//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Murdered Mid-Air // Story: Batmare // by Puppo530 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Murdered Mid-Air Rainbow Dash considered her first several nights of fighting crime a success. She killed one man who killed her parents, put six gangsters in jail, stopped the Quizzler from robbing the 2nd Ponyville bank, and she stopped Poison Tree from blowing up the pound. She felt like she deserved a break. That night, she didn't go out fighting crime. She just sat at home, watching TV. She quickly became bored. She ended up flipping through random channels as she usually does. Nothing was interesting to her, except the news. She spotted a certain sandy pegasus with a slice of pizza for a cutie mark. She stopped flipping and turned up the volume. "Last night, Pizza Boss broke out of prison. He had just been caught hours before by an unknown person, who beat up him and his gang and then tied them up. He was last scene heading towards the Everfree Forest. If you have any tips please call PPD-TIPS or 773-8477." That stupid Pizza Boss, escaping right underneath their noses. The police force was useless. She would have to take matters into her own hooves. She began putting on her suit to chase after Pizza Boss when she heard another voice from the TV. "In other news, the circus is in town." Rainbow Dash stopped. There was nothing more that Rainbow Dash loved than going to the circus. She decided that her manhunt for Pizza Boss could wait just one day. After the circus tomorrow, she would hunt him down. -------------------------- Rainbow Dash trotted towards the yellow and red circus tent. Many ponies were headed to the circus today. She saw a pony tend to his family. A pony darting behind a couple of crates. Another pony getting its mane dyed. Another pony carrying a box. The pony was jostled and an elongated golden cone fell out of the box, but a unicorn picked it up for him. So many ponies were at the circus today, that the tickets sold out almost immediately after Rainbow got her's. As Dash stepped into the tent, she realized truly how big it was. There must've been around 10,000 ponies in the stands alone. She spotted several booths, ones with tripods and long cameras, ones with the press, and empty ones. She found a seat and sat down. A trumpeter announced the beginning of the circus. "Fillies and gentlecones," the announcer said, "I present to you the first performance in Ponyville of the Masterful Pony Circus!" The audience went wild. It had been ages since they had all seen a circus. Ponies dangled from tightropes and dropped swords into Manticore mouths from thirty feet up. Several ponies dressed up in clown costumes, and two that looked suspiciously similar to the Mayor and Pinkie Pie, danced around. Bulls were released on these clowns, which provided a comedic result. Rainbow Dash was having a whale of a time, until the finale. Three pegasi stood on top of a large quarter pipe. The curved ramp must have been just as tall as the top of the stands. The announcer spoke into the microphone, "And now, the most amazing act tonight. Fillies and gentlecones, I present to you... the Scooter Dive!" Among the three pegasi was a small filly, orange and fuchsia. She dropped a scooter down the ramp. The scooter bounced along the steep curvature of the quarter pipe. The small filly bounded off the top. She landed perfectly on the scooter and held out her arms for presumably her parents, judging by the colors and appearance. They too leaped from the table of the ramp. Everything was in slow motion, and that's when it hit Rainbow Dash. The pony suspiciously hiding behind crates. The other pony carrying a box filled with long golden cones. The long cameras on tripods in the press boxes. Her wings acted instinctively. She hovered a little bit from her chair, in a prime position to get up to one of those boxes to stop what was about to happen, but it was too late. A deafening bang emanated from a press box. In the father of the filly, a hole appeared in his skull. His head split open, and the momentum from the bullet pushed him into his spouse. A second bang tore through the mother's spine, paralyzing her permanently. Her body bent in places it should not have. They both fell towards the dirt floor of the arena. The blood from their wounds made the dirt muddy and red. They were both dead. The filly stopped her scooter, and just stared at their lifeless bodies. Chaos erupted in the circus tent. Ponies were releasing deafening screams from their mouths. Rainbow Dash's wings took control from there. She was thrown into the press box above her. An earth pony was packing up bullets and the large rifle into a crate. She rammed the assassin into the wall from behind. "Ah! I'm not the one you want!" the pathetic stallion screamed. "Who do I want, then?" "I'm only an assassin! You want my boss!" "What's his name?" Dash forced him around and rammed her hoof into his throat. Through his tight breathing he stammered out, "Pi-". The stallion's head turned sharply and suddenly to the right. A hole was in his skull. Blood shot out of the right side of his head. It spattered on the wall, staining the paint forever. A bang accompanied the sudden death of the pony. She looked to her right and saw another rifle in the opposite press box. The third gunshot put the ponies in even more of a crazed panic. Dash forced her way through screaming mares and stallions to the arena floor. There she saw a pegasus fly from the press box to a hidden flap in the ceiling of the circus tent. The male pegasus raced down the sides of the tent to his boss. He called out to the intimidating pony, "Boss! Boss!" "Is it