//------------------------------//
// The Batmare Vol. 1: Batmare Begins: Issue #4: The Killing Joke 
// Story: MLDC: The Justice League of Equestria - Omnibus 1 
// by littleman001 
//------------------------------//

It was well past midnight but Spike still paced around the library in agitation. He could never bring himself to turn in for the night while Twilight was still out there. He never knew if she was gonna need any kind of help when she came back. Medical or otherwise. Even a pep talk could mean the world to Twilight after a particularly nasty night. And no one could give a pep talk to her like the creature who knew her the most.

Of course, even he couldn't always get the result he was hoping for out of these talks. Twilight just ran out on him during the middle of one of them just hours ago and he didn't get any closer to convince her of his point. When she asked him to reshelf the library with her, he felt like maybe the time has come to reach out to the old Twilight. But once again she was yanked away from him by the call of the night.

Spike sighed. Sometimes he wondered if it was already too late for things to ever go back to normal. As he paced about, he looked up to see that he was right in front of Twilight's bedroom door. While he knew very well that when Twilight went out to patrol, she never came back anytime before 3am, he still sometimes checked her room just to change the scenery of his agitated pacing.

He opened the door, fully expecting to find only the empty bed once again, but he was in for the surprise of his life when he saw Twilight lying in it, still wearing her Batmare suit with the exception of her mask. She was lying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. When Spike approached her, he saw her expression of utter defeat and helplessness. He never saw Twilight so defeated. No even when she lost her horn. And that really scared him.

"Twilight? What happened?" Spike was almost too afraid to ask, but he had to. He knew that Twilight needed him now more than ever. She didn't answer straight away. She just melt staring up at the ceiling in silence. When Spike was about to ask again, she finally replied.

"I... failed, Spike." She muttered, on the verge of tears.

"Failed?" Spike asked in confusion. He had a feeling that if Twilight merely talked about failing to get the evidence he needed against Caramel Falcon, she wouldn't be so depressed over that. Frustrated, sure, but not depressed. "Failed how?"

"On my way home this afternoon, I met a unicorn performing magic tricks on the street for a living. She asked me to perform with her, but I was so apathetic about the whole thing that I ruined her whole show. The crowd left without giving her a single bit." Twilight explained while Spike sat down on the bed to listen.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He wondered.

"One of the thieves at the chemical plant I caught. It... It was her." Spike's eyes widened at this revelation. "If... If I didn't ruin it, Spike... If I didn't cost her her income for the day, she probably never would have done that!" Twilight was openly sobbing now. "And then... When j tried to catch her, she fell into a vat full of chemical liquid. I tried to save her but I wasn't strong enough!" Spike couldn't bring himself to say anything. The Batmare never let anypony die before. He couldn't even imagine what a severe blow this must have been for Twilight. In the end, he did the only thing he could think of. He wrapped his arms around Twilight and pulled her into an embrace. Twilight returned it and cried into Spike's shoulder.

"And I couldn't even get those documents!" She cried. "By the time I looked up they were gone! Everything I've done so far, Spike, everything has been for nothing!" Twilight eventually cried herself out and let go of him. With hesitant and shaking hooves, she reached for the Batmare mask lying on the bed. She picked it up and looked at it with a hard, crushed expression.

"You were right, Spike. You were right about everything! Some hero I turned out to be!" Her expression turned furious as she glared at the mask like it was her worst enemy. She then let out a scream and threw it across the room. "If I can't even save one pony, then what's the point?" She looked back at Spike with tears in her eyes and for once, her dragon companion didn't have an answer. Twilight sighed before walking over to her bedside chest and went through the usual routine of opening the entrance to her hideout and went down the hidden stairway. Spike followed, but not before picking up her discarded mask.

When he got down, he saw Twilight placing her suit on the ponyquin next to her computer. She then saw Spike approaching her with the mask in his claws and took it from him before placing it on the head of the ponyquin. She closed the cabinet around the ponyquin and it slowly descended down into the floor with two stone lids sealing it down. Twilight then walked over to her computer and shut it down, leaving the whole tunnel in darkness, the only source of light being the lights of Twilight's bedroom on the top of the stairway.

