Chapter 4
Some of Us Superheroes Like Having Secret Identities
Batmare and Pegasus bounded up the steps of the small house. They reached the top floor, where the Cakes' babies were still sound asleep somehow. They tiptoed past the cribs and up the stairs to the roof. Once there, they spotted the Clown galloping away from them on the ground. Batmare and Pegasus leapt over the alley that separated Sugarcube Corner from the building adjacent to it, landing on the roof.
They continued in this manner, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, for quite a while. They followed the criminal across all of Ponyville. They then came to a clearing where there weren't any more buildings to jump onto. They could see in the distance an abandoned warehouse that the Clown was heading to.
"We're running out of roofs!" Batmare told Pegasus. "But look! There's Poison Oak! And there's the Peacock! And look over there! It's the Quizzler!" As Rainbow Dash listed off the villains' names she pointed to each one. "They're obviously meeting for some sort of secret villain meeting. We have to get in there, Pegasus. We have to get in there without being spotted."
"But how would we do that?"
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The Peacock answered the door just as the meeting was about to begin. Standing before her were two villains: Calendar Mare and Catfilly. The Peacock looked skeptically at these late arrivals.
"Well, it was Flag Day and I thought, 'Might as well go to the top-secret villain meeting today'." Calendar Mare stuttered nervously.
"Isn't everyday a holiday?" The Peacock asked.
"Well, yes, but today is a very special holiday. I'm so glad. I wished it would've come JUNE-r. So if you'll just let us MARCH on in that would be great."
"Alright. Come on in." The Peacock slightly chuckled at the villain's pun as she opened the door to let the two ponies in. They took their places at the very back of the large conglomerate of folding chairs that had been set up. At the front of the room was a podium where the Clown rested her hooves. A low chatter was over the whole meeting.
"All right you goons. Settle down." the Clown started. "We have to discuss a matter of extreme importance tonight."
"And what would that be?" Catfilly got up from her chair and raised her hand to ask the question.
"Did you miss the memo or something? Batmare is causing trouble for us here in Ponyville, and we gotta put a stop to it."
"JULY!" Calendar Mare had stood up with her hoof pointed at the Clown in accusation. "Heh, just kidding. You're telling the truth. And how exactly would we do this?"
"I guess we need to hire a different mailpony. Derpy just isn't cutting it these days." A slight chuckle went over the crowd of villains. "But I'll explain it all again." The Clown walked over to a projected screen. Several photos of Batmare were projected onto it. One of them even had Pegasus.
"As you should know, Batmare has a new sidekick. Her name is Pegasus." The Clown placed a hoof forcibly on the picture of the sidekick. "We also know that Batmare has grown fond about this new sidekick, because she kinda saved Batmare's life earlier today when I was trying to kill the Cakes."
"And what does this all have to do with stopping Batmare?" Batfilly asked.
"I'm getting there. Hold your ponies. Here's what we're going to do." The Clown turned away from the projector and faced the audience. "We're going to capture Pegasus and hold her against her will. Then, we're going to give Batmare an ultimatum. Either she reveals to us, the criminals of Ponyville, her secret identity, or Pegasus dies a slow and painful death."
A roar of laughter came up from the scum of Ponyville at that. The only ponies who weren't laughing was Calendar Mare and Catfilly. Catfilly stood up and shouted at the evil clown leading the meeting. "You won't catch me! I have Batmare on my side!" Pegasus patted the mare next to her. Batmare looked at Scootaloo with a look of 'are you crazy?'. The meeting hall went quiet.
"Well well well, it's so lovely that you decided to join us Batmare. Care to stay for the plan being carried out?" The Clown pointed her hoof at Poison Oak, who immediately grew vines right out of the ground with her telekinetic powers. The two superheroes leapt out of the vines' path before they could be caught in their grip. They galloped away from the warehouse as fast as they could.
