//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Hanging Upside Down from a Lamppost // Story: Batmare // by Puppo530 //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Hanging Upside Down from a Lamppost Rarity was having a peaceful day with her parents. She was walking home with them after enjoying a fun day at a museum. They made small talk with one another, as families should. What none of them saw was a shadow lurking behind them. Rainbow Dash was silently watching, waiting for the right moment to leap down on their soon-to-be attacker. She needed the right moment, when the criminal would be at the easiest moment to catch it in the act. It would have to be right before it pulled the trigger. Dash saw the criminal levitate the gun out of its coat. The stallion pointed the Browning at Rarity’s mother. It was now or never. Rainbow leapt from the cloud she was sitting on. She sped towards the ground at high speeds. The stallion didn’t even look up. Rainbow Dash crashed into the criminal. The gun was forced out of his magical grip. It went sliding on the cold pavement of the street. Rarity and her parents turned around in surprise. When they saw what was happening, they ran for their lives. Rainbow dragged the criminal out of the shadows and underneath the light of a streetlamp. When she saw who the criminal was, she released her tight grip on his collar. It was Donut Joe. The unicorn stared back at the mare as she held him on the floor of the street against his will. She had caught her parents’ murderer. He didn’t recognize her yet, but he would soon. “You,” muttered Rainbow Dash. She placed her hoof directly on his throat, putting him at a difficulty to breathe. “Who are you?” gasped Donut Joe. His face was turning blue now. Rainbow Dash leaned down close to his face. “You killed my parents a while ago in an alleyway. Now I’m going to kill you.” Rainbow Dash bucked Donut Joe over to the brick wall of a small store. There she continued to spring her back legs at his face several times. With each hit, Donut Joe became considerably weaker. After several buckings, Donut Joe’s body became cold. His hoof fell to the concrete, and his body slumped over. Donut Joe’s face was a bloody mess. Half of it was caved in from the sheer anger that Rainbow was feeling. He was gone. She grabbed a rope from a nearby store. She tied the rope around Donut Joe’s back legs and flew him up to a lamppost. She tied him there. He looked like a dead tan unicorn bat. Rainbow Dash looked at the dead criminal. The blood from his unrecognizable face dripped down onto the road. The puddle of blood felt fitting, as it was what Rainbow sat in when her parents were murdered by the same man. Her parents were avenged. She felt lucky that the first person she caught was the person she got into the business for. It was all over. She could stop now, right? Voices from the darkness of the night put an end to her thoughts. She dove into an alley to wait for the sources. Six ponies stepped into the light, three on each side of the alley where Rainbow was hiding. One of the leaders, a pegasus, had a slice of pizza on his flank, he spoke first. "Where's the stuff?" He sounded like your regular drug gangster. With a rich Istallion accent that was common among mobsters nowadays. "It's right here," said the leader opposite him. This mobster had a plate of spaghetti with a fork in it as his cutie mark. He had the same Istallion accent which did not help the common stereotype of this era. The leader motioned to one of his goons, who was carrying a briefcase in his mouth. The henchman dropped it on the ground, and it popped open. Inside was large quantity of illegal drugs of every sort. All of which seemed to be harvested from the Everfree Forest. "Where's the money?" said the spaghetti mobster. The pizza gangster motioned to his henchman, who had a similar briefcase clenched in his teeth. Both gangs collected their suitcases, and prepared for the trade-off. As each henchman came cautiously closer and closer, Rainbow Dash stooped lower and lower. She was ready to pounce. At the prime moment, when both suitcases were in front of the other, and the gangsters were about to let go of their own to reach for the other, Rainbow Dash pounced. She knocked both suitcases out of their respective holders. She turned around, facing all six of the mobsters at once. They all charged after the initial shock wore off. Rainbow Dash spun and bucked one in the face. He went reeling backwards. His face collided with the pavement, which didn't do much for his appearance. Dash took to the air to strike from above. She nose-dived the pizza boss into the ground and then rose again to get the spaghetti boss. After they were taken care of, she did a spin move into one of the henchmen. The stallion collided with another goon, sending them both into a store window, setting off an alarm. Dash quickly kicked another in the face while flying, and then sent it home with a couple of jabs to the stomach. The entire fight took about a minute. Rainbow Dash strung them all up in a similar fashion as she did Donut Joe. When she left the street that night, there were seven stallions hanging from lampposts. One was dead, the others were injured. She flew back towards Dash Manor, ending her first night as a crime fighter. The police commissioner, Commissioner Whooves, was the first one on the scene. The alarm from the store brought him there, but he stayed for the seven criminals. The Ponyville Police Department was very confused at the behavior of such a unique crime fighter. Who beats up people, and then hangs them from lampposts? A mystery that would have to be solved later. They saw Donut Joe, the only dead pony there. They saw his Browning, and compared hoofprints. It was a match. Apparently, someone had taken the law into their own hands, something the PPD did not particularly like. Nevertheless, they arrested the gangsters for possession and all-around gangster-ing. Whoever did this, they were pretty good at it. Rainbow Dash looked on the crime scene from her manor. It was there that she decided to become Batmare every night, not only until she caught Donut Joe. Rainbow Dash had just become Ponyville's new hero. ------------------------ The pizza mobster stood in his cell with his eyes closed. He stood perfectly still, clenching his leg muscles from time to time. The guards thought this was strange, but they brushed it off. He wasn't trying to escape, so it didn't matter what he was doing. The prisoner's name was Pizza Boss, fitting, as that was his position. He was the owner of a local Ponyville pizza joint. Well, he was until tonight. He waited for the right moment. When the guards were switching shifts, he would strike. The time finally came around. One stallion handed the gun to the other, and trotted away, eager to get away from the crazy psycho that was just standing in the middle of the cell. Pizza Boss heard the trotting of the hooves against the brick floors. The bricks were hollow. It was perfect. Pizza Boss brought his two hind legs up. With them being clenched tightly, all he had to do was release the tension. Like a spring, his legs bounded backwards, into the hollow brick wall. The bricks broke apart easily, and part of the wall collapsed. He galloped out the door and towards freedom. There was nothing any of the guards could do. He was gone.