done?" the boss asked. "Yeah, it's done. I had to kill Bla-" The pegasus' head was thrown forward. He tumbled head-over-heels to the ground. Red liquid spouted from the back of his head like a faucet, leaving a small spiral in the air of blood before cascading to the grass. The pegasus lay dead at the boss' feet, crumpled and broken. The boss looked up to see the killer, and saw the last thing he ever wanted to see. The same cyan mare that had thwarted his attempts the night before was flying above the tent, holding a rifle she got from a press box. "Ah. That's who my nemesis is." Pizza Boss said. "How did you escape?" Rainbow Dash continued to threaten the gangster with the rifle. "They made it too easy. How did you find me again?" "I happen to love the circus." Smoke emanated from the hole in the ceiling of the tent. The circus tent was in flames. Ponies were trapped inside, including a orange filly pegasus who had lost her parents a couple minutes ago. Rainbow pointed the rifle back at Pizza Boss. "What have you done?" "Even I am not the ultimate puppet master. I have someone over me, but you'll never know who it is." "Why not?" "You're too kind. You want to save the poor, pathetic ponies in that tent. You're running out of time. The more time you spend here with me, the more ponies that die. The police are too slow, and so are the firemen. You have no choice." "Why did you kill that filly's parents?" "Simple economics. They needed to be reminded about who really was in charge here. They owed me money, so I got it back with any means necessary. You need to make a choice, Rainbow Dash." "How do you know who I am?" "Everyone in Ponyville remembers you from the Young Fliers' Competition, Rainbow. So, what'll it be?" Rainbow Dash pulled the trigger, and Pizza Boss went down. Before dying, and before Rainbow dove into the tent, Pizza Boss called out, "I'm warning you, Rainbow Dash, Ponyville still has a sweet tooth!" The mobster died as the cyan mare dove into the flames consuming the circus tent. Rainbow Dash was inside the tent, flying several ponies out of there, along with several other pegasi. Once most of them were out, she went looking for one particular pegasus. The smoke stung her eyes. Her body tried desperately to expel the smoke from her lungs through coughing. Through tears, she finally found the orange filly. She plopped the pegasus on her back and bolted through the open flap. The second they left the tent and they were in open air, the canvas and wood collapsed on itself. A huge fireball flew up, signaling the end of that tent. Rainbow Dash brought the crying filly to her manor. After many minutes, she finally started to speak. "Rainbow Dash... why did you save me?" "I save anyone who's in danger, don't forget that." "I'm your biggest fan." "Yeah, I know, Scootaloo." "You know my name?" "Of course I do." "Oh this is so cool! I'm in Rainbow Dash's house! Rainbow Dash knows my name! Rainbow Dash... Wait a minute. You're that mare that kicked those goon's butts last night, weren't you?" "How did you know?" "I didn't. I just knew that you were awesome, and that that was an awesome thing to do, so it had to be you." Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled back, but then she seemed to remember the events of the day. She sat down on her blank flank and stared at the ground. "Listen, kid, I'm sorry about what happened." Rainbow Dash said, trying to console the filly. "Did they die?" Scootaloo said this with no emotion. No expression on her face showed what she was thinking. "Your parents? Yeah, they kinda di-" "No, I know they're dead. Did the people that kill them die?" Scootaloo looked up at the pegasus standing over her. "I... I had to, kid." "No, don't be sorry. They deserved it." "Well, I don't want you going out all by yourself, and I could use some help fighting crime." "Do you mean..." "You bet I am." Scootaloo could not contain her glee anymore. She fell over, screaming and rolling around. She was going to fight crime with Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in all of Equestria. "Now, kid, you're going to need a cool superhero name." "What's yours?" "Batmare." "That's so awesome!" "Thanks, kid." "I think I'll go with something simple... hmmm.... how about... Pegasus?" "Perfect! Batmare and Pegasus! I'll get you a suit from Rarity." "I get to fight crime next to Rainbow Dash in my very own suit! Could this day get any better?" "You know your parents died, right?" "So? It's not like we were close or anything. They barely paid attention to me. But you will, won't you?" "Sure I will, Pegasus." Scootaloo fainted from excitement and pure awesomeness. Rainbow Dash chuckled and flew off to Rarity's. ------------------------- "Whoever did this is in serious trouble. I see no link between this man and the murders that were committed here tonight. All we have proof of is that he did a little drug dealing." Commissioner Whooves stood over the lifeless body of Pizza Boss. "Commissioner! Commissioner!" A gray earth pony galloped over to the police commissioner. He was holding pictures in his mouth. He spat them on the ground. "It seems to be the same mare that killed Donut Joe and caught the gangsters originally. We have to find this mare of the night." Commissioner Whooves put his hoof on the silhouette of a mare pegasus. "They call her..." the gray pony stammered under the loss of breath from galloping so much. "They call her... Batmare." "Well, your crime-fighting days are over, Batmare." Commissioner Whooves walked away from the crime scene. No pony had even bothered to wonder what the piece of cake next to Pizza Boss was doing there. They would notice it later, after it was already too late.