"Oh no you don't!" Poison Oak said in a strangely familiar voice. She dove out the doors to the warehouse. As Batmare and Pegasus galloped away, vines created a small fence in front of them. The net of vines, that was as tall as Batmare, flew towards Poison Oak. Batmare simply flew over the vine net, but Pegasus hadn't exactly mastered that trick. Batmare watched helplessly as her sidekick was carried back into the evil villain's hooves.
The Clown joined Poison Oak at the doors to the warehouse. She called out, "You have one hour, Batmare! If you don't reveal your secret identity to us by then, Pegasus gets it!" They dragged the small filly, who was gnawing and struggling to get free, back into the warehouse.
Before the doors were closed, Pegasus shouted "Batmare!" at her idol. Rainbow Dash continued to fly away. The tears in her eyes ran down her flying body and onto the ground below. She only had an hour to decide what she was going to do. It would be the longest hour of her life.
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Scootaloo was tied against the wall with tape. Also, a unicorn who went by the Quizzler had her magically stuck to the wall as well. Most of the minor super villains had gone home. Now there was only the Clown, the Quizzler, Poison Oak, the Peacock, and Scareworm. They were all constantly watching both Scootaloo and the clock at the same time. Ever since the Clown had issued the ultimatum to Batmare at midnight, everyone had been watching the clock.
At 12:55 the Clown spoke to Scootaloo. "Well, Pegasus. It looks like Batmare would rather have you die than let her secret identity out. Typical superhero."
"No! She's coming! She wouldn't leave me to die!" Pegasus strained against both the magic and the tape, but it was no use. She wasn't going to get out of there.
"So cute, and so pathetic. We might as well kill the little filly now, eh?" The Clown rose her hoof. Scootaloo stared at her hoof that would lead to her death. She closed her eyes and awaited the true darkness to come. Instead, she heard the door being slammed open.
"Let her go!" Batmare stood there in full costume. The Clown lowered her hoof.
"Typical superhero, always waiting for the last second."
"I said, let her go." Batmare took a couple steps forward towards the back wall of the meeting hall.
"First, the secret identity. Who are you, Batmare?" The Clown started pacing back and forth in front of her captive. "You're basically choosing between either your death or Scootaloo's."
"What?" asked the young filly taped to the wall.
"She knows what I'm talking about. Go ahead, Batmare. Tell poor Pegasus about your run-in with the Mayor."
"I didn't kill the Mayor!"
"But is that what the police think?" The Clown started walking towards the superhero. "I can see the fear in your eyes, Batmare. Somepony is going to die tonight, and you get to choose who that will be."
"Batmare?" Scootaloo looked at her idol with complete fear. Batmare looked away from her sidekick.
"Pegasus, if I reveal my secret identity, they're going to tell the police who I really am."
"And why is that so bad?"
"Because they think that I killed the Mayor! And you know what the punishment for killing somepony is."
"Exile!" The Clown hopped with excitement after screaming out the word. "Oh, you and Luna are going to be the best of friends!"
"Don't do it, Batmare! I can't let you die for me!"
"I can't let you die for me!"
"You have two minutes, Batmare. Either you tell us before 1 or Pegasus gets the hoof." The Clown laughed maniacally. "Oh, I just love doing this to ponies."
"Pegasus, you have your whole life ahead of you. I can't take that away from you."
"But Batmare! You're the coolest, awesomest, bravest-"
"I know, Pegasus. It's time to show them that I am brave."
"Don't do it, Batmare."
"My..."
"Batmare! No! Don't do it!"
"...name..."
"Batmare! No!"
"...is..."
"No!"
"...Rainbow Dash."
The Clown's eyes went wide. Her expression totally changed. Her evil grin turned into a blank expression. The same thing happened to all of the other villains that were still in the room. They all had blank expressions. A small tear trickled down the Clown's face.
"Wha... What ha..." She galloped out of the room. All of the super villains had the same reaction. They all galloped out of there. The tape and the magic that was holding Scootaloo up came free. She fell to the floor.
"What was that all about?" the sidekick asked the idol.
"I'm not sure, but let's get out of here before we find out." They galloped away together back to Dash Manor.