> The Dark Knight Falls
>  by TheClownPrinceofCrime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Joker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRO

The Bat insignia hovers in the air. It then shook from a thunderous rumble. Blue beams of light pierced through the symbol one by one until it exploded. The blue fire then covered the whole screen...until a Glasgow smile appeared. 

INTRO ENDED


Gotham experienced one of the most painful trials it had ever suffered. That one night was when the reign of chaos terrorized the city for one last time until the Dark Knight saved it from utter ruin with the most selfless sacrifice he had ever done. That same night was when he took all of the blame for the murders that former district attorney Harvey Dent/Two-Face committed. 

It was that very night which Batman would never forget. That moment of true heroism would change his life of crime-fighting from that time forward. When word got out, all of Gotham began to hate the Batman for the crimes he did not commit. Wanted signs of him were posted all over the city as the Gotham City Police Department began a fierce manhunt for the Caped Crusader. However, he did not care about his reputation; he cared more for Harvey’s reputation as the only ray of hope for true justice. 

He got on his bat-pod and drove away from 2552 Street where both Rachel and Harvey died and escaped from police, driving as far away as he could from being spotted and taken. Bruce began to doubt himself if he should continue his career as the Batman. If he needed to survive, he had to hide himself from Gotham. That would involve giving up Batman. He had very little choice to make in that dire situation. 

But there was one man who broke Batman’s spirit; one who thrusted Gotham to anarchy; one who shook the foundation of the morals and codes of society; and the same one who arguably triumphed in the end...The Joker. If there is one thing anyone could learn about the infamous mastermind, he is a man of his word.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” he maniacally laughed. 

He was taken by the SWAT team who helped rescue the hostages from Joker’s deceptive game. After they held his legs and body and cut the grapple rope from its hook, they quickly took him away from the floor where he fought Batman. He kept smiling at his captors as they brought him downstairs of the unfinished skyscraper. 

“Suspect is taken into custody! Take hostages to safety now!” the leading SWAT member commanded. 

The other soldiers took the rescued hostages and exited out of the skyscraper and vacated the perimeter to make sure they avoid contact with Joker. “Hostages are safe! The perimeter is now clear!” one of the men reported. 

Joker still kept his devilish smile on his face as they roughly restrained him. Once they all exited the building, they contacted a helicopter to transport the clown criminal. Then they stayed outside waiting. “We’re gonna have to leave here as soon as possible. Things can happen.” the leader spoke, glaring at Joker. 

“Leaving so soon? Why, is it an emergency?” Joker asked. 

“Shut it, freak!!” one of the SWAT soldiers snapped. “Enough of your mind games!” 

Twitching his right eye, he looked up in the dark sky, “Well... its always important to have an emergency plan. So...” Joker uttered before turning the key of the detonator behind his back. Within one half of a second, the entire half-constructed building exploded with rocks and boulders flying everywhere. The whole team were frightened at the sudden sight; unfortunately, they tried to flee away from the falling deadly debris too late. 

The boulders crushed the soldiers underneath; the fire ravaged the ground while burning the SWAT vehicles and the wounded soldiers. Joker escaped the scene until he stopped at the parking lot of a nearby cafe. He watched the carnage unfold before his murderous eyes. He wildly cackled. “Lacking an emergency plan is no good. I had to show it to your... FACE!” he taunted, looking at the crushed, bloodied face of the leading soldier. 

He then saw a SWAT helicopter approach the burning building. They lowered its ladder for two soldiers to go down and investigate the horrific scene. Once they got down, Joker quickly paced to the ladder without being spotted by the two troops and climbed up until he gained entrance in the helicopter. The pilot confronted him, but Joker took his knife out and swiftly slit his throat, blood gushing out. 

He threw him out of the chopper and took over it. Laughing in triumph, he flew the chopper away from the area and ascended toward the night sky to get a panoramic view of the city he sadistically tormented. 

“What a lovely night! It just keeps getting better and better!” he gloated. Then his smile turned to frown. “Except for those self-righteous people who wouldn’t blow themselves up. How unfunny and... unexpected.” 

His smug smile returned again. “But I truly wonder how dear old Harvey is doing. The moment the people hear of his corruption, Gotham’s history will be forever changed.” he said. 

“Speaking of which, the Batman won’t be faring well either. I can imagine him getting that little push to insanity once he sees the real Dent. Hehehehe...” Joker giggled. 

10 MINUTES LATER

Once he flew past several buildings and apartments in the city, he spotted his archenemy Batman driving the bat-pod while the police cruisers were hot on his tail. Eventually, Batman went through the shadows of the streets, completely vanishing from the sights of his pursuers. Confused, the police forces scattered around the highways in search for the wanted fugitive. 

Joker laughed in amusement. “Really, Batman? You managed to get Gordon’s forces to despise you? How did you achieve that?” 

Before he could say anything else, something—or someone caught his eye. He saw an unmoving figure miles below him, but he couldn’t determine who that was. Wherefore, he lowered the helicopter just enough to get a closer view of the scene. He also lowered the ladder to climb down to the ground. Once he landed, he immediately recognized the area: 2552 Street where he killed Rachel. 

Then when he looked upon the body, he instantly recognized who it was—Harvey Dent. Amazed, he walked closer to the corpse and gazed on his horribly disfigured face. His smile grew wider to match the length of his Glasgow smile. “My, my, my, Harvey...it appears that you have served your purpose...your timely death seals the doom that shall befall Gotham.” Joker spoke. 

“I wonder what Batman has done to save you—wait.” Joker interrupted his gloating as he attempted to connect the dots. Once he thought over the sequence of events, it then clicked in his mind. At first, he raged in defeat at the thought of Batman taking the blame for Harvey’s crimes, but after considering what might have caused his death, he abruptly laughed in wicked glee. 

“I see! You killed your trusted ally, didn’t you, Bats?!” he said to no one. “And here I thought you were truly incorruptible! So you think that lying to your people as to Harvey Dent’s fate will save your reputation? How laughable! Hahahahaha!!”

At that very moment, police sirens were heard in the background. The recently elected Commissioner Jim Gordon alerted the other units of Harvey’s death and to retrieve his body. Wasting no time, he got back in the chopper and flew away from the building. 

15 MINUTES LATER 

As he was flying under the night sky, there was a strange being flying in the air. He squinted his eyes to get a better view of the unfamiliar creature. Suddenly, the being slammed itself on the windshield and opened its eyes right at Joker. Overtaken by curiosity, he set the chopper on autopilot and opened the door for the creature to get access therein. 

“Owww, my head! That really hurt!” the creature said after entering. It lifted its head and saw a well-dressed clown staring at it. 

“Well, well, well!! A cartoonish talking pony, I see!” Joker exclaimed, closing the door. “What’s your name, my dear?” 

“The name’s Spitfire, a Wonderbolt from Equestria. You?” she introduced. 

“You may call me... Joker,” he introduced also. “I’ve seen some of you ponies here in Gotham. How did you get here?” he asked. 

“I and some of my friends went through a portal where all of those other humans returned to their home after King Sombra’s defeat many months ago,” Spitfire replied. “Batman saved our lives.” 

This piqued Joker’s interest as he listened. “Interesting! So Batman has befriended you equines, huh? Tell me, Spitfire, where do you think you can re-enter this... Equestria you mentioned? I’ve always wondered where you ponies came from since I kept seeing you from time to time. So I would like to see your home... personally.” Joker asked, smiling creepily. 

“Well, I’ve been flying all over these islands to find a hidden portal. Fortunately, I’ve found one and flew out to inform my friends until you showed up.” she replied, slightly glaring. 

“My apologies for interfering. Maybe if you can take me there first, I’ll make sure to reward you for your gratitude.” he offered. 

Spitfire thought about it for a few moments. “Why do you want to go there?” she asked suspiciously. 

“To learn of your civilization, of course! It can be beneficial to study the ways of life in other unknown worlds like yours! Batman has done that, so why not me?” Joker explained. 

“Hmmm, well, in that case, I’ll be more than happy to bring you to Equestria!” Spitfire said, smiling. 

“Excellent...” Joker uttered, sadistically smiling.
> Chapter 1: Batman Troubled
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a sunny and bright morning in Ponyville. Everypony went about their business as they usually do. A familiar unicorn named Twilight Sparkle was with her number one assistant Spike, the baby dragon in their treehouse library. With them were their other close friends: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. 

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to have him around Ponyville, darling?” Rarity asked. “I highly doubt he would keep his promise of using his magic for good.” 

“Well, if Fluttershy was able to reform him, then I’m certain that he will keep his word. But I do understand your concerns, Rarity.” Twilight said. 

“I still don’t trust him! I still haven’t forgotten what he had done to us before!” Rainbow said, glaring at the memory. 

“You can say that again! Ah don’t like him one bit!” Applejack concurred. 

“Everypony, LISTEN!!!” Fluttershy yelled, startling everypony in the room. “Um...I just want us to still give him a chance. If we just be patient with him and teach him more about the ways of friendship, he will be a better creature.” she finished, speaking softly. 

“Hmmm, you might be right. I mean, the more we show him friendship, the more he’ll learn.” Spike agreed. 

“Yeah! Like giving him more parties!!” Pinkie shouted, shooting confetti from her party cannon. 

“I think we can all agree on the fact that we need to keep a close eye on him. That mostly means you, Fluttershy.” Twilight said, looking directly at her. 

“Me? Oh, um... yes, definitely.” Fluttershy whispered. 

At that moment, a white flash appeared in front of them in the room and there stood a familiar draconequus who was sitting in a couch while eating a bowl of cereal with peanut butter and jelly. “Weeelllll, isn’t this a good place to have some fun!” he said. After taking large bites of the bowl itself, he snapped his paw fingers which made his meal and couch disappear and hovered in the air above the ponies and dragon who, except Fluttershy, glared at him. 

“What do you want, Discord?” Rainbow, clearly annoyed by his presence. 

“Why, I am here for my dear Fluttershy! Why not? Also, she agreed to show me the Crystal Empire this afternoon and re-introduce me to the ones called... hmmm... Shining Armor and Cadence, from what she told me.” Discord replied. 

“The Crystal Empire?!? Fluttershy, why didn’t you—!” Twilight yelled in disbelief until Fluttershy interjected. 

“I just want to introduce him to everypony and demonstrate how far he has changed. That’s all, Twilight. No need to get worried.” Fluttershy assured her. 

“Yes, Twilight! Why be all so serious and doubtful of my progress, hmmm? Do you not have trust in me?” Discord said while making puppy dog eyes at her. 

Twilight had that skeptical, unsure look on her face. She was clearly annoyed by Discord’s antics. But when she thought over their course of action, she nodded her head in understanding. “Okay, Fluttershy. I trust you with this,” she said, ignoring Discord before turning her head to the rest of the group. They, except Pinkie, groaned in annoyance. 

“Ughhh, fine.” Rainbow groaned. 

“I suppose it will do.” Rarity added. 

“Same here,” said Applejack. 

“Sounds like fun!” Pinkie gladly said, jumping up and down. 

“Fine by me.” Spike said, shrugging. 

Fluttershy warmly smiled at her friends before turning to the Lord of Chaos. “Come, Discord. Let’s get to the train for the Crystal Empire,” she said. Discord chuckled in amusement. 

“Hahaha, oh please...why take the train if I, the Lord of Chaos, can just take you to the Crystal Empire?!” he said. 

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked before Discord snapped his claw fingers, making them disappear. 

“Ah really hope she knows what she is doing.” Applejack said. 

“Discord had better not make a mess in the Crystal Empire!” Rainbow said. 

“I second that!” Rarity agreed. 

“I’m confident Fluttershy will do fine. I don’t know about Discord though,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “Speaking of wellness, I wonder how Bruce is doing right now.” 


IN THE BAT CAVE


Batman entered the bat cave while still riding on his bat-pod. Once he parked his bat-pod, he went over to his butler and close friend Alfred who was standing by the computer in the cave. Bruce took his cowl off with the look of sadness on his face. “I presume things went rough for you tonight, sir?” Alfred asked. 

“More than that, Alfred. A terrible thing... (sigh) has struck Gotham this night that...  needs to be swept under the rug.” Bruce sadly replied. 

“What would that be, sir?” Alfred asked. 

Bruce did all in his power to fight back the tears as he was about to tell him of the unfortunate fate of Harvey Dent. “Harvey... is... dead.” he slowly said. 

Alfred was slightly surprised at the revelation. “Really, sir? Oh... oh, my... that’s—that is terrible! I’m so sorry.” 

“That’s not all. The Joker actually managed to transform him into a-a... psychopathic murderer. Dent... killed five people, and he was planning to kill Gordon’s son to punish him for failing to... save Rachel.” Bruce emotionally informed. 

Alfred stood there completely stunned at the more shocking revelation. The thought of Gotham’s White Knight being brought down to Joker’s level was very appalling and disturbing to him. He never thought of even the possibility of the city’s last ray of hope and shining example of justice being terribly dimmed coming to fruition. 

Alfred put his arm around Bruce and began to sympathize with him. “This... this is disturbing in so many ways. Did you manage to save Gordon and his family?” he asked. 

“Yes... but at a cost. I pushed Dent off of the high floor of the building in 2552 Street where he fell to his death and broke his neck in the process.” Bruce replied. 

“How will Gotham survive without the living ray of light shining before them?” asked Alfred. 

“The thing is that... I took the blame for his crimes to make sure Gotham would not lose hope. Besides, the city needs its true hero.” Bruce said before taking a stern look at his cowl. 

“Are you sure, sir?” Alfred doubted. “You are willing to base Gotham’s hope and faith on a lie?” 

“Like I said to Gordon, I’ll be whatever Gotham needs me to be. Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes, people deserve more. And sometimes, people deserve to have their faith rewarded,” said Bruce. 

He put his cowl back on, activated his bat-pod, sat on it, raised his right arm where his crystal magic once again ignited, and shot a beam at the waterfall behind him that turned into a portal. Alfred looked surprised and concerned at the same time. 

“You haven’t used your crystal magic in a while, sir, since we faced Sombra! Where are you going?” Alfred asked. 

“To meet my friends. With the Dent Act in full force, there is not much to worry about in Gotham. Plus, Equestria will be a safer place for the Batman. I’ll see you around, Alfred.” Batman said before taking off to the portal. 

“Master Wayne! Wait!” Alfred called out to him. But Batman already entered through the portal before it closed behind him. “I was wondering if you needed some dinner after a long night. I guess I’ll have to refrigerate it... again.” he groaned.
> Chapter 2: Love’s Protection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE

In the crystal palace, Shining Armor entered into his bed chamber where his beloved wife, Cadence was lying in bed. Concerned over the well-being of his wife, Shining trotted to the right side of the bed where she laid and placed his hoof on her forehead. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked. “You weren’t feeling well over the past few weeks.” 

“Those past few weeks were quite hectic, love.” Cadence replied, sniffing. “Fortunately, the illness was not that severe, but it was still draining me. I’m feeling a little better now.” 

“I’m glad to hear that. I’ve managed to take care of your duties during your illness.” Shining said, smiling warmly. 

“Thanks, dear.” she replied, smiling back. 

“But you still need some rest. The more you rest, the more fully you will recover.” he advised. He gently placed the back of her head on the pillow to make her feel more comfortable. 

“Thank you. You should get back to your duties. I’ll be fine.” she told him. 

“Okay. Just remember to call on me if you need me. I love  you, Cadence.” Shining said. 

“I love you too.” she said before they affectionately kissed. 

Once he exited the bedroom, he saw the crystal guards running toward someone while raising their spears and shouting commands at the apparent intruder. Confused, he followed them to investigate who was it that they were chasing after. Once he got a closer view on the opened front doors of the crystal palace, he saw a familiar being whom he never thought would arrive here. 

“Really now? Is this how you treat visitors who arrive at this Crystal Empire for the first time? How rude...” a voice condescendingly  spoke. 

“DISCORD?!” Shining shouted in disbelief. 

“Ohhhhh!! Looks like somepony has heard of me!” Discord obnoxiously said. “You must be Prince Shining Armor, I presume!” 

“Yes...now tell me as to what EXACTLY are you doing here?” Shining demanded. 

“For my good friend Fluttershy to show me all of the Crystal Empire! Isn’t that right?” Discord replied, looking at Fluttershy. 

“Um...of course. It’s okay, everypony. Discord is with me. He won’t hurt any of you.” Fluttershy assured. Looking at each other puzzled, they looked back at Shining for permission. 

“Hmmm, fine. Lower your weapons.” he ordered. They lowered their spears as they were told although reluctantly. 

“Soooo, now that we have that settled, how about you introduce me to Cadence whom I heard is the princess here.” Discord suggested, floating over Shining’s head. 

“NO! She is not well at the moment, and I strongly recommend NOT disturbing her!” Shining sternly ordered as his protective husband instincts kicked in. 

“I think he’s right, Discord. You might want to give her time...if that is okay with you...” Fluttershy softly advised. 

Discord groaned in annoyance. “Uugghhhh, fine. You ponies always have to ruin the fun moment. How boring...” 

“You know, I think Cadence would be happy to see you, Fluttershy. Would you like to see her with me?” Shining asked. Fluttershy was surprised by this offer. 

“Me? Um...sure! But I assure you that Discord will do no harm. Trust me.” Fluttershy said. 

“I highly doubt that. My top priority is to protect this kingdom and my family. I’m sure you understand that.” said Shining. He then motioned for the guards to leave. They left the hallway right back to their posts. 

“Looks like somepony has trust issues.” Discord muttered while crossing his arms. 

Fluttershy and Shining Armor went to the bedroom where Cadence still relaxed on the bed. “Cadence, Fluttershy is here to see you.” he said. 

“Oh, Fluttershy! It’s nice to see you again!” Cadence greeted. 

“It’s nice to see you too.” Fluttershy warmly smiled. 

“Is Twilight and her other friends doing all right?” Cadence asked. 

“They’re doing all right. I came here with Discord as a starting point for his learning experience.” Fluttershy explained. 

“Discord? THE Discord?” Cadence said, blinking several times in confusion. 

“Yep! He’s outside right now.” Fluttershy stated. 

Discord suddenly appeared right above the three ponies. “SURPRISE!!” he exclaimed, displaying confetti balloons all around them. 

“Discord! I thought I told you to not come in here!!” Shining harshly scolded. 

“And miss out on a lovely time with family?! Oh come on, Shiny, you know how much I love family time.” Discord said, winking at him. 

“You are not of our family. Also, do not call me ‘Shiny’. Only Twilight can call me that!” Shining gritted his teeth in anger. 

“Whatever.” he casually dismissed, not intimidated at all by Shining’s anger. “Anyway, Fluttershy wanted to prove how much I changed over the past few days. Surely, I’ve learned a few lessons here and there of friendship and all that goody-goody stuff. So in short, I’m coming a long way. So you might as well thank her.” Discord finished. Fluttershy blushed at his last statement. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Shining growled. 

“Honey, please. Cut Discord some slack. I trust that he is learning to be a better creature. Fluttershy knows what she is doing.” Cadence defended. 

Shining looked at Discord with a hard glare. Knowing fully well his history, the spread of chaos he caused a couple years ago when the Mane Six faced off against him, and his chaotic personality, he could hardly trust him to have him around the palace. He really did not want to experience his annoying antics that would possibly not only endanger him but also his wife and the whole empire. But considering what Fluttershy had done not too long ago, he decided to restrain his anger at Discord...for now. 

“Okay, fine. I’ll let Discord have access around here...on one condition.” Shining began. Fluttershy and Cadence raised their eyebrows. Discord, however, rolled his eyes in annoyance as he already knew what that condition was. 

“You, Fluttershy, need to keep a firm eye on him no matter what. Every time he comes here, he will not perform his chaos magic, especially here in this palace! Going forward, he will not enter into our room without MY permission!” Shining sternly listed. 

“Yeah, and by ‘permission’, you actually mean denying me full access to your room even if I ask. How typical...” Discord muttered. 

“I’m sure he will be at his best behavior. Right, Discord?” Fluttershy asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have to behave like a good little foal and all that stuff. Seriously, Shiny, you really need to work with your trust issues.” Discord said. 

Shining growled in irritation from being called ‘Shiny’ by him again. 