"Twilight..." Spike began hesitantly as the two made their way back up. "Does this mean what I think it does?" Twilight stopped and looked down, seemingly unable to believe what she was about to say herself, but eventually looked back up and nodded.

"The Batmare is no more." Spike's eyes widened.

"Really? That's it? You're just giving up?" Spike asked in disbelief. "After everything you've accomplished. For one mistake?"

"Isn't this what you always wanted?" Twilight asked almost cynically once they got back up to her room. Spike stopped to think that over. He did. He really did. But his main reason was to get Twilight back to her former self. What he saw in front of him was nowhere near that. If it was possible, she looked like even more of a shell of her former self. In that moment, Spike knew he failed to drag Twilight back. Batmare had become a far bigger part of her than he could have expected. Seeing her lose it was like seeing her when she lost her magic those years ago. And that was the last thing he wanted to see.

"I don't know what I want anymore." Spike admitted sadly. Twilight looked out the window at the city she used to defend and let out a heavy sigh.

"Nor do I, Spike. Nor do I."





Yellow Mist hummed to himself as he made his way over to Shady Deal's place. It had been two days since their successful heist at Ace Chemicals and the big stallion was very satisfied with them. Too bad Trixie wasn't there to share in their success. He still found it odd that the mare was nowhere to be found after two days. Shady Deal told him that she was caught by the bat. If that was the case, she should have been hoofed over to the badges, but they apparently never heard of her. Yellow Mist sniffed around all the prisons in the city but he couldn't find a trace of her. If he had to guess, he would say she managed to slip away and went into hiding. She would turn up eventually. Nopony stays hidden for long in this city.

But right now, he had other things to take care of. He entered the apartment complex where Shady lived near the Falcon family mansion. Caramel was a generous employer for the most part and allowed his ponies to live near the area in apartments he owned. And he was about to present further proof of his generosity to Shady. When he reached Shady's door, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Most of Falcon's higher ranking employees almost always locked their doors. In their line of work, one can never be too careful. Regardless, he entered the apartment in high spirits.

"Hey, Shady! Good news! The boss is very satisfied with how our heist at Ace went and he decided to gift you with a little bonus!" He announced cheerfully while dangling an envelope. "And I also managed to score you an invitation for his little son's birthday party next weekend! Good food, good company and an excellent opportunity to make some new friends and good connections!" The pagasus looked around the apartment in search of Shady, but he was nowhere to be seen. He searched through the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen and even knocked on the bathroom door, before making his way to the last possible place, Shady's workroom. The last option ended up being the winner. When Yellow Mist entered, he saw the earth pony sitting in a chair behind his desk. The chair was turned away so Yellow Mist only saw his foreleg hanging down from the side.

"Hey, Shady! You asleep?" The pegasus slowly approached the chair and spun it around. What he saw, made him back away in horror. Shady Deal wasn't asleep, he was dead. The very thought of one of Caramel Falcon's ponies being murdered in his own apartment near the mansion would have been absurd enough, but what they did to his body was downright frightening. His eyelids were cut out of their places and his mouth was spread wide open with two hooks attached to his lips, giving his face the look of a huge twisted grin.

Yellow Mist backed away from the desk in such a hurry that he fell back into the living room on his back. He was about to get up and leave as fast as he could, but then he heard the door being locked. He looked up to see a shadowy pony standing in front of the door, pulling out the key and putting it away.

"He was always so serious." The figure spoke with a mare's voice. "Never laughing, always brooding. But in the end, he went out like we all should. With a nice, big SMILE!" She giggled like a cheeky filly who just pulled off a prank on somepony. Yellow Mist crawled away from her, not having the courage to stand up just yet. He was about to ask who this mare was, but then he realised the voice was extremely familiar to him.

"T... Tri... Trixie?" He stammered in disbelief. "Shady told me the Bat got you."

"Oh, it did! And then it let go!" Trixie replied cheerfully. "It was a wonderful experience! Did you ever wish that you could just flush all your worries down the toilet and swim without a care? Something similar happened to me! And I feel like a brand new mare! Completely reborn!" Yellow Mist just kept staring at her shadowy frame in fear.

