Chrysalis' unexpected Life

by coto616

Batmare.

Manhattan, the most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria, rich in culture, cuisine, arts, music, theater, fashion, dance, literature, a place full of beautiful classical architecture which made a perfect contrast to the more modern buildings of a unique style, a place with busy and loud streets, but which also had large and peaceful public parks where ponies strolled and colts played in the sunshine.

There were many things to do in this city, both day and night, legal and illegal. You could work in a busy office during the day, stroll quietly through a plaza in the afternoon, and enjoy the attractive and mysterious nightlife, or you could plan an ostentatious robbery during the day, prepare the tools of dubious provenance in the afternoon, and commit the robbery at night, hoping to get your hooves on a big, juicy haul and get away with it.

But for the second group of ponies, there was a well-known figure in town, one whose moral compass and desire for justice was a beacon of hope and a shield for the honest and defenseless. A figure who, regardless of adversity, stood stoically as a daily lookout on the line that separated right from wrong and slowly tipped the scales.

This figure was Captain Sturdy Root, a fierce warrior for justice and head of the entire Manehattan Police Department, unlike many other officers who did their work from their offices, Captain Surdy Root was a pony of the streets, he liked to participate directly in investigations and led his ponies by example, earning the respect and admiration of all.

This was one of the main reasons why this city was one of the safest in all of Equestria. However, not all problems could be solved by the police, and the Captain knew the limits of his power, a power that sometimes turned into a shackle, allowing known criminals to go free because of small technicalities that were well exploited by unscrupulous lawyers, But the Captain had a solution to solve the problems that the law did not allow. It was an unusual and very effective solution, a solution hated by some and admired by others, a solution whose face was hidden under a mask.

This solution watched the streets from the top of a building in the middle of the night, ears alert to the cries of innocents in distress, alert to the undeniable sound of malicious hoofsteps in the dark Manehattan streets.

"HEEEELP!" A mare cried out, desperately running down a deserted street, her attacker close behind her never losing sight. Hearing the call for help, our hero quickly sprang into action.

"Lady, come back here!" The unicorn shouted in pursuit of the mare, but she continued on her way without a pause.

A quick mind accompanied by a great flow of adrenaline led the mare to turn down a street and enter a square to quickly exit through another entrance with the intention of losing her attacker, but tonight fortune smiled on the wrong ponies as all the gates of the square were closed and the only one open was where she came from. But as she was about to run she saw a large stallion standing at the only entrance, destroying any escape.

"Well madam, thank you for the workout but enough running, now give me your purse and your necklace and tell me where you got that beautiful hair done, it would look good on my wife." Said the stallion as he slowly made his way up to his terrified victim.

"Get away from me!" The mare shouted back as she took a few steps back in an attempt to get away from her attacker.

"Ma'am, I'm being as nice as I can, but I have to get back home now, so please, the purse." The stallion said insistently as he approached the mare.

"HELP!" The mare screamed again.

"I've had enough of this, hand over the purse, NOW." The stallion shouted as he struggled with the mare as they both fought over the purse.

"I advise you to leave the mare alone." Said a voice from the trees.

"Who is it?" The stallion asked.

"Someone who will drag your wretched flank to prison." The voice replied, showing her silhouette slightly. From her appearance, one could only tell that it was a mare.

"Aye, you'll have to stop that first!" The stallion shouted as he shone his horn and shot out a magical bolt of lightning that hit the tree and blew it to pieces. "Ha, how about that, I have plenty more if you want one." The stallion began shooting magic bolts in all directions, hitting trees and rocks until he ran out of power. When he saw that the mysterious figure had disappeared, he smiled broadly. "Ha, I feel sorry for you, but now you know why I own these streets." The unicorn said.

At that moment, a small carved crystal fell onto the unicorn's hoof, confusing him. When he picked it up with his hoof to check it out, it began to glow and emitted a magical pulse that enveloped the unicorn, blinding him and dazzling him a bit.

"Arrgg... What was that?" He shouted in annoyance.

"An inhibitor crystal, it's not as efficient as a ring, but it does the job." The figure replied, stepping out of the shadows and approaching the stallion.

