//------------------------------//
// Merry Christmas Joker 
// Story: Gotham City Heroes: Through The Holidays 
// by Batfan98 
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It was a cold winter's day in the city of Gotham. Snow fell onto the streets that were filled with joy. There were children throwing snowballs, shops swarming with costumers coming in with wallets full of cash and out with presents in bags to get wrapped later.

People all over Gotham were getting ready for the best time of the year. A time of family. A time of giving to others. A time of wonder. Christmas.

In the center of Gotham Park was a tall pine tree with various Christmas decorations and colorful lights that consisted of red and green. On the streets were people singing Christmas carols and collecting donations.

The time to get ready for the holiday was now, for Christmas was getting even more closer as winter break had started today. At schools kids were anxious to get out and celebrate the holidays. Especially one school known as Gotham Elementary.

The fifth grade students were having their Christmas parties in their respective classrooms, eating Christmas cookies and watching Christmas movies.

Inside Miss. Elmira's class, students were seated at their chairs watching the animated Disney version of A Christmas Carol on a TV the teacher brought in with a DVD player hooked up to it. Three of those students were three friends. A Japanese girl named Kiki, and African American girl name Chloe, and a pony turned human with tanish skin and purple hair named Scootaloo, or as the world known her, Ashlyn Phillips.

Ever since the beginning of December, every one in Gotham had been talking about Christmas. It was literally everywhere Scootaloo went to. Decorations everywhere, mall Santas, even at home with some Christmas specials on TV. She recently read up on Christmas on the Bat Computer and found out that one of the human religions says it was started by a man named Jesus, who was born on Christmas day and when he reached adulthood he became a messiah and saved people from their sins with abilities he gained from a powerful being known to the world as God.

Scootaloo found some cultures and religions on Earth interesting. She read up on some Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. She even read up on what use to be religions and are now considered myths, like when the Romans worshipped the Greek gods, and when the Aztecs worshipped the sun.

Some stuff reminded her of back home in Equestria.

As soon as the thought of home clicked into Scootaloo's mind, she let out a deep with as a stray tear left her eye. She had been in this world for five months. Even though she had a new family with Bruce and Alfred, she still missed Equestria.

She heard that Christmas was a time to spend with family and while she was happy to celebrate it with her new family, it got her thinking about Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom and her deceased parents. She missed them so dearly, it dreaded her that she might never see them again.

It also dreaded her to not know how they were doing. There is absolutely no doubt that back in her world she is reported missing. They must be looking for her. Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom must be so worried about her. Are they still looking? Have they given up? Do they think she's dead?

Scootaloo quickly tried to wipe that thought away. No. They can't think she's dead, there's no way in Tartarus that they would give up on her.

Chloe and Kiki quickly noticed Scootaloo's sad expression.

"Um, Ashley, are you alright?" Kiki asked with concern.

"Yeah, you seem upset." Chloe added. "Mind telling us what's up?"

Scootaloo quickly wiped her tear from her eye "D-don't worry about me girls. I'm fine."

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see that it was Kiki. "No, your not fine. There is something wrong."

"Yeah, you could tell us." Chloe added putting a hand on Scoots' shoulder.

The ex-pony sighed "Well, you know that Christmas is closer right?"

The two girls nodded.

Scootaloo lowered her head "Well, I don't get to celebrate it with my family."

Chloe raised an eyebrow "You mean your not celebrating it with Bruce Wayne?"

"No that's not what I meant. Don't get me wrong, I do wanna celebrate it with Bruce, and Alfred, but I also don't get to celebrate with my other family. As in, my real family." Scootaloo sighed.

Kiki and Chloe understood and held sympathetic looks.

"We're sorry." Kiki said.

"Yeah..." sighed Chloe "Your folks must've meant something to you, huh?"

Scootaloo nodded and the thought of Rainbow Dash came into her head. "There's also somebody else."

"Like who?" Chloe asked.

Scootaloo obviously coudn't tell them the full truth but she decided to exagerate a little bit. "Well, there is this one girl I knew back in Matroplolis."

"Who?" Kiki asked interested.

