Batmane, the dark steed

by Guillermo

Dark Knight

Celestia sipped her cup of tea, enjoying the taste, relaxing after she had hidden the sun and her sister had brought the night. Her gaze went to her balcony, looking out over the city, but something felt...off. With a frown, she got up and went outside, taking a good look at Canterlot, specifically, the area closest to the section of forest where Arkham was. There were a few plumes of smoke climbing into the night sky, and that always spelled trouble. The door to her room rang out with several loud knocks, and before she could say anything, a unicorn royal guard entered, casting his nervous gaze around her chambers before focusing on the princess and quickly approaching.

"Your Highness!...Joker!...Arkham!..." he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"Calm down, take a deep breath" Celestia said calmly, looking at the guard, who was approached by two others, clearly confused. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"The Joker has escaped and started a riot in Arkham! All of it prisoners have escaped and are wreaking havoc in the city! The police have reported that ponies are taking advantage of this to cause more riots!"

Celestia frowned, turning to look at the city again, thinking.

"Wake up my sister, and have her and the captains of the royal and night guard meet me. Bring the new commissioner as well."

The three royal guards nodded before walking away, leaving Celestia alone. She passed through her mind the idea of ​​calling Twilight and her friends, but she rejected it, this was not a threat that required the presence of the elements of harmony, she could take care of it without coming into direct conflict. Her gaze went to another section of the forest, where she knew her nephew's mansion was. He may have been far from that madpony, but she hadn't planned to risk it, she had learned the hard way that she should never trust herself too much, and although the circumstances were very different, she was still one of danger.

---

Blueblood was eating dinner, eating quietly before going on patrol, thinking about the Joker. There was something wrong, why did he burn down all the psychiatric hospitals and then raid the castle and Ace Wing Chemicals? But that's not what bothered him, what bothered him is that after talking to Luna and receiving that ring, he went back to the weather station, just in case. What he found, apart from the corpses of the security ponies, which were already being studied by forensics, he had to be very stealthy to avoid being discovered, was that some packages containing clouds had disappeared. Why? What did he have planned?

His thoughts were interrupted when Service entered the room, accompanied by a pegasus royal guard, which surprised Blueblood.

"Can I help you?" he said as he got up.

"I'm just here to let you know that I and a group of royal guards will be here to protect his home."

"Why?"

"Because Joker has escaped and released all of Arkham's patients and many of his ponies are out in the streets causing riots. Her highness wants to keep you protected in case any of them make it here."

Blueblood frowned, glancing at Service, both of them giving each other a silent message.

"Well, I doubt they'll make it this far, but thanks anyway."

The pegasus nodded, turning to leave, but pausing for a few seconds.

"We'll just patrol the surroundings, but do you want some guards here?"

"Needless."

The pegasus nodded again and headed for the exit, accompanied by Service and Blueblood. As soon as he was out, the unicorn frowned and walked away, heading for the entrance to the Batcave.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, sir? There are royal guards nearby."

"The Batcave exit is far enough from here that they won't notice the Batmobile. Besides, I can't stand by while that clown does whatever he has planned."

After being scanned and the secret door opened, he entered and headed for the elevator, Service nearby.

"And how do you plan to find the Joker, sir? You were lucky to find him yesterday."

"If what that guard said is true, there will be ponies working for Joker on the street, I just have to persuade one of them to find out his whereabouts."

Blueblood finally reached the Batcave and walked briskly over to his suit, ready to put it on.

---

A family, consisting of a father, a mother and a small filly, were running through an alley, fleeing from three ponies wearing clown masks. They had gone to the movies for a family night when all the chaos broke out in the city, and it didn't take long for them to start being chased. As they ran, another pony in a clown mask came out of one of the alleyways, carrying a gun in his left hoof, pointing it at the family and forcing them to stop.

"I told you it would be easy," he said, looking at the other three ponies. "Now, sir, if I were you, I would take out all the money you have on you and give it to me now, unless you want to leave your wife a widow and your daughter an orphan."

