Smile Like You Mean Itby Cool_QuickChaptersDeathResurrectionLifeMadnessDeathGotham City. It’s a beautiful place on the outside. Inside, it’s like hell. It’s a land of corrupt cops, scared people, and crazy psychos. A few crazies have come and gone already. Some have stuck around. Penguin is mayor of Gotham, and really enjoys it. Most of the time. He also enjoys killing people who disrupt his daily schedule. At his side, working against him in the background is Edward Nygma, who will become the Riddler soon. I could go on for a while about Mr. Freeze, Butch Gilzean, the Red Hood gang, and, the reason for this tale. Jerome Valeska. In just a few short days, he managed to kill around 20 people, and brought all of Gotham in an uproar. He was killed by billionaire Theo Galavan, who just so happened to be a psycho himself. Galavan’s dead now, but his sister remains to remind everyone that his soul lives on. It’s been a year since Jerome died. Since then, a cult rose around him, growing by the day. At the time of this telling, over half of the city was under the cult. And now, they have a plan. To revive Jerome. Our story begins on a cloudy evening in Gotham, right in front of the building where all the frozen corpses had been taken after the destruction of Indian Hill lab. Guarding the building were two very bored guards, beginning their 23rd round of “Go Fish.” “Do you have any 2’s?” the guard on the left asked. “Nope, Go Fish,” responded the other. The first guard picked up a card, and shivered as a sudden breeze kicked up. “Jesus, it’s cold!” “Quit whining,” the other responded. “It makes it worse when you complain. You got any 5’s?” The first guard shifted position in his cold metal chair for the 17th time in the past half hour. “Nights like this make me wonder why we’re out here. And yes.” The second guard took the five card from the other, and shuffled his deck. Looking out across the street, he stiffened. “Hey, do you see what I’m seeing?” His friend squinted in the dim light the overhead streetlight provided. “Yeah.” He got to his feet. Coming down the street was a shadowy figure, walking with a bit of an unconcerned strut. “Someone’s coming,” said the first guard. Suddenly, the shadow split into two. “No, two someones! Now three! Now… holy crap.” The man had turned into around 100, and it just kept getting bigger. The first guard pulled out his revolver. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” The man in the front, leader Dwight Pollard, just laughed. A shot rang out, followed by two more. Dwight looked with exaggerated confusion as three of his “friends” went down, before going back to his strut walking. “I said stop or…” his words were drowned out by another shot, this time from the other guard, who pulled the trigger on his companions head. “Took you long enough,” he said to Dwight. “Ran into some trouble,” was the response. Dwight was a very jittery man, eyes always seeming to be looking everywhere at once. His fingers always fluttered, and when he stood still his feet tapped nervously on the concrete. “Well, at least you finally arrived,” the guard finally said. Dwight held up a hand. “Is he here?” The guard smiled. “Still dead, but not for long.” He led Dwight and two other cult members inside. The room was extremely gloomy, and very cold. There were a couple dozen frozen corpses, which were stored at -200 degrees Celsius. The room was like a giant freezer. Even Dwight, who normally didn’t mind cold, found himself wrapping his scarf about his neck and shuddering a bit. “Yeah, we have to keep it cold. Keeps them fresh.” “Where is he?” Dwight exclaimed in impatience. “Right here,” the guard responded, gesturing to the third capsule in the second row. Dwight nervously walked forward, as if expecting the corpse inside to suddenly jump out and attack him. This was Gotham after all. Looking inside, he stared in awe. “It’s you.” The guard’s face broke into a grin, and so did Dwight’s. “It’s really you.” Dwight broke into hysterical giggles as he stared at the frozen smile of Jerome Valeska. Everyone else did the same as they lifted the capsule out of its resting place, and carried it into the night. The next morning, at Gotham Police Department, Detective James Gordon and his friend Captain Harvey Bullock were having a drink. They had just looked at the crime scene, and talked to one of the cult members they had arrested. He was talking about "the awakening." That made everyone uneasy. Not only that, one of their own officers had betrayed them by calling Dwight and telling him about everything. He had been arrested as well. As the two sat and drank, Lucius Foxx came in. "Bad news." "Joy," Harvey said. "What is it?" "We've just had signals from Gotham Power Plant go a little haywire as little as fifteen minutes ago. They're trying to revive Jerome." "Oh, yeah, we really need that maniac to cause us more harm." "We have to go," Gordon declared as he headed out the door. "What about your...?" Harvey began, holding up Jim's half empty glass. Finally, he followed, muttering about spending money on nothing. At the same time, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer were taking a walk around Twilight's castle. The two were having a conversation, which started with the typical how-are-you, and the-weather-is-nice-today and so on. Soon, however, it turned into a summoning spell discussion. "I know I can do it Twilight!" Starlight exclaimed. "I don't know," Twilight responded. "It takes a lot of energy and skill." Starlight gave puppy eyes. "Please?" Twilight finally gave in, and Starlight focused. "What can I summon?" She closed her eyes, and reached across time and space. Suddenly, she felt a jolt, almost like electricity. She thought she also heard a voice say "Come on, wake up." She saw an image of a man, unlike anything she'd ever seen before, smiling as he pointed a gun right at her. She saw him holding a knife to the neck of a little boy, laughing hysterically. "Starlight?!" "Jerome?!" A bright beam shot from Starlight's horn, and shot into space. She screamed, and crumpled to the ground. "Starlight!" Twilight yelled, rushing to her side. As she tried to revive her student, she looked at the sky. What could she have seen? What had she summoned? ResurrectionDwight wasn't having a good time. He had been trying for almost 20 minutes to revive Jerome, to no avail. No matter what switches he flicked, or buttons he pressed, or wires he disconnected and reconnected, Jerome wasn't getting any less dead. In fact, he almost seemed deader. Dwight had gone from joyful, to hopeful, to nervous, to annoyed, to now just plain angry. He was so mad in fact that when another cult member came in to tell Dwight that the GCPD were coming, and also reminded him how dead Jerome was, Dwight simply lashed out and killed the guy. But, right before he killed him, the man had said something which stuck with him. "They want to see his face." Dwight turned to Jerome with a strange look on his face. "You know, you make an interesting point," he said to the new dead corpse. He walked to the corpse of Jerome, and pulled out a scalpel. Carefully beginning to carve into the flesh of Jerome's face, he giggled a bit. "They want to see your face, hm?" It was a messy job, and a bit time consuming, but he finally managed to pull Jerome's face clean off. Hearing police sirens outside, he prepared for his escape. And that's when something strange happened. The machine that Jerome was attached to suddenly began beeping wildly. At first, Dwight thought Jerome was suddenly with a pulse, but realized quickly that wasn't the case. Because when he turned around, a bright blue flash suddenly blinded him, causing him to drop Jerome's face. He didn't see it suddenly fly into a newly created portal along with Jerome's corpse. He just saw, well, nothing except brightness. Then, as suddenly as it was mentioned in this paragraph, it