//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Call of a Raven // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 13 ___________________________________________________________ “Hey, Raven. What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asks as she and Twilight come over to where I’m hiding in the bushes, Spike riding atop the Alicorn’s back, a checklist in hand indicting the two had been going over something. “What’re you doing?” Twilight asks, cocking an eyebrow. I giggle. “Watching, despite my telling him how fruitless it is, Robin trying to study the impossibility that is Pinkie Pie.” The two follow my gaze to see Robin hiding behind some other bushes, wearing a very frazzled expression, clipboard in hand as he watches Pinkie, who is pretending to not notice him. It’s been about a week since the Titans arrived and they’ve somewhat settled into Ponyville. Beast Boy has been oddly scarce but I’ve seen Cyborg hanging around Doctor Whooves a lot. The two get along really well. It was when going over to speak with Cyborg about something that I’d actually understood why Doctor Whooves never seems to talk or act like The Doctor, but has mentioned living for centuries offhandedly, never seeming to remember saying it and why had doesn’t talk about being a Timelord. I’d noticed a particular pocket watch sitting on his workbench. A very familiar pocket watch for anyone who’d watched season 3 of Doctor Who with David Tenant as The Doctor. It was a Chameleon Arch pocket watch. Different design from the ones in the show itself, but it was unmistakeable, especially when I heard his voice from within it as I held it, telling me it wasn’t time yet, so I’d left it alone. Doctor Whooves is a Chameleon Arch Doctor, hiding out, for whatever reason, until he’ll open the watch and return to being a Timelord. Dash snickers as Robin continues to try following Pinkie. “The poor fool.” Twilight just shakes her head. “I can say from experience that this will not end well for him.” “Maybe he just needs a little hand!” I blink, cocking my head. Was that… Gilbert Gottfried? Why would I be hearing his voice? He doesn’t voice any characters in MLP, at least not up to the seasons I’d seen before getting sent here. How could he be here unless… “Hey!” Robin yells in surprise and I notice one of his hands has shrunk in size. I groan, facepalming as a little… Earth Pony (?) wearing a purple suit with a green tie over his pinkish-white coat and a purple bowler hat atop his head appears, floating in the air above us. “What the hay?” Twilight and Dash take a step back. “Who’s this guy?” Spike asks. “Mister Mxyzptlk,” I groan, standing up. “Basically, he’s like Discord before he’s reformed, but more annoying.” “Hey! I take offence to that!” the pony pouts, folding his forehooves. “Like… Discord?” Spike’s eyes widen in horror. He gets it, easy. “I really don’t wanna have to deal with this,” I deadpan, looking up at the floating Earth Pony. “How about we make a deal?” “Ooh, I like deals!” he grins, rubbing his hooves together. That’d be funnier if it were Iago from Aladdin. “If I get you to say your name backwards three times in a row within the span of ten seconds, you’ll remain in your home world and never interfere with any other reality, in any way, shape or form, for as long as you exist,” I state simply. The others look to me in confusion, while his eyes widen, before he narrows them. “That’s a pretty big demand there, little bird.” I glare as I’m suddenly an actual raven. “What’s in it for me if you can’t?” I indicate to my beak. He blinks, before shrugging and I’m back to normal. I kneel down, bowing my head. “If I fail to get you to say your name three times in a row within ten seconds, I will be at your service for as long as I live.” He blinks, before a disgusting smirk falls over his face as he looks me over. Should’ve known that’d be one of his first thoughts. He rubs his chin, thinking it over, before grinning and holds out a hoof. “I don’t see any downsides or loopholes for ya to sneak through here, so deal.” He smirks. “I’d like to see how yer gonna pull this one off. Even Sups never tried anything that stupid.” I smirk, my eyes glowing as I take his hand, activating the deal. “Wait, wha—?” he starts in confusion. “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!” I say quickly. At once, his mouth glows with my aura. “Kel-tip-zix-um, Kel-tip-zix-um, Kel-tip-zix-um!” I say quickly, his mouth making him say the same thing at the same time. He blinks, before his hind legs get sucked into himself. “How did you—?” “I know you better than you think I do, Mxy,” I say, stepping back as his front legs pop out of existence too. “I knew you’d be unable to resist a deal that seems to impossible. You let your being a 5th Dimensional Being blind