"What have you done to Shady?" Trixie chuckled darkly once again.

"Didn't you listen? I put a nice, big smile on his face! And I must say he looks much happier with it, wouldn't you agree?" Yellow Mist started to realise that he was in danger. This mare had obviously gone off her meds and was probably crazy enough to do anything if the state of Shady Deal's body was any indication.

"Trixie, look." Yellow Mist started nervously. "I know we've had a rough patch, but now that we pulled off that heist we're all cool. You're debt is paid. Just let me out of here and we can forget this ever happened. Hay, I'll even help you get rid of Shady's body and forget all about it. I never liked him that much anyway." But Trixie's reply was once again a dark laugh.

"Do you think I put all this effort into this smile just to hide it? To never have the world see it? Oh no, Yellow Mist. I intend my pieces of artwork to be seen all across the city. Including both Shady..." She motioned towards the lifeless body of the stallion in the chair. "...and myself!" Yellow Mist backed away all the way to Shady's desk behind him, but his fear and confusion still refused to let him stand up.

"Yourself?" He asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean yourself? You're not making any sense, Trixie!" Even in the darkness of the room, he could make out Trixie's grin widening.

"Trixie? Trixie's dead, my friend. You can call me..." The mare finally stepped into the light, revealing her new appearance to Yellow Mist. The pegasus let out a silent scream as he looked up at her. Trixie's coat was now completely white, she was wearing a purple vest over her upper body, her mane - now dark green - was combed back completely smooth, but the most unnerving were her lips. Those blood red lips that covered the huge scars curving upwards from her mouth, giving her the same, albeit smaller grin he gave Shady Deal. "...Joker! And as you can see, I have taken your advice. I lightened up. And you were right! It's great for my health! Now I'm a lot happier!"

Yellow Mist finally regained enough composure to stand up, but Trixie pulled out two cards from the pocket of her vest, both of them jokers, and threw them at the pegasus. The edge of the cards were razor sharp and pierced through his hooves easily, pinning them to the wooden desk behind him. Yellow Mist screamed in pain as he struggled to get himself free, but all of his struggled were in vain.

Suddenly he heard a series of clicking sounds from all over the room. But even more worrying was the fact that they seemed to be getting closer. Yellow Mist looked around and saw a bunch of those wind up teeth toys clammering on the floor as they made their way towards him. As they got closer. Yellow Mist noticed in akarm that these were no ordinary toys. Instead of the harmless plastic, these teeth were razor sharp and made of metal. Yellow Mist began trashing around in panic as a useless attempt to escape.

"Trixie! Trixie, don't... AAAAAGH!!!" He screamed as the first of the mechanical torture devices reached him and bit into his flesh.

"No hard feelings, right, Yellow Mist?" Trixie cooed mockingly. "Nothing personal. just... business. Ha ha... Hehehehe... AH HA HA HA HA!" Trixie laughed maniacally as the tormented pegasus continued to writhe and scream on the floor. By the time the clicking of the wind up teeth stopped, Yellow Mist already bled out with several chunks of flesh missing from the parts of his body they attacked. Trixie then removed the cards she pierced his hooves to the desk with and moved his body into a chair in front of Shady's body on the other end of the desk, before giving his body the exact same facial treatment. Trixie then noticed the envelope that Yellow Mist dropped when he fell over. She picked it up and pulled out the invitation to the Falcon colt's birthday party. Trixie grinned menacingly and looked out the window at the towering mansion of the crime family.

"You think the bat was bad?" Trixie chuckled darkly as her grin grew even more sinister. "Wait 'till you get a load of me."





Captain Jam Garden, a unicorn stallion with mint green coat and brown mane took a sniff from his cigar as he fixed his glasses to examine the crime scene. This was the third in the last two weeks. The third homicide in a chemical plant that was somehow connected to the Falcon family, where the victims have been ponies with a criminal record who were connected to the same family. And there was one more similarity. One that shocked the investigating police ponies to the core.

