesses vanished, allowing Twilight to calm herself down from her earlier hysteria.
"Thank you, Batman." said the alicorn.
"I didn't do this alone." answered the vigilante.
Princess Luna revealed herself, "Greetings, Princess Twilight. As thou has figured out, we are within your minds. The seven of you are suffering from nightmares unlike anything I have witnessed. The rest of your friends are still suffering and Batman only has a matter of time until he suffers the same as you."
"A-Alright. Let's hurry." studdered Twilight. The three vanished, with Luna sending them into the mindscape of one of the princesses' friends.
"Come back, darlings!" pleaded Rarity.
All of the unicorn's friends left, "Ha! As if we'd do that! Y'know how many times ya abandoned us to meet your fancy friends? It's about time ya got a taste of yer own medicine. We'll find somepony to replace ya!" Applejack mocked.
"Yeah! You're the worst sister ever!" Sweetie Belle insulted.
"B-But... I-I.." Rarity was at a loss of words, only crying at the sight of her friends leaving. "I made you all something special!"
Twilight, Luna, and Batman appeared in the dream, finding themselves in the Carousol Boutique, "Rarity? What happened to her?" asked Twilight.
"She believes that you will all leave her, pouring her heart out into the true proof of genuine friendship on her end." Luna explained to the two. The two watched as Rarity continued to sob in the same spot. She leaned, never stopping her pleas and begging that she can make up to them.
"Rarity..." whispered Twilight.
The unicorn perked up at the sound of the voice, "T-Twilight...?" she gasped, "I thought you left with everypony else! I'm not good enough to be your friend!"
"Why would I or the others even think that? You're the most generous pony we've ever known. You always do what you think is best for us, you go out of thenway to make sure we're happy... No matter what, you're one of our friends."
Rarity perked up at Twilight's words, "Y-You're right... None of this... I must be in a nightmare." she turned around, seeing Batman and Luna waiting for the two, "I was right., why is Batman here though?"
"I only have sometime left before I succumb to my own nightmares judging by what you're all going through. So we have to find the others, because my mind is not a fun place to visit." Batman explained, allowing Luna to warp to the nightmare of another pony and close friend.
"You're just a joke, Pinkie!"
"Nopony likes your parties!"
"Ahahahaha!"
The ponies surrounding the pink pony continued to insult her, at this point her mane had been deflated from being sad. "But... I just want to make you laugh!" she whimpered.
"Oh, you make us all laugh! Laugh at how pathetic you are!"
Pinkie held her tail, blowing her nose on it. Her eyes filled with tears, "A-Am I really a joke to you...?"
"No you are not, Pinkie!"
Pinkie turned around and saw Rarity, Twilight, Luna and Batman glowing. The unicorn continued to speak, "You are our light. You always bring a smile to our faces. Everytime we laugh, it is because you are such a fun pony to be with."
Twilight nodded in agreement, "Yes. Now, how about we help you smile for once?" she asked, a toothy grin formed on her face.
Pinkie's lip curled up, the insulting crowd vanishing from the vicinity. Her mane popped back to it usual poofy look. "Yay! Ehat about you, Batman? Do you have anything fun to say about me?"
"You're more annoying when you're depressed." he said.
"Look who decided to show up!"
Appejack's eyes widened at the sight of the broken farm, "Granny? What the hay happened?" she asked, thr sky filled with clouds, looking as though it were about to rain. Smoke covered the surrounding area, worrying the farmpony greatly. She looked at the elder green mare sitting on her rocking chair.
"Ya never came back! That's what happened! Ya said you'd go on vacation in Manhattan, but ya left for seven years! See where yer lyin' got to ya!" the elder pony asked her granddaughter.
"No... Ah'd never lie to ya!"
"You never will."
Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie walked to the confused and near sobbing Applejack, "You're the most honest pony in all of Equestria. The only lie here is that you'd think that you would ever let this happen." Twilight said. The earth pony sniffled, hearing the kind words her friend was saying.
"Sweet Apple Acres is your calling." Rarity added, "You know that by now."
The destroyed farm began to glow, and turned back to how it was in the real world. The sky cleared up and Applejack cleared her throat, "Thank ya, girls."
"We have no time to explain things, Applejack. We must find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before they fall victims to their worst fears." Luna explained briefly.
Batman was the first to arrive, seeing a group of ponies group themselves around Fluttershy. The other four made it and stood where the Dark Knight was at, "She's afraid of being weak." he revealed. The ponies saw that Fluttershy was being singled out as the ponies morphed into a bunch of weird looking monsters.
"Fluttershy! Fight back!" Batman and Pinkie shouted at once.
The pegasus turned her head to see her friends rooting her on, she inhaled, opening her eyes with a scowl. The monsters paused in their tracks upon staring at her, Fluttershy's eyes were piercing into their souls, "Yeah! She used the Stare!" the pink pony cheered at the sight of the monsters running.
Exhaling, the meek pegasus flew to her friends, happy to see friendly faces, "What's happening?" she asked.
"We must now head into Rainbow Dash's dreams." Luna said.
Rainbow Dash curled into a ball in her cloud, her eyes starting to tear up. "Why did they kick me out?" she asked herself, "I'm Wonderbolt material!" the image of her friends leaving her earlier came up in her head, she cried into her pillow, not wanting anypony to hear her sorrows.
"Pick yourself up."
The cyan pegasus turned to see Batman and her friends standing around her, "Your friends never left."
"H-He's right, Rainbow... None of this is real." Fluttershy revealed. "We will always be your friends... No matter what."
"Yep! You will now wake up from this nightmare like the rest of us!" added Pinkie.
Rainbow chuckled, "Heh. I knew it was a dream! Got ya all good."
"She's fine." Batman assured.
"At least you all are safe. The nightmares came from an outside source, which worried me. I came to investigate and luckily all of you managed to convince each other of the facade that this all was-" Luna was cut off by Batman vanishing. The other six watched in surprise while Luna shook her head.
"Where did Batman go?!" asked Rainbow Dash.
"It's as I feared, Batman's nightmare has begun. We shall head into his mind and stop it before it damages his psyche!" after declaring this, Luna warped herself and the ponies into the mind of Batman to finish things up.
Luna warped herself and the six mares into the foreign realm of Batman's mind. "Here we are... Thou has never entered this mind for sake of privacy and trust. Now we must find Batman before it's too late." she said. Thr seven noticed that they were in a small theater room of sorts. A large screen stood at the end and there were seven seats, as though the mind was just waiting for them to make it and watch what was on the screen.
They all sat down, hoping that this would get them closer to finding the Dark Knight. The screen started to light up, then a chilling voice echoed across the room.
"Ladies! Sit down and enjoy the show! Hahahahaha!"
The laugh brought shivers down all of their spines, the voice creeping them out and worrying them of Batman's undetermined fate within his own mind, "That totally wasn't creepy at all." Dash muttered, she saw all of her friends shivering in the their seats, and she found herself doing the same, "Uh, nevermind..."
The screen showed something finally. It appeared to be a theater in a city similar to Manehattan and Canterlot. Three bipedal creatures similar to Batman stepped out of it, the film appeared to be silent as no noise came from their mouths. The man and the woman smiled at the excited boy after seeing the movie. The ponies watched the movie in slience wondering where it was going to go. They wondered why all of this was happening within the mind and dreams of Batman.
