Nighttime has fallen upon the city, as all seems peaceful, however, the peace and quiet doesn't last for long, as suddenly an explosion occurs at a nearby bank.
From the smoke, stepping out with money bags, four mysterious, but no doubt troublesome, figures run out of the bank, feeling proud of themselves for doing another great heist!
The first looked was a dark green female pegasus with lime green coloured mane and tail, who had a cutie mark of what looked like a piranha plant.
The second was a minotaur, wearing some sort of black caped military uniform, with a commander's cap, and if one were to look closely, the minotaur's eyes were glowing white with no pupils showing.
The 3rd thieve was bulk male unicorn, whose cutie mark showed what looked like an explosion.
the final member was a winged figure dressed all in black, much like the minotaur, only had a hood to cover his face, and given by the gloved claws and lion feet, it was no doubt that it was a griffon.
"Another fine job, lads." the hooded figure said in a deep voice. "They never knew what hit them."
"Indeed, Mr. E." the female pegasus spoke, "If there are two things I like that are green, it be my plants and money."
A flower suddenly grew from her mane, as she picked it and enjoyed sniffing it.
"Save your beauty sniffing for later, Vinewhip." said the minotaur, "We better move fast. The sooner we're home free the bet-!"
Before the minotaur could finish his sentence, the lightbulbs of the street lamps the group passed suddenly went pop, catching the group unguarded and confused.
"Is this your doing, Sparks?" Vinewhip asked the bulky unicorn, who shook his head with a grunt in response.
Suddenly, another voice echoed around the group.
"Didn't you four know that the midnight money rush was canceled?"
The four looked to the direction where the voice came from, and there, up on a close-by building, another figure appeared.
This being, a griffon, was well dressed in a black long-sleeved coat over a green turtleneck, grey fedora and black mask.
"Just typical of how you never pay attention of Bank's opening times and events." the figure said.
"Is that?" The minotaur spoke, feeling surprised.
"It can't be!" Vinewhip said with a bit of fear.
"It is." Mr. E replied, seemingly calm of this.
"Indeed it is I!" the figure spoke, as he struck a heroic pose, "For when evil strikes in the blackest night, beware for here comes a titan's might! For I am Justice! I am the Scourge against crime! I am Darkclaw!"
Darkclaw looked back down to the group, only to see make a hasty retreat as Whipvine cried, "Hurry!"
"Man, I think gotta shorten my intro..." Darkclaw thought to himself, before taking flight and zoomed towards the crooks.
Speeding past them, Darkclaw positioned himself as he sky bombed downward, before doing a superhero landing on top of Sparks, stopping the other three in their tracks as he said, "Time to get Daring!"
Hearing this, Mr. E looked to the Minotaur, who was looking back at him, then gave a nod.
Seeing this, the Minotaur smirked wickedly then threw down a mighty punch to the ground, letting off a shockwave that caused Darkclaw to almost loose his balance.
Vinewhip then used her powers to call up some dangerous vines to strike the griffon crusader, who, upon seeing this, in turn got out some boomerangs as he said, "Time to cut things short!" then he threw the boomerangs at the vines, revealing them to be sharp enough to cut the vines that were coming for Darkclaw.
Seeing this, Mr. E glared to the Minotaur.
"Brute Mighty!" he called out.
Knowing what Mr. E wanted him to do, Brute Mighty charged towards Darkclaw, only for hero to see what was happening and jumped into the sky, causing Brute to crash in Vinewhip, while the hero glided up onto a rooftop, feeling proud as he looked on to the battle.
"Woo! Go Darkclaw!" A young girl's voice spoke up!
It turns out, that what was happening was actually a battle scene taking place on TV, as it was being shown to a group of ponies and a few various creatures.
The girl that was cheering Darkclaw on was none other than Silverstream, as she, her friends, as well as Spike and most of the Mane 6, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their friends, were watching what was on the TV, thought the hippogriff was getting giddy that she was cheering a little loud for some of the others to hear what was happening.
"Keep it down, will ya, Silverstream?" Gallus hushed, "Some of us are trying to watch!"
"I'm sorry... but I can't help it!" Silverstream said, giddy.
"It's ok, Silverstream," Spike spoke up, "besides, it is one of the most iconic episodes ever. So it's alright to get excited for this, even if you've seen it before."
"How many times did you see this, Spike?" Apple Bloom asked.
"20 times. 21 by counting now." Spike said with grin.
"Yona a little confused," the young yak spoke up, "Yona wanna know who Darkclaw is?"
"Are you asking about who is Darkclaw?" Scootaloo asked, wide eyed, "As in one of greatest heroes ever created by Stan Neigh?"
