Owlman In Equestria

by Bico

Act II: A Dark Knight Eclipsed

Shining Armor scowled at the note laying on his desk as if it had just made a lewd comment about his little sister. It was a letter of challenge. At least, that's how the captain of Luna's royal guard saw it. It was a personal affront by the thief who signed his name "Owlman." He assumed that the name was some kind of nom de crime combining "owl," which witnesses reported he resembled, and "man," a term with which Shining Armor was personally unfamiliar, but which the Princess had noted was an obscure term for a subfamily of Great Apes found in ancient history.

"So what's that?"

Without removing his baleful glare from the offending parchment, he answered, "It's the letter from the thief announcing that he's going to steal the Coltinan Diamond."

"Pretty cocky, huh?"

"He's offensively arrogant," Shining declared with a snort. "If he thinks he's getting through my shield spell, though, he's got another thing coming. Protection magic is my special talent, after all."

"Who's the arrogant one, now?" a different voice, which was altogether far more familiar to Shining than the previous, cut in.

Shining turned his head to find a magenta earth pony mare looking over his shoulder. She looked at him with a sheepish grin as he frowned at her, but his glare turned deadly when he saw the blue unicorn standing just behind her. "Trixie Lula—"

"Yes, yes, at your service, Captain," Trixie interrupted, bowing with a regal flourish. "By the way, it's 'Dame' Trixie, now, if you'll recall."

"Why of course," Shining said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "And this must be Dame Cheerilee, the Element of Laughter."

"Enchanted," Cheerilee replied with a giggle.

Shining looked over the other five mares that stood behind them. He nodded to each in turn. "Dame Ditzy, Element of Kindness. Dame Raindrops, Element of Honesty. Dame Carrot Top, Element of Generosity. Dame Lyra, Element of Loyalty. And who's this?" He eyed BonBon, who was pressed snugly against Lyra's side. "The new seventh Element of... Love or something?"

"She's my girlfriend," Lyra said, puffing her cheeks irately.

Shining gave Trixie a flat stare. "You brought a civilian with you?"

"Hey, I had to buy my own ticket, thank you very much," BonBon said. "And I plan on making use of this little trip. After this little mission is wrapped up, we're going to go see Virtuous."

"She's been raving about it since it came out," Lyra said. "Honestly, it sounds better than the book. And it's a musical."

Shining shook his head. "Trix—Dame Trixie. You have a lot to learn about leading ponies. You're Knights of the Realm, now; not some ragtag group of adventurers. Act like it."

It was Trixie's turn to roll her eyes. "My goodness, Captain Armor, why so serious? If I were you, I'd be more concerned with figuring out how somepony stole the Coltinan Diamond from right under your muzzle."

"... What?!"

As the white stallion turned and bolted away, Trixie snickered.

"Trixie, that was mean," Cheerilee said, though the wry grin on her face betrayed her. "Now he's going to be even more paranoid of that criminal."

"That's nothing," Trixie responded. "Just wait until this... 'Owlman' finds out."

Four ponies lifted the pedestal upon which the Coltinan Diamond had been perched, as well as the section of floor that had been directly beneath it, back into place. Their bipedal partner lifted his arm and a thin red beam of light shot out of a small cylinder that he had pulled from his belt, which the ponies had concluded must be enchanted somehow to allow far more things to fit inside than would normally have been allowed by the laws of physics. The almost imperceptible line of the initial cut bubbled and sealed itself.

Owlman grinned at the huge diamond he hefted in one hand. "Not a bad haul."

"The boss was sure right to invest in you," a brown coated and black maned earth pony stallion said.

A white maned silver unicorn nodded. "Who'da thunk some weird hairless bear in a owl costume could make stuff like this with the parts we lent 'im? I'd say you've paid back the boss an' then some after this."

Owlman nodded, and touched a finger to his ear. "Night Flight, come in. We have the goods. Go ahead and deactivate the mirror projectors. Wait a few hours and you can play me taking off. Remember the flight plan and don't use the stealth mode until you get past seventy fifth." He chuckled as he continued to examine his prize, but after a moment his mirth died in his throat.