vanished, leaving only a stunned Dwight, and an empty spot where Jerome had been. That was where the police found Dwight when they arrived. Gordon took one look around, and knew something had been going on. "What happened here?" he asked Dwight. Dwight just stared at the empty operating table in shock. "I..." he appeared to be struggling with the next part. "...he... just disappeared. This bright light... Jerome's gone..." He slumped against Gordon in a dead faint. "Get this loon to the GCPD," Harvey said to two nearby officers. As the officers carried the limp form of Dwight away, Harvey looked at Gordon. "What do you think happened?" "Well, Jerome's corpse has got to be somewhere around here." "What if it's not a corpse anymore?" Harvey exclaimed. "What if he did something to Dwight? He could be out there right now, biding his time like a ninja thief." "Well, if that's the case," Gordon intoned. "The people around him aren't going to be happy." "Easy now, Starlight," Twilight soothed as the other mare tried to get up out of bed. "You need more rest." "I've been resting for three hours!" Starlight complained in annoyance, trying to push past Twilight. "Twilight, she could get up for a minute," Spike said nearby, as he sat reading a comic book. "She needs rest," Twilight insisted for the fifth time. "What are you reading anyway?" "Oh, it's a new series!" Spike exclaimed as he showed her the cover. "It's the story of a pony whose parents were killed. Years later, she donned a suit and became known as..." he made a drum roll motion with his claws. "Batmare!" "Silly name," Starlight put in from the floor as she tried to crawl away before Twilight noticed. So far, Twilight hadn't. "In this story, she fight an insane master criminal known as the Joker. He was a handsome stallion who got dunked into a vat of chemicals. It not only changed his appearance to that of a clown, it also drove him completely insane!" "Sounds delightful Spike," Twilight said. "Now why don't you...?" She was interrupted by the sound of a thunk from downstairs, followed by a small splat. "What in the hay was that?" Spike wondered. "Go check it out, Spike," Twilight declared. "I'll hold the fort here." "Whoopee," Spike cheered sarcastically as he trudged down the stairs. He made his way down the hall, and went towards the throne room, where he'd played a game with Big Mac and Discord only a couple of weeks before. He went inside, expecting to see either Rainbow Dash lying on the table moaning, or a bookshelf fallen over. He was not expecting to see a frightening shape lying sprawled on the table. It had fingers and toes like Spike, but it had five of each, and its limbs were longer. Where its face should have been was only a bloody area. Spike nearly threw up, but knew he needed to be brave. "What happened to your face?" he wondered aloud. He saw something on the floor, and realized that it had to be the creature's face. He did what any normal baby dragon would do then. He threw up. Twilight came into the room. "Spike, what's taking so..." she gave a screech at the "thing" lying comatose on the table. "What is it?" she squealed. Starlight examined it. "It's dead, whatever it is." Twilight immediately relaxed. "Good. Then we can dissect it." Spike threw up again. "Spike, you know I just cleaned that floor," Twilight groaned. Spike just gagged in response. "Wait, did you see that?" Starlight asked. "What?" "Its eyelid. I swear it flickered a bit." The three watched for a minute, but nothing else happened. "Aw, it was probably your mind still reeling from being tired," Twilight said. "That's why you need rest." Starlight grumbled. "What do we do with it?" Spike asked. "Just leave it for now," was the response. "I need you to get the rest of my friends while I get my autopsy kit." "Couldn't Nurse Redheart do it?" "She's out of town, remember?" Twilight reminded. "You just talked to her about her trip to Canterlot last week." "Yeah, right," Spike said sullenly. "Oh, and Spike?" When Spike turned around, Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Take his face with you. Just as a backup." "Fine," Spike grumbled, gingerly picking up the creature's face as if it was a poisonous adder. He trudged out the door, mumbling about how he wished he could have a normal day just once. "Come on Starlight," Twilight declared to the other mare. "I need to get you to bed before I get to the autopsy." The two clopped out the door, not noticing one of the creature's fingers suddenly twitch. An hour later, all of the Main Six were assembled in Twilight's entry hall. And they were all talking at once. "Are you sure it's dead?" Fluttershy was saying. "It's face is cut off? The poor thing!" "I wanna see it," Rainbow Dash said. "I bet it looks cool." "Ah don't know oo' in the worl' would cut off sumbody's face like that. It's just darn wrong." "Oh, I must at least see its clothes, darling. It must look proper." "Guys!" Twilight yelled louder than she meant. Everyone fell silent. It was quiet for about three seconds. And then a party blast was heard behind them. "Wheee!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she flipped in front of Twilight. "I can't WAIT to hold the First Annual "Dead Human Found in Twilight's Castle" party. It's going to be a BLAST!" She sent forth a blast of confetti from the Pinkie Dimension, which is a mysterious place that only Pinkie knows about, and can use. It was then that she noticed the stares. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something?" "We were just discussing what we should do about the corpse. Other than inspecting it of course." The way Twilight said "inspecting" made Spike feel a little nervous. "I still don't see how cutting a knife into a dead body is 'beneficial to science,'" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she made hoof quotes. Exactly, Spike mouthed at her. "Because..." Twilight fumed as she searched for a good reason. "It just is!" "Okay..." Rainbow remarked, trying not to break into snickers. "We need to at least look at it first," Rarity said. "Before it gets all ruined." "Good idea," Twilight praised. "Fluttershy, why don't you look first? The rest of us will search for my autopsy kit." "She lost it," Spike added. "Again." Twilight hit him with her version of the Stare, which Spike found kind of funny. "Oh, well, um..." Fluttershy looked at Twilight's eager face, before confidently saying "Okay" "Excellent!" Twilight beamed. "Have fun!" With that, everyone except Fluttershy went off down the hall, Twilight and Spike going on about whether Twilight lost her kit or not. Fluttershy turned and headed towards the room where the corpse lay, a little nervous about what she might find. When she reached the door, she tentatively pushed it open with her hoof, and went inside. And she gave a squeak. Where there had been a corpse, was now just a bloody spot on the table. Fluttershy stepped inside a little further and yelled "Hello?" No answer. "Somebody?" The door suddenly slammed shut behind her, and a pair of arms wrapped around her mouth, blocking her scream. With wide eyes, she saw a knife put in front of her vision, dangerously close to her neck. From behind, she heard a raspy, demonic kind of voice say "Boo." The word was followed by hysterical giggles that sent chills up her spine. She managed to free her mouth long enough to gasp "Who are you?" The figure chuckled again. "I'm someone who will bring a smile to everyone's face." Then he gave a fake gasp. "Oh, you mean my name." Fluttershy was turned around to face the figure, and she gave a scream that was muffled by his grasp. His face, or where his face should have been, was just a mass of blood, with only a smiling mouth, and two insane eyes looking at her. "Well, the name's Jerome Valeska. We're going to have so much fun together." LifeAuthor's Note Well I was not expecting to be doing this again. But, at people's