"The same?" Garden asked from one of the CSI ponies, a pegasus mare with dark yellow coat and red mane while standing in front of three bodies covered in sheets. The CSI pony nodded, before grabbing the sheet and pulling it off to reveal what Garden had been dreading to see. The dead pony lying in front of him had two huge scars carved onto his face, curling upwards from the two sides of his mouth towards his ears and his eyelids have been removed to give the head the apparition of a big, twisted grin. Garden raised a foreleg to his muzzle.

"You know, there was a time where I would have given one of my legs to have Falcon's operations going up in flames like this, but this..." He sneered in disgust as he looked back at the body and instructed the CSI to pull the sheet back up. "What kind of sick, twisted animal could do this to another pony?" As the two ponies kept discussing the crime, Garden's partner, Detective Hardy Bulldog, a huge, bulky, brown earth pony stallion with black hair approached them.

"I just talked to Falcon's attorney. He says he denies knowing anything about what happened here." Garden rolled his eyes.

"Of course he does." He muttered. "Just like with the previous two. Who does he think he's fooling at this point? Only an idiot can't see the connection here! Somepony is targeting his drug operations."

"What does he have to protect at this point?" Hardy scoffed. "Most of his drug labs have already been wiped out in the city." He then put his hoof to his chin in thought. "You think it was the bat again?" Garden shook his head.

"Don't think so. The bat hasn't been spotted in the last two weeks. And the way this freak took out those poor bastards..." he said, motioning at the three sheet covered bodies. "...that's not the bat's style. We never found anypony dead at the places it struck." Hardy shrugged.

"You never know with these freaks." he replied. "A pattern would apply sanity. Anypony who dresses up like a bat and jumps across the city's roofs is clearly nuttier than a fruitcake." Before Garden could respond, he was interrupted by the CSI pony.

"I'm afraid it gets worse." She told them, motioning for the two police ponies to follow her. The three ponies made their way to the loading area of the building. Captain Garden immediately noticed the oddness of the gate where the carriages came in to unload their cargo being wide open. The ponies working for Caramel Falcon weren't know for neglecting their security.

"They just left the gate open like that?"

"They wouldn't do that." The CSI pony replied. "The perpetrator left through that gate. They were either in a hurry or just didn't care if they left the scene unturned and full of evidence." Detective Bulldog scoffed.

"I'm guessing the latter. Freak must have been proud of what they did and wanted to brag about it to us."

"Take it easy, Hardy." Garden said in an attempt to calm his partner. "That's not all, is it?" The CSI pony shook his head.

"No. The worst part is this." She then gave the captain a piece of paper, which contained the list of chemicals that were brought in to the plant that night. "Several canisters of chemicals from that list are missing from here."

"The perpetrator took them." Captain Garden concluded, before turning to Hardy. "Do you think it was a rival dealer gang?"

"Not a chance." The detective replied. "Ever since Martini was put away, Falcon owns the drug operations all over the city. Nopony would be dumb enough to cross him like this unless they have a death wish."

"But who else would have done this?" Garden wondered. "What use would they have of those chemicals?"

"My guess is we have another one of those customed nutjobs on the loose." Hardy replied. "Like we needed any more." The captain was skeptical about this theory, but he himself couldn't come up with a better one.

"What can be manufactured from the chemicals that have been taken?" He asked the CSI pony.

"That's not my field, Captain." She replied, shaking her head. "You should ask the toxicology guys back at the MPD."

That was the last thing Captain Garden wanted to hear. Going through the bureaucratic crap of the department was going to take at least a week. And time was a luxury he couldn't afford. Somepony committed a horrendous crime against the most powerful pony in the city whom many considered untouchable. And on top of that, the night before his son's birthday. Not only that, but several canisters of  dangerous chemicals were now unaccounted for. His gut told him that all of these things were connected. Whoever this pony was obviously had a bone to pick with Falcon. Something big was about to go down. And he had a bad feeling about it.





Caramel Falcon looked at himself in the mirror as his wife, Cherry Falcon, a navy blue earth pony mare adjusted his suit for what it felt like the twentieth time that day.