"Owlman?" another of the ponies probed.

The costumed villain sneered as his grip tightened around the gigantic gem. It shattered between his fingers. "This isn't the real Coltinan Diamond. Someone... some... pony got here first."

"Wh-what?" the silver unicorn mare exclaimed. "How's that possible?"

Owlman sneered at his pony partners. "I don't know... yet."

Despite the vast size of the office, the blue coated mare clad in a snappy business suit seemed to fill up the room with her presence alone. She ran a hoof through her immaculate slick-backed silver mane and considered the creature before her with cold, violet eyes. "So... Mr. Owlman, it seems that we have quite a problem on our hooves."

To his credit, Owlman didn't even smirk at the turn of phrase. "You're absolutely right, Boss Screw Tight."

Boss Screw Tight narrowed her eyes. "I know a talented... thing like you won't allow this to continue. You owe me a lot of money for setting you up with all those toys you wanted. I aim to collect." She got out of her large and very comfortable looking chair and trotted out from behind the desk. "You know what my cutie mark means, Owlman?" She wagged her flank, which bore the image of a screw.

Owlman, for his part, was fighting a battle in his mind. He hadn't had many criminal overlords shake their buttocks at him before. He tried his best not to imagine Boss Gordon doing the same, because he knew if he did, all hope would be lost. "I can't say you've ever filled me in."

"It means I got a talent," Boss Screw Tight said. "A talent for tightening the screws when somepony crosses me, and when somepony fails me."

Owlman crossed his arms, tapping a finger on his forearm. "I... see. I guess that's why you're called Screw Tight."

"No," she said, a confused look on her face. "My mother named me Screw Tight. Nopony knows what their cutie mark is gonna be."

"That's a... happy coincidence, then," Owlman said, cocking his head to the side.

Boss Screw Tight snorted. "Anyways, the last few jobs you tried to pull have been complete failures. You go in, and the score's already been nipped... without anypony knowing."

"It's suspicious," Owlman agreed. "I've come to a conclusion, though. It has to be somebod... er... somepony on the inside."

"Our organization?" Boss Screw Tight asked.

"No," Owlman said. "The police. They're the only ones to whom I send my little... letters of challenge. Last heist I didn't even send them that, and the cuprit still nabbed the goods."

"How's that mean our pony's got an inside lead with the cops?" Boss Screw Tight inquired, turning to the larger biped with a curious gleam in her eyes.

"Simple," Owlman said. "None of your guys knows about all our jobs. The police do, but they're not releasing that information to the public. The police, themselves, didn't show up to the last job, so they haven't figured out any pattern, yet, but I deliberately left one for any... pony smart enough to see it. That tells me that somepony with access to the police, but not necessarily working with them, is the culprit."

"So how does that help us?" Boss Screw Tight asked.

"Easy," Owlman said. "I've established the pattern, and that's forced our friend to play follow the leader. All I have to do now is break the pattern."

Boss Screw Tight gave her freelancer a devious grin. "Good. Very good. Do it, and bring the punk back to me. I'm gonna be puttin' the screws to somepony, tonight."

The caped and cowled figure slunk through the shadows, her hooves light on the tile of the Equestrian Library floor. She came to a locked door and put a hoof to her masked chin. After a moment's consideration, she removed a paperclip, a wad of chewed bubblegum, a length of string, and a rubber chicken. She tossed the paperclip behind her dismissively, and began to work. The door clicked after several seconds, and she pushed it open, satisfied that no alarms would be sounding this night.

Upon a table, covered in glass, there sat a thick book. A spark of recognition flashed in the intruder's eyes as she approached it. She paused for only a moment, touching her hoof to her ear, and then passed the threshold of the protection spell that was active around the book. The spell didn't react at all.

When the caped thief reached the pedestal, she took out a sack of bricks and considered its weight. She reached in and tossed a brick out, and then with a swift motion of her hooves, she replaced the book with the bricks. She waited for a moment, looking around, and then breathed a sigh of relief. "You know, it would be the one trick that doesn't work in the movies that actually..."