From her tone of voice and her silhouette, she was a mare, but you couldn't tell who she was. She was wearing a black cloth suit that covered her body completely, a belt with too many pockets and a leather cape with a strange shape that covered her back and two bulges on her sides, metal boots with rubber soles so as not to make any noise, and a horn that was also covered with the costume.

"Hey... I know you... you're that Batmare." The Stallion smiled and got ready to fight. "I guess I'm lucky today, after I'm done with you, I'll own this town."

Batmare started running at full speed towards the stallion. The stallion saw his chance for a direct attack and concentrated on his magic, but trying to make it work proved impossible.

"But what's wrong with..." A hoof hit him directly in the face with enough force to knock him out instantly. Batmare watched the offender for a few seconds, waiting to see if he would get up or not, and when he didn't she approached the mare who was still frightened by what had happened.

"Madam, are you all right?" Batmare asked.

"Yes, thank you for helping me." The mare said as she straightened her mane and put her purse back on her shoulder.

"Well, I suggest you get home as soon as possible."

"Ok, thanks again." Said the mare before speeding away from the square and heading home, Batmare approached the perpetrator to finish what she started.

The next morning, a blue stallion stood tied to a tree in a busy Manhattan square, an inhibitor ring on his horn. He tried his best to free himself before the police arrived, but it was a futile effort as his screams quickly attracted the attention of a couple of police officers patrolling nearby.

But not far from there, a small group of four had gathered. They were organizing their forces to capture their enemy once and for all.

"I'm telling you for the hundredth time, Jester. You can't attack Batmare directly without a plan, and that's exactly what we're doing here." Said a light brown unicorn with a very short cream mane.

"I'm bored with plans." Replied a white earth pony with a mane of many colors. "Plans, plans, plans, plans, plans, all you do is plan and not act, I am not a plan pony, I am an action pony."

"And your actions have only landed you in jail. The four of us are the most fearsome villains in Manehattan and by standing together, we have a chance to take down Batmare." A very dark brown unicorn in a green T-shirt replied.

"I know, Sandpony, but plans are your thing, not mine. I'm a pony of simple pleasures, like money, balloons, colored lights and..." Jester pulled out of his pocket a couple of small mechanical objects with a couple of crystals in them. "...these little fellows."

The group looked at the artifacts without much understanding of how they worked. Even though Jester was a buffon, they all knew that deep down he was a genius at metallurgy and arcane seals, which was a bit surprising for an Earth pony, and the only one who could understand some of how they worked was Max Lotus.

"I see that the artifact is causing a reaction in the crystal as a result of the impact, is it some kind of bomb?" Max asked.

"Yes and no, they are bombs, but they are not explosive, well... they cause a little destruction, because I like to see things blow up, but their main function is to neutralize all surrounding magic, and when I say all, I mean all."

"Have you tried on ponies?" Asked a burly, reddish, iron-armored earth pony, taking one of the artifacts in his hoof.

"Not yet, but I plan to do so soon."

"Well, what's stopping you?"

"I need a volunteer." Jester replied.

"And do you have somepony in mind to do it?" The stallion asked.

Jester, besides being a genius and a prankster, was very good at manipulating simple minds, he knew his artifacts worked and he could neutralize all of Batmare's magic, but she was superior to him in frontal combat. He needed someone with strength and a lot of combat experience, someone who could withstand a few blows, someone with a simple mind and easy to manipulate.

"I have someone in mind, but... I don't think you have the skills for the job." Jester replied.

"What do you mean?" The stallion said, clearly annoyed, as he lifted his huge body out of the small chair he was sitting in.

"You see Jarhead, I can use my little artifacts to take out Batmare's magical power, but she still beats me in hoofed combat, I know her combat skills perfectly well and they are the best I have seen in years, not counting the princesses, there must be very few ponies in all of Equestria that could stand up to her in head to head combat, and your combat skills are ..... slightly better than average." Jester replied in a mocking tone.

The hulking stallion took the table with his huge hoof and threw it into a wall, shattering it without much effort, and approached aggressively, imposing all his will on Jester, looking down as if he were talking to a colt. Jester looked up as much as he could without being intimidated by Jarhead, he would be easily shattered by a blow from the huge stallion, but he had his ways of defending himself.

"Are you saying I'm weak?, That I can't smash a unicorn in a Nightmare Night costume?, I trained for years with the Yaks to learn how to smash things, and in the afternoons I used to beat up manticores for fun." The red stallion said proudly.