The three turned the corner into a dark alleyway. The older man stopped his wife and child as they saw another man, wearing a hat and pointing a strange weapon at the family. The man stepped forward, but then the elder looking man with the weapon pressed a trigger of sorts, and then the man collapsed, unmoving. This caused the ponies to gasp at the sight, beliving him to be dead. The movie continued on afterward, Fluttershy was already in tears at this point while the others did their best to remain calm.
The woman kneeled down, crying for her dead husband. The man pulled the trigger again, killing the woman. The pearl necklace wrapped around her neck broke apart and each pearl fell onto the rain covered ground before she herself landed with a thud. The ponies screamed at the sight of the mother dying.
They watched as the boy knelt down while the culprit ran away. He cried onto the dead bodies of his body. The moon created a beacon of light over him, and a symbol shaped like a bat surrounded him, revealing who the child was to the ponies, surprising them greatly. The screen turned black.
"T-That was B-Batman...?" Fluttershy whimpered.
"I-I had no idea..." Rarity cried.
The seven wiped the tears and sweat from their faces, "It is tragic... I wouldn't have wished a fate like that on anypony." Luna admitted to her friends.
"Aw. Look at that that! Little boy bats has a pity party!"
"Who are you?" asked Twilight.
The theater they were standing in began to fall apart, bringing the ponies outside to what appeared to be a large city unlike anything they've ever seen. Applejack gulped at the red liquid dripping down on the street they were standing on. The ponies followed the red trail to see someone standing on a throne. The man had pale white skin, his hair bright green, a suit of purple, and clown makeup. But what disturbed them the most was his smile.
The man laughed, "Haha! You just saw what little Bruce Wayne went through that led him to become the very grumpy bat you colorful ponies know him as! I would be laughing if it weren't so sad..." the man paused, "Aw, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway! Hahahahahahahaha!" his high voice cackled, scaring the ponies watching.
"If you don't know who I am, which is a shame, then I guess you can call me the Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker!" said the pale man, revealed to be the Joker.
"Y-You're not a clown... Clowns are supposed to be fun!" Pinkie whined.
The Joker shrugged, "I am fun! But of course the Bat always has to ruin it for me! I wanted to throw a party at the asylum and in Arkham City, but no... Batman had to ruin the fun by rescuing the hostages I had and foiling my plans." he grumbled, crossing his arms, "Ah well, you don't need the details anyhow. I'm here to show you this!"
The ponies looked to where Joker was pointing, and saw Batman tied up in what appeared to be vines, "Such a sight isn't it? The Bat was never easy to catch, but his mind is already fragile and broken as it was, and all it needed was the right person to shove him down the deep end. Me!" he laughed again. The Joker stood up, pointing a staff upward, "Now! I shall be what brings down Batman!"
"Wait what!?" Dash blurted out.
"You haven't figured it out yet, rainbow horse? Batman's a goner now! I tore him apart! Harmed the ones oh so close to him and broke his psyche!" after saying that, a strange man wielding guns stepped out. He wore a red hood with a helmet of the same color covering his head, "My greatest achievement!"
The Dark Knight struggled within the tight grasp he was held in. Suddenly with the snap of his fingers, Joker summoned three more figures his way. The first was a woman holding vines, presumably the one keeping Batman at bay. The second was a reptile man as large as Solomon Grundy. The last one was a man with a scarred face, or half of it with his clothes sharing the same treatment. "Ladies! Meet, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Two Face!" he introduced. The Joker chuckled, seeing the three villains that he had brought along for the great show. "Oh, and the Red Hood! Someone the Dork Knight will never figure out!"
"This guy's crazier than Discord!" Applejack gulped.
The Joker turned to the unconscious body of Batman, "Do you see this, Bats!? Ya failed your parents, you failed Barbara, and you failed Jason Todd! Now, you'll fail to protect the ponies you swore to protect! How's that for trust?" when the Dark Knight remained silent, he turned back to the ponies, "So much for that."
"W-What are you going to do to us?" Fluttershy whispered, trying to not break down.
"I'm not going to do anything, but these guys here? Well, they'll be having the fun this time! If they can't even succeed in doing that, then I guess I'll cover for them!" Joker explained, the three mooks coming closer to the ponies. Twilight, Luna and Rarity tried to shoot them with their magic, but the beams faded right through them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack tried to kick Killer Croc, but was held down and stared at before being released as a warning.
"Oh, right! You can't hurt them, but they can hurt you!"
"Batman! Help!"
The voices and pleas heard slurred Batman, "Batman! Wake up!" he moved slightly.
"It's no use girls, only Batman can save you and he's too busy wallowing in the filth of his own failures. Like a normal tuesday for him. Haha!"
Batman moved at the screams, his arm breaking free of the vine, "JOKER!" he shouted, destroying the vines keeping him trapped. The Dark Knight glared at his nemesis, "You should've stayed in the afterlife, Joker. I should've known that death wouldn't keep you away from me."
"I'm always with you, Bats! Until the end!"
Batman started to run, hitting Killer Croc's skin with his cape and backflip kicking him before jumping on top of his back. The Dark Knight jumped into the air and drove both his hands and feet atop the reptile man's head, knocking him out. He managed to incapacitate Two Face with a single punch, evading all of the bullets shot out of the barrel of his gun. Poison Ivy tried to trap Batman once again with her vines and plants, but the hero used his batarangs to cut them down, reaching Ivy and headbutting her and destroying her plant supply with his Explosive Gel.
Facing the Red Hood, Batman scowled. "I don't know who you are..."
Red Hood laughed, "Heh. Knew you'd never guess old man. I'm just another mistake to you anyhow. The very thng you regret." said the gun toting man.
Batman watched as the Red Hood pulled out his pistols, but the Dark Knight grabbed his arms and threw the hooded man over his shoulder. With the so-called Red Hood on the ground, Batman leapt up, only to have his opponent kick him while in middair, "Ya think I forgot everything you taught me?" he asked the stunned vigilante. "I'm in your head now, Bruce. You should know me." he removed his helmet, revealing the face of a young man.
"J-Jason." groaned Batman. "I'm sorry..."
Jason put back on his helmet, pointing his pistol at Batman, "You should'a saved me, Bruce. Maybe it wouldn't end like this if that were the case."
Before Red Hood could pull the trigger, Batman leaped up and held down his former sidekick, "If you truly are alive... Let's hope our encounter is nothing like this." he pleaded, causing the illusion to vanish from the recesses of his mind. With the Red Hood gone, the Dark Knight turned his attention to the Joker.
Joker tried to shoot the ponies with his own gun, but instead a flag with 'Bang' written on it popped out of the barrel, "That... Wasn't funny... Why do you keep coming back!? Even after everything I planned, you always show up at the last minute and ruin the fun! The ponies were going to have the show of their lives! I was going to show them why they called me the Clown Prince of Crime!" Joker moaned.
"I told you before." he sprayed his hand with Explosive Gel, "I'll never let you win." Batman marched forward and to the top of Joker's throne where he stood face to face with his arch-enemy. "Never." he uppercutted the Joker, the gel exploding on contact and making the villains and desolate area fade from the remnants of his mind. The gauntlet protected Batman from the explosion destroying his hand, though there were cracks in the armor.