As the four raiders laughed, the pony, a unicorn, gulped and began pulling his bag of bits out of his saddlebags, praying that they would settle for what little money he had. But before he did, something swift came flying down from above and slammed into the hoof of the pony that was pointing the gun at them, knocking it to his hooves and causing him to scream in pain. The other three looked on in confusion, at least until something fell right on top of one of them, eliciting another cry of pain that was quickly silenced as he fell unconscious. The other two stared in terror at the fallen figure, Batmane.

Before they could attack, the bat pounced on them and knocked them out in no time, then focusing on the first one he attacked with his batarang, who had managed to get it out and was trying to flee, limping. Ignoring the family for the moment, who pressed themselves against the wall, Batmane closed in on the pony, knocking him to the ground and driving his hoof behind his head, pressing his face into the sidewalk.

"Speak up, don't make me crack your skull to find the answers!"

The pony didn't need him to specify what he wanted his to talk about.

"H-he's in th-that ma-mafia ho-hotel, the Gra-Grand Pa-Palace! For Ce-Celestia, do-don't do any-anything to me!"

"Thanks."

Batmane hit him hard on the head and knocked him unconscious, then turned to the family, who were looking at him warily.

"You live nearby?" Batmane asked as he approached.

"Yes..." answered the unicorn doubtfully.

"Then go home as quickly as possible, don't stop for anything and, above all, don't go into dark alleys."

Batmane pulled his batclaw and anchored it to one of the buildings, quickly climbing up and leaving behind a stunned family. When he reached the roof, he headed for the ledge, looking down the street. There were dozens of ponies, a few fleeing home, others breaking shop windows to steal what was inside, and some burning carriages that were on the road. He would have liked to go down and do something, but the Joker was more important, so he jumped off the building and spread his cloak so he could glide.

He took several minutes to arrive, stopping at a nearby building, looking at the hotel. It was gothic in style and four stories high, and for nearly 15 years it was a hit, at least until Batmane came along and ended Falcone's reign. The hotel was found to be a mafia cover, and with its top bosses and corrupt judges and prosecutors locked up in jail, it didn't take long for the site to be ordered dismantled. There were plans to reopen it in the future, but for now it had been left abandoned, for sale.

From his position, he asked to see that there were snipers in the windows of the third floor, so trying to get there by gliding was not an option, his back might be protected by his armor, but his cape was not. Batmane decided to go for a different tactic, dropping to ground level and approaching the hotel without the snipers noticing. Once at the gates, he gave a powerful magical boost and entered, only to be met by a crowd of eager ponies, about twenty of them.

"Good night, Batmane!" shouted the Joker's voice, which seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Welcome to the final number of my show, and you are the main character! A round of applause, please!"

All the ponies present clapped loudly, whistling and howling as if they were in a circus performance.

"The rules are very simple, Batsy, you see, on this very street, my genius assistants have stormed two buildings and planted two different bombs with my personal laughing gas. Those bombs also have cloud charges, and if they go off, they will spread all over Canterlot. Also, one of my assistants happened to have some magic skills, so he helped me synchronize my heartbeat with the explosives. If in two hours, you haven't killed me... Boom. Let the game begin!"

The Joker burst out laughing, apparently amused at the idea of Batmane murdering him. The ponies around him pounced on him, confident in his superior numbers. The bat dodged blow after blow, throwing off as many enemies as possible, occasionally taking a few hits that his armor could withstand. After an arduous battle, the last of them fell unconscious, leaving only the masked pony, who advanced slowly while he activated the ring that Luna had given him.

---

Celestia, her sister, the two captains of both guards and the new police commissioner were gathered in a private room of the princesses, a round table crowning the room, and on top of it, a map of all of Canterlot. Thanks to a spell from the white allocorn, the section that was being attacked glowed red.

"We already know why we're here, so I'm not going to bother explaining anything" Celestia said as she lit up her horn and several golden spheres appeared on the map. "Captain Magnus, I want the Royal Guard to position themselves at the entrances to the raided streets, I don't want the patients or the rioters to escape from there. The Supernovas will go in to arrest any ponies that are needed and to help the injured."

"Yes, your highness" Flash said with a nod.

"The police will be in charge of giving tactical support to the guard."