"Ohhh... so you think you're pretty tough?" Jester asked with a grimace.

"Tough?, I ate a bowl of nails for breakfast this morning."

"And?"

"And I ate them without milk." Jarhead replied, snorting in Jester's face.

"Wow, that's great, so you won't have any trouble with Batmare if I give you this, right?" Jester asked, throwing one of his small artifacts at the huge stallion, who caught it in a very clumsy manner.

"If this thing can take out Batmare's magic, I'll break her in two. How does it work?" Jarhead asked, looking at the small object in his hoof and figuring out how it worked.

"You just touch the crystal and throw it. It has a range of about ten meters and the effect lasts about three minutes, but I think that will be enough for you to do your job." Jester replied.

"I only need three seconds, now move over and I'll show you how a real pony does his job." Jarhead said, waving his hoof to get Jester out of the way, but because of his size and strength he sent him flying into some crates. He then approached a wall and broke it by headbutting it with his helmet before running off with no apparent direction.

Jester managed to get up with a little work and wiped the dust off him, then returned to the table to sit next to the two unicorns. The light brown unicorn flashed his horn and with a spell covered Jester with his magic and revitalized his body.

"Thank you Max." Said the Earth Pony.

"Don't be, do you think Jarhead has a chance against Batmare?" Asked the Unicorn.

"Not at all, but I need someone strong to do a field test and he is the best candidate, besides, without his presence we can start the second phase of our plan, Sandpony, have you been able to convince our possible new ally?" The white stallion asked the dark brown unicorn.

"He says he will join us, but on one condition - he wants the head of Batmare."

"The only way he can get it is through me." Jester replied angrily.

"Then we have a need for someone else to be part of our plan." Sandpony replied.

"We'll have to leave our meeting here. We need a fourth member of great power to form our crime syndicate. Equestria is too big for the three of us, and it has powerful defenders." Said the brown unicorn.

"Max is right, I suggest we each continue to look for candidates and we will meet again when the time is right."

The group nodded in agreement and each of them retreated to a different exit.

That same night Batmare was on the roofs of the buildings patrolling as she always did when she heard the sound of an explosion and then the distinctive alarm sound of a bank being robbed, she approached jumping full speed between the roofs of the buildings and when he was on the last building he jumped towards the street and opened his wings to glide and fall dramatically without making a sound, she entered the bank through a huge hole in one of its sides and she could hear the sound of the vault door giving way little by little to the force of a huge earth pony.

"Jarhead." Batmare said as he approached the stallion.

"Batmare, just the mare I was waiting for. You're later than I expected, are you getting old?" The stallion said with a grimace intended to offend her.

"I stopped to get some muffins to take to your mother." The mare replied, returning the offense to the stallion. "When did you get out of jail?"

"They let me out when I made bail."

"Your last bail was about ten thousand. I doubt you have the money to pay that."

"I'm working on it."

"The only thing you're going to do right now is to go back to jail."

"If you want me to go back to that stinking mousetrap they call prison, you'll have to make me." The stallion replied, trying to hit the mare with his huge hoof, but Batmare, being smaller and faster, was able to dodge him with ease.

Jarhead kept on attacking without stopping, but Batmare managed to dodge all of his attacks and hit the stallion a few times, but he didn't get hurt due to his great physical strength and his thick iron armor.

´I need another tactic if I want to get past his defenses, good thing I have my tools´. Batmare thought as she continued to fight Jarhead.

The stallion began to feel exhausted after a few seconds of attacking, and even though he was not the smartest creature in Equestria, he also realized that fighting like this would get him nowhere, Jester was right about Batmare being an excellent fighter, he was much bigger, with more strength and experience, but it wouldn't do any good if he couldn't land a blow. He knew that Batmare was waiting for the moment to counterattack with one of her strange devices, so in order not to give her a chance, he decided to change his strategy.

Remembering what Jester had said about the artifact he'd given him, he used one of his attacks to pull it out of a compartment in his armor and threw it violently to the ground between Batmare and himself, causing a small explosion and releasing some smoke, Even though it was impossible for him to use magic like the unicorns, he could feel how his body weakened a bit as he lost his natural resistance of the earth pony, that's why he was glad to know that the object had worked and surely also eliminated all of Batmare's magic, only she didn't know it.