you to the idea a mere mortal like me could outsmart you, so you dropped your guard, giving me the chance to cast my spell on you.” His face fills with rage. “You may have outsmarted me, ya little brat, but your stars ain’t gonna escape her fate. She’ll be smilin’ til the day she dies!” With that, he pops out of existence, never to bother us or any other form of reality ever again. “Was that… Mister Mxyzptlk?” The others turn as a worn out looking Robin and Pinkie as they come over, his hand looking normal as he flexes it. “You knew that weirdo?” Dash asks, hooves on her hips as she hovers in the air. “Is he from your world?” “Not exactly,” Robin shakes his head. “He’s a being from the 5th dimension. The Titans and I encountered another of his people a while ago. He went by the name Larry.” He rubs his neck, seeming more exhausted. “He was a really big fan of me. Too big, to be honest. He almost caused our whole world to be destroyed.” “So, who was this Mister Mxyzptlk, then?” Spike asks, an eyebrow cocked. Robin sighs. “He had a real grip with another hero from our world, Superman. The two clashed a lot and he always kept trying to find ways to make things worse for Superman and anyone close to him. Though, I’m guessing Raven found a way to outsmart him, from what I heard on the way over.” “Raven? What’s up?” At Twilight’s question, they all look to me. I’ve only half been paying attention, a slight frown on my face. “Mxy’s last words. Something about them feels… worrying.” “Like what?” Dash cocks her head. “Sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me. “Your stars ain’t gonna escape her fate. She’ll be smilin’ til the day she dies”? What’s that about?” “Raven?” Twilight asks with worry as my eyes widen. “Starlight,” I murmur, fear creeping into my voice. “Huh?” they all look confused, before their eyes widen as I do a sweeping stance, my eyes and hands glowing. “No time! We need to go, NOW!” We’re all consumed by my energy and disappear into the ground. ___________________________________________________________ We rise up from the ground, my energy fading away to reveal we’re in a completely different location. “What the—?” Dash whirls around as the relatively desert like area. “How’d we get here?” “Where’s here?” Robin asks, looking to me, before his expression firms. “Raven, what’s wrong?” I quickly duck down, pulling the others down with my magic and point down the ridge. Not too far off, there’s a small town, with houses all lined up in two straight lines. We shouldn’t be here. This could risk the timeline, but if I know Mxyzptlk like I think I do, there’s no way he couldn’t have meant here. This is the only place in Equestria where smiles could be seen as a bad thing. And if he was threatening Starlight, then that means things aren’t going to go as well for her as they should before the events of season 5 even start. I blink, noticing something off. There wasn’t any barbed wire fencing around the village in the show. The fence extends around it and towards the cave where the Cutie Mark vault is. “Why’re we at this boring village?” Dash asks as we watch the ponies going about their day. “Just looks like a normal pony village to me.” I guess Dash somehow can’t tell the barbed wire shouldn’t be there. “What kind of normal village has barbed wire around it, Dash?” “I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit,” Pinkie says, her face a hard glare. “I know smiles. And those smiles?” She points down at the ponies. “They’re just not right.” Twilight’s eyes widen. “Forget the smiles. Look at the Cutie Marks.” “They’re… all the same!” Robin’s eyes widen. “I know I haven’t been in this world as long as Raven, but I do know that can’t be normal.” Rainbow looks at the multiple ponies more closely, before getting an uncertain look herself. “Okay, that’s weird.” Twilight rubs her chin. “An entire village with the same Cutie Mark? How can that be?” Rainbow grins, rubbing her hooves together. “I bet there’s some sort of horrific monster behind it.” Twilight looks up at her, an eyebrow cocked. “What makes you say that?” Rainbow spins in the air excitedly. “‘Cause fighting a horrific monster would be super-awesome!” Robin just gives her an annoyed look. “Raven literally just outsmarted a being who could’ve ruined this whole world and made our lives a living hell, and you want a monster to be behind this?” “We can’t just go in there without a plan,” I say, extending my aura outwards, trying to sense anything off. “Mxy wouldn’t have made that kind of a threat lightly and I’m sensing something here that doesn’t belong, but I can’t make it out. Something’s blocking me from locating or properly sensing it.” “Then we need some recon. I volunteer!” Dash yells, holding her hoof up like a child in class. I shake my head. “Sorry, Dash, but