"I will mobilize my agents immediately" said the commissioner, an earth pony.

Celestia nodded satisfied and watched Luna, who stepped forward a bit, glancing sideways at the captain of her guard, a thestral mare.

"Captain Midnight, you will have a similar role. You will position yourself in..."

"Princess..." said a voice right in her head, causing Luna to fall silent, missing the others, she hadn't experienced that feeling in a long time. "I'm at the Grand Palace hotel, the Joker is here."

Luna frowned, looking at the map and, locating the hotel, she marked it in blue, ignoring her sister's questions.

"He has two bombs in two buildings on this street, and unless I kill him within two hours, they are going to explode and a cloud of his gas will spread throughout the city. I need you to defuse them, I trust you."

"Luna, what's wrong?" Celestia asked again.

Luna was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"You're going to be mad... I gave the night ring to Batmane."

While the captains and the commissioner looked at each other strangely, Celestia frowned.

"You gave him what?" she asked, repressing her urge to scream, that was the last straw. "That ring is for somepony..."

"Somepony I trust, not yours" Luna interrupted, looking defiantly at her sister. "Now, are you going to let me finish and save the city or do you still want to scold me like I'm ten years old?"

Celestia watched Luna for a few moments before she closed her eyes, breathed to herself, and nodded.

"Okay... what's wrong?"

Despite the circumstances, Luna couldn't help but smile slightly when she saw that her sister was willing to listen to her.

"The Joker has planted two bombs on this street" she said as she pointed to the spot. "He has threatened Batmane that he will blow them up unless he kills him. We need to deactivate them, and I suspect there will be ponies guarding the hotel, so I suggest we avoid being seen from there."

Celestia looked around the hotel before she blew her horn. Part of the golden balls representing the guard moved to the designated street.

"Captain Magnus, change of plans, the Supernovas will accompany the night guard to that street. The two of us will go with them, and as soon as they find the bombs, I want them to let us know. Go give the orders."

Magnus nodded, turning away and leaving the room. As for Midnight, she stayed there until Luna gave her the confirmation. The commissioner followed shortly after to command the police, leaving the princesses alone. Celestia looked at her sister, who returned her gaze, studying her. After a while, the alicorn began to walk towards the exit, stopping at the door.

"Come on, sister, we have to save Canterlot."

Luna smiled, relieved that Celestia wasn't as angry as she thought she would be. With a quick step, both alicorns walked away, preparing for the mission that lay ahead.

---

Batmane reached the third floor after going through the second, full of ponies who tried to stop him. He had realized that the Joker had blocked the stairs on each floor, so that he had to go through the corridors of the hotel to get through. As in the previous ones, here he found signs that would lead him to his next challenge, as the clown had mentioned. It didn't take long to reach some elegant wooden doors, and opening them, he found a huge ballroom, a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, several columns, a large open door on the other side with more signs indicating that he should continue there and, more importantly, almost fifty ponies waiting for him, making a circle in the center of the room, where an earth pony waited, or so it seemed.

As Batmane got closer, he could see that this pony had some similarities to a cragadile. He was taller than any other pony, almost equal to Princess Luna, his skin, lacking fur, was a dark green tone, and upon closer inspection, it seemed to be covered with scales, on his head and tail there were what seemed to be pieces of black rock that served as thorns. The pupils of his eyes were vertical, and the rest of the eyeball was tinted yellow. His snout revealed a smile full of sharp teeth, which would fit a dragon better than a pony, and besides, he had no ears, at least to the naked eye.

"At last you have arrived" said the beast, licking his teeth. "I was starting to get hungry."

"Get out of my way, I don't have time for you" Batmane said as he walked away, showing no sign of fear, nervousness or even struggle.

"You have guts, bat, I respect that. But the clown set me free in exchange for my working for him and trying to stop you, and Killer Crag always keeps his promises."

Batmane stopped a few feet from Killer Crag, watching him intently.

"Last chance, leave, don't make me hurt you."

Killer Crag laughed heartily, as did most of the ponies in the room.