"Batman!" the ponies cried out.
"Thank you all... I nearly lost myself..." panted the Dark Knight. "The Joker is... was a crafty villain. Unlike Ra's, he's unpredictable and difficult to understand."
"How about we return to the real world for now, Batman?" Luna offered.
The vigilante offered a small smile, "Sure."
With that, the team returned to reality to properly rest for the morning, where the biggest battle of their lives await.
Batman snapped his eyes open, finding himself ln the bed back at Twilight's Castle, 'Luna must've sent us back to reality all ready... I'm not sure how long I've been asleep, but I just hope it wasn't longer than I thought.' he rubbed his head, sitting up on his bed and looking down at the ground.
"What the-" he asked, seeing broken glass on the ground. Batman noticed a strange glass container lying on the floor next to his bed and picked it up, using his Detective Vision to scan what's left inside, 'No... Ra's managed to get his hands on enhanced Fear Toxin... But the question is... How did he manage to get all of us?' the thought was left in his head, trying to piece everything together as much as he could.
He clenched the glass, his armor protecting him from the shards, 'But why do this now? Why bother waiting to do this in the first place... Unless he's planning this. Of course... Why go through all this trouble? He could've ended me and purge this world and headed back to Earth whenever he wanted...' he stepped out of his room, finally understanding what is happening. Spike tried to call for him, but the Dark Knight ignored him as he reached the map room.
Batman had requested that Twilight and Spike call the girls over after they finished eating for him to elaborate on what's been happening during the past week. He stood up from his crouched position, holding the empty plate in his hand before letting Twilight use her magic to lift it away from him.
"What happened, Batman?" asked Spike, who hadn't witness the nightmare events from the night before.
Batman looked at the dragon, "Something important. I finally figured out Ra's Al Ghul's plan for us and Equestria. And I'm not liking what I came up with."
Spike raised an eyebrow at his comment, "A-Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm surprised that it took me this long to figure it out." replied Batman.
Eventually the girls had made it to Twilight's castle, getting the message from the alicorn herself. They each sat around the thrones, with Batman and Spike standing in the center next to the Crystal Map. "Yo, Bats! Surprised to see ya up and about after that crazy nightmare you had! What was that all about?"
"Old memories. Nothing to be concerned of."
Rarity put a hoof on her chin, "I do not know that... The Joker seemed hellbent on killing you inside of your own mind. You seem to have more enemies than we initially thought."
"Yeah, that Joker guy was really messed up. Are ya sure yer fine after that experience?" Applejack wondered.
Btman scowled, "I told you already. I'm fine." he emphasized his words just to make sure that they don't bring it up ever again. For his sake and theirs. 'The less they know of him... The better. Those are memories I swore to lock away to keep something like that from ever happening again. And last night proved me right in my assumption.'
"Back on topic... I figured out that we were injected with a chemical known as Fear Toxin. It causes the victim to experience their worst fears and break their minds. It was used by another foe of mine, Scarecrow, who I haven't seen in almost two years. It seems that Ra's Al Ghul managed to get his hands on an enhanced version. But what confused me was how he managed to get here and injecting each of us with a sample."
"What are you saying?" asked Twilight.
"Do you have any enemies that can do that without being spotted?"
"Without being spotted? T-Twilight... You don't think?" began Fluttershy, cutting herself off.
"No... Why would they join a monster like Ra's Al Ghul?" Twilight replied.
"Well, don't be cryptic! Spill it out!" Dash groaned.
Twilight gulped. Seeing no other possible option for Ra's plan, "He must've found the Changelinegs. They're a species that are able to change into the shape of anypony. They could've blended in and walked in here without us knowing. If that's the case, then Chrysalis must've joined him..."
"What? But they can be anywhere!" Pinkie shouted.
"How do I know that none of you are spies?" asked Rainbow Dash, feeling suspicious, "How do we know Batman's not a spy?"
"That's crazy, Rainbow Dash. We would've figured him out." Applejack responded.
Batman looked at each of them, "You don't have to worry about being tricked. I have a foe like that on my world. He too has the ability to shapeshift. So I upgraded my cowl to make sure that the person has the actual biological structure, meaning that I can tell Clayface or a changeling apart based on whether or not their bones are real and organic and not morphed by their unique constant changing bodies." he revealed. "Each of you are indeed the real deal." he assured. "But there could be a changeling here in Ponyville since they managed to sneak in here last night."
Batman spoke once more, "I'll check Ponyville and make sure that we're safe from these changelings as you called them. I'll let you know if I find anything strange. What do they normally look like?"
"They look like us, but more buglike." the purple alicorn explained.
"Got it. My cowl shall be able to spot an anamoly at any point. I never needed to use it here until now."
Batman made his way out of the castle and activated his Detective Vision, scanning each of the ponies standing and wandering about outside, 'Everything seems normal so far... I can tell that the bone structures of these ponies are normal. Perhaps I should look deeper.' he suggested himself in his head. The Dark Knight turned his head left and right, checking to see if everypony was the real deal. He had to stop a few times to double check, but he moved on once he saw things were clear.
'Wait...' he scanned something off about a pony. The mare was purple with a yellow mane. 'Her bone structure is off compared to the other ponies I investigated. She must be one of the changelings. Now, why would they stay here knowing that I was still here? Big mistake on their part.'
Batman started pacing toward the fake pony. Her eyes slowly went wide upon the sight of Batman closing in. She started to slowly trot away, not to draw any attention to herself. She turned her head back to see the Dark Knignt following her still. She moved faster, Batman doing so as well. Eventually, in fear she began to run. The vigilante started to make a sprint, "Stop!" he ordered, trailing after the fake mare as fast as he could.
While running, the Dark Knight pulled out a batarang and moved his arm back, doing his best to aim it perfectly. 'Time it just right...' he mused, moving his hand a little. He flicked his arm, thowing the projectile in the mare's direction, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing the batarang, allowing Batman to tackle her, "You! Show me! You're not a real pony at all!" the hero shouted, holding the pony down with his elbow.
The fake pony struggled in his grasp but relinquished, changing into a black mothlike bipedal creature, "Fine! You found me out! What do you want?"
"I know you're working for Ra's Al Ghul! You better tell me what he and your queen are planning before I put more holes in your body!" Batman threatened.
The changeling squirmed in his spot, the Dark Knight raised his fist, "Okay okay! They and the other changelings plan to attack Canterlot today! That's all I know! I swear!" he revealed. Batman paused for a minute, but he punched the creature unconcious, holding the body over his shoulder.
"We have to leave right now." he told himself.
"All according to plan." Ra's chuckled.
Chrysalis groaned, "Why did you let him reveal our plan? We had the element of surprise!" she scolded.
Ra's Al Ghul stood from his spot, "Prepare the army. We needed to give them time to get there before we attack. After all, you wanted to kill the ponies and I want to end Batman. With all the heroes and opposition in one place, we can conquer all of Equestria in one attack." he said.
Chrysails aighed, "Very well. I will ready the changeling army and use the Warp Crystal to send us all to Canterlot to begin our attack." she said, doing what she just spoke to him about.
