Blueblood woke up with a groan, remembering the last parts of his dream, full of bats surrounding him. He turned on the hard mattress and gazed thoughtfully at the stone ceiling.
"Did you have a dream?" said a voice next to him.
"A nightmare."
"Was it worse than this place?"
Blueblood let out a small laugh as he sat up, shaking his head.
"Not at all."
He was in a small cell, two beds facing each other with a hole in the middle to relieve himself. His cellmate was an ancient eastern pony, the same species as the mythical Mistmane, though now that he thought about it, he only knew of unicorns of that species. He had white fur and a bluish mane, though he was nearly bald in places, and had a long, curved horn. Blueblood was in a prison in the immense country that was Neippon, almost at the other end of the world. It had been a year since he left Equestria, and he had been in the country for eight months, and in all that time, he had lived as a homeless pony and a criminal.
Blueblood got out of his bed and stretched out as best he could in the small space, yawning as he glanced at the door to his cell, noticing the others behind the bars, with more ponies inside, mostly easterns. If he did his calculations right, soon they would come to open for them so they could go to breakfast, so he sat down and waited patiently.
"You must be careful" said his partner. "They will try to kill you."
"Again?"
"Until they manage to kill you. Nopony betrays them."
Blueblood shrugged at that. The reason he was there was because of his connection to a robbery that a gang had carried out on a major bank. However, the unicorn had secretly gone to the authorities to tell them everything, in return, he expected to be allowed to live a few months in one of their maximum security prisons. The only bad thing is that his fellow robbers also ended up in the same jail. During the month he'd been here, they hadn't stopped trying to end his life every few weeks.
The guards appeared and opened the cages, allowing him to leave and go to the patio that he also served as a dining room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the weapons the guards were carrying, firearms, since Neippon didn't have such an anti-gun policy as Equestria. Blueblood stepped out into the sunlight, watching the food stalls in the distance, with ponies, easterns and equestrians, heading to eat, several tables already full. As he walked, the unicorn noticed that he was being watched by a group from a table, the same one he had worked with. Trying to ignore them, the unicorn grabbed one of the available bowls with his right hoof, since his horn had an inhibitor ring like the rest of the magically capable prisoners.
He walked down the row until he reached the cook, a rather overweight eastern pony, who dropped a metal spoon and a sticky mess that Blueblood wasn't sure what it was, into his bowl. At least he was sure that he would not have any meat, since it was an exclusive prison for herbivorous beings. He turned around and headed to one of the few available tables, waiting for his partner to follow him. As he sat down, grabbing the spoon and starting his meal, suppressing the disgusted scowl he wanted to show.
"Here they come" his partner whispered.
Blueblood averted his eyes from him and saw the same group as before approaching his table. A quick glance made him notice that the guards who were present were deliberately averting their eyes, so he deduced that they managed to bribe them to turn a blind eye that day. The largest of the group reached out, grabbing the bowl from the unicorn and knocking it to the ground.
"Hello, rat," he growled, amusement and hate in equal parts in his voice. "I hope you enjoyed that, because it will be your last meal."
He then punched Blueblood in the face, knocking him to the ground. The unicorn growled, noticing how his opponent was getting closer, and before he was hit again, he rolled onto his back and got to his hooves. He quickly studied his surroundings and his enemies, about twelve in total, if he managed to coordinate well and remember his training with Service, he could defeat them.
The largest one gave a war cry and lunged for him, but Blueblood nimbly dodged and slammed into his side, right above his lungs, knocking all the air out of him, knocking him off balance. Before he could take advantage of that opportunity, two different ponies lunged at his body, knocking him to the ground. Clenching his teeth to withstand the blows he received, he slammed his hind legs on the body of one of his attackers, right in his belly, knocking him off his back.
Once free of one of them, he managed to parry another's assault and strike back, barely getting to his hooves and facing the rest. Blueblood went into a cycle where he hit and was hit in turn, mud, bruises and various wounds beginning to cover his body. Little by little, fewer and fewer were fighting him, and when he found himself fighting an eastern pony on the ground, hit repeatedly, his ears twitched as he heard gunshots to the sky.
Blueblood stopped focusing on his current opponent and turned his gaze towards the source of the noise, five guards approaching, apparently going upstairs determined to act. The unicorn broke away, ready to sit up to raise his arms in surrender, but two of them ran at him and knocked him to the ground, beginning to drag him, magic wrapping around his front hooves.
"Isolate him!" yelled one of them.
"Why?" Blueblood asked.
"For protection!"
Blueblood frowned, during that month, they hadn't tried to protect him from the continuous attempts to kill him, and he didn't need it either.
"I don't need protection!"
"Protection for them!" the guard gestured back.
Blueblood looked in the direction he was pointing, seeing that the ones who attacked him were on the ground, writhing in pain. A small part of him, that part that always accompanied him wherever he went, was glad of that sight.
Blueblood was practically thrown inside a cell, in the deepest part of the jail, with an iron door that blocked any view of the outside. The unicorn stood up, looking around, it seemed more like a cave than a prison, drops falling from the ceiling and dimly lit with small windows on the walls, too high to try to see anything through them.