"Oh, you're so funny…" he said with amusement, still giggling slightly, but when he was done, his smile turned more evil, licking his teeth once more. "But enough of playing with food."

The beast lunged at Batmane with his mouth wide open, wider than any other pony could ever open. The bat moved away in time and slammed as hard as it could into his side, realizing that his skin not only resembled that of a cragadile, but was just as tough. As Killer Crag whipped around for another bite, he backed away from him again, deciding to go on the defensive until he had a better plan to take him down other than hitting him with his hooves. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that several ponies were joining the fight, making things a lot more difficult for him.

Batmane dodged Killer Crag's bites and blocked the ponie's blows and returned them. Unfortunately, taking advantage of the fact that one of the ponies distracted him, the beast managed to bite him on his left hind leg, managing to penetrate what little protection he had in that area. He got up on two legs and threw the bat hard at one of the columns, hitting it and falling to the ground. He managed to get up with a grunt, watching as that monstrous pony approached, followed by the other thugs. He had to find a way to defeat him, and fast. Remembering the column behind him, a plan, somewhat risky, formed in his mind.

"Is that all you can do? I barely even noticed" he said as he got into position.

Killer Crag growled and lunged at him with his jaw open, but before he reached him, Batmane jumped to the right, hitting the column with such force that it cracked. The beast grunted in pain, backing away from it as he massaged his head with one of his hoofs, trying to get his bearings again.

"You have failed."

The monstrous pony turned furiously, watching Batmane walk away. Angrily, he lunged at him to bite him, but the bat dodged as he backed away, trying to bear the pain in his leg. After a few minutes, he once again jumped to the side and Killer Crag's head hit the column again. This time, the pain was a little more severe and his disorientation lasted longer. Before he could back up very far, he felt somepony get on his back and a hoof on his neck, pushing him hard toward the marble column.

Disorientation made it impossible for his to resist much, and not even his skin could protect him against the hard marble. After a few more minutes, Killer Crag fell unconscious, and Batmane dropped to the ground, watching the other ponies. They stepped back a bit, their eyes wide as they saw what had happened.

"He has... defeated him..."

"That... that's impossible... Killer Crag is stronger than several earth ponies put together!"

"Well he has..."

Batmane inched, trying to hide his slight limp, toward the door across the room. The ponies around him no longer bothered to try to stop him, too shocked. Instead, they meekly stepped aside, letting him pass, some even fleeing the scene. The bat made his way through the exit and headed for the stairs at the end of the hall and up to the fourth and top floor, finding more signs. He could feel the blood running down his leg, the suit slightly open, but he didn't care. The signs took him to a room door, and upon opening it, he entered a fairly large suite, in fact, the room he was in was more of a living room than anything else. A huge window was in the background, showing views of the city, and in front of it, the Joker, who turned with a smile.

"You's finally here, Batsy! How did you like my challenges?"

"It's over Joker, you're going back to Arkham."

"No no no, Batmane, don't you remember the game? You must kill me if you want to save the city," Joker said as he pulled a gun from his jacket. "Here's a little help."

Joker tossed the gun at Batmane, falling onto his hooves. He slowed down a few seconds before kicking it and throwing it away from him, closing in on the clown.

"Give up, you have nowhere to run."

"Okay, you're going to fist me to death, creative, I like it."

The Joker laughed heartily as Batmane slammed into him, knocking him to the ground and planting his hoof on his neck.

"Where are the bombs?!" he yelled furiously.

"Oh, what fun would it be if I told you?" Joker said with another laugh. "Besides, it's not like you had time either."

Joker hardened his hoof into a corner, and as Batmane turned, he saw a clock on the wall, a clock that indicated that there was little more than a minute left of her time. The clown broke his left hoof and tapped the bat on the shoulder, creating an electric shock that caused him to scream, back up and fall to the ground.

"Let me guess, you've never come across somepony who had an electrical strap on their hoof, have you?" Joker said as he stood up, lifting his hoof and revealing a small ribbon on his hoof, a small red button in the center.

Batmane didn't answer, the pain in his leg and the shock left him speechless. Joker reached out, pulling an extendable baton out of his purple jacket, extending it and hitting the bat on his side hard.

