TERROR OF THE PONY-BAT! Part 1
/* This story was adapted from “On Leather Wings”, a Batman The Animated Series Episode. *\
It is highly recommended that you watch the series as a whole. Enjoy the story.
In the dark alley's of Canterlot was a stallion rushing through to escape. Escape from what, he couldn't tell. He just knew that it was large, and it had wings. He knew it wasn't a pegasus or griffon, nothing was this big. Every corner he turned, he heard those wings flap, and once in a while, a deathly screech. Unfortunately, he reached a dead end. He stared at the dirty brick wall and heard something land behind him. He started to sweat, and began to turn around to face his stalker. But it went from stalker to attacker as it lunged and screeched toward the poor stallion. He didn't even get a chance to scream.
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Twilight Sparkle sat in her office looking at the police reports in front of her. They all had something in common: the victims were attacked and had their blood sucked from them. As she looked through them, she listened to a detective by the name of Hardened Bullock a large pegasus pony.
“I'm telling you Lieutenant, Batmane bit these shmoes.” Bullock was often on Batmane's case. All he saw was a vigilante who crimes for his own benefit.
“What proof do you have that he did Bullock?” Twilight asked as she looked through another folder. It contained information on a filly named Glowlit.
“Just detective instinct ma'am. Why are you defending him anyway? He beat up some thugs. So what?”
“He saved everyponies life at that benefit all those months ago. He deserves the benefit of a doubt.” Twilight placed the case folder down and rubbed her temples with her hooves. She couldn't place it, but she knew that Batmane wouldn't ever kill a creature. It just wasn't his M.O.
“He was probably going to raid that benefit himself, and the robbers just beat him to the punch.” Bullock put on his coat and hat and began to leave. “I'm going to catch that creep Twilight. That's why I need you to authorize that task force so I can get him.”
“For the last time Bullock, the answer is still 'no'.” Twilight slammed the desk. “I'm not going to hoof over a task force of cops for some wild goose chase.” Bullock scoffed.
“Well if you won't, maybe the Commissioner will.” Twilight glared at him.
“Going over my head Bullock? Typical.”
“You may be one of the Element Bearers Sparkle, but you ain't in charge of this department.” Twilight walked over to Bullock and pressed a hoof against his chest.
“If you really want to cause trouble with me Bullock, know that if I ever do take charge, I'll fire you for your general disrespect towards everypony.”
“I get the job done Sparkle. The Commissioner will listen to me.” Bullock left the room, slamming the door behind him. Twilight sighed and sat down, looking over her case folders again.
“Someone's having a bad night.” Twilight turned to the window and saw a dark figure standing with the moonlight at his back. Batmane.
“Not as bad as you're going to have. They're going to be all over you.” Batmane moved to the desk and picked up the case folders.
“This has been the fifth victim this month. Not dead, but their blood has been drained.” Batmane looked through another folder.
“Don't suppose you have a vampire in your circle of friends?” Twilight asked.
“Vampire's have been extinct for centuries Lieutenant. This is something new.” Batmane placed the folders down. “Where are the victims being held?”
“Canterlot Memorial Hospital.” Twilight closed her eyes. “Batmane, don't betray my trust okay?” She awaited an answer, but didn't get one. She opened her eyes and saw that Batmane was gone. “That better not happen again.”
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Batmane sat at his science station inside the Batcave, inspecting the evidence he got from the hospital. The only thing he could find from the victims clothes were little hairs that didn't belong to a pony, or anyother creature in Canterlot. His butler, Copper entered the cave from the stairs leading to Star Manor, resting right above the cave. Copper looked at the hair samples and looked back to Batmane.
“I don't suppose that hair belongs to a woman you like that you're becoming obsessed with? That'd be a bit more healthy for you Master Dark.” Batmane continued to inspect the hair samples.
“They don't belong to any of the races staying in Canterlot. It's something new.” Batmane stood up and rubbed his hoof against his chin.
“I suppose this will bode for a more extensive investigation?” Copper asked.
“I managed to trace the creatures movements and found a pattern. Now I just have to follow it.” Batmane made his way down to a vehicle called the “BatCart.” A cart able to pull itself at a very high speed.