"Would you stop fidgeting?" Caramel found himself having difficulty to adjust to his wife's request. But it was really time for him to finally leave his office and join the party in the mansion's massive garden, but even if it was the birthday of his only son who just turned seven, in all honesty, he wasn't feeling festive. He did not like what was looking back at him. He looked 20 years older than he actually was. While he barely reached fourty recently, his black mane already had gray streaks in it, the wrinkles were becoming visible beneath his grey coat and the scar running under his left eye was more noticeable than ever. Frankly, he looked bad. And the events of the past few months definitely played a role in that.

"I'm sorry, dear. It's just the events of recent days..." His wife immediately cut him off.

"There won't be any of it, do you hear me? It is the birthday of our son and you won't ruin it with your dirty little business affairy." Caramel tried to ease his mind, but it was impossible.

First it was the bat. It showed up a few months ago and started taking out warehouses and drug operations all over the city. Mainly the docks. At first, it mainly went after his biggest rival in the underworld, Silver Martini. It was useful to him even as he took that smug bastard down and gave him the opportunity to take over his part of Manehattan. But he knew it won't stop there. It will come after him and he was prepared for it. That doesn't mean it wasn't texting on him though. He was running out of aliases to use for his illegal operations down the docks. But more importantly, he was running out hiding places and ponies willing to work for him.

And now there was another freak out there with a grudge against him. One who did not simply settle on beating the tar out of his employees. He knew he had made many enemies during his time as a crime lord, but he never thought any of them could be this crazy. And to top it off, his most trusted executive, Yellow Mist was also missing. But no matter what would happen, nothing can ruin this day. The day of his son.

He walked up to the window and looked down at the celebrating crowd below. When his face fell on his own son, the little creamy white earthy pony colt with dark brown mane, laughing merrily and playing with his friends, his hard features softened into a smile. He briefly wondered what it would be like to leave it all behind and start living the life of a normal family life. Surely he's already earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life and have enough to leave for his family. And he would never admit it, but he felt like he was getting too old for this job.

And that was exactly what kept him from throwing in the towel. His pride. That was what always kept him from stopping. After this day was done, he would go right back to what he was always doing: getting the city back under his control.

"Are you ready to finally head downstairs?" Cherry asked as she adjusted his suit one more time, before the two headed out the door. But when they stepped out the door, one of Caramel's guards was waiting for them, looking rather agitated.

"Boss, there's something here you have to see!" He insisted in panic, but the other stallion dismissed him.

"Whatever it is, it will have to wait. Today is all about our son." He replied, but before the pair reached the stairs, the guard said something that made them stop dead in their tracks.

"But boss, it is about your son!" Falcon's eyes widened.

"What?!" Cherry exclaimed in horror. Caramel was just as shocked but there was also visible rage on his face. "What is it?" The guard pulled out an envelope from his suit and reached into it with shaking hooves, pulling out three pieces of paper. He gave them to his boss who began to read.


Dear Mr. Falcon!

I am terribly sorry, but Shady Deal won't be able to attend your son's birthday. He has come down with a very bad case of death. However, I am delighted to announce that I will be able to make it in his place and I will deliver the birthday present of a lifetime! It will be to die for! See you soon! Along with your darling colt! And remember, no matter what happens, always put on a happy face! :)


Falcon threw away the letter and looked at the other two papers. They were two photos and the parents' eyes widened in horror upon seeing them. One of them was of Shady Deal and Yellow Mist, sitting in two chairs across a desk and sporting wide grins but their eyes were empty as glass. They were obviously dead, Shady had a huge gash across his throat and Yellow Mist's body had several chunks of flesh missing from all over it.

But it was when the Falcons saw the other photo that their blood froze. It was a photo of their son, Alabaster Falcon. His eyes had holes poked into them and there was a wide, red grin drawn onto his face. No. This wasn't possible. There couldn't have possibly been anypony stupid enough to threaten their son. This must have been a joke. But if it was, it was of very poor taste. And one that they won't tolerate.