“Come, Fluttershy, I think there are other places we need to visit where there aren’t judgmental ponies.” Discord said, snapping his fingers before he and Fluttershy disappeared. 

“You shouldn’t be that harsh on Discord, you know. Do you not believe that everypony deserves a chance?” Cadence asked. 

“I do. But Discord is not like anypony I’ve seen. It will take a lot of effort for him to make me like him. I’m just looking after you, Cadence...and for my family.” Shining said, nuzzling his wife. 

“I’m proud to have a faithful husband like you.” Cadence smiled. 

“I’ll never leave your side. I was at a vulnerable moment when Chrysalis nearly drained my love when she crashed our wedding. If it weren’t for our union of love, Chrysalis would have destroyed us all. I won’t let anything like that happen ever again.” Shining vowed. They both embraced each other affectionately. 

“We must remain strong...no matter what happens.” he finished.
> Chapter 3: Batman Returns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

The Joker and Spitfire were flying over the ocean due to the latter’s directions as to where the portal was. Once the helicopter was just above the surface, they saw a  glowing whirlpool that was about the size of a boulder. “Right here, Joker! This is the only type of portal that can lead us back to Equestria!” Spitfire said. 

“Hahaha!! What do you know?! A gateway to your pony land! Ohhhhh, this will be so much FUN!!” Joker laughed. Spitfire raised her eyebrow in confusion. 

“Ughhh, ok? Anyway, I’ll have to carry you through the whirlpool if you want.” Spitfire offered. 

“Nahh, I can jump right through it. Can’t ruin the daredevil spirit, you know?” Joker said. 

“Well, if you say so...on the count of three! One...two...THREE!” Spitfire counted before flying right out of the helicopter. Joker, on the other hand, took out his grenades from his pockets, pulled their pins, threw them at the control system in the cockpit, and then jumped out of the chopper. Following the Wonderbolt, he went through the whirlpool while maniacally laughing. The chopper exploded. 

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHBABABABABABA!!!” he crazily cackled like a mad hyena before he gurgled through the water. At that moment, both of them zoomed through the disguised portal. 


IN THE EVERFREE FOREST


A river in the forest wildly bubbled which startled all the creatures that were drinking thereof. Once they ran off, Joker and Spitfire swiftly jumped out of the river and landed on the grass. He got on his feet and looked at his surroundings. “Whoaa, what is this? My, my, my...quite a dazzling view here!” he remarked, grinning. Spitfire took a look at his face and noticed that his clown makeup did not fade from the water at all.

Surprised, she asked him while flying above him, “Wait, how come your makeup didn’t fade from the water we just dived into?” 

“Ehhh, magic, perhaps?” Joker guessed. 

“Hmmm, that could be the reason. Anyway, welcome to Equestria, and I hope you like it here. I have to get my friends who are still in Gotham. See you later!” Spitfire said, waving her hoof. She dived back into the river to get her friends from Gotham. 

“Much thanks, Spitfire.” he sinisterly smiled. 

He began to wander about in the Everfree Forest in search for civilization.  “Gotham itself was so easy to expose its true colors. And to think of it, no one is innocent. And if no one is innocent, why is it that Batman is trying to save them? That guy really has a poor gullible mind. I’m sure he’s able to breed more gullible minds from these cartoon horses or whatever they are.” Joker thought. He pressed on through the bushes as he began his search. 


IN PONYVILLE


A blue portal opened in the middle of the town. The dazzling sight caught all the bystanders’ attention. Out of it, came the Batman on his bat-pod. He drove right past them as soon as the portal closed behind him. The ponies, recognizing their courageous hero, cheered for him and waved their hooves at him. Batman drove by the houses and by Sugercube Corner before Pinkie Pie noticed him and grew her wild smile. 

“YAYYYY!! BATMAN’S BACK!!” she cheered, shooting confetti from her party cannon. 

He also passed by the carousel boutique where Rarity was just working on some of her dresses. She suddenly heard the bat-pod’s engine noises zooming by. Overtaken by curiosity, she ran out of her house and saw her heroic friend whom neither she nor her friends had seen in a while. 

“(Gasp) Batman! Welcome back to Ponyville!” she graciously greeted before running after him. 

Batman then stopped in front of the library. Mayor Mare and the other ponies welcomed him back after his long absence from Equestria. Batman was somewhat warmed by the love of the ponies; understanding their personality, mindset, character, and perspective, he considered Ponyville to be a much better environment than all of Gotham itself although he still cared for Gotham. 

It did not take long for the Dark Knight to comprehend that they are a better ‘people’—if he could call them that—than even the Gothamites. Excluding Gordon and Alfred, there were barely anyone else who had a sincere appreciation for what he had done for Gotham. He remembered the deaths of former Commissioner Loeb and Judge Janet Surillo who were the first murder victims of Joker after he issued his ultimatum for Gotham. 

The people blamed Batman for their deaths and the deaths of other people for not turning himself in. With Rachel also gone, he actually felt as if he was a living curse instead of a source of light and encouragement. He even blamed his own existence. But these...these colorful ponies —figuratively and literally—actually made him feel like a true friend, a source of hope and bravery...even family. They were understanding, forgiving, and thoughtful from what he had seen. 

Seeing them for who they were, he began to feel as if this was his true home. He waved back at them, accepting their welcome. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie emerged from the crowd with smiles on their faces. “Howdy, Bats! Good to see ya again!” Applejack greeted. 

“Likewise, Applejack.” Batman said. “It has been a while.” 

“Indeed, darling! We hoped that you returned from that ever horrible city you talked about!” said Rarity. “Fighting crime every single night must be energy-draining!” 

“It is. But it’s good to be always prepared.” Batman said. 

“Hey, Bruce!” a familiar voice addressed him. He turned to see Twilight at the front door of the library with Spike next to her. “I didn’t expect you to come back so soon! I thought you would come back after three years or so! But many months does seem slightly like a long time.” Twilight chattered. 

“I understand that, Twilight. It has been a while. But I made a promise to see you ponies after everything that we have done together. You know that I can never break a promise.” Batman said. 

“I do.” Twilight said as she smiled. 

“Darling, is that your new bat suit? You look very different.” Rarity noticed. 

“Yes, it is. My old one had so much weight and caused me to make slow movements whenever I fight criminals. So I had some help of acquiring new body armor that can be more flexible and make me faster in fights.” Batman explained. 

“Oh, wow. You look 20% cooler with that type of armor!” Rainbow said. She then noticed how his armor plates are separated. “How come you have separate plates on your suit?” 

“Again, it has to do with flexibility. However, it increases the risk of being subject to gunfire and knives.” Batman expounded. 

“Do you still have that crystal magic with you?” Twilight asked. 

Batman raised his right arm and generated a large crystal from his palm in a blue aurora. “Better as before.” he smirked. 

“Awesome!” Pinkie and Rainbow said at the same time. 

“Where’s Fluttershy? Is she doing all right?” Batman asked, noticing her absence among the crowd of ponies. 

“She is doing fine, Bruce. She is actually with Discord at the Crystal Empire right now.” Twilight replied. 

“Discord? Who’s Discord?” Batman asked. 

All the ponies groaned in annoyance once they heard Discord’s name being uttered as they all strongly disliked him. “Just an annoyin’ draconequus who wouldn’t stop at messing things up all the time.” Applejack said, rolling her eyes. 

“Yeah, you don’t need to worry about him.” Rainbow added. 

“He is known as the Lord of Chaos. When you see him, you will exactly see what he is known for.” Twilight said. 

 “Chaos? I don’t like the sound of that. I just hope he doesn’t behave like the Joker.” Batman hoped. 

“Come on, Batman! Let’s have a “Welcome back to Ponyville!” PARTYYYY!!!” Pinkie shouted excitedly. Every other pony cheered in excitement. 

Batman followed them to Sweet Apple Acres; little did they know that the Clown Prince of Crime saw them from on top of a hill that was next to Ponyville. Looking through his binoculars, he saw his archenemy walking with the pony residents of the town towards an unknown destination. His smile slowly grew once he observed the behavior and mannerisms of the ponies whom Batman was talking to. 

“You’re doing a good job, Batsy. Making friends is always a pleasant experience to have. The bigger test is seeing whether you have learned your mistakes or not.” Joker said. “I need to travel further to see what this dazzling landscape has to offer.” He ran down the other side of the hill to continue his exciting exploration.
> Chapter 4: A Chaotic Alliance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The villainous agent of chaos continued his search for more signs of civilization. He needed to know if there were more places such as towns or cities where those colorful ponies lived. Once he would get an idea of how large the civilization was, the more he would expand his methods of tearing down the Batman for good. 

Just as he was on top of another hill, he saw the city of Canterlot in a distance right beneath that large mountain. His devious smile returned as he gazed on the city. He ran toward the northern way to reach to Canterlot. This was going to be an exhilarating experience for him once the perfect opportunity presented itself before him. 


 IN CANTERLOT


“Well, that was interesting...” grumbled Discord as he and Fluttershy were walking through the streets of Canterlot. Everypony there were not receptive of Discord’s presence; some of them ran away in fear of the Lord of Chaos the moment they saw him pass by; others uttered derogatory words to him; and others haughtily dismissed him every time he would attempt to speak to them. 

“It’s all right, Discord. Everypony will accept you eventually.” Fluttershy assured. 

“Pfffff, yeah, sure, of course they will. Although they did not accept my...progress report on my journey to friendship, they still would not be open-minded and actually understand for once. Yeah, they’ll totally accept me.” Discord said sarcastically. 

“I’m sorry for the way they treated you. It’s just that they know what you have done in the past. Naturally, it’s hard to forgive somepony for the wrong things that were done. But the more you be kind to them and help them in every way, they might start to like you.” Fluttershy encouraged, patting his lower back. 

Discord slowly nodded his head in understanding and started to embrace his dear friend. “Thank you, Fluttershy. At least you are the only pony who understands me and actually treats me like a friend.” he said to her. 

“Um...you’re welcome.” Fluttershy said, blushing and hugging him back. 

After they broke the embrace, Discord moved in front of her, “Thank you for the intriguing day, but I have some things to take care of right now. Mind if I can stop by for tea and sandwiches tomorrow?” 

“Not at all. I’ll be glad to have you there. I’m sure Angel will too.” Fluttershy smiled. 

“Splendid!” Discord yelled, snapping his fingers that made roses to appear in the air; they hovered in the air and started to dance and sing. Fluttershy giggled as she was pleased to see his friend happy and excited. 

“See you tomorrow, Discord.” Fluttershy waved. Discord nodded before snapping his fingers and disappeared. 


 IN GOTHAM CITY


“A hero...not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight ...shining.” Gordon emotionally spoke.

All the Gotham City police officers, citizens, and city officials, including city Mayor Anthony Garcia were attending Harvey Dent’s funeral. Standing between the large picture of Harvey and the podium, Gordon spoke of what Dent had rightfully done in the city as far as the Dent Act was concerned. However, he purposely left out his fate and his degradation to criminal activity thanks to the Joker. 

Not wanting to bring his poor city to a state of hopelessness and despair, he had to cover up his crimes while helping his comrades cast down the Dark Knight. After the heart-breaking funeral was over, they all traveled to the Gotham Cemetery where Harvey was buried...next to Rachel’s grave. 

Later that night, the projector light that had the Bat insignia was lit up while there was rain. Gordon had an axe with him while his police colleagues were right behind him to support him. “I wish there was another way, Batman. I truly hope you know what you’re doing...”  Gordon mourned in thought. 

He then struck the projected light with the axe. That hit somehow struck him emotionally. He hated to smite the very insignia that represented the sign of hope and courage that anyone can follow. Because it didn’t budge, he struck it again....and again...and again. The more he struck the symbol, the more emotional pain he felt. He gave the last swing before it finally broke down and shattered the light in the projector. 


 AT MIDNIGHT IN EQUESTRIA


Discord aimlessly walked through the bushes and trees of a massive landscape right below Canterlot City. He was both angry, sad, depressed, and annoyed at the same time after everything that happened to him earlier in the day and recently. How is it that these self-absorbed ponies tell him, the LORD of chaos, what to do? 

 “What is wrong with being chaotic from time to time? That is my very being for crying out loud!! Twilight and the others are so boring and predictable! At least Fluttershy understands me more...”  Discord ranted.  “And that Shining Armor prince thinks that I’m too ‘dangerous’ to be kept around. Pfff...big deal. As the Lord of Chaos, I can do anything I want, whenever I want. That simple.” 

Before he could waltz further, he heard a strange crack on the ground. He looked to see if he was being followed by somepony. Nopony was seen on sight. “Hmmm, strange. I thought I heard something.” he said. Suspicious, he slithered among the grass like a snake to see if any creature was nearby. After thirty seconds of investigation, he returned back to the spot he was standing on. He still saw nothing. 

“I guess it was nothing.” he concluded. Then a bipedal figure landed in front of him.  

“HELLOOO!!!” he creepily welcomed. Discord jumped back in fear. 

“SWEET CELESTIA!! Who in Starwirl’s name are YOU?!?” Discord shouted. 

“Glad you asked, my mythical friend! I am known as...Joker. THE Joker!” he introduced himself, bowing dramatically.  

“Joker, huh? Quite a silly name to have, but fine. I am Discord, the Lord of chaos and spirit of disharmony.” he introduced back. The Joker then grew a wide, friendly smile as he heard the words ‘chaos’ and ‘disharmony’. 

“Ahhhhhh, I see we have some sort of...familiarity between us, Discord. You utilize chaos? Well...so do I.” Joker grinned. 

This caught Discord’s attention and also began to notice his clown makeup. “Wait...you...a clown, utilize chaos?? Hahahahaha!!! How hilarious!!” he laughed, wiping a tear off of his eye. “Anyway, where do you come from? I can easily tell you’re not from Equestria.” 

“Hmmm, oh boy, where do I come from...” Joker wondered as he began his usual antics, “Do I come from a place where self-righteousness reigns predominant? Or am I birthed from a city that...(clears throat and licks his lips)...is afraid to show its true colors?” 

Discord was confused at that moment. “What are you going on about?” 

“You see, my chaotic friend, I can understand where you are coming from. Trust me, I do.” 

“Wha—what do you mean? Wait...” Discord wondered before the realization hit him. “Were you eavesdropping on my troubles earlier?!” 

“I couldn’t help but overhear the complaints and the hatred those ponies have for you when I was sneaking behind the bushes of those places without anyone noticing.” Joker said. 

“If I were to give you two things—a leash and a crown—which would you prefer?” Joker asked, raising his eyebrow. 

“A crown, of course.” Discord answered. 

“And why would you want that?” Joker asked. 

“Because...I’m the master of disharmony?” Discord asked. 

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Joker sternly asked. 

“I AM the Master of chaos!” Discord strongly affirmed. 

“Good. (Licks lip) So my big million-dollar question is...why are you trying to be subservient to those horses?” Joker asked. 

“Because I am learning of the Magic of Friendship. If it weren’t for my close friend Fluttershy, I would have been lost in my ways. I mean, that’s how far I’ve been...ugh...developing at least.” Discord explained. Joker hysterically laughed at his words. Discord was completely puzzled by his reaction. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked. 

“So (chokes by laughter) friendship is your living salvation? That’s it? Don’t you think that is an added insult to injury?” Joker asked. 

“Ummm, no?” Discord asked, puzzled. 

“Think about it. Those ponies insulted you and your dignity. They treat you like absolute trash on the ground....yet, (licks lip) you call them your ‘friends’? What are you? An abused slave who sucks up their mistreatment of you? ‘Yes, my master! I love being beaten by you! Abused by you! You’re the greatest! I’ll accept anything you rashly throw at me!’ Hahahahaha!!” Joker mocked. 

“STOP!! That is demeaning of my character!” Discord accused, offended by his mockery. 

“Do you not see my point? They’re schemers—(Licks lip) schemers trying to control their little worlds.” Joker lectured. He then placed his hand on Discord’s chin. “I feel your pain. I know it all.” 

“What makes you think we are similar?” Discord doubted. 

“Do you want to know how I got these scars?” Joker asked. 

“Should I care?” Discord rudely asked. 

Ignoring his dismissive reply, Joker began his story, “I had an uncle who was...(licks lip)...a hardcore gambler...and a control freak. Every time I would visit him, he would tell me all those rules I had to follow...none of them made any sense. Not. One. Bit. So, one day, he came to me and told me all the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’...including not making jokes to make people laugh.” 

“I stood up to him and told him ‘no’ to his face. Angered, he grabbed my head, pulled a box cutter from his pocket, and pointed it at my face saying, ‘Why so serious?!’ (licks lip). I still wouldn’t be put on his leash. So again, he asked, ‘Why so serious?!’...seeing my defiance, he stuck the blade in my mouth, ‘You want to make people laugh?! Then let’s put a smile on that face!’ Anndddd...why so serious?” Joker finished.

Discord looked stunned and disgusted by his story. He didn’t know if he should feel sorry for him or be terrified. “I...I-I do-didn’t know you went through that...that’s terrible.” 

Joker evilly grinned. “Yes. So it’s no surprise to me that such a powerful being like you is subject to such cruelties. You should be wise enough to know that their friendship is in-prisoning you.” Joker said, pointing Discord’s chest. “You’re on the verge of abandoning your true nature to enter their good graces.” 

“NO! I’ve done nothing of the sort! Never!” Discord angrily defended. 

“Don’t lie to yourself, my enslaved friend. You know I’m telling the truth. So take that leash off and reclaim your chaotic glory.” Joker appealed. 

Discord then considered Joker’s words. He realized how badly Twilight and her friends have been treating him ever since he was apparently reformed; they neither cared nor respected him in any way, shape, or form. Yet, they were supposed to be his friends? This started to anger Discord to an exceedingly high degree. Looking back at Joker, he made his decision, “You’re right, Joker. I do deserve better then this. As the Lord of Chaos, I reserve the right to spread my chaos in anyway that pleases me!” 

His yellow eyes then turned dark orange as he added with loathing and hate in his tone, “And they shall all pay for what they have done to me.” Joker sadistically grinned that matched his Glasgow smile. 

“Now, you’re sounding like a true king.” Joker said. 

Suddenly, the thought of Fluttershy struck Discord’s mind. “Wait, what about Fluttershy? She’s the only pony who showed me the path of goodness and treated me with kindness.” he said. 

“I understand that, Discord. But you must understand the weight of your duty as chaos incarnate. Regardless of what she may think, you are to be in charge here. Allow me to be your guide and mentor so that together, we can bring the ultimate chaos this world has never seen before.” Joker advised. “So what’s it going to be? Chaos King or pony errand boy?” 

Discord looked at a picture of Fluttershy in his paw. He looked at Joker and Fluttershy back and forth constantly to decide. Finally, he closed his eyes and stood in silence. After a full minute, he opened them with glowing yellow eyes and large, sinister grin. “Let’s get this party started then...teacher.” Discord said. 

“Very good.” Joker smirked. They both shook hands together.
> Chapter 5: History of Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman flew over the Crystal Empire during the same night. As he flew with his bat cape, he watched over the kingdom to see any suspicious activity happening. To his satisfaction, there were none occurring. It was odd to see a city completely deprived of crime or evil-doing; however, considering this was in a different dimension filled with magical ponies who know nothing of human-level crime, he let the oddness slide. 

He landed on the balcony of the Crystal Castle and entered therein. As he was in the royal bedroom, Shining Armor and Cadence were sitting on their bed talking with each other until they noticed his presence. “Batman, it appears you got my message earlier. I’m glad you made it.” Shining greeted. 

“I read your message. Is there something wrong?” Batman asked. 

“Well, not really, but...there’s something in my mind that I wanted to talk to you about. It’s really important.” Shining said before he looked back at Cadence. 

“It has something to do with...a being who visited us during the day.” Cadence clarified. “After our personal discussion earlier, we figured that you would help us in this occasion since you are a protective and courageous hero.” 

“Hmm, and who is this being you speak of?” Batman asked. 

“It’s...” Cadence was about to mention the name until Shining glared at the ground as he hated to mention him. “He is Discord.” she finished. 

“Discord? Twilight and the others talked about him earlier. They said he is the ‘Lord of Chaos’, correct?” Batman recalled. They nodded their heads in confirmation. 

“Yes.” Cadence replied. 

“They appeared to have a hatred for him. Why is that?” Batman asked. 