request here is Chapter 3. I hope everyone enjoys, and let me know in the comments anything you think Jerome should do. Life Fluttershy woke with a start when something cold and wet splashed in her face. Above her, she heard a raspy voice say "Ah... nothing like a cold shower to get you going in the morning." What's happened? Fluttershy wondered. Then she saw that demonic face and remembered. She had fainted after seeing Jerome's face, or lack thereof. "What do you want?" Fluttershy asked, shuddering as Jerome smiled at her. Jerome sat down in front of her, his face an exaggeration of thought. "You know, I was originally just going to stab you right in that pretty neck, but I decided that wouldn't be fun at all." He suddenly came forward with a smile, causing Fluttershy to jump back. "Instead I figured you could tell me where I am, and how to get back to..." He looked a little puzzled, and then suddenly hacked and coughed raggedly. "Sorry..." he said, not sounding very sorry at all. "Still a little fuzzy... Earth! That's right, I remember." So that's where he's from. Fluttershy looked at the gleeful Jerome, and wondered what nightmare created him. "Anyway," Jerome said. "Where am I? We'll start with that old cliché of a question." "Equestria," Fluttershy replied, hoping her voice wasn't shaking too much. "Okay, I live in a horse pun." Jerome giggled that horrible laugh. "Figures. What town in this?" "You're on the outskirts of Ponyville." Jerome laughed. "Another horse pun. And let me guess, there's places like Manehatten, Fillydelphia and so on, right?" When Fluttershy nodded shakily, Jerome laughed hysterically. "Wow! That's too good!" Then he laughed some more, the knife in his hand a little too close for Fluttershy's comfort. "Okay," Jerome suddenly stopped laughing, and gave her a piercing stare. "Since I know where I am, do you have any idea how to get back to Earth? I have someone I need to kill." Fluttershy found some courage. "I don't know." Jerome rolled his eyes. "Really? That's one of the worst lies I've ever seen." Fluttershy put some power in her eyes and words. "I don't know." Jerome looked at her eyes for a second with a thoughtful expression on his face. Then something he saw in her eyes struck him as hysterically funny, and he started giggling again. Fluttershy realized then that her Stare had no effect on him. His mind is like a raging hurricane, she thought. Suddenly, Jerome grabbed her by the neck, and held his knife right next to her cheek. "Alright, little pony," he said, his voice now demonic. "Where can I get back to Earth? Tell me, or I give you a smile." He sliced through the air in demonstration, making Fluttershy tremble. "Fine," she squeaked. "Only the Princesses know. There's a secret place that Princess Celestia has in her castle that can be used for interdimensional travel." "Perfect," Jerome said, smiling. "Where is that?" "Canterlot." Jerome laughed. "Seriously? Horse pun Number 5 has been served." "Why do you want to go back?" Fluttershy asked. Jerome giggled. "Well, there's a couple of people I need to kill. Theo Galavan, and Bruce Wayne. They rained on my parade, and it was quite a storm. Even had some thunder." He laughed again. "Anyway, Theo Galavan was the one who killed me, so it's only natural I return the favor." Fluttershy suddenly recognized Jerome. "Wait, the Princesses saw you in a portal! You were that redhead boy who threatened that kid and got stabbed to death." "That'd be me," Jerome said, looking as proud as if he'd been an actor recognized for a performance he'd just had. "Theo Galavan was the man who stabbed me, so I might as well..." "Princess Celestia saw him die." Fluttershy couldn't believe she was so bold. No turning back now. "Aw..." Jerome looked very disappointed and irritated as if he'd just been denied a bowl of ice cream. "Who beat me to it?" Fluttershy still had some bravery left apparently, as she found herself saying "Which time?" Jerome gave that death glare, the one that made Fluttershy's resolve cave again. "Galavan... came back to life too?" Fluttershy could only nod. Jerome laughed again. "That son of a bitch is always finding new and improved ways of upstaging me. Well, this time, I have something planned that'll knock everyone's socks, and maybe even their shoes off." He looked at Fluttershy again. "Your name?" he suddenly asked. "Fl-fl..." Jerome put a hand to his ear and leaned closer. "Sorry, a truck went by 60 blocks away." Fluttershy squeaked out "Fluttershy..." "What was that?" Jerome laughed. "A mosquito flew out the window, so it drowned that out." "Fluttershy," she breathed. "Well, that's a fitting name for a pony so shy she couldn't be heard if a power saw came on in the next county." His rudeness and his ruthlessness frightened Fluttershy. He was uncontrollable, unpredictable, and crazy to the core. And two people were on his mind who he wanted dead. One now. "One last question," Jerome asked, as he leaned even closer. Fluttershy braced herself. "Where is my face?" Twilight and the gang meanwhile had finally found her autopsy kit. They were heading back towards the room where Fluttershy had gone into to watch the corpse, when Twilight said "Spike, where's that face?" Spike looked at her. "I was tired of carrying that disgusting thing, so I set it on this table right..." He was pointing at a table that distinctly lacked a face. "Here?" his statement finished in a question. Fluttershy suddenly staggered out of the door. "Fluttershy!" Twilight said. "Is the corpse ruined?" "No, the corpse is alive!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "He almost stabbed me with a knife!" "Fluttershy," Twilight soothed. "There's no way a corpse can just come back to life. That takes a level of highly advanced magic." "Uh, guys?" Spike said, noticing something walking by the nearby window. "Not now Spike," Twilight interrupted. "Corpses stay corpses okay?" "Twilight?" Fluttershy squeaked, pointing. "What in the hay is making everyone so...?" Twilight began before she saw. Everyone was staring at Jerome, face in one hand, something else in the other. He was smiling at them, an evil, insane smile. He waved brightly as if he was a kid waving at a friend, and then moved out of sight. "No... way..." Twilight said. "I don't know whether to praise science or be terrified." Rainbow Dash tried to laugh. "That dude looked ridiculous... without a face... smiling like a clown..." Even Applejack shuddered. "Believe me, sugarcube, ah ain't evr seen sumthin so evil in mah life." "What does he want?" Twilight asked. "For everything to burn," Fluttershy mumbled before fainting. Outside, two guards were posted. They were sitting chatting about Filly Joe Armstrong's solo work when suddenly they heard a raspy voice say "I love that band you know. And these pony puns are a knockout." Jerome stepped into view, smiling at the two guards. The guards immediately raised their weapons. "Who are you?" they asked. Jerome showed no concern whatsoever. "Come on. Let's not have such a boring time." The guards charged at him. Jerome suddenly dodged out of the way, and managed to grab one of the guards spears. He used it to stab the other armed guard in an exposed spot, and the guard quickly died. The other disarmed guard gulped as he stared up at Jerome's smiling lack of face. "Please..." Jerome swung the weapon, and completely knocked the guard's head off, sending it down a rabbit hole. "Hole in one!" Jerome laughed and cheered, imitating an audience. "I best not get a head of myself." Laughing hysterically, he walked into the sunset, beginning to use a stapler he found to reattach his face. MadnessAuthor's Note Whoo, man. Took me long enough didn't it? Well, here is the long awaited Chapter 4. Let me know what you think Jerome should do next. Madness In a little shop on the outskirts of Ponyville, a salesman arranged his wares for the 23rd time that morning. He