Batman and the ponies got off the train and ran immediately into Canterlot specifically the castle that housed the two Royal Sisters. The sun was already up at this point, meaning that they were running out of time to prepare for the oncoming battles and changeling invasion to the city, "Open up!" ordered Batman, slamming his fists on the door. It creaked opened a few minutes later revealing Princess Celestia as she peeked.
"Oh. You must be Batman. Even though you're still a fugitive, I shall grant you permission to speak this once. Why have you and mus subjects come to me for?" the white alicorn asked. The Dark Knight silently responded by dropping the body of the changeling he interrogated on the ground next to the princess. The changeling they had captured was chained up and being escorted as well to the dungeon for further interrogation.
"We have to talk."
The Royal Guards escorted Batman, Spike and the ponies through the castle with Celestia leading them inside, "It is a shame we no longer have the Elements of Harmony to aid us... But this Ra's Al Ghul... You mentioned that he is indeed a powerful threat? How did he manage to ally himself with the changelings?" she asked. The heroes had explained everything to the Sun Princess up until the traumatic experience of travelling through eachother's nightmares with the aid of Princess Luna, culminating in exploring the vigilante's very own broken mind and learning more about him.
"The Elements of Harmony?"
Celestia turned to him, "Yes. They were six ancient artifacts that represented a different aspect of friendship and were wielded by the very six ponies you know. Applejack was the Element of Honesty, Fluttershy was Kindness, Rarity was Generousity, Pinkie Pie was Laughter, Rainbow Dash was Loyalty, and Twilight brought them all together with the Element of Magic. We had to sacrifice them to save the Tree of Harmony from being corrupted." she explained, turning to the mares and dragon standing next to the Caped Crusader with them.
"I see. Have you prepared your soldiers for something like this?" he asked.
"Yes. In fact I prepared them all to face you as did my sister, but I see you are no longer a threat." Celestia revealed.
"Hm. You are smarter than I anticipated." joked Batman.
"I am a ruler, Batman. I have to do what is best for my subjects." the Sun Princess responded in a stern tone. "I shall craft a dome over the kingdom as soon as I can. But first we should warn my sister of the attack and rally her troops as well. The more the better chance we have."
"Good idea, Princess." Twilight said.
Rarity smiled as did Spike, "Yes. Please hurry though. I am afraid we do not have much time according to Batman." she said, watching the princess walk into her sister's room. Luna stepped out a minute later, needing no explanation from her sister to leave her own domain at such an hour.
"Greetings Batman. I take it thou's not here for a friendly tour." Luna noticed.
"Not quite. A changeling told me that my enemy Ra's Al Ghul has allied with an enemy of your's, Queen Chrysalis and her army, and is coming to Canterlot today. We wanted to rally your Night Soldiers and band together an army of sorts in order to combat the supposed army." Batman elaborated, crossing his arms while leaning on a wall. "Do you think you can do that quick. By the end of the morning I predict is when they'll arrive and we're already running low on time as it is."
"Yes, Batman. Let me find my troops." said Luna.
"Why the hay is everypony suddenly listening to you!?" Dash questioned in disbelief. "Who made you the leader here?"
Batman frowned, "When I'm your only chance of survival, you should listen. As much as I hate to admit it, there is an entire army after us, and I cannot do this battle alone."
"Aw. Batman really is a big softie!" cheered Pinkie Pie.
Batman grunted, "Don't push me, Pinkie."
"Sorry!"
Spike put a claw on his chin, "Kinda makes you wonder though... What can we do? We struggled the last time they invaded! And now what you're saying is that they have an immortal assassin with them?! That's too crazy even for me. What chance do we have against odds like that?!" he asked in a panicked state. His friends looked at him, all of them trying to figure out the same thing. Silence overtook the once busy room as they pondered.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Batman spoke, "It doesn't matter how the odds are whether they're against us or we have an advantage. What matters is that we try to fight. You're not giving up and neither am I. We have an army at our side as well, you have your magic and abilities and I'll be the one to face Ra's Al Ghul."
"Yeah... Yer right... We have to at least fight. Ah'm not lettin' Equestria fall to the changelings today." Applejack declared.
Dash chuckled, "I never wanted to stop. After all, I'd never turn my back in my friends!"
"I'll stand by you all no matter what!" Rarity chanted.
"I-I can never forgive myself if something happened." Fluttershy said.
"For Freedom!' shouted Pinkie.
Twilight smiled, "And I'll make sure that we all stick together through it all!"
The six ponies and dragon placed a hoof and claw atop one another. Pinkie looked at the brooding hero, "Come on, Bats! You know you want to join this epic chant!" with a roll of eyes, Batman placed his hand on top of the ponies, "Woo!" the pink pony cheered they all raised them, and Batman went back to thinking on his own.
"We should check on the princesses." he said, changing the subject at hand, feeling as though their time is running out faster than they initially thought.
The eight stepped out of the castle to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looking over a bunch of guards wearing armor with the sun and moon on it. The Royal Guards had been assembled, and the Sun Princess was giving a speech, "...Together, we shall defend Equestria from those who wish to see it in ruins! You're all trained for this very purpose! Now, the changelings are on their way with Queen Chrysalis and a new enemy calling himself Ra's Al Ghul! All of you with the help of Princess Twilight, her friends, and the Batman, you will fight for glory!"
The guards chanted, ready to fight. A bright light over took the surrounding area and shadows covered the sky. Ra's Al Ghul and Queen Chrysalis stepped out, the heroes getting into a fighting stance. Above them, changelings began to descend onto the kingdom of Canterlot. The time had come, the final battle had begun.
"Ah, Detective..." Ra's began to Batman, "Welcome to the reckoning of Equestria. This is where you shall die and this world too shall be purged of its sins!"
"Over my dead body, Ra's." growled the Dark Knight.
The immortal assassin pulled out his sword, "Oh. I'll do just that."
"Chrysalis."
Celestia's introduction to the changeling queen was unnecessary, but venom was heard in her words and Chrysails, "Ah, Celestia. Isee that I touched a nerve. No defenses could've held me back. The Warp Crystal allows me to travel anywhere I wish. It was only a matter of bringing my army here."
A huge number of changelings descended one by one, all surrounding the masterminds. "Girls," began Batman, "I'll face Ra's Al Ghul. You can handle Chrysalis. It's about time he and I had a small reunion." he cracked his knuckles, seeing that the immortal assassin had drawn out his sword for battle. But to get to Ra's he had to fight his way through a seemingly endless swarm of buglike creatures, 'I've faced worse before. It's just a matter of having energy left to fight him once I get to him.'
The ponies, dragon and princesses scowled at the sight of the changeling queen, "Do you think you all can stand a chance against my army this time? Your brother and the Princess of Love won't be able to help you this time, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis mocked the lavender pony.
"Hey! We beat ya before and we'll be sure to send you home again!" Applejack threatened.
"You're speaking nonsense... With the power of the Warp Crystal, I have infinite power. None of you Can stop me and my subjects with this in my possession!"
Rainbow Dash huffed, trying to reach for the artifact, but Chrysalis vanished, and performed an offensive spell once she reappeared stunning the cyan pegasus. Rainbow fell to the ground, staggering her way back on all four hooves, "Lucky shot!" she insisted in a slurred tone.