"A girl who was twice as old as me. Her name was Dash. Like me, she was homeless. She took care of me the best she can and stook up for me. I often looked up to her." Scootaloo smiled a little at her memories.

"Where is she now?" Kiki asked.

Scootaloo's smile disappeared. How is she going to explain this? She can't just say 'I was sucked into a portal to this dimension'. She had to think of something. An idea then popped in her head, this meant she would be honest with her human friends and still keep the truth hidden.

"We got separated. I was about to meet her on the train to Gotham but she didn't show up. After that I never saw her again." Scootaloo lowered her head again.

"You think she's still looking for you?" Chloe asked.

Scootaloo sighed "Maybe. She's probably worried about me. I hope she's doing fine."





Meanwhile at Arkham Asylum, there were paitients setting up Christmas decorations and wrapping gifts. Jeremiah Arkham, the director of the asylum, had the patients celebrate holidays so it can help them think of the place as less of a prison and more of a temporary home before they are ready to rejoin society.

There was a Christmas tree being decorated while some paitients were singing Christmas carols from off these lyrics on papers they were holding as an activity Jeremiah gave them.

The rogues thought it was stupid and decided not to join. All except one particular clown prince of crime who was holding his paper upside down.

Jingle belles, jingle belles, jingle all the way. the patients sang Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse soap and sleigh, hey.

"Jingle belles, Batman smells, Robin layed an egg." Joker sang off course, it was a little song he made up as a joke. He then walked over to one patient holding a star to put on top of the tree but Joker snatched it from him and climbed up the ladder "The Batmobile lost a wheel and the Joker got awayyyyyyyy."

He finished his song as he set the star on top of the tree. Then unexpectedly, there was a loud cannon like boom coming from the tree as it went a ring of smoke from the bottom.

Joker laughed maniacally as he held onto the tree as it started to take off like a rocket going into outer space, breaking the glass ceiling.

"Crashing through the roof, in a one horse soap and tree." Joker sang as the tree headed for the forest in front of the asylum. "Busting out I go, laughing all the way HA HA HA HA!!!"





"Bruce, I'm home." Scootaloo called out as she entered the manor through the double doors while Alfred was outside parking the car in the garage. She made her way to the living room where there was a Christmas tree in the corner of the room and the fire place lit.

Bruce was seen sitting on a chair in front of the fire place, watching the TV above.

"Hey Bruce." Scootaloo greeted. She took off her green coat and set her orange backpack on the floor.

Bruce turned his head to Scootaloo "How was school?"

Scootaloo shrugged "Pretty good. We had some food and watched a movie since it was a half day and Christmas is coming closer."

Scootaloo walked up to the chair and sat next to Bruce as he flipped through the channels until he came across the Gotham Gazzete.

"Earlier today," began Jack Ryder "The Joker has once again escaped from Arkham Asylum. He escaped with a..." he looked down at the papers in front of him confused "...rocket tree? And is currently at large. If you have any information on his whereabouts please contact the authorities immediately."

Bruce turned off the TV. Not again. That was the second time this month Joker escaped. Normally he would escape two or three times a month and whenever Bruce heard he got out he would always spring into action. He can't let Joker kill anyone.

"So when do we start?" Scootaloo asked "Twilight, night hours, maybe very late so he won't think we're coming." she wondered out loud. She then noticed Bruce get up from his seat and head straight for the study. She simply shrugged "Or now, now's good."

She slid herself off the couch as she followed Bruce. Once they reached the study, Bruce pushed the Shackspear helmet back to let it scan his eyes.

"Identity confirmed."

The book case opened, revealing the elevator behind it. Bruce and Scoots walked in, letting it take them down into the Batcave. Once they reached the cave, Bruce headed to the Batcomputer, Scootaloo followed. Bruce and Scoots pulled up two chairs and took a seat as Bruce got to work on the keyboard.

Scootaloo rested her elbow on the computer desk. "Whatcha doing?"

"Looking over the security footage at Arkham to see how Joker escaped." Bruce answered as the footage popped up on the giant screen. The audio was on and they heard Joker sing the Jingle Bells parody, Scootaloo heard that for the first time ever when they caught him as the Dynamic Duo.