The pedestal exploded, tossing the disguised pony across the room. The explosion wasn't caused by any mistake she had made, however, as was made apparent when a monstrous bipedal creature descended from the ceiling, twirling two metal balls in his palm.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with your balls in front of a lady?" the caped criminal quipped.

Owlman snorted and said, "You've been Miss Pony on the Spot lately, haven't you? I have to wonder what your game is."

"Ooh, 'Pony on the Spot.' I like that one. I think I'll use it. Better than Catmare, that's for sure." The thief laughed. "As for what my game is, well... I guess you could say it's fun."

She'd better not be some frikkin' comedian like that damned hero wannabe, The Jokester, Owlman thought to himself. "Well, then, how 'bout you play with my balls!"

"Ooh, before the first date?" Pony on the Spot asked.

Owlman threw one of the metal spheres at Pony, who leaped to the side. She didn't leap quite far enough to escape the blast radius, and she was knocked on her side when it exploded. He tossed the second one, intending to hit just close enough to knock her out. The explosion went off as expected, but he realized there was suddenly way too much smoke filling the room. Did she set off some smoke bombs? Why...?

Pony on the Spot flew out of the smoke, her rear colliding with Owlman's head, knocking him to the ground. "My bad!" she yelled back to the villain, and she flew up toward the skylight. Gaining altitude fast, she broke through the glass and flew down to the roof.

Owlman reached for his grappling gun, and with a pop of gas his hook found purchase above. He reeled himself up, leaping through the hole that Pony on the Spot had already made, and landing lightly on his feet. He looked around the roof, but saw nothing. However, he did hear something. The strum of some instrument filled the air, sweet and melodic. He turned to the source and saw Pony standing on her hind legs, her hoof dancing across the strings of a lyre.

"Like the music?" Pony on the Spot asked. "They say that it can soothe the savage breast. How 'bout it? Your breast feeling soothed?"

Owlman pulled a razorang from his belt and tossed it at Pony, but she suddenly struck the strings, which sang stridently, and an ethereal blade took shape. The razorang was deftly deflected, the sound of metal striking metal resounding in the air. Owlman tossed several more razorangs, which were all similarly deflected, and he found himself being forced to dodge more magical knives than he was sending her way. She's a pegasus, is she not? How can she have this kind of magic? Is it an enchanted item?

Pony on the Spot stopped playing suddenly, and sat prone as she waited for her rival to attack. He didn't disappoint, and tossed a handful of the explosive balls as well as a slew of razorangs. She smirked beneath her mask, and began to hammer out a hard and fast tune, building quickly to a crescendo that climaxed in a power chord that blew each item right back at their owner.

The razorangs weren't so bad, Owlman considered. The bombs exploding inches from him were a bit more of a hassle. He was launched backward and crashed through the glass of the skylight again. He tried to catch one of the beams, but he couldn't hold on. His fingers slipped from them, only to catch onto a boot-clad hoof.

Pony on the Spot heaved, pulling the biped back onto the roof. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I thought you might have died. I mean, we might be fighting, but nopony wants anypony to get hurt.

"That was... very generous of you," Owlman said. His mind was puzzling over something at the same time, however. How did that pony pull me to safety with only a foreleg? I haven't seen any unicorns or pegasi with that kind of strength, and only a few earth ponies. He put it to the back of his mind for the moment, however. He couldn't let this give Pony any kind of advantage. He swiped at her, catching her with the sharp spikes on his gloves and throwing her away from him. "I'll owe you one later," he said. "But right now I got a job to do."

Pony on the Spot pulled a pellet from her jacket and threw it down. It exploded, shrouding her in blue smoke.

Owlman snarled and leaped into it. There wasn't any way he was letting this mare pull a fast on on him again. Years of experience fighting the forces of good had honed his skills, and he knew right where Pony on the Spot should be. He swung a devastating hay-maker, only for his fist to be met with a powerful hoof, which stopped him cold. He threw a punch with his other fist, but that was caught as well.

With a powerful flapping of her wings, Pony on the Spot blew the smoke away, and her icy cyan eyes bore into his goggles, filled with fury. "That was a cheap shot, punk." She lifted off the ground and pushed his arms wide, kicking out with her back leg and plowing into his torso.