Celestia unfurled her wings and took to the skies, as Chrysalis did the same. The two rulers stared each other down, "Leave now, Chrysalis. Or I'll repeat what I did to you a millenia ago." she threatened.
"Ha! You don't have the guts to do that, Princess!'
Manwhile on the ground, the soldiers fought off the changeling army. One of the tackled Twilight, forcing her to shoot the culprit off of her body. Applejack helped Rainbow stand up using her forehooves, kicking a creature with her backhooves in the process, catching it offguard instead of the opposite. Pinkie held Rarity and used her horn to shoot at the oncoming monsters, each of them getting hit by an orb of light blue magic. Fluttershy ducked down, tripping a changeling accidentally and making it fall on its face and fall unconscious with a grunt. "Uh... Oops?" she said in confusion.
"Call this off, now." said Celestia, Luna flying next to her as well.
Chrysalis smirked than vanished, reappearing behind the alicorns. Luna moved the the left while Celestia moved to the right as a beam came their way. The changeling queen lunged after the Sun Princess, Celestia blocking with her own hooves. She drove her limbs into the changeling's face, hurting her. Chrysalis held her face and scowled, "You'll pay for doing that!" she snarled, racing after the princess once more.
Twilight blasted more changelings back. One of them tried to tackle her and Rainbow, but she propped up a forcefield for them to bounce off instead, "Nice save, Twi!" complimented Rainbow. The cyan pegasus uppercutted another changeling before spinkicking two more down with her backhooves. Applejack, meanwhile, was helping Fluttershy and Rarity fend off a hoard coming after them. The white unicorn pushed some out of the way, knocking them on their back as Applejack stood in front of Fluttershy, beating down as much as she possibly could while still having enough room to breathe.
Pinkie Pie hopped on some of their heads, bouncing off each one on to another while staying above the army. She slammed herself on a changeling ready to attack a guard behind his back. "You're welcome!" she yelled, continuing to hop over the confused bug creatures without a care in the world.
The Princesses each charged after the changeling queen, Chrysalis using a shield to block them before using the Warp Crystal to give herself an advantage. "Face it, princesses! You're kingdom will fall to my changelings! We will feed upon you all!" she declared loudly, raising her arms.
"We'll never let you succeed, Chrysalis!" Luna declared.
The changeling queen held the crystal close to her, absorbing some of its unique magic. The moth creature began to glow blue, feeling herself grow stronger by the second. Celestia and Luna combined a spell to attack, but Chrysalis managed to block it and avoid it with a swift warp. Performing a spell using her horn, Chrysalis hit both princesses before they could even react. The two of them fell down to the ground and landed loudly on their backs. The heroes were the first to notice as Chrysalis slowly descended from her spot, cackling at what she had done.
"Princesses!" shouted Twilight, running to her mentors.
The changeling queen put a hoof in front of her, "If you value your friends lives, then you will step away right now and surrender." she ordered sternly. Twilight looked at her friends and bit her lip, seeing that they were being overpowered by the sheer number of changelings. Each of her friends grew more tired and panted from exhaustion from fighting. Turning her head, she saw that the guards were being beaten at every turn. Looking at the ground, the lavender alicorn sighed in distress.
"Okay."
Chrysalis snickered, "Now... Let us end this." she said before vanishing.
Batman uppercutted a changeling hoping to tackle him. His fist collided with the creatures face, dazing him. The Dark Knight continued as he reached the assassin waiting for the final battle. The vigilante saw a unicorn guard trying to hold back three more changelings coming back at him. In a matter of seconds, he ran there, fighting off the small horde attacking him. The guard sighed, "If we weren't in the middle of an invasion, I'd pay you back for what you did to me and my unit a few days ago."
"I admit... I was a little rough on you." replied Batman. "But let's just focus on the invasion right now."
"Alright, thanks for the assist."
Batman walked more. Seeing more guards fending off the creatures, he threw a batarang at one, catching it off guard and then he pulled out his Batclaw, grabbing another mothlike creature in middair and slamming it on the ground. "Stay down if you know what's good for you." he warned the creature, who moaned in pain. The soldiers looked at Batman, grateful for his assistance, each of them mentioning that they's never believed him to be on their side until now.
Ignoring the comments, Batman grabbed his Explosive Gel Launcher from his utility belt, he shot a small object at a wall. After pressing a button, a section of the wall blew up, the debris managing to hit the changelings near it. The unicorns managed to hold up a shield in time to cover themselves in time. 'One step closer.' he thought. He put the Gel Launcher back on his belt, and then grabbed his Remote Electrical Charge, 'Let's see if I can put this to use.' he thought, holding up the abnormally large object in both of his hands.
He aimed the REC at a group of flying changelings above him and then timed himself, shooting a ball of lightning in front of them to distract them long enough for the pegasi guards to grab them in the air. Satisifed, he marched on, getting ever closer to the mastermind assassin. He put the REC back on his belt, seeing Ra's Al Ghul stare him down. The vigilante held up his fists, ready for the final battle against the assassin.
"Ra's." grunted the hero.
"Detective." replied Ra's. The immortal man threw down a blade next to the Dark Knight, "I shall make it a fair duel." he said, holding up his own sword.
Batman knelt down, grabbing the sword. "Very well."
Chrysalis laughed, seeing her enemies at her mercy. With Ra's busy with Batman, it allowed the changeling queen to end the only opposition for Equestria under her rule. "Do you see this, Twilight Sparkle?" she asked, "All of this? You won't be able to stop this. Not in the state you're in." she cackled, watching the alicorn struggle to help her friends.
The lavender mare used her magic to cover for her friends, who each fended off as much as they could, though the sheer number of them began to wear them down slowly and surely. Rainbow Dash once more flew up, kicking down changelings in a rainbow trail, knocking them onto the ground. Applejack tried to hold them down with Pinkie, seeing that the Royal Guards were struggling in their own spots. Rarity erected a forcefield over some soldiers, covering them from harm.
Chrysalis watched as the ponies continued to fight. The changelings came down once more into the battlefield. Fluttershy noticed this and ducked from the horde. The pegasus stood up, seeing her friends defend one another. Gulping, she hovered in her spot and moved ahead, kicking down the changeling in front of her. Twilight, seeing her friends get a second wind, glared at the queen of the changelings once more.
The alicorn shot a beam of magic at Chrysalis, who warped away from the attack in time to blindside Twilight with her own magic. The mare fell to the ground with a thud, seeing the changeling queen looking down at her. "No matter what happens today, Princess Twilight. You all won't be able to see the end of this."
Twilight responded by getting back to her hooves, and tackling the changeling queen. The mothlike creature landed on her back as she teleported away from the mare's grasp. Twilight tried jumping again, but each time she did, Chrysalis would warp away from her spot, making her miss. Chrysalis snarled, hoping to catch the alicorn off guard.
Before she chould continue, something hit Chrysalis in the face. She put a hoof to her face, feeling a scratch mark on it. A purple dragon gritted his teeth, "Spike! No!" pleaded Twilight, seeing that Spike was the one who did the deed. Spike gritted his teeth, angered at the queen harming his friends. The dragon ran off, avoiding magic shot by Chrysalis in a fit of rage, Twilight having formed a small shield around him to protect him with the energy she had left.