"Come on, get up, Batsy! Don't let me down!"

The chimes of the clock interrupted him, making him laugh as he walked over to the window.

"Time! You lose, Batmane!"

Joker watches the night sky with a smile, expecting that at any moment it will fill with green gas, but it did not happen. The clown frowned and looked at the clock again, it was time, why hadn't the bombs exploded?

"Joker, come out peacefully!"

Joker focused on the window, looking down, near the entrance, seeing that it was full of royal and night guards, and in front of all of them, Celestia and Luna, being the first one who spoke to him.

"Did you really think I wouldn't have backup?" Batmane asked as he stood up. "I just told Princess Luna so she and her sister can look for the bombs. Like I said, it's over."

"That's... not funny" Joker said as his tone and face turned deadly serious, looking at Batmane.

"You're going back to Arkham."

Joker growled and ran at the bat, his staff out in front to hit him. But Batmane nimbly dodged, tossing the offending object away from him, shattering the window, striking back and knocking him to the ground. Before he could get up, he felt his hooves on his neck, squeezing. The clown stares at those white eyes, those ears... and a vague memory comes to mind... a familiar figure watching him as he falls to his baptism into madness. It was him, he was the one who created him… Joker let out a laugh as that knowledge dawned, a long, maniacal laugh, cut short as he fell into unconsciousness.

Batmane pulled away from him with a small groan, still feeling the pain in his leg, and looking down at Joker's unconscious body. Hoovessteps were heard approaching, and when he looked up, there were both princesses of Equestria. Celestia shifted her gaze from the clown to the bat, noticing that he was panting slightly and a small trail of blood dripped from one of his hind legs.

"Are you OK?" Luna asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Patients have been caught?"

Despite the fact that Celestia frowned at her at his sharp response, Luna didn't seem to care.

"Almost everypony, the royal guard and the police are doing a good job of containing the unrest."

"In that case, you should keep him under the watch of the guard."

Luna looked at the Joker and nodded, that was something that had been amply demonstrated.

"You should come with us," Celestia said with a frown. "You are wounded, and while your actions have been very honorable, your methods of finding justice are too violent. If you want to help, you had better do it on my sister's night..."

Before she could finish, Luna interrupted her sister, walking past her and standing right in front of Batmane.

"As my sister said, you has done an honorable thing, and during the time we have known each other, you has shown me that you are trustworthy, you are worthy of my blessing."

Luna spread her wings to their full extent, and Celestia's eyes widened, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"You have my permission to wander through my night, that my moon illuminates your path, that the shadows protect you. Make your figure a symbol of hope for the weak, and a symbol of terror for criminals. From today, I appoint you... my dark knight."

Batmane bowed his head in respect, which Luna imitated. Once her wings folded, Celestia screamed.

"What have you done?!"

"Name him my dark knight, you know, that means..."

"I know what it means!" Celestia closed her eyes, trying to calm herself, taking deep breaths. "Luna, you can't..."

"Of course I can, I've made sure this stays in effect."

Celestia looked at Luna's defiant face, sighing and looking at the place where Batmane had been, seeing that he was no longer there. With a growl, she lit up her horn and levitated Joker's unconscious body out of there. The princess of the night looked at her sister's mark before approaching the broken hole in the window. In the distance, on top of a building, was the silhouette of Batmane, rapidly disappearing from view.

Comments

[Shadowpony300]

Now Celestia is really, REALLY mad at Batmane and Luna.

[Tonto the Trotter]

I see you're taking bits of Batman stories and stitching them together to make your own spin on them. If you're going to draw from videogame material I would also suggest the Telltale Batman games. And other Batman media like Mask of Phantasm, Batman vs Dracula, the animated series and the 2004 animated series.

[Roboman3000]

Will, the next chapter has the mane 6 team up with him?

[Guillermo]

11198146
Surely I will do that in future stories, this one is about to end, I hope you liked it .

[Guillermo]

11198165
As much as I'd like to, there's still plenty left for one of the mane six to team up with him .

[Guillermo]

11198006
Angry is little for what she should feel .