"Where did this come from?!" Cherry demanded, grasping the guard's shoulders. "The mail had come in earlier today and this wasn't among them!" The trembling guard pointed at the window behind them. They all turned around and could not believe their eyes. Behind the open window, was the body of the mailpony that delivered their mail that day, hanging from a tree behind the mansion with his lips hooked up into a twisted grin and envelopes sticking out of his mouth.





It did not take long for the Falcons to put the guards around their mansion on high alert after the discovery of the threatening letter. Of course, they tried to handle the matter with the utmost discretion. They did not need to create mass panic among the guests on such an important day.

Every single entrance to the mansion was now patrolled by guards. Two of them had the unfortunate task of being assigned to a gate near the west wing. There was nothing there except an old, unused shed that Falcon never bothered to renovate or tear down. And the gate and the fence have long since been overgrown by vegetation.

"What the hay are we doing here?" One of them, a blue pegasus with yellow mane complained complained. "I thought everypony forgot about this part of the mansion. This damn gate hasn't been used in years."

"Shut up, will you?" His partner, a grey unicorn with white mane snapped back. "You know the boss doesn't like it when he's questioned. If he says we're guarding this gate, then we're guarding this gate." His partner rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." His partner grumbled. "I still hate it. Makes me feel unimportant."

"You should be glad, if you ask me." The unicorn replied. "Nothing ever happens around this part of the mansion. We should have an easy time here." Before the pegasus could reply, they heard a series of loud bangs on the gate, which made them jump in surprise.

"What the hay?" The pegasus asked in wonder.

"Hey, you said you wanted something to happen. Now here it is." The unicorn replied as he went to open the gate. What they saw only increased their shock. Standing right in front of them, was a unicorn mare with white coat wearing a beret, a black and white striped shirt and clown makeup. The mare threw up her forelegs and gestured at herself, as if presenting herself to the two stallions, who exchanged a confused look.

"What's this supposed to be?" Asked the pegasus. The unicorn shrugged.

"Hay if I know." He then turned to the mime. "The boss didn't order no clown for this party. Especially not one of those creepy silent types. Now beat it!" The mime pulled one of her hooves down in front of her face and her expression changed from cheerful to sad. She then pulled it back up and once again became cheerful before pulling out a flower bouquet from her sleeve.

"I thought mimes were mute, not deaf." The unicorn complained.

"Didn't you hear him?" The pegasus demanded more forcefully. "He told you to hit the road!" The mime pulled out in single flower from the bouquet and sniffed it. She pretended to sigh blissfully from it's scent and offered it to the unicorn to sniff it. He was not amused.

"Last chance, clown!" He snapped at her. "If you don't want your makeup smeared with your blood, then I suggest you..."

Suddenly, the mime squeezed the flower and a bright yellow liquid came out of it, hitting the unicorn in the face. The stallion screamed in agony as the acidic substance started burning his face with a sizzling sound and fell on the ground, grasping his muzzle. The pegasus stepped back in horror, watching helplessly as his partner stopped squirming on the ground and eventually stopped moving altogether. His hooves fell to his sides, revealing his horribly disfigured and melted face.

The pegasus glared back at the mime and raised his hoof to punch her, but the mime stepped back, raised her own hoof and caught the punch. The pegasus then felt huge waves of electricity course through his body from the mime's hoof. He tried to pull away but couldn't. As the electricity became more and more intense, his body began to smoke and darken with burn marks. The mime eventually let go and the lifeless body of the pegasus collapsed right next to his partner. She then pulled off her beret and wiped the mime paint off, revealing Trixie Lullamoon. A. K. A., The Joker.

She grinned demomically, before turning to wave over two other mimes who were waiting nearby with a carriage full of gas cylinders. The two mimes pulled up the carriage right in front of the gate, while Trixie went to open the old shed. She pulled out another flower from her bouquet and sprinkled another wave of acid into the lock, melting it inside and opening the door. Her two goons then pulled the bodies inside the shed to hide them while Trixie picked up one of the cylinders and carried it into the shed.