was quite proud of his place, and wanted to keep it tidy. Hearing the bell over the door chime, he said without looking up "We're on lunch break. Please come back in 20 minutes." A voice behind him, one that was raspy and demonic said "Yeah, I need a stapler." The shopkeeper shuddered a bit, but said "20 minutes." Suddenly, he was turned swiftly around and found himself face to lack of face with Jerome Valeska, who put a knife to the pony's throat. "How about now?" Jerome asked. The keeper made a strangled scream and spluttered. "Yes! Staplers! Lots of them." He pointed with a trembling hoof towards a shelf full of different devices, including paper clips, hole punchers, and of course, staplers. Jerome let go of the shopkeeper and pranced (get it? Because horses... ah whatever) over to the pile of staplers. He spent about a couple of minutes pretending to select one and then picked up a brand new one that was in a glass case. "That one isn't for sale..." the shopkeeper tried to say. Jerome looked the shopkeeper in the eye with a look that said "Please keep talking so I can shoot your head off." "...actually it was just put on sale five minutes ago, so you can have it..." the shopkeeper corrected midsentence. Jerome grinned. "Excellent." He reached into his pocket and drew something disgusting from it. At first, the shopkeeper thought it was a dirty handkerchief, but then Jerome put it to his head, and the pony realized that the bloody mess was Jerome's face. He realized what this insane man was about to do right as Jerome put the first staple on. Slowly, painfully, he began stapling his face back onto his head, and the shopkeeper felt as if he'd throw up. He dared not move, since that knife still looked quite sharp. Finally, Jerome turned around. He looked even more demonic with his face on, than off. His mouth was stretched into a permanent grin, and blood oozed out from the spots where the staples were. "Didn't that hurt?" Jerome laughed. "Not really. Wanna try?" He lunged forward and put a staple right on the pony's tongue. The shopkeeper was too busy crying out in pain to notice the knife finally hit him right in his lungs. Less than a minute later, Jerome's third victim in Equestria lay dead on the floor. Jerome himself said "That's for making your prices so high." He looked at the tag on something that looked like a vacuum cleaner. "25 bits? Seems a "bit" high." He giggled to himself as he left the shop, reattaching a staple that began slipping from his detached face. "Come on girls," Twilight said as they left the castle. "We have to catch that man!" "Maybe the guards can help us," Rarity remarked as they neared the spot where the guards were. Well, they were still there. They were just no longer in the living. The six ponies gasped at the scene, and Rarity immediately covered Spike's eyes with her hoof. "What in the hell?" Rainbow Dash spluttered. Bloody scenes like this were not common in Equestria. Twilight put a hoof to one of the guards chests. "They're dead," she stated, in a mixture of both grief and horror. Fluttershy was hyperventilating, and Applejack even looked shocked. "Sugarcube, ah've only known this her' "Jahrome" for ahbout fifteen minutes, but ah can ahssure ya that ah already think e's one of tha most evil creatures ah've ever seen in mah life." Rarity was still trying not to faint from all of this, but she finally gathered the strength to nod. Twilight turned from the dead guards and said "Okay everyone, we have to find this Jerome, and we have to stop him." "How?" Rainbow Dash asked. "He could be anywhere in Equestria by now. Plus, I don't really want to find him." When they all looked at her quizzically, Rainbow finally exclaimed "He creeps the crap out of me, okay?" Twilight shivered. "Me too, but we've faced plenty of evil things before. Discord, Tirek, Tempest Shadow..." "Sombra…" Fluttershy muttered. "Exactly!" Twilight declared. "What's so different about Jerome?" "Um, he's insane?" Rainbow Dash stated. "He actually kills ponies? In COLD BLOOD?!" Twilight's confident smile faltered. "Oh, true. But, we have to at least try. We have something he doesn't. Friendship. Together, we can stop Jerome's wicked plans." She quickly scrawled a letter to Princess Celestia stating basic facts about Jerome and sent it with Spike. "There. Princess Celestia can help us." "I hope..." Fluttershy squeaked as they all left the castle grounds, following the trail of blood. Meanwhile in Canterlot, Shining Armor quickly rushed into the throne room where Princess Luna and Princess Celestia sat playing a game of chess. The two princesses quickly got to their hooves as Shining Armor handed a letter to Celestia. "Intercepted this from Twily. Says it's urgent." Celestia opened the letter and read... Dear Princess Celestia… I am very concerned about a recent event that has occurred. My pupil Starlight Glimmer accidentally brought an insane human from who knows where here in Equestria. His name is Jerome, and he has already killed at least two ponies, and possibly more. I fear for everypony's lives, dear princess, and we're asking for your kind assistance in locating this madman to bring him to justice. Your pupil, Twilight Sparkle "Oh, goodness!" Luna exclaimed. "This "Jerome" seems quite dangerous. What shall we do sister?" Celestia read the letter once again, her face becoming very grave. "We cannot allow this human to continue." Looking at Shining Armor, she said "Bring all of your troops together. We need all the support we can to locate him." "Yes, your majesty," Shining Armor saluted before quickly galloping out of the room, leaving Luna and Celestia together in the throne room, wondering just how much damage could be caused by one human. Meanwhile, Jerome was strolling down beside a railroad track, whistling merrily to himself. He had left the shop and run into a couple just strolling by. Since they immediately tried to call for help, Jerome quickly shot them with a quick blast from his pistol that he "borrowed" from another shop nearby. It was a shop that collected random things from other worlds, and the pistol happened to catch Jerome's eye. The cost? The shopkeeper's life. This, along with the couple, brought his pony death count up to six. Jerome smiled as he heard the noise of a train coming down the track. He quickly dove into a nearby bush, and waited for the train to appear. Less than a minute later, the train came sailing around the corner. As it neared him, Jerome quickly dove out from the bush, and caught the rail next to the conductor's car. Nopony had seen him yet. Most people would have been terrified to be on the outside of a train going 80 miles an hour. Not Jerome. He wanted to throw his hands up and whoop, but that would have spoiled the biggest, and funnest part. (now a word) He carefully reached out his hand, and caught hold of the door leading into the conductor's compartment. Peeping in, Jerome saw the conductor pony leaning against the controls, looking sleepily straight ahead of him. Jerome smiled as he climbed in without making a sound, and made his way behind the pony. "Okay, everypony," the conductor muttered into his intercom. "We're gonna reach Canterlot in about fi----" his sentence was interrupted by a knife entering his windpipe. He was dead before he hit the ground. Jerome pranced into the conductor's seat, and fumbled with the intercom. "How do ya work this thing... there we go!" He heard confused mumblings in the other cars, and said "Hello, colorful ponies! Sorry, but your conductor has been terminated." Terrified screams echoed from behind him. "But never fear!" Jerome continued. "I have taken over as your humble conductor to... Canterlot." He giggled. "Sounds like something out of a Hasbro TV show." He flicked a switch, and the train picked up speed. At the same time, the ponies screams reached deafening levels. "Hold on to your... horses!" Jerome laughed. "We're gonna have a bumpy ride."