“Shall I cancel your evening with Miss De Lis?” Copper asked in a sarcastic tone.
“You do that Copper.” Batmane said as he sat in the cart. The engine powered up and sent Batmane on his way.
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Batmane sat on a rooftop overlooking the city. The city looked beautiful from where he was sitting. One could never tell that it had such a high crime rate. He was waiting for creature to show itself. He had things he could do that would pass the time. He managed to stop two drug trades, a rape, and a child beating. But then, he heard a monstrous screech.
“Finally” Batmane said to himself. He jumped off the building and glided to where the screech originated. He decided, that it'd be best if he recorded the sound the creature was making. He just had to get closer. He turned a building and saw the creature standing over the body of another pony. The creature turned to Batmane, snarled, and screamed at him. “Got it” Batmane managed to record the scream it made. He landed and trotted to the creature to subdue him. Before Batmane could make contact though, the creature flew up at a high speed and began to fly away. “Bat wings” Batmane asked himself. Before Batmane could get a chance to grab the creature, a spotlight shined on him. He turned around to see the police in force.
“Batmane! This is the police! Surrender!” A large police officer screamed. Batmane recognized him. It was Bullock. Bullock had quite the career. Many arrests, involved in many crime lord take downs, and now a hunter going the Batmane. Batmane glared at the police and grabbed a tool from his utility belt. He threw it on the ground. It created a smokescreen. “He's trying to escape! GET IN THERE!” The police charged into the smokescreen, trying to find Batmane. He wasn't there. Bullock looked up and down across the buildings trying to find him. Suddenly, he managed to get a glimpse of a coat tail. “He's on the roofs! Flyers! With me!” Bullock took off with four other flyers and flew after Batmane. He was jumping from roof top to roof top trying get away. “DIVE!” Bullock and the flyers dived after him and found that for a unicorn, he was rather agile.
“Damn” Batmane thought. “I have to lose them.” He looked around for anything that could help him. Fortunately, there was a clothes line ahead of him. He used his magic to make the clothes fly off the line and towards his pursuers.
“SHEET!” Bullock cried. The laundry landed on their faces and wings, causing them to crash on the roof tops and disorienting them. Batmane smiled and made his disappearance. Bullock got up and removed the clothes from his face. “Lost him!” Suddenly, a white light flashed behind him. It was Twilight Sparkle. “Lieutenant. We were just chasing after our vampire.” Twilight glared.
“Actually, while you were chasing Batmane, another victim popped up. That means that Batmane is innocent.” Bullock cringed and bucked the air. Twilight shook her head and look towards the Canterlot skyline. “It's a beautiful city” She thought.
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Back at the cave, Batmane plugged a cassette of the screeching creature into his computer.
“Computer: Analyze the sound on the cassette and see if it matches with any known sound in nature.” The computer began working. The screen showed the progress of the analysis. It was going to take some time.
“It appears you have some time to kill Master Dark, will you be sleeping?” Copper asked.
“No, I need to visit the zoo, and talk to some experts.” Batmane took his cowl off, revealing Dark Star, a billionaire with a gray coat. Normally, his Cutie Mark was the symbol of a bat, but he changed it to a black star when he was out of costume.
“Are you chasing a beast sir?” Copper took Dark Star's cowl.
“More like a brother Copper.” Dark Star dressed himself in a regular suit and made his way out the door.
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Dark Star made his way towards the Bat-House of the Canterlot Zoo. He remembered as a boy coming here to see the animals, but always avoiding bats. He was afraid of bats when he was younger. Now he used his fear as a weapon. He entered the building and found the door to the labs where the scientists would perform blood checks, hair analysis, and disease control. If he was going to find anything out about the creature that his computer wouldn't tell him, this would be the place. He opened the door to find an dark room.
“Hello? Hello?” Dark called out.
“Who are you?! What do you want?!” Dark turned around to see an old stallion come out from the darkness. Dark fell into his guise. A charmer was something that he had to play at. Luckily, he was good lucking and rich enough to pull it off.
“I'm Dark Star, and I called earlier about a 'bat problem' in my chimney.” Dark smiled at the scientist holding out a hoof. The old scientist didn't return the gesture.