“Because he is a creature of chaos who has no respect for anypony or cares about how he is annoying us with his destructive antics!” Shining angrily vented. “It would have been better if he were still in stone!” 

“Honey!” Cadence scolded. 

“I’m sorry, dear. I...I just can’t stand him.” Shining apologized. 

“It appears that he did something personal to you. Is he evil? Did he harm you in any way?” Batman asked as he was starting to be concerned about them. 

“Fluttershy reformed him. And no, he didn’t hurt us at all. Although, he does have a thing for provoking us to annoyance with his chaos magic from my observation.” Cadence said. 

“I ordered him to restrain his magic every time he comes here for our safety. I really hope Fluttershy knows what she is doing with him. He may have...’reformed’, but I’ll believe it when I see it.” Shining said, glaring at the wall. 

Batman was paying close attention to not only the details of the information of Discord but also the different attitudes of the royal couple. Cadence appeared to have a merciful, understanding, and patient spirit whereas Shining Armor was being distrustful, vengeful, and...overprotective to say the least.

 “If the magic of this Discord is as dangerous as Shining says, then he needs to be kept on constant supervision. But Cadence makes it seem easy if I’m understanding this correctly.” Batman reasoned. 

After he finished his thoughts, he spoke up again, “I’ll help you both. No matter what  this Discord character is capable of, I will do my best to protect you two. You have my word.” Batman vowed. 

Shining and Cadence smiled at their protector. “Thanks, Bats. I really appreciate your fervent dedication.” he said, shaking Batman’s hand. 

“Indeed. However, be assured that Discord will come around and be more prudent in the future. I know he will.” Cadence assured. 

“What is his history? Is he that well-known throughout all Equestria?” Batman asked. He was curious to know why Discord was infamous for his chaotic nature. 

Cadence sighed as she began to explain, “Well, it is a long story; Discord is known for ruling Equestria during its state of unrest and unhappiness. Princesses Celestia and Luna realized how hard and miserable it was for earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn alike at that time. So after discovering the elements of harmony, they stood up to him and turned him to stone, ending his chaotic reign.” 

“Hmmmm.” Batman attentively listened. 

“However, the spell did not last forever. Since the Royal Sisters were no longer connected to the elements of harmony, the spell was broken. This lead to Discord’s release from his stone imprisonment after many years.” Cadence continued. “After Twilight and her friends defeated him by turning him back to stone, Celestia thought he could turn over a new leaf if he could use his powers for good. She appointed Fluttershy that task.” 

“Why?” Batman asked. 

“I personally don’t know. But it might have something to do with her element in kindness.” she replied. 

“That would explain it. Twilight told me that she was visiting this empire with this Discord fellow. You did say he visited you?” Batman said. 

“Correct.” Shining said, nodding. 

“With Fluttershy?”  Batman asked to make sure. 

“Yes.” replied Cadence. 

“I see now. I can actually feel your discomfort...but in much more painful level.” Batman said, lowering his head. 

“What do you mean?” Cadence asked. 

“There was one foe who was similar to this Discord in terms of being an agent of chaos, but a...deadly version. His name was...The Joker.” Batman said. The couple had looks of confusion and dismay once they heard the odd name. 

“The Joker? That doesn’t sound like a name. That’s more like a...title.” Shining said. 

“Doesn’t he have a real name?” Cadence asked. 

“No. No alias, no name, no history, and he has no knowledge of where he came from...and that is unsettling for most people.” Batman recalled. 

“Are you serious? He doesn’t know his origin? What is he like?” Shining asked. 

“He has clown makeup, with a purple coat and pants, blue blazer, green vest, green hair, and...a Glasgow smile on his lips. He is a mass murderer, psychopathic criminal, master planner and manipulator, and many more. He is also known as the Clown Prince of Crime in my city.” Batman said. 

“Clown Prince of Crime?” Cadence repeated. “Having a title like that seems very...disturbing to me. I don’t know why but...” Cadence stopped talking as she began to have chills down her spine as she started to imagine if he was in Equestria spreading his version of chaos. Remembering how Scarecrow handled her and Shining many months ago, she dreaded the thought of Joker being ten times more deadly than Discord. 

Noticing his wife being disturbed from the fearful imagery, he embraced her and kissed her forehead in comfort. “I’m sorry, Batman, I...I” Cadence started to weep as she began to fear for her kingdom...and her husband. 

“Don’t worry, sweetie. This Joker guy is not here in Equestria. We only have Discord to worry about, okay?” Shining comforted. “Don’t let that haunting imagination get to you. I’m here for you...and so is Batman.” 

Batman nodded in agreement. “Be strong, your highness. You have to be.” he encouraged. 

“Thank you, Batman. You’re a great friend to our family.” Cadence thanked. 

Batman nodded again. 

“He has done great things for us all. With him by our side, nothing can go wrong. Right, Bats?” Shining asked as he looked toward Batman only to see him gone already. 

“Huh...quite weird. Well, can’t blame him. Creatures of the night gotta stay vigilant, huh?” Shining asked rhetorically. Cadence giggled softly.
> Chapter 6: The Chaos Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

EARLY IN THE MORNING

Celestia raised the sun with her magic as the new dawn began. Glad that she got a satisfying rest last night, she was prepared to take on the new day’s tasks. She then decided to walk over to the balcony to look over her beloved city of Canterlot. Once she got there, she smiled brightly as she beheld the beautiful morning sky, the shining sun, and her citizens exiting their homes to gain some morning fresh air. 

“Ahhh, a beautiful morning...how lovely!” Celestia said, enjoying the refreshing atmosphere. Then she turned back to see her sister Luna. 

Luna was having her breakfast in the dining hall. Celestia entered the hall with her own breakfast, pineapple pancakes. “Good morning, Lulu!” 

“Good morning, sister. I take it you slept well?” Luna asked before eating a banana...and its peel. 

“Indeed. How was your night shift?” Celestia asked, sitting down on the table. 

“As usual. There were a few ponies who suffered some nightmares, but I’ve managed to help and comfort them. I really appreciate their openness to me.” Luna replied, smiling slightly. 

“That’s great to hear, Luna. They should be thankful knowing there’s somepony they could look up to.” Celestia smiled before eating her breakfast. 

“Indeed, sister.” Luna agreed. They paused their conversation to resume eating their meals. Once they finished eating, Luna started to change the topic as she thought of something else. 

“Sister, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Luna said, wiping her muzzle with a napkin via telekinesis. 

“Yes?” Celestia said, putting her dishes away. 

“This is about Discord. I know you said that he will use his chaotic powers for good and no longer for evil, but I was wondering about him. Do you actually think he will keep his promises? You know how chaotic he really is.” Luna asked. 

After wiping her muzzle with a napkin via telekinesis, she sighed knowing what her sister was thinking. “I understand your concerns, Luna. But believe me when I say that Discord has turned over a new leaf thanks to Fluttershy’s kind efforts.” Celestia said. “True, it takes time to develop and learn, but Discord will keep his promise since he saw the error of his ways.” 

“That may be the case, but haven’t you heard what our citizens here have been complaining? They all murmured about Discord disrupting their peace and thinking he isn’t worthy of being around here.” Luna reported. 

“Yes, I’ve heard them. However, they fail to understand that he is a being of chaos. It’s in his nature to do what he normally does.” Celestia said. “Of course, it’s no excuse for what he had done in the past before we both stood up against him. My point is that they can’t force him to behave like we ponies do.” 

“But I still fear the day he turns back to his old ways and betray us!” Luna shouted. “What will we do when that happens? What if he decides to—?!” Luna rambled before Celestia held her hoof up. 

“Luna, relax. It is going to be all right. We are lucky that Twilight and her friends are on our side to help us when things go wrong. Discord knows better than to do something like that. He’s learning the ways of friendship, Lulu; give him a chance and more time to grow.” Celestia assured. 

Luna calmed herself as Celestia directed. She looked back at her sister with a warm smile. “I hope you’re right, sister. Forgive me if I sounded to worried.” 

“No need for apology. You have every right to be worried. But considering how Discord has progressed so far, you should be thankful and glad.” Celestia said, putting her hoof under her sister’s chin. Luna smiled again. 

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion greatly startled them and shook the whole ground and castle. “What was that?!” Luna asked. 

“I don’t know. Come with me!” Celestia ordered. They both flew toward the balcony at a fast pace. Once they arrived there, they beheld a huge pillar of fire and smoke ascending to the clouds. Everypony was screaming and running for their lives. 

The Royal Sisters teleported themselves to the very area where the explosion occurred. The moment they got a closer view of the destruction, their eyes widen in shock along with their mouths hanging open. The building that was destroyed was none other than the Canterlot library. 

They discovered thousands of books—rich sources of information, valuable archives—burning to a crisp. Nothing was left except for its foundation...which was still engulfed in flames. 

“How is this possible?! How did this happen?!” Luna cried out. 

“I have no idea! (Gasp) Look, Luna!” Celestia pointed at three bodies lying on top of each other. They ran toward the bodies and discovered that the three ponies were the librarian and two Royal Guards. They widen their eyes in shock once again. 

“No...no!! NO!” Luna yelled. Most of their bodies were massively burned while still having recognizable faces. They...were dead. 

“This is terrible. I don’t know what or who was the cause of this tragic incident, but we will find out sooner or later. Contact the hospital and the Royal Guard immediately. We need to clean this up.” Celestia ordered sternly. 

Luna nodded before teleporting away. But after she left, something caught Celestia’s eye. She spotted a strange card randomly lying on the ash-covered ground. She picked it up with her magic; once she looked at it, she expressed both a surprised and puzzled look on her face...she held a Joker card. 


IN PONYVILLE 


Mayor Mare took a good sip of her coffee as she continued her paperwork in her office. A happy morning, an enjoyable breakfast, and living in a great and lovely town filled with peaceful ponies always made her day. She really enjoyed her work as the town’s mayor. 

“Good morning, Mayor Mare!” Pinkie Pie greeted as she hopped right into her office. 

“Good morning, Pinkie! I have to thank you for those delicious cupcakes you sent me two hours ago! I really enjoyed them!” the mayor thanked. 

“I’m so glad you did! At first, I wanted to make some vanilla cupcakes, but then I remembered you favored chocolate over vanilla. So I saved the vanilla for later and made you some chocolate ones instead!” Pinkie rapidly spoke with no pause. 

“Hahaha, I like vanilla too, but I’m glad you remembered my favorite flavor though.” the mayor chuckled. After she finished her paperwork, she got up from her seat and walked toward the large window. 

“So, you enjoyed your rest last night?” Pinkie asked. 

“Indeed, I did. It’s a daily reward for a day’s hard work as a mayor. Although I did had some minor trouble in keeping a peaceful mind on my bed.” Mare admitted. 

“Really? What was it?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head. 

“(Sigh) Yesterday, Discord made a mess of my work by turning my papers into doves!” Mare complained. 

“Doves?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, not literally, but giving them wings of a dove. He said it would be easier if they would fly to me, and I wouldn’t have to get up and get them. Instead, they flew all over the place, drank the ink, and ate my other written paperwork. I NEVER ASKED FOR THAT!” the mayor yelled. 

“Hmmm, maybe he was trying to lighten your load?” Pinkie guessed. 

“I doubt that.” Mare said as she looked out through the window. “Seriously, his annoying antics will be the death of me.” 

BANG!!

Mayor Mare shrieked in terror as a body banged against the window. “SWEET CELESTIA!!” 

“Did he get attacked by a party?!” Pinkie randomly asked. They both ran out of the Mayor’s Hall and ran over to the banged window. 

To their horror, the pony was hanged on a noose with a scary clown makeup and a Glasgow smile on his face. But he wasn’t just any random pony; he was Fancy Pants. The residents were shocked and appalled at the sight of one of the most well-renowned ponies from Canterlot being hanged. Who murdered him? Who was behind this? 

They also noticed a Joker card on his blazer. It had a fearful hoof—or handwriting that said,  “Will the Batman learn his lesson and stand up?” What was that supposed to mean? The ponies had no clue who they were up against.
> Chapter 7: A Chaotic Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman flew over the Crystal Empire as he continued to watch over it during the same morning in which the deadly chaos commenced. As he had sworn to protect the Crystal Empire at all costs, he had to be very vigilant in his watch over the Empire (besides all of Equestria). 

Suddenly, Candace flew out of the Crystal Castle and met the Dark Knight in midair. “Good morning, Batman! Beautiful morning today, isn’t it?” she joyfully greeted. 

“I agree, Princess. How are you feeling now?” Batman asked. 

“Better than ever! The sickness is fully gone, and I’m now ready to take on the duties for the day!” Cadence boasted. 

“I’m glad to hear that.” Batman smiled. 

“Thanks. Come, there is a place I want to show you.” Cadence directed as she flew out toward the lower half of the castle. Batman followed her there. 


AT THE SAME TIME


The Joker giggled as he started to take so much pleasure in the carnage he orchestrated. He was hiding in a cave where Discord appeared in a white flash and rendezvous with him. Once Joker saw his chaotic ally enter into the rocky room, he enlarged his devilish grin. “Well, that went well as expected.” Discord smirked. 

“Indeed, Discord.” Joker agreed. 

“Don't you think this...Batman or whoever he is...will follow us and eventually discover our plans? You did claim he is a skilled detective.” Discord doubted. 

“Oh, he is definitely. The main goal is to actually do something...similar.” Joker said. 

“Really? What would that be exactly?” Discord asked. 

Joker whispered it in his ear. Discord was slightly surprised at first until he slowly grinned as he heard his plan. “Ohhh!! Now that is truly chaotic!!” he exclaimed. 

“Yes! I said this before and I will say it again: Madness is like gravity; all it takes is a little push!”. He and Discord laughed together as they formulated another plan to tear apart Equestria. 


BACK IN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE


“This way.” Cadence said to Batman. They both walked in the palace halls of the castle in the lower section. After five minutes of walking, they found the Crystal Heart right in front of them. Batman gazed on it as he found it to be very similar. 

“Do you know what this is?” Cadence asked. 

“This looks like a crystal heart...like the one that helped me defeat King Sombra.” Batman recalled. He looked upon his chest where his bat symbol started to glow bright blue and displayed the small crystal heart.

“It is. This is what keeps the Crystal Empire safe and sound. It also keeps the storms of winter at bay and helps the kingdom to shine and prosper with both love and hope.” Cadence explained, looking at the Crystal Heart. 

Batman took note of it by heart. “Interesting.” he commented. 

“This must be kept safe and secure at all times, Batman. I know you will use all of your skill and strength to prevent any dangerous creature from either corrupting or destroying it.” Cadence said. 

“You have my word. As long as the crystal magic resides within me, anyone who will stand against us will have to face me first.” Batman said. 

“You’re Equestria’s greatest hero, Batman. We are glad to have you with us.” Cadence praised before she and Batman embraced. 

Suddenly, a letter appeared out of thin air and floated next to Cadence. Curious to know what the letter was about, she opened it with her magic and read the letter. Moments later, her eyes widened in fear and shock. 

“Batman, Canterlot is in deep trouble! We have to help our friends there!” she exclaimed. 

“Come on!” Batman said before opening a portal with his crystal magic. Both he and Cadence entered in it before it closed. 


 IN CANTERLOT 


Batman and Cadence exited out of the portal and found themselves in front of a destroyed library. The inferno was extinguished by the fire ponies and saw multiple medics treating the wounded both the critical and stable ones. Finally, they noticed the other medics take away the three burnt corpses off to the hospital. 

“Batman! Candace! Thank goodness you’re here!” Celestia welcomed them from above. She landed in front of them and briefly hugged them. 

“What happened?” Batman asked. 

“Somepony or something managed to destroy the Canterlot library. We don’t know who did this terrible thing, but the authorities are currently investigating this incident.” Celestia informed. 

“That is terrible! I can’t imagine anypony doing something like this!” Cadence yelled as tears flowed from her eyes. 

“I know. However. I discovered a strange object on the ground. This strange card...” Celestia said, levitating the Joker card to their attention. 

Batman immediately grabbed the card and instantly recognized it. The realization quickly hit him once he examined it. His emotions were a mixture of fear, rage, vengeance, and absolute shock. How is it that the Clown Prince of Crime made it to Equestria?!? Why now and how was that even possible were the raging questions he had in his disturbed mind. 

“I have a clear idea who did this...” Batman growled with a hint of rising rage in his tone. 

“You do? Who was it?” Celestia asked. 

“The Joker.” Batman said, glaring hard at the ground. 

Celestia was caught off-guard with confusion whereas Cadence was surprised but already had an idea who he was since Batman told her and Shining Armor about him the past night. “Joker? Who’s Joker?” Celestia asked. 

“Batman told me and Shining Armor about him last night. He is known as the Clown Prince of Crime in Gotham City as well as notorious for his mass murder, deceptions, manipulation, dark twisted humor, and many more crimes.” Cadence explained. 

“A clown who commits atrocities? I’ve never heard of this concept before.” Celestia admitted. 

“Plus, after he commits a crime, he would always leave behind a calling card like this one.” Batman added, holding up the Joker card in his left hand. “The real question is how was he able to transport himself from Gotham to Equestria? That is the question I must find out once I find him.” 

“But how would we be able to find him? None of us know where he is in Equestria!” Cadence said. 

“That is why I will be investigating. I’m sorry for the losses you suffered, Princess Celestia. I’ll visit the injured ponies in the hospital soon. For now, I need to find the Joker.” Batman said before taking off to the air with his grappling gun. 

“I truly hope he succeeds in his mission. Come, niece. We need to help the wounded.” Celestia ordered. 

“Yes, Auntie.”  Cadence complied. They both flew off to attend the injured on the streets. However, none of them noticed Discord seeing them from on top of a white cloud. 

“I’m surprised Cadence didn’t recognize my handwriting in that letter I sent to her. She actually took it as Celestia’s? Am I that good in imitating hoof-writings of ponies or what? Haha!” he congratulated himself. “Now time for the next step.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared. 

 “Why Joker?! Why here?! Why now?!” Batman raged in thought as he flew in the air.
> Chapter 8: A Chaotic Introduction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN PONYVILLE


“This is horrible!! Fancy Pants is dead?! Who did this to him?!” Mayor Mare yelled in shock. 

All the Ponyville residents fearfully murmured at the grisly sight of his hanging corpse. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was holding a Joker card that had the threatening message written on it. Once she read it out loud, she was confused and slightly afraid of what it actually meant not only for Batman but also for them. 

“There is a big-meanie villain who is behind this! What are we gonna do?” Pinkie asked. 

Twilight and her other friends stepped forward as they too were shocked beyond words at the sight of Fancy Pants’s dead body, especially Rarity. She was both shocked and infuriated as she saw his body and realized that somepony was responsible for his death. “Whoever did this to Fancy Pants will dearly PAY!!! Somepony must be a complete sicko to do this horrid atrocity!” she angrily shrieked. 

“I agree, Rarity. We need to find out who did this and why he did this.” Twilight firmly declared. The others nodded in agreement. 

“I really can’t imagine anypony doing anything like this. This is so...(gulp)...bad!!” Fluttershy whimpered. Applejack wrapped her arm around Fluttershy’s neck to make her relax. 

“Easy there, sugarcube. Whoever he is, he won’t get away with this!” Applejack stated. 

“Yeah! If he wants to mess with anypony, he’ll have to get to us first!” Rainbow added. Everypony cheered for them once she said that.  But at that moment where absolute bravery and justice rose in the air, the Joker appeared in a white flash in front of all the ponies. They all gasped in surprise once they beheld the infamous Clown Prince of Crime. He wickedly smiled at his new victims. 

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! I am...today’s entertainment!!” he mockingly greeted. 

“What the hay?” Applejack uttered. 

“Who are you?” Rainbow asked. 

“AHHHH!! A clown! I’m scared of clowns!!!” Fluttershy cried before hiding somewhere. 

“Oh my! You have a loathsome makeup but a handsome suit I definitely approve!” Rarity said, looking at his apparel. 

Pinkie zoomed in front of Joker, jumped in his arms, and made a large smile on her face just as she gazed at him. “YEEEEEE!!! I LOVE CLOWNS!! Do you like parties?!” Pinkie blurted out. 

“My, my, my...a jolly spirit I see! Well then, I will be more than happy to have a party with you all! My name is Joker. What is yours?” he introduced. 