"ENOUGH!"
Suddenly, all of the ponies left fighting, including Twilight and Spike, felt themselves freeze. "I guess that you all are willing to suffer our wrath... With the crystal I can leave you all here. Of course you had the chance to end this war, but of course, you're all too stubborn to give up. I expected no less from each of you."
The changelings watched as their queen cackled, "Now... All of you will have no choice but to witness what happens next."
Ra's leaped down, holding down his sword. This forced Batman to hold up his own blade, blocking the sudden attack. The assassin landed, once more striking at the Dark Knight. The blade barely missed the hero's torso, ripping a part of his costume. Batman grunted, having leapt back to avoid the attack. He moved forward, but Ra's struck harder, causing the blae to fly out of his grip. With an advantage, Ra's guided his blade downward.
Batman held the blade with his palms, the gauntlets protecting him from the slice. The Dark Knight pushed Ra's Al Ghul's sword back from him, the assassin swung once more, but Batman ducked to the left, hitting Ra's side with a right hook before following a sideflip kick, the immortal assassin dosging in the process. Ra's held down his sword in pain then lifted it up once more, swinging vertically at Batman. The vigilante rolled to the left and avoided the slice. "Why go through all the trouble, Ra's?" he asked, referring to the fact he sent a group of foes his way without a second thought.
"To test you of course. Seems you passed."
Ra's Al Ghul growled, facing the Dark Knight once more. "You have one last chance this time, Detective. You have proven worthy to be my successor!" he hissed, aiming his sword at Batman, the hero blocking it with the scallops on his gauntlets. With a grunt, Batman pushed the sword away from him and punched the assassin in the jaw. Ra's wiped his face, seeing blood on his knuckles, "I'll prove it to you..." he said.
Susdenly, Ra's Al Ghul dropped his sword. "Do it, Batman. Save this world."
Picking up the sword he dropped earlier, Batman scowled, "You should know me by now, Ra's..." he hissed, "I'll never take another life. I'm not the one to decide to do such a thing." he replied.
Smirking, the assassin spoke, "Very well. I will let you be the example for these ponies. This world will burn then Earth will follow. You won't be able to stop me and neither will the ponies."
"What are you talk-" Batman was cut off by something hitting him in the back, knocking him unconscious and turning around he fell on his back in a matter of seconds . Chrysalis revealed herself, her horn glowing and the Dark Knight's back cape covered in rips, tears and smoke.
"End it, Ra's." she ordered.
Grabbing his sword with both hands, Ra's spoke, "I am sorry, Detective. But you have become a nuisance. I am afraid I must end you." he revealed. Batman didn't respond, and Ra's pushed his sword, through Batman's chest. The Dark Knight grunted, feeling blood pour around his chest and mouth. His eyes closed and his chest stopped moving, signaling his end. Ra's Al Ghul and Chrysalis stepped over his body with a foot and hoof.
The ponies gasped at the sight. Batman was dead. His friends teared up, seeing an enemy turned ally brought to his untimely end at the hooves of an alliance and during their darkest hour. Ra's laughed as he yelled.
"Let it be known, Equestria. For your world... There is no savior. No more hope. No more Batman."
"You monsters!" Fluttershy cried, tears pouring down her face. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike were all starting to feel tears run down their faces as well. Batman lay limp on the ground, a sword impaled through his chest and blood pouring from the wound and his mouth and nose. "Y-You killed him!"
"Ah, indeed we have. How observant." Chrysalis mocked.
Twilight tried to fight back her urge to cry. She hadn't seen such a brutal act be done before by anypony, and she and her friends weren't taking it well. She hugged Spike, who had began to sob. "You sick freaks... We'll stop you." she threatened in a slight slur from her sniffles and tears. "We'll d-do it for his sake. Batman will not die in vain."
"Oh? Now you're suddenly his best friends? He fought you all to a standstill!" Ra's laughed.
"H-He trusted us." Rarity mumbled, "He managed to put that aside to make sure we were safe. He died... The way he lived. After all he's g-gone through to just-" she paused herself, not wanting to go any further with what she had to say. Applejack wrapped a hoof over the unicorn's shoulder, trying to remain stoic, which was proving hard to do at a time like this.
"Y-Yeah! It's not fair for him!" Dash yelled.
Ra's stepped forward, "We do not care about what is fair. We're only here to purge the world of all of its sins. To rectify the mistakes made that brought us down as a species, yours included as I can tell. I'm only here to fulfill my mission. To save this world through any means necessary, and if Batman wants to die against that, then I shall not argue it any further." he said, kneeling down to face the broken cyan pegasus.
"Face it. Your army's down and your precious princesses have been weakened thanks to the Warp Crystal. The land of Equestria now belongs to the changelings and you seven cannot do anything about it!" snarled Chrysalis, the changeling queen bending down to boast to Twilight Sparkle, who scowled upon seeing her enemy. "Just give up and bow, give you a quick death, or I'll make sure Ra's makes your deaths extra painful." she warned the only alicorn left standing.
"Never."
"We'll never bow to the likes of you two!" Pinkie added.
"You bet! You're all sick psychos!" Dash scoffed.
Ra's huffed, "If you choose. Chrysalis... Use the crystal."
Following his order, Chrysalis's horn began to glow as did the Warp Crystal. The gem created an aura that forced the remaining seven heroes to stay still. "Now... I will end you myself. But if you bow to us, we'll spare you among the evils of the worlds that we live in. Perhaps we'll expand our forces and use your princesses as examples."
Twilight and her friends panted, unable to escape Chrysalis's forcefield. All hope had been lost. Batman was dead and Eauestria's heroes were in an impossible situation. Ra's Al Ghul, Queen Chrysalis, and the changelings have seemingly won a war that nopony was prepared to fight. It truly was the world's darkest hour.
Snapping his eyes open, Batman found himself in a gray void. "Where the hell am I?" he asked himself, his voice echoing through the strange rift. He noticed that his body was perfectly fine, and that he was obviously away from the battlefield back at Canterlot. "The last thing I remember is..." he trailed off, his memories coming back to him. "No! Ra's! I'm dead aren't I? Now two worlds will perish in his plans... No one, not even the ponies will survive. Why did I get them involved?!" he asked himself, regretting his decision to ally with the ponies of Equestria.
'Because you are a hero.'
The Dark Knight turned around, seeing Solar stand there. "Solar... Where am I?"
'In the bridge between life and death, Batman. I told you that I have been watching you and some other heroes for a reason. To form a team. You are indeed what I have been looking for. You put your trust in the ponies, despite not wanting to get them involved. You have shown that you can learn from your mistakes. The ponies wouldn't have lasted long in these events if it weren't for your involvment, and their involvement with you.' she explained.
"But they're going to die without me! The Warp Crystal is capable of anything!" Batman shouted at the top of his lungs, "It's over for them and my world! I'm dead, Solar! And if Ra's knows how to use the crystal they'll be as well!"