"What did you do?" The mare asked, jumping back when she saw the explosion and had no idea what had happened.

"Something that is going to tilt the scales in my favor quite a bit." The stallion replied, attacking Batmare again, only this time with more force and speed. He knew he could end the fight with a single blow.

Batmare dodged his attacks, waiting for the right moment to make her move, and when she finally saw it, she quickly pulled some crystals from her belt and threw them at Jarhead's hooves. She jumped back a few times to be out of range of his artifacts, but the small crystals did absolutely nothing, Jarhead grimaced and started to laugh out loud.

`That explosion must have affected my tools and that's why Jarhead is laughing. I need a new strategy`, Batmare thought as she heard her opponent's laughter.

Jarhead, knowing that he still had the advantage, attacked Batmare again and after a few attempts he managed to hit her with a strong blow that sent her flying towards some tables.

Batmare was dizzy from the strong blow and with a lot of effort she managed to stand up while Jarhead slowly approached, she shook her head and took up a fighting position, even though it was still hard to focus her sight she put her hoof on her forehead to aim better and tried to shoot a magic ray from her horn, but she was surprised to realize that she couldn't do it either, Jarhead stopped in front of Batmare and showed a malicious grimace.

From one moment to the other, the mare flew out of the bank window and fell in the middle of the street, all thanks to another blow from Jarhead, Batmare was again dizzy from the impact and knew that she could not withstand another blow of that magnitude, so she had to find a way to defeat Jarhead.

Gathering her strength she started to run through the streets and Jarhead immediately started to chase her to finish her off, Batmare knew her abilities and those of her opponents very well, she was fast and smart but she was not strong, at least not at the level to beat Jarhead in a frontal fight, and without her tools or her horn she was at a clear disadvantage and she couldn't escape forever either, she needed something to help her stop her opponent and she needed it fast, with her agility she had no trouble keeping Jarhead a few meters away while she searched and thought of something to help her, and it was then that she saw a possible solution, she just hoped that what she was looking for was inside of her.

With a jump and a strong kick she broke the door of a shop and entered quickly, Jarhead entered a second later, but the place was completely dark and he could only see the silhouette of some pots with flowers and plants, illuminated by the little light coming from the city lamps.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, little mare." The stallion said in a playful tone, while Batmare moved silently through the shadows, sniffing at the flowers, apparently in search of a particular one.

"I'll steal some of those pretty flowers to take to my mother when I'm done with you." Jarhead picked up one of the vases with his hoof and after a sniff threw it hard against a wall, shattering it. "This one's no good, I need another one that smells better." Jarhead started sniffing flowers. He threw the ones he didn't like against the wall, smashing them.

After a few seconds of searching, Batmare found the flower she was looking for and very carefully cut a few blossoms and ground them into a paste between her hooves. Now she just needed to create the distraction to attack.

She took one of the pieces of the broken vases that had fallen nearby and used it to gently tap the counter a few times to get Jarhead's attention. Then she crouched down and waited for him to approach.

"Huh? What was that?" Jarhead said as he heard the noise and approached the counter. He pushed the clay vases aside to get a better look and seeing nothing, he leaned down to look behind the counter but could only see darkness.

Without warning, Batmare jumped out of the shadows and punched Jarhead right in the face, smearing his eyes and muzzle with the paste she had made. She fell gracefully on all fours to the other side of the room, never taking her eyes off her opponent.

It was not more than a second before Jarhead began to cough uncontrollably. His eyes began to water from a severe burn.

"Arrgg..." He said between coughs. "I can't... see." The giant pony wobbled a bit and leaned on the counter to keep from falling to the floor as he coughed uncontrollably. "I... can't... break..." At that moment, he slipped, but he managed to stay on his feet as he tried to wipe his eyes, not stopping to cough at any moment. "What... what was that... thing?" The stallion began to feel dizzy and leaned back against the counter.

"Chrysanthemum indicum, commonly known as mums, is a very common flower in flower shops, but is extremely irritating when applied in large doses directly over the eyes and snout. I thought you would like it since I saw you smelling the flowers." Batmare replied and walked over to the colossal stallion who was throwing clumsy punches in all directions in an attempt to hit her.