“I’m Pinkie Pie! I love your name! We’re gonna have the best party EVER!!” Pinkie shouted. 

“Pinkie, what are you doing?! You don’t know where he is from! Get away from him!” Twilight warned. 

“Come on, Twilight! He is a CLOWN! What harm can clowns do?” Pinkie asked. 

“Wait a minute, there was a Joker card on Fancy Pants that said, ‘Will the Batman learn his lesson and stand up?’. This creep has to be the culprit!! It has his name on it!!” Mayor Mare accused. 

Joker then dropped Pinkie on the ground and angrily stared at the mayor. “What do you know? I’m guilty as charged. What does it look like, hm?” Rarity again gasped. 

“WHAT?! It was you?! HOW DARE YOU?! I’ll tear you apart, you murderous ruffian!!” Rarity angrily threatened before Twilight restrained her with her magic. 

“I don’t know what your motive was, but you have no right to kill any of us, Joker!!” Rainbow added. 

“I presume you’re from Gotham. What do you want, and why are you here?” Twilight sternly demanded. 

“To have my second round of fun, of course!” Joker replied. “I’m always in favor of an aggressive expansion!” 

“A round of fun? Aggressive expansion?” Twilight repeated. “Expansion of what?” 

“Chaos, little unicorn. Chaos.” Joker hissed. He then drew closer to her and bent down to her level. The others backed away in fear of the clown as they sensed his ill-will. Twilight had a mixed look of fear and anger, but the former quickly overcame the latter. 

“You look nervous. Is it the scars?” Joker asked. Twilight didn’t reply. 

“You wanna know how I got them?” he asked. Twilight again did not reply as her fear clouded her mind. The Joker then roughly grabbed her head while taking his knife out to her muzzle. Rainbow tried to interfere but Applejack and Fluttershy restrained her. 

“I had a young sister who was very serious in her training to be a police officer. I was repeatedly annoyed by her usual stone face and stern tone, ‘Do this! Do that!’ and so on.” Joker began his second story. “One day, she was shot in the leg by a robber; I came to her and saw her critical condition. I said, ‘Sis, why are you taking this seriously? You need to laugh at something to ease your pain!’ So I grabbed a box cutter and did this...” Joker pointed at his Glasgow smile, “...to myself.” 

“At that moment, she couldn’t laugh...she yelled in terror until she later on bled to death for lack of medical attention. So now, I’m always smiling!” Joker concluded before Twilight blasted him off of her. He laughed in amusement. 

“Heh, heh, heh, a little fight in you. I like that.” Joker said. 

“Then you’re gonna love me.” a deep, intimidating voice spoke behind him. Joker looked behind him and received an immediate punch in the face from the Dark Knight himself. The latter then grabbed his leg and tossed him against the Mayor’s Hall house. “YOU NEED TO STOP THIS NOW, YOU MANIAC!!” 

Joker took his Taurus 1911 pistol and shot several bullets at Batman. Batman raised his arms and blocked the bullets from hitting him. He took out his grappling gun, shot its hook around Joker’s left leg, and pulled him toward him. As he flung in the air, Batman closed his fist and punched him again in the face. The ponies were rooting for Batman as they fought. 

“You got this, Batman! Kick his butt!” Rainbow cheered. 

“Ya got him, Bats!” Applejack added. 

“I can’t bear to watch!!” Fluttershy squealed, covering her face with her pink hair. 

Joker then tripped Batman and held his knife in the air to stab him. The latter however slapped his knife away and head-butted him. Joker fell on the ground and realized he couldn’t defeat him one on one. Thus, he chose the easy way out like he did before. He grabbed Twilight in his left arm and held her at gun point. “Make one move and this cute little horse kicks the bucket.” Joker threatened. 

Batman smirked as he noticed how outnumbered he was. “Perhaps you didn’t realize that my friends vastly outnumber you.” Joker was then kicked on the back of his head by Rainbow, causing him to release Twilight. Dash grabbed Twilight and brought her to Batman away from Joker. 

“You’re safe now, Twilight.” Batman said to her. Twilight smiled at her brave hero. 

“Well, this is cute and fun, but I believe I have some place else to attend to. Oh, and by the way...I killed some ponies at Canterlot and destroyed its library. See ya!” Joker nonchalantly said before running off. 

Twilight stood frozen in place. That VERY library where she spent most of her studies and time on was actually destroyed from existence? She could not believe it. Twilight’s face turned scarlet red as she shrieked in seething rage. 

“WHAT?!?”
> Chapter 9: The Chaos Continues
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman looked toward his right and saw the body of Fancy Pants lying on the ground. He noticed his clown makeup on his face which prompted him to investigate his corpse. Once he got close to him, he recognized the Glasgow smile on his face. Then he turned to Twilight who was furious over the fact that the Canterlot library was destroyed. 

“Twilight, listen to me very carefully.” Batman sternly told her. Immediately quenching her wrath, Twilight turned her attention to him to listen to what he had to say. “The Joker is not like any criminal I’ve faced in a long time; he is ruthless, chaotic, and extremely dangerous. I do not want any one of you ponies to go near him no matter what...for your own safety. Do you all understand?” 

Everypony willingly nodded as they all feared Joker’s presence. However, Rainbow Dash flew in front of Batman saying, “Pffff, come on, Bruce! We faced Sombra, Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, and even Discord! That Joker freak will be no different!” 

Batman somberly shook his head. “No...he is different. I don’t know about this Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis, but Sombra was nothing compared to the Joker. Please, listen to me.” Batman firmly advised. “I will handle him while all of you keep yourselves safe.” 

Twilight and her friends looked at each other then nodded together as they all had the same thought. “You got this, Batman. You saved us from Sombra; we know you got this.” Twilight said, warmly smiling. The Mane Six hugged the Dark Knight affectionately before he slowly embraced them back. “We love you, Bruce.” 

“Likewise.” he slightly smiled. He levitated in the air with his crystal magic and flew off from Ponyville. 


 UNDERGROUND


Discord was sitting on his throne in the middle of seven large piles of rocks who were singing to him worshipfully and below several floating bowls of cereal that had a mixture of cheerios, salt, and gatorade. “Hmmm, which one should I have? The bowl of fruit loops? The honey nut cheerios bowl? Which one, which one? Ohhh, yes! That one!” he randomly pointed at the apple jacks bowl. 

“Applejack would cringe knowing what this is called.” Discord snickered. He ate the bowl itself while simply drinking the cereal instead of eating it. Then he turned his attention to the singing rock piles. “Thank you! Thank you! My lovely subjects! Your adoration is much appreciated! Dismissed!” he snapped his fingers which turned the piles back to normal. 

“Now, for my informal meeting with my prisoner.” Discord evilly whispered. He disappeared in a white flash and reappeared in front of his prisoner in another room underground. The prisoner was muffling due to the cloth wrapped around the muzzle. “Enjoying your time here...Cadence?” he wickedly smiled. 


 30 MINUTES EARLIER


Cadence and Celestia were in the hospital to comfort the injured victims of the Canterlot library explosion. Some of them were in critical condition whereas the other ponies were in stable condition. Nonetheless, the two alicorn princesses were determined to comfort everypony affected by the senseless violence that occurred. 

“Don’t worry, everypony. The physicians will do everything they can to ensure your speedy recovery.” Cadence assured. 

“Indeed. Do not fear, my little ponies. The instigator of this heinous crime will be swiftly dealt with. You have my word as the ruler of Equestria.” Celestia added. 

The wounded were comforted knowing that their rulers were caring for them and were faithfully attending them in this hour of unexpected affliction. Nurse Redheart came into the surgery room and looked upon the princesses. “Greetings, princesses.” she bowed. “The doctor would like to speak with you outside.” 

Nodding, the alicorns left the room and met the doctor who was just finishing up his paperwork. “Ahh, princesses. I’m glad you were able to make it here.” he began. “First, the ponies with critical injuries will live, but they will have to take daily pain killers and medication in order to recover speedily. Second, your help and care is most appreciated.” 

“Thank you for the report, Dr. Greymare.” Celestia said. 

“Anytime. Nurse, may I have a word with you for a moment?” Dr. Greymare asked. 

“Sure thing, doc.” Redheart replied. She and Greymare left the hallway, and he led her inside a closet. Making sure nopony was around, he closed the door and locked it. Confused, she raised her eyebrow at him. “Um, Dr. Greymare, why are you locking us in here?” she asked. 

Greymare completely turned his whole head around like an owl and death glared at her. “What do you think, pony?” he condescendingly spat. He magically levitated a knife from his pocket and stabbed her in the chest. Redheart gasped for air and grunted in severe pain while coughing out blood. Greymare then glowed his eyes bright yellow and slit her throat. 

“Time to change Equestria’s history, nurse.” he said. He stabbed her again in the chest. Once he released it from her chest, she fell on the floor, gasped for oxygen for a couple minutes, and died from excessive blood loss. Greymare smiled sinisterly before morphing into a familiar draconequus. “That was easy. Grogar taught me very well about disguise. I suppose I could do this more often.” Discord said. 

He then morphed into Redheart and hid the real Redheart behind the ladder. “Rest well, Dr. Greymare.” he said in her voice, pushing aside some clothes that revealed the real Greymare’s skeleton. Evilly giggling, he walked out of the closet and closed the door. 

Discord, posing as Redheart, trotted to Cadence who was finished with giving words of encouragement and hope to the injured in the surgery room. “Princess Cadence, do you mind if I have a word with you outside?” ‘Redheart’ asked. 

“Sure.” Cadence replied. 

“I must return to Canterlot to resume my duties. I hope that everything else goes well, my niece.” Celestia said. 

“It will, Auntie. Farewell.” Cadence slightly bowed. Nodding, Celestia teleported out of the hospital. 

‘Redheart’ led Cadence in the same closet where the dead bodies of the doctor and nurse lay. “Pardon me, but why are you leading me to this closet here?” Cadence asked. ‘Redheart’ opened the door, coldly pushed her inside the closet, entered in, then locked the door. 

“For this...” Discord growled, changing back to his normal form. Cadence gasped in surprise. He snapped his fingers, causing a cloth to wrap around her muzzle to shut her up, a rope around her wings, and a seal on her horn. 

“Oh, don’t worry, princess...these poor ponies will be put out of their misery. It is an act of kindness, isn’t it? All about friendship, right?” Discord chuckled. He then snapped his fingers, both of them vanished. 

The ponies who suffered critical injuries in the emergency room started to sweat profusely for several minutes before each of them looked at the pain killers bottles. To their horror, the instructions said, “Taken only if you’re willing to go out with a bang! Hahahahaha!”. At that moment, the entire hospital exploded, killing all the treated victims therein. Debris and ashes were flying everywhere. 

“Ahhhh, this...this brings back memories!” The Joker said, looking at the fiery scene in front of him. He wiped a tear off from his eye.
> Chapter 10: Chaotic Torture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN THE PRESENT TIME

“What? What’s wrong, princess? It seems like you have something on your mouth!” Discord mocked. Cadence angrily rocked back and forth as she was also tied to a chair. Discord’s smug smile then turned to an annoyed scowl. “Ughh, fine, let’s hear you talk.” 

He snapped his fingers which made the cloth on her muzzle vanish. Cadence then glared at the evil draconequus. “What are you doing, Discord?! Let me go!” 

“I’m afraid I no longer take orders from weak-minded equines who offer me nothing.” Discord growled. 

“What do you mean? What have I ever done to you?” Cadence asked. 

“Oh, nothing...actually, you’ve given me nothing, like I just stated.” Discord said. 

“That’s not true! I’ve given you hope, mercy, and love! What those ponies have done to you was wrong, but I know that you will be a better creature than before!” Cadence appealed. Discord laughed at her once she finished. 

“Hahahahaha!!!! That is truly hilarious!! You actually expect me to be like those self-righteous ponies? Ha! Think again, Cadence.” Discord mocked. “Besides, I already have a better friend who is already giving me a much better and fairer chance of reclaiming my glory.” 

“Better friend? Who?” Cadence asked. 

“See for yourself...” he smiled. He snapped his fingers and in a white flash appeared in cheerleader attire. “Go! Go! Go! Goooooo, JOKER!! HE’S OUR MAN! HE CAN DO IT WHILE NO ONE CAN!!” The Joker presented himself before her while confetti were flying everywhere. 

Cadence widened her eyes in fearful shock as that very villain whom the Batman warned about was standing before her face to face. “You...you’re the Clowm Prince of Crime whom Batman spoke about!!” she cried. 

“Awwww, he told you about me? I’m so touched! So he does care about me! That makes me love him even more! Hahahahaha!!!” Joker maniacally cackled. 

“You two are working together?! You were his accomplice of the Canterlot library explosion?!” she asked Discord. He casually shrugged his shoulders. 

“Well, I couldn’t miss out all the fun, you know.” he nonchalantly replied. This made her even more angry at him in a way in which she never expressed before. 

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!! You killed all those ponies just for the sake of fun and laughs?! You are the worse creature to ever exist in the whole planet!!” Cadence wrathfully shrieked. “The princesses should have just left you as a stone statue! You’ve never been a good friend to us, and you are a horrible so-called friend even for Fluttershy!! You’ll never be a good creature!!” 

She breathed heavily after releasing all of her wrath and frustration at him. Joker and Discord said nothing since they knew exactly what was going to happen next. Cadence had a full realization hitting her at that moment. She realized that what she said to Discord was completely contrary to what she had said to him several times before. Guilt and remorse immediately overtook her; tears started to form on her eyes. The villains wickedly smirked as their chaotic fun began to unfold. 

“Discord...I-I-I am...so sorry. So sorry for what I said. I d-didn’t mean it. Please forgive me.” she sobbed. The Joker smiled even more; he took so much pleasure in all this. 

“Mm-mm-mm, bad, bad alicorn.” he mockingly scolded. “I thought you said that you believed that Discord here will be a better creature, but now you’re saying that he...won’t? Talk about schizophrenia.” 

“No, it’s not what I mean!” Cadence cried. 

“Sure, sure. Did you ever believe that he will be a better creature than what he was before and now? Or did you encourage him only because you were afraid to express your true feelings? Y’know, since you rely on love rather than...” Joker closed his fists. “...tough love.” He punched her in the face. 

He punched her in the face three more times until the chair fell on the ground with her on it. Discord happily clapped his hands at the brutal sight. “Hehe, this ought to be fun. Speaking of which, I think it’s time for our heroes to show up.” He grabbed two letters Joker wrote earlier and snapped his fingers to send them to their respective destinations. 


 IN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE


Batman and Shining Armor were together in the crystal castle; they have been searching for Cadence all afternoon with no signs of her anywhere. The Dark Knight was afraid that The Joker had captured her while Shining thought Discord had abducted her. 

“This is impossible! We can’t find my wife anywhere! I bet Discord is behind this!” Shining gritted his teeth. 

“No. It’s The Joker. He was the one who murdered ponies at the Canterlot library and the pony called Fancy Pants. He is up to something.” Batman said. 

“You saw him? He’s actually here in Equestria?!” shouted Shining. 

“With my own eyes. I even discovered and fought him in Ponyville, and I must tell you that we cannot afford to lose any more lives. We must find him, Shining.” Batman sternly advised. 

“Then we have no time to waste! We must find The Joker and continue to find Cadence! The Crystal Empire needs her!” said Shining. Suddenly, two letters appeared above them and landed on the floor next to them. 

“Letters? What is it this time?” Shining rhetorically asked. 

As they opened the letters, they read them individually. When they finished, they silently stared at each other, shock and anger increasing high. Without wasting a moment, they ran out of the castle, took some guards with them, and began to dig on the ground. 


 BACK UNDERGROUND


The Joker again smote her muzzle and kicked her so hard that the chair crashed against a wall, breaking the chair to pieces. He got close to her and repeatedly kicked her stomach. She screamed in pain from every severe kick she received. Discord was watching while eating popcorn and sitting on a couch. “Who needs an action movie if you have this before you!” 

The Joker picked her bruised body up and threw her against a diamond-adorned wall which had sharp corners, making numerous cuts on her body. The diamonds cut loose her rope that bound her wings; she tried to fly but was too weak to do so due to the severe injuries. 

A blade sprung from his shoe before he kicked her right wing, stabbing her in the process. She winced in pain from the stab. “Let me show you how Batman deals with criminals like me...show you who he really is.” he chuckled. He picked her up, body-slammed her on the ground, then smashed his fist on her left hoof. 

“Do you know why you should never start with the head?” he asked. He slammed her head on the stony wall, increasing her number of bruises. “Because the victim gets all fuzzy. He can’t feel the next blow...like this.” he said, punching her chest. She couldn’t feel the pain anymore as her head got ‘fuzzy’. 

“See?” Joker asked. “That’s how Batman dealt with me. He’s no better than I am, little horse. That’s just the sad truth.” Cadence found it very hard to believe it. Could Batman be that merciless and brutal? Is he an actual hero? Doubts started to creep into her mind. 

“I’m sorry I have to put this up with you, dear. But it’s all going to be okay. You will rest from all of your pain for good...like how Rachel went out.” Joker said, smiling. 

Batman, Shining Armor, and the guards were racing in the underground tunnels in search for Cadence. However, they were waylaid by a confusing maze that took them everywhere away from the villains’ hideout. “This maze never existed here before! Who constructed an underground maze without my permission?!” Shining bellowed. 

Meanwhile, Batman got a flashback of him trying to save both Rachel and Harvey from The Joker. He remembered his heart-breaking experience of losing Rachel forever while Harvey had a fiery disfigurement that led him on the path to becoming Two-Face. He was hoping he and his comrades would save Cadence before it was too late. 

“It’s been a fun ride while it lasted, Cadence. Toodles!!” Discord waved before vanishing from the room. The Joker gave his last look at the critically wounded alicorn. 

“Have a good night rest, young lady. Finish your homework and be in bed by 9:00. And hey! Please tell the big man I said...hello.” Joker evilly smirked. 

After Joker left the whole underground cave, Cadence weakly looked around and saw his tormentor along with Discord gone; afterwards, she noticed a bomb that had red digits counting down the detonation. Although she didn’t understand what that meant, judging by the villains’ farewell language and mannerisms, she realized her life was drawing to a tragic close. After thinking of her family, friends, and her whole kingdom, especially Twilight, Shining, and Batman, she shed her last tears and whispered, “I’m so sorry. I’ll miss you all.” 

Batman and the others escaped the maze and were about to reach to the abandoned hideout...but they were too late. The underground cave exploded, clouding the entire entrance and creating a huge crater above them just outside the Crystal Empire. After the smoke settled, they saw what remained of the princess of love. Shining, at that moment, felt his heart break to a million pieces from the traumatizing sight. 

“NOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
> Chapter 11: The Rise of Anarchy part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman, Shining Armor, and the guards were horrified at the grisly sight of the fallen princess. Shining fell on his knees and heavily cried over the tragic loss of his beloved wife. Cadence was like a shining light in his life as well as somepony who always stood by his side in times of prosperity and adversity. They defeated Chrysalis and her changeling army together through the power of love. They even worked together to defeat Sombra with the help of the crystal ponies. 

After everything they went through together during the last few years of a happy and blissful marriage, this is how they part ways? This is supposed to be the end of their loving relationship? He truly couldn’t believe it with his own eyes; he greatly feared the dramatic reactions of his sister Twilight and her friends. 

Batman had a serious deja vu as he beheld the alicorn’s fried corpse. He remembered how The Joker intentionally mixed the addresses of Rachel and Dent since the latter knew he would come for her. Failing to save her life and ending up saving Harvey instead was the most painful experience he ever went through. Thus, he could sympathize with and understand Shining during this hour of anguish. 

“I’m sorry, Shining...for the loss of your wife.” Batman empathized, placing his arm around Shining’s neck. 

“Ca-Cadence...I (sniff) lost her...forever...” Shining sobbed. “Why? Wh-why did this happen...nooo...” he broke down in tears. The guards had very sad looks and were also deeply emotional over the death of Cadence. They took their helmets off and bowed before her corpse in respect. 

“If I had known this would happen, I should have protected her more. This is all my fault!” Shining mourned. 

“Do not blame yourself, Captain. We tried our utmost best to find her until it was too late to save her. I know The Joker did this to us...to you.” Batman growled. 