DeathGotham City. It’s a beautiful place on the outside. Inside, it’s like hell. It’s a land of corrupt cops, scared people, and crazy psychos. A few crazies have come and gone already. Some have stuck around. Penguin is mayor of Gotham, and really enjoys it. Most of the time. He also enjoys killing people who disrupt his daily schedule. At his side, working against him in the background is Edward Nygma, who will become the Riddler soon. I could go on for a while about Mr. Freeze, Butch Gilzean, the Red Hood gang, and, the reason for this tale. Jerome Valeska. In just a few short days, he managed to kill around 20 people, and brought all of Gotham in an uproar. He was killed by billionaire Theo Galavan, who just so happened to be a psycho himself. Galavan’s dead now, but his sister remains to remind everyone that his soul lives on. It’s been a year since Jerome died. Since then, a cult rose around him, growing by the day. At the time of this telling, over half of the city was under the cult. And now, they have a plan. To revive Jerome. Our story begins on a cloudy evening in Gotham, right in front of the building where all the frozen corpses had been taken after the destruction of Indian Hill lab. Guarding the building were two very bored guards, beginning their 23rd round of “Go Fish.” “Do you have any 2’s?” the guard on the left asked. “Nope, Go Fish,” responded the other. The first guard picked up a card, and shivered as a sudden breeze kicked up. “Jesus, it’s cold!” “Quit whining,” the other responded. “It makes it worse when you complain. You got any 5’s?” The first guard shifted position in his cold metal chair for the 17th time in the past half hour. “Nights like this make me wonder why we’re out here. And yes.” The second guard took the five card from the other, and shuffled his deck. Looking out across the street, he stiffened. “Hey, do you see what I’m seeing?” His friend squinted in the dim light the overhead streetlight provided. “Yeah.” He got to his feet. Coming down the street was a shadowy figure, walking with a bit of an unconcerned strut. “Someone’s coming,” said the first guard. Suddenly, the shadow split into two. “No, two someones! Now three! Now… holy crap.” The man had turned into around 100, and it just kept getting bigger. The first guard pulled out his revolver. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” The man in the front, leader Dwight Pollard, just laughed. A shot rang out, followed by two more. Dwight looked with exaggerated confusion as three of his “friends” went down, before going back to his strut walking. “I said stop or…” his words were drowned out by another shot, this time from the other guard, who pulled the trigger on his companions head. “Took you long enough,” he said to Dwight. “Ran into some trouble,” was the response. Dwight was a very jittery man, eyes always seeming to be looking everywhere at once. His fingers always fluttered, and when he stood still his feet tapped nervously on the concrete. “Well, at least you finally arrived,” the guard finally said. Dwight held up a hand. “Is he here?” The guard smiled. “Still dead, but not for long.” He led Dwight and two other cult members inside. The room was extremely gloomy, and very cold. There were a couple dozen frozen corpses, which were stored at -200 degrees Celsius. The room was like a giant freezer. Even Dwight, who normally didn’t mind cold, found himself wrapping his scarf about his neck and shuddering a bit. “Yeah, we have to keep it cold. Keeps them fresh.” “Where is he?” Dwight exclaimed in impatience. “Right here,” the guard responded, gesturing to the third capsule in the second row. Dwight nervously walked forward, as if expecting the corpse inside to suddenly jump out and attack him. This was Gotham after all. Looking inside, he stared in awe. “It’s you.” The guard’s face broke into a grin, and so did Dwight’s. “It’s really you.” Dwight broke into hysterical giggles as he stared at the frozen smile of Jerome Valeska. Everyone else did the same as they lifted the capsule out of its resting place, and carried it into the night. The next morning, at Gotham Police Department, Detective James Gordon and his friend Captain Harvey Bullock were having a drink. They had just looked at the crime scene, and talked to one of the cult members they had arrested. He was talking about "the awakening." That made everyone uneasy. Not only that, one of their own officers had betrayed them by calling Dwight and telling him about everything. He had been arrested as well. As the two sat and drank, Lucius Foxx came in. "Bad news." "Joy," Harvey said. "What is it?" "We've just had signals from Gotham Power Plant go a little haywire as little as fifteen minutes ago. They're trying to revive Jerome." "Oh, yeah, we really need that maniac to cause us more harm." "We have to go," Gordon declared as he headed out the door. "What about your...?" Harvey began, holding up Jim's half empty glass. Finally, he followed, muttering about spending money on nothing. At the same time, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer were taking a walk around Twilight's castle. The two were having a conversation, which started with the typical how-are-you, and the-weather-is-nice-today and so on. Soon, however, it turned into a summoning spell discussion. "I know I can do it Twilight!" Starlight exclaimed. "I don't know," Twilight responded. "It takes a lot of energy and skill." Starlight gave puppy eyes. "Please?" Twilight finally gave in, and Starlight focused. "What can I summon?" She closed her eyes, and reached across time and space. Suddenly, she felt a jolt, almost like electricity. She thought she also heard a voice say "Come on, wake up." She saw an image of a man, unlike anything she'd ever seen before, smiling as he pointed a gun right at her. She saw him holding a knife to the neck of a little boy, laughing hysterically. "Starlight?!" "Jerome?!" A bright beam shot from Starlight's horn, and shot into space. She screamed, and crumpled to the ground. "Starlight!" Twilight yelled, rushing to her side. As she tried to revive her student, she looked at the sky. What could she have seen? What had she summoned?
ResurrectionDwight wasn't having a good time. He had been trying for almost 20 minutes to revive Jerome, to no avail. No matter what switches he flicked, or buttons he pressed, or wires he disconnected and reconnected, Jerome wasn't getting any less dead. In fact, he almost seemed deader. Dwight had gone from joyful, to hopeful, to nervous, to annoyed, to now just plain angry. He was so mad in fact that when another cult member came in to tell Dwight that the GCPD were coming, and also reminded him how dead Jerome was, Dwight simply lashed out and killed the guy. But, right before he killed him, the man had said something which stuck with him. "They want to see his face." Dwight turned to Jerome with a strange look on his face. "You know, you make an interesting point," he said to the new dead corpse. He walked to the corpse of Jerome, and pulled out a scalpel. Carefully beginning to carve into the flesh of Jerome's face, he giggled a bit. "They want to see your face, hm?" It was a messy job, and a bit time consuming, but he finally managed to pull Jerome's face clean off. Hearing police sirens outside, he prepared for his escape. And that's when something strange happened. The machine that Jerome was attached to suddenly began beeping wildly. At first, Dwight thought Jerome was suddenly with a pulse, but realized quickly that wasn't the case. Because when he turned around, a bright blue flash suddenly blinded him, causing him to drop Jerome's face. He didn't see it suddenly fly into a newly created portal along with Jerome's corpse. He just saw, well, nothing except brightness. Then, as suddenly as it was mentioned in this paragraph, it vanished, leaving only a stunned