To Sccotaloo's and Bruce's surprise, the rocket blasted off. Bruce kept a struck face while Scootaloo's eyes widened.

"Did that tree just take off like it was a missile?" She said out loud.

Bruce looked at her "Not long ago, a missile engine was stolen from a military base. It must've been put in the tree to help Joker escape."

Bruce turned his attention back to the computer and rewinded the footage and replayed it in slow motion. Aside from the tree launching out of there, there was something odd about the tree. The bark, which is where the engine was inside of, wasn't burnt at all and there were numbers 19, 23, 9, 13, 2, 9, 18, 4. What did it mean?

"The bark is fake," Bruce hypothesised "if it was real it would be burnt off from the blast. Then there's the numbers."

"Maybe they mean some kind of code?" Scootaloo theorized.

Bruce out a hand on his chin. "Could be. Perhaps we should compare the numbers to letters?"

Scootaloo raised her eyebrow in question "Huh?"

"As in we think of how many letters there are in the alphabet and compare them to numbers. For example, the very first letter in the alphabet is A, so that makes it number one."

Scootaloo let the knowledge kick in and nodded. "Okay, I get it now."

Bruce now opened another tab and typed in 'number substitution cipher' and a chart appeared. There were numbers under every letter.

19 was S, we was W, 9 was I, 1e was M, 2 was B, 9 was I again, 18 was R, and 4 was D.

"Swimbird?" Scootaloo wondered out loud.

Swimbird, what kind of bird swims? A penguin.

"The Penguin." Bruce hypothesized.

"Sure it's not a duck?" Scootaloo joked. She noticed Bruce ignored the joke, so she decided to move on. "Who would leave a clue like that?"

They both took a moment to think. Who would leave a clue for someone to figure out? Then it hit them. The Riddler.

Bruce stood from his chair. "Get changed."

Bruce then headed over to a control panel. Once the codes were typed in, a trap door on the floor slid open and a glass case containing the Batman and Robin suits emerged. It was still daylight outside and it wasn't the first time they go during the day, but it was mostly night where'd they would go out and going out in the day was rare.

Bruce slid the case open to grab his suit as Scootaloo did the same for her suit. The two of them then walked over to two slid open doors and stepped in. After a minute or two the doors slid open to reveal Bruce and Scootaloo as Batman and Robin.

The dynamic duo then made their way over to the Batmobile, once they made their way the windshield on top slid open so they can hop in.

Once they did the wind shield slid closed and Batman flipped the automic batteries to power and the turbines to speed. The engine roared and the tires hissed before the Batmobile took off out of the Batcave.





It was a fun night at the Iceburg Lounge. The jazz band was playing Jingle Bells. People were dancing. And some were drinking the night away.

The owner of the club, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, A.K.A. The Penguin, stepped into his office. He sat at his desk chair and lit his ciggar.

"Busy night, Penguin?" said a gruff voice.

Penguin nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked in the direction the voice came from. From out of the darkness stepped Batman and Robin.

"Oh, it's you." Penguin recovered from his near heart attack and became annoyed "What the hell do you want?"

"Information," Batman stepped forward and stood in front of Penguin's desk. "and your going to give it to us."

"Well sorry to disappint, but I got nothing to tell ya." Penguin answered.

"Really?" said Robin as she too stepped in front of Penguin's desk and crossed her arms. "Then why did Riddler leave that clue that led us here?"

Penguin looked at her annoyed "Did I forget to mention there's no kids allowed in my place?"

They didn't have time for this. Batman just grabbed the cockney by the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward making him lean over his desk.

"We're not playing games, Penguin." Batman had venom in his voice "We know Riddler left a clue on the tree Joker used to escape, it led us to you. You were involved in the escape, we want to know how."

It was now Batman who had the high ground over Penguin. "Alright, alright I'll talk. Riddler came to me and told me Joker was wanting to bust out of Arkham. He agreed to steal a missile from a military base while I get my men to make a fake tree to put it in. Must've put the clue on it behind my back."

"How did Riddler steal the engine?" Batman's voice raised.