“I appreciate your sympathy, Batman, but what about Discord? Does he even know about this?” Shining asked. 

Suddenly, Discord appeared in a white flash before them all while having the most innocent expression. “Dear goodness, are you fellas all right?! I heard a thunderous boom near the Crystal Empire, and I was worried some of you were hurt!” he lied. 

Shining started to be suspicious of him since he still remained unconvinced of that he was clear from all this. “Discord, were you aware of Cadence’s absence from the empire? And I haven’t even seen you around here for a while!” he sternly asked. 

“You were so eager for me to leave you alone, weren’t you?” Discord asked, keeping his deception in tact. “So that’s what I did. Plus, I had no idea at all about her ‘disappearance’ which you mentioned.” 

He then turned to the Dark Knight. “Ohhhhhh, looks like we have a menacing guest here in Equestria! Very impressive look you got there, stranger! You may call me Discord, the Lord of Chaos. What is yours?” 

Batman was silent for a few seconds before he replied, “I’m Batman. You must be this infamous being whom Twilight and her friends were talking about.” He too got somewhat suspicious of what he was really up to. 

“Ohh, I’m so touched that they talked about me! I bet they said flattering things about me!” Discord replied.  “Some of those things of which I will kill them. I don’t know about Fluttershy though.” 

“This is serious, Discord! Can you not see my wife is no longer in the land of the living?!” Shining angrily yelled. “Have some sympathy for ONCE!!” 

“Why, dear prince, I am most sorry for the loss of your precious wife. Please pardon my ignorant callousness.” Discord apologized with the slightest hint of sarcastic mockery. “But I’m afraid there are waves of unsympathetic tones coming in your way, both of you.” 

“What do you mean by that?” Batman asked although he already knew exactly what he meant and realized what was coming from a mile away. 

“See for yourselves.” said Discord. Batman and Shining turned to see many ponies from Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and Ponyville, including Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and her friends. 

“You told them what happened?” Shining asked. 

“Not exactly. I simply told them to come here since we all heard the explosion miles away from here. That’s all.” Discord replied. All the ponies gathered around the crater and beheld with their own eyes the dead body of Cadence. All at once, they mourned and wept over her death, especially Twilight. 

“NOOO!!! CADENCE!! NOT YOU TOO!!” Twilight cried with soaking tears on her eyes. Her friends were also crying over the death of their dear, close friend. Discord secretly smirked as he excitedly awaited the reaction of every other pony gathered. 

Once they were done crying, the ponies from Canterlot and Ponyville, except the Mane Six, angrily turned to the Royal Sisters who were weeping silently. “This is all your fault!! You’re supposed to be the almighty princesses of Equestria to protect us from dangerous creatures like The Joker!!” a male unicorn rashly berated. 

“Why didn’t you save all those poor ponies from their deaths at the hospital?! You both should have protected them from danger!!” a female earth pony added. 

The Canterlot ponies then started to angrily murmur against the surviving princesses. The sisters simply said nothing as they pitied the misunderstanding minds of their subjects. While they were berating the princesses, the crystal ponies turned to Batman and Shining with scorn. 

“This is your fault too, Batman and Shining Armor!! You guys failed to save the very princess of hope and love! Without her, the Crystal Empire will be forever hopeless!!” a female crystal pony accused. The other crystal ponies nodded in agreement. 

“What?! No, that’s a lie! They were trying to save her from her mysterious capture!! They had no idea this would happen!!” a mare from Canterlot defended them. 

“You’re calling me a liar?! You actually think Prince Shining and Batman are innocent in this?! You’re so delusional!” she retorted. 

“Batman is our hero! He never fails a single mission! I know it to be true!” Mayor Mare argued. 

“Yeah! He and Shining are the real heroes in Equestria, unlike our incompetent rulers over there!” a Wonderbolt named Soarin added, glaring at Celestia and Luna. 

“Oh shut up, you idiot! Batman and Prince Shining have done a horrible job in keeping our empire safe by being negligent in saving Cadence’s life!! I lost all respect for them!” a crystal unicorn angrily spat. 

At that moment, all the ponies of opposite sides began to be divided amongst themselves; the crystal ponies stood against Batman, Shining Armor, and the princesses whereas the ponies from Canterlot and Ponyville stood for the two heroes but were antagonistic to the Royal Sisters. 

“These lazy so-called rulers need to be dethroned!! They have disqualified themselves for not stopping this madness!!” a crystal pegasus shouted. “It’s time we take matters into our own hooves and save ourselves from this terrorism!!” they shouted in unison, raising their torches and pitchforks. 

The sun began to set as this all unfolded. As the sky got darker, the crystal ponies erected hate signs and hate posters for Batman and Shining. Unwilling to behold this chaos any longer, the princesses teleported away. The Mane Six were completely shocked and dumbfounded as all this was happening in front of them. Why were their own friends and family that desperate in trying to save themselves without relying on the power of friendship? 

It pained them to the core to see them becoming bitter and hateful toward each other. “This is so bad! Like, really bad!” Fluttershy whimpered. 

“This is absolutely horrible! I hate to see our own friends turning against each other like this!” Rarity added. 

“We can’t just sit around here and do nothing! It’s so obvious that The Joker dude is behind all of this!” Rainbow said. 

“Yeah, we gotta do somethin’ about this!” Applejack agreed.

“What are we supposed to do,Twilight?” Pinkie asked. The rest turned to her for her plan. 

“I-I d-don’t know! I don’t! I’ve never thought any of this would happen! It’s unclear how my sister-in-law died, and everypony else is getting so rebellious!” Twilight panicked. “I think...we will be facing anarchy.”
> Chapter 12: The Rise of Anarchy part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night in Canterlot, the angry mob stormed through the streets with torches and pitchforks. “Come on, everypony, let’s take down the princesses! This madness ends now!” the leader said. The mob shouted cries of agreement and eagerness to overthrow the rulers. 

They ran to the palace gates and attempted to break them down to gain entrance; however, the Royal Guard were patrolling the gates and forcibly kept them at bay. “Stop! You will not enter into the palace unsummoned!” the captain sternly commanded. 

“We want the princesses to step down NOW!!” the mob angrily demanded, aggressively banging on the gates. 

“Stay back and stand down! We will not tolerate this unruly behavior!” the captain  scolded. But the mob continued to wildly bang on the gates, trying desperately to barge into the palace. 

Meanwhile in the throne room, Batman and Shining Armor were meeting with Princesses Celestia and Luna; after witnessing the chaos and anarchy within Equestria, they were pressed to figure out solutions that could save them and everypony else. “We’re glad you two were able to make it here.” Celestia began. “As you can already see, chaos is tearing apart Equestria; everypony is turning against us with the intention of taking us down. I am hard-pressed to say that our lives are in grave danger.” 

“Indeed. They are even considering to kill us when they get the chance. When that happens, anarchy will run rampant throughout all of Equestria.” Luna added. 

“This is getting way out of hand! My wife’s death really took them on an emotional level like it did to me. They are taking it way too far it seems.” Shining said, lowering his head. 

“Batman, you have crystal magic. Can you at least dispel the disorder of the ponies?” Luna asked. 

“I tried it half an hour ago, but it didn’t work. Look...” Batman levitated in the air, ignited his armored hands with magic, then shot a spell toward the ponies outside the gates. Once they were hit by the spell, they stopped shouting and attacking and looked around to find the source of the blast. Finding none, they immediately resumed their antagonism while again attempting to break the gates down although unsuccessfully. 

“See? I lack the ability to dispel the disorderly conduct of any being. Based on my observation of this failure, my magic can only dispel the chaos through love and kindness, not force.” Batman explained, landing on the floor. 

“Hmmm, I see. Then we must use that alternative and hope that you will get through to them.” Celestia concluded. 

“What if they don’t accept his kindness? What if they don’t listen to reason? They might refuse to understand!” Shining panicked. 

“The less we focus on the ‘what ifs’, the more confident we will be in what we can do, Shining. I know Batman can do this well.” Celestia smiled. 

The ponies continued to rage and vehemently threw derogatory comments at the Royal Guard. They even started to cast some torches and pitchforks at a few guards; fortunately, the latter shielded themselves from their deadly assaults. 

One of the guards looked behind and saw Batman, Shining Armor, and the Royal Sisters approaching them. “Here they come!” he notified. Once the other guards saw the four figures coming to the gates, they quickly saluted them and stood aside. The angry mob started to become more violent and aggressive now that the two objects of their hatred were approaching while they rooted for Batman and Shining. 

“Curse you, princesses! You vile utter failures of our country!!” one pony roared. 

“Go Batman!” said one pony. 

“Hail Shining Armor!” another said. 

“Wicked rulers!! Incompetent and selfish they both are!” another pony added. Luna was greatly tempted to give in to her anger and sorrow as she was forced to listen to their unrestrained, harsh language. Instead, she took a deep breath several times to keep herself calm and at peace. 

 “Easy there, Luna. They are just too emotionally constipated to fully understand reason. No need to be offended over their foalish insults.” Luna advised herself. 

Batman climbed on top of the gates and stood there to get all the wrathful ponies’ attention. “ENOUGH!!!” he loudly  commanded them. Startled by his intimidating voice, they all stopped their raging violence and gave their full attention to Batman. 

“Listen to me! I understand why you all are extremely upset, but this type of behavior is completely uncalled for and unacceptable in so many ways! This is all apart of The Joker’s plan: to cause enough chaos and destruction to cause you to rise into anarchy and disorder until you all eat each other!” he passionately rebuked. The ponies gasped at the last statement. 

“You are all playing into his game! If you are this upset with the princesses doing absolutely nothing in times of crises, then did any of you ever speak of their negligence to them personally? Have you ever thought of harmonious communication with your rulers to know what is wrong?” Batman challenged. Everypony was quite; that was enough for Batman to realize how utterly ridiculous they were for not being critical thinkers or problem solvers. 

“That is disappointing. I truly thought that you all appreciated friendship seeing how you love each other’s company and care for each other.” he continued. “But now...you are no different than a common criminal like the ones in my world. True, the princesses might have failed to take actions necessary, but they are still your superiors who deserve love and respect.” After he said that, the crystal ponies appeared with torches and pitchforks; however, they all stopped at the sight of the Batman giving his speech of rebuke and correction. 

“Please, ponies, you must understand the importance of the Magic of Friendship. As I learned ever since King Sombra’s demise, friendship is what unites, heals, creates, and restores our relationships with each other and with our personal enemies. Your uncivilized behavior only warrants death, fear, and more chaos! I am beseeching you all to abandon your corrupt ways, and embrace the full power of friendship into your lives. Only then will you be able to renounce evil and accept good.” Batman finished. 

The ponies looked at each other with sad looks and started to form tears on their eyes. Fully realizing the hard truths he spoke, they embraced each other and broke down into tears. All ponies from the Crystal Empire, Ponyville, and Canterlot threw away their pitchforks, torches, and hate signs of the heroes, including Batman. “I know it is hard to get over Princess Cadence’s death, but be assured knowing that as long as we live, she will live on in our memories.” Batman said. 

His crystal heart began to glow bright and shot its beams at the ponies gathered. They were reinvigorated with new hope and love, being determined now more than ever to work together to stop an evil threat in Equestria. “Batman is right! We need to stop fighting against authority and each other! We must fight against The Joker for what he did to Cadence and us!” Mayor Mare said. 

The Mane Six and Spike saw everything that happened and heard the convicting speech he gave to everypony. They smiled knowing that the Magic of Friendship was working again in their lives. Thus, hope was seen on the horizon. They were confident that The Joker will be defeated once and for all. 

Suddenly, Discord appeared in the middle of the ponies before the gates. “Bravo! Bravo! What an arousing speech, Batman! I never thought that you would be able to convince these ponies of how powerful friendship can truly be!” Everypony gasped at the sight of the draconequus while the princesses and Shining Armor glared at him in annoyance. 

As for Batman, Discord’s mannerisms and tone made him even more suspicious than when they first met earlier. “What is it you’re seeking for, Discord?” he demanded. 

Right after he asked, Discord dropped his facade and angrily stared at him. “Your ultimate defeat now that I’ve witnessed what you’re really capable of.” He snapped his fingers, making a huge fish net appear and catching the Mane Six and Spike. He held them up while evilly smirking at the astonished ponies and rulers. 

The Mane Six, mostly Fluttershy, were shocked to see their ‘friend’ acting very strange. “Discord, what are you doing?! Why are you keeping us in this net?!” Twilight demanded. 

“Let them go, Discord!” Batman told him, getting into battle stance. 

Several unicorns ignited their horns to blast the net open to free the heroic Elements and Spike; however, they were shot in the head by an approaching bipedal creature with a shotgun. After others turned to see him, they shrieked in terror and backed away. “IT’S THE JOKER!! HE’S HERE!” Lyra shouted fearfully. 

“Hahahahaha!! Did you ponies miss me? I know you did.” Joker mocked. He stood right next to his ally who grinned at Joker’s timely arrival. This completely shocked everyone assembled as they saw for themselves whom Discord has been working with. 

“Wait a minute...are you two working together?!” Rainbow demanded. 

“What does it seem like, blue pony? Am I not allowed to make friends with someone whose reputation was tarnished, whose respect was diminished, and whose dignity was abandoned for the sake of those who offered him nothing?” Joker spat. Fluttershy came closer to the mesh and started to cry. 

“Discord, w-why...why are you betraying us? I th-thought we were... f-friends?” she sobbed. Discord had a somewhat sympathetic look on his face and came close to the mesh as well. The Joker stood idly by and watched. 

“Fluttershy, look...I am only doing this to restore my glory. I know you tried to make me see things in a positive light, but Joker here opened my eyes and made me see the true light. Nopony wanted to give me a better chance until he showed up and made me so much better than what I was pathetically trying to be. So now...” Discord then appeared as a baseball player. “I can score a home run with no pony stopping me!” 

“You mean to tell me that Joker was a better friend than I was? Is that what you’re saying?” Fluttershy asked. This made Discord widen his eyes in surprise.  

“What?! No!...T-that’s...that’s not what I’m saying! It’s just...he gave me more opportunities where I can be myself again!” he stuttered, excusing his actions. 

“More opportunities for you to kill ponies, including those who did nothing wrong to you? For you to hurt our feelings and twist friendship into your own personal gain? Didn’t you tell me at one time that I was the only pony who showed you kindness?” Fluttershy argued. 

At that moment, Discord was silent. Everything she said to him made him so...guilty. He never realized the influence The Joker had on him and contrasted that to the influence of Fluttershy. Everything that he had done to them, all the cruelty, death, destruction, misery, and chaos he helped Joker to spread was all because he wanted to have freedom and fun...things which he thought were far greater than friendship. But seeing through Fluttershy’s perspective, he realized the full magnitude of what he had done: not only betraying the ponies but also—the most cruel offense—betraying the very pony who ever showed him the true path to friendship out of kindness. 

That made his heart (if he has one) break in half. Shameful sorrow slowly overwhelming him, he looked back at Fluttershy. “You’re right, Fluttershy. I had no depth of understanding of what you truly did for me. I-I was just...selfish. I am so sorry.” he confessed. 

He snapped his fingers, freeing the Mane Six and Spike from the net. They all smiled at Discord for his redemption. Overtaken by emotional joy, Fluttershy jumped on Discord, hugging him. “I’m so happy for you.” she said to him. 

“I am happy too, Fluttershy...” Discord said, wiping a tear from his eye. Then he grabbed a knife and stabbed her on her right wing, earning him a scream of pain. “...for you being a stupid, naive, gullible, and emotionally challenged imbecile. I’m not your dog anymore.” he darkly, condescendingly spoke. 

“FLUTTERSHY!!!!” they all yelled in horror. 

The Joker hysterically laughed. “HeheheheHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!”
> Chapter 13: A New Objective
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman raised his batarang and threw it at the Lord of Chaos. Striking him on his left eye, he screamed in pain and released the wounded Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash swooped down, gently grabbed her, and brought her over to her friends. Fluttershy was crying from the painful stab wound she received from Discord. That made everypony angry at Discord for the act of immense cruelty he displayed. This signified his ultimate abandonment from friendship. 

“Enough games, ponies! I have a kingdom to rule! The Joker has shown me everything I needed to know as to how pathetically worthless you all are! I will not allow any of you to ruin my destiny!” Discord bellowed. 

Batman and Shining were about to attack him, but Discord snapped his fingers, bringing a large spread of peanut butter   and jelly to land on them. After the mixed spread covered them, they tried to free themselves but it was too sticky. 

Discord then appeared as a football player; afterwards, he brandished a football and shot it toward the princesses. They tried to shield themselves from the attack, but it was no use. The large football shattered their combined shield and knocked them out. Discord blew his whistle in triumph. “TOUCHDOWN!! YEAH!! Hahahahaha!!” 

He snapped his fingers, disappearing. While the Mane Five and Spike were taking care of Fluttershy, Twilight looked around and noticed that The Joker was no longer present. She greatly dreaded the thought of what the two chaotic villains were up to next. If they were to save Equestria from their power, they needed to create a plan that will help them all. 

“Are you going to be all right, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy kept wincing in pain from the stab wound that leaked some blood on her wing. 

Looking up to her, she made a tiny half-smile. “I will be okay, T-Twilight.” She then started to cry again. “My emotional pain is worse than my physical pain right now...” she said, breaking in tears again. 

Seeing Fluttershy cry made Rainbow’s blood boil to a high degree. “DISCORD IS GONNA PAY FOR THIS!!! NOPONY HURTS FLUTTERSHY AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!” 

“Indeed!! This is getting to personal now!! That ruffian must be dealt with severely!!” Rarity added. 

Suddenly, a large thundercloud hovered in the night sky; lightning bolts were striking everywhere, and chocolate rain was raining hard. Everypony ran away in fear of the frightening lightning bolts that nearly struck the buildings next to them. The princesses, Spike, Shining Armor, the Mane Six, and Batman were left alone. 

“We have to do something! Discord is now creating a thunderstorm to revive his chaotic kingdom!” Shining alerted. The princesses blasted the sticky spread off of him and Batman. They stood up from the ground. 

“Easy! We will just turn him back to stone! Just like what we and the princesses have done before!” Rainbow recalled. 

“Yes, but I’m afraid you have to do more than that.” Celestia grimly spoke. “I hate to say this, but I have made a grave mistake in ever giving him a chance at friendship; that only empowered him to be a cruel monster as demonstrated in his strong alliance with The Joker.” 

“Now Discord will stop at nothing when he will revision this world as his own. Discord must...be destroyed.” Luna sternly added. 

Fluttershy gasped at the new objective assigned to them. “DESTROY HIM?! But-But we can’t! There’s got to be another way to stop him!” 

“Fluttershy, did you not see how Discord back-stabbed you?! Figuratively and literally?! He is now going full savage mode!” Spike reminded. 

“Yeah! Discord has gone way too far now! Killin’ ponies, destroyin’ property, helpin’ a sociopathic villain from Gotham, causing chaos, and especially almost killin’ ya!” Applejack added. “May ah go on?” 

“Sure! Turning us into our opposite selves, stealing the elements of harmony, taking away horns and wings from you, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight, making animals to dance, making cotton candy clouds, making beavers to be very violent, aaaannddd...” Pinkie rambled. 

“I was askin’ rhetorically, Pinkie Pie.” Applejack clarified, having an annoyed look. 

“Oh, right! Sorry!” Pinkie smiled sheepishly. 

“There is one concern I have though.” began Batman. “Since you defeated him twice in a row, he would know by now all of your tricks and your main method of operation. Which means that we have to come with a different approach in that way he won’t suspect what we have in mind for him.” 

“As far as destroying him is concerned, my policy is to never kill any human being. However, when it has to do with mythological creatures of evil and destruction, that is when I make an exception. The stakes are too high for us to fail.” Batman said.  

“Excellent. I’m glad you agree to our new objective here. But I am curious as to what this different approach is since you mentioned about it.” Celestia said. 

“Of course, Princess. All of you gather around. In order for us to stop Discord, this is the plan we must meticulously follow.” Batman advised as they gathered in a circle. Once they huddled, Batman whispered to them his plan. After he finished speaking to them of his plan, they were skeptical about the new plan. 

“Are you sure that’s going to work?” Shining asked. 