a bright blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail don’t exactly scream covert.” “Wait. Where’d Robin go?” Twilight’s question stops Rainbow from responding to me and they look around, finding the Boy Wonder had vanished from sight. “I didn’t even here him leave,” Twilight says, shocked. “He was trained by Batman,” I say, keeping an eye on Robin’s aura. “He does that. We’ll just have to wait til he comes back.” We all sit, waiting. “So… mind explaining what happened that Mxy-whatever his name is?” Dash asks, looking to me. “What did you do to force him to say his name backwards?” “Simple body piloting spell,” I shrug. “Robin’s Raven used a variant of it back in their world to see the same thing he was one time. I merely altered the idea a bit to work on the mouth instead. Can only work for about ten seconds though before the spell breaks.” Twilight cocks an eyebrow at me. “Since when did you have the time to learn a spell like that?” “What did you think we were doing in the library?” Spike asks, folding his arms and smirking proudly. “I was letting her practice it on me.” “You were practicing spells on Spike?!” Twilight looks to me with the glare of a protective mother. “Not like you haven’t practiced spells on him in the past?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow. Twilight opens her mouth to argue, before pausing, closes it and opens it again, clearly trying to think of a comeback. “Okay,” the others yell with a start as Robin just is suddenly next to me, cutting our conversation short. We all turn around, coming close and forming a circle. “What have you found?” I ask. “All the ponies in the town have the same Cutie Marks, even the young ones. There’s literally no other kind of mark. Those without Cutie Marks at all are the only exception... though they still act just as creepy. Their leader is some pony named Starlight Glimmer. I didn’t actually see her, but I heard enough of them talking about her. Something is definitely wrong here.” Dash cocks her head. “How do you figure that? Those smiles may be a bit creepy, not helped by their same Cutie Marks, but smiling isn’t a crime or anything.” Pinkie Pie just shakes her head, her face grim. “Those smiles are bad news.” Robin nods. “Pinkie Pie is right. Those smiles aren’t willing. They’re literally being forced to smile all the time.” I cock an eyebrow at Robin. “Okay, what do you mean by that?” I know Starlight is strict at this point in time when it comes to her village, but it’s not like even she was trying to force the ponies to smile every moment, even when not in her presence and in their own homes. “I couldn’t get a good look at it, but something was prowling throughout the village, hidden in the shadows,” Robin says, looking around at us. “It was fast, whatever it was, and I noticed it was only going after specific ponies.” “What was it about them that it was targeting?” Twilight asks, her face firming. “They were starting to stop smiling,” Robin says. “They were leaving their houses, looking worried about something. There was a flash of a shadowy figure that blocked them from my sight. Soon as I saw them again, their smiles were back, while their eyes said something was very wrong.” “This isn’t right,” I murmur, bitting my lower lip. “Whatever’s going on here, it shouldn’t be. Looks like Mxyzptlk’s threat was more than just that. He clearly knew something was going wrong here.” “What’ll we do?” Dash asks. I stand up, my eyes glowing. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos.” There’s a flash. When it fades, Robin and I are both Earth Ponies, though still wearing out hero outfits, our coat colours just our normal skin tones. “What in the world?!” Twilight gasps, looking between the two of us. “It’s only an illusion spell,” I say, nodding to Robin. “Trust me, it’ll work better if we don’t draw more attention to ourselves than our arrival already will.” As we near, I notice the barbed wire fence has a huge opening, which, at first glance, would seem pointless, but I can sense some kind of magic humming around it and, as we pass through the opening, I feel that magic passing over us. I immediately get a feeling it’s some kind of warning system or force field. You can get in, but you can’t get out. How encouraging. As we enter, everypony close by stops what they’re doing and turns to us with those far more disturbing in person smiles. “Welcome!” one pony says as we pass him. “Welcome!” a mare surrounded by foals says. “Welcome!” a unicorn stallion says. “Welcome!” says a mare with her hair in braids. That one’s welcome was always more unsettling whenever I watched the episode in question. “Welcome!” says another unicorn stallion. “Welcome!” another mare will a group of foals says “Welcome!” the foals says as they pass. They’re “welcome” is the least creepy, if you ask me. They at least sound innocent when they say it. “Okay, I am officially creeped out,” Robin says, eyeing Night Glider as she welcomes us too. We’re stopped by a pony I recognize as Party Favor, who looks solely at Twilight. “Welcome! Pardon my forwardness, but are you an Alicorn?” I nod. “This is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.” Party Favor’s smile somehow becomes creepier. “Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place for friendship.” “I really don’t like the way he said friendship, like that,” Robin whispers to me. I nod. Yeah, out of context, even with foreknowledge as to what he actually means, it does still bring up very uncomfortable thoughts. “What brings you to town?” Double Diamond asks Twilight. “We’re not entirely sure,” Twilight glances at me and I nod as Party Favor moves over to smile at me the way he did with Rarity in the episode, but I just glare at him, causing him to back off. Rarity might’ve been intimidated by it, but you pull that shit with me and you’ll be sorry, pal, good pony or not. Double Diamond nods. “I see. Well, all are welcome here in our little village. My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor.” “Greetings, Double Diamond,” Robin nods, his voice firm and authoritative. “I’m Robin, and these are Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Raven and you’ve already met the princess.” Double Diamond leans forward, his head close to Twilight and Pinkie’s marks in turn. “And you all have your own unique Cutie Marks.” Not that he can actually see the illusionary Cutie Marks Robin and I have thanks to our costumes covering them up. Pinkie moves her tail over her mark, glaring at him. Twilight looks to Double Diamond. “If you don’t mind, has there been any sort of... trouble here, lately?” He looks to Party Favor, before returning his gaze to the Alicorn. “Trouble? Why, I don’t think we’ve ever had trouble in our little village.” Party Favor nods. “It’s true. You’ll see.” He giggles. Yeah, if that were true, I wouldn’t be sensing all the fear that I am. The smiles of these ponies, including these two, hide fear of whatever it is Robin noticed when he was patrolling the village. Double Diamond turns around and starts walking, clearly trying to lead us to Starlight’s house. “Perhaps you’d care to speak to our founder, Starlight Glimmer.” “Yes,” I say, glancing around, trying to sense the thing Robin saw. “That is exactly where we wanna go.” Pinkie Pie snorts. “I’ve got my eye on them. Something’s rotten in... whatever the name of this village is that we’re in right now!” We arrive at the one house not part of the equal lines, the two stallions knocking, the door opening and they just walk in. “Starlight,” Double Diamond calls, “we have some new visitors.” Rainbow Dash grins at Robin. “Be ready to fight. We don’t know what’s gonna come through that door.” She indicates to a door at the end of the small room. It opens, Starlight Glimmer stepping out from behind it. “Welcome! I’m so pleased to have you here.” Dash groans, folding her forelegs. Double Diamond indicates to each of us. This is Robin, Raven, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle.” Starlight notices Twilight’s wings thanks to the Alicorn’s uncertainty causing her to fluff her them a little. “Forgive my bluntness, but I’m assuming it’s Princess Twilight Sparkle? We don’t get many Alicorns around here.” Twilight nods. “Yes, but Twilight is fine.” Starlight smiles brightly, it being genuine. Pretty sure that’s a rarity at this point in time. “So! How did you hear of our little village?” Twilight glances at me. “It’s kind of a long story.” Not really, but we need to know what Mxyzptlk’s threat was about, so the faster we get this over with, the better. Starlight looks us over, seeming to take notice of the pointed stare I’m giving her, but acts like she didn’t. “Well, however you found us, we’re happy to have you! We’re happy to have anypony who wants to experience true friendship for the first time.” Robin cocks an eyebrow. “Can you elaborate on that?” Starlight nods, indicating to a picture of the same sign as on everyponies’ flanks. “Oh, indeed. That’s what’s so unique about our village, you see. Around here, we don’t flaunt our special talents because we don’t have any special talents to flaunt.” Twilight blinks in surprise, pointing to Starlight’s flank. “Is that why you all have those Cutie Marks?” Starlight glances at her flank, before looking to us. “Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!” I sigh. “Actually, let’s just skip to where you lead us to the Cutie Mark Vault.” Starlight’s eyes widen, while the others look to me in confusion. “How did you know about that?” the unicorn asks. “Why else would we be here?” I ask. Despite