"Augh!" Owlman cried out as the pegasus' hoof buried itself deep into his solar plexus. He rolled backward and got back to his feet, having to parry a flurry of punches—if he could call being struck with a foreleg a punch—from Pony. His own strikes seemed to be doing little to slow down the freakishly powerful pegasus.

Pony on the Spot assailed the creature before her with a vicious tenacity. She could see the beast becoming disoriented as her hooves punished his skull. She didn't let up, though, and just hit him again and again, her vision going red. She barely heard his cries for mercy, but when she did, something snapped in her. "No!" Her trembling hoof stopped a fraction of an inch from Owlman's bloodied face. "No, I won't... I won't hurt you..."

"I know," Owlman said with a smirk. "Like I thought... you're too soft to be a real crook." He delivered a violent roundhouse kick to Pony on the Spot's outstretched wing, and was pleased to feel a pop and hear Pony's scream. He delivered several more kicks to the same place in rapid succession until he was confident that she wouldn't be able to fly on it anymore. Then he grabbed her by the head and butted his own against her face. He let loose at that point, pummeling her like a man possessed.

Finally, he clenched his hands together and swung them across Pony on the Spot's face, sending her flying to the edge of the roof. He pulled out another bomb and threw it at her. It exploded at her hooves before she could even get back on them, and she was flung off the roof. "Trixie!" she cried as she disappeared from sight.

Something struck Owlman in the side and he toppled to the ground. He reached for his belt and realized that his grappling gun was gone. He back toward where Pony on the Spot had been and saw the air shimmer slightly. He smirked as he realized what was going on.

Trixie let her invisibility spell drop the moment she jumped off the roof. She could see Pony on the Spot still falling further beneath her. Pony's hat had come off and she could see Raindrops' cyan mane blowing in the wind. Trixie maneuvered her body into a vertical position and dove faster, quickly catching up with her friend. She finally came close enough to grab her with her telekinesis, and she pulled her to her hooves.

"Trixie!" Raindrops cried. "What are you doing? We're both going to—"

Trixie held up the grappling gun and fired, and its hook found purchase high on the rooftop above. She wrapped the rope firmly around her foreleg while it still had slack, and she yelped a little when it went taut. She swore that had just dislocated something.

The moment their descent stopped, Raindrops' body went slack. This she knew was important from many lessons taught in flight school about how to react to being caught while falling. She couldn't quite explain how the back of one of her front hooves found itself firmly pressed to her forehead, however.

Back on the rooftop, Owlman pulled a vial from his belt and popped the top off of it, guzzling it down. The effects were almost instant. His senses became heightened, as if a veil had been suddenly lifted from the world around him. His synapses began to fire more rapidly and his neurons began to make new connections faster than before. He turned and saw a form hidden in the shadows, and he threw his trusty razorangs at its form. As he had suspected, it was another Pony on the Spot who leaped away. Before she even reached the apex of her leap, however, he threw a pellet at the spot she would land, and it burst into an oil slick.

Pony on the Spot slid across the roof and landed hard on her face. By the time she'd lifted her head to see her attacker, he had already launched a net which had stakes which buried the ends of the net into the rooftop. She pushed against it, and her strength pulled several of the spikes up. Two small needles jabbed into her coat, connected to another device by thin wires, and she felt a shock travel through her, causing her to seize for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

"Hey, leave Carrot Top alone!" Another Pony on the Spot emerged, this one carrying a lyre. She began to stroke the strings and a magic aura began to wind around the instrument.

Owlman smirked and removed a small device from his belt. He pressed a button and a high pitched squeal blasted out of it. He jumped at Pony on the Spot while she dropped her lyre to hold her hooves to her ears, and he kicked her. She fell to the ground, her hat tumbling off and revealing her light blue mane and teal horn beneath. He turned off the sonic device and returned it to his belt.

"That wasn't very nice," a new voice chided Owlman.