'I am aware of that, Dark Knight. That's why I managed to bring enough power to bring you back. But there will be a side effect... I have mentioned that you will bring back a lost element to this world. You have heard of the Elements of Harmony, correct?' once she saw Batman nod, she continued, 'My mission requires me to seek out the Elements of Harmony across different worlds, different elements that do not involve the ones you heard. I have found three at this point. You, Batman, are the Element of Trust. You're able to put aside your ego to aid others when the time calls for it.'
"So I'm part of some ancient prophecy.. You're starting to sound like that Azrael person I met back in Arkham City." the Dark Knight grumbled.
'So, I am able to bring you back to life as the Element of Trust, but with the choice of joining the other warriors, or you can proceed to the afterlife and live in your paradise.' offered Solar to the vigilante. 'But before you decide, two people there wanted to deliver a message to you personally.'
A beacon of light appeared in front of Batman. Two sillouhette figures appeared in the center. 'Bruce.' a male voice called out to the Dark Knight by his real voice.
"Dad?"
'Yes, Bruce. Thomas and I are so proud of what you became. As much as we want to see you again, you have a job to do. Be the Batman, Bruce.' said Batman's mother, Martha.
"I-I will Mom."
'Remember, Bruce. We'll always be waiting for you. When the time comes, we'll be a family again.'
The light faded, and Batman removed his mask, small tears falling down from his face and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thank you for that, Solar." he put back on his cowl, "But I know what must be done. I'll join your team. If only to help the ponies get the job done." he declared.
'Very well,' Solar nodded, 'I'll send you back with the Element's power!' she lit up her horn and teleported Batman away from the afterlife bridge, back to reality to finish the battle he started with new motivation.
Back in Canterlot, Batman's eyes opened up. 'They think they've won! Ra's and Chrysalis are wrong! I'll stop them and save Equestria and Earth.'
He grabbed the sword stabbed through him. The noise got the attention of Ra's and Chrysalis, and their eyes widened at the sight, "How? You should be dead!" scoffed the changeling queen.
"You could not have survived that without the use of a Lazarus Pit!" Ra's studdered.
Batman pulled the sword out of his chest and threw it across the floor. The ponies began to smile at the sight of seeing Batman was alive, all of his wounds gone. His suit was a darker shade of black and his bat-insignia was golden now. A powerful aura surrounding his being while he stood up. "It's over, you two." he declared, "End this before I make you." he warned, a scowl forming underneath his upgraded cowl. He felt the power eminate within him.
"Chrysalis! Now!" the assassin ordered. The changeling queen tried to hit Batman with her magic, but the Dark Knight deflected each shot while he walked forward. He grabbed Chrysalis by the throat and snarled in her face, terrifying her and getting rid of her overconfident attitude from just a moment ago.
"W-What a-are you!?" she asked in fear.
Batman punched Chrysalis and grabbed the crystal from her possession, "I am vengeance!" he began, throwing her depowered, weakened body on the floor.
"I am the night!"
The Dark Knight used the crystal's power and the Element of Truth's power in order to warp away the changeling army and heal everypony that was an ally lying around him. He walked to the still weakened Chrysalis and kicked her down, announcing once more declaration for all to hear.
"I AM BATMAN!"
Kicking Chrysalis down and unconscious, Batman faced the ponies, "You're all safe. It's over." he announced, the ponies looking at his new form in aew and confusion. Celestia and Luna woke up to see that everything was clear and that Batman was standing next to the defeated changeling queen and no army in sight,
"How are you alive?!" asked Twilight in disbelief.
Dash gushed, "That was so cool!"
"I know right?" Spike agreed.
"Batman? What happened?" asked Luna.
"It's over. The army is gone and Chrysalis... Speaking of which." the detective saw that Ra's Al Ghul picked up his sword to battle once more, but Batman unarmed him and held him down. His other hand holding the Warp Crystal that brought them into this mess in the first place, "I'm leaving now."
"Aw! But we never got to congratulate you!" whined Pinkie.
"I don't need thanks." he said. "Take care, you're all going to need to. I won't be back for a while. Not until I get some thigns sorted out on my world."
"Good luck, Batman!"
"Yeah, stay cool!"
"We'll be waiting!"
A thin smile on his face, Batman used the crystal's power and warped him and Ra's back to Earth where they can leave this past adventure behind them.
Twilight stood near the castle in Canterlot, her and the others helping repairs following the changeling invasion the day before. "Whew. It's tough managing all of this!" she sighed to Spike, who was resting on a beach chair. "You done with your break yet, Spike? We could use your claws."
"Yeah, give me a minute." replied the dragon.
"Yo, Twi!"
Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat off of her, landing next to the alicorn, "Bats got lucky! He should be here cleaning this mess up with us!" she joked, "How much can a guy like him get away with?" she asked, seeing a few other pegasi taking to the skies as well, the repair ponies having already starting.
"He has a world to protect, Dash." answered Twilight simply.
Dash waved a hoof, "Oh, I know that. I'm just messin' around. I'm only here to take a quick break, by the way. So, ya think he'll keep his word."
"I don't see why he wouldn't."
Dash chuckled, "Sure... But he's in another dimension with a gem containing infinite power or some junk like that, he better come back or I'll go there myself." she jokingly warned, earning a chuckle from the lavender princess.
"He'll be back, Dash. I know it."
"So, you learned the magic of friendship, huh?"
Batman sat in his Batcave, having told Nightwing and Robin of the story in his absence, something he was already regretting three seconds after the fact. "You know I can send you there whenever I want right, Dick?" he mocked his partner and former sidekick. Nightwing raised his arms in defense.
"You know I'm just messin' with you, Bruce. Glad to see your okay, though. Gotham's been a lot more quiet with you gone and Robin and I patrolling." he explained.
Robin looked at the crystal, "So, this is what Ra's used? Now that you know of this dimension, do you think you'll ever end up there again?"
Batman paused, remembering what Solar told him earlier, "Yes. I do have a feeling our worlds will cross paths again."
Solar sat in her hidden castle, looking at the pillars around her. Six of them surrounded her and three of them had something on top of them. The first was a red cap with an 'M' on the center, the second was a blue helmet, and the third was a red bandana. She looked up upon hearing a noise. A golden aura overtook a fourth pillar, this one was a golden object shaped like a bat, similar to Barman's symbol and batarangs.
'I see he did keep his word. Now, there are only two more Elements left to find in order to save this world from what's become of it and what it will be.'
"I am sorry, Batman."
Mister Freeze shot his cold gun once more at Batman, the Dark Knight rolling out of the way of the ice beam. Snow continued to fall around him, his freeze gun altering the clouds to keep his suit cold enough to stay active, "Victor! Listen! Ra's is fooling you! Whatever he offered, it's a lie!"
"It's the only chance I have left Batman. The only chance to save Nora!"
Freeze watched as Batman tossed a smoke pellet onto the ground, trying to hide from the frozen man, "It is no use, Dark Knight. Your parlor tricks cannot work on me." he declared. Suddenly, he felt something grab him from behind. Freeze saw Batman flip over his head and kick him in the dome, catching him off guard greatly. Freeze saw Batman stand up and move back, the icy human pressed a few buttons, activating his thermal sensors, "That will not work on me again, Batman. Just let this end easily please."
"Sorry, Victor. But you know I can't let that happen."