"I'm going to..." She coughed. "I'm going to finish... you..." The stallion shouted, unable to see and struggling to stay on his hooves, which slipped every time he tried to stand.

Batmare got into position and slammed her hoof hard into the stallion's throat, causing him to fall to his knees and bring one of his hooves to his neck as he tried to catch his breath, then at that moment Batmare turned around and smacked Jarhead right in the forehead with her hind legs, causing a great metallic sound and sending his heavy helmet flying to the side, the huge pony staggered a little and fell to his side unconscious, causing a great clattering sound.

"Whew... that was intense." The mare said to herself. She dusted off her costume and took the opportunity to rearrange her bones.

A few minutes later, as usual, the police showed up to take control of the situation, but Batmare had disappeared from the scene long before the officers entered the shop. They would understand in seconds what had happened, and even though her relationship with the police was cordial, she had other things to worry about.

Returning to the shore, Batmare searched the rubble for the artifact Jarhead had used to neutralize her tools and horn, and began to check it when she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

"Rough night?" The figure asked as he approached. "I'm always amazed at the destruction someone can cause with just their hooves. It's frightening."

"Good evening Captain Root, have you or any of your officers seen anything like this?" Batmare greeted the captain as she showed him the artifact that Jarhead had been using.

"Hmmm... I don't recall anyone in the Corps mentioning anything like this. What does it do?" Captain Root asked.

"It neutralizes all of my tools, and my magic as well." Batmare replied.

"For someone like Jarhead, it's a little too sophisticated." The Captain said, checking the debris and the vault door.

"That's the same thing I had in mind."

"I can have a look at the robbery reports, in case anyone noticed anything similar to what..." There was a pause as the captain turned and realized he was talking to himself. "I hate it when she does that..."

Cheerilee was on her way home from school, carrying her students' homework and the pop quiz for the day, but first she had to stop at the market to buy some fruits and vegetables to restock her fridge. She also had to buy some sugar and flour, she intended to bake cookies during the week and bring them to her students for feedback, the little ones were always the biggest experts when it came to such things.

"Thanks Pinkie, the flour from this place is always of the best quality." Cheerilee said.

"It's part of our guarantee seal, need anything else?" The pink pony asked.

"Give me half dozens of banana muffins." Replied the teacher.

"Right away." Said Pinkie before disappearing into the kitchen, while Cheerilee looked out of the window, and a few seconds later, Pinkie appeared with the muffins in a paper bag. "Here you go, anything else?" She asked again.

"Hmmm..." Cheerilee thought as she scratched her chin. "You know what?, Add half a dozen apple muffins."

"Okay, I'll be right back." Pinkie disappeared back into the kitchen and returned a few seconds later with another package of muffins wrapped in a paper bag. "Here you go, anything else?" The pony asked with her trademark smile.

"That will be all, thank you." The teacher replied, then left the bakery and walked home, giving Pinkie a few coins for what she had bought.

The teacher carried everything she needed and a few extra muffins, when she got home she opened the door and closed it behind her, then she left the food in the kitchen and put some water in the kettle to boil, then she went to the dining room table and left the homework and exams she had brought from school on it, then she went to the bathroom to freshen up while she waited for the water to boil.

A few minutes later Cheerilee turned off the water and made a couple of cups of tea and brought them to the table along with the dozen muffins she had bought. She sat down at the table and sighed as she finally got to rest after another day of work, she took a sip of her tea and started to eat one of the banana muffins before she started to review the exams.

"I saw you following me after I left school, I also saw you watching me while I was talking to Pinkie Pie, and I heard you when I entered my house, that's why I left the door unlocked, you are getting very careless, you better sit down at the table before your tea gets cold, I also brought apple muffins, I know they are your favorite." The teacher said while checking Diamond Tiara's test.

A female figure disguised as a night appeared out of the kitchen and stopped in front of the table and took a close look at the food.

"After all this time, do you really think I plan to poison you now?, I used to blow things up and steal money, not poison ponies, that was Venus."

Batmare thought for a few seconds before sitting down at the table and uncovering her face just enough to be able to have a meal without revealing her identity.

"So, what brings you here?" Cheerilee asked while she was correcting the wrong answers on one of the tests.

"This is not a social visit." Batmare replied as he ate one of the apple muffins.

"Your costumed visits are never social."