my deadpan delivery, I don’t think she senses anything wrong and genuinely believes me, while the others just look more and more confused. “Oh! Very well, then. Follow me!” she says, her voice chipper and she leads us out of her house and towards the caves. “What’s going on, Raven?” Twilight asks in a hushed whisper as we head up the path, she and Robin staying close to me. “Yeah, you seemed just as uncertain as the rest of us, then blurted out something about a vault,” Robin gives me a look. “How did you know about it?” “Prior knowledge,” I whisper back. “Besides, there’s plenty of energy around the vault and it’s around where I can’t properly locate the thing I’ve been sensing since we arrived. Whatever Mxyzptlk was threatening, it’s in that cave.” “Just through here!” Starlight says, leading us into the cave and pulling down a huge curtain, revealing the vault. “Behold! Our Cutie Mark vault!” Twilight and the others stare in shock. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” Starlight nods, walking over to the piece of wood she found in the desert. “And here is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great Mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items.” I notice Twilight’s suspicion rise without looking at her. Yep. That was your first flub in the original, Glimmy. Here, though, it wouldn’t have mattered. “We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks!” “Alright, cut the act, Starlight Glimmer!” Robin says, stepping forward, his face firm. Starlight looks a bit taken aback. “Huh? What act?” “We know that staff is fake,” I say, glancing at Twilight. “Mage Meadow Brook only had eight enchanted items. I should know. I did a history report on it back in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” “So, if the staff isn’t doing anything,” Robin looks Starlight straight in the eye, “that means you must be the one removing ponies of their Cutie Marks!” “Wait. What?” The others all whirl around as the towns ponies come out from the shadows, but, unlike in the show, they aren’t surrounding to trap, they’re just looking confused. “Starlight, if you’re the one taking our Cutie Marks, how can that be?” Double Diamond looks very confused. “You don’t have your Cutie Mark, so how could you cast such a powerful spell, all on your own.” “Because she hasn’t given up her mark!” Dash shoots forward, seeming to have caught on, stopping in front of Starlight and flapping her wings quickly, causing dust to fly up and the make up on Starlight’s flank to whip off. Everypony gasps. Starlight looks around frantically. “Wha... What are you looking at?! They’re the problem, not me!” Party Favor steps forward, his face showing heartbreak. “How could you?” “You said Cutie Marks were evil!” Double Diamond says. “You said special talents led to pain and heartache!” “They do!” Starlight’s floundering, before pointing to us. “Don’t you see?! Look at them!” We all just glance at each other. “You guys feeling any pain or heartache?” Dash asks. We all shrug, shaking our heads. “Then why?” Sugar Belle asks. “Why did you take ours and not give up your own?” “I... I had to, you fools!” Starlight says defensively. “How could I collect your Cutie Marks without my magic?! Besides, it’s my magic that makes all this possible! You’d all still be living your miserable lives thinking you’re better than everypony else if it weren’t for my magical abilities! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I created harmony!” “Sheesh. And I thought Johnny Rancid was over the top,” Robin mutters and I find myself chuckling. Double Diamond points at Starlight. “You lied to us!” Starlight grins nervously, trying to regain control. “So what? E-Everything else I said is true! The only way to be happy is if we’re all equal!” Party Favor narrows his eyes. “Except for you.” Twilight steps forward. “Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other, that’s how rea—” “QUIET!” Starlight snarls, whirling around to glare at the princess. Sugar Belle glares at the unicorn. “You can’t have a Cutie Mark, Starlight! Either we’re all equal, or none of us are!” “What I wanna know,” Robin says firmly, stepping forward, “is what you did to force these ponies to smile, even against their free will.” “What is the creature you have prowling your village?” I ask, my eyes narrowed. Starlight turns to look at us, her anger quickly being replaced with confusion. “Creature? What creature? And what do you mean “forcing ponies to smile against their will”? Everypony smiles whenever they want here. And they’re free to not smile whenever they want.” “Well, well, well. Instead of a bird in the hand it seems we’ve too smart cuckoos in our little nest,” a new voice says. Everypony else starts looking around in confusion, while Robin and I meet