"It's time for the real party to begin." She chuckled darkly as she pulled out a pack of balloons and attaching on to the end of the cylinder before opening the valve and filling the balloon with gas. Tying the balloon's end together with a string, she peaked out the door and looked towards the partying crowd between the mansion's main doors and the main gate of the compound. "Happy birthday!" She whispered, blowing the balloon into the crowd's direction.





Despite his family background, Alabaster Falcon lived the ordinary, carefree life of the average seven year old colt. He went to school - just started his first year actually - had a lot of friends - all of whom attended this party - and never knew anything about his family's questionable affairs. He was way too young to be included on that yet, even if Caramel wanted him to take over the business one day. But for now, he was quite content with him simply being a foal.

And while he greatly enjoyed the company of his friends, there was one pony he dearly missed from this party, his father. He knew he was a very busy stallion and he often buried himself in his work, but he promised he would join his party today and he always kept his promises he made to his family. So why wasn't he here? It's been hours since the party began.

As he scanned the crowd to locate his father, his gaze found his mother, Cherry Falcon nervously pacing among the guests and looking around cautiously every five seconds like she was expecting an attack to hit her from somewhere. He excused himself from his friends and ran up to the mare.

"Mom, why isn't dad here yet?" He asked the blue earth pony mare. "Is everything ok?" Cherry immediately realised that her son must have noticed her agitated behaviour and leaned down to his eye level.

"Of course, dear. Daddy will soon join us. He's just making sure that nopony will ruin your special day." Alabaster was about to say something else, but then something else caught his attention.

"Mom, look!" He pointed behind the mare. Cherry turned around to see a rather bizzare sight. The old shed they haven't used in years was wide open, but more shockingly, a whole bunch of colorful balloons were floating out it's door, slowly making their way towards the crowd.

"Cherry, dear, was that your husband's idea?" One of her mare friends asked. "What a lovely surprise!" But Cherry did not share her enthusiasm. Something about this situation felt horribly, horribly wrong. First it was that letter and now this unannounced surprise.

Alabaster also shared her mother's unease and slowly backed away from the advancing balloons. He then bumped into something behind him and turned around to see a tall stallion dressed as a mime staring down at him. The stallion placed purple box wrapped up with green ribbons down in front of the colt and then headed off. The whole crowd was so fixated on the balloons that they didn't even notice him.

Alabaster stared at the box in confusion. It looked no different than the other presents he received today. He slowly unwrapped the the ribbons and opened the box to see something he definitely did not expect to get today, a gas mask with a note attached to it. He picked it up to see what it says.

Put this on right now!

Cherry Falcon narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the balloons. One of them started descending down towards her, almost as if targeting her. The blue balloon floated in front of Cherry's face and slowly turned around and Cherry saw that there was something written on it.

Slaughter is the best medicine.

And then all Tartarus broke loose.

POP

The balloon popped into Cherry's face, making her and the entire crowd jump in surprise. But even more surprising was the green gas that was revealed to be inside it. Cherry Falcon backed away, but it was already too late. She inhaled some of the gas and fell on the ground in a fit of violent coughs.

"Mom!" Alabaster cried as he ran up to her side to check on her. His worry turned into confusion when he heard her coughs turning into laughter. It was silent cackling at first, but then she looked up and Alabaster backed away in horror. His mother's face was contorted into a wide twisted grin as she laughed hysterically, but her eyes clearly showed that she was in pain. The laughter continued until there was no more air left in Cherry's lungs as her laughter died down and she stopped moving and breathing altogether.

Alabaster didn't even have time to cry out for his mother as he heard a loud series of popping sounds from all around him. The other balloons all popped apart, releasing the deadly laughing gas they contained. The ponies in the garden were defenseless against it's spreading. The mares and the stallions, even the foals from Alabaster's school all ended up inhaling it and soon the garden was filled with their horrible laughter that left them helpless on the ground until they all literally laughed themselves to death.

Alabaster looked around the nightmarish scene with tears in his eyes, but he suddenly remembered the gas mask he was given just a minute ago. He quickly pulled it on and was about to run inside the mansion, but his way was blocked by the laughing ponies and the bodies of the ones who already died. Looking around for an escape route, the only clear path he saw was the trotway leading to the main gate. Running as fast as he could, he managed to get out of the compound and escape the range of the spreading gas, but the sound of the laughing ponies in the garden still haunted him.