"I need your help with something."

"And what would that be?". Cheerilee asked.

"With this." Batmare replied, handing her the artifact that Jarhead had used the night before. As Cheerilee examined the artifact, Batmare began to tell her everything that had happened.

"That's why I need you to tell me what you think about it."

"Seriously, Jarhead was using this?" Batmare nodded his head at Cheerilee's question. "I can tell at a glance that this is way too advanced for a dumb head like him."

"I know and that's why I need your expertise. You were the best in your field and I know you can tell me what this is and how it works or if I missed something."

"Hmmm..." Cheerilee checked the artifact all over. She muttered something when she saw the broken crystal at the top. "This could be classified as a Thaumatic Pulse Neutralizer, or TPN if you want to abbreviate it, the crystal has three magic runes overlaid on it and that's probably why you couldn't decipher it when you checked it, the top rune is the one that activates the whole process, It's an inibitor rune and is the one that breaks the crystal, its function is the same as unicorn inibitor rings but the effect is temporary, five minutes at best, I'm curious why he used a rune and not an inibitor crystal, they're not hard to get, The second rune is an explosive rune, it absorbs the energy released by the first rune to feed and cause the explosion, but for the size of the crystal shouldn't have much energy, the third rune I can't decipher what it's for, I know it's not the detonator, but better ask Sword Singer, She knows a lot more about runes than I do, and the metal body is some kind of resonance box, it serves to hold the crystal and increase its radius of effect a bit when it breaks. This is really a work of art in itself, I don't want to imagine something like this on a larger scale. "Cheerilee finally tossed the object back to Batmare.

"Who do you think would be able to make something like this?"

"I only know of three ponies with the knowledge and skill to make something like this, the first is Bombarda, but she retired after her time in Tartarus and now lives on her son's farm with her granddaughters, the second has a bunch of exams and homework to review for tomorrow, and the third is Jester, and that makes me wonder why the two of them started working together, or why Jester didn't show up to take advantage of the opportunity and eliminate you, someone else must be pulling the strings."

"Those two don't have enough patience to work together, but if that's the case, I'll need allies, I can take on one of them alone any day of the week, but if they're working together, it means somepony else is involved, don't you want to help me? your skills would do a lot of good."

"If you want a fighter you should look for my sister. I am a teacher now and plan to stay one." Cheerilee replied.

"I understand, thank you for your help." Batmare said before she adjusted her mask and got up from the table in order to leave the house.

"Hey." Cheerilee called to Batmare from the doorway of the house before tossing her a muffin. The Vigilante mare caught it with her hoof. "The flight back to Canterlot is a long one, and you'll surely be in need of energy."

Batmare nodded, and after she had pulled her cape over her back, she spread her wings and took off in the direction of the capital city.

Princess Luna was always awake during the whole night to fulfill her duties in the night court, Twilight began to raise the sun by herself a few days a week, always assisted by Luna, but the magic needed for this made her exhausted and she had to rest a few hours more to not collapse during the day, and for this reason Luna only allowed her to do this work a few days a week, fearing that it would be too much for her and that she would lose her magic permanently.

But since Luna was awake all night and into the early hours of the morning, she could easily see which ponies were late for their duties at the castle and who looked exhausted. She was always on the lookout for these signs and wouldn't let them go unnoticed, not because she was a demanding regent, the ponies were quite competent on any schedule, It was just that she was concerned that each of them had enough hours of rest, and when she saw some of them more tired than usual, she paid special attention to their dreams for the next night, but among all of them, she noticed that a very special mare had not come to work today, and with some concern, she went to see why that was.

Raven Inkwell had never been late for work, let alone absent, she was often ready to work as soon as Luna left her room, the princess knew that she should have returned from her vacation yesterday, and maybe her body still had not remembered that she was supposed to return to work, it was a well-deserved rest considering that the mare had increased her workload and had been doing it without rest since Chrysalis revealed her true form in Ponyville a few years ago, so a reprimand would not be necessary.

The princess arrived at Inkwell's room and knocked on the door a few times but there was no answer, a little surprised she knocked again and a few seconds later Raven Inkwell opened the door and it was clear that she had not had enough rest last night, she was not wearing her glasses, she had one eye half closed and her hair was disheveled, it looked like a wagon had run over her.