eyes, his face a mask of horror that likely mirrors my own. We know that voice. And I highly doubt Mark Hamill is in Equestria and I know he never voiced a character in the show. But… No! No, he can’t be here. Not in Equestria! Why would he be in Equestria?! A sound from above makes us all look up where a pair of red eyes are looking down from the ceiling. They lung forward, a form following them. “Everypony, run!” Robin and I yell together as I quickly cancel the spell, dropping our disguises as I create a shield that knocks back what just fell down, sending it back further into the cave. Everypony starts screaming and runs as the large snake creature moves comes back quickly, rising to its fall height in front our group. “It… it can’t be,” Robin shakes his head. “What… what happened to him?” “Who… what is that?” Dash yells, pointing. “Joker,” Robin glares, teeth gritted. “A criminal from my world.” It’s the Clown Prince of Crime himself, alright, … but something is seriously wrong here. It’s Joker, no doubt about that, but… he looks like a Lamia. My eyes widen as it clicks. “Of course. That’s why the ponies can’t stop smiling. Joker’s fangs are filled with his Joker Venom.” “Ooh, there’s a smart little birdy,” the snake man replies, chuckling as he slithers around the barrier, which contains us and Starlight. Thankfully, Joker seems more focused on us than the rest of the ponies, so they were able to get away. “In small doses, it keeps them smiling. Of course, if I were to try a more potent dose,” he smiles sinisterly, showing off his fangs. “Wait. What?” a small voice says. We all look to Starlight, who’s eyes are shining with hurt. “That’s… that’s not true. The ponies in my village weren’t smiling because some freak’s venom was making them. They’re happy being here. They… they are…” tears well in her eyes as I sense her aura indicating her sense of self is being questioned, “right?” Joker slowly chuckles, before it rises into his signature cackle. “Oh, you ponies are quite the riot.” He lunges forward, stopping just in front of Starlihgt’s leering at her. “You act all tough but you’re just a wee widdle foal who wost her best fweind and trying to hide the hurt.” He pulls back, folding his arms. “It’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.” He glances up in thought, before grinning. “Oh, what the heck? I’ll laugh anyway.” He bursts into laughter. “NOW!” Robin yells and I drop the barrier. He throws a birderang and it hits Joker square in the face, exploding on contact and sending the snake hurtling back into a wall. “Just what in the world did this to him?” Robin glances back at me as I stand close to a now sobbing Starlight, while Twilight tries to comfort her. “Do you think it had something to do with coming to this world?” “Could be,” I say, looking down, trying to think. “No’ ba’, Boy ’on’er.” We all turn as Joker gets back up, his jaw… disgustingly dislocated, but it’s even more stomach churning when he adjusts it back into place. “Your replacement certainly wasn’t so lucky.” Robin blinks. “Replacement.” My eyes widen, before I snarl. “He’s talking about Tim Drake. What did you do to him, you fucking asshole?” I just hope the answer is what I know from the Return of the Joker movie. Joker spends a moment licking his lips, testing his jaw, before grinning at me. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Screams from outside draw our attention. What? But Joker’s in here. What could they be screaming about? “Seems your little pony friends have met my bitch,” Joker gives a wide grin. “Too bad you won’t get to meet her.” He lunges forward, his fangs bared. “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!” I yell, hands outstretched. At once, he freezes in place, unmoving. “Freezing Spell,” I say to the confused looks from the ponies. “It won’t let long. We need to get out there and help the other ponies and save them from whatever it is Joker’s unleashed on them.” We all hurry outside to see three houses have been destroyed and the ponies are running around frantically, trying to escape what looks like a large human sized dog. I blink as I notice it’s wearing a red, black and white jester’s outfit… and it clicks. “Joker said his bitch,” I look to Robin, who meets my eyes. “Looks like he actually made Harley one for real.” I wave my hand, teleporting as down to the ground area as Harley is looming over Party Favor, a massive oversized mallet held in her hands. She thrusts it down, but he warps over to me thanks to a quick teleport from me. Harley turns around. “Naughty, naughty, birdie!” she says in a lecturing tone. “You gotta wait your turn.” Twilight and I just blink, before we look at each with deadpans. “Why does she sound like me on helium?” I facepalm. As if Twilight and I sharing a voice isn’t confusing