Dwight, and an empty spot where Jerome had been. That was where the police found Dwight when they arrived. Gordon took one look around, and knew something had been going on. "What happened here?" he asked Dwight. Dwight just stared at the empty operating table in shock. "I..." he appeared to be struggling with the next part. "...he... just disappeared. This bright light... Jerome's gone..." He slumped against Gordon in a dead faint. "Get this loon to the GCPD," Harvey said to two nearby officers. As the officers carried the limp form of Dwight away, Harvey looked at Gordon. "What do you think happened?" "Well, Jerome's corpse has got to be somewhere around here." "What if it's not a corpse anymore?" Harvey exclaimed. "What if he did something to Dwight? He could be out there right now, biding his time like a ninja thief." "Well, if that's the case," Gordon intoned. "The people around him aren't going to be happy." "Easy now, Starlight," Twilight soothed as the other mare tried to get up out of bed. "You need more rest." "I've been resting for three hours!" Starlight complained in annoyance, trying to push past Twilight. "Twilight, she could get up for a minute," Spike said nearby, as he sat reading a comic book. "She needs rest," Twilight insisted for the fifth time. "What are you reading anyway?" "Oh, it's a new series!" Spike exclaimed as he showed her the cover. "It's the story of a pony whose parents were killed. Years later, she donned a suit and became known as..." he made a drum roll motion with his claws. "Batmare!" "Silly name," Starlight put in from the floor as she tried to crawl away before Twilight noticed. So far, Twilight hadn't. "In this story, she fight an insane master criminal known as the Joker. He was a handsome stallion who got dunked into a vat of chemicals. It not only changed his appearance to that of a clown, it also drove him completely insane!" "Sounds delightful Spike," Twilight said. "Now why don't you...?" She was interrupted by the sound of a thunk from downstairs, followed by a small splat. "What in the hay was that?" Spike wondered. "Go check it out, Spike," Twilight declared. "I'll hold the fort here." "Whoopee," Spike cheered sarcastically as he trudged down the stairs. He made his way down the hall, and went towards the throne room, where he'd played a game with Big Mac and Discord only a couple of weeks before. He went inside, expecting to see either Rainbow Dash lying on the table moaning, or a bookshelf fallen over. He was not expecting to see a frightening shape lying sprawled on the table. It had fingers and toes like Spike, but it had five of each, and its limbs were longer. Where its face should have been was only a bloody area. Spike nearly threw up, but knew he needed to be brave. "What happened to your face?" he wondered aloud. He saw something on the floor, and realized that it had to be the creature's face. He did what any normal baby dragon would do then. He threw up. Twilight came into the room. "Spike, what's taking so..." she gave a screech at the "thing" lying comatose on the table. "What is it?" she squealed. Starlight examined it. "It's dead, whatever it is." Twilight immediately relaxed. "Good. Then we can dissect it." Spike threw up again. "Spike, you know I just cleaned that floor," Twilight groaned. Spike just gagged in response. "Wait, did you see that?" Starlight asked. "What?" "Its eyelid. I swear it flickered a bit." The three watched for a minute, but nothing else happened. "Aw, it was probably your mind still reeling from being tired," Twilight said. "That's why you need rest." Starlight grumbled. "What do we do with it?" Spike asked. "Just leave it for now," was the response. "I need you to get the rest of my friends while I get my autopsy kit." "Couldn't Nurse Redheart do it?" "She's out of town, remember?" Twilight reminded. "You just talked to her about her trip to Canterlot last week." "Yeah, right," Spike said sullenly. "Oh, and Spike?" When Spike turned around, Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Take his face with you. Just as a backup." "Fine," Spike grumbled, gingerly picking up the creature's face as if it was a poisonous adder. He trudged out the door, mumbling about how he wished he could have a normal day just once. "Come on Starlight," Twilight declared to the other mare. "I need to get you to bed before I get to the autopsy." The two clopped out the door, not noticing one of the creature's fingers suddenly twitch. An hour later, all of the Main Six were assembled in Twilight's entry hall. And they were all talking at once. "Are you sure it's dead?" Fluttershy was saying. "It's face is cut off? The poor thing!" "I wanna see it," Rainbow Dash said. "I bet it looks cool." "Ah don't know oo' in the worl' would cut off sumbody's face like that. It's just darn wrong." "Oh, I must at least see its clothes, darling. It must look proper." "Guys!" Twilight yelled louder than she meant. Everyone fell silent. It was quiet for about three seconds. And then a party blast was heard behind them. "Wheee!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she flipped in front of Twilight. "I can't WAIT to hold the First Annual "Dead Human Found in Twilight's Castle" party. It's going to be a BLAST!" She sent forth a blast of confetti from the Pinkie Dimension, which is a mysterious place that only Pinkie knows about, and can use. It was then that she noticed the stares. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something?" "We were just discussing what we should do about the corpse. Other than inspecting it of course." The way Twilight said "inspecting" made Spike feel a little nervous. "I still don't see how cutting a knife into a dead body is 'beneficial to science,'" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she made hoof quotes. Exactly, Spike mouthed at her. "Because..." Twilight fumed as she searched for a good reason. "It just is!" "Okay..." Rainbow remarked, trying not to break into snickers. "We need to at least look at it first," Rarity said. "Before it gets all ruined." "Good idea," Twilight praised. "Fluttershy, why don't you look first? The rest of us will search for my autopsy kit." "She lost it," Spike added. "Again." Twilight hit him with her version of the Stare, which Spike found kind of funny. "Oh, well, um..." Fluttershy looked at Twilight's eager face, before confidently saying "Okay" "Excellent!" Twilight beamed. "Have fun!" With that, everyone except Fluttershy went off down the hall, Twilight and Spike going on about whether Twilight lost her kit or not. Fluttershy turned and headed towards the room where the corpse lay, a little nervous about what she might find. When she reached the door, she tentatively pushed it open with her hoof, and went inside. And she gave a squeak. Where there had been a corpse, was now just a bloody spot on the table. Fluttershy stepped inside a little further and yelled "Hello?" No answer. "Somebody?" The door suddenly slammed shut behind her, and a pair of arms wrapped around her mouth, blocking her scream. With wide eyes, she saw a knife put in front of her vision, dangerously close to her neck. From behind, she heard a raspy, demonic kind of voice say "Boo." The word was followed by hysterical giggles that sent chills up her spine. She managed to free her mouth long enough to gasp "Who are you?" The figure chuckled again. "I'm someone who will bring a smile to everyone's face." Then he gave a fake gasp. "Oh, you mean my name." Fluttershy was turned around to face the figure, and she gave a scream that was muffled by his grasp. His face, or where his face should have been, was just a mass of blood, with only a smiling mouth, and two insane eyes looking at her. "Well, the name's Jerome Valeska. We're going to have so much fun together."