He looked around in search of help, but the only pony in sight was a white mare wearing a purple vest whose face was obscured by a red balloon. The balloon in front of her face slowly moved upwards and Alabaster saw the mare sending a frightening glare in his way. The glare eventually turned into a demonic grin, horrifying enough to make Alabaster lose all of his remaining mental strength and passed out.





Absolute horror. That was the only way Captain Garden could describe the crime scene in front of him. The garden of the Falcon mansion was not only locked down with the usual police line tapes, but was also a biohazard arena due to the poison gas attack that occurred here. More than a day passed since the attack, but they still couldn't remove all the bodies from the scene. Many of them still laid there covered in white sheet and the captain and his partner, Detective Bulldog were unfortunate enough to get a glimpse at some of them who were still uncovered. Those horrible grins on their lifeless bodies will haunt them for the rest of their lives. There were foals among them. Foals! Even for the hardened and cynical Bulldog, it was too much.

"What do we know so far?" He asked the CSI ponies when he finally regained enough mental strength.

"We've managed to obtain a sample of the gas and sent it for analysis." One of them replied.

"Does Falcon still refuse to say anything?" He knew it was a stupid question, but he needed to ask it nevertheless.

"Of course he does!" Bulldog snapped back at him. "His whole family has been massacred and his colt is missing! I hate that bastard as much as you but still, I wouldn't have wished this on him!"

"We did find something though." The CSI pony said as he gave Garden several photos. "One of Falcon's security cameras recorded a pony of interest."

Garden looked at the photos and saw a white unicorn mare with green mane sneaking around the mansion while dangling a red balloon. Apparently, she knew where the cameras were as several of the photos showed her waving up at them with a wide grin. Garden narrowed his eyes. The mare on the photo somehow looked familiar. He somehow knew that he saw her photo not too long ago regarding another case. He'll have to look deeper into it once he got back to the station. He didn't know how, but he knew this mare was connected to this case.

While the police ponies in the garden did their job, the stallion of the house, Caramel Falcon was sitting in his office with several empty bottles and glasses around him, no matter how much he drank, he couldn't numb the pain. He had lost everything. All of his family was gone. The ponies he worked for throughout his life. His criminal empire, all of his fortune, it was no longer worth anything.

He knew that his lifestyle would come back to bite him someday, but he never expected his whole family to pay for it and especially not in such a way. Now there was only one thing he was hoping to do. Find the bastard who was responsible for this and make them pay. Everypony who worked for him, every petty thug who roamed this city would be on this case. He would give everything he owned to whoever brought the pony who did this to him.

It's been a while since he finished his last bottle of beverage. He knew he was starting to sober up because he saw something that eluded his attention before. In the darkness of his room, he could see a white envelope lying in front of the door of his office. He didn't understand how it got there as he had two of his guards standing in front of the door. He stood up and stormed over to the door to chew his guards out for their carelessness, but when he opened the door, he found both of them lying on the floor, dead. One of them had a joker card sticking out his throat, while the other had a pole with a flag saying "BANG!" sticking out of his eye. Whoever did this was sneaky enough to elude the police ponies working in the garden.

After getting over his shock, Falcon slammed the door shut and picked up the envelope. Opening it, he found two more photos inside. One of them was a building down the docks whom he recognised as Warehouses 47. The largest warehouse in the docks, formerly owned by Sliver Martini, but abandoned since his arrest. He had no idea what it was supposed to mean though. The other photo however caught his attention. It was his son. Tied to a chair and wearing clown makeup with the words "Ha! Ha! Ha!" painted into the wall behind him several times over. Falcon turned the photo around. There was a message on the other side.

Will daddy come out to play?

Falcon narrowed his eyes. The freak wanted to play? He walked over to his desk and pulled out one of his drawers, revealing a gun inside. It was a sick and twisted game, but given no choice In the matter, he might as well win it.