Batmare and the foal wonder!

What was left of the dense underbrush of the Everfree barely rustled as the zebra mare made her way through. She had been on an interesting, and rather obvious, trail all morning. Her purple friend had asked her to follow it and see where it lead. Apparently the princess had taken an interest in the disturbance since reading about it in one of her protégés reports. It was not a difficult task, the deep ruts led straight off the end of the Trotham-Ponyville rail line and kept following a mostly straight path. Trees were completely uprooted and even a few boulders had been pushed aside like some pebble in front of a plow.

As the tracker moved on, what had to be her target came into sight. What looked like a train loomed before her, but it was unlike any train she had ever laid eyes on! With a stark black motif and a plethora of batwing accents, the monstrosity towered some 50 hooves tall. Its very presence exuded an aura of menace and arrogance that could be felt, neigh, smelled! The zebra could smell the very superiority that issued forth from whatever orifice trains emanated superiority from. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more, that such an intimidating train existed, or that it traveled so far without tracks.

Rearing back in a blind panic at her unworthiness, the zebra quickly galloped back from whence she came; her barely coherent story to be reported to the princess via purple unicorn (and dragon).

Batmare walked into the lounge, sweat dripping from her brow, and sat next to Pipsqueak on the couch. Pipsqueak set down his ‘Foals Life’ magazine and looked at his princess questioningly.

“Looks like Poison Joke needed an extwa hard beating today.”

“Y-yes, she was particularly contemptuous this time…”

“I’ve been reading a bit… are you sure it’s legal to hold her like this? I’m pretty sure the daily beatings are against the Gezebra convention.”

“What have I told you about reading?”

“That it will make me stupid and books are full of lies.”

“Exactly! Besides, it’s completely consensual!”

“Wha-“

“NEVERYOUMIND GOCLEAN THEKITCHEN!”

“The kitchen is always a mess, if you’d just let me teach you how to use the microwave properly-“

“I can use the microwave just fine, thank you! Besides, I’m using it to conduct experiments. Today I learned that you shouldn’t put batteries in a microwave.”

Pipsqeuak groaned at the thought of cleaning the caked caustic material from every exposed surface in the kitchen. At least the microwave incidents had been reduced to a bi-weekly basis, at first it was a daily debacle.

The snowy mare leisurely trotted up to her mirror; the dark eye shadow contrasting starkly with her white face. An unnatural smile slowly spread slightly too far across that face as she brought up a lipstick container with a trembling hoof. A disturbing giggle slipped from her lips as she smeared the lipstick on haphazardly, giving her the look of a predator that has just finished a feast, or an arthritic clown.

Just on the edge of hearing, her voice murmurs in a mad mumbling monologue. “Need to loosen UP… work too hard… no time to PLAY… time… to… plaaayyyyyyy… time… to play… time to play… yes, yeeeeeeessssss… TIME TO PLAYYYYAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The unfortunate zebra was curled up on her bed, the shakes had finally stopped and she was beginning to drift off to sleep.

“Oh, you poor dear; such a rough day! If only everypony didn’t take you for granted.” A sweet, soothing voice crooned from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

The zebra jumped slightly at the disturbance. “I can hear that somepony is there, is it me you are trying to scare?”

“Not at all, my friend! I just wanted to offer support, and perhaps a bit of advice.”

“Your support I do not need, your advice I will not heed!”

“Oh, really? Aren’t you tired of being used? Ponies only come to visit you when they need something, and look where that’s gotten you, you’re worked to the bone!”

“The help I give is not a waste, the same they would do, in my place!”

“Are you sure? When was the last time somepony helped you? Oh, sure, they’re all smiles and rainbows when they need you, but when you come into town, aren’t some of the shops closed? Aren’t some of the welcome mats gone?”

“I… this may be true… but… I will not… let myself be blue.”

“Aren’t you tired of it? Why not do something for yourself for a change? You’re the only one looking out for you, after all. Everypony else acts differently depending on if they want you to do something for them; you don’t have any friends, not really.”

“That’s… that’s not true! I’m not alone! How could anypony be so… two-toned?”

At her last words, the zebras’ eye twitched and she began to grind her teeth. The voice seemed to be gone, its job done. Truly, now, the zebra was alone with her thoughts.

Out of her costume now, Luna descended the stairs into the dining room. The long oak table sat in the center of the room, with two chairs placed on either end, one an ornately carved masterpiece made from a solid piece of wood, the other Pipsqueaks’ upturned bedchambers.

“Hi Pwincess Luna!”

“Good evening, Pipsqueak, the kitchen is clean, I take it?”

“Yes, princess” The shining demeanor of the foal diminished slightly, only to perk back up with hope.

“Princess, I was wondering…”

“Yes old chum?”

“Could I maybe see my parents again?”

“Why Pipsqueak, I adopted you, I am your parent!”

“I know, but I meant my real parents!”

Luna’s face fell at the comment; she cast a look of pity at the foal. “I… Pip, you know your parents are dead…”

Pip squinched his face up in anger. “No they aren’t! You just keep saying that ever since I was ‘Forcibly Adopted by Royal Decree’ because I said you were my favorite princess! I just got a letter from them yesterday!”

“A letter, eh? I’d better talk to Habeas Corpus about adding that to the restraining order…”

Without warning the lights of the mansion went dark. Luna and Pipsqueak rushed to the window to see that much of the city was without power. In fact, if one looked closely, it appeared that exactly half the city was without power.

“Egads old chum! Who could be behind this devious development?”

“I don’t know Batmare, but it looks like we need to shed some light on the situation!”

A tortured groan issued from Batmare’s personal dungeon as Pipsqueak donned a pair of sunglasses.