"He's the Riddler. He used his fricken puzzles to send them soldiers on a wild goose chase while he simply went undercover as a janitor their and took the missile." Penguin explained.

"What is Joker planning?" Batman pushed.

"I-I don't know. But Riddler told me to tell you a riddle if you found me. What kind of noun get attention?"

"Anything else?"

"No. I swear to God that's all."

Batman saw that there were no more questions to ask, so he just simply dropped the Penguin face first on the top of the desk.

"You freaking bastards!" Penguin yelled "You two are de-" but when Penguin looked up Batman and Robin were already gone.





Batman and Robin stood on a rooftop next door to the Iceberg Lounge. Robin thought back to her encounters with Riddler, how he would leave riddles at the end of his crimes and how he would have death traps. She considered him as an enemy of her own, sure she has faced other villains but they were all just Batman's own villains and she was just helping him.

Riddler on the other hand would actually be kind of both, Batman's own villain and Robin's own villain. Robin considered him as her own villain because ever since her first encounter with him he's always been setting up puzzles for not only Batman but her as well.

"You think daddy will love this present, mommy?" said a voice.

Robin looked down in the voice's direction and saw a kid with his mom holding a present.

"Yes sweetie. Daddy will love it. He loves any gift you give him." said the mom.

Robin felt her eyes starting to water a bit. Seeing a family just reminded her of her own from back in Equestria. Not just her parents but also Rainbow Dash. How she missed her.

Batman began to notice the sad look his young partner's face. "You okay?"

Robin quickly looked away, and wiped her eyes. "Yeah...I-I'm fine."

Batman wasn't convinced "If something is wrong, you can tell me."

"I said I'm fine!" Robin scowled.

Batman wasn't intimidated by that but chose to stay quiet. She was upset about something and so he felt it best to just let her be and that it wasn't his business.

Robin inhaled deeply and gave a long exhale. "Let's just...let's just keep looking for the Joker."

Batman nodded as they pulled out their grapple guns and swung off the building.





They have been searching for the Joker for days and have found no trace. They searched warehouses, theaters, abandoned fair grounds but found nothing. They did figure out the riddle and the answer was an announcement.

So it looked like what ever Joker had planned he would announce it first kind of like how he mostly does.

Today was Christmas Eve. Bruce and Scootaloo were in uniform and were just about to put on their masks until Alfred came from the elevator.

"Excuse me Masters Bruce and Phillips, but there is something you might want to see." the butler walked over to the Batcomputer and turned it on.

On the screen Joker appeared, grinning as usual "Greetings Gotham City and a merry Christmas to all. Tonight I have a very special announcement. I am going to be hosting my very own Christmas parade."

The camera turned to the left to see a model of Santa Claus in a chimney on top of what looked like a tank. Joker walked in front of the camera.

"We are going to be driving this through Otisburg and guess what?"

Joker then reached out of the camera's view and pulled back a man with a gag over his mouth.

"There will be lucky people like this guy who will get to ride on the float with us. And if anyone tries to spoil it then..." he slid a finger over his throat before laughing.

Bruce made no hesitation in putting on his mask and putting a finger to his earpiece. "Jim, Joker's about to strike in Otisburg. He has hostages. Tell your men not to engage."

"Will do."

Scootaloo put her mask on before she and Batman hopped into the Batmobile and took off.





At the Otisburg the Joker's parade float was rolling through and on the top front and top back there were hostages held by henchmen at gun point.

Inside the float Joker, Riddler and Harley Quinn were as well as a henchman in clown makeup at the wheel.

"Oh I love a good Christmas," said Joker "a time of cheer, laughter, and terror spread from me."

Outside the float Batman and Robin were gliding towards it with their capes stretched out.

"You take the one on the back," Batman told Robin "I'll take the one on the front."

Robin nodded "Got it."

She lowered her altitude not low enough for the henchman to see her, but low enough to go behind him and land on her feet. Robin then quickly wrapped her arm around the guy's neck and smothered a hand over his mouth.

The man stuggled to break free but Robin was too strong for him thanks to her training. After a moment of two of struggling, the man became weaker until he finally passed out.

Robin simply dropped him and looked at the hostage. "Go."