Meanwhile the ponies were wondering what to do, "W-What should we do, Twilight?"
"I-I dunno, I've never seen anypony like him!"
Rainbow groaned, "Well I'm tired of just sitting around while Batman does all the work!" she flew up.
"Rainbow wait!" Rarity pleaded, but the cyan pegasus ignored them, choosing to head into battle instead. Mister Freeze never saw Rainbow coming and felt her hooves punch his helmet. The frozen man staggered back, the pegasus feeling satisfied in doing something for once aince Batman arrived.
"Do not make me hurt you as well, ponies. As of right now you have no reason to be my targets, but I am willing to change that should you intrude on what really matters." Freeze threatened.
"You won't hurt them while I'm here, Victor." Batman warned, activating his Detective Vision, 'Hm. The armor's been upgraded since the last time we encountered. It would take a lot more to bring him down than my wits. Combine that with him learning from his mistakes, I may actually be outmatched. As much as I don't want to, I may have to put the ponies in Freeze's crossfire until we weaken the armor enough.' he thiught, planning something in his head.
Freeze started to walk, "Batman please. I must save Nora..." he begged, "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
"I'm sorry, Fries. You brought yourself to Ponyville. I have to stop you before you hurt someone." Batman growled, pulling out his Explosive Gel. He shot something out of it, using the Gel Launcher function of it and pressed the detonator, exploding a piece of Freeze's suit. "Applejack now!"
The farmpony looked confused at him calling her, but she ran toward Freeze and threw her lasso at him tying him up. Batman ran to the cold armored man and punched his helmet before jumping and slamming his face onto the dirt, "Very well Batman. You left me no choice, if you won't listen to my pleas, then you will watch the ponies suffer. This is all on you." he threatened, activating his armor to be immune to the gel blasts.
Freeze aimed his gun at the mares, "Freeze! No!" Batman shouted, the hero throwing a batarang at his hand, throwing off Mister Freeze's aim. The blast from the gun hit the wall behind the ponies, startling them, "You. Won't. Hurt. Anyone." he repeated with his teeth grit and a growl.
Batman reached Freeze and grabbed his arm while he was distracted. The Dark Knight threw his arm down and punched his face, the dome forming a crack. The iceman grumbled, "Batman... Don't do this to Nora... You know how much she means to me." he begged once more, Batman walking away from him.
"I know, Victor. But this isn't the way to go about it."
"The assassin promised me a cure."
Batman sighed, "Fine. If you won't listen to reason... Twilight! Rainbow! Now!"
The alicorn budged in her spot, shooting Freeze with her magic. Batman threw another batarang at Victor, distracting him long enough for Rainbow to spin around him to daze him. Freeze was stuck in the center of a rainbow tornado with no possible way out of it without getting damaged, 'Finally. They can actually handle themselves. I'm impressed.' mused Batman, watching Dash and Twilight face off against Freeze on their own.
"You do not wish to harm me if you know what's good for you." Freeze warned, glaring at the ponies through the fog-covered dome.
Dash yelled, "Well too bad! I've had it with you monsters! This is like the third day in a row where this happened!" she punched Mister Freeze in the chest, then while ascending, Twilight took to the skies as well, flying next to the battle-ready Pegasus. The alicorn readied a spell powerful enough to slightly breach Freeze's armor. Mister Freeze knelt down on the spot, holding the area where he was shot at with his free arm.
"Don't break the suit! You'll kill him!" warned Batman, 'The last thing I need is another casuality. I'm not letting anyone else die on my watch.'
The ponies nodded. Rarity noticed that Freeze was aiming his gun once again at Batman and used her magic to hold him still before running and kicking him with all four hooves. Batman walked up to him and removed the Freeze Gun from his hands, making sure he was weaponless. But Freeze used a magnet to draw the gun back at him and pointed it right at the Dark Knight. Batman growled, 'Magnets. Specifically made to draw to his unique heat signature. Clever.' he admitted in his head. He looked down at Rarity, "Get out of here."
The unicorn nodded, trotting out of the way to allow Batman to continue his fight. The vigilante raised his hands and curled them into fists. Freeze spoke once more, "Please, Batman..."
"If you really believe Ra's then shoot me." Batman suggested, opening his arms to allow a free shot. The ponies gasped at Batman's surrender. Mister Freeze pointed his gun at the detective, the end of it glowing blue. The mares feared what was going to happen to Batman. The only sound that was heard was the cold wind blowing past them thanks to the frozen man. Freeze sighed, lowering his gun for good.
Batman walked up to him, "Stop him, Batman. I should have never trusted that monster." Freeze apologized in a sincere tone.
"It's not your fault, Victor." Batman replied, "If you didn't agree in the first place, he would've found another way to force you. A method I wish would never happen."
Freeze looked at the ponies, "I am sorry for what I have done to you ponies. I do not wish for your forgiveness, but you must know why I'm here. It is the least I can do to hopefully shed some light..."
"Why should we listen to you?" Dash asked.
"Yeah, ya almost froze us to death!" shouted Applejack.
"Unlike any other foes I've faced. He is the one I've been in the least conflict with. Trust me, he will not hurt you without a reason." Batman assured. "Even if he did try to hurt you, he'd have to get through me first." he taunted.
"Girls. Let's just hear him out. This is the most one of the people who attacked have opened up to us." Twilight suggested.
Rarity looked at the armored man, "Very well, Freeze."
"My name is Victor Fries. I was once a happily married man. My beautiful wife Nora... I loved her with all of my soul. But... I learned that she was dying of a disease, an incurable one. A cure I sought to find on my own. So, I froze her until that day comes. But the company I worked for betrayed me and took my notes and made me the very cold man you see. I grew bitter and built weapons to stop them before Batman stopped me. Ever since, the only time we crossed paths was when our motives conflicted. But Batman is a man I respect when he's not in my way." explained Mister Freeze.
"I am here because Ra's Al Ghul promised me the cure I've been looking for. But that only led me to hurt those who have no clue as to why I truly am here and what my purpose for doing so was. For that, you have my deepest apologies."
"Woah... That's deep." said a sorrowful Rainbow Dash.
Rarity wiped a tear from her eye from the story, "I am sorry to hear about that, Victor."
"I do not need pity. I have a feeling that I shall return to Earth, Batman. I shall continue my research and stay out of this conflict. This is your battle to fight, not mine." Freeze insisted.
"We could use someone like you for help."
Freeze shook his head, "I cannot aid you this time, Dark Knight. I have left Nora alone long enough as it is. I have to make sure that she is safe. But I wish you the best of luck Batman." the two shook hands briefly.
"Um... Mister Freeze. You do not seem to be a bad pony." Fluttershy said with tears welling up in her eyes, "I hope you find the cure."
"Thank you, kind pony." the cold man said before fading away, "Till we meet again, Batman. Hopefully on better terms." he said one more thing before fading back to his world.
"Ra's made a mistake in forcing him here. The only reason why he agreed was to save Nora. He wouldn't be here otherwise." Batman said to himself, "He had no reason to bring him here since we only fought twice."
The weather began to clear up as the snow melted away and the clouds parted, revealing the sun. "Now. I must continue to study until I can track Ra's Al Ghul's location. Do not bother me."