Yona nodded in response.
“Silver Spoon and I are quite intrigued to know as well. If that’s okay?” Diamond Tiara added.
“Well you are in luck,” Spike said, as he got out a few comics as he said, “listen up well, because let’s start at the beginning one last time!”
“Wait, when did we do this before?” Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash, who just shrugged.
“Before we begin, let us meet Stan Neigh, one of the greatest comic book creators of all time!” Spike explained, “He had a fascinating imagination thinking up great comic book characters, especially of the hero genre, introducing us to characters like the Power Ponies, Iron Minotaur, the Dragony Siblings and, of course, Darkclaw!”
“So he created the Power Ponies you liked so much?” Twilight asked with a small grin, remembering about the Power Pony incident they had a long while back.
“You bet!” Spike nodded, “of course, like the Power Ponies, Darkclaw was one of the most successful comic book series, so good it took heights in becoming a TV show!”
“Sure is amazing seeing a comic hero come to life!” Scootaloo stated.
“And who plays Darkclaw?” Silver Spoon asked.
“The actor playing him is known as Jim Beakings,” Spike explained, pointing to the action taking place on the TV, “he was a good friend of Stan Neigh, he and his brother, Tim Beakings, helped Neigh on working on the TV series, with Jim being perfect for the role of Darkclaw, especially as he and his brother were known for doing their own stunts in their acting careers. True, that over time, he got a little banged up in later seasons of the show.”
Showing proof of this, as Spike said this, back on the show, Darkclaw did a stunt of doing a skid landing, only for him to tumble and land face onto the camera, as he muttered fastly, “Keep rolling!”
“But he was still a great star, especially that no matter what, he always got back up!” Spike said.
“He sure does, Spike,” said Rarity, “especially with an outfit like that says ‘prepare for a comeback!’ Why it reminds me of my fine work for the Mare-Do-Well uniforms!”
“It sure does, Rarity!” Pinkie said, as she and Silverstream cried out, “Go, Darkclaw!”
Back in the show, Darkclaw had been chasing the fiendish Mr. E, as the antagonist was then spotted in a dark allyway, having seemingly reached a small deadend.
“Nowhere left to run, Mr. E!” Darkclaw exclaimed, catching up with the villain.
Mr. E looked to the protagonist with an evil glare of his eyes, “You don’t know when to give up, do you?”
“The only up I would do is getting back up.” Darkclaw smirked as he said, “Time to get Daring!”
He soon charged at Mr. E… only to step on a small landmine, which exploded, but luckily didn’t kill him.
As he continued to get Mr. E, Darkclaw kept stepping on landmines, and no matter how much pain he got, he still kept going.
After stepping on the last mine, the explosion sent him flying into Mr. E, allowing Darkclaw to gain the upper claw.
Regaining focus, Darkclaw grabbed hold of the baddie as he spoke, “You thin a few explosives can stop me? Now let’s see who you really are.”
Grabbing the hood, Darkclaw unhooded the villain as he said in a pun, “Mr. E… solved!”
However, unhooding Mr. E, Darkclaw looked to discover… himself! An exact griffon like him, wearing a grey fedora and black mask, with a sneaky grin on his face.
Darkclaw gasped as one word came from his mouth, “ME?!?!”
Following this, cued the captions ‘To be continued…’ as the scene was soon paused.
“Whoa! What a twist!” cried out an exciting voice, revealing to be Jim Beakings, the actor who played Darkclaw.
Following this, Spike, Scootaloo and few others clapped, while the others were shocked on seeing that scene.
“Wait, what?! Mr. E is Darkclaw?” cried Pinkie Pie, before instantly fainting.
“How can he be Darkclaw when Darkclaw was right there?!” Rainbow Dash added.
“Please, we need to see what happens!” Silverstream cried out.
“Sadly, my friends, the show ‘Darkclaw’, starring yours truly, Jim Beakings, was sadly canceled before we could finish the story.”
“WHAT?!” most of the group cried out, Pinkie fainted again.
“It can’t end like that, why would they do something like that?!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“I’m afraid no one knows,” Spike said, sadly, “not a lot of info was explained on why it got canceled.”
“But, fear not, True Believers!” Jim continued, “For there is no end to the imagination of adventures, here at Cosmic Comics!”
The group clapped at the statement, until Jim spoke again, “Thanks again, folks. Remember, I’ll be signing autographs for anyone who likes to meet up with Darkclaw in person!”
Jim soon headed to a desk, where on the table were several photo pictures of Darkclaw, all ready to be signed and handed to fans.