"Wow. I see your vacation at .... Pegasus was more... hectic than I thought, do you need a few more hours of rest?" Luna asked with a chuckle.

Inkwell blinked uncoordinatedly while her brain was still booting up. She hadn't heard any words from Princess Luna either.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, waving her hoof in front of Inkwell's eyes as she suddenly realized what was going on.

"Princess Luna!" The mare said in surprise. "I'm sorry... excuse my tardiness, what time is it?" She said in an embarrassed way and tried to comb her hair with her hoof in an awkward way.

"It's about ten in the morning, but don't worry, the morning was slow and I guess we didn't have many things to do from the day before. Besides, I can see that you're still recovering from your vacation."

"Don't worry, I'm fine, I'll be right out." Inkwell quickly closed the door and trotted to her bathroom, but halfway there, she noticed the face of whoever had closed her door and went back to open it. "Uhhmmm... sorry, please come in and make yourself at home." Inkwell said to a surprised Princess Luna who wasn't expecting a slamming door, but she just took it with amusement and after nodding her head she entered the room and sat down on one of the couches to wait for her assistant. The place was tidy and very shiny, clear signs of Raven's diligence.

A few minutes later Raven came out of the bathroom, her face looking much more refreshed and full of life, her hair was done and her glasses were in immaculate condition.

"Ok, I am ready to work, I will go to my office right away to check the pending items for today and bring them to you in the throne room. Thanks for waking me up and sorry again for being late." The mare said as she walked towards the door.

"Don't worry." Princess Luna replied.

But as Inkwell was on her way to the door, Princess Luna's magic had the mare in the air for a few seconds.

"Is something wrong Princess?" Raven asked confused.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Luna replied gently, setting her assistant down.

"And what is it?"

"Your outfit." Luna replied and pointed at her with her hoof. "I doubt very much that your... pajamas... are up to castle standards."

"My PJ's?" The mare asked in confusion, lowering her gaze to realize that she was still wearing her Batmare costume. "Ohh for Faust." Said the mare who quickly took off her mechanical wings and the rest of her costume which she kept in a secret compartment at the bottom of her closet where she kept several magical artifacts and some crystal horns that glowed in different colors. Then both mare's left the room on their way to their jobs.

"Tough week?" Luna asked.

"Just the usual small-time criminals, but I did have some serious trouble with Jarhead." The mare replied.

"With Jarhead? Why? He's strong, but not very smart, and you could always handle him without much trouble."

"He used this." Inkwell said, showing the artifact to the princess. "I talked to Cheerilee and she told me that it has three runes carved on it, a magic inhibitor, an explosive and a third one that she couldn't decipher. She recommended that I ask you since with your experience you might recognize the third rune."

Luna took the artifact with her magic and began to analyze it, paying special attention to the runes.

"Where did he get hold of something like this? It's too sophisticated."

"Cheerilee told me that Jester is the only one who can make something like that. But that raises more concerns for me than an overdeveloped pony with an inhibitor bomb, and I'm sure for you as well."

"Indeed, but most of all, I'm worried about who else is in this alliance." Luna knew these villains very well and knew that none of them would submit to being a mere lackey. "I'm sure I've seen this rune in some book. I'll look in the library tonight and tell you if I find anything important." Said the princess, teleporting the object to a safe place, possibly a secret room in the castle.

"I appreciate it Princess, but you know you don't have to do this whole Nightwatchman thing like us, you can just fight crime without hiding behind a mask."

"I know, but that wouldn't give me the same adrenaline rush I get when I'm face to face with a villain, plus I avoid a ton of paperwork the next morning." Luna replied.

" You're right, although not all battles are won with hooves." Inkwell added as they passed through the dining hall and saw a still somewhat tired Twilight sipping herbal tea and a bowl of oatmeal with banana chunks. The young princess looked annoyed as she read the paper and didn't notice when Princess Luna and Raven approached her.

"I see you're up, Twilight, are you feeling much better?" Luna asked.

"Uh?, oh... hello Luna, hello Raven, I feel much better, thanks to you, that herbal tea you recommended is working wonders for the migraines I get from ascending the sun." Twilight replied calmly, taking another sip of her concoction.

"I know, it's the same stuff Tia and I used to drink when we were little. But tell me, why do you look so upset?"