“Trust me, Shining Armor. As long as we work together, we will prevail. First, we take care of Discord, then we face against The Joker. It’s wise to save the hardest foe for the last.” Batman said. 

“I still don’t feel this is the right way...” muttered Fluttershy. “I j-just can’t imagine doing this in such a merciless manner.” 

“I know this is the hard way, Fluttershy. But you must remember that desperate times require desperate measures.” Batman comforted. “You are a strong and brave pegasus. Never forget that.” 

“Thank you, Batman. I’m so happy you are in my life.” Fluttershy said, tears flowing from her eyes. She hugged him tightly. 

“Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria rests in your—.” Celestia was interrupted. 

“You two are coming with us.” Batman firmly ordered. Celestia and Luna became surprised and confused. “We will use all hooves on deck to defeat our greatest enemies. No man or pony is an island.” 

“Ohh, well—um, we were just...uh...” stuttered Celestia who sweated nervously. 

Batman gave her the bat-glare. “Okay, fine we’ll go with you!” she uttered submissively. 

“That’s more like it. Come on, guys. We have Equestria to save.” Batman declared.
> Chapter 14: Confronting Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Guards! Find the Joker! We want him alive!” Luna sternly ordered. The Royal Guard nodded and went their way to begin the manhunt for Joker.

Batman activated his crystal magic and flew off to the thunderstorm. He shot a beam on the ground which turned into a portal for the ponies and dragon to enter into. Once it opened, the Mane Six, the princesses, Spike, and Shining Armor walked through it before it closed behind them. 

They all reunited in the middle of a black and huge thundercloud; they felt the chilling winds passing by them and saw other winds singing praises to Discord. Right above them, cotton candy, in the form of elephants, were dancing in circles, blowing their trunks inharmoniously, and spraying vanilla at each other. 

Right next to them, there were several ponies floating in the air who were forced to run on a treadmill; their pace made the treadmill produce strawberry milk with eggs. Once that was done, treadmills produced thin robotic legs to kick them off and fall from the sky. Rainbow Dash had to fly down to save them from their deaths. 

Suddenly, an amused laugh caught their attention. They searched for the source of the laugh, walking on the clouds. Luckily, those clouds were strong enough to sustain their weight so they wouldn’t fall through it. “Where are you, Discord? Show yourself!” Celestia demanded. 

“Hahahahaha!!” a familiar voice laughed. After they passed by two pillar-like clouds, they found the wicked draconequus sitting on his throne, drinking strawberry milk with eggs. After he was finished with his casual meal, he spotted his enemies with his left eye. “Ahhh, if it isn’t my delightful yet predictable foes now here to fight me.” he sarcastically remarked. 

“Your reign of chaos ends now, Discord!” Celestia declared. 

“Now? But I just got started! It can’t end now!” he mocked.

“Enough games, Discord!” Batman spoke, glaring at him. “I will give you only one chance to fully surrender yourself to us and deactivate whatever chaos you are about to commence!” 

“Or else what, Batsy?” Discord evilly smirked. Batman cringed at the nickname that Joker usually addresses him. 

“Or else we will have to take the hard way to bring you down before anyone in Equestria gets hurt.” Batman growled. 

“Hahahahaha! As if any of you have the backbone to actually follow that sort of method! Hah!” Discord again mocked before his smug smile turned to an annoyed scowl. 

“How disappointing that your attitude and tone is reminiscent of Celestia and Luna’s. (Sigh) Ever since we first met, you looked like someone whom I can actually respect and regard as decent. But no! You’re just like them, it seems. How boring...” Discord said. 

“Hey! Nopony insults Batman like that!” Rainbow defied. 

“We neither have the time nor the patience for your antics, traitor! Surrender now!” Luna commanded. 

Enraged, Discord threw away his cup of chocolate milk and stood up from his throne. “Really now? What makes you think that I’ll take orders from you again? You have done nothing but humiliate me, disrespect me, and dishonor me! If you think that I’ll be a lapdog for you again, than you’re even more stupid than I realized!” 

“Discord, please, stop making this harder than what it already is!” Twilight pleaded. “Just cease all this chaos you’re causing, and nopony will get hurt. We’ll even consider making your punishment less severe.” 

“Pffff, says the pony who helped turn me into stone. Face it, Twilight, you and your friends are complete hypocrites who look down on others and think that you are better than everypony else. Look at yourself in a mirror!” Discord snapped his fingers, making a large mirror appear in front of them. 

“Here is the challenge I will give to each of the Elements of Harmony presented here: this mirror will take you into a transparent dimension where you will encounter trials...and somepony who will demonstrate those trials. There, you will be tested if you are being true to your element. If you fail these tests, you will perish; however, if you pass them, you six will be enabled to annihilate me.” Discord explained. 

“What about me, Batman, the princesses, and Shining Armor?” Spike asked. 

“Ohhh, hahahahaha!! You remaining five will be in another dimension to face different challenges! How could I forget that! Hahahahaha!!” Discord laughed, snapping his fingers to make another mirror appear. 

The Mane Six looked at each other with brave expressions before glaring at the Lord of Chaos. “We accept your challenge, Discord. But don’t think we’ll be weak enough to fail those trials.” Twilight warned. 

“Yeah! Once we stop you, we will have the greatest villain defeat party EVER!!” Pinkie added, hugging her friends tightly. 

Fluttershy looked directly at Discord’s eyes with tears flowing on her face. She also gave a short gaze on her nearly-healed stab wound on her wing. She then slowly changed her sad feature to a fierce glare, although she was careful enough to not use the Stare on Discord. “You and Joker will pay for all the crimes you committed in Equestria. I will never forget what you did to us...to MEEEEE!!!!!!!” she angrily shrieked at the top of her lungs. 

The Mane Five were startled by her sudden outburst but not surprised as they were used to her sudden change of mood. Her fierce emotion though cracked a devious smirk on Discord’s face. 

“Neither will I, Fluttershy...” Discord hissed. 

The first mirror began to shine blue as it opened a passage for the Elements. Looking at each other and nodding, the Mane Six entered the mirror. The passage closed. 

The second mirror opened its passage for Batman, Spike, Shining Armor, and the princesses to enter. Once they all entered, the portal closed behind them. Discord then cackled, lighting bolts shining behind his throne. “This is going to be FUN!!” he said. 

Batman and his team saw themselves standing on a glass. Above them was nothing but deep darkness; the only thing that was shining was the glass floor although it flashed in bright blue color. It helped them see in the darkness. “Where are we?” Spike asked. 

“I have no clue. We’re in some sort of...glass dimension. But I have a feeling that we will be heading into some trouble.” Batman said. 

“And trouble you shall get, Batsy!” an enthusiastic voice called out. They swiftly turned their heads to see The Joker sitting in his clown throne. However, there were three things that arrested Batman’s attention: there were two swords being held by two people standing next to him. A man stood on his right side, and a woman stood on his left side. Finally, a wallpaper was behind his throne: the picture of Gotham City engulfed in flames. 

Batman widened his eyes in shock as he recognized those two people. He never thought he would see them alive again. “Harvey? RACHEL?!” Batman shouted.
> Chapter 15: Element of Loyalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane Six entered through the portal into a similar dimension; they trotted on glass that lit up the entire pitch-black room. The color of the light was bright purple. “Why is it so dark in here?” Rainbow asked, looking around above them. 

“I’m afraid of the...dark!” Fluttershy shivered. 

“(Giggles) At least there is this bright purple light!” Pinkie giggled. “I wonder what’s under this glass floor!” She gazed at the dark abyss through the glass floor. Seeing nothing noticeable, she reunited with her friends. 

“Hello! Is anypony home? Where are we?” called Rarity. 

“I don’t know what Discord’s tests are going to be like, but I bet they’ll be the same ones like the ones we faced a few years ago.” Twilight said. 

“Yup! I’m certainly countin’ on that if ya ask me!” Applejack replied. 

“We got to keep looking around and search for any signs of where we are.” Twilight ordered. 

They kept looking around as they tried to find out where they are so they will be able to finish what was assigned to them and defeat Discord once and for all. Suddenly, a soft thud arrested their attention; they looked everywhere—even back and forth—as they attempted to discover the source of the thud. “Did you girls hear that?” Rarity asked. 

“Oh, oh, oh, is somepony planning a surprise birthday party?!” Pinkie randomly guessed. 

“Umm, Pinkie, normally we don’t make noises like that before we pronounce—ahh!” Rainbow yelped. 

“SURPRISE, PONIES!” a familiar voice menacingly spoke. Swiftly turning their heads to the speaker, they saw a dark alicorn sitting on her throne with a crescent moon shining behind her; she evilly laughed as she beheld the shocked and terrified faces of the Mane Six. 

“It’s...it’s NIGHTMARE MOON!!” Fluttershy screamed, pointing at her. 

“HOW?! This is not possible! We defeated you and brought you back as Luna! How is it that you’re back again?!” Twilight demanded. 

“You foals! Luna is no more! I can never be destroyed, for I am the most powerful alicorn in Equestria! Besides, did you really think I would be bested by a measly rainbow laser?” Nightmare taunted. “Ha! That was truly pathetic! I expected you ponies to be more realistic with your methods!” 

The Mane Six then glared at her and positioned themselves in battle stance. “What do you want from us, Nightmare Moon? What are you doing here?” demanded Twilight. 

“I have simply been instructed to give each of you a test that will prove your strength as an element bearer.” Nightmare explained. “As I’m sure you have already been informed, if any of you fail to pass these tests, I will have the power to obliterate you all! All it takes is one pony to fall short of her potential. However, if you succeed, you’ll not only save yourselves but also your whole land and your other friends.” 

“We’re not afraid of you, Nightmare Moon! Do your worst!” Rainbow defied. This made the evil alicorn smirk. 

“As you wish...” Nightmare ignited her horn and sent a blue beam toward the glass floor, raising a door from the glass. The door stood on its own after Nightmare withdrew her magic. “Since you were willing enough to take the challenge, why don’t you go first, Rainbow Dash?” she said, looking right at the surprised pegasus. 

“Me? Uhhh, yeah!” Rainbow got nervous at first until she immediately rubbed it off and got confident. “I’m ready for anything!” she said. 

“Pray that you are.” Nightmare growled. Rainbow opened the door and walked in to go through her trial. Her friends were hoping that she would be able to pass whatever test she would have to endure. 

“Please...please pass this, Rainbow...” Twilight mumbled under her breath. 

Rainbow looked around her and saw the Shadowbolts standing in front of her. She instantly remembered them being with her while on their way to the Castle of the Two Sisters long ago. Due to her steadfastness and utmost loyalty to her friends, she refused to join the Shadowbolts. Scoffing at the apparent simplicity of the test, she smiled smugly at them. “Well, well, if it isn’t the Shadowbolts once again. And before you say it, I’m not joining you. Simple as that.” 

The Shadowbolts chuckled at her pride and ignorance. “Poor Rainbow Dash...always thinking she’s the best and competent at everything. What a pity..” the leading Shadowbolt mocked. Rainbow wasn’t sure why she thought that voice was so familiar. 

“Uhhh, who’s talking here?” Rainbow demanded. To her shock, the leader revealed herself as a blue-green pegasus with blonde hair. 

“Nice to see you again, Dash.” she darkly smiled. 

“LIGHTNING DUST?!” Rainbow fearfully yelled. At that moment, the other Shadowbolts disappeared, leaving the two pegasi alone. Lightning Dust then formed a hateful glare as she slowly advanced on her rival. 

“You kicked me out of the Wonderbolts, Dash! We were supposed to be friends! I wanted us to be together at the academy so that we can get to know each other more...like close friends we should have been!!!” Lightning angrily lambasted. Rainbow looked hurt from the harsh accusations that her former friend spat to her. 

“Lightning, I didn’t mean to hurt you. But you have to realize that what you did out there was super dangerous! You could’ve gotten my friends killed!” Rainbow defended. 

“Who CARES?! That’s the risk the REAL Wonderbolts have to take to prove their worth!” Lightning excused. “It was their fault that they came into dangerous territory. Maybe if they had followed safety rules, they wouldn’t have been in danger.” 

Rainbow took time to think on what she said. “Hmmm, you know...you do have a point there.” she slowly agreed. 

“See? And tell you what..I say you join me in my new group where we will have far greater stunts and challenges that even you would approve. They are way better than those ridiculous Wonderbolts...as long as your friends and safety rules don’t get in the way of course.” Lightning offered. 

Rainbow appeared that she was intrigued by the offer, but at the same time, she looked conflicted. “That sounds really interesting, and I really want to be friends with you again but...I can’t just abandon my friends like that. I will never do anything that will hurt them.” 

Lightning scowled at her. “It’s either me or them, Rainbow Dash. If you choose them, then we won’t be friends anymore! Do you want to be my best friend or not?” 

“Of course, I do!” Rainbow said. 

“Then get away from those jerk-faced friends of yours and be with me. This is your last chance...Rainbow Crash.” Lightning smirked. 

This greatly irked Rainbow and almost provoked her to punch her in the face for that hated nickname her old bullies always called her. However, she restrained herself and took a full minute to decide. On one hoof was Lightning Dust whereas her friends were on the other hoof. Weighing them both was taxing on her mind as she loved both. Nevertheless, she considered how long the Mane Five have been friends with her, how much they cared for her, and how much they did everything for her. 

Then she looked at her rival who caused nothing but damage at the Wonderbolt Academy; she realized that Lightning cared for nopony but herself and would do anything for her own self-interests. Glaring at the bad memory of what she did and seeing how she talked to her just now, she made her final decision. “No.” she answered. 

“What did you just say?!” Lightning threateningly asked, raising her eyebrow. 

“I said NO! You care for nopony but yourself and will stop at nothing to advance your own interests!” Rainbow called out. “I will never abandon my friends or leave them out of my life! Finally, I have two final words for you...screw off, dust pile.” she smirked. 

Lightning Dust remained silent. Her only response was a hard glare. She vanished into thin air. Rainbow suddenly began to shine bright and saw her own element floating above her head. With that, she burst through the door and flew in front of Nightmare Moon. “I PASSED! Beat that, Nightmare Moon!” she bragged. 

“Hmm, I can clearly see that.” she hissed in defeat. “I think I should set a dark mood for the rest of us, right...Pinkie Pie?” They all turned their faces to see Pinkie Pie getting excited. 

“YAYYY!! My turn! My turn!” she said, bouncing on the glass floor, opened the door, and closed it.
> Chapter 16: Element of Laughter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie looked around in the darkness, waiting for something...exciting to happen. “Hello! Anypony home? I got some cupcakes with me!” Pinkie shouted, holding a tray of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. After quickly eating a vanilla cupcake, she heard a creaking noise just above her. Out of nowhere, a large cardboard fell from above and landed in front of Pinkie. 

On top of the cardboard stood a gigantic monster made completely out of chocolate; he had orange iris on his black eyes, his chocolate form was slimy, and he was very chubby. He looked at the party pony with apparent glee in his eyes and smiled at her. “Ohhhh, hello there, pink pony! What is your name?” the monster asked. 

“I’m Pinkie Pie, the best party pony in Equestria!!” she proudly introduced with confetti. “What is your name?” 

“The name is Choco Late, but you can call me ‘Choclo’. It’s great to meet you, Pinkie Pie!” he happily greeted. 

“It’s great to meet you too, Mr. Choclo!” Pinkie said. 

“You look like someone who needs a good and satisfying party! Why don’t you come with me and start having a great time, hm?” Choclo invited. Pinkie smiled brightly as her face actually started to grow big like a balloon. Then she exploded with joy and excitement. 

“YES!! I WOULD LOVE TO, NEW FRIEND!!” Pinkie exclaimed. 

“Terrific! Come on, Pinkie Pie, follow me!” Choclo said, heading straight forward. Pinkie followed him in an unclear path to a certain party the monster mentioned. Forgetting entirely about the trial, Discord, and The Joker at the moment, she bounced up and down repeatedly during her journey with Choclo. 

Four minutes later, she and Choclo arrived at an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the woods. “There we are, Pinkie Pie! This will be the best party you’ll ever have!” Choclo announced. 

“YAYYY!! I’m really, really, REALLY, excited!!” Pinkie said. 

Once they entered in, Pinkie expected to see ponies celebrating, dancing, eating, laughing, and having a great time. But once she laid her eyes on them, she was shocked: several ponies were crying in despair while drinking their own tears out of their cups, the fillies were throwing pieces of pie at each other with scorn and saying mean things at each other, the colts looked depressed and didn’t bother to talk to each other or eat anything. Lastly, a tall chocolate cake was in the center of the room, having the words,  “Sorrow is the best medicine.”

Seeing all this made Pinkie very sad and confused. “What’s going on? Why is everypony so sad and miserable?” she asked. 

“Why, haven’t you read the writing on my cake? Sorrow is the best medicine! Laughter is nothing more than just an escape from reality, a hindrance to one’s growth. Sorrow brings the realities of life and hardcore truths that you can never escape from.” Choclo smirked. “No matter many times you try to laugh it off, it will always be there. After all, laughter is a lie. Ponies laugh at what? Jokes? Comedy? They are all...pointless and meaningless, my dear friend.” 

“That’s not true! Laughter brings you joy and happiness!” Pinkie argued. It relieves you of depression, and it also helps you cope with stressful situations! There is nothing wrong with laughing!” 

Choclo then started to frown on Pinkie. “Those are the false realities of laughter. Stress and depression are the actual benefactors. The more you stick to them, the better your view of the whole world will be.” 

Pinkie then got unnaturally serious with Choclo. “Choclo, this is wrong. These ponies need encouragement and joy in this party!” She ran to the depressed ponies and started to pass cupcakes to each of them with a bright smile on her face. 

Enraged by her act, Choclo spewed liquid chocolate from his mouth right at her hooves, sealing Pinkie on the wooden floor. “Trying to corrupt my ponies with your pathetic lies and joyous personality crosses the line! We could’ve been best friends, Pie! Now you’ll just have to watch me do justice!” Choclo growled angrily. 

He spewed more liquid chocolate at the saddened ponies which started to petrify them. Then he darkly spoke, “All of you ponies are worthless, insignificant, and unimportant! That’s why you have no friends, no family, and...no laughter. Laughter is your true downfall. Till the day you die, no one will ever love you.” 

This almost made Pinkie Pie cry; she was greatly tempted to think back on the harsh words some of her family members said to her that nearly discouraged her from being the pony she is. But then she remembered the times when she made her first party for her family and, later on, parties for her friends. Knowing that her friends love her and appreciate her for always being the best party pony of Ponyville, bringing happiness and laughter to lighten their mood, she wept tears of joy. 

Then she glared at Choclo who finished petrifying the ponies. “Everything you said is wrong, Choclo. Laughter is what opens the way for ponies to enjoy a better life and make better friends as long as you use it for good!” Pinkie declared, slowly glowing from her element.

“I may be annoying or irritating to some ponies, but I always think of my friends positively and continually sacrifice time and energy to make parties for ponies who need it to brighten their day!!...even if it involves breaking the 4th wall!!” she shouted, winking at me. 

Pinkie, focus please. 

“Oh, sorry!” she smiled sheepishly. 

“Anyway, the point is...LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!!!” shrieked Pinkie, breaking out of her chocolate seal. Her brightness released the ponies from their petrifaction while it encircled Choclo. 

“Wait!! No! Stop!! You’ll pay FOR THIIIIIISSSS!!!” Choclo screamed, his body completely vaporized by the pink, bright rays. 

She saw the ponies now happy and celebrating with each other in Sugarcube Corner. With that, she burst through the door and rejoined with her friends. “BEST. PARTY. EVER!!!!” 

Nightmare Moon growled in frustration. “Such insolence! Applejack, you’re next!” 

“Well, if ya say so...” Applejack nervously said, entering through the door and shutting it. 

“How did it go, darling?” Rarity curiously asked. 

“Ehh, I’ll just say it was a blast.” Pinkie said, winking at me again. 

Ughhhh, Pinkie! 

“What? Don’t you like fourth wall breaks?” Pinkie asked. 

“Who are you talking to?” Rainbow asked. 

“Umm, no one!” Pinkie smiled.
> Chapter 17: Element of Honesty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack saw herself in Sweet Apple Acres, her own home. Looking around, she saw all the apple trees full of sweet and ripe apples ready to be harvested. “I’m back at home! These apples look ready to be bucked!” Applejack rejoiced. “I gotta check on ma family to help me harvest these apples!” She ran off to the barn, expecting to see her family. 