As he sat down, Jim let out a small sigh, as the first few fans came by to meet him, signing a few Darkclaw merch and even have a few pictures with him as well.
“Doing alright, bro?”
The voice got his attention as he looked to see his brother, Tim Beakings, a griffon who looked identical to Jim, as he approached his brother.
“Oh, just a little fine, I guess, Tim.” Jim replied.
Tim looked to his brother, noticing something up, “But…?”
“But, I just wish for something big.” Jim explained, “Like a real gig. I pretty much missed the good ol’ days of enjoying the Darkclaw craze that was made possible. Enjoying all the smiles we put on every creature’s face of the franchise that we made.”
“I’m sure it will be something.” Tim said in reply, until another voice got his attention.
“Excuse me?” Spike said, getting both the griffons attention as they saw him with the CMC and their friends.
“Well, well, well!” Jim said with interest, “Fresh face new fans!”
“Are y’all talkin to us?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Well, of course, my little tyke!” Jim said happily, “Any new face that is introduced to the world of Darkclaw is always welcome in my books!”
“So, who am I signing these to?” he asked, getting a picture ready to be signed.
“Um, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Spike explained, “We’re members of Ponyville’s Comic Fan Club, and Darkclaw is one of them!”
Jim wrote down what he had to hear, before handing Spike and the fillies the signed pictures, “That’s 5 bits each. Stay Daring.”
“Thanks.” Spike replied, handing him the bits while Scootaloo looked to the griffon.
“I can’t believe we’re meeting the one and only Darkclaw in person!” she said, “It makes this a perfect fresh up for the big day!”
“For what, little kid?” Jim asked.
“For the big Comic-Con coming up in Fillydelphia!” she explained, “Tons of the biggest stars and celebrities are going to be there, and I have no doubt you’ll be going as well, I mean, you’ve been to every Comic-Con there was so-”
“Actually, kid, I won’t be attending this year.” Jim confessed.
“Wait-what?!” Spike and the other fillies cried out, Pinkie, hearing this, fainted again.
“Yeah, I know it’s a shocker, but to be fair, I think I should skip the convention trip this time.” Jim sadly explained.
“But what about your fans? And the joy of seeing smiles for the Darkclaw franchise?” Pinkie Pie cried out, having regained conscious.
“Well, it has been nice while it lasted,” Jim stated, “but I think with the times changing, it might be ready to hang Darkclaw’s cape for the last time.”
“You sure about that, Jim?” Tim said, a little surprised.
“Probably for the best, Tim.” said Jim, “With new comic heroes on the shelves, I bet they will do Darkclaw proud of being enjoyed being read by fans everywhere.”
Tim looked away in thought for a moment, before looking back with a sigh as he said, “Alright, if that’s what you want.”
As he walked away, he then added, “I suppose that you won’t have to hear of Darkclaw’s big screen comeback.”
That last part suddenly caught everyone off guard, even Jim as he asked, “Wait… did you just say big screen-?”
“Indeed I did.” Tim said with a smile.
“You mean there’s a Darkclaw film coming out?!” Spike said, as he and the other kids looked excited, especially Pinkie and Silverstream, the former fainting… again.
“That’s right,” Tim replied, “it’s currently being filmed at the studio right next door to the Comic-Con, and the studio there will be doing a special tour around the sound stage where the Darkclaw movie is being made, and it would be nice if the star of the original show would be there to see what’s up.”
Spike, the CMC, Pinkie (having got back up) and Silverstream were so stunned about this, and upon hearing of the tour, they knew what they were going to do upon arriving at the convention.
“I was planning on surprising you with this later on, Jim,” Tim said, “but, since these nice kids were talking about the convention, hoping for you to be there, I thought ‘why not’, but if you don’t feel like going then-.”
“Are you kidding?!” Jim said, super stoked upon the big news, before jumping out of his seat, rushed out back, before coming back inside, now in his Darkclaw costume, before jumping onto the table as he cried out, “DARKCLAW IS BACK, BABY!”
Spike, the fillies and the rest of the group were quite intrigued by this (though the former two were very excited, especially Pinkie and Silverstream).
“If I’m gonna be making a comeback, I suppose I’m gonna need a bit of help from some top supporters.” Jim said, as he then looked to the group on that last part.
The group soon knew what he meant, as Spike soon asked, “You mean…?”
“Are you with me, True Believers?” Darkclaw said, with a proud heroic pose.
Before anyone could respond, Pinkie instantly fainted… again.
“Is she gonna be alright?” Jim asked.
“It’s just Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow stated, “Trust me, she’ll be fine.