“Oh yes. Star. I remember. I'm Professor Kick Langstrom.” The old Professor walked over to a desk of chemistry equipment. “Damn board members. Think that they throw millions at us, we become pest control.” Dark chuckled at his behavior.
“Well I wasn't exactly sure how to deal with them. I found some hair samples if that helps.” Dark pulled a container holding the hair samples to the Professor. The Professor took the samples and glared at Dark.
“Deal with them? DEAL WITH THEM?! How do you deal with living things? Kill them? Gas them?” The old Professor got into Dark's face. “Ponies won't survive the next evolutionary step! But bats will!” Suddenly, the lights flashed on. Dark and Kick turned to see who turned the lights on. It was a yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane.
“Oh dear, I hope I'm not interrupting” the meek pegasus said.
“Not at all miss...?”
“It's doctor, doctor Fluttershy.” Fluttershy held out a hoof to Dark Star who took it graciously and gave a small peck.
“Charmed, doctor Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus tensed up and blushed. Behind her was an Earth Pony who was laughing.
“Geez Fluttershy, you act like you just received a kiss from a millionaire” the Earth Pony said still laughing.
“Billionaire actually” Dark Star corrected. “And you are?”
“Doctor Kirk Langstrom,” he pointed over to the professor, “This is my father.”
“We've met,” Dark said casually. The professor grunted and grumbled to another room. “Where's he going?”
“Probably analyzing the hairs I assume you gave him? He told us all about it.” Fluttershy fluttered over to Dark Star.
“You'll have to forgive the Professor, he feels a certain connection to the virtues of Chiroptera” Fluttershy said jokingly. Batmane would have laughed but he had to remember his role, a dumb rich boy.
“Chiropractor?” Dark asked. The two ponies laughed.
“Chiroptera are bats” Kirk said. “Although I hope he didn't get carried away. I think he likes bats better than ponies if that makes sense.” Dark smiled.
“I can imagine. By the way, I also made a recording of the sound coming from my chimney.” He pulled out a tape player and played the recording of the terrible screech. Fluttershy's eyes widened. Kirk frowned.
“That isn't any type of bat I've heard of.” Fluttershy said timidly. Kirk took the recording.
“We have a whole library of sounds animals make, we'll call you back when we get more information,” Kirk replied with a smile.
“I appreciate it.” Dark then turned and left the room, returning to Star Manor.
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Batmane sat at his computer, waiting for the results. He played the recording back a thousand times to see if he could figure it out.
“Getting into dubstep sir?” Copper asked while dusting the equipment inside the cave.
“In all my travels I've never encountered a creature that sounded like this. What could it be?” The phone rang. Copper picked it up.
“Star Manor. One moment please.” Copper turned to Dark. “It's a Professor Langstrom, calling about your 'bat problem'.” Batmane took the phone and switched into his Dark Star persona.
“Hey Prof, how's it going?” Dark said in a happy voice.
“You've got bats Mr. Star, simple brown bats. They should move on when the weather gets colder.”
“What about the sounds?” Dark asked.
“It's actually two sounds. A bat and a starling. Probably fighting over a nest. Shouldn't cause you any trouble.”
“Okay, thanks Professor, I'll pay you back the next time you have a fund raiser. Good bye.” Batmane hung up the phone. Just as he did, the computer chimed.
“ANALYSIS COMPLETE. SOUND DOES NOT MATCH ANYTHING IN NATURE.” Batmane tapped his hoof against his chin.
“That and the hair obviously didn't come from a brown bat.”
“It would appear that he has presented a lack of information.”
“It would appear that he's lying Copper. And I'm going to find out why.” Batmane jumped down to the BatCart and went to his next destination, the Canterlot Zoo.
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Batmane entered the lab and looked at his surroundings. Somepony was here recently. Bunsen burners still going, and chemical cases empty on the desk. Batmane inspected the chemicals on a clipboard next to the chemical set. He took the list and placed it in his utility belt. He heard the door start to open and hid behind a desk. The door opened, showing Kirk Langstrom.
“Who's there?!” the doctor asked. Batmane stopped hiding and appeared in front of the doctor. “Oh, it's you.”
“We need to talk.”