LifeAuthor's Note Well I was not expecting to be doing this again. But, at people's request here is Chapter 3. I hope everyone enjoys, and let me know in the comments anything you think Jerome should do. Life Fluttershy woke with a start when something cold and wet splashed in her face. Above her, she heard a raspy voice say "Ah... nothing like a cold shower to get you going in the morning." What's happened? Fluttershy wondered. Then she saw that demonic face and remembered. She had fainted after seeing Jerome's face, or lack thereof. "What do you want?" Fluttershy asked, shuddering as Jerome smiled at her. Jerome sat down in front of her, his face an exaggeration of thought. "You know, I was originally just going to stab you right in that pretty neck, but I decided that wouldn't be fun at all." He suddenly came forward with a smile, causing Fluttershy to jump back. "Instead I figured you could tell me where I am, and how to get back to..." He looked a little puzzled, and then suddenly hacked and coughed raggedly. "Sorry..." he said, not sounding very sorry at all. "Still a little fuzzy... Earth! That's right, I remember." So that's where he's from. Fluttershy looked at the gleeful Jerome, and wondered what nightmare created him. "Anyway," Jerome said. "Where am I? We'll start with that old cliché of a question." "Equestria," Fluttershy replied, hoping her voice wasn't shaking too much. "Okay, I live in a horse pun." Jerome giggled that horrible laugh. "Figures. What town in this?" "You're on the outskirts of Ponyville." Jerome laughed. "Another horse pun. And let me guess, there's places like Manehatten, Fillydelphia and so on, right?" When Fluttershy nodded shakily, Jerome laughed hysterically. "Wow! That's too good!" Then he laughed some more, the knife in his hand a little too close for Fluttershy's comfort. "Okay," Jerome suddenly stopped laughing, and gave her a piercing stare. "Since I know where I am, do you have any idea how to get back to Earth? I have someone I need to kill." Fluttershy found some courage. "I don't know." Jerome rolled his eyes. "Really? That's one of the worst lies I've ever seen." Fluttershy put some power in her eyes and words. "I don't know." Jerome looked at her eyes for a second with a thoughtful expression on his face. Then something he saw in her eyes struck him as hysterically funny, and he started giggling again. Fluttershy realized then that her Stare had no effect on him. His mind is like a raging hurricane, she thought. Suddenly, Jerome grabbed her by the neck, and held his knife right next to her cheek. "Alright, little pony," he said, his voice now demonic. "Where can I get back to Earth? Tell me, or I give you a smile." He sliced through the air in demonstration, making Fluttershy tremble. "Fine," she squeaked. "Only the Princesses know. There's a secret place that Princess Celestia has in her castle that can be used for interdimensional travel." "Perfect," Jerome said, smiling. "Where is that?" "Canterlot." Jerome laughed. "Seriously? Horse pun Number 5 has been served." "Why do you want to go back?" Fluttershy asked. Jerome giggled. "Well, there's a couple of people I need to kill. Theo Galavan, and Bruce Wayne. They rained on my parade, and it was quite a storm. Even had some thunder." He laughed again. "Anyway, Theo Galavan was the one who killed me, so it's only natural I return the favor." Fluttershy suddenly recognized Jerome. "Wait, the Princesses saw you in a portal! You were that redhead boy who threatened that kid and got stabbed to death." "That'd be me," Jerome said, looking as proud as if he'd been an actor recognized for a performance he'd just had. "Theo Galavan was the man who stabbed me, so I might as well..." "Princess Celestia saw him die." Fluttershy couldn't believe she was so bold. No turning back now. "Aw..." Jerome looked very disappointed and irritated as if he'd just been denied a bowl of ice cream. "Who beat me to it?" Fluttershy still had some bravery left apparently, as she found herself saying "Which time?" Jerome gave that death glare, the one that made Fluttershy's resolve cave again. "Galavan... came back to life too?" Fluttershy could only nod. Jerome laughed again. "That son of a bitch is always finding new and improved ways of upstaging me. Well, this time, I have something planned that'll knock everyone's socks, and maybe even their shoes off." He looked at Fluttershy again. "Your name?" he suddenly asked. "Fl-fl..." Jerome put a hand to his ear and leaned closer. "Sorry, a truck went by 60 blocks away." Fluttershy squeaked out "Fluttershy..." "What was that?" Jerome laughed. "A mosquito flew out the window, so it drowned that out." "Fluttershy," she breathed. "Well, that's a fitting name for a pony so shy she couldn't be heard if a power saw came on in the next county." His rudeness and his ruthlessness frightened Fluttershy. He was uncontrollable, unpredictable, and crazy to the core. And two people were on his mind who he wanted dead. One now. "One last question," Jerome asked, as he leaned even closer. Fluttershy braced herself. "Where is my face?" Twilight and the gang meanwhile had finally found her autopsy kit. They were heading back towards the room where Fluttershy had gone into to watch the corpse, when Twilight said "Spike, where's that face?" Spike looked at her. "I was tired of carrying that disgusting thing, so I set it on this table right..." He was pointing at a table that distinctly lacked a face. "Here?" his statement finished in a question. Fluttershy suddenly staggered out of the door. "Fluttershy!" Twilight said. "Is the corpse ruined?" "No, the corpse is alive!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "He almost stabbed me with a knife!" "Fluttershy," Twilight soothed. "There's no way a corpse can just come back to life. That takes a level of highly advanced magic." "Uh, guys?" Spike said, noticing something walking by the nearby window. "Not now Spike," Twilight interrupted. "Corpses stay corpses okay?" "Twilight?" Fluttershy squeaked, pointing. "What in the hay is making everyone so...?" Twilight began before she saw. Everyone was staring at Jerome, face in one hand, something else in the other. He was smiling at them, an evil, insane smile. He waved brightly as if he was a kid waving at a friend, and then moved out of sight. "No... way..." Twilight said. "I don't know whether to praise science or be terrified." Rainbow Dash tried to laugh. "That dude looked ridiculous... without a face... smiling like a clown..." Even Applejack shuddered. "Believe me, sugarcube, ah ain't evr seen sumthin so evil in mah life." "What does he want?" Twilight asked. "For everything to burn," Fluttershy mumbled before fainting. Outside, two guards were posted. They were sitting chatting about Filly Joe Armstrong's solo work when suddenly they heard a raspy voice say "I love that band you know. And these pony puns are a knockout." Jerome stepped into view, smiling at the two guards. The guards immediately raised their weapons. "Who are you?" they asked. Jerome showed no concern whatsoever. "Come on. Let's not have such a boring time." The guards charged at him. Jerome suddenly dodged out of the way, and managed to grab one of the guards spears. He used it to stab the other armed guard in an exposed spot, and the guard quickly died. The other disarmed guard gulped as he stared up at Jerome's smiling lack of face. "Please..." Jerome swung the weapon, and completely knocked the guard's head off, sending it down a rabbit hole. "Hole in one!" Jerome laughed and cheered, imitating an audience. "I best not get a head of myself." Laughing hysterically, he walked into the sunset, beginning to use a stapler he found to reattach his face.