enough, now we’ve got a Harley Quinn who sounds like Tara Strong. I guess I should’ve seen this coming. What happens in twos happens in threes. “It’s hammer time!” Harley yells, running towards us, mallet raised high in the air. I glance short as she thrusts down… only for the mallet not to come with her. She looks down at her hands, confused, before looking up to see the mallet hovering in the air above her, surrounded by my aura. I let it go and it drops, slamming Harley in the head, hard. She stands there with a goofy look on her face, her eyes unfocused. “Anyone catch the licence plate of that bird that hit me?” she asks in a daze, before flopping to the ground, unconscious. “And to think, she and Robin hook up in the future,” I say, shaking my head. There’s a long pause, before Robin whirls to stare at me with wide eyes. “WHAT?” I don’t get to answer as a loud booming sound draws out attention back towards the Vault Cave as Joker comes flying out of the entrance, his eyes wide, his mouth pulled back in a sinister smile. Robin, Twilight, Dash, Pinkie and I get into defensive stances. Joker lands, looking around, before spotting the unconscious Harley and snorts. “You just can’t find good help these days.” He leers and lunges forward, all of us leaping out of the way, my eyes widening as his fangs clang against metal and I feel something being ripped from my arm. As I soar through air, I look to my arm, the bracelet Twilight gave me gone. “AH!” Party Favor’s scream of pain causes my eyes to wide as I land and whirl around to see Joker pinning him down, fangs sunk into the pony’s neck. Party Favor’s terrified expression quickly morphs into a grin and he starts laughing, the laughing getting more and more hysterical by the second. “Joker!” a birderang slams into the snake men, exploding and knocking him back. Joker wipes his arm over his mouth, his fangs covered in blood. Meanwhile, Party Favor is still laughing hysterically. “Shit!” I grit my teeth. “We gotta get him the antidote. Robin, can you make some?” “Gimme a few minutes,” he nods. “This world is surprisingly bountiful of the rare plants that are needed.” Joker’s laugh causes Robin to look, before leaping back, using his bow staff to propel himself through the air, landing near Twilight. “Like I’d actually let you have the time, Boy Wonder?” Joker cackles. A groaning of metal and wood makes me turn to where Harley’s lying, unconscious, to see the nearest house to her is about to collapse, right on time of her. “Dash!” I yell, nodding in the direction. The Pegasus gets it and flies over, but isn’t fast enough to get herself and Harley out of there, leaving her to try and keep the beam that was gonna fall on Harley from doing just that. “Uh… Mister J?” the dog woman asks, slowly opening her eyes to see Dash protecting her instead. Blinking in confusion, she looks around and meets my eyes as I dodge the psychopath she’s so infatuated with. “I… can’t… hold up… much longer!” Dash grunts as the beam lowers slightly. “Puddin, help!” Harley cries, trying to get away, only to find her right leg pinned by a previously fallen pile of rubble. “Help yourself!” he cackles as Pinkie narrowly misses his fangs. “I’m busy!” I glance over to see Dash struggling, before Joker inadvertently knocks her aside with his tail as he passes by, aiming for me. Harley screams as the beams comes down towards her. A quickly flash of red and green and Robin is now standing there instead, keeping the beam from getting her. “This isn’t working!” Starlight says as we both land, Joker whirling around and grinning at us. “We can’t fight him and keep that crazy bitch safe on our own.” I would scold her for her language, if not for the fact she doesn’t know what Harley’s supposed to look like, so is likely referring to her by species. Plus, when did we start fighting on the same side? “Pinkie, help Robin!” I yell, wave my arm in an arc, causing a black barrier wall to sweep around and isolate us and Joker from the rest. Pinkie salutes, before hurrying over, pulling her party cannon from out of nowhere and uses it to blast the wall away. “AH!” The cry of pain makes my eyes widen in horror as I whirl around to see Joker has Twilight, his fangs buried deep into her flank. Her face shows pain as she tries to fight it, but it slowly morphs into a grin more akin to the one she had back in Lesson Zero, before she starts laughing hysterically. I see red. ___________________________________________________________ Robin was setting a once again unconscious Harley down when he heard the princess laughing. Her turned to see her laying on the ground in a fit of laughter he knew was not natural, before his attention was drawn to Raven and his blood turned cold. Her eyes were red and she had four now. Not good. With a scream of