Twilight looked at Luna for a few seconds.

"Princess Luna, could you turn a little to the right?" Twilight asked, to which Princess Luna replied somewhat strangely. Then Twilight picked up the newspaper with her hooves and placed it in front of her, comparing something in it to the Princess of the Night, then dropped the newspaper and let out a small cry of frustration before slapping her forehead on the table. "This is incredibly annoying." Twilight said annoyed.

"Is something wrong?" Luna asked picking up the newspaper with her magic to see what it said and on the front page there was a news story about a figure disguised as the night she had defeated another super villain in Manehattan, but the picture showed a mare that the only way to describe her would be a small alicorn disguised in black, clearly a pair of wings and a horn could be made out and she was standing next to a city police officer.

"Once again Batmare showed up and defeated a stallion that could easily be Celestia's muscular big brother, I really appreciate her fighting for justice, but every time she does I have to fight off a hundred reporters and onlookers in the street who are sure I'm Batmare, and they all come to that conclusion because apparently the only ponies that have wings and a magic horn are princesses, and who's the only princess small enough to be mistaken for Batmare....surprise, it's me." Twilight hit her forehead on the table again in frustration. "I even get fan mail because of her."

"I have to admit she does look like you, Princess Twilight, but I think there is a very simple solution to your problem." Inkwell said, causing Twilight to lift her head in excitement at being able to solve her problem.

"Yes? Please, Raven, I'm desperate." Twilight said almost pleadingly.

"I could accept the fact that the ponies will always be under the impression that it's you."

Twilight let her head fall back down on the table.

"I've been doing that since she appeared and it hasn't worked, I need another solution." The young princess was frustrated. But then a great idea came to her mind, filling her with hope and a gleam in her eye. "What if I invited her here to Canterlot to thank her for her work helping others? That way, they would see the two of us together and everyone would know that we are two completely different mares... I just need to find a way to contact her, Princess Luna, could you find her in the dream world and invite her here to Canterlot?". the princess asked.

"I can do that, but I don't use my powers that way, if she wants to keep her identity secret, I have to respect her wish, besides, this idea creates another more serious problem, and that is that by doing this, you would be showing that the Monarchy supports Nightwatchmen who operate outside the law, and that our dear officers do not have the necessary powers to protect our subjects, Like you, I appreciate that she facilitates the work of our police, and I understand why they turn a blind eye to threats of this caliber, but it is not wise to give her our support, at least in a public way, because that could incite others to follow her example and someone could get seriously hurt or worse". Luna approached Twilight. She put her hoof on her shoulder to show her support. "I think you're just going to have to put up with it until we can figure this out."

"Hmmm..." Twilight let her head drop to the table in a disappointed huff. "Being the smallest princess sucks..."

Luna and Inkwell laughed quietly at Twilight's reaction.

"I need to retire to my office to check the earrings from the previous day and I will bring them to the throne room as soon as I have them ready, enjoy your breakfast Princess Twilight, I will see you later Princess Luna." Raven said. She gave a small bow to the two princesses before retiring from the dining room.

"Thank you, Raven." Twilight said, face buried in the table.

"See you later Miss Inkwell." Luna added before sitting down next to Twilight so she wouldn't be depressed by what she read in the news and also to take the opportunity to have some food.

Raven had finished her work much later than usual, as she had to sort through a lot of papers that the other assistants had forgotten to do during their three weeks of vacation. Most of them were receipts for purchases made by the castle's guards and servants, but there were also some laws that should have been enacted by now, and she just hoped that her delay in processing them wouldn't cause any problems.

Back in her room, after drinking a glass of juice and brushing her hair, the assistant took off her glasses and was getting ready to go to bed when she felt someone knocking on the door of her room.

She couldn't remember the last time someone had knocked on her door this late at night and it was probably one of the other assistants of the castle who was doing some paperwork and needed to check it to avoid any problems. It was a bit annoying since her shift was over but understandable considering all the other paperwork she had to do a few hours ago.

Inkwell put on her glasses and quickly tied back her mane before opening the door, expecting to see one of her colleagues with a stack of papers between her hooves. But who happened to be on the other side of the door surprised her.

"Princess Luna?" Raven asked, surprised at seeing the princess. "Is something wrong?"

"Raven, I have checked the rune books and we have a problem."