MadnessAuthor's Note Whoo, man. Took me long enough didn't it? Well, here is the long awaited Chapter 4. Let me know what you think Jerome should do next. Madness In a little shop on the outskirts of Ponyville, a salesman arranged his wares for the 23rd time that morning. He was quite proud of his place, and wanted to keep it tidy. Hearing the bell over the door chime, he said without looking up "We're on lunch break. Please come back in 20 minutes." A voice behind him, one that was raspy and demonic said "Yeah, I need a stapler." The shopkeeper shuddered a bit, but said "20 minutes." Suddenly, he was turned swiftly around and found himself face to lack of face with Jerome Valeska, who put a knife to the pony's throat. "How about now?" Jerome asked. The keeper made a strangled scream and spluttered. "Yes! Staplers! Lots of them." He pointed with a trembling hoof towards a shelf full of different devices, including paper clips, hole punchers, and of course, staplers. Jerome let go of the shopkeeper and pranced (get it? Because horses... ah whatever) over to the pile of staplers. He spent about a couple of minutes pretending to select one and then picked up a brand new one that was in a glass case. "That one isn't for sale..." the shopkeeper tried to say. Jerome looked the shopkeeper in the eye with a look that said "Please keep talking so I can shoot your head off." "...actually it was just put on sale five minutes ago, so you can have it..." the shopkeeper corrected midsentence. Jerome grinned. "Excellent." He reached into his pocket and drew something disgusting from it. At first, the shopkeeper thought it was a dirty handkerchief, but then Jerome put it to his head, and the pony realized that the bloody mess was Jerome's face. He realized what this insane man was about to do right as Jerome put the first staple on. Slowly, painfully, he began stapling his face back onto his head, and the shopkeeper felt as if he'd throw up. He dared not move, since that knife still looked quite sharp. Finally, Jerome turned around. He looked even more demonic with his face on, than off. His mouth was stretched into a permanent grin, and blood oozed out from the spots where the staples were. "Didn't that hurt?" Jerome laughed. "Not really. Wanna try?" He lunged forward and put a staple right on the pony's tongue. The shopkeeper was too busy crying out in pain to notice the knife finally hit him right in his lungs. Less than a minute later, Jerome's third victim in Equestria lay dead on the floor. Jerome himself said "That's for making your prices so high." He looked at the tag on something that looked like a vacuum cleaner. "25 bits? Seems a "bit" high." He giggled to himself as he left the shop, reattaching a staple that began slipping from his detached face. "Come on girls," Twilight said as they left the castle. "We have to catch that man!" "Maybe the guards can help us," Rarity remarked as they neared the spot where the guards were. Well, they were still there. They were just no longer in the living. The six ponies gasped at the scene, and Rarity immediately covered Spike's eyes with her hoof. "What in the hell?" Rainbow Dash spluttered. Bloody scenes like this were not common in Equestria. Twilight put a hoof to one of the guards chests. "They're dead," she stated, in a mixture of both grief and horror. Fluttershy was hyperventilating, and Applejack even looked shocked. "Sugarcube, ah've only known this her' "Jahrome" for ahbout fifteen minutes, but ah can ahssure ya that ah already think e's one of tha most evil creatures ah've ever seen in mah life." Rarity was still trying not to faint from all of this, but she finally gathered the strength to nod. Twilight turned from the dead guards and said "Okay everyone, we have to find this Jerome, and we have to stop him." "How?" Rainbow Dash asked. "He could be anywhere in Equestria by now. Plus, I don't really want to find him." When they all looked at her quizzically, Rainbow finally exclaimed "He creeps the crap out of me, okay?" Twilight shivered. "Me too, but we've faced plenty of evil things before. Discord, Tirek, Tempest Shadow..." "Sombra…" Fluttershy muttered. "Exactly!" Twilight declared. "What's so different about Jerome?" "Um, he's insane?" Rainbow Dash stated. "He actually kills ponies? In COLD BLOOD?!" Twilight's confident smile faltered. "Oh, true. But, we have to at least try. We have something he doesn't. Friendship. Together, we can stop Jerome's wicked plans." She quickly scrawled a letter to Princess Celestia stating basic facts about Jerome and sent it with Spike. "There. Princess Celestia can help us." "I hope..." Fluttershy squeaked as they all left the castle grounds, following the trail of blood. Meanwhile in Canterlot, Shining Armor quickly rushed into the throne room where Princess Luna and Princess Celestia sat playing a game of chess. The two princesses quickly got to their hooves as Shining Armor handed a letter to Celestia. "Intercepted this from Twily. Says it's urgent." Celestia opened the letter and read... Dear Princess Celestia… I am very concerned about a recent event that has occurred. My pupil Starlight Glimmer accidentally brought an insane human from who knows where here in Equestria. His name is Jerome, and he has already killed at least two ponies, and possibly more. I fear for everypony's lives, dear princess, and we're asking for your kind assistance in locating this madman to bring him to justice. Your pupil, Twilight Sparkle "Oh, goodness!" Luna exclaimed. "This "Jerome" seems quite dangerous. What shall we do sister?" Celestia read the letter once again, her face becoming very grave. "We cannot allow this human to continue." Looking at Shining Armor, she said "Bring all of your troops together. We need all the support we can to locate him." "Yes, your majesty," Shining Armor saluted before quickly galloping out of the room, leaving Luna and Celestia together in the throne room, wondering just how much damage could be caused by one human. Meanwhile, Jerome was strolling down beside a railroad track, whistling merrily to himself. He had left the shop and run into a couple just strolling by. Since they immediately tried to call for help, Jerome quickly shot them with a quick blast from his pistol that he "borrowed" from another shop nearby. It was a shop that collected random things from other worlds, and the pistol happened to catch Jerome's eye. The cost? The shopkeeper's life. This, along with the couple, brought his pony death count up to six. Jerome smiled as he heard the noise of a train coming down the track. He quickly dove into a nearby bush, and waited for the train to appear. Less than a minute later, the train came sailing around the corner. As it neared him, Jerome quickly dove out from the bush, and caught the rail next to the conductor's car. Nopony had seen him yet. Most people would have been terrified to be on the outside of a train going 80 miles an hour. Not Jerome. He wanted to throw his hands up and whoop, but that would have spoiled the biggest, and funnest part. (now a word) He carefully reached out his hand, and caught hold of the door leading into the conductor's compartment. Peeping in, Jerome saw the conductor pony leaning against the controls, looking sleepily straight ahead of him. Jerome smiled as he climbed in without making a sound, and made his way behind the pony. "Okay, everypony," the conductor muttered into his intercom. "We're gonna reach Canterlot in about fi----" his sentence was interrupted by a knife entering his windpipe. He was dead before he hit the ground. Jerome pranced into the conductor's seat, and fumbled with the intercom. "How do ya work this thing... there we go!" He heard confused mumblings in the other cars, and said "Hello, colorful ponies! Sorry, but your conductor has been terminated." Terrified screams echoed from behind him. "But never fear!" Jerome continued. "I have taken over as your humble conductor to... Canterlot." He giggled. "Sounds like something out of a Hasbro TV show." He flicked a switch, and the train picked up speed. At the same time, the ponies screams reached deafening levels. "Hold on to your... horses!" Jerome laughed. "We're gonna have a bumpy ride."