"Are you so desperate to fight criminals that you lock youself in with them to take them down one by one?" said a voice behind him.
Blueblood tensed and turned, looking at who he had spoken to. He was a green-furred pegasus, with a black mane and a pointed beard of the same color on his chin, although the tip of it had slight white touches, and dressed in a gray suit.
"It wasn't one by one…it was twelve" Blueblood answered as he walked away, starting to sit up and lean against one of the walls and starting to check his injuries.
"I counted eleven, Mr. Blood."
Blueblood stopped what he was doing and carefully observed the pegasus in front of him. Never, in all the time he had been out of Equestria, had he told anypony his real name.
"How the hell do you know my name?"
"The world is too small for Blueblood to disappear, even if he hides in the most…" the pony looked at the dank, dark cell they were in "…degrading cell on the planet."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Ra's al Ghul, and I am here to offer you a path."
"Yeah" Blueblood said as he refocused on his bruises. "What makes you think I need a path?"
"You are here of your own volition. You have ventured into the community of evil, but…whatever your intentions were in the first place…you are now completely lost."
Blueblood glanced at the pegasus for a few moments before speaking.
"And what path do you offer me?"
"The way of those who hate evil and wish to serve true justice. The way of the League of Shadows."
Blueblood let out a small laugh, watching Ra's with a crooked smile.
"Yeah, you are vigilantes."
"No, no, no" Ra's replied as he moved a little closer. "A vigilante is a pony lost in his desire for personal satisfaction, they can kill him or lock him up, but..." the pegasus came closer and sat down, looking into Blueblood's eyes "... If you manage to be something more than a pony... if you give yourself to an ideal... if nopony can stop you... you become something very different."
"In what...?"
"In a legend, Mr. Blood."
Blueblood looked into Ra's eyes, deep yellow eyes that revealed an advanced age, despite appearing otherwise. The pegasus got up quickly and walked away, approaching the door.
"I have spoken with the warden of this jail, and tomorrow you will be given a chance to leave. If you are tired of fighting petty criminals, follow the instructions of the pony that will take you and go to the mountains to the east. In the highest of all, on its top, there is a temple, a temple where, if you can get there, you will find what you have been looking for."
Ra's gave a single knock on the door and it swung open immediately.
"What is it?" Blueblood said before the pegasus left, and when he turned his attention back to him, he kept talking. "What have I been looking for?"
"Isn't your cutie mark a compass rose?" Ra's asked with a smile. "It's something only you can discover."
Ra's left the cell and closed the door, leaving Blueblood alone with his thoughts. He look at his cutie mark, thinking about the words of the pegasus. What was he looking for? He started out to understand the criminal world and come up with a way to bring down Falcone...but now...he wasn't even sure how to go about it. And if he defeated the mobster, then what? But for the first time in a long time, he now had a chance to find out, and he intended to take it.
The carriage stopped at a fork, ahead the road continued without an apparent end, and to the right you could see a mountain range, with a huge mountain standing out among the others, and at its base, there was what looked like a small town, surrounded by of crop fields.
"Over there" said the eastern pony who held the reins of the two oxen that pulled the cart, oxen that lacked the intelligence of other races.
Blueblood, sitting in the back of the carriage, looked out over the village, his eyes then turning to the mountain.
"If you tell them where you're going, they'll give you shelter and provisions for the journey."
"I don't have money for that" Blueblood commented as he got out.
"It will not be necessary, the locals know that they should not hinder the path of those who climb the mountain."
"Why?"
"No idea."
The pony shrugged and motioned for the animals to continue on their way, walking slowly toward the horizon. Blueblood watched him for a while before starting to walk towards the village, feeling the midday sun on his back.
After just a few hours, he reached crop fields filled with wheat, rice, potatoes, carrots, and many more. Nearby ponies paused their activities briefly to watch him, intrigued by his arrival. Finally, he entered the main street, full of houses and, in some buildings, various establishments, advertising themselves with hanging signs, mostly shops. At the back, there was a single inn, which also served as a bar, to which the unicorn went.
Upon entering, he saw a simple layout, several tables in the spacious room, and stairs leading to a second floor at the back, and near these stairs was a bar where an eastern pony was chatting animatedly with one of his clients. Behind him there were several shelves with various bottles of alcohol and, a little further away, keys ready for those who were going to stay, although judging by the number there were not many. Blueblood sat on one of the stools and waited for the waiter to attend to him, which didn't take long, as he approached with a cheerful smile.
"Hello traveler, can I help you?"
"Yes, you see, I am headed for the mountain, and they told me that you would offer me shelter and provisions."
As soon as he said those words, the lively atmosphere of the bar changed completely, falling silent.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked the waiter with doubt.
"Why?"
"The road to the mountain is dangerous" interjected the customer with whom the waiter had been talking earlier. "And if you're looking for the temple... that life is too... extreme..."
Blueblood glanced sideways at the pony, who focused on his drink.