The hostage complied as he jumped off the float and ran off.

Robin then put her back against the santa model and peeked over to see that Batman has done his part.

"Did you save the hostage?" Batman asked.

Robin nodded "Yes."

"Good. Now there's one more thing left to take care of." Batman then turned to the door on the model.





KNOCK KNOCK

The rogues and henchman looked to the door.

"I'll get it." Harley skipped to the door and opened it. "Who is i-"

Before she could finish she received a punch to the face and fell on her back. Harley rubbed her face as she looked up to see that the person who punched her was Robin and along side her was Batman

"Well if it isn't the dork knight," Joker then looked to Robin "and the little chicken."

Robin snarled as she cracked her knuckles. Does he always have to keep calling her a chicken?

Joker looked back at Batman "It just wouldn't be a merry Christmas without you."

"Enough," Batman stepped in with Robin "you're going back to Arkham."

Joker waved his finger "Ah. Ah. Ah. We have two guests here, it would be a real shame to upset them."

Robin smirked "About that, we actually rescued the hostages."

Joker frowned "Party poopers."

Riddler then stepped forward "Riddle me this, Batman: who wears a mask and is unconscious?" he then quickly swung his question mark cane at the detective who just used his arm to block it and pull it from Riddler's hands and swung it under his legs making him fall over. Batman then stomped on his face, knocking him out.

"You."

The henchman stopped the float and ran over towards Batman as Joker did.

Harley Quinn then got up and grabbed her hammer sitting in a corner. She looked at Robin "Alright little birdy, ya wanna get rough? Alright, let's get rough."

Harley then swung the hammer at Robin, but she ducked and kicked Harley in the stomach making her stumble backwards. Harley was quick enough to recover as she brought the hammer down on the girl wonder who jumped out of the way before the hammer made impact with the ground.

Harley swung the hammer in Robin's direction but she jumped back. Harley swung again and Robin dodged again. It went like that until Robin was backed into a wall.

"Ha!" Laughed Harley "Looks like I got ya cornered and there's no where else to go." She brought her hammer above her head "Any last words before I smash you to pieces?"

Unknown to the clown girl, Robin was taking her grapple gun. "Yeah, only three." she then quickly fired her line at Harley. The hook grabbed a hold of her shirt and she felt a tight tug pulling ref forward and she then felt a fist to the face knocking her out.

Now that Harley was down, Robin looked to see how Batman was doing and saw that the henchman was knocked out and Batman had Joker up against the wall.

Robin walked over to them "Why would you do something like this, Joker?"

Joker smiled at Robin "Well you see bird girl, I did it because I wanted to spread my holiday cheer to Gotham," he looked at Batman "and spend time with my bestest friend in the world."

"Perhaps you could celebrate Christmas in Arkham." Batman then brought a hard fist to Joker's face, knocking him out.





Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes to see the sun's beams shine over her through her window. Her eyes widened in realisation as she quickly sat up smiling.

"It's Christmas morning."

She jumped out of bed and ran down stairs to the living room where Bruce and Alfred were waiting with presents under the tree.

Alfred was in his tux and Bruce was in his sleeveless t shirt, pj bottoms, and a blue robe.

"Miss. Philips," said Alfred "Good morning and merry Christmas."

Scootaloo walked over to the tree "Merry Christmas, Alfred." she looked over at Bruce "Merry Christmas Bruce." She looked over to the presents under the tree. She picked one in red wrapping paper and handed it to Bruce "Here. It's from me and Alfred."

Bruce took the present and tore the wrapping paper off to find a book volume titled 'Greatest Mysteries Ever Told'.

"Thank you. I look forward to reading it." Bruce said to Alfred and Scootaloo. He didn't ask for anything for Christmas but Alfred would make sure to get him a gift anyway.

Scootaloo then took a grift in blue wrapping paper and handed it to Alfred.

"To Alfred. From Bruce and Scootaloo." he read out loud "Thank you kindly master Bruce and miss. Philips." he the opened the gift to see a small black box. He opened the box to see a good pocket watch inside. "This is a great gift. I have been thinking of getting a new watch lately."