Once she pushed the doors open, she saw her family hanging a picture of a strange creature on the left barn wall. Confused, she came inside to discover what her family were up to. “Big Mac? Apple Bloom? Granny? Is everythin’ all right?” she asked. 

“Nope!” Big Mac replied. 

“Nope, there’s a dangerous creature in our field who is after our apples!” Apple Bloom said, writing the word  “wanted” on the poster. 

“A creature? What kind of creature are ya talkin’ about, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. 

“A dastardly creature that comes from the darn ground is the Black Crawler! A nasty big feller!” Granny Smith said. 

“Eeyup!” Big Mac agreed. 

“The Black Crawler? I’ve never heard such a critter before!” said Applejack. “Well, if it is as dangerous as you say it is, than count me in! No creature messes with our farm!” 

“That’s the spirit!” Granny Smith praised. 

“Eeyup!” said Big Mac. 

“Than what are we waitin’ for? Let’s get it!” Apple Bloom said, determinedly. 

“Hold up, there! We must remember to report of that creature’s presence once any of us see it. Ya hear?” Granny ordered. 

“Eeyup!” the rest said at the same time.

Armed with shovels, racks, and ropes, they separated from each other outside the barn as they began their search for the Black Crawler. Big Mac and Apple Bloom went to the west side of the field, Granny Smith and their work dog Winona went to the east side, and Applejack went to the north side.  

Applejack was searching every tree and checking every rock she came across. “Black Crawler’s gotta be here somewhere...can’t leave no stone unturned...well, literally.” she chuckled. 

Suddenly, she heard a twig break. She looked around to see if the creature was around; she saw nothing within her view. She continued to look around other trees until a second twig loudly broke. She jerked her head up and fidgeted to a fighting stance. “W-Who goes there?!” she demanded, sweating nervously. Remembering what Granny Smith said about the creature’s size, she tried to not allow fear to lower her guard. 

“Applejack, I presume?” a raspy voice asked. Applejack swiftly turned her head to see the Black Crawler about 22ft tall, had skinny arms and legs, sharp claws, a body made completely of both soil, wood, and rock, a large vine wrapped around his torso, a tree branch sticking out from his head, red eyes, and a carnivorous mouth. 

Applejack beheld him with astonished eyes. “H-How did ya know ma name?!” she asked. “And you can talk too?!” 

“Of course, I can. I’ve heard of you and your friends, Applejack. I also heard that you and your family are going to hunt me down.” Black Crawler said. 

“Yes, we are! Ah was told you were out here to get our apples!” Applejack said. 

“Of course I am! I need apples to survive! Please, Applejack...” he said, getting on his knees before the farm pony. “I’m the only one left of my kind; without apples, I won’t be able to live. Please don’t tell your family I was here. If you can let me take perhaps half of your apple trees without your family knowing, I’ll be able to live for another few months. Please...keep this as a secret...” he started to cry. 

Applejack looked conflicted in what to do next.  “I can’t lie to ma family! If I don’t tell them, he’ll take half of our apples and might even take more! How can I trust him?” Applejack thought.  “But if ah tell ‘em, he won’t ever come back! But then...he will die...of starvation.”

“How do I know you’re being honest?” she asked suspiciously. 

“Believe me...I tell you the truth. Look at my arms and legs—they’re malnourished.” Crawler said. 

“Applejack! Have ya seen that creature yet?” Apple Bloom called out. Applejack saw her and Big Mac coming from afar. Black Crawler immediately dived into the soil and hid underground. 

“Well...I uh...” Applejack stuttered. At that moment, Granny Smith and Winona rejoined them in the middle of the field. 

“Ah know ah heard somethin’, so you must’ve seen it, right?” Granny asked. 

Applejack then struggled to decide as to whether she tells the truth or cover for the Black Crawler by lying. Right there, she remembered that honesty was what helps improve relationships and especially friendships. Even if the truth would hurt, depending on the situation, it is never the best idea to lie to protect or hide any secret. She tried not to recall what Discord said to her during his chaotic terrorism in Ponyville years ago. 

Then she made her call. “(Sigh) Yes, I’ve seen him; in fact, I just talked to him moments ago. Black Crawler is suffering near starvation due to lack of apples, and he is the last of his kind. All that he asks is half of our apples so that he could live longer. Can we at least be open to him?” Applejack explained. 

Her family looked at each other somewhat surprised and uncertain. Crawler dug out of the ground and stood next to Applejack. Seeing a sincere look on his face and his malnourished condition, they smiled with each other and nodded to him. Crawler then began to sob again with gratitude; he knelt down to her level saying, “I didn’t expect you to be that honest, Applejack. Thank you for your compassion and being honest with your family.” 

“Any time, big fella. Come on, now! Those apples can’t wait any longer!” Applejack smiled. Nodding, Black Crawler went to the trees and got what he needed. After he ate half of the apples, his arms and legs grew muscular with better health and strength. 

Applejack was then taken back to reality, and she opened the door to reunite with her waiting friends. Nightmare was again irritated and angrily pounded on the table she was at for her royal meal. “WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR YOU PONIES TO BE DESTROYED?!? Rarity, please be generous enough to end your worthless friends’ misery!!!” she wrathfully bellowed. 

“My goodness! Somepony needs serious anger management!” Rarity huffed.
> Chapter 18: Element of Generosity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity entered through the door and closed behind her. Once the door was closed, she found herself in a massive landscape in the middle of nowhere. “Huh, where exactly am I?” she asked herself. She began to walk around the landscape in search of civilization; every mile she went showed no sign of life. “I must keep searching! I cannot  make it out of here without encountering my challenge.” she determined. 

Thus, she pressed on in her search although she had no idea where she was heading. After about five minutes of wandering, she finally spotted something...a large mansion. Rarity’s eyes widened in surprise and gazed at the attractive building. “My, my! What a beautiful mansion! I must take a look inside!” she exclaimed. 

She entered through the front gates and then through the front door of the mansion. Once she entered therein, she beheld a massive pool of gems, diamonds, crystals, and jewels. Her smile grew larger and larger until it reached to her eyes. Never in her lifetime had she been in a rich place filled with all sorts of treasure, especially diamonds; she only wished that she had a much bigger carousel boutique to store all of them. 

“Never in my wildest dreams have I seen such magnificent, fabulous, and amazing treasure!” she squealed. “There’s got to be more!” 

“Indeed, there is.” a strange voice spoke. 

“Huh? Is somepony here?” Rarity asked the speaker. She didn’t see anyone present in the mansion. Curious, she trotted to the rooms of the house to find out if someone else was there. She went to the living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the bathroom, and the other rooms, but she still saw no one in any of them. 

“Hello! Anypony home?” Rarity called. 

“Here I am.” the voice spoke again. Suddenly, a giant metallic lizard appeared in front of her in the living room. He was colored black with a long whiplash tail, was covered in horns, had sharp claws and teeth, and his eyes were orange with black, vertical (slit) pupils. Rarity gasped in surprise as she beheld the creature. 

“What in the name of Equestria are you?!” she demanded. 

“Ahhh, yes...pardon my lack of manners. My name is Zygotron, the keeper of this mansion. What is yours, my dear?” he politely asked. 

“My name is Rarity, good sir. I appreciate your courtesy. I also apologize for barging into your home; very rude on my part.” she said. 

“Not a problem, Ms. Rarity.” Zygotron waved off. “As a matter of fact, I have been waiting for somepony like you to appear.” 

“You have? You actually heard of me before?” she asked, raising her eyebrow. 

“Of course, my dear! Your admiration for fashion and artistic design is not unheard of, you see. I believe this is a good opportunity for you to claim something which, I am sure, you have been waiting for.” said Zygotron, smiling. 

“Ohh! So you will give me a chance to grow my career and expand my resources as a fashionista?!” Rarity excitedly asked, pushing her hooves on her cheeks. 

“Absolutely, Rarity.” Zygotron confirmed. 

“Splendid! Marvelous!” Rarity rejoiced. 

“Come, come, allow me to guide you to the key of your future success.” he directed, motioning her to follow him. 

Rarity gladly followed Zygotron through the hallway of the mansion until they reached to the humongous front door of the basement. Once he opened it with his tail, he led the unicorn downstairs to the basement where there was a large pink pearl which glowed brightly in the darkness. 

Rarity gazed idly at the pearl and drew closer to it; however, Zygotron grabbed the pearl before her and held it in the air. “Nah, ah, ahh, first things first, my beautiful guest.” 

“What should I do to earn that pearl?” asked Rarity. 

“I am glad you asked! To know what to do, I must show you the hindrances that will get in your way.” Zygotron replied.

He pulled on the wall. The whole right wall opened up which revealed all the dead and living ponies in the storage room. Some of the dead ponies were skeletons while the other dead ones were just decomposing. The living ponies were both malnourished, beaten, burnt, and sick. Rarity was appalled and horrified at the frightening sight. Zygotron then grew a sadistic smile. 

“You see, these live ponies are thieves that will try to destroy your future; if you want to be successful and powerful, you must keep your wealth and resources to yourself to preserve your destiny.” he advised. 

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THESE POOR PONIES?!!” Rarity screamed, disregarding every word he said to her. 

“I simply tortured and maimed them. If you ask me, that is what I call just comeuppance for trying to steal what rightfully belongs to me.” Zygotron callously said. 

Rarity started to sob at the sight of the fillies and colts being nearly starved to death as they hold their parents’ arms closely. How could anybody be that cruel and sadistic in torturing and murdering ponies just to keep wealth and luxuries? This made her angry. 

“Here is what you must do: you must kill all these ponies slowly and painfully. Only then will I grant you all these gifts upstairs and especially this—AHHH!!!” Zygotron cried out as he was shot in the eye. 

Rarity fiercely glared at him with her ignited horn. “YOU BEASTLY BEAST!!! I WILL TEAR YOU APART FOR HURTING THESE POOR PONIES!!!” 

Zygotron looked completely shocked at Rarity’s dramatic reaction. “Well...this test certainly didn’t last long...” he muttered. He activated his whiplash tail with electricity and pointed it at Rarity. “I tried to be nice with you, but it appears that you yourself have become a loose end. You can’t get out of here if I kill you!” 

“It...is...ON!!” she said. She shot several more magical blasts at his chest, but his metal body was resistant to magic. He swung his tail at her to electrocute her. She quickly dodged out of the way. 

She continued to fire more shots at the monster to find at least one weak spot. Suddenly, his claw landed in front of her; Zygotron evilly laughed before breathing acid at her. She activated her diamond shield to protect her from the burning acid. Once he stopped, he fired two spike missiles at her, but she blasted them with ease. 

“Come on! Don’t make this hard for me!” Zygotron yelled, frustrated. 

Rarity saw his sparkling tail stand up. Once she kept looking at it, she got an idea. She ran up to him as fast as she could before climbing on a random ladder. From there, she jumped onto a part of his back that wasn’t covered with horns. She then blew raspberries at him. Zygotron angrily looked back at her. 

“You’re dead, Rarity!” he yelled. His swung his tail at her, but she jumped off of his back before he could hit her. Thus, he accidentally electrocuted himself. He fell down on the floor completely fried and worn out. 

Looking at him smugly, Rarity ran upstairs, levitated all the diamonds and wealth with her magic, and brought them to the dying ponies. “There you go, darlings! You now have more than enough to buy all the shelter, clothing, and food you need to survive. A surplus is better than nothing.”

The wounded ponies then cried tears of joy and hugged each other and Rarity as they got out of the mansion. “Thank you...so much for your generosity, dear.” a poor mare thanked. 

“No, darling, thank you!” Rarity smiled. At that moment, everything faded into darkness. She saw the same crystal door in front of her again. 

She opened it and saw her friends again back in the crystal dimension. They cheered for her and embraced her tightly for her accomplishment. “I knew you could do it, Rarity!!” Twilight said. 

“I’m glad you believed in me, Twilight.” said Rarity. 

“THAT DOES IT!! I’VE HAD FAR ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!!” Nightmare Moon shrieked. “It is now just Fluttershy and you, Twilight Sparkle! If I can’t make your other friends fail, I’ll just have to destroy the both of you myself!” 

She jumped from her throne and landed before the Mane Six. “Twilight, I challenge you to a dual. If you defeat me, I will release you and your friends from this dimension. If I win, The Joker will gain control over Equestria...forever!!” she maniacally laughed. 

Twilight got herself in battle stance and ignited her horn. “Bring it, Nightmare Moon!” she accepted. 

“However, even if you win, you will still have to wait for Fluttershy to survive her trouble. Hahahahaha!!” Nightmare added, wickedly chuckling. She teleported Fluttershy to a dark room where there was blood stains and bones on the floor. 

“W-Where am I?” Fluttershy quivered. 

Suddenly, she heard cackling and laughs in the room. Out of the shadows came a clan of hyenas. They surrounded her and and slowly advanced towards her. “Hello there, pretty pegasus. Mind if you could...stay for dinner?” one of them sinisterly asked.  

“Oh, dear...” Fluttershy whimpered.
> Chapter 19: Kindness and Magic vs Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nightmare Moon and Twilight glared at each other while standing on a large platform while the Mane 4 anxiously beheld them from below. The dark alicorn grinned as she ignited her horn. “Let’s see how the mighty Element of Magic fares against me, the Princess of the Night!” she boasted. 

“We defeated you before, and we shall defeat you again, Nightmare!” Twilight defied. “The Magic of Friendship never failed us, and it will never fail us so long as we bravely stand up against notorious villains like you!” 

“Haha! We shall see about that, Twilight Sparkle! Only this time, it will be just you and me—no help, no assistance, no cheating!” Nightmare said, activating her force field from her horn. It surrounded the duo and the platform which prevented Twilight’s friends from reaching her. 

“No!” Twilight gasped. “You can’t do this! Without my friends, I’ll never be able to defeat you!” 

“How pathetic! Relying on your worthless friends to have strength instead of building your own...pitiful.” Nightmare taunted. 

“They are NOT worthless! They are the source of my strength! Without their encouragement, love, and friendship, I wouldn’t be the pony I am now, and I still wouldn’t understand the Magic of Friendship!” Twilight argued, tears forming on her eyes. 

“ENOUGH!! You have one choice: you either fight me to the death, or your friends...including Fluttershy...all die!” Nightmare angrily threatened. The other hyenas appeared in a white flash and surrounded the Mane Four while licking their chops. 

The four ponies stuck closer to each other as they fearfully beheld their hungry predators. “Those hyenas look reaaallly hungry!” Pinkie said. 

“No kidding, Pinkie! We gotta fight!” Rainbow said. 

“We can’t! There’s too many of them!” Rarity said, backing away from two hyenas. 

Applejack began to think of something that would give them an advantage. She looked at a ham covered in honey on Nightmare’s dinner table. “Hmm, that’s weird. Who puts honey on a ham? That doesn’t sound like something Nightmare Moon would do.” she reasoned. Then she hatched an idea. 

“Girls, I’ve got an idea!” Applejack said. 

Nightmare Moon fired her first beam at Twilight. The latter generated a shield to deflect the blast and fired her shot at her. Nightmare flew to the air before firing more blasts at her; however, Twilight ran in circles to avoid the beams while carefully firing her own. 

Nightmare effortlessly swatted them off with her glowing horn. She fired a bigger blast toward Twilight which sent her flying to a wall. She crashed against it and fell on the ground. She started to grunt in pain. 

“Ha-ha! Where is your Magic of Friendship now, foal? It doesn't seem very powerful to me.” Nightmare taunted. 

Twilight got up on her hooves while defiantly glaring at the evil alicorn. “There is more to the Magic of Friendship than meets the eye. Its truths are of a nature which you refuse to understand unlike how Luna understood them.” Twilight lectured. 

“DO NOT MENTION HER NAME IN MY PRESENCE!! She’s dead, and so shall all of you!!!” Nightmare screamed before blasting at Twilight. Twilight dodged the blasts until she fired her beam at Nightmare. The latter was hit on the left leg; as she was yelling in pain, Twilight kicked her face so hard the latter flung against the wall. 

Nightmare saw her mouth bleeding from the hard kick. Then she clenched her bloodied teeth in anger while charging her horn with lethal magic. “You want to play rough, then play rough it IS!!” Nightmare raged. 

She rammed into Twilight, causing them to tackle each other on the floor for dominance. 


 IN THE HYENA DEN


Fluttershy backed up against the wall as a clan of spotted hyenas closed in on her. They evilly cackled while licking their chops at her. “Please...h-have mercy!” she begged. 

“Awww, how cute! A weak little pegasus helplessly begging for mercy...that makes the meal more delicious!!” a male hyena sadistically stated. 

“Yeah! Let’s tear apart her! I’ll go for the rib cage!” another male added. 

“What?! I said I was going for the ribs, not you! Do you have hearing problems?!” a third male argued. 

“No, no, no, you go for the pelvis. Those ribs belong to me!” a fourth said. All the hyenas then began to argue with each other; some of them even started to physically fight each other. 

Fluttershy beheld their lack of harmony with teardrops flowing. She hated to see animals fighting each other for whatever reason or excuse they have. She had more fear for the lives of the hyenas than she was for her own life.  “This is so terrible! Why do these animals have to be so mean with each other? It’s just like what our friends of Canterlot and Ponyville had done. It’s—it’s causing chaos!!” Fluttershy lamented in thought. 

Fluttershy stood up and faced the bickering hyenas with a glare. “ENOUGH!!!!” she spoke authoritatively. The hyenas immediately stopped their violent argument and looked at her. 

“Listen to me, hyenas! I know that you are predators by nature, but there is no excuse for you to be fighting with each other like this, especially hurting innocent creatures!! You should all be caring, thoughtful, respectful, and loving hyenas like family...like friends!” she sternly rebuked. 

Most of the hyenas were baffled at her display of authority and wisdom. They listened attentively to what she said. “How would you like it if other creatures that are not hyenas surrounded one of your own and threatened to eat him alive? Hmm?” she asked. 

“We—we wouldn’t like it. That would...r-rip us apart.” one of them admitted. 

“Exactly. All of you are to treat each other with kindness like family and friends so that you will be stronger together and set an example for your kids.” Fluttershy advised, looking at their whimpering cubs.

The hyenas then sympathetically looked at each other before warmly smiling at Fluttershy. “Forgive us, young lady. We are truly sorry for scaring you like that.” the matriarch spoke. 

“I forgive you all.” Fluttershy smiled. The hyenas then affectionately licked her face and nuzzled her. 

Suddenly, Fluttershy began to glow brightly. “Wha-What’s happening to me?” she said. The hyenas began to fade away to nothingness. Her bright light illuminated the whole den until the darkness was shut out. She was then taken away from the den. 


 IN THE THRONE ROOM


“That was a great idea, Applejack! You sure fed those hyenas with a...weird meal combination.” Rainbow complemented as she looked at them feasting on the honey-covered ham. 

“I agree with Rainbow Dash. Why would Nightmare Moon put honey on a ham? That’s quite disgusting if you ask me.” Rarity concurred. 

Pinkie watched Twilight and Nightmare still fiercely battling each other on the platform. She noticed the platform looked similar to a wrestling match platform. “Annndddd Moony is fighting Twilight on a wrestling match platform. Never thought she would summon something like that.” she added. 

“Yeah, Pinkie, that is also...very strange.” Applejack agreed. “Unless...” 

She saw herself suddenly glowing—from her cutie mark all the way to her hat. “Hey! What’s goin’ on?!” she said. 

“I don’t know! I’m glowing too!” Rainbow replied. 

“Sweet Celestia! I think...I think we are...” Rarity said, the realization reaching her. 

“IT’S THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!!” Pinkie finished. Her element appeared around her neck; likewise with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Fluttershy appeared in a white flash and rejoined her friends. She too had her element around her neck. The Mane Five hovered in the air while the magical brightness lightened the room. 

Nightmare punched Twilight three times on the cheeks, kicked her stomach twice, head-butted her, and body-slammed her four times on the floor. “You’re a pathetic weakling, Twilight Sparkle!! YOU. (punch) ARE. (punch) NOTHING!! (uppercut)” she vehemently assaulted. 