rage, Raven became a mass of shadow and lunged for Joker, who seemed just as shocked as Robin and started slithering away as fast as possible, while the mass of black rush after him, lashing out with venom. I need to calm Raven, down, fast. But I’ll need help to make the antidote fast too. He blinked, before turning to the pink unicorn. “Starlight Glimmer!” The stunned mare watching Raven go berserk turned to him. “Wh-what just happened?” “Raven’s powers come from her emotions,” he said hurriedly. “That bracelet helps her keep a stronger grip on her powers so they don’t go berserk on her, but now she’s lost to her rage because Twilight was attacked. We need to calm her down. Are there any ponies in your village who are good with medicine?” Starlight blinked at the odd question, before shaking her head and nodding. “Patchwork. Her name sounds like she’s more fitted to do sewing, but her talent was for fixing ponies… but her mark’s up in the vault. Without it, she wouldn’t be of any help to you!” “Then teleport me to the vault!” Robin said as a roar of rage from Raven range throughout the village. “Now!” “I— uh— okay?” the mare said, flustered and confused, but cast the spell. The world went blue for a second, before Robin found himself in front of the vault. He whipped out ten birderangs. “Time to crack this safe.” ___________________________________________________________ “What… what happened?” I ask, blinking as I’m standing over a prone, unconscious and completely toothless Joker. Glancing to my arm, I see my inhibitor back in place and look around the village. Several more houses are destroyed and the sound of Twilight’s hysterical laughter is dying down. I look down at my hands. Did I…? Did I just lose control? What…? What caused it? “Raven!” I look up as Dash flies over, indicating for me to follow. I arrive near a makeshift shelter of fallen timber and roofing to see Twilight and Party Favor asleep, their breathing normal. Robin is kneeling in front of them, a green Earth Pony mare with a pink mane and a bandaged hoof for a Cutie Mark next to him. “Don’t worry, Raven,” Robin says without turning around. “You didn’t cause too much damage and no one blames you.” “Heck, if anything, we’re grateful,” a pony I recognize as Night Glider says, zipping over and hovering in front of me. “Sure, we’ll need to rebuild a bit, but that shouldn’t take too long and you beat that snake guy.” “R-Raven?” we all turn as Twilight slowly opens her eyes. She groggily looks around, before her sight falls on me and she smiles. “Thank you.” I turn away, bitting my lower lip. “Don’t thank me. That shouldn’t have happened to begin with.” “That may be,” I hear Robin getting up and sense him walk up and stand behind me, “but the truth of the matter is you saved these ponies, Raven. You saved a lot of lives today.” I try to look anywhere but at the ponies and notice a tied up, unconscious Harley leaning against a house. “What do we do with her?” “We’ll take her to the princesses,” Robin says firmly form behind me. “We’ll leave it up to them to decide. Maybe they can even cure her of whatever it is Joker did to make her into that and get her some help too.” “And… if it isn’t too much trouble, after I’ve helped rebuild the town, I’d like to move into this Ponyville you’ve all talked myself,” Starlight says, and I sense how uncertain of herself she is. “I think it might do me some good, you know?” I say nothing, too ashamed of myself to speak. ___________________________________________________________ Joker grumbled from within his cage as the ponies carried his cage through the mountains. When he’d come to, that worthless retch Harley had been nowhere in sight and he was told the rulers of Equesstria had sentenced him to Tartarus. “Ish not rea’y fai’, you know,” he says, looking around at the ponies. “I don’ shee how I di’ any’hing wrong.” “Shut up, criminal!” one of the ponies snapped at him, glaring back at him with contempt. “You’re going to Tartarus, where monsters like belong— Hah.” The stallion suddenly keeled over and flopped onto the ground, unmoving. “We’re under attack!” another guard yelled, before his head went flying off his body. Joker watched as the ponies floundered around as something kept shooting past them, a pony falling each time, until they were all lying on the ground in a bloody mess. Blinking in confusion, Joker looked around, before seeing a humanoid form step out from behind a tree. “Deafshroke?” he asked as the figure came towards him. “Good choo shee you, ol’ boy. Hewe cho he' me out?” Deathstroke just looked at him with his one eye, before raising his arm, revealing some kind of gemstone. “You did your part well. But, now your usefulness has ended.” The valley was filled with the sound of Joker’s scream of pain, before all went silent.