"Are you sure you want to go?" the waiter asked again, drawing Blueblood's attention.
"I am."
"As you wish," the pony sighed as he turned to grab one of the keys. "When you leave tomorrow, follow the torches, they will show you the way."
Blueblood nodded, grabbing the key and heading up the stairs, feeling everypony's eyes on him.
The only sound Blueblood could hear was the wind. He was surrounded by snow, already near the top, and dressed in a fairly thick coat, goggles, a wool cap that protected his head and his horn, and a scarf around his muzzle. He had been climbing for nearly four days, following the path indicated by the locals, marked by gigantic wooden pillars with torches on top, protecting the fire with, most likely, insulating spells. Reaching the last hill, he saw in the distance a gigantic temple, built into the side of the mountain and on a precipice, lit by hundreds of torches.
He moved forward slowly, the snow making his path difficult, panting from the effort. His last rest had been this morning, and it was past noon, the sun shining overhead and reflecting off the white snow. Blueblood felt his legs trembling, trying to keep him upright despite the extremely low temperatures and the general weariness of his body. As he got closer to the temple, he saw that, just above the door, there was a balcony that served as a guard post and on which were two lookouts.
Seeing him, one of them went inside, and since they didn't do anything else, Blueblood continued on. With effort, he reached the doors, which opened before he could knock. Confused, he crossed the threshold, finding himself in a huge hall, torches on the columns and stairs at the back that led to a second floor, which also had scaffolding to the hall. By the door, Blueblood saw two eastern ponies, who used their magic to close the entrance, dressed in black robes that covered their faces.
"I was waiting for you, Mr. Blood" said a voice from the other end of the room, one that the unicorn recognized.
Turning, he saw that, coming down the stairs, was Ra's al Ghul, this time dressed in a simple green robe, walking slowly towards the newcomer.
"Have you discovered what you are looking for yet?"
Blueblood was silent for a moment, removing his glasses and scarf, letting them hang around his neck.
"I... look for a way to fight against my enemies... to make fear turn against those who take advantage of the weak..."
Ra's slowly approached, and Blueblood could see that there were more ponies dressed in the same black robes, watching him from the balconies.
"I take it you have accepted my proposal, then?" Ra's said, stopping in front of Blueblood, who, after looking at all the ponies watching him, nodded. "In that case, come with me, I'll tell you where you can stay and we'll start your training as soon as you's rested."
Nodding, Blueblood followed the pegasus, eager to get some rest. They both climbed the stairs and walked down one of the corridors, going deeper into the temple. As they moved forward, the unicorn looked around, noting that the wooden walls had hardly any decorations. After a few minutes, the sound of hundreds of voices became more and more present, arousing their curiosity, and turning a corner, the two found themselves in a corridor that had a balcony from which to observe the lower floor.
There were a great number of ponies there, easterners and equestrians, even some kirins and griffins, training in various forms of martial arts, fighting in pairs of two. Still others trained in an area designed to practice agility and balance, with various poles and bridges scattered around.
"Soon you will be with them" Ra's voice said.
Blueblood looked at him, seeing that he had stood still watching the students. The unicorn watched them too, trying to figure out what martial art they practiced.
"Do you know what style they are practicing?" asked Ra's.
"I can recognize karate" Blueblood answered, still watching. "But I don't know how to recognize the others."
"Here we teach a wide variety of martial arts. As you said, karate is one of them, but we also teach kung fu, taekwondo and, one of the most important, ninjutsu."
"Karate is something I already know" commented Blueblood. "I've practiced it since I was a colt."
"I know you are a good fighter, but you have no technique and are too impulsive. Here we will polish your art and make you into a true warrior, one capable of fighting 600 opponents."
Blueblood frowned and looked at Ra's, who was already walking away, starting to follow him.
"Is that even possible?"
"Yes there have been warriors capable of such feats. But knowing how to fight is not enough to fight crime, as I told you at the time, you need to be more than a pony to your enemy" Ra's turned his head and smiled at Blueblood. "I find the tactics the kirin ninjas used to be very useful."
Blueblood raised an eyebrow, a little unsure, the only ninjas he had seen were the ones from the foal movies and comics. Ra's seemed to notice his attitude, as he laughed lightly before turning his eyes to the front.
"I know what you're thinking, but don't base your knowledge of ninjas on those foalhood stories. They were extraordinary warriors who used the shadows to their advantage to strike terror into their enemies. I suspect that will serve you well."
The two ponies walked away from the courtyard, back into the dark corridors before they reached one full of doors. Ra's led Blueblood for a while before stopping in front of a particular door.
"This will be your room for now, until we assign you a mate" Ra's said as he opened the door.
Blueblood looked out and saw a small room, with a single bed and a window at the back. Nodding, he turned to the pegasus and nodded.
"Thank you for having me and... for giving me a chance."
Ra's nodded, waiting for his guest to enter before closing the door. Blueblood took off his saddlebags, coat, scarf and hat before laying down on the bed, relieved that he could rest, and he would need it, the next day would be quite hard.