The caped crook turned to see another pegasus Pony on the Spot flying just beyond the other edge of the roof. He gave her a snarl. "Why don't you come over here and teach me a lesson, then? Or do I have to come to you?" He brought his hand to his belt once again, and a flare shot out, forcing his foe to dodge out of the way. He started to sprint for her when he saw that she had clumsily fallen on the rooftop while trying to avoid the projectile.

"If anyone's going to be teaching a lesson here," another voice said as a rope wrapped itself around Owlman's leg. "It's me!"

Owlman felt his foot pulled out from under him, and he fell on his chin. He turned and saw yet another Pony on the Spot. This one had the book tucked under her cape, which he could see by way of the slight bulge through the fabric. "You're the first one, aren't you?"

"Young... er... owl," Pony on the Spot said, her voice reminding Owlman of one of his more strict teachers. "What have you been told about stealing?"

"I'm damned good at it?" Owlman responded with a mocking grin. He cut the rope off of his ankle and rose to tower over his opponent. "Another thing I'm good at? Showing little punks like you whose—" He threw a fist at Pony, but he found it suddenly intercepted by a sharp smack from a ruler. He withdrew his hand quickly, shaking it as he winced beneath his mask. That had really hurt.

Pony on the Spot leveled the ruler at Owlman's eyes. "I've had just about enough out of you. We're going to have to have a talk with your father about your bad behavior."

"My... father?" Owlman snarled. "My father?!"

"Ah..." the masked mare said with understanding. "I see. We have some issues at home, do we?"

"You have no idea," Owlman said with a scowl. He reached for his mask and peeled it back, revealing his blunt features and small, burning eyes. He pulled out another vial of his drug and downed it, and this time his face contorted in pain.

Pony on the Spot backed up in shock. "Are... are you alright?"

"Just a little extra dose," Owlman croaked. "I don't do this often, but in your case..." His eyes locked onto hers and he began to bore into them. He could feel her concern as well as her strong resolve. He could tell that, even if these others weren't real criminals, this one had had experience on his side of the law. He focused on that, and he held out his hand. "Hand over the book. Or hoof it over, whatever you want to say."

An uncertain look crossed Pony on the Spot's eyes as her hoof began to drift toward the book. "I... I'm not sure if I should."

"Hey, you want to be holding that when the fuzz gets here?" Owlman asked. "Let me have it, I'll keep it safe for you."

Pony on the Spot had grabbed the book with her pastern and was extending it out with a trembling foreleg. "Y-yeah... we'll meet up... at the usual spot..."

"Right, and it's all an even..." Owlman's hand shot out and grabbed the book from her, tucking away in his cape. "Split!"

"Stop, thieves!" A masculine voice shouted. A white stallion leaped onto the rooftop, his horn glowing with rose-colored magic.

Pony on the Spot seemed to snap out of her trance and she crouched down, looking from side to side in a panic. "Cheese it, it's the po-po!" She began to gallop as fast as she could across the roof, screaming, "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

"Guess I overdid it," Owlman said. He eyed the blue-maned stallion who he understood to be one Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. He had also learned that his special talent was defense magic, which gave him a good idea what was about to happen. He withdrew a razorang, though this one was different from the others in that it was jet black. He threw it, and as he'd expected the guard raised a shield. His razorang, however, sank one of its pointy ends into the rooftop just shy of the barrier's limit.

"You don't have the best aim, do you?" Shining said with a cocky grin. His horn flared and he surrounded Owlman with a shield, letting his personal shield drop as he trotted toward him. "In the name of Princess Luna, you're under—"

Owlman rolled his eyes as he pressed a button on his belt and his razorang exploded. He noted that Shining Armor was fast enough to deflect the larger brunt of the blast with a newly erected shield, but it had had the desired effect of causing him to lose control of the shield around Owlman. The caped cur wasted no time in sprinting for the edge of the roof, his pilfered tome clenched firmly at his side. He leaped and then spread his cape wide. The cape stiffened into a glider and soared over the city streets.

Shining Armor shouted down to his troops on the street below. "Get me a squadron of pegasi northeast down Riverside, ASAP. The Owl's getting away!"

To be concluded in Act III.