Twilight landed hard on the ground. She barely moved due to her severe injures. She weakly opened her eyes and saw Nightmare Moon smiling wickedly at her. She could only tilt her head up to see what her winning opponent would do next. 

“It appears that chaos will triumph after all. Think of all the failures you wrought in your pathetic life that not only destroyed you but also your friends. Not even the Batman will save you, Twilight.” Nightmare condescended. She ignited her horn for a final blow. “Fear not, foal. I’ll take good care of your friends...especially Fluttershy.” 

“No...” Twilight weakly protested.  “Why Fluttershy? What does she have that Nightmare Moon sees?” she wondered. 

Just as the alicorn raised her horn to kill Twilight, the rainbow beams penetrated through the force field and levitated Twilight in the air. “What?! What’s the meaning of this?!” Nightmare shrieked. 

Twilight’s wounds were miraculously healed by the rainbow magic. Twilight then saw her friends being covered by the Magic of Friendship. Seeing her best friends united once more, she bravely faced Nightmare. “You may strike us down, and we may fall. But once we’re united in friendship, no evil force can separate us or destroy us; for we carry the most powerful magic of all...the Magic of Friendship!!” Twilight declared. 

“NOOO!!!” Nightmare cried. Twilight then shot a fully powered beam of magic at her. She was immensely struck by the blast and flung against the wall. The force field dissipated after she crashed on it. 

Twilight drew near to see what was become of her. But when the smoke cleared, Twilight gasped in shock. The defeated figure was no longer Nightmare Moon...it was Discord. 

“Discord?! That was you?!” Twilight asked. Her friends, except Applejack, were also shocked as they realized too late that Discord was Nightmare Moon. 

“Yep! I definitely saw that coming!” Applejack said, smirking. 

“Hmm, I guess that explains the ham and wrestler situation.” Rarity shrugged. 

Discord stood up with full rage and vengeance in his blood-thirsty eyes. “I HAVE HAD WITH YOU PONIES!!! YOU ARE ALL MINE!!” he angrily bellowed. He raised his paw and claw hands with chaos magic and shot his lethal beam at Twilight. 

“Girls, now!!” Twilight ordered. She dodged the blast and flew down to reunite with her friends. Her element crown appeared on her head before they once again shined brightly to Discord’s pure terror. 

“No! No!! Stop! Can we just talk this over?!” he pleaded. 

Fluttershy then fiercely glared at him before whispering her idea to her friends. They looked uncertain at first until they immediately agreed and turned back to Doscord. He, however, overheard her idea and shook in total fear. 

“Fluttershy, PLEASE!! Don’t! Aren’t we the best of friends? You know, best buddies? Right?” he smiled sheepishly. Still, neither she nor the others said a word to him except dark glares. He then sweated nervously. 

“You cannot do this to me! Please! I beg of you! I won’t spread chaos again, I promise!” Discord begged. 

Without hesitation, they emitted a rainbow wave directly at Discord. He screamed in agonizing pain as his flesh was once again turned back to stone. But it did not stop there. His stone form then slowly peeled off which revealed his skeleton; all of his chaos magic disappeared, never more to exist. His remaining flesh was devoured by the hyenas before they faded away. All that remained of Discord were his separated body parts...until they disappeared as well. 

The Mane Six escaped the mirror dimension before it exploded. They settled back on the thundercloud while still having somber looks. “Fluttershy, are you okay? Do you feel better now?” Twilight asked, being concerned. 

Fluttershy was silent for a few seconds before shaking her head. 

“I’m quite surprised you had that unorthodox idea in your head. Luna told us to destroy him...but not like that. Why did you suggest that? Was it...revenge for what he did?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy gave no answer; she only looked down on the ground, sobbing. 

“(Sigh) I’m sorry, Fluttershy. At least, he’s gone forever. We now have to deal with—huh?” Twilight noticed Batman, the princesses, Shining Armor, and Spike were absent. She also noticed a second mirror floating to their right. A dreadful thought came to her. 

“Are you girls thinking what I’m thinking?” Twilight asked. 

“Mmm-Hmmm!” they, except Fluttershy, replied. 

“If Bruce fails whatever The Joker has for him, Equestria is doomed.” Twilight shuddered.
> Chapter 20: The Right Choice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Harvey? RACHEL?!” Batman yelled in shock. 

The Joker jumped down from his throne and grabbed his scepter. “You recognize this lovely couple, don’t you? The very ones you failed to save? It really made me wonder if you are actually the ‘protector’ of Gotham.” 

Harvey and Rachel held their swords like knights and stood beside The Joker. Celestia, Luna, Spike, and Shining Armor were slightly surprised to see two more people whom Batman is very familiar with. Batman clenched his fists in seething anger.

“Let them go now! This time, I won’t let you harm them.” he said defensively. 

“Oh no, no, no, no, I am not going to hurt them. They are going to harm you.” Joker clarified, grinning. Harvey, who still had his face disfigured, menacingly approached him with his sword in hand. Rachel did likewise on Batman’s right. 

“Here’s the challenge, Batman. You are going to fight your former friends—with nothing held back. Non-negotiable. If you manage to kill them, then your cartoon friends over there will see who you really are.” Joker explained. “But...if they kill you, then there will be no Batman to prevent chaos!” He laughed crazily. 

“Batman, don’t worry! We can help you!” Spike shouted. Joker, however, pointed his shotgun at him and the others. 

“I don’t think so, dragon boy. Making one attempt to help your precious Batman will risk you kicking the bucket.” Joker threatened. 

“Batman, behind you!” Shining Armor warned. Rachel swung her sword toward Batman’s head, but he ducted from the blow. He stepped backward from both of his deceased companions. 

“You left me to die...you left me to DIE!!” Rachel screamed before swinging her sword at Batman again. He dodged the blow before front-flipping to another spot.

“Look at what you did to ME!!” Two-Face cried. “You let that maniac Joker maim me! After everything we’ve been through, THIS is how you repay me?!”

Batman realized that they weren’t the real Rachel and Harvey as this was all an illusion. Nevertheless, their harsh words stung him and guilt-tripped him. He again remembered his agonizing failure of saving Rachel from The Joker’s clutches. What hurt him equally was Harvey’s fiery disfigurement and transformation to Two-Face. Seeing illusions of them with the intent of killing him felt as if the whole world was turned against him. 

Relishing the look of torment on his arch-nemesis’ face, Joker sat back on his throne while aiming his shotgun at Spike and the rulers. “I love this job. I love it!” he smiled. 

Two-Face swung his sword at Batman; the latter blocked his attack with his arm before punching him on his unburned side of his face. Rachel then attempted to impale him on his chest, but Batman grasped it and threw her against the wall. He dropped her sword on the ground. 

Suddenly, a bullet struck next to his feet. He looked back to see Two-Face with his revolver pointed at him. He threw his batarang right at his gun’s barrel. Two-Face pulled the trigger only for the gun to end up being blown up. It burned his entire hand. “AHHHHH!!!! It burns!!!” he shrieked. 

Batman grunted in frustration; he hated to even hurt the very ones he loved, especially Rachel. He was strictly determined to not kill either of them no matter how dire the situation was. Willing to prove Joker wrong, he aimed for the initiative. 

He activated his crystal magic where he brought both Rachel and Harvey to the ground. They desperately tried to resist his magical grasp but utterly failed. He levitated them up in the air where he made stern eye-contact with them. “Harvey, Rachel, listen to me! I know that I failed to be the protector you always knew me to be, but I have done something which you have never known!” Batman passionately spoke. Spike and the rulers listened eagerly. 

“Harvey, after your death, I took the blame for your crimes and made Gotham turn against me; I refused to let the secret be manifested to the whole city. Do you know why? Because I believed in you, Harvey. You were the true hero Gotham really needed. You did more than I ever could to save Gotham.” Batman explained. 

Harvey was amazed at the revelation. His closest ally took the blame for him and maintained his reputation? Never in his time on earth did he imagine him making such a tremendous sacrifice although it was based on a lie. Harvey looked at his old friend with tears in his right eye. “Batman, I...thank you...but does that mean you forgive me? You forgive Gotham for its corruption?” he asked. 

“I do.” Batman replied. 

“I d-don’t even know what to say...it’s too late to correct my life now...” Harvey lamented. Suddenly, his face started to heal completely with new skin. 

“You know that Gordon and I tried to save you, Rachel. Time ran out for the both of us.” Batman said. Rachel looked emotional as she saw him become open and upfront with them both. 

“I’m so sorry...(sniff)...I don’t know what I was thinking. You never failed Gotham, and you never failed me...or Harvey.” Rachel sobbed. 

Batman then gently brought them down on the ground. Once they smiled at him, they both vanished from sight. Spike, Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor were dumbfounded after hearing everything Batman had done. “Wow...you are the most selfless hero I have ever seen! Way more impactful than the heroes I’ve read all the time in my comic books!” Spike acknowledged. 

Batman nodded to him and slightly smiled. The Joker angrily overthrew his throne and pointed his shotgun at the Spike and the rulers. “FINE!! Have it your way then! If I can’t torture you through those whimsical lovebirds, then I’ll just do it by killing those horses and that dragon myself!” Joker yelled. 

Batman immediately shot his crystal beam at Joker’s shotgun, exploding it to pieces. He then grabbed his grenade launcher, shot about six grenades at the walls and ceiling. “GO!” he commanded. He jumped out of the portal with the dragon and rulers following him. 

Once they were out of the mirror, they saw the Mane Six standing together on the thundercloud. “Batman! Guys! You’re all okay!” Twilight shouted. 

“Twilight!” Shining replied. Brother and sister embraced each other tightly while their tears were rolling down. 

“Thank Celestia you all made it out okay!” Rarity smiled. 

Twilight hugged Spike, then the princesses, and then Batman. “This mirror will explode any second! We need to get down fast!” Batman warned. 

“Don’t mind if I do!!!” Joker yelled, jumping out of the mirror and tackling Batman off the cloud. 

“BATMAN!! We got to save him!!” Twilight panicked. She and her friends teleported off the cloud. After thirty seconds, the mirror exploded—wiping out the entire cloud. 

Batman and Joker punched each other repeatedly while falling until they landed on a grassy hill outside of Ponyville. They continued fighting as they rolled down the hill. The Mane Six, the Royal Sisters, Spike, and Shining Armor appeared just on the same spot the duo were. 

“Catch me if you can, Batsy!” Joker said. He kicked him off of him and dashed to the Everfree Forest. 

“Batman! Are you all right?!” Pinkie asked. Batman looked up and saw his friends running down the hill to meet him. 

“I’m fine.” Batman grunted. He pressed his electronic key that signaled the Bat-pod to come to his location. Once he got up, he faced the ponies somberly. “I will fight The Joker alone. All of you stay here and protect the other ponies. Make sure none of them leave their homes until I defeat him.” Batman commanded. 

“Alone?! In the Everfree Forest?! You can’t!” Applejack protested. 

“What if you die?!” Rainbow added. 

“If that’s what it takes to stop him, than so be it. Trust me, you will be saved.” Batman said seriously. 

“Please Batman...don’t do this alone...” Twilight cried. The Bat-pod suddenly arrived and Batman seated himself on it. Celestia put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and comfortably smiled to her. 

“Don’t worry, Twilight. Batman knows what he’s doing. He’s dealt the likes of The Joker before.” Celestia assured. 

Loud thunder was heard; lightning strikes were flashing across the sky as a thunderstorm arrived. Batman readied his Bat-pod before glaring at the Everfree Forest. “You wanna get nuts? Come on, let’s get nuts.” he growled. Then he drove off to the forest to make his last stand.
> Epilogue: The Dark Knight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rain began to pour heavily, and lightning bolts struck in the sky. Dark thunderclouds were blocking the moon and stars from shining. While the animals were taking shelter in the Everfree Forest, the Dark Knight drove past them in the bat-pod. He drove as fast as he could to defeat the Clown Prince of Crime before the latter could take any more innocent lives. 

His tracker spotted his location. “There you are.” Batman said. He came to a stop near a river. Once he got out of the pod, he ignited his crystal magic to be prepared for any potential attacks. He looked around to spot where he was tracked. 

“Looking for someone, Batsy?” a voice mocked. Batman turned to see two joker cards flying towards him. He smacked them to the ground before they could hit him. He then noticed how the cards easily cut through the grass as they impaled the soil. 

“Haven’t seen that before, huh?” Joker asked, arising from the bushes. “A portion of chaos magic does come in handy! So how about we have some fun before we kiss each other...(cracks knuckles)...goodbye?” 

He and Batman ran to each other while giving their war cries. Joker threw a punch which Batman dodged; the latter punched him in the cheek and threw a second one on his other side of the face. Then he uppercutted him. 

Joker quickly got up and clapped his hands that summoned a flyswatter above his arch foe. Batman front-flipped away from the swats before shooting a crystal beam at it. The blast destroyed it. 

Joker took his gun and shot several rounds at Batman. Batman raised his shield, blocking the bullets from hitting him. He then threw two batarangs at him, but Joker got them in midair and effortlessly crushed them to pieces. “That’s how you were like, Batman—breaking your spirit like there’s no tomorrow.” he grinned. 

Growling in anger, he ran to him to further attack him. However, Joker raised his gun and shot one bullet. It struck Batman’s right side in between the Kevlar plates. He groaned in pain from the shot as he started to bleed. 

“What’s the matter, Batsy? Can’t handle the punchline?” Joker cruelly taunted, walking towards him. “It is such a pity you have come this far—protecting, fighting, defending the Gothamites, beating up criminals to a pulp—really sad.” 

“But here’s what’s funny: you call yourself the defender of the weak, the ultimate mystery feared by the criminal underworld! That’s also what they say. But do you know what I think you are? A joke...a joke that takes itself too seriously. Isn’t that right...Bruce?” Joker evilly smiled. 

Batman’s expression turned from agony to anger. He clenched his fists as he tried to get on his feet. “It’s true, Batsy! I know everything. It doesn’t take a detective to know your secrets. A billionaire playboy? What a ridiculous concept. Just like a kid who peeks at his Christmas presents, I must admit: it was sadly anticlimactic.” Joker continued. “Behind all the sturm and batarang, you’re just a little boy in a playsuit, crying for mommy and daddy!” 

“It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.” Joker glared at him until he started to chuckle. “Ohh, what the heck? I’ll laugh anyway! Hahahahahahahaha!!!” 

Suddenly, Batman jumped at him, tackling him on the ground. He lifted him up, slapped him, then punched him in the face. Joker was flung against a tree; he got up before he wiped some blood off of his mouth. Batman grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against another tree. Lightning struck in the background. 

“I’ll break you in two.” Batman growled, squeezing his throat. 

“Oh, Batman, if you were into that sort of fun, you would’ve done it before! Eye on the other hand...” he directed him at his free arm. He unsheathed his knife from his other arm’s sleeve, sliced a spot on Batman’s arm, then stabbed him on his shot leg. Thus, Batman fell down in greater pain. 

Before the Joker could harm him any further, Batman slowly got up, smacked Joker’s gun out of his grasp, stomped it to pieces, then punched him on the stomach. Joker groaned in pain while he backed away from Batman. Batman punched him again while angrily growling. “All the people and ponies I’ve murdered...(punch)...by letting you live...” 

Joker spat out more blood. “I never kept count.” 

“I did!” he yelled. Again, he grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against a fallen tree trunk. 

“I know...” Joker replied, stabbing him again.  “And I love you for it.” 

Batman struggled to keep his vision and mind in balance due to the bleeding wounds of his body. His fierce determination and rage forbade him to give up. He rammed against Joker, body-slammed him, and repeatedly punched his face. Joker kept maniacally laughing with every punch he received regardless of the pain. At that very moment, a critical mistake was made: Batman rashly held him up and snapped his neck. 

He dropped him on the soak and wet grass. He slowly looked at his hands, realizing what he had done. Instantly, a memory of Harvey’s death flashed before him; he saw himself pushing Dent off the edge to his death to save the life of Gordon’s son. Although that resulted his code being broken, it was out of protection instincts. This...this was taken too far. Only this time, rage and revenge clouded his judgement which led him to the very limit he always refrained from. 

Joker looked at him smugly. “I knew you had it in you. You have the mind of a killer—if only Gordon could see it. Come on, finish me...” Batman stood still, silently glaring at him. 

“Hmm, it doesn’t (grunts) matter. I (gasps for air) win. I made you lose control...and they’ll kill you for it. See you...in hell.” Joker demonically smiled. After one last laugh, he uttered his last breath and died. 

Batman cast a somber look at Joker’s corpse, disregarding the raining and the lightning. Looking at his cruel face, he saw all the crimes he committed in Gotham and Equestria and the atrocities he harbored. With that, he callously spat at his face. 

At that moment, all the crystal magic he possessed left him; the small crystal heart floated in the air until it shattered completely. A portion of chaos magic ejected from Joker’s body and disappeared to thin air, gone forever. 

“Batman! Batman! Over here!” a voice cried in the forest. 

Batman looked behind him and saw the Mane Six, the princesses, Spike, and Shining running to him. “I’ve heard some shots from afar! I couldn’t sit there to let you get hurt!” Twilight exclaimed. 

Batman then noticed a whirlpool in the river. Once he got a closer look, he recognized it as a portal. Twilight caught his gaze and saw it there as well. “That’s a portal Celestia and I created to let us visit your world since we missed you after Sombra’s death.” Twilight explained. “Wait, you’re not...” 

“Twilight, look at what happened.” Batman pointed. Once they turned, they beheld the corpse of the Clown Prince of Crime; his satanic smile creeped them out. Twilight then realized what he had done. 

“You...killed him?!” Twilight shrieked. 

“The Joker got me. If it weren’t for my rage and revenge, I would’ve never done this. What happened to Discord?” Batman asked. 

They turned to Fluttershy who was still depressed and emotionally broken. Batman looked at her and immediately read all her emotions as if it were a book. Then he understood what they had done. “He is dead too, isn’t he?” 

Fluttershy only nodded her head. Seeing her break down in tears again, Applejack and Pinkie wrapped her hooves around her to comfort her. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I know how that feels.” Batman comforted.  Still remaining silent, Fluttershy walked away, softly sobbing.

“That’s not a good sign.” Rarity observed. 

“Well, on the bright side, The Joker is finally dead! He won’t cause any more damage or harm, right?” Pinkie said, trying to lighten the mood. 

“True, but his crimes have greatly affected Equestria and our family. I still mourn the death of Cadence in my heart.” Celestia somberly spoke. “I’ll see to it that she gets a royal, proper burial. I’m afraid that Shining Armor here will have to bear the burden of being the only ruler of the Crystal Empire.” 

“(Sobbing) I know...but I know that she would be (sniff) proud to know that our kingdom will have flourished prosperously.” wept Shining. Twilight hugged him tightly as she too wept. He then turned to Batman. “I still want to thank you for being my close ally during all this. You were like a...brother-in-arms, so to speak.” 

“You don’t have to thank me.” said Batman.

“Yes, I do.” Shining replied. 

Batman limped back to the bat-pod without giving heed to his injuries. Once he got on, Twilight and Spike ran to him. “You’re leaving again?” Spike asked. 

“I know Gotham is doing well under the Dent Act, but the Batman still needs some refreshment every now and then. However, in this situation...you might not see him again.” Batman said, turning the engine on. 

“WHAT?! But-but you can’t! Don’t you love us anymore?!” Twilight cried. 

“I do. I can assure you that Bruce Wayne will come back, but not the Batman. Thanks for everything, Twilight. Until the day that the world—or rather the multiverse no longer needs Batman, I’ll be gone. Goodbye, Twilight....all of you.” Batman drove off toward the river. 

“Wait!” Spike shouted. 

Batman dived into the whirlpool and was teleported away. Everypony else gathered around Twilight and Spike. “Where’s he going?” Luna asked. 

“(Sigh) He is getting back to Gotham. I can clearly see how The Joker tortured us. From the looks of it, we might not see Batman in a long time.” Twilight sadly answered. However, her sad expression turned to a slight smile. “But there’s some things I will never forget: he is the hero that Equestria didn’t deserve but the hero it needed. Plus, he is no ordinary hero...” 

“...he is a silent guardian...”

“...a watchful protector...” 

“...THE DARK KNIGHT.” 



THE DARK KNIGHT FALLS