Now it was Scootaloo's turn to open her gifts. Both were from Alfred and Bruce, she got a few Lego Star Wars sets, an Xbox One, a couple video games for it, and a Star Wars book.

She smiled "Thanks guys. Means a lot."

"Your welcome." Bruce said.

"You are very welcome Miss. Philips." Alfred said before he started heading to the kitchen to get the Christmas ham ready.

This was great. Scootaloo had everything she wanted...well almost everything. Scootaloo slowly lowered her head as she thought of Rainbow Dash. A stray teat left her eye.

Bruce noticed this. She's been acting like this a lot lately. Bruce criticised himself for not helping sooner and decided he was going to help now.

He walked over to Scootaloo and leaned down to her. "Scootaloo, is something wrong?"

Scootaloo quickly wiped her tear away "No. It's nothing."

Bruce put a hand on her shoulder "You can tell me."

Scootaloo looked into Bruce's eyes for a moment. She then felt a lump in her throat and her lips started to quiver. Her eyes set from tears as she started choking down sobs. "I just wish..." she choked on another sob "that I could see Rainbow Dash again."

So that's what's been wrong with her lately. It was a time of family and she was missing the pony she considered her own.

Bruce didn't hesitate to hug Scootaloo as she hugged back and cried in his shoulder. Bruce had to think of something that can help her. Just then an idea came into his head.





Zatana poured herself a cup of coffee as she was about to get ready for her Christmas show later. She was still going to spend Christmas with her dad, so she had the show be a three o clock in the afternoon and it would last for two hours. After that she will use her magic to teleport herself over to her parents' place and spend Christmas with them.

She heard a light knock on the door, she opened the door to see two familiar faces. "Bruce, Scootaloo. Come in."

She let the two in before closing the door.

"What can I do you for?"

"Zatanna. Can we talk in private?" Bruce asked.

Zatanna raised an eyebrow but nodded "Of course."

Bruce looked at Scootaloo "Wait here. It'll only be a minute."

Scootaloo nodded in understanding and let Bruce to with Zatanna outside of the room. Bruce didn't tell her why they would go see Zatanna but decided to just go with it because he had a surprise.

"What do you need?" Zatanna asked.

"Lately Scootaloo's been thinking about Equestria. About Rainbow Dash, a pony she looked up to as a sister." Bruce explained "I hate to bother you but do you still know that memory spell?"

"Way no more, Bruce." Zatanna said before she walked back into the room with Bruce where Scootaloo was waiting. Pllr kid, hopefully this will cheer her up.

Zatanna sat on her knees in front of Scootaloo "Bruce told me about how you've been feeling lately and I'm sorry. Don't worry though, I know how to help. I just need you to close your eyes."

Scootaloo did so as Zatanna laid a hand on her forehead and concentrated. Just then Scootaloo shot open her eyes as they were glowing a bright light.





All that was around Scootaloo was darkness. There was nothing in sight but the dark. It felt like she was on a flat surface but there was no visible ground.

"Hello?" Scootaloo called but there was no reply.

Suddenly, an image popped up in front of her. On it she saw her pony self and...Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo's eyes widened as she looked at the image.

"Rainbow Dash!" said her pony self.

"Hey squirt." Rainbow Dash smiled as she rubbed a core hood on top of her head.

It was then that Scootaloo realized what she was seeing was a memory, a memory of her hero, Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo felt her eyes watering and her mouth form into a smile.

She watched memories of her times with the blue Pegasus and her other friends. Like the times when Rainbow Dash would let her fly on her back and when she would go cutey mark crusading with her friends. She chuckled at the memory of when she and her friends tried to do that rock song at the talent show.

After watching memories for about twenty minutes, she was blinded by a bright flash of light. When the light vanished Scootaloo opened her eyes to see that she was back in Zatanna's dressing room with her and Bruce.

Scootaloo's eyes were watering, but she held a smile as she hugged Bruce and Zatanna. "Thank you." She felt two pairs of arms warp around her.

Even though it wasn't likely she would go back to Equestria she always knew to never forget Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom. And she may have gotten other gifts on Christmas but there was one